Spiritual Holidays, Part 4

Yom Kippur Prohibitions

Question: What limitations (restrictions) are performed on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)?

Answer: On Yom Kippur a person “closes,” does not want to use one’s egoism. It turns out that all five egoistic levels that make up one’s soul are closed. A person closes them and does not use them.

This is why on Yom Kippur we don’t drink, eat, wear clothing and shoes made of leather, anoint ourselves with aromatic substances, nor cut or comb our hair.

Question: Where did the Kabbalists get these symbols from? For example, what does the prohibition on wearing leather clothes and shoes symbolize?

Answer: In the past, all clothing was made almost exclusively from leather or wool. When Kabbalists reveal spirituality, they see that they can only use their small spiritual states, i.e., the tools called Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama.

The degrees of Haya and Yechida, which symbolize skin and wool, cannot be used. This is why there is such a custom. It especially applies to shoes because shoes are considered the last, lowest level of our spiritual body.

In other words, the Kabbalist, from his attainment, sees analogies of the connection between the root and the branch, that a certain type of desire, called “skin” is a type of communication with the Creator, which he cannot use in this world.

Question: Is this how all the customs of our holidays came about?

Answer: Yes. Everything that we discover in the spiritual world, we try to implement in symbols of our world.

Question: I always thought, what difference does it make to the Creator what I eat or what shoes I wear?

Answer: There is no difference. Therefore, it is said that the commandments are given only to correct a person and the Creator is absolutely indifferent to what you do physically with your hands and legs.

Kabbalists say that of primal importance for us is the correction of our egoism. This is what was created and it is what we need to correct.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/29/19

Everything Is Within Us

Question: Everything is attained from the opposite. There is a wonderful tool—closer – further—and the Creator uses it very well in relation to us. Can we use the same tool in relation to the upper force?

Answer: Of course, we can distance the Creator from us or bring Him closer.

Question: Is this how He will feel that?

Answer: There is no “He.” The Creator is a special construction within us.

Question: Do we move away and experience it ourselves?

Answer: Yes. There is nothing outside of us, everything is only within us.

Even what you now feel and experience— the world around you with all your friends and everything that you can imagine—exists in you, in your consciousness, and nothing more.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/15/19

Why Do We Feel Empty?

Question: Initially, there is no quality of bestowal in creation, therefore we try to play it. All the Sefirot except Malchut are bestowing. However, when we play at bestowal, for some reason we feel emptiness, like the dark side of Malchut. Where does all this come from?

Answer: It happens because we are still in the process when Malchut is not corrected. First, we must raise it to the level of Bina to soften the quality of reception—Malchut, with the quality of bestowal—Bina.

When these two qualities begin to merge, then we will be able to work clearly with the connection of Malchut and Bina, which is to receive for the sake of bestowal. Thus, we will be receiving from the Creator but for the sake of others. This will be the circuit of light in nature.
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From Kab TV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/22/19

Prepare For The Convention—Invest In Your Soul

By investing in preparation for the convention, a person invests in his or her soul. It is unfortunate that not everyone understands this.

When a person comes to study the science of Kabbalah, one still does not understand where one has arrived. It seems that this is just some kind of a course where one will gain new knowledge and understanding—one will learn and then leave. A person fails to realize that the science of Kabbalah is unlike all other sciences that leave us in the same world where we live with our relatives in a familiar reality. We do not realize that we enter the door that opens to a new reality. And we receive there not after death, but during this life by expanding our perception, and as a result, start to feel reality at a different level.

This is not a simple extension of impressions like the difference between the perception of a dog and a person where a person understands what is happening to a dog and a dog cannot understand the intentions of a person. Here, we talk about a totally different reality, that is, all the forces acting upon us on a spiritual level are revealed to a person. The common force is called the Creator, and we will learn how to connect with Him and establish mutual relations: He bestows to me and I bestow to Him.

This perception does not change with the death of the body. The bodily state has no effect on the spiritual state of a person because one reaches the perception of the true reality.

A person who has come to study knows nothing about this, and even if this is explained to him, he will still not understand since this goes beyond one’s perception and sensation. Now we have been given the opportunity to move on to the perception of a new, spiritual reality: to feel the force with which we must work and establish mutual connection.

And all this depends on how we now increase our common strength together. It is not a matter of everyone’s individual strength. Specifically when a person breaks free from internal isolation and wants to exit oneself to one’s friends, to one’s group, to the world, a person gradually acquires a new perception and feels that outside of oneself there is a force, the Creator, who fills everything. To do this, one needs the help of one’s group, one’s friends, because a person is not able to exit oneself alone and needs external power.

Therefore, a person forces himself to be in a group, to connect with his friends and follow the majority even against his desire because it is clear that from birth, he has had no desire for bestowal and unity. If one manages to do this with help from above, then the person will continue. But many cannot endure and quit. This work requires a lot of patience and, most importantly, not to leave.

There is no other way to get to the truth; otherwise, you will end your life without becoming a person (Adam). The choice is yours. The Creator pushes everyone, but only to a certain border beyond which pressure is no longer possible. Otherwise, you will not be a human being but an angel, that is, a spiritual animal.

Therefore, you need to put yourself in a clear, iron-clad framework and not allow yourself to escape it. In this way, we provide the Creator with an opportunity to work on us. Part of the work is entrusted to us, and the other part will be performed by the Creator. But the Creator works only under the condition that we have completed our part; that is, we have attended the lessons and participated in them to the extent that we could and even beyond, until we have filled up the measure of the effort that was assigned to us.

Our time is special because everyone is looking for a way out of a corporeal and spiritual crisis. A man or woman in the modern world, with all their intellect, achievements in science and high technology, is entangled in worthless games and vile addictions. The Creator pushes us to spiritual development and that is why He disallows our successful development in the corporeal world. As a result of our development, each time we find ourselves in a deeper crisis in order to finally understand that only our egoism is the main enemy that disturbs our life. If we do not correct it, we will never live a happy life. Each temporary improvement will be inevitably followed by a fall, a war, or a catastrophe.

Therefore, the whole world must understand where we are, where we must go, and how we can advance toward this goal designated by nature. What does nature, the Creator, the upper force want from us?

Our group Bnei Baruch has clarified the final steps before entering Lishma (bestowal) and is right on the threshold of spirituality. Of course, it is not easy to take this last step in Lo Lishma and the first step in Lishma—this is the Machsom, the border of the upper world. But we are approaching it and starting to feel the transition from the state of receiving to bestowal, that is, from the power of the egoistic force to the desire to be under the influence of the force of bestowal.

The egoistic force does not disappear; rather, it is balanced by the altruistic force added to it. Then we will work with two forces of nature: the negative and the positive, the egoistic force of the created being and the altruistic force of the Creator, which clothes in us.

And all this work is possible only through the environment. That is why Adam HaRishon, the system of creation created by the Creator from the desire to enjoy, is shattered. And we want to be people, that is, children of Adam, and restore this system, reconnect it. We connect it with the help of the Creator who shattered this system and is ready to fix it at our request. And due to this work, we become similar to the Creator and merge with Him.

This is our state before the convention, which poses a unique, inspirational task in front of us: to enter the spiritual world, the first sensation of the upper reality that is beyond our current thoughts and desires. This is a very exciting anticipation, a heavenly aspiration out of this world, because we are entering the true state that exists in nature. And today, we are in the preparation stage, which is created artificially and actually does not exist in nature. This world is needed only in order to reach correction in it.

We gather in the convention to celebrate our entrance into spirituality, which is in front of us. Therefore, we need even greater unity and mutual guarantee for each other. Without the friends, none of us can do anything; every advancement takes place only due to connection and unity.¹
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/25/20, Preparation for Convention

The Theater Right In Front Of You

Question: Usually I love in a person what I love in myself, and hate what I hate in myself. But I do not want conflicts with other people because I have not yet corrected myself.

Recently, I went to a play in a theatre and I had a question: Is it possible to empathize with some kind of drama on stage or in life, and thus learn to avoid conflicts and start loving other people more?

Answer: You have a great opportunity—work in a group. Play various theatrical productions of love and hate there. Try to strive for unification, for love, all the time. Then you will feel how your nature reveals mutual hatred, rejection from each other, to you.

Thus, you will always be in the right combination of love and hatred. And everything will be great. You can literally work it out in life. We are given a ten precisely for that.

There is thus no reason to go to the theater. The theater is right in front of you.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/29/19

“Coronavirus And The Virus Of Hatred Against Jews” (Times Of Israel)

The Times of Israel published my new article “Coronavirus and the Virus of Hatred Against Jews”

It was just a matter of time until the coronavirus virus would be linked to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. It is well known that when things go wrong, Jews are to blame, and this global threat is no exception.

Once again, the Jewish people are accused of deliberately causing the epidemic for self-gain as with other plagues throughout history, prompting online haters to call for their extermination. “Finally! Science has discovered a cure for the most insidious disease of our time…Jewishness,” reads a recent post on social media.Blood Libels Spread As a Virus

Hundreds of years ago, another epidemic broke out in China. In the middle of the 14th century, the bubonic plague, known as the “Black Death,” emerged in Asia. From Mongolia, it spread to China, and from there to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. In five years, the devastating epidemic killed almost 50 million people worldwide, wiping out over half of Europe’s residents.

Back then, the global catastrophe was attributed to the poisoning of wells by Jews who allegedly aimed at establishing a worldwide Jewish government. Medieval European Christians demonized the Jews and eventually massacred them. As a result, more than 200 Jewish communities in European cities were victims of pogroms and destruction between 1348 and 1351.

The “proof” that the Jews were to blame was the massive numbers of casualties among the general population compared to the handful of infected Jews. However, the reason for the low mortality rate among Jews is explained by the good hygiene habits among Jews proscribed as part of Jewish tradition—habits such as washing hands before meals, immersion in the mikveh (ritual bath) before and after personal relations, and treating meats with salt before cooking. Another factor which lowered mortality among Jews was the setting apart of Jewish communities within closed ghettos and isolated villages.

This week, the ancient medieval blood libel adopted a new form: the coronavirus epidemic.

Extremists have taken to the web to spread their anti-Semitic agenda, accusing the Jews for creating the virus on purpose to control the world. The Arab media has also joined in the conspiratorial trend against the US and Israel, claiming that the absence of cases in both countries is no coincidence, and that the disease is spread as part of an economic and political plot to overpower China.

The Cure to All Diseases

The people of Israel indeed hold a miracle vaccine deeply rooted within Jewish “DNA”: the power of connection to the upper force through a common prayer. In the days of the Temple, Jews lived united by threads of love, and by virtue of their positive connection, they grasped the goal of creation and were able to draw the force that guides humanity to goodness. However, as a result of unfounded hatred, the Temple was destroyed, and since then, Jews need to reconnect and build the foundation for unity among all the countries and peoples in the world.

Humanity is linked through invisible connections as in a network. Subconsciously, humanity feels that the Jewish people have a role to maintain the balance in this network since they have a special relationship with the upper force, the force that controls everything in nature on all levels: inanimate, vegetative, animate and human. In other words, the discriminatory attitude toward Jews, for good or for bad, results from the mission that only they can fulfill, which the world is demanding more and more.

The mission of the Jewish people is to reunite “as one man with one heart” and through such unity, activate the force that will help the world achieve love, peace and unity above the growing divisions. The special bond of the Jews to the upper force opens the pipeline of abundance and light to humanity. That is precisely the task of the Jewish people: to be “a light unto the nations.”

The hatred as a result of the coronavirus epidemic is merely another expression of the lack of connection between Jews. When Jews fail to fulfill their role, hatred is revealed, forcing them to raise a common prayer. Such a prayer is no ritual, but a shared desire from the bottom of our hearts for unification.

A person who prays is a person who tries to connect with others and who then judges himself in relation to his extent of connection, and his efforts to connect. This is brought about through the realization that everyone is blessed only when all are united. When we come to terms with this principle, we understand that we need to ask for help from the upper force: to change our egoistic attitude from focus on ourselves and turn it into care for others.

At this point, the prayer will be answered and unity will be possible. In such a harmonious state, humanity as a whole will be healthy and safe.
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Spiritual Holidays, Part 3

Yom Kippur – Self-Trial

Ten days after Rosh HaShanah comes Yom Kippur.

During Rosh HaShanah a person awakens, wants to become like the Creator to acquire the quality of bestowal. Aspiring for equivalence with the Creator, one feels oneself more and more, and on the tenth day comes to the state where one sees that he or she is an absolute egoist, completely opposite to the Creator.

Yom Kippur or Judgement Day is the revelation of our evil nature, the day when a person judges oneself.
A person begins to correctly perceive oneself as an egoist, under the rule of the forces acting on him, and is unable to cope with them. In principle, this is not even one’s fault but a given. This is why one should position oneself in this way.

No one, of course, judges him, including the Creator, who arranged all this for him. This is a person’s awareness of one’s spiritual state.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/29/19

Two Poles Of Fear

Question: Is fear generated by hatred or by some program of a measure of self-preservation for the recognition of evil, as a manifestation of self-cognition? How necessary is fear?

Answer: It depends on what kind of fear because there are many types of fear.
In principle, negative fear is needed to understand our limitations.

Positive fear is necessary so that we, because of it, would rush under the wing of the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/29/19