Question: Participating in Hebrew Book Week, I observed an interesting phenomenon: A person walks by the book stand, sees the book Unlocking The Zohar, and his reaction shows that he was waiting for this moment all his life. He looks at the book, not daring take it in his hands, then he walks by, and circles back to return to it. It is obvious that there is an internal struggle.

Many people hesitate to take this book, feeling some fear as they face it, although subconsciously something tells them that the truth is hidden in it. They even walk away with pain that they did not take the book with them. How do you explain this fear?

Answer: This is one of the problems which we have to cope with and to help people overcome this fear. This is correction. Nobody is to blame, as it is said: “Go to the Craftsman who made me.”

We exist in the egoistic nature which has to feel denial, fear, rejection of what is supposed to bring us correction. This becomes dressed in some kind of fear of the book and the results of reading it, as if it can harm us. In essence, this is preparation for correction.

This fear arises not because people were told about the prohibition to touch the book. Nothing happens without a reason. On the contrary, our ego, our will to enjoy, prepared us in such a way that we keep a certain distance from corrections.

There is no choice: We will have to work on it, explain it, and put effort into it. But in any case, do not blame anybody. No one did this on purpose. The very nature of our ego, of our will to enjoy, sets us against everything associated with correction, forcing us to stay as far as possible from it.

It is worthwhile to study this behavior. A modern young man who is not worried about anything suddenly feels an inexplicable fear before The Zohar. This is nature. Even if he did not hear anything about this book, he discovers in himself some primeval, medieval prejudices, as if he is not a modern person any more.
[46122]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/2011, The Zohar

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A, Zohar - 1 Comment →

Question: What can I do during the day to prepare myself for the morning lesson, especially for the reading of The Book of Zohar, to get maximum results?

Answer: It is desirable for a person to always keep a book with selected passages from The Zohar or Kabbalists’ sayings next to him. If during the day a person can listen to a recorded lesson, let him listen; if he can read, let him read; if he can only think, let him think.

There are people who cannot read, listen, or think about spirituality at work because their work absorbs them entirely, and they return to the intention only occasionally. There are different situations.

Rabash always used to say that it was desirable to choose a simple physical job that requires no mental or emotional efforts. But today, we hardly have jobs like that. Thus, a person should establish a definite schedule, for example, disconnect from his work every hour and connect with spirituality for five minutes.

Each person should try to do everything possible in the situation he finds himself in. These efforts are his exertion.
[46127]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/2011, The Zohar

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Q&A, Zohar - 1 Comment →

Question: Can we use the reading of The Book of Zohar to correct very difficult conditions in which many people in the world find themselves today? The wisdom of Kabbalah has been revealed, and everybody may read The Zohar. Would it help a person who does not feel the need for the group, studying, and understanding?

Answer: We have to realize that in reality, the use of the wisdom of Kabbalah is effective only if a person wants to advance towards correction. We see that time passes until people who come to study the wisdom of Kabbalah join the group and begin to understand and hear what is going on. These are very slow, internal, stage-by-stage changes in a person.

Hence, we need to understand that “Segula,” “a special effect of the Light,” starts much earlier than a person realizes that he or she is under its influence. The Light that Reforms works on him or her like on a baby who does not know yet how he is developing, for what,  or to where he should advance. He is attracted by an interesting game and plays with his toys; this is our environment.

We are in the group, and this is our environment. There are people who do not have a group, but it does not matter. The key is that in some way they use the means of attracting the Light that Reforms: The Book of Zohar, the works of Baal HaSulam, Rabash’s articles and letters, Kabbalistic music, songs.

Thus, reading The Book of Zohar in any condition, even if a person is not thinking yet about the group and unity, but wants to improve his life, still helps. If the entire world has already entered the stage of development whereby we must achieve unity among us, then any use of the sources that bring the correcting Light is beneficial.

Not everybody has to sit together with us and thousands of people around the world during our morning lessons. We also have to awaken people who have no connection with us, who have never heard that one should study for the sake of unity among people. Baal HaSulam says that we have entered the period of  the Messiah, and the entire humankind must advance in this direction.

Hence, it is desirable for a person to be connected with the primary sources even without any intentions.
[46130]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/2011, The Zohar

Related Material:
How To Enter The Book Of Zohar
The Zohar Is The Link To The Upper Force
The Secret Code Of The Zohar

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Kabbalah Dissemination, Kabbalah Study, Q&A, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: Does the Creator really need the created beings? It would be more reasonable to say that only we need Him, wouldn’t it?

Answer: If the Creator didn’t need the creatures, why would He create them in the first place? And yet, due to the fact that He is good who does good, He made the created beings in order to please them since that is what pleases Him! That is, the upper one has a “deficiency” as well, but it is not egoistic: The Creator desires to bestow.

It is written: “More than the calf wants to suckle the cow wants to feed.” Otherwise, whom would I bestow to if He doesn’t need anything from me? He has an enormous desire: He desires for me to be pleased! This is indeed a deficiency but a good, positive one.

The creature’s desire to please itself didn’t initially exist and was created “from absence.” But desire and the need to bestow existed all along. This need pertains to the Creator rather than to the created being. And this is the type of lack we have to inherit from Him so that we would strive to bestow and feel obligated to compensate for this deficiency; and if we don’t bestow, we suffer.

The upper one suffers if the lower one doesn’t ascend to and receive from Him. This is regarded as the suffering of Shechina which cannot bestow and bring the souls closer to itself. We only think that deficiency is always something negative, when in fact, if what I lack is bestowal to others, is it really bad?

But if the upper one has a lack, does it mean that He is imperfect? Yes, He is incomplete in terms of being dependent on the lower ones, but only because of His love for them. Until the very end of correction, this deficiency will remain, both in the upper one and the lower one.

As for us, we judge according to our own flaws and think that since He needs us, He isn’t perfect either. But where the Creator is concerned, His need to bestow derives from excessive perfection.

The Creator’s need and the need of the created being don’t disappear, but rather grow and in the end of correction become enormous! It is not as in our world when you satiate your need for love and it disappears. We were so eager to be together that now that we are—the desire vanished. I am full and don’t want anything anymore; I don’t have room for another meal.

Thus, we build a vessel within, a kind of desire that will never disappear! On the contrary, I feel greater deficiency—and greater fulfillment. But the lack compensated by bestowal to others is not a defect. It is highly valuable, honorable, and exalted! It is similar to a mother who desires to give all she can to her baby. And she definitely has a deficiency since from dawn to dusk she thinks solely of him, from the moment he was conceived inside her. But does it mean she has a defect? On the contrary, they both can delight in each other, and this is an opportunity to get fulfilled, to evolve, and to love.

The Creator is similar to the mother who suffers if she cannot give to her child as much as she can. It is a tremendous deficiency the Light contains, and it is it in particular that created desire instilled in us. When this desire unfolds in full, it will be as exalted as the Creator’s desire to bestow to us. Yet, it doesn’t demean; it exalts since it derives from love.
[46145]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Q&A, Spirituality - 1 Comment →

Question: I feel as if we are sitting at the bedside of a dying person, discussing what painkiller we should give him. Our priority is to engage the Light through studying. And yet, where Israel is concerned, we seem to be stuck.

Answer: Here, we receive blows in another form; therefore, we should approach people in a different way. We need to make them aware of what is going on in Europe and other parts of the world, while explaining to them how threatening these processes will be when they reach our country.

In Israel, they will manifest not in the economy collapsing but in pressure from outside, in problems with security. It is not about food and jobs; the reckoning will be done not at this level but at the level of our mission, our duty before the world. This is what we have to make people aware of.

However, at present, the nation is not ready for it in the slightest degree. Therefore, they will simply cover their ears and won’t even look at you. For now, at least they do not resent you. But if you start pushing them to take action, they will simply turn away from you. It is one thing “to join the good,” and it’s completely another matter to hear about troubles that obligate us to do something about them. “Who are you to tell us that, anyway?”

Many circles will be happy to see such turn of events and will want to crush you. On the other hand, while you are still talking about love, they have something to worry about.

Hence, we have to use a very fine approach in this case. Today, I don’t feel an impulse to make any drastic moves toward disseminating in Israel. It will only turn people away from us. For the time being, they are not willing and will not hear more. Unfortunately, this is what we are working with so far. By adding some “heat” to it, from good Samaritans, we will turn into moralists and preachers in their eyes.

We must take the path of love and good instead of forcing them into the mutual guarantee: “Let’s take care of, love, and unite with one another.” No posters with slogans: “Did you sign the guarantee?!” No, we desire to be guarantors for you.

We can’t approach this nation in any other way—only with love. Only if people begin to feel that circumstances are pressing them down will we be able to explain from where and why this pressure is put upon us.
[46151]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

Related Material:
Pouring Out The Warmth Of Our Hearts
The Path To The Heart Of The World
Falling Asleep In The Enemy’s Grip

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Israel, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A - 1 Comment →

Question: How can we explain our message of unity to people? Can we say that this is a natural, obvious phenomenon?

Answer: We can talk about unity by showing it from many angles. After all, unity is always beneficial if it is done for the sake of a proper and just goal. It is written, “An assembly of fools [meaning an assembly of evildoers] is bad for them and bad for the world.” On the other hand, the unity of people who desire goodness certainly benefits them and the world. We see this.

We all win by uniting. Unity is only repulsive to a person’s individual egoism because of its limited nature. It’s not that difficult to explain to people that in any situation unity accompanied by a good intention will not cause any harm to anyone and will always end up successful. Always. And only if you want to harm someone or profit at someone else’s expense and only in cases that you aim to cause direct or indirect harm will the unification be evil and undesirable.

In all other cases we can cite formulas, proofs, and examples from the lives of animals and plants, as well as human relationships, which demonstrate that unity is beneficial.

Question: Does that mean we can say that good unification is in accord with the law of nature and therefore it works?

Answer: That is what I say in all of my conversations and video conferences. Even if a person hates me, even if he is dead set against me and is pushing in the other direction, my goal is to place him and myself in a researcher’s position through the process of conversation. Even if we are the most irreconcilable enemies in the world, we are still inside of nature, so let’s take a look at it. Let’s listen to what it is saying. After all, we will definitely have to progress by its laws, and we can do it in a good way if we agree with it, or in a bad way if we don’t agree. In any case, there is nowhere for us to run from it.

And now let’s see which of us is right. Or perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle? This doesn’t matter. We, as researchers, should only recognize this picture, instead of remaining in our false, self-induced tranquility, no matter how pleasant it is.

We want to reveal the truth, and the truth is nature. You can curse at the laws of the universe, but that won’t help you because you are inside of them. This is the point we have to emphasize. More and more, scientific discoveries are indicating that we are opposite and against nature, and this opposition is being expressed as a crisis. Look at what is happening to us and where we are going because of our lack of understanding nature’s laws. That is why we have to study them.

Baal HaSulam writes about this in Item 42 of the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot”:
Indeed, you should know that the reason for our great distance from the Creator and that we are so prone to transgress His will, is for but one reason, which became the source of all the torment and the suffering that we suffer, and for all the sins and the mistakes that we fail in. Clearly, by removing that reason, we will instantly be rid of any sorrow and pain. We will immediately be granted adhesion with Him in heart, soul, and might. And I tell you that that preliminary reason is none other than the “lack of our understanding in His Providence over His creations,” that we do not understand Him properly.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/26/11, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

Related Material:
Falling Asleep In The Enemy’s Grip
Got A Plan, Mr. Fix-It?
From Separation To Unity

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Prayer and Intention, Q&A, Suffering, Unity - 2 Comments →

Question: How can we explain to people the difference between the right kind of unity and the wrong kind?

Answer: We are simply saying, “Let’s get to know nature.” I do not want to divide humanity into those who unite correctly and those who do it incorrectly, and I don’t want to analyze anyone personally. That is why we are setting up contacts with scientists—in order to show everyone what nature is. And you can decide for yourselves what to do next. Just know that the degree of your similarity to nature determines how many disasters you will receive from it. The greater is the equivalence, the less troubles and the more pleasures are waiting for you.

Everyone has to have a clear understanding of what the source of their suffering is. Humanity is asking this question, and we will give it the answer. In our times it is already possible to explain things. Previously it was impossible to explain anything because we first had to reach the maximal, global, integral egoism. But today we have reached this level and therefore we can explain the general picture of what is happening to people.

From here on we will explain it in increasingly easier words, reformulating it again and again, and using this as a basis to explain the source of people’s problems in their family, with their children, with their health, at the bank, at work, on the roads, with one’s self, and so on.

After all, the general nature is essentially your entire life. Inside of this picture you will be able to find your attitude to everything, including football, work, and death….

However, you are still not expressing yourself in this picture. Newton revealed the law of gravity thanks to an apple that fell. However, the law operated before that as well. Similarly, it would be good if someone would “get it” and recognize the universal law of nature in order to tell the world about it. But if we wait for this to happen without giving a preliminary “presentation,” then we will pay too high a price.

By now I can already talk about this with anyone. The knowledge is in my hands, but let’s check it together. It belongs to everyone and if everyone learns it, we will all win. So let’s see whether or not I am right.

This is a very sound, scientific approach, pure of any personal biases. And I am willing to check myself as well. Most importantly, look at what is being revealed by a science that has reached us through many millennia. And it is especially relevant to the present moment, to whether or not we will have the means to live tomorrow, whether we will survive or fall in war.

In short, from the entire picture of nature, you cite the facts that confirm how everything aspires to unity. All of the still, vegetative, and animate nature is in balance, in homeostasis, in a fine interaction between different species. It seems to us that they simply eat each other, but in reality this is mutual existence. That is how the cells in our bodies exist as well.

Obviously, it is not simple to raise people slightly above their current level, but there is no other choice. You cannot leave them on the “animate” level and keep them on the infusion of the upper Light to change them from the inside. They have to come a bit closer to it themselves as well.

You come closer to them by trying to give them explanations that are as simple as possible, while the Creator will awaken their interest or even nudge them forward with blows so they would gain a greater awareness of the modern troubles and will be more willing to listen to the rationale. Then you will meet in some place: You with your maximally simplified explanations, and they with the attention span they are capable of having.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/26/11, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

Related Material:
Nature Is Always Right. So What’s It Saying?
The Connecting Link
Falling Asleep In The Enemy’s Grip

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Education, Egoism, Evolution, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A, Science, Suffering, Unity, World - 1 Comment →

Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, “Table of Questions and Answers for the Meaning of the Words”: Question 27. Maatzil (the Creator). Any cause is regarded as the Maatzil of the effected degree. The title Maatzil contains both the Hamshacha (drawing) of the Ohr (Light) and the Kli (vessel) that receives the Ohr.

It’s clear for us that the upper degree is called the Creator with respect to the lower one that it has created. But why is it added here that the concept of “the Creator” includes not only the received Light, but also the vessel receiving this Light, meaning my vessel, desire?

I receive the Light and sense my reality inside my desire. Inside this reality, I feel the upper degree. In other words, the sensation in me is divided in two parts: myself and the upper one. And all this is called the Creator.

That is, everything is attained only inside man’s sensations, and I call a special part inside myself the Creator. Therefore, it is said: “From Your actions we will know You!”

We can talk about the Creator (Bo-reh or “come and see” in Hebrew) only to the measure of our own corrections. I call the Creator that part within myself that I correct to bestowal, to the properties that are not inherent in my nature from birth.

That is why the soul can be merely a point, a drop, or can grow bigger and bigger, but it is always part of the upper one. I sense the upper root, the Creator, inside the part in me that is corrected to bestowal and called the soul. The Creator is already in me, not in the heavens, but we are talking about the property of bestowal that is above me, above my nature. Although I have obtained it and am now working with it, I nonetheless attribute it to the upper one.

That is why the Creator is always within a human being, and not somewhere in the sky. The same applies to the upper degree: Only those who attain it and are in contact with it can talk about it. That is, the upper degree is also in me, only I consider it higher degree for me.

In my perception, there are always such degrees which I have already acquired and practically work with, as if they belong to me, and the one that is still higher and shines for me “from afar.” That is, it is in me, but in such a form that I cannot use it for the time being. Everything is perceived and sensed only within a person who attains.
[46252]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
The Miracle Of Creation
Two Sides Of The Thought Of Creation
What Is The Creator?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A, Spirituality - 1 Comment →

Unity Day Around the World, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)” and  “Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Filed under: Q&A - No Comments →

Question: During the first expansion of the Light (Keter) the vessel does not yet exist. So what does the Light dress itself into?

Answer: Of course, this is not yet called a vessel. That is why it is referred to as the phases of the expansion of the Direct Light and not the phases of the vessel. You can also call it the stages of the development of the vessel, but undoubtedly, until the fourth stage there is no vessel which could be called an independent creature.

It’s only after the fourth phase, expanding from Above downward, performs the Restriction and reaches this world, that it can be said that the vessel completes its development. It is only here, in this world, where the creature will desire to return back to its root, that it can be considered independent and possessing the point of free will, which it can enlarge from a point to the scale of the world of infinity.

According to the sensation of this point of free will and to the extent of its development, it is called the creature, while a simple desire to enjoy is not called the creature. It is the created being only from the side of the Creator, the Host. The real creature stands opposite to the Creator and possesses its own will.

That is why the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature are not considered to be the creature. They exist instinctively under the complete control of the Light, without any independence. In this same form, not independently, a lot of people still exist now, obeying the orders of their nature.

Choice begins where the creature feels shame due to its lack of equivalence with the Creator, which pushes it to develop itself. This state is called the creature.
[45812]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/19/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A - No Comments →