Laitman.com » Conventions

Leave Your “I” At Home

bb_admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:50:13 +0000

Question: I want us to carry out the work at the Convention in the Arava desert in the best possible way. How should we act on the inside to attain success?

Answer: This is difficult. I must constantly conduct an analysis, ask questions and look for answers to them, fall and rise. And I must solve all problems only by uniting with the friends. In this way, I want to show an example for everyone.

Success is impossible for one person. It must be achieved for everyone together. And that means I only care about the common desire. What’s important is not what I feel, but what we feel. It’s not me who rises above something and reveals something, but we rise and reveal it. It’s always we, while I do not exist at all. I want to live in this “soup.” The word “I” and the sensation of oneself must be left behind at home.

Moreover, we is not just a gathering of friends or a “special forces unit.” All of that are toys, while in reality, “we” is a soul. It does not have any parts that join with one another; everyone in it are fused together into one. And this bears no relation to what we are today. This is a new creation that has just been created.

After all, the spiritual essence that we want to form did not exist before. Previously there was only a broken Reshimo leading to it. And today, with our efforts we are trying to form a soul from the world of Nikudim, which was supposed to be corrected at this phase, but was deliberately broken for our sake.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/12, “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot”

Attack With A Song

bb_admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:36:24 +0000

Question: What am I attacking at the Convention in the Arava desert? And how can I help the friends prepare for the right attack?

Answer: I am attacking my laziness, indifference, and confusion. I try to stay constantly focused on the right idea about “us.” We are as one man with one heart, in mutual guarantee, in mutual disavowal, in unity, in order for the common vessel to be revealed.

In this vessel, everyone is included in one another to such an extent that I do not feel “myself, uniting with the friends,” but us. I have to rise above my individual self-awareness to the common feeling, which lies above us and which we have to acquire.

Question: What should the right cry be at the Convention?

Answer: I am not in favor of screaming for the sake of screaming. Rather, we need song, love, hope, confidence that reigns above a great desire. Stated differently, we need both emptiness and firm ground.

Before crossing the Red Sea, when the quality of judgment is revealed, there is room for cries, but now is not that time. I am concerned with unification among everyone so only goodness would be revealed. We need inspiration and ascent, without any left line. We are standing before the Light that must become revealed, and therefore there is no critical examination here.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/12, “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot”

The Desire That Will Turn The Desert Green

admin.bb — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:56:55 +0000

Question: At the end of February, once again we are going to the Arava desert. How can we manage to not erase what we already achieved the first time?

Answer: This cycle is different from the previous one. You will see that the first time everything became realized suddenly, like in a naïve and unsophisticated child. We succeeded then, but this time the success is possible only after multiple problems, greater contemplation and fluctuations.

After all, each time the desire becomes more cunning and gives greater resistance. No matter how high you rise, your evil inclination rises above you. This is why we cannot repeat something that already happened.

The most important thing is to be involved in this, to prepare and to understand that we have to unite and there is no other choice. Otherwise, there is no use to even start. There is no need to go to the wilderness if we are not bringing a real desire. This desire appears in the broken heart.

In the desert, the one that wins and survives is the one who really sticks to the path. On one hand he is devastated, but on the other hand, he has the end of the thread. This thread is the unity with the friends. In the end, we are not exiting the desert, but rather it turns into the land of Israel flowing with milk and honey. We will receive all spiritual abundance right at the “spot” if we unite. Then the desert, which lies between us, will turn into the Promised Land, into the intention, the yearning for the Creator. There we will reveal Him.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/3/12, The Zohar

The Whole Kingdom Is For Unity With The Creator!

bb_admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:57:51 +0000

We are in a state where precisely the “prayer of the pauper” can save us. This means that a person has nothing and he does not need anything, besides one thing – to revive his soul. He does not ask for anything beyond this.

We are going out to the desert, which reflects our inner state, because the desert is poverty. And we don’t desire anything, other than to acquire the point of contact with the Creator, to revive our soul.
In return we can receive all the benefits of our current level, instead of the drop of unity with the higher level, which is always called the Creator for the lower level, creation.

We lack desire for the higher level, a desire just to unite with the upper one, to feel that we are inside of Him like a drop of semen that begins to develop.

This should be our intention while reading The Book of Zohar.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/12, The Zohar

“I Seek My Brothers”

admin.bb — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:09:57 +0000

“The prayer of the poor” is exactly what we need if we want to go to such an action like the convention in the desert: to look for the right deficiency, for the necessity. After all, we don’t need anything besides the deficiency. We exist in the Light of Ein Sof, in the Creator’s desire to bestow. But we don’t have a vessel that can receive this bestowal.

But this is what we need. How can we know for sure what the Creator wants to bestow upon us? What should we ask for? In the Torah it says about the beginning of the spiritual path: “And a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying: ‘What seekest thou?’ And he said: ‘I seek my brethren.’”—the connection with others. How can we reach this connection if everyone feels hatred towards others and they don’t know where they are, they don’t understand that they are preserving their beastliness, going out to the field to hunt or to herd, while the one who wants to resemble the Creator is looking for a human (that resembles the Creator) and wants to see that “human” part in another?

As a result a person begins to discover the exile, Pharaoh, and the need to leave his control. It is all revealed in the connection among people.

Therefore, if we want to go out “to a field that God has blessed,” in order to do this kind of work and to feel that we are in the desert and should reach connection, then in that connection we can reveal that we hate one another and that Pharaoh, the snake, is among us. And this will evoke us to ask for the Creator’s help. Let’s hope for this to happen.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/2/12, The Zohar

Are You Ready To Attack?

admin.bb — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:06:49 +0000

We want to prepare for a congress in the Arava desert, if it will take place. After all, we can’t designate dates for congresses according to the calendar, but only according to our readiness. Thus, every day during this month before the congress, we must assess ourselves: Are we really ready to go and attack?

Let’s use a tailor as an example. He receives orders from people, and sews pants, shirts and hats for them. This is the way he earns a living, and it is enough for his sustenance. Is it worthwhile for him to advertise himself, or not? If he is a good tailor and can show off his work, it is worthwhile to promote himself.

However, if he doesn’t prepare the right advertising slogans, doesn’t know exactly how to sell himself, and isn’t confident of success, then it’s preferable for him just to keep quiet and remain as is. After all, if he advertises himself knowing that his work isn’t very good, then he won’t even earn the same living that he earned before.

Therefore we need to think hard before we are going to take a leap, to grow spiritually: Do we have the means in hand in order to rise, or not; do we have the deficiency, the need, the readiness? Are we equipped to go out to attack?
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/30/12, The Zohar

Clarifications Before The Attack

admin.bb — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:43:38 +0000

We must constantly ask ourselves whether each day we better understand: what the need for redemption is, the preparation for it, and the spiritual vessel we have to prepare in order to go out to the desert. Do we have a deficiency for that?

The deficiency should be made of two parts: Malchut and Keter. Malchut is the deficiency, it is what I lack, and Keter is the respect I have for this deficiency, it is my assessment of this desire having the greatest importance..

We need a Masach and the returning Light, in other words, the ability to bestow. After all, the Masach itself isn’t bestowal yet, and neither is the returning Light; they are only the conditions. But we need them, because other than that, nothing is required of the spiritual vessel. The filling will come according to the Masach and the returning Light,

It is called a filling because the Creator, the Light of Hochma, is dressed in the filling afterward; it will be the direct result of the correction of the vessel.

The Masach and the returning Light are built on the desires and cannot exist without its depth and strength (Aviut). Therefore, love cannot exist without hate, without a strong, deep desire it is impossible to overcome it. This is how it should be built: one inside the other.

Therefore, when we are about attack, we have to see whether we’ve actually revealed our egoism, which we should attack now. Who are we attacking? There is nothing but the desire to receive and the desire to bestow, and we have to clarify this before we attack.
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From the preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/1/12

Spiritual Vessel: It Is Not A Pocket

admin.bb — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:20:29 +0000

Question: What should be the result of the Arava convention?

Answer: The word “result” in itself indicates that we are going there for some profit and that we want to get something. The truth is that I have to rise above myself, to lose myself and to feel “we” instead.

That’s all we need—to acquire the first spiritual vessel. This vessel in essence is a desire, a deficiency, and not an egoistic property. The desire to be with others in particular is revealed here, to connect to others. If it is constantly in me, it means that I have acquired that vessel.

But you expect to feel good as a result of our connection, that is, you expect to get an egoistic fulfillment. Start thinking and looking for the differences. There are many details here and it is good if you are confused by them, then you try to find out the truth.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/30/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

With Whom Should We Make Our Attack?

admin.bb — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:43:18 +0000

Question: What can I discover in the Arava convention?

Answer: You will discover what you want; you will discover what you prepare yourself for. Perhaps you are preparing yourself to find out the meat and rice is delicious?

In our connection we want to reach a true deficiency, and we have to go to the convention with the right yearning. It has to be so clear that we feel it in our bones.

Question: Should we set conditions that must be kept before the convention? Will this help us discover the right deficiency?

Answer: Yes, of course. How is it possible without preliminary conditions? We can’t jump the gun. If someone doesn’t prepare himself, there is no point in his going. By that he is tripping up himself and the friends, and he will get a spiritual punishment for that, like the fool who drills a hole in the collective boat. Everyone should be responsible for what is happening with him. There is time for everyone to correct himself according to the conditions you decide on.

You should present these conditions to anyone you think is ready for the attack. So think, whom are you taking with you and whom not? Make a list of names. The criterion here is not how much a person knows, not the number of years he has studied, but the level of his desire: How much does he want to and is he capable of helping.

Everyone should carry out his job on the boat, from the captain to the youngest apprentice. The only question is: How focused is everyone on the goal?

Question: What is that spiritual punishment?

Answer: If I fail the friends by my wrong participation, then I will certainly be punished for that. The harm I cause will come back to me like a boomerang.

In the same way, I can also receive the reward through the friends when I advance with them and receive from them powers, directions, and assistance; I only add a bit from myself. In our world it is just like working in a certain field and being able to exchange my salary for numerous goods and services that others offer me. When I connect to them, I provide myself with everything that I need in order to live a good life. It is the same in spirituality: I work in my place on the boat and do my job faithfully—and together with everyone else I reach our destination. Could I cross the ocean by myself?

Question: How can I check whether I am ready for the convention?

Answer: Ask your friends all over the world what they think the preparation is. You should write about it yourselves, so that everyone will be able to check himself whether he is coming physically or whether he is going to participate virtually. Women and men should write separately, and then discuss the matter and closely stick to the decisions that are reached.

The main thing is the deficiency; we don’t need more than that. So it is about the clarification of the deficiency, or the clarification of the obstacles on the way to reach it, which interruptions should I take with me in order to sharpen things and bring about correction?

Question: For whom should I ask for the deficiency during the lesson: myself or the others?

Answer: It is written, “He who prays for his friend is answered first.” But if you are asking for the friends just so that you can be first, your prayer won’t be answered. That is not a prayer for the friend.

Question: The last time before we went out to the desert, we were given the chance to overcome many obstacles. Now, however, we have to ignite this desire by ourselves. Is this the minimum with which we have to come to the desert?

Answer: Today much more is demanded from you. At that time you expected some revelation, but we didn’t say what exactly should be revealed. Now we say: We have to reveal the desire, the deficiency. I don’t need anything but this desire.

What exactly is it aimed at? At the revelation of the Creator? No. It is aimed at bestowal. None of us has the desire for bestowal, and we want it to be revealed in all of us. After all, the desire to bestow that fills me is actually the Light. I am happy because I want to bestow, and I don’t need anything but that. Even if the Creator doesn’t let me bestow—the desire itself fills me with and brings me pleasure.

Then we begin to understand the details, and to climb the mountain to the King’s palace.

There is nothing to add here. We have the opportunity to reach the right deficiency, which will be filled. We don’t need anything else.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/29/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

A Storm In The Desert

admin.bb — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:56:44 +0000

Question: We are nearing the convention in the desert.

Answer: It is still doubtful. You are preparing it, but are you preparing yourselves? If there is the right deficiency, there will be a convention. If there is no deficiency, the meals won’t make the convention.

Question: How can we build this deficiency?

Answer: What are you going there for? Do you really lack something or is it just a trip? A most serious intention is required here. We must conquer this level in blood and tears. After all the word “tears” (Dmaot in Hebrew) is related to the world “blood” (Dam).
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

Good And Benevolent

admin.bb — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:12:30 +0000

We can see the Creator as good and benevolent only through the environment. Without a group you simply make yourself some kind of doll or idol that has nothing to do with reality. Actually the “good and benevolent” is the force that fills the network of mutual connections among us. It doesn’t exist anywhere else.

“Creator” (Boreh) means “come and see” (“Bo – Reh”). Where should I come to the corrected network among us? There we discover the Lights of NRNHY and their generalization called the Creator.

Thus, the force that fills our corrected mutual relationships is revealed as good and benevolent.

Question: In our conventions, under the strong influence of the environment, we seem to feel the good and the benevolent, but we don’t reach revelation?

Answer: In order to reach revelation we need a whole vessel. We try to discover the attribute of bestowal, so that it will be above us to some extent. This state doesn’t have to be perfect, but it must be stabilized. We really need to want this to happen. In the meantime we lack the pressure, the feeling of necessity.

It could also be that when we gather and connect, we enjoy it and that takes the flavor out of the quality. You eat, dance and hug the friends and you feel good and it could be that it doesn’t leave any room for a question, for a demand. But the joy and the demand must go hand in hand. It all depends on the preparation.

Question: So what actually is the “good and benevolent?”

Answer: It is when I discover in the vessels of receiving and in the vessels of bestowal that the Creator has created everything in His honor. Then I can receive all the goodness and enjoy it, and we aim everything at bestowing pleasure onto Him.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/22/12, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

When Will It Be Meaningful To Go To The Desert?

admin.bb — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:47:32 +0000

It could be that a person works only because he gets pleasure from it. Suppose I come to the convention because it is a happy event for me and I enjoy meeting friends, connecting with people, the music and the dancing. I enjoy feeling the connection, the songs the lessons, everything

The question is: If all this didn’t bring me pleasure, would I still come? If I suffered from it, would I be there or not? To what extent?

Is it important for me to be with the friends although I suffer? Or do I stay because there is nowhere to run to or because I am ashamed in front of others, but inside I curse it all? Or could it be that I just arrived in order to enjoy such pleasant company?

Could it be that I feel that it brings me closer to the Creator and that I will be able to reach revelation and to attain eternity, wholeness, and something above this world in the future and so I make such efforts?

Am I ready to suffer in order to attain the spiritual world, even without feeling that it brings me pleasure? Am I ready to give up the corporeal world for the spiritual one? There are many calculations here.

If a person comes to the convention and gets pleasure: This is also good. But he should clearly understand that he is enjoying. Spirituality is measured by the ability to separate one’s self from the pleasure, to restrict one’s self, and to exit the boundaries of the egoistic interests.

So there is a condition: First I need to receive great pleasure from the connection with others, to love them, and to enjoy the action itself. But I sacrifice all this pleasure and I am ready not to receive it.

Suppose I have a great descent and don’t get any pleasure from the meeting, and I even suffer. I hate the group and the friends; I hate the connection, the songs, the dances—everything around me. But I am still impressed and I still have the same attitude, with the same fuel, and take part in everything, only because by that I please the Creator or the friends.

Now we are looking forward to the Arava convention. But can we measure our advancement so that everyone will come without any personal calculations, but will only have one general account regarding everyone.

This means that I shouldn’t care about how I feel: whether I feel good or bad, or that it is important for me that I feel good or bad in order to rise above this feeling.

It is important to expect some desirable result from this convention: that we will come out together, attain together, discover together! Or perhaps I don’t think about everyone, but only about myself, and I connect with the others reluctantly, so that they will help me attain the goal.

It could be that I may sacrifice this whole future for the friends, so that they will discover it and not I, so that I won’t even know about it and won’t feel it so that I will not be proud.

It could also be that I am doing it for the Creator, but doing it so that He won’t know that it is I who brought Him pleasure, and I too don’t want to know.

So the question is: How can we separate ourselves from any personal interest so that we won’t know about it and will have nothing but the ability to exert, without any additional reward or fuel, and the only reward will be the exertion itself?

If we can come close to such a demand, it will be meaningful to go to the desert.

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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/18/12, Shamati #108

A New Breakthrough

admin.bb — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 13:25:16 +0000

Question: We spoke about the fact that we have to return to the level of unity that we attained in the December convention. It has been more than a month, the days go by and personally I feel that I am moving backward, sinking into the daily routine. How can we build an environment that will constantly evoke in me desires that are aimed at unity and the Light as it was in the convention?

Answer: First, do you really want to return to that level? Do you yearn for it? Do you see it all the time as a model before you in order to keep the point of unity? Do you watch the recordings from the convention again and again? Are you sorry that you’ve lost that burning fire?

If we had kept the connection, we would have already attained a much higher level, and would have risen above all the interruptions and the distances that separate us.

I must constantly renew the forgotten feeling, at least for a couple of minutes a day, for example, to see a short clip from the convention. I think it is very important.

Besides, are we working on disseminating our message? Do you take this into consideration in your work? We must join it and distances are no obstacle here. You must connect to the point, to make a plan for mass dissemination in every language.

Besides, in a month we are planning to go to the Arava again and to stay there for about three days. This requires great preparation. Otherwise the results will be the opposite of what we expect. It has to be something that is truly new, like it was the last time. We must make sure that we arrive there worried and anxious to enter a new state not knowing what it is and what fruit it will bear.

I am very concerned about this breakthrough into the unknown. We already know the place, and because of the habit we may repeat the same actions and feelings that we’ve already experienced. The atmosphere itself will remind us of them.

In short, a month isn’t a long time. We must make an effort to prepare ourselves as best as we can. Otherwise, instead of gaining we will lose. I am warning you about that. Start thinking what to do.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/13/12, “The Peace”

The Group Makes You A Hero

admin.bb — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:09:39 +0000

Rabash’s Letter #8: Gather in a tight group of people in one place and under one guidance to withstand the attacks of the enemies with the power of overcoming, beyond any human limitations….

The power of overcoming beyond any human limitations—how is this possible? Does anyone really possess such power? Beyond human limitations—this is already the Creator!

This means that only the power of the upper one can help us rise, to withstand this condition and all the inner enemies (obviously, this does not imply external enemies). Every one of us has plenty of thoughts and desires, which confuse us and do not let us be even for a moment. We need to fight against all of them, which is impossible to do on our own—but can only be done by a power beyond human means, the power of the upper.

The power of the upper is the Creator’s power, which is provided to us through the power of the group. We cannot turn directly to the Creator—only to the group. He is in no other place—only inside of it.

This is why we need to try to always be together with our friends, in common thoughts and desires—simultaneously, on the same frequency and in one direction of movement, like singing or dancing together. And there we will find this power that will support us, regardless of all the disturbances that come from the “attacks of the enemies.”

“Of course they are courageous and strong spirited people, their decision is set in stone since they will not take even a single step back. They fight from the very first degree at war with the evil inclination until the last drop of blood. And they only aspire towards victory in this war in the name of the Creator.”

Well, who can say this about himself, which hero will that be? Maybe only a child would from lack of experience. It is impossible with any power except one beyond human means. In other words, it is impossible to achieve success without help from Above—this idea must get imprinted in the group.

A person is not able to hold on to this idea. It is a mistake to think that he can manage to remember it, even by writing it down somewhere…. I see that many people are writing down things during the lesson (I did the same when I was studying). They think that paper is their soul, and they are recording on it. But this will not help at all.

But when I want to record this knowledge in the group through mutual guarantee, I will really be able to make it my memory. Everything that exists in the group is my memory, and I can be sure that nothing will be erased from there and I will be able to use it.

I personally can keep forgetting everything, but my friends will keep reminding me about this knowledge: that I can only succeed through the power of the Creator, and not my own. And the power of the Creator exists inside the group.

And then I will be able to “be courageous,” like I need to be—if I manage to connect all of us together, find the upper force inside of us, and obligate it to help us. As it is written: “My sons have defeated me.” This is the Creator’s condition who is waiting for us to turn to Him, to appeal to Him.

The Creator becomes revealed under the condition that the appeal comes from the group. This is why we call the group a vessel for the revelation of the Creator.
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From the Arvut Convention Lesson 2, 11/18/11

Seven Billion Included Universes

admin.bb — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:57:51 +0000

Each one of us is created with his special qualities. And as a part of the entire enormous common desire, he represents a certain unique form of development, which contradicts all the other forms.

Every soul that exists differs from the others in every way. We do not even understand how different or opposite we are to one another. There is an infinite abyss separating one from another.

There are no souls that are closer or further from one another—we are all absolutely different in the spiritual space. We are so different that we share absolutely nothing in common.

We think that we are able to find certain similarities between some of us—but we are similar in our material, corporeal, animal qualities, not the spiritual ones. Not one soul’s spiritual qualities are similar to the qualities of another soul.

You think that some of your friends are closer to you, and another one repulses you, and you are unable to understand him, or you cannot even tolerate him because of his mentality, personality, appearance, or behavior. But all this pertains to our animal body. In the spiritual world, not one person is similar to another person even in one of their qualities, and no one can be closer or further from me!

It is a miracle, how completely opposite we are from one another. We cannot even imagine this, because in our world this does not exist—we still find certain similarities within certain groups of people: a common mentality, an accepted behavior, certain things that come from our parents’ homes, and common tastes.

But there is no similarity in the spiritual world. We are able to find polar differences between us in all our qualities to the extent of our ability to list everyone’s spiritual qualities.

The thing is that spiritual space is multidimensional. There are three coordinates in our world—but in the spiritual world there is an infinite amount of them. And in this multidimensional space, everyone has his multidimensional system.

This is why in the spiritual world, every one of us exists with his multidimensional coordinate system. Astrophysicists are now discovering the same phenomena in the cosmos: one universe is included inside another, and both of them are included inside a third one, and so on. In other words, they are somehow coming closer to a form, where it is possible to imagine the spiritual.

Sages have written about this: “Their opinions differ as much as their faces.” In other words, we do not even share opinions, but since we do not know ourselves very deeply, we think that we can be somewhat similar and close to one another.

Do not think that you resemble anyone at all in any way! None of you correspond to anyone else. You are all so far from each other, that you do not even share a single quality. There is nothing that can be done about this—this is a given.

The only thing that can be done in this case is to rise above all the differences. We will never connect without this! In this plane it is absolutely impossible to connect the multidimensional coordinate system of one with the multidimensional system of another.

We will never be able to connect on the level of our qualities. Every one is a separate universe, with its structure full of wealth inside him. This is how every one of us is infinitely wealthy and versatile on the inside, and absolutely differs from the other in every way. They have nothing in common.

This is why we must understand that we have no other choice but to rise above us!
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From The Arvut Convention Lesson 2, 11/18/11

A Narrow Bridge Into The Creator’s Domain

admin.bb — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:18:47 +0000

Rabash, Letter #42: “Their opinions differ as much as their faces”—so how can they become “like one man with one heart?” The matter is that when everyone cares for himself, it is impossible to be “like one man,” because they are not alike. However, if everyone cancels his own domain (all the egoistic interests of man), and everyone only cares about the Creator’s benefit (everyone’s point in the heart), then they no longer have private opinions, everyone’s separate opinion becomes eliminated, and everyone enters into the domain of the One.

In other words, we can only connect under the condition that everyone cancels himself. But am I really capable of giving something up and doing something with myself in general? We see that we remain as we were.

But we need to begin to connect our points in the heart. This point does not pertain to everyone’s personal universe and all his special qualities, which are different from the qualities of others. The connection between us is only possible through these points in the heart, because they do not belong to us—they are a “Divine particle from the Above” in every one of us! And if we were to connect these points, we would be able to unite through them.

Hence the condition: ascend in faith above reason—it’s the only way to connect. When we connect the points in the heart, we reveal their source—the Creator!

If everyone cancels himself, “his domain,” then our spiritual points reveal the reality where they exist to us—and they exist in the Creator. And we enter Him through them. The moment I cancel myself, my point immediately connects with the points of my friends, and together they take me and bring me inside the Creator.

And then we reveal that instead of existing inside the vessel, inside the desire—we exist inside the Light that fills this vessel! My entire perception flips upside down: I was inside my desire and I thought that this was what I am—everyone on his own, in his domain.

But the moment we cancel ourselves, our points reveal fulfillment to us in the same place, the same state, where we just were. Only, instead of perceiving the vessel—we perceive the Light, which exists inside the vessel.

The change is only in our perception and nothing else. We have gone from perceiving the desire to perceiving the Light. We have canceled our egoism, and started feeling the source of the point in the heart, the Creator, through the points.

These points were merely a little way to hold on to Him while we existed in our domains. And now we have used them to transition into His domain.
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From The Arvut Convention Lesson 2, 11/18/11

Pouring The Light Onto The World

admin_bb — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:04:57 +0000

Question: I read the book The Kabbalist, which among other things talks about how Baal HaSulam tried to reach the world. He told people everything but they didn’t listen. Why should the world listen to us today?

Answer: Baal HaSulam lived at the beginning of the present era and really wanted to hasten time. Before WWII he tried to arrange for 300 Jewish families from Poland to come to Israel. He wanted to establish a special group in Jerusalem, whose members would work in a small factory in order to make a living and be together all the time, connect all the time. He wanted to unite the people with his newspaper “The Nation.” He went back to Poland when the workers’ uprising began, hoping to direct them all to unity….

Baal HaSulam saw that the next level, the next state, is global unity. There are no intermediate levels. We have to rise from here straight to connection. But in his time there weren’t the right conditions for that. People ridiculed the Soviet Union in which a new society was formed by oppression. As a whole, the world has advanced the American way, towards attaining the “American Dream,” and it was impossible to talk about correction according to the method of Kabbalah.

However, today things have changed. I would like to emphasize that we are not talking about our accomplishments. On the contrary, we are small compared to all the groups that preceded us. However, considering the state of the world, we have to succeed. After all, today the world is helplessly facing all the emerging problems. The world has never been in this situation which seems like a dead end. It’s now clear that we are sinking into a total economic crisis and that we can’t do anything about it. There’s nothing to hope for and there’s no way out.

This is why the method for correction is being revealed now. It turns to the world not by calling it to bestow upon the Creator, but by a message of mutual guarantee that’s being revealed very clearly on the part of nature itself. Everyone sees it, but they don’t know how to reach compatibility with the Creator; they don’t know that it’s by equivalence of form with Him that we can have all the abundance in the corporeal world.

We are working together on our level, aspiring for the upper force to be revealed in the point of unity between us. For us mutual guarantee is unification at the higher, spiritual level of Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE), thanks to which we, Israel, will pour the upper Light onto the world. All of humanity is actually one system, and hence, if the Light will be in us, it will certainly flow onto others.

This is exactly what our convention is for: We draw the Light from the Source so that it will be revealed between us. Then after the convention we’ll see great changes in the world. People will feel a special force: “Perhaps we can connect after all?” Suddenly this will be the real solution for them. There is no need to “escape,” there is no need to break up the common market and international relationships. On the contrary, with the help of all the present institutions, we have to change the approach and to aspire for unity and not for anything else.

The previous mechanisms are being destroyed and we have to provide everyone with a minimal reasonable standard of living and a sense of security. Everyone should receive the basic necessities. Humanity that feels so helpless now should adopt this approach. The developed countries are in a state of economic, industrial, and financial decline.

According to what is written in Kabbalah books, today, considering our investment in the world’s needs, we have a very good chance to reveal the upper force in order to correct ourselves. We only have to use our intentions as much as we can.

Clearly we are all egoists, and each of us thinks about his own well-being. Even in the group each one looks for his gain and not for bestowal upon the Creator. If we are lucky, we remember Him occasionally. But this doesn’t matter. All our efforts are accompanied by an egoistic desire “Lo Lishma” (not for Her Name), and we aren’t demanded to do more, just like babies. We try, we really make great efforts, and so the convention can really unite us.

Then we’ll be able to reveal the upper force for the first time, in order to correct ourselves and to pass on the correction to the whole world. All the signs and Kabbalistic writings indicate that it’s possible, and we simply mustn’t doubt that.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/1/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

A Measuring Device From The Three Lines

admin_bb — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 13:02:25 +0000

Question: How can I awaken myself from hibernation and not wait for the awakening to come by itself? After all, you said after the convention that we have to make sure our friends don’t fall?

Answer: If we look at ourselves and at the states we go through objectively, from the side, we’ll acquire experience for all the future “generations,” meaning future states. Then we’ll know that after an ascent there is a descent, and satiation is followed by the fog and the dullness of senses.

It’s okay, this way you will learn the process. You will get to know it gradually, in a balanced way. The wisdom of Kabbalah is self-attainment, nothing more. Indeed, there is no one besides me. The more I know myself from within, the more I will reveal the Creator who created me.

There is no humanity, this world, or upper worlds.… Allow me to know myself and the states I experience! This is a hazy state, but it’s all right. And before that there was some other state, and it is great too. Meanwhile, we immediately want to shade, correct, turn, and break it, but what for?

First of all, we have to perform a clarification. The Light that clarifies comes separately, and so does the Light that reforms, and you cannot instantly reject it by saying that you don’t want this state. First you should examine what you are rejecting!

If you still are at the state of the convention, try not to fall out of it. But if you nevertheless fell, look how you are falling. By examining this state you will later know how to use it in a right way.

If I don’t experience these states, don’t know their pros and cons, why and where they come from, how will I know myself? Have I ever said that I should wipe off the state before examining it? To overcome a descent and to accelerate time means to end the clarification rapidly, to allow the correction, meaning the ascent, come straight away.

Still, this is another type of ascent. We know that Malchut of the upper one transforms into Keter of the lower one. It means that what I regarded as the ascent in the previous state becomes a descent currently, in my present state.

I have to rise qualitatively, by conscious decision and deep analysis so that my previous ascent would now be regarded as a descent. What I used to see as bestowal, after the clarification proves to be reception! Earlier it was for me Keter, but now I see that this is Malchut.

Yet, I will not be able to do that if I don’t perform a clear analysis of my ascent and descent, the haze. I analyze how I satiated myself, how tired I became, and how unwilling I am to do anything, and I do it like a scientist who is observing and testing his dog or experimental rabbit.

I have a precise scientific method, and the only thing I have to know is what it means to me “to bestow” and “to receive,” who I and my society are—and the Creator above. I use my feeling and reason as measuring devices, working with them to reveal every state.

To be in the middle line, I analyze: What comes from the side of reception and what from the side of bestowal, what comes from me and what from the environment, as well as where all these factors are in relation to the goal. Our measuring device is the three lines.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/2011, TES

The Development Of A Spiritual Embryo

admin_bb — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:06:00 +0000

After experiencing the point of unity during the convention, we must strive towards that same state, towards that strong general unity above all the disturbances of the outside world. It’s as if during the convention a cloud of our united desires, intentions, aspirations, and brotherhood hovered over us.

And although each one of us is now experiencing a different state and we are all thrown in our own directions, we must still try to maintain the same state of unity. If we are able to maintain this point of unity despite all of the disturbances, we grow.

A parent gives you a drop of semen. It is said that the father gives “white semen” (Loven), the mother gives the “red” (Odem), and the Creator gives the soul. You have nothing but a single point, and that is enough. And now you have to grow to the level of Infinity, but how?

This is why you receive additional egoism that serves as the means for your growth. The egoism becomes the “meat” that we have to grow over our point, or the drop of semen. Each time egoism confuses us, kills, and tears us apart. However, we mustn’t pay attention to it and nevertheless must remain in our point of unity. Then, the egoism will become included in this unity, and with our efforts we’ll connect it to the point of unity.

Due to the egoism, this point will begin to grow. At first there is a point in the center of the egoism, and it’s completely surrounded by it. Then it starts to expand and take over the egoism. This is how we grow.

The moment that we overcome all the disturbances of this world and are able to maintain the point of unity attained at the convention, then after few such attempts, we’ll obtain the first full measure called a Partzuf of the full ten Sefirot, or the spiritual birth.

I ask you to continuously re-watch all the convention lessons and events. After all, if a person in his current state goes back to those events, he obtains that previous state along with his new egoism, thereby correcting himself.

Nothing else is needed! Now, through our egoism and through all that’s happening to us, we must grow the spiritual drop of semen that we received at the convention.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/2011, “Introduction to TES”

Purification Of The Heart In A Boiling Cauldron

admin_bb — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:31:03 +0000

Question: What should we think about during our silent internal convention?

Answer: It isn’t simply our silence and the stillness, but serious internal work. I feel this silence in such a way that it’s as if everyone is speaking! Everyone is performing clarifications, “stewing” together in a large raging cauldron that is boiling on an open fire—in a hurricane of all possible thoughts and sensations.

But we do all this together, simultaneously discerning the meaning of our life, its purpose, and what will happen to us and to me personally? And because of this, the thoughts of each person flow to the rest, get transferred from one to another, mingle together, and cause chaos and confusion.

This requires tremendous efforts, and a habit for this kind of work is necessary here. Kabbalists often used such a method, which allows one to perform a very deep analysis. In the end, you come out of this with a very well-purified head and heart.

The big convention allowed us to ripen for this work. You see that the lessons became different, the discernments are much deeper, and new words have been added. I feel as if a new dictionary has been revealed to me.

It’s like being in some country where my knowledge of the language was limited to only one hundred words that I could use to communicate, and then suddenly I learn one thousand words! Can you imagine how much easier it is for me to communicate and make contact with the others now. This is the kind of change that I feel after the convention, and much more powerful even.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/2011, “Introduction to TES”

The Virtual Connection: Wherever You Are

admin_bb — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:41:33 +0000

Question: What is love of friends in the Internet era?

Answer: The Internet is a wonderful means. Really, what prevents me from being impressed when I see and hear you on the virtual network? In what other way can you convey that you are impressed if not by hearing and seeing? Do I have to smell you, or are the eyes and ears enough? Actually I can be moved to tears, even if I only hear something without seeing. It all depends on my ability to use the contact in order to be impressed.

For example, people who viewed the convention we held in the Arava desert really felt that something was going on there. This is what obliged them to later come to the convention in Tel Aviv, and it even made some of them stay for several weeks. It’s all thanks to the ascent we achieved in the Arava.

I see that it works. If we can raise our intention, our connection, our desire, our focused yearning for the goal, just as we did then, then no matter where a person is, he will be lit by that fire. There’s no doubt.

We have friends in Europe and even in America who want us to inform them when we intend to go out again so that they can book flights. I don’t think that they should come. If they stay where they are in front of the screen worrying about missing even a moment, it’s much better than being here and missing the opportunities, not even paying attention to it. A person, who didn’t want to come to the big convention, but was impressed by our ascent in the desert and then nevertheless came, profited more than anyone else. This is because he received a strong spiritual charge.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/2011, “The Freedom”

Burning The Bridges

admin_bb — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:10:55 +0000

Question: What are the best means to help each other at any given moment to make the right choice?

Answer: If we speak about the mutual connection between us, there is nothing more efficient than a thought. Everything is revealed in it and only in it. If we were strong in this, we could disseminate only by our thoughts.

We will reach that, and then, we won’t need so many materials. If we were strong, if we were united, we undoubtedly could fill the entire network with our force.

We have to create a powerful field around us, but we cannot do that yet. The moment this happens, we will leave all of externality. After all, even without that, everyone will begin to “sniff” around, trying to find out from where this spirit is coming. One web page would be enough, and they would come to us.

In the meantime, our spirit is weak. So, we need many materials.

Question: What is that thought?

Answer: It is the correction, the corrected state. We are all connected, the Creator is among us, and we are connected to Him: We fill Him, and He fills us. It is unity.

Question: What prevents us from holding on to this thought?

Answer: We can’t even reach the first level. In this force field, there are 125 levels of intensity, unity. This is a good environment. It begins to draw all the points in the heart to it, no matter under what material “trash” they are buried in. Its radiation penetrates the thickness of the desires to such a depth that the person himself doesn’t feel it; yet, there, behind the iron armor, it finds the hidden point.

However, we haven’t reached the necessary intensity yet. We are not generating this force field between us yet.

Question: What is preventing each of us? What is stopping us?

Answer: I don’t perceive the importance of the environment as a factor, as a place where I correct and discover my spiritual world, where I reveal the Light that reforms. I don’t see the group as our mutual system of connection that manifests as the system of the worlds.

In short, I don’t connect to the group everything that I really need on my way to spirituality. I am prepared to study, to make efforts, but I still ignore the place in which I can realize my efforts. I constantly forget that it is the group and nothing but that. I cannot convince myself that all the reasons and all the outcomes, all the spiritual discernments, including the Creator and the goal, are revealed in the group. There is simply no other place.

Our work is to constantly penetrate through the fog, through the 125 levels. Rabbi Shimon’s students also hated one another, even on the last level before the end of correction. Meanwhile, we haven’t risen to our first level yet. Our entire path is a search for the environment. It is the factor for our development.

Question: What exercise would you recommend for us in order to perceive this point?

Answer: The Arava convention and the convention that followed it were the best exercise. However, I am afraid to repeat it because a new experience can “erase” the previous, unique taste. We need to prepare ourselves, to decide that we have to break through to the next level and not return to the previous state.

If we go out to the desert, it should be different from the last time. First, everything must be new. We shouldn’t repeat the format we already used. We need a new breakthrough that will not remind us of the past in any way. After all, if we return to the past, it is already a Klipa (shell).

We need the necessity, the desire, the resolution, the challenge. It must be something that you desperately want to reach, but cannot for some reason. It must be a true yearning for the goal.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/2011, “The Freedom”

Focus In Infinity

admin_bb — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:45:01 +0000

Here is an inner exercise: We are far from each other in our qualities and thoughts—foreign and different ones; we are separated by everyone’s individual egoism. There are so many of us, and we differ so much from each other in order to reveal the Creator through our connection.

Our differences, distance, and rejection show the distance to the Creator. I see how far I am from the people who study with me, who are my closest people in the world in spirit, purpose, aspiration, and understanding of life. And we are still so far from each other. I am even more distant from all the other people in the world. If I test myself in relation to every person, then this entire cumulative difference will be the distance between me and the Creator.

Now the meaning of the group becomes clearer. This is why we unite between us: We want to be able to achieve some kind of correspondence at least between us and become closer to each other, which means to be closer to the Creator. We aspire to at least overcome the difference between us. We push our egoism away, rise above it, and wish to connect only with our higher thoughts and desires, to become closer to the Creator in one form or another.

This way we begin the journey. And then we will see that there are no people here, there are no individual souls, there is nothing—only a blurry vision, which causes me to see people instead of the Creator. It is as if I am not able to focus; everything is blurry, and instead of one person, I see two, three, or four. And now I see billions of bodies before me. But if I manage to combine them all, I’ll get the Creator.

This is what I need the group for: to start this process one way or another. All our unity exercises must be directed towards the revelation of the Creator! After all, they are a means for revealing Him. There is no meaning in a group on its own, but only from the point of view expressed as: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.”

Baal HaSulam writes that there was a horrible crime done in the socialist Russia in starting to build an altruistic society and having completely deformed the principle of being one man with one heart, one desire, one purpose. Everyone was together; fair distribution, mutual guarantee, everything was wonderful, except for one thing: They have turned a means for attaining the goal into their goal. And this made them lose big time.

It is the same as focusing and combining blurry images in order to see them themselves, and not what stands behind them. And I will naturally miss because my focus is not on the image concealed behind these illusions, but on the illusions. And this is why Russia has failed.

We cannot allow for this to happen to us, and this is why there must always be three components present: I, the group (the place and the means for revelation), and the Creator, that is, the revelation of the Creator to the created beings.
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From Lesson 2 at Arava Convention 10/28/2011

Join The Unity

bb_admin — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:23:35 +0000

Question: Today we are holding a Unity Day in the World Kli, which includes a special lesson, a seminar, and a friends’ assembly. On this day, how can we maintain the place of unity that we created at the Convention?

Answer: We have to renew this sensation on the background of the new conditions. We have to imagine the net of our interconnection, the state of unity we are in. We have to feel that this unity is working. I want to live it, and this sensation has to become constant for me. By being in it, I want to discern the feeling and the mind in it: how much we unite in feelings and intentions. I want to feel mutual guarantee from within, mutual support among everyone.

When being inside this net, I don’t have to yell to be heard. I demand from it that the friends, whom I imagine as its parts, won’t forget about me. After all, in essence, I am the one who needs help. Therefore, I want to join them, who are already united into one.

And let the Singular one be revealed in our unity, besides whom nothing exists. He created this system, formed and activated it so that in the end, by making our efforts we would reveal Him and reach unity with Him.

These thoughts must occupy a person constantly, until he sees this system with his own eyes.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/25/11, “The Freedom”

Only The Group Helps You Focus On What’s Important

admin_bb — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 12:50:03 +0000

Question: Why does our analysis eventually become increasingly blurred and vague?

Answer: The point is that you are shattered. It says that the Creator created man simply, but people have made many calculations. After all, the shattering preceded us.

Fundamental questions become “blurred” in your eyes because you don’t pass them through the group. After all, you can clarify things only in the group, in the commonality that you want to solder into a single whole.

There is no other place you can look for answers. You are looking for them in your mind, but your mind is “flat,” superficial. Our job is to connect all the shattered parts into one vessel. This is why I come to the group. For me it is a picture of many parts, and I have to collect them into one.

In other words, the group is the “model” of the Creator. It seems that He is “shooting” at me from every direction, but I have to identify Him as one. Through the whole world, through all the confusion both inside and outside, I only want to see one source. So how can I do that?

I have been given a big world and in it, the group. It seems that there are friends and that we have to make great efforts. But in truth, by developing my attitude towards them, I connect to my personal parts. From total strangers we become one. Thus I correct and build my vessel, and then I understand what “unity” is.

In the convention we somewhat attained this feeling of unity, and this is our great achievement. We felt that above us there is mutual bestowal and love, a reciprocal, single sensation, when we are all connected. This is already the beginning of the spiritual world. After all, spirituality is the dimension in which the level of my equivalence to the Creator is revealed.

So I have to find the answers to the questions that seem so vague in the right place—only in the group.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/2011, “The Freedom”