A question I received: The World Zohar Convention is starting today. How can we prepare ourselves so as to receive as much as possible from this meeting?

My Answer: All participants will gather together, and the hall will be filled. We all will start thinking and feeling simultaneously.

At the moment, it’s still not happening. It usually takes about a day, and the change occurs the next day. There is certain inertia in the relationships between people and their ability to feel each other. It always takes time. It resembles a symphony orchestra tune-up: each player is fine-tuning his instrument before the concert and one can only hear an incoherent cacophony of sounds. In the same manner we have to fine-tune ourselves and start feeling something together.

The success of the convention depends on us getting inspired from the same things, increasing more and in coordination with each other. Usually, the state is completely different on the second day of the congress. I hope that by tomorrow evening, we will play in complete coordination with each other. Let’s work hard till the end of the convention, and I anticipate a huge success.

The situation is truly unique. It can be felt sharper every single day, especially here, in America which has to come to the spiritual development as soon as possible. If this happens here, it will certainly spread throughout the entire world, and the whole humanity will reach a state of the final correction which we must attain. It may happen within a couple of years or even months instead of years. It all depends on us.

Everything will unfold in the way it is described by the science of Kabbalah. We only determine the speed and the manner by which we will reach the final correction; whether or not we will go through these states in a good and pleasant way.

We have to feel that the connection between us reveals to us a new sensation, a new reality. We will start feeling a new force that acts upon and activates everything. We have to start feeling it in practice at least to some small, initial degree. Then we will have something to give to the entire world.

This is what I expect from this convention. There should be a group here, not just a thousand people – a group with one desire, one thought, one goal, and one inspiration. Unity is a force. If it transpires even for a smallest, initial measure, we will start feeling the spiritual dimension. We are very close to it.

However for it to be not a simply beautiful sensation, but the spiritual revelation we need to unite together into a single spiritual substance, in common bestowal where we will be able to reveal the single force – the Creator. It is very realistic and timely today. Let’s look forward to it!

From Lesson 1, World Zohar Convention, 5/7/10

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A question I received: How can we maintain within ourselves the need to bestow?

My Answer: The need to bestow that stems from love never dies out. You’ll never be able to say “Enough!” On the contrary, the more you give, the greater your need to bestow will be. Otherwise it’s not love. If love is limited to a certain level beyond which you won’t go, if you feel that your love has boundaries, then it is not love.

Your wife can explain it very well to you. Women can feel these things naturally. A man tends to limit his love because his spiritual root is the force of the anti-egoistic screen that dictates to him: “Here is the limit and I am not ready to go any further.” In contrast, a woman who wants to experience a man’s love can’t understand how love can have boundaries. This is instilled in our nature.

Pleasure can never extinguish the desire to love; it only awakens an even bigger desire. When you give to your children, you don’t tell them: “Enough, I won’t give to you anymore.” Perhaps you can’t give more because of external circumstances, but you cannot voluntarily restrict giving to your own children.

Love revokes all boundaries. We don’t understand what true love is. We think that it is about filling up our own stomach, but love is fulfillment of somebody else’s desire. It’s an aspiration to satisfy another person. I sense that this is about another person (not me); I feel the distance between us. Yet, I want to fulfill this person.

We are talking here about a spiritual Kli and the science of Kabbalah rather than about hugs and kisses. All of nature acts in accordance with this principle of lack and its fulfillment; love rules over everything. Everything in nature unites, draws closer, or, on the contrary, moves further away from each other according to this principle. This single force acts in nature since the Creator is the power of love. That’s why there is nothing else besides love and hatred (that is, love with a negative sign.)

“Love your neighbor” is not just a beautiful slogan, but rather a law of nature. To fulfill another person’s desire means to sense ourselves beyond time, motion, or space, beyond all limitations of this world. It is to enter spirituality. By doing so, we attain eternal life. If not, we live like animals and are restricted by our material body in this world.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/10, Article “Matan Torah”

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A question I received: This weekend there will be a convention in North America, titled The World Zohar Convention, where our friends from the whole world will gather. You once said that when you were in a similar situation of general inspiration, you asked Rabash, “What do we lack for attaining the goal?” He answered, “An attack!” What is an attack and how can we attain this state this weekend at the Convention, or even now, at this very moment?

My Answer: During a spiritual attack, one does not think about when will it finally be completed. An attack is when I gather all my forces and act with them.

In our world an attack is a concentrated blow, followed by a chance to rest. However, spirituality is perfect and therefore it cannot be transient. If your desire is authentic, then it is eternal! Therefore, a spiritual attack means a mobilization of forces, where you must continually concentrate them more and more, without a break or a breather. (Actually, you do receive a “breather” from Above, such as the state of “Hanukkah,” which comes from the words “Hanu-Koh,” stop here. This happens during a shift in one’s means for further advancement.)

This Convention offers great opportunities of advancement to all the students all over the whole world. Although we are getting together at the Convention in North America, there will be a direct broadcast of all the lessons. And of course, they will be devoted to the unification of this entire great desire, the spiritual vessel (Kli).

Let us hope that everyone will understand that the science of Kabbalah speaks precisely of this unity, rather than red strings, spells, and so forth. Through the unity of our desires we attain life in the eternal dimension. Let us hope that we will succeed!

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/5/10, “Matan Torah”

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Our entire problem in spiritual advancement is that we approach Kabbalah, the revelation of the Upper World, as if it were a scientific theory that we must attain with our mind and actualize with our own forces. However, Kabbalah offers us something completely atypical – the chance to acquire new qualities. And as long as a person does not acquire them, he will not find out what Kabbalah talks about.

All of Kabbalah is the method of developing a new quality in a person, the quality of “love for one’s neighbor.” It is also called “the Creator.” Thus, Kabbalah is the method of going from a total negation of Him to His full revelation. Our initial “earthly” feelings and mind do not bear any relation to the revelation of the Creator. The revelation of the Creator is the creation of His quality inside a person. Kabbalah is the method to form the quality of bestowal within us, the state of the Creator.

Our entire reality consists of two components: feelings and mind. When a person creates the image of the Creator within himself, he acquires a new mind and a new feeling instead of the previous ones. That is how he goes from the perception (or sensation) of this world to the perception (or sensation) of the Upper World.

The new sensation inside a person is called the Creator, “Boreh,” which means “come and see.” It is also called the soul.

The main challenge for a person who begins to study Kabbalah is the inability to connect all of his development with the Light that has to change him, with the force that has to bring him a new mind and feelings. We cling to external forms and aspire to perceive the text that was written by Kabbalists with our earthly feelings and mind. We try to adapt spirituality to our earthly existence. However, in all the books of Kabbalah, not a word speaks about our world. Our state is necessary only in order to attract the Light that Reforms through studying in a group. Our task is to expect for the birth of new feelings and a new mind within us, which will give us the perception of the new reality.

Our entire battle with our nature amounts to finding new instruments of perceiving the world, and then perceiving and attaining through them.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/10, “Matan Torah”

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A question I received: I came to the science of Kabbalah, the science of reception, in order to receive. But suddenly I see that it teaches about how to increase one’s desire. Where is the reception here?

My Answer: This is reception. I receive a special force from the Creator called “love,” which is something completely unknown to us. With the help of this force I attach all the desires existing in reality to myself. They all become my desires and I receive them along with their fulfillment.

This is called the science of Kabbalah, which is about how to receive desires full of goodness. They are all yours. All you need is to feel love for them. Then you will discover that they are in the state of the End of Correction, and all of it is yours.

When you acquire the force of love, you start to feel the desires of your neighbor better than he does, and you then fulfill him according to your sensations. It’s like a mother feels what her child needs.

In spirituality the Upper One knows best what the lower one needs. The lower one simply screams, revealing his desire to you. But you know all the components of his desire, even though he does not. That’s because you are the upper one. If you are the one who bestows and you fulfill him, then you are the upper one in relation to him and you know more about him than he does.

This is the law of upper love, which does not have anything in common with the notions we attribute to the word “love” in our world.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/10, “Matan Torah”

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A question I received: How do I recognize the form I’m being taught from Above?

My Answer: The science of Kabbalah speaks of very logical things and reveals a great deal of new knowledge about man in this world and the force that governs us all. By doing so, Kabbalah supplements our knowledge of human psychology and our general outlook on the world.

Yet the science of Kabbalah is meant for those who already sense spirituality and have five spiritual “organs of perception”: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin and Malchut. Until a person acquires these higher organs of perception, Kabbalah is not a science for him, but rather an encoded message, a book of mysteries.

What can I do if I am unable to understand a single word that I read? I don’t exist in the reality that converts every word I read into a concrete sensation. If I lack such a connection with the world under investigation, it’s not considered a science. Only when I have all research data and can experiment with it, does it become a science.

Thus initially, we study Kabbalah not to learn this wisdom, but to obtain the tools (Kelim) to attain it so that we can  begin to sense the object of our research. If my vision is bad, then to be able to see, I first need to get myself a pair of glasses. I earn money to buy the glasses, put them on, only then do I begin to see clearly. Only then do I begin to hear the explanations and understand what I am being told about.

That is why there is “preparation time” during which we work on ourselves in order to enter the spiritual world.We begin to sense it to the extent we acquire its properties. Later on, as they appear and develop within us, we proceed with investigation of the new world, much like a child who grows because of new properties that surface in him.

At the initial stage of developing new properties within us, we have nothing to ask about, because we have no ability to understand. Only one question is appropriate during this time: Are we aligning ourselves correctly in order to attract the Upper Light which forms new properties within us? Our success and future depend on the Light’s actions.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 4/29/10

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A question I received: What is the spiritual meaning of tithing (Maaser)?

My Answer: The tithe is the separation of the tenth part of Malchut. The Torah instructs us to set aside the parts which instead of being used for the sake of bestowal directly can only be used through society. This calculation is performed only with regard to the Creator, for the sake of bestowal to Him.

The Torah describes many types of taxes, but all of them are based on one principle: Because I am unable to bestow with certain desires that I have within me and the Light that comes to me, I pass these desires to the general desire (Kli). In a common desire, through a society, I’m able to carry this out.

My Kli is partial, meaning that for the time being, the screen covers only a part of my desires, in which I’m ready to receive for the sake of bestowal. How can I correct the part in which I’m incapable of bestowing?

I receive the Light for that part and transfer the desire to receive pleasure along with the received Light to an outside Kli. Thereby I prepare it for correction. By not using Maaser today (the tenth part of Malchut, which cannot be corrected), I prepare this part for correction through society.

In the science of Kabbalah, we study our desires called “garments” and “house.” They become corrected by my first seeing them as external to me, and then transferring them to my internality.

The same applies to Maaser. I seemingly transfer it for external usage, but then it becomes my internality and returns to me with the desires I did not previously consider my own. For the time being, in my sensations, I cannot correct that part in order to use it, by receiving for the sake of bestowal.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: What is essentially the gist of the method that you want to convey to the whole world?

My Answer: It’s the method of how to properly organize human society. Right now society is broken and feels the need to unite. However, it doesn’t have the method to attain unity.

Everyone understands that our egoism is destroying us and we have nowhere left to go. There are no other methods left. Our entire history and the entire path we have gone through have brought us to the understanding that we cannot do anything to affect human nature. All research shows that we are complete egoists and every person thinks only about himself.

However, we cannot keep advancing in this manner. The ego is constantly growing while the world we live in forces everyone to be interconnected. Nature has pushed us into this tight connection, yet we are striving to do the opposite, to separate as much as we can. We have no way to balance these two forces that are opposite to one another: our ego, which separates us from each other, and the force of nature, which pressures us and locks us all together like in prison.

We find ourselves in one small room where we all hate each other. The situation is becoming unbearable and we don’t understand: What should we do next?

Humanity is gradually revealing this state of affairs. On the other hand, the science of Kabbalah is being revealed, which is a method offering a way to resolve the contradiction and transform it to perfection. It is possible only with the help of an external, Upper Force, which does not exist within the plane of our reality.

This seems unrealistic to you because the force that can correct our state does not come from our world. Yet, we can discover it and use it just like the other forces of nature that we did not know in the past, but we learned about them and now use them.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/10, “Matan Torah”

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A question I received: Students experience the practical side of Kabbalah at the conventions. What is the practical side of Kabbalah?

My Answer: We were born, created in a state where the ego separates us. According to the plan of creation, we must become connected in brotherly love. This is something that is impossible to realize using our own strength because we’re all simple egoists.

Egoistically we can feel only this world. It is whatever each individual perceives in their small egos. Once a person comes out of the ego and actually starts feeling the others, he starts feeling, in this new attitude towards them, a reality called the spiritual world, or the next world, or the upper reality.

This is precisely the very practical thing that we can do together in this kind of convention. It is through that connection between us. We can tangibly feel it. To actually realize that is what we intend to do.

I really hope that it will happen, and if not in this convention then maybe the next one. But we are going towards that and what we’re going to do are really tangible, practical things that the wisdom of Kabbalah writes about, that The Zohar writes about, here and now, on the face of earth, between human beings.

From an Interview with the Learning Center Director 4/5/10

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Everything consists of just two components: desire and fulfillment. In Kabbalah, fulfillment is called Light. It is all around and inside us, unlimited in scope. We are in it like in an ocean. All the changes in how we perceive ourselves and our surroundings depend on the changing of our desire. Our desire, in turn, either changes under the influence of the Light or under the influence of our efforts. The desire is called a vessel and the fulfillment is called Light. The Light is constant, and the only thing that changes is the desire or vessel; its change alters the constant Light that it perceives.

Kabbalah teaches us how to change our desire so we feel an additional, spiritual world within it. This is the meaning of the verse, “You will see your world in this life.” This happens when a person creates one more inner desire. Inside it, he feels the Upper World, and then even when the desire in which he feels this world disappears, it does not influence his desire and sensation of the Upper World. It always remains in his sensation. Yet, even if one was unable to create a new desire, the Partzuf of our world eventually disappears and is replaced by a new one. Thus, a person is “born” into the sensation of this world.

Every sensation in the desire has its period of existence. When a certain level or Partzuf runs it course, it disappears and is replaced by the following one. However, on the level of this world, it remains as long as we don’t create an inner desire (Partzuf) of the Upper World, the desire of bestowal and love.

In essence, all the generations are Partzufim on the level of this world, existing within the quality of reception. They are limited by their inner perception because this kind of development takes place within a single plane: We return to the same level or the same world in various life cycles. We see our reality in different forms, but always on the same level – this world.

The Upper World, however, is the sensation within the quality of bestowal, the sensation beyond oneself and development upwards. That’s why we are summoned, “See your world in this life.”

From the preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/25/10, Shamati #69

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