We Have To Do Something To Change The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanPeople don’t feel the need to connect, but they understand that they should connect when they feel that they lack ordinary material things. This is the initial level of the still nature.

They want to better their lives and they understand that it’s possible to find some merit that may help them by connecting. Having connected several times, thanks to our help, they understand that there is a special power in it: a pleasant, good feeling of confidence and of joy. But this is not enough.

If they begin to change their environment and their lives with this power of connection, they will really manage to see that their actions can change the world. But in order to do that, they need to do something other than just sitting and rejoicing about how good they feel together.

Now they have to actually fulfill the power of connection: to change their lives, the life in their neighborhood, the relations in the family, the attitude towards children, to demand that the government make new laws to improve education, and the connection between people.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/27/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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A Turning Point In The Perception Of The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do we explain to people that an imbalance with nature causes disease?

Answer: Rationalism has existed in the world since the days of ancient Greece. The prevailing view is that a human is found above all of nature and we shouldn’t wait for mercy from heaven; rather, it is up to us to take everything into our hands. This broke us, for a materialistic philosophy developed claiming that a person is not a part of nature. In fact, he is the greatest egoist.

Nature includes the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate within which man is found. And man thinks he is outside of all of this; this is our problem.

This contradiction is particularly prominent now; I think that I am found above nature and it shows me that I am found within nature, under its control.

The difference between my world view, my desire to be above nature, and what is in fact discovered, awakens a global crisis that includes all areas of human activity. This is because I think that I control nature and I suddenly discover that nature is integral. Now we are gradually discovering that we are inside a computer, within a program that manages us, so we cannot do anything. All of our plans are destroyed and there is no way that we can succeed in activating them. We try to do something with our lives, with the children, with the nation, but everything is in vain. Why? It is because we have developed to a state where we feel ourselves above nature, but discover that it is above us and in sum we are activated by it, whether we like it or not. This lack of accommodation between our state and what happens in reality leads to all the problems.

And in the meantime, the global network of management is being discovered as more and more linked. It doesn’t make a difference what we do; in response we feel a blow, a severe reaction. Nothing will succeed, the world is falling apart, the family is breaking apart, children go away in all directions, and everything escapes from our hands. These many problems must bring us to one conclusion, we are within a cosmic, globally inclusive system, within a program that is called the purpose of creation, and we are only a small part of it.

The crisis helps us discover that we are a part of that program, and we have a free choice here that makes it possible for us to recognize the program and to carry it out from our choice. Only then can we be called “man.”

And if we don’t want to carry out the program by our free choice, then we will have to do it against our will, because we will not succeed in doing anything! More and more problems have arisen in the world precisely to show that humanity depends upon nature and its program. This is because nature is the Creator, the higher power, and if we are within it, so its program is found beyond our powers. This is the point of the crisis in the world view and integration within it.

So when we go out to the general population, it is up to us to explain to them that for all of their problems in the family, at work, in health, with children, and so forth, for all of this there is only one cause and one solution, and this is the right connection between us.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/14, Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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The Holocaust: The Causes And The Motivating Forces

Dr. Michael LaitmanIsrael marks the Memorial Day for the Holocaust and the heroism of the European Jewry. During our discussion, it is up to us first of all to clarify for ourselves the general picture that the wisdom of Kabbalah describes, the evolution of the common Kli from Ein Sof and its appearance in our world. After this Kli was shattered into pieces, it went through an additional shattering here, and began to develop in the opposite direction after that. This is essentially the last stage towards the correction that began in Babylon.

Although it is possible to begin counting from Adam, we are not talking about personal advancement only about group advancement where the part worthy of correction is revealed in the collective Kli, the part responsible for correcting itself and all the rest of the parts. This is the law that is derived from the integral, analog system that is closed and is completely dependent on its original ten Sefirot.

So Abraham built the first group in Babylon, and it had the responsibility of correcting the collective Kli. With the rest of the Babylonians, he made other kinds of corrections, and as a result of this, various religions and beliefs were born. He led the group to greater and greater connection. And the more that it realized connection for the good of the rest of the parts, the more it developed.

This group, later called the people of Israel, carried out corrections when it was connected with other souls, with other nations who lived in the land of Canaan, if we are speaking in physical terms about spiritual connections within the spiritual Kli. Then there was the Egyptian exile. After Abraham’s group left, it actively began to correct itself reaching the level of the first Temple; it fell from this level into the Babylonian exile, returned and built the level of the second Temple, after which they fell for thousands of years until our day.

And so Abraham’s group was responsible for the process of correction of the world, and this program of development consists of two parts that determine the way of the development for the group and for humanity. The development of the group depends on the development of the world. The group doesn’t exist for itself; it is inseparable from the whole, and so all of the corrections that it does can be good for it, but still are not good enough for the world. As a result of this, throughout history, the people of Israel continue to fall and suffer disasters.

The prophets even wrote about this; it was revealed to Jacob, who symbolizes for us the correction of the middle line, which he heads. And so the account of the people of Israel is not only about themselves, whether they like it or not; it depends on all of them, and they all depend on it. This has continued from the exodus from Babylon to the present day and will continue until the end of correction.

What I mean is that we cannot see the situation that is created around the people of Israel in a conventional way in the world. This is because we have no answer to any question. The world still doesn’t understand why it is so confused about this point, that it apparently seems secondary, but yet it remains like a bone in the throat. Only if we reveal the true picture of the entire creation, as well as the role of the people of Israel in regard to the nations of the world and in regard to the Creator, then we will see everything in a different light.

Historical development is derived from spiritual development that obligates the people of Israel to carry out its role in the world, to correct ourselves, to bring Light to the nations of the world, and to lead them. Israel and the nations are like Galgalta ve Eynaim and AHP, one body, about which it is said: (Isaiah 56:7) “For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” Specifically from this prism it is up to us to see the history of the people of Israel, and also not to forget that the Creator is found above this collective Kli and the nations of the world with His program that relates to the two interrelated parts. He activates the entire process, and how He reacts and realizes it depends on Israel.

On the other hand, we must understand that we don’t begin the spiritual path on the “right foot.” The whole world, meaning the collective soul, is shattered; therefore, the calculation is not done with a neutral Kli, but rather with a shattered Kli. This question may be asked: Why were the people of Israel forced to go down to Egypt and suffer? That is, they did the correction that was demanded of them, they reached the level of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and did everything that was necessary. So, why didn’t they receive a bright future? Why did an abyss open in front of them forcing them to later escape?

This answer is known to us; they lacked the Kelim that they needed to discover. We already know that the form that troubles come in makes no difference; it is up to us to transform them so that instead of fear there is awe, so that the characteristic of Hasadim will expand the narrow place. It is necessary to correct what comes to us: the evil, the sorrow, the exile, and the blows, without asking why it comes.

It is said: (Psalms 130:1) “Out of the depths have I called Thee, O LORD.” The question is only do we have enough to carry each and every step of all the directions for correction that comes to us? If not, then to our great sorrow, we constantly absorb blows including those for which we apparently are not guilty, as happened to the group of Jacob that was forced to go down to Egypt. The dispute that led to this caused the collective development of the Kelim.”

And so we already understand the process that they always told us, that shattered Kelim were to be discovered, meaning, things that were originally unpleasant. This is clear and there is no question here at all. The idea is only how to correct the situation at a good and useful rate. It could be that in the beginning my motivation is to flee from troubles, from evil, from pain, from threats and dangers, yet in the end, I must realize the corrections in order to connect everything to the higher source and to give Him contentment. And with this comes the completion of correction. And it is desirable to express readiness immediately, according to “the last thing done is the first thing considered.”

Therefore I must organize the environment and prepare for difficulties from the start.

In general, when we begin the work, we must understand that if I realize free choice together with the group, then essentially it cannot be that I will suffer. On the contrary, I see a call from above in everything that arouses and bothers me. Certainly on the way I also feel descents, yet very short, not prolonged; these are not the terrible upheavals that happened before. Everything depends upon preparation.

Today the problem of the people of Israel with the Creator penetrates into everything that is done and is developing in the theater of our world. In order to agitate these people, the Creator awakens the Pharaoh through the kings of Egypt, Spain, France, and England, whatever. This could be Hitler; it could be all other leaders through which the Creator awakens special treatment for the Jews by the example of the Egyptian exile. And the Jews must respond accordingly. Even though they are not that bad and try to do something, but yet the people still continue, and a great Kli is discovered that activates additional pressure.

And so the relationship between GE and AHP depends on several factors that are very difficult to explain to the world in the traditional language of the historical approach. Just as it is impossible to explain complexities of familial dynamics even to people who understand and have personal experience. No great novels or stories can help here, a person must pass through the inside, and then he will see for himself how the general system works and is constantly changing. And its parts, which are the nations of the world, Israel, and the Creator, are one (Israel, the Torah and the Creator are one) are tightly connected. He will see the general program of creation, the three lines which advance towards the end of correction, through the ladder of spiritual levels by way of the circles and straight lines.

This is a very complicated system since it is a multifaceted program in which the endless Kelim, the desires, are mutually and integrally connected and found in all kinds of changes.

We can give only partial and fragmented explanations about particular historical events, so we must simply copy the general picture from the spiritual map since it is impossible to describe them or apply descriptions of the physical world to them.

Returning to the subject of the Holocaust, it was revealed in a unique situation in Europe, which was the cultural center of the world, in the most developed nation and in a country where a multitude of Jews lived, who had invested enormous effort in culture, education, the economy, and other areas human life. They were truly ready to join with these people and to assimilate; yet they encountered a very violent reaction from those who hadn’t seen any problem with Jews. This hatred seemed largely irrational. The Jews were doctors, lawyers, engineers, and scientists in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. So why did this happen?

Again, there are several reasons for this. First of all, the egoistic development of the world had reached a stage that required the beginning of the general correction and the Jews had to be the head. They were concentrated in Germany and held a very high status, but they were involved in completely different things. As a result, the demands and the arguments against them from the side of the AHP greatly increased since the nations, according to the program of creation, felt powerless. There were other circumstances for example, Hitler even received money from the United States and was supported in the beginning by a particular strata of the population including the Jews themselves.

In general it is possible to say that parts of the collective Kli are divided in a particular manner and this was expressed in our world. One way or another, the answer to all of the questions and problems is simple. If the Jews for whatever reason, depending on them more or less, were connected to the ideas of previous generations and the present condition, and had delayed the program of creation according to which they were supposed to bring correction to the AHP as well as to the entire still, vegetative, and animate levels of creation, and elevate them all to Olam Ein Sof (world of Infinity), then this caused them trouble and suffering. There is also significance to the level and type of delays, not only its quality and manner. These criteria change all the time on different levels, and therefore, their expression can be completely different. Yet in fact, in a particular and general manner, this is the origin of anti-Semitism. And therefore it is specifically here that it is necessary to search for the true reasons for the Holocaust.

It is written, (Psalms 148:6) “He hath made a decree which shall not be transgressed.” We are in a world that is entirely managed by one power, and this power acts according to a program, the relationship between the Lights and the Kelim. In normal life, there are a multitude of difficult and terrible conditions with which we cannot and are not ready to agree or justify. And emotionally it is impossible for us to agree with what happened during the Holocaust.

If there had been an eruption of a volcano, a tsunami, a meterorite, or any other natural disaster causing tens of millions of people to die, including six million Jews, then we would not call this a Holocaust, but a deadly disaster. Yet in Europe people didn’t just die, they were intentionally murdered only because they were Jews. The cause of this phenomenon is up to us to clarify. And this is already a completely different investigation. What did they do incorrectly “in the eyes of the Creator,” meaning from the perspective of the law of creation, which caused such an attitude towards them from the side of the environment? If we ask this question, then we can find the answer.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/14, Chosen Topics on: Holocaust Memorial Day

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 05.02.14

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
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Fewer Goods – More Profits

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from Harvard Business Review Blog): “Recent evidence suggests that the paradigm of ‘variation is value’ may be shifting. More and more, consumers are conveying their preference for fewer choices and simpler customer experiences. For example, a Forester Research survey earlier this year noted that consumers are foregoing unlimited choices in the computing world in exchange for more ‘curated’ choice, where providers sort through the possible applications for individuals and recommend a limited subset. Similarly, at a Future Agenda Conference in August, much of the conversation was about ‘less variety.’ As one professor noted, ‘fewer choices provide higher levels of satisfaction.’ 

“The narrowing of choices by these companies has not only made it easier for their customers but has also increased revenues and margins. With fewer products or services to promise, all of the associated supply chain, facility, and support processes can be slimmed down, saving considerable money and energy. Even automobile companies and airlines seem to have learned this lesson. General Motors’ process of shedding brands and narrowing down their product portfolio may have been painful, but this made it easier for buyers to understand the new GM and for the company to focus its resources on producing better cars. Similarly many airlines have cut routes and frequency of flights, giving them fuller planes and more efficient use of their assets.”

My Comment: This comes not from a desire to be the best, like nature in all its actions, but by the desire to maximize profit. Nevertheless, this is in the right direction. And then comes the right intention.
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A Search For The Center Of The Group

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I understand what I have to do if I want to turn to the social committee. I have their email address and their phone numbers. But how do I turn to the center of the group?

Answer: The center of the group is an inner discernment, my feeling that this is the point where we connect. We descended from above while being connected, and then reached this world where this connection was totally broken. Now we have to rise back to the same state in which we were connected and then rise even higher upward to an even stronger connection.

We enter the patterns that have already been arranged for us during our descent. All these patterns, all the 125 levels, already exist. We only have to yearn for them.

Yearning for the center of the group is yearning for our higher state that already exists. I look for it in the dark, “on my bed at night.” I try to imagine what the state is like in which we are all connected and the Creator is revealed to us. What should this connection be like? I want to attain this form. This is the state I have to look for, to picture it from the state I am in now. I have to think emotionally about what our connection looks like so that we can all merge, so that our hearts will melt, and become one. If I try to picture this state, I get closer to it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/20/14, Shamati #190, Shamati #59

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An Operation For The Assistant Director

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean for me to participate in my own development, that didn’t exist before?

Answer: Previously you were a box that was managed by orders that came from a network. Within you were only mechanisms through which they activated you with these commands. But now, into yourself, you must move the main part of the computer that is above you and sends you the commands along with the program that runs it. This is called, “a part of the Divine from Above.”

Question: Why are you calling me a box? After all, I am alive and learning.

Answer: Because you are a desire to receive that is activated only by self-interest that is managed from Above. But now you are getting a part of the computer that manages you, together with the program. You need to know the ultimate goal of creation and your true situation. You need to know how to advance in a mandatory direction.

You need to check yourself, understand, and see that you are a desire to receive, so you cannot advance towards the desired goal of creation. Appearing within you is a conflict between what you want and what is necessary. This will draw you towards troubles and wars through which you will gradually begin to change your mind about the goal.

You don’t want this goal, anything but to bestow, to give. But what is there to do? You receive blow after blow, flee until there is neither anywhere to flee nor anywhere to hide. You begin to accept that you have no choice but to agree. And through your consent, you begin to learn that until this point all was through coercion, and then it becomes according to your desire.

We see this according to the 4 phases of Ohr Yashar (Direct Light), how a receiver is made from a bestower, and that a receiver under pressure can resemble the bestower. But this is a very long way, since 400 years are required for this. These are the 4 phases of  Ohr Yashar, but in reverse, and this way is not very desirable.

So we needed progressive development over billions of years. And now through the wisdom of Kabbalah and a guide that is sent to you, you begin to see how to carry out actions that will be desirable to your ego and will gradually become a mechanism that works in the opposite way. All of this must be done gradually, not because you receive benefit for yourself, rather because this is good for others, including the higher power.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/25, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Seeing The Future

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I don’t understand what I have to add in order to actually participate in my own development.

Answer: When a baby is born, it first grows only instinctively. But gradually he becomes more aware.

What is the difference between a one-year-old baby and a five-year-old? What has changed besides the child’s weight? A five-year-old can somewhat understand the future, which means the outcome of the states he is experiencing. He can assess and see the future, which means expecting the next state.

Animals do it instinctively, but not humans. A baby can fall from a high place and doesn’t understand that it’s dangerous. He can put something hot in his mouth and get burnt. An animal would not do such thing; it wouldn’t fall from a high place and would not get close to danger. A baby grows and acquires the wisdom he lacks.

A wise man is one who sees the future, which means how a state develops. This is what animals do instinctively but only in the limited sphere of their existence. A person has a much stronger ability since he develops it himself.

Baal HaSulam says that if someone was shown a newborn baby and newborn calf, he would say that the calf is a more perfect creature than the human baby because the baby is totally helpless while the calf can already walk, understand, feel, and is strong.

But because we develop the ability to see the future, we understand who is more perfect. The whole wisdom is in the ability to see the future. Therefore people consult wise men who see what ordinary people cannot see. This is what we have to acquire these days because the whole world is becoming confused and depressed. No one knows what to do and no one sees any possible outcomes. Therefore, we have to learn to see the future.

In contrast to previous generations, we can already see the future, our future, only in vessels of bestowal. It’s because the spiritual future is approaching and we cannot identify it, and so we think everything is falling apart. However, the point is that we cannot perceive and see the future and enter it in our current vessels because we don’t belong to that system. In order to become compatible with that system, to see the future and understand the changes that we have to make in order to adapt to the future, we need to be wise.

A wise man is anyone who knows the wisdom of Kabbalah. Therefore it written in the prophets that thousands all over the world will hold on to every wise man so that he will lead them.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/25, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Do Not Boil A Kid In Its Mother’s Milk

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the spiritual meaning of separating milk from meat?

Answer: The Torah says: “Do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” Meat cannot be eaten with milk since by that you cause a short circuit between the most important things, the right and left lines.

Milk symbolizes the right line, the Light of Hassadim (mercy) that stems from the desire to bestow. So on the physical level, milk is food for children. However, the left line, meat, symbolizes receiving, rigidity, egoism.

We must not bring these two lines together because they can only connect in the middle line when you receive from the left egoistic line only what the right altruistic line can include in it and make the middle line out of the two.

In order to create the middle line, we have to descend from ten to six Sefirot, from  GAR to VAK which means to bring the state of greatness of the Partzuf to smallness, because until the end of correction it’s impossible to receive in order to bestow in the whole desire, except for a small quantity.

Malchut can be used only in the ascent to Bina. The ascent of Malchut to Bina is a state of smallness or six Sefirot. Therefore it’s possible to eat dairy products six hours after eating meat.

In our world, six hours is a conditional measure, and therefore in different communities the time of separation between meat and milk differs. In certain communities the break between dairy and meat is three hours and in others it’s an hour. But on the whole, most communities keep six hours.

As for meat, it can be eaten half an hour after dairy (except for hard cheese, which is the same as meat). Although the laws that forbid the combination of milk and meat are not so convenient, they stem from the smallness of the spiritual Partzuf.

Question: Do our friends all over the world have to keep these laws?

Answer: No, we don’t dictate anything to anyone. This refers to the spiritual work and its goal to receive in order to bestow. We can try to persuade people from morning to night that it’s important to feel love towards a friend, but we cannot demand that someone actually do it.

Moreover, one can keep the tradition and another cannot. We never demand of others but only of ourselves. On the other hand, those who don’t keep the tradition shouldn’t interfere with the customs of those who do. We should respect the customs of others, no matter what they are.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/14, Questions and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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Don’t Let Your Desire Leaven

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Leviticus” 2:11: No meal-offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven; for ye shall make no leaven, nor any honey, smoke as an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

“No meal-offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven” means that it is forbidden to allow our desire to receive to leaven and to rise. It has to remain in its original form.

In the corporeal world, the time for the flour to connect with the water in the process of making the Matzo should be no more than 18 minutes, so that the process of fermentation will not start.

This length of time has a spiritual root, as it is made of nine Sefirot of the Direct Light (Ohr Yashar) and nine Sefirot of the Returning Light (Ohr Hozer), which we can establish without taking the tenth Sefira into account. We cannot correct it and so we just leave it.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 11/27/13

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