Thoughts of a Kabbalist: The Only Final Solution. By Kabbalist Rav Berg

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1 Thoughts of a Kabbalist: The Only Final Solution By Kabbalist Rav Berg (From Kabbalah Magazine Summer/Fall 1999) For Millennia the Zohar, the major text of Kabbalah, made provocative statements, concerning the nature of reality, the origins of pain and suffering, and the path to eternal fulfillment. What was considered mysticism 2000 years ago is today called Science and cutting edge thought. Kabbalist Rav Berg shares the wisdom of the Zohar and its ability to quite simply eliminate chaos. First, let me comment on the title of this article. At no time in the past would I have had audacity to invoke a phrase like "the final solution," which, of course, was employed by the perpetrators of the Holocaust as a euphemism for the murder of millions of people. But since the subject of this article is nothing less than the long-awaited end to the chaos that has afflicted mankind since his beginnings, I have chosen to liberate the phrase "final solution" from its captivity by the Nazi murderers and to put it to positive use in the paragraphs that follow. The Zohar and Kabbalah represent mankind's only hope of a final solution to the chaos that has afflicted humanity since the beginning of history. In addition to Kabbalah providing the tools and methodology by which to banish chaos once and for all, the Zohar also attacks the source of this chaos. Rather than merely being a problem solver, Kabbalah explores and investigates why the problems exist at all. It is the firm belief of the kabbalist that problems can never be resolved without a very clear understanding of why these problems came to occur in the first place. In the section of the Zohar called Parashat Naso (one of the 52 segments of the text that are arranged for weekly readings), Moses declares unto Rav Shimon bar Yochai, the author of the Zohar, that "only through your book shall mankind be redeemed from the chaos that has existed and endured for so many millennia." When I first noticed this passage, I was quite taken aback. What about the Bible and what about the Talmud not to mention all other spiritual teachings and disciplines? Moreover, the Zohar is actually a derivation and clarification of the Bible. Why would Moses himself, the channel through whom the Bible reached mankind, declare that only through the Zohar would all chaos be removed from the face of the earth? Perusing the Zohar, one immediately notices its dependence upon Scripture. In fact, Scripture has literally Page 1 PDF created

2 been deciphered by the Zohar giving it clear and concise meaning. The Zohar clearly declares that the Bible and all other scriptures are a written code. The Zohar takes this thought even further when it states that Rav Shimon bar Yochai had many friends who could probably write more interesting and exciting stories than those in the Bible. But Bible stories were not intended to be merely interesting and exciting. Those stories and everything else in the biblical text are a concealed document that must be decoded and clarified. Otherwise, there is little in the Bible that can be understood even on a superficial level. We are all familiar with the light-sensitive road signs along major highways. At night, they can be read only when illuminated by the headlights of an oncoming car. The Bible, then, is like the sign, and the Zohar is the headlights. Until it is illuminated, the Bible cannot provide direction for people who need to know how to reach their spiritual destinations. Through the Zohar, the concealed and seemingly incomprehensible Bible is revealed and begins to shed its own vital light. Many religious denominations have looked to the Bible as a source of salvation, whereby mankind can gain freedom from the pain and suffering that has been a seemingly eternal feature of the human experience. But from a practical point of view, the Bible has been a deep disappointment in this regard. The history of mankind demonstrates the persistent chaos that has always confronted us. If humanity is no better off now than it was 3400 years ago, why should we expect the future to be any better? There is also a small minority of the people that proclaims, even in this day and age, that the Talmud is the instrument that can remove pain, suffering, and chaos. Although they admit that the Bible is incomprehensible in certain sections, they claim the difficulties and questions are resolved in the Talmud. However, these same people fail to even notice that the author of the Zohar, Rav Shimon bar Yochai, also made contributions to the Talmud. Yet despite the Zohar's recognition of the Talmud's existence, the Zohar still maintains that it and it alone can reveal the secrets of the universe and the keys to removing chaos from human life. Moses very emphatically identifies the Zohar as the only compendium by which mankind can achieve true freedom and redemption. This statement from Moses, the master builder, should have been so taken to heart that by the 21st century, mankind should be rid of chaos in any form, whether personal or universal. Furthermore, authorities and scholars should have emphasized that something is missing from the accepted disciplines of Talmud study. How much time does humanity need in order to understand that conventional approaches for achieving wellbeing simply do not work? When will we realize that 2000 years is far too long to live with the illusion Page 2 PDF created

3 that the problems we encounter each and every day will simply fade away? The world's problems haven't gone away, nor is there any possibility that under present conditions things will change for the better. A brief glance at the political scene further proves that holocausts, hatred, and intolerance are a more persistent presence than ever in the past. For whatever reason, humanity seems prepared to accept this dismal landscape and to rely on ill-founded hope as a solution for the future. History and experience, however, show that hope and prayer contribute very little to the removal of chaos from our world. Religions have always promised a better tomorrow. The fact that these promises have brought few meaningful results has not in any way undermined the optimism of humanity. In our society, where instant gratification is what most people want and pay for, we must wonder why we so eagerly embrace promises that have never borne any fruit. As to how mankind can gain freedom from the chaos that envelops it, there has never been a shortage of suggestions. But the remedies that have been proposed over the millennia have never attempted to deal with the foundation of humanity's difficulties or to solve them all in a universal manner. Instead, we tend to react to problems as they arise, using whatever means necessary to resolve them one by one. But a reactive consciousness can never affect the causes that bring problems into existence in the first place. The Kabbalah, in its first teachings and disciplines, provides us with the universal law that cause precedes effect and consequently, effect cannot bring positive change. A society accustomed to reacting rather than being proactive has very little hope of changing our stress-filled environment. There is an endless stream of new ideas for the removal of chaos, but upon careful examination we notice that all of these proposals are derived from some problem that presently exists. Our reactive state of consciousness dictates that solutions cannot be formulated until we actually encounter an obstacle. Yet by the time a problem has emerged, reactive solutions cannot help particularly at the most fundamental level. Furthermore, the challenges of our society are so numerous and complex that there simply is not sufficient manpower nor financial means to deal with each difficulty as it appears. The problem of cancer is an example. Despite billions of dollars spent on this dreaded disease, medicine is no closer to ridding mankind of cancer than it was ten years ago. In fact, the incidence of several deadly forms of cancer has increased, and the mortality rate for the most common types of the disease has scarcely improved. And so it goes with every other form of chaos. The apparent solution to one problem only gives way to the appearance of another, Page 3 PDF created

4 often accompanied by even greater suffering and despair. Every generation believes it will be the one that finally achieves the long- sought-after goal of the removal of chaos. But since history clearly shows the error of this belief, let us not entertain the idea that our generation or any future generation will find the answers to mankind's ills. Has the world ever known peace on a global scale? While certain nations or peoples may have enjoyed periods of tranquility and contentment, the world as a whole has never existed without war or famine or epidemic disease. Consequently, many of those who may have longed for a panacea that could eliminate all forms of chaos have given up hope. Nor can their consciousness cope with the infinite individual forms in which chaos presents itself. Therefore chaos, despite every advance in science or medicine or economics, has withstood every attempt to slow its growth, let alone achieve its ultimate removal. The kabbalistic explanation of the origin of chaos is surprisingly simple. In a few words, every problem in an individual human being or in society as a whole is a direct result of the absence of the Lightforce of God. To the kabbalist, areas of crisis or chaos clearly indicate that within that space the Light has been diminished or excluded. Therefore the simple solution is to restore the Lightforce of God to that space. Here, then, is the all-embracing problem, and the remedy for that problem. Chaos is always darkness, the absence of divine Light. Once the Lightforce has been restored, however, chaos must inevitably disappear. It is that simple. Yet this very simplicity, unfortunately, is one of the major reasons why the Kabbalah has been slow to find acceptance. It is too good to be true, or it is just too, too simple! Mankind has never been presented with something so radical, yet so easy to comprehend. We are accustomed to the complexities of life. We are prepared to accept answers and solutions of a complex nature. When Kabbalah provides simple explanations and easy-to-understand solutions, there is a great deal of resistance to this revolutionary way of thinking. What could be more straightforward? Wherever there is Light, darkness will disappear. When the light switch is turned on in a darkened room, no one questions what has happened to the darkness. It simply vanishes. How the disappearance of the darkness takes place does not concern us. We just expect that darkness in a room will disappear when the light goes on. We must learn to replace the word "chaos" by a new concept known as "darkness." But accepting the fact Page 4 PDF created

5 that chaos is nothing less nor more than the absence of light requires a true revolution in consciousness. Instead of addressing chaos in its infinite manifestations, requiring infinite solutions and infinite sums of money, Kabbalah directs us to project all the manifestations onto one screen, and then to replace this infinite number of problems with a screen gone dark. All we see now on that screen is darkness. For the kabbalist, the different problems and different forms of chaos represent nothing but one simple idea: the absence of the Lightforce of God. And a rational mind naturally understands that merely turning on the light in a darkened room causes the darkness to instantly fade away as if it had never been there at all. Mankind must learn to visualize this darkened screen, but this is not very difficult. The real difficulty arises when we attempt to imagine a beam of light striking this darkened screen. In this way, the darkened screen is made to disappear and with it all the chaos that this darkened screen represents. But to actually banish our chaos by this process of bringing light to our darkened screen is not easy to accomplish. However, this is the principle whereby mankind can ultimately remove all forms of chaos, without stretching human physical, emotional, or financial resources beyond the breaking point. I must again stress the fact that this kabbalistic approach will probably meet great resistance, if not outright rejection. How can we possibly lump together the world's problems in our minds and place them in a category of darkened consciousness or a darkened screen? In order to do this, let us try to understand how chaos begins, develops, and becomes manifest. Let us consider, for example, a cancer cell. Under a microscope we can follow development of a cancer cell from its beginning to its final displacement of healthy cells. Medical science has not understood what causes cells to become cancerous. One reason for this mystery is the absence of any physical activity accompanying the cancerous transformation. For science, the recognition of cancer comes only after a cell begins to behave in an abnormal chaotic way. It is precisely for this reason that the cure for cancer has eluded the scientists. We cannot determine how the problem originated, so we can only begin to address the problem at its often-incurable stage when it has became an observably malignant condition. For the kabbalist, the chaos of biological cancer is no different than emotional cancer in a family or a cancerous nation bent on destruction and devastation. We must learn to look beyond the effects of individual situations and difficulties in order to identify the origins of chaos at the seed level at the level of the true Page 5 PDF created

6 cause. And that cause is the absence of the Lightforce of God. What has really brought about the many variations of chaos is not what meets the eye, but rather the nonmaterial, non-physical condition that should be construed as darkness. Anything and everything that remains beyond the grasp of the five senses is a darkened area. It is in this unseen level of existence in this darkened area that every form of chaos has its beginnings. Scientists, politicians, and others who would address the ills of mankind unfortunately address the problems-in-progress rather than their basic origin. They simply do not have the understanding to realize that what they take for the seed or the root of the tree is actually only a branch or a leaf of the chaos they wish to address. While science may perform some miracles on the branches of a deceased tree, nonetheless the root of the tree has in no way been affected. Because of this inability to reach into and remove the origins of pain and suffering, mankind has pursued a course that has brought nothing but unresolved problems. A good beginning exercise for the removal of chaos from our lives is to first write on a piece of paper all our problems and difficulties. If we then blacken out the letters and the words that represent our pain and suffering on the physical level, we can get beyond the present observable problem and reach back to the unseen darkened area of the problem's origin. This is what Kabbalah means when it states that chaos is the absence of Light. From a kabbalistic perspective, all chaos in whatever forms it may physically appear is a direct result of the absence the Lightforce of God. This is an idea so revolutionary and yet so simple that only now, in our day and age, have we merited the revelation of the concealed book of Zohar, which permits each and every human being access to the Lightforce of God and allows each person], through proper meditation, to restore the Lightforce to any area where chaos may have just begun or may have progressed to the critical stage of devastation, destruction, and death. I stated at the very beginning of this article that the Zohar is the single and the final solution to the ills of this universe. We can now begin to comprehend how Moses could speak to Rav Shimon bar Yochai and state that only through the Zohar can man achieve a flawless universe, which in biblical terminology we might call the Tree of Life Universe. If we can tap the awesome power of the Lightforce of God and bring It into our life and environment, it goes without saying that we can remove the seeds of discontent and therefore eliminate any manifestations of the chaos that has afflicted mankind over the centuries. Page 6 PDF created

7 What has always puzzled me was why mankind has so readily accepted chaos as part of life, but rejected the clear solutions that did not come in complex packages. Why mankind has adopted the attitude that there cannot be one simple answer for all the chaos in our universe continues to baffle me. Why should mankind reject the Zohar, a discipline and a teaching that is obviously immortal inasmuch as its written word has survived over four millennia? There is no other teaching or discipline that can boast this longevity. For this reason alone, mankind should have embraced a methodology that claims to be a panacea for all pain and suffering. Why are we so concerned about being duped by an "outlandish" claim that it can remove all of the ills of mankind and thus introduce the flawless universe? We certainly have nothing to lose and everything to gain. But as I mentioned earlier, the natural instinct of mankind is to imagine the worst and only hope for the best. Here, I believe, is the greatest challenge that faces humanity today. We must transform our consciousness from one of accepting the worst as a natural part of human existence into one of demanding as a birthright a life filled with order, tranquility, and our right to pursue happiness. Those whose belief in the Creator is uncompromising must be prepared to ask whether it was God's intention to thrust mankind onto this apparently God-forsaken planet and have us fend for ourselves. The obvious response to this proposition is that the all-embracing beneficence of God consists of but one quality, and that is to share with mankind His beneficence. God did not forsake mankind. All those individuals who, in the state of freedom "to do good or evil," choose to do good were provided with the methodology to access the beneficence of the Lightforce of God. They were able to draw the Light into their very essence, thereby removing the dark origins of any chaos that attempted to emerge into some physical form. Let us resolve to eliminate from our consciousness the question of how the Light simply vaporizes the darkness or origin of chaos. For thousands of years we have not troubled ourselves as to how light entering a darkened room immediately makes the darkness fade away. We have simply accepted this phenomenon. We have accepted the principal that light and darkness cannot coexist. So, too, let us not become overly "smart and intelligent" people and begin to question how in the world the Lightforce of God could make the darkness of chaos go away. I am in no way suggesting that we end the questioning process. This would go against the essential teachings of Kabbalah. But until we can truly understand how light banishes darkness from a room, we should put aside the question of how and why the Lightforce of God removes the darkness of chaos. We should simply Page 7 PDF created

8 make use of this wonderful process and give thanks for it. This is what the Zohar which provides us the wisdom of Kabbalah is all about. It is a unique instrument, written in the universal language for all mankind, by which we shall assuredly transform this planet into one of peace and tranquility. Page 8 PDF created