Thirty-one years ago today, my teacher and mentor RABASH passed away. This post is dedicated to him because everything I know, everything I understand, everything I teach, and everything I do I learned from him, and my life’s goal is to continue his legacy to the best of my ability.
RABASH was the last in the line of spiritual giants that began thousands of years ago. From his time onward, the line does not continue because now is the time for the knowledge that was privy to a chosen few for so many centuries to spread around the world.
RABASH was unlike any of his predecessors. As the last in the line, his concern was with the realization of the knowledge, with implementing it in real life. Accordingly, he focused his teaching on one principle: The complete perception of the world is achieved only through connection with other people. And how do you connect with other people? You love them. How do you come to love other people? This is what the teachings of RABASH reveal through his writings and through the thousands of oral lessons he had given throughout his life.
By the time RABASH passed away, he had installed in me a clear and complete method for developing love for other people, who are not related to you biologically, culturally, or in any other way. He did not come up with the method out of thin air, of course. It is the same method that the people of Israel had implemented among them since the inception of the nation nearly forty centuries ago. However, like other spiritual leaders in their time, RABASH adapted the method for developing love for others to our time, to the people who live in the 20th and 21st centuries, and in his adaptation lies his greatness.
I received from RABASH and learned from him more than I can express in words. However, if I had to choose the most important lesson that I took from him, it would be this: Stick to your goal and never look aside. Even if the goal seems distant, often unachievable, never look aside. Whether you achieve your goal or not is unimportant. If the goal is worth striving for, stick with it and never look away.
I know our dreams often seem unrealistic, but we have no idea what tomorrow will bring. Therefore, I always advise my students and anyone who asks to pursue their dreams.
As for me, I will continue to work for the rest of my life to realize my teacher’s dream: that all the people in the world will come to love one another as one man with one heart.
For more of the many things I had learned from RABASH, read my book, Always with Me.
Posted on LinkedIn, The Times of Israel, Facebook