A question I received: You say that Kabbalah allows a person to reach eternal life, but Kabbalists die. So how can this be?

My Answer: A Kabbalist dies in your eyes since you do not see his life the same way a Kabbalist sees it. You see only a part of him – his body, which certainly dies, just like any other animal. However, his godly, spiritual part, which he has developed inside, continues to live eternally. The moment that one acquires this part, he gains possession of it and it gives him a sensation of eternal existence; the quality of bestowal that one has acquired is eternal.

We begin to comprehend this only as we approach the Machsom, when the premonition of bestowal emerges in us. The Light that begins to reach a person, gives him a sensation of what it means to rise above matter and to think somewhat differently, to relate to others from the point of view of bestowal. A person does not exist in bestowal yet, but he can already touch it somehow. Then he gets a premonition that it is possible to adapt to this quality, a sensation that belongs to eternity.

Before this occurs, a person does not have the ability to comprehend, as the Light is not close enough to him yet, and the words are meaningless. A person wants to eat and rest, but eternity seems too far away and he doesn’t feel it. Only when one begins to feel the breath of the Light from afar, like fluttering wind, does he begin to understand that Kabbalah contains liberation from the angel of death. When the Light draws closer to a person, it brings him the sensation that eternity exists.

This is the initial condition for the only free action that we can perform. Otherwise, why do you need freedom? What else is there for you to do in life, in your animal body? Everything else is done for you from above; you do not do it yourself. The only thing that you can do on your own is reach eternity. Bestowal is eternal, while reception is temporary. The Light of Hochma does not come to us forever, but only if it is perceived within the Light of Hassadim. Therefore, in order to acquire eternity, first we need to acquire the desire to bestow, and then within this desire we will be able to feel our life as eternal.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/10, Article “The Freedom”

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Throughout all of history we, humanity, developed on the still, vegetative, and animate levels. This is the most that humanity has achieved until today. It developed its egoistic desire, which perceives the world through five material senses.

There was nothing unnatural about this development. We simply carried out the program that nature instilled in us, following our natural instincts and desires that awakened in us. But what next?

Now we are finding that all of that development was only to our own detriment. Yet, on the other hand, we are discovering a new, inner, spiritual desire that we did not notice before. We don’t know where it is aimed, but it demands fulfillment. Otherwise we are left feeling empty and feeble, not knowing what to do with our lives from this point on.

That is when the science of Kabbalah comes to the rescue, explaining that this additional desire that we feel “above” all the other material attainments, belongs to the human level, whereas previously we were only fulfilling our animalistic necessities. Obviously, we weren’t just regular animals, but very developed ones – animals that like good music, pretty pictures, delicious food, and a soft bed. Yet, today we are sensing an additional necessity that is beyond the body.

Besides, the entire world around us is becoming more and more threatening. We thought that scientific and technological development, along with self-actualization, would enable us to attain a good life from the viewpoint of the consumer. But even though our bodies do have certain benefits in the modern world, such as several pounds of meat in the refrigerator and some smart electrical devices, nevertheless on the human level, even in the simplest sense of it, we are experiencing greater emptiness and suffering than before.

It’s as if the carnival costumes have fallen down and we find ourselves more unprotected and naked than ever, facing life without knowing what to do with it. Humanity feels lost. All attempts to attain perfection, power, and prosperity (at least in the material sense) have only led us to greater problems.

What we need is a new, higher-level understanding of ourselves and our lives. Otherwise we won’t be able to advance. This is why the science of Kabbalah is coming and offering us a solution.

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Today humanity does not know how to continue developing further and how to solve the problems that arise. More and more, these problems are felt in a confusing manner, as blows coming from blind fate. In the 21st century the media is brimming with predictions of the future, fortune-telling, and horoscopes. The fact is that we live in a world we do now know, but today we are attracted to predictions that aren’t based on blind faith, like the generations of the past, but that come from realizing one’s weakness in the face of nature.

Faith in higher forces that govern the world was passed from faith to science, which sought to gain mastery over nature. But at the summit of scientific development, people came to understand that they don’t have any power over nature and their fate. Thus, they are starting to search for the Source on which they depend.

In the article, “Exile and Redemption,” the section “Congruity and Unity between Torah [the science of Kabbalah] and Blind Faith, and the Development of Human Calculation,” Baal HaSulam explains that humanity will inevitably grow disillusioned in trying to solve its problems. People will then accept Kabbalah as knowledge, sent from Above, about how to correct oneself and the world.

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A question I received: It is well known that progress holds us away from the Upper Force, God, and inner cleansing. In my opinion, Kabbalah, together with other religions, has to agree with this approach to progress.

My Answer: Progress is a law of nature. We cannot stop it; it is dictated to us by the growth of our egoism. Its task is to bring humankind to a “dead-end” that has only one way out: transitioning to a new type of society based on bestowal and love. No other solution is possible in a global, interdependent society.

We have to pursue similarity with nature in our behavior and become one with each other and nature in spite of our growing egoism. Specifically our egoism and progress compels us to transform ourselves.

It is impossible to make a natural transition to a new type of society as it is unfeasible to change human nature. Our attempts will only bring us more pain (natural cataclysms, wars, etc.) We can shift from egoism to bestowal only by applying Kabbalistic methodology. Kabbalah teaches us how to use the force that originally created egoism. Only this force can correct and transform our ego into bestowal and love for the other.

We are unable to stop progress. Yet, by applying Kabbalistic knowledge we can bring the world – with its growing egoism and progress – to a benevolent state. This is why dissemination of Kabbalah is so critically important nowadays.

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Some time ago (before the destruction of the Temple) the nation of Israel was on a spiritual level, and the commandments were spiritual actions for them – the Tefilin was not a black box, but the Light of an exalted state, which shines “in the forehead” of the spiritual Partzuf (ten Sefirot). It was not a root and a branch for them; it was united as one whole. They did not live in two worlds, but in one common reality. Therefore, the question regarding whether to carry out commandments in the material did not arise for them; for them the internal and external execution of the commandments were expressions of the same action.

Then a “breaking and a descent” occurred; our sensations of the spiritual world were concealed. With this concealment, we no longer sense what happens in the spiritual world. We are “cut off” from it, and no longer exist on a spiritual degree of “Tefilin” for example or “Talit” (surrounding Light, clothed onto Zeir Anpin of the world of Atzilut); therefore, these commandments have turned from spiritual actions into mechanical actions called “traditions” or “customs.”

Once they were true spiritual actions rather than merely traditions as they are now. Previously, I “put on a Tefilin” in the spiritual and in the material. They were the same thing for me; reality was one whole. As a result of our egoistic development, we uncovered our “breaking and descent,” the destruction of the common soul. Now the time has come to break this division so that there will, once again, be a single, whole world.

Should all people study these traditions and customs? No, we just need to break this division, and when it falls, gradually with our correction, the material reality will begin to vanish. If the all of humanity is corrected, rather than just the small part that came out of Babylon and was called the nation of Israel, then to the extent that the world begins to be corrected, it will “lose” its sensations of the material form. The lower layer, which you correct for bestowal, becomes spiritual, and you no longer perceive it as matter. It gradually seems to vanish from your sensations, until the whole material world vanishes, since it is imaginary (Olam Amedume). Therefore, all that Kabbalah teaches us is how to break the “iron wall” (see Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 1), which separates us from the spiritual world.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/10, “Exile and Redemption”

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A question I received: Why is it so important in Kabbalah to know the meaning of terms? What is the benefit of that? After all, we see that a person needs to study for a long time in order to grasp the fact that words seemingly familiar to him have a completely different meaning. This is very difficult for a beginner.

My Answer: Even knowing the completely different meanings of familiar words is still very important, as through this we transition from a corporeal vocabulary to the spiritual one. Indeed, the words are familiar: “sun, moon, Earth, man, man’s body parts, animals, beasts, family, coupling (Zivug), kiss, embrace” – all these are words of this world (in the desire to receive) that we use in the spiritual world (the desire to bestow). We add a different meaning and interpretation to each word.

Baal HaSulam writes in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, “Inner Reflection” that we must transition to spiritual definitions and meanings of words, in order for them to be embedded into our minds like in a box, so that we will understand the word’s spiritual meaning the moment we hear it. By using the same words we are familiar with and trying to add a different meaning to them, we transition from a screen that draws for us the pictures of this world to a screen depicting the next, spiritual world.

We have no other words to express the Upper World, the world of forces and actions. But because these forces and actions are actualized in our world, we call these forces and actions (roots) by the names of their consequences (branches). Therefore, we must know their spiritual meanings. True, this is very difficult for beginners, until they free themselves of the former, corporeal content of a word and fill it anew.

As people change, we give words new meaning. The words “kiss,” “feet” or “head” of a Partzuf will remain physiological terms, but they will take on the spiritual meaning of their roots. In accordance with this change, you too will witness the changes you undergo.

Ultimately, the entire wisdom of Kabbalah is intended to give you a spiritual dictionary to replace your corporeal one. What is this “dictionary”? You will begin to interpret words in your inner sensation. You will feel and thus immediately grasp the word differently. In those words you yourself transition from the branch to the root.

Keep advancing and changing internally, and you will see the extent to which you change the meaning of words. This change is automatic. The entire spiritual picture is much stronger than the corporeal one, and so it will displace the corporeal and all its definitions with its own.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/10, Article “Exile and Redemption”

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The division of people into the nation of Israel and the nations of the world, which Baal HaSulam describes in his articles, can be interpreted in two senses: inner and outer. When understood in the inner sense, it describes how qualities are divided within every person, with “Israel” designating one’s aspiration “straight toward the Creator” or the point in the heart that has awakened in a person, whereas the “nations of the world” are the desires of reception.

Any person whose point in the heart (aspiration to reveal the Creator) has awakened can be called “Israel,” which means “straight toward the Creator.” If one’s point in the heart has not awakened yet, then he belongs to the nations of the world, meaning to all other goals in life.

All the people can be categorized in this fashion and divided into Israel and the other nations. This is the same as what once occurred in Ancient Babylon.

When considering those whose point in the heart has not awakened yet, the science of Kabbalah must first and foremost be disseminated among the nation of Israel in the material sense. After that it should reach the other nations. In addition, the nations of the world include the ten tribes of Israel that fell to the level of “the nations of the world” from the height of the First Temple (Mochin de Haya).

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/10, “Exile and Redemption”

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A question I received: What desires within me belong to the "stony heart" that will be corrected in the very end during the final correction?

My Answer: All desires which are discussed in the wisdom of Kabbalah, such as GE, AHP, and the stony heart, are our broken desires. We were once connected together through them, but this connection broke apart. These desires are not at all directed to the fulfillments of this world.

In fact, the broken desires which exist between us are actually the absence of connection between us, but we don’t feel them whatsoever. Do I really feel that I’m disconnected from you, that I miss this connection and it’s broken? Do I really regret that I hate you?

We don’t even sense the desires which require correction. For now there is nothing to correct since we don’t see what’s missing and broken. This is why none of us have desires belonging to the soul except for the single point in a heart (in those who already have it awakened). It becomes the beginning of our soul if we start discerning our connections requiring correction within it.

At the same time the ordinary human desires have no relation to our connection with other souls. This is why we don’t have a soul yet, but only material bodily desires which are not related to the soul.

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The Creator’s goal is to elevate us to His level. The desire to receive pleasure that was made by the Creator is a channel through which we sense our life. This is the only property that exists outside of Him.

For this reason we always experience a shortage of fulfillment. We constantly feel as if something is missing and we continually aspire to a new fulfillment. When the Light fills the desire to receive pleasure, it disappears immediately. The Light cancels the desire and thus the desire no longer feels fulfillment.

That’s why the life that we sense through the desire to receive pleasure seems temporary and transient. Each passing moment erases itself instead of staying and supplementing the following moment.

When the desire and the pleasure meet, they neutralize each other even if the pleasure is minimal. Our life is built of digital contacts and minimal meetings between the desire (Kli) and the Light that immediately disappears; this process happens throughout our whole life and ends with our death.

Let’s say, one has a certain number of desires (a “quota” for life) consisting of several million small portions of the desire to receive pleasure that reveal themselves one after another. Against each of them there is the Light that fills them. The moment they meet together, they disappear. When we utilize all the desires in our “life allowance quota,” our life ends.

If we manage to arrange for the Light and the desire to “catch” each other at the time of their “meeting” and make them “stay” together, we start sensing the Light caught in the desire as our eternal infinite life. The moment stops sliding away; it stays and elevates us above time. We stop the moment and by doing so manage to attain eternal existence!

This is “the patent” of spiritual eternity and perfection that we attain with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

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The Zohar, Chapter "Shemot (Exodus)," Item 250: For fear that they would mingle the tribes with the rest of the nations… He exiled them to Egypt, who were proud and despised and loathed Israel. And they were there until the iniquity of the Amorites was full and they came to their own land, for there was no longer fear of mingling with the rest of the nations.

How do we draw closer to the desired state when we build the middle line within ourselves? The middle line which is our similarity to the Light, to the One who bestows, or the Creator happens precisely due to the state called "the Egyptian Exile" that becomes revealed within us.

My egoistic desire becomes so big that I feel that I am locked in it and that it controls me. Then, I begin to discern between myself and my nature, between myself and my egoism, or between myself and my properties.

I would like to change my properties, but I’m incapable of doing that. I see that they harm me; I realize that I corrupt myself, my life, the lives of those who are close to me, and the entire world. I put myself and everyone else in danger because I exist in this endlessly growing egoism that I can’t temper. Yet I’m unable to do anything with it.

Then, there comes a state where a person begins to realize that the force acting in him is an alien force. He doesn’t identify himself with it any longer. He begins to perceive it as his bitter enemy. This is called, "Now a new king arose over Egypt” (Exodus, 1:8). A person begins to feel that a new dominion has been revealed, and that this is not him but someone else who sets up all this for him. It could be Nature or the Creator, but it’s not him. He doesn’t know how to free himself from it.

As if from the side, a person now sees his desire to receive pleasure as something alien to him. He begins to discern the Creator as the one Who organizes all of this for him. He already has the same attitude both to the Pharaoh and to the Creator.

He then experiences an internal split, the realization that there exists the Upper Force which determines everything that happens with him. However, this revelation doesn’t happen on its own, but only after multiple hours of study, uniting with friends in the group, and working in dissemination during which the person is practically engaged in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

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