My new article on Linkedin “Thirty Years Ago Today, My Teacher Passed Away”

On a cold and rainy evening in February 1979, as I and Chaim Malka, my study partner of several years back then, were about to start studying our usual ancient Kabbalah books, I suddenly got tired of the endless and seemingly futile search for the truth. “Let’s go look for a teacher,” I said to Chaim. “Where would we go?” he asked. “Let’s drive to Bnei Brak,” I replied, “we’ve never looked there.” Chaim wasn’t keen on driving in this weather, much less to a Jewish Orthodox crowded city with narrow, semi-paved roads, and where kabbalists were unlikely to be found. I urged him nonetheless and he, reluctantly, agreed.

When we got to Bnei Brak, late that evening, there was no one on the streets. They were empty, wet, and cold. At a crossroads, I suddenly spotted a man about to cross the street. Hurriedly, I lowered the window pane and hollered toward him: “Where do they study Kabbalah around here?”

It was a very unusual question. In those days, no one spoke about Kabbalah, and among Orthodox Jews, the topic was a taboo. Even more unusual was the man’s response: He looked at me calmly and replied straight away, as if he had been waiting for me to come and ask him just that. “Turn right, go all the way down to the end of the road where the orchard begins,” he said. “To your left, you’ll see a house. That’s where they study Kabbalah,” he concluded and went on his way.

We drove as the man instructed, and indeed, the house was there. We got out of the car, and knocked on the door but no one answered. The house was nearly all dark. We tried the door and it was unlocked. We went inside and there was no one there except for one room that was lit and voices came from in there. We walked in hesitantly and found five or six elderly men reading in The Zohar and murmuring words in a language I did not understand (it was Yiddish). The elder gestured to us to take a seat, and we sat silently next to the men, on the benches around the old, wooden table where the men were studying.

The elder among them, who invited us to join them and was clearly the teacher, turned out to be Rav Baruch Shalom Ashlag (RABASH), the firstborn son and successor of Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), the greatest kabbalist in the 20th century and author of the acclaimed Sulam [Ladder] commentary on The Book of Zohar. Finally, after years of searching, I had found my teacher.

For the next twelve years, until his final breath, I stayed with RABASH, assisting him in everything I could, and learning from him all that he could give, and he had given me more than I could ever have imagined anyone could give. Thirty years ago today, he passed away in my arms, leaving me his notebook where he wrote all that he had learned from his giant father, and with a legacy: to tell the world about the true meaning of this great wisdom, and show them a path of light in a dim present and a foreboding future.

I wrote my first three books under the guidance of RABASH. Following his passing, I wrote another book, and people began to come to me in search of a teacher. I had no desire to teach. I wanted to seclude myself with the books and the wisdom I had learned from RABASH. But they insisted on coming and I realized that the times were changing and the doors to the wisdom of Kabbalah were opening.

Together with my first students, we established the first study group, and Bnei Baruch [Sons of Baruch], a group of students who strive to walk in the footsteps of my teacher, and of all the kabbalists before him, came to be.

Thirty years later, Bnei Baruch is no longer a group. Today, it is a worldwide movement that strives to help the world unite in love above all differences. Thanks to my students, the teachings of RABASH are learned and loved throughout the world. These students are fulfilling my teacher’s dream. Therefore, today I am confident that with the help of my teacher, and the dedication of my students and friends, the teachings of the man of light, whose love radiated from his every word, will spread far and wide, and illuminate our lives.

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Question: Is there any connection between the process of the conception of the soul and the process of acquiring the screen?

Answer: Of course. Depending on the development of the screen over one’s egoism, a person begins to feel the upper world. And this level that one feels is called one’s soul.

And before that, when one is in the process of conception (Ibur), one has neither a screen nor a soul. Being born in spirituality and the appearance of the screen take place at the same time.

Question: Is it possible to transfer the screen from teacher to student?

Answer: No. Not in any way. Sometimes this can be achieved for a while by common study, common actions. But in general, this is not for the benefit of the student. The student must work on it and acquire the screen himself.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 8/20/21

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Comment: When Baal HaSulam was abroad, he wrote to his students in Israel: ” And if you wish to know, I will inform you that I do not find myself far from you at all, and one who feels remoteness, it is because of himself.”

This is similar to our virtual lessons because most of the students from the world group study through the Internet. In fact, we are never in physical contact during the lessons except for conventions.

Each one of us thinks that a live lesson is one thing and a virtual lesson is another thing. We see that Baal HaSulam emphasizes in his letters that regarding this state, it is always because of us.

My Response: I do not think that physical distance has the same impact as our internal, mental distance. Of course, it has some impact because a student is under the influence of the corporeal world that separates him from the teacher or the friends. But I would call it a secondary precondition for unity, that is, a certain hindrance to our attempt to unite.

On the other hand, if a person feels physically distant, his efforts can actually enable him to be closer spiritually and to overcome seeming physical distances.

He begins to feel internally that he is actually in the same desire as the teacher and or the friends. A place is a desire. In the spiritual world, there is no other meaning of the concept of place.

For those people who live here [Petach Tikva] and attend lessons every day, it seems as if they are in the Creator’s embrace, but in fact, it is not so.

The physical distance felt by a student pushes him to spiritual closeness. So, everything depends on him, and in this respect, he should not envy those who are here. The Creator puts each of us in optimal conditions in which we can reach adhesion with Him at any given moment in the shortest and the best way.

We need to believe that it is indeed so, and then we will see that it actually works this way. This is how everything was created.

There are no interruptions in the movement toward spirituality. Interruptions are personal internal problems revealed to us from the shattering of the general vessel of the soul. This is what we need to correct by uniting.

I need to connect to others because there is a certain part of the general soul in me, you, him, her, etc. It can be a man or a woman living in South America, for example, or in Russia, or in Israel, with certain attributes in a certain environment, which are expressed in their internal data, that is, by the shattered part of the general soul that needs to be corrected each day. This is the only thing that determines all of a person’s attributes whether internal, external, everything there is.

I received greetings from the Amazon today, for example. There is a whole group there that wants to unite and is aimed at and wants to understand our method. This is an indication of their internal essence, of the part of the one general vessel of the soul that they represent. That is the way it works.

It is not a problem, a person can remain wherever he lives or may suddenly be forced by different circumstances to move to another place. But even if he does not make any efforts in this sense but only in uniting internally, it will already guide him along the optimal path in life of the correction of his soul.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 2/12/19

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Baal HaSulam, Letter 12: “But what I ask most of all is that you brace yourselves and be strong, and the Creator will be with you. Do speak to the sagging friends to join us, and foreign fears will depart from them, and if they make the house vacant, there will be room for idols. Do not fear the blaze of the swirling sword on the way of the tree of life.

And if you wish to know, I will inform you that I do not find myself far from you at all, and one who feels remoteness, it is because of himself.

Baal HaSulam writes to his students rom afar and guides them and instructs them not to be afraid of anything.

The problem is that the Creator tests a person to see whether he is ready to see only the one unique upper force in everything and not to see anything else but Him.

It is only through unity within the group that a person can turn to the Creator directly. Otherwise, his appeal is very weak because it goes through the whole system of the shattered vessel.

There should be no superstitions here. Superstitions refer to foreign forces other than the Creator. There should not be any other objects that can influence a person, only the Creator through some puppets He operates through strings. These can be one’s relatives, friends, troubles, all of which are basically managed by the one unique force.

So if a person frees the Temple, the place where the Creator is revealed, of different idols, of different foreign sources that influence him, he makes room that the Creator eventually fills.

Baal HaSulam writes: “And if you wish to know, I will inform you that I do not find myself far from you at all, and one who feels remoteness, it is because of himself.” It only seems to you this way because of your uncorrected attributes, while I feel you in my attributes, and so I am among you, right by your side, together with you, in constant direct contact with you.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 2/12/19

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At the just-ended Olympic Games in Tokyo, there was a very touching moment when an Israeli athlete Linoy Ashram, who won first place in rhythmic gymnastics competitions, took off the gold medal she received and hung it around the neck of her coach. And in fact, this is not surprising, because a coach for an athlete is like a father or mother, everything depends on the coach. Without him, an athlete is only raw material in the hands of a sculptor. The coach makes him a champion, and, of course, the medal rightfully belongs to the coach.

The athlete feels that it is the coach who took first place. And the coach feels that the athlete sacrificed himself to faithfully follow the instructions of the coach, and this is their joint success. There is usually a very close, warm connection between a coach and an athlete, and it cannot be otherwise.

It is said that “a person is jealous of everyone except for his son and his student.” After all, a real teacher puts everything he has into the student, and the student’s achievements indicate the teacher’s skill. The medal is awarded not to the coach, but to the athlete, but it does not matter. After all, the teacher’s reward is not in a medal, but in an inner feeling, in reaching a new degree.

If I ever achieve high achievements in spirituality, it will be only thanks to my teacher. I can still feel him guiding me.

I really hope that my students, whom I “coach” for spiritual ascent, will reach such high levels that the Creator will be revealed in each of them, and they will also turn into great teachers for all mankind.

I see in the students the continuation of the path. The student becomes the hands of the teacher, his mind. Everything that I want to achieve in life, I bring to my students, and they continue to pave the way.
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From KabTV’s “Look from the Inside” 8/9/21

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Question: It seems to me that you are a little different from lesson to lesson. Does your connection with Rabash work here?

Answer: It works with Rabash, as well as with Baal HaSulam, and all the great Kabbalists of the past.

I feel that I am at the tip of this whole chain and I am passing on its knowledge to you. Therefore, I feel my responsibility and always feel how much I can open up, and how much I can not.

Baal HaSulam writes about this in “Disclosing a Portion, Covering Two.” And I feel it. Therefore, naturally, on one hand, I am a little different every time as if I reveal myself a little, I play the next Kabbalistic card. But on the other hand, I keep something in reserve because all this should be very strictly, gradually dosed.

Today we are talking about what we did not talk about six months ago. And this is manifested because the grain falls into prepared soil. But each time it is necessary to prepare the soil anew, and then drop the grain there.

Question: Does the viewer who watches and listens to our programs help prepare this soil?

Answer: Yes. Maybe indirectly, but he participates with us. This is both his merit and his reward. He will see how such seemingly passive participation attracts and pulls him to the spiritual level.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #21

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Throughout the history of human development, the same souls descend into our world and spread the methodology of Kabbalah. The soul of the great Kabbalist Baal HaSulam was, as he himself said, a consequence of the soul of Ari. And the soul of Ari was a consequence of the soul of RASHBI.

The followers of Baal HaSulam were his students, and especially his oldest son Baruch Ashlag (Rabash), and I, as a student of Rabash, continue this work.

Question: Do you feel your teacher Baal HaSulam?

Answer: Baal HaSulam to a certain extent, but my teacher Rabash I feel very close; I am in contact with him.

I’m not talking about a physical sensation, that I remember his smell, voice, habits, and communication with him for hours and years. Although these are also sensations that remain and are very much alive because they still are conveyed at the same time and are reinforced by the desire to be with him and feel his inner world. Such constant contact on the spiritual level sometimes also provokes purely earthly memories.

I can keep millions of earthly memories, but I don’t need them. I have a more internal contact with Rabash so there is no point to any earthly feelings and memories. This is not to say that I miss his words or image, because there is internal information that flows between us.

And I wouldn’t say that about Baal HaSulam. I have a sensation; there is an understanding of him on an internal level. But this is more related to understanding the soul, not about uniting with it; the contact is more at the level of the mind than the feelings. And with my teacher, it’s more on the level of feelings.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #21

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Question: 150 to 200 years ago, the only way to seriously learn something was to do the same thing that your teacher or master does. Today, there are completely different forms of education. Hundreds of millions of people learn a variety of things in various ways.

How can we correctly find among this diversity of choices what to learn and from whom to learn? How can we not get confused?

Answer: In Kabbalah, there are very clear definitions of who a Kabbalistic teacher is, what a student should be, and what he wants to learn from a teacher.

However, this is not quite suitable for modern youth and for modern people. Anyone who wants, will come, ask, and find out. And the rest of them will still not be interested.

It is enough for a person to have a strong desire to find and this desire will lead him to the teacher. It will not allow him to be inactive, it will definitely push him to achieve the goal.

Question: How can I increase my desire?

Answer: With the help of a correct society. If a person finds such a society, then he has the opportunity to realize his desire.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 6/13/21

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The Question of the Meaning of Life

Question: When did you first have a question about the meaning of life?

Answer: I was born with it. It pursued me literally from childhood. I searched all the time but did not know where to find the answer. I thought that I would find it in science or something, but it very quickly turned out that as soon as you try, you see it is not for you.

There were years when I did not know what exactly I was looking for. I just felt empty, bored. What for? What can be the goal in life?

Question: How did you try to fill this void?

Answer: First, I tried to choose a profession. There were not many opportunities in Russia at the time. My parents forced me to go to medical school. I enrolled but immediately dropped out. Literally within a few months, I realized that this was not for me because it did not provide a solution for a painful issue.

But if I had graduated from this school, I would have become a surgeon because you see a clear result of your work. The patient is in serious condition and can only be helped by tough intervention, you intervene, and see the result. However, it was still not what I was looking for.

I enrolled in the Faculty of Automation and Computer Engineering at the Ulyanov-Lenin Institute in Leningrad. Then I transferred to the Polytechnic Institute in the department of Professor Akhutin, biological medical cybernetics. I was constantly looking and looking. At the same time, in my last years in Russia, I worked a little at the Institute of Blood Transfusion, at the Military Medical Academy, and even at the SKB, where they made alpha belts for astronauts. But I did not see success in this.

To be a scientist? Well, you will be an assistant professor. So what is next? It somehow disappointed me very quickly.

Question: There is some kind of boundary. You reach it, and there is no further development. And did that initially stop you?

Answer: Yes. It haunted me all the time. In some ways I was unhappy. But misfortune, as they say, helped and led me to Kabbalah after many years. I realized that I had nothing to do in science, nothing to do in Russia at all. At that time, repatriation began. For several years I covered my tracks until through my native Vitebsk, through Lithuania, through the small town of Pobrade, after two years of refusals, I received a permit and left. In 1974 I arrived in Israel.

Search in Israel

After arriving in Israel, I continued to look for an answer to the question about the meaning of life. I specifically settled next to the Weizmann Institute. I thought maybe I would find something there. Nothing again. There was an opportunity to engage in the development of medical equipment, which was closest to my area of expertise. But that did not interest me either. I didn’t want to give it my whole life. It is better to go to some kind of automatic job and be free in heart and soul.

Therefore, I went to work in the army in aircraft maintenance. And in my free time from work, I continued to search. How to find what it is worth living for? This question, this passion, this desire, the emptiness, drove me, although by this time I already had a wife and a child and I was happy in my family life. I am happy to this day that I have been living with this woman for so many years.

Nevertheless, something bothered me. I was offered to search in religion. I started going to some courses and I went to Yarkhei Kala on weekends. They seemed to be saying something, but there was no point in it. And all the time I tried to understand: “Well then, then what?” And they themselves had no questions.

I tried to become like them. I liked what they say about eternity, about the Creator, about the soul, about the connection with the eternal. But where is this connection? They answered: “We read and teach, and this is the connection.” And where is this connection really? Where is the connector with which you connect to this connection? Where do you feel it clearly? Are you involved in this yourself? “No, it is written in the books.” That was enough for them.

But I still searched until Rabbi Fischer from Holland told my trustees who wanted to make me a simple religious Jew: “He probably needs to be introduced to Kabbalists, to those who are more deeply involved in this. There are people who need it.”

And they introduced me to Rabbi Zilberman. Through him, I realized that there is Kabbalah, there are books that really seriously talk about it. He began to study with me in Aramaic on the sly. After all, Kabbalah in the primary sources is set forth in Aramaic. It originates from Babylon, where Aramaic was the spoken language.

But I was not satisfied with his approach either. Believers just study books, and he studied Kabbalah in the same way. And where is the contact, where is the connection? They were not there either. He believed that reading in order to learn more was enough.

What does “learn” have to do with it? I want to be in it! What should I do to find out the very essence of life, everything that happens around, to see the creation from its beginning to the end? Why, how, why? What is the ultimate goal?

To this, Rav Zilberman said: “The question, of course, is a good one. This is understood here and there in Kabbalah. As much as we understand the Kabbalists, that much we understand.” And I left him.

Berg

Once, in search of a Kabbalah teacher, I went to one of the lectures at the Berg Institute, but I saw that all this, of course, was not serious. Then I asked to be introduced to Berg and told him bluntly: “I am ready to pay what you want, only I need private lessons.” From a financial point of view, I was a wealthy person and really donated a lot to him, but I demanded private lessons.

So, I started going to his house almost every day at five o’clock in the morning. After a few weeks, I realized that I had nothing to do with him further.

Nevertheless, I learned a little more from him than from the others, because at one time he studied with Rabbi Brandwein, a student of Baal HaSulam. Berg told me a little about Baal HaSulam, about Rabbi Brandwein, how he studied with him when he was still very young. He said that there are still other books, the books of Baal HaSulam, and they can be used. Basically, I learned this from him.

But after two or three weeks, seeing that I had nothing more to learn from him, I stopped studying. And where to look next? Who should I look for? I did not know.

Here He is a True Teacher!

Somehow, literally by accident, after arriving in Bnei Brak, I decided to go to look for a teacher. It was winter, it was hard to travel to Jerusalem at this time of year and I thought, why not look in Bnei Brak. At one of the crossroads, leaning out of the car, I asked: “Where do people study Kabbalah here?” A religious man standing there replied: “Turn left, go to the grove, there you will find a place where they study Kabbalah.” Just like an angel from heaven.

When I arrived there I saw old people studying Kabbalah. I turned to them and they showed me a teacher. So I started studying there. It turned out that their leader was the eldest son of Baal HaSulam. Previously, no one told me about this.

Thus, I ended up with the most important person, I would say the only Kabbalist at that time. Moreover, he was the eldest son of Baal HaSulam and received everything from him. And indeed, when he began to study with me, I realized that a week or two would not be enough here.

I felt this by the way my questions did not fly somewhere into the void but immediately fell on the right ground. I was getting answers straight to the head. Moreover, not elusive answers, like be content with faith and some commandments, or we will wait and see later. They were absolutely clear, serious, calm answers. Moreover, they were accompanied with formulas, with graphs, with logical explanations, without any concessions.

This Is How I was Made

Question: Did your parents know about your search for the meaning of life?

Answer: They always knew what I was looking for. Everything happened before their eyes over the years. Naturally, they understood that I would not give up in any way and in anything because I could not live without it; it was not worth living. Therefore, they did not stop me.

At the same time, I was a serious, sane, very realistic person; I was not in the clouds. I despise mysticism and am very far from religion, from faith. I am very realistic, I know that I need to provide for my family, my children, I stand firmly with two feet on the ground, I do not succumb to any bad influences. They knew all this very well. They saw that I had a very serious goal, that I was created this way, and that I am going forward.
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From KabTV’s “Close-up. Generation” 8/24/09

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Comment: Baal HaSulam went beyond the framework of the generally recognized Kabbalist by engaging in wide public activities. He met with public figures and wrote articles that no Kabbalist had written before.

My Response: Baal HaSulam tried to advertise, disseminate, and spread the wisdom of Kabbalah in any way possible. He met with many other Kabbalists, scientists, statesmen, and ordinary people. He traveled to Poland during the May Day demonstrations to somehow use the enthusiasm of the Polish workers and to tell them what they could bring to our world and how to change their lives with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah. Generally speaking, he did everything in his power to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Rabash was much more modest and on a much lower level. He lived in a time when there was already a great force of resistance and so, to put it bluntly, he did not really go wild. I grew up by his side, and I saw how limited his actions were.

When he passed away I continued his legacy and have set for myself the goal to disseminate the idea of the wisdom of Kabbalah as much as possible in every language and all over the world, on the Internet and wherever possible, without paying attention to any opposition I might encounter. Even if the whole world curses me, I will still do it. Thus, despite the world’s resistance, I am still here.

Comment: But on the other hand, Rabash was still a great revolutionary like his father. He accepted forty totally non-religious students.

My Response: Yes, yet he did gently, not so harshly. It was a great leap forward.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 3/10/19

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