Question: Give us advice on how to follow the path and the method of Baal HaSulam and reach the goal in the fastest way?

Answer: We have already studied in general everything written by Baal HaSulam and his method. We just have to implement it. We were honored to meet this person, this soul, the work of his life. We live with his thoughts; we exist inside the “building” built by him.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is developing because souls are developing. More and more souls are coming to the final stage of correction; they are approaching their realization.

The last exile has ended, and now we are the first ones who are crossing over from this final exile to complete liberation, to the revelation of the Creator. Here we really need support, help, a big light, the study that Baal HaSulam passed to us.

We can see in ourselves how much it helps us to use it; if we follow precisely his method, we achieve success when we awaken the reforming light.

This light still acts within us in concealment, and the results are not so visible from outside. However, with every day this force is growing, becoming more visible, and we can sense it more. I really hope that soon we will begin to feel what we read, and sense those forms, properties, and depictions within ourselves.

Everything that we read in The Book of Zohar and in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, all these depictions will pass inside of us, and it will become clear to us that this is a movie.

Just now as our desires paint a picture of this world for us, so later will our desires, only the desires to bestow, draw us a picture of the second nature, of the upper world. Then we will understand what Baal HaSulam has done for us!

He writes that in reality, one begins to study Torah only after the revelation of the attainment. After all, when you reveal the pictures of the future world, you have to know what it all is for! Like a baby who needs adults.

Then you will feel that Baal HaSulam and RABASH care for you like a little child and explain this entire world to you.

With their help, you begin to penetrate deeper in it, understand, and carry out some of your own independent actions.

Each time you get more inspiration, and these great teachers stand close together with you, these two educators who constantly care about you and support you every moment and at every step.

We are yet to appreciate the significance of the enterprise that Baal HaSulam has created, of that great preparation he has done: “childcare,” “school,” and the entire “university” of the spiritual life that he prepared for us. If not for him, no Kabbalistic schools whatsoever would be able to help us.

They can only add to the revelation that we are making according to the method of Baal HaSulam and attaining the spiritual world.

I really hope that we will come to such a revelation, and then we will begin to know his real greatness and his love for us. After that, we will be able to interact at a different level and understand one another.

I very much hope to meet you in the world of truth where we will be able to discuss everything that takes place by looking at it with a true perspective and will understand one another.

We will do all this together with RABASH and Baal HaSulam, with their help. You will feel that they constantly support us and surround us with care.

We will try to be worthy of them!
[21472]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/19/10

Related Material:
The Teaching of Light for the Whole World
For a Child, there is No One Closer than His Mother
Baal HaSulam Is Among Us

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

RABASH said that his father, Baal HaSulam, promised that by following his path and following his advice, we would be granted eternal life by the Creator in order to adhere to Him.

RABASH himself achieved high spiritual attainment using only the works and advice of his father. There is no other practical means of revealing the upper world to our generation except for the works of Baal HaSulam.

That is why his soul is especially close to us. After all, we evaluate everything by its benefit to ourselves. We do not compare the stature of the Kabbalists: Moses, RASHBI, the ARI, Baal HaSulam, and  RABASH.

Just as the most important thing for a child is his mother, so do I depend on receiving spiritual eternal life from the soul that preceded me: RABASH and Baal HaSulam. Of course, there are still many high souls, but we can only connect with the spiritual system through RABASH and Baal HaSulam.
[21314]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/2010, The Memorial Day of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
The Light of Rabash
Baal HaSulam—The Teacher We Follow
The Whole Spiritual Heritage Is Before Us

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Rabash, Spiritual Teacher, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

On Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), we mark the anniversary of Baal HaSulam’s death.

We must try to use every opportunity to unite between us more and more and to become worthy of the unity in which the heavens open. I deeply hope that we will succeed in this soon. I see very clear signs of advancement. Let us hope it will happen at any moment.

Wherever we gather, whether drawing closer to our source during the lesson or at any event, even if it is only an external hint of contact with the righteous one, we must ask that the connection between us be revealed, that his teaching open within us, that we may understand the inner meaning of his words, that his message does not remain concealed, that both he and his teaching live within us until we become the support for the entire world, for unity among us, among all humanity, and for the revelation of the Creator.

This is a time for an intimate, heartfelt plea. No special external actions are needed; what matters most is the work in the heart. Let us hope that we will perform it together and make every effort so that it brings us to unity.

The entire desire, the entire aspiration of Baal HaSulam is in great measure directed toward us. We are not yet able to feel it, but he is undoubtedly among us acting in a very practical and powerful way. We will reveal him, because he is truly our spiritual father.
[89106]
From the meal dedicated to Baal HaSulam Memorial Day, 9/26/2012

Related Material:
Baal HaSulam’s Memorial Day
Like A Caring Mother Unnoticeably Watching Us
Baal HaSulam’s Memorial Day

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Therefore, come and see how grateful we should be to our teachers, who impart us their sacred lights and dedicate their souls to do good to our souls. They stand in the middle between the path of harsh torments and the path of repentance. They save us from the netherworld, which is harder than death (Baal HaSulam, Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot).

On the memorial day of the great Kabbalist, our teacher RABASH, we do not indulge in memories and do not mourn his passing as is customary in the corporeal world, which is far from the truth.

We perceive this day as an opportunity to connect even more strongly, to cleave, to draw closer to our root. Because RABASH is the revelation of the Creator in relation to us in a certain form and with a certain force.

We wish to thank the Creator for having sent us such a messenger through whom He opened for us the possibility of drawing near to the upper force, of correcting ourselves, bringing us to resemblance with the Creator. Through RABASH we bind ourselves to the Creator because he is an intermediate degree between us and the Creator thanks to which we exist and receive all that is necessary for spiritual ascent through it.

RABASH is revealed to us as a system connecting us with the Creator, through which we can realize ourselves and draw nearer to the truth. Therefore, we recall, not the external image of the man and his earthly habits, but first and foremost consider him as a special revelation of the Creator toward us, manifesting Himself in such a form.

The more we revere RABASH, the more we draw near to the Creator, treasuring that special revelation which the Creator made through him. Thus, the upper force called “RABASH,” becomes important for us, links us to the Creator, and brings us closer to Him.

To some extent, this revelation of the Creator was manifested in an external form, and then it disappeared. We, however, must, despite this external disappearance, this dimming, likewise illuminate ourselves and attain connection with RABASH, with this spiritual root, as with our higher degree, in order through it to connect with the Creator.

There are special souls through which the Creator influences a certain number of lower souls. As though the brain gives a command to an important organ so that it may send signals to various cells of the body under its governance and direct their behavior. RABASH, who was the continuation of Baal HaSulam in our generation, became a turning point for us, the source of the modern, practical method of spiritual ascent.

Therefore, we must understand what a gift we have been granted by having been given the opportunity to connect with him, to absorb from him the method suited to our days, and to realize it.

How grateful we must be to our teacher, RABASH, whose soul, this part of reality, was so great that it could form and transmit the entire method of correction to us. Without him, it would have been extraordinarily difficult, perhaps even altogether impossible for us to attain the spiritual world.

The upper force spreads within the system of Adam HaRishon, reveals itself from above downward by enlivening more and more parts of the soul. And when the light must spread into the lower layers of the system, to enliven the next organs in the chain of the body of Adam HaRishon, the need for the higher, special parts of the system to enter this work arises.

Development proceeds from above downward, and therefore, when some lower degree develops, it induces changes in all the higher degrees. Every correction is intended only for awakening ever lower souls, called “the Last Generation,” to also bring them to resemblance with the Creator.

RABASH symbolizes a great, global force acting upon our entire generation. What remains for us is only to realize the method of Baal HaSulam, which was transmitted to us and explained by RABASH. Therefore, we study the articles of RABASH in order to perceive the world as a single system and to actualize it correctly, to which RABASH leads us in the most practical form.

Baal HaSulam is revealed to us not as a guide, but as a scientist who knows all of creation from end to end and even beyond its limits. And RABASH takes us by the hand, like an adult guiding a child, and leads us along this path until the very end of correction. He opens the path for us and walks beside us.

The heavy, coarse souls revealed in our generation would not be able to attain adhesion with the Creator without the method revealed to us by RABASH. Because he explains how to attain those states about which Baal HaSulam writes.

Baal HaSulam writes about the higher degrees and higher states as a scientific researcher. And RABASH speaks more, not about the degrees themselves, but about the inner work a person must perform to attain them; that is, about the means: the environment, unity, self-annulment.

Baal HaSulam describes the entire upper system in these books, but these are not textbooks by which one can ascend. He is like a composer who wrote a symphony. But we first need to learn musical notation and the technique of scales before we can read that score and play it. For this, we need another person, a teacher, and such a teacher for us became RABASH, who leads us through the entire path.

Without his explanations, we might have become confused in the teachings of Baal HaSulam and begun to interpret them incorrectly, according to our own imagination. But if we realize the instructions of RABASH, which enable us to attain such attainment, then we will begin to understand what Baal HaSulam writes about.
[253508]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/3/2019, “Rabash Memorial Day (Yahrzeit),”

Related Material:
The Day Of Remembrance Of Rabash
What Was Studying with RABASH Like?
The Difficult Life of Kabbalists

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Kabbalah Study, Rabash, Spiritual Teacher, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: What did Baal HaSulam add to the correction of the soul that the ARI started?

Answer: The ARI himself did not write anything. It was his student Marhu (Chaim Vital) who wrote, and his writings were published over the course of three generations after the death of the ARI.

Baal HaSulam explained and systematized the entire teaching of the ARI. Before him, the teaching of the ARI was not arranged in a structured way, and therefore, it was impossible to study it properly. Many who began studying the ARI would eventually switch to studying the works of the Ramak.

I myself studied the Ramak until I discovered Baal HaSulam. I saw many Kabbalists who preferred studying the Ramak instead of the ARI because the books of Ramak are clear and organized.

The writings of the ARI were not structured. Baal HaSulam systematized, detailed, explained, and arranged them: the three lines, the first and second restrictions, the Creator and the created being, the definitions of the worlds, Sefirot, Partzufim, NRNHY KHB, ZON, and he even created a collection of diagrams of the upper worlds in the book Elan.

Although some parts are missing that he could have systematized further (like Adam HaRishon, the impure worlds of BYA), it seems he chose not to deal with them. Without Baal HaSulam, we would not have the method of the ARI. It would be impossible to understand the ARI.

Today when we read other Kabbalists, we understand them only because we are familiar with the works of Baal HaSulam. Without him, we would be confused.

Whatever you read, whether it is the books on Hasidism, the Ramak, or the Agra, you only understand them because you studied Baal HaSulam. Without the articles of Rabash, we would not be able to understand what is required of us and what the work of the Creator truly means.

Without these two Kabbalists Baal HaSulam and RABASH who complement each other, we would not have the correct approach to the method of correction.
[18766]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/8/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam Preface “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

Related Material:
Before the Ari, the Gates of Wisdom were Closed to Us
The ARI (Rav Isaac Luria), Man of God
Legacy Of The Ari

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Teacher - No Comments →

Question: The significance of Baal HaSulam and RABASH comes through you. It is clear that they have written very deep and serious texts. There are also other writers or works in Judaism and other sciences. But you give importance to these particular Kabbalists. After all, Baal HaSulam is not known much in the world. Only now is he becoming popular. How can we know about their greatness apart from you?

Answer: You cannot know them in any way. It happens gradually. Let’s say that you are coming to a family celebration that has both little children and adults. You see how adults stand sedately with an aperitif in hand, talk and nod to each other, and so forth. At the same time little children don’t pay attention to anyone. They run around, bump into people, and push everyone. They do not care that some adult is talking to someone.

The same is happening with us. We are like little children who do not understand these adults who are talking to one another. We push them around. But accordingly, we are forgiven. Later on when we grow past the silly age of infancy, we acquire different thoughts about them that not the same as now.
[345218]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Links of the Chain of Kabbalists from ARI to Rabash” 9/4/10

Related Material:
The Last In The Group Of Great Kabbalists
Development Of The Method Of Correction
Gratitude To Baal HaSulam

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Starting from Adam, the earlier a Kabbalist lived, the closer he was connected to the root and the higher he stood. All those who came after him received the light through him.

But for those who want to connect with the ray of light coming from infinity, the last, closest Kabbalist is always more important, because it is he who connects and unites us with the light, with the Creator. For us, this Kabbalist is Baal HaSulam.

He writes that he was honored to convey the wisdom of Kabbalah to us. And we are honored to have such a soul revealed to us that brings us the methodology of Kabbalah, thanks to which we can reveal the Creator.

The writings of Baal HaSulam are the only ones suitable in our time for achieving the spiritual goal. Only the books of Baal HaSulam carry the light necessary for our correction. To prepare for them, the articles of RABASH are required.

The revelation of the Creator to creations, i.e., spiritual liberation, must become complete for everyone,  that is, their teaching is a teaching for the whole world.
[21326]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, Dedicated to the memory of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
For a Child, there is No One Closer than His Mother
Make The Poor Happy
A New Year, A New Beginning

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Group Work, Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Teacher, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: What special thing did Baal HaSulam do besides adapting Kabbalah for our generation?

Answer: Baal HaSulam was a great Kabbalist of the first half of the 20^th century. He summarized all of Lurianic Kabbalah (the Kabbalah of the ARI), organized it into a system, and presented it in The Study of the Ten Sefirot. In addition, he wrote many articles, several Introductions to The Book of Zohar, and turned Kabbalah into a true science.

In his writings, Baal HaSulam was the first to address ordinary people. Before him, Kabbalists wrote only for those who had already attained the upper world.

He was the first to spread Kabbalah to the public, because from his time onward, the world entered a period of spiritual ascent, even if it is not yet revealed. It is an accumulating, gradually building process.

Moreover, Baal HaSulam began to spread Kabbalah not only to Jews, but to the whole world wherever possible. He wrote openly about this: “I am glad that I have been born in such a generation when it is permitted to disclose the wisdom of truth, and I have been given permission to disclose Kabbalah in the world.”

Baal HaSulam’s eldest son, RABASH, was the great Kabbalist of the second half of the 20^th century, and our teacher. This is why our organization is called Bnei Baruch (Sons of Baruch); it is in his honor. From him, we received the Kabbalistic method that we study today.

He wrote three volumes of articles explaining the entire spiritual work of a person, how to attain the upper worlds. In addition, many of his archival recordings have been preserved but not yet published, and we are working on them.
[217037]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/23/2017, “A chain of knowledge 57 centuries long. The history of the Kabbalah method”

Related Material:
What Baal HaSulam Contributed To The Spiritual System
Two Incarnations Of A Great Soul
The Man Who Opened The Path To Liberation

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Dissemination, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Was it hard for you to communicate with your teacher RABASH from the standpoint of mentality?

Answer: Absolutely not. In terms of mentality, we were very close. He was a Polish Jew from the beginning of the last century. I was a Belarusian Jew who grew up on the outskirts of Vitebsk in a town where many Jews once lived. The spirit, the way of life, the habits—it all lingered there, and I somehow picked it up.

In principle, when you study Kabbalah, all of this does not matter. But I understood RABASH as a person, with all his habits. I grew up in a town with just a few houses: my grandparents lived in one, some relatives in another,  a little farther away lived more relatives, and so on. It was all very natural for me.

From childhood, I had memories that exactly matched the stories of RABASH. So in terms of everyday life, I had no conflicts or problems with him.

Of course, he had his own habits that he picked up in Israel, after emigrating from Poland. He loved coffee very much because he had lived for many years in Jerusalem with his father Baal HaSulam, who was a great coffee lover. They would pour boiling water over a spoonful of ground black coffee and drink it. Baal HaSulam needed twenty of these glasses a day, if not more, and cigarettes.

My teacher also smoked, not ordinary cigarettes, but very strong tobacco, first without a filter, then with one.

They experienced many upheavals in life. After Baal HaSulam was forbidden to publish a newspaper, he suffered a heart attack, and shortly after, he was diagnosed with cancer.

My teacher went through the death of his daughter and her husband, who passed away just six months apart. Her husband had been the right hand of RABASH, his helper in everything. They died a year before I came to him. Yes, he had serious problems. All Kabbalists do.

That is why I think we are the first and the happiest, probably because we are weak and unworthy of serious trials. Very little is given to us. On the contrary, we receive good feedback for whatever we do. That is why we are able to spread Kabbalah, develop, hold congresses, attract hundreds, thousands, even more people.

Baal HaSulam and RABASH were not granted any of this. They lived in terrible conditions, worked a thousand times harder than we do, suffered, and in the end received a meager result compared to us if you look at it from the outside. And they died in despair: What is next?

And how did the ARI die? It is documented that when his students asked: “Where are you going from us?” He answered: “If you were worthy, I would have stayed. If you wanted to hear me and listened to what I was saying, they would not have taken me.” This was said by a great Kabbalist, who died at thirty-seven. He knew his students would not continue his work, and before dying, he forbade them to study Kabbalah.

Can you imagine a greater punishment for students than to hear: “I forbid you to study! Go back to your animal state and live.” And you do not dare disobey your teacher.

What happened to most of the students of the ARI we know almost nothing. He allowed only one to continue studying Kabbalah: Chaim Vital, who collected all his writings. The ARI ordered these writings to be buried with him. Some time later, his grave was opened, the writings were taken out, and from them his works were compiled, on which Baal HaSulam based The Study of the Ten Sefirot and other writings. So the Kabbalists of the past went through horrific states!

And Rashbi, who wrote The Book of Zohar? He lived in a cramped cave, near a tiny spring and a carob tree with sweet pods. That is what he and his son ate. In such harsh conditions, they dug into the sand, and they studied Kabbalah. Later eight more students joined them, and together they wrote The Book of Zohar, sitting in that cave, in the cold, in the north of the country! The horror!
[345184]
From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. The Links of the Kabbalist Chain from ARI to Rabash” 9/4/10

Related Material:
Feelings that Replace Language
Automatic Or Conscious Effort?
The Difficult Life Of A Kabbalist

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Q&A, Rabash - No Comments →

Question: Rabash and Baal HaSulam were great Kabbalists who reached high levels of attainment. If a person advances along the spiritual degrees, does he also reach their level or are they completely different souls?

Answer: I have not reached it yet.

Question: But can any person do this?

Answer: Of course, he can rise even higher to complete correction. I do not know who is at which degree, but everyone must reach the final correction (Gmar Tikkun).

Rabash and Baal HaSulam were certainly great. I just haven’t attained their height yet and therefore can’t say how great they are. In our world, a small person looking at a tall one can say: he is one meter eighty centimetres or two meters tall.

But in the spiritual world, you only perceive the degree that is directly above you and no more. You can’t feel beyond that. You can’t measure and say, “He reached this or that level in the spiritual worlds.” How would you know those worlds? You don’t know anything.

In our world, too, we don’t realize how limited we are. We think we grasp a lot. But each person grasps only what they’re able to grasp and thus forms a picture of this small world based on their sensations, understanding, and maybe just a bit beyond themselves: “If I were a bit more developed, what would I then feel?” In truth, we only feel to the extent we are capable of feeling.

Question: But did Rabash complete the correction of his soul?

Answer: Most likely. I don’t know. I have not reached this level, so I can’t say anything.

Question: But you still hope to reach it too?

Answer: I hope so. But I speak only about what I truly see and feel.
[342689]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Levels of Attainment” 7/6/10

Related Material:
Two Souls Opening for Us the Door to the Creator
First-Hand Method
The Greatest Souls

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Q&A, Rabash, Spiritual Work - No Comments →