A question I received: I would like to understand the meaning of the sacred name HaVaYaH: the beginning of the letter Yod, the letter Yod, and the rest of the letters in their order. How do they designate the Sefirot in our Kelim and in the worlds, and how does all this relate to Malchut both in the spiritual world and in our world, in our souls from Nefesh to Yechida?

My Answer: The letters and the Sefirot are the same thing. There is nothing besides the desire and the Light that created and fills it. Everything else is a designation of their mutual states. The framework of the spiritual desire is the five-level desire, whose last level constitutes the final desire.

It’s the same with us: The desire forms until we start perceiving and realizing it. It must go through four stages of development, beginning from the Light that begets it as a point, the beginning of the letter Yod, and then continuing along the four phases of the development of the HaVaYaH. Once the desire is formed, it starts reacting to the Light that begot it, and this is already the reversed HaVaYaH. [Read more →]

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News Story: Why Are Men Going Off Sex?

“Men are increasingly going off sex due to stress, depression and the inability to talk about their problems, experts have claimed.

A team at a relationship counselling service has reported a whopping 40 per cent increase in the number of lazy blokes, admitting that, despite being physically able to have sex, they don’t have any interest.

‘They tend to be men in their thirties, forties and fifties and married. It is a serious issue. It counts as a psychosexual dysfunction, rather than just a relationship problem, because these men haven’t simply gone off their partner but off sex altogether,’ a newspaper quoted Peter Bell of the organisation as saying.”

My Response: The feeling of emptiness, the lack of fulfillment from the Upper Source – even if only subconscious – leads to general depression and the suppression of all bodily desires. Lately this isn’t just a problem, but a universally acknowledged fact.

However, the study of Kabbalah brings about an outburst of all desires and growth of egoism, both on a widespread scale and individually. It is written, “since the destruction of the Temple, only those who work to become similar to the Creator have retained the true taste of copulation.” Mainly, this refers to spiritual copulation – Zivug de Haka’a with the Upper Light, but it also has results in our world. It is talking about people who are working on the intention to bestow…

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A question I received: How do you explain the fact that during the Holocaust, there were people among the nations of the world who put their lives in danger to save Jews, sometimes even sacrificing their own lives?

My Answer: If we look at this not from the level of our world, then all people are carrying out instructions from above, including everyone who participated in the Holocaust. If we look at this from the level of our world, then this indicates that one’s soul came from the right part of Adam – Hesed (mercy).

This doesn’t nullify my earthly attitude toward such a person, my attitude of kindness and gratitude. However, at the same time, I realize that I relate to him in such a way and act in such a way on the earthly level, whereas he acted mercifully because he was initiated like that from above. “Goodness is done from above through those who merit it, and evil is done through those who merit it” – I respect those through whom the Creator does apparent good to the world (rather than concealed good).

A question I received: In the movies, good always wins, and all the battles are fought against evil – but isn’t this just the desire to receive?

My Answer: Yes! Everything in our world is egoistic (the desire to receive), including all the best things!

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A question I received: The information you present to the world is fascinating. Everyone in my family is Orthodox Christian, and I’ve read the Bible and the New Testament since childhood. My question is: Where is Jesus Christ in your science? This worries me most of all, and is the only thing about your method that raises a concern.

My Answer: He’s absent, because I only base my teaching on the three main Kabbalists: Rashbi (The Book of Zohar), the Ari, and Baal HaSulam (view his available works in English). Just like any other science, Kabbalah bears no relation to any religion. It is the physics of forces that are perceived and examined through our sixth sense – the corrected desire.

In contrast, religion speaks about carrying out certain actions and rituals in our world, rather than correcting one’s egoism by means of the Upper Light. However, all religions want this action attributed to them.

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A question that I received: How can it be that a woman is incapable of independently merging with the Creator if that is her desire? Can there even be a desire without the potential to be fulfilled? If women feel the need to merge with and feel the Upper World, do they need to study and pray for the men’s mercy so that they would fulfill this need? If they are incapable of making any independent steps toward drawing closer to and attaining the Upper One, that right there says that from the very beginning they’re inferior to and smaller than the men.

My Answer: Men don’t have an independent desire to merge with the Creator either: they need to pass their desire through the group. In other words, in place of their own desire to receive, they need the desire of the group – the desire to bond the souls with the Light of the Creator, the Light of bestowal and love (toward one’s friend). This is the state the souls were in before the breaking of the vessels. It is the only desire that the Light perceives, and it is the only desire that the Light realizes (corrects).

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A question I received in response to the post What Do You Do with an Unsupportive Wife?: What does a woman who studies Kabbalah do with an unsupportive husband? What happens to the children? Is it correct to believe that the Creator has put us in this situation for the good of all, or should I do what is important for me as a woman?

My Answer: First and foremost, you should fulfill your earthly responsibilities, and only in your free, personal time, study what interests you, without imposing it on anyone else.

A question I received on the Ask a Question page: If my husband’s soul isn’t yet ready for Kabbalah, does this affect my spiritual advancement?

My Answer: It has no affect on it whatsoever.

A question I received on the Ask a Question page: I am relatively new to the study of Kabbalah and I’m still a little confused about the woman’s role in Kabbalah (I’ve been attending the fundamentals lessons at www.arionline.com and this subject came up last week about men and women having different methods of study, which led me to the article “A Talk about the Spiritual Advancement of Women”). So, I have the following the questions that I hope you can help me to understand better…

If a woman’s desire should be for the men to find/achieve the nine Sefirot, will a woman not receive the Light until that happens?

My Answer: No. Everyone attains spirituality at a different rate, because in general there are two groups advancing – the men’s group and the women’s group.

Question: Are the women totally dependent on the men to provide the path to spirituality or cohesion with the Creator?

My Answer: No. What matters most is a woman’s desire for the goal, while in general, men attract the Light by studying toward women’s desires. Every person receives the Light’s influence to the extent of his or her desire and efforts in dissemination.

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A question I received in response to my post “Abortion – How Does Kabbalah View It?”: What does Kabbalah think of sex that’s not intended for reproduction?

My Answer: Kabbalah treats all expressions of egoism in our world simply as expressions of egoism, and we shouldn’t think about them. Instead, we should think about egoism’s essence – the intention “for one’s own sake.” If this intention was to become corrected and turned into the intention “for the sake of the Creator,” then all of our actions would become spiritual.

Related Material:
* One Law – article by M. Laitman

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A question I received: The question of lack of time seriously bothers me. I don’t have the opportunity to watch lessons; the only connection I have is to a daily mailing list with lesson excerpts. I don’t have enough strength. The desire keeps increasing, and opportunities keep decreasing.

My Answer: Effort is all that’s required, and not the amount of time or knowledge. “Lefi Tsaara – Agra,” “The reward is according to the labor.” Spirituality is true and just, and as such, even if you only have one hour a day, but you dedicate that hour to your spiritual growth, it counts as if you’ve dedicated your entire day to it.

Related Material:
* The Beginning of a Kabbalist’s Way – section from the chapter “Proper Study” in the book The Path of Kabbalah: Revealing the Hidden Wisdom (Free PDF Download | Purchase)

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A letter I received: I’m ashamed of my desires, and I’d be ashamed if you knew what they are. More and more, I feel that I want it all: all the women, all the power, money, and honor. I feel so envious of others that I don’t know where so much envy can come from! My body refuses to do anything, and I feel like a bottomless glass. I also feel that absolutely nothing is up to me, that I’m like play dough, or a feather in the wind.

Yesterday I had the desire to become president, but today I can’t even get out of bed – I have no motivation or desire. I want to roll up into a ball or burst into pieces.

Yet, I try to connect all that’s happening to the Creator, and I’m thankful that I can at least think about Him. At other times I try to fall into oblivion and forget about everything. I have faith, but with a hint of reproach.

I always remember that you and the group are there, and other people who are searching. Whether I am suffering, trying to run away from the suffering (to forget about it all), trying to find the meaning of my life (if you can even call it a life) and of all life in general – I believe that only the Creator can help me, no one but Him.

My Response: This is life – your first realization of it. Later on, you will understand the changes you’re going through, and right now, you’re learning about yourself, your nature, and your egoism. You’ll later come to hate your egoism and decide to separate from it – and that will be your return from exile.

All of these states are wonderful, because you’re delving into nature, and the Creator is teaching you who you are. After all, you’re not forgetting about Kabbalah and about Him. Read “There Is None Else Beside Him” and other articles from Shamati (I Heard).

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A question I received: The article “Brain Scanners Can See Your Decisions Before You Make Them” states that, according to a research that was performed, “researchers using brain scanners could predict people’s decisions seven seconds before the test subjects were even aware of making them.” So my question regarding this is simply, do we have freedom of choice?

My Answer: A person doesn’t realize that his inner system of desires has already made all the calculations and put out the result. Such studies prove what Kabbalah has been saying all along: everything depends on our desire, and not on our external, philosophical reasoning. Thus, only the Upper Light can correct us; we cannot correct ourselves on our own.

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