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A comment I received: I’m shocked and moved to tears to find out that we are also potential Nazis. Why did great Kabbalists, who attained Gmar Tikkun (final correction), continue to take part in cruel slaughter and use of animals? How can it be possible that the exalted teaching of Kabbalah ignores cruelty to animals?

It’s obvious that it won’t correct anything in the soul if we were all to become vegetarian. But great Kabbalists corrected everything and did not become lovers of miserable animals. How can this be? Maybe there are 126 levels and the time of the complete Gmar Tikkun has arrived only now, when “love thy neighbor as yourself” will also include animals, plants and the still level of nature? As far as I understand with my simple mind, we must ultimately feel love for ants and bugs as well…

My Response: There are rules for how to act in order to correspond to the general law of nature, called Elokim. Man has been created opposite to this law, and our task is to change ourselves in order to be the same as this law. This is the purpose of our existence in this world. This change in a person, from our level to the Creator’s level, can be attained only by studying Kabbalah. Baal HaSulam writes about it in the article “Introduction to the Book ‘From the Mouth of a Sage’”: “Even if a person is completely righteous in this world, knows the whole Torah and has fulfilled all the earthly commandments, but did not study Kabbalah, then he must return to this world again in order to study Kabbalah” – because only by studying Kabbalah does he attract the Light of Correction to him, as written in the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” item 155.

By correcting himself, a person unwillingly acts according to the Upper Laws. When this happens, how does he relate to the nature around him? He relates to it based on the degree of his equivalence of the Creator. And no matter what he relates to, he does so based on his equivalence to the Creator. But perhaps his actions and behavior won’t seem righteous to you, because you imagine righteousness differently to what it is in the spiritual world.

 

 What Is Control? [4:13m]: Play Now | Download

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News Story (translated from Cursorinfo.co.il): Israel is a unique nation trying to survive a deadly battle. It’s a nation that worships life at a time when it’s surrounded by enemies that worship death. And it has to solve a two-sided dilemma: How to use the advantages of the “society of life” in the battle with the “society of death”?

A mandatory condition in this battle is a tacit social contract according to which every Israeli pledges to risk his life whenever necessary, under the condition that the other citizens will do the same. The spirit of this tacit contract is that we all agree to place our lives in danger for the sake of our mutual survival.

For Israel, breaching this social agreement is much more dangerous than HAMAS and Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. Breaching this unwritten document leads to a situation where less and less young citizens want to become soldiers who protect the country and risk their lives doing so. As a result, the country’s leaders also have less and less moral right to send people into the heat of battle. Less and less Israelis feel protected, and it’s not because the enemy has gotten stronger, but because the social contract is disappearing from our life.

My Comment: And its only solution is in the mutual guarantee of helping one another survive. Then, in such a connection, we will discover a special fulfillment - the perception of the Upper Governing Force. We will understand that everything was created for the sole purpose of revealing this force to us. When we connect to it, we will feel that we exist eternally and perfectly. However, we can go through this path by means of the Light instead of suffering. See Baal HaSulam’s articles “The Arvut” (”Mutual Guarantee”), “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah” and “The Freedom.”

Following Israel, the whole world will feel that it is in the same situation - that its existence is endangered. And whether by the path of suffering or by the path of revealing Kabbalah, it will have to come to the Light.

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 Weapons of Mass Destruction [03:25m]: Play Now | Download

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A question I received: You are constantly making stabs at the Kabbalah Centre and for the life of me I can’t understand why. They have the lineage. Rav Berg learned through Ashlag and the lineage. Is it because you were connected, but not given the Kabbalah Centre? You then started your own center. I read your books, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to kabbalah. It is a book without religion or spirituality, it is just science. I enjoyed it, but the Kabbalah Centre offers spirituality, holiday obsservance and they have lineage with Brandwein, Ashlag and the Ari. It just hurts me to see someone who is into Kabbalah, like yourself, putting down other people for the red string and their own beliefs. Isn’t that anti-Kabbalah?

My Answer: Personally, I consider Berg a failed Kabbalist. He just didn’t have a true teacher. Berg did not study Kabbalah with any true Kabbalist; you can ask Ashlag or Brandwein about it. No true Kabbalist could have taught him to sell Kabbalah for money. And I never wanted his center. I had a teacher - the last great Kabbalist, the eldest son of Baal HaSulam and his spiritual successor – Rav Baruch Ashlag. I was never connected to the Kabbalah Center. I was there once to give an introductory lecture and immediately understood that there is nothing to learn there. After I was studying with Rav Baruch Ashlag for a year, I offered teaching a class to Berg’s lecturers in the Kabbalah Center, in order to teach them at least something. As a result, they left his center and came to my teacher, and they became Kabbalists. That acquaintance and my visit to his center took place in 1980, but I opened my center only in 1995. Please tell me: what Kabbalistic sources are used for study in those “Kabbalah” centers? What works of the great Kabbalists do they study there? But after all, it’s only by studying them that a person receives the recognition of evil and its correction (Ohr Makif). And about me envying Berg: There was a time when I was giving lectures in LA and he offered me a teaching job in his center. I said I would do it, but on the condition that we study from the original sources. He laughed when I said this to him, and he told me “Who will pay you the kind of money for this that I’m now getting?” And he was right…

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 What Is the Essence of Kabbalah? [04:32m]: Play Now | Download

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Two questions I received on freedom of choice

Question: What do you do when you understand that there is none else beside Him in reality, and that even I don’t exist? I felt this today and I got scared. It’s a game, and I am not a part of it. I got a feeling that there is only one way out of this - to become a human being, to develop the point in the heart that’s in me, otherwise “I” won’t exist. It’s scary living with the knowledge that you don’t exist at all, in any regard. But the answer comes immediately: It lies only in the aspiration toward attainment and adhesion. But what do you do with the fear?

My Answer: Being present at the lessons daily (for at least a part of them, virtually), disseminating together with everyone, and most importantly, feeling the world group – these are the only things that will enable you to come out of all the negative feelings! It’s because spirituality can only be attained in the unity of souls with one another, and to the degree of their unity. The only correct way to eliminate all the negative incidents is through unity and dissemination.

Question: Yesterday, I went outside and I didn’t feel like I was outside. I had the feeling that the only thing that changed was the scenery. I used to see people just as people before, but now I see additional meaning when I look at them - I see that there is no independence at all, and that everyone are puppets…

My Answer: In addition to this, you should also remember that you are the same as well… Your feeling is right in that everything is a theater, and everyone is an actor acting out our roles. You should find out what your role and purpose is, reveal the entire picture of the universe and consciously play your role in it, in order to become like the Creator. By playing His role, you start understanding Him and the Great Director’s Design.

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Baal HaSulam Article: The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah

 

 Film: Freedom of Choice [15:59m]: Play Now | Download

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A question I received: Sometimes you can’t hear the lesson! That is, you’re listening to it, but you don’t hear it! Sometimes you sleep through it… And sometimes it seems that you understand every word, and it’s simply a revelation!

What determines one’s sensations at the lesson? Is it the lesson itself, the people who are present at the lesson, the person, the material being studied, or something else?

What can I do to hear the lesson like I did the first time, when I couldn’t hold back the tears?

My Answer: I understand you. This happens to everyone. It’s because the Creator only gives a person the initial desire for the spiritual goal: He awakens one’s point in the heart. And He brings a person to the source (a book, a teacher, a group, the Internet), and no more than this. And it’s up to a person to continue developing this desire he received from above, to develop it to the size of the World of Infinity.

This is impossible to do unless you study Kabbalah in the correct environment. (See item 155 of Baal HaSulam’s “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” and also his article “The Freedom.”) Otherwise you will spend many years eating yourself up.

In addition, it’s very important to prepare for the lesson. The preparation begins before going to sleep. You should fall asleep with a Kabbalistic book in your hand. Wake up half an hour before the lesson and attune yourself to the lesson. If you don’t attune yourself, the lesson will be ineffective.

You should go through this period more energetically: from the point to the Machsom. Good luck!

 

 Preparing for the Lesson [15:14m]: Play Now | Download

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Two questions I received about sharing Kabbalah with others

Question: In response to a question, you said “Don’t talk about Kabbalah to anyone except the people you study with.” But then how should we push people to Kabbalah? I feel that if I don’t remind certain people about this topic or give them hints, then they’ll never even find out that such a thing exists, at least not in this reincarnation.

My Answer: You can give them a “hint” but no more than that, and don’t push. You should be especially careful with the people you have constant contact with. It’s better if others will talk to them about Kabbalah. Keep your relationships with them regular, on the level of this world.

Question: Can a student without spiritual attainment rely on his direct intellectual understanding of Baal HaSulam’s works? I’ve been listening to the Bnei Baruch lessons and reading Talmud Eser Sefirot almost every day for over a year now. Every time I feel that I understand something I read, I have a strong desire to share it with other students. Can I write about the things I understand and give it to others to read? Or can I only give it to people who have spiritual attainment?

My Answer: You can, but don’t overload others. Do it only for making contacts. After all, by doing so you won’t be studying the main material, the Kabbalist’s thoughts, but your own thoughts.

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A question I received: Why is He concealed? Sometimes this game of “hide and seek” brings me to despair… I’m trying with all my strength to advance toward the quality of bestowal and the revelation of the Creator, but my earthly life really interferes and makes me curse a lot. How can I accept the fact that everything that’s coming from above helps me get closer to the Creator, if He keeps sending me endless blows? I know that He’s doing this out of love, but it pushes me away instead of attracting me. I’m sick and tired of all these games and lies already! Who can I appeal to if He’s the one setting all of this up for me?

My Answer: There’s no one to appeal to, other than the force (Light) that can correct you if you want it to. This force exists in nature and it will influence you to the degree that you will aspire to change from a “receiver” to a “giver.” Moreover, there’s no one to curse at. It’s all nature! The force that can change you can be found only in Kabbalah studies (study in a group and dissemination), using the books of Baal HaSulam. This force is called Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light). So aspire to it!

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Lesson: Shamati Article #4: What Is the Reason for the Heaviness One Feels in Annulling Before the Creator in the Work? [26-06-06] - Transcript

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Two questions I received about the soul

Question: You say that there are only 600,000 souls, or in other words, 600,000 fragments of the soul of Adam. But today there are 6.7 billion people in the world. Does this mean that over six billion people don’t have a soul? I hope you can clear this up for me.

My Answer: 600,000 is the number of initial fragments, but after that they are fragmented again into whatever number is necessary for the optimal correction in each generation – so that each fragment will have as much egoism as it’s able to correct. Therefore, to the degree that egoism grows, the world’s population grows as well.

Question: As I understand it, the higher a soul was in the spiritual world, the lower it fell after the breaking. So whatever seems to us as being the lowest will become the highest after correction. If this assumption is correct, does it mean that the people who hate Kabbalah now will become the highest souls after correction?

My Answer: No, since this doesn’t indicate that their souls fell to a very low level, but it only indicates people’s opinions, which they were taught from childhood (Girsa de Yankuta). These people don’t have souls at all yet. The soul emerges from the point in the heart (the desire for spirituality) and develops from it only under the influence of the Upper Light, which shines upon a person only during Kabbalah studies, and in our generation only while studying the works of Baal HaSulam and Rabash. You can’t tell anything about one’s soul by looking at external expressions of one’s thoughts, desires and actions. Those people do not have a soul yet. It is concealed from you, since you – the observer - aren’t able to “see” the spiritual structures. You should therefore relate to everyone equally, seeing them as people who are being controlled and who need help in becoming spiritually independent.

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Lesson: The Revelation of Godliness (Matan Torah) [28-10-05]
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Lesson: The Revelation of Godliness (Matan Torah) [28-10-05] - Transcript

 

 One Soul [1:58m]: Play Now | Download

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Two questions I received on Kabbalistic texts

Question: I understand that Kabbalah is focused on changing life. But I can’t find instructions on how to integrate all the other fundamental texts, such as Humash, Mishnah, Talmud, Halachot, and others. How do you use them? Do we even need them? And how do we put it all into perspective?

My Answer: Once you learn Kabbalah, then when you will read other sources you will begin to understand that they all speak about spirituality or the Creator alone. That is to say, they are also Kabbalah, only written in a different style! For example, right now I posted an abbreviated translation of the Torah weekly chapter. Why? Because in this book, the greatest Kabbalist of all times, Moses, describes the ascent of man’s soul along the 125 steps of the ladder of similarity to the Creator. We must now realize this ascent - all of us together and each one of us individually - uniting more and more on every level, so that at the end of the ascent, we will become the single soul of Adam. No other source explains about this path so precisely and in so much detail!

The Zohar is a commentary on the Torah. Our next step is to gradually start studying The Book of Zohar through this blog, and then we will begin to see what was really passed down to us in the Torah. Then, after the Torah (Humash), we will also be able to learn Mishnah, Talmud, and Halachot in this manner. All of these books only speak about the correction of man, his soul, or the egoistic desire - Yetzer Ra - that was created by the Creator. And after that, the Torah (Tavlin) was given, only for its correction. Those who don’t feel egoism within themselves don’t study the Torah. They read an “empty” text instead of the text that Moshe gave them. You will be able to correctly “integrate” all of these books only after you properly attune yourself to using holy books (holiness is something that brings you to the property of holiness - love and bestowal).

Question: When I studied Kabbalah in college, a book titled Sefer HaBahir was mentioned many times, but you don’t mention this book on your website or at your lessons. Did this book ever exist?

My Answer: Yes, the book Sefer HaBahir exists. However, we mainly study the works of Baal HaSulam, who was the last Kabbalist and therefore is the most suitable for the correction of our souls. In addition to his works, we also study the works of Rabash, Ramchal, and Tanach.

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 Kabbalah Books [03:00m]: Play Now | Download

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A question I received: Where you openly present the state of the world as being in a deepening crisis, Bill Gates talks about how it’s getting better: “The world is getting better, but it’s not getting better fast enough…” (Bill Gates, in his World Economic Forum speech). He talks about the developing technologies, longer life expectancy, the status of women and minorities, the increasing number of people who have a say in the governance of their nations, and he is generally optimistic about the future. What is your opinion about this?

My Answer: Those are the opinions of a person who spent his whole life believing in money, that the world’s entire strength lies only in money, that only money can solve the world’s problems, and that if we give everyone money, and lots of it, then everyone will be satisfied.

And even if you object and say, “No - besides that he also has far reaching plans, and Baal HaSulam says that we must satisfy everyone at the minimum level” – any path that sets out to do any task without aiming to attain adhesion with the Creator is wrong from the outset. The very best idea will fail and end in nothing, just like Bill’s life.

Question: So what is the method you suggest?

My Answer: Please understand that I can’t give an answer to every person about something that I’ve already answered. The blog isn’t a directory. Look through previous posts, and go to the kabbalah.info website.

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