About The Outcomes Of The Convention

The world convention that took place not long ago is a very serious phase, but it is over.

Unfortunately we don’t feel the pain of not being incorporated in others yet. I don’t feel any pain of not living in the heart of others; I have no feeling that I want to break away from myself and be in others, but cannot do so and so I feel pain. I don’t feel that it pressures me so much and worries me so that it is the reason that I ask for and cry out, but we are nearing that.

Still, it was a very serious effort in moving toward the goal. I don’t know how to measure it since we are moving along a path that has never been taken, and there are no examples we can learn from, but I believe that in another two or three suchconventions, if people will hold on, if they feel a greater need to delve more deeply into each other, everything will be solved. This is what the coming conventions are for, and there is no going back. I have to live in the heart of the friend, inside it; I am not here. I exist there with all my soul.

Question: Will questions and workshops be only in this direction from now on?

Answer: Only in order to be as one man in one heart. This is a precondition without which we cannot reach spirituality. The point is not the Creator, but the friend’s heart. We have felt it now; we had access to it, and although there was not a clear demand for that yet, no attack and the accumulation of pain, it will happen.

Now we will work on it systematically and will hold a series of conventions in America and Russia and then in Israel again. A person should feel pain from not being in his friend’s heart. He yearns for that, but cannot. Something is holding him back, but he really wants to be inside his heart. He wants to work with his own desires like Malchutwhile the nine desires before him are the desires of his friends, their yearning for the Creator and not his own. The powers are his while the yearning is of the friends.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 2/26/16

Should One Be Sensitive To The Suffering Of Others?

Question: If I don’t feel the suffering of others, am I insensitive or smart?

Answer: There is no need to feel the suffering of others, but the suffering of a group of people with identical opinions so that your shared pain and common desire to find a connection with theCreator will bring you to discovering Him between you.

There is nothing else. Either you want the Light or you will become ill from discovering darkness, one of the two. You call this by different names, suffering, pain, illness, and the like. A lack of Light is the origin of all suffering.

If you have a Kli, a desire that is ready to receive the Light, to absorb it into itself, to be filled with it, but you don’t make the effort to fill it, then that is felt as suffering.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/3/16

The Problem Of Fathers And Sons

Comment: In the framework of studies that were conducted for two years by the Adler Institute on the subject of education, a poll was conducted in which it was clarified that around 48% of Israeli parents don’t talk to their children. In an additional poll that was conducted among 300 Israeli teenagers aged 13-18, around 40% of them confirmed that they are not in communication with their parents and are not familiar with their history and roots.

Answer: This is understandable because today we are rising above the level of corporeal development where everything was built upon a traditional household in which parents and children were strongly connected to each other. For the most part, the son was heir to his father’s profession, built a house next to his father’s house, and so on.

But for some time now we have not been in this situation. With the development of industry, everyone was drawn to the cities, and through the development of a variety of professions, the connection between “fathers and sons” was broken.

When the generation develops with such turbulence and rapidity, when the perspective on the world is changed entirely in a few years, then not only the children, but also the parents don’t recognize themselves compared to what they were five years before. While in the past children would leave the home of their parents at the age of 18-20, now, already at the age of 11-12, the child doesn’t want to feel that he owes something to someone, his parents are the ones who owe him something while he doesn’t owe them anything.

We have reached a situation in which it is up to us to begin to rise above the corporeal level, where people are connected with each other only from a physical aspect, according to the household in a traditional manner. As of today, what else can parents give to their children?! They can no longer convey their education to a child because it differs from what the present generation requires.

Not even the present education corresponds to the needs of a young person so that he can develop in his life. Everything is changing rapidly and children don’t feel the need to communicate with their parents. The parents also don’t feel any attraction to their children because they are no longer realizing themselves through them.

We are found in a very interesting situation. So that the need for a link between the generations will appear, which is generally what happens in the transition from one generation to another; there must be a common aspiration, a common flow of life, in which gradually the purpose of life now becomes clear.

The wisdom of Kabbalah gives that to us. The attainment of the purpose of life and the purpose of all of creation is the same purpose. Then the children will be able to be “nourished” by their parents. In this situation, the parents can give their children home schooling beginning from a tender age, instilling in them the right foundation for all of life. Both of them will be found within the same internal and external orientation, current, and movement.

They will have something to talk about with each other, something to convey to each other. In this way, the link between the generations will appear, no longer on the corporeal level as it was throughout the history of humanity, but on the spiritual level, on the level of the connection of the soul.

Then they will begin to discover the deep and spiritual connection between them; they will discover why specifically these are their parents and these are their children, why specifically contacts like these are happening between them, including physical contacts on the corporeal level, and then a transition to the level of souls will happen.

Question: What kind of goal will be determined?

Answer: The goal of humanity is to reach an inclusive mutual connection. The connection will also be directed toward familial connections that will become strengthened thanks to the spiritual connection. The physical connections will remain on the same level, and there will even be more independence.

This will be a completely new system of mutual connections, supported by the entire society. And so new mutual relationships between parents and children will prevail; the connection will be new.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 2/29/16

A Temporary Body And An Eternal Soul

Question: Is the soul connected to the body or is it independent?

Answer: The soul is not connected to our egoistic body in any way, God forbid. If a person’s arms or legs are cut off, his soul still remains whole. The body can grow old and die, but the soul feels no changes during this process.

Question: Is the soul replaced when it develops?

Answer: The soul is never replaced; it constantly develops.

Question: Does a wicked person have a wicked soul?

Answer: Basically the soul cannot be wicked. The soul is the attribute of bestowal, which a person acquires.

Question: Can we say that the soul is the intention by which I use my desire?

Answer: No, the soul is a desire that already has the right intention.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/20/15

New Life #624 – Baal HaSulam- Rav Yehuda Levi Ashlag

New Life #624 – Baal HaSulam- Rav Yehuda Levi Ashlag
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

When one looks at the life of the Kabbalist, one must divide the viewpoint into two levels, our world and the upper world. When Baal HaSulam found the ARI’s book The Tree of Life at his teacher’s home, he was astonished to discover what was written there. A few years later, he organized a group of families to immigrate to Israel, but he was banished, and in the end he immigrated by himself. He brought a tanning machine with him to Israel. He believed that man must work and not be a sponge and receive charity. But when they discovered that he had been a rabbinical judge in Warsaw, they appointed him to be the Rabbi of Kiryat Shaul.

He turned to the secular public since a Kabbalist who has attained the general system thinks and worries about everyone. He explained how we can participate consciously in the development process that we must go through. The essence of the correction is to transform our egoistic nature, the hostility and hatred, into love of others. He wanted to introduce the ideas of Kabbalah to the people, so he met with Ben-Gurion and the leaders of the community.

He foresaw the Holocaust and World War II. By his being in Israel, he spiritually stopped Rommel and Stalin. He wrote a lot and is named Baal HaSulam because of the “ladder” interpretation he wrote for The Book of The Zohar, which is the ladder of the levels of correction.

At the end of each day, he would give away his money so that he wouldn’t have any for the next day, in order to draw spiritual forces closer to the people. But they never listened, and today we must make his system public in order to correct the situation in Israel and in the world. In his writings of the “Last Generation,” he explained that in the end, we must attain the life of love of others and social equality. There was no person more important for our generation because he gave us the tools to reach the upper life, peace, and eternity.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #624 – Baal HaSulam – Rav Yehuda Levi Ashlag,” 9/10/15

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Who Is Closer To The Wisdom Of Kabbalah?

Question: Who is closer to the wisdom of Kabbalah, men or women?

Answer: Men. Women feel it more instinctively while men must go through it and transfer this knowledge by way of their head, mind, and thoughts.

Their need for correction of the ego is much greater than it is with women. So a woman can study less; she doesn’t need to get up at three o’clock in the morning for a lesson, while this is mandatory for men. That is how nature created us.

The male ego is different from the female ego, it requires a greater correction. Because it deviates from the way, it is torn to pieces.

Women are not inferior to men; their ego is simply earthier in an everyday practical sense. They are more corrected than men. If a woman were managing the world, the world would be better.

Comment: But still, sometimes women are managed by men.

Answer: If they were to take things over everywhere and the men were to go fishing, it would be better for everyone.
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From the Webinar on zahav.ru 2/10/16

Nuclear Weaponry Is Good

Question: What do you think about the increasing presence of nuclear weapons in different nations?

Answer: This is very good. If there had been no nuclear weapons, Russia and America would long since been at war with each other instead of not since the Second World War. What stopped them was only nuclear weaponry because they understood its significance. For the first time in the life of the military, for whom war always promoted power, they are afraid of war, of nuclear war.

Everyone is afraid of nuclear war, therefore people who “hold the button in their hands,” understand that one shouldn’t play with it. There are limits to where we can fight a bit, mainly in third world nations: I trip you, you give me a slap, etc.

Hitting each other in a political lobby or through the third world is understood by everyone and is perceived as being normal. If 100 people die here and 100 there, it is not taken into account. In contrast, everyone understands that a nuclear war is unpredictable, to the point that it would be impossible to rein it in.

Question: And what if every small nation had nuclear weaponry?

Answer: Is Saudi Arabia a big nation? It is a rich nation that can buy anything.

Comment: But don’t you think that some crazy person could press the button?

Answer: I don’t think that there are that many crazy people in the world, it only seems that way to us. Gaddafi was not crazy, as we now understand. Neither is Fidel Castro nor the present leader of Korea.

The leader of Korea is a smart man and if he makes some noise with the help of the weaponry, it is for one purpose only, “Give us food” because they are starving. Gradually we feed them, placate them, and we don’t even know about it., Even the Americans directly or through a third nation, and also Russia and China. What can you do? Everyone understands each other perfectly.

So I don’t think that there is any uncertainty here. When you understand that you have a serious trump card and the other one does too and you are both holding each other by the throat, that is everything. So I think that nuclear weaponry is an excellent means for restraining and sobering up humanity from childish behavior. I very much hope that in the future care and wisdom will prevail.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 2/26/16

In Favor Of Keeping The Family Together

Question: Does the wisdom of Kabbalah have a formula for a happy family life?

Answer: Of course, after all, the wisdom of Kabbalah tells us about the unity of people and the private level of unity is the family.

Question: Do you mean that people who educate society according to the wisdom of Kabbalah can replace family psychologists? After all, preserving the integrity of the family today is a great problem: There are domestic difficulties daily; life isn’t easy, and the nuclear family is starting to fall apart.

Answer: Families are not breaking up because of the daily troubles but because it is in the interest of industrialists, advertisers, and the like. While a couple needs one apartment, a divorced couple needs two apartments. Today’s global economy is interested in having more consumers, and divorce doubles the number of consumers. Moreover, the elite don’t need millions of people who procreate.

Comment: But the industrialists also live in families.

Answer: They are merely 1% of the world’s population and have no need for all the rest. Why do they need seven billion people! As far as they are concerned it is better to reduce the world’s population even without wars by simply reducing procreation. Thus they will be able to cut down the world’s population by half during one generation.

Question: Does the wisdom of Kabbalah know how to keep the family together?

Answer: It isn’t simple. The wisdom of Kabbalah gradually tells people how to interact with each other correctly.

Comment: I heard in one of your lectures that if one partner studies the wisdom of Kabbalah while the other partner is far from it, they don’t have many chances of keeping the family together.

Answer: Of course there are problems. If one partner is greatly interested in life on the spiritual level and the other is interested in life on the corporeal level, there are disagreements and conflicts and they feel that they have different impulses. But even then no one says that they should get divorced. On the contrary, it is necessary to keep the family together no matter what.

We try to do it by any means. I understand that it isn’t easy today. Still, it is better to keep the family together, especially if there are kids. First, I am against divorce. And second, one should somehow interest his or her partner and make it understood that you have a dream, something that you are really interested in. The right thing to do is to interest your partner in your field of interest, since by studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, a person begins to discover the real meaning of life.

Everyone is interested in this matter to some extent.
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From the Webinar on zahav.ru 2/10/16

Bloody News

Comment: A famous blogger wrote that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to astonish people with news about what is happening in the world. People digest the frequent bloody news about terror, about youth that can stab a man with a knife, and don’t mourn the casualties anymore because you would have to do it every day.

Answer: We have had the thirst for such sights since ancient times when they used to kill and maim people, stage battles, etc. Humanity cannot do without it. It isn’t only the need of modern man but a human need for blood.

We are undergoing a serious crisis of consciousness and it is becoming clear that we are miserable nothings. And somehow this has to break. Therefore, the Internet, different problems, ISIS, and radical Islamic organizations push the world forward quickly. These are vital forces in our evolution. Changes occur very intensively and we are beginning to perceive and realize everything very quickly. If people were stuck in the past at one point for ages, today they undergo a lot during one generation.

Question: What will this feeling lead to?

Answer: It will lead to a great outcry stemming from the recognition of the meaningless of our existence. We will not even be able to choose whether to live or not, whether to leave this life or not, so we are controlled by our egoistic nature. In addition to the fact that we exist, we were given a mind to understand that we are miserable and worthless and exist for no reason and for no purpose.

This unclear outcry will be revealed in humanity, and then we Kabbalists will be able to say: “We know what to do in this situation. We have actually been waiting for it for almost 6,000 years and today we can tell you how to turn this deep, terrible hopeless cry into a sigh of joy, a merriment that has no limits. It is possible. We will be very happy to share this opportunity with you.”
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 2/26/16

New Life #611 – The Redemption

New Life #611 – The Redemption
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

How can we prepare ourselves for the coming state of redemption, how do we recognize the special time of the days of the Messiah, and why is the right preparation only with the help of a group?

Summary

The wisdom of Kabbalah investigates the process within which we are led from the beginning of reality to its purpose. The higher power, whose nature is love andbestowal, created us egoists so that we would choose to resemble it. When we don’t choose to advance toward the characteristic of love as He has, then “blows” come upon us to move us forward.

The first to learn the program of creation was our father Abraham, and his students became the people of Israel. The redemption will come only through connection. Do we want to connect? A power called “Messiah” will come and draw us toward love. The redemption is when we become a single association with mutual love and bestowal, and the Creator dwells among us, the Gan Eden (paradise). We don’t need to die for this. If we connect, we can feel Gan Eden (heaven) now. If we don’t, we feel Gehinnom(hell).

So the world has been thrown into a general crisis today, a blind alley, emptiness. There is no happiness on the horizon. The wall that faces us was built from our egoistic characteristics, hiding the upper worlds from us.

Kabbalah doesn’t demand that a person believe; it is a scientific method for developing a higher perception. The redemption is rising from an egoistic nature to eternal life, not with the body but with consciousness.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #611 – The Redemption,” 8/13/15

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Our Desire Determines Everything

Question: What does an ordinary person practically gain from thewisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: I don’t know what an ordinary person is. Everything is determined by a person’s desires. Each of us is a desire to receive, a desire to enjoy.

If the desire to enjoy is like a cat’s desire to catch a mouse, then I am a cat. If it is like a cow’s to eat grass, then I am a cow.

If my desire is to plant a tree, to build a home, and to have children, which in this world means that I am a human being, then I am a human being. If I have a desire to be rich, to acquire knowledge or respect, then I am a great man in this world and I already aspire to grow to this level. But all this is in the framework of our world, depending on my needs.

The point is that we have desires that cannot be fulfilled in our world, and this is where the need to discover the meaning of life stems from. It is seemingly a simple question, but it remains without an answer.

When a person begins to ask himself what he is living for and doesn’t find an answer in anything he does and this question leads him further onward, he is already called a human being because he asks himself about his goal, not about the animal inside him but about the human being inside him.

Question: Is a person programmed to attain spirituality?

Answer: Yes, the attraction to spirituality can awaken in a simple guy whereas it can be dormant in an Einstein type. It doesn’t matter.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/10/16

Dispelling Myths About Kabbalah, Part 2

“The age of 40” in Kabbalah

Question: There is a rumor that a person can start studying Kabbalah only after the age of 40. Is that correct?

Answer: It is a big misunderstanding that one is not supposed to study Kabbalah until he is 40 years old. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, the number 40 means the level of Bina.

A person who has reached the level of Bina obtains the absolute property of bestowal where he can reveal the entire enormous Light of Hochma that governs the entire universe. Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah has two parts: before the level ofBina and above it. Everyone is able to study up to the level of Bina. However, above it, only those who are capable can continue and rise further.

The level of Bina is called “the age of 40.” Therefore, the only people who can “study Kabbalah”—meaning, receive the Light of Hochma—are those who have reached the level of Bina, which is defined by the number 40. However, this has nothing to do with the biological age of a person.

As proof, there is the example,of famous Kabbalists who died at a young age without reaching the age of 40, such as the ARI, Rabbi Nachman from Breslav, and others. Obviously, they began studying Kabbalah long before they were 40 years old.

There was also a ban for unmarried people to study Kabbalah. It was considered that a person with a family was more stable and balanced, and as a result, they would be more suitable for the study. However, during those times, people used to marry when they were 16 to 17 years old.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM 2/28/16

The Formula For Revealing The Creator

Question: Einstein came up with the formula for energy. Can you give us the formula for the revelation of the Creator that everyone would understand and can you explain it so that we would constantly be able to remember how to do it and check ourselves?

Answer: You should think only that you are dealing with the good Creator, always and in all circumstances, and never leave this thought.
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A Cup Of Coffee Or How To Give Pleasure To The Creator

Question: Can I determine independently which of the 125 spiritual levels I am on now?

Answer: It is possible, but the question is how will you measure your state? What do you know about yourself?

First of all, a person must acquire tools, measuring instruments, for these parameters. A unit of measure for a spiritual state would be one gram of bestowal, one gram of the force with which the person bestows. In this world, we don’t possess tools and instruments like these because we don’t have these units of measurement.

Let’s suppose that someone approaches me and wants to make coffee for me in my coffeemaker. At first, I am doubtful because I feel sorry about wasting electricity, coffee, and water, and after that, even milk, sugar or honey. But in the end, so I won’t appear stingy and so that I won’t be condemned and hated, and in order not to get treated the same way in the future, I agree.

However, even if I make an effort to arouse absolutely pure thoughts about people within me and want to give them pleasure without making any calculations, how much could I measure the amount that I bestow? Is it through the amount of coffee, sugar, milk, water, electricity, and the depreciation of my coffeemaker? How do I do it?

It follows that we don’t have the tools and instruments for measuring the force of bestowal, so we cannot understand where we are. However, if a person ascends the spiritual ladder, he can measure precisely where he is in relation to his ego, in relation to all of the conditions. There is no deviation in any direction there. All of the counting, the initial ones, the changes, further changes, and so forth are connected together to give a person an account of where he is.

Together with this, a person must always observe himself and see how he can use himself and for what. In the spiritual world, a person is no longer a puppet managed from above. Rather, he does everything consciously. The entire system is under him. He is included in it and gradually can run it. Instead of carrying out all kinds of automatic actions unconsciously, he must manage those actions, meaning that he thinks about them and makes decisions.

Question: Your example with the coffee impresses me. Suppose that I drank the coffee. It was very tasty, and I tell you that. How would you react then?

Answer: I would begin to get pleasure from your saying this to me, that you respect me.

However, the next time, it would be much more difficult for me to prepare coffee for you because another calculation would come. I would begin trying to clarify if I am giving you the coffee so that you would respect me even more, and it could be the other way around. I would not do anything for you when I get the feeling that I am working against my egoistic desires. So, when I clarify that I am doing this and discover that I am doing this so that you would begin to respect me, I would prefer not to do it, and you would not receive any pleasure. That is, I must oppose my egoistic thoughts and prepare the coffee for you in spite of everything. But on the next level, I must not take your attitude toward me into account. This is an entirely different matter.

Question: Where is the Creator in this entire scenario of calculations? There is coffee, there is you, and there is me. Where is the Creator?

Answer: The Creator is not in this scenario if I do not insert Him into it myself. Inserting Him into the scenario amounts to the meaning of life. If it weren’t for the Creator, I would never prepare the coffee for you. After all, this is talking about giving someone pleasure with no compensation. If I expect bestowal from you in return, it means that I am not bestowing.

For what would I want to attain a state of full bestowal? It is to give pleasure to the Creator. So, I am ready to make coffee for you, and I am not making the coffee for you, but to give pleasure to the Creator. This is a requirement for a spiritual level. What’s next?

Let’s suppose that I am doing this for the sake of the Creator, and now the Creator treats me well. Will I need to get that good attitude from Him? If I get that kind of attitude from Him, then we have a transactional relationship. How can I reach a state in which I bestow to Him, to you, or to any person with no calculation? Can I do this?

If I am an egoist, I cannot bestow without compensation. I need to fulfill my ego in the same way that one must fill a car with gasoline so that it will run. This means that I must insert a pipe into my ego and fill it. Only after I have filled it can I bestow. When I fill my ego again, I will be able to bestow again. However, if I bestow and am filled only after that, this becomes a problem.

I must be sure that I will be filled. If that succeeds for me, then good. If not, then that’s it; the pipeline of trust ceases to exist. If I truly want to bestow, the Creator must change my nature. I see that billions of people pray to the Creator, do everything that He says, each one according to his understanding, but there is no benefit from their actions.

How can we humans achieve a relationship with the Creator so that He will be able to change our nature so that we won’t depend on our ego? After all, somehow He can help us rise above ourselves since He created the creatures, meaning that only He can change our nature.

So, a person must begin to act in the direction of bestowal. In the meantime, since he cannot bestow without compensation, he asks the Creator to help him so that he would be able to bestow in one direction. If a person truly has a drive toward this, the Creator brings him to a group. It could be that the person was in it even before then, but he didn’t know how to use it and what to do with it. It could be that this same person even carried out everything that the Kabbalists say automatically, but there is no benefit in this.

Now, he is beginning to understand that when he is working with his friends, when he seems to be bestowing to them, he is receiving from them, and they all intend for the Creator to make it possible for them to operate in one direction without receiving any response in return, with no compensation, no future benefit, with no calculations. Then, the group has become a laboratory for him in which he is beginning to change and shape himself as an immaterial creature who can bestow without receiving anything in return.

But the person himself cannot do anything. He just receives energy from the Light that the Creator gives him. It is as if a pipe has been inserted into a person, like at a gas station. Through it, he becomes filled, and then he can bestow.

There is a normal cycle in nature: a person bestows to others in order to bestow to the Creator, and when the Creator sees that a person can bestow, in exchange, He gives him the energy there. However, this is not a payment, but the potential to bestow.

This energy is called the Upper Light. It comes and fills the person by making it possible for him to bestow. Eventually, the person begins to work without pay.

There is a very simple reciprocal relationship between the person and the Creator here. The person understands that if the Creator created him and the Creator created his ego, the Creator must make it possible for him to work with this ego, and this is not a payment, but the potential and opportunity to work.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/10/16

Blitz Of Kabbalah Tips – 12/27/15

Question: Is it true that it is actually Kabbalists who have the biggest ego?

Answer: Yes. Those who study the wisdom of Kabbalah more, develop, thanks to their ego, which constantly grows.

Question: Do people harm the Creator by depleting natural resources and destroying nature?

Answer: They first of all harm themselves, while the main thing for the Creator, who is the one force that contains all, is to bring humanity to wholeness.

Question: Does praying help us feel the spiritual world?

Answer: Only if it is the correct prayer, which means your desire is correctly aimed at unity.

Question: The Machsom (barrier) is a very vague concept. How many people in the world have transcended the Machsom? Do they still feel the internal question of “have I transcended the Machsom?”

Answer: No. If a person transcends the Machsom, which is the barrier between the corporeal world and the spiritual world, he knows, sees, senses, and feels that. He has no more questions. I cannot say how many people in the world have transcended theMachsom. You will discover that when you feel the spiritual world. You will discover yourself and those who are on the other side of the Machsom.

Question: Does the engagement in music help a person be part of the spiritual world and advance towards it?

Answer: I wouldn’t say that, although there are very special Kabbalistic musicians, and the greater a Kabbalist musician is, the deeper he is. But Kabbalists greatly appreciate music and welcome it because it can express attributes and impressions that cannot be conveyed by words.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/27/15

Marx Was Right

Question: I heard that Kabbalists always talk about unity. They believe that only if we unite will all of the problems of humanity be solved.

It reminds me of Soviet papers with the slogan, “Workers of the world, unite!” So, were the Russian revolutionists also some kind of Kabbalists?

Answer: Marx had many ideas that were right, and now all of his writings are being reevaluated. The wisdom of Kabbalah basically speaks about the fact that communism—not the kind that they tried to implement in Russia—is the most advanced and future regime for all of mankind.

Its basic principles, as naïve as they may seem, that everyone should give as much as he can and receive according to his needs, emphasizing the good relations between people, love and friendship. All of this is very far from the current state of humanity, but Kabbalists see it in nature, and see that society is programmed in advance to reach this state.

We will reach it whether we like it or not, and the only question is how we will do that, either by world wars and terrible conflicts, or consciously by realizing that this regime is the best and that we should try to establish it by ourselves.
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From the Webinar on zahav.ru 2/10/16

The Kabbalist Sir Isaac Newton

Question: The collection of Isaac Newton’s manuscripts in the national library in Jerusalem was recently included in UNESCO’s register, “Memory of the “World,” a list that preserves and provides access to treasures of spiritual value that contributed to humanity throughout history.

A history of 300 years preceded that. Newton died in 1727. He had no wife or children, and his manuscripts were passed on to his nephews who kept them at home. Newton’s relatives wanted to pass on his writings for scientific research, but university representatives refused to accept them.

Answer: Newton was a very special person. He was like Einstein in his day, and in addition, a deep researcher of nature. Newton was actually a serious Kabbalist and learned Hebrew especially for that purpose.

Question: In 1936, John Maynard Keynes bought Newton’s manuscripts. He read them a little and decided to keep away from them.

Answer: He was simply afraid to touch them and ruin Newton’s image as a materialist scientist.

Question: Later, the Tanakh scholar Abraham Shalom Yehuda bought the manuscripts. He showed them to Einstein, the latter said that this treasure should not be kept at home. It turned out that Newton devoted much of his time to studyingKabbalah in Hebrew. His manuscripts are encoded. He considered the Temple as a model of the structure of the universe and concluded that all of the corporeal laws are nothing compared to the greatness of the upper world, which we are facing, but don’t even realize it.

Answer: Newton is one of the special souls that attain the upper world and see the outcome of the spiritual roots in our world, of course. We are all controlled by the upper forces and they each influence and are expressed in our world. Therefore, by attaining the upper world, Newton described all of the corporeal laws from his level of attainment.

Question: Why didn’t he describe the upper level?

Answer: He didn’t know about the system; no one had taught him. All of his attainments were his own discoveries. However, he did write about our times, about the return of the Jews to Israel and about the reconstruction of the Temple.

Question: He did write that in 1880 the Jews would begin to return to the land of their fathers and that in the 1940’s there would be a terrible holocaust as a result of which millions would die and that it would lead to the foundation of the Jewish state.

Answer: This is indeed how it all happened, the return of the Jews at the end of the 19^th century, the holocaust, and then the foundation of the State of Israel.

Question: How seriously do you take Newton?

Answer: Newton was a Kabbalist. He was one of the special people who were really in contact with the upper world and through their attainment conveyed great corrections from the upper world into our world. We should understand that we know very little about such people, and what we do know isn’t really true and accurate. However, I think that we are nearing the time in which humanity has to ripen quickly and discover everything about the great Kabbalist Isaac Newton from the upper roots.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 2/21/16

Ynet: How Can You Influence The World?

My latest column on Ynet

How Can You Influence The World?

We tend to think that we have no direct influence on world affairs, especially when it is an event that is far from the borders of Israel. But the fact is that we are exactly in the center and we are the only ones who can affect things for better or for worse.  “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.”

The situation in the world is becoming more complicated every day. Darkness, evil, and hatred are increasing at an unprecedented pace threatening all humanity in the form of global terrorism, financial crisis, world wars, and infinite horrifying events that occur between people, nations, and countries.

We have a tendency to think that we have no direct effect on what happens in the world and all the more so when it is an event that is far from the borders of Israel, and have no idea that ” “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.”
(1) as Rav Kook writes.

We lack the ability to discern to what extent we are targeted and feel how “In such a generation, all the destructors among the nations of the world raise their heads and wish primarily to destroy and to kill the children of Israel…” (2). There are those who think that all this is a thing of the past and that the horrors that occurred in the past and during the Nazi regime cannot happen today, but we can still see how naturally humanity can return to the state in which a third of the Jewish nation was annihilated.

“I believe that the world will believe that the end of the world is coming and in an accelerated pace,” wrote Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag in the 1950’s, “and that Israel will be hurt first just the way it was during the last war, and therefore it is best to awaken the world today to receive the only remedy there is so that they will live and exist” (3).

Time is working against us, and the helplessness every Jew around the world feels requires us to make the teachings accessible to people, and to present the solution we have to fulfill as a nation.

“No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.”

The global era we live in has tied Israel and the 70 nations of the world into one body and now “…the whole world is considered one collective and one society” (4). The Book of Zohar describes Israel as “the heart of the world,” and just as “the organs of the body cannot exist for even one moment in the world without a heart, the nations of the world cannot exist in the world without Israel” (5).

The crisis that is shaking the whole world is taking place because the nation of Israel is not fulfilling its role properly, and thus emphasizes the world’s dependence on us even more: “the building of the world that is now collapsing because of the terrible storms and the bloody sword, demands the building of the Israeli nation. The building of the nation and the revelation of its spirit is one thing and it is all united with the building of the world that is falling apart expecting full power, unity and superiority” (6).

When we are united as one man in one heart we radiate the good force through us to the world. When the good force is lacking, the evil force grows and increases bringing hatred and division between people. The negative force makes the nations of the world feel that Israel is the source of evil in the world. “It is a fact that Israel are the most hated of all the nations, whether because of religious reasons, racial reasons, capitalistic reasons, or communist reasons” (7). The accusing finger the nations of the world are pointing at us is expressed in the form of several decisions against us. In a global world it is enough to diplomatically isolate Israel in an attempt to gradually suffocate it through an economic boycott, for example.

The secret wisdom is the solution

The first who found the solution to the human crisis was Abraham—the forefather of the nation of Israel. The special method he discovered about 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon includes two levels of relations between people: one level is the egoistic force—the negative force of separation and hate, which caused his students to draw away from one another, and the second level is the level the force of love and connection—the positive force in nature.

Abraham knew how to connect the two forces and to establish in people two levels of attitude toward the world so that “…love covers all transgressions” (8). The method of connection he developed is none other than the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Kabbalah is perceived by most people as an occult science. Its concealment and the mystery that people perceived were the basis for many myths, rumors, and misconceptions. It is time for it to be open and accessible to everyone. This ancient method is the most vital thing for the nation of Israel and for the whole world.

All the great Kabbalists, the sages who have “comprehensive knowledge in all the teachings of the world, since they acquire them from the wisdom of truth itself” (9), and are “rewarded with attaining all those degrees in reality that one can attain” (10), crying out, that in the critical situation that it is our obligation to constantly engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah, which means in the correction of our relationship, as the ARI said “if we engaged in the wisdom of Kabbalah, our redemption will come, since everything depends on this wisdom” (11).

The force that is concealed in it can save us from all the dangers that await us and enable us to survive as a nation and a state since “when there is love, unity, and brotherhood among Israel, no calamity can affect them and they thus keep all the curses and sufferings away” (12).

What is the Torah according to the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Throughout history there was one prominent message in the teachings of Kabbalists, which is “love thy friend as thyself” (13) or in other words, “do unto others everything you would like others to do unto you,” as Rambam used to say. The love of others is the great rule of the Torah.

When the sages of Kabbalah refer to the Torah, they first and foremost refer to a special spice that has the power to subdue the evil inclination—the force of separation. Our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice” (14), which means the Light in it, “since the Light in the Torah reforms it” (15).

According to Kabbalah, the meaning of the word “Torah” is much more than the meticulous observation of different customs. The Book of Zohar warns us that “woe to the person who says that the Torah tells us stories in a simple manner and that it tells us in a layman’s language about Esau and Laban, etc., but that everything in the Torah is upper secrets” (16). Moreover, “…because all the commandments in the Torah or those that our forefathers corrected,” as Eben Ezra says “are all in order to correct the heart, although most of them are performed by actions or words” (17).

Therefore, Baal HaSulam concludes that, “…only through the expansion of the wisdom of Kabbalah in the masses will we obtain complete redemption.”

They also said, “The Light in it reforms him.” They were intentionally meticulous about it, to show us that only the Light enclosed within it, “like apples of gold in settings of silver,” in it lies the cure that reforms a person. Both the individual and the nation will not complete the aim for which they were created, except by attaining the internality of the Torah and its secrets.” (18).

Everything for the sake of unity

Unfortunately, different circles strongly object to the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah to the public. The wisdom of Kabbalah has to be revealed today more than ever before. It is the key to the existence of the State of Israel and the people of Israel. We have seen throughout history that when each one pulled in his own direction, the division in the nation brought Israel to troubles and wars, the climax of which is symbolized by the destruction of the Temple. “The Temple was destroyed because of unfounded hatred, when their hearts were divided and they were divided and were not worthy of the Temple since it is the unity of Israel.” (19).

The moment we fell from brotherly love to unfounded hatred, we ceased to exist as a nation according to Abraham’s teachings. Since then we keep dividing and drawing further away from one another and the value of “love thy friend as thyself” is fading away and is becoming strange and empty of any meaning.

Therefore we are commanded not to give up, but to stubbornly fight for our unity, which is the potion of life for us; Baal HaSulam strongly asserts in the Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot: “At the outset of my words, I find a great need to break an iron wall that has been separating us from the wisdom of Kabbalah, since the ruin of the Temple to this generation. It lies heavily on us and arouses fear of being forgotten from Israel.” (20).

Time for Kabbalah

We have no choice but to unite, and in order to feel the connection and love between us, we must use the wisdom that Abraham discovered, the wisdom of Kabbalah, that teaches us how to connect properly with one another and to love others. When we awaken the feelings of love and warmth, we will be able to balance the whole system. We will be an example of connection for the whole world since this is exactly what our goal is as a nation and the world is expecting us to fulfill our goal, “The purpose of Israel is to unite the whole world into one family” (21). Therefore we are obliged to change our attitude to the wisdom of Kabbalah and to try to achieve love and connection as it teaches us.

References:
1. Rav Kook, “Letters of Rav Kook”. Vol. 2, p. 324
2. Rav Yehudah Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar“, item 71.
3. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “The Last Generation”
4. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “Peace in the World”
5. “Zohar La’am“, Pichas, item 152
6. Rav Kook, “Lights”, p 16
7. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “The Last Generation”
8. Proverbs, 10;12
9. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”
10. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “The Secret of Conception and Birth”
11. AR”I, “Tree of Life”, Introduction to Sha’ar A’hakdamot
12. “Light and Sun”, Nitzavim
13. Rambam, “Mishne Torah”, the Book of Judges, chapter 14
14. Kidushin 30;2
15. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “Shamati”, item 6, “Support in the Torah”
16. “Zohar La’am” , Behaalotecha, item 58
17. Rabi Abraham Eben Ezra, “The Foundation of Fear and the Secret of Knowledge”, p. 8; 72
18. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot Umasbirot”, item 5
19. “Netzhach Israel”, chapter 4
20. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, Introduction to TES, part 1
21. Rav Kook, “Whisper the Secret of God to Me”
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