World Kabbalah Convention in Arava 2017

“Entering Ibur (Conception)”

Lesson 1: Annulment

1. Rabash. Vol 2. Letter 8
And once I have acquired this above-mentioned clothing, sparks of love promptly begin to shine within me. The heart begins to long to unite with my friends, and it seems to me that my eyes see my friends, my ears hear their voices, my mouth speaks to them, the hands embrace, the feet dance in a circle, in love and joy together with them, and I transcend my corporeal boundaries. I forget the vast distance between my friends and me, and the outstretched land for many miles will not stand between us.

It is as though my friends are standing right within my heart and see all that is happening there, and I become ashamed of my petty acts against my friends. Then, I simply exit the corporeal vessels and it seems to me that there is no reality in the world except my friends and I. After that, even the “I” is cancelled and is immersed, mingled in my friends, until I stand and declare that there is no reality in the world—only the friends.

2. Rabash. Vol 1. Art. 31 (1986) “Concerning Yenika [Nursing] and Ibur [Impregnation]”
The beginning of the entrance into the work of the Creator is regarded as Ibur [impregnation], when he cancels his self and becomes impregnated in the mother’s womb, ...meaning that he cancels self-love, called Malchut, whose original essence is called “will to receive in order to receive,” and enters the vessels of bestowal, called Bina.

One should believe that before he was born, meaning before the soul descended into the body, the soul was adhered to Him, and now he longs to adhere to Him as prior to her descent. This is called Ibur, when he completely annuls his self.

3. Rabash, Vol 2. Art. 38 (1990) “What is, The Cup of Blessing Must Be Full, in the Work”
Prior to nursing comes the discernment of conception, meaning that the upper one corrects him. And this can be when one is like an embryo in his mother’s womb, for the embryo annuls before the mother and has no opinions of his own. As the sages said, “the embryo is his mother’s thigh, eating what his mother eats”, and he has no authority of his own to ask questions. Rather, he does not merit a name. Thus he is regarded as “mute”, as he has no mouth with which to ask questions. And when one can walk with his eyes shut, above reason, to believe in the wisdom of the sages and advance to the end, it is called conception. Where he has no mouth.

4. Rabash, Vol 1. Art. 1, part 2 (1984) “Purpose of Society - 2”

Without annulling self love it is impossible to reach adhesion with the Creator, which is the matter of equivalence of form. And because this is against our nature, we need a society that will form a great force so we can work together on annulling the will to receive, called “evil,” as it hinders the achievement of the goal for which man was created. For this reason, society must consist of individuals who unanimously agree that they must achieve it. Then, all the individuals become one great force that can fight against itself, since everyone is integrated in everyone else. Thus, each person is founded on a great desire to achieve the goal.
To be integrated in one another, each person should annul himself before the others. This is done by each seeing the friends’ merits and not their faults. But one who thinks that he is a little higher than the friends can no longer unite with them.

5. Rabash. Vol. 1, Art. 17, part 1 (1984) “Concerning the Importance of Friends”

he should consider the friend as greater than himself.

But how can one consider one’s friend greater than himself when he can see that his own merits are greater than his friend’s, that he is more talented and has better natural qualities? There are two ways to understand this:

He is going with faith above reason: once he has chosen him as a friend, he appreciates him above reason.

This is more natural—within reason. If he has decided to accept the other as a friend, and works on himself to love him, then it is natural with love to see only good things. And even though there are bad things in one’s friend, he cannot see them, as it is written, “love covers all transgressions.”

6. (Rabash, Vol 3. Art. 824 “Internality and Externality”

When one needs to annul towards his friend, it is not called true annulment unless if it is in two ways, namely thought and action. And one should annul not just his action, but also his reason, and to say that his friends reason is more important than his own. Otherwise it is not called annulment. Because if one shows his friend the aspect of annulment, it is only the aspect of flattery. Meaning that externally he shows his friend is more important, but within himself, he knows that his friend does not reach his ankles.

7. MaorVaShemesh. The Portion of Ekev

The main thing is that each and every one will not think of himself as righteous or special in the holy society. Instead, his only concern will be not to damage the holy society by his actions. And even if it is evident that he is an important person, nevertheless, he must scrutinize his actions, think of why he is considered notable and then annul himself completely.

And it is known that the Shechinah (divinity) dwells in each Ten, which is a complete degree, as is known, and in a complete degree there exist a head, arms, legs and heels, as we know... It follows that when each one sees himself as “nothing” in the holy society, he is considered to be the heel in the society, while they are in the degree of Rosh (head) and Guf (body) and the upper organs. And when each one thinks of himself this way, their actions open the gates of abundance and all goodness in the world. And the majority of the abundance is drawn by the one who considers himself to be a nothing and a heel.

8. Rabash, Vol 1. Art. 6 (1984) “The Love of Friends - 2”
By each joining the society and annulling oneself before it, they become one body.

For example, if there are ten people in that body, it has ten times more power than a single person does. However, there is a condition: When they gather, each of them should think that he has now come for the purpose of annulling self-love. It means that he will not consider how to satisfy his will to receive now, but will think as much as possible only of the love of others. This is the only way to acquire the desire and the need to acquire a new quality, called “the will to bestow.” And from love of friends one can reach love of the Creator, meaning wanting to give contentment to the Creator.

9. Rabash, Vol 3. Art. 759, The Entirety of the Man
One must know that love is bought with actions. When giving gifts to one’s friend, each and every gift one gives to his friend is like an arrow and a bullet, making a hole in his friend’s heart. And even if his friend’s heart is like rock, nevertheless, each bullet makes a hole, and by the multitude of bullets a cavity is formed. Then, the love of the giver of the gifts enters that empty space, and the warmth of love draws to him his friend’s sparks of love. Then, from the two loves, a garment of love is woven, and this garment covers them both. Meaning that one love encircles and surrounds both of them, and necessarily they become as one man, as the garment they are both covered by is one garment. Thus, both of them are annulled.

10. MaorVaShemesh. VaYechi

The main purpose for the assembly is for all to be united as one and for all their pleas to be directed towards one outcome – finding the Creator. Divinity dwells in each Ten, and certainly, when there are more than ten there surely is a greater revelation of Divinity. Thus, each and every one will join his friend and come to hear from him something concerning the work of the Creator and of how to find the Creator, and he shall annul himself before his friend and his friend will do likewise in turn, and they shall all of them do so. And naturally, when this is the the aim of the assembly[…] naturally the Creator brings himself closer to them and dwells with them, and great mercies and kindness are revealed and extend toward the assembly of Israel.