A question I received: Last week, on Israeli journalist Yoav Itzhak’s website, the NFC reported that there is new information about the testimony of businessman Morris (Moshe) Talansky, who supposedly lent money to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Talansky said that a person who has a $50,000 Rolex will not ask to borrow $5,000. He also added that Olmert has “claimed ownership of a pen” worth $15,000, which was supposed to be sold in order for the proceeds to be donated to charity. Talansky asked one of the investigators: “Have you seen Olmert’s ties? What about his cigars? Or his pen collection?” Tomorrow, the transcripts of Morris Talansky’s interrogation will be submitted to court. What is your opinion of all this, as a Kabbalist?

My Answer: It’s nothing special. The only people who aren’t thieves are those who:
1. Do not have a desire (their egoism hasn’t yet developed, and they’re like children who are only interested in a limited range of things),
2. Are ideologically minded (for example, revolutionaries, terrorists, those who are consumed by an idea that suppresses their desire for wealth, i.e. people who place fame or power over wealth, and don’t use those ideas as a means to attain all of these together),
3. Are Kabbalists, that is, those who have acquired a Masach (screen) – the force and knowledge of how to use their enormous egoism correctly.

Related Material:
Article: Correct Use of the Ego
Lesson: The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose [56:53]
Lesson: The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose [56:53]
Lesson: The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose (Transcript)

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A question I received: I take my hat off to you Professor! You’re the most out-of-the-ordinary individual. A while ago, I already understood that it’s impossible to predict your answers, but never did I expect to hear Kabbalistic rap… Professor, I admit that you are an unsurpassable genius. Can you reveal your secret to your eternal youth and lively spirits? How do you manage to do it?

My Answer: It’s very simple Watson! The fact is that Kabbalah deals with, or one who studies Kabbalah deals with, the soul. And this is the only organ we have that doesn’t age or die. The more you engage in it, the younger you become. And this happens to such an extent that you even start feeling a little uneasy: you look and act like a kid while everyone around you is so important, full of Torah, solid individuals who are carrying the weight of the commandments… You, however, remain as a child, as it is written, “It’s better to be a smart and weak boy than an old and powerful king” (Tov Yeled Mizken ve Hacham mi Melech Zaken uKsil). It means that the love and bestowal born in a person from his entrance to spirituality are still weak, but they’re better than the old, powerful egoism that kills itself.

Related Material:
Kabbalah Today Article: Cracking the Happiness Code
Booklet: Spirit and Body
Booklet: The Structure of the Soul

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Two questions I received on spiritual relationships in geographical locations:

Question: How did the pyramids in Egypt materialize, and why did it happen there of all places? How could they possibly have been built with such precision without powerful technologies? The First and Second Temples were destroyed, but the pyramids still stand.

My Answer: Nothing simply appears out of thin air, from “above,” materializing out of nothingness. People built the pyramids, and they still stand because they represent the universal egoism that is alive and growing stronger. The Temples, on the other hand, were destroyed because the necessary mass of people for perceiving both worlds and connecting them together is lacking. In the future, when egoism becomes corrected, the common soul will appear, together with its earthly symbol: the Third Temple. However, after humanity’s general correction, this world will start disappearing from our perception.

Question: On Israel’s Independence Day, I saw a program with you speaking about the spiritual independence of Israel. Among other topics, you spoke about the spiritual geography of the Land of Israel. But to my regret, I was surprised that you did not mention the southern part of Israel – the Negev Desert. After all, it is a part of the nation. Does this mean that the spiritual forces only influence the part of Israel that extends from Ramat HaGolan to the Dead Sea?

My Answer: Of course not. The Negev Desert has always been a part of Israel, but this place is influenced by the minimal spiritual forces, and hence this part is naturally inanimate. For more on this, see Part 16 of Talmud Eser Sefirot.

Related Material:
Kabbalah Today Article: Inherit the Land
Chapter 1.6 in the Book The Path of Kabbalah: Landmarks
Article: Structure of the Soul
Lesson: General Overview of Creation
Lesson: General Overview of Creation

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Three questions I received relating to the Torah and inner work:

Question: Can you explain the meaning of the story about Cain and Abel? I suppose that it speaks about the struggle between the will to bestow and the will to receive. Could you please explain this in more detail, especially the meaning of the Creator’s reaction?

My Answer: Cain and Abel are two forces within a person. One of the forces is egoism, and the other is the Creator’s property, bestowal, which descends into a person, and which the person develops from its initial manifestation, called “the point in the heart.” The entire story in the Torah talks about people conquering, killing, and competing with one another – everything in our lives until we take the control into our own hands and start progressing toward the goal on our own – by restraining the egoistic force, using it constructively, and dominating it with the Creator’s force in us.

Question: I tried translating this chapter into the Kabbalistic language, and got stuck on the verse: “My soul will despise you.” How do I translate the world “my soul” in this context?

My Answer: A person’s soul falls into egoism, which is opposite to the property of Bina of the World of Atzilut, the property of absolute bestowal, and hence the soul becomes repelled from Bina, the Creator.

Question: Could a desire for correction after the revelation of evil be called an act of bestowal?

My Answer: Not yet, but it leads to it.

Related Material:
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Article: Finding the Creator Within
Article: Exodus – From Physical to Spiritual
Lesson on the Article “From My Flesh I Shall See God”
Lesson on the Article “From My Flesh I Shall See God”

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The vanity of modern life, the myriad changes and trips, and abundant opportunities of communication, do not solve the problem of loneliness. It’s becoming more and more difficult to make new acquaintances, especially in order to create a family. About half of the people living in cities live alone, a tendency that’s only growing.

In the era of total freedom, it has become harder to make new acquaintances. Globalization and individualization are leading to a disintegration of social networks. Cell phones and the Internet are increasing the distance between people. People are increasingly communicating anonymously and virtually, instead of meeting face to face.

This is only the beginning of the expression of egoism – a cancerous tumor that is consuming us little by little. It is digging its own grave, as written, “Egoism is a help against you,” and “The Pharaoh will bring us closer to the Creator.”

Related Material:
Kabbalah Today Article: You Have a New Message 🙂
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Kabbalah Today Article: Second Life – Better than the Virtual World!?
Kabbalah Blog Post: The Internet Prison – the Influence of the Internet on Our Lives

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A question I received: Why are there still so many conflicts between representatives of different ethnic and religious groups? Sometimes even the official religious communities support these aggressive views and actions. What is it about people that makes them want to practice superiority over other nations and ethnic groups, and to do all this in the name of the Almighty?

My Answer: Religions were created after Kabbalah became concealed, by people who fell into egoism. These people took Kabbalistic ideals and passed them off as their own. They couldn’t, however, abide by these ideals, and as such, they could only instruct others to uphold them by threatening them with punishment in the world to come.

Because of how egoism provokes mutual hatred in people, all religions mutually hate one another, but they conceal their hatred, and on the surface, summon the world to peace and love. However, they’ve never had an aspiration for peace and love, and if it were in their power to do so, we would still be destroying each other in religious wars, following their call to make them stronger, like we’ve done in the past.

Related Posts:
The Solution – Excerpts from the Writings of the Last Generation by Baal HaSulam
The Cracks in the Floor of Supposition, and the Firm Base of Attainment
What Is Religion?
Religions are Expressions of Culture, Not Absolute Higher Knowledge
More Muslims than Catholics
The Solution to the Clash of Civilizations

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A question I received: I’ve been studying in a group for several years now. Lately I’ve noticed that I don’t want to study Kabbalah. Am I feeling this way because my egoism is growing? I don’t feel a desire to correct myself or to become similar to Him. Instead, I have a new desire, which I don’t understand. Why did it appear in me? For what purpose?

In addition, I can’t shake off the feeling that this desire isn’t mine, as though it came to me from outside. I don’t know what to do with it, and the more I try to ignore this desire, the bigger it gets.

My Answer: A person shouldn’t decide anything about his spiritual development ahead of time, because he has no idea how he needs to develop, and what states he needs to go through.

Therefore, he should make efforts to progress, and greet everything that reveals to and inside him, as necessary in his path of development. An ascent is always preceded by a state of confusion, lack of understanding – and then suddenly comes clarity, a new realization.

Perhaps you’re already in such a state as I’m writing you this answer. Or maybe you have already gone through it and are again searching, feeling weak and confused – and facing a new ascent?

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A question I received: I have a very difficult question. I lost my son six years ago, when he was nineteen years old. I still feel terrible pain, but I can’t even talk about it with those close to me. I have to “keep a straight face” in front of everyone, and I let myself cry only when I’m alone, driving. I feel as if I’m holding on to my son, not letting him go where he’s supposed to. Or perhaps it’s he who won’t let go of me? In my mind, I understand that he no longer exists, and that the Almighty entrusted his unique soul to me for a brief period of time, and that I must be thankful. But it doesn’t work this way. I am completely alone in this situation; and I feel that God had abandoned me, like an orphan. How can I find at least some kind of peace?

My Answer: Under no circumstances should a person look back. One should only look straight ahead. Otherwise, you’ll drown in impure thoughts and forces, which are egoistic, and which will only lead you astray from the path. There is no truth in any such thoughts.

A question I received: How can I come to terms with mistakes I made in the past, which I’m only now starting to understand? And how can I continue to move forward without feeling the bitterness of these mistakes?

My Answer: There is no time and no past. You should aspire only ahead, or else you’ll become “a pillar of salt” like Lot’s wife. That is to say, you will stop moving forward.

Related Material:
Lesson on a Letter from Baal HaSulam (Igrot, p.70)

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A question I received: Why is it that during the period of concealment, you feel as though you’re in a dark room, receiving punches from every direction? It’s as if the Creator is waiting for you to fall into frenzy, or apathy… And all this happens in spite of all the work you’re doing in dissemination and the group. Is this, as the Russian proverb says, “Love her like your soul, punch her like a punching bag” (meaning, “those we hurt the most are often those we love the most”)?

My Answer: That’s absolutely correct, “I love her like my soul, so I punch her like a punching bag,” because your egoism has to be punched out of you, or you punched out of your egoism, so that you’ll want to part with it no matter what. The unpleasant states are precisely the states that push us out of the common egoistic swamp, to the Creator.

“The Creator spares no blows for those He loves” – this is widely explained in Kabbalah, and no Kabbalist hides the fact that “the true path to the rose is through the thorns” (through the thorns to the stars), and not through buying a fifty dollar red string or through meditating in order to relax.

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A question I received: How does the suffering, embarrassment and shame one feels before society, correlate to his hatred of society?

My Answer: We learn that shame is the basis of correction. The feeling of shame by Malchut in the World of Infinity led to Tzimtzum Aleph – the refusal to receive for one’s own sake. After that, that same shame pushed Malchut to find a way to bestow – to receive for the Creator’s sake.

As that same shame developed further, it continually showed the creature, the soul of Adam, what to do in order to become similar to the Creator. And the same shame drove Adam to sin: Adam wanted to overcome shame all at once, and as a result he revealed his entire egoistic nature (reception for one’s own sake), as well as the opportunity to correct this shame (reception for the Creator’s sake). But this must be done gradually, over the course of thousands of years, inside many individual souls (during their life cycles), by overcoming their repulsion to one another.

When a person begins to study Kabbalah, after a certain amount of time he reveals his egoism, which grows bigger and bigger. As he continues to study, he constantly learns that egoism is evil, but he doesn’t feel this in any way. He learns that spirituality is bestowal, love for one’s friend, and that he can sense the Creator only within this quality, or to be more precise, that this quality is the Creator.

As more time passes, he begins to view egoism as evil, because he gradually discovers egoism’s connection with spirituality, how opposite the two are, and that it’s impossible to attain spirituality together with egoism.

After some more time passes, he’s “set up” from above in such a way, that he feels as if he is “burning with shame,” and that he’ll adhere to the Creator only by renouncing his original qualities. This is when his correction begins. He is willing to feel the burning shame for the sake of acquiring the property of love and bestowal!

A question I received: On the one hand, during the preparation period, before coming out of Egypt (crossing the Machsom), one’s egoism grows. But on the other hand, in order to cross the Machsom, one has to be absolutely pure! He must go from unfounded hatred to love. How does this occur together? [Read more →]

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