There is a question that is commonly addressed to me at various lectures and interviews with regard to how I came to the Kabbalah. Probably, if I was engaged in something different and far removed from Kabbalah I could understand the validity of this question. But Kabbalah is the teaching about the goal of our lives; a subject that is so close and relevant to each of us! I believe a more correct question would be, “How did you discover that the questions about the self and about life are in Kabbalah? How did you discover Kabbalah?” rather than, “Why are you preoccupied with it?”

While still in childhood, like many others, I asked the question, “Why do I exist?” This question perturbed me constantly, if, of course, it was not suppressed by the pursuit of pleasures.

However, many times the question arose, though I did try to quell it by various spurious goals; to attain an interesting profession and to drown myself in it; or to immigrate to my own country; a goal that I pursued for many years.

Having arrived in Israel (1974), I continued to struggle with the same question about the meaning of life; I tried to find a reason that would be worth living for. Having rehashed the previous possibilities at my disposal (politics, business, etc.) to be like everyone else, I still was not able to terminate the persistent question, “For what reason do I continue to do all this? What do I gain by being similar to everyone else?’

Spurred by material and moral hardships, as well as by the realization that I could not cope with reality, I decided to turn to the religious way of life (1976), hoping that this course, and the thoughts and ideas that would ensue from it, would suit me better.

I never felt a particular inclination to the humanities; I was never fascinated with the study of psychology; nor co