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Hello Albert
A question that occurred to me after this lesson is whether I am required to study the Torah, the Gemara, or other things before I start my studies here? Because I have no knowledge about Judaism and for the first time I am interested in Judaism in my studies here at Kabbalah.And another question unrelated to this lesson, I’m from Israel and I’m having trouble understanding the content here, which is in English, and at the beginning you recommended us to read books that are an introduction to the course, is it possible to buy them translated into Hebrew?
Thank you
Hi Salam,
1. There is no prerequisite to study the Torah or Gemara. Although these are indeed Kabbalistic books and there were countless other Kabbalistic books that have been written in the past, in our days, we mainly study from the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash. This is because egoism grows from generation to generation, so Kabbalah, the method for its correction, needs to get adapted in each generation for that level of egoism. For example it’s like in medicine, if a person has a headache he can just drink a tylenol and that’s enough to fix him. But if it’s not just a little headache but something cancerous, then that tylenol won’t do anything for him but he needs a completely different regime to heal himself.
This is why Kabbalah gets adapted in each generation to the level of egoism that is currently found in that generation. So although there were many different Kabbalists and Kabbalistic books throughout the generations, nowadays we mainly learn from the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, since their writings contains the light that is most suitable to correct the egoism that is found in our generation.
Check out this blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/11/the-great-kabbalists-and-their-works/
2. As for Judaism, if you wish to study Judaism, that’s completely up to you, but that’s also not required. This is because Kabbalah is not a religion and not connected to any religion. Kabbalah is a scientific method by which we can correct our egoistic nature and as a result of that correction, we reveal the Creator in our lives.
At the same time, Kabbalah is not against religions. In fact we have millions of students worldwide, from many different backgrounds and religions. Many of them do choose to maintain their religion or to perform certain religious customs while studying Kabbalah and there is nothing wrong with that. Just like with any other science, a person can be religious and also be a chemist or physicist. Likewise a person can be religious and also study the science of Kabbalah. Baal HaSulam writes that even after the full spiritual correction people can still keep their religions.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/12/the-wisdom-of-kabbalah-and-the-other-religions/
3. Yes, you can find the books in Hebrew. Here’s a link to the Hebrew bookstore: https://books.kab.co.il/
and a link to the Kabbalah Library in Hebrew: https://kabbalahmedia.info/he/sources.
Although if English is difficult for you, you can also try switching to the Hebrew version of this course: https://campus.kab.co.il/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Natalia,
You can say that Kabbalah is hard because it talks about correcting our nature. If we try to perform this correction by ourselves, not only is it hard, but it’s actually impossible. Just like a PC cannot change itself to run as a Mac, we too cannot just reprogram our very nature. We need outside help to perform this change. This help comes to us from the light. This is a special force that we can tap into in order to help us perform this change. We extract this force primarily from the Kabbalistic studies. Our entire work boils down to extracting more and more of the force of the light and it does all the rest. If we learn how to do that properly, then this path will not seem hard, but actually quiet simple and relatively easy to carry out.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
Albert @ KabU
Shalom,
1) As I learn the program I found that when referring to the Creator it says that it is equal to nature is that correct?
2) I would like to understand if someone says that they do not believe in God but in nature – does it suggest that God is nature? So do we share the same belief but using a different terminology?
3) Just to clarify, when we refer to God are we referring to nature and it’s unchangeable laws? Which would give us the physical realty we see and the upper reality we are not aware of?
4) In other words: That idea of God sitting on a throne is it a metaphor used to share a story such as with Job that the sons of God present themselves on a throne and God sitting on the Throne?
Thank you so much in advance.
Kind regards
Sharlene Raston
Hi Sharlene, great questions!
1. Yes.
2. Kabbalah is not a system of beliefs. Kabbalists don’t “believe” in the Creator, they reveal Him in practice. And this revelation is not something mystical, but rather it works according to the law of equivalence of form.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/kabbalah-without-a-trace-of-mysticism/
3. Yes, you can say that.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2017/11/the-concept-of-god-in-kabbalah/
4. Yes, you can say that. The stories in the Torah are written in the language of roots and branches. It’s a type of code that uses words of our world to describe spiritual situations and phenomena. As such, these stories are not literal stories.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2016/05/dispelling-myths-about-kabbalah-part-4/
Albert @ KabU
What is it about many celebrities, like Madonna, etc. representing Kabbalah (even if it may not be authentic Kabbalah)? I get that Kabbalah essentially is really something different than what is publicly being pushed. But I still wonder where this comes from and why it really always comes with a dark message, like some occult ritual style music video, some apocalyptic event, or satan worshipping? I personally thought for a long time that I could and should not look into Kabbalah because it’s linked to satanism and therefore dark occultism. Now I am glad and grateful that I learn otherwise bit by bit, but I know there’s a lot of people that still have this belief because of this public representation.
Hi Marc, great questions!
But I’m not an expert in other methods, even others that seemingly teach “Kabbalah”, so I cannot comment on what they do or teach there. In general, authentic Kabbalah has been around for about 5800 years, but it’s been concealed for the past 2,000 years, so people don’t really know what it’s all about. Just picture a 2,000 year old game of telephone. So naturally, many different methods sprang up that are seemingly “Kabbalah”.
Some try to associate themselves with Kabbalah as a way to validate themselves, while others borrowed some principles from Kabbalah and created something else, which is how philosophy emerged and later on turned into science. Or it’s also possible that these methods sprang up as a result of the concealment of Kabbalah, this is how the modern religions emerged. But ultimately, authentic Kabbalah has nothing to do with any other method and for the most part precedes all of the modern religions, sciences, and philosophies.
Authentic Kabbalah is the method by which we correct our egoistic nature and as a result we become similar to and reveal in practice the Creator, the general force of love and bestowal.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Comfort, good question.
The number 125 comes from the structure of the upper worlds. This structure is just a division of the spiritual desire that we need to correct into sefirot, partzufim, and worlds.
The most basic division of the desire is 1 Sefira. 5 Sefirot compose 1 partzuf. 5 Partzufim compose 1 world. There are 5 worlds in total. So 5 worlds each with 5 partzufim each with 5 sefirot equals 125 (5x5x5) steps on the spiritual ladder, or in other words corrections that need to be performed on the desire.
In the book Kabbalah for the Student, there’s an article called Foreword to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah (http://www.kabbalah.info/eng/content/view/full/64187) which lists these 125 steps in the language of sefirot/partzufim/olamot(worlds). For now, these are just technical terms for us, but in the future lessons we’ll dive deeper into these things and learn how to feel and experience them.
In simpler words, the 125 steps represents the difference between us and the Creator. The Creator is a desire to bestow and we are the desire to receive. Adapting our desire to receive to work in order to bestow takes 125 steps. So to the extent that we correct our nature, make it similar to the Creator’s nature, to that extent we’re “climbing” this ladder.
In other words, ascending or descending this ladder is not a physical action, but rather depends on how much we’re similar to the Creator’s quality of bestowal (ascending) or less similar to it and more egoistic (descending).
All of this operates according to the law of equivalence of form. Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/
Albert @ KabU
What is the difference between egoism and necessity? The analogy is driving in traffic. I am driving on the highway and need to get off on the exit to get to work. My work is serving others. No one is letting me get to the lane for me to make the exit. So, I aggressively take the exit so I can get to work. I take something at the cost of the other. Should I never take my exit from the other and never get to work? Or should I always be late to work? Is that egoism or necessity? In nature, a lion eats its prey at the cost of the prey and this is called natural. How do I operate in this world when everything I receive can be weighed and understood as a cost to the other? More importantly, how can I be productive in a egoistic world through this wisdom? If I always give up my exit to get to work, which the world will gladly take, how can I get anything accomplished?
Hi David, great questions!
The Kabbalists tell us that “necessities are neither praised nor condemned”. Meaning that taking care of our necessities to live a normal life is not considered egoism. It’s perfectly fine to do that.
What then is egoism and how is it connected to our nature which only wants to receive?
There is the desire to receive pleasure and there is egoism. Although we sometimes use these two things interchangeably, in truth they are two separate things.
Our nature is the desire to receive pleasure. It simply means that every calculation we make is to chase pleasure or avoid pain. This is similar to how any other animal functions. By itself, there is nothing wrong with this nature, it’s simply the program by which we function and preserve ourselves.
Egoism is when this program begins to be used in a way that harms others. Not only do I want to receive pleasure, but I want to receive it at the expense of others, at their detriment. This is the corporeal ego.
There is also a spiritual ego. Spiritual egoism is everything that stands in the way of our connection with the Creator. Normal people don’t have a spiritual ego. This is only something that we discover after doing some serious spiritual work.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/true-evil/
Albert @ KabU
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