A question I received: Please explain why questions about history are inappropriate? Studying something without knowing its basic principles, such as its history, is rather difficult, if not outright impossible.

My Answer: Rabash taught me to be concerned not with history, but with actual practical attainment. Why scatter about with external phenomena and images of people when you can be attaining? Beginners, however, and those without a point in the heart (i.e. a desire for spirituality) are attracted to history. The same applies to the study of Kabbalah: someone with a point in the heart doesn’t study it, but attracts the Upper Light, whereas someone without a point in the heart studies it like a science and knows the printed material much better than someone who has actually attained this material. See Baal HaSulam’s commentary on the Jerusalem Kabbalists.

A question I received: I am from Columbia, and as you probably know my country always seems to be in a state of conflict. What is the reason for the suffering of my country and its people? It is obvious that here people suffer more than they do in other countries. This leads me to assume that my country has some kind of a special mission, like Israel.

My Answer: It is better not to delve or withdraw into history and other complexities, but to correct oneself and in doing so improve yourself, your country and the world.

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