[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Todd,

Yes, you can say that each degree contains 613 desires. This is because spirituality is a state of wholeness. Every degree has everything within it. From that point of view, 613 becomes less of a quantitative number and move of a qualitative description of a whole state.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/11/numbers-indicate-quality-not-quantity/

Keep in mind that in practice, we don’t work according to some kind of list of desires, but simply with whatever is being awakened in the moment.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/09/compliance-with-the-613-mitzvot-commandments/

Also keep in mind that the 613 desires that we are learning about are spiritual desires, meaning desires that we don’t yet have. This is similar to how a single cell in a body only has some basic desires. But when that cell is part of a greater body, it reveals there higher desires which are impossible for the individual cell to have: desires for money, honor, power, etc. Same with us, until we integrate with the general body of Adam HaRishon, we don’t reveal or understand these 613 spiritual desires.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2008/12/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-613-desires/

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Johan,

The course started, if you’re having technical difficulties accessing the course, you can get technical support using the “Need Help” button on the bottom right. Alternatively you can also email [email protected] for technical support.

And if you’re interested in taking this course in a different language, check out our portal site: http://www.kab.info

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Shel,

There is a rule that “one is raised in holiness and never lowered.” So we never go backwards. It’s possible that we receive an additional challenge that belongs to a higher degree and that challenge can feel like we’re going backwards, but it’s still a step forward. Similar to how a bodybuilder that masters a five pound weight moves on to ten pounds. That ten pounds is much more challenging and he cannot do as many reps as before, but this is nonetheless considered progress and advancement.

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Sharon,

It’s possible. But since the Kabbalistic writings don’t talk about them, we can’t say for sure. So we could speculate one way or another, but these would just be speculations. We should keep in mind that Kabbalah is a science. Kabbalah only deals with the correction of our egoistic nature and the revelation of the Creator. It has no connection to faith, religion, or religious leaders.

But ultimately these things are not so opposed. Both talk about the importance of loving others as yourself. Kabbalah goes even further and gives us a method to actualize loving others to such an extent that we can reveal in our lives the Creator, the general force of love and bestowal.

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Sharon,

Kabbalists are experts on human egoism. After all, they pioneered Kabbalah, the method of correction of human egoism.

From their research, the Kabbalists discovered that in order to reach the purpose of creation, we need a large ego. The ego is like a tall mountain thanks to which we can climb higher and higher. So the more that humanity advances, the more the ego will grow. And by correcting that large ego, the higher the spiritual degree we will achieve.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Asahd,

They do it out of respect for the culture and traditions they grew up with. We should keep in mind that 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 on ward 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/

Albert @ KabU

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