A question I received: In the article, “What Is Half a Shekel In the Work,” Rabash states, “If a person prays, even without understanding the meaning of the words, simply pronouncing what is written in the prayer book established by the Sages, saying these words while drawing nearer to the Creator, it is irrelevant if he knows what he is saying or not…”

Also, Baal HaSulam says in Item 155 of the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” “…even if a person does not understand what he learns, his yearning to understand draws upon him the Light of Correction.”

It follows that praying using the Prayer Book has great spiritual value, and what some say, that it is just words and tradition, is not really the case. What is your opinion about this?

My Answer: By “some,” you mean me. Yes, I do say so. Here’s why: The result of the reading depends on the reader, not on the text or its author.

Baal HaSulam says in Item 147 of the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” “There is no difference between the Torah of the world of Atzilut and the Torah of this world, meaning, between the wisdom of Kabbalah and the revealed Torah. Instead, the only difference is in the person who engages in the study of the Torah. Two may study the Torah, the same text and the same words, but one will perceive it as the wisdom of Kabbalah and the Torah of Atzilut, while for the other it will be the revealed Torah [of Assiya].”

Of course, the Prayer Book was compiled by the Members of the Great Assembly – the Great Kabbalists who lived 2000 years ago. If you read it in order to connect with the Creator, then you will draw the Light from the Source, of which the Prayer Book speaks. The same occurs when you study the Talmud Eser Sefirot. However, if one does not think about this because one does not have a desire to reveal the Creator, then regardless of what one reads – whether the Talmud Eser Sefirot or the Prayer Book, will give him any result.

If you want to understand what the Prayer Book is talking about, then you should use the Prayer Book of Rashash. There you will find the meaning of the prayers presented in the Kabbalistic symbols – as adherence of the corrected desire (soul) to the Creator through the system of the spiritual worlds. The same thing is discussed in Tamud Eser Sefirot and, generally, in all the Holy Books. They all speak about one’s connection with the Creator, His revelation to a person.

To pray means to reveal the Creator, the quality of bestowal and love inside you. All other prayers are egoistic and therefore, do not attract the Upper Light. They only have a psychological effect on the person who prays.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Is a True Prayer?
Laitman.com Post: In the Modern Era, the Psychological Support of Religion Is No Longer Enough
Laitman.com Post: Why Is Studying Kabbalah Good for You?
The Path of Kabbalah: “Prayer”
Interview with the Future: “Controlling My Own Destiny”
The Book of Zohar: “The Intention in the Prayer”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

A question I received: I often hear that it’s pointless to restrict our reception of corporeal pleasures since this does not affect our spiritual state. This sounds like permission to do whatever you like. If this is true, why then does the Creator send us feelings of remorse, self-loathing, disgust, or guilt when we indulge in certain pleasures? What if these pleasures are considered normal indulgences in our society, which at one time we deemed okay to delight in? Why the change in our definition of right and wrong if corporeal acts don’t matter?

My Answer: You are contradicting yourself. The Creator is a source of pleasure, and therefore His goal for creating all of creation is to please the creatures. Until we attain this, until we attain the absolute pleasure, we will not be able to please Him! Keep reading Kabbalistic texts and you’ll figure this out!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: On Pleasure and Suffering
Laitman.com Post: Preface to the Science of Kabbalah. Items 10-12
Interview With the Future: Part 1 – “A Science to Understand Reality-The Power of A Directed Desire”
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “The Path of the Kabbalah”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

A question I received: I have heard you say several times that the Creator is all-powerful. However, the following considerations lead me to the conclusion that this is not so:

• The Creator has a “will to bestow.” Why should someone who’s all-powerful have this desire? He should be above any need, since He is almighty and should be able to control or eliminate this desire.

• Why do creatures have to suffer first in order to receive an even greater desire to attain the Creator? Using His all-powerfulness, He could have arranged this desire for Him, without making it so difficult to achieve.

• The Creator could have created us as simple, unthinking vessels, who would receive as much Light as necessary. There would be no need to go through the various spiritual worlds in order to give us more pleasure.

• Why did the Creator create “our world”? Was it so we wouldn’t feel shame when He gives us Light? He should not have to create a difficult world in order to manipulate us. If He was truly all-powerful, He would create us without the feeling of shame, or He would be able to control this feeling in order for us not to suffer. In addition, I don’t believe that I will experience a feeling of shame if the Creator gives me something.

My Answer: You have serious questions, and they are all addressed in the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” in the very beginning of the text.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: A Gift Is Appreciated Only as Much as the Receiver Values the Giver
Article: Everbody’s God
Article: All We Need is The Revelation of The Creator
The Path of Kabbalah: “Between Creator and Creature”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

Two questions I received on the right attitude to the Creator:

Question: I did not attend the Congress but I listened to the lessons over the Internet. I have studied Kabbalah for several years and this was the first time I heard you say that in order to rise above the ego, we should spend every minute of our lives between “There is none else beside Him” and “He is good and does good.” I tried this, and it works! My question is: do I have to believe that the Creator is already among us, in the group, and this is why you recommended the above approach?

My Answer: Of course. The Creator is among us because He is the general force of Nature. However, He is concealed from us because our egoistic qualities differ from Him. By correcting our egoistic qualities, we will gradually reveal Him inside our new, altruistic qualities.

Question: You say that everything is governed by the Creator, and a while ago in response to a question about your students, you said that they all have a job and there are no “loafers” among them. But aren’t loafers people as well? And it’s not their fault they are that way; they don’t have any freedom of choice because the Creator governs them.

My Answer: You can use this explanation as an excuse for anything, and remain idle forever. You can just sit there and do nothing for the rest of your days, saying that the Creator will awaken you if He so desires, that your desire to be idle also comes from Him, and so on.

The Creator’s governance will be revealed to you only once you attain Him, and only then will you be able to talk about Him. But before that happens, all these speculations are just philosophy, caused by laziness.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: All You Need to Know About the 613 Desires
Laitman.com Post: Don’t Fight Against Anything But Your Own Laziness
Article: “Who Am I”
Lesson on Kabbalah and Philosophy
Lesson on “The Introduction to the Book ‘From the Mouth of a Wise Man'”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

A question I received: It says in the treatise Brachot that one who dreams that he’s reciting Shema Israel (Hear, O Israel) should be awarded with the presence of the Shechina (the Divine Presence), yet his generation is not worthy. How does Kabbalah explain this text? What is the spiritual significance of dreams, and what is the spiritual state of a person who dreams this particular dream?

My Answer: A dream does not mean a regular dream of our animate bodies, but rather a particular state of the soul’s ascent. In this state, a person feels the Upper Level; however, he doesn’t feel It directly inside his desire, but in a manner that is concealed from him.

Then, after one makes efforts to attain greater self-correction, the dream becomes reality: the person rises to the next spiritual level. If one dreams of reciting the Shema, then the next level for him is to attain adhesion with the Creator. This is what the Shema represents, and is why one is awarded with the presence of the Shechina – the revelation of the Creator. However, his generation (his present state) is not yet worthy (not yet corrected enough) for the revelation of the Creator.

If you want to understand everything correctly, start by understanding that the entire universe is inside a person, and all the names and descriptions refer to his qualities and states. This is what we learn in “the perception of reality” section of Kabbalah. You will then see that a dream is one of the highest spiritual states of a wakeful Kabbalist.

Related Material:
Introduction to the Book of Zohar: “Item 18”
Shamati #103: “Whose Heart Maketh Him Willing”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

A question I received: You say that the Jews were always a spiritual nation and they were like this ever since their nation emerged, since the times of Abraham. And you say that everyone was equal. But what about your slaves?

My Answer: The Jews were not a nation, but a part of the Babylonians, who followed Abraham from Babylon to Canaan (Israel). This group united around the idea of “Love your neighbor as yourself.” What united them is the desire to attain this quality and thereby to become equivalent to the Creator. Equivalence of form with the Creator allows one to reveal the Creator, and this is the goal of creation.

Regarding the slaves, you should not think that the Jews’ attitude toward their slaves was anything like their treatment in other nations. It is says in the Torah (Shemot 21:26) that if a man strikes his slave, or hurts his eye or tooth, he must let him go free. There was a prohibition against tormenting the slaves. An amendment to the law (Mechiltah) specifies that if the owner inflicts any damage on the slave, the owner must let his slave go free.

In essence, a slave was a worker who did not receive payment for his work, but the owner was obligated to care for the slave in the same way he would if he were free. Moreover, other sources say that one who bought a slave bought a master. Also, see texts that speak about the owner’s responsibility to marry a female slave, etc.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Development of Reshimot Through History
Laitman.com Post: How Will We Live In the Last Generation?
Kabbalah Today Article: Who Are You People of Israel?

Filed under: History - No Comments →

Two questions I received on man’s origin and the Tower of Babel:

Question: You say that we all came from ancient Babylon. How do you reconcile this with science that says that life started in Africa and that humanity started to migrate from Africa and then spread to other countries?

My Answer: We don’t study where life originated or where the creature called “man” emerged, but rather where the first Man (in Hebrew, Adam – similar to the Creator) emerged. He was the first man because he attained the Creator by becoming similar to Him. He was the first Kabbalist and he left us the book, The Secret Angel (Raziel HaMalach).

Question: At the end of Lesson 6 at the Congress you compared our spiritual growth using Kabbalah with the Tower of Babel. My understanding of the Tower of Babel in Beresheet Ch. 11 was that it was an evil attempt of mankind to be like G-d. Please explain how your comparison relates to the understanding of the Torah understanding.

My Answer: You can find the explanation in the book, From Chaos to Harmony.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Classical Wisdom of Kabbalah and the Evolution of the Urgently Needed Planetary Consciousness
Kabbalah Today Article: Kabbalah Chronicles
Interview: “Who is a Kabbalist”
Interview with the Future: “The History of Kabbalah”
Lesson on Baal HaSulam Article: “Peace in the World”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

A question I received: How did Marx derive the Kabbalistic principles if he wasn’t a Kabbalist? Was he an altruist? Is there a fundamental difference between his principles and those of Baal HaSulam?

My Answer: Kabbalah is a science. Its laws are the same in the whole universe and in all the worlds. They are laws of the interaction between the Light – the quality of bestowal and love, and the desire – the quality of reception and enjoyment.

Kabbalah studies these laws from their origin, the World of Infinity, the highest world. It then studies their descent along the 125 degrees of the five worlds, ending with our world. These things are scrutinized in all the Kabbalistic books. Therefore, Kabbalah is the physics of the Upper World.

We research our world using our five senses and mind, and then we synthesize the data we gather, which gives us the corporeal sciences. Likewise, Kabbalah reveals how the forces from the Upper World closest to us descend into our world and become forces of our world. And in fact, Kabbalah then turns into the corporeal sciences. (See the articles, “Kabbalah as Compared with Other Sciences,” and “Kabbalah as a Root of All Sciences”).

In its earthly transposition, the Upper Force is expressed as the physical and chemical laws. That is to say, It manifests on the “still” level of our world. It also becomes expressed as the biological laws, on the “vegetative” and “animate” levels of our world. And finally, It finds expression also as the laws of social and economic development, on the “human” level of our world.

Many sages of our world, who were not Kabbalists, studied our word and thus reached an understanding of the principles of Nature (the Creator). Marx was one of them. By studying humanity’s historical development, by researching modern society, and by using statistics of politics and economics, he gained the correct understanding of the direction in which every human society develops: toward unification into one whole.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah Gives Us the Complete Template for Creating an “Incubator” for Humanity
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah: The Root of All Sciences
Laitman.com Post: The Creator Equals Nature
Baal HaSulam Article: “Matter and Form in the Wisdom of Kabbalah”
The Path of Kabbalah: Chapter 3.1 “Altruism”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

A question I received: My friends say I have a good heart, but I am unlucky. I am married and have children, but my life is unsuccessful. Does this have anything to do with my name? I changed my name at age 16, in Argentina, because I didn’t like it. My name was Veronica Nancy, and I changed it to Sivan.

My Answer: We are completely controlled by the Light (the Creator). We can change things only to the extent we are similar to Him – to the extent we have a desire to be giving and loving, like Him. Therefore, correcting our desire is the only thing we can do to change our fate. This change can happen only under the influence of the Light that reforms, which descends onto a person while he or she studies Kabbalah.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Only the Upper Light Can Change Our Destiny
Laitman.com Post: What Does It Take to Become Corrected?
Lesson: “The Secret of the Letters”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

Two questions I received on hatred and evil:

Question: Are members of HAMAS also parts of my own inner Kli? If yes, then why are they fighting in me?

My Answer: A person is a desire that feels only what’s in it. The desire is complex, consisting of many parts, which depict one’s picture of this world. Since our desires are not corrected, we feel completely opposite to the Creator, instead of feeling Him the way He really is. This is why we feel wars and suffering.

All of a person’s enemies live inside him; they are a reflection of his inner state. Even if it appears that they exist outside of you, out there in the world, the fact is that the world is a reflection of your inner state, like a movie that’s showing you your desires.

Question: When I correct myself to the last degree and attain the Final Correction, will I stop seeing evil in the world?

My Answer: If there will be any people left in the world who haven’t yet corrected themselves, then you will still see evil in the world because those people are parts of your desire.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Besides Kabbalists, Everything and Everyone Are Angels
Laitman.com Post: About the Phases of Complete Correction
Kabbalah Revealed: “In a Nutshell”
Shamati #33: “The Lots on Yom Kippurim and with Haman”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →