Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “The Work Within Reason And The Work Above Reason”
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7, Item 39
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar“
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The Times of Israel published my new article “A Review of Anti-Semitism in America After the Unite the Right 2 Rally”
Let’s be realistic. The magnitude of racism and anti-Semitism in America cannot be measured by the low attendance at the recent Unite the Right 2 rally, the one-year commemoration of the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, which had resulted in death and violence. Fewer people may have participated this time around, but statistics show that hatred just got reloaded.
At last year’s rally, hundreds of white nationalists brandished torches chanting “Jews will not replace us,” but it was only the tip of the iceberg. According to the Anti-Defamation League, in 2017 and 2018, there were 3,023 extremist or anti-Semitic incidents across the United States.
If we look beneath the surface we will see that this struggle transcends political affiliation and skin color. At the heart of the sentiment of visceral hate is a very specific target group, Jews. University of Chicago historian, David Nirenberg, says that this phenomenon “should not be understood as some archaic or irrational closet in the vast edifices of Western thought. It was rather one of the basic tools with which that edifice was constructed.”
Hatred of Jews requires no justifications. It lies in the collective subconscious of the nations of the world. As Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag wrote in his essay “The Writings of the Last Generation”: “It is a fact that Israel is hated by all the nations, whether for religious, racial, capitalist, communist, or for cosmopolitan reasons, etc. It is so because the hatred precedes all reasons, but each merely resolves its loathing according to its own psychology.”
An in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by Jews demands a zoomed-out view of the issue in the context of humanity’s development. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that the human milestones started in mid-1900s, a turning point for humanity, when it finished its egoistic development and transitioned to an interdependent and interconnected existence.
This new reality manifests at all levels of human activity: economy, technology, trade and communication. In order to further develop harmoniously, a new attitude toward positive human connection is required, one that matches the level of interdependence that we see we’ve reached through such systems.
Gradually, people from all walks of life, races, religions, beliefs and nationalities must acquire the skills to positively integrate into an interdependent society, i.e. to create an atmosphere of support, encouragement and friendship above divisive tendencies. Back in ancient Babylon, during the time of Abraham the Patriarch, the Jewish people were given the method of connection that gives every human being the tools to unite with others, above difference. The Jewish people were the first to receive it and are obliged to pass it on to the world becoming a “light unto the nations.”
This special method of connection is the wisdom of Kabbalah. It teaches us how to rise above our ego, the powerful force that tears us apart. By using its roadmap, we create a positive magnetic field, an altruistic force to balance our egoistic inclination and actions.
Therefore, as soon as Jews create a model of society based on solidarity and mutual understanding, they will rise to the same frequency of connection and love that underlies nature. They will harmonize with the positive force, the supreme power that will then permeate reality.
Thus, broken relations between people, manifested as Nazism, racism, and hatred of all kinds will be transformed into a balanced coexistence for humanity as a whole.
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Rabash, “Love of Friends” (1984,#3): “And a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, ‘What are you seeking?’ And he said, ‘I seek my brothers. Tell me, I pray you, where they are feeding the flock?’” (Genesis, 37).
Question: What does it mean: “He was wandering in the field?”
Answer: The field is the field of life and all the qualities that exist in a person are in it. Joseph is looking for precisely the ones that can aid him to correctly work with his egoism, with his nature, with Malchut, and reach the goal.
A person should constantly hold this image within himself and only slightly correct it and add to it, and by gradually correcting it, he should reach its final appearance.
Question: When does a person come to the state of seeking his brothers for the first time?
Answer: It is a very long way to truly begin to realize in the Light descending upon him that attainment of the Creator happens through one’s annulment to all the others, to the environment: the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human—to everything.
When a person begins to understand that by annulling himself he reveals the Creator, then this state can be considered an entrance into Egypt. He then increasingly discovers how difficult this is, how much at each degree his egoism is revealed to him, and he must annul himself before it.
Only if he decides to annul himself before all his egoism, does he deserve an exit from Egypt, rise above the egoism, and receive a tool for correct work with it—the Light, the Torah.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 2/1/18
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Question: How did the language of branches develop? Let’s say that a Kabbalist, upon investigating his egoism, discovered a “snake” in himself. Did he understand that the snake is a branch, while spiritual egoism is the root, and therefore called egoism a snake?
Answer: It is quite possible that the Kabbalist never saw a snake in his life. A person simply becomes aware of the state called a “snake.”
Question: Whenever we reveal the Creator on a particular level, do we also reveal a certain “snake” within us in correspondence to it?
Answer: The Creator has no image because it is just a property. A property can dress in matter, task it with certain actions, express itself through matter, but it has no image of its own.
Let’s say you hear the word “beauty.” You imagine a person, or an animal, or a plant in such a way that there is a property called “beauty” in it. You cannot imagine an abstract beauty; you will always portray it in some object.
Similarly, spiritual properties do not have any material vessels. But in order to depict or somehow convey them, you must express them through these vessels. Kabbalists understood that the spiritual property called a “snake” produces a corresponding property in our world. While they did not study botany, biology, or zoology, they wrote as if they were thoroughly familiar with the nature of different animals.
Remark: The Torah, however, describes all kinds of animals…
My Comment: Even those that are already extinct as well as those that have not developed yet and will only manifest themselves in the future. Everything comes from the attainment of the spiritual world, for every spiritual root must produce its counterpart in our world.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/3/18
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New Life 1034 – Boundaries In Relationships
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz
Nature created boundaries between us so that we could learn what “One” actually is. The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches about nature, humanity, and the Creator and explains how to discover Him in the connection between us. Human nature is based on the desire to receive for the self alone. This desire is divided into five parts and in order to connect with all these parts, we must adhere to the principle, “Love covers all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12). This is how we think about the good of the other, serving him, reaching an inner connection, and becoming one, just like a mother and her baby. Through this type of connection, we are able to go beyond the boundaries that seem to exist between us. We become integrated into all of reality and are filled with love, which is the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1034 – Boundaries In Relationships,” 7/12/18
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Spiritual ascent and finding the Creator occurs through the upper light. It acts according to our efforts to gain its property of bestowal and connection/love. If despite one’s desire to receive he strives to bestow and connect to the group, his efforts over the ego are faith above reason
We feel this world that exists in the property of reception. The upper world exists in the property of bestowal, which can be felt if we obtain its properties. By building relationships of the upper world in the group, we draw its effect on us, get transformed and begin feeling it.
From Twitter, 8/17/18
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The state of Malchut is whenI have nothing and Keter is when there is everything. To have everything in spirituality means to attain the ability to bestow to the Creator.
But suddenly from my Keter in which I had everything, from the attained level of bestowal, I fall into darkness; in other words, I think about myself, about the fact that I have nothing. I do not understand anything; I do not feel anything; I envy others and begin to despise them.
I feel completely worthless, a complete zero.
This is called the Malchut of the upper. I received an addition of uncorrected desire in which I sense the truth: who I really am. How can I get out of this state and go further, to the Keter of the upper?
First of all, I need to stop thinking about myself; this is called restriction. I do not care about everything that is in my own feelings; what matters is what happens to the group. It is like a mother for whom it is more important what happens to her infant than her own condition. That is, I must transfer the emphasis from myself to the group, and from the group to the Creator.
If I can rejoice that I can think about the group and the Creator from total darkness, it means that I have entered the spiritual space and am in faith above reason, in bestowal above my own desire to receive.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/6/18, Lesson on the Topic “From Helplessness to Crying Out to the Creator”
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The largest portal Newsmax published my new article “Global Interdependence Means No One Wins a Trade War“
The storm around the rapid deterioration of Turkey’s economy sent shock waves in financial markets — globally.
In light of the worsening relations between Turkey and the U.S., and as a result of President Trump’s declaration of double caps on steel and aluminum, the European banking and financial system could be dragged into an old/new debt crisis.
We are witnessing a world war, albeit different from what we have known in the past.
It’s the modern technological and financial version of warfare.
Numerous fronts indicate a dramatic and global collapse of the free international trade market. The U.S., Europe, China, India, Russia, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Turkey, Iran, Brazil, and other countries are all in the midst of economic battles.
Mutual sanctions, currency attacks, and unprecedented threats are flying acorss international time zones. Leaders are fighting for their dignity — and thrones.
Today we don’t need atomic bombs to cause mass destruction.
Cutting off international ties could cause entire populations to starve for food. From day to day, we find it hard to envision a peaceful future in a single country, without taking all others into account. In today’s world, the links and dependencies between countries and economies cannot be untangled without a great deal of conflict.
The international trade market, which has been a free market for decades, is now practically being shut down. Here is the forecast: China will not be able to continue using its large cash reserves to buy real estate or giant companies around the world, while the technological revolution devalues China’s cheap production lines, which for decades have always been its main economic advantage.
As the Chinese expansion in world trade meets a roadblock, the potential benefits will be distributed among other powers such as the U.S., Europe, Brazil, and others.
Russia, however, finds itself in a pickle, facing stronger and healthier trade partners with a weakened currency that stifles its economy. And the U.S., in complete contrast to the passive policy that characterized it in recent years, is now determined to take the lead.
Regarding global forecasts, the two countries that appear to have the ability to lead in the global trade war are the U.S. and Israel. Both countries have the distinct technological advantage, entrepreneurship, ingenuity, and innovation necessary to generate solid economic results.
The battle no longer plays out on mechanical production lines.
Today, minds own the battlefield.
The first act of this war should reach its peak in October of this year.
Turkey’s huge loan repayments are nearing insolvency. Then, the Turkish Republic will be forced to either take dramatic measures such as debt relief or take very expensive loans from countries and financial institutions.
Could Trump announce victory? Will Israel prosper as a result?
Will world markets spiral into another economic crisis?
In a globally interdependent world, a single winner does not exist. Countries and economies are tied together in an integrated system, one they cannot disengage from. This interdependence — which most players still seem to ignore — means that a zero-sum game in which the winner takes all cannot happen.
Ultimately, we will realize that we can all win — or lose — together.
A third option is not on the table.
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