LESSON #6

The transmission of Kabbalah

across the generations

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The chain of Kabbalists

Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Academy - Global Course 2023:

Part 1: “Introduction to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

Summary �from the previous lessons

The Will to Receive

• Desire is the force that defines and shapes the development of humanity.
• Desire is willpower, desire to receive pleasure and delight.
• The desire to receive itself is neither good nor bad; it is the substance of creation. Good or bad is measured only in relation to the use we make of the desire to receive—for our own benefit or for the benefit of others.
• Using the desire to receive for one's own benefit is called "intention in order to receive". Using the desire to receive for the benefit of others is called "intention to bestow".
• Every person in our world works according to the intention in order to receive for one's own benefit. In order to change that intention, we must learn the wisdom of Kabbalah.
• Correction—changing the use of the desire to receive, from the intention in order to receive to the intention in order to bestow.
• The "pleasure extinguishes the desire" principle—the mechanism that causes the desire to develop: every time the desire is filled with pleasure, the desire fades, the pleasure is extinguished, and as a result a new, greater desire arises.

The Perception of Reality

• The desire to receive is the internal software that manages our “perception of reality” mechanism. We see what we want to see. In order to perceive spiritual reality, we must change the software according to which we perceive reality, that is, the desire to receive.

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• According to the law of “similarity of form,” in order to perceive the spiritual reality, we must develop within the desire to receive sensitivity to spirituality, an intention to bestow, to give.

Root and Branch Law

According to the law of root and branch, each "branch" in this world has its own unique and special "root" from which it hangs down into this world.

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Root = cause; branch = consequence.

The world of the roots = the spiritual world.

The world of branches = the physical world.

Root and Branch Law

The language of the branches that appears in the Kabbalah books describes the spiritual roots while using the names of the "branches" in our world.

When we come across words that are familiar to us from everyday life in the books of Kabbalah, we must remember that they are directed to the spiritual roots and not to what is happening in our world.

Kabbalah Books

All the Kabbalistic writings tell about the relationship between the Creator and the creatures.

Kabbalah Books

The Kabbalists describe all situations cascading from the highest point of attachment to the Creator, until this world.

Kabbalah Books

The power of the spiritual states, or the worlds (from the word He’elem - concealment), felt within our desires, which are similar in varying degrees to higher laws of Nature or to the Creator (Nature = Creator).

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Avraham is the foundation of the point in the heart

Pirkey Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 24‎

“Abraham, son of Terach, went by and saw them building the city and the tower ... but ‎they loathed his words ... They wished to speak each other’s language but they did not know each other’s language. What did they do? They each took his sword and fought one ‎another to death. Indeed, half the world died there by the sword.”

Maimonides, Mishneh Torah

“At forty years of age, Abraham came to know his Maker. …He began to call out to the whole world, to alert them that there is one God to the whole world and that He is the One to be served. He would call out, wandering from town to town and from kingdom to kingdom, [...] Finally, tens of thousands assembled around him, and they are the people of the house of Abraham.”

Maimonides, Mishneh Torah

““Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the things you want others to do for you, do them to your brothers … This is the law that Abraham Our Father established and the way of mercy in which he behaved, giving food and drinks to passersby and accompanying them.”

Noam Elimelech, Devarim

“Through his complete work with great love, Abraham worked and imparted upon us a root of holiness so we, too, will be able to walk in his ways, to serve the Creator with love. This is the meaning of “descendant of Abraham, who loves Me.” He wishes to say that Abraham had sowed this love for all the people in the world.”

The Book of Zohar

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai

The ARI

Rav Yehuda Ashlag

Baal HaSulam

About the writings of Baal HaSulam

TALMUD ESER SEFIROT

The Study of the Ten Sefirot

A fundamental book in the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah that describes the entire spiritual work of a person going through the stages of correction.

First page of�The Study of the Ten Sefirot

The Sulam [ladder] Commentary on The Book of Zohar

“The Book of Zohar” is studied after Baal HaSulam's article, "Introduction to the Book of Zohar," and after his article, "Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah".

Rav Baruch Shalom Ashlag

(RABASH)

The Writings оf RABASH

These books disclose the profound knowledge of human nature that the RABASH possessed, and take us on a journey to our own souls.

“You lack nothing but to go out to a field that the Lord has blessed, and collect all those flaccid organs that have drooped from your soul, and join them into a single body.

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In that complete body, the Creator will instill His Shechina incessantly, and the fountain of intelligence and high streams of light will be as a never ending fountain.“

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Baal HaSulam, Letter 4

During this week, we will read Kabbalist’s writings

(we will write the distinctions in a notebook):

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1. What emotion / impression do I get while reading Kabbalah books?
2. Does it touch me where other articles don't touch me?
3. Do I feel any internal change/movement?