Questions I received on crossing the Machsom:

Question: You said in one of the lessons that the crossing of the Machsom happens individually. Why isn’t the force of Arvut (mutual guarantee) enough for all the friends in the group to cross the Machsom at the same time, like the people who received the Torah at the foot of Mount Sinai? The reception of the Torah was collective, so why is the crossing of the Machsom individual?

My Answer: The force of Arvut (mutual guarantee) is definitely enough for all the friends to cross the Machsom at the same time! However, it’s also possible to cross the Machsom individually, if a person makes the needed amount of efforts (called Seah) relative the group and the Creator.

Question: I understood from your explanation in the morning lessons that everyone receives the best possible conditions for attaining spirituality. There was also a text where you explained that the Machsom can be crossed only under a certain kind of pressure, which exists in the group. We have a worldwide virtual group that has all the conditions for entering the spiritual world. Within these virtual connections, how can we reach the correct pressure for crossing the Machsom? And will it happen to everyone at the same time or individually?

My Answer: Baal HaSulam answers this in the article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose.” At the end of 6000 years, everyone will attain the full correction, but before that it can also be done by individuals as well as groups.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: It Takes Time, Effort and Experience to Reveal the Upper World
Laitman.com Post: Shame Brings Us Closer to the Creator
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”
“The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” – Selected Lessons
Lesson: Freedom of Will (Based on Baal HaSulam’s Article “The Freedom”)
Kabbalah Today Article: “Camp Mt. Sinai”

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Questions I received from students who are starting out on the spiritual path:

Question: The way I see things now, I am not sure of anything: I don’t know what the truth is, whether the Rav is real, whether I am on the right path, whether I understand the books correctly, and if I have fallen beneath reason. There are things that I have to accept without knowledge, yet still be critical of them. However, my mind is limited, and hence my criticism is also limited. The way things are going, I might as well be using red strings or thinking that there are “souls” on a plate of food that I eat (“correct”). Is there some basic rule of thumb that I should accept, and then use it to discern the true direction, instead of remaining a puppet that’s controlled all the time?

My Answer: You should only accept the Kabbalists’ advice to study in a group, and wait for the Upper Light to make everything clear to you. I think that by fully participating, you will attain results in four to six months.

Question: I like downloading your lessons and playing them in the background while doing something else, for example, playing computer games. But later I start feeling guilty and thinking that I should either be serious about studying Kabbalah and dedicate all of my time and attention to it, or quit deceiving myself and stop studying altogether, because there’s no use studying the way I do. What do you think?

My Answer: Even this kind of study of Kabbalah is beneficial. However, soon you will decide that it’s time to leave the games behind and start paying more attention to the lessons.

Question (from a German student): I study Kabbalah and I would like to move ahead, but this is very difficult when studying alone. I am not Jewish, I don’t speak Hebrew, and I don’t know who to turn to. I am skeptical about the Kabbalah “experts” who have sprung up everywhere all of a sudden. Maybe I am just being too cautious and not trusting enough? Where can I get certainty about my path? Are there groups or individuals who help people like me find their way?

My Answer: Our German and Austrian groups, our online classes, and our entire archive are ready to help you immediately and at no cost!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: This Path Can Only Be Surmounted by Those Who Walk It
Laitman.com Post: Contradictions Bring Understanding
Laitman.com Post: We Are Floating In a Sea of Information Like Croutons In a Bowl of Soup
The Rabash: Society As a Conditon for Attaining Spirituality – “The Message in Matan Torah”
Bnei Baruch Learning Center

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Questions I received on women’s spiritual advancement:

Question: Dear Rav, I have a practical question. How do a woman’s Reshimot differ from a man’s? Or is it more that she endures the states of her man in the Hisaron (lack)?

My Answer: A woman is the desire, and a man is the correction of the desire, the intention of bestowal. In our world, a woman waits for a man to do something, such as to marry her, and her part in this is relatively passive.

This comes from the spiritual roots: When the soul acquires the intention of bestowal, it is called a man, whereas a soul that’s unable to bestow is called a woman. The parts of the Kli or soul are also called male and female for the same reason.

So, without paying attention to your gender in this world, start being a man – that is, actively participate in your private correction and humanity’s common correction! Otherwise, regardless of your gender in this world, you are a woman.

On the other hand, a woman’s desire is very strong and steady. Hence, one has to be a strong woman on the inside (have a strong desire), and a strong man on the outside (have a strong intention).

“A woman never has enough clothes” – this reflects the soul’s correct desire for correction, an aspiration for beautiful clothing – the Light of Hassadim, which reveals the woman’s (the desire’s) beauty. In other words, the Light of Hochma is revealed in the Light of Hassadim.

Question: What should a woman do when she studies Kabbalah together with her husband?

My Answer: Study separately just like everyone else, and study together with your husband for at least fifteen minutes a day.

Question: How should a woman act toward the other men in the group?

My Answer: The group bears no relation to her!

Question: What should she do to help the group advance?

My Answer: Help disseminate in every way possible together with other women, and study.

Question: What should a woman’s attitude be to the men’s and women’s Kli in the group?

My Answer: All the women together are helping the men and studying – whether on their own, together, or with their husbands. Women don’t have a group, but they unite in order to combine their efforts in dissemination, to help one another, and to study. In other words, they can unite in every way other than to implement the principle “love thy neighbor” among them.

Question: Recently I heard that women should not watch the second part of the morning lesson (the Talmud Eser Sefirot) in real time, because there is a chance that their female essence may change.

My Answer: Nonsense. A woman does not have to study Talmud Eser Sefirot, but she’s not forbidden from doing it!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: A Woman Can Advance Independently
Laitman.com Post: Women On the Path of Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: Women Need to Work On Correction Just Like Men
Talk: About the Need for Women to Unite
Kabbalah & Women – Articles on Women’s Sprituality

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Questions I received on mental disorders and studying Kabbalah:

Question: I have been hospitalized in psychiatric clinics many times, and I am still taking medication. Can I study Kabbalah, and if yes, under what conditions? Will I be able to join the Bnei Baruch group?

My Answer: You can study Kabbalah only under the condition that your mental state is completely stabilized, and you are absolutely certain that the medication is keeping you “normal.” If this is the case, then you can study Kabbalah, but in limited portions of time and material.

People are accepted into the Bnei Baruch group only after completing preliminary courses at “Campus Kabbalah.” We have had cases of people like you joining the group.

Question: Why can’t someone who is mentally ill, with Bi-Polar disorder, study Kabbalah?

My Answer: His existence in this world is his correction in this life cycle (Gilgul). Just like any other person with a mental disorder, he is correcting his soul with his sorrowful existence.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Do a Healthy Mind and Body Have to Do With Kabbalah?
Kabbalah Today Article: “The All-Purpose Remedy”
The Kabbalah Experience – Chapter 12: “Thoughts and Reflections” (Correction Through Illness)

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Questions I received on the loss of desire and other disturbances:

Question: I’ve been studying Kabbalah for over a year, and lately I’ve been faced with a problem. My desires for different pleasures of this world are gradually disappearing, and the only desires left are the minimal desires needed for bodily survival. Is this regression? Can I somehow develop desires for fulfillment? I feel like I am turning into an amoeba. Even though I don’t limit myself in any way, I don’t see any point in making “unnecessary movements.” Where did my egoism go? If it fell asleep, then how can I wake it back up?

My Answer: You’re discovering that it’s pointless to fulfill your egoism, and because you’ve made this revelation, you have lost the energy (Homer Delek) to aspire for material things. This happens to many people in our world, resulting in a feeling of emptiness and depression – the most widespread disease in the world. However, spirituality also disappears and ceases to attract you.

Both of these feelings are evoked in you by the Creator on purpose, in order to create a place for freedom of will, a place for you to make your own efforts above your nature. It’s because all the things that you can do on your own are actually done by the Creator. But if you reveal the emptiness of this world and become indifferent to this world, and in addition you also reveal a special emptiness of the spiritual world, and the spiritual world also ceases attracting you, then you should participate in the group and the study correctly, in order to evoke the importance of the spiritual goal – “the revelation of the Creator (love for your neighbor).”

This desire draws the Upper Light (Ohr Makif), which will bring you the perception of spirituality – the Creator, the quality of bestowal and love. So you should receive the importance of spirituality from your friends!

Question: Dear Rav, after my study visit to Bnei Baruch I really felt that my soul, for the first time, felt that it was at home. It was a power that was stronger than my body. It caused many conflicts when I tried to balance my time between the desire of my soul and doing my bodily things. Now that I am back I feel like I have no desire for anything. This happens to me after each congress and each time I have a very strong contact with Bnei Baruch. Why does this happen and how can I pass these states?

My Answer: This is natural, because we at Bnei Baruch have a very intense spiritual atmosphere, and you are being imbued by it. After returning home from your visit to us, you have to heighten your spiritual life so it will take place on the same level that you felt while being with us.

Question: I encountered many problems while doing dissemination actions. For example, I fell down, my eyes and teeth became infected, and so on. Public opinion says that the obstacles are telling me that I shouldn’t be doing this, that I have to change my outlook, and so on. But I believe differently – that I have to make efforts in order to reinforce my intention for reaching the goal. Please explain, how should I interpret the disturbances?

My Answer: If your body is physically and psychologically healthy, then you have to overcome the disturbances without paying attention to your body. However, if the disturbances need medical treatment, then you should immediately go to the doctor, while continuing your studies and dissemination.

Comment: In a previous blog post I wrote that Kabbalah is more important than family – that if a man’s wife is against Kabbalah and it’s impossible to compromise or persuade her, then it’s permissible to get a divorce for the sake of your soul. I received a few perplexed responses – “How can this be?” People don’t understand that life is meaningless if it’s not used to attain the goal that has been set before every person. The sky, the earth, and every one of us were created for attaining this goal, and not for creating a marriage on the animate level and becoming a slave of your partner’s egoism.

So the conclusion to be made from this is: In all life situations, your behavior should be determined only by the spiritual goal!

Related Material:
Latiman.com Post: The Method of Attaining Happiness
Laitman.com Post: Corporeality Has No Effect on Spirituality
Laitman.com Post: The Only Thing That Can Justify Getting a Divorce
Shamati Article#4: “What Is the Reason for the Heaviness One Feels when Annulling Before the Creator in the Work?”
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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On Sunday the Mexican group gave out 3,500 newspapers. Altogether 15,000 copies have been printed and will be disseminated over the next several weeks.

Latin America is waking up to spiritual development. It has the fastest growing groups and the most new individual students compared to any other part of the world. Good luck friends!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: New Blog in Spanish
Kabbalah Website in Spanish
Kabbalah Bookstore: Books in Spanish
Kabbalah Newspaper in Spanish

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In the past, before the destruction of the Temple, children were born into a society that perceived the Upper World and the Creator, and based its life on the spiritual laws. Children perceived the relationship of “love thy neighbor as thyself” as an obvious fact of life. They always saw the adults setting this example and aspiring to attain greater connection with the Creator, whom they clearly perceived. Children understood that they were born into this world and exist in it temporarily only in order to create a connection with Him.

In the Bnei Baruch group, our children (and grandchildren) participate in Kabbalah lessons prepared especially for them. Their relationships are built under the guidance of teachers according to the principle of the Torah – bestowal and love of friends. They completely understand that they, and all people in general, are interconnected. The lessons take place on Sundays and during the whole day on Saturday. On Saturday, boys come with their fathers to the morning lesson and then stay for the whole day. We have a special course for them. Every few months I also give a lesson (a test) to all the children.

It’s a great pleasure to see and hear them, their questions and answers, and to observe these growing people forming a completely new outlook on the world. We don’t realize what it means to receive the true picture of the world during the childhood years, to understand the world’s origin, meaning, and purpose. This picture permeates a child’s consciousness and remains in him as his nature. By watching their daily behavior when they are together or apart, when they are at our center our outside of it, in daycare centers or schools, we can see that they behave differently, and have a special, refined inner quality – spirituality. Their similarity to the Upper Force guarantees them success and safety in our world.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Lessons for Children Every Sunday
Laitman.com Post: Children, Souls, and the Point In the Heart
Laitman.com Post: The Solution – Excerpts from the Writings of the Last Generation by Baal HaSulam
Chapter from the book, A Guide to the Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah: “Who Can Study Kabbalah?”
Kabbalah for Children – Latest Articles

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Two questions I received on suffering:

Question: Why do our five senses feel our lack of similarity to spirituality as suffering?

My Answer: It’s because our senses are desires for fulfillment. They were fulfilled in the World of Infinity and were later emptied due to the breaking – the common soul’s separation into a multitude of separate parts or souls. Each soul has recollections (Reshimot) of the past fulfillment, and these Reshimot are now awakening and demanding fulfillment.

What you call suffering is this emptiness you are feeling. When you change your attitude to the sensation of suffering, then you will experience it as fulfillment and happiness. Our attitude or intention can change everything.

The actual state we’re in is static and constant; the only thing that changes is our attitude to it. It determines whether we feel ourselves as being in this world – in the concealment of the Creator, or in His revelation – on the degrees of the five worlds, or in the World of Infinity.

Question: What should I do if my only appeal to the Creator is: “Give me strength not to hate you,” and if despite my work in the group, dissemination, and lessons, the only thing I feel is that my situation at home is getting much worse, my economic circumstances are constantly deteriorating (and I can’t even find a job), and so on. I suddenly started feeling completely estranged from the Creator. Is it normal for Kabbalah to bring material devastation?

My Answer: Rabash told me how difficult it was for him to find work, and how many times he had to change jobs, which included being a shoemaker, a concrete worker, a scribe and a servant.

You must have the same attitude to this as everyone else, but at the same time, regularly (according to a set schedule) continue engaging in that for which you are living in this world – the correction of your soul. Be a little more humble – think that everything comes from the Creator, and the only thing you desire is to feel that this is so.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Perserverance Is the Key to Success
Laitman.com Post: Redemption Will Come At the Hands of the Creator
Laitman.com Post: Practical Advice by Rabash
Chapter from Interview with the Future: “The Spiritual Gene and the Reshimot (Reminiscence)”

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Two questions I received on efforts and desires:

Question: When your desire is “turned on” from above, then you make efforts, but they don’t count as yours. On the other hand, when you don’t have a desire, you understand that you don’t have it. But if you then attempt to make efforts, then they also aren’t perceived as yours, but like they’re being “switched on” from above. How can I distinguish between my efforts and help from above? What is the difference?

My Answer: Stop trying to sort this out, as it will only confuse you. What’s important is to constantly:

1. Feel the importance of the goal,
2. Feel your own weakness,
3. Be convinced that the true desire will receive immediate help.

See Baal HaSulam’s article: “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before“(Achor Ve Kedem Tzartani).

Question: I’m sick and tired of waiting to cross the Machsom. I don’t want anything anymore, I hate everything, and nobody can help me.

My Answer: This is exactly the state from which you can ascend to the Machsom, with the help of the study, the group and the Creator! Do you understand that the Machsom is the opportunity to connect with others like yourself in order to reveal the quality of unity? Is anyone preventing you from doing this? If yes, then why aren’t you asking for help to be able to love your friends? What are you waiting for? And what is it that you hate so much?

The concealment (Tzimtzum) was done only on the Light of Hochma (reception), but not on the Light of Chassadim (bestowal, love). So if this is exactly what you want, then you will reveal it. The concealment (Tzimtzum) is inside you, and no one is concealing anything from you! What you have to do is go from reception to bestowal inside yourself, and then you’ll discover the quality of bestowal, the spiritual quality, inside you. It’s not supposed to come to you from “somewhere out there,” and you’re not supposed to ascend somewhere to cross the Machsom. Rather, the passage of the Machsom is a change of qualities inside you!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: This Path Can Only Be Surmounted By Those Who Walk It
Laitman.com Post: Strive for the Goal, and Leave the Rest Up to the Creator
Shamati 174: “Concealment”
Article: “Finding the Creator Within”

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Two questions I received on who can study Kabbalah:

Question: In your blog entry Get a Job you say, “Actually, Kabbalah obligates a person to get a job, get married and only then study Kabbalah.” What does “study Kabbalah” mean? Don’t children study it in many groups? So I’m wondering what “study Kabbalah” means. I think that “study Kabbalah” means the more in depth study, the full study, not the study of human interaction and coexistence with one another that the kids are involved in.

My Answer: Kabbalists write that in our time there are no bans on studying Kabbalah, and it can be studied at any age. The children will grow up, get married, and start working with the knowledge in depth. The world is made in such way that a person must “establish himself according to nature” (get married, work, and so on), and only then can he begin discerning his differences from the Creator and correcting them.

Question: I have never asked myself what I am living for, but I want to study Kabbalah. Can I do it?

My Answer: Rav Kook and other Kabbalists write that there are no restrictions on studying Kabbalah. Even if you don’t have questions, you can study in a group according to the principle, “You’ll work up an appetite once you start eating.” You will acquire the group’s aspiration for the search of the meaning of life. The environment influences the individual, and hence you will also begin to feel your point in the heart and will include your desire into the common ascent!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Do You Have to Be Married to Study Kabbalah?
Kabbalah for Beginners: Chapter 5 – “Who Can Study Kabbalah?”
Kabbalah for Beginners: Chapter 6 – “How To Study Kabbalah”
Kabbalah Today Article: “Avraham Isaac HaCohen Kook (1865-1935)”

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