A question I received: What does it mean in Kabbalah to turn to the group?

My Answer: To turn to a Kabbalistic group means that a person is completely helpless, he is drowning in an ocean, he finds himself in a horrible situation, he is starving to death – and suddenly, he reveals that there are good people all around him who want to help him. He must only ask them and show them that he wants help from them!

He has to be sure that they will help him. He doesn’t even need to hear them say that they agree to this. Everything depends on the person, similar to his outlook on the Creator’s attitude to us. In reality, the Creator is always ready to help, and the group is the same thing as the Creator. If I nullify myself before the group and expect to receive help from it, then I will receive it! It will happen automatically. It does not depend on specific people in the group, since I turn to their inner, corrected state, which is in the World of Infinity and which even they may not feel yet.

In order to achieve this, I have to really need it. I have to despair from my own lack of power and believe that I will be able to do it only with their help, only if I receive their support, their mutual guarantee, their energy, and all the rest. If I nullify myself before them in this manner, then I will definitely succeed.

However, I have to nullify myself completely. In order for a seed that is planted into the ground to grow, it must first rot. Similarly, a person must first reject all that is his in order for the group to influence him to the full extent. He will then enter a new life; a new plant will sprout from the seed that rotted. But it won’t happen until the seed rots.

We think that we have joined others and are building something together, but that is not so. A seed has to nullify itself, and then the environment will influence it. A person has to understand what he needs to receive from the group – which minerals he needs, what kind of moisture, warmth, and oxygen. He has to disintegrate in order to be able to absorb the influence of the environment.

We, however, think that all of the moisture, minerals and oxygen are inside us. Yet, all that we contain is the Reshimo, and nothing else. The rest comes from the environment, since the entire spiritual system is built upon our connection.

If a new cell is transplanted to the body, then the whole body begins working on it. We, however, have to annul the protective forces of the ego, which reject a foreign body and don’t let them connect. This is something we have to do on our own.

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A person is a small world, which means the whole world is inside me. I stand facing the Upper Light and the Creator with all my properties and internal characteristics. I am unable to imagine anything outside myself.

We have already gone through sufficient preparation in order to avoid associating what is written in The Zohar with images of our world, history or geography. We can now see the text as describing ourselves, the Creator and the screen between us and Him. Now we have to try to see the system and structure of the relationship that we have to build between us and Him.

The screen is not just a partition between the Creator and myself, but it is an entire system. After all, I am only a point of desire created “out of nothing” and the Creator is also just a point, a spark of Light that created me, the point of desire.

The screen refers to a huge system that exists between both points: me (a black point) and the Creator (a point of white Light). The screen is not positioned above the desire to enjoy, but is included in this desire. With the help of the screen I can calculate how closely I can align my desire to match the Light; this is why the screen should fully embrace my desire.

Rosh (the head) of the Partzuf is the place where I decide which part of my desire should become attached to the Light. The part of my desire that I am able to align with the Light is called Toch (the inner part) of the Partzuf. The part that I am still unable to align with the Light is called Sof (the end) of the Partzuf.

The screen operates within all of these parts, being a system that connects me with the Creator. The system is divided into three parts:

1. Rosh, the head of the Partzuf, which performs a clarification and calculation
2. Toch, the inner part of the Partzuf, which receives the Light and attains similarity with it in action
3. Sof, the end of the Partzuf, where a separate calculation is performed regarding my inability to be similar to the Light

It’s not enough for me to simply decide what part of my desire I can make similar to the Creator and throw the rest away. I also have to check which parts I cannot align with the Creator and why. The end of the Partzuf has to be as clear as its inner part.

The Host is asking me about every minor detail: “Why don’t you want to accept Light into it from Me?” I then have to check that detail and explain to myself why I can’t receive inside it. Therefore, the screen is an entire system of connection between the Creator and myself; it is not simply the partition that we draw in our illustrations.

When studying The Zohar, we are constantly learning about this system – the connection between us and the Creator. I am below and the Creator is above, and between us there is an entire system we call “the screen,” which consists of three main parts. This system encompasses all the worlds.

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Authentic, practical Kabbalah means that we attract the Light of Correction that causes us to change. Our world is a world of results; we are influenced by Upper Forces that govern all life in this world. So we shouldn’t think that we can change anything in our world with our actions. There are no effective actions we can make in our world, besides one – raising a MAN (request) upwards. This is the only thing we can do. Raising a MAN is called practical Kabbalah.

If, on the other hand, a person hopes to change his fate and influence the Upper Forces with his material actions (including the observance of traditions and commandments), then Kabbalah says that this is impossible. Don’t do it – it won’t help. Sure, you can carry out the rituals in order to feel more relaxed and to have order in your life, but at the same time, you should know that you will not change your fate by doing so. These actions do not enable you to reveal your egoism; they do not make you to want to correct it. They might even make you feel the opposite way – more relaxed, as if everything is ok.

If a person hopes to change anything in this world by influencing it directly, rather than through the Upper World, this is called mysticism. If he isn’t asking to be made similar to the Upper Forces and to change, but is instead trying to change the forces and world that seems to be outside him, then he is engaging in mysticism. It means that one’s outlook on the world is incorrect. The only thing in reality that we can change is ourselves; or rather, we can ask to be changed.

All of our reality is the One and Only Creator, the Absolute, who is Good and does Good. There is no one besides Him. “There is a law and it cannot be transgressed.” This refers to an iron law that we cannot affect in any way. If we want change, we can only ask Him to make these changes in us.

All we have to do is discern how we differ from Him, and then ask Him to make us the same as He. We will then shift our entire fate to the path of goodness. As for everything else, no matter what we do it is all meant to show us that we are not acting correctly. It becomes expressed as pain in order to direct us to the “true path.”

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If the lower one cannot receive anything, the Upper One restricts Himself. The Parsa is a very special place where the restriction of the Upper One occurs. It causes a great difference between what is above the Parsa – the World of Atzilut, where the Light can be disseminated, where Bina – bestowal dominates; and what is below the Parsa – the Worlds of Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya, where Malchut, the desire to receive, dominates.

One unified structure is thereby separated into two parts that are opposite to each other. The upper one is governed by the Creator and the lower one is governed by the created being. This is the first step towards creating a connection between the created being and the Creator.

Until this occurred, the created being did only what the Light ordered it to do. The Light canceled me out and I was only able to give because it ruled over me. However, now there are two kingdoms in me and they are absolutely opposite to each other. They are the kingdom of Light and my kingdom, where I am the ruler.

The Light left me, and I performed a restriction on my desire. However, then, in this empty place of restriction, new desires come: egoistic desires, Klipa. And then we are separated like two opposite worlds! Above the Parsa, in the World of Atzilut (where “Etzlo” means “He has”) there is complete correction, infinite Light. And below the Parsa, everything is the opposite: a shattering, evil, and every offense imaginable.

Hence, He and I become clearly opposite to each other and begin to hate each other. We become distant, even though we are separated only by a very narrow division, the middle third of Tifferet, Klipat Noga, where my whole freedom of will is concentrated.

On one side, there is the Creator, the Upper Sanctity, and on the other side, below, beneath the Parsa, there is the corrupted created being, the ego, and filth – and I am an intermediary between them, in the middle. My whole existence, my “I,” lies in this narrow strip.

I was given an opportunity to wedge myself into a narrow corridor between these two huge armies: the force of reception and the force of bestowal, in order to become an intermediary between them, bring them to a compromise, and then to connection and love. By uniting them into one, I build myself consisting of both of them.

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The best means of spiritual advancement is to disseminate Kabbalistic knowledge. By doing so, we are sure to realize the Creator’s desire.

The Creator wants all his creations to unite as one in order to come into adhesion with Him. A common desire, which has been split, broken, scattered, and crushed into billions of parts needs to join together above this separation, once more become whole, and unite with the Creator. This constitutes the goal of creation and the Creator’s desire.

If our actions are aimed in the direction of connection, and if we disseminate the science of Kabbalah as the only means that leads to this goal, we thereby draw the Surrounding Light upon ourselves.  This Light which we receive when we move towards connection is several times more powerful than that which we would have received on our own.

Knowing about this wonderful opportunity, we summon people to disseminate. If every person participates in this action, the force of the Light that we draw will be multiplied by many times and will benefit us all.

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The notions used in the science of Kabbalah differ from anything we are accustomed to in our ordinary life. In Kabbalah, “the Creator” is a force of bestowal, the universal force of Nature. We exist in Nature, in the Creator, and we have to ask Nature for help to rise above our own “knowledge,” above the quality of reception.

A person wants to receive for his own sake and to fulfill himself with everything that seems attractive. At a certain stage however, he starts analyzing himself and then sees that his never-ending strategy for self-fulfillment is futile. He grows tired of the pursuit, feels that it’s fake and that it leads nowhere. He realizes that there is something higher out there than constant thoughts of how to fulfill oneself and being enslaved to these thoughts.

A person then comes to a place where he demands that the Creator replace this quality so he can start living above his nature and above his body, which controls him and forces him to receive. He begins to set other goals and seek new horizons, since he now desires contact with the Upper Force, the force of bestowal.

He wants his inner emptiness to be filled by that Force, to receive the answers to his questions from that reliable, eternal and perfect Source. He needs to feel that he is doing things that are truly worthwhile. One realizes that prior to this realization, he  was mistaken and was thrown around from one desire to another. But now he desires the authentic knowledge about life and about the world in which he lives.

However, he still lives in a body, not in the soul, and one’s “animalistic” mind thinks only about the bodily needs. In order to receive an answer from the Creator, one needs to open up a new desire above the body, above one’s “animal.”

One has to reach a higher dimension and establish a connection between his spiritual “I” and the Creator – the eternal Force that governs him and everyone around.

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The revelation of the Creator happens in the Light of Hochma. The Light of Hassadim, bestowal for the sake of bestowal, is simply a preparation for the soul to receive the Light. We cross Machsom, attain the property of bestowal (the intention of “for the sake of bestowal” – the property of Bina) and remain in this state during the period of correction “40 years in the desert,” until we finally reach correction by filling our desires with the Light of Hassadim.

Later on we begin to “receive for the sake of giving.” We “step into the Land of Israel,” where the word “Eretz” means “land” and is derived from the word “Ratzon” – desire, and Isra-el stands for “directly to the Creator.” We use our desire to receive for the sake of bestowal by revealing the Creator (the Light of Hochma in the Light of Hassadim). This is why it is written that the Creator reveals himself only in the “Land of Israel” (the desire to give), and the exodus from Israel is called banishment or exile (from giving and spirituality).

Between the words “exile” (Golah) and “redemption” (Geula) there is only one letter that differs, “Alef,” which stands for the Creator (the First and the Only One in the world). “The Land of Israel” is a desire in which we receive for the sake of giving. Those desires through which we are not able to receive and reveal the Creator, which serve only to give for the sake of bestowal, signify that we are not yet in the Land of Israel, but are close to it.

This is why Kabbalah describes various areas as circles around the Land of Israel. We gradually distance ourselves from Babylon and conquer the Land of Israel by correcting our desires step by step. However, we are dealing with the same desire, a desire which stays constant, with only our attitude changing.

We leave Babylon, arrive in Egypt and then leave Egypt as we pass through various desires with self-serving intentions. We agree to restrict these desires, which means crossing the Ultimate Sea.

We are ready to rise above our egoism, above the mountain of Sinai (the mountain of hatred) and connect with unfamiliar desires (“Love your neighbor as thyself.”) It’s not that we acquire the same desires as our neighbor, but rather we turn our own desires inside out like a glove, making their aim “for the sake of our neighbor” instead of ourselves.

Later we become ready to receive pleasure through those desires, yet not for our own sake as before, but for the sake of bestowal, for the sake of our neighbor. The desires of others become more important to us than our own, giving us an  “indirect” fulfillment of our desires as opposed to “direct” fulfillment.

It follows that all the notions described in the Torah – such as Egypt, Mount Sinai, 40 years in the Sinai desert, and the Land of Israel – stand for spiritual actions inside of the same desire. The only thing that changes is our attitude toward the way we implement our desires. Then, what we thought was geography and history becomes an internal portrait.

Gradually we will come to the correct outlook and will be taken aback, asking ourselves, “How could we have been so wrong as to think that the Torah taught us about external historic events and geography?” We won’t even believe that we used to see the Torah as a historical novel. It will become so natural for us to understand that it speaks of human desires through which we attain spirituality. The only thing outside of us is Olam HaMedumeh – a world of illusions.

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The Zohar (I have to look for everything that I read in this book within myself): And the Creator (the general force of bestowal, as much as I can imagine it) said to Noah (my inner desire to become like the Creator): “I have placed My rainbow in the cloud.” “I have placed” alludes to having placed it even earlier, because the rainbow is a “cornerstone.” And the cornerstone was placed in its place before even the world’s creation, for the world is founded upon it, and therefore it is written: “I have placed,” in the past tense.

It is written: “Above the firmament.” Of what exists above the firmament it is written: “And I shall hear the sound of their wings.” These are the four largest and highest of holy animals upon which the firmament stands. Their wings connect, concealing their torsos. The firmament is the border of the second restriction, called Parsa. It stands upon four large animals: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, and Malchut.

Within us there are forces called Hessed, Gevurah, Tifferet, and Malchut, or four animals on the animate level. There is the “firmament,” which separates these forces from other forces. But they are all just that – forces.

All that we presently feel is depicted for us by these forces on our inner screen. Our goal is to shift from the external images on the screen to the forces themselves. Then we will be able to attain the root of our reality, begin to change it, and come to the Source.

The spiritual world is a world of forces. It is only when we exist in the corporeal world that we imagine these forces as corporeal images. However, ultimately this whole imagined reality dissipates into nothingness.

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A question I received: What is the breaking of the Kelim, when the Creator’s qualities penetrate into the qualities of the created being?

My Answer: I am created as a receiver and I only understand fulfillment. The Upper Light has influenced me and suppressed me – it showed me the quality of bestowal and instilled shame for my egoism. This was all done to me by the force of the Light. When I see the Light, I am willing to imitate it. However, inside I remain the same as I was previously.

It is as though I find myself in a profound group of people who talk about music, literature, and art, and I also want to be like them. I am proud of myself and when I think back to how I was before I came here, I feel ashamed. But then I leave there and see that everything is allowed: there are no shameful desires, it’s ok to lie and engage in all kinds of filth, and therefore I also begin to think and act this way, thinking that this is the truth of life.

In other words, the created being was under the influence of the Light, but this is not his inner essence; this is not the correction. We need darkness in order to begin to shine like Light, and to correct all of the filth within creation. The egoistic desire which was initially opposite to the Creator needs to be corrected, not just restricted.

So how can the created being be fooled into doing this and forced to reveal itself? It is as though you bug someone continuously until he shows his true colors. This is precisely what happens to the creation when the breaking of the Kelim (qualities) occurs.

However, the creation doesn’t know anything about this yet. It exists under the influence of the Light. It is as though I attach myself to a good group of people and then I also start to feel worthy, respectable, and clean. Then suddenly I am given some kind of assignment, and the whole truth is revealed – everyone finds out who I am. Imagine what shame I experience from this! I wanted to do the same thing they do: to receive for the sake of bestowal, but when it came down to business, all my evil became revealed.

The Creator and the created being are situated next to each other, and they are separated by a thin barrier called Parsa. If we break this wall, then creation will reveal all the evil that is in it, compared to all the goodness that exists in the Light. It seemed that they were near each other, but suddenly the wall (Parsa) between them broke and they now stand face to face!

You then see how kind and bestowing the Creator is – but look at yourself! Without this revelation of your nature in contrast to the Creator, we cannot achieve similarity to Him.

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We have many desires and we have to sort them out. We can connect a part of the desires to bestowal, to the neighbor in the following way. Even though I understand that all of my desires are aimed at self-gratification, and I don’t have any other desires besides this, I am still able to use them for the sake of connecting with other souls – I can work with them in the middle line, in the screen De Hirik.

On one hand, it is a desire to receive pleasure, but on the other hand, I can work with it for the sake of bestowal. I connect the right and left lines, using their connection for the sake of connecting with the neighbor. This is called “praying for the public,” a prayer that I raise up and receive in response a force from Above enabling me to create the right connection. It is within my capability to desire for this to happen; I can raise a MAN and receive a force called “the key” (Miftecha) that lets me reveal the heavens – the Upper World.

Besides this, there are other desires or parts of desires that I cannot connect to others. I can only do so to a limit, but no farther. That is why I sever these desires or parts of desires and throw them out. I don’t work with them for now, even though later on I may have the forces to do so because I will see that by not using them for the sake of connecting with other souls, I lose out greatly and cause harm. For now however, I don’t realize the evil in them; I only see that I am unable to work with them and therefore, I simply discard them.

As for the desires that I am able to use for the sake of connecting with the neighbor, I work with them in partnership. This partnership is called “the screen De Hirik.”

This is how a person always works inside himself, sorting out his desires, forces and qualities, and unifying them into different groups in order to constantly create a special attitude to the neighbor from them. But while it seems to him that he is relating to the neighbor, he always reveals that in reality this is a part of him. This way, he tries to ascend from this imaginary picture to the spiritual world, where he reveals that we are all connected into one body of the common soul.

This is the condition of revealing the Creator, the Upper Force – we have to become “one man with one heart.”

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