Question: Is the Creator forcing us to attain Him?

Answer: Of course. Even if I supposedly want to reveal the Creator myself, this also means that He is forcing me.

But why do I need that? Suddenly, in the middle of life, I begin to want to reveal the Creator. It is weird. Usually, a person wants to do something in our world, for himself, to arrange everything normally for himself. This is our usual animalistic egoism.

However, suddenly egoism begins to demand something unnatural—the attainment of the upper force. We see that such a desire for the Creator awakens in a small number of people. It is not even 10-20% of the world’s population that are awakening but literally a handful.

Therefore, these people who feel the desire to reveal the Creator feel that they are somewhat special, although it is unclear if it is for the better or for the worse. They lose the taste for life a little, there is a reassessment of values, and they do not know what to do with themselves.

If the science of Kabbalah is revealed to them at that point, it is like a lifeline for a drowning person, which they can grasp and gradually begin to reveal in themselves where and what they are, and where this incomprehensible, hidden, alluring and at the same time unattainable goal is.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/26/20

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Open Eyes and Heart

Baal HaSulam writes in the Shamati 1, “There Is None Else Besides Him”: And he, who always feels that the shattered is greater than the whole, meaning that there are many more descents than ascents, and he does not see an end to these states, and he will forever remain outside of holiness [striving for the Creator], for he sees that it is difficult for him to observe even in the slightest bit [slightest spiritual action, unite with the Creator both within and without], unless by overcoming above reason.

And only by faith above reason, despite all the confusion that the Creator creates in him, can he do this. But he is not always able to overcome these obstacles and sees that there is no end to them. How will this end?

When a person is completely disappointed in his abilities in order to discover the Creator in everything that exists, including himself, then he comes to the decision that there is no one who can help him—only the Creator Himself.

Indeed, if there is a single force, a single source of everything that is happening, then, obviously, it is only to Him that we have to turn to if we want to change something.

And therefore, a real demand for the Creator is born in a person so that He opens one’s eyes and heart, mind and feelings, and really brings the person closer to merging with Him forever. And this can only be done by the Creator Himself.

When a person begins to realize this, then one realizes that all the previous years and sometimes more, all the conditions that one went through, were not useless. The Creator specially prepared him so that he would have a real demand for Him, that the Creator would open his eyes and heart to him and in reality bring him closer to unity with Himself.

It turns out that all the rejections that he felt came from the Creator Himself, not because the person was bad and did not have the strength to overcome all obstacles and confusions, but specifically to excite the person, to give him the opportunity to seek the path to the Creator and determine exactly who He is.

It is for this that the Creator played with him for many long years so that the person within himself could clearly realize, define, and reveal his correct attitude to the Creator.

And only to someone who really wants to approach the Creator, that is, to someone who does not leave this path in any way despite the fact that he is disappointed every time and sees no end to all the things that happen to him—they give help from above, by not allowing him to be satisfied with small things and staying at the stage of a small, unreasonable child, so that one would not have the opportunity to say that I have some kind of correction technique, some good deeds, and he is be satisfied with this.

A person who is truly striving for truth cannot stop. The person must reach a state when the Creator will reveal Himself in him or her in absolutely full volume.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 11/24/19

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Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea.

Only by truly overcoming all the obstacles that constantly knock me down and lead me off the right path, through faith above reason, when contrary to what I see I still attach all events and all sources of influence to the Creator, despite what I see, I realize that He clothes himself in different people, forces, and events. This is the only way I can make efforts to correct my perception of the world and seek the Creator.

But I do not always have the strength to overcome all these doubts and setups, and cling to the Creator. Not always can I see the Creator through all sources by faith above reason through my efforts and contrary to what I see. Although they are very serious and threatening, I still have to see the Creator through them.

Such a search is called “faith above reason,” when I rush to Him contrary to what I feel. If I cannot resist this, then I fall into the feeling of our world and see only it.

Therefore, the beginning of the spiritual path is to start determining the Creator in all the actions we feel upon ourselves and in what is happening not only around us, but also within ourselves—how I react to the fact that the Creator plays me through all kinds of external figures.

And here, too, I do not react, it is not me: I do not have anything independent, this also is the Creator. It turns out that I am in the middle between how the Creator influences me from the outside and how the Creator influences the outside world from within me. It is in the middle between these two sources of the correct intention that there is no one but Him, that I must find my clear state.

Baal HaSulam writes that in this search a person always has more downs than ups. One always has more failures in one’s attempts to discover the Creator, become strong in Him, direct oneself to Him, and see the Creator in every action.

There are very few such conditions. Far more than others, when I fall I see only the outside world and myself in this world, i.e., not the Creator from within and the Creator outside, but myself and the outside world. This is, we might say, our tragedy.

The state where I feel “The outside world and me” is called a descent. The state when I feel that the Creator is within me and outside of me is called an ascent.

What does it mean that the Creator is within me? It is the fact that I feel how He twists me. He does not give even my inner effort to rush directly to Him, to see this world as His work.

Here I really am between two fires—from within I am always deceived and from the outside too. Such a twofold adjustment “both inside me and outside” is called “adjustment to the Creator,” that there is no one but Him and I do not exist, there is no external world, but there is only one Creator.

And who am I? I am the point that is between two influences: internal and external.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 11/24/19

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From the Yom Kippur to Hanukkah

Question: During Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) a person makes a restriction on all one’s desires because one wants to become similar to the Creator and not receive anything. Then a person corrects all one’s seven types of desires and on the eighth day receives the Torah, the light. Then comes Hanukkah. What does this holiday symbolize?

Answer: Hanukkah symbolizes the correction of a person to the state when one reaches the quality of Bina, the quality of complete bestowal. From Malchut one rises to the Sefira of Bina where one is completely in bestowal and does not need to receive anything.

Question: Does it mean that one has already corrected the seven first Sefirot during Sukkot and now has ascended to Bina?

Answer: No. These are all nominal, private corrections, not at full capacity. After all the holidays, precisely by receiving the Torah (upper light), one begins to correct oneself.

Until the end of Sukkot, until Shemini Atzeret, a person is not being truly corrected. A person did all the preparatory work to attract the upper light upon oneself.

Starting from the end of the holiday of Sukkot, from Shemini Atzeret to Hanukkah, one corrects oneself in the quality of Bina, in the quality of bestowal.

Question: Hanukkah represents a historical event that took place in the second century BC: an ideological conflict between the Maccabees and the Greeks. According to Kabbalah, the Greeks represent our egoistic desires and the Maccabees represent our altruistic desires.

The most interesting thing is the miracle that happened during Hanukkah. What is it?

Answer: The Maccabees found a small jar with the seal of the High Priest (Cohen), which contained the oil usually used in the Temple. From this oil they lit a lamp, and it burned all seven days of Hanukkah.

This is considered the miracle of Hanukkah and represents the fact that if a person correctly prepares oneself from below and is ready to be both the oil and the candle, then the Creator completely corrects the person, and one reaches one’s complete correction in the upper light of Bina, meaning one rises to the level of complete bestowal.

Question: Does it mean that a candle, a wick, and oil symbolize certain actions that a Kabbalist does with his or her desires?

Answer: Yes. And Hanukkah itself is “Hanu-Koh,” a stopover, when a person finishes correcting oneself in the quality of bestowal and moves to the next degree to the correction in the quality of reception for the sake of bestowal.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/29/19

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati 34, “The Advantage of a Land”: Thus, all the descents where one feels that he has come to separation are an opportunity to discern between something and its opposite. In other words, from the descents, one should learn the benefits of the ascents.

He would not be able to extract the importance that he could extract, as when one is given food without ever having felt hunger.

It turns out that the descents, which are the times of separation, create the importance of adhesion in the ascents, while the ascents make him hate the descents that the separation causes him.

How can I begin to feel the upper world, the highest state, which is not in my material desires? Only from the fact that I feel it as good or bad according to our earthly conditions, and then rising above them. In any case, we grow from the earth as plants and nothing can be done about it. We have no other definition.

The fact is that we are in states where we have to begin to determine what is good and bad not with respect to our animal body, but with respect to the absolute, as if relative to outer space, the Creator.

With respect to the Creator, good is only in rapprochement, unification into one common unified system. Then all creations will start feeling the connection between themselves and the Creator filling all these connections. Achieving this is the goal of our attainment. Almost all of us are already in this state, we only need to reveal it for ourselves in feeling and mind.

But this can be revealed only through a group. There is no other way. If we create a group in which we try to unite in order to attain the general governing force in this very unification, then we begin to explore this force, to feel it, to get closer. It becomes our tool and we can do whatever we wish with the Creator.

In fact, the Creator is not some kind of force that does whatever it wants. It is the total force of the universe that surrounds and includes everything. To the extent we make ourselves similar to it, to that extent we can reveal its emanation on us, bring it closer, move away from it, etc. A person begins to feel himself as a source of influence on the Creator.
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From Kab TV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/22/19

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The Creator’s Theater

Baal HaSulam’s article, Shamati 1, “There is None Else Besides Him”: This is deemed a correction called “the left rejects and the right pulls closer,” meaning that what the left rejects is considered a correction.

“The left rejects” means rejection, that is, hiding the Creator when we become uncertain about Him. We begin to think that there are other forces opposite of Him.

It seems to us that there is either ditheism, i.e., a bad Creator and a good one, one against the other, because we perceive the world as such, or polytheism, i.e., many forces in the world that are in opposing relationships. This is all conceived and done on purpose.

This means that there are things in the world that, to begin with, aim to divert a person from the right way, and by which he is rejected from Kedusha [holiness]. There are specifically forces, phenomena, and actions that arise which are initially placed before a person with the intention of driving a person astray, pushing one away from striving for the Creator, throwing a person from the thought that only one force, only one Creator, acts on him.

Thus, these rejections help a person because with their help one receives a need, a complete desire for the Creator to help him reveal Himself. Otherwise, he couldn’t have defined himself in any way in this world.

With that, a person wants to understand who controls it, who determines his thoughts, actions, and everything that happened in the past, that is happening in the present, and that will happen in the future. On one hand, it is clear that this is accomplished under the influence of a single force of nature.

On the other hand, this force constantly twists and lures us into various circumstances, and we attribute everything that happens to other people, events, and various authorities, as if they independently control both the world and our life.

Thus, I stray from the definition of the uniqueness of the Creator’s governance. I cannot maintain the fact that only one single force controls me like that; I see contradictions in this control all the time.

Why does the Creator do this? It is so that in all these contradictions we could discover Him by our own will, despite the fact that I suddenly fall under the power of the police, the state, relatives, family, and children. My friends influence me, and suddenly someone else also does.

In fact, I must clearly determine that I am only in the field of the Creator, and there is no one else who controls me, introduces and withdraws me from all these states, and substitutes various other sources of influence upon me.

At every second, I must be directed through all supposedly earthly sources toward Him and clearly know that He is doing everything through his puppets, my family, friends, enemies, and even politicians. The whole picture that I see in front of me and call “this world” is a theater through which the Creator acts upon me. I have to connect this entire theater to Him in His every action.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 11/24/19

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Question: What can we do with hatred? How can we work with this light?

Answer: Light is not hatred. Hatred is the absence of light. Therefore, we need to clearly understand how to attract light over hatred in love.

We then receive a very strong combination of light and darkness. In this state we can work.

Question: Is it still a realization that hatred is the absence of light in me, a state of darkness, which causes a correct reaction?

Answer: Of course. Both darkness and hatred are better than indifference.

Question: Isn’t it said that indifference is worse than hatred?

Answer: Of course. With indifference, you cannot connect in any way, move away, or come closer. Indifference is death in spirituality, while hatred and love are equal.
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From Kab TV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/29/19

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The Power that Defines the Whole World

Baal HaSulam, Shamati 1, “There is None Else Besides Him”: …that there is no other force in the world that has the ability to do anything against Him. Simply said, there is none else or nothing else in the world but the Creator.

And what man sees, that there are things in the world that deny the Higher Household, the reason is that this is His will. He wants to confuse a person in thinking that there are supposedly many forces, possibilities, and root causes of everything that exists. All of these are here to confuse a person while he is finding, determining, realizing, and proving to himself that there is none else besides Him.

There is only one force in the world. It defines the whole world, acts in each of us, in every cell of both our animal body and the spiritual one, the soul. We are all in the field of this power. It surrounds us, controls us, does absolutely everything. Our whole existence boils down to revealing its uniqueness.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 11/24/19

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Yom Kippur Prohibitions

Question: What limitations (restrictions) are performed on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)?

Answer: On Yom Kippur a person “closes,” does not want to use one’s egoism. It turns out that all five egoistic levels that make up one’s soul are closed. A person closes them and does not use them.

This is why on Yom Kippur we don’t drink, eat, wear clothing and shoes made of leather, anoint ourselves with aromatic substances, nor cut or comb our hair.

Question: Where did the Kabbalists get these symbols from? For example, what does the prohibition on wearing leather clothes and shoes symbolize?

Answer: In the past, all clothing was made almost exclusively from leather or wool. When Kabbalists reveal spirituality, they see that they can only use their small spiritual states, i.e., the tools called Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama.

The degrees of Haya and Yechida, which symbolize skin and wool, cannot be used. This is why there is such a custom. It especially applies to shoes because shoes are considered the last, lowest level of our spiritual body.

In other words, the Kabbalist, from his attainment, sees analogies of the connection between the root and the branch, that a certain type of desire, called “skin” is a type of communication with the Creator, which he cannot use in this world.

Question: Is this how all the customs of our holidays came about?

Answer: Yes. Everything that we discover in the spiritual world, we try to implement in symbols of our world.

Question: I always thought, what difference does it make to the Creator what I eat or what shoes I wear?

Answer: There is no difference. Therefore, it is said that the commandments are given only to correct a person and the Creator is absolutely indifferent to what you do physically with your hands and legs.

Kabbalists say that of primal importance for us is the correction of our egoism. This is what was created and it is what we need to correct.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/29/19

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Question: Everything is attained from the opposite. There is a wonderful tool—closer – further—and the Creator uses it very well in relation to us. Can we use the same tool in relation to the upper force?

Answer: Of course, we can distance the Creator from us or bring Him closer.

Question: Is this how He will feel that?

Answer: There is no “He.” The Creator is a special construction within us.

Question: Do we move away and experience it ourselves?

Answer: Yes. There is nothing outside of us, everything is only within us.

Even what you now feel and experience— the world around you with all your friends and everything that you can imagine—exists in you, in your consciousness, and nothing more.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/15/19

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