Q&A

This content was originally posted on www.truekabbalah.org.

Q&A

Someone who does not believe that the Zohar is true and was written by the Holy Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochi is a fool who should simply be ignored. Rather then write the various proofs, you can simply look it up in Meditation and Kabbalah by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan. One has to be extremely ignorant or extremely haughty to argue against all the holy Kabalists including the ARI.
The teachings can be found in many Sefarim here is a partial list. Unfortunately this topic is very avoided by the Erev Rav and these sefarim are not to common in english.
Every time semen is released there are souls who dress themselves in the drops. When a person is having a relationship according to Halacha then he is bound to the side of Holiness. The souls that come down from excessive drops are turned into spirits of holiness which stand in his merit. Again there are many levels to this, for even if a person is following Halacha his actions and thoughts are still tinted with much impurity. According to his level of purity is the level of the souls created. Rabbi Nachman states in one of his Torahs, that the souls that dress themselves into converts, were first brought down by Tzadikim in cases like this. The true Tzadik has long since purified himself from every element of lust. However when a person has any sort of prohibited relation... Nidah - Ritually impure women, Goyah - non Jew, Ashes Ish - married women... then the only souls that can possibly dress into such drops are ones of impurity. Spills Seed it is a little different, for in this case there is no receiving party at all and the energy is just spread all over the Sitra Acher. There are two elements that must be taken into account to understand all this. The first is that there are many various levels and type of souls and spirits and not all of them are per say of Human equivalence. The second is that this is not a scientific thing where the effect is an automatic result of the action. Over here, the other side also has a mind and when one breaks the rules declared by the Sages they have the right to effect him.
The first thing needed, is the will to stop. This can be achieved by reading as much as he can about the severity of this sin and the damage that it causes. However even if a person is determined to stop, there are many times he fall into states of weakness during which sins. The way to prevent this is to make boundaries. This is the most important aspect for Shmiras Habris. The kabbalah teaches that a person sins only when a spirit of insanity descends upon him. This is seen in practical reality, for a person who wishes to be Shomer Habris has many separations between himself and the sin. At most times the person would swear that if he was given a test now he could pass it. He feels this and knows this logically as well. However once he starts entering the scene of temptation his Mochin-Mind and knowledge start leaving him little by little until he is committing the sin and has no ability or desire to control himself. There is only one solution for this and that is to never fall into that situation in the first place. A person who wishes to be shomer Habris, especially if he has fallen many times before, must have ten barriers between himself and the sin. The second he brakes through the first two, all the alarms must start going off in his head. By the time he has broken the third barrier he must even due an extremely fanatical action to get away. Even though he is still miles away from the actual sin and he believes that he can pull back at any second he wishes, it is not true there will be many times when he will fall. He is losing more of his mochin every second and the control he has over his will now will not be the same in a short period of time. He must run away now even though it seems ridicules. A person must sit down and make a list of all the things and situations that cause him to stumble. He must then set boundaries so he will not even come close to being in that situation. Also Chazal teach that the eyes see the heart desires and then the body acts. A person should not look at any improper images at any time. A person might ask what is so bad if I read a news magazine, it will never cause me to sin, I am in full control. (besides the fact that each time a person looks at an improper image and has an impure thought that in itself is a sin). Yes this is how a person fall, most times is he was drawn into impurity from places like this little by little.
The first thing you should do is the following. Circle around your room or apt. gather every object of impurity that you can find. This includes books magazines movies cds dvds..... Do not have mercy on any of these objects if you are attached to them or care about their monetary value. Next gather all these object wrap them in 3 garbage bags and cary them a number of blocks from your home. Find a garbage where you are sure that no one will open the bags. THen throw the bag in the garbage bin. As you are doing this say the following with your mouth. Hashem mighty king of the Universe I am fully aware that I am covered with sins of impurity, however now I am making a move to show that I am trying to cut myself off from my sins. What I am doing now is a very large sacrifice and it is extremely hard for me to do so. However I am forcing myself to do it. May this action count in front of you like a large sacrifice and in merit of this action you will help me fight my desires until I will eventually demolish them and become completely shomer Habris.
It is not hypocrisy at all. A person has a Yetzer Tov and a Yetzer Hara sometimes one is stronger then the other. It is not a contradiction at all. A person should try to make sure his Yetzer Htov is always dominating. However if he succumbs to his Yetzer Hara once in a while it does not mean that he is a hypecrit, it does not mean that he should stop doing Tikunim. If a person has fallen he should just ignore it, never look back and keep on doing Tikunim. Rabbi Nachman the Tzadik Yesod Alom stated very clearly that ONE MUST NEVER GIVE UP If he falls even hundreds of times and keeps on getting back up in the end he will win. Also Rebbe Nachman writes that the further a person is away from Hashem the more Hashem receives enjoyment from his actions when he does do a small move for the sake of heaven. A person that grew up religious in a family that were all Shomer Habris, this person sits and learns torah all day and never visits places of impurity. It is relatively easy for this person to be Shomer Habris. However a person that his whole life was sunk in the Klipot and now for the first time he is fighting with all his might to be Shomer Habris, this person even if he fall a number of times in the process, still each time he gets up and starts again, this is very enjoyable in the eyes of Hashem. This can be compared to a father that is watching his son learning to walk. Even though the infant falls many times, each and every time that he gets up determined to continue, the father derives much enjoyment from this.
Heaven Forbid, no one is ever doomed. There are people that have committed much worse sins that have done Tshuvah and merited to reach very high levels.
Regarding the Parnassa. Unfortunately one of the biggest effects of Pgam Habris is a person damages the spiritual pipelines that bring him his energy. The most obvious manifestation is a lack of Parnasa. This does not mean that a person will remain in this situation for life; for a person can rectify the damage he has caused. As Rebbe Nachman said "If you believe that you damaged then believe that you can fix". The lack of Parnasa is surely one of the worst punishments a person can receive. This is one of the biggest obstacles and tests that he must pass through, on his path of Teshuvah. In addition it is very hard to make money while a person is single and not married. The people in this category who do have money, it is almost always from the Sitra Acher. The issue is as follows, once a person accepts and realizes that his Parnasa has been severed and no matter what he tries will not change it in the immediate future, what should he do? The first thing a person must realize that although he must fight every second of his life until his last ounce of energy, he still must chose his battles wisely. A person only has a limited amount of energy and time. If he wishes to be victorious in the end, he must focus on the real battles, the places where he can hit really hard. The rest are just distractions. A person must put great effort into not being distracted from the true goals. The main goals of this person should be to fix the damage done by Pgam Habris. As this happens his "luck" will improve by itself. A person has the right to feed himself and Hashem will never destroy a person or put him in a situation that he truly can not handle. The Sages teach that a person is never placed through a test that he can not pass. The following advice is for a person wishes to take the easy way, if a person wishes to stand and fight with all his might that is surely more honorable. A person who feels his Parnasa has been cut off should avoid being an independent businessman and should find work as a laborer for someone else. When you are a worker receiving a set salary you are not the one responsible for bringing down the energy it comes down through the one paying you. If for some reason this other person is getting it, at least it is not your responsibility to bring it down. Also a person should settle for a job that he considers degrading for his stature. It can be very hard to work for someone else and it may be extremely troubling if you know that your boss is a wicked person that himself is not worthy of the energy. However the point of all this is as follows. You are never going to be completely cut off from energy; you just have to accept it in the damaged condition that it comes in. Secondly this is only temporary. Although it looks that you are submissive on the outside. In truth you are fighting back very strongly by doing as many Tikunim as you can during your free time. It is only a matter of time before you refix the pipelines and have your energy coming down normally. In addition all the suffering caused by this constrictive situation, if it is taken in good spirit it is a mighty Tikun for ones sins. During this period a person should do as many Tikunim as possible. He should also pray constantly that his situation improve. It comes out that he is hitting very hard and avoiding all distractions. Another thing that is extremely helpful to prevent the wrath of the Dinim falling on you as you do Teshuvah is to study Torah. Torah gives a person a huge amount of protection from the punishment sent to him for his sins. This can openly be seen for many Yeshiva students were Pogem Habris, yet since they spend a large part of their day studying Torah they are not punished so badly. They then get married and sit in Kollel for a few years. After this they lead relatively peaceful lives. This is the path many Bali Teshuvah take as well, they spend many years in Yishivah/Kollel before they continue on. [This is definitely far from the optimum; as this does not get you to high levels, for one must actively rectify the damage] however in the end most lead relatively peaceful lives and end up being Shomer habris to a large degree. Either way a person must set aside a number of hours every day when he studies Torah. This should be done daily on his set schedule. If he has trouble concentrating by himself he should study with a Chavrusa.
Most people growing up in the US, especially in non observant homes have been exposed to Pritzut since a very young age. They were also unaware of the severity of sins related to Pgam Habris. This was not their fault, however it is now their job to fix it. For example, if a person was born to parents who did not observe the laws of Nidah, it does draw upon him a spirit of impurity. Although this is totally not his fault it is nevertheless part of his mission in life to break through those Klipot. Although it is a very hard battle and a person unfortunately might fall a number times before he is victorious, it is differently not impossible. There are many people who were steeped in these Klipot and they fought until they won. In short the main thing is to make as many boundries between yourself and the sin as possible . The secound thing is to do as many Tikunim as Possible (Torah, Mikvah...) for these will come to your aid at a time of need. They also remove much of the temptation.
Keri does take away a lot of energy but much less then Zera Lvatalah. If a person tries his hardest to guard his thoughts, speech and actions and then he sees Keri against his will, he should simply go to the Mikvah say Tikun Klali and he has nothing to worry about. Also the Kabbalah teaches that the damage caused by Keri is much less then if done consciously.
These things are taught in many groups but not in the watered down Western Judaism. In Eretz Yisroel and in many other communities that are not run by the Erev Rav this topic is spoken about all the time and children are warned about it from an early age.
Chazal teach that after a person has committed a sin twice it becomes permissible in his eyes. This means that everyone when they first start sinning knows and feels that they are doing something wrong, however they soon loose this feeling. After this one sin leads to another and soon they feel that it is perfectly natural to sin. It comes out that everyone can be blamed for not controlling themselves in the beginning. However today society is is very misleading and it is very hard for a person to see the truth. In addition he does not have the tools that are necessary to fight the Klipot. One would think that it is very unfair for this person. However the real situation is as follows, the person had knowledgably committed sins in previous gilgulim. He is then taken to the worst pits in this Gilgul, at one point he becomes informed through heaven what he really should be doing. At this point it his job to start rectifying his sins. It is in this way that he clears up all his actions in past Gilgulim. Although it seems kind of unfair now, one has to look at the full picture. In short the only way this person could possibly achieve his tikun is by starting in the worst Klipot and then climbing back up. In this generation this can happen easily since there is a large lack of information. When the person becomes knowledgeable at a later time in his life, it is Hashem telling him that he must start his Tikkun.