During the Plagues of Egypt, the Creator said to Moses, “Go unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them” (Exodus 10:1). Due to the blows that our egoism gets, the Creator grows between us. He grows on these “indications,” these  signs, when we discover in our egoistic desire how controlled, dependent, and helpless it is. Yes, it reigns over us, but in fact, it is stupid. Its moral and physical weakness is exposed before us.

Once egoism pushed us forward helping us build a life. But in the end, it turns out that by using it, we get negative results that are clearly seen. And even if the masses don’t want to know anything in their narrow-mindedness, we need only look at the deeds of humanity and we see that it truly destroys itself and nature.

If we observed such development of events on another planet, we would conclude that its inhabitants weren’t sensible beings. It would seem that some misfortune had taken their mind away, and that they had begun to cut the branch they’re sitting on, to block the channel that feeds them.

Twenty to thirty more years will pass by, and humanity will be left with nothing. We have created a terrible world, a pyramid of endless gain that generates profit by adding more and more new people. Once this growth runs out, everything collapses. However, while the pocket is still full, man continues to play.

The whole world economy is built by the Americans on the principle of the pyramid, of enriching its top at the expense of growing production and consumption. But here comes the crash: There is nowhere to grow, and thus nothing can happen but the collapse of the pyramid. A consumer society based on purchasing power has come to an end. There is nowhere to outsource production, there is no one else to involve; the Earth is round and not so big. It’s interesting how parallels appeared between our pyramid and ancient Egypt, the country of pyramids.
[76056]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/12, Writings of Rabash

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Nowadays, the group cannot be closed within itself; it cannot avoid bringing the method to the masses. It would no longer be a group and wouldn’t be the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Isolation cannot be considered; otherwise, we simply won’t survive. On the contrary, each day, the world is demanding more and more from us.

It is now beginning to understand on what its good future depends, how to be rescued from the crisis or to sweeten it a little bit. So far, there are searches, but already it is becoming clear that a new direction must be taken to advance man, and it is not science or technology.

The main thing is people’s inner world and the mutual connection between them. As humanity understands this, it discovers its helplessness.

Likewise with us, we are investing great effort on the spiritual path, and we don’t see results. In the meantime, we have no other choice. We must change ourselves.

External experts also understand this, but here the question appears, “How can we do it?” Even we accept with great difficulty the thought that the Light that Reforms is the only means.

Sometimes, it is only after ten years that a person understands that it is specifically this Light that we must place first. It turns out that my efforts need to be directed toward this in order to awaken the Light, and it will execute the task.

Indeed, the world today is in a similar state where many are searching. They are searching for ways in which it is possible to change a person. In the end, they will see that it is only through integral education that we, the Arvut movement (Mutual Guarantee), recommend.

The world will discover this. They have no other choice. Then, the world will really need us. In the meantime, we need to disseminate this knowledge and system to people as much possible so that it will be easier for them to accelerate time.
[76051]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/12, Writings of Rabash

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Why wasn’t it enough for us to receive one page of text from our teachers, from Kabbalists, from the great sages, who discovered the whole upper system and the upper force that will connect us to them? Instead they wrote many articles about different states, about holidays, and about all the levels of attaining the Creator. After all, there is nothing but the attainment of the upper force by studying the changes that occur in the upper system.

Kabbalists described all these states because we have to draw the Reforming Light, in every possible way, in every direction, in all the levels, although we are not there yet.

Today we are reading about these states at the time that matches their corporeal branches, the special time that is connected to Passover: We read about the exodus from the exile in Egypt and about the Passover sacrifice, which means how to come closer (the same Hebrew root korban and karov), and transcend the Machsom (barrier). Besides, we are doing it together in the group, and this symbolizes the whole essence of the exodus from Egypt, of the transition from separation to connection.

We feel the separation as being enslaved to our desire to receive, as separation and shattering. Connection seems like freedom, redemption, the desired miracle! If we read the articles with this intention and want to draw the Reforming Light, it will come.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabblah Lesson 4/22/12, Zohar for All

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The Book of Zohar, “Bo (Come unto Pharaoh),” The Passover Sacrifice, Item 189: When the Creator came to Egypt, He saw the Passover blood written on the door, and the covenant blood—how they were standing at the door.

Question: How can I keep the right intention while reading The Book of Zohar?

Answer: There is no doubt that I can’t keep the right intention, but I need to imagine the state I want to be in now.

First I need to totally detach myself from the voice of the announcer, as if I don’t hear anything. I know that I am connected to a pipe through which the Light flows unto me and it can either help me or harm me: it can become the “elixir of life” or the “potion of death.” It all depends on how I hear!

It is as if I put on earphones, but I turn the volume down and don’t want to hear. First I want to know what energy, what force, reaches me through these channels, how the Reforming Light should influence me. Do I receive it like a bat and sink even more deeply into the darkness, or like a rooster that expects the dawn? It all depends on my intention and so I have to clarify this first.

So first I block my ears in order not to hear anything. What should I do now so that the Light that reaches me will heal me? I don’t want the snake that is the symbol of medicine, to turn into a real snake and poison me with its lethal venom. The same poison can be used as a medicine even though it comes from the same source, from the same snake. In order to do that I have to prepare myself, to be in a group together with the friends, to want to connect with them in my heart and soul to become one man in one heart, to attain such a love into which we can all dissolve and feel ourselves as one whole.

To the extent that we can reach that by the Light that Reforms us into one body, we will feel the force that unites us, the Creator, internally. We will feel the source of the Surrounding Light. The Light determines the connection among us. The source of the Light is the Creator who is revealed in the vessel that is arranged correctly.

First I have to imagine this whole state accurately. When I see it before me by imagining it emotionally and even visually, I gradually begin to unclog my ears. Then I turn on the volume in order to hear the announcer’s voice, as long as I can keep the image I have created in my mind. But if what is going on disturbs me from keeping that image, I turn the volume down again. If it doesn’t disturb me, I follow that voice.

I try to hear the announcer and no matter what is being said: whether it is about Passover, the blood of the circumcision on the door, the details about the exodus from Egypt, I try to find all these discernments in that image in which we are all connected.

I don’t depict the image according to the corporeal meaning of the words which the “language of the branches” uses, but rather translate them into the “language of the spiritual roots”: Sefirot, Partzufim, reception and bestowal, the connection between us and the Creator, and the unity of the concepts “Israel, the Torah and the Creator.” I immediately get rid of the actual words, as from an unwanted shell. It is as if I clean the shell off the nuts before I begin to eat them, and thus I get rid of corporeal concepts and immediately move on from the branches to the roots.

I try to imagine what it looks like in the spiritual roots: what is the meaning of “lintel,” “Mezuzah,” or “blood.” Even if I don’t understand, it makes no difference. The main thing is my efforts, wanting to know what is being studied, to connect to what is being studied. The Reforming Light influences me according to my efforts.

We must constantly repeat these exercises over and over again, in every book that we study: the articles of Rabash and Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, The Zohar, the Mishnah, Shulchan Aruch, all the books are about how to connect the broken vessel.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabblah Lesson 4/22/12, The Zohar 

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The world is the picture, the hologram that the Creator displays for us today, and we are in it. We are involved in this illusion, and it is the reflection of our inner qualities.

Looking at the world, I see my reflection and can tell from what inner qualities I am made up. I like this person and that one not so much; this is like this and another like that, etc. Hence, all these qualities are inside me. Each of my little qualities draws a certain image for me: each of us, everything in the world from the still, vegetative, and animate nature.

That is why if I see something negative around me, I see this deficiency in me; otherwise, I would have seen only the absolute even upper Light.

Of course, we are very far from this degree. But we can approach this state and reveal it only if we are seriously engaged in self-assessment of what we see.

Therefore it is said that the world was created only for the absolute righteous or absolute sinners. When a person admits that he’s a sinner, he understands that he’s opposite to the Creator. When he sees and justifies everything—only if he doesn’t lie to himself, but really sees the world full of everything good, kind, perfect—then he’s directed to the Creator and is called an “absolute righteous.” If he has a mixed assessment, a mixed view of the world, then his state isn’t fully conscious. He’s missing the realization of evil and should continue to work on himself.

It turns out that everything depends on our clear perceptions: if I feel good in the world, or if I feel bad.

By the way, I hear from many of our friends that they were expecting something greater from the convention. They thought that now they would “grow wings” and would be raptured away.

That is, people who have been studying for several years don’t understand yet the essence of our correction. And this is natural that they don’t understand! In no way I am laughing at them or blaming them. I know what school I went through, and how difficult it was, very difficult! People don’t realize that they have to correct, no matter how paradoxically it sounds, their attitude towards the world.
[76114]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/25/2012, Lesson 5

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Dear Friends!

I address you, my students, friends, and those who would be able to help us, personally and on behalf of the management of Bnei Baruch.

We have been in existence for 20 years. During this time, we have done a lot: We have developed a website, which is recognized today as one of the largest in the world; we conduct daily lessons, which are translated into dozens of languages; we opened a television channel that broadcasts 24 hours a day; thousands of people completed courses in our learning centers; we create, publish and distribute books, brochures, and newspapers; we produce movies, and we hold conventions around the world. We selflessly strive to disseminate the higher knowledge about the unity of the world.

Over these 20 years, we grew from a group of 10 people to many groups and centers around the world. We relocated from a small house to a two-story building outside of Tel Aviv, which we have been renting for 10 years. It houses our office for the creation and dissemination of Kabbalistic information, our television studio and center where we create, produce, broadcast, and translate to many languages a continually growing number of programs and the three-hour Daily Kabbalah Lesson.

We have reached the point that we have outgrown the current facility; in fact, we are being forced to leave this building. Under pressure from government agencies responsible for fire safety, electricity, and health, we can no longer stay here.

While calculating the cost of relocation, installation of communications, and settling in a new place, we found that the amount spent on this only will be around $1 million, and the lease of a new building for the next 10 years will cost additional $3.5 million.

Thus, the idea of the economic rationality of acquiring a permanent place emerged. With this all of us will have our world center: those who work here, those who come here to study, and those who come here for an internship. A new building will include lodgings for everyone who wishes to stay with us. Everyone will be able to say: “I have a home.”

We are not ashamed of this appeal because we really are talking about a home for everyone. We are beginning to raise funds for the purchase of our new home. Everyone can donate as much as he or she is able.

But under the threat of eviction, we need to collect at least half of the amount in a short time. Under the pressure from the local authorities, we must move to a new place by the end of 2012.

Let’s celebrate the opening of our new center that will indeed be the center of dissemination of the knowledge about the Oneness of the world.

I appeal to all who understand the need for the dissemination of Kabbalah and mutual guarantee, Arvut, in the world, to help us all find our home.

I thank all of you for taking part: This will unite us!

Michael Laitman.

If you wish to contribute to the fund click here.
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Filed under: Notices - 6 Comments →

Question: How do we plan to inspire all of humanity? For instance, my husband is not interested in anything other than soccer.

Answer: I don’t think that you are unable to influence your husband. After all, a wife always influences her husband. His opinion will change. A woman knows how to make this happen.

The ability to influence a man was purposefully given to a woman. If it were not for her influence, men would simply be lost. It is indeed so because without a woman’s desire, which a man realizes in life, he would realize his own desires simply like a child. It would be something odd.

The reality is that the world stands on female desires, the desire for a home, family, children, and all things that are serious and necessary for our lives. This is first.

Second, what does it all mean in regard to the world? We serve as intermediaries between the world and the Creator. We have to show and explain to the world our method, which brings a person closer to love and bestowal and makes him correspond to the upper Light, the general force of nature.

We can base it on the opinions of thousands of scientists who research nature and discover a singular global quality through which nature connects elements, creates life, and operates it. If we explain and disseminate this to people, we will reduce the world’s suffering. The world will move toward goodness, connection, and life.

However, if we don’t do this, we will experience even greater suffering. We have no choice but to disseminate the method of the correction of man, of human nature, to the world. If we want to, we will accomplish it. We simply have to give it importance.

We can think about love and bestowal only when we actually disseminate the method of correction. Let’s try together.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/2012, Workshop 1  

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Question: During our work at the workshop, I had a feeling as though I was a guard for my friend. Is such a state justifiable? Or is everyone equal in a circle and has a right to make sure their friend is not diverting from the goal and from the topic of the workshop?

Answer: I have to perceive the group as something absolutely perfect: an eternal, infinite, and perfect system. I enter it as a small one into something huge that is forming me.

If being in the group I see or hear something unpleasant from my friends, something that seems to be bad or imperfect, I have to understand that this is because I am this way. In other words, the Creator sets me up so that I would perceive everything precisely in this way. He is playing with me since, as it is written, “there is none else besides Him.” I have to justify Him and say that I perceive everything in the negative way because of my incorrect properties.

If I exist in connection with my friends, I cannot see anything negative in them, but only perfection! Everything else is either my or the Creator’s fault.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/2012, Workshop 1 

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Zeir Anpin is an upper mechanism. Whereas Malchut is my system that I can build together with the friends, that is, with the desires of the Creator that He arranges for me so that I can connect with them.

There are types of desires that do not belong to me; they are foreign desires, but they are also aimed at the Creator like me. I don’t look at their faces but only at the desires, or sparks.

Then I perform different external actions in order to unite us. I want to collect all these desires, all these small vectors into one bundle so that they will become powerful. When they are together, it’s impossible to break them as it is when they are separate.

We connect when each one annuls himself in order to attain the greatness of the Creator, the greatness of the attribute of mutual bestowal. We create it among us in order to show ourselves and the Creator that we are ready for bestowal and want it. Although it isn’t in our power to attain it and we can’t really bestow upon each other by annulling our ego, we still show the most we can reach in our group.

If we make such efforts, the Light that Reforms appears and fulfills the connection among us. Then from this connection (Malchut), we feel the attribute of bestowal that connects us with Zeir Anpin. Thus we discover the Creator: Yesod of Zeir Anpin connects to Malchut and Malchut begins to attain Him.

Malchut doesn’t connect to Zeir Anpin only by a point any more. It begins to open the attributes of bestowal inside it, which befit Zeir Anpin and at the same time are opposite from it because they cooperate with each other. Zeir Anpin and Malchut connect so that the upper Light is revealed between them: the Light of Hochma and Bina, the Light of AB-SAG, and thus we come to consciousness.

Everything depends on how we prepared Malchut. Accordingly, as much as a desire suitable for Zeir Anpin appears in it, it begins to grow together with Malchut. It absorbs its desire and thus grows.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2012, The Zohar  

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Question: How can we correct the situation when the heart doesn’t agree with the good intentions that I understand in my mind?

Answer: We are not the owners of the heart, the environment controls it. If I want to think about something serious and sublime, I take a book or watch a movie, or talk to myself. But if I want to change the desire in my heart, I need external influence.

It all depends on how I arrange my life. You have to regard ordinary life like a theater, that is, to give it only as much importance as necessary. I have to go to work and lead an ordinary life like everyone else. Yet I don’t treat it as my real life, but rather as a theater play, in which there are actors who play their role as was determined by the Creator and they’re not even aware of it.

The one thing that can really influence me is the group. In all of reality there is only this one tool, which I can influence and which can influence me. I can prepare myself to have a more sensitive perception of their influence and then I will get it.

So, all my work is concentrated only within the group. There’s no other way to change a person’s heart. Sometimes people think that it’s possible to study and to disseminate more and thus to advance. But the study is no substitute for the group. A person’s advancement is only possible through the group.

The group can be very big or very small or even virtual and not physical. But in any case I have to be around people who are like me, towards whom I can practically annul myself, give them presents, respect them, and see them as the greatest in our generation. I have to act before them by seeing myself as a total zero, as dust under their feet. Then through the group, the Light will influence me because I annul myself. This is an actual annulment and not some imagination like in relation to the Creator in front of whom everyone is ready to lower their heads. 

Then I will see to what extent these actions are efficient and how they could have helped me if I had done them many years ago. I don’t understand why I haven’t heard about this until now. After all, it is so simple. In fact, I did hear but didn’t carry it out. It takes a long time until a person finally hears and begins to do something.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2012, The Zohar 

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