The Zohar, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 340: “And it came to pass in the course of those many days.” This was the end of their exile, when Israel were enslaved in any labor. “In those many days,” meaning many days of Israel’s stay in Egypt, when the end has come. And since their exile has come to its conclusion, it is written, “The king of Egypt died,” meaning that the minister of Egypt has been brought down and fell from his pride. This is why it is written about him, “The king of Egypt died,” since descent was as death to him. And since the king of Egypt – their minister – has fallen, the Creator remembered Israel and heard their prayer.

We have to reach a state when the entire Malchut of Egypt, meaning this world, all of its goals, our whole life and achievements, will lose their significance in our eyes. We will feel worthless, unhappy, and transient. We will ask ourselves, “What do I get from all this?” This world will become devoid of any importance to us.

This is called “The king of Egypt died.” We begin to ask ourselves, “Why do I need everything that I have in this world?! What for? What do I get from it?” This state marks the beginning of the exit from Egypt.

Today humanity is starting to understand that it doesn’t have any clear plan of development or goal, and most importantly, there is no purpose in life. We are yet to see the emptiness even in those who are still fanatically devoted to some meaningless goals and don’t realize the worthlessness.

When this becomes revealed, the real wars will be forged, and it will happen out of emptiness, despair, and helplessness. The most dangerous state is when a person sees that this life is empty. While he expects to accomplish something in life, he acts and even battles wars, and thus problems, revolutions, and wars that occur in the world, are purposeful.

On the contrary, when everyone sees that life is worthless and they begin to clash with each other, it becomes a big problem. Then everyone will turn their attention to Israel.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/21/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 250: And when the Creator saw the great joy of this world when it improved to being as above, He said, “Let not the twelve tribes mingle with the rest of the nations, leaving a blemish in all the worlds.” What did the Creator do? He shook all of them to and fro until they went down to Egypt to dwell in their abodes inside the obstinate nation, which despises their conducts and degrades them by not marrying with them or mingling with them, and by considering them slaves. The males were loathsome of them and the females were loathsome of them until everything was bettered by the holy seed without mingling with strangers….

There is a scrutiny of one’s state as one attempts to rid oneself of egoism, and then there’s a scrutiny of one’s state when one wishes to remain in (adapt to) his egoism. If I wish to remain in my egoism, then the egoism pushes me out through its hatred for me as it senses within me the point in the heart that is opposite to it. As it is written: “The Pharaoh brought the nation of Israel closer [via pointed oppression] to Israel,” and “I have created the ego as help against you.” It opposes you, and precisely therein is its help.

Similarly, when the Soviet government pushed a hard anti-Zionist agenda in the 1960s-70s, in so doing, it actually boosted Zionism. It is precisely the evil forces (the reverse side of the Creator) that help elucidate the evil, and not the Creator or the Upper Light, openly or directly.

Exile is one’s interim state between the degrees when both the Egyptians and Israel are revealed within him, opposite one another. He is in the middle scrutinizing these qualities. He is an exile, under the Egyptians’ command. On the one hand, he is drawn to Egyptians, but they reject him over the “seed of Israel” that is within him.

In other words, the desire to enjoy despises and rejects the intention to bestow for it wants only to act for the sake of reception. This is the hatred of the nations of the world toward Israel. And then there is the opposite discernment, when one has already advanced to the desire to bestow and identifies himself with it, as he nears the exodus from Egypt and is unwilling to mingle with the Egyptians (the nations of the world).

The Egyptians’ rule over him has ended; he no longer strives to be like them, no longer does he wish to unite with them, although he still lives among them, for now. In his eyes the Pharaoh receives blows, and these blows help him to rise above his relationship with the Pharaoh. Then he distances from the Egyptians, not because they spurn him, but because he is the one rejecting them as he nears the exodus from Egypt.

The Creator conducts these scrutinies in everybody (every person in this world) from both sides, in order to help us understand to which we are drawn more: egoism or bestowal. The nations of the world feel hatred for the spark of bestowal that has remained in the nation of Israel from its previous spiritual level. They reject Israel, which is precisely the reason the nation of Israel has remained intact.

Israel did not somehow manage to survive on its own; but rather, it is the opposition to Israel that held it together. As Baal HaSulam writes, Israel exists like nuts in a bag, united not by love, but forcefully, by the external hatred that surrounds them.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/10, The Zohar

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Some time ago (before the destruction of the Temple) the nation of Israel was on a spiritual level, and the commandments were spiritual actions for them – the Tefilin was not a black box, but the Light of an exalted state, which shines “in the forehead” of the spiritual Partzuf (ten Sefirot). It was not a root and a branch for them; it was united as one whole. They did not live in two worlds, but in one common reality. Therefore, the question regarding whether to carry out commandments in the material did not arise for them; for them the internal and external execution of the commandments were expressions of the same action.

Then a “breaking and a descent” occurred; our sensations of the spiritual world were concealed. With this concealment, we no longer sense what happens in the spiritual world. We are “cut off” from it, and no longer exist on a spiritual degree of “Tefilin” for example or “Talit” (surrounding Light, clothed onto Zeir Anpin of the world of Atzilut); therefore, these commandments have turned from spiritual actions into mechanical actions called “traditions” or “customs.”

Once they were true spiritual actions rather than merely traditions as they are now. Previously, I “put on a Tefilin” in the spiritual and in the material. They were the same thing for me; reality was one whole. As a result of our egoistic development, we uncovered our “breaking and descent,” the destruction of the common soul. Now the time has come to break this division so that there will, once again, be a single, whole world.

Should all people study these traditions and customs? No, we just need to break this division, and when it falls, gradually with our correction, the material reality will begin to vanish. If the all of humanity is corrected, rather than just the small part that came out of Babylon and was called the nation of Israel, then to the extent that the world begins to be corrected, it will “lose” its sensations of the material form. The lower layer, which you correct for bestowal, becomes spiritual, and you no longer perceive it as matter. It gradually seems to vanish from your sensations, until the whole material world vanishes, since it is imaginary (Olam Amedume). Therefore, all that Kabbalah teaches us is how to break the “iron wall” (see Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 1), which separates us from the spiritual world.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/10, “Exile and Redemption”

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The nation of Israel originated in Babylon, where Abraham revealed nature’s Upper Force and then started to disseminate this knowledge about the Creator, the goal of creation, and the purpose of man and society. It was all done to enable us to ascend above our world, rather than be like all the animals that merely live and die, over and over again.

Abraham discovered how to ascend above this world and the life cycles of the mortal animate body. He attained the Upper, spiritual dimension, which is above this entire animate life. Abraham then began to disseminate this knowledge to all the inhabitants of Babylon, gathering thousands of people around himself. The group that he gathered came to be called “the house of Abraham.”

This group went through a lengthy path and grew until it came to be called “the nation of Israel.” This is not a regular nation like the other nations of the world that unite in a natural manner. “The nation of Israel” can be joined by every person who aspires to unity in order to reveal the Creator – the force of bestowal and love.

Therefore, this group (or nation) can be in one of two states: exile, which is when they want to unite, but they haven’t yet attained it; and redemption, which is when they attain unity. They then attain the state of being as one man with one heart through a mutual guarantee (Arvut). Thus, they reveal the Creator within themselves (in Hebrew the Creator is called Boreh, which comes from the words Bo – come and Reh – reveal). They proceed to ascend up the ladder, reaching greater and greater unity and attaining greater bestowal until reaching the Final Correction of the ego, transforming it to love for the neighbor. This is the state of adhesion, Dvekut.

Eventually, all of humanity will have to join this group and join the Creator together with them. Today we have already gone through four exiles and three redemptions. We are now standing before the final redemption, meaning the final, full revelation of the Creator to every single person in the world.

From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/10, “Exile and Redemption”

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The division of people into the nation of Israel and the nations of the world, which Baal HaSulam describes in his articles, can be interpreted in two senses: inner and outer. When understood in the inner sense, it describes how qualities are divided within every person, with “Israel” designating one’s aspiration “straight toward the Creator” or the point in the heart that has awakened in a person, whereas the “nations of the world” are the desires of reception.

Any person whose point in the heart (aspiration to reveal the Creator) has awakened can be called “Israel,” which means “straight toward the Creator.” If one’s point in the heart has not awakened yet, then he belongs to the nations of the world, meaning to all other goals in life.

All the people can be categorized in this fashion and divided into Israel and the other nations. This is the same as what once occurred in Ancient Babylon.

When considering those whose point in the heart has not awakened yet, the science of Kabbalah must first and foremost be disseminated among the nation of Israel in the material sense. After that it should reach the other nations. In addition, the nations of the world include the ten tribes of Israel that fell to the level of “the nations of the world” from the height of the First Temple (Mochin de Haya).

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/10, “Exile and Redemption”

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“The people of Israel will not return to their land until they are completely united.” The people of Israel are a group that Abraham once organized by selecting them from among the Babylonians. He wanted to correct the whole world but managed to gather just a few thousand people in this group.

However, the Torah does not speak about historical events, rather about internal states through which a person passes. The property of Abraham within us takes a part of our desires and leads them to a partial correction, and then to a shattering (a fall of the Temple, or descent from the spiritual level to exile).

Exiles are required in order for desires that have been in spirituality (Israel), to mix with the rest of desires that did not go through spiritual ascent and shattering (called “nations of the world”). After mixing together and becoming included in one another, all of them are prepared for corrections. In other words, everyone now has a part that has been in spirituality, and a part that hasn’t.

Those who went through the ascent and shattering must be the first to undergo corrections because they contain Reshimot (data about previous states). After this others will awaken. Everyone must come to understand that the “Israel” within, meaning the desires aspiring to the Creator, will not attain their land (Eretz) or corrected “desire (Ratzon) “straight to the Creator” (Isra-El), in which the Creator becomes revealed, until they all unite to become “as one man with one heart.”

This is the requirement Kabbalists tell us about. We must implement it in a small part of the soul inside each of us, as well as in a big part of the soul among all Kabbalah groups in the world, and in yet an even bigger part of the soul, which includes all of humanity. Thus, this necessary requirement begins to be realized starting from a very material level.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/6/10, “Inheritance of the Land”

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The following is an excerpt from Rabash’s article on the holiday of Purim, “Concealment and Revelation”:

“Darkness is the Babylonian exile, which the nation of Israel brought upon itself because the Creator (Zeir Anpin) was asleep. The sinner Haman, who was a great astrologist, cast lots (Pur) to determine fate. Haman and his ten sons are the ten Klipot (impure forces) because he knew that the Creator slept and thus His upper governance did not protect the nation of Israel (those who aspire toward the Creator). Therefore, Haman thought that the time has come to annihilate the nation of Israel.”

Haman is our entire will to enjoy, which stands opposite the entire Light of Hochma. He knows that the Light is about to be revealed. However, he doesn’t know that this can only happen in the middle line, and that later even that will be revoked when the transition to the state of the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Alef) takes place. Malchut unites with Zeir Anpin in the middle line and they ascend to Bina, where they attain the state of the End of Correction.

Annihilating the nation of Israel means annihilating the intention of “for the sake of bestowal,” which holds a person back from receiving the Light of Hochma egoistically. Mordechai is the intention of bestowal, but if he acts alone, without the desires of Haman, then it is just bestowal for the sake of bestowal. That means he blocks the Light of Hochma, preventing it from being revealed.

In other words, if a person does not work in the middle line, then even his best actions of bestowal will block his path of development. This is why Mordechai needs a connection with Haman. When they start to argue with each other (an argument between the intention of bestowal and the egoistic desire), they come to understand how they are able or unable to unite.

The intention of bestowal enables the desires of Haman to be used. However, these actual desires will not be fulfilled, and this is why a clash occurs between Haman and Mordechai. This story is talking about how a person can create the right unity between two conflicting forces or two opposite intentions. It is also describing the battles, confusion, and doubts that await us on the path of correction until we find the right method.

This is what “Megillat Ester (The Scroll of Esther)” tells us about.

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A question I received: What kind of spiritual advancement did we gain at The Zohar Convention 2010 that was held last week?

My Answer: We went through enormous changes. I felt that the nation of Israel did not simply receive The Book of Zohar, but returned to it. It wasn’t the reception of something new, but the joy of people who found what they once lost.

Maybe they can’t even give themselves an explanation of what happened to them, but I saw that this is exactly what their souls experienced. They felt that they found what they lost two thousand years ago. They aren’t studying The Book of Zohar now, but are remembering it.

Indeed, this is the case: They aren’t finding out something new, but are rejoicing about the return of something that was once lost. Therefore, I think that the nation of Israel went through a great, wonderful spiritual ascent. Moreover, this doesn’t apply just to the people who were with us at the Convention. It was a step forward for the entire dissemination of the science of Kabbalah among the nation of Israel, which will later be joined by all humanity. Thus, all of Babylon (all of humanity) is returning to its spiritual source.

There is reason to hope that all the souls will unite into one soul of Adam in our lifetime and we will attain the state of the Final Correction, the World of Infinity, the corrected common soul. I believed in this and waited for it, but our success exceeded all my expectations. I think that we are being given great opportunities from Above to correct our nature.

There is still a lot of work ahead of us, which is special and yet difficult. At the same time, it is extremely important and exalted, and we have to be grateful that the Creator has chosen to fulfill His great plan through us.

Now all we have to do is continue to disseminate Kabbalah among the nation of Israel with the help of all the people who took part in the Convention together with us. By virtue of the wisdom of Kabbalah and the force of the Light of The Book of Zohar, Israel will unite into a single nation, as Baal HaSulam writes in the newspaper “The Nation” and Item 70 of “Introduction to The Book of Zohar.” This is possible only by uniting the hearts, and that can only happen by the force of the Light that Reforms, which raises us above our egoism.

I would like to thank all the people who came to the Convention from many different countries all around the world. Together we will be able to carry out this great correction, and judging by the speed of its current dissemination, it is bound to happen very fast.

The time has not yet arrived to reveal the true depth and greatness of what is unfolding, but I can say that we carried out exalted and mighty inner corrections. And this will soon be expressed inside us and in the world.

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A question I received: What does it mean to annul oneself at the Zohar Convention so the Upper Light will become revealed to us?

My Answer: It means that I annul my egoism in relation to the common desire to be together, and I do this with the purpose of revealing the Upper Force – the force of bestowal and mutual love within us. It is the common force of nature, the Creator (Bore), meaning, “come and see.” More precisely, it means, come to the annulment of your ego at the inanimate level of holiness, and then you will see and feel the Light which fulfills you. This is possible to do!

It is enough to simply want to connect, even with no true intention to bestow yet. One should want to rise above his ego in order to connect with others and reveal the Creator. This requires a connection according to the method of Kabbalah, rather than simply an egoistic unity among people.

Then the Upper Light will connect us and fulfill us. That is the meaning of the verse, “Israel, Torah, and the Creator unite as one.” “Israel” means everyone who wants to annul his ego for the sake of connecting with others. This is possible to do with the force of the Light which is called “Torah” for the sake of revealing the Upper Force, which is called “the Creator.” We have all the conditions for that!

It is impossible to do it alone, but it’s easy to do it together.

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A question I received: Thousands of people will come together at the upcoming Zohar Convention 2010 How can we receive them so as to retain a connection with them after the Convention?

My Answer: We are not a cult. We don’t drag people into religion and we don’t chase after their souls. Our doors are always open whether a person is coming in or going out. Whoever comes in doesn’t owe us anything. If he wants to, he is welcome to come in, sit down, and study together with us. If he doesn’t want to, he doesn’t even need to say goodbye. If he goes out the door, nobody will ask whether he’s left for a minute or for good. Therefore, we’re not looking to attach anybody to us during the Convention or afterwards.

We want to continue our broadcasts on television and on the Internet, and to continue hosting conventions and gatherings such as this one, but we’re not luring anybody to us. Nobody owes us anything. A person can come, participate, and leave. He’ll decide to what extent he wants to be connected to the science of Kabbalah. It’s not even about us; it’s that all people must be connected together. First, all of Israel must unite as brothers, and then the whole world. That is our hope.

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