Two questions I received on a woman’s ability to love others as herself:

Question: You wrote in a previous blog post that women cannot love one another because of their nature. I would like to know what is a woman’s nature? If it is the quality of deficiency, then please explain what kind of a deficiency this is, and what is the spiritual meaning of this concept? How is it expressed? And do women also advance through the 125 levels of correction?

My Answer: Every woman represents a desire, and every man represents the fulfillment of this desire. Hence, it’s impossible for women to be friends with anyone, and they can only love what belongs to them. Yet precisely this quality makes them the carriers of the desire that the men have to correct and fulfill.

Besides this, every man and every woman have their own inner “man” and “woman,” not only according to the chromosomes but also according to spiritual properties. Women provide men with the aspiration toward the Creator, pushing them to attain the goal of creation – and together they attain it.

Question: Can I apply the concept of “love thy neighbor” in relation to my wife?

My Answer: You should treat your wife according to the rules of society, and you should work together with your friends – the people with whom you must reach the mutual guarantee (Arvut) – to realize the law of the single soul, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: On the Men and Women Inside Us
Kabbalah & Women

Filed under: Women - 1 Comment →

Two questions I received on the arts:

Question: I know that the arts are a manifestation of the ego. But being a person who dabbles in poetry and music, I can’t help but ask: What is the spiritual root of poetry? Can I (a person who hasn’t developed a spiritual Kli nor crossed the Machsom) write poetry and songs about Kabbalah and the Creator? After all, I don’t receive the Light into my soul yet. Should I try it anyway?

My Answer: Actually, the root of the arts is power and ambition. It doesn’t matter over whom – it may even be yourself. Follow the example of the great Kabbalist King David: the Psalms he wrote are still recited today by the entire world. Do as he did!

Question: Kabbalah fights egoism. But at the same time you reject philosophy, history, and the arts. Why?

My Answer: I do not reject anything. I only want to arrange everything according to its level of importance. Since Kabbalah speaks about man’s correction, connection and union with the Creator, eternal existence, and how to replace suffering with pleasure, hence it is incomparably more important than anything else in our lives. After all, what else can compare to Kabbalah when its purpose – and its capability – is to deliver man to a happy existence in this world, and to add an eternal and perfect existence on top of that?

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Is There Anything Spiritual About Works of Art?
Music Inspired by Kabbalah

Filed under: Arts - No Comments →

Three questions I received on ups and downs along the path:

Question: For many years I felt that I was an egoist. Then I came to Kabbalah and understood why I felt that way. Now I study and participate in dissemination, but I started to feel even emptier. On the other hand, there is hope.

My Answer: The feeling of emptiness comes from the influence of the Light, which shows you that you are empty and that you can only fill this emptiness with the Light. For this to happen, you must desire it – and this desire can only be received from the environment.

Question: Lately I don’t feel like I’m a bad person anymore. Of course I’m still an egoist, but I no longer feel bad about it. On the contrary, I feel uplifted, I am more focused during the lessons and I do more dissemination than before. How can I tell whether I’m still on the right path?

My Answer: If you always focus on being united with the group, if you understand that by uniting you will receive the desire that will evoke the Light of correction – then you will reveal the Creator.

Question: I ask the Creator to correct me, since it’s not in my power to correct my own state. On the other hand, I’m ashamed of this request because it means that I’m dissatisfied with the state I’m in – a state given to me by the Creator in order for me to develop. How should I understand this contradiction?

My Answer: In each and every state, the Creator is waiting for you to move closer to Him.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Preface to the Science of Kabbalah (“Pticha”) – Item 1
Laitman.com Post: Redemption Will Come at the Hands of the Creator
Baal HaSulam Article: “Finding the Creator Within”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

Two questions I received on the spiritual advancement of children:

Question: If there are still 232 years left until the full correction, then why do we call our children “the children of the last generation”?

My Answer: Because the “last generation” starts from our generation on – it’s the generation of egoism’s correction and ascension to the Creator.

Question: Do children and youth go through the same degrees on the spiritual path as adults? If a child expresses worry about evil, what’s the right way to deal with this?

My Answer: The soul is ageless, and this is why Kabbalah can be taught to anyone and at any age. One must go through all the states. This is determined by the emergence of the Reshimot (the chain of informational data about each state). It’s because the soul must go through the same states it went through during its descent from above downward, but now it must go through them in the reverse order, ascending from below upwards.

However, the rate of one’s advancement through every state depends on the environment (the group), and can be virtually instant. The best remedy for all the “problems” along the way is communication with friends and watching our materials.

Related Materials:
Laitman.com Post: Interview with the Future
Laitman.com Post: To Be Born a Kabbalist
Laitman.com Post: Advice to Students: Study, Connect, Disseminate

Filed under: Children - No Comments →

Three questions I received on the modern study method of Kabbalah:

Question: You wrote that the Mashiach Ben Yosef is the great Ari’s revelation of the modern method of correction, Kabbalah, in the 16th century. Can we make an analogy that the Mashiach Ben David is also a revelation – the one that was made by Baal HaSulam? Or will there be other revelations of the method that will be more complete and have a more powerful effect?

My Answer: In Article #102 of Shamati, Baal HaSulam writes the following about the Ari: “That is why the holy Ari, who was the Mashiach son of Yosef, was able to reveal so much wisdom, for he had the permission from ‘the revealed world.’”

As for the Mashiach Ben David, there are many mentions of him, but they all indicate something different and can only be understood through personal revelation, but I prefer to quote the primary source texts.

Question: What do you think about The Book of Bakhir?

My Answer: Baal HaSulam writes the following in the article “Disclosing a Portion, Covering Two”: Ever since the teachings of the Ari were revealed in the world, all Kabbalists abandoned all other books and study only The Book of Zohar and the books of the Ari.”

Question: You said that 1995 was the starting point of the current events. What happened in 1995 that you are referring to?

My Answer: I felt this because suddenly, the students that started coming to study with me were different: They were serious, diligent, and persistent in their pursuit of the goal. Today they still make up the core of the worldwide Bnei Baruch group. Of course, there were also inner changes that are concealed from the average onlooker – a clearer revelation of new spiritual forces in the world.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Coming of the Messiah
Laitman.com Post: Worldwide Map of Bnei Baruch
Kabbalah Today Article: Isaac Luria – the Holy Ari (1534-1572)
Shamati #183: “The Discernment of the Messiah”

Filed under: History - No Comments →

A question I received: I converted to Judaism five years ago after a lifetime of study and searching. In these past few years I have been awed by the Torah and its Pardes. Now, due to your lectures, I have fallen into a dangerous question. When Boreh Olam (the Creator) says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts,” and the wise men say that the Torah is the wisdom of Boreh Olam, i.e., his thoughts, does this mean that for the past few thousand years, the practicing Jew has got it all wrong, and in fact my search has brought me to the wrong place?

My Answer: Man was created egoistic from the very beginning. His thoughts are opposite to the Creator’s thoughts. The Kabbalistic group (Abraham’s students) was called “the people of Israel” because of their aspiration: Isra-El – straight to (similarity with) the Creator. This is how they lived until they fell from the spiritual level of “Love your neighbor as yourself” into egoism. This is called the destruction of the Temple.

Since then, this group has existed in exile from the spiritual level, in egoism and “unfounded hatred for each other.” Instead of attaining the Creator, He is concealed to them. Instead of direct communication with Him, there is religion. Instead of mutual deeds with the Creator (correction and adhesion), they perform mechanical “commandments” based on egoism (Mitzvot Anashim Melumeda – mechanical actions that are taught from childhood and are performed automatically).

No one is to blame for this condition of the nation – the downfall had to happen. But today (for nearly 100 years already), we are obliged to begin correcting ourselves and to thereby come out of exile. Those who oppose this are opponents of the nation, the world, and the Creator.

Besides this, you should just study Kabbalah. It doesn’t matter what religion you belong to. Kabbalah is for everyone!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Immerse Into the Waters of Bestowal, and You Will Become Pure
Kabbalah Today Article: Kabbalah Chronicles
Kabbalah Today Article: Inherit the Land
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Revelation of Godliness (Matan Torah)”
Baal HaSulam Article: “Exile and Redemption”

Filed under: History - No Comments →

Two questions I received on how to advance most effectively:

Question: Please tell us about your daily schedule and what kind of a daily schedule should a student of the Creator have in order to advance toward the goal most efficiently?

My Answer: Study in the morning before work for 1-3 hours. Devote all your free time to study, the group (physical or virtual), and dissemination of Kabbalah in the world (education). In general, you should learn and teach others about the world we live in, in order to accelerate the correction of our nature and to thereby become equivalent to the Creator.

Question: For now I don’t have a desire to fast. What is the purpose of fasting? Is it true that fasting is intended to keep me focused on the intention to bestow to the Creator?

My Answer: The restraint should happen in the area of expressing egoism toward others, and through the aspiration to devote all your free time to study and dissemination of the method of correcting man’s egoistic nature.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: It Takes Time, Effort and Experience to Reveal the Upper World
Laitman.com Post: The Rate of One’s Spiritual Development Depends On One’s Efforts
Laitman.com Post: Concentrate on Intentions, Not on Physical Actions

Filed under: Spirituality - 1 Comment →

The Congress that is currently taking place in the UK is the first Kabbalistic Congress to take place after the revelation of humanity’s crisis. Just two months ago we held a Congress in Odessa on the Black Sea, and back then we still couldn’t speak about the future as explicitly as now, since now it is a definite requirement. We are entering the period that Kabbalah was intended for, the reason it was revealed to man, because its application can bring the world to the one and only goal, but through a completely different path – a path that is pleasant and swift, through realizing the law of Nature which states that “The global humankind must unite into one whole, according to the law of ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

This is against our nature, we hate it, it seems unrealistic, and is repulsive to us, but it is necessary because it is a law of nature. Hence, this state can be achieved either through great suffering, or by attracting the Upper Light upon us. Kabbalah is the method of attracting the Upper Light for our correction. So use this means, pass it on to others – and then all of humanity will gradually and easily shift to a different state that’s harmonious with Nature – the state of rest, confidence, and happiness.

Filed under: Conventions - No Comments →

Questions I received on the difference between religion and Kabbalah:

Question: Is studying Torah and keeping the Mitzvot the same thing as being religious?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: I don’t like the word religious if it means dogmatic, static, closed, etc.

My Answer: But the purpose of religion is to preserve, to statically observe. This is exactly the pleasure one feels from being religious!

Question: But the way that I have been studying Torah and practicing Mitzvot (commandments) with Chassidut and Kabbalah seems to be something powerful and important.

My Answer: There are no commandments in Kabbalah, other than equivalence with the Creator through “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Question: The Torah has a revealed component and a hidden component, and they operate together. Therefore doesn’t the continued studying Torah and practicing of Mitzvot (by Jewish people and those who feel drawn to it) operate as a platform or foundation for studying Kabbalah?

My Answer: No.

Question: Doesn’t the traditional practice safeguard the hidden Kabbalistic knowledge that has yet to be revealed?

My Answer: No.

Question: Or, are you saying that all of the old Torah ways need to be discarded like a shell and only the science of Kabbalah should be remain?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: I would like to clarify my question by saying that I have found the Kabbalah instruction on your websites to be wonderfully powerful, enriching and necessary. I see my feelings (conflicted, confused and invigorated) as part of my correction process and I ask these questions respectfully and in the spirit of growth and acceptance.

My Answer: Thank you!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Religion Is a Cultural Tradition, Kabbalah Is the Method of Correction
Laitman.com Post: Religion and Kabbalah Are Opposite
Kabbalah Today Article: New Jersey’s “Courier Post” Interviews Rav Michael Laitman, PhD
Article: “The Difference Between the Science of Kabbalah and Religion”

Filed under: Religion - No Comments →

Two questions I received on holidays and religion:

Question: Which Jewish holidays will remain after the Mashiach (Messiah) comes and why?

My Answer: The only holiday that will remain is Purim because it represents the full correction of egoism, when all the differences between people are erased and everyone is equal and merged with the Creator in a complete, perfect and eternal state.

Question: If you really believe that the religions will disappear, then you underestimate their role and necessity in people’s lives.

My Answer: Nothing will happen by force! Nature will lead humanity by suffering and realization to unite and be as one family. Then we will all reveal the Creator and clearly communicate with Him, and religions will be reduced to domestic customs.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Religion’s Place In Our Lives
Laitman.com Post: The Jewish Holidays Are Steps of Spiritual Ascent and Greater Unity Between the Souls
Laitman.com Post: Religion and Kabbalah Are Opposite

Filed under: Holidays - 2 Comments →