Question: How did the first teachers of the wisdom of Kabbalah receive this knowledge? Where is its origin? People think that Kabbalah is something close to magic, and many myths surround it.

Answer: Adam was the first Kabbalist who lived 5772 years ago. He was the first of all of humankind who discovered that an integral system of nature exists and it is possible to reveal it.

People had lived before him, but he was the first man in history who had questions: “What do I live for? What is the secret of life? Where is its source?” He wrote a book about this; it reached our days and is called The Secret Angel (Raziel HaMalach). An angel is a force. The “secret angel” means the “hidden force.” It is a small book, a few dozen pages.

The next book was written by Abraham around 3700 years ago and is called The Book of Creation (Sefer Yetzira). This book explains for the first time in a systematic form, the “Sefirot,” the 32 forces that descend to us and are connected among themselves.

At the same time, several Kabbalists together wrote one more Kabbalistic book, The Great Midrash (Midrash HaGadol), which means explanation or commentary. Many more books were created after that, until the greatest Kabbalistic book appeared, The Book of Zohar, which was written around 2000 years ago.

After that, plenty of books were written, up to the time of the Ari who lived in the 16th century. The Ari’s main book was The Tree of Life (Etz Chaim), which talks about Sefirot and worlds and is full of drawings and diagrams.

From the immense number of books that appeared after it, the most important for us are the books of Baal HaSulam, written in the 20th century.

All these books were not known to the general public. They were mentioned only occasionally, as though “leaked.” This formed a mysterious aura around Kabbalah as if it involves mysticism, secret forces, performing miracles, and predicting the future through Tarot cards. In reality, this is not related to Kabbalah at all!

Of course, Kabbalah uses symbols, diagrams, graphs, drawings, and Gematria (the numerical value of words). Kabbalah studies the soul and its stages of growth. But there is nothing mystical in it. I would say that it is simply the physics of the upper dimension.

Kabbalah is not associated with religion and any mystical practices. It is a science for people who want to know. Naturally, they have to work on and correct themselves. I would compare this with tuning a radio which is surrounded with many radio waves of various frequencies. If I tune the radio and create the wave that corresponds to the wave existing outside it, I receive that external wave and can hear the signal.

The science of Kabbalah helps us create these waves inside ourselves, and we begin to sense the force existing outside us, perceive, and study it. We develop the inner sense of hearing and inner sense of sight. The inner sense of hearing is called the degree of Bina (Sefira Bina), and the inner sense of sight is called the degree of Hochma (Sefira Hochma).
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From the Lecture in Rome 5/20/2011

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Lecture at Unity Evening
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Essentially, Kabbalah is the method of correction of man, man’s nature. And so, within the framework of our studies, we are involved in widely distributing this information.

We have around two million students worldwide; we teach in 26 languages in many countries. We see that all different kinds of people and representatives of many nations express their need for this wisdom, and they begin to understand that the world has no future without it.

Besides that, we teach children and see how much more developed they become, how it opens them up. We publish books, broadcast on television, and work actively on the Internet. We promote development.

We study the wisdom of Kabbalah in groups. It is not about growing apart from others; rather, a person develops individually when he is in the group, in the environment, and constantly changes himself through the group dynamics. Essentially, a person adapts himself to the environment that has to show him, time after time, the need to rise above egoism and exit from himself into love of others. A person practices this in the group.

By establishing contact with the environment, a person feels its needs and unites with it. Then, a connecting network is revealed between everyone; it is above personal egoism, and a person feels common bonds, a common force that dwells between them. As a result, it’s as if everyone exits oneself and starts connecting to this collective force.

Thanks to this, we find out that above the reality that we are aware of, there is a higher reality. We perceive our current reality inside, in our vessel, and thus we are limited. We want to receive pleasure, and when the pleasure enters the desire, they cancel each other due to their mutual oppositeness.

It turns out that each time we achieve something, we enjoy it for a moment—and the pleasure disappears immediately. We run after the next pleasure, touch it, and it vanishes as well. As soon as the pleasure enters the desire, it neutralizes the latter at once: A short circuit between the plus and the minus leads to annihilation.

On the other hand, when a person exits himself and above his egoism starts to unite with the group, with other people, he creates a vessel above himself, an external desire. Now he feels outside himself both the desire and the pleasure, and they do not disappear. On the contrary, reality turns into the flow of infinite life above time.

Pleasure that enters and disappears over and over again creates for us a sensation of time. But if the pleasure is not extinguished, if we feel how it flows endlessly, then we rise above a sensation of time and begin to perceive the general force of nature, which surrounds and arranges us together.

We begin to discern connections between all the parts of reality, resembling the interwoven threads on the reverse side of an embroidered picture. Outside, we see a “pattern” of our world, but if we look behind its surface, we will see the threads tying the parts of this picture. This is what we discover with the help of the science of Kabbalah: the connection and mutual influence between us.

This produces a great impact on people, and they change. Having seen this reality, they understand that we cannot manage without connection and mutual understanding because they can see the harm they may cause to others.

Thus, we need not faith, but attainment. In this way, a person becomes free and begins to see the world clearly. Then, according to his degree, he determines the correct course of actions for himself.
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From the Lecture in Rome 5/20/2011

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The science of Kabbalah is special because it allows us to reveal how to control the two forces of nature: the force of reception and the force of bestowal. All of nature is comprised of these two forces. We see them everywhere: plus and minus, bestowal and reception. Their combination is what creates the essence of our lives.

On the still level they build atoms and molecules, dipoles, crystalline patterns, and so on. On the vegetative level the combination of a plus and minus produces life: a plus provides useful things whereas a minus excretes waste, which enables a body to live and develop.

On the animate level a plus and minus become even greater and their interconnection not only causes useful things to be absorbed and harmful things excreted, but also brings about movement, reproduction, and the individual life of a separate animal. This is already a special sum of two influences.

However, as paradoxical as it may be, on the human level only one of two forces was operating to this day. As a result, any pleasure that entered us immediately waned. That’s because our desire is egoistic and we did not have any chance to oppose it, to add a second force against it so we could excrete the harmful things from our desires and thoughts, from our hearts and minds, which belong to the human level.

Now a second force is being revealed in us—the point in the heart, which stands opposite to egoism. It enables us to form ourselves, to decide which thoughts and desires to bring inside and which to take outside. As a result, out of thousands of thoughts and desires, we can gather a new structure and build a special level inside of us called “human” (Adam) or ”soul.” It consists of ten Sefirot and is also called “Partzuf”—a spiritual structure.

This is what we form inside of us by virtue of the fact that two forces have finally begun developing in us. For hundreds of thousands of years, only one force operated in us on the human level. We were constantly activated by the desires and thoughts that awakened in us. That is how we lived.

But now, together with several million people from the whole world, we have received a true gift from above—the bestowing desire in addition to the receiving desire. And now we are forming a new creation inside of us. We must build the human in us ourselves. This is the entire purpose of man’s existence in this world. Otherwise, why does he exist here? What can he possibly do here?

Today we are advancing together with all humanity. We are the first, and others will come after us. From one day to the next new people are awakening and joining this process of building a person inside of each one of us. You and I are learning how to become human in the true sense of the word.
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From the 1st lesson at the Madrid Convention 4/6/11

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Question: You have said that in order to solve the global crisis it is necessary to reduce consumption. How does minimal consumption differ from vital consumption? For example, can a watch costing a thousand Euros be considered a vital necessity?

Answer: This question is not simple. I would even say there’s a catch to it. Let me explain it by way of a Kabbalistic parable that’s 2000 years old.

Once upon a time there were two friends. One was rich and the other was average, but they were both on the spiritual level. One day the rich man went bankrupt and then his friend started serving him like a servant, wishing to provide him with the necessary level of existence that he was used to. That’s because previously his friend had serrvants, so when he lost them, he felt like he lost something that was necessary.

This is an interesting example, but it is not suitable for out times because nature obligates us otherwise. We have no choice but to restrict our consumption since otherwise we will devastate the planet earth. It’s not just that we have to reduce our necessities, but we have to reach a state where we would be happy to get rid of our necessities, but are obligated to receive them because we have to exist in our bodies in this world.

I have a big desire, which includes the level of my regular life where I have physical necessities as well as social necessities, such as education, culture, vacations, and trips. No one says you have to give them up. You need an apartment, everything necessary for it, a wife, children, and so on.

The problem is our consumption above the norm. If you study the science of Kabbalah, you will involuntarily consume only what is necessary because the most important thing to you is spiritual fulfillment. Therefore, you are happy that you do not reveal these excessive desires inside of you and you would be happy even to get rid of the normal desires, but you need them in order to support your existence. This is called necessity.
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From the 1st lesson at the Madrid Convention 6/4/11

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Question: How can a person reveal his or her role in this life?

Answer: This comes after the question about the purpose of life: “What do I live for?” This question becomes more and more acute every time, rising above other questions of the heart.

There are many questions (desires) in my heart, and I have to deal with them, organize them in order, and take the highest one so that it is not obscured. I have to go with this particular question, and the rest only support me in reaching the answer to this most important inquiry.

Each person chooses his or her goal for this core question, be it money, honor, power, or knowledge. One would like to become a scientist, another a member of the government, and a third one just dreams of becoming successful and enjoying life. And there are also people who ask about the meaning of life.

However, to find out its meaning, it is necessary to connect with the root from which this life comes. It turns out that this search is higher than regular earthly life. It’s not inside society, but above it where this life descends from. It is impossible to find an answer to this question within human society.

Long time ago, I naively thought that it was possible to approach the solution to this question through science, to understand how this life began, to artificially create vegetative, animate or human life from the still level of nature, to solve the mystery of life: Where does it come from and why does it exists? In the end, I realized that our science does not answer such questions, and my interest in it disappeared at once as though it was something frivolous.

A person should try to clarify his most important question, his highest requirement, and go with it. Then, he will gradually find out how he is pulled toward increasingly more exalted questions. As a result, he will come to the question: “Who is the Creator that has created me? Where do I come from? Who am I? What is my purpose?”

This is the question at the degree of Bina, bestowal, that asks within Malchut. It is explained in The Zohar in the article “Who Created These.” MI (who) is Bina, and ELEH (these) is Malchut. A person has to come to this question: “Who Created These,” meaning “Who created me?” When he attains “Who” (MI), he will know himself. This is ELEH because ELEH becomes clarified only in the unity with MI.

Then, he reaches the name Elokim (God, the name of the Creator made from ELEH and MI) that becomes dressed in Him, as it is written: “May the name of the Creator be upon you.” Thus, he attains everything.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Until the Light spreads in the will to receive by the four phases of HaVaYaH, the creative force will not unfold in the creature. Therefore, the authentic desire of pleasure will not be revealed, which otherwise allows the determination of what this creature is, what it wants, and how it responds to the Creator.

Hence, HaVaYaH is regarded as the holy name of the Creator. Why is it holy if a name is always what the created being assigns? This name is holy because only in this form, after all the four phases of the Light’s impact on desire, does the Creator’s property unfold in the creature, which affects and imprints His form in it. This is why it is called the Creator’s name. This imprint, left by the Light within desire, imparts desire with the form of the Light.

The Light as it is has no shape, and there is no way to describe what it is and how it looks. It is something transient and unknown, some kind of abstract form. How, then, can the creature learn anything about it, connect and exchange impressions with it, and form a relationship with it?

For this to take place, the Creator, the very tip of the letter “Yod,” the leading creative force, aims its influence at the matter created by Him “from absence” and starts imprinting Himself in it. Consequently, similar to playdough or clay, this matter starts showing the Light’s stamp. Matter begins to demonstrate to us what the Light is, which cannot reveal itself otherwise.

All world forces are related to the Light. It runs through everything such as electricity, magnets, and nuclear and sub-nuclear reactions. We think that there are a variety of forces in the world, but, essentially, everything is underlain by this single force of Light that we can’t see. We see it only in action, and when the Light’s actions are revealed in matter, it is described as the Creator’s name, the Light’s expression of itself in the matter.

This is a wonder that we are unable to comprehend. How can the Creator’s shape, His very own property, unfold in the matrix of HaVaYaH, its creation? To make this possible, the creature has to undergo all four phases of development. Only at the final, fourth one can it begin to understand and recognize itself.

But how will it recognize itself? It will do so while coming to know the Creator, and that is what the creature is.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: What is so special about the Torah that even The Book of Zohar is just a commentary on it?

Answer: The records that Moses made on parchment are the earthly expression, through material symbols, of spiritual actions of Light on desire. Moses wrote down everything he taught his students in a book. Over the course of 40 years of wandering in the desert, they wrote down the whole Torah, going through the entire process in record, as well as in bodies, and in spirituality. This is the entire path from the Egyptian exile (earthly and spiritual), through the desert (earthly and spiritual), and into the land of Israel (earthly and spiritual). All of this came true in the connection between the root and the branch. Moses expressed this entire process in this concrete, symbolic form.

The Zohar expresses the same process on a different level, in a different form because the general desire to enjoy that the Creator created had by that time advanced several steps forward and was perfected by the influence of the Light. Therefore, this desire, which went through ascents and descents, the destruction of the First and Second Temple, the exile, and then reached the last breakage before the last exile, had to be given the method that is appropriate for the end of the exile, for our time.

That is why The Book of Zohar was written, whose authors were the successors of many generations of Kabbalists, starting from Abraham until the destruction of the Temple. Rabbi Shimon was the student of Rabbi Akiva, who revealed a great Light, and therefore he was able to express this in The Book of Zohar.

The Torah itself is divided into two parts: oral and written. This comes from the difference between Zeir Anpin and Malchut. Zeir Anpin of the world of Atzilut is the “oral Torah,” while Malchut of the world of Atzilut is the “written Torah.”

The Torah is the revelation of Light. The Light that comes to Malchut contains everything that is necessary for changing Malchut. But this Light still hasn’t come true in practice, and is therefore called “the oral Torah.” For now this is work with the screens.

Under the influence of the same Light in Malchut, inner changes take place and are impressed in Malchut, this is called “the written Torah.” This is talking only about actions of the Light in the desires from the beginning of creation and until its end. That’s because there is nothing in existence besides desires.

Among these desires some feel that they exist by themselves, separate from all the others. This is us. These desires contain qualities that can help them on the path of correction. And that is why we receive a sensation of lacking, our own lack of correction, the realization of evil. This is how we perceive ourselves.

These are exactly the desires that need to be given “the Torah”—the instructions explaining how they can participate in their own corrections out of their own free choice, how they can attract the Light by wishing to become corrected faster, instead of waiting for the Light to come and shake them up.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/29/11, Shamati
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Question: Have you seen a TV program about Kabbalah broadcast on NTV, a Russian television channel? What can you say about it?

Answer: We were approached three times by the NTV producers asking us to participate in this program. But having discovered who other participants were, we had to refuse: You have to choose who to talk to.

Counting knots on a red string and believing in its magical force is beyond my comprehension. And magic spells such as “Pulsa deNura” arouse nothing but sadness at people’s late development.

But these are only “growing pains.” It will pass. Poor children! Why are they so hateful? Kabbalah talks about love, and not love as a commodity ($20 for a string). But I would agree to an interview on our terms.
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Question: How do we reach people in authority? After all, we want to break down the walls of the box they live in.

Answer: Not at all. We don’t fight with the government, don’t destroy politics and the economy, and we don’t break customary lifestyles. We fight only for the education of people and not more. I am in favor of leaving everything in the world as it is, only adding the principle of “love your neighbor as thyself.”

It’s none of my business what has been built so far. Let them build more. Only one thing is important for me: People should know in what world they live, what they live for, and how they can truly fulfill themselves so that they reach the goal without falling into self-deception and entertaining themselves with all kinds of games that give only fleeting, inadequate fulfillment, and ending in death.

I don’t cancel anything, don’t oppose government programs, banks, city halls, and the like. I don’t care about that. Do what you want: If you want to steal, steal, do other silly things, it’s not important; I don’t look at that at all. All I want is to add education.

The purpose of education is to give knowledge about the world we live in, how it functions, what moves it, what its goal is, what would happen if we go along with this program, and what would happen if we deviate from it or head in the opposite direction. How much suffering will this bring us? What kind of suffering? Whether it’s worth it or not? I want people to know, to see what they face, to be able to read the map and nothing more.

All the other issues are on another plane, and I don’t overlap with it at all: My office is on the floor above. We are talking only about what we are destined to come to anyway. We deplete natural resources and pollute the Earth. Thus, we have to move from a consumer society to a balanced society, in other words, to stop acting silly.

People need simple everyday things: housing, work, food, clothing, and the like. This should be provided for everyone, and everything else has to cease. We have to stop producing useless goods, to stop measuring one’s success by output. These goods empty the planet and pollute the environment.

Thus, you will work half a day to provide the necessities and study the rest of the day, passing exams from time to time. You will be paid for this and only for this.

People don’t know the world they live in. They graduate from school, not matching the reality they exist in. They live in their illusions, in isolation from the world, surprised by the troubles they attract to themselves. These troubles come because, like children, we act to harm ourselves.

And thus, I want only one thing for you: to add education and, most importantly, upbringing and training, the essence of which is the correction of the relationship between people. Then, you will be in sync, in balance, with the world; you will become an integral whole, which is the imperative of the time. All the elements have to be correctly connected with the main mechanism, with natural networks of interconnection, and you don’t even know about this.

That is what I am talking about. True, such education will change a person, but it will happen gradually, as if by itself. I don’t fight with the nature of things; I just explain the world to you, show where you live, and as a consequence, you change. You see the facts in front of you, and what can you do? We can do nothing: Having seen immutable laws, we will take them into account.

Nothing can be changed at one go. People act according to their nature. Can it be corrected? Destruction is inherent in human nature, and until you give humans a correct education, until they will see for themselves that they risk losing their lives, they will not stop. And they have to see it in the clearest way, as if death is standing on the threshold. This is the education, the upbringing that we need.

Otherwise, we will not survive on the Earth. This is confirmed by research. There is no other means except education. We don’t have to moralize and tell people whether they are good or bad. They are the way nature created them. They cannot steal less, lie less; they are unable to. It’s said: “Go to the Creator Who made me.” The Creator tells you from the very beginning: “I created the evil inclination.” You are not going to complain to Him about His deeds, are you?

You have only one medicine: “The Torah as a spice,” in other words, education according to the method of Kabbalah.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/2011, “The Freedom”

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