Baruch Ashlag

Baruch Shalom ha Levi Ashlag (also known as the "Rabash") was born in Warsaw, Congress Poland, Russian Empire on January 22, 1907.

Thus, thousands of unique notes were accumulated, documenting Yehuda Ashlag's explanations concerning the spiritual work of an individual.

When his father, Baal HaSulam, fell ill, he appointed Ashlag to give the lessons to his disciples in his stead.

Due to disputes concerning the rights to publish The Book of Zohar with the Sulam commentary that his father wrote, Ashlag left Israel for three years, spending most of that time in the United Kingdom.

[12] During that period, he also held discussions with Menachem Mendel Schneerson of Lubavitch, Joel Teitelbaum of Satmar, and other prominent rabbis.

In time, his disciples collected the essays he had written and published them in a five volume publication known as Shlavey ha Sulam ("Rungs [of] the Ladder").

Ashlag dedicated most of his efforts to elaborate on an individual's spiritual path, from the very first steps, when one asks, "What is the meaning of my life?"

His disciples testify that "the Rabash believed that any person, man or woman, and even the youngest child can study the internality of the Torah, if they only wish to complete the correction of their souls".

[18] His primary publications: The book title comes from the writing that appeared on the cover of the notebook in which it was written, where Ashlag himself wrote, "Shamati" (I heard).

[21] For this reason, the bulk of Ashlag's essays are dedicated to explication and simplification of the principles of the spiritual work of an individual within such a society.

However, this is a complex process, requiring time and considerable effort on the part of the student, since one must reach a state of "prayer," i.e. to formulate a complete desire to discover the Higher Reality.

And the more one is lost, the greater is one's prayer.After his demise, several of his disciples continued to study according to his method: Avraham Mordecai Gottlieb, Ashlag's current successor and Rebbe; Dzerke Rebbe, Aharon Brizel, who currently teaches a Hasidic version of this method in New York; as well as Feivel Okowita, who heads the Kabbalah Institute of America.

Michael Laitman, Ashlag's personal assistant, heads Bnei Baruch, an organization that is based in Petach Tikva, Israel and is dedicated to disseminating the wisdom of Kabbalah to the world.

The Ari-Ashlag Synagogue, where Ashlag gave his lessons.