Part 2:

Baal HaSulam. Introduction to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

Reading item #1 “It is written in The Zohar. …Come and see: All that exists in the world..”

1.R. (00:40) That means that everything is in man, everything was created for man, that everything works and exists only in man; and man must reveal that and reorganize his perception and attitude towards reality correctly. Clear?

2. S. (02:08) There is a Man and there are the Worlds. Who is within whom?

R. Man is in the Worlds.

S. So what does it mean that everything is within Man?

R. It’s a perception. It is the perception; that a man perceives that he is in the world, and when we attain, we attain Man in the Worlds around him, and through the Worlds we connect to the Creator. The Creator comes from the words come and see, that we have to attain Him; and the Worlds from the word concealment. So, we need to remove the concealment, to get rid of it in order to reveal the Creator. It is hard to explain it because we have no feeling in it, but gradually it is being depicted in such a way.

S. So man is inside the Worlds?

R. On one hand, yes.

S. And on the other hand?

R. We'll see, we will see. We do not have the words yet that we’ll be able to work with it.

3. S. (03:48) In many articles he begins by saying that the Creator created the created beings in order to give him pleasure, that the whole world is created for man and the man discovers it at the end of corrections, and in the article ‘the essence of religion its  purpose’ it is written that it is known for everyone that He created the created beings in order to give them pleasure. So how can we rely on this point if we discover it only at the end?

R. Man can discover the Creator and feel the Creator and connect to the Creator only through a gradual development, that he is going and ascending on the degrees of the Worlds, concealment. Until he reveals a true reality, himself and this concealment that he is in from the beginning; and removes the forces of concealment and he discovers they open revealed World which is already the end of his correction.

4. S. (05:28) A person advances on the path as he studies, are there mistakes that he makes or is it all a path that we simply have to go through?

R. A path that he has to go through.

5. S. (05:44) Within man with respect to man, what does it mean the upper world and the lower world?

R. It still doesn't exist. When we are in the spiritual systems then there are degrees, below us and above us; that is what it's called.

6. S. (06:18) Is there a matter of importance of the Creator, upper world or…? 

R. Yes, the Creator is supposedly on the highest degrees, but he is included in exists in all the Worlds. And the work of man is to ascend upon all of those degrees in order to attain the Creator to the whole extent.

Reading item #2 (06:48) “To explain this matter to the fullest, I would have to introduce the whole of the wisdom..”

6. S. (08:31) Why do we need actions for what? What do actions give us?

R. In order to reach our goal.

S. And why can't we for example like the Creator, sit and think about it?

R. Why, you can have a thousand questions, but why? because. Because that's how the system of the worlds is organized, and upon them we need to ascend to a higher degree; and in there to reveal the Creator and adhere to him which is the purpose of our creation.

S. The actions that we do between us, the physical actions, if I bring something to friends, take something from them?

R. That is also written down and it works and it’s active. 

S. How are they connected to the spiritual system?

R. We have to learn about the system otherwise you will not know. You can jump and ask like a little child but how can you explain it? slowly.

7. S. What are Worlds?

R. Worlds are systems that conceal the Creator from us and everything that He wants to conceal. The World is from the word Olam, Haalama, concealment. That specifically by ascending on the Worlds we are scrutinizing them, opening them, revealing them, and we start understanding what is happening: What the creation's actions are towards us? What does it give us? How does it change us? That is how it is.

8. S. (10:35) What are the murky bodies of this world?

R. Our will to receive that is corrupted, that is called the impure body; the murky body that we need to correct gradually until we will be in order to bestow.

S. He says that He clothed the souls in the bodies, so what is the relationship between the, you said that the body is the will to receive to itself so what is the soul that is clothed? 

R. The will to bestow. And through our bodies specifically we can scrutinize the souls. The Guf, the body is the will to receive, if we relate it to the soul which is the intention to bestow. So we have a vessel of reception in order to bestow and there, we already correct and scrutinize everything.

9. S. (11:42) Is there higher attainment than the world of Atzilut?

R. I guess the world of AK and the world of Ein Sof. that’s it.

10. S. (12:11) You said that the Worlds are a system of concealment that the Creator wanted to conceal.

R. Yes.

S. The Worlds of impurity, are they concealment of our evil inclination?

R. The evil inclination, the good inclination, all desires, all qualities, intentions, it is all concealed through the Worlds. That's why it's called the world, from the word Olam, HaAlama, concealment, and we gradually have to remove that concealment and turn it into revelation.

11. S. (13:02) How do we come to a deficiency to want the upper world?

R. That is what we learn through the connection between us. We remove the concealment and organize the degrees of ascending through the Worlds; that is the entire system that we need to organize our ascents in. 

12. S. (13:52) Is it possible to compare the Worlds to a game, that to the extent that we can get closer to the Creator His light becomes revealed?

R. Of course, yes.

13. S. (14:33) In the beginning of this part you said that a person should come to an understanding that the whole world was created for him. I once asked you about how when you begin to come closer to the friends you have a good feeling you're constantly asking are you feeling it or…?

R. The entire world is created for us to worry about it, to take care of it, so we can bestow as the Creator wants; and if we reveal a bit of the world without correcting ourselves so of course it looks wild to us.

S. So if I understand correctly, when I try to come closer to the friends, all that I have to feel is that it was given to me in order to correct?

R. First correct yourself and then come closer.

14. S. (16:06) It is written that all the worlds the upper and lower are within man, so we can say that it's true for each of us. The question is then who am I? Is what we call I, is it actually something common?

R. I, we still have to reveal what that is. I, is my connection in the ten.

15. S. (16:36) I heard we have to remove the concealment from the Worlds and turn it into revelation. Where are the Worlds from which I have to remove the concealment?

R. From us towards the upper light, on the way.

S. And the concealment, what is the concealment?

R. Those are the Worlds from the word concealment.

S. So what should I remove?

R. You have to remove your disparity of form with the upper light; that He has to lower Himself so you can at least attain a bit of bestowal from Him. Then you attain His bestowal to the extent of the concealment.

Reading Item #3 twice (17:33)

16. S. (21:55) What does it mean to reveal his actions?

R. To reveal the real relation of the Creator to the created beings.

17. S. (22:13) he writes how we could understand that from the whole come out uncomplete actions until we have to complete them into actions in this world. So what does it mean to complete the deeds of the creator?

R. To complete so that they will be revealed in the complete way to the created beings.

S. I don't understand what it means towards the person?

R.  That's all the creative beings to whom according to the thought of creation reveal the relation of creation openly that relation will be revealed. 

Perhaps you need to write down before you and think about the sentence and then ask again. Then it will already be from within the sentence.

 

18. S. (23:11) He writes that in the souls, there is the light and the Kli. Is the light one to all the souls?

R.  The Kli is also the same one to all the souls, but afterwards it's divided into the breaking of Adam HaRishon.

S. So there's one vessel and one light and he says to the extent that he wants to receive the abundance that is what the difference between the souls?

R. Yes.

S. What does it mean?

R. That the light that enters each and is the particular light of each soul. And these lights distinguish between the souls; each one receives his own portion of light. 

S. To the extent of its will to receive?

R. Yes, according to the level of equivalence of form; according to conditions.

S. What does it add, all the many souls?

R. That's how the Creator wanted it. We are not talking about it now. We have to understand that the Creator created one soul, and broke it into many pieces, so that specifically by connecting the pieces we would understand what He is doing.

Reading Item #4 twice (24:38)

19. R. (27:20) That was renewed from zero, that it didn't exist; only according to the desire of the Creator to create the created beings, from this formed the will to receive.

20. S. (27:40) You said before we read this that he created one soul and broke it into parts?

R. We will learn this.

S. Yes, but when they connect they reveal that force, but here in this item it says as if the fact that the pieces will connect it seems that it doesn't suit Him, he still something opposite?

R. I don't understand where you're jumping to. Where is it written what you asking about?

S. He's saying existence from absence is the a new creation?

R. Yes, I didn't exist before.

S. So if we all connect what will we reveal, existence from absence?

R. That we will discover more than that, they will discover the Creator.

S. This vessel when it’s connected..

R. It reveals the Creator.

21. S. (28:44) He is asking in the beginning how do we picture something that is not including Him since He's almighty and includes all of them together, also one does not give what is not in him?

R. Yes. Besides the will to receive, everything is the Creator.

S. What do you mean except, you said except?

R. Because the will to receive is outside the creation.

S. But nobody can give what is not in him, so where did it come from?

R. The Creator created the will to receive.

S. But it's not in Him, does He have the will to receive?

R. No.

S. So where did it come from?

R. It’s creation; existence from absence. Yes, existence from absence, the creation and this is what it is called, ‘I have created the evil’.

S. Baal HaSulam is asking a question and supposedly answer, and he is satisfied from the answer. I don’t understand the answer, no one doesn't give what is not in him, then he explains by creating the will to receive that’s ok. But how does it work out with, He doesn't give what is not in him?

R. Is in him, In the will to receive that He created, He gives everything that he has. You need to understand the style, the terminology. there was no will to receive; the Creator created: He decided He needs the created being, someone opposite from Him, which will be called, an innovation, existence from absence. And then the will to receive came as existence from absence and that's what He created. Now, in order for the will to receive to be as an example of the qualities of the Creator, of the nature of the Creator, He brings it through the breaking into actions of bestowal like He does. That's it.

22. S. (31:12) The Creator created a will to receive that is completely opposite and broke it? So when we connect we are supposed to reveal the full will to receive?

R. This is how we discover it.

S. So why do we discover the will to bestow when we connect?

R. No, we discover the will to receive that operates in order to bestow.

S. So, what is that addition, where does that come from?

R. This is what we received from the Creator Himself, from the upper light.

S. What do we receive?

R. We received a desire to bestow.

S. What does it have to do with the connection?

R. Otherwise you can't connect the pieces.

S. So, what comes first?

R. First you have to assemble all the broken pieces of the will to receive, bring them into willingness to connect in order to obtain a desire to bestow; their connection is that will to bestow itself. That's it.

S. And you can make the connection without having the will to bestow?

R. How?

S. So what comes first is the will to bestow or the connection?

R. Connection. The connection builds for you from broken desire a desire to bestow.

S. On the other hand I heard you say that you can't connect without the will to bestow that he gets..?

R. The intention to connect has to be there first.

S. And when there is intention so the Creator turns it into an ability to connect?

R. Of course.

S. So what's the intention to bestow?

R. There's the intention and there's the ability.

.

S. How is the intention to bestow is different from the desire to bestow?

R. A desire is something that can already happen, work, and the intention is an intention what he intends.

S. What does it have to do with the desire?

R. It can activate the desire.

S. This intention I clothe on which desire?

R. Like every scientist you are confused between two things, so what can I do with you? Can you be a little more direct? 

S. Yes. What does it mean for me to have an intention to bestow, what does it sit on the intention? What do I connect it to to a certain desire or to any desire?

R. To the desire to be similar to The Creator.

S. So the desire to be similar to The Creator equals the intention to bestow or it’s two different things?

R. Yes. It brings the created being to the intention to bestow.

23. S. (34:06) It is written in every Rabash article we read, Hid desire is to do good to every created being?

R. So.

S. That's His desire. 

R. Yes.

S. So here he writes that he doesn't have a desire, so what…?

R. The Creator Himself has a desire to do good to his created beings; He has a desire to establish the created being in such a way so they can receive from Him bestowal. In this bestowal He brings them down and desire, that desire they perceive as suffering. Then He shines on them with what they can enjoy, in order to bestow, they get the intention to bestow and connect with the intention to bestow and attain the desire in order to bestow within the desire they discover the light which is called, The Creator. That's it.

S. So His desire to do good to the created beings is the desire to bestow?

R. His desire to do good to his Creations is the nature of the Creator, bestowal.

S. And He created outside of Himself, the will to receive for himself, that He really doesn't have?

R. Yes.

24. S. (35:48) The Creator created the will to receive outside of Him, but He feels this will to receive. So this desire has to be included in the Creator or the Creator in the desire. How does the Creator feel the will to receive that he needs to bring joy too?

R. The Creator created the will to receive, I have created the evil inclination besides this I have created Torah as spice, which is to correct the evil inclination that is the will to receive that it’ll be in order to bestow. Then, the will to receive can receive the fulfillment from the Creator, the upper light, because then he works in order to bestow. 

S. That's clear. But there has to be some kind of connection between the giver and the receiver?

R. What the created being gives is the connection between them.

S. When I see someone who wants to receive from me, I see what he wants to receive and that is what I get pleasure from, it exists in me this desire to receive and I will be able to fill it. So what I'm asking is, He created the will to receive so either the desire to be in Him or He himself needs to put himself in the will to receive so there will be connection between them?

R. Correct.

S. So what does?

R. Nothing appears in the Creator, don't make things up.

S. So he puts himself in the created being?

R. Yes.

25. S. (38:00) Do you agree that I give an answer from Baal HaSulam? 

R. Yes.

S. “from His desire of the emanator to bestow necessarily in the created being the will to receive is created”.

R. Yes.

26. S. (38:27) could we say that suffering is also something that is created as existence from absence? 

R. Suffering is a feeling of opposite of form from the Creator.

S. And that was also created from existence from absence that through that we come closer to Him?

R. Yes.

S. There was like a prohibition in creation?

R. In creation there are no sufferings, it only seems that way for us.

27. S. (39:11) So, the desire is something that has a place in the fulfilling and in the light there's no desire but when the light goes out of a place there is an opportunity to see that there is a desire there?

R. Yes.

S. If I could add that on behalf of the Creator is the will to bestow, on behalf of the creative being is the will to receive, but it's one desire?

R. Yes.

28. S. (39:55) Could we say that existence from absence is the perception of the created being towards the will to receive that reveal in him?

R. Yes.

S. And eventually at the end of the degree, could we say he discovers existence from existence every time?

R. Existence from existence is only at the end of correction. But a part of the existence from existence he receives, as that light that was received in him in order to bestow.

29. S. (40:7) Why is it not the opposite, absence from existence, because there is none else besides Him and He created the will to receive and it's a deficiency from all of the possibilities?

R. Right.

S. So why is it existence from absence, the Creator is not absence, we are the absence? 

R. We are nothing; the light is called existence from existence, the light. because it emerges from the Creator who is eternal, existing internally; and the will to receive is existence from absence, because it didn't exist before, absence. then it became existence so there are two sources, origins for creation: Existence from existence and existence from absence.

30. S. (41:55) Is it correct to say that what was created was only the concealment?

R. You could put it this way.

S. Meaning concealment of the wholeness of the creator?

R. Yes.

Okay, I see you guys are relaxed, become philosophers or something, I don't know. 

31. S. (42:28) To continue about the concealment in order to reveal the Worlds which is concealment, a person has to conceal the reward which is revelation of the Creator, can you say that?

R. Yes. Exactly that, that's nice. 

All right guys, although it's still early, we will continue tomorrow. I see that all in all the lesson passed to you gradually, one by one.

32. S. (43:14) I wrote two things in the lesson: One, is that ‘I’ is my connection in the ten. Two is I want to enjoy things to give contentment to the Creator. 

So how does the connection in the ten open up the Worlds, how is that which moves the concealment and makes revelation from all this reality, from everything we learn in TES and everything, how come the connection in the ten opens up everything?

R. Because the ten becomes a Kli, spiritual Kli; that in it you gather together all the illuminations, all the changes in the desires and everything, and then you connect them all. The connections of all the influences, all the vessels, all the i limitations, it's like an integral which includes everything you do during the study and your spiritual life.

S. It's like we're trying to grasp everything in our mind, but there is no grasp there, is it all?

R. It only seems that way to you, you will receive it afterwards. It's like gathering in that allegory with the cup that you take from the treasury. You will get everything.

S. There is a reality, there’s a reality that is in the ten which is more or less clear, it is clarified every time, yes?

R. Yes.

S. Then there is a reality we learn about TES and Pticha...

R. We still haven't reached it. But as we now learn about the coarse relationships between us, between the friends, and the group. Afterwards, we will learn sadler things, more personal, more individual, and in this way it will be all together established in us.

S. So I have a question that might not have an answer right now, how is this reality in the 10 which is actually our life, how will it change this worlds? maybe there's no answer, maybe we have to reach it?

R. How does reality…?

S. That we reveal in the ten, that we leave this every moment, how does this reality change the Worlds, it changes everything we learn about in TES?

R. I don't understand why are you dividing reality, us, TES?

S. Because the reality and the ten is more clear, it's something you can grasp if you love you hate your angry you yearn, we do things together, we separate, we unite, it's things that you can hold on to?

R. You cannot shift it, to translate it to the language of Kabbalah. It will come, it will come. of course you can’t translate to the language of Kabbalah right now because you still don't have attainment of what you want to talk about. You cannot place your desires, your actions into the spiritual world; into the coupling, the Striking, the connection, the refinement, you can't weigh your actions and attribute some weight to each action.

S. So I'm going to the place I can in the ten, what has to happen in the ten?

R. In the ten too you don't have it, it's the same language. It's the same language, where now I have moved away from the friends I'm not closer to the friend, where is it now our weight between us? it doesn't exist. We still can't be in it. This is the whole of The Wisdom of Kabbalah: How we through the actions of the created beings in this World, can begin to work with desires, intentions, screens, records, in the upper worlds. 

S. This is the question.

R. That is the question. We will get to it. We will get there.

33. S. (49:08) I wanted to ask about the congress if I can? Yesterday in the noon lesson I heard you answer one of the questions about the advancement we could have in the Congress and you said that they are going to be people who really ascend from one world to the next. There are friends that will go from one Sefira to the next, there will be some that will not ascend to anything and some might even descend as a result of a Congress?

R. Well, I don't think they will go down because of the congress, because the surrounding light that happens in such a convention doesn't let anyone fall.

S. Clear. So what is this thing that you go from one world to the next as a result?

R. Degrees. That we can climb through the connection between us when we draw surrounding light that is so powerful, that we will indeed feel this ascent.

S. But, how do you create a vessel that the Congress will actually transfer us to different world?

R. Why does it mean if it's a world or next degree?

S. It's not important, I'm just trying to understand how to create the right vessel that it will really be influencing.

R. Connection. We don't know, we only know we need to connect between us as much as possible; a heart to a heart.