Demanding Bread And Education

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur main objective right now isn’t to erase the differences between the richest and the poorest layers of the population. This is the goal for the future.

Right now, we face two urgent issues: The first is to raise everyone’s standard of living above the poverty line, and the second is to oblige everyone to learn about mutual guarantee, the new world, the new economy, the new relationships between people, and the changes that nature is obliging us to make. A university that will teach these things must be built, and studying there must be obligatory, just as it’s obligatory for children to obtain a secondary school education.

I consider these two conditions to be essential. After all, it is written: “If there is no flour, there is no Torah.” But on the other hand, if there is no Torah (the knowledge of the new world), there is no flour. For this reason, people must be educated and given flour, meaning the necessary income. For now, this is all that needs to be done.

I’m often asked what practical advice can be given to a person that has suffered enough and is ready to accept mutual guarantee. How can such a person enter into a new world? This is only possible by gradually educating a person. We can’t just wake up tomorrow and, by some miracle, be in a new world. Everything begins with a person’s inner correction. He has to learn to change by means of studying and through his environment. If many people study, they will come to this state by correcting themselves and influencing one another.

It’s the government’s duty, first and foremost, to provide the nation with the flour and with education. The nation has to demand that the government elevates everyone above the poverty level and educates everyone in the spirit of mutual guarantee. Without these two things, we won’t be able to go forward.

I don’t know where the government will find the necessary funding. The government could take it from the rich or begin saving for it by cutting back on their government officials, it’s up to them. Let’s calculate how much money is needed. It may not be such a large sum. One way or another, the government must provide the nation with the necessities. It won’t be able to play with people as has been done in the past, so it would be better to begin planning ahead of time.

I don’t think it should be an unrealistic amount of money. They should calculate it and figure out whose taxes should be raised and whose should be lowered. There may be a need for a new tax for everyone, except for those below the poverty line. This must be done. How could it be that there are people that don’t have enough for food?

It’s also necessary to teach people, through television programs or workshops, how to manage a household. No matter what their income, people can’t live thoughtlessly and do whatever they want. People have to learn to manage their means. Quite often, people don’t know how to do this.

There are specialists, scientists, economists, and psychologists who can explain how to properly manage money. If one has a certain amount of money for a family to live on for a month, these specialists can calculate how much could be spent and on what. There is an entire academic discipline called family and consumer sciences.

People will listen and become inspired gradually; they will suddenly gain a different attitude toward life. After all, people don’t think too much about what will happen to them tomorrow. We don’t feel it, and we aren’t taught this. Our schools are so removed from real life that they don’t teach the necessary things such as how to treat people, your future husband, wife, and children or how to manage a household so that there would be enough money for the month. All these things must be learned.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/2011, Shamati #219

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One Comment

  1. My dear Rav,

    I see so much waste in the world on every level. I have a new friend I’m working with, (met outside Bnei Baruch) and she’s completely on the same page as me/we. …

    “Be the change you want to see in the world”, I say. And she feels so strongly in this, too. We’ve had discussions about how we believe that the change will not come from “Top down” as in from governments, but from “Bottom up”, from the level of people with sincere desires to “be that change”. I don’t know how it is that I’ve wound up coming in contact with so many people, right in my neck of the woods, “but from around the world”, but I know it’s no coincidence. To all I say:

    Go out of your comfort zone. Quit watching blasted television and get out and participate. Be present for your family and those around you as much as you can… In the market, on the internet, in workshops… Be who you are and at the same time respect others and it will come together. WE can BE, the change we want to see in the world.

    Sandra

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