What Is Sin In Kabbalah?

What Is Sin In Kabbalah?Two questions I received on sin and forgiveness:

Question: Dear Rav, if all of our thoughts and desires come to us from the Creator, then how is it possible to “sin”? Or, in other words, would you please explain what “sin” is in spirituality (or as it is understood in Kabbalah). Baal HaSulam makes many references to sin in Shamati, and I’m trying to understand what appears to be a paradox.

My Answer: “A sin” is when one’s thoughts disconnect from the Creator.

Question: In Kabbalah, are one’s sins forgiven if one really repents from them?

My Answer: We all start out as absolute sinners, because we are absolute egoists. Then we begin correcting ourselves until reaching the level called “absolutely righteous” – the level of bestowal and love for one’s neighbor and the Creator.

It is written, “There is no righteous person in the world who didn’t sin beforehand.” This means that a person first reveals his egoism (this is considered a sin, even though the egoism is given to us from above), and then he corrects it. When one corrects his egoism to the quality of bestowal and love, through the force of the Creator – this is called forgiveness.

In the Torah (Kabbalah), these notions are completely different from the way we ordinarily define them. We think that we were the ones who created our sinful qualities, and that we can correct them on our own, without the Creator’s help. We don’t realize that we are sinners from the beginning; we think that we only sin when we do something bad. However, in fact, everything about us is sinful, egoistic. When a person reveals the egoism inside him, he then feels that he is a sinner. However, he is already on the way to becoming righteous, unlike those who still don’t realize that they are sinners.

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One Comment

  1. Hello,
    I have many thoughts..Let me say that i am a non jewish no-one that started studing religions from age 10 on. Each religion had something but none had what was in my heart, that God was the purist form of love. So eventurally thru prayer for understanding and wisdom, I was forced to come up with my own religion. Everyone since I was a small child thought I was crazy. I would say things like, we are not from here. This matter does not matter. So now at age 53 I finally Got to your knowledge and find that the religion in my head that everyone said was nuts is everything I read in your materials. Now that I have done this study something else through prayer has come. I have seen in my mind things that I know to be true yet, I do not see any material on these things. 1, we are a illusion. 2 The body is a leather suitcase. 3, we move through the worlds as a blink of a eye and not even conciously know we have done this. What I call the eye of the creators is one of blackness on one side and one of light on the other.. Liken to a black hole, for no other way for me to explain. You say there are stages to the speaking and yet I have seen these things for so long I thought I was crazy along with other people thinking so. I have no church to voice these things to. I have no ability to say to one or another anything. I read and listen to you and the others on your site. I have no problem in understanding because I have seen this before I read and listen. Not all but most. Some just clearify my questions on what I have thought to be true. Now I wonder…what do I do now? I spend my time loving God, people, and what is around me. I have felt for a long time to have a meeting place to teach what I know, I have told God that I can not speak until I know what is the truth. He sent me to you. So now i need to have someone who can tell me what I am to do with these things, I am noone to teach anything…and who would listen to noone. The creator is in my ear always to seek you…please help me to understand. thank you. Leslie

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