Question: What is “attainment” in Kabbalah?

Answer: It is the awareness within one’s desires of everything that comes from the Creator down to the depth of my desires, which I examine. All the primary, secondary, and other phenomena revealed in their full scope and interconnection constitute attainment.

Question: Can we say that a person goes through three stages: first knowledge, then understanding, and then attainment? Or does one attain everything immediately through feeling?

Answer: It depends on how a person approaches his spiritual work.

Question: Suppose I hear “There is none else besides Him” or some other principle, does that mean I now know that He exists, even without understanding?

Answer: If a person has just begun studying and has not yet attained anything, then yes. But if he is already attaining, sensing, and has spiritual vessels (Kelim), which are the means to determine, feel, and reveal, then his approach is different.

For someone reading and hearing about these things for the first time, it all seems like an incomprehensible alphabet: “Where is this happening? In which world? With whom?” He needs time. What the mind does not allow, time accomplishes.

Gradually, he becomes accustomed to the sound of Kabbalistic terms, to the connection of words into phrases, then into sentences, and finally to the connection of sentences. All this enters him gradually, not through the mind, but through the heart.

To the extent that he tries to be together with his friends united in a group helping, giving, and supporting them, he begins to attain the inner meaning of what he hears.
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From the Basic Kabbalah Lesson, 11/19/17

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Question: What did Baal HaSulam add to the correction of the soul that the ARI started?

Answer: The ARI himself did not write anything. It was his student Marhu (Chaim Vital) who wrote, and his writings were published over the course of three generations after the death of the ARI.

Baal HaSulam explained and systematized the entire teaching of the ARI. Before him, the teaching of the ARI was not arranged in a structured way, and therefore, it was impossible to study it properly. Many who began studying the ARI would eventually switch to studying the works of the Ramak.

I myself studied the Ramak until I discovered Baal HaSulam. I saw many Kabbalists who preferred studying the Ramak instead of the ARI because the books of Ramak are clear and organized.

The writings of the ARI were not structured. Baal HaSulam systematized, detailed, explained, and arranged them: the three lines, the first and second restrictions, the Creator and the created being, the definitions of the worlds, Sefirot, Partzufim, NRNHY KHB, ZON, and he even created a collection of diagrams of the upper worlds in the book Elan.

Although some parts are missing that he could have systematized further (like Adam HaRishon, the impure worlds of BYA), it seems he chose not to deal with them. Without Baal HaSulam, we would not have the method of the ARI. It would be impossible to understand the ARI.

Today when we read other Kabbalists, we understand them only because we are familiar with the works of Baal HaSulam. Without him, we would be confused.

Whatever you read, whether it is the books on Hasidism, the Ramak, or the Agra, you only understand them because you studied Baal HaSulam. Without the articles of Rabash, we would not be able to understand what is required of us and what the work of the Creator truly means.

Without these two Kabbalists Baal HaSulam and RABASH who complement each other, we would not have the correct approach to the method of correction.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/8/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam Preface “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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…there is only one counsel then: to cling to his teacher and to the books. This is called “From the mouth of books and from the mouth of authors.” Only by clinging to them can he change his mind and will for the better. However, witty arguments will not help him change his mind…

In other words, all the concepts upon which he builds his building, saying one must always follow in the path of the Creator, is founded in Dvekut with his teacher. Thus, if he loses the foundation, all the concepts are powerless since they will now be lacking the foundation. (Baal HaSulam, Shamati 25, “Things that come from the Heart“)

When after many hardships, searches for the meaning of life, or attempts to suppress the inner questioning with antidepressants a path is finally revealed to a person, and he is brought to a Kabbalistic group and a teacher, he faces the task of changing how he sees himself and the world, transforming his perception.

To do this, he must follow the advice of the Kabbalists: “Make for yourself a Rav and buy yourself a friend.” In other words, he must attach to something outside of himself. If he replaces his own desire with the desire of another—of the teacher, the group, the friends, those close to him in spirit—he acquires a spiritual vessel through this.

He then moves from an egoistic approach where he perceives nothing more than this so-called world, to a perception through the group where he begins to feel the spiritual world.

Here, unity with the teacher is of great importance, because someone must bring the person into the group where he will acquire his spiritual vessel. Just as in life, there are childhood years before one grows up, and during this time one is guided and supported by parents, society, and an entire system.

When a person matures and enters life, he finds his place in this system and can exist independently. But first, someone must give birth to him, guide him through childhood, and help him stand on his own two feet. This guide, this educator, is the teacher—or as he is called in Kabbalah, Rav (great one). This is a spiritual concept and not a physical body.

Rav is the higher part of the general system, who cares for the students just as the spiritual Partzufim Aba ve-Ima care for ZON in order to raise them upward. Why are we given the sensation of this higher part of the system in the form of a physical person living in our world? So that we can be awakened in some way through events of this material life and feel that we have support.

The measure of a person’s spiritual advancement is how closely he follows the teacher’s advice regarding spiritual actions, how much he acts with faith above reason, that is, replacing his own opinion with the teacher’s, his own values with the values of the upper one. Along this path, there are many ups and downs: from love for the teacher to hatred toward him, many doubts, questions, and clarifications.

A person goes through many states and must experience them all. But the key is to hasten the process and realize that he has been given the opportunity to rise above himself and cling to the upper one even in a material way: through a physical person, through that person’s desires, thoughts, teachings, help, and submission to his advice, which is often contrary to one’s own opinion, calculations, and pragmatic logic.

Ultimately, he realizes that he cannot pass the exam of devotion and union with spirituality if he does not first pass it in relation to his teacher.

As Baal HaSulam says in his Speech for the Completion of The Zohar:

“Serving one’s teacher with body and soul leads to unity with him—that is, to similarity of form. In this way, the student receives the thoughts and knowledge of the teacher ‘mouth to mouth,’ through the merging of souls. By this, he attains the greatness of the Creator to such a degree that bestowal becomes reception, turning into the energy sufficient to place his entire soul and being into achieving adhesion with the Creator.”

Thus, merging with the teacher is a means for spiritual advancement. Through it, one transitions from learning “mouth to ear” to the spiritual transmission of information “mouth to mouth,” through an internal channel that arises between the student, the teacher, and the upper system.

Of course, this is merely a means for attaining adhesion with the Creator. Just as a father and mother are the means through which a person is born, grows, and becomes ready for independent life, so too are these systems—the teacher, the group, and the books—absolutely essential. One cannot do without them.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/1/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Things that Come from the Heart”

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A good environment consists of the Rav and the friends. If a student does not adhere to the teacher like the lower’s GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim) to the upper’s AHP, if one does not annul oneself in one’s most refined point, which one has discovered within oneself, the point in the heart, and does not attach this point to the teacher, meaning to the teacher’s views and spirit, then one has no place from which to receive the spirit of life. The person will lack the force that develops the Reshimo, the spiritual gene.

This matter is very straightforward: either there is such a connection or there isn’t. And much of it depends on help from above and spiritual luck. It is determined, not by external circumstances, but by the internal efforts made by a person, along with various factors related to the root of one’s soul and the judgment that this soul is going through.

If there is no connection with the teacher, then, as it is written in Shamati 25, “Things that Come from the Heart,” As long as he has no power to sentence the world to the side of merit, they subdue him, he mingles with their desires, and he is led like sheep to the slaughter. He has no choice; he is compelled to think, want, crave, and demand everything that the majority demands.

There is nothing a person can do against this. Even if he is physically close to the teacher, who is like the end of a spiritual conduit for him that descends from the world of infinity through the chain of Kabbalists, if he doesn’t connect to this pipeline, he receives no spiritual nourishment and therefore he does not develop.

In the past there were cases where a teacher would raise a single student. But in general, the teacher tends to his students through the group, connecting to its center.

The group, for the teacher, is the lower spiritual entity. The student who can connect to the center of the group, after having fulfilled two essential conditions of annulment in relation to the group and connection with the friends, will be able to connect to the teacher through that center.

The teacher is called Rav (great) because he is the upper Partzuf, the upper degree, in relation to the students. To the extent that a student annuls himself toward the group’s center, he receives, via the connection with the others, a vessel into which he can absorb the teacher’s thought and spiritual attainment.

But this annulment must be total from the depth of the heart and soul in everything that pertains to the spiritual path and authority over one’s egoism.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/10/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Things that Come from the Heart”

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Baal HaSulam made it so that if an ordinary person follows his way, he can achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator just like a dedicated wise disciple. Before him, one had to be a great wise disciple in order to be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator (RABASH, Assorted Notes 75, “The Work of the Greatest in the Nation“).

We received this opportunity thanks to Baal HaSulam, who revealed the wisdom of Kabbalah to us and brought it closer. And we see that by following his method, we are indeed advancing and gradually drawing nearer to the Creator. Only small steps remain to reach the first contact with Him.

The actions of the Kabbalists are multifaceted. The Kabbalists worked to develop the wisdom of Kabbalah itself, its methodology, and also to make themselves a channel for conveying the upper light to us. That is, they tried in every possible way to bring the Creator closer to us, both from His side to us and from our side to Him.

And Baal HaSulam acted specifically for the last generation, so that “even an ordinary person, following his path, could be rewarded with adhesion to the Creator.” We hope that we too will be able to merit this.

Know for certain that since the time of the ARI to this day, there has not been anyone who understood the method of the ARI to the fullest…as they are in their upper root… .

And now, by the Creator’s will, I have been rewarded with a conception [impregnation] of the soul of the ARI, not because of my good deeds but by a higher will. It is beyond me, too, why I have been chosen for this wonderful soul, with which no one has been granted since his passing until today (Baal HaSulam, Letter 39).

The whole difficulty of the wisdom of Kabbalah lies in the fact that although all Kabbalistic books are available for reading, it is impossible to understand them without the detailed explanations of a teacher who constantly works on the student to develop his mind and arrange his soul. Kabbalah cannot be studied independently, and even studying with a true teacher takes many years.

A student needs a recognized teacher who is in spirituality, who will serve as a channel of connection to the upper light, and organize each step of his spiritual work just as one cares for an infant in our world. Without this, growth is impossible, as if an infant were left alone in the forest.

There are many people who passionately wish to attain spirituality and begin to study. But if they have no teacher, they may extract purely mechanical knowledge from the books, which in no way brings them closer to the Creator.

After all, this work is extraordinarily difficult and can only be done under the condition of continuous care of the student by the teacher and participation in a proper group. It is painful to see how people get entangled in all kinds of methods of their own invention.

Baal HaSulam separated the wisdom of Kabbalah from all fabrications, so that a person who wishes to engage in the work of the Creator would clearly know whether he is on the right path or not. And therefore, there are forces that try to distance people from Baal HaSulam.

We hope that despite everything, we will succeed in spreading his method in the widest possible way and to give every person the opportunity to attain the realization and revelation of their soul.

RABASH writes about Baal HaSulam in the “Introduction to the Book Pri Haham”: “Such a soul descends into the world once in ten generations.” In truth, it is impossible for us to comprehend the true height of his soul, just as small children cannot understand who their father and mother are or appreciate the home in which they are growing up—for that, one must first grow up.

We hope that we will grow and understand who our teacher truly is, he who even today serves as the connecting link between us and the upper force. We will try to realize his method; it is the very same method of ARI and RASHBI. There is no other method; one only needs to know how to correctly implement it. And it is truly possible to feel that within Baal HaSulam an inclusion of the soul of the ARI occurred.

Baal HaSulam gave all his strength to slightly bring down the wisdom of Kabbalah from the heavens and bring it closer to us. He thought only about how to write books that are accessible to the modern generation and to spread them. We do not understand how much this man sacrificed so that we, 60 to 70 years later, could take these books and extract from them all the principles of spiritual work.
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From a conversation at a meal on the day of remembrance of Baal HaSulam, 9/30/2017

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Question: When answering a person’s question, do you tell them what they want to hear?

Answer: No, I answer what they are able to hear. I do not indulge people; I try to respond on the level at which they can hear me. Otherwise, what is the point of replying at all?

Why ask me if I’m just going to say what they want to hear? Let them just listen to themselves, then.

Comment: All students go through various states, and when they talk to each other, each one says, “I know this or that piece of information.” And so, each one brings their own distortions into the common understanding.

My Response: That is typical for people who haven’t yet come to a clear revelation of the truth, they guess at it, imagine something about it.

Personally, I never had that kind of experience, I don’t know why. Maybe because I was very close to my teacher, and I had sufficiently accurate information. I could always ask and get a clear answer.

Comment: Suppose someone shares a feeling that they can move through walls or fly above the ground.

My Response: That is just some kind of childish fantasy.

A Kabbalist in our world cannot do anything physically out of the ordinary, because the physical world operates according to its own laws. In this world, you can’t move anything outside of the regular laws of nature.

If you have some ability, it means that ability already exists in nature. Where have you seen anyone walk through a wall? If it were possible, then anyone could do it with some practice. What does that have to do with being a Kabbalist?

A Kabbalist’s qualities operate on the next level, beyond matter. In the realm of matter, he cannot do anything special.

Question: Does a Kabbalist know how everything works, but cannot go against it?

Answer: Against what, exactly? What do you expect him to change? We are given nothing to change except our attitude toward the Creator and everything around us. When you change that, you change your own perception, your perception of reality. That is it, this is an inner wisdom.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Can Kabbalists Walk through Walls?” 9/16/10

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Starting from Adam, the earlier a Kabbalist lived, the closer he was connected to the root and the higher he stood. All those who came after him received the light through him.

But for those who want to connect with the ray of light coming from infinity, the last, closest Kabbalist is always more important, because it is he who connects and unites us with the light, with the Creator. For us, this Kabbalist is Baal HaSulam.

He writes that he was honored to convey the wisdom of Kabbalah to us. And we are honored to have such a soul revealed to us that brings us the methodology of Kabbalah, thanks to which we can reveal the Creator.

The writings of Baal HaSulam are the only ones suitable in our time for achieving the spiritual goal. Only the books of Baal HaSulam carry the light necessary for our correction. To prepare for them, the articles of RABASH are required.

The revelation of the Creator to creations, i.e., spiritual liberation, must become complete for everyone,  that is, their teaching is a teaching for the whole world.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, Dedicated to the memory of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Can you raise a person without being aware of them, and they will not even identify that they were in a spiritual state?

Answer: This can happen to everyone, but they do not feel it, they do not define it.
When we study together, people all over the globe, no matter where they are, rise with us, but not in their awareness, not in their disclosure. At the same time, they are filled.

Question: During Kabbalah classes, does a person enter the spiritual world?

Answer: Yes, but not obviously because the person does not have a screen.

Question: But this is not your merit?

Answer: It is natural! This is the nature of the spiritual world. There is nothing else here. What does merit have to do with it? We are in a system, within the laws of nature, in its properties, and we act within it. In the end what happens is what happens. There are no tricks here!

Question: But in any case, you can pass on some spiritual experience even to a novice student. Does he internally find some kind of disclosure that you put into him?

Answer: Yes, of course. Let us say if I die today, then in a few years the people who continue to study will discover what I put into them yesterday, the day before yesterday, and so on.

Question: Is it the same as you keep revealing what RABASH invested in you?

Answer: By the same mechanics, of course.

Question: So each of us has a certain reserve of your ball of yarn, which gradually unwinds over time?

Answer: Yes. I will even say more. You cannot have anything else! This is a top-down descent and a bottom-up ascent.

Everything you comprehend, you received from the highest. This hierarchy remains until the end of the completion of correction. I am always above you, so you turned out to be my disciple and connected through me to higher levels. And everything you have in you, you will always receive through me. What difference does it make whether we will be in this world or only in the spiritual one? It does not matter.

Question: Let us say you are currently a carrier of spiritual information. Are your students who will appear in 5 to 10 years the next level? Is there another step beyond that?

Answer: Of course! Their students and so on, everyone who pulls everyone else along is their teacher, like in a chain reaction.

The one you attract, that is, after the first contact with a person, will begin to receive through you. After all, these contacts are not accidental because our souls were so connected from the beginning.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Inside the Words of the Answer There Is Also…” 9/8/10

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Question: You have repeatedly said that essentially your answers do not provide any solutions; they are just information.

Answer: Yes, there is truth in that because until a person internally understands this information, realizes it, and feels it, he is not its carrier; he is merely a listener. It means nothing, it is not his, and he cannot work with it.

If we are talking about the fact that his work must be internal, then he must find this information within himself. Therefore all my words are intended only to direct a person’s search in the right direction.

Comment: But in any case, beyond the words you say, there is some kind of force that you transmit. Many people feel it.

My Response: Naturally, I transmit my inner fulfillment to others, and a person who wants to be close to our path, to me, and to this idea, receives it. He begins to shake inside, and he feels it.

Question: What exactly are you transmitting? Are you transmitting inner experience, or light, or force?

Answer: I cannot transmit the inner light to another person unless I have a shared screen with him. I transmit only the surrounding light. That is why people feel ascents, descents, and some internal movements; but these are only from the outside, under my influence. These are not the personal feelings of a person where he feels the light enter, exit, and work in his soul.

Comment: So essentially a person listens to you and suddenly feels “Wow! That is exactly it! I feel what he is talking about.”

My Response: That is psychology. What you are talking about is psychology. That is still not light, not Kabbalah, but rather the person’s emotional response in the heart and in the mind. It is an ordinary earthly adaptation to what I am saying, but not spiritual. For the spiritual, he must have some property similar to mine, a Kli.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Inside the Words of the Answer There Is Also…” 9/8/10

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The connection with a Kabbalist is a union of soul with soul: soul into soul (Ruach beRuach). A new spiritual point emerges in a person through which he connects to his spiritual root. A person knows and feels with whom he is connecting.

When one connects to the soul of RASHBI or Baal HaSulam, they receive strength, illumination from there, and begin to feel an inner connection with the Kabbalist along with the ability to give more, to love more. Yet, from each Kabbalist, one can receive something unique, depending on what that Kabbalist wants to convey to us.

One must ask, constantly ask for exactly what one lacks, and strive for the request to be about the right fulfillment for the realization of the root of the soul. That is all.
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From “Conversations on the Road” 5/30/2025

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