Modern Babylon

Question: The Jewish nation has gone through a special transformation, the transition from slavery to freedom, to which the feast of Pesach (Passover) is dedicated. What is the meaning of this transformation?

Answer: The meaning of liberation from slavery is acquiring the power of love due to exiting from one’s egoism. We are under the control of the system that advances us, especially given under the power of our egoism, which is calledPharaoh.

First, we feel good in this bondage, but then realize that we are in exile and are slaves to the egoism that rules over us absolutely. We do not agree with this authority and wish to escape from it, from the bad attitudes towards each other, because we see that in this form, it is impossible to move on and exist.

After many failed attempts, we become convinced that nothing can be done and only a miracle can save us. Indeed, egoism is killing us to the extent that we do not see success in anything in our lives in any way. In this way, Pharaoh’s rule between us is manifested.

That is the situation we see today in Israel. There are 23 political parties in a little country, huge gaps between different layers of the population, crisis in the education system, an increasing divorce rate, and growing use of drugs. Half of the citizens would be willing to move to another country if given the chance.

Our unkind attitude to each other can be seen from the behavior on the roads and elsewhere. We are divided by indifference to others and pride. Egoism reigns within us and makes us act in this way. It is not our fault, but it is our nature that plays with us.

One must realize that our nature is the evil inclination, which enslaves us. If we do not get out of it, then our lives will be over and we will not leave behind anything good for our children. Life will become worse and they will not have even those crumbs of happiness that we once had.

This is slavery, and the Passover Haggadah tells us how to escape it to reach freedom. But above all, we need to understand that we are in slavery. After all, while you see yourself in the darkness of egoism that separates us through mutual hatred, it is impossible to understand the reality of freedom from this angel of death.

We have to desire to become a free people in our own country, independent of our desire. We need to wish to achieve love, connection, mutual guarantee, and unity between everyone above our egoistic nature.

The people of Israel once escaped its egoism and rose to a height of unity and love, which is called the building of the Temple. But then we were not able to remain at that height and fell from it.

Rabbi Akiva taught that you cannot leave the principle of love for others as oneself; otherwise, we will again fall back to unfounded hatred. Egypt is the state of causeless hatred between us. After the destruction of the Second Temple 2,000 year ago, we returned to this state of hatred, which is called Egypt.

After thousands of years of living in unity and connection, the Jewish people again went to Egypt, to unfounded hatred. But today the whole world must realize that we are in Egypt.

Once, a small group led by Abraham left Babylon and became united into the people ofIsrael. But then it went back to Babylon and mingled with all the Babylonians. Today, we again find ourselves facing the same Tower of Babel and are confronted with hatred towards each other and the unwillingness to know and understand others. This is called a confusion of the tongues.

Once again, we have to make the same action as was once performed in ancient Babylon. It is said that acts of the fathers are an example for their sons. Today, we once more need to exit from Egypt, but this will be the last exile before the final liberation.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/22/15

Pesach: Brothers In Spirit

The basis of the Jewish nation is not an ethnic but rather an ideological basis. We have to start from way back, ages ago, when humanity was concentrated in ancient Babylon and people lived a simple life but in brotherhood. However, there came a time when conflicts broke out, and neighbors who used to be close and friendly began to feel suspicious of one another and gradually became strangers.

Imagine this situation in the perspective of our time: the neighbor’s grass is greener; he has a modern washing machine, and yesterday I saw a new refrigerator being delivered to his home. His wife is like a thorn in my wife’s eyes since she wears a new dress every day, his children are disrespectful, and what is more, he now has two new pure bred dogs who openly look down at my mutt with contempt…

In short, the ego grew in ancient Babylon and people ceased to feel themselves as one nation. It is as if they began to speak different languages.

Then Abraham, who was a great sage, discovered the inner essence of what was going on and found a true solution to the conflict. He discovered that they had to overcome the ego that had grown in order to maintain the warm and friendly relations between them.

But the majority didn’t accept that approach and it ended in a general break up. The tribes and peoples scattered all over the globe.

Very few followed Abraham and they were the ones who laid the foundations for the Jewish nation and the Jewish people. They established a society that despite the continuously growing ego, kept the feeling of closeness to one another and the warm family relations between them.
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Pesach From Different Perspectives

Question: What is the difference between the Kabbalistic explanation of our world and Pesach (Passover), and the usual explanation we have known since we were children?

Answer: There are several levels that explain reality, existence, creation, development and the goal of man in it. When we speak about Pesach, for example, we can speak about:

1. The historical period of slavery our nation spent in Egypt.
2. A person’s enslavement to his ego in Egypt, to his Pharaoh.
3. The development of the created being, of the desire, under the influence of the Light, the Creator, and under the influence of darkness, Egypt, and Pharaoh.

At the same time we can speak about different levels:

1. The technical fulfillment of the rituals that in our language are called Mitzvot(commandments),
2. The psychological fulfillment of the commandment of “love thy friend as thyself,” as the general commandment and order of the Creator, which includes all the other commandments and orders as it says in the Torah: Love thy friend as thyself is the great rule of the Torah,
3. The Kabbalistic influence of the Upper Light on the worlds and through them on the souls that undergo different phases of development and their spiritual correction.
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Did The Splitting Of The Red Sea Really Happen?

Question: Was there ever a miracle that the Red Sea parted and theIsraeli people went through it when they fled from Pharaoh?

Answer: The Torah doesn’t talk about events of our material world. It talks only about what happens between our souls. In this sense, we pass through an inner spiritual state called “Crossing the Red Sea.”

The exodus from Egypt and the freedom from the slavery of Egypt is freedom from the control of our ego, from the “Angel of Death.” In principle, on the way to this freedom, we move through some kind of passage called crossing the Red Sea. It symbolizes the end of Egypt, the end of our ego, after which we can become a free people.

A unique force of unity is hidden within nature that is called the Creator. When we invest in efforts to unite, to get closer to each other against our desire, then through these efforts the higher power creates a state where “splitting the Red Sea” will be discovered. It moves us from the egoistic nature to a nature of bestowal and love.
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From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 3/15/15

The Freedom Gene

Question: The celebration of Passover is a special opportunity to learn something new about oneself, about our people, about our society, and make a qualitative change in our relationships to each other.

Rav Kook wrote that if the people of Israel once had not made this transition from slavery to freedom, the whole world would have never been able to make such a change. Is it true that the people of Israel affect the whole world so much?

Answer: The people of Israel are a special group of people that were selected from the entire world and came out from ancient Babylon in order to unite.

Today, the whole world is in the same mutual hatred, which once was revealed only between the Jews during the destruction of the Temple. Due to this hatred, Jews fell from the height of unity to the level of this world, and that means going into exile.

Today, the Jewish people are mixed with the entire world, and we all are in the same state, which is called Egypt or the slavery of mutual hatred.

Since the Jews have already exited this slavery, we have memories, the genes(Reshimot) of that previous state. This is why we must lead everyone else in exiting this terrible state the whole of humanity exists in now and in setting an example to everyone, meaning, being “a light to the nations of the world.”

Now this task is for the people of Israel who are living in the land of Israel. This is why we were able to come back here. We must realize our mission for the benefit of the whole world. After all, the purpose of creation is that all of humanity become one people, one family, as it is written in the Prophets.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/22/15

Everything About The Revelation Of Love

Question: Why is it that only the wisdom of Kabbalah has an answer about the meaning of life?

Answer: We look for answers in a clear, scientific manner and don’t believe what someone has written in some books. I have to attain the answer by myself. The wisdom of Kabbalah is based on accurateattainment, as it is said, “a judge only has what his eyes can see.” Attainment is the clearest understanding a person can have. That’s the way it should be.

Therefore, when we engage in the Kabbalistic method, we acquire scientific research tools and discover everything until we have no doubts remaining. It is through the wisdom of Kabbalah that I discover the tools, opportunities, and attributes inside me, by which I can reveal the Creator, the network that connects all of creation and the upper world.

I live in two worlds. My body lives in this world and at the same time I feel an upper reality. But only I feel it since only I attain it. Anyone who wishes to feel the same thing has to undergo the same path of study and exercises, and then he will gradually reach the revelation of the upper reality.

Question: You always talk about revelation, the revelation of the force that surrounds everything, the one force that operates in nature. Does that mean that there is something that exists now but I simply don’t feel it?  What does it mean to reveal?

Answer: There are many phenomena that you are not aware of and that you don’t detect. Do you perceive or receive radio waves? No. There are many phenomena taking place around us, but we don’t perceive or receive them. We have simply built different instruments by which we can detect such phenomena. But according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, we cannot build external devices. We are the ones who have to change internally; because our perception, our mind and our feelings are limited, we have to expand them. Because we have to discover the general force of nature that is called the Creator, which stands for Bo-re, (come and see), we have to attain the state in which we will see Him, which means to reveal Him and reach attainment.

Question: What do I have to do when I attain the revelation of the upper reality?

Answer: The revelation itself obliges you just as any revelation in this world that obliges you to behave differently, because you actually change according to it. It is then that new knowledge and feelings fill you.

Question: But how does the revelation of the upper reality, of the Creator, fill me?

Answer: You feel that you are filled with love of others. It is an immense change a person undergoes. It is because love thy friend as thyself, the law of mutual guarantee, is the general law of the upper reality, and we have to ascend all the way to it and exist within it.
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From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 1/18/15

“And Shall Be Called After The Name Of The Creator”

Question: How can I choose whether to act in favor of my ego or in favor of the environment? After all, my ego sometimes confuses me and convinces me that the good of the environment is different from what society defines as good.

Answer:  If the group says something, it is undoubtedly a sign that that’s the way it should be. It is said: “They have eyes but cannot see.” How can you believe your own eyes? If the group tells me that something has to be done, I can organize a discussion, a workshop, but eventually I have to accept the group’s decision.

The same rule applies to the relations between the teacher and the students, as it is written: “Educate a child according to his ways” (Proverbs 22:6). If the group makes a certain decision with regard to its way, I go along and cannot rush forward since I will not be allowed to discover any more from above unless it is according to the group’s opinion, desire, decisions, and perspective. I cannot judge the group and myself. I am even mistaken in my self-judgment and continuously arrive at the wrong conclusions. This is undoubtedly what happens.

Question: So what can fuel a person if he believes that the group is wrong?

Answer: Of course I always believe that the group is wrong, but I don’t need to pay attention to such thoughts. Of course I think that everyone is wrong and I am right. But if the Creator has brought me to the group and told me “take,” I have to accept this fate. But how I can I accept it if I don’t agree with the opinion of the environment, am not incorporated in it, and do not connect with the friends?

I am not objective because I judge everything with my corruptions (“one judges according to his own flaws”), according to my ego. The friends also arrive at egoistic conclusions and they may have been studying not as long as I have, may understand less, but if they have one general opinion I have to accept it. This is my environment and I have to grow in it because I cannot grow all alone. I have to accept their opinion as if it were my mother’s opinion, like a womb to which I have to adjust myself, and the upper force will complete the work.

The environment is the form with regard to which I have to shatter my ego and turn it tobestowal. This is the reason that it is said “Educate a child in according to his ways,” which means that we have to take his way, his desire, his progress, into account and thus advance. It cannot be done differently.

Otherwise there is nothing I can annul myself with regard to. The Creator is not by my side. The group should always be the Creator for me—more and more so. Therefore it is said: “from the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.” If I stabilize myself with regard to the group, I will begin to see the Creator through it because the form of the group is the form of the upper.

We have to discuss and to clarify all these issues and to consult the teacher, but once the group makes a decision I have to annul myself with regard to its opinion. A person cannot benefit if he has complaints towards the group and if he leaves it and disappears. All his complaints, his desires, and his thoughts are worthless if he doesn’t annul himself with respect to the group. This is the only reason they were given to him.

The group also provides me with the power to annul myself. I receive the Light that Reforms through it, and it is clear that I have no power of my own. But I already understand that my miserable, temporary thoughts and desires and the group’s thoughts and desires were given to me only so that I should demand the Light that Reforms and adhere to it more and more.

An embryo doesn’t need the womb but needs the force that he gets through it and which formats its body similarly to the upper. The upper isn’t the womb. The womb is only the temporary means so that I should adapt and annul myself with respect to the upper, but, at the same time, I don’t reveal its form.

When I receive the Light that Reforms I build myself, am born, and keep growing. This is I how I build my human image, and from that image I discover who the upper is. The Creator has no form of His own. My corrected form is called the Creator. “And call me after the name of the Creator.”
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/14

Developing A Second Wind For Our Work

We must be concerned about fuel for advancement and the quality of the work, and not just run after the quantity. Otherwise, this will lead to a great fall. We must sit together and think about a method for approaching people. The moment you seriously begin to take care of the general public, you will get a second wind. Now, you feel tired after a long run. Even though you had great success, this no longer excites you and doesn’t give you the same vigor as you had before. You have gotten used to being successful and there is nothing new about it. Everything comes to an end and you have begun to get sick and tired of it.

It is like the four phases of Ohr Yashar (Direct Light). Why can’t the first phase go on forever? This is because, after it (Aleph-Lamed-Peh) finishes, the second phase (Bet-Yod-Tav) begins. After that finishes, the third phase begins.

The Light influences the desire and constantly changes it. Eventually, it becomes qualitatively new from reception to bestowal, from Hochma to Bina. So, the same thing will happen in our work as well. It is impossible to play the same game until the end of life.

When people fall in love, they swear that they will love each other until the end of their lives, but it is clear that love will fade before we die, for we evolve quickly. In our day, development is very rapid, so people marry and divorce a number of times in their lives.

It means that each state will end and we shouldn’t wait for it to happen. Already, in advance, we should understand that even though our dissemination work is productive, correct, and good, and we cant diminish its importance, it already requires additions. It is up to us to think about the quality of the work, for every new level is attained by improving the quality.

It means that the connection with people must be more qualitative. The next stage is precisely the same as the previous one, but with a greater level of connection. We need to meet with the same people we already have contacted and begin to teach them themethod of correction. It is necessary to send explanatory material to them, to haveworkshops and unification evenings with them, and to teach them through the television channels and the Internet to continually keep them interested. It is as if we enrolled them in a school, and now it is up to us to begin the first grade.

As a result of this, we will become a conduit that connects people with the Creator. We are not yet this conduit, rather, we have only reached the first point of contact.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/21/14, The Book of Zohar

The Route To Bestowal

Question: What drives a person to advance, impurity or holiness?

Answer: A person who is still in the intention of in order to receive, which is called Egypt, is driven to advance by impurity. After all, he does not as yet, have any desires in order to bestow. He doesn’t value bestowal since it doesn’t seem attractive, and so he advances only because he sees a corporeal loss and a spiritual gain.

I can tell you how wonderful spirituality is indefinitely, but you cannot feel it because you don’t have any flavors of it. So you will agree that it sounds very tempting, but you cannot perceive it in order to understand that it is attractive according to the pleasures you are used to: food, sex, family, money, respect and knowledge, or at least part of it!

So a person is given troubles in order to push him to spirituality, but they are intentional. Eventually it is Pharaoh who undergoes the blows, but before that, the nation of Israelsuffers during the seven years of hunger. They are not give bricks, but are  forced to prepare them by themselves and work from morning till night without a rest. Everything is according to the path of suffering and everything depends on the sufferings that we choose. The spiritual sufferings are a result of my drawing away from spirituality. The more we advance, the more qualitative the sufferings become until eventually we reach the exodus, but these are still sufferings. A person cannot advance by living a comfortable life. If he feels pleasure, the pleasure immediately fills him and stops him. This happens all over the world. Give people abundance and they will live without thinking about anything, like animals.

It is only if the deficiency in them grows that they are forced to look for a way to fill it or escape the pain that they not only lack something but that it really hurts. In that case they will reach the filling. Guiding the created being by blows and sufferings is the safest way, because the nature of creation is a desire to receive and not to bestow.

We have to either increase the feeling of deficiency in the desire to receive or increase the temptation to receive. A person is a machine that feels emptiness in its belly. Instead we can prepare a table full of delicacies and thus awaken a person’s appetite, even if he isn’t really hungry.

This means that we can increase the deficiency in two ways, but they both operate from the aspect of receiving and not from the aspect of bestowal. We can draw a person by the force of bestowal only through the group. If I am incorporated in the group, I begin to understand that my progress doesn’t depend on the emptiness I feel in my belly and not on the wonderful dish before me. The progress takes place on a more sublime dimension and begins from lack of bestowal and advances towards an increasingly greater ability to bestow.

So I begin to work with the group, ignoring what I feel in my belly or the plate that is before me, and move on to a new dimension. So far I have advanced on one dimension according to the route on the low level. I escaped from the emptiness I feel in my belly towards the filling.

The gates of impurity, of receiving, are on the lower level and the gates of holiness, of bestowal, are on the upper level.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/14, Writings of Rabash

One Of The Two, There Is No Third

Question: Why does Baal HaSulam write that after democracy and socialism comes a fascist regime?

Answer: Because democracy is incapable of satisfying the desire for pleasure. The desire for pleasure grows and demands progress. The person himself wants to be more connected, and democracy brings him to this. Yet what kind of benefit does he get from connection; how do we realize it?

The realization of unity can only be either for the sake of our personal benefit or for the sake of the Creator. One of the two, there is no third. If we advance in a simple and natural way, then the connection comes about for the sake of our benefit. And this means that we are connected against everyone else and we try to turn them into our slaves, subjugating them.

An approach like this can be seen all over the world, more or less following every democratic government. After people get at least a little freedom, they immediately begin to feel that they lack connection. Yet they don’t know how to use it: “So we got connected, and what’s next?”

We are compelled to exploit this connection for the sake of someone or something. Ultimately it is realized in fighting against the others and showing how strong, unified, and consolidated we are among all of the people. This emerges naturally and inevitably. Today this tendency can already be seen in the world. From month to month the world approaches Nazism more and more.

It is enough to look at what is generally happening in the common European market, their decision-making, events happening in the United States, in Russia, and in many nations. It could be that you don’t feel this very much, yet I see that Nazism is becoming acceptable in society.

We are beginning to talk about it as something legitimate. We begin from a distance with the fact the we must discuss it so that it won’t return. But in the meantime, until we begin the discussions, we arrange conventions and printed material and people get used to the subject. This is the first stage.

Although it is said that Nazism is a negative phenomenon, but researchers and historians supposedly should discuss it. After that philosophers and futurists join this discussion, they investigate and examine how and why this happened. As a result of this, they reach the conclusion that this behavior is inherent in human nature and the Nazi regime was a natural and valid stage in the development of humanity. That is, it is embedded in our nature and cannot be avoided.  And so the legitimization of fascism is made.

After that begin the speeches about the necessity of the unity of the people, the need for sanctions against immigrants, the necessity of uniting against enemies because we are weak and losing. It would be like talking about steps necessary for survival. The idea gradually spreads. For this purpose there exists a special technology with whose help in a few years it will be possible to sell people anything.

Hitler didn’t immediately come to power either. Many years passed from World War I until World War II. He had some kind of a base upon which to stand; he was truly elected by the majority. Today it is even easier to do this because connection in our day is even more in demand, an even more sensitive topic. There is even greater disappointment in our development.

We as humanity have stopped developing. A new mobile phone every half-year doesn’t testify to technological advancement. These technologies are already old; there is nothing new, just a change in the external shape to sell the product. We have reached the limit of development of technical thinking and soon the same thing will happen in biology and everything else.

So there are many reasons for the development of Nazism. These trends are continuing to grow in all nations: France, Ukraine, United States, Russia, and it would be worthwhile to think about this before it is too late.
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From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/14, Topic: Holocaust Memorial Day

And The Good King Of Egypt Died

Baal HaSulam, Shamati #159 “And It Came to Pass in the Course of Those Many Days”: The thing is that, indeed, they were very fond of the work in Egypt. This is the meaning of “But mingled themselves with the nations, and learned their works.”

It means that if Israel are under the dominion of a certain nation, that nation controls them and they cannot retire from their dominion. Thus, they tasted sufficient flavor in that work and could not be redeemed.

At first a person is in his desire to enjoy and sees that he works for the sake of his ego. He learns and acquires knowledge and feels that he is above others since he understands and feels more than them.

The wisdom of Kabbalah opens before him the whole essence of life in this world and he looks down with contempt at all the other people who lie around on this planet and don’t understand anything. He feels that he is higher, more important and superior to them and his ego is filled with pride.

He receives explanations about good and evil and turns everything in his favor in order to calm himself. Now he has a tempting goal. He sees the wisdom of Kabbalah as his redemption and the answer to all the troubles since he arrived to this wisdom quite depressed having been beaten by life. Here he suddenly finds all the answers and comfort. He is glad that he isn’t guilty of all the evil he has done and expects things to be better than in the past. In short, he is very satisfied.

This is intentional, just like with small children who receive from the Creator energy to run around, to learn everything, and not to sit still and be lazy so that they can quickly learn about the world and develop. The same thing happens to a person when he begins to study, as it is written: “The thing is that, indeed, they were very fond of the work in Egypt, this is the meaning of ‘But mingled themselves with the nations, and learned their works.'”

The nations of the world are the states in which only the desire to enjoy rules, and Israel under the domination of Egypt is a state in which the desire to bestow that awakens in me works for the benefit of the egoistic desire. It turns out that I can be more successful than others. I calm myself; I understand and feel more as if I am getting more opportunities and therefore feel that I am better.

These are the onions, the garlic, and the squash that we ate in Egypt. At this initial state I can turn all the evil that is revealed for the benefit of my ego. This means that I amPharaoh’s slave. Everything serves the egoistic desire, even the small desire to bestow in me that I have thanks to the study and my connection with the group.

This is how I use this method up to a certain point until there is suddenly a change in my feeling. This is called: “and the king of Egypt [who was good to me] died.” Then it is as if a new domination emerges. I don’t feel that I am so successful anymore and that this business is so simple. I cannot use the wisdom of Kabbalah to improve my ordinary, corporeal egoistic life anymore.

Here I begin to feel my slavery. The desire remains the same desire, the same king, but it is dead for me! The new phase begins: “and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage” What are we working for if it isn’t for our sake? And what will become of us?

We connected with the hope to discover the upper force because we thought that it is good for our ego, but now we suddenly discover that it isn’t the good we were waiting for and not the connection we thought it would be. We begin to understand the good and the connection in their real sense, which means that we are aware that the fruit will not be revealed in the desire to enjoy but only in the desire to bestow.

We still don’t understand the meaning of receiving a payment in the desire to bestow, but it will be revealed to us. We hope to feel good, but what is good in bestowal? We have to change our perception with regard to the coming change.

This is the meaning of “the king of Egypt died,” that all the dominations of the king of Egypt—he gave them food and livelihood—had died. This is why they had room for prayer. And they were immediately salvaged. And then when they walked in the desert and came to a state of Katnut (smallness), they craved the servitude that they had had prior to the death of the king of Egypt. Which means that they left the domination of Pharaoh.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/30/14, Shamati #159

The Power Of A Free Person

Question: The greatest fortune is not even whether I will or won’t pass through the Machsom (barrier); rather, it is that the Creator has brought me to study. What does this depend on?

Answer: It is the Creator who brings the person to the good fate and we cannot influence this in any way. We can only try that by coming to study we will be able to realize ourselves.

Question: But why are we so few, such a small percentage?

Answer: We are not so few; we have very great spiritual strength, greater than the whole world. What kind of power does the whole world that is completely managed from above have in comparison to a single person who has freedom of choice and the ability to influence reality? It is impossible to compare this at all.

The total power of every person living in the world is equal to one person who is studying in a Kabbalistic group. If they want to influence the spiritual world, every one of them on their level must connect together to be equal to one of our friends.

It is just as all of the still are equal to one of the vegetative, all of the vegetative are equal to one of the animate, and all of the animate are equal to one man (Adam). So also among people, if they all are managed from above and there is one who is not managed and has some kind of independence, so all of them together are equal to that one. If they all connect on their physical level by nullifying themselves, they become equal to this one who is studying the wisdom of Kabbalah. The relationships between levels are like that.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Do We Want To Come Out Of Egypt?

Question: Why do we want to come out of Egypt in the first place, what is so bad there?

Answer: We are made of two parts: the animate level and the human level. Therefore it is said, “the Lord will save man and the beast.” Everything depends on the extent to which you identify either with the animal or with the man.

The man in me yearns to open his eyes to the spiritual world, to understand why he lives, to see the way ahead, and to understand all of reality. The animal is attracted to the armchair and the TV in order to feel good and comfortable. It turns from side to side and doesn’t want anything.

This means that I have a choice: either this world or spirituality. We swing between these two states, and that’s the way it will be until the end of correction. We will receive increasingly greater temptations to enjoy egoistically and a greater hardening of the heart. We can be given a hardening of the heart even in our current state so that we will not be able to move even one millimeter.

If you feel good in this state, then there is nothing to talk about. If you don’t feel a need to advance spiritually, you need to develop in this world in order to discover its worthlessness.

Question: Does developing mean to receive blows?

Answer: There is a phase in a person’s development in which he receives blows, but he is still unable to understand why and where they come from. He is not developed enough yet. He has to receive a certain number of blows to try to escape from them in different directions until he begins to understand why this happens.

Before that he only wanted to hide from the blows and now he already has a question and wants to know why he receives blows. Clarifying the reason is already an upper level. He doesn’t simply want to erase what is bad on the current level, but he yearns to know where it comes from and why. He has already grown.

Then he ascends to the next level and finds out why the blows arrive. He begins to explore their source, why our life is the way it is and what are the laws according to which the system that punishes him is built. He wants to know all that.

Then he ascends even higher and wants to know not only how the upper system works but also the goal that it operates for, which means whether there is any plan. After all, he sees that the system operates systematically.

We constantly advance by blows, yet I don’t pay attention to the blow itself but to why I receive it and to its source. Eventually I rise above the blows and want to discover the reason for them. The blows force me to value their reason and then I begin to detach myself from my feelings and leave the animal to suffer. It is good that it suffers since there is no other way I can advance. I want to identify and to connect with the reasons for the blows, which means with the cause of reasons.

This is why I accept my advancement gladly. But I will not advance unless I receive enough qualitative blows on every level according to my questions, according to my appreciation of the blow. If I receive a blow but it is unimportant for me and what is important is who I received it from and for what reason, this is a totally different situation. The Creator has brought me all this way so that I will discover that He is the one who gives me these blows.
[131331]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

The Far-Reaching Implications Of Domestic Quarreling

Our good fortune depends upon establishing good relationships between us. I try to do this in every way, but suddenly there is an explosion and somebody takes me out of balance and away from the right direction. In order to maintain this intention, we must have general agreement, a system of education that is designed especially for this purpose..

This is what must be taught to children at school, so that they will not behave the way they do today. This is a nationwide problem that must be solved on a national scale, and doesn’t just depend on someone’s desire or lack of desire.

No one wants this since it is contrary to our ego and not easy to realize. So we must create a system of education that will bring us closer to one another.

Our entire salvation is only in this. Two thousand years ago the people of Israel lost their land precisely because of unfounded hatred. Today we have again found ourselves in a dangerous situation, so let’s get closer to each other.

Baal HaSulam writes: All of our hope is in recreating a national education that is designed to discover the natural love that is latent in our people so that by all means we will go back and revive the same national muscles which have not operated in us for two millennia.

From the days of our father Abraham, who left Babylon, until the destruction of the second Beit HaMikdash (Temple), that is, for about 1,500 hundred years, the people of Israel lived in complete unity.

Question: What does it mean to live in unity? Does it mean that there won’t be any quarrels with one’s wife at home?

Answer: For this, it is necessary to have education that will lead to good attitudes, including women and children.

Question: This sounds like some kind of utopia. What exactly will happen with people? Will they stop being egoists?

Answer: People will be able to control their ego. You won’t do this to become good and to not quarrel with your wife, but because through quarreling, you are destroying the lives of all people in the world. This is specifically you, and even because you quarreled with your wife.

Imagine that your relationship with your wife influences the relationships of an immense number of men with their wives, because you are a Jew.

Question: So if a Frenchman quarrels with his wife, this doesn’t influence others as strongly?

Answer: No, this doesn’t have an influence in the way that a Jewish man quarreling with his wife does. This is because Jews are the first in the general system who must realize the law of Arvut (mutual guarantee), the connection between everyone. And after that, the whole world must also be included in this law of Arvut, in the general unity. It is specifically towards general unity that nature is pushing us, towards general unity.
[155681]
From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 3/08/15

Hello, Do You Hear Well?

Question: How do I need to prepare myself for the workshops and how should I behave during them?

Answer: How do we organize ourselves to speak with the Creatorwhen this is possible only through the center of the group? If I want to make a connection with someone by telephone, I need a telephone line, a device, and the right frequency.

I need to speak with the person on the second line in one language, communicate with him exactly at a pre-determined time, and he must specifically be the person that I need. This means that everything must be adjusted.

So how do we arrange the line of communication that extends from the center of thegroup to the Creator to be sure that this line is working, more or less?

First of all, in order to create a connection like this we need to unite among us. This means that each one of us begins to work in the direction of the center of the group. That is how we create something shared in the center that is called “we,” and each one strives for that.

That is how we construct the telephone apparatus for connection with the Creator. Everyone knows that this device is complex even in our world, and even more so in the spiritual world in which the connection is realized at a completely different frequency.

This wave is not allowed to go out from me, for after all, I am the opposite of the Creator. I am entirely a big minus, an egoist. And the Creator is entirely a big plus. We are not ready to understand each other! So how will I be able to construct a device that works on His frequency and connects me to Him?

Each one of us must make a Tzimtzum (restriction) on the ego, meaning he must freeze himself inside and not think about himself. This is called “Tzimtzum Aleph.” In this way I stop being concerned about my “self.” After all, in the spiritual world, in that place with which I want to make a connection, I don’t exist.

So I am compelled to carry out a Tzimtzum on my desire, a Masach (screen). Besides this, I need to bring something out of myself, so from within me I think about the group. Through this I create a single component that is ready to connect with others.

It is desirable that ten people will create components like these from themselves. And then all of us together connect in the center of the group, and our common component (we) is called the sense of bestowal, that resembles the Creator. Between them a connection can be created.

As in telephone communication where the bandwidth can be different, it is the same here. It depends on the greatness of the desire that the person overcomes, great or small, how much he is included with the others, how much they understand each other, to what degree the goal is clear to each and everyone together, and so on. These conditions determine the strength of the connection.

But without constructing a device like this we cannot create a connection with the Creator. So it is up to us to create a force like this, our common connection with the Creator, which is our voice, our mouths. And there can be many voices and mouths like these: it is possible to divide the seven billion people into groups of ten. Less than ten is not enough power. It is possible to try five or three people, but by no means less. Ten is the optimal number.

And more than ten we are not ready to grasp, for we are constructed with a perception of reality like this suchthat we are not ready to see more than our ten fingers.
[134759]
From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 2

Leaders Of The Coming Revolutions

Each time society, the human species, wants to ascend to a new level and improve their situation meaningful changes are really made through revolutions—in worldview, in social structure, in political structure.

Every revolution advances us to the next state; when this state is also discovered to be insufficient, a new revolution helps in taking a further step forward.

That is how our development happens—through revolutions, through levels of renewal.

Today we are facing the next necessary and inevitable revolution that will happen in the most internal area of our lives—in the relationships between us.

In the new era they will be changed drastically, and instead of being strangers to each other and far from each other, we will feel closeness and mutual connection, and we will begin to live according to the principle of reciprocity and support, like siblings in a cohesive family. This revolution in relationships will greatly influence the present situation.

Come, let’s focus on the unique characteristic that typifies all revolutions, both those that have been and those that will come in the future: Always at the beginning of the process there are unique people who motivate it and attract others after them.

Revolutionary Leaders, Then and Now

There is no revolution without a revolutionary who dares to say things out loud that others only thought about, but weren’t bold enough to say. A person like this makes a real difference.

If we consider the revolutionaries of the 20^th century like Lenin, Che Guevara, Martin Luther King, or Nelson Mandela, we can discern the characteristics that typified all of them. They began their activity in their youth; they were educated people who felt the processes that were taking place in society under the surface; they felt the people and their pain. They suffered injustices together with them; they were “cooked” on this fire; they matured, and they gradually shaped the new agenda, the revolutionary ideology.

As a result of this, as we learn from history, they truly succeeded in carrying out great changes in society and in the world.

Question: Let’s compare the revolutionary leaders of the 20^th century and the leaders of the approaching revolution. Is there a difference between them? Or are we waiting for the same kind of leader to arise, raise the flag, and draw humanity after him?

Answer: First of all, the word “revolution” can be understood in different ways and not always accurately.

We generally know that the person is a desire for pleasure, living to fulfill his desire. With this goal he changes the form of social relationships and passes from one model to another: from family to village, from village to city, from city to nation, to international relations. All of this fulfills the human need, the desire to enjoy and feel good.

That is how the healthy ego manages the world, that is how we develop from generation to generation—and so from time to time we must change something. And the changes that are caused by the development of our ego cannot occur continuously, at every moment, especially in light of the fact that we are not even aware of the speed of these processes. Only in the present generation has the pace of essential changes clearly accelerated, whereas previously they took place once in a few centuries. Accordingly, even the revolutions derived from the necessity of adapting social relationships to our inner development sometimes happen only rarely.

In addition, it is necessary to understand that the revolutions of the past were not so powerful and extreme. In the end, the next state was born from the previous state, even though this happened with struggles, conflicts, stormy discussions that necessarily typify the transition from slavery to relative freedom, from feudalism to capitalism.

This caused great changes, not only in relationships between people, but also in the relationship to the higher power (religion), and also in industry and the economy. In fact, the Industrial Revolution changed the relationships between us, and this will inevitably require  further social innovations.

Understandably, there were always people who expressed the common aspiration. In addition, various sectors of society always related differently to the changes. Many circumstances and factors contributed to this process. However, in general, development is conditional upon society reaching an accommodation with the global conditions, withnature.

In the past we advanced due to the fact that nature caused certain progress in us. They shaped and caused reactions and internal changes. Following this reaction we ourselves had to change something.

In general, it is interesting that the closer to our time on the scale of generations, the changes that have occurred have become more sharp and have demanded more understanding, agreement, and participation by people.

For example, in the past, in the transition from the prehistoric era to the era of slavery did not erupt in war or revolutions because the innovations were relatively favorable both for the masters and for their slaves. And then this transformation became a social process and led to the creation of the new ruling regime with particular laws and systems of enforcement.

But this was not the result of a conscious analysis and subsequent conclusions; it was simply life itself demanded an ascent to the next level. Under the influence of nature we understood that slavery no longer pays off and cannot continue. Conditions that were created in trade and industry demanded that slaves be interested in their work and they were freed from the state of absolute lack of rights because this made it possible to gain greater profit from them.

So in the course of time the slave became a worker subordinate to his boss, and after that became completely free. One way or another, in this process everything depended upon the desire for pleasure, the degree of benefit that I can get from someone and he from me.

And so nature awakens changes in us during our inner development, and constantly requires us to digest, understand, and feel these changes, to agree with the general process, with the changes in it, with their adaptation and absorption into human society.

Our contribution, our participation, is specifically found in this. We must stick to the middle: Even though nature compels us to change, in spite of it, all we must make the changes ourselves.

That is how evolution and revolution are integrated. Humanity undergoes an inner process of development and along with this the social process is the initiation of innovations in social relationships. And even though all of this is caused by nature, understanding, consciousness, and realization is required from our side.

Question: Where is the place here for a leader, a revolutionary, who will go forward and draw the others after him?

Answer: This is always the case: The leader gathers a group of friends and other people from more external circles around him until it reaches the masses, quite passive, but involved in the process of changes.

Question: In what way does the revolutionary stand out in the general passive environment?

Answer: It is in his ability to ignite others. After all, the need, the desire, for a change for the better also exists among them, and he must accordingly “buy” them through promises. Together with this, the revolutionary is generally more developed, understands and feels more, so he sees the world in a slightly different light. And in addition, he knows how to turn to people and in what form to provide them the necessity of revolution, meaning, the imperative for the changes in social structure. If the person is successful, if he acts at the right time and in the right circumstances, he realizes his goal.

Revolutionaries were always educated people; they understood what was happening, they knew how to read the big picture, and also possessed special charisma. In addition, they had helpers by their sides that were ready to arouse the masses. In this way they led development.

On the other hand, the word “revolution” is not always appropriate. Clearly we are talking about change; however, changes like these are already found cooking within society; it is only necessary to bring them out, develop them, and translate them from potential into action.

History gives us examples from various generations: The leaders were always intelligent and educated, middle or upper class people, not “common folk,” and at the same time, they were able to connect to the masses and lead them toward the transformation. This phenomenon was never confined to the elite level– but from there it spread to the wider public.

The revolution before which we are standing today is exceptional. It will be unique.

In principle, the process is the same process: Nature works on us and pushes us towards change. But this time the changes are caused not because the desire has already changed and only the environment has not yet been organized in the appropriate way, as was the case in transitions from one formation to another in previous eras. No, today we must only change ourselves. Before the revolution changes the face of our society, it is necessary to change the person. So this requires advanced work from us, the basis without which nothing will succeed.

So we must go out to the people and teach them to build new relationships, new laws, according to which we will live. Nature is pushing us specifically towards this; this is what it inserts into us. So first an “educational” revolution is required—we must do everything to go out to the people and educate them.

According to the outward signs this is somewhat like what the Bolsheviks, with Lenin at their head, wanted to do in Russia. They also disseminated printed material, communicating with the masses working in factories, and on every corner explained their message. And while this was not a change in a person and society; nevertheless, they were shaking the public and explaining what needed to be done.

Along the way they adapted themselves to the people and really appealed to the poor, to the commoners, who were very far from the industrial revolution that the nation needed to develop and not be an agrian appendage of Europe.

Question: And so the coming revolution will be a revolution in education and will require advanced publicity in all the strata of society. Only after that will the ground be prepared for the decisive stage—the change of the person. In that case, which characteristics must typify the leaders of the coming revolution?

Answer: First of all, they will be guides, an “army” of guides. They must turn to the people, especially through virtual networks, through the Internet, because it covers the whole world and makes it possible to reach everyone, without being involved with printed material.

In general, the true revolution happening today is not in the capital cities. There is a different situation: The revolution penetrates inside, and in the first stage, it takes place primarily within the person.

Question: What is this internal revolution?

Answer: As in every revolution, a person must be in despair about the present situation. But, at the same time, he must understand the reasons for the situation: It doesn’t depend upon the predatory elites who are only concerned about themselves, not on the government that doesn’t do anything practical. Here the whole thing is in human nature.

No one is to blame, and we didn’t intend to burn, destroy, or overthrow anyone; after all, the next functionary will be the same, if not worse. No, we see that our hater, our enemy, is our nature. It is the predator that sits within us—the ego that is concerned only for itself. Within me and in each one of us sits a wild animal that thinks only about itself. It looks at the world from within a person and makes a calculation: “How can I have pleasure? How can I use everyone only for my own good? How can I humiliate the others? After all, this is also pleasure….”

So first of all the person requires a revolution in the understanding of his fate: “It is logical that I am totally dependent on the wild animal that is hiding itself within me; I am subordinate to it.”

And so we reach the conclusion that it is necessary to build a system for our internal correction. It will show us what this “beast” is—our nature, the evil inclination, the ego, that destroys every initiative and doesn’t make it possible to rein it in and relax it. On the contrary, it always dominates us and even goes out of its way; in spite of it all it is still in charge. As much as I want to get out from under its authority, to dominate it, in the end, I will discover the same beastly face that rules me, albeit in another dress. I simply have no other nature besides this ego.

This process is called the “recognition of evil”: I learn to recognize the beast in me and see how crazy it is, its sophisticated total control, and nothing is left for me.

Only one thing can save me—if I connect to others. Then we find the point of connection among us and act from that. Then we can tighten the connection between us more and more, dominate the beast within us, the evil inclination, throw it out, and distance ourselves from it. This is the only way.

The work in this direction—is integral education, or the wisdom of connection. The name is not that important. What is important is how we realize the first stage of the revolution.

So it follows that the next revolutionary is a leader, a teacher, a guide. He doesn’t stand up against anyone; he doesn’t incite one part of the people against another part, or one nation against another nation. The Bolsheviks specifically needed a war with whose help they could dominate the elites who were weakened. There is nothing like this here because we stand before man. And it makes no difference if he works the land or is a king; this is not important. After all, everyone from the smallest to the greatest is sick with a single disease, all of us are dominated by the evil inclination and all of us are its servants.

So everyone must undergo the changes through the study to be aware of what is happening, to understand the way of development of the human species, the present level and the next level towards which we must rise. Whoever is wise, he sees, he already has acquired intelligence and sensation. And then according to the inner changes we will begin to carry out changes in society.

This is not a revolt, it is not terror; this must come from within according to the level of development, according to the understanding and awareness, according to the depth of the human desire. And so only the method of publicity, explanation, and education, when the power of a society on a person changes him, will work. Only this way is it possible to advance. And the image of the next revolutionary is created from this.

Question: That is, he is a guide, a teacher, and his role is to bring a person and the entire society, everyone, all sectors, to recognition of the human nature that brings us trouble and destroys our lives. It doesn’t make it possible for us to build good relationships with others. It is the internal hater that hides within us. So it follows that a person or groups of people who rise up at the head of the next revolution are educators whose method is completely the opposite of the aggressive approach, of conflicts and confrontations?

Answer: Right. Violence has no place here at all because this entire revolution is based specifically on equality. We draw strength to change from unity, and true unity is possible only among equals.

The guide is great, high, understanding, and strong—this is correct. But in relation to others he is specifically lower than all: he supports them, teaches them, and serves them. There is no room here for a new elite.

Next, his emissaries begin to appear, people who are ready to work in the field. And after that, while people are undergoing changes, the turn of the organizers comes, arranging for the new society that is adapted to the inner changes that people are undergoing.

So it follows that the revolution takes place within the person – and in accordance with this defines the new image of society.
[134856]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/3/14