Three questions I received about virtual groups and the World Kli

Question: Soon we – the virtual group – will be hosting a Yeshivat Haverim (friends’ gathering) with the purpose of joining the common Kli. What should we aim for as the next stage of unity between our group and the world Kli?

My Answer: As the next stage of unity between your group and the world Kli, you should become maximally included into the common Kli. This way you will receive from the common Kli the realization that you are unable to attain the goal, the Creator, and in addition, the realization of the greatness of the goal that you will receive from them will give you such enormous forces to progress that even when you will be in a descent, you will feel as if you’re on a pillow of forces (Arvut, mutual guarantee). However, all this will happen only if you will really become a part of the group!

Question: How can we realize the principle of Arvut among us in the virtual group?

My Answer: The surest way to do so is to include yourselves into the common Kli and learn from them while working together on disseminating Kabbalah. Through this action, you will definitely be performing an act of bestowal, love for your neighbor, and hence you will evoke Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light), the Light of the Upper Level toward which you aspire – and it will start pulling you up to that level.

Question: How can I think about all the friends at the same time? After all, I’m only capable of concentrating on one thing at a time, but there are millions of friends around the world, and I’ve never even met most of them.

My Answer: You should be thinking about the whole group in general, about all the millions of people, about unity and the common goal, about how many people are striving towards it, and about how the Creator – who is one for everyone – is directing us to Him. Instead of envisioning people and bodies, you should envision the desires to unite together and to unite with the Creator. Imagine that these desires are together regardless of distance and quantity. You will gradually begin feeling this common desire or force more and more vividly! And this will be your Kli. It’s because inside one’s own soul, a person can only receive the initial aspiration toward the Creator, but he receives all the rest of the fulfillment within the souls or desires of his “neighbors,” whom he adds to himself through love, according to the condition “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” It turns out that this is the condition for creating the inner vessel in order to receive the Light of Infinity.

The Virtual Group will be hosting the Yeshivat Haverim this coming Sunday on Kabbalah TV, 7:00pm Israel time [Time Zone Converter].

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Two questions I received about prayer

Question: You said that the Creator is inside us and that there is nothing outside us. Then what are the influences that make a person feel awe and wonder? And if the Creator is inside us, then whom do we thank and whom do we pray to?

My Answer: We pray for ourselves, in order to change and to feel that we are givers. To pray (in Hebrew: Lehitpalel) means “to judge oneself.” We don’t do this for the Creator, but for ourselves. These are our entreaties for the quality of bestowal and love, which we call the Creator. It’s forbidden (because it’s incorrect) for us to envision Him – this property – in any form other than as this property, without an image or matter. We are filled by the Upper Force, which has no form, volume, or matter. However, we don’t feel this. We will feel it to the extent that we acquire this property. Our objective is for our desires to begin “bestowing” instead of “receiving.” When we aspire to this quality, we evoke the influence of the Upper Force on us. This force is in a static state, and only our desire to become similar to it places us under a greater influence by it.

Question: We are the will to receive, and in order for our desire to change, for us to desire to act “not for the sake of ourselves,” we have to ask the Creator to help us. But how can I tell that the Creator hears my request when I ask Him to change me? What kind of change should I be feeling?

My Answer: The changes in one’s understanding that one’s nature is evil, until one finally reaches the desire to come out of one’s nature – this “realization of evil” happens under the influence of the Creator’s Light. And then the “Action of Goodness” takes place – one’s intention during every action is changed to “love and bestowal.” The Upper Light of correction affects you to the degree that you desire to correct yourself. But you cannot develop this desire on your own; you can only get it from the outside, from people like you who aspire toward the same goal. By “buying” their desires, you will be able to evoke such powerful Upper Light onto yourself, that it will change you and make you a “giver,” and then you will immediately feel this property, that is, you will reveal the Creator!

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A question I received: In an interview you gave about men and women, you said that a woman’s soul has male components and a man’s soul has female components. Considering this and the law of “love thy neighbor as thyself,” how can you say that a woman will consent to her partner – a man – having many other women, and that she will be happy with this situation? This is illogical. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman, but I feel that I can easily put myself into a man’s shoes, and I know that if I were a man, I wouldn’t have other partners just like I don’t have them now, being a woman, because this would harm the soul of another person.

My Answer: Male and female properties are incorporated in each other from the beginning, back in the root of creation. This incorporation exists because the property “to receive” cannot exist without including the property “to bestow” – the desire (Kli) cannot exist without the Light (pleasure), which creates and nourishes it, and determines its existence. On the other hand, even though the property of bestowal and Light seems to exist before the creation of desire, in any case, this is just our hypothetical way of describing it, because there is no pleasure without desire, no Light without a vessel. The abstract form only appears after the form embodied in matter manifests, and we can then visualize the form as existing without matter.

In ancient civilizations, polygamy was a normal occurrence, and acquiring a woman for money, through a contract with her father, was always popular, and this took place among ancient Jews as well. The Talmud says that a woman is acquired for money or through coitus. She is acquired, purchased. As you see, it doesn’t speak anywhere about love! Polygamy is manifested at the basis of the nature of the human society. You aren’t being objective about this because you’re a prisoner of the European culture you’re living in.

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A question I received: Why is He concealed? Sometimes this game of “hide and seek” brings me to despair… I’m trying with all my strength to advance toward the quality of bestowal and the revelation of the Creator, but my earthly life really interferes and makes me curse a lot. How can I accept the fact that everything that’s coming from above helps me get closer to the Creator, if He keeps sending me endless blows? I know that He’s doing this out of love, but it pushes me away instead of attracting me. I’m sick and tired of all these games and lies already! Who can I appeal to if He’s the one setting all of this up for me?

My Answer: There’s no one to appeal to, other than the force (Light) that can correct you if you want it to. This force exists in nature and it will influence you to the degree that you will aspire to change from a “receiver” to a “giver.” Moreover, there’s no one to curse at. It’s all nature! The force that can change you can be found only in Kabbalah studies (study in a group and dissemination), using the books of Baal HaSulam. This force is called Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light). So aspire to it!

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Two questions I received about the soul

Question: You say that there are only 600,000 souls, or in other words, 600,000 fragments of the soul of Adam. But today there are 6.7 billion people in the world. Does this mean that over six billion people don’t have a soul? I hope you can clear this up for me.

My Answer: 600,000 is the number of initial fragments, but after that they are fragmented again into whatever number is necessary for the optimal correction in each generation – so that each fragment will have as much egoism as it’s able to correct. Therefore, to the degree that egoism grows, the world’s population grows as well.

Question: As I understand it, the higher a soul was in the spiritual world, the lower it fell after the breaking. So whatever seems to us as being the lowest will become the highest after correction. If this assumption is correct, does it mean that the people who hate Kabbalah now will become the highest souls after correction?

My Answer: No, since this doesn’t indicate that their souls fell to a very low level, but it only indicates people’s opinions, which they were taught from childhood (Girsa de Yankuta). These people don’t have souls at all yet. The soul emerges from the point in the heart (the desire for spirituality) and develops from it only under the influence of the Upper Light, which shines upon a person only during Kabbalah studies, and in our generation only while studying the works of Baal HaSulam and Rabash. You can’t tell anything about one’s soul by looking at external expressions of one’s thoughts, desires and actions. Those people do not have a soul yet. It is concealed from you, since you – the observer – aren’t able to “see” the spiritual structures. You should therefore relate to everyone equally, seeing them as people who are being controlled and who need help in becoming spiritually independent.

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Questions I received on life in the Upper Worlds

Question: What is “heaven” from Kabbalah’s point of view?

My Answer: Heaven is the Light of Hochma. The “Garden” is Malchut. Malchut filled with the Light of Hochma is called the Garden of Eden. In this state Malchut is the Malchut of the World of Atzilut for the souls.

In other words, the Garden of Eden refers to a place (or a state) where the souls are filled with the Light of Hochma. Stated simply, the Garden of Eden is Malchut of the World of Atzilut. The Upper Garden of Eden is Bina of the World of Beria, and the Lower Garden of Eden is Yesod de Malchut of the World of Assiya. Of course, this bears no relation to people’s regular notions about heaven and its inhabitants. In spirituality there is no space, images, sounds and etc., but only forces unclothed by matter. The soul is a desire. To the degree that it’s equivalent to the Creator, to the quality of bestowal and love, it becomes filled with the sensation of the Creator, the sensation of this quality within itself. This sensation is called “heaven,” and there’s no heaven besides it.

Question: Does a person use the system of ABYA de Kedusha even before the Machsom?

My Answer: This system only starts after the Machsom. See the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar” where it speaks about the attainment of Malchut de Assiya.

Question: After the breaking of the vessels (Shevirat ha Kelim) in the World of Nekudim, how did the Parsa reinforce itself to avoid breaking again?

My Answer: In order to receive the Light, it’s necessary to ascend from BYA to Atzilut – this is one of the Parsa’s reinforcements.

Question: Why is Ein Sof (Infinity) surrounded by Igulim (circles)?

My Answer: Because everyone is equal and there are no limitations.

Question: In Kabbalah, are there things like the devil and other evil forces, or are these just metaphors for egoism?

My Answer: The only thing that was created is desire. Its different, particular forms have different names. My sensations of myself and of my surroundings are also desires or forces, but we perceive them as vectors on a TV screen, as pictures. In reality, the only things that exist are the force of reception (creation) and the force of bestowal (the Creator). They depict the entire picture we see. When we attain these forces, we are immediately freed from the illusion of the visible picture of the world, and therefore, Kabbalah describes our world as being imaginary and dreamlike.

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Two questions I received on bestowing upon one’s neighbor

Question: I’ ve been studying with you, and I just don’t have the words to express my gratitude. It’s as if you take each of us by the hand and lead us to realize where we are. With your help, I’ve merited attaining a small but unmistakable glow, and working together with you.

I’d like to ask you the following: Suppose that I receive for the sake of bestowal, and the more I enjoy, the more I bestow. Or in other words, the more Light I reveal with the intention, the more I bestow. If I want to pass the Light on to my neighbor, and the Light has to go through me, through the Guf of my Partzuf, to my neighbor, so that more Light will be revealed in him than in me, then in order for this to happen, do I have to reveal more Light in the Guf of my Partzuf, or can it also happen without me revealing it, since I don’t want anything for myself except correction?

My Answer: Everything will happen automatically if you will think (and accordingly act) about everyone’s connection together into one Partzuf, and you desire and act for it to be filled, like the Creator. In this case, this Partzuf becomes filled with Light. And then you’ll perceive not only the Light of fulfillment, but also the pleasure of those whom you have fulfilled. The latter is a different kind of Light. It’s like a mother who perceives her children’s fulfillment, rather than what she fulfills them with. However, the Light that you pass to them also fulfills you, as it is written: “Every person who asks for his neighbor, receives first.”

Question: Suppose that a person has started perceiving the influence of the Upper Light and how to bring his neighbor to the same perception using the simplest words and notions – is this possible? If yes, then wouldn’t he be stealing his neighbor’s individual attainment? After all, he’s making the task easier for him, since the main thing is to start perceiving?

My Answer: It is written in the Torah: “Go and earn from one another” – all of us together need to adapt the harmony of the common mechanism of Adam, the common soul. By oneself, a person can never attain even a single spiritual state. It’s because, in essence, all of them are an even greater connection between the souls, the restoration of our breaking of the single soul of Adam into billions of pieces or souls. And everything has been prepared for you by the Kabbalists and by your friends. You’ve arrived when everything has already been prepared for you. Maybe you don’t feel it, but the entire world has been prepared for you by all the previous generations, and then you appeared in it as a baby. It is written: “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and this is how you should act, in order to help others in the same way that you want to be helped. However, you shouldn’t do this coercively, but the way you would treat a child – show them the sources, introduce them to the foundations, and then leave it to them to understand themselves, their path, and Kabbalah.

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Two questions and answers on the issue of questions and answers

Question: What’s the point of listening to someone else ask you a question? And in general, what’s the point of questions?

My Answer: It is written that “a shy person cannot study.” One has to ask questions, but at the same time one should heed the answers and delve deeper into them, until they become absolutely clear, that is, until they enter you. When you listen to your friend, you unite with him in his desire for the goal, and this is important for uniting within the group. I mean, your desire on its own is never enough to attain the goal, for the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light) to evoke a new intention “for the sake of another” in your desire. It was only for the sake of such unity with others that the worlds appeared, that the soul of Adam was created and then broken, and that this world was created so low. This was all done in order to create for the person a place for free will. Therefore, the only thing we do is realize our free will in our attempt to absorb the desires and goal of our friends in the entire world group.

In such a way, humanity will have to solve its common crisis, i.e. the revelation of mutual hatred and separation. People will discover that this mutual hatred and separation is causing a life threatening situation, to the point of the destruction of their lives. Even though their life is empty and worthless, they treat it as being very valuable since it is the only life they have, and as such, people will start listening to questions – to the desires of others – until everyone will unite in one question (as stated in item 2 of the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot“): “What is the meaning of our lives?” They will then come to Kabbalah.

Question: You often say that spirituality is beyond time, motion and space. What do you mean?

My Answer: You need to find the answer in Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 1 “Histaklut Pnimit (Inner Reflection).” You can’t get around it – you have to study. Those who are looking for an easy way out by asking questions don’t understand that only by studying Baal HaSulam’s materials (in any language) can they evoke the Upper Light of correction. Questions and answers are only intended to introduce beginners to the path. At the very least, you should go through all the posts on this blog. Perhaps, for now, this form of studying is most appropriate for you.

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Questions I received on descents in the spiritual path

Question: “There isn’t a righteous man who hasn’t sinned.” What happens between the levels, when one is in a descent and everything one had attained – the Light and the Creator – falls into the Klipot? How can one live with this difficult feeling?

My Answer: As Baal HaSulam writes in the book Pri Hacham (Letters), one needs to be happy about a descent, because it is the revelation of your uncorrected properties.
And if the evil is being revealed in you, this means that you already have the strength, the understanding, and the ability to correct such properties and rise above them to the next degree. Therefore, there’s no reason to feel down even during the greatest descent! The greatest punishment is for you to become disconnected from the Creator in your thoughts and sensations.

Question: On the spiritual path, how can I overcome the state when I feel lack of energy? You know what your purpose in the world is, and you try to connect what’s happening to the Creator, but you still don’t have energy to do anything, you can’t cope with the corporeal world and you simply can’t do anything at all, like you’re trying to disappear and not feel anything…

My Answer: There are many states like this and they are very diverse. It’s in our power to accelerate the speed at which we go through them, but it is impossible to cancel them, and you shouldn’t ever think that they are unnecessary. They are all inside you and have to manifest, and you must justify their manifestation and rise above them. How? You should realize that everything you perceive comes from the Creator, because “there is none else besides Him.” And everything is done for your own good, because “The Creator is good and does good.” The best way to practically, correctly and quickly incorporate this within you is to participate in the group and disseminate.

Question: I have different problems, and I don’t know whether they are psychological or a consequence of studying Kabbalah. What would you advise me to do?

My Answer: If people have psychological problems (mental illnesses), then usually they aren’t allowed to study Kabbalah, or they may study under a doctor’s supervision and a special attitude from us. But if you are mentally healthy, then the only thing that can help you is to increase your studies. It’s because every ascent is preceded by a descent, and you shouldn’t miss the descent, but ascend through it, with an effort, elevating the greatness of the goal and the certainty that the Light of studying will elevate you.

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A question I received: Lately there’s been a dramatic rise in domestic violence in my country. Every day women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends, and it seems that men hate women. My colleague’s daughter was murdered by a man whom she dated for just two months. This happened after she decided to break up with him. In comparison, it’s very rare for women to murder men. Why is this violence toward women happening?

My Answer: From the beginning, a man feels that a woman is inferior to him. This feeling is enrooted in him by nature. Allegorically speaking, we can understand this from the story about the downfall of sin: from the spiritual root, the woman’s correction depends on the male part of the Kli, and this is reflected in our world as our sensations and the woman’s dependence and need for help to give birth and raise her children – even though this is accredited to the husband. The only thing that can correct this relationship in our world is the realization that in order to advance toward the Creator, they have to be partners, and moreover, the woman’s help and desire have an enormous role, which makes the women necessary, valuable, and indispensable for men who desire to reveal the Light.

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