Questions I received about the Light, the 600,000 souls, other readings, our purpose in this world and Mitzvot:

Question: You often mention the Upper Light or the Light of the Creator, but what exactly is this Light? What does it feel like and what will it do? How will a person sense this Light? I am certain that this Light is not the same as the light we define in our world, although I often relate the two.

My Answer: The Light is a quality of bestowal and love that cures our egoism, transforming it into similarity with Its form.

Question: I was listening to one of your TV programs where you talk about 600,000 souls scattered in the world. I also read the same thing in one of your books. If every one has to evolve in their spirituality to unite with the teachings of Kabbalah, why 600,000 instead of six billion?

My Answer: 600,000 is a conventional definition: it is measure of the height of the original collective soul (Partzuf Arich Anpin of the World of Atzilut).

Question: Have you studied Tanya by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi? And if you have, how come you never mention it?

My Answer: Because I have never studied it.

Question: What is our purpose in this physical world, in this world of illusions?

My Answer: The goal is to cross from illusion over to the truth.

Question cont’d: And do you talk about the importance of keeping Mitzvot?

My Answer: We strive to observe them in their original, true, spiritual form.

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A question I received: Kabbalah talks about bestowal and unity. Isn’t this similar to communistic ideas, which scare people?

My Answer: The idea of communism wasn’t bad in and of itself, but its problem was that it did not have the means to change human nature. This is what happened in socialist Russia as well as in the Israeli Kibbutsim. They did not have the right method.

Kabbalists seem to use the same words and the same goal. However, communists were secular, whereas Kabbalah talks about the Creator. Still, this is irrelevant as well, since the Creator is altruistic nature, and creation is a person that desires fulfillment. That’s all. The fundamental difference between Kabbalah and communism lies in something else: How can human nature of complete egoism be changed so people would begin to love their neighbors?

If only the socialists had an opportunity to change their egoistic nature! However, no power or method in our world is capable of changing man’s nature because our whole world is egoistic. All of man’s desires, actions, and thoughts are absolutely egoistic, and therefore, our world does not have any force capable of correcting us.

When a “point in the heart,” an embryo of the quality of bestowal (Bina) emerges in a person, he can change himself and acquire the quality of bestowal through the method of correction, Kabbalah. This will allow him to unite with other souls, and inside the unification, he will reveal the Upper Force which created him – the Creator.

Socialism, communism, and other methods talk about something that sounds similar to Kabbalah. However, the only way to realize unification and reveal the Upper Form of life (which is spiritual and eternal) is with the help of an outside force – the Creator.

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The Creator wishes for the creation to become similar to Him, to be just as eternal and perfect. Therefore, through an explosion He implanted His quality to bestow into the creation’s quality to receive. Due to this breaking in the Upper World, we are born as little egoists in our world. But in the process of our development, the quality of bestowal begins to be revealed within us.

Particularly in our generation, when we as humanity have reached the greatest possible egoism, we are discovering its emptiness. This is why so many people are depressed. But suddenly, precisely in this situation, as if by a ray of Light in a dark kingdom, we can find the entrance into the Upper World!

A new desire pulls us somewhere and instills hope in us. In our generation, many people already feel this addition to their regular egoism, which has developed in us throughout many millennia.

In the previous generations, this small spark called the “point in the heart,” the sprout of an altruistic intention, was awakened only in special, chosen people, who became Kabbalists. However, today millions of people are feeling this new quality that is awakened in them. It pushes them ahead and demands to be realized. Previously, we were pushed ahead by egoism, but now egoism no longer sees anything worthwhile to chase in this world.

This new desire begins with the question, “What is the meaning of my life?” We feel emptiness and see that it is impossible to receive any more egoistic fulfillment. However, there is another side to the question, “What can I receive pleasure from?” Its opposite realization is: “Who can I give pleasure to?” That is when a person begins to feel a need to bestow. He feels that he can find true fulfillment in that!

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The science of Kabbalah is not just a description of all reality, but rather it is the operating program of the whole of creation, instructions for the creatures as to how to use this whole reality. The program is written in such a way that it is an entire reality all by itself. When we read Kabbalistic texts or when we talk about them, when we think about or feel them,  we involuntarily absorb the Light within ourselves, in our not yet formed desire. The Light molds this desire, leading us to a new reality.

We need to understand that the science of Kabbalah includes everything within itself, the material (the desire, the creation) and the Light (the Creator). In fact, the Creator in Hebrew is written as “Bo-Re”, which means “come and see” what is revealed in the vessels of perception of the creature.

It is a program of creation that includes the whole of creation from beginning to end and includes everything that we are able to perceive, along with the primal force that created us and governs everything. There is nothing that is not covered by this science. By default, we think that science is a description of some field of creation and its properties.

But Kabbalah is not a description. Its letters themselves are the vessels of perception. The actions that the science of Kabbalah talks about are actual actions, and if we were able to read these lines as they were written, we would have performed these actions while reading. In reality, we are reading inside our desire and our desire would have done this action immediately and simultaneously with the reading of the text.

The science of Kabbalah is the actual realization of all the material of reality and not a description of the structure of creation and how it operates. The science of Kabbalah by itself sets in motion all reality. Kabbalists write their books for those who already possess an anti-egoistic screen on their desire to receive pleasure and can immediately complete all actions.

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In the material world, a mother knows when it’s time to feed her baby. But when it comes to our spiritual ascent, a baby (a person who is in the initial stages of becoming a Kabbalist) has to ask the mother for food himself. He has to know how to turn to the Upper Level in order for It to raise him up to It and fill him with Light.

Everything happens according to the lower one’s (the person’s) desire to become similar to the Upper One (the Creator). In the spiritual world, all actions take place either according to Reshimot (informational records which determine one’s state), which are realized in us without our choice, or by us adding our desires for correction to the Reshimot. That is to say, we can add our own prayer or plea for correction.

We don’t have to ask for this artificially. That won’t help. If one’s desire is ripe, then it will elicit the influence of the Light of Correction upon it.

The Upper Partzuf (the Creator) is in the state of absolute rest and never changes. Only our inner Reshimot (the data about our state) undergo changes. This is why we feel that we exist in a changing world, but actually, it is changing inside us relative to an unchanging background – the White Light, the Creator.

Reshimot that awaken in us without our participation do not advance us in the spiritual world. We simply tread in one place, until repeated suffering makes us smarter and forces us to look for spiritual development. Our problems are caused by Reshimot that unravel naturally.

However, if you join a society that engages in spiritual development, then you will receive Reshimot from it, which come from your connection with other souls. You will receive these Reshimot by virtue of your own efforts, and they are the Reshimot that you have to correct in order to reveal the Upper World. How? By raising them through your prayer for correction.

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Currently we wish to approach the Creator from below upwards in order to attain Him. However, when we disseminate, we move together with Him. Therefore, a person who does this is considered an equal partner of the Creator.

The Creator cannot carry out the dissemination instead of us or disclose Himself in our world. If the Creator was revealed in our world, we would automatically aspire for Him like for something incredibly valuable, great, and worthy. Then, we would never get rid of our egoism. Our egoism would be obsessed with the Creator to such an extent that we would go crazy wishing to receive His fulfillment. Therefore, He has to conceal Himself until we perform a restriction on ourselves and rise above our egoism.

When we do, we will be able to reveal Him in order to become similar and, at the same time, opposite to Him. If I make this shield or screen for myself that blocks me from Him, then the Creator can be revealed. There will still be a 100% concealment between us. The only question is: does He conceal Himself, or do I conceal my egoism from Him? To the extent that I form my own screen, the Creator can take the screen off of Himself. The dissemination of Kabbalah, the revelation of the Creator to the creation, is not something that goes against us. Rather, it is when we move together with Him and become His partners.

Then we will even be able to walk ahead of Him by disseminating the knowledge about how to reveal Him. We will then be His messengers, agents, and helpers – His hands. That’s how important our mission is to the Creator, let alone to all the people who are suffering like small, foolish children, without even understanding why they are suffering.

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I always repeat that in order to succeed in the study of Kabbalah, we have to disseminate it. However, I feel that “dissemination” is not a good word because it makes me sound like a salesman or an insurance agent who is pushing his policies to everyone. When we talk about disseminating Kabbalah, it may sound as though we are trying to impose something on others.

Today the word “dissemination” is associated with commerce and dissemination of goods. Thus, when we speak about the dissemination of Kabbalah, those who are unfamiliar with the term think that it involves commerce or business, that we are selling something and making a profit. In other words, this word is very slippery.

But actually, our entire life constitutes dissemination, because the real meaning of this word is drawing closer to the Creator, spreading, expanding, revealing and attaining. All of creation begins with dissemination. That is to say, it starts out as a single point, where suddenly, out of nothingness, something that exists is born – Yesh Mi Ain (something out of nothing), and then it proceeds to disseminate through the four stages of Direct Light, producing all the worlds down to our world.

The last spiritual degree bursts into our world with a single, tiny spiritual charge. All the matter of our world, the whole universe, is born from this one spark in a process called the Big Bang, and then disseminates further. It develops in this manner until it forms our solar system, our terrestrial globe, and everything that exists here.

All of this pertains to the dissemination of the Creator onto the created beings in order to bring creation to equivalence with Him. This happens under the influence of the Light, His quality of bestowal. Indeed, any birth or development constitutes dissemination. In other words, the true, inner quality of dissemination is a partnership with the Creator. It means helping the Creator deliver and reveal His idea to the world by acting together with Him.

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A question I received: In one of your lessons you gave an example of a baby pulling everything in its mouth, feeling the world through taste. I remembered the phrase: “Taste and see how good the Creator is.” But how can I taste Him?

My Answer: To taste something doesn’t mean that you try it and then reject it. The phrase speaks of the fact that it is only by tasting the Creator, you can be sure that He (the quality of bestowal) is good and worthwhile. You will know this “by tasting,” meaning, by feeling it inside yourself. That’s what the Kabbalists meant by saying that you first have to try it, like when shopping for a bargain and then declining to buy.

However, in spirituality, you have to make the purchase first, and then, once you have bought it and dug your teeth into it, you will know what’s really in it. That’s because you then agree to bestow instead of receive, and you find that nothing can be better than that!

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Kabbalah is a science that reveals the Upper Governance over the entire universe, including our material world. The entire universe is governed by a single law, which may be called Nature’s Law or the Creator’s Law. It is the law of universal love, harmony and goodness.

The method of Kabbalah grants humanity an opportunity to study this law and structure their lives in congruence with it. Just as we need to study the laws of physics, chemistry and biology in order to lead a normal existence in the material world, the study of Kabbalah is no less essential for us.

Only the knowledge of the single law of the universe and equivalence to it can save the world from wars, natural disasters, suffering and catastrophes, bringing all humanity to total harmony and equilibrium with Nature.

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Two questions I received concerning Jewish mixed marriages and Jewish ancestry:

Question: If there are any problems in mixed (Jew and non-Jew) families then religious representatives of Judaism say that these marriages were prohibited by the Creator. Why then did the Almighty create so many mixed families?

My Answer: I don’t see problems in mixed families. Today, most families in America and Russia are mixed. If one spouse doesn’t become religious then there are no conflicts. Kabbalah is above religions and talks about unification of all in one Creator.  Religions were invented by people and thus separate them.

Question: Recently I found out that I am Jewish from my father’s side whose ancestors lived in Portugal in the Middle Ages and were forced by the Inquisition to either convert to Christianity or leave the country. They were called “marans.” How should I relate to it?

My Answer: Don’t change anything; continue to live your life as before. There are millions of people like you in the world. All will reach adhesion and equivalence of form with the Creator and with each other.

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