A question I received: Why do you say that the word Mashiach (Messiah) originates from the word Lishmoch – to pull? I think it originates from the word Limshoach – to anoint, and it refers to one who is anointed for service.

My Answer: To be anointed means to draw the Upper Light of Hochma upon a person. In our world, this Light is represented by oil. This is how a person ascends to a level required to serve the Creator.

This procedure was done by a prophet who was on such a high level that he could pull a person up to the spiritual level of service to the Creator. Kabbalah doesn’t talk about “whom, how and with what to anoint,” but tells us about the essence of this phenomenon: about the reception of the Upper Light that actually gives a person the force and right to be God’s anointed, to be close to the Creator. I “translate” these words to get directly to the essence of what is happening.

By the way, these letters are interchangeable in Hebrew. However, if you feel more drawn to corporeal anointment, then you should read the non-Kabbalistic explanations. Everything written in the Torah can be understood directly, as physical actions, and/or according to its true, inner meaning. Still, by understanding the text literally, one does not reveal its true meaning. It is because the Mashiach is the force of liberation from egoism, and not a person.

It says in the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar, Item 70: “Alas, these people, who make the spirit of the Messiah vanish from the world, so as never to return, make the Torah dry, without the moist of mind and knowledge, for they confine themselves to the practical part of the Torah, and do not wish to try and understand the wisdom of Kabbalah, to know and educate themselves in the secrets and the reason behind the Torah and Mitzvot…”

Related Material:
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The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya”, items 57-60

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News Report (translated from Washigton ProFile): American children do not want to become President. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America published results of a survey that asked American children whether they would want to be the President. 67% responded that they would not want to be the President of the USA. The young Americans said that the most important qualities for the President to have are a good personality, high moral standards, an ability to inspire people, education, and a history of being a successful leader in the national arena. Results of surveys published by Newsweek and Gallup show that the children’s views are very different from the adults’.

My Comment: The young generation’s egoism has outgrown all conventions. People do not want to put on a show all the time. To be President means to be under constant pressure and to always try to have everyone like you. This is a feeling of being absolutely controlled and dependent; it’s a non-stop theater where you have the most difficult part!

Today’s egoism makes people want to take care of themselves and their personal fulfillment, to throw aside all the conventions and strive for individual fulfillment. Otherwise one’s egoism will feel unfulfilled (depressed) and will be ready to suppress itself (through drugs), or even to annul itself (through suicide).

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A question I received: What is ”The New Society” written by Rav Ashlag? This is almost word for word the Communist Manifesto:

1. The acceptance of the religion of “love thy neighbor as thyself” (meaning the religion is “love thy neighbor as thyself”!).
2. A just distribution of the profits, so that each works according to his skills and receives according to his needs.
3. Private property exists, but its owner must not profit from it more than he really needs.
4. Property owners will be under public supervision, or under self-trusteeship, or through bookkeeping.
5. The unemployed will receive their needs equally with the employed.
6. Profits will be utilized for building public assets.

Question: Why does Kabbalah preach Communism when it has been proven that it does not work?

My Answer:
1. “Love thy neighbor as thyself” is the general law of nature, since nature is a single organism.
2. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” is the law by which any interconnected system operates.
3. The owner benefits from realizing himself for the sake of the society because he receives respect and dignity.
4. He remains under the supervision of society until he rises to a degree above his egoism in every respect.
5. Those who are unemployed for reasons that are not in their control will receive the same as everyone else.
6. All the profits, except those necessary for every person to live, are collective and will be used for the benefit of the entire system.

The difference between this and the Soviet structure is that every person receives the Upper Reward for the common unity – adhesion with the Creator, an eternal and perfect existence! This is the reason why people will observe the commandment of “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” with everything it implies.

However, humanity will come to these conditions gradually and willingly, not by force. That’s because the revelation of the concealed world gives people the strength and the desire to exist in it!

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During the international children’s lesson that was held on 10.10.2008, we talked about prayer. Prayer is the most secret, concealed desire in one’s heart. It hides so deep down in our hearts that we don’t even feel it. But precisely this desire has a connection with the Creator, or we can say that the Creator dwells inside this desire.

In order to reveal the Creator, we must reveal this desire for Him. But how can we influence this desire? A person cannot reach it himself, but only through the environment (the group). He evokes all sorts of influences from the environment, which make his desire for the Creator, for love and bestowal, grow. In fact, these influences have a direct effect on one’s heart.

In this manner, through the group, one can evoke such a great desire for love and bestowal in his heart that it will become similar to the Creator in the minimum degree, and then he will immediately sense the Creator within it. This is the meaning and purpose of prayer – to gradually reveal the Creator in one’s heart!

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During the following international children’s lesson, held on 10.17.2008, we talked about blessings. A blessing is a sensation of gratitude that involuntarily appears in one’s heart. It is gratitude for the corrections that take place within a person under the influence of the Creator’s Light:

“Blessed are you, Ruler of the world… Who opens eyes to see the Upper World… Who spreads the earth (the desire to receive) upon the waters (the desire to bestow)… Who gives the heart the understanding to distinguish day (the Upper Light, the quality of bestowal) from night (egoism)… Who clothes the naked (with the Light of Hassadim, in which the Light of Hochma is revealed)… and so on.

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A question I received: I’ve noticed an obvious growth in the number of women studying Kabbalah, and I’ll be honest: this makes me very happy! Is this happening because their desires are increasing?

My Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed from humanity for millennia in order to allow humanity to develop their egoism and finally reveal the global egoism – the “small village” where all people are completely interconnected. As long as Kabbalah was concealed, it was passed down only through men, because in our world a man represents the quality of bestowal, and a woman – the quality of reception.

However, as soon as we reached the level of global egoism – which is how our souls are connected inside the system of the single soul of Adam – the wisdom of Kabbalah started being revealed to everyone, because it is the method to correct our common egoism, which is represented by the woman in our world.

This is why more women than men are attracted to the study and application of Kabbalah. However, this cannot be done without the male part because it is precisely the male part that evokes the Light’s influence, but it does so by using the female desire and hence draws the Light onto both of them. This is similar to how a woman takes care of the home and children while a man acquires the means to realize the woman’s desires.

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Two questions I received about physical and spiritual birth:

Question: I am very curious about whether there are any secrets during birth, marriage, and death according to the wisdom of Kabbalah.

My Answer: The birth of one’s animate body does not involve any secrets, and it never will because the body is simply an animal! However, when the soul (the screen, the quality of bestowal) is born in a person, he reveals the Upper World – the secret of all secrets!

Question: In the future, will people be born with a developed sixth sense within, that will give them absolute control over their lives?

My Answer: Man will always have to make an effort against egoism in order to be corrected and fulfilled by the Upper Light.

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News Report (translated from Gazeta.ru): The interests of the G-20 countries are far too different to expect serious changes of the financial architecture from the Washington summit, as Sarkozy and Medvedev want. The G-20 summit will reinforce national regulation and intervention into the economy. However, these measures will not help to overcome the crisis.

My Comment: Each one of them is trying to “look out for number one” – and this is why the meeting is doomed to fail. Next, the crisis will develop further, and after that there’ll be another meeting and another failure – and by then war won’t be too far off. It would be better if they didn’t meet at all, as it is written: “When egoists stay apart, it is better for them and for the world.”

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News Report: The British Journal of Psychology has published an article called “Being altruistic may make you attractive.” In it, scientists from the University of Nottingham in the UK conclude that altruism, or in other words – selfless behavior toward others – makes men more attractive to women. In fact, women value altruism in their partner over any other quality.

My Comment: This is just regular female egoism: women like altruism in men so that men will make selfless sacrifices for them, the women! But it’s hard to find such naive, selfless “knights” these days. They’ve all grown smarter and disappeared hundreds of years ago. They overgrew the animate altruism and became egoistically practical!

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News Report (from BMJ ): A national survey of US internists and rheumatologists shows that half of American doctors regularly prescribe medications that are known to be useless in treating their patients’ illnesses. The doctors use the prescriptions as a placebo, having no affect on the patient’s organism.

My Comment: This psychological effect – which uses the force of belief to get results – has been the basis of shamanism, faith, religion, and our daily beliefs in thousands of “valuable” things in life for thousands of years now. In contrast, Kabbalah elevates man above his nature where he loses his attachment to empty “values.” This gives him the opportunity to become attached to the Upper Force instead.

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Questions I received on how to work with the material and the group:

Question: When does a person who studies the science of Kabbalah go from simply “absorbing” the information (reading, listening and seeing) to actually perceiving the Upper World?

My Answer: When he becomes equivalent – in the minimal degree – to the quality of bestowal described by the text.

Question: When studying the materials by the aforementioned methods, does it make sense to try and unite with the Kabbalist’s way of thinking, rather than finding a connection with the material itself?

My Answer: That’s exactly what you should do – try to unite with the author and his intention.

Question: Can the point of the breaking be revealed only in the group? Or also with other people close to me, such as my husband for instance?

My Answer: It can only be done by trying to unite the aspirations for the Creator by drawing our joint aspirations for Him closer together.

Question: Sometimes I meet people who seem very close to me spiritually, and it’s easier for me to connect to their desires. Is this egoistic equivalence of form? Or the pattern of the reincarnation of souls?

My Answer: These are the same.

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