Two questions I received on setting boundaries for children:

Question: When my son is bullied and hit by other kids in kindergarten, should he fight back? If I don’t let him, then the bullying will continue, plus he will lose self-confidence, become depressed, feel that injustice is being committed against him, and will hate the kids who abuse him. He will become dependent and learn to tattle-tale to his teacher and mother.

My Answer: Of course, the best thing, and the goal, is for the children to have friendly relationships with each other. But until that happens, he has to fight back! The two don’t contradict each other.

He has to fight back as an equal, but the kids should receive an explanation that it’s best to play nice. This explanation is the teacher’s job.

Question: You say that we shouldn’t punish children as if they were animals. On the other hand, I have heard you say that in certain cases it’s ok to give your kid a spank. What do you do in a situation when talking to my child, explaining things to him, doesn’t help? How firm should parents be? Where’s the boundary?

My Answer: That’s a very broad question! We have specialists on Kabbalistic education and you should write to them.

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A baby starts learning about the world the moment it’s born. One’s purpose for coming into this world is to attain the Upper World, to live in both worlds – physical and spiritual. One then gains control over himself and his life, and sees everything from an infinite perspective. Children can use games, songs, and lessons to reveal the Creator and the vast Upper World.

This is what our children did at the 2009 International Kabbalah Congress

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A question I received: I watch the children’s lessons with my baby, play him Kabbalistic music and read your children’s books and stories to him. I try to teach him as I learn. How can a mother perceive when the first spiritual Reshimo surfaces in her children? And how can we connect to our children on the spiritual level?

My Answer: Continue showing your child the children’s lessons and studying the materials on our children’s website. The rest is no longer up to you.

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News Report (from ITN): “Life meaningless for young adults” A survey of 16 to 25-year-olds by the Prince’s Trust found that one in 10 young people believed life was not worth living or was meaningless. The poll of over 2,000 showed that more than a quarter felt depressed. Almost half said they were regularly stressed and many did not have anything to look forward to. The trust, which aims to help vulnerable young people, said its study revealed an increasingly vulnerable generation.

My Comment: Indeed, this is true. However, we shouldn’t see the state of our generation as a fact, but as a result of a grown egoism. It follows from this that the enormous egoism will force us to find a fulfillment worthy of it, as otherwise, if it remains empty, it simply “won’t let us be.”

Only the revelation of the goal of all that exists, the goal for which this egoism is growing and why it has become so horrible, and the attainment of this goal – only this will be able to comfort and fulfill us. The fulfillment will give us the strength to live, to correct this egoism, and to prosper by using it for the benefit of others in the global system of humanity.

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In every Latin American country, there are groups and individuals who study Kabbalah and work together with us on its development and dissemination. The largest and strongest group of our friends is situated in Chile. Ingrid Solyar from the Chile group has created this friendly, colorful blog for children.

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News Report (translated from Washigton ProFile): American children do not want to become President. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America published results of a survey that asked American children whether they would want to be the President. 67% responded that they would not want to be the President of the USA. The young Americans said that the most important qualities for the President to have are a good personality, high moral standards, an ability to inspire people, education, and a history of being a successful leader in the national arena. Results of surveys published by Newsweek and Gallup show that the children’s views are very different from the adults’.

My Comment: The young generation’s egoism has outgrown all conventions. People do not want to put on a show all the time. To be President means to be under constant pressure and to always try to have everyone like you. This is a feeling of being absolutely controlled and dependent; it’s a non-stop theater where you have the most difficult part!

Today’s egoism makes people want to take care of themselves and their personal fulfillment, to throw aside all the conventions and strive for individual fulfillment. Otherwise one’s egoism will feel unfulfilled (depressed) and will be ready to suppress itself (through drugs), or even to annul itself (through suicide).

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During the international children’s lesson that was held on 10.10.2008, we talked about prayer. Prayer is the most secret, concealed desire in one’s heart. It hides so deep down in our hearts that we don’t even feel it. But precisely this desire has a connection with the Creator, or we can say that the Creator dwells inside this desire.

In order to reveal the Creator, we must reveal this desire for Him. But how can we influence this desire? A person cannot reach it himself, but only through the environment (the group). He evokes all sorts of influences from the environment, which make his desire for the Creator, for love and bestowal, grow. In fact, these influences have a direct effect on one’s heart.

In this manner, through the group, one can evoke such a great desire for love and bestowal in his heart that it will become similar to the Creator in the minimum degree, and then he will immediately sense the Creator within it. This is the meaning and purpose of prayer – to gradually reveal the Creator in one’s heart!

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During the following international children’s lesson, held on 10.17.2008, we talked about blessings. A blessing is a sensation of gratitude that involuntarily appears in one’s heart. It is gratitude for the corrections that take place within a person under the influence of the Creator’s Light:

“Blessed are you, Ruler of the world… Who opens eyes to see the Upper World… Who spreads the earth (the desire to receive) upon the waters (the desire to bestow)… Who gives the heart the understanding to distinguish day (the Upper Light, the quality of bestowal) from night (egoism)… Who clothes the naked (with the Light of Hassadim, in which the Light of Hochma is revealed)… and so on.

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Questions I received on the development of spirituality in a person:

Question: How do I receive the point in the heart?

Answer: When the first spiritual Reshimo surfaces in you.

Questions: Who taught Kabbalah to the first man (Adam), since he didn’t have books?

Answer: He revealed it on his own just like Abraham. He is called “the first man” because a person who attains similarity to the Creator is called “man” – Adam, which comes from the word “similar.” He was the first man at that time; everyone else were animals.

Question: Can a newborn baby be a Kabbalist?

Answer: No. One needs to earn a Masach.

Question: Can a newborn be on any spiritual level?

Answer: Yes, if the society as a whole is.

Question: Can a baby be born above the Machsom, with full understanding of everything?

Answer: No, but he can achieve this very fast during childhood with the help of upbringing, as before the destruction of the Temple.

Question: What is it to annul oneself before others?

Answer: It’s when the desire of another person is more important to you than your own desire.

Question: Do I need to share my attention with the group rather than give all of it to my wife and kids?

Answer: Only inside of you.

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Two questions I received on the spiritual advancement of children:

Question: If there are still 232 years left until the full correction, then why do we call our children “the children of the last generation”?

My Answer: Because the “last generation” starts from our generation on – it’s the generation of egoism’s correction and ascension to the Creator.

Question: Do children and youth go through the same degrees on the spiritual path as adults? If a child expresses worry about evil, what’s the right way to deal with this?

My Answer: The soul is ageless, and this is why Kabbalah can be taught to anyone and at any age. One must go through all the states. This is determined by the emergence of the Reshimot (the chain of informational data about each state). It’s because the soul must go through the same states it went through during its descent from above downward, but now it must go through them in the reverse order, ascending from below upwards.

However, the rate of one’s advancement through every state depends on the environment (the group), and can be virtually instant. The best remedy for all the “problems” along the way is communication with friends and watching our materials.

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Three questions I received on childhood and teaching Kabbalah to children:

Question: Everyone thinks that it’s wonderful being a child. I’ve been observing my own and other children, the games they play and their relationships. What I see is an endless and extremely difficult power struggle. In addition, children work very hard every moment of their lives, even while playing. So where did people get this idea of a wonderful, easy and pleasant childhood? I don’t see that it is any of these, not even for a moment!

My Answer: Because man wants to justify his existence, he creates illusions of a happy life during childhood, when he used to play in a hut with his sweethearts and friends, imagining that they were in paradise. However, nothing of the sort ever takes place in our egoistic qualities, despite the wonderful fantasies, dreams and movies about it.

In our time we are starting to realize that all of these “wonderful” things are in fact absolutely monstrous and absurd. When we lose our illusions and reach a new, real perception of reality, we will perceive perfection through the qualities of love and bestowal, which will be above our egoism rather than inside it.

Question: At what age can we start teaching children Kabbalah, and how do we do it?

My Answer: To learn about this, visit our “Kabbalah on Education” and “Kabbalah for Children” sections.

Question: I love watching the Bnei Baruch children’s lessons, but I always fall asleep when watching any other lessons. I’m a mother and I pass my insight on to my children. However, it’s difficult for me to get through other lessons. How can I advance?

My Answer: Do it together with your children – and that’s sufficient!

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