Audio Version Of The Blog – 8/8/19

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My Thoughts On Twitter 8/8/19

Dr Michael Laitman Twitter

We are in a material (spiritually inanimate) world to have the opportunity to organize the surrounding settings, which are independent of our spiritual (internal) states (ascents and descents) to remind each other of the intention, schedule and participation in the common work, unity

From Twitter, 8/8/19

Wiping Israel Off The Map?

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 8/8/19

Why Do I Deserve This?

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 8/8/19

The Importance Of Disseminating The Wisdom Of Kabbalah To The World

laitman_962.4First of all, we must remember that the goal of correction is the whole world, all the nations. It cannot be any other way and this is the role of the people of Israel. Just like our forefathers, once in the corrected state, worked with the people of Israel and drew them to spirituality, we must today reach the degree of the forefathers in order to perform their work and be able to lead others. They were once able to make us into the people of Israel, and now we need to do the same work and draw the entire world to the spiritual degree.

No concessions and compromises are possible here because this is the law of nature.

Abraham raised disciples and then they passed on his teaching to other people, who formed the nation of Israel. In the same way, we too must become teachers who will deal not only with the ones who came out of ancient Babylon, but rather with all people, elevating them to the same degree that the people of Israel were once in, that is, leading them to understanding and awareness of spirituality. This means correcting the desires into bestowal with the help of the reforming light and coming to love for one’s neighbor.

Fathers and sons are two degrees and today’s sons are the whole world, so we must teach everyone. The whole world demands correction and we are responsible for it like fathers are toward sons.1

Before we come to correction, we need to determine exactly what we want to correct. Therefore, we need to connect to the nations of the world and discern their deficiencies, their state, in order to imagine the state we need to come to ourselves and the state to which we need to bring them. And then we will be able to perform our correction because we do not correct ourselves for the sake of ourselves but for the sake of becoming a pipeline for the whole world.

Our correction should from the very beginning be aimed at such a selfless transmission, “the pipeline.” If in our request we do not present ourselves as a pipeline, passing everything received from the Creator to others and leaving nothing to ourselves, then we will not receive anything from the Creator but only ruin ourselves even more. We have nothing left of this transmission but our role and it is called “the vessel that holds the blessing for Israel.”

This is why the people of Israel still do not see the blessing no matter how many actions they perform. On the contrary, there is a continuous descent from generation to generation because we do not fulfill the main thing—our role regarding the world that many Kabbalists wrote about. A person limits himself to observing traditional commandments, not wanting to take upon himself responsibility for the nations of the world and the soul’s correction. The necessity to think about it and worry about it all the time is difficult because it goes against the will to receive, and therefore, our egoism resists it.

Until the time of the Ari, it was enough to observe the corporeal commandments. But after the Ari, the opportunity for everyone to engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah opened up and became a duty, because only through it the correction of the world will come.2
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/23/19, “The Importance of Disseminating the Wisdom of Kabbalah to the World”
1 Minute 2:30
2 Minute 10:10

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New Life #61 – Dissemination Of The Wisdom Of Kabbalah
Dissemination Of The Science Of Kabbalah
The Principle Of Dissemination

Tisha B’Av, Rising Above the Straits (Jewish Boston)

Jewish Boston published my article: “Tisha B’Av, Rising Above the Straits

We Jews, the bearers of the tenet “love your neighbor as yourself,” must rise to the challenge, put down our internal disputes and unite above them.

We have just entered the period of time called “Bein ha-Metzarim” (“Between the Straits”), which begins on the 17th of Tammuz and ends on the 9th of Av (Tisha B’Av), during which we commemorate the destruction of the First and Second Temples. This special time could never be more pertinent than now. The ruin of the temples, in fact, symbolize the shattering of our human relations—a true reason for mourning—but we can also find joy in the situation if we recognize it as an opportunity to rebuild ties of unity between us.

Repairing the current political divide in America, especially during the already exacerbating campaign climate of the 2020 election, has nothing to do with Trump, specific members of Congress, or either side of the political spectrum. The problem is much wider and deeper. The divisions are between American Jewry and the Israeli nation, between Muslims and Jews, and within U.S. society as a whole. The myriad aggravations signal an urgent imperative for change in human relations that Jews must initiate and lead by rising above all the divisions that separate us.

Why must Jews lead the charge? It is because the Jewish people possess precisely what America and the world desperately needs: the key for a cohesive and harmonious existence. Jewish unity must now be our first priority. It is the historical purpose of Jews to demonstrate unity within their ranks as a model of corrected social relations for others to follow.

We became a nation at the foot of Mount Sinai only when each person present accepted the condition of being “as one man with one heart.” In the centuries that followed, Jews practiced principles of connection enabling them to rise above their differences for the creation of ideal social cohesion and unprecedented human development. It was only during the long exile that followed the ruin of the Second Temple that this unity was forgotten.

Therefore, why should we mourn the destructions of Tisha B’Av at this particular time?It is because, since the 16th century when the great Kabbalist, the Ari (Rav Isaac Luria), declared the opening of the process of correction for all humanity, our negligence in repairing the shattering perpetuates the destruction. By delaying this process we block the building of the Third Temple, meaning the correction of the shattering in our connections. Our state of shattered connection is what’s truly considered the ruin of the Temples, a state in which we have lost consciousness of ourselves as a single entity.

Thus, there is both great joy in our opportunity for correction that the shattering brings us while, on the other hand, there is sorrow over our fragmentation under the forces constantly emerging to damage our connection. Our state is a manifestation of the principle that, in spirituality, we always encounter two opposites in the same place in order to advance.

Now is the time to be proactive. We Jews, the bearers of the tenet “love your neighbor as yourself,” must rise to the challenge, put down our internal disputes, and unite above them. As King Solomon stated: “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes” (Proverbs, 10:12). This is the true and positive call to action that we should take from this special period of reflection. It is the one act that will guarantee our safety and happiness in America and wherever we live.
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Mourn The Temple That Hasn’t Yet Been Built In Our Hearts

laitman_961.2The 9th of Av is a day that reflects a very important emphasized state in the development of creation—the shattering. Without this shattering no correction is possible. Therefore, on one hand, it is a joyful event, but on the other hand, it is a day of mourning and contemplating how it was possible to prevent the shattering, or at least, to resist it.

As usual, in spirituality, two opposites are included together in one event. Therefore, we should mourn all the disasters that resulted from the shattering, which was planned in the spiritual roots. Yet, on the other hand, we should rejoice that we have been through the shattering and are in the process of correction. This opportunity is given to us from the time of the Ari, and it is only due to our own negligence that we still have not come out of the shattering to correction.

This is what we must mourn on the 9th day of Av, not the ruin of the Temple that occurred thousands of years ago, but the Temple that still has not been built in our heart, and which is thus as if ruined anew every day. This is the real mourning and catastrophe: why do we still lead to ruin and shattering? After all, it is written, “Each day that the Temple is not resurrected is as if it is destroyed anew.” This is what we should think about.

Instead, we mourn the ruin that occurred 2,000 years ago, as if we are great righteous and those people were wicked since they allowed the ruin of the Temple and the Romans and Egyptians to come to power. It is not for us to judge them, we do not understand what happened back then. All those events were inevitable according to the order of development of the degrees.

However, if today, so many years after the Ari when the time has come and the wisdom of Kabbalah has been revealed, we still reject Kabbalah and the method of correction, not admitting the need for connection—this is the true shattering within us. The real catastrophe is not the one that happened in the past, but the one that is happening now within us day after day.

Rabbi Akiva called to love one’s neighbor as oneself. However, when the Temple was ruined, he rejoiced, because it meant the beginning of the correction. Therefore, we need to think about the present and the future, and not regret the past.

The past shattering was the result of the upper forces battling with each other. Although we understand that the Temple must be destroyed, we still must resist the shattering. We should disagree with exiting holiness. If you have reached even a drop of spirituality, you should disallow yourself to fall out of it into Klipa.

Therefore, Rabbi Akiva was calling to hold on to “love your neighbor as yourself.” On the other hand, if the shattering has already happened, we must understand that it was for the good and from this moment the correction begins. If the Temple has been ruined, we should not cry about it. Instead, we should begin to restore it with renewed strength.

There is nothing worse than shattering. Yet, only from this shattered state is it possible to rise and be reborn, and therefore, it is good when we discover our shattering. We, again and again, try to connect, but each time we discover how the evil forces are awakening within us even stronger than before. That is, we reveal greater shattering.

It is revealed precisely when I want to connect with the friends and suddenly discover that I cannot do it. All day long I was dreaming about how tomorrow I will meet my friends and there will be a strong connection between us. In the morning, I wake up and do not even remember that there is a gathering today. I forgot everything! All my good intentions crumbled into dust; this is what is called the shattering, this is how it is revealed in us.1

I myself have no strength to resist the shattering. The only way is to become incorporated in the correct environment that has this strength. The friends must hold me and drag me after them and through this, they themselves are strengthened. After all, I was a reason for them to unite for the sake of my salvation. It turns out that I helped the group.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/19, Lesson on the Topic “Tishaa BeAv (Ninth of Av)”
1 Minute 08:20

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Spiritual Meaning Of 9 B’Av

What Is Tisha B’Av? (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: What is Tisha B’Av?

Tisha B’Av is a very important and prominent state in the development of creation. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, Tisha B’Av commemorates the ruin of the Holy Temple, i.e. the shattering of the vessels, the state when we lost consciousness (i.e. the shattering or ruin) of our connection as a single entity (i.e. the Holy Temple). In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we learn extensively about this state of shattering and how important it is, because there cannot be correction and connection without corruption and shattering. Therefore, on one hand, there is great joy in the opportunity for correction that the shattering brings us, and on the other hand, there is sorrow and crying from foreseeing the oncoming shattering, knowing that we needed to resist it, i.e. to maintain our connection as a single entity despite the forces emerging to shatter this connection. This coincides with the spiritual principle that, in spirituality, we always encounter two opposites in the same place.

Therefore, together with the joy at the opportunity for correction that the shattering brings us, we need to simultaneously be sorry about all the ruins that have taken place, out of necessity, due to their spiritual root. However, what is the destruction that we need to be sorry about today? It is that today, after the 16th Century, the time of the great Kabbalist, the Ari (Rav Isaac Luria), which marked the beginning of the opening of the process of correction to humanity as a whole, then all we need to be sorry about is our negligence to willfully engage in this process of correction. That is, we shouldn’t be sorry about ruined Holy Temples from 1,000s of years ago, but that each day we fail to actively engage in the process of correction, we fail to build the new Holy Temple—a correction of the shattering in our connections. That is what is truly considered the ruin of the Temples.

Therefore, what do we need to take into consideration during Tisha B’Av? It’s why we cause the ruin and shattering of the Temple today. We shouldn’t cry about what happened 2,000 years ago. We don’t really know what happened back then. By crying about it, it’s as if we position ourselves as great righteous people and think poorly of the people back then, and that they lost the rule of the Temples. What we need to understand is that this ruin played out according to a necessity for a certain order to unfold. However, since the time of the Ari, the 16th Century, when we position ourselves against the process and the method of correction—the wisdom of Kabbalah—then the ruin is the shattering of human relations, the division that is spreading worldwide among humanity. We thus don’t relate to Tisha B’Av as a historical occasion, but as a state that is playing out in our daily lives.
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The Long Road To The Question About The Meaning Of Life

laitman_760.3Question: In the parable about the shield and sword, the king presents his son with a weapon without first teaching him how to use it, and goes into hiding. Why didn’t he show his son how to fight enemies knowing that they will attack him?

Answer: Don’t you feel that way in this world? Don’t you feel that you were thrown here and you exist not knowing why and how, and for what? All of a sudden, you are told that there is a science of Kabbalah that will help you feel yourself in the upper world and learn the purpose of your existence.

After all, really, you are lost and do not know anything. This is indeed our state in the material world. Therefore, first of all, let’s define that we are truly in such a state.

Now another question: Why are we given a state in which we exist like animals, not knowing where we are, what for, and why?

We develop over thousands of years like animals until we gradually become humans. Then, we continue developing for thousands more years until from so-called humans grows something that starts to ask questions such as: “Why do I exist?” “Who am I?” “What is life’s purpose?” “What is the meaning of life?” “What happens to me before birth and after death?” Tens of thousands of years pass until humanity begins to think about this and ask questions because in each generation egoism grows and gradually develops us. Now we are thinking: why is all this necessary? Do we really need it? There are many questions that arise that are very difficult to find answers to.

Why don’t we get an answer right away? It is in order for us to comprehend our question first. Believe me, it is not that simple. For a long time, maybe even a few years, you will be tormented until this question fully ripens in you. Only then will you see the answer in it.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 4/7/19

Related Material:
Discovering The Meaning Of Your Life
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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 8/8/19

Lesson Preparation

[media 1] [media 2]

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 179

[media 3] [media 4]

Lesson on the Topic “Tishaa BeAv (Ninth of Av)” 

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