A question I received: I had an interesting thought: maybe the reason for the current crisis isn’t that egoism is growing, but the opposite: that egoism has stopped growing, has ceased developing? When humanity’s egoism was growing, humanity constantly adopted new levels of social development. But now it resembles a horse that can’t pull anymore – it has stopped and is beginning to eat all the grass around it. And when that grass runs out, the horse will die.

Or the horse will have to find the strength to go on. If this is so, then it would be more correct not to cure people of the egoism that they already have, but on the contrary, to stimulate their egoism to grow to a new level, to reach a new level of desires. And we can do this by telling them about all the wonderful things that await them at the next stage.

My Answer: This is exactly what Kabbalah does: It doesn’t scare people with what’s happening in the present, but shows them the reason for the crisis in order to tear them away from making pointless efforts to “bring the dead back to life” using the old methods. In order to tear people away from egoism, it tells them about the evil in it; but then, in order to draw them forward, for them to desire something higher and better, it draws them to the study, which speaks only about the higher and better world.

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Two questions I received on humiliation and humility:

Question: Baal HaSulam writes in the book Shamati, in article #27, “What Is, The Lord Is High And The Low Will See,” that if a person annuls his “I,” he sees the Creator! What is this feeling of shame and humiliation that is being spoken of here? Why does the world humiliate and degrade him?

My Answer: A person who corrects himself constantly receives new, additional portions of egoism so that by correcting them he can rise even higher. This is how he rises through all 125 degrees until reaching the full correction.

In order to help a person overcome the new egoism that is constantly being revealed in him, the Creator sends him the disdain of the society. Otherwise a person would hear praise from the society and “sell himself” for it. He would begin to enjoy the honor and glory of being a “righteous man,” since he still doesn’t have the protection of the next portion of egoism that will be revealed.

Question: It is written that the Creator loved Moses for his humility. I see that different trials in life make us more humble. You recommend for us to see our friends as being greater than us. What does it mean to be humble? When we nullify ourselves, how do we avoid making the same mistake as the followers of the Eastern teachings make?

My Answer: The humility does not come from “killing the flesh” or self-destruction, but from:

1. Realizing that you cannot go through correction on your own, but you aspire to this and desire the Upper Light to correct you. A person cannot correct anything about him on his own! Otherwise, instead of being humble, he will feel proud of his humility!

2. Humility emerges as a result of revealing the Creator’s greatness. One who does not reveal the Creator by studying Kabbalah, does not attain humility and is sure to be full of empty pride.

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An e-mail I received on December 18, 2008: I am writing to you because I am desperate, even though I feel extremely guilty for taking up your time. I have been deeply depressed for a long time, and the only other thing I ever feel is a lack of desire to live and emptiness. I don’t feel anything else.

I listen to the lessons every day, but even when I suddenly hear and understand something, it instantly disappears before I can even remember or feel it. I participate in the Bnei Baruch dissemination projects, but it doesn’t give me strength. I am rapidly falling. Everyone is thinking about the crisis and how to come out of it, but I can’t even come out of myself. All I can feel is unbearable pain and resentment. I don’t know what to do. Please reply to me on your blog!

My Answer: The two forces acting in creation are the Light and the desire; everything that exists is comprised only out of these two. They interact in such a way that sometimes the Light dominates, and sometimes the desire. We sense this alternation between them as the contrast of joy / fulfillment and bitterness / emptiness.

Since you cannot come out of your depression, my advice to you is to delve into it even more than it really is: artificially push yourself into even greater self-denigration, feelings of anger, resentment and guilt. This way, by pushing yourself down with all your might, you will take control over the depression, and you will then discover just how artificial all your sensations are, how much they depend on your subjective outlook. And then, from the bottom of your descent, you will feel joy and Light!

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Three questions I received on using the internet as a means to connect:

Question: Research indicates that 11 out of 100 global citizens have access to computers and Internet. How can we feel like one society when just a few of us in the world can actually connect virtually?

My Answer: Initially, the connection between people was not created by the Internet, but by the Creator. Our souls are rigidly connected in one system. Thoughts and desires pass directly from soul to soul, and not through the web. Regardless of having the Internet or not, everyone will feel that they belong to the entire world in equal measure.

Question: If the global crisis harms the Internet, what will happen to our dissemination and the virtual groups?

My Answer: We must do everything we can to ensure that our friends all over the world can stay connected to us. If the world will need us, then we will certainly retain the opportunity to connect to the world. Perhaps we will receive even greater opportunities to do so.

Question: I had an idea during the Blackpool Congress: I was thinking about old people, who are unable to use computers. I think it would be great to give them the possibility to feel unity. We could also tell them about reality, freedom of choice, and how to see the world from the point of view of Kabbalah. This could lead to more actions made by this group of “aware old people.” If I try to develop this kind of thing with the “old people group” of my town, do you think it could be useful?

My Answer: One’s age is completely irrelevant when it comes to studying Kabbalah, because the soul has no age. Uniting with the idea already corrects the soul. Try it! I hope that once we reach a certain level of success in our dissemination to the masses, the television channels will become interested in our TV programs.

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Two questions I received on people who want to harm us:

Question: What is your interpretation of praying for your enemies? Our Rabbi put in two words at the end of our service, “and Ishmael,” and I was extremely upset. Is this part of “love your fellowmen as yourself”? And how can I pray for someone who has vowed our destruction?

My Answer: You should pray for them to stop wishing to conquer or destroy everyone who is “wrong,” because the infinite and eternal Upper World isn’t attained through violence, but through love for everyone.

Question: You said in a previous blog post that “Any person can harm your spiritual path with his thoughts and desires, even unintentionally.” Does that mean only among the points in the hearts in the spiritual world? Or are we talking in the world of “beasts,” in the corporeal world as well?

My Answer: There is one world, but in our consciousness it divides into the part that’s revealed to us and the part that’s concealed from us. We influence both parts as one whole.

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A question I received: I have been studying with you for four years already, and I disseminate Kabbalah on the Internet. But there is one question that has been bothering me for a while. Many of the sites that I connect to don’t want to hear anything about Kabbalah, and they say awful things about me and about you. They don’t understand what crisis we are talking about. After reading these comments about us, I feel empty and lose the desire to disseminate. What should I do?

My Answer: You are lucky to be living in a generation when it is permitted to disseminate Kabbalah. Imagine how the great Kabbalists of the past felt! You should read about them: how they were beaten (physically and otherwise) by their own kind.

You have to understand the level of your opponents’ development and patiently wait for them to mature. (“Ma Laasot Im Yeladim She Hizkinu – What can we do with children who have grown old but stayed children?”) However, in our time the crisis will hit everyone, and it will force everyone to wise up and to accept Kabbalah as the means of salvation. They simply don’t know what Kabbalah is, because they have been scared off and deceived. Give them time to suffer and figure things out.

As for where to get emotional strength, read what Kabbalists write about the need to disseminate Kabbalah. Personally, I tell myself that I am obligated to follow their instructions, and this frees me from thoughts such as, “Is this really necessary?” – even if the only things I receive in return are hardships… The Goal obliges a person! For centuries, Kabbalists dreamed of the opportunity to disseminate, and we have been given this opportunity. Must we even ask for anything in return?

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A question I received: What is the connection between the mind and the heart? Should a person keep them in balance with each other? And how is it possible to increase or decrease one of them? In one of the lessons you said that a person whose mind isn’t developed can go crazy. Can you explain this in more detail?

My Answer: The basis for everything, the only creation – is desire. Hence, the desire is primary in us. But in order to attain what we desire, the mind develops alongside the desire, corresponding to it. Hence, no matter how much we may resist this fact, the mind is a servant of the desire; it develops only in order to service the desire.

Therefore we will never be able to make our minds objective, independent of our desires. However, we can change our desires under the influence of the environment (see the article “The Freedom”), and according to the new desires we will also force our minds to change. If we understand this, then under the influence of the right environment (an environment that leads us to the goal of creation), we can always develop both our desires and our mind harmoniously.

If a person has great desires but his mind isn’t developed enough to actualize them, he may lose the ability to control himself sensibly.

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Questions I received on men and women:

Question: Why does a woman desire to be “the one and only,” and for the Creator to reach only her alone? Does this have a spiritual root? A man also shows that he wants to be the one and only: to be the best, the strongest, to show that he can do anything, and so on.

My Answer: A woman wants to be connected to the Source, whereas a man wants to become the Source himself.

Question: All I can think about half the time is making love to some beautiful woman studying Kabbalah. Is this normal?

My Answer: This will force you to become interested in Kabbalah in order for her to like you. But then you will discover so many new and attractive things in Kabbalah that your attention will shift to it instead. Meanwhile, the beautiful woman will remain, but just as someone who accompanies you, instead of being the main reason you study.

Question: What is the best solution for me: to marry a man who does not aspire for spirituality or to stay single until the Creator will want me to find a partner in life?

My Answer: Try to find a partner among those similar to you.

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I participated in a conversation for the TV Series “The Butterfly Effect.”

Speaking with me was Ram Shmueli, Brigadier-General in reserve, previously head of the Intelligence Squadron and commander of an Air Force base. Chairman of a public committee overseeing the Ministry of Education.

As chairman of a public committee overseeing the Ministry of Education, Ram understands the problems of educating the growing and adult generations on the local and global scales. But all the ministries of education are powerless to do anything. We’re helpless when it comes to what we hold most dear – our children. We are unable to shape them well, and we instead leave this task to the egoism that’s raging inside them. We just let their egoism force them to collide with one another, make them its miserable prisoners, without a moment of rest.

And all of this is happening because we did not receive the proper education either. We weren’t brought up to be “human beings”; we didn’t receive an explanation of our make up, desires, and qualities, of what governs us, where our freedom of choice lies, what are the laws governing an individual and the society, and what the laws of our development are. In fact, we don’t know anything about ourselves or what’s around us. This is why our life looks the way it does – it’s taking place in the dark.

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Questions I received on interpreting Kabbalistic terms and phrases:

Question: What is Shechina?

My Answer: It is the desire to reveal the Creator, and if the desire is whole, then the Creator becomes revealed inside it. The Creator is called Shochen – one who fills this desire.

Question: What is the recognition of evil?

My Answer: It’s when you get to know you own egoism!

Question: Is suffering the same as falling behind in realizing the Reshimo?

My Answer: Yes!

Question: Can we envision humanity’s path of development as a ready-made, paved route from the point of “Adam” to the point of “the Creator”?

My Answer: That is absolutely correct!

Question: How are we to understand this verse: “Rabbi Shimon said: ‘Kill the best of the Egyptians, and split the head of the best snake’”?

My Answer: Egypt and the snake are your egoism.

Question: What is the Kabblistic meaning of the verse, “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk”?

My Answer: Don’t mix the developing egoism (the young goat) with bestowal (the quality of Bina, milk). If you do, not only will you fail to correct egoism, but you’ll make the egoism even bigger due to the quality of bestowal (Bina): you will get “bestowal for the sake of reception” instead of “reception for the sake of bestowal.”

Question: Can we say that the inanimate matter, plants, and animals are angels? They are like angels (spiritual forces that influence us) because they have no freedom of will.

My Answer: That’s right!

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