Kabbalah Books Are For Everyone

Unattainability in the Mind of a Kabbalist A question I received: For whom did the Kabbalists write their books?

My Answer: Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot” (item 155) that Kabbalists obligated everybody to read these books, because when they are read, those who read them put themselves under the influence of their correcting force. This occurs even if the content and meaning of the books are not understood.

Therefore, Kabbalah books are meant for both those who want to embark on the path to reveal spirituality, and those who have already revealed the spiritual world. Those who want to advance use these books as a means of correction (Segula), and those who have already revealed the spiritual use them as a manual to guide them on their path.

The great majority of Kabbalists wrote their books not for beginners, but for those who’ve already attained spirituality. Only a few special souls (Baal HaSulam, Ramchal) exerted great efforts to write books that radiate a special Light specifically for those who aspire to attain spirituality.

Use Each Instant Of Your Life To Move Ahead

When It Comes to the Global Crisis, We Cannot Afford to Procrastinate The primary factor affecting the speed of one’s spiritual advancement is habit. If a person demanded a reward for every action he performed, he would quickly achieve revelation of the Upper World.

I got up at night and came to the lesson, so where is my reward?

I asked You a question, so where is Your answer? (When addressing the Creator.)

I turned to the group and lowered myself in order to be filled with the greatness of the goal, so where is it?

If I constantly demanded things in this manner from myself, the friends, and the Creator, then I would be using every instant of my life (good as well as bad) effectively and would move ahead quickly.

A person needs to be constant searching and cognizing, like a little child. The scariest thing in the world would be to become old while you are still a child, because then you could no longer study or be impressed. You would have no life spirit and thus you would become just a tired old man.

But an old man should be like a child!

The Creator’s Concealment Helps Us Build The Correct Desire For Him

The Creator created concealment, which distances, separates, pushes away, and confuses us. Instead of revealing Himself immediately and openly, He hides in order to evoke aspiration, passion, and a desire to reach Him!

This is the whole purpose of concealment and the reason for creating impure forces (Klipot), which sustain us until we reach the right desire for the Creator. They hold us back like dogs pulling at the leash in order to leap out at someone.

The Creator hides Himself until we acquire the correct, completely bestowing desire, which can no longer be extinguished by an encounter with Him. By revealing the Creator within this corrected desire, it does not fade like the desires of our world, where having received what we desired, we immediately stop valuing it. On the contrary, we need to value and love this pleasure more and more, since it holds the attitude of the Giver toward us.

Therefore, we have to see all these concealments and repulsions created by the Creator as a flirt, a game that brings us to the right desire, which is not just a desire of enormous strength, but a desire of the right form. This is in order that we will seek pleasure from an encounter with the Giver rather than from an encounter with fulfillment.

This is similar to a woman that demands an inner connection from an external action performed by a man. We have to learn about spirituality from the psychology of our life. We need to understand the essence of the concealment, the flirt and this whole game through which the Creator brings us closer or pushes us away.

We will not be able to achieve revelation until we begin to value Him, and with His help, build the correct attitude for an encounter with Him. We will then have the ability to interpret a connection with Him as a means of pleasure! He waits for us to want Him more than the pleasure that He brings. Then we will be ready to accept this pleasure and reveal the Creator within it.

Moments From The Daily Lesson: Spice

5 Minutes Of Light From The Daily Lesson: The Time Of Preparation

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 11.05.09

Daily Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, Letter 39, 1927
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Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 11
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Baal HaSulam’s article, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and its Essence,” Lesson #4
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Make Your Desires A Candle That The Light Can Ignite

lightA question I received: What is the meaning of the verse, “A commandment is the candle and Torah is the Light”?

My Answer: In the science of Kabbalah, a commandment means the correction of your intention from “to enjoy personally” to the intention “to let others enjoy.” How is this done? With the help of the Light called Torah, which “ignites” your desire like a fire ignites a wick inside wax or oil.

There are 613 desires in the soul. But the desires are only the wax or the oil. The wick in the desire is created by our efforts to change our intention to one of bestowal. Then, the Light ignites it.

We have to prepare our desires so each of them will become a candle. To the degree that we make efforts, the Creator will light up lights inside us like a magician, and suddenly there will be Light inside us and we will be similar to the Light, the Creator.

We constitute a material that cannot light up by itself. Wax or oil cannot burn on their own. You have to add a wick to them, which is our efforts to overcome egoism.

We need to have the right ingredients: the Upper Light, the screen (wick) and the desire to enjoy (the material that can burn). Then we will become the Light!

The Special Influence Of The Book Of Zohar

hebAll of our perception is based on a comparison of what we perceive now with what we perceived in the past. When we are born, our parents and relatives give us various models of perception and according to these models, we are later able to recognize the world and everything existing in it.

These models stay in our memory and enable us to tell what different pictures of reality are similar to and what they may be. In this way, whenever we encounter something new, we compare it to everything that is already stored in our memory.

So how then can we perceive spirituality if we don’t have the inner models for it? Spirituality is in front of us even now, but we don’t feel or perceive it because we have nothing to compare it to. Perhaps it is going through us and passing through all our senses, but we don’t recognize it because our memory does not hold the appropriate models or images. We have nothing to compare it to and therefore we cannot identify it.

When we read The Book of Zohar, it starts to influence us; its text shows us inner spiritual images or models. We don’t see the spiritual world yet, but we begin to understand what different spiritual qualities are like, what is above and what is below, what is inside and outside, what is weaker or stronger, what is red and what is white, and what is a quality such as Hesed.

The Book of Zohar starts lifting us up with these models, similar to how we lift up children. This enables us to understand the spiritual picture and divide it into familiar elements.

We then see something very interesting: we were seeing this picture before as well, but we did not recognize anything in it. And that is simply amazing! Spirituality was right here, but we could not perceive it because we did not have the inner models for it.

Arkadi Duchin’s Song Reminds Us – Nothing Is Outside!

Trick Your Donkey – A New Song By Arkadi Duchin

This new song is based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson of 09.22.09