Audio Version Of The Blog – 12.30.14

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio

[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/download/audio/eng_o_rav_2014-12-30_declamation_blog-rav_full.mp3 title=’30.12.14′]

The Correction Of The Sabbath

Laitman_633_4Torah, “Leviticus” (Kedoshim), 19:30: Ye shall observe My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary. I am the Lord.

The Sabbath is the private end of correction on every level. Every level undergoes a correction during six days, six sub-levels (Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod), and then all the attainments are summed up to a general level that is called Sabbath.

The sum of the levels, the combination between them, and the correct mutual connection between them are done under the influence of the Upper Light. A person cannot express himself in any way by correcting and collecting these states. It is not in our power. We only perform private corrections by preparing them for unity, and the Upper Light connects everything.

It turns out that a person doesn’t work on the seventh level. This state is called Sabbath, which means rest, a sabbatical (complete rest), which appears when you are not involved in the last process that sums up the six levels. Therefore, the Sabbath symbolizes holiness.

As a result of the Upper Light, the end of the correction of all the levels and the sum of all the Sabbaths into one single Sabbath, the whole world reaches one unique state of complete rest. There is nothing else to correct. There is nothing else to discover, to clarify, or to connect. An absolutely final outline of the soul is created, which is called the last Sabbath of the world.

Therefore, if you spiritually observe every private Sabbath correctly, you get the feeling of the perfect ultimate state. However, this refers only to those who have spiritual attributes.

Question: Sometimes, religious people say that, if all the Jews observed the Sabbath all the time, there would be a feeling of the end of correction, of the last Sabbath.

Answer: Even twice is enough. If we repeated that state at least two consecutive times, we would transcend two levels higher from the previous uncorrected state. On the third level, it is already the end of correction since the general request rises to the upper and then to the uppermost, and then everyone enters the world of Ein Sof (Infinity).

In our world, the Sabbath symbolizes the end of the week, but we should understand that the term “Sabbath” refers to a certain correction of a person during six levels, and not days. Each of these levels can last for many months and even years, and it also can last for a couple of moments.

It is only when we gradually go through all the six levels—by collecting all our desires by which we tried to perform spiritual actions of disseminating the attributes of love and bestowal to the one force outwardly—do we attain the state of Sabbath.

However, it isn’t the pleasure from resting, but very serious work that doesn’t end in the actions of correction, but in collecting all the corrected parts into one unique whole. The Light does that, but we need to clarify in advance, to merge, to place, to show everything, and to raise this state to the Upper Light.

Therefore, the work on the Sabbath isn’t the clarification of the lack of correction, but working on wholeness. Everything that we do during the week accumulates into the right formation on Sabbath. This work is called the corrections of the Sabbath.
[150197]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/16/14

Related Material:
Spiritual Sabbath
“Remember The Sabbath Day”
Saturday As The Result Of Corrections

What Will Happen To The World?

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Michael Khazin, economist): “The idea of the Bretton Woods system is an expansion of the territory of the dollar. Through expansion of the territory of the dollar it is possible to print dollars, creating additional income that can be redistributed. If these nations comply with the general rules of the International Monetary Fund, they receive a share of additional dollars.

In the ‘70s, the territory for expansion was finished, yet expansion continued through providing loans to private individuals and refinancing from private debt. In the year 1990, the Soviet Union broke up and expanded the territory for the dollar carried out at the expense of the socialist nations. In the year 2000 the crisis began, yet the printing of dollars continued through reducing the cost of credit.

“In the year 2008, the crisis erupted again, and the printing of dollars continued at the expense of changes in the supply of money (reduced rates, specifically the encouragement of loans). As a result of this, the allotment of money market credit was 17 times greater than the allotment of ready cash.

“When the resources for printing money were finished, the problems began; private demand was in decline, even though the economy of the United States apparently showed growth.

Today it is clear that the bubble in the stock markets will collapse; which is to say, the value of assets will fall and the liabilities, meaning the debt, will remain. This means mass bankruptcy. In order to wipe out the liabilities, the banks’ plan for wars in the Middle East, in which, on the one hand, there is oil, and on the other hand, there is Israel with its atomic bomb.

“Another possibility is a massive terrorist attack. This is something that will make it possible for the banks to say to those who have money that the risks have grown to such an extent that they are forced to delay payments because the system of insurance for financial risks has been destroyed.

“There are two scenarios: To save the global financial system at the expense of the American economy (this is the perception of the Democratic Party of the United States), or to save the American economy at the expense of the global financial system (this is the perception of the Republican Party). This situation caused the defeat of the Democratic Party in the midterm elections, and the enhancement of the isolationist forces in the Republican Party (the world doesn’t matter to us, we must save ourselves!).

“The European politicians depend upon the CIA, the SNA and so on, where each one of these organizations holds evidentiary material against them. So these politicians are fighting for their lives. The United States will destroy them if Europe takes steps in its interest and not in the interest of Washington. In this case, Europe will find itself facing a civil war, as in the Ukraine, and a state of disintegration. Russia has its fate – to a state of starvation.

“As of today the politicians active in the government are under the age of 65, and they are unfamiliar with the scale of these problems. And the elderly, like Kissinger, are no longer influential. So the world is standing at the door of a cruel reorganization (territorial, national, and a reorganization of the elites). Most likely some of these politicians will be defeated in the 2016 elections in the United States, and then the situation will change.

My Comment: We need to produce new socio-economic relationships based upon the conditions of the “Last Generation” through integral education, the unity of all in a single society based upon full equality, work only that is required to supply the essential needs of society. The freed resources and the time will be conveyed to national universities that are involved with the education of the new generation among humanity.

In the meantime, we currently don’t see the possibility of a gradual and easy transformation from a market economy to a communist economy, so it now depends upon the success of dissemination of integral education.
[148155]

Related Material:
A Financial War
Can The War Save The World?
“Dollar Hegemony In The Empire Of The Damned”

If We Only Knew Who We Are Working For!

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus” 2:23: And it came to pass in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. We should understand that we have to look inside, not outside, ourselves. This is my Pharaoh and my Egypt and it is all inside me. However, I want to build a new self inside me and in order to do so, I have to work hard and kill certain desires inside me and make them collide with one another.

Imagine Moses’ state, the tiny spark of bestowal that grew in the huge ego called Pharaoh’s palace.

The time comes and the king of Egypt dies and I am in the state in which my ego finally dies. I understand that there is no use for it and I want to be free of it, but in the meantime, I cannot. I see that this ego is dead. I want to escape it, but I don’t know how to break free of it.

“That the king of Egypt died,” means that the ego ceased to exist, just as people die in our world. It ceases to exist only in my eyes, in my assessment, and it loses its control over me. I don’t want to be its slave! It still dominates me, but it is already against my will. As far as I am concerned, it dies as other great rulers do and I no longer take it into account.

I cannot be free of its control as yet, but I no longer consider it great and don’t agree to respect it and perform all its caprices. I am no longer its loyal slave.

Look at the world and how people try and do everything for their ego. If they only knew that it is a stranger to them. If only they understood and saw that they are working for a liar who cunningly takes everything they earn from morning to night by their hard work. A person tries and makes efforts, but 99% of the fruit of his hard work is stolen from him by Pharaoh who only leaves him miserable crumbs so that he will not die and continue working day after day.

Everything is arranged and organized around a person. Television, advertising, the press, and elections operate in order to make him a slave who has no way of escaping. But gradually, a person begins to understand that he is a slave, and this is what is now happening to the Israeli nation. A person realizes that he has to break free and escape this vicious circle, but he doesn’t know how.

This is very similar to our current situation; we realize that if we leave things the way they are, we will bury ourselves in our ego, but we don’t know how to escape. We need the force of Moses!
[150215]
From KabTV’s “The Torah Chapters with Shmuel Vilozny,” 12/15/14

Related Material:
Nobody Holds Us Up In Egypt
The King Of Egypt Died!
A Good Pay For The Labor In Egypt

Elections Where Everyone Wins

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Exile and Redemption”: Hence, I hereby propose to the House of Israel to say to our troubles, “Enough!” and at the very least, make a human calculation regarding these adventures that they have inflicted us time and time again, and here in our country, as well. We wish to start our own policy, as we have no hope of clutching at the ground as a nation as long as we do not accept our holy Torah without any extenuations.

Baal HaSulam calls for an investigation into the matter to be convinced that we simply have no choice, otherwise we cannot get rid of our troubles. Even a mundane egoistic calculation is enough. The infinite stream of troubles will not leave us any glimmer of hope for something good. There is no escape from this route.

From a rational point of view, we do not have even a slight chance of reducing the suffering, not to mention getting rid of it, as long as we haven’t begun to carry out what is required of us.

Only then, and not before then, will we be in a different situation that will be completely opposite of the present situation. It is only in this way that we succeed in departing from our endless problems.

This conclusion is correct and valid even if we want a good life based on security, well-being, and health. In the “Writings of the Last Generation” Baal HaSulam adds: This nation is very poor, and its inhabitants will suffer much in the future; for without a doubt they or their children will gradually be uprooted from this land in the future and nobody will be left except a negligible amount who in the end will assimilate among the Arabs.

Question: How do we transmit this message to the nation, which again has plunged into the turmoil of early elections with all of its slogans and promises?

Answer: Our approach is much more realistic. Ultimately, behind the slogans, it is difficult to find fundamental differences between the candidates. So why don’t they agree about rotating this position among themselves? They could divide their tenure into equal periods of time and in turn succeed each other. Along the way, we wouldn’t feel any difference.

I am not joking. After all, rotation of this type is intended for the purpose that competitors would help each other for the duration of their tenure so it wouldn’t be important who is “on top” at the moment. An alliance like this would bring much more benefit to everyone. After all sides sign a suitable agreement, they would stop poking sticks in each other’s wheels. And so the best that people are able to do today is to go out and declare, “Enough! Stop this mess, we don’t believe your promises anyway. Yes, certainly you want to invest all of your energy for the good of Israel and this area in general. But we don’t want the details and don’t intend to vote for anyone. We choose unity.”

In my eyes, this is the only solution. It is not as impossible to realize it as it may seem.

The rotation will not extend just to the Prime Minister, but also to the seats of the ministers. As a result of this, all the political camps will work in cooperation and will support each other in order to get support at the time of their victory. Imagine that all of them start serving the people through mutual agreement.

This will be possible only when the people are truly fed up and declare, “Enough with these theatrical struggles. We don’t want to participate in this game anymore.”

Shall we try?

The problem is that the people today are not ready to do this. And in spite of it all, if we want rapid and practical solutions, this rotation is the best solution. It leaves the details through which the politicians only cause disconnect and separateness between us behind the curtains. On the contrary, everyone becomes right and successful.

Each one of them alone is not important. We already know quite well that nice programs and energetic slogans will not be materialized. And so the best thing is to bring all of them to a common denominator to unite the political spectrum.

So in general, it will not make a difference to us what each separate political bloc presents separately. The main thing is that they will connect and support each other instead of obstructing the others and blocking the way for them, leaving the nation without anything. It is preferable that each one will get his portion of control without angering the others by working together with them.

Question: So what must happen so that this will be realized?

Answer: This depends upon the people and not the leaders. What is required here is general knowledge, a program of education. After all, we certainly see that otherwise the people will live their lives, and the government, no matter which one it is, will live its life.
[150202]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
The Right to Choose, Part 3
The Right to Choose, Part 2
The Right to Choose, Part 1

Scientific Experiment With The Upper Force

laitman_934We have to recognize that we are egoists. So, if we want to achieve anything in this lifetime, we have to attract the Reforming Light to us. We cannot make any corrections in this world on our own.

The only thing we have managed to do on our own is getting to the final point of our egoistic development. This path is over now. From this point on, we can move only upward. We have hit a wall. All we can do is go up to the next floor. It is possible only with the help of the Returning Light that gives us potential strength that can raise us.

In order to trigger the Returning Light, we have to unite. Let’s sit down and sign an agreement with each other. Let’s remind each other about our agreement every day, even several times a day. We’ll see that it works.

Let’s see how effective the Upper Light is and learn how to attract It. Let’s check what the best way to study and speak is. It is a real laboratory where we as scientists explore and make experiments with the upper force. We come to conclusions and register every single test.

Try it and you will see how best to proceed and how not to behave. It will be clear from the very beginning. The problem is that we don’t have this desire. The Creator purposefully confuses us so that we don’t have a choice. Eventually, we agreed that we have to connect with each other; otherwise, nothing will come out of our experiment. It’s only a psychological barrier, but it is very hard to overcome.
[149949]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/14, Writing of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
The Light Expects Actions Not Words
And We Have No Other Worries…
Care About The Creator As About A Friend

“You Shall Be Holy…”

laitman_740_03The Torah portion “Kedoshim” (“Holiness”) explains that we all have to achieve the level of sanctity.

“You shall be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy,” (“You people are to be holy because I, Adonai, your God, am holy.”), i.e., we have to reach complete renunciation of our ego. One is unable to get rid of one’s egoism, but one can gradually rise above it to the level of sanctity and transform the entire depth of one’s egoism to altruism, bestowal, and love. At the same time, egoism won’t disappear. However, because of it we will reach this high state.

The desire to exit from one’s egoism shows up under the influence of the internal pressure, which in its turn, depends on the presence of a soul. If so, one begins rising higher and higher until he reaches the level of Bina, the property of bestowal, the quality of sanctity, and begins following the laws of the Torah.

Then, one proceeds further because it is not the end of correction yet; rather, it’s a beginning, the first part.

Observance of the laws of the  Torah is the “processing” of our ego that we use in a way that is opposite to our egoism. If previously one strived to receive and enjoyed exploiting others, now one maintains oneself for the sake of others. This is called receiving for the sake of bestowal.

Question: Does the Torah say how the processing of egoism happens?

Answer: In general it refers to the rise above egoism. The first part of the Torah is dedicated to the means of achieving holiness. Later, it describes entering the land of Israel, the correction of the ego. However, the Torah describes only the ways suitable for the people of Israel, that is, those who attain this state.

As to correction of the entire world, it is described not in the Torah, but in other Kabbalistic books, such as The Book of Zohar and others.

Question: Does it mean that the Torah is not written for the entire world?

Answer: As a source, the Torah is meant for the whole world because it is written in the universal language that is available to all of humanity. But in order to use the text of the Torah directly, people have to be at the level of holiness, at which, for example, Moses wrote the Torah. That’s why we don’t understand what’s written in it.

Question: In other words, after we ascend above our egos, we genuinely understand and sense what the Torah says. How does the ascent happen: consciously or unconsciously?

Answer: A person has to act consciously. The Torah gives us a direction: “You shall be holy,” that is to pursue this rule constantly. That’s why we have to completely master our egoism and elevate it to the level of sanctity.
[149869]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/9/14

Related Material:
A Test On The Attribute Of Holiness
Entering The Holy Of Holies
Learning How To Work With Egoism

Characteristics Of The Jewish State

laitman_936Question: Irrespective of the abundance of problems that Israel undergoes nowadays, often we are the ones who add to the list of the troubles. Lately, the question of the legally enforced status of the “Jewish state” was presented to the general public.

Actually, the general public has to recognize that Israel is a national homeland of the Jewish people from all over the world that has the right for self-realization and self-determination. Besides, the new law will state that the land of Israel is the historic homeland of the entire Jewish people.

Answer: Never before were such questions raised in the Diaspora. We “sat quietly” around the world going about our business.

When we were given the opportunity to return to the land of Israel, the question of what laws should we live according to in this country emerged.

The biblical concept of “the holiness of the land” is not applicable to the current situation in Israel. It applies only under the condition that the Temple exists. That’s why this territory cannot be called “the land of Israel.” Such terminology refers to the future, to the time of the Messiah’s arrival as part of the faith of the people or to the time when good relationships among us will be set up.

If we refer to the roots, we still have to find correct definitions of terms such as “the people of Israel,” “the land of Israel,” “the State of Israel,” and “the Jews.” Also, we have to define the notions of “the countries of dispersion,” “the countries of the world,” and the “nations of the world.” These terms need thorough clarification. We have to understand in what way our laws are different from the laws of any other country in the world.

There is an apparent difference between the people of Israel and the nations of the world. We are aware of this dissimilarity irrespective of whether we live in this country or are dispersed around the world. Both in Israel and out of its borders, we see a very specific attitude to the Jews on behalf of the nations of the world. For example, we are blamed for causing troubles all over the world.

After a policeman shot an African-American citizen in Ferguson, huge banners appeared on the streets broadcasting that this accident happened because of Israel and is a result of the Jewish confrontation with Palestinians. Any event, even those that have nothing to do with the Jews, turns out to be “because of us.” It has always been like that. We can see that these incidents happen all the time. This tendency is built in their foundation.

That’s why we should realize what exactly happens with and around us. Anti-Semitism is caused by the fact that we are really a special nation created by Abraham on the principle of loving our neighbors as ourselves. In accordance with this principle, we have to live in brotherly love with each other so that we all are friends and nobody does to others what one hates for oneself. This is the condition of mutual guarantee, unity, reciprocity, when everyone takes care of others and others care about one.

Abraham gathered his students from all over ancient Babylon and created a group that later became a nation. It happened three thousand years ago. In essence, the Jews are not an ethnicity in the traditional meaning of the world; rather, they are Abraham’s assembly, the descendants of the Babylonians who joined Abraham under the slogan of brotherly love.

It doesn’t matter what tribe or ethnicity each of them came from. If anybody wanted to make a “dome of love” above things that separated them from each other, if one was ready to devote oneself to establishing connection instead of detachment, then one joined the brotherhood and became a part of the people of Israel. These men regarded themselves as a unified whole, not as separate entities. That’s what Abraham taught them.

This is the basis of the people of Israel. This is where our Torah, a study of unity, comes from. We are not united by ethnic roots. Each person in the world can become a Jew if he or she wants to be united with others and to live in accordance with the law of love.

In fact, the law of love is a law of the Jewish character. The goal of the people of Israel is to carry the entire world to understand one unified principle: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” In other words, the goal is bringing people to unity where there is no inequality or distance whatsoever. This is the goal of creation. We all have to attain it.

That’s why it is said that we have to be “the Light for the nations”; i.e., our task is to explain this notion to the whole world and help other nations attain the ultimate state.
[149613]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 11/30/14

Related Material:
The Jewish Character Is Unity
Time To Justify What Was Received In Advance
Regulators Of Spiritual Traffic

Community As A Challenge To Capitalism

laitman_600_02Question: Sociologists state that human beings are social creatures, their need to be a part of a community or a society is basic and fundamental. Lately, the structure of communities underwent multiple crises that made it almost impossible to imagine what community life should be and what it means to be a member of a community, and to what extent communities influence individuals. What should community life be at this time in your opinion?

Answer: Throughout all of history, people were born and lived in communities. Communities were people’s homes, families, and replaced the entire world! It was so in Africa, Asia, and Europe. A community was a small village or a tribe, i.e., some kind of environment that constantly enveloped them with warmth and care.

This attitude people experienced came not only from their parents. It was a part of everybody and everybody belonged to one; there was not much difference between community members, no competition, those who were greater or smaller. However, further advancement was based on the evolution of egoism. As it expanded, egoism increasingly distanced people from each other.

This is the reason why normal community life deteriorated: Some people grew richer than others, some poorer; some fared better, some worse; some were stronger, some weaker.

Lately, our egoism has grown exponentially. At this time, we are experiencing “a leap” that is comparable only to the outburst of egoism in ancient Babylon. Until recently, we still had some community life together within the boundaries of our countries or cities. Medieval towns erected walls around their territories. They had to strengthen their connection to resist external enemies.

At this time, there is nothing like that: I live in my apartment and hide from everybody trying to be completely independent. I don’t even know my neighbors; there is nothing that connects me with them.

In the morning I go out of my apartment with my kids, put them in the car, and take them to a kindergarten or a school. In the evening I bring my children back home; they go to their rooms, close the doors, and most of the time they do not even share dinner with me. This is how our life goes.

At the same time, our overall dependency on nature squeezes and forces us to connect stronger than ever. On our part, we resist this process and tend to break the borders from the inside. These two developmental tendencies create a phenomenon we call a crisis.

Due to globalism, we can provide everybody with essential things. However, none of us really wants to stay connected with others. Thus, our desire to live a good life turns into affliction.

It’s common knowledge that communities have influence over public suppliers, service firms, etc. If we lived in a small town, we would be able to do numerous good things for other residents.

We would set up rigid prices for food manufacturers and vendors as well as for those who sell electricity, gas, and water. The prices would depend solely on us since we would be major buyers. So, we would be the ones who were entitled to demand and set pricing.

If we created one or multiple communities in the contemporary environment, we would compete with the egoistic capitalist approach that tends to take everything from us, wanting to take advantage of us with unconcealed aggression and cynicism. Our current situation allows us to choose whom to address in order to organize our lives the best possible way.

Things can be arranged in a way that communities will be the ones who are in charge of organizing their lives. It means that they won’t hire service or law enforcement firms; rather, they will create them anew. However, the first thing people should do is to establish a closer connection between them so that their unity shapes them in accordance with global nature. It’s not an easy task to achieve.
[149552]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 10/8/14

Related Material:
The Future Society
The Boundaries Of The Egoistic Integration
Growing Interdependence

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 12.30.14

Questions and Answers with Dr. Laitman

[media 1] [media 2]