Sidebars
If the state of Israel is suffering from so much crime and corruption, why is the people of Israel considered “the chosen people”?
The people of Israel is considered “the chosen people” because of its destination, vocation and purpose, not because of its present state of functioning. The people of Israel’s vocation is to lead humanity to its good future, to the purpose of creation. We have the method, the wisdom of Kabbalah, which we must first implement on ourselves, and subsequently pass on to the rest of the world. By disseminating this wisdom we will be fulfilling our destination and functioning as “a light of the nations.” This should not make us proud and patronizing over other nations, but awaken in us a sense of care and responsibility for the entire world.
What should the people of Israel do, to make the Messiah to come?
The Messiah is the spiritual force that pulls us from the egoistic quality rooted in us, and leads us to love of man. The coming of the Messiah depends only on the necessity for redemption in the people of Israel. In other words, to the extent that the people genuinely want it, the force of the Messiah will work within us. This force will transform us and pull us from self-love to love of man.
According to Kabbalah, what does the future hold for us?
According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, our good future is guaranteed. When we reach the purpose of creation, we will discover that life on Earth is a real paradise. All we need to do is choose which way to get there. There are two ways to reach our good future: the way of pain or the way of Kabbalah. The way of pain is long, unenlightened, and filled with harsh trials. The way of Kabbalah is brief, pleasant, and unfolds through conscious intention and free choice to reach the good future. The desire to progress along the way toward spirituality awakens in a person out of reading Kabbalah books.
What is the secret to a happy life?
Kabbalists tell us that a happy life is endless bliss, which one experiences when the quality of bestowal appears in a person. However, one can reach that sublime state only out of free choice. A person must come to a state where he or she wants the quality of bestowal to exist within, instead of the quality of reception we are born with. Such an inversion is possible only through the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah, which teaches us how we are built, what is corrupted in us, and what we should correct to reach eternity and perfection.
“The true esthetics is Kabbalah.” Friedrich von Schlegel (1772-1829), philosopher
“Learn artem cabbalisticam, it explains everything!” Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus (1493-1541), physician and alchemist
“I am gazing at a tiny dot, called ‘love of man,’ and I am thinking, ‘What can I do to please the public?’ Since I am looking at the whole, I see the sufferings of individuals, the sickness, the pains, and the afflictions of individuals caused by the whole, meaning wars among nations. But other than prayer there is nothing to give, and this is called ‘He who shares in the suffering of the whole is medium.” Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag (1906-1991), Kabbalist.
“At the depth of the human soul, the voice of God calls incessantly. Life’s flurry can only stun the soul until it cannot hear this clarion for most of its days. But it cannot displace the basis, the root, and the essence of this voice, which is indeed the very essence of human life.” Rav Avraham Isaac HaCohen Kook (Judge and Kabbalist)
The term Eretz (land) stems from the word Ratzon (desire), and the terms Ysrael (Israel) is a combination of two words, Yashar El (straight, and God respectively), referring to a desire aimed directly at the Upper Force, the Creator. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, which describes the intimate bond between the individual and the Upper Force, the term land of Israel is a desire in a person’s heart for bonding with the Upper Force, which lies in the heart of every person.
If we add the letter Aleph to the word Golah (exile), we will find the word Ge'ula (redemption). The term exile signifies a state where a person is completely controlled by one’s egoistic desires, and hence feels detached from the Upper Force, the sense of perfection. Exile relates to our spiritual state. It signifies our drift from the Upper Force. Redemption, too, refers to one’s spiritual state, indicating the state in which the Upper, Redeeming Force appears to a person and delivers one from the ego’s rule. At that time one senses freedom, wholeness, and eternity.
Har (mountain) comes from the word Hirhurim (contemplation); Sinai comes from the word Sina’a (hatred). At the foot of Mt. Sinai there is a group of people who wish to unite as one man in one heart, for one, common goal: discovering the Upper Force. When the moment of truth arrives, each of them discovers internal resistance to the strong desire to unite. This resistance appears in the form of the ego, which sets them apart. There are many thoughts and doubts in the hearts of these people, and hatred appears among them. The gap between the desire to unite and the inability to do so, produces in the heart of each of them a genuine resolution and demand for help. At that moment the Upper Force appears, and with it, they can rise above all hardships.