A question I received: Is there one prayer or several types of prayers?

My Answer: A prayer is a desire you raise in order to be corrected. You raise it to the Upper Level or Partzuf, the Creator, requesting and demanding correction.

The number of requests for correction you raise determines the number of different prayers. There’s a specific number of prayers depending on the states a person goes through on each degree.

That’s why Kabbalists were able to compile a prayer book for us, called “Sidur,” meaning “Order,” (for example, the way things are ordered or organized in a statute). There they described the precise order of ascent from this world to the World of Infinity, as well as all the intermediary states.

It’s a book of instructions. When you read the prayers in it one after another, they reflect the order in which you have to address the Upper Level in order to correct yourself. Any transformation can happen only under the influence of the Upper Level.

There is a special order for each day (for each Sefira or degree) , and if you want to go through a spiritual “day,” then this book tells you the order in which you have to raise your desires for correction.

If you correct yourself over the six “days” (degrees), then you will go on to different prayers (corrections), called the prayers of Shabbat, and then to other special states (days, Moadim) and holidays.

There are many states, and each one has a corresponding prayer, meaning ascension of a desire to its correction. It’s because there’s a change in your state of adhesion to the Creator. The prayers never stop in the spiritual work.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - 1 Comment →

A question I received: To give a tithe or Masser, one needs to be employed or have an income. This is where the problems arise. I observe many 10 hour working days, I sleep 7 or 8 hours, and the rest of the time, 6 hours or so, I spend eating, doing chores around home, and spending time with my family. It does not seem to leave much time for any spiritual pursuits.

In a way society has us trapped. Big homes and fancy cars all play a role in taking up the time that we have. Also, some choose to tithe to religious organizations so they can build bigger edifices than the other churches down the street, and pay big salaries and perks to the leaders.

How does one trust, or know in his heart that this Masser is indeed a Law of Nature, and is just and not contrived?

My Answer: Living according to the laws of one’s society and paying the Maaser for the spiritual correction of humanity is a law, while donating is not.

Related Materials:
Laitman.com Post: Maaser Is A Law Of Nature
Laitman.com Post: We Pay Maaser When We Start To Desire Spiritual Development
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah Is The Revelation Of The Creator To The Entire World
Rabash Article: “The Purpose of the Association (2)”
Maaser site

Filed under: Maaser - 1 Comment →

Two questions I received about destiny:

Question: From a broader perspective, do you think that it is possible that things turn out the same whether you choose one way or another in life? Man’s perception of one way or the other way, meaning his decision and its consequences may be different, but is there still something like destiny lighting life’s path?

My Answer: Everything is predetermined except your aspiration, either to yourself or to the Creator. This is where you will feel the difference in your destiny.

Question: Since Kabbalah states that all is programmed or predetermined, is our time of “death” of the bodies we now use also predetermined?

My Answer: Undoubtedly it is, but what would be the point of knowing it?

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Meet The Director Of The Theater Of Life
Laitman.com Post: Use Your Freedom Of Choice To Control Your Destiny
Laitman.com Post: How To Control Your Destiny
Laitman.com Post: Breaking The Vicious Cycle Of Life And Death
Interview with the Future: “Controlling My Own Destiny”
Video: Do We Reincarnate? (4:49)

Filed under: Spirituality - 1 Comment →

In the material world, a mother knows when it’s time to feed her baby. But when it comes to our spiritual ascent, a baby (a person who is in the initial stages of becoming a Kabbalist) has to ask the mother for food himself. He has to know how to turn to the Upper Level in order for It to raise him up to It and fill him with Light.

Everything happens according to the lower one’s (the person’s) desire to become similar to the Upper One (the Creator). In the spiritual world, all actions take place either according to Reshimot (informational records which determine one’s state), which are realized in us without our choice, or by us adding our desires for correction to the Reshimot. That is to say, we can add our own prayer or plea for correction.

We don’t have to ask for this artificially. That won’t help. If one’s desire is ripe, then it will elicit the influence of the Light of Correction upon it.

The Upper Partzuf (the Creator) is in the state of absolute rest and never changes. Only our inner Reshimot (the data about our state) undergo changes. This is why we feel that we exist in a changing world, but actually, it is changing inside us relative to an unchanging background – the White Light, the Creator.

Reshimot that awaken in us without our participation do not advance us in the spiritual world. We simply tread in one place, until repeated suffering makes us smarter and forces us to look for spiritual development. Our problems are caused by Reshimot that unravel naturally.

However, if you join a society that engages in spiritual development, then you will receive Reshimot from it, which come from your connection with other souls. You will receive these Reshimot by virtue of your own efforts, and they are the Reshimot that you have to correct in order to reveal the Upper World. How? By raising them through your prayer for correction.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

A question I received: Suppose I have accumulated a sufficient desire for correction. How can I ask the Light to correct it?

My Answer: The desire speaks for itself. You shouldn’t think about how to ask for this. The moment you really want it, your desire will be your request.

The most important thing is to feel a need for this. A baby does not think about how to ask his mom for something. It’s only later on, when he grows bigger, that he becomes more cunning and comes to her nagging and demanding something.

But we don’t know any tricks like this. There has to be a cry coming from the bottom of our heart, our desire.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

A question I received: I have a question about the women’s organization. I am afraid that it will gradually turn into an enterprise to support the men, the different projects, and so on. I feel that we women lack an inner connection, an adhesion of our desires, without any external actions.

In order to demand anything from the male part of the group, we have to have a clear understanding of what we are demanding. We have to be ready for what will be given to us. We need clarifications.

It seems to me that such clarifications should be performed by the women’s organization. We have to search for answers in the original sources. We have to understand everything clearly, see the general picture, and so on.

My Answer: I am not going to say anything else to you because everything has already been said. The only thing that remains is for you to perform the clarification and the realization.

My only advice to you is, to the extent it is possible, take your personal egoism out of your relationships, because the way things stand, one woman does not wish to listen and help another even for the sake of their mutual success.

Filed under: Women - 3 Comments →

A question I received: How is the diversity of our world connected with the uniform goal of love towards the neighbor?

My Answer: The elements of our world comprise the common Kli. Let’s take for example, an ant that spends its entire short life crawling in the woods in search of food. Really, how is this ant connected with my soul and its final correction?

All levels below the human level are represented as external manifestations of human properties. The “ant” first exists in your desires and then manifests in a human form. Without the external form, you would not be ready for the inner correction.

Every detail of the still, vegetative and animate levels is necessary because they are included in the human being. By leading their natural existence, they help our desires develop to the human level.

During the development of our desires, we go through the stages that have already taken place. First we do it in the nature of our world, then in the “human” level of desire, and finally, we approach and enter the spiritual world. Our inner desires would not be formed without all these external details.

In the beginning, these desires have to start developing from the smallest, most insignificant desires. Therefore, initially a still level is formed, followed by vegetative, and then animate, in all their diversity. In this process, some species become extinct while others suddenly appear.  Everything changes, but all of it is a projection of our inner changes.

The whole of creation is embedded in man and constitutes a harmonious, perfect picture. Therefore, people should know how to correctly use all the elements of reality existing in front of them. There are different laws acting here, but their main purpose is to show us how to relate to everything in the context of the goal of creation. We have to use the entire world in such a way that it will advance us towards the goal.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →