A question I received: My whole life is like putting out one fire after the next! Bad things just keep happening to me, and I feel like all I’m doing in my life is trying to live through them and keep surviving. Why is this happening to me? And what should I do with these situations? I want to point out that I’m not really interested in the question “What’s the meaning of my life?,” that I’m more interested in the question, “Why is this happening to me?”

My Answer: They are the same question. It’s as Baal HaSulam writes, in item 2 of the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot“: “What’s the meaning of this suffering?” and “Who needs it?” Studying Kabbalah will help you understand everything. Why precisely Kabbalah? It’s because Kabbalah is the only wisdom that explains the one source of everything in existence. At the moment, you are experiencing this source in its negative, but you can change the way it treats you.

Again, the Creator is the one and only source of everything happening to you, because He governs everything in existence. By studying Kabbalah, you can discover the reason why He treats you the way He does at every single moment. Your question about the meaning and source of suffering is a Kabbalistic one: it marks the beginning of one’s discernment of oneself as a human being, i.e. as one who begins their relationship with the Creator.

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Lesson: Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot (12-10-2007)

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A question I received: You say that Kabbalah is a science. That’s fair. The two forces of nature, bestowal and receiving. All of nature is nothing but bestowal, and man is the only element in nature that disrupts the balance, he creates disbalance, and this is why we suffer.

Everything is fine until we get to this point. But finally, when we get to the point where we need to fix the balance, you say: Ohr Makif. Hmm… Some light comes out of nowhere and corrects me. And what confuses me the most is that this light comes from a book. Could you please explain or define what “light” is in a practical and clear manner? I thought that Kabbalah was a science about forces, nature, desires, etc. In my perception Upper Light is not a scientific term and directly refers to something esoteric. Maybe you could make this notion more reasonable and comprehensible? What is this force that corrects us? Is this the force of bestowal? Then why is it called Ohr Makif? How can this “light” able to help prevent suffering on our path of development? Is it in any way related to the corporeal light?

My Answer: If I were you with your love for sciences, I would study “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” (Pticha) or maybe I would even start studying Talmud Eser Sefirot! These texts explain several spiritual notions in a scientific language: 1. desire, 2. correction of intention from “for one’s own sake” to “for the sake of the Creator,” 3. fulfillment by the Light, pleasure, the Creator, to the extent of the corrected intention. There is nothing else in Kabbalah.

Ohr Makif is a force that influences us from a more corrected state, which we aspire toward. It responds to your aspiration in the following way: it pulls you to a higher, more altruistic state to the same extent you aspire for it. This is an interaction of two vectors of desires. The same mutual influence of forces also exists in our world, when a person aspires for any new thing. The difference is that when it comes to spiritual aspiration, this force that pulls you to a new state is referred to as Light, because it doesn’t just pull you through its influence upon you, but it also changes you, making you become like the new state, one that is spiritual and altruistic. The difference between this force of Light, and the force that pulls you toward a new state in our world is that, the force in our world doesn’t need to change you to pull you to something. Check it out for yourself to eliminate any doubts.

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Two questions I received on whether it is the Creator who is in control, or the person

Question: What comes first? My desire to advance along the path towards the goal, the understanding that everything happens for the sake of correction, without feeling the Creator and His intention to correct creation, or does one first gain the understanding that the Creator does everything in order to do benefit us through different means, and we want to fulfill His desire?

My Answer: This contradiction, “Who comes first?” or “Who governs?” will always remain with you, until the very end of correction. Who determines your thoughts, feelings, and actions – you or the Creator? This contradiction will disappear only once you merge with Him into one whole!

Question: I’m willing to accept the idea that I have to correct myself, but it’s difficult for me to accept the idea that everything is done by the Creator. When I experience a descent, then the Creator is doing this for my correction. When I experience an ascent, then the Creator gave it to me. However, I don’t feel that everything is predetermined. What should I do?

My Answer: Try to feel that everything that happens in your thoughts and feelings, and everything that happens around you – everything comes from the Creator! When you study Kabbalistic materials (Baal HaSulam) and make efforts, then during the study you attract the Light of Correction (Ohr Makif – Read item 155 in the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot“), and gradually, as if out of a fog, this Light will reveal the Creator to you!

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A question I received: Can you explain the following to me, because I am somewhat confused:
From, Baal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 2, “Table of Questions and Answers for the Meaning of the Words“:
“34) What is Yashar (Direct)? (p.2, ch.1, Ohr Pnimi, p.5)
When the Ohr Elyon (Upper Light) descends to the Kelim that contain Aviut Dalet (the fourth level of thickness), namely a desire, for she extends it through her desire, it is considered that the Ohr (Light) comes Yashar (straight, direct) down. This means that the Light that descends in Yosher is absolutely proportional with the Aviut and the desire.

For example, when a heavy object falls to the ground, it falls in a completely Yashar (straight, direct) line. Moreover, it falls at great speed because of the earth’s gravitating force that pulls it down. However, when something light falls, and the gravitating force does not affect it, it floats about in midair until it slowly rests on the ground.

Here too, in the Kelim that do not have Aviut, such as Kelim de Igulim (the circular Kelim), it is considered that the Light permeates them by the power of the Sefirot of Yosher. It becomes round because there isn’t any Aviut there, meaning a desire that would draw it.

However, in the Kelim de Yosher (the straight/direct Kelim), where there is Aviut that draws the Light with great power, the Light comes down very fast and with accurate straightness, like a straight line.”

What is this example about a heavy item that is more affected by the force of gravity than a light item? Was Ashlag not aware that free-fall acceleration depends on the mass of the object, or I am not getting something?

My Answer: In spirituality, the Light is attracted within the Kli (vessel/tool/receptacle), since there is no empty space at all. Space equals desire. It is comprised of five stages, from stage 0 through 4, stages of the desire’s size. The difference between the stages is not only in the desire’s size, quantitative, but qualitative, in the perception, realization of the desire and the Light. This is why stages 0-1-2-3 “indirectly” attract the Light. In other words, the Kli doesn’t yet know “what it is” and “what it is for,” and this is why in desires 0-3 the Light is still perceived as a light item. However, the fourth stage perceives the Light as its desired pleasure: it perceives the source of the Light, and this is why it desires it directly, inside. This is why the Light descends “Ba Yosher” directly toward it.

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A question I received: In relation to my previous question, if a person turns into a dull and somber person, wouldn’t it be difficult for him to endure spiritual descents, which always happen when one ascends up the levels? In many texts, Kabbalists link the correction of one’s qualities to the perfection of creation and equivalence of form with the Creator. Please help me solve this riddle.

My Answer: As a person who is spiritually progressing justifies the Creator in everything (and since he justifies everything, he is called righteous). It’s impossible for such a person to be dull and somber.

Growing closer to the Creator means gaining equivalence of form with Him. Instead of the qualities one was born with, one gains qualities that become revealed after the Machsom (barrier), from BYA de Tumah (ed. the impure worlds of BYA – BYA is short for Beria, Yetzira, Assiya), where the 613 qualities of real egoism (Pharoah) reside, those which are against the Creator. By changing one’s intentions from “for my own sake” to “for the sake of the Creator,” with the help of the Light of Torah, from BYA de Kedusha (ed. the holy worlds of BYA), a person thereby fulfills the 613 commandments and attains full equivalence and adhesion with the Creator. Naturally, this bears no relation to performing any actions with our animate body, as it is written “The Creator does not care for how one slaughters cattle – from the head or from the neck (that is, the mechanical observance), but rather the commandments were given in order to correct man.”

Related Material:
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A question I received: In Mesilat Yasharim (The Path of the Righteous), the Ramchal writes about correcting one’s qualities: Even though correcting the qualities of one’s animate soul bears no relation to the levels of the holy soul, nevertheless it’s unrealistic for a Kabbalist to be irritable, quick-tempered, use bad words (Lashon Ra) and have qualities that can harm others around him.

My Answer: The Ramchal says that it’s impossible to correct the qualities of one’s animate soul. Any attempt to correct our animate soul ends in failure, because it relates to the inanimate part of a person, which was given to us so we would grow our spiritual soul out of it.

The only thing we can and should change is the holy, spiritual soul: the part of the Creator in us. This part begins as what is called a “point in the heart,” expressed in a person as the question “What is the meaning of life?” – the question that brings a person to Kabbalah. It is this point that we need to develop.

As we develop it, we change, and such a change also has an effect on our earthly behavior. We can no longer harm others intentionally, because we have acquired qualities that won’t allow us to do so.

However, at the same time, our external expressions of anger, abruptness, and impatience may remain, because we perceive the harm caused by specific actions and phenomena more than others do. Moreover, one who ascends always slides back before taking a step forward, and when this happens, this person is just like everyone else. In fact, he is even worse than everyone else in such a state. This continues until the end of the ladder, as it is written, “Every person who is greater than another, has more egoism than him.” Moreover, it’s written about Rabbi Shimon that when he found himself in the deepest possible descent, as “Shimon from the market,” he understood that he was facing the final level of ascent! (It is written in The Book of Zohar that when Rabbi Shimon came out of the cave, where he spent thirteen years writing The Book of Zohar, he saw a peasant working the land, an act so distant from spirituality, that when he saw him, he burned him with his mere glance. However, these are secrets of the Torah…)

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A question I received: You wrote: “Someday I will tell you about how the Creator humiliates a Kabbalist in the eyes of society and his students. This is done to make sure that he won’t be proud, grow close to the incorrect environment, so people won’t bother him, and so on.” In this case, I don’t understand: What criteria can one use to assess whether one is working correctly or not? After all, when you act correctly, you receive beatings to make sure that you won’t be proud, and when you act incorrectly you receive beatings for acting incorrectly. Either way, you’re being beaten! Moreover, you’re told that if you take the path of Torah, you’ll then avoid blows. Also, what concerns me even more than always getting beatings, is: How can one understand what the Creator desires and what He doesn’t?

My Answer: In principle, all actions we make are incorrect, or in other words, they are egoistically driven. The difference is whether or not our actions are aimed at the goal of creation. If you’re moving correctly, you’ll then receive a descent into egoism in order to understand what is controlling you and how to get rid of it, similar to the Egyptian exile and the bitterness in Pharaoh’s heart.

Since one studying Kabbalah is under the influence of the teacher, books, and group, he then assesses his descents in comparison to movement toward the goal. In such a way, he understands that the sensations of descent and pain are signs of his deviation from the path toward the goal, in order to make him aim more accurately. After all, if he will deviate without being corrected to aim closer to the goal, then the more he will progress, the (exponentially) greater inaccuracy he will accumulate and the more he will deviate from the goal, to the point that he will stop understanding what Kabbalah is explaining. Thus, spiritual progress is impossible without beatings.

You also, however, get beaten in your ordinary, “non-spiritual” life. The difference with these beatings is that they don’t lead you anywhere, and you don’t know why they’re happening and where they’re coming from! A Kabbalist, on the other hand, doesn’t receive blows – he receives greater sharpness on the spiritual path. Nevertheless, people who come to Kabbalah are only those who already understand that there is no other way, and they are willing to face the difficulties to reach creation’s goal.

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A question I received: In the book Shaarey Kedusha, section Shaar Dalet, Rav Chaim Vital explains how to meditate, once a person is ready for it in terms of his level of Torah study, observance of the commandments, and fear of the heavens. One enters a room where he can be alone, covers himself with a Tallit and sits with eyes closed. Then he sees how he leaves his body behind and ascends to the heavens. One who attains such a state takes a sentence or excerpt from the Mishnah and repeats it over and over again. What do you think about this?

My Answer: Not a word of it is speaking about our world. Rather, it is all written in the language of branches and points to the forces of the Upper World. Kabbalists only write their books in this way.

“…One enters a room (Heichal Malchut) where he can be alone (away from all the Klipot or disturbances), covers himself with a Tallit (see the level of Tallit in Zeir Anpin of the World of Atzilut, with Ohr Makif) and sits with eyes closed (he leaves his previous level). He then sees how he leaves his body (his AHP) behind and ascends to the heavens (to the AHP of the Elyon). One who attains this state takes a sentence or excerpt from the Mishnah and repeats it over and over again (and in this way ascends from one level to the next, over and over again).”

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Two questions I received on “love thy neighbor”

Question: When you discussed the article “The Revelation of Godliness,” you explained that there is no rule of “love thy neighbor” in religions. You have given examples of religious wars and caste among Hindus. How am I to understand the wars against the “seven nations” and Amalek through the prism of love for one’s neighbor?

My Answer: These are internal wars that take place within the person, wars against one’s egoism. They aren’t wars where people are killed physically! Kabbalah only engages in correcting human egoism.

Question: I get the impression that there is purification through complete destruction (for example, idol worshiping cities), and that this is present even in the Torah. I am trying to understand how such actions can be properly carried out in accordance with “love for one’s neighbor.” It seems to me that even if these actions are sincerely performed out of love for one’s neighbor, they will still bring the following generations to wrong conclusions, and cruelty and destruction will result.

My Answer: Once again, these questions support the following conclusions: the Torah does not discuss externality; it only discusses the person’s inner correction. It is impossible to change or correct anything in egoism with physical actions. We only need to correct our egoistic nature. This is why the Torah only speaks about our inner correction.

Baal HaSulam writes with sorrow about the fact that Kabbalah books and The Zohar are full of “descriptions of our world,” and how this confuses people studying Kabbalah. For this reason, it is of utmost importance to free Kabbalah from that style, so that it would become clear to each and everyone studying Kabbalah that it only discusses spirituality. Spirituality does not clothe into materiality, and it has no connection to it whatsoever; it is only a force outside of matter. The entirety of Kabbalah needs to be rewritten in this style, so that nobody will be confused, and everybody will perceive its methodology correctly. This is what we still have to do!

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Two questions I received on Kabbalah and religion:

Question: I converted to Judaism five years ago, after an entire lifetime of studying and searching. Over the past several years I have been very devoted to Torah and its pardes. Now I have a dangerous question as a consequence of your lessons. When Bore Olam says: “my thoughts are not your thoughts,” and a sage says that the Torah is Bore Olam’s wisdom (that is His thoughts), does it mean that those Jews who observed Judaism over the last several thousand years understood everything incorrectly, and in reality, my search brought me to the wrong place?

My Answer: Without a doubt, you’re not in a perfect situation, and your place, just like everyone else’s place, is in the union with the Creator. If you search for this place, you’ll find Him.

Question: Were such great Kabbalists as Rav Baruch Ashlag, Moshe Cordovero, and others religious? And why do you wear a skullcap?

My Answer: It is not a question of faith. When Kabbalah refers to faith, it speaks of the perception of the Creator, the property of Bina, bestowal, which becomes revealed in us through the study of Kabbalah. I respect religious observances because they are my people’s cultural traditions. I understand that by observing them, I am not correcting my soul in any way, and that I observe only the framework within which my people lived over the entire course of history. Religious observances are not required in the study of Kabbalah.

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Article: The Difference Between Kabbalah and Religion
Lesson: The Difference Between Kabbalah and Religion [01:51:45]
Lesson: The Difference Between Kabbalah and Religion [01:51:45]
Lesson: The Difference Between Kabbalah and Religion (Transcript)

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