News Story (translated from Cursorinfo.co.il): Israel is a unique nation trying to survive a deadly battle. It’s a nation that worships life at a time when it’s surrounded by enemies that worship death. And it has to solve a two-sided dilemma: How to use the advantages of the “society of life” in the battle with the “society of death”?

A mandatory condition in this battle is a tacit social contract according to which every Israeli pledges to risk his life whenever necessary, under the condition that the other citizens will do the same. The spirit of this tacit contract is that we all agree to place our lives in danger for the sake of our mutual survival.

For Israel, breaching this social agreement is much more dangerous than HAMAS and Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. Breaching this unwritten document leads to a situation where less and less young citizens want to become soldiers who protect the country and risk their lives doing so. As a result, the country’s leaders also have less and less moral right to send people into the heat of battle. Less and less Israelis feel protected, and it’s not because the enemy has gotten stronger, but because the social contract is disappearing from our life.

My Comment: And its only solution is in the mutual guarantee of helping one another survive. Then, in such a connection, we will discover a special fulfillment – the perception of the Upper Governing Force. We will understand that everything was created for the sole purpose of revealing this force to us. When we connect to it, we will feel that we exist eternally and perfectly. However, we can go through this path by means of the Light instead of suffering. See Baal HaSulam’s articles “The Arvut” (“Mutual Guarantee”), “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah” and “The Freedom.”

Following Israel, the whole world will feel that it is in the same situation – that its existence is endangered. And whether by the path of suffering or by the path of revealing Kabbalah, it will have to come to the Light.

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Two questions I received on freedom of choice

Question: What do you do when you understand that there is none else beside Him in reality, and that even I don’t exist? I felt this today and I got scared. It’s a game, and I am not a part of it. I got a feeling that there is only one way out of this – to become a human being, to develop the point in the heart that’s in me, otherwise “I” won’t exist. It’s scary living with the knowledge that you don’t exist at all, in any regard. But the answer comes immediately: It lies only in the aspiration toward attainment and adhesion. But what do you do with the fear?

My Answer: Being present at the lessons daily (for at least a part of them, virtually), disseminating together with everyone, and most importantly, feeling the world group – these are the only things that will enable you to come out of all the negative feelings! It’s because spirituality can only be attained in the unity of souls with one another, and to the degree of their unity. The only correct way to eliminate all the negative incidents is through unity and dissemination.

Question: Yesterday, I went outside and I didn’t feel like I was outside. I had the feeling that the only thing that changed was the scenery. I used to see people just as people before, but now I see additional meaning when I look at them – I see that there is no independence at all, and that everyone are puppets…

My Answer: In addition to this, you should also remember that you are the same as well… Your feeling is right in that everything is a theater, and everyone is an actor acting out our roles. You should find out what your role and purpose is, reveal the entire picture of the universe and consciously play your role in it, in order to become like the Creator. By playing His role, you start understanding Him and the Great Director’s Design.

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A question I received: Sometimes you can’t hear the lesson! That is, you’re listening to it, but you don’t hear it! Sometimes you sleep through it… And sometimes it seems that you understand every word, and it’s simply a revelation!

What determines one’s sensations at the lesson? Is it the lesson itself, the people who are present at the lesson, the person, the material being studied, or something else?

What can I do to hear the lesson like I did the first time, when I couldn’t hold back the tears?

My Answer: I understand you. This happens to everyone. It’s because the Creator only gives a person the initial desire for the spiritual goal: He awakens one’s point in the heart. And He brings a person to the source (a book, a teacher, a group, the Internet), and no more than this. And it’s up to a person to continue developing this desire he received from above, to develop it to the size of the World of Infinity.

This is impossible to do unless you study Kabbalah in the correct environment. (See item 155 of Baal HaSulam’s “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” and also his article “The Freedom.”) Otherwise you will spend many years eating yourself up.

In addition, it’s very important to prepare for the lesson. The preparation begins before going to sleep. You should fall asleep with a Kabbalistic book in your hand. Wake up half an hour before the lesson and attune yourself to the lesson. If you don’t attune yourself, the lesson will be ineffective.

You should go through this period more energetically: from the point to the Machsom. Good luck!

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A question I received: In an interview you gave about men and women, you said that a woman’s soul has male components and a man’s soul has female components. Considering this and the law of “love thy neighbor as thyself,” how can you say that a woman will consent to her partner – a man – having many other women, and that she will be happy with this situation? This is illogical. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman, but I feel that I can easily put myself into a man’s shoes, and I know that if I were a man, I wouldn’t have other partners just like I don’t have them now, being a woman, because this would harm the soul of another person.

My Answer: Male and female properties are incorporated in each other from the beginning, back in the root of creation. This incorporation exists because the property “to receive” cannot exist without including the property “to bestow” – the desire (Kli) cannot exist without the Light (pleasure), which creates and nourishes it, and determines its existence. On the other hand, even though the property of bestowal and Light seems to exist before the creation of desire, in any case, this is just our hypothetical way of describing it, because there is no pleasure without desire, no Light without a vessel. The abstract form only appears after the form embodied in matter manifests, and we can then visualize the form as existing without matter.

In ancient civilizations, polygamy was a normal occurrence, and acquiring a woman for money, through a contract with her father, was always popular, and this took place among ancient Jews as well. The Talmud says that a woman is acquired for money or through coitus. She is acquired, purchased. As you see, it doesn’t speak anywhere about love! Polygamy is manifested at the basis of the nature of the human society. You aren’t being objective about this because you’re a prisoner of the European culture you’re living in.

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Two questions and answers on the issue of questions and answers

Question: What’s the point of listening to someone else ask you a question? And in general, what’s the point of questions?

My Answer: It is written that “a shy person cannot study.” One has to ask questions, but at the same time one should heed the answers and delve deeper into them, until they become absolutely clear, that is, until they enter you. When you listen to your friend, you unite with him in his desire for the goal, and this is important for uniting within the group. I mean, your desire on its own is never enough to attain the goal, for the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light) to evoke a new intention “for the sake of another” in your desire. It was only for the sake of such unity with others that the worlds appeared, that the soul of Adam was created and then broken, and that this world was created so low. This was all done in order to create for the person a place for free will. Therefore, the only thing we do is realize our free will in our attempt to absorb the desires and goal of our friends in the entire world group.

In such a way, humanity will have to solve its common crisis, i.e. the revelation of mutual hatred and separation. People will discover that this mutual hatred and separation is causing a life threatening situation, to the point of the destruction of their lives. Even though their life is empty and worthless, they treat it as being very valuable since it is the only life they have, and as such, people will start listening to questions – to the desires of others – until everyone will unite in one question (as stated in item 2 of the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot“): “What is the meaning of our lives?” They will then come to Kabbalah.

Question: You often say that spirituality is beyond time, motion and space. What do you mean?

My Answer: You need to find the answer in Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 1 “Histaklut Pnimit (Inner Reflection).” You can’t get around it – you have to study. Those who are looking for an easy way out by asking questions don’t understand that only by studying Baal HaSulam’s materials (in any language) can they evoke the Upper Light of correction. Questions and answers are only intended to introduce beginners to the path. At the very least, you should go through all the posts on this blog. Perhaps, for now, this form of studying is most appropriate for you.

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Two questions I received on this perfect system we live in:

Question: How is it possible that we perform actions that don’t exist in the Creator? That is to say, He doesn’t have to change His nature, but we do. Is this like sacrificing oneself for one’s new “I,” which is real and perfect?”

My Answer: I will slightly correct you: We were created perfect by the Creator, and as a consequence, we don’t perceive this perfection. Hence, He took us out of that state and put us in the opposite state, so we would find the best state on our own – and become convinced that this is exactly what He gave us from the beginning.

Question: I recently began studying Kabbalah, and have reached the conclusion that the diversity or “division” of human (corporeal) desires begets the retardation or as you have said, “the feeling of a dead end” in the development of science, technology, and humanity in general. Is this really so? Have I reached the right conclusion?

My Answer: Obviously, the more harmoniously this single organism of Nature works (in which only man adds disorder, because only he has the freedom of action), the higher is our state, until we reach the point where we perceive the world’s harmony. This is perceived on spiritual levels, degrees of unity with the Creator, the general force of Nature, to the degree that we are equal to him through bestowal and love.

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Two questions I received on corporeality’s relationship to spirituality:

Question: You’ve said that if people don’t study Kabbalah, it will lead to material consequences such as murder, destruction, and corporeal suffering, and that by studying Kabbalah, we can prevent the suffering. You have also said that the spiritual and the corporeal aren’t connected. How do you explain this contradiction?

My Answer: Spiritual forces operate from above downwards. They create and determine everything in the corporeal world. However, it is impossible to have a reverse effect, from below upwards, and influence the Upper World with one’s corporeal, physical actions. One can, however, influence the Upper World with one’s desires, by becoming similar and balanced with the Upper World to the extent of one’s desire for it. As a consequence, a force descends upon you from the Upper World – a Light that corrects you, making you similar to the Upper World.

Question: Is there a connection between a person’s place of residence and his luck, health, and happiness? How can someone find out where he should live?

My Answer: It doesn’t matter where one lives. It only matters if you live in a physically or spiritually dangerous place, near physical or spiritual criminals, because they influence you negatively. See Baal HaSulam’s article “The Freedom,” section “The Environment as a Factor.”

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A question I received: Did you ever have an experience when young students would express a nice attitude to you in order to please you, but later they would begin perceiving everything that happens to them as your manipulation?

My Answer: You’re right. We are under the constant influence of external factors, but we have no awareness of it. Gradually, during the process of study (which I guide), a student begins to realize how he is being controlled from above (by the Creator), and how he can become freed from such control, have his own say, freely choosing and deciding how to act. Those who don’t study Kabbalah, however, remain controlled in every way.

We are like children in our spiritual development. The difference is that with a child, Nature (the Creator) evokes the aspiration to imitate adults. However, in one’s spiritual development, the person himself needs to develop the desire to become an adult, i.e. become similar to the Creator.

He can receive this aspiration only through upbringing and direction (call it “manipulation” if you will) from the teacher and the group. The student and the group are practically always directed by the teacher. Otherwise, how could they understand how and what they should develop to on their own?

The spiritual world, after all, is hidden from them until they acquire, under the teacher’s direction, the qualities similar to that world. Then, to the degree they are similar to the Upper World, they will feel it and be able to continue progressing on their own. As a result of being guided, the students become independent! This is the difference between spiritual (Kabbalistic) development and any other kind of development.

You have to read Baal HaSulam’s article “The Freedom” and then everything will become clear. [Read more →]

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Two questions I received relating to free will:

Question: Do our actions in this world influence the Upper Worlds?

My Answer: Only one of them. It is called “free will,” and it lies in receiving the greatness of bestowal from one’s environment (from the teacher, books and friends), as well as the knowledge that freedom can be achieved only with the help of the Upper Light. No other action of ours, in any of the worlds, can be considered “free,” or in other words, as being an action that we do “on our own.”

Question: I have been studying for about a year and have read many of your books. At first, I was extremely inspired by the material I studied; it awakened many different thoughts and feelings in me. Now I am absolutely indifferent to my corporeal life, but I also don’t feel any inspiration from the material I study. What should I do?

My Answer: It’s good how you feel no inspiration from this world. However, in order to feel inspired from the spiritual world, you need to fight for it. You can get spiritually inspired from the teacher, books and friends who are aspiring to spirituality. You will never find this inspiration within yourself; only in the correct environment. Read the article “The Freedom,” as it discusses this. You can progress toward creation’s goal only to the degree that you acquire the greatness of this goal!

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A question I received: I understand that the issue of education is one of the most important things to you, and it must be the first thing on your agenda. Today, society disregards teachers, and they suffer from ridiculous budgets and low salaries (compared to the social sector). Additionally, classes are overcrowded with twice the permitted number of students, and there are always several children in a class who require special attention.

Moreover, teachers often need to explain the basic values and norms of behavior, since parents have no choice but to spend very little time with their children. I would like to know your opinion: Is it possible to change the situation, and how? Where will the teachers draw the strength to come out of this current state?

My Answer: Only our dissemination of Kabbalah among parents, the realization of their hopelessness, and their fear for their children will force parents to change the current education system or create a different one, which will work on creating “people” out of children.

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