Sin—Deviation From The Movement Toward The Goal

 

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about the purpose of a person in this world, in this life, what we should do with ourselves in order to come to the ideal realization of our existence. We don’t know how to live. We see how people exist for no reason, aimlessly, all the while rambling around the world and life.

Kabbalah offers to make our life purposeful so that in the end we can reach the state for which our universe, the entire creation, and we were created.

Deviation from this goal is called “sin.” Here everything depends on a person, on one’s upbringing and education, on how one perceives oneself and the purpose of creation, how much one knows and owns it.

Ordinary people, who have no idea about this, do not ask such questions and do not think about what actually is a sin. For them, sin is bad behavior, theft, some misdemeanor, etc. This is also true. But the fact is that they do not know whether they are realizing themselves correctly or not, whether they are moving toward the right goal.

Therefore, it is very important to educate people that all human actions are evaluated according to the movement toward the goal of its creation. This is the main point relative to which sin or, conversely, a commandment or good deed is measured.

And if we clearly know and understand that this is how we should go forward, then based on the goal itself and moving toward it, we can already talk about actions that lead us in the shortest, optimal way to this goal.

Such actions are called commandments because, from the point of view of nature, we are commanded to move in this way. This we find out from the structure of the entire universe.

Conversely, those actions that turn us away or even back, and move us away from achieving the goal are called sin.

Our goal is to understand the Creator who reveals Himself in the measure of our equivalence of form to Him. Therefore, any of our actions aimed at resembling Him are called commandments, good, and correct.

The equivalence of form lies in the fact that we have acquired the qualities of the Creator. Then we will be closer to Him.

The Creator’s attributes are bestowal and love. Therefore, “love your neighbor as yourself” is the main commandment of our development.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 11/19/18

Ask The Creator For Help

 

Comment: Kabbalah says that when a person does not ask for help from the Creator, it is a transgression.

My Response: People who are aspiring for the goal of creation and want to reach the correct state should understand that their aspirations consist of two directions.

One is moving toward each other. The other is the realization and understanding that it is impossible to do this because our nature does not allow and will not allow us to do it. The Creator stands in the way between us and does not allow us to get closer to each other, and causes all sorts of problems so that a person understands that without the participation of the Creator, he cannot get closer to others.

Neither man, nor a nation, nor a country, nor the entirety of humanity will achieve anything unless they begin to move toward getting closer to each other with the help of the Creator.

This is when the action such as a commandment, that is, a good action occurs when I try to get closer to others and ask the Creator to participate in this. Then I can definitely count on success.
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From KabTV’s “”Spiritual States” 11/19/18

Prayer For Yourself

 

Comment: Kabbalah says that when a person prays for himself (in principle, this is natural for an ordinary person), it is a sin.

My Response: If a person thinks about himself, then he kind of separates himself from the rest and does not get closer to them. Naturally this distances him from the Creator because the Creator sees us all united in one common whole, as we were before the division into separate individuals.

Question: The Creator does not think about Himself? He does not have such thoughts?

Answer: First, He does not think about Himself. Second, He does not think about each person because He feels us as a whole.

Question: Let’s say I am looking at a person. He consists of billions of cells. I am not addressing a cell, I am addressing an image. And like this the Creator does not see us individually?

Answer: In no way! He does not make even the slightest calculation with a single person. He created us in an egoistic quality in which we feel ourselves existing separately from one another, opposite to Himself,

Question: And what should I understand from this? That the Creator does not consider me at all? He does not even know I exist?

Answer: Whether He knows or not is another matter entirely. He does not take into account your personal individual movements except for the movement toward drawing closer to Him through drawing closer to others.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 11/19/18

The Joy Of The Commandment

 

A commandment is an opportunity to do something to please the Creator. And the more difficult the condition, which is not felt in my egoism as pleasant, the better. After all, this means that I do not have an egoistic motivation in this action but act against my egoism.

Then it is really called a commandment, that is, I carry out the Creator’s instruction to draw closer to Him despite the resistance of my egoism.

The joy of the commandment is that I can take action against my desire to enjoy more and more each time. It may be a small achievement, but the main thing is that it should be about unification. All I need is connection with friends and the daily lesson: these are two tools for getting closer to the Creator.

If I fulfill both the first and the second condition every day, then the day was not wasted. This is how you need to consider your life, and then it will flow meaningfully and bring a special result.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/17/20, “Work With Faith Above Reason”comman

In Isolation At Home

 

Question: During the first quarantine, there was a surge in domestic violence. Now the second quarantine is on its way. It has already been introduced in Israel. Public organizations are sounding the alarm.

What should spouses do during home isolation?

Answer: I would advise them to keep their distance to the extent that they can be on good terms. Regulate physical closeness with each other depending on the spiritual disposition toward each other.

You cannot do anything here; we are people. It is very difficult for us to control our egoism, our nerves, and our habits. We need to understand each other, talk about this topic within the family, and try to manage it.

Remark: It is interesting that the principle “the closer—the worse, the further—the better” works here.

My Comment: This is because we are egoistic. We are used to running into each other for half an hour in the morning before work, a half an hour or an hour in the evening, perhaps when we have dinner together, and somewhat when we go to bed, although this is more likely communication not between people but between the sexes.

Based on this, our life, of course, is rather poor.

Question: So, the main thing is to talk to each other more often, to communicate more?

Answer: Of course. But this does not mean that we should impose something on each other. We need to discuss everything as frankly as possible, not hide anything, so that the other understands what I think, what I want, etc. I, in turn, should try to express my personal opinion and not the one that I caught from some television series or from somewhere else.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 9/27/20

Opposition To Unity, Part 7

Physical and Internal Commandments

Question: Some people think that for the purpose of correction it is enough to observe the external framework of the commandments. Others, Kabbalists in particular, claim that it is necessary to change one’s egoistic nature to altruistic, and then this will be considered a correction. What is needed in order to become corrected?

Answer: In the Kabbalistic sources it is written that all the Torah is given only for the correction of the heart. The Creator requires only this of us.

But because people cannot go to correction directly since it is very difficult, they are given a different framework, a more external one, where a person uses the world around him to somehow approach the property of bestowal, the property of connection with others anyway.

The truth is that in the end, over the centuries, these external commandments have been eviscerated, the inner meaning disappeared from them and only the external symbols remained. Therefore, their performance is not connected with the heart in any way. That is, I can hate other Jews and the whole world in general, and at the same time supposedly be righteous.

Question: In addition, there are groups of people who believe that it is necessary to fulfill only the commandments of the Torah. Others fulfill the commandments added later by the sages. And Kabbalists say that the commandments are internal changes of one’s intention to correct one’s desires. How to combine it? Which interpretation is correct?

Answer: The interpretation is simple. Because we exist in the sensation of the external world, some external actions are necessary. Therefore, on one hand, we must comply with certain external frameworks: social, family, and state.

On the other hand, we need to understand that the fulfillment of the Torah is intended to correct our egoism, to clear our hearts from evil attitudes to each other and to use other people. We need to do this.

Question: The problem is that each group wants to impose its point of view on others, considers itself to be right. In this way hatred arises. Naturally, this pushes us away from the goal of nature.

Baal HaSulam writes that the commandments of the Torah and the commandments of nature are one and the same. Isn’t the law of gravity or the law of thermodynamics the same as the commandments in the Torah?

Answer: All physical and internal laws at any level, not only the laws of the existence of our body, but also of our internal, sensory systems, and all the relationships between us merge into one single communication system. And we need to correct this connection, maintain it, and bring it to an absolutely complete integral level, complete interconnection with each other. This is called its final correction.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 7/29/19

Development Of Egoism And The Method Of Connection, Part 8

The Main Commandment and Its Derivatives

Comment: Baal HaSulam writes, that at first the Torah was given on a condition of mutual guarantee (Arvut), although later, when the golden calf was made, this condition was no longer observed because wars were fought about this issue, and the sons of Levi killed 3,00 people.

All this, of course, did not add love and unity. Later, when they came to the land of Israel, there was no peace either. Therefore, there was no one who could observe this main commandment. Literally several decades passed after the giving of the Torah, and there was no one left to observe this condition.

My Response: I think it took longer. In any case, the entire period was accompanied by huge conflicts among the people. There were many different currents, opposing groups, that were ready to destroy each other.

Comment: Further, Baal HaSulam writes, that in order for the people of Israel not to forget the Torah they began to observe the other commandments, although the main commandment was abandoned because they had no other advice.

The main commandment of the Torah “love your neighbor as yourself” was abandoned because egoism grew and people began to observe other commandments. What does it mean “other commandments”?

My Response: “Other commandments” are the reflection in our world of the main spiritual commandment and spiritual connections between people. There are 613 desires in a person, the so-called TARYAG, and all of them must be directed to the connection with others and with the Creator.

However, in our world, they are used to fulfill our egoism. Changing them to “love your neighbor,” to the fulfillment of others, of society, is called observing the commandments.

Question: So, are 613 commandments the internal actions as a result of which a person corrects his egoism in order to connect with other people in sensation, that is, through the souls?

Answer: Yes. In any case, the general rule of “love your neighbor” is broken down into many inclinations, desires, and actions. And all of them together make this rule.
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From KabTV’s “System analysis of the development of the people of Israel,” 7/1/19

What Does It Mean To Carry Out Commandments?

Question: What does it mean to carry out commandments?

Answer: Carrying out commandments means carrying out the conditions of our interconnectedness, the connection between us.

Being connected to each other in the single system of Adam is a commandment.

Although this system consists of egoistic desires, by building altruistic connections between its parts, it becomes similar to the Creator, the quality of bestowal, which is revealed precisely in it to the extent that it becomes giving—first on the zero egoistic level, then on the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth levels. Then the Creator appears in the form of the light of Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian of 11/25/18

The Main Commandment—Unity

“Keeping the commandments” in a Kabbalistic group is the connection between ten or less people who decide among themselves that they want to attain the Creator. Thus, they must connect and begin to assemble a group united according to the laws of the soul, to the laws of mutual bestowal. It is good if there are ten of them; however, if this does not work out, then it is written that the minimum is two people.

If we want to reveal that the Creator is bestowing, we must bestow to Him. First of all, we need to build an instrument of bestowal, so we start to create it between us. As it is written: “And from love of friends one can reach love of the Creator.”

We scrutinize what it means to love and bestow to each other. Everything should manifest in the connection between us and not somewhere in heaven. It is necessary to check whether all our previous ideas about connection between people belong to what should be manifested in the soul, that is, in the corrected ten. All our work consists of such clarifications of our actions and intentions.

If every day in every lesson, we clarify the type and nature of the connection between us and are always examining its strength and most importantly its quality, then we will begin to climb the steps. We ourselves determine how close we are to the Creator since He will not let us advance more than our preparation allows. We ourselves set the speed of our advancement.

We then begin to feel not our personal, individual states, but what is happening between us, in the center of the group, in our relations. This is what determines our attitude toward the Creator and the Creator’s attitude toward us. Our connection with the upper force happens in the point of our connection. Therefore, we are constantly working on this point and want only to identify, enlarge, and live in it more and more, until it becomes a point of our merging with each other and with the Creator.¹
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/19, Lesson on the Topic “The Right Way To Study The Wisdom Of Kabbalah,” Part 1

Reeducation In Ancient Times

Question: During the times of the Kabbalists, where did reeducation take place for a person who committed an offense? Was it in prison?

Answer: According to the wisdom of Kabbalah and the Torah, there were no prisons. Based on the upper system of governance, it is forbidden to deprive a person of freedom when each one of us is simply controlled!

If you open the book of Torah, you will see that the only prison that existed belonged to Pharaoh. People were thrown into it and remained there for as long as the lord wished.

Yet, Kabbalah says that there is one Lord for us all and everyone is completely equal before Him, both the Pharaoh and the mere mortals. Therefore, it is impossible for one person to judge another.

That is, the judges who in ancient times were among the people ascribed to everyone what spiritual corrections they needed to make because people made mistakes because they did not understand this.

Question: At that time, were there cities of refuge for offenders?

Answer: Cities of refuge are something different. If a person committed such a crime that he needed to be isolated from society until he atoned for his wrongdoing, he was sent to the city of refuge where he lived and worked. He was released from there after six years.

In addition, according to the Torah, there is a commandment to repay all debts in the seventh year. In the fiftieth year, everything is cancelled and goes back to the previous owner, for example: land, home, etc.

That is, everything is arranged so that a person would not feel attached to something in his life or obliged to someone. This would create a psychological layer for him that everything is temporary, everything is suspended in the air, there is nothing absolute: the land is not mine, the house is not mine. There is no attachment to corporeality. Everything depends only on the way he, at every moment, establishes this between himself and the upper force.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 8/19/18

So That The Heart Would Truly Love a Friend

Rabash, “According to What Is Explained Concerning ‘Love Thy Friend as Thyself’”: Our sages said: “Disperse the wicked; better for them and better for the world.” In other words, it is better that they do not exist. However, it is the opposite with the righteous: “Assemble the righteous; better for them and better for the world.”

Initially, there were no righteous. The righteous are our corrected qualities. At every level when we enter a new degree, the old righteous fall, and the new sinners rise, and we turn them into righteous again.

“What is the meaning of “righteous”? It is those who want to keep the rule, “Love thy friend as thyself.” Their sole intention is to exit self-love and assume a different nature of love of others. And although it is a Mitzva [commandment] that should be kept, and that one can force oneself to keep, love is still something that is given to the heart, and the heart disagrees with it by nature. What, then, can one do to make love of others touch the heart?”

It is impossible. Only the upper Light can make such a correction for us. It is not within our power since it requires two forces: one that is uncorrected and the other that is the power of correction, which we do not have. We do not even know exactly how or what should be corrected.

This is why we were given the 612 Mitzvot: they have the power to induce a sensation in the heart. However, since it is against nature, that sensation is too small to have the ability to keep love of friends de facto, even though one has a need for it. Hence, now he must seek advice on how to actually implement it.

The advice for one to be able to increase his strength in the rule, “Love thy friend,” is by love of friends.

This speaks about the fact that there is bestowal and there is also reception for the sake of bestowal.

Question: Are the work in the tens, the workshops, and the studying all directed at only one thing: to attract the Light that reforms?

Answer: Yes, we do not need anything else. The Torah is the upper Light that corrects our egoistic desires and turns them into altruistic. The correction of an egoistic intention into an altruistic one is called observing a commandment.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 4/18/18

Commandments—The Laws Of Connection Between Us

Question: Should there be laws against empty talk or gossip in a group advancing toward the goal?

Answer: All the commandments only speak about the internal connection between us. In our world, however, they are described in the form of mechanical actions: a certain way of eating, washing hands, and other corporeal actions that a person performs with his body when working in the field or with animals, etc. In reality, all these desires either facilitate or impede our connection. We have to understand and realize them correctly.

Therefore, the revelation of our various qualities along the path to our unity, some of which are for and others against the connection, is necessary in order to align ourselves correctly. This way, we observe all the positive and negative commandments, understanding what to use for connection and what to abstain from, and we reach the goal.

This is the observance of the commandments, which is carried out with the help of the upper force called the Light, or the Torah.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 4/8/18

The Basis Of “Love Thy Friend As Thyself”

It therefore follows that the rule, “Love thy friend as thyself,” is built on 612 Mitzvot. In other words, if we keep the 612 Mitzvot, we will be able to achieve the rule, “Love thy friend as thyself.” It turns out that the particular elements allow us to achieve the collective, and when we have the collective, we will be able to achieve the love of the Creator, as it is written, “My soul yearns for the Lord.” (Rabash, The Social Writings, “What Does the Rule ‘Love Thy Friend as Thyself’ Give Us?”)

If we take the commandment “Love thy neighbor as thyself” and interpret it in relation to the inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, and most importantly, to a person in all life circumstances, we will reach all 612 commandments, which are summarized in the 613th. That is why there is no 613th commandment as such; it is a result of implementing the other 612 recommendations.

Remark: The world believes that one needs to fulfill all 613 commandments. Kabbalists, however, say that there is practically only one commandment: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” All the others are attached to it, they are a part of it.

My Comment: It is written in many Kabbalistic sources, including The Book of Zohar.

In fact, we need to organize ourselves into a human society that would lead us to some kind of system, regulating each other’s relations based on the same commandment: “Love your neighbor.”

To do this, we have to study Kabbalah and learn to fulfill this commandment at every moment, in all circumstances, wherever we are. So gradually we will implement the 612 recommendations.

The Book of Zohar says that all the commandments of the Torah consist of 612 councils and 612 fulfillments. If I follow the advice correctly, then I get a certain portion of the upper Light, which corrects me.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 3/15/18

To Come To The Commandment Of Love

Question: Can we depict our three-hour morning lesson as one big prayer that includes 612 commandments? We are constantly turning between them in order to come to the commandment of love for our neighbor.

Answer: Yes, consistent fulfillment of the commandments means that we climb the degrees of Jacob’s ladder.

The constant expansion and deepening of egoism in us happens to ensure that we implement connection with each other at greater and greater levels. Every time egoism increases, we perform the commandment of connection on it, up to the love for each other.

Question: Are there 613 commandments at each degree?

Answer: Of course. But we don’t need to consider this because we are originally created this way; our soul’s vessel consists of 613 parts.

In performing 612 advices (Eytin), I receive the influence of the upper Light, which corrects me. It is called Pkudin (from the word “Pikadon – deposit”). In this manner, I constantly fulfill and correct, and again fulfill and correct.

Question: Does the division between 612 commandments and the 613^th commandment also exist at each degree?

Answer: Yes, because the 613^th commandment does not exist on its own, I am incapable of fulfilling the commandment of love. I cannot be forced to love the other. If I, by fulfilling 612 commandments, receive the upper Light upon my desires, then I become loving and bestowing.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation,” 3/15/18

Actions And Commandments

Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of The Kabbalah and Its Essence”: Indeed, there is a common opinion that the prime goal of religion and the Torah is only the cleansing of actions, that all that is desired concerns observing the physical Mitzvot(commandments), without any additions or anything that should result from it. Had that been so, those who say that studying the revealed and practical actions alone is sufficient would be right.

Yet, this is not the case. Our sages have already said, “Why should the Creator mind if one slaughters at the throat or at the back of the neck? After all, the Mitzvotwere only given to cleanse people.” Thus, there is a purpose beyond the observance of the actions, and the actions are merely preparations for this purpose. Hence, clearly, if the actions are not arranged for the desired goal, it is as if nothing exists. And it is also written in The Zohar: “A Mitzva (commandment) without an aim is like a body without a soul.” Hence, the aim, too, should accompany the act.

The physical actions convey nothing on their own. Clearly a person can do them, but he may not be aware of with what motives. Then what? What is achieved by these actions?—That is what’s most important. It is called an intention.

Question: It is written in The Book of Zohar: “A commandment without an intention is like a body without a soul.” What does this mean?

Answer: If any physical action is performed without the correct intention of uniting for the purpose of revealing the Creator, then this action is dead, like a body without a soul.

Question: Baal HaSulam writes that there are only two laws or two commandments: reception and bestowal. It follows that there is an interaction in human society that consists of two actions: either I receive or bestow. They have to be properly balanced. How should we understand this? What does properly balanced mean?

Answer: It is quite easy to balance: bestowal for the sake of bestowal is the quality of Bina and reception for the sake of bestowal is the quality of Keter.

Question: How can we know how much to receive from society and how much to give to it?

Answer: Do it so that it would be solely for the benefit of the society, for the sake of bringing it to the similarity with the Creator.

Question: And who decides that?

Answer: You decide. You have to integrate yourself into society in order to absorb all of its desires and raise them to the Creator. You have to become an intermediary link, a channel of connection between the society and the Creator.

Question: Is it only possible when the Creator reveals Himself to a person?

Answer: How else can you interact with the society? Only in order to help it.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/18/18

Spiritual Meaning Of Mitzvot

Question: There is a Mitzva of washing one’s hands. What is this action from the spiritual point of view?

Answer: This action symbolizes the cleansing of a person’s egoistic hands with which he tries to grab everything for himself. By washing them, he as if corrects his egoistic intentions and does not use them anymore. This is called “washing one’s hands.”

Question: That is, if I perform this action in spirituality, it corrects me. What about corporeality?

Answer: In the corporeal world, it is a reminder to a person that he must abandon the egoistic use of his desires.

Question: If a person washes hands with this intention, does this give anything to him?

Answer: Nothing! People should not get confused. As it is written: “You shall not make for yourself a graven image” in absolutely everything.

You can do whatever you want: eat, drink, behave as you please, as long as this is good for people, and then you will come closer to the upper world. The only condition is the rule “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/9/17

Spiritual Meaning Of Mitzvot

Question: There is a Mitzva of washing one’s hands. What is this action from the spiritual point of view?

Answer: This action symbolizes the cleansing of a person’s egoistic hands with which he tries to grab everything for himself. By washing them, he as if corrects his egoistic intentions and does not use them anymore. This is called “washing one’s hands.”

Question: That is, if I perform this action in spirituality, it corrects me. What about corporeality?

Answer: In the corporeal world, it is a reminder to a person that he must abandon the egoistic use of his desires.

Question: If a person washes hands with this intention, does this give anything to him?

Answer: Nothing! People should not get confused. As it is written: “You shall not make for yourself a graven image” in absolutely everything.

You can do whatever you want: eat, drink, behave as you please, as long as this is good for people, and then you will come closer to the upper world. The only condition is the rule “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/9/17

Are We Guarded From Above? Part 9

Question: How does a Mezuzah (doorpost) symbolize the spiritual force that protects the soul?

Answer: A Mezuzah has four components, which together represent the entire HaVaYaH: Yod-Key-Vav-Key, in other words, the upper system. A person, wishing to resemble the Creator, enters this system of complete HaVaYaH. It is then his home, the mother’s womb, in which he develops.

The system HaVaYaH symbolizes the loving attitude toward us from this upper force, the Creator. Attaining love of others, we resemble the Creator who loves His creation and unite with Him in a mutual embrace.

Question: If He loves me, why does the Creator not embrace me now?

Answer: Because you do not correspond to Him, you disregard Him, you are opposite to the upper force of the system, and therefore undesirable.

The Creator relates to everyone with love, but His goal is to bring everyone to attainment of the upper force, in order for all to know the Creator, to reveal Him and become equal to Him. In this way we stop being puppets without free will, not understanding anything in our own lives, and raise ourselves to a higher level, eternal and absolute.

Question: But what is the purpose of the commandment to put a Mezuzah in the doorway?

Answer: It has to remind us that there is the upper force on which we are dependent and we need to resemble it, behave as it does. As it is merciful, so we should to be merciful, as it is compassionate, so we should be compassionate. In the end, all is very simple.

Question: So the Mezuzah symbolizes the force of love and positive connection between us?

Answer: Just as any other commandment in the physical world, it directs us to the need to follow it spiritually, internally.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life,” #819, 01/26/2017

Are We Guarded From Above? Part 8

Judaism obligates Jews to follow many commandments: blessings, Kashrut (keeping kosher), Mikveh (ritual bath), prayer, in addition to multiple other actions. Judaism is considered the most complicated and an extraordinarily difficult religion.

All of it is in order for us, day by day, moment by moment, to remind ourselves by these action about the connection with the upper force and the need to constantly maintain it.

Question: Are you saying that this connection, love between people, guarantees us protection from above?

Answer: “Love your neighbor as yourself” is a great law of the Torah and represents the height of human development. There is nothing higher than that because this is how I include myself into the other person and do whatever he or she needs. Love is the law of an integral system, by which all its elements have to be connected.

Question: How does that protect me?

Answer: This is how I, or rather the single element of the system that I represent, follow the laws of the integral system. Naturally, this provides protection for me. I can never protect myself. I safeguard myself only through my ability to correctly unite with others because in reality I am connected with everyone and receive sustenance from them. In essence, they determine all my states because we are interdependent.

I am joined by connecting bonds with a multitude of others. If these connections are negative, then I suffer until I finally die. However, if from my side, these connections become positive, then in return, I receive a positive reaction from the system. Even if other people toward whom I act with kindness do not intend to respond to me in like manner, the upper force, functioning within the system, will influence them in such a way as to make them relate to me correctly.

In this way my actions begin to be in harmony with the force filling the entire system. My attempts to love my neighbor make me similar to the upper force. I tune into this force and by doing so, obligate the system to protect me. Resembling the upper what can be safer? I enter the upper almost as if I am entering a mother’s womb; is there a safer place than that?

The upper will protect me because I annul myself, my egoism, and become similar to it. I don’t think about myself, but act only according to the wishes of others. As a result, I become similar to the upper and enter it in the most minimal form. But even in this minimal form, nonetheless, I am within it as an embryo inside the mother. Where else can you feel more protected?
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From KabTV’s “A New Life,” #819, 01/26/17

Are We Guarded From Above, Part 7

There are two levels of connection with the upper governance system. On the ordinary level, a person cannot independently affect the upper system in any way; he functions in it instinctively. The system exerts an influence on him from above and he instinctively reacts to this influence, being connected to the system in countless ways.

However, a higher level of connection with the upper governance system is possible, and Kabbalists have it. And no external objects or actions are necessary for this because this is an internal process, experienced by the individual.

Question: But still, traditions of Judaism are not just external actions; do they not have deeper roots?

Answer: The commandments have roots, but the actual physical actions do not possess spiritual power. We should not believe that the upper force is contained in the mezuzah. The mezuzah only symbolizes this force and helps us to learn about it. It demonstrates to us that a certain force called “mezuzah,” which guards the “home,” exists in nature. And what we call “home” is the soul. And this is how we come to understand that there is a “soul” and within it, there is a “mezuzah.” In this way we are introduced to spiritual concepts.

There is no divinity in the actual physical mezuzah nailed in the doorway. It merely points to a force in the spiritual world, to a particular role of the Creator with respect to the souls. All its divinity is contained within this understanding. In our world there is no divinity. Mezuzah is a symbol pointing to the fact that if I build my soul, then within it there will be a particular protective power called “mezuzah.”

Question: What does it mean to build the soul?

Answer: To build the soul means to carry out correction: the restriction of one’s desire, the screen, and the Reflected Light. For this I need the connection with others, for us to be at least ten, “Minyan” (the quorum of ten), and in the right kind of connection between us, we build the soul, “home.”

All the commandments of this world are only symbolic. The proof of this is Abraham, who destroyed all the symbols because people started to attribute spiritual powers to them and worship them as idols.

But in reality, these objects only symbolize spiritual actions that the person is obligated to perform: to build a connection with others above the personal egoism of each in order to create within this connection a place for the revelation of the upper force of bestowal and love that dwells between them. This is the point of spiritual action: to connect with the others above personal egoism. This is called love.

Question: If I perform such action, connecting with others, will I attract to myself some force that will protect me?

Answer: Of course! But you will no longer be thinking about that because you will acquire the power of love and all your goals will be directed toward helping others, in order to “live” within them and provide them with all they need. This is what is called “love your neighbor as yourself,” when you are ready to give him your only pillow. Only this force protects us in life, there is no other protection.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life,” #819, 01/26/17