A question I received: I don’t understand the views of this world according to Kabbalah. You say that Kabbalah is against asceticism, and you also said that a Kabbalist has the biggest ego and wants to swallow the entire world. But in the Talmud it says, “The way of the Torah is to eat bread with salt, drink water from a cup, sleep on the ground, lead a life of hardship and labour at learning Torah.”

I also read this quote in Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “When a person, by means of his studies, reaches the level at which he wants nothing but spiritual elevation and at which he accepts only the bare necessities of life in order to sustain his physical existence, not for pleasure’s sake, this is the first step of his ascent to the spiritual world“ (Talmud, Psachim).

So, I’m confused by all of this. How are we supposed to behave in this world? Can you give me a precise answer?

My Answer: Before falling from the spiritual level 2,000 years ago, people could sustain themselves on the spiritual level (in love and bestowal) through restrictions and studying Kabbalah (the authentic, inner Torah). This way they were able to oppose the egoism that constantly increased inside them.

However, after the people fell from the spiritual level of “love for thy neighbor” into “unfounded hatred,” the sages of the Talmud made a special correction (addition) in the Upper Governance, as Baal HaSulam writes in item 11 of the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot“.

Since then, only the “Light of the Torah” (Ohr Makif) can bring about a correction. This Light descends on a person who has gone through the proper preparation (in the group), during the study of Kabbalah with the right intention. It is written: “I created egoism and I created the Torah for its correction, because its Light returns one to the Source (to bestowal).”

Hence, only the correct kind of study will evoke the Light, which will make all the corrections and changes. So organize your studies – and relax!

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The President-elect of the United States, Barack Obama writes in his book, Audacity Of Hope – Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream:

“In response, I would usually smile and nod and say that I understood the skepticism, but that there was – and always had been – another tradition to politics, a tradition that stretched from the days of the country’s founding to the glory of the civil rights movement, a tradition based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and that if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done.”

My Comment: Throughout all human history, from the ancient times to today, there were many people who realized and wrote about the cause of all the suffering and crises that take place in society and in nature as a whole. That cause is man’s egoistic nature.

However, in our world there is no means to correct man’s egoism. The only thing capable of correcting it is the Upper Light, which created it. And there is only one method in our world that can draw the Light’s influence upon our egoism – the Science of Kabbalah. Its intended purpose is to reveal the Creator – the quality of love and bestowal – to man in this world (see the beginning of the article, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”).

So if the new American President plans to make the world better, he has to familiarize himself with Kabbalah. Otherwise, things will turn out as they always have.

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Two questions I received on the arts and spirituality:

Question: In a previous blog entry, in response to the question of whether works of art are spiritual, you said: “All art was brought about by man’s desire to express himself, or in other words, by the desire for glory, to stand out, to prove something (even if it’s to himself), to express his way of seeing things.”

But you have also said that “A desire cannot be bad if it is accompanied by the intention to bestow.”

My Answer: In order to acquire an intention of bestowal, a person has to study Kabbalah for at least three years. Then, as a result of the Upper Light’s influence, the quality of bestowal will appear within him. There is no other means to correct your original egoistic intention and transform it into a spiritual one.

Question: An actor is connected with the audience and they understand each other. He gives fully of himself to them, and in return receives applause (fulfillment). The audience applauds with great emotion, giving all of their feelings to the actor, and in return they receive fulfillment from his performance. It is a mutual, yet egoistic connection. Should our adhesion with the Creator be something like this?

My Answer: In the example above you’re exchanging different types of pleasure. However, when it comes to the Creator, you must become similar to Him through the quality of bestowal, and this will determine the degree of your connection with Him.

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A question I received: What happens to a person who converts to Judaism? Does a Jewish soul really incarnate into a gentile if his intentions are sincere and he is fully aware of what he is doing?

My Answer:
1. You must differentiate between our earthly traditions and the spiritual actions. A person can do the physical actions on his own, but not the spiritual actions. No physical actions can correct the soul, or even any earthly, physical qualities of a person. The only thing that can correct a person is the Light that descends during the study of Kabbalah, when one learns about the corrected states and how to come closer to them. It is called “the Light of the Torah,” about which the Creator said: “I created egoism and the Torah for its correction, because the Light in the Torah returns egoism to the corrected state.”

2. The soul is a “part of the Creator in man” (Helek Eloka Mi Maal), or in other words, it is the quality of bestowal (love for one’s neighbor) that a person acquires, because this is the only quality that the Creator has (“Good and Does Good”). When one acquires this quality, one become Isra-El, which translates as “Directed toward the Creator.” Everyone else are gentiles (nations), meaning egoists, regardless of their physical origins and whether they were born Jewish or not.

We all came from Ancient Babylon and we must all attain correction. In the past this was achieved by a small part of the Babylonians, the group headed by Abraham, and they were called Isra-El – those who are directed toward the Creator. Today, everyone must do this.

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A question I received: When does the Surrounding Light influence me – only during the lesson or also during dissemination? (Considering that while I’m doing it I aspire to attain the Upper One through the unification with the group.)

My Answer: It influences you during the study, dissemination, and other group actions, depending on your intention to connect with everyone in order to reveal the Creator – the quality of bestowal and love. The Surrounding Light is the Light that will fill you on a higher level.

The fact is that you already exist in all of your future states. However, you don’t perceive it. You must attain these states yourself. By aspiring to them, you draw the influence of your future state upon you and it changes you, making you similar to it. Everything depends only on your desire, your aspiration to that future state.

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A question I received: In the last lesson on the article “The Revelation of Godliness (Matan Torah)” you explained that in reality the other religions do not contain the rule “love your neighbor.” You gave an example of wars that are fought over issues such as the right way to pray and the Caste system in Hinduism, and that these are all signs that religion do not follow the rule “love your neighbor.”

So how are we to understand the “wars against the seven nations” and the war with Amalek? I am trying to understand how these actions can be implemented while keeping the rule “love your neighbor.” I think that even if they are performed while keeping this rule, the future generations will make wrong conclusions about them and as a result, commit cruelty and destruction.

My Answer: Correction takes place precisely through wars and clashes between egoism and the Light. Take King David for example, whose Psalms are valued by the entire world because they are the highest manifestation of love to the Creator. He spent forty years fighting wars, and moreover, he was the aggressor. This is known as the “Conquest of David” (Kibush David), spanning from Egypt to Babylon, including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and other territories that have Upper Spiritual roots (other territories don’t have such roots). Another example is Joshua, who conquered the Land of Israel and exiled seven nations from it. Moreover, it was the Creator’s prohibition to let them stay in that land. All of this is described in the Torah, and it happens in congruence with the correction of egoism and its replacement with “bestowal.”

In order to correctly picture the arrangement of people in our world, one must imagine the forces that govern them. If the actions happen according to the Creator’s directive, like the wars fought by Joshua and David in Biblical times, then it is equivalent to the correction of egoism (see Rashbi’s commentary on Beresheet). On the other hand, if the actions are based on man’s decision, then they are egoistic! Since those times, Israel has not fought any wars where it was the aggressor.

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We must come out of our world – “flatland,” where we perceive the universe through the quality of “reception,” and enter the next dimension, where we will perceive the universe through the quality of “bestowal” (outside of us):

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWyTxCsIXE4]

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Filed under: Science - 2 Comments →

A question I received: Can you explain the phrase “falling in order to rise” and how it is expressed in action? When a person who’s been studying Kabbalah for a year suddenly falls so deep into the animate level that he does things he never did before Kabbalah, is this falling in order to rise? Is this the correct process of revelation? How is this useful?

My Answer: This is explained by all the books on one’s inner work:

• First, a person’s egoism increases,
• Then he recognizes that the egoism is evil,
• He then desires to break away from it,
• But then he realizes that it is impossible,
• He then recognizes that only the Creator can do this to him if he will ask,
• Then he makes lengthy efforts to appeal to the Creator,
• And finally, the Light corrects him, revealing the sensation of the spiritual world – the quality of bestowal and love.

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A question I received: I still don’t understand why the Jews concealed Kabbalah until now.

My Answer: I understand you: if Kabbalah is only meant for man’s correction, is a science, and doesn’t manipulate the world in any way, then why was it concealed for 5769 years, since the time it was first revealed by Adam? Is there a prohibition on correcting egoism?

The fact is that throughout all human history, there was only one time when Kabbalah was open to all. That was in Ancient Babylon, which was a “small village” where every person influenced everyone else. When society is in this state, being a single system, it necessitates people to follow the law of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” This is what the Babylonian priest Abraham urged his countrymen to do.

However, only a few people listened to him, those in whom “the point in the heart” was revealed. They followed him and received a name according to their aspiration: Israel, which means Isra (straight) + El (Creator). The rest chose not to unite, not to correct their egoism, nor to acquire the quality of love and bestowal, but to separate from one another. Hence they removed the effect of a single system, of a “small village,” from the society, and scattered all over the world.

Meanwhile, Abraham’s group evolved and grew until the time when, 2000 years ago, an enormous egoism was suddenly expressed in it. That’s when they (Israel, the Jews) fell from the level of “Love thy neighbor as thyself” to the level of unfounded hatred for each other. As a result, they lost the perception of the single system, and therefore their perception of mutual love, the Creator, disappeared as well: the Creator “concealed Himself” from them.

Today, once again, the world has reached a state of a single system, “a small village,” just like in Ancient Babylon. In this state, where all the people are completely interconnected, in order to exist (for us to survive) we have to observe the condition: “every person is responsible for everyone.” And this can only be done under the condition of mutual love. How can we attain this quality and survive? This is what Kabbalah explains. And this is why Kabbalah is being revealed again today – because there is a need for it.

It is because we have revealed precisely the global, systematic egoism that has to be corrected, rather than the individual egoism. As long as this egoism wasn’t yet revealed, Kabbalah – the science about its correction – was also concealed. But today it is revealed to everyone, because everyone will have to correct their attitude to others! This is a law of nature. Because the global egoism has been revealed, there is no prohibition on its correction, and this is why there is no prohibition on Kabbalah. So go ahead and study about what we should be like in a new world.

(On the photograph above, I’m standing on the background of the Tower of Babel. You have to feel that all of it belongs to you!)

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Preface to the Science of Kabbalah (“Pticha”). Items 6 – 9, summary:

6. The five phases of the desire’s development from the Creator to its completed form comprise all of creation. Subsequently the desire is divided into different parts, but each part also consists of all these parts (according to the principle of a holographic image).

The Worlds of Adam Kadmon and Atzilut are still not separated from the Creator through their qualities. Hence, when the soul ascends to these worlds from our world, it merges with the Creator.

7. In the World of Beria, just as in phase 2, the desire to bestow is manifested. Therefore, when the soul is there, it feels independent from the Creator. Nevertheless, this does not make it separate it from the Creator, because it desires to bestow just as He does.

8. In the World of Yetzira, just as in phase 3, the desire to receive is manifested. However, this desire is still insufficient to separate the soul from the Creator.

9. In the World of Assiya phase 4 is manifested – the fully developed desire, called “the body.” It is completely separated from the Creator and feels absolutely independent. The Light inside it is called Nefesh – still, because the desire has no movement of its own.

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