A Straight Road For Us And The Entire World

Question: What forced the children of Israel to receive the Torah at Mt. Sinai?

Answer: It was the troubles, the problems, and the sufferings. What else can be an incentive if you are within your egoistic desire?

However, there are different sufferings: those that come from the world around you and those that you evoke internally. One way or the other, we cannot advance without troubles, and the question is only whether they are sent to you externally or if you evoke them internally by studying, in thoughts, in understanding and recognition. As it is written: “Who is wise? One who sees the future.” If you act by yourself, it is sufficient to develop by the path of “I will hasten it,” without waiting for troubles to push you forward. They also force us to hasten time, but there is a great difference.

If I am wise, I advance straight toward the goal. If I am not, I stop on the way, and then troubles make me move. I escape them, and then I go straight to the goal anyway. However, by that, I prolong the path. Instead of taking the short, easy way, I follow the long, hard way.

One way or another, I eventually reach the same thing. So, to help me choose the short way from the start, I must listen to Kabbalists who tell us about the method of correction. My success depends on whether I listen to them or not.

Question: How can we hear them and pass on this message to the people of Israel?

Answer: There must be a recognition of the greatness of the group, the teacher, and theCreator in order to make the goal seem important to you. As for the people of Israel, everything depends on us.

We are the ones who have freewill. We can sharpen our senses through working in the group and by the efforts we must make. We know what it is about so we hear what we are told while others cannot hear it yet.

They have to receive it from us. They will be able to join us passively after we disseminate the message.

Question: How will they see the straight road, the red line in the drawing?

Answer: They will follow us. We will advance with them as Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE) andAHP. After all, we can advance by only a few steps along the red line to the extent that we acquire the system.

At every stage, we must fulfill it before we rise to the next level. Therefore, it is impossible to advance without the vessels of AHP. We simply don’t understand how dependent we are on them.

AHP is all the “nations of the world” and Israel is only Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE), the first nine vessels of bestowal that come from the Creator: Keter, Hochma, and GAR of Bina. On the whole, the vessels of GAR are part of Godliness from above, although this part isshattered.

In Israel, there is nothing, and they cannot advance and cannot arrange the connection with the Creator without the vessels of receiving, those that should be corrected and brought to adhesion. However, they cannot do that by themselves, so the shattering occurred, and, as a result, the vessels of Israel and of the “nations of the world” were mixed and incorporated.

Now, there is part of AHP above and part of GE below. This allows them to arrange the connection between them, which otherwise would be impossible.

It first happened during the destruction of the First Temple (at the level of Mochin de Haya) when the ten tribes were dispersed among the nations and disappeared. The second time the connection was established was during the destruction of the Second Temple (at the level of Mochin de Neshama) when the two tribes that were left dispersed.

The first time, we lost the parts that belong to real AHP. It was a descent from the level of Hochma to the level of Bina. In the second case, the two tribes didn’t disappear; they only were in exile.

Eventually, thanks to the mixing, a connection was formed, an incorporation of GE andAHP, and now we can begin to “feel” these strings. The vessels of GE that fell into AHPbecame religions.

The same happened in the Israeli nation: AHP that rose to GE was expressed in Judaism. In other words, instead of spirituality, a person imagines corporeality, and instead of “love thy friend as thyself,” he performs different physical actions, not internally in his desire, but externally in matter. However, eventually, thanks to the incorporation, we can be corrected.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

Why Shouldn’t I Go To A Psychologist?

Question: It is believed that depressed people are the greatest realists. Psychology examines optimists as people that live in a certain illusion. Why are we kidding ourselves?

Answer: It is because our essence is the desire to receive pleasure. Why see the truth and suffer? I would rather deceive myself and enjoy life.

Question: There is evidence that suggests that only 2% of the population sees reality as it is, without embellishing it. All of them are psychiatric patients. Why is reality such that I constantly have to defend myself, my desire to enjoy? Why do I always feel some kind of threat?

Answer: In fact, you are asking the question, “Why am I not an animal? Why am I a man?” Animals do not have issues. They need to know everything about their life, otherwise they have no chance to survive. We feel a threat and we have the ability to stay afloat only through the correct relationships between us.

And, unlike animals, we have been provided with a choice. Nowadays we have reached such a development where we are required to build a society that will fill us with something that is not given by nature. Then we will be able to completely fill our desire with joy, which is the essence of our nature because nothing else will fill us.

Question: Why shouldn’t I go to a psychologist?

Answer: If your psychologist knows what integral education is and can help you set the correct relationship with the surrounding reality, of course, go. Today, we really need to create a profession called an “integral psychologist.”

Question: Will this person, sitting across from me, help me to know myself?

Answer: The psychologist cannot work with you face to face. Integral education requires group work. Your psychologist is obligated to give you exercises for you to utilize within your environment, under the influence of which you will undergo changes, and thanks to him, you will learn how to properly interact with the world.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 11/7/14

A Leap Of Infinite Faith

Midrash Sefer, “Beshalch:” When the Children of Israel reached the seashore, the waves hit them and stood against them like a wall. But the Jews kept on their way into the sea, thus fulfilling the Creator’s command.

There was a dispute who about who should be given the right to jump into the sea first. The head of the tribe of Judah, Nahshon the son of Aminadav jumped into the sea and the tribe of Benjamin followed him. When the people of the tribe of Judah saw that the people of the tribe of Benjamin preceded them, they began to throw stones at them.

The Creator said: “I know that the dispute between Judah and Benjamin was in my honor, and therefore I shall repay both.” Benjamin was rewarded by the fact that the Temple was built on its estate and Judah held the honor of the kingdom.”

Nahshon, the son of Aminadav from the tribe of Judah, is an attribute the can ascend to a very high level in its faith.

A person doesn’t simply jump into the water for no reason, since is not a problem for any of us to jump into the water. It is about the development of the attribute of faith within us.

Faith is the attribute of bestowal that is high above all the huge desires that exist in all the twelve tribes. At the same time, a person has to demand it from the Creator in such a manner that he can lead the others after him.

Nahshon jumped first and thanks to that, all the others followed him, the same as they did on dry land. For them it was no longer a problem since they didn’t have to meet the same requirements.

Nahshon is the pure attribute of Bina. Therefore, he takes the whole common united ego and raises it to the level of GAR of Bina (absolute bestowal). It isn’t a desperate or irrational act. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, everything is based on accurate calculations, but the calculations are based on the efforts done in order to reach the state of bestowal.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/30/14

A Night’s Sleep Is The Continuation Of The Day’s Activities

Question: How does nature develop us with the help of dreams?

Answer: A vigorous, energetic state is called a day. When we are asleep, we exit from our prior state and connect with the next, active one. A dream is a small state (VaK – Vav Ktzavot), through which our prior, awakened state connects with the next active state.

It is similar to the neutral gear of a car transmission that is used in between the gears when we switch from first gear to second and then third gear. They are separated by a neutral gear, this is the dream at night.

If not for the neutral gear, we would not be able to switch from the first, to the second, and then to the third state. We cannot ascend to other states without sleep.

This explains why sleep is so important and why it takes so much time: 8 hours! When we are still in our egoistic nature, i.e., if our natural intentions are oriented towards our own sake, we just have to follow the demands of our physical needs. RAMBAM writes that a regular person must have enough sleep.

While we live in this material world, we must behave normally, and a night’s rest is a simple, physiological process that helps make this possible. If a person has already attained a spiritual level and acts for the sake of bestowal, then why does he need a night’s rest?  What does it mean to us?

Dreams may be consequences of the events that we experience during the day. Our aspiration to attain higher spiritual states during the day allows us to make a spiritual ascent while we sleep, or to at least make relevant clarifications.

The wisdom of Kabbalah refers to the night’s sleep as a continuation of the day, a continued vigorous state. Sleep is physiologically essential, both for those who live only within the boundaries of this world and those who dwell in the upper world, at a spiritual level.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/11/15

The Magic Of Egoism And Bestowal

Heaven and Hell

Question: You are saying that witchcraft is a psychological phenomenon. How does it reflect on those who don’t even suspect that they are the targets?

Answer: This is the way by which our desires are directed towards others. All our desires comprise a pool of forces that impact everyone around us. Our attitude to the world in general and to the surroundings we live in contribute our personal energies to the overall system.

Question: So, witchcraft is a desire of a person oriented to somebody else’s benefit or detriment?

Answer: Desires matter, but why do you call them witchcraft? Each one of us acts within a general network of powers that exists among us. It is an extremely complicated system. We are a source of a whole complex of uncorrected, evil forces that are called ego. We have to correct these powers and transition them from wickedness to benevolence, or in other words, be good to our neighbors.

It means that from the will to receive, which is taking as much as possible from others, we have to end up bestowing to everyone. Accordingly, the key principle, the universal rule of the wisdom of Kabbalah, states, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” This principle replenishes the general network with positive energy. Everything we generate has to bring benevolence to others. This is how a positive network is created.

When building such a network, we enter the world comprised of complete benevolence, meaning we enter the Garden of Eden. Thus, heaven is a state in which everybody thinks only about the others’ well being.

At the same time, hell is mutual hatred, a state in which we all suffer.

How to Defend Against Negativism?

Question: If someone impacts us wickedly through the general network, can we somehow defend ourselves?

Answer: Yes. For that, we have to involve positive powers.

Question: Whom should we direct them towards?

Answer: To everyone. Even if I have no idea who exactly sends me a negative impact, it doesn’t really matter. My positive and kind attitude to others turns into a shield through which negativity cannot penetrate.

The mechanism is very simple. I can be hurt only if I am in my egoistic desires and if I care only about myself. If I bestow, contribute, give, share, and love others, nobody can hurt me. I am invincible because I exist within others.

It is very strong psychological armor. Thanks to it, no matter how much others want to hurt me, they won’t succeed.

Moreover, by acting in this way, I neutralize all my offenders since we exist in a unified, common system. This explains why by contributing our sincere attitude to other human beings and a desire to bring benevolence to everyone, we enhance positive energy in the general network. Positivism is capable of destroying all negativism directed against us. Then, not only will nobody be able to hurt us, but nobody will even make an attempt to do so.

This is how the system works. The Torah, particularly the wisdom of Kabbalah, explains these issues to us in detail. We see that when one is a source of benevolence to others, the evil forces are unable to hurt that one.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/18/15  

For Waters Of The Sea To Part…

The Midrash, “BeShalach,”: There was a dispute over whether to give someone the right to jump into the sea first. The head of the tribe of Judah, Nachshon ben Abinadab, first jumped into the water.

Question: Why did members of different tribes begin to argue who should first jump into the sea?

Answer: Every man contains within him the people of Israel, the Egyptians, and all the other properties. It is unknown by which of them he can overcome the sea. So he chooses to move forward with the help of a property or their total unity, a little from the Egyptians and a bit from the people of Israel.

A person analyzes, “These properties I can manifest from the Egyptians in order to move forward, otherwise I will not fear and will be relaxed, and these I can manifest from theCreator to appease the Egyptians themselves and to move towards Him.”

He constantly uses the plus and minus, as an engine that runs on two opposite forces that rotate it. One pushes from the front and the other one pushes from the back or to the sides. A person manages this on his own.

The more opposing forces he can control and properly connect within oneself in order to achieve the goal, the higher one gets. This is why the dispute occurs, and why Nachshon should jump and not other properties or all of them at the same time.

When people from the tribe of Judah saw that the children of Benjamin Ben Nachshon ahead of them, they started throwing stones at them.

Stone (Even) derived from the word “Abana” (stony). Usually during any action, a person overcomes various thoughts, a desire to understand, to realize what was happening. But in the spiritual work it is necessary to move above reason.

A person begins to concentrate on one’s own abilities by forgetting that by just grasping the Creator one can pass the sea, one can enter Him like entering the mother’s womb that will be one’s ark, and the waters of the sea will part.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/30/14

The Torah Brings Life To Man

The Torah, “Leviticus”, 11:13 to 11:21: And among birds, you shall hold these in abomination; they shall not be eaten; they are an abomination: The eagle [or the griffin vulture], the kite, the osprey, the kestrel, and the vulture after its species,  and the raven after its species, the ostrich, the jay, and the sparrow hawk, and the goshawk after its species; The owl, the gull, the little owl; The bat, the starling, the magpie; the stork, the heron after its species; the hoopoe and the atalef;  Any flying insect that walks on four, is an abomination for you. However, among all the flying insects that walk on four [legs], you may eat [from] those that have jointed [leg like] extensions above its [regular] legs, with which they hop on the ground.

We see all the levels of a person’s desires here. Inside myself, I gradually begin to discover my inner essence to the extent that I advance and I begin to see these names above me. They are like captions. I begin to understand that this is the Gematria of the given desire, its name, its attribute. Suddenly I begin to feel that I understand the biology, zoology, and the botany described in the Torah. It is inside me.

The Torah, “Leviticus”, 11:25: And anyone who carries their carcass shall immerse his garments, and he shall be unclean until evening…

Clothing is an external Masach (screen). If I touch an uncorrected desire, I fall and lose the Masach. Therefore, I have to correct this desire, wash it in water, in the Light ofHassadim (mercy).

But if I cannot correct it, since it suddenly grows weak, and I cannot work with it in order to bestow; I need to draw away from the source of temptation, meaning to remove myself from the source of temptation.

When I begin to attain that, all the texts in the Torah arise in me and become clear, since, after all, how did the author of the Torah write it? He wrote it by what he discovered inside himself.

He wasn’t a biologist or a zoologist and he didn’t stroll in the forests and the fields. Did he see these attributes, especially the ostrich and other animals that didn’t even live in these areas? It is all revealed within a person.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/22/14

Being Directed Towards The Friends Is Being Directed Towards The Light

Our spiritual study and dissemination are derived from correction of the shattering of the entire Kli, the Kli of the collective soul. This process can be divided into three stages of development.

When I came to my teacher, Rabash, I met five or six people who had studied with Baal HaSulam.

They had a particular approach to studying: sitting quietly, reading, and speaking between them a little. They exchanged only a few words between them because they understood what was said in the books, and while reading, they were doing internal spiritual actions. That is how they advanced. Like people who walk together in the woods or in a field, that is the way they exchanged impressions about what they “saw” on the way while they were reading.

The tension among them and the internal work during which they corrected their desires was palpable. That is, they were working both together and separately.

At that time we studied only The Study of the Ten Sefirot and The Book of Zohar with theSulam Commentary. There were no articles or letters by Baal HaSulam and Rabash then.

When I brought new students to Rabash, he began to write articles because this created an opportunity to speak about the correction of people, and the main thing, what we could add to the Upper Light.

The Upper Light presses on us and moves us through those stages that we must go through. If we aren’t ready for it, we receive its influence as a blow and against our will; we twist and dodge to reduce the suffering. After all, when you press something, the object that is being pressed will adopt the most suitable form for its condition.

On the other hand, I could put myself under the influence of the Upper Light and attract it in the most effective way. The Light doesn’t change, but in this way I change its influence on me.

In addition, my position, my location, taking on the most comfortable and correct form appropriate for the Light is not found artificially; rather, I must more or less accommodate myself to what I must get to. I don’t merely dodge and run away somewhere, instead I intentionally search for the influence of the Light.

How can one do this when, after all, we don’t see, don’t understand, and don’t feel spirituality? So the group helps me since in it I can find my most optimal position regarding the Light. I don’t accommodate myself to the Light because in our world, in the same plane in which I am found, I have the most clear and precise possibility of directing myself towards the Light. This is not in regard to the Light, but in regard to my friends.

This is the reason for the “Shevirat HaKelim” (the breaking of the vessels); it is so that I will have the possibility of working with them. Accordingly, I don’t force myself on the Light, instead I can reach it through opposite characteristics because I am not working with it but with my friends. That is how this works.

The main thing is not to miss the opportunity to choose each time the optimal form of mutual accommodation between us. Each of us begins to perceive his maximal position towards the others, and in this way he enters into a unified picture like a mosaic or a kaleidoscope.

I already begin to think about how my friends will reach their optimal form. This “togetherness” is called the “center of the group.” Where everyone is involved in this, they stabilize themselves with each other to aim towards this state. When we enter into it, it will close, and at that moment we become like the Light and immediately feel it. The shared characteristic of bestowal—this is the Light, the first level.
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From the Convention in Sochi “Day One” 6/11/14, Lesson 2