Audio Version Of The Blog – 03.15.17
Posted on March 15th, 2017
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The Algemeiner published my new article: “How Purim Can Help Us Navigate Today’s Political Reality“
The social divide in America is violently escalating. The whirlwind of accusations between the political Left and Right continues to spiral downwards. We seem to be hitting new lows on a daily basis.
Making sense of this political landscape is becoming ever more difficult—because each side refuses to engage with the other. This general atmosphere of social polarization has also led to an alarming wave of antisemitic acts, which has led to even more accusations and fighting.
The famous verse from the Book of Esther—“The city of Shushan is perplexed”—sounds just right for today’s America.
The silver lining, however, is that confusion and uncertainty always present an opportunity to reassess our values and priorities. The blind division between left and right keeps us confined to our primal instincts—but confusion might be a step towards helping us find consensus again.
Insights from the story of Purim
The story of Purim took place in ancient Persia, at a time when Jews found themselves under an existential threat.
Haman knew that the Jews were divided, and that he could use this to get rid of them. The Megillah tells us that “there is a nation dispersed between other nations, and Haman said that in his opinion, they will succeed in getting rid of the Jews for they are in a state of separation from one another.”
But the hero of the story Mordechai worked to correct this division—and this ultimately redeemed the Jewish people: “The Jews unified, and by that they were saved.”
The ancient story of Purim holds great meaning for Jews today—and for America in general. But who is the modern day Haman? Who is the true perpetrator of division?
Some will easily blame President Trump, while others will blame the Democrats and liberals. Yet beyond accusations and personifications, we could also say that today’s Haman is the mindset of division—the desire to seek power at any cost—which enslaves us, harms us, and blinds us from what we are doing to each other.
Changing course
Amid this social turbulence, we must find the voice inside of us that calls for shared purpose and connection—because this is the very thing that will bring America and the world closer to peace and harmony.
Every time that the Jews were threatened with extermination, it was our commitment to unity that allowed us to prevail and survive. Today, Jews must remember this history, and set a positive example for everyone.
And while Jews have a prime responsibility to be a model for choosing connection over division, Americans of all stripes must choose this course of action before it is too late. Our fate is in our hands.
Happy Purim to all.
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Brexit confirmed by UK parliament, EU collapse has begun! My prediction from 20 years ago, and it’s good! Start of the healing process.
The US is cutting UN funding from $10B to $5B. This will not help its efficiency—pressure from all countries is needed to heal the UN.
Even if Trump brings industry back to the US, companies will employ machines. The jobless will need to be taught to actualize connection.
No more quickly growing economy! The world has everything to provide for everyone—all we need is to clean up our relationships.
As the ego grows, it shatters the world into more & more independent countries, maintaining separation in the face of needed unity. quote
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From Twitter, 3/14/17
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Question: Is the soul found in the body permanently? Does it fly away out of the body during sleep?
Answer: Since there is no soul in the body, it doesn’t fly away and return somewhere during sleep. Sleep is only a physiological state, which is typical of beasts.
Before we discover our soul through a group of 10, which is the minimal group of people who can discover the soul; each one of us only has a point, a part of the soul, its germ.
To feel the soul, a person must create a fragment, a group of 10, within which he can apply the laws that exist for the collective and complete soul. Otherwise he will remain within his beastly body, sleeping, eating, doing what the body orders him to do and nothing more than that.
The fact is, there are three states in our world: still, vegetative, and animate. And the state called “Adam” (Man) is not found in our world. We are animals. A Man is someone who, starting from the point in the heart, works through the group of 10 and from there to the complete soul Adam – Man.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/6/16
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Question: What distinguishes spiritual attainment from all other disclosures, insights, revelations, and discoveries of scientists and philosophers?
Answer: Spiritual attainment happens through the characteristics of bestowal and love, through exiting yourself, transcending yourself. This doesn’t happen in a person in our world, no matter how inspired one might be.
Spirituality is the characteristic of bestowal without any connection to yourself, regardless of any consequences for yourself. This is a characteristic that comes from above, and a person must acquire it. It is not found in any person except for those who are engaged with the clear Kabbalistic method that comes from Adam.
Question: In the history of the world, have there been many such people?
Answer: From Adam until our day there have been millions. After all, while in Babylon, tens of thousands of people followed Abraham. After that, thanks to practical spiritual work, they became what were known as the people of Israel and later spread throughout the world.
What this means is that at the time of the existence of the Batei HaMikdash (Temples), hundreds of thousands were in spiritual attainment. At that time, this was a great people who felt the upper world for many generations.
After the destruction of the Temples, the decline of the generations began. In the first millennium of the current era, a few thousand people remained in spiritual attainment, in the second millennium of the current era, far fewer remained, and in our day this there are individuals, and it is not known where they are and who they are.
But we are renewing the way upward; it is already a global movement. In principle, it always was global because according to genetic origin, the Jews are not a people but a group of Babylonians who united thanks to a spiritual ideology.
Therefore, there was nothing in it that was contrary to any people. It should be noted that throughout our history, from Babylon on, very large numbers of people joined the people of Israel to enter the perception of the upper world.
Among them were a multitude of ancient Kabbalists and masters of the Talmud who came from Greece, Rome, and other nations surrounding ancient Israel: Onkelos, Rabbi Akiva, and other prominent luminaries, and others as well.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/20/16
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Question: Is the concept of Creator connected to the soul? Is humanity found within the soul or the Creator?
Answer: The soul and the Creator are the same thing; only they are divided into several components.
The desire of the soul is a substance that is created by the Creator or the Light. The fulfillment of the soul is the Light or the Creator. And the connection between them depends on our work, and our efforts.
A soul is composed of two parts, substance, meaning the desire to receive with an intention to bestow to others, and ultimately in order to bestow to the Creator, and fulfillment, which is called Light. Absolute fulfillment through the Light is called the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 11/6/16
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Question: What is the essential difference between life in spiritual attainment and our current existence?
Answer: Our current life is limited in time, consciousness, and the options we have. Our whole life is an escape from suffering.Since there is almost no pleasures in life, any way of slightly minimizing our suffering is felt as pleasure.
What pleasure can there be if a person constantly looks for a way to be satisfied, to be filled, and to sustain himself? How can we speak about happiness when we are constantly advancing toward death?
I don’t see anything good in that. Therefore, I don’t understand what you can enjoy and why to try to keep on living in this condition. The wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t say we should give up the way we are living, but it suggests we rise above it to attain eternity and perfection.
Question: We are talking about the soul, about the Creator. Why do people seem not to hear us?
Answer: A person doesn’t feel a need to reveal the Creator or the soul because he is immersed in corporeal worries.
Although people do show some interest in this issue, our world is scrutinized from a totally egoistic perspective, which has nothing to do with the real soul.
There is some desire to hear what is said about it, but a person has no desire to discover his soul and to join the general system called the soul.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 10/30/16
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Torah, Deuteronomy, 18:19 – 18:20: And it will be, that whoever does not hearken to My words that he speaks in My name, I will exact [it] of him. But the prophet who intentionally speaks a word in My name, which I did not command him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.
Everything depends on the desires that suddenly appear in us. Even during those great days when people were in the attainment of the Creator, a person could be a great saint one moment and a great sinner the next. Therefore, while reading the Torah, it is necessary to know exactly whom the Creator addresses. After all, everything happens within one person.
The Torah is written for each one individually and each of us should carve it on his heart, meaning on all his desires.
Question: Why does the prophet suddenly begin to speak in the name of other gods?
Answer: Of course, there is a difference whether or not he intentionally speaks in the name of the Creator or if he was framed and fell. It could be that egoism has suddenly exploded in him and he can’t stay on the high level of bestowal, or he moved from it due to some other reasons.
It is written, that he “speaks a word in My name, which I did not command him to speak…” Obviously, if he fell into an egoistic state, he will do everything to justify himself and to look like righteous to himself and to others. There were many such false prophets.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 9/5/16
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Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe
Why do we tend to chase luxuries? How can we see beyond appearances, and how does love enable to us see the truth?
A person is willing to do anything to be appreciated and respected, so we live in a culture of lies.
A certain phenomenon has to intensify so that we can discover that it is negative. Education can help us understand that there are things that seem good and sweet, but they are actually false and harmful.
Only love can be considered an absolute discernment of the truth with which we will align. Love can bring us closer to the truth because it requires our ascent above the ego and working for the sake of everyone else.
The more we advance toward love, the more we will cease to respect people’s external changes. For example, a man who is attracted to a beautiful woman and later discovers that she has used him, will see her as ugly.
We are made of two levels, the animate level and the human level, above which we have to grow.
The education of all of society will help us acquire new values instead of the false externality. The corruption that is being revealed today in the connections between capital and power will force us to advance toward the truth.
Only love enables us to see the truth since it changes a person’s perspective from thinking about himself to thinking about the wellbeing of the public.
From KabTV’s “New Life 815 – From Excessive Externality To Love,” 1/19/17
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Preparation for the Lesson
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Lesson on Topic: “Preparation for the Convention,” Part 1
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 1, Part 3 “Table of Answers for the Meaning of Words,” Item 1
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Lesson on Topic: “Preparation for the Convention,” Part 2
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