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(1) What does it mean that He “hears” those prayers?
That you always get a response, a change, if you ask.
(2) Do we keep approaching the Creator with our brokenness, even when it seems pointless?
It registers with even greater value upon that feeling of pointlessness. But in every state our prayers are valuable. “Many pennies accumulate into a great sum.”
(3) How do we regard our prayers to the Creator in our lowly state, far from Lo Lishma and even farther from Lishma?
I still have to ask Him from where I am. The path is a series of requests that start from exactly where I am in relation to my group and the Creator.
(4) Are there any excerpts or articles that can uplift those of us who feel like we are in “exile”?
Shamati 1, 2, 3, and 4
Only you will know the best way to do that. Essentially, I need books, a group, and a teacher. Today I can have a lesson or book playing in my ear most of the time. This will already alter your state, more toward spirituality.
Kabbalists write that there are five parts of the soul – Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida.
It’s not so relevant but in English, Ruach translates to spirit or wind, and Nefesh and Neshama can both translate to ‘soul’.
You have a spiritual root that is unique, and you have to open it up while you’re in this world. Then, in it, you’ll feel an eternal world that is above this fleeting existence.
Hi AspiringAltruist,
I don’t think you need to start buying and wrapping Tefillin. There exists such a Kabbalistic practice called Tefillin (which also became a Jewish religious custom) – but it’s important to distinguish customs from intentions – the inner work with the desire – which are the focus of Kabbalah. Baal HaSulam writes that even in the Gmar Tikkun (end of correction) everyone can keep their own customs. And there we’re already talking about a state of “all shall know me [The Creator] from smallest to greatest.” So, it’s not the case that everyone who wants to study Kabbalah and reach the Creator needs to adopt these physical customs.
If you’d like to know the basis for this custom though, Rav discusses it in this excerpt from a talk he gave on the subject of Tefillin:
The physical act of putting on Tefillin is only a symbol of spiritual communication with the upper force of love and bestowal. The Tefillin symbolize the correction that we undergo in our desires and thoughts in order to enter into equivalence of form with the upper force.
According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, our matter is a desire to receive that divides into 613 desires, which we need to correct. “Correcting a desire” means changing the intention upon the desire from self-benefit to benefiting others.
The contents of the Tefillin are four Parshiot (sections) that correspond to the name of the upper force (HaVaYaH [י-ה-ו-ה]), through which we ask the upper force to help us love others.
Putting on Tefillin in the morning expresses a desire to receive the force to correct ourselves throughout the day. It is important to note that the physical action of putting on Tefillin makes no corrections in and of itself. The correction depends on how we work with our intentions and actions. This is also the case with all of the Mitzvot (commandments); in a physical sense, they serve only as reminders of the need to carry out inner acts of correction.
About the corrections that the Tefillin symbolize, it is written, “And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand” (Deuteronomy 6:8), i.e., the left hand symbolizes the ego that needs to undergo correction. Also, “And they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes” (Deuteronomy 6:8) means that when we correct our desires and thoughts, we attain equivalence of form with the upper force.
In short, the Tefillin symbolize the correction of our desires and thoughts through which we come to the revelation of the Creator, the upper force of love and bestowal that dwells in reality.
If you have any additional questions I’m happy to answer!
