A comment I received: I’m curious about other methods because Rav has mentioned them, and I’ve heard that there are other schools in America. In fact, the first Kabbalah book I read was written by an American author. I’m wondering what Rav thinks about other Kabbalah methods, even though I’m pretty sure that he has a negative opinion of them, judging by what he said about Madonna. Still, I’d like to know why he feels this way, and would appreciate a better explanation than “Other methods have nothing to do with Kabbalah.”

My Response: Instead of talking about some other methods in particular, I’ll tell you what authentic Kabbalah is.

It’s not amulets, red strings, holy water, Tarot cards, sorcery, blessings, fortunetelling, dream interpretation, self-help, or healing. That is to say, it’s not any of the things that pertain to our world, aiming to improve one’s life or to give one control over it.

Neither is Kabbalah the study of false Kabbalistic sources, that is, texts written by people who are not recognized Kabbalists, such as philosophers, theologians, researchers, modern gurus, and others.

Moreover, Kabbalah is not when one studies authentic Kabbalistic texts in order to know what they say or to be able to “manipulate” this knowledge as if one understands it. In truth, all this is nothing more than intellectual exercises.

Furthermore, Kabbalah is not the promises that religious leaders make of a better life, a reward in this world or in the world to come, which they wrongly believe awaits man after death.

All these methods aim to receive a profit or reward from the study of Kabbalah, either in this world or in the world to come.

But authentic Kabbalah is just one thing – “the revelation of the Creator to a person.” This means that within oneself, one reveals the property of love for one’s neighbor, the property of bestowal, and rejects one’s egoism – here and now! A person stops thinking about himself, and his only motivation is to improve the situation others are in, in order to give the Creator delight.

Obviously, this is not what a person wants when he first begins to study Kabbalah. Instead, he is driven by a desire to understand the meaning and purpose of his life, to answer the question “What am I living for?” or “What is worth living for?” But as he keeps studying, he gradually starts to understand that this world, and him, exist for a reason – to attain the Creator, the property of bestowal and love.

This property, “love for others,” is absolutely opposite to one’s egoistic nature. Therefore, the goal of Creation – for one to acquire this property – becomes revealed to a person gradually, as much as he’s capable of hearing about it. To this extent, he begins to understand the Kabbalistic texts, to feel what they describe through the newly acquired property of bestowal and love.

In the article, The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Baal HaSulam writes:
What is the wisdom of Kabbalah? To sum it all up, the wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator by all possible means. It’s the revelation of all His properties and manifestations, which are revealed in the worlds or which will be revealed in the future, until the end of all generations.

My Current Mood: jealous

* Myths About Kabbalah

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A question I received: What do you mean by saying that sex is the root of all our desires? What does Kabbalah have to say about everything that’s going on today surrounding sex, like pornography, prostitution, and so on?

My Answer: In Soviet times, there was a popular slogan that stated, “There’s no sex here!” It was meant to poke fun at people, because all pleasures are based on sex – that’s how nature has made us.

The reason for this is that in the spiritual world, sex represents a union of opposite desires with a mutual intention of pleasing one another. It’s when the soul receives for the sake of pleasing the Light, and the Light fulfills or pleases the soul. This union is called Zivug de Hakaa, an explosive union, where by means of an explosion the soul nullifies its egoistic use of egoism, and instead uses it to bestow or mate (Zivug). It does this to enable the birth of a new Partzuf – an act of fulfilling the Creator and uniting with Him. The way to tell whether an action is correct or not is to check whether a new Partzuf was born.

In relation to this, it’s written that after the destruction of the Temple, Kabbalists were the only people who could still enjoy sex. Why? It’s because they always develop greater desires as well as greater pleasures, but they do so in order to rise above them, that is, to receive for the sake of bestowal. There are many articles by different Kabbalists on this subject.

And I’ll tell you one more thing: Even on the lowest spiritual degree, a person is fulfilled billions times more than by anything he can experience in this world…

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A question I received: Do you really think that the world will ever take Kabbalah seriously? It is absolutely irrational. Besides, claiming that Kabbalah is the one and only truth discredits it in the eyes of the scientific community and aggravates the masses.

My Answer: You know, the title of my PhD dissertation was “Kabbalah as a Form of Irrational Consciousness.” I had to write “irrational” in order to say “the system of total interconnection in the universe,” because a person living in today’s modern world doesn’t yet understand or feel this system.

Today, a person thinks that taking care of himself is reasonable and rational. Kabbalah, on the other hand, explains the universe as an integrated system, and as such, states that all problems must be solved based on a common coherent system of all the worlds, including our world.

Let’s say that today, in light of the planet’s threatening state, we could decide together (or place our trust in some sage) on what is beneficial for the complete system, even if we just decide with regard to our planet, without Kabbalah or the Creator. As a result of such unconscious attempts to connect with the system of Adam ha Rishon (the system of souls), we would begin to feel the Upper world – the altruistic links between us. This altruistic connection to one another is the quality of the Creator.

I believe that humanity will come to assess reality with such objectivity, that personal and national issues will take a back seat or disappear altogether from our field of consideration. This is because solutions will come by themselves when we deal with the system as a whole, when everything is measured from the standpoint of the WHOLE of humanity.

Kabbalah is the one and only truth, because no other science in the world today speaks about and examines the whole world as a single organism. Even today, we are not yet thinking like Abraham was thinking 4,500 years ago.

* Kabbalah as a Root of All Sciences
* Kabbalah as Compared with Other Sciences

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Do what you can and the Lord’s deliverance is as a wink of an eye. And the most important thing today is the unity of friends. Exert in that tenaciously, as it can complement all deficiencies.
–Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (A Sage’s Fruit), Letters, p. 48

I have provided you with conducts by which you can nevertheless endure without regressing. The most special of them is adhesion (attachment) of friends. If you strengthen yourselves in that, you will certainly go from strength to strength on the rungs of sanctity.
–Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (A Sage’s Fruit), Letters, p. 142

Hence, I shall remind you of the power of love of friends, especially at this time, as upon this depends our right to exist, and by that is our near success measured. So put away all your imaginary dealings and let your hearts devise and contemplate the proper modes to bond your hearts as one. Then, the verse “love thy friend as thyself” will literally be applied within you.
–Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (A Sage’s Fruit), Letters, p. 144

One who is delivered by the Creator is delivered only when he needs deliverance today. One who can wait for tomorrow will gain his reason after his years. This happened to you because of neglect in my request to exert in love of friends. I have already told you in every possible manner that this remedy is sufficient to complement all your deficiencies.
–Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (A Sage’s Fruit), Letters, p. 56

I shall ask of you to exert in love of friends, devise ways that can increase love among friends, and revoke the body’s lusts, as this is what casts hate, and there cannot be hatred among those who bring contentment to the Creator. On the contrary, there is love and compassion among them.
–Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (A Sage’s Fruit), Letters, p. 145

If one does not have any desire and craving for spirituality, if he is among people who have a desire for spirituality, if he likes these people, he, too, will take their strength to prevail, and their desires and aspirations, although by his own quality, he does not have these desires and cravings and the power to overcome. But according to the grace and the importance he ascribes to these people, he will receive new powers.
–Baal HaSulam, Shamati, “He Did Not Say Wicked or Righteous,” article no. 99

Love one another as much as you can, as much as you love yourselves. Sympathize with your friend’s adversity, and rejoice in his joy as much as you can.
–Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (A Sage’s Fruit), Letters, p. 54

One cannot raise oneself above one’s circle. Hence, one must suck from one’s environment. And one has no other counsel, except through much work and Torah. Therefore, if one chooses for oneself a good environment, one saves time and efforts, since one is drawn according to one’s environment.
–Baal HaSulam, Shamati, “Raising Oneself,” article no. 225

You must know that there are many sparks of sanctity in each of the friends. And when you gather all the sparks into one place, as brothers, with love and friendship, you will certainly have a very high level of sanctity.
–Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (A Sage’s Fruit), Letters, p. 56

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A question I received: Kabbalists wrote a great deal about the men’s need for a group, the exile, the future generation and correction. However, they didn’t write about women and the time when a strong female desire will force men to correct the world. Why didn’t they write about women and how a woman should progress?

My Answer: Everything’s meant to happen in due time. The future is unknown, and our actions determine how it will unfold. At every stage, we gain a new realization of how we should progress. In Kabbalah we work with the Upper World, the Creator, and we cannot predict the outcome of our actions ahead of time. It’s because we are dealing with an enormous mechanism – a system of souls, filled with the Upper Light.

The only place where Baal HaSulam wrote about the future is in his personal notes. There he wrote about the different possibilities, but what will actually happen depends entirely on our actions. From the manuscripts he left behind, we’ve compiled a collection of articles called “The Future Generation,” as well as four books called Fruit of Wisdom (Pri Hacham, volumes 1 – 4).

Now is the first time that the method of the world’s correction is being realized, and Baal HaSulam, Rav Kook, and other Kabbalists of the 20th century all wrote about this. Hence, we are the pioneers in this process. Kabbalists, including the prophets, described only the law of nature and its strict execution (the path of Beito, lit. “in its time”). They described how this law of nature would manifest without man’s intervention, or in other words, what would happen if nature forces us to attain correction.

But those who aspire for correction can accelerate this process (the path of Achishena, lit. “I will hasten it”) and thereby experience it positively. In this case, the prophecies are not talking about us, because we mitigate and accelerate them with the help of the Upper Light, which returns us to the Source.

This is also why Kabbalists did not describe women’s intervention in the common correction. They considered it a part of the common movement. Today, aided by their texts, we are embarking on this path.

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