The most distressing development in health care reform is the formation of a commission that is to make decisions regarding the level of health care provided to a patient during the last stages of life.

Statistics says that the cost of providing care during the last years of life is equal to the cost of care for all previous years of life. Most of us start off healthy in the beginning, then as we age, problems begin piling up until, at the end of our life, many of us are very sick and our health care costs skyrocket.

The main question being asked is: How to save money? From here, the solution has come in the form of a commission that will decide what conditions to treat and what not to treat.

Who are we talking about? Who needs these old people? When we are young we work, pay taxes and fund the government treasury depending on how much we pay in taxes and how much we spend as consumers. When we retire, we become deadwood for the state. We don’t produce anything, but become dependent on the government for our needs.

The commission is to decide how much money to spend on this deadwood, and the judges will be those who receive dividends from this process.

Here are some ideas for consideration by the commission: Can we create a society where people live longer, are happier and at the same time also cost the government less money?  What if we teach people how to eat correctly, to move and stay active, learn to love others and think of their neighbors, be in harmony with Nature and come to understand that we are one family?

We don’t need to decide whether we need this commission or other types of reform. If we begin to feel ourselves as one family, then we won’t need any reforms. We will be able to make accurate, correct decisions and learn to live long and live happily!

Written by Doctor Alex Angelov (Bnei Baruch, Boston)

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A question I received: There are so many efforts being made today to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah around the world. People all over the world are being given all the right conditions for correction, so why isn’t the world changing?

My Answer: You’re right: in all of history, people have never had such favorable conditions for attaining spirituality. We even have a special TV channel about Kabbalah in Israel! People have been given all the means, and now they only have to make the choice to take them.

Nevertheless, we have to understand that people’s desire has to be influenced by the Light. And even though the influence of the Light is very strong, it is also gradual, and there are many actions that have to take place inside the desire. This is even true when you have a very fast-working computer: no matter how hard we try to decrease the intervals between its elements and increase the frequency of the electrical pulse, every operation still takes time because it consists of billions of actions that have to happen on the inside.

I think that over the last year, humanity has gone through very positive changes. The year spanning from September 2008 to September 2009 was named “the year of hatred” in Israel. This is a good thing, because it means that people are already beginning to see that our relationships are ruled by hatred.

This revelation could only have happened through the influence of the Upper Light. People have finally begun to understand that Kabbalah is not mysticism, the performance of rituals, or the “Pulsa Denura” curse, but the method for correcting our life here and now, in this world. People are beginning to understand that Kabbalah is a serious, real science, which helps to keep families together, restore the balance in nature, come out of the world crisis, and avoid the imminent ecological catastrophe.

We have dispelled many myths about the wisdom of Kabbalah, and this has made the world advance a great deal. Only the dissemination of Kabbalah will save the world.

If Kabbalah will spread amongst people, then we will avoid all the catastrophes, we will merit both this world and the world to come, and both of these worlds will unite into one. Baal HaSulam refers to the dissemination of Kabbalah as the Messiah’s Horn in the entire world. Let’s hope that we will succeed. Everything depends on you!
(From Part 1 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson of September 11, on Shamati # 18)

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A question I received: What does the unity of souls feel like?

My Answer: The unity of souls feels like the unification of all aspirations upward, toward the spiritual goal, because this goal can only be attained through the connection between us, never separately. Alone, you would forever remain with just your single point in the heart, which you received at the beginning of the path. Like a drop of semen, it will always remain your foundation, while everything else is the “meat” that you have to add to it. However, that drop contains all the information about you.

The point in the heart exists above you ego, which you cannot fulfill in this world any longer. And even though it draws you upward, if left alone, it will forever remain a point. It cannot grow by itself. But when you unite it with other points – your friends, together your points will form a whole vessel of the soul, and within it, you will then begin to perceive the Upper Light.

The Light is never felt within any one of us, but only in the connection between us, in our attitude toward one another, in our unity. Every one of us constitutes a desire. If I bestow to another person and he bestows to me, then it is inside the connection between us that we feel the Inner Light.

It’s actually similar to subatomic connections. There are two desires. On one hand, one is repelled from the other by the force of egoism, and therefore, people don’t want to unite with one another. But on the other hand, they are drawn toward one another above their ego, because they want to unite their points in the heart.

The ego’s force of rejection is negative, while the points in the hearts’ force of attraction is positive.

If the positive force is greater than the negative, then unification takes place. However, the power of the unification is determined by the tremendous “minus” force of people’s mutual egoism. Yet, by uniting above our egoism, we turn it into a “plus” and begin to use it as a resistor – the domain where the force of bestowal, the Creator, can be revealed.

Then, He is revealed in the connection between us, inside our former egoism, which is now governed by the intention to unite. It is like a field that surrounds a charged particle. This is how the Creator becomes revealed to the creature: through the connection between the souls, rather than inside each individual soul.
(From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson of September 11, on Shamati #18)

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A question I received: What should I do if I have been making every effort I possibly could to enter the spiritual world, but the Creator doesn’t want this to happen? How should I ask Him for it if I can’t see or feel Him?

My Answer: This is a feeling that every newcomer goes through. You feel that you are making so many actions, but receiving no reaction in return. The Creator doesn’t hear you, as though you are talking to a wall. He takes all your strength and plunges you into despair. Why is He doing this?

It’s because He wants you to discern exactly “Who is He?” particularly while you’re in the state of concealment. This is the only way you can find out who you are addressing.

The Creator is always by your side. However, you are like a radio that’s off-tune. You have to adjust yourself to the right wavelength in order to catch His broadcast. The switch of the radio is in your hands, so tune it properly! You have to constantly adjust it.

Don’t just sit there with your arms folded in your lap, uselessly waiting for something to happen and complaining about Him. Turn the radio’s handle until you find His wavelength and begin to hear Him. This is the meaning of the verse, “We shall do and we shall hear.” You can do this! And you already have the means: the group, the books, and the teacher. So, you have nothing to complain about and no one to blame, except yourself for the fact that you are too lazy to do this.
(From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson of September 11, on Shamati #18)

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Judging by the young people who come to Kabbalah today, I don’t think they will have to go through the same long and difficult path as the Kabbalists of the past. Those starting their spiritual correction today will have an easier path. They are ready for it, and we have prepared the world for them!

They are like an infant: what can infants do? Not much. But the parents provide them with everything they need, such as toys and food. But what did a child born in the wild jungle have? He grew up in very difficult conditions. Today, a ten or fifteen year old child knows how to use cell phones and computers even better than the grown ups. The kids simply know their way around this world.

However, I, the adult, who created all these tools for them, am not as proficient in using them as the children. This is because they were born into this, despite the fact that they did not create any of it! So, how is it that they know all this so well? Shouldn’t I know it better, since I created it? No! And the reason for this is that the children are already prepared on the inside, in virtue of the connection between all the souls. This is why they subconsciously understand and feel everything. Everything is very simple and clear to them, and this is why we have nothing to teach them.

That is why the young generation will not need a lengthy period of preparation to enter the spiritual world.

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A question I received: How can you aspire for the spiritual, something you’ve never experienced?

My Answer: The spiritual Reshimot (reminiscences) surface inside of us, and they are the only reason we aspire for anything at all. Let’s say that I tell you that I’ve eaten an exceptionally delicious dish in Mexico.

How can I stir your desire and entice you enough for you to spend a thousand dollars to fly to Mexico and then another thousand dollars for the meal? It must stir your desire enough for you to forget your work and your family and to do everything you can just to taste that same taste. I can fill your ears with that message and broadcast it through the radio and TV. Everyone you know would ask you, “Come on, haven’t you tasted it yet?” It would spark envy and pride in you that would force you to follow suit.

That’s the purpose of the group. If a person has only a small desire for spiritual development and revelation of the Creator, he plants himself in the right environment. The environment in turn inflates the desire he feels in his point in the heart, enough to evoke the Upper Light, the Ohr Makif that opens the Upper World to him.

Such is our nature. We can’t say “no” to the influence of the environment. Baal HaSulam writes: “I don’t dress the way I want to, I don’t eat what I want, the society decides everything for me.” Therefore, success in the spiritual path is determined by the environment, which is the books, the group and the teacher.

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A question I received: In Israeli society, there are various charitable events as well as donations made to help the poor. In the end, do these actions hamper the development of this part of the population or is this just another example of mutual guarantee?

My Answer: There is no good without evil or evil without good. We live in the period following the shattering of the common soul and this why in any piece of it, in any of our actions, there is some bad that consequently yields a positive outcome and there is some good which at some point leads to a bad outcome. And this goes on forever. Either in the beginning or in the end, it will be either good or bad. Good and bad go together until the end of correction when all evil turns to good.

When speaking of donations, helping others, volunteering in hospitals or  wanting to help starving people in Africa or other countries, we see that there is absolutely no benefit from any of these actions in the end. There are billions of dollars being spent on such things and there are thousands of people working in charitable organizations who enjoy their work. But the benefit is zero. I would even go as far as to say that it has the opposite effect.

Before people started seemingly to care and therefore began handing out food in Africa, the country created, produced and traded a huge variety of goods. Now that foreign countries are providing Africa with food and weapons, the African nations are only rebelling against each other.

In order to break a person, you only need give him the necessities so that he stops thinking and worrying about his own life. This is exactly what happened in Russia. They found oil and gas there and started to sell it, which led to the country’s collapse. Why do people need to work if they have money?

The same is happening with national insurance in Israel. If you are entitled to benefits you won’t want to come out of your house. “What do I need it for? I can buy a bottle of beer, watch TV and watch the time go by. Today everything is fine.” A person makes a sandwich, goes to the beach and spends the entire day there.

Nothing can be more destructive than these seemingly good works and care for others. It is better for a person to endure blows, as then he will be obligated to work or to study!

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A question I received: What is universal ego, and how can one take care of seven billion people? What should I do for them and what should I feel while I’m doing it?

My Answer: We don’t have a better example than a family. Humanity is one family, but not the modern-day kind, where each member is ready to turn his back on the rest; rather, it is the traditional kind, where all are tied together with strong bonds. You watch out for all family members – their health, sustenance, well-being and success. If any member of the family is in dire straits, the whole family suffers. This is how we must take care of all seven billion people.

As a matter of fact, nothing could be easier. You only need to exit your egoistic desire, and then you will discover that there is no difference in relating to seven billion people, one person, the Creator or several friends. The difficult part is to free oneself of egoism. To achieve that, you need to witness how interconnected we are. Kabbalah helps “open your eyes” to this connection.

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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HwBCs-w2nc]

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Two questions I received from women about necessities and bearing children:

Question: Being a woman (and we are more vain I hear), what is the parameter of “normal consumption?” Is my going to get my hair done regularly at the beauty shop excessive, and what about all the beauty products that women consume – the clothes, the accessories, the jewelry, the shoes? Should we have only two pairs of shoes? I completely understand that excessive consumption of food leads to bad health – that one I get.

My Answer: If your head is “in the clouds,” then your mind cannot be focused on shopping. This is what will happen naturally, won’t it?

Question: In this world of crisis and suffering, should one want to have children? (I am a 32 year old woman, childless, and wondering if this egoistic desire to have kids should be fulfilled or not, as we know it is so hard to live in the world we know.)

My Answer: You should bear and raise children, in order to make them and yourself similar to the Creator.

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