The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Donkey Driver,” Part 1 (abridged)

74. Rabbi Elazar, the son of Rabbi Shimon, was on his way to visit his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosi, the son of Lakunya, and Rabbi Aba accompanied him. A man followed behind them, driving their donkeys. Rabbi Aba said, “Let us open the gates of the Torah, as it is time to correct our path.” In Aramaic, the language in which The Zohar was written, “driver” means “one who pricks.” This is because the donkey driver’s function amounts to forcing the donkeys to move by pricking them with the edge of his stick (Hamor – donkey, comes from the word Homer – matter, egoism).

75. Rabbi Elazar spoke, “The Creator created the world in six days. And each day would reveal His deeds, and gave strength to that day. When did He reveal His deeds and give them strength? On the fourth day of creation, for the first three days were concealed completely, and would not be revealed. The fourth day arrived, and He revealed the deeds and forces of all the days.

76. There is fire, water and air, the three first days of creation. Although they are the initial Supernal foundations of all that will follow, their actions are not revealed until the earth, meaning Malchut, reveals them. Only then does the work of each of the Supernal foundations reveal itself. Hence, the power of the first three days is revealed only on the fourth day.

77. However, the third day may be better described as one that reveals the creation of the first three days, as it is written of it: LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH GRASS. That is to say, the revelation of the earth’s (Malchut’s) deeds already took place on the third day. Yet, although it was written on the third day, Tifferet, it was actually the fourth day, Malchut. But Malchut joined the third day, for Tifferet and Malchut are inseparable. And then the fourth day revealed its deeds – to elucidate the work of each and every one, for the fourth day is the “fourth leg” of the Supernal Throne (the Sefira Bina), whose four legs are Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, and Malchut. Malchut reveals the spiritual power of the three days.

78. All of the actions of all the Sefirot, both on the first three days of creation, HGT, and on the last three, NHY, are dependent on the day of Shabbat, Malchut, GAR of the entire degree of ZA and its perfection. Hence, it is written, “AND THE CREATOR RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY, SHABBAT.” This refers to the fourth leg of the throne, as the seventh and the fourth days are both Malchut. Only the fourth day is Malchut that includes the Sefira Tifferet of ZA, from his chest upwards, whereas the seventh day is Malchut of the entire ZA, and they merge together face to face in a Zivug.

79. Yet, if Shabbat is Malchut, then why does the Torah say, “My Sabbaths you are to observe,” implying two? It is written of the two parts of Shabbat: the night (Malchut) and the day (ZA) that shines in Malchut. Thus, there is no division between them, for they merge face to face in a Zivug, and are therefore called two Sabbaths.

80. Following behind them with the donkeys, the donkey driver asked: “Why is it said, ‘You shall fear sanctity?’” They replied: “This refers to the sanctity of Shabbat.” The donkey driver asked: “And what is the sanctity of Shabbat?” They replied: “It is the sanctity that descends from Above, from AVI.” He said to them, “If that is so, then Shabbat is without sanctity, for sanctity descends on it from Above, from AVI.” Rabbi Aba answered him: “It is indeed so.” And it is said: “And call Shabbat a delight, a holy day dedicated to the Creator.” Shabbat and a holy day are mentioned separately. The donkey driver asked: “If that is so, then what does a holy day mean to the Creator?” He replied: “That is when sanctity descends from Above, from ZA, and fills Shabbat, Malchut.” The donkey driver objected, “But if sanctity descends from Above, then Shabbat itself is not a holy day. And yet, it is written, ‘You shall sanctify Shabbat,’ meaning Shabbat itself.” Rabbi Elazar said to Rabbi Aba, “Leave this man alone, for there is much wisdom in him, of which we do not know.” So he said to the donkey driver, “Speak, and we shall listen.”

81. The donkey driver opened (the Upper Light) and said, “It is written: Shabbatot, i.e., there are usually two. And this alludes to the border of Shabbat, which is 2,000 Amah (cubits) in each direction from the city. This is why the word ‘Et’ was added before the word Shabbatot, which designates the plural form – both the Upper Shabbat and the lower Shabbat joining into one.”

82. One Shabbat was left, unmentioned before, and felt ashamed. She said to Him, “Creator of the Universe, from the day I was created, I am called Shabbat, but there is no day without night.” The Creator replied to her: “My daughter, you are Shabbat, and I have given you this name. But now I am surrounding and adorning you with the most exalted adornment.” It is the merging together of I (Malchut, the nights of Shabbat) with the Creator Himself (ZA) into a single whole.

83. Since the circle and square are Shabbatot, they are both included in the instruction, “My Shabbatot you are to observe.” However, the Upper Shabbat is not included in the instruction “Observe,” but rather in “Remember.” For the Supernal King, Bina, is as perfect as memory. This is why Bina is called “King,” whose perfection lies in peace and in memory. Hence, there is no contradiction Above.

84. There are two types of peace below: one is Yaakov (Tifferet), and the other is Yosef (Yesod). Therefore, PEACE is written twice in the greeting: “PEACE, PEACE to the distant one and to the near one.” “The distant one” refers to Yaakov, and “the near one” refers to Yosef. Or, as it is written, “From afar I see the Creator.”

85. “From afar” is the Supernal Point, standing in His palace, of which it is said, “You are to guard.” “You shall fear My sanctity” refers to the point standing in the center, which must be feared more than anything, for its punishment is death, as it is written, “All who transgress in it shall perish.” Who are these transgressors? They are those who have entered the space of the circle and the square, and committed a sin. Hence, it is written, “You shall fear!” This point is called “I,” and there is a prohibition on its revelation, called HaVaYaH. “I” and HaVaYaH are a single whole. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Aba dismounted from their donkeys and kissed him. They said, “So great is your wisdom, and yet you drive donkeys behind us! Who are you, then?” He replied to them: “Do not ask me who I am, but let us go on and study the Torah. Each of us will speak his wisdom so as to illuminate our path.”

86. He said to him: “Who appointed you to walk here and be a donkey driver?” He replied: “The letter Yod Chaf waged war with two letters, and Samech, for me to come and join. The letter Chaf did not want to leave its place because it has to support those who fall, for without a screen, they cannot survive.”

87. The letter Yod came to me alone, kissed me and wept with me. It said to me, “My son, what can I do for you? I disappear from many good deeds and from secret, supernal, basic letters. But I shall return to you and will be of help to you. And I shall give you two letters that are more exalted than those that have disappeared – the letters Yod and Shin. They shall become for you a treasury that is forever full. So, my son, go and drive the donkeys.” And that is why I am here in this role.

88. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Aba rejoiced, wept, and said, “You sit on the donkey, and we shall drive it.” He replied to them, “Have I not told you that it is the command of the King that I act as I do, until the other donkey driver appears” (this hints at the Mashiach, who, as it is said, will appear poor and riding a donkey). They said to him, “You have not even told us your name! Where do you dwell?” He told them, “My dwelling place is wonderful and very precious to me. It is a tower that soars in the air, grand and unique. Only two live in this tower: the Creator and I. That is the place, in which I dwell. And I am exiled from there in order to drive the donkeys.” Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Aba looked at him, and his words were unclear to them, for they tasted sweeter than manna and honey. They said to him, “Perhaps you will tell us the name of your father, so that we could kiss the earth at his feet?” He responded, “What for? It is not my habit to boast of the Torah.”

89. But the place of my father’s dwelling was in the Great Sea. And he was a big fish that continually circled the Great Sea, from one end to the other. And he was mighty and he grew old, until he swallowed up all the other fish in that sea. And then he released them, and they were thriving and filled with all of the very best of the world. And it was in his power to swim across the entire sea in one instant. And He pulled him out and hauled him in with an arrow, like a warrior, and brought him to the place that I told you about, to the tower that soars in the air, but he returned to his place and disappeared in that sea.

90. Rabbi Elazar contemplated his words and replied: “You are the son of the Holy Source, you are the son of Rabbi Hamnuna-Saba, you are the son of the Source of the Torah, and you drive donkeys behind us!” They wept and kissed him, and continued their journey. Then he said: “If it pleases our master, let him reveal his name to us.”

(See the continuation of this chapter in Part 2 – coming soon)

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This week we had a new guest at our center – Yossi Vassa, stage performer, actor, comedian and playwright of theatrical productions for children and adolescents, as well as other entertainment programs.

Yossi is successful not only in Israel, but also on Broadway, in Mexico, England, and other countries around the world. This intelligent and energetic young man repatriated to Israel from Ethiopia, and feels concerned about the unsuccessful absorption of his Ethiopian community in Israel. I have known him for a long time because my daughter’s fiancé, Shai Ben Attar, is the script writer and stage director of Yossi’s plays.

During our conversation we reached the conclusion that there is no such thing as a Jewish nation, but only a gathering of outcasts and refugees who haven’t been able to become a nation. This is because in the past, 3,700 years ago, the Jewish nation was created by means of the spiritual idea of union and brotherly love, above people’s individual egoism – and they attained this through the influence of the Upper Light. However, 2,000 years ago they fell from the level of “love for one’s neighbor” into hatred, and scattered like a bunch of nuts that fell out of a sac.

Now, the only way for us to gather back together and become a nation is by reviving the same foundation that existed back then – love for one’s neighbor. Only Kabbalah can provide this, or rather, only the Light that it evokes. We at Bnei Baruch hope that we will be able to evoke this Light and thereby bring the entire world to peace.

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Questions I received on religion and Kabbalah:

Question: Maybe things should be made easier for people who are interested in studying the wisdom of Kabbalah (both Jews and gentiles) by telling them that at the end of the correction process, there is a connection between one’s actions and spirituality. This is the wholeness of Pardes – Judaism (the actions) and Kabbalah (spirituality), and sooner or later this will become the only way of life for the entire corrected society. With all due respect, it’s a fact that you behave as an observant Jew, just like your Rav, Rabash and his Rav before him, Baal HaSulam, and everyone else since the very beginning of the holy generations.

My Answer: I will say it again: the observance of rituals with our body in this world is no more than a tradition, whereas Kabbalah speaks about the correction of the soul’s desires. No one will have to observe the mechanical commandments on purpose. Rather, people will only have to do the spiritual observance of the commandments – in their desire. This is how we will become similar to the Creator. It won’t be done mechanically, because the Creator does not have arms or legs! We have to correct the soul. Study Baal HaSulam’s articles on the body and soul. There he explains that we cannot correct the soul using the body.

Nevertheless, it is good to follow traditions, including the religious ones, in order to keep a framework for our cultural and social existence on earth. I can’t lie to people who are interested in Kabbalah just like I can’t lie to Kabbalah’s opponents.

Question: Where does Baal HaSulam say that one must become secular on the inside? Your arguments make perfect sense, yet you seem not to trust people to be able to fulfill the commandments externally and to work with the intention (Kavanah) internally in a Kabbalistic manner. Your teachers before you and all previous Kabbalists did just this, am I correct? Why then tell people to stop being religious?

My Answer: I never told anyone to stop being religious, just like I never told anyone the reverse! In “The Future Generation,” Baal HaSulam writes that in the corrected society of the future, every person can keep his religion. This shows what the true definition of religion is – it’s a culture, and no more than that. Everyone will recognize and accept it as such when the Creator will be revealed within them. People will remove from religion anything relating to the Creator, the world to come, and reward and punishment for corporeal life.

It’s because everything becomes immediately perceived in “this world,” in the present, right now, and there is no “other world,” or some world “on the other side.” There is nothing but the real, present states. “On the other side” means on the other side of egoism. Change egoism to its opposite, and you will perceive the world on the other side.

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Four questions I received on the breaking of the common soul, the Star of David, respect for sports stadiums, and self acceptance:

Question: Is it possible for the common soul of Adam to break again after the souls unite?

My Answer: No, which is why it’s called “the full correction” (Gmar Tikkun).

Question: Can you explain the Kabbalistic meaning of the Star of David?

My Answer: The two triangles represent the descent of the souls from above downward and their ascent from below upward. The fact that they overlap stands for the Creator’s particular and general governance of Malchut (David).

Question: While browsing through the Kabbalah website, I found a story about how you drove past a sports stadium with Rabash, and he commented that we have to respect this place because it gives a lot of pleasure to many people. How can a place like that be respected if the people there don’t have any desire for the Creator, and their entire desire and pleasure are just primitive egoism?

My Answer: A sports stadium is the Creator’s way of giving pleasure to the masses, and we have to respect everything that comes from the Creator, if it does not hurt one’s neighbor.

Question: Dear Rav, does the notion of self acceptance work with your teaching? It strikes me that it is necessary to renounce one’s self if one is ever to advance. Is that so?

My Answer: Accept yourself the way the Creator made you – deformed, in order to then justify the way He created you and the world. One does this by gradually revealing one’s oppositeness to the Creator, and then correcting it – transforming it to similarity to Him.

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Questions I received on the prophets, the future of humanity, and the Bnei Baruch community:

Question: I’m wondering whether I understand this correctly: None of the prophets ever spoke about what was happening in their time nor about the forthcoming destruction of the Temple, but only about our times – the spiritual ascent and elimination of egoism that will take place?

My Answer: Yes. See the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin, page 99 А.

Question: I am worried: will humanity be able to change and understand what matters most, or will it be held back by the war between Russia and Georgia and the world will drown in madness and chaos?

My Answer: I hope that our dissemination efforts will bring the world to a peaceful correction, without preliminary fighting.

Question: I heard that there was a time when Bnei Baruch was looking for an opportunity for Kabbalists to live together. However, even though your students live near the Bnei Baruch center, they still don’t live together. Why is that? Do you lack finances, an appropriate place, or this is necessary to strengthen the desire?

My Answer: We wanted to create a model of the future society within a close-knit environment, until we discovered that it’s necessary to come out into the greater world and enlighten the whole of humanity, instead of isolating ourselves.

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A question I received: I have a question about the sages of the past. I have heard you mention that they used to sleep on the ground and restrict themselves in many ways. I was wondering why this was so, because we learn that only the Light can change us and also that Kabbalah forbids things such as starving ourselves, running away to a monastery, and so on. The way they behaved in the past seems just like Eastern teachings.

My Answer: It’s because the development of egoism (which determines all human development) is a process, and back then egoism was developed only on a small level. To attain correction, it was sufficient to limit oneself physically and study the Torah, as Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot“: “Eat bread with salt, drink little water, sleep on the ground, and labor in the Torah. If so you do, happy you will be; happy in this world and happy in the world to come.” This shows that no one revoked the correction by the Upper Light, because initially it is written: “I created egoism and I created the Torah for its correction, because its Light returns one to Me.”

However, later, during the destruction of the Temple (about 2,000 years ago), there was a sudden jump in the development of egoism, and people fell into egoism (the Temple was destroyed). Kabbalists then performed a special correction in the system of the Upper Worlds that govern us, so that instead of using restrictions, we would also use the Upper Light (Ohr Makif).

Hence, when a person with great egoism fasts (limits himself), then he usually begins to take pride in his actions and moves away from the goal even more. He thinks that by increasing the limitations and the details of observance, he will become more righteous. This is why Kabbalists completely canceled the outer, physical conditions, actions and limitations, and by so doing they moved away from religion even more. This was done because a person can get confused and think that physical actions amount to correction.

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Questions I received on distracting thoughts, the desires of others, the right focus, and how to ask questions:

Question: What do Kabbalists do with distracting thoughts and the constant chatter that goes on in the brain?

My Answer: Get more involved in studying and writing articles. And it’s best to do this with others. It is written: “Regardless of how much the Serpent stings you, study the Torah.”

Question: We’re supposed to attach others’ desires to us, but which desires? When we make actions of bestowal, we are actually fulfilling the egoistic desires of others, so we’re in fact developing their egoism.

My Answer: “Others” are your friends in the group who understand your actions and also behave this way toward you. In order to reveal the Creator, it is necessary to create a common desire for Him. That is to say, in order to reveal the property of love and bestowal, it’s necessary to combine the desires of every person together into a common desire.

The sensation of the common desire for bestowal and love is the Creator’s manifestation in us! It brings the feeling of perfection, eternity, and harmony. However, when you are with others who don’t have a point in the heart, you have to behave just like they do.

Question: If the Creator became distanced and concealed from us in order to correct us, then in the process of returning to Him, should we be thinking and aspiring for attainment and revelation, or for correction?

My Answer: These are the same, since one acquires the property of love and bestowal.

Question: At one of your lessons you said that you want to teach us to ask questions correctly. Sometimes you tell your students that they’re “smart alecs.” So what does it mean to ask a question during the lesson? What should the question be?

My Answer: A question has to be exactly on the lesson’s topic, in order to help all the friends understand the topic better. It shouldn’t be something that interests only the person asking it.

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The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Vision of Rabbi Chiya” (abridged)

49. Rabbi Chiya prostrated himself on the ground and wept: “Dust, how hard and heartless you are, how many you have consumed, even the great one, Rabbi Shimon, the Light of the entire world, is also consumed by you, and yet you govern the world?” But then he collected himself at once and said: “Do not be proud, dust, for the pillars of the world will not be betrayed to you, and Rabbi Shimon will not be consumed by you!”

At first, Rabbi Chiya thought that Rabbi Shimon himself was also consumed by dust, i.e., did not achieve complete correction, for the upper gates are closed for all. Yet, if Rabbi Shimon revives the worlds through his soul, how can it possibly be that he has not reached perfection? Therefore, he concludes that Rabbi Shimon was not consumed by the dust, that he did achieve complete correction. The thing that Rabbi Chiya could not understand, however, is how any individual soul could achieve the end of correction prior to (without) the complete correction of all the others. This, Rabbi Chiya could not explain to himself.

50. Rabbi Chiya fasted for forty days so that he might see Rabbi Shimon, but was told he still was not worthy of seeing him. He wept and fasted for another forty days. He was then shown a vision (not his degree, but a higher one): Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Elazar were discussing him, the words of Rabbi Chiya.

51. In that same vision, Rabbi Chiya saw how Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Elazar mounted great celestial wings and soared to the Assembly of Heaven. Afterwards, they both returned to their place and shone brighter than ever before, brighter than the light of the sun. The term Supernal Assembly (of corrected souls) refers to the Assembly of the Creator Himself, while the Heavenly Assembly refers to the Assembly of Matat. The wings are angels (spiritual forces, similar to robots or draft animals in our world), whose task is to help the souls ascend from one spiritual degree to another.

52. Further Rabbi Chiya saw that Rabbi Shimon said: “Let Rabbi Chiya enter and see how much the Creator renews the faces of the righteous in the world to come. Happy is he who comes here without shame. Happy is he who stands in the other world against all obstacles. And Rabbi Chiya saw himself entering, and Rabbi Elazar and all the others stood up before him. And he, Rabbi Chiya, was ashamed; he entered, bending, and sat at the feet of Rabbi Shimon. Rabbi Shimon opened the way for the Light and said: “Happy is he who enters here without shame.” And all that were present there felt no shame. Only Rabbi Chiya was ashamed. This is because they had the strength to withstand the power of the dust, and Rabbi Chiya did not. They were all perfect, whereas Rabbi Chiya had a flaw – the desire to attain. And this is what he was ashamed of.

53. A voice sounded: “Lower your eyes, do not raise your head.” Rabbi Chiya lowered his eyes and saw Light that shone from afar. The voice returned and said: “The Supernal Ones, concealed and enclosed, who have eyes that watch over the entire world, look and see: the lower ones are sleeping, and the Light of their eyes is concealed in their pupils. Wake them!”

After he followed the instruction to lower his eyes and not raise his head (not to receive the Light, but only to bestow), he heard (the Light of Hassadim) the appeal, in which he attained everything. The voice divides all souls into two groups: the first is a group of Supernal Ones who merited their eyes to be opened to behold the entire world, and the second group of souls have the Light of their eyes concealed. This is why the voice called upon the souls of the first group to behold, i.e., to use the reception of the Upper Light, to draw the Upper Light together with the second group.

54. Who among you turns darkness into Light (love towards one’s friend) and savors bitter (bestowal) as sweet even before he came here, that is, while still living in the other (egoistic) world? Who among you hopes and waits each day for the Light (of correction) that shines when He distances (from him in a sensation of a descent)? For he who does not wait for this each day while living in this world, has no place in the Upper World.

55. In his vision, Rabbi Chiya saw many of his friends, some are elevated by the wings, while others are lowered. And above them all, he saw the wings of the approaching Matat. This way the two groups help one another. Rabbi Chiya saw also that due to the aspiration of both groups, Matat descended from the Heavenly Assembly to the assembly of Rabbi Shimon and swore an oath.

56. The angel Matat swore that he heard from behind the curtain how each day the Creator remembers and grieves over Malchut, cast into the dust. And when He remembers her, He strikes 390 firmaments, and they all tremble with terrible fear before Him. And the Creator sheds tears for the Shechina – Malchut that has fallen to the dust. And those tears simmer like fire, and fall into the Great Sea. And by the power of these tears, the Ruler of the Sea, called Rachav, is revived, blesses the Creator, and vows to swallow up everything, from the first days of creation, and to absorb all within himself, when all the nations gather against Israel, the sea ruler will rise back to life and swallow up all the primeval waters, for Malchut will receive the lacking correction, for each day the Creator cares for her until she, His only creation, reaches her final correction – the waters will dry, and Israel will walk through dry land. And here Rabbi Chiya’s delusion was revealed to him: he understood that nothing disappears in the dust, but, on the contrary, each day Malchut undergoes corrections, just as Matat swore.

57. Through all this, he heard a voice: “Clear this place, clear this place! The Mashiach (Messiah), the King-Redeemer is coming to the assembly of Rabbi Shimon,” for all the righteous gathered there ascend from this assembly to the Assembly of Heaven. And the Mashiach visits all these assemblies and seals the Torah that stems from the mouths of the righteous.

As a result of the revelation of the end of correction, concealed in the oath of Matat, all of the righteous present at Rabbi Shimon’s Assembly attained Upper Degrees and reached the levels of “heads of assemblies” and merited ascending to the Assembly of Heaven and revealing the Mashiach.

And now all the members merited becoming the heads of the Assemblies, wherefrom they merited an ascent to the Heavenly Assembly. Moreover, thanks to their corrections, they merited the Mashiach himself coming to all these assemblies to be adorned with their deeds in the Torah. And now all the members have merited reaching the level of the assemblies’ heads.

58. The members stood up. Rabbi Shimon stood up too, and his Light rose to the firmament. The Mashiach said unto him: “Happy are you, Rabbi, for your Torah has risen in 370 beams of Light, and each beam divides into 613 beams (properties) that ascend and bathe in the rivers of the holy Apharsemon. And the Creator confirms and signs the Torah of your assembly.”

59. “I have come here not to confirm the Torah of your assembly, but only because the ‘owner of wings’ is on his way here. For I know that he shall not enter any other assembly, but only yours.” Meanwhile, Rabbi Shimon told him of the oath taken by the “owner of wings.” Right then the Mashiach trembled in awe – and the Heavens shook, and the Great Sea boiled, and the Leviathan stirred, and the entire world threatened to overturn – and left.

60. Rabbi Chiya trembled in awe when the Mashiach left, and his eyes were filled with tears. For the Mashiach left Rabbi Shimon’s Assembly weeping from the great desire for the final correction. And Rabbi Chiya was also anguished from the fervent desire to reach the end of correction. Rabbi Chiya cried and said: “Happy is the lot of the righteous in the other world, and happy is the lot of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who has merited all of this.”

“The Vision of Rabbi Chiya” – full commentary

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A question I received: I feel drawn to Kabbalah study. I feel great changes. I feel like I am hearing answers that speak to me for the first time in my life. I want to learn, grow and change.

I was unobservant for many years and then returned to observance, mostly to try and make my life make sense and because of guilt. My father is a Rabbi and is a wonderful, pious, accepting man. I thought that I was doing something for my father by returning, and this is how my actions were also perceived by my orthodox family.

I only found Kabbalah because I returned to observance and went into a Chabad house. From there my interests were peaked and I found you online.

I feel conflicted now when I learn from you about the difference between religion and Kabbalah. I understand what you are saying and want to continue to learn, but I feel like if I move toward you, I am being selfish and disloyal to my father. So to move toward Kabbalah might be a selfish act for me considering my circumstance. Is this just part of my work?

My Answer: The difference between religion and Kabbalah is man’s correction. The study of Kabbalah (when it’s done correctly and by the correct source texts) evokes the Upper Light, which corrects one’s egoism according to the rule, “I have created egoism and I have created the Torah for its correction, because the Light that’s in it returns one to the Source.”

We develop to the degree that the broken, egoistic desires are revealed us. When one’s desire for correction becomes revealed, one then begins to sense that our world and everything in it – even faith – are false and empty. However, people who don’t realize this yet are satisfied with faith – whether faith in themselves, the world, or God.

Only you can tell which desires are being revealed in you. At the end of our development all of us will feel the need to unite with the Creator. In our time, people’s desires for Him are beginning to surface. This is why Kabbalah – the method of revealing the Creator, is becoming more and more popular and necessary. Even religions are beginning to “dress” in it and to say that Kabbalah is part of them. This also benefits Kabbalah, because it will accelerate people’s realization that the Creator cannot be attained anywhere besides Kabbalah!

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A question I received: Is pride a form of egoism? I am reminded of the situation where a man who is very hungry turns down the meal prepared by the giver because of shame. The giver, aware of the shame, asks, “Why are you acting so proud and refusing to eat? Humble yourself and eat!”

My Answer: In this situation the giver is an even bigger egoist and has more pride than the receiver. Therefore, the receiver can accept the food without being ashamed, since he will enable the giver to enjoy his power over the receiver’s unwilling desire.

The situation is different in Kabbalah. When a person desires to escape his egoism, he feels how different he is from the Creator and is ashamed of it. Otherwise the Creator won’t be revealed to him. However, in our world both the giver and the receiver are on the level of our world, inside their compulsory egoism. This is why one of them advises (helps) the other to compensate his shame in some way and be fulfilled.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Greatest Power Comes from Yielding to Others
Laitman.com Post: Egoism and Its Manifestations
Article: “The Dining Table”
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: Chapter 30 – “Fear of the Creator”

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