Audio Version Of The Blog – 01.06.16
Posted on January 6th, 2016
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Question: The former prime minister Ehud Olmert was sentenced to six years in prison, but following a reconsideration of the bribery clause, the sentence was reduced to a year and a half. They believe that Olmert pocketed 60,000 NIS, not 500,000. What is the difference if he took 500,000 or 60,000?
Answer: The truth is that theft of a million shekels or one shekel is the same thing because both this and that are called theft and a thief must be judged according to this. The problem is that the eyes of our justice system are blindfolded; they don’t want to look at people who hold important positions objectively. For some reason they relate to them as irresponsible children and not as criminals.
In fact, Olmert should have been given 20 years in prison because what he did in the years he served as the mayor of Jerusalem and the years in which he served as the prime minister is shameful and dirty. It would be necessary to convict him not as an ordinary person who receives 10 years in prison, but as a former prime minister and give him 20 years.
When it comes to high-ranking people, our justice drives in the opposite direction: “Were you arrested for theft? We will lessen your sentence.” Instead of six years, only one-and-a-half years, this means that the sentence was reduced fourfold. All the recently discovered economic and ethical crimes of the politicians have led to the same result. But why should this be so?
If the legal system were built on penalties to warn others, it is necessary to do otherwise. He should be given a double punishment because due to his position, he undermined the standing of the government and the confidence of the people in the government. He should answer for it all. It should be a public reprimand. And on the contrary, everything is obscured, covered up as though nothing happened
Question: From the point of view of the wisdom of Kabbalah, who can become a leader and who can be a judge?
Answer: Both a judge and a leader must be absolutely pure people. Because there are no people like these, it is at least necessary for there to be a system of influence from the surrounding society that will decisively and precisely influence the purity of their actions and make theft impossible. Everything depends on the environment, which must keep people like these in the correct state.
In contrast to this, in today today’s environment it is the opposite; everything is bought, everything is sold, everything is betrayed. That is how it is in all governments, not only ours.
Question: How should a judge be?
Answer: According to our orientation, from the point of view of the wisdom of Kabbalah, a judge is in the highest position, a person who is absolutely incorruptible, guided only by the true, highest criteria.
A member of the government must serve only for the benefit of the people. The decisions made by him must be checked and approved by everyone. There are some decisions that must be approved unanimously according to all opinions and streams.
The state the nation and the people are in today cannot be. We urgently need to change everything, otherwise this becomes routine. Today someone is arrested for theft, another one tomorrow; yesterday he sat in jail and now he is again the Minister of Internal Affairs. This is to say that tomorrow he again becomes the head of the same system that sent him to prison. This is called, “The face of the generation will be like the face of a dog.” (Mishna Sotah, 9:15).
I hope that in spite of all this we will begin to correct the situation and it will be reflected in all of society.
[173568]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 12/30/15
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The Torah, “Numbers,” 22:28 – 22:30: The Lord opened the mouth of the she-donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times?” Balaam said to the she-donkey, “For you have humiliated me; if I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.” The she-donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your she-donkey on which you have ridden since you first started until now? Have I been accustomed to do this to you?” He said, “No.”
As long as Balaam didn’t use his entire ego for his own sake, which Balak forced him to do, he didn’t have any problems and lived with his ego in peace. However, when the time came to use the ego against the goal of nature, trouble started. Today, everyone encounters these problems. This is the reason for the global crisis.
Question: Isn’t using the ego always against the goal of nature?
Answer: During our lives, we build houses, dress ourselves, create different machines, develop technology and communications, and seemingly improve the world. We use the ego in this way. We must gradually understand that all of this is in vain and is not the right fulfillment of the ego. Although this trend is against the goal of nature, this is how we approach it.
Question: Why did the she-ass stop and begin to speak? After all, the ego always works contrary to the goal of nature.
Answer: It is because the ego is on the level of the desert here. There are six parts to the desire—food, sex, family, wealth, honor, and knowledge—but there is an additional part, which is the yearning for the Creator, to be in His place, to remove Him from the top, and this is actually what the ego wants.
First, Nimrod, the symbol of egoism, embodies this desire, and then Balak and Haman who wanted to take the Creator’s place, that is, to use the ego to its fullest intensity in order to be filled. After all, there is nothing in nature but the ego. And if we fill it, the ego will continue to exist forever.
But we have a more sublime mission—to use the ego in order to bestow. This means not to imprison all of nature, all of humanity, and all of the worlds in the ego, but rather to turn it inside out and use it in infinity, eternity, and perfection. The ego doesn’t feel this mission, and therefore people don’t understand it.
The only ones who do understand it are several thousand who have the desire that is above the human desires for food, sex, family, wealth, honor, and knowledge. They also have a desire to attain the laws of the universe and to exist on a level of general harmony and perfection.
The people who yearn for this are called Israel, and therefore when the question about the fulfillment of the ego comes up through exiting the desire—exiting outside of ourselves and not by the desire to be filled as Balak and Balaam wanted—the she-ass in us awakens and asks, “How do you want to use me? What do you want from me?”
This means that, when a person works with his ordinary human desires, everything is normal. He uses the ego, plows it and rides it, but now the ego says, “You cannot use and exploit me anymore. I cannot go on or do anything.” Here, the ego is helpless.
[173281]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 8/12/15
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Politicians have little understanding of each other. Changing the basis of international law and the principles of global security are the result of war.
Is it possible to institute a new world order without a world war? There is no principle by which any of the politicians can possibly solve the conflicts that arise without military intervention.
Two possibilities stand before us today: either we enter into a world war or rise above our common problems. The wisdom of Kabbalah provides a method that makes it possible for everyone to connect and transcend all problems, but will the world be able to hear this?
[173293]
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Midrash Rabba, Parshat “Balak”: When Balaam was advisor to the Pharaoh in Egypt, he advised the leader of Egypt to bathe himself in the blood of Hebrew children. He also insisted that Pharaoh should throw all newborn Hebrew males into the Nile.
The ego needs to get its vital force from the Creator that moves through the blood because the blood is the spiritual force of the body. As a person’s blood is the force that animates the body, the Upper Light also breathes life into the spiritual body and is called blood.
Therefore, the left line, which embodies Balaam and all of the nations of the world, advises Pharaoh to stand against Israel, which is the right line, and then connect with the Creator, the middle line.
Basically, Pharaoh represents superficial egoism. He would put a golden crown on his head or fill a pyramid with everything that he would need for the afterlife, and nothing else. This world with all its gold satisfies him.
But this is not enough for Balaam. The ideological forces like Balaam, such spiritual strength, are above egoism to a particular degree, so Balaam could talk with the Creator.
His essence is derived from the same upper source as Moses. It is possible to say that they are moving against each other: Moses is from the side of the Light, and Balaam is from the side of desire. These forces must be in alignment, matched, but this cannot happen except in a serious battle between Gog and Magog.
Then Balaam and everything below him must be defeated. This means that the ego, with its intention for its own sake, will die and no longer be able to use or even retain this intention for its own sake.
Question: What does Balaam’s advice to Pharaoh, to bathe in the blood of Hebrew children, mean?
Answer: The ego must begin to receive the life force from the Creator, which is symbolized by the Hebrew children, and Balaam wants to turn this power of Light toward himself and Pharaoh.
He insists that all of the newborn Hebrew boys must be thrown into the Nile. Boys symbolize the power to overcome the ego, the masculine side. Egypt symbolizes the power of the entire ego, and the Nile is its life force.
Thus, if the Nile is filled with blood, then the power of Din (Judgment) comes wherein the ego no longer can exist. Therefore, all vitality in the Nile dies.
It turns out that the life-giving force is filled with the characteristic of Din; no life force comes from above; there is no white Light, and the characteristic of Bina disappears. With this, Egypt is finished and dies.
[172633]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 8/5/15
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Question: Judging by what happens in nature, balance and unity will not come soon, and I want to live well here and now. What must I do? Will I get to feel harmony in this life?
Answer: It depends on how you understand the concept of harmony. If you intend to watch a series on television while sitting in a warm chair in front sipping juice or beer or having a comfortable life within a circle of family and friends, then maybe you can attain this.
But if you have a need for a higher state, then it is a problem. In our world, you will not be able to find satisfaction for that. If you wonder about the meaning of life and begin to think that you will get old and eventually die, and your life is senseless, if you have to answer the question “Why do I exist, still young?”, if you develop sufficiently, then you cannot shut your eyes and be satisfied with physical pleasures.
You look at the whole perspective and see that basically you are living like a little animal. Is there a way out of this? You begin to explore and reach the conclusion that, as far as it seems, there is a way out because nature is eternal and infinite. It is perfect. So, how can you attain this perfection within yourself?
At this stage, opportunities open in front of you, bringing you to a system of knowledge called the wisdom of Kabbalah. It tells you about how you can attain, now in this world, knowledge about the whole of nature and about what is above our world, how to enter into this realm, find the source of life, and see all the states beyond time and space.
The wisdom of Kabbalah makes all of this possible for you. So, you begin to think that maybe it is worthwhile for you to dedicate part of your life to learning this wisdom.
[172555]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/8/15
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Question: How do our previous lives affect our current life?
Answer: There are no previous lives! Everything accumulates in the soul, in this spiritual gene. Start processing and developing it, and everything will be revealed in it. You will not find any corporeal changes or corporeal stories about yourselves, and therefore there is no point dealing with it! Don’t be like the Pharaohs who embalmed themselves. It is meaningless.
Question: Can a person suffer more in order for it to be easier for others to attain spirituality?
Answer: No, and he should not do that. Suffering is not a commandment and not a goal in itself. On the contrary, a person must live and enjoy and be satisfied with his life because this is how the Creator created him. At the same time, he must help others attain the exact same state.
Question: Is the soul connected to the body, and what am I?
Answer: Our current “I” is our corporeal state because a person feels that he exists in his physical, corporeal body. Then currently, it is his egoistic self that wants to enjoy.
Question: Is it true that a woman is born a woman in all of her lives and a man is born a man?
Answer: Yes.
Question: How does the wisdom of Kabbalah relate to euthanasia?
Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah is against actions in which a person seemingly decides what to do with his life and the lives of others. It is the same with regard to abortions and to premature death.
[170874]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/1/15
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