Questions I received on Rav Ashlag’s descendants and how to get one’s family involved in Kabbalah studies:

Question: Are Rav Ashlag’s descendants involved with your center?

My Answer: No.

Question: Where do they live?

My Answer: Mostly in Bnei Brak.

Question: Do they carry on their father and grandfather’s teachings in their own way?

My Answer: No.

Question: What do they think of you carrying on their father’s teachings?

My Answer: I’m not interested in what they think, because I received instructions from my Teacher.

Question: Are your wife and children involved?

My Answer: Yes. My son is in charge of book publication and distribution around the world (with the exception of Israel and Russia). My eldest daughter has a PhD in biology and is married to the manager of our Russian dissemination department. My youngest daughter is doing her dissertation in Kabbalah and is about to be married to my student. I am sure that my grandchildren will also follow this path because they live in this environment at home. My grandson watches lessons together with my son every day. Besides, their time will be the time of humanity’s spiritual development.

Question: How do we involve our spouses and children?

My Answer: Lovingly. “There is no coercion in spirituality.” Kabbalah is not a religion – there is no persuasion, intimidation, or convincing. Love is the only means to show them that the correction of the soul is the best possible thing and it’s necessary to all.

It is written, “The Torah is not inherited.” Every person realizes it within to the extent of his desire and efforts. This is how one reveals the Torah, the Upper Light, or the Creator within. Moreover, history shows that the spiritual heirs of the great Kabbalists were usually not their physical heirs.

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I recommend for everyone to watch my last lecture at the Odessa congress, on the perception of reality. This topic is becoming more and more attractive to people, especially the younger generation. People are beginning to feel and realize that we are not living in the complete reality, but in a partial and deformed part of it.

I received very impressive questions about this from a former classmate. He experienced a severe electric shock, after which he started seeing through objects and even feeling the future to some degree. He had always been a skeptic, but after the electric shock (by a powerful magnetic field), he began to perceive additional forces that exert an influence on the world.

The topic of perception of reality helps us not only to realize how limited our perception is, but also to understand that all the spiritual worlds are inside us, and exist together with us in the same dimension that we are now in. We can reveal them by revealing new “altruistic” properties inside us; through these properties we will feel the additional worlds. The method of revealing these new, altruistic properties within is Kabbalah.

Related Material:
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Chapter from the book Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “Transforming Egoism to Altruism”

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Two questions I received on educating children and understanding their growth process:

Question: I’m a teacher. What is the best way to teach and educate young children (from the age of 5 to 12) within the framework of a profane school today?

My Answer: Through personal example – your goal and meaning in life.

Question: We learn that one reveals a completely new world on each level of advancement because one’s qualities undergo a fundamental change. So why is it that on our earthly level, the things that happen to a child in the first years of life lay a mark on him for the rest of his life, and it’s practically impossible to change his character traits later on? Why aren’t his qualities renewed when he grows up?

My Answer: It’s because everything in our world is pre-programmed. When a creature grows on the animate level, it develops the same qualities. However, when one grows spiritually, one increases his equivalence to the Creator and gains completely new qualities.

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Questions I received on different projects people would like to see completed by our Kabbalah Academy:

Question: Why doesn’t your website have all the chapters of the Talmud Eser Sefirot, and where can I find the entire Talmud Eser Sefirot in English?

My Answer: All of the translations are done by our friends. This is an enormous job, and in order to accomplish it we would need a whole group of people to work on it full time. We just don’t have the funds to make this happen. Whoever considers this project a priority is welcome to finance it, and we can provide the workers who can complete this project.

Question: Is it possible for your site to display a map of the world showing all the participants of the virtual friends’ gatherings in real time, represented by blinking dots on the map?

My Answer: If someone can create this map, then we will be happy to display it on our site. There are many good projects, but there aren’t enough funds from the Maaser nor people who can work to complete all the projects. You’re welcome to help us in both ways, or try to do it on your own.

Question: The books that help correct us are the books of Ari, Baal HaSulam, and Rabash. When will these books be available in English?

My Answer: When we have the people and the funds for it. You’re welcome to help (yourself)!

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A question I received: In a previous blog entry you wrote, “Kabbalah welcomes things that were derived from experience or strictly scientific research.” Can you please elaborate on what exactly Kabbalah welcomes in regular science?

My Answer: 1. Everything that’s necessary for the body’s animate existence (that is, for its minimal, normal existence), according to the law “Necessity is neither praised nor condemned” (Echrahi – Lo Igune Ve Lo Ishubah). Just like it’s the case with animals, when man consumes to the extent of his body’s animate desires, he is in balance with the nature, with the Creator, and hence this is welcomed by Kabbalah.

2. Everything relating to the body’s desires (such as food, sex, and family) that exceeds the normal needs, is superfluous. Hence it is harmful for the body and the soul, as well as for all of the surrounding nature, and it makes man imbalanced with nature. These excesses usually appear under the influence of society.

3. Besides the bodily desires, there are additional desires that emerge in man because he lives in society. If he lived alone in the woods, then these desires would never emerge in him. There are the desires for wealth, fame, power, and knowledge.

Desires 2 and 3 disrupt nature’s balance on the level of our world and prevent man from coming out of his egoism. The earthly science is developed precisely to fulfill desires 2 and 3 – it is developed by man’s egoistic incentives, and hence it is harmful to man.

Imagine that man did not intend to wage war, make money, or win scientific awards and prizes. Then science would never make any progress. Hence science will soon enter a crisis, its present form will due out, and the science of Kabbalah will reemerge to the forefront. I am explaining this very briefly and hence unconvincingly, but I advise you to learn about this in more detail by listening to my lessons on Baal HaSulam’s article “Kabbalah as Compared with Other Sciences”.

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Three questions I received on sharing one’s personal attainments, staying connected with the Creator on every new level, and overcoming disgust of Kabbalah:

Question: Why is it harmful to share your personal attainments with others? And if so, what is meant by “attainment” in this case? Is the prohibition only on sharing one’s “communication” with the Creator, or are there other forbidden topics? Is it harmful for people to share their experience of going through different states, such as how they came out of descents, and their relationships with the environment? I feel that other people’s experience really helps me, and enables me to discover new perspectives on how to do inner work in Kabbalah.

My Answer: You cannot bring your personal relationship with the Creator outside of you. The Creator is envious! This can be compared to a situation where you love someone, or your intimate relationships, or how much money you have in the bank, and so on. There are things that you don’t want to share with everyone.

In Kabbalah, there are several reasons for the prohibition:

• One does not speak with anyone about the things he holds most dear;
• Any person can harm your spiritual path with his thoughts and desires, even unintentionally;
• Corrections are done through the intention, not through words.

Question: On every new level, what can help me stay connected with the Creator, and perform a correct analysis of my thoughts and desires, considering that everything starts from zero on every new level?

My Answer: The only thing that can help is a framework that you set ahead of time:

• systematic studies for 1-3 hours a day;
• dissemination for 1+ hours a day; and
• attending a gathering of friends once a week together with other people who are physically near you.

Question: Over the last week or two, I feel disgusted during the morning lessons. But I also feel an inner urge to persist in studying and coming to the morning lessons. This also happens in relation to the friends in the group. How should I deal with this situation?

My Answer: You should overcome yourself, but without breaking or forcing yourself – only by raising the importance of the goal, “The Attainment of the Creator.” You should see all the disturbances as a mountain that you have to climb in order to reach the goal, the Creator.

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Chapter from Book The Kabbalah Experience: “Reflections and Thoughts”
Shamati #79: “Atzilut in BYA”

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Questions I received on souls and the connections between them:

Question: Can one soul connect to another soul if it has never seen its corporeal body? What I mean is: is it possible for a soul to unite with another soul, without the latter making that connection as well?

My Answer: Yes. It can be done by means of a common screen, or by the second soul’s submission, like the Upper One with regard to the lower one.

Question: Can a person who still hasn’t crossed the Machsom talk to souls residing in bodies, and with souls residing outside of bodies?

My Answer: Souls are always “outside of bodies,” and the presence of a body is insignificant for a soul. A connection with the soul is made through a common screen.

Question: In one of the kab.tv broadcasts you said that animals don’t have a soul. Can you please explain: what specifically is your basis for saying this?

My Answer: Perhaps there was a misunderstanding. Of course every creature (including humans) contains a force that enlivens it. However, the soul is defined as “A part of the Creator from Above,” and hence it is only present in a person who has developed it by studying Kabbalah. That is to say, he rose above the Machsom and attained the quality of bestowal and love, at least at the first level.

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A question I received (my answers appear in bold font): In this blog entry you wrote: “You shouldn’t fight against anything, except your own laziness in carrying out the instructions of Kabbalists.” If a group of men has agreed to carry out the instructions of Kabbalists – we have composed a charter and created a group – but then began to experience group laziness, then what should we do?

• Admit that we’re not ready, that we can’t carry out the part of the instructions that deal with friendship and the group, and then get together to discuss what to do next? Try to fight this state by elevating the importance of the goal.
• Pretend that nothing is happening? Definitely not! Otherwise this will go on forever.
• Focus on dissemination? This is the only way to work together and perform actions of bestowal. Hence, the best thing to do is to get together only for dissemination and weekly gatherings of friends. Later, once you mature, you will be able to expand your relationships.

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A question I received: What is the connection between Reshimot and the history of humanity? You have said that the first Reshimo that developed in this world was the point in the heart. Does this mean that the history of humanity is the sequential expression of Reshimot?

Answer: All matter descended from above downwards, from the World of Infinity to our world, and each level of descent left behind Reshimot (reminiscences, informational data). In our world everything unravels from this spiral of Reshimot in the reverse order, from below upwards.

First comes the development of Reshimot on the still level of nature, then the vegetative level, followed by the animate level and finally matter on the speaking or human level. Man also develops gradually through the chain of Reshimot, and this constitutes the historical development.

However, the first spiritual Reshimo of our movement back (from below upwards) surfaced only 5768 years ago in a man named Adam, and then in more and more people. This is why Kabbalists use Adam as the starting point of the calendar. The nation of Israel was born from the group of Kabbalists, and hence it too considers Adam to be the starting point of its history. Adam was the first man to attain the Creator, and he told us about Him in the book The Angel Raziel.

Today the Reshimot are surfacing and developing on their final stage, and they are demanding their spiritual realization by all people – the ascent of all people to the World of Infinity.

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When it comes to being persistent, the men have something to learn from the women. Women never cease asking – how can they be equal to men? The sensation of inferiority subconsciously weighs down on them. It comes from the “Creator’s curse” described in the Torah. Hence, it is present in every woman and she feels it in everything.

In spiritual work, our desires are “the woman within us,” whereas the intentions of bestowal that we have to acquire over these desires are “the men within us.” Our “inner women” have to desire to acquire their “inner men,” to unite with them and give birth to sons – the corrected souls filled with Light!

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