Foreword (Bnei Baruch)

Why are we here? What does the future hold? How can we avoid suffering and feel tranquil and safe? These are questions we would all like to answer. The wisdom of Kabbalah provides the answers to these questions and to many more. It allows us to ask any question and experience the intimate, profound fulfillment that comes with answering the deepest questions to the fullest. This is why it is called “the wisdom of the hidden.”

Kabbalah teaches that we all want to enjoy. Kabbalists call this desire “the will to receive delight and pleasure,” or simply, “the will to receive.” This desire propels all of our actions, thoughts, and feelings, and Kabbalah depicts how we can realize our desires and fulfill our wishes.

Although the wisdom of Kabbalah often tends to sound technical or obscure, it is important to remember that this is a very practical science. The people who mastered it and wrote about it were just like you and me. They were seeking solutions to the same questions we all want to answer: “Why are we born?” “What happens after we die?” “Why is there suffering?” and “Can I experience lasting pleasure, and if so, how?” And when they found the answers to these questions and implemented them in their own lives, they wrote the texts within this collection, so we may know them, too.

In this compilation, you will find precise explanations as to how you can achieve that sublime feeling of unbounded pleasure and complete control of your life.

Kabbalah teaches how to enjoy life here and now. It explains such concepts as “the next world,” “souls,” “reincarnation,” and “life and death.”

How can we, novices, experience such perceptions? How can we discover the true picture of reality?

Each of us builds his or her own priorities in life. Some matters are more important to us, some are less so, and some we prefer to put off. But regardless of the level of importance, we categorize our priorities according to a single measurement: our purpose in life.

Some people will strive tirelessly for love, some crave money, and others desire honor or knowledge. But most people prefer not to put all their eggs in one basket by focusing on fulfilling one desire. They settle for a little of everything and suppress any strong desire that emerges in them and demands too much of their attention.

The Kabbalists who wrote the texts you will read here are of the first, uncompromising kind. They set a very clear goal before them: to show humankind how to achieve eternal life—filled with pleasure and unbounded, fulfilled emotions. To achieve this, they studied the will to receive delight and pleasure that exists in each of us.

The greatest Kabbalists who lived in our time are also the ones who explained the rules of the wisdom of Kabbalah in the clearest and simplest style. The two prime Kabbalists whose writings appear in this book are Rav Yehuda Ashlag, known as Baal HaSulam (Owner of the Ladder) for his Sulam (Ladder) commentary on The Book of Zohar, and his son, Rav Baruch Ashlag, who expanded and interpreted his father’s explanations. Rav Michael Laitman, Rav Baruch Ashlag’s prime student and personal assistant, teaches us how to correctly interpret the texts, and how to use them to achieve the purpose for which we were created.

We, Bnei Baruch, wish you joy and fulfillment in your study, and rapid spiritual growth