News Story: UN Urges Biofuel Investment Halt

“The UN’s new top adviser on food, Olivier de Schutter, has urged a freeze on biofuel investment, saying the blind pursuit of the policy is ‘irresponsible.’ He also wants curbs on investors whose speculation is, he says, driving food prices higher.

UN officials liken the rise in food prices to a silent tsunami, threatening 100 million of the world’s poorest.”

My Response: What comes to mind is “Cannons instead of butter!” – Goebbels’ proclamation in his 1937 New Year’s Eve speech. As usual, we’ve wanted to do what’s best, and it’s turned out like it always has. Furthermore, we will continue ending up with unfavorable results every time, because our egoistic intentions are in disharmony with the force of Nature controlling us. While aiming ourselves egoistically, any “good initiative” we can come up with is destined to fail from the start, and moreover, as a result of our “great minds” and “good intentions” throughout history (since the time of Ancient Babylon), we are today witnessing an avalanche of collapses all at once.

It’s time to realize that we can no longer act against Nature. On the contrary, we need to study Nature and act in harmony with it. For this purpose, Kabbalah reveals Nature’s Upper Governing Force to us.

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A question I received in response to the post What Do You Do with an Unsupportive Wife?: What does a woman who studies Kabbalah do with an unsupportive husband? What happens to the children? Is it correct to believe that the Creator has put us in this situation for the good of all, or should I do what is important for me as a woman?

My Answer: First and foremost, you should fulfill your earthly responsibilities, and only in your free, personal time, study what interests you, without imposing it on anyone else.

A question I received on the Ask a Question page: If my husband’s soul isn’t yet ready for Kabbalah, does this affect my spiritual advancement?

My Answer: It has no affect on it whatsoever.

A question I received on the Ask a Question page: I am relatively new to the study of Kabbalah and I’m still a little confused about the woman’s role in Kabbalah (I’ve been attending the fundamentals lessons at www.arionline.com and this subject came up last week about men and women having different methods of study, which led me to the article “A Talk about the Spiritual Advancement of Women”). So, I have the following the questions that I hope you can help me to understand better…

If a woman’s desire should be for the men to find/achieve the nine Sefirot, will a woman not receive the Light until that happens?

My Answer: No. Everyone attains spirituality at a different rate, because in general there are two groups advancing – the men’s group and the women’s group.

Question: Are the women totally dependent on the men to provide the path to spirituality or cohesion with the Creator?

My Answer: No. What matters most is a woman’s desire for the goal, while in general, men attract the Light by studying toward women’s desires. Every person receives the Light’s influence to the extent of his or her desire and efforts in dissemination.

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A question I received: Looking at Bnei Baruch, it’s clear that you practice “love for thy neighbor.” However, you do so only inside your group, and not toward the whole world. Why? Isn’t that similar to a cult?

My Answer: The Kabbalists of the past, our great teachers, provide us with strict and detailed instructions on how to arrange our studies, our life, and our attitude to ourselves, our friends, society, and the world. Naturally, we study and need only their advice, because besides them, no one else understands the Creator, the world in which we live, and the path that we are to walk.

And about the accusations that we’re a cult: some people benefit from it, and are thus ready to tar our reputation in any way possible. These are especially people who feel like they’re losing their stable grounding, because they’ve discovered that regular religion is inadequate, but they are still unwilling to replace it with Kabbalah.

Today, people aren’t the simpletons they once were, and as such, the attitude displayed by our critics only shows their ignorance in understanding the Creator’s Plan, and their rejection of the Torah as the method to correct man’s egoism. Could you show me anyone, besides Bnei Baruch, who also explains the necessity of “loving thy neighbor as thyself” as the main principle of the Torah? What other society have you seen that educates people according to this principle?

As for displaying an attitude of love only for our friends – we have the same attitude to anyone who’s moving toward the same goal; this is what makes a person our friend. And as much as every person will want to move toward the same goal, then anyone who wants to will be included in this principle and in our attitude of love!

Baal HaSulam. Igeret (Letter) 49 (1927). Pri Chacham: Igrot (Fruit of Wisdom: Letters).

I am giving you assignments, obligating you to carry out all my instructions in the observance of Torah and Mitzvot [1] properly and with dedication. I direct you to dedicate all your strength to loving others as yourself, to suffer when your friend suffers, and to feel happy when your friend is happy.

As for the love between you, I am talking precisely about the love between friends in our Kabbalistic group, since it is written, “to love thy neighbor.”

[1] Baal HaSulam considers love for one’s friend, for the sake of attaining love for the Creator – to be the main precept in the observance of Torah and Mitzvot.

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