Questions I received on the Surrounding Light:

Question: Is the Surrounding Light a force that always influences us even though we don’t know about it?

My Answer: The Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) influences us only when we evoke it.

Question: By studying Kabbalah, do we develop a sense that enables us to perceive the Surrounding Light’s influence?

My Answer: Yes, provided that one desires to acquire the property of bestowal.

Question: The Surrounding Light changes us so we will create an intention “for His sake”?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: Can we practice connecting with the Surrounding Light while thinking about our sensations of Kabbalah, or when having a conversation with someone who does not study it?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: Can Ohr Makif influence us all the time, if we are advancing along the process of correction?

My Answer: It influences us only when we evoke it.

Question: Does It influence us before the Machsom too, or only afterward?

My Answer: It can influence us at any time and place.

Question: Are the changes in one’s sensations and perception of reality a result of this force’s influence even before the Machsom?

My Answer: Yes – always.

Question: Does Ohr Makif lead us toward the goal whether we want it or not?

My Answer: Ohr Makif moves one toward one’s root to the extent one desires it.

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Two questions I received on the Olympics:

Question: Do the Chinese participants of the Olympics have an advantage because millions of people are thinking about them and hoping that they will win?

My Answer: Yes. People’s thoughts influence each other because we are a single system of souls. We are only disconnected from each other in our imagination! Hence there is more than just psychological influence when you have millions of fans present as well as the feeling of being at home – in addition you are also influenced by any number of people who are merely thinking about you.

Question: How does the wisdom of Kabbalah relate to sports and body culture, with regard to how it’s expressed in the Olympics?

My Answer: Sports should exist for the sake of interaction between people, rather than competition between them. Since people do the latter, sports has become political, economical, and physically harmful. The intentions of the players should be similar to a game of “giveaway checkers” (where the objective is to give in) – every person should feel like he’s the host who welcomes the guests and wants to please them. One way to express this on the outside is through athletic games. Right now we find it difficult even to imagine such a scenario – a contest for the sake of bestowal, friendship, and union with the “opponent.”

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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!

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Questions I received on religion and Kabbalah:

Question: Maybe things should be made easier for people who are interested in studying the wisdom of Kabbalah (both Jews and gentiles) by telling them that at the end of the correction process, there is a connection between one’s actions and spirituality. This is the wholeness of Pardes – Judaism (the actions) and Kabbalah (spirituality), and sooner or later this will become the only way of life for the entire corrected society. With all due respect, it’s a fact that you behave as an observant Jew, just like your Rav, Rabash and his Rav before him, Baal HaSulam, and everyone else since the very beginning of the holy generations.

My Answer: I will say it again: the observance of rituals with our body in this world is no more than a tradition, whereas Kabbalah speaks about the correction of the soul’s desires. No one will have to observe the mechanical commandments on purpose. Rather, people will only have to do the spiritual observance of the commandments – in their desire. This is how we will become similar to the Creator. It won’t be done mechanically, because the Creator does not have arms or legs! We have to correct the soul. Study Baal HaSulam’s articles on the body and soul. There he explains that we cannot correct the soul using the body.

Nevertheless, it is good to follow traditions, including the religious ones, in order to keep a framework for our cultural and social existence on earth. I can’t lie to people who are interested in Kabbalah just like I can’t lie to Kabbalah’s opponents.

Question: Where does Baal HaSulam say that one must become secular on the inside? Your arguments make perfect sense, yet you seem not to trust people to be able to fulfill the commandments externally and to work with the intention (Kavanah) internally in a Kabbalistic manner. Your teachers before you and all previous Kabbalists did just this, am I correct? Why then tell people to stop being religious?

My Answer: I never told anyone to stop being religious, just like I never told anyone the reverse! In “The Future Generation,” Baal HaSulam writes that in the corrected society of the future, every person can keep his religion. This shows what the true definition of religion is – it’s a culture, and no more than that. Everyone will recognize and accept it as such when the Creator will be revealed within them. People will remove from religion anything relating to the Creator, the world to come, and reward and punishment for corporeal life.

It’s because everything becomes immediately perceived in “this world,” in the present, right now, and there is no “other world,” or some world “on the other side.” There is nothing but the real, present states. “On the other side” means on the other side of egoism. Change egoism to its opposite, and you will perceive the world on the other side.

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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.

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Two questions I received on how to tell whether Kabbalah is the right method:

Question: My question has two parts:

1. Besides Kabbalah there are many methods of revealing the Creator. I can agree that they don’t explain the structure of the Upper Worlds or the rules of governance, but why would a person who is united with the Creator need this anyway? And if the goal of creation is adhesion with Him, then why does Kabbalah deny all other methods of attaining this? Besides, someone studying Kabbalah is not guaranteed to attain the goal of creation – it doesn’t have the “guarantees” that other sciences provide.

2. Physically you look a lot like Osho (or Osho looks like you). Both of you interest me and have my respect. Forgetting the terminology for a minute, you bring Light to the people through the power of logic (physics), and Osho did it through the beauty of poetry (lyrics), but your content is the same. How can I know whether you have really tested your path? Without this verification, Kabbalah is no different than any other religion and requires blind faith.

My Answer: The answer is inside you. A question is the sensation of an empty desire, and its fulfillment is the proof.

Question: In a previous blog entry, you wrote: “The problem with amulets, spells, and mysticism is that they distract us, and we start being late with correcting ourselves. This causes an accumulation of evil that’s expressed as suffering.” But what if it’s too late by the time a person understands this?

My Answer: Nature treats us according to our similarity to it, and to the extent we realize how similar or dissimilar we are to it. It’s the same as how in this world, our judgment of someone who made a wrong action changes depending on whether the action was intentional or not. Suffering that comes from unintended dissimilarity to nature forces us to discover this dissimilarity, and hence it is a correcting signal of an “illness.”

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A question I received: If every word in the Torah can be explained as “the will to receive” or “the will to bestow,” then why are there are so many different words in the Torah?

My Answer:
The Creator – The Creator is “the will to bestow” (Good, Doing Good, Loving, etc.). This is why He wanted to create the creation – in order to bestow upon it.

The Creation – The Creator made only one creation – “the will to enjoy” (the will to receive pleasure). “The will to receive” was created exactly opposite to “the will to bestow.” It is an imprint of the Creator, in order to be able to receive everything that the Creator wants to give to it.

The Plan of Creation – Pleasure comes directly (clearly) from the Creator to the creation and fills it. But besides this, the Creator indirectly (unclearly) influences the creation by prompting in it a “desire to become similar to Him” – to bestow. Hence, inside its fulfillment the creation discovers an additional desire – to “become similar to the Creator,” and it then decides to attain this state, setting in motion the process of correction. A part of the correction process occurs unconsciously for the creation (from above downwards), and a part of it happens consciously (through free will, from below upwards).

Instructions – All Kabbalistic sources constitute a description of both parts of the correction process, and they are written in four languages: the Torah, Halachah, Haggadah, and Kabbalah. They are recommendations for how to carry out the conscious part of this process in the best possible way. (The Torah comes from the word Oraa, instructions).

Correction – The initial conditions and the final goal together build a sequence of actions that’s intended to bring the initial “will to receive” to “the will to receive with the intention of bestowal.” The process of correction of the created “will to receive” breaks into pieces and a sequence of actions. This is what all Kabbalistic sources describe.

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The Book of Zohar. Chapter “Flower Buds” (abridged)

4. Rabbi Shimon opened (the Light): It is written in “Song of Songs”: “Flower buds appeared on the earth. “Flower buds” refer to the act of creation. “Appeared on the earth” – on the 3rd day of creation, when it was written in the Torah: “And the earth shall pullulate” (the middle line compels growth, because it comprises of the sum of the left and the right lines – desire and Light).

Then it is said in “Song of Songs”: “The time of singing has come” – and this is the 4th day of creation, the time of judgment (restriction; in order to provide an opportunity for growth it is necessary to restrict the growth of desire in accordance with its correction).

Then it is said in “Song of Songs”: “The voice of the turtle dove is heard” – this is the 5th day of creation, of which it is said in the Torah: “Let the waters swarm” – so as to produce offspring (the spiritual correction of broken desires).

And the word “heard” refers to the 6th day, where it is written, “Let us stand and create man,” and there it is said, “We shall do and we shall hear,” meaning that he will be able to perform actions (studying Kabbalistic sources, unification) that bring him to the property of bestowal (“hearing” is the property of Bina, bestowal, while “sight” is the property of Hochma, reception).

Then it is said in “Song of Songs”: “In our land” – this is the day of Sabbath, which is like the Land of Life, the world to come (“land” designates desire, “our” means corrected by the desire to bestow – the result is the corrected state called Sabbath).

5. Flower buds are the Patriarchs, the fundamental desires that entered with their correction the mind of the Upper One and the future world – Bina, and there they are concealed. They emerge from there concealed in the true prophets. Yosef was born and they concealed themselves in him. When Yosef entered the Holy Land (the soul’s corrected desires), they appeared and were revealed (to him as the Upper World). When are they revealed? When a rainbow is seen. It is the time of eradication of all the wicked from the world (final correction of all egoistic desires). That is why the flower buds can be seen in the earth. And if they could be seen earlier (if the Upper Light were to be revealed before the correction of all egoistic desires), they could not have remained in the world, and the world would not be able to exist (it would be destroyed, for Light would have come in contact with egoism, like an electrical short circuit).

6. Who animates the world and causes the revelation of the Patriarchs (the initially created desires)? – It is the voice of the children (revealed for the correction of previously concealed desires), who study the Torah (the method of correction). Thanks to these children (newly revealed desires, Reshimot) the world exists (the Creator’s revelation to people/souls). It is hence said in “Song of Songs”: “We will make you pendants of gold” (the Light of Hochma, gold, will fill the newly corrected desires). These are the children, the flower buds of the world, as is it said in the Torah (the method of correction): “You shall make two Cherubs of gold” (“cherub” comes from the word “Karov” or “Lakriv,” meaning to draw one closer – to draw man nearer the Creator by utilizing two cherubs, two lines, right and left, while the Creator speaks – is revealed, in the property of bestowal, between them, in the middle line).

“Flower Buds” – full commentary

My Comment: The Book of Zohar should be studied just like any other Kabbalistic text – with the intention of receiving the force of the soul’s correction from it. Then, to the extent that one’s soul is corrected, one begins to feel (reveal) what The Book of Zohar describes.
(See “The Introduction to The Teaching of the Ten Sefirot”, item 155.)

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Two questions I received on women’s spiritual advancement:

Question: Dear Rav, when you talk about distinguishing between Factory and Group, then as a woman working in dissemination, does my intention change? Should I think of the two as different entities?

My Answer: For you as a woman, it doesn’t matter at all what is happening inside the group. You advance to the extent that you contribute to the common advancement, regardless of how correctly the men in the group realize the opportunities for unification given to them. You advance independently of the men’s state.

Question: I have been divorced for over 10 years now and raising two wonderful boys (ages 22 and 24). I am now steering them to study Kabbalah. I do not feel and have not felt the need to be with a man in years, and I am quite content. I am not willing to settle just because I have to be with a man. What I enjoy is being a mother, and my greatest joy is to see my sons actively participating in their own spiritual development through Kabbalah. Am I doing it right?

My Answer: A woman does not have to get married in order to become corrected. By participating in the common work of dissemination and studying with us at the lessons, you have everything you need for spiritual growth. Good luck!

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A question I received: I know that in one of your videos Tony Kosinec states that meditation has nothing to do with authentic Kabbalah. However, Abraham Abulafia has left us with books on how to engage in Kabbalah meditative techniques. While these techniques are different from far-eastern meditative techniques in that Abulafia’s methods require the use of the intellect rather than the negation of it, still meditation has played an important role in the Kabbalah method. Perhaps Baal HaSulam did not find these practices relevant in his system, but does that negate the validity of these meditative practices in other Kabbalistic systems?

My Answer: Sometimes the word meditation is used in Kabbalah to refer to a deep analysis of one’s intentions and qualities. But actually there is no such word in Kabbalah – this is only how people translate the concept of “inner observation” into other languages. Besides, of course there is a difference between the exposition styles of Eastern and European schools.

Instead of trying to sort through all of this, isn’t it better to simply turn to the source that’s closest and most effective for us – the works of Baal HaSulam; and instead of discussing history and geography, to start correcting yourself? What other reason do we have for being in this world?

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