Letter 1 May 2, 1922, Jerusalem To my friend… It is now noon and I have received his letter from the eighth of the first month, and your beggar’s complaints against me are an accepted prayer, as it is written in The Zohar. I have already proven to you in …
Letter 2
Letter 2 Tammuz 17, Tav-Reish-Peh-Bet, July 13, 1922 To my flesh and blood ... the exalted and glorified. Now I have come to reply to your letter from the 33rd of the Omer Count [Lag BaOmer], along with your letter from the 15th of Sivan, which I received yesterday, and …
Letter 3
Letter 3 Tav-Reish-Peh-Bet, 1922, Jerusalem To … “Four entered a PARDESS,”1 etc. Before the world was created, there was He is One and His name is One, since the souls were not considered souls, for the issue of name refers to when one turns one’s face away from him, and …
Letter 4
Letter 4 15 Heshvan, Tav-Reish-Peh-Bet, November 16, 1921 To my friend, Indeed, I see your difficulty with simplicity, that you are embarrassed to speak simply. Yet, in all my dealings with you, face to face or in letters, I did not affect your spirit whatsoever, as it is the way …
Letter 5
Letter 5 Tav-Reish-Peh-Aleph, 1921 To my soul mate, may his candle burn forever: ... What you implied in your last letter, that I hide my face from you and regard you as an enemy, your intention is as one who hears his disgrace but keeps silent, and that I am …
Letter 6
Letter 6 1 Av, Tav-Reish-Peh-Aleph, August 5, 1921, Sabbath eve, Warsaw To my soul mate ... may his candle burn forever: I have already written you two letters but did not have the time to send them to you. In truth, I would like to see you prior to my …
Letter 7
Letter 7 27 Kislev, Tav-Reish-Peh-Bet, December 28, 1921, Hanukkah, Jerusalem To my friend, my heart and my point, the glory of his name is my glory, may his candle burn and shine for all eternity, Amen, may it be so: Since the ninth of Elul [last month in the Hebrew …
Letter 8
Letter 8 April 3, 1922, Jerusalem To my honorable friend... I must comment on your slacking in your work of writing, to approach me every once in a while with information of your points. It would have added a few benches at the seminary, and I have already proven to …
Letter 9
Letter 9 7 Nissan, Tav-Reish-Peh-Gimel, March 24, 1923, Jerusalem To my friend, may his candle burn: I can no longer restrain myself regarding all that stands between us, so I shall attempt open and sincere admonition. I need to know the value of a word of truth in our land, …
Letter 10
Letter 10 21 Tevet, January 17, 1925, Warsaw To the disciples, may the Lord be upon them: ... I terribly regret the dwindling organs that external circumstances overcame them from joining you. May the Creator give them strength so they can join us, and the Creator will be with them. …
Letter 11
Letter 11 January 31, 1925, Warsaw To the one who is tied to my heart, may his candle burn: I received your words, and concerning the traveling of ... I can inform you that, God willing, I will bring him with me to Jerusalem. I think I will issue a …
Letter 12
Letter 12 26 Tevet, Tav-Reish-Peh-Hey, January 12, 1926, Warsaw To the honorable students, may the Lord be upon them: ... You must grow stronger in what concerns our prime wish. You know what I interpreted about the verse, “And the Lord your God will bless you in all that you …
Letter 13
Letter 13 10 Shevat, Tav-Reish-Peh-Hey, January 25, 1926, Warsaw To my dear ... may his candle burn forever: I received your words with a heart full of longing, for you hide yourself from me. Still, you could speak to me in writing. What you wrote, letting me know the exile …
Letter 14
Letter 14 10 Shevat, Tav-Reish-Peh-Hey, January 25, 1926, Warsaw To... may his candle burn: ... And scrutinize well in a thousand weekdays, for they are the paths of the river of knowledge. It is as Samuel said, “The paths of heaven are clear to me,” in the state of Shabbat …
Letter 15
Letter 15 18 Shevat, Tav-Reish-Peh-Hey, February 2, 1926, Warsaw To my friend ... may his candle burn forever. A reply to your letter from the sixth day of [the portion] Bo [come], which I received along with your letter from the fourth day of [the portion] BeShalach [When Pharaoh Sent]: …
Letter 16
Letter 16 20 Shevat, Tav-Reish-Peh-Hey, February 4, 1926, Warsaw To my soul mate, may his candle burn forever: I received your letter yesterday and I enjoyed it because I saw that you want to do as I wish, after all. Regarding your first question, your words are very confused. It …
Letter 17
Letter 17 6 Tevet, Tav-Reish-Peh-Vav, December 23, 1925 Dear... ... Yet, let me write to you with regard to the middle pillar in the work of God, so as to always be a target for you between right and left. This is because there is he who walks, who is …
Letter 18
Letter 18 August 1926 To my soul mate, may his candle burn: ... However, keep away from suffering a man’s jolt prematurely, for “Where one thinks is where one is.” Therefore, when a person is certain that he will not lack abundance, he can focus his efforts on words of …
Letter 19
Letter 19 1 Tishrey, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, September 9, 1926, Rosh Hashanah, London My dear soul mate and disciple, and all the friends. I have received all your letters, and may they please the Almighty. However, “Know the God of your father and serve Him.” “Know” means recognition, because a soul without …
Letter 20
Letter 20 1 Tishrey, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, September 9, 1926, Rosh Hashanah, London To my soul mate and student ... may his candle burn: ... Why have you not informed me of the Dvekut [adhesion] of the friends, if it is going from strength to strength? This is the very basis of …
Letter 21
Letter 21 16 Heshvan, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, October 24, 1926, London To my soul mate ... may his candle burn forever: I received your letter from the thirteenth of Tishrey [the first Hebrew month]. What you write me about, “I recognize how much I need external mortifications to correct my externality,” thus …
Letter 22
Letter 22 16 Heshvan, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, October 24, 1926, London To my soul mate ... may his candle burn: I received your letter from the fourteenth of Tishrey [first month in the Hebrew calendar]. But my friend, why are you not pleased with the first order that I have set up …
Letter 23
Letter 23 16 Heshvan, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, October 24, 1926, London To my soul mate ... may his candle burn forever: ... Concerning the comparison of your matter to the cascading of the worlds, of which your friends do not approve, it is because they learned from me that first you need …
Letter 24
Letter 24 16 Heshvan, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, October 24, 1926, London To my soul mate ... may his candle burn: I received your letter from the fourteenth of Tishrey [first Hebrew month] and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I commend you on your efforts in adhesion of friends, and may the Creator also …
Letter 25
Letter 25 14 Kislev, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, November 20, 1926, London To my soul mate, may his candle burn forever: ... What you wrote, that you do not understand the innovations in the Torah that I wrote to you, they should have been clear to you. When you straighten out the way …
Letter 26
Letter 26 Kislev, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, November-December, 1926, London To my soul mate … may his candle burn forever: I received your last letter, from the fifth of Kislev [Hebrew month, roughly December], and regarding your surprise at the scarcity of my letters, I will tell you that I have many troubles, …
Letter 27
Letter 27 16 Tevet, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, December 21, 1926, London To the honorable student ... may his candle burn: ... I do indeed want to unite with you in body and soul, in this and in the next. However, I can only work in the spirit and the soul because I …
Letter 28
Letter 28 10 Adar Bet, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, March 14, 1927, London To my student ... may his candle burn: ... The above mentioned letter, which was not sent at the time of its writing, I will now reply to you about it. I will also reply to your latest letter from …
Letter 29
Letter 29 10 Adar Bet, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, March 14, 1927, London To my soul mate … may his candle burn: I received your letter from the 22nd of Adar Aleph [Hebrew month around March]. Although you are displeased with the fact that your innovations are not receiving their due time to …
Letter 30
Letter 30 Nissan, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, April, 1927, London To my soul mate … may his candle burn: I received all of your letters, and regarding your wish to receive an advance for the book, for it is finally to be revealed, happy are you, for the merit of humbleness is to …
Letter 31
Letter 31 Iyar-Sivan Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, May-June 1927, London Leader of the children of Menashe, Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, London, May God protect it. To the students, may the Lord be upon them: ... I shall reply to both of you together, as it all stems from the same desire. The …
Letter 32
Letter 32 2 Iyar Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, May 4, 1927, London To the honorable students, may the Lord be upon them: Yesterday I received the 200 copies of Pticha [Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah], and today your letter. You are all unanimous about my letters being short, while I myself wrote …
Letter 33
Letter 33 26 Nissan, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, April 28, 1927, London To the honorable students, may the Lord be upon them: Two nights ago, a wonderful thing happened to me: A man asked me to come over to his house to see his books, among which there were also books of Kabbalah... …
Letter 34
Letter 34 26 Nissan, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, April 28, 1927, London To the honorable students, may the Creator be upon you: I think that I do not need to write you words of Torah because you have plenty in writing and in print. But who knows if they are still news to …
Letter 35
Letter 35 16 Iyar, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, May 18, 1927, London To the honored disciples, may the Lord be upon them: The surprise of ... at my zeal and devotion to The King’s Valley, which I wish to publish, is because he did not understand me. It is not The King’s Valley …
Letter 36
Letter 36 24 Adar Aleph, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, February 26, 1927, London To my soul mate ... may his candle burn: ... What you wrote about the cleanness of the clothes, I agree with you. And what is written, “Ten Sefirot of Ohr Hozer [reflected light],” with what is the light attained, …
Letter 37
Letter 37 20 Adar Bet, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, March 24, 1927, London To my soul mate ... may his candle burn: I received all your letters. Be strong and we will grow strong; do not fear and do not dread them. Let it be a sign for you that when success approaches, …
Letter 38
Letter 38 8 Nissan, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, April 10, 1927, London To ... may his candle burn: I received your letter and I congratulate you for the Semicha [rabbinical ordination] you have obtained. This is the first wall that barred you from going forward. I hope that from this day forward you …
Letter 39
Letter 39 17 Sivan, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, June 17, 1927, London To the famous Hassid … may his candle burn: Regards to you. I must inform you that I just received a very distressing letter about my sacred pamphlet being handed over to external ones to abuse it as they please. Now …
Letter 40
Letter 40 29 Sivan, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, June 29, 1927, London To the honorable students: This week I received a double portion of letters from the portions Shlach [Send] and Korah. Last week I did not receive any letters and I thought that you did not write because on the third day …
Letter 41
Letter 41 13 Tammuz, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, July 13, 1927, London To the honorable students, may the Lord be upon them: I received your letter, and I am now sending the introduction. Although I have not proofread it, not even in writing, I trust you to understand how to proofread it perfectly. …
Letter 42
Letter 42 14 Tammuz, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, July 14, 1927, London To the honorable ... may his candle burn: With the words below, I will open my heart to you: I am very surprised that the friends are not missing my approaching return home as they should be. But I think of …
Letter 43
Letter 43 14 Tammuz, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, July 14, 1927, London To the honorable ... may his candle burn: ... Our sages have already said, “The fear of your teacher is as the fear of heaven.” This, therefore, will be the measure of exaltedness that such a man obtains by his sanctity, …
Letter 44
Letter 44 Tammuz, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, July, 1927, London To the honorable students, may the Lord be upon them: ... and I must praise Rav ... whom I feel closer to me than the rest of the students, and I am deliberately praising him in his presence, so he will give praise …
Letter 45
Letter 45 25 Tammuz, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, July 25, 1927, London To the honorable students, may the Creator be upon them. As I prepare myself to return to my home, I so long to find you ready and willing to hear the word of the Creator properly. Currently, I feel shame for …
Letter 46
Letter 46 6 Elul, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, September 3, 1927, London To the honorable, great Hassid, a treasure of wisdom: I received your letter and I was happy to see his handwriting, which was to me a sign of his good health. Concerning what he says, that he does not consider the …
Letter 47
Letter 47 Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, 1927 To my dearest ... forever and ever: I received your words today and there is one thing that I see in them: your great fear of my moving away from you even as a hairsbreadth. It is inherent in people, and also gives permission ... to …
Letter 48
Letter 48 9 Elul, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, September 6, 1927, London To the students, may the Lord be upon you: I received all your letters, and what ... wrote me about the humiliations and the papers about him, he should believe me that I share and fully sympathize with his pain and …
Letter 49
Letter 49 9 Elul, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, September 6, 1927, London To the students, may the Lord be upon them: While I trust you to keep your commitment to devotedly observe every utterance I utter in Torah and Mitzvot [commandments], I order you to begin to love one another as yourselves with …
Letter 50
Letter No. 50 11 Elul, Tav-Reish-Peh-Zayin, September 8, 1927, London To the honorable students, may the Creator be upon you: I received your letter from the portion Shoftim [Judges], along with the innovations in the Torah of all except for ... and I do hope to receive his letter today. …
Letter 51
Letter No. 51 3 Tishrey, Tav-Reish-Peh-Het, September 29, 1927, London To the faithful soul mates: Because the time of our celebration is approaching, I hereby point to it. It is written, “And you will be only glad.” The grammar feels as though it should have said, “And you will be …
Letter 52
Letter No. 52 14 Tishrey, Tav-Reish-Peh-Het, October 10, 1927, Sukkot Eve, London To ... may his candle burn: I received your letter and the notes. ...interpreted for me the verse, “Seek the Lord while He is found; call upon Him while He is near.” This is perplexing. If the Creator …
Letter 53
Letter 53 27 Tishrey, Tav-Reish-Peh-Het, October 23, 1927 To my soul mate ... may his candle burn: ... Indeed, you have caused me much work concerning the separation and hatred that has been sown and grown among you to an extent that I did not foresee. Each of the students, …
Letter 54
Letter 54 15 Tevet, Tav-Reish-Peh-Het, January 8, 1928 To my soul mate … may his candle burn: Today I received your letter with all the adventures that had happened to you, and what you wrote from the night of fourth of [the Torah portion] VaYechi [Jacob Lived]: “If the light …
Letter 55
Letter 55 1 Kislev, Tav-Reish-Tzadi-Bet, November 11, 1931, Jerusalem To my dearest ... Today I received your letter with the news about the sons, may the Creator give the blessing. By and large, I had some contentment with that letter. Although you did not altogether refrain from giving bodily matters …
Letter 56
Letter 56 23 Kislev, Tav-Reish-Tzadi-Bet, December 3, 1931 To ... may his candle burn: I received your letter today and I understood it. And yet, I believe that you should also know my view regarding your words, although in my estimate, you still do not perceive them. For this reason, …
Letter 57
Letter 57 May 1931, Jerusalem To the famous and pious student ... may his candle burn: I received your letter, and while you are sorry for what is not missing, you should be sorry for what is missing. This is the rule: Anything that depends on the Creator exists in …
Letter 58
Letter 58 8 Adar, Tav-Shin-Aleph, March 7, 1941, Jerusalem To the holy rav whose light will shine forever...: ... The question was, “What does ‘Haman from the Torah, where from?’ imply,” from the verse, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” He said …
Letter 59
Letter 59 A letter that Baal HaSulam wrote to his disciple regarding the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah in English in the United States To the famous kabbalist, my great teacher and rav, Rav Levi Yitzhak, may he live long and well, I received your latest letter, and for …
Letter 60
Letter 60 Introduction Baal HaSulam wrote this letter in response to a question that was sent to him following the publication of the essay Matan Torah [“The Giving of the Torah”], where he elaborates on the commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” being the whole of the Torah, and that …
Letter 61
Letter No. 61 A letter that Baal HaSulam wrote to his brother-in-law in 1928 about the secret teacher Tuesday, 10 Tevet, Tav-Reish-Peh-Het (January 3, 1928) Here, in the city of Givat Shaul, a suburb of Jerusalem, may it be built soon in our days, Amen. To the famous, honorable Hassid, …