A question I received: What does it practically mean “To value the inner part of me more than the external part?” Baal HaSulam writes that this is necessary in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar.”

My Answer: To value the inner part of you means to respect your mission and responsibility to attain mutual bestowal and to unite together “as one man with one heart” through brotherly love, for the sake of revealing the Creator, the general force of bestowal and love that rules in nature. This has to be the most important thing to a person. We are talking about the Upper Force of bestowal, which fills everything, but which we don’t feel because we nullify its manifestation with our egoism. The right intention for us to have is for this force to become revealed within us to the fullest extent.

I make a simple calculation: that this is the only thing that is important to me in this life. This is why I was born and what I live for. This is what I have to achieve as long as I live in this world. In addition, all of humanity depends on the work I do in this regard, because we are all connected together inside one net.

Baal HaSulam writes that “a person from the nation of Israel,” meaning a person who has a point in the heart (Isra-El means the aspiration to the Creator) determines the direction and state of the whole world with his intention. He can say, “I don’t want anything right now. I’m in a state of descent so leave me alone. I don’t want to hear about spiritual work. I’m going to rest!” In that case, where is his responsibility and the understanding that there are millions and billions of people who depend on him? He is now determining their fate and how they will advance toward correction – whether through painful blows or through realization and goodness.

If these people depend on you, then you have a very strict responsibility to make the right choice because you are leading everyone, be it in a good direction or a bad one. You have no choice about the matter; this is how the worldwide network is built and this is the place you have been allotted in it. Therefore, you must always be in a state of upper fear and remember that you decide what will happen to the whole world.

Later you will reveal that all the people are your children, the closest thing to you! But you have to think this way even now, by faith above reason. Everything that you do is not being done to you, but to the whole world!

How important we deem spirituality directly determines the fate of all humanity. What’s important for us will be important for everyone else. That is the structure of this entire system, in which we are connected with strict connections. A person without a point in the heart does not have the ability to change anything. Only you do, who are called “Isra-El,” or “Li-Rosh” (I am the head).

From the Independence Day lecture 04/20/10, “Preface to the Book of Zohar”

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The Zohar, Chapter “BeHukotai (In My Statues),” Item 5: Balak was wise. In his deeds he was the greatest of the wizards, greater than Balaam. I learned that everything that one wishes for in this world in the work of the Creator, he should awaken with an act below. This is so because with the act below, the act above is awakened….

It appears as though we depend on the desire from Above, for the Light to awaken us. However, when we begin to work below, we bring the awakening from Above.

Concerning the “awakening from below” and “awakening from Above,” it is written, “I am the first and I am the last.” This means that all is done by the Creator. It’s obvious that everything begins with the Creator; however, it is necessary for us to become involved in the process. At the beginning of one’s spiritual work and at the very end, a person receives help from Above, but everything else depends on him.

This is exactly the place where we usually become lost. When a person is at the lowest point of his fall, he is unable to climb out of it by himself, about this it is written, “A prisoner cannot liberate himself from the prison.” But if he is thrown the end of a life-line, then the rest depends on him (he has to grab it himself). He is accountable as to whether or not he has used the opportunity correctly.

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A question I received: On March 16 there will be a preparation event for the mini-Congress devoted to Passover. Is this preparation really necessary considering that the Congress will only last four hours? Can’t we just attend and experience everything there?

My Answer: It’s actually the other way around: If I were getting ready for a three day long Convention such as the one that was held in February, then I wouldn’t need to go through a very big preparation because I would have enough time at the Convention to prepare. For example, I would spend the first half a day or a day on the preparation, and then I would have time to absorb everything over the next two days.

However, if I’m coming for just four hours and I haven’t prepared ahead of time, then those hours will fly by without bringing me any benefit. Therefore, the shorter the upcoming meeting is, the greater and more meticulously we have to prepare for it.

I strongly advise you to enter the mini-Congress site and familiarize yourself with what will happen there, as well as to start thinking about it ahead of time. Everything depends on the preparation; during the actual event it will no longer be possible to change anything. Therefore, the most important thing is how we prepare for it.

The same applies to all of our spiritual work. Before a person passes the Machsom and enters the spiritual world, all his work lies in preparing for that passage. It won’t happen until one completes the preparation.

All of the difficult and tiring work that causes us to suffer in the “Egyptian slavery” is necessary in order to prepare for the escape, and the escape takes place only once the preparation is fully complete.

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A spiritual embryo completely cancels itself before the Upper One and depends on Him in every aspect. In fact, canceling oneself is what constitutes one’s independence. This is the inanimate level of sanctity – bestowal and love for one’s neighbor above one’s egoism.

This should constitute our inner work at the Zohar Convention 2010. If each person cancels himself in relationship to the others, then certainly we will be able to reveal the degree of a spiritual embryo. Nobody can resist the influence of such a large group of people. If you enter the environment that has such a great power, then it’s very easy for you to cancel yourself – you only need a small desire and readiness. And accordingly, we’ll be able to reach a state, a spiritual reality where the Upper Force fills the world.

This is not fantasy, mysticism, or meditation; it is a true sensation, a certain level of unity that is reached when each person rejects his egoism in relationship to others. Each person will rise to the inanimate level of sanctity and feel what this state, filled with the Light of Nefesh of the World of Assiya, means.

A person is capable of putting in the effort to reach this state, but it is possible that he will fall again. Maybe he is already able to remain in the spiritual world, but this depends on whether or not he continues to exert himself after the Congress. If a person is motivated to remain in a state of rejecting his egoism in relationship to the others, then he can keep this level and begin to ascend from it regardless of what is happening with the others. It is unrealistic for a person to do this alone, but it’s easy to do it together!

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The Zohar, Chapter “Tazria (When A Woman Delivers),” Item 150: When one begins to build a house, he should mention in his mouth that he is building it for the work of God.

The Zohar speaks about our spiritual work. Not a single word of it pertains to the realm of this world with its material objects, such as houses, rocks, animals, or plants. The Zohar explains the inner work of a person needed to reach the revelation of the Creator in the part of the soul called “human,” the “point in the heart.”

It is a new sense that we need to reveal and build, replacing senses of reception with a bestowing sense, called a “soul,” “home,” or “collection of the souls of Israel” (Malchut). This sense has many names depending on what property we want to discern and highlight.

The Zohar explains this through the example of building a house, that very sense in which we reveal spiritually. A spiritual sense (a vessel, Kli) that we need to build should be flawless. If there is a flaw inside this Kli, meaning, there is an intention for the sake of reception rather than for the sake of bestowal, the Light vanishes immediately.

Such a state is called an “afflicted house” (Nega). Then we need to correct this Kli by burning, destroying, or, in case it is possible to cleanse it and make it fit for use, by correcting it. As a result, Nega (curse) turns into Oneg (delight).

A person that built his Kli improperly, by mistake or negligence, needs to understand where it comes from. In this manner, one advances through corrections.

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A question I received: The Zohar Convention 2010 is getting closer and it feels like a holiday or festival is approaching. In what state should we strive to be during this period?

My Answer: The most important thing now is to focus on the intention. It’s wonderful to feel like you are going to a holiday or a festival, but in truth, we are coming together to do serious inner work. Therefore, our primary concern should be our intention; this is more important than anything else.

There is only one thing that’s of importance: During these three days, will I be able to have the right intention together with thousands of other people who are together with me in one hall, and with millions more people around the whole world who are also joining us internally.  Only the right intention will deliver us to the goal because it draws the force that corrects and unites us, establishing the connection that broke.

This connection was broken only in our perception. We are therefore correcting the “original sin,” and it can only be done through our intention, the raising of MAN, a plea, the “gate of tears.”

I feel that we are at an historic point and I am really concerned about its success. We have to be fearful regarding whether we will be able to attain what we have planned, because it is written that everything depends on the heavens besides fear of the Creator. If we are being given the opportunity to carry out this event, and we have been sent this idea, it means we really have reached the state of being able to study The Zohar and to reveal it to the nation. We can see how it opens people up and draws them toward the spiritual goal.

We want to give people The Zohar with care and love, the way we would treat our friends, loved ones, or outstanding individuals. This is an historic event because The Book of Zohar itself says that it is intended for the time of the End of Correction, the days of the Messiah, in order to lead Israel (meaning those who aspire “straight to the Creator”) from exile to freedom.

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The most important thing at the upcoming Zohar Convention 2010 is our inner work. We must have the right intention, which will give everyone who attends the Convention and the whole nation of Israel the feeling that if the quality of Israel (Directly to the Creator) that exists in every person, dispersed among the Klipot, will unite as one, this will cause the correction of the world.

Because this opportunity is being revealed to us, it is a sign that we don’t need greater numbers in order to attain spiritual revelation. Since we are given the opportunity to assemble this many forces in the whole world and in Israel, on such a scale, it’s a sign that all we lack is a connection among everyone, rather than lacking more people.

The current amount of people is already sufficient; unity is all we lack. If we unite, then the “candle” will light up. By connecting, we build a common screen, and then the Light will immediately ignite it.

We have the oil — the desire to enjoy, and the filter — the screen, and the Upper Light that is above the filter. When we have a screen that connects our desire to enjoy with the Light, then our desire becomes similar to the Light, since the screen is the force of overcoming, where a person desires to unite with everyone in spite of his egoism that separates him from them. Then, it happens — a connection emerges.

Our entire work, the concentration of all our efforts lies only in this point of unity between the screen and the “wick.” The oil is below, the Light is above, and in the middle there is the point inside of which we must all unite together. Then the candle will light up and begin to burn.

In the past we thought that our dissemination in the whole world and in Israel would bring us Light and revelation. But if we are given the chance to carry out such a great event — the upcoming Convention, the only thing that’s missing is our inner connection. We already have the critical mass.

Right now we must think together with all our friends around the whole world, about how much we desire to ignite this point of contact, this “candle.” We have all the conditions for doing this. We have the chance, and now everything depends on us. We have the oil, and the Light is also present; we have an assembly of souls and a certain degree of connection.

It doesn’t matter how much we know or understand. Every person must only add his own desire for unity between the Light and the oil, as much as he is capable. In other words, each person must overcome his ego to create a wick (bestowal) above the oil (egoism). Then it will happen. But we are the ones who have to create this wick — the screen and the Reflected Light.

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

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A question I received: At the upcoming Zohar Convention 2010, how is it possible to carry out so much work and attain the spiritual level in such a short time, just three days?

My Answer: It does not depend on time at all. It will happen the moment we carry out an action of unity together.

When I was in Rabash’s group, we once went through a similar state. I asked him, “What do we need to do in order to realize this state?” He replied, “You need an attack!”

You have to do this yourselves; everything depends on each and every one of you. You have to go into this attack, aspiring to create a connection among you. Then it will happen.

Even people who attend the Convention just in order to take part in the general inspiration, to simply tune in to the common flow, by desiring to become part of it, they will perceive holiness on the first level. It is called the still level, Domem de Kedusha, because it doesn’t require any special abilities on your part. All you have to do is come there and “go with the flow.” Just by doing this, you can merit to come out of Egypt. A person who joins others will also run away from Pharaoh together with everyone.

When we hold a Convention such as this one, a special state emerges because even though we don’t feel spirituality yet, we greatly influence one another when we get together physically. It wasn’t an accident that the Creator made this world, where we are connected physically and can influence one another.

While we sit somewhere far away by a computer monitor or TV screen, we can’t feel each other so well because we don’t yet have the sixth sense. Therefore, coming together physically in one hall greatly influences us and awakens our inner aspiration to unite our desires.

This is why our world exists, because it is precisely the place where we can begin our spiritual work from scratch. In it, we don’t depend on spirituality and can discern and acquire every spiritual quality, making a free decision of wanting it or not.

We have freedom because we are outside of spirituality, and are able to connect with each other in the material world. From here we can begin our spiritual ascent if we desire to do so. If we don’t desire it, then we can keep living merely in our physical bodies.

It’s unrealistic for one person to do it alone, but together it’s easy.

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We read the words of The Zohar, but we don’t understand anything yet. I only provide a brief explanation in order to direct a person, to show him where to begin searching for these qualities inside himself and how to picture them. For example: Aaron and his sons, the evil force, Moses, and the Golden Calf are all qualities that we need to recognize inside ourselves.

Right now, each person’s desire added to everyone’s collective desire is our “mutual guarantee,” where mutual guarantee is the force of unity, which consists of many layers. Each layer or degree has a collective force of unity, called a mutual guarantee. It works the same way in the human body; the general defense system gives all of its strength to overcome an illness. The immune system works together to battle a foreign body to try to achieve the desired goal.

On every level and for every type of inner work, a person needs to receive another form of a mutual guarantee from this force of unity – a feeling that everyone desires the same thing, but no one understands each other, and that everyone thinks differently. All of this helps new sensations to begin to emerge within us.

Each person has the desire to interpret the text in his own way, according to the root of his soul; he directs himself in a particular way, according to his form, and he tunes into the collective desire to reach the spiritual goal. All individual desires, needs, and aspirations connect this collective force together making it very rich, complex, and multicolored. And later, when the Surrounding Light begins to influence a person through this template, he goes through a collection of desires, demands, and confusion – a depiction of all the qualities of every person described in The Book of Zohar.

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A question I received: Do we attract evil forces upon ourselves if we read about them in The Zohar?

My Answer: When a person reads about all the wicked people or forces described in the Torah, such as Haman and Amalek, he should understand that all of them are within him. When he corrects these qualities within himself, he also corrects their manifestations that seem to exist in the outside world.

Then, he won’t experience any problems, but on the contrary, he will attract the Light instead of having to be awakened by suffering. If a person aspires to correct himself by making efforts in uniting and studying, then he awakens the evil within him and corrects it, similar to how one catches a snake that has crawled out of hiding.

Our work is to remain in the right line and be ready for the awakening of the left line as much as possible in order to ascend by using it. If we don’t reveal the left line – the snake that has many names and shapes, then we won’t be able to advance.

You should cling to the right line with all your strength because then, regardless of how much the left line is revealed, it will be for your benefit. And the most important thing is not to be afraid of anything. You are treading a very narrow bridge — the revelation of the Light of Hassadim in the Light of Hochma. The bridge from Malchut to Bina is a very narrow line.

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