“Does Kabbalah Support The Idea Of Reincarnation?” (Quora)

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Does Kabbalah support the idea of reincarnation?“

A person is born with a particular spiritual potential and can choose whether to realize it in our world or not.

When the body of a person dies, this spiritual potential passes to another body that is born, and that is how it continues until it is fully realized. This is what Kabbalah considered as reincarnation, i.e., it is relevant only in relation to our spiritual potential.

Therefore, according to a person’s interests, it is possible to understand the level of his or her spiritual potential: if one still finds satisfaction in corporeal desires for food, sex, family, money, honor, control and knowledge, or if one finds less and less satisfaction in those desires, and finds oneself contemplating the meaning and purpose to life more and more.

If it’s the latter, then it’s a sign of a person’s spiritual desire awakening, which Kabbalah calls “the point in the heart.” The wisdom of Kabbalah is a method for developing this desire until we can perceive the eternal reality of the soul through it. When we reach the full realization of this spiritual potential, we no longer need to reincarnate in our world.

The Jewish Choice: Unity Or Anti-Semitism—We All Need To Give An Example Of Connection

No one has any special protection from above; there is only one privilege: the opportunity to engage in the correction process yourself. Some might be for it and others against because the modern generation is obliged to clarify this issue. We must move forward with understanding, consciously, by our own consent. And consent always comes from disagreement, like the revelation of light from the darkness.

One thing is clear, if we do not go along with the development of the generation happening now, we will not be able to realize our spiritual development, neither personal nor general. Even such an exceptional person as Baal HaSulam was honored with spiritual attainment because the generation was ready for it and needed a certain process that he had to direct.

And now, such a duty is assigned to our Bnei Baruch group. Nowadays it is no longer possible to advance at the expense of one person as it was before with Moses. Now we need a group and even a world group—everyone should give an example of how to move toward correction. Only with such a power of our connection will we be able to advance.

No one will be able to realize his correction and achieve the desired goal by himself. You can forget about it. But if we act together as Rabash and Baal HaSulam advise, then all paths open before us.

Therefore, we must study our condition in order to see how progress from one day to the next, one moment in the left line, then in the right. We are always thrown from left to right, from right to left, and we ourselves must build our progress in the middle line.

The ship of humanity will roll to the left, then to the right. And if with the help of our efforts we can turn the steering wheel, this huge ship will go in the right direction. This is our work—we need to see this, feel our responsibility, and lead the process of correction.

To steer the wheel means to strive for the middle line so that all crimes on the left side are covered by love on the right side. The middle line is then lined up in the middle. We do not destroy the left line, do not erase those who are against, but we watch how this criticism awakens those who are in favor, helping to make the right evaluations. And then we are in the middle line, we turn the wheel correctly, and it should always be focused on the central point: the unity of Israel, the Torah and the Creator as one whole.

Israel is us, striving for the Creator, the Torah is the whole upper light that guides us and all of humanity around us, and the Creator is the force that is revealed in the center of the group, in the center of our efforts.

Baal HaSulam knew what would happen in Germany and tried to save the Jews. But the Jews themselves did not let him do this and they all died. He could not change anything: a certain time is given for clarification and free choice in order to make a decision. But when the decision is made, the power is transferred to the executioner to carry out the correction through suffering.
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/20, The Jewish Choice: Unity Or Anti-Semitism
 Minute 4:20

Polytheism—A Natural Human Instinct

Question: All citizens of ancient Babylon worshiped many gods. What does polytheism mean?

Answer: Polytheism is a natural evolution of man. We can see that even today such beliefs are preserved in the world, especially in the East.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam originated from Abraham. All other beliefs are based on polytheism, i.e., the existence of a host of gods, a multitude of supposedly all kinds of forces of nature, each of which has some special influence on nature and the destiny of man.

Question: Can we say that each of us is also an idolater? That is, if a person does not discover one force behind all matter, then one is an idolater?

Answer: I do not think that we deify these forces to such an extent. After all, idolaters were not stupid people; rather, they just saw that they were greatly dependent on various properties of nature but could not bind them together. Neither can we.

It was believed that the god of rain, the god of the sun, the god of night, the god of day, etc. were all great forces of nature on which a man is completely dependent and must worship to maintain good relations with them. After all, along with the fact that man deified nature, he felt his dependence on it.

Remark: People believed that there are certain forces that could be appeased and it could be best appeased by different priests who know exactly how to do this.

My Comment: Yes. Imagine an uneducated, ignorant peasant. He would rather submit a bag of grain and be sure that he will no longer have any problems either with the crop, or with drought, or with flooding rivers.
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From KabTV’s “System analysis of the development of the people of Israel,” 6/24/19

Building The Future Society, Part 5

Understanding the Needs of Society

Baal HaSulam, “Building the Future Society” Chapter 3, Item1: Communism is an ideal, meaning it is moral. The goal “to work according to one’s ability and receive according to one’s needs” testifies to that.

If we live in an absolutely harmonious society of the future, where everyone is mutually connected, then everyone thinks about what he can give to this society. He must understand its needs and how he can make up for them.

There must be a serious connection between the members of society so that they do only what is necessary and do nothing in excess, since by doing so they harm nature.

That is, I do everything that others need, everything that is required of me. Every member of society does the same. Thus, we achieve complete harmony between us.

Question: Is the principle, from each according to one’s ability, a manifestation of the quality of bestowal? I use all my abilities for the sake of society. Then does to each according to one’s needs mean that I measure my needs and receive only what I need?

Answer: Or society measures them. What’s the difference? In this case, I completely trust the society.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/7/19

“What Is The Relationship Between Kabbalah And The Bible?” (Quora)

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the relationship between Kabbalah and the Bible?“

The Bible (or Torah) is sublime and spiritual, but, frankly, it can be a bit long on history with its lists of relations. You read about people marrying, divorcing, cheating on each other, and killing one another. A fair question might be: what’s so spiritual about that?

In the framework of Kabbalah, however, the Bible doesn’t tell stories of people. Instead, it presents relations between spiritual forces.

“First, you must know that when dealing with spiritual matters that have no concern with time, space, and motion, and especially when dealing with Godliness, we do not have the words by which to express and contemplate. …For that reason, the sages of the Kabbalah have chosen a special language, which we can call “the language of the branches.”—Yehuda Ashlag, Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot), Part 1, Histaklut Pnimit (Inner Reflection).

The Bible shows the process of the correction of souls through higher forces. This takes the souls on their path of ascent as they rise in their ability to bestow. Characters such as Adam, Noah, and Abraham are not thought of as people who lived somewhere and wandered (or floated) around. They are considered forces that operate over desires that have to be corrected, within each and every one of us. For example, the story of the exodus of Hebrew slaves from Egypt represents not their freedom from physical bondage, but the acquisition of the first Masach (screen), the crossing of the barrier.

Some stories may seem to have no rationality or sanctity in them. When reading them, remember that these are not events, but stories of forces. They are not to be understood or justified in earthly terms.

The Jewish Choice: Unity Or Anti-Semitism—The Same Babylon Again

It all depends on how much the spiritual message is more important for a person than corporeal feelings. I, as Israel, must overcome my egoism and prefer coming closer to the Creator to all corporeal problems. For other nations, this happens differently. Everyone, according to the root of one’s soul, has an obligation to rise above corporeal disturbances, which are not disturbances but conditions for the development of the soul, and to aim toward connection despite the fact that we hate each other. Believe me, the anti-Semitic hatred of the Jew is much less than the hatred of the disciples of Rabbi Shimon to each other. We have yet to discover real hatred.

All this is included in the conditions: you want to rise spiritually and the Creator and the meaning of life are more important to you than your claims against others, then you will rise. If not, you will remain here, in your animalistic existence.

All nations, all of Babylon, must rise above their egoism and perform the work of correction. This is the condition today. Here we are acting as Abraham, who said: “Whoever is with the Creator—is with me!” This is that same Babylon and the same challenges that were in the time of Abraham, only in the modern form.

Imagine that you are living in Babylon and suddenly there is a group of Abraham, claiming that you need to love others as yourself. You hate them so much that you are ready to kick them out of Babylon.

However they, feeling this hatred, understand that it is necessary to leave Babylon. What would you do then? Are you ready to join them and make your way through Iraq and Syria to the land of Israel, of course not in corporeal terms, but as a spiritual ascent? The choice is yours.
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/20, ”The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism,” Chapter 6
Minute 1:59:00

“How Can We Truly Honor The Memory Of The Holocaust Victims” (Times Of Israel)

The Times of Israel published my new article “How Can We Truly Honor the Memory of the Holocaust Victims”

In the near future a whole generation of Holocaust survivors will join the annals of history. Around 15,000 people who escaped the atrocities of the Third Reich and made Israel their home passed away last year, while only 190,000 remain. Their legacy and the memory of the six million Jews who perished in the Shoah will be commemorated by over 45 world leaders gathering at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

The question thus arises: Do such diplomatic gatherings have any impact on avoiding similar future catastrophes?

With many organizations and countries dealing with anti-Semitism, and robust budgets assigned to tackle this worldwide problem, one might expect concrete positive results. Yet, in spite of all the suffering the Holocaust brought and millions invested in summits and sponsored trips for entire delegations to Israel, as well as for concentration camp renovations, anti-Semitism has neither vanished nor diminished. On the contrary, anti-Semitic incidents are becoming more frequent and intense.

Therefore, we will truly preserve the memory of all victims only when we can ensure that the phrase “Never again!” is not merely an empty slogan. How? We can eradicate the eternal hatred of Jews and Israel through a deep investigation into its origin and processes.

Combating Anti-Semitism at Its Root

In order to invest in a real and lasting solution that obliterates anti-Semitism completely, we require an educational program that explains why the Shoah happened and how it is possible that Jews continue to be fiercely attacked and persecuted after so many decades, particularly in Europe and the US.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that there are two forces that operate nature: positive and negative, and a lack of balance between them results in the disruption underlying anti-Semitism.

The purpose of these opposites is in order to let us consciously build a bridge that connects us above the contrasting forces—a balanced state in which humanity can eventually find safety and calm.

As the world becomes increasingly interdependent, humanity is inescapably enclosed as a single unit where two conflicting states prevail: interconnection on one hand, and deep division on the other. Under such pressure-cooker conditions, hatred toward Jews becomes increasingly vicious as society experiences intensifying negative effects from the contradictory forces.

Jews are targeted because the world feels that the Jewish people have a certain role that is currently not being implemented: to serve as “a light unto the nations,” and to pioneer a process of global unity that can correct society’s imbalances, ultimately bringing about a good life to all.

The more we Jews hate each other, the more the world will want to eliminate us. That is, if we fail to see a unifying purpose to our own lives here, then the nations of the world will likewise feel that there is no purpose for our living here in such a state.

Jewish Unity: the Goal

Our nation was forged upon the ideology of mercy and brotherly love, where strangers agreed to unite and bond as equals above all differences. We became a nation when we pledged to be “as one man with one heart.” Since then, it has been our duty to safeguard this connection and lead the way to its realization among humanity. This role is to be fulfilled not out of pride, but in the spirit of service to the world. The duty of Jews to the world is to execute and set an example of love of others.

As the foremost Kabbalist Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) wrote in his essay “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”:

“The Israeli nation was established as a conduit to the extent that they purify themselves [from egoism], they pass on their power to the rest of the nations.

Therefore, any Holocaust remembrance must be more than a commemoration of the millions who died. We must seize it as an opportunity to face the future with a firm conviction to carry out our designated function, as well as to remember the consequences of not doing so: to unite above our differences and share our method for connecting the world. This is the means to prevent such atrocities from recurring.

Many of our sages have marked the safe path for us to follow. As Rabbi Kalman Kalonymus wrote in Maor va Shemesh (Light and Sun):

“When there are love, unity, and friendship between each other in Israel, no calamity can come upon them.”

For the Sake of the Creator

Baal HaSulam, “Building the Future Society”: An antagonist might still claim that I have thus far only demonstrated that one must serve one’s fellow person, but where is the practical proof that one must adhere to this precept for the sake of the Creator?

Question: We can still understand what the fulfillment of the law of nature “for the sake of people” is: “you are for my sake, I am for your sake,” and together we are building a good society for the future. And what does it mean to fulfill this law for the sake of the Creator who is in concealment?

Answer: If I strictly follow the instructions of the Kabbalists, then I feel like I am in a state where the Creator is in front of me and I can work in partnership with Him.

Question: But the Creator is concealed from me. How can I do something for His sake if I don’t feel His actions?

Answer: The Creator is a condition that the wisdom of Kabbalah sets before you, and a teacher explains to you how to behave.

If you fulfill these conditions, you begin to feel that there are positive and negative forces in nature, and they constantly act on you: the positive force on one side, and the negative force on the other, and there is contradiction or agreement, etc.

Question: That is, the Creator is the goal and the neighbor is the means. If I find the strength or ability to put the needs of my neighbor above my own in myself, then the quality of the Creator is manifested in me?

Answer: Of course, the quality of bestowal. At the same time, you begin to feel that you exist at the level of the Creator according to the law of equivalence of form.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/7/19