Torah Is the Plan of Creation and Its Realization

Question: Philosopher Paulus Ricius (Paulo Riccio) in the 16th century wrote that the literal meaning of the Tanakh is subject to the conditions of time and space and that the Kabbalistic meaning remains for centuries, without time and space restrictions. What does that mean?

Answer: The Kabbalistic meaning of the Tanakh is independent of time and on the circumstances of our world. This meaning does not apply to the Torah at all. After all, a Kabbalist who has acquired special spiritual properties reads it from his spiritual attainment.

Question: The Book of Zohar, which comments on the Torah, says that all events in the Torah are sublime secrets. What secrets are we talking about? What is hidden from us?

Answer: Nothing. Just in order to understand the internal interactions between all the elements of creation, one must be at the level of these interactions. Their properties are mutual bestowal, mutual connection, love, conjugation, that is, all the properties that are opposite to our world. Therefore, a person must acquire these inverse properties, and to this extent, at this level, he will be able to correctly understand the Torah.

Question: But what is still hidden from us?

Answer: The whole method is hidden, the whole history of the transformation of the universe from its initial to final state.

Question: So one can say that the Torah is a method?

Answer: The Torah is a method, the Torah is a plan of creation and its implementation in each one and all together, the sequence of this plan, its embodiment.

Question: In Kabbalistic books, in particular, those by Baal HaSulam and Rabash, it is written that the Torah by definition is the light that returns to the source.

Answer: This is a completely different use of the Torah when we use it so that it brings about certain changes in us. It is because we study the upper processes based on the properties of bestowal, love, conjugation, help, inclusion in each other, meaning in the opposite anti-egoistic nature, and then in the process of studying, we attract the light, a certain force that changes us. This is the good influence of the Torah on man.

Question: Can one say that there is a book called the Torah, there is a method of the Torah, and there is a force that is inherent in this book?

Answer: Yes. The Torah is the plan of the whole universe, the way it goes through all its stages of development.
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From KabTV’s “Basics of Kabbalah,” 12/18/18

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Sacrifice—Getting Closer to the Creator

Question: In all faiths, the concept of coaxing the higher powers with sacrifice is practiced. What about in Kabbalah?

Answer: Kabbalah also has such a concept called “sacrifice.”

But here it is understood that a person sacrifices his egoism, does not want to use it, and does not want his egoism to command him. He wants to give it up, to change it for altruism and bestowal.

“Sacrifice” in Hebrew is “Kurban,” which comes from the word “Karov” (getting close). A person wants to correct his egoism and based on that come closer to the Creator. This is the sacrifice.

Question: That is, everything that is written in the Torah about donations to the Temple implies exactly this?

Answer: Only that. Donations are practically what they did in the Temple, because the Temple is a place of contact between a person and the Creator.

Question: Did people come there to unite with each other?

Answer: You can come to the Temple physically, but it does not mean anything. A man appears in a place inside his heart where he could sacrifice his egoism—“slaughter” it, sacrifice it, in order to come closer to the Creator with a feeling of absolute altruism, love, bestowal, and connection.

Question: So, this has nothing to do with the fact that animals were sacrificed in the Temple?

Answer: No. That is all allegory, like root and branch, cause and effect, nothing more. So you can kill as many animals as you like and it will not make any difference.

Question: So the high priest sacrificed his egoism in order to get closer to other people?

Answer: He was the most corrected person among all the people.

Question: Along with internal work, he took a lamb, cut it, and they ate it?

Answer: Yes. They performed all the actions at the same time, starting from the most spiritual, highest actions, to the lowest, material ones—together and in the same intention.
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From KabTV’s “Basics of Kabbalah” 2/17/18

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The Torah Is a Secret Code.

From the point of view of Kabbalah, the Torah is a completely secret code. Moreover, it is classified such that each person can understand it in one way or another depending on the extent of his correction or corruption.

Question: The secret is not in that I have to understand the meaning of some word?

Answer: No. You cannot extort its code from someone, open this book with a special key, or see what is hidden between the pages. It is impossible.

But if you have a certain quality—bestowal, love, exiting yourself, i.e., the quality of the upper world—then while reading the Torah, you begin to see that the book describes not our world, but a completely different, reverse upper world.

If a person can acquire such qualities that are contrary to one’s current properties, then one reads this book correctly, as it was written by its author. And if one does not possess these qualities, then one reads it like everybody else in this world.

Question: I have heard that if one picks a letter after every ten words while reading the Torah, it is possible to reveal some information in this way.

Answer: No. You can read it as you like: front to back, back to front, after every ten or twenty words—nothing will help.

Question: Can the future be predicted by this book? They say that it contains all the information.

Answer: It contains information about everything. Not only about our world, but about all the worlds, about everything that exists, about each and every one of us and all of us together, regardless of time and any possible states. But the fact is that this cannot be revealed.

Question: Is it really possible to find information about a person who will be born, suppose, in 20 years, and about what will happen to him in 50 years?

Answer: To the smallest detail. Moreover, all his external and internal properties are described there, everything that will happen to him every moment, with all the billions of people, animals, and plants, every grain of sand, all the worlds, and their mutual representations.

Question: Can Kabbalists decipher this?

Answer: Yes, to the extent of their development. They read it in the same way as we read a plain text.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 12/18/18

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Question: Was there another language in Kabbalah before Hebrew?

Answer: No. From the very beginning, Hebrew has been the only way of expressing Kabbalistic knowledge. It appeared out of a necessity to express spiritual roots, words, and actions. It exists for this sole purpose.

Conversational Hebrew should not have been used in our world at all. The fact that in Israel today Hebrew is used for writing, reading, and communication is incorrect. It never used to be like this. Kabbalistic texts have always been those written in Hebrew. Other languages were used for everything else, such as Aramaic or ancient Greek, but not Hebrew.

Hebrew is purely a language of branches that is used only for describing the spiritual forces, qualities, and actions.
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From KabTVs “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 6/23/19

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The Many Faces of the Torah

Question: When we open the Torah, we find a collection of historical stories with many characters. How should we correctly relate to them?

Answer: If the Torah did not come from a special source but was an ordinary book written, suppose by a person in the Middle Ages, then it would just be an interesting historical novel.

The Torah itself is presented in very interesting language, and when you start reading it, you cannot stop, because it captivates you. There is something in it that makes you never get tired of reading it.

I speak of this as an ordinary reader who has nothing to do with the origin of this book, religion, history, geography, or with anything else. It is just written in an interesting style.

Some perceive the Torah as a historical document, others as fiction, or, perhaps, as a collection of instructions or legal documents. It contains a lot of information about the interaction of people and nations in ancient times, about their view of the world.

In general, the Torah is a very interesting book. We see something similar in Josephus Flavius, if it is possible to compare the Torah and his works at all. To some extent, he retells the Torah and describes it as a historian.

Josephus is a truly stunning historian with a broad outlook and a deep knowledge of historical facts. He wrote his works while in exile in Rome where a huge institute was created especially for him, where hundreds of people worked for him.

But all the same, what he wrote cannot be compared with the Torah itself.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 12/18/18

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Question: Three years ago, I began studying Kabbalah and thought that I understood everything. Both the “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” (Pticha) and TES were really understandable and clear.

Now after three years, I’m beginning to feel that not only do I not understand what was clear before, but also, Pticha, TES, and work in the group evoke some disgust in me. Is this a normal sign?

Answer: This is a sign of good advancement. You must pass this period by force and persistence, and then you will begin to understand everything with both your mind and feelings.

Question: So, these disturbances are in fact helping?

Answer: Yes. But it can go on for quite a long time, maybe for a few years. The main thing is not to leave and you will see how it will be rewarded.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/23/19

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Is It Possible to Pray to the Law of Attraction?

Remark: As I understand, in Kabbalah there is no plea for mercy, no atonement for sins in exchange for promises of unquestioning obedience?

My Comment: We deal with serious actions. I do not stand before the judge begging for forgiveness. I face a system that completely defines me and I am trying to figure out how we influence each other.

If I have any requests, I have to state them in such a way that the system will correctly respond to them. If there are no requests, then this is a problem because the system expects real intervention from me in it.

Question: Is it just like I cannot pray to the law of attraction?

Answer: Of course! How is the law of gravity different from others? This is also the law and force of the Creator, like all other forces of nature.

Question: What is the difference between the Creator and the laws of nature?

Answer: There is no difference. Pray to the law of gravity. You can pray to any force of nature and ask to be in the right alignment with it.

Question: If I fall, I cannot ask the law of gravity to soften the blow?

Answer: No, it will not help.

Question: What should I do? Should I place a mattress or something else to soften the fall?

Answer: It will help. Or you should ask the Creator to make sure that you do not fall: “How should I change so as not to fall?”

That is, you do not ask Him to protect you from falling, but you ask how to change in order not to fall. Everyone in the world asks for protection, but it does not help. But to change, to make yourself better, so that you are properly acted upon by the forces of nature so you do not fall, that you can ask. That is, you only ask for your correction and nothing else.
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From KabTV’s “Basics of Kabbalah” 2/17/18

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Prayer and Prayer Books

Question: In Kabbalah, prayer means to “judge yourself.” What does that mean?

Answer: It means that a person evaluates himself, his qualities, and checks based on what properties he measures and evaluates the Creator. Therefore, he judges himself: Am I doing it right, am I rising above my egoism, can I be objective, etc.?

A person carries out internal clarifications of the level of one’s perception, how objective it is and how correctly one senses the Creator, undisturbed by one’s inner egoism.

Question: Is it possible to say that prayer is the realization of what a person desires from the current state and what state one aspires to? This delta causes a necessary internal request in the person, and although one does not understand whom one is addressing, a person senses changes within himself.

Answer: Precisely.

Question: And this nothing to do with those prayer books also written by Kabbalists?

Answer: Everything is much more complicated here. Prayer books are what the Kabbalists wrote for themselves, that is, a research plan of their own perceptions and how it can be corrected and adjusted.

Kabbalistic prayer books are a whole system of human interaction within himself, with the world, and the Creator, which is inside him. This is very serious instruction and very serious work.

Question: What if you just read what they wrote as is traditionally accepted on holidays without understanding it? Does it have any effect?

Answer: The fact is that there is an ordinary prayer book and there is a Kabbalistic one. A Kabbalistic prayer book will be understood only by a Kabbalist, and only starting from a certain level. An ordinary prayer book can be understood by anyone who knows this language.

Remark: But the usual prayer book was also written by Kabbalists.

My Comment: Yes, but the Kabbalistic prayer book deals with the interaction of forces and the human being. In an ordinary prayer book, this is conveyed in a language understandable to everyone.

Question: So can prayer be divided into two parts? Is one of them my inner prayer that now I really am lacking in relation to the state I want to come to, what pains me right now?

Answer: Yes. There is also a prayer that the Kabbalists wrote. If I read it, it will be like an instruction of spiritual elevation for me. Although I don’t yet feel such states, it nevertheless raises me, helps me.
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From KabTV’s “Basics of Kabbalah,” 12/17/18

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Question: I read in Wikipedia that Kabbalah and philosophy are two systems of knowledge about man and the world and that both are based on the same question—the question of the purpose of existence.

If we talk about the origins of philosophy, the German philologist and humanist Johann Reichlin (XV-XVI century) wrote that his teacher Pythagoras, the father of philosophy, adopted his teaching not from the Greeks but rather from the Jews. Therefore, he should be called a Kabbalist, and he was the first to translate the word “Kabbalah,” unknown to his contemporaries, into Greek as “philosophy.”

Did the Greeks study with Kabbalists?

Answer: The Greeks studied with Kabbalists in the time of the Jewish prophets.

At that time, people were already connected and the Jews accepted everyone who wanted to study. Just like in ancient Babylon, those who wanted to joined Abraham and those who did not could join later. Kabbalah was open to all.

Question: What is the difference between Kabbalah and philosophy? Is it the fact that Kabbalah does not take into account abstract and speculative reasoning, for example, about the soul and God, as philosophy does?

Answer: Yes, because philosophy does not have a clear tool to approach a person, how to start “poking around” in it, to study desires and their various gradations, and examine a person’s intentions. So, there is no difference between intentions for my sake and for the sake of others.

Philosophy does not study how to exit ourselves toward others, to raise and lower our desires, how to work when you are in an ascent or descent of desires and intentions, and so on. That is, Kabbalah is a science and huge internal spiritual psychology.

Question: Can we say that philosophers are people who studied under Kabbalists, but did not achieve the understanding of the Creator; that is, they did not acquire a screen, but simply remained at the level of knowledge and then developed a science called “philosophy”?

Answer: Of course. Since they could not attain the upper world and the Creator, they began to develop it in the direction of logical thinking, using their mind and conclusions.

Therefore, philosophy is, of course, not a science. Today, only those who still want to spend their lives in fruitless thoughts become philosophers.
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From KabTV’s “Basics of Kabbalah,” 12/13/18

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Comment: In Kabbalah, one must attain, feel, the Creator, and not just believe in Him. There are practically no methods that say that you must reach the level of the Creator and only then can you understand His goal and His attitude toward you.

Answer: There is a big confusion between Kabbalah and other methodologies regarding beliefs and attainment because the other methods practice blind faith: I agree with a certain postulate, thus, for me it becomes the truth.

Kabbalah doesn’t practice that. Nothing is taken on faith. Everything is attained. It is explained in a very interesting sentence: “The judge has only what his eyes can see.” It means that eyesight is the most precise and important organ of perception of reality. Therefore, what you see is considered the  truth. This is the only thing that can be relied on, everything else can be disregarded.

Also, in our world, the court witnesses are asked: “Did you see?” “No, I heard.” “Having heard” is not proof. If you saw it, which is thoroughly investigated under cross examination, such testimony is accepted as the truth.

Question: What does “seeing and hearing the Creator” mean?

Answer: Attainment of the Creator, as it is in our world, happens in sounds and pictures. The sounds, as in “I’ve heard the voice.” In addition, I saw a vision, which is considered as fully reliable proof.

Question: So, to see or to hear the Creator are different levels of attainment? But is this talking about seeing with our own eyes?

Answer: No. We’re discussing inner vision and hearing, which have no connection with our corporeal organs of perception. Vision is attainment in the light of Hochma, and hearing, in the light of Hassadim.

Seeing the Creator is the most profound level of attainment, understanding, and feeling. While hearing is a much lower level, it is still an attainment.
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From KabTV’s “Basics of Kabbalah,” 12/17/18

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