Question: Is a person’s soul connected to his body like a spiritual root and its branch?

Answer: The soul is not connected to the body. The soul contains 613 desires which I have to correct with the help of 613 Lights. These desires are not connected to our world in any way and they are not present in a regular person.

They surface only in those who study Kabbalah with the intention to create a connection among the students based on bestowal and love, meaning to correct the breaking of the single soul of Adam into parts, into separate souls. These uncorrected desires or mutual hate do not emerge in those who do not study Kabbalah and therefore they have nothing to correct.

The correction takes place in two phases:

1. Not using the 613 desires. This is called carrying out the "613 recommendations of the Torah (Eitin).

2. Reception inside the 613 desires for the sake of bestowal. This is called carrying out "613 instructions of the Torah" (Pkudin).

The desires that were corrupted and became egoistic have the intention "for one’s own sake.” When they are corrected, they acquire the intention of being used "for the sake of others." These desires are the fulfillment of a commandment, since the Creator commanded us "to correct our souls."

This is a spiritual action that does not depend on the physical body. A person may have no arms and legs, or may even lack the whole body, but he can still carry out these actions. The correction of one’s desires is in no way connected to physical flesh. One’s presence in the spiritual world is not connected to this world.

Everything is felt inside the desire. Matter is desire. The sensation inside the lowest desire creates the picture of our world for us or the reality in which we live. The lowest level, called "this world," is impossible to correct. It is the still level which is not subject to correction.

However, besides the still level of desire called "this world," I also receive a small desire of the next level, a "point" of the higher level which is in no way connected to the material level. This desire is called a "point" because in it I perceive only an aspiration to something beyond this world. I can develop it by drawing Light that will connect it to the points of other people, or stated differently, it will connect my soul with other souls. Inside the connection that emerges, I will begin to feel the spiritual world.

When more points connect to my point, then a system emerges and the Light brings it to life. Then all the participants feel life!

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/1/10, “The Matter of Root and Branch”

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The Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 237: When the Creator, Bina, wished to create the world, which is ZA, He elicited one flame of the harsh spark and blew wind into wind, and the flame was darkened, as well as burned. He elicited a single drop from the sides of the deep and put them together—the drop and the flame—and created the world with them, ZA.

The Upper Governance descends to us from the system called GAR of the World of Atzilut. Below it, resides Zeir Anpin whom we call the Creator because he is the Upper One in relation to Malchut of the World of Atzilut, the place of the gathering of all souls.

At present, however, our souls are broken and they reside below Malchut. When the broken souls desire correction, they raise their prayer to her. Yet, how do they know what this correction entails? They wish to stick together! They say: “We are willing to pledge for each other and unite!” Malchut means assembly of all souls that yearn for the Creator (Isra-El). Only he who wants to be with the others without any exception will be able to enter Malchut; and the one who doesn’t will not.

The condition is very clear and simple, and everyone is welcome. The door is open, come in! But at the entrance, you will have to meet the condition, and if you do, you will enter; if you don’t you will not. If you wish to come in, prepare yourself.

All souls who enter Malchut come together and raise a prayer to the Creator (Zeir Anpin). This prayer is a request to become similar to Him. In the beginning, with the help of the group, we raise our first prayer to Malchut. From Malchut, we raise the prayer (MAN) further, to Zeir Anpin. Zeir Anpin collects our prayer and raises it to Bina (Ima Ilaa), and there, he receives the force, Light, and anti-egoistic screens on our behalf. Then, he descends and passes this force down to Malchut, who passes it on to the souls included in her. In this way, everyone who has entered Malchut is granted the entire Light promised to him from Above.

This is what all of The Zohar is talking about. And this is the only system that exists in Universe.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/10, The Zohar

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The desire that we need to rise above is as great as the Light that created it in terms of volume, depth, breadth, energy, and might. We are not able to correct it alone. For this reason, the Creator divided it into multiple parts so that each of us would have an opportunity to correct our individual part in this immense desire. As a final result, all parts come together.

At the same time, Kabbalah relates that we were separated in order to learn to rise above our hatred (separation) and love each other so that we would learn to love the Creator in the same way. That is, the purpose of our division into individual souls is to raise in us a new, caring attitude to others, not to make our work with the will to receive easier.

Both assessments are correct. The purpose of our separation is two-fold. We must attain love for others before we attain love for the Creator, as it is written, “From love of others to love of the Creator,” and the division into multiple parts makes our work toward the correction of the ego easier.

Actually, the Creator could have created two Adams instead of one so that they would learn how get along with each other. We have heard that the “minimum quantity is two,” so two would have been enough to learn how to step outside oneself toward the other. Still, the Creator divided the collective desire into the multitude of souls of mankind according to the density or mass of the egoism so that each of us could correct his individual part of the collective ego, restrict it, rise above it, and use it in order to bestow onto others.

Therefore, our work in correcting this massive ego is divided into multiple parts relevant to the number of souls (or people) in our world. Hence, the population on earth decreases or increases to match the density of egoism in this world at any given moment.

Beside the fact that this work is divided between a great many people living today, it gradually gets completed by each of us with every return to (reincarnation in) this world. Each time, we correct our ego in small portions, day by day, during our entire lifetime and multiple incarnations.

From Mega Congress Lesson 1, 7/23/10

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Question: No one expected such a powerful breakthrough in the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah as the one that suddenly took place in Israel and the whole world. What is your prediction for the year to come?

Answer: We shouldn’t make long-term predictions. We should simply work and try to do everything that is up to us. How will the world react? This is none of our concern. Leave that to the Upper Force, the Upper Program.

If I did everything possible, then the next state will be revealed. If I am thinking about bestowal, then I don’t have to make predictions about how it will be felt in my sensations. I must only look for the best way to disseminate Kabbalah, the method of correction.

Perhaps a difficult, sluggish period will come in response to our efforts. But we don’t know what is being prepared inside it, or which nations are beginning their corrections before others. Everything can change unexpectedly.

Therefore, let’s not make any predictions for the upcoming year. Let the general correction come today!
[18087]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/26/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: Will the world change if we pass the Machsom at this Congress? Will it happen immediately or gradually?

Answer: Right now we are able to unite our desires and awaken the Upper Light to such an extent that we will feel the Light. We will then feel the spiritual reality, the connection between us through mutual bestowal. I am not talking about love, total interconnection or "return due to love" because this is the second phase of correction. For now we are connecting on the first phase of correction just by ascending above our ego by the force of the Light.

This Light is like a magnet that raises us above our egoism, above the mountain of hatred, Mount Sinai. We can ascend above egoism and enter the spiritual world temporarily, for a certain amount of time, and then once again descend into the ego and return into the material world. Alternatively, we can ascend or enter it permanently, in which case from that state on we will begin the phases of development in the "desert," where we ascend up the spiritual ladder. We will then rise along 125 levels until the World of Infinity, the total correction of egoism into bestowal and love.

Let us hope that we will attain at least a temporary revelation of the Creator. However, even if this doesn’t happen, it means that we still lack the true desire for it, that our desire is not great or precise enough yet in order to get rid of egoism. In that case, it will happen next time when we accumulate sufficient force and the exact desire to ascend above ourselves. The most important thing is to be concerned about the connection between us and to reveal the Creator inside this connection. This is the purpose of the existence of the worlds and of man in this world.

Our quantitative and qualitative force is already sufficient for us to attain it at this Congress.

From the 1st lesson of the Mega Congress 2010

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. I promise to answer them. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Creator’s Guidance Is Purposeful

This [purposeful guidance] means that the corrupt [egoistic, natural] conducts in the states of humanity are the very ones that [to the extent of their correction] generate the good [corrected] states. And each good state is nothing but the [ripening] fruit of the work [correction] in the bad state that preceded it. Indeed, these values of good and bad do not refer to the value of the state itself, but [only] to the general purpose: [the state is is not evaluated by itself, rather] each state that brings humanity closer to the goal is considered good, and one that deflects them from the goal is considered bad.

By that standard alone is the "law of development" built—the corruption and the wickedness [egoistic evil] that appear in a [any] state are [also] considered the cause and the generator of the good [perfect] state so that each state lasts just long enough to grow the evil in it to such an extent that the public can no longer bear it. [That is, it depends on the society’s realization of evil, time that can be hastened by explanation, upbringing, and education.] At that time [after realizing evil in itself and resolving to correct it], the public must unite against it, destroy it [the egoistic evil in itself, its relationships], and reorganize in a better state [particularly] for the correction of that generation. [Without trying to skip over any successive periods of development.]

And the new state, too, lasts just as long as the sparks of evil in it ripen and reach such a level that they can no longer be tolerated, at which time it must be [involuntarily] destroyed and a more comfortable state is built in its stead. And so the states clear up one by one and degree by degree until they come to such a corrected state that there will be no sparks of evil. [There will be nothing to correct, and this state will be recognized as final correction.]
– Baal HaSulam, Article, “The Peace”

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Question: If Abraham and Lot are both within one person, how is one of them perfect and dwells in the abode of the Creator and the other stays with the wicked?

Answer: Can Abraham reach Elon Moreh (the place of union with the Creator, the state of Brit – adhesion with the Creator) without Lot? How will a person attain holiness (the property of bestowal) if he doesn’t have a Klipa (egoistic desire) in the first place?

It is written: “I have created the evil inclination and gave the Torah to correct it.” There is no holiness in the world. The Creator created Klipa or an evil, wicked intention. He did not create the good. He does not say: “I created the evil and the good inclination. Pick the good one.” On the contrary, He says: “You will do the good (by correcting the evil that I created). But it is I who created the evil.”

How will man reach Elon Moreh, the place of his first union with the Creator, if he has neither Lot nor Sodom? He will reach this state only after having made corrections. Therefore, Lot has to be close to Abraham until they separate. However, Lot returns numerous times. In this way, a person makes discernments.

Without discernments and corrections you have no holiness, the quality of bestowal. Holiness by itself does not exist – we build it. Let’s hope we will succeed!

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: If everything is prepared ahead of time, then where does the participation of the creature come into play in this process? It seems that we receive everything from Above and that everything is predetermined….

My Answer: Of course! If I give my son a Lego toy to build or bring him baby food, both of which were created by factories and labs, weren’t they prepared ahead of time? Everything is prepared ahead of time, but at the same time, a child grows and becomes independent through these means that were already prepared. He tries to grow, and because of this, he matures and develops his own individuality based on everything that was prepared for him beforehand. This is the way we develop.

Therefore, we cannot do anything new here, as it is written, “We will eat what has long lay in store for us.” Everything occurs according to the Reshimot (spiritual informational genes), which are already instilled in us. However, we draw Lights so that these Reshimot will become revealed in us. We draw the Surrounding Light in order to understand what we need to do, and to perform clarifications.

We participate like partners in the Creator’s actions. Therefore, our work is called the work of the Creator. However, from this work, we learn to be similar to Him and advance from the stage of “conception” to “feeding” and then to “maturing.”

And then, at the stage of “returning through love,” we already carry out actions like the Creator. What does it mean “like the Creator?” The forces are His, and we merely discern what needs to be done and how. When we reach complete correction (Gmar Tikkun), it means that we have revealed all the actions of the Creator above us as active partners in these actions and we desire their execution. That is it and no more.

And after the end of correction, when I become similar to the Creator in all aspects, it is possible that there exist other actions, which I carry out to a greater extent on my own, independent of the Upper Force. However, we have no understanding of this. The science of Kabbalah does not tell us about further stages.

Therefore, it is written that we correct ourselves. Through every action that is carried out, I correct myself, meaning I agree, desire, and merge with that same action with all of my heart. In this manner we achieve final correction.
[19712]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/10, The Zohar

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Today we are celebrating the anniversary of the death of the ARI. We will commemorate this day by joining together in a festive meal; many students around the world will participate as well. We honor this special soul that revealed spiritual redemption for us: the way to come out of the last exile and to achieve the revelation of the Creator. The revelation of the Creator is the revelation of love and bestowal, which connect us all together. And to the extent that we unite, we reveal the Upper Force, a higher, spiritual life within us.

If we talk about the ARI as a person who lived and died, rather than as a soul that exists eternally in spiritual space, then the ARI was a person who threw the end of the rope to us who are existing in this world. By grabbing onto this rope we can begin to ascend to the spiritual world from our present state.

This is why we are so thankful to the ARI and we honor him so much. We want to be as close to him as possible since he represents the desire of the Creator, thanks to which we ascend. Baal HaSulam writes that he did not add a thing to the ARI’s teachings; he merely explained them. Every Kabbalist that came after the ARI helped to develop his teachings a little more since the ARI laid the foundation for the method of correction.

You might ask: “What about Abraham, the father of the nation? Doesn’t the method of correction belong to him?” During the times of Abraham we had not gone through the breaking of the souls and the destruction of the First and the Second Temples; the period of exile had not yet come to an end.

The ARI lived during the very end of the last exile, and from his time and on the “labor pains” of the time of redemption, the need to ascend, began. The ARI took the method of Kabbalah from the time of the Patriarchs and the time of the exile and made it into a method for correction of the souls. That is why he is especially dear to us. Let us hope that we will merit becoming true students of the ARI.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/10, Pri Hacham, Igrot (Letters), Letter 39

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How did the breaking of the worlds occur? The lower one, Malchut (which cannot fill itself, but without which the final correction is impossible) asks the Upper One (the mother, Ima) for the Light in order to receive it for the sake of bestowal. The whole system of the Upper worlds is ready to give the lower one this Light.

Now, everything depends on the lower one who understands that everything is ready for the feast. He can receive it without any shame, but only for the sake of bestowal. He truly desires bestowal! He is told from Above, “Take it; you can do it.” There is no way to predict the imminent downfall….

Somewhere in the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) hides the serpent’s tongue, but it is impossible to see it from here as it has never revealed itself before. This is a concealed point of the creature’s independence which has never manifested before. The creature completely obeyed the Creator, the Light that created it, and it was impossible to tell that something would interfere with it being in complete bestowal.

However, on the other hand, this point had to exist. Otherwise, the creature would not be independent. If I do everything that the Creator tells me, then it is as though I, myself, do not exist. My individuality does not exist. My “I” comes out particularly in in the fact that I want to become like the Creator, but something in me doesn’t allow me to do this. This quality that doesn’t let me become similar to the Creator in spite of my great desire is what makes me independent.

The root of the breaking is that it reveals the independence of the creature which stands opposite to the Creator. If the creature received all the desires now – the Light from Above, the awakening from below, and performed the action for bestowal – he would be a machine. Meanwhile, the breaking retrieves and develops the point from him which allows him to tear away from the Upper One, the Creator.

Before the breaking, the creature is just a machine. During the breaking, his independence is revealed. After the breaking, the system of correction of this point is created, and it provides the opportunity to act independently. The correction of the creature is that after the breaking, it makes all the decisions based on this point of one’s independence. Thus, one gradually ascends from below upward, toward the Creator, while building himself at the same time.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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