Two questions I received on evolution and history:

Question: If we were monkeys in the past then who created the monkeys? I’m not sure what to believe in, evolution or religion?

My Answer: Kabbalah says that development in our world does not occur by natural selection, where forces and qualities of “the fittest” are chosen, but rather by the sequential emergence of Reshimot in us. Reshimot is information about the souls’ descent from above downwards – from the World of Infinity to our world. This informational data formed in us as a result of creation’s descent from the World of Infinity to our world, and hence it is built into us as a spiral of data about each degree of descent.

Today we (as well as everything that exists in general) feel the manifestation of this data (Reshimot) inside us about these degrees (from below upwards), and we have to realize them. We can realize the Reshimot in two ways – either through the path of Light or the path of suffering. The path of Light is when we study Kabbalah in order to learn about our future degrees, and we thereby draw the Correcting Light, Ohr Makif. The path of suffering is when we don’t study the structure of the system and don’t draw the Light from the next degree, but only feel the pressure of the following Reshimo that demands to be realized.

Hence, there is no evolution, but only a gradual expression of data that’s already known in advance. Everything is known ahead of time, other than the method of ascending the degrees – whether it will happen consciously (quickly and pleasantly) or forcefully (slowly and painfully). It’s like a film strip where all the future frames already exist, but they gradually appear before the viewer.

Therefore, both Darwin and religion are incorrect.

Question: Do you believe that history can repeat itself? And do you think that people have the right to call their methods using their own names, or should they explain them anonymously?

My Answer: History does not repeat itself. The history that unfolds before our eyes is Reshimot (informational data) that become expressed sequentially (step by step).

In reference to your second question – I don’t care whether people have the right to do something or not; I only care whether their method is a science. If it isn’t a science that’s based on facts, according to the principle “The judge knows no more than what his eyes see,” then I will not take it into consideration. In our times, all “sciences” and “methods” will be tested for authenticity, and to the degree they are authentic, they will become part of Kabbalah.

Today this revolution in our consciousness is not evident yet, because Kabbalah is still concealed. But when Kabbalah will become revealed, then scientists will be amazed at the possibility of “pure” experiment – one that’s not obscured by the egoistic mind. They will then discard everything that is not related to clear attainment of the world, according to a principle that’s explained in The Book of Zohar: One can only attain the material and its form, but not the abstract form and the essence (see the article “Preface to the Book of Zohar”).

As for how a method should be named, this doesn’t matter at all. We either name it according to our egoistic demands, or according to the necessity of scientific notation and definition.
[1727]
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Three questions I received on dissemination:

Question: Maybe we should open a Kabbalah group on Facebook? It could be a good way to answer people’s questions.

My Answer: We encourage all of your ideas. Get in touch with us in order to coordinate your dissemination work with us. This will help you advance faster. We look forward to hearing from you and good luck!

Question: I live in a non-religious neighborhood that publishes a monthly digest where I can publish articles. I would like to publish your articles and articles by Baal HaSulam. What materials are best to publish in my environment?

My Answer: You should get in touch with us and we will explain everything to you. In addition, we can provide you with materials that are ready for publishing and are best suited for your environment, or we can help you present your own thoughts correctly.

Question: Can a person study and teach others with the aim of making Kabbalah be a source of income? Can he harm his students by doing this?

My Answer: It’s written that one may never take money or any other benefits in return for teaching the Torah, and especially for Kabbalah! This should not be done under any circumstances. One also cannot sell anything related to Kabbalah, with the exception of books (educational aids). In addition, one cannot engage in fortune telling or promise luck, health recovery and other miracles – and taking money for this is double fraud.

This law comes to us from Moses, who set up a decree based on the system of the Upper Forces, that Kabbalah has to be taught to the people by the Levites for free. The tithe that the students pay should be used only for Kabbalah dissemination, that is to say, for the correction of the world – this was also decreed by Moses.

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A question I received: Whenever I tell religious people that we are opposite to the Creator, they always quote the Biblical verse that we were created in the image of G-d. How can I respond to this? What is “image” in Kabbalah? Is the “image” really a “shadow,” which would mean that we’re exactly the opposite of the Creator?

My Answer: By telling a religious person that we are opposite to the Creator, that we are egoistic and He is Good, you deny their closeness to the Creator. So how could they agree with this, if they consider themselves corrected!? This is where they get their conviction that they are righteous and everyone else is obliged to them; that just by observing the religious prescriptions (which are allegedly G-d’s desires), they are freed from their corporeal responsibilities.

The conclusion to be made from this is: Don’t talk to them until they discover their egoism, their opposition to the Creator, on their own. You shouldn’t make people upset if they are not ready for correction yet. After all, this is exactly why religion was invented – to last until the time when humanity will be ready to attain the Creator.

Then the exile from spirituality, from the concealment of the Creator, will end. Baal HaSulam explains “What is Kabbalah” in the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.” He writes:

“Kabbalah is the method of revealing the Creator to man in this world” – and by saying this, he immediately erases all of religion! It’s because this doesn’t leave any room for faith in something you were told. Instead of the unfounded tales, one suddenly receives the opportunity and responsibility of clear revelation and attainment of the Creator.

When one reveals this, then he does not just reveal something slightly bigger than our world, the way regular science widens the world for us. Rather, one reveals the Upper World, the Creator Himself! Moreover, Baal HaSulam adds that every person and all of humanity will have to reach this revelation, until all people will clearly feel the Creator just like a person feels his friend, and even closer!

So where is there any room left for belief, if you attain everything yourself and make your own conclusions!? In addition, this allows you to attain immortality, omniscience, and perfection, because revelation is only possible to the degree that you are equal to the Creator. In other words, revelation means that a person acquires the same state as the Creator Himself!

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A question I received: You once explained that anti-Semitism comes from the subconscious feeling that the nations of the world have towards Israel, since Israel isn’t fulfilling its function and is hence preventing the world from being happy. Is this similar to the way many secular people from the nation of Israel hate the Orthodox, since they don’t do what they are meant to do?

My Answer: The secular Jews of Israel hate the Orthodox because:

• The Orthodox Jews evade army service, while everyone else is required to serve;
• Religion intervenes in politics in order to gain government resources and privileges;
• The Orthodox blatantly express their proud and arrogant attitude toward the secular Jews, because they feel like they are doing God’s will and are special, and hence everyone should be grateful to them for their lifestyle.

This phenomenon is typical only in Israel, where it emerged as a result of the religious, political and social pressure. It is certainly inflicting great harm to the religion, although the religion itself bears no relation to this phenomenon. Never in our history did the masses experience a religious dictate, because we never held national authority but were governed by other nations.

In countries where religion is entirely separate from the government, there is no possibility for religion to be imposed on its citizens as it is in Israel. Hence, in those countries, the relationship between the secular and religious Jews is amiable, or at least not hostile.

Based on the above, we can see that this phenomenon differs from anti-Semitism at the root.

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A question I received: In reference to your blog entry, Interview With Canadian Television, I am not surprised that people’s egoism is growing primarily in Israel and Canada. I see this egoism every day, and regrettably only 0.01% of the people actually ask themselves about it. Looking at this from a purely human position, it’s a pitiful state. Does Kabbalah explain why this is happening, and why don’t the world’s religions deal with this question?

My Answer: Egoism has to keep growing until people will realize that it is evil. So let it grow faster! It grows fastest in people who start studying Kabbalah. Their growth of egoism accelerates and reaches its maximum quickly, and then they see that it is evil and they have to get rid of it.

This is why Kabbalah welcomes the growth of egoism, while religions and all the “spiritual” methods strive to suppress it, since they don’t have the method to correct it. However, one way or another, egoism has to grow to the maximum, and therefore all the methods will prove to be incompetent. We’ll be left with egoism at its peak and Kabbalah as the method of correcting it and using it correctly, that is – filling it with the Creator!

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Questions I received on how the physical commandments of Judaism relate to spiritual correction:

Question: You explained that the 613 commandments of Judaism are actually 613 desires. However, isn’t there a danger that people will then prefer spiritual development to observance of physical actions, and then they will fall into the other extreme? Previously people neglected the inner part of the Torah and performed only the physical actions, but now they will do the opposite – drop the outer observance and focus only on the inner meaning. What will happen then?

I used to observe the commandments and could not find the harmony in it. One day I came across www.kab.tv and it made me realize that my hunch was correct – that I was doing only the outer actions just like I was taught as a child. It is very difficult to observe the commandments without feeling the truth in them. Nevertheless, the holy Ari passionately observed all of the commandments relating to the Sabbath. Can you comment on the harmony between inner and outer observance of the commandments?

My Answer: Your personal search will bring you to the right answer. You have to find it on your own. Every person creates his own environment, comprised of physical actions and spiritual aspirations. It may range anywhere from observing the physical actions to the fullest, to not observing them at all. In any case, the most important thing is – “The entire correction is carried out only in thought” (HaKol be Mahshava Itbareru).

Question: In one of your books it says that before the fall of second Temple, our contact with the spiritual forces was more significant and closer because of the Temple and the services held there. To me, this indicates that the rituals in our world play a major role in attaining the spiritual world.

My Answer: This means that back then people performed the action of love and bestowal in all of its manifestations, in every way possible, both on the outside and the inside.

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Two questions I received on whether it would be best for the world’s spiritual leaders to unite:

Question: If we were to gather all the people of truth in one place and tune into the general system, would we be able to influence the afterworld with our Light or information, as well as the development of our planet?

My Answer: We have to disseminate Kabbalah to all the people in the world, accept the world as a whole, and provide every person with everything they need for correction no matter where they are located. All the people in the world are sick with the same illness – egoism, which separates them from the Light of life. Hence, everyone needs the medication – the Upper Light. This is what we believe, and this is why we disseminate Kabbalah to everyone. After that, it’s up to the person to take the medicine now, or later on – when he will feel his illness at a more advanced stage.

Instead of gathering in one place, people have to gather in one intention, in spite of the physical distance separating them. This is the purpose of our world. Nevertheless, when someone wants to move to Israel to join our group, we don’t turn them away, and about 5-10 people move here every year. However, I don’t consider this necessary for spiritual advancement. There have also been cases when people moved here and found it to be too intense for them, and had to return to their previous location.

Question: Do the world’s spiritual leaders, such as Rav Laitman and the Dalai Lama, as well as their students, have a spiritual connection and do they help each other (I don’t mean the World Wisdom Council)? I get the impression that spirituality is just a game, where each person (or group) is for himself. Sooner or later people get tired of these games, because you start feeling like you’re the soccer ball and you don’t want to play for any team. If the spiritual leaders have a connection with each other, then why isn’t it revealed to us, the masses, in a material form and with a true final goal (again, I don’t mean the World Wisdom Council)?

My Answer: I don’t associate myself with any organization, including the World Wisdom Council, and I have no connection with any spiritual leaders. I only participate wherever I see an opportunity to disseminate Kabbalah. Kabbalah is so vastly different from other methods at the root, that we cannot unite or work together with any earthly method or religion.

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A question I received: As a practicing Christian, I would like to know: Doesn’t the following verse from the Bible indicate that studying Kabbalah is forbidden? “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)

My Answer: You can find the answer in the same passage: The things that are still secret (concealed) belong only to the Creator (to the Upper Level), but the things that are revealed (that we have revealed) belong to us and to our children (to our future states), that we may actually follow all the laws (the laws of love and bestowal), just as the Creator commanded us. It is impossible to follow the laws of love and bestowal without revealing the Creator, as it is written “Know (attain) the Creator and serve Him.” If you study Kabbalah, you will understand what the Creator wants of His creatures. People of all religions will have to do this.

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A question I received: I’m Jewish. Can I study Kabbalah together with gentiles – people who aren’t Jewish by birth? The Book of Zohar says that every person who teaches even one letter of the Torah to a gentile is responsible for the destruction of the world, and that a gentile who wants to learn must first convert to Judaism. What should I do?

My Answer: “Jew” comes from the word “Ever,” to cross, so a Jew is a person who has crossed the Machsom. Israel is a person who has the intention of “Yashar-El,” “straight to the Creator.” “Yuhudi” comes from the word “Ihud,” meaning “union” (with the Creator). All these notions are properties of love, bestowal, or altruism.

“Goy” (gentile) means “a nation” in Hebrew. This word isn’t offensive; it only underlines the uncorrected, egoistic degree. In the Torah or Kabbalah, “Goy” (gentile) refers to egoism, and Jew, Israel, or Hebrew refer to love and bestowal.

We all start out as gentiles – uncorrected. When we choose the spiritual goal and begin the correction (even while we still haven’t attained it), we become Israel (Isra-El, straight to the Creator). Next, when we cross the Machsom, we become Jewish. And when we attain the goal – union with the Creator, we become Hebrew.

We all came out of Babylon, we are all egoists, and we must all correct ourselves and become like the Creator. When a gentile (an egoist) studies Torah (Kabbalah) for his own sake, he is only harming himself. One should study Torah (Kabbalah) only in order to attain spirituality, the property of bestowal. Hence, you should study with the people who have this goal!

In addition, you should ask: can you and should you study the Torah (Kabbalah) with yourself? Maybe you are a gentile (in your intentions and aspirations)? First you should check whether you want to become like the Creator and attain “love for your neighbor.” If yes, then you can study Kabbalah, because this is the only correction Kabbalah makes to a person. However, if you have a different goal – for your own sake, then you are a gentile, and Torah (Kabbalah) isn’t for you. It is written: “A gentile who studies the Torah must die,” because he attracts Light and thereby becomes even more opposite to It. This is how a person kills the gentile within him. It’s written that the entire Torah is the rule, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Conclusion: Everyone should study Kabbalah regardless of their intention! If they have the intention of a gentile, then they will kill the gentile within them and go from “for one’s own sake” to “for the sake of the Creator.”

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Filed under: Israel, Spirituality - 7 Comments →

Questions I received on whether one should visit the graves of the righteous, and what to ask for at these sites:

Question: I want to visit the graves of the righteous on Mount Miron. The trip I’m interested in going on will be held at night, and the trip’s organizer said that according to Kabbalah, you can use the moon’s cycle to calculate what is the best time to ask to be cured from illness. However, I also heard another opinion from someone who studies Kabbalah – he said that this shouldn’t be done. I would like to find out whether it can be done, and why at night?

My Answer: No one ever visits graves at night. The one exception is the night of Lag BaOmer, when people light bonfires all over Israel, including Mount Miron, by the grave of Rashbi, the author of The Book of Zohar. This is an ancient custom. However, asking to be cured from illness when there is a full moon has nothing to do with Kabbalah, but only with mysticism and shamanism.

Rabash and I used to go to Tiberius for two days out of the week, and sometimes we visited the grave of Rashbi on Mount Miron. Rabash respected that place. However, he didn’t see it as a place to ask for people’s corporeal, egoistic problems to be solved, such as healing, but rather only as a place to ask for similarity to the Creator. When one is there, he should ask for the ability to love his neighbor, instead of being concerned with one’s animate body, with healing it, or other benefits.

By definition, Kabbalah is the method of revealing the Creator (the property of love and bestowal) to a person in this world (in this life). Kabbalah bears no relation to receiving something for oneself. (See the definition in the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.”)

Between the years 1979 and 1991, when I knew Rabash, he visited the Wailing Wall only once – in 1983. He just walked past the wall, at least 2-3 meters away from it, and didn’t even come close to it, not to mention touching it. He visited the grave of the Ari once in ten years.

Baal HaSulam once said that he really doesn’t care where they’ll bury the bag with his bones. When he passed away and his students didn’t know where to bury him, one student remembered that Baal HaSulam used to like walking on a specific hill, and that’s where they buried him.

Once I asked Rabash for permission to fix up Baal HaSulam’s grave – to whiten it, make a place for candles, and so on. Rabash told me to leave this to others, because there were more important things to do.  Rabash also didn’t prepare a burial place for himself, even though it’s a custom among the religious. (In the past bodies weren’t buried, but locked in a cave that was dug for this purpose. They were left there for some time, and when only the bones remained, they were placed into a vessel.)

Kabbalists do not respect anything corporeal. Every person respects what is important to him, and what he is attached to – the body or the soul. To a Kabbalist, the body is intended to do work, just like an animal (for example, cattle). All his attention is focused on developing the soul – the part of the Creator in man, the property of love and bestowal.

Question: Rashbi is buried on Mount Miron, and thousands of people visit his grave every year. Is this something the Creator instructed them to do, or do these instructions come from religious leaders who want to influence people and have power over them?

My Answer: Kabbalah favors this custom, because it brings people closer to Kabbalah, making them respect it and become interested in it.

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