Question: Do I have believe that everything Kabbalists say is true?

Answer: It is exactly what we call “faith in the sages.” You don’t really have a choice: You believe a Kabbalist like a youngster believes an adult in order to grow up.

In our world, a child also relies on adults; otherwise, how will he survive? Will he achieve anything if he doesn’t listen to, receive the necessary tools from, and learn what they do by imitating them like a monkey?

It isn’t an accident that apes are considered an intermediary link between the animate world and a human being. To learn “by aping” is the means to become human. A child watches adults and copies them over and over again.

If so, then where does a child display his own intelligence? He does so specifically by observing and copying external movements. Thanks to this he will later understand their inner essence.

It is described as: “From Your actions, I shall know You.” We don’t have a choice but to accept Kabbalists’ counsels above our reason since these recommendations descend from very exalted degrees. It means that we have to act as a child before an adult.

Sometimes, these counsels are even difficult to grasp since the words of a sage are always distorted in you. Nonetheless, inasmuch as you manage to decode and carry them out, you succeed. Some receive by “mouth to mouth” and advance very fast. Others receive by “mouth to ear” and grow more slowly. Yet, this is the way: A younger one learns from the older one.

The key is to accept the role of a “monkey” and learn from a human. After all, these are two [different] degrees of development.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “Above Reason in Divine Service”

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Question: It is written that the head of the lower Partzuf gets clothed in the body of the upper Partzuf. What does it mean “to get clothed in the upper one”?

Answer: The “body” of the upper one is his actions, work above desires, while the “head” is decision making. The lower one cannot accomplish anything with his “head,” at his degree. It is written: “From your actions, I shall know You.” In other words, the lower one has to include itself into the “body” of the upper Partzuf.

And when he learns what the upper one does by example, while repeating his actions, only then does he start to understand what the upper one meant to tell him. Until you have done what the upper one told you to do, you won’t understand what he is saying.

It isn’t by any means some thoughtless, animate action when you are required to do what the upper one says; you have to do it so that you may learn! Look how children copy what grownups do: They imitate our behavior without understanding their meaning. When a child is given a plastic hammer and nails, he doesn’t know what to do with them. But he sees how you hammer the nails and does the same, from which he begins to comprehend what it means.

One can’t learn otherwise. We must keep this in mind while designing education programs: Teaching can be successful only if we teach by example. We see that the cause originates in the spiritual roots and is embedded into nature during the expansion of Partzufim (descending of the connection of souls) from Above downward.

The mind given to the lower one is necessary solely in order to be able to copy the actions of the upper one. The head of the lower Partzuf must work only in such form. If the lower one’s head looks up to model and perform his actions by those of the upper one, the lower one is destined to succeed. But if he thinks that he can use his own head to judge, make decisions, and do something, he is headed for failure.

He will think that he is at the degree when he can do something on his own. But all of the acts take place in the “body” of the upper one. If the lower one is smart enough to cancel his intelligence, reason, he ascends and receives wisdom, the mind of the upper one.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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When I came to study to Rabash, I was 33. I was a strong and successful person; I had a family, house, and successful business. I asked him, “Now I am going to invest all my life into you. I will be next to you until the very end because otherwise it is impossible to learn anything. I am ready to go for it, but how can I be sure that I am in the right place?”

Rabash replied that I had every right to ask this question. However, I have to choose what teacher I want to cling to by myself. Nobody should interfere or influence my decision. He said: “Go and check out other places!”

But after you make your decision and choose your place, you should cast away any doubt about it and not swing from side to side in the middle of the path. You cannot be under any other influence but your teacher’s.

In other words, if you become my student, you are obliged to receive only my spirit and not to listen to anybody else. After all, you are going to develop and it is forbidden for a person to listen to other opinions during his growth.
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From Lesson 2, Convention at the Arava Desert 12/31/10

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Question: What should we do with the people who study the material independently and come with established, self-imposed “axioms” with which they confuse other students?

Answer: The group should isolate itself in its Kabbalistic center like an embryo in the mother’s womb. A developing soul needs to be protected. It must be surrounded with love and care like an embryo or a baby, by building a nurturing atmosphere around it, similar to “Noah’s ark.”

While students have not yet reached spiritual revelation and don’t quite understand what they are doing and where they are going, they get tossed from side to side, from state to state because each time new systems are formed within us. And while we are constructing ourselves, we continue going through unstable states; hence, we cannot be under the influence of several factors, but only one.

Baal HaSulam writes in “A Speech in Celebration of the Conclusion of The Zohar” that if a student doesn’t cleave to the teacher, like an embryo clings to the mother, and doesn’t adhere to the upper one, then he doesn’t advance. This law rules in the spiritual world as well as the material one while we are in the preparation stage and work with our egoistic desires.

If a student doesn’t conform, nothing will help. He may be very smart and have outstanding abilities, but he won’t reach spiritual attainment. Hence, the sages said: “A thousand [disciples] enter the class, but only one comes out to the Light.” And the only reason for this is negligence, reluctance to accurately follow the spirit of the teacher, the person that passes spirituality to you.

I myself don’t need this in the least; you know how I loathe any kind of worship. But a student has to develop such an attitude. At the very beginning of the path, one has to make up his mind, according to the principle: “A person learns where his heart desires.” So how can you allow someone to enter your center, your home, and confuse you? I would never allow it.

We still cannot determine who is right and wrong, everything is relative. And if you wish to advance spiritually, don’t trust anyone; you must choose the source you want to drink from on your own. Everyone must unilaterally select a teacher who will answer his questions and meet his expectations, and who is qualified to guide him or her on the path of spiritual growth.
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From Lesson 2, Convention at the Arava Desert 12/31/10

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Writings of Rabash, “What is the Flood Water in the Work”: We have to take it upon ourselves to believe in the sages….

Suppose I am ready to believe the words of wisdom, but what does that mean? Do I understand the words of the sages? What is their message?

First of all, we do not work on bodies in the science of Kabbalah. There are no bodies, but only souls. The bodies that appear before us are images of an illusory world.

I am in a desire that manifests as different forms: still, vegetative, animate, and human. “The sages” are the corrected souls that are in the broken system of Adam HaRishon. They can help me and give me support; they can be my mentors and instructors for my broken soul.

Accordingly, that is how we should accept their advice. For example, The Book of Zohar tells us about ten sages of Rabbi Shimon’s group, as well as the prophet Eliyahu, Moses, Aaron, King David, King Solomon, and so on. We shouldn’t perceive them as people living in our world, but as corrected desires or souls. They are in a broken system, which is gradually starting to be restored back to life. These souls are already corrected, partially or in full, and they participate in the correction of the entire system.

In The Book of Zohar I read things like, “Rabbi Shimon said…Rabbi Abba said….” For me they aren’t people who attain the upper world and tell me about it, but rather, these are names of levels of attainment. Through these words I study the ladder of the spiritual degrees: on one degree reality appears this way and another degree that way. It seems as if Kabbalists are telling me about this, but for me they are actually forces or vessels of perception.

For me every sage represents a spiritual notion, might, force, or quality. I don’t look at the names of historical protagonists, but names of spiritual phenomena and levels. That is the “faith in the sages”: I want to attain the same bestowal as the one that’s present on the degrees that I read about. “Faith” is bestowal.

At the lesson a person has to tune into this and aspire to understand how this will influence him. No matter what the book narrates about, I want to penetrate inside the spiritual essence of every word. This means that I believe the words of the sages.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/10, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What does the upper one feel when it reduces itself for the sake of the lower one? Does it suffer while doing so?

Answer: No, it doesn’t. On the contrary, it is willing to descend in order to assist the lower one. The upper one absorbs the lower one’s pains and that is its descent.

In our world, I get in the elevator and take a ride to the first floor. But in spirituality, I receive a totally different mind and another perception that suit the “lower floor.” This is what we call “change of place, change of luck.”

Any spiritual move implies changing the form: the change of the screen (Masach) and the change of desire. Therefore, by descending to the lower one, the upper one becomes similar to it. The upper one clothes in the lower one and appears as such, and only internally does it keep its true spiritual degree, a rung it can ascend to.

To reduce oneself in spirituality is very challenging. One has to be very strong to do this since you “corrupt” yourself by accepting a flaw, a great desire that attracts the Klipot (impure shells). It is justified only by the fact that you do it in order to save the lower one. The goal sanctifies your actions and gives you strength. Only after having prepared yourself and collected strength, are you fit for undertaking your mission.

Then, you descend and establish a connection with the lower one who is corrupted and soiled by egoism. So do you submerge yourself in this filth and corruption, which burden you with a great dab of darkness and forces of impurity? You do it solely to help the lower one.

Now, both of you are corrupted, but you, beside the external flaws, possess an inner storage of strength. Internally, you are corrected; therefore, by connecting with the lower one, you can elevate not only yourself, but the other as well.

Imagine you reduce yourself to the level of a drug addict whom you wish to save. You, too, start using drugs, join him, and live through him. Now, both of you suffer from drug addiction.

And then, you activate your forces, begin transforming him, pulling both of you out of the swamp. He is already linked in your desire, and now you elevate him to your level, where you repair that part of you which became his as well as him as part of yourself. This is a double correction that requires a double screen. Besides, his corruption is much more severe than yours.

So, it turns out that bestowal, dissemination, and correction of the lower ones are much more difficult than the correction of self. However, by doing so, you receive an opportunity to draw the Light through the lower one, which means to beget him, to manifest new perception in him.

It can be accomplished only if you draw from Infinity the new Light that fills all spiritual worlds. This new “dose” used to help the lower one is what delights the Infinity, the Creator. Thanks to this act, you merge with Him.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/10, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Letters of Rabbi Amnon Saba”

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Question: The weekly Torah portion "Vaigash" is full of tears, encounters, and dramatic events that touch many people. What is it about this portion that stirs up so many feelings in us?

Answer: A person goes through very tragic and drastic states, including confusion and disorientation. He is like a baby that is in a forest or an absolutely unfamiliar place. He does not know what to do or whom to turn to. He goes through extremely frightening situations and is completely confused.

Usually we get very emotional when looking back at situations we have gone through in life, and similarly, in spirituality when I remember this, I feel overcome by feeling. Granted, now theses memories hold a certain sweetness. You look back to the past with love, the way people look at a child, while in fact, the states were very difficult back then!

A person does not know how to come out of them and without support from a teacher who is by his side, I don’t think it is even possible. Today the whole world has to reach correction and that’s why we have a group and dissemination, which give us a very powerful and expansive support from millions of people who are together with us in one system.

However, at the same time the path remains individual and every person goes through it based on his own inner impressions. These are astounding states! Even if they are very unpleasant at the time you actually go through them, they are still wonderful! They give you the depth of understanding and sensation of the entire creation, which comes later! A person begins to see, feel, and be included in all the worlds simultaneously!

Therefore, we shouldn’t give up on this and must advance. That is how we will come to the "promised land."
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From the program "Weekly Torah Portion" on 12/9/10

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A comment of the ARI Films Channel user on www.youtube.com after he viewed the video clip “Kabbalah – Five Basic Principles” (230,000 views, takes the third place on Google after Wikipedia and Kabbalah.info when searching for the word “Kabbalah”):

“I am a Sufi Muslim and find the words of this teacher in the video to be very wise and beautiful. The emphasis on the ego as the source of separation and illusion echoes what the Sufi masters also teach. This proves that the Source has always been one and the same – God the Almighty. And that Kabbalah, Gnosticism, and Sufism are the three hairs on the same head.

If more people listened to teachers who taught such wisdom, the world might have a chance.

Love and Light to all”
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Question: I am a 22 year old American and have been on a spiritual quest for my entire life, but specifically these past few years. I am so confused. I want more than anything to live a spiritually fulfilled life, but do not believe I need to renounce the world as we know it to achieve such. I am highly interested in science and technology and the convergence of such studies with spirituality. I have become increasingly sensitive to the downfalls of our societies, and it is becoming harder and harder for me to function.

I have been living between Israel and the USA for the past four years, and have been looking for a true teacher to guide me on a personal level. It seems that today, there are so many people who claim things, and so many things you can sign up for, but it is so difficult to find a true teacher. Do you have any suggestions of how I can find a teacher that can guide me and help me amidst my confusion?

Answer: If we are nevertheless talking about Kabbalah, then it is definitely against “renouncing the world.” The world is a sensation of the soul felt when it is separated from the Creator. The soul descends to this state, our world, so that after being disappointed in all ways of receiving earthly pleasures and in all “spiritual practices” (more and more people are feeling this disappointment) it would raise this world to the Creator.

Kabbalists have always directed their students toward correspondence to the law of nature, which states that, similarly to man in this world, the soul is also formed and raised by its environment and not by a teacher personally.

Our movement, Bnei Baruch, has made significant progress in creating an environment that helps the souls transcend all doubts and reach their goal: merger with the Creator. Therefore, the best advice to you is to find this kind of environment.
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Question: What should I do if the intention you give us before the lesson is gone the next instant?

Answer: There is nothing you can do; we have to keep renewing intentions! I lay the direction, and you have to stick to it. If you do, it means you are following me.

This is the reason you come to the lesson. It’s not to exercise your mind digging through the text! The essence of your work is not in using your brain but in making an effort to hold the intention.

You have to keep yourself on the course and follow me. I cannot keep reminding you about it each second, which would mean dragging you by force. Write it down for yourself and later try to cling to this thought. And it doesn’t matter how much of the text you will hear; the key is to work on keeping the intention. Intention is that very “magic force” (Segula) that reveals to you what The Zohar is describing.

If your intention reaches the required degree, you can understand The Zohar even in a language you are unfamiliar with; you can reveal it and start living in the Upper World, receive new organs of perception, that is, enter spirituality yourself. And it has nothing to do with intellectual guesses. A new sense has to emerge in you. Therefore, you have to exert your own effort aimed specifically at this and wait for the Light to descend and reform you with a specific action.

I can’t do it for you. I can only help and remind you, but not more. Therefore, it is written in “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar” and other texts that one needs to cleave to the teacher. This is exactly what we are talking about.

Hence, you must keep holding on to the guideline I provide in the beginning of the lesson and build it up. This constitutes our common work.

Every day for three hours of the lesson, you must remain in the same intention but make it more precise, sharpening it up bit by bit, day by day. You have to do it so that it won’t disappear but will get more and more clear, brief, and articulate, that is, more discerned.

Write it down; I am giving you a hint that will always bring you back on track. If you got lost, ask yourself: “What will become of me?!” That’s it: If you have an ache, you don’t need anything else.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, The Zohar

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