The Center For The Light's Expansion

We can see that the science of Kabbalah expands and enters the world from the center, from the source. In our generation the source of knowledge and the method of correction is here, in the central Bnei Baruch group.

If any group in the world or any person thinks that he is able to lead himself or the group to the goal correctly, he is deluding himself due to misunderstanding the structure of the system of souls upon which our world is clothed. Baal HaSulam writes in the "Introduction to The Book of Zohar" that everything always expands from the internality to the externality, or from the Upper Level to the lower one. The same applies to the influence upon our world as well as one's attainment: First a person ascends to the Upper Level, and from there he can then see and influence the lower level.

Therefore, dissemination, influence, correction, and lessons must come only from here, the center. The role of the different groups is to take part in creating materials and disseminating them while submitting to the center in every way, similar to how all parts of an organism act in a coordinated fashion under the governance of one head shared by all. Nothing can start in the middle of the ladder, the pyramid, or some particular group similar to how the structure of the universe is strictly fixed and described.

Baal HaSulam writes in Item 57 of the "Introduction to The Book of Zohar" that if a thousand blind people are led by one person who can see, then they will all be able to follow him; but if there is no leader, they will all perish. Similarly, we observe a special mission on the part of humanity called "Isra-El" (meaning "straight to the Creator") because the Light of Correction passes through it to all of humanity. Baal HaSulam describes this strict and unchangeable hierarchy in the above article.

Therefore, every person within this system must be connected to the Upper Level as well as the lower level. Above us are our teachers, the sources, the forefathers, and the Kabbalists of previous generations from whom we learn and by whose teaching we live. Beneath us are our students, all those who come to us wishing to connect to us. This hierarchy must be maintained because we are all able to receive only from the Upper One. (See Baal HaSulam's article, "Faith in the Teacher.")

However, if one person or group decides to act independently, they would be preferring the externality to the internality. They will thus replace the upper with the lower, in which case it would be necessary to immediately correct them or remove them from the common system. From studying the structure of the worlds we see that there is no "democracy," but a strict subservience to the Upper Level, to the Upper One's (the Creator's) example.

Through the connection among the groups and their structure, we are currently implementing the construction of a system that will expand to the whole world, as Baal HaSulam writes in the article "The Last Generation." Then our world will become similar to the Upper World. So where is every person's freedom? It lies in choosing the right connection with the environment and submitting to it in order to attain similarity to the Creator. This is attained only if one is connected to the Upper One, receives from Him, and carries out the same actions along the same chain of degrees. Thus, every person's freedom of will lies in preferring the internality over the externality in spite of one's personal egoistic disturbances or those occurring to the group.

As Baal HaSulam writes in Item 60 of the "Introduction to The Book of Zohar," every person's action corrects or ruins the entire system. Obviously, this is a dictatorship; however, it comes from Above, from the Creator, and all of us must carry it out by submitting to the Upper One and becoming similar to Him. In addition, we attract the lower one according to a fixed hierarchy. Absolute equality emerges only in the final, corrected state where everyone becomes equal through mutual bestowal.

The Messiah: A Force, A Person, Or A Group?

A question I received: Why is it that in the process of correction some people actively strive toward spirituality, aspire to teach and create the method of correction, whereas others have enormous earthly desires and merely take a passive part in this process by helping in some way?

My Answer: This division does exist, but it isn't so clear cut because even the people who aspire to spirituality are divided into different levels. We know that in our world, too, there are people who simply "do" as well as others who want something greater. As a result, each person occupies a certain position that is sufficient to satisfy him and does not want any more responsibility beyond that.

There are many reasons that seem to justify why this is so, but in essence everything is determined by one's desire. All of humanity is built as a pyramid, including the part of humanity that aspires to spirituality. Some people are willing to keep going until the end and won't stop for anything until they attain equivalence with the Creator. They won't settle for anything less. Every person finds his own place according to his desire, work, efforts, and inner aspiration. Everything is determined by the root of one's soul because this is what one has to realize.

There is no soul higher than Moses; he is the spiritual leader who led the entire nation out of spiritual exile to freedom, thus performing a great correction in the souls. However, this correction only occurred within a part of the souls, whereas now we are awaiting the Messiah who will perform the general correction of the whole world. The Messiah is not a person, but the Light that will bring all of us out of spiritual exile (in Hebrew the word Mashiach originates from the word Moshech-to pull out.)

Perhaps there will be a spiritual leader in the form of a person because people are able to perceive the method of correction and to see an example precisely in this form. Alternatively, it might be a group that will hold the spiritual leadership over the world and set an example of how to work together while rejecting one's personal egoism and elevating the Creator. They will be able to explain the goal of creation to everyone, to show what the Creator demands, and to set an example of love and bestowal, a spiritual union. This will constitute the Sanhedrin, the world's spiritual leadership.