Question: Why should I correct myself and reject my nature?

Answer: It says that the Creator created the evil inclination. That is, we originially received the evil nature, egoistic desire that refuses to connect with others.

This is the reason that every person in the world thinks only about himself and doesn’t care about others—that is out nature.

Why should we correct ourselves? The reason is very simple: we are in the program of creation, of the process that leads us to connection and unity, whether we want to or not.

The entire process of our evolution throughout our history leads us only to increasingly greater unity. We see the consequences of this process as the world is becoming global and we find ourselves all mutually connected. The entire world is becoming one small global village.

We depend on one another. See what is happening in Europe and in the Far East. Who could have predicted that hundreds of thousands of people would suddenly leave their homes and swarm from Afghanistan to France? This was impossible in the past, but in our modern world, yes.

No one can stop the masses of refugees. It could be very simple to stop them with an army and that’s that, but you cannot do that. The world has become round and will not accept this. You will not be allowed to do anything against them.

We don’t understand the world we are in yet and the extent to which we depend on one another. No one can do whatever he feels like. The question is what we should do in this case.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, we are in a situation where nature is pushing us into a ring. The earth is becoming a very small crowded place that ties us together by rigid interdependence, thus becoming a very dangerous place.

A century ago, only three billion people lived on this planet, while today there are about eight billion people, which means that the world population has more than doubled. What will happen in another hundred years, if anything will exist by then?

Therefore we must understand that we have no choice and that we must find a common language. Nature is pushing us into a corner, into a dead end, and is forcing us to find a solution. We see that the EU has led to a complete collapse.

European countries cannot find a common language, and the reason for that is that Israel, the Jews, the ones who have the method of connection and unity, are not realizing it, not by themselves and not by conveying it to the rest of the world so that it could be used correctly.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM 9/20/15

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Question: Why do we fast on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement)?

Answer: On Yom Kippur we limit ourselves with five kinds of restrictions, not only for eating. All the restrictions apply to the reception of pleasure, but we then want to bestow and not receive.

Yom Kippur symbolizes our willingness to carry out our mission and the same restrictions that we are ready to make to unite among ourselves and unite the whole world.

In this manner we discover our uncorrected egoistic desires. After we have examined them, repenting and regretting them during the Ten Days of Repentance, from the beginning of Rosh HaShanah until Yom Kippur, we clarify how much these desires are uncorrected. So we promise to correct ourselves, but the final correction happens on Purim.

From Yom Kippur until Chanukah we correct our desires of bestowal, meaning the first and easiest part of our ego. And so this holiday is called, “Chanu-Kah” (camp here), meaning an interruption, a rest.

From Chanukah until Purim we correct the greater desires. Purim corresponds to Yom Kippur (“Ki-pur” means “Like Purim”). This means that on Yom Kippur we are already preparing ourselves for Purim, for the full correction of our ego, of our entire evil nature, until it is impossible to discern any evil.

So on the Purim holiday we act completely opposite compared to Yom Kippur: unlimited drinking and eating.

But on Yom Kippur our desires are not yet corrected, and we can not be allowed to use. We cannot be happy, cannot eat, cannot drink, cannot fulfill ourselves. This is because all of our fulfillments are egoistic, with thoughts only about ourselves.

But if we gradually correct our desires, then we are freed from limitations and reach a state where everything is allowed for us! This is what the Purim holiday symbolizes, the completion of correction.

We must reach this state through connecting with others. So on Purim it is customary to send gifts to each other, something that testifies to our correction and readiness to relate well with everyone.

It follows that Yom Kippur is the starting point of the process of correction in the relationships between people. And the story of the prophet Jonah teaches about the obligation of the people of Israel, besides personal correction, to bring all the nations of the world to unity.

It is not worthwhile to rely on the possibility of fasting one day per year and through this erase all of our sins and iniquities that we committed throughout the year. It is said that the crimes against others are not forgiven on Yom Kippur if the injured person doesn’t forgive us.

We are all egoists and think only about how to do as much good as possible for ourselves; on account of this, we exploit the whole world that surrounds us; we want to profit and receive from everyone. Only fear of punishment somehow forces us to balance what we receive with those around us. But deep in the soul, we are completely indifferent to them and the whole world could burn, the main thing is concern about ourselves.

And we need to transform this attitude into an opposite attitude, so that we will connect and unite with everyone and things will be better for everyone. Only then will the upper force, the Creator, dwell among us and spread a canopy of peace over us.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/20/15

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Israel must bring the entire world to correction and the story of the prophet Jonah, which we read on Yom Kippur, suggests this very clearly.

The right to read this story during the ceremony is generally bought at a great sum of money. The richest people compete for the right to read it in front of everyone else; this is the climactic point of Yom Kippur.

People believe that this assures great success to a person for the whole year. They treat this like a simple tradition, without thinking about what is being said in this story.

The prophet Jonah receives a mission from the Creator to go to the sinful city of Nineveh and correct its inhabitants. Jonah the Jew doesn’t want to carry out this mission and bring about peace between the peoples of the world. He tries to flee and embarks on a ship that is about to set sail.

Jonah sleeps in the belly of the ship, showing that nothing concerns him. See how this story is symbolic; it teaches about the present situation of the people of Israel. And so the storm comes, the waves rise and threaten to sink the ship. The sailors draw lots to find out who is to blame for this storm, and the lot falls on Jonah. This is very much the way the nations of the world blame Israel today for all their problems.

Jonah acknowledges that he is to blame for everything, and agrees to be thrown overboard. In the sea he is swallowed by a great fish and remains in its belly for three days. During this time he expresses regret and understands that he is obligated to go to the sinful city of Nineveh and bring its inhabitants back to repentance.

So the fish released him on the beach directly on the way to the city of Nineveh. Jonah goes to the city and convinces its inhabitants to become good people. Then the Creator is revealed to Jonah and tells him that He could not abandon His plan to correct the whole world, for all the nations of the world are very precious to Him. And that is how this story ends happily.

See what kind of a story they give to us for the holiest day of the year, a day in which we must clarify and evaluate our condition, our work and actions throughout the past year, throughout all of our lives.

This speaks about relationships between people. All of the people of Israel must take upon themselves the role and the mission of the prophet Jonah and carry it out, not only to unite among themselves, but to bring the entire world to correction. And according to tradition, we pay a lot of money for this honorable right!

People assume that this action brings great success, and this is truly so, but to be truthful, it is not in the same sense that is commonly believed. If the people of Israel were to unite and bring the whole world to unity, we would expect great success.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/20/15

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Yom Kippur symbolizes the beginning of the correction of the relations between people. It is common to ask for everyone’s forgiveness before Yom Kippur. This is how we show our desire to connect and unite with everyone, and this means we are ready to be judged.

A person is actually judged according to his willingness and his readiness to connect and unite with others. After all, the goal of creation is to unite and connect all the people back as one man in one heart.

Question: I don’t think we have many chances of being acquitted in this trial. Judging by the news, the state of the Israeli society is getting worse every day.

Answer: All the problems the world is undergoing, and especially the nation of Israel, are a direct outcome of our separation.

Question: Are all our sins forgiven on Yom Kippur, as if the counter is reset?

Answer: We can indeed reset the counter of our sins if we stretch out a friendly hand to one another. If the nation of Israel is ready to unite like brothers and open its heart, we will heal all the problems, become the most respectable nation in the world, and attain absolute security and wellbeing. Everything that happens depends only on our connection and unity.

In the connection between us we discover the upper force of nature, which exists in a concealed form among us. The moment we wish to bring our hearts closer together, we discover the Creator among us.

Yet we mustn’t think only about ourselves, but also must help the whole world unite because the Creator wants everyone to know Him, from the smallest to the greatest. This connection depends on the unity of the Israeli nation, but it has to spread throughout the world.

Therefore, we see the problems the world is undergoing and the rope tightening around Israel more and more. European leaders are already beginning to blame Israel that Europe is flooded with immigrants from Syria.

It would seem that Israel has nothing to do with these immigrants, but we are still being mentioned in this context. Therefore, we should understand that if we do not unite, the problems will increase on all sides, both internally and externally.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/20/15

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Question: During the holiday of Sukkot, the Feast of the Tabernacles, we build a Sukkah, and the important element of it is its covering. What does this structure symbolize?

Answer: The structure of the Sukkah and all of the materials that are used to build it are according to the method and measurements of the upper attributes that we need to awaken in ourselves.

The roof of the Sukkah is collected from raw branches of trees so that the shade on a sunny day will be greater than the light, and the light will come only occasionally through the branches and leaves.

The roof symbolized the Masach (Screen) that separates us from the upper world, and the light that fills it. But due to that, we form a spiritual Masach within ourselves. We as if neutralize the upper Masach.

The upper Masach is one that conceals, and our Masach is one that reveals. Thus, during the time of the neutralizing of the upper Masach by our Masach, the light begins to illuminate and correct us.

During the seven days, we gradually fill with this light, and on the eighth day, we come to the state of being completely corrected, the holiday of Simchat Torah (Rejoicing of the Torah). This means that the light of the Torah reaches its logical and only end: the filling of the Kli (vessel) of the corrected soul.

Question: We always talk about the importance of spiritual acts and not physical ones. So, why did your teacher, the Rabash, treat the building of the Sukkah so passionately, to such an extent that he checked if the roof was hanging and not connected to any poles and so on

Answer: This is the way a person is. If something is valuable to him, then he relates to it with great consideration, even on the lowest physical level.

If the deep inner motivations are very dear to us, then we maintain the same reverent attitude to their symbols in our world. Of course, what is most important are the spiritual corrections. But when a person begins to work internally, then the inner symbols become an incentive that attract him to suitable external actions.

Besides that, the holiday of Sukkot is simply a good and happy holiday. People gather together in a Sukkah, dine together, sing songs, and are happy.

There will come a time when the entire world will enter a huge Sukkah, and then the entire world will be happy.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 6/18/15

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Consenting To Changes

At this time, we are witnesses of the very beginning of the process: Europeans have recognized that they cannot leave refugees to fend for themselves, but at the same time, they don’t know how to take them in.

Those same Europeans, who for thousands of years, if not more, murdered each other and in which executions were an everyday “theater” for the common people, no longer live as in the past; they are unable to resist the invasion of refugees.

The question is, “Why?” The failure to act is fraught with serious danger.

We see that nature obligates us to change our internal structure. We will eventually understand and acknowledge that we really need this change. We will consent to this state of affairs and will wish for these modifications to our nature. Only then, will we gradually start changing.  

The situation will reach a degree at which we will suddenly sense that we are unwilling to go back to our egoism. On the contrary, we will continue our path towards correction and eventually we will break the boundaries that separate us. This is a global process and it will last until we all merge into one family and become as one indivisible whole.

It will happen under financial and economic blows, numerous threats, and a series of natural disasters. Nature is unbalanced because of us, so, it will push us around.   

So far, we haven’t started building the equilibrium and unity, which we should have already realized according to evolutionary development. That’s why nature will force us to understand the situation we are in and to want change.

As a result of numerous disasters, the people of the world will eventually realize and feel that it is the people of Israel who know the solution to this problem. Then, they will appeal to the people of Israel and put this requirement forth. This is the time when Israelis will disclose the methodology of correction, called the wisdom of Kabbalah, to all nations. In essence, the wisdom of Kabbalah is the art and science of connecting people.

When this happens, Israel will turn into the “Light for the nations.”
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 8/27/15

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Question: Does a Kabbalist see the future, and if so, why doesn’t he warn us of the dangers?

Answer: The Kabbalist doesn’t see the future. He only knows how to make the future better. However, this change doesn’t depend on him only, but on everyone.

So, he cannot predict the future because he doesn’t know whether people will change it for the better or for the worse. This depends on the freedom of choice of each and every one.

So, we are turning to the people of Israel and saying that we are ready to change the entire world. It is precisely the people of Israel found in the land of Israel who are prepared to completely change life in their nation for the better and likewise change the entire world situation. We even can change the climate so that there won’t be extremes of heat or cold.

Question: Is it possible even to influence the climate?

Answer: Changing the climate is the easiest of all because it belongs to the inanimate level, which is the first of the four levels of nature: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking.

We can change all of them if we just want to. So, let’s try! Otherwise, we are heading toward an unbearable life that would be intolerable.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/16/15

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The Torah, “Leviticus,” 23:39: But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the festival of the Lord for a seven day period; the first day shall be a rest day, and the eighth day shall be a rest day.

On the tenth of the seventh month we celebrate Yom Kippur and Sukkot begins five days later.

“Leviticus,” 23:40 – 23:42: And you shall take for yourselves on the first day, the fruit of the hadar tree, date palm fronds, a branch of a braided tree, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for a seven day period. And you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord for seven days in the year. [It is] an eternal statute throughout your generations [that] you celebrate it in the seventh month. For a seven day period you shall live in booths. Every resident among the Israelites shall live in booths…

All of the plants that are specified in the verse symbolize special characteristics that a person must attain to fully assemble his spiritual Kli to discover the Creator on the last day of the Sukkot holiday. The spiritual Kli is composed of seven parts: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. Each one of them matches a particular type of plant: Hesed, Gevura and Tifferet are three branches of myrtle; Netzach and Hod are two willow branches, Yesod is a Lulav (palm frond) and Malchut is an Etrog (citron). When we unite all of these plants together, they embody the corrected states of the seven parts of our soul. So we keep them throughout the festival in a Sukkah, symbolizing the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light) which corrects us.

In other words, if a person gathers all of these characteristics within himself and can already ask for their complete correction and raise the blessings, then the Ohr Makif bestows to him. Certainly this is the result of his inner work and not the physical work. In this manner, throughout the seven days, seven purified Lights enter into him in order, correcting and preparing him for the eighth last day when he leaves the Sukkah. Then the Torah holiday begins, happiness and joy for the soul with the help of the Light called “Torah” finally receives its corrected state.

Generally during the holidays people perform specific mechanical actions. But they all have profound inner meanings and we must at least try to somehow get closer to this understanding.

All of the external symptoms in our world are a result of the actions of powerful spiritual. Anyone can invite them into himself and with their help rise from our world to the upper world, as an automatically rising platform. It commands all the properties we see, hear, and feel in this world.

We live within the beastly physical body; through it we feel ourselves and see only the physical world. But the Torah tells us how to move out of this state that limits us into an image called Adam (Man) and live within it.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 6/18/15

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Baal HaSulam, “Fruits of Wisdom,” “He who Shares the Public’s Grief”: “A person is measured to the extent that he measures,” that is, according to the size of the vessels, according to the container and its interior part. The same deficiency will always be full, no more no less.

Therefore, God’s servant who doesn’t share the public’s grief, but only feels his own private deficiency has a container for the abundance that isn’t big enough, and therefore will not be able to receive the general revelation of Godliness in the secret of the public’s consolation, because he has not prepared a vessel to receive this general phase but only his private phase.

But if he shares the public’s grief and feels the troubles of the general as his own private trouble, he is rewarded with seeing the complete phase of the revelation of the Shechina, meaning the consolation of all of Israel, because his deficiency is a general deficiency and therefore the abundance of holiness is also general.

You should thus understand the meaning of “the righteous have no rest,” which means that because the abundance is blessed according to the level of deficiency and the longings of the righteous, to the same extent, no more no less, they always make efforts to deepen and to expand their vessel because the one who bestows has no measure, only the one who receives. Thus, their only goal in life is to grow stronger and to yearn to make in them a vessel and thus cause contentment in expanding the borders of holiness.

The vessel of receiving is limited and the vessel of bestowal is unlimited. It all depends on a person. To the extent that he tries to expand his vessel of bestowal, he receives help from above. If he is really interested in correction and uses all the means he has, he can always increase the vessel, which means increasing his deficiency for bestowal. The Light that Reforms operates on him according to these efforts and corrects his vessel, prepares it, and then fills it. Therefore it is said “the righteous have no rest, neither in this world nor in the next world,” which means neither on the current level nor on the next level, and they will always be able to advance.

The key and the basis for advancement is to share the public’s grief, which means that the additional deficiencies and the need for bestowal can only be acquired from the environment. There is no other place; the environment is the only place where one can draw from it unlimitedly and advance as a result.

We can thus immediately assess how a person sees this advancement in the spiritual life. Today it already refers to everyone, both men and women. It depends if a person isolates himself and thinks that he will advance only thanks to his studies, or whether he participates in dissemination and in community life, connecting to the group with all his might. If he doesn’t do that, he cannot accumulate a deficiency for bestowal, of course, reach a prayer, and receive a readymade vessel. The Light is in abundance, and it will therefore immediately fill the vessel the moment it is ready.

Baal HaSulam wrote: “A person is measured to the extent that he measures.” After all, a person can only measure the extent that he yearns to be in the vessels of bestowal and to be filled with Light. Everything depends only on him, on the preparation of his vessel. Sharing the public’s grief is the key for the revelation of the Creator.

In his article “The Giving of the Torah,” Baal HaSulam wrote that when the children of Israel were in Egypt they became one nation that suffered the enslavement and the hard labor together the moment they began to mutually share their grief. Pharaoh brought the children of Israel closer to the Creator and enforced increasingly greater afflictions upon them, and as a result, forced them to connect.They realized that only thanks to the connection between them could they be saved and come out of Egypt. This is how a person receives the right deficiency.

It turns out that we have unlimited opportunities to advance because the whole world already needs correction. We will always have a chance to influence the public and to engage in dissemination more and more without limits; we will receive the deficiencies from people and advance before them each time in order to be their teachers and to serve them. This is how we will advance towards increasingly greater vessels of bestowal.

All the grief should be aimed at only one thing: how to absorb additional deficiencies from the close environment or from an increasingly wider environment, until the whole world is included in my vessel. This is the purpose of the shattering, which means the keeping of the commandments. Only building a deficiency for bestowal fulfills everything.

Nowadays we see that the whole world, including us, is already arranged for the revelation of the deficiency for mutual bestowal. This is how we build the place for the revelation of the Creator in order to cause Him contentment. All this will happen before our very eyes.
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From the Preparation for the Convention 2/25/14

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Question: Why does the harmony of the world depend on our unity?

Answer: Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, the harmony in the world depends only on the Jewish people. Only we have freewill, and this is the reason that anti-Semites claim that we are responsible for all the sufferings of humanity, because we don’t lead the world to a better state, and they are right. This is what The Book of Zohar and the Kabbalistic sources tell us.

The root of this phenomenon is the fact that we have certain information in our genes that enables us to bring the world together in the right harmonious mutual connection. None of the other nations can do that. This is the reason that we shouldn’t engage in science, culture, and literature of our world, but in the right Kabbalistic sociology, in the correct assembly of all the nations that should reach harmony in the connection between them, in the balance between them and the surrounding world, nature.

Then the new level of our evolution will be revealed among us. Only the Jewish people can do that, but if we continue to lag behind the fulfillment of this idea, the world will bring us increasingly more complaints.

We used to be one united nation in the past, and then we fell from that level so that we will be able to connect with all the other nations and to disperse among them. But now we need to do our best to come together again from all the nations of the diaspora.

Those who cannot reach the land of Israel simply have to help us become one united nation so that we will be able to show the whole world the theory and practice of connection and unity, which is what is lacking in humanity. This is the whole meaning of our existence! This is the meaning of the wonderful evolution of the whole world!

Our historical role is to serve the world. This the only reason the Jewish people are considered the chosen people and not in any other reason! We should live for the whole world and not for our own sake and direct ourselves towards the Creator through the whole world.
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From KabTV’s “Holidays. Rosh Hashana” 8/6/15

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