[Issue 7] June 2012

The Wisdom Of

Kabbalah

“The Creator is the Absolute Good. He watches us in complete benevolence

without a hint of evil, and in purposeful guidance. That means that His guidance compels us to undergo a series of phases, by way of cause and effect, preceding and resulting, until we are qualified to receive the desired goodness. And then we shall arrive at our purpose as a ripe and fine-looking fruit”.

Yehuda Ashlag (Baal Hasulam): “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

Special magazine for inmates

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EDITORIAL ................................................................................................................................... 3

INTENTION .................................................................................................................................. 5

ARVUT ......................................................................................................................................... 6

Equality For The Final Goal .................................................................................................. 6 Don’t Postpone Correction Until Tomorrow ......................................................................... 7 I Manage Myself With The Help Of Two Reins ..................................................................... 7 Raise Your Desires To A New Level....................................................................................... 8 Exchanging Despair With Anticipation ................................................................................. 9 Hanging On By Our Teeth Or Connecting As Cogwheels ....................................................... 9 CALL FOR ACTION ............................................................................................................. 11

KABBALAH FUNDAMENTALS ..................................................................................................... 12

The Wisdom of Kabbalah, Lecture 5 .................................................................................. 12 Ramchal: the Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah ............................................................. 23

ATTAINING THE WORLDS BEYOND ............................................................................................ 24

A Plea for Help .................................................................................................................. 24 Counteracting the Desire for Self-Gratification .................................................................. 25

AUTHENTIC KABBALAH TEXTS ................................................................................................... 30

Rav Laitman: Lesson on the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”. Part 4 ........ 30

DAILY LESSON & RAV’S BLOG: SELECTED EXCERPTS ................................................................... 41

Intermediary Dispatch....................................................................................................... 41 Focusing On The World Of Truth........................................................................................ 41 The Union Of Plus And Minus ............................................................................................ 41 My Self Is Actually Not Mine.............................................................................................. 42 Divided Unity .................................................................................................................... 43 A Formula For Life ............................................................................................................. 43 Don’t Turn Into A Pillar Of Salt .......................................................................................... 44 The Creator Governs With Love ......................................................................................... 44 The Levels Of Ascent ......................................................................................................... 45

FEEDBACK ................................................................................................................................. 47

GOOD ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................................................... 49

ART OF OUR FRIENDS ................................................................................................................ 53

SMILE! ................................................................................................................................... 54

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EDITORIAL

Dear friends,

Greetings! The seventh issue of the Magazine is in your hands.

As we prepared this issue to you, we are feeling uplifted and more connected to each other and to you than ever. The reason is the ONE Convention that took place in New Jersey, May 11-13. Friends, we brought all of you there in our hearts and we talked about you with the whole assembly of Bnei Baruch society.

This issue of the magazine is glowing with the wisdom and inspiration contained within it. As always the Intention page discusses the action of setting

intention and the importance of quality and quantity maintaining intention. Remember that the time spent on building the right intention before you continue your study today is the time of opening yourself to the Light that reforms. Let’s attune ourselves to the goal and launch our journey.

The articles in the Arvut section remind us about the essence of the

connection between friends. The materials of the section explain that we connect by connecting negative and positive forces that are revealed to us at every moment of life.

Today’s Fundamentals Lesson is another piece that describes the basic

process of Kabbalah study and practice, and how we should approach it. We study creation—the process by which the vessel descended through the worlds, shattered, and became matter in our world. The study of the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how we use the same process in reverse to reach equivalence with the Creator. The lesson elaborates on how we must change ourselves to be equivalent with the forces in each of these worlds until we reach Gmar Tikkun—Final Correction.

In Attaining the Worlds Beyond we learn that “The Creator does not listen to the words that we utter, but instead reads the feelings in our hearts. Also discussed is how we bond to the Light drawn by the writings of the great Kabbalists when we read them. And the final article talks about overcoming ego to change our intention from reception to altruism.

Authentic Kabbalah Texts is a continuation of a series of Convention lessons on a section of Baal HaSulam’s article The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.

Read it with the intention to become equivalent to the Creator and you will feel its power.

Daily Lessons and Rav’s Blog is chocked full of Rav’s exceptional

interpretations of the writings of the great Kabbalists applied to our world. Rav writes for about three hours a day to prepare these mini-lessons for us and they are filled with his wisdom and love.

In this issue's Good Environment section, you will get a taste of what participation in a live Convention is like. Imagine yourself being there, connected to all those present.

The juiciest section of the magazine—Feedback. This is the forum where

each of you may express your desire for the truth. When you read these comments, imagine yourself connected by a stream of Light to the point in the heart of each person studying with you. Our most important connections are internal and the

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circumstances in which all of us live give us an enormous opportunity to advance toward the goal by constantly holding all the others in our hearts.

A special feature of this issue is a new section Art of Our Friends. We start

bringing you the best of the creative work of our fellow men – and women - on the path. Our friends from the “Humanity Integrated” project are today’s guests. “Humanity Integrated” works vigorously towards educating the world about the causes of the global crisis we are experiencing, about the integrated, global system of natural laws that are manifesting themselves in society today. Reaching out to the wide population in the US and abroad, “Humanity Integrated” carries a message that mutual responsibility of human beings is a key to our survival in the modern world today. We want to introduce to you a stunning poem “7 000 000 000” by Irina Rudnev. We hope her art will inspire your own poetry, drawings, and short stories to fill out these pages of the magazine.

Please don’t miss an important piece of information on the last pages – our project is developing intensively and we are looking for your assistance with it now. Details are on the back pages of the magazine.

Finally, don’t forget to smile when you are done with the readings for today!

Only together,

Editors of the “Wisdom of Kabbalah” magazine

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INTENTION

When the intention precedes the action, it is the real action

Source: “Intention from the Heart”,

When the intention precedes the action, it is the real action. The study is not called an action, because you study with your eyes and your bestial intellect, therefore it is not called an action, but a deed of a beast. Where is there a spiritual action in the fact that you sit in front of a book, the fact that you read? Where is the spiritual action?

What I want as the result of my study is called my action. That is what I activate, that is what I can somehow think about, and therefore it is called “action.” About the intention it is said: “The hidden (intentions) are to the Creator” meaning that He gives them as a gift, as a reward for your effort in the action.

From here we see that the action is not just study. In return for the study we do not receive intention from above, but an “action” is the demand to receive the intention. Baal HaSulam writes about this in the Introduction to TES (Item 18), that

there is effort in quantity and effort in quality. Quantity of effort has value as well, but not for effort without any intention in it, but he is discussing the extent to which my study includes hours of effort and strain, demanding the intention. Overall this is what gives the power, the intensity—the time, multiplied by the demand for the reward, meaning the extent of my longing to receive.

IIff II ssttuuddyy ffoorr ttwwoo hhoouurrss,, aanndd dduurriinngg tthhee ttwwoo hhoouurrss II hhaavvee aa hhuunnddrreedd

ppeerrcceenntt ddeessiirree ttoo rreecceeiivvee iinntteennttiioonn iinn oorrddeerr ttoo bbeessttooww,, aanndd tthhaatt tthhee LLiigghhtt ooff

ccoorrrreeccttiioonn wwiillll ccoommee aanndd ccoorrrreecctt,, tthheenn iitt iiss ccoonnssiiddeerreedd tthhaatt II hhaavvee mmaaddee aa

hhuunnddrreedd ppeerrcceenntt eeffffoorrtt..

BBuutt iiff II ssttuuddiieedd ffoorr ttwwoo hhoouurrss,, aanndd oouutt ooff tthheemm oonnllyy dduurriinngg ttwwoo mmiinnuutteess

II tthhoouugghhtt aabboouutt tthhee iinntteennttiioonn,, tthheenn II mmaaddee aa qquuaannttiittyy eeffffoorrtt ooff aann hhoouurr aanndd

ffiiffttyy--eeiigghhtt mmiinnuutteess,, aanndd aa qquuaalliittyy eeffffoorrtt ooff ttwwoo mmiinnuutteess..

TThhee qquuaannttiittyy eeffffoorrtt iiss aallssoo iimmppoorrttaanntt,, ssiinnccee eevveennttuuaallllyy aa ppeerrssoonn wwaannttss

ttoo rreeaacchh qquuaalliittyy eeffffoorrtt,, bbuutt hhee oorr sshhee ffoorrggeettss.. TThhiiss ffoorrggeettffuullnneessss bbrriinnggss tthhee

ppeerrssoonn ttoo ssuuffffeerriinngg,, aanndd ttoo aa rreeqquueesstt aanndd aa pprraayyeerr iittsseellff,, tthhaatt hhiiss oorr hheerr

eeffffoorrttss aanndd aabbiilliittyy ooff qquuaalliittyy eeffffoorrtt wwiillll iinnccrreeaassee.. TThhaatt ooccccuurrss uunnttiill tthhee

ppeerrssoonn rreeaacchheess qquuaalliittyy eeffffoorrtt..

BBuutt wwiitthhoouutt qquuaalliittyy eeffffoorrtt,, aa ppeerrssoonn ddooeess nnoott rreecceeiivvee ffrroomm aabboovvee aann

aaccttiioonn ooff tthhee SSuurrrroouunnddiinngg LLiigghhtt ssuucchh tthhaatt iitt wwoouulldd ggiivvee hhiimm oorr hheerr iinntteennttiioonn

iinn oorrddeerr ttoo bbeessttooww.. OOvveerr tthhee ddeessiirree tthhaatt iiss rreevveeaalleedd,, wwee mmuusstt ppllaaccee aann

iinntteennttiioonn iinn oorrddeerr ttoo bbeessttooww,, aanndd tthhaatt iiss ccaalllleedd ccrroossssiinngg tthhee bbaarrrriieerr..

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ARVUT

Equality For The Final Goal

If my goal is connection, I see everything in the world as fragments of the shattering that have drawn away from me only so that I will be able to collect them and put them back together again. The particles don’t have to be

identical in order to connect. On the contrary, they have to be different!

If there is a plus in one place and a minus in another, if there is more here and less there, then there is a connection between the parts. A big one can give to someone who is small, and a small one can receive from the big one. If they are both perfectly equal, what will they be able to give one another, how will they be able to connect?

It is the equality that leads to detachment! So how can we achieve general equality? Here we begin to understand that the concept of equality doesn’t refer to attributes, thoughts, desires, or identical actions, but rather is expressed in attaining the goal. It is for the goal that we all connect and with regards to it we are all equal.

We will never be able to be equal if we don’t connect with the Creator and don’t consider Him as our goal. Accordingly, I already begin to recruit forces, to find out what the method of connection is, to look for ways to connect with others; I examine everything that goes on in the world as an opportunity that is given to me every moment in order to rise above my ego, above the forces of separation, and to attain general connection.

We can connect as equals only when the Creator is among us and is the goal of our connection. Therefore it says that the condition of: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one,” determines the correct direction for correction.

By wanting to connect and to attain full equality, but at the same time for each one to keep his uniqueness and his own individual attributes, we connect as one body. The Creator, the upper Light, has to give this body life according to the law of the equivalence of form.

Many desires connect in one spiritual body, in one Partzuf, under one Masach

(screen), in order to create a general adhesion with the one Light. Then there is Zivug de Haka’a (coupling of striking) with the Light in the head of the Partzuf and a formation called the “soul” (Neshama) is created. At the same time, all the individual

particles keep their natural uniqueness in their thoughts and desires and operate as organs in one body, as everyone does his job and connects with others in order to attain the general goal, the spiritual life. This life is equivalence and adhesion with the Light.

Here the formula of “Love will cover all sins” is activated. The sins remain, the differences between us are kept, and on that basis everyone judges and justifies himself. Of course, he accuses the others, since “one judges according to his own flaws.” But by connection we understand that all the differences between us actually help us attain a greater connection among us if we can fulfill the connection on a higher level by rising above all the differences between us.

If we just erase the differences between us, we will have no basis for connection, we will have nothing to give one another. Everyone needs to give others, by appearing as their “minus” with regard to a “plus” and receiving from others as a minus from a plus.

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This means that we are all different! But if we do it under one “umbrella of love,” then everyone comes out equal. When a baby smiles to his mother, she is ready to give him the whole world. It says “love will cover all sins,” and if there is love, then it ties us all in one net. Then we connect above all the gaps for one cause and attain it.

This is the method that was prepared for us by the Light, by many preliminary actions. The Light created a desire and works on it by lowering it and making it go through all the degrees, by breaking it and creating the worlds of BYA of Holiness

and of impurity and the “first man” Adam who is also shattered.

Only today, in this new era in which all of humanity finds itself, we begin the correction of the world, so that instead of a terrible and terrifying world, whose growing sickness and corruption are revealed day by day, we will see the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) before us.

From the lesson 5/25/12, Writings of Rabash

Don’t Postpone Correction Until Tomorrow

In our longing to rise above our ego, to correspond to nature, to its attributes of bestowal and love, we need to be careful not to postpone our correction until “later.” This is what our ego pushes on us in its resistance to be diminished. Whoever postpones his correction from “ today” to “tomorrow,” “That which changes today for tomorrow for you,“ will discover his mistake only after many years of lack of advancement, “And he that can wait until tomorrow will get lost after years, G-d forbid.”

The reason for such a loss is the negligence in relation to the efforts in loving his friends, in relation to the necessary and sufficient methods of correction of all our ego.

We must understand what a huge force is hiding in the unity of the group and in each one of the friends. After all, we are not dealing with friends or a group, but with the huge force of nature. Each one of us is in unity with it, only the illusion of this world around us and all of its parts confuses us and hides from us the great forces and attributes of nature, of its system of governance regarding us so that each one of us will attain the attributes of bestow and love.

If we connect our forces to each of nature’s representatives, then in the assembly of friends, in love and friendship, we will discover forces that change us to be similar and to become equivalent to the upper force of nature.

From Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (Fruit of the Wise), Letter 13, 1925

I Manage Myself With The Help Of Two Reins

A person needs to see himself as a point that receives everything from the outside. The friends and the world in general, and even the inanimate, the vegetative and the animate, are all parts of my soul. All of this is one Malchut (kingdom), one Kli (desire/vessel), one man who stands across from the Creator.

Therefore, to the extent that I try to connect the enthusiasm and impressions that reach me now from the friends, not to cancel them, to that extent they become real, since I join the parts of my soul to myself. And then I acquire a new intellect and emotions as a result of the connection of the broken Kli.

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It’s forbidden to extinguish any state. We need to rise above and examine it from a higher level; this is the correct approach. And therefore, it doesn’t matter how I feel during the workshop: good or bad, since in any case I must rise above everything, and clarify where the feelings come from and why, and then continue. We need to gather and accumulate the most positive and negative impressions in order to advance onward above them.

I must, in advance, agree to every state that comes, since my self – annulment will be built above all of these states. Everything that I go through is necessary in order to teach me to take control of all my states and above them to connect with the friends in spite of my rejection. The most important thing for me must be the connection that I will manage seemingly via two reins, and all my feelings and experiences will be in the background. The end of the act is in the initial thought. If a person behaves in this way, then he correctly uses all of his discernments.

It’s forbidden to allow your horse to run away, not to the left or right. There’s a goal in front of you and you need to constantly examine yourself according to it: if you deviate to the left, then you need to add from the right line, and if you deviate to the right, you need to add from the left line. Everything is determined only by the direction to the goal, and the goal is unity. We don’t see any other goal in spirituality other than the point of unity, Arvut (mutual guarantee).

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/12, “Talk About Past Conventions”

Raise Your Desires To A New Level

Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee):” With this collective responsibility, each member of the nation was liberated from worrying about the needs of his own body and could keep the Mitzva, “Love thy friend as thyself” in the fullest measure, and give all that he had to any needy person.

This means that we will receive such a great pleasure in our feeling that in our corporeal life we will not need anything but what is necessary for our existence, just as animals have no need for cookies, but only for the natural food that is enough for them. If our desires, which are not on the animal level, will stop confusing us and will rise to the “Human” level, we will get rid of all the surpluses that only pollute the earth and will leave only what we need for our basic necessities in the corporeal life.

By the connection with others we reach the fulfillment on the “human” level, similar to the Creator. Then, of course you don’t think about self-enjoyment except for what is necessary. We discover the Creator in the connection with others and so of course we give all our powers for the needs of others. This is why it says: “I reside within my people.”

Since he no longer cared for the existence of his own body, as he knew for certain that he was surrounded by six hundred thousand loyal lovers, who were standing ready to provide for him.

It is the supportive society that raises the importance of the connection in my eyes and provides a sense of security that I will not lack any of the basic necessities, which allows a person to care for everyone.

Later, this will also disappear and I will receive everything thanks to the unity with the society; I won’t have to see the system that provides proof for the love and concern of those around me. The love I feel for them will fill all my vessels.

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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)“

Exchanging Despair With Anticipation

Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee): With this collective responsibility, each member of the nation was liberated from worrying about the needs of his own body and could keep the Mitzva, “Love thy friend as thyself” in the fullest measure, and give all that he had to any needy person, since he no longer cared for the existence of his own body, as he knew for certain that he was surrounded by six hundred thousand loyal lovers, who were standing ready to provide for him.

There are two discernments here.

First, mutual guarantee and mutual concern free a person from worries about himself. Each one leans on others and everyone feels good. This is the “psychological therapy” to get rid of fear.

Second, we actually connect in order to be connected with the upper for ourselves. We want unity because we see it as a way to reach this connection. We always yearn upward and every action we take below should be aimed at the final goal and not for self-sedation. Different from a football team that connects in order to succeed, our connection is in order to raise us upward. Even if by that we get rid of all our problems, it isn’t the tranquility we are looking for. We are simply changing the previous troubles and the problems that push us to unite, to troubles and problems of a different quality that are created when we unite with the Creator.

This is called “upper fear,” and this is where love resides. Fear is a vessel, and love is its filling. Now I feel fear in facing the Creator, not in facing the threat of troubles, shame, despair, etc. I exchange all that to fear of being close to the Creator, to the desire to go to Him, to be close to Him in bestowal. This is my goal.

When will I yearn for it? When it doesn’t matter what is behind me, as long as it increases my attraction forward.

Thus we exchange the corporeal problems with spiritual problems called “love pangs.”

Question: But if the friends absolutely support me, don’t they extinguish my main problem, don’t they blur my desire to approach the Creator?

Answer: If I enter the group correctly, I acquire new fears instead of the old

fears. No one is promising me a tranquil life; there is a restless adventure that I anticipate, which mountain climbers, pioneers, and world travelers experience. Their concern is the anticipation, they are constantly advancing toward something better; so I also feel a deficiency on the spiritual path, but I anticipate the joy, and this anticipation is better than the joy itself.

We know from experience that the pleasure disappears immediately, but the anticipation can make a person feel alive for many years. In spirituality this is really a filling, which we summon with the help of the Returning Light, above the desire to receive, clothed in bestowal.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

Hanging On By Our Teeth Or Connecting As Cogwheels

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In order to be balanced with the Creator, to connect with Him, I have to change myself. How is that possible? How can I resemble Him? After all, balance is

resemblance.

In order to do this, we were given an environment. Balance with the Creator is attained by balancing with the environment in which I discover Him. The Reshimot (reminiscences) that are awoken inside present the group to me, and my work becomes real, now I’m dealing with something that’s familiar, everything is solved among friends.

How is it possible to find balance with the group? Through mutual guarantee that is the force, the law of balance.

According to this law the entire world is mutually connected, just like cogwheels in a certain system. None of the cogwheels can turn independently without turning all the other wheels and being turned by them. It’s just like two clutch discs when they touch each other.

But the law of development operates in this mechanism. First, the clutch pedal is pressed and the connection between them is still weak. At this point we don’t disturb but rather help one another by spinning and not feeling that we are connected to one whole. The states and nations are separated; some don’t even know that others exist.

With time, the inner ego grows and the cogwheels become more closely connected. In other words the clutch pedal is released and the discs get progressively closer to one another, until they are very tightly connected. This is how all of humanity develops towards mutual cooperation: Countries establish connections, new continents are discovered, international commerce and industry flourish, societies change, the number of different professions grow, and people are becoming increasingly interdependent until they are totally interdependent.

This development is very difficult because the ego and the Reshimot that develop bring us closer together and crowd us, until at a certain moment when this overly tight connection begins to worry us. We can’t detach ourselves from one another to live without each other, even if we want to. Therefore, nature, the Creator, brings us to a new state in which we discover that we can’t break apart any more. If we don’t work out the right mutual connection among us, then we may be destroying ourselves.

Thus mutual guarantee obliges us to be mutually responsible for one another. We are like cogwheels: Any wheel that turns, turns all the others. The clutch pedal is left untouched and the discs come together, the teeth enter each other and we all find ourselves in one huge interconnected system, that doesn’t allow any cogwheel to turn freely. Now all the others have to agree with it, to agree about the direction and the speed. Without this agreement, no one will be able to move.

Eventually everyone will discover a “strange hand around his neck.” Imagine a person lying with an IV without which he may die, but there are several billion taps installed on the tube in which the vital fluid flows. Everyone can turn off his own tap and then, that’s the end.

We will soon feel that we’re in a very unpleasant situation. That is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed to us in advance, in order to prepare our life to the new conditions. After all, everything comes for the purpose of correction; the question is only how to look at this whole thing. If we know in advance that everything comes

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to serve the search for the right mutual connection among us, meaning mutual guarantee, then the cogwheels will be arranged as they should and will turn in the right direction, in harmony. Moreover, the mutual balance will help them become balanced with the general force that locks them in the one system together with the Creator. This is how the world will reach the desired correction.

From the One Convention in New Jersey 5/12/12, Lesson 3

CALL FOR ACTION

Friends, this section is going to be our place to talk about a group work. Let’s follow Rav’s advice and invest ourselves in the group. Here are 2 ideas about how we can start a collective action together.

Building an inner connection between us. We know that preparation is the

most important part of every endeavor. Having said this we commit to starting

a day by spending 10 minutes each morning from 7.00 to 7.10 am thinking

about all the people in our group. We are going to use this time practicing

overcoming our concerns with personal circumstances, frustrations and

demands of ego in order to concentrate all the thoughts only and specifically

on the success of a friend in achieving the goal. Materials from the magazine

can be used as an aid to find the right wave; reading any piece will remind me

about what is truly important and help me keep the right intention towards

Unity.

Whether you decide to join us or not in this effort, be confident that every morning somebody is thinking about you and sending your way good vibes and thoughts of love and support to help you through the day.

Dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah. As we can only advance if we pass

the method of correction to the world, we are going to look for an opportunity

to share our knowledge with others in an appropriate form. It’s recommended

to relate to any external event that happens to us as part of our internal

correction, and try and see in it a way to connect with the environment.

We shall do, and we shall hear

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KABBALAH FUNDAMENTALS

The Wisdom of Kabbalah, Lecture 5

Bold and in quotes: Original text of Baal HaSulam

Regular: Commentaries of Rav Laitman lowercase italics: emphasized words Capitalized italics: transliteration from Hebrew

When we talk about the wisdom of Kabbalah, the first question that comes up

is, “Where did this wisdom come from, and why do we need it?” There are many people in this world who specialize in different fields such as physics, biology, zoology, botany, etc. They want to know about nature and therefore they study it. After doing their research they have knowledge and experience, they have learned the laws of nature, and they know how we can better utilize nature to our advantage.

They perform experiments, build instruments, and then teach us how to use these instruments and their discoveries correctly. That is how all of our technology and all of our modern gadgets were developed. It was through the study of nature and the knowledge of how to use it to our advantage.

I don’t have to become a researcher myself and study nature or nuclear physics in order to construct a nuclear power plant, or to be a biologist or genetic scientist in order to grow better crops of wheat. I don’t have to be a doctor in order to get healthy. There is a specialist in every field, and all we have to do is pay him or her in order for that specialist to help us with his or her knowledge and gain from the fruits of his or her efforts. In this way we exist, as is written: “go and live of each other.” , a TV set, a computer and a phone, I have access to modern medicine, it is all available to me although I never was involved with its development. It was all developed by someone else and now I can use it. The one who developed it does not necessarily even need it, but he or she just passes it on, sells it to humanity and the entirety of humanity can use it.

In such a way we study the environment that surrounds us and use it. There is a very small percentage of people, scientists, who confront nature directly in such a way and learn how to use it for our benefit.

In the same way, there are unique souls, special people, who have an urge to research the nature that is above our nature. It is called the “Upper Nature,” that which is beyond matter.

There are scientists who study matter, and there are those who feel that studying matter alone will not satisfy them because even if they knew how matter is composed, it would not be enough. They want to know more than just the properties of the matter; they want to know how the matter is activated, what the program is that runs the entire reality, what this reality is, why it exists, why we exist, how it all happens as cause and effect, all that I see around me, where is it coming from and where is it going?

This is a science as well, but it is concealed from us. We do not sense the forces that activate nature and we have no science that reveals them. Is it possible for a person to approach this in a simple way like any other science? And if not, is there any other option? No, there isn’t.

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We know that there have been several people through many generations who studied the Upper Nature. They reached this study by simply researching our nature, and then penetrating through it into what is beyond our nature. That is how they revealed the forces that are beyond nature. They wrote their experiences down and organized them, summing them up to form what they called “The Wisdom of Kabbalah.”

They describe it in the following way: there are “forces” called “Upper Forces,” that are outside of “matter” acting on “matter.”

Drawing No. 1

Through these forces “matter” attains different forms and evolves from one state to another. The evolution of matter is divided by the Kabbalists into several parts. The first is called “the World of Infinity,” the initial state. The second part is called a state of “descent” from infinity or “breaking.” Following that is a state called “this world” and then there is the “ascent.” Where is the ascent to? It is to the same state of “infinity” that existed initially.

All of these actions are actions of the overall “force” that acts on “matter” causing it to go through this process of evolution. The evolution proceeds by way of cause and effect, meaning a distinct and calculated process in which nothing is unexpected, and all steps are unwavering.

Sometimes Kabbalists describe it as a circle of our evolution starting at the state of infinity, state A, in which creation was designed initially, later on “descending” to the state called “this world,” which is the opposite of “the World of Infinity,” and then “elevating” back, rising back to Infinity.

Drawing No. 2

During this whole process, “matter” goes through a correction, where it becomes sensitive, developed. It reaches “state B” which includes the whole circle

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except for “state A,” and then a “final state” called “state C.” The difference between state A and state C is the development of the matter. The Wisdom of Kabbalah studies this entire circle of evolution that “matter” goes through thanks to the force that activates it.

That is why we should study the wisdom of Kabbalah and learn, as experts tell us, what we are going through, what activates us, what steps we go through and how we should go through them. The wisdom of Kabbalah can not be used in the same way as other sciences, where someone else makes the effort and I just use the results. No one can make any machines, instruments or drugs for me in this case.

Through the attainment of this wisdom I actually attain the powers to control my own destiny, because I am the “matter” myself. If I would know what forces act on me and activate the entire universe, all matter that exists—still, vegetative, animated, and speaking, all four components of creation, then I would control my own life.

Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah is not an ordinary wisdom that someone can hand over to me in exchange for money. When I go to the doctor I receive from him a remedy, I pay, and I leave. Same with a farmer, a car, a phone, I use all of these items without knowing much about them, I just press some buttons and I am done.

But in this case, if I didn’t know these forces then I wouldn’t know my own matter. If I don’t understand how these forces convene and act on each other then I will remain in my world helpless, subjected to all sorts of occurrences lacking any knowledge. That is why the Kabbalists recommend that each person study the wisdom of Kabbalah. By doing so, each and every person will know what is happening to him or her, and be able to go through life with much more control over what happens, having the ability to make a difference. Therefore they say that the wisdom of Kabbalah will have to be discovered individually, each person according to the extent of his or her matter, or vessel. Without this process, the person will repeatedly feel that the attitude of the “force” towards the “matter” is deficient. Because this “force” emanates from the “Thought of Creation,” the overall nature that activates this “force” is called “the Creator.” The person without the wisdom of Kabbalah actually feels that the Creator is deficient. This Upper Force activates all of the individual forces acting on us with His desire that we would come to know all of these forces and run our lives in the most perfect, whole, and best way.

This is what the Kabbalists tell us. How do they know this? They know it because they have researched nature and penetrated beyond matter into the Upper forces. We can not do this, so we must follow what they are telling us. This is explained by Baal HaSulam in his article The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.

His first definition of what the Wisdom is about,explains what the wisdom of Kabbalah is, in a quite difficult way. We will clarify it:

That question comes to the mind of every right-minded person…

Meaning that anyone who is right minded, who understands that it is necessary to find out what the essence of creation and life is, asks this question. He then writes:

In order to properly address it.

An answer which will satisfy you, because since the question is valid, the answer has to be complete as well. Let’s see if it really is.

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I will provide a reliable and lasting definition, that this wisdom [the wisdom of Kabbalah]... is no more and no less….

Meaning, do not think that there is more or less, as some do, relating to the wisdom of Kabbalah different objects, red strings, holy waters, different blessings for success at work or with the family or finances… The wisdom of Kabbalah is not related to any of these things; it does not discuss them or touch them in any way.

Then, what is the wisdom of Kabbalah? It is a sequence of roots which hang down by the way of cause and effect…

Drawing No. 3

Meaning “root” is above, the “root” extends from above to below. What is “above” and what is “below?” We will discuss that later, but usually “above” means “giver” and below means “receiver.”

…a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and consequence, in fixed, determined rules…[that we can never change].

The fact that we will study Kabbalah and even know it in its entirety, will still not allow us to change any of the rules or forces. So why do we need to study it? What does it mean to be able to control my life, change my destiny, if I can’t change these forces?

We change ourselves so that we can adapt ourselves to these forces, and through that we change the relationship between ourselves and these forces. That is what changing one’s destiny means, changing the sensation, our advancement, our evolution.

The laws that affect us are themselves permanent and absolute. We see this in our world as well. When someone wants to bend some law or bypass it, he or she causes disasters in nature and in his or her life. In nature, the laws are absolute, and we just need to know how to use them correctly.

The problem is especially apparent in social life, where we think we can make a difference and do as we please, not knowing the rules that nature has placed in human relationships. We try to enter into this field of human relationships and invent our own rules of relating to each other, establish education and different authorities or institutions trying to work things out.

However, without knowing the predetermined and absolute forces and laws of nature that affect the connection between the souls, the bond between the bodies,

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between people, we find that when we try to function according to a different program we ruin our society, our ecology, and our entire life. Baal HaSulam writes “fixed, determined rules.” This applies to all levels: still, vegetative, animated, and speaking. If you will penetrate into these laws, know them, see that they are permanent and absolute laws, then you would desire out of this seeing to comply with them. You would not want to change them or bend them because it is not possible, they are above us. You will then be able to use them correctly.

What is unique about all these laws?

…interweaving to a single, exalted goal…

Meaning that all of these laws have a purpose, they bring man to a single goal. All of these laws have only one goal, not many. Whether it is a very significant law or a minute one, whether something happens to us collectively or individually at any moment in time throughout our entire history, it is all leading us toward a single goal. It may seem to us that it is not this way; we may be confused and feel that we are thrown from one place to another, but this is only how it seems to us. We are constantly being driven by these forces towards the one single goal.

…described as “the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.

So I, while I am here in this incarnation, in this life, as I feel it in my five senses, have to attain the “revelation of His Divinity,” the revelation of the Upper Force called “Creator,” which is the overall sum of these forces. That is what has to be revealed to me.

All that acts on me and influences me happens only for one purpose, that I would reveal the Upper Force. This is predetermined and absolute and I can not veer from the path to the revelation of the Upper Force. If I do, I find myself moving against the direction of these forces and I feel pressure by them, which manifests to me as illnesses, sufferings, destruction, world tragedies, etc. Eventually, through our long history, humanity is beginning to reach a state in which it begins to realize that there is some consistency, a way of cause and effect, a goal which we still do not know or understand. If we would go along with the forces of nature every moment of our life then we would feel very well and comfortable.

In our world, every time I act against the natural forces I always get damaged. When we act against any law of physics, chemistry, or any other field, we get hurt. That is why the Wisdom of Kabbalah is important for everyone. At any moment of life, if a person knows how to relate to these forces that are acting on him or her in a permanent and consistent way, and can embrace the process, then he or she will feel well and comfortable.

We have no choice. We need to feel good, we are made of a substance that is desire to enjoy and to receive, and we feel pleasure or suffering because of it. Nature acts on us without our consent, it pressures us to gradually learn, through many incarnations, that there is no choice, we must study this nature and embrace its laws completely.

Question: So what happens once I know the laws?

How did you discover them?

Question: Suppose that I did…

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So what have you learned?

Question: I know everything; I have just discovered all of the laws, I am a successful lawyer…

No, I am sorry, it is not true; you can not study the laws. How can I study the laws? I can take a book of Physics and study it. I study it, then I look around, I throw a pen and see it fall, I Light a fire and I feel heat. I can try anything this way; I feel it with my five senses.

All of the researchers have discovered natural phenomena through their five senses and their minds. I respect them for that, I can repeat their experiments, I can study them, and I can use their results.

But how can we do this with things that are concealed? What can you actually do with what I am telling you here? How can it change your life? You need to attain the forces that are acting on you, to connect with them and the see how they act on you. This will bring you from your present state to the next level, a more advanced state towards the revelation of the Upper Force, state two.

I need to know what the Upper Force is. What should I do next? Nature will obligate me to move on whether I want it or not. The picture must be clear and real, just as my life is, not less. You are now deciding your fate, you must be in control.

What does this mean? In order to attain control in life you must first open up through matter all of these Upper forces and get to know them. By doing that you will not become like the physics scientist who is doing research in some academy, you will simply be a person who gained control over life, over destiny, nothing more. Every single person must do it. Before revealing the substance and the forces that act on our substance there is nothing that you can say about acting correctly or controlling anything.

The study itself does not change anything, but through it we learn what the steps are through which we can reveal the Upper World and these forces. Once we reveal them the books tell us how to use them. The books are like a guide directing us step by step just as a baby is directed by playing.

This is how Kabbalists wrote their books, in a completely practical way. It is called the “wisdom of the concealed” because you can reveal their explanations only according to the extent of your inner preparation and ability not to err.

In our world a baby can stumble, jump into a fire, cut itself with a sharp object, we have to watch babies very closely to keep them from danger. In the spiritual world it is also necessary to have some guidance. How can you become familiar with a domain that you do not know? That is why it is called “concealed.” You have been studying here for a while. You read that same material several times, and yet each time you see new things in it, right? This is how it will always be. And what you reveal is only revealed to you and no one else. You can not even discuss what you see today in the book with a beginner, because the book opens up for you according to how correctly you can use what it reveals to you, it is multi layered. That is how it is structured and written. I can only understand the material to the same depth that I can apply what is written to my self. That is the only way it can be read.

But in any case, you can only direct your soul to the extent that you truly know and see these forces and Him, and how they act on you, how you affect them, how accurately you can identify with them.

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We are not discussing just everyday life here, work, family, etc. We are talking about eternal life. Once you enter a connection with these forces you already start to ride on something which is eternal, being able to see all of your previous incarnations, your entire life, in a different perspective of eternity. Without this your decisions will be wrong. A right decision can only be made once you know everything.

Any advancement, even at the lowest level, must be in accordance with the “fixed, determined rules, interweaving to a single, exalted goal described as – “the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.” Even the smallest degree must include within it knowledge about the entire path. Then it is definitely possible to say that you are in control of destiny, that you are “man.” Otherwise you are worse than all creatures, still, vegetative, and animated.

The inanimate, vegetative and living entities have properties such that they follow these “fixed, determined rules” of nature completely. It is written “a beast is never wrong,” unless it is ill. Have you ever seen a cat jumping? It checks the height many times before it jumps. If it makes a mistake it means that the cat is sick, that something is wrong with it.

An animal is never wrong because within it acts an absolute system of laws. Only man errs and his errors cause him all sorts of trouble and sufferings. This error is in the part that has not yet been completely researched by man, the “Upper nature.” Because we don’t know our destiny, we are being pushed to reveal the root from which our destiny descends to us.

He then goes on to say:

And here there is the conduct of particular and general…[Meaning the revelation of His Godliness to the created beings ]. General—meaning the whole of mankind, obligated [you see, there is no choice here—“obligated”] to eventually come to this immenseevolvement.”

“Evolvement” means that you can not receive some remedy from someone else and become healthy, but each one must develop to an absolute degree, where he or she will reach the state of being the Creator of him or herself. Each person must understand the entire path and reach the end of it, where he or she does everything as if he or she is replacing the Creator.

…as it says: “For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord…. [Meaning that you would know the Upper Force that is acting on you] …as the waters cover the sea.

We are just talking about parts of sentences which we need to understand now in order for it not to get too complicated. When we will read it in the future we will read more complete sentences and then also understand the connections between the different parts of the wisdom.

So everyone needs to reach the development of knowing all of the Upper Forces and the Upper Force that includes all of them which is called “Godliness.” To what state?

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, [no one will teach another person or have anything that the other does not] saying, know the Lord: For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

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Meaning that everyone will reach a state of clear knowing, clear attainment of the entire reality, no one will have less knowledge of it than another.

And it is written: Yet thy Teacher shall not hide Himself any more, but thine eyes shall see thy Teacher.

Vision is the most lucid sense, the most dominant sense. A witness in court for example is only one who has seen, hearing is not sufficient. So we need to reach such attainment in spirituality, which is equal to seeing at our level.

This is the rule – everyone must reach it. There is no question about it. No one is excluded, not even one considered the lowest of humanity… he states it clearly – the whole of humanity. He is not discussing just Israel, or the nations of the world, he is talking about everyone. The wisdom of Kabbalah, as you can see, does not relate to a specific person or nation or religion, it relates to the entire humanity. There is no more or less, everyone is equal in this.

And what does he say about the particular?

Particular - meaning that even before the perfection of all mankind…

Meaning that everyone will attain the knowledge of the Upper World and live at a level that is infinite, eternal and whole, in each generation [even before that stage] this rule is carried out in particular individuals.

In every generation there are special individuals that are able to reach this state.

They are the ones who are endowed, in each generation, with a certain amount of revelation of His Godliness.

What is special about those individuals? Their uniqueness is in that they can attain the revelation of the Upper Force. “Revelation” means connecting with Him, using Him correctly, being like Him. Who are these individuals? He says that there are such people, but he doesn’t specify for us who they can be. It can be you, me, anyone that now hears about it.

These are the prophets and the men of God.. And as our sages said: “There is no generation, which has not such men as Abraham and Jacob. [Meaning that in every generation there are such people.] Thus you see that the revelation of His Godliness is carried out in each generation, as our sages, whom we find trustworthy, proclaim.

So do not wait until the entire humanity will begin ascending, even though it is beginning to happen now in our times, as has been written by Baal HaSulam, Rav Kook, the AGRA (Gaon from Vilna), and in the book of Zohar, that now the entire

humankind starts to elevate and to search for this Upper Force that directs our destiny. Without doing so we will not be able to save ourselves from the trouble that is overcoming us.

Even before everyone, before the masses awaken, each one can still take this path alone, according to the guidance of the Kabbalists. Any questions?

Question: You explained that it is necessary to use nature correctly. What is the correct use of nature according to the Kabbalah? How do we maneuver it, what do we do with it?

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What is it that we are studying, all of these formulas, when we study nature?

Drawing No. 4

Suppose that we have some result which is equal to X. It means that there are some parameters, and they have some relationship, a certain sum of forces or conditions, that gives me this result of X. It could be a summation, a subtraction, an integral or anything else. But the result is what I need, what I want to know. That is what we study in nature. There are some parameters, and the result is what’s important to me.

Suppose that there is a state in which I am healthy, or sick, and there is some substance that can benefit me. If I connect with this substance I will receive health, or maybe some bacteria, some natural forces. It is just like with ecology, the heating and cooling of our globe, the Ozone layer, a nuclear explosion, no matter what it is, we always use formulas to calculate what we will get out of connecting two or more parameters.

So for us, this is the “substance” of the created being, and that is the “Force” of the Creator. We want to know this formula. If there is nothing except that, if there is only Light and vessel, then I need to know what the program is that connects the two. I have no choice, I am subjected to this formula and I need to know it in order to flow in it correctly.

You may then say that by being obligated to learn what the Creator has done and follow it, man is just miserable, not even worth of being called “man.” This is not true. If we study these forces we become equal to the Creator, we learn the forces that act on matter and how they do it, how matter reacts to them, we grasp the wisdom of it and we begin to use these forces, to be above them more and more.

By learning the actions of the Creator, which are called “and they will all know me from the smallest to the greatest,” we learn the laws. By learning the laws we attain possession of the laws, we attain power. We attain the degree of the Creator, no less. When the created being reaches the level of the Creator it is considered to be “adhesion.” That is the state that has to be reached, in which there is no difference between the Creator and the created being in powers and knowledge. The connection is a single eternal state. This is how the wisdom of Kabbalah helps us.

Now the question remains, how did the Kabbalists discover all of this? We are studying these books by the great sage called Baal HaSulam because he is the last Kabbalist, he speaks our language, he is close to us, but how did they all reveal it? What happened before there were Kabbalists? How was this revealed to the first

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Kabbalist? We are learning this about Abraham and about the others, that actually, even without any books man can reveal the Upper powers. If a person has a strong desire then he or she acts with the desire, and through this desire can research through matter, and feel the forces that are beyond matter, it is revealed to the person.

It all depends on the effort, on the desire. Only desire opens matter, desire to attain a higher level, to sense the forces, the “Upper Force.” If this desire is strong, it is all that is necessary. What should be done to make this desire great in a person?

Drawing No. 5

Adam, Abraham, and a few other great Kabbalists had great desire. It also happens in every generation, that some people attain the revelation of divinity without any books or learning. They reach it because they have inner desire, and Baal HaSulam says that these are unique people, belonging to the “individual” part, that in every generation there are those who are unique in that sense. But what about someone like you? What if you are not unique in that sense?

You do have a lack, a desire, and that is why you come here at night to study, right? But it is not enough in order to break through “matter” into the “force” that is above matter. Where can you get additional desire, additional lack? Nothing else is necessary. The Light is in complete rest, it does not act in any way; all of the actions are on the part of the “matter,” the “vessels,” the desire.

So where can I get additional lack, desire? I have been living for twenty or thirty years without thinking about the Upper world, I had no desire. Suddenly a desire awakened in me, and caused me to pursue what I desire. I was not the one who decided to have or not to have this desire, it just awakened, and appeared in me.

So now that I have the desire, at the level of let’s say 30 kg for example, an urge for spirituality… It is a “force,” the power of will, and that is why I use the units of Kilograms in my examples, just as forces in this world are measured. In order to reach spirituality I need for example 200 kg. Why do I need 200 kg of “force?” Because my ego weighs 200 kg and it pulls me down, and so I need a “power” of will of 200 kg to pull me up. So what should we do? Where would I get what I am lacking? I am lacking 170 kg, where can I get that?

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In order to give man the possibility of attaining spirituality on his own, to take the path by his own powers, the soul of the First Man was divided into many souls.

If we arrange around us such an environment that can provide us with additional desires, with the sense of importance of the goal, lack in our current state, confidence in being able to attain the goal, increase our power to penetrate through “matter,” beyond “matter,” then such an “environment” can give me this additional power and then I penetrate matter.

That’s why the choice is about these 170 kg, to attain them through the environment. Here is the choice. The desire that you received was just received by you. The fact that previously you did not receive it also did not depend on you. We are not talking about that. We are also not talking about the ways that you will take to return back to the revelation, to the “root.” You will go through the same steps that you traveled when you distanced from it. As he says, these are permanent and absolute laws. What does depend on you is the time during which you will take this path, during which you constantly need additional power from the “environment.”

That is why choosing a right “environment” is crucial in order to attain the “force” which will be sufficient to penetrate through “matter” into “Divinity” and know it, act in it. It all depends on the “environment.” We will discuss that later. This relates to the people who are in the “public” group, not to people who reached the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah as “individuals,” who are unique. Why are they called “unique?” Because they did not grow necessarily out of an environment, but did it on their own or through an individual teacher.

But these are rare individuals. They usually have a mission, to relate some message or to teach others, and this is how the wisdom constantly evolves and reaches others, to the public.

Question: If the Creator is concealed, then what is the entire reality that I see around me? Is it clothed on the forces of the Creator?

What you see around you is most simply the projection of your properties on the Upper Light. As the Kabbalists say, you will perhaps discover soon that the Upper Light fills the entire reality. There is nothing besides it, and I am in this ocean of Light, feeling myself to exist in a body, with all of this around me, outside of me, the whole universe.

What is all of this that I discover? We learned that all that I reveal I do through these five senses of vision, hearing, taste, smell.

Drawing No. 6

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Some impressions enter me. Impressions of what? The “Upper Light” which is in complete rest. There are no changes here. Everything is permanent and absolute. But inside of me there is a constant renewal of the “desire.” My desire constantly evolves through Reshimot that are in me. These Reshimot constantly reveal themselves, and create a difference between them and the Light. The “delta” is the difference between the Reshimot that awaken in me and the Light. I feel the contrast

between them in all of its discernments, and that contrast creates in me an inner picture – the “picture of the world.”

It means that any situation that I feel, in which I internally think something and externally sense another thing, is actually my sensation of myself in relation to the “Upper Light” which is constant. If anything changes it is me, internally, my Reshimot

are changing, their implementation changes, and then from that I attain new perceptions of reality. There is nothing else happening besides this.

That is why we only discuss the inner correction of man. If I will correct myself so that I would be internally equal to the Light that is outside, then the picture inside of me will be equal to the Upper Light. So what will I feel then, nothing? Some mist? I will feel all of my corrected properties that are equal to the Light.

I will sense a picture which will be perfect. I will not just feel Upper Light, because that can not be felt, but I will feel myself as similar to the Upper Light. This image is called “The Infinity.” What is Infinity? No limitation, I do not limit the Upper Light, I feel it as it is exactly.

We will continue this in the next lesson and end here. Thank you and good day.

Ramchal: the Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah

The whole of the wisdom of Kabbalah is only to know the guidance of the Higher

Will, why It has created all these creatures, what It wants with them, and what will be

the end of all the cycles of the world, and how all these cycles in the world which are

so foreign are interpreted. This is because the Higher Will had already calculated the

cycle of this Guidance, which ends in utter completeness. And these measures are

what we interpret as Sefirot and worlds.

Ramchal, Pitchei Hochma (Doors of Wisdom), Section 30

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ATTAINING THE WORLDS BEYOND

A Plea for Help

The only thing that the Creator created in us is our egoism. If we can nullify the effects of our egoism, then we will once again perceive only the Creator, and the egoistic element will no longer exist.

When working on ourselves, we should try to cultivate both a sense of our own inferiority in relation to the Creator, and a sense of pride in the fact that as human beings we are the center of creation. We are accorded this position if we fulfill the purpose of all creation; otherwise, we are no more than animals.

As a result of experiencing these two contradictory states, we will develop two responses toward the Creator. The first is a plea for help. The second is an expression of gratitude for the chance to be elevated spiritually.

The principal means by which we can progress spiritually is by pleading for help from the Creator and asking Him to increase our yearning for spiritual development. This request for the gift of strength will help us overcome our fears of the future. Furthermore, by opposing inclinations of our egos, we should increase our faith in the greatness, the power, and the Oneness of the Creator.

Therefore, we must plead with our Creator to give us the ability to suppress our continuous urges to act in accordance with our own reason. Some of us will begin to dwell on various intentions during our prayers (kavanot), pleas or even

certain actions.

However, the Creator does not listen to the words that we utter, but instead reads the feelings in our hearts.

Therefore, it is senseless to spend energy on uttering beautiful phrases that have no inner, heartfelt meaning, or to read obscure symbols or kavanot from

Kabbalistic prayer books. The only thing required of us is to strive toward the Creator with our whole being, to understand the essence of our desires, and to ask the Creator to alter them. Most important, we should never stop communicating with the Creator!

In Memory of the Kabbalist Rabbi Baruch Ashlag

The Creator acts upon us by using various elements that make up our world. The events we experience are actually messages from the Creator. If we respond correctly to Divine action, we will clearly grasp what the Creator expects of us, and we will feel Him.

Not only does the Creator act upon us through the people around us, but He uses everything that exists in our world. The structure of our world is such that the Creator can influence us and draw us nearer to the goal of creation.

We rarely feel the presence of the Creator in the daily situations we need to face. This is because our attributes place us opposite the Creator and make it impossible for us to feel Him. As soon as we acquire attributes similar to those of the Creator, we will begin to feel Him proportionately.

Therefore, when hardships befall us, we need to ask ourselves, "Why is this happening to me?" and "Why is the Creator doing this to me?" Punishments, as

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such, do not exist, although many are mentioned in the Bible (which includes the Five Books of Moses, the Writings and the Prophets).

There are only "incentives" that force us to progress towards our selfish desires. Our awareness of things is only an ancillary mechanism that helps us properly understand what we feel.

Whenever we picture our lives, we should think of a gigantic classroom with the omniscient Creator acting as a teacher and lavishing on us the knowledge we are prepared to receive. This progressively awakens in our newborn spiritual sensory organs the feeling of the Creator.

The Creator has made a ladder for our ascension. It is a moving ladder. This ladder appeared in Jacob’s dream and was described by Baal HaSulam Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag and his son Baruch Ashlag.

Often, we turn our backs on the source of knowledge symbolized by this ladder, and only through great effort will we manage to turn around and start moving towards the Creator. This is why He sends us teachers, books, and study companions.

Students who follow the teachings of Kabbalah live in the physical world, but are overburdened by their selfishness. This is why they cannot properly understand the sages who are physically close to them, but who also evolve in the spiritual worlds.

Those who can leave aside reason and opinions, and follow the ways of writers of authentic books of wisdom, will be able to bond unconsciously with the spiritual. It is because we do not see or feel the Creator in our world that we cannot selfishly surrender our consciousness to Him.

The thoughts of teachers or masters can penetrate their students and induce faith in them. This corresponds with the teacher’s spiritual AHP: Awzen (ear), Hotem (nose), Peh (mouth), representing the vessels of reception, coming down to the GE (Galgalta ve Einayim), representing the vessels of bestowal of the level below (i.e.,

the student’s level).

Rising to the level of the master’s AHP means bonding with the master’s wisdom and thoughts. Likewise, if students delve into the AHP of a text of wisdom, they rise temporarily and the spiritual is revealed to them.

Whenever we read the works of such Kabbalists as the Baal HaSulam, Shimon Bar Yochai, we bond directly with them through the surrounding Light. We are then enlightened, and our vessels of reception purified.

It is important when reading to bear in mind the stature of the author, whether alive or dead. We can always bond with the author through our feelings as we study the work.

There are many paths leading to the Creator, and He uses many means to act upon us. Any difficulty or obstacle on the student’s path, in particular the death of a master, may be considered an opportunity for transformation at an individual level.

Counteracting the Desire for Self-Gratification

Our sense of hearing is called “faith,” because if we wish to accept what we hear as true, we must believe what we have heard. Eyesight is called “knowledge,”

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for we do not have to take anything on trust, but can see for ourselves. However, until we have received altruistic qualities from Above, we are unable to see, since whatever we see, we perceive with our egoistic senses.

This makes it all the more difficult for us to break away from egoism. Therefore, at first we must walk blindly, while conquering what our egos tell us to do. Then, having acquired faith, we will start acquiring higher knowledge.

In order to replace our egoism with altruism, and our reason with faith, we must truly appreciate the greatness and grandeur of the spiritual, as compared to our pitiful, material, temporary existence. We must realize how insignificant it is to serve ourselves compared to serving the Creator.

We must also see how much more beneficial and enjoyable it is to please the Creator than to please our insignificant egos (our bodies). The ego, in fact, can never be satisfied and can show appreciation only by awarding us fleeting pleasure.

When we compare the human body to the Creator, we must decide for whose sake we should work, whose slave we should become. There is no other alternative. The more we understand our own insignificance, the easier it will be for us to choose the Creator.

There are four aspects of a desire to receive: inanimate, organic, animate and speaking.

The aspect of inanimate nature represents completeness. The sense of

perfection originates in the surrounding Light coming from afar, and this distant Light shines on those of our world, even though the qualities of this world are opposite to those of the Creator.

In the same way, one who is spiritually inanimate maintains one’s existence as is. This individual has the same desires as others who are similar. This person is incapable and unwilling to make any spiritual effort of his own.

Just as the organic world is built upon the foundation of inanimate nature, the spiritual world also requires a prior inanimate base. A person has no other choice but to begin with the inanimate level.

However, those who wish to ascend from the spiritually inanimate level must find a new reason to replace what previously motivated them to commit their actions: force of habit, upbringing, and environment.

A person who wants to grow further, to come alive spiritually, to make spiritual strides independently, refuses to blindly follow others, but moves forward irrespective of the opinion of others, or the habits or education of society.

This decision to stop performing mechanical acts gives rise to the root of a new, organic spiritual state. Just as a seed must first decompose in the soil in order

to grow, so, too, must a person cease to feel any spiritual life among the inanimate masses. Instead, an inanimate life should be perceived as death. This sensation will in itself constitute a prayer for change.

In order to become organic and capable of individual spiritual growth, we

must perform several kinds of work on ourselves, starting with "tilling" the inanimate soil. Spiritual progress can be made only by counteracting our desires for self-

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gratification.

Therefore, if we aspire to advance toward the Creator, we must regularly check our own desires and decide which pleasures we can accept. Since the Creator wishes to please His creations, we must accept certain pleasures.

However, we must exclude all pleasures that are not for the sake of the Creator. In the language of Kabbalah, this can be described in the following way: Our willpower, a screen located in the mind (peh de rosh), calculates the amount of pleasure that we can experience in order to bring joy to the Creator, and in accordance with our exact amount of love for Him. We can experience precisely this amount. However, any other amount of pleasure we experience that is not meant for the sake of the Creator is not out of fear of upsetting the Creator.

Thus, our actions should be determined by our desire to please the Creator, rather than by our desire to advance closer to Him, or out of fear of being distanced from Him. The latter two are considered to be egoistic aspirations, as compared to selfless unconditional love.

The desire to please the Creator or the fear of upsetting Him represent altruistic yearnings. We experience strong emotions such as joy, grief, pleasure and fear with our whole bodies, rather than with some part of them. If we wish to check our desires, we must determine if every part of our bodies agrees with our thoughts.

For example, when praying, we must make sure that all of our thoughts, desires, and body organs are in agreement with what we are saying. We must also be aware of whether we are simply uttering words automatically, without paying attention to their meaning.

A “mechanical reading” occurs when we wish to avoid the discomfort from a conflict between our bodies and the meaning of prayer. It can also arise from a lack of understanding of how prayer can be of benefit when derived from mechanically uttered pleas from the prayer book.

It is worthwhile to ask our hearts what they want to pray for.

A prayer is not what our lips say mechanically, but what the whole body and reason desire.

Thus it is said that “a prayer is the work of the heart,” meaning that the heart is in absolute agreement with what the lips are saying.

Only if we work with the entire body will we receive a response from it, signifying that not a single organ desires to rid itself of egoism or to ask the Creator for help in this endeavor. Only then will we be able to direct a sincere prayer to the Creator, asking for redemption from our spiritual exile.

We must strive to make the reason for an act correspond to the actual

mechanical act of carrying out the Creator’s Will. Just as the body acts as a robot, carrying out the Creator’s Will without understanding the reason for it, or without seeing any immediate benefit from it, so must the reason for observing His Will be "because such is the Will of the Creator."

There is an easy way to check the motivation behind an individual’s act. If it is "for the sake of the Creator," then a person’s body is incapable of making even the slightest movement. Yet, if it is for one’s own benefit in this or the world to come, then

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the more one thinks of one’s reward, the more energy is expended for taking action.

All the above makes it clear that it is our motivation (kavana) that determines the quality of our acts. An increase in the number of our acts does not necessarily improve their quality. All that happens occurs under the influence of upper spiritual forces. And we, down here in our world, have been observing the cause-and-effect relationship of spiritual forces for centuries.

A person who can see the consequences of events in advance, and therefore predict and avert undesirable consequences, is called a “Kabbalist.” Our world is the world of consequential manifestations of the spiritual forces, whereas the actual arena of interaction between these forces is situated above and beyond our perceptions.

Only a Kabbalist has the ability to foresee events before they manifest themselves in this world, and possibly even prevent their manifestation.

However, since all these events are sent in order to allow us to correct ourselves, and since we need this correction in order to reach the ultimate goal of creation, no one can help us in this endeavor but ourselves.

The Creator does not send us suffering, but rather sends the means we need to accelerate our spiritual progress. A Kabbalist is not a wizard who performs miracles, but is one whose mission is to help people in general, to assist us in elevating our consciousness to the level necessary to initiate the process of self-correction.

Finally, the Kabbalist is there to help people individually if they desire it.

We have no power whatsoever over our hearts, no matter how strong or intelligent or capable we might be. Therefore, all we can do is mechanically perform good deeds and implore the Creator to replace our hearts with new ones. (The word "heart" usually denotes all of our desires).

All that is required of us as individuals is to have one great desire, rather than numerous desires. The desire that an individual perceives in the heart is a prayer. Thus, a great, wholehearted desire leaves no room for any others.

We can create this great desire in our hearts only by persistent, continuous efforts. In the process, we must overcome numerous obstacles. We must proceed even though we clearly realize that we are far from our goal, and that our study of the Kabbalah is for our personal benefit and not for the sake of the Creator.

The obstacles to be overcome include: the body’s arguments that it is weak; the conflict between spiritual and egoistic efforts; the belief that, when the time is right, the Creator will bring the desired result, just as He brought a person to this particular state, and the theory that one must test one’s achievements, as should all work be tested.

They also include the belief that things have worsened since study of the Kabbalah began; the belief that others’ studies are going more successfully than one’s own and thus ad infinitum—complaints, reproaches, accusations, coming both from one’s own body and from one’s family.

Only by overcoming these difficulties will a person develop a true desire for spirituality. There is but one way we can overcome these obstacles: by "knocking

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out" egoism as the Kabbalah prescribes.

We can either ignore the ego’s demands, or reply: "I am going ahead without any explanations or tests, for those could only be based on egoism, which I must leave behind. And since I do not yet have any other senses, I cannot listen to you, but only to those great sages who have already entered the higher worlds and know how a person should act. And if my heart is becoming even more selfish, it means that I have made progress and thus deserve to have a little more of my true egoism revealed to me from heaven."

In response, the Creator will reveal Himself to us, so that we will feel His greatness and will involuntarily become His slave. At that point, we will no longer experience any temptations of the body. This process signifies the replacement of the "stone" heart, which is aware only of itself, with a "flesh" one that is aware of others.

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AUTHENTIC KABBALAH TEXTS

Rav Laitman: Lesson on the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”. Part 4

Rav Michael Laitman, Bnei Baruch, Israel

September 2, 2005

Bold and in quotes: Original text of Baal HaSulam

Regular: Commentaries of Rav Laitman

lowercase italics: emphasized words

Capitalized italics: transliteration from Hebrew

We are continuing with the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah” by Baal HaSulam in the book Kabbalah LeMatchil, page 23. We are in the section “The Corporeal Terms and the Physical Names in Books of Kabbalah.”

We already said that we have a problem trying to express our sensations. What are we talking about? In all, we are talking about our emotions, sensations. We are made of a will to receive that is comprised of five senses in which we acquire impressions—we feel something. Our mind, our brain evolves next to the will to receive. It helps us understand what we feel and how we can improve our sensation. When we feel, we evolve in our vessels of reception, in our sensation. There are no words for sensations. What do we call something that is felt in the Kli?

In the Wisdom of Kabbalah, we name according to measurements. If you know, for example, what your Kli is, what kind of Kli you have right now; because it might be more, it might be less…

If you know your Kli, you can measure the filling, the Light in it. The Kli and

the Light together are the name of that person or attained state. That is what we call in the Wisdom of Kabbalah. But in order to convey what Kabbalists attain and feel, from one to the other, they either use these names in the language of Kabbalah, or they have to give a name. But, where do they get names from? They take names from our world. This is called “the language of the branches.”

The Spiritual World, the Upper World, projects a replica of itself in this world, and so, the substance here is corporeal, but everything in this world, meaning every action, stems from spirituality. Since they come into our matter, we no longer feel them as spiritual actions. But the connection between them, their relations, and influences are actually spiritual. It just appears opposite to us, because the substance is opposite. Here it is corporeal and there it is spiritual.

And that confuses us. We cannot see the Spiritual World from this world, because the difference between this world and the Spiritual World, in every dimension, is like a “double opposite.” That is why we cannot say if that is black then there is white—no. It is like black and white, bitter and sweet, true and false, and a thousand opposites all put together, and how they interconnect. So the picture between spirituality and corporeality is completely inappropriate. But because there is a root above that operates on some branch below, we can then talk about the root according to the name of the branch.

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In our world, we have the name of the branch, so we can attach it to the root, and name it this way. In spirituality, we have a dictionary which is actually built according to our dictionary. This language is called “the language of the branches”—a language built according to the branches in our world, where we use names of branches to name roots. That is how Kabbalists communicate, and that is how all the holy books are written. Books such as the Book of Torah, the Prophets, the Writings,

and many others are written like that; like history books or geography books, or like a human society where neighbors are fighting, as in Talmud and Shulchan Aruch—that

you have to do things this way and that way. But behind this history, and everything written in these holy scriptures, we understand that the holy books are holy, because Kadosh, holy, means spiritual, and secular means corporeal.

Although the books seemingly talk about the travels of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the sons of Israel, or maybe the ox hitting the cow, neighbors fighting, the temple and all that; we understand them as holy scriptures. Meaning, behind the corporeal vocabulary stands a spiritual process that they want to explain to us, but they have no choice other than to explain it in corporeal words. So the vocabulary is taken from this world but the understanding should relate to the Spiritual World.

But who can imagine spiritual things? If I am in this world, and I understand these words in their corporeal meaning, how can I attach each word to something spiritual, in the Spiritual World? I cannot, because I do not know what it talks about. A horse. What is a horse in spirituality? I do not know. That is why Kabbalists obviously wrote this vocabulary for themselves.

But we use this language and these stories, from this world to the Spiritual World in order to take power from them, a force that corrects, “the Light that reforms,” and nothing more. We should not think that we can understand what happens in spirituality. It is a different nature, it is totally opposite. We should only want that force to come and correct us, and to the extent that it corrects us, we will begin to see, not the vocabulary, not the words, but what they are about. We will see behind the

words—the objects, things, motion, and actions. Just like I read a book and I can imagine what happens in this world, so I have images and pictures from the story that I can imagine, because I know all the details and all the complexities found in the story—the emotions, the insights… everything. It is similar in the Spiritual World, if we were to see and feel it a bit. So Baal HaSulam talks about it, yes…

"The Corporeal Terms and the Physical Names in Books of Kabbalah."

I went ahead so that we can understand this a little better. So, understand why I explain it before we read it.

“Any reasonable person will understand when dealing with spiritual matters, much less godliness, we haven’t any words to or letter with which to contemplate. This is because our entire vocabulary is but combinations of the letters of our senses and imagination. Yet, how can they be of the systems of where there is neither imagination nor our senses.”

Meaning how is it possible that behind words of this world we will imagine, we will see parts or actions, things that are in the Spiritual World. It is impossible.

Question: If they are so spiritual, why do they have to write about the most corporeal things?

No, they are not writing about corporeality.

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Question: But they use this language, and do not communicate in spirituality?

First of all, why don’t they communicate in spirituality? How do you know that they don’t? What does it mean, “to communicate”? How did you even come to that word? Is it like you calling someone? Of course, there are connections among all the parts of Adam haRishon. We are only fragmented souls of that same structure, and

the connection exists. Just like there is a connection in this world, where we feel each other, more or less, and build communication systems. In the Spiritual World, we do not need artificial communication systems, like a telephone or anything like that. In the Spiritual World the connection is simple. It is according to equivalence of form. As much as one resembles the other in his corrected Kli, they are together, in the same

place.

Say for example, me. Let us take everything in me: desires, thoughts, actions, everything in me. And let us take you; your desires, thoughts and actions. If, in a part of me and you we were identical—we want the same thing, we think about the same thing, we do the same thing. Toward what? When is that possible? When we have one goal, and we understand what that goal is. The goal is that our desires and thoughts and actions will be, to some extent, one. If that happens, and we have together obtained adhesion in the goal, reached the goal, even in say just twenty per cent of our desires and thoughts, in that part, we unite between us.

We are together, as one body, and with the goal. This is called “Israel and the Creator are one.” The goal is the Creator, and together with you, we have reached what we desired. We wanted to reach Him, so we connected together. For that, we need to communicate. We are simply found together the same intention, the same thought, the same action. Everything that happens in me happens in you. We do not even understand what this is. We do not grasp to what extent it becomes as one, and it has to be like this with all the souls, without exceptions, “as one man in one heart,” as it is written—in heart and mind.

So you say, how do Kabbalists communicate with one another? They do not need some exterior communication. They communicate with the same thoughts and desires that are corrected and in the Creator, where they reached equivalence of form with Him; there they are all one. It is like one body. My hand needs to understand what the mind thinks and what kind of order it gives it, and so on. Only a sick body can work in a way where the mind does one thing and the hand another. That is a corrupted body, with separated parts, like our souls are now separated from one another. But in a corrected body, every cell knows how the whole body should function, and what it should provide for it. Thus, there are no communication problems among Kabbalists. Besides this, in order to help each other reach, and be in this correct communication, they write to one another. They write from generation to generation, and have done so for many generations. Kabbalists also grow. When a child is born he is not a Kabbalist. He has a point in the heart, which he will develop. Who knows if he will be a Kabbalist or not? So Kabbalists need external books, they need some exterior means to help them reach the internal degree.

Question: Did the great Kabbalists over the generations, around the world, interpret the same thing?

If they feel the same thing they interpret the same thing.

Question: But is it the same interpretation for the same matter?

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No, because the interpretations depend on the language. Some wrote in Arabic, some wrote in Yiddish, some wrote in German, in many languages.

Question: But is it the same interpretation?

They also conveyed it in a different way, because there is a difference in the souls. Some souls come from a general Light, the Surrounding Light, and some souls come from a particular Light, the Inner Light. Some souls have a different purpose, just like there are different parts in the body with different functions. If you examine the liver or the lungs, you might say they do not belong to the same body. Let us say someone comes who does not know physiology or anatomy, you will say, “look! There is this part and that part…”; he will not understand that they are from the same body. It is a completely different way of functioning. All the information, all the tests, everything is completely different. Only afterwards, we become smart enough to know that it has to be like that. They might even have to be contradicting or opposite, but they have to work in harmony with the right connection between them.

So every Kabbalist comes from a different place in the collective body of Adam HaRishon. Of course, on the one hand, they know how to compliment the general, but when they write, they write from the particular to the general. So it depends on how they express it. There are many things here. You take books of Kabbalists; first of all, thank G-d we have a history of several thousand years. Of course, they convey it in a different way. Look at The Zohar, for example. Greek and

Aramaic words; they were accepted spoken languages at the time, so they were used a lot. And what happened afterwards in Kabbalah, in the Middle Ages for example, or in how it is written today? Can you compare what Rav Cook wrote, like in a philosophy course in University, seemingly so superficial, with what Rambam wrote, or what Moses wrote? He actually wrote a story. What did he write? A novel—in all. Can you compare it with the writings of the Ari—the way he writes, the way he expresses himself, so mathematical and precise? This goes here, this goes there, this way, that way… Even when he does not use the language of Kabbalah, in a technical language, rather when he speaks a little differently; even there it is still a distinct language. The Zohar is picturesque: people are going, sitting, and talking; the

sun, the moon, all kinds of figures and forms that you can imagine. Of course it is very different. The character of each of them is also different.

Question: But they all aim at the same thing?

They feel the same thing, but they each feel that thing differently. You and I are in the same world, we see the same things outside of us. We see the same things, right? Can we compare how we differ in sensation, in perception? Each person is unique. That is why all the books… there are some more similar or dissimilar. But, there are some that are very different. How can you compare The Book of Zohar and the books of the Ari? (The Ari being the reincarnation of Rabbi Shimon.) How can you see a connection between them? Okay, well, the Ari and Baal HaSulam have a very similar language.

“Even if we take the subtlest word that can be used in this context, meaning the word “Upper Light,” or even “Simple Light,” it is still borrowed and lent from the light of the sun, or a candle, or a light of contentment one feels upon resolving some great doubt, or new invention. How can we use them in context of the spiritual and Godly? They offer the examiner nothing more than falsehood and deceit.”

It is as if the beginner does not have a choice. What do you want from him? If you write Light, he will imagine actual light. If you write Kli, vessel, he will imagine a

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cup, a pitcher, or whatever. Or maybe a key, it is also a Kli (Kli in Hebrew also means

“instrument”). How can we understand the spiritual through this corporeal vocabulary? What do they intend?

“It is particularly so where one needs to find some ratio in these words to help one in the negotiation customary in the research of the wisdom. Here one must be very strict and accurate using definitive descriptions for the eyes of the observers.

Should the wise fail with but a single unsuccessful word, he is certain to confuse and mislead the readers. They will not understand at all what he is saying there, before it, after it, and everything connected to that word. This is known to anyone who examines books of wisdom.”

Meaning, Baal HaSulam says it is even worse. If you err in the correct understanding of just a few words, then you are so confused that you are better off not starting. So, how can I begin reading something or listening to something or understanding something? Of course, I come from this world with all my baggage, my great vocabulary, by which I understand the world. Now I am told “no, no! Leave your vocabulary. Throw away this word.” How can I do that? My words are connected to everything I am used to this world, by association. No—if you connect to these words now when you study Kabbalah, what you connected to them will confuse you and nothing will come out of it. So, what is the solution?

“Thus, one should wonder how is it possible for Kabbalists to use false words in order to explain the interconnections of this wisdom?”

Meaning, Kabbalists do not have a choice. They cannot use a different vocabulary. How do you call a phenomenon in spirituality when it is only emotional? What are you going to do say “ah, oh, oo?” What can you invent, what kind of code can you invent?

“Also, it is known that there is no definition through a false name, for the lie has no legs and no stance.”

Meaning, that if I begin to attach names, numbers or whatever to spiritual phenomenon, this is called “an unfounded basis,” it is false. The vocabulary, the word, has to stem from the essence of the thing I want to point to using that word.

“Indeed, here you need to have prior knowledge of the Law of Root and Branch by which the worlds relate to one another.”

Meaning, we have a law of connection between the worlds. Each world is built, as I wrote here the Upper World and the lower world, both are actually a complete replica in their every detail in this world. Yes, the trees, the oceans, the nights, people, distances, time, space and motion. Only, there is a difference between here and there. Human beings there differ from here. Everything we may do and build in this world is also there. Even more so, everything we see, think, feel, build, and perform—all of this is not actually us building, performing, and feeling. We are only discovering the Spiritual World, getting a little closer to it, and it then seems like we are discovering, building, and performing new things. That shows how everything in our world is from the Spiritual World, because between the Upper World and this world there is only concealment. When I discover the Upper World a little more, and more, and more—even now while I am still not conscious of it—meaning, there is no difference between the worlds. The Upper World and my world is actually my own inner sensation. If I feel the same thing in my egoistic Kelim, this is called “my world,” “this world.”

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If I gradually replace my Kelim with a different perception, an altruistic one,

this is called “approaching and entering the Spiritual World.” But before me is the same thing—it is only my perception that gradually changes. Thus I have 613 desires. Those are the same desires. But in each of them a sensation changes a little more, and a little more, and a little more. That is why we should only imagine how, in every desire, in every thought, what would we feel if we were more spiritual? Now we can understand from this why Kabbalists invented this specific language, and presented it to us, so that through these words, through our vocabulary from where we are now, and discovering some world—I just have to push it, to yearn to be in spirituality more, and interpret all the terms in a more spiritual manner. That is it. So, with this same vocabulary I enter into what was previously concealed and is now being revealed: with that same vocabulary. Then there is no difference. I read some nice literature as opposed to The Book of Zohar. One was written by someone who

was in this world, and one was written by someone who advanced and ascended into the Upper World. But, with all of the 613 desires and his entire soul, he felt a higher degree. That is all. That is why the language of branches, if I only attempt to interpret each word in its correct, spiritual form, it is as if it draws me into spirituality. It, in itself, is like an engine toward spirituality.

That is why Baal HaSulam writes in “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot” that we must interpret each and every word in its spiritual form, because if you make an effort, and this is by force, you have to constantly maintain concentration. What this means in spirituality—it is as if it is an intellectual effort, it is not emotional. On the contrary, it goes against your emotions. But, by forcing yourself to imagine spirituality, instead of corporeality that you naturally feel when reading, you insert yourself, you push yourself into spirituality by force. So now we can understand the benefit that this language gives us. It is not “why did they not invent something else?” It gives you 613 rails by which you rise from corporeality to spirituality, and you just have to interpret it more in spiritual terms—the meaning of the words and the actions that are explained there.

Now, take the Torah. Stop reading it like a child, or like children who have

grown old, and start interpreting it more spiritually. You will then see how it gradually becomes detached from this world and enters a different reality, with the same words. And the fact that we still do not feel what happens behind these words makes no difference. It actually gives you room for work. I do not feel it, but I have to force myself to imagine what it is, and then I am drawn to it. You force yourself into a higher degree. These are good exercises, I recommend them.

“Well, the law of roots and branches by which the worlds relate to one another. Kabbalists have found that the form of the four worlds named Atzilut, Bina, Yetzira, Assiya begins with the first and highest world called Atzilut. Then beginning in this corporeal world, called Assiya is vastly the same in every item and event. It means that everything that eventuates and occurs in the first world is found unchanged in the second world, below it, too. It is likewise in all the worlds that follow it down to this tangible world.

There is no difference between them. Merely a different degree perceived in a substance of which worlds, reality, the substance of the first upper most world is coarser then the world of the first, but purer than that of the lower degree. It continues similarly down to this world before us whose

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substance of the items of reality is coarser and darker than all the world proceeding it.

However, the shapes and the items of reality of all the occurrences come unchanged and equal in every world. It’s purer than the substance of the lower ones and the substance of the item of the reality of the second world is coarser than the world of the first, but purer than that of the lower degree. It continues similarly down to this world before us whose substance of the items of reality is coarser and darker in all the worlds preceding it. However, the shapes and the items of reality of all the occurrences come unchanged and equal in every world both in quantity and equality.”

We said that the Kli was built by the Upper Light, consists of five parts—Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, Gimel and Dalet. Therefore, in order to unload all of the Light from the Kli, and set up that Kli so that it will entirely detach from the Light, we have five degrees of descent from the state of Ein Sof, where the Kli is filled entirely with Light. These five degrees are called “worlds”—AK, Atzilut, Bina, Yetzira, Assiya, and

here is this world. Each world is in fact a diminution of the Light, and an emptying of the Kli.

Let us say here the Kli is smaller than in Ein Sof. In Ein Sof we have five parts. Here in AK we have the same Kli, here we have four parts…three...two...one…and here we have zero, which is the point. That is how the Kli diminishes with the Light in it, and reaches the state of this world. However, every detail that exists in the Kli remains.

All the details are in there, but the force changes. Meaning here, the Kli in Ein Sof has 613 desires, and here too it has 613 desires. A Kli cannot have less than that… in every place. Our point too contains 613 desires, but only as a point. It is just like a seed, where you have all the elements of the mature person that will evolve from it; all these elements. All you need is an addition of force, filling, “meat”—an addition of force, and nothing more. Regarding this additional force, here the Creator caused a diminution—that came from above—and we have to, from below upward, by ourselves, desire to grow and acquire the force for that. This is done through the MAN, through the request from below upward; yes. “Give me the force for correction, for fulfillment!”… and then it happens.

Of course, we do not have the forces, but the demand has to be on our part. That is what we learned before, from above downward, and from below upward. This comes from above, from above downward, and we have to rise from below upward through our choice and desire. Then, from this single point of desire, which we cannot yet speak about in detail; we do not feel its great 613 desires. We feel some desire for spirituality. We want something to happen, we cannot even express it. From that evolves a Kli, which is called “spiritual,” a soul. Right now all we have is a point, and what we imagine of ourselves; that we exist in our body and spirit—it is animalistic body and spirit, like what animals have, and not more.

“It continues similarly down to this world before us, whose substance of the items of reality is coarser and darker than all the worlds preceding it. However, the shapes and the items of reality and all their occurrences come unchanged and equal in every world, both in quantity and quality.”

The difference is that in Ein Sof and all the worlds—AK, Atzilut, Bina, Yetzira, Assiya—there, it is spiritual substance. What is the spiritual substance? It is bestowal, from above downward. Only our substance is reception, is opposite. That

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is why each and every world in spirituality is similar to the other, not only in detail, but also in the essence. It is just that one is more and one is less. The difference between all the worlds above this world and between this world is in the substance. Only the details remain the same details. We feel this world is filled with things, and all sorts of actions, all corresponding to spirituality. There is nothing in this world that does not come from above. But we cannot picture how it happens above if we compare it to this world.

“They compared it to the conduct of a seal and its imprint. All the shapes found in the seal are transferred perfectly in every detail and intricacy to the imprinted object. So it is with the worlds where each lower world is an imprint of the world above it. Hence, all the forms found in the higher world, are meticulously copied, in both quantity and quality, to the lower world.

Thus there is not an item of reality, or an occurrence of reality that you will not find its likeness in the world above it, as identical as two drops in a pond, and they are called “Root and Branch”. That means that that item found in the lower world is deemed a branch of its pattern, found in the higher world, being the root of the lower item, as this is where that item in the lower world was imprinted and made to be.

That was the intention of our sages when they said, “You haven’t a blade of grass below that has not a fortune and a guard above that strike it and commands it to grow”. It follows that the root, called “fortune”, compels it to grow and robe its attribute in quantity and quality, as with the seal and the imprint. This is the law of Root and Branch in every item of reality in every single world, relating to the world above it.”

Question: In our world, there are many terms, artificial or abstract. Is there also an Upper root to them? For example, there is some scientist who lives inside his science, and these concepts—for him they are more tangible than these things. Can he also see behind these terms the Spiritual World, and their roots?

I do not know what scientist you are talking about. If this scientist acquires the sixth sense, develops a soul from his point, so that his point will expand, and in it will be an empty space that is ready to acquire spiritual filling, then behind the matter, he will see spirituality. If he does not have this Kli, how can he see the spirituality behind

the matter? The substance ends in the substance. That is what scientists today see as the end of science. It is not the end. There is more to discover. But they seemingly see that the advanced things are concealed, and are imperceptible to us, to our abilities. Meaning, regardless of all the auxiliary tools that we will build, all these tools, like microscopes and telescopes, only add to our senses and expand their range. They expand them, but they cannot change the essence of our perception. That is why a scientist will not see behind matter.

Question: He writes about fortune, those kinds of things?

No. Fortune is an Upper force that descends from Arich Anpin of Atzilut. Mazal, fortune, is from the word Nozel, a drip, where drops of Ohr Hochma (the Light of Wisdom) drip down from above in squirts, and not a stream, so that these drops will awaken the lower ones; will arouse them to spirituality. That is why it is called Mazal, fortune, from the word Nozel, a drip. It is not the kind of fortune we think of in our world, yes, whether I am lucky or unlucky. Lucky fortune is when a blow comes from above, because it comes in drips—a little good, a little bad, in some way or

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another, and you will understand that it draws you to that same source in Arich Anpin of Atzilut, which is the root of all the fortunes, of every awakening. A real fortune is

the awakening to spirituality that is sent to a person from above, if he perceives it correctly. This is called “being lucky,” “being fortunate.” Otherwise he is not. Good luck, bad luck, from above, as they say… There is nothing more than an awakening for progress from above.

Question: Regarding the corporeal names; how much can the internality of the name be damaged if we speak of it in a more abstract, simpler manner?

How can it help our dissemination?

Question: Can it harm or help?

No, why would it harm? Everything you explain about the truth, adds. On the contrary, if we can explain to ourselves and others that all the holy books do not speak of what happens on earth— how you should pay the owner of an ox or a donkey, or how to do some actions in corporeality... Rather, as Iben Ezra says in his commentary on the Torah, that it all comes only in order to correct the heart. As written, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice”—that

is its purpose, and not for anything else; not how to deal with this world. We can never deal with this world. To deal with it means rising above this world to spirituality. That is why there is a descent from above downward, so that we rise back up to Ein Sof. And if we explain that this is how we should read the books, as an aid, and to

attempt to understand them in a more sublime manner than this world, then of course it would help.

Question: Does a Kabbalist, like Baal HaSulam, who writes articles, and puts them in a paper stand, meaning he writes for everyone; Does he at some point stop using the language of branches?

How can that be? I do not understand. What else would he use?

Question: A language people can understand, for example, the article “The Revelation of Godliness”?

No, no, no. If I explain about some phenomenon of humanity, of society, or we who are below the barrier, then our language is used as it is used. I use the spoken language regarding the place I am intending—this world. If I say we have to organize a society, and to study this way, and do that, and so on, then we are talking about this world. If I am talking about spirituality, Sefirot, Partzufim, Olamot (worlds),

and so on—there I have a problem. I have a difficulty explaining these concepts to you. So then, behind each word, there must be an explanation, that you should not think that it is “so and so,” rather that it is “such and such” To interpret every sentence according to its spiritual meaning is very difficult. But every time we try to do that; that, in fact, is our work—because you raise your picture from corporeality to spirituality. It is very important. Read the last part of “Introduction to the Talmud Eser Sefirot”—the last item; 155 and onwards.

Question: Scientists discover things. Do they reach those discoveries because they exert themselves, even if it is after twenty years? Is it because exertion is connected to spirituality that they reach those discoveries—only because of their exertion?

We learned in the article “The Freedom,” that no one in this world has a single thought or action that is free, unless it is aimed toward returning to the root of the

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soul; to the world of Ein Sof, to the place where one exists and is rooted. Other than

that direction, and working toward that, nobody has freedom of choice or freedom of movement. So, all scientists, or anyone, are only performing commands that awaken in them from their genes, their Reshimot, and their environment, which compels them to act, and which is also guided from above. In our world there is nothing that awakens by itself. So what are scientists discovering? They have to discover this world in a way that they will awaken to spirituality, and they will discover things to this extent. They discovered the atom bomb, and they discovered good things. It is all according to what is needed in order to awaken humanity to advance toward spirituality, to reach it, and nothing more. And it comes from above. Nobody has the ability to determine anything. The only independent choice, the only independent movement of a person is in reaching the root of the soul, in the pre-paved way, from above downward. When we descended, it was from above downward, and now we have to rise in the same path, from below upward. That is all. We should not imagine anyone as having any freedom of action, and of course, no scientist who seemingly discovers things. It appears because humanity, either in a good or bad way, must now be prompted toward that same goal.

Note: There is a question from the Karma TV station.

So read it.

Question: Can there be a state where an individual’s soul is completely altruistic, and still take care of its body?

Of course. First of all, this is a Mitzva, a commandment. In this world there

are people who have a drive to ruin their bodies. Do Kabbalists want to ruin their bodies? No, on the contrary. The connection of the corrected soul—through its body, with all the other bodies, whose souls are not corrected; the people who are in this world, and the Kabbalist that exists in this world in a physical body and at the same time in the Spiritual World with its soul—is a priceless invention. Priceless. In spirituality there is a connection only between the souls, and only as much as they are equal in form with the Creator. It is as we described it here, remember? You and I, if we have parts in us where we are like the Creator, then in those parts we are connected one to another. In this world, we are all completely detached. That is why we need a body, meaning an additional system to have contact with one another.

Otherwise just imagine if on an egoistic level here, we would be completely just with our souls. What would that be like? We would be completely detached, without any possibility or hope of ever connecting and building a Kli—and reaching spirituality. That is why we have a special Klipa, that is the corporeality called Guf (body). It is not a body [Rav points to his physical body]. What we see is not a body. Rather, it is the desire that appears to us in this way, and through it we can connect to one another. We can communicate and we can bond with each other. We can do even more than bonding; we can work in the body like in the soul. We can connect, we can have children, we can communicate and help each other, or kill each other, it does not matter. But we can have contact. We are interdependent. We have such a place, a state from which we can begin our spiritual journey, freely. I live in my body. If I want spirituality, I have it. If I do not want it, I do not have it.

It is a standby state, right before the spiritual journey. So if a Kabbalist lives both in spirituality and in this world, and through the body he can connect to us, then he can bring us his Torah, his teachings, his method, his means… all of his

guidance. Otherwise, how would we communicate with him? He is there, and I am here, so how? I can begin through the body, through verbal expression, through the

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books he writes, because I do not have a choice. He probably can do with me whatever he wants, but the path from below upward has to be preceded by my desire. So in order to have a desire, the Creator awakens the point in me. But other than the point, it is all up to me. So then I need external help, from outside of me, someone who will come and help me out with my Kelim, my situation. And that is the

work of Kabbalists who are in this world.

As it says, the Creator planted them in every generation. With their help we reach correction. Without Baal HaSulam, what would you do today? Would you bow to a tree, or maybe wear red strings? What else? Without these books? Of course, the connection through this world is a great invention. We do not know the force and the importance of this world. In the Spiritual World it all advances by spiritual rules, it is no problem. It is intentionally, from this world, when we go through the double concealment and single concealment, that we create our Kelim.

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DAILY LESSON & RAV’S BLOG: SELECTED EXCERPTS

Source: Rav’s blog at http://www.laitman.com

Intermediary Dispatch

A spiritual action differs from a material one in that it always proceeds through the upper one. Therefore, I cannot connect with others on my own. I exert efforts in order to ask the upper to connect me with others.

If I want to raise a prayer, how is it possible to accomplish since I cannot send the Creator a postcard or a message? This is why I ask the upper to help me reach a state of prayer.

Everything goes through the upper; I don’t perform any actions on my own. I only need to prepare my “half a coin.” And advancement lies precisely in seeing each and every time that a person does everything only through the upper one. It’s as if there is an intermediate dispatch station in front of me through which I pass along all of my actions.

Only if my action goes through the upper does He add force into it and returns a response. I must act through Him. And this pertains to any action or thought, “for” or “against.” Only through this will we come to adhesion.

From the 2nd

part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/29/12, The Zohar

Focusing On The World Of Truth

Question: How should one use the workshop in order to see the world through the prism of the group?

Answer: It will happen when you create a point of connection. This means that the force that is created between us will reach such an intensity that it will not let us disconnect from it. I will constantly want to be within it. I will understand that only from there can I judge everything within the light of truth and not be mistaken.

Only what I see through the shared focus of the group, the central point of the circle, constitutes the real world. In this way, I can judge and never be incorrect in my judgment.

All of this will be revealed to a person. Thus, he will not want to leave this connection, but will constantly aspire only to strengthen this same point of our unity. In this way, we begin to ascend the levels.

To the extent that we join together and intensify our connection, both quantitatively and qualitatively, we rise higher and higher on the spiritual ladder until we discover the Creator and the connection between us in the form of Partzufim and Sefirot. Then, we begin to see how everything that is described in the sources takes place between us.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/12, “Talk About Past Conventions”

The Union Of Plus And Minus

Question: What should I do if during the seminar I’m thinking a lot about unity, but it’s difficult for me to feel it?

Answer: Our work is happening between the feelings and the mind, in the middle line. One needs to keep to this middle line in one’s thoughts, desires, intentions, and relationships, in everything. A one-way bias in any direction is not acceptable. Since all of this is being revealed in creation opposite to the Creator, it must be revealed in the middle line.

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The whole of the nature exists only thanks to the fact that it is in some medium, the intermediate states between the absolute plus and minus, in a balance between extreme states.

However, on the human level, balance is not reached by averaging, like it is on the still, vegetative, or animate levels, but by the means that the minus and the plus are uniting together! The left and the right lines do not balance themselves out in the middle, but are united at the center, and that is why this middle line turns out to be on a higher level than their simple sum. This is the difference between the middle line in our world and in the spiritual.

It needs to be understood that all of these concepts, which we are studying on ourselves, will arrive at a balance and will provide the right approach for us towards the solution of any kind of problems.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/12, “Talk About Past Conventions”

My Self Is Actually Not Mine

Question: It says in the Torah: “I am thy Lord,” what does it actually mean?

Answer: It means that the Creator controls everything. If you consider any thoughts, or desires that you have or actions that you perform as your own, it is only because you are confused and have the illusion that it is you. Actually “you” don’t exist at all.

Question: So when do I become myself?

Answer: If I become equal to Him, then He and I “sound” in unison. My self actually doesn’t exist. My free will, my independence, is only to perform consciously and willingly what the Creator does with me.

I am merely a “zombie,” but I was given the chance to grow a “head,” a mechanism, an understanding, and a recognition so that I will understand where I am, who created me and who performs all these actions. I am given that so that I will agree or disagree with His actions, so that I will accept Him and feel Him as good, will identify with Him and will only want His full control. Then I will see that He withdraws and doesn’t want to control me because now I want to control myself exactly as He controlled me and no other way.

This means that I am in adhesion with Him. He makes room for me to the extent that I agree with Him. He created me, I am totally under His control, and He only wants to build this “head” from me, the understanding and the recognition, so that I will resemble Him, and be like Him.

With this goal I can join the game—I constantly agree or disagree with Him alternately, in order to understand Him through these changes and eventually to want only His control over me with my heart and soul.

In any case, we are never detached from the Creator—He is the first and He is the last, and there is none else besides Him. The only thing missing is our recognition of the force that controls us.

Question: But doesn’t a father want his son to be independent? Doesn’t he leave his hand leave him alone for a moment? Can’t we operate on our own even in bestowal?

Answer: If the Creator left us we would disappear from HaVaYaH, from existing. He creates the illusion of whether I agree or disagree with His actions in order to allow the growth of a “head” in addition to the “stomach.” First you worried about filling your desires, and now you are given doubts, and a space is opened from which He seems to

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be absent. Thus the Creator raises you in small portions of imaginary independence, while you may be satisfied or dissatisfied with His control.

And so, in contrast to religions, we arrive at a critical clarification and examination and eventually reach an agreement, and from that we reach adhesion when the Creator’s control over us is felt as undividedly good and absolute. This actually stems from the initial disagreement and my rejection of His actions. “As the benefit of the Light from the darkness”—I constantly try to clarify things, have doubts and resent the Creator, disagree with Him and curse Him, until I reach adhesion with Him.

This is why it says that “the opinion of the Torah is opposite from the opinion of the landlords.” A person who develops by the wisdom of Kabbalah seems like an actual “offender,” since he goes through such doubts and serious questions, but without this he cannot reach adhesion.

From the 3rd

part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/12, Writings of Rabash

Divided Unity

Baal HaSulam, “600,000 Souls”: In reality nothing exists in the world besides one single soul, which is divided by man’s egoism into 600,000 parts and a multitude of spiritual sparks.

A unified soul was created, and nothing else. Only it exists, and we are always inside of it. And if it seems to us that this is not so, that is because we are flawed. To me the general vessel divides into my “self” and “others” instead of appearing to me as an integral whole where there is only “we”. And all of my work amounts to correcting my own perception.

Until now I was in a world whose parts seemed disconnected and void of interconnection. That is how I am built on the inside. That is how it was always comfortable for me to see the outer world, and I was on good terms with it. However, today the world on the outside is taking on different forms: it turns out that the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature are tightly interconnected. True, this is not so important to me, yet ecology also matters since my ill-considered actions evoke unpleasant changes in natural phenomena.

But most important is that human society itself is becoming a single “mechanism” to me. Stated differently, the world today is being expressed as a single soul, a single vessel, while I do not wish to recognize that unity. I see that I involuntarily enter the world, that reality literally “pushes” me inside, although this is against my wishes. I want to remain an egoist, but the reality of the single soul is being revealed to me.

Thus, the picture of the broken world is only being depicted in the “curved mirror” of the flawed human consciousness. The faster we understand this and correct our perception, the faster we will achieve success.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/12, “600 souls”

A Formula For Life

Kabbalists wrote their books for two groups of people: For the group called “the level of the forefathers,” people like them who have attained spirituality and who will be enriched by these texts and connect so that they can perform corrections in the general system, thus preparing our ascent, and they also wrote for “the level of the sons,” which is us, in order to give us something to hold on to by which we can draw the Reforming Light.

We are in the same system, but we cannot evoke its influence upon us by ourselves. In the meantime it influences us by itself, and we advance by sufferings. But if

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we evoke the Lights, we hasten time and begin to advance more quickly by making the way easier.

How can we do that? According to the advice of Kabbalists, we perform different actions that are similar in quality to this advice. Their attribute is bestowal and so according to the level and the state we are in, we need to express our readiness to bestow. We give each other “presents,” we connect, we speak about it during the lessons, and we clarify the words of the Kabbalists. Then our inclinations, desires, and efforts become adapted to the system that they describe. We want to know what we study; we want it to be revealed in us, and then the Lights come to us; they are still unrevealed, but “surround,” and bring us closer to the revelation.

So all our work, all our life, and all our existence has to be aimed at evoking the Reforming Light. This is called “to study the Torah.” It says: “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice for it, since the Light hidden in it returns a person to the Source.” We operate according to this formula. We must examine all its components to properly use them to reform every component and the formula as a whole.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

Don’t Turn Into A Pillar Of Salt

Question: How can we conduct an internal analysis so as not to turn into a pillar of salt?

Answer: A person becomes a pillar of salt when he looks back, when he desires to preserve what exists, when he is afraid of losing what he has. This stops him from moving forward.

This means that we need to continually develop our collective desire. It is necessary to constantly determine, to analyze what the true goal is. Thereby we will move forward together.

From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

The Creator Governs With Love

Question: On the spiritual path my egoistic desire is faced with unpleasant sensations.

Answer: Until the point when you finally give up and feel how good it actually is.

Right now you take pride in yourself like a pompous rooster, so of course it doesn’t feel pleasant. But afterward, you’ll begin to value the Creator’s attitude and you’ll see that He is actually displaying humility. It is said that where you reveal the greatness of the Creator, there you will reveal His modesty.

There is nothing higher than modesty, even though egoism doesn’t agree. Modesty is a result of a reaction to Surrounding Light of the Creator, that is, the upper degree. It doesn’t appear at once, it is preceded by the realization of the fact that the upper One governs with love. For us, power means tyranny and oppression, while in spirituality it is the opposite: The upper One shows you the extent to which He bows before you. And you begin to value Him for that.

Question: In that case, who works with whom: He with me, or I with Him?

Answer: It is mutual work. It is said “I am the first.” In other words, the upper brings about all of your states; you always exist within the circumstances created by Him. So first of all, you need to remember that you live in a world that He formed. And afterward, you need to look at yourself from the side: “How am I reacting to this? Am I capable of doing something or am I completely weakened? Am I angry? Do I yield? How

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do I respond to my current state? Can I transition to a desired state? And what is it exactly?”

In the search for the means to make this transition, you discover that it’s only possible to change your state through the upper. This means that you’ll have to ask Him to do that.

As for the upper One, He has built a strict order, a chain of states through which He needs to lead you. If you agree with His plan, if you ask to go to the next state, then you reveal it as good and favorable. After all, you desire it and it fulfills you. However, if you do not ask for the next state, then it will manifest through bad qualities and foul sensations.

So the chain has been set, and everything depends on your preparation. By forcing the next state, you receive it as a gift, and conversely, by rejecting the new degree you sense it in the form of suffering, which nevertheless still teaches you something.

Question: That means that my request determines the sensations along the path?

Answer: Yes. You need to raise MAN, a request for correction.

Question: However, humility deprives me of the strength. It’s impossible to advance like this since development is built on a strong egoistic desire. What will be left of me after self-renunciation? Perhaps I’ll obtain a new mind, but essentially I, myself, will no longer exist.

Answer: Self-renunciation is realized through the power of the mind, by means of

close acquaintance with the Creator, when I bow my head, that is, when I thoroughly work on my desire. Self-renunciation is a transition towards an action of bestowal. I begin precisely with self-renunciation, I accept a new order of work according to which I need to unite with those around me more, penetrate their desires, and form a new vessel. This requires a lot of diverse and interdependent actions since I am putting together mutually dependent parts.

So there’s no dead end here. The Creator simply wants you to be “a good, clever boy.” When you bow before the Creator, you are really bowing before the property of bestowal, elevating it above your egoism, and continuing to work with this property. So start attaching your ego to bestowal.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/29/2012, Baal HaSulam “600,000 Souls”

The Levels Of Ascent

No matter what obstacles we encounter along the way, despair, helplessness, different opinions, thoughts and bad egoistic feelings, hate, unpleasantness, indifference, all this gradually accumulates and creates one huge desire that is called the feeling of the “exile in Egypt.” Only by discovering its full size, will we be able to imagine the redemption from its dark depths.

Thus the thought about redemption is added to the feeling of exile and leads us to freedom. The darkness that we feel standing in front of Pharaoh and the escape from this darkness, are all important clarifications within the Light that is revealed to a person who works in order to come out of exile.

The Light makes him feel an increasingly greater darkness and fear of the place he is in, of his own attributes. The main thing here is not to torture ourselves and not to let go, but to understand that we have to go through the full detailed feeling of exile. After

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all, this is the revelation of the nature of creation, about which it is written: “I have created the evil inclination.” Now our job is only to ask for the Reforming Light.

When this whole situation is clearly clarified in a person’s perception, he understands that the changes do not occur on the physical level, but on the level of the attributes that reveal the relationship between them. There is a general system and all its parts are interconnected in total interdependence. This is how all of creation was created.

But since this connection comes from Above, only the faintest Light is revealed in it, the Light of Nefesh, and then the power of repulsion and hate, the ego, is revealed among all the separated parts and gradually grows. This is already the real creation that was created outside the perfect previous state. The created being was shattered and now we have to work in order to connect him.

Nothing changes in the corporeal world. We have to imagine a picture in which the internal attributes of things change, the relationships, which are totally detached from the corporeal forms of time, motion, and space. This is very helpful.

You should understand that a person has no connection to the Light he is in if he doesn’t yearn to connect with others. Only if he makes an effort to connect with others above the natural feeling of repulsion, does he evoke and draw upon himself the Light that surrounds him.

On the other hand, we may say that a person connects with the Creator only through the general system. To the extent that a person can connect with it, he has contact with the upper Light.

There is no other means to come close to the Creator, to the Light, but through the general system. If a person is partially connected to the system of the souls, then his connection with the Light will not be whole either. The order of the spiritual levels is determined by that. If I connect to others by 20%, then I connect to the Creator by 20% and rise to the height of 20% on the spiritual levels. Everything is measured in relation to the desires. So our work is to intensify the connections among all of humanity, in all of reality, and then we will be able to contact the Creator.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/26/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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GOOD ENVIRONMENT

A picture is worth a thousand words. At Bnei Baruch Conventions cameras are clicking and whirring! BB holds a convention somewhere in the world about every two months, two of which are usually in North America. Our most recent gathering was in Somerset, NJ, May 11-13, where 850 students from all over the world gathered to hear our Rav teach us, to study together, to eat together, to do inner work together. There is no way to describe the excitement and energy of a Kabbalah Convention. Afterwards, pictures such as these are posted for the entire world Kli to

see. Through them we are able to keep our excitement and intention alive until we can gather again.

On the last day of the Convention, our Prison Project team made a presentation to the assembly in which we described our work bringing the wisdom of Kabbalah to you. This news was enthusiastically received and applauded and many members of the world Kli have come forward to participate. Our Rav expressed his interest and

desire for those in prison to participate in this wisdom and offered his support.

Presence with intention at a convention lesson. Lessons taught by our beloved

Rav are always highlights of any convention. He is our guide,teaching us from the texts of the great Kabbalists and from his own experiences of the Upper Worlds. He patiently and with enormous wisdom answers questions asked by students during the lessons. We participate in the lessons with strong intention and by doing so we increase the unity among us. Material from these lessons is transcribed, translated into many languages, and posted as articles on Rav’s blog.

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The One! Look at those smiling faces. One of the joys of a convention is seeing

and hugging old friends, but what the smiles really reflect is the inner connections that begin as soon as students begin to gather for one of these wonderful events. These guys are demonstrating the theme of the New Jersey Convention: ONE!!

Question from the heart. Rav Laitman answers students’ questions during his

Convention lessons. A question is the expression of a desire—a desire to learn more, to feel more, to connect more. Here is what Rav Laitman says about asking questions: “It is written that ‘a shy person cannot study.’ One has to ask questions, but at the same time one should heed the answers and delve deeper into them, until they become absolutely clear, that is, until they enter you. When you listen to your friend, you unite with him in his desire for the goal, and this is important for uniting within the group.”

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Inner work. There is much to be learned in Kabbalah, but the true work is what

goes on inside us. Conventions are events where all those gathered hold their strong intentions for inner connection. When conventions are in progress, everyone, whether in physical attendance or not, can hold the inner intention for connection and contribute to their advancement and that of the entire group.

Round table. Here we see men engaging in the heart of the Convention—the

round table workshop. Rav Laitman says about these workshops: “The subject of the discussion is not so important, but the main thing is how we try to connect via the subject. This means that it is just a means of searching after a greater connection.” The process works like this. Rav asks a question and group members speak the answers from their hearts. But these are not just any question. They are questions intended for us to imagine our next spiritual degree and express what it is like. Sound like daydreaming? Fantasy? Not at all. Only by keeping the goal steadfastly on our minds and hearts do we calculate our actions toward reaching it.

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Thinking of you, men’s group. Beautiful weather in New Jersey allowed us to

move many activities outside. Women attend conventions in support of the men’s work. In spirituality, men represent the action and women the desire, so women generate a huge force by their presence and their active support of all Convention activities. The birth of the brand new world cannot happen without the active participation of both men and women.

The new generation is growing up. These are our beautiful children! The

inspiration they bring to all of us at Conventions is that we know our next generation is being brought up to understand that what is most important about life is how we relate to each other. Teachers create games and stories that help teach these principles. We all look forward to the performance by these burgeoning Kabbalists that occurs at the end of each Convention.

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ART OF OUR FRIENDS

7 000 000 000

Seven billion broken hearts, Seven billion frightened minds, Are you ready to leave behind Hopeless futures and painful pasts?

How much longer will you survive On the fuel of greed and hatred? “Me” and “mine”, “for myself”, won’t make it Round the corner on deadly drive.

There won’t be an up or down, Close or far in this circled world Hide in, run to, or buy for gold - We are blood, skin, and soul bound.

There isn’t and won’t be gods, Who will save us from our duty, You can waste all your breath disputing Who is better and who is worse,

While the forces above are laughing At the petty and selfish thought – Why should anyone give a squat For mankind’s self-centered suffering?

All your charity, words of love - False self-righteousness, deaf and blind, When the key is just one – unite. This one action will be enough!

Try to link every wish and need To the wishes and needs of others, Think of enemies as your brothers, Then the world will be saved indeed!

Take the challenge of being Human, Bring your cold and unwilling hand, Lock it in with all other men, You’ll inherit the Earth – a new one!

Irina Rudnev http://www.mutualresponsibility.org

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SMILE!

To be together or to stay apart? The choice is ours.

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Friends,

We are receiving a lot of letters from you that talk about your eager desire to actively participate in distributing the wisdom of Kabbalah in your environment.

You can see in the Feedback section how many in our group have already come to the realization that it is of crucial importance for personal progress and progress of our entire group to share the knowledge with others. Having said that, we are going into a new stage of creating in-prison local Kabbalah study groups.

Participating in local groups will give us new opportunities to find a way to unite with each other and bring our connection to a new level. The groups will be settings where you will be able to meet with your friends who study Kabbalah, read the materials aloud to each other, watch the lessons together and support each other on the path. The power of that experience will amaze you.

We are planning to start organizing the local groups in all the facilities that allow volunteer participation groups.

After all, our goal is to establish such groups in every penitentiary in every state. We need to convince prison administrations that this course helps people find new hope and change internally. We will have to put some work into it and we are ready for this work. We have started forming/composing a proposal for the Departments of Corrections. In the package of materials included for the submission will be every evidence, big and small, to show that our prison program works. We will have once in a life time chance, a one-hour conversation to make our case strong and solid so as to be heard and seen and taken seriously.

Friends, we are asking for your assistance. Please write to us about positive experiences that the wisdom of Kabbalah has brought into your life. Bring up everything that would help show how vital it is, give us official permission to establish Kabbalah groups in prisons so people like yourself can find their own place and their own spiritual family to belong to.

Your words and your stories will make up a brochure that will serve as our main argument in this conversation.

Please educate us about how to better approach the officials in your facility. Every bit of advice will be greatly appreciated.

We also need contact information for the librarian at your facility.

We will make it.

Only Together

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IT WORKS NOW

As we are trying to promote the Kabbalah Prison Project Facebook page in order to raise public awareness and obtain finding, we are asking for your help.

Call 1-800-982-1253 and tell us about what the wisdom of Kabbalah has

come to mean for you personally. Has it brought a different perspective in your life? Does it help you to be more constructive and positive in your everyday life? How does it contribute to your ways of dealing with the difficult situations you face on a day-to-day basis? How has it changed your self-understanding?

We want the public to know that this knowledge has become essential and helpful for many people and it’s worth their attention and support.

Your calls will be recorded, transcribed and placed on the webpage at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/kabbalahprisonproject

Friends, it's important for us to know that those of you who get released from prison still stay in touch with us.

You can start by visiting the website of Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education Center at http://edu.kabbalah.info where you'll be offered a number of self-study

courses of different levels

The center broadcasts live classes and provides students with other services like access to the library of authentic Kabbalah materials as well as to a lesson archive and Question and Answer Forum.

When you feel that you are prepared enough to move on, our main informational internet resource at http://kab.tv/ will be your next step. Here you'll find

Kabbalah TV Live Stream with daily lessons of Rav Laitman and more.

Also you can join one of our local Kabbalah groups. Let us know about your location upon discharge and we'll hook you up with the closest group in your area.