Pause

Due to the blog editor travelling for the next two weeks, updates for this blog will be unpredictable.
I apologise for the inconvenience!

the original blog can still be followed:
http://laitman.com/blog/

Generation Z—The Correcting Generation

In the News (Media Polesye): “Recently the generation took shape following the millennials – centennials, they are called Generation Z. For the first time in history, children are so different from their parents.

“These are people who were born after 1996 or after 2000 (according to various studies). …

“This is the first generation that was born in the Internet era. They do not remember what life was like without the gadgets and they spend more than 8 hours a day with smartphones and tablets, at every step of the centennial – they use apps as naturally as breathing. Generation Z does not divide the world into the digital and the real, their life flows smoothly to the screen and back. …

“Minus – centennials do not like to concentrate for a long time. …. They need to catch the maximum amount of information in a short time. …

“Centennials study in an embrace with technology and are used to cross the subjects of study. In their head, every paragraph of the textbook is permeated with hyperlinks of ‘Wikipedia.’ In addition, they are used to thinking globally, because it instantly receive information from around the world. …

“This generation, which prefers to see. Communicating on the Web, centennials use Emoji, emoticons, pictures. …

“They need to visualize everything; any information needs to be visible. …

“Everything must be done quickly. Speedy work is becoming more important than ever. …”

My Comment: This generation will establish the basis for the correction of man and society. It was born for that. And we need to adapt to them in order to teach them the method of correction according to the wisdom of Kabbalah.
[194476]

Torah And The Wisdom Of Kabbalah

Question: Why do you believe that every person who studies the Torah must also study the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: This is imperative because without learning the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is not possible to reach Lishma (for Her Name), which is what is necessary for everyone who studies Torah. The problem is the manner in which the concept of “Lishma” is interpreted.

It is customary to think that Lishma is already happening simply by studying the Torah. I have even heard that a number of Yeshiva students have reached Torah Lishma at the age of 20. So we must first clarify the precise definition of the concept of “Torah Lishma.” Regarding this, see The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot.
[194582]

The Difficult Life Of A Kabbalist

Question: How can a Kabbalist constantly be in high spirits despite any problems?

Answer: I will share my experience with you. I am very busy, and I try to keep myself busy all the time. I get up early, sometimes at midnight. From 3 to 6 o’clock in the morning I give a Kabbalah lesson and after the lesson I go for a walk with my wife, have breakfast, and sleep for an hour.

When I get up, I go over materials on the computer. Then there is video filming from 10-11 am, and this continues until the evening with breaks and meetings in between. In addition, I have to write articles, manage my blog, and prepare presentations. I also have my own studies of Talmud Eser Sefirot by Baal HaSulam and other books, and sometimes I go through other sources.

I definitely watch the latest news some commentaries. I like to watch programs about nature from time to time. My schedule is totally full.

Question: Do you ever feel sad? Do you ever cry?

Answer: As strange as it may sound, I am a human being too. I have feelings, thoughts, weaknesses, and achievements, etc.

I am connected to many people throughout the world and I am concerned about the fate of the world, although I feel it as something incidental, as a means to discover the upper world.

I have the same feelings you have, don’t think I am a doll.  You cannot see what goes on inside me.

At first I also wondered about my teacher until I became close to him and realized what was hidden behind the external indifference or cheerfulness.

Kabbalists experience very sharp ascents and descents; they have very strong periods, very emotional times, periods of detachment, tearing away from the world and from people. Such emptiness of the universe is revealed before them, which no ordinary person can feel.

This means that there are moments in which one feels despair, becomes depressed as if you are detached from life—for a Kabbalist all this s a billion times stronger and deeper than for an ordinary person. However, he has the right tools to help him cope with these states, but he still has them and feels them.

A Kabbalist’s egoism is much greater than an ordinary person’s. It is written, “He who is greater than his friend, his desire is even greater,” which means that the greater a person is, the greater his egoism is. In fact, a Kabbalist is a great man with great shortcomings, but, at the same time, with accordingly great advantages, which means that he has everything.
[194800]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/9/16

Gender Change In Spirituality

Question: Can I say that the female part in me is revealed if I enjoy for my own sake, and that the male part in me is revealed if I enjoy for the sake of the Creator or for other people? Can we say that we are constantly changing our gender?

Answer: The male and female inclinations in us are manifested according to the intention you wish to receive, whether it is for my own sake or for the sake of others.

But we don’t constantly change our gender. I hope that we will learn to do so and really be in the attribute of love and bestowal all of the time: to bestow in order to receive and receive in order to bestow. We must constantly play with that and move along the right and left lines. When egoism is added in the spiritual world, you become female, and when you overcome the egoism and gradually ascend, you become a male.
[195347]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/26/16

“Hazardous Contradiction Between Economics And Politics”

In the News (VestiFinance): “Much of the political turmoil in recent years, including the rise in popularity of populist parties in Europe, the presidential nomination of Donald Trump in the United States and the British referendum on withdrawal from the EU, is explained as protest against the existing elites. People no longer trust the leading politicians, nor the facts that the mainstream media convey. All this, of course, has enormous economic and political implications. …

“Trust – the foundation of almost any form of economic activity. As soon as people began to specialize, they expected others will produce what they did not do themselves: farmers needed the blacksmith to the produce agricultural tools, and a blacksmith needed the farmer to the produce food for him.

“The global trading system forces us to deal with complete strangers on a daily basis. We have to trust companies that deliver our ordered products, employers who pay our salaries, and the banks that hold our money.

“Any hint of confidence erosion …would be extremely disturbing signal. …

“The crisis of 2007-08 showed what can happen when confidence disappears in the financial system. Banks began to doubt the solvency of each other and refused to lend; the multiplier effect is that the companies had difficulty obtaining trade credit. As a result, it very much affected economic activity. In 2011, investors lost confidence in the creditworthiness of a number of European governments: bond yields soared, and the recession began.

“The dependence on trust makes the global economy extremely vulnerable.

“The system benefits from its openness …

“Today’s economy and financial system depends on global cooperation, but the current political system has become such that cooperation from voters looks doubtful. And this is a dangerous gap.”

My Comment: In the past, people saw each other, but the global era of financial and commodities exchange requires more than trust; it requires an understanding and a sense of the communal system we inevitably find ourselves in.

The sense of responsibility has to stem from the feeling that the whole network of communication between us is as a family, the feeling that the network of ties like parts of one body. But this is impossible without teaching people to establish a sense of cooperation between them. If we don’t establish that by ourselves, nature will force us to do so by terrible blows, crises and wars.
[194384]

Why Do We Suffer?

Question: If we exist within an ocean of Light, then why must our physical body tolerate this life? Is it all so we will be attracted to the upper world?

Answer: Of course, we see the examples in our lives, how we pressure children in their education. We don’t let them live quietly, having fun and enjoying easy games. We compel them to learn, we determine rigid frameworks for them, and so on.

Similarly, we must pressure our body so that, with its help and specifically thanks to its resistance, we achieve the development of the soul.
[195625]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/9/16

Hear The Words Of The Kabbalists

Baal HaSulam says in his article, “The Last Generation” Item 17:“If I lived on an island of savages who cannot be organized according to law but by religion, would I doubt it and leave them to destroy each other?

“From the altruistic perspective everyone is a savage and there is no way that they will accept any solutions unless it is by religion. Who will hesitate to leave them alone until they destroy each other by hydrogen bombs?”

We see that all of mankind behaves like savages, and no one understands the terrible, unavoidable situation the world is advancing to: toward an impending war, a systemic crisis, and climatic disasters. Despite the severity of the situation, people don’t understand that a unique system to exit the general crisis is offered to them here.

Baal HaSulam suggests that we act and not wait “until they destroy each other by hydrogen bombs.”

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about two options: people will either listen to what Kabbalists say or a hydrogen war will break out as Baal HaSulam says, and only afterward, as a result of the terrible shocks humanity will undergo, will people be able to perceive the method of general connection into one system in which we should be as integral parts that make up one vessel, a system called Adam, or soul.
[194577]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/10/16

Why Doesn’t The Creator Hear Our Complaints?

Question: Why doesn’t the Creator hear a person who cries and asks for His help?

Answer: The Creator doesn’t hear anything. The Creator is a system and it has no feelings toward us.

If we relate to the system properly, we receive what we need from it because our request is correct. But if we don’t relate to the system properly, we get a response that corrects our impact on the system.  We feel it as a negative response that operates in the opposite direction.

Therefore, there is no room for crying, begging, praying, etc. here since it is all empty and meaningless. A prayer is creating the right desire inside you into which the Upper Light, which is all around us, enters. It is only though our correct desire that we can discover it. At the same time, the Creator doesn’t change. He remains the same as He has always been, filling all of reality. Only when we have the right desire do we discover Him inside us.
[194452]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/19/16

Kicking Hungary Out Of The EU

In the News (The Atlantic): “The foreign minister of Luxembourg has said in an interview that Hungary’s treatment of refugees, and the state of its judiciary and media were violations of the European Union’s fundamental values, and suggested the country should be ‘excluded’ temporarily or forever to protect the bloc’s values. …

“’We cannot accept that the fundamental values of the European Union are being massively violated,’ Asselborn said.

“He cited fences erected by Hungary to keep out asylum-seekers fleeing civil war in Syria and unrest elsewhere, as well as reported violations of the freedom of press and the judiciary by the country’s right-wing government. He said because of those steps, Hungary should be ‘excluded temporarily or if need be for ever from the EU.’ It’s the only way, he said, to ‘ensure that the values of the EU are preserved.’ …

“But both Asselborn’s remarks and Hungary’s response represent the debate at the heart of the EU’s future identity. …

“More than 1 million asylum-seekers have entered Europe since 2015, in the largest migrant crisis facing the continent since World War II.”

My Comment: Countries like Poland and Hungary understand only too well that absorbing foreigners who are filled with radical religious ideals and a completely different worldview opposed to the “landlords” receiving them will eventually lead to the “suicide,” especially for the small countries. The western Europeans countries, on the other hand, don’t understand because their countries are large, have populations of tens of millions of people, have strong economies and different internal policies. They are immersed in internal political conflicts and use the refugee problem for the good of their party. This isn’t pluralism, of course, and neither is it love of others; it is a struggle for power. Every party is trying to be relevant by using the refugees as a bargaining chip in an attempt to raise its ranking.

I don’t think that the solution to this problem is near because the Jews have not said the last word yet. They have to feel that only by their method of unity is it possible to absorb the immigrants well, so that they will properly integrate in society and contribute to society. There must be a middle line between those who are against the wave of immigration and those who support it, according to which the immigrants should be received in a way that will make them citizens of the state and not a fifth column.

Question: Are you referring to the Jews in Israel or to those who are in Europe?

Answer: I am referring to the Jews all over the world. This is a general problem since the immigration will spread to every country in the world, whether in a negative or positive manner. No one will be able to stop it, and it should only be put in order so people will understand that they arrive in a certain country in order to live in it under universal terms.

All the counties in the world should gradually take on a common form, no matter which country it is! It makes no difference which nationality it is! We have to make people understand that the spirit of cooperation is the one that will win and that historical differences will not divide us, but unite us and add a good spirit to the right communication between us.

If this happens things will be fine; if not, the huge migration of peoples will invoke mass discontent, wars, and protests. The refugees will not only settle in the suburbs of Paris or London, but will also become a strong organization all over Europe, which will lead the immigrants to a general rebellion.

We must understand the importance of the unity between us.

We are all aliens on this Earth. It wasn’t given to anyone. We all came out of ancient Babylon and settled all over the world. Therefore, the people of the world have to gather once again on the basis of the method of unity, which is actually neutral and allows us to attain love of others.

Thus, we will discover a new form of life, which is perfect, eternal, above religion, and does not destroy the uniqueness of any nation and enables us to live in absolute pluralism.

If people understand the need for unity before the mass destruction begins, they will benefit from it.
[194328]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 9/14/16

America Before The Decisive Choice

Question: The entire world is waiting for the results of the US presidential elections. The two candidates for the presidency are absolutely opposite to each other: one is a man, the other is a woman, one has been in the political arena for thirty years, the other is a businessman and is far from politics.

One is short-tempered and eccentric, the other diplomatic and even-tempered. Their plans for the development of all main areas are quite different: in the economy, health, and international relations. At that, both candidates have approximately equal chances of being elected.

This election is probably the most tempestuous of all that have ever happened in America. Half of the voters believe that Trump is a nuclear bomb for the world and a future dictator, and the other half think the same about Hillary Clinton.

That is, there was a sharp split over what to consider good and what evil. There are practically no people who would take an intermediate position and accept both candidates. What is the reason for such a sharp division?

Answer: I think that America has passed a threshold of its development after which there is a need for change. And the elite that Hillary Clinton represents blocks this process and don’t allow America to change. Therefore, there was a split between the voters belonging to the old elite and those who want change and a new America. The country has split exactly in half.

Over the past thirty years and particularly recently, we see how America sinks lower and lower, and makes one mistake after another in international politics. Its intervention into different parts of the world led to the collapsed governments, “Arab Spring” with the riots and coups, and all sorts of problems with China, Japan, Turkey, and Libya.

The US intentionally disregards Europe and ignites conflicts in the Middle East so that the waves of refugees would swamp Europe. All around the world people begin to look down on Americans. Although they still retain their influence, but only with the power of the fist. There is no longer former reverence, adoration, love, and desire to emulate America.

The American dream has burst and disintegrated long time ago. Thus, the approach that Hillary represents already went bankrupt.

Whereas Trump looks like a socialist and speaks directly, without any political diplomacy. He attacked Hillary so strongly that it led her out of the diplomatic framework. Trump brings a fresh spirit, more decisive, open, honest, and straight. He really has the qualities that America lacks today.

I am not going to praise him, but as a scientist and Kabbalist, I can say that the developments we are seeing now and will see in the near future are much more in favor of Trump. And Hillary is an old generation that doesn’t fit even our generation, let alone the future ones.     

Therefore, she doesn’t have any chance of succeeding. Even if she suddenly manages to win the elections, she will later fail completely. She will definitely continue the line of Obama. However, we know that this line led America to the confrontation with Russia and to a number of conflicts in the world. American citizens can’t allow this process to continue.

During the Obama administration, the world started to become less stable hour by hour. Many events ocurred during this time in various countries, many underground games and intrigues were started by America with different nations that were later abandoned to their fate.

It doesn’t seem like anyone benefited from the eight-year presidency of Obama, including African-Americans in the United States. Apart from the Islamic refugees, who received permission to enter the country in millions, there is no other segment of the population whose life became better during this time. There are no positive results anywhere: neither in schools, universities, or public institutions, for neither men or women. America hasn’t succeeded in any field during this time, and Hillary will only continue this decay. So I wouldn’t take such a risk as voting for her.
[196592]
From a Talk on the Forthcoming US Elections, 11/1/2016

Ynet: “Who Is Behind The Revolution Of The World To Develop?”

From my column in Ynet: “Who Is Behind the Revolution of the World to Develop?”

The worldwide chain of terrorist attacks, the awakening of Islamic extremism, the decline of the European Union, and the deepening polarization between sectors and communities—are revealing that the world is crumbling. The sooner we become aware of this development, the sooner we will be ready for change and thereby prevent disasters.

To initiate effective social revolution, we need only one thing: a desire to instantly change unbearable social interactions.

For the most part, such a change is the result of a demand from a particular social group that attracts the masses toward a clearly defined goal, but not every effort necessarily spawns a real revolurion. When does it? It is only after new relationships are created that bring about a reorganization of the social structure and its institutions. When this change becomes permanent, it is possible to say that a revolution occurred. In fact, throughout history, this is the way most of the great revolutions in the world began: the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution, the “People’s Spring” Revolutions in Europe, and the wave of “Arab Spring” revolutions in the Middle East.

The question is, how should we respond in the opposite situation when revolutions, uprisings, and crises break out that change the face of human society, and for the first time, we have no ability to control what is happening? The result has already appeared before our eyes. The world is crumbling and humanity is sinking into confusion.

A Global Wake-Up Call

Day by day, the world is simultaneously surprised and dismayed by the dramatic events in the international system, in particular by the extreme upheavals in the developed nations: the horrifying terrorist attacks in Europe that are encouraging a sharp rise in right-wing nationalism, the “Brexit” that signals the impending end of the EU, the deepening purges following the attempted coup in Turkey, waves of Muslim immigrants wandering between continents, and the election campaign in the United States that has deteriorated to an all-time low. Global instability has spawned chaos, the expected relationship between cause and effect just about doesn’t exist, and as the pace of strange events continues to grow, it is difficult if not impossible to make decisions.

Despite advanced technology and sophisticated means of communication, it is impossible to foresee an outcome from the beginning, to establish governmental programs, to plan long-term strategies, to budget, and manage. Apprehension about the outbreak of a third world war grips many and is growing in light of past experience that has accumulated and proven that even security alliances, agreements, and treaties may be violated at a crucial time. From incident to incident, the lack of control becomes clear to all the political decision-makers: from the top leaders, advisers, and managers, to the most junior officials. It is clear to everyone that to lead in the twenty-first century is to manage the entire world.

From Linearity to Global, From “I” to “We”

When analyzing the processes leading to the current global crisis, consider another player that has entered the field: a global and integral communications network is gradually beginning to transform every element in society, where each becomes an inseparable part of the whole, just like the organs of the human body. This is not a familiar processes of globalization that exists to be used to create international business cooperation; but on a deeper level of relationships between us; the common desire was hidden from our senses and now is becoming clear as a stable and unified network of mutual support.

In such a harmonious structure, the laws of conduct work differently: no one is more or less important than others, no nation is more or less prominent than the other countries. Everyone is considerate of each other and all of them equally, a concern resulting from the commonality between us. Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) writes in the Introduction to The Book of Zohar: “Indeed, when all human beings agree to abolish and eradicate their will to receive for themselves, and have no other desire but to bestow upon their friends, all worries and jeopardy in the world would cease to exist, and everyone will be assured of a whole and wholesome life, since each of us would have the whole world caring for us, ready to fulfill our needs. Yet, while each of us has only a desire to receive for ourselves, it is the source of all the worries, suffering, wars, and slaughter we cannot escape.”

As long as we continue to cling to our natural egoistic perception and fail to adapt to the new global reality, the dissonance will continue to grow. As a result, there is high volatility, the crises strike us one after another, and the only hope left for us is the view finder of world leaders who themselves are powerless, and they cannot predict the developments and take preemptive action.

How Does One Behave in a Connected World?

We must stop burying our heads in the sand. The order has changed, and it is impossible to halt or deny the new reality and the futility of the current system. If in the past, we felt a natural, inner urge for change, and the force of revolution brought the transformation of human society; today the world is pushing us into a corner and pressing us to change and build new relationships: between person and person, between husband and wife, between parents and children, between employee and employer, between bankers and industrialists, and between politicians and citizens.

The waves of crises affecting us in recent years and intensifying in recent months are only a reflection of the egoistic relationships between us. They are an expression of the broken links in the network of connections between us, which we must correct. This is why Communism failed, the American dream shattered, and the European Union breaks down. Every system—including socioeconomic systems—that ever flourished or faded is the direct result of relationships between us.

The turning point of humanity is dependent on an unprecedented radical revolution, but the revolution is conceptual, material, and spiritual, sufficient to cause a revolution in the heart of each and every person. Instead of concern for ourselves, we need to be concerned about others: instead of “I”, “We”!

A Trend Toward Global Unity

“I am glad that I have been born in such a generation when it is permitted to disclose the wisdom of truth. … We deem it as dependent not on the greatness of the sage, but on the state of the generation.” (Baal HaSulam, The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence).

Our individualistic generation is obligated to begin walking the path of unity and mutual support. Only then will we be adapted to the global network of connection that is being revealed. To avoid going over the edge of the abyss, we must pay attention to the warning signs that appear on the way directing us to develop sensitivity to each other and to connect with each other in a mature and responsible way.

The wisdom of connection, i.e., Kabbalah, is the precise answer to the constantly deepening separation between us. It is this method that has the ability to develop in us the necessity for mutual responsibility and for reaching out to one another. Rav Kook writes in praise of this wisdom: “Precisely at a time of great peril and crisis we should take the best of cures.” (Letters, Volume 2). The sooner, the better it is for us to open the books of Kabbalah to learn how to build the right relationships between us so we will act according to the laws of nature, which always aspire to harmony and balance. So we will know which systems of life are essential for our existence and how to build them to make our lives better.
[191555]
From Ynet article 8/2/16

The Jewel In The Necklace Of The Common Soul

Question: It is said that every person who comes to a group is chosen by tweezers as a precious stone and is inserted into a common necklace.

Answer: Each person who feels that he is attracted to Kabbalahmust realize clearly that he was really selected by tweezers from the general mass of humanity and like a precious stone was inserted into the necklace.

He didn’t just turned up in this group at this time along with these people. There are specific reasons  for everything according to the root of his soul. He’ll find out about this later.
[195685]
From the Prague Congress, Preparatory Lesson, 9/9/16

Ynet: “How To Enjoy The Best Of Both Worlds?”

From my column in Ynet: “How to Enjoy the Best of Both Worlds?”

It seems that precisely now, when we have everything and in abundance, crises just continue to grow. This is the way of the environment telling us, “Guys, the time has come to grow up!”  Rav Michael Laitman explains how must we deal with the global laws of nature and act according to them in daily life.

There was a great king who had a son in old age, and he was very fond of him. Hence, since the day he was born, he thought of only good things for him. He collected the finest, wisest, and most precious books in the kingdom and built him a school. He sent after the finest builders and built palaces of pleasure. He gathered all the musicians and singers and built him concert halls, and called the finest bakers and chefs to provide him with all the delicacies in the world.

But alas, the son grew up to be a fool, with no desire for education. And he was blind and could not see or feel the beauty of the buildings. And he was deaf, unable to hear the poems and the music. And he was ill, permitted to eat only coarse flour bread. (from The Writings of Baal HaSulam – “The Essence of Religion and its Purpose”).

Human society in the early 21^st century did not know better conditions since the development of mankind on Earth. Like the son of the king, we have everything that we need to live well, peacefully, and confidently: abundant food, advanced medicine, developed industry, farming, international trade, a transportation network throughout the world, an available Internet, and what not! And despite all the immense benefits and all the improvements placed in our possession, we still continue to absorb blows and endure crises one after another. When will there be an end to suffering? When we grow up….

A New Life Is Coming To Light

When a new baby is born, he is entirely enveloped in warmth and love. His parents take care of him faithfully and conscientiously and provide everything required for his proper development: a roof over his head, food, clothing, and toys. Even as the infant grows, they don’t stop being concerned about him for a moment, and they watch over him until he is able to survive on his own. They continue to take care of him, play with him and support him until his emotions mature and the right connections in his brain are created that help him react correctly to the reality that surrounds him.

Adolescence, the transition between childhood and youth, is a problematic period. The youth tries to imitate the adults around him and does everything to be like them in his external behavior, while still maintaining the same “small child” inside of him that tries to shake off being invested and taking responsibility, he will demand that they continue to take care of him and pamper him as much as possible. But life is stronger and more rigid—living requires work, raising a family requires being a provider, bringing children into the world requires the development of devotion. One can choose to continue to enjoy games and exciting experiences, but as most of us have experienced in our own flesh, the environment will push us strongly enough to motivate us to get up from the comfortable lair, take responsibility, and be concerned about our own needs.

The Age of Maturity of Humanity

Humanity today is developing like an adolescent. For thousands of years nature adjusted itself to us and prepared a comfortable environment for our development. Now the task is completed. The world has become global and interdependence between us has reached a summit. We have grown up,; the time has come to change. From day to day the connection between us continues to become tighter, obligating us to learn the rules of the new, global, connected world. Now we need to be independent, to adapt ourselves to the nature that surrounds us, and to begin integrating into the true system of life. This is precisely the present point in time in which humanity is found – “adolescence.”

Like an adolescent who wants to feel grown up and simultaneously remain a child, while the environment compels him to mature and goads him to take action, so humanity has also received everything and now endures one crisis after another. This is the way of the environment, signaling to us that the time has come to grow up….”Nature, like a skillful judge, punishes us according to our development,” writes Rav Yehudah Ashlag, Baal HaSulam, in the article, “The Peace.” “For we can see that to the extent that humankind develops, the pains and torments surrounding our sustenance and existence also multiply.”

The breakdown of social connections in all areas of life and the artificial attempts to maintain the connections between one person and another, between husband and wife, between parents and children, between employee and employer, and so on, fail time after time. And this is precisely the reason that specifically in our day the wisdom of Kabbalah has been revealed. It is the method that teaches the global laws of nature and how we must behave according to them in everyday life. Only its power can help us create a beautiful, good, and safe environment here.

If we build connections between us fit for life in today’s connected world, we will gain an understanding and a feeling that will help us make the right decisions, and we will succeed in all our ways. When we build relationships between us based on concern for others and mutual responsibility, all troubles and annoyances will cease and we will gain all the treasures that nature has intended for us, like that prince in the famous parable.

Rav Dr. Michael Laitman is the head of the world “Kabbalah for the People” movement and provides daily lessons in Kabbalah that are broadcast on [Israeli] Channel 66 and on the Internet. The movement invites everyone to come and learn the wisdom of connection based upon the general fundamental rule of our people, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).
[191310]From Ynet article 8/4/16

Where Does The Soul Go After Death?

Question: Where does s person’s soul go after death?

Answer: After death, the soul doesn’t go anywhere because it is not found in a person!

Question: But, people often say, “the soul hurts.”

Answer: In general, what they mean is that sorrow and longing are gnawing at a person.

If what you mean are the physiological and psychological states in a person, they truly do accompany our body, and when the body dies, they disappear. But basically, this is talking about the transition from one type of matter to another type of matter according to the law of the conservation of energy, entropy. So, there is nothing to worry about. Nothing disappears anywhere. It simply passes from one form to another.

That is also how it is with a person. If a particular internal change in form occurs in a person while he exists in this world, then he will begin to feel himself as existing in another state, in another dimension. This is called “moving from one world to another world,” but it is only the wisdom of Kabbalah that makes it possible to do this.

It is customary to think that when a person’s body dies, his soul disappears somewhere. However, this is not a soul, but a vital force that animates our body that remains to exist only in a spiritual form, in a form that is called a Reshimo (Reminiscence). After that, it becomes clothed in another physical body that develops according to the given Reshimo.

This spiritual parameter determines the characteristics of the body because the body must see its mission, which is to be fully compatible with the soul and those levels of development through which it must move. Each one of us has a Reshimo, not just people, but all creatures: still, vegetative, and animate. But, all in all, this is a Reshimo.

From this point of recorded spiritual information, a spiritual state, a soul, can either evolve or not evolve. It depends on the person, how he realizes himself.

But our body is not considered to exist independently. It possesses no value except that it must accompany and help in the development of the soul.
[195466]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/9/16

The Secret Of Immortality Of The Jewish People, Part 3

The secret of eternity of the Jewish people is in their connection with the Upper Light. Throughout their history, lasting 5,777 years, starting from Adam, they are connected with the upper force. When these people don’t implement their connection and, therefore don’t draw the Upper Light in a sufficient quantity, they receive blows from it.

If the Upper Light isn’t revealed enough in the people of Israel, they are bombarded by miseries and troubles and are attacked by haters and enemies. Conversely, if the people of Israel strengthen their unity, the Upper Light comes closer to them, giving them a good life.

All other nations come and go, replacing each other in history. No other nation was preserved in its original state from ancient Babylon, and only the people of Israel are eternal. Nature is arranged so that if the Jews fulfill their mission, the Light emanates from them to the other nations, and everything calms down due to it.

However, if the people of Israel don’t obey the instructions of nature; in other words, they don’t work on their connection according to the conditions given to them, the Upper Light moves away from them. Then, the illumination of the Upper Light doesn’t go through the people of Israel to the other nations, and they blame the Jewish people for it.

The nations of the world are “consumers” of the Upper Light. The people of Israel must be a channel for it, and the Light itself comes from the Creator. Therefore, all three of them work together.

The Creator strikes the people of Israel, urging them to unite and receive the Upper Light from Him in order to pass it to the nations of the world, and the nations of the world relate to the Jewish people either with friendliness, with kindness, or completely the opposite, depending on their efforts to bring the Light to them.

This is how it works. The Jews stand between the Upper Light and the nations of the world, and therefore, they suffer from the blows from above and from below. However, even in the most difficult times, even after the Holocaust that was intended to destroy Jewish people completely according to the Nazi plan, these people have still remained.

They can’t disappear. After all, without them, all other people would not be able to reveal the Creator. This revelation can come to them only through the people of Israel. Therefore, the entire world blames the Jews, and the Creator also raises a claim to them because they are not fulfilling their mission.

The secret of the eternity of the Jewish people is in the fact that they are engaged in the realization of the program of nature. Material immortality means that this nation exists, hasn’t disappeared, and hasn’t been replaced by another nation.

However, this is a temporary immortality since our entire world is temporary and given to us for a period of 6,000 years that will be over soon. Until then, we must unite as one people. At the end of this process, all the nations will achieve eternity, not the material, but the spiritual one.
[195398]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 10/13/16

New Life #777 – The Spiritual Revival Of The Nation Of Israel

New Life #777 – The Spiritual Revival Of The Nation Of Israel
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

Through Israel, the abundance should move to all of creation— the still, vegetative, and animate nature and mankind—filling them with the knowledge of the Creator.

The main points of this plan:

• A Jew is a person who has a greater desire than ordinary people, which is expressed in different ways.
• Our spiritual revival means connection. We undergo a four phase process of connection and separation.
• During the last exile, the nation of Israel split up into two major streams: the Orthodox and the non-religious. Today the assimilation in the US and Canada is immense. The Jews who have drawn away from religion are disappearing so the religious Jews are becoming even more Orthodox and more extreme.
• The wisdom of Kabbalah, the internality of the Torah, speaks about connection. The wisdom of Kabbalah leads to the revelation of the Creator in the connection between people, to the love of Israel, and to the correction of the soul.
• When we connect to each other and are as one bundle, we will feel how the upper force dwells among us, the force of love. Then we will draw all of humanity after us, which is called being a Light unto the nations of the world.
• If we want to ensure that our children remain Jewish, we have to teach them the method of connection according to the wisdom of Kabbalah.
  [195120]
  From KabTV’s “New Life #777 – The Spiritual Revival Of The Nation Of Israel,” 10/13/16

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The Temple In Our Hearts

Torah, Deuteronomy 12:4 – 12:5: You shall not do so to the Lord, your God. But only to the place which the Lord your God shall choose from all your tribes, to set His Name there; you shall inquire after His dwelling and come there.

This is a temple in the heart of a person.

A temple isn’t some kind of building in Jerusalem or anywhere else in Israel where people rush to kiss its stones and the wall, as it is today.

The only time my great teacher Rabbi Baruch Ashlag and I were in Jerusalem at the Wailing Wall, he went to it no closer than two meters, looked, and calmly, without stopping, turned back.

Not feeling any holiness in these stones, he didn’t even come close to them, and I clearly saw a complete detachment from this place in his behavior. However, a common person is drawn to this, he needs such a toy, as a baby feels comfortable only when he holds a familiar rattle in his hands, so does he.

It is necessary to educate people so that each will feel that he is related to our common temple—the unity of the hearts. The common temple is the soul.

The Torah speaks only about the construction of the temple in our hearts and from our hearts.

The place is a desire. A desire in Kabbalah is called “the place,” because only in the corrected desire that is in the right place is it possible to receive the Upper Light, the revelation of the Creator.
[195605]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 6/30/16

UNESCO Denies The Jews’ Ties To The Temple Mount

Comment: UNESCO has decided to deny the Jews’ ties to Temple Mt. and to Western Wall.

My Comment: On the one hand, UNESCO is an organization that depends on the UN in every sense, and on the other hand, it is hard to understand how it makes decisions that are opposed to all the values it is established on, although the Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova disagrees with the decision. How can someone deny the Jewish ties to the Temple that was built there in the past and to the Western Wall when everyone is aware of it. After all, it is not a new discovery that has only lately been revealed by some recent archeological findings.

What happens in UNESCO is a sign of what the Torah says: that if the nation of Israel does not unite and doesn’t convey the method of unity to the world, the world will be conquered by Islam and Europe will be painted in green, the color of Islam. The Arab immigrants are not asking to be accepted; they behave as if they own Europe, without any negotiations with the European governments. Their goal is to convert all the nations and peoples to Islam. Since everything happens exactly according to the plan of creation, Europe simply lends itself to this conquest. All the decisions are taken automatically until Islam will join Christianity and together they will conquer Jerusalem, just like in the days of the Crusades.

Question: But we will not move from the land of Israel. Will they manage to throw us out of here?

Answer: They can certainly throw us out, because if we are not compatible with this place, which means if Israel is not united, nature’s forces will naturally force us to leave our land. According to the Torah, if the Jewish nation connects, it sets an example of unity to the world, and unity is the salvation of all of mankind, not only from Islam but from the general crisis and from world wars.

This means that we will ascend to the next level of our existence or we will destroy ourselves, Europe, and the whole world in another world war. Basically only the Jews lead the world and we are the only ones responsible for its wellbeing and for the correction, and this means we have a choice. The rest of the world doesn’t have freedom of choice, only we do, so we are the ones who have to use it.
[195688]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 10/19/16

How Did Kabbalists Allow Two World Wars To Happen?

Question: How did Kabbalsits allow two world wars to happen?

Answer: Don’t think that a Kabbalist can wrap the whole world around his little finger. If that were possible, I would already do so tirelessly. Unfortunately, this is impossible.

People can turn the world together to the degree that they get closer to each other above their egoism.

There were not any Kabbalistic groups yet during WWI. They emerged toward WWII, but they were very few. The groups of Baal HaSulam’s students were the ones who partially succeeded in preventing great problems in the world, but not the major problems, which means not the Holocaust and not the actual war, although they contributed their share to the great victories over fascism in WWII.

A Kabbalist can partially affect the world through his corrections, but only by positive corrections, which means not according to egoistic calculations, but according to what is good for humanity.
[195017]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 5/29/16

How Can We Avoid An Apocalypse?

Question: If all of mankind are savages as Baal HaSulam says, does that mean that we should expect a similar fate that befell savages who were destroyed by more developed civilizations? Does the continuously developing egoism in great masses of unaware people guarantee the apocalypse of our civilization?

Answer: The savages were not destroyed. We were all savages, too, so we shouldn’t think that we are different. Even today, we are savages in a certain sense. Judging by how we interact in society, in the family, it is hard to say that we are intelligent creatures.

Our egoistic instinct drives us at any given time. We actually look worse than apes. Apes do not engage in self-destruction, whereas we engage in collective self-destruction consciously and deliberately.

There is no other species like homo sapiens in nature, an intelligent human being who aspires for self-destruction. We can live a happy life, but we make our lives miserable by constantly filling it with uncertainty, fears, and worries, which eventually lead to self-destruction. This is what makes us unique.

But our civilization will not be destroyed. We still must reach the predetermined goalthat nature has intended for us. We can choose the road we take. We can choose whether we will reach the goal along the path of suffering or along the good path, the way of the Light, which means by summoning the upper force unto us so that it will collect and organize us correctly.
[195051]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/10/16