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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A question I received: If I watch recorded Congress lessons, then do I lose the Zivug de Haka’a that Kabbalists experience at a Congress or when watching a live broadcast?

My Answer: You don’t lose anything because everything we perceive exists like the frames of a motion picture, and we retrieve these frames and play them back. Either these frames already took place, and we only reveal them, each in his own time; or we reveal them for the first time, for example, when we gather at a Congress.

However, all of this already exists in Malchut, and we only bring about the frames’ projection in us through our positive efforts.

When we evoke the frames ourselves, then we perceive them positively, because our egoism works together with the Creator, for our benefit and in a pleasant form. However, if we don’t retrieve the motion picture frames, then they become projected forcefully – forcing us to make actions, even unpleasant ones.

So, retrieve the frames by yourselves, and participate in that which is already revealed as well as that which we are yet to reveal!

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Two questions I received on love:

Question: You often say that one’s relationship with the Creator should be similar to how a groom courts a bride, how she conceals herself, and so on. In addition, you have said that in the past women were bought for money, and it was enough to meet someone just once before getting married to them. But where is passion and tension in this?

My Answer: There is no need for love on the corporeal level, because it is created later through mutual compromise and habit. However, passion and tension are necessary in one’s relationship with the Creator because these feelings are higher – contrary to egoism. For example, it can be compared to a dramatic love story where the lovers (man and the Creator) aspire toward each other (through bestowal), against the desires of the whole world (against all their egoistic desires) – and this creates passion and tension.

Question: In a TV show you were asked, “What is love?” and you said, “It is the fundamental quality of the universe, mutual bestowal that permeates all levels of nature, except man. We are left to our own devices, and we do everything in the world except this.” However, you also say that man doesn’t have freedom of action and everything is determined by the Creator.

My Answer: This is how things were initially determined by the Creator: All nature in our world is egoistic due to man’s egoistic downfall, and the correction of all of nature depends only on man. To the degree man corrects his inanimate, vegetative, and animate desires, he also corrects the external inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels of nature.

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News Report (from Project Syndicate): The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon stated, “We all recognize today’s perils: a global financial crisis, a global energy crisis, a global food crisis. … Climate change ever more clearly threatens our planet. …today, we also face a crisis of a different sort – the challenge of global leadership. Nations can no longer protect their interests, or advance the well-being of their people, without the partnership of the rest. Yet I see a danger of nations looking inward rather than toward a shared future. I see a danger of retreating from the progress we have made, particularly in the realm of economic development and fairness in sharing the fruits of global growth.

My Comment: Even if everyone will understand that the source of all the world’s crises, including the climate crisis, is human egoism and its negative influence on Nature, they still won’t find the remedy for the progressing General Crisis. They will not understand how to change man’s nature, and that’s because this is impossible to do in our world, whose entire nature is egoism.

There is a law that states “The general and the particular are equal” (Klal U Prat Shavim). Just like a regular person is brought to Kabbalah by suffering and the question, “What is the meaning of my life?”, so humanity as a whole will be compelled by suffering and crises to come to the question about the meaning of its own existence, which is not wealth, power, fame or knowledge. Then it will find the answer to this question – that the meaning of life is to reveal the Creator.

That is when humanity will reveal the science of Kabbalah, the means to attain this. By definition the science of Kabbalah is “The method of revealing the Creator to the people in this world,” as Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.”

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Questions I received on relationships:

Question: What does a man look for in a woman?

My Answer: “Consolation” (fulfillment), as it says in the Torah (Beresheet 3:23): “Because she comes from me.”

Question: Should she be pretty and quiet, or should she just be herself?

My Answer: She should have everything necessary to complete “Adam.”

Question: In one of your articles you recommend your regular students to dedicate fifteen minutes a day to their wives. Is this so, and if yes, then what is the reason for it?

My Answer: Kabbalah obligates people to dedicate a specific amount of time and attention to their spouses. People today are busier than ever before, and hence we’ve set a rule in the group that besides taking care of the home and children, spouses have to sit down together and calmly talk for at least fifteen minutes a day.

What about you, are you able to speak with your husband calmly and on a daily basis? Does this ever happen?

Question: I got divorced two months ago. In a TV show you said that you are against divorce. I did everything to prevent it, but I’ve read some books and I know that Kabbalah says that sometimes people get married and have children, but their union is not “meant to be.” People get divorced and then find their proper match, someone who’s meant for them. Is this true?

My Answer: Kabbalah does not forbid divorce, especially in cases when one’s married life prevents one from attaining the purpose of one’s life in this world – the goal of creation. However, in other cases, it’s usually best to avoid getting a divorce.

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Two questions I received from beginners:

Question: I feel alienated from my material environment. I feel like everyone around me, even my close friends, are doing things that don’t matter. It’s difficult for me to have any contact with them because I view everything from the standpoint of the purpose of life. I feel like I don’t have any of the desires of normal society: I am not interested in money, sex, or honor. What is going on with me?

My Answer: You are still searching for yourself, your path and your goal. If you have tried to be like everyone else and couldn’t, then you are meant for spiritual development. Devote all your energy to it, and you’ll discover a treasure!

Question: Is it scary or dangerous to read Kabbalah texts if you don’t understand them?

My Answer: My advice to you is: If you are scared, then don’t read them! The people who study Kabbalah are those who need to understand what is the purpose of their lives, and at that point they are no longer scared of anything – they simply need this.

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Three questions I received on ritual observance and Kabbalah:

Question: To my regret, I was raised in a family that observed the Jewish traditions, and I even studied in a Yeshiva. Now I am completely secular, do not observe the traditions, and feel perfectly satisfied with this. However, I feel pressure from my environment to observe the commandments at the corporeal level. Can you offer me some advice on how to deal with this and how to avoid fighting with my wife (I am married with four children)?

My Answer: If a person was raised with the traditions and believes in reward and punishment for them, then it is very difficult to quit observing the traditions. Your wife believes that by observing the earthy commandments you earn the world to come for her and her children, and that you will receive a reward and the Creator’s benevolence. This makes her feel like her life has meaning and gives her the energy to live. Don’t take this away from her! When in front of her, observe what she asks for.

Question: I have been born and raised as an Orthodox Jew. I want to study Kabbalah, but I don’t want to follow the 613 Mitzvot. It feels really burdensome having to follow so many Mitzvot. At the same time the idea of studying Kabbalah is wholly interesting to me as well as the various concepts that you espouse on your great blog. How should I think about this matter?

My Answer: Without changing anything about you or your lifestyle, study Kabbalah, alongside the rest of the earthly Torah. We do not accept Orthodox Jews or even Kipot Srugot (knitted yarmulkes) into our core group, but virtual study is your right.

Question: I came to orthodox religion and left it after I failed to find the Creator there and realized that it was the wrong path. My question is: are there such things as a supreme judge and judgment, and reward and punishment, the way the orthodox believe?

My Answer: What exists is:

1. The Creator, the Law of Nature;
2. The creature; and
3. The connection between them.

The goal of creation is to attain adhesion with the Creator. The means to attain it is by correcting the creature from “for one’s own sake” to “for the sake of Creator.” Then the Creator becomes revealed within the creature. This is what Kabbalah talks about, and this is what exists.

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Dear friends! On November 14th – 16th, the St. Louis group will be hosting a Congress to continue our exciting journey together and reveal new levels of unity!

We invite the World Kli to join us, and we extend a special invitation to our new friends in the Bnei Baruch Learning Center to come experience your first taste of the vital work that is being done.

• Click here to see photos of the congress site
• If you have any questions, write to this address

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Two questions I received on inner work:

Question: As parts of one soul, we all depend on each other whether we’re aware of it or not. But every person contains the whole world. What is the measure of the dependency between us? Should we increase it or should we see ourselves as individuals and only unite our points in the heart?

My Answer: We should only unite our points in the heart, because all our other desires are for corporeal things. By uniting our aspirations for spirituality, we create the vessel in which the Light, the Creator becomes revealed.

Question: How does the system of mutual guarantee of the World Kli become expressed in practice, at times when one is not involved in the group work (study, dissemination, congresses, and so on), but is occupied with the necessities (work, family, and so on)?

My Answer: If a person takes proper care of his spiritual advancement in his spare time, then he provides himself with support that will sustain him on the right track during the rest of the time as well. Our world formed as a result of the descent of the Upper Forces, and it completely corresponds to the thought of creation and its purpose, provided that we use it correctly. That is, if we connect the thought with the goal, or in other words, implement the goal, going from the thought to the goal.

We have been given all the conditions – the body and its short life, including all the conditions of existence such as family and the efforts we have to make to sustain the life of the body, as well as all the disturbances and developmental forces. All of this only seems corporeal to us, but in reality this is how spiritual forces present themselves to us at their minimal level. We only have to “blend” into this picture correctly and complete the “empty space” in it with our free actions. At the end of the day everything comes down to uniting our aspirations to the Creator – to bestowal or love for one’s neighbor. We try doing this and then see that we can’t. We then ask for help, and the Creator corrects us!

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If you have questions regarding the logistics of studying, paying the Maaser, and dissemination, please send them to [email protected] rather than asking them on this blog, and my secretary will relay your question to the appropriate department.

Thank you!

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