The Integration of Israel (Those Who Had Attained Spirituality) into the World

We learn in the Wisdom of Kabbalah how after Abraham established his methodical system for the attainment of spirituality, he and his group of students left Babylon towards the land that later became the land of Israel.

Let us return to those people who could not perceive Abraham’s notion in ancient Babylon. When they departed Babel, they scattered across the globe as seventy nations and developed materially.

Alone, they would never have been able to perceive the notion of the spiritual. Yet, if they could not perceive it, it would contradict the purpose of creation: to bring all the people to the level of the creator. Hence, the contact point between Israel and the rest of the nations had to be recreated.

That process unfolded by intensifying the ego within Israel, after which the people declined from their degree and scattered among the nations. The idea was to mingle the souls of Israel with the souls of the nations of the world, to “sow” seeds of spirituality within the other nations.

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The First Human to Discover Nature’s Plan

According to the Wisdom of Kabbalah it was Adam, who first discovered the single, governing force behind the whole of reality. The day that Adam began to discover the upper force is called “the day of the creation of the world.” On that day, humanity first touched the spiritual world. This is why Adam’s existence is the point from which the Hebrew count of years begins.

According to Nature’s plan, the whole of humanity will discover the upper force within 6,000 years. During those years, the human ego is to gradually grow and bring humanity to the realization that it must be corrected, as well as to the ability to understand the correction method and to implement it.

The first Kabbalah book, Angel Raziel—meaning the “hidden force,” the force of Nature, which governs us but is hidden from us—is attributed to Adam.

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You Can Draw Your Pleasure with Desire

To understand at least something about the surrounding nature and ourselves, we need to have a clear idea of the purpose of Creation and its final state, as the intermediate states are rather deceptive.

Kabbalists assert that the purpose of Creation is to bring the created beings to the ultimate pleasure. For this reason, the Creator created souls, the “will to receive pleasure.” And since he wished to completely satiate them with delight, He created a massive will to enjoy, well matched for His will to bestow pleasure. Thus, the soul is the will to enjoy.

Discover the Vital Source that Directs Your Spiritual Success

In accordance with this desire, the soul receives pleasure from the Creator. The amount of received pleasure can be measured by the degree of desire to receive it.

All that exists is either related to the Creator or to His Creation. Prior to the creation of the will to enjoy, or the souls, only the Creator’s will to bestow delight existed. Hence, in line with His desire, the will to bestow delight created an equal amount of the will to enjoy; however, it was opposite in property.

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“We only attain the worlds according to our senses and sensations, as it was His will for us to attain Him so. This is the meaning of ‘There is no change in the Light.’” ~ Baal HaSulam

4 Aspects of Attainment and a Couple We Won’t Achieve

Now let us look into the four kinds of an object’s attainment:

1) Matter – We receive the most complete idea in our world with the first kind of attainment – Matter. This information is quite sufficient for our existence and interaction with the surrounding world.

2) Form in Matter – We receive the second kind of attainment, Form in Matter, after researching the surrounding nature using our senses. The evolution of this kind of attainment has led to the creation of science, on which we so deeply rely in every situation in life. This level of attainment of the world is also quite sufficient for humans.

3) Abstract Form – The third kind of attainment, Abstract Form, would have been possible if we could observe this form while detached from matter, rather than while dressed in matter. However, a form can be separated from matter only in imagination. Yet, as a rule, researching a form that is disconnected from matter, in its abstract form, yields no reliable results, and is not confirmed de facto. This is even truer when researching forms that have never been dressed in matter!

4) Essence – Thus, we see that of the four kinds of attainment of an object, its Essence is totally imperceptible, and its Abstract Form is attained incorrectly.
Only matter and its form, when analyzed in conjunction with matter, yield true and sufficient data about the researched object.

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Past Writings of Kabbalists Were Often Hidden

Anything that people need spreads naturally in the world. But when it comes to The Zohar and the Kabbalah, matters are not that straightforward.

The disclosure of the writings of Kabbalah has been accompanied by intriguing stories. The Book of Zohar has undergone many hardships, and only a small portion of the original manuscript remains today. The writings of the Ari [Rav Isaac Luria, author of The Tree of Life], were dug out of his grave only three generations after his demise. Indeed, there is a special integration of revealed and concealed, and painful labor pangs when it comes to expanding the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Difficulties that Surrounded the Spreading of Kabbalah in the 20th Century

Baal HaSulam made great efforts to publish his interpretation on The Zohar, the Sulam [Ladder] commentary, and wrote as much as 20 hours a day. When he fell asleep on his desk, it was hard to pull the pen out of his hand because his fingers were cramped around it.

For lack of funds to print the manuscripts, he had to wait until he could find the resources. And once he found them, he arranged the lead letters in the printing press by himself, although he was already ill and very weak. Yet, volume by volume, his life’s work was completed.

Still, people were afraid to open The Zohar and preferred to stay clear of it. As early as 1933, Baal HaSulam began to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah in an effort to prevent the looming holocaust. “Time to Act” was the title of his opening essay in the first tract that he printed—out of fifty that he had planned to publish. However, his work was frowned upon by certain orthodox circles, and within a few weeks they managed to apprehend the printing of the tracts to prevent the expansion of the wisdom.

In 1940, Baal HaSulam published a paper, The Nation, in which he called upon the Israeli nation to unite. His wish was to establish a by-weekly paper, but the paper initiative, too, was thwarted after the publication of the first issue.

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