A question I received: What’s the difference between the books written by the Kabbalists of the past and the books written by modern Kabbalists?

My Answer: Baal HaSulam says that Rabbi Akiva certainly knew more than Rabbi Shimon, since he preceded him – he was his teacher. However, the level of Kabbalists before Rabbi Akiva was higher still.

It goes without saying that Baal HaSulam knew less than Rabbi Shimon and less than all the previous Kabbalists. However, in order to take care of us, he was given an opportunity to learn and express his degrees. This is what he writes about himself.

We evaluate a Kabbalist based on his books,“This is an amazing book! I understand everything in it! He is a great Kabbalist!” But if I understand his books, then maybe he is not so great after all.

In other words, we rate a person based on how close he is to us and to what extent he can descend to our level, not according to his elevation, but according to his ability to be a teacher. And in order to become our teacher, it is not necessary for him to be great.

Along with the historical development of egoism in each person and in society as a whole, the level of Kabbalists is becoming lower.

During the “times of the Temple” (the Temple is the soul of each person in the state of bestowal and love, and the fall of the Temple is the descent into relationships of hatred) people clearly perceived the spiritual, meaning they felt love and commonality, lived as one man, and were similar to the Creator. They understood and felt these things on their own.

We cannot imagine what that means. It is written that compared to them, we are like donkeys next to people. This is not an exaggeration or a beautiful expression; they had a completely different mind, vision, and sense.

(From a lesson on the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” from 10.28.09)

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A student studying the science of Kabbalah has a problem: in order to understand what the teacher is saying, he has to be on his level. The teacher may be talking about very high spiritual levels, but since all the levels are similar to each other and each has the same details as all the others, the student can at least understand what is being said according to his present spiritual level.

However, if the student still hasn’t ascended to any spiritual level and exists only in this world, then he cannot understand the language of branches. The language of branches means that a person attains the things existing in this world, the branches, as well as their roots on the spiritual level. Then he has a clear understanding of the connection between the two and he can attain what the teacher says.

But if the student does not attain the roots, then he cannot attain what the teacher is telling him. The teacher will be saying words that the student cannot identify. When a person attains only this world, he does not attain the branches because he does not know their roots. The branches are what descend from the roots. There cannot be a branch without a root or a root without a branch. The language of branches cannot even start unless one attains the spiritual essence, the roots of the branches.

Therefore, a student cannot understand the teacher until he attains the spiritual roots. Only then will he be able to attain all the connections between the roots and branches based on his teacher’s words. Unfortunately, this is a fact. Therefore, the study of the science of Kabbalah is only for those who possess spiritual attainment.

As long as a person doesn’t have spiritual attainment, he has to be clear on the fact that he is not studying the science of Kabbalah. He is only using its “wondrous quality” (Segula) in order to reveal the roots. This is the only reason we study.

Therefore, we shouldn’t get confused by trying to collect knowledge about “something,” but should focus only on the fact that we need the Light that Reforms, and we need it as fast as possible. If we attain the roots with the help of the Light, then we will understand what Kabbalah is talking about. Then, when we study the concepts described in the books, we will be studying this science. Currently, however, we are not studying it because we don’t know the connection between the roots and branches, since we haven’t yet attained the roots.

The science of Kabbalah starts with spiritual attainment, and not before that. Before it, you can only aspire to evoke the influence of the Light upon you (Segula).

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A student can receive spiritual knowledge from his teacher only to the extent that he strives to become like him. The spiritual knowledge then simply flows into him, like through adjacent vessels.

A famous law of physics states that if two vessels connect, then water flows from one vessel into another and rises to the same level irrespective of the vessel’s width. In spirituality, it happens irrespective of the soul’s initial capacity, which depends on its place in the system of Adam.

The teacher’s spiritual vessel may be enormously wide, while the student’s vessel may be very narrow (or the other way around), but if they unite, the student will receive the same fulfillment as the teacher. Everything depends on the height of the student’s connection to his teacher.

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Three questions I received on spiritual progress:

Question: How do I find a Teacher and become part of a group? I have been taking the online course, but I really feel that I need a Teacher. I know I need help on this spiritual course.

My Answer: The most important thing is to participate in everything together with all the students. You should humble yourself, as if you are in a group of children, and be like everyone else. When you begin to understand the others, their knowledge will flow into you. It is only by uniting with them that you will be able to understand how the Creator becomes revealed, because He is revealed inside the unification of people’s desires.

Question: How can I become a part of a group to study Kabbalah, such as Bnei Baruch?

My Answer: Our website contains all the information about us, our groups, and so on. Welcome!

Question: When I had just discovered Kabbalah, I felt like I was feeling spirituality. It was a feeling of overwhelming happiness unlike any I had ever experienced. This feeling prompted my continuing study of Kabbalah, and in my mind I constantly return to that feeling. I know that it is forbidden to turn back, but what can I do if I always think about spirituality and about that “unearthly” state that I felt?

My Answer: Seek a better future, without turning back to your past.

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Three questions I received on the great sages of the past:

Question: You quote writings from sages other than just Baal HaSulam, Rabash, and Ari, although Bnei Baruch’s teachings are founded upon these. Is it permitted to study other sages’ works beside those three? Are there any sages whose writings should not be studied?

My Answer: Before Shelah (Isaiah ben Avraham Ha-Levi Horowitz, also known as Shelah HaKadosh – the Holy Shelah, 1565 – 1630), all Teachers and authors of books were great Kabbalists, but not so after him. However, you won’t be able to understand any of the books by any author from any period, except the books of Baal Hasulam, Rabash and myself. Go ahead and try it! But be careful of wasting your time.

Question: Was Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (Rambam) a Kabbalist?

My Answer: Yes, he was a great Kabbalaist.

Question: Tradition says that Moses is the author of the Torah, the book where his own death was described in advance, and that the Jews were given the book containing a description of their future as well. Do you have any rational explanation of how it was possible that Moses and the Jews could get the book with a detailed description of far reaching future events, so they were able to know their destiny, but were not able to change anything about it!?

My Answer: It is written that Moses was writing the Torah while the events unfolded in the desert during their 40 year long journey. The Torah describes only those events, allegorically telling us about what happens inside a person during his correction. And because “the particular and the general are equal,” as both consist of ten Sefirot, we can also read what is written as a description of all humanity’s development.

Related Material:
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A question I received: Regardless of everything you’ve said about the need for a Teacher in order to attain Kabbalah, I still have a very precise feeling that it isn’t right to settle for intervention from another person, an intermediary between myself and nature. I don’t want to attain it through someone else.

My Answer: You are like a child who decided to be in charge of his own education. If the Creator reveals Himself to you like He did to several special souls such as Adam, Abraham, and Moses, then perhaps you don’t need anything else – not even Kabbalistic books. However, if you’re one of the rest of the souls, then it’s useless to search on your own, because this is how the system itself is built.

“The teacher – student relationship” isn’t something we invented. It isn’t talking about people, but about a connection between the Upper Level and the lower level. We’re only using the quality and interconnection of the system of the souls. There is no other way to have a spiritual birth.

Related Material:
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Baal HaSulam Article: “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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A spiritual teacher is a person who shapes and molds you, sets your direction toward the purpose of life, sets an example for you, and helps you make your first steps in a world that’s completely new for you, the Upper World.

How much you can absorb from him depends on you. To the extent you incorporate in him, you will find your future degrees of ascent.

A teacher conceals and reveals himself as much or as little as necessary to give the student the ability to develop freely and along the right path. When the teacher is present, the student isn’t happy with him, but once the teacher is gone, the student isn’t happy with himself.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Spiritual Guidance and Direction in Kabbalah

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A question I received: In a previous blog entry someone asked you: “How is it known that there is only one true source of Kabbalah?” You answered: “There can’t be several because the Creator is one.”

I fully agree with you about Berg and his shamanistic business concepts, such as selling spirituality through red strings, cameos and reading spells or blessings. But I still don’t understand why there is only one, unique and single source of Kabbalah! After all, during the times of the Second Temple there were thousands of Kabbalists. Based on the qualities of their souls, each of them taught his students differently about how to attain the Single Creator. The students had a choice.

Moreover, you have said that until the 19th century most rabbis were Baalei Hasaga (they attained spirituality), so people also had a choice.

But now you’re declaring that your path is the only correct one. Can our world really be so scanty on Kabbalists that there’s no one left but you who is

a) A Kabbalist, and

b) A revealed Kabbalist – someone whom you, as a Kabbalist, can genuinely recommend to a potential student who is still at the stage of searching for the right Teacher? And what about the verse, “There are many paths to the Creator”?

My Answer: In the process of studying Kabbalah, one often experiences doubts about the correctness of the path. This happens because the path and the goal are concealed. The path is paved with descents, and times of clarity are rare. Unlike egoistic advancement, on the path of Kabbalah you are going against yourself. This is why the question arises, “Can it be true that the worse things are, the better they are?”

When I asked Rabash about how can I be sure that he is my teacher, he replied, “You have to verify this for yourself!” In fact, even Baal HaSulam wrote in his Letters that he no longer saw any Kabbalists in his generation. I also don’t see any, other than myself and my students.

Every person has to find his own teacher. I don’t have the addresses of “Teachers-Kabbalists,” but you can easily find them through the search engines by searching the keyword “Kabbalah.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: There Are Many Paths to the Creator
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Kabbalah Today Article: The Introduction
Baal HaSulam – “Letters”
Chapter from Book Attaining the Worlds Beyond: Fear of the Creator
Chapter from Book Attaining the Worlds Beyond: Rav Laitman’s Quest for the Kabbalah

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Two questions I received on educating children and understanding their growth process:

Question: I’m a teacher. What is the best way to teach and educate young children (from the age of 5 to 12) within the framework of a profane school today?

My Answer: Through personal example – your goal and meaning in life.

Question: We learn that one reveals a completely new world on each level of advancement because one’s qualities undergo a fundamental change. So why is it that on our earthly level, the things that happen to a child in the first years of life lay a mark on him for the rest of his life, and it’s practically impossible to change his character traits later on? Why aren’t his qualities renewed when he grows up?

My Answer: It’s because everything in our world is pre-programmed. When a creature grows on the animate level, it develops the same qualities. However, when one grows spiritually, one increases his equivalence to the Creator and gains completely new qualities.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Children, Souls, and the Point In the Heart
Laitman.com Post: How to Help Teachers and Parents
Kabbalah on Education

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A question I received: The Second Jewish Temple was built under circumstances of violent opposition — both from the external foes of the God of Israel and also from within the Jewish community in Jerusalem. Does not the building of the Third Temple (as soon as possible) surely speed the coming of the Messiah – God’s man who alone can bring about peace?

My Answer: It will not accelerate anything, but will only bring more harm. It’s because the nation must first be corrected on the spiritual level, as this is the meaning of building the Temple (the common soul, in which the Creator is revealed). We have to build the Temple inside us by attaining brotherly love, and inside this love we will attain the Creator (the presence of the Shechina), as it is written, “Prepare a place (the common desire) for Me and I will dwell among you.”

Only then can we build a symbol of the Temple in stone. The Messiah is not a person, but the force that pulls the entire humanity out of egoism. Baal HaSulam writes in the article “Messiah’s Horn” that the way to reveal the Messiah in the world is by disseminating Kabbalah among all the nations. And this is what we are trying to do.

It’s possible that the Messiah – the force and method of the souls’ correction, will be represented by a person – a Teacher who will enlighten and lead by example.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Building the Third Temple
Laitman.com Post: The Solution – Excerpts from the Writings of the Last Generation by Baal HaSulam
The Kabbalah Experience – Chapter 10: “The Messiah and the End of Days”

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