A question I received: In a previous blog entry someone asked you: “How is it known that there is only one true source of Kabbalah?” You answered: “There can’t be several because the Creator is one.”

I fully agree with you about Berg and his shamanistic business concepts, such as selling spirituality through red strings, cameos and reading spells or blessings. But I still don’t understand why there is only one, unique and single source of Kabbalah! After all, during the times of the Second Temple there were thousands of Kabbalists. Based on the qualities of their souls, each of them taught his students differently about how to attain the Single Creator. The students had a choice.

Moreover, you have said that until the 19th century most rabbis were Baalei Hasaga (they attained spirituality), so people also had a choice.

But now you’re declaring that your path is the only correct one. Can our world really be so scanty on Kabbalists that there’s no one left but you who is

a) A Kabbalist, and

b) A revealed Kabbalist – someone whom you, as a Kabbalist, can genuinely recommend to a potential student who is still at the stage of searching for the right Teacher? And what about the verse, “There are many paths to the Creator”?

My Answer: In the process of studying Kabbalah, one often experiences doubts about the correctness of the path. This happens because the path and the goal are concealed. The path is paved with descents, and times of clarity are rare. Unlike egoistic advancement, on the path of Kabbalah you are going against yourself. This is why the question arises, “Can it be true that the worse things are, the better they are?”

When I asked Rabash about how can I be sure that he is my teacher, he replied, “You have to verify this for yourself!” In fact, even Baal HaSulam wrote in his Letters that he no longer saw any Kabbalists in his generation. I also don’t see any, other than myself and my students.

Every person has to find his own teacher. I don’t have the addresses of “Teachers-Kabbalists,” but you can easily find them through the search engines by searching the keyword “Kabbalah.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: There Are Many Paths to the Creator
Laitman.com Post: One’s Soul Shall Teach One
Kabbalah Today Article: The Introduction
Baal HaSulam – “Letters”
Chapter from Book Attaining the Worlds Beyond: Fear of the Creator
Chapter from Book Attaining the Worlds Beyond: Rav Laitman’s Quest for the Kabbalah

Filed under: Spiritual Teacher, Spirituality - 1 Comment →

Questions I received on the virtual society of the future:

Question: Which technical means (Internet, TV, radio, and so on) can be used to create the virtual society of the future? Does the necessary technical support exist today? What other things are necessary that haven’t yet manifested in our world?

My Answer: We are starting to really focus on this now, and it is becoming our highest priority project – to create a virtual meeting space for all those who aspire to unite, who strive toward the Creator. As soon as this common aspiration will acquire the needed goal-oriented force, it will begin radiating with similarity to the Creator. He will then become revealed to everyone within this unity.

Your advancement upwards depends on the efforts you make to disseminate Kabbalah outwards – to add more souls to the correction. Hence I recommend not missing the opportunity to participate in the development of the virtual Kabbalistic community.

You can send your ideas to [email protected]

Question: Since the internet is developing so fast, is there any point in hosting distance classes for beginners? Maybe we should have fewer classes like this?

My Answer: I think that soon this will come to an end on its own. However, as long as there are people who desire this, we should continue doing it. You should continue developing only the virtual education, communication, and even congresses.

Question: Your blog is already a virtual group for those who “enter” it. However, don’t real groups have a very big influence on the world Kli, while the influence of an internet participant is much smaller? Yet the combined influence of a large number of virtual participants is much bigger than the influence of real groups?

My Answer: Everything adds up to a combined effort until it will reach the necessary size, and then – inside this common mass – everyone together will start to feel the Upper Presence.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: It’s Time to Implement Baal HaSulam’s Dream – In Virtual Space!
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Kabbalah Today Article: The One Link Google Can’t Reach
Kabbalah in Second Life

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A question I received: I watched your children’s lesson where you explained that everything around us is an imaginary world (Olam Dimioni). In this lesson and other lectures you gave on this topic, people always reach a point of confusion and bring up the question, “So this means that I can imagine anything whatsoever? Then why does this world still appear corporeal, and why do my fantasies remain fantasies?”

My Answer: Man has two mechanisms for creating the imaginary reality. One if them lies beyond our consciousness. It is deeper, and is responsible for creating the picture of the world that we call “reality.” The second mechanism of creating pictures lies within our consciousness and is more superficial. This is the one we all know and we use it when creating our fantasies.

We are only able to control the second mechanism, but not the first, fundamental one. That’s because it forms and begins working in us even before we achieve self-awareness. Hence the work of this mechanism is not registered in our consciousness and simply appears to us as the normal, habitual picture of reality.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Reality Is In Our Imagination
Laitman.com Post: Where Do Thoughts, Ideas, and Dreams Come from?
Laitman.com Post: Reality is Imaginary
Baal HaSulam Article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah” – Lesson 1
Baal HaSulam Article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah” – Lesson 2

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A question I received: I thought that all the terms in Kabbalah, such as Goy (gentile), the nations of the world, Israel, and Jew, are states that every person must experience. It’s sad that all of your answers are always two-sided. From this explanation it follows that Adam HaRishon is not a common state, but only for genetic Jews, because they have already been there, while the “gentiles” haven’t even had a slight taste of it. But then why are they in a state of descent?

My Answer: You should look at everything objectively, like a researcher. Then you’ll be closer to the truth. All the terms exist both on the corporeal and the spiritual levels. Every person must experience every state.

Those who have gone through the spiritual ascent and descent in the past are the genetic Jews, starting with Abraham, the first Kabbalist. (We don’t consider anyone before him since there was no system, even though everything started with Adam.) These people (souls) must be the first to go through the correction, because they broke during the First and the Second Temples. They must then pass the method on to everyone else.

On the corporeal level, they are hated and abused for neglecting this mission. Incidentally, the Hebrew word Goy (gentile) means a nation. Israel is also referred to as “Goy,” but “Goy Kadosh” – a holy nation, provided that it is in the quality of love and bestowal.

Adam is the common soul of all people. A part of Adam – the souls of Abraham’s students, underwent spiritual ascent and breaking. Another part of the souls, the Goyim (gentiles) never ascended or broke. The broken souls are worse than those that didn’t break, but they also have a greater predisposition toward correction because they contain the broken spiritual desires. This is why they are obligated to become “Ohr Le Goim” – the Light for the nations of the world, who don’t contain the broken desires.

Being “chosen” means being responsible for mastering the method of correction and passing it on to the entire world, or in other words – spiritually serving the world.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Israel Are Those Who Aspire Straight to the Creator
Laitman.com Post: Building the Third Temple
Kabbalah Today Article: Who Are You, People of Israel?
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Baal HaSulam Article: “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”
Baal HaSulam Article: “Messiah’s Horn”

Filed under: Israel - 2 Comments →

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.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Don’t Fight Egoism Alone – It Will Always Win!
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Baal HaSulam Article: “The Love for the Creator & Love for the Created Beings”
Chapter from Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “The Return to the Creator”
Chapter from The Zohar: “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya”

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The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Tenth Commandment” (abridged)

237. The tenth Commandment (law of nature) is to put on Tefillin (correct one’s egoism) and thereby to attain equivalence with the Creator, as it is written, THE CREATOR CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE. He opened (the way for the Light of Rashbi) and said (passed it on to his students), “Your head upon you is like the Carmel.” This text refers to the Supernal head – the Tefillin worn on the head of the Holy, Supernal King HaVaYaH (the governing force), written in separate letters (specific actions). Each letter (action) in the holy name (program) HaVaYaH corresponds to a certain paragraph in the Tefillin (a certain correction). Thus, the Holy, Supernal Name (the Creator’s quality) is written in the scrolls of Tefillin, in the secrets of the letters (is revealed through the correction). For THE NAME OF THE CREATOR IS UPON YOU, AND THEY SHALL BE AFRAID OF YOU (your enemies are your uncorrected desires) refers to the head Tefillin, which contains the Holy Name HaVaYaH.

238. The first passage in the Tefillin corresponds to the letter Yod of the name HaVaYaH (Hochma) and refers to the Commandment, “Sanctify to Me all the firstborns.” This is because Hochma is the firstborn (the first correction) of all the Supernal Ones (qualities). It opens the place of conception for the future firstborn with the help of a thin line of Light that emanates from Yod, which opens the womb (Bina) and impregnates it.

239. The second passage (correction) in the Tefillin (equivalence to the Creator), WHEN YOU COME, corresponds to the first letter Hey of the name HaVaYaH, the hall (Bina) that opens up under the influence of the letter Yod (Aba) in fifty entrances, passages, and chambers concealed within it. The revelation that Yod made in that hall was done so as to hear the voice of the Shofar (a ram’s horn), Bina. The Shofar is closed on all sides, but the letter Yod came and opened it so that its sound could be heard. And since it opened the Shofar and derived sound from it, Yod led all to freedom.

240. At the sounds of the Shofar, the sons of Israel were delivered from Egypt. And so shall the Shofar be blown in the future, the next time at the end of days. And all deliverance originates from this Shofar, which is Bina. This is why the deliverance from Egypt is mentioned in this chapter of the Torah, for this Shofar stems from the force of the letter Yod, which opens the womb and delivers the captives to freedom. And this is the letter Hey, the second letter of the name HaVaYaH.

241. The third passage in the Tefillin is the secret of the Unity in “Hear O Israel,” the letter Vav in HaVaYaH, which includes all and designates ZA, who contains the unity of all. Everything merges in unity within him, and he receives all. The fourth passage that reads, “You shall hear,” includes two sides, Hesed and Gevura, which unite with the Assembly of Israel, called the lower Gevura or Malchut. And this is the last letter Hey of the name HaVaYaH, which takes and includes them all.

242. Tefillin are the letters of the holy name. Therefore, “Your head upon you is like the Carmel” refers to the head Tefillin. The letter Dalet refers to the hand Tefillin, Malchut, who is depleted of Light, compared to the head Tefillin, ZA, but she contains the perfection of the Upper One.

The hand Tefillin designates Malchut. And she is poor in comparison with Bina, the Upper World. Yet, she has her own perfection, for she now receives it from Bina thanks to the unity between Nukva and ZA in “Blessed be His great name for ever and ever.”

243. “The King is held captive in the tubs” means that he is tied down and held in those four compartments of the Tefillin for the purpose of being properly united with that holy name. And he who makes this correction, exists in image and likeness, TZELEM, with the Creator. Just as the holy name is united in the Creator, the holy name is united in him. “Male and female he created them” refers to the head and the hand Tefillin. And it is one.

“The King is held captive in the tubs” signifies ZA, who is bound and unified in those compartments of the Tefillin. The compartments of the Tefillin, which contain the passages from the Torah, are called “tubs” or “troughs,” just like the tubs from which sheep drink water, for the waters of Ohr Hochma and Ohr Hassadim are bound and restricted by these Kelim, the compartments of the Tefillin. And it is the Creator who is bound tight and held in these Kelim, so as to be unified in the holy name.

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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.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Does a Man Look for In a Woman?
Laitman.com Post: Man, Woman and Divinity Between Them
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The Path of Kabbalah: Chapter 2.6 – “Discovering Spiritual Properties”

Filed under: Love, Mutual Guarantee, Q&A, Spiritual Work - 1 Comment →

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.”

Related Material:
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Kabbalah Today Article: What Is Happening to Our Economy?
Kabbalah Today Article: The Hurricane Within
Article – “Lecture in Arosa”

Filed under: News - 1 Comment →

News Report (from The Epoch Times): Most people assume that our memories must exist somewhere inside our heads. But try as they might, medical investigators have been unable to determine which cerebral region actually stores what we remember. Could it be that our memories actually dwell in a space outside our physical structure?

According to biologist Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, author of numerous scientific books and articles, memory does not reside in any geographic region of the cerebrum, but instead in a kind of field surrounding and permeating the brain. Meanwhile, the brain itself acts as a “decoder” for the flux of information produced by the interaction of each person with their environment.  Sheldrake likens the brain to a TV set—drawing an analogy to explain how the mind and brain interact.

…all organisms belong to their own brand of form-resonance—a field existing both within and around an organism, which gives it instruction and shape. …the morphogenetic approach sees organisms intimately connected to their corresponding fields, aligning themselves with the cumulative memory that the species as a whole has experienced in the past.

… “The key concept of morphic resonance is that similar things influence similar things across both space and time,” writes Sheldrake.

While the search for memory challenges traditional biological understanding, investigators like Sheldrake believe that the true residence of memory is to be found in a non-observable spatial dimension. … the brain does not act as a storage facility, or even the mind itself, but the physical nexus necessary to relate the individual with its morphic field.

My Comment: Kabbalah explains that we contain a chain of informational records (Reshimot). These records “come to life” one after another under the influence of the field surrounding us (Light), turning into the dynamic picture of the world that we perceive. This is similar to the way a computer plays a video recording that is evoked from its memory.

We cannot influence the chain of the recordings. However, we have the ability to learn the program that plays them and facilitate their successful realization through our efforts. In this case, we launch the program and attain its cause, flow, and purpose, thereby rising to the level of the Creator.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: A Reshimo Is One’s Complete Future State
Laitman.com Post: The Reshimot Surfacing Today Demand Spiritual Ascent of All Humanity
Interview with the Future – Part 6  “The Creation of the Reshimot”

Filed under: Perception - No Comments →

News Report (from PRNewswire): NEW YORK, Oct. 2 — In the wake of the collapse of major investment banks and the government’s proposed bailout of financial institutions, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is reporting a dramatic upsurge in the number of anti-Semitic statements being posted to Internet discussion boards devoted to finance and the economy.

Hundreds of anti-Semitic posts regarding Lehman Brothers and other institutions affected by the sub prime mortgage crisis have been submitted to discussion boards dealing with finance, with many more arriving by the minute. The messages rail against Jews in general, with some charging that Jews control the government and finance as part of a “Jew world order” and therefore are to blame for the economic turmoil.

My Comment: “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” items 66-71, (summary):

When the people of Israel make efforts to elevate the soul, then the nations of the world recognize this and value them. But when the people of Israel lower the greatness of spirituality, they cause the nations of the world to prevail over them, to accuse and humiliate them.

Spirituality can only be elevated through the study of Kabbalah. Then the nations of the world acknowledge that Israel is special, because it has the method to correct the world. But when the people of Israel do not engage in elevating the goal of creation, then the nations of the world degrade them, considering them useless and harmful to the world.

Hence, Israel’s fate depends only on the study of Kabbalah, and its entire descent was caused by the neglect of Kabbalah. Woe to them who neglect Kabbalah – their actions cause hunger, poverty, war, violence, pillage, killings and destruction in the world.

The Talmud says, “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.”

The Tikkuney Zohar says: “Woe to them who cause poverty and ruin and robbery and killings in the whole world.”

But if they will reveal the method of correction to themselves and the world, then all the nations of the world will recognize the importance of Israel and they shall carry out the words: “And the nations of the world shall take Israel, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall posses them in the land of the Lord” ((Isaiah 14:2). And the words of The Book of Zohar will come true: “That through this composition, which is The Book of Zohar, they will be freed from spiritual exile by the Creator’s mercy” (Nasah 124). Amen!

Additional Comment: However, it’s also possible for things to take a different turn. The “patriotic” forces of every country, combined with the middle class that has fallen into poverty, may create a situation similar to Germany in 1929, when people will start demanding a powerful centralized government and compensation for their degraded state. This is how Fascism and Nazism arise.

Baal HaSulam writes about this alternative to the path of Kabbalah in the book “The Future Generation.” Russia is perhaps closest to this than any other country.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Why Does Everyone Hate Israel?
Laitman.com Post: The Solution – Excerpts from the Writings of the Last Generation by Baal HaSulam
Laitman.com Post: The Writings of the Last Generation
Laitman.com Post: Where Is the World Going – Nazism or Global Unity?
Kabbalah Today Article: Unraveling the Zohar – a Wakeup Call

Filed under: Anti-Semitism - No Comments →