Question: You give many examples from science when we speak about Kabbalah. There was a famous inventor in Italy named Guglielmo Marconi who perfected the first radio receiver, improving its sensitivity to such an extent that it allowed for a connection at a great distance. So, do we need to improve the sensitivity of our soul the same way to develop a connection with others? Is faith the very same antenna that ensures our connection with the Creator?

Answer: Guglielmo Marconi was a great scientist, and he had many secrets. He only revealed a small part of his discoveries to us. He discovered waves we do not yet know about, which readily envelope our globe and even completely penetrate it. He was a unique genius.

When we come “outside” of ourselves, we begin to perceive the general energy field which fills the entire space between us. This field is God, the Creator. To perceive it means to attain the Creator, the upper force that connects all the souls. Then, we, together, and He, this upper force, the thought called “the Thought of Creation,” become like one whole. This is why man is called Adam, from the word Dome (similar to the Creator).

We reach a state where we simply join Him, meaning exist in Him being aware of and comprehending it. This force that we join is called the power of faith.

Faith is the Sefira of Bina (from the word “Havana” or understanding). In other words, “believing” does not mean closing your eyes and moving like a blind person, relying on something someone said. Not at all! Faith is based on the force of bestowal. When I am able to change the channel of my inner “radio receiver,” I tune to the same wave, and the information I receive from it is called faith.
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From the Lecture in Rome 5/20/2011

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Question: What does Kabbalah say about original sin, and what does this lapse from virtue mean?

Answer: Kabbalah asserts that the entire tale of Adam and Eve and their lapse from virtue is an allegory. It refers to the events that took place in the upper Sefirot before the creation of this reality: our universe and us inside it.

There is no “sin” in any of this. We call it so because we fell from the spiritual degree on which we were initially created to our current degree, this world, across the entire 125 degrees. This is called the “sin,” but it was not our doing. It happened in our root.

Later, when we developed over thousands of years at the level of this world, this also was not our doing. We have developed unconsciously this entire time, without knowing how and where we developed. Egoism pushed us forward.

However, now is the first time in history that we have come to our freedom of choice. Either we will develop consciously and correct ourselves because we see and feel a benefit and purpose in it, or very big problems will come which will force us to do so through enormous suffering. In other words, at this point, we stand at the crossroads. We can choose the path of suffering or the path of attaining the entire reality. Naturally, there is a huge difference between these two directions.

In any case, we must attain the complete correction of the world before the expiration of the 6,000 years which began with the first man, Adam. So, we have approximately the next 230 years. In other words, all of us must complete the correction and every person must acquire a soul. Then all these souls connect into one common soul and rise to the next degree.

If we follow the conscious path as we attain the universe and do the work ourselves, we will be able to complete this correction in several years, here and now! If not, we will still advance, but in the bad way, which will not last more than 230 years.

This is determined by the spiritual structure of the six upper Sefirot: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, and Yesod. This is why we must attain correction over the course of 6,000 years.
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From the Lecture in Rome 5/20/2011

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Question: Can you explain the connection between a person, his or her soul, and the Creator? Are you saying that a person does not have a soul until he develops it?

Answer: Every person has a point of the soul, similar to a drop of semen. We need the strength to develop it. Just as a drop of semen attaches itself to the uterus, receives nutrition from the mother, and begins to grow, we also need to attach ourselves to society and cancel ourselves in relation to a suitable group, as if it were the mother’s womb.

If I were to cancel myself, I would not be a foreign body within the group, just like a drop of semen is not being perceived as something foreign. This is why the body does not reject it, and the embryo can grow.

Similarly, I cancel myself before the group and receive its strength. Then, my spiritual point, the beginning of my soul, begins to grow. In its growth, it follows exactly the same stages as an embryo inside a mother. This is explained across thousands of pages in Kabbalistic books. These stages of our soul are named accordingly, such as “conception, nursing, and maturing” (Ibur, Yenika, and Mochin).

If a person does not begin this process, in other words, if he does not reveal the upper dimension which exists outside of him one way or another through his connection with others, then his body dies, and this point of the soul merely remains a point. Once again, it clothes in a body and accompanies him, giving him the opportunity to grow.

However, when a person attains even the smallest, the first spiritual degree, he already feels that he belongs to another dimension, a spiritual and eternal one. It is eternal because it exists above our corporeal, beastly egoism that pertains to our body. Then, the body can die and decompose; the person no longer associates himself or herself with it, but rather with the spiritual state he has attained.

We must attain at least the very first degree. Then it becomes much easier to advance because the person begins to see the steps he needs to take.
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From the Lecture in Rome 5/20/2011

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Question: In the wisdom of Kabbalah, you talk about man’s ego, about unity with everyone, and about us needing to reach balance with nature. But how does this relate to the connection with God (Elohim)?

Answer: In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we talk about nature. According to Gematria (the numerical value of the word), “nature” and “Elohim” are the same thing. That is, if we talk about the upper force, nature, God, or the Creator, whatever you want to call Him, everything around us is just a manifestation of that force.

If we talk about the upper force, then what is the difference in how we call it: “Elohim” or “nature”? There is the upper force (really the upper!) which gives birth to and rules over everything, and we want to know how to connect with it, how to reveal it, and to understand it.

Thus, if I exit myself, my ego, and begin to reveal the reality outside me, above my ego, this is called the understanding, realization, and revelation of the Creator. Naturally, all this happens within me and only relative to me.

Gradually, I organize my desire, my spiritual structure, meaning the property of bestowal and love towards others: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Hesed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod,and Malchut. According to this structure, I know the connections between them and thus reveal the Creator.

Elohim is also called the “Creator” (Boreh), from the Hebrew words “come” (Bo) and “see” (Reh) because we have to “see” Him, reach the state in which we understand Him, as if seeing firsthand. We are created by Him for this purpose.
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From the Lecture in Rome 5/20/2011

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Question: What’s the difference between Malchut of the world of Infinity before the restriction and after the correction?

Answer: Malchut of the world of Infinity before the restriction is the initial state created by the upper force. This is the creature that was formed as the upper Light acted upon the desire to receive that was created “from absence.” The Light developed this desire in four phases and brought it to a state called Malchut of the world of Infinity.

And here He finished His task, that’s it! From this moment onwards, an awakening develops inside Malchut itself. It starts slowly realizing that apart from the will to receive, a will to bestow also exists. This will to bestow was introduced into it in the first phase as the sensation of the root, meaning a sensation of the Giver. This starts developing inside of it resulting in the second phase in which it wants to become like the Giver, resisting His bestowal and overcoming its own desire to receive.

That’s why it starts restricting itself and building screens on top of itself, and then it breaks. Serious work begins with this breaking, when the desire to bestow penetrates every desire to receive.

The qualities of reception and bestowal aren’t next to each other anymore, meaning one above the other, separated by a screen, working like You and I, the Creator and the creature. After the breaking, the qualities of the Host penetrate the qualities of the guest, the qualities of bestowal penetrate the qualities of reception and intermix with them.

And then, working from the bottom up and climbing the spiritual ladder, we perform specifically these clarifications because every detail now contains both these forces, bestowal and reception. We separate them from each other into two lines, while we stay in the middle. And now we want to command them and connect with each other in the correct form, the middle line.

This is the way that we start working, trying to become like the Creator. But how can I do this if I don’t know Him? This is what the environment is for, in relation to which I start working on this.

Now I have both the desire to receive and the desire to bestow, the qualities of the Creator and of the creature. I have the Light that Reforms and a state that I can study by analyzing my relationship with the environment and connecting all these forces. This is the field of my work, my “laboratory.” Everything is in front of me!
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: Today we will be holding a convention to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. But when I imagine what will happen there, I don’t want to go. Does that mean I have to rise above reason?

Answer: People will dance there, but you don’t like to dance. There will be delicious food there, but you won’t like it. There will be many children there, and you are not too excited about that. It turns out that there really is no reason for you to go.

Or you can imagine the situation differently: What do I care about the food, the movements people make with their bodies, the songs, the screaming children, and all the people who are there? All of this is the external form of the desire that is being awakened by the Creator. He puts people together who wish to come closer to Him. Out of the entire Malchut of the world of Infinity, He has gathered a group of separate desires in order to unite them in the future. That is why He now gives them this necessity. They don’t even know why things turned out that way. Every person has his own reasons for coming and every person imagines why he is there differently. But I came there in order to join the Creator’s desire, which is hidden inside of them.

You can sit quietly in the corner and constantly try to keep an intention of being connected with their desire. I don’t look for their inner urges, but precisely for the desire that the Creator awakens in them. This is what I need. This need is my soul. After all, I have just the point in the heart and I have to attach these desires to myself, which will give me the volume of the spiritual vessel. Then I will be able to advance.

However, if I don’t make a connection with them, then where will I get the desire, where will I find my soul? Into what will I receive the revelation of the Creator? By myself I don’t and won’t have anything besides the initial point. So should I not go to the convention? Should I let the opportunity go by?

Question: Can’t I watch the broadcast on TV and join in people’s desire that way? Is it really necessary to be physically present?

Answer: This depends on what makes it easier for me to be permeated by their desire and its outburst, and on how many efforts I will make for it. Maybe if I watch it from home, I will receive 50 pounds of desire from them, but if I go there, then even while sitting in the corner, I will experience such great repulsion that I will barely acquire 2 pounds. However, if I prepare ahead of time, and if I start dancing together with them even though I absolutely hate doing anything like that, if I hold the intention inside—why am I doing this?—then it will be very beneficial.

We all work above the desire even though we don’t talk about this all the time. All spiritual work is done above the desire, so the mind will rule over the heart.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: We learn in the wisdom of Kabbalah that “there is none else besides Him,” and that the Creator is kind and perfect. But if a person who has revealed that becomes a witness of a murder, how should he feel about that?

Answer: When we see evil in our world, we wonder: “How can it be that the Creator is good and perfect, the good that does good? Everything that the science of Kabbalah says refers to states at a level above the “Machsom” (the boundary between the corporeal and spiritual worlds). Goodness rules only at those degrees. By obtaining the property of bestowal, you begin to understand that the world is beautiful and the Creator is kind.

Below this boundary, one eats the other, both literally and metaphorically. Here, we should not expect good deeds; on the contrary, all of us around the world will feel worse and worse because it forces us to get rid of our ego.

If we were comfortable, the Creator treated us kindly, and life were good, we would remain little egoists, enjoying the small things. Only unhappiness pushes us towards development.

When you cross the border between the corporeal and spiritual worlds, you develop further by your own will. You no longer need problems because you yourself generate the force for your development.
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From Lesson 1, Convention in Madrid, 6/3/2011

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Question: Are you familiar with the writings of Kabbalist Isaac the Blind (Rabbi Yitzhak Saggi Nehor, 1600-1235, Provence, France)?

Answer: We study three main sources of the wisdom of Kabbalah: The Book of Zohar, the writings of the Ari (mostly his book The Tree of Life), and the works of Baal HaSulam, the great Kabbalist of the 20th century. Baal HaSulam handed down the entire wisdom of Kabbalah to us in the form most suitable for its publishing and distributing to everyone in the world.

Among all the great Kabbalists, starting with Babylon and to this day, each generation produced many other Kabbalists. But some of them concealed themselves and others wrote very little since until very recently, just thirty years ago, to reveal any part of Kabbalah, one had to receive special permission from Above. Hence, Kabbalists rarely wrote and when they did, it was in a secret form.

And only in the 20th century, when the time has come for the revelation of Kabbalah to everyone so as to correct the collective ego, Baal HaSulam wrote what was permitted to distribute. And we are offering this specific part of Kabbalah to the world.
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From the Lecture in Rome 5/20/2011

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Question: What do we celebrate during holiday Shavuot?

Answer: During Shavuot, we celebrate the giving of the Torah. It’s the day when all who are regarded as “Israel” (“Isra-El,” meaning “straight to the Creator”) were given the Torah, the method of self-realization through free will, rather than coming to the pre-programmed state of fulfillment under the impact of the Light pushing them to it.

On the contrary, they are able to see themselves, the entire reality, and even the Creator. Instead of Him doing it, they can decide that they truly desire to reach this goal, as if He wasn’t the one who supplied it.

We celebrate that we are able to understand, feel, and attain the upper force that works within us and can identify ourselves with its acts. Clearly, this upper force, the Creator, works either way. However, we attain how He works; we desire for Him to work on us, and even before He takes any action, we already strive toward Him. This is how love is measured.

Question: So, only with the giving of the Torah did we obtain free will, the freedom to accept the method and realize it willingly, whereas previously, we didn’t have any such free will, did we?

Answer: Correct. Hence, it is regarded as freedom from the angel of death, “being a free nation in our own country (our desire),” being free. What does such freedom entail? Now I am able to express my own view of the purpose of creation and our path.

Can you switch to another purpose? You can’t. Can you choose a different path? No. What is so unique about it then? I take my part in it; I make a decision; I choose this desire; I am present in this process. Otherwise, I’m not. The Creator gave us a chance to participate. This means I assert myself and my independence, which happens in the degree I identify myself with the Creator by becoming similar to Him. I am either a beast or a human.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/29/2011, Shamati #40

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Question: To annul oneself sounds so unnatural for a secular person; all our nature is against it. What can force humanity to sit on the school bench and study Kabbalah?

Answer: I do not understand why self-annulment appears so unnatural to you. I used to study at a university, and there was a professor whom I considered a great expert in his science. I wanted to absorb all his knowledge, and thus I annulled myself before him. This is also called self-annulment.

If I read a book or an article and want to understand what is written in it, I stick to the author’s thought and emotion. It is a kind of self-annulment. I would not be able to do anything without cancelling myself! To cancel oneself means to open oneself for the reception of knowledge, information, and sensation from outside.

There is an expression: “The sages came and said.” In this way, clever people come—political scientists, psychologists, economists, and teachers—the 10 percent of the cream of society, the most intelligent, clever part of humanity that is concerned about our future, and they tell the rest, the remaining 90 percent: “Ladies and gentlemen, we are facing a huge problem!”

“If we continue in this way for ten more years, and a world war does not occur before that, we will be left without natural resources. We will not be able to grow anything. We need something to eat and energy for heating and cooling. But we have to reduce our consumption to a reasonable level.”

Scientists, smart people, say that, so why would you not believe them? When I see a doctor who looks at my X-ray and prescribes a treatment for me, I trust him and accept therapy. Although I have no way of checking what happens on that picture (is it mine at all? It might be someone else’s X-ray), I have to believe my doctor and in his remedy; I have no choice.

In order to take the medication, from my level , I have to believe the one who gives it to me that it is something good and it will cure me. This is also called self-annulment. This happens everywhere: When I come to a teacher, to a doctor, or in any place where I want to receive something. I have to be prepared to pay for that (Leshalem in Hebrew), that is, to complete (Leashlim in Hebrew) myself.

When all the media, plenty of important people, scientists, professors, politicians, and economists all talk about this, they will be able to convince people. This is far better than the world war that might occur where  you would not know what might happen to you in the next moment.

We have no choice. You cannot dictate your own conditions to nature if it imposes such conditions. Whether you want it or not, you have to agree. Either you stop this crisis by your inner participation or perish. This is not like with your mother when you can be capricious for a while and do things your own way. These are the laws of nature.

These laws are explained to you by serious, respected people who understand them. Do not think that they benefit from this: They are in the same situation as you are. This is our common problem.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/29/2011, Shamati #40

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