Spiritual Actions and Worldly Terms

Comment: Many Kabbalists and even philosophers of the Middle Ages write that in all primary sources there isn’t a single word about our world, only objects and phenomena that are above time, space, and motion. Even back then people already knew about such things.

The great Kabbalist of the 20th century, Baal HaSulam, writes in his Study of the Ten Sefirot, (Talmud Eser Sefirot,) “The authors of the Kabbalistic books use the ‘worldly’ terms only as symbols to denote the higher, spiritual roots.”

My Response: The stories of Kabbalists might seem strange to us, but they describe only spiritual events and actions, not what is happening in our world, although they use worldly terms to describe them. Therefore, the story is perceived as if it really happened in our world. But the fact remains that it could take place or couldn’t.

Question: It turns out that not all spiritual states described by Kabbalists have materialized where a person and all of humanity must go through. Is that the case?

Answer: They can’t all materialize. A person’s and humanity’s experiences in their spiritual development isn’t everything that is displayed in our world. A person experiences special internal events and a struggle with himself, with а general and private egoism, unification and separation within a group. In general, all this is internal work. Does it have a reflection in our world? Such reflection is very insignificant as a rule.

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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 3/24/19

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Temple—a Place of Strengthening Unity

Comment: Once the Jews entered the Land of Israel, they began to connect even more. As a result, the First Temple was built.

My Response: Yes. However, this was also quite nominal since many of them were unable to unite.

Connection was not the uniform desire of all the people. After all, we are talking about voluntary, conscious connection over the ever-growing egoism that tears people apart. This is not easy.

Comment: After the death of King David, his son ascended the throne and built the First Temple—a symbol of unity. It was a place where people came at least three times a year in order to connect.

There is evidence that in Jerusalem, pilgrims were accepted as relatives, given free accommodation, and no one was deprived of care. There was joy everywhere and people felt like one family.

We usually think of a Temple as a place where sacrifices are offered. Here, however, it is referred to as a place of connection.

My Response: Sacrifice is a purely allegorical concept. Animals in the Temple were slaughtered only to prepare a meal. After all, a huge number of people were gathering there and all had to be fed.

Question: Was it not an act of appeasement of the upper force?

Answer: No. In no way. No one thought about it. A person made a donation from the bottom of his heart so that it would help unite all those who came to Jerusalem.

This was the most important thing for those who came to the Temple. At that time, people lived in very small families distant from each other. Each with his own sheep, goats, and a small piece of land that was cultivated with simple, unpretentious tools.

Three times a year, they brought all this to Jerusalem, where they held meals to strengthen unity. The tradition of holding meals exists to this day. Kabbalists have always paid special attention to this. They especially earned, stored, saved money for this, and brought everything possible to the meal: meat, bread, and wine.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 7/8/19

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To Absolute Connection

Question: When people consciously draw closer to each other rising above their egoism, then, as a result, they begin to feel the single law of nature. What is this law?

Answer: We exist in a single system called “Nature” or “The Creator.” To the extent that we, in spite of our egoism, are similar to this system, we feel communication between us and this system and can exist in a sensible and good way.

This is the whole of Kabbalah. We must reach the correct interaction between us in order to begin feeling this vast system, that is, this upper world in which we exist, and gradually become more and more similar to the laws, principles, and rules of this world. In other words, we must interact with each other so that we will bring ourselves to the state of absolute connection.

When we begin to unite, we feel the manifestation of this single law, the single force, between us. However, if we do not do this, the second, completely opposite law is activated—the negative force that pushes us toward unity. This is the opposite side of the Creator.
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FFrom KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 7/8/19

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The People of Israel before the Construction of the Temple

Question: After exiting Egypt and receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai, the people of Israel with their newfound unity conquered the land of Canaan and turned it into the Land of Israel. “Eretz Israel” means the desire to be like the Creator.

This entire time, the development and implementation of Moses’ methodology continued. I wonder what people did before the construction of the Temple? After all, then there was no study of the Torah and the commandments. It was introduced much later.

Answer: There was no study because people did it in practice. The meaning of their life was to be constantly in increasing communication with each other and to reveal the Creator in their unity.

They felt this methodology, applied it and implemented it very clearly among themselves more or less. Although, in principle, this was the reason for the war.

Comment: The famous historian Josephus Flavius writes, “It is impossible to describe the differences in the customs and laws of many forms of rule that mankind had developed. Most could be subsumed under the following three types: monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy. And our legislator (Moses), abandoning all of the above, created the so-called theocracy.”

Theocracy is when a spiritual and governmental leader is represented in one person.

My Response: Spirituality rules over the people.

Comment: The state formed by the Jews existed for about 200 years without a regular army and without a centralized administrative apparatus. Spiritual mentors from the tribe of Levi were deprived of land allotment and lived in 48 cities that belonged to other tribes. They only taught people.

All the people were literate without exception. Moreover, children were taught to read and write at the age of three.

Besides, the Jews are the people who do not need a king. The first king Saul came after the death of Moses when he began a war with the neighbors. Before that the people managed without a king.

My Response: Spiritual communication was enough for them to exist.

In addition, they supported the Cohens and Levites, that is, all those who taught them and spiritually supported them. After all, the very first authority was based on upper governance.

Comment: Another interesting fact is that a Jewish king could be subjected to bodily punishment for various offenses. If, for example, he allowed himself to take more horses or money, he could be punished.

My Response: Yes. The upper spiritual governance was above the king.

Comment: Also, there was a special attitude to the weak, frail, women, and slaves. It was believed that if you had one pillow, you should give it to a slave.

My Response: That is, relations between people required them to aim for greater understanding, interaction, interconnection, and greater positive interdependence.
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From KabTV’s “System analysis of the development of the people of Israel,” 7/1/19

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The Golden Calf—Symbol of Egoism

Question: As soon as the people of Israel received the method of connection at Mount Sinai, separation between the people began again: the golden calf, the Korah uprising, the complaints of the people, the spies, and so on.

What does the golden calf mean?

Answer: The golden calf is all the egoism that people took with them from Egypt. They cannot get away from it, it is always with them. Sometimes they rise above it, sometimes they do not.

Thus, the golden calf is a symbol of egoism that pulls them back to the same states. It is not about geography, although they want to return to Egypt, but it is about their feelings, at what level of communication they want to exist.

After all, we talk about society. Therefore, the desire to return to the state in which they are separated from each other is the worship of the golden calf, that is, of their egoism.
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From KabTV’s “System analysis of the development of the people of Israel,” 7/1/19

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Difference Between the Method of Moses and the Method of Abraham

Question: What kinds of means were there in the method of Abraham and in the method of Moses who pulled people out of egoism?

Answer: Moses had very simple means. From below, everything depends on the desire of the people for connection, for mutual guarantee (Arvut). To the extent that they aspire to this, they are provided with the upper force that connects them.

Question: That is, the main condition is the law of mutual guarantee. In the Babylonian Talmud it is written, “If you accept the law of guarantee, that is good. If not, here will be your burial place.” Does it mean that nature or the Creator forcibly demand this fulfillment?

Answer: There is nothing else in nature. It is all very simple; there is one law: to bring humanity to connection. In the case that along this path there are suddenly some kinds of interference from people, then nature, as usual, destroys them. It will unite us by force.
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From KabTV’s “System analysis of the development of the people of Israel,” 7/1/19

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The Foundation of the People of Israel

Question: During the First Temple, the Jewish people reached their point of unity. As a result, the Temple was built, a symbol of the union of all 12 tribes. A spiritual decline then began, which entailed the separation of the people. It lasted about 16 years and ended with the destruction of the Temple and the Babylonian exile.

Baal HaSulam, in his article “Exile and Redemption,” writes about this period: “And because they would not do it, but wished to include their narrow selfishness, meaning the Lo Lishma, this developed the ruin of the First Temple, since they wished to extol wealth and power above justice, as other nations.”

But because the Torah prohibits it, they denied the Torah and the prophecy and adopted the manners of the neighbors so they could enjoy life as much as selfishness demanded of them. And because they did that, the powers of the nation disintegrated: some followed the kings and the selfish officers, and some followed the prophets. And that separation continued until the ruin.

What kind of justice are we talking about?

Answer: In this case, the concept of justice refers to the Jewish people since it follows from its very foundation: why and how it was created.

The fact is that they gathered from various small nations that inhabited Babylon during the time of Abraham, and were created on the condition “love thy neighbor” and “love covers all transgressions.”

Therefore, if they adhere to this rule, then they exist as people, and if they take other conditions as a basis for their existence, then from the point of view of the forces that act upon them, they are no longer a people.

Other forces influence the rest of the nations, since each nation is affected by its own strength, its so-called “guardian angel.” In other words, the common power that exists in humanity selectively acts upon each group of 70 nations of the world.

The people of Israel do not belong to them because it is an assembly of their representatives. The Jewish people are very different and opposite to each other. If they gather in order to coexist correctly over their egoism, then they are viable. But if this rule is violated and they stop rushing to unite over all of their problems, then they become a dispersed people.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 7/8/19

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The Method Received at Mount Sinai

Question: The method that the people of Israel received at the foot of Mount Sinai was given to them on condition that they would become “as one man with one heart.” What is this?

Answer: The condition “as one man with one heart” means to be in our connection as similar as possible to one common, unified upper force and to feel that we are unable to do this ourselves. When we invest a certain amount of effort into connecting, we develop a strong desire to become similar to this force.

Such an aspiration to a state where we together want to become as one common whole awakens the upper light. The upper light affects the person or people who awakened it, and it performs certain spiritual actions upon them; that is, it gives them the strength to connect, to rise above their egoism.

Question: What was new in this method that Abraham did not have?

Answer: Firstly, egoism changed. If egoism is bigger, not in quantity but in quality, then, of course, a different method and other actions are required.

The new egoism requires new means in order to rise above it, to start working with it, and to connect with each other precisely because of it, despite the fact that it separates people.

Therefore, this method is called “the method of connection.” The force that we need to apply in order to connect is called “the upper light” or “the Torah.”
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 7/1/19

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Method of Connection: Before and After the Egyptian Exile

Question: What is the difference between the method of Abraham and the method that the people of Israel received when they exited Egypt?

Answer: It is all about connection.

Abraham also called people to unity. But in those days in Babylon, there was no particular hatred, no one killed each other. The Babylonians simply suddenly ceased to understand each other, which led them to an insurmountable rejection from each other. It was necessary to somehow soften, to overcome this rejection. As it is written, “Love will cover all crimes.” In principle, it was possible for them.

In Egypt, however, people’s egos have grown so much that the inclination to kill was revealed in them. They not only disagreed with each other, but were ready to destroy whoever was against them. So they could not remain in egoism because it threatened them with what is called “the Egyptian plagues.” It was necessary to exit it and rise above it, which in general they did.

They rose above their separation and in order to connect at a new level, they received a method called “the Torah.”
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 7/1/19

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The leaders of the EU’s four pillars— Germany, England, France and Italy—don’t have kids. It means that a large number of people who are making decisions about Europe’s future, have no personal interest in this future. One view states that they simply struggle for power, to rule the world without doing anything for it, and that personally, they have no one to build a good future for.

What does Kabbalah say about this phenomenon of child-free leaders?

Today, we find ourselves in a world where people who rule countries do not relate to them as their home. According to the Torah, one cannot hold a governing position without a family and children. However, in our case, we deserve the situation that has appeared. The child-free leaders of Europe demonstrate to us who we are and how we treat the world. We don’t really care about what happens tomorrow. We mechanically relate to the world, inconsiderate of the consequences of our intentions and actions.

Why? It is in order for us to arrive at the recognition of evil, i.e. that the human ego that aims at self-benefit at the expense of others is behind every human thought, decision and action. Once we reach such a recognition of evil, we can then work to build good over it. The world needs such enlightenment.

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