We should always do a realistic, pragmatic check without any illusions to see what nourishes our desires and what means we have at our disposal, while also being aware of their flawed nature and their ability to be corrected. When we have this attitude to reality, we discover that we are between two givens: "I am the first and I am the last," and in the middle we have the opportunity to make a free choice – to attract the force of correction.

We attract it according to the principle "we will do and we will hear," or in other words, we unite in the group and during the study in order to evoke the Light that Reforms. Thus we discover that all our states are programmed from Above from the beginning, from the plan of creation, from the adhesion that is planned for the future. The Light causes these states to reach our desire for pleasure and to act inside it in a specific order, from easiest to most difficult. However, we always have the opportunity to choose.

Sometimes it is concealed from us that there is none else besides Him. Sometimes we are even in total concealment; whereas, at other times, we choose this concealment for ourselves. That is how we advance: from Him who is the first, through ourselves, and to Him who is the last.

At the same time we have to understand that everything takes place only inside the connection or unity of souls. That is where the breaking occurred, and it is also where the Creator awakens the appropriate Reshimot. We have to aim our correction only at this place of disconnection in order to reveal unity precisely there.

Thus, I am always doing practical work, trying to unite with the friends and to evoke the general unity. I thereby bring myself and the whole world toward goodness. The first impulse toward this was given to me by the Creator, but afterward, the Light comes and performs the action to the degree I make efforts, revealing the First and the Last in the same point of unity that we attain.

It turns out that the goal of our efforts is to love our neighbor as ourselves, and the last step on this path raises us to the degree of love for the Creator. Love for others is the preparation of the Kli, whereas love for the Creator means that He comes last and completes the action.
[24412]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/10, “I Am the First and I Am the Last”

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It is not important where we begin to read The Zohar from, what item, or what part of it. Even if a person listens to the lesson for the first time, it is absolutely unimportant. “There is no time in spirituality”; the Torah speaks of spiritual states, all of which occur within us, but we do not perceive it yet.

It is completely irrelevant, though. We need to awaken the Light inside The Book of Zohar, the most exalted, true, and powerful source. No book even comes near to The Book of Zohar‘s influence on the soul.

The only way to draw its Light upon us, for it to have an effect on us, is by obtaining qualities similar to it. Therefore, we are reading The Book of Zohar together. In other words, each of us has to prepare himself to be in connection with the others from the beginning, even before we open The Book of Zohar.

This is what is said about the giving of the Torah: If you agree (obviously, that we cannot do it, but we agree nonetheless) to become “as one man in one heart,” to achieve brotherly love (in the future), then you will receive the Torah, meaning the method of correction by way of the Light that Reforms. Then, that Light will return you to the Source, to the good, to equivalence with the Creator.

That is why when we are reading The Zohar, we have to always strive to meet this condition: Be ready to unite so that the Light will influence us, unite us, and we will reveal the Creator in our unity as in one common soul. An individual soul, after all, can only feel our present reality, the one that we are currently perceiving.
[23722]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/10, The Zohar

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The group is the “button” we are constantly clicking on to draw the Light to ourselves. I participate in its life, aspire for unity with the friends, and desire to “dissolve” in them, thereby attracting the Light that Reforms. Essentially, this is my only action: to attract the Light which will implement all the necessary changes.

The situation is simple. There I am, the one who desires to reach the right goal: to become equivalent to the Creator. There is also a means: to demand the Light to affect me and to gradually make all the necessary modifications in me through the group. This is the way we advance.

With every change, I can examine myself: What is “day,” and what is “night” for me? If I am in the “day,” it means that I am being diversely fulfilled; if I am in the “night” or “dark,” it signifies devastation of the mind and heart. This is how it looks in egoistic desires.

Now, we have to stir such changes within ourselves that would allow us to acquire desires to bestow in which we will evaluate “day” and “night” as the Creator does. For the Creator, “day” is bestowal or faith above reason, which contradicts the logic and sensation of the current level.

To reach it, we don’t have to exert superhuman efforts which we are incapable of doing. Rather, we make efforts in the group, in our unification, and summon the force of the Light which descends and does the work.

In fact, all spiritual work is regarded as the “Creator’s work.” He does it, and I must only desire it like a child who grabs a grown-up’s hand and pulls him where he wants to go. If a person understands the essence of this interaction, he feels at ease. With every new step, he utilizes free will in the group and draws the Light that Reforms.
[23688]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/10, Shamati #16

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Question: Would it be correct to say that the first stage is the unification between us and the formation of a spiritual vessel (Kli), while the second stage is the mutual guarantee?

Answer: The mutual guarantee does not depend on us, but comes with the help of the Light. All the corrections and all the states are the result of the Light’s influence on the Reshimot (spiritual genes, reminiscences), but our readiness and desire for this to happen is for us to display.

I open the book so as to facilitate the formation of a common desire whose quality will be bestowal. The Creator will be revealed within this common desire to the extent that it will bestow in accordance with the law of equivalence of form with the Creator. I don’t need to draw the Creator for Him to be revealed within my desire. I don’t need to forcefully reveal Him. I simply need to worry about the desire assuming the form of bestowal, and then the Creator will manifest.

The law of equivalence of form already exists; it is the fundamental condition in nature. If this condition is met, the Creator becomes revealed. I only need to worry about my desires (Kelim, vessels). The Light is at absolute rest; we only lack the right desires, the qualities to perceive it.

Therefore, my only task is to desire correction. I don’t actually perform the correction either; I merely give the Light the opportunity to correct me. This is why we gather together and think of the Light correcting us, meaning the connection between us. We want the Light to correct the breaking that took place in our roots.

Then, because by thinking about this, we as though raise the Shechina (Divinity, our common soul) from the dust, we achieve spiritual revelation, the Creator, the Light of NaRaNHaY, which is 620 times greater than the original state before the breaking where there was only the Light of Nefesh.
[23716]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/10, The Zohar

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Question: It turns out that each one of us is constantly “drilling a hole in the common boat,” and we only need to raise our sensitivity in order to understand this.

Answer: Once we begin working with it, we will reveal “613” actions (commandments), mistakes (Shgagot), and transgressions (Zdonot), which specifically relate to the mutual guarantee. After all, it is the action that was “commanded” to us, and we are capable of carrying it out!

This is the only free action, and this is why it is called the “one commandment,” but it consists of many components (GE [Galgalta ve Eynaim] and AHP, that is, of all levels of desire) as a result of the gradual correction of the desire into the mutual guarantee. All of this becomes realized through one tiny free opening, with all the commandments being realized in its passage. This is similar to the birth process, the transition into this world through a narrow passage from the womb.

I reveal the Upper World in my aspiration, in my attempt to be in the mutual guarantee, in the state of loving others. This is why it is written that “the end of an action is in its initial thought,” in other words, I constantly need to be in one intention.

All of my actions must be for the sake of love of others and love of the Creator. The action itself does not matter, what matters is the intention that I can connect to it. It is written that the Creator does not care how we slaughter cattle (our egoism); He cares about the intention.

This is why we evaluate whether we make mistakes and commit transgressions or, alternatively, observe commandments and make corrections only against the intention and not the actual actions. The Creator does not care for your actions. What He cares about is what you are planning on reaching through them.

For this reason, when you begin to add the intention to bestowal, the intention for the mutual guarantee, then all your actions in life become free! The entire 360 degrees at which you operate become one enormous pipe that leads to the Upper World!

Instead of being the initial narrow straw, this entire world becomes your guide into spirituality. It expands due to the Light of Hassadim, the property of love and bestowal. And then what you do does not matter: whether you work in the field or at the office, when you do things with the intention to bestow, your entire work becomes like work at the Creator’s Temple.

In this way we discover an absolutely different attitude towards the action, towards bestowal. And most importantly, this way we evaluate what would be a mistake or a crime. We do not go by the actions, but by the intention, by whether it is for the mutual guarantee, love and bestowal to them. This determines what makes you a sinner and what makes you a righteous: Everything is only according to your intention.

The masses think that everything is evaluated by the actions, but in spirituality everything is only determined by the intention. This is why it is written: “The opinion of the Torah is opposite to the opinion of the landlords.”
[23343]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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The Creator cannot be known without the group. On the other hand, the group without the Creator is not a group but “a gathering of scoffers.” Therefore, I, the group, and the Creator are one whole. This is described as “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.”

The Torah is the force that merges us into the group if we want to unite despite the resisting force. Hence, the giving of the Torah and Arvut (mutual guarantee) are connected. After all, Arvut per se is impossible. We don’t implement but rather demand its implementation. This is the “miracle of the exodus from Egypt.” We only participate in it, where the changes per se are not performed by our efforts, but are solely a result of our desire.

Our job is to wish for it as strongly as we can. Then, the Light comes. Meanwhile, we are already making “the golden calf” like in the times of the reception of the Torah. It happens, but we don’t forget to keep crying out loud either!

We must prepare and spill out the strongest demand that we possibly can. Just demand and don’t think about what will follow. What is needed is the collective, unified demand which will allow us to receive the force of unification. Then we let our egoism rise again in the next instant since this is the program of the system. It isn’t our concern.

Our concern is to demand correction of the egoism that is given to us right now, nothing more. A person is evaluated according to the current circumstances. We only need to fill ourselves to the utmost with the awareness of necessity and readiness to attack.
[24023]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/10, “The Arvut”

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The Zohar, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharaoh Sent),” Items 28-29: Pharaoh rose in the land of Egypt and killed and avenged his rulers, ministers, officers, and every kind of minister…

Afterwards he called unto Moses and Aaron at night, “Since everything was through you, and bless me, too,” meaning do not kill me. Afterwards, he himself escorted them out of the land…

We don’t understand the extent to which this horrible, evil force called Pharaoh is mighty and opposite to the Creator. It is the imprint of the Creator and acts as His loyal messenger. As Pharaoh becomes revealed more and more, this revelation of evil pushes a person to come out of his ego.

This is what we are now observing in the world: On one hand we are becoming greater egoists, acting only for the sake of our own benefit without taking anyone into consideration, and on the other hand the growing egoism increasingly reveals to us that we are obligated to part with it, that this form of existence is impossible and we are approaching universal destruction.

This is the meaning of the phrase, “Pharaoh brought the sons of Israel closer to the Creator.” In this way the negative force is carrying out its function in order to push us closer to spirituality.
[24178]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/19/10, The Zohar

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Spirituality is perfection; it knows no change. But I see changes in it. The Creator seems to me distant, near, and different. If I discern everything correctly, then I don’t just study the external side of the events, but rather, I recognize in everything the “Good Who does good,” realizing that “There is none else beside Him” and everything is occurring solely within me.

However, if everything changes in me, I have to perceive these modifications as beneficial to me and understand that in spite of and based specifically on them, I have to be able to hold on to my unfailing attitude to the Creator. Then, it turns out that all my inner changes build within me the image of the Creator and do so inversively, from opposition to myself.

Reshimot (spiritual genes, records) will be constantly changing in me, but above them, by faith above reason, I wish to make a decision that “the Creator is good, does good for the bad and for the good” and that “there is none else beside Him.” It follows that all the changes occurring in me, on the background of my conviction that “there is none else beside Him, the Good Who does good,” paint in me the image of the Creator. In this case, my attitude to this reality is correct. If I recognize the unchanging attitude of the Creator (the Good Who does good) in my every inner change, I thereby correct these changes, completing them.

Yet, unlike the “common people,” I do not annul these transformations as if they don’t exist. Quite the opposite: By accepting and working with them, from all these contradictory forms and changes absent in the Creator, I get to know and understand Him.
[23924]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, The Zohar

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Question: In order to feel the Creator, I need something external, the connection between us, and not my “self.” If this is so, then why did He create me as such?

Answer: He did it so that from this form, exactly as you are with all your predetermined qualities, you would start analyzing, examining, studying, and learning who the Creator is independent from Him. Right now you exist outside the system of the spiritual world. Hence, like an independent researcher, you can embark on finding the Creator.

For this purpose, we exist in our world, completely cut off from the spiritual system, even its impure part. My job here is to conduct an independent investigation (analysis). From any spiritual level, I always can return to this form, in my body, in order to ascend again and continue my exploration of the spiritual path.

This world is important since in it I seem to be independent. I exist at the animate level and, thus, I do not see the Creator and am cut off from the spiritual phenomena. When I desire to become human, I enter the spiritual system, and if I don’t, I return to the animate state once again.

Thus, I have an opportunity to exist on two levels: animate and human. Hence, the Psalms say: “Lord preserves both man and beast.”
[23906]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, “And You Knew This Day and Return to Thy Heart”

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Question: How do we, in our correct interconnection, get to know the Creator?

Answer: There is a vessel, and there is the Light. The Creator can only be revealed in the vessel, in the creature. The creature is a will to receive (a desire), which can experience good or bad feelings, the presence of something or the lack thereof.

On the other hand, the Creator is an attitude. To know the Creator means to learn His attitude to us. And what we must get to know is not Him Himself, but specifically His attitude dressed in the matter or the Light clothed in the vessel. The Light becomes clothed in the vessel when the latter acquires its property.

What is the Light in its essence? We don’t know. But clothing of the Light means that it imprints itself in the vessel. For this, the Kli should be “soft” or, in other words, should feel the lack and desire the Light. After all, the Light leaves an imprint in the vessel, opposite to itself, and the vessel must decipher this contradiction in the reverse direction, returning from negative to positive in order to understand the Light.

Therefore, we need to equip our will to receive pleasure with a restriction (a screen) and an intention (the Reflected Light). We can feel and correctly interpret the Light along with its forming the screen and the Reflected Light in us. As a result, we feel our own form, but it is the Light that created it in us, and this is why we call its form the same name, the name of the Light.

In the same fashion, HaVaYaH is the form of the created being named after the Creator. This is the only way for us to know Him, through the form, while the essence of the Creator remains unattainable for us.
[23909]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, “And You Knew This Day and Return to Thy Heart”

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