It is hard for a person to overcome the “barrier” (Machsom), an obstacle, and adopt the approach that Kabbalah teaches which is so contrary to his habitual, egoistic perception. But if he rises above his egoism to bestowal, love, mutual responsibility, and guarantee with respect to the fellow person, it would mean that he has acquired spiritual power.

If he really were able to rise above himself, it would mean that he is above the restriction because he diminished his egoism and achieved a spiritual attitude towards fellow man, spiritual perception, the upper world.

A person does not understand and does not feel that through this path he can reach the eternal, perfect upper dimension instead of the limited reality, which he now feels. All this is quite close to us, and that is why it seems so simple and primitive: Any love towards the other, which we instill in our children is to prevent them from fighting with each other.

This is the first obstacle, which takes years to overcome. But we have to understand that each stage of spiritual work requires time until we learn and accept it. It depends on how much a person can be included in the group, through which he accelerates his development.

If he is impressed by others and strives to absorb as much as possible from them, enters the group with the eyes closed, then he begins to see how effective this tool is. In this way, he can get the desire of the higher dimension.

A spiritual vessel is built by the quality and quantity of relationships with others. The quantity is determined by the fact that eventually a person must unite with all souls because all together we make up one soul: Malchut of the world of infinity.

And the quality is determined by the fact that he must unite with them through complete reception and bestowal, so that everyone’s desire is linked with the others like a cogwheel, and turns all of them; everyone depends on him, and at the same time, he depends on everyone else.

Connecting in this form, everyone is transformed into an integral part of the overall system. Everyone depends on him and he turns everyone, but he turns them according to the overall program, their collective desires, and everyone’s individual desire. This is the perfect system that we must achieve.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/3/12, Writings of Rabash

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Complete Transcript of the Introductory Lecture: “The Arvut – Mutual Guarantee”

We are going through some very rough times in the life of our country. The problem is that today people around the world, not just people in our country, do not know how to solve the problems that have risen. But the solution suddenly comes in the form of the people; this happens in different countries, and now we can observe this in Israel.

We do not yet know whether this is an epidemic of some sort or on the contrary, a certain good wave, which will bring the world to order. But people, living in different places around the globe, feel the urge to go outside and express their wishes and hopes.

This happens because for a very long time now, almost sixty years, there has been a tendency around the world, which points to the supposed end of our entire history: The world is becoming submerged in crises, which manifests in every area of people’s lives.

People are no longer able to create a normal family; this leads to the multitude of divorces, children not able to live with their parents, leave their parents’ homes early, and use drugs and alcohol. But the crisis does not only manifest in the family unit, it encompasses society, industry, economy, the education system, culture, and even science. Scientists themselves are stating that science has come to a dead end and cannot develop further. We really seem to have hit a wall.

Over the course of thousands of years, we developed from one generation to another with the assumption that our children will have a better life. We suffered, as it were, for our children in hope they would be happy. Our love for them forced us to develop and work hard sacrificing ourselves. But now none of this exists; today we are no longer convinced that they will have a better life than we did. This is why people no longer want to have and raise children: Who needs it and why? What will this unfortunate child be born for, to see this complicated and meaningless life?

And the understanding of the fact that there is no meaning or purpose to it literally penetrates our brain. We do not see a solution; we cannot find an answer. It is as if mankind were suffocating in their inability to somehow move. And the entire world feels this.

But the main thing is the financial and economic crisis because the common crisis manifests in it. After all, economy connects the entire world into a single net. Industrial, commercial, and interbank relations: These are the imprints of our desires and aspirations. In other words, our relationships are essentially measured with money. What can you do? Such is the world. This is why a crisis in economy is a special sign.

At the same time we reveal that our world has become small. Literally within 24 hours, a person can find himself in the most remote place without feeling much of a difference besides for the mentality of the people, which he can gradually become accustomed to. Things are approximately the same everywhere, everyone is connected with one another; people seem to lose their individuality. Besides the fact that the world has become small, all of its parts ended up being tightly connected with one another. And that led to special results: We saw that we depend on one another. For example, when something happens somewhere in Japan, the entire world suffers. And the same is true of the US, Europe, and any other place.

Everyone mutually affects one another. We cannot even imagine what would happen if the US were to declare fiscal default. And in general, can we even wrap our minds around it? The Common Market could fall apart in Europe, and this would naturally affect the entire world. Briefly speaking, we live in an unpredictable world, and on one hand, this causes pressure in society, but on the other hand, people are becoming indifferent towards whatever is happening, since they are not able to change anything anyway.

This indifference comes from the same connection that exists between all of us, because we all depend a lot on one another. But we did not build these connections; simply, the world has suddenly closed in on us. It was separated into a multitude of pieces, and suddenly it became closed in, suddenly we have become like a unified mankind on the globe, one family, and we depend on one another. This is a very big problem.

Today scientists, who study human nature, political and social scientists, already clearly see that we really exist in mutual total dependence to such an extent that no one can escape it. Scientists already started coming to these conclusions in their studies 50-60 years ago. But only recently every one of us started to actually experience it.

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If I feel indifference toward the friends and nothing disturbs me, it is a sign that I haven’t begun to discover hate and certainly not love. However, if I already feel repelled by them, it is the influence of the upper light that is shining on me to show me my evil, my ego.

Not everyone is ready for this kind of work: It is possible that a person may connect with others and feel good; it’s pleasant, it’s interesting to go to the desert with everyone with all that hugging, and he doesn’t feel any hate. Hate can only be revealed by the Light that reforms.

Does it surprise you that this is the way It reforms you? Yes, this is the way to Him.

It is important not to despair that you have discovered hate that repels you. Don’t shout, “Where is my advancement? What kind of reward is this for my efforts?”

If you continue despite everything, if you want to connect with the friends because there is no other choice and Kabbalists advise you to do so, if you annul yourself, then you will understand that it is possible to reach bestowal and the revelation of the Creator only through connection. But you see that by yourself, you cannot connect and then you realize that connection is only possible with the help of the Surrounding Light.

The hatred towards the friends also comes from the Light, but this happens without our request. It is the revelation of evil. In order to correct it, a person must relate to the upper force purposefully and ask It to be revealed so that we will have the opportunity to connect with others.

There are many ascents and descents, disappointments, and a long period of helplessness on this path when you can’t annul yourself or turn either way. We are purposefully being exhausted this way until eventually the Light from Above comes to help us, and we begin to appreciate the friends. Here too you should check whether you appreciate them for no reason or whether you appreciate them because you appreciate the Creator.

Israel, the Torah, and the Creator should always be joined into one, and then this aims you in the right direction. Israel (you) is full of hate; the Torah (the upper Light) reforms you, helping you build the love on top of the hate. And then in the middle line, when you correctly connect the right and the left, you reveal the Creator and it all merges together into one.

This is the focus of our work.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/31/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can I present a gift to my friends if we are connected virtually?

Answer: Do we give material gifts to friends when we meet them in person? A true gift is in the heart. If we really have gifts for our friends then they will feel it. One who gives a gift is called upper and one who receives it is called lower. And they are called friends when the receiver feels the giver of the gift and accepts it with love and joy because he understands that this is an expression of the friend’s love towards him, and by receiving the gift he reciprocates with love.

A gift is but a ploy, and that’s why it’s unimportant who gives and who receives; both are equals. If we can build this kind of relationship between us then we will feel one another like a mother that feels her child from afar. After all, love is more powerful than distance.
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/29/12, Writings of Rabash
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Question: It is difficult for us to wake each other up by means of external actions, but the internal ones are slipping away from us. What should we do?

Answer: The point is that each one of you falls asleep and despairs. This is natural, and this will continue until you feel that each one depends on the others and must care about the others. I must understand that my desire depends on you, and yours depends on me. Only then will we arrive at the real desire.

Today, you are searching for this desire personally, individually, but not together. Each one thinks about how to increase his own desire, but this is incorrect. You will not be able to do that. On the contrary, you fall asleep, counting on indulgences from above. Nothing else can possibly happen, while a person makes the calculation only for himself. Alone, nobody is capable of establishing even the smallest contact with spirituality since it is absolutely opposite to him. We still cannot imagine the depth of this divide.

However, we have the opportunity to make this leap across the distance separating us from the spiritual world. This depends on the group, on how we play within it, how we play such a game from which we simply have nowhere to escape. In this “play” of the group, I must constantly demonstrate this environment, its continued staging: all of us on stage together in every act, in every scene. No other means will help without this.

It is said: “A hero will not save himself by his own strength.” The power of the Creator is needed for this, but it can only be summoned through the group. We must think in this direction and play, like in the theatre. We need to build this play, where everyone will participate without exception. In our play, we give the mutual guarantee to each other; we display our participation, attention, and the need of each one for everyone and everyone for each one. We will not come out from Egypt otherwise.

If you are working on this and encounter obstacles along the way, then we can go out to the Arava desert, since we will have something to go with, we will have the suffering of the whole Kli that is not able to unite. It is said about this: “And the sons of Israel cried out from the work!” For their egoism, they have built the wonderful cities of Ramses and Pithom, while they have found themselves to be in poor cities, threatening not to let them out from the exile.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/12, “Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: If the breaking of the Kelim (vessels, desires) occurred as a chain reaction, then does love have the ability to connect everything back together through a chain reaction?

Answer: There exists a kind of spiritual “virus” that spreads through the group if we are even somehow connected together, even partially. And then this virus “infects” everyone and obliges them to submit to it.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/23/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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It isn’t easy to reach the understanding that the most important thing for us is the deficiency and that day and night and good and bad are measured in comparison to it.

If there is a deficiency, it is good and is called “day.” If there is no deficiency, it is called “night.” This is how you should always check yourself. This is completely opposite from what we are used to because it doesn’t match the feelings in our desire to receive but rather in our tendency for bestowal, for holiness.

You should picture yourself standing in front of the King, trying to please Him, to bestow upon Him. But what can you bestow upon Him, with what can you please Him so that it can be considered our bestowal? We should check what He enjoys.

All the actions the Creator enjoys are called Mitzvot, and they can be performed only with the help of the reforming Light, called the Torah. All the Mitzvot are in the connections among the created beings, and so love thy friend as thyself is a great rule in the Torah. It is called the correction of the general desire by means of the Torah because the Light in it reforms. Then thanks to all the actions in which we connect, one great bestowal is created, called the general vessel, the one soul.

This yearning is called day, and the actions of connection are called Mitzvot. The general attribute that is revealed in that is called the attribute of bestowal, or Masach, the Reforming Light, in which the Host’s pleasure is revealed and the Host Himself. The direct Light is revealed in the returning Light according to the equivalence of form. Thus we advance.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/12, Shamati #175

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Question: From the lessons I understand what I should feel, but in reality I don’t feel it. How do I come to this sensation?

Answer: The fact is that one cannot actualize anything within himself on his own. Indeed, every one of us is but a point, and any actions are only possible between us. That’s where all the corrections are made.

You may feel your own individual desire for correction, but you can only actualize it in the connection with your friend. That is the only way to perform all the measurements and tests.

Today all that you see within yourself are violations on an animate degree, both inadvertent and deliberate. Whatever may upset you about yourself, none of these things are real, as they pertain to the still, vegetative, and animate degrees. But have you revealed your blunders and malicious intentions in your connection with the friends, in the aspiration to unite with them?

If you remember how you mistreated someone in your life, this doesn’t apply to the domain of correction. Even if it was someone in your family, it still pertains to the still, vegetative, and animate degrees. This is not yours, but something that’s revealed to you in your desire to receive.

In contrast, we must correct only what becomes revealed as a result of our efforts to unite with the group. I reveal that I’m incapable of it and that I’m filled with hatred for the friends. By trying to weld together Israel, Torah, and the Creator, I reveal the blunders and malicious intentions, and then I correct them. I work exclusively on this “territory,” on the human degree.

Everything else is irrelevant. In all other ways I am simply driven by nature. Nature may drive me through suffering and unpleasant states, but I need not correct them.

Only to the extent of my correction in the group, with the Creator, everything that happened in the past will be corrected as well. And then the still, vegetative, and animate degrees will rise together with man.
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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”

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Question: During a convention or the friends’ meetings it’s easy to attain the feeling of love towards the friends and the connection. But why does the opposite sometimes happen during the lesson?

Answer: The morning lesson isn’t meant to fill the student. The lesson should shake him strongly and put him in his place, so that afterwards he will be able to choose the direction correctly, to exert himself during the lesson and also afterwards, and to continue living in it the whole day.

The morning lesson is the minimal daily portion that everyone receives and continues to process the whole day. From it he chooses several principles for his internal work and for dissemination. I remember that when I studied, I never missed a lesson except for one time when I was very ill. If you spend the morning without a lesson, you will only feel your corporeal body the whole day and will serve it the whole day.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/24/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How do we prepare for the convention in the desert as it says, by “cancelling ourselves completely.”

Answer: First, you have to figure out what it means, “to eliminate oneself.” Does it mean to stop existing? What will happen afterwards?

“I”: This is my reason, emotions, mind, and heart. If I am deprived of them, only my corporeal body would remain. So, what’s next? My intellect and emotions do not depend on me either. This is the way I was born and brought up; I was carved into some form: Is this me? Is this what I really am? What can I eliminate here? Where is the “I” that I am rejecting?

If you don’t sense that you have anything to cancel, but if you are working through the group to cling to the Creator (as it is written: “from love of creatures to love of the Creator”), and if you discover rejection and hatred, then you know what to eliminate. This is what we call “I,” the revealing of its true essence, resistance, and unwillingness to connect with others.

It is the force of shattering that hides in me, the same Reshimo, the information that descended to me after the shattering occurred. Formerly, I used to be connected with others; now I detect my former connection and make sure that it still exists. Depending on whether I feel connection with others or not and whether I still possess a desire to connect or not, I start to elucidate my broken Reshimot (informational genes).

My discovery that I am in opposition to others is the first revelation of the Pharaoh. However, if I don’t apply effort I’ll never discern it. Maybe I haven’t come to Egypt yet, or I am already there but my “seven years of abundance” are not over yet? So, I still enjoy common meals, assemblies of friends, pleasant surroundings, and spending time with my loving friends.

When the seven years of abundance are over, problems, troubles, arguments, and disagreements emerge, but a person realizes that this is given to him on purpose and he doesn’t try to run away from them. He tries hard to overcome his detachment, hatred, and contempt towards his surroundings.

At this point (if the person doesn’t abandon the path,) he starts realizing the importance of such conditions and understands that there is no choice and it is the way it should be.

Now, he finds himself directly across from Pharaoh. It is all about internal work that cannot normally be traced from outside. It’s a whole period of effort and realization of the fact that there is nothing he can do about it because it is the Creator who reveals the force of shattering to him; as it is said: “Let’s approach Pharaoh, since I hardened his heart.”

The Creator shows a person how weak he is and his to love his neighbor.  At this time, a person is ready to do anything to achieve brotherly love. He is ready to go through all “ten Egyptian plagues”, to cross the Red Sea (Yam Sof – Final Sea), and to accept mutual connection and responsibility in order to bring closer the power of the reforming Light called Torah for the sake of self-correction and attainment of love of the created beings, because by doing so he will eventually attain the love of the Creator.

Can you imagine, how much support and care one has to get from his environment and from Above so he doesn’t run way with his egoism that is getting stronger and always pursues him? He has to understand that “the Creator made one against the other”: There is either “a stick or a serpent” (bestowal or egoism) and there is nothing in between—one or the other.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/19/12, Shamati #59

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