A question I received: Right now we’re witnessing this “football madness” all around the world. It seems like people are ‘warming up’ their intention, their thoughts and desires for this sport even on the days and times when there are no games scheduled. The TV is virtually bombing us with this “intention” – people are wearing their favorite team colors, everyone’s talking about it, and it’s slowly becoming ‘the only real thing in existence,’ even for those who are not fans. Masses of people are living through the same emotions.

What is the difference between this phenomena and what we are trying to do in our lessons and dissemination? What really makes our intention and our goal more important than theirs, when we’re still in our preparation period and cannot really tell the difference?

My Answer: The goal and the result.

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Two questions I received on how to make dreams come true, and the spiritual meaning of teeth and hair:

Question: Why is it that when you really wish for something, to the point that you daydream about it all day, then it’s bound not to come true? Does this mean that if you really want something, it’s better not to daydream about it?

My Answer: If your dreams coincide with the Creator’s plan, then they will definitely come true. This is why Kabbalah suggests that instead of daydreaming, you should start coinciding.

Question: At one of your lessons you promised to explain why we are born without teeth and hair, and also why we have very little teeth and hair when we grow old.

My Answer: It’s because teeth are a sign of growing up and being able to process food, similar to grindstones that process grain to make flour. Teeth symbolize one’s ability to discern which desires and Lights can be used for spiritual growth.

The Hebrew word for hair is Searot, which comes from the word Soer – one with a burning desire. Hair is a sign of additional desires, which disappear in old age, and hence a person in our world gets bald when he grows old. This was beautifully described by a great Kabbalist named Ramchal in the book Adir BaMaarom.

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Questions I received on feeling empty, connecting with the virtual group, dealing with contradictions, and not wanting to study:

Question: Why is it that the more you disseminate and make efforts, the emptier you feel?

My Answer: The feeling of emptiness emerges when one does not realize the importance of dissemination as an act that’s favored by the Creator. By disseminating, you bring the world closer to Him. However, one’s constantly growing egoism does not feel the importance of this action. Egoism constantly grows, especially in those who study Kabbalah, in order to give them the opportunity to overcome it and to thereby rise to the level of the Creator.

You should compensate for the feeling of emptiness quickly by receiving the greatness of the goal and the Creator by connecting with books and friends. The Shamati articles explain this in great detail.

Question: How can you advance spiritually without being in physical contact with a group?

My Answer: If you keep virtual contact with the world group, then you are guaranteed to receive an impression and connection that are just as powerful. In addition, you can physically participate in the Congresses, as well as visit and train at our Israel center.

Question: How should one deal with the contradictions in Kabbalah? One day things are explained one way, and the next day – the opposite way!

My Answer: When you gain the right understanding, then all these “contradictions” will actually complement each other and connect into one whole. The contradictions lead to understanding, because they are an indication of your imperfection.

Question: There are days when I really want to study Kabbalah, and there are also days when I don’t want to think about Kabbalah at all, and instead I want to do the corporeal things that attract me. Does this indicate that I don’t have the point in the heart yet?

My Answer: During these days you receive an opportunity to advance independently, through your own efforts, rather than through the desire that you receive from above.

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A question I received: A recent news report stated that “Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has announced that he will be resigning, following the numerous scandals, investigations and failures of his term in office.” I would like to know what you have to say about this as a Kabbalist.

My Answer: The society’s leaders match the society. The leaders cannot be better than the society because they are produced by it. Moreover, their egoism is even bigger than a regular citizen’s – otherwise they wouldn’t be able to achieve their high positions.

The correction of society must happen from the inside out – it has to start with the masses rather than the leaders. The leaders will never understand anything except their own egoism – the desire to rule, and they will always use the people and the nation to satisfy this desire. History shows us that this law works in 100% of the cases.

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Two questions I received on faith above reason and how to be with the Creator at every moment:

Question: You say that there is no faith in Kabbalah, but only knowledge or reason. Then what do you mean by “faith above reason”?

My Answer: “Faith above reason” means “bestowal above reception.” Our nature is the desire to receive, and this desire makes us opposite to the Creator. However, we can make our egoistic nature equal to the Creator by adding the intention “to bestow” to it, which will be “above reason” – it will determine the essence of our actions, which are “to receive.”

Likewise, “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” is the knowledge or attainment of our 613 desires and their correction, in order to use the desires “to receive” for the sake of “bestowal.”

Kabbalah is a science and doesn’t deal with faith, but only with clearly knowable phenomena, according to the principle “The judge knows no more than what his eyes see.” The Creator or Light created a desire with the intention “for oneself.” Everything that happens is a process of correcting the intention from “for myself” to “for others.” To the degree of the desire’s correction, the Light fills the desire. The end of correction is when the desire is completely similar to the Light. So there is really no room for earthly faith here.

Question: How is it possible to be with the Creator at every moment? What does this actually mean?

My Answer: It means being in the quality of bestowal rather than reception.
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I had a meeting that was recorded with Dan Kaner, the anchorman of radio Kol Israel and a popular Television host in Israel.

Dan Kaner is a true master of the Hebrew language, with extraordinary knowledge of its intricacies, origin, history and evolution. Therefore, it was a real pleasure speaking to him about the Hebrew language as used in Kabbalah.

By origin, Hebrew is a symbol for the forces operating in the universe. It harmoniously expresses the essence of man and nature through letters and symbols (TANTA). Combining and ordering the letters to form words and sentences is a means to describe the order of the creature’s creation and correction, all the way until the full correction – similarity to the Creator or Light. The Torah exemplifies this order. Knowing what forces and actions are indicated by the letters enables one to move all along the process of creation, to become incorporated in it at different stages, and to thereby gain a better understanding of the Creator’s plan.

Dan was very impressed with the wealth that the language of Kabbalah offers in describing the Hebrew language, the sensations that every letter evokes when interpreted Kabbalistically, and the music of feelings that plays in the combination of letters. He understood that Kabbalah enables one to enter the world of letters, symbols, forces and desires – to feel them and their filling with the Light.

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A question I received: In the “Introduction to the Book Tree of Life” Rabbi Chaim Vital describes many aspects of the Kabbalah of the Ari. He writes the following about the Ari: “He was able to speak with reincarnated souls. He knew all the secrets of all people, the roots of their souls and all the details of their past lives. He was able to speak with the dybbuks (translator’s comment: this probably refers to evil spirits that possess people and need to be exorcised), as well as to correct them and drive them out of the bodies of the people whom they possessed.” My question is: What are the “dybbuks”? I couldn’t find this word in any of the study materials available today. It probably refers to one’s inner forces, doesn’t it?

My Answer: That is absolutely correct. This refers to man’s inner forces, since everything that exists is inside us in the form of forces, desires, and thoughts. See Baal HaSulam’s “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” item 34. Nothing exists outside of man. We perceive the world as being outside of us, but in fact it is only a projection of our properties onto the white Light. It says in The Book of Zohar, “All the worlds are inside man,” but man perceives them on the outside in order to feel the Creator as being outside him and to attain similarity to the Creator. To the degree that he attains similarity to HIm, he will start perceiving everything that happens “outside him” as happening “inside him.” Today in our world we are beginning to attain the fact that our perception is absolutely subjective – that it happens inside us.

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Questions I received on how the physical commandments of Judaism relate to spiritual correction:

Question: You explained that the 613 commandments of Judaism are actually 613 desires. However, isn’t there a danger that people will then prefer spiritual development to observance of physical actions, and then they will fall into the other extreme? Previously people neglected the inner part of the Torah and performed only the physical actions, but now they will do the opposite – drop the outer observance and focus only on the inner meaning. What will happen then?

I used to observe the commandments and could not find the harmony in it. One day I came across www.kab.tv and it made me realize that my hunch was correct – that I was doing only the outer actions just like I was taught as a child. It is very difficult to observe the commandments without feeling the truth in them. Nevertheless, the holy Ari passionately observed all of the commandments relating to the Sabbath. Can you comment on the harmony between inner and outer observance of the commandments?

My Answer: Your personal search will bring you to the right answer. You have to find it on your own. Every person creates his own environment, comprised of physical actions and spiritual aspirations. It may range anywhere from observing the physical actions to the fullest, to not observing them at all. In any case, the most important thing is – “The entire correction is carried out only in thought” (HaKol be Mahshava Itbareru).

Question: In one of your books it says that before the fall of second Temple, our contact with the spiritual forces was more significant and closer because of the Temple and the services held there. To me, this indicates that the rituals in our world play a major role in attaining the spiritual world.

My Answer: This means that back then people performed the action of love and bestowal in all of its manifestations, in every way possible, both on the outside and the inside.

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A question I received: You said that Kabbalah is a science without axioms. Yet in Shamati Baal HaSulam says that there is only Atzmuto (the Unattainable), Ein Sof and the Souls. Aren’t these the axioms upon which Kabbalah is based? Everything else can be derived from these notions.

My Answer: No, these aren’t axioms, but revelations made by Kabbalists. You simply don’t understand how one can say that Atzmuto exists if it is unattainable. But the fact is – one clearly attains its unattainability! The rest you’ll have to reveal for yourself.

There is a rule in Kabbalah: We only talk about what we attain. So when a Kabbalist says that something is “unattainable,” this denotes a particular attainment. The same applies to all Kabbalistic notions – they all come from clear attainment and scientific research. They were perceived in feelings that one can control, and are based on a Kabbalist’s comprehension of the connections by way of analysis and mental synthesis. However, this wasn’t done with the regular mind. Kabbalists develop an “unearthly” mind or brain, because one’s mind develops alongside one’s desires, in order to ensure their actualization.

If one’s desires are at the level of this world, then one’s mind can never step out of its boundaries, because it is produced by one’s desires. Hence, you must first correct yourself, and then, as a result of the change in your properties, you will become smarter and acquire a mind that isn’t corporeal, but is different, higher – a mind that can understand opposites as one whole, can comprehend that time doesn’t exist, and that motion means changing one’s properties in similarity to the Creator.

One then reveals an entirely different worldview (see the material on the perception of spiritual reality). One reveals the souls and the governing forces, as well as the cause and purpose of this world. In addition, one sees all of this together, as a single picture that is stationary yet moving toward revealing this state of rest.

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A question I received: How does one pray in Kabbalah? I pray every night, yet I find myself asking whether this is the correct way to pray. It seems so egoistic to pray only for my own desires and requests. Does Kabbalah have “instructions” on how to pray, or a general, single prayer that a person can say? Perhaps every person should pray individually, according to how he feels, or is it better to just stop praying altogether?

My Answer: A prayer is a desire that comes from the bottom of one’s heart – the desire to become similar to the Creator, to bestow and selflessly love. This is the only desire that the Creator perceives as a prayer – the desire to be similar to Him, or to attain adhesion with Him. Hence, He doesn’t feel all the egoistic prayers people say, and the entire history of mankind shows this.

This is how the system of Atzilut (the system of the Creator’s connection with the creation or soul) is built: AVI (Aba ve Ima) feel a MAN coming from Malchut (the soul), and react to it by giving Malchut the Light of correction or the Light of fulfillment, depending on what Malchut asks for.

One cannot reach such a request, or the true prayer, alone. This can only be done through a group, by trying to unite with it into one whole, as requested by AVI, and as it was before the breaking of the soul. In addition, it can only be done through studying authentic Kabbalistic books – the original books of Baal HaSulam, because then one is influenced by a special Upper Force called the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif). (See item 155 in the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot.”)

Precisely this Light creates the true prayer in a person, which immediately receives an answer from the Creator in that He reveals Himself to the person. This revelation of the Creator is called the evidence (Edut) of the fact that a person will never sin again, that is, that he will never act egoistically under the influence of this revelation. This is why the Upper World becomes revealed to him.

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