Question: The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is the most special of days in Israel, when complete silence is established: stores close and mass media and transportation stop. There is no other example like this in the world.

There is consensus among the people of Israel about this day: according to surveys conducted in the past year, about 60% of Israelis fast on Yom Kippur.

There is a very special atmosphere on this day. Why is it treated with so much respect in Israel? Why do Israelis honor the quietness and the possibility to ponder and scrutinize the soul on this day? How do we use this day with a deeper meaning so that it affects the whole year to come?

Answer: Yom Kippur is a special day, not because there is special weather or special forces are activated, which people don’t feel anyway. People, with our special attitude to this day, make it so special. It does not descend onto us this way from above.

If the calendar didn’t indicate when Yom Kippur is to occur, we would not feel it. But when we all hold this day in such great esteem, it becomes special.

Once I happened to be in Manhattan on the day of Rosh HaShana. Another time I was in the Czech Republic on Purim, and even in the Jewish neighborhoods I did not feel the kind of holiday mood that one feels on the streets of Israel.

The “Day of Atonement” (Yom Kippur) is a time for inner spiritual calculation, reflection, and a special attitude. One feels that it has to do with his soul. Everyone tries to be a little better, softer, and calmer on this day, depending on his ability and upbringing.

Even those who do not fast, still consider this a special day. The Day of Atonement pertains to each of us and forces us to perform our individual calculation by scrutinizing one’s soul. But one cannot do this alone—only together. I cannot judge myself according to the upper force, the Creator.

Yom Kippur is the Day of Judgment on yourself, following a repentance after the beginning of the new year. During the new year we decide to realize our potential in life and figure out during the year how to do that and come closer to this goal. One reveals that there is an upper force, which controls our whole world, a general force of nature, which has a precise plan and program.

Therefore, this force created us and develops us now. We are in a net of nature’s laws that bind us from all sides. We fail to understand to what extent we are controlled from above, like babies who don’t even suspect that there are companies producing their formula and all the other necessities. A baby is unfamiliar with this world; he just knows that he needs to scream and mommy will come and do everything for him. That’s all he knows how to do.

Similarly, we only know a tiny world around us on this earth, and that’s it. We don’t even suspect that there is a great system of forces, preparing us and taking care to eventually lead us to a certain forethought state.

All that is hidden from us. However, the science of Kabbalah explains this process and the upper force that controls it to us. We must reveal this upper force on our own and bring it out of concealment in order to broaden our world.

We need to cancel the boundaries of the capsule within which we exist and see all the worlds together, as it is written, “You will see your world during this life.” In fact, this is our purpose and our realization as human beings in this world.

We must reveal the whole eternal and perfect world, where the Garden of Eden exists, instead of just this tiny, transient, and insignificant world full of suffering. And we will reveal that Eden due to opening ourselves up to a great external world.

The science of Kabbalah teaches us that a person needs to rise above his egoistic nature and connect with other people by removing the boundaries between us. In this manner we also remove the boundaries between our world and the upper, external, and eternal world.

Everything depends on canceling our self-love and turning to others. If I begin to treat others like myself, I will thereby eliminate all boundaries and begin to see beyond the boundaries of my usual circle. It is not easy and we need to learn this, but Kabbalists achieved this state in previous generations and came out into the external world.

Kabbalah says that we have to realize this goal.
[166775]
From KabTV’s “New Life” 9/17/15

Related Material:
How One Develops The Sixth Sense
A Taste That Cannot Be Compared To Anything In This World
Repentance

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World - No Comments →

Question: Is the impression created that Adam HaRishon (the first man) Adam was much more advanced than we are because he felt the upper force we don’t feel?

Answer: There is no doubt about it! Spiritual development doesn’t proceed parallel to physical development. On the contrary, the first Kabbalists were much closer to the upper force and the upper worlds than we are. If we now had the luck to meet with our father Abraham, it would be possible to ask him many questions. In the spiritual sense, a constant decline happens more and more with each generation. And accordingly, our ego and technological advancement, along with financial and economic development, have grown more and more..

Ultimately we have reached maximal technological advancement and minimal spiritual development in this world. And so the global crisis develops and breaks out, which is moving and felt all over the world in our time. It is possible to solve this crisis only through the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah to all of humanity. If all of us are united, we will reach discovery of the upper force and this world will ascend to the height of the upper worlds.

Question: We scarcely make any money to live in this world, but you want us to be involved with higher worlds?

Answer: The present crisis is only the beginning. Terrible blows are expected for the world. I don’t want to scare you, but unfortunately that is how it is. We already see clear symptoms now of a future Holocaust all over the world that nobody can stop.

The idea is that the world is becoming round. The higher spiritual forces are approaching our world like an asteroid cloud or a comet. The higher forces that are linked in a single network compress in an increasingly dense ring around our world, which is not connected into a single network. Rather, everything is divided, separate, crushed and torn apart by internal struggles. Our world and the network of higher forces that are approaching it are in opposition and contradiction with each other, so very unpleasant and negative phenomena are revealed in our world. They will grow more and more until we begin to connect and unite to be more and more adjusted to the one and only integral force. Only in this manner can we be saved.

Question: Are all the problems of the modern world sent to us as a punishment?

Answer: There are no punishments! It is only people who perceive what is happening in this way. In fact the law of nature is simply acting on us. More and worsening negative forces are awakening within us as we see the ego has grown from generation to generation. But higher spiritual forces are approaching us more and more like a single network. The opposition between these two systems is increasing: On the one hand, there is the evil human ego, and on the other hand, there is a higher network of good forces. Between them appear the potential differences and tension that we endure.

We cannot change the higher network; we need to only correct ourselves and unite. And you shall love your friend as yourself is the great general rule in the Torah. (Yerushalmi Nedarim 30b), which if not for its existence, we wouldn’t survive. The whole world is becoming global and integral, linked like a single small village. And as such, the world demands from humanity an identical good connection between them. But we are not ready to create a connection like this, so we suffer.

Only the wisdom of Kabbalah can bring all of humanity to good and wonderful relations, so it is being revealed in our time. Further, The Book of Zohar, which was written 2,000 years ago, pointed to our time when humanity would reach a state where it would be compelled to use the method of Kabbalah to connect itself and live in happiness. So I wish for a good and sweet year for everyone, meaning a year in which we have a chance to reach the good life.
[166669]
From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/6/15

Related Material:
There Is A Reason To Celebrate And Be Happy
A Happy Union With Nature’s Holiday
The Making Of A Good Year

Filed under: Collective Soul, Crisis, Egoism, Globalization, Inner Work, Kabbalah Dissemination, Nations of the World, Society, Society of the Future, Spiritual Work, Suffering, Unity, World - No Comments →

Parshat Shalach says that when the spies reached the land of Israel, they saw how wonderful it was. But at the same time, they understood that it was impossible to enter it because terrifying giants lived there, and when the people were informed about this, they began to be resentful.

Generally, when do I begin to be resentful? It is when they say to me, “You must do this.”

That is, whenever I am going toward the next level that I must reach, I cannot escape from it because circumstances are pushing me. Yet, I feel that I no longer have any strength. This dramatic contrast where I must do something but don’t have the strength, awakens resentment in me.

Even though the land of Israel is so attractive and flowing with milk and honey, I still can’t enter there. All that remains for me is only to be envious from a distance and relax. As it is said, a man has no desire for the daughter of the king because even just dreaming about her is suffering.

So, I don’t suffer. I know that she is not for me, a dream that will not come true. So automatically I remove her from my desires and live in peace, enjoying what is attainable.

Here the problem is that I am required to win the king’s daughter, “You must,” and I don’t see any possibility of doing this. But the circumstances force me, “It doesn’t matter. Hold on. Go up. You will climb this mountain and do everything.”

But there are huge giants there, and I have to fight them? Must I overcome obstacles like rivers with strong currents and high mountains? I am not ready! So, I am resentful and grumble.

Resentment appears depending on my present understanding of the possibilities that are standing in front of me and the obstacles that are placed before me. Even though I may later expect a reward, rivers of milk and honey, it’s not for me. Let me live in peace. I lived forty years in the wilderness, and I could live there for another forty years. It’s not so bad. That is basically how a human being is constructed.

The problem is that I take account of my present characteristics and possibilities. However, the Creator says, “I will put you in such circumstances that you will have no choice, and you will turn to Me. Then I will help you. I will support you, and you will rise up to this level.”

But in the meantime, the people are resentful, “We will choose other leaders who will take us back to Egypt.” This is because it is impossible to remain in the middle of the wilderness. Either go forward or back. So, it is preferable to turn back. What was bad there?

For a person in the present situation, it always seems like this, “How I hate the state I am in now. I am leaving.” What he escapes from seems positive to him. So, he goes back.

All of this is completely natural, except for one thing: to ask, to demand, the strength to master the next level. Only then does the person get powers. Until then, he always forgets that it is possible to receive the powers that he lacks from the Creator with the help of demands and requests.

Question: How is it possible to explain this colossal forgetfulness, the constant alternating in us of sensitivity to the Creator and descent, again sensitivity and descent, and that is how it is until the Creator is erased completely from our memories and thoughts?

Answer: The fact is that a person is new all the time. The memory is not stored within him. Everything disappears as if he never had experienced anything and had no similar circumstances. After all, what was on the previous stage is lost, like a rocket. The previous stage is disconnected, and everything is completely cleared away. Nothing is left because at the new level all ten Sefirot are new.
[165631]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/6/15

Related Material:
At The Borders Of The Promised Land
The Reconquering Of Pharaoh
From The Desert To The Land Of Israel

Filed under: Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

Question: According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, we are at the end of a 6,000-year period of the existence of our world; we are in the year 5,775. Does this mean that in another 225 years the end of the world will come? Will everything be destroyed?

Answer: Yes, that is what is written. But what does it mean that it will be destroyed? Our world will be lost; it will disappear from our feelings. For what you are feeling now seems to you as a reality in which you exist. It is a reality that we feel because it is created within our senses.

We humans perceive reality like this, but if you were clothed in other characteristics, if you had other senses, sight, hearing, tasting, smelling and touch, then you would discover reality in a completely different form. That is, the reality that you perceive is very subjective.

So with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah you begin to change yourself, which is called correcting yourself; you begin to acquire all kinds of new characteristics and abilities, and it follows that you begin to see the world much more deeply than ordinary people.

In it you see systems and forces that activate it. Before you the walls of the world are seemingly opened wide and you see behind them the immense and amazing system of management and supervision that is called the “kingdom of the Creator” and you discover how these forces manage the world.

In all of their books, the Kabbalists explain how this system works. In particular, Baal HaSulam’s book, The Study of the Ten Sefirot that we study explains how these forces operate us and all the worlds, and how we enter into this system and begin to take the role of management upon ourselves.

Question: When they say that Abraham discovered that there is a single force that manages everything, do they mean that he discovered this system that manages all of reality?

Answer: Certainly! That’s the main idea. You are called Adam (Man) in accord with the future state where everyone will become similar (Domim) to the Creator.

To resemble Him means to learn, to attain, to acquire this entire system of management and supervision, and to take upon yourself the management of this system rather than the Creator. About this it is said: “And the children will return to their Creator.” It means that you will understand, feel, and discover the whole world for yourself.

All of the suffering of today, all the problems, and all the history of our world is designed to compel a person to discover and know why and from where he receives this suffering. All the suffering is only to push us to attain the higher system of management and participate in it to transform our lives for the better.
[165590]
From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/9/15

Related Material:
How To Uncover The Future
Do We Have 228 Years To Think?
Kabbalah Is The Wisdom Of The Upper Reality

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Perception - No Comments →

Opinion (WORLDCRISIS): “We are standing at the brink of huge and meaningful changes, which many are imagining to themselves. The system is exhausted and has become completely obsolete. When, several months ago, Rothschild announced that the period of running after profits had ended, he didn’t lie. Firstly, one must understand several fundamental things…

1. All the modern values and their relationships were created by a system that is collapsing. And before it completely disappears, it will do everything in order to become the sole owner of controlling interest in the world.
2. The system, out of necessity, takes what it wants for itself, until the moment of its death.
3. It is impossible to save, ‘what has accumulated by hard labor,’ if, at any given moment, you don’t use ‘that which has accumulated’ until now.
4. The process of the collapse of the system is accompanied by the end of global phenomena and destruction of the connections between countries.
5. The collapse of the existing system will be general, which means that it will touch every aspect of life, in all countries and areas.
6. Not only the process, but also the sequence of events in the process, will not be possible to predict, so there will be no need to run around and try to transfer the existing properties from one form to another form.”

My Comment: Finally Rothschild and others will begin to openly recognize the new incomprehensible and objecitve socio-economic reality and not attempt to convince humanity that nothing out of the ordinary is happening.

This recognition should signal to us that besides “continuing everything as it is,” since no one knows how to behave, Bnei Baruch should organize an international center for the study of the phenomena for all those interested (on the Internet in the main languages.)

The phenomena that is to be born is known to us (the Kabbalists) and is foreseen by us in advance, and the exit from it, meaning the birth of a new society, has already for some time been described by us, and the system to a gradual transition to new socio-economic relationships (integral), needs to be dictated by us, together with experts of the dying system.
[165567]

Related Material:
The Crisis Is Being Revealed
A Total Collapse Is Approaching
A Global Economic Crisis Is Knocking At The Door

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, Globalization - No Comments →

Question: What is to be done with schools, universities, and work, if people don’t want anything?

Answer: First of all, a person must learn the method for realizing the goal of creation, which is for all of humanity to reach attaining absolute love, mutual connection, and bestowal to one another.

And on that basis, doing whatever is necessary to achieve it, which means getting the right education and information. Certainly we need to provide ourselves with everything, because if the younger generation doesn’t want to work or learn, what will happen to it when the older generation cease to exist?

So we need to understand the entire program of the world and recognize that the years of youth are given so that people will prepare themselves for life, meaning the maximum realization of the program of nature: absolute harmony of all of humanity with nature, and full mutual connection, love, and cooperation between them. That is how our next level of development and exit to another level of existence is attained.

For this, first and foremost we need to be involved with education. And in order to exist respectably on the physical level, we need to be concerned about the minimal requirements: nourishment, a dwelling place, communications, and everything else, acquiring a profession, developing industry, but to the degree that it is necessary for attaining the goal. If we reach this, we will see that we need very little. Of everything that we manufacture today, 90% could be thrown into the garbage. We require simple healthy nourishment, simple clothing, a normal and comfortable place to live so we won’t divert our attention from the goal of existence and will make it possible to be involved with our internal work. So 90% of the population of the world cannot work at all, or the entire population on Earth will begin to work, let’s say, two hours per week, and this will be enough to supply ourselves with everything that is needed.

Question: Why is there no way for us to achieve this?

Answer: Because the ego pushes us forward: It needs more and more, and this is very beneficial for someone. It is not by chance that lots of money is spent on advertising and the media, which educate us in such a manner to convince us that “You need everything.” But in the meantime people only need to know about the true force of nature and its purpose. I hope that in the next few years everyone will know this.
[165484]
From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 10/8/15

Related Material:
How Can We Bridge The Generation Gap?
The Most Important Work Of Humanity
Problem Number One

Filed under: Children, Education - No Comments →

Preparation for the Lesson

[media 1]

[media 2]

Writings of Rabash, Letter 24

[media 3]

[media 4]

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 25 

[media 5]

[media 6]

Lesson on the Topic: “Preparation for the Congress to Beresheet Forest”

[media 7]

[media 8]

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

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

[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/download/audio/eng_o_rav_2015-09-24_declamation_blog-rav_full.mp3 title=’24.9.15′]

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog - No Comments →

The Torah, “Leviticus”, 23:29 – 23:32: For any person who will not be afflicted on that very day, shall be cut off from its people. And any person who performs any work on that very day I will destroy that person from amidst its people. You shall not perform any work. [This is] an eternal statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. It is a complete day of rest for you, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth of the month in the evening, from evening to evening, you shall observe your rest day.

Because the day begins in the evening, the Torah commands us to observe Yom Kippur by resting from one evening to the next. If a person comes close to a state of atonement and forgiveness, clarifies, and feels it correctly, he totally refuses to do anything on that day because all his actions will stem from his finite ego. A person who has not yet decided and tries to do something hinders his advancement and corrupts his soul.

Therefore it says: For any person who will not be afflicted on that very day [Yom Kippur], shall be cut off from its people, because the desire with which a person could have begun his ascent is gone and is concealed from him. Only if he performs many different actions will he be able to get another chance to feel and understand it. These actions help him return to the same state, but with a different clarification that is deeper, more correct, and helps him go through this state properly. But he prolongs his path this way.
[166792]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 18/6/14

Related Material:
Yom Kippur
The Sabbath
The Day Of Atonement

Filed under: Holidays, Inner Work, Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

Secret to a Successul Year

Have you ever asked yourself why you fast? Why you go to the synagogue on Yom Kippur? Why you wear white? Why you ask for the forgiveness of a friend you have wronged? To be honest with ourselves, the reason is that on Yom Kippur we all want to be “not guilty” at least in something.

Those who are well-off even compete as to the sum they pay for the right to read the Book of Jonah in public, a well known merit for wealth and success in business in the following year. But do they understand what they pay for?

Jonah’s story begins with a mission that he receives from God to warn the people of Nineveh that they should repent and change the unfounded hatred they feel towards one another to brotherly love. Today, the nation of Israel also has a mission, just like Jonah, that we cannot run away from. It is the same mission we have had since the days of Babylon, since the time Abraham united us on the basis of love of others, so that our unity will be an example for the whole world. Fulfilling this role is our right to exist.

We have experienced how this law of nature operates throughout history: when we are united, we prosper and the world prospers too. When we fall to unfounded hatred we suffer from blows and the world deteriorates. We have failed to establish the connection between us to such an extent that we don’t believe we can ever establish good relations among us. We are filled with aversion when we hear about our mission of being Light unto the nations. We have forgotten our mission and when we escape from it, the storm comes.

The Storm
Jonah runs away from his mission and escapes to a ship sailing overseas. His escape causes a storm, and the sailors understand that the reason for their suffering is the Jew who is on board their ship. It doesn’t take long before they throw him overboard.

In the modern global world, the nations of the world also blame us for every crisis there is. The fate of the Israeli nation is inevitable. The sailors in the story change each time but our fate is the same. If we don’t wake up and agree to fulfill our mission, the time will come and we will be thrown into the sea.

The Agreement
Jonah is thrown to the bottom of the sea and is swallowed by a whale. When he completes his soul searching he agrees to fulfill the mission he has been given and only then does the fish brings him to a safe shore, to Nineveh.

Just like Jonah, we too carry the method for connection. This national gene binds us into one nation and we cannot escape it. When we connect, we will set an example of unity for all the other nations. The only question is whether we will fulfill the responsibility that we have or whether, God forbid, we will be thrown into the depths of the sea so that we will agree to fulfill our role.

Light Unto the Nations

Our role is to turn the unfounded hatred we feel into love of one another. But instead of being Light unto the nations ,we do everything in our power to be like all the other nations. The steamroller of evolution, however, is making more and more people and countries feel subconsciously that the Jews are responsible for all the impending troubles, so the nations of the world will not change their attitude towards us for the better unless we fulfill our obligation.

Yom Kippur, which is a time of deep soul searching, is an opportunity to accept our mission and to decide to connect and become the Light unto the nations. Only then will the global turmoil around us calm down and all of humanity will reach peace and quiet and a Sukkah of peace will be spread over all of us.

A happy new year and may you all be signed and sealed in the book of life.
From Dr. Laitman’s Column in Ynet  9/18/15

Related Material:
General Intention For The New Year
Adam Was The First To Break The Ceiling Of This World
New Year, New Horizons

Filed under: Holidays - No Comments →