Women’s Spiritual Work

Question: How well should women know the Preface to The Wisdom of Kabbalah (Pticha)? Should it be as much as men do, or is there any flexibility for women?

Answer: Technically, women do not have to study Pticha as deeply as men do, but it is advisable to know its basics. The fact that we have been studying the first paragraphs for quite a while is good. One must learn it well and scrutinize it in himself, go through it. Women also need this.

Kabbalah does not require women to connect on the same level as men, but they should have a general understanding of self-annulment.

Women’s interconnection is a big problem. But they do have to rise above themselves, because when one rises above oneself, without wishing for anything, in full self-annulment, it is similar to being in the light of Hassadim. This is a basic initial state of the altruistic action in Kabbalah, and women must execute it. There is no spiritual world without it, no connection with the Creator or anything else.

One is obligated to rise above oneself despite the problems that the Creator brings up in each of us: laziness, lack of importance, displeasure about something—no matter what it is. But one must rise above it.

Connection with others is more suitable for men than for women. It is enough for women to rise above themselves, and by doing so, they already begin the spiritual work.

Therefore, they do not require the ten as much as men do. Women must gather in it only to annul themselves. But they are not required to be connected with others in one heart like men are. These are different levels of egoistic nature. If they simply annul themselves, they will reach the level similar to the men’s connection.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/4/19