A question I received: When I started studying Kabbalah, I was fascinated and dedicated, and everything was all right. I had downs and ups, but after a down there was always an up. The problem is that some time ago I started feeling depressed all the time. I can`t stand my reality, I feel sick, I am moaning all the time, and I can’t reach balance. I’m still trying to study with my virtual group, but because of my work, I can’t watch morning lessons. I also feel that my intention is worth nothing now. I don’t even know where it is. I feel confused and weak. Also the people around me keep telling me that I have changed, that I’m aggressive and nervous, and that I am thinking only about myself. And I feel that this is true, but I can’t change my behavior.

Is all of this natural for a person studying Kabbalah or I am doing something wrong? What can I do to pass this and be better for everybody around me and for myself, because I feel that I hate myself as well?

My Answer: We all go through states like this. Kabbalah compresses all of your future states for many years ahead, leading you through them over a shorter period of time. Hence, it isn’t easy to live through this period. Everything inside you changes suddenly and drastically. You get thrown from Light into darkness, from joy into depression, and so on.

The only thing that will help is to lower your head. In other words, regardless of your thoughts and desires (your mind and heart, and the sensations in them), cling to the group as the only source of salvation in this world given to you by the Creator. Organize systematic, daily studies for yourself, and spend all your free time participating in dissemination. Accept the fact that this life was given to you in order to come out of it and enter the Upper Life.

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Questions I received on attaining the root of one’s soul:

Question: If I haven’t solved my mundane problems, can I still solve the problems of my soul?

My Answer: Yes. In fact, this is the only way you can find out what your true mundane problems are.

Question: How can I tell what my spiritual goal is?

My Answer: It’s the same for everyone – to attain the root of one’s soul, the point from which the soul descended to our world.

Question: Why are Kabbalah studies only effective in a group? Can’t I practice unconditional bestowal with people who don’t even know that Kabbalah exists?

My Answer: It’s because the group gives you the goal and the power to attain it.

Question: In one of the morning lessons, you talked about seeing the souls as one whole. This reminded me of an interview I watched with a researcher who spent his entire life studying ants, and found that they they are an indivisible whole that works to achieve a common goal. Is this research analogous to a Kabbalist who reveals the goal of all the souls of Adam HaRishon and the connections between them?

My Answer: Yes. Kabbalah reveals the essence and path of every soul, the destinies of all the souls together, and their final state. The revelation takes place inside the person who attains, to the extent he is similar to the unique, eternal and perfect condition of “the merging of all the souls into one, with each other and with the Creator.”

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A few days ago I had a meeting with the Israeli students of the virtual group. They study with us through the Internet and from time to time they also get together in person for different events. Some of them take a few days off from work to be at our center and work together with us. Sometimes they also come to the morning lessons.

I think that the next generation will perceive everything through the Internet. Then people will discover that the virtual connection enables us to get rid of the false external impression and to understand others on a deeper level.

Moreover, people will then understand that the virtual connection is also incomplete, and that a greater, spiritual connection is necessary. In addition, rising prices for travel and the time lost in traffic jams also push people toward the Internet. Hence, the development of the learning system through the Internet is the most important thing in the dissemination of Kabbalah in the world.

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Three questions I received on the group and virtual connections:

Question: We’ve learned that all of reality is inside us and it’s our desires that make it seem as if everything is outside of us. In addition we learn that it’s necessary to reach love for one’s neighbor, the way we love ourselves. So why do I have to achieve this only with my group that studies Kabbalah? Why not do it with all my other desires too, with the whole world?

My Answer: It’s because, as Baal HaSulam and Rabash write: “Love thy neighbor” is talking about those who are close to you according to the spiritual goal, the people who are going toward the mutual guarantee together with you.

Question: Right now we have a virtual group in Israel as well as other virtual groups in the world Kli. Will everything between us become virtual, including our connections, which will happen through the Internet? Is everything moving toward the unity of the “virtual” Kli, which works together in order to unite?

My Answer: The virtual in our world (in egoistic relationships) will turn into unity in the Upper World (in the relationships of mutual guarantee, love).

Question: Considering all the descents and ascents that happen in the group, what should be the correct group structure for the fastest possible attainment of spirituality?

My Answer: Equality and brotherhood, for the sake of union with the Creator (attainment of the property of bestowal and love).

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News Report (from NewScientist and newsru.com): New research shows that polygamists live on average seven years longer. Ecologist Virpi Lummaa and colleague Andy Russell (University of Sheffield, UK) analyzed longevity data on 189 countries from the World Health Organization, taking into account a country’s gross domestic product and average income to minimize the effect of better nutrition and healthcare in monogamous Western nations. They found that men from countries that practice polygamy live much longer than in monogamous nations – 12% longer.

But women also live long, even longer than men! According to Cedrik Puleston, a demographer of Stanford University, there are two hypotheses seeking to explain male and female longevity. Women live longer because they become grandmothers and have to take care of their grandchildren. Menopause “frees” them, enabling them to start educating children. Men, on the other hand, live long because they marry younger women and are influenced by female longevity.

My Comment: Why do people live long? The human being is a unique creature in the animal kingdom, because he continues to live long beyond reproductive age. Human longevity is unnatural – people shouldn’t live past 45-50 years. In women, climax and menopause is a transitional period from sexual maturity to the elderly period, and just like with men, it means that there is no reason for people to keep on living – other than to attain their higher purpose!

The fact is that people have to develop their egoism, in order to then understand that it is evil and evoke the force of correction by studying in a group. They have to cross the Machsom and overcome the 125 degrees until the full correction. This takes many years of serious effort, and this is why in our era – the era of correction, Nature (the Creator) has made human lifespan as long as necessary for people to complete their higher mission during their lives!

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Three questions I received on the daily, mundane reality of a Kabbalist:

Question: What’s the right attitude to have to my actions in this world, considering the fact that I don’t have any freedom of will? Should I stop trying to control all the things that don’t really matter, or the opposite – strive for perfection at every moment?

My Answer: Neither of the above. You should be in the Upper One, in the system of Adam, with your entire mind and heart. But in our world, you should function as a robot, “like everyone else”.

Question: What should be our response to people who want to take advantage of us? If we desire to be altruistic, not to be egoistic, and to help others, and if I think that I have this desire, then when I encounter those kinds of people, what’s the right way to deal with them?

My Answer: You should treat them the same way any regular person would – “politely/egoistically.”

Question: What helps a Kabbalist stay connected with the theater of the world of robots, after he rises above the common perception of reality? What helps a Kabbalist remain in the mainstream of life? Which values, that can be understood by regular people, remain “valid” in spirituality? What motivates a Kabbalist to live in the body, in the state of “Hafets Hesed?” How does a Kabbalist keep connected to a group of students? Does he depend only on the natural development of the worlds, or are there special methods of “spiritual descent?”

My Answer: I don’t understand why you’re concerned with any of this, but there’s just one brief answer to all your questions – “love for one’s neighbor.”

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Two questions I received on the connections within the virtual group:

Question: By participating in the virtual lessons, we are creating a united Internet group that isn’t located physically in one place, but is connected only in the dimension of time, on-line. This is a group of like-minded people or friends. Do I become a part of the group if I listen to the lessons later, not at 3AM Israel time?

My Answer: To be part of the group is not just to listen to the lessons at the same time, but to be connected with all the virtual friends, who are united by a common desire and goal to attain the Creator, as well as the means of attaining this goal – the original source texts (The Book of Zohar, and the compositions of the Ari and Baal HaSulam with my commentaries). In addition, they agree to observe the Mutual Guarantee (see the article “The Arvut“), abide by the “Charter of the Virtual Group,” participate in dissemination, pay Maaser (tithe) for dissemination, and attend a Congress at least once a year.

Question: Can women sing and dance during a Congress?

My Answer: Yes, if they do it separately from the men, so the men won’t get distracted from high thoughts and unity of friends.

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Questions I received on perceiving spirituality:

Question: I am absolutely convinced by the way Kabbalah explains everything – the creation, life, and the end of all of this. But in my heart I feel that I need something tangible, something that I can sense with my ordinary five senses, some kind of a clue, sign or miracle. I know that this is not how Kabbalah works and I feel it is rude and ignorant to desire such things, and I should not do it. What do you advise me to do with such thoughts and desires?

My Answer: You will become more and more detached from this desire, because you’ll begin to understand that spirituality is attained differently – inside you. Actually, you even perceive our world, all the corporeal things, only inside yourself. Nothing exists outside of you. Gradually you will begin realizing this, to the extent that you will gain a perception of the world of souls, the Creator, in parallel to your perception of this world.

You shouldn’t do anything forcibly, but only include yourself in the group. Then the desires you receive from the group will draw the Upper Light, which will change you and make you just how you should be, without your intervention.

Question: When you talk about the sixth sense, you don’t mean just one more “sixth” sense in addition to the other five, but five new senses that exist in parallel to the ones we already have, and that operate differently from them?

My Answer: It’s a new type of perception comprised of five parts (from Keter to Malchut with Ohr Hozer). It is called a “soul” and it perceives like the Creator, inside the quality of bestowal, in the Reflected Light. Of course, it is not just an additional sense, as I sometimes say to avoid scaring off the beginners.

After a person gains the ability to perceive in the Reflected Light, in bestowal, he also begins to perceive differently in his five bodily senses, perceiving new relationships and connections between forces, objects, and actions. In addition, he always retains the ability to descend to the regular perception, to be like an ordinary person, to understand him.

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Questions I received on how to study in the United States:

Question: We have heard that it is better to study with the world Kli live than at other times viewing the recorded lesson. In this post you say that it doesn’t really matter what time we study. Would it benefit the American groups to study together in the morning at a certain time each day?

My Answer: Yes, together is always better. Even if you are in front of a computer screen on your own, you should know and feel that there are many other friends together with you.

Question: Does it make a difference that we watch the three hour lesson before going to sleep whereas others watch it first thing in the morning?

My Answer: It’s better to watch the lesson in the morning, but if this isn’t possible then you can watch it in the evening, or even split up the lesson into parts and watch it at different times. In any case, at least half an hour in the morning is a must.

Question: If we were to study at a different time, what is the minimum size group that would be beneficial to study in?

My Answer: At least three men.

Question: Does this create more isolation for the American groups in comparison to the World Kli?

My Answer: No, provided that you work together with others on dissemination.

Related Material:
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Dear friends,

We are very pleased to invite you to join us in support of our friends at the international Congress in Odessa called Unity and Dissemination, from the 12th through the 14th of September.

We invite you to come to one of three North American locations for lessons, meals, cultural events, and inspiring gatherings of friends. During the congress we will also conduct a regional gathering of friends in North America to strengthen the connection between us and support our friends in Odessa. For more details and to register please write to the group where you will be attending. Approximate cost of the event is $75 (which includes food and accommodations).

• San Francisco – [email protected]
• Saint Louis – [email protected]
• New York – [email protected]

Click here to view the schedule of the congress.

We encourage you to contact the closest and most convenient location for you, and look forward to seeing you soon!

Related Material:
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