A question I received: How should we interpret Baal HaSulam’s mathematical equations, and numerical operations such as addition and multiplication that he uses? I will give three examples:

1) HATEVA = ELOKIM, i.e., 86 = 86 (from the article “The Peace”)
2) 2 х EKЕ = МB, i.e., 2 х 21 = 42
3) МХ + HAKAL = MAKOM, i.е., 48 + 138 = 186 (both examples are from your morning lesson on Talmud Eser Sefirot).

I can understand the first example: it means that the essence of these two objects is the same. But what is the meaning of the “sum” of two spiritual qualities, or a quality “multiplied” by a number?

My Answer: These operations refer to the combination of qualities between two spiritual objects or two states of one object, as well as their result. For example, they might refer to you in two different states or you in connection with someone else.

Related Material:
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Article: “The Science of Kabbalah”
Article: “The Science of Kabbalah – A Method of Researching Man and the World”

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Two questions I received on how to draw the Surrounding Light:

Question: During the third part of today’s morning lesson, you said that the most important thing for humanity today is to come to a realization of evil, and this can only be done with the help of the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif). Can we draw the Surrounding Light only from Talmud Eser Sefirot or also from the modified materials? Let’s say, for a beginner, who doesn’t know anything about Kabbalah, will an entertainment show on Channel 66 or a friendly talk with Rav Laitman’s students on Kabbalistic topics also be a source of the Surrounding Light?

My Answer: Of course. All of our materials, in all their forms, bring forth the Surrounding Light. The result depends on the material (the biggest influence happens during my morning lesson), on your desire and on your connection to us. I receive many responses to our TV channel, and I can see that it causes truly wonderful changes in people!

Question: I am a beginner. What brings more Light: reading books or studying through the Internet?

My Answer: The greatest benefit comes from studying together, especially if you study live, together with us!

Related Material:
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Kabbalah Revealed: “Up the Ladder”
The Path of Kabbalah: “About the Study”

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A question I received: My eight year old daughter is asking, “Why did God create death?”

My Answer: He did it in order to encourage man to search for immortality, and to attain immortality even before he dies.

This is not achieved by prolonging the physiological life of our physical, protein body, but by developing a new, spiritual “body.” The spiritual body is made of the will to bestow instead of the will to receive. When one has this body, then instead of desiring to receive everything “inside of oneself,” one desires to bestow “to the outside, away from oneself.”

Therefore, this body (or these desires) exists forever. One’s desires do not get annulled by the pleasure as soon as they are fulfilled. Through these desires, a person feels eternal and perfect life, and never ceases to develop and be fulfilled.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Freedom from the Angel of Death
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Two questions I received about how we sense the  Creator:

Question: When I take part in feeling the world’s sorrows, don’t I accuse the Creator?

My Answer: No, not if you interpret the world’s sorrows as being the Creator’s invitation to unite with Him. If you are willing to help the world do the same, and if you understand that perfection is attained only from its absence, then you will justify the Creator, and in that case, all that remains for you to do is to help the world.

Question: Today during the lesson you said that the lower a person’s level, the more pleasure the Creator feels from the efforts that person makes. To me, this sounds like a groundless assertion. How can I verify this in order to check whether you’re right or wrong?

My Answer: First of all, this is what Kabbalists tell us, those who have already traversed this path. Secondly, even in our world we can see that parents receive the biggest pleasure from the tiniest baby, and the more the child grows, the less delight he evokes in his parents.

Related Material:
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Baal HaSulam Article: “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 48

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Three questions I received about how to start studying Kabbalah:

Question: I recently discovered Kabbalah and I’m developing a big interest in it. I was wondering, how is it possible for me to learn as much as possible, and what should I do to eventually be able to teach Kabbalah? Are there any schools where I can apply to? Do you take on apprentices? Or do I have to try and find everything myself? And also, if there are things I don’t really understand, how can I get help to understand them?

My Answer: We have the Learning Center Online courses for beginners. If you successfully complete them, then you can advance further and even become a teacher – we have a real need for more teachers!

Question: I started studying Kabbalah three weeks ago and I have a question. When you say, “There is nothing in existence besides what is described by Kabbalah,” doesn’t that close off one’s infinite possibilities?

My Answer (and a question for you): But doesn’t Kabbalah talk about the entire creation, including the roots and nature of creation, from which all things follow?

Question: Lately I’ve been listening to your lessons and studying The Science of Kabbalah. The unfilled desires are the qualities or seeds (roots) of Kelim, aren’t they? Is the desire to fill these unfilled desires with the Light (bestowal) a conclusion of the Kelim’s creation? If yes, do I correct myself in equivalence of qualities through my desire?

My Answer: You are assessing and evaluating your state correctly. Keep going – that’s how you will create your Kelim!

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A question I received: I really like watching your shows and reading your books. I hope that Vanga and other prophets were wrong, and Kabbalah is the true teaching. Is this so?

My Answer: The only way you will know for sure that Kabbalah is a true teaching is by revealing the Upper World, rather than by listening to me. Don’t believe me or anyone else.

I’m not interested in prophets because if the prophet is real, he predicts what will happen as planned by nature (how things will advance by the path of suffering – Beito). However, we have the opportunity to advance on our own (by the good path – Ahishena).

Therefore, I don’t pay any attention to prophecies and I always try to shift the path of my development from the evil path to the good path.

And this is exactly why the science of Kabbalah was given to us. In our times, Kabbalah is revealed to everyone, and whether we do it with the help of Kabbalah or not, we are advancing toward the same goal. However, without Kabbalah, we do it by the path of constant suffering.

Related Material:
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A question I received: Can you please give a more detailed explanation of the Law of Integral Interconnectedness? What do you mean by that? These are beautiful, correct words, but they remind me of something a psychologist would recommend to a married couple on the verge of divorce: “Love each other,” because then you will be in balance with the Law of Integral Interconnectedness and you’ll live happily ever after…

My Answer: Your question can’t be answered with a single answer. You should read all the materials on this blog as well as other materials we have on the crisis and its correction. Once you read them, I will be happy to answer all of your questions.

I select about ten questions from every hundred questions I receive, because most of them are asked by people who are too lazy to read the older blog posts and others material we offer.

Related Material:
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The Book of Zohar: “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya”

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A question I received: I don’t know if Kabbalah views Obama as the coming Messiah, but I believe that the world looking to this man as the Messiah is a major mistake. His preacher for 20 years hates whites. He is friends with Farrakhan who openly hates the Jews. I don’t know if you believe in the Anti-Christ, but Christian belief teaches that this may be the man who leads the world to destruction.

My only question is: is it possible to avoid being part of the destruction that is heading our way? I read The Book of Zohar and have developed a screen. I have a Sabbath meal with my family, I constantly try to do Mitzvahs and, being born Catholic, I follow the Catholic religion to a point. I am very fearful as to what is in store for humanity and I want to avoid it. Any suggestions?

My Answer: The way you practice religious observance is your own business. As for your fears, if you are thinking about love for people, and about how to connect their feelings similar to how they are connected by Nature, through a global, integral connection, then you have nothing to fear or to worry about.

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Two questions I received on consciousness:

Question: Once we acquire the sixth sense, come out into the spiritual worlds, and cross the Machsom, will our physical brain start taking part in the attainment? If our five senses’ reaction to the Light is reflected in the brain, how will this happen with the sixth sense?

My Answer: You will engage a new sense and a new mind, which will supplement and expand your corporeal senses and mind. It’s impossible to convey this, but every person is able to feel this.

Question: Albert Einstein – possibly the greatest genius of all time, said that matter is energy, that energy is fluctuating atoms, and atoms are composed of quarks (quantum physics), and then there’s consciousness. Does this mean that consciousness is also energy?

My Answer: Matter is an external manifestation of the desire, or its shell. Consciousness is the desire’s perception of itself, of its own existence. In Kabbalah matter designates the desire – the only thing created by the Light, by pleasure.

Related Material:
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Lesson on Baal HaSulam Article: “Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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Two questions I received about studying Kabbalah:

Question: After four months of intense study and reading The Book of Zohar for eighteen hours a day, I felt a sensation of pleasure that’s beyond this world. I was overcome by the revelation of something new. This lasted for thirty seconds and then disappeared, since I was unable to stand this feeling. Then I stopped studying because it was unbearably difficult. My body became heavy and I couldn’t function. Later I got back to studying, but I started having horrible fears. So I stopped again. Please tell me, what am I doing wrong?

My Answer: Everything. You should eat well, rest, exercise, and work. And only once you have done all of these, when you have free time, you may then study Kabbalah. And you should only study in our beginners’ course.

Question: The Creator brings a person to Kabbalah, but this person is still resisting it. He doesn’t connect to the group and is still trying to find egoistic pleasure. Does this person cause more suffering in the world than a regular person, who doesn’t know anything about Kabbalah?

My Answer: No! It’s because he advances down the path leading to the goal, and the system (the Creator) perceives this person’s temporary stops and changes in direction as discoveries of his uncorrected qualities (egoism), in order to then eliminate them.

Related Material:
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From Chaos to Harmony: “Obeying Nature’s Law. Life’s Purpose”
Baal HaSulam Article: “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”, Item 40

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