In the News (from DailyMail): “Chicken soup is good for the soul, they say. And as a homespun remedy for everything that might ail you during winter, there are few things as deliciously soothing.

“But could such a broth be more than just a cold comfort? According to the latest scientific study, the answer is yes.

“Research in the American Journal of Therapeutics showed that a compound found in chicken soup – carnosine – helped the body’s immune system to fight the early stages of flu.

“But the authors warned this benefit ended as soon as the soup was excreted by the body, so that means you may need to have a fairly constant supply.

“The study wasn’t the first to look at this. More than a decade ago, Dr Stephen Rennard, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, wanted to find out why his wife’s recipe for chicken soup, handed down through generations, was so healing.

“Using blood samples from volunteers, he showed that the soup inhibited the movement of the most common type of white blood cell, neutrophils, which defend against infection.

“Dr Rennard theorised that by inhibiting the migration of these infection-fighting cells in the body, chicken soup helps reduce upper respiratory cold symptoms. …

“Also, researchers at the University of Nebraska found the combination of vegetables and poultry in soup could help alleviate respiratory tract inflammation that results in feeling bunged-up.”

My Comment: We shouldn’t laugh at our grandmothers and mothers! It is always like that… but how could they know of the existence of carnosine in broth?
[97088]

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In the News (from PLOS.org): “On 22 February 2011, Christchurch New Zealand (population 367,700) experienced a devastating earthquake, causing extensive damage and killing one hundred and eighty-five people. The earthquake and aftershocks occurred between the 2009 and 2011 waves of a longitudinal probability sample conducted in New Zealand, enabling us to examine how a natural disaster of this magnitude affected deeply held commitments and global ratings of personal health, depending on earthquake exposure. We first investigated whether the earthquake-affected were more likely to believe in God. Consistent with the Religious Comfort Hypothesis, religious faith increased among the earthquake-affected, despite an overall decline in religious faith elsewhere. This result offers the first population-level demonstration that secular people turn to religion at times of natural crisis. We then examined whether religious affiliation was associated with differences in subjective ratings of personal health. We found no evidence for superior buffering from having religious faith. Among those affected by the earthquake, however, a loss of faith was associated with significant subjective health declines. Those who lost faith elsewhere in the country did not experience similar health declines. Our findings suggest that religious conversion after a natural disaster is unlikely to improve subjective well-being, yet upholding faith might be an important step on the road to recovery.”

My Comment: Fear, uncertainty, and lack of confidence gave rise to religious feelings and sustained religions. If it were not for them and if there were no death, there would be no religion—the mass belief in the unprovable. Kabbalah refutes the religious attitude towards the world. There is Nature and its laws; this is an upper force. And all the feelings that people feel toward the Creator and attribute to Him originate from sensations that are peculiar to man, and to man alone; it is similar to how we attribute certain thoughts and feelings to animals.
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Question: It is written in one of the Shamati articles, that you should not lie; but to unite, we often use a game and even such tricks as lying to the Creator or to each other.

Answer: This is not a lie, but playing being in the next state. Think about it, how can I be good to someone if I am still a complete egoist?

We know that the students of Rabbi Shimon, being great Kabbalists, before starting to write The Book of Zohar each time felt that flames of hatred raged between them and they were ready to turn each other into ashes.

Then, what should we do, take our friends and really “turn them into ashes,” to be true and faithful according to our desires? Or conversely, should we begin to rise above them by faith above reason, understanding that the Creator increases our egoism, and we must rise above it?

How can we do this if we do not have yet the strength to ascend? That is why in our world we are given the animal state when we are in the human/animal body, in relationships with other animals, and at the same time, our points in the heart are either in a state of getting closer to each other or in a state of rejection of one another.

The fact is that we are simultaneously in two planes: in the lower world, which exists in the material, physical form, and in the upper world in the form of contacting points. Our heart is at the lowest level and the points in the heart are at the upper level. But we want to feel and determine our existence not at the lowest but at the upper level.

That is why in our world, we are given a sense of opposition to friends, reluctance to be with them. So, we have to get up and play that upper level where seemingly we are already united and wish to reveal a new state among us. This is not a lie, but an attempt, like children to be adults.

We absolutely do not hide our ambivalence to each other. It is said that all the students of Rabbi Shimon felt tremendous mutual hatred, and then working on themselves, they corrected themselves and reached that attainment which they then described in The Book of Zohar.
[96974]
From the Virtual Lesson 12/23/12

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Question: What does it mean to judge the whole world to the scale of merit?

Answer: It means to attain a level in which I am incorporated in all the desires in the world, in all the souls, in all the parts of the one general soul, to such an extent that it all becomes me. Prior to this, in the previous levels, I already attained my personal end of correction, having totally justified the Creator’s attitude to me in the past, the present, and the future.

Now I attain the general end of correction by including all the souls in me and by being in one vessel with them. This is called judging the whole world to the scale of merit and by that I actually attain the Creator’s attitude to all of them. It is because I am in their end of correction and in my end of correction, and it becomes the same thing. What is revealed in this corrected vessel is called “absolute love.”

Until then, all I have in the meantime is my own vessel and I judge according to my feelings in it. So at a certain moment I can say that the Creator is good, but the next day when something unpleasant happens to me, I don’t justify the Creator any more. I cannot annul myself and determine that the Creator is good unless I correct all my vessels. I am constantly in the slingshot, tilting from one side to another each time.

When I correct myself, I begin to incorporate with all the other vessels, with all the people, with their internality. By this love for them, I reach the love of the Creator. These are not just nice words that call me to love everyone in order to use them as a means of getting to know the Creator; they are my spiritual vessels!

I am increasingly filled with love for them that is expressed by my being able to bestow upon them. Greater desires join me each time, and I work with all this accumulative desire.

Suppose I had 50 kg of desire yesterday by which I could connect to 50 people, and today my desire to receive has grown, and I feel melancholy, but I overcome this feeling and rise, and now I have 70 kg of desire. By that I can now connect with several more people.

My process of correction is by connecting to others and bestowing upon them, by love connections with 20 more people. It is possible to explain this simply, although it actually doesn’t happen so simply, but as an integral incorporation in “circles.”

To the extent that I connect with others this way, they become me and all of reality becomes mine. Thus I see the Creator’s attitude to reality, since it is the same thing, just like His attitude to me. It is like judging your attitude to me according to your attitude to my baby. Because I love him, your positive attitude to him is the same as a positive attitude to me.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/12, “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: How can I hold the intention correctly when I am not in my proper environment, for example when I am on the street?

Answer: It’s very difficult to hold the intention outside of your environment. Here, indeed, you need the friends’ help. When you go outside to the street or start doing external things, various problems arise. You begin to be distracted, and if you drive a car, others honk, whistle, etc. so everything disappears because you can’t yet be in two worlds. So, you constantly need to feel the support of friends, as if you are under the influence from yours or any other group in the world.

Our common concern for each other, Arvut (Mutual Guarantee), should be manifested here; otherwise, we will not be able to reach the upper world. If we don’t care about each other, we are not the general Kli (vessel), as it is written: “Each man shall help his neighbor.”
[96978]
From the Virtual Lesson 12/23/12

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We should always help, support, and respect a friend even if he is hardly working on correcting his egoism; we still need to encourage him to play along as a small child.

When we approve and support him, he feels inspiration and confidence; as a result, he is capable of doing a lot of things. On contrary, when we suppress him and take his confidence away, he suffers, withers, and loses his ability to realize himself.

Therefore, we always have to give support and encouragement to our friends.
[96768]
From the Virtual Lesson 12/23/12

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Preparation to the Lesson

“Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 134, Lesson 34

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, Parashat “Naso,” Item 359, Lesson 18

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9, “Ohr Pnimi,” Item 18, Lesson 12

“Body and Soul“

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion, “HaShavuah” Selected Excerpts

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Question: Once we reach the state of Gmar Tikkun (the final correction), will the feeling of the Creator, as the greatest, remain because we adhere to Him in one whole and become equal?

Answer: The special method of Kabbalah is that in adhesion with the Creator, our feelings of oppositeness to Him are not lost.

On the one hand, we become more opposed to the Creator; we distance from Him because during spiritual ascent our egoism grows. But at the same time, we become closer to Him, above our increasing egoism, and that is why our oppositeness to Him does not evaporate, does not disappear.

That is, in the state of Gmar Tikkun (the final correction), we discover that we are absolutely opposite to the Creator in our desire, and absolutely equal, like Him, in adhesion with Him, in our intention.
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From the Virtual Lesson 12/23/12

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