A question I received: The objective of every government is to lull people’s consciousness. That way people will not fall under influence of any kind of extremism. This is why the mass media has to stupefy or brainwash the masses. Clearly, man’s inner resources are not being used in this case, since they become dormant.

In the modern systematic crisis (whose essence can only be seen by Kabbalists), the government is even more eager to lull the people, since it doesn’t know what to do and even admits that it’s helpless! What solution do you propose?

My Answer: Kabbalah offers the only solution that can awaken people to action, without the danger of breaking the fragile balance of forces within the civilization that still manages to hold the world back from complete destruction and chaos.

The most general stages of realizing the solution are the following:
1. The “background mode” of the mass media should be used to give people a subconscious understanding that everyone is connected with everyone and that humanity is a unified whole. In addition, people should be made to understand what is “good” and and what is “bad” – that altruism, recognition that all people are interdependent, and the corresponding actions are good, while egoism and petty pursuit of self benefit are bad, both for the individual and for humanity as a whole.

2. Once this will enter the public consciousness, we will begin motivating people to become conscious and start making altruistic actions. At first the motive will be to solve the obvious, simple, corporeal problems, in order for everyone to see the benefits of the new way of thinking.

3. Even during stages 1 and 2, it is necessary to introduce into the streams of information, thoughts about the existence of a single force, the final goal of universe:

a) At first this should be done in a complex manner, accessible only to the people who think;
b) When the active stage begins, this should be done through simple information that’s clear to the masses, making it obvious that this is the most appealing worldview for every person.

This will give us the opportunity to unite all of humanity in a single impulse to solve our common problem, and at the same time – in the process of solving the problem – the separated souls will combine to create a single system of humanity.

What is special about this proposition? Kabbalah is the only basis with the ability to create an ideological system that satisfies two mutually exclusive criteria:
a) The system must be so powerful that people’s consciousness will not grow disillusioned of it and reject it;
b) The system must stimulate the masses to transform their consciousness.

All the other ideological models satisfy just one of these requirements:
a) Either the system works well to stimulate people’s consciousness, but does not endure (for example, revolutions);
b) Or the system brainwashes people’s consciousness, but by doing so deprives them of the active, creative force that can change the world (for example, religion).

In addition, after going through a specific period of inner changes, man discards the boundaries of the proposed model and from then on, the path of his consciousness becomes unpredictable. Still, Kabbalah helps people build the model of a new world that’s guaranteed to work with all the changes, enabling an individual’s consciousness to develop without any limitations over the course of his entire life.

This is because Kabbalah uses a physical principle that was unknown before it: when the parts of a system are correctly unified, the system gains energy overall. In other words, without altering our material resources (food, water, oil, and so on), we can solve all our problems simply by unifying people altruistically rather than egoistically (see the example of the Wolf, Goat and Cabbage).

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On Sunday, 10-12-08, I gave a virtual lesson on the global crisis.

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I was doing some research on modern Kabbalistic sources, and came across a book called Kabbalah: New Perspectives, by Prof. Moshe Idel. In it he mentions a poem by Prof. Gershom Sholem (1897 – 1982) – the founder of the modern academic field of Kabbalah. But before I say more about this poem, here is some background on its author.

Sholem devoted his career to replacing the traditional attainment of Kabbalah with academic and philological research. For example, in one of his lectures, published in the book Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, this is how he describes Kabbalah in his time, “As a result of Kabbalah’s lengthy process of development, during which Kabbalah paradoxically influenced Jewish history, it has again become the same thing it was in the beginning – an esoteric wisdom of small groups of people, who are deprived of contact with life and have no influence on it.” Likewise, in the article “On the Possibility of Jewish Mysticism in Our Time,” Sholem writes, “There is no doubt that in recent generations there were no awakened individuals who could bring mystical teachings to new forms or start significant social movements.”

In this article, like in many others, Sholem denies modern Kabbalah, or Kabbalah of the 20th century. He points out that Kabbalah has ceased playing an important role in the Jewish culture of his time and that no original and innovative Kabbalistic methods have been created since the 18th century! This viewpoint is very obvious in the article “On the Possibility of Jewish Mysticism in Our Time.” Sholem’s attitude to Kabbalah in his time is also described by the modern researcher, Prof. Boaz Hoss, in the article “Don’t Ask All Questions.”

Considering all this, it’s important to point out that Gershom Sholem, the founder of the modern academic research of Kabbalah, and a scholar who’s renowned by the entire academic world, never says a word in any of his research about Baal HaSulam, the greatest Kabbalist of his time, nor of his works on Kabbalah. How can a researcher overlook something like this? This is an example of envy, dishonesty and petty egoism that do not allow a researcher to face the truth: to admit to himself and to the entire world that all academic research of Kabbalah, anything besides its attainment – is false!

When I was giving a series of lectures in American universities, I heard different comments about Gershom Sholem. In particular, I recall one distinctive comment from the Rector of the University of Illinois, who said, “Gershom talked about Kabbalah, but you are talking from Kabbalah. He urged people to research it with the mind, while you urge people to enter it with their feelings.”

The poem that appears below was written by Gershom Sholem shortly before his death, and it shows that despite everything, he finally admitted that he is in the dark and does not attain that which is concealed in the Kabbalistic texts. Yet, the superficial academic approach and the dishonesty in researching Kabbalah that he sowed continue to be practiced by his students.

“Death in the Professoriate” was a result of replacing research of Kabbalah “through oneself and inside oneself” (or in other words, by correcting oneself in similarity to the Upper One) with academic research that’s done “outside of oneself” (in conjunction with meditation according to Abulafia).

“Vae Victis” (Woe to the Conquered) or “Death in the Professoriate”
I threw myself into ancient books.
I was awestruck by their signs.
I spent too much time alone with them.
I could no longer leave them behind.

The glimmer of Truth is ancient,
Yet disaster is unforeseen:
Generations are weakly linked,
And knowledge is not clean.

I have brought back the blurred face
Of the fullness of time.
I was ready to leap into the abyss,
But was I really primed?

The ancestral symbols are here explained;
The Kabbalist was no dope.
But what transformed time proposed
Remains foreign, beyond our scope.

Time transformed casts us a fearsome glance,
For it is unwilling to turn back again.
Yet abandoned joys grow palpable
Once your Vision has dissolved in pain.

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News Report (translated from BBC): The head of IMF, Dominic Strauss-Kahn, announced that the world is “on the brink of recession.” He appealed to world leaders to act “quickly, decisively, and together” in order to overcome the global economic problems. On Friday the President of the United States, George Bush, is expected to speak to the American public about the economic situation of the US. What are we to expect?

My Comment: Relax, the world will never be the same as it once was. Accept it and don’t try to bring it back! Through our egoistic natural development (and no one’s to blame – such is the implacable dialectic of nature), we have reached the revelation of the integral, global system of human interaction in our world. Moreover, since man is the most egoistic of all creatures, he also incorporates all of the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, and everything requires its own solution, or the proper regulation (balance).

In this case, we become dependent on everyone else. There is no way back, and there cannot be. The forces of the common and single civilization are now surfacing, and they will make us understand that different laws are at work here – the laws of a single organism. Those who will understand this faster will be able to come out of the collapse quicker. By becoming properly connected to the common system, they will be able to cure themselves economically, socially, morally, and so on.

I am not a prophet, but following Baal HaSulam’s texts, for the past six years I have been speaking and writing books and articles about the crisis. There was no way to prevent it, but there is a means to come out of it. I’ve spoken to important people about this, telling them that it is necessary to institute “global education,” or in other words – “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” because otherwise things will get bad. However, they laughed at my naivety.

Now we have to start the work of explaining the situation to people, and we are running late with this. While people learn how to change things, the blows of fate will keep on coming.

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Spiritual movement in unlike physical relocation from one place to another. It’s a movement in one’s intention, a renewal of qualities.
Baal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot, item 1

Time is a sensation of movement. The brain envisions images of movement, copying them in its imagination into the category of “time.” If man and his surrounding were in absolute peace, there would be no notion of time.
Baal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot, item 1

The notions of time, past, present and future, are man made notions and are not absolute. Everything exists in the Upper Force without any action on behalf of the Upper One. Everything that exists in the force later takes place in action. And those who come closer to the Creator – above the universe, ascend above time.
Rav Kook, “Letters. Volume 2”

The Book of Zohar does not speak of this world at all, but only of the Upper Worlds where there is no time like in the corporeal world. Spiritual time is a change in qualities.
The Book of Zohar, Vayatze, collection 2

Human egoism constantly prevails over man, unless the Creator helps him by bringing his soul closer to Him through shining His Light at specific times.
“Yesher Divrey Emet,” p. 35

All times and all actions exist eternally. The future receives influence from the past and from that which will happen afterwards. Time submits to forces that operate in the past, in the present, and in the future.
Ramchal, Adir BaMarom, p. 187

That which shines in alternation will shine constantly in the future, when all the past will gather into an eternal state.
Ramchal. Adir BaMarom, p. 18
[2125]

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Two questions I received on the economy and religion:

Question: How can you explain the fact that in the United States, the financial crisis is drawing more people into religion?

My Answer: We observe this kind of reaction throughout all human history. In fact, this is the reason why religion was invented in the first place – to comfort man for the blows of fate that seem to come at him for no good reason. Religion promises people a reward for their suffering in the world to come. Of course, it is difficult to give up on a dream, and people are even willing to kill others who kill their hopes (the way I do).

In contrast, Kabbalah does not tell people to believe in unrealistic things, but rather urges people to change themselves in order to feel “the world to come” while still living in this world. One can enter “that world” only by changing oneself in this world. When one’s animate organism dies, the soul can only return back into this life; there is no “world on the other side.” Hence one will keep reincarnating until one enters the Upper World – the world of bestowal and love, while still living in this world.

Question: One reason why I am not satisfied with any method or religion is that at the end the believer is rewarded in paradise, but in a new status. That is, he does not have the needs, desires and pleasures that he sought in his life. So the person who is tested or being prepared in this life is different from the one who is being rewarded. I feel that this is unfair.

My Answer: Why so? Precisely religion promises you all the pleasures of this world, including sexual pleasures, exquisite heavenly meals accompanied by heavenly music, and so on! If a person can still believe in what religion promises him, then he is not yet ready to come out of the spiritual exile.

Baal HaSulam said that between the religious and the Kabbalistic ways of life and perception, there is a secular, materialistic period. After that, the Kabbalistic, “super-materialistic” period is revealed, because one discovers that materialism is also a religion!

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The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Fourteenth Commandment” (abridged)

247. The fourteenth Commandment is to observe Shabbat, which is a day of rest from all the actions of creation. There are two Commandments here: to observe the day of Shabbat and to adorn its holiness, namely to receive Ohr Hochma, called “holiness”; and to observe Shabbat as a day of rest for all the worlds, in which all actions are multiplied and realized even before this day is sanctified.

Shabbat is a state of the spiritual worlds where the Light descending from Above elevates ZA to AA, Nukva to AVI, the Worlds of BYA to YESHSUT, and ZON of the World of Atzilut. As a result, man’s NRN (whoever has it, whoever is spiritually present in the worlds of BYA) also ascends to Atzilut with the worlds of BYA, and there receives Ohr Haya.

248. Because that day was sanctified, the creation of bodiless spirits was to be completed. He asks: “Was the Creator unable to delay the sanctification of that day until the bodies for those spirits were created?” And he answers: “The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil contained an evil side that wanted to govern the world. And many spirits separated and went forth, armed, to clothe in the bodies of this world.

249. However, as the Creator saw this, He roused the wind from within the Tree of Life, ZA, and struck the other Tree, Malchut. And the other, good side was awakened, and the day was sanctified. For the creation of bodies and the awakening of spirits on that night of Shabbat stem from the good side, and not from the evil one.

250. And had he hastened on that night to put forward the other side, before the good side came forward, he would not have been able to withstand it for even an instant. But the Creator provided the remedy in advance. And He sanctified the day beforehand. And He warned to appear before the other side. And the world exists. And that the opposite side thought to rule in the world, i.e., in defiance of it, the good side was created and strengthened on that night. And the good, holy bodies and spirits were created on that night from the good side. Therefore, the delight of sages who know this spans from Shabbat to Shabbat.

251. However, when the other (impure) side saw that what it had planned to do was already done by the holy side, it started to check its own forces and properties, and saw all those who perform a Zivug naked and in the candlelight. Therefore, all of the sons born from that Zivug are enslaved by the spirit of the other side. And these naked spirits of the wicked are called “harming,” and they are ruled and killed by Lilit.

252. And since the day was sanctified, and holiness rules in the world, the other side diminishes itself and hides on each Shabbat day and on each Shabbat night. With the exception of Asimon and his group, who walk secretly in the candlelight, to observe the naked Zivug. And then they hide inside the cave, called Tehom Raba (the great abyss). And as soon as Shabbat ends, many hosts fly and prowl in the world. As a result, everything is corrected by the song of the sufferers, “He who dwells in concealment,” to prevent impurity from governing holiness.

253. What places do they visit on the night of the end of Shabbat? When they come out in haste and wish to govern the holy nation, they see it standing in prayer and singing this song: “He who sits in the shadow (concealment) of the Supernal One,” first separating Shabbat from the weekdays in his prayer, and then over a cup of wine, these forces flee thence and fly away to the desert. May the Merciful One save us from them and from the evil side.

254. The three that cause evil to themselves: a) he who curses himself; b) he who throws away bread or bread crumbs bigger than an olive; c) he who lights the candle at the end of Shabbat before Israel attains sanctity in the prayer, “And You are holy.” And the light from that candle ignites hellfire.

255. There is a place in hell (the sensation of uncorrected desires, shame before the Creator) for those who transgress Shabbat (the ascent towards complete correction). And as they (those who feel that they are wicked) are punished in hell (separation from the Creator), they curse him who lit the candle before its time, and they say to him, “Behold: the Creator will thrust you about with a mighty throw, and He will seize you firmly. He will violently roll and toss you like a ball into a large land; there shall you die (be corrected against your will).”

256. For he should not light the candle at the end of Shabbat before Israel separates Shabbat from the weekdays in their prayer and over a cup of wine, as until that time, it is still Shabbat, and the sanctity of Shabbat still rules over us. And during the separation by means of blessing over a cup, all those hosts and legions that the rulers appointed to govern the weekdays return each to their place to resume the work for which they are responsible.

257. As soon as Shabbat starts and the day is sanctified, holiness awakens and rules over the world; the power of weekdays disappears and returns only when Shabbat ends. However, although Shabbat is over, other forces do not regain their power until Israel says the prayer, “He who separates holiness from the weekdays.” Only then does holiness disappear, and the legions that govern the weekdays awaken and return to their places, each to its above-appointed post.

258. Nevertheless, the impure forces do not assume control until the flame of the candle is lit, for they all come from the root (element) of fire, from which everything originates, and they descend to rule over the lower world. All this happens if one lights the candle before Israel has finished the blessing in the prayer.

259. Yet, if he waits until they complete the blessing, the wicked in hell justify the Creator’s justice over them, and they bring upon him all the blessings, recited by the congregation: “Therefore, the Creator gives you of the dew of Heaven,” “Blessed shall you be in your town,” and “Blessed shall you be in the field.”

260. “Blessed is he who considers the poor (who has attained the futility of trying to correct oneself on his own); the Creator will deliver him in the day of disaster.” What do the words “in the day of disaster” mean? This refers to the day when evil gains power and wants to take his soul away from him. The word “poor” alludes to someone very sick. “He who considers” refers to one who realizes the need to be cured from transgressions before the Creator. Another explanation is that this is the Day of Judgment in the world. “He who considers” signifies one who knows how to save himself from it, as it is written: “The Creator will deliver him in the day of disaster,” meaning that on the day when the judgment against man dominates the world, the Creator will deliver him.

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A question I received: Why do you draw a connection between the financial crisis and a “global Kabbalistic revolution?” Isn’t this going a bit too far?

My Answer: There is a state of standalone objects, and there is a state when they unite into a system. That is when new and special laws are revealed – the laws of globalization, communication, interaction, and interdependence.

Standalone individuals in the animal kingdom are egoists, but as soon as they join together, a law is revealed that enables their system to survive. This law obligates them to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the system, for their society. Of course, in the animal kingdom this happens unconsciously; it is embedded in the animals by nature and they follow it blindly. The human level differs by man’s self-awareness. Man must carry out the same laws of nature consciously and willingly.

Hence, as long as we were not united, there was no need to take the system into account, nor to follow Nature’s law of “bestowal and love for one’s neighbor.” However, as soon as a tight interconnection emerged in Ancient Babylon – the first global civilization (global with regard to that time period, in a compact area), then a crisis was immediately revealed – our imbalance with the natural law of the human community, “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

In Babylon, we managed to solve this problem by annulling the very system or civilization. We separated from each other and scattered all over the world. However, today we are connected and there is no place to run. We can try, but by so doing we will only go back to the past. We can’t even imagine what comforts we will lose, because no country in the world today can be self-sufficient. This would be like going back to feudalism. Our development, its forms and pace are predetermined by nature and its integral law. Hence, if we go against it, we will perceive our opposition to it in the form of terrible suffering.

This is why Kabbalah says that the only option we have is to recognize the natural law of the human community, which is “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Of course, this type of relationship can be adopted only when every individual will be corrected from “for the sake of oneself” to “for the sake of others.” This can be done with ease if:

1. The society and the mass media will support and encourage this, and look down on those who do not do this (however, not by means of punishment);
2. People will study Kabbalah (for the masses, superficial familiarity with Kabbalah will suffice) and thereby attract our future state, which already exists.

I think that “procrastination is like death” – in the literal sense of the word.

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A question I received: What can every person do to change the situation in the world?

My Answer: No physical, political, scientific, or social actions can change our world. So if the world can’t be changed, perhaps we can change man. What will this give us?

Physicists are discovering that the results of scientific experiments depend on man’s presence, even though they still don’t know the degree of this influence nor its nature. Kabbalah studies how man’s consciousness and intentions affect reality, and how we can control this influence in order to change reality!

There is an initial, constant and absolute reality – the World of infinity. Besides, there is a reality that we create with our intentions. In our world, we have never before changed our egoistic intentions. We did not know that by changing our intentions from “for our own sake” to “for the sake of others,” we actually change all of reality.

We did not know that we can affect reality to the degree we become similar to the Creator’s quality – “bestowal and love.” Kabbalah tells us how to do this.

At the end of our spiritual development we will be convinced that the only thing we have to change is ourselves (rather than the world). By doing so we won’t just change our world, but all of reality will change from corporeal to spiritual, from life in the body to life in the soul.

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Interesting relationships may start forming between countries:

News Report (from MIGnews): The prime minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, has declared war (for now, diplomatic and economic) on Iceland, because Iceland’s bankrupt banks are refusing to return billions of dollars to their British clients.

Since the country’s actual default, forty billion dollars of British savings remain frozen in Iceland’s banks. The government of Iceland refuses to give guarantees on the investments of foreign clients in Iceland’s banks. In response, Brown has arrested the assets of Icelandic companies in Britain.

The British Telegraph reports that his actions were accompanied by the following statement: “We are freezing the assets of Icelandic companies in the UK where we can. We will take further action against the Icelandic authorities wherever that is necessary to recover the money.”

My Comment: All countries will find themselves in the same situation. But there won’t be anyone to fight, since everything is intertwined and there is no one to blame. Still, it’s possible that they will fight nevertheless before reaching the understanding that they have to move on to a different kind of relationship – mutual care for one another for the sake of survival.

And later they will come to the realization that they must “love one’s neighbor as oneself,” because everything that’s theirs depends on others. And later they will also attain the level of love for one’s neighbor, because others aren’t “neighbors” with regard to just finance or security, but in fact, we are connected by nature. Through the mutual guarantee (similar to the guarantee of a bank), people will attain the highest reward – the revelation of the Creator! Even Mr. Brown will be able to understand this.

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