A question I received: When does the Surrounding Light influence me – only during the lesson or also during dissemination? (Considering that while I’m doing it I aspire to attain the Upper One through the unification with the group.)

My Answer: It influences you during the study, dissemination, and other group actions, depending on your intention to connect with everyone in order to reveal the Creator – the quality of bestowal and love. The Surrounding Light is the Light that will fill you on a higher level.

The fact is that you already exist in all of your future states. However, you don’t perceive it. You must attain these states yourself. By aspiring to them, you draw the influence of your future state upon you and it changes you, making you similar to it. Everything depends only on your desire, your aspiration to that future state.

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Baal HaSulam begins the fundamental Kabbalistic text, the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” with the following words:

1. At the outset of my words, I find a great need to break an iron wall that has been separating us from the wisdom of Kabbalah…

2. Indeed, if we set our hearts to answer but one very famous question, I am certain that all the questions and doubts about the study of Kabbalah will vanish from the horizon. This indignant question is a question that the whole world asks, namely, “What is the meaning of my life?” These numbered years of our life that cost us so heavily and the numerous pains and torments that we suffer for them, to complete them to the fullest, who is it that enjoys them? Or, even more precisely, to whom do I give delight?

It is indeed true that historians have grown weary contemplating it and particularly in our generation. No one even wishes to consider it. Yet the question stands as bitterly and as vehemently as ever. Sometimes it meets us uninvitingly, pecks at our mind and humiliates us to the ground before we find the famous ploy to flow mindlessly in the currents of life as yesterday…

In order to help you answer this question, Kabbalah is now being revealed to you! By answering it, you will become human; while it is still a mystery – you’re still not!

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A question I received: Can you explain the phrase “falling in order to rise” and how it is expressed in action? When a person who’s been studying Kabbalah for a year suddenly falls so deep into the animate level that he does things he never did before Kabbalah, is this falling in order to rise? Is this the correct process of revelation? How is this useful?

My Answer: This is explained by all the books on one’s inner work:

• First, a person’s egoism increases,
• Then he recognizes that the egoism is evil,
• He then desires to break away from it,
• But then he realizes that it is impossible,
• He then recognizes that only the Creator can do this to him if he will ask,
• Then he makes lengthy efforts to appeal to the Creator,
• And finally, the Light corrects him, revealing the sensation of the spiritual world – the quality of bestowal and love.

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Globalization is the revelation of the law of connection among people. However, instead of being beneficial, it is causing problems in our society because every person desires to use the global system of people’s connection into one organism, for his personal gain, instead of the way the system is designed to be used: for everyone to use it together for the well-being of us all.

Today we are interconnected with each other like organs in one body, and the life of the collective depends on everyone. Under these conditions it is useless to be egoistically honest – to create a global government, a world bank, or a common regulator. This will not help us stop being opposite to Nature and its law of universal interconnection. Instead, we must change our relationships from commercial to integral, to be based on the consideration of others as yourself. Even the most honest relationships of “what’s mine is mine and what’s your is yours” and the politics of non-violence will continue evoking crises until we realize what we have to do.

Kabbalah proposes that we start seeing humanity as a single organism and learn about how to behave correctly in our new state. Even if we don’t change anything about our relationships in the beginning, by just studying the laws of communication and distribution in a single organism, we already stop being opposite to nature – and then we will immediately feel a reduction in the suffering.

The most practical solution to the crisis is to study its true cause. Or in other words, to learn to live in an integral society, where the benefit of every individual depends on every other individual. Moreover, we must teach this law of nature to our children.

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A question I received: I still don’t understand why the Jews concealed Kabbalah until now.

My Answer: I understand you: if Kabbalah is only meant for man’s correction, is a science, and doesn’t manipulate the world in any way, then why was it concealed for 5769 years, since the time it was first revealed by Adam? Is there a prohibition on correcting egoism?

The fact is that throughout all human history, there was only one time when Kabbalah was open to all. That was in Ancient Babylon, which was a “small village” where every person influenced everyone else. When society is in this state, being a single system, it necessitates people to follow the law of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” This is what the Babylonian priest Abraham urged his countrymen to do.

However, only a few people listened to him, those in whom “the point in the heart” was revealed. They followed him and received a name according to their aspiration: Israel, which means Isra (straight) + El (Creator). The rest chose not to unite, not to correct their egoism, nor to acquire the quality of love and bestowal, but to separate from one another. Hence they removed the effect of a single system, of a “small village,” from the society, and scattered all over the world.

Meanwhile, Abraham’s group evolved and grew until the time when, 2000 years ago, an enormous egoism was suddenly expressed in it. That’s when they (Israel, the Jews) fell from the level of “Love thy neighbor as thyself” to the level of unfounded hatred for each other. As a result, they lost the perception of the single system, and therefore their perception of mutual love, the Creator, disappeared as well: the Creator “concealed Himself” from them.

Today, once again, the world has reached a state of a single system, “a small village,” just like in Ancient Babylon. In this state, where all the people are completely interconnected, in order to exist (for us to survive) we have to observe the condition: “every person is responsible for everyone.” And this can only be done under the condition of mutual love. How can we attain this quality and survive? This is what Kabbalah explains. And this is why Kabbalah is being revealed again today – because there is a need for it.

It is because we have revealed precisely the global, systematic egoism that has to be corrected, rather than the individual egoism. As long as this egoism wasn’t yet revealed, Kabbalah – the science about its correction – was also concealed. But today it is revealed to everyone, because everyone will have to correct their attitude to others! This is a law of nature. Because the global egoism has been revealed, there is no prohibition on its correction, and this is why there is no prohibition on Kabbalah. So go ahead and study about what we should be like in a new world.

(On the photograph above, I’m standing on the background of the Tower of Babel. You have to feel that all of it belongs to you!)

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1. The Light is the Creator. The Light is always the source of everything! In the beginning the Light created the creation, and hence creation is completely subject to the Light. If the Light were to disappear, then the creature would cease to exist. Every movement and change that takes place in the creation happens only under the influence of the Light.

Creation is lifeless and motionless when the Light influences it with the smallest possible force. If the Light shines stronger, then to this degree the creation undergoes a qualitative change, transforming from “still” to “vegetative,” where it starts to sense and perceive. And so on.

2. The Light is the Actor. The Light is always the source of everything! This is why it is written: “There is none else beside Him” and “The Creator is your shade.” You must “find” the Creator in every circumstance and definition, since He is the one who made this state happen.

3. I Control the Light! When you strive to change something in you, you must evoke the Light upon you, and It will change you. The Light can influence me and my Reshimot, and it will change me only in a way that brings me closer to the goal of creation. In other words, the only thing that I can ever do in my life is accelerate my spiritual development. Or, through my lack of desire to evoke the Light’s influence upon me, I can evoke the Light’s absence, and then I will experience all kinds of suffering – because the Light is life.

However, if my desires come from the Light, then I cannot exert a return influence on the Light with my desires. I must receive a desire for the goal from a source other than the Light, and then I will be able to influence the Light with this desire and evoke an additional influence of the Light on me, accelerating my path. This is why I am given the correct environment (the group), which is the only opportunity for me to evoke acceleration toward the goal.

4. The Woman’s Role. The group isn’t influenced physically, but through one’s desire. Hence, a woman who participates in the group’s work (by studying virtually and disseminating Kabbalah) and desires to receive the correct influence from the group, receives it and uses it to involuntarily turn to the Creator (the Light). With the exception of physically participating in communication with the friends and studying virtually, she does everything else just like a man and goes through the same states.

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Questions I received on how work combines with Kabbalah:

Question: Many people who study Kabbalah have a job that is not in harmony with the laws of nature, and on the global scale this type of work is leading the world to a global crisis. I am talking about any kind of work, from being a miner to an astronaut, which is meant to satisfy human egoism.

Kabbalah tells us to exist in harmony with nature and to take only as much as we need from it. But coal, oil, the cosmos, vehicles, and thousands of other areas we work in all disrupt the harmony of nature and the correct relationships.

What should the people working these jobs do if they also want to study Kabbalah? How can you study Kabbalah when you understand that what you do to make a living harms the system? Should we all change our jobs, and if yes,  what kind of a new job should we find?

My Answer: If your job doesn’t hurt anyone directly, then you can keep working there. Eventually, your circumstances will be changed from above according to your advancement into spirituality and the degree of your connection with the worldwide group.

Question: Can a person’s daily, professional activity help him to advance toward the Creator? How can a person change his profession (especially in midlife) so it will become an additional, efficient instrument for advancement (in addition to the books, the group, and the teacher)? Or would you say that a person’s job doesn’t matter, and one’s movement toward the Creator is independent from one’s day to day work?

My Answer: If your profession is not intended to hurt people (such as theft, and so on), then it doesn’t matter where you work. A person is judged according to what he does in his free time – the time he has left over from work and other responsibilities. He is judged by how efficiently he uses this time for his spiritual improvement.

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Two questions I received about the future:

Question: I wish to pose a question in regard to technology and the construction of the Third Temple. Have you considered that the Third Temple could be considered the structure of the system in which the virtual connection could potentially provide a nullifying experience? Given the fractal technological benefits and endeavors such as the LHC provide, it is not difficult to recognize the wisdom of Kabbalah’s importance to our generation.

My Answer: Certainly, “The Temple” means the general union of all people’s aspirations for the Creator, for bestowal to the society and the Creator, and for love for one’s neighbor, rather than a physical building. In addition, it’s certain that one of the foundations for this will be a virtual connection of all the people in the world.

Question: Does every person have to study Kabbalah in order for a change to take place? And is it even possible that everyone will study Kabbalah?

My Answer: No, not everyone will have to study Kabbalah. Each person should study according to his desire.

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Two questions I received about Kabbalah study:

Question: Should I think about a question and about whether I should really ask it, before asking it for everyone to hear? My question can influence different people differently, both positively and negatively. Of course, the definitive point to any question is your answer, but still, can you explain this?

My Answer: You should try to answer your own questions. Even if your understanding is incorrect or you can’t find the answer, nonetheless your studies and the group will lead you forward. The attainment of the Upper Level does not depend on how much you know, but on how much you are influenced by the Upper Light.

Question: Is it possible for someone who’s been studying Kabbalah for five years not to have a point in the heart? Or does everyone studying Kabbalah have it?

My Answer: If a person studies because he desires to find the answer to the question about the meaning and purpose of life, then this question comes from the desire to attain the Creator – “the point in the heart.”

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Questions I received on women’s spirituality:

Question: Does the word “man” used in Kabbalistic books also apply to women? For example, “if a man feels a Reshimo, then he’s worthy of attaining spirituality, of feeling the Upper World, and comprehending the reality” (this is a quote from the book Kabbalah for the Student, Introduction to Pticha).

My Answer: Without a doubt, all people – both men and women – must attain adhesion with the Creator. The only difference is that men must perform more corrections than women, according to the structure of their souls.

Question: I heard that you don’t approve of women studying at night. Is this true?

My Answer: Anyone can study whenever it’s convenient for him or her. However, since it’s necessary for the men to unite, the best and most effective time for them to study is together with us.

Question: A man’s egoism and difficulties are revealed in relation to the group. How, and in relation to whom, does a woman’s egoism become revealed?

My Answer: Her ego is revealed in relation to a man, or the men’s part of the group, in the sense that the men are the source of a woman’s spiritual advancement. By making efforts to advance spiritually, a woman realizes that she can only do so through the men’s part of the common group.

Question: You say that spirituality has no connection to our bodies. Then why is it important for us to dress modestly when we come to the Kabbalah center? Shouldn’t the men overcome their ego and stop looking at women as sexual objects, but as their equals in correcting the world?

My Answer: You have to help the men disseminate Kabbalah to the world, instead of showcasing yourself to them. This is why you’re permitted to come to the center! Do you want to be a person who’s of benefit to the world, or a “woman”? When you have to do work together with the men, it’s important that there be no difference among the participants.

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