Haaretz: “What Our Ancestors Knew That We Don’t And Why This Is Important Especially Today”

In my regular column in Haaretz, my new article: “What Our Ancestors Knew That We Don’t, and Why This Is Important Especially Today”

Precisely 50 days after their exodus from Egypt, the people of Israel achieved the level of complete unity and became “as one man with one heart.” In consequence, they received the Torah. Since then, no enemy has ever defeated the Jews except for their hatred for each other. Today, we have no unity and we have no idea what the Torah really is. Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah, is a great opportunity to relearn this vital information, which today can save our lives and restore our nationhood.

To understand the power of our unity, which granted us the Torah, think of our ancient past. The Hebrews conquered Canaan and turned it into the Land of Israel, but then lost due to their disunity and bloodshed. The book Kli Yakar (Commentary on Genesis 26:19), for example, describes “the hatred during the First Temple.” One of the key reasons for the ruin of the First Temple was bloodshed. Clearly, a nation whose members are killing one another is not a role model of unity.

Israel regained sovereignty in the Land of Israel after they united in the Babylonian exile in order to thwart Haman’s intention to execute them. Alas, after building the Second Temple, the Jews fell into internal bickering once more. In the first major instance of internal hostilities, Hellenized Jews fought against the Maccabees and lost. In the second instance, the hatred of Jews for each other became so widespread and intense that the general of the Roman Empire in the Land of Israel, Tiberius Julius Alexander—a Jew whose own father had coated the Temple’s gates with gold—destroyed the Second Temple and set off the final Jewish exile from the Land of Israel.

The Biggest Misconception about the Torah

Throughout the generations, the difference between bane and boon has been determined by our disunity and unity. The driving force that allows us to unite above the bickering, hatred, slander, and ill-will is called “Torah,” from the Hebrew word “ohr” (light). The book Mesilat Yesharim (Chapter 5) writes, “This is the meaning of what our sages said (Midrash Rabbah, Eicha, Preface), ‘I wish they left Me but kept My law (Torah),’ for the light in it reforms it (the evil inclination).” Likewise, the book Maor Eynaim (Parashat Tzav) writes: “With the Torah, a person can struggle with the evil inclination and subdue it because the light in it reforms it.”

The Babylonian Talmud (Kiddushin 30b) writes that the Creator said, “My sons, I have created the evil inclination, and I have created for it the Torah as a spice.” Similarly, the book Metzudat David (Commentary on Jeremiah, 9:12) explains that Israel lost their land because they fell into the evil inclination once they stopped engaging in the Torah because “the light in it reforms it.” To be clear about the meaning of “evil inclination,” the Holy Shlah writes in the book In Ten Utterances (“Utterance no. 6”), “The most evil qualities are envy, hatred, greed, and lust, which are the qualities of the evil inclination,” precisely what constitutes our ego.

The Torah, therefore, is not a book. The Torah is a depiction of two contradicting forces—positive and negative, giving and receiving, creation and destruction—whose interactions build and guide our universe. These forces operate in perfect harmony and unity between them and thereby create the universe we live in. When we create the same harmony and unity among us, that force influences us and changes our nature, making us equally harmonious and united. This is why the people of Israel received the Torah only after they united “as one man with one heart” and created that harmony and unity among them. This is also why as long as Israel kept their unity, they had the Torah and were kept safe from harm.

The Talmud writes, “As light protects forever, so Torah protects forever” (Masechet Sotah 21a). The Midrash (Mishley, Portion 2) also states, “The Torah protects one who engages in it.”

When we think of engaging in the Torah, we normally think of delving into the verses and commentaries in the book. This is the biggest misconception about the Torah. In truth, engaging in Torah means strengthening our unity, just as the people of Israel did at the foot of Mt. Sinai. This is why the book Maor Vashemesh (Parashat Yitro) writes, “Obtainment of the Torah is primarily through unity, as in the verse, ‘And Israel encamped there before the mount,’ ‘as one man with one heart,’ and there their filth (evil inclination) ceased.” In Parashat Emor, the book continues, “During the days of the [omer] count, a person should correct the quality of unity, and by this one is rewarded with obtainment of the Torah on the festival of Shavuot, as it is written, ‘And they journeyed from Rephidim and came to the Sinai desert, and Israel encamped there before the mount.’ RASHI interpreted that they were all in one heart as one man and this is why they were rewarded with the Torah.”

The Language of Roots and Branches

When we read in the Torah, the stories in it seem as though they are referring to flesh and blood characters. Perhaps these characters existed in reality, but this is not what the Torah conveys to us. The Torah was given to the people of Israel who lived 3,000 years ago. To them, it was perfectly clear that the Torah speaks of internal forces and how they interact rather than of physical events. However, to understand the Torah correctly, we need to be in the same state as the people of Israel when they received the Torah: united as one man with one heart.

Over time, we have grown increasingly farther from unity. In the end, we sank into unfounded hatred and thereby lost our ability to understand what is written in the Torah. To reconnect us to the reforming light, which is the Torah, new texts needed to be written. These would derive from the Torah, but would be intended to help the people of Israel regain their unity and in this way restore their understanding of the Torah. Rabbi Akiva, who lived toward the end of Israel’s connection with the real Torah, said, “Love your neighbor as yourself is the great rule of the Torah” (Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim, Chapter 9, p 30b). His disciple, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi) wrote The Book of Zohar, which states that it is a commentary on the Torah (Pentateuch). Rashbi’s disciple, Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, was the redactor of another detailed commentary on the Torah—the Mishnah.

Later, as people grew even farther from unity and from the perception of the forces that the Torah describes, even the Mishnah required explanations. These explanations were collected in what we called Gemarah or Talmud. Nevertheless, none of these texts speaks of physical events. They describe only the inner forces that make up reality, and the physical depictions in them are mere instruments to reflect what happens on the deeper level.

Rav Yehuda Ashlag, author of the most elaborate commentary on The Book of Zohar since its creation, describes this mode of writing as “the language of roots and branches.” The branches, which are events in our world, describe what is happening at the roots—the realm of forces. In his essay “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Rav Ashlag writes that our sages “have found a set and annotated vocabulary, sufficient to create an excellent spoken language. It enables them to converse with one another of the dealings in the roots by merely mentioning the tangible branch, which is well defined to our corporeal senses.”

Reestablishing Our Nationhood

Approximately 2,000 years ago, when we fell into unfounded hatred and began to hate each other for no apparent reason, separation and alienation took such a hold on us that they completely detached us from the profound perception of reality by which our ancestors lived. Our ancestors received the Torah, namely the profound and comprehensive understanding of reality, through their efforts to unite. Now, in our baffling times, we must do the same. The book Avnei Miluim (Introduction) writes, “This is what our sages meant when they said, ‘And Israel encamped there before the mount,’ all of them ‘as one man with one heart.’ They wish to say that the entire nation united into one man, after which the Giver was compelled to give them the Torah.”

Without unity, we are not a nation, but a collective whose components despise and deride one another. If we want to reestablish our nationhood, and with it our ancient strength, we must first unite and reconnect with the (real) Torah, just like our ancestors.

In Search of a Role Model

When we received the Torah, the light, we were also commanded to be “a light unto nations,” to spread that light to the rest of the world. Our nation was not created for its own sake, but in order to serve as an example that shows the benefits of unity. As long as we are as hateful of each other as we are today, we are defying our vocation and in the process, denying the world the chance to unite and the understanding of reality that is so vital to our survival in this era of bewilderment.

Had we accepted that our role is to unite and thereby spread to the world the light called Torah, we would have spared ourselves the vast majority of the suffering our nation has experienced since the ruin of the Second Temple. In 1929, Dr. Kurt Fleischer, leader of the Liberals in the Berlin Jewish Community Assembly, argued that “Anti-Semitism is the scourge that God has sent us in order to lead us together and weld us together.” Yet, not only did German Jewry not listen to the call to unity, some even supported anti-Semitism. The Association of German National Jews, for example, supported and voted for Hitler and the Nazi party.

The nations seek our example, but we refuse to give it. Henry Ford, the most prominent proponent of anti-Semitism in America, wrote in his infamous book, The International Jew—the World’s Foremost Problem: “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.” Later in the book, Ford added, “Society has a large claim against the Jew … that he begin to fulfill … the ancient prophecy that through him all the nations of the earth should be blessed.” Clearly, as long as we are disunited, the earth cannot be blessed through us.

Our world is changing. Globalization and the internet have irreversibly connected us. But in order to benefit from our connection, we must learn how to do so in a manner that benefits everyone, and not only the exploitative, ruling elite. Such connections are against our nature, but if we exert to unite despite ourselves, we will discover what our ancestors discovered in the Sinai Desert.

This time of the year, when Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah, is right around the corner, let us remember that the true meaning of the Torah is love of others, and let us unite in order to disclose this to ourselves, to the entire world, and thereby be “a light unto nations.”
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Thoughts And Feelings

Question: Where is the Creator felt: in the mind, in thoughts, in feelings, or in desires?

Answer: It is in the feelings.

Question: Where is the point where I feel that I exist? Is this point also a thought?

Answer: No. Thought is on a much lower level than sensation. Feeling is the innermost point that characterizes a particular desire. The desire to rise above my self and connect with the Creator brings a person to the fact that he begins to feel the Creator’s thought of creation in relation to himself and he connects with Him.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/15/17

What is The Connection Between the Wisdom Of Kabbalah And The Torah?

Question from Facebook: What is the connection between the wisdom of Kabbalah and the Torah? After all, Kabbalah is a science about the universe, its origin, general structure, its movement as a whole, and every detail in particular. How can such a grandiose teaching be based on religious stories and parables?

Answer: Indeed, there is no connection between Kabbalah and the ordinary worldly interpretation of the Torah. After all, in truth, Kabbalah is the hidden, secret part of the Torah because a person cannot reveal it through his own qualities.

But when it reveals itself, a person sees that the Torah changes his senses and leads him to the perception of the upper world—the system of governing our world in order to change a human and through him to change our world, and not just to perform some kind of material actions. This is what the Torah speaks about.

The Torah is divided into the internal part (Kabbalah) and the external part, which talks about the fulfillment of some accepted conventions and actions, which is called “practical Judaism.”
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/27/17

The Battle For Independence From Egoism

We need to understand what independence means for Israel because it is radically different from what independence is considered to be on other levels: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and even among other nations of the world.

Ultimately, all of humanity must reach independence in the understanding of Israel because this group is carrying out the program of correction for the entire world, as if in the preliminary stage, as if in a laboratory.

Therefore, achieving independence for this group should be viewed as the future state of independence for the entire world. And today it is especially felt how much the world needs this. In order to understand what independence means, first we need to experience what it means to be a slave of our own desire for pleasure.

Little by little, people are becoming aware that our egoistic nature holds us in bondage and mercilessly uses us, preventing us from living or dying.

As pitiful battered creatures, we spend our entire lives simply trying to avoid suffering. Small joys are considered a happy life. That is why we need to understand that independence is primarily independence from our nature, our egoism.

This type of independence has levels. Instead of being under the control of egoism, we need to get under the control of a new power because it is impossible to be without any animating force with which we can control our lives. But we must choose this force ourselves, preferring it over all other possibilities.

So independence has a very broad and exalted meaning, including within itself all of reality. After all, independence is inherent only to the Creator, and if we really want to achieve independence, then we need to rise to His condition, His level, His nature.

This kind of independence is not simple to reach. After all, for this we need to not only cross over into the nature of bestowal, but also build it above our own egoistic nature.

That’s why, if we want to receive our independence, we must be ready for a ceaseless battle with our egoism until the very end of correction. We can only establish our independence in opposition to egoism because one stands opposite the other: independence against slavery.

No matter what state a person experiences, it must be felt as if one is exiting Egypt or standing before the exit. We need to approach this very seriously because if we want to grow spiritually, there will be serious battles ahead of us against the forces of separation, as our egoism is revealed.

These forces will constantly rise and wedge between us in various ways, attempting to create conflict between us. And over all these phenomena, we will need to unite.

Primarily, we need to understand that the only thing preventing our independence is slavery. This is why without first entering Egypt, it is impossible to attain freedom. This dilemma stands before the nation of Israel who will need to demonstrate to all humanity the example of attaining independence, unity, and correction. And after it, all nations will achieve the same.

Therefore, we are not celebrating Independence Day yet, but rather the opportunity to attain it!
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From the Lesson: “Independence Day,” 4/25/17

The Supreme Delight Of The Soul

Torah, Deuteronomy 23:07: You shall not ever seek out their welfare or their good, all your days.

Egoistic desires, called “Ammonites or Moabites,” reveal on each level of the ladder we ascend. And each time they are new and more powerful .

All the 125 levels are similar to each other; they only differ in power and volume of positive and negative properties, properties of the right and the left line, and the number of details involved. In principle, the power of the level depends on the number of desires and intentions.

When we ascend, our state becomes very integrated and complex, and it is in this complexity, comprising all of its pluses, minuses, all the power of our connection, we find perfection.

It is from the closure of millions of various kinds of forces, intentions, and acts—from the beginning of creation, the middle, and again from the beginning, from the end, etc.—that the perfection of the Creator is attained. Full disclosure of the mechanics of the Creator’s interaction with the desire that He created is the supreme delight of the soul.

About this it is said that “The righteous sit and enjoy the radiance of the Shechina.” After all , the upper Light of wisdom fills the entire creation, shimmers and shines. This attainment comprises the highest meaning and supreme delight the soul feels.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book,” 10/19/16

JPost: “Things That You’re Liable To Read In The Torah – They Ain’t Necessarily So“

The Jerusalem Post published my new article “Things That You’re Liable To Read In The Torah – They Ain’t Necessarily So“

Nothing is more valuable than the Torah. Why then have we forgotten that the Torah has nothing to do with meaningless words in printed books, and everything to do with unity?

“It ain’t necessarily so,” sang Sportin’ Life in the opera Porgy and Bess, and added, “The things that you’re liable to read in the Bible—it ain’t necessarily so.” This coming Tuesday, we will celebrate Shavuot, the festival of the granting of the Torah. The majority of non-observant Jews know that the festival includes a meal with plenty of sweet dairy foods. The majority of Jews also know that on this day, way back in time, the Torah was given to the people of Israel.

Yet, very few people know what the Torah really is. As a result, very few understand why we celebrate receiving it. Contrary to what most of us have been taught, the Torah is not a set of rules we must observe in order to appease a fearsome God, nor is it a collection of tales that may or may not have happened.

As we will see below, nothing is more pertinent to our lives than the Torah. Nothing can bring us greater benefit than knowing what the Torah is, what it is for, and how we can use it. When we understand this, we will see that Shavuot is not merely a festival, but an extremely important point in our quest for happiness.

The One Condition

In Masechet Shabbat (31a), the Talmud writes that when a convert asked about the meaning of the Torah, Old Hillel told him unambiguously: “That which you hate, do not do unto your friend; this is the whole of the Torah.” Likewise, Rabbi Akiva—whose disciples composed both The Book of Zohar and the Mishnah—said, “Love your neighbor as yourself is the great rule of the Torah” (Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim, Chapter 9, p 30b).

In order to receive the Torah, Israel united “as one man with one heart” (RASHI—Commentary on Exodus, 19:2) and thereby received a power that elevated them above their egoism and made them love each other as themselves. They did not receive a book. Rather, their unity created the required conditions to be endowed with the power to transcend their selves and unite above their egos, or as King Solomon phrased it in Proverbs (10:12): “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes.”

The book Avnei Miluim (Introduction) writes, “This is what our sages meant when they said, ‘And Israel encamped there before the mount,’ all of them ‘as one man with one heart.’ They wish to say that the entire nation united into one man, after which the Giver was compelled to give them the Torah.”

Throughout the ages, our sages have referred to the transformative power in the Torah as “light.” They stated countless times that the light in the Torah reforms, meaning transforms a person from egoism to love of others. The book Mesilat Yesharim (Chapter 5) writes, “This is the meaning of what our sages said (Midrash Rabbah, Eicha, Preface), ‘I wish they left Me but kept My law (Torah),’ for the light in it reforms it (the evil inclination).” The book Maor Eynaim (Parashat Tzav) writes likewise: “With the Torah, a person can struggle with the evil inclination and subdue it because the light in it reforms it.”

The Babylonian Talmud (Kiddushin 30b) writes that the Creator said, “My sons, I have created the evil inclination, and I have created for it the Torah as a spice.” Similarly, the book Metzudat David (Commentary on Jeremiah, 9:12) explains that Israel lost their land because they fell into the evil inclination once they stopped engaging in the Torah because “the light in it reforms it.” And just so we do not misunderstand the meaning of “evil inclination,” the Holy Shlah writes (In Ten Utterances, “Utterance no. 6”), “The most evil qualities are envy, hatred, greed, and lust, which are the qualities of the evil inclination,” precisely the attributes that constitute our ego.
No Torah Without Unity

When we, the people of Israel, succumbed to the evil inclination and fell into unfounded hatred, we lost far more than the Temple. We lost our ability to use the Torah, the reforming power, in order to rise above our egos. Instead of light, we were left with words whose connection to love of others, mutual responsibility, and unity became hidden from us. In losing that connection, we lost everything that defines Judaism and the people of Israel.

Our ancestors received the reforming light and became a nation only after they pledged to unite “as one man with one heart.” Now, we too must begin to nurture our unity. Precisely because our unfounded hatred is still so profound, we must not wait. Any further delay can cost us heavily in human lives and torments as our world will soon become too immersed in hatred and suspicion to turn back.

Engaging in the Torah does not mean delving into the words of a written book. It means exerting to unite so that our unity covers our hatred, just as we quoted King Solomon above. The book Maor Vashemesh (Parashat Yitro) explains this point with the following words: “Obtainment of the Torah is primarily through unity, as in the verse, ‘And Israel encamped there before the mount,’ ‘as one man with one heart,’ and there their filth (evil inclination) ceased.” In Parashat Emor, the book continues, “During the days of the [omer] count, a person should correct the quality of unity, and by this one is rewarded with obtainment of the Torah on the festival of Shavuot, as it is written, ‘And they journeyed from Refidim and came to the Sinai desert, and Israel encamped there before the mount.’ RASHI interpreted that they were all in one heart as one man and this is why they were rewarded with the Torah.”

The book Likutey Halachot (Assorted Rules) also explains the connection between the Torah and Israel’s unity. In the chapter Hilchot Arev (“Rules of Guarantee”), the book writes, “The root of mutual responsibility extends primarily from the reception of the Torah, when all of Israel were responsible for one another. This is so because at the root, the souls of Israel are regarded as one, for they derive from the origin of the unity. For this reason, all of Israel were responsible for one another upon the reception of the Torah,” namely the reception of the reforming light.

In the chapter Hoshen Mishpat, the book Likutey Halachot emphasizes the connection between the Torah and mutual responsibility: “It is impossible to observe Torah and Mitzvot (commandments),” meaning receive the light that transforms egoism into love of others, “unless through mutual responsibility, when each one is responsible for his friend. For this reason, each one should include himself with the whole of Israel in great unity. Hence, at the time of the reception of the Torah, they immediately became responsible for one another, for as soon as they want to receive the Torah they must merge as one in order to be included in the desire. …Thus, specifically by each being responsible for his friend, they can observe the Torah. Without this, it would have been impossible to receive the Torah whatsoever.”

If We Want to Survive

Today, in the turbulent reality that is our lives, engaging in Torah—meaning nurturing our unity—is not only our key to success; it is the key to our survival as individuals, as Jews, and as a sovereign nation.

Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah, reminds us that only if we unite we will succeed. If not, the Talmud warns in two separate places (Shabbat 88a, Avoda Zarah 2b): “There will it be your burial.”

We must not rely on foreign rulers and the trumpets they sound. Our weapon is unique and cannot be taken away. It hurts no one, but it makes us indestructible. Our weapon is the power of our unity, and the festival of the giving of the Torah is approaching at the perfect time to remind us that now we must use our secret power—the reforming light—that abides in our unity, which is our law, our Torah.
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A World Without Money

Question: Social engineer and futurist Jacque Fresco is implementing the Venus Project aimed at establishing a peaceful global civilization based on an economy focused on shared ownership of resources. Is life without money possible from a Kabbalistic perspective?

Answer: Life on earth can be based on absolute communism in the positive sense of the word. Baal HaSulam describes such a society in “The Last Generation.” When it will be established is up to us.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/22/17

Shavuot: About Giving And Receiving

Shavuot is the giving of the Torah that stretched for millennia. What actually was given to us at the Mount Sinai? Why do we all the time return to it? How long can we receive the Torah?

The Jewish people are forged in the Sinai furnace. Lightings were flashing above the very top in the black cloud, thunder rumbled and we were looking out of the camp in fear. The crack of doom was heard everywhere. The mountain was emitting smoke and shuddering when we came to its foot. And Moses went to the top at the call of the Creator.  

Or does the Torah describe not this Hollywood picture but something much more serious? The thing that is happening within us today. Maybe the cloud fell on the heart? Maybe it was mountain of hatred, hanging over us in smoke and fire? Maybe passions were thundering and burning within us, making us to shudder to the depth of our nature?

The Torah isn’t a chronicle about past events, on the contrary it describes the moment when our future is being decided. For the first time a clear answer is required from all of us: are we ready to accept the mutual guarantee as a Law of life? After all, exactly this is the Torah—an instruction on how to become guarantors for each other.

Since then the main lesson is passed from generation to generation: the Torah that was given to us once, we need to receive again and again. We must receive it at the mountain of hatred (Sina), under the roar of storm raging inside. Accepting this Law we were living together on our land, rejecting it we dispersed among other nations.

The surprising fact in the modern era is that the land of Israel “given” to us, like the Torah, also waits for us to receive it. Since the proclamation of independence almost 70 years have passed. Half a century ago we united Jerusalem. However, this isn’t yet the guarantee, not the nation united “as one man with one heart”. Yes, physically we have “left Egypt,” returned home, but internally we haven’t yet passed through Sinai and therefore we risk losing our chance.

The modern state of Israel is a historical window of opportunities. And most importantly, it is open not only for us, but for the whole world. After all, today the entire humanity turns into a powder keg of passions. And our choice will be decisive for it.

Medication on Demand

Shavuot, like all Jewish holidays carries a call for action. It is bright, it is full of whiteness, but it isn’t simple. If it was enough just to hold hands and smile to each other for a second, we would’ve built here a “garden city” long time ago for everyone to admire.

However, it’s not so. We were given the land and the opportunity to live on it like brothers, and we instead hesitate, squabble, drink each other’s blood and try somehow to solve problems as they come.

Fate presented us with the unique chance for unity, and we even don’t understand what is happening. We bump into each other, people are strangled by indifference, burned with anger, and deafened by cannonade of sectoral enmity, but we pretend that everything is fine, nothing wrong. We can continue living like this. We have such an experience of disasters behind of us that seemingly we can’t complain.

However, this is just a respite! In fact, we are slowly but surely getting pressed to the mountain of our own hatred. We are not looking out of the camp, but this mountain nevertheless is hanging over us right now.

Naturally, when we don’t notice it we don’t need the Torah. Lightning sparkles somewhere, from somewhere we feel heat, heart sometimes rumbles “under the bonnet”, but we are on our land, and not in some desert. Right?

No, we are where our hearts are. We are in the desert of barren and soulless relationships. If we suddenly discover how egoism tears us to pieces, if we try to connect into something integral and face an insuperable internal split then we need help.   

It turns out that the «normal» exit from Egypt is not the end. The main challenge is ahead of us. All the ways lead to the mountain. At the foot of it, having finally realized the problem and recognized the disease we understand and take the medicine. It was in this “pharmacy” before, but we didn’t know that we are sick. This is why the giving of the Torah and its reception is not the same thing.

Elixir or Poison?

The Torah is a medicine intended solely for «internal use,” for the connection between us. All our troubles, exiles, destructions of the Temples, wandering and persecutions were caused by the unfounded hatred that made us distant strangers to each other.

The Torah allows us to become close again, “get out from under the fire.” However, if we use it only externally, without striving for unity of all the people “elixir of life” turns into a “deadly poison.”  

These are not metaphors at all, but precise terms used by our sages. We don’t even understand the damage we cause to ourselves by not using the Torah or by using it not for the correct purpose. Sometimes we even boast about our “cleanness,” although in reality we are up to the ears in our own dirt. The large sectors in the country exist in the “parallel worlds” almost without touching each other. Some of them live at the expense of the rest of the population and even oppose themselves to it under the pretext of “righteousness.”   

Everything that divides us directly or under the cover of beautiful and correct words is a deadly poison. It eats away everyone.

If we raise our eyes from everyday worries, we will see how far we are scattered from each other. We are not just separated, we enjoy pricking, humiliating, and trampling. Each one wants to be more successful, richer, smarter, and higher than others. This is especially evident in the media, where the vices of society are visible as on the palm of a hand. No one is surprised at anything anymore and nobody is ashamed.

It isn’t the most pleasant sight, but everything falls into places: we wander in the desert of human nature and it rises in front of us like a mountain. “And they arrived in the desert of Sinai, and they encamped in the desert, and Israel encamped there opposite the mountain.” (The Torah, Exodus, 19:2)

Now we have the opportunity to receive help, an instruction, a force that will bring us together, so that we will build healthy relations in the society and live happily in our country. This is the current moment of evolutionary development: either we will grow up ourselves and start using the Torah according to its purpose, for the sake of unity above all disagreements, or the adversity of growing up will force us to do this. In essence, this it the situation in which any child finds himself as soon as he stops being an infant.

Remedy for all Times

The best thing we can do for ourselves and for the world is to unite at the mountain of hatred, the mountain of our doubts and reveal Moses within ourselves, the power that pulls (Mosheh) us upward. It always works if we are together.

Then we will understand that not some refugees from Ancient Egypt camped in the desert in order to receive the most important gift in life, but each of us, no matter where he lives, to which nationality belongs, and which religion professes, stands at the foot of the mountain. Here is only one nationality—human, and the heart is one for all.

The Torah, indeed, is the most powerful tool that we still don’t know how to use. A person can’t reach it alone, and we are not ready to do it together. It will provide us with security and prosperity and will give peace to the world. We just need to get used to the fact that it works not in one separate person, but between us.

After all, egoism is revealed exactly in relation to others. Once it burst out in Babylon and since then it always manifests in the society, in the relationship between people.   

Therefore, the Torah is aimed to correct connection of the person with the environment at any time and at any level of technical development. It can’t be replaced with the newest means of communication. Everything we have won’t work correctly without it. Only a positive relationship will allow us to lay the solid foundation of our future.
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Ascent In Three Lines

Question: You say that the task is to ascend above our egoism, as if on a “wave,” while, at the same time, not removing it. Does this mean that the greater the egoism, the greater the power of altruism? Can one not exist without the other? Because the more I receive, the more I can give. Is this the way to ascend to the peak of altruism and bestowal to the Creator?

Answer: Right, the ascent is achieved through three lines: the negative left line, the positive right line, and the perfect middle line. The Creator develops the left line in us, according to what He said: I created the evil inclination (the left line). But I gave you the Torah, (the correcting upper Light), which you attract by way of the group—the right line. It is so that you will correct and transform the evil into good, in the middle line.
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Universal Computer

Question: Does the Creator view each of us as one cell of billions of cells in a gigantic body? Is that how He feels everyone?

Answer: Yes, but each cell is personal and unique,; therefore, a calculation is made with each one of them.

Question: What kind of a brain must the Creator have to follow everyone?!

Answer: This is not a brain, but a very simple system. Nothing changes in it.

During his time, there was a situation that perplexed and confused Lenin. To manage the nation according to the socialist principles and simultaneously maintain a financial balance, it would have been necessary to have more accountants than the entire population of Russia. It follows that if he were to employ the entire population of the nation in this, they still would not succeed in their calculations.

While today, with the help of computers, we are approaching a situation in which we are able to take everything in the world into account without the participation of people and there would also be no problems.

For example, the next generation needs to get only what it requires for existence on the level of the beastly body and everything else will be directed only toward involvement with spiritual development. So a calculation must be made regarding all of humanity so that each one will receive what he needs for a normal material existence in life. To do this, a single computer is enough, which will be managed by a robot.

What this means is that technology will advance toward a state where this will be realized, and this was impossible a hundred years ago.

Question: Does this mean that the Creator is a kind of computer?

Answer: This is the general system of nature. Once it worked with absolute connected and mutual precision, with total harmony between all its parts. Then all of the connections were broken. Today we must bring them back to the starting position, but with one small but significant addition, the logical and intelligent participation of all its existing parts, to the degree that they are ready to enter a reciprocal connection again.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/29/17

Why Thoughts “Run Around” and Disappear

Question: What do we need thoughts that we sometimes cannot even remember? They “run around” in the head and cannot be grasped or stopped.

Answer: These thoughts run around in our head all the time and carry out very great work. There is no need to concentrate on them or stop and work with them; it is only necessary to constantly follow our special goal.

The stormy and foggy states that appear and pass through us don’t need to disturb us. They gather within us gradually, and this is imperative for spiritual development.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/15/17

The Creator Is Not Restful

Question: Why are Kabbalists impatient? After all, the Creator’s attribute is restfulness and great patience.

Answer: The Creator’s attribute is absolute impatience and restlessness. The fact is the Creator wants only one thing: to reach the goal of creation, and regarding this, it is said that He is in a state of absolute rest.

This means that it is done in an infinite linear movement at infinite speed.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/29/17

The Articles Of Rabash

Rabash is a special soul. In his articles, he revealed the entire methodology of entering the upper world to humanity.

I remember what I said to him about this. This was in the beginning of my studies. He asked me what I thought about his articles, and because I felt them deeply, my reply was: “You are doing something entirely new, something the world has not seen before.”

Rabash understood the essence of this huge undertaking—the relationships in the group, which is also evident from his side notes that were published in the third volume of his works. They were written before I found Rabash, and briefly introduced the articles that he later wrote after I brought students to him and he began to present everything in a systematic way.

When reading his notes, which essentially he wrote for himself, I feel him more.

Baal HaSulam is different. He is too high above. Even when he writes for himself, or pours his heart out to his students, his words come from such heights, as if you are standing under the sky. His love is ironclad. And Rabash is much more accessible, his heart is very tender.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/31/16

Tears Are A Surplus Of Emotion

Question: Are tears an expression of emotion?

Answer: According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, a surplus of emotion produces tears. Moreover, only positive emotions arouse tears within me; I don’t cry with negative emotions.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/21/17

Why Conceal Internal States?

Question: Why should a Kabbalist conceal his internal states and literally live a double life?

Answer: I would gladly reveal my states, but they are simply on a level that does not enable me to reveal them to anyone. After all, we don’t reveal our feelings to a two-year-old. It is only when he grows up that we can share
our feelings with him.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/29/17

How Does A Real Life Begin?

Question: We see the world as if inside ourselves and try to satisfy our desires, but outside of us we see nothing because it seems to us that these are other people’s desires. Will Kabbalah make us feel the entire world as our own desires?

Answer: Yes, it will. Moreover, the desires that come to us as if from outside will be more meaningful to us than those that we feel inside.

You will begin to feel the desires of other people more than your own. And you will feel yourself only to the extent that it is necessary. You will be soaring, not feeling yourself. And when you think: “What can I give them?”—then you will return to yourself and begin to search inside for what you can do for them.

Question: There are billions of people around a Kabbalist. Does he only think: “What can I bestow?”

Answer: But in this measure he feels how the Light, the Creator, flows through him. He is the conductor connecting the Creator with each of the humans. They do not feel it, but he does.

Question: How can you make yourself feel others as your own desires and even more?

Answer: You must ask for it. This is the beginning of a real life.

You enjoy the fact that you transfer the idea of ​​the Creator to everyone; you are His conductor. Therefore, you adhere to Him, becoming an instrument in His hands. The Creator is inclusive in Himself. But thanks to you, He can reach every creature.

Adhesion with the Creator is all the gain, the reward, the tribute.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/17/17

What Does The Creator Want From Us?

Question: Are there upper forms of consciousness?

Answer: These are the only forms that there are. In our world, consciousness is subordinate to the small egoistic desire and serves only that desire. The upper consciousness is that which serves the Creator. This consciousness stems from attaining the Creator, from resembling Him, from working together with Him.

Question: How can we understand what the Creator wants from us?

Answer: The Creator wants us to be like Him, so we must learn the method that reveals the Creator. To the extent that we learn it, we will attain Him and resemble Him.

Question: Does this mean that as long as we don’t attain the Creator, we will not be able to understand what He wants?

Answer: The Creator wants you to enjoy.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/15/17

Epilogue To The Holocaust Memorial Day, Part 6

Baal-HaSulam, “The Last Generation”: The world erroneously considers Nazism solely a product of Germany, whereas it is a consequence of democracy and socialism that were left without religion, morality, and the world justice.

If this is true, then all nations are equal in this, and there is no hope that with the victory of the allies the Nazis will become extinct because tomorrow the Anglo-Saxons, for example, will take up Nazism because they live in the world of democrats and Nazis.

Evolution must lead the egoistic desire through various states and forms and bring it to the state in which Nazism will naturally emerge in every developed nation. After all, every developed nation begins to feel that it should now move toward spirituality.

Suppose a nation does not know what the spiritual world is because there is no spark in it that could explain what spirituality is. But it feels as if it is suffocating from its material development and there is no exit from the crisis.

And then this nation will subconsciously feel that it is connected with Israel, with Jews, and depends on them. But this feeling will develop into hatred because the nations of the world receive no explanations, no correct nurturing, and no direction or guidance as to how to move forward and overcome the crisis.

Any developed nation and country inevitably begins to feel hatred and resentment toward Israel, since nowadays everybody will begin to feel the desire to ascend to a new level of humanity. Jews will not help if they provide all kinds of material assistance to the world.

This will not diminish anti-Semitism in any way because the need that unfolds from the depths of nature is absolutely unequivocal: a person must rise to the stage of the attainment of the upper force. All of mankind has come to the stage when it has to ascend, and it is even late in doing so. Therefore, Baal HaSulam says that we have no choice: we need to realize our correction as soon as possible and show this method to all nations.

Even the threat of nuclear war and self-destruction does not help the world to come to its senses. If a person does not have a clear and understandable method of correction, no example to follow, he will not be frightened by atomic bombs. All of humanity needs a set way, a clear direction where to go, by what means, and to which goal.

All this is the responsibility of the people of Israel to the nations of the world; this is what is called “to be a light unto nations.” Otherwise, hatred will increase and the account with us will be closed in a very radical, cruel, and simple way.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/24/17, Lesson on Topic: “Holocaust Memorial Day”

Jerusalem Day

Fifty years have passed since the liberation of Jerusalem. Why is the city still “in chains” then?

Even 50 years after the liberation of Jerusalem, it is still, as it has always been, the center of the world. There is tension between Israel and Turkey since Erdogan’s call to Muslims to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque in masses in order to support the Palestinians’ struggle and not allow Jerusalem to become the capital of the Jewish state.

The suggestion of American president Donald Trump to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem might undermine the already shaky sense of security even more. The city that is holy to the three religions and in whose heart the Wailing Wall is located was and still is a disputed territory.

There are those who consider the victory won in the Six Days War as the final phase of the return home of the nation of Israel, and there are those who see it as the beginning of the political tragedy of the State of Israel.

Still, at the moment of truth, we were all deeply moved and our eyes filled with tears as everyone felt a great relief when we received proof that we can indeed protect ourselves, which has always been doubtful until that war.

It is only when we feel a threat from the outside that we become a bit closer to each other; we forget all our differences and look for shelter that can unite us, like a herd of sheep escaping from a wolf. But this is not how a nation is formed. This is not how a dream is revived from ashes; this is not how the chosen people should behave.

Nothing is solved by a wave of a magic wand. Our practical experience proves that no political decisions, no life under constant pressure can be the remedy for the nation of Israel.

The unbearable situation we live in today, under endless pressures from within and from beyond the borders of our state, including the growing anti-Semitism, puts us facing the fact that the solution is somewhere else. It isn’t in external actions while society is deeply divided, but first of all in the correction of the relations between us.

We will not be able to establish a healthy system of mutual relations with any nation or state unless we first heal the mutual connections between us. This is the law of nature that operates on the nations of Israel; “Love thy friend as thyself” is the first law. Only after we fulfill it will we be able to reach peace with all our external enemies.
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