Question: As I understand it, the wisdom of Kabbalah came from Judaism and all of the Kabbalists of the past were very religious. What is the real connection between the wisdom of Kabbalah and religion?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah is the foundation of true “religion.” Baal HaSulam writes about this in the article, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose.”

The three major religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—are based upon the teachings of our father Abraham. But Abraham specifically discovered the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is the foundation of all religions, and he described his discovery in the Kabbalistic book, Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation).

The main principle of the religion that was discovered by Abraham is “And you shall love your friend as yourself.” So it is also written, “And you shall love your friend as yourself is the great general rule of the Torah.” In principle, this is meant in every sense. Or minimally: “What is hateful to you, don’t do to your friend.”

The entire Torah speaks about good relationships between people. Relationships of this kind existed among the people of Israel before the destruction of the second Beit HaMikdash (Temple) 2,000 years ago, which was destroyed because of the sudden eruption of unfounded hatred.

Everything revolves around only one point: Good or bad attitudes among the Jews determine what will happen with them and the entire world in general. This is precisely the reason for anti-Semitism; it is because the Jewish people cannot reach agreement among themselves and because of this the whole world suffers.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is involved only with how to attain the right connection between us, and this is the foundation of the entire religion. And what has been considered religion in the last 2,000 years is the maintenance of all kinds of traditions that seem to be enough for people.

This is the form religion takes in exile when we were separated from the principle of “And you shall love your friend as yourself,” from the yearning to unite. This is the form in which the Jewish people had to ripen for 2,000 years, to go out to the nations of the world and be mingled with them, and after that to return to their land.

But after we physically returned to the land of Israel, we needed to revive the wisdom of Kabbalah, so that it would live among us and help us build a people and a nation in the same form as it once was: with love and unity between us.

There are no restrictions on this. If a person studies the method of connection, it makes no difference if he is religious or secular, what country or community he came from, or if a person is a man or a woman. Everyone must study this method and as soon as possible because our good future depends upon this.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how to realize this unity, and in a practical manner makes feeling this possible during the workshops and in the connection in the discussion circles that we have brought everywhere. Thousands of people have already participated in our roundtables, and they feel that within half an hour of discussion according to the method of the wisdom of Kabbalah, they suddenly experienced an unusual feeling, an illuminating, an awakening of inspiration and warmth. And this feeling spreads to all the participants.

Comment: I was able to participate in these roundtable workshops that were transmitted according to the ancient wisdom of Kabbalah. And I remember that in the beginning the people who gathered were very skeptical and even cynical, they regretted the time they were wasting. But at the end of the evening, people simply floated from excitement and emotion, they were moved to tears and embraced each other. This was an outbreak of vital force and warmth that melted all of the ice and indifference that separates our hearts.
[155507]
From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 2/15/15

Related Material:
What Is The Difference Between Kabbalah And Religion?
A Profound Change Of Our Perspective
The Goal – Love Of The Other

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Group Work, Israel, Israel Today, Kabbalah Dissemination, Nations of the World, Religion, Torah, Unity - No Comments →

Question: My acquaintances tell me that it is dangerous to study the wisdom of Kabbalah because you can go crazy. Is it true that it is so dangerous and what should one beware of in the study?

Answer: In the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” the main textbook for studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is written that the Kabbalists intentionally spread the rumor that it is dangerous to study the wisdom of Kabbalah because they didn’t want people to come to study. So the wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed from the time of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) almost until our day.

This had to happen because humanity had to develop and the people of Israel had to go through exile. The exile is also detachment from the wisdom of Kabbalah, from knowledge of the system, and a sinking into darkness. So we were in darkness for 2,000 years and this myth has existed about the wisdom of Kabbalah until today. But it was spread by the Kabbalists themselves to keep people away from the wisdom of Kabbalah until its time would come.

And today everything is precisely the opposite. Just as our entire world has transformed, so has the attitude towards the wisdom of Kabbalah changed. The Kabbalists write that from our day and onward everyone must discover the wisdom of Kabbalah and see what it gives to the people of Israel. This is because we cannot solve our problems nor exist any longer without it.

So there is nothing to fear. It is possible to open the book and study, and there are plenty of books that are appropriate for beginners, men and women.

Question: So it follows that in recent years humanity has reached a stage in which the wisdom of Kabbalah must be studied by everyone? Previously this wasn’t so and there even existed a prohibition on its study. But today humanity is found in such a blind alley that the only exit from it is to learn about life existing beyond these boundaries?

Answer: It is specifically the same outlet that is revealed to us through the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah that takes us out of the blind alley in which we are now found.

Question: What do you mean by “beyond the boundaries of life”?

Answer: This is life beyond the boundaries of our corruption, a life in a corrected world. The world continues to act according to determined laws and nothing is changed other than our attitude. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains to us how to manage the forces and the network of connection between us so that everyone will be connected in the right way.

We reach such a harmony, such a unity, in the relationships between us that we discover a unique force between us that helps us rise above this life that is within the body and only for its sake. We begin to feel life on a higher level, and in this manner we go out beyond the limits of this world, this life.

Question: Doesn’t one have to be a great sage for this?

Answer: This is accessible to everyone. In our house there is a refrigerator, a stove, a microwave; do you know how they work? Even if you don’t it doesn’t keep you from using them.

In the same way there were wise Kabbalists who created the method, like a microwave. And there are ordinary people for whom it is enough only to learn to use it. Each one must learn to some degree, similar to how we need to know how a microwave works, in terms of what buttons to press and how to change its states.
[155430]
From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 2/15/15

Related Material:
True Kabbalah Without Mysticism Or Myths, Part 1
Kabbalists’ Legacy: Not Only Books
Why Kabbalah Was Kept So Secret

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Inner Work, Israel, Israel Today, Kabbalah Study, Kabbalistic Sources, Spiritual Work, Spirituality - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “The Last Generation,” Part 2: …in fact, there is nothing more natural than coming into contact with one’s maker, for He has made nature. In fact, every creature has contact with his maker, as it is written, “The whole earth is full of His glory,” except we do not know or feel it.

Actually, one who is awarded contact with Him attains only the awareness. It is as though one has a treasure in his pocket, and he does not know it. Along comes another and lets him know what is in his pocket. Now he really has become rich.

Now when he discovers this treasure, he knows that he has ownership of this and he knows how to use it. Before, he put his hand into his pocket and he didn’t know what kind of treasure was in his possession, whereas now he discovers it in his pocket and he knows how to use it.

Question: So what is this treasure that we have in our possession without our knowing about it?

Answer: We are in a world that is concealed from us. We don’t see more than one percent of all of the reality that surrounds us. Essentially, we see only a small, compressed, and completely distorted world. We don’t pay attention to the treasure we possess.

Question: Does the wisdom of Kabbalah make it possible for me to discover this treasure?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah gradually reveals the entire map to us to the degree that we can use this treasure correctly. In the meantime, only this world is revealed to us, and we are destroying it. So how is it possible to reveal more to us? The wisdom of Kabbalah explains to us where we can develop and what kind of goal we can attain.

Question: And a treasure is waiting for us at the end of the road?

Answer: We discover it gradually. Gradually we are allowed to put our hand in our pocket and use part of the treasure if we know how to use it correctly. If we learn to use it correctly with the powers and knowledge that are given to us, then they become revealed before us.
[155410]
From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 2/15/15

Related Material:
The Wisdom Of Kabbalah Is A Wisdom For Perception Of The World
Kabbalah Is The Physics Of The Integral World
Are We Awake or Still Asleep?

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Inner Work, Kabbalah Study, Perception, Spiritual Work, The Creator - No Comments →

The soul is a desire to love and to bestow, which a person develops within himself. In this way, he begins to feel the spiritual world.

We now only have a desire to receive and to enjoy, pulling toward ourselves everything that seems to us as good, whereas the desire for bestowal indicates that I include the desires of other people and begin to fulfill them.

With this, I acquire my soul, for the soul is found outside of my body and not within it. I don’t identify myself with this world, but with my desire to bestow. I come out of myself and feel the external reality. In this manner I begin to perceive the spiritual reality, the next level.

Baal HaSulam writes in Pri Hacham (The Sages Fruit), “The Emanation of the Soul”: Every person was not created but to attain a complete and enlightened soul from the Creator, be He blessed, worthy of constant and eternal adhesion.
[155149]
From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 2/1/15

Related Material:
Life With The Second, Third, And Tenth Attempt
How To Acquire Your Soul
One Soul For All

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Body and Soul, Spiritual Work, The Creator - No Comments →

Question: Why is anti-Semitism growing all over the world?

Answer: It is in order to push you and bring you closer to the goal. This is apparently necessary in order to awaken Israel to correction. What can we do if we don’t awaken any other way?

According to the general plan, we have now come to a state that we have to correct in order to ascend to the next level. But we are not doing this, and therefore it is necessary to spur us by pressures. It is because this is the only way the desire to receive understands.

If you wave a carrot in front of a person trying to tempt him, he will run and his egoistic desire to receive will grow. But then, having a big ego, he will not want to correct himself if he refused to do so when he had a small desire. If life were beautiful and wonderful all over the world, people wouldn’t want to think about anything but corporeal comfort.

It turns out that there is no other choice but to be pressured. This stems from the adaptation between the Lights and the vessels and not because someone Above has decided to punish us. If we are influenced by the lack of Light, don’t correct this lack and don’t take care of it properly, this lack of Light keeps growing. Then it increasingly accumulates until it explodes in the form of a pogrom or a holocaust.

These are the laws of nature that are only fulfilled in ways such as through Nazis and others that emerge throughout the world. They don’t determine or decide anything by themselves. Everything comes from Above as a result of the lack of adaptation between the Lights and the vessels.

After such a blow, the nation that should have already advanced and disseminated the wisdom of Kabbalah, which means the method of correction, reaches a peaceful period. It is because those certain vessels are gone now since they all died, and so there is a certain limited period of peace. But at what cost! The pressure between the Lights and the vessels forces us to perform the correction in some way, and if we don’t advance along the path of Achishena (hastening time) then it is along the path of “in its time – Beito” (the path of suffering).

Don’t delude yourselves that we are in a better situation today than we were before. Then we had a place to run to and now there will be nowhere to run and the whole world will be like this. Anti-Semitism is growing all over the world and it is because we are not advancing and are lagging behind in our corrections.

If we see how evil increases each day, it is a sign that we are not doing our job each day.

Question: What else should we do so that anti-Semitism will disappear?

Answer: We must go out to the public even more actively and explain and gather people around the idea of mutual guarantee, which is the condition for reaching “love thy friend as thyself” by the Light that Reforms.

In the meantime, however, we don’t manage to advance in the necessary speed according to the timeline. This is the reason that our debt keeps growing every day. No matter how much you profit, your debt to the bank only grows. What should we do if our profit isn’t enough and we don’t have enough time? This is a great problem. We must hurry!
[135889]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
A Special Account With The People Of Israel
Unemotional, Systematic View Of Anti- Semitism
Concerning The Crossroads

Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Baal HaSulam, Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Group Work, Israel, Israel Today, Kabbalah Dissemination, Nations of the World, Society, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

What is required in order to discover the good? Why does someone who is born into great abundance not appreciate it? You tell children: “See how much you have! How much I have given to you! When I was a child I didn’t have this.” Yet they wave you off and don’t want to hear this.

They cannot appreciate your goodness since they have nothing with which to compare it. So they don’t understand what kind of gratitude you require from them. They want to go to the movies, they can go; they want a computer, they get it; a new mobile phone, to go on vacation, whatever they want. They have everything, and so they also have no desire for anything.

You tell them that when you were their age, you built a car for yourself from a shoebox and played with this car for two years, and they laugh at you. They are right, because everything is measured according to desire.

They feel themselves on a particular level of satiation and will not move from it in any direction. First one must descend to minus infinity to be able to feel plus infinity afterward.

About this it was said in “Leviticus” 26:10: When I break for you the staff of bread, and ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will bring back your bread by weight, and you will eat, yet not be satisfied, meaning that nothing in the world changes except our consciousness. Even now you are found in Olam Ein Sof (the world of infinity), yet instead of that you feel this world because you don’t have the Kelim to perceive Ein Sof.

On one side there is a sack of gold coins, and on the other side there is a mountain of diamonds. In front of you is a table set with a bounty of delicacies, yet you are dying of starvation and suffer from the stench.

Everything depends upon your perceptive Kli. You are in Olam Ein Sof, which never changes. Everything depends only on desire, and desire is built above an abyss that is constantly revealed to a greater degree.

Therefore, it is difficult for our children to feel a reason for living, specifically because they have everything. Baal HaSulam tells a parable about a king who put his son in a basement for 20 years and caused him mental anguish by showing him how everyone else was successful. Others are sitting in a bar or watching the World Cup, whereas you are sitting in a dark cellar full of mice, cursing your father.

This continued until the son discovered that his father was acting from the goodness of his heart and with great love. His father was suffering himself because he had given his son grief. Whereas if you give your children everything that they want from the goodness of your heart, this means that you hate them.

Question: Does it follow that I must intentionally hurt a child in order to educate him?

Answer: You limit him because you want things to be good for him, and you are willing to suffer in order to do this. You do this for his sake so that it will benefit him in the future. It will not be good for him now, as his ego desires, but will benefit him throughout his life.

Or, you want to feel good from the thought of how much you have given him. You think to yourself: “I couldn’t afford any of this in my childhood, so my son should enjoy it.” Is this what you call love?

Tomorrow you will have to give him many times more because otherwise he will not feel that he is alive. You must build a “basement” with great wisdom and put your beloved son in there, and you will suffer many times more than he will. In this manner, you will be preparing him for a good life.

So we have a method by which it is possible to advance towards fulfillment, towards goodness, not by feeling bad, but by being aware of it. This is a very special patent. It is necessary only to understand the principle and that is enough. Then there will no longer be a need to suffer. We are not ready to go through the way of difficult suffering.

The Creator made a special system in which it is enough for us to be aware of the evil that exists in contrast to the good, in order to accept it as a tool and sense fulfillment through it. After all, we are not ready to descend to minus infinity.
[137199]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
My Present Self And My Desired Self
Many Problems, One Answer
Correcting The Mistakes

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Children, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Family, Inner Work, Love, Society, Spiritual Work, Suffering - No Comments →

Education means feeding the students from one day to the next with a certain portion of material in quantity and quality. The quantity and quality change every day according to the changes that you want to bring about in them from day to day. This means that the changes that take place in people and the changes in the material must be mutually synchronized, as one affects the other.

We must establish an open university that will provide a simple daily portion on TV and the Internet. Education cannot be completed in five sessions but should be a continuous process. We must take that into account because this is our job.

It involves updating the material, songs, and clips daily, in order to keep shooting at one point until an opening is made in the heart of stone, and a deficiency is created.

Question: Does a person need to be aware of the fact that he is undergoing an educational process?

Answer: Yes, he should know that. After all he is taught in order to adapt to the upper force that manages his life or his death and arranges his existence in all the worlds. Thus, he learns how to succeed at every moment in both small and great matters.

We should not conceal anything from people, as it is written, “For they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” Otherwise, we will be like those about whom Baal HaSulam writes who conceal the wisdom of Kabbalah from the Israeli nation, thus keeping them behind an iron wall.

We must open people’s eyes. We will be surprised by the depth at which people’s perceptions will suddenly open up, although today they may seem totally blocked and interested only in food and football. This will be despite the absolutely corporeal passions that occupy them today.

All of this isn’t their fault but is a result of the concealment that everyone is in these days. There is a curtain placed before them that creates a shadow, and they say that there is no sunlight. If the curtain is removed, they will say, “Wow, it turns out that there is sunlight!”

What they say now is a result of the concealment;  a person is a consequence of the upper providence.
[137290]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Laying The Foundation For A New World
Believing What Is Written
Other Than The Person, There Is Nothing To Change

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Education, Kabbalah Dissemination, Nations of the World, Perception, Society - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam,”The Nation”: It is clear, save for relying on miracles. That our existence as individuals or as a nation is hanging between life and death. And the salvation is, if we can find the required ploy, that great scheme who’s way is only to be found near danger, and which can tilt the scale to our favor—to give us a safe haven here for all the Diaspora of our brothers, which everyone says is, at present, the only place of salvage.

Then, the road of life will be open to us, to somehow continue our existence despite the difficulties. And if we miss the opportunity and do not rise as one, with the great efforts required at a time of danger, to guarantee our remaining in the land, then the facts before us are greatly threatening for us, since matters are evolving favorably for our enemies, who are asking to destroy us from the face of the Earth.

This was written at the beginning of WWII when people had not yet seen the real danger and the Holocaust towards which they were being led.

But Baal HaSulam says that although we had reached such a terrible state that the destructor was given permission to destroy us, we can still change the ratio between the forces of good and evil if we wish to improve our situation. It is all in our hands.

Although time operates against us, we can actually succeed during this time and bring about great and rapid changes.

Instead of waiting for afflictions, troubles, and  dangers, which means for the negative effects to push us forward, we need to advance by ourselves and turn the path of our natural evolution, in its time, to the path of, I shall hasten it. Then we will be able to advance without any blows at all. It all depends on whether we wake up as a result of the blows or whether we wake up as a result of our work.

Awakening by the blows isn’t very useful since they only change and spur us on. We need to change a great deal in order to recover and advance after such blows. So wouldn’t it be better if we advanced along a smooth path? Then it would really be our awakening to the goal of creation and to a rapid escape from the blows.
[137832]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Concerning The Crossroads
A Special Account With The People Of Israel
Say “No” To A New Holocaust

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, History, Spiritual Work, Suffering, World - No Comments →

Question: How do we overcome fear in dissemination and fear of lack of success? How do we strengthen and give each other support on the way?

Answer: Truly, when we go out to the streets, organize various events, and circles in homes, we encounter very tired people who are not ready to listen to us and are unwilling to cooperate. In fact, they are very tired and exhausted from life. Therefore we are compelled to overcome many obstacles on our way toward them.

But the problem is that we look at the world, we think of how we can correct such a large number of people—seven billion human beings! What can a small handful of our people do with these billions in China, India, and South America? But we don’t understand that we don’t need to correct all of this. Through a small switch or faucet, we open the passage for the Upper Light and it makes all the corrections. We either block or open the passage for the Light. It isn’t necessary to be afraid of all the rest of the work because the Light will do it. He created darkness and He will also make the Light.

A one-year-old child could flip a small switch with his little finger and suddenly the whole world would be filled with light. Everything depends on how much force we activate. If we can activate the Upper Light, what it does is its business.

So, I am not afraid by the great amount of work that is expected from me. This is not my work, rather the work of the Creator. I am His partner in this work and my goal is to make it possible for the Creator to act. I activate Him like a child who takes the hand of an adult and shows him what he wants the adult to do. That is what children generally do when they don’t succeed in doing something by themselves.

But we are concerned about how to correct the entire world, all the nations of the world, all of their mind and feelings, while they are not ready and don’t want to listen to us. But we don’t need to do this. If you do your job, you will see that everything will work out on its own.

Baal HaSulam doesn’t say to us to turn to our haters and bribe them. It is possible to think that if we do more good things for them they will treat us better. Are you kidding? This really is not correct.

We accept terrorists into our hospitals and take care of them. Do you think that they will ever admire us thanks to this? On the contrary, they will treat us even worse than before. It is because we are doing this instead of doing what we really must do. This is absolutely false.

It is up to us to show that we are not doing anything for them physically, but only spiritually. The world doesn’t need our Nobel Prizes, medicine, and expertise in agriculture. They will never appreciate us for that. Subconsciously the world demands only correction from us and if we don’t carry out that correction, the world blames us for all of its problems.

There is no point in justifying yourself because you have brought everything good to them. You are to blame for not doing what is demanded of you. The Creator makes demands on Israel through the nations of the world. The Creator hardens the heart of Pharaoh and through him, tells you what to do.
[137828]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Don’t Be Afraid Of Fear And Helplessness
Dissemination Makes Us Like The Creator
A Struggle That Is Both Physical And Spiritual

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Egoism, Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work, The Creator, World - 1 Comment →

Question: With whom can our movement work in partnership and under what conditions?

Answer: We are ready to connect with everyone who wants connection for the sake of correction of the world. Suppose that tomorrow Abu Mazen were to come and offer to work in partnership for the correction of the world. We would shake hands and begin to work together. The moment that some egoistic calculations are inserted into this covenant, we would immediately stop this shared activity.

The absence of egoistic considerations and a yearning to correct the world is the necessary condition. For correction it is necessary to attract the Light that reforms, because only this can help. If he is ready for this, then I am ready to unite with him. This is even though, in the meantime, it seems he is not ready.

We must take into account that it is possible to take a bit of the whole wide spectrum of different factions, political forces, nations, and governments for a short time with the goal of moving forward. This is because each one has some unique problem, and so they can unite with us and support us.

Last year we found ourselves in a dramatic situation regarding the kidnapping of three youths. The people felt terrible pressure and tension because we wanted to find and return the boys. So, with this event, we had the possibility of working with many organizations in Israel to connect the people.

In any case, it is clear to everyone that connection makes us stronger. We get more if we connect through prayer, a shared desire and action. So people went out to marches and gatherings.Thousands of people went out to the streets with placards demanding the release of the hostages. That is how it was all over the world.

Why did the desire to gather appear within them all of a sudden? Subconsciously, they felt that there was some kind of corrective force in this, some kind of new spirit that would appear in the people, along with the concept of a new state.

Even animals instinctively converge during a moment of danger. Sheep gather together into one flock and huddle together when they are concerned about an attack by wolves. If a forest fire breaks out, all of the animals flee from it together without fear of each other. This is because the general crisis connects them, and not one looks at the other in order to devour him. They all flee, meaning that they gather together in one common movement.

This inclination to connect at a time of trouble also exists instinctively among people. We need this spirit of connection, even if it is not an army marching and playing songs that is about to attack as one person. Even though we are not going out to attack, in spite of it, we feel that in this manner we are stabilizing a force through which we can correct ta situation.

So I think that we need to share this inclination that is felt among the people and unite together with them in actions such as these. In addition to this, we must organize discussion circles in parks, courtyards, and in homes.

The people who are now found in such a unique situation are ready to participate in discussions like these. It is necessary to discuss why this happened to us and how we can guarantee that this will never happen again, but only for the purpose of advancing towards the betterment of a situation and good relationships with others.
[137768]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
The Kidnapping Of The Boys Is Like A Knife In The Heart
One Big Workshop Throughout Israel
Hoping For The Return Of The Youths Unharmed

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Israel Today, Prayer and Intention, Society, Spiritual Work, Unity, Workshops - No Comments →