Realizing The Reason For Suffering

Question: How does Kabbalah make a person change? How does it happen?

Answer: Kabbalah is a wisdom that explains how the altruistic or spiritual forces descend into this world. These properties of bestowal and love are completely opposite to the earthly ones. They gradually come closer to humanity, and that is why we suffer.

One can say that we suffer because the Creator is approaching us. We feel how opposite we are from Him and that is why we feel bad. The properties of bestowal, love, and unification become closer to us while we, in accordance with our nature, do not want it. This is the problem we encounter our entire life.

Because we do not recognize it, whatever happens to us on Earth is not felt like an awakening to spiritual ascent, but like events that repel and humiliate us.

If we realized the origin of our suffering, the fact that we suffer because spiritual forces become closer to us, and accordingly, if we become more and more like these spiritual forces, the qualities of bestowal, love, and unification, we would then perceive them correctly, we would be in contact with them and feel how they help us ascend to a completely different height of qualities, the spiritual degrees.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/26/20

Despair From His Own Forces

The wisdom of Kabbalah respects both forces acting in reality: the force of attraction and the force of rejection. Both come from the Creator and both are equally important in His eyes. We also need to treat them the same way.

The rejecting force is no less important than the attracting one. Of course, we would prefer the attracting force, but that is how it appears in our desire to receive, which is not spiritual. However, it is said that a person should bless for the bad even more than for the good and to relate to good and bad equally. One will then be under restriction, at the middle point, independent of anything, and thus will be able to rise above one’s nature and become free.

Therefore, it is very important that we undergo both bad and good states equally because it is only from this point that can we make correct decisions.

The entrance to the spiritual world is very special. It is as if you are allowed to enter, reject it, and so on, again and again. Therefore, we study our inner psychology, to what extent we want or do not want the spiritual. There are such moments in the study when the entrance is open for us, but we do not want to enter. The Creator has to draw us in.

We must be prepared for such polar states in order to exist in the spiritual world, and first of all, we should pay attention to the middle point that lets us maintain balance, independence, when we are not drawn either to the good or to the bad side, but only to the greatness of the Creator, who determines our correct direction of development.

The greatness of the Creator is revealed only in the middle point, in the middle line. That is, it is most important not to lean either to the left or to the right, but to stay in the middle, above knowledge and reason, so that I do not care whether I feel good or bad. It is important only to stay in this central point and strive for the Creator. If I aspire for the middle line and imagine it, then I can imagine the forces acting on me: left, right, and middle.¹

A person should be completely despaired of one’s own forces. But this despair is in oneself, not in the path and the goal. If you suddenly becomes despaired in the goal, then you must do everything to return to balance; otherwise, you are not in the right reality. The right state is when I do not lean either left or right, but strive only for the greatness of the Creator so that I draw myself to Him.

And if I am at this correct point, I will find that I have no strength there, no mind, no means to take even one step forward. It is as if I am suspended in the air, and this is a very important condition in our development. After all, when I understand that I have nothing and nothing will help me, then there is only one thing left for me: prayer. From this state, a true prayer will arise because I have no support, no chance to take even one step myself, and the true prayer is what will help. It is a cry in the desert, in despair from my own forces.

But this is not a sign of weakness as it seems to us today. Right now, we are still relying on our strength. But the closer we get to the spiritual entrance, the more we rejoice, revealing the lack of our own strength, which means that we become more dependent on the Creator.

And at the very entrance, a person sees that only the Creator can save you, help you, and the question is whether you are able to ask for help or not. Prayer is possible only with the support of the ten—this is the first necessary condition in order to turn to the Creator with a prayer.

You can perform a spiritual action, turn to the Creator, praise Him, ask, and associate with Him only in a minyan, in the ten, and no less than that. Without this, a person cannot rise above his egoism in an appeal to the Creator and will not know what to ask for. Therefore, it is obvious that entering spirituality is possible only through the ten.²
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/20, Despair from his own Forces

Why Do We Need Prayer?

Question: We conduct our main work in a ten, which is considered the main tool for understanding the Creator. Why then do we need prayer?

Answer: You cannot do anything yourself in a ten. You should try to get together with others, check your progress, and see that you cannot succeed in anything. And then you turn to the Creator.

You show Him, “Look, we are in the ten trying to get together, but nothing works for us,” then He helps you. That is, you need a ten for a prayer, for a request to the Creator, so that He helps you, and you, united, come to connection with Him.

You must present this ten to Him saying, “We have done everything, but we see that nothing will succeed without You.” And then He will fulfill your request. This is how it works.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/12/19

“Why Israel Needs To Center Its Discourse On The Need For Unified Leadership” (Times Of Israel)

The Times of Israel published my new article “Why Israel Needs to Center Its Discourse on the Need for Unified Leadership”

On the aftermath of the third round of elections to elect members of the 23rd Knesset, we need to center our discourse on the need for unified leadership in Israel.

Ultimately, Israel needs a unity government that focuses on unifying above all differing voices and opinions.

The need to unite above our differences is a tendency of utmost importance not only to the government, but to society at large.

If the government could provide a unifying example, especially when faced with a situation that appears as its direct opposite, then such unification would have the power to transmit positive forces of connection dwelling in nature through to Israeli society, as well as to humanity at large.

Why and how this works depends on understanding the role of the people of Israel.

A Unified Leadership Should Assemble the Nation’s Leaders with a Common Unifying Responsibility

As the Hebrew word for “Knesset,” the name of the Israeli parliament, is the same as the word for “assembly,” then the government should indeed assemble the nation’s leaders with a common responsibility toward spreading unity in the nation.

A sense of responsibility toward bringing about unity in the nation should override the leaders’ urges to curse each other and put spokes in each other’s wheels.

There thus needs to be constant dialogue around the topic of how to bring about unity to the people of Israel.

Why Should We Be So Concerned about Unity of the People of Israel?

The current divisive atmosphere in the Knesset is one of many examples we witness around the world, where we see a clear need for more social cohesion, mutual consideration and respect among human society.

Without more connection among human society, and Israeli society in particular, we will let ourselves get carried down a miserable path.

We’re on that path now. And while humanity accumulates more and more blows on personal, social, global and ecological scales, more and more people will subconsciously feel that the people of Israel are to blame for their misfortunes. Likewise, we see the rise of anti-Semitic sentiment, crimes and threats together with the rise of many other problems in the world.

Why Do So Many People Feel Dependent on the People of Israel?

It is due to the original ideological root of the nation of Israel, unity above division, or as it is written, “love will cover all transgressions,” that so many people hold an innate expectation on the people of Israel to unite, and not remain as a divisive example, which is currently the case.

Until we start acknowledging our role to unite above our differences in order to spread a unifying tendency to humanity, we then have no idea as to what being “the people of Israel” means.

What Does It Mean to Be “the People of Israel”?

Being the people of Israel means being a positive example of a unified people above differences.

We are a nation that needs to function in order to correct itself, i.e., to positively connect, and also to pass that unifying ability to the world. Our current behavior, however, is far from being a positive example of unity to the world.

The Uniqueness of Our Time in History

We need only turn our head a little to the side, and see how we are not on a one-way track, but at a crossroad.

Our time in history is fundamentally different to all others in that we have a connection method available at our fingertips, ready to guide our way forward to a harmonious, eternal and perfect existence, here and now in our world.

Today, we no longer need to unwillingly accept what the world throws at us. We can instead be a free nation, leading ourselves and the world in a positive direction of increasing unification above all differences.

The complex divisive entanglement we find ourselves in today shows us how if we can overcome such differences, we would indeed be a shining example of what the world needs most: unity above division.

By uniting above our differences, we become “a light unto the nations,” the role that made us a unified nation to begin with (the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2]).

Through our unification, we pave the way to a future of goodness, happiness, freedom, peace and love for humanity, balancing our connections with nature’s connected form.

Unity above division will save us from more of nature’s blows. Also, in addition to cushioning us pleasantly within nature, unity above our differences creates a necessary natural balance that lets us experience nature in a pure and harmonious way. Since we enter nature above the human ego that shatters and divides the sensation of nature’s wholeness, we then discover a completely new unified, eternal and perfect reality, all while alive in our world.

Therefore, society’s sheer need for unity today should be enough to make us prioritize the discourse of the need for a unified leadership, which aims at positive unification of the whole of human society above today’s blazing social and political divisions.
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“Benefits Of The Coronavirus” (KabNet)

KabNet published my new article: “Benefits of the Coronavirus”

What kinds of benefits could a virus that has killed people and that has offset the world into panic possibly have?

The coronavirus is helping us come to terms with our smallness and weakness as human beings in the face of nature.

Whether it’s a virus, a natural disaster, or countless other blows, we get regular examples of how nature pays no attention to our differences the way that we do.

“Becoming aware of the detriment of the human ego is one major stage in our future development.”

The Main Benefit of the Coronavirus: Global Awakening to Humanity’s Interdependence

We are gradually being led to the conclusion that we are a single humanity, like one big family living on the same planet. Ultimately, all borders and walls we build to fence ourselves off from each other will fall short in the presence of the tightening form of globalization that nature is urging us to realize.

Nature sends us blows to show us how interdependent and interconnected it is, and how we are inescapable parts of its integrality.

The coronavirus can thus be viewed as yet another lesson that nature is trying to teach us: no matter how much we see differences among each other, there is an enveloping nature paying no attention to our labels.

“We have already come to such a degree that the whole world is considered one collective and one society.”

– Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “Peace in the World.”

The coronavirus’ benefit is to humanity as a whole gaining awareness of its oneness. It serves to destabilize our egoistic infrastructure, so that we see the need to work out how to operate within our increasingly interdependent global conditions. Once again, nature shows how it penetrates through all kinds of partitions we set for ourselves around the world.

Where Do the Partitions We Set Between Each Other Come From?

They extend from the human ego that wishes to benefit itself at the expense of others.

The human ego shatters the perception of the whole reality into small pieces. The coronavirus corners our egoistic selves, showing how they function oppositely to the altruistically-fueled supreme force of nature, while nature itself gradually urges us to reach awareness of our interdependence and interconnectedness among each other and with nature in its wholeness.

Toward the realization of our total interconnectedness and interdependence with nature, we will have to become aware of our egoistic nature as a negative disturbance. We will have to see how the ego cuts us off from each other and from nature as a whole, and by doing so, the ego prepares us for myriad future blows, whether a new virus outbreak, or other problems on personal, social and global scales.

Becoming aware of the detriment of the human ego is one major stage in our future development.

Either through suffering or through connection-enriching education and influence, we need to reveal the wickedness of the human ego.

The revelation can be a pleasant one if we aim to attract nature’s positive force, which connects perfectly between all elements of nature, on the still, vegetative, animate and speaking levels, and then between the revelation of the positive and negative forces, humanity will be able to work in the middle, clearly observing what it is going through, and acting with clarity in response to nature’s influences.

How Can We Awaken the Positive Force of Connection into Our Lives?

Very simply, our connection evokes nature’s positive connecting force. Then, by attracting the positive force in nature, we reveal the negative egoistic force opposite it, and the awakening of both forces gives rise to a higher and more supreme force, a new level of connection where perfection and balance is sensed.

It is as it is written in the song, “Ose shalom be Meromav, Hu yaase shalom aleinu” (“make peace in His heaven, He will bring peace upon us”): Peace is integrity in our relations, between inverse forces of nature.

We are facing a period of having to learn how to connect with each other, holding positive and negative forces of nature in our reins.

When we start working with these forces, we will see how every finest detail in reality, as well as the world’s major events, all link into a single picture.

The wisdom of Kabbalah guides our discovery of these forces. It provides us with a method to experience harmonious connection, attracting nature’s positive force, revealing the negative egoistic force opposite it, and learning the ways to walk the balancing rope between them.

“Who Is The God Of Kabbalah?” (Quora)

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Who is the God of Kabbalah?“

God in Kabbalah means the general force of nature, where other than this force, nothing exists.

In and of itself, we consider God as an abstract concept and cannot discuss something existing outside our perception. No one has ever felt it. This state of God, also called “the Creator,” in no way can be perceived by us, and therefore, this force is called “Atzmuto,” i.e., “His essence.”

Everything that we attain and what is possible for us to attain are the actions of the upper force in relation to us. The wisdom of Kabbalah deals with revealing these actions in relation to a person.

We call this upper force “the Creator” because He created the human being and all of our qualities, within which we feel our world and can explore the Creator through our senses. We can explore why He created us with such qualities, limitations and abilities, and what He wants from us.

By making progress in such an exploration, we begin to attain the Creator. We do not attain the essence or “self” of the Creator (Atzmuto), but the Creator in relation to us. It is written about this, “We will know You by your actions.” We explore the Creator’s actions, how He created our world and all other worlds, as a system of connections between Him and us. This system of connections in degrees that cascade down to us is called “worlds,” and this system influences us at every moment of our lives.

By studying this system, these worlds, we study the Creator and ourselves, both our nature and the nature of the Creator, and we progress to the understand of what states we connect to Him with. We can change our behavior and our actions in accordance with this in order to raise ourselves to higher connections, to be connected directly with the Creator.

In other words, we can see what kind of reactions our actions produce in Him and, conversely, what reactions His actions produce in us. We can reach an absolutely complete, open and two-way connection.

When we begin to attain this opportunity, to reveal and achieve it gradually, we naturally change our behavior in accordance with what we reveal, and we enter a completely different stage of our development where we begin to undergo changes in becoming more and more similar to the Creator.

At the same time, our world and we ourselves radically transform, and our state becomes increasingly reliable, convenient and true.

Completing The General Correction

Question: If only one person were left in the world who understands nothing while the rest have already understood everything, would you explain the method to him?

Answer: First of all, this could not happen. As more and more people in the world correct themselves, the field created by them will envelop the rest, and they will understand and value spirituality—the attribute of bestowal—more, and they will also aspire to it more.

That is why a hypothetical situation, where all but one person is corrected, is virtually impossible.

However, even if we assume that this could happen, I, obviously, would gladly come to that person and try to convince him to complete the general correction of the entire world, of all times. It is possible that I would succeed.
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From Kab TV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/5/20

“How To Respond To Questions About Death In The Coronavirus Era” (KabNet)

KabNet published my new article: “How to Respond to Questions about Death in the Coronavirus Era”

As the Coronavirus continues its world tour, and panic penetrates populations of people, some are facing the ultimate question about death.
How should we respond to death? What is death? What happens after we die?

The nature surrounding us is wise and great. We are birthed within, and develop in, nature. Many systems function on a moment-by-moment basis to sustain our bodies for 70, 80, and even 100-plus years.

“And part and parcel with our global-scale problems is a global awakening of life’s deeper questions.”

But why? Are we supposed to just be born, live then die?

We endure difficult and painful years between our births and deaths. How much pleasure do we actually squeeze out of them? We care for our bodies in a Sisyphean way, and we feel less and less energy to keep going.

It is as if we’re shifting from living-and-breathing organisms into a biodegradable stage, after which we completely disintegrate.

Is there any benefit to such an existence? Or are we just supposed to struggle for years to make our way in life as best as we can until we eventually perish?

Evaluating the Purpose of Life through Four Levels of Nature

Each and every finest detail of nature holds benefit and continuity.

There are three distinct levels in nature: still, vegetative and animate. The person, in his current developmental stage, belongs to the animate world. Humanity, however, differentiates itself as the “speaking” level, which is higher than the animate.

What, then, makes humans different to animals?

We are fundamentally a two-legged breathing mammal that fulfills its basic animal needs to eat, drink, sleep and reproduce. However, we have additional mental and emotional capacity, letting us absorb knowledge and wisdom. We raise children, pass knowledge from one generation to the next, and develop tools and our society with the aim of making us feel better and more comfortable.

In other words, we have basic survival needs for food, shelter, sex and family, and then we have social needs where we compare ourselves to others, and we thus fence ourselves off from each other, clothing ourselves, housing ourselves and filling our houses and bodies with countless products that we advertise to each other.

So are we just “smart animals” that have worked out how to make ourselves more comfortable in the world?

The Key Difference between Humans and Animals

The key difference between humans and animals is that we humans have a deeper aspiration seeded within us that aspires beyond the boundaries of our temporary protein bodies.

We also have the ability to pinpoint this aspiration. Like animals, we’re afraid of death and want to live. But in addition to animals, only we humans ask about why we live.

Not all humans ask about the meaning of life. Around a tenth of the adult population asks about the meaning of life, and all children ask about it, but soon forget.

Therefore, the coronavirus, conflicts between different countries and factions, falls of markets, and fierce social division: the harm that society’s cells do to themselves spread like a disease throughout the body of humanity.

And part and parcel with our global-scale problems is a global awakening of life’s deeper questions.

The Journey to the Ultimate Sensation of Our Common Origin

I hope that people with such questions will seek their answers, disallowing the billions of materialistic influences to distract our journey to the sublime perception and sensation of our common origin, and learning and implementing the laws of that perfect reality on the way.

By actively seeking to uncover the answers to our inquiries, like peeling layers of an onion, we delve deeper into the understanding of the need to connect positively to others. Through our positive connection, we enter reality’s control room, balancing our attitude with nature’s attitude of mutual love and bestowal in an interconnected and interdependent wholeness.

When we reach such equivalence of form with nature, we become healthy and beneficial parts in the system of our existence, entering into direct contact with nature’s fundamental quality—love and bestowal—and experiencing a new and perfect life, free of fears, mistakes and problems.
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