You are here: Kabbalah Library Home / FAQ

FAQ

What is Kabbalah?

“Kabbalah is not mere theoretical scientific research.Rather, it is a practical method intended to help us through everymoment of our lives. Through Kabbalah, one discovers thefuture, the past, one’s attributes when he or she first descendedinto this world many lifetimes ago, and the way one still needs totraverse.

“Seeing both ends of the rope, one understands what to do and how best to do it. Kabbalists can also see the forces operating on them at any given moment in time.”

--Michael Laitman, Kabbalah, Science, and the Meaning of Life

How does Kabbalah explain supernatural phenomena such as healing or out-of-body travels?

Kabbalah offers you to live in the spiritual world while living in ours. It enables you to feel, see and understand your own direction of growth. In studying it, you learn to see your life in the past, present and future more accurately and lead your life more wisely.

In his book, The Kabbalah Experience, Michael Laitman writes about supernatural phenomena: “Those phenomena are not spiritual, but are natural physiological phenomena of which people remote from nature are simply unaware. Kabbalah, however, speaks of a spiritual body, about what happens with the soul.”

Which charm is the best for success with the opposite sex?

In the book, Awakening to Kabbalah, Michael Laitman explains that “Kabbalah is a science with clear and concise laws that must be studied. It has no connection with charms and blessings and other things that are done in its name, originating in the time Kabbalah was concealed from people and ascribed magical forces. The books of Kabbalah clearly explain what steps we need to take to acquire that knowledge.” Hence, with the knowledge you acquire, you will know which is the best action for you in every realm of life, including with the opposite sex.

How does Kabbalah explain the high divorce rate these days? Has the family institution become a thing of the past?

Today we are in the midst of an overall crisis, manifesting in every realm of life, including the family institution. This crisis is caused by the intensification of the egoism—the desire to enjoy.

Man’s ego is culminating these days, and has become uncontrollable. By consequence, we are losing the ability we once had to cope with ourselves and with the world around us. Family relationships in general, and spousal relationships in particular, are the first to be affected by the intensification of the ego because our spouses are the closest people to us.

Kabbalists wrote that at such a time as ours, the wisdom of Kabbalah would emerge as a means to correct human nature. Thus, from the perspective of Kabbalah, the 21st century is a golden opportunity for spouses to establish a genuine bonding. To succeed, they must march together, and through the union between them discover the Upper Force and achieve true wholeness and happiness.

According to Kabbalah, what is the right way to bring up our children?

Kabbalists support an age-old rule in education: “Teach the boy according to the boy’s way.” This rule stems from the principle that there is no coercion in spirituality. Hence, according to Kabbalah, it is forbidden to apply any pressure on a child. The parents and the environment must set correct examples for the child to follow so that in each stage, he or she will grow in a more spiritual manner. In this manner, the child realizes all the inherent forces in his or her soul, and can discover the root of his or her soul, feeling eternal and whole even while living in this world.

How do you determine who is permitted to study Kabbalah, and who isn’t?

It was Kabbalists who chose to hide the wisdom of Kabbalah for generations. They determined that it was forbidden to teach it except to those who met the strictest conditions and tests. Moreover, throughout history, Kabbalists repelled people who wanted to study Kabbalah. This is why Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai hid The Book of Zohar after he completed writing it. The Holy Ari never wrote a word, but his student Rabbi Chaim Vital wrote in his name. This is how things were until the 20th century.

But in the 20th century, the two greatest Kabbalists of the century, Rav Kook and Rav Yehuda Ashlag, a.k.a. Baal HaSulam, declared that concealment-time was over, and anyone who wanted to study was permitted to do so.

The reason for the change was that the egoistic evolution of humanity has reached its apex, and our generation is in a state which The Book of Zohar refers to as “all unworthy.” Today, only the disclosure of the Upper Force through the wisdom of Kabbalah can correct us and elevate us to the complete and perfect spiritual state. This is not a coincidental process, but one carefully predetermined in the Thought of Creation to unfold as it does.

Does Kabbalah study require retiring from day-by-day life?

“There is no requirement to fast or to mortify self. One does not have to leave everyday life or abandon family duties. Nor does one float in the air, or practice breathing exercises in order to attain tranquility.

“Quite the contrary, students build their egos and turn them into vessels to help them attain the sublime goal. To study Kabbalah, and understand how the Upper World operates, one must be at the center of that world and act from within it.

“Therefore, one must perform all one’s mundane duties. The attainment of the spiritual reality must be in one’s corporeal senses, closely connected with one’s normal life.”

--Michael Laitman, The Kabbalah Experience

I know many methods and teachings to achieve spirituality, why choose Kabbalah?

The difference between all the teachings and the Kabbalah, as I understand it from the perspective of the Kabbalah, is that they are built on the nullification of desires, or at least on their complete suppression. Kabbalah, however, states that the Creator can be sensed precisely by expressing the desire for Him (and certainly not by nullifying it), only by inverting the aim of its use. Which way should a person choose to advance? That is an individual choice.

--Michael Laitman, The Kabbalah Experience

Why is it said that it is forbidden to study Kabbalah before the age of 40?

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, 40 years of age signifies the degree in one’s spiritual evolution when one can attain the spiritual forces. In this degree, a person acquires the powers of bestowal, the power to give. After obtaining those forces, one begins to actively affect reality, and thus changes the world.

The number 40 does not refer to a person’s physical age, but to one’s spiritual degree. Many Kabbalists studied Kabbalah long before the age of 40. The Holy Ari and Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, for instance, both great Kabbalists, never even made it to the age of 40 and passed away at the age of 38. The Vilna Gaon (GRA) wrote Kabbalah books even before his bar- Mitzva (age 13). Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, author of the Sulam commentary on The Book of Zohar, began to study Kabbalah at a very early age as well. At 26 he was already composing Kabbalistic texts.

Kabbalists established this limitation on the study of Kabbalah before the age of 40 to prevent people from studying before they are ready for it. The Kabbalists waited until the ego would complete its evolution and humankind would understand that there is nothing left to study but this ancient wisdom. Today, there are no limitations on the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah, and Kabbalists are writing that now is the “Time to Act,” as Rabbi Ashlag puts it.

Is there a difference between men and women in the study of Kabbalah?

Of course there is a difference. The whole of reality is distinctly divided into male and female. The wisdom of Kabbalah clearly explains how we should approach each sex. The difference between them stems from the different roots of souls in men and in women. According to the spiritual root, the man has to actively correct his soul, whereas a woman’s role in the correction is to support and assist in the correction that the man is performing. Because of these roots there are differences between the status of men and women in our world, too.

What is the meaning of the term “correction”?

A person’s soul consists of 613 desires, intended to receive pleasure. The correction of the soul refers to changing the way one uses each of the 613 desires from using them egoistically to using them altruistically, from “for me” to “for others.” In other words, correction means transition from self-love to love of man, and this happens gradually. There are 125 necessary phases of correction from our present state until we reach the degree of love. Kabbalah books describe those 125 stages of the ladder of spiritual ascent and explain to us how we can achieve them.

Do Kabbalah students suffer less than those who don’t?

A person who studies Kabbalah suffers less. All the sufferings in our world are forces that pressure us to hurry up to achieve the goal of creation. When one steps toward the purpose of creation willingly, out of one’s own volition, those forces serve one along the whole process of spiritual evolution, and pull one forward.

What is the difference between the method of Kabbalah and Musar (moralism)?

Kabbalists tell us that the only force that can correct the human soul is the Light that reforms. The Upper Light, the Creator created the human desire; hence, the light is the only thing that can correct it. This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is the only cure against the egoistic desire imprinted in each and everyone of us. There is a huge force in the authentic sources of Kabbalah, which can reform a person. One who studies from the original texts is reformed and is awarded the quality of bestowal. And such a person does not need Musar.

Can Kabbalists perform miracles?

To our eyes, it seems that Kabbalists make miracles. But in fact, there are no miracles in the world. Just as a person from the Middle Ages would perceive our present reality as something supernatural, we perceive the abilities of Kabbalists, who can obtain what is above our nature as a supernatural reality. A Kabbalist is not a magician; it is a person who possesses knowledge and qualities we have not yet acquired.

Why is the Creator hidden from us? Why are we living in a world filled with so much suffering?

The Creator is deliberately hidden, to give us the freedom to choose between our world and His world. The revelation of the Creator would automatically attract us to the delightful and painless world of the Creator, and we would lose our freedom of choice.

The original intention of the Creator was to create us as eternal as Him. This intention still holds, but we must come to feel it by ourselves, of our own free choice, if we are to achieve the great pleasures of the eternal, absolute, and infinite state.

This is why the Creator created the quality of egoism. This quality is opposite from His, which to dispense absolute delight and pleasure. Through creating the opposite quality to His, the Creator created a world in which one does not feel the Creator, and this is our world. In doing so, the Creator allows us “to return” to Him of our own volition.

Back to top
Site location tree