Question: If a person doesn’t exist apart from others, then why do each of us have a sensation that reality is created for him and that the Creator relates to him personally?

Answer: This is a degree of exclusiveness that each of us possesses. It comes to us from the Creator and constitutes our roots that make us different from each other. It obligates each of us to implement our uniqueness, as it is true that “the world is created for me.” This is what every person has to enunciate and validate to himself. However, it should not be done at the “expense” of others, but rather for the sake of others.

I am the one who corrects this world; other people are only parts of me. This fact obligates me to treat others as though they depend on me. I have to unite with them through the power of my love, and I am the one who defines it.

When my point connects with their points, I become their “head,” meaning the head of a body that is called the “common soul.” It is me who is making decisions, creating connections, and filling them with the Creator’s Light because for them I represent the source or the Creator. There is somebody else, and it’s you. You are the one who does the same thing in connecting other people (including me) to you. You, too, become a head of our universal body, but it’s a different body because, in your case, it is identified by your proper attitude to others.

Thus, each of us is a unique personality and doesn’t encumber others, but rather complements them. You sense the Creator’s personal attitude, but He can relate to you only through the group. Similarly, you relate to Him only through the group.

The Creator is that which is revealed in the connection between us. The Upper Light settles specifically within the desires of bestowal and the connection between all souls. When all properties of bestowal unite, the vessel for the revelation of the Creator (a network of bestowal) divulges itself.

The desire itself underwent the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) and stopped receiving. Receiving is possible only through the bonds that connect all desires at a place where a screen and the Reflected Light are present.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/10, “What is the Matter of My Making A Pact in the Work”

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We need to feel our opposition to the Light and bring ourselves to its state. If we don’t draw the Light to ourselves, we feel suffering since it feels bitter to sense that we are opposite to the Creator. Therefore, in order to give us an opportunity to develop properly, we are brought into a system called a “Kabbalistic group.” Instead of existing in a vacuum and not knowing how to develop in the attempts to become similar to the Creator, I find myself in a group.

I can work on uniting with the group, with others who aspire to the same goal as me. Instead of focusing on something invisible, being in a void, and not knowing where the suffering comes from or what’s going on, I work on unification. And our connection solves all the problems!

How can unification of the souls substitute for similarity to the Creator? Originally, in the World of Infinity we were one soul of Adam. Later, we broke into many parts, individual souls, and instead of the World of Infinity we began to feel our (broken) world. Through the breaking, the Light created qualities in us that are opposite to it, and the soul became opposite to the Light.

However, if we correct the breaking together and reunite, our action lends itself to the revelation of the Light, becoming like it. Instead of equalizing ourselves to the Light which is concealed, we equalize ourselves to the desires which we feel and understand. It seems to us as though we are being summoned, like good children, to unite and annul our egoism. But by doing so we reveal the Light in the unification of our desires because this is where the Light concealed itself: inside the broken Kelim.

It turns out that the opportunity to work in the group is the most practical and real application of Kabbalah. We perform actions that are available to us while, in essence, we reveal the Light that is situated beyond the breaking. In this manner we clarify our contrast to the Light, become equal to it, and unite. The Light and the vessel merge into one whole, and we return to the World of Infinity.

We reveal 620 states or degrees that separate us from each other and from the Light. By doing so we discover that we are opposite to the Light to the extent of 620 degrees and thereby understand the Light of Infinity 620 times better. We thus reveal the common soul and the entire Light that fills it: the Creator.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/10, Shamati #50

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Question: If everything comes to us through the group, then why is it that when we have material problems, we have to work on them and try to solve them? If you’re sick, then you have to go to a doctor. Why isn’t it enough to simply turn to the group and have it help you on the inner level?

Answer: We are not yet at the level of being able to solve all the problems through the connection with the group. However, in reality it really should work that way. You are asking a very fair question: Why is it impossible to solve all the problems with the help of the Light that Reforms? Why can’t we turn to the group, concentrate a powerful desire there, and let it happen by acting directly upon the Light, the Source of life?

Once, when I had an extremely painful ulcer, Rabash made me sit next to him and study. I could not bear the pain so I was unable to sit there and delve into the text and the intention. I could not overcome the pain and attract the force that would soothe my pain, and perhaps it would have cured it altogether.

Without a doubt, it was my own fault for being so weak. That is why I couldn’t do it and attract the Light when I was right next to my teacher, when we sat and studied together. Since he offered for me to do this, it meant that I was able to! But at that moment I could not.

Returning to your question, once we have a large group, then we will not need any external means or medicines to solve any issues! Medicine acts on the bodily level, whereas we will be able to act directly to fulfill the desire that perceives a lack of fulfillment, experienced as illness or pain. We won’t just be curing the body, but using it as a reason to cure the soul.

From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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The Zohar, Chapter “Va Yechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 152: In the midst of all that, Rabbi Elazar saw that the angel of death departed and said, “No sentence holds where Rabbi Shimon is.” Rabbi Shimon said to Rabbi Elazar, “Come here and hold Rabbi Yitzhak, for I see that he is afraid.” Rabbi Elazar came in and held him, and Rabbi Shimon turned his face and engaged in Torah.

Question: Why does a soul fear to ascend to its next spiritual degree? If it already sees its corrected state, why does it dread leaving the current one?

Answer: I am not prepared for it, and therefore I fear. The wisdom of Kabbalah often speaks about the awe before the Creator. The state of awe is a spiritual vessel (Kli, desire). It is the same in our case. I am afraid that I am not ready to exist at the level of bestowal in my present state, which I share with the friends and the teacher Rabbi Shimon, who becomes revealed as a mentor and guide on our path.

Suppose a teacher one day tells me that I have to jump from a plane. But I am terrified for I don’t think I can do it. This is an earthly example of how I feel in egoistic properties.

In spirituality, however, we talk about the property of bestowal, where the fear is even greater. I discover that I am not in bestowal and have no strength of my own for it. I am unable to pull myself together (as I would in the material world) and take the next step. It isn’t the same in spirituality, and there is always a question: Will I receive the strength, or, rather, will I be able to ask for it? This fear, the awe, is a very problematic state.

Awe before the Creator is the first commandment. I use it as a foundation on which I build everything else. It’s because I depend on the Creator, the Upper Surrounding Light that I receive. My position at a certain spiritual degree depends on the amount of strength the Light provides for me. And if it doesn’t bring me this strength, I will have none.

How can I participate in this? How close am I able to come with the others? How great is my present capacity to do so? This “death” (for my egoism) must come to me step by step. It has to be accepted by me and turn into life within me, as it is written: “The angel of death becomes the angel of life.”

Spiritual acts (of bestowal) that a person is yet to commit seem an enormous stumbling block. When you think about fulfillment, it is desirable (in our egoism). But when you think about the corrected desire (Kli) where it is revealed, rejection and fear arise: Am I good for it?

From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/10, The Zohar

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In reality, there is no difference between the Creator and the group; it exists solely in our ego. Only one element is concealed from me: the source of pleasure. That is why I see the group instead of seeing the Creator.

It is, however, done for my own salvation, so that I may develop a selfless relationship with them and not be corrupted by the pleasure they may provide! Hence, pleasure and fulfillment that exist in the group are hidden from me, and I am able to build relationships with them through my free and independent action.

If the Creator revealed Himself and His love to me at once, it would oblige me in everything and annihilate a possibility of my using free will. But in the Creator’s concealment, I remain totally independent: If I feel like being close to the group, I move closer; if I don’t, I move away; I can think whatever I want about them as well. Concealment is a great favor on the Creator’s part; He is doing this for our own good, in order to allow us to construct ourselves.

Concealment lets me remain neutral and assemble my individual character and values. It only seems that I am surrounded by a group of strangers. In fact, it is my own soul, my spiritual Kli!

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/10, “What is Day and Night in Work?”

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Nothing disappears in spirituality. On the contrary, the differences between the souls become even more vivid. Every particular soul possesses special qualities that create the entire wealth of perceiving the Creator. This happens precisely by virtue of connecting with the opposite qualities of other souls. That is how the mutual perception of the Creator becomes 620 times greater than the perception of a separate soul.

The size of our spiritual vessel (Kli) is not defined by its quality, but quantity. That is why every soul is revealed more powerfully and uniquely. This is similar to stem cells which are universal and can be used like building blocks to build everything else. The heart, liver, kidneys, and lungs can all be built out of this basis called the stem cell.

The same thing is true in spirituality. For now each of us lives inside the “stem cell” of his own soul. Later we will begin connecting to the general system, the group, or the system of souls that we reveal in the group, and by attaching them to us, we will then connect to the Creator who becomes revealed in the system of souls. That is when we will also begin to attain ourselves: Who we are, what we belong to, what our soul is, what my mission is, and what my main quality is out of the entire sum of qualities accompanying it.

Therefore, when we advance in spirituality, every person becomes more and more connected with everything, but at the same time he stands out more and more, becomes more unique because by connecting with others, he increases his own “stem cell.” That is why Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Freedom” that every person must develop, rather than suppress, his unique qualities. By virtue of every person’s uniqueness, we will attain a huge, perfect vessel of the soul in which we will be able to perceive the entire spiritual world and the Creator 620 times greater than at the beginning of creation.

From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/10, The Zohar

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Question: Who is to blame for my downfalls in the final analysis: me or the Creator? Are they a result of my effort or lack thereof?

Answer: It is said about the Creator, “I am the beginning and the end.” “I am the beginning” means that each initial state is not up to a person. Usually, it doesn’t have anything to do with whatever took place previously.

I am not talking about regular folks in whom the “genes” (Reshimot, orders from Above) unwind mechanically and sequentially, and the questions of the purpose of life and attaining free will don’t arise. Rather, I refer to a person who has already received the void to fill and senses it through the surfaced question of the purpose of life. Such a person can fulfill himself by entering the group (the collective system of souls) and analyzing his ascents and descents since this state initiates his spiritual journey.

Everything is evaluated in relation to freedom of choice, not to the state itself. My condition itself doesn’t matter; it can be good or bad. What matters is how I am employing it right now. In other words, only the “derivative” is evaluated.

I don’t change the world, nor do I correct it. I correct my participation in it.

From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/31/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item136: “One bird comes out to the south, right—the one that comes from a spark of Hochma. Also, one bird comes out to the north, left—the one that comes from the spark of Bina. One comes out when the day rises, from Hochma, and one when the day sets, at evening time, after midday, from Bina. Each calls and declares what it heard from that herald… from the illumination of the midnight Zivug, called ‘a herald’.”

This is speaking of a person’s inner states when he analyzes the self and undergoes various processes of discerning the three lines within himself. He examines to what extent is he positioned in equilibrium in the right, left, or middle line.

“Day” and “night” don’t come from outside. We always remain in the Light and our Kelim are divided into multiple types in which we perceive the right, left, and middle lines, as well as upward and downward, as well as all directions and times. The division into internal and external Kelim gives us the sensation of distance and space, close and far, and the classification of desires into “root, soul, body, coverings, and abode.”

All these peculiarities, as well as day, night, morning, evening, and various hours, are processes taking place in our desire. In fact, desire is the only thing we possess. Through dividing into numerous types and constantly unfolding them for us, the desire gives us the sensation of the occurring changes in time and space in the emerging states.

We classify them as four types of perception, “World, year, soul, and existence of reality.” All these modifications take place within us as a result of our correction since everything except us remains in absolute rest. Only the Reshimot keep unwinding and unfolding either “in its time” (Beito) or “Ahishena,” which is when we start accelerating this process and hastening the time.

Therefore, the “birds” that flew in “night,” “day,” “morning,” “evening,” all the planes such as “root, soul, body, coverings, abode,” and the existence of reality are perceived within a person in his desire. However, I think that I am surrounded by a world full of people, that everything is spinning and life goes on. Yet, only one thing is within my reach: What steps will I take toward the correct perception of reality?

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/31/10, The Zohar

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5 Minutes Of Light From The Daily Lesson: Find Balance Through The Middle Line

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The Zohar, Chapter “VeYechi (Jacob Lived),” Item 119: “Only your fathers did the Lord desire.” “Your fathers,” actually three—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It writes, “Only,” really only, that there are no more than these three, and from them all the others branch out and grip, meaning all the degrees in BYA. They rise for MAN to ZON, to crown the Name, to extend new Mochin to the Nukva, who is called “Name.”

The Zohar always brings us to the middle line in all the states. That is its mission: to constantly show us how we can arrange the two lines we receive from Above, from the Creator – the force of bestowal and the force of reception. The Zohar shows us how to build our reality out of them so we are above the force of bestowal and the force of reception. We ascend above both of them and receive them to the degree we are able to include one inside the other. Their mutual combination builds the middle line in us.

The middle line is built out of the sum of two lines, by using the best from both of them. The middle line is formed when the left line becomes included in the right line, and the right line  in the left line, and then you take what is shared between them – their mutual combination from both sides (Malchut in Bina and Bina in Malchut). That is how you make the middle line.

This is the fundamental principle, and the same thing happens to the soul. The soul does not exist unless we build it. Even though it is called “a piece of the Creator from Above,” in fact this piece does not come from the Creator unless I build it through the connection between us. This spiritual vessel (Kli) does not exist. We build it in the form of a connecting net between us.

The same thing happens with the middle line because it is the soul. The right and left lines, bestowal and reception, come to us. They are both forces of nature. When I combine them in the right way, then the middle line or the soul is formed out of them.

In our relationships we deal with the forces of bestowal and reception. Based on our reception we build the form of bestowal, and that is how we attain the soul by creating a middle line between us. There is no reality besides the one we build between us. Everything becomes revealed there, in that reality.

The Zohar brings the middle line to us from Above. While reading it, we have to try to become included into that line. Then we are tuned to the same wave through which the Light comes to us and returns us to the Source, the Creator.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/30/10, The Zohar

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Rabash, “The Purpose Of The Association“: We have gathered here in order to create a group in which every one of us will aspire to give pleasure to the Creator. However, in order to achieve this we must first learn to give pleasure or bestow to man. In other words, we must learn to love our neighbor. Only by suppressing one’s own egoism is it possible to carry out this Commandment of love for one’s neighbor.

Sometimes Rabash’s articles appear confusing and disorganized. We don’t understand why he suddenly cites quotes from one place and then from another. Yet, we have to understand that a Kabbalist does not do anything accidentally. He expresses what he feels, and his sensation is the Upper Light clothed into a corrected Kli. If we were in his place, we would write exactly the same thing!

Therefore, even if it seems to us that this text was written in a fashion that does not suit us, we have to understand that if we ascended and stood in his place, we would write the same exact words. This is called following the method of Rabash and Baal HaSulam.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/29/10, “The Purpose Of The Association”

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