A question I received: How does a Hassid differ from a Kabbalist?

My Answer: A Hassid wants to erase his egoistic qualities. He is fully immersed in the Light of Mercy (Hessed), which does not expand in height, but only in breadth.

In this situation, a person feels that everything is simple and good, the Creator is the only force present everywhere and in everything, there is nothing besides Him, I live in the Creator’s world, there is no egoism, I accept everything with joy, and I ignore all the doubts. This is a wonderful attitude to life for small people to have, because they immediately accept everything with gratitude to the Creator. This also provides enormous psychological help in dealing with all of life’s difficulties. However, when you have this attitude, you are not working with your egoism.

A Kabbalist, on the other hand, uses his egoistic desires (the left line) and adds them to the right line. The right line has to be present and you have to achieve it first and foremost. You have to start everything from it. But after that, once you have the power of the right line, you should immediately turn to the left line and select the egoistic desires (desires that oppose your spiritual progress) that you can correct.

By correctly combining both lines inside you, you build the middle line. This is done using the power of the left line – the desire, together with the intention of the right line, the intention “for the sake of bestowal.”

Spiritual growth takes place only in the middle line, by using egoism and rising above it. You then receive the Light of Hochma inside it and thus reveal and attain the Upper World, the Creator.

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There were many Kabbalists after the Ari, but not a single one of them was able to understand the Ari’s method at the root. Only Baal HaSulam was able to do this because he received the same soul as the Ari. It’s not because other Kabbalists were lower than him, but because the Ari’s method can only be understood by a soul from the same part of the common soul, from the same “spiritual organ” of the body as the soul of the Ari. Other souls understand the same thing from the perspective of their organ, whether it is the spiritual heart, brain, liver or lungs.

Your soul may come from a very important spiritual organ; it may even be higher than the soul of the Ari. However, since he is different from you and has different qualities, you are unable to truly feel his method, to feel “at home” with it as if you are dissolving in water. You cannot feel it as your life unless you are built the same way he is.

Therefore, we do not judge Kabbalists according to the height of their attainment, but according to how much they can help us correct and ascend. This depends on the type and character of their souls and their ability to help us.

Therefore, there is no one we should study besides Baal HaSulam, and no one else we can follow in order to reveal the Upper World. After all, he was the only one who merited the same soul as the Ari.

Any person who feels an aspiration for the spiritual world and desires to develop, is part of one of the most important spiritual organs. The rest of the souls are there to fill up the spaces in the body between the important organs, and thus they carry out a passive role.

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A question I received: For whom did the Kabbalists write their books?

My Answer: Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot” (item 155) that Kabbalists obligated everybody to read these books, because when they are read, those who read them put themselves under the influence of their correcting force. This occurs even if the content and meaning of the books are not understood.

Therefore, Kabbalah books are meant for both those who want to embark on the path to reveal spirituality, and those who have already revealed the spiritual world. Those who want to advance use these books as a means of correction (Segula), and those who have already revealed the spiritual use them as a manual to guide them on their path.

The great majority of Kabbalists wrote their books not for beginners, but for those who’ve already attained spirituality. Only a few special souls (Baal HaSulam, Ramchal) exerted great efforts to write books that radiate a special Light specifically for those who aspire to attain spirituality.

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Kabbalah is a science, and Kabbalists are scientists who realistically reveal the concealed, Upper World and the Unified Force, the Creator. The revelation happens by correcting one’s nature and transforming it to the nature of the Upper World.

There have been Kabbalists who revealed the concealment (Tzimtzum Alef and Tzimtzum Bet) of the Worlds of Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, Assiya and even the World of Adam Kadmon and the World of Infinity, along with the governance by one and three lines, and so on. Each Kabbalist made a revelation to the degree of his correction.

But as long as the souls are fine (not very egoistic), Kabbalists are unable to reveal very much, since they lack a big enough instrument. The Reflected Light (Ohr Hozer) is weak and does not reach the higher levels. Therefore, the Kabbalists of the past revealed creation in general, without the particular details.

As time went by, the same souls went through many reincarnations and accumulated additional egoism (Aviut) and desires. Thus, they became able to work with a more corrupted material, which is why they conducted a deeper research of the matter of creation, the Creator’s work (Avodat HaShem).

This research is similar to research in any other science. However, the external science provides an external knowledge and attainment, meaning only about our world. It doesn’t change us. Kabbalah, on the other hand, gives us a higher mind and sensations, correcting man himself. This is why we find our way into a new world. It’s because we change and the world changes as well.

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A question I received: In one of your lessons you gave an example of a baby pulling everything in its mouth, feeling the world through taste. I remembered the phrase: “Taste and see how good the Creator is.” But how can I taste Him?

My Answer: To taste something doesn’t mean that you try it and then reject it. The phrase speaks of the fact that it is only by tasting the Creator, you can be sure that He (the quality of bestowal) is good and worthwhile. You will know this “by tasting,” meaning, by feeling it inside yourself. That’s what the Kabbalists meant by saying that you first have to try it, like when shopping for a bargain and then declining to buy.

However, in spirituality, you have to make the purchase first, and then, once you have bought it and dug your teeth into it, you will know what’s really in it. That’s because you then agree to bestow instead of receive, and you find that nothing can be better than that!

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It’s a known fact that if you leave a small child alone in the woods, he will grow up into an animal. Similarly, if you place a child in a certain society, that is how he will grow up. A person grows and develops under the influence of his environment. The environment gives a person specific behavioral models and examples, and he does everything according to them.

How do we perceive our world? We do it according to how we have developed and what we have been taught to focus on. In other words, we do it according to our desires. This makes us see specific pictures of our world and to perceive them in a specific way, as well as to process them within and react to them.

However, when it comes to the spiritual world, we don’t have any behavioral models, images, sensations or understanding of what it is. So even if the picture of spirituality would somehow emerge before us, we wouldn’t be able to perceive it. And that is how things do stand: in fact, everything is already here in front of us, but we perceive only a small part of what exists, because we don’t have the appropriate models or images.

This is why Kabbalists write books for us telling us about the Upper World. They pull us up to that world, or to be more specific, they bring the spiritual world down to us so when we read about it and try to feel and understand it, we become filled with its models even if we don’t feel or understand them.

This happens by virtue of a special quality called Segula – miracle. We evoke these spiritual images upon us from afar even when we don’t clearly feel them. That is how we prepare ourselves for feeling them.

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The depth of spiritual attainment is determined by the depth of the corrected desire. With each new generation, the souls descending into the world are “coarser” – more egoistic. Therefore, Kabbalists who lived before the Ari (16th Century) had small egos and were therefore able to reveal the elements of creation in full detail, including such concepts as the screen, Tzimtzum Alef, Tzimtzum Bet, Orh Hozer, and so on.

They used these spiritual forces, but they did not completely understand their origin and mode of operation. This is why they could not clearly express it either. It is like seeing a picture: even though you may be able to replicate it, you don’t know how the colors break down into a spectrum, what the wavelength of each color is, and how this affects all of us and turns into feelings.

If one’s desire is not thick enough, then it is impossible to attain the cause of a phenomenon and explain how the Light unites with the desire. The Ari was the first person to reveal the difference and the connection between the Direct Light and the Reflected Light in all its depth. He was able to do this by virtue of having a special soul. In addition, he was living in the beginning of the Messiah’s era, when the souls requiring correction began to be revealed in the world.

Prior to that time, there was a period of exile, when the ego was not revealed in a form ready for correction. This is why it is written that all the Kabbalists before the Ari communicated Kabbalah from the standpoint of the Direct Light (Kabalat Ramak), whereas the Ari explained Kabbalah from the standpoint of the Reflected Light (Kabalat Ari).

Later, Baal HaSulam continued the method of the Ari and made it fit for our use.

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Preparation to the Lesson
There is one, indivisible reality before us, but every person reveals it depending on his own qualities.
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Part 1, on Shamati #97
The spiritual embryo “flips over” before the birth: what used to seem like garbage, now becomes the most important thing for a person. He is now ready to ascend to the next level.
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Part 2, on “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”
You shouldn’t fight your desires; you will need them all. It’s not the desires that need to be restricted, but the way you use them.
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Part 3, on “Disclosing One Portion And Covering Two”
Kabbalists never reveal what is not necessary and what the generation is not ready to realize.
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We can see how the system of creation is built in a step by step manner. A person is always connected to a specific level, and then he advances to the next level, and so on. The influence he receives from Above passes through all the levels in order to reach him. One’s path toward the goal is an ascent up the levels from below upwards, and in the process, one gradually becomes similar to the World of Infinity.

Each of us is a result of thousands of years of development by our ancestors. However, a person’s direct connection is to his parents. They give him the qualities and upbringing that the shape him inside and out.

The same thing happens in the science of Kabbalah. It has developed for thousands of years, and each Kabbalist out of thousands of Kabbalists did something unique in order to bring this wisdom to us today, the time when the whole world must awaken.

But nevertheless, our closest connection is to the most recent Kabbalists: Baal HaSulam and Rabash. They are our parents. They are the ones who give us life and the upbringing that shapes us. They connect us to the system leading to Infinity, and we perform this ascent with their direct help and by virtue of their teaching.

This is why it is so important for us to realize the method they have passed on to us – their upbringing. If we have the strength to hold on to these great parents which the Creator has sent us, then we will definitely reach success.

We are yet to see just how much they care for us. We will see that their souls are always connected with us and take care of us. We receive everything “Upper” only through them and only to the degree we carry out their advice.

Let us hope that we will merit and be worthy of what they have attained, and what they pass on to us. All the Light on their level is ready for us to accept It. Through them, we will be able to establish a connection with the Light, the Creator.

Baal HaSulam spoke about how the science of Kabbalah will begin to be revealed starting with the year 1995, and how thousands of people will come to it. He was talking about us. There is no other group that accepts anyone wanting to reveal the Upper World and that disseminates his teaching. Therefore, we have to be proud, and at the same time continue to make efforts in order to be deserving of such a benevolent treatment from Above.

Baal HaSulam writes in “The Future Generation” that a person has to try to:

1. Attain spirituality by himself, and / or
2. Disseminate it and help others attain it.

A person corrects his soul in either case. When we try to pass his teaching on to others, then regardless of how much we ourselves attain it, our actions bring about a correction and that is a great accomplishment that we have to be proud and happy about.

So let us raise a toast to this great soul, which connects us to the Creator. Each of us truly was chosen from Above. Each of us has received the great right and privilege to establish a connection with this soul, to be connected with this teaching and to disseminate it.

So, let us be worthy of being called Bnei Baruch. After all, Baruch – Blessed – is the name of the Creator.
(From my talk at Baal HaSulam’s grave this morning, 09.29.09)

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A question I received: In recent years, especially in times of crisis, the study of Kabbalah is offered as the only means to ensure continued existence of mankind in general, and to overcome the economic crisis in particular.

You must understand that this is likely to cause a backlash, because everything that is not a natural human need causes rejection. Moreover, is the science of Kabbalah itself ready to open itself to universal learning? It is clear that spiritual advancement is universal, and everyone will find their path by means of study, however this is what it is, a path, and a distant one. You are already beginning to voice the need for a differentiated approach to learning.

Most importantly, should all of humanity study Kabbalah, or is it enough to reach a certain critical mass of humanity in order to advance humanity? Who then should be studying? Who has need of this? In this case however, the science of Kabbalah, in all probability, needs to come up with different ways to study.

Certainly Kabbalah should be open to all who seek it, but doesn’t such massive missionary work devalue the science in the eyes of those exposed to it? In my opinion, such, excuse the term, “vulgarization” of Kabbalah, that is, an attempt to explain such concepts as “mutual love” or “union of souls,” at a primitive level, is unlikely to succeed. The wish to find a simple explanation of these eternal truths is to every person, of course, understandable. But don’t you yourself mention that such understanding is possible only after correction, and in such case, doesn’t it harm dissemination?

My Answer: One of the easiest answers is the following:  I follow the instructions of my Teachers. Read what they wrote and you will agree with me.

Kabbalah is a practical science that reveals the Creator to every person in the world (definition of Kabbalah from the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah” by Baal HaSulam). Therefore, there is a need to bring it to each and every person. Who are we to judge who is capable of implementing it, for all will gradually come to this necessity? My role is that of a circulator.

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