Question: I have read that according to research data certain regions of the brain reach their maximum functioning only at around the age of 50 and the ability to assess the emotional state of other people, which is a measure of wit and wisdom, reaches its peak at about the age of 40-50.

At the same time, there is no specific age in which a person’s reaches the ultimate peak of his cognitive abilities. The structure of the brain constantly changes and certain abilities can grow and become more dominant while another can deteriorate.

As we all know, the speed of data (incoming information perceived) reaches its peak when a person is in his 20’s. Short-term memory is at its peak at about the age of 25 and at about the age of 35 it begins to deteriorate. Isn’t the answer as to why it is forbidden to study the wisdom of Kabbalah before the age of 40 hidden here?

Answer: Correcting our egoistic nature to an altruistic one isn’t a result of understanding the material we study, but only the result of using it correctly in order to correct one’s self as a result of the study with the intention of summoning the special force of correction the Surrounding Light, the Light that Reforms (Ohr Makif).

Summoning the correction of our nature by resembling the Creator is called spiritual work (God’s work, “Avodat Hashem“) or a prayer, a request for correction, raising MAN (Aliyat MAN). Brains and wisdom are a result of our correction by the Light. This is the reason that a person can engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah at any age, as our sages said that during the time of the Temple, that even small will be brought up of the spirit of bestowal and will attain the Creator in infancy.
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Question: How can a person break away from the spiritual path if his point in the heart draws him to it?

Answer: The whole generation that came out of Egypt has to die, and only those who are born in the desert reach the land of Israel. They either all die or they are all born as new people when they reach the point of Bina.

Being born as a new people is exposing the points in the heart to the Light so that from it emerges a whole image of man that resembles the Creator. All the others will die, which means all the other attributes in a person. It is just as we see in our world when a thousand come into a room and only one comes out as a teacher.

Question: Now when we engage in dissemination we don’t wait for this point to be revealed in a person, but actually begin to awaken it in him. Is this somewhat aggressive manner justified in your opinion?

Answer: I don’t think that we are aggressive because our primary motive is not to impose our method on anyone, but to identify with his suffering, his deficiencies, and his unfulfilled dreams. We feel sorry and identify with him and begin to realize that the pain and deficiencies he feels are a result of his helplessness and hopelessness.

He doesn’t admit it, but we begin to confess: “There isn’t enough security in my environment. Look at what happens to me, my children, my grandchildren. What is happening with the weather.” He complains about power failures, water shortages, about the large utility bills he has to pay, etc. He doesn’t forget local politics, global politics, and everything that is on the news, even though it doesn’t concern him.

If we take all that into account, we get the feeling of uselessness, despair, emptiness, and lack of purpose that are subconsciously expressed as complaints about everything. It seems that if he accepts it, then everything will work out, but if he is given a goal and told that nothing comes to an end, that everything has a goal and that everything will be fine, this goal will cover all his complaints.

People don’t die of hunger, of course, but they lack the most basic things. We see that it is impossible to fix anything unless we correct ourselves and begin to connect and think about one another. After all, there is an excess of everything we need in the world, but at the same time, in some countries half of their population is starving and the only reason is that we are not connected.

We mustn’t calm ourselves and say that it will all this will be adjusted in some way. It cannot be! This is the reason that our contact with the world today has become so vital.

The main thing is that the crisis is now evident in every aspect of life. I see how deep it is and it is a very unpleasant feeling because if we look at things objectively, it is like an approaching tsunami that is threatening to wipe us all out. Therefore, it is either facing terrible afflictions that will force us all to correct ourselves or prevent these sufferings with our explanations that will cause people to start correcting themselves before the troubles arrive. Animals can feel an approaching tsunami and escape in advance, but our ego doesn’t let us feel an approaching disaster in advance and deceives us by whispering to us that everything is fine!

Animals cannot survive that way. We are in a worse situation because we are disconnected from nature. In order to merge with nature we have to be in the attribute of bestowal and balance our egoism through this attribute. Only then will we ascend to the level of Moses and will be able to speak with the Creator.

If we connect to nature, we will be able to correctly solve all our problems and advance to goodness. Otherwise our ego will keep on confusing us. We are destroying our life, and the situation is really becoming threatening. I am not trying to scare anyone; everyone already knows all this. People have simply gotten used to the idea that a war may break out and there will be problems, annihilation, and death. We have become apathetic: Let’s live peacefully today, and what comes tomorrow, it doesn’t matter. The world is in a state of absolute helplessness and people cannot do anything with their lives, with mankind, with everything that we have done and caused.

Never in human history were people reluctant to have children or to think and care about them, and never did children leave their parents and travel far away from them. But on the other hand, we also see the other extreme today when infantile grownups (30-40 year-olds) live with their parents and have no intention of having a family of their own.

We have reached the last phase of the development of egoism that is already in need of correction. Therefore, it is time that we tell the whole world that we have the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments in our hands. Let’s lift the iron mask a bit and expose our bright faces to everyone.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 9/30/13

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When Abraham gathered his group, he said to the Babylonians, “Whoever is for the Lord, [let him come] to me!” This was in fact his message. He didn’t look for those who simply weren’t happy with this world, but for people who understood and felt the most important thing was the spiritual ascent—the ascent above egoism and the search for the upper force. Abraham’s call was for those who wanted to reveal the Creator.

About five thousand people responded to this call. They were attracted to his idea, to his goal, and the means for attaining the goal was unity.

Abraham drew men to his side, and Sarah, women, and together they worked on “proselytizing.” In other words, their students received guidance as to how they should work in order to bestow, and to work together, on the connection between them because without connection, they wouldn’t receive the Upper Light. This group eventually became the house of Abraham, a family with which he left Babylon and reached the land of Canaan.

Many things happened along this spiritual path. The group was formed, and its structure became clearer. Part of the desires were not used anymore and died, and others were born and developed. Thus, they advanced until the time of Jacob, the middle line, when problems of a new quality were revealed.

The children of Israel had to discover a deficiency for Egypt, which is revealed in the middle line of Jacob. One of his sons, Joseph, began to feel the state of greatness (Gadlut) inside him and and it was countered by his brothers. He couldn’t get along with them or live with them anymore since he felt that the Aviut (thickness) of the deeper layers of the desire was missing here, and that without it he couldn’t fulfill himself. The brothers didn’t understand him, and he needed Pharaoh at the time. Joseph is the outcome of Abraham, who asked the Creator, “O Lord God, how will I know that I will inherit it?” It was actually Joseph who could connect to this great desire to receive and attach it to Israel in the state of greatness, in yearning for Yashar El (Straight to God).

Then, they needed the Torah, the method that allows everyone to clearly understand and feel Pharaoh inside them in order to continue this work in order to bestow so that they could consciously draw the Light that Reforms upon them. These are new phases of spiritual work that are increasingly more intense, but the style remains the same: connecting, drawing the Light that Reforms, and then connecting and drawing the Light once more, and, thus, over and over again. This is how we advance.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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We can explain the concepts of the wisdom of Kabbalah, the “Kabbalistic mechanism,” using the language of desires that everyone understands.

Let’s imagine the vessel of the desire to receive in the form of a glass. The general desire is made of different things, desires for food, sex, family, money, honor, and knowledge.

When we study them, we see that each one by itself and all of them together, are divided into five parts, five layers, from zero to four.

Thus, I only can receive what can enter my desire. If it is a small desire, I will receive very little, and the more the desire grows, the more I will be able to contain inside me until I reach the maximum desire and will be ready to swallow the entire world. This is how my ego works.

So, how can I change myself? How do I cease to receive on a regular basis? After all, it really limits me. How much can I receive, and who will give it to me? Because we operate according to an egoistic plan, we have reached a general crisis. So, could there be another method?

What if I restrict my desire, building a partition above it, and use it not in order to fill myself but in order to fill the desires of others? I want to bestow unto them, which is called the Returning Light (Ohr Hozer).

However, what can I fill others with? I must feel others in order to understand that. This is the reason that I build a new desire on top, the desire of others. Then, I fill them, which means the desires of others and not mine. If we all fill one another, we connect to each other, and the Upper Light is always among us.

If the Light fills my ordinary desire, I cannot feel anything anymore. A minute ago, I was very thirsty, but I drank some water and the desire disappeared. So, how can I keep receiving pleasure continuously? In order to do so I must make a hole in the bottom of my glass so that it will connect with someone else’s glass through the hole. Then, all the pleasure will flow through me to another, and we both will be filled, but, now, I will have the Light for myself and also for another (1+1), and I will be able to receive double pleasure.

Thus, I can connect myself to more and more new glasses and receive pleasure for the entire world. The Creator is above me, and the entire world is with me, all the people, and so I receive all the pleasure in the world.

This seems so simple, but people don’t know it. They can draw something from life and see that it is right.  But, in fact, we are talking is about elements not related to the receiving desire and his usual psychology, but to the desire to bestow. If we try to fill the desires of this world, then this is psychology. If we are looking for a way to fill the entire world and not ourselves, it is through integral education (IE).

Eventually, we operate according to simple psychological calculations, but the only difference is that we don’t draw for ourselves. In fact, we cannot do that today because we are in a global crisis and we have no choice.

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From the One America “Virtual Convention” Day Two 11/17/13, Lesson 3

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The Torah, “Exodus” 35:1 – 35:3: Moses called the whole community of the children of Israel to assemble, and he said to them: “These are the things that the Lord commanded to make. Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have sanctity, a day of complete rest to the Lord; whoever performs work thereon [on this day] shall be put to death. You shall not kindle fire in any of your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.”

Initially we deal with the egoistic desires of a person or the society.

The Torah tell us that all we need to do is overcome our ego and gather together above it into one single whole. So this Parasha (Torah portion), is called, “VaYikahel” (assembled).

It speaks about the gathering of all the separated, distant, and hostile parts of the collective soul, which are found in all of us and which we need to gather, like a puzzle, into one single soul.

Through the connection of these parts, we begin to arrange them under the influence of the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light), the characteristic of bestowal and love of the Creator. If we try to be like Him, then to the degree of our efforts, He will influence us and help our gathering into a mutual, integral connection.

Then we will see how our mutual characteristics create something whole, some kind of complete image, which in the wisdom of Kabbalah is called a Partzuf, meaning a block or structure.

This Partzuf is composed of Sefirot: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchut. In the first six Sefirot, that symbolize the six days of the week, we need to work in gathering the separated parts of the soul. If we succeed in this, then the Light will finish the complete gathering, working on our efforts throughout the six days of work. And then we do not need to do anything more, since on the seventh day our work is finished.

We make it possible for the Light to finish this welding between us in which then the complete unit of the soul emerges from the separated parts we gathered.

We finish a week, and begin a new week. A part and then another part is gathered, and in this way, we gather our entire common soul. Within a particular number of actions like these we attain the spiritual gathering of all the parts becoming one complete unit, the likeness of Adam (man), which means Domeh (similar to the Creator). With this, we attain the complete correction of humanity, which we must reach.

So Shabbat is the holiest day, for on this day the Light acts, influences our efforts, and finishes them. It is as if throughout the six days we create the work to be done, and on the seventh day the Light carries it out.

If on the seventh day we continue this work, then it is as if we are happy about this shattering of the soul of Adam because we are attempting to do the work instead of the Light. This is the greatest violation of the entire system of correction.

In general, we do part of the work and the Light does part of the work. If we do all of the work ourselves, we are adding even greater destruction into the system and even more strongly rejecting the reciprocity of all the parts that we gathered during the week. Generally, it is preferable to do nothing at all than to gather all week and continue this even on the seventh day. In this way, we would negate the entire method of correction of the system and all of its forward progress.

So prior to the seventh day, it is necessary to finish our efforts, meaning that we stop on the sixth day and make it possible for the Light to weld all the parts, sticking them together. It is said, “It will be a day of rest for you.” Basically, the person is doing work and not just resting. At this time, we finally feel the gradual unity of all six parts into one general whole and we finish the correction of the present spiritual level. And after that, we correct the next level and the next, and so on, week after week.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/10/13

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The whole world is an egoistic state of matter. Everything that is in the still, vegetative, and animate levels exists only in order to preserve itself in the best way possible.

In human matter it is even more exaggerated since I want to sustain myself in the best possible way compared to the rest of the environment of the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels. I have to be in the most comfortable state so that the whole universe will engage in serving my ego. This is a person’s natural inclination. If we could only see how we restrain ourselves internally just because we don’t want to suffer. I ask myself why I should torture myself just because I am not Einstein or Picasso. I don’t want to feel sorry as if I am cutting a part of myself off, accepting that I will not be a Tolstoy or Shakespeare…

The ego has a defensive reaction for every desire that isn’t fulfilled, but wherever I can, I want to grab and subdue everything for my own sake. This is our nature; a person is ready to swallow the whole world.

We cannot change our nature by ourselves. It was created and is sustained in us and in the whole universe thanks to a force called the Light. This force is invisible and not felt in any way by our senses, as it constantly creates, develops, and sustains the ego.

But inside the ego, there is a separate point that doesn’t belong to it, a point that scrutinizes the egoism. The Light that operates on the ego also affects this point. It begins to develop and feel where it is; asking itself, “I’m in some kind of nature? Who am I? Where am I?”

If this point seriously develops in a person (in fact this point exists in everyone, in some more and some less), it begins to ask itself: “What do is this for, why and from where? Why was I created? Was I created in order to suffer? If so, then I curse you as the source that has condemned me to such an existence. If it is for another purpose then what is it exactly? I demand an explanation from You!”

When a person demands an explanation from the Light, the Creator, he comes in contact with Him through the point in the heart, because this point is man and everything else exists in the animate state.

What can actually interest me? It can either be my own nature and how I exist within it in maximum comfort for several years and make as little effort as possible and receive as much pleasure as possible. Or, I yearn for my root, for my source, asking: “Who are You, the one who created and manages me?” This is the highest form of yearning in the dipole of the ego and the point that can develop within it.

The moment the point in the heart begins to develop, it can immediately be given its non-egoistic method of development that is fulfilled only under the influence of the upper Light. If this is what I want it to come to me more often, to have greater influence over me, it is revealed to me in my logic, understanding, and feelings,  in its goals and plans for me because it is the source of power, information—everything.

This is actually what the point in the heart or the human being in me demands. Then I am given the Torah and I begin to work with it. Anyone in whom this inclination is invoked should value it and truly fear that it could disappear and that he will remain a lump of stone of the ego or the beast.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 9/30/14

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In everyday life we generally hide our egoism. If I depend on my enemy completely, my ego begins to disappear and hatred evaporates. There is nowhere to escape to and I start to look for how to love him and cause him to love me. The self-preservation instinct begins to work, and I cannot hate someone when my life, the most precious thing I have, depends upon him.

But in our case, we are not succeeding. The hatred is being revealed between us more and more and the separatist movements are taking over the world. The more that our world is discovered as whole and mutually connected, the stronger the opposite trend becomes.

Each one aspires to isolation and ultimately we will reach the same situation as in ancient times, where every city and area became a separate nation. The whole world will be divided into such kingdoms.

On the one hand, egoism is growing, feeling its limitations and areas of control with more precision. And in this way, it separates itself from the others. As a result of this, the world in which seven billion people are living will create 10,000 nations that cannot get along with one another.

Even solitary individuals are no longer able to get along with each other. There was a time when families would live in one room: parents, children, grandchildren. And today two people cannot live in peace in the same apartment. This is called hatred.

To the same degree that our interdependence is appearing, the desire to shatter this dependency, separate and move away from each other is appearing as isolationism and separation. These two tendencies will not disappear and will develop more and more within human society, and there is no way to resolve this! Both will grow to the skies and there will be no possibility of solving this conflict.

The art of connection is called the wisdom of Kabbalah. Ultimately the relationships between everyone—children, adults, in schools, at work, in international relations and within society—will reach such a state that we will not be ready to speak to one another and will need the wisdom of connection!

This wisdom will be required simply to be able to arrange normal relationships at work, in school, in the family and in all areas of our lives. People will need this wisdom because hatred, rejection, the inability to speak to one another or even look at others will reach such a threatening degree that we will not be able to bridge this gap.

It will not be possible to overcome the lack of desire to see and feel others. A person will search for isolation so that nobody will be near him, and he will not want to get close to anyone. But on the other hand, he will have to sit in class at school or university and be in connection with others.

Today, one person cannot do anything; even scientists carry out research in large groups. In addition, in our jobs everywhere, we need to connect in teams. But a person will lose the ability to cooperate even with one person who is like him as this hatred will grow to such a degree.

So the wisdom of connection will be very much in demand. The whole world is going to need it.

We need to understand that all of the spiritual worlds: the five worlds, Olam Ein Sof (world of Infinity), the entire ladder of levels, and the Partzufim are revealed in us through the unnatural connection between people. According to nature hatred and interdependence are revealed in us. But if we arrange for a connection between these polar opposites, the hatred and dependence, and communicate with others above our intellect, desire, and all calculations, we will discover new relationships and a new world.

Now we feel this world through our five senses, meaning the five kinds of egoistic connection between us. We see everything through our egoism, meaning that in every situation we search for the opportunity to be confident and enjoy. Thanks to the wisdom of connection, the wisdom of Kabbalah, we will reach new relationships above the egoistic relationships, which are relationships of “…you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (“Leviticus” 19:18), and within the connection between us we will begin to discover the five additional senses: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut.

Within these senses, we will discover phenomena called spiritual worlds, until attaining the complete connection called Olam Ein Sof. The spiritual world is revealed in the connection between us, in the levels of our relationships that go from total detachment to complete adhesion. This is the ladder of spiritual levels.

To the degree that I try to develop love above my egoism and hatred, I discover the levels of the spiritual worlds. So it isn’t necessary to search for the spiritual world in any other place, such as in books or mechanical actions with the hands and feet. Everything depends only on work in the heart and how much I can connect emotionally with others above the rejection and hatred without wanting to delete or annihilate it.

After all, everything is built precisely above the hatred, as it is written, “Love covereth all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12). So with love built above the hatred, I will discover a new world called the world of men. After all, we are all within this world and will be connected as one and receive the form of Adam – man  (Domeh – similar to the Creator).
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From the preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/14

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The clouds of honor are the general Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) that sustains the whole nation on a certain level of bestowal and love, mutual connection, and holiness.

It is only natural that the part of the nation called Erev Rav (mixed multitude) would be kept external to it since they yearned to serve around and inside the Tabernacle, but only for their own sake and so they continuously grabbed from the spiritual source for themselves.

Until this very day this part of the nation has the same attributes and their whole life is based on small spiritual thefts. This is the reason that they cannot pass through the clouds of glory that keep them away since the clouds are the attribute of bestowal, self-sacrifice, and love for others. When the Erev Rav see that they need to work for others they are instantly repulsed by that and don’t want to get inside. So this is the protective Masach (screen).

A person doesn’t need to protect anything. He simply knows that if he enters through that door he will automatically have to think only about others and not about himself, not about his family or anything else! Does he agree to totally change his internal intention?

When a person gets closer to the spiritual work he sees that it is even scarier than being burned by fire because jumping into a fire means death. He feels that working for others every moment of his life is worse than death and he is repulsed by it. Only the Light can come, correct, and change a person’s intention.

Question: Is the role of the nation of Israel to get closer to the clouds of glory and enter inside?

Answer: No, at the moment we are not in the camp; we have to create it. Our role is to get closer to one another. Of course, we can say that this road is always open to everyone. But there are certain laws in our nation that we will reach it sooner than others, although the road is open for everyone and there are no obstacles except our inner problems.

The same people who agree to fulfill the Creator’s desire but only for their own sake so that they will feel good in this world and in the next world are called Erev Rav and they will not be able to reach the new state. They will be the last to reach it only after the whole nation acquires the attribute of love and bestowal, the attribute of unity and mutual guarantee. This will affect them and they will be corrected under the influence of the Surrounding Light.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/24/14

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Question:  Since the last convention, I have missed many lessons and been late to many lessons. The worst thing is that I don’t feel ashamed of that… What should I do?

Answer: You will be able to survive only if you begin to spread the method of connection among the masses, just as is done in our groups. At the moment everything that you do is for your own sake and as a result you will simply be thrown out like dumped waste.
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The Torah, “Numbers” 1:52 – 1:53: The children of Israel shall encamp, each man by his own camp and each man by his division. The Levites shall encamp around the Mishkan of the Testimony, so that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel and the Levites shall keep the charge of the Mishkan of the Testimony.

It says in Midrash Raba that when Moses counted the Jews, dividing and classifying them according to the tribes, the Creator taught him how to become one camp and how to advance, which means how to put the ruined vessel back together.

Four types of egoism on three lines make up the 12 tribes, the 12 parts of the spiritual vessel. The shattered vessel must be corrected by uniting all the parts into one as the people advance in the desert, which means according to the revelation of the ego in every camp and in every tribe.

The Creator teaches the nation how to gather everyone so that each time they absorb new corrupt emptiness, process it internally, and correct it into the attribute of bestowal. This is the advancement in the desert in 40 years (levels). This is how the corrected part from Malchut to Bina must be the accurate unity of the nation and thus conclude the building of their connection with the Creator.

The movement of the camp in the desert symbolizes the processing of the emptiness. This is actually a very unpleasant movement forward since the desert is swarming with scorpions and snakes, the sun is burning, there is no food or water, and everyone is covered with sores. In other words, the desert symbolizes a person’s growing, burning egoism. People feel the connection between them like a sore that touches another sore, and the pain will not let them unite. They must ascend above it, and although the Light that comes doesn’t heal the sores, it formats them into one general, healthy body. The pain and the sores turn into one unified vessel in which pleasure is revealed.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/24/14

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