"Hevruta" - following Lesson 1
Introduction to Kabbalah and meeting your local study community
"Fundamentals of the Wisdom of Kabbalah" Course Roadmap:
English speaking students - Meeting #1
Purpose of the meeting
- A time for studying together
- Review of what we studied on Sunday
- Deepening of certain concepts
- Questions and Answers
Reminder of study principles
- It is not the wise who learns
- He who does not dare to ask, does not learn
- Set a time for study
Patience and persistence
Penny by penny accumulates into a large sum
Course Schedule
- Sunday noon: Live Course from Israel
- Tuesday Evening: Course in English
Expectations
What do I expect from this course?
Nature
Nature is an interconnected system
Some of the laws are known, some are yet to be revealed
Part of the system is revealed, and part is still concealed.
Nature
Humans are not above nature, but are part of a massive and complex system, and are connected to it by countless invisible connections
An imbalance between receiving and giving in human relationships causes imbalance with global nature.
The lack of balance require a correction
Since there is no difference whatsoever in the observance of the laws of Nature, as I have already proven, it is therefore better for us to reach common ground and accept the words of the Kabbalists, that “Nature” (הטבע) has the same numerical value (guematria) as “God” (אלהים), namely eighty-six.
Thus, I can call the “laws of God” the “commandments of Nature,” or vice versa—the “commandments of God” the “laws of Nature.” For it is one and the same, and we need not waste many words on an empty matter.
From now on, it is very important for us to look closely at the commandments of Nature, to know what it demands of us.
Baal HaSulam - The Peace
Kabbalah - קבלה
kabbalah from the word "lekabel" - to receive
As method to learn from the whole system. To receive from the system, Nature, or the Creator.
Revelation of the Creator – the general law of nature governing creation – also called revelation of spirituality.
“...Our essence is as the essence of all the details in reality, which is no more and no less than the will to receive”.
- Baal HaSulam. “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”, p.20.
“We make nothing new, our work is only to illuminate what is hidden within a person.”
- Rav Menachem Mendel of Kotzk
- RAMCHAL, “Da’at Tevunot” (“Knowing the Reasons”)
Characteristics of the will to receive
- Our desires are growing all the time.
- Fillings, which are achieved by much effort, are felt for a short time and disappear.
- When the filling is gone - it leaves us with a greater emptiness.
- As a pleasure increases in quality, the filling lasts longer.
- Desires are not under the control of the person.
- Desires are strongly influenced/controlled by the environment.
Characteristics of the will to receive
- Desires cannot be cancelled - it is possible to reduce them through sufferings.
- Egoism = a person’s pleasures come at the expense of others.
- Desire as substance is neutral.
- The ego = a natural hate (unfounded) for others, one will always prefer fulfilment for one’s own self over the fulfilment of others, and usually this will happen at the expense of others.
“Since the whole of the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks of the revelation of the Creator, naturally, there is no more successful teaching for its task. This is what the Kabbalists aimed for—to arrange it so it is suitable for studying. And so they studied it in concealment (as it was agreed to conceal it for a certain reason); however, this was only for a certain time, and not forever, as it is written in The Zohar, “This wisdom is destined to be revealed...”
- Baal HaSulam. “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and its Essence”
“This wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots that hang down by way of cause and consequence, following fixed, determined laws that interweave into a single, exalted goal described as “the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.””
- Baal HaSulam. "The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah"
Kabbalistic Glossary
Point in the Heart – The desire to uncover spirituality, which arises within a person.
In the Wisdom of Kabbalah, the "heart" represents all of a person’s corporeal desires, while the "point in the heart" signifies a new desire to reveal the purpose of life.
Kabbalistic Glossary
- Wisdom of Kabbalah – A method for revealing the Creator to the created in this world.
- Creator – From the Hebrew word Bo’Reh, meaning “come and see”; the general force of nature, the will to bestow.
- Kli (Hebrew: vessel) – A desire, creature, or the will to receive.
- World (Hebrew: Olam) – Derived from Ha’alama, meaning "concealment”.
NEXT LESSON TOPIC
Lesson 2 — Nov 16, 2025:
“The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”
- The Thought of Creation and its purpose
- Coincidence or design — is there a guiding system behind reality?
- Introduction to authentic Kabbalah sources
Extra Materials
Why Study Kabbalah, and Who Is It For?
“At the outset of my words, I find a great need to break an iron wall that has been separating us from the wisdom of Kabbalah, since the ruin of the Temple to this generation.
However, when I begin to speak to anyone about engaging in this study, his first question is, “Why should I know how many angels are in the sky and what their names are?..
Even those who favor this study permit it only to holy people, servants of the Creator, and not all who wish to take the Lord may come and take.
Indeed, if we set our hearts to answer but one very famous question, I am certain that all these questions and doubts will vanish from the horizon, and you will look unto their place to find them gone, meaning this indignant question that the whole world asks, namely, “What is the meaning of my life?” In other words, these numbered years of our life that cost us so heavily, and the numerous pains and torments that we suffer for them, to complete them to the fullest, who is it who enjoys them? Or even more precisely, whom do I delight?
It is indeed true that historians have grown weary contemplating it, and particularly in our generation, no one even wishes to consider it. Yet the question stands as bitterly and as vehemently as ever. Sometimes it meets us uninvited, pecks at our minds and degrades us to the ground before we find the famous ploy of flowing mindlessly in the currents of life as always.
Indeed, it is to resolve this great riddle that the verse says, “Taste and see that the Creator is good.””
- Baal HaSulam. "Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot" p.2-3
Video clip "The Wisdom of Kabbalah from Abraham to our time" >>