Ask anything about week 1 lesson and materials and get an answer from a senior Kabbalah instructor.

[Tony Kosinec- KabU Instructor]

Ask anything about week 1 lesson and materials and get an answer from a senior Kabbalah instructor.

[K M]

So you say that we have desires. My question is, what happens to desires, dreams, hopes, thoughts that we have, but they never materialize? For example, I want to go to Australia some day. I save and save my whole life, but my life is cut short or for some reason or another I am not able to go. Maybe my life just turned out differently than I planned, even though I did everything right. What happens to desires we have and know of that don’t actually materialize? Did we do something wrong because they didn’t materialize?

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi K M,

Our egoistic desires are built in such a way that it’s impossible to fully satisfy them. The Kabbalists describe it like this:

“he who has one hundred wants two hundred” and “one finally dies with only half one’s desire in his hand.”

As soon as we realize one desire, it grows in size wanting even more. So we are left feeling even emptier than when we started. This is the typical race we find ourselves with our egoistic desires.

If we want to find true fulfillment, then we need to come out of our egoistic nature and develop a completely different set of desires: those of pure love and bestowal. This is what Kabbalah helps us to do.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/03/kabbalah-is-a-patent-for-infinite-pleasure/

Albert @ KabU

[Jolene Nunemaker]

In order to not make mistakes, do we first have to realize them?

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Jolene,

There is a saying that “there is no righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin” and “a person does not keep a commandment if he has not failed in it first”. Meaning that it’s impossible to advance without first making mistakes. Just like it’s impossible to walk only on one foot, but rather there is an alternating motion to walking: left, right, left, right, left, right, etc. Likewise in our spiritual work: we reveal the ego, we correct it, we reveal the ego, we correct it. And this process repeats itself until we correct our egoistic nature on all 125 degrees.

So there is no such thing as not making mistakes. Rather we need to see those mistakes as a natural process by which we grow and develop on the spiritual path.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2023/07/useful-mistakes/

Albert @ KabU

[Yvonne]

I love this course love the books and look forward to serious studying. I also bought the zorah

[Enrique Rojas]

Al volver a ver este video, luego de haber completado el curso, surge en mí el interés de integrarme en una decena (grupo de diez estudiantes de la sabiduría de la Kabbalah) para continuar estudiando conforme a la dinámica recomendada por Rav Laitman. ¿Es posible gestionar la incorporación a una decena a través de esta plataforma de KabU?

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

google translation of the question:

Watching this video again after completing the course, I am interested in joining a ten (a group of ten students of the wisdom of Kabbalah) to continue studying according to the dynamics recommended by Rav Laitman. Is it possible to manage joining a ten through this KabU platform?

___________________

Hi Enrique,

Yes, everyone will be placed in a ten in the advanced semester of KabU.

The prerequisites for that is to first finish the fundamental courses (Kabbalah Revealed 1 & 2) and the intermediate courses (Kabbalah in Action & Kabbalah Experience).

Albert @ KabU

[Natu]

I’m primarily interested in practicing Kabbalah, but I also feel a connection to Judaism, though I don’t follow it too strictly. I’d like to find a way to integrate both Kabbalah and Judaism into my life in a way that feels natural and balanced. Do you have any advice on how I can do that? Additionally, I’d love to connect with like-minded people who share these interests. Where do Kabbalists typically meet, whether online or in person? How can I find a community besides this one? And is there a way to connect directly with other students in this platform to exchange messages?

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Natu,

1. I cannot comment on Judaism because that’s not what we’re learning here. Here we’re learning Kabbalah. Integrating Kabbalah in your life should indeed be done in a balanced way. This is because without a good balance in our corporeal lives, we won’t be able to advance in spirituality either. A Kabbalist continues to exist on the level of this world throughout the entire spiritual ladder. So I cannot just turn into a monk and disconnect from this life and only focus on spirituality. On the other hand, if I only focus on corporeality, then I’m no different than an animal.

So the important thing is to find the right balance between the two: to take care of all of one’s normal necessities: to work, take care of the family, health, etc. And to set aside some time on a regular basis to focus on spirituality.

And in the more advanced stages of our development, we will see how our day to day life helps us with our spiritual development.

2. Connecting with others is a central part of the Kabbalistic method, so there are plenty of opportunities to do so. In the early semesters, our main point of contact with others is through the live zoom lessons and through these Q/A forums. In the more advanced semester, there will be an opportunity to join a virtual Kabbalah group and learn how to do spiritual work in the group. There are also a few regional Kabbalah retreats every year that you’ll have the opportunity to participate in.

Albert @ KabU

[Kirstin]

Thanks very much for this video.  I noticed the pentateuch referred to as Kabbalistic texts.  My question is therefore if it might help students of Kabbalah to learn to read the original texts in Hebrew?

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Kirstin,

Knowing Hebrew is helpful, but you don’t really need to learn Hebrew to study Kabbalah. All of our materials are professionally translated to English and many other languages.

But does the translation pass the full spiritual meaning? No. Hebrew is a language built for passing spiritual meaning, not just the meaning of the words, but every single letter and shape of the letter is a code for a spiritual state. So any translation is good but it will never give you 100% of the true spiritual meaning, it’s impossible.

So how big is the loss? For a person who is not yet in spirituality, the loss is very very small, even minuscule. In fact we have thousands of students worldwide studying with us on a daily basis, in a language other than Hebrew. Whenever Rav Laitman visits these groups, he always remarks how there is no difference in the spiritual advancement between these students and the students in front of him (all Hebrew speakers) that he studies with daily. This is because spirituality does not depend on knowledge but only on the desire. If we build the right desire for spirituality, we will feel it, if not, then no.

If you want an in depth explanation of the significance of the Hebrew language, check out this article. The ties between letters, words, and numbers:

http://www.kabbalah.info/eng/content/view/frame/60270?/eng/content/view/full/60270&main

Albert @ KabU

[Kirstin]

Thank you very much for this reply and for the article you recommended.  I’m sorry it took me a while to pick your response up, but I haven’t been able to log in for some time.

I would like to learn Hebrew.  Would you have any recommendations were to start, or might any beginner’s book be okay?

 

 

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Kirstin,

From my own experience, it took me about 3 years of daily learning and practice to reach a level in which the Hebrew became useful. So I personally wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. But if you do choose to learn Hebrew, the main thing is not so much the program you use, but

1) Not to lose the desire. After all many many people start learning a language and only a handful succeed. So you need to look for ways to constantly reignite your desire to learn it.

2) In whatever learning program you choose, put all the new words you learn there into a flashcard program (like Anki) and rehearse it periodically. This way you can amass a very large vocabulary and won’t forget anything you learn.

Good Luck!

Albert @ KabU

[Author]

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