Introductory Lecture “The Importance Of Learning” – 02.15.11
Posted on February 15th, 2011
Question: If it is impossible to comprehend what Kabbalists talk about until one enters the spiritual world and sees the roots, then why are you trying to explain everything "more clearly" to us?
Answer: I attempt to awaken in you the desire to reach spiritual attainment, and then you will understand what I was relating. Baal HaSulam writes about it in the article "The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah":
And once he has thoroughly attained the upper roots with his own mind, he may examine the tangible branches in this world and know how each branch relates to its root in the upper world, in all its orders, in quantity and quality.
When one knows and thoroughly comprehends all that, there is a common language between him and his teacher, namely the Language of the Branches. Using it, the Kabbalist sage may convey the studies in the wisdom, conducted in the upper, spiritual worlds….
However, when a disciple is not wise and comprehends the language on his own, meaning how the branches indicate to their roots, naturally, the teacher cannot convey even a single word of this spiritual wisdom, much less negotiate with him in the scrutiny of the wisdom. This is so because they have no common language they can use, and they become like mute.
In Kabbalah, "forbidden" means "impossible." In our world certain actions are prohibited because if one wants to, he can nonetheless do even what’s forbidden. But such behavior can only occur "in the fall of man" and below it. In the spiritual world, if something is forbidden, it means that it’s absolutely impossible to do it.
[35321]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”
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Question: It is said that when Rabbi Shimon and his disciples were creating The Book of Zohar, they were sitting in a cave, Rabbi Shimon was talking, Rabbi Abba was writing it down, the son of Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi Elazar, was listening to him "from mouth to mouth," while the rest were listening through the heart. What do these different levels of connection mean?
Answer: Beside the external language that Kabbalists can use for communication, "the language of branches," there is also an internal connection called "Peh El Awzen" (from mouth to ears) at the level of Bina, when the teacher and the student are united in a state of Katnut (a small state), as well as the connection called "Peh El Peh" (from mouth to mouth) at the level of Keter, in the state of Gadlut (a big state). Such connection requires no language: One understands the other without words, through the inner adhesion, union.
In other words, we can understand each other in one of the following ways:
These are the levels of the spiritual connection.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”
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In his article “The Freedom,” Baal HaSulam writes that according to the plan of the upper governance, a person must live in a society and follow its laws. And the law of the life of society is to “take after the collective.”
But does it really mean that one has to comply with the most primitive, ignorant, uncivilized masses, which prevail in the world? In many countries up to this day, people live exactly as they lived hundreds of years ago. They haven’t even been impacted by the technological progress that much; they learned to use only its external benefits and didn’t receive any internal changes from it, no internal culture.
In truth, however, the law to “take after the collective” obligates us to work namely on the collective fostering of the whole world. After all, the world needs to be elevated to the level where everyone will understand that perfection is reached only through total unification. And we don’t have a choice: It’s impossible to instill this by force from above, by some small group of people who wish to make a revolution.
In former times, the world lived under the power of its rulers, but that time is gone. That is how humanity existed during the period of exile. But now, as we are entering the era of correction, the epoch of the “future generation,” it is impossible to live by the old ways.
In the near future we will see that the masses will be increasingly decisive in making decisions, while state leaders and governments will only follow the people. After all, the world has become global.
Therefore, it is necessary to apply all our effort to educating the broad masses so as to raise them to the degree of the final correction regardless of their current level. And indeed, people don’t need to learn some complicated sciences; they only need to know how to relate to each other correctly. On the contrary, connection between people is established not by way of the mind, but through the heart. It is the wisdom of the heart.
The law to “take after the collective” means that we have to turn to the majority, and it is from these simple broad masses that all changes will come, and not from those who possess power, wealth, and scientific degrees. Sages said: “The Torah will come forth from the children of the poor.”
Transformation depends precisely on the degree to which we will raise our collective spiritual vessel (Kli).
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/2011, “The Freedom”
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Question: If human nature is the will to enjoy, why then is the majority of humanity satisfied with very little and why doesn’t it seek eternal pleasure?
Answer: Some time ago, I ran into my old childhood friend. Back then he was already collecting stamps. In my own time, when I “grew out” of this hobby, I gave him my entire collection. I recall that stamps had lost value in my eyes, but he really liked them.
So, when we met this time, he said to me: “Now I also collect envelopes.” He said it with such seriousness that I promised to send him our envelope. There is nothing funny about this: A person values something, he has a certain desire. I didn’t even want to start talking to him about the Lights and eternal pleasure. What sense will it make if he wants to talk about envelopes and stamps?
Everything derives from desire. When I had a desire, I collected stamps. In childhood, everybody passes through such periods. But his desire remained, so how can I pass my desire to him? It is impossible.
I saw many children growing up near Rabash, as well as his students and relatives. If a child has a desire, it is there; and if he doesn’t, it isn’t. You cannot force it on him. He sees what you do, and the rest depends on his aspirations. There is nothing you can do in this regard.
So, we can’t demand a person to work on unification. How many people in the world really care about it and wish to see the whole world as one simple Light, one force? Who wants to see only this picture of reality and not to even feel himself in it? You either have such desire or you don’t.
Yes, with the help of the group we can speed up our development, but again, without pressuring a person.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/2011, Writings of Rabash
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Kabbalah does not talk about our imaginary world, but about the soul’s correction and how to attain the true reality. The true reality is the Kli in which the Creator is perceived by virtue of a certain degree of adhesion with Him.
The Kli or soul is divided into two parts: Israel, the part that aspires toward unity with the Creator, toward the goal, and the nations of the world, which is the part that’s unable to do so. We feel a certain yearning to reveal the Creator. The science of Kabbalah is by definition the method of revealing the Creator to creation. In other words, it is talking about revealing the quality of bestowal and love in creation itself.
In order for us to have the opportunity to attain this goal, the people who have the suitable desire unite in the common field of the Creator. They feel attracted to one another without knowing why and they come together like electrical charges or metal shavings in a magnetic field. That’s when they acquire the opportunity to realize the method of correction.
At first they do not know that they have to correct themselves. They simply feel a calling to the most important thing: “What am I living for? What is the meaning of my life?” Eventually they start to understand that all of these questions lead to the revelation of the Creator, the upper force that builds, supports, forms, and controls all of reality. There is nothing besides this force.
That is how a person goes from the question about the meaning of life to the question about how to reveal the Creator. After all, the revelation of the Creator gives him the answer to everything. Thus, in order to come closer to revealing the Creator, these people unite.
The Creator is concealed, and in order to reveal Him rather than anything else, meaning to reveal the quality of bestowal and love that lies outside of our nature of reception and hate, to rise above it, I am brought to a certain gathering of people.
Together with them I begin to understand that the question about the meaning of life shifts to the need to reveal the Creator as the answer to all questions that I have asked and will ask. Revealing the Creator means revealing the force of bestowal and love. It can be understood only to the degree of one’s similarity to it, only if I will also attain this quality, which is Him.
I have to acquire this quality, and in order to ensure this acquisition I am among people similar to me. This was arranged for me deliberately. The Creator is concealed because the quality of bestowal is opposite to me. Due to their fundamental difference, these qualities do not feel one another and therefore I do not feel the Creator. And it is impossible to work in relation to someone I do not feel. I will definitely be mistaken and will fall into self-deception.
Therefore, instead of giving me work with Himself, the Creator gave me work with my neighbor. This enables me to perform authentic verifications, to receive forces from the friends, and to check myself in relation to them: How much do I advance from hatred to love?
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash
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During the recent European Convention in Berlin, I gave a number of interviews to the German media. In the picture below, you see my interview with a reporter from the German newspaper “Jüdische Allgemeine.” As a result of our conversation, the newspaper published a lengthy, serious article about the convention and our movement.
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Question: If a considerable part of humanity starts to unify as we do during Kabbalah conventions, then there should be less suffering in the world, correct?
Answer: Our actions are undoubtedly fruitful. It’s also true that today suffering manifests in the world in a lighter and more cushioned form than it would without our external and internal efforts. But how much lighter it is remains unclear to us because we don’t see the connection between our actions and all kinds of events.
Therefore, we can’t say by what percent the flood or fire rate went down thanks to our convention, but it most certainly did. The picture of our influence can be visible only if we develop the same collective sight as an integral environment (society), meaning if we reach at least the first spiritual level, the first degree of oneness.
Question cont.: So, in egoistic sensory organs we will never see how through our unity we prevented a terror act or a natural disaster, will we?
Answer: You can see it on the condition that you have the screen and your goal is to reveal the information not in order to satisfy your curiosity or gain internal peace, but to bestow to the others thereby. You need knowledge so you may go above it: First, you feel the necessity to go above reason, and afterward, in accordance with this, the upper (global, integral, spiritual) knowledge unfolds.
Question cont.: In that case, I shouldn’t blame myself that because I didn’t put forth sufficient effort to unite, something bad happened, should I? It doesn’t help my correction, does it?
Answer: It is a system of nature: If this information were necessary for you, it would be revealed to you since everything works according to one program and moves the world to the final correction.
At present, you cannot see it, but later on, you will reach a state when it will become possible. However, if such knowledge isn’t required in order to bestow, you won’t want it to be revealed to you. If it isn’t for bestowal, why do I need to see and know?!
Eventually, you will see the world from end to end; you will know everything! And you will say: “I don’t want any of this! I will take as much knowledge as I need for bestowal so that I can rise above it in bestowal.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/9/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”
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Question: What desires do we have to receive from the world? What does it mean, “to absorb the desires of others”?
Answer: It’s the same as connecting to the group. I have a spark of love for another called “the point in the heart.” But it is just a spark which won’t flare up by itself. I have to connect it to the sparks of my friends. If our sparks unite, it will supply us with greater strength for correction. And then we will receive the Light.
The same applies to our work with the world: A person has no desire to correct his or her soul unless he unites with “the nations of the world.” It’s because one part of his soul (GE) exists in himself and his friends, while the other part (AHP) in “the nations of the world.” Our task is to unite these parts in order to create the whole Kli (vessel).
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/2011, Writings of Rabash
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Question: How can a person know that his teacher is a real Kabbalist?
Answer: How can you know that he is a true Kabbalist? He cannot show you any specific diploma or perform miraculous acts that would look spiritual to you since how do you know what spirituality is anyway? Hence, you can only listen to your heart and examine whether what you hear resonates with you, connects you to the root of your soul.
I studied in five or six places before I found Rabash. And I used to leave them not because I would find something better; I just saw that there was nothing else to do there, nothing else to learn. And it isn’t because their intent was to deceive me; it’s just that each of them had their own method, ideas, and delusions.
But I was seeking a place where I could study Kabbalah as a science. And when I met Rabash, I immediately saw that his students studied authentic primary sources: The Zohar, the works of the ARI and Baal HaSulam, which are the most fundamental Kabbalistic texts, and that he attached deep meaning to the concepts in a logical form, without external religious acts or meditation.
In other words, he used a strictly scientific approach without shifting to one or the other side. By then, I had already realized that everything else has nothing to do with truth. I had a sense that wherever they talk about some actions related to the corporeal body or fantasies, it doesn’t have anything to do with spirituality.
I had a very clear feeling that here there was some entrance into a more internal world that doesn’t depend on the body or imagination, on all those attributes I have at the moment. It is required that a person reveals a certain internal layer within, and I was searching: How do I do that? And when I came to Rabash and started to study, I saw that that’s exactly about what he was speaking.
Baal HaSulam writes that anyone who wishes to receive spiritual knowledge must find himself a teacher, an authentic sage-Kabbalist who seems to be right for the job. But if he feels that he is in a place which doesn’t suit him, he shouldn’t stop looking. After all, time is running out.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”
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