Questions I received on possible dangers of disseminating Kabbalah

Question: Is there a danger that widespread Kabbalah dissemination will lead to another catastrophe for Israel, because Israel will be the source of Kabbalistic knowledge?

My Answer: No catastrophe was ever caused by Kabbalistic knowledge, but just the other way around: the catastrophes were caused by a lack of Kabbalistic knowledge – including the last one, the Holocaust. They took place because people didn’t want to introduce the study of Kabbalah when it was already time to reveal it, when the period of darkness and exile (from spirituality) ended. Kabbalists prohibited the study of Kabbalah only during the period of the exile.

Question: Are you sure that the time for revealing Kabbalah has really come?

My Answer: The only thing that I’m sure of is that great Kabbalists like Baal HaSulam, Rav Kook, and others know the design of the world better than all the “blind” non-Kabbalists who try to object to them. The great Kabbalists know the Creator’s desire, and I am just a small student of theirs, carrying out their decree.

Besides, you should know that our words don’t change anything, and the world will keep following its path regardless. All of Kabbalah’s opponents will disappear, and real Kabbalists and their students will remain. The only reason for struggling against Kabbalah’s enemies is in order to attain correction faster and with less bloodshed.

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I had a conversation that was recorded on the topic of happiness. I spoke with Oren Levi, manager of our Hebrew publishing department.

Happiness is fulfillment, because all of creation is the desire to be filled. The sensation of being filled is happiness. But when the desire becomes filled, the fulfillment nullifies the desire and the pleasure, and the person stops feeling the joy of fulfillment. So there’s no happiness in life, since we constantly pursue ways to satisfy our desire, but we only feel the sensation of happiness for a brief moment, before it disappears.

So it isn’t surprising that after all our life experience, many people no longer want to pursue such illusory happiness. Yet the sensation of life is the sensation of “desire and fulfillment,” and this goes on non-stop. So in the end, the only thing left to do is to limit yourself with religion or to fall into depression or drugs.

Kabbalah offers another, original solution, enabling a person to attain happiness that’s eternal and unbounded. It’s because he combines the desire and the fulfillment inside him, and the two don’t nullify each other once they are combined, but on the contrary, they only make each other bigger.

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Two questions I received on how a Kabbalist feels the changes in this world and the Upper World

Question: Can a Kabbalist feel the improvement or worsening of his relationships with the Upper World?

My Answer: He feels it constantly.

Question: In a previous post, you wrote, “Your personal predestination is to bring the whole world to this state, because you are the only one who can do it.” This sentence, I suppose, implies that if there is an increasing number of people sincerely trying to ascend spiritually, then the whole of humanity will make certain improvement. Can you, as a Kabbalist, feel the change, and if so, is there any change currently – given the growing number of people becoming aware of the necessity to improve?

My Answer: Certainly, it is felt directly, and it gives me the desire to disseminate Kabbalah – to give every person who desires to reveal the Creator (i.e., the meaning of his existence) the opportunity to encounter Kabbalah in his life – the method to develop spiritually and to reveal the Creator.

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A question I received: I searched your name in Google and found an article about two people who studied Kabbalah at “Beit Kabbalah L’Am” and then dropped out of the classes. They said that it looks good at the beginning – free classes and free everything, but later you’re forced to pay 20% of your income – 10% for Maaser and 10% for books. They also said that you brainwash people, and that you told the husband to leave his wife and to get another one – someone you will introduce him to. What do you say to this?

My Answer: I say that there are many scoundrels in the world, and out of the 2,000,000 students studying with me, two of them happened to be this way. He’s Catholic and she’s Jewish. They lived in India and did drugs and all kinds of mysticisms for many years. He tried to find himself with us, but didn’t succeed because she was against it. And they aren’t married, by the way. When I saw her, I told him straight out, “Leave her or leave Kabbalah.”

Everything else they wrote about us are lies. Kabbalah’s enemies managed to find this couple, who agreed to talk about us this way. This story is already seven or eight years old.

So far our Kabbalah Academy is spreading and growing, and this is what matters. The entire world opposes Kabbalah, so you shouldn’t be surprised at how many opponents we have. I completely understand this and I don’t take their hatred personally. I see the hand of the Creator in it, according to the principle: “Go to the Pharaoh because I have hardened his heart.”

If I paid attention to the opponents personally, then I wouldn’t accomplish anything in my life. I understand the game that the evil forces are playing with me, and I don’t leave any room for them in my heart and mind – and without it, they die.

Life goes on and it’s in our favor! There are still many wars ahead of us, but all these wars aren’t against us – they are wars of man against himself, his nature.

The only things coming from outside that I pay attention to are comments about how I disseminate (but not about the meaning of the dissemination), in order to learn how to create a better external appearance for our material, to make it more suitable for people’s preferences and habits, so that its external form will attract people instead of pushing them away. And I’m trying to simplify the inner content as much as possible.

There’s no doubt that Kabbalah is repulsive to man’s nature and it will still scare many people away, and many will be intimidated by it. This is a battle of the ages – the battle between the Creator and Amalek, but its victorious finish can already be seen.

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Two questions I received on why people sometimes stray from the right path and what to do when it happens to you

Question: Why do people sometimes drop out of the group? Do they leave on their own, or does the group somehow influence them to make them leave?

My Answer: One’s only freedom is to participate in the group. If one does this, then he advances toward the Creator, and if he doesn’t – then he leaves the group. However, it’s also possible that a person isn’t given the freedom to participate in the group, but rather, he simply exists in it. Our archive contains many talks on this topic. In the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” items 3 and 4, Baal HaSulam writes that the Creator brings a person to the group and teacher, and his freedom of will then lies in strengthening his connection with them. But if a person’s desire for the purpose of life isn’t ripe yet, then he leaves or “wanders away” from the group.

Question: Dear Rav, suppose that a student was in the group, he really advanced and understood the inner part of the study, and raised a MAN, but then he fell into the state, “His wisdom exceeded his actions.” Can he still regain the property of “faith above reason” and the skills needed for spiritual work, get back on the path, and cross the Machsom?

My Answer: Don’t despair – the path is available to everyone. This student should continue advancing from the state he is in, but he should advance toward the goal honestly, rather than through deceit. (You got it!?)

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Here is some guidance on how to read the Torah chapter summaries posted on this blog:

The Torah lays out the foundation of the theory and practice of attaining spiritual life. Neither Adam nor Abraham received the full method of attaining the Creator; only Moses did. All other texts are commentaries, that is, other ways of describing the attainment of the Creator or descriptions of partial attainment of Him.

Torah comes from the words Ohr – Light, and Ora’a – instructions. It is written in the Language of Branches, which names spiritual forces by the things they produce in our world. So even though we think that it’s describing our world, it’s actually describing spiritual forces, since in the spiritual world there are only forces without matter.

Why do we need these descriptions of the Upper World?

1. So that by reading them, we will evoke the influence of the Correcting Light (Ohr Makif) on us.

2. So that after we correct ourselves by the Light, we will then be filled by It to the degree we’re corrected.

If it weren’t for this method, we would remain on the animate level of existence forever. We wouldn’t be able to reach the level of eternity, perfection, and equivalence to the Creator.

The Language of Branches (which describes the Upper Forces with the help of their results or branches) has four modifications, or in other words, there are four languages of branches:

1. The language of Tanach – historical narration, like the one used in the Torah chapter summaries posted on this blog;

2. The language of Halacha – laws;

3. The language of Hagadot – legends;

4. The language of Kabbalah – this language is closest to the spiritual roots and the most precise of all the languages. For more on this, See Baal HaSulam’s article, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.”

My suggestion: As you read the Torah, start imagining that it’s talking about egoism, the desire that has to be corrected, so that instead of being used for the sake of oneself, it will be used for the benefit of one’s neighbor (or the Creator, which is the same thing); and this correction happens gradually, in parts. Everything divides into the force of bestowal (the Creator) and the force of reception (the creation). The part of creation that’s corrected or undergoing correction is called Israel (Isra-El – straight to the Creator). It also has parts called people, rulers, slaves (of desires), overseers (of correction), Levites, Kohens, and so on. Check yourself to see how much you’re able to discern actions of forces that govern our world behind the “theatrical” scenes you read.

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Questions I received on the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah

Question: In your post The Connection Between Spirituality and Corporeality, you wrote: “Our world is governed entirely from above. And every day we are becoming more and more convinced of this, because no matter how we try to change things, nothing goes according to plan.” With this in mind, how should we think of the daily efforts we make in dissemination? By disseminating, are we actually correcting others instead of ourselves?

My Answer: No. By disseminating, you correct your “self.” It seems like it’s outside of you, in others, but in fact it’s your spiritual body. So by bestowing and loving others, you’re really bestowing and loving yourself! It’s because this attitude to others allows you to acquire their desires and their Light.

Question: What results of our dissemination can we see today, in the world at large?

My Answer:
– A growing number of students
– An improvement in the quality of the students
– Progress in people’s understanding that the world has reached a dead-end
– People’s increased willingness to understand what Kabbalah is talking about
– The fact that we aren’t advancing by means of war, but by the realization of evil, brought about by merciful pressure from above.

Question: If our thoughts are way more powerful than any physical action, is it possible to do dissemination by thought alone? Is a physical action (i.e., working on a blog about Kabbalah) in this world really necessary?

My Answer: Kabbalists make corrections in the system of Adam (the common soul) by increasing the emission of Light on the uncorrected souls, and this is why many people feel an aspiration toward the Upper World. But this isn’t enough. Once you receive the aspiration and question about life’s purpose, you then find the answer to this question – the right books, teacher, and group. You can realize yourself spiritually only in this environment, by acting toward others the same way Kabbalists do, who perceive the Creator’s desire.

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A question I received: In the Book of Dvarim it says: “And there was no other prophet in Israel like Moshe.” And the Midrash responds to this: “There are none in Israel, but he can be found amongst the nations of the world. So who is he? He is Bilam.” Does this mean that Bilam was on the same level as Moshe? If Bilam was a prophet, then he perceived the Creator. But how can this be, if Bilam was the epitome of the will to receive for one’s own sake? He was so absorbed with corporeality that the sages even said that he slept with his female donkey – in other words, he didn’t have any desire to bestow. However, we say that in order to reveal the Creator, one has to acquire a screen (Masach), which is the desire to bestow. Then how was Bilam able to reveal the Creator?

My Answer: We are speaking about the forces of the Creator that descend on us from above – a positive force, the right force, and a negative force, the left force. Klipot are produced by the left force of the Creator, and they are an inverse reflection of Him. This is why the Pharaoh knows the Creator, and even his magi know Him. For example, they say, “This matter is in God’s hands,” and so on. In other words, we are dealing with opposite forces – positive and negative, which descend from one Source, and our objective is to connect them correctly inside us. And by connecting them inside us, we attain the Creator’s Design.

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Two questions I received about the mysterious fate of holy books

Question: All the holy books, which have nothing to do with the physical world, were for ages used as a design for living and culture, and sadly caused more suffering than enlightenment. Was this an error?

My Answer: This was necessary in order to mix the properties of egoism with the properties of the Creator that were corrupted in us, so that later, once these two opposite properties are intermixed, we would be able to correct ourselves by evoking the Light of Correction (Ohr Makif). Errors only happen in our understanding of what’s happening, but not in what’s actually happening!

Question: Why was The Book of Zohar written and then concealed for many years? Why did it come into this world so early, if people didn’t need it then?

My Answer: It was written at a time when “light” souls appeared in our world, at the beginning of the exile from the spiritual level, on the 125th level of attainment. But it is being used now, at the end of the exile from the spiritual world, starting with the lowest level (level zero), by people who already understand that there is no other way to go. And The Book of Zohar itself speaks about this.

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The Creator’s connection with creation is like playing tennis against the wall. The Upper Governance is unchanging: The Creator is Good and Does Good, and He treats all of us this way all of the time. The changes take place only in us, even though we think that they take place outside us. It says in the “Preface to the Book of Zohar,” item 34:

“We see a great world before us, and all its wondrous filling. But in fact, we do not see all that except in our own interior. In other words, there is a sort of a photographic machine in our hindbrain that portrays everything that appears to us, and nothing outside of us.

In our brain, there is a kind of polished mirror that inverts everything that is seen there, so that we see it outside our brain, in front of our face. Despite the fact that what we see outside us is not a real thing, we should still thank His providence for having made that polished mirror in our brain, enabling us to see and perceive everything outside us. This is because by that, He had given us the power to perceive everything with clear perception and knowledge, and measure everything from within and from without. Without it, we would lose most of our perception.

The same holds true with the Godly will for Godly perceptions. Even though the changes are all made in the interior of the souls, they nevertheless see it all in the Giver Himself, because only in this manner are they awarded all the perceptions and the pleasantness in the thought of creation. Even though we actually see every thing before our face, still, everyone reasonable knows with certainty that all that we see is only inside our own brain.

The same holds true for the souls. Though they see all the changes in the Giver, they still have no doubt that all these are only in their own interior, and not at all in the Giver.”

So essentially, you are playing with yourself and receiving feedback depending on your own obstacles and confusion. All of this is you.

All the changes happen inside man, who stands opposite absolute love and bestowal. He always sees, analyzes and feels only himself. Everything we feel is a realization of Reshimot in the Upper Light. All of man’s reality is essentially a tennis game against the wall. And we are always playing against this wall.

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