Question: My wife just gave birth to a son with whom I intend to share the spiritual path. But my neighbour who also just had a son doesn’t study Kabbalah. He sees how parents and children get out of touch and fears that he will lose connection with his son. What can I tell him if he isn’t going to study Kabbalah and only wants some advice on how to keep a relationship with his child?

Answer: In the past people were connected by the egoistic form of existence. Home, family, sustenance, and health concerns tied people together within the family, nation, and country. Nowadays, these settings fall away, and no-one knows how to prevent this or what will happen next.

Why? Material welfare doesn’t bond people any longer. Every human being starts to evolve and as though raises his head above the animate, material level, like above water. And you must offer him or her an answer at a spiritual level.

Thus, your neighbor has no choice. He will have to connect with his son at the spiritual level; otherwise, they will have nothing in common. That is why it’s written about the Creator (about everybody’s uniting with the others in the quality of bestowal): “He who returns the hearts of the sons to their fathers and the hearts of the fathers to their sons.”

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/10, A Lesson On Current Events

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Shoftim,” Selected Excerpts
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about passages from the great Kabbalists. I promise to answer them. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Wisdom of Kabbalah and the System of Mussar (Ethics)

You will also find a significant difference regarding the support because following the ethics is supported by the favor of people, which is like a rent that finally pays off. And when man grows accustomed to this work, he will not be able to ascend in degrees of ethics, for he will now be used to such work that is well rewarded by society, which pays for his good deeds.

Yet, by observing Torah and Mitzvot in order to please his Maker, without any reward, he climbs the rungs of ethics precisely to the extent that he pursues it, since there is no payment on his path. And each penny is added to a great account. And finally he acquires a second nature, which is bestowal upon others without any self-gratification, except for the bare necessities of his life.

– Baal HaSulam “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Kabbalah was the source of Rav Kook’s teachings. He viewed Kabbalah as the foundation for creating a new state and society in Israel where the prime directive would be the law of “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Basic Concepts of Rav Kook’s Teaching

A nation represents a single organism and has to attain the same state of oneness through its own effort. In doing so, the nation becomes close to the Creator. Each member of society has to know their role and because of their uniqueness, not in spite of it, they become a part of the whole, the nation, and consequently the world. Only then does a person fulfill his purpose: reaches equivalence to the Creator. An individual cannot merge with the Creator unless he unites with the others: “From the love of others to the love of the Creator.”

The nation of Israel can exist only as a single entity that yearns for mutual love and bestowal for the purpose of uniting with the Creator through the equivalence of form. With this in mind, Abraham created this nation from the Babylonians, and mutual love was the foundation of their existence.

While in exile (opposite to the Creator), outside of the Land of Israel (Eretz Israel – the desire to be similar to the Creator), there is no nation of Israel. In order to restore their relationship with the Creator, the people returned to the Land of Israel and formed a state, an opportunity to correct themselves and become one.

Therefore, forming the State of Israel signifies the beginning of the correction of the nation of Israel and consequently all of mankind. Together, they will ascend to the level of the Creator. As to the religious laws, they should remain solely within the social and cultural aspects of our existence.

Forming a state helps to achieve a nation-wide responsibility for correction, first of the nation of Israel, and afterwards of all of humanity. Mankind has evolved and is now ready to absorb Kabbalah, the method of the revelation of the Creator.

It’s time for the nation of Israel to return from their spiritual exile and illuminate the path of revelation of the Creator for the nations of the world. This is the only way to receive support from all of the people of the world for building the state of Israel.

In case the nation of Israel fails to accomplish the mission assigned to them, if they are unable to bring the method of correction to the people of the world, then its state will be destroyed and its people will be exiled again.

Although Zionism doesn’t realize what is at stake, it must eventually acknowledge the need for Kabbalah and employ the method of revelation of the Creator (the Upper governing Force) as the state and world constitution. The unique mission of the nation of Israel lies in serving mankind on its path of correction and being the “light for the nations of the world” (Prophet Isaiah).

More about Rav Kook and his connection with Baal HaSulam is in my book The Two Great Lights (in Hebrew).

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Shamati 34 “The Profit of a Land”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYechi (And Jacob lived in the Land of Egypt),” Item 1
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“Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” Item 77
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Excerpts From the Works of Rav Kook
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There are actions during our meetings when we have to give up all our criticism and simply merge with everyone. How can I do that? I can do it precisely by jumping and singing together with everyone like a child, nullifying myself.

This attitude connects me to the general state, giving me the ability to come out of my limitations and feel a spiritual "wind"! It might seem as though this kind of behavior is reckless, but it only seems that way to us because we don’t recognize the spirituality in it, and that’s because it is the Light of Infinity! We are unable to discern anything in it with our instruments of perception. That’s why it seems to us that it is lifeless or still (Nefesh). However, whether or not we will be able to see the whole spiritual Light of NaRaNHY in it depends entirely on our Kli .

Everything that comes from unity, even the smallest kind, is perfection. Therefore, it is precisely in this manner, through mutual dance when you are jumping together with others, that we have the opportunity to perceive a spiritual sensation.

These dances came to us from the great Kabbalists, especially Baal Shem Tov. Rabash also made us, his students, dance this way. It’s not just recklessness; inside the dance there is serious thought and tremendous work. Suddenly you don’t want it and thoughts "for" and "against" alternate within you with great frequency, evoking horrible doubts. Meanwhile, you continue to jump….

It also isn’t meditation because you don’t disconnect from reality. You are always standing before the question: What am I doing and why? What does this give me, who is making me do this, and who am I jumping together with, what connects us? You go through the entire inner work from beginning to end while you are dancing.

The dance forces you to go through all the different thoughts that exist against it! They are against unity, which you don’t want. Your mind always rises up in battle against this and you are forced to make discernments.

That is why the dance turns into arduous inner work. You come out of it simply drained, devoid of energy. And it’s not because you jumped, but because you went through so many discernments inside. You are dancing inside yourself, in your inner ascents and descents. And the fact that you are externally jumping at the same time is only there in order to awaken these inner states in you.

You are jumping externally, rising and falling, while inside of you there is a profusion of other ascents and descents taking place simultaneously – and that’s the most important thing! Without the external actions you will not be able to make the inner ones. One won’t happen without the other. That’s why the dance turns into a unique means of working. This is why Baal Shem Tov and the first Hassidim, who were Kabbalists, taught these traditions.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/2010, A Lesson About the Role of the Nation

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Question: During the lesson I tell myself that I want to feel what The Zohar speaks about, but I see that I don’t have the true desire for this. How can I attain this desire?

Answer: It’s a problem of our common thoughts. Maybe we aren’t fully aware that The Zohar speaks about our advanced states and the most important thing while reading this Book is our desire to attain those states.

What are our advanced states? It’s when we all unite together and inside the connection between us we reveal spirituality, the common quality of bestowal, the Creator. This is exactly the aspiration you should feel while reading The Book of Zohar. Otherwise all of the reading is a waste and it won’t help us in any way. It will even result in us receiving a sensation of darkness, a negative awakening. There is no choice about the matter: In any case we have to move forward, and in this case we will advance against our will.

Therefore, everything depends on how correctly we will be able to imagine the advanced state while reading The Book of Zohar, meaning how much we will see that it is a connection between us inside of which we reveal bestowal, love, mutual guarantee, and the unification that reigns in all of reality and all the worlds.

Everything becomes revealed only in the connection between us: all of reality, all the worlds until Infinity. We draw the Light of Correction to the degree we desire to reveal this state while reading The Book of Zohar.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/10, The Zohar

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In November 2010 we will be holding an International Kabbalah Convention in Tel Aviv, Israel where all those studying Kabbalah with us in Israel and the whole world will come together. It will be three days of unity!

The main reason why we organize such conventions is that the Kabbalists instruct us to hold meetings and conventions in order to unite. Rabash and Baal HaSulam write about this, but it follows even from the compositions of the Ari and Ramchal, as well as the writings of Rabbi Shimon and Abraham.

Correction takes place only by virtue of a connection among the souls, and connection starts with communication. Yet, there is one idea present in the communication: to attain the kind of unity that is called “the Creator,” bestowal, or the spiritual world.

Within this kind of unity we reveal the worlds (Olamot). They go from being concealments (Alamot) to revelation and therefore the Creator becomes revealed more and more instead of hiding behind the worlds or concealments. In other words, in the connection between us we reveal bestowal and love more and more, and that is called the revelation of the Creator. When this quality becomes revealed between us, we begin to feel that we live and exist inside it, and thus we ascend above the sensation of this world.

The revelation of the Creator can be attained on the condition that we carry out actions within the framework of this world. We start here and then continue the actions in the spiritual realm which becomes revealed in the connection between us. That is why it is necessary for us to meet and unite in this way using all the opportunities that this world has for us, physical or virtual, in order to build closer connections.

We would like to announce this event to everyone and to connect as many people as possible to it without any limitations. Any person from any corner of the world can attend and participate if he feels attracted to this idea. The task of those studying with Bnei Baruch is to prepare this convention, but the convention itself is intended for anyone wishing to attend!

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/10, A Lesson About the Role of the Nation

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Kabbalah TV Channel 66’s Kabbalah for Beginners, “Rav Kook”
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about passages from the great Kabbalists. I promise to answer them. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Wisdom of Kabbalah and the System of Mussar (Ethics)

The goal of ethics is the well-being of society from the perspective of practical reason, derived from life’s experiences. But in the end, that goal does not promise its follower any elation above the boundaries of nature.

Hence, this goal is still subject to criticism, for who can prove to an individual the extent of his benefit in such a way that he will be compelled to even slightly diminish his own self in favor of the well-being of society?

The religious goal, however, promises the well-being of the individual who follows it, as we have already shown that when one comes to love others, he is in direct Dvekut, which is equivalence of form with the Maker, and along with it man passes from his narrow world, filled with pain and impediments, to an eternal world of bestowal upon the Lord and upon the people.
– Baal HaSulam “The Essence of Religion and its Purpose”

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