Audio Version Of The Blog – 03.03.17

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The Concealed Meaning Of The Torah

laitman_209Question: Is there a concealed meaning according to the Kabbalistic perspective of the murders and atrocities described in the Torah, which seemingly take place according to the Creator’s command?

Answer: Yes. The meaning of murders mentioned in the Torah is that we must kill the egoistic attributes inside us. This is the only thing it refers to, not to people.

The Torah only tells us about what a person does internally, both good and evil. Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah is called the internal part of the Torah.
[202017]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 9/4/16

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Everything Is Vanity Of Vanities

laitman_608_02Question from Facebook: What does the expression “vanity of vanities,” from Ecclesiastes by King Solomon, mean?

Answer: “Vanity of vanities” is a mistranslation from the Hebrew expression “Hevel Hevelim,” proving once again that it is impossible to read the Torah in translation.

In fact, Hevel a-peh is actually a breath, an exhalation of air, which passing through the five parts of the mouth—namely, the vocal cords, palate, lips, cheeks, and tongue—is processed and expressed as five kinds of sounds: dental, palatal, guttural, lingual, and labial. That is why it is said: “the word of God created everything.”

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, Hevel means Ohr Hozer (Returning Light). This is great rule of the emission of Light when a person does not want to receive Light within his egoism, but wants only to resemble the Creator, he rejects it and sends it away. Only this measure still exists in the world and is manifested. Therefore, it is said that everything that happens in the world comes from what is called Hevel, the Ohr Hozer.

This is not vanity but very serious inner work, quite the opposite of what we mean in our world when reading the Torah in translation.

Question: If a person says about worldly pleasures, “all of this is vanity,” does it not have in mind some semblance of Reflected Light (Ohr Hozer)?

Answer: No, this is enormous work a person performs on himself when he must make a Tzimtzum (Restriction) and then a Masach (Screen) to achieve a state of discovering the upper world, rejecting it, and sending it away from himself. Then, he sees that everything is perceived only in the Ohr Hozer.

Thus, it is possible to receive pleasure only through the Ohr Hozer. This is the Hevel. Therefore, “There is none else besides Him.” Everything else is only talking about our world that is not considered to exist at all.
[202023]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 1/25/16

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There Is No Coercion In Spirituality

laitman_600_02Question: I love a woman and I want to study the wisdom of Kabbalah. The woman I love neither supports nor objects to this, but I have a feeling that she has a point in the heart. It could be that she hides it deep in her heart.

Can I ask the Creator to strengthen and intensify the point in her heart so that we can advance together toward the Creator? How can I influence the Creator to impact her so that she will realize that our life together and the wisdom of Kabbalah are the most important thing to us and to the whole world?

Answer: Spiritual development depends on one’s desire so coercion is impossible and forbidden, as one either has a desire or not. You should think about yourself and perhaps her desire will awaken through you.
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Haaretz: “Ruling Elite and Pseudo-Liberalism—an Explosive Combination”

My new article: “Ruling Elite and Pseudo-Liberalism—an Explosive Combination” in my column in Haaretz.

Beneath a guise of free speech, America has become a fascist country, where only one view is permitted.

During the weekend, President Trump held a campaign style rally in Melbourne, Florida, where he called the media “the enemy,” “fake news,” and stated, “They’re part of a corrupt system.” Judging by the relentless attempts of the Democrats to sabotage Trump’s efforts to man key positions, the media’s slew of warped or made up stories purporting to prove the president’s dishonesty, through the army of on-the-ground agitators that Obama’s Organizing for Action has dispatched in order to disrupt every town-hall meeting in the country and create the pretense that the nation is with the Democrats, it seems that the president is right: There is a war against him on multiple fronts.

In such a case, the logical thing for Trump to do is indeed to go directly to the people. Sadly, the American president cannot expect to receive fair coverage from the American media. Worse yet, because of the way that the media is built, the president cannot rely on the media to change its tone toward him.

It is not a question of policy; it is a question of identity. Donald Trump is not part of the ruling elite that has governed and exploited America for decades, and for whom Obama and Clinton were the executors. But because they must hide their intentions, they cover it with a bogus humanistic agenda such as caring for the immigrants and backing the Obamacare program.

The Necessity of Diversity

Liberalism in itself is a noble idea. Following World War II, numerous countries in the West adopted the Liberal agenda as a “vaccine” against fascism and Nazism. However, a society cannot be vital and vibrant unless many different views vie against one another and in the process become polished and refined. When all the parties understand that diversity of views creates vitality, they strengthen their society and increase its ability to cope with changes.

Our own Jewish tradition encourages diversity and debate as means to enhance social cohesion. The great Rav Kook wrote (Letters of the Raiah), “The great rule about the war of views, when each view comes to contradict another, is that we need not contradict it, but rather build above it, and thereby ascend.” Likewise, Martin Buber wrote in Nation and World: “It is not neutrality that we need, but rather cohesion, cohesion of mutual responsibility. We are not required to blur the boundaries among the factions, circles, and parties, but rather share a recognition of the common reality and to share the test of mutual responsibility.”

For generations, Jewish leaders indoctrinated their disciples into a mindset that promotes conflict of views as a means for both finding the ideal solution, and strengthening social cohesion. The Talmud writes that “A father and son who engage in Torah become each other’s enemies, yet they do not move from there until they return to loving one another” (Kidushin 30b). The Zohar, too, writes (Aharei Mot), “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to also sit together. These are the friends as they sit together, and are not separated from each other. At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another. Then they return to being in brotherly love. …And you, the friends who are here, as you were in fondness and love before, henceforth you will also not part … And by your merit there will be peace in the world.”

The Inevitable Evil

The problem with American society today is not that liberalism is wrong. The problem is that it has denied the legitimacy of “other parties,” as Buber put it. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” said British Liberal MP Sir John Dalberg-Acton. Liberalism has been the sole legitimate agenda for decades now, but instead of using it to create a vibrant arena of views that invigorate one another, it has become a stifling mechanism by which anyone who disagrees with what the media deems true is shamed and boycotted. When business people feel that they must apologize for stating their honest, very mildly conservative views for fear of putting their business at risk, this is no longer liberalism and certainly not pluralism. It is tyranny. Beneath a guise of free speech, America has become a fascist country, where only one view is permitted.

But if “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” then this was to be expected. “The inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen 8:21) is not merely a phrase in the Bible. It is really who we all are. This is why rulers need watchful media to monitor them, and why the media needs to be kept genuinely free and pluralistic.

This is not the situation in America. Neoliberalism, which has destroyed Europe through immigration, and nearly destroyed the US by eliminating its middle class, has been the sole ruling agenda in the US for decades. It serves the interests of the small elite group of magnates who control the American economy, the media, and thereby the government, all the way up to the White House. They determine what is reported and what is not, who is defamed and who is glorified. By controlling the media, they have dominated public discourse, public opinion, and have avoided criticism. This is ingenious, but deadly to society.

Their best interest is not what is in the best for the American people. Their interest is world dominance. Through proxies such as Obama, Clinton, and Bush before them, they “removed” Arab leaders such as Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, and Bashar al-Assad, destroyed their countries, and created an influx of migrants into Europe. It is not that these Middle Eastern tyrants are or ever were anything to admire, but if you look at Iraq, Libya, and Syria today, would it not have been better for their people if their tyrants had remained in place, rather than the ruin, death, hunger, and terrorism that is their daily reality today?

If the people driving the “liberal” agenda in Europe maintain control over their governments, it will not be long before Europe accepts Sharia law. As this sad story of a forced child marriage shows, this is already happening, but it will spread much faster if they succeed.

And what they have done to Europe, they will continue to do to America: This same group will allow unchecked influx of migrants into the US, who will drain the already overstretched welfare system, create an impossible conflict of cultures and faiths, and will result in extremism on both sides, which will lead to bloodshed. And all this will be done in the name of liberal thinking, pluralism, humanism, and democracy.

On the Side of Correction

It may appear as though I am in complete support of President Trump and against the Democratic Party. In truth, I have no personal affinity for any particular person or agenda. I do have great affinity for diversity above which people can connect, since diversity keeps society cohesive, agile, and healthy, and keeps the country strong. At the moment, President Trump represents this view quite well, and the Democratic Party, with its undisputed monarch Barack Hussein Obama, absolutely does not.

I regard Trump’s victory as a sign that the American society is still alive and kicking. It gives me hope that it will also be able to go through the necessary sobering up without bloodshed and without dragging the world into another war. If Clinton had been elected, there is no doubt that war would have erupted. Russia, America, and Europe were already making preparations on the ground. Now, at least there is a chance for peace and the correction of society.

But to correct society, all parties will need to learn from the Jewish tradition—that “love covers all crimes” (Prov 10:12). Rav Yehuda Ashlag, author of the Sulam (Ladder) commentary on The Book of Zohar, wrote in his essay, “The Freedom”: “Just as people’s faces differ, so their views differ. Therefore, society is cautioned to preserve the freedom of expression of the individual. Each individual should maintain his integrity, and the contradiction and oppositeness between people should remain forever, to forever secure the progress of the free society.” Liberals would do well to listen to their own “coreligionist” Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times who wrote, “We progressives could take a brief break from attacking the other side and more broadly incorporate values that we supposedly cherish—like diversity—in our own dominions.”

At the moment, Trump cannot bury the hatchet and make peace with the media because he is not the one raising it. It is up to the media and the Democratic Party to decide that their country comes before the interests of their party, or even the interests of their financiers. If they do not stop their war on Trump, they will force him to fight back. If Trump wins, they will be severely restricted going forward and American democracy is likely to be hampered. But if Democrats succeed in taking Trump down, the likely scenario is that the next leader America’s political right sends forward will be one who will truly galvanize the conservatives in America, and all hell will break loose.

For America’s sake and for the sake of the world, I pray that this great nation wakes up and understands the value of diversity, the benefit of honing views through open debate, and the powerful cohesion attained when that debate yields solutions that contribute to the thriving of the whole of society.
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Predicting The State Of The Soul

laitman_627_2Question: You say that according to the Creator’s plan of creation, all will reach the completion of correction. Is it possible to predict the date when this happens to a particular soul exactly or close to it? It is very difficult to live with uncertainty.

Answer: There is no such date. No one can know anything in advance. To reach the completion of correction, you must first define the goal, and the date will arrive when you create it for yourself.

It is possible to predict the state of the beastly body, but it is impossible to predict the state of the soul since it depends only on the person himself, not even on the Creator.
[201584]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/1/17

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Emotions Purify The Soul

laitman_239Question: It is said that negative emotions can cause illness. Is this true?

Answer: In our world this is absolutely possible, but not in the wisdom of Kabbalah. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, emotions only purify the soul. This doesn’t mean that we must hold onto negative emotions, enjoy them, or become involved with sadomasochism, not at all in any way!

We need to constantly try to be in positive emotions, not because we are afraid of negative consequences, but because that is how we express our desire to be in bestowal and love, like the upper force, which is good and does good. We want to be in such a relationship with the higher power so we can feel each other better.
[200858]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 8/28/16

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New Life #413 – The Game Of Life: “You Shall See Your World During Your Lifetime”

New Life #413 – The Game Of Life: “You Shall See Your World During Your Lifetime”
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

How can we enjoy life just as we did when we were kids? What rules of the game should we adopt in our daily life and what new world will be revealed in our lives if we play correctly?

All of life is one big game. Everyone plays different roles in different situations. A young man and woman, for example, play a loving couple, but once they get married the game is over.

Before the wedding, they did not feel committed, so they enjoyed the game. Once they have commitments, the game is over. It is impossible to enjoy life if there is no element of a game in it, no color. If that’s the case, life is death.

Our life is supposed to be a game, a transition to a more sublime state, which is the attainment of a wonderful prize. But if we dry out our lives and hardly carry on, it becomes a heavy burden and we live since we have no other choice.

In order to turn life into an enjoyable game we have to define the goal of life and the prize. Everything we achieve in life fades away and everything ends in death. This is why different religions have invented prizes that we are supposed to receive after we die. However, we can enter the wonderful game called “you shall see your world during your lifetime” right now.

A person can break through all the boundaries and open the upper world for himself. According to the rules of this game, you should change your nature in order to open the new world for yourself. The instructions are simple: you have to change your attitude to others; to love others as yourself. You should play this game in a group of at least ten people. You should try to see others close to you as yourself until everyone melts into each other. In such a connection between us, we begin to discover one force, one thought, one desire—a new world.

Everyone begins to play the upper force for others, to act the love and bestowal. We advance step-by-step until we reach the big prize—eternal life, not of the body but of the self.
[158280]
From KabTV’s “New Life #413 – The Game Of Life, “You Shall See Your World During Your Lifetime,” 6/22/14

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 03.03.17

Preparation for the Lesson

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Writings of Rabash, Vol. 2, Article 21

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Questions and Answers with Dr. Michael Laitman

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