To Samuel,

Hi to you too. Five years ago, I would have agreed 100% with every word you wrote. Today, only with 50% of what you wrote.

What happened in the meantime? I went for a private audience with Rabbi Eliayh Leon Levi in Bnei Brak. I will elaborate.

You are correct that a person needs to work and to toil to help himself. A person can also go to others and even to a psychologist for advice (caution is needed because some psychologists recommend extra-marital affairs and masturbation to "ease tensions".)

Coming out of the meeting with Rabbi Leon, I was a changed person. I didn't know that people like this still exist in our time.

Since the meeting with him, I have read extensively (original Hebrew texts e.g. taharat Hakodes, reishet chachmah, other books) on the subject of taharat habrit (sexual purity) and I must say that in my humble opinion, you are misinformed on the point of mikvah and kabbalists.

A person creates a spiritual reality around himself and his home thru his acts. His wrongdoings formulate negative spiritual forces which affect him and his family directly. The mikvah is a key tool in cleaning the spiritual grime from the house and in the struggle for a clean future.

Rabbi Leon sees your entire spiritual x-ray. In front of him, there are no secrets. He sees wrongs from tens of years ago that do not evaporate with Torah study alone. It takes t'shuva for each specific act to clear the way. I was blown away by the meeting that my wife and I had with him. Don't be too quick to knock Kabbalists (as I was before the private audience).

Regarding cars and kabbalists, here's a short anecdote that I saw with my own eyes: Rabbi Leon encourages his students to consult with him before purchasing a used car. I saw a student of his approach and say, "Rabbi, I found a car that I want to buy." Rav Leon asked him to wait one moment as he scribbled something on a paper and turned it face down. "What make and what year is the car," asked the Rabbi. Student: "Ford '96." Rabbi Leon turned over the paper and it said on it, "Ford '96." Rabbi Leon then proceeded to tell him that the car is in good shape and the student should buy the car, "BUT," he said, it has two problems that you should use to get the price down. One is that the car was in an accident, and the owner lied to you saying hat it wasn't. Stoop down under the back left end of the car and see the accident repair from underneath." "The second problem," continued the Rabbi, "is that he drove on a dirt trail and the back axis got hit and bent a bit. This is not critical but use it to lower the price."

I followed up with that student who said that he told the car owner about the two problems. The car owner was blown away, admitted the defects, and lowered the price.

Samuel, you sound like a serious Torah Jew. Just be open to consider other ways of getting closer to hashem.

Much love,

Honest Husband