Question: What is the method of teaching Kabbalah to children?

Answer: It is very easy to explain any phenomenon to a child. It only seems difficult to us; however, that is not so.

It is written that the one teaching a child is as if writing on a blank sheet of paper, whereas we, grown-ups, must write on paper we ourselves have doodled on. First we must neutralize our thoughts, desires, prejudices, and preconceptions, erase many things within, and only after we can try writing something. But experience shows that it is easy working with children.

I have seen this in my son’s example. When I began studying with Rabash, I would repeat the material we read during the lesson at home. My seven year-old son would sit next to me, and I would recite the text back to him in order to better take in the material. I saw that he perceived and remembered it better than I did. I asked him questions, and he answered correctly.

Then I understood that the more pure the person, even still a child, the more naturally he perceives Kabbalah. This is because in reality, it is a science of nature, and we see this on the children. I am jealous of how naturally they all perceive it!

Many things register in them simply through repetition, without having to sense them, because their sensory mechanism has not yet been developed. The sensation will come at a later time, during the time of the eruption of hormones. But by then, they will already be filled with different laws and formulas. So once their hormones will start working and desires will begin to surge, they will know how to regulate them.
[41087]
From Lesson 6, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

Related Material:
Be More Serious In The Sand-Box!
A Wise Man Looks Into The Distance
What You Have Inside Is What You Get Outside

Filed under: Children, Conventions, Education, Kabbalah Study, Q&A - No Comments →

We are developing the method of correction during our daily lessons. We build it from the primary sources and their explanations, from questions and answers. We are creating an educational system within the same framework.

A special channel of dissemination of Kabbalah for the entire world opens here. After all, education is every parent’s headache or, actually, a heartache. Everyone is concerned about their children in every part of the world, North and South America, Asia, Africa, Russia and Europe, China and Japan. The problem of education is awakening everywhere to various extents.

This is why the world is ready to listen to our developments in this area. We are communicating with UNESCO, the top organization responsible for education around the world. We were very well received, and our representatives have already participated in two events in New York and Moscow.

We have discovered that the world is aching to solve this problem, but no one has the solution. UNESCO has high expectations for us, and they are inspired with the quantity of our materials regarding this topic. It is true that today, our materials are breaking all boundaries. Every week we produce 50-100 pages of new text. At the same time, we are working on a new book which will be published under the aegis of UNESCO. Several more large projects are waiting in line.

There is no doubt that if we manage to create one “good” generation, in their turn, they will know how to raise their children. For this reason, the entire problem is in figuring out a way to form one generation that will receive an education instead of plain knowledge, which will give us the ability to turn the children into human beings in the  full sense of this word.

They will know the reason and purpose of their existence, how they can connect with one another, why they begin with the breaking, and why they need to correct themselves. Briefly speaking, they will know how to have a proper attitude toward the world.

Next, we are realizing educational programs with the group of our children. We correct it and find many new approaches along the way. For example, we have discovered that children teach one another very well. For instance, the fourteen-year-old teaches the ten-year-old.

This is because the younger ones see the older ones as role models, and they want to be like them, while the older ones are proud of their role. In the end, the age difference creates a great bond. Overall, children growing up according to the new method become completely different.

Essentially, the entirety of Kabbalah is a science of education; we use it to educate ourselves. However, this becomes very evident among children. It is no mistake that they happen to be growing up in our arms from their infancy. The matter depends on us because they are already prepared to receive the spiritual method of education from us.

The Study of the Ten Sefirot explains the growth of the spiritual person within us. We can raise a child according to the same principles as we take him through the years (degrees) toward maturity, not just the physical one, but the spiritual one. This is the method we are trying to develop, build, and realize.

This summer, we are planning to open a two-week summer camp for children around the world. The program will be broadcast over the Internet so that every child can connect to the common activities since this will be happening over the summer vacation. We will try to support the children’s unity in the future as well so that they will eventually grow into the new, international, virtual as well as physical group.
[40957]
From Lesson 6, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

Related Material:
Recent Meetings At UNESCO And The UN
On Global Education
A College Degree At The Age Of Twelve

Filed under: Children, Conventions, Education - 4 Comments →

Question: My three year old daughter watches your lessons together with me. Is this material enough for her, or does she need other content?

Answer: I am hearing many similar questions here, and it surprises me a lot. What do you expect of such young children? Who told you that you should drag a three-year-old girl to the lesson? Where have you seen this? Why are you not learning from what we do with our children?

We do not do this. See what we do, and do the same. We gradually let children older than six listen to certain things and sing together with us.
[41460]
From Lesson 7, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

Related Material:
Do Children Have A Connection With The Creator?
Teaching Children The Perception Of Reality
How Can We Influence Our Children?

Filed under: Children, Conventions, Education, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Hundreds and thousands of American children are practically left to themselves, and multiple social services that are supposed to handle them fail completely. Are there any books on this issue that we can offer them?

Answer: So far, there are not, but we are working on them. I hope that in three to six months, you will start receiving a series of books containing the method of raising children of different ages: how to form groups, conduct discussions, influence their development, and build a connection between them.

Besides, you don’t have to wait for our materials; you should join us and together with us participate in the process of writing such books! A person who isn’t engaged in spreading the wisdom has no chance to advance spiritually. How can one channel the Light if there is no yearning to pass it on to others?

Take the American Education Center as an example; participate in dissemination or we won’t succeed and will keep developing very slowly. We need the force, a lot of it! We really need your help!
[40887]
From Lesson 6, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

Related Material:
Dissemination Is Like Giving Birth In Spirituality
The Urgent Need For An Education Method
Let Them Get Wiser

Filed under: Children, Conventions, Education, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Should we begin the Kabbalistic education with our children, to make them an example for the outside world, or are we ready to address the outside world, and the only question is how to go about it?

Answer: Parents must educate their children, this is designed by nature. Therefore, if, as a parent, I understand that the best gift I can give my child is the connection with the Light, the Creator, the force that can protect him and raise him to the highest possible level, the force that accompanies him or her in this world and the next, I will certainly want to give my child this support, this shield.

I want for my child to be brought up by the Light and not just some school teacher. First and foremost, I want to give him or her a spiritual education, and in addition to that he can study in a school or a university. I don’t care as much whether he becomes a blue-collar worker or a professor; what I do care about is the spiritual baggage he ends his life with, whether he’ll be happy in this life, whether he’ll know what his life is for.

Therefore, a spiritual education is immeasurably more important than a material one, which changes direction every few years. These days, when a person concludes his education, he is forced to begin anew almost right away. The world is on the threshold of the informational revolution.

Should we first educate our kids and disseminate the system of spiritual education with their help, or should we cultivate spiritual education in the world directly? We must propagate spiritual education now, without delay. A lot of time will go by before our children grow up and we will be able to present them to the world. We are already preparing materials on the spiritual education method, without any connection to our kids, and disseminating them in the world in all languages through various non-commercial organizations.

We’re bringing up our children, and we will be glad to see children from other countries join us virtually as well as participate in the summer camps we will be organizing. We need to see the result of the Kabbalistic education on our children.

We already see it, but it’s not enough to address the world and show everyone what’s happening here. If in two to three years from now we can show five-six year old kids reasoning correctly, eleven-twelve year olds with mature personalities who understand what’s happening in the world, and fifteen-sixteen year olds finishing universities, then we’ll have something to show the world.
[40904]
From Lesson 6, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

Related Material:
Participation Of All Is The Key To Success
A Wise Man Looks Into The Distance
A College Degree At The Age Of Twelve

Filed under: Children, Conventions, Education, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Are children born with the point in the heart, filled with absolute love?

Answer: No, there are no people born with the point in the heart, full of love of others. On the contrary, a child is born with a ruined point in the heart. It is precisely this black point that we refer to as the “point in the heart.” He needs to develop, expand, correct, and fulfill it through connecting with others.

There are children born with the point in the heart, and there are those whose point in this incarnation has not yet “emerged” and they do not yet feel the question about the meaning of life.

Question: Do small children have contact with the Creator, and do we need to create conditions for the development of their spirituality from their early months of life?

Answer: We begin to work with children after they turn three. Until that age, they do not perceive anything but their animate state.

We need to form the proper attitude towards others in children. They do not understand what others are until the age of three. But at the age of three they develop initial “social relations” with other children, they already play together. This is why it is possible to start working with them.
[41478]
From Lesson 7, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

Filed under: Children, Conventions, Education, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Even though our world is an imaginary reality, Kabbalists treat it very seriously. Why is that?

Answer: It’s because we grow and act while being inside of it. Even though this reality is definitely imaginary, you have to take it seriously and arrange things in it as if it really exists.

Imagine that you joined a group of children and are playing with them as seriously as possible, making the game real the way they do. The little ones are running around, trying to put something together and arguing over toys, but to them—this is life. And you participate in their life, helping them put its parts together so they would grow quickly and correctly in this “sand-box.”

This requires a serious attitude. It takes great efforts to raise a child in this world, and a person must treat himself in exactly the same way. This is how he should treat the spiritual child that is growing inside of him. You cannot make any compromises in this regard: I take care of myself, my family, children, and parents, and all the material needs. And even though all of this is obviously an illusion, that doesn’t matter.

The pictures of the material world are depicted in my brain by the egoistic desire and I cannot correct that desire because it is on the still level. Even the great Kabbalist Rabbi Shimon had to eat, drink, make a living, and take care of his students. Do you really think they were floating up in the clouds, not worrying about their families and about putting bread on the table?

This world is part of my growth, “including toothaches,” as Rabash used to say. The only difference is that I must aspire upwards over and over again, toward bestowal, toward the spiritual world. Kabbalists have a different problem: How to remain serious inside of this children’s sand-box. And they are obligated to do that. That is why they have such a responsible attitude to upbringing and other areas in the material world. A person has to provide for all of his vital needs.

Corporeality disappears from our sensations only at the end of correction when there is no more need for this game of the imagination.
[40484]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, Writings of Rabash

Filed under: Children, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Education, Egoism, Perception, Q&A - 1 Comment →

Question: I told my three year old son that everything that surrounds us exists within man. He asked me: “Does it exist inside my body?” And I didn’t know what to answer him. How can we explain it to a child?

Answer: It is forbidden to talk about these things with small children. We can discuss the correct perception of reality with nine year old children, by giving them the information in small portions since their internal and external perception of reality contradict each other.

This may induce a conflict in the child since his brain is not sufficiently developed yet and can’t perceive two parts as being both opposite to and connected with each other. All other things can be discussed at younger age.

It’s advisable to consult with us on such matters. We have collected a great deal of children education material; a big department is working on it; twice a week I hold talks on education, which provide answers to such questions.
[39789]
From Lesson 2, WE! Convention 4/2/2011

Filed under: Children, Conventions, Education, Perception, Q&A - No Comments →

On the spiritual path, we undergo phases of development and at the same time, creative development. It is the same in our world: Man does not live by bread alone.

We do not only feed children to strengthen them, nor do we solely appraise them by the weight they gain. Rather, the most crucial factor is the extent to which a child becomes a human being: one who is understanding, perceptive, responsive, longing, and directed towards qualitative rather than quantitative achievements. This means that a child grows. It is a pity if he is deprived of this.

It is the same in spirituality. Is it really possible to evaluate yourself according to the number of hours spent studying? No, we require qualitative growth so that our desires and thoughts focus more and more on the principle of “Israel, Torah, and the Creator are one,” on the goal of our growth.

Nature imparts on us purposeful development and obliges us to learn to relate to everything we do in life purposefully. And this means that we have to define for ourselves what a person should be like. After all, a wise man looks into the distance. If we develop purposefully, we need to understand what nature wants.

Nature demonstrates to us the wholeness, interconnection, the integrity of all of the parts, a constant development. And so we, too, must distinguish the corresponding stages in our development, accepting them as desirable.

Today, correct education is required for both parents and children. We must deliver the basic principles to everyone: constant self-perfection, aiming towards unity, the goodness of qualitative and quantitative connections between us, naturally arising as a result of association, unity, harmony, and homeostasis with nature.

If we ourselves behave this way, and if we begin to teach this to the young generation, if continuous steps towards unity, becoming closer, and mutual understanding, up to loving our neighbor as ourselves becomes a norm, we will be moving ever closer to the goal. Our education will be purposeful.

As we develop and undergo states that contradict our egoism, we should understand that the end of the action lies in its initial thought. Nature has set the end goal: We must unite with each other. And because there is no other way out, we need to educate ourselves and the growing generation with the method of uniting.

Otherwise, instead of longing towards a sweet fruit, we’ll only be more immersed in the bitterness of the previous stages of ripening.
[39003]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/11, The Principles of Global Education

Related Material:
Useful Obstacles
Life Could Be Beautiful
Making The Principles Of Global Education Clear To Everyone

Filed under: Children, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Education, Group Work, Inner Work - No Comments →

Question: What does it mean to feel that you are already at the convention right now, while reading The Book of Zohar, so the convention would happen in the best possible way?

Answer: Prepare yourself. If you are about to attend a wonderful, pleasant, and joyful event, then you prepare for it in advance. You anticipate it and enjoy this beckoning illumination of the future. And you receive great inspiration from that.

Therefore, as we get closer to the worldwide convention that will be held in New Jersey, we have to prepare ourselves already now. Everything depends on preparing the desire, “What do I plan on correcting? What do I want? What will I get out of it? How do I want to appear there?” I have to imagine all of this in detail, as if I am already there. Therefore, we have to make all the songs available on the website, as well as everything that will happen at the cultural programs and the other events so people can become familiar with it, understand it, and already be able to imagine how it will happen.

A child grows by imagining the future, and then it comes true. If a person does not experience this reverent desire at all times, if he does not increase his desires, and even his worries and fears, then he does not gain anything. He must already now wait impatiently, wondering, “How will this happen? When? In what way? How will I be inspired? How will I participate?”

This is necessary in order to grow up. If children did not receive the aspiration toward the future from nature, then they would not be able to grow. But for us, this aspiration is given as freedom of choice. Do you want to grow up? Then find a way to receive the greatness of the goal from the environment, and then you will grow. There is no other method! If we don’t learn on the example of small children, if we don’t implement these actions in practice, then it would be a shame to let our lives go by wasted.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/11, The Zohar

Filed under: Children, Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Evolution, Free Will, Inner Work, Q&A, Spirituality - No Comments →