Question: During the lesson we work with the Light that corrects us. But what do we work with at the Convention?

Answer: At the Convention this happens even more! We don’t have any other means to influence what is happening to us besides the Light that reforms. It is the only thing we can awaken!

We awaken our future states that haven’t been revealed in us yet and which are about to be revealed. They are states of bestowal to the outside, where every person bestows outward, to his neighbor. This is precisely the quality that we want to discover—each person inside of him and all of us as a whole.

When we reveal this quality of bestowal, it means that we have revealed the Creator. As Kabbalists tell us, this quality gave birth to us, formed us, and dispersed us far away from one another so that by uniting with each other we would reveal it once again.

In the meantime, the Creator is in exile. What does that mean? We can say that He also disintegrated into tiny pieces and is inside all of these broken parts that are far away from one another. As soon as you begin connecting them, you start to recreate or restore Him, the common force of bestowal.

We have to build an image for ourselves that is close to the truth. Otherwise we live in various religious fantasies, imagining an unreal, non-materialistic picture.

We have to understand that the difference between faiths or religions and the science of Kabbalah is that faiths or religions want to imagine spirituality in the material desires, which perceive everything “within” and therefore build their notions according to the earthly reality, with creation being below and the Creator being above, as if they are separated by distance rather than qualities. They do not talk about man’s correction.

In contrast, the science of Kabbalah says that everything is inside of man. Thus, the upper reality or dimension becomes revealed in a person’s inner corrections and changes. Therefore, the most important thing for us is to correct man. By correcting our qualities, a person feels that the Creator is revealed inside of him.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/11, The Zohar

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Question: How is it possible to unite the whole world if nations, countries, and religions are so different from each other in every way?

Answer: These are egoistic differences. When we unite spiritually they disappear and we all become as one man with one heart.

The earthly differences actually don’t separate us at all. One person likes to spice up his food with pepper and another one doesn’t. One person holds ceremonies this way and another person that way. This doesn’t make us different at all. On the contrary, that is exactly when we begin respecting one another.

Being dissimilar does not obstruct us from coming together spiritually. On the contrary, by uniting above our egoistic differences, we make them even more powerful and all of that power is aimed at spiritual unity.
[38149]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/11

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Question: Will the world be able to accept your message as not being tied to religion while your group is in Israel and seems to be following religious traditions?

Answer: We are trying to spread Kabbalah all around the world and in a form which would be acceptable to everybody. But it is impossible and unnecessary to conceal the fact that Kabbalah roots in the nation of Israel, accompanied it over the course of history, and was passed on along the chain of Kabbalists who were part of this nation.

After all, Israel is a unique people. Its basis is not a nationality, as it is in case of the other 70 nations of the world, but rather a group of Kabbalists that was founded by Abraham. This group of Kabbalists was regarded as the people of Isra-El, which means “straight to the Creator” (Yashar Kel) because its goal is to reveal the Creator to man in this world.

We have to continue this mission and become the “the kingdom of holy priests” (Mamlechet Cohanim), meaning to bring to the entire world the method of correction and channel the Light to all its peoples. This is what the nation of Israel is designated to do so that “everyone will know the Creator, from the smallest to the greatest” since “His Temple will be called the house of prayer for all nations.”

This is why I don’t think that if we act as absolutely unattached and we cut the ties with our roots and our history altogether, we would succeed. We cannot detach ourselves from the root; we must remain connected to it.

A person, as he or she advances, starts to understand what Israel’s mission is and from where the nation derived. He changes his attitude to the nation of Israel as to the bearer of the method of correction. He no longer regards it as a nationality, but as a unique group of Kabbalists, spiritual teachers, who must serve humanity and assist it in reaching the spiritual world.

The world’s attitude will change. Today, we already have a lot of students around the world who are with us in heart and in soul and understand that from here, the Israel center, the Light goes out into the world. Thus the method of correction is realized.

A person cannot achieve correction and lack understanding of how it took place in history and why.
[35851]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/2011, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: Why do you and your central group have a religious appearance if you keep explaining that it doesn’t assist spiritual advancement? It would be better to assume a more secular look in order to become closer to people and the world, wouldn’t it?

Answer: I don’t think it should bother people. Our students come from different backgrounds, and we don’t tell anybody what they should look like. And if the public are familiar with our society already, they should know that we do not convert people into religion or force them to observe any religious rituals. They yearn to reach the root of their soul and come to us to transform their soul, to uncover the spiritual world.

We deal solely with the correction of the soul since the purpose of the wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to the created beings. And revelation occurs only in the corrected soul. As to a person, he or she usually keeps following those traditions that they are accustomed to.

Nonetheless, Kabbalah was passed to us through the people whose background was in Judaism. After the destruction of the Temple, the people fell from the spiritual dimension, and Kabbalah was replaced with religion that is below in our corporeal world. But over the course of all these centuries and parallel to it, from Rabbi Shimon and further on, Kabbalah was passed on from one Kabbalist to the next along their chain. This is how it has finally reached us as a method of correction.

Kabbalah wasn’t related to religion that remained below. It continued to live among Kabbalists in the same way as it did before the fall of the Temple. There has always been a gap, an iron wall, between Kabbalah and religion.

As to us, we receive Kabbalah as it was before the destruction of the Temple, and that is why it has nothing to do with modern religion. We deal with correction of the soul. But at the same time, before the destruction, the Torah and commandments were followed by the people in intention and action alike, as one whole. There was the Temple and ritual service in it with all the necessary attributes. The same pertained to every person, according to his or her root as Cohen, Levy, or Israel.

The branch and the root were unified and viewed by people as one whole. But later on, the branch ended up below, in this world, having lost its tie with the root, and the root remained above, cut off from the branch. This is what is regarded as the exit of the people of Israel into exile when religion was all that remained for them.

But today, we need to ascend to where we came from, and let’s hope that when we do, we will comprehend what our duty is and return to the original state of complete and wholesome fulfillment of the Torah and commandments as spiritual actions. I don’t know how it will look; it is possible that physical actions will not be necessary any longer or they will be performed only by the people of Israel.

Baal HaSulam writes that even in the fully corrected society, every person may adhere to his or her religion since religion is cultural traditions. We don’t know any of it yet, and we should focus only on one thing: the correction of our souls.
[35854]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/2011, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: Can a Kabbalist abide by two ideologies simultaneously and be religious at the same time as being a Kabbalist?

Answer: No, he can’t. Kabbalah takes the upper hand over religious ideology. A Kabbalist can carry out all sorts or religious customs as a result of his upbringing, culture, and the traditions of his nation. And I think it’s good to do so. I do not look down on religion.

However, this should not replace Kabbalah because the most important thing for a person is to attain revelation of and adhesion with the Creator. Anything that interferes with this should be removed from this path. What interferes isn’t religion itself, but the false conception of it, thinking that it can replace the attainment of the Creator, that instead of spiritual revelation it’s enough to carry out some kind of material actions, to pray according to written words, and to think that this is sufficient.

This is completely not so. It is written that “Everyone must know the Creator from the smallest of them to the greatest of them.” We have to attain adhesion with Him. Everyone says they agree with this because that’s what is written and it is impossible to argue with it. It’s clear to everyone that we have to attain “the Creator’s work” and to bond to Him. It is also written that the main rule of the Torah is to love your neighbor as yourself. However, people everywhere only talk about this, but do not actually make it happen.

No one even knows what adhesion with the Creator means, how to come closer to Him, and how to become similar to Him. The problem is that religion has replaced the science of Kabbalah after the breaking of the Temple, when the nation of Israel fell from the spiritual level to the material level and all that remained for the people to do was to carry out just physical actions as a tradition in order to commemorate the previous spiritual actions.

Now we have to learn to ascend back to the spiritual level and add the attainment of the Creator to these national traditions. Religion seems to stop a person, telling him that it’s sufficient to make just the mechanical actions that are carried out by religious people.

However, many source texts say that it’s not enough to make just the material actions, that the Creator does not care how you slaughter an animal—in a kosher manner or not, and that the commandments were given in order to correct the creatures by them. This means that the action has to be supplemented with the right intention.

The intention is the most important thing, in fact, it is the person himself. What is important are his thoughts and desires, rather than the actions. A religious person usually does actions by habit, having been raised from childhood to make them without thinking. There is no correction in doing so.

That is why we want to supplement tradition, the customary way of life, or what is called religion, which we perceive as a nation’s culture or tradition, with “the Creator’s work,” meaning the inner work of a person whereby he corrects his desires in order to become similar to the Creator. Adam, man, means similar.

Every person, secular as well as religious, has to understand that Kabbalah can add something to his life. It adds the revelation of the Creator, the upper force that controls everything. And when you see it, understand it, and feel it, then you understand how to go forward without making mistakes, both in this world and in the “world to come,” the spiritual world that becomes revealed to you.

We do not attain the revelation of the Creator by religious actions, but by uniting with others. However, these actions do not become canceled. They are simply like a branch symbolizing the spiritual root, and a person can remain in that culture. This is a custom that does not interfere with one’s advancement, but neither does it help him. It simply reminds you that spiritual actions exist, and that is why it was preserved throughout the years of the exile.

The Creator does not care about your physical actions. He only cares about the intention you put into them.
[35864]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/11, “Introduction to the book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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You can tell me about a thousand interesting things that are going on, but I don’t accept them as real if I don’t see and know them for myself. Help me get to know and feel these things. I’ll be ready to listen only if you are going to expand my organs of perception and not my imagination.

If you want to give me a telescope or a microscope, I’m willing to accept them. I’m ready to develop a new sensory organ, but only if it remains within the realm of my rational and critical analysis.

This is the kind of scientific and realistic approach that Kabbalah talks about. However, thousands of years ago, an “error” occurred: The Kabbalists taught the future Greek philosophers the correct scientific approach, but these students stepped outside of it. They didn’t want to go against their egoism and use the science of Kabbalah for their own correction. They thought that they could examine the world without correcting themselves. This led to the development of philosophy.

This doesn’t only pertain to ancient Greece. This is a simple human approach. Almost anyone will say: “Why should I correct myself when I understand everything!” But this is impossible. First, one must reveal the state he’s in. Then, only in this degree, is he allowed to discuss it.

Religion is also based on this approach in the sense that it doesn’t require self-correction. You carry out some action, and all is well. You believe that you’ve established a connection with the Creator. This is called spiritual exile. It’s the “spiritual” form of existence without any real sensation of it. Thus, it is said in regard to this period: “We were like in a dream.”

Kabbalah calls upon people to return to the proper way of approaching reality, to go from philosophy to science, from religion to love and bestowal, and toward obtaining a new organ of perception by which a person will see everything for himself.
[31519]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Question: If imagination interferes with a scientific approach and leads to religion and philosophy, then how can there be imagination that helps with scientific research?

Answer: The imagination that helps us is not an abstract form separated from matter, but a form of the upper one clothing onto us. Every informational gene, Reshimo, has two parts: information about “today’s” desire (Reshimo de Aviut) and information about “tomorrow’s” Light (Reshimo de Hitlabshut).

For example, there are a couple of Reshimot, Gimel de Aviut/Dalet de Hitlabshut, “3/4.” When I realize Reshimo “3,” I will be able to receive the form of the upper one from the degree “4” within it, and this is referred to as creative fantasy. I do not receive it for realization, but only as an example.

Reshimo de Hitlabshut suggests a new future form to us because it is always a degree higher than our current state. These are “memories” that have stayed with us from the expansion of steps from Above downward, and now we can ascend because of them.

Man operates like a machine. If we have these informational genes, Reshimot, then we are able to work due to them, but if we do not have them, we can’t. If one’s entire memory were erased, he would not consciously know how to move a finger. Have you seen the helpless behavior of newborns? They are not able to make even the smallest conscious move.

Everything only comes from Reshimot, and if I am able to correctly realize my desire (Reshimo de Aviut) on my degree, then I will be able to receive the degree of the upper one which clothes onto me (Reshimo de Hitlabshut) as an example. The fantasy helps us work on this basis.

This is not an empty fantasy that has no grounds to it, but a real form which is meant to manifest.
[31531]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Question: Why is there such resistance to learning Kabbalah on the part of the religious, Orthodox world?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah became revealed thanks to Adam (“the First Man”) 5,770 years ago. He wrote a book about it entitled Raziel HaMalach (The Angel Raziel). This teaching continued through his students, and twenty generations later, there came Abraham, a sage who lived in ancient Babylon.

Abraham worshiped stars, spirits, and trees and made idols until the wisdom of Kabbalah was revealed to him in the global form. He wrote about it in Sefer Yetzira (The Book of Creation).

Abraham led his disciples out of Babylon and into the land of Canaan. He organized a Kabbalistic group out of them, which lasted until the very fall of the Temple. All of them lived interconnected as a global, integral society, as one man with one heart. However, 2,000 years ago, at the time of the fall of the Temple, they fell from brotherly love into unfounded hatred.

This event was what is called the “fall” since they fell from the global world into our human egoism. That is how they lost the sensation of the spiritual world, the upper dimension, and started to feel just as all of us do now, meaning as existing only in our world, each one separately, egoistically.

Instead of living in the wisdom of Kabbalah and the collective, integral system, they began to experience only our world, as people still do today. At that time, Kabbalah, which is wisdom, attainment, knowledge, and spiritual science was replaced by religion and religious faith. After all, the spiritual world disappeared from their view.

This is the form we exist in to this day. Religions such as Judaism sprang up, which gave birth to Christianity, followed by Islam. All of these religions exist because the spiritual, global, and integral world is hidden from us.

However, as it unfolds, there will be no place for religions. They will become the cultural traditions of a nation. This is why there is such resistance between Kabbalah and Judaism, which has continued for the last 2,000 years.

Religious folks hate Kabbalah because it explains to them that they live in the dark and don’t understand where they are and what they are doing. However, there will come a time, and specifically in our days, when we will have to rise from the level of blind faith to the level of spiritual knowledge.
[35040]
From my lecture in Paris 2/1/2011

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We are using the Kabbalistic method to correct the part of “Israel” as well as the part of the “nations of the worlds” in us. They help one another through disturbances as well as support, and thus, they work together.

People have to understand that everything that happens is for their good. Everything that becomes revealed along the path must be revealed in that exact manner and a person should only arrange himself the right way in relation to all the elements: the teacher, the books, the group, and the Creator. That is how one should advance.

We have to understand that the realization of the goal happens when all the components come together. People must not deviate from this unification by increasing the importance of one component over another.

Some people prefer to only strive towards the Creator, which is where religion comes from. For religious people, the Creator is on top. All their prayers and hopes are directed towards Him, while love for the neighbor is secondary.

Others concentrate on the teacher and fall into Hassidut, worship. For them, the teacher is more important than the friends and the Creator. Others yet concentrate only on the friends—a good society is the most important thing for them. As a rule, this is impossible in our groups because we study the Force that awakens hatred between us so we would strive toward the true correction. And this is why we cannot just be good friends the way other communities do.

Only an equal attitude towards the teacher, the study, the friends, and the Creator enables us to attain the goal.
[35377]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/11, Writings of Rabash

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