A question I received: Why does one person have all the luck in his life and another doesn’t? Can people change their fate?

My Answer: According to the Law of Roots and Branches, all the elements in each world are alike and all the connections between the elements are the same.  This means that the network of forces in each world is the same and all the events happening in each world are the same.

Nothing happens below if there are no changes that occur above, “There is not a blade of grass below that has not an angel above it that strikes it and tells it, “Grow”.”

There is nothing in our world that just happens for no apparent reason. If I begin to realize this unbreakable link, that everything is predetermined, then I understand that there are no accidents, but there is luck (Mazal).

The Hebrew word Mazal comes from the word “trickle or drip” (Nozel). To drip means to come down in drops, one after another and that a gap or space exists between the drops.

If I recognize these drops, than I am able to intervene and change my luck. The Kabbalists say that there are no accidents. There are only gaps between the forces that affect me. That’s why these forces are called “the drops of luck.”

There is a special system in the World of Atzilut where the Upper Light flows down in drops through the special spiritual Partzufim. We are able to change our fate if we know how to enter between these drops of luck that are descending upon us.

Despite predetermination from above, the Law of Roots and Branches allows me to influence my “luck,” though not on the plane of this world but on a higher plane, so my “luck” comes down to me clothed in a different form. That is what we study in the science of Kabbalah – what it means to have “a different form,” when and how.

If I know how to change my luck and how to enter into the space that is created for me, and if I correctly participate in it, then I become a human being. I complement the Creator’s actions that He has created for me, and by doing this I become independent.

The study of the Law of Roots and Branches helps us to join and become a partner in  Upper Governance. It is then that a person enters into a partnership with the Creator.

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You already exist inside an infinite, complete, final and corrected state. Everything already exists. However, this state is concealed from you, and can be revealed to you to the extent you become similar to it, or reveal that you are similar to it.

In the initial state of creation – the World of Infinity, the creation felt the agony of hell: the shame of receiving from the Creator. If this sensation was revealed to us now, we would experience it 620 times greater.

This is why at every stage of our development, there is a finely measured degree of concealment. This is in order for us to discover the correct desires and qualities within us, for our future states. According to my ability to bestow, I start feeling the Creator’s bestowal. The two of us are then equal due to our bestowal and love. This is how one reaches the end of the path.
(From Part 1 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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A question I received: I often try to justify the Creator, but still continue to feel very bad. Is this considered justifying the Creator?

My Answer: No. How is this even possible!? Someone beats you up and you go and kiss his hands, or you cry bitterly, but your mouth is saying: “I’m enjoying this! These are tears of happiness!” That’s simply impossible!
(From Part 1 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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Questions I received about marriage:

Question: If Eve’s condemnation following the sin is that man will rule over her, what can we do in this world to adjust to this condemnation without conflict or suffering?

My Answer: There is no submission. Instead, there is the proper realization of common natural qualities. This is why you have to study Kabbalah, realize it together and aspire together to reach the third one – the Creator.

Question: What if a man does not know if he wants to stay married, and a lot of issues from the past come up?  What if the woman does not want to divorce and neither of them are in a religion?

My Answer: Go to your common goal which is the Creator, instead of both of you retreating into your shell.  Only then will everything turn out all right.

Question: I partially understand that marriage is part of a man’s correction. However, I have very few corporeal merits that would make me remotely appealing to the opposite gender. I am poor, bad with money management, own no house, have no car, and am only concerned with one thing, which is Kabbalah. Should I divert time from my studies and work in the group to make myself more corporeally fit for marriage? Do I really even need to be married?

My Answer: Continue doing what your heart aspires to, since this is the reason man was brought into this world. All the rest will follow and the group will help you find your match.

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All our advancement is determined by the sensitivity of our desire, or the amount of qualities it discerns. Increasing one’s desire does not mean making it bigger. The development of the desire is qualitative, not quantitative.

When we prepare for entering the spiritual world, we have to focus on the quantity of the impressions we have accumulated, because their quantity determines the quality of our desire. The most important thing about the desire isn’t its size, but its direction, sensitivity, and focus on the goal, on “what do I consider the most important thing?” Therefore, our task is to focus on making our desire correct, and when it becomes correct, the fulfillment will immediately be revealed inside it.

So, the most important thing is to acquire the full degree of desire, to accumulate the appetite for the feast that the Creator has prepared for us. There is a royal feast waiting for us, and a world full of goodness. As soon as our desire will match the fulfillment, we will immediately feel the fulfillment inside us. It already fills us, but it is concealed and operates inside the Kli.
(From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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A question I received: I have heard that a special Upper Light comes down to our world during the holiday period. What does it give us and what inner changes does it make to us?

My Answer: If we unite with one another during the holidays, when we will be influenced by an additional spiritual glow, which we will be able to use to advance. This can happen today more than ever, because there are many thousands of people studying Kabbalah with us.

So let’s unite and discern that our desires are egoistic and broken. This sensation is called Slihot – the Days of Repentance, where we check ourselves and see how opposite we are to what we desire, the quality of bestowal.

Let us then try to reveal how opposite we are to spirituality. This sensation is called the Day of Awe or Judgment Day. This revelation gives rise to a prayer and the blowing into the ram’s horn (Shofar).

In Aramaic, Shufra means importance. So, blowing into the Shofar means that we exalt spirituality, bestowal and love, making them more important than corporeality and hatred. We want spirituality to become the most important and highest thing to us, and for it to rule over us. We demand for the force of the Light, which is now present in the world, to operate within us, and to help us attain “the Ten Days of Repentance.” This means that the Light will influence us and enable us to feel that we are totally opposite to the quality of bestowal, inside the ten Sefirot of the soul. And thus we will come to Judgment Day (Yom Kippur).

On Yom Kippur, we feel that we are opposite to spirituality, and we see that the quality of bestowal – Bina, and the quality of reception – Malchut, are opposite. They are separated by an infinite abyss. That is when we take on the restriction of Judgment Day and refuse to use our egoistic desires, which are opposite to spirituality.

As a result, I begin to demand correction. I don’t demand to feel better, but to ascend to a different level of desires – the desires of bestowal. And then an even higher Light comes to me – the Light of Sukkoth, which gives me a covering (Schah) over my egoism.

When I correct seven of my Kelim during the seven days of Sukkoth, then my desires receive fulfillment, and I reach the eighth day, called “Atzeret.” At that point, I block the Light and the Light becomes revealed. This is called “Simchat Torah” (the Joy of Torah).
(From Part 1 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, on Rabash’s article, “Kingdoms, memories, and blowing into the horn.”)

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In the News (from The CW Philly): “Devastating Cuts Expected Under Doomsday Budget” – Mayor Michael Nutter said the clock is counting down to the implementation of a devastating ‘doomsday budget’ in Philadelphia.

Under the “Plan C” budget, nearly 3,000 city workers will lose their jobs, including 1,000 police officers and 200 firefighters.

On Wednesday, Mayor Nutter said Philadelphia’s court system will face a “virtual shutdown” if the cash-strapped city does not get state approval for a sales tax increase and changes to how it makes its pension payments. Philadelphia is facing a $1.4 billion five-year budget deficit.

My Comment: Looting and robberies will soon begin, just as we see in the movies that show our “bright” future.

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The first stage on the spiritual path is recognition of evil and its purpose, which is to lead me to the understanding of my entire nature. The program which draws the picture of reality for me by giving me the sensation of this world and my part in it, is called ego, or the desire to receive pleasure only for myself.

It locks me inside, engulfs me and draws all of my attention, making me think only of myself. I act according to that program, unable to even imagine that there is another option, another reality. What can possibly be done to change this perception and behavior?

Our nature itself leads us to recognition of its evil, leaving us no chance to escape it. It has power over us, locks us inside and constantly coerces.

This is the worst kind of slavery, when a person reveals that he is a prisoner of his own nature and can only obey its orders. He knows in advance that he has no choice but to obey, even though each order he follows, will further harm him.

Kabbalists have a parable, where the angel of death comes to a person and extends a sword with a drop of poison on its tip. A man obediently opens his mouth, knowing that by taking it he will die, yet he licks it. He has no other choice.

It is a great inner drama. All of man’s work is in realization of his exile and bondage. When a man is completely in despair, the point in the heart awakens inside him and begins to shine for him, showing him that there’s another world and a blessed shore on which to land.

He can’t continue to sit inside a shell forever! He has the ability to hatch  and climb out as a worm that comes out of bitter radish and suddenly sees the sun and breathes the clean air.

A person can then hear that there is a method that allows escape from the servitude and terrible life where the pointless cycle repeats itself: birth is succeeded by death. He discovers that there’s a means to break that vicious cycle and rise.

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In Kabbalah, prayer is called MAN, and it designates a state where a person’s desire is aligned with the Creator’s desire. When this happens, the desire of the lower level becomes incorporated in the desire of the Upper Level, and they are executed as one desire.

If the lower level desires only one thing: to become like the Upper Level, then the Upper Level will immediately respond to the lower one’s plea. The Upper One is always ready for this, and when the lower one produces the right request, it simply opens the door to the current of Light descending from the Upper One. So, reaching the right request constitutes all of our work!

The world does not understand this principle. People think they can do something on their own. The entire world revolves only around the desire to be fulfilled, which is their only desire, the only thing they live for and the only thing they sense. People do not feel the forces that operate them and this is why it appears to them that they can change things on their own, using their egoistic desires. But in fact, people can only change things for the worse because while they are distracting themselves with such attempts, they neglect the corrections they should be making.

It is imperative that we understand that we are the direct outcome of the Light’s actions. Only the Light can change us and the world. So, I don’t have to search for a force within me that will help me to change. I have nothing and no one to turn to but the Light! I have to feel as though I am “stuck” to Him, like a drop of semen in a mother’s womb.

As I rise spiritually, I do not become independent of the Light either. I remain completely stuck to the Light and completely dependent on It. And  I will continue to “stick” to It more and more until I merge with It completely.

Therefore, if I want anything in me to change, be it my thoughts, feelings, or states, then, I have to demand these changes from the Light. The only thing I can do myself is exude my request to the Light.

If a person learns how to always demand changes from the Creator, then he will be successful in everything, and it will take him the shortest time possible. Our biggest problem is that we forget that the only thing that acts is the Light.
(From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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