Question: What should we tell ourselves when Pharaoh’s questions overcome us?

Answer: A religious person does not suffer from these questions, he is content by the fact that he receives knowledge by studying the Torah. However, a person who studies Kabbalah constantly checks: Why am I doing this, where am I, and when will I reach the purpose of creation? That is, one exists in a constant state of inner analysis.

The environment that surrounds him also exists within the same circumstances, the same scrutiny, and it influences him. In addition, the environment is not just comprised of people that directly surround him, but of thousands of people all over the world that study Kabbalah and think in one direction. They all move synchronously, as though they are swept up by a powerful wind or by waves of a tsunami that approach one after another.

Therefore, these questions emerge in every person: “Who is this Creator, and why should I listen to His voice? Who am I doing all this for? What does this work give me?” That is, why am I doing all of this? Is it in order to reach bestowal? But what will that do for me?

These questions come from Pharaoh, our ego, and they are very fair and correct. It is written in The Book of Zohar that Pharaoh was smarter than everyone, and the greatest wisdom was accumulated in Egypt. Pharaoh personifies the whole spiritual vessel, the whole desire that was created by the Creator. Therefore, when the Creator wishes to draw the person (Moses and the nation of Israel) closer to Himself, He says: “Let’s go to Pharaoh!” Where else would a person get the desire to reveal who he is? Only from Pharaoh. The Creator says: “I will go with you Myself.”

It is like they have no choice. They need to turn to Pharoah, to get the strength from the egoistic desire since without it advancement is impossible. Where else would they get this wisdom? Only from Pharaoh, from the Light of wisdom, the Light of Hochma that exists in these desires.

Therefore, it is good that Pharaoh’s questions emerge in us. We just need to work with them.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/3/10, Article, “These are the Generations of Noah”

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A question I received: How can I be sure that my request is correct and that it is directed at correction?

My Answer: If a person studies together with us, his intentions are constantly corrected, one after another, and they unite. It’s as if a “viral” correction occurs between friends. We give each other the opportunity to be corrected since we are connected into one system of souls. This is the greatest correction of all possible corrections.

On his own, a person is not capable of anything, but if he has a desire and tries to unite with others, this will work as much as his ego (also called Pharaoh and the heaviness of the heart) will allow. Therefore, a person doesn’t need to perform a calculation for himself alone as to whether his efforts were successful. On his own, a person will never correct himself and he cannot even correctly evaluate his intention.

We need to learn jointly, to feel our unification before the studies, and to aspire to learn like one man with one heart in order to draw the Surrounding Light onto us.

Every lesson presents the opportunity to unify and draw the Light that Reforms, and so each lesson is like the reception of the Torah under Mount Sinai. After all, we need to receive the Torah which is the Light that Reforms. As it is written, “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a means to correct it.” Therefore, we are standing under Mount Sinai at every given moment. Receiving the Torah, the Light that Reforms, is on the condition that we become like one man with one heart.

Individual calculations aren’t applicable; success depends on everyone together, each one according to his ability, uniting in the conditions that are assigned from Above. Success depends on the united effort that comes from us below. Therefore, we need to continuously, tirelessly press on. As a result, our efforts will accumulate into one large account and, finally, revelation will occur.

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A question I received: Why is it so difficult to admit that I am egoist and to find the evil within me?

My Answer: Because a person is a living being, he possesses a protective force. He has to protect himself, his life, his nature, and his “I” similar to how the peel (Klipa) protects an apple as long as it grows. If there is a defect in the peel, then the apple rots without ever reaching the state of ripeness. Therefore, the peel must always be there to protect it.

The ego is Klipa and must be protected as long as the desire within it grows. When the desire contained within becomes full, then the Klipa can be removed and the desire (the fruit contained within) used. Therefore, as long as we grow, our egoism constantly protects us by not allowing us to realize the evil because that evil is still insufficient. If there were no Klipa, we would cry and scream to the Creator like a small child who cries and calls out to his mother over every little occurrence that happens to him.

Our ego locks us up from within, making us a “stony heart” and preventing us from asking the Creator for correction. A person says, “I am a man and I won’t ask You for anything. Moreover, You will do whatever I want.” Thus, we oppose the Creator and wage a power struggle with Him. This is why Pharaoh said, “Who is the Creator that I should listen to His voice?” We want the Creator to do everything that we desire. We don’t turn to Him with a request, but with a demand.

Indeed, the demand has to be present, but it has to come from the full, ripe ego, the “evil inclination.” Reaching this takes time because it’s very difficult for a person to come to accept the fact that he is an egoist. Nevertheless, eventually, under the Light’s influence, one reaches the breaking point, a state called “the gate of tears” where a person feels that he has nothing.

At that point, a person is ready for anything. He says to the Creator, “Do what you will. I don’t care if I don’t receive anything. I don’t care if I have nothing. Just let me stop being who I am! Take away everything, but please take me out of this state! I cannot stand it any longer because I am opposite to bestowal.” This is the internal crisis point that has to become revealed in a person.

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Our egoistic desire filters reality to suit its purpose. In effect, there is a filter before us through which we see the world. In other words, we don’t see the world, nature, society, and people objectively the way they really are; rather, we merely see what is profitable for our ego in every object, namely by what is either beneficial or harmful to it. Thus, out of an infinite reality, we sense only its minuscule part called “this world” because our ego cannot perceive anything more than that.

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There are two forces influencing us. One is our ego, which constantly grows, separating us from one another and making us hate each other. But on the other hand, there is an external force that causes us to be interconnected and interdependent.

Even though I never chose to be globally connected with the entire world and I do not want this connection, the Creator still arranges it that way. So on one hand, there is a negative force operating in me, which is directed against everyone else, but on the other hand, all the other people surround me so closely that I have nowhere to hide.

These two forces intentionally pressure me and I don’t have any way out of the situation. Anyone in the world would gladly break all the ties between all the nations and civilizations. But we are yet to discover that we depend on some of the tiniest nations, which seems not to matter. The entire world cannot manage to deal with some pirates in Somalia as well as many other, similar terrorist groups. Why can’t we just destroy them? It’s because the Upper Force will not let us. We all depend on one another and there is nowhere to hide.

There are one hundred and eighty countries in the world, and we are yet to see the kind of problems that will arise once our dependence on one another is revealed. Imagine what happens when your leg is injured; it seems like no big deal, but your head stops working, your attention is gone, and the light pain does not let you function properly.

The reason we are unable to manage a single terrorist country is because we are not unified. If the entire world were to act together, to close their bank accounts and stop buying oil from those groups, that would spell their end. What would these terrorist countries be able to do? They would have nothing. The world could close all the frontiers around them, leaving them no entrances and no exits. We should do like our organism does when a foreign body penetrates it, such as a splinter; the organism immediately isolates it inside a capsule and starts expelling it until the infected place bursts and the foreign body comes out together with all the pus.

However, we do not do the same to the terrorists because there is no world consent. We have to learn from nature what we need to do with them. There is no need to destroy them. We just need to come to a common agreement that we are not to communicate in any way with this part of the common organism. This will make them change very quickly because social influence is the strongest influence there is.

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Two questions I received about the growth of egoism:

Question: I’ve been studying Kabbalah for almost two years now, and there is something bothering me. It seems that the more I learn about my own nature, the more I’m disgusted by it. I feel as if I’m getting even more bothered than I already was. I simply can’t focus on the goal and the beauty of it, while I’m feeling so disgusted by my own nature, and that of everyone around me. What should I do?

My Answer: You have to be glad that egoism is being revealed within you. It’s the Upper Light that reveals it, and you must appeal to the Creator without getting deeper into the egoism. You must rise above it and be thankful for it as it will continue to grow as the soul uses it to develop.

Question: Please give us your advice on how can we find the strength to make the efforts toward connection when our egos are so strong that we feel like we can only surrender to Him and not make those efforts that we must make?

Sometimes we feel like “We know we must do this, but we don’t want to at all and we have no strength to do it.” These are frustrating moments, as our egos seem like the strongest power that exists!

My Answer: This is because you don’t invoke the power of the Creator! The Creator is the one that has to stand against Pharaoh while we have to be like Moshe, standing in the middle letting them fight!

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A question I received: Your goals are beautiful: Happiness, freedom, consciousness of the people and harmony in the world. Am I right?

My Answer: Yes, you are,

Question cont’d: Your methods for reaching these goals are very effective: You use people’s ego to make them free from their ego and illusions. Am I right?

My Answer: Yes, you are.

Question cont’d: The consequences are exactly what you want them to be: People are attracted, the circle of your followers grows, and your power and influence grow too. Am I right?

My Answer: Yes, you are.

Question cont’d: Don’t you think that for the sake of creating more power sooner, you might have become slightly distracted from the true goal? Don’t you think that your followers are somewhat distracted too?

My Answer: Even if you were right, we still don’t move on our own. We are moved by the Light, and therefore we can never tell ahead of time what it is “to be distracted” and what it is “to go straight,” because we are move in a desert! See Baal HaSulam’s letter, “The Path to the Creator’s Hall, page 63.”

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A question I received: Could an analogy be drawn between spirituality and black holes which irrevocably consume all matter?

My Answer: All astronomic phenomena are derivatives of the created desire on the still level. That’s precisely why they exist on such a giant scale. Even the vegetative level of nature, which follows right after the still, is incomparable to the vastness of the universe.

The still level of matter and desire require quantitative might as compared with the higher, vegetative level. This disparity only underlines the qualitative difference between the two degrees of nature, the still and the vegetative.

As far as the black holes go, they are just like our ego – a desire to enjoy that wants to consume the whole world. We are yet to see that the entire picture of the universe is formed within us. That will be the meeting point between physics and Kabbalah.

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A question I received: What is bestowal?

My Answer: Bestowal is love. However, love is an attitude, whereas bestowal is an action expressing love.

What we normally call love in our world is an aspiration to fulfill our ego. But what is real love between us? I have a desire, and you have another desire. If I am able to attach your desire to mine and make your desire more important, then my desire will serve yours; it will be aimed at fulfilling your desire. That will mean that I love you. Furthermore, when I fulfill your desire in this way, this is called an action of bestowal.

We were all created as one desire. But afterwards, this desire was broken into many pieces and we separated from each other. The ego emerged between us, making us feel distant from one another. Now we have to apply efforts towards building a connection among us above our egos. We shouldn’t destroy the ego, but use the ego to make our connection stronger!

As a result, the unity we achieve will be 613 times greater than the original whole desire created by the Creator. We will then feel similar to the Creator, because we won’t be filled by the original Light of Nefesh, but by the supreme Light of NaRaNHY – the Light of love and bestowal!

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A question I received: If one asks to be brought closer to the Light, is that not an egoistic request? After all, he is driven by the desire to feel better.

My Answer: That doesn’t matter. This is what is called Lo Lishma (to desire spirituality egoistically for oneself).

One wants to sense the spiritual world, to receive the spiritual life, the sensation of true reality, and to see that his life isn’t being wasted. After all, life passes by and no one knows how much time they have left, so one doesn’t want it to go by meaninglessly.

Initially one cannot think of anything other than his own profit. Consequently, if one doesn’t desire spirituality egoistically by envisioning the benefit it will bring him, he will never turn to it.

Therefore, the spiritual path begins with egoistic attainment (Lo Lishma). But then, under the influence of the Upper Light (Ohr Makif), one’s egoistic attitude toward spirituality is replaced by an altruistic one (Lishma).

That is why one’s ego is called “help against him” (Ezer Kenegdo), since it brings one to a state where he suddenly realizes that it is precisely his ego that stands in his way.

The same ego that used to help him and push him forward must now be destroyed. What must be destroyed is not the desires themselves, but only their egoistic intention. This is how one is gradually changed by the Light.

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