Entries in the 'Religion' Category

Look at Yourself First!

229Question: It is written at the end of the Introduction to The Book of Zohar that all the troubles in the world come from those who are obligated to engage in the inner part of the Torah but instead engage in its external part. How should we relate to this?

Answer: First of all, look at yourself and see that you, too, are engaging with the external part. There is still an inner part that you have not yet attained and with which you are not yet engaged.

What benefit will I gain from looking at others and blaming them? Am I pointing a finger at someone from the Ministry of Education to the ultra-Orthodox or religious-Zionist educational systems? What will that achieve?

I can accuse anyone I want, but what good will it do? How can I act in a practical way, according to my abilities, as a part of the order, the pyramid that Baal HaSulam speaks about, so that the system functions correctly? Will blaming someone else correct either them or me? All it will give me is pride and contempt.

We have received direction from above, we have, unlike those who do not know where they are. I cannot say anything bad about them; they are like infants. But about myself I can say that if I understand something, then I am obligated to act in accordance with it one hundred percent, as much as I possibly can.
[357603]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/7/26, Rabash, “What Are the Times of Prayer and Gratitude in the Work?”

Related Material:
A Valve That Blocks The Major Artery
A War With No Winners
No Time To Wait

Can Kabbalah Work with Other Methods?

281.01Question: Is it possible to combine Kabbalah with yoga or any other methods?

Answer: This is impossible because all other methods are opposite to Kabbalah, as they do not use the desire to receive to achieve the goal. All of them are based on the suppression of Kelim (vessels), rather than their development. Just as Kabbalah is a method of receiving, so they are methods of “non-receiving,” all without exception.

Receive as little as possible, eat only vegan food, think less, breathe less, want less, whatever it is, just less. That is, the goal is to lower a person from his level to the level of an animal or plant, or even to an inanimate level.

The source of all this lies in ancient Egypt, where even dead bodies were made into undecaying mummies. These are all Eastern methods. Of course, this has a spiritual root. There is also a justification on a material level.

When you give the masses an ideology based on the assertion that you must lower your desires and then everything will be fine, it immediately bears fruit. It is accepted because it makes sense to everyone. But if, in addition to ideology, we add a spiritual component to this, if we connect it with what is beyond our life and death, and assert that a person will receive eternal reward for this, it will become a religion. This is a great force.

But over thousands of years, the human ego has continually evolved from generation to generation. Whether we like it or not, we realize our egoism, which leads to the so-called development of humanity. As a result of the new desires that manifest in each of us from cycle to cycle, we are constantly striving for something new. Therefore even those nations that were committed to the ideology of reducing desire come to a state where they can no longer restrain it.

Nothing will be left of these methodologies over the course of a century. People who are going to India today are just traveling. No one is really able to engage their methodology. Those who manage to achieve this make themselves into a primitive animal. I do not want to talk much about it, but this is a kind of last Klipa against development. We are unable to resist the process of development of the desire to receive. In 10 to 20 years, all this will pass.

Those who today are able to escape from their suffering into such techniques—to turn off part of their mind, to lower themselves to a very low level, and to really be satisfied with it—such people are not for us. This is a primitive, undeveloped form.

However, the world is developing very fast. After all, all of this is against nature. This is not a correction, but an escape from correction. We will not achieve anything this way, just some kind of temporary artificial consolation.
[357818]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/26, Rabash, “What Is Above Reason in the Work?”

Related Material:
Kabbalah—The Only Method Of Revealing The Creator
Kabbalah And Beliefs, Part 3
Does Studying Kabbalah Change A Person’s Psyche?

The Difference Between Knowledge of the Landlords and the Teaching of the Torah

256Comment: Difficult events happen to us, but we come here, begin to work with faith above reason, and say that what happened is not so bad, and that over time everything will work out.

My Response: This is incorrect. Baal HaSulam writes that If everything that happens to you is perceived as good, even though you feel it as bad, it is simply a lie. This is called Hasidism.

Herein lies the difference between the knowledge of the landlords and the teaching of the Torah, between religion and the wisdom of Kabbalah. You are simply deceiving yourself: “Whatever the Creator does is for the good, and the blows that come are good. In fact, they are not blows at all, but positive things, I just don’t feel them that way.” All of this is false.

Do you feel bad? Yes! So why deceive yourself? Whom are you lying to? Your heart is in the upper Partzuf. As we study, Ima Elyia (the upper mother) has now turned her back to Aba (father) and does not accept your prayer because it is not genuine. If you continue deceiving yourself, you distance yourself even more from the truth.

If I receive blows and claim that it is good, and even thank and pray for them, what greater deception can there be? How will I reach the recognition of evil and faith above reason? This is exactly what Baal HaSulam speaks about. It means that you are perceiving reality incorrectly.

“A judge has nothing more than what his eyes see.” After you feel bad, you must relate to it according to the principle: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?”

Your problem is that you do not want to feel the clash of opposing concepts. You do not want to exist in inner tension. Of course, it is easier to say: “Thank God, everything is in the hands of Heaven, all is good,” or “There is none else besides Him, I live by this, and nothing else concerns me.” Or to be like the religious population that supposedly relies on the Creator. I emphasize “supposedly” because they do not analyze the states they go through. They relate to life this way not because they truly feel it differently, but because they erase reality and cling to a single idea: There is a Creator, and therefore one can remain calm.

They do not live within the real reality through which they must rise, from the level of this world to the level of the final correction (Gmar Tikun) by their own effort, because they do not connect these two points. They seemingly cling to the upper force and think that by this, they have completed the correction.

There is also a completely different life lived by secular people. They believe there is nothing above, we live on this earth, and that is all there is. Between these two poles all of humanity exists. If you are at one of these extremes, you can arrange your life quite comfortably by closing your eyes either to one side or the other, like a non-believer or like a religious person, and have no inner conflict. It becomes a kind of life philosophy.

This is precisely how you want to relate to your friends: “My friend is an angel, the Creator, and I must treat him accordingly.”

But one must see everything at once and examine reality from both perspectives simultaneously.
[356336]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/26, Rabash, “What Is Heaviness of the Head in the Work?”

Related Material:
Opposite The Confidence Of The “Landlords”
Don’t Judge By The Number Of Pages
Feel Like A Welcome Guest

Proceed from the Greatness of the Creator

253Question: For the sake of advancement, should we artificially imagine the suffering of the Creator, that He is so unhappy and suffering, and that through our attitude we supposedly pity and comfort Him?

Answer: This is not our path. We must advance based on the positive, from the greatness of the Creator. If you begin to imagine the suffering of the Creator, the suffering of the Shechina, some kind of wretchedness, then you will evaluate these things in your vessels of reception.

After all, according to the concepts of the vessels of reception, the one who suffers appears to you as unhappy, wretched, pitiable. But if you have vessels of bestowal, then you will see something exalted and great in an unfilled desire. In other words, if I am in vessels of bestowal and want to bestow and regret my inability to do so, this means I am higher.

On the other hand, if I am in a vessel of reception and cannot fill my desires, then I am worse, lower. Therefore, now while in vessels of reception, we are not able to imagine the suffering of the Shechina correctly. It will seem pitiable and wretched to us. We will not relate to the Creator with the proper respect, love, and reverence, which will ultimately draw us to Him. Therefore, all sorts of “games” in this direction are undesirable and harmful.

In various streams of Judaism, such tendencies are observed: as if we must sit, and lament, shed tears, and wail. But the Kabbalists hold a different opinion to such an extent that on the eve of the fast of the 9th of Av, they would arrange abundant meals that included even meat.

In Poland, for example, it was customary to eat meat during the nine days preceding the fast of the 9th of Av. And all these customs are directed toward adhesion with perfection, not with deficiency. The deficiency is revealed only to the extent that a person can realize it, and then this unfulfilled desire becomes his vessel.
[354686]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘When Israel Are in Exile, the Shechina Is with Them,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
How Can I Sense the Suffering of the Shechina?
Grieving For The Shechina In Exile
Preparing A Place For The Creator

Is There Holiness in Material Objects?

282.02Question: You said that the higher degree closest to us means that we see how the Shechina clothes itself in all our actions. What actions are we talking about?

Answer: The closest degree, and not only the closest, but in general the degree that a person must always see before him, is the revelation of the Shechina, of how it clothes itself in the whole world, in everything that is in it, in the friends; to see that this single and special force unites all actions in the world, and that he himself is under its power.

This is what the article “There is None Else Besides Him” teaches us. We must constantly keep it before our eyes.

But we must not confuse this with material things. This means that I will not interpret all actions in the material without having revealed the true state, that the Shechina is clothed in the whole world.

Without revealing this, I must not interpret each material action as if it occurs for some spiritual reason. I must not attribute spiritual forces to material objects and items as if I know that it is so.

What special force is there in a red string? I have not yet revealed it. Believe me, I really do not know.

This is spoken of in The Book of Zohar. Do we read the Zohar according to the branches, or according to the roots? If you take the red string in its root and begin to do with it what is written there, then it is clear that this is a spiritual action. But what relation does this have to taking a red string here and tying it on the hand, on the leg, on the ear? What will this give you?

This is used in order to strengthen a person, as the Hasidim did. Did our forefathers two thousand years ago walk around in fur hats, robes, high socks [items of the traditional clothing of some Hasidim]? No. I do not deny that this supports the people. But one must not turn this into some sort of sanctity. Yes, it keeps us within bounds, it distinguishes our actions and thoughts, directs a person, but we must not introduce forces of holiness into this.

We must say: “Yes, we are animals, and our psychology is such that in such and such a way the external part influences and strengthens us.” Correct, this is used in all kinds of movements and will always be used. Consider the many examples in the army, all the various insignia, flags, and so on, which exist only in order to bolster the human spirit. Go to psychologists; they have an entire science about how to influence a person. But do not introduce forces of holiness into this.
[354228]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
The Greatness of the Shechina
Ready to Raise the Shechina from the Dust
To Connect With The Shechina [Divinity]

Meditation Lulls Egoism

564Question: Why is Eastern meditation so popular?

Answer: Eastern meditation is very popular in the world. I once visited a group of Americans in North Carolina in an extraordinarily beautiful place in the Smoky Mountains. They have a huge area of land at their disposal.

They receive donations from various sources that allow them to live very modestly, eat, have a roof over their heads, and meditate all the time. They asked us not to drive by car or even pass under their windows so as not to disturb them.

People sit for hours without the slightest movement; a person is completely immersed in oneself. The question is, what tools does he use to analyze it? As far as I understand from the science of Kabbalah, these people suppress their egoism, that is, they stop using it and want to achieve complete peace.

Of course, this is an egoistic desire, but it belongs to the lowest, smallest level of egoism, and therefore a person feels some freedom from the usual press of a huge thickness of egoism. Meditation lowers everyone to a level of egoism to which they can descend to.

Therefore, it seems to a person that he is achieving spiritual revelation. But this definition of the spiritual world differs from that given by the science of Kabbalah. People are able to invest a lot of effort and time with such meditation because it provides a powerful source of nourishment for the ego and brings a sense of comfort and fulfillment.

It is not an easy undertaking; it requires a person to step away from active life, but it offers substantial reward. The group I saw in North Carolina numbered hundreds of people, men and women. Moreover, there was a ban on any physical intimacy between men and women, sex was strictly prohibited.

Man had to rise above all material things and only provide the body with the nourishment necessary for its existence, and devote everything else to inner contemplation.

I have seen other such groups and met with Sufis in England and the USA. I had meetings with people who had a regular audience of thirty million radio listeners in America.

It is quite clear to me what happens during Eastern meditation. People suppress their egoism so much that it almost ceases to be felt. And then they have the feeling that they are floating in the air, above all nature. Therefore, they consider themselves to already be in the spiritual world.

Interestingly, many people use Kabbalistic symbols for their exercises: for example, letters of the Hebrew alphabet, special words (mantras), the names of the Creator “HaVaYaH.” There are even many churches with “HaVaYaH” and the Star of David engraved on them. The Star of David is a symbol of the union of matter and spirit.

This meditation is most successful for Hindus who can disconnect from life to such an extent that they almost stop breathing. The body goes into internal hibernation, all its systems slow down so much that a person can live for many days without food and water and almost without oxygen.

Question: In what world does a person exist at this time?

Answer: He almost doesn’t exist. There is barely any life in the body, metabolism almost stops, so it doesn’t need anything.

Question: Does this not count as rising above matter?

Answer: This is not a spiritual elevation. Elevation requires that a person get out from under the power of the body, that is, the desire to receive egoistic fulfillment, and achieve the desire for bestowal. All Eastern techniques would like to achieve this, but they are not able to because they do not have the strength to rise to the next level.

They only suppress the vital force in a person so that he feels as if he has risen a little above the physical material life, above the animal level. And although it already seems to him that this is a spiritual stage, the science of Kabbalah speaks about a completely different spiritual world.
[158469]
From KabTV’s conversation “New Life 509 – Meditation And Contemplation, Part 1,” 1/25/15

Related Material:
Meditation And Mirages
In The Body And Above It
In What Way Is The Ego Good?

How Does the Torah of the Masses Differ from the Torah of the Individual?

239The Torah of the masses means that people engage in actions without demanding a result. The action itself constitutes the result: “Thank God, I am doing what has been placed upon us. And the reward, that belongs to the future world.”

Or one may not even demand a reward at all. One who demands no reward, neither here nor there, is called a complete righteous person. Thus, the actions themselves are considered to be all that is required.

Those of the second type perceive themselves to be growing ever worse. Their actions bring them nothing. A person exerts effort, studies, wants to attain something, and as a result feels himself in unfulfilled desires. Where is the perfection in this? And that which he wishes to attain does not reveal itself in his attainment. This is the Torah of the individual. As it is said: “The view of the Torah is opposite to the view of the masses.”

And yet, when it comes to the examination, it is made according to the result. Therefore, one must understand that all errors (Shgagot) and all transgressions (Zdonot) that a person goes through at the beginning of his path later become the true vessel (Kli), called commandments, merits.

When an error or a transgression is revealed in a person, it signifies that one’s Aviut (intensity of desire) is growing “thicker,” and it is revealed in the form of failures. A person wants to perform some act of bestowal that seems spiritual to him and discovers that he cannot, is unable, does not want to, that he is completely opposed to it.

When such qualities are revealed to him, and he truly sees how opposite he is to it, that he ibears the blame for everything, that he is the worst, and that because of him all have suffered and continue to suffer, then he truly comes to the recognition of errors and transgressions. Time after time, he stumbles, reveals his failures, and then, as he gathers himself, they turn into merits.

It is not upon a person to correct his nature. And if he points an accusing finger at the Creator, that is also incorrect. A person must understand that all errors and transgressions are signs revealing a fracture upon which he must build a correct prayer, a correct request, a correct demand.

Proceeding from this, he no longer wishes for these qualities to disappear. Now they appear opposite to the qualities of the Creator, but they must be transformed into similarity with the Creator. If a person rises above these qualities and sees them as useful, as perfect from the side of the Creator, then undoubtedly, his prayer will be correct, and he will come to the right need: to correct all his flaws into an intention for the sake of bestowal to the Creator.

At the same time, he does not regret that he harms himself and others, that he is inherently flawed. There is no evil; every revelation of evil is only in order to see one’s opposition to the Creator.

Thus, all our work from this point onward must be arranged according to how we build our appeal, the message I send to the Creator. One must formulate it correctly and express that I am ready to receive correction from Him.

If I build my appeal correctly, it means that I know myself, know what in me must be transformed, and am truly ready for it from the Creator’s perspective. Then He performs it.
[354164]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘The Good Deeds of the Righteous Are the Generations,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
Liberation
The Torah Was Not Given To Angels
Two Levels Of The Torah

Kabbalah and World Religions

589.02Liars are those who say that idealism is either inherent or a result of education. Rather, it is a direct result of religion. As long as religion did not sufficiently expand throughout the world, the entire world was barbaric, without an ounce of conscientiousness.

Only after servants of the Creator expanded did the posterity of the agnostics become idealists. Thus, the idealist is only so because of his ancestry’s commandment. However, it is an orphaned commandment, meaning without a commander (Baal HaSulam, The Writings of the Last Generation).

Initially, Baal HaSulam speaks about the spread of primitive idol worship in the world where people worshipped trees, stones, and the sun. Much later, the three major world religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) emerged; all of which arose from Kabbalah. If it weren’t for Kabbalah, from which all of its adherents, with the exception of a few, rolled down the hill and began to convert it into ordinary earthly practices, then today there would be neither the three main or all other religions.

Question: So when Baal HaSulam speaks about religion, does he mean the one that existed before Judaism, Christianity, and Islam?

Answer: The Torah states that before the emergence of Kabbalah in ancient Babylon, there were various beliefs; each person worshipped his own family idol, and this was purely a psychological practice.

Later, King Nimrod wished to unite all the tribes that inhabited the state (the so-called seventy nations of the world) into one nation. For this, he needed something unifying, a single supreme spiritual image.

This is what Abraham, a resident of Babylon, began to work on. Abraham’s father, Terah, not only worshiped idols but also manufactured and sold idols. Abraham, unlike Terah, came under the influence of King Nimrod and understood that a single force was needed to unite people since egoism was growing, and dividing and increasingly alienating them.

To create a state and a single nation, a consolidating force was required. Nimrod stood for state authority, while Abraham fulfilled these functions as a spiritual priest.

But when Abraham began to develop the concept of a single spiritual creation and a supreme force that would govern everything, he came to the conclusion that this force already existed. He discovered it by trying to harmonize the many totems to one common source.

By generalizing this idea and turning all the deities into a single force, he understood that it has no image. It is so universal that it is devoid of any form.

Thus, the single idol they wanted to create suddenly “came to life” and became real. After discovering that one good force of nature exists that contains everything, unites everything, generalizes everything, and governs everything, Abraham began to teach this to the people.

This suited Nimrod because now he was the single ruler, king, and authority on earth, while God was in heaven. Practically all rulers used this model up until our time.

But Abraham gradually began to annul Nimrod’s authority: “Who is he? We must worship the Creator and deal directly with Him.” A strong confrontation arose between him and Nimrod, and Abraham was forced to leave Babylon with his followers who understood him and agreed with him.

Those who had not yet reached this understanding and wished for a normal, secure, egoistic existence decided to remain with Nimrod. But they could not do so because without the single unifying force that Abraham preached, egoism began to separate them, divide them, and set them against one another.

They realized that they had to disperse, otherwise they would destroy each other in an internecine war. This was a rational decision. Thus, they scattered throughout the world with their idols, while the servants of the Creator left with Abraham.

Question: What did Abraham and his like-minded followers teach? Was it the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: Yes, a method for uniting people, for enabling them to rise to the level of the Creator.

Question: Do Kabbalists call this a religion?

Answer: In principle, what Abraham revealed is called Daat (“religion”).

Therefore, Baal HaSulam writes that the meaning of the one true religion is the attainment of the single force of nature that governs everything. A person can reveal this force if he follows the correct path toward its attainment, through which he acquires absolute knowledge of all the laws of reality.

Baal HaSulam does not pay attention to anything else.
[212161]
From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 7/3/17

Related Material:
Abraham and Nimrod: A Debate That ContinuesToday
The Perfect Society Of Abraham, Part 1
Urgently Needed: Helpers For Abraham

What Are the Commandments Intended For?

509Question: What place does physical observance of the commandments occupy in spiritual work?

Answer: All the commandments are merely expressions of spiritual laws in our world. Unfortunately, their physical observance gives no result. This is confirmed by the fact that, despite two millennia of Jews observing the commandments, our condition has only worsened.

In the code of laws, the Shulchan Aruch, there are many rules that speak about love for one’s neighbor, about correct and kind relations between people. But we pass over them as if they were written for small children and not for us.

We consider, for example, that the most important thing is to perform the ritual of washing of hands. Yet this ritual speaks about cleansing our hands from egoism, from the desire to take the whole world for ourselves. The same applies to all the other commandments.

It is said that “a commandment without the correct intention is dead.” Therefore, if we observe them only in a physical form, then unfortunately, we will not obtain any positive outcome except an ever-growing egoism that increasingly divides the entire nation, including religious people.

We have come to a state where returning to the state of connection between us becomes mandatory; without it humanity will lead itself to destruction. And if we take the books of our sages, we will see that they speak precisely about this.
[163436]
From a Public Lecture in New York, 7/20/15

Related Material:
A Commandment Without An Aim Is Like A Body Without A Soul
Washing One’s “Hands” With The Light
The Commandments Are Heard Only When We Reach Connection

The Confrontation Between Rome and Jerusalem

419Question: Why was Europe previously a kind of benchmark for other countries?

Answer: Because the Roman Empire passed on to it its ideas, its laws, its attitude to reality, nature, and society to all of Europe after conquering it. In essence, it founded all of Europe, including England.

Comment: But Romans also got their ideas from somewhere.

My Response: The Roman’s nature was based on the opposite to Jerusalem. They followed an egoistic path of development, a complete rejection of religion, a harsh, as if it were, realistic attitude toward the world and the building of society according to certain canons that lie at the foundation of Roman law.

Roman law has not been abolished. No matter what we hang on it externally, internally we are still based on ancient Roman law. And it is absolutely opposite to Jewish law.

This stems from the ancient confrontation of worlds: Rome and Jerusalem. Rome rose and truly flourished in its conquests precisely upon the destruction of Jerusalem. This is an egoistic, natural, and correct from the point of view of our world, development of humanity up to its recognition of itself as absolutely flawed.

In our time, it has reached its full egoistic bloom, and we see that by doing this we are bringing ourselves to a dead end; there is no way to move any further. Egoism has outlived itself. It began to develop in Ancient Rome, and now this period is coming to an end.

The next stage will be the realization that development must be altruistic. People will have no other choice. Regardless of whether they want it or not, despite their hatred of Judaism, they will accept Kabbalah, the very idea of connection, the merging of everyone into one single system. Life and nature will force everyone. But today we are at this point of history.

Therefore, on the one hand, Kabbalah is revealed as a method of uniting humanity. Without it, you will not be able to unite people because egoism will not allow us to do so. Only Kabbalah can give us the strength to rise above the ego.

On the other hand, we see a declining Europe, whose Roman legacy is already coming to an end.

Question: So the experiment of creation began with the Roman Empire, when egoism began to develop in opposition to the spiritual?

Answer: Yes, of course. From here came the three main religions and everything else.

And now a very clear reassessment and revaluation of values is beginning. There is no way around it, we will be obliged to take the universal unification and revelation of the Creator as our foundation rather than all religions and beliefs, and instead of everything that we are told and that we imagine for ourselves.
[351416]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Rise Above Death” 10/1/10

Related Material:
Clash Of Two Ideologies
“Israel” And “Rome”—Two Forces That Govern The World
Sunset Of The Great European Civilization, Part 1