Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Main Kabbalistic Sources: The Works of the ARI

And the same words that were said about the Rashbi should be said about the ARI himself—that his predecessors [even though they knew more than the ARI] were not given permission from Above to disclose the interpretations of the wisdom, and that he was given this permission. And also, this does not distinguish any greatness or smallness at all, since it is possible that the virtue of his formers was much greater than the Ari’s, but they were not given permission for it at all. For this reason, they refrained from writing commentaries that relate to the actual wisdom, but settled for brief intimations that were not in any way linked to one another.

For this reason, since the books of the Ari appeared in the world, all who study the wisdom of Kabbalah have left their hands from all the books of the Ramak, and all the first and the great ones [Kabbalists] that preceded the ARI, as it is known among those who engage in this wisdom. They have attached their spiritual lives solely to the writings of the ARI in a way that the essential books, considered proper interpretations of this wisdom, are only The Book of Zohar, the Tikkunim [Tikkunei Zohar] and following them, the books of the ARI.

[Since Baal HaSulam wrote complete commentaries to The Book of Zohar and the ARI’s books, our generation studies both sources through his works.]
– Baal HaSulam, “Disclosing a Portion, Covering Two”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Main Kabbalistic Sources: The Book Of Zohar

An exception is Rashbi and his generation, the authors of The Zohar, who were granted all 125 degrees in completeness, even though it was prior to the days of the Messiah [before our time]. It was said about him and his disciples: “A sage is preferable to a prophet.” Hence, we often find in The Zohar that there will be none like the generation of Rashbi until the generation of the Messiah King [our generation]. This is why his composition made such a great impact in the world, since the secrets of the Torah in it occupy the level of all 125 degrees. [This is not because the world understands it, but rather because the Upper Force is in it.]

Hence, it is said in The Zohar that The Book of Zohar will be revealed only at the End of Days, the days of the Messiah. This is so because we have already said that if the degrees of the students are not at the full measure of the degree of the author, they will not understand his intimations, since they do not have a common attainment. [The need for The Book of Zohar arises at the End of Days of egoism’s development, when humanity begins to realize that its path is corrupt and wants to correct itself. This is because one can draw the force, the Light of Correction only when he reads The Zohar with the correct intention: to correct oneself.]

And since the degree of the authors of The Zohar is at the full level of the 125 degrees, they cannot be attained prior to the days of the Messiah. It follows that there will be no common attainment with the authors of The Zohar in the generations preceding the days of the Messiah. Hence, The Zohar could not be revealed in the generations before the generation of the Messiah. [Egoism was not developed enough.]
– Baal HaSulam, A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Main Kabbalistic Sources: The Book Of Zohar

Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai’s soul was of the Surrounding-Light [Ohr Makif] kind. Hence, he had the power to clothe the words and teach them in a way that even if he taught them to many [egoistic, uncorrected masses], only the worthy [very few] of understanding would understand [by correcting themselves or by yearning for self-correction. If a person doesn’t pursue this goal, The Book of Zohar repels him, invokes in him a sensation of rejecting it].

This is why he was given ‘permission’ [from Above] to write The Book of Zohar. The permission was not ‘granted’ to write a book in this wisdom to his teachers or to the first ones who preceded them, even though they were certainly more proficient in this wisdom than he. But the reason is that they did not have the power to dress the matters as did he [to reveal it only to those who really strived for it].
– Baal HaSulam, “Disclosing a Portion, Covering Two”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Main Kabbalistic Sources: The Book Of Zohar

We did not find a single book in the wisdom of truth that precedes Rashbi’s The Book of Zohar since all the books in the wisdom prior to his [Book of Zohar] are not categorized as interpretations of the wisdom. Instead, they are mere intimations [short, incomplete explanations] without any order of cause and consequence, as it is known to those who find knowledge, thus far understanding his words [randomly and inaccurately].
– Baal HaSulam, “Disclosing a Portion, Covering Two”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Following the Paths of Kabbalists

Thus you see that in spiritual matters, the authority of the collective [to organize themselves according to their understanding at the earthly level] is overturned [in order to obey the spiritual leader in their mandatory spiritual ascent because they do not and will never have their own understanding of the path to the goal] and [in the mandatory spiritual development of masses] the law of “Taking after the Individual” is applied, that is, the developed individual. For it is plain to see that the developed and the educated in every society are always a small minority. It follows that the success and spiritual well-being of society is bottled and sealed in the hands of the minority [is determined by following the developed individual].

Therefore, the collective is obliged to meticulously guard all the views of the few, so they will not perish from the world. This is because they must know for certain, in complete confidence, that the truer and more developed views are never in the hands of the collective in authority [wealthy and powerful ones, politicians, or external scientists], but rather in the hands of the weakest, that is, in the hands of the indistinguishable minority [the Kabbalists]. This is because every wisdom and everything precious comes into the world in small quantities. Therefore, we are cautioned to preserve the views of all the [spiritually developed] individuals, due to the collective’s inability to tell wrong from right among them.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Following the Paths of Kabbalists

As far as spiritual life is concerned, there is no natural obligation on the individual to abide by the society in any way. On the contrary, here applies a natural law over the collective, to subjugate itself to the [spiritual] individual [in order to thereby reach the goal themselves].”
– Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

While most of humanity is undeveloped, and the developed ones are always a small minority, if you always determine according to the will of the collective, which are the undeveloped, and the reckless ones, the views and desires of the wise and the developed in society, which are always the minority, will never be heard and will not be taken into consideration. Thus, you seal off humanity’s fate to regression, for it will not be able to make even a single step forward [toward the mandatory goal of their creation].
– Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Following the Paths of Kabbalists

Even though one has a soul, he is not ready to know Him, “Until the spirit be poured upon him from on high.” However, one must lend an ear and listen to the words of the sages [about how to reject one’s egoism], and believe in them [their directions, while annulling oneself] wholeheartedly.
– Baal HaSulam, Igrot (Letters), Letter 19, pg. 70

And since the more developed in the generation is certainly the individual, it follows that when [the time will come and] the public [having no other choice] wants to relieve themselves of the terrible agony and assume [spiritually, in bestowal and love] conscious and voluntary development [rather than by force through the path of suffering], which is the path of Torah, they [the masses] have no choice but to subjugate themselves and their physical freedom to the discipline of the individual, and obey the orders and remedies [the method of correcting the egoism] that he [the spiritual leader] will offer them.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Following the Paths of Kabbalists

This means that through adhering to wise disciples [annulling himself before them], it is possible to receive some support. In other words, only a wise disciple [he who attains the Creator with his corrected qualities] can help him, and nothing else. Even if he is great in the [regular] Torah [and not Kabbalah], he will still be called “a commoner” if he has not been rewarded with learning [in the equivalence of form in bestowal] from the Creator’s mouth. Hence, one must surrender before a wise disciple and accept what the wise disciple places on him [the guidance of how to achieve the quality of bestowal] without any arguments [neutralizing his ego in all aspects], but by way of above reason.
– Baal HaSulam, Shamati #105, “A Wise Disciple Bastard Precedes a High Priest Commoner”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Following the Paths of Kabbalists

The most successful way for one who wishes to learn the wisdom is to search for a genuine Kabbalist and follow all his instructions, until one is rewarded with understanding [in his corrected desires] the wisdom [of the Creator’s revelation] in one’s own mind, meaning the first discernment [from the Creator himself]. Afterwards, one will be rewarded with its conveyance mouth to mouth [in a mutual screen, attainment, adhesion], which is the second discernment, and after that, [internally] understand in writing, which is the third discernment. Then, one will have inherited all the wisdom and its instruments from his teacher with ease, and will be left with all one’s time to develop and expand [his revelations of the Creator].
– Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and its Essence”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Following the Paths of Kabbalists

Hence, a person has the choice [which is the only action that he is able to make whereas all other actions depend on the implementation of his free will] of going to a place where there are righteous [those who desire to justify the Creator through correcting themselves]. One can [despite their earthly egoism] accept their authority, and then he will receive [if he is able to annul himself] all the powers [of bestowal and love] that he lacks by the [egoistic] nature of his own qualities. He will receive it from the righteous.
This is the benefit in “planted them in each generation,” so that each generation would have someone to turn to, to cleave to, and from whom to receive the strength needed to rise to the degree of a righteous. Thus, [due to their ability to bestow and love that they picked up from the righteous] they, too, subsequently become righteous [and are obligated to transfer their powers further to their disciples.]
– Baal HaSulam, Shamati #99, “He Did Not Say Wicked or Righteous”

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