Ask A Question
You may ask me any questions you like on this page. I receive questions in many languages so, unfortunately, I am unable to get to every question. I try to select questions which speak to the widest readership, and you can search for my answers in upcoming blog posts. (If you subscribe to my blog’s RSS feed, then you can follow each new post from the moment it is added – click here to subscribe.)
Ask the Kabbalist
I will also be answering some of the questions asked here in my new English language TV show, Ask the Kabbalist, which is in production and will be published soon on this site. US residents can ask questions over the phone at 1-800-540-3234 (select option 3 and leave a message for the show).
Daily Lessons
Moreover, if you are studying Kabbalah materials, you can ask me questions related to the materials, and get answers live, in the daily Kabbalah lessons I teach from the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education Center, Israel, which are broadcast live on Kabbalah TV: 3:20am until 6:00am Israel (GMT+2) time, Sunday to Friday [Time Zone Converter].
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Dear Rav,
In your fourth lesson during the Mega Congress you talked about the need for a man to be married. Does this advantage apply only to new students?
Being 67 years old & having lost my wife of 45 years (~18 mos ago), I have no interest in beginning a new relationship. I have felt a new relationship would be a distraction to my Kabbalah studies & spiritual growth, but your comments in the aforementioned lesson have caused me to question my stand.
Can you please expound on any differing conditions for the requirement to be married?
Thanks – Felix
Hi Rav,
What does it mean that the righteous take by force? After all we say that the Creator is only good and kind and so why is there the necessity for the righteous or the aspiring righteous to take by force? Is this something that only a person who has attained the 3rd type of fear, the fear of His greatness, can do?
From website http://www.kabbalah.info, in the library section there is an article The Prophecy of Baal HaSulam. What does this prophecy mean?
This quote from the article, “I see two people fighting—one wise and perfect and strong, the other small and silly, like a new born child…”
Who is the perfect and strong one and who is the small and silly?
“And God said unto me: “Rise up, and look to the east.” And I raised my eyes and saw that the little one has at once risen and equaled himself and his level to the level of the big one, although he still lacked taste and reason as before….” what does this quote mean?
Hi Rav,
In the Zohar it describes the process of the righteous souls being created in unison in the thought of creation. Baal HaSulam, wishing to make sure we tread properly, tells us that all the words in the Zohar describe only the connection between the souls and the Creator. So then what does the Zohar describe with the above situation?
For my condition in Indonesia I haven’t met any physical friend which has the same desire of “what is the meaning of my life”. And in my virtual environment within the existing group schedule is to learn with the group (such as morning lesson, and I have virtual group the Australasia group but the time table do not meet my time table), so the only thing I do for now is watching the evening lesson live and morning lesson recorded (as much as I can–concerning the limited so-called 24 hours). My question is how do I connect with the group? I feel a great gap here, I do not know where to start on the bonding with the group.
Dear Rav,
You recently emphasized that women should start pressuring the men from the inside rather than externally. That the inner pressure and desire will be felt by men with no words necessary.
The women in my group and i agree, had noticed that we had tried to fill that emptiness unconsciously with either with food, shopping, TV…etc
Will our men feel the desire undoubtedly, if we become aware of that action daily and begin to hold on to that feeling of lack no matter how suffocating it may be? (or is that just unhealthy?)
I would like to clarify if the rav discourages charity to the poor. He mentioned during the mega congress that giving charity to the poor does not change anything – that they need to study kabbalah to attract the light.
If everybody follows rav’s advice on this, nobody will take care of the poor. How can the poor study kabbalah if they are hungry, needy, and sick. In my opinion, somebody has to do charity in the corporeal sense, as the saying says “we shall do and we shall hear”– do acts of love and revelation of the Creator will happen.
This advice by the rav can really be misleading if misinterpreted literally.
Dearest Rav,
Recently I was asked by a newcomer who wants to join a physical group with BB but does not want to attend any classes through the learning center if he can be part of a physical group and our worldwide group. He has never taken any classes through the Learning Center but watches the archived lessons. He asked me if I could explain terminology he hears you say in the lessons. I told him he needs to sign up through the Learning Center to take classes as all these things are explained there. What else should I tell him and is it possible for him to join our physical groups or does he have to do classes of some kind? Thank you in advance.
i am seeking to understand the language of the kabbalah to better undertand it, so i have these questions about “WORLDS” that are used in books and lessons.
What are the worlds refering to?, and how do they connect or relate to the kabbalah itself, and the roots and branches and sefirots?
I have been studying Kabbalah off and on since the 1980s. I have recently been studying with a group here in Houston from the Kabbalah Centre. I have also been following your on-line study class for the past year.
I was wondering if you have study groups in cities and specifically in my city?
Were you once affiliated with Rav Berg of the Kabbalah Centre? He indicates that his teacher was also Rav Ashlag.
I know that there are differences and different views, and I am really just curious.
Also, the group here in Houston was once a small remote Centre, that recently closed down under a huge amount of issue and grief. The students here are very fragmented and have requested a new teacher be assigned to them due to the ego and controlling nature of the teacher who came to close the Centre down. He appears to be exuding everything that Kabbalah is not, yet he was a decent teacher (from a teaching point of view).
Anyway, some the students here were aware I was also studying from your site and really made no comment.
Right now I am just tring to figure out what is my best path in order to learn, grow, continue to receive Light and share. I appreciate any feedback you might offer. Thank you.
love & light,
Janet
Hi Rav,
You said in yesterday’s lesson that there is the revelation where the Creator shows one a klipot desire but the person doesn’t yet have the proper forces to restrict/correct it. Before you’ve said that a person isn’t given a state that he can’t handle and that something is revealed to a person because now he has an opportunity to correct it. So then how does one gain the proper forces to perform these corrections?
Dear Rav,
How can I start my days in order to receive a spiritual, emotional and material support for myself and my daughter when I am a single mother? Is there a spiritual tool for that? Is there a practical answer?
My question: if our soul is consciousness? can we retain it after our death. Thank you very much and I will appreciate your answer and advice.
During the lesson I am in the desire to give (inside myself I am trying to feel like that). Is it “that” desire to give? After the lesson, when I come back to my daily life I feel my self in the desire to receive. Should I make efforts to keep myself in the desire to giver during the day (the same I feel during morning lessons)?
Hello Rav Laitman,
After the end of correction will the process repeat itself in a larger form relative to us? The idea of many cells forming a body and then many bodies forming Adam or the next unity in the context of ein sof implies that the process will ascend higher and higher forever as a sort of repeating fractal.
After the end of correction do we become as parents, and see it again from a different view?
How, as a woman can I attribute everything to the creator?
I know that a lot of people today are weary of religious things in general and also ‘new age spirituality’ etc. They have developed a deep distrust of such things because of the falsehoods they stand for.
Perhaps we need to review the way we package Kabbalah to the world, and develop intensely practical and egoistically attractive content to attract people to the wisdom with no religious or ‘spiritual’ references at all. Perhaps not even call it Kabbalah!!?
When Abraham began discovering the system surely he had no name for it at that stage, it was purely practical to him then??
In the wisdom we have an exciting and enticing method to decoding ones reality and enhancing ones life on the surface. The focus is initially on ‘self-advancement’ but then as the person delves deeper into the content and the ideas and interacts more with the group the greater reality is revealed. The main idea is to package the wisdom in a completely new way.
I think if we appeal to the practical side of people we stand more of a chance in getting through to them.
Perhaps this is of no need?
What are your thoughts?
Hi Rav,
If a desire and thoughts surface for things that one knows are detrimental to his progress, to his connection with the Creator, and one makes efforts to study and to restrict such things but sees no change… then what is the course of one’s action if he continues to study and sees where he wants to head but can not get there in regards to overcoming such obstacles?
DEAR DR. LAITMAN, (RAV) LAITMAN
I AM TRYING TO STUDY THE KABBALAH AND HAVE SEVERAL OF YOUR BOOKS AND ALSO THE ONE BY MICHAEL KELLOGG.
I AM A SUPPORT PERSON FOR THE AMERICAN MILITARY IN IRAQ. I DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO MANY RELIGIOUS SITES OR BLOGS OR FACEBOOKS, ETC. SEVERAL OF YOUR LINKS CANNOT BE ACCESSED. ACCESS IS DENIED BECAUSE OF RELIGIOUS CONTENT. I CERTAINLY CANNOT SIGN UP FOR THE FREE ONLINE COURSE YOU ARE STARTING IN AUGUST. IN FACT, I CAN’T EVEN GET ON THE PAGE TO SIGN UP.
I HAVE NO SUPPORT ENVIRONMENT. I AM ON MY OWN WHICH IS O.K. I AM USED TO BEING ON MY OWN. AS YOU CAN WELL IMAGINE THERE IS NOT A PLETHORA OF PEOPLE LOOKING FOR SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTMENT OVER HERE, AT LEAST I DON’T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE. BUT I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A SYLLABIS OR STUDY OUTLINE FOR THE NEXT YEAR OR SO.
I CAN BUY THE BOOKS FROM THE BOOKSTORE AT KABALLAH.INFO OR FROM AMAZON. THAT IS NO PROBLEM. I CAN ORDER ALL THE BOOKS I DESIRE. I JUST DON’T KNOW WHICH ONES TO ORDER. I HAVE YOUR VOL. 1 OF ANNOTATIONS TO THE ASHLAG COMMENTARY. I PLAN TO START THAT NEXT. BUT WHAT ABOUT STUDY OF THE TEN SEFIROT, THE TREE OF LIFE, SEFER YETZIRA, THE ANGEL RAZIEL ETC. ALSO WHAT ABOUT RABBI ASHLAG’S FIVE PRELIMARY WRITINGS.
DO YOU HAVE LESSONS? IF THEY AREN’T TO LONG I COULD POSSIBLY DOWNLOAD THEM.
IF YOU READ THIS, I JUST WANT A LITTLE GUIDANCE. YOU MUST BE AN EXTREMELY BUSY PERSON SO I WON’T BE BOTHERING YOU ANY MORE AT ALL.
YOURS TRULY,
DORIS ANN DJEDJOS
In order to rise above my egoism, I am supposed to disregard any opportunity to take pleasure for my own benefit. Does this mean that when I do something for another that I should feel nothing inside me? Am I to reject all sensations of pleasure whenever I attempt to help another person in some way?