Most of you know the story of the letters of Abraham, the man who was with Rav Ashlag. The student is here for Chanukah, and yesterday she shared a story with me. She said the only reason people know Rav Ashlag is because of Rav Brandwein. Abraham told her this story.
As an aside, we know Rav Ashlag didn’t have any money. If you came to study with Rav Ashlag, you had to pay a lot of money. His students were all very poor, but he said the only purpose for studying is to spread the Zohar.
Because they couldn’t afford to pay, they would gather whatever money they had; one student would study and then tell the others what Rav Ashlag taught. We have to ask ourselves if what we are doing is spreading this further.
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On Thursday I received an email. I won’t say the name of the person. This woman said she had been studying Kabbalah for almost 3 years. She was a single, divorced mother of an 8-year-old named Jake.
She said, “He wears his red string proudly, and when asked what it means, he gives a detailed description to whoever is asking–’I have been working hard to let the Light shine through.’ There is one book we are missing that we find is key to our learning experience. That book is the Zohar. We find that every book suggests we read the Zohar. The problem is we cannot afford the Zohar. I have searched sites, and cannot find one that is affordable. I was wondering if you can help me.”
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There is a section that always bothered me about this story in the bible. Jacob told Yosef to find his brothers. Jacob said to Yosef, “Your brothers are in Shechem, go to them.” And Yosef went from Hebron to Shechem to try to find his brothers.
It says in the Torah he came across a person. Yosef was lost. This man said, “Do you need directions? Can I help you? What are you looking for?” Yosef said, “I’m looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are.” The man told Yosef they had gone away from there. They said they would go to a place called Dothan.
Yosef heard from this man where his brothers were, and he went and found them in Dothan. This was the beginning of the process of Yosef being sold as a slave.
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There is a story about one of the great kabbalists, Rabbi Shalom Sharabi, in the time when the Rashash was living in Jerusalem. There was a person in town who had a very difficult life. His wife said there is a great kabbalist, you should go see him. Why should you have a difficult life? The man went to the Rashash’s house. The servant answered the door and said, “The Rashash is busy right now. If you sit down, he will see you in a few minutes.”
The man had all kinds of difficulties in his life. He sat down and fell asleep. He had a dream.
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