A question I received: You always warn us that we should not look back, like Lot’s wife who looked back at Sodom and turned into a pillar of salt. By this do you mean that when we are very inspired after a Congress or a dissemination activity, we shouldn’t think about it, but aspire ahead, to the next degree?

My Answer: Not looking back means not wishing to be in former states. However, this does not mean that a person should cut off the past, as though it did not exist. We should learn from yesterday in order to continue in a better state today, but a person should desire to be in a state of tomorrow rather than of yesterday. This is the meaning of “don’t look back.”

However, this does not have anything to do with Sodom. Sodom is when a person truly wishes to return to the previous degree, which had already been revealed as a faulty state. We cannot return to it anymore. If I have decided that my previous state was imperfect and unfit for correction, for advancement to the goal, to bestowal, then I have no choice – I need to do away with it and move on.

There are people who look back; they wish to remain in past states, to be “little.” Since this goes against development, it is forbidden for us to act in this manner. Instead, we need to always look to move to the future. The means for this is the group. If I try to attune to the group even slightly, I will always receive my future state from it, regardless of what state the group or I am in. Therefore, we always have an opportunity to go forward instead of going back.

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If you acted correctly at your current stage meaning that you “practiced the Torah” and thereby you attracted the necessary amount of Light, then the stage you passed becomes your “grave” and in its place a new stage will emerge. In fact, the new stage is the same as the old but at a much greater depth. This is so that when we reach it we experience a higher level of clarification that leads to attracting more extensive Light. While staying in Malchut of the World of Infinity, we gradually reveal all the worlds, one by one, from older ones to newer ones. The process of advancing progressively uncovers the whole Universe to us. We all are already present in this Universe, but we don’t see much of it.

In order to do so, we make efforts. “Applying enough effort” means that we were able to pass our previous step and transform it into the next. It won’t emerge by itself unless we work hard. Where will it come from? We have to develop it ourselves by sharpening our vision and perception.

If we are all present in the World of Infinity at this very moment, then why don’t we see it? Why do we see this world instead? It is because we lack the correct desire! In order to develop it, we should attract more Light. Only then can we start sensing the World of Infinity.

To attract the Light, we need the group. The group is what we call “practicing the Torah.” This situation arises each time we transition from one level to another. As it is written, when a person dies, the Higher Judge asks him these questions: “Did you practice the Torah? Did you await salvation?” The true meaning of these questions is: “Did you find the right method to reach the correct goal?”

If the right question arose within us, if the right desire was formed, then the following stage will reveal itself. And if not, then we will “die,” and there won’t be a “grave” in which we are buried. It means that we won’t reach the state where we sense that we have the grave needed for the spiritual birth of the next state. And as a result, we are unable to see yet our next state which then gives us birth.

When we complete our previous stage, we leave it. This is what is called “the grave.” It is not scary at all! Let’s pray that the Creator grants us prompt transformations.

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In order to enter and become part of the system that Rashbi has created for us, one first needs to experience the state of a spiritual embryo (Ibur). I try to cancel myself in that state. With the help of the current Kabbalistic group, I cancel my egoism. Together with this group, I wish to attach myself to the Upper System that the Kabbalists speak of and to grow there.

I begin to find myself in a group higher than my own to the extent of my ability to annul myself before the group. Then, I begin to see forces of even higher systems operating between myself and my friends to the extent of my strengthening my connection with the others.

The system of Rashbi helps me with this. In this system, the same group of Kabbalists that had corrected itself to the 125^th degree during the times of the breaking of the common soul, at first serves as the mother’s womb for me (in my state of Ibur), and then nurses me (Chagat), and carries the Light of Mochin to me (Chabad). All the Light that passes through the three lines to the broken souls is passed through this carrier which connects us to the World of Infinity.

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We could not begin studying The Book of Zohar any earlier. Students simply would not have been able to tolerate it. Although new students see that now people who have been studying for a few years can open The Zohar and feel that redemption truly comes from it, these new students don’t yet have that same need. They perceive this book as being completely incomprehensible, dry, and unfit for a beginner. They want something that is more directed at logic and feelings.

However, we need to take into consideration the following condition: The majority of the group that has been on the path for many years is on such levels of development that they need this book. The moment this group achieves a state where it can finally comprehend The Book of Zohar, the Surrounding Light completes its work on them and will bring all of them across the Machsom.

So what will happen to the newcomers? We will always have newcomers. Until the very End of Correction, there will always be people who have been on their path of correction for many years already, and those who are just beginning. So what do we do?

The instant the main bulk of the students, who are now leading, began to study The Book of Zohar, this shortened the time for all the others! If new students join the others, these newcomers can perform a leap in their development.

We see this through the example of a child in our world. A child is born into this world and already he is benefitting from all the preparations and efforts the world of adults has made for him. Completely unaware of these arrangements made for him, a baby is born in a maternity unit of a hospital equipped with specialized instruments and machines to care for him. Ready for the baby are: diapers, special foods, and a multitude of products and services. Nearly half the world is devoted to providing children with everything they need.

A child is included in the whole world and grows with his generation. He doesn’t start from the beginning, from the primordial state of 20,000 years ago. He joins his modern generation at their level of development with all their advancements. He immediately falls into our contemporary degree, surrounded by computers, cell phones, and mp3 players. We give him all the best things that we were able to create.

In spirituality it works exactly the same way. When “children” come, when they have just been “born” and don’t have anything, we must provide them with everything that befits our generation of mature students.

They will assimilate it all quickly and grow even higher than us.

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We can see that the science of Kabbalah expands and enters the world from the center, from the source. In our generation the source of knowledge and the method of correction is here, in the central Bnei Baruch group.

If any group in the world or any person thinks that he is able to lead himself or the group to the goal correctly, he is deluding himself due to misunderstanding the structure of the system of souls upon which our world is clothed. Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” that everything always expands from the internality to the externality, or from the Upper Level to the lower one. The same applies to the influence upon our world as well as one’s attainment: First a person ascends to the Upper Level, and from there he can see and influence the lower level.

Therefore, dissemination, influence, correction, and lessons must come only from here, the center. The role of the different groups is to take part in creating materials and disseminating them while submitting to the center in every way, similar to how all parts of an organism act in a coordinated fashion under the governance of one head shared by all. Nothing can start in the middle of the ladder, the pyramid, or some particular group similar to how the structure of the universe is strictly fixed and described.

Baal HaSulam writes in Item 57 of the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” that if a thousand blind people are led by one person who can see, then they will all be able to follow him; but if there is no leader, they will all perish. Similarly, we observe a special mission on the part of humanity called “Isra-El” (meaning “straight to the Creator”) because the Light of Correction passes through it to all of humanity. Baal HaSulam describes this strict and unchangeable hierarchy in the above article.

Therefore, every person within this system must be connected to the Upper Level as well as the lower level. Above us are our Teachers, the sources, the forefathers, and the Kabbalists of previous generations from whom we learn and by whose teachings we live. Beneath us are our students, all those who come to us wishing to connect to us. This hierarchy must be maintained because we are all able to receive only from the Upper One (see Baal HaSulam’s article, “Faith in the Teacher”).

However, if one person or group decides to act independently, they would be preferring the externality to the internality. They will thus replace the upper with the lower, in which case it would be necessary to immediately correct them or remove them from the common system. From studying the structure of the worlds we see that there is no “democracy,” but a strict subservience to the Upper Level, to the Upper One’s (the Creator’s) example.

Through the connection among the groups and their structure, we are currently implementing the construction of a system that will expand to the whole world, as Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Last Generation.” Then our world will become similar to the Upper World. So where is every person’s freedom? It lies in choosing the right connection with the environment and submitting to it in order to attain similarity to the Creator. This is attained only if one is connected to the Upper One, receives from Him, and carries out the same actions along the same chain of degrees. Thus, every person’s freedom of will lies in preferring the internality over the externality in spite of one’s personal egoistic disturbances or those occurring to the group.

As Baal HaSulam writes in Item 60 of the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” every person’s action corrects or ruins the entire system. Obviously, this is a dictatorship; however, it comes from Above, from the Creator, and all of us must carry it out by submitting to the Upper One and becoming similar to Him. In addition, we attract the lower one according to a fixed hierarchy. Absolute equality emerges only in the final, corrected state where everyone becomes equal through mutual bestowal.

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A question I received: How much longer will you remain our guide?

My Answer: At any given moment, a student needs to be prepared to be without a teacher, and know that he will have all that he needs. He who advances is one who constantly demands and is independent, in and of, himself. He has the Creator, the method, and the group. All that is necessary has been provided.

However, does one rise to the next level without a leader? The next state is a closer connection among the friends. Therefore, a collective decision is necessary. There could be no recognized leader appointed by the former teacher, or someone declaring himself to be the leader. No one can take the leadership by force, intelligence, or guile.

It’s safer if the group jointly continues on the path and carries out collective decisions by a “spiritual board.” This board doesn’t consist of great minds or recognized experts; it consists of the people who are able to make joint, collective decisions.

Anyone unable to be responsive to the process of the group’s development has no place on this spiritual leadership board. This includes: those that are still blinded by personal interests, those who are unable to subjugate themselves to the group, those who haven’t yet been imbued by the spirit of the path to a sufficient degree, those who make mistakes because they haven’t grasped or tuned into the common direction, those who are subject to outside influence, or those who might be unsuitable for other reasons.

The spiritual governing board needs to consist of people who don’t make mistakes with collective decisions, who aren’t subject to pressure from others in the group, and, more importantly, who aren’t influenced by anyone on the outside. The group has the right and the obligation to immediately expel anyone who interferes with the work or who asserts his own superiority. These are the spiritual laws according to which we need to grow.

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For the last few days, I have been feeling that many people are beginning to understand that our unity is created so that all of us, together, will reveal the reality of our connection with the Upper Force of nature. We are becoming a group which attracts people to the unification and revelation of the Creator within this unity. This is becoming clearer for people.

Our goal is to connect all of humanity to this Upper Force in order to rise to that level. This is already starting to penetrate our minds and sensations. The very initial connection between us and the Upper Force has opened.

We work on developing our unity by participating in daily lessons through the internet. We are following the method that I received from my great teacher Rabash, Rabbi Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag, which is why our group is called Bnei Baruch (Sons of Baruch). Our uniting according to this goal is called Dvekut (merging with the Creator), our final state.

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A question I received: What should I do if out of an entire hour of reading The Zohar I could only spend a few seconds thinking about the Surrounding Light that brings me correction?

My Answer: This is not good. There’s a legend about a person who dies and goes to the upper court of judgment. There he is asked, “Did you engage in Torah and await salvation?” You won’t be asked anything else there but this. The Torah refers to the Light that Reforms. So did you desire this or not? After all, this was the only reason you were sent to this world. This is the only thing that counts out of your entire life.

You may be studying Kabbalah and have a burning desire, but that is not your own accomplishment. It was given to you by the Creator. He brought you to the Kabbalistic group and gave you the means. But what happened afterward? What did you yourself do within the system that influenced you? Did you desire salvation, correction? This is what you will have to answer.

After we have just completed reading The Zohar today, are you able to say that you were inside what was being read? It’s too late to think about this during the study itself because everything depends on the preparation. You have to come to the lesson prepared, burning with desire and demand, as if you are coming to a doctor and asking him, “Doctor, give me some kind of medicine! Otherwise it’s all over for me — that’s how bad I feel!” When you come to the lesson with this mindset, you await salvation during the study. But if you initially came there without a demand to receive medicine because you don’t feel your evil, your egoism, and your inability to unite with the friends, and if you aren’t looking for love for your neighbor, then you won’t remember about it during the study either.

You have to reveal these deficiencies, your evil inclination even before you open The Zohar because when you open up The Zohar it will already be too late to change anything. Our entire work takes place during the preparation. Everything depends on it alone.
The pain must already be felt inside you in order for you to desire to soothe it with The Zohar, instead of trying to artificially remember that at this time you are “supposed to” ask for a connection with your neighbor. You can’t deceive the Creator. He reads what is in your heart and sees such a deep inner desire that you don’t even suspect it is there. Meanwhile, He considers: Should He give you an answer to this desire or not? If it assists your spiritual advancement and creates the middle line within you, then the Light helps you. But if not, then the Light pushes you forward from the opposite side through suffering until you finally connect everything together correctly and receive the true answer.

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The Zohar, Chapter “Bo (Come Unto Pharoah),” Item 57:”And He planted that seed in one righteous, which is Yesod de Zeir Anpin, the garden’s gardener.”

I have to imagine that I have a property within me called “Yesod de Zeir Anpin,” also known as the “righteous man.” This is where my seed is, a point from which I will eventually grow.

“And He planted that seed in one righteous, which is Yesod de Zeir Anpin, the garden’s gardener. And the seed in the garden, which is Malchut, is the concealment and hiding of that light. This means that the concealment is not absence, but on the contrary, it is a seed of blessing, that the concealment itself will become light once more, like a plant that buds from the seed.”

Baal HaSulam mentions this example in his article “Freedom of Will.” We need to “implant” ourselves into a Kabbalistic group like a seed is sewed into the earth in such a way that we “reject” (diminish) ourselves before the group. If we do that we become a seed that decomposes, “rots” in the ground in order to let the tree grow.

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A person studying Kabbalah has to secure external support in the form of the group, the study, and dissemination so that they are always by his side, ready to help during a state of descent. It is written, “A righteous man falls a thousand times and rises again.” This is the path towards achieving spirituality.

Along this path, different situations and states occur to me. Throughout all of it, the most important thing is to remain in an environment that will always be supportive and inspire you when you face the descents. In the end, you will feel the Light that lies within this inspiration. The Upper Light will no longer be concealed from you, but will be revealed.

If we come to The Zohar Convention 2010 with the same inspiration that we experienced during our preparations for it, then the Convention will be very successful. We will be able to make great internal corrections and will feel the Creator’s revelation inside our connection with each other. It is my great wish that this will happen.

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