A question I received: Does the Creator respond to requests for things that are necessary, or only to requests for correction?

My Answer: The Creator responds to all the requests in one’s heart, because we are talking about the Upper Light’s influence on our desire, and this influence is taking place all the time. The two stand one opposite the other. Nothing depends on a person, on his awareness of the Light’s constant influence on the Reshimo. He can only receive the desire for bestowal and love from his environment. The Upper Light is always pushing him toward this desire, by influencing the Reshimo. That is to say, by constantly influencing the Reshimo, the Light moves him closer to making the decision that it’s necessary to acquire the property of bestowal and love. However, it moves him along naturally, through blows. If a person, however, adds his own aspiration, which he receives from the group, from friends who aspire to it, then he himself evokes the Upper Light’s influence in the same direction. And now he already perceives the results of the Light’s influence positively, since he himself desired it, instead of perceiving it negatively, the way we usually do: When we desire greater egoistic fulfillment, we instead receive an even stronger push toward bestowal, and experience even greater suffering.

A question I received: According to what you said, if two hundred million Muslims will really wish for Israel to disappear from the face of the earth, will their desires come true?

My Answer: All desires of all people are included within the common soul of Adam. However, each desire has its own weight or influence, which depends on many things: What group of souls does the desire belong to – just like in the body some organs are more important than others. It also depends on what they are asking for – whether their appeal is directed toward the goal of creation or against it; whether it’s a desire to hate or to love, and so on.

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

A question I received: Please explain why questions about history are inappropriate? Studying something without knowing its basic principles, such as its history, is rather difficult, if not outright impossible.

My Answer: Rabash taught me to be concerned not with history, but with actual practical attainment. Why scatter about with external phenomena and images of people when you can be attaining? Beginners, however, and those without a point in the heart (i.e. a desire for spirituality) are attracted to history. The same applies to the study of Kabbalah: someone with a point in the heart doesn’t study it, but attracts the Upper Light, whereas someone without a point in the heart studies it like a science and knows the printed material much better than someone who has actually attained this material. See Baal HaSulam’s commentary on the Jerusalem Kabbalists. [Read more →]

Filed under: Science - No Comments →

A question I received: How does the suffering, embarrassment and shame one feels before society, correlate to his hatred of society?

My Answer: We learn that shame is the basis of correction. The feeling of shame by Malchut in the World of Infinity led to Tzimtzum Aleph – the refusal to receive for one’s own sake. After that, that same shame pushed Malchut to find a way to bestow – to receive for the Creator’s sake.

As that same shame developed further, it continually showed the creature, the soul of Adam, what to do in order to become similar to the Creator. And the same shame drove Adam to sin: Adam wanted to overcome shame all at once, and as a result he revealed his entire egoistic nature (reception for one’s own sake), as well as the opportunity to correct this shame (reception for the Creator’s sake). But this must be done gradually, over the course of thousands of years, inside many individual souls (during their life cycles), by overcoming their repulsion to one another.

When a person begins to study Kabbalah, after a certain amount of time he reveals his egoism, which grows bigger and bigger. As he continues to study, he constantly learns that egoism is evil, but he doesn’t feel this in any way. He learns that spirituality is bestowal, love for one’s friend, and that he can sense the Creator only within this quality, or to be more precise, that this quality is the Creator.

As more time passes, he begins to view egoism as evil, because he gradually discovers egoism’s connection with spirituality, how opposite the two are, and that it’s impossible to attain spirituality together with egoism.

After some more time passes, he’s “set up” from above in such a way, that he feels as if he is “burning with shame,” and that he’ll adhere to the Creator only by renouncing his original qualities. This is when his correction begins. He is willing to feel the burning shame for the sake of acquiring the property of love and bestowal!

A question I received: On the one hand, during the preparation period, before coming out of Egypt (crossing the Machsom), one’s egoism grows. But on the other hand, in order to cross the Machsom, one has to be absolutely pure! He must go from unfounded hatred to love. How does this occur together? [Read more →]

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

A question I received: What makes a woman truly happy? And is such a thing even possible? After all, every pleasant sensation passes, and is replaced by another. What change is needed for someone to feel happy? And how would a woman experience it?

My Answer: Happiness lies in fulfillment: the Light fills the vessel, and the vessel thus experiences happiness. Fulfillment by reception immediately disappears, leaving behind even greater emptiness. Perfect and eternal fulfillment is possible only through bestowal to and love for the one whom you fulfill, and this is what fulfills you. Therefore, “love your neighbor as yourself” is the rule for personal happiness!

Related Material:
Article: Love, Deciphered
Article: It’s All about Pleasure

Filed under: Women - 1 Comment →

News Story: Why Are Men Going Off Sex?

“Men are increasingly going off sex due to stress, depression and the inability to talk about their problems, experts have claimed.

A team at a relationship counselling service has reported a whopping 40 per cent increase in the number of lazy blokes, admitting that, despite being physically able to have sex, they don’t have any interest.

‘They tend to be men in their thirties, forties and fifties and married. It is a serious issue. It counts as a psychosexual dysfunction, rather than just a relationship problem, because these men haven’t simply gone off their partner but off sex altogether,’ a newspaper quoted Peter Bell of the organisation as saying.”

My Response: The feeling of emptiness, the lack of fulfillment from the Upper Source – even if only subconscious – leads to general depression and the suppression of all bodily desires. Lately this isn’t just a problem, but a universally acknowledged fact.

However, the study of Kabbalah brings about an outburst of all desires and growth of egoism, both on a widespread scale and individually. It is written, “since the destruction of the Temple, only those who work to become similar to the Creator have retained the true taste of copulation.” Mainly, this refers to spiritual copulation – Zivug de Haka’a with the Upper Light, but it also has results in our world. It is talking about people who are working on the intention to bestow…

Filed under: Science - 1 Comment →

A question I received in response to an Israeli news post “8% of Teenagers in Israel Have Tried to Commit Suicide“: A recent study shows that approximately 8% of teenagers in Israel have at some point tried to commit suicide. This is a plea for help. We need to listen to our teenagers and be mindful of their concerns.

My Answer: It’s not the teenagers who have a plea for help. It’s their inner emptiness, the Reshimo that is crying out for fulfillment. Thus, we should give them the method capable of fulfilling this Reshimo: Kabbalah. My children never went through any such states. We raised them within Bnei Baruch’s framework, by teaching them Kabbalah’s basic concepts, and none of them (in all possible age groups, from 2 to 20 and up) have ever shown such problems.

Related Material:
Article: Education
Article: Raising the Next Generation of Children
Blog Post & Video: How Do We Renew and Improve Education: The Hot Question in Bnei Baruch

Filed under: Education - 1 Comment →

News Story: Missouri Governor Calls For Capital Punishment For Child Rapists

“Missouri Governor Matt Blunt demanded child rapists face capital punishment, at a news conference outside the St. Louis County Courthouse Monday. Hours later, lawmakers moved to make Missouri the 7th state to expand the death penalty for crimes beyond first degree murder.”

My Comment: The world is becoming more and more egoistic, and things aren’t getting any better. We keep looking for an answer in our egoism, our current situation, and this is pointless. Violence as a method of controlling violence is doomed to fail! I’m reading news stories everyday on how punishments are becoming more severe all the time. Violence is simply the stupidest means for correcting society, and only allows more and more dirt to fill it. The only way to save ourselves from any kind of violence is to rise above egoism, period.

Filed under: World - 2 Comments →

A question I received: You say that there is nothing any lecture or class you see on a street corner can give someone, other than temporary relief, which is followed by even greater disappointment, and that it is because egoism cannot be corrected by physical exercises, meditation, medications, and even by observing the commandments. On the contrary, egoism grows and gets bigger, which eventually brings a person to Kabbalah, which is precisely the method for egoism’s correction. But until a person finds Kabbalah, there is a long path ahead of him, full of suffering.

My question is: What can be done to awaken the desire for correction in such people? What can be done to make them realize that egoism is evil, and that this evil is corrected through the study of Kabbalah?

My Answer: Only consistent dissemination over a long period of time, in which time all the other methods of “elimination” and “correction” come crashing down.

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

A comment I received: I watched a lesson you gave recently on the Internet, where you talked about your blog for a few minutes, and I felt like you described exactly how I feel as a reader. Most Internet users can’t read Internet posts longer than a paragraph, or even a few lines. At most, the reader quickly scans the text, thinking, “Too many letters…” and moves on to read the comments.

My Response: My blog was created with a clear purpose – to explain Kabbalah. It’s not meant for arguing with anyone. However, some people may not be ripe enough for it. A person needs to have gone through all desires, one after the other – from bodily desires (food, sex, family, shelter), to social desires that arise under society’s influence (wealth, fame, respect, knowledge). Once a person has reached a state of realizing that none of these desires can bring about fulfillment, the point in the heart (the desire to fulfill the soul) awakens. This process takes thousands of years and many reincarnations.

Therefore, it is useless arguing with people who haven’t ripened yet. They still feel fulfilled by religion (a “deal” they make with the Creator: “I’ll do whatever You commanded me to do, and in return You’ll give me fulfillment and reward in this world, and the world to come”), wealth, and so on. I simply ask all such people to leave us, or to study a little bit at a time. However, everyone who is disappointed with life and who doesn’t see how to find fulfillment, is invited.

An ancient text says, “Someone by the name of Ptachia came to our village, stayed for a while, and left, and with him also the empty people…” The name Ptachia derives from the verb Liftoach, which in Hebrew means “to open.” This person knew how to open the higher sources of fulfillment to people, because Kabbalah is the science of fulfillment. And the empty people who left together with him were those who desired to be filled by the Upper Light.

And he took them to the desert, so that they would discover even more emptiness within themselves. This is because the initial disappointment and emptiness that a person feels when first coming to Kabbalah are insufficient for fulfilling the person with the Upper Light, both in the quantity and the quality of the emptiness.

Look at what Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” items 1 and 2, about a person coming to Kabbalah:

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 since the ruin of the Temple to this generation. It lies heavily on us and arouses fear of Kabbalah being forgotten from Israel.

However, when I begin to speak to anyone about the study of Kabbalah, his first question is, “Why should I know how many angels are in the sky, and what their names are? Can I not keep the entire Torah in all its details and intricacies without this knowledge?”

Second, he will ask, “The sages have already determined that one must first fill one’s belly with Gmarah and Talmud. Thus, how can one deceive himself in that he has finished the entire revealed Torah, and lacks only the wisdom of the hidden?

Third, one is afraid that he will miss out on something because of this engagement, as there have already been incidents of deviation from the path of Torah because of engagement in Kabbalah. Hence, why do I need this trouble? Who is so foolish as to place himself in danger for no reason?

Fourth: Even those who favor this study only permit it to holy ones, servants of the Creator. Not all who wish to draw close to the Lord may do so.

Fifth, and most importantly, “It is a conduct in our midst that when in doubt, do as the people do,” and my eyes see that all those who study Torah in my generation are of one mind, and refrain from studying the hidden. Moreover, they advise the ones who ask them that it is undoubtedly preferable to study a page of Gmarah instead of Kabbalah.

2. Indeed, if we set our hearts to answer but one very famous question, I am certain that all these questions and doubts will vanish from the horizon, and you will look unto their place to find them gone. This indignant question is a question that the whole world asks, namely, “What is the meaning of my life?” In other words, these numbered years of our life that cost us so dearly and the numerous pains and torments that we suffer for them, to complete them to the fullest, who is it that enjoys them? Even more precisely, to whom do I give delight?

It is indeed true that historians of all generations have already grown weary contemplating it and particularly in our generation, when no one even wishes to consider this question. 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…

This blog was created for those who do not want to drown in the currents of life!

My Current Mood: loved

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

A question I received: Although Baal HaSulam writes that a spiritual person leaves for himself only what he needs to survive and gives the rest to society, for some reason you don’t advise anyone to act this way. Don’t you agree with Baal HaSulam? Or are you afraid that this will scare people off? For instance, even though I myself am in need of money, I’m still scared of this!

My Answer: All our actions must correspond to Nature’s law. Should that be the case, we would feel ourselves as Nature’s integral parts – in the World of Infinity, that is, in the state of eternity and perfection, just like Nature (the Creator) itself.

Kabbalah – the science of the whole of Nature – helps us reach this state not through blows and suffering, but through conscious development. [Read more →]

Filed under: Spirituality - 1 Comment →