History of Kabbalah: Rabbi Y. Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) and Rabash

Baal HaSulam - Kabbalah for Our Times

Baal HaSulam, Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, was the greatest Kabbalist of our generation who wrote books intended specifically for our times. This means that for the first time in history, he presented Kabbalah in a way that allows any person to reveal the spiritual, Upper World.

To fully appreciate the significance of his life’s work, we only need to remember that reading Kabbalistic texts composed prior to Baal HaSulam – whether the Torah, The Book of Zohar, and others – is practically ineffective for a beginning student. This is because they are mostly written in a way that only other Kabbalists can understand. In contrast, anyone can derive practical benefit from reading Baal HaSulam’s texts.

What makes his writings so practical for us? Being a Kabbalist of the highest level, he knew how to write books that will serve as a ladder for the person reading them: as you read them, gradually, step by step, you "climb" out of your regular perception and begin feeling the Upper World. In other words, Baal HaSulam created a practical method for developing our latent sense of spirituality. By using this method, we gradually begin perceiving beyond our physical world and feeling the hidden part of reality – the Upper World.

All through his life, Baal HaSulam, worked and studied for up to 18 hours a day, and left us with an enormous legacy, the key to the greatest Kabbalistic book ever written – The Book of Zohar. Most people who know anything about Kabbalah know that The Book of Zohar is the greatest and yet the most mysterious, incomprehensible book of Kabbalah. It was written two thousand years ago, but only a handful of individuals have been able to understand this book.

The Book of Zohar itself states that it will be revealed particularly in our generation, that in our times it will be used to elevate humanity to an unprecedented level of existence. Baal HaSulam made these words a reality by writing his Sulam (ladder) Commentary on The Book of Zohar. Here is how he describes this work:

"And I have named that commentary The Sulam (Ladder), to show that the purpose of it is... that if you have an attic full of goods, then all you need is a ladder to reach it, and then all the bounty of the world is in your hands."

In this commentary, he explained the hidden meaning of every part of The Zohar and wrote several introductions to it, guiding the reader through the book. In effect, he created a completely new Kabbalistic teaching – a practical method that can be used by anyone to attain the Upper World, regardless of age, nationality, gender, or geographical location.

The wisdom of Kabbalah has been passed down through many generations, from one Kabbalist to another, until it reached Baal HaSulam, who made it available to all. Today, anyone who wishes to reveal the spiritual world is able to do so thanks to Baal HaSulam’s clear, modern prose. Here is an excerpt from another of his main works, Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot):

"You must therefore understand and perceive that all the names and appellations, and all the worlds, Upper and lower, are all one simple Light, Unique and Unified. In the Creator, the Light that extends, the thought, the operation and the operator, and anything the heart can think and contemplate, are in Him one and the same thing.

Rabash - Baal HaSulam’s Son and Successor

Rabash (Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag, 1906 – 1991) was the last great Kabbalist. He was the eldest son of Baal HaSulam (Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, 1884-1954), author of the Sulam (ladder) commentary on The Book of Zohar; and was his father’s closest disciple.

From a very early age, he studied the innermost depths of the wisdom of Kabbalah with his father. Baal HaSulam taught a group of students, but his letters reveal that he regarded Rabash as a special student, and not because he was his son. In fact, the fact that Rabash was his teacher’s son required him to make extra efforts during the studies, because to absorb the Kabbalistic wisdom, he had to see Baal HaSulam as a teacher rather than a father.

The day his mentor and father passed away, Rabash knew that he was to be the next link in the chain of great Kabbalists, and that he was to continue his father’s work in disseminating the wisdom of Kabbalah. On the very day his father passed away, Rabash set out to continue his father's work: The first thing he did was publish The Book of Zohar with Baal HaSulam's commentary.

As fate would have it, Rabash turned out to be Baal HaSulam’s only disciple who continued his path. And like his father, Rabash also taught a group of students, transmitting to them all the Kabbalistic wisdom that he had accumulated during his life. He also continued his father’s legacy by writing books, most notably the book of Shamati (I Heard), a collection of talks he had heard from his great father. This book is a fundamental study manual for anyone wishing to learn Kabbalah in the modern age.

Another major work he produced is Shlavei HaSulam (Rungs of the Ladder), a five volume set of essays and articles. This text is a detailed description of all the possible states a person goes through on the way to attaining the spiritual world. In it, Rabash defined every possible state, step and action of a human being who develops spiritually by the method of Kabbalah. He also described the process of attainment: how to begin sensing the spiritual world.

For a modern Kabbalah student, these books are essential: they are the spiritual guide all along one’s development. When a student already develops the ability to sense the spiritual world, when he achieves even the minimal contact with the spiritual forces, he can look to the articles in Shlavei HaSulam to define his current state, understand what is happening on his spiritual level and how to continue the spiritual ascent.

In this regard, Rabash is a true teacher, even for those who are only now beginning to learn this wisdom. It’s because in Kabbalah, a teacher’s task is to prepare the student for developing his own connection with the Upper Force, the Creator.
In doing so, Rabash had completed Baal HaSulam's work: he was "the last of the Mohicans," the last great Kabbalist who attained the spiritual world individually. From here on, as The Book of Zohar states, only a group of people who aspire to attain the spiritual world can break through the "barrier" separating them from it.

Today, The Kabablah Education and Research Institute, Bnei Baruch, named after Rav Baruch Ashlag, continues his legacy. Just as the Zohar predicted, 1995 marked a turning point when many people became interested in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Today, millions of people who desire to attain this wisdom are following the path that Rabash has paved. People all over the world are studying Rabash’s teaching, the wisdom of achieving peace, joy, and balance with Nature. This is the great gift that Rabash has left for us - the opportunity to become eternal and perfect.

Great Kabbalists Throughout History
Rav Michael Laitman, PhD overviews the lineage of great Kabbalists from Abraham to Yehuda Ashlag.