Bold and in quotes: Original text of Baal HaSulam
Regular: Commentaries of Rav Laitman
lowercase italics: emphasized words
Capitalized italics: transliteration from Hebrew
At every congress, every time we meet for lessons and discussions, a topic related to women is necessarily raised. It is not clear why it needs to be a separate, special topic, but I do understand why this is the way it is. It is so because a woman is the unsatisfied state in our world. Overall everything, all of nature, is called “the female part,” Nukva, Nekeva, Malchut. What the Creator created is called Hissaron, Nekev, which is an empty, unfilled space. While the masculine part is associated with the Creator, with the one that governs and fulfills, with the giver, the female part is always associated with the one that receives, the scarcity of something, lack, un-fulfillment, unrealized desire.
We see this in the story of creation, of Adam, and in the manner that Hava was later created out of him. Where Adam is basically the prototype of the Creator—the bestowing part—while the desire to be fulfilled—the female part—was created in his aid, for him to have someone to bestow to and someone to develop with. In accordance with this, corresponding states exist in our world, because that which functions in the soul in a certain place, in a certain object in our world is separated, accordingly, into a multitude of objects and bodies, where each one of them feels that it is independent and opposite to the rest.
One or every property in the common soul is divided and is put into different carriers, into different souls, into different types of people. All of us are separated to such an extent that we do not understand why when one does good deeds, he receives negative consequences; both good and bad actions have opposite, illogical consequences. This is so because we do not see the common system, we do not understand that everything basically connects somewhere in one place or another, and represent one system, one whole. To us it seems as if there are different people and different carriers.
That is why, naturally in our world, the woman, who represents the creature, really is the creature, the Hissaron, Malchut, the kingdom of desire. While man, in a way is the representative of the Creator, the one that governs, the one that bestows and fulfills. Naturally the female part, regardless of the fact that it carries the most important function in our world—birth—continues, develops, basically makes our world comfortable. It holds it together, while at the same time feels like it is small, unfulfilled and imperfect, to a greater extent than a man does.
This inner sensation of dependency, the sensation of personal inferiority of some kind (psychologists such as Freud interpret this through a sexual point of view), in general comes as a root from the Light and from the desire that arises in it. In our world man perceives himself in accordance with this, and in this manner the woman perceives herself in accordance with him.
For this reason the female desire in our world is twice as deep. On one hand it is so because it comes from the root itself, from the creature itself, and on the other hand because it can not be fulfilled on its own. It is only through proper work with each other, can the masculine and the feminine parts—the part of the Light, of the Creator, of fulfillment and the part of the Kli, of the desire—find their appropriate union together. Naturally this can only happen in the spiritual world and not in our world. Although in our world we try to find some kind of an illusion of perfection in one way or another, it is impossible. Only on low levels of egoism does it sometime seem to us that we are capable of attaining it in this illusion.
There can be no proper relationships and love in our world. As they can only be a consequence if this contact is completely rendered in the spiritual world, on a spiritual level, through mutual bestowing-receiving, above-egoism, then we will be able to experience this not within our bodies, but in the souls.
This is why there is always a women’s lesson, out of respect for that sensation of an uncompensated, unfulfilled desire, a Kli that the woman feels and that she can not fulfill at all in this world. Although she might have everything, a home, family, children, and still for some reason there is nothing. This is so because all of it comes from the Purpose of creation.
For some reason the desires that the husband, the man, has are respected more in our world. They are considered to be more real, closer to the Goal of creation. Why is this? It is because if the point in the heart and the desire appear in a man, they appear from the point of view of the giver. While in the woman, they appear from the point of view of the receiver.
For this reason if the point in the heart appears in a man, he is the one that realizes it, but if the point in the heart appears in a woman, she can not give anything except for her desire. She can realize her desire only if she will adjoin the masculine part. All of this comes from our root, therefore when studying the correlation between the masculine and feminine parts of creation properly, using the nature of each of their parts in the correct manner, one can really advance rationally and efficiently.
In our spiritual work it is realized through a proper combination of effort in the groups or in the world group. Where the masculine part occupies itself with work within the group—the main work that it has is to create a group. While the women’s part, occupies itself with helping with this and everything else that can help the men’s group. This is so because the way in which the men create the similarity to the structure of spirituality (the common soul) within themselves and in the connection between themselves, the way that part, the force appears in this structure, consequently affects the feminine part.
With respect to this the feminine part is the receiver while the masculine part is the one that produces the similarity to the Creator out of itself. The masculine part generates Light, and the feminine part is the recipient of this Light. However, naturally the masculine part is not able to raise its desires to the corresponding level, without the feminine part, because it does not have the same sharpness of desires, because of the lack of realization that the feminine part has.
The same can be seen in men in this world. They are consumed with different games and organizations; they forget themselves like little children, they are consumed with computers, and completely loose the proper reference point in this. This does not happen to women, their desire is directed precisely, if it arises in them, it arises towards the correct position. However, a woman simply can not realize this desire on her own; nevertheless it is more precise and mainly more constant and stable.
Therefore when the masculine part uses the feminine part properly, the stability that the feminine part of the group provides helps the masculine part advance properly towards the goal, instead of falling, rising, and in general leaping from one state to another, or forgetting where it is overall. This is why the feminine part of the group provides the group with stable direction and advancement. It is often seen in groups, when a group is in the state of descent, then it can be felt how the feminine part stabilizes and smoothes these states out.
There is a lot to say about this, because these two mutually compensating parts are fundamental in the system of the universe, but mainly—we need to learn to benefit from each one of them. This is similar to a family. If the masculine part, the man and the feminine part, the wife, perform their functions properly, then they have an efficient family, and efficient collaboration. It is not very easy to do so in our world, there are many distracting moments in this, but if the importance of the goal in the group will be raised, then we will see how this importance of the goal can be attained precisely through our proper realization of the common desire—both masculine and feminine.
Overall I can not imagine a situation where a normal, grown up group, that has already gone through some primary stages of childish inspiration, disappointments, the sifting of some people, where serious people have stayed that keep advancing (like after this congress), where there are still people that disregard the feminine part or think that they can handle things without them. Or people who think that this is a sort of miniature help in dissemination, something that’s just on the side and that’s it. In reality this is a fervor, a mutual fervor of two systems of desires “the bestowing and receiving,” that can only birth a new state together. A soul, when it is born, is a result of a proper union of the masculine and the feminine components, like the body in our world.
That’s basically it. This is an infinite topic, and it can be developed more and more. I think that on one hand women mainly need to understand what their mission consists of, and that it is very important. On the other hand men (who are not capable of doing it—and they shouldn’t) have their own work to do. Your work is not about being bigger, or better, or worst, or lower. It’s not that someone is beneath someone else, but it is in creating a proper Kli by completing each other.
It is said that there were three million people standing at the foot of Mount Sinai. But there were only six hundred thousand men, that’s a third, not even a third, but a fifth. Twenty percent were men, the rest were women, children, elderly people and etc. Therefore the masculine part consisted of only twenty percent of the whole, the rest, the necessary part of this whole mass that was supposed to receive the Torah—all received it. Everyone receives the irradiation, the attainment, but the masculine part is twenty percent, 600 thousand from this entire Kli of three million.
In our world it is also evident that there are more women than men striving towards the goal, towards Kabbalah. Maybe it is expressed in them in a different way than in men, but naturally they see it all in a different manner, in them it goes through feelings, through some circumstances of this world, women mix spiritual notions with the ones of our world, in them all this is closer to nature, and this is why it is portrayed this way. But this part is five times greater than the masculine one; it is natural. This is also evident through some spiritual examples. Therefore the fact that there are always more women than men that join the search for the meaning of life is normal.
This fact needs to be utilized, the extent to which women can affect men must be understood, there are many things that man does in our world in order to be liked by a woman, to receive approval in her eyes. This is why we need to take advantage of this in our dissemination and use the feminine part that affects the masculine part precisely. Naturally, Kabbalah can be disseminated through women in a much easier way than men can. This is why I hope that we will be able to write good books on Kabbalah for women, those which will be directed towards women, and it is through women that this idea will be conveyed to men.
Right now I am writing a book together with an American woman living in Israel. This is an easy and popular book, simply for those that can be touched by this idea. Of course this is not for you but for the new female students beginners, with topics that concern women. I really hope that precisely this kind of exit into the world through women (accordingly there should be five times more of them both buying and accepting this idea, than men,) will help us to disseminate this idea quicker and make the world somewhat more acceptable for existence, for the attainment of the goal.
Question: During the last spring congress you mentioned that after the Machsom (barrier) the masculine and the feminine souls begin to mix. Can you talk about this a little bit more?
Those that cross the Machsom slightly loose their orientation of separation onto masculine and feminine. Because this is conventional, this is portrayed conventionally in the souls. All of us are both masculine souls and feminine souls and in relation to the Creator they are the egoistical desire to receive, simply oriented in a specific manner. This is why in relation to the Creator both men and women are like the feminine part. They unite together in one soul—both men and women—as a bestowing part and as a receiving part, but in the Kelim, in the desires in relation to the Creator all are like the feminine part, where the Creator is the masculine part that fulfills the souls. This is why we are all— Nukva, the feminine part—in relation to the Creator.
Question: The function that we perform is similar to the function a woman performs in the family in relation to the masculine part. But there are often instances in the family when basically the woman is sure of something, for example, she knows purely intuitively what needs to be done in the family and she insists on it...
This does not happen sometimes, it always happens. The woman, as a rule, does not make mistakes, unlike the man, the man is torn away from nature because he belongs to the bestowing part, and in our world the bestowing part is unrealistic. While the woman belongs to the receiving part where the receiving part is close to the egoism, to the earthly, to the normal, to the animate (I beg your pardon, only you will understand me properly) egoism. For this reason the woman does not make mistakes in our world. This is why Abraham was told: “Listen to what Sarah tells you.” And for this reason, if a man does not want to make mistakes in life, it is best for him to listen to what his wife tells him.
Question: Can this be used in the group when working on dissemination?
You are all grown women, each one of you has children. Do you understand how children should be treated? A man is a child in the full sense of this word. Because he is torn away from nature, he is above it—in his fantasies, in his passions, in absolutely everything—he stays a child until the end of his life. Use this, treat them properly, the way you treat children, you need to understand how to approach them properly, in a non-forward manner and then you will succeed. You need to have female wisdom in relation to the masculine part of the group, everything will be fine, by understanding the weaknesses and their seemingly superfluous pride, everything a child possesses a grown man possesses exactly the same thing.
The problem is that when this concerns Kabbalah or something else, different theories arise. Stop theorizing! Use a simply earthly approach and you will succeed. This is why it does not matter how they behave themselves, let them sniff, the main thing is to help them and advance together with them. The extent to which they are not considerate of you does not matter. Treat them with understanding.
By the time a man comes to a level when he understands what others mean to him, especially what the women’s part means, he practically crosses the Machsom. Only after the Machsom does he begin to see the way the masculine and the feminine parts cooperate together in order to create a common Kli and that one is impossible without the other. But before the Machsom even an assumption that he may need the feminine part for this does not arise in him.
Therefore you need to reckon with this and wait until they mature. Mature means cross the Machsom in their case, which means acquiring their real nature. If you understand the creature properly and you agree and justify the action of the Creator in creating this and separating the souls as well as their entire advancement in this manner, then you perform a very big correction with yourselves. But you become obstinate, you think “why is that I am not being treated right” and that “they need to treat me differently.” You need to behave in a more reasonable manner, you have this ability to treat them reasonably, like children. You have an ability to realize yourselves beside them, so do so.
The fact that men represent only a fifth of those that strive towards spiritual values, in comparison to the female part, also stands for something. These manifestations are much more difficult in them then in women. The sensation of lack is enrooted in you by nature, this sensation of dependency, of inferiority and lack of fulfillment, and men don’t have this. It is very difficult for them to accept the power of the so called Creator over them, this is so repulsive to the nature of men, that it is even difficult to agree with it. Thus, it is only a fifth of them that is able to feel such a large desire towards advancement that they can agree to suppress themselves. It is difficult for a man and you need to help them with this.
Question: This situation happens to us when there is no work and this state is very heavy and torturous. How can one come out of it?
A woman is considered a woman in our world when she helps, attends, participates and expresses her care. She realizes herself through this. Mainly this is realized through dissemination, because it is like giving birth to something new, this is the main function of a woman. If she doesn’t take part in this, then she is simply a miserable person, she is not realizing herself. This is meant to say that it is impossible to imagine a woman that will be advancing without participating in dissemination. For example attending to the common group, in general this also relates to dissemination. Every form of advancement of dissemination in the world is the women’s, it’s not even the men’s. The main thing for men is concentration on the group, on the inside, and for women—on the outside. This is why you need to find yourselves, realize yourselves in this.
There is an entire continent before you. There are about 40 or 50 people working with us on a constant basis, busy from morning till night, besides for that they also continue working at night on a volunteer basis. People that don’t work with us come by as well. An enormous women’s group does translations. Everything that we study in the morning gets translated a few hours later and is posted on the websites in every possible language. Later on it arrives in the form of audio and video tapes, in the form of texts. All this is mainly done by women. What men work on are books. There is a big difference between a man and a woman writing a book. Women can write books for women, of course, but a woman can not write a book for men, it is a different type of desires. But I think that there are hundreds of women participating in all the work around us and we lack people.
Our work schedules are very lengthy. Imagine, I am speaking in Hebrew, this must be transferred to text, sound, film, and etc. It is all done in Hebrew, everything is edited, assembled and disassembled, it is put into catalogues and archives, the same thing needs to be translated into Russian, English, and etc. This needs to be submitted in different forms into the department that works with books, it needs to be classified as to whether it needs to be incorporated into a book or not. It might have to be incorporated into some plans, into video, go to the video department, where all of it goes through editing and is put into catalogues the archive that you use, the media archive, and etc. All of this work is practically the work of women. What men do is mostly the creation of the Internet, television, publishing of books, and everything else is the work of women. There are many women working in permanent jobs in the center. I think that at least a third is women, not counting hundreds of volunteers.
I don’t understand how is that you can not find work, find use for yourselves.
Question (cont’d): This is not the case. We participate in dissemination, we receive work from BB. But sometimes there are breaks, and during this moment, when there is a break, it’s very difficult. How do we come out of this state, when we are waiting?
Don’t await anything. Each one of you should have several possibilities. If I did not have an opportunity to participate in dissemination because I don’t speak certain languages or because I can’t edit or translate anything I would simply take a small table, come outside, put two-three books on it and try to sell them for cheap. That’s it! What else can I do? Or if I am not capable of this, then I would at least buy five books per moth, for example, at five dollars each and I would give them to my friends in the form of gifts. I would give twenty five dollars every month to this.
Question: If a woman who is working on a project with men feels that the men are disconnected from each other, that they can not find a connection with one another, and that the way that this is expressed is that the project they are working on is not advancing, what does that woman need to do and what should she not do? How can she help, and how can she not cause damage?
In our world a woman possesses one special quality that all men lack: accuracy or self-discipline. If a job does not come out the way men want it, they become disconnected (it is probably not because they are egoists, it is because they can not gather all of this in their head), you should simply be a regular secretary, gather all of this together, generalize, demonstrate, indicate, like a mother amongst them. But don’t show that you are a mother; instead show yourself from beneath, imperceptibly. You can do the work without which they can not begin advancing.
Give a man several details or problems at the same time and he will become entangled in them and he will not be able to come out of them. A woman will quickly put everything where it belongs and will treat it calmly, and distribute everything properly. A man is not able to do this, administration, archive related jobs—women are indispensable at it, a man can not substitute her in this. This is why she can do dozens of different things and not ‘be’ in them at the same time, but a man, once he submerges himself, he begins to loose his mind, and everything becomes confused in him. This is why the most important thing is to take over the job of a street light, of a signal post—where, how, what, where to—not a single man does this. We also have women doing this.
Thus if they can’t manage something, I think that this is where the problem lies. Each group should have a woman secretary. A man secretary won’t yield any results.
Question: If a woman can not be corrected through the group, then how does she correct herself?
A woman is corrected through the group. Take the example from the allegory about the reception of the Torah. Men are standing at the mountain and they create Arvut (mutual guarantee) between themselves, they attain properties of similarity to the Creator, the desires to become like the Creator. The six hundred thousand souls are all active masculine souls. Women, elderly old people and children—which are the rest of the Kli—are standing behind them, holding them, supporting them and keeping them from turning away from what they are doing. Only in this state, when everyone is standing—and this is called “all the people” as the 20% or the six hundred thousand will not be able to do anything without the remaining part that must hold them—do they attain it.
Question: Is there a difference in the method of coming out of the state of descent for men and women?
Yes, of course, there is a big difference. A man can come out of the state of descent mainly through the help of the group and through the systematic study according to a schedule. A woman comes out of the state of descent only through her work. Other women do not affect her, only the masculine part can affect her. This is why when men gather together—watch their lessons, do their gatherings, sing their songs, eat meals, and etc—the women receive their strength from them. But your even, direct, simple, effective advancement depends on systematic work. Similar to the situation at home: regardless of whether you feel bad or good, you have children, you have a family, things need to be done, there is nothing that can be done about this, and you support the home.
Question: When it comes to inner work or dissemination related work “everything depends on systematic work?”
Dissemination related and external work. Make a schedule, like the men. Just like he comes to the lesson and does this and that, it is also very important for women.
Question: Very often the attitude of the Upper One to the lower one is compared by you to the attitude of a mother to a child. The mother always knows what needs to be given to the newborn, what hurts, what he needs, and she learns through the method of “guessing (of sticking her nose into the circumstances)” or through advice from other mothers and grandmothers—as she gets older, the mother simply learns to understand the needs of the child and satisfies them. Where is the analogy?
First of all the example isn’t mine, these are examples that we see in all Kabbalistic books. Secondarily, mother and child are Bina and Zeir Anpin, the mother is Bina, the child is Zeir Anpin, Katnut, the state of the small one, in his small state. All the stages that a person goes through in his development—an infant is born, he gradually grows, goes through the periods of rearing, the periods of him getting bigger—in our world this is an exact copy of the stages that the soul goes through in its spiritual development.
This is why the analogy is drawn, because it’s very simple, it is absolutely identical. That is to say that if in our world it is not clear to you why and how everything happens this way, I can assure you that once you pass to the spiritual world you will see the spiritual roots, you will understand where all this is from and why they are precisely these properties, characteristics, attitudes, everything will then become clear to you.
Now I am speaking about this from what I perceive in the Upper World and the analogy that I can give in our world. I understand that it may not yet be clear to you. On the cover of my Hebrew book I drew the attaining of the Upper World in an image of a child that is rising above in a little toy airplane. This is the association that I have, because a person that rises to the Upper World really feels this way, this is his ascent, similar to childhood where it seems that you soar. When people look at this book they ask: “What, did you write a book for children? What is this book about? About Kabbalah? A child in a little airplane?” Children come up to the counter and want to buy this book. Just now there was the “week of the book” in Israel, and I heard the following lesson from my students; they say that the drawing is good for nothing. And I specifically made it like this.
Or the book Arvut—there are children standing, they are holding hands, with Light that as if comes down on them from the Above. This is the association that I have. Is there anything else that I can offer? Or the book Elef Eitsot Le Haim ( A Thousand Advises on Life) questions and answers. Where I drew a child that holds a little basket, and there are presents falling into his little basket from above, very beautifully wrapped presents. For me these are the associations because this is how one receives this advice from Above about the way one should live, as gifts from Above. The consumer looks at these books and thinks that these books are for children, and he is right. This is why your association and my association so far are a little different.
Question: What does it mean, that the proper functions of a man in the family is to only spend half an hour at home before going to sleep?
This is his proper function. Thank God that this is all he gives to the family, nothing else is needed, the wife is happy because he spends the rest of the time on the material in order to earn for their existence, and in order to earn for their spiritual existence. What else does one need? What else do we exist for? One needs to work in this world against his will, because we exist in a body and it is necessary to work for the spiritual world. Why do we exist in this world? In order to simply live in it?
I don’t understand the pretences of a wife. It is normal to give a kiss, ask her how she’s doing, without hearing the response, basically to perform his masculine function, and then rest so that the following day he once again has to go to work, to the lesson and so on. Speaking amongst us, what else does one need? The less you will communicate with him, the more peace you will have at home. If together you understand the goal and the reason why he spends his time this way, then there are no problems!
Question: Our men are so consumed with television, with films and web-sites, (we can do part of the work to help), that they miss lessons because they are so busy. How can we convince them to give us an opportunity to help them so that they could study?
This is bad, they are simply lazy! They don’t want to study, this is why instead of the lessons they invent pastimes of television and many other things for themselves, I assure you. This needs to be stopped!
At least half of the time that man dedicates to the spiritual, he must dedicate to studying, and the second half to dissemination. Under no circumstances should one disseminate more than study the science of Kabbalah itself. This can not be, otherwise man will fall and as the result leave this path. They are simply lazy, they don’t want to study, they already sort of know this and that, they have heard this already and think that it is best if they disseminate. In the end this will portray itself in the complete weakening of the aspiration to advance. The Light is only received during the lessons, but in order to receive this Light during the lesson, one must prepare well for the lesson, come with a need.
Question: I study Kabbalah and I have a grown daughter, does she receive anything for her correction?
If an individual studies Kabbalah then all the members of his family, which are physically connected to him, meaning one’s closest (blood related) relatives, naturally receive, through this common, animalistic connection, from that person. It is not for no particular reason that someone is born to another, that people become connected with each other, continue giving birth and creating something common to each other. Someone is close to us, while with others we have little in common—there is a reason for all this.
There was also a reason for why we so simply all met here and why we depend on each other, this is the Kli, for some reason I find myself with you, you and not someone else are my student. Why, where does all this come from? All of this naturally comes from the spiritual roots. This is why this connection exists, and there is no doubt that the fact that one studies Kabbalah, reflects on all the other members of the family.
Question: Under which circumstances does the wife become an energy vampire for her husband, and how can this be avoided?
A vampire is one that is egoistic, who receives and who sucks onto oneself. Now go ahead and figure out which one of you is a vampire and which one is not. But there is nothing that can be done, this is what we are. The thing is that this is what we are against our own will. Do we desire at least to some extent, at least to a small percentage, to become different?
An energy vampire is a woman, by the way this can also be a man, people who do not desire to correct themselves, to study Kabbalah, who do not wish to hear about it, but are only interested in this to truly use your force of advancement.
There is the so called “evil eye,” there are different dirty tricks in the system of the four spiritual worlds, overall it is not discussed, the ARI also speaks very little about this. He has a chapter in the book Ets Haim (Tree of Life), it is called BEA de Tuma, which speaks about all these stages that are opposite to the stages of bestowal. But this is not for us; it is on a much higher degree than us.
One must not communicate with people or speak to anyone about Kabbalah, except for those who are close in spirit, meaning those that really study this. In regards to others, one should not try to convince them, or should stick anything to them directly. Give them brief and simple information, and a small book. If they will desire it after this then yes, if not then no. Do not share your different inner sensations or occurrences in the group (with those that are close to you) especially with people who are your relatives, for example a husband, a wife, if those people are far from this. This incites this person against you, he will suck all of your strength from you, all of a sudden you will discover your adversary. It is because he is not in the same system, he is not in the same movement as you. This is why one should not do this.
It is known that there are many problems between a husband and a wife, it is best not to rouse them as well as this problem. Live and coexist peacefully together. Do not touch upon vexed questions. They will not be solved anyway, they will be solved later. Behave in a more reasonable manner.
Question: According to her nature, the woman cares for the family, the home, does this not mean that she always remains on the animal level?
And when the man occupies himself within the boundaries of our world, is he not an animal? The animal level is any level where we work with our egoism. The human level is the level where we try to be like the Creator. Because man, Adam, comes from the word Dome (similar to the Creator).
Why does it matter what one should do? It does not matter, at all, you can care for the home, you can occupy yourself with the household, give birth, care, do anything you want, and this can be work, either purely egoistic work in the boundaries of our bestial world or with the purpose of ascending to the Upper World, regardless of anything. With this help, then this work is holly—human. This does not relate to the woman or the man, but it only relates to the goal that we are pursuing.
Question: The place of inner work is the analysis within the group, where we now tune ourselves in accordance with the tuning fork. How do we analyze our behavior in the family, in the society?
Only by having tuned yourself into the group, only through what you have received there.
Question: If my children are adopted, do they receive…?
Yes. It makes no difference if you have given birth to a child or if you have adopted him. This connection is spiritual; it is not simply a result of giving birth to them. The fact that you have received them, that what you are putting into them establishes an even deeper connection amongst you, than if these children would have been birthed by you. This is a special system.
Question: Previously you used to say that it is necessary to approach the giving of a book to someone with a lot of seriousness and to be careful of whom you give it to. And now before the congress and during the congress, since there were big discounts, we bough many books and a question arose in our group: now who do we give such an enormous amount of books to?
You should figure out on your own who to give these books to. You need to look at the people that surround you and try to decide inside yourself, who can this book help? Help! If a person is in some state of doubt, confusion, in a state of a lack of satisfaction, if the person feels bad for some reason then maybe you should give him a book. But if he is doing well, why would he need Kabbalah? So, this will help you get a better look at those that surround you.
Question (cont’d): Is this in relation to the work place as well?
You can do this at work as well, but only in the following manner: if you have a simple human attitude with certain sympathy towards this other person, then yes. This will help you. In the current condition, the world is ready. Once we used to think that we will make money on this and pay for some other things with it. Today there is no question of this sort; the condition of the world is such that books need to be sold, literally, at prime cost. In any case we simply need to change the opinion about our world, about the Creator, about the Goal, and especially on this continent (North America.) Because Europe is easier, Russia is even easier, Israel—I don’t even have a doubt.
There is no place more difficult for dissemination of true Kabbalah than America and Canada. There is a common, social idea here that the animal life is unchanging, smoothly flowing, practically dead, without changes. It’s the main goal, and that is it, those that break this dead state are the vermin of society.
In reality a gradual, inner accumulation of this negative potential is occurring, which will break through not like what happened to the twin towers that were blown up in the international center, it will be the entire continent that blows up. There can be such cataclysms, when the tectonic plates beneath America move completely—your entire continent is located on a geological sharp bent. A slight movement of these tectonic plates only in relation to each other and that’s it, all of you are nowhere to be found. Through our opposition of nature we constantly approximate these horrible occurrences. These are not some hurricanes… all this is trifle. I am speaking about things, in the result of which there will be nothing left in an instant.
Therefore one can close his eyes, but what will he gain in the upshot? This is why we need to disseminate, especially here. There is no other place where humanity would be in such a horrible condition like here. These are scales on the eyes, this calm, good, comfortable, animal life, it simply kills. This is why it is necessary to gradually open the eyes of this continent towards life with caution, correctly, softly and very-very smoothly.
Question: In regards to the previous question, can one give books to patients?
Yes, by the way, I often give or offer to buy books to my patients. There, where I see people, I have this enormous shelf, all of my books are displayed on it, in all the languages. And either I think that I simply need to give them this book as the supplement to the treatment, and then I simply give them this book and I tell them that they must read it, let’s say, fifteen minutes a day before sleep, and together with the remedy that I give them, I see a result in a month or two; or I simply offer them to make a purchase. There is a difference: it’s not about the money, but this way he simply takes the right to not undergo the treatment, the course… The books can be offered, or one can simply say that yes, you must read this within a month, and together with my remedy you will see what we will attain.
Question: You say that people come to Kabbalah after shocks and misfortunes. But can it happen that a person has gone through all of these tests in his previous life and now he is ready; is it necessary to experience these misfortunes in this life?
Man comes to Kabbalah through misfortunes. I will describe my state to you. I have graduated from a university in Leningrad, I was a scientific worker in the beginner stage, I was working in the Institute of Blood Transfusion in the ArmyMedicalCollege. I had everything, speaking amongst us, I was married to the daughter of the head of the main laboratory of scientific research in the ArmyMedicalCollege, that is to say that everything was available to me. I divorced her, I left Leningrad, I left the entire scientific field. I was being denied the permission to leave Russia and I was waiting for it, and only after four years I arrived in Israel. Well, on the way I got married, I had a son and etc. I did not have children in my first marriage, one can even say that that marriage was somewhat on the basis of creating a better future for myself. It was because I really wanted to be on a scientific path, and at that time, in Russia, it was very difficult.
I arrived in Israel, in Israel I had everything. I had a job, a wife, a child, I received an apartment. Basically, everything was normal. My wife also graduated from a university in the Soviet Union, here she went to the University of Tel-Aviv, and she studied there, she graduated from it with a degree in electronics. It seems that I had everything, except for one thing—the soul felt empty. I thought that by moving to Israel I would reach some sort of freedom, nothing was going to pressure me, I would do something. And in the upshot, what was I to do?
Then my father and brother came, dentists. I opened an enormous clinic; I was making enormous amounts of money, literally millions. I had twelve doctors working for me, there was an enormous building with a large number of employees. But there was no happiness in life for me, and that’s that. So what then? Basically I moved around, I did all these things against my own will, but I didn’t have anything. Can this be called suffering or not? Basically this is suffering.
Remark: There is no fulfillment.
There is no fulfillment. That means that it is not the money in the pocket, not health and not going for a walk, but simply you have everything—and you have nothing.
So in Kabbalah this is called suffering. For this one does not need to lack sleep, lack food, or clothes to wear and a place to live. Suffering is an inner sensation. There are people that have billions, and still they feel this way. Or on the contrary, there are people that practically don’t have anything. And this person does not even need anything, he sleeps on the street and feels good. Why would he need anything, to concern himself and think about something? Therefore we can not measure anything through our physical data.
Question: What is the correct way of offering literature to people that follow a religious way of life? What is the right way to approach them to avoid scaring them?
Our literature should not be offered to religious people! In our world people can be divided into three types of people: those that believe in a Creator, those that believe in the absence of a Creator and Kabbalists. There is no difference between religious people and nonreligious people, only that some believe that something exists, and others believe that something does not exist, but this is one and the same.
Simply we call them believers, and others non believers, but both types believe. There is no proof, no facts to what both of these groups say, while we approach it from the point of view of analysis and attainment. At this moment I don’t feel Him, He does not exist for me. But I want to attain Him, I have a scientific method according to which I attain Him. This is why if we turn to those that believe in the absence of the Creator, we can say: “Look, test it in an absolutely realistic, precisely logical, scientific manner, and etc, take it and test it.” And this will not be against their beliefs.
But if we come to a person that believes that the Creator exists, he does not need anything, he has his faith. Why would he also need some proof, and to suffer for this, tolerate, endure, analyze, think? And here he does not need to think. Faith is against thoughts. The more foolish, and fanatic the person is, the holier he is. You tell him: “Boom”—he hits his head against the wall. Oh! That means he is a real believer. Isn’t it so?
This is why nothing should be given to believers, nothing should be offered to them, overall one should keep himself at a distance from them. This is healthier, because there can not be any contact with them until they understand that they are in a state of childish faith. Someone said, and they said: “Yes.” What is their faith based on? On the fact that someone said something to someone else and someone passed something on to someone else, and that’s it, and it’s going, and rolling. The same thing happens in every religion, and each one of them says something of his own. One believes in this, and another one believes in something else, there is no difference, they take it as faith, that’s what it is called.
We do not take anything as faith, we only believe what we feel. We also need to test our sensations to see how authentic they are. We also have an instrument for this.
Question: You say that religions also exist in Gmar Tikkun, after the correction…?
Religions in Gmar Tikkun after the correction simply are a social club. What kind of faith can there be if everything is attained in Gmar Tikkun? What place is there for any kind of faith? That which remains are simply conditions-conventions common to all mankind—culture, a club. Maybe a church, maybe a synagogue, maybe a mosque, it can be anything.
Comment: A club of interests.
No, this is man’s culture, it is the way that he somewhat expresses some kind of his social organization, nothing else. What kind of faith can there be if everything is revealed, everything is revealed in Gmar Tikkun? This is why Baal HaSulam says that every person in Gmar Tikkun can remain in his own faith. What does his own faith mean? Keep his so called cultural traditions.
Question: When the soul descents on earth once again, does it happen within the boundaries of the same religion every time?
Whether the soul descents within the boundaries of the same religion every time? Yes, man does not change. He can only change, if he desires, in this life. But this neither makes a difference.
Question: I have a malignant illness, then what kind of spiritual work can I do in order to survive and continue living?
Only the study of Kabbalah. Not even dissemination, maybe, but a little more study, and the study according to a serious Kabbalistic source like Talmud Eser Sefirot. This is what I recommend.
Question: For women also?
Yes. Besides that, take medicine from my son, it also helps partly.