Part 2:

Baal HaSulam. Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah. #161

https://kabbalahmedia.info/sources/kB3eD83I

Part 3:

Baal HaSulam. One Commandment (The Necessity to Observe the 613 Commandments)

Reading One Commandment (00:14 - 01:44)

1. S. (01:52) Can you explain what it says here “the necessity to observe the Six Hundred Thirteen Mizvot are considered holy names”?

R. The six hundred thirteen commandments have both lights and vessels, and they can correct us and change us, and what we receive by their bestowal, by their influences called ‘The Holy Names’.

S. And what are Six hundred Thirteen Mizvot, commandments?

R. It is lights that are bestowed upon us from the head, the Rosh of the world of Atzilut, you could even say from Ein Sof, their purposes to correct our will to receive on the intention to bestow.

S. What does it depend on us that these lights will come upon us?

R. To the extent that we request and one want them to come and change us.

S. It's also written here “hence the complete ones crave them with their hearts and souls to keep them down to their corporeal branches”?

R. Yes.

S. What does it mean “to keep them down to their corporeal branches”?

R. That all those people, according to their nature, according to their soul, can by these lights, by these illuminations to correct themselves, to improve themselves’ by the change of their desires they draw this light from above and bring it all the way down.

S. What does it mean ‘below’?

R. Down to the desire to truly end that force of reception.

S. These are the ‘corporeal branches’?

R. Yes.

S. And they come down to the lowest place, the most coarsest desires?

R. I don't know but that's what I understand that for the meantime, it is written “every place that My name is mentioned, I will come and bless you”, meaning up until the place that there you can still bless the Creator, not entirely, all the way to sium, to the end, but as much as possible.

S. What does it mean to ‘bless the Creator’?

R. ‘To bless the Creator’ is called to bring His illumination to vessels that are as low as possible and to adjoin them, also, to the will to bestow.

2. S. (05:15) The excerpt we just read is connectedin any way to what we read before, the scrutiny of the second degree to the third or concluding the second degree?

R. Part of it, yes.

S. What connection is there between them?

R. That if we want to bring the upper light below then to that extent it influences the degree that we are in and correct it, that's it. 

Rav Reads: “The six hundred thirteen Mitzvot, considering the holy names, are private providence are all who approach the Godly abundance; one must experience all these orders without a single exception. Hhence the complete ones crave them with their hearts and souls to keep them down to the corporeal branches, as it is written, “in every place where I mention My name I will come to you and bless you.?”

3. S. (06:59) Baal HaSulam explains here the term Private Providence, what does that mean?

R. There is General Providence which is on everyone, to bring all of creation to the end of Correction without exception: the wicked, the lazy, it doesn't matter who, what part of the souls because ultimately it all comes from the Creator. And so surely, of course, everyone which must reach the end of Correction, the question is it's not according to what they will understand, rather according to the opportunities that they have. That their desires are brought closer to identifying with the Creator

S. What is an opportunity, doesn't the Creator give equal opportunities to everyone?

R. The Creator doesn't exactly give equal opportunities to everyone rather different, each one has a different opportunities and accordingly everyone advances.

S. Advance in what, according to the ability?

R. According to everything we can only imagine, to ourselves and more.

S. It seems like, seemingly, it's unjust in our limited, it seems unfair.

R.That there's no equality, I understand you but we'll talk about this another time, we can't talk about this now. Of course if the Creator started creation and He is the only one who controls all of creation so what is it up to the created beings to do here at all? I guess there must be some calculation here, the sentences of the just, injustice, we cannot understand these things and so we talk about it from afar, from the side. There isn't even words to scrutinize these things that ultimately everyone will receive what they need and nobody will have any objection or complaint on anyone else or the Creator. How is that possible, I do not know, we can look at sentences and the scripts, the sources, just to get into them, but we need to understand that all this comes to the whole injustice, how is that possible, we do not know but we need to continue and give thanks that we are in the complete upper force.

S. How is Private Providence connected to Hitkalaut, to incorporation, is there incorporation between part of the souls or all of the souls?

R. Between everyone.

S. So how does that fit in together?

R. Nonetheless everyone is connected and incorporated in one another, there is nobody who is not included of everyone, on one hand. On the other hand when we receive bestowal from above and then each one receives according to the root of his soul and thus those actions, accordingly, and so until the end of Correction, all our work is only to justify the Creator. Then it turns out that each one who receives a worse soul, he has an opportunity, a greater opportunity, to justify the Creator, and someone who has become righteous is a great problem to justify the Creator because that's how he was born, right? So there are additional layers here that we need to connect to our calculation. But from what I understand from Rabash, that despite this, we must lower our heads and accept everything as the absolute, justified, righteous force.

4. S. (12:43) You say the Creator gives a different opportunity to each one and accordingly everyone advances.

R. It appears to us as different opportunities, to us it seems like we’re at different states, it's all with respect to our sensation.

S. So also in the ten, I don't need to come and complain or demand anything from any friend because the Creator organized each ones order of work according to the root of their soul?

R. No, in the ten, in order to correct the connection between us, we can come and complain to one another in order to awaken them to be in connection, in a greater bestowal in the ten.

S. How can you justify the Creator and also develop some kind of sense of criticism?

R. They're not related to one another, this that I appreciate and bless and I raise the other above my head, above me in all matters, that's due to the upper force and I can’t attain his righteousness and straightness and so on. On the other hand, I operate on my part and check from my part to the extent in which I can bless the Creator in everything, that He is the whole, but not according to my attainment,  not according to my sensation, not according to my feeling upon which I'm asking for a correction. I want the all of my bones shall shake, that I will come to agreement with Him in one hundred percent with each one and everyone in my senses.

S. So how can I expect anything from the friend if I don't even know what the Creator expects from him?

R. Nonetheless we need to bestow to one another and thus we need to work according to our current senses.

5. S. (15:12) What's the difference between working and with each one in the ten, to see how I work differently with each one, then working with each one as a ten?

R. With the ten, you can only work out of this that you want to bring them to connection, what more can you demand from the ten? That we’ll connect together and each one will make the effort to complete the others and then we need in such an action to complete ourselves with respect to the Creator because what is the ten? Ten that connect in their center, in their tendency to the Creator, and then, I, who am included in them am also drawn to that same center.

S. So the center of the ten are all the forms that I can connect each one to the same goal?

R. Yes.

S. That's the feeling of each of us of the center of the ten?

R. Yes, yes.

6. S. (16:33) In every degree, are there commandments of corrections that are added or does each degree, one correct all of the Mitzvot to a certain extent?

R. Yes because it is six hundred twenty degress and we must go through all of them, one by one, and in each degree we need to intermingle with the ten.

S. You once gave an example of an embryo that when he’s born, he’s born of a baby with all the organs but as he grows all the organs grow but he's born with all of them. What does it mean to grow in keeping these commandments?

R. To increase our fulfillment in our Mitzvot, of the commandments, is call that all in all, we want to integrate between us, to connect together, to assemble, to be capable in our mutual sacrifice towards one another in the ten, to be in our connection and how in our nearing to the Creator. Iin the meantime like this, we will have more works later on that will pertain to greater states of correction.

7. S. (18:28) There is the general Mitzvah of all the Mitzvot, ‘love thy friend of thyself’, what are the six hundred thirteen commandments relation to this ‘love thy friend as thyself’ commandment?

R. The six hundred twelve Mitzvot, commandments, are the general and ‘love thy friend as thy self’ is the particular, the individual. We needed this whole body of Adam HaRishon to reach the correction of the shattering; the correction of the shattering is the correction of the connection in the complete manner towards each and every parts, towards each and every detail. So we need to take all the six hundred twenty parts that were disconnected, right, disconnected in the shattering of the vessel and to bring them to connection.

S. What are the six hundred twenty parts?

R. Six hundred twenty, six hundred thirteen it doesn't matter, it's all the same thing.

8. S. (20:02) It says in this article’ about the Godly abundance’, what is this ‘Godly abundance’?

R. The spiritual, Godly abundance, is that same part that brings all the broken desires to connection and fulfillment.

S. Why is it called ‘abundance’?

R. ‘Abundance’, much abundance, Godly abundance, it's the essence of the Creator that fills the will to receive and passes on to the will to receive His essence which is the one unique individual, one single unique, that everyone will connect and incorporate in one another and then attain that There Is None Else Besides Him.

9. S. (21:31) We need to complete the ten to the direction of the Creator to be inclined towards the Creator, like I heard you say; sometimes with these states in the ten someone goes into a passive state and doesn't participate, starts disappearing and being more concealed. Do we need to remain silent or should we do some action towards such friends?

R. Each and every moment we need to keep the wholeness of the ten that will all be drawn to the center of the ten in connection between us to the extent that the Creator can be revealed in us and be revealed in the complete, whole manner, and that's it. And that's how we'll advance, we're not talking about the final states where we'll have more what to learn about.

S. When we see a child playing and then we see they're excited, they want to add their connection they want to excite everyone around them, and there are some friends in the ten who are making an efforts in this. Is this required from every friend or does each one do it according to their desire?

R. Yes and no, there are those that their personalities is to truly be in the organization and warming up and working with everyone, and they're those who are more passive, we see it also among human beings and that's how it is between the souls. We need to make an effort, the main things is to be concentrated on the center of the connection between us and aimed to connection.

S. We are making a lot of efforts to focus on the center of connection, a lot of efforts, how can the ten check itself to see that it is focused on the center of connection, what is the correct examination?

R. Each and everyone must at each moment to feel the in him, within him, in his heart, a tendency to the society, a tendency to the center of the society, a concern, worry that they won’t not spread out, nothing more to add here, so much, all the rest pertains to feeling. 

10. S. (24:55) A person needs to reach the state that he receives the Kingdom of Heaven and that he receives the Creator as the Good who does good. When that happens then it means he justifies Him and he feels good about it, if he feels the Creator that does good that means the Creator shines upon his iniciencies and his deficiencies in the wrong place and he needs to correct his deficiency, like a doctor fixing the pain of the patient, is that correct?

R. Not so much but we cannot scrutinize that today.

11. S. (25:40) Can we relate to six hundred thirteen mitzvot as six hundred thirteen manners of bestowal?

R. Yes, of course, that's how it is, and not otherwise under no circumstances; the six hundred twelve Mitzvot are actions with which we correct the broken souls of ours, unite them together to one soul, and in that one soul, we bestow to one another until the soul is filled in the light of the Creator.