Q: When a Kabbalist dies, who takes his place?
A: You will not be able to understand the meaning of the connection of a Kabbalist with eternity, with the Creator, and with his dimension of existence, but I will try to answer you just the same. The Creator is the one who places the Kabbalist in this world, and when there is a need, He replaces him and puts another in his place. The Creator does not do this because the previous Kabbalist didn’t do enough, or grew old, but because each soul performs only the task it is assigned, and cannot perform other tasks.
The Creator places the force and then replaces it, but does not change it, because each soul can perform only a specific assignment, and from there it moves on to another act, a more sublime one. You cannot see it, but Kabbalists can.
And what will become of my disciples? When I am gone, they will receive the necessary guidance from other leaders. As a whole, death in this world should be met with joy, not with grief, but that is another topic altogether.
Q: I am surprised to find that great Kabbalists can be victims of murder and persecution. I always thought that Kabbalah renders unlimited powers and control in the world, whereas now I think that Kabbalah has nothing to do with this world. Why is a Kabbalist who rises in the spiritual world not immune to the torments of this world?
A: You are beginning to think correctly! There is no connection between the corporeal (animate) world and the spiritual world, as we imagine it to be. The body of a Kabbalist is no different from that of any other person. There are no such links between the body and the soul, where the soul influences the protein, corporeal substance of the body. The Creator does not change the law of creation especially for Kabbalists, and all the physical, natural laws apply also to Kabbalists. The Kabbalist cannot fly in the air like a sorcerer, or perform other unnatural operations, and he can get sick, like any other person.
The world gets it wrong because it doesn’t feel what a soul really is, and so it searches for spirituality in matter, or searches for connection with the matter. A Kabbalist need not do anything external, because spirituality is in a different dimension. The link with spirituality happens through inner contact. Nothing in our world is directly connected with the Upper One.
The characteristics of this world are no more than signs that there is no spirituality in them! Man finds spirituality through his soul, which is a part of the Upper World. If he feels it, he finds a link (spiritual coupling) with the Upper World, with the Creator.