The Allegory of the Lost Friends in the Desert

There is an allegory about friends who were lost in the desert. One of them had found a settlement and remembered his poor brothers, but he was so far away from them that he didn’t know where they were. He began to shout; perhaps they would hear him and approach the abundant settlement.

It is similar with the issue before us. We, too, have been lost in the terrible desert, along with the whole of humanity, but now we have found a wonderful treasure—the Kabbalah books that nourish our souls. But the memory of our lost friends who are still in the desert does not give us rest.

We are very far and our words are not heard. This is why we have written these texts, so our brothers may hear and approach, and be as happy as we.

Know, our brothers, that the wisdom of Kabbalah is knowledge of how the world has descended from its highest point to our lowliness. Hence, in Kabbalah we can easily find all the corrections on our way henceforth, from the worlds that preceded us.

We evolve by suffering that pushes us from behind, which seems unavoidable. Yet, here before you is a book in which all the wisdom of statesmanship is written, and all the arrangements of public and private life that will prevail at the end of days, presented in the books of Kabbalah. Open these books and you will find all the good conducts that will appear at the end of days. From those you will learn how to properly arrange matters today, since we can learn from history how to correct the future.

I have seen all that, and I cannot restrain myself any longer. Hence, I have decided to disclose the ways of correction. I shall call upon the people of the world with this Shofar (symbolic horn), which I think should suffice to gather all those who will begin to delve in the books and determine themselves and the whole world to a scale of merit.

Egoism and Altruism

There are two kinds of people: egoists and altruists.

Egoists are those who do everything for their own benefit. If they do something to benefit others, they need a worthwhile reward, such as money or honor.

Altruists are those who sacrifice themselves to benefit others without any reward.

Egoism is inherent in every person’s nature, as in all animals. However, altruism is against human nature. Yet, there are a chosen few who have been granted this nature, which I call “idealists.” Even so, the majority of every state or society consists primarily of simple flesh and blood people, meaning egoists. Altruists are the exception, the minority. At most, they constitute ten percent of the society.

There is no way to avoid troubles except when all the nations of the world accept the altruistic government. The problem with today’s altruistic governments is the lack of reward, which is the workers’ motivation to work. At present, the motivation is reward and punishment, since neither punishment nor education, nor public opinion can change human nature and make people work willingly, without a suitable motivation.
The only solution to that is to fill people’s hearts with faith in spiritual reward and punishment from the Creator. Through proper education and circulation, this reward and punishment will be sufficient motivation for their work. Then, they will not need supervisors and managers to watch over them, and each person will work for the society more and more willingly, to be rewarded from above.

Basic Principles

1. Altruism: working according to ability and receiving according to need.

2. The whole world is one family. Eventually, the altruistic framework should encompass the whole world with equal standard of living for all. However, the actual process is gradual; each nation whose majority accepts the basic laws in practice, so it is a guaranteed motivation for them, will immediately come under the altruistic framework.

3. The economic form will be the same for all the nations, excluding religions and customs, which have no economic implications. In that, each nation will have its own form and it should not be changed.

4. The world must not be corrected by the wisdom of Kabbalah before the economic correction is secured.

5. There should be a detailed program of all the rules, and anyone who enters the altruistic framework must swear allegiance to it.

6. First, there should be a small establishment, whose majority are altruists, working as diligently as if they were contract workers. Each of them will work according to ability and receive according to need. This establishment will contain all the institutions of a state. Thus, even if this framework encompasses the entire world, at which time the forceful rule will be revoked, there will be no need for changes in work or in management.This establishment will be a focal point for the whole world, surrounded by nations and countries through the end of the world. Also, all who enter this framework will have the same program and the same leadership as the center; they will be as one nation in profit, in losses, and in consequences.

7. It is forbidden for any member of the establishment to use a foreign establishment. Instead, they will resolve all the conflicts among themselves, among the concerned parties. Public opinion, which denounces egoism, will condemn one who exploits one’s friend for personal gain.

8. The time has already come to establish an example of an altruistic society in one country.

9. The altruistic society should not be established before the majority of its members are in the desire to bestow.

10. The people of Israel must be the first to adopt the structure of the international altruistic society, to show the benefit and beauty of this government. They must be at the forefront of the redemption of the world.

11. Education of the younger generation: A sustainable society for generations can only be guaranteed if we establish altruistic education. Even though it will begin coercively, it will end willingly.

12. There is no hope to deliver the weak and the failing from the fear of war, unemployment, and baseness except by building an altruistic society. Hence, these words are not addressed at the diligent and the educated, for they will not accept it. Rather, only the failings will be able to understand this need, as well as those who sympathize with them.

13. In the end, the altruistic society will encompass the entire world with equal standard of living. However, the practical process is a gradual one. Each nation whose majority has been taught to bestow upon their fellow persons will enter the international altruistic framework. Also, all the nations within the international altruistic framework will have an equal standard of living. Thus, the surplus of the wealthy or the diligent countries will improve the standard of living of a failing country, or one with poor natural resources and means of production.

14. The spiritual form of all the nations will be bestowal upon one’s fellow person, “love thy friend as thyself.” Therefore, no one will benefit from society more than a failing member. Beyond that, each nation can follow its own religion and tradition, and one must not interfere with the other’s.

15. The majority of the people are completely primitive, since they did not try to apply the wisdom of Kabbalah. Evolution occurs through much suffering, by way of cause and consequence and dialectics. However, the majority of the people do not pay attention to the conduct of development and hence do not perceive it. The only way to educate the masses efficiently is through the wisdom of Kabbalah, by coming to hate the will to receive through the beauty and sublimity of the will to bestow.

16. Life’s purpose is either to adhere to the Creator in order to benefit the Creator, or to reward the masses with adhesion with the Creator.

17. The Creator guides people through egoism, which necessarily brings destruction to the world, unless they adopt the method of bestowal. Hence, there is a practical need for the method of bestowal, and from it one achieves Lishma (working for the Creator).

18. Good qualities, “not in order to receive reward,” based on social responsibility, are achieved through education. However, education needs the public opinion to sustain and nourish the individual, once a person has left the education system. Also, public opinion extends only from the public benefit.

19. Knowledge: this comes through tangible observations (experiments), historic ones (documentation), or mathematical (calculations of numbers, size, and pattern).

The wisdom of Kabbalah is confirmed by all the above, but it does not derive the way to knowledge from philosophical conclusions (deductions or inductions—from particular to general or from general to particular). This is strictly forbidden in the wisdom of Kabbalah, since “All that we do not attain, we do not know.”

20. The concept of the cooperative should ripen in man’s mind for at least three whole generations of general peace and consent. Hence, there will be many more attempts and cycles before the world comes to its end, and there is no easier way to ripen the ideas, but only through the wisdom of Kabbalah.

21. The very anticipated reward from the Creator, as well as the purpose of creation, are Dvekut (adhesion, attachment) with the Creator, by way of “a tower filled with goodly matters, but with no guests.” It is received by those who cling (adhere) to the Creator with love. Clearly, the first liberation from imprisonment is the exit from the skin of one’s body through bestowal upon one’s fellow person. Subsequently there is the arrival at the King’s palace, which is the Dvekut with Him through the intention to bestow contentment upon one’s Maker.

Hence, the essential Mitzvot (good deeds, corrections) are between man and man. One who prefers Mitzvot between man and God is like a person climbing to the second floor before climbing to the first. Clearly, he will break his legs.

22. The soul appears to a person only through acts to attain the Creator. This is because the soul is a part of the Creator. A soul is attained only in personal acts to attain the names of the Creator.

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