Question: How can I accelerate the revelation of the broken desire between myself and the friends?

Answer: We go through states where we are always sent an awakening of evil. The question is: How do I accept that evil? Do I perceive it as a disturbance? Why do I discover that I hate others? Why do conflicts between us keep surfacing?

If you give in to the hatred and don’t want to see one another, then go home, stop uniting, and don’t set your sights on spiritual work. However, this work lies precisely in revealing the evil, the hatred (Sinah), all the way until Mount Sinai. We have to know that this is the path: We are revealing destruction, the breaking.

And no matter how big the extent to which it is revealed, we do not correct it artificially. We do not hold fraternity parties with rowdy toasts following a hearty meal, and we do not “make up” like kids in kindergarten. Rather, we want to correct the evil by means of studying, by means of the Light that Reforms. With the understanding that on the external level there is hatred and repulsion between us, we do not cover it or try to smooth it out. We want the Light to come and change this hatred and repulsion, to turn it into connection, all the way until love.

No matter how much hatred becomes revealed, we do not touch it. We do not strengthen or weaken it; do not suppress it or correct it. We do not do anything to it, but only wish to bring it like a valued treasure to the Light that Reforms.

“Finally I revealed a little bit of hatred! This is the Upper World, but in the reverse. It is the opposite side of the spiritual Kli. When it turns to connection and love, it will become a full-fledged vessel for the Light!”

We have to treat this hatred with great care, making it special, and then bringing it to the Light. Yet, what we do instead is cross it out as if everything is already OK, or we go our separate ways, or split up the group. True, sometimes there are hopeless situations because the people are still weak and cannot act or understand otherwise. Then a division is suitable as a temporary solution. But in essence the real work is done precisely on the background of hatred. So let’s not forget that this is our path: We are working on ourselves.
[34784]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/11, Writings of Rabash

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Writings of Rabash, ““What Is He Who Does Not Have Children In The Work”: A tree that does not bear fruit is like a childless man who does not give birth to anyone. A person and the Torah are called barren if they do not have children.

Question: How can we refine the common intention that is aimed at help from above?

Answer: Help comes only in response to a desire to unite. That is why we study together to attract the Light of correction. All of us together must discern the desire to unite (the common prayer) because otherwise not one of us will have the right request or the strength to continue on the path.

A person has a basic desire: to feel good. Sometimes in addition to it the question about the meaning of life arises in him, which is a desire to acquire Light. That is when he begins studying the science of Kabbalah. Before he had this additional desire, he developed like an animal following the orders of his earthly desire. We take a person into account only from the moment when he aspires to something higher.

How does a person use all of the inclinations that are given to him? After all, development is only possible by virtue of a desire being added to him from the common Kli . But a person must include himself in it, similar to a tree that receives all the forces from the surrounding environment, such as the earth, air, sun, and so on. If a person knows how to accept everything for the benefit of his spiritual growth, then he will absorb this need from the environment and with it will request the Light that Reforms during the study.

This Light constructs one’s inner process whereby one’s inner qualities, objectives, and notions grow. That is how a person advances. He continuously thinks about how to receive an ascent from the environment. To do this, he has to lower his head before the friends and elevate them in his eyes as the best people of the generation. At the lesson he has to not forget why he studies. In the end, a person only receives an additional awakening from the group, but then the Light has to come and aim him correctly.

Thus, with the help of all of these factors, a person provides himself with the forces for growth. He has to check: Do these forces produce any fruits? On one hand, he advances in the left line, continuously revealing the evil inclination that the Creator made. Alternating with this, he reveals the Torah as a spice: He understands what to do with the evil inclination and how to discern the Torah with its help, which is the Light, the quality of bestowal.

Thus, as a person carries out the advice of Kabbalists, he reaches a certain sensation. Even if it is not a real vestment of Lights into vessels yet, nevertheless new details of perception emerge in him—specks of Light that clothe into Kelim. True, for now it is not felt as fulfillment, but as Surrounding Light—the Light that Reforms. A person is still on the path to the Source. He still hasn’t reached goodness, even to a small degree. Yet, he is moving forward.

Therefore, the most important thing is to fear that he will not have children, that he will remain without a strong desire, will stop halfway and wither by a dried up source. If you have a desire, it is necessary to discern the evil inclination in it, which is formless and opposite to spiritual advancement. Then one has to add the Torah as a spice, the Light that Reforms to this. If the Torah brings fruits, then it is no longer childless.
[34790]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/11, Writings of Rabash

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A group is not a union of individuals but a union with the Creator; otherwise, it is not a Kabbalistic group. I come to this group exactly because the Creator resides within it; if not, why do I need all these people? People always unite by interests, and what can a Kabbalistic group give us? It can give us the Creator! And this is the only reason I come here, in order to find Him in the connection between us.

This is regarded as: “Israel (I, who aspires to the Creator; Isra– directly, El– the Creator), the Light of correction (the Torah), and the Creator (the root of all) are one.” All three of these components must become one in order for me to achieve them. This is the reason I come here, and it defines all actions I perform in the group, as well as my attitude to the friends, and absolutely everything else!

It turns out that I relate to this very notion of the group as to the Creator because He resides there within it! But I am not able to focus my eyes on Him. He keeps getting blurry for me, and I don’t know where He is. I can’t catch him with my targeting device.

Yet, I am told that if I look at it through the group, it is aimed precisely at Him, with the result correctly targeted. Therefore, I value the friends as much as I value the Creator; after all, only through them am I able to reach Him. Besides, it is written: “From the love of created beings to the love for the Creator.” In other words, if I achieve love in the group, then as a final result, I will undoubtedly reach Him and attain love of the Creator.

I can’t work on love in relation to the Creator since I don’t see whom I must work with. Therefore at each stage, I attain love for the Creator by working on love for the group. Otherwise, I cannot study the Creator: I imagine Him according to my correct attitude to the unity with friends. I build and uncover this form myself. If not, why do I need to come in the group? I do so only because they are selected by the Creator so that through them I could approach Him. That is why I love them! They are my salvation!
[24549]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/10, “The Freedom”

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The Upper One exposes to us its lower part, Malchut, as a black void, promising nothing good. The “Upper World” (the spiritual world) is presented to us so unattractive on purpose. Meanwhile, in “this world” that we feel in the Keter of the lower one, we find at least some pleasure.

I exist in such state that even this world doesn’t attract me, and the state of the Upper One seems to be even worse. Actually, I am not even filled in my egoistic, receiving desires, but the Upper One loads some more on me by suggesting: “You wanted to be in bestowal!” I don’t have anything, and yet the Upper One is telling me: “Come on, share what you have with the others!”

Hence, I can accept what the Upper One suggests solely without thinking, without any conditions, and not through my own efforts. I can do it only by the force of the Light, without making any plans and having hopes to fill my egoism and receive some benefit in “this world.”

Most important for a person is to reach the state of bestowal. And then, he will have everything, but only after he rejects it! He will receive fulfillment (satisfaction), yet not through reception, but through bestowal.

This is how we should view the month of Elul before the beginning of the New Year, the start of one’s spiritual journey. ELUL, as an acronym, means “I am for my Beloved, and my Beloved is for me.” The Upper One hands down these hopeless conditions to me so that with their help I may break free from my egoistic state. In fact, if He promised me something good, I would never be able to tear away from my egoism, as I am chained to it by pleasure.

It is written: “The Creator places man’s hand on a good fate” by submerging his life into darkness and void but, on the other hand, reveals to man a tiny beam of Light to show the way out of the dark. This beam of Light is not an egoistic, material gain. The Creator provides me with the help on my spiritual path: He brings me to a Kabbalistic group, where I can exercise my free will and choose the correct environment.

The Light “illuminates” a bit, meaning that it gives me a sensation that bestowal in particular is the Light. It makes me feel that the Light is ascent above my egoism when it doesn’t matter whether it’s filled or empty since what counts is Whom I’m connected with.

The Creator lets me know the following: You suffer in the corporeal state, so don’t seek material fulfillment. Rather, being in this state, look upward: Think about what other life may exist, in other values, in bestowal, in another dimension (of happiness).

This means that a beam of Light is shining onto me through the cracks in the wall that separates me from the Upper World, the world of peace (rest from my egoism and worry about filling it) and perfection (aspiration to bestowal and love).

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/6/10, Shamati #42

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We need to feel our opposition to the Light and bring ourselves to its state. If we don’t draw the Light to ourselves, we feel suffering since it feels bitter to sense that we are opposite to the Creator. Therefore, in order to give us an opportunity to develop properly, we are brought into a system called a “Kabbalistic group.” Instead of existing in a vacuum and not knowing how to develop in the attempts to become similar to the Creator, I find myself in a group.

I can work on uniting with the group, with others who aspire to the same goal as me. Instead of focusing on something invisible, being in a void, and not knowing where the suffering comes from or what’s going on, I work on unification. And our connection solves all the problems!

How can unification of the souls substitute for similarity to the Creator? Originally, in the World of Infinity we were one soul of Adam. Later, we broke into many parts, individual souls, and instead of the World of Infinity we began to feel our (broken) world. Through the breaking, the Light created qualities in us that are opposite to it, and the soul became opposite to the Light.

However, if we correct the breaking together and reunite, our action lends itself to the revelation of the Light, becoming like it. Instead of equalizing ourselves to the Light which is concealed, we equalize ourselves to the desires which we feel and understand. It seems to us as though we are being summoned, like good children, to unite and annul our egoism. But by doing so we reveal the Light in the unification of our desires because this is where the Light concealed itself: inside the broken Kelim.

It turns out that the opportunity to work in the group is the most practical and real application of Kabbalah. We perform actions that are available to us while, in essence, we reveal the Light that is situated beyond the breaking. In this manner we clarify our contrast to the Light, become equal to it, and unite. The Light and the vessel merge into one whole, and we return to the World of Infinity.

We reveal 620 states or degrees that separate us from each other and from the Light. By doing so we discover that we are opposite to the Light to the extent of 620 degrees and thereby understand the Light of Infinity 620 times better. We thus reveal the common soul and the entire Light that fills it: the Creator.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/10, Shamati #50

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State 1 (our present state) is “bestowal” to oneself, which is comprised of our pleasure and the desired fulfillment. State 2 (the state we wish to achieve) is bestowal to the Creator, which will constitute pleasure for us. And herein lies the contradiction.

In “bestowal” to oneself, the action itself, the work, and the reward are all in one direction, in one line. Therefore, it is called the Direct Light, and everything is clear to us here. The beginning, the end, and the achievement of this final goal are directed in one direction: toward me.

But if I wish to delight in bestowal to the Creator, then the problem of opposite intention and result emerges. I need to correct the intention, and it’s against my desire! Bestowal to the Creator should turn into reception of pleasure for me. And I must enjoy since that is the plan of creation. Yet the enjoyment should come from bestowal, and this is completely opposite to me!

The purpose of creation is pleasure, and the correction of creation is bestowal. However, these two conditions contradict each other. This is the main obstacle and difficulty of our perception, which constantly blocks our path, depriving us of an opportunity to realize what was planned.

We have to exert great effort and perform enormous work on the one hand, and yet on the other, its outcome does not depend on us; it is given from Above. Meanwhile we only reveal our desire through our work. We don’t acquire the goal, but rather, obtain the Kli, the vessel that can hold it.

Therefore, these two opposites (bestowal to the Creator and the pleasure derived from it) will unite only from adhesion with Him. And only the Upper Light, which changes our nature, can bring us to this adhesion.

We need to change from the state in which the heart controls the person (and for this reason Kabbalah considers such a person “wicked”) to a state where a human being in us governs over the heart and thus a person is called “righteous.” And there is only one solution for achieving this: the Kabbalistic group, which is a model, an example, and the framework in which we can check ourselves and see to what extent we correspond to this goal or not.

The group is capable of convincing me that I don’t have anything more valuable than bestowal to the Creator! On the other hand, however, I reach the conclusion that I am incapable of anything, and only the Creator can help me. In this manner I reach the needed desire, a prayer.

However, right now we lack these two polar opposites: Keter and Malchut, the Direct Light and the Reflected Light, the reverse correspondence to the Light and the desire. All of this is contained only in the corrected Kli that has an intention against the desire.

We need to build this model of the first 10 Sefirot within ourselves for the first time. Then we will have the inner structure, like a first cell of a new organism, from which the embryo of the soul will develop.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/31/10, “What Are the Two Actions During the Time of Descent?”

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Question: Why does the Creator allow some people to commit brutal crimes?

Answer: The science of Kabbalah illuminates the questions of perception of reality, free will, and human nature, showing that a person who lives in this world does not possess freedom of choice. Therefore, he doesn’t commit any conscious acts.

A person can attain the freedom of choice only in a Kabbalistic group, which is a group of people connected in order to attain the spiritual goal. In this case a person receives or earns some degree of acting freely. However, those who have not reached spiritual attainment and have not reconciled two opposite forces, action and intention, do not act at all!

They arrive at the end of this life as if they have never lived. In other words, they haven’t lived as “humans.” It is their biological body that lived, just like any other type of animal. It is a life dictated by instinctive nature only. A person can only rise above it by way of “faith above reason,” when he desires to attain a different nature.

The unity of these two natures, Upper and lower, is regarded as the human in him. Only a person who achieves this can be said to have performed independent actions that are worth punishing or rewarding. In other words, only a Kabbalist can be judged for his own actions. An ordinary person cannot be judged since he acts in accordance with Nature’s orders. He follows one route and does nothing using his own free will.

Nevertheless, in our world punishing measures are necessary. However, we don’t administer them at will but under orders from Above, although it happens through the government legislature, courts, and law enforcement devices. All of this exists in order to hasten our development!

This is the Upper Governance over all people, who are like puppets, with the purpose of bringing them closer to the point of freedom of choice.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/31/10, “What Are the Two Actions During the Time of Descent?”

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Baal HaSulam’s article, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 8: Therefore, come and see how grateful we should be to our teachers, who impart to us their sacred Lights and dedicate their souls to do good to our souls. They stand in the middle between the path of harsh torments and the path of repentance. They save us from the netherworld, which is harder than death, and accustom us to reach the heavenly pleasures, the sublime gentleness and the pleasantness that is our share, ready and waiting for us from the very beginning, as we have said above.

We shouldn’t regard these great Kabbalists as people who lived some time ago; they are parts of an enormous system: the soul. A Kabbalist is a soul that attains the Creator, knows and feels Him, and resides in the collective system of souls, Adam HaRishon. He is its integral part and acts as an inter-medium that binds us to the spiritual world at a time when we do not realize or perceive it.

In other words, a Kabbalist not only leaves us his writings, he also actualizes a connection between our souls and the collective system. We ourselves do not perceive the souls of the Kabbalists. Yet, they connect our souls (points in the heart) with the common system, allowing us to connect with each other and become part of it. Thereby, a stream of Light that flows within the system reaches us and revives us so that we may become its integral active parts.

This constitutes the work of Kabbalists in all the generations: They ensure our life within this spiritual system. For the time being, we exist in it merely as points without consciousness. But Kabbalists assist us by transmitting the Surrounding and Inner Lights that are present in the system thereby awakening us.

Therefore, the life of a Kabbalist doesn’t end with the death of his physical body. When we speak of a Kabbalist, we are talking about a soul that exists in the common totality of souls and acts regardless of whether or not his body exists in the material world. This soul is the active and the part of the system closest to us (as, for example, Baal HaSulam or Rabash).

Our whole Kabbalistic group represents a certain spiritual organ of the collective soul, and they take care of us spiritually. This is written about us: “We should be grateful to our teachers who impart to us their sacred Lights.” They are imparting them to us right now!

We do not shift from one system into another. We always remain within the same system and only awaken toward more consciousness.

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

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We exist in this world on the animate level, where we are completely controlled by our nature. However, at some point in time, we reveal that this life is insignificant and pointless, and experience a desire to rise to a higher level. Yet, how can we ascend above the animate existence, which is automatic and involuntary? How can we become “human,” free and above the life of our animate bodies?

“Human” means “similar” to the Creator (because the word “Adam” comes from the word “Domeh,” similar). In order to realize this ascent, to build a new, “human” nature inside the “animal,” so that our new nature will be equal to the Creator, we have to draw the Light that Reforms upon ourselves. This is a special Upper Force that influences and changes us so we ascend, raising our understanding, sensation, abilities, and perception. That is how we rise to a higher level called “Human.”

This is not just a mechanical ascent or an accumulation of more knowledge, but a transition to a different level of nature. We don’t understand how it occurs because right now we are all looking at the world from within our animate bodies. I am hiding inside this animal and I perceive this world through its eyes, ears, and other senses. I am unable to see the world differently until the Light comes from Above and enables me to be liberated from this animate skin and its sensations, and to clothe into a human guise. Then I will see and feel a new reality.

Right now we don’t know what kind of reality we exist in or where we have to arrive. Each of these things can only be assessed and researched based on the other. However, in order to set this entire process in motion, we were given two main pieces of advice: Be in a Kabbalistic group and study Kabbalah books. Through the group and the desire to unite together, we are able to come out of ourselves and become human. A human being is one who is connected with others and has the ability to bestow to his neighbor. With the force of our desire, a book draws Light upon us and turns what we desire into reality. That is how we actually attain the human level, equivalence to the Upper One.

Each of us has this desire to become human and not remain an “animal.” And we have the group which affords the opportunity to make efforts in order to come out of the animate sensation and unite together. Our connection is what will enable us to be called “people.” The Upper Light that we draw through our mutual reading will complete this work for us and will transform our efforts into a new, actual reality. So let us study together with this hope.

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

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A question I received: Who is our “Upper One” in spirituality?

My Answer: We don’t know that. We exist in the womb of the Upper One as a mere point, a droplet of semen, our spiritual Reshimo (record, gene). Beyond this Reshimo, we have nothing else!

In fact, our corporeal body, mind, and feelings have no relation to the spiritual world and cannot be seen there. In the spiritual world, there is only a womb of the Upper One (Malchut of Infinity) and us inside it. And each of us is a Reshimo (0/1, Shoresh Aviut/Aleph Hitlabshut) or in other words, a point in the heart.

Our task, as a point in the heart, is to try to cling to the wall of the spiritual womb! Beginning with the three days during which the semen is absorbed, the first problem for the embryo (us) is to attach itself to the wall of the womb. Attaching to the womb is establishing the very first contact with the Upper One.

In order to do this, we must annul ourselves before the Upper One. But where is this Upper One, this wall of the womb? What is it exactly? The Upper One is the Kabbalistic group, my environment! This is how the Upper One reveals the Creator for me.

Thus, there are the group and me, who adheres to it, despite all the obstacles. I accept the entire force of the group’s desire for bestowal, and I am willing and ready to take it all in through annulling myself before them.

When I attach myself to the group, my Aviut, which is the strength of my will to bestow, begins to grow and cause unpleasant sensations in me: disappointment, growth of egoism, and burdening of the heart. But I must go even deeper in, like a leech, clinging to the group which is the “wall of the womb.”

Then, between us, the first connection will appear, not through a point, but through the tube through which “blood” will start flowing into me. This connection, so far, is on the inanimate level (“Dam”- blood, from “Domem” – inanimate), but I will have already received spiritual sustenance from the Upper One.

All of this takes place through my connection with the group. There is no other “wall” through which I can enter the spiritual world!

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/24/10, Article “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”

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