A question I received: In the Book of Dvarim it says: “And there was no other prophet in Israel like Moshe.” And the Midrash responds to this: “There are none in Israel, but he can be found amongst the nations of the world. So who is he? He is Bilam.” Does this mean that Bilam was on the same level as Moshe? If Bilam was a prophet, then he perceived the Creator. But how can this be, if Bilam was the epitome of the will to receive for one’s own sake? He was so absorbed with corporeality that the sages even said that he slept with his female donkey – in other words, he didn’t have any desire to bestow. However, we say that in order to reveal the Creator, one has to acquire a screen (Masach), which is the desire to bestow. Then how was Bilam able to reveal the Creator?

My Answer: We are speaking about the forces of the Creator that descend on us from above – a positive force, the right force, and a negative force, the left force. Klipot are produced by the left force of the Creator, and they are an inverse reflection of Him. This is why the Pharaoh knows the Creator, and even his magi know Him. For example, they say, “This matter is in God’s hands,” and so on. In other words, we are dealing with opposite forces – positive and negative, which descend from one Source, and our objective is to connect them correctly inside us. And by connecting them inside us, we attain the Creator’s Design.

Related Material:
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A question I received: I understand that the period of correction begins when we cross the Machsom, but there is something that leaves me restless and I do not understood well: Once the Machsom is crossed, the things that happen to us in this world continue happening, but the form of seeing them is one of having enough intelligence to understand what happens to us and to use that to enlarge the vessel and to fill it. Now, based on the above-mentioned, my question is: Is faith above reason necessary to cross the Machsom, or will this be given when one has the complete Masach? And can a person tell whether he has the Neshama?

My Answer: Faith above reason is what we attain after the Machsom. Before it we’re just trying to understand what is faith and to attain it. Before the Machsom , we try to attain faith above reason (the revelation of the Creator, a perception of Him, of the quality of bestowal and love inside us – above our entire egoism). We desire to rise above all the obstacles to the oneness of the Creator and His good governance!

But the fulfillment of this desire takes place after the Machsom, when it is filled by the Light of bestowal on the level of Nefesh, then Ruach, and so on, until we fully attain the quality of faith above reason – the quality of Bina.

And after this, there is another degree – not ascent above egoism, but usage of egoism, or the correction of egoism to bestowal – when we receive into our desire for the sake of bestowal.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Faith Above Reason – Before and After the Machsom
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah’s Definition of Faith Compared to a Common Understanding of Faith
Chapter 1.10 from The Path of Kabbalah: Faith Above Reason
Purchase the Book: The Path of Kabbalah

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