Three questions I received on dealing with fears and doubts on the path to revealing the Upper World:

Question: I have been drawn to Kabbalah for the last two years. My problem is that although I read the books you recommend and try to study, I seem to get no understanding. I worry that the Creator hasn’t opened my point in the heart. Also, when I feel as though something real might be taking place in me, some external influence takes my attention from my studies. Does this mean that this isn’t my time for drawing nearer to the Creator?

My Answer: No. You just need to:

1. Accumulate inside you the desire for the correct goal.
2. Realize that you cannot correct yourself – only the Light can correct you in accordance with the goal.

This is the only way to reveal the Upper World. It takes time and a certain amount of effort and experience. Concerning the efforts, it is written that you have to be “As an ox to the burden and as a donkey to the load,” and “Know that it’s not up to you to complete this work, but you are also not free to leave it.”

If you accept these conditions for changing your nature, then you will attain the goal. You will reveal the Upper World inside the property of bestowal, and then you’ll discover that our entire world is but a small, insignificant dimension.

Question: Is crossing the Machsom the most difficult part in the spiritual ascent? Once you cross over, is the process accelerated?

My Answer: Yes, it is accelerated by many times, and this happens clearly in your perception and awareness.

Question: Rav, I’ve read that as one studies Kabbalah, he is shown his egoistic side and that as the Creator wants someone to advance, His blows against him are harder and harder.

In the past few months, my “luck” (for lack of a better term) has gotten much worse. What is the Creator telling me? That I am not putting enough effort into Kabbalah? I feel beaten down. My only consolation is that maybe, just maybe, this is the precursor to the Creator correcting my egoism. But what if I’m wrong? I think we are all here studying Kabbalah because of the promise of the reward, but am I doing something wrong to be on such a path of pain while trying to reach the goal of correction?

My Answer: You must read the Shamati articles immediately. Precisely your current state will help you understand what the Creator wants from you.

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The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Lock and the Key” (abridged)

41. Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yosi were walking along a road (of spiritual ascent). As they reached a field (a state that’s ready for correction), Rabbi Chiya said to Rabbi Yosi, “The words BARAH SHEET (created six) certainly allude to BERESHEET, for the six Supernal Days (the six Lights), VAK de Bina, shine on the Torah (ZA), while the others (above them), i.e. GAR de Bina, are concealed.”

42. However, it is said in the secrets of creation of BERESHEET that He who is Holy and Concealed established the laws in Bina, in the secret and concealed, meaning Malchut of Partzuf Atik, which is a Partzuf with Malchut of Tzimtzum Aleph (the First Restriction). And He concealed all (the Lights) within the law that He established in Bina (a lower degree), and everything is locked under one key (condition). And He hid this key in a hall (the desire of Malchut). And although everything is hidden in that hall, the most important thing is in that key, for it locks and unlocks everything – in Sefira Yesod (instead of Malchut), the place of the covenant (unification of the souls with the Creator), permissible (for reception of the Light) after Tzimtzum Bet (the Second Restriction). This Screen allows for the reception of Light (in the souls), and is hence called the “point of population,” Tzimtzum Bet, and not the “central point” (of all creation), Tzimtzum Aleph.

43. That hall (Malchut) conceals tremendous treasures (Light). And there are tightly closed gates in that hall, which are meant to block access to the Light. There are fifty of them. They were divided into four sides and became forty-nine gates, for one gate has no side, and it is unknown whether it exists above or below. Hence, it remained closed.

A gate signifies the desire to receive the Light. If man can use a desire for the Creator’s sake, this is called a Commandment. The received Light is called the Torah. It is written about this: “Fifty gates of Bina, and all are given to Moshe, except for one, the last secret of the absence of the Upper Light” – for this key will open Malchut of primordial egoism, which will occur at the end of all the corrections, at the completion of the 6,000 years.

44. Those gates have one lock with a narrow space inside for inserting the key. It is unmarked (a rule of revelation), and recognized only by the impress of the key, which is unknown in that narrow space, but (information about it is concealed) only in the key itself. And it is written of this secret: BERESHEET BARAH ELOKIM (IN THE BEGINNING THE CREATOR CREATED). “In the beginning” is the key, and all is concealed within it, as it unlocks and locks. And six gates are contained in this key, which locks and unlocks. When it locks those gates, encloses them within itself, it is written IN THE BEGINNING (BERESHEET): a revealed word, though it is usually concealed. BARAH (CREATED) is a concealed word everywhere, implying that the key unlocks it and locks it up.

Malchut that stands in NE is called a “lock,” for it prevents Ohr Hochma from entering the soul, and Ateret Yesod is called a “key.” But there is a special recording, a prohibition in AVI on the Zivug in Malchut until the end of correction of all desires. The corrections are done on Yesod, all 49 Sefirot, while Malchut, the 50th gate, blocks the Light to Malchut.
And the word BERESHEET – IN THE BEGINNING – incorporates only the key, only 49 Sefirot, excluding Malchut, the 50th gate. However, the Light of Hassadim shines in all the Partzufim of the world of Atzilut. Therefore, the words IN THE BEGINNING THE CREATOR CREATED refer to the CONCEALED HOCHMA, because the word “created” – BARA, stems from BAR – outside, which means that He brought them outside the bounds of reception of the Light of Hochma, locked them.

“The Lock and the Key” – full commentary

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The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Letters by Rabbi Amnon Saba” (abridged)

Letters (forces and properties that the Creator governs) come to the Creator (reveal themselves). Each letter (property) tries to prove that it is the most fitting to achieving the goal of creation (merging with the Creator). But the Creator replies (reveals) to each letter its deficiency (its corresponding impure, egoistic force, which impedes the analysis of man’s properties and their correction).

22. Rabbi Amnon Saba said: “When the Creator thought to create the world (the system of governance of the souls), all of the letters (properties of the future creation – man) were still concealed.

The Letter Tav
23. All the letters of the alphabet (the forces that govern the world) began approaching the Creator in reverse order (because this is the order of the souls’ ascent from below upwards). The last letter of the alphabet, Tav, entered first and said, “Master of the world! It is good, and also seemly of You, to create the world with me, with my properties, for the word EmeT (truth), which is Your property, ends with the letter Tav. That is why it is fitting to begin the universe with me.” But the Creator answered that it also ends the word MaveT (death), because before the end of correction the world cannot stand on truth alone, but on its connection to other properties.

The Letter Shin
24. The letter Shin appeared before the Creator and said: “Maker of the world, it befits the world to be created with me, for Your own name Shadday begins with me.” The Creator replied: “You are fine, handsome, and truthful, but since the letters (properties) of the word Sheker (falsehood) took you to be with them, I cannot create the world with your properties.

The Letters Kuf and Reish
25. From the aforesaid, it follows that whoever wishes to tell a lie will succeed if he first tells the truth as a base on which the lie will then grow and start to act. And so it is in the word Sheker: although the letter Shin is a letter of truth, the other letters – K and R – are falsehood.

The Letter Tzadik
26. The letter Tzadik appeared before the Creator and said: “Master of the world, You should create the world with me, for Tzadikim (the righteous) are marked by me. And You are called a Tzadik (righteous one).” But the Creator replied, “But the impure, egoistic forces cling to you.”

The Letter Peh
27. The letter Peh entered and said: “Master of the world, it would be good to create the world with me, for the future liberation of the world is inscribed in me, as the word Pedut (liberation, redemption from egoism, from evil) begins with me. The Creator answered her: “Though you are fine, the word Peshah (transgression) begins with you and is secretly denoted by you, like a serpent that strikes and hides its head in its body (such is the shape of the letter Peh). So a sinner bows his head, hiding from others’ eyes, but stretches out his hands to sin.

The Letter Ayin
And the Creator also said to the letter Ayin that it would be unfitting to create the world with its properties, for within it lies the property of Avon (crime, sin), although Ayin tried to object, saying that its properties are contained in the word Anavah (humility).

The Letter Samech
28. The letter Samech appeared before the Creator and said: “Creator of the world, it would be good to create the world with my properties, for within me is Smicha (support) for the fallen, as it is written: ‘The Creator supports (Somech) all who fall.’” The Creator replied: “That is why you are needed in your place; do not move from it.” In other words, you must only act as support for the fallen.

The Letter Nun
29. The letter Nun entered and said to the Creator: “It would be good for You to create the world with me, for Norah Tehilot (great praises) is written with me. The Creator replied: “Return to your place, for you are the reason that the letter Samech returned to its place. And rely on it for support. For the letter Nun exists in the word Nefilah (fall), which must be corrected by the letter Samech. This is the reason why it needed to return to its place – so as to strengthen the lower ones, instead of being the basis of the world.

The Letter Mem
30. The letter Mem entered and said: “Master of the world, it would be good for You to create the world by me, for You – Melech (King) are called by me.” The Creator replied: “That is so, but I shall not create the world by you, for the world needs a King. Also, for the same reason I shall not create the world with the letters Lamed and Chaf that form the word MeLeCH.”

The Letter Chaf
31. The letter Chaf descended from the Kisseh: “Creator of the world, with my properties I merit to become the basis of the world, for I am Kavod – Your Glory.” The Creator answered: “I will not create the world by you, for your properties exist in the word Kelayah (destruction) and in the word Kalah (bride).”

The Letter Yod
32. The letter Yod entered and said: “Maker of the world! It would be good to create the world by me, for Your Holy name HaVaYaH begins with me.” The Creator replied: “It is sufficient that you are inscribed in My Name, in Me, and all of your aspirations are to Me, and you should not be uprooted from it all.”

The Letter Tet
33. The letter Tet entered and said: “Maker of the world, it would be good to create the world with me, for it is by me that You are called Tov (Good).” The Creator replied: “I will not create the world by you, for your goodness is concealed from the world. Your goodness has no part in the world that I wish to create, and will only be revealed in the world to come. And since your goodness is concealed within you, the letter Chet is opposite from you, and when you join together, the word CHeT (sin) is formed. This is why these two letters are not recorded in the names of the holy tribes.”

The Letter Zayin
34. The letter Zayin entered and said: “Maker of the world, it would be good to create the world by me, as Shabbat is preserved with me, for it is written: ‘Remember (Zachor) the day of Shabbat, so as to keep it.’” The Creator replied: “But weaponry (Klei Zayin) is made by you.” Having heard that, the letter Zayin left Him.

The Letters Vav and Hey
35. The letter Vav entered and said: “It would be good to create the world with me, for I am a letter from Your Name HaVaYaH (Yod–Hey–Vav–Hey).” The Creator replied: “Vav, both you and the letter Hey should be content to be contained within My Name. This is why I will not create the world with your properties.”

The Letters Dalet and Gimel
36. The letters Dalet and Gimel appeared before the Creator. However, the Creator told them right away: “Both of you help Dalim – the poor, and for as long as they exist on earth, there is a need for Gomel Hesed – to treat them with mercy.” Therefore, you cannot part, and it is enough for you to aid one another in this way.

The Letter Bet
37. The letter Bet entered and said to the Creator: “Maker of the world, it would be good to create the world by me, as by me You are blessed. For Bet is Berachah (blessing).” The Creator replied to Bet: “Of course, I will create the world by you, and you shall be the basis of the world!”

The Letter Aleph
38. The letter Aleph stood outside and did not enter to appear before the Creator. The Creator said to it: “Why do you not come to me like all the other letters?” Aleph replied: “Because I saw all the letters leaving your presence without the desired answer. And besides, I saw You giving this answer to the letter Bet. And You cannot take back his gift and give it to me!” The Creator replied: “Although I will create the world by the letter Bet, it is you who will stand at the head of all the letters, and all of My Unity shall be through you alone.”

39. The Creator made the Upper Letters, which refer to the Bina, large, and the lower letters that refer to Malchut – small. Therefore it is said: “Beresheet Barah” (in the beginning He created) – two words that begin with Bet, and then Elokim Et (the Creator Himself) – two words that begin with Aleph. The first set of Aleph and Bet are letters of Bina, and the second set of Aleph and Bet are letters of Malchut. And they mutually affect one another with their properties.

“The Letters by Rabbi Amnon Saba” – full commentary

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In a recent blog entry, I wrote that we have just published a new edition of the collected works of Rav Baruch Shalom Ashlag – the Rabash. Here I would like to offer some insight and history on the most precious text that Rabash left behind – the book Shamati:

Shamati is the most valuable book in the world, because it has the power to bring a person to the purpose of his life. Shamati is the main Kabbalistic source text. It contains all the foundations of man’s spiritual work. The articles contained in this book summarize everything one needs to enter the Upper World. They encompass the infinite depth of all 125 degrees that a person can and must go through in his spiritual path, whose summit is the goal of creation. This book is the most special book in the world, because no book in the entire history of mankind has gone deeper into man’s spiritual work.

Where did the book Shamati come from? Here’s a brief history. Among all the books and manuscripts that my teacher, Rav Baruch Shalom Ashlag, used for study, there was one special, personal notebook, whose cover held the inscription “Shamati” – Hebrew for “what I heard.” He never parted with this notebook and always made sure to take it along anywhere he went. He never stopped studying it, and used to read it over and over again.

One day, late at night, he suddenly gave it to me and said: “Take this notebook and use it.” I immediately understood that his path was soon to reach an end. And indeed, he passed away the very next morning. His pure soul ascended into the unknown heights as soon as the night was gone.

The notebook he gave me was rather thick, and its contents revealed lessons by my teacher’s father, the great Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag – Baal HaSulam.

Baal HaSulam integrated all of the Kabbalistic knowledge that was previously passed down in secret, from teacher to student, from generation to generation, and thus for millennia. In doing so, Baal HaSulam prepared for us a method of mass spiritual ascension.

Rav Baruch Ashlag recorded his father’s lessons word for word, because he heard them directly from his father and Teacher. Hence, we have to follow these words just as they appear, and abide by the exact form that Baal HaSulam chose for his words. One should strive for his thoughts to go through the very same path as the text lays out, following Baal HaSulam’s thought. It’s more important to adhere to a great Kabbalist than to pay attention to the beauty of the linguistic nuances in the text. One should strive to see the inner beauty of the text, and then, as one will continue reading it, his understanding of the articles will undergo constant transformation, penetrating deeper and deeper.

In these articles Baal HaSulam often relies on quotes by other Kabbalists, written from the heights of their attainment. These quotes should give us an understanding of how profound the topic at hand is. They should also help us realize that we are receiving the method of adhesion with the Creator from the entire lineage of Kabbalists, and this method is being passed to us by the very last Kabbalist in this lineage – the great Baal HaSulam.

All of these texts should be regarded as one article, because they all speak about the same thing. They describe how the creature searches for its Creator and grows closer to Him, until it attains adhesion with Him. Essentially, these articles describe all the work that a person has to do in order to attain equivalence of form, adhesion and union with the Creator. In all of reality, there is no other reason for existence besides this one goal. According to this goal, man enables the entire reality, all the worlds and everything that inhabits them, to rise and incorporate in the Creator.

Hence, we have to understand that the entire universe, all the creatures, and all the worlds, are inside one person. Every person has to imagine that he is that person, and that he has freedom of choice and freedom of action. He, and only he, is standing opposite the Creator, and he has the responsibility and the privilege of doing the work necessary to attain equivalence of form, unification and adhesion with the Creator.

This is what all the articles in the book Shamati are about.

The clock has started ticking and time is flying by. In every part of the world there are people who are starting to feel an interest in spiritual ascent and to ask the question, “What is the meaning of my life?” In light of this, I understood the uniqueness and importance of the Shamati articles, and this is why I decided to publish this book and to reveal it to the world.

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Two questions I received on a woman’s desire for a faithful companion, and women’s singing:

Question: Is a woman’s desire for her man to be loyal, faithful and devoted only to her a part of the will to receive (the ego), or is this embedded in her nature? If it’s embedded in her nature, why did the Creator do this? What is the purpose of the woman’s suffering?

My Answer: The women’s suffering is part of the egoistic suffering that brings one to the realization that egoism is evil, the recognition that it’s necessary to break away from egoism, the desire to gain the property of bestowal, and then the reception of this property from above. You have to separate your earthly, animalistic, egoistic desire to have a loyal, devoted companion, from your aspiration to the property of bestowal. Spiritual ascent begins with the desire for one’s spiritual aspiration upward to be stronger than one’s natural aspiration downward.

Question: Why aren’t women allowed to sing out loud? What’s the connection between Kabbalah and a woman singing out loud?

My Answer: Women are allowed to sing, provided that men won’t hear them, because this “seduces” the men – distracts them from their spiritual work! A woman has a subconscious desire to attract a man’s attention. Women who want to use their natural properties correctly should restrain themselves in order to avoid becoming a disturbance in the spiritual growth of others.

We are all parts of one single soul of Adam, and we have to help each other overcome our nature. We shouldn’t suppress it, but use it correctly and separate the spiritual from the corporeal.

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We have just published my first book in Arabic – a translation of the book From Chaos to Harmony.

There are many people among the Arabic population who are interested in spiritual ascent. This has ancient roots in the general Arabic culture. I have many students whose native language is Arabic, and therefore I am very glad that this book has been published. After all, Kabbalah was revealed to the world by our common forefather Abraham.

I hope that we will soon publish many more Kabbalistic books in Arabic with the help of my Arabic students. I look forward to working together!

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Three questions I received on my connection with Rabash:

Question: Rabash wrote that Baal HaSulam’s students fell from the spiritual level they were on after Baal HaSulam died because they no longer had anyone to support them. Didn’t they notice this? And more importantly: How does a Kabbalist guard himself from this, what does he use for support? Baal HaSulam didn’t have a Rav, and neither did Rabash, and now you don’t have a Rav either. How do you guard yourself from descents and mistakes?

My Answer: Just like them – by being connected with them directly and clearly! One who has attained the Creator’s plan continues to advance. One who realizes that it is necessary and feels responsible does not leave the path.

Everyone experiences descents and ascents until the end of all the levels. However, beginners fall into their egoism and can’t even “move a finger” on their own, whereas the advanced students experience this in another way. Hence, one should focus all of one’s energy on overcoming the first part of the path.

Question: What do you do when you run out of answers?! If Rabash was still with us today, then you would still be studying with him and asking him questions. But what do you do when you have questions now? Do you ever have questions that you haven’t found the answers to yet?

My Answer: If I have questions, then I ask Rabash. This isn’t mysticism, but reality. I am his student because I attained a connection with him – not a physical connection, but an inner connection through equivalence of form. Hence, when I have questions, I turn to this image, to greater equivalence of form with him, or in other words, to “his image in me,” and this is how I find his answers to my questions – like a lower degree learns and receives from a higher degree.

It’s because the lower one feels the Upper One. One always feels only himself, and he feels it only inside him. Rabash remains the Upper Partzuf for me and I have a connection with him. Otherwise I wouldn’t call myself his student.

Question: Dear Rav Laitman, who authorized you to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah?

My Answer: My teacher Rav Baruch Ashlag (Rabash), the eldest son of Baal HaSulam. I wrote my first three books while I was by his side. I was his secretary, assistant, and student for twelve years. The most important thing in Kabbalah is who you learn from. In addition, “learning” means that you are really a student of your teacher and are connected to him in every way. See “A Speech in Celebration of the Conclusion of The Zohar” by Baal HaSulam.

After my teacher passed away, I continued doing our common work in this world. Rabash was the only Kabbalist in the previous generation, and I am his student. I think that my lessons, books, and everything I do indicate this. I only teach the works of Baal HaSulam and Rabash.

Incidentally, did you ask this question of other people who teach “Kabbalah” today?

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I had a conversation that was recorded called “Kabbalists Write.” We discussed my fourth book, Attaining the Worlds Beyond. I spoke with Ben-Tzion Gertz, a writer and an editor of several of my books in Hebrew.

Immediately after my teacher’s passing (September 1991), I had to go to Toronto to visit my dying father. I wrote this book after I returned, following the death of my father (February 1992). I think that more than any other of my books, it conveys the feelings of a person who is beginning the path of Kabbalah, one’s impressions from encountering the world of Kabbalah. This is exactly how I saw this book – the first of a series of books that I would write.

Here is an introductory chapter from the book Attaining the Worlds Beyond:

“The need for this text became apparent to me from the questions that I received from my students, and from the questions that were asked during various lectures and radio programs, as well as from the letters that continue to flood in from all over the world.

The difficulty of explaining and teaching Kabbalah lies in the fact that the spiritual world has no counterpart in our world. Even if the object of our studies becomes clear, our understanding of it is only temporary. What we learn is grasped by the spiritual component of our ability to understand, which is constantly renewed from Above. Thus, a subject we initially understand may appear unclear at a later date. Depending on our mood and our spiritual state, the text can appear as either full of deep meaning, or entirely meaningless.

Do not despair if what was so clear yesterday becomes very confusing today. Do not give up if the text appears to be vague, strange, or illogical. Kabbalah is not studied for the sake of acquiring theoretical knowledge, but to help us see and perceive what is hidden from us. When, after we have contemplated and acquired spiritual strength, we begin to see and perceive, then our ability to attain the resulting spiritual lights and levels will bring us to true knowledge.

Until we can comprehend the Upper Light and can perceive what it presents to us, we will not understand how the universe is built and how it works, since there are no analogies to these concepts in our own world.

This text can help ease our first steps toward perceiving the spiritual forces. At later stages, we will be able to progress only with the help of a teacher.

This text should not be read in an ordinary fashion. Rather, we should concentrate on a paragraph, think about it, and attempt to understand examples that reflect in the issues discussed. We may then try to apply these issues to our own personal experiences.

We should patiently and repeatedly read and think about each sentence as we try to penetrate the author’s feelings. We should also read slowly, trying to extract the nuances of what is written, and if need be, return to the beginning of each sentence.

This method can either help us delve into the material with our own feelings, or recognize that our feelings are lacking regarding a particular issue. If the latter is the case, it is a crucial prerequisite for us to move forward spiritually.

This text is not written for quick reading. Though it deals with one subject only, ‘How to relate to the Creator,’ it deals with it in different ways. This allows each of us to find the particular phrase or word that will transport us into the depths of the text.

Although the desires and actions of egoism are described in the third person, until we can separate our personal consciousness from our desires, we should consider the aspirations and desires of egoism our own. The word “body” in the text does not relate to the physical self, but to ‘egoism,’ our desire to receive.

To get the most out of this material, I recommend reading the same passages at different times and in different states of mind. By doing so, you can better acquaint yourself with your reactions and attitudes towards the same text on different occasions.

Disagreeing with the material is always positive, as is agreeing with it. The most important aspect of reading the text is your response to it. A feeling of disagreement indicates you have reached the preliminary stage (achoraim, the backside) of understanding, which prepares you for the next stage of perception (panim, face).

It is precisely through this slow meaningful manner of reading that you can develop feelings, or ‘vessels’ (kelim). These are necessary for us to receive spiritual sensations. Once the vessels are in place, the Upper Light will be able to enter them. Prior to their formation, the Light merely exists around you, surrounding your soul, although you cannot perceive it.

This text is not written to enhance your knowledge. Nor is it meant to be memorized. In fact, we must never test ourselves on the material.

It is even better if we forget the contents altogether, so that the second reading will seem fresh and entirely unfamiliar. By forgetting the material, it implies that we have grasped the previous sensations and that they have now subsided, leaving a space to be filled by sensations we have yet to experience. The process of developing new sensory organs is constantly renewed and accumulated in the spiritual, unperceived sphere of our souls.

The most important aspect of our reading is the way we feel about the material while reading it, not afterwards. Once we experience these feelings, they become revealed within the heart and mind, and manifest themselves when they are needed in the continuous process of the soul’s development.

Rather than rushing to complete reading the text, it is recommended to concentrate on the sections that appeal to us the most. Only then will the text be able to help and guide us in our search for personal spiritual ascent. The goal of this text is to help us become interested in the mysteries of life, such as:

Why were we born into this world? Can we enter the spiritual worlds from here? Can we ever understand the purpose of the creation? Is it possible to perceive the Creator, eternity and immortality? How can we begin to grow spiritually?”

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Two questions I received from women about the purpose of preparation in one’s inner work, and the need to pay Maaser:

Question: I always try to be in the state of “preparation” – to hold the intention, connect to my husband who also studies Kabbalah, disseminate, and study. Still, sometimes I experience descents and lose all of my connection with the Creator. Later I come out of them and try to increase my preparation even more, as much as I can. But after that there are more descents, and then I again increase my preparation and aspiration, and this is followed by more descents.

I understand that there will always be descents and ascents, and that they are necessary. However, if I lose my connection with the Creator, doesn’t this mean that I don’t spend enough time preparing? Or am I wrong about the purpose of the preparation? Isn’t it intended to help you get out of a descent faster? Or is it intended to prevent the descents, to have less of them?

My Answer: If you prepare correctly, then whenever you experience some state, and then this state finishes passing over you (it finishes manifesting fully, through all ten Sefirot or all four stages), then if you prepared well beforehand, you’ll immediately begin perceiving the end of this state as a descent. And then you’ll immediately want to ascend from it, and you’ll begin intensively attracting the external forces of the group. The group will give you:

1) The importance of the goal;
2) The sensation of your own weakness;
3) The necessary aspiration to ask for correction from above.

As a result of all this, you will produce a request (a MAN), and then the Light of correction (Ohr Makif, MAD) will descend during the general group study. And then you’ll ascend – that is, you’ll perceive and value the property of love and bestowal as if it’s the highest possible thing.

And that’s how a new cycle begins.

Question: When women participate in the group together with men, do they also have to pay the Maaser?

My Answer: Yes. Every person who advances must give a tenth of his net profit to Kabbalah’s dissemination around the world – to the world’s correction. This is not a tradition, but a necessity in order to correct a tenth of your egoistic desire, Malchut. The other parts become corrected by your efforts in the study, the group, and dissemination. You can’t just “buy them off” the way you do to correct this “still” part of your desires.

Isn’t that a shame? It would be so easy to just pay someone, and then suddenly to find yourself in the spiritual world! However, since our act of giving 10% for the correction of the world is part of correction, our egoism objects to it in every way possible, and this is why every person receives enormous disturbances when it comes to giving away the Maaser. Yet every person normally has no problem gambling away or spending 10% of his earnings in any other way, on things he doesn’t really need at all or on entertainment. However, without participating in the common correction this way, one cannot undergo any private correction either! We usually recommend using this money to buy Kabbalistic materials and disseminating them yourself – in other words, putting your own 10% to the right use.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Women Need to Work On Correction Just Like Men
Laitman.com Post: The Woman’s Correction
Laitman.com Post: Be Happy about the Descents!
Maaser FAQ
A Talk about Women’s Spiritual Development #1 [40:34m]
A Talk about Women’s Spiritual Development #2 [1:35:23m]

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A question I received: In Tel Aviv, Yaffo, in the district Neve-Tzedek, there is a synagogue called “Marot HaSulam” (מראות הסולם), although unfortunately, it is in ruins. Can you please explain its name? Is it related to Baal HaSulam’s Perush HaSulam (The Ladder Commentary on the Book of Zohar)? I know that some commentaries on The Book of Zohar were written in this synagogue. The synagogue was founded in 1910, and Baal HaSulam wrote his Perush HaSulam in 1940. Did he write it in this synagogue?

My Answer: Baal HaSulam was forced to move from Jerusalem to Yaffo to get away from his opponents. He lived there and attended this synagogue. Then he moved to Tel Aviv, to a neighborhood near Rothchild Street.

Just like my teacher Rabash, Baal HaSulam’s oldest son, I was never interested in history, but only in ascending from our world to the Upper World. People who are attracted to history and what happens to the body are not attracted higher – to spirituality. Personally, I don’t feel any interest in this place. However, it would be nice to turn it into a museum about Baal HaSulam, into a place that explains Kabbalah to people!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Stop Thinking about the Past!
Laitman.com Post: A Kabbalah Museum – Can There Be Such a Thing?
Kabbalah Today Article: Yehuda Leib HaLevi Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) – 1884-1954
5 Things You Should Know About the Zohar
About Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam)

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