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Oh how I love the attainment of this preparation. The soul fragment that is within me has always been calling me here. But, I have an enduring question. I have studied the holocaust to the point that I feel that I was somehow present within it. I feel the pain of it and other genocides that have been and are being enacted as if it were touching me… the connection of the soul, possibly. I am beginning to understand that this is the path of suffering the human race experiences to draw them toward the need to feel the connection.
So, the dangling question: The premise being presented that there are no “good or bad” actions (this is dependent on our level of spiritual attainment/perception) and that enlightened perception allows us to see the intention of perfect love behind every event– is Kabbalah really teaching that there is no evil force working in/through people who enact and willfully participate in these human atrocities? Is there no — Lucifer/Satan/fallen angelic beings that are seeking to destroy the human race through our own egoistic indifference toward others?
Thank you for sharing your insight on this.
Deborah Joplin
Hi Deborah,
There is indeed an evil force, but it’s not outside of us, it’s within us: our own egoistic nature.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/07/a-devil-with-horns-or-our-own-egoism/
Albert @ KabU
I just listened and watched this lesson again and I Loved it. My question is about the number of 600,000 souls. I don’t quite understand about the limitations of the number 600,000. I thought I heard in the first lesson that the original EnSof eventually became the billions of souls now in the world.
Hi Joel,
600,000 is less of a quantitative number and more of a qualitative number. It represents the strength of the spiritual desire after it’s been fully corrected. So essentially all of humanity is included in this number.
Check out this blog post to see how this number is derived: https://laitman.com/2010/09/love-and-hatred-of-600000-souls/
Albert @ KabU
I have read the Torah and I don’t understand why there are things in it like the demands of sacrifices of animals and why are animals divided into unclean and clean animals. I also do not believe Abraham was told to sacrifice his son by the creator of all that is good. I’ve asked questions before to Rabbis and they always get angry with me.
For the Kabbalist, the Torah is not a history of a people and their religion, but rather it is written in code, in symbology to express what is going on in the spiritual realms using words, terms and ideas derived from the goings on in this world. If you should decide to study Kabbalah you will in a very short time see what I mean and the Torah will take on a much deeper understanding for you. Love, Peace. Shalom
Hi Joel,
Yes Gematria is a part of the code. Overall this code is called the language of roots and branches. Meaning that it uses words of our world to describe spiritual phenomena. But if we’re not yet in spiritual attainment, then we lack the means to decipher this code.
It’s like a blind person that is trying to study colors. He can learn the wavelengths behind each one, the different feelings they all evoke, but ultimately he will never truly understand colors. But if this blind person was to undergo an operation and gain his sense of sight, how easy and simple it would be to teach him colors. We would simply point to it and say “this is red”.
It’s the same with the language of roots and branches. It’s currently impossible for us to truly grasp these things. But once we gain our “spiritual sight” we would pick these things up very easily and naturally. And only then can we properly interpret what is written in the Kabbalistic books.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/why-do-we-need-the-language-of-branches/
So what good are these writings for us if we cannot understand them at all? By reading the Kabbalistic texts and aspiring to be in those spiritual states of love and bestowal, by that we evoke the force of the light to correct us and make our aspiration a reality.
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
How do we know that we have the correct perception to assess our development? How do we assess what we have attained?
Hi Glo,
We’re not yet on any spiritual degree, we’re still in the preparation period prior to the spiritual ladder. But once we start to do real spiritual work, we can measure our progress in our attitude towards other points in the hearts. That I’ll feel how my attitude towards them changes, from complete indifference, all the way until I feel them as pieces of my soul. We’ll learn more about this in the more advanced lessons.
Albert @ KabU
The Kabbalah increasingly feels like a belief system, even though it claims to be based on the principles of nature. While I can accept the concept of nature without fully comprehending it, it becomes perplexing when these natural principles are suddenly likened to an omnipotent deity (God). Thy are there 620 mitzvot and 125 degrees of spiritual ascent (to name but two), accompanied by notions of punishment and reward?
To elaborate, the Kabbalah, I feel, presents itself as a framework grounded in the natural order of the universe, yet it often adopts characteristics typical of a religious doctrine. This duality creates a sense of ambiguity. Nature, in its purest form, is something I can appreciate and coexist with, even if its complexities elude my full understanding. However, the shift from understanding nature to attributing it to an all-powerful divine force introduces a layer of confusion.
Furthermore, the specificity of 620 mitzvot (commandments) and 125 degrees of spiritual progression raises questions. These precise numbers suggest a structured and rule-bound approach to spirituality, one that includes the concept of divine reward and punishment (non-attainment). This framework seems to mirror religious systems that dictate moral and ethical behavior through prescribed rules and the consequences of following or defying them.
My vision of spiritual attainment is one of personal growth and enlightenment that arises from individual exploration and choice. Spirituality, for me, should not be about adhering to a fixed set of rules or fearing retribution, but about finding a path that resonates personally and fosters inner development. Hence, while I recognize the value in the teachings of the Kabbalah, I believe that the journey towards spiritual fulfillment should be a voluntary and deeply personal endeavor for the good of everyone.
But this said I might be wrong!Hi Francois,
1. Kabbalah and religion are two separate things. Let’s put a few things into perspective to understand this:
Kabbalah is the method of correcting our egoistic nature and thereby revealing the Creator, the general force of love and bestowal. The first one to actualize this was Adam. His name gives us a hint at this since Adam comes from the Hebrew word “Dome”, meaning “similar to”. He was not the first one alive, but rather the first one to reveal the Creator by becoming similar to this quality of bestowal.
This wisdom gets passed onward from Adam until Abraham who adapted it to the people of his generation and made the wisdom more practical. Abraham put together a large group of Babylonians who were interested in actualizing this method. These people later on became the Israeli nation. The word Israel comes from the Hebrew words “Yashar” “El” meaning straight to God. These are the people who had an active point in the heart in those days and were interested in revealing the Creator.
These people greatly succeeded in this method. The peak of their success was symbolized in the building of the first and second temple, which reflected the level of unity and bestowal they were able to reach. At a certain point, they lost the spiritual connection between them (the destruction of the 2nd temple) and what remained was just these external symbols of their connection.
At this point the wisdom of Kabbalah became concealed. People still had the holy books, Torah and etc, but they did not know how to use them. Since the Torah is written in the language of roots and branches. Meaning it uses words of our world to describe spiritual phenomena. But if a person does not have this spiritual connection through which he can see this, then he thinks this book is talking about this world, history, morals, commandments, etc. From this emerges the Jewish religion.
From all the above we see that Kabbalah itself is not connected to any religion and that the modern religions came out due to the concealment of Kabbalah. 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/
2. Reward and punishment (and other such terms) have a completely different meaning in Kabbalah. In Kabbalah, reward and punishment is not relative to our ego, but the opposite, relative to our rising above the ego. So reward is being able to come closer to the Creator, to bestow like Him, whereas punishment is being unable to bestow like Him, being stuck within our ego.
3. 620 and 125, these are precise numbers because Kabbalah is a science. These numbers are derived from the Kabbalist’s research of the spiritual world.
4. The Kabbalists tell us that “there is no coercion in spirituality”. So spiritual development is indeed voluntary.
Albert @ KabU
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