I was doing some research on modern Kabbalistic sources, and came across a book called Kabbalah: New Perspectives, by Prof. Moshe Idel. In it he mentions a poem by Prof. Gershom Sholem (1897 – 1982) – the founder of the modern academic field of Kabbalah. But before I say more about this poem, here is some background on its author.

Sholem devoted his career to replacing the traditional attainment of Kabbalah with academic and philological research. For example, in one of his lectures, published in the book Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, this is how he describes Kabbalah in his time, “As a result of Kabbalah’s lengthy process of development, during which Kabbalah paradoxically influenced Jewish history, it has again become the same thing it was in the beginning – an esoteric wisdom of small groups of people, who are deprived of contact with life and have no influence on it.” Likewise, in the article “On the Possibility of Jewish Mysticism in Our Time,” Sholem writes, “There is no doubt that in recent generations there were no awakened individuals who could bring mystical teachings to new forms or start significant social movements.”

In this article, like in many others, Sholem denies modern Kabbalah, or Kabbalah of the 20th century. He points out that Kabbalah has ceased playing an important role in the Jewish culture of his time and that no original and innovative Kabbalistic methods have been created since the 18th century! This viewpoint is very obvious in the article “On the Possibility of Jewish Mysticism in Our Time.” Sholem’s attitude to Kabbalah in his time is also described by the modern researcher, Prof. Boaz Hoss, in the article “Don’t Ask All Questions.”

Considering all this, it’s important to point out that Gershom Sholem, the founder of the modern academic research of Kabbalah, and a scholar who’s renowned by the entire academic world, never says a word in any of his research about Baal HaSulam, the greatest Kabbalist of his time, nor of his works on Kabbalah. How can a researcher overlook something like this? This is an example of envy, dishonesty and petty egoism that do not allow a researcher to face the truth: to admit to himself and to the entire world that all academic research of Kabbalah, anything besides its attainment – is false!

When I was giving a series of lectures in American universities, I heard different comments about Gershom Sholem. In particular, I recall one distinctive comment from the Rector of the University of Illinois, who said, “Gershom talked about Kabbalah, but you are talking from Kabbalah. He urged people to research it with the mind, while you urge people to enter it with their feelings.”

The poem that appears below was written by Gershom Sholem shortly before his death, and it shows that despite everything, he finally admitted that he is in the dark and does not attain that which is concealed in the Kabbalistic texts. Yet, the superficial academic approach and the dishonesty in researching Kabbalah that he sowed continue to be practiced by his students.

“Death in the Professoriate” was a result of replacing research of Kabbalah “through oneself and inside oneself” (or in other words, by correcting oneself in similarity to the Upper One) with academic research that’s done “outside of oneself” (in conjunction with meditation according to Abulafia).

“Vae Victis” (Woe to the Conquered) or “Death in the Professoriate”
I threw myself into ancient books.
I was awestruck by their signs.
I spent too much time alone with them.
I could no longer leave them behind.

The glimmer of Truth is ancient,
Yet disaster is unforeseen:
Generations are weakly linked,
And knowledge is not clean.

I have brought back the blurred face
Of the fullness of time.
I was ready to leap into the abyss,
But was I really primed?

The ancestral symbols are here explained;
The Kabbalist was no dope.
But what transformed time proposed
Remains foreign, beyond our scope.

Time transformed casts us a fearsome glance,
For it is unwilling to turn back again.
Yet abandoned joys grow palpable
Once your Vision has dissolved in pain.

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Spiritual movement in unlike physical relocation from one place to another. It’s a movement in one’s intention, a renewal of qualities.
Baal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot, item 1

Time is a sensation of movement. The brain envisions images of movement, copying them in its imagination into the category of “time.” If man and his surrounding were in absolute peace, there would be no notion of time.
Baal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot, item 1

The notions of time, past, present and future, are man made notions and are not absolute. Everything exists in the Upper Force without any action on behalf of the Upper One. Everything that exists in the force later takes place in action. And those who come closer to the Creator – above the universe, ascend above time.
Rav Kook, “Letters. Volume 2”

The Book of Zohar does not speak of this world at all, but only of the Upper Worlds where there is no time like in the corporeal world. Spiritual time is a change in qualities.
The Book of Zohar, Vayatze, collection 2

Human egoism constantly prevails over man, unless the Creator helps him by bringing his soul closer to Him through shining His Light at specific times.
“Yesher Divrey Emet,” p. 35

All times and all actions exist eternally. The future receives influence from the past and from that which will happen afterwards. Time submits to forces that operate in the past, in the present, and in the future.
Ramchal, Adir BaMarom, p. 187

That which shines in alternation will shine constantly in the future, when all the past will gather into an eternal state.
Ramchal. Adir BaMarom, p. 18
[2125]

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The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Fourteenth Commandment” (abridged)

247. The fourteenth Commandment is to observe Shabbat, which is a day of rest from all the actions of creation. There are two Commandments here: to observe the day of Shabbat and to adorn its holiness, namely to receive Ohr Hochma, called “holiness”; and to observe Shabbat as a day of rest for all the worlds, in which all actions are multiplied and realized even before this day is sanctified.

Shabbat is a state of the spiritual worlds where the Light descending from Above elevates ZA to AA, Nukva to AVI, the Worlds of BYA to YESHSUT, and ZON of the World of Atzilut. As a result, man’s NRN (whoever has it, whoever is spiritually present in the worlds of BYA) also ascends to Atzilut with the worlds of BYA, and there receives Ohr Haya.

248. Because that day was sanctified, the creation of bodiless spirits was to be completed. He asks: “Was the Creator unable to delay the sanctification of that day until the bodies for those spirits were created?” And he answers: “The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil contained an evil side that wanted to govern the world. And many spirits separated and went forth, armed, to clothe in the bodies of this world.

249. However, as the Creator saw this, He roused the wind from within the Tree of Life, ZA, and struck the other Tree, Malchut. And the other, good side was awakened, and the day was sanctified. For the creation of bodies and the awakening of spirits on that night of Shabbat stem from the good side, and not from the evil one.

250. And had he hastened on that night to put forward the other side, before the good side came forward, he would not have been able to withstand it for even an instant. But the Creator provided the remedy in advance. And He sanctified the day beforehand. And He warned to appear before the other side. And the world exists. And that the opposite side thought to rule in the world, i.e., in defiance of it, the good side was created and strengthened on that night. And the good, holy bodies and spirits were created on that night from the good side. Therefore, the delight of sages who know this spans from Shabbat to Shabbat.

251. However, when the other (impure) side saw that what it had planned to do was already done by the holy side, it started to check its own forces and properties, and saw all those who perform a Zivug naked and in the candlelight. Therefore, all of the sons born from that Zivug are enslaved by the spirit of the other side. And these naked spirits of the wicked are called “harming,” and they are ruled and killed by Lilit.

252. And since the day was sanctified, and holiness rules in the world, the other side diminishes itself and hides on each Shabbat day and on each Shabbat night. With the exception of Asimon and his group, who walk secretly in the candlelight, to observe the naked Zivug. And then they hide inside the cave, called Tehom Raba (the great abyss). And as soon as Shabbat ends, many hosts fly and prowl in the world. As a result, everything is corrected by the song of the sufferers, “He who dwells in concealment,” to prevent impurity from governing holiness.

253. What places do they visit on the night of the end of Shabbat? When they come out in haste and wish to govern the holy nation, they see it standing in prayer and singing this song: “He who sits in the shadow (concealment) of the Supernal One,” first separating Shabbat from the weekdays in his prayer, and then over a cup of wine, these forces flee thence and fly away to the desert. May the Merciful One save us from them and from the evil side.

254. The three that cause evil to themselves: a) he who curses himself; b) he who throws away bread or bread crumbs bigger than an olive; c) he who lights the candle at the end of Shabbat before Israel attains sanctity in the prayer, “And You are holy.” And the light from that candle ignites hellfire.

255. There is a place in hell (the sensation of uncorrected desires, shame before the Creator) for those who transgress Shabbat (the ascent towards complete correction). And as they (those who feel that they are wicked) are punished in hell (separation from the Creator), they curse him who lit the candle before its time, and they say to him, “Behold: the Creator will thrust you about with a mighty throw, and He will seize you firmly. He will violently roll and toss you like a ball into a large land; there shall you die (be corrected against your will).”

256. For he should not light the candle at the end of Shabbat before Israel separates Shabbat from the weekdays in their prayer and over a cup of wine, as until that time, it is still Shabbat, and the sanctity of Shabbat still rules over us. And during the separation by means of blessing over a cup, all those hosts and legions that the rulers appointed to govern the weekdays return each to their place to resume the work for which they are responsible.

257. As soon as Shabbat starts and the day is sanctified, holiness awakens and rules over the world; the power of weekdays disappears and returns only when Shabbat ends. However, although Shabbat is over, other forces do not regain their power until Israel says the prayer, “He who separates holiness from the weekdays.” Only then does holiness disappear, and the legions that govern the weekdays awaken and return to their places, each to its above-appointed post.

258. Nevertheless, the impure forces do not assume control until the flame of the candle is lit, for they all come from the root (element) of fire, from which everything originates, and they descend to rule over the lower world. All this happens if one lights the candle before Israel has finished the blessing in the prayer.

259. Yet, if he waits until they complete the blessing, the wicked in hell justify the Creator’s justice over them, and they bring upon him all the blessings, recited by the congregation: “Therefore, the Creator gives you of the dew of Heaven,” “Blessed shall you be in your town,” and “Blessed shall you be in the field.”

260. “Blessed is he who considers the poor (who has attained the futility of trying to correct oneself on his own); the Creator will deliver him in the day of disaster.” What do the words “in the day of disaster” mean? This refers to the day when evil gains power and wants to take his soul away from him. The word “poor” alludes to someone very sick. “He who considers” refers to one who realizes the need to be cured from transgressions before the Creator. Another explanation is that this is the Day of Judgment in the world. “He who considers” signifies one who knows how to save himself from it, as it is written: “The Creator will deliver him in the day of disaster,” meaning that on the day when the judgment against man dominates the world, the Creator will deliver him.

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When I speak to economists about the crisis, I find that they and I are interested in different things. They are not interested in the cause of the crisis, and are willing to accept my explanation of it. What interests them is the evolution of the crisis, and what needs to be done here and now – by a bank or a family.

For now, my propositions that what needs to be corrected are the relationships between everyone – both organizations and people around the world, sound naïve to them, because they do not yet see the cause of the crisis – the lack of kind connections between people. These connections must come from the understanding that we are all part of one organism, and we can cure this organism only by mutually caring for all of its parts. That is the only way to solve this global problem and all the crises that are gradually becoming revealed in humanity today. They are being revealed because our egoistic development has brought us to the point where we are all united within a single organism.

With regard to the global crisis, the process has begun, but this is just the beginning. There is a lot to say about it, and we will talk about it much more in the future – its causes, progress, purpose, and possibilities of softening it – “the path of Light” that Kabbalah offers instead of “the path of suffering.”

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A riddle about a wolf, a goat and a cabbage: how do you get them across a river on a boat, without any of them eating each other?

The boat is very small and can only carry one object at a time: either the wolf, the goat, or the cabbage. If you take the wolf, then you will have to leave the goat on shore alone with the cabbage, and the goat will eat the cabbage. And so on.

Due to the primitive egoism of the animals, this simple situation turns into a non-trivial problem for a person with strategic thinking. It seems like such a simple riddle, but you need so much time and energy in order to resolve it!

This is a wonderful illustration of how the modern civilization is built. The simplest problem in our world becomes a difficult riddle due to the same principle. For example, you need to transport something from one place to another. It seems very simple – let’s take a truck and transport it. But what if it’s money, gold or diamonds? Then you need an additional twenty people for security, special buildings, an armored car, weapons and advanced technology. This shows that all the connections inside the meta-system called “human society” are extremely inefficient. 99% of our efforts are spent on the friction inside the mechanism! The system resists any altruistic action inside of it.

Caravans with food for dying people are robbed. Money intended for the poorest countries is stolen on the way there, and so on.

Nonetheless, until recently even the remaining 1% was enough for humanity to keep developing. However, now we see that our civilization is on the verge of extinction. The entire multi-millennial structure has exhausted its margin of reserves and is ready to fall apart like a house of cards.

We’ve got a funny situation here: scientists from the entire world are working to create a car engine, a light bulb, and other products that will be more economic. But what are they doing it for, really? It is all done for the same reason – to satisfy people’s growing egoism. We can’t force people to drive less, so let’s at least give them a more economic engine.

Now imagine that we could slightly change a person’s consciousness and expand his conception of the world’s structure and his place in the universe. Then every person who needs to drive somewhere will ask himself, “How can I do this more economically? Perhaps I can take other people in the car with me, or take a bus?” He won’t think about saving on his personal gasoline, but about saving the global oil reserves that are shared by all humanity.

And it will be this way everywhere! Humanity has a tenfold margin of reserves across all parameters: fuel, food, health, and so on. However, fuel is being used up for pointless trips, almost nothing is being grown in the fields because it’s unprofitable under the free market economy; people are ill and dying because they kill each other using every available means, from thoughts to atomic bombs…

The term “System Crisis,” which is so popular today, means that the crisis is not really about oil or food production or demography. It is a crisis of our perception of who we are and what world we are living in. So let’s start by becoming aware of these vital issues. Then the difficult trip with the wolf, the goat and the cabbage will turn into an easy and pleasant journey!

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A question I received: Strange things have been happening around me over the last several years. The people I really looked up to before are now hitting rock bottom in life, or doing things that go beyond any accepted social norms. I used to be very driven, but now I’ve lost all desire to prove anything to others.

I have this feeling that all the people whom I used to know well and looked up to, are not who they were. I am rude to my relatives, and constantly feel ashamed of it because I love them. I feel annoyed at the elderly, repulsed by people’s faces, and I hate my own body.

I’ve been studying Kabbalah for seven years and watch the lessons every day. It is very burdensome for me to attend Congresses and group meals, but watching the lessons over the Internet is a delight. I feel like I really want to avoid seeing people in person. Is this normal?

My Answer: Everyone has their own speed and stages of development. If you study systematically and work on dissemination during your free time, then you can be sure that every state will pass. You will work through it, and then the new stage will come. They will keep alternating like this all the way until the full correction.

However, the rate at which they alternate depends on your efforts, and this constitutes your only influence on your entire path to the Creator. If your development is happening at a natural speed, then you experience pressure (suffering), which forces you to change. However, if you stay ahead of nature’s (the Creator’s) pressure by aspiring on your own, then you won’t experience suffering, but on the contrary, will feel joy and inspiration. The choice is yours!

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Help Share Kabbalah

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News Report (translated from CNews.ru): A group of Oxford based researchers has submitted a paper to Physical Review Letters (one of the world’s most prestigious physics journals) seeking to explain the observed dynamics of the Universe. It proposes that we are inside a special, unique location in the Universe where matter’s density is abnormally low and is atypical for the Universe as a whole. This theory, called Geocentrism, supposes that we are located in the center of the Universe.

The alternative point of view is the Copernican principle, which postulates that the Universe is uniform and does not have a special place for the Earth or the Solar System. This is the principle that the current scientific theories are based upon. However, it is unable to explain the modern scientific conception of the world.

My Comment: According to the science of Kabbalah (part 16 of the Talmud Eser Sefirot), our world is the last degree of the lowest spiritual world, the World of Assiya. It is located in the center of all the worlds, and in the center of our world lies the Solar System, and in its center lies the planet Earth. At the Earth’s center lies Israel, at its center – Jerusalem, at its center – Mount Moriah, then the Temple, and finally – the Holy of Holies (a room with special relics). All of this reflects the influence and proportions of the spiritual forces.

Modern science is nearing its end, the ceiling of its qualitative development. It’s already discovering a barrier that it cannot cross, and hence it is adjusting its theories to match what Kabbalah has been saying for millennia. In Part 1 of “The Tree of Life,” Kabbalist the Ari writes that our world of matter is inside all the spheres of the spiritual force field:

And when upon His simple will,
Came the desire to create the world and emanate the emanations,
To bring to light the perfection of His deeds, His names, His appellations,
Which was the cause of the creation of the worlds,
He then restricted Himself, in the middle,
Precisely in the center,
He restricted the Light.
And the Light drew far off to the sides around that middle point.
And there remained an empty space, a vacuum
Circling the middle point.
And the restriction had been uniform
Around the empty point,
So that the space
Was evenly circled around it.
There, after the restriction,
Having formed a vacuum and a space
Precisely in the middle of the endless light,
A place was formed,
Where the emanated and the created might reside.

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A question I received: I thought that all the terms in Kabbalah, such as Goy (gentile), the nations of the world, Israel, and Jew, are states that every person must experience. It’s sad that all of your answers are always two-sided. From this explanation it follows that Adam HaRishon is not a common state, but only for genetic Jews, because they have already been there, while the “gentiles” haven’t even had a slight taste of it. But then why are they in a state of descent?

My Answer: You should look at everything objectively, like a researcher. Then you’ll be closer to the truth. All the terms exist both on the corporeal and the spiritual levels. Every person must experience every state.

Those who have gone through the spiritual ascent and descent in the past are the genetic Jews, starting with Abraham, the first Kabbalist. (We don’t consider anyone before him since there was no system, even though everything started with Adam.) These people (souls) must be the first to go through the correction, because they broke during the First and the Second Temples. They must then pass the method on to everyone else.

On the corporeal level, they are hated and abused for neglecting this mission. Incidentally, the Hebrew word Goy (gentile) means a nation. Israel is also referred to as “Goy,” but “Goy Kadosh” – a holy nation, provided that it is in the quality of love and bestowal.

Adam is the common soul of all people. A part of Adam – the souls of Abraham’s students, underwent spiritual ascent and breaking. Another part of the souls, the Goyim (gentiles) never ascended or broke. The broken souls are worse than those that didn’t break, but they also have a greater predisposition toward correction because they contain the broken spiritual desires. This is why they are obligated to become “Ohr Le Goim” – the Light for the nations of the world, who don’t contain the broken desires.

Being “chosen” means being responsible for mastering the method of correction and passing it on to the entire world, or in other words – spiritually serving the world.

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A question I received: It’s written that the villain Bilam was a great prophet, like Moses. I understand that this is describing the desires that become revealed in a person, and Light cannot be revealed in uncorrected desires. But why is the most uncorrected desire, Bilam, not only able to reveal the Light, but even the level of a prophet? How could Bilam reach the level of prophecy while being in such an uncorrected state?

My Answer: It is written that Pharaoh knows the Creator, and that the villain Lavan embodies the complete Upper Light. Similar things are written about many other “evil” characters. The Torah talks about the spiritual roots of characters in our world, rather than their earthly manifestations. When you look at the root of their souls from the spiritual level, then you define who they are, even though in our world these characters play their roles unknowingly.

Pharaoh is equal and opposite to the Creator. This is similar to how there are four pure worlds of ABYA (worlds of the good forces of bestowal), and opposite them there are four impure worlds of ABYA (worlds of evil forces of reception). These two systems are opposite, parallel, and equal to each other in order to sustain the conditions of freedom of will for the souls.

The souls are equally influenced by both, and their choice lies in choosing the right environment in order to receive additional forces so as to prefer the right side – the good, bestowing side. It is written that at every moment one should see oneself as half-sinner and half-righteous, and the only way to tip the balance is by being impressed by the group. This is why it is so important for us to create the most complete virtual influence of the Bnei Baruch group on everyone who desires it.

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The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Tenth Commandment” (abridged)

237. The tenth Commandment (law of nature) is to put on Tefillin (correct one’s egoism) and thereby to attain equivalence with the Creator, as it is written, THE CREATOR CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE. He opened (the way for the Light of Rashbi) and said (passed it on to his students), “Your head upon you is like the Carmel.” This text refers to the Supernal head – the Tefillin worn on the head of the Holy, Supernal King HaVaYaH (the governing force), written in separate letters (specific actions). Each letter (action) in the holy name (program) HaVaYaH corresponds to a certain paragraph in the Tefillin (a certain correction). Thus, the Holy, Supernal Name (the Creator’s quality) is written in the scrolls of Tefillin, in the secrets of the letters (is revealed through the correction). For THE NAME OF THE CREATOR IS UPON YOU, AND THEY SHALL BE AFRAID OF YOU (your enemies are your uncorrected desires) refers to the head Tefillin, which contains the Holy Name HaVaYaH.

238. The first passage in the Tefillin corresponds to the letter Yod of the name HaVaYaH (Hochma) and refers to the Commandment, “Sanctify to Me all the firstborns.” This is because Hochma is the firstborn (the first correction) of all the Supernal Ones (qualities). It opens the place of conception for the future firstborn with the help of a thin line of Light that emanates from Yod, which opens the womb (Bina) and impregnates it.

239. The second passage (correction) in the Tefillin (equivalence to the Creator), WHEN YOU COME, corresponds to the first letter Hey of the name HaVaYaH, the hall (Bina) that opens up under the influence of the letter Yod (Aba) in fifty entrances, passages, and chambers concealed within it. The revelation that Yod made in that hall was done so as to hear the voice of the Shofar (a ram’s horn), Bina. The Shofar is closed on all sides, but the letter Yod came and opened it so that its sound could be heard. And since it opened the Shofar and derived sound from it, Yod led all to freedom.

240. At the sounds of the Shofar, the sons of Israel were delivered from Egypt. And so shall the Shofar be blown in the future, the next time at the end of days. And all deliverance originates from this Shofar, which is Bina. This is why the deliverance from Egypt is mentioned in this chapter of the Torah, for this Shofar stems from the force of the letter Yod, which opens the womb and delivers the captives to freedom. And this is the letter Hey, the second letter of the name HaVaYaH.

241. The third passage in the Tefillin is the secret of the Unity in “Hear O Israel,” the letter Vav in HaVaYaH, which includes all and designates ZA, who contains the unity of all. Everything merges in unity within him, and he receives all. The fourth passage that reads, “You shall hear,” includes two sides, Hesed and Gevura, which unite with the Assembly of Israel, called the lower Gevura or Malchut. And this is the last letter Hey of the name HaVaYaH, which takes and includes them all.

242. Tefillin are the letters of the holy name. Therefore, “Your head upon you is like the Carmel” refers to the head Tefillin. The letter Dalet refers to the hand Tefillin, Malchut, who is depleted of Light, compared to the head Tefillin, ZA, but she contains the perfection of the Upper One.

The hand Tefillin designates Malchut. And she is poor in comparison with Bina, the Upper World. Yet, she has her own perfection, for she now receives it from Bina thanks to the unity between Nukva and ZA in “Blessed be His great name for ever and ever.”

243. “The King is held captive in the tubs” means that he is tied down and held in those four compartments of the Tefillin for the purpose of being properly united with that holy name. And he who makes this correction, exists in image and likeness, TZELEM, with the Creator. Just as the holy name is united in the Creator, the holy name is united in him. “Male and female he created them” refers to the head and the hand Tefillin. And it is one.

“The King is held captive in the tubs” signifies ZA, who is bound and unified in those compartments of the Tefillin. The compartments of the Tefillin, which contain the passages from the Torah, are called “tubs” or “troughs,” just like the tubs from which sheep drink water, for the waters of Ohr Hochma and Ohr Hassadim are bound and restricted by these Kelim, the compartments of the Tefillin. And it is the Creator who is bound tight and held in these Kelim, so as to be unified in the holy name.

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