Publications

What does let it not be unimportant in your eyes mean? It means that it is very difficult to reach a state in which a person considers himself lower than others. He thinks that he deserves more than the rest and needs special conditions because only then will he be able to work.

He thinks that the Creator must relate to him differently; otherwise, he will not be able to move from his place. When he looks at other people, he thinks that perhaps they can work without these demands, but he cannot.

Every time he puts forward preliminary conditions, whether he admits it to himself or not. But if he has the demand that only then will he be able to perform some work, this means that he has “pride,” and until he throws this demand out of his heart, he will not be able to advance.

“Pride” is a state that a person usually does not want to admit, and cannot clearly define. It seems to him that everything is fine with him, that he is like everyone else.

But if his work is contingent upon preconditions, without which he cannot give his whole heart, literally his soul, and be devoted to advancing toward the goal, if he sets conditions that the Creator supposedly must first fulfill, then he can wait a long time, and until he annuls all these conditions, he will not be able to advance.

Nevertheless, a person rarely admits this to himself. It is a special inner state when, without realizing it, he sits and waits for something, and only afterward plans to start working. In such a state, he is not at all in connection with the Creator. This state is called “pride,” and then the Creator likewise puts on a mask of pride, and does not want to be in connection with a person who sets conditions.

It is not for nothing that it is written that one must relate to the work “like an ox to the burden and a donkey to the load,” without preconditions, and regardless of the state in which the Creator has placed the person. As soon as he, after having determined his state, agrees to accept the work without thinking, and without making additional calculations, this means that he has removed his pride. Even if he is in the worst possible state, the Creator is in it, is connected with him, and helps him.

One can remove pride, and pull oneself out of the state in which one sets preliminary conditions for advancement only by coming to know the greatness of the Creator.

When a person wishes to feel His greatness and remove his pride—as must happen since there is no other force that would compel him to do this—then he says to the Creator: “Reveal Yourself to me, and I will be able to get rid of my pride, and will not set conditions in the work.” If he truly asks, then the Creator will help, and will reveal Himself to him.
[359141]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 7/15/26, Rabash, Article 24, 1989 “What Is “Do Not Slight the Blessing of a Layperson” in the Work?”

What are law and justice? Essentially both of these stem from judgment. In order to exist in a state of eternity and be worthy of one’s purpose, the desire to receive must undergo corrections. These corrections are restrictions and transformations, and this is precisely what constitute law and justice.

In fact, when we think that we are working against ourselves, that is, against our desire to receive, it turns out to be the opposite. We say that a person must attain the names of the Creator, know that He is good and does good, that He is just and merciful, and so on.

These words are not precise and do not convey the true sensations. When a person truly attains the holy names of the Creator, these words are perceived by him in an entirely different way, because attainment takes place according to the law of equivalence of form, the equivalence of properties.

Therefore, the attainment of the holy names is taking upon oneself the corrections called the holy names of the Creator. When a person attains what the Creator’s attribute of mercy is, to that same extent he himself becomes merciful. In order to attain what “merciful” means, he must become merciful.

Everything is attained according to the equivalence of qualities. That is, the attainment of a certain name of the Creator means that a person has become the bearer of that name. This is called, “And the name of the Creator shall be upon you,” and then, as it is said, “the Klipot shall fear you.” Thus, a person who attains the Creator’s attributes acquires those very attributes.

The Torah tells us about the attainment of the holy names: “Taste and see that the Creator is good.” “Taste and see” means that the Torah makes a person good, and ultimately, like the Creator. For the Creator is the general light clothed in all 613 corrections that a person performs upon his 613 desires.

These actions, taken together, are called the 613 Mitzvot, and in each of them there is a particular light corresponding to a specific correction. When a person completes all the corrections, the general light that clothes within him (NRNHY) is called the Creator. Baal HaSulam writes about this.

What must be done for this? Zeir Anpin is called justice and Malchut is called law. Thus, Malchut, which is law, must become like justice. For this, it must adopt, through faith above reason, the properties possessed by Zeir Anpin, that is, adopt the properties of the upper degree.

Above one’s degree means above one’s own reason, because reason determines the essence of the degree. Therefore, justice must correspond to law.

What does “justice as law” mean? The properties that exist in Zeir Anpin must become the law, that is, the properties of Malchut. Ultimately, the unity of law and justice—Zeir Anpin and Malchut—reveals all the Creator’s attributes to the created being.
[359072]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/26, Rabash, “What It Means that ‘Law and Ordinance’ Is the Name of the Creator in the Work”

Question: How does the revelation of the Creator’s face as good in His governance take place? After all, everything that is attained is attained through faith above reason, as if we do not wish to reveal Him directly.

Answer: If a person directs himself toward the fact that he absolutely wants to reveal the Creator’s attitude toward him, and not only toward him, then, according to the intensity of his yearning and desire, he evokes the Creator’s response.

Thus, he turns to the Creator with a question in order to know the Creator’s attitude toward him, and he receives an answer.
[350424]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/2/25, Baal HaSulam “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 180

Why Is There No Forceful Means Against Slander?

There is indeed a forceful means against slander. It is possible to simply not listen. We cannot destroy slander, because we have insufficient strength to do so, since slander speaks from within nature. We can only ask the Creator to change our nature, and thus replace slander with speaking well of others. A person individually would never be able to do this on their own.

It is impossible to subdue slander in any other way, because it cannot be confronted on the human level, because on that level it is always right. On the surface it indeed appears as though we can attain money, honor, knowledge, security, and health through various accepted means. Moreover, when people try to attain these through conventional pathways, they see that it is impossible to solve problems through the intellect. Therefore, the intellect cannot solve anything, but we must reach this realization by ourselves through scrutiny.

With what do we make such a scrutiny? Precisely with this slander, but on condition that we channel it for our benefit. Then we see that its existence is meant to help us recognize the evil. In other words, slander must be under our control, and then we realize that slander is “a help against Him,” which is very good.

Question: I am completely disappointed, what should my next step be?

Answer: I no longer have any disappointment. I have already become disappointed, and I have already parted even with the disappointment itself. What is left for me? Nothing. Only to be in the same state as the Creator. That is, to give everything away, return everything, settle all accounts, be empty, absolutely free.

And after that, if I am fortunate enough, I can begin to think about how to engage in bestowal, how to ask the Creator for the ability to bestow freely, selflessly, with no expectation of anything in return. Why? For what purpose? There is no answer. To whom? There is no answer. Simply as it is written: “Cast your bread upon the waters.”

Question: Is this true freedom?

Answer: Yes. There is no state better than this.
[359064]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 6/29/26

In the article “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar,” Baal HaSulam writes that the difference in qualities from the Creator is checked first and foremost according to a person’s thoughts. If a person thinks about himself, asks questions: “Do I exist or not, what will happen to me, what is the meaning of life?” and so on, from which everything begins, it means that he is immersed in himself, enclosed in his shell, as it is said, turned “facing himself.”

Then, of course, he is cut off from the Creator, since the Creator has no thoughts about Himself that are directed inward toward Himself. He has only the thought of bestowal, to do good, directed outwardly. Therefore, these thoughts, even the most general ones, such as “do I exist?”, separate a person from the Creator.

Question: But don’t these thoughts also come from the Creator?

Answer: Naturally! All thoughts come from Him. They come in order for you to pay attention to them. A person is never punished for who he is at the given moment.

It is only in our world that if a person steals, he is sent to prison. In the Torah, it is not like that! If you steal, the very act itself is called the punishment, and now you must carry out the corrections. The act itself is the reward or the punishment.

But punishment does not mean that a person is being punished; he simply, in accordance with his actions, comes to another degree, from which he begins to advance again.
[358890]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/26, Rabash, “What Does, ‘Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,’ Mean in the Work?”

We study that there are various actions performed by the Kelim (vessels) through the screen and through discernments. If we truly clarify the essence of these actions, we see that this is, first, an awareness of what is happening to me, who is doing it to me, why, and what is wanted from me.

After we discern all these states, they are replaced by new, better states. That is, a person has no control over the actions; the Creator performs them. But the person, being the sensing element, must discern within their sensations what is actually happening to them. And as soon as one discerns a given state, it is replaced by another one. They discern another state, and once again it is replaced by a new one.

The discernment includes the following elements: what I feel, who sent it to me, and for what purpose. This is called the work of correcting the perception.

In reality, we are already in the corrected state, in the world of infinity, and all that we need is to correct the obscurity (the clouding) in our organs of perception. In fact, I do not even need to correct them. What is important is to be constantly aware that I am in darkness, and then the darkness becomes clarified.

To the extent that I understand how negative the state of darkness is, I reveal the Achoraim, the reverse side. Then the Achoraim (concealment) is replaced by the state of Panim (revelation). Thus, all actions consist only of our inner effort.

We must make an effort to find a way to unite my “I” (myself) and the Creator into one whole. As Baal HaSulam writes in a letter: “Only upon this point must I concentrate my efforts, sharpening my focus more and more.”

And if I do this, that is my action. Then all this fog becomes increasingly clear until I discover myself in my original corrected state. I will reveal that I am already in the state of the final correction.
[358985]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/26, Rabash, “What Is, “There Is None as Holy as the Lord, for There Is None Besides You,” in the Work?”

Question: What does it mean to fulfill the commandments “in practice”?

Answer: “In practice” means performing an actual spiritual action, when you lay the foundation of a Masach (Screen) over your desire. In his articles, Rabash is not speaking about commandments such as putting on Tefillin every morning, but about correcting desire.

Why do you call putting on Tefillin in the morning a “commandment in practice,” rather than the inner action of correcting your desire? Within you there are 613 desires, and these are what you must correct. It is for this purpose that you have gone through many reincarnations.

Would you like another reincarnation? Very well. And another after that? You will have that as well. But in the end, you will have to correct the 613 desires in your soul. Precisely them, this is what the Torah speaks about. At the same time, you should perform the corresponding actions in this world, that is, observe the commandments as they exist in this world. But what you truly wish is to correct yourself with respect to the spiritual world.

Comment: There seems to be a certain distinction here.

My Response: There is indeed a distinction, but it should not lead you astray. What does this distinction consist of? Am I to blame because I am not a Cohen or a Levite? True, I cannot perform the commandments that apply specifically to Kohanim or Levites in this world. But spiritually, I must fulfill them.

Am I to blame because, for example, I am not a firstborn or a woman? A woman has commandments that I do not. Thank God, I am neither a widower nor divorced, but they, too, have commandments that apply specifically to them.

Spiritually, however, you are obligated to fulfill all of these commandments, from “A” to “Z” You must pass through every state corresponding to all 620 of your desires.

In the corporeal world, it is different. For example, today we have no Temple, and I am not a farmer. Do you know what it means, according to the Torah, to be a farmer when the Temple exists? Do you know all the laws and ordinances that apply? I am also not a servant in the Temple, nor do I offer sacrifices. I am not the High Priest, with all that this entails.

In this world we are given only signs and hints. A person may observe them or not observe them, that is not what determines the spiritual path. In spirituality, however, you are obligated to correct all 620 parts of the soul, that is, the 613 commandments together with the seven commandments of the sages.
[358648]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 7/2/26, Rabash, Article 21, 1988 “What Does It Mean that the Torah Was Given Out of the Darkness in the Work? ”

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 179

What Should We Do Against Slander?

It is written, “Blunt his teeth,” because there is no factual evidence that can stand against one who speaks slander. A person who speaks slander appears to be right. They speak about visible facts and rely on the ego and on the surrounding reality that they see. They base their words on their life in reality, on the present situation: “You are a weak person. You have a family. There are many pressures on you. You are tired from the struggles of life.” They will tell you a thousand and one things, and everything they say will be right and justified. The problem is that according to the current level on which they exist, they are right.

One who speaks slander is like a mother who says to her son out of concern: “You are sick. You are weak. You have children, a family. I feel sorry for you. Take care of your health. How can you not sleep at night?” They are all true points, and the list is endless. On that level she is saying correct and justified points, except for one point, that there is a spiritual goal. She does not speak from the point in the heart. She simply speaks from the heart, from human mind, while ignoring the upper mind.

The only recourse to stand against the slander that weakens one’s strength is, as it is written, “Blunt his teeth.”

Question: While a child is still at an age when they can be influenced, do they subconsciously absorb the influence of their environment?

Answer: Yes. If a child remains in a specific environment until the age of thirteen, they will continue to develop according to its values. I saw this with my own children.

My youngest son suffered from allergies, and I was compelled to send him to Canada, a country with a northern climate. When he turned sixteen, I bought him a student travel pass, and with it, he traveled through twenty-seven countries in Europe. After that, he went to the Far East and India. In short, he traveled almost everywhere. I wanted him to discover the world.

After all that, he returned to Canada and said, “Never again! I do not need anything else.” Meaning, “Leave me alone.” Later, he got married, started a family, and that was it, no problems. Neither drugs nor anything else that could have negatively influenced him or affected him because he had been given a clear direction in life.

We see the same thing in our own children. Just look at how many examples there are here. You see an eighteen-year-old young man, strong and capable. You would think, “Go ahead and do whatever you want.” But no, he is interested in the wisdom of Kabbalah. He is here. He enjoys our television programs, our projects, and everything else we are doing.

Question: They like being here because they feel they have a kind of home base here. You create a certain environment for the children, a school and other activities, and they naturally gather around it. If this did not exist, where would they meet and interact with one another?

Answer: Naturally! How else could it be? Inevitably, we create such centers for them and for ourselves as well.

Wherever our friends are, they form groups, get together, hold lectures, lessons, and activities for children and women. They publish a newspaper and distribute it throughout their region. Naturally, their children also take part in all of this.

We are now opening a film school, as well as a video and audio production school. Our children will study there. Those who have a talent for writing children’s stories will start doing it there, and as they grow older, they will continue to advance. We want them to become dedicated disseminators.

We will arrange meetings with lawyers, psychologists, and other professionals for them. We will take them to museums, hospitals, and wherever else is beneficial. We will do everything possible to help a person discover the world.
[358413]
From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Kabbalah for teenagers” 10/12/10

Question from Facebook: I have always been certain that I live in Israel, and specifically in Jerusalem. But from what you say, it turns out that this is not really the case. From the Kabbalistic point of view, what are Jerusalem and Israel?

Answer: The Kabbalistic perspective is concerned not with geography or history, but with the development of egoism as a fundamental part of nature. Kabbalah speaks not about the physical planet Earth, where people, animals, and everything else exist, but about desire, the primary force of nature, and about how this desire is governed by the higher force of nature, the Creator.

There are two forces: the force called the Creator (the force of bestowal) and the force called the creation (the force of reception). The Creator, the upper force, governs the lower force. That is the entire picture. Therefore, all of history is the development of the lower force, the desire to enjoy, under the influence of the higher force, the Creator, whose desire is to delight His creation.

Question: So when you speak of Jerusalem and Israel, are you referring to desires?

Answer: Of course. Desire at the inanimate level is called “the earth.” Within it is Jerusalem, or the so-called Holy Mountain upon which stands the Temple, and so on. All of these represent desires, and they all exist within a person.

This is where people encounter difficulty; they do not immediately understand what is being discussed. All of this exists within a person, because there is nothing outside of us. We perceive everything only within ourselves even though it seems to us as if it is unfolding externally.

Question: What is the desire called “Israel,” and what is the desire called “Jerusalem”?

Answer: Israel is the desire directed toward the revelation of the Creator. The word “Isra-El” means straight to the Creator. Jerusalem represents an even more specific aspiration toward the Creator, beyond the general desire.

That is why there is the Land of Israel, called “Eretz Yisrael.” “Eretz” means desire (Ratzon). “Yisrael” means directed toward the Creator. Within the desire called the Land of Israel is Jerusalem, which is a more inward desire for the Creator. Within that is the Temple Mount (Har HaBayit), then the Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash), and so on.

Question: So my desires become increasingly refined and focused until they reach their highest point. What is at the very top? What is that ultimate desire?

Answer: At the very top is the point in the heart, the most hidden and innermost of my desires, that must attain complete contact with the Creator. This is the direction to which I aim it.

Contact with the Creator means that the Creator fills all of my desires that are directed toward Him through this point.

Therefore, our work is to correct our desires so that they are all directed toward Him. Ultimately, He fills them with Himself. In this way, throughout all of my desires, only one higher force is revealed, the force called the Creator.
[212719]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 3/11/23

131 Question: Can a thought be called the Creator?

Answer: The Creator is not a thought, but a movement of the soul. There is a desire and a vector of its direction: either toward oneself or away from oneself. If we build our world above the desire, directing it outward, beyond ourselves, it is called the spiritual world.

The Torah and the wisdom of Kabbalah enable us to direct our world outside ourselves. With their help, I can reorient it, expand it, and create an entire realm in which I exist outside myself, above myself. That realm is called the upper world, and it is into that realm that I move.

As I gradually enter it completely, I begin to see that everything in which I previously existed (my body, this world, and everything else) was merely a matrix that gave me the perception in which I lived.

People, history, my family, myself, the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, all of these existed within my former perception of “within myself,” “for myself.”

But now, as I begin to perceive everything not inside myself, not within the bubble centered on myself, but within the bubble outside myself, I gradually give birth to the spiritual world, enter it, and live within it. I begin to feel that the previous bubble never truly existed; it was like a dream. This is why it is said in the Psalms of King David that when we enter the upper world, we see our previous state as though it had been a dream.
[177091]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/12/10

Question: Are you saying that there is no connection between corporeality and spirituality?

Answer: Yes, because they exist at different sides of the screen. Practically, we live in the same domain, but we perceive this world and that world in polar opposite ways: this world through the lens of egoism and the other through altruism.

Spirituality is perceived in completely different properties. If I sense this world in the property of receiving for my own sake, with the intention to receive pleasure for myself, then the upper world is the intention to bestow, to fulfill and give pleasure to others.

Question: Does it mean that everything depends on a person’s perception? Is something corporeal also spiritual, but just a part of some kind of picture?

Answer: Of course. What else is there besides the light and the desire? The light created the desire, and whatever is happening with the desire is done by the light. After all, our world did not appear from somewhere unknown. It is the final descent of spiritual states from above to below.

Question: Why do you distinguish between these two realms when you say “You can ask me questions concerning spirituality, but you should turn to other people if you have questions about corporeality.”

Answer: The thing is that the corporeal world where we try to work directly with egoism is doomed to failure and problems from the start. Therefore, I do not want to work with it.

A person can live in it comfortably only if he fully aspires to the upper one. Then whatever one is unwillingly obliged to do to maintain one’s existence in this world will be beneficial for them. Otherwise, there is no way. Any excess will do just harm. Although it is hard for us to agree with it, this is the most optimal existence.
[358543]
From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. The Difference between the Material and the Spiritual” 9/25/10

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 178

Can Criticism in the Group Weaken in the Same Way as Slander?

No. There should be criticism, but it must be objective and constructive, such that, as a result, people gather to discuss a problem and ways to improve and correct it. Without criticism and without seeing the evil, it is impossible to progress.

Question: What does it mean to build an internal system?

Answer: One must build both internal and external systems must be built so that one’s innermost thought is always focused on connection with the Creator.

Through every action, every thought, and every desire within me now, we are connected together through the thought, desire, or action that I am currently performing.

Is it possible to remain in this all the time? It is very difficult. It becomes possible only after the Creator truly shines His light on you. Try to remain in this all the time, that is, to provide the required sum of effort so that He will reveal Himself to you even slightly, and then you will see Him and will remain in this all the time.

How can you perform these exercises constantly and with high frequency given that the feeling fades in an instant and you have to go back to it again? It is said that you must make the internal and the external preparations for this.

The internal preparation consists of constantly thinking about this whenever you are able to think. In the external form, there should be all kinds of signs around you reminding you of the need to connect with Him. You are constantly inventing something for yourself, looking for all kinds of aids that can bring you back again to this point—the point of connection with the Creator with the help of some external sign.

Internal and external training truly gives a person the opportunity to accumulate the sum of efforts in the search for the connection with the Creator. Constantly entering into all kinds of thoughts, actions, desires, circling around one point day and night, as a yearning seeker seeks. “I want a connection with You.”

Question: Can it become a habit?

Answer: No. There is an element of habit here, but habit remains at the previous degree. Each time you will be given a point of connection with the Creator at a higher degree, and habit does not exist there.
[358833]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/26, Rabash, “What Are Holiness and Purity, in the Work?”

And they turned and went up to the mountain, and they came to the valley of Eshkol and spied it out. And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hand[s] and brought it down to us, brought us back word, and said, “The land the Lord, our God, is giving us is good.” But you did not want to go up, and you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, your God (The Torah, Deuteronomy, 1:24-1:26).

Entering the land means changing one’s intention. Everything outside the land of Israel represents a desire with which you work for your own sake while standing outside its boundaries. Everything within the land of Israel represents a desire with which you work not for yourself, but for others.

You murmured in your tents and said, “Because the Lord hates us, He took us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand[s] of the Amorites to exterminate us.” Where shall we go up? (The Torah, Deuteronomy), 1:27-1:28).

When we study Kabbalah, we feel that we must rise to the quality of bestowal now, come out of ourselves, shed our egoistic skin, and belong to the surrounding space, to the world.

But what must we do with ourselves in order to feel such a state?! We do not understand it! That is the problem! The children of Israel, those who wish to attain the spiritual degree, must pass through precisely this stage.

Moreover, they are ready for it, since they have reached the level of Bina, and now they must rise from it to Keter, and begin transforming their egoism into “receiving for the sake of bestowal”.

They acquired the level of “bestowal for the sake of bestowal” during the forty years of wandering in the desert, and now they must enter the state called “the land of Israel,” “receiving for the sake of bestowal,” meaning to completely change their attitude toward themselves and toward the surrounding world.

What is to be done? A problem arises. Therefore the people stand and complain. In other words, all the qualities within a person resist it because they do not know how to ascend to the degree that lies ahead.

The state of “bestowal for the sake of bestowal” is different. I do not actually bestow anything to anyone, nor do I work against my nature. I simply come out of it, and rise above my egoistic levels.

I am driven to this by the suffering I experience along the way because the greater the suffering, the fewer the desires. If I suffer from something, I move away from it, and stop dealing with it. My egoism helps me rid myself of it; it itself pushes me toward the quality of Bina: “What does it cost you to give up your desires? The less you want, the fewer problems you have.”

I completely annul myself, stop using my desire, Malchut, and rise above it in every respect. This is the quality of Bina, when practically I want nothing, and I elevate myself from Malchut to Bina.

But when I approach the land of Israel, an inversion takes place. I must perceive everything around me in a completely different way.

Now, from the quality of Bina, I must descend once again into Malchut, into my egoistic desires, and with their help take everything possible from the world in order to pass it on to others, transforming these desires into goodness for them.

I have this ability, I was born this way, and I exert my utmost effort to carry out this action. I use immense egoism, and employ all my skill in order to “break open the bank,” and give it to others.

How can I activate my egoism, my enormous desires and capabilities, in order to bestow to others, when in fact I wanted to take all of it from them? Here I am dealing with the inverse use of my evil, and I convert it into good, while I absolutely do not understand or feel either the reward, the likelihood of success, or the result of the action.

The entire “people” are the desires of a person that ascends to a new degree. Therefore it is natural that all one’s desires rebel as the person stands before entering that degree.

While in an egoistic state, they longed to reach the promised land because it seemed good to them. After all, when I work with my egoism, it is clear to me what needs to be done.

But here I pass through stages of complete detachment from my egoism, and now I must bring it back again in order to work for others. But for whom? For the most repulsive, most hated people (desires), that is, seemingly to my own detriment.

Yet until I attain the level of Bina, it is impossible to understand this. This is exactly what the spies teach the people.
[183514]
From KabTV’s “The Secrets of the Eternal Book”

Question: They say that the Ari was Mashiach ben Yosef. What does that mean?

Answer: The correcting force called “Mashiach ben Yosef” carries out the preparation before the “coming” (revelation) of the correcting force “Mashiach ben David.” Yosef points to the Sefira Yesod, and David to Malchut. Yesod prepares its influence on Malchut in order to correct it.

The Mashiach is not a person, not the Ari himself, not his physical body, but his teaching, his method, his force. It is a soul that operated in the common system of souls in such a way as to open a path for the light and illuminate all souls with it.

It stands on the path of the light from above downward, connects the higher corrected souls of the Kabbalists of the past with those souls that are still uncorrected, receives the light in its higher clothing and clothes it in a form suitable for our souls, distributes it by degrees, and brings the light closer to our souls.

Therefore, starting from the Ari and onward, souls began a mass correction, as in the times of the Baal Shem Tov, with the emergence of Hasidism. In this way humanity began to advance spiritually.

If not for the Ari with his method, there would be no Baal Shem Tov with his Hasidic movement (which gave rise to numerous Kabbalistic groups among the people). And without the Baal Shem Tov there would be no Baal HaSulam, and without Baal HaSulam there would be none of us today studying Kabbalah.

These stages are called the “steps of the Mashiach.” In other words, it is the development of the method and practice of correction toward its final completion. We are the first to implement the final stage of correction, because we use the force of Mashiach ben Yosef in order to attain the revelation of the force Mashiach ben David and to correct Malchut itself, the general assembly of all souls with a common screen.

Question: Will a person with a special soul appear in our world who implements the method of correction and who will be called Mashiach ben David?

Answer: It is possible that Mashiach ben David is our common desire, which in the end will carry out this action, and not a particular individual. We are not interested in the people who lived in this world—the Ari, Baal HaSulam or even Rashbi—but in their influence within the system of souls. We are speaking about a soul that reveals the light of correction to us.

And we act in the same way. Together we create a system of souls in order to draw the light from above and pass it on to all the uncorrected souls. We perform an action that already belongs to the Malchut of David.
[36082]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/22/11, Baal HaSulam, Preface “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 177

Is Speaking Slander About the Creator Worse Than Condemning Him?

Without a doubt. We condemn the Creator when it is how we feel, due to our lack of correction, and it is our natural reaction. If we are dissatisfied with our life, it is considered that we condemn the Creator, but we should not discuss it. The worse we feel, the more we say that the Creator is bad. However, we say this out of our suffering, and then gradually we correct this feeling, see the evil came to us for a certain purpose, and attain the correct attitude to Him.

However, if we hear slander about the Creator from the outside, we add negativity to ourselves from the outside. The purpose of the group is to unite and gather a good attitude to the Creator, an attraction to Him, a desire for Him, from one another so that we will increase our desire. Let us hope that we never hear slander about the Creator or about the goal from our friends. Doing so means receiving a bad influence from the outside. A single bad rumor can spoil much work that was already done. Therefore, this is a very important matter.

For this reason, there is even concern about seeing a person who became weaker and shows contempt in a group. This does not refer to someone who became weaker due to tiredness from heavy effort that they invested in the work. Such a person sleeps a lot, and it is evident that they are drained because they are in constant effort day and night, and they have no time or energy and collapse from exhaustion. Such a case evokes respect, because it is clear that they truly work with all of their strength. However, if we simply begin to show contempt toward the group, we might be capable of exerting effort, but do not want to and even justify ourselves. Then, it becomes difficult for the society to tolerate us. We might be a decent and intelligent person, but our behavior interferes greatly. It becomes a bad example even without a single word being spoken.

Slander is not necessarily speech itself. It is anything that arouses contempt for the goal in another person that weakens them. Speech also means something we read or see, not only something we hear.

The Ari is a unique phenomenon in Kabbalah. There were many great Kabbalists, but the Ari entered the history of Kabbalah as a pivotal point that changed the whole direction of development.

That is to say, with him the descent from above downward from the world of infinity of all lights and Kelim (vessels) in the spiritual worlds, and then in the material world, came to an end, the process of development that had moved even further downward through the revelation of evil. Even the receiving of the Torah and the creation of The Book of Zohar were only preparations and not yet the implementation of the method of correction.

Although Kabbalists had been active for many generations prior to the Ari, they corrected their souls in the common system of the soul of Adam. They drew light through themselves to weaker souls, but nevertheless, there was still no method of correction that would connect the light, desires, screens, Partzufim, Sefirot.

All this was revealed by the Ari: Tzimtzum Alef, Tzimtzum Bet, the world of Nekudim, the pure and impure worlds of ABYA, Adam HaRishon. He put this whole system in order and encompassed within one common sphere the whole spiritual reality, all forms of relations between creation and the Creator, creating a general picture of the universe: the Creator, the creation, and everything that happens between them.

In addition, he made it so that we could enter into all these forms of relations between the Creator and the creation and build them ourselves. That is, all the spreading from above downward continued until the Ari, and from him onward correction began. In his time, in his soul, the lowest point of descent was realized, and the direction changed: the ascent from him upward, meaning he turned the whole world, all souls, toward correction.

All the souls that acted before the Ari worked “from above downward” and served as preparation for our time. And all those who came out after the Ari are already souls passing through correction from below upward by means of his teaching, the method he revealed.

It is impossible even to evaluate and grasp such a special soul that changed the entire opposition between creation and the Creator and gave creation the method of correction. Thanks to the corrections that the Ari carried out in his soul, reconstructing in it the whole system of Adam HaRishon, now, after him, souls can come out that will use his method and advance the process of the general correction.
[36607]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/11, Baal HaSulam, Preface “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

If my thoughts, states, and actions come from the Creator—both whatever I might desire and think, as well as what I thought and desired in the past, then the question arises again: Who and what am I?

This is discussed in the article “The Freedom,” in which Baal HaSulam explains that a person is indeed a machine. On the physiological and biological levels, we can understand this.

But if both a person’s thoughts and desires are not his own, and the person himself is the result of society and the influence from above, then what remains? Baal HaSulam says in this article that in our world a person has free choice in only one thing: receiving an impression of the greatness of the goal in order to attain it from the group.

I have already explained that everyone is interconnected above, and from there, through the friends, one can draw the necessary force to oneself. Only this depends on the person. Nothing else in this world depends on him.

We do not realize the extent to which—in deciding upon any action, in everything we may wish to do at any given moment, to sit down or stand up, to drink or eat, to sleep or go somewhere, to get on a bus or not, and so on—we are unable to introduce even the slightest foreign desire, some external cause that is not already within us.

It is only because the course of this inner process is unknown and incomprehensible to me that it seems to me that I am deciding, searching, thinking, calculating, and making plans. All of this is only because of this uncertainty; it is only because of this uncertainty that I do not understand how all of this actually happens.

It is similar to the way we look at an infant, and know what he will do the next moment. The same applies to us. Only it will become many times clearer when we rise to a higher degree.

Therefore there is no point in engaging in nonsense. Rather we should use this tiny point, this very small opening through which we can bring into ourselves, into our Kli, an external force for advancement. And that force is the greatness of the Creator received from the friends. If a person cares for this point, and constantly strives to draw more and more through it, he will succeed.

I would like to add that the friends are not only like-minded people in the group, but also the sources and their authors. A person may simply sit and listen to Kabbalistic music, or to recordings of what the Kabbalists say, even without understanding the language that they are speaking. This is called an external force. And this is the only thing that depends on us. Everything else is nothing more than imagination and fantasy.
[358918]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/26, Rabash, “What Does, ‘Everything that Comes to Be a Burnt Offering Is Male,’ Mean in the Work? ”

Kabbalah Media

Kabbalah Media

Personal Area
Sign in to like, save and subscribe to videos

Publications
Articles on current events, culture, popular science, relationships and more, presented from the unique perspective of the wisdom of Kabbalah
The content is based on talks given by Dr. Michael Laitman and is written and edited by his students.

Kabbalah Media

Kabbalah Media

Personal AreaSign in to like, save and subscribe to videos

PublicationsArticles on current events, culture, popular science, relationships and more, presented from the unique perspective of the wisdom of KabbalahThe content is based on talks given by Dr. Michael Laitman and is written and edited by his students.

Personal Area
Sign in to like, save and subscribe to videos

Publications
Articles on current events, culture, popular science, relationships and more, presented from the unique perspective of the wisdom of Kabbalah
The content is based on talks given by Dr. Michael Laitman and is written and edited by his students.