Question: There are holidays that we remember and celebrate like Rosh Hashana and Pesach (Passover), while Shavuot isn’t so impressive as compared to them. Can we say that it is less important than the other holidays?

Answer: On the contrary, it is the most important holiday. On this day we received the method according to which we can raise our life to a spiritual level and discover the next world here and now, just as it is written, “You will see your world in your life.”

We all were created in this world from the evil force, our ego, but we can add the good force to the evil force by this method and balance them. Our entire world is merely an evil inclination. This inclination is a desire, and it is evil because everyone thinks only about how he can fill it at the expense of others, without taking others into consideration. This is the reason that our nature is evil, as it is written, “…man’s heart is evil from his youth.”

If we begin to see that everything is evil and that only the evil is revealed as it is revealed now in our state, then we will be able to reach a state in which we will say, “Enough! That’s it! We must change something!” Then, we have the opportunity to bring in the good force. When we discover this force in nature, we can balance the evil force with the good force, and we can manage ourselves correctly with these two forces like with two reins. Without the good force, which the wisdom of Kabbalah helps us reveal, we are lost. We will not be able to do anything with our egoistic nature.

This is why I am happy that we have reached this evil state because it is actually from the evil that we can ascend and reach the good.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 5/17/15

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Question: Do the portions of the Light that come each day of the Omer Count correct each person or only those who study Kabbalah?

Answer: The Light corrects anyone who wants to come from hatred to love. People think that Kabbalah deals with some spirits or mystical powers.

Indeed, Kabbalah studies the hidden forces of nature, but the point is to correct the human being from hatred of others to love of others, which is the purpose of our life.

Such a correction is possible only by the power of the Torah, as it is said: “I created the evil inclination and the Torah for its correction, because the Light in it Reforms.”

The Torah is not a book but the general Light, a special force, which corrects our nature and transforms it from evil to good. We are still in the period of exile, that is, apart from the Torah. We do not have the Torah and the correct approach to this correcting force because we do not use that power and do not correct ourselves.

Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah is being revealed, which explains that we must eventually take the force hidden in the Torah and use it to transform us into one unified nation.

Question: Does this only apply only to religious people?

Answer: This applies not to religious or secular people but to one nation! We should become cleared of all previous definitions, which are far from the truth. If we want to be the people of Israel in the land of Israel, we must accept the Torah of the land of Israel, that is, the method of our unity.

We can become a people only if we correct hatred of others to love, within ourselves.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/30/15

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Question: On Memorial Day we honor the fallen and say in the memorial prayer, “May they be imprinted in the heart of Israel from generation to generation.” What exactly do we need to remember? What lessons should be learned from these losses?

Answer: Remember—and then make a calculation for the future. And regardless of kinship, because everyone, either close or distant, belongs to the same people.

We need to be aware of why they fell. What caused these troubles? What does the world want from us? Why are we unable to arrange our lives so that peace and tranquility reigns in our relationships between us and other nations?

We come to realize that we lack only one thing: to balance and compensate for the evil inclination that burns between us, constantly causing friction and conflict. If we normalize to appease relations within the country, we will open this umbrella of peace above all the others.

What happens to the people of Israel is definitely going to happen to the world. This is stated in the Torah.

Since everyone hates us, that in itself is proof of our particular role. After all, the world does not harbor such a strong collective hatred toward anyone else. Is it difficult to see this as a sign of a special force, a special attitude?

It is time to think about what happens to these people. Throughout history we run from misery, trying to be like everyone else, and in return, we are told, “No, you are not like us. Stay back and check yourself. We blame you for being special and bringing us all evil and suffering.”

From where would it seem that this slander comes? After all, we want to give the world only good things. They say, “No, we do not need all that seems to be good to you. We want from you what will really make peace in the world.”

The nations demand unity from us, which will be a good example for everyone.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/16/15

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The people of Israel need to know how to become independent, friendly, and close, as it is written, “As one man in one heart.” This is our duty to ourselves, to all of mankind, and to the Creator. We possess this method from Kabbalah, and we must realize it. Otherwise, we are not a nation.

We have returned to the land of Israel in order to materialize the opportunity to reach this state. However, if we refuse it, we must go back to the countries of exile, and we do not know what the upper force will do to us, since it desires our unity, and we contradict it.

Question: According to what you are saying, I would call Israeli Independence Day the day of our dependence on one another.

Answer: Yes, the paradox is that when we are in the state of complete dependence on one another, ourselves, and others—when the influence of the environment determines our behavior—we acquire the feeling of independence from ourselves.

How do we reach a state where we can be sure that we are not harming ourselves and others? It is only by rising above ourselves, when everyone’s “I” is under the power of the environment. We do not have anything else. We determine our independence by completely submitting ourselves to the environment.
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Excerpt from the “Conversation About Independence” 4/2/15

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In the corporeal world I depend on everyone and on all. I do not know what will happen a moment from now. But when speaking about independence beyond time, space, location, and movement, here I myself define my future states by becoming free from all the factors that can change me against my will.

This can only happen in one certain case: When I am completely connected with the Creator who determines the present and the future of the entire universe.

Baal HaSulam believed that our independence begins with the actual establishment of the state of Israel because the only way we can reach unity with the Creator is through our own interconnection. And this will happen once there are no foreign elements between us. This is why we must once again gather on this land.

And when people (Jews and non-Jews), who understand their mission and strive towards unity with the Creator, work on it, their unity, the circle they create between them, turns them into a receptor of the Creator’s influence and a sensor, which reveals the Creator within them.

We fully start determining our present and future by developing and cultivating this feeling, revealing the Creator to the extent of our unity. This is the attainment of independence.

This is why there is no way to attain independence before we turn ourselves into this structure and start working on it in our world. Spiritual work begins with the physical creation of a group, which gathers into a circle and begins to cultivate the quality of bestowal, interchange and interconnection.

And then we must position ourselves in a way where everyone will lose his “I,” we would all turn into a “we,” and then this “we” would turn into a “one,” where we will begin to perceive the oneness of the quality of goodness and love, which is called the Creator.
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From “A Talk about Independence Day,” 04/02/2015

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Question: Passover is a special holiday. Everybody respects it, both secular and religious people. Everybody gets ready for the Passover Seder (festive meal), cleaning the house, buying new clothes, inviting guests and contemplating how to better celebrate a Passover Seder.

I want to understand the essence and symbolic meaning of this holiday. The most important Passover symbol is Matzah. What does it denote?

Answer: Matzah symbolizes the state in which we use only our vessels of bestowal without interference of our ego, our will to receive. We are prohibited to use egoistic desires since they are Pharaoh’s property. We must rise above them. Detachment from our egoistic desires signifies the “frugal bread” or Matzah.

We have to relate to each other only with love and bestowal to the extent it is available to us. We are not ready for it yet, nor do we fully understand what it means. Passover is a “small state” (Katnut) that is associated with the lack of energy. The holiday signifies our exodus from the built-in power of egoism and transitioning to the jurisdiction of unity and love among us.

The name of the holiday, Pe-sach, means transition, leaping from egoism to love and bestowal. This crossing is a symbol of the holiday.

Passover is a celebration of freedom; it’s a runaway from the devastating ego that buries us alive. As a result of redemption, we get to be a free nation in the free land, meaning independent of our desires (country or Eretz derives from Ratzon or desire). We stop “gobbling” each other up as before. Rather, we strive to become the people of Israel, to unite and become one whole.

This is what the exodus from Egypt is. It is not a geographical or physical notion; it’s an internal sensation of reaching inner freedom from the angel of death. Our everyday life is proof that our evil nature works as an angel of death that buries us. It doesn’t let us receive pleasure and constantly forces us to fight and quarrel, and even leads us to international wars.

Egoism is not about our desire to receive standard pleasures from the family, children, good food, vacations, or travel. Ego stands for a bad attitude of one human being towards another human. It’s a desire to receive pleasure at the expense of others. This explains why exodus from the ego means an escape from hating our neighbors, from constant jealousy, our inability to tolerate others, detachment and splitting into numerous parties, and sectors.

Question: Does it require us to give up anything?

Answer: You should reject your ego that is measured only by the degree of your negativism towards others.

Question: In the long run will I win or lose in my internal sensation of happiness and contentment?

Answer: I am absolutely positive that we can only win and have nothing to lose. We suffer damages because we treat each other badly.

Question: If we return to the symbols of Passover, what does Matzah mean nowadays, in Israel of 2015?

Answer: We have to start treating each other well. It will trigger a special, good atmosphere among us. At first, our future relationships will seem too “simple” since they will lack many nuances and tastes that result from our endless arguments and misunderstandings.

We will be like good kids whose mothers beg them not to fight with each other, but they don’t feel life in peaceful behavior. Only after they get involved in conflicts with their friends do they get colorful impressions.

This is why at first it is called “frugal bread” or Matzah. Later, we start developing our relationships that not only allow us to detach from wickedness by diminishing ourselves to the degree that we no longer treat our neighbors badly, but promote abstinence in others that lets us reach good, benevolent relationships among us.

It’s as if we crawl through a narrow tunnel and gradually reach a powerful, wide road of benevolent relationships among all of us. Then, the “frugal bread” turns into the best cake, the so-called “bread of love.”
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/24/15

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Question: It is said that during the festive dinner in honor of the commencement of Passover we have to tell our children about the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. What exactly should we tell them? What’s the most important thing they should know?

Answer: First of all, I don’t think that there is a difference between the adults and children. It is said, “Tell your son,” meaning each one who doesn’t know these things and wants to learn them is like a son to us.

Everybody should figure out what “exodus” means and how it is different from liberation. We should know whether we are still in the state of an exile and continue to seek redemption.

Exile is a state that is opposite to redemption. They stand for two opposite internal sensations; so far, we are unable to define either of those states in us.

Speaking of Egypt… Was it so bad for the Jews? At first, they enjoyed an abundance of food and led a “kings’ life.” The Pharaoh treated them very well, it was a real paradise. Why all of a sudden were seven years of satiation replaced by seven years of famine and the Jews acknowledged that they are in the exile?

People lost the purpose of life. One stopped understanding why one lives. Today, very many people can make the same confession: “I don’t know why I live. It poisons my life to the extent that I don’t want to stay alive.”

People choose to become terrorists out of despair, in search of the Light in their lives. They seek an ideal that is worth living for. Fighting with things that don’t match their ideals makes them feel that they are heroes conquering enemies. This sensation makes their lives purposeful; otherwise they feel dead.

Nowadays, many people are concerned with finding the purpose in life. With no vital goal, our existence loses taste and even death looks better to us than this kind of life. Abundance of Egyptian meat and garlic do not satisfy any more.

Egypt met every kind of human desires: food, sex, family, money, power, and knowledge. It was a paradise for everybody, and the Jews were the most respectable and rich out of all the Egyptian population. So, what did they lack? Only the purpose of life. When this kind of question wakes up in a person it poisons the very sensation of living. We feel that we live in a golden cage and are unable to get out of it.

This is what is called “slavery.” Our prosperous life suffocates and kills us. If our existence were not as “satiated” it would justify our desire to run away from it. However, our egoism doesn’t allow us to reject comfortable existence.

Our ego receives pleasure from Egyptian life. At the same time, we are driven by a question: “Why do we live? Are we people or just animals?” This is what is going on in the world nowadays.

We can provide everything we need to live a good life, but everything we have is soaked with bitterness. The question about the essence of life is far more important than regular material benefits. It throws us from the top of the mountain into the abyss, thus making us acknowledge our total obscurity.

It’s very common in the modern world and particularly among younger generations. We start sensing that we are in the exile, in our egoism that keeps us under its rule and doesn’t let us go. This state is called “Egyptian slavery.” We must free ourselves from it.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/31/15

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Question: What is Egypt?

Answer: Egypt (Mitzyarim – Mitz – ra) is the concentration of the evil we are in and the hatred we feel toward each other.

Question: What is the meaning of the nation of Israel going down to Egypt?

Answer: The Jews who went down to Egypt are not a nation yet. They become a nation only when they gather at the foot of Mt. Sinai and accept the condition of ascending above the ego.

Question: What is Moses?

Answer: Moses is the force that pulls a person out of his ego and directs him toward the goal of creation, toward the Creator, toward the right action. According the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is called the “point in the heart.”

Question: What is the meaning of the phrase, “The Creator brings Moses to Pharaoh?”

Answer: There is an inner conflict in a person and the rejection of the ego, Moses versus Pharaoh.

Question: What are the ten plagues of Egypt?

Answer: The ten plagues are an essential precondition when I understand that my ego can no longer be my refuge, I have to detach myself from it, to ascend above it. It gives me so much pain and suffering that I cannot bear it any longer and must break away from my ego.

Question: Why does the breaking away from the ego occur at night, in total darkness?

Answer: The fact is that the separation from that the ego must be absolute; even if I don’t see anything before me, I still run away from it. Although I could stay in it and enjoy my corporeal life in an egoistic manner, I prefer to exit it into the darkness.

Question: What is the meaning of crossing the “Red Sea”?

Answer: A person understands that he must give up his previous egoistic perception totally, and he wants to get to know the world anew.

Question: What does it mean that the water of “the Red Sea withdrew and split in two”?

Answer: This isn’t a natural phenomenon, of course. It doesn’t exist in nature no matter how hard we try to explain natural phenomena that we don’t understand.

“The water withdrew and split in two” means that a person is allowed to enter the attribute of Bina (bestowal). He goes through Malchut to Bina and receives a feeling of elation. This means that the evil water now becomes water that helps us advance toward the goal.
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From KabTV’s “A Talk About Passover” 3/18/15

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Question: What does the sale of leavened bread before Passover mean? Today, it is possible to complete a form on the Internet and sell one’s leaven in two seconds.

Answer: The sale of leavened bread means that I sell it only for a time and bring it back. I do it just to exit my ego, my “evil inclination,” which I use for the detriment of others.

Then, I will use it for the good of others. Thus, this is selling it only for some time, for seven days, to break away from the old paradigm, to get rid of my bad attitude to the world, but only my attitude, and when I get rid of it, I use all of my desires for a good attitude to the world. Therefore, I return this leaven after seven days.

First of all, we need to get rid of the old, from previous relationships. Let’s together make a decision to become “good kids.” We are in the world that is threatening our existence, like in the story of the exodus from Egypt, but we can rise above our ego and reach the genuine land of Israel, a completely good state.

Question: Are you an optimist?

Answer: Yes, this undoubtedly is going to happen. The only question is how much we must pay for it. We can achieve this in a fast and beautiful way, or in a long way, full of suffering. However, in any case, we will come to it.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/24/15

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Question: Before the holiday of Passover, we clean the house of leaven (Chametz),  and then burn it. What does the ceremony of burning the Chametz symbolize?

Answer: Burning leavened bread, i.e., my bad, egoistic attitude to others, when I use everyone else, suppress everyone, rule over them—means to remove it from the world so that it is no longer in my life.

This decision is a must! If we all support each other, then we really are ready for it, as it is written, “Man shall help his neighbor.” Then, we come to such a state that we burn all our incorrect connections. There is nothing behind us. We are standing in front of the entrance to the new world and cross the Red Sea.

This crossing is called crossing the barrier from hatred to love for others. It’s not love yet, but the beginning of a good attitude toward others.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/24/15

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