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[Gil]

Ask, connect, inspire.

[Verena]

Hi, in the introduction to the study of the ten Sefirot, many articles refer to working with Torah and keeping Mitzvot in expectation of reward versus punishment, and while doing so , internally growing from Lo Lishma to Lishma. Furthermore, there were suggestions to give the study of Thorah  no more than 3-5 years before turning to Kabbalah as a different source. For me this raised a few questions:

1. How is the importance of keeping Torah and Mitzvot considered in a non-religious context? Should that be a source from which to derive direction for people who are not engaged in Judaism? Especially, when it comes to the Mitzvot. I understand, that „love thy friend as thyself“ is kind of the core Mitzva, that is definitely needed for spiritual work,  whereas the others Mitvot seem to be guiding to this goal (if that is right) but for a non-Jewish person I am wondering how to deal with the study of Mitzvot at all?

2. In comparison of keeping Thorah and Mitzvot versus engaging in developing the wisdom of Kabbalah, how are Thoras/Mitzvot related to Kabbalah? Could it be said that people can learn outwardly from experience through engaging in Thorah / Mitzvot whereas the study of Kabbalal develops them internally?  And can it be said, that if one would decide to take Thorah/Mitzvot more literally, itś not so much about the action performed, but about the underlying faith?

3. And then how does Kabbalah relate to the expectation of reward and punishment? Does this actually exist, like in a conditioned environment, or is it referring to the pain and suffering that arouses from being developed along the natural process rather than the internally driven and enhanced process Kabbalah offers?

Sorry , thatś a lot of questions. But I am really trying to understand HOW to develop myself, and I feel I need to understand the implication the different sources have, especially Thorah and its Mitzvot, because I have no connection to it, so I need to understand which place it is supposed to have in the study of Kabbalah.

 

[Gianni – KabU Instructor]

1. You don’t need to keep corporeal customs to succeed. You can think of Mitzvot as such: there were Kabbalists who attained the Upper World and saw that, because of the connection between Roots in the Upper World and their branches in our world, there are spiritual actions that, in the matter of our world, can be represented, as with a seal and imprint. Doing these actions could awaken the Surrounding Lights, depending on various factors.

2. It would depend on the intention, and the expectation for the Light to work. But there are other ways to draw the Surrounding Light. And many people do physical actions, but never attain spirituality, no matter how meticulously they keep them. See Item 155 in “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”. https://kabbalahmedia.info/en/sources/OqZMFGHu

3. Reward and Punishment refers to what is already happening to us. There’s already a punishment for not following all that Baal HaSulam and Rabash tell us we should do. It’s happening. But do I see this or not? Seeing clearly that there’s a reward for following their advice to the letter and punishment for not doing so, is called Reward and Punishment.

 

 

 

[Verena]

Thank you, Gianni, that’s really helpful ☺️

[Carly]

Who is Melchizedek according to Kabbalah?

[Gianni – KabU Instructor]

An upper force of bestowal.

[Magsy Kapoor]

Dear Gianni,

My question comes after reading and rereading Rabash’s “What are truth and falsehood in the Work?”

Is there a difference between the aim of an action and the intention of it? From what I’m reading, it seems to me that the aim of an action is what you want to accomplish with it while the intention has only two possible options: to receive or to bestow. However I am not clear on this, so please help :>

Thank you! ❤️

[Gianni – KabU Instructor]

Good discernment. The aim is interchangeable while we’re in English. But let’s say there’s you aiming, and there’s also the Kavana (intention). And that’s something from Above. The real intention, that is, for the Creator, comes from Above. After we show that’s what we want.

[Kristin]

Another question , we know that suffering is what we feel in our ego and in our perception , mainly in our lack of The Greatness of The Creator , however can’t this suffering even if corporeally be used as purification if our intention is aligned and not concealed?

 

Thank you

[Gianni – KabU Instructor]

Suffering does purify our vessel, but this path should really be joyous in every minute. So, if I’m suffering, then I need to check why. The only way there could be suffering that is beneficial is if it’s solely in my Will to Receive, while I feel myself as joyfully above it, truly that that is not me, as if it happens to someone else. I identify with the group, the Creator.

[Kristin]

after thinking on this , a few things . So I see that the purification comes through the ten and the connection of the friends because they are a mirror in which I can see my ego and where my intentions are not aligned . Then this creates a desire for a prayer from the bottom of the heart. He who comes to purify is aided with a Holy Soul, this means my soul is then purified one step if you will closer to adhesion in which my intentions become refined or is it just simply help from above and has not achieved any such higher state on its own ?

[Gianni – KabU Instructor]

We clarify gradually that we’re in a situation where all we’re capable of is a prayer. This way we’re elevated to higher and higher states.

[Kristin]

This was very helpful thank you.

[Kristin]

I have a question about shame along with what is the difference between descents and correction? for example when one is given revelation of his evil at first there is feeling of regret and shame for sinning against his friends and The Creator , then the ego comes into a corporeal shame in which it wants to isolate from the group. They seem to be two different types of shame and this is part of a correction or is this a descent or both ?

 

Thank you

[Gianni – KabU Instructor]

Hi Kristin,

It just depends what I do with the descent and how long I stay in it. If I leave the work, leave the group, leave the Creator, fail to say “There is none else besides Him” – these things throw me to the lengthy path of pain by which I’ll gradually return, along similar pathways by which I originally came to the wisdom of Kabbalah. The ego likes to take credit for the evil instead of ascribing it to the Creator because then I escape the work (“It’s the fool who sits and eats his flesh”). If instead I quickly ascribe everything to Him, and run every time toward bestowal, this will be a much faster path, years and years faster.

[Kristin]

Thank you .

[Ed]

In last night’s graduate class, we were studying Rabash’s article 77, “Greeks have gathered around me.” The last paragraph says:

It follows that through Greece, meaning the Klipa [shell/peel] of Greece, who go according to reason, we descend into the abyss and it is impossible to rise, as it is written, “I have drowned in the abyss of Greece” (Psalms 69), and only from above is it possible to lift up.

It quotes Psalms 69, “I have drowned in the abyss of Greece,” but I can not find that quote. Was it written in a commentary on the Psalm?

Thanks.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by Ed.

[Gianni – KabU Instructor]

Hi Ed,

There’s a word in there that is the same word for Greece and for the corporeal object used – and it doesn’t matter that corporeally the rise of the Hellenists came long after King David. It only shows that we can only superficially understand what Psalms is saying. Even Rabash would sometimes refer to Psalms and say, “No, this I don’t understand.”

[Author]

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