In 170 BCE, the Greeks, led by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, captured the Temple. There was a division between the adherents of Greek philosophy and religion and those who remained loyal to the concept of a single Creator.

Some priests, including the high priest (Cohen Rishon), supported the Greeks. The Jerusalem Temple was desecrated and turned into a sanctuary of Zeus. Severe persecution and forced Hellenization of the population led to the Maccabean revolt, led by Matityahu Hashmonay who issued the call, “He who is for God, follow me!”

The uprising ended with the victory of the Maccabees. Having entered the Temple, they found that the pure oil to light the Menorah candles would last for only one day. But a miracle occurred. The candles burned for eight days and so is called the miracle of Hanukkah.

Question: What does Hanukkah represent from the spiritual point of view?

Answer: The history leading to this holiday begins with Abraham as the founder of the Jewish people. Long before the Maccabees, It was he who first issued the call,  “Whoever is moving towards the Creator – follow me!” Under this motto, he gathered a large group of Babylonians, to whom he taught his approach to the universe, the purpose of life and creation, the higher human destiny, etc.

But most importantly, under the slogan of “unity in the name of unity,” Abraham began to unite those who sided with him because it is in the pursuit of unity that we reveal the upper force of nature, the Creator, which unites us. It forms us into one whole and we become invincible to either external or internal egoism. What Abraham began, the Maccabees, united with each other, continued.

In principle, it is the same action of a rebellion against egoism, only at different levels, and that is why it occurred at different points in history.

Having united people, the Maccabees came to the same state as Abraham and won. To the extent of unity with greater groups of people who joined them, they revealed a greater spiritual force, which was the force of unity, the upper force of bestowal and love. Therefore, they were invincible to egoism, which was personified by the Greeks in this case, in Babylon by the Babylonians, in Egypt by Pharaoh, and later, by the Romans.

Through unity with large groups of people joining them, they recognized more and more spiritual power: the power of unity and the supreme power of love and bestowal. Therefore, they were invincible against the selfishness personified in this case by the Greeks, the Babylonians, Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and later, the Romans.

In general, it is the only fight, a war throughout all generations. And even when we do not have an apparent enemy, our inner enemy always rebels within us, again and again pulling us towards worshiping various idols in our life. We must fight it.

It is easy to draw a parallel between these two wars and today since modern idols are fully exposed as complete nonentities, leading us to some end and we have nothing else to do with them. On the one hand, we are still drawn to them, and on the other hand, we understand that this is temporary, harmful and brings no good results.

Therefore, our behavior is reminiscent of a man who gets drunk, does not know or hear anything, forgets himself,and is disconnected from what is happening. We become immersed in business or other things just to stay occupied, thus imitating a movie hero, a literary character, or just acquaintances who have supposedly succeeded in life. This is the idol  that is so attractive to us.

Question: Do you think that these desires have exhausted themselves?

Answer: No, but I know that all this is temporary and limited. Life itself shows us that. The world is like a theater and we always play a role in it.

There are people who seek nothing. The main thing for them is to live quietly and peacefully, so no one bothers them. But, there are few of them. The majority are pulled by competition, the struggle for a place under the sun, and we begin to pretend that we are business people, running with a briefcase and changing from one plane to another, and in this way, we run to the grave.

Question: Can the miracle of Hanukkah take place nowadays?

Answer: In life there is always a place for a miracle. Every time we connect with each other, the force, which is higher than all the other forces, obstacles, conditions, is manifested, and then there is a miracle before us. We can evoke it, even today.

A miracle is a supernatural phenomenon, but we are able to cause it ourselves, when we wish. Today, if we want to rise above egoism in our unity, then a completely new upper force will be manifested within us, and with its help, we will be able to calm the whole world, arrange everything, and everyone will be fine and easygoing.

Question: What kind of a miracle happened when the candles of the Maccabees were lit?

Answer: Through their unity, the Maccabees attracted the Light that gave them the opportunity to stay in the state of bestowal, love and connection until they began to pull new masses of people towards themselves.

The desires of people who connect with each other in one whole symbolizes the oil, and their gathering in spite of their egoism symbolizes the wick. They burn in their desire to get closer, and when they unite somehow, a light appears within them that support the fire of their desires.

If they begin to be engaged in even greater dissemination and draw towards themselves greater masses of people, then the lamp will burn continuously.

The manifestation of the Light, the upper force, the Creator in the people’s unity is the miracle. Besides that, there are no other miracles because the essence of all miracles is that our unity brings about the manifestation of the inner force, called the property of love, the Creator. It works wonders. The crossing of the Red Sea, the miracle of Hanukkah and the miracle of Purim are always the revelation of the Creator in our unity. Therefore, there is just one technique and it contains nothing complicated. It came to us from Abraham, who first showed how it is realized.

The fact is that we can unite in any manner, but the essence of the miracle is that we unite so that a new upper property appears within us, which is not manifested in any other actions, that raises us to the next level of consciousness, sensation, vision, and existence.

Question: How could people believe that one candle would burn for eight days when they knew that it would be sufficient only for a day?

Answer: If we aspire to unity, we are not interested in anything except to come to this state, within which the Creator is revealed. Then we reach the conditions of infinity and go to the next level of existence, where there is neither time nor space. And eight days is just an allegory, since there are eight Sefirot from the level of Bina to the level of Malchut.

Question: How can a person not think about what will happen tomorrow?

Answer: If you work for bestowal, tomorrow does not exist for you! There is no next moment! The most important is to give.

Tomorrow will disappear from your field of vision, mind, and calculations! It does not exist! You are included in the action of bestowal and are seemingly extended to everyone else. Nothing will remain in you. Your “I” simply disappears.

Then, in the next step, a new egoistic state appears. The same thing is repeated, like the wheel that moves forward, but at the same time revolves around itself.

Question: Under what circumstances is this possible?

Answer: It comes gradually, after many years and only from Above. But it will come. I can promise to all of my students that it will come true, and they will reach this state.

I think that together with them, I will still be able to go through their first steps in this ascent. This is the desire of every spiritual teacher who cannot abandon his child halfway. The teacher wants to guide his students across the desert so that they reach full bestowal, and they would not have any possibility of turning back, since the property of bestowal would reign in all their desires.

Then, they will develop their spiritual path on their own, with the next leader, like Moses and Joshua. But it is desirable for us to cross the desert together.

Question: How do you view the miracles from the material point of view? Let’s say, for many years, archaeologists seek confirmation of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, but find no traces. Indeed, something should have been left. In addition, there no evidence has been found of the 40 years of wandering of the nation of Israel in the desert.

Answer: Archaeologists find confirmation of these or other historical events when the time comes. Therefore in its time, they will suddenly find artifacts of history in the same place where they previously could find nothing. These discoveries are still ahead.
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From KabTV’s “Secretes of the Eternal Book” 12/17/14

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Question: It says: “Thou shalt not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people.”

Answer: You attain your complete correction thanks to the right connection with those who are like you, who have the same attributes and the inclination to connection, unity, and resemblance and equivalence to the Creator. Therefore, you should not struggle with yourself but internally so as to come in contact with others, which means” the children of thy people.”

You don’t need to reject anyone or anything anymore as you were commanded previously, but rather be integrally connected properly with others, adapt yourself to them by accepting all their attributes and their corrections as suitable for you in order to establish a system that is mutually and generally connected, a spiritual society.

A person has to constantly feel how he should change, what form he should take on under the influence of those who surround him, both from those who are close and those who are distant. Those who are distant are those who format you and put you together, and those who are close are those with whom you have to be formatted and put together so that you will be connected to them. It is because they dictate your external form so that like a piece in a puzzle you will fall into your right place.

You process attributes inside you which you can integrate with your whole nation, with all the attributes, desires, and thoughts that surround you. This is the very last mission, which can only be fulfilled if you already work on the connection with them by fulfilling the commandment of love thy friend as thyself.

This means that “distant” refers to working in the state of Hafetz Hesed in which you don’t receive anything but only format yourself internally with the help of the attribute of bestowal that comes from them, which builds you on the level of Bina and makes you absolutely neutral. Thus, you balance the ego.

When this attribute comes through those who are close, which means from those who are in direct contact with you, you already build yourself on the basis of your connection with them. In the first case it is to bestow in order to bestow and in the second case it is to receive in order to bestow.

Question: How can I bring someone else inside me if I only love myself?

Answer: You don’t need to bring anyone inside you, but simply feel everyone like yourself.

The Torah speaks about the fact that you have to attain that and there is a condition for this attainment, but first you are given commandments, which means clear and accurate rules of the upper world and then the methods to fulfill them.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/9/14

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The Torah, “Leviticus”, 19:26: Ye shall not eat with the blood.

Blood is the Light of Hochma, which is the force that revives the soul and enters the fourth phase of the desire (the meat).

But it is forbidden to use the desire the Light is in. First you have to correct it separately, restrict it and make a Masach (screen), and then weigh and clarify everything. These are the laws on which the conditions of the Kasrut are later based, when meat becomes edible.

It is totally forbidden to eat the blood. In the days of the Temple they used to drain the blood into special vessels that were designated for that purpose and later were completely emptied.

Therefore, we should investigate the force that revives the soul, both in our world and in the spiritual world and thus distinguish it.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/09/14

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Question: It says: “And if a man lies carnally with a woman, and she is a handmaid designated for a man, and she had not been [fully] redeemed nor had her document of emancipation been granted her, there shall be an inquisition; they shall not be put to death, because she had not been completely free.” What does that mean?

Answer: It means that the male and female parts of the Partzuf do not match and the male part cannot work with this desire.

A person wants to bestow, to work for the Creator, to perform a spiritual action, but he has not fully clarified and examined his desire yet. Being in certain attributes, he doesn’t know that he cannot work with Malchut. There are many different options here.

It turns out that there is no contact between the first nine Sefirot and the tenth part of the desire. Malchut is not suitable for it yet and so it turns out that it isn’t free, engaged, etc. with regard to it.

It is about the partial correction of a person’s desire with which he really and candidly wants to work in order to bestow but has failed. Although later he does correct the desire to the end.

“They shall not be put to death, because she had not been completely free” means that we should bring a sacrifice, the addition necessary for forgiveness. To forgive means either to add your own correction of the female part and thus become one Partzuf with it, as it says: “and will become his wife”; or simply grant atonement for his action since the Light enters the female part of the desire and this should be corrected so that the female part should return to its previous state.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/9/14

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The Torah “Leviticus” (Kedoshim) 19:17: You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your fellow, but you shall not bear a sin on his account.

Man is built in such a way that it is pleasant for him to see bad attributes, sins, and transgressions in people, because it makes him feel above everyone else.

To the extent that others are lower than him, he sees himself rise higher without having to exert any efforts. It appears to you, as it seems, as an advantage in relation to others, but this advantage is false: You are wise because everyone around you becomes dumber. You have become smarter only in relation to the fools, but it still is pleasant for you.

In spiritual work, this approach is not correct. You need to determine your shortcomings, mistakes, and violations of others and accept them as yours. Because everything stems from the fact that you need to see the general soul before you, and thus, as you look at the crimes and the faults of the world, you should not enjoy them.

If you enjoy them, then egoism blinds you. In fact you can’t look at the world and always be happy that nothing good is happening in it.

The only thing that a person should be happy about is that, subconsciously, to the extent that he is able, he longs to actively discover the defects and bring them to correction; at best, to correct his attitude to what is happening, and most importantly, to justify the Creator who arranges all this for him so that he will constantly be happy for misfortune: “It’s so good that the Creator behaves so badly with others!”

This thought goes through us automatically. We shield the Creator, shield the entire world, and enjoy that we see how people quarrel between themselves. Only for this do we watch TV and listen to the news, in that, subconsciously, we are searching for how to be happy from the misfortune of others, since we feel satisfaction from that.

If God forbid, it happened to me or one of those close to me? Would I want to hear, for example, that the bank where I keep my savings blew up? But if that happens to some other bank, that’s fine.

That’s human nature. Thus the Torah shows different perspectives of the same issue of our beloved ego.

To the extent that you see some defect in the society, you have no right to stop without participating in the correction. Each one needs to feel himself as a sinner, a thief, a murderer. Each one of us needs to “dig” and “pull“ the judge from within himself without any connection to his sin.

A person is a small world. Thus in the different stages you need to be both an expert and a corrector, i.e., combine all the attributes within you: the Creator’s, the judge’s, the sinner and the sage. This means that you solved the problem. And so every time.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/2/14

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Torah, “Leviticus” (Kedoshim) 19:20: And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, designated for a man, and not at all redeemed, nor was freedom given her; there shall be inquisition; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.

The Torah speaks of desire (Malchut) that has not yet been corrected. The bestowing part (male) and receiving part (female) are interconnected in such a state where the desire is not yet free, and there is no restriction and no screen of its own. The male part is free and willing to work with this desire, although it is still uncorrected.

Therefore, the problem is not in the female part, but rather in the male, which starts working toward bestowal with yet uncorrected Malchut. This is wrong.

If the action has been done and it is revealed that the desire is not fully corrected, it is leading to a Cohen (priest) because both parts must rise above to the next level.

Torah, “Leviticus” (Kedoshim) 19:21-22: And he shall bring his forfeit unto the LORD, unto the door of the tent of meeting, even a ram for a guilt-offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt-offering before the LORD for his sin which he hath sinned; and he shall be forgiven for his sin which he hath sinned.

What was missing in the female part was Malchut. In order to properly connect to the first nine Sefirot and take all the Light in order to bestow, the male part must rise to the property of Bina.

Danger awaits a person at each stage of spiritual correction to commit misconduct, and one must conduct an internal search, analyze whether one properly can see for oneself with what desires one works, whether they are in a free state, and if one begins to get some fulfillment, will one not become a slave again? It is practically impossible to predict in advance.

Absolutely all cases that may occur are considered in the Torah. This is nothing to worry about because the correction always is happening at the next level, the third highest Partzuf. This means that the spiritual correction involves the male part, the female part, and the highest Partzuf, the Cohen.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/9/14

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Question: It says in the Torah: You shall not crossbreed your livestock with different species. You shall not sow your field with a mixture of seeds, and a garment which has a mixture of two kinds of material shall not come upon you. What does that mean from a spiritual perspective? What should a person’s spiritual work be?

Answer: It is about the right and the left lines that you have no right to connect. Every action you make, every thought or desire that you have, should be performed so that they are aimed at bestowal or receiving. There should be the right clarification of a person’s attributes and a recognition that it is only receiving in order to bestow or bestowing in order to receive.

Cattle, field, or garment refer to different levels of a person’s desires: the animate, vegetative, and still. It is all inside a person, and a person is a small world! This is our first assertion. According to this perception, everything is inside us and we reflect that through our feelings.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/9/14

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A human being is created by two forces, the force of giving and the force of receiving, which are combined. This interaction and interdependence between them and their combination provide us with images of the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and man, as well as their external and internal attributes.

The stronger the egoistic forces are and the higher their frequency, the more information they include and the greater their ability to act mutually. Accordingly, many new phenomena occur. We see how the world that developed cybernetic systems and computer systems can fully transcend to a virtual reality.

Soon we will be able to synthesize any product we want from elementary building blocks, from atoms. If we wish only to do this correctly, we will not even have to extract them from nature.

We will have the ability to reach these levels of technology where the mere combination of plus and minus, of an electron and a proton, of the positive and negative particles, will enable us to create anything we want. But the question is how we will format our thoughts in that way. Everything other than our thoughts, other than the human being in us, will be in our control.

There is nothing in nature but these two forces—the negative and the positive—and all the micro elements are a result of these forces. Everything is based on the right combinations between them: one force supports the other and exposes it in mutual bestowal. This is how a person’s body, appearance, and attributes are made..

There is a part in TES  (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) called “The 13 Corrections of Dikna (beard).” This hair isn’t just another layer since in animals in can appear in different forms like fish scales, shells, feathers, etc.

On the whole, there are external forces that stem from our body and take on the form of hair or open surfaces that are not covered by hair, especially on a person’s face.

This depends on the exit of the Light of Hochma, the Light of knowledge, of revelation, and also on the exit of the Light of Hassadim, the Light of correction and even concealment. The mutual combination between them, the revelation and the concealment, is what forms our face and defines the area where the hair grows on it.

Why does hair grow on a man’s face and not on a woman’s face? Why does a man’s hair have different forms on the head, sideburns, a mustache, a split mustache, the lower part of the beard, the upper part of the beard, etc?

All these attributes result from the interaction between the two forces, which is very important since the head, our microprocessor, is where all problems are solved. Therefore, we are told in TES about these two forces and about the interaction between them. The problems that are described in the Torah with regard to hair and the problems of hair loss, why women have to cover their hair, and why men are allowed to cut the hair on their head but not their beard, mean that all these habits are accurately based.

Question: Why do only men have a beard and a mustache and not women?

Answer: It is because a man performs corrections. The word “hair” – “Se’arot” stems from the Hebrew word “stormy” – “Sauer,” which means excited and ready to act. This attribute is expressed in men by moving forward by revelations, studying, and attainment. Women are more static.

Therefore, both men and women have hair on their head and only men have hair that flows downward. What is more, the upper part of the beard spreads to the chest and the lower part all the way to the waist.

The custom of not cutting one’s beard exists in all the religions because it is taken from the Old Testament.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/20/14

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Question: What do I have to change about my desires? How do I deepen them?

Answer: There is one very simple method of exiting yourself: from your small desires to bigger desires, to desires that are properly focused. What is more, you exit yourself with regard to others.

Therefore, a person wasn’t created by himself but in a society or even in a small group that engages in developing the desires correctly, in clarifying them properly, and thus correcting them.

By mutually helping one another exit himself to others, we begin to understand that the others are not really others but simply seem to us that way in order to help us develop ourselves. This means that we were intentionally given the illusion that we exist in a big world, which we see on the outside, so we will be able to study and explore ourselves internally. If it were inside us, we wouldn’t be able to study ourselves.

The Kabbalistic method explains how we should focus ourselves so as to treat others properly and to merge with them and adhere to them. To merge and to adhere means to attain love. Love is adhesion (Dvekut), resemblance, equivalence, and connection. At the same time, I suddenly realize that the same desires, which seemingly exist on the outside, are actually mine, and then the whole picture of the world around me disappears and there is no difference between them.

By attaining my real state, when all the desires around me clearly become mine emotionally, the picture of the world around me, that is now felt as a huge field of my desires, disappears.

It turns out that as I advance I gradually include everyone more and more inside me. These desires are called clothing, a hall, a yard, etc. They have to be corrected, which means to be purified by the Light of Hassadim (Light of bestowal).  Clothing refers to the desires that are closest to us.

It says in the Torah: “and he shall wash his clothes and be purified.” If the priest determines that a person is pure and he is ill but it is not leprosy, it means that his desires are on a level where they can be healed and corrected to love and bestowal unto others. In order to do that, the clothing (the desires) have to be purified by the Light of Hassadim (mercy) and then everything is all right.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/20/14

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The Torah, “Leviticus,” 19:16: Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people; neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbor: I am the LORD.

A gossip in our world is a person who enjoys the revelation of the ego in others. What is interesting is that he is typically candid. He doesn’t lie and doesn’t try to hurt others, but simply unveils the distortions, the corruption that exists in society in the relationships between people.

Comment: But a gossip never says things openly to a person, only behind his back…

Answer: It makes no difference, since at the same time he can have good motives. The problem is whether he acts for the sake of correction and whether the action of the revelation of evil is intended to attain a greater connection between people.

A gossip separates people and keeps them further apart from one another. You can do the same thing when you discover the lack of connection between people, but at the same time you think about how to connect them. If your intention is to connect people, it isn’t considered gossip.

In spiritual work the term gossip is not examined with regard to oneself or to others, but in regard to the Creator, since He is the one who disrupts the harmony between us, causes our problems and the lack of integration of attributes and parts of the only mechanism of the soul. By His Light, He reveals the lack of coordination between them and is therefore the main cause of all these actions. We, on the other hand, have to work on the coordination between them.

Here is where the gossip is revealed as the one who reveals the evil but doesn’t think about its correction and doesn’t operate along the middle line. Each of us discovers flaws when he focuses on correction in order to correct them and not in order to delve into their revelation.

The revelation of evil draws the Light that highlights all the corruptions in me, but I should first think about the whole, integral, harmonious state, as it is said: “The end on an action is in the initial thought.” This is the whole subtle difference between gossip and doing the right thing.

If, for example, my friend tells me now that I did the wrong thing, is he a gossip or not? It is revealed only by the way it brings me to reveal my corrupted state and how to correct it. Gossip, on the other hand, doesn’t do that and the approach is totally egoistic.

Thus, if my friend reveals the evil in me in order to guide me correctly and get even closer to me, he is not a gossip, but a friend.

I cannot refuse to help the friend reveal the different obstacles and mistakes, since I see my incorrect state. I have to fear the possibility of being a gossip, yet not refrain from revealing the mistakes of my friend. I must do things properly because I have to connect to him and reach correction together with him. This is called “neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbor.”

Blood is the fourth part of the four phases of the spreading of the Light in the soul, which means that it is help on the lowest level of correction that revives the corporeal body. I help others to ascend, but is with this condition. Everything else should be done by a person himself. I only raise him a little.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/02/14

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