A question I received: I have a very difficult question. I lost my son six years ago, when he was nineteen years old. I still feel terrible pain, but I can’t even talk about it with those close to me. I have to “keep a straight face” in front of everyone, and I let myself cry only when I’m alone, driving. I feel as if I’m holding on to my son, not letting him go where he’s supposed to. Or perhaps it’s he who won’t let go of me? In my mind, I understand that he no longer exists, and that the Almighty entrusted his unique soul to me for a brief period of time, and that I must be thankful. But it doesn’t work this way. I am completely alone in this situation; and I feel that God had abandoned me, like an orphan. How can I find at least some kind of peace?

My Answer: Under no circumstances should a person look back. One should only look straight ahead. Otherwise, you’ll drown in impure thoughts and forces, which are egoistic, and which will only lead you astray from the path. There is no truth in any such thoughts.

A question I received: How can I come to terms with mistakes I made in the past, which I’m only now starting to understand? And how can I continue to move forward without feeling the bitterness of these mistakes?

My Answer: There is no time and no past. You should aspire only ahead, or else you’ll become “a pillar of salt” like Lot’s wife. That is to say, you will stop moving forward.

Related Material:
Lesson on a Letter from Baal HaSulam (Igrot, p.70)

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A question I received: How does the suffering, embarrassment and shame one feels before society, correlate to his hatred of society?

My Answer: We learn that shame is the basis of correction. The feeling of shame by Malchut in the World of Infinity led to Tzimtzum Aleph – the refusal to receive for one’s own sake. After that, that same shame pushed Malchut to find a way to bestow – to receive for the Creator’s sake.

As that same shame developed further, it continually showed the creature, the soul of Adam, what to do in order to become similar to the Creator. And the same shame drove Adam to sin: Adam wanted to overcome shame all at once, and as a result he revealed his entire egoistic nature (reception for one’s own sake), as well as the opportunity to correct this shame (reception for the Creator’s sake). But this must be done gradually, over the course of thousands of years, inside many individual souls (during their life cycles), by overcoming their repulsion to one another.

When a person begins to study Kabbalah, after a certain amount of time he reveals his egoism, which grows bigger and bigger. As he continues to study, he constantly learns that egoism is evil, but he doesn’t feel this in any way. He learns that spirituality is bestowal, love for one’s friend, and that he can sense the Creator only within this quality, or to be more precise, that this quality is the Creator.

As more time passes, he begins to view egoism as evil, because he gradually discovers egoism’s connection with spirituality, how opposite the two are, and that it’s impossible to attain spirituality together with egoism.

After some more time passes, he’s “set up” from above in such a way, that he feels as if he is “burning with shame,” and that he’ll adhere to the Creator only by renouncing his original qualities. This is when his correction begins. He is willing to feel the burning shame for the sake of acquiring the property of love and bestowal!

A question I received: On the one hand, during the preparation period, before coming out of Egypt (crossing the Machsom), one’s egoism grows. But on the other hand, in order to cross the Machsom, one has to be absolutely pure! He must go from unfounded hatred to love. How does this occur together? [Read more →]

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A question I received: Who are these “Kabbalists of Jerusalem” you often refer to in your lessons?

My Answer: The answer appears in Baal HaSulam’s “Introduction to the Book ‘From the Mouth of a Sage’.” Here is a version I have abbreviated:

Kabbalists say that every person is obligated to study Kabbalah. And even if one has learned every detail of the Torah and is the greatest of the righteous in the world, but he did not study Kabbalah, he will have to return to this world in order to study Kabbalah.

It is because the revealed Torah is no more than a preparation for mastering its concealed part, the attainment of similarity to the Creator. And if a person hasn’t attained this goal, he will have to return and attain it. Hence, the entire nation is absolutely obligated to study Kabbalah, the means to attain this goal.

Our generation is at the beginning of the full correction, which is being delayed because people neglect the study of Kabbalah. There are several reasons for this: The language it’s written in is difficult, the material is disorganized, people are illiterate, and they are concerned with materialistic fulfillment. In order to accelerate the correction, the Creator has revealed the method needed for correction, through me.

But Light becomes revealed from darkness, and this is what happened when I moved from Warsaw to Jerusalem. I saw the poverty of the nation, the scarcity of knowledge, and the pride of fools who assert that the science of Kabbalah is absolutely devoid of reason, knowledge, and logic, that it is just a collection of words without any concealed meaning, words that should only be uttered just the way they are written. And when those who study the literal meaning of the texts increase in number, the Messiah will come and the correction will be complete.

I have met with these famous “Kabbalists.” They have spent many years studying the works of the Ari and The Zohar, and they know what’s written there by heart! I asked them: Did their teacher attain the inner essence? They responded that there is no inner essence besides what’s written, and that no one in the entire line of Kabbalists since the Ari has attained anything. And the Ari also didn’t attain the Upper One, but received his knowledge from the prophet Elijah, who appeared to him and taught him. And Elijah knew the inner part because he was an angel.

So I poured all my wrath unto them and parted with them forever.

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Other than exhibiting manuscripts of source texts, there cannot be such a thing as a Kabbalah museum, because authentic Kabbalah has nothing to display. However, an advertisement I received is trying to state otherwise: “A museum devoted exclusively to Kabbalah, the mystical aspect of Judaism, is to open its doors in Jerusalem, Israel, on the 25th of June.

The Jerusalem Kabbalah Museum – one of the first of its kind – will display artefacts such as amulets, garments and historical manuscripts.

The museum will display a timeline of the Kabbalah from its inception through modern day.

The museum will have a strong educational aspect to it and will provide personal Kabbalah training for those interested, as well as offering tours of Israel focusing on sites of Kabbalistic interest.

Exhibitions will include detailed descriptions of most prominent Kabbalists, rabbis and scholars of the Kabbalah, their works and accomplishments.”

My Comment: There is a Kabbalah museum in the archive at the Bnei Baruch center, which contains manuscripts by Baal HaSulam and other Kabbalists. Authentic Kabbalah is not “artefacts, garments and amulets.” It is exclusively handwritten and printed materials, which deliver the thoughts of Kabbalists to its readers.

Spirituality doesn’t incarnate into corporeality, and hence nothing in our world – besides manuscripts – has Kabbalistic content. Similarly, there is nothing sacred, or in other words, spiritual (“spiritual” meaning the property of bestowal), in clothing, amulets, and other “exhibits.” A Kabbalistic museum cannot exist, because there is nothing to “exhibit” – spirituality cannot be displayed. It would be more accurate to title this museum “Mysticism in Judaism.”

Related Material:
The Top 10 Myths About Kabbalah

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A question I received: In the beginning of the article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose,” where Baal HaSulam refers to the science of Kabbalah by the word “religion,” why does he write that “the second generation has almost completely slipped from under our hands”?

My Answer: In my opinion, he means that with the opportunity to return to the Land of Israel, we also have the opportunity for common spiritual correction and ascent. Moreover, the fact that we’re not realizing such correction means that the exile from spirituality has ended, all the souls have intermixed, but we are late with our correction. This is making the two new generations, which have arrived since the full end of the exile (late 19th century – early 20th century), ask the question about the meaning of life, which remains unanswered.

People are leaving religion, which supported them during the period of exile, because they aren’t receiving answers to their new questions. Only Kabbalah can provide such answers, because it provides answers on the essence of life, governance, the essence of the Creator, and the reasons and purposes of our lives. That such questions remain unanswered spawns more and more crises in all areas of life, which then becomes a general crisis concerning the negative influence we have on our environment. How do we fix this state of affairs? There is only one way to fix it, and that is by changing human nature. This is what the method of Kabbalah is for, as it is the method that guides such a change.

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A question I received: Religious people, especially those who became religious, say that they feel an enormous force, the joy of life, and lights that do them miracles. How can they feel all that if the Light only comes through the study of Kabbalah and related activities?

My Answer: We constantly develop from one generation to the next, each person at a different rate. Some people – the secular – are content with simply living domesticated, earthly lives. Others need more, a connection with something higher, and a hope of reward – these being the religious.

There are also those who need nothing more than to attain the Upper One, called Kabbalists. Kabbalists are people who attain the Creator, as written, “Know your Creator in order to work with Him” (Da Hashem Elokeycha Ve Avdeu). In our times, egoism is outgrowing the regular, earthly boundaries, and both secular and religious people are starting to feel empty. This feeling of emptiness will bring people from all walks of life – secular, religious and whatever else one wants to call oneself – to Kabbalah, the science of fulfillment (by the Light of the Creator).

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A question I received: I had an acute, spontaneous, mysterious experience. Can you help me understand why this happened to me? What was the purpose of it? I was in this light and love for almost fifteen minutes, completely unaware of my body. I simply lived it all.

My Answer: Such an illumination comes to many people. It’s like an invitation to attain the Upper Light constantly and clearly. You felt just a micro-glow of this Light. With Kabbalah, you have the chance to attain a sensation that is billions of times greater, and feel it constantly!

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A question I received: How do you explain the fact that during the Holocaust, there were people among the nations of the world who put their lives in danger to save Jews, sometimes even sacrificing their own lives?

My Answer: If we look at this not from the level of our world, then all people are carrying out instructions from above, including everyone who participated in the Holocaust. If we look at this from the level of our world, then this indicates that one’s soul came from the right part of Adam – Hesed (mercy).

This doesn’t nullify my earthly attitude toward such a person, my attitude of kindness and gratitude. However, at the same time, I realize that I relate to him in such a way and act in such a way on the earthly level, whereas he acted mercifully because he was initiated like that from above. “Goodness is done from above through those who merit it, and evil is done through those who merit it” – I respect those through whom the Creator does apparent good to the world (rather than concealed good).

A question I received: In the movies, good always wins, and all the battles are fought against evil – but isn’t this just the desire to receive?

My Answer: Yes! Everything in our world is egoistic (the desire to receive), including all the best things!

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A question I received: The information you present to the world is fascinating. Everyone in my family is Orthodox Christian, and I’ve read the Bible and the New Testament since childhood. My question is: Where is Jesus Christ in your science? This worries me most of all, and is the only thing about your method that raises a concern.

My Answer: He’s absent, because I only base my teaching on the three main Kabbalists: Rashbi (The Book of Zohar), the Ari, and Baal HaSulam (view his available works in English). Just like any other science, Kabbalah bears no relation to any religion. It is the physics of forces that are perceived and examined through our sixth sense – the corrected desire.

In contrast, religion speaks about carrying out certain actions and rituals in our world, rather than correcting one’s egoism by means of the Upper Light. However, all religions want this action attributed to them.

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“Love your friend as yourself; this is a great rule (also collective) in the Torah.”

The word “collective” points to a sum of elements that, when put together, form that collective. Hence, if we say about the verse, “Love your friend as yourself,” that “it is a great rule (collective) in the Torah,” we must understand that all other 612 corrections of the will to receive are the details of the correction, “Love your friend as yourself.” [Read more →]

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