In The Study of The Ten Sefirot, it is written that there is a difference between Atzmuto and light. Atzmuto is something unattainable—the root of creation. And light is what emanates from this root, spreads, and continues to generate many different kinds of creation.

Baal HaSulam writes that the light differs from Atzmuto precisely in its form because the property of creation, the desire to receive, is already inherent in the light. And Atzmuto does not have that.

Question: Can we say that Atzmuto is the essence of the Creator? There is no thought in the Creator at all to receive something for himself?

Answer: The Creator is the source of everything that exists. Everything is in it. But we cannot talk much about Him because we do not know anything about Him.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of The Ten Sefirot (TES)” 1/1/23

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Comment: As a rule, you give a person information in such a way that he cannot use it for his own benefit. But it happens that when a person tries to convey what he heard from you, he lacks something, he cannot do it without the original source, that is, without your intervention.

My Response: Of course, it happens. The study carries both theoretical and practical loads. These are practical exercises, mastering, checking, learning from experience, and working on mistakes.

Question: What did you mean when you said that you give a person exactly so much that a person cannot use it for his own benefit?

Answer: I usually give people the amount of knowledge they need at the moment because more information will harm them.

Why do students go to school every day? Because every day they have to receive a new portion of the material that they need to master, and the next day they receive another portion, and then another one, and so on for ten to twelve years. Then maybe another five to ten years and generally every day throughout life. In portions!

I do the same. I am no different in this from other educational systems.

Comment: But it seems that they have a time limit; the child first goes through school and then the university.

My Response: It is the same here. It is just that there, when the official terms are over, the school year ends and that is it. You have to know a certain amount of material, pass exams, and so on. Whereas for us, a year may pass and some will learn two-year’s material during this year while others just a half-year’s material. It depends on the person.

Comment: Many schoolchildren, in principle, are not interested in history, geography, or biology, and they study these subjects by force.

My Response: This is because of the way it is explained to them. We should not say that they are not interested in these subjects. If they were shown the same history or geography in the form of fascinating movies, then it would be interesting for them, and they would absorb the material.

The learning process was made boring by the people themselves. We can make it so that the child will sit with his mouth open from morning to evening.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call, As Much as Required” 6/13/14

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Comment: There is a factor in the classification of sects that the group separates itself from the rest of the world, for example, by clothing, food, a special language, and a clear regulation of behavior and interpersonal relations.

My Response: I do not see any peculiarities in the global Kabbalistic group. A person works like everyone else; he must have a family, children, and take care of them. He freely communicates with his parents and relatives, goes on vacation with his family.

He has a TV, radio, telephones at home, no one lives in isolation. We are disseminating to wider society. We do not have a specific dress code. No one is obliged to wear a Kippah if he does not wish to.

Our only peculiarity is that we study Kabbalah from three to six in the morning, but this is how all Kabbalists usually study.

We do not differ from others except for the internal behavior between each other. We must strive for connection with each other, for an internal connection of hearts. As the Torah says: “To be as one man with one heart.” This is our characteristic.

Nothing else is required from a person, only to support a friend by showing him the importance of the goal that is achieved by connection between us. That is all. We are no different from others. Only by this requirement. The member of the group undertakes to carry it out to the best of his ability.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Kabbalah about Cults” 12/18/13

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Question: Baal HaSulam gives an example of a rich man who feeds and gives gifts to a poor man. The poor man feels direct pleasure from this. But as he receives gifts, he begins to feel shame.

We strongly dislike the feeling of shame because there is no reception in the Creator at all. Does shame also come from the Creator, or does it appear only in creation?

Answer: No negative feelings come from the Creator, only positive ones. They are negative because our disparity with the Creator was created.

The feeling of shame before the giver exists only in creation. It does not exist in our root.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 12/4/22

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Question: How did you find the strength to learn from Rabash Peh el Peh (mouth to mouth)?

Answer: I do not think I was the luckiest or the strongest as was the case with Joshua relative to Moses or with other Kabbalists. I had very big breakdowns.

That is, you come and go along with the teacher and you suddenly break down. And you cannot do anything; there is a contradiction: “Well, how can it be? This is not how he does it! This is not how he thinks! This is not how he acts! I have to do it differently! I… I… I…”

It cannot be fixed. It was probably necessary to go that way. To what has passed, we must say: “This is how it should have happened.”

But it is necessary, of course, to try to make all this happen in an absolute internal fusion. This is called Peh el Peh—spirit to spirit.

The fact is that now we are talking about a relationship that does not exist today between a student and a teacher. First of all, I do not see that this is possible between me and any of the students.

Secondly, the global wave that is rising today is not aimed at merging with the teacher and thus receiving spiritual Peh el Peh from him but in finding spiritual things among them, in scrupulously following all the instructions of the teacher.

Then the teacher becomes not a Teacher with a capital letter, not a spiritual father, but a leader, an instructor on the way; that is, he accompanies a group of students from the side.

We are in a state where we are pioneers. So, it is hard to say how it should actually be. After me, my students will discover further inside them what is inherent in them and will see how to behave further. But still, what is happening now will speak to them and will move them.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/12/10

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Comment: Another factor in the classification of cults is: “The group wants you to break off your old relationships as they stop your development.”

My Response: In our organization no one controls anyone. You can keep in touch with your past friends and go with them wherever you want.

It is your personal business who you are going on vacation with; it does not matter. But since your entire system of attitude toward the world and your preferences are changing, then naturally, you, like everyone else, become bored with people who do not share your passion.

For example, if I play chess, I am interested in those who are also interested in it, and I spend time in their circle. How else? All people have some kind of hobby according to which they choose their friends. If a person does not have a hobby, then he just lies on the couch watching football. That is all. What is wrong with the fact that I chose friends according to my hobby?

Today I am studying Kabbalah, and tomorrow, I will maybe be interested in scuba diving or fishing, so I will choose the appropriate environment for myself.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Kabbalah about Cults” 12/18/13

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Question: There is such a thing as shame in our world. How is the concept of shame, which Baal HaSulam writes about in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, related to the shame that we are familiar with?

Answer: The shame mentioned in Kabbalah arises when a person feels oneself to be the opposite of the Creator. In the world opposite to the Creator, a person feels incongruity with Him, and this is called shame.

The Creator is absolute bestowal. I want to be like Him, but I see that I can’t and I am ashamed. Just like in our world, I want to be like some great man and I am ashamed that I cannot become like him.

Question: Does spiritual shame remain or does it disappear?

Answer: Gradually, as you approach the Creator in your properties, shame disappears.

Comment: It seems that the closer you are to the Creator, the more you realize how opposite you are to Him.

My Response: If you are approaching the Creator in terms of properties, then why should you be ashamed?

Shame is a separate creation of the Creator. The Creator created shame in humans so that we would feel different from the Creator. Thanks to shame, we develop.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 12/4/22

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Comment: In the classification of cults there is a condition that the teaching of the group is considered the only true eternal knowledge.

My Response: Do ordinary Judaism, Christianity in all its manifestations and parts, Islam, Hinduism and other movements not think so? So, everything in the world is a cult.

Question: Why do people call something a cult when it is beneficial for them, and something else is either teaching, or wisdom, or religion?

Answer: But they are people! What do you expect from them? They use what is beneficial for them, convenient for them, and raises them above the rest. It is like politics: Today I need to scold someone, so I scold; tomorrow I need to praise him, so I praise him. We do whatever is beneficial for us. This is genuine human nature.

If you do not study Kabbalah, then not understanding how a person is arranged can, of course, irritate you. But when you study Kabbalah, you understand that a person cannot do it any other way, this is how he is arranged, and this is how he must act because egoism compels him.

Therefore, I am in no way offended by anyone who slanders me; such is their nature until they begin to correct themselves. When they finally come to this knowledge, they will see how wrong they were.

I will be happy to teach those that hate me today, and in no case will I remember anything hateful they used to say about me. This is how we are arranged from the very beginning, and we must turn evil into a good inclination. For this we have been given Kabbalah. To the extent that a good inclination, altruism, and the qualities of bestowal and love are formed in us, we begin to feel the upper world, the upper system of governance.

If people do not feel this, then what opinion can they form about Kabbalah and about me? Naturally, anything goes, the main thing is to denigrate, to slander, because by this they somehow justify themselves. It is very difficult for a person to live without justifying himself; it does not even make sense for him to exist. Therefore, all his actions are aimed only at raising himself or lowering others.

I have no complaints about them; they just work according to their nature.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Kabbalah about Cults” 12/18/13

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Question: In some movements they promote not pondering over the group’s teachings. The members say: “It’s impossible to explain, come to us, you have to experience this.”

Answer: That is correct. There are things that you can’t appreciate from afar, even music, until you get used to it, understand it, receive explanations, and get trained. This is the same as culture that teaches a person how to perceive paintings, sounds, dancing, and ballet.

If they take you now to the opera, for example, you will run away from there, because you have a clip-perception. And here in front of you on stage for two or three hours, they will be singing about love, and you will be admiring and crying. You must be ready for this.

Comment: Often such misunderstanding is used as criticism.

My Response: Of course there will be criticism. How is it possible not to criticize what I don’t understand? It is easiest to say: “Ah, it’s worthless, empty.”

Personally I have no complaints about such people. They are just shallow, small people who, without being able to figure something out, talk about it.

Likewise, the lyrics philosophize about physics. But they have nonetheless the opportunity to ask around and understand something in an easy way, but this is impossible in Kabbalah. In Kabbalah, you must see it and feel it, because this attainment is not from our world, not in our senses. We do not have adequate perceptions about what we feel when we acquire spiritual sense organs.

That is why I have a problem explaining this to a person. My parents asked, “What are you doing anyway?” I couldn’t explain it to them.

I am engaged in Kabbalah.

What is this?

This is the science that speaks about the upper world.

And what is the upper world? Is it the world we get after death?

We get nowhere after death.

Where do the souls reside?

Souls don’t reside anywhere, there is no place.

Where then is the upper world?

And it doesn’t exist until I create it with my changed qualities.

“It looks like our child skidded off somewhere. It’s a pity, he gave such hope both for science and business. He gave up science, then opened his own business. Quit business and went somewhere into Kabbalah, and really got enslaved with Kabbalah,” my parents said and they left for Canada.

That is all.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Kabbalah about Cults” 12/18/13

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The more uncorrected our vessels of reception, the more we cannot open our mouths to receive His abundance, for fear of disparity of form, as in “One who eats that which is not one’s own, is afraid to look upon one’s face” (Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, “Inner Observation,” Chapter 5, Item 22).

If I do not become similar to the Creator, then eventually, I constantly lose.

Without acting like the Creator, I am immersed in a sense of shame that belittles me, presses me to the ground, and explains how insignificant I am.

I feel ashamed that I am not similar to the Creator, that I am the opposite of Him.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 12/18/22

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