Question: I know what “bitter versus sweet” feels like, but what is “true versus false”?

Answer: In our world truth doesn’t have any taste; we only feel bitter or sweet. It’s not the heart, but the mind that asserts what is true and what is a lie.

Lying is something that is disliked, but truth and falsehood are not really comprehended because we don’t have the instruments to discern them. We feel better telling the truth; however, it’s not really the truth, but merely a sweet sensation of telling it. Our “true versus false” discernment turns into a “sweet versus bitter” assessment by our ego.

This means we are using only one criteria of “sweet versus bitter” because even our mind works to accommodate our “belly.” In other words, a person’s mind is subordinate to his egoism. However, the falsehood and truth that Kabbalah speaks about can only be known through the quality of bestowal, which we don’t have yet. Only through this property can we realize that bestowal is the truth. It is not in any way connected to whatever is happening in our desire to receive pleasure, that is, whether it is filled or not.

Therefore, in order to rise above the animate body and break free from it, we need the Upper Force, the Light that Reforms. These forces don’t exist in our world, which operates solely on egoistic desire. If we want to be able to discern between evil and good, we have to rise to the degree of Adam HaRishon (the First Man), who was able to see good and evil when the serpent opened his eyes. On one hand it was “poison,” but on the other, we can use it as medicine.

Why did Adam HaRishon, the first spiritual degree revealed to the soul, immediately divide? There was one desire. Why did it split in two, man and woman, Adam and Hava, and why did it later break into more and more people until there are billions of them?

This is so because correction is impossible without breaking Adam into multiple souls. Each soul must have a small, precise, and special goal; it must carry out a certain mission like each cell of an organism that has a definite and specific function. For example, computers are operated through the binary system, which includes only “0” and “1.” This does not seem very complicated, but look at the extraordinary result that such a simple system produces!

This is why the souls were divided; otherwise we wouldn’t be able to carry out our correction. Even now, despite the fact that we’re broken into small particles and every person is carrying a special and specific mission, just look at how confused we are, unable to figure out what each of us is supposed to do.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/18/2010, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: Does every soul have the responsibility of becoming an active part of the collective system as do all Kabbalists?

Answer: Each soul must plug into work within this system since it is perfect. If perfection lacks even one part, it is not perfection any more; there is nothing! It’s as if one is drilling a hole in the boat and the boat sinks with everything and everyone on it. It doesn’t matter how big the boat was (it could have been massive), but it is a comprehensive structure where each part plays an essential role. Therefore, every person has equal value whether they are a sage or a simpleton. In the integral, closed system we are all equally important.

At the time of correction there are big and small souls within the process, and every person should be viewed according to his spiritual degree. The small ones should yield to the big ones and so on. However, at the end of the correction process, all souls are equal in perfection.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/5/10, "Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot"

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Question: If the breaking of the collective soul is a natural and necessary process, why then is it called “falling into sin?”

Answer: We call any downfall “sin,” but do we really sin? In our world, it is considered a sin when I think that I can resist an act that I know is unacceptable, but still do it. But it isn’t really so because if I knew for a fact that it is prohibited, I wouldn’t do it.

Actually, sin is when I am overtaken and overpowered by the forces of separation. Sin is the state itself but not its cause. The cause always lies with the Creator. It is He who created our evil egoistic inclination.

How else can the evil inclination be created if not through “falling into sin?” First, it is necessary to ascend to the highest degree, fall from it, to receive impressions from all the degrees of ascent and our current state, and to cultivate the egoistic desire by means of the breaking of the soul. In fact, if it weren’t for the breaking, egoism would have remained at the animate level. Conversely, through the breaking, it grows to be a “creature,” “the evil inclination.”

Before the breaking, it was just a will to receive pleasure, an animal. If a lion, for instance, wants to kill a deer, we don’t consider it to be an evil inclination; a lion is simply moved by instinct, a desire to be filled.

So, when does the evil inclination appear? It appears when we ascend, receive forces of love and unity there, then fall with them and the forces turn into their opposite: unfounded hatred. Now the desire to feel pleasure, which includes all the informational data (Reshimot) that are pushing it toward this unfounded hatred, is called the evil inclination. From this moment on, it wishes to use everyone else to their detriment because that is what it enjoys.

In other words, in a human appears a sensation of another human (which animals don’t possess), and he enjoys when the other suffers. That is genuine egoism! In contrast, good is when I turn this hatred into love. Yet, a relationship with the other is necessary in both cases.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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We are incapable of receiving into our desires all the Light of bestowal that is prepared for us at once. The solution to this problem is simple: to receive it in small “doses,” generation after generation, and let billions of people and not just one person work on this in each generation. In this way, we will receive all the Light into one joint vessel of our common soul.

The goal, however, is to collect all the broken parts of the common soul that were deliberately shattered from Above and now feel separated and hostile to each other. The hatred that exists between us encompasses the entire force of connection which was meant to reveal itself by us “receiving in order to bestow.” However, this failed to happen and led us to “receiving for our own sake.”

So, this dividing force transforms itself during the breaking into its opposite and is now at the disposal of the created beings. By correcting hatred in all prior generations and within the multiple parts in each generation, all we do is recover the connections between separated souls. In other words, our goal is not to receive the Light for the sake of bestowal, but to re-connect the splinters that emerged after the breaking. By attaining connection, the creature will reach the power of bestowal and, later on, attain “receiving in order to bestow.”

We have to realize that correction of the state of separation between us and construction of relationships based on bestowal and love is our distinction. Not only did the Creator shatter us into multiple particles; most importantly, they were separated by hostility. To correct them means to collect and connect these particles back together. We have to pay attention to this rather than concentrate on the Light that becomes revealed within us. The Light that corrects our desires, the Light of love and bestowal, has to descend to us before anything else.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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The Zohar tells us about the Upper World, which we reveal inside of us. Everything described in this book occurs inside us. In fact, we perceive our world in the same way. The difference between the worlds or perceptions is that we perceive this world individually, within our egoism, while the Upper World is perceived collectively within our relationships and the connection between us.

Connection through mutual bestowal and love is called the soul, and what we perceive in this soul is called the spiritual world. By making corrections in ourselves we correct the initially broken connection (Kli) and thus reveal different qualities of the connection that The Zohar talks about. The common connection of all parts of the soul or creation is called the Creator. The entire spiritual world is comprised of different types of connections, which are called Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, different angels, as well as still, vegetative, animate, and spiritual objects. These are all revealed in the connections.

Today we perceive our world and think that it exists on its own. However, this is an illusion. The truth is that we perceive a type of connection between us that we call by this name. The last or lowest level of connection among the parts of the soul (the particular souls) provides a sensation of a bad connection that is called “this world.” When we attain the absolute connection of all parts of the universe, this connection is called the World of Infinity because it is an unrestricted connection without any finite limits. It is, indeed, beyond space and time.

Between the full connection in the World of Infinity and the complete absence of connection in this world, there are five levels of connection or five worlds called Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya. We actually exist in only one reality which is the World of Infinity, but our perception of it depends on our attitude toward the connection. This involves 1) egoism or reception, and 2) bestowal or love. Our life is a sensation of the quality of connection between the parts of reality.

If we want to reveal the true world and understand, attain, and enjoy it, we have to try to see ourselves as more connected when reading The Book of Zohar. Then we will begin revealing a greater connection and the Upper World. This method to reveal the Upper World is called “We shall do and we shall hear” (Naase ve Nishma).
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/10, The Zohar

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The more we unite, take part in common actions such as Conventions and unity evenings, and communicate within the “Stimulator” system, general waves of Upper Light will begin to roll over us and gradually cast us up to the shore of the Upper World. We will then discover that there is a multitude of people swaying together in one wave to carry out a common spiritual action. The Upper Force acts synchronously in regard to a great number of people. Therefore, the intensity of this spiritual desire and the Upper Light surrounding it are revealed in this union. This begins to influence all of humanity, and is called the dissemination of the science of Kabbalah.

People will begin to subconsciously feel this phenomenon due to the fact that we are all connected as one soul. Even those who did not see or hear anything about this will inevitably begin to sway on the same wave, feeling the presence of the spiritual movement in the world. The world will become more sensitive to the influence of the Light.

In this manner, we are influencing the whole world with the waves that we create together. We are raising and lowering the whole world – raising sparks of bestowal and lowering egoism. More and more sparks of bestowal are making their way to the top and people are beginning to ask about the meaning of life. Thus we are hastening the process of correction.

From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/19/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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During a Kabbalah Convention we bring together all our forces of bestowal to create one common, collective force. Afterwards, because of this force, a new egoistic desire becomes revealed. We then begin to work on it by ascending with “faith above reason” despite our unwillingness. At that point we find that new people join us, and that’s because we have acquired the strength to take care of them. We affect the common soul, the only creation, with our actions. We gather the forces of bestowal from each person and thereby form one small soul which is equivalent to the single soul of Adam in the state of the World of Infinity. As a result, we awaken all of the souls through our efforts, and they begin to “vibrate” together! This is the dissemination of Kabbalah. We don’t need a lot of materials about the goal and correction. People will simply feel that the source of the Upper Force is here. However, it will only happen if we will create a common soul, a collective force. From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/19/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”
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The Zohar, Chapter ”Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Items 146-150: He said, “When a man goes to sleep on his bed, his soul departs from him and goes up, as it is written, ‘At night my soul longs for You.’”…

Afterwards, she walks and roams and rises according to her degree.

That Nefesh that was rewarded with rising appears before the King and adheres with a desire to be seen, a sublime craving to see the pleasantness of the King and to visit His palace. This is a man who always has a share in the next world.

What is the soul (Nefesh)? When I desire to unite with the others and feel how through this aspiration I connect with similar desires of the others, the place of our oneness and unity is called “Nefesh” in relation to me. Everyone may feel it differently, but for me Nefesh is the first spiritual step. If I can later strengthen this connection despite my growing egoism and obstacles, I can attain the next spiritual degrees: Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida. But the place of my very first contact, my desire for unity to occur, is called Nefesh.

I have to create a place for all of our desires to come together! And when everybody is there (and so am I), when I have connected them with my effort (and they have given me the opportunity to enter and join them), there, in the place of my exertion and my oneness with all the others, I will finally undergo all the spiritual states that The Zohar tells us about.

All I need is to desire this connection and feel as if I’m already in it, which will indicate my entering the state of Nefesh. The Zohar tells me about what happens next, in this oneness. There is only one relationship which experiences ups and downs, various adventures, and spiritual states. The Zohar doesn’t discuss anything else. As a matter of fact, The Zohar talks solely about the spiritual world since spirituality can be found only in our oneness.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/27/10, The Zohar

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Light comes to us from Above and awakens specific parts of the common soul in order to advance them according to its program. This program is very complex and assumes that the souls will awaken in a specific order and combination among them like parts of one body. This is invisible to the eye, but according to the inner structure of the soul they are all connected with each other. The Light connects them together so they will perform the mutual work of searching for the quality of bestowal.

These are people who are complete strangers, very different from one another, and have completely contrasting material qualities. Yet, we have to believe that this is all arranged from Above. We have to leave behind everything that prevents us from uniting and search for a means that can help us accomplish this. The search will enable us to understand that the only basis for unification is bestowal, which is above reception. Nothing but this can unite people.

This path is very inconsistent, as if we are traveling across a very uneven road and our car is constantly thrown up and down by all the potholes and bumps. Yet, despite everything it has to keep going and advancing forward. The more we advance, the greater is the frequency of bumps and the more sensitive we are to them. In other words, the changes taking place in us are more drastic and significant. The truth is that they were the same before, but we did not notice or feel them very much.

It is impossible to advance down this road unless you even it out. Then our car will roll along quickly and easily! The only way we can smooth out every pit and bump on this path is to have a common opinion in the group and unity among us. This is the only thing that will fill in all the pits and unite us together, making our path smooth and even.

There is no possibility to advance spirituality without evening out the road. The disturbances and problems that arise before a person who desires to advance individually, or worse yet, a group of individualists, are so great that it is impossible to overcome them. The car will inevitably get stuck and it will be impossible to get it out. A person will remain in the same place; his life will be over, and he still won’t complete the path or attain the goal.

Therefore, our work must be aimed at unity. Then we will reveal that we can attain all the results precisely through unity! Our spiritual advancement on this path depends only on this. All the efforts and revelations happen only in one direction inside this connection that unites us all.

Everything depends on how much a person values the connection among the friends above all the problems that become revealed, and he understands just one thing: “There is none else besides Him.” All the disturbances come from the Creator. He gives rise to these inner pits and bumps inside us, confusing us in a thousand different ways. We have to imagine that all the problems come from Him and their only purpose is for us to unite.

Therein lies the secret to success! This is the basis upon which everything begins and all the rest is built.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/15/10, “Concerning the Importance of Friends”

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Question: What is Gematria in spirituality?

Answer: Gematria is a specific inner state of a person or of his soul, comprised of desire (a vessel, Kli) and Light, fulfillment. The sum of all sensations, impressions, states, memories, and intentions, the general state of the soul expressed in the form of letters or a sequence of letters, is called Gematria. It is a way of writing down a specific state of the soul.

Suppose I could play a melody or sing a song that expresses my state. This is Gematria. I can draw a letter or symbol; this will also be Gematria. I can convey my sensation or my state by recording it. It is similar to Reshimo, a record of information about a state.

In spirituality there is nothing besides the state of the Light and desire (Kli), that state of equivalence between the Light and desire with the help of a screen or intention. Everything else are means or ways to express this state.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/15/10, The Zohar

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