A question I received: What are the words of the old prayer that you mentioned during on of the lessons?

My Answer: It was probably this one:

אלי, תן לי את השלווה לקבל את הדברים שאין ביכולתי לשנותם, האומץ לשנות את אשר ביכולתי, והתבונה להבחין בין השניים

My Lord, give me the humility to accept the things I cannot change, the strength to change the things I should change, and the wisdom to distinguish between the two.

Related Material:
Kabbalah Revealed: “Know Your Limits”

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A question I received: In one of your books, you wrote that Moses (Moshe in Hebrew) comes from the word Moshech - to pull out. However, the word Moshe ends with the letter Hey, and the word Moshech ends with the letter Kaf. So from the linguistic point of view, the roots don’t quite match.

My Answer: His name was given to him by Batia, Pharaoh’s daughter, who found him in the Nile river and pulled him out of it. This is why she named him Moshe. It says so in the Bible. However, there are also other, additional meanings to the names. In essence, they refer to a person’s actions and predestination.

Baal HaSulam writes, “The mountain of olives (Har HaZeitim) may have been named by regular people, rather than Kabbalists, who saw that this mountain is good for cultivating a plantation of olive trees. But this name also corresponds to the inner, spiritual meaning of the place, and the reason for this is that all of nature is revealed in such a way that people speak and act without understanding what governs them.”

Related Material:
Kabbalah Today Article: What’s In a Name?

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Two questions I received on studying Kabbalah in Hebrew:

Question: I constantly listen to your lessons in English, and I recently started wanting to learn Hebrew. Does this mean that I am realizing my Reshimot, or is it just an altruistic desire to know the language of someone close to me? Later, when our points in the heart will fully develop, will we want to speak the same language as everyone around us, as we did before the Tower of Babel?

My Answer: Hebrew and Aramaic came to us from the times of ancient Babylon, and I believe we’ll be using them in the future as well. It’s worthwhile to study them, at least to the extent they are necessary for understanding our lessons and discussions.

Question: Why are some texts translated, while others – very important ones, in my opinion – aren’t? Maybe you do have them, but you only make them available to your closest students? For example, there is no official translation of some of Rabash’s articles, which are studied in the first part of the lesson. So I am forced to listen to the simultaneous translation while you are reading the text, but simultaneous translation is not always precise.

My Answer: Everything we have is available to everyone, free of charge. We translate what we can, and when we have the means, we will translate all the lessons.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Intricacies of the Hebrew Language
Laitman.com Post: A Computer Screen Will Never Replace a Book
A Guide to the Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah: II. “Before there Was Time. 10. When Letters and Words Add Up”

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I had a meeting that was recorded with Dan Kaner, the anchorman of radio Kol Israel and a popular Television host in Israel.

Dan Kaner is a true master of the Hebrew language, with extraordinary knowledge of its intricacies, origin, history and evolution. Therefore, it was a real pleasure speaking to him about the Hebrew language as used in Kabbalah.

By origin, Hebrew is a symbol for the forces operating in the universe. It harmoniously expresses the essence of man and nature through letters and symbols (TANTA). Combining and ordering the letters to form words and sentences is a means to describe the order of the creature’s creation and correction, all the way until the full correction – similarity to the Creator or Light. The Torah exemplifies this order. Knowing what forces and actions are indicated by the letters enables one to move all along the process of creation, to become incorporated in it at different stages, and to thereby gain a better understanding of the Creator’s plan.

Dan was very impressed with the wealth that the language of Kabbalah offers in describing the Hebrew language, the sensations that every letter evokes when interpreted Kabbalistically, and the music of feelings that plays in the combination of letters. He understood that Kabbalah enables one to enter the world of letters, symbols, forces and desires – to feel them and their filling with the Light.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Between the Lines – A Talk About Words and Letters
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Book of Ten Sefirot – Preface”

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