The instruction says that first one has to study the Torah, Mishnah, and Talmud, and only then embark on the Kabbalah studies. This is correct provided one already deserves to study at the level of Lishma, that is, if one has corrected himself completely.

However, one first needs to reach the correction of his soul. We exist for this purpose, and herein lies our entire work. The Torah (the Light of Correction) is given to us specifically to this end, as it is said: “I created egoism and gave the Torah for its correction.”

The order of correction is as follows: First, you need to reach the level of “Lishma” (attain the property of bestowal and love, enter into the spiritual world) in the shortest and most effective manner. Then, you are free to study the entire Torah, since the soul that you have acquired will teach you itself. Nobody will be able to tell you what to do. You will see, understand, and attain everything yourself.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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The more we strive toward the Light, the better our future will be since we rouse the revelation of the Light ourselves. The Light illuminates this world more and more, and those who head toward it perceive this state as good, while others perceive it as bad. First the Light develops the whole world (our Universe, the terrestrial globe, and everything it contains) according to the inanimate, vegetative, and animate degrees, cultivating only the egoistic desire. This is material development, at the maximum of which is the animate level; in this manner, the Light develops matter.

However, when egoism grows to the animate level, there is nowhere else for it to grow. It feels its complete powerlessness; it feels that it has reached a dead end and there is only darkness ahead. This is how the world comes to crisis and despair. However, all this occurs under the influence of the Light which shows us that there is nothing else with which we can fill the will to receive. Actually, we never could fill it; we only hoped for the future and aspired to it constantly.

However, once the future stops shining before us, and we have completely depleted our desire on the animate degree, we do not feel any possibility of development ahead. Why? What for? At this point, humanity finds itself at a dead end without any goals or hope for the future.

This is why the science of Kabbalah is being revealed today. It explains to us the purpose as to why all this is being done. It is so that now we can become partners with the Light on our own and reach the degree of Human, which is similar to the Creator. Rising from the animate level to the human level is our next stage of development.

This is impossible without the realization of the Upper plan. Malchut of the World of Infinity is finally reaching the conclusion of the purpose of creation as conceived by the Creator who wanted creation to come to know Him, meaning to become independent yet similar to Him. And creation is currently beginning to realize this Upper plan.

We are the first generation in which this special informational gene (Reshimo) is being revealed. It pertains to the human degree and we must realize it. Therefore, the Light which is now acting in this world will always be to the detriment of the egoistic desire expressly for the purpose of helping us to ascend.

At the same time, the Light will help those people who wish to realize this “gene of bestowal” in them. The Creator has come closer to us…He has revealed to us the informational gene (Reshimo), the science of Kabbalah, the world crisis, the whole situation, and all the means that allow us to discern this new direction of development and to execute it. We only need to reach for the Light on our own and we will see His Goodness.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/21/10, Shamati #241

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYikra (The Lord Called),” Item 108: Hence, since the sins of the lower ones blemish above, they offer a sacrifice. That offering is as it is written, “And for your transgressions was your mother put away,” where the sin causes separation between ZA and Malchut for his flaw, since Malchut was sent away due to the sin. And the offering that they sacrifice brings the upper world, ZA, closer to the lower world, Malchut, and everything becomes one.

Man never willingly commits a sin. If he knows for certain that he would be committing a sin, he would not be able to do so. He sins only if he doesn’t know or doesn’t consider the act a sin. It is impossible to sin before the Creator, but can only do so if He is concealed, which no longer makes it a sin.

All the sins mentioned by the science of Kabbalah have taken place from above downward by the Upper Force. When ascending from below upward, we never sin. We merely reveal the sins that exist in us from Him in the first place.

The Creator created the evil inclination; no greater or other evil could have been done. He turned Himself into a polar opposites, placed this oppositeness into us, and is gradually revealing it to us. All the evil that we are presently revealing within is but the smallest measure of oppositeness to the Creator that exists within us.

As we ascend the spiritual ladder to the World of Infinity, we will continue to reveal evil within in increasingly greater degrees of oppositeness to Him, until the Creator becomes revealed within us on the level of Infinity as a polar opposite of Himself. The evil within us will be infinitely great, but at the same time we will have the strength to oppose it.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: Can we take the spiritual principle that you have attained and apply it in a new Internet space?

My Answer: The spiritual principle is the perception of the Creator. You must lead a person to that. To do so means to instill in a person a strong necessity to communicate with the others and thereby step out of oneself. As soon as a person starts perceiving others as himself, he will immediately discover the Creator outside of himself.

Why do we need a society? It is to practice exiting ourselves. The Creator is beyond me, but I don’t perceive Him. The surrounding society, on the other hand, is within me, but the Creator purposefully made it look like the society is something external. In truth, it only seems so; I only feel that everything is outside of me.

However if I “glue” this imaginary picture, both its external and internal manifestations within me, I and the surrounding world become one whole, and in this way I prepare my perception to grasp what is outside of me. When that happens, I immediately and naturally discover the Creator because except me, outside of me, there is only Him.

Then where are these worlds, where is all humanity? I discover that they are all within me and have always been there. They existed externally for the sole purpose of enabling me to tune myself like a musical instrument, as a new organ of perception, to feel the Creator. This is why I was given the sensation of myself, which is divided into two parts: me and the world. But in reality, this world doesn’t exist outside of me at all.

When we find a way to tell this to people and show them the necessity of such self-tuning, they will understand why Kabbalah teaches us to “Love the others as yourself.” It is solely for the purpose of bringing us to the perception of the Creator, the Source of ultimate goodness and perfection.

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In the News (from Psychological Science.org): A woman’s touch is all it takes for men to throw all caution to the wind. That’s the conclusion of a new study published online in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Participants were tested to see if they would take risks, such as invest money or gamble. In the experiment conducted by scientists at Columbia University, “volunteers who had received a light pat on the shoulder from a female researcher while getting instructions for a financial decision-making task were more likely to select risky investments than were the volunteers who did not receive a touch on the shoulder, those who received a pat on the shoulder from a male researcher, or those who received a handshake. Subtle physical contact by a female increased participants’ sense of security, which may have led to a greater willingness to take risks.”

The results suggest that a woman’s touch works the same on adults as it does on infants, making them feel more secure, and more willing to take risks.

My Comment: Kabbalah divides the spiritual work into two parts. The female part (Malchut) helps, inspires, directs, and provides the desire. The male part (the Screen and the Reflected Light), being directed by the female part toward the goal, goes out and "hunts," takes risks, and rises above their nature. Without the women’s participation, both men and women are unable to achieve the goal.

In the experiment, both men and women were willing to take bigger risks in hopes of receiving a bigger reward. Women are also capable of inspiring each other, cultivating bigger desires within their circle. This is the reason why we need to create a Kabbalah organization for women, instead of individual women influencing their own men. Proper cooperation between both the male and female parts will certainly secure a bright future for us all.

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Regular science is already coming closer to a worldview akin to spirituality. Everything in science is unifying and erasing all boundaries, generating such phenomena as chemical physics and physical chemistry. Scientists continue to discover new forces, as though delving deeper into the picture of the world with a microscope and revealing new elements in it. However, all of these elements belong to one common source.

In essence, each and every form of matter – positive, negative, and neutral elementary particles – expresses different forms of the same idea or force. However, for the time being we are unable to see nature "in the middle line," and we constantly perceive it "from the right" or "from the left."  It seems to us that nothing exists in the middle, as if zero, while in truth there cannot be zero. Consequently, science will come to the eventual conclusion that matter should be examined from above down, rather than from below upward, that is, from matter itself.

This is what happens with Kabbalah studies. A person works hard on examining his or her material, which is the desire to receive pleasure. He tries to fill it somehow, but as a result, comes to a complete breaking and reveals that it is impossible to do anything with oneself. Then a person turns to the Upper degree and asks it to be revealed, wishing to receive the same form as the Upper in order to reveal one’s lower degree.

Modern science is coming closer to revealing the fact that unless we, the observers, raise ourselves to a higher degree, there will be no understanding of our present degree. The science of Kabbalah addresses this problem at the outset. Kabbalah explains that if a person remains on the same degree, one will be unable to reveal a thing. It teaches: "Rise higher, and there you will attain the force that controls you; it is the same force that built and now leads you through all the states you are experiencing.”

Hence, although science has not yet reached its final stage of development (it is only coming closer to this), it will eventually reveal that we have to rise to a higher degree in order to understand something in ourselves. All of reality is contained within our desire, so will we really benefit by revealing thousands of additional phenomena in it or discovering more elementary particles in quantum physics?  It is impossible to unite all of the parts together without understanding the Force that controls everything. This constitutes the entire problem in attaining the higher degree, which moves our whole reality.

Kabbalah, on the other hand, places the goal of attaining the Creator, the Upper degree, before a person immediately. Moreover, it is a completely scientific approach since while remaining submerged in our material we cannot attain this material; we need to rise to the level of forces.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/13/10

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In the News (TheMarker.com): We’re entering a new phase of development of which we know absolutely nothing. The only thing we know is that transition is the most problematic state, and may be fraught with tremendous losses and suffering even if it eventually leads to a better future. So, how do we pass through this phase?

My Comment: People are beginning to think correctly. Indeed, we’re transitioning from a world based on egoistic reception toward a world based on altruistic bestowal. We’re transitioning toward the realization that we need this new kind of world whether we get there via the path of endless suffering or through understanding nature’s plan. The former, the path of suffering, is the one on which we began.

By explaining to people the reasons for what is happening, we can accelerate the realization of the need to change ourselves and society, and to change our attitude toward the world. However, a mere understanding that the ego is evil and that it must be changed to altruism, love, and bestowal is not enough to continue our life here on earth. We need the power to change ourselves, and this doesn’t exist in our world.

At this point, we begin to realize why the science of Kabbalah with the method of correcting our nature has been given to us in such an unusual way. We begin to realize why true inner change and, hence, survival is impossible without this method. All past attempts at change have led to the emergence of religions and various belief systems. The results are clearly evident: Evil has remained and continues to develop along with them.

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Question: Can Kabbalah combat epidemics, such as Swine Flu?

My Answer: Yes, just like everything else.

Question: How do we measure one’s adequate standard of living? Is it by the level of one’s corrected egoism? What is the condition of existing below the standard of living and at it?

My Answer: It will be determined as you advance toward the “human” level of existence. This level itself will define what you need or don’t need. The same will happen with every person.

Question: You said Kabbalah has no meditation. But I read that one of the most important Kabbalists, Rav Abraham Abulafia (sec XIII), brought a meditation method that had been used for generations. What’s your opinion about this?

My Answer: Contrary to what is ascribed to him, Abulafia wasn’t a founder of meditation. He was a very realistic Kabbalist. Inability to understand his writings, as those of other Kabbalists, creates such an impression for laymen.

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYikra (The Lord Called),” Item 16: But now, after the Vav illuminated, meaning the middle line, when all four lights in the letters Yod–Kof–Reish–Aleph were opened, he [Moses] could come to the tent of meeting.

Only in the middle line can one enter the tent of meeting (Malchut) and pass the Lights into these desires (Kelim) through the three lines. This points to the main principle: One can receive the Light only by repelling it from oneself. If the Light of Hassadim, the Reflected Light, rises from the screen from below upward, we can receive the Light of Hochma into it.

In other words, if I desire to fill another person, and I give everything that goes through me to him (I push everything away from myself), then all the Lights can go through me, and I too will receive them. However, this will already be reception from below upward, with the help of a screen, which is in opposition to my ego. Then, as it is written, “Moses could come to the tent of meeting.”

If we wait for the Lights to be revealed in our desires, this will be for the sake of reception, and the revelation of the Lights will not be permitted. Therefore, the condition for receiving the Lights is “love your neighbor as yourself.” Everything can pass through you if you act for the sake of the neighbor. Then you delight by receiving both what comes to you and with what you fill the whole Malchut of Infinity. All these Lights are yours. This is the only way to receive them.

Herein lies the wisdom of receiving – the science of Kabbalah, a science about how to receive the Light by reflecting it. We are now situated in the Light of Infinity as well; it is present here and now. However, we do not see or feel it since first we have to acquire an ability to repel it, to arm ourselves with the Light of Hassadim. Only then will the Light of Hochma be revealed in the Light of Hassadim.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/5/10

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A question I received: After all is said and done, what is the secret of attaining the goal? There has to be one, since only a small percentage of people who come to the science of Kabbalah are able to attain it.

My Answer: I will let you in on a secret: If a person does not leave the path, then no matter what happens to him along the way, he attains the goal. There is no other formula for success.

A person goes through very difficult states. Sometimes he looks back and can’t even believe all of the things that happened to him. However, no matter what takes place at every moment, he must only see one goal before him, and that is the key to success. Besides this, nothing else is important.

Therefore, I could wish a person just one thing: Stubbornness in attaining the goal! Nothing else will help, neither a special mind or refined sensitivity, nor hard efforts, knowledge or even friends who are beside you. You just have to grip the goal with your teeth like a bulldog and don’t let go of it no matter what happens.

Post Zohar Convention Lesson 5/11/10 

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