Three questions I received on dissemination:

Question: Maybe we should open a Kabbalah group on Facebook? It could be a good way to answer people’s questions.

My Answer: We encourage all of your ideas. Get in touch with us in order to coordinate your dissemination work with us. This will help you advance faster. We look forward to hearing from you and good luck!

Question: I live in a non-religious neighborhood that publishes a monthly digest where I can publish articles. I would like to publish your articles and articles by Baal HaSulam. What materials are best to publish in my environment?

My Answer: You should get in touch with us and we will explain everything to you. In addition, we can provide you with materials that are ready for publishing and are best suited for your environment, or we can help you present your own thoughts correctly.

Question: Can a person study and teach others with the aim of making Kabbalah be a source of income? Can he harm his students by doing this?

My Answer: It’s written that one may never take money or any other benefits in return for teaching the Torah, and especially for Kabbalah! This should not be done under any circumstances. One also cannot sell anything related to Kabbalah, with the exception of books (educational aids). In addition, one cannot engage in fortune telling or promise luck, health recovery and other miracles – and taking money for this is double fraud.

This law comes to us from Moses, who set up a decree based on the system of the Upper Forces, that Kabbalah has to be taught to the people by the Levites for free. The tithe that the students pay should be used only for Kabbalah dissemination, that is to say, for the correction of the world – this was also decreed by Moses.

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The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Rose” (abridged):

1. In the Torah it is written: In the beginning created ELOKIM ET THE HEAVEN, AND-THE, EARTH, AND-THE EARTH, WAS, EMPTY, AND-CHAOTIC, AND-THE DARKNESS, OVER, THE FACE, OF THE ABYSS, AND-THE SPIRIT ELOKIM soars over the surface of the waters and-Elokim said: “Let there be light.”

Rabbi Hizkiyah opened (the path for the Light): “It is written in ‘Song of Songs,’ ‘as a rose among thorns.’ That a rose is the assembly of souls aspiring to the Creator. Just as a rose is tinged with red and white, so do the souls aspiring to the Creator contain the attributes of judgment (red) and mercy (white). Just as a rose has thirteen petals, so are the souls surrounded on all sides by the thirteen attributes of mercy.

It is written in the Torah: “In the beginning Elokim (the Creator’s name) initially created 13 words (attributes of mercy) for the protection (from egoistic attributes) of the souls aspiring to him.

These 13 attributes of mercy are designated by the words contained in the first sentence of the Torah, between the words ELOKIM: ET, THE HEAVEN, AND-ET, THE EARTH, AND-THE EARTH, WAS, EMPTY, AND-CHAOTIC, AND-THE DARKNESS, OVER, THE FACE, OF THE ABYSS, AND-THE SPIRIT.

2. The second time the name Elokim is mentioned in the Torah as “Elokim Parit” – so that there would appear 5 rigid leaves that surround a rose, called the “Five gates of salvation.” They are like the cup of blessing. During the blessing the cup must rest on 5 fingers, just as a rose rests on 5 rigid leaves. And a rose, just as the cup of blessing, is from the second word ELOKIM to the third word ELOKIM, between which there are five words: SOARS, OVER, THE SURFACE, OF THE WATERS, AND-SAID – corresponding to the five leaves.

Further it is said in the Torah: “And the Creator said: ‘Let there be light’ – this light was created, however, it was concealed and enclosed within the covenant of the souls, entered the rose and fructified it.

3. Just as the covenant is fructified in 42 Zivugim (unions) of the creature and the Creator, from that seed, so the secret name of the Creator fills and inseminates all 42 letters of the initial act of creation.

See the full commentary on the chapter “Rose”

My Comment: I will now be publishing selections from the most important part of The Book of Zohar – the Introduction, which is a concentrated version of the entire Book of Zohar. This is how the Introduction was conceived by the Zohar’s author – Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi). The Introduction is like Keter, which incorporates the entire idea of the Book.

The chapters I will be publishing here will be abridged and I will add brief commentary in parentheses. If you want to understand these chapters more in depth, I suggest reading my book The Book of Zohar. It contains the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar” along with my full commentary on Rashbi’s text, based on my own personal studies with my teacher, Rabbi Baruch Shalom Halevi Ashlag (Rabash) in Tiberius and Miron – the places where The Book of Zohar was written by Rashbi 20 centuries ago.

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Questions I received on various discernments one makes along the spiritual path:

Question: Baal HaSulsam says, “Make yourself a Rav and buy yourself a friend.” What is the difference between “making” and “buying?” And how do you make and buy someone?

My Answer: “To make” means to exalt someone (to see them as great), and “to buy” means to invest in someone. For more on this, see Baal HaSulam’s article “A Speech in Celebration of the Conclusion of The Zohar.”

Question: What should I do with all the different feelings of sadness and depression that I experience? Most of these feelings are related to thoughts that it will still take me a very long time to correct myself, and to correct the world in general.

My Answer: Become more incorporated into the world Kli, and read quotes of Kabbalists about the importance of what we are doing. Let other readers give you advice about what to read from their experience.

You’re worried that it will take a long time? But you have your entire life, which was given to you just for this!

Question: I have been studying Kabbalah for a long time, but I still don’t quite understand – what is a Reshimo?

My Answer: It is information about the future spiritual degree, which demands to be realized.

Question: Why does every person receive a unique situation in life in order to advance?

My Answer: It’s because every person has unique initial properties and a unique final state. Nevertheless, the method of correction is the same for everyone.

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Two questions I received on the 613 desires and the transformation of singularity:

Question: Dear Rav Michael Laitman, the teachings talk about 613 desires, but they all came from one original desire by the Creator. When we distanced ourselves from the Creator, then the one desire fragmented into 613, of which 612 are unreal and only one is real. Right?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: How can singularity transform without being changed?

My Answer: Everything stays the same, besides the intention “for oneself” in all of one’s thoughts, desires, and actions. The intention changes to its opposite – “for others.” This is how one becomes similar to the Creator, and when he does, then he also perceives himself this way.

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A question I received: Right now we’re witnessing this “football madness” all around the world. It seems like people are ‘warming up’ their intention, their thoughts and desires for this sport even on the days and times when there are no games scheduled. The TV is virtually bombing us with this “intention” – people are wearing their favorite team colors, everyone’s talking about it, and it’s slowly becoming ‘the only real thing in existence,’ even for those who are not fans. Masses of people are living through the same emotions.

What is the difference between this phenomena and what we are trying to do in our lessons and dissemination? What really makes our intention and our goal more important than theirs, when we’re still in our preparation period and cannot really tell the difference?

My Answer: The goal and the result.

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We have just published a new edition of the collected works of Rabash (in Hebrew). The three volume set of books includes materials that have never before been published. The books can be purchased here.

This three volume set of books contains all the materials of Rabash. In addition, we are currently preparing the collected works of Baal HaSulam for publication as well.

We only study the works of Baal HaSulam and Rabash. This is why I recommend for everyone to have these books.

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A question I received: In the “Introduction to the Book Tree of Life” Rabbi Chaim Vital describes many aspects of the Kabbalah of the Ari. He writes the following about the Ari: “He was able to speak with reincarnated souls. He knew all the secrets of all people, the roots of their souls and all the details of their past lives. He was able to speak with the dybbuks (translator’s comment: this probably refers to evil spirits that possess people and need to be exorcised), as well as to correct them and drive them out of the bodies of the people whom they possessed.” My question is: What are the “dybbuks”? I couldn’t find this word in any of the study materials available today. It probably refers to one’s inner forces, doesn’t it?

My Answer: That is absolutely correct. This refers to man’s inner forces, since everything that exists is inside us in the form of forces, desires, and thoughts. See Baal HaSulam’s “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” item 34. Nothing exists outside of man. We perceive the world as being outside of us, but in fact it is only a projection of our properties onto the white Light. It says in The Book of Zohar, “All the worlds are inside man,” but man perceives them on the outside in order to feel the Creator as being outside him and to attain similarity to the Creator. To the degree that he attains similarity to HIm, he will start perceiving everything that happens “outside him” as happening “inside him.” Today in our world we are beginning to attain the fact that our perception is absolutely subjective – that it happens inside us.

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A question I received: In reference to your blog entry, Interview With Canadian Television, I am not surprised that people’s egoism is growing primarily in Israel and Canada. I see this egoism every day, and regrettably only 0.01% of the people actually ask themselves about it. Looking at this from a purely human position, it’s a pitiful state. Does Kabbalah explain why this is happening, and why don’t the world’s religions deal with this question?

My Answer: Egoism has to keep growing until people will realize that it is evil. So let it grow faster! It grows fastest in people who start studying Kabbalah. Their growth of egoism accelerates and reaches its maximum quickly, and then they see that it is evil and they have to get rid of it.

This is why Kabbalah welcomes the growth of egoism, while religions and all the “spiritual” methods strive to suppress it, since they don’t have the method to correct it. However, one way or another, egoism has to grow to the maximum, and therefore all the methods will prove to be incompetent. We’ll be left with egoism at its peak and Kabbalah as the method of correcting it and using it correctly, that is – filling it with the Creator!

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Questions I received on perceiving the common soul and the Upper World:

Question: Everyone and everything is inside of me. The Creator is all around me and inside me. Once you understand that everything is inside you, you start desiring to unite with everything that “surrounds” you. So far so good. However, this means that I will be doing everything only for myself, since even a chance passerby is actually inside me. So in reality I actually want to correct everything for myself and not for others?

My Answer: A person certainly discovers that everything around him is part of him, and is incorporated in his egoism. However, this only happens when one aspires to come out of his egoism and be inside others – inside the environment. First he acquires the property of Bina, bestowal, “not for one’s own sake”; and then, once he is above this property (Tshuva mi Iraa, Hafetz Hesed), he attaches everything to himself and makes everything a part of him. Then he perceives all the souls as his own (Tshuva mi Ahava) and receives the entire Upper Light into this united Kli.

Question: How do we know that the Upper Force is the only one, and that what we will feel after the Upper Worlds are revealed is not our imagination or an illusion?

My Answer: We will know this by revealing the Upper World in our soul and comparing the two worlds. Everything in spirituality is attained inside us – just like we attain this world. We draw our conclusions only from our attainment of the Upper World. The science of Kabbalah is based exclusively on Kabbalists’ practical experience.

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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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