Questions I received on how the physical commandments of Judaism relate to spiritual correction:

Question: You explained that the 613 commandments of Judaism are actually 613 desires. However, isn’t there a danger that people will then prefer spiritual development to observance of physical actions, and then they will fall into the other extreme? Previously people neglected the inner part of the Torah and performed only the physical actions, but now they will do the opposite – drop the outer observance and focus only on the inner meaning. What will happen then?

I used to observe the commandments and could not find the harmony in it. One day I came across www.kab.tv and it made me realize that my hunch was correct – that I was doing only the outer actions just like I was taught as a child. It is very difficult to observe the commandments without feeling the truth in them. Nevertheless, the holy Ari passionately observed all of the commandments relating to the Sabbath. Can you comment on the harmony between inner and outer observance of the commandments?

My Answer: Your personal search will bring you to the right answer. You have to find it on your own. Every person creates his own environment, comprised of physical actions and spiritual aspirations. It may range anywhere from observing the physical actions to the fullest, to not observing them at all. In any case, the most important thing is – “The entire correction is carried out only in thought” (HaKol be Mahshava Itbareru).

Question: In one of your books it says that before the fall of second Temple, our contact with the spiritual forces was more significant and closer because of the Temple and the services held there. To me, this indicates that the rituals in our world play a major role in attaining the spiritual world.

My Answer: This means that back then people performed the action of love and bestowal in all of its manifestations, in every way possible, both on the outside and the inside.

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A question I received: Dear Rav Laitman, Kabbalah says that the Creator’s plan is for creation to come close to the Creator through its intention, by gradually developing while being in its animate body. When the souls (parts of the single eternal soul) attain their utmost development, they no longer have to live in our world. What will happen once all the souls go through all 125 degrees and reunite? Will they no longer need the bodies to serve as a starting point? Will the animate bodies disappear as a species? If not – if the bodies will continue being born, then what for?

My Answer: It is written that when all the souls attain the full correction, then our world will rise to the World of Infinity. This means that the perception of the World of Infinity through the five “bodily” senses will disappear, because these five “bodily” senses will also become corrected and incorporated into the true perception of the universe – the World of Infinity.

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A question I received: In reference to your blog post: Video Conference with Canadian Television: How much longer will people have to get hurt by others in order to finally understand that we are responsible for our actions before the Creator? And as long as each person doesn’t strive to unite with the properties of the Creator, it is impossible to create a group of single-minded people who will support and reinforce each other?

My Answer: The spiritual world operates according to the impulse mode – a digital mode rather than an analog mode. That is to say, there is always a process of accumulation taking place where efforts, knowledge, and perceptions accumulate until they reach a moment when they add up to attain the following spiritual level and turn into a qualitatively new degree.

Today we are at a level where our spiritual state is concealed and we do not see how close we are to reaching the following degree – the first spiritual degree of revelation. Starting with that degree, we will have a better understanding of where we are and how we are advancing.

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A question I received: How does one pray in Kabbalah? I pray every night, yet I find myself asking whether this is the correct way to pray. It seems so egoistic to pray only for my own desires and requests. Does Kabbalah have “instructions” on how to pray, or a general, single prayer that a person can say? Perhaps every person should pray individually, according to how he feels, or is it better to just stop praying altogether?

My Answer: A prayer is a desire that comes from the bottom of one’s heart – the desire to become similar to the Creator, to bestow and selflessly love. This is the only desire that the Creator perceives as a prayer – the desire to be similar to Him, or to attain adhesion with Him. Hence, He doesn’t feel all the egoistic prayers people say, and the entire history of mankind shows this.

This is how the system of Atzilut (the system of the Creator’s connection with the creation or soul) is built: AVI (Aba ve Ima) feel a MAN coming from Malchut (the soul), and react to it by giving Malchut the Light of correction or the Light of fulfillment, depending on what Malchut asks for.

One cannot reach such a request, or the true prayer, alone. This can only be done through a group, by trying to unite with it into one whole, as requested by AVI, and as it was before the breaking of the soul. In addition, it can only be done through studying authentic Kabbalistic books – the original books of Baal HaSulam, because then one is influenced by a special Upper Force called the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif). (See item 155 in the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot.”)

Precisely this Light creates the true prayer in a person, which immediately receives an answer from the Creator in that He reveals Himself to the person. This revelation of the Creator is called the evidence (Edut) of the fact that a person will never sin again, that is, that he will never act egoistically under the influence of this revelation. This is why the Upper World becomes revealed to him.

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A question I received: In a previous post, you gave a lengthy response in defense of yourself. Dear Rav, I think it’s a waste of your precious time to do this. Those who understand what you have attained truly appreciate your merit and exclusivity. As for your opponents, even though they get on your nerves, they are actually doing a service to dissemination by bringing attention to you and Kabbalah. Still, your devotees (myself being one of them) are offended by the fact that our Teacher has to come down to the level of such ignorant people in order to defend himself and to flatter the remains of his egoism. Besides, we have to love them too.

My Answer: On 08-05-08 and 08-06-08 we studied Baal HaSulam’s letters and his attitude to opponents of Kabbalah. It would benefit you to watch these lessons. Nowhere does it say that we have to love impurity (Klipot), which is prolonging our suffering in the egoistic exile. However, we do have to try to correct these people and explain to others about the harm that they bring onto everyone. This is what motivated me to write about the connection between them, me and Kabbalah.

Therefore, it isn’t a defense of myself, but study material. In addition, it isn’t written about me, because Kabbalists don’t talk about themselves from a personal standpoint. Moreover, you shouldn’t believe my answers but verify everything for yourself!

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Questions I received on death, reincarnation, the body and the soul:

Question: How can you do spiritual work with a friend who has passed away?

My Answer: In exactly the same way as you do with the souls of your other friends. Integrate that soul’s aspiration toward the Creator together with your aspiration as well as the group’s.

Question: In one of your lessons, you said: “A person’s soul is eternal because it is part of the Creator. This is why one imagines that he will live with his soul forever. However, the Creator changes one’s soul, and this is the meaning of the reincarnation of souls – it’s when the previous state dies and ‘a new person is born.’” My question is: When the souls reincarnate, does one keep the same physical body (does it happen in one physical incarnation), or does the body also change?

My Answer: Every time we change our spiritual state, we change our soul or our degree of similarity to the Creator. When a person rises to the level of being similar to the Creator, then his reincarnations happen during the life of the same body. However, if he hasn’t completed correcting his soul yet, then his body is changed for another one.

Question: When a person’s soul is replaced and he is given a new soul, where does the previous soul go? Does it incarnate in another body?

My Answer: A soul is the state that appears in the desire due to the realization of the Reshimo. The soul is a part of the entire desire – it’s the part that is similar to the Creator.

Question: When one’s soul changes, then it would seem to me that its properties shouldn’t be very different from the properties of the previous soul. Is this correct?

My Answer: The soul is stronger and larger every time.

Question: Does a person notice when his soul changes?

My Answer: A person changes his soul for a more perfect one with his own efforts.

Question: Recently I read a newspaper that talked a lot about Kabbalah, and there was an interview with you where you talked about the person’s “I.” You said that the body is only a shell for this “I,” and that a person won’t change if any of his physical organs were to be replaced – even his brain. I would like to know: What happens to this “I” after the body dies?

My Answer: If a person has expanded his “point in the heart” during the life of the body by uniting with others (by coming out of egoism and crossing the Machsom), then he has already revealed the Upper World. But if he hasn’t attained it yet, then he remains a point and reincarnates again in order to cross the Machsom.

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Two questions I received on sin and forgiveness:

Question: Dear Rav, if all of our thoughts and desires come to us from the Creator, then how is it possible to “sin”? Or, in other words, would you please explain what “sin” is in spirituality (or as it is understood in Kabbalah). Baal HaSulam makes many references to sin in Shamati, and I’m trying to understand what appears to be a paradox.

My Answer: “A sin” is when one’s thoughts disconnect from the Creator.

Question: In Kabbalah, are one’s sins forgiven if one really repents from them?

My Answer: We all start out as absolute sinners, because we are absolute egoists. Then we begin correcting ourselves until reaching the level called “absolutely righteous” – the level of bestowal and love for one’s neighbor and the Creator.

It is written, “There is no righteous person in the world who didn’t sin beforehand.” This means that a person first reveals his egoism (this is considered a sin, even though the egoism is given to us from above), and then he corrects it. When one corrects his egoism to the quality of bestowal and love, through the force of the Creator – this is called forgiveness.

In the Torah (Kabbalah), these notions are completely different from the way we ordinarily define them. We think that we were the ones who created our sinful qualities, and that we can correct them on our own, without the Creator’s help. We don’t realize that we are sinners from the beginning; we think that we only sin when we do something bad. However, in fact, everything about us is sinful, egoistic. When a person reveals the egoism inside him, he then feels that he is a sinner. However, he is already on the way to becoming righteous, unlike those who still don’t realize that they are sinners.

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Questions I received on the limits of perception and the proper way to understand Baal HaSulam’s words:

Question: It is written that we can only perceive the Matter and the Form in the Matter, but not the Abstract Form and the Essence. It is also said that when we become one with the Creator, we achieve all His qualities, which means that we’ll be able to perceive as He perceives. In the book Kabbalah Revealed it is stated that we can never perceive the Abstract Form and the Essence.

I cannot agree to this, because as I wrote, when we become united with the Creator, we will have the same qualities as He has, and He is surely able to perceive the Abstract Form and the Essence! So, I can agree that we cannot perceive these states for now, but at some point or state (Gmar Tikkun) we will be able to do so! Please comment on my question.

My Answer: At the end of our correction we will definitely be able to fulfill all our questions and desires. If a question (desire) arises in us, then someday, at the end of its correction, it will receive an answer (fulfillment).

Question: Dear Rav Laitman, I am reading the “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” and in item 6, at the end, it says: “Even the souls of other creatures passing through this world (Atzilut) merge with the Creator.”

Will you please explain who the other creatures are and what do you mean by passing? I suppose it is on the way up, but I am not sure what is meant by “the other creatures.” I hope you will answer this question.

My Answer: These are Baal HaSulam’s words. He is referring to the souls – the desires of the still, vegetative, and animate levels, or all the degrees besides the fourth degree – the “speaking” level. The speaking level passes independently, and it incorporates the other levels.

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Questions I received on descents and how to deal with them:

Question: Sometimes I lose the right intention and feel like I’m straying from the spiritual path. Sometimes I feel afraid and empty in relation to this world. There are even times when I feel inspired and I make many actions, but I still feel like this is a lie and that I lack the right intention. When I have these feelings, should I try to see the Creator and what He is trying to “tell” me through them?

My Answer: You will have to collect even more impressions in order to begin feeling the Upper State. What should you do? Just continue. (Read the texts of Baal HaSulam and Rabash that talk about this). No one knows ahead of time what volume of their soul has to become fully revealed in every Reshimo and on every degree, in order for the soul to then ascend to the next degree. Therefore, the only thing we should do is “push” in one direction, “as an ox to the burden and as a donkey to the load.” “It’s not up to you to complete the work, yet you must do it constantly and persistently, and you aren’t free to leave it,” and then the correction will come as “redemption at the hands of the Creator, instantly and unexpectedly,” according to the principle “you made efforts – and you found it.”

Question: When I am in the state of descent, should I immediately open up a book, or should I try to overcome this state on my own first?

My Answer: It is best to open up a book, go to our website, or to my blog – to read or watch something that your feelings will respond to. For beginners I recommend my fourth book – Attaining the Worlds Beyond, as well as quotes by Kabbalists.

Question: Is it possible for a person to be advancing too fast and risk falling because of it?

My Answer: Descents are useful, and they have to happen between the degrees. They won’t go by quickly or slowly depending on whether a person puts in all his efforts or not. It’s because he isn’t the one to determine this; it is determined by the nature of the degrees – the next degree becomes revealed to him as soon as he is ready to go on to it – as soon as he has prepared his Kli to perceive it. In other words, the corrected, ready Kli becomes filled with the property of bestowal, the Light, or the Creator.

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A question I received: I am 25 years old and I live in Brazil. I read your book Cabala: Alcançando Mundos Superiores in Portuguese, and felt a deep desire to learn more about Kabbalah in order to become a good servant of the Creator. I don’t know exactly which book I should read now. I am debating between the Torah and The Book of Zohar. In your opinion, which of the two books should I read next?

My Answer: The only books you should read are the books of Baal HaSulam. Additionally, in the beginning you can read our books, since they explain Baal HaSulam. Once you gain a precise understanding of what is Kabbalah from these books, then you will be able to read any other book without straying from the right path to the Creator.

Baal HaSulam wrote about this in many texts. He says that the difficulty of explaining Kabbalah, the difficult examples, and the non-systematic presentation were the main reasons why Kabbalah was misunderstood by the masses.

If you can only read Portuguese, then your choice of books is rather limited. If you can read in other languages, then I advise you to visit our website and see what’s recommended there for beginners – whether it is books, lessons, talks, and so on.

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