So The Group Will Absorb Everything

Question: What is the meaning of adhering to the group?

Answer: To adhere to the group is to be with the friends in the entire process through which they are passing, to perform the tasks, to participate in all the events: in studies, dissemination, duties, gatherings of friends, workshops, and paying maaser. I need to try to be a useful and active participant in all this. These are mechanical actions of joining a group, which are visible.

Besides this, within myself, I wholeheartedly try to be included in this image called a “group,” to disappear, to melt there. I want to be absorbed within this concept of the “group,” the “society,” so that nothing of me remains.

If I try to do this according to my egoistic motives, to the extent of my efforts, I become closer to the Light, and It brings me thoughts about this and shows how appropriate I am to it or not. So, I begin to demand that the Light correct me more. I begin to relate to my inclusion in a group in a more practical way, connecting this inclusion with the Light that influences me and helps me to enter a group.

It follows that the more I am included in it, the more states I begin to discern: greater or smaller inclusion, how much I forget about myself, how much more I belong to the friends, how much more or less I love them. Only according to this do I evaluate my ascents and descents, since no other ascents and descents exist.

And so together with everyone, I turn to the upper Light that makes of us one whole. And here the work begins. All measurements and evaluations take place only in regard to the group because without this there is no correct measuring scale, there is no correction with which I would be able to examine myself.

I have no indication and evaluation of my emotions, not in relation to the Creator and not in relation to myself, if we don’t do this within the group. The group is the place where I feel, measure, and carry out all spiritual actions.

There is no other place outside of it! There, in the group, I need to discover hatred and my ego, all of my characteristics. All that is discovered outside the group doesn’t require any correction. Only what is discovered in the relationships between the friends, this is the only thing that we need to correct. Pharaoh, the ego is the force of mutual rejection and of hatred that is discovered in a group. And outside the group, this is all the physical life of the animal body.
[103976]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/13

A System Of Spiritual Measurement: The Group

Question: How is it possible to check whose servant you are: a servant of Pharaoh or a servant of the Creator? How is this examination realized, intellectually or emotionally?

Answer: We check with the mind what we feel in our heart. A heart is all the desires of a person, and I need to check who controls my desires: the will to receive with an intention in order to receive or with an intention in order to bestow. The will to receive is always there; it is the substance of creation, but I must examine for what I am working.

This examination is done only through the group. In our physical world we cannot measure anything without a scale of measurement. We require some unit of measurement: a meter, a kilogram, Hertz, a measurement scale with which I will be able to measure and weigh some phenomenon.

How can I weigh a desire and my intention that controls it? This is only possible depending on how I adhere to the group and associate myself with the whole. Through this I can measure myself and change something within me. Otherwise, I will always be mistaken.

Therefore, “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself” is called the fundamental rule in the Torah for it controls everything. If I do not place myself correctly relative to society, I will not be able to see where I am at all. With my measurements, I will not be able to discern any error, neither the smallest nor the largest.
[103981]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/13

The Ego’s Evil Under The X-Ray Of Hatred

We examine love relative to the hatred that awakens in a person toward the source of evil: whether he can love the source of his suffering despite his feeling bad. By that, he has to isolate himself from the evil, from the place in which he feels the suffering, as if it isn’t his nature.

This is a very delicate point. In the ordinary egoistic nature I hate the one who brings me sufferings, the source of evil. It’s just as we often soothe a child who hurt himself by hitting his head on a table, by telling the child to hit the table back. It’s a natural, instinctive animal response.

But the spiritual work was meant for the correction of man, and all the corrections are possible only if I feel that someone makes me feel bad and I realize what comes to me is only love and goodness. So all the painful signs should focus me not on the source of this bad feeling but on the source of evil inside me, on the place where I feel this evil, on my evil inclination. It’s there that I feel sufferings, bad relations, and that is what I have to detach myself from, to put a Masach (screen) on, a restriction, so that eventually it will turn the evil to its opposite form.

It’s as if there is a table before me with a five-course meal and every dish tastes horrible, smells bad, and looks rotten. It isn’t just that the food is a bit salty or too spicy, but that it’s actually poisonous. I, on the other hand, have to correct my vessels of perception so that I can love this food, which at first seems impossible. In the same manner we also reach love on top of the correction of our vessels in which we feel hate.
[104123]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/3/13

Cleave To The Creator More Strongly

Question: It is said that he who cleaves to the Upper One does not fail, that he is above all problems. How can we increase the desire to cleave to the Creator, to overcome all adversities, and rise above everything that we feel from the Creator?

Answer: We have already discussed that a person cannot do anything alone. Those problems that the Creator gives us just seem personal. No one has personal problems because of the Kli (vessel) that became shattered in the world ofNikudim. In other words, the soul of Adam that was in the world of Atzilut was common, and all the problems are the demonstration of the shattering of the correct, common state. That is why it is impossible to say that I am uncorrected. There is no human being who was like that because I am uncorrected only in my attitude toward the common state that was originally created.

The shattering occurred not in every one of us but between the parts of the common soul, and that is why we need to correct the connection between us. This is very important. We need to remember this and constantly try to imagine the corrected state, and then we suddenly will see how the general mosaic comes together and turns into a beautiful, joint Lego, and the upper world is manifested in this combination.

Question: When we are connected together, the Light passes through us to the 99% of humanity. In this case, do we need to cleave to the Creator more strongly to be able to transmit the Light more?

Answer: Of course. This is because the world will demand more and more from us. It is in a critical state even now. We need to perceive its state as a plea to us because when a baby who is feeling bad is crying, his parents guess what he wants. So, are we: The world screams, it feels bad, and we must guess what it needs. It needs unity. That is why we must act in this way.
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From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 4

Between Plus And Minus

Question: There are two forces in creation: the plus and minus, the desire to receive and desire to bestow, the male force and the female force. Perhaps the connection between the male and the female forces is missing in order to discover the one force that is called “One?” If that is true, then how can we connect?

Answer: Only by including the Creator, there is no other way! Only He can create harmony between the plus and the minus. It says “a man and a woman, Shechina(Divinity) is between them.” A man and a woman, plus and minus, these two opposite forces will never be able to connect without the revelation of the Creator.

In nature there must always be a resistance between the plus and the minus in which the mutual energy between them becomes prominent, and it’s the Creator who plays that role. First He reveals Himself in the form of the ego, the resistance between the plus and the minus, then He connects everything into one system, and then on top of this resistance, His revelation becomes disclosed and we begin to feel Him.

We can’t actually feel Him. He is felt in our desires, in our vessels, in the resistance that we create between the plus and the minus.

Suppose that this is our resistor, plus or minus, our ego (Ego). If there is a “current” flowing through it, which means that we are connecting despite the ego, then on top of the resistor (R) we begin to reveal the Creator.

The Creator is opposite from our ego, since He created the darkness from the Light. So it’s on top of this “instrument” that we discover the Creator. This “instrument” is ourMasach (screen).
[103808]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 3

The Secret Of Success

Our main mission is to unite between ourselves. We need to understand that this is our destiny. This is what has brought us to a science that investigates the nature of the world, the management of the world—to the science of Kabbalah.

As you know, the first book on this subject was written 5772 years ago by Adam. Today, it is up to us to disseminate this knowledge as quickly as possible to all of Europe, and certainly to the whole world. We must show that everyone passes through this process. We began a little earlier; we study it and understand what is taking place. And without learning and understanding, in spite of it all, the entire world is sharing in this.

We have already had the chance to be convinced about this: We are speaking about it today, and in another few years the world begins to approach our ideas and understanding; people here and there suddenly are beginning to say the same things. Although, in fact, nobody used to speak about connection and the requirement for human change and connection between people, today many speak about this. On the Internet network, there is already an enormous amount of material and writing; conventions and conferences have been held on this subject. This message is gradually penetrating humanity, and we are like the “brain” from which this influence comes, spreading signals and waves. These seem to spread below the surface, acting upon everyone.

However, we need to strive to do this much more rapidly, effectively, and consistently. This is our mission. And therefore we, who are found here, and all of our friends all over the world, including those who are not present here and yet are found in this convention together with us, must understand that it was specifically for this that we were led to the wisdom of Kabbalah.

At the time when I came to my teacher Rabash, I found myself around old men. Rabash was more than forty years older than me, and all the rest were around his age. There was nobody there less than 65, and I was 30 years old. I asked him.

- “Exactly what do I need in order to advance?”

- Rabash answered, “You need a group.”

I began to give lectures and to teach; I brought new people, and a group was formed.

- “And what else?”

- “Continue.”

I continued. I wrote books, organized lectures; I was always concerned about expanding the range of people. And so when Rabash saw that I was occupied with this, he transmitted the method of spiritual development to me. I saw this really clearly. Baal HaSulam also writes about what a person needs to do. It was very clear to me that the secret of all of my success in the wisdom of Kabbalah is to be found solely and only in dissemination.

It is impossible to reach discovery of the upper world alone since it is discovered through the right cooperation between people. Even though I am an egoist, an individualist in my manner, a scientist, closed in his own room (I am like this even today, my manner has not changed), in spite of all this, I must work with people. Since otherwise, if I had not actually been involved in dissemination, in expansion, in bringing people in, I would not have attained anything, I would not have discovered anything.

You know from all the Kabbalistic sources that nothing is discovered in one person; rather, it is only through his connection with others. This was once a small group. Today, since the world is completely different, an entirely different relationship towards it is required of us: We must be concerned about it; we must disseminate. For us realization of our connection through the method of Kabbalah is the inner work. And we need to disseminate that method in its external form—the method of integral education.

So, our mission is to help Europe to be integral, connected in a mutual form, unified. And our elevation depends on how much we invest in this dissemination, in this education.
[103591]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 1

Don’t Wait, Act!

Question: When men unite, they cause a feeling of incomparable thrill in women. We, women, are looking very much forward to this.

Answer: You should not wait for this. You need to act. Otherwise, nothing will happen. You should pressure men, help them, that is, behave like a wife at home in relation to her husband. That is how the entire women’s part of the world group must affect the men’s part. In principle, the soul is composed of male and female parts, and the Creator is between them.

You should not rely on men only. On their own, they would not have built the world. They cannot give birth, raise children, and perform household duties. That is why they need support, help, direction, and pressure. This is what a woman usually does at home, helping her husband.

The entire Kli (vessel) is the women’s part, not the men’s. The men do attract the Light, but to the women’s desire, to the women’s aspiration. Thus, it is necessary to match the women’s and men’s parts correctly. However, don’t wait! On the contrary, if you do not cause an urgent need to attract the Light in men, they will not do that. This is how we are organized.
[103925]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 4

Unity And A Little Chutzpah

Question: This evening we are arranging a special lesson symbolizing the end of the Passover holiday, the departure from the ego. How do we need to approach this with a maximum request to cross the Machsom?

Answer: This comes suddenly. Nobody knows exactly when, nobody can predict anything. But Baal HaSulam writes that the time of Passover is a very important time; in our world it’s a special time regarding the Surrounding Lights.

Indeed, the departure can take place any time, any day, but at the same time we need to do as much as possible according to the communication of the physical branch with the spiritual root. We have a chance, and for this a great cooperative effort is required, likewise a little chutzpah (audacity).

- We deserve it!

- Why?

- Because!

This is compulsory. Regarding this it’s said: “My sons have defeated me.” Though I know that I don’t deserve it, in spite of it all, I demand, apply pressure, and this audacity is very useful because it shows that I am going beyond the limits of my ego, I believe that I depend on the Creator and it’s specifically from Him that I demand what I want. Here lies not just an emotional outburst but a deliberate shout, a necessary assault in His direction: “Do it!” That is how new Kelim, additional deficiencies, are aroused in me.

Question: What is needed in order to build this demand throughout the day?

Answer: It is necessary to concentrate on the opposition formed at the time of the departure from “Egypt,” on connection and elevation above our individual and collective ego. In general, we require a demand with the addition of audacity. And the main thing is unity. And don’t be distracted by anything else.

Question: How must one be audacious about this request and at the same time ask on behalf of everyone, together with everyone?

Answer: It’s written that we leave Egypt in the dark of night. This doesn’t say that it’s necessary to wait until it gets dark outside and to turn out the lights at home. No, this is darkness of the ego, which we feel inside of us when nothing more can save us and there is no possibility of escape.

We need to run toward the center of the group, toward love of friends, toward love of another. It’s necessary to concentrate on this; we require the importance of only this. The Light reveals the Kelim and corrects them. Everything comes from that except for the request for help.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/13, Writings of Rabash

Fixing Your Eyes On The Goal

Question: What is the meaning of the phrase, “Everything that has to be collected is as if it is already collected”?

Answer: This says that everything lies in front of you from the start. All the things that you are about to discover already exist. When a person is born, he gradually discovers new things for himself, and it seems to him that they haven’t existed before. This is how it feels. But actually, everything already exists; we only need to prepare our Kelim (desires), and the corresponding limits of the universe will be immediately revealed in them.

In general, for the entire reality lying in front of us it’s necessary only to add the intention to bestow, the Light of Hassadim, and to that degree we discover the perfect reality. We lack only this.

And therefore I don’t intend to correct the present corrupted reality. I intend to add the attribute of faith, the attribute of bestowal, to my relationship to everything. This is correction—faith above reason.

Accordingly, I don’t need to correct myself from within, I simply need to exit myself to the outside and connect with what is there. Everything is already in front of you, the problem is that you are not there, outside of yourself. It’s necessary to carry out this action, going outside of yourself, and then this reality will become yours. Today, you aren’t ready yet to reveal it, but it exists. You only need to “put on your glasses” in order to see it.

We build the spiritual Kli above the will to receive, above impurity. “Pharaoh” does not disappear anywhere, the will to receive remains, and moreover, it remains in its brutal form, and at the end the “stony heart” is added to it. But we need to rise above it, to go over it.

I protect the impurity (Klipa) that covers my will to receive; similarly, the peel protects the fruit until ripens fully. Otherwise, the fruit will rot, and I will not attain my completed correction. I construct my entire relationship to reality while the peel protects my will to receive: “Don’t just disappear for me. My hatred, jealousy, cruelty, laziness, all these things remain, I need you.” It’s as if I wrap my egoistic characteristics in some package, and I exit from them to the outside. And on the contrary, if they disappeared, I would be left with nothing, and I would have nothing upon which to build myself.

Question: So how does a person go outside of himself?

Answer: For this it’s necessary to reach total helplessness. Then a kind of hole in the heart will open for you, in which you feel that you can go outside—and you will ask for this. But in the meantime you haven’t reached true prayer, you haven’t been “pushed” enough to find the Creator.

Question: How does a person reach true prayer in order to get help?

Answer: This happens only after he loses hope completely, but he still stands on the path. It’s necessary to reach a state of recognition of evil on one hand, the greatness of the goal on the other, and to maintain this gap.

First, I feel bad because I am in the egoistic state. This state is an unbearable evil for me. But the problem is not that it’s bad for me. I have to cancel my “self” and want this to be bad for me because I am not ready to bestow to the Creator. Thus, the evil manifests opposite the love of the Creator. And second, I recognize the greatness of the goal, which for me is goodness.

When I hold these two extremes, I reach the true prayer, a request for correction.

The goal is so great in my eyes that I can’t abandon it. And all the time my concern is that the greatness will only grow more. Ultimately, I hold onto two extremes: the greatness of the goal and the evil of my present state.

There must be pressure here from the group that gives me awareness that the greatness of the goal is namely to bring contentment to the Creator. And then I begin to think of how to flee from my present bad state, which is bad specifically because I am far from the goal.

These are the conditions that need to form within me. For this I have everything: the group, the Creator, the sources…. But the awareness of the importance of the goal is the key to everything (1), it is prior to all the other conditions. I need to be focused on the goal, and within all states to look only at it, to adhere only to it. And then, as a result, I truly need a group, a teacher, the studies, and dissemination.

After all, “the end of an action is in its initial thought.” The goal obligates me to everything. By aspiring to the goal, I understand that I can’t manage without the environment because I will reach the goal specifically among the friends. I know that I can’t do without the teacher because he holds me together with the group on the path and brings the Light that fills us. I understand that I can’t do without books because with their help I learn the spiritual system and arouse myself. When I study, it’s as if I am in that system, and I summon from there the Light that Reforms. And finally, I realize that I can’t manage without dissemination since the group is a small part of the collective vessel of humanity which I also need to be concerned about.

Everything derives from realizing the importance of the goal. I interpret to myself the final state in which I, the group, and the teacher are joined with all humanity such that the entire spiritual system comes to life among us. Its Lights will fill and tie us with one another into a single Malchut of the world of Infinity. And in it, we will reveal the One who has formed it, the Root that has produced the four phases of the Direct Light. And this is the Creator.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 

The Group Has No Right To Remain Silent

Question: When something happens in a group, the group attempts to solve its particular problems by itself instead of turning to other groups and screaming, “Help us!” Does someone need to suggest turning to get help or does the entire group need to decide that we really do have a problem and the time has come to scream so that they will hear us?

Answer: In our group in Israel, the same thing happens. I feel that when one friend or another falls, wait a day or two to see if the others respond to this or not. If not, I suggest they tell all the others. That is, there must be constant examination and there is no getting around it.

And the group has no right to remain silent in circumstances like these since this would be harmful to all the rest.

I shouldn’t hide my non-participation in something, my detachment from the spiritual path, from the search, from the tension, from the progress forward. I cannot be silent about this because in doing so I will cause people to fail.

It is like a group of soldiers who go out on an offensive and suddenly one of them is not ready to move forward. Others are depending on him. What will happen if he doesn’t carry out his mission? They will all be killed; nothing will succeed. Therefore, in order not to undermine the group, he must tell them that there is something that is not okay with him, perhaps that his leg or his hand is not working correctly.

Also, if an entire group falls, this undermines other groups. We cannot think only about ourselves. If we think like this, we are saying that mutual guarantee doesn’t exist, that there is no mutual obligation. So, in general, there will be nothing! Think well about this.
[103865]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 3

A Shield For A True Hero

Question: What does it mean to ask for connection with the Creatorwhen in a difficult state, instead of trying to overcome the difficult state on one’s own?

Answer: Wisdom comes only with experience. We need to feel darkness many times, and then light, and again darkness and light. That is, we need to go through many unpleasant and pleasant sensations where I feel bad or good for all sorts of spiritual and material reasons, and I can do nothing about it.

Thousands of these experiences should change in me until I begin to realize that my perception depends upon my assessment, on the importance that I attach to the spiritual properties of connection, love, and my relationship to the others. I already start to guess what is hidden in this darkness and to feel it. I don’t just feel good or bad, but good and bad because of my relation to the group, because I don’t consider it important or don’t treat friends well.

There are many steps on this path, many small stages, not yet spiritual, but psychological barriers that must be overcome. And then comes the understanding that waking up out of the darkness, I start thinking about the screen, about the time when I can be above these feelings.

We have to go through the good and bad feelings, through day and night, until the end of correction. Although everyone goes through this in his own way, in the end, I begin to feel the need to rise above these feelings. I no longer want to depend on them and be their slave, but I want to be protected against them with a shield.

Let various internal impressions arise in me, but they should not affect my attitude toward the friends, toward the spiritual path, toward the importance of the goal and the Creator. I want to be independent in that from my egoistic desire and its sorrows. This requirement is being born in me: I want to be above the suffering of egoism, similar to the behavior of a true man in this world who bravely stands his ground, and nothing can shake him, no outside influence.

From this moment, I have a direct connection with the Creator because I begin to demand from Him. So far, I have asked for only good feelings, nice states, sweet fulfillment, that is, I demanded for my egoism. Now, I demand to raise me above my egoistic desire, and this the correct requirement for the Creator. I want to relate to the Master equally well, in the same direction, while remaining above emotions, above the sorrows of my ego. This is called the “anti-egoistic screen” (Masach).

Of course, these screens have a number of levels and features, but the work with the Light starts from this first screen. I want to restrict my desire to enjoy. And naturally, I feel everything that happens in it and the worry in myself. But all these emotions, cooking in my stomach, do not affect my vision, heart, and mind. There is a partition (Parsa) between them, which I feel as a diaphragm inside my body. Under this partition, in the “stomach” something is cooked and happens, but I want to identify myself with what is above this diaphragm: with the lungs, heart and brain.
[103829]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/13

The Time Has Come To Awaken The World

Everyone acts according to the root of his soul, and the Lightthat reforms acts on him according to the root of his soul.Therefore, when we look at each other in this world, we don’t understand the motives of our actions; we don’t see which informational genes and which corresponding Lights are transformed in us. We cannot properly judge each other, and therefore we say that it is always necessary to judge your friend favorably.

In relation to himself, the person is given free choice and must strive to construct an environment for himself that will awaken him maximally. He must be dedicated to this environment and submit himself to it and be integrated with it as much as possible, as it is written, “All that you find in your hands to do, in your power, do it.”

But together with this there also exists a general plan of development. We are found in a process like this, where the entire world is beginning to wake up. And therefore, our development depends upon the development of the entire world. This puzzle is awakened more and more, and in it each one needs to fill the place that is designated for him. Therefore, the more that the world advances in general, the further we, “Israel,” the people who seek the Creator, advance. And likewise, through our advancement we awaken the entire world.

Therefore, it is impossible to separate these two components in our present work. Everyone is connected and depends upon each other in a form that is impossible to separate: both the inner work, by means of our informational genes and our personal Light that Reforms, and also the group in the group and the general work on the people of Israel in the land of Israel and on the entire world. The time has arrived when we must awaken everyone. But the more internal the layer is, the more important its awakening is.

The person needs to understand that if he falls all the time and thereby feels his inferiority, this is done for his good, and thus he is shown his true state. It is necessary to be thankful for the bad as well as for the good, for the good and the bad are weighed together. The form in which the good and the bad will be revealed depends only on the Light that Reforms. And it is always necessary to examine ourselves according to our integration in a society: How much are you ready and strive, are concerned to see the entire group, and in general the entire world, as your soul?
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/13

The Creator Is Waiting

Question: What does it mean to address the Creator?

Answer: To address the Creator means to demand from the inner forces of the world that hold and control it to be clearly manifested in us. We have to know this force, be in contact with it, and to act with its help. That is why we ask, demand, it to be revealed.

It does not matter to the Creator how you address Him. You can curse Him, just do not leave!
[103681]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

I Am Disappearing And Growing

Question: If the Light influences a person according to the root of his soul, where is my participation in this process and how do I determine its pace?

Answer: The Light that Reforms illuminates according to the state of the general system in which we are all integrally connected. We are all mutually incorporated in one another, and so I can’t be disconnected from my generation, from time, place, and the general state. My state depends on others and their state depends upon me.

Besides, I can also advance individually, but my individual advancement is being incorporated in everyone. This means that I can’t think only about myself. It’s impossible in the framework of this system, and by that I will not help myself. If I pray only for myself, I cause myself harm, no matter how good my prayer may be. If it doesn’t go through the group, it causes my soul harm.

So we should always remember that this is a general system in which we are all connected, all tied to and dependent on each other. Our work is namely to reveal this system.

My individual effort is focused on the revelation of the general. I don’t reveal the place I am in, I reveal where the others are, the society. I don’t discover myself, but rather the system in which my “self” disappears.

I on the next level am the one who feels his “self” less and who feels the society more. On a higher level there is a lesser feeling of my “self” and a greater feeling of the society.

So how can I pray for myself? In the next state, on the next level, it will not be me anymore! The society on the next level is “me.” The current “self” disappears in the general system, and the system becomes me. This is actually what I feel and perceive as myself. I see it as my soul.

There is the point of my egoistic “self,” and from it there are circles that spread as each time the circle and the society get bigger: society 1, society 2, and society 3. If I annul myself to some extent, I perceive the first one. Then I annul myself a bit more, and I perceive the second one; I continue to annul myself and I perceive the third one. These phases are called Ibur (gestation), Yenika (suckling), and Mochin (mind).

So who am I? I am what I identify with. If I am incorporated in the first society, then this will be my “self”; if I am incorporated in the second society, then this society will be me; and if I am incorporated in the third society, all this will be me. My current self disappears. This means that each time I build myself above my ego, above the Masach(screen), by faith above reason.
[103426]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/13, “Matan Torah (The Giving of Torah)”

Nachshon’s Leap

Question: The people of Israel were afraid to leap into the Red Sea (Yam Suf – Final Sea) until Nachshon decided to do this. It seems that it was not easy to do.

Answer: This truly wasn’t easy. We see that difficulties appear in all stages of the spiritual process. Always there are those who were ready to turn back. Our ego is so multi-layered that it is not immediately possible to abandon it, to go away from it, or at least to establish that it is bad.

It is difficult for a person to nullify himself before others. If I don’t act first, this says that I would prefer for someone else to do it. Would this be a desire for love and unity? It is true that at that moment the matter was still not clear. And we see that after that the “golden calf” and many other problems were to appear.

Question: What does “Nachshon’s leap” represent?

Answer: In a person there is a characteristic that represents proceeding with faith above reason: “My death is better for me than my life.” So, the person leaps into the sea, what will be will be. Certainly this is not talking about our present state. The action that is called “Nachshon’s leap” requires preparation.

It is required in order to pass to the next stage, but are we prepared to carry it out? In the meantime, we are far from realizing it, even though this moment rapidly approaches. There is no doubt that we are found in the stages of redemption. In the connection of hearts is the idea of peace and wholeness; in this is our salvation, this needs to come as an alternative to the current situation in Egypt. Therefore all of our work, learning, anddissemination are directed towards connection and unity. Only with the help of connection and a good mutual relationship can we be saved.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder” 3/4/13

Preventing The Friends From “Falling”

Question: In the time between the Arava convention and the European convention, the friends in the group worked very hard and on the whole have experienced many descents. What can we do so that the friends won’t “fall?”

Answer: We need only one thing to help the friends not to “fall”: to strengthen the connection with the Creator; the friends from other groups should remind you about this. When a group works correctly, it becomes one whole. An individual, however, cannot do anything. So, there are many groups that have to help one another. Only in the connection between them will the Creator be revealed.

Groups should work as a single organism, just like a body operates. Can the kidneys, the heart, the lungs, and other bodily organs be healthy if there is no communication between them? It can’t happen! There must also be an organ that manages all the activities just like in a body the brain (Brain) does.

It operates all the groups and they give it “feedback.” Thus there is a constant cyclic mutual activity of all the organs.

If the body’s activity is not circulating, there is no balance between the organs, and then the body is ill. Even if all the organs are healthy and only one part is ill, it will lead to the imbalance of the whole body. Therefore, there must be a mutual connection.

We have already reached this point. Now in order to connect and to advance correctly without any obstacles, everyone has to be connected, and we need the mutual interconnected support of all the groups, one system of studying and disseminating.
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From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 3

What Are Women Capable Of?

Question: Many women from all over Europe came to theconvention. Could it be that they don’t push us, men, actively and strongly enough to act?

Answer: You shouldn’t expect others to do your work. Of course, we have to support the women and allow them to pressure the men, but you shouldn’t sit idly and wait: “When will they put pressure on me?” It isn’t the same as it is at home with your wife, where you don’t move unless she “kills” you with her nagging.

Here it’s different; here we do have to concede. They push you to fulfill the goal of life, and you should help them in that and listen to them. But don’t think that it’s only their responsibility; it’s also your concern.

The women’s concern is not only to push the men; they are also busy with their spiritual work. We don’t see, don’t feel it because they do it quietly, a bit submissively. But if we look at their level of knowledge, progress, and loyalty, women are on a level that isn’t any lower than the men’s, and many women are much closer to attainment than most men.

Don’t be misled by the fact that they are seemingly quiet and are thus not that special. They have great knowledge and great powers. If you give them a chance to be a bit more active, you will see of what they are capable.
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From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 3

Dissemination Is The Elixir Of Life

Question: I would like to ask about a situation that can occur in a group regarding the dissemination and teaching of integral education.

Suppose there is a group of five people who have accepted the group charter and are trying to keep it, exhibiting love, etc., and there is me, a solid, educated, clever person who has graduated from courses of integral teaching and integral education and who can already teach others. I don’t have time to be incorporated in the group; I want to disseminate, but the group doesn’t support me. It turns out that they are holding me back. What should we do in such a case?

Answer: The point is that before the general global crisis started I didn’t speak about integral education at all. Baal HaSulam writes a lot about this and talks about this issue very seriously. He emphasizes that the revelation of the Creator cannot occur if the world doesn’t yearn for it, both the part of humanity that has the point in the heart and the part in which the point in the heart has not yet awakened. So everything depends on dissemination. I also saw how in the beginning my students didn’t quite grasp this idea, but I pressured them, and eventually they understand that first of all, we have no choice and that it is essential, and secondly, that it is true.

What would I do in your place? There are many groups around the world and some understand that we must disseminate and some don’t. The same thing happens in each group where there are some people who understand this point and some who don’t. In any case, the members of the group have to live in peace and allow those who want to disseminate and who acknowledge how necessary it is to do so. Those who still don’t understand should wait until they understand; they will see that all the groups are dealing with it and will eventually feel not only that they are interested in it, but also the need todisseminate.

The point is that when you begin to work for the general public, you feel great energy; you feel the meaning of life. It’s like becoming parents, since when we have children, we feel a new urge for life: You don’t live only for yourself anymore but for them. So, a group that deals with dissemination is always more lively. It turns out that first of all dissemination is important for the group itself. Let’s hope that everyone will gradually understand this.
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From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

How Do We Thank The Creator?

Question: How can we express our gratitude to the Creator?

Answer: Only by wanting His revelation, by that we bring Him contentment.

These words may sound banal, not fully understood, and artificial, but on the whole, it is the only way to explain it using the language of this world. In fact, it is a very high level and we will begin to understand the meaning of these words only when the Creator is revealed.

How can we bring the Creator, the upper force that manages everything, contentment if we run around like bugs on this planet bumping into one another? Do we want Him or not? Does our mood change according to this? Does He suffer or enjoy as a result (the suffering or pleasure of the Shechina -Divinity)? We don’t understand all this, we don’t even understand ourselves.

In fact, all of humanity are upper creatures, not in the way we see it in our egoistic attributes, but in the way we really exist on the level of the general connection, in full adhesion with the Creator. On that level we are totally equal and identical to Him.

So we have to imagine this level, to act it, and everyone should see himself and his friends as worthy of this level. This should raise us.
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From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 3