So here's the question: Who is Feivel, really? From where does he get his power? How does he gain his near-omnipotent, all-pervasive, global influence, so that 99.999% of humanity obeys his voice 99.999999% of the time?

In the language of the Kabbalah, Feivel is the Sitra Achra. Some translate that as "The Other Side." But really there is no side that's other from the Infinite Light. After all, when you're infinite, there's nothing outside of you. So Rabbi Schneur Zalman instead translates it as "The Side of Otherness."

We'll get to the Side of Otherness in an upcoming episode, but for now, let's talk about the strategy we use to overcome it.

The Side of Otherness is so big, there's no way to take it on face to face. I mean, take a look: Almost everything you know of believes it is "other." Not just people, even animals, plants, minerals, stars and planets—everything in the entire universe is defined by a sense of being something other than everything else.

The truth is, there is nothing else; there is only the Oneness of the Infinite Light. But the Side of Otherness rules and dominates over all things to convince them that they are in truth "others." A.k.a. "somethings." Something and other are synonymous here.

The principal urge of the human being is also this sense of otherness/somethingness. In fact, it infects the human being far more than any other creature on the planet—or on any other planet for that matter. But the human being also has a counter-force resting in its intellect and deep in its heart: the force of nothingness.

So basically, it comes down to somethingness versus nothingness. And nothingness wins.

Now how on earth can nothing beat something? Simple. Something tells nothing that we're going to do something. Nothing responds that instead we're doing nothing. Or vice-versa. Something could say do nothing. Nothing says do something. So the person does something (or nothing)—and nothing wins.

Whatever way it goes, nothing has the power to win. Why? Because while somethingness/otherness is just a dark room, that nothingness is a transparent window through which Infinite Light can shine. Bring in even a little glimmer of light and the darkness/somethingness/otherness runs away like a sissy.

Now, a general cosmic rule is that of cosmic reciprocity. It says, "You do something small down here and the Master of the Universe does just the same thing Big Time up there." "Up there" means in a cosmic sense.

For example: You feel like eating/saying/doing/imagining something not kosher to eat/say/do/imagine. Your memory/upbringing/TV/endocrine system feel it would be a gratifying experience for you to eat/say/do/imagine this. But your study of Torah and your Jewish guilt-detector tells you its wrong. Your otherness/somethingness/dark side/feivelness is screaming "Do It! Do It!" Your nothingness/window of light says, "Uh-uh."

So you don't.

The little Feivel inside is tamed and transformed. And then, the Giant Feivel, the Sitra Achra of the entire universe, is also tamed and transformed. Everything changes. As the Zohar puts it, "When the Side of Otherness is beaten down below, the glory of the Transcendent One rises above, and this rising is greater than any other praise or glory."

Repeat several times a day and one day you wake up to find you're living in a different world.