Two questions I received on women’s spiritual advancement:

Question: Dear Rav, when you talk about distinguishing between Factory and Group, then as a woman working in dissemination, does my intention change? Should I think of the two as different entities?

My Answer: For you as a woman, it doesn’t matter at all what is happening inside the group. You advance to the extent that you contribute to the common advancement, regardless of how correctly the men in the group realize the opportunities for unification given to them. You advance independently of the men’s state.

Question: I have been divorced for over 10 years now and raising two wonderful boys (ages 22 and 24). I am now steering them to study Kabbalah. I do not feel and have not felt the need to be with a man in years, and I am quite content. I am not willing to settle just because I have to be with a man. What I enjoy is being a mother, and my greatest joy is to see my sons actively participating in their own spiritual development through Kabbalah. Am I doing it right?

My Answer: A woman does not have to get married in order to become corrected. By participating in the common work of dissemination and studying with us at the lessons, you have everything you need for spiritual growth. Good luck!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Women’s Spiritual Progress
Laitman.com Post: By Disseminating the Wisdom of Kabbalah, You Correct Your “Self”
Articles on “Kabbalah & Women”

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Questions I received on how to get through the difficult times on the path:

Question: You live and work, raise your children, and study Kabbalah for a hobby. Everything is good. You even think that you’re successfully managing your life in both worlds – this world and the spiritual world. But suddenly you lose your job, your house, and your savings, and in addition someone in your family gets very sick. And for some reason, along with this world, your “spiritual world” falls apart too. Does this mean that everything you attained in spirituality was only a higher form of egoism, a desire for knowledge?

My Answer: This only means one thing: your conditions for advancement have changed, and now you are being offered new conditions for advancement. Why? Because this is how the common desire (the common soul) develops, and you are one of its parts (a particular soul). If you don’t want to advance under the new conditions, then you will leave the path of individual development, and from then on you will be led down the general path of suffering, “forced to happiness.”

Question: “Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! Wherefore would ye have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light!” (Amos, 5:18) Initially the Light blinds all of our senses and seems like total darkness. However, this darkness is useful for one who aspires toward spirituality, since it shuts off all egoistic aspirations, and one’s egoism loses all interest in spirituality. And only one who keeps on stubbornly moving toward the Goal, “harnessed” together with Rav and the Creator, receives support, assistance and instruction. He then surmounts this part of the path, “the darkness of the night.”

I must admit that I am still a denizen of this world – the world of darkness, and I need the Light in order to acquire “sight,” the ability to see in the world of Light. My question is: What else can a student of yours add to all that he is already doing to attain this?

My Answer: Only more efforts to unite all aspirations toward one goal. It’s because the Creator, the quality of love and bestowal, is revealed only in the unified desire to be together in one desire, to reveal the property of love and bestowal between the souls.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Questions from Pharoah – Our Egoism (Advanced)
Laitman.com Post: What Is Pain, and How Can We Stop Feeling It All the Time?
Kabbalah Today Article: “A New Direction”

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Questions I received on various discernments one makes along the spiritual path:

Question: Baal HaSulsam says, “Make yourself a Rav and buy yourself a friend.” What is the difference between “making” and “buying?” And how do you make and buy someone?

My Answer: “To make” means to exalt someone (to see them as great), and “to buy” means to invest in someone. For more on this, see Baal HaSulam’s article “A Speech in Celebration of the Conclusion of The Zohar.”

Question: What should I do with all the different feelings of sadness and depression that I experience? Most of these feelings are related to thoughts that it will still take me a very long time to correct myself, and to correct the world in general.

My Answer: Become more incorporated into the world Kli, and read quotes of Kabbalists about the importance of what we are doing. Let other readers give you advice about what to read from their experience.

You’re worried that it will take a long time? But you have your entire life, which was given to you just for this!

Question: I have been studying Kabbalah for a long time, but I still don’t quite understand – what is a Reshimo?

My Answer: It is information about the future spiritual degree, which demands to be realized.

Question: Why does every person receive a unique situation in life in order to advance?

My Answer: It’s because every person has unique initial properties and a unique final state. Nevertheless, the method of correction is the same for everyone.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Strive for the Goal, and Leave the Rest Up to the Creator
Laitman.com Post: The Formula of the Soul
Baal HaSulam: Introduction to the Book of Zohar
Quotes of Kabbalists

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A question I received: I know that in one of your videos Tony Kosinec states that meditation has nothing to do with authentic Kabbalah. However, Abraham Abulafia has left us with books on how to engage in Kabbalah meditative techniques. While these techniques are different from far-eastern meditative techniques in that Abulafia’s methods require the use of the intellect rather than the negation of it, still meditation has played an important role in the Kabbalah method. Perhaps Baal HaSulam did not find these practices relevant in his system, but does that negate the validity of these meditative practices in other Kabbalistic systems?

My Answer: Sometimes the word meditation is used in Kabbalah to refer to a deep analysis of one’s intentions and qualities. But actually there is no such word in Kabbalah – this is only how people translate the concept of “inner observation” into other languages. Besides, of course there is a difference between the exposition styles of Eastern and European schools.

Instead of trying to sort through all of this, isn’t it better to simply turn to the source that’s closest and most effective for us – the works of Baal HaSulam; and instead of discussing history and geography, to start correcting yourself? What other reason do we have for being in this world?

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalistic Meditation
Laitman.com Post: What Can Be Done to Awaken the Desire for Correction?
Kabbalah Today Article: “Kabbalah: User Manual”
Kabbalah Today Article: “Desires – The Engine of Change”

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A question I received: I suggest that you record an audio version of the newspaper Kabbalah Today and disseminate it. From my experience, I know that there are many people who enjoy listening to your lessons and talks – including most of my coworkers. I’m sure that if you do the same thing with the newspaper, it will be a great success!

My Answer: We have already recorded several audio versions of the newspaper Kabbalah Today – see the links below.

Related Material:
Kabbalah Today Article: “Who Are You, People of Israel?”
Kabbalah Today Article: “A ‘Properly Working’ Nature”
Kabbalah Today Article: “Between Creator and Creature”
Kabbalah Today Article: “Mission Possible (And Mandatory)”
Kabbalah Today Article: “Spiritual Education”
Kabbalah Today Article: “Creation, Evolution and Beyond”
Kabbalah Today Article: “Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag (The Rabash) (1907-1991)”
Kabbalah Today Article: “Baal HaSulam On the Perception of Reality”
Kabbalah Today Article: “Contradictory Phenomena”
Kabbalah Today Article: “What Is (and is not) Kabbalah?”

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A question I received: You once explained that anti-Semitism comes from the subconscious feeling that the nations of the world have towards Israel, since Israel isn’t fulfilling its function and is hence preventing the world from being happy. Is this similar to the way many secular people from the nation of Israel hate the Orthodox, since they don’t do what they are meant to do?

My Answer: The secular Jews of Israel hate the Orthodox because:

• The Orthodox Jews evade army service, while everyone else is required to serve;
• Religion intervenes in politics in order to gain government resources and privileges;
• The Orthodox blatantly express their proud and arrogant attitude toward the secular Jews, because they feel like they are doing God’s will and are special, and hence everyone should be grateful to them for their lifestyle.

This phenomenon is typical only in Israel, where it emerged as a result of the religious, political and social pressure. It is certainly inflicting great harm to the religion, although the religion itself bears no relation to this phenomenon. Never in our history did the masses experience a religious dictate, because we never held national authority but were governed by other nations.

In countries where religion is entirely separate from the government, there is no possibility for religion to be imposed on its citizens as it is in Israel. Hence, in those countries, the relationship between the secular and religious Jews is amiable, or at least not hostile.

Based on the above, we can see that this phenomenon differs from anti-Semitism at the root.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Nationality Results from the Soul’s Properties
Laitman.com Post: Zionism’s Bankruptcy
Baal HaSulam Article: The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose

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Two questions I received on the 613 desires and the transformation of singularity:

Question: Dear Rav Michael Laitman, the teachings talk about 613 desires, but they all came from one original desire by the Creator. When we distanced ourselves from the Creator, then the one desire fragmented into 613, of which 612 are unreal and only one is real. Right?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: How can singularity transform without being changed?

My Answer: Everything stays the same, besides the intention “for oneself” in all of one’s thoughts, desires, and actions. The intention changes to its opposite – “for others.” This is how one becomes similar to the Creator, and when he does, then he also perceives himself this way.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Spirituality Lies Beyond Our World (Advanced)
Laitman.com Post: What Is Sin in Kabbalah?
Shamati #25: Things That Come from the Heart

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A question I received: Right now we’re witnessing this “football madness” all around the world. It seems like people are ‘warming up’ their intention, their thoughts and desires for this sport even on the days and times when there are no games scheduled. The TV is virtually bombing us with this “intention” – people are wearing their favorite team colors, everyone’s talking about it, and it’s slowly becoming ‘the only real thing in existence,’ even for those who are not fans. Masses of people are living through the same emotions.

What is the difference between this phenomena and what we are trying to do in our lessons and dissemination? What really makes our intention and our goal more important than theirs, when we’re still in our preparation period and cannot really tell the difference?

My Answer: The goal and the result.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Strive for the Goal, and Leave the Rest Up to the Creator
Laitman.com Post: By Developing One’s Desires, Kabbalah Also Develops One’s Mind
Talk: Perception of Reality
Kabbalah Blog Post: Archive for Humanity

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We have just published a new edition of the collected works of Rabash (in Hebrew). The three volume set of books includes materials that have never before been published. The books can be purchased here.

This three volume set of books contains all the materials of Rabash. In addition, we are currently preparing the collected works of Baal HaSulam for publication as well.

We only study the works of Baal HaSulam and Rabash. This is why I recommend for everyone to have these books.

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Question: I’d like to ask you about the story of Golem in Prague. Is there any truth to this story? After all, the grave of the Rav who allegedly made the Golem is still there.

My Answer: The great righteous man in Prague certainly existed. As for the Golem – the humanoid that he allegedly created – that’s a fairy tale. There are no miracles in the world! However, people want to believe in miracles, and this is why fairy tales endure for such a long time.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: There Are No Miracles

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