Question: After the appearance of Baal HaSulam’s writings in the world, the whole method of correcting the soul is complete. From this point on, there are two jobs at hand: 1. disseminating the method of Baal HaSulam, and 2. our realizing the method. Should these two processes occur simultaneously?

Answer: Of course! To the extent that we circulate the wisdom of Kabbalah in the world, we attract people with the point in the heart, and they join us. Therefore, our force – the force of those who desire to reach the revelation of the Creator, the correction of creation, love of neighbor, unity, and merging with the Upper Force – grows.

As the number of our students grows, we achieve greater unification by the force of quantity, and as a result, each of us possesses a greater force. The more people that gather at the bottom of the pyramid, the more qualitative the force becomes since more people rise to the top of the pyramid, and the pyramid itself grows.

Thus, we have two opposite tendencies: to unite more on the inside and to circulate more on the outside, into the world. However, these two directions in our activities are not opposite since we disseminate the spiritual force through the strength of inner unification.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, Lesson for Commemoration of Baal HaSulam’s Passing Day

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Pass Baal HaSulam’s Gift To The People
Laitman.com Post: How To Please The Creator?
Kabbalah Insights: Pyramid

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Baal HaSulam says that he was given the privilege to disclose Kabbalah because he lived in a unique time, in the generation of the complete revelation of the Creator. However, people started to study his writings only now, 60 years later. Why did it take so long for people to begin seeking his books?

Answer: There is the time of handing it down, and there is the time for taking it in. Obviously, today, we are only beginning to explore his method. Thirty years ago, his books were studied by fewer than 10 students in the whole world. However, today, these texts are studied by hundreds of thousands of people. The books are translated into multiple languages and are available through the Internet.

The delay that occurred in the past demonstrates how much work we still have to do in order to bring these sources closer to the masses, adapt them, and to awaken the masses to them. We are the medium that stands between the sources and the people. Hence, we have to work in order to bring them to one another and to teach the people how to correctly use the method of the revelation of the Upper Governance.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, Lesson for Commemoration of Baal HaSulam’s Passing Day

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Passing The Light Of Attainment Down The Chain Of Souls
Laitman.com Post: Our Only Chance To Ascend Is To Cling To The Upper Level
Laitman.com Post: Why Was There A Prohibition On Kabbalah Before?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A - No Comments →

We are removed from the World of Infinity by 125 steps of concealment and are totally cut off from authentic reality. It is like we are comatose and don’t realize who and where we are. We have to awaken from this state, regain consciousness, and return to the same place from which we descended by climbing back up all 125 steps again. On this path from below upward, we overcome concealments and achieve similarity with the Creator. In other words, we become like Him.

As a matter of fact, no one in this world has a chance to wake up on their own, nor can we ascend from the bottom point that is buried under 125 degrees of concealment. As it is said, “A prisoner cannot release himself from the jail.” For that, he needs to use some external force.

We are unable to sense the upper world and, therefore, exist in a false reality. Because of our unconsciousness, we fantasize that we are alive and that there is a world full of people around us, the earth, and the universe. Such images emerge in our unconscious minds, and we perceive them as real life.

Through our dreams, we hear voices that say, “You are unconscious, deprived of actual life, of the spiritual world,” but we don’t trust them. Only those people who watch us from the side realize that we are in a coma.

We have to be grateful for the awakening of our “point in the heart.” It allows us to differentiate impulses that reach to us from another world and a different reality. Great Kabbalists try to introduce us to real sensation and, by doing so, wake us up to a genuine existence.

Beginning with Adam, the first human being who "regained consciousness," and up until now, there was a long chain of Kabbalists who attained authentic reality. However, today, we all have to come back to our senses. Our "doctor," Baal HaSulam, together with his "assistant," Rabash, applied all possible efforts to help us recover consciousness. It is they who attract the ray of Light that now finds its way from authentic reality into our unconscious mind that is, as of yet, switched off.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, Lesson for Commemoration of Baal HaSulam’s Passing Day

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Mission Of Baal HaSulam’s Great Soul
Laitman.com Post: The Science Of Light For The World
Laitman.com Post: "Nourished" By The Teaching Of Baal HaSulam And Rabash

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalistic Sources - No Comments →

Beginning with Adam, the earlier a Kabbalist lived, the closer he was connected with the root and the higher he stood. He was the source of Light for all who came after him. However, for those who desire to connect with the beam of Light expanding from Infinity, the main source is the latest or the nearest Kabbalist for it is he who “hooks up” and connects you with the Light, the Creator.

For us, such a Kabbalist was Baal HaSulam. He writes that he was given the privilege to hand the science of Kabbalah down to us. We are privileged that such a soul has been revealed to us who is passing the method of Kabbalah forth which allows us to uncover the Creator.

Baal HaSulam’s writings are the only works that can guide us to reaching our spiritual goal today. The books written by Baal HaSulam are the only texts that channel the Light that we need for our correction. And in order to prepare ourselves for them, we need the articles of Rabash.

The revelation of the Creator to the created beings, or our spiritual liberation, must be complete for everyone. This means that the teaching provided by these two masters is the teaching for the entire world.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, Lesson for Commemoration of Baal HaSulam’s Passing Day

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: A Spiritual Ladder Anyone Can Climb
Laitman.com Post: Permission From Above
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalists On Kabbalists, Part 26
Laitman.com Post: Between The Two Great Lights

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Dissemination, Kabbalistic Sources - 1 Comment →

Rabash writes, “My father Baal HaSulam promised us that by following his path and carrying out his advice, we will merit eternal life from the Creator, adhesion to Him.” Rabash himself reached a high level of spiritual attainment by using only the works and the advice of his father. Evidently, there is no other practical means for our generation to reveal the Upper world except for the writings of Baal HaSulam. His soul is especially close to us since we value a person according to how he benefits us.

We don’t compare the levels of the Kabbalists: Moses, Rashbi, the ARI, Baal HaSulam, and Rabash. To receive an eternal, spiritual life we depend on the souls that preceded us: Rabash and Baal HaSulam. It’s similar to how a mother is of the most importance to her child. Of course there are many elevated souls, but we can only unite with the spiritual system through Rabash and Baal HaSulam.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, Lesson for Commemoration of Baal HaSulam’s Passing Day

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Commemorating The Day Of Rabash’s Passing
Laitman.com Post: Between The Two Great Lights

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spirituality - No Comments →

Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Following the Paths of Kabbalists

The order of things is such that even in the simplest things we cannot take a step or move a finger without help from the Kabbalists. So let us lower our heads before them, and then our eyes will be opened.
Book of Upbringing (Sefer HaKhinukh), Chapter “Truma”

And although the Kabbalists have passed to us their teaching of Kabbalah and continue to escort us like trusty guides, directing us to the path, in addition to all that they teach us about the path that they themselves have merited insight. And when we understand, we will acquire their wisdom and attain a true and real foundation upon which we will build an eternal and magnificent structure.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Wondrous Treasure of Remembering”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Passing The Light Of Attainment
Laitman.com Post: The Vital Link
5 Minutes Of Light: “Nullification In spiritual Progress”

Filed under: Kabbalistic Sources - No Comments →

We have a problem with perceiving The Book of Zohar because even though Rashbi wrote it for our times, he did so from the height of his soul and used an ancient style from 2000 years ago. Obviously, this book does not suit us in this form because we are at the end of the final exile, absolutely detached from the spiritual world. Therefore, we don’t know how to open up this book and how to use it to work on ourselves.

That is why Baal HaSulam created a "ladder" (Sulam) for us, so we can rise along it to the height of The Book of Zohar. This ladder is built so that there is commentary for every excerpt of The Book of Zohar. And it doesn’t matter how much of this book we understand! The truth is that we don’t understand the commentary or the book itself. Nevertheless, the commentary creates a connection between me and the original text of The Zohar.

The same happens on every degree. As we ascend along the degrees, we enter The Book of Zohar through the Sulam Commentary. Without this commentary it would be impossible to connect to The Book of Zohar.

The Sulam is not necessary in order to understand, but for us to attain inner unity. Even if I don’t understand the Sulam Commentary or The Book of Zohar, but I use them and connect to the source, The Zohar starts to influence me.

At first the Sulam is necessary in order to connect us to the Light that Reforms. Without this we would have no possibility of using this marvelous means.

As I read, I am influenced by the Light through the reading, the study, and the group, and the Light awakens new qualities in me. These new qualities enable me to really establish contact with The Book of Zohar and to start to feel what happens there, what is written there. Only then can we speak about understanding The Zohar.

From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, Yahrtzeit Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: How The Sulam Commentary Works With The Zohar
Laitman.com Post: A Guide To The Book Of Zohar: The Ladder To All The Bounty In The World
Laitman.com Post: Using The Ladder To Build Our Soul

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Holidays, Kabbalistic Sources, Zohar - No Comments →

Yom Kippur, the Day Of Atonement, is a state when the Kli (desire) that we need to correct is revealed. Rabash writes in many articles that a person comes to the Day Of Atonement according to his inner state, which can be revealed without any connection to the onset of the holiday according to the calendar.

Each of us goes through these states in our development, including ascents called Rosh HaShana (the New Year), Yom Kippur (the Day Of Atonement) and others. Yom Kippur is a very elevated state. A great Light has to influence us in order to reveal this degree in us and a whole sequence of actions is required. A person must exert great effort within the group, in our unification, where the breaking once occurred. The place of the breaking is given to us so that we can correct it. Then we will understand what is called correction, what the structure of this place is, and how the Upper Force created and continues to support it. As a result, we discover the Creator.

In order to achieve this, we exert effort according to the main rule of the Torah: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” As Kabbalists advise us, we first actualize it in one or several small groups rather than in all of humanity, since that would be impossible. By trying to realize this rule in the unification between us according to the method of Kabbalists, we go from love for the created beings to love for the Creator and discover to what extent we are not in the quality of love and bestowal.

We are not talking about life in this world and how good or bad we feel. We do not check good and evil according to this, nor do we arrive at The Day Of Atonement in this manner. Only by being in a group, aspiring toward the connection between us, and awakening the Light that Reforms, do I come to see how consumed I am by hatred and rejection with regard to my friends, who are trying to unite in order to reveal the Creator within the group.

I reveal the force of the separation, the force of the breaking in me, and only in regard to this force can I say that I have revealed evil. Then, with this evil, I can come to the Creator and demand correction from Him. The Day Of Atonement then becomes a day of joy because I reveal the ailment of egoism, my own nature that needs to be corrected. I reveal the condition, “I created egoism,” and now I can ask the Creator for the Torah, which is the force to correct it. It is written, “I created egoism and I created the Torah for its correction because the Light in it returns one to the Source” (to the Creator).

First we have to work very hard on the unification between us, and then the Upper Light shines upon us from the level of ELUL (which stands for “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine”). Then we reach Rosh Hashanah, a state where we desire a new beginning, new changes on the path, unity between us, the birth of a new system or a new human being (Adam) in us. And only after going through all of this do we reach a state where we check all ten of our qualities. On the 10th day after the New Year, which marked the beginning of the new path, we come to the Day Of Atonement.

At that point, on one hand we are truly in a state of complete despair and lack of strength, and on the other hand we experience great joy because we can now finally cry out to the Creator asking Him to help us with the complete confidence that He will help us. We have this confidence because we have already checked ourselves and reached the realization that we all dwell only in evil, unable to do anything about it. But now, by virtue of the connection between us, we have the confidence that the Creator is helping us and is just waiting for this very moment.

Baal HaSulam writes that “There is no happier moment in a person’s life than when he discovers how absolutely powerless he is and loses faith in his own strength since he exerted all the possible efforts that he was able to, but reached nothing. This is because precisely at this moment, during this state, he is ready for a complete and clear prayer to the Creator!” This moment is called the Day Of Atonement. From this moment on, a person can be sure that he will receive the Light of Correction.

From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/15/2010, “Yom Kippur”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Turning Grief Into Joy
Laitman.com Post: The Maidens Of Jerusalem
Laitman.com Post: A Prayer That Will Be Heard

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Holidays, Inner Work, Prayer and Intention - No Comments →

Kabbalah TV Channel 66’s Kabbalah for Beginners, “Baal HaSulam”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Filed under: Television - No Comments →

Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Main Kabbalistic Sources: Baal HaSulam’s Commentaries on the works of the ARI and The Book of Zohar

And who better than I knows that I am not at all worthy of being even a messenger and a scribe for disclosing such secrets, and much less to thoroughly understand them. And why has the Creator done so to me? It is only because the generation is worthy of it, as it is the last generation, which stands at the threshold of complete redemption. And for this reason, it is worthy of beginning to hear the voice of the Messiah’s Shofar, which is the revealing of the secrets, as has been explained.
– Baal HaSulam, “Messiah’s Shofar”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Building The State Of Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: The Voice Of The Messiah’s Horn
Laitman.com Post: The Horn Of The Messiah Is A Call For Unity

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work - No Comments →