David Grundman present The Wisdom of Kabbalah -Love, Light & Life

Ben BeeriWhenever whenever you're ready. Mic check one two. Mic check one two. How's everyone doing tonight? We're excited to welcome you guys to our first ever event, light, love, and life, and we're excited to bring the wisdom of Kabbalah at Newport Beach where is an area that I believe I've lived here for a few years, and I've had the wonderful opportunity of discovering Kabbalah and applying some of its knowledge and wisdom to my life over the last year or so. I've been traveling to L. A. Once or twice or three times a week to go and take my classes. Very inspiring by the way. Very inspiring. And it's been it's been a hell of a time and David is somebody who I've just built an immense amount of respect for.

He's been sharing the wisdom of Kabbalah for over twenty years. He's touched hundreds of thousands of souls and we were talking one day and we're like we could use something like this in Newport like there's just nothing going on over here and it's like make it happen I'm like okay we're gonna make it happen in Benbury fashion so I'm really grateful you guys are all here tonight You guys can share this evening with us and we're here to share with you guys about light, love and life. As you guys all received a card when you guys walked in, light, love and Life, and you guys have all done your reflections by now, I would imagine.

Does anybody wanna share with us what they got and what their reflections were? I got love. You got love? What does love mean to you? Love means

Speaker 3consideration, intentional acts of service, and a safe hug. Amazing.

Ben BeeriAnybody else? Love that.

Speaker 3What you got, Allegra? Encouraging others to step out of their comfort zone. Love it. That's what love

David Grundmanthat's what love means to you? I love that.

Speaker 4That's amazing. Well Okay. I got light. You got light? Yeah. And I'm just gonna improvise. What does light mean to you? Light is the highest form of love.

Ben BeeriLove that. What do got back there?

Speaker 5Oh, I got love, and I put that love is light because I feel like you could use them interchangeably. So, like, even, like, one

Ben BeeriBeautiful. Love it. Well, David, can you share with us from all all the years that you've had teaching Kabbalah? What does the word light mean in Kabbalah? What does it mean and how like, what can we share with everyone and just how to inspire them to reveal more light?

David GrundmanSo before I answer your question, I wanna just for a show of hands, how many of you are here because you know Ben?

Ben BeeriWow. So

David GrundmanI met Ben around a year ago. I was still living in New York, and I was flying here to give lectures in Los Angeles. And he walked in, and he's like, I'm new to the Kabbalah Center. And he showed up, like, an hour and a half early, and he's like, can I help with something? He's like moving chairs around and helping us to set up for an event that we were scrambling for. And he told me at the time that, you know, being social was new to him. That he focused a lot on his career and wasn't focused on the relationship building aspect of his life. And for me to hear that, to see your transformation in in Kabbalah, like warming up to the community, giving people hugs, having, like, hour conversations with them, leaving the last in the room after, like, closing the night even though you know you have a two hour drive back. To me, that's the most inspiring part of what I do is you meet people that aren't here to learn something new. I wanna learn wisdom, Kabbalah. Everybody's teaching wisdom, spirituality.

How many people take what they learn and they put it into practice? It's very rare. It's very rare. Many people have a desire to do that, but to have someone that shows up early, leaves late, even though he drives the furthest, and then not in the most social person. I did nothing for this event. He got the hotel, brought the cameras, invited the people, and there's 80 people in the room. For me, that's light. That's light. Because his simple desire to share what you experienced blessings from, which is the wisdom of Kabbalah coming to the Kabbalah Center once a week. That simple desire brought all of our souls together tonight, which is really special and and really really beautiful. So I wanna thank you. And to answer your question about light, it's Kabbalah is a deep and profound spiritual teaching that predates all religion. It goes back four thousand years.

And what it does is it explains that there's two aspects to every part of our experience here in this world. There is the physical experience, and then there's the essence. So there's your body, and then there is your soul. There is a good date and a bad date. What was determining whether it was a good date or a bad date is not how you showed up physically. It's how open your heart is and how open the other person's heart is and how you exchange energies. Some people go on dates and they don't know why they felt to leave, but they stayed and somehow, I mean, I I my wife, we went on the first date, our energies weren't aligned and we we broke up and four years later we remet and rekindled because our energies were different. We had gone through changes and transformation.

We weren't ready. We went through a moment and then our essences came together. So Kabbalah is the study of the spiritual aspect of this world. What we can't see with our eyes, which more and more is becoming prevalent in our world today. Science backs up that what we can't see. There are atoms in this room that we can't see. Those atoms form a chair, a person, and that that we can't see the atoms, we can see the physicality, but science tells us there's more. So from a cabalistic perspective, to answer your question, light is the first force that ever existed.

In Kabbalistic terminology, it's called. It was the first force to ever exist. It's called the endless force of light. And many people call it different names. People have different thoughts of what light is to them, but at the end of the day, we all know what light is energy. But the question is where does energy come from?

Ben BeeriRight. Everybody can say, feel energy, but where does it come from? And I think I think it's interesting to be in a spot where you want to look at things in terms of hey how do I reveal light in a certain situation and where can you basically in your life take the effort to take the extra step to just accept the current situation as it is without putting a label on it? Whether is this good? Is this bad? What's happening right now? I don't know. And that's the point that you don't know what the result of what's happening really is. I mean, there could be something that you're going through in life that's very difficult, but realistically, that could be the one catalyst to build your character, to give you the ability to go and achieve all the dreams that you're looking to achieve in life. And it's because you want to go out and achieve all your dreams that you're going through a hardship that's going to help you build the character to be able to do that. So I think getting yourself in a state of mind where

you're willing to accept and embrace

David Grundmanthe unknown really gives you an incredible opportunity to reveal light. And and to piggyback off that, right, the the primary principle behind light is that this force that created all of humanity only has one desire, which is to bring goodness into the world. It only wants to share. Which means even though I'm going through a situation that on the physical level looks like a challenge, and I don't like it. Right? I was speaking to someone on the phone on the way over here today, and he said he's a real estate broker, and he works in New York City. That's where that's where I just moved here from. And he told me that he was on Zillow, which is no. Zillow's here.

StreetEasy is in New York. And he saw that his sister her his sister put on Zillow, her apartment for $14,000, and put it with a broker in his office on his floor and didn't let him know about it. And he was alright. He looked at the situation and said, we can all say that this is a this if this if the family was close, this is a painful situation. And he was he's a student of Kabbalah, so he decided he's not gonna react. He's not gonna confront her. He's not gonna call her. He's not gonna blow up her phone. He said something really powerful to me. He said, I realized that if if she didn't call me to list her unit, it's not meant for me.

And I that doesn't mean that the the light, the creator, the force of good in this world doesn't wanna bring me blessings. It just meant it just means the blessing is not meant to come from this place. And he stayed up till 02:00 reaching out to people because he had a new instilled fire. And instead of using he converted the energy from instead of texting his sister about why you listed with another agent, he stayed up all night and said, I'm gonna find my next listing. He sent out a bunch of emails. The next morning, he reached out to a certain building. She called him and said, I want you to represent. So funny. You reached out to me. I'm really literally looking to sell my unit. Forget about 14,000 and a tiny commission. She sold her $1,600,000 apartment and chose him. And she said, I want you to represent me in buying my next unit, $3,600,000.

So it's like it's like you look at that and you say, wow. Because that that force of goodness right now it presents in the terms of, right, somebody that I really love listing with someone else. But if you realize that force is only good and only wants to share goodness, which is what you said. Right? How can we look at a situation and say, this is coming from my best interest? It's one mantra. The light wants to share with me.

Ben BeeriAbsolutely. And the light wants to share with you in an endless fashion. A lot of us sit here and think and we're grateful for what we have and I'm a person that's incredibly grateful for what I have. Got Dom here today. I've got Nick here today. Where's Nick at? Nick's done an incredible job helping us set up everything today, all the PA system, the cameras, the recordings, everything that we've got going on. And I'm grateful for the team that I've got with me and I'm grateful for the businesses that I have and I'm grateful for the desire to want to grow everything further. It's just because you're grateful for something and you have it, doesn't mean you're not able or not allowed to want or desire more.

And I think that's one of the greatest lessons I've learned so far in Kabbalah. I used to be in a spot where I'm like, I should be thankful for what I have. I should be grateful for what I have. I really do I get to want more? And the thought process of, yes, I do get to want more, and it's not only wanting more for myself, but, like, for you guys. And that's why I wanted to share this conversation with you guys tonight because I want to see you guys in a state where you guys can look at the lives that you have today and say, hey. I'm really grateful for where I'm at today.

And I would be even more grateful if I had this and this and this and this. Now how can I go and share that positive energy, reveal that light, share that light with other people and get other people to reveal their greatest light to everybody else and essentially have different interactions with people where the people that you interact with become better off for having interacted with you to begin with? So that's one of kind of one of the big things I've been thinking about lately when it comes to light.

David GrundmanIt's beautiful that you you mentioned that the desire aspect. Right? Can I be appreciative? And this is something we can all ask ourselves. Can I be appreciative and still want more? Can those two experiences be held in the same moment? And the Kabbalists really focus on the word desire because they explain that each one of us is a walking desire. What woke you up in the morning? What brought you here tonight? What music do you like? No. It's okay. It's perfect. It's perfect. It's from it's it's from the light. It's from the creator. What makes you who you are is your desire. And that's the from a Kabbalistic perspective, and this is a little bit deep, but I think everybody in the room can definitely handle it. There are two forces in this world. That force of light, which only has one desire, which is to give, and the force of what the Kabbalists call the vessel, which is synonymous with desire.

And each person in this world is a vessel. And every day you wake up in the morning and you crave something. You wanna be successful. You want a great job. You want a soul mate. You want deep and meaningful lasting love. You want your kids to succeed. You wanna be happy. All those are what? Those are desires that each and every one of us have. And that desire actually calls the light and directs the light into our life. Now we all probably all have a question. Well, how come there are some desires that I have that aren't fulfilled?

And that's for, I would say, the next koala event that we do in Newport Beach. That's a deeper question. But what's beautiful is that what you mentioned in shining the light to others is my my teacher, Rav Berg, who who opened the doors of Kabbalah to the world around forty five years ago. Because before it was something popular and talked about that people were interested in, it was only for a certain age group, men, certain backgrounds. Right? There was a a ban around it, and and the and his wife Karen said everybody needs to study this. It will change the world. And so they made the effort forty five years ago and keeps growing and growing and growing and growing. And my teacher, said something so beautifully. He says, when you can't take it anymore, start giving.

And we look at our desires, and we think, how can I achieve what I'm trying to achieve? How can I get what it is that I'm looking for? How can I fill my vessel or my container? The Kabbalists posit an a a crazy thought. Instead of running after to try and grab the light, instead of trying to force the light into your reality, instead of trying to force the guy to see your light, instead of trying to will your business idea into fruition, instead of trying to grab, act like the light. If the light shares, how can I be like the light and share?

And and for me, that's one of the things I would ask you is you started off life grinding, hustling. Your back was against the wall. You had a childhood that set you up for that. You didn't really have a choice. You had to survive. At what point would you say you switched from being a vessel, like, looking to survive. I need to succeed. I need to make money. I need to pass my test. I need to be accepted. I need I need when did it shift for you into, I don't wanna take anything from anybody. I wanna figure out how I can add. And and when did that happen? And how did your life change since then?

Because I think it's something we're all craving. It's I wanna do that, but who will take care of me if I don't take care of me? I think Ben you're a great example of that. So when was that? So I think for me what had happened was

Ben BeeriI had a real when I was younger. I was always entrepreneurial. I got my first job when I was 12. I always was kind of the outcast kid when I was in school and I wanted to do things Ben's way. I didn't really care to hear what the teachers had to say or other students and I didn't really follow and follow anybody else's direction or work for anybody else. That had a very positive result for me. I got kicked out of school when I was in middle school. And that really set me on my character building path of revealing light.

That's one way to say it. Absolutely. And it's like I look back at it and I'm really grateful that I had the opportunities to work on building that character because that really taught me that I had to go and take action on things that I was fearful about. Whether it's to start a business, whether it's to hire a team, whether it's to put on an event in Newport Beach that hasn't been done before and I'm just like I can do this. I just have to take action and it's like 's always a next step to take.

And it's was really important for me to realize and kind of change what I thought about myself from, hey, other people can do this to I can do this. So I could go out and take those steps and then it became a great, I can take these steps, can go and I can grab and I can get and I can do what I can do for myself and every relationship is is a a give take. And who can I be around where I can take because that will help fill me up and grow my vessel? And when you take, uh, it can expand you a little bit but there's only so much you can hold when you take from other people.

And it was when I got to a space where I felt like my business had reached a certain level where it wasn't about me anymore. I realized I'm like it's time to give, it's time to just be in a spot where you give and that's when things just started opening up exponentially and it wasn't about me anymore. It's like so now my first thought is instead of being in give take relationships, how can I be in give give relationships? And as it relates to my team, how can I help them have like the best careers they can possibly have? And in turn, my business will grow. How can I have my friends? How can I help them be the best people they can be? In turn, I'll have better friends.

How can I help anybody that I meet and inspire them to be the best people that they can be and in turn we'll have a better world and a better place to live in, a better society? So I kind of realized that you get to reveal more light in a place where you're in a giving situation. You approach things from what do I want for someone rather than what do I want from someone.

David GrundmanWow. Yeah. That's that's I mean, it how many but it's not the beautiful thing is that that's not always the case. Right? When you raise your hand if you're single. Okay. Raise your hand, and this is an an honest question, an honest checking in with yourself. When was the last time you went on a date and thought, what can I give? Not what not not what part of this checklist is he the loco, does the jeshi, does are they spiritual? Do they believe in God? Like, my checklist, what I need from them, and and instead going to I I I would say it's an it's an experiment, by the way, just to try. If if it hasn't worked taking, try it. Try go and say, okay. How what can what lead the conversation, initiate, be happy, be excited even if the person isn't what you meant, and see where that see where that energy goes. Even if he's even if he or she are not your soulmate, but if displayed in the past two hours who you wanna be with, if you display the type of energy you want to bring to a soul mate relationship,

the next person you date, the universe, the light of the creator, is not gonna send you another one of those people. Because you didn't hold back and say, this is not who I wanted. Now let me be reserved. And that's a lot of the times what our body does when we're in fear. We we don't we don't show up. How can I how can I bring energy? I'm going to a new place tonight. How many new people did we speak to? The the thought process is, let me stay with my group. Let me stay with my posse. Let me and the the the what what we're speaking about, the energy of the light is saying, I don't know anybody, but I'm gonna put a smile on my face and show up. And know that my smile is gonna change someone's life.

I'm gonna go into my work and I'm gonna say, how can I make this employee the most happy so that they will be excited to come to work every day? Nobody wants an employee that pouts around all the time because they know that you're trying to squeeze them for the last dollar. It just the enter and these are common sense things, by the way. What we're saying is not revolutionary, but it takes a system. It takes a a wisdom like like Kabbalah. It takes a practice. Like, the students at the Kabbalah Center community where we say, I'm not only gonna understand these, but when I leave this room tonight, when I wake up tomorrow morning, that's how I'm gonna operate on on a daily basis. And so I would love to maybe turn to the audience. I know we have a microphone going around. For people that chose light,

Ben BeeriI would love to hear what what that means to you. What were some of the questions, Ben? What were like, what were some of the questions around? Just the different questions on the reflection card. Anybody wanna share what they wrote in the reflection card? Who got light in the room? Who got light? Awesome, you see everybody, Nick? Hey Nick, you want everybody keep your hands up? Nick, you wanna pick someone to give the microphone to that got light? Tell We them who.

Speaker 6We I'm

Ben Beerigreat. Amazing. You're the light. Stand up, introduce yourself to everyone.

Speaker 6Hello. My name is Alec, it's really awesome to be here and it's really awesome to see Ben put on these awesome events here as well. All right, so what does light mean to me? So what initially came up was easy, fun, free flowing. Just like when I'm feeling light, like I think we all kind of know that feeling of heaviness, right? When everything seems a little bit more difficult than maybe it should be, we're feeling down, whatever it is and life is just a little bit more of a struggle. But when we talk about light, it's like, it's almost like we're floating, like we're having fun, we're optimistic, we're more joyous, loving, that's

David Grundmanwhat light is. That's beautiful. It's amazing. Thank you for sharing. You mentioned you mentioned the word flow, and and it's it's something we're gonna speak about further. On the tables, there's a class that I'm starting next week in Los Angeles, and the first class is about living in a state of flow. But just to to touch upon that, we are vessels, but from a cabalistic perspective, we're not our vessel isn't meant to be closed. It's meant to have a funnel that shares that energy and light out to the world. So when a person's in flow state and why we have why it's we just spoke about being like the light of the creator if you wanna feel and experience that blessing and that goodness is because the light is sharing with us always.

What the world is missing is enough enough people to say, I wanna be a a a channel, not a vessel. I wanna be a a conduit in which light can flow through me, then I wanna take for myself and see how I can do that. So if you notice by the way, I love what you said. Right? When you're heavy, why are you heavy? Think about it. Why are you when was the last time you were heavy? It might even be today. What? Why are you heavy? Because you're in your head. You're calculating. You're thinking, what's gonna happen next? You're thinking about the future or the past. You're that's the opposite of a flow state. Right? Because flow state is, I'm here. There's a person in front of me. They have eyes. They have a soul. Let's be present. Instead, I'm thinking, what's gonna happen tomorrow? Will I be able to pay my rent? That doesn't mean that you shouldn't worry about how to pay your rent. It just means when you're thinking about that, it's gonna be pushing away that flow state. So heaviness is a good indication that your your vessel's closed at the bottom, and a great way to just get out of that is text somebody.

Say, hey, I've been thinking about you. How are you? Immediately, you you you pierce a hole in the bottom of the vessel when you're making the drama about how it's all about you, and this is the apocalypse, and everything is terrible. My vessel is about to shatter. Right? Just send one text message and watch what that response is and see how your energy just changes. But I loved what you said. Heavy flow. Beautiful.

Ben BeeriAll right, well thanks for sharing Alec. That was really good and I think our next thing that we're going to talk about is we're going to talk about love and how to spread love. What does love mean in kabbalistic terms?

David GrundmanSo, like I shared earlier, love is different for each one of us because we're each vessels. So for some of us, is safety. Who said safety? A safe hug. Love is a safe hug. For some people, love means to be seen. For some people, love means to be understood. So from the point of view of how we receive love, I can't define it because we all have different definitions of love. Um, but from a there's a beautiful cabalistic secret that explains that the numerical value of the word love in Hebrew, when you add up all the letters, it's 13.

And when you add up all the letters for the name of the creator, it's 26. And so what it means to bring the light of the creator into our world is when two people bring their love together. 13 plus 13 equals 26. And so love is the understanding that the reason I have something is not because it's meant to stay with me. It's meant to be passed to someone that doesn't have it. And the reason why I don't have something is not because I'm not destined to have it. As we said earlier, the light of the creator wants to bring it to you. It's just I need to find that person that's gonna share that wisdom with me.

If the creator is beautiful and sharing, how come the creator created smart people and ignorant people? How come the creator created wealthy people and poor people? It's because in order for there to be completion, there needs to be both. There the the rich person needs to have someone to share with, and the wise person needs to have someone to impart wisdom to. So love is the coming together of two souls that have exactly what the other person needs from me. And a soul mate, if we're already going down the path of love, the cabalistic definition of a soul mate is when you see the other person in their gifts and their qualities, and you also see their roadblocks and their difficulties, and you accept both.

They're good and they're bad and realize that they're not meant to stay good in this area and bad in this area, and I'm not meant to stay good in this area and bad in this area. Together, we're gonna use each other to grow. That's a soulmate. That's that's a high level. That's a high level because when we get into fights, at least me and my wife, when we get into fights, there's always there's always a lot of right and wrong. And now who didn't do this? Usually, I'm the one pointing fingers, actually. I'm the spiritual teacher, but I'm quick to point fingers. It it it's

Ben Beeriit's it's interesting because you're talking about love in a romantic sense, and there's a lot of people, like, in a soul mate type of sense. And it's interesting because a lot of people, when you think of love, you go to the, hey, who's gonna complete me? Who's gonna be my partner? Who's going to be my soul mate? There's also giving love on a daily basis everyone that you encounter and doesn't really have anything to do with anything in a romantic context. It's like you can show love to the person at the valet.

You can show love to the person at the front desk, to the person checking you in. You can show love to all of you guys in the room with every interaction that you have. And it's really interesting that when you go and you approach people from a place of love, from a place of, hey, I just want to see this person that I'm interacting with build themselves into as whole of a person that they can become. It's really interesting to see the effect that that has on a person. They're like, wow. This person just approached me in the most loving way possible.

They shared love with me. Now I am going to go and pay it forward and share love with the next person that I encounter because a lot of our lives become difficult in ways. I mean, things to manage on a daily basis. And we run all we all have our different challenges and things that we're going through in life. And I can say that everybody that has any type of experience running into somebody who's loving towards them that has a much stronger positive effect on them than somebody who approaches them in a way of maybe not fully viewing what potential situation that they could be going through. So I guess kind of my point is how do you go and approach people in a way of love and how do you just show love upfront and unconditionally to people knowing that you may never get it back from that person, you may never see that person again, but how do you just have a positive impact on someone and show them love and hopefully that inspires them to go and share it with somebody else.

David GrundmanIt's beautiful. And I wanna just ask everybody here, that's on the dishing out love side, but I think it's powerful to go to a deep introspective place with love because love is in the heart. And just to think back to a time in your life when you deeply felt loved. And someone, whether it was a teacher that gave you feedback or a mentor or a brother or just go back to a moment in time where that you felt that person loves you, that person believes in you. Does everybody have one of those? You can just pull it up by memory. Why? Because love is is endless.

Right? With love two two people coming together and experiencing and that exchange of love, 13 plus 13 equals the light, and the light is an endless force of giving. And so those moments are meant to guide us. They've they've literally quite literally built us to who who we are. And I think it's powerful in the context of thinking, okay, how do I be how do I be light to this person? I love what you said because sometimes it could be like, oh, I'm waiting for my soulmate to love, or I'm waiting for, you know, someone that appreciates me to love. Right? It it can be a a game that you you're okay. When it when when this happens, I'll love, but that means that I'm withholding.

That means my vessel's closed. And so we all have people in our life right now that that need love, that are worried, that are scared, that are fearful, that probably even reached out to you and cried for help in in their own way, and we haven't we haven't responded because we're busy or whatever. From a kabbalistic perspective, love is the only currency. Because love is the only thing that's eternal. It's the only thing that lasts. When our soul when our body leaves the physical world, it's not how much money we've accumulated. It's not how many how many followers we have.

It's how many followers did we touch and awaken their heart and their the love that we've shared with them. That's the spiritual that's the spiritual currency. That's what creates a bank in the upper world that just showers blessings onto a person is how much love did I give today. And if if the answer is I gave five ounces of love, five minutes of love, and I'm waiting for the creator to open up all the gates of light and love for me. And you're asking how come it hasn't happened? What Ben said is just don't wait for the person, the right person to love.

It doesn't mean to go give love to random people. Like, if there's a toxic relationship, do not give love in that area. It's it's actually loving to leave that relationship for you and for them, but finding the appropriate places to say, okay. This is a place that I can bring love to and and seeing life in that way. Right? Because love is taking the endless light of the creator, bringing it into my life, and then sharing it out with the world. It's the completion. So I think viewing love as a currency of how much love do I have in my bank account versus how much anything else, I think that will open up the gates tremendously blessings, of love, of soul mate, of abundance.

Ben BeeriWell said. Well said. Well said. And where where are all my love people in the room? Who got who got who got love coming in? You guys don't look too excited about it. Guys, don't look that excited. Well well, got we got we got one excited. Nick, we got one excited all the way all the way back there. You see it in VIP room? Go go go get Melania over there.

Speaker 3I get to talk now. I'm part of it. Okay. Introduce yourself to everyone. I'm Melania. Nice to meet you guys all. I was at the check-in.

Ben BeeriNice to meet you. Thank you for checking people in. Of course. That's what I'm here for. It's because I love doing it. Get it? There there there we go. So so so so what does what does love mean to you? What was your reflection on love?

Speaker 3Love to me means being who you are fully, your spirit, your soul, and completely, like, encompass ing who you are and spreading it out and bringing that energy back in, not because you're trying to chase anything or anything indirectly, but because you just love where you are and who you are. And I think love is internal first, and then expanding it onward is just an addition on that. So I think love is just appreciating what you are beyond the physical attributes, but really understanding why and who you are and just sharing that gift with everyone.

Like, sharing what you can do, what you're, like, learning to do. Anything you have, sharing it with a it's like a gift. Love is a gift, and we can choose to hold that gift back, and we can choose to say, hey. Like, I love things. I'm just gonna be a little bit more, like, quiet about it or we can choose to expand it and that can just create a cycle of love and where other people think, hey, I'm gonna love the world and give my gifts to the world because that's what true love is.

David GrundmanCan I can I ask you a question? Yes. I can. When was the last time in the in your physical body expression, was the last time you were able to really show up and give authentically, not worrying what anybody's gonna think about you?

Speaker 3Like, to others? To others. I think honestly, I am in rowing right now. And what I do is I'm a boxing, and I sit and I guide eight men in a boat. And they're depending on me, and I show up there no matter how difficult it is every single day, six days a week, three hours, four hours a day, just being there, and I'm giving myself all of my love and all of the corrections and everything I do. Not because, like, if they go faster, I I'm still fitting there. I'm not doing anything. But to me, it's I'm giving out my love so that they can achieve and that's, like, the best gift of all. Because when you're on that water and you finish and there's an there's a certain energy that like when they do well, you do well. So when you're on the water and you're gliding through and you finish that you're up that you're at that finish line and they think, wow. Because of her, because of her, like, great strength and her grit and her determination and her faith in us that we wait made this far, they start celebrating with you. And it's just like, all the love I give to them and they can give it back to me, it's beautiful. And that's how I feel. Wow. Wow. It's but literally, the love is the motor of the boat. It is. It is. Very powerful. Wow. Yes. Thank you for sharing. Of course.

David GrundmanWho who else raised their hand eagerly with love?

Ben BeeriYeah. Guess Yeah. Wait. Wait. Let's that. The mic up front. You can stand up. Introduce yourself.

Speaker 7I'm Caroline. I feel like love is being able to sit with someone in their pain, in the hole, in their times of darkness. And I think, you know, if you were to ask anybody why did you break up? They would say, Oh, he didn't give this to me. He didn't do that. Or you know you could give a list of things. But rarely does someone say, I broke up because I couldn't give that person something that they needed. And so to me, I think true love is about being selfless and being selfless and also I think love is also setting boundaries for yourself as well.

David GrundmanIt's a tough line to toe, right? Gonna respect myself and my love and my boundaries and I'm also gonna be selfless in the way that I show up for this person.

Speaker 3Yeah. Yep. It's it's

David Grundmanhas anybody faced that before that challenge? Like how much do I How much do I calculate? How much do I respect my it's it's it's challenging but you find that when you are selfless is when you're really shining?

Speaker 7Yeah I I think selfless I think it can be hard for people to figure out what true selflessness is because I think a lot of people when they Nobody likes the helper. Think that there are also times where you just have to also, selflessness has to truly kind of come from a very deep spirit in a way that it's like something I can't even explain. But I think sometimes selflessness can be hidden in selfishness and greed as well. And so I don't know. I think it's important to distinguish those things when you're trying to distinguish between good love and bad love.

David GrundmanWow. There's a lot to unpack there. There's a lot to unpack there. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing. I'm

Speaker 8actually glad you brought it up because that's something I wanted to ask you, David. And thank you for the beautiful night tonight. Yeah. Relationships I feel like a lot of times we enter the relationship with a lot of expectations. Like you should be doing this for me. This is how I expect a guy to take care of me or to show his love. And then a lot of times these expectations create a lot of energy that's not healthy for the relationship. Like how do you help maybe get rid of those expectations? And I know you talked a lot about this tonight. Like you give back instead, right, than focusing on what I need.

But maybe if you can expand a little bit more on that. Yeah.

David GrundmanWhat expectations do you have?

Speaker 8Why not? We're all here. I'm actually was speaking for the friend who's going through who's in this room right now. Okay. The guy is in the room? No. The my girlfriend. Oh, your girlfriend. Okay. Yeah. She's going through the breakup right now. And it was a lot of, like, I think maybe expectations from the relationship that were not met, but also a lot of hopes that this relationship would work out. But yeah. But I'm gonna just do a plug to another really incredible podcast.

David GrundmanMichael and Monica Berg, who now direct the Kabbalah Center, have a podcast called spiritually hungry. And one of the recent episodes are is like it's called the expectation trap and which ones are safe to have in a relationship because expect you have to have the baseline expectation. Like, you have to see me and and care for me and want me to succeed and want to grow with me and want me to be my best version of myself. Like, if if you don't have someone that's that's with you on that, you're you're you're in your own corner, especially if you're and we were just speaking about this before we we we went live is like how powerful it is to have a friend that wants to grow with you or a relationship that wants to grow with you where you'll push each other to become the best version of yourself. And it's not be I want him to it's not like I want my wife to change because it's gonna make my house cleaner or my kids, you know, more on a schedule.

I want my wife to change because I know that that's how she's gonna show up in her greatest light. And and then maybe it will help me. So if you if you don't have someone that you're working with in that way, those are healthy expectations. Right? Expectations that they're gonna text you in the morning. Good love. Good morning. Like, those there's different types of expectations. So I would say some are healthy and some are not. I'm assuming if the relationship isn't going well, there are unhealthy relationships.

But that's for a person to check-in with themselves and say, okay. What wasn't fair? What was they asking from this person that I actually should have looked for in my spiritual practice? Right? You spoke about your authentic self. It takes a lot to find out who we are. A lot of journaling, of meditation, of checking in, of what do I what do I need in a relationship. So I would say that there's a healthy aspect in that, and then just being honest with yourself and not hiding behind the fact that this person is a a prick.

Right? Even though that may be true, if you say he's a prick and you move on without having grown from it by not seeing what you were expecting, that wasn't real, you stay the same. And the next person that you attract will be the same because you are the same. So if you can look at that, he was wrong for treating me the way that I was treated, but there were some expected. But there there are some things that I want to grow from in that in that aspect. So that's a beautiful

Ben BeeriThank you. Beautiful question yeah and I'll add a little bit to that in that it for the things that like we're looking to get from other people is something that we're looking for externally or something that we're looking for internally and are we trying to fill a void or is it aligned with who we are as a person and if when you go down a path and you're trying to fill a void and you're seeking something externally, uh, I think there's times to look internally and find a certain level of alignment that you may have within you.

And usually when you go down the aligned path, uh, you come across the people that are aligned with you. So that's kind of a really interesting thing that we were talking about earlier. It's like who are the people that are genuinely aligned with you, that want to walk whatever path with you that you're looking to take rather than who are the people that I want with me temporarily to help fill this void that I've currently got.

David GrundmanBut you have to you have to be aware. Yeah. You have to leave that connection and say, do I feel like I'm in alignment right now? Yeah. Or do I feel like that person just threw me off, but it was so much fun? But what what did it cost you? Yeah. So when you're when you're clear on what is alignment for you and you can show up that way and you're very clear, like, oh, this wasn't a bad date. We were just not aligned. Good looking person. It was exactly what I wanted. All the but I didn't feel it. Well, there was no alignment. So no. No. But I'll I'll make it. I'll make I can I can find a way? I'll I'll change him or her. And then were like, oh, now we're not we're not in alignment. Now we're trying to make them in line with us. Yeah. Which is not a it's not alignment. Eventually, their real colors are gonna come out and it showed up. It was there on the first date. So I think a big part of what you're saying is being in alignment, knowing what alignment means for you, knowing who contributes to that, and who

Ben Beeritakes from that and throws you off. Absolutely. Absolutely. And speaking of living in alignment, we go down, I mean, how like our life and how we do things and where are my life people in the room?

David GrundmanThere we go.

Ben BeeriAnd and it's interesting to see how we live a life of light and love and how do we move through life in a way that's aligned with us, in a way that is not only aligned with us, but aligned with the people that we come across. And in ways where we can kind of just embody that, embody the love, embody the light, and move towards a path of alignment. What are your thoughts on that?

David GrundmanThat's a great question. I would say that Kabbalah is a wisdom, but one of the reasons it was concealed is because knowing the truths of the universe can make a person feel powerful. But because that power is there, they stop taking that wisdom and putting it into practice. So what I I love to work on with my students and make very clear in the first class of Kabbalah one is this is not a magic wisdom that's gonna be the the the solution to all your problems. It's gonna work if you work at it. When you decide that you're gonna take your spiritual practice seriously, whether it's Kabbalah or yoga or meditation or transcendental meditation. Or if you decide you're gonna take it seriously, your barometer won't be how long can I hold my meditation?

Your barometer will be how did I treat people today? If I'm meditating for forty five minutes and I just beeped at someone that was right in front of me in Los Angeles traffic, I need to either meditate less or or in my meditation ask the creator to make it show up in my reality. So when we speak about life, a life that is that is that is dedicated towards becoming a better version of yourself, Being more in flow, identifying the areas where you are out of flow and what causes you to do that. Is it overthinking? Is it judging others? Is it being frustrated that things aren't going your way? Whatever it is that throws you out of flow, your spiritual gauge to see if you're enlightened or connected to the creator should be how much better am I at not getting into those spaces? Not how much more did I read or how many books did I cover. So from a point of view of life, I think that's everything.

Because life is the ultimate test of if you're connected to the light and if you're loving. If you can't practice it in this world, and I think that's where all of us struggle. And that's why the Kabbalah Center is a community where people gather together to study, and practice, and communicate, and go to events together, and volunteer, and drive to Newport, and crazy, like, is because if you're if you're if you think you're smart because you graduated level one, you might have failed as a student. We just wouldn't say that. We would accept it and say, wow. Go to it's amazing. But it it it's about it's about it's about it's about how you show up. And so I think that's the most beautiful thing is if a person's really spiritual, they they would love to look at their life and say, okay, where could I improve in those

Ben Beeriin those areas? Yeah. And I think I think the greatest classroom really just becomes life in general. Like, I mean, you talk about making the drive and I remember when I was first starting to go to the Kabbalah Center in September 2024 and it's two, like, two hours with traffic, like, for me to get there for my 07:00 class. And I'm sitting there going, like, first couple times, I'm like, man, this is a lot. Like, I'm feeling sorry for myself. It's like, I'm sitting there on the 405. It's like, what the fuck did I sign up for? And then it kind of got to a point where I'm like, okay. I'm really interested in what I'm learning. I'm really interested in the people that I'm meeting.

I love the community that we're forming here. I started going a couple times a week, sometimes three times a week. And I got to a place where I'm like, the drive is excuse for me not to come. It's the greatest excuse for me not to make it out here. Like on any given day I can say fuck this, I am not getting on the four zero five, I am not making my two hour drive, yet I choose to do it. So then I was able to adopt the mindset of every time I get in my car it's like I am grateful that I have something that I am willing to go and drive two hours to get to. Wow. To be there and to learn what I can learn and spend time with the people that I get to spend time with.

And then I get to reflect on it on my drive back home. So I just think it's interesting the perspectives you can take and apply to your life. We all have these different situations that we can view as positive or negative or difficult or easy and the reality of a situation is things just are what they are and you may as well take the situations and look at them in as great of a light as you can look at them and how is this building me? How is this building Ben? How is this building my soul? How is this building the person that I am going to be when I interact with somebody else. Not where it's like I pull up the cabal center. Hey, Ben. How are you doing? Well, I'm pretty shitty. I just sat in two hours of traffic.

And it's like, no. It's like, I'm grateful to be here. Like, it's really good to see you. Like, what is interesting right now going on with you that you can share with me. And I feel like that's a good kind of mind shift that I was able to kind of accomplish over the last year or so and I'm really grateful for it. And I don't if there's anything you add to that. I mean, for me, personally, just talking to you, we went on a few

David Grundmancoffees and just talking about our lives. And that's one thing that, like, inspired me is that the challenges made you push harder as opposed to fold. And we were sitting and we were talking about what you did, and you're like, oh, yeah. I just threw a lecture at the hotel in the foundry. And I was like, wait. What? Say that again. It's like, yeah. I know. I invited some of my friends. I wanted to share something. So I just it was December, and I just put it and I was like, you've never spoken before? No. I just this is this is his last. I don't know anybody in his house. Who all showed up? Know. I see a few of you guys here. Everybody was in last event. And so he's telling me that he's never spoken before. He rented out a room because he felt like he had something to share. He invited everybody that he knew, and he did something new, and he spoke. And I'm like, what did you talk about? And he's like, what did you talk about? I just talked about me and my story and how I came to be, and I just really thought like that. I can barely get 30 people in a no. I'm joking. We have people in class. But that's 30 people came to listen to your story. And for me, that was the

and you're just that that to me was like life. Right? If you're if you're living this, usually, I I I put it on my list of things that I have to do. How many of us put things on our list that we have to do, and it keeps getting moved year through year through year? You you figured out that it didn't get done, and it was December, and you threw it for December. Everybody's busy in December, and he sent me videos. And I'm like, how is this happening? Like, who are you? Like, he just I decided I wanna do this. It's something new. I've never spoken in public. I'm I'm just gonna invite all my friends, and let's see what happens. And and the question is this, like, a beautiful and refreshing way to look at life because if we if we are asking the light for more love and more blessings, it's it's really up to us to say, in what way am I sharing with life?

More new things that I've never shared before. I can't stay and get I'm not this is nothing again in Newport because there's every every place has its I can't stay here with one experience of the world and say, God isn't multifaceted. I have to move and travel and meet new people and go outside of my comfort zone. And all of a sudden, I see the creator in brand new ways. If I would never have driven here and if we've never had that conversation, I would never meet all you incredible souls, but that wouldn't be on that wouldn't be on God.

Wow. How come you held out all these amazing souls from me? That would be on me because I never put myself out there to say, how can we do a lecture Newport Beach? How can we find a way to connect souls around the world? And and so I think that's a refreshing way to look at life when you're saying, okay, I'm frustrated at what the cards that I've been dealt. Don't wait for the dealer. You take the next step to put the next card and say, I'm gonna go out on that thing that I've been pushing off, and I'm gonna allow my soul to shine, and I'm gonna put myself in a scary situation, and I'm gonna call my my brother that I haven't spoken to in ten years and say, I don't like this space.

I don't know what to do about it, but I don't like it. Instead of just allowing that awkward thanksgiving. It's like, it's like, I'm gonna I'm gonna do those things that I'm afraid of, and then I'm gonna let the creator show me, okay, which blessings are mine. But if we're not trusting the light light that it's all good force, and that it's being stingy with us, and we're also being stingy with our own energy, we can't expect abundance as a result.

Ben BeeriWell said. Well said. And I think I think that what you said about, hey, don't wait for the dealer to deal the next card. I mean, that's something pretty significant in life because we find ourselves in so many places thinking that situations are out of our control. And the thing about life is situations are out of your control. But what you can control is you and how you respond to them and what you do and what your reaction is and how you respond to other people and how you reflect to other people.

And like you said, deal that next card yourself. Don't wait for the dealer. I love that. So I know we were gonna have people share with each other. Do you wanna maybe just take what Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. What's the best way to Yeah. And well, actually, I was I was gonna say we can at this point, we can open we can open the floor to some questions if some people have some questions for us. Nick, you've got the mic. Does anybody have anything they want to share?

Speaker 3Ethan. Thank you.

David GrundmanOkay. By the way, before you share, I just wanna say thank you all so much for coming tonight. It's been such a pleasure to be here with you. And

Speaker 4Thank you for coming. There are a lot of spiritual people in this room coming from a lot of different places. Like, I Darlene is here who has a really beautiful yoga studio. My friend Michelle is here who has a very strong Catholic practice. I have my daughter. I know that there are people from other places. What makes Kabbalah different from religious practice? Like what is the main thing? Because I still don't quite understand like we're here to discover Kabbalah, And most of us are here because we're already spiritual, right?

Otherwise we wouldn't be here. So I'm just curious like the base of Kabbalah, like somebody like me that knows a little bit about it but is very spiritual anyway. So what would be, like, the main thing that a person coming to this meeting should leave with?

David GrundmanThat's a beautiful question. And I was actually speaking to yeah. Is there another yeah. I was speaking to someone before.

Speaker 4I don't know if I understood, but I No. I I definitely

David Grundmanit was a great question. Yeah. And who was I speaking to? He was sitting right here. He he said that he's very strong in his Christian practice. He goes to church, and he asked if Kabbalah would clash. And from my experience, I was three weeks old when my mom and dad found the Kabbalah center and started studying Kabbalah. Um, and from all the people that I've met, some of them Jewish, most of them not, they all attest that Kabbalah made them better Christians or made them better Yogis or made them better Buddhists.

Because Kabbalah isn't so much focused on the rituals. This is what you have to do in order to be loved by God. Kabbalah is about the consciousness we show up to life with, and how do I constantly stay in refinement of that consciousness? And so the idea that the light is an endless force and by the way, the word Kabbalah means to receive. It's trans the translation of it is to receive. And so the practice of Kabbalah is figuring out how do we become endless receivers. And through wisdom, through spiritual development, we realize that the best way to become an endless receiver is to continue to grow and to change and to push ourselves to learn new things, to meet new people, to love in new ways.

And that's what I would say is unique about Kabbalah and specifically the Kabbalah Center. There is no end goal. It's not, I'm a Kabbalah student when I learn x or when I achieve x or when I show up to synagogue x or sermon x. It's there's no there's no way to master it. It's the realization that if you want the endless light of the creator, then you need to continue to expand your receiving capabilities by doing new things, challenging yourself, learning about yourself, and that's where Kabbalah gets more nuanced.

It's learning about your ego. Ego is a big word in Kabbalah and learning how it sabotages the most important relationships in your life and knowing your ego has to do with your astrology sign. It it it's a it's just a constant unraveling, but not to learn more, to be more. So that and and I would say the Kabbalah center does is is dedicated to teaching Kabbalah in that way, which is to constantly push yourself to expand your vessel, to not just this is what I'm looking for. I came to Kabbalah one. I got what I'm looking for. Now it's time to it's just continuing.

It's it's people that want those. That's that's people that are in alignment. So me and Ben connected right away. I was like, dude, two hours? Like, I want more, but I would never drive two hours for a spiritual. It's like, he's going. I want more in that way. And and and and, yeah, it's infectious. Like, to me, this whole event is inspiring, not because of the speaking, just because of I walked into the hotel, I was like, wow. Wow. Like like, thank you creator. Thank you, band. Thank you, volunteers. Thank you, everybody that put this together. It's new, and I've never experienced anything like it. So it's just keeping it's people that keep you consistently pushing to become more like the endless light of the creator.

Speaker 9I have a question really quick. On the status of Kabbalah. Hi. Hi there. How are you? Hi. I met you Ben a couple of weeks ago in Los Angeles. Awesome. Thank you for the event. Really great. Thank you. So I'm really new to Kabbalah and I have been with JGPT and some other Kabbalah applications. Have been trying to figure what is Kabbalah at? If I was Christian and if I'm Jewish and like trying to figure this out, it's a complicated matter yes to see where you're standing but at the end of the day it's about life and love and light.

So no matter where we are, what religion or what spiritual practice is, I think it's beautiful. It's a beautiful life to tap into. At the same time I'm very curious. I have a very curious brain so I have been tapping into the Sahar and books from the foundations of Kabbalah, the books of reincarnation and all of that. Exciting. Yes. Yeah. Yes, yes, yes. But I need guidance in terms of, okay, I'm doing this on my own in the mornings at night and trying to follow my own intuition and my own voice but what is I cannot go to Los Angeles, right? Well don't say you can't. Well I cannot definitely.

Ben BeeriYou changed the word a By the way that's what I said before I started going. I literally told myself, I'm not going out to LA. I can't. I'm here in Orange County. That's good. And You're rephrasing. All of a sudden your car moves past about Huntington Beach, and you're like, where the hell am I? And then you got about 40 ish miles to go, and you'll make it out there and just keep driving. It's straight on the 405. You can exit on the 405. It'll take you some time. So it definitely takes time. I I used to live in Los Angeles. Oh, so you're familiar. No. I would I would recommend very but there's but that but that but that's why we want to put together a beautiful night like this and it's like, hey, how many of us can stay together and stay connected and really it's like form a community here in this area in Orange County where a lot of us can kind of get together and work on each other's spiritual growth and how we can push each other to be better. So a couple of things I want add. One is we were speaking about it before, and we're brainstorming about potentially doing

David Grundmanthe foundations class, which is starting next week in LA. Maybe doing it here, like, the first night in person, and then two night two two weeks on Zoom. We're we're exploring ways to make it more convenient for you to to join. But if someone has a desire like Ben, I would love to see you next week. All the information's there on the QR code. But to answer your question, also on the QR code above, there's a a way to book a one on one session with me. Okay. Um, and I would recommend when you're going into writings like reincarnation and the czar, you do have someone not to necessarily teach you, but to point you into the right direction because some are a rabbit hole that you can go down and all of a sudden you're not doing the ones from the Kabbalah. The so hard up. Oh, amazing. Amazing. But I'm saying you can book a session with me and I can guide you. I can get you started on that. So anybody that wants I would love to meet all of you, by the way. So I don't know how much room my calendar has, but that would be amazing.

So, yeah, definitely use the QR code to

Ben Beeridefinite. Alright. We can take one more question over here.

Speaker 5This is a beautiful event. Thank you again for being here. I'm very interested, uh, what the Kabbalists and the sages say about discernment, uh, when you're trying to decide something specifically when it feels like you feel tension around the topic, but you don't know if it's like you're in your comfort zone or it's actually, no, you're like, system telling you or the creator telling you, no, it's not there. And I know the technology of prayer prayer helps clarify those things, but I'm interested if if there's something the Kabbalists say or sages or in your teachings about that.

David GrundmanIt's a question that comes up a lot Mhmm. In most of the classes is how do you know when to push through, right, to break the knot in the back and just, oh, the tension is released or how do I know if it's not meant for me? It's a hard question to answer without context because it's making a general statement may mislead people. But a good rule of thumb would be if it's the hard thing to do to let it go, if it's really difficult because I really wanted it to work and my ego's attached to it, it's really hard, take a break.

Take a break. Say, I'm leaving this, creator. If this is light, if this is meant for me, bring it back into my reality, but for now I'm gonna focus my energy in other places. If it's really hard for you to keep going and knowing your own internal nature, I would say that's when the blessing is right around the corner, when you're right about to give up, when you're right about to give up. Giving up is not the same thing as letting go. Right. So you need to identify is this a giving up? Right. Or is this letting go? And no no teacher can tell you that. Kabbalah is not about me prescribing the right answer. Even when my student comes to me where I know about their marriage and they say, I give up or should I let go? I say, this is not a question for me. Yeah. But I can ask you questions to help you get clearer on where you're at. Well, it doesn't there's no yeah. I hope that helps. Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you. Amazing. Amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Anything

Ben Beeriwell, yeah. No. I mean, it's been really great hearing some of your guys' questions, some of your guys' shares. David, did you have any any closing thoughts for everyone?

David GrundmanTo me, this event is a closing thought. If you took a step to get here and you weren't planning on coming, if it was uncomfortable, if you came alone, if you're showing up because you're curious, like, is and by the way, tonight, we're moving into the month of tomorrow night, we're moving into the month of Scorpio. And for those that don't know astrology from a cabalistic perspective, Scorpio is when our destiny starts. It's when everything was written in the month of Libra, and then the DVD goes in the DVD player. In the first day of the month of Scorpio, life starts.

So the fact that you came here tonight is a beautiful way to literally start your your next year. And so I would say because you planted that seed today to just do something uncomfortable to go out and maybe it's not uncomfortable because you're supporting your friend and but still it's something new and do something uncomfortable today, tomorrow, the day after, though that window in time, the new moon of Scorpio is the beginning of a new year. And if you can if you can step into that saying, okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna be the light today to someone I wouldn't have. I'm gonna show love today to someone that I wouldn't have been aware to show love to. I'm gonna make my spiritual practice more living than it is thinking.

On these days, I I believe it's tremendously gonna to impact your year and and your life. And I I just wanna say thank you to Ben for putting this event together, for bringing such special souls, for putting yourself out there, and knowing that you have something to share is is really, really special. And I hope it's not the end. I hope this is just the beginning of things we do here, and hopefully, we'll see you in Los Angeles for any of the events that we do. Sometimes it's not a ten week class that you have to commit to. Like, I'm teaching a class tomorrow night about the month of Scorpio. Just one week. It happens once a month. It's not too much to come down with a bunch of friends, and so we'd love to see you there. And if not, you can always book a one on one session, and we'll do a Zoom, just chat about life and Kabbalah. So it's been a pleasure to be here. I thank you so much for inviting me. Absolutely.

Ben BeeriDefinitely, thank you for coming and making that very short trip from LA to Newport. Welcome to our neighborhood. And here we have all our lovely people here. And for me, I'm just really grateful that all of you decided to show up tonight. I know a lot of you guys came out simply just to support and just, hey, let's see what the hell Ben has going on. What does he have cooking up now? And for those of you that are here to support, I'm really grateful for those of you who came here with an open mind and wanted to learn about something new.

I'm really grateful for that as well and I genuinely hope you guys were able to connect with each other, you guys were able to learn something new, you guys were able to reflect on some things that are a part of your life and that can help move you forward and push you forward in life and just make you that better person and that you can live a life of light and love. So thank you everyone.