In the Image and Likeness of the Soul

Question: In Kabbalah and in the sources, it is clearly said: There is a city, there are gates, and there is a Temple. What are these concepts?

Answer: It is all arranged according to the system of the upper world in the image and likeness of our soul.

Remark: Once you said that if the walls do not surround the settlement, it is not a city.

My Comment: Yes. There are only a few such cities in Israel that were once surrounded by walls. These are Acre, Jerusalem, Safed, and Tiberias. Even today in Tiberias there still are remains of ancient walls.

Question: What do the walls of cities symbolize from the point of view of Kabbalah?

Answer: The wall that surrounds the city is like a Parsa. This is what separates the city from the external forces, that is, separate upper spiritual forces from the lower ones, the quality of bestowal from the quality of reception.

There is a space outside the city that is called “70 Amah” that still relates to the city.

The city gates symbolize a special entrance into the upper world where a person must correct himself in a certain way in order to be awarded the right to enter the city that is on the spiritual level. Therefore, to enter the city gates is not a simple action.

Question: Can we say that a wall is some kind of necessary condition?

Answer: A wall is a screen that separates the city from everything there is outside of it. That is, there is a quality of bestowal in the city and there is an egoistic, evil quality of reception outside the city, and therefore, the city restricts itself with the quality of bestowal.

After all, usually, there are bandits, meaning egoists wandering outside of the city. They cannot approach the wall because it pushes them away or they themselves are pushed away from it. The wall as if forces them to be bestowing, kind, and this is completely not in their nature.

Question: So, does it mean that using the language of roots and branches, Kabbalists took familiar concepts such as “city,” “wall,” and “gates,” felt their spiritual root, and used them for an explanation?

Answer: Yes, but besides that, they understood why we in our world arrange ourselves in such a way, why we build houses, huts, tents, marquees, and temples in a certain way. They felt it as a consequence of spiritual forces.

Question: Indeed, the great Kabbalists, in particular the Ari, wrote that there is a house, a yard, a field, and a desert. Was this about some specific desires that can be used for the sake of the Creator and the ones that cannot be used?

Answer: Yes, A person inside the house is the inner part of the soul, and the house itself, the yard, the field, and the desert already are the outer parts of his soul, which he must correct.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/28/19

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Remark: There is a saying that Kabbalah is aerobatics, that one needs to study it only after one has studied the Torah, Talmud, and other primary sources.

My Comment: Kabbalists write that it depends only on a person. If he does not have craving for spirituality, then let him study everything in order from the Torah to the Talmud and so on, that is, to the stage where he is drawn and sees that he does not need more. If a person initially has a very strong desire for knowledge of the Creator, then he immediately comes to Kabbalah.

Question: There is no ban on this?

Answer: No.

Question: Is this the opinion of Kabbalists? Others say there is a ban.

Answer: Others can talk. What do they understand in this? The Torah is given for us to comprehend the Creator. This is its property, its strength, its goal. We need to return to the Creator—to this stage. If someone believes that he does not have the strength or desire for this, then let him simply study what everyone else is studying, nothing more. Once I brought 40 more students to my teacher and we all learned only Kabbalistic material.

Question: And he did not demand knowledge of the Torah from you?

Answer: None.
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From KabTv’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/29/19

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Question: Critics of Kabbalah say that Kabbalists consider this methodology the only path to spirituality, although in fact, there are thousands of spiritual practices of all kinds. Why do Kabbalists think so?

Answer: This is unsubstantiated. I can’t prove anything, and I don’t intend to.

The fact is that a person engages in yoga or not just physical but spiritual development, is in some special exalted state, and seems to him that he has revealed something indispensable, true for himself. How can I dissuade him from this? At his level he perceives it that way.

He is like a small child who plays with his toy car, and if you show him something else, bigger, electromechanical, he will not be interested in it, he needs his toy. He can’t absorb more than that. Just like a mother offers her little daughter to play with her little brother instead of a doll and the daughter does not understand: for the little girl it is all about her doll and for the mother the baby.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/29/19

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The Place Abandoned by Spiritual Force

Question: Did you ever go to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea with your teacher Rabash?

Answer: We went to Jerusalem. However, Rabash did not particularly respect it or the Wailing Wall because, as the Kabbalists write, once Jerusalem was destroyed, the spiritual force abandoned it and it can only be restored if the people of Israel revive their good attitude toward each other.

Therefore, as Kabbalists suggest, although Jerusalem is a very high point today, it is high in the negative, not the positive way.

Question: Yet, still, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea are closer to creation. Why didn’t you go there? They are Zeir Anpin and Malchut?

Answer: Indeed, we never went to the Dead Sea and we only went to Jerusalem a few times. However, these were special trips in order to meet with family or friends or to do something.

Question: Does it mean that it is impossible to draw spiritual forces from there?

Answer: No, I did not see that Rabash received any energy, nourishment, or connection with the upper world in Jerusalem. We were there with his relatives and friends, and went to all sorts of events. We were only at the Wailing Wall once and just for a few moments.

So, except for Mount Meron and the grave of Rashbi, we did not go to any other places, including Hermon and the Cave of Machpelah.

Remark: It is strange because Hermon is considered the highest point, the quality of the Creator. It would seem that it is from there we should draw spiritual forces.

My Comment: No, we practically never went above Tiberias. Tiberias and Mount Meron were the places of our trips, on one hand. And on the other hand, we went to parks, quiet places with no people where we could sit peacefully, speak, and study.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/28/19

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Mount Hermon to the Dead Sea

Question: There are 32 springs descend from Mount Hermon and their waters gather on the Golan plateau. Why exactly 32? Did somebody count them or is it a pure allegory?

Answer: No, this is not allegory. The fact is the entire system of the upper world consists of 320 parts and each of them consists of ten Sefirot. Therefore, as it were, 32 streams of the upper light come down from the highest point through the system called the light of Hochma to Bina—the Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee).

Question: From the River Jordan to Jerusalem stretches the territory that corresponds to the force Zeir Anpin. What is this force?

Answer: The fact is that the descent from above downward is intended to provide water to the lower ones. The lower ones are the souls that belong to Zeir Anpin and Malchut, that is, to the Dead Sea. Ultimately, it is necessary to bring water to the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea has existed for many thousands of years. This is the lowest point on earth 420 meters below sea level, and today perhaps even lower because it constantly gets shallower. Huge craters have formed in it that go deep into the earth.

The Dead Sea is very close to the inner part of Earth, where, in its magma, the entire system of chemical elements boils. Therefore, this place is very heavy. The water in the sea is also special. No matter how much it is studied, it is impossible to fully study its special internal qualities.

This sea represents our egoism, the will to receive, the black matter, that closes only in itself and therefore, there is no life there.

Remark: It is written, however, that after the end of correction everything there should come alive again.

My Comment: It is only if we do the right thing, then the Dead Sea will receive all the goodness, light and water from Mount Hermon and will blossom.

Once instead of these deserts and mountains lush vegetation, forests, and vineyards grew.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/28/19

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Spiritual Contact

Question: What can one feel in the places that are influenced by spiritual forces?

Answer: A person who has no spiritual sensitivity will not be able to feel anything. I was standing beside my teacher in the most powerful place in our world, at the grave of Rashbi, and I can say that I almost felt nothing. At least, compared to him it was practically zero, and he was in absolute spiritual exaltation.

Question: Why do we feel a spiritual force at the grave of a Kabbalist and not at the place where he was born?

Answer: It does not matter. It simply is the only place where we know for certain, see, and feel that it is associated with Rashbi.

Question: Then why not in the cave Idra Rabba where he wrote The Book of Zohar?

Answer: Frankly, I personally am not sure that The Book of Zohar was written there. We never went there with my teacher. I have been in those places since, but I did not feel anything.

You can say the same thing about Miriam’s well on the Sea of Galilee. According to the legend, if a person drinks water from this well one begins to attain the upper world.

Of course, you can drink water from the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), it is not forbidden, but the fact that you will be able to acquire some spiritual attainment is, of course, a legend.

Each nation has very interesting and beautiful legends. However, we should understand the difference between the true Kabbalistic sources and the false ones.

First, everything depends on the place: even in our world, there must be a clear root you can touch. Second, a person must be able to touch it internally with one’s intentions. When these two conditions are fulfilled, there really is a spiritual contact.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/28/19

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A Kabbalist’s Sensitivity 

Question: You often went with your teacher to the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). Does this somehow have to do with Bina?

Answer: He and I traveled almost all over the country, and at each place we indeed felt different influences.

We had a small house at the Kinneret where we came and lived for several days. We did that periodically, once in a fortnight.

Question: Can a Kabbalist feel any forces that influence this Earth? Can he somehow draw these forces?

Answer: Of course, we drew strength from there, a lot of strength.

Question: Can you do this in Siberia or in New York?

Answer: No. Firstly, nowhere except Israel. Secondly, in the north near Tiberius, at Mount Meron there are vast spiritual spaces where you just fall into certain spiritual forces.

However, only people who are predisposed to this, who have developed such sensitivity within them and can tune in to the same frequency, can feel them.

This is not mysticism or meditation. We are talking about those who study Kabbalah. They feel and understand the difference in these forces.

Conversely, to those places that ordinary people consider spiritual, Kabbalists are quite prosaic, do not pay attention to them and do not refer any spiritual forces, influences, sources to them.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/28/19

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Spiritual Influences on the Land of Israel

Question: You explained that there are five sources of influence on the Earth, in particular, on the land of Israel. The first source is the root, the thought, the beginning of everything, the quality of the Creator, the force of bestowal.

Next, four types of influence correspond to four phases of the spreading of the light, the creation of the created being. Each of them influences a certain part of the Earth.

The root, which is the beginning of everything, the thought, Keter, influences the part of the Earth that is called Mount Hermon. Hochma influences the Upper Galilee, and so on. What is this Kabbalistic geography?

Answer: Since each upper influence occurs through five phases that are determined in the upper world, our country is also divided into five parts. Then they are divided into twelve parts and so on. It all depends on what aspect of the division we are talking about.

From a geographical point of view, Mount Hermon is Keter, Galilee is Hochma, the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is Bina, the Jordan river up to Jerusalem is Zeir Anpin, and below it begins the movement toward Malchut, to the Dead Sea and stretches up to Eilat, to the Red Sea.

Remark: The great Kabbalists Ari and Baal HaSulam also mention countries such as Jordan and Syria.

My Comment: This is a different kind of division, not the Land of Israel, but other lands. Yet, again in the center of the influence of the upper force is the Land of Israel and then next to it Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Babylon, also five parts.

All other countries are divided any way you like, it does not matter.

Question: It is interesting that Kabbalists clearly define these borders even hundreds and thousands of years ago. Does it mean that it is not about countries, but rather about spiritual influence?

Answer: In the spiritual worlds, there is a prototype of these influences that later are reflected in the matter of our world.

Question: Does it mean that a person who is in spirituality can somehow feel where within him Lebanon and Syria are?

Answer: Of course, he absolutely clearly feels different qualities and how to vary and manage them.

Question: Is Hermon from the word “harmony”?

Answer: This is the upper harmony because Keter is the basis of everything that descends to our world.

Question: If a person comes down from Mount Hermon to the Upper Galilee, does he feel that this is Hochma?

Answer: An ordinary person feels nothing except the difference in air pressure. A Kabbalist, however, depending on his or her interaction with our world, can turn this on and off within himself.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/28/19

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In the System of Upper Forces

Remark: In the sources, it is written that every part of the Earth is influenced by spiritual forces according to the law of root and branch.

My Comment: The fact is that everything comes from spiritual roots. There is one single root, the spiritual force that later gradually decomposes into the system of upper forces connected with each other. This system consists of ten forces later expanding to thirty and so on.

But in principle, in the universe there is the force of bestowal—influence, emanation, the upper force, the Creator, the light—and the force of reception—the force of creation, the egoistic force.

The wisdom of Kabbalah tells us about the system of the universe that practically consists of these two forces that are in a certain system of interactions with each other. Their interactions originate from a very high level when they exist in the form of forces and then there is a gradual coarsening, the manifestation of matter in the lower, receiving force.

In this state, the worlds are built from above downward: the world of Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya. Then in each of these worlds further division occurs, which is based on the interactions between two forces.

This is explained from the point of view of the more internal, particular degrees of interaction called Partzufim, meaning degrees, and Sefirot, sub-degrees, and their further division.

“Sefira” is from the word “Sapir,” which means luminous. To the extent creation, that is, the will to receive, egoism, can, above itself, become like the quality of bestowal, it receives the upper light, becomes equivalent to it and shines.

All this leads to the fact that in the end, there is a system of interaction of two initial forces, which at different levels of interaction intertwine with each other and form all kinds of combinations. These combinations enter into all kinds of connections, assemblies, etc.

This is how Partzufim, Sefirot, and worlds appear. All this is in the system of upper forces. Then there is, as if, their materialization in our perception. That is, from the forces all this comes into the system of interaction in our corporeal qualities.

The difference between the spiritual and corporeal qualities is in the fact that spiritual qualities are built on the principle of bestowal, mutual interaction, and mutual support when each one tries to do something outside of oneself.

Then, they fall to such a level where they begin interacting with each other egoistically, only to manifest some kind of egoistic qualities, skills, and fulfillment in themselves. This is the division between our lowest egoistic world and the five upper worlds.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/28/19

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Expanding the Limits of Perception

Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”: Now you can easily conclude that all the names and appellations that appear in books of Kabbalah are indeed real and factual, although we have no attainment in the subject matter whatsoever. It is so because those who engage in it have the complete satisfaction with their inclusive perception of its ultimate wholeness, meaning a mere perception of actions, prompted and born of the association of the Upper Light and its perceivers.

The fact is that there is a limit to our perception. The wisdom of Kabbalah says that you constantly attain deep, wide, enter all vector spaces, and fully reveal them. However, you nevertheless attain only the reality that fills you. And the reality that does not fill you, you do not attain and do not even know whether it exists or not.

Here the question arises: How do Kabbalists know that there is some other reality? Did they attain it themselves? If so, then why don’t they speak about it as yet another additional level of attainment of reality?

It turns out that they place riddles before us or they want to intrigue us somehow, as if they say: “There is something here but I am not telling you.” However, this is not their approach.

We have to reach the quality of bestowal, the quality of the Creator. The Creator positions Himself in relation to us as bestowing, loving, and uniting, rising above us despite our egoism. We, by rising above our egoism, can explore Him, feel Him, and become similar to Him.

How can we make it so that we do not just feel the Creator because of our equivalence to Him, but feel Him not from our own Kelim (Vessels) and qualities? This is a problem.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 9/15/19

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