Here is some guidance on how to read the Torah chapter summaries posted on this blog:

The Torah lays out the foundation of the theory and practice of attaining spiritual life. Neither Adam nor Abraham received the full method of attaining the Creator; only Moses did. All other texts are commentaries, that is, other ways of describing the attainment of the Creator or descriptions of partial attainment of Him.

Torah comes from the words Ohr – Light, and Ora’a – instructions. It is written in the Language of Branches, which names spiritual forces by the things they produce in our world. So even though we think that it’s describing our world, it’s actually describing spiritual forces, since in the spiritual world there are only forces without matter.

Why do we need these descriptions of the Upper World?

1. So that by reading them, we will evoke the influence of the Correcting Light (Ohr Makif) on us.

2. So that after we correct ourselves by the Light, we will then be filled by It to the degree we’re corrected.

If it weren’t for this method, we would remain on the animate level of existence forever. We wouldn’t be able to reach the level of eternity, perfection, and equivalence to the Creator.

The Language of Branches (which describes the Upper Forces with the help of their results or branches) has four modifications, or in other words, there are four languages of branches:

1. The language of Tanach – historical narration, like the one used in the Torah chapter summaries posted on this blog;

2. The language of Halacha – laws;

3. The language of Hagadot – legends;

4. The language of Kabbalah – this language is closest to the spiritual roots and the most precise of all the languages. For more on this, See Baal HaSulam’s article, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.”

My suggestion: As you read the Torah, start imagining that it’s talking about egoism, the desire that has to be corrected, so that instead of being used for the sake of oneself, it will be used for the benefit of one’s neighbor (or the Creator, which is the same thing); and this correction happens gradually, in parts. Everything divides into the force of bestowal (the Creator) and the force of reception (the creation). The part of creation that’s corrected or undergoing correction is called Israel (Isra-El – straight to the Creator). It also has parts called people, rulers, slaves (of desires), overseers (of correction), Levites, Kohens, and so on. Check yourself to see how much you’re able to discern actions of forces that govern our world behind the “theatrical” scenes you read.

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A question I received: In the Book of Dvarim it says: “And there was no other prophet in Israel like Moshe.” And the Midrash responds to this: “There are none in Israel, but he can be found amongst the nations of the world. So who is he? He is Bilam.” Does this mean that Bilam was on the same level as Moshe? If Bilam was a prophet, then he perceived the Creator. But how can this be, if Bilam was the epitome of the will to receive for one’s own sake? He was so absorbed with corporeality that the sages even said that he slept with his female donkey – in other words, he didn’t have any desire to bestow. However, we say that in order to reveal the Creator, one has to acquire a screen (Masach), which is the desire to bestow. Then how was Bilam able to reveal the Creator?

My Answer: We are speaking about the forces of the Creator that descend on us from above – a positive force, the right force, and a negative force, the left force. Klipot are produced by the left force of the Creator, and they are an inverse reflection of Him. This is why the Pharaoh knows the Creator, and even his magi know Him. For example, they say, “This matter is in God’s hands,” and so on. In other words, we are dealing with opposite forces – positive and negative, which descend from one Source, and our objective is to connect them correctly inside us. And by connecting them inside us, we attain the Creator’s Design.

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Two questions I received about the mysterious fate of holy books

Question: All the holy books, which have nothing to do with the physical world, were for ages used as a design for living and culture, and sadly caused more suffering than enlightenment. Was this an error?

My Answer: This was necessary in order to mix the properties of egoism with the properties of the Creator that were corrupted in us, so that later, once these two opposite properties are intermixed, we would be able to correct ourselves by evoking the Light of Correction (Ohr Makif). Errors only happen in our understanding of what’s happening, but not in what’s actually happening!

Question: Why was The Book of Zohar written and then concealed for many years? Why did it come into this world so early, if people didn’t need it then?

My Answer: It was written at a time when “light” souls appeared in our world, at the beginning of the exile from the spiritual level, on the 125th level of attainment. But it is being used now, at the end of the exile from the spiritual world, starting with the lowest level (level zero), by people who already understand that there is no other way to go. And The Book of Zohar itself speaks about this.

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The Creator’s connection with creation is like playing tennis against the wall. The Upper Governance is unchanging: The Creator is Good and Does Good, and He treats all of us this way all of the time. The changes take place only in us, even though we think that they take place outside us. It says in the “Preface to the Book of Zohar,” item 34:

“We see a great world before us, and all its wondrous filling. But in fact, we do not see all that except in our own interior. In other words, there is a sort of a photographic machine in our hindbrain that portrays everything that appears to us, and nothing outside of us.

In our brain, there is a kind of polished mirror that inverts everything that is seen there, so that we see it outside our brain, in front of our face. Despite the fact that what we see outside us is not a real thing, we should still thank His providence for having made that polished mirror in our brain, enabling us to see and perceive everything outside us. This is because by that, He had given us the power to perceive everything with clear perception and knowledge, and measure everything from within and from without. Without it, we would lose most of our perception.

The same holds true with the Godly will for Godly perceptions. Even though the changes are all made in the interior of the souls, they nevertheless see it all in the Giver Himself, because only in this manner are they awarded all the perceptions and the pleasantness in the thought of creation. Even though we actually see every thing before our face, still, everyone reasonable knows with certainty that all that we see is only inside our own brain.

The same holds true for the souls. Though they see all the changes in the Giver, they still have no doubt that all these are only in their own interior, and not at all in the Giver.”

So essentially, you are playing with yourself and receiving feedback depending on your own obstacles and confusion. All of this is you.

All the changes happen inside man, who stands opposite absolute love and bestowal. He always sees, analyzes and feels only himself. Everything we feel is a realization of Reshimot in the Upper Light. All of man’s reality is essentially a tennis game against the wall. And we are always playing against this wall.

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Two questions I received on being confused at the beginning of the spiritual path

Question: Where should I start? I don’t mean what to start studying or other actions, but rather – what point of reference and what question should I start with?

My Answer: This is something you have to find inside yourself. Usually it’s the question, “Why do I live? What is the meaning of my life and the meaning of suffering? I don’t see any point or reason to live,” and so on. It’s best to start with my book Attaining the Worlds Beyond.

Question: I study every day, but sometimes I’m overcome by the feeling of disappointment, because I have no idea how to do the things I’m reading about. Sometimes I can understand a little bit of what I’m reading, and even feel it , but moments later I forget all of it, and I’m again left with no idea what I was learning, what I was thinking, and how I can do something. Do you have any advice for me?

My Answer: You will forget everything you learn until you absorb the material inside you, make it your own, and feel that it’s speaking about you and what’s inside you. However, this is a stage and it will pass, because you’re being influenced by the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) – and then you’ll find what the Kabbalists are talking about inside you.And after that, “a person’s soul will teach him.” Incidentally, the sensation that everything is forgotten quickly indicates that you are going through different states quickly, and you should be happy about this!

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A question I received: This question has been posted on the forums of Kabbalah Education Center, yet the answer I received was somewhat not satisfying. I felt that the matter had been just passed over as any general situation, and not read with Love.

(What follows is a long, detailed description of drug induced “trips” experienced by a 21 year old psychology student from Mexico, who has been taking LSD for a long period of time. He describes how this gives him the opportunity to perceive the Upper Force, the higher reality, and his connection with Kabbalah. At one point he reaches the feeling that his mission in life is to comprehend the connection between spirituality and LSD.)

My Answer: There is no connection between drug induced experiences and the attainment of the Upper World, the Creator. You are completely disconnected from spiritual sensations and are controlled by your perceptions of chemical reactions. I recommend that you stop searching for ways to justify your behavior, leave drugs behind and begin correcting your soul. Good luck!

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I had a video conference with two Toronto TV stations – one in Hebrew and one in Russian. I found that Israeli television outside of Israel is exactly that – “Israelis outside of Israel,” or in other words, the greatest and most primitive egoism in the world. There are many primitive egoists, but only theirs is both great and primitive at the same time.

Nevertheless, it appeared as if they too are starting to ask questions, have doubts, and feel desires “above the stomach.” Canada, Australia, and similar countries squeeze everything that’s human out of people, and all that remains is an animalistic aspiration for a full stomach and a peace of mind. You can see this with every person who enters that environment.

One’s environment determines one’s destiny – whether he will go through life worrying only about the comfort of his animate body, until it finally dies, or he will actually think about something besides this. By no means does Kabbalah encourage people to deprive themselves of anything or to suffer. It only explains that a society which eliminates a person’s questions about the meaning of life, turns him into an animal.

But to be frank, lately even the “bourgeois” are beginning to ask questions about the meaning of life. In the past they couldn’t even comprehend the possibility of someone asking such questions, and would look at anyone who spoke about it with a blank, dumbfounded gaze…

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Filed under: Notices - Comments Off on Video Conference with Canadian Television

A question I received: Why did Rabash and Baal HaSulam insist on physically observing the Mitzvot, and moreover, they did so scrupulously, not omitting even the point of the letter Yod?

My Answer: It’s because they lived exclusively in a religious environment, and back then it wasn’t yet realistic or necessary to disseminate Kabbalah among the secular public and around the world in general. They had absolutely no contact or connections with secular people. Nevertheless, in the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” “Messiah’s Horn” and other texts, Baal HaSulam writes that it’s necessary to disseminate Kabbalah among all the nations of the world. Moreover, Baal HaSulam writes that a person can only begin studying Kabbalah after he becomes secular (even if he does it secretly, on the inside). As long as he is religious inside, religion binds him and he won’t be able to understand Kabbalah. It’s because these two worldviews are opposite to one another.

In the religious worldview, you believe something that you were told about God, and you blindly follow the instructions you learned from others. You fanatically limit yourself with your mind’s attempts to understand who you are, what you are living for, and where you are. The less you ask and the more you do – the holier you consider yourself to be. And forget about “love for thy neighbor” – you are above all those vile atheists, you are chosen by the Creator. You overflow with pride, and feel that everyone is indebted to you for your holy lifestyle.

On the path of Kabbalah, however, you don’t believe anyone else, and using your own efforts, heart and mind, you reveal Nature or the Creator for yourself. You pull yourself up towards Him, penetrate into His governance, and start to understand Him. And you do all this by correcting your egoism, according to the Torah’s appeal, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” You step out of yourself toward your neighbor, and thereby attain the Creator.

Moreover, Baal HaSulam writes that according to the instructions in The Book of Zohar, you have to disseminate Kabbalah to all the nations of the world! (See his articles “The Revelation of Godliness,” “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” and “The Peace.“)

On this path, the most important thing is you and your decision. So let the critics who favor religion attend to their own business – they need to, since it’s slipping out of their greedy and envious hands. It’s not that I’m against religion, but I am against the egoistic use of it!

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Two questions I received on the role of knowledge in spiritual advancement

Question: In order to advance, do I have to know what state I’m in and what spiritual level I’m on? And in general, how important is it for my spiritual development to have knowledge about the spiritual worlds?

My Answer: Knowledge doesn’t matter at all. However, it does help you connect to the topic (the correction of your soul). Nevertheless, the most important thing is to attract the Light of correction, and this happens during the study of authentic Kabbalistic texts. Item 155 of the Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot explains that the Light descends to the degree one desires to understand what is being said in the text, even though one doesn’t understand anything. This means that a person is trying to understand what the book says about him and his state. It’s because a Kabbalistic text includes all the states of all the souls, and every soul is able to find “its own frequency,” the frequency at which the common soul, the Creator, is speaking to it.

Question: You said that a person who advances in Kabbalah does not have to turn to books when it comes to realizing his freedom of choice, and that this is something he has to do inside. My question is: How do you keep an inner account with yourself if you don’t have the forces for it inside you? You said that a person should turn to the society when he wants to realize his freedom of choice.

My Answer: Baal HaSulam speaks about this in one of his letters. He writes that if you desire to figure something out inside you, then just be alone with yourself, without books. This way you will feel yourself and the result of what has happened to you by studying Kabbalah. You will be able to find yourself, your path, something that’s yours, instead of what others have said.

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A comment I received: I’m shocked and moved to tears to find out that we are also potential Nazis. Why did great Kabbalists, who attained Gmar Tikkun (final correction), continue to take part in cruel slaughter and use of animals? How can it be possible that the exalted teaching of Kabbalah ignores cruelty to animals?

It’s obvious that it won’t correct anything in the soul if we were all to become vegetarian. But great Kabbalists corrected everything and did not become lovers of miserable animals. How can this be? Maybe there are 126 levels and the time of the complete Gmar Tikkun has arrived only now, when “love thy neighbor as yourself” will also include animals, plants and the still level of nature? As far as I understand with my simple mind, we must ultimately feel love for ants and bugs as well…

My Response: There are rules for how to act in order to correspond to the general law of nature, called Elokim. Man has been created opposite to this law, and our task is to change ourselves in order to be the same as this law. This is the purpose of our existence in this world. This change in a person, from our level to the Creator’s level, can be attained only by studying Kabbalah. Baal HaSulam writes about it in the article “Introduction to the Book ‘From the Mouth of a Sage’”: “Even if a person is completely righteous in this world, knows the whole Torah and has fulfilled all the earthly commandments, but did not study Kabbalah, then he must return to this world again in order to study Kabbalah” – because only by studying Kabbalah does he attract the Light of Correction to him, as written in the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” item 155.

By correcting himself, a person unwillingly acts according to the Upper Laws. When this happens, how does he relate to the nature around him? He relates to it based on the degree of his equivalence of the Creator. And no matter what he relates to, he does so based on his equivalence to the Creator. But perhaps his actions and behavior won’t seem righteous to you, because you imagine righteousness differently to what it is in the spiritual world.

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