A Seeing Heart

Question: It is said that “The Lord will open the eyes of his heart.” What does the “eyes of his heart” mean and how can they be opened?

Answer: To open the eyes of the heart means that the heart is wise and that it understands. Eyes are the vessel of Hochma and the heart is the vessel of Bina. When these vessels connect as Aba ve Ima (father and mother), asHochma and Bina, a person begins to feel Hochma within the heart.

Our heart is a desire to receive, a desire to enjoy. The heart is corrected when it acquires the attribute of bestowal, the Light of Hassadim. I can understand the hidden reality that manages us according to the Light of Hassadim that is dressed in the heart. Then my heart becomes a wise heart, a heart that understands, a heart that feels.

It doesn’t simply feel the corporeal desire to enjoy but also the true reality. This means that I have acquired the wisdom of the heart. There is a correction in the desire called a heart that is performed by the Light of Hassadim and then Hochma is dressed inHassadim. Then it is said that the heart understands, and such people are called wise-hearted, since they have received the correction of Hassadim and of their desires. TheHassadim are so corrected that they can also receive the Light of Hochma and receive in order to bestow, then the heart begins to see.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Dancing Before The Bride

Rabash’s article: “The Importance of the Groom”: The sages talked about “dancing before the bride,” but they never mentioned “dancing before the bridegroom.” About the wedding meal, it is said: “Those who enjoy the Groom’s meal…” The bridegroom stands for the Torah, and the bride, faith, and faith must be above reason.

Reason cannot tolerate constant rises and downfalls that are called “a dance” like feet that rise and then fall during a dance. Lifting one’s feet (“raglaim” comes from “meraglim” – spies) signifies “faith above reason, ”taking his feet off the ground (desire).

However, one doesn’t always have the strength to go above reason; so one places one’s feet back on the ground. This process is called Dancing before the Bride.

The Upper Light never changes; it constantly stays in a state of absolute rest. It is the source of complete absolute good that never changes. All changes occur solely in man. If one is engaged in work for the Creator, i.e., wants to reach a state similar to the Creator—bestowal and love—then one has to work for the “groom” and the “bride” and transform himself into a bride worthy of the groom.

We must always say the bride is good-looking and virtuous irrespective of how she actually looks: Sometimes she is really beautiful, sometimes not, regardless of whether she stimulates the desire to work in a man or not. These changes cannot happen accidentally; this is how Reshimot (spiritual genes) manifest and make us go through various states.

Only the changes that are related to the Creator should be taken into consideration; we have to base our work only on these issues until we sense that there is none besides the Creator who is good and does good.

Our vessel is called “a Bride,” Malchut, a constantly changing will to receive pleasure. Our job is to work on top of all possible changes so that we receive a state at which there are no changes at all. By staying inside the will to receive, regardless of any changes that take place in it, we build a vessel above the receiving desire that also is undergoing constant alterations, but in a form that is opposite to the desire to be pleased.

The bigger the minus in our will to receive, the bigger the plus we can attain in the vessel that is created above the desire to receive pleasure. This is how we “dance.” We are happy to dance since this work turns into a very exciting adventure for us.

Impressions that transpire in our uncorrected will to receive serve only one purpose: we begin appreciating a chance to rise above our egoistic desire. It is called a dance before the bride.”

When we are done with this work, we are treated to the “groom’s meal.” A bridegroom stands for the Torah that is given to us as a gift. One understands that one doesn’t deserve such a great and holy present, but due to the work one has completed, one becomes prepared to adhere to and merge with the groom. One has already built a foundation for that.

When one reaches a state that allows him to see his bride, who is sometimes beautiful and sometimes ugly, as perfect and righteous, she becomes his real bride. “Beauty” denotes the Light of Hochma whereas “piety” stands for the Light of Hassadim. In other words, the Light of Hochma is ready to dress in the Light of Hassadim. This is how a person corrects his vessel and arrives at the groom’s meal.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/12/14

Making A Human Being Out Of Me

The Torah, “Exodus” (VaYakhel), 36:4-36:6: Then all the wise men that were doing the work of the Holy came, each one from his work, which they had been doing. And they spoke to Moses, saying: “The people are bringing very much, more than is enough for the labor of the articles which the Lord had commanded to do.” So Moses commanded, and they announced in the camp, saying: “Let no man or woman do any more work for the offering for the Holy.” So the people stopped bringing.

Question: What should we make of the fact that the people give the Creator more contributions than needed?

Answer: It is about our realization that there is a limit to the self-restriction on every level.

We gradually begin to create a general vessel (Kli), a general desire that is aimed at bestowal, mutual love, and incorporation into one another. Here, we should know how to work with our mutual incorporations since there are small, medium, and large states of each soul and of all together. The correction and the assembly of the corrected parts are gradual, and all the parts are not mixed together, only in certain measures.

All the work is fulfilled above the Masach (screen), which means that a person must limit himself in spiritual bestowal, despite the great pressures and yearnings. That’s the interesting part.

Question: However, it says that Moses limits the nation here.

Answer: Moses is my part. I must learn to manage both the attributes of bestowal and the attributes of receiving and to work with them like with two reins in order to advance correctly. It is because I cannot work only in order to bestow since my ego doesn’t disappear. It turns out that I exist between bestowal and receiving. Only that way! I create myself from these two attributes.

I don’t dissolve in the Creator and don’t fall into egoistic darkness, but exist in the correct state. I hold the two reins and, thus, advance toward wholeness and eternity.

The two forces stem from the Creator. He is the right line, the attribute of bestowal, and He created the left line, the egoistic force. If I adhere to one line or the other, I am totally under His control, but if I hold the two reins and perform the right mutual actions between them, it is as if I build the middle line between them, and that is me.

By receiving two opposite attributes from Him, I reach the correct combination of the two inside me on every level of my ascent. By incorporating the two properties with the right combination between them within me more and more, I grow, and from a small human being turn to a bigger, more mature human being until I become equivalent with the Creator.

This spiritual movement seems very complicated at first since the two opposites must support one another and not negate each another. Now we cannot compare this inside us because we are on one line: either in total bestowal or in total receiving. After all, our world is absolute egoism and the spiritual world is absolute bestowal.

We may imagine something but it is very difficult to exist in the middle between these two properties. But this is actually what we have to do. Then, we will be free from the Creator since that’s what He wants, just like we want our kids to become totally independent.

We can reach that only if we receive everything from Him and focus ourselves on using all the forces in the creation correctly,

By attaining the levels of the ascent where all the forces cooperate in harmony, a person begins to understand to what extent it is between them that we actually begin to feel the outcome of their correct mutual connection, which is called Adam (a human being), the middle part, which the Creator cannot create by himself.

He created a future image of man and we create man which is the image of the Creator. It is a totally different phenomenon when we sculpt ourselves into the Creator, thus we have some properties of Bezalel, which are already in us. All we have to do is reveal them, collect them, and gradually develop them.

When we speak about the joy in the spiritual advancement, we refer to the joy that we feel in the connection of these two lines.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/7/13

What Is Working With Intention?

Question: How can we help others with our intention?

Answer: Nothing can help a person other than a prayer for him. It is said, “A prisoner cannot release himself from prison.” One cannot help oneself in spiritual attainment in any way; one can only help oneself in corporeality. And in spirituality, only others can help me.

Everything that I want to attain in spirituality, from zero to infinity, is possible only on condition that others will want to give this to me, will help me to get this, and will fulfill me. How can I make them help me? They will help me if I will make efforts to help them.

So we must think only about being included in the desires of the other and the correction of the other. Only in this way can I obligate the system to take care of me, and this desire will no longer be an egoistic desire.

I must gather and collect the desires from everyone because this work is calledYesod. My vessel is the desires of the other that I intend to fulfill, and I perceive them as closer than my own desires. I work on the desires, but because they initially seemed foreign to me, those of the other, they are called intentions.

What is the difference between intention and desire? The desire belongs to me; within me I feel a desire for me to enjoy myself. I don’t feel the desire of the other and so work on the desire of the other is called intention. It turns out that I am always working on intentions! This means that if I reduce my desire, penetrate the desire of the other, and work with his desire by placing his desire above my desire, it means that I am working with intentions.

In this manner I am building the head (Rosh) of the spiritual Partzuf. Instead of my desire, I take the desire of the other and work with it like my desire. And this is called working with an intention.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/14

A Sacrifice To The Creator

The Torah, “Exodus” (VaYakhel) 35:20-35:21: The entire community departed from before Moses. Every man whose heart uplifted him came, and everyone whose spirit inspired him to generosity brought the offering of the Lord for the work of the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments.

We have nothing but the ego! We need to tear something off it and bring it to what we call “the collective pot.” This is of the common vessel (Kli), which we call the Temple or the Tabernacle. These are not corporeal figures but what we create between us. We create the center of the group where we put all of our yearnings, efforts, and desires that are above the ego. Everything that we collect together is the willingness of our heart, which we should do.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/10/13

The Torah Of Exile And Of The Era Of Redemption

Question: Why is the Torah written in a way that doesn’t pull us to connect? Instead, it talks about numerous crimes and punishments that are totally opposite to the law of not thinking about ourselves.

Answer: Does it mean that the language of the Torah distances you from the right actions? The Torah talks about everything in a way that makes it difficult to focus on correction. First of all, there is no mention of the group, connection, or love. Yes, it is written: “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and yet even though it is the major law of the Torah, this phrase is stated only in one of the books, not in all of them.

It is not written before each commandment that first we have to love our neighbors as ourselves and from this to loving the Creator, and then observing the laws of Kashrut or replenishing damages. This major rule is mentioned only once; children are taught this law in the very beginning of their school years, but there is no reference to this notion anywhere else in the entire book.

The fact is that studying the Torah has been in the period of exile; it talks about traditions and material commandments that we have to observe in this world. It doesn’t teach intentions; people should just follow the instructions of the Creator naively. It was forbidden to teach intention during the period of exile so it was taught simply in an external form.

We need to understand that throughout the history of humanity, there have been wise Kabbalists at high levels of spiritual attainment. They were the leaders of the people, but they were forbidden to approach people and teach them the ways to exit from the exile before it was entirely completed.

The Egyptian exile was to last 400 years. However, since the people of Israel exited it ahead of time (after 210 years), the remaining 190 years were split among the subsequent exiles.

The same problem occurs with Jacob who wanted to disclose the secret of the final correction to his sons, but he was not allowed to do so. It is prohibited to disclose it. People are allowed to see only what they really need to be exposed to. “Do not place obstacles before a blind man.”

So people were allowed to observe traditions at home and continue praying. It is what the Torah of exile permits. Rabbi Chaim Vital speaks very harshly about mechanical studies of the Talmud in his preface to the book The Gates of Holiness. This does not in any way imply disregard for the book itself, which was written by the great Kabbalists, from their spiritual attainment and yet it should be understood and treated differently, not as it is done today. The period of exile is over now and we must study the Torah of the period of deliverance, that is the wisdom of Kabbalah.

We know how hard it is. We spend years exerting in various actions until we gradually reach the correct attitude, before we begin understanding that except for the connection in the group and revelation of the correct form of unity called the Creator there is nothing else at all. Everything else is just idolatry.

Even essential actions that are done without the right intention to unite are idolatry. This is how we must relate to life. This is the approach we have to exercise during the period of deliverance that happens right before the disclosure of the letter “Aleph” (the Creator) inside the word “exile” (gula) transforming the word “exile” into “deliverance” (geula).

We are the first generation of the era of deliverance, and it is difficult for us to reveal this knowledge to others.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Giving The Most Precious

The Torah, “Exodus” (VaYakhel), 35:22: Men and women, all whose hearts moved them, all who would make an elevation offering of gold to the Lord, came bringing brooches, earrings, rings, and pendants—gold objects of all kinds.

A donation refers to tearing what is dear to our ego from ourselves. These are the “jewels” that we have to sacrifice in order to make from them the common part of the soul that the Light can enter.

The word sacrifice stems from the root “close” in Hebrew, getting closer. This means that on the one hand, we tear it from our ego and on the other hand, we get closer to the Creator.

Our mission is to prepare the condition for the Light to be revealed between us in the central part where we are all connected. By rejecting the ego we come closer only by our altruistic parts, by our willing heart, which means only by the part that can come in contact with others.

Since the central part is above the ego, it turns out that we have separate egoistic parts and a common altruistic part where we merge. On the seventh day of the correction it becomes one general whole and thus the correction is completed.

Question: What do you mean when you say: “Think about the center of the group, connect in the center of the group?”

Answer: It means that you should give what is most precious to you and pass it to the center of the group. A person doesn’t feel sorry about spending anything, but when he has to give a donation to the collective pot so that it will become everyone’s property he feels that he loses something; he cannot bear it! He can, for example, easily spend a lot of money in a restaurant, but when he has to give a small part of that money for a joint business his hand shakes.

Different forces operate here. It isn’t about a person being stingy but that he simply cannot do it since giving to others is against his basic nature! It’s only under the influence of the Light that he gradually changes, but on the whole it’s very difficult! I see my pupils go through this and I also felt it myself.

The higher you ascend, the more and more difficult it is to give the maaser as your part so that it would melt in others. On the one hand, you seem to understand more, you are more aware and you already have some nourishment, some confidence, but on the other hand, it becomes more and more difficult. It’s because the ego doesn’t disappear. You constantly work on it and it keeps on growing more and more.

Thus we gradually reach the attribute of a priest, when we are left with nothing. This means that we have the whole world and we have to give all of it! These are very high levels.

Question: What is the meaning of the seventh millennium with regard to the connection in the center of the group?

Answer: The seventh millennium is the general connection, when everyone merges together as the gold jewels that are melted in the vessel. They bubble and sparkle and become one whole. Then above it we begin to attain the Creator, the eighth, ninth, and tenth millennia.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/10/13

Inversions

If I yearn for faith above reason and make efforts to get closer to others and ask for help from Above in order to do so, I receive the hardening of the heart each time. The exile and the redemption arrive alternately. Exile is a descent and redemption is an ascent, so I am constantly either in a state of ascent or of descent.

Kabbalists explain that both the ascents and descents help us advance, as it is said: “The Torah will come out of Zion (stemming from the root “exits, descents”).” Redemption means that I adhere to someone else with all my heart ready to connect to him. And it is all above the repulsion and the hatred; I don’t try to erase anything, but advance along the middle line.

When I manage to reach a certain connection, I immediately feel the chilling cold in our relationship with any person or group, and they become indifferent to me. But I should understand that this indifference and the hardening of the heart already belong to the next level.

The faith and the inclination to connect, I had previously, turn into an inclination to separate. So I have to work on returning to connection again with the help of the group, with its support and mutual guarantee and the Light that Reforms, but later I will cool down again.

We know that in the descent from the top down Malchut of the upper Partzuf becomesKeter of the lower. So the moment I ascend, I attain my Keter, which is the maximum bestowal I can only imagine and want, and it immediately becomes Malchut of the upper, egoistic receiving. The ascent occurs according to this principle.

We can explain this only from the perspective of the Reshimot (reminiscences): if there are Reshimot of Aviut (thickness) of the root phase and Reshimot of dressing in the next level, then on the next level it is already phase one and two and on an upper level it is phase two and three. Thus, there is a constant reversal: exile and redemption, exile and redemption, like inversions as one develops at the expense of another.

The main thing is not to be impressed by the descents and ascents but to constantly be impressed by the pace of the changes. The more changes there are the better! Israel are those who hasten time, who sanctify time. Time, which means the pace of the advancement, is the main thing for Israel.

We don’t need to pay attention to the changes we go through. We don’t need to delve into a state and sink into it. On the contrary, the main thing is to go through as many changes as possible.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/25/14