Q: From the Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot (item 1): “First, I find it necessary to destroy an iron wall that has separated us from the wisdom of Kabbalah, since the ruin of the Temple and up to our current generation…” I have three questions for you on this issue:
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Of what is this wall built?
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Under what conditions was it erected?
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Why is this wall standing between Israel and Kabbalah?
A: 1. The iron wall is inside our hearts, between its egotistical intention “for ourselves” and the point in the heart, the screen, and the altruistic intention “for the Creator.”
2. The disciples of Rabbi Akiva (who taught, “Love thy fellow man as thy thyself”), experienced a downfall. They descended to the level of unfounded hatred, and with them, the entire Jewish people fell. There were earlier declines in spiritual level, such as the destruction of the First Temple, and from then on, such downfalls have continued to the present day. However, in our time begins the process of realizing the need for correction, and along with this, the rise of souls to the barrier and beyond it.
3. The barrier is an iron wall that separates us from the spiritual, from Kabbalah. By definition, Kabbalah is not a science of entering the higher world - that is only a part of it. Kabbalah is a method that teaches how to unite with the Creator and achieve the goal of creation, meaning Kabbalah actually starts beyond the barrier.
4. The barrier stands between Israel and Kabbalah because the desire called “Israel” (with the aim “for the Creator”) is under the power of egoism (Egypt), surrounded by this wall. Today, this desire feels the need to escape from “Egypt.”