A Crumbled Cake

Question: According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, everything is revealed in a person. So, where are the spiritual worlds about which we study in the lessons?

Answer: It is in our attitude to the friends. Once, we were one whole and not slices of a whole “cake.” Then, there was one desire, and the Light resided in it. Later, the desire to receive came between us, the intention of “in order to receive,” and we crumbled.

Today, each cake crumb wants only to enjoy, to compare itself to others at the expense of others, by others. This is what we feel, and it determines everything. Accordingly, if we get rid of it, if we change the intention of “in order to receive” to the intention of “in order to bestow” that is aimed at bestowal, we will collect the pieces of the crumbled cake by ourselves. The upper Light will serve as the glue for that by filling all the voids between us.

Now, we are so contrary to one another that there is a void in everyone’s feelings, a vacuum between a person and the others. What is more, everyone wants to expand this void so as not to have any connection with those around him.

So, when I exit myself and call others, wanting to feel them despite the distance between us, I cannot annul this void. So, I want to ascend in order to build the necessary network above it, the network of the worlds of ABYA.

Then this void is filled by the upper Light. First, it was very small and just held us like cake crumbs, but, now, when we must fill the voids between us with the force of love and bestowal on top of the repulsion that remains, we discover between us a connection that is 620 times stronger. It is as if our cake has been filled with chocolate cream, and there is enough room to fill it with everything that is good.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/20/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

There Is Reason To Be Happy!

Because the created being is opposite in its nature from the Creator but has to reach equivalence of form with Him, we as created beings have these two opposite forms inside us. Our inner from, our desire to receive, is opposite from the Creator and the external form of the desire has to be similar to that of the Creator. This collision, this conflict, breaks us; we cannot get along with it unless we begin our true spiritual work.

Here we develop as every spiritual vessel. First there is only a desire to receive, and then it is restricted. After the restriction a Masach (screen) and the Returning Light appear, and then there is the receiving of the Light and the fulfillment. This fulfillment is not in the vessel itself in the desire to receive, but it is received in the form of bestowal, which the created being has corrected by himself in resembling the Creator.

These two opposite parts are constantly in the created being who has achieved an equivalence of form with the Creator. On the one hand, it is opposite the Creator according to its natural desire, but on the other hand, the form of the corrected desire is in equivalence of from with the Creator.

So sorrow and joy, emptiness and wholeness coexist, and it’s this oppositeness that makes our work whole, since by that we can detach from our “self,” which means from the desire to receive, to rise above it and to speak from the desire to bestow, from the height we have attained and built above us. This is why there is a Mitzvah(commandment) to work for the Creator with joy, since this is the general formula. We will always feel the oppositeness and the emptiness in our desires to receive, and we should be happy that we have a chance to work above this feeling.

Even if I have no energy to pray and have nothing to pray for or don’t know what to ask for, it’s also a sign that I am on the right track, since I feel a bitter taste in my desire to receive. Here the two opposites meet: On the one hand, I have no energy to pray, I cannot turn to the Creator, there is nothing I can ask from Him and I have nothing to give Him, but on the other hand, I am very attracted to it and I know that I have to attain it.

This area already with two forces, two lines, two opposite directions, indicate that my desire is in a correct process of correction. This alone is a good enough reason to be happy! The main thing is the awareness that I have managed to rise a bit above my desire to receive, towards of bestowal
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From the Preparation the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/20/12

Becoming The Guides For The Whole World

Rav Kook, “The Lights,” “The War”, Item 9: The building of the world that is collapsing now before the terrible storms of the blood filled sword requires the building of the Israeli nation. The building of the nation and the revelation of its spirit is one thing, and it is connected to the building of the world that is falling apart and that is expecting a force that is united and supreme, and it is all in the soul of Knesset Israel. The spirit of the Creator is filled with it and it is impossible for man’s spirit, whose feeling of the soul is throbbing in him, to be calm in this great hour, without calling all the great forces of the nation: Wake up and rise to fulfill your role.

Things will not be corrected and will not improve unless the people of Israel understand their special role regarding themselves, regarding the whole world, and regarding the Creator and their obligation to everyone. This is the law of nature, which does not depend on our consent and doesn’t require our consent.

We will have to keep this law no matter what, either by the path of the Light or by the path of suffering. Humanity has to reach an equivalence of form with the Creator, and we are the part that is obligated to start the correction for everyone and to lead them by setting an example for the other nations. We have to acknowledge our mission and to accept it, either willingly by agreeing, understanding, and taking on the responsibility or by pressure of the general hatred that will be revealed towards us, the troubles, the problems, and the sufferings of the development press that is pressuring us.

We will have to acknowledge that the whole method of correction that leads us from the love of others to the love of the Creator is called the wisdom of Kabbalah. This wisdom tells about the connection among us, about the network of connections among us in which all of reality is included, the whole system of the worlds. By building and discovering the connection among us we discover the upper spiritual reality that is above the egoistic corporeal reality in which we are living today.

We will have to understand that the wisdom of Kabbalah is not about red strings, as the nonreligious believe, and not about creating statues that were already shattered in the days of Abraham, not mysticism, which religious people imagine, not blessings, and not prayers so that everything will change for my own good, except for me. So no one is thinking about self-correction, but rather they are asking for egoistic changes: not that I should change, but that everything around will change for my own good.

However, the wisdom of Kabbalah is God’s work by which, with help of the upper Light, with the help of the attribute of bestowal, we will want to change ourselves in faith above reason, in order to resemble the upper force and to reach an equivalence of form with it, to reach adhesion. This means to become Adam (human), which means “similar” to the Creator (Domeh), which has the same root in Hebrew.

This is what we should aim all the forces of the nation at, as Rav Kook says here: Only in the revelation of these forces will we reach the creation of the spirit of the nation and the assembly of all the souls of Israel, “Knesset Israel.” Then we will become a “nation of priests and a holy nation” for the whole world; we will become an example and guides for everyone.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/12

Everything Is Based On Sensing

Question: Our way is made of three consecutive stages: knowing, understanding, and attainment. When we turn to the public with the message of connection, people can’t immediately feel or perceive it. Perhaps we should start with some general information, from the benefit in connecting and only then move on to the idea of sensory attainment?

Answer: This message isn’t perceived in the usual way. After all, matter is woven from our desire. The thought actually comes later. First I’m impressed, a reaction within my desire, and then by that I begin to put the knowledge together; this is from where science comes. Thus I’m not just a machine that simply analyzes things and responds to certain data that is perceived by the sensations. It’s true that the senses develop by the mind and the mind is directed by the senses, but the sensations precede the mind.

It says: “We will not know by name or word that which we don’t attain.” This means that first I attain a phenomenon in my sensation and then come the names and the words. This means that first I “taste” and only then stabilize the description.

Question: Does it turn out that by telling about connection as our salvation that I must first make a person feel and only then bring logical explanations?

Answer: As long as there are no feelings, there is no one to talk to; you can’t turn to those who don’t lack anything. You approach a person who feels that he is in trouble. The Creator prepares a “place,” which means a situation in which people suffer. Then we can approach them according to their quality and character, according to their level of suffering, and thereby present them with the method of correction.

But we speak about how to correct their current state and not the whole world. We present a person with the medicine for a specific illness: “Take it and you will succeed, and will be able to overcome your troubles and live a good secure and balanced life.”

At this stage we don’t tell a person about the upper worlds, in the meantime he has to return to normal life and doesn’t need to think about anything else. So he already has the emotion and we have to give him the mind, the understanding but in a way that it’s dressed on his feelings, so that it will become a “head” for the “body.”

This is the art of dissemination, giving a suffering body the right intelligence that can help him. We tell people why they suffer and how to put an end to their suffering. The problem is that we are opposite from nature: It’s totally connected while we are disconnected and so we feel bad. So let’s start building the connections among us and thereby get rid of all the troubles. How can we do that? We do so according to a special method, with the help of the study and certain actions.

Then, within a week you’ll see that the method works. What’s more, we will not just create a good and friendly society, but will also see how other problems that plague us today subside.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah“

How Should I Ask So That My Request Will Come True?

Question: What is a prayer?

Answer: A prayer is called work in the heart. But why is it work? Don’t I know what I want? No. I don’t know what I want, and I don’t know what to want—this is all our work—to stabilize ourselves correctly.

But if this is a deficiency, what can I do? A baby cries not knowing the reason why, he simply feels bad. A person who has revealed different Reshimot (reminiscences), has felt the taste of receiving and bestowal and already knows what makes him feel bad and what makes him feel good, so he can point at a specific deficiency. It isn’t just a deficiency, not in form, but a deficiency in which there are different depictions and discernments.

So what do we have to do? Not just to cry out like a baby, but to find out what it is exactly that you want. Suppose I want to love a friend whom I don’t love. I have to feel a deficiency for that. It says: “Make your desire like his.” But how can I do that if I don’t have any desire for it?

Perform different actions and by them you will see to what extent you don’t want it. But by performing these actions, you have invested your powers and these powers bring you sorrow that you don’t want the things you should actually want.

I want to buy a house, for example, but in order to do that I have to exert myself, to go to work, and to trouble myself. I have no power to do that and no desire, but I do want to buy a house. This is wrong. A person should process his desire so that the desire will be connected to the goal.

So what is a prayer? A prayer is not just a request that I have now, it is a series of actions in which I stabilize the request I will later live by. Each time I process and correct my deficiency to a greater degree so that my prayer will be processed as correctly as possible, more accurately and more sharply.

A prayer is called Malchut, a deficiency, and I must constantly worry about it. There is nothing else I should worry about, but the right deficiency. So it says: “If only he prayed all day long.” It isn’t the same prayer as a person who falls to the ground or reads from the Sidur (prayer book). No. A prayer is when I clarify internally, as it says about Malchut: “I am a prayer.” This means that a person says, “This is my prayer, this is my deficiency!” And it isn’t that it is written somewhere or something that I have heard or have been taught.

So “I am a prayer” means to cleanse myself of different external impressions and to clarify internally my true deficiency, my “self.” This is Malchut. To such a prayer, a person receives an answer from Above, since it is a clarified deficiency.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/12, The Zohar

Getting The Maximum Suntan Under The Surrounding Light

A person comes to study since he wants to know, to understand, and to feel the spiritual world. In the meantime, however, he doesn’t really understand what receiving for himself and bestowal and upon others are. He only knows how to take care of himself, to act according to his desire to receive; all his work is to perform actions that will draw the Light that Reforms.

The only thing we should think about is how to open ourselves to the Light and to give it a chance to operate and to impress us and change our attributes. We must constantly worry only about how to attain the best state for this kind of bestowal, to increase our connections with the group intentionally, and to organize everything that is necessary.

Our role is to implement this whole sum of conditions in the best way possible, so that the Light will impress us. The Light is fixed, and I have to constantly turn to place myself under its influence, once on one side and once on the other side in my thoughts, myintentions, and my actions, in working with the books, with the group, with myself, in my relations with people who are close or distant from me, in everything.

If a person constantly thinks about it and bases all his hopes on that, understanding that nothing else will help him except for the influence of the Light, he reaches the result very soon. This means that he is “expecting the Creator’s Light,” as if expecting dawn. He feels how his values change by being turned to bestowal and love, by exiting from himself towards the friends, towards the concept of the group, towards its inner form and image.

It is by that, that he begins to see his life. He feels that there are two desires in him: One is the natural egoistic desire to receive, which remains in him for the time being. The other desire is the hunger that gradually grows in him, the need, the empty vacuum, the deficiency, which he wants to fill by his yearning for connection.

After a person feels the two desires in him, thanks to the Light that has created an empty space in him, he can already receive some direction. First he only had a point that had no direction, and now between these two vacuums, there is a connection, which determines the directions from “myself” to the “others,” and thus a person advances.

The main thing is to constantly turn yourself by aiming at the maximum influence of the Light that Reforms, in the best most efficient way.
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From the Preparation the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/12

War Until Reaching A Complete Victory In The Heart

Rabash. “Love of Others”: I look at a small point called the love of others and I think about it: What can I do in order to delight the general. Since I look at the whole general, I see the sufferings of the individual, illness and pain and the sufferings of the individual from the whole general, which means wars among the nations. There is nothing I can give other than a prayer and this is called “feeling sorry for the public.”

People in our world understand that when times are hard we usually help one another in different ways. We host people who have to leave their homes; we send help and essential products in order to ease the life of people who find themselves in extreme conditions. Everyone understands that we have to feed those who are in trouble and to give them a place to sleep and to support them. That’s the way it is in every culture throughout history, among all the nations.

Kabbalists have a different approach to this. This doesn’t mean that they disqualify the ordinary mutual help. We see that throughout history, even from the time of Abraham and the other forefathers that they invited guests and how important the idea of hospitality was for them, both in the corporeal and in the spiritual sense.

But the question is what should we do if we are under a constant threat, like we feel these days, and on the whole throughout history. If we think logically it turns out that there is no chance that Israel can succeed here, surrounded by enemies whose only desire is to erase us from the surface of the earth.

How can we, despite all this, go on living on this land under this constant threat, till when? From a logical perspective it is impossible and perhaps we should build our state somewhere else, like it was once suggested in Uganda?

But the only thing that can help us is what Kabbalists tell us about the place from which the world develops and about the spiritual message, about the upper force that is connected to us and that is with us. We work in connection with it, in one direction and can thus change our fate.

First we should understand that everything that is happening was given to us as assistance. Then it will be clear that we have to work in this place and only here, under these special conditions can we advance and fulfill the goal of creation. It isn’t by chance that we are in such a hostile environment, but according to a certain goal according to the upper plan.

The small point of love of others Rabash speaks about is the spark in us. We have to arrange this spark, to reinforce it, to support it, and to aim at attaining our source, our root. Thus we will be able to fulfill the thought of creation for all the nations.

So our role, with all the difficult conditions that the upper force presents us with, is to respond correctly, inclined to connection, unity, and mutual guarantee,until we attain the state of “love thy friend as thyself.” Eventually the whole world will join this love as it says “and all the nations shall flow to Him,” and by that we will fulfill the thought of creation.

All this is attained by prayer, which means by our work in the heart.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/12

An Illumination Of Eternity

Question: What is the definition of the “Creator?”

Answer: The “Creator” is the force of bestowal in a person. If a person feels that he belongs to connection and bestowal, then the Creator is already alive in him. A person feels something new that is not his own, something upper, and wants the upper to be in him, since by that he acquires something better, even on a corporeal level.

Question: Does it turn out that the general reach the revelation of the Creator unconsciously?

Answer: That’s right, since it is AHP and not GE, only “from Your actions shall we know You.”

The general that operate in connection feel a better life in their actions. Imagine that suddenly everything works out, you and your family have everything, your children are taken care of, you are healthy and secure… where does this happiness come from? It stems from the connection among us that gives us a general collective feeling that we are like brothers. A kind of unity, love, and an agreement that the Creator is dressed in the created beings, connects us.

In addition to that we feel a kind of eternal flow in this. There is a special illumination in the unity, which tells a person: “You are alive and you will continue to live.”

I receive this addition by connecting to others and living in them. My life is divided between everyone; I am totally in them and by that I feel an eternal life, an eternal existence. The illusion of life and death disappears, since it was felt only in my separated and limited ego. Now, however, when my ego is spread among everyone, when I depend on everyone and everyone depends on me, I don’t feel that I am dead anymore; I live among everyone.

This is all the psychology, the internal feeling. All this comes to the ordinary person, when he makes steps towards connection. He feels an addition of spirituality in every aspect of life. It is “spirituality” because he comes out of himself towards others and is under the force bestowal. Even if he acts according to the blows, not understanding exactly the actual reason for what is happening, even if everything has been taken care of for him, it is normal. We too operate this way with regards to the advice of Kabbalists.

Although the emphasis of the general is on the action and not from an inner clarification, they too discover the Creator and experience the spiritual feeling. Every one who takes part in bestowal is already called “human,” even if he is operating on a totally mechanical level. It makes no difference since he is also part of the general whole.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/14/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah“

Let’s Open The Door To The Light

Question: Can The Book of Zohar help me recognize evil?

Answer: The Zohar, more than any other source, can help a person feel the evil. We advance on the way to the Light, to the Creator, to the force of bestowal, which is the only one who rules and who operates in reality since the desire to receive doesn’t move if the force of bestowal, the force of the Light, doesn’t impress it.

So it turns out that without Kabbalah books, and especially without The Book of Zohar, we wouldn’t discover the source of our movement, but would just wander in this world. It is the Light that impresses us in the form of circles if we evoke it to get closer to us equally on all sides, and then everything is immersed in different troubles and problems.

But what are troubles and problems? It is the feeling of our oppositeness from that Light. We don’t know what the Light is, but we feel bad, not knowing what it is.

If a small child feels cold, for example, he is shivering and crying and doesn’t know what to do. Next to him there is a door to a warm room, but he doesn’t know that he should go in there. So he continues to cry and to scream, but is not able to tie his bad feeling with the cold. He doesn’t understand that he feels bad because of the cold and doesn’t know that if he goes through the next door he will feel good and warm. He attains this only according to the actual phenomenon, but he doesn’t know where it stems from. He only reacts simply to his inner state, without a cause and with no results. This is how the simple desire to receive responds.

But if this desire begins to build a head for itself, then he already understands where things come from and why and how he can be saved, and what actions he should take in order to escape the bad situation—this is already a head. But how is it created? By the Light that by different actions builds in him this mechanism, which doesn’t exist in the desire to receive at all.

Thus we gradually advance to the good. There are people on such a level of development who simply cry out when they feel bad. There are others who try to escape in different directions, but don’t know the right direction. There are also those who manage to escape. There are those who understand that there is no need to escape, and that if we perceive the Light that comes to us and makes us feel bad, here in our place, we will turn it to good, and there is nowhere to run at all. So they overcome their state, transcend it, and discover the Light in the same place. It all depends on our development.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/12, The Zohar

What Does Our Life Depend On?

Question: If I understood you correctly, Kabbalah is a science that helps us advance. Can we say that everything is in our hands and what happens tomorrow depends on us? In other words, life doesn’t depend on chances, but rather on our efforts, intentions, and work.

Answer: There are no accidents in life! The more we penetrate into this world the clearer we see that nothing is accidental. As little children, we simply don’t know the laws of nature when we exclaim, “Oops! It suddenly fell and broke!” It’s not an accident; it’s a lack of knowledge since we are unaware of the circumstances that caused this occurrence.

So, there is no such thing as an “accident” in nature, starting with the smallest particle and ending with the most complicated structures. Everything is predetermined and compliant with the laws of nature. We should learn and follow them and then everything will be good.

There is a very simple solution to this problem. Nature shows us the problems of our imbalance with it in the form of crises. Problems! Let’s say, I have high blood pressure; it’s a problem. There is a normal condition and there is an abnormality that I can measure and compare with normality and balance them out. We call it treating a disease or regaining balance, even if it is done artificially.

Same applies here. We are in a state of imbalance with nature, which we regard as various crises: in science, culture, finances, economics, human society, terrorism (you name it!), including the ecological crisis. We have to balance ourselves with nature, it’s absolutely the same system: “What is inside, same is outside.”

Kabbalah teaches us how to stay in balance with nature. We certainly observe harmony in nature, but Kabbalah helps us learn faster, nothing more than that. “Cutting” off (getting rid of) afflictions is the only problem being solved here. We’ll arrive at this point anyhow. However, the problem can also be resolved in a very dramatic way that’s much more intense than the hurricane we just survived.

Imagine that a hurricane happened in some other place, not in New York, but let’s say in one of many underdeveloped countries. How would that country cope with its aftermaths? It would be thrown back to the middle ages and it would be impossible to help them. Maybe they would get a couple of airplanes with flour, that’s it.

We should think about these issues. It’s a pity that people do not realize how effective “spiritual medication” can be in fighting serious symptoms of the disease.
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From the Georgia Convention 11/5/12, Lesson 1

The Power Of Mutual Guarantee: Try It And You Will See

All the exiles the people of Israel have been through were all exiles from mutual guarantee. And each time, the sufferings increased to such an extent that the group of Abraham reconnected again. But eventually the desire to receive grew so much that the brotherly love turned to unfounded hatred. The Temple was destroyed, the mutual guarantee was broken, and the people found themselves in the last exile that continues until the present day.

Today, as Baal HaSulam tells us, the people of Israel are like a sack of nuts, who are together only because of external circumstances. The hatred of other nations compels them to connect to a certain extent, but this connection doesn’t exist in the inner connection or in natural connections that are typical of other nations. Among the people of Israel, there was only the connection of mutual guarantee when their recognition and understanding, and their efforts were aimed at being together.

Any other nation is united by a natural “instinctive” force, while the Israeli nation has to work on its connections, since otherwise this work is done by the hatred of those around it, leaving it no other choice. In such a case, the nation of Israel is connected only on the level of the still nature; it doesn’t develop and remains in exile since it doesn’t advance towards connection by itself, of its own initiative; it doesn’t yearn to discover the quality of bestowal and love, that is, “the Champion of the World” (אלוף); the Hebrew letter Aleph(א) makes the difference between exile (גלות – Galut) and redemption (גאולה – Geula).

The children of Israel leave the exile, when they yearn to discover bestowal and love in the connection among them. So today they are still in exile and are not a nation yet. Only a series of troubles keeps them together, so that they will not disperse, so that they will be able to fulfill their role and to pass on this message to the whole world, and eventually bring contentment to the Creator.

This is the current situation. This means that the children of Israel should invest all their power in that, in order to move from the external pressure to the internal pressure. If the internal pressure obligates them to connect more strongly than the missiles and other revelations of general hatred, the external pressure will stop. The people of Israel must constantly obligate themselves to connect by overcoming the pressure of external factors.

But today the people are ready to speak about connection and it is simply a shame. It is the wrong situation when the Creator evokes it to connect by enemies from the nations of the world. This isn’t the real work of the Israeli nation and there is nothing to be proud of. People don’t establish good and desirable relations between them and external forces do this work. In the meantime, we must develop our inner powers by turning them into connection and then all the external pressure will stop. It will simply disappear.

It is very easy to test this since the internal mutual connection doesn’t cost anything, it doesn’t require anything except for a desire and a decision. So let’s try and see what benefit it will bring. There is no doubt it will heal society, be helpful to the country, and beneficial for everyone. The number of car accidents and crime will be reduced. At the same time, we will follow and see if it helps increase our sense of security and whether it affects our enemies. I am for testing.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Everything Points To Connection

The Book of Zohar is the source of the upper Light that illuminates from the top of the world of Atzilut. It’s a system of the upper Providence and leadership that operates on us, so that when we study The Book of Zohar we actually connect with this upper mechanism. The closer we want to get to the upper leadership while reading The Book of Zohar, the more strongly it influences us. But what does it mean to get closer to the Lights, to relate to the system of leadership and Providence correctly?

It means to be like it. It’s total love and bestowal and its law is the law of love. How can we check that? We do so according to the principle of “from the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.” The Creator is nature, the essence of the upper system. So the word “God  –  ים-אלה” is the same as the word “nature – הטבע” in Gematria.

So if we want the upper force to connect us, to bring us connection and correction, it matches its plan. On our part there can’t be any other intention or inclination, according to this system with the upper Light. That is why it is called the Light that Reforms: When we want to connect mutually in “love thy friend as thyself,” which is the great rule of the Torah, that is Light, then it comes and corrects and fills us. Actually this is the only action in nature and this is the only thing that can help, save, correct, and bring good to us and to the world.

The current global crisis is meant to show us that only the action of connection can save humanity. Accordingly, the current “small war” in Gaza is meant to evoke us to the same inner action that is aimed at connection. So let’s try to connect all our inclinations in mutual guarantee and understand that we have to become “as one man in one heart.” In fact this is all our work.

We hope that the Light that comes while reading The Book of Zohar will fulfill the connection among us. Then there will be no enemies and there will be no wars. By trying to connect above the situation, we drive away the negative force. If in the past the leadership operated on us through the posterior of the Light because we were opposite to it, now it reveals its face. Let’s try and focus so that it will all happen this way.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/12, The Zohar

A Prayer For Correction

Egoism pressures us, holding us in its slavery and not letting us rest. Every moment we continue doing selfish calculations in its favor with no end to it. How can we escape from this slavery? By all means of establishing ourselves stronger in this demand, that we are in the group, study, and participate in events, dissemination, workshops, gathering of friends, and festive meals only to obtain the force of bestowal. This is called faith.

A person experiences the suffering of Job which is the symbol of unbearable human suffering, revealing all of his egoistic nature to the deepest level and discovering that he can do nothing with it. No matter how much he checks himself, he won’t find a single grain that will bring forth something good. This is called the suffering of Job that can’t be overcome and somehow healed because in fact it’s impossible to find any clue in our nature from which correction could begin. That is, we have no power by means of which it would be possible to perform the actions of bestowal.

But it’s said that the Creator created the evil inclination and the Torah as a means to correct it. That is, there is a remedy: the upper force, the Reforming Light that comes to a person on condition that he requires correction. All that we need is to discover our plea, and then the Light will affect us.

A plea is a desire, the need to be corrected. It’s not just an egoistic desire to enjoy, but a regret that one was born an egoist. This requires preparatory work carried on from generation to generation, the influence of the environment, of the Surrounding Light that reaches a person even unconsciously and without his knowledge.

Even without studying Kabbalah, a person begins to get to know his evil. As in our current state of crisis, humanity is about to do this in order to discover that we are all egoists, and there’s no way out. Everything is heading towards this, and we’ll just devour each other, and will it be the end of civilization on the earth? What are we to do?

There’s a general and personal preparation period in which a person’s evil nature is slightly revealed. He feels that there’s no escape, and it needs to be corrected. And if the point in the heart awakens in him, he begins his correction. But those in whom the point in the heart is not awakened, they feel the true suffering of Job, with no hope to change themselves. Any actions that seem altruistic to us, any charity and noble impulses will nonetheless turn out egoistic in the end. Becoming more aware, a person begins to understand that throughout everything, egoism is manifested, acting only for its benefit. No matter how nice charitable organizations and actions look, they do not bring any correction.

The world is built in such a way that if we act according to the law of the correction of nature with the help of the Reforming Light, then we correct it. And if we don’t follow this law, all our best actions are turned into harmful ones. And with these best intentions, we cause the most damage, not bringing any good. That’s why Rabash writes that when he looks at all the suffering that the world experiences, he has nothing to help other than to pray for their correction.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”