Audio Version Of The Blog – 08.02.17

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In A Convention, Forget About Yourselves

laitman_939.01Question: What spiritual disturbances can happen during a convention and how can we overcome them?

Answer: During the convention we do not think about any spiritual disturbances or problems.

I suggest only one thing to you: participate with all your energy and forget about yourselves. This is the main thing. Concentrate your attention above the body and try to be together with everyone and with the Creator who will be revealed in others.

If you become integrated with your friends, you will stop feeling them and will begin to feel the Creator. This is what must be done. And it should be without any calculations.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 2/19/17

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Answers To Your Questions, Part 177

Laitman_093Question: In the past, you said that the intent of the concept of changing fate is about spiritual fate, not material fate.

If a person on a spiritual level cannot change his material fate (health, wellbeing, the day of death, etc.), does this mean that the physical world is stronger than the spiritual world?

Answer: Entering the spiritual world changes everything!

Question: How can the perfect Creator engender evil?

Answer: Evil is discovered within your ego instead of the good that was sent by the Creator.
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Russian Newspaper 24 Hours: “Money ‘For Nothing'”

In San Francisco, the Russian newspaper 24 Hours published my article “Money ‘For Nothing'”:

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Superheroin

laitman_272In the News (Fusion Media Network): “351 people overdosed fatally on opiates last year in New Hampshire, according to data provided to Fusion by the state’s medical examiner. Twenty-eight of those victims overdosed on heroin alone; fentanyl was a factor in 253 of the deaths.

“Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin. It’s so potent that an amount the size of three grains of sugar is lethal to an adult. First synthesized in the 1960s by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, fentanyl was initially used as a general anesthetic during surgery. Its only acceptable, ‘on-label’ use is for reduction of severe pain in cancer-sufferers.”

Question: Will this trend continue in the future?

Answer: In the future, the Earth will clean itself of superfluous people in such a way. You cannot do anything about it. This is a program of creation that will purify everything.

Today the population of the planet reaches almost eight billion people, while 100 years ago we had two billion. Such a sharp increase was due to the development of medicine, free access to food, water, and medicines.

From the point of view of Kabbalah, this is due to the division of souls into a multitude of smaller souls so that it would be possible to correct one common soul more quickly and easily.

I do not mind if there are twenty-five billion more people on Earth, but I’m in favor of them performing their role correctly instead of coming to this world to suffer torments and by this correct themselves. After all, you can correct yourself in a kind, easy, pleasant, beautiful way.

Question: So what should those unhappy people who do not see any future and have a void inside do?

Answer: There’s nothing to do. This is a general influence of humankind on its different parts. There are a lot of people who are starving in Africa now. Twenty million people are reportedly dying there, and the UN cannot do anything.

On the one hand, this is a huge problem. On the other hand, what will you do with humanity? It has nothing to occupy itself. Today, robotics is being used more and more, machines will replace people everywhere, so what will a person do? He will have to “play” football on TV from morning till night.

Question: How do you get out of this state?

Answer: It is impossible to pull people out of hard drugs, there is no such rehabilitation. Only upbringing can change an individual! We must surround him with a correct society, and then it will uphold him.

Question: Would you only invest in this?

Answer: Only in this. There is nothing else. Rehabilitation centers do not help. They must become educational centers.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/13/17

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JPost: “UNESCO Reflects Not The Nations’ Antisemitism, But Our Own Self-Hatred”

The Jerusalem Post published my new article “UNESCO Reflects Not The Nations’ Antisemitism, But Our Own Self-Hatred

It is quite symbolic that UNESCO, the organization in charge of world heritage, is denying our historic right to Israel. Without a present that justifies our claim, our history is meaningless.

In April 2016, when UNESCO adopted a resolution denying Jewish history on Temple Mount, I wrote that this was only the beginning of a campaign to deny the history of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, a campaign whose final purpose is the elimination of the Jewish state. In December last year, the campaign accelerated when the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that opened the door to indiscriminate sanctions and boycotts against Israel over its settlement policy in the West Bank and Jerusalem. A few days ago, UNESCO took yet another step in its campaign to deny Jewish rights to Israel, denying the nearly 4,000-year history of the Cave of the Patriarchs.

Everyone, including those who voted in favor of the resolution, knows that there are no historic or scientific grounds to the Palestinian claim for connection to the site. But facts, we all know, are the least important factor in this story. All that matters is that the campaign to eliminate the State of Israel and revoke UN Resolution 181—which warranted the establishment of a Jewish state in Israel—is gaining momentum.

This latest resolution is a warning sign to the entire Jewish people, and especially to those living in Israel. It tells us that we must reassess who we are as a nation, what we currently stand for, what we would like to stand for, and how we can accomplish this.

A Cesspool of Hatred

Some two weeks ago, in his first public address, US ambassador to Israel, Mr. David Friedman, said, “I have a great speech prepared about the breadth and the depth of the relationship between the United States and the State of Israel. But I’m not going to give it tonight.” Instead, Ambassador Friedman dedicated his entire speech to Jewish unity, or more to the point, the lack thereof.

However we look at it, the current level of division among Jews is unsustainable. We are poisoning our relationships with so much hatred that the world never sees anything good emerging from the Jewish people. We are vying over the Western Wall prayer areas and blacklisting certified rabbis’ decisions on determining the Jewishness of people who need their Jewishness confirmed. We are campaigning against our own country through the UN, BDS, the academia, and in myriad other ways. We segregate Jews based on ethnic background and culture, and we associate only with politically and religiously like-minded people.

Israel, which was supposed to be a role model melting pot, has become a cesspool that emits nothing but hatred of our coreligionists. This is the exact opposite of the essence of our faith, and contradicts what we are meant to project to the world.
Why the Ceaseless Persecution of the Jews?

Throughout the generations, the leaders of the Jewish people—from the most orthodox to the most secular—have stressed that our redemption, salvation, and even survival depend only on our unity.

“All of Israel are responsible for one another … only where there are people who are responsible for one another there is Israel,” wrote Zionist thinker A.D. Gordon. “We are called upon to unite the world. But before we unite the material world, we are called upon to reveal the spiritual unity. This is our innermost secret,” stated Rav Kook (Letters of the Raiah), the first Chief Rabbi of Israel. “Everything depends on the children of Israel. As they correct themselves, all of Creation follows them,” asserted the book Sefat Emet. “We have yet to open our eyes and see that only unity can save us. Only if we all unite … to work in favor of the entire nation, our labor will not be in vain,” mused Eliezer Ben Yehuda, reviver of the Hebrew language. “‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Leviticus, 19:18) is the superior commandment in Judaism. With these few words, the eternal, human law of Judaism has been formed… The state of Israel will merit its name only if its social, economic, political, and judicial structure are based upon these three eternal words,” concluded David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel.

Shortly after the establishment of the State of Israel, Rav Yehuda Ashlag, author of the complete Sulam (Ladder)commentary on The Book of Zohar, wrote in his composition, The Writings of the Last Generation: “Judaism must present something new to the nations. This is what they expect from the return of Israel to the land!” Indeed, continued Ashlag, “It is the wisdom of bestowal, justice, and peace.”

Despite these oft-repeated statements, we have not listened. Since the ruin of the Temple and the exile we have inflicted on ourselves through our unfounded hatred of each other, we have not learned how to overcome our loathing and unite. As a result, the persecution of our nation has not stopped since. “When Israel are ‘as one man with one heart,’ they are as a fortified wall against the forces of evil,” stated the book Shem MiShmuel. But when was the last time we were “as one man with one heart”?

We Rise and Fall by the Power of Our Unity

According to the Rav Kook, “The purpose of Israel is to unite the entire world into a single family” (Whisper to Me the Secret of Existence). When a man asked Old Hillel to teach him Torah, the sage replied, “That which you hate, do not do unto your neighbor; this is the whole of the Torah” (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat, 31a). Just as explicitly, Rabbi Akiva stated, “Love your neighbor as yourself is the great rule of the Torah” (Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim, Chapter 9, p 30b).

Similar to those giants, the book Shem MiShmuel writes, “The intention of Creation was for everyone to become one bundle … but because of the sin [evil inclination/egoism], the matter was corrupted to the point where even the best in those generations could not unite. The correction of this matter began in the generation of Babylon, when Abraham and his descendants gathered people together into a joint assembly. …Thus, the matter continued and grew until the congregation of Israel was made. But the end of the correction will come when everyone becomes one bundle.”

Israel became a nation when all its members committed to unite “as one man with one heart.” Immediately thereafter, Israel was commanded to be “a light unto nations,” to pass on that solid unity. For this reason, when we are united, there is merit to our existence as a nation. When we are apart, there is no justification for our existence as a nation because we cannot be “a light unto nations.” In consequence, the nations reclaim the land and disperse the Jews, who are not true to their vocation. This is why the book Maor VaShemesh asserts, “The prime defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship within Israel, no calamity can come over them.”

Our Fate Is in Our Hands

In his book The Art of Loving, renowned psychoanalyst and sociologist Erich Fromm wrote, “Man—of all ages and cultures—is confronted with the solution of one and the same question: the question of how to overcome separateness, how to achieve union.” Moreover, Fromm stresses, the more humanity “separates itself from the natural world, the more intense becomes the need to find new ways of escaping separateness.”

Indeed, today’s society is so narcissistic that people overdose by the tens of thousands each year simply out of loneliness. Neuroscientist Marc Lewis candidly summed up humanity’s bane with the title to his sobering piece, “Why are so many people dying from opiate overdoses? It’s our broken society.”

The Book of Zohar writes very clearly in the famous Tikkun No. 30 that when Israel are not united, they “bring about poverty, ruin, and robbery, looting, killing, and destructions in the world.” In other words, we should not be surprised when humanity blames the Jews for their woes. In his seminal essay “Mutual Guarantee,” Rav Ashlag wrote, “It is upon the Israeli nation to qualify itself and all the people of the world to develop until they take upon themselves that sublime work of love of others, which is the ladder to the purpose of Creation.” Why? Because, continues Ashlag, the Israeli nation was fashioned as “a sort of gateway by which the sparks of love of others would shine upon the whole of the human race the world over.”

Even if people are not consciously aware that Jews have been fashioned as a gateway for humanity’s better future, this gut feeling dictates their thoughts and actions. This latent expectation causes academics such as British journalist and historian Paul Johnson to write, “At a very early stage in their collective existence the Jews believed they had detected a divine scheme for the human race, of which their own society was to be a pilot.” This expectation also causes antisemites to cover Holocaust memorial sites with sheets carrying the inscription, “Heebs [Hebrews] will not divide us.”

Indeed, we rise and fall by our willingness to be a light of unity unto nations. As a result, we are the only nation whose fate is in its own hands. If we decide to “take upon ourselves that sublime work of love of others” and thus become “a light unto nations,” our sovereignty, prosperity, and peace in Israel are secured. But if we hand over the reins to our selfish egos as we have been doing for the past two millennia, it is likely that we will see yet another round of ruin in the Land of Israel. Unless we wake up to our task soon, rise above our egos and unite, it just might be too late.
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The People Of The Book With The Program Of Creation

Laitman_137Question: The Jewish people are called the people of the book. What does it mean?

Answer: The people of the book, that is, the Jewish people, are a group of people, who joined the forefather Abraham, who consists of representatives of all seventy nations that lived in ancient Babylon at that time.

Over time, this group was able to unite according to the law of mutual guarantee and to became a nation, as it is written about the giving of the Torah, “Today you have become My people.”

Since the Jews received all the spiritual heritage through the book of Torah that was written by Moses, they are called the people of the book. This is the same group that was wandering in the desert for forty years. During this time Moses wrote the Torah thanks to the fact that they all worked with each other in unity and love for their neighbor, and thus reached the upper world.

The book of Torah is the program of creation describing the process that we need to undergo so that a person develops to the degree of the Creator and reveals the upper force in the unlimited form, which is called adhesion with it. All this we need to implement here, while living in this world.

Question: Why did the Kabbalists write books, as if the Torah of Moses is not enough?

Answer: The rest of the Kabbalists after Moses added their commentaries to the Torah because each soul has its own special perception. Besides, every succeeding generation after the generation of the desert became increasingly worse; its egoism was increasingly revealed and developed, and therefore they could add revelations. After all, the larger the egoism, the more you can delve into the upper world.
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From the Virtual Lesson “The Time of Kabbalah” 6/13/17

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“The Handiwork Of A Craftsman”

laitman_275Torah, Deuteronomy 27:14 – 27:15: The Levites shall speak up, saying to every individual of Israel, in a loud voice: “Cursed be the man who makes any graven or molten image an abomination to the Lord, the handiwork of a craftsman and sets it up in secret! And all the people shall respond, saying, ‘Amen!'”

In our world you should not make any external actions; they must all be internal.

There is no need to create any statues or images for yourself—anything you can grasp with your egoistic desires and intentions, but only what you can imagine above egoism, above earthly thoughts and feelings. When you connect with others through love of them, you begin to form the state in which the Creator can dress. It is called creating a house of the Creator.

We live in the world of idols and constantly, every second, create all new ones. This is the state that existed before the spiritual discoveries of Abraham.

Where did Kabbalah begin? It started from the fact that all the idols were shattered and everything moves only into the internal quality of a person, into his internal correction. Exactly on this, the method of correction of a person and his elevation to the level of the Creator was founded, and this was the only difference between Abraham and Nimrod, between Kabbalah and all other teachings.

If a person worships some statues before some of his actions, then all this is called egoistic, not holy work.

Question: How is it possible to attribute a craft to this? It is written, “The handiwork of a craftsman.”

Answer: This is the handiwork of a craftsman. The name of the architect who built the Tabernacle is Betzalel (Be-tzal-el) and it means “in the shadow of the Creator.” What does it mean that he works in the shadow of the Creator? It means only using a screen. The upper Light creates everything.

Comment: But in the Torah it is written, “An abomination to the Lord, the handiwork of a craftsman.”

Response: That’s right. All that is required from us is just a screen (Masach). Don’t interfere with the Creator; remove your egoism so everything will be created exactly in the place where you removed it. You annul egoism with His help, but when this happens, you begin to feel how something completely opposite begins to form within you from Him. This is the handiwork of a craftsman. The Creator is called a craftsman.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 11/21/16

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 8/2/17

Preparation for the Lesson

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 52

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Lesson on the Topic: “On the Merit of the Study of Kabbalah, Israel Will Come Out of Exile”

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