There are actions during our meetings when we have to give up all our criticism and simply merge with everyone. How can I do that? I can do it precisely by jumping and singing together with everyone like a child, nullifying myself.

This attitude connects me to the general state, giving me the ability to come out of my limitations and feel a spiritual "wind"! It might seem as though this kind of behavior is reckless, but it only seems that way to us because we don’t recognize the spirituality in it, and that’s because it is the Light of Infinity! We are unable to discern anything in it with our instruments of perception. That’s why it seems to us that it is lifeless or still (Nefesh). However, whether or not we will be able to see the whole spiritual Light of NaRaNHY in it depends entirely on our Kli .

Everything that comes from unity, even the smallest kind, is perfection. Therefore, it is precisely in this manner, through mutual dance when you are jumping together with others, that we have the opportunity to perceive a spiritual sensation.

These dances came to us from the great Kabbalists, especially Baal Shem Tov. Rabash also made us, his students, dance this way. It’s not just recklessness; inside the dance there is serious thought and tremendous work. Suddenly you don’t want it and thoughts "for" and "against" alternate within you with great frequency, evoking horrible doubts. Meanwhile, you continue to jump….

It also isn’t meditation because you don’t disconnect from reality. You are always standing before the question: What am I doing and why? What does this give me, who is making me do this, and who am I jumping together with, what connects us? You go through the entire inner work from beginning to end while you are dancing.

The dance forces you to go through all the different thoughts that exist against it! They are against unity, which you don’t want. Your mind always rises up in battle against this and you are forced to make discernments.

That is why the dance turns into arduous inner work. You come out of it simply drained, devoid of energy. And it’s not because you jumped, but because you went through so many discernments inside. You are dancing inside yourself, in your inner ascents and descents. And the fact that you are externally jumping at the same time is only there in order to awaken these inner states in you.

You are jumping externally, rising and falling, while inside of you there is a profusion of other ascents and descents taking place simultaneously – and that’s the most important thing! Without the external actions you will not be able to make the inner ones. One won’t happen without the other. That’s why the dance turns into a unique means of working. This is why Baal Shem Tov and the first Hassidim, who were Kabbalists, taught these traditions.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/2010, A Lesson About the Role of the Nation

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A question I received: I often think of my thoughts and feelings as an audience with different desires. One large group of desires are the “foes” of Kabbalah, who say, “We can’t imagine life without a wide array of feelings, including pain, suffering, and negative emotions! What will happen to art, music, theater, and cinema?”

Our existence is founded on comparison, critique and competition. What could be better than this? Peace, eternity and bliss are so dull! We only want a small piece of this “happiness,” but we don’t want it for everyone or forever. How will people be able to live without tears and drama?

My Answer: You envision spirituality as motionless and paradise as dull. However, the real drama happens only when our nature clashes with the Creator. Anything else, preceding this, is just “child’s play,” because for now we cannot even comprehend where we are.

We are like newborns, crying from small offenses and giggling from small pleasures. We will outgrow this phase and will come to understand how limited our presents forms of art are, expressing only our minuscule earthy egoism and its “dramas.” These “dramas” are fake, and you only hold on to them because you still have not outgrown them, or because you were taught “to suffer” through them.

Art is in crisis just as much as everything else. You will have to find a new means to express humanity’s modern pain; the old classics cannot help with this. Art portrays the inner world of each generation and therefore, it will change.

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A question I received: At the Congress, while answering a woman’s question, you said that sometimes, when a person begins to study Kabbalah, he loses interest in his profession, especially if it’s a creative profession that involves making movies, music, art, and so on. I write songs, but recently I realized that I don’t want to do this anymore, even though this work used to be the meaning of my life. Why does this happen?

My Answer: It’s because you have revealed something that’s more important in life than art. Now you have to combine Kabbalah with your former occupation: create movies, music, or art about attaining the meaning of life, unification, one’s inner search, and so on.

Actually, everyone in our world will have to bring their occupations into harmony with the new state of the world and the revelation of the Creator. And if someone is unable to do this, it means that their profession has no future.

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Two questions I received on art and its purpose:

Question: What’s the role of arts and culture in the modern world?

My Answer: The methods and vehicles of art and culture should be used to explain the purpose of life and the means to attain it. After all, there is nothing more to our lives in this world other than achieving life’s inner purpose, the Creator.

Question: The times are changing and the situation is forcing us to limit ourselves to just the bare necessities. What do Kabbalists say about the role of artists and art in our world?

My Answer: The only things that will remain are those necessary and essential for the “new humanity,” or in other words, whatever is needed to reveal life’s cause, purpose, and the best way to attain it. Art will be Kabbalistic – aimed at the Creator, rather than the animalistic existence.

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Two questions I received on the arts and spirituality:

Question: In a previous blog entry, in response to the question of whether works of art are spiritual, you said: “All art was brought about by man’s desire to express himself, or in other words, by the desire for glory, to stand out, to prove something (even if it’s to himself), to express his way of seeing things.”

But you have also said that “A desire cannot be bad if it is accompanied by the intention to bestow.”

My Answer: In order to acquire an intention of bestowal, a person has to study Kabbalah for at least three years. Then, as a result of the Upper Light’s influence, the quality of bestowal will appear within him. There is no other means to correct your original egoistic intention and transform it into a spiritual one.

Question: An actor is connected with the audience and they understand each other. He gives fully of himself to them, and in return receives applause (fulfillment). The audience applauds with great emotion, giving all of their feelings to the actor, and in return they receive fulfillment from his performance. It is a mutual, yet egoistic connection. Should our adhesion with the Creator be something like this?

My Answer: In the example above you’re exchanging different types of pleasure. However, when it comes to the Creator, you must become similar to Him through the quality of bestowal, and this will determine the degree of your connection with Him.

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Two questions I received on the arts:

Question: I know that the arts are a manifestation of the ego. But being a person who dabbles in poetry and music, I can’t help but ask: What is the spiritual root of poetry? Can I (a person who hasn’t developed a spiritual Kli nor crossed the Machsom) write poetry and songs about Kabbalah and the Creator? After all, I don’t receive the Light into my soul yet. Should I try it anyway?

My Answer: Actually, the root of the arts is power and ambition. It doesn’t matter over whom – it may even be yourself. Follow the example of the great Kabbalist King David: the Psalms he wrote are still recited today by the entire world. Do as he did!

Question: Kabbalah fights egoism. But at the same time you reject philosophy, history, and the arts. Why?

My Answer: I do not reject anything. I only want to arrange everything according to its level of importance. Since Kabbalah speaks about man’s correction, connection and union with the Creator, eternal existence, and how to replace suffering with pleasure, hence it is incomparably more important than anything else in our lives. After all, what else can compare to Kabbalah when its purpose – and its capability – is to deliver man to a happy existence in this world, and to add an eternal and perfect existence on top of that?

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A question I received: In a previous blog entry you wrote, “Everything relating to the body’s desires (such as food, sex, and family) that exceeds the normal needs, is superfluous. Hence it is harmful for the body and the soul, as well as for all of the surrounding nature, and it makes man imbalanced with nature. These excesses usually appear under the influence of society. Besides the bodily desires, there are additional desires that emerge in man because he lives in society. If he lived alone in the woods, then these desires would never emerge in him. There are the desires for wealth, fame, power, and knowledge.”

But what about man’s desire for beauty and the arts? Is spending time on the arts also harmful? And if there is nothing spiritual in this world, then how do you explain the masterpieces of art?

My Answer: Everything man creates in our world comes from his desires, whether physical (food, sex, and family) or social (wealth, glory, power, and knowledge). All art was brought about by man’s desire to express himself, or in other words, by the desire for glory, to stand out, to prove something (even if it’s to himself), to express his way of seeing things, and so on.

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