KabNet published my new article: “Can America Learn to Love?”

Over the past week, America has literally been in flames. What began as peaceful protests has catapulted into a warzone. In Manhattan, hundreds of looters ransacked stores, the National Guard was deployed, and dozens of cities declared overnight curfews. Clearly, there is a lot of politics involved, but this doesn’t diminish the pain or the scale of the problem.

America has already had an Afro-American president, Afro-American governors, Afro-American judges, sports stars, and icons of all sorts. Legally, there are no preventions standing in the way of any person of color to occupy any position. Yet, there is no peace, no peace of mind, and no love. The chasm is not only present, it is ever deepening.

Love doesn’t mean covering our differences and denying their existence. Love is about cultivating and emphasizing all the subtleties of our uniqueness, but not in order to compete or arouse envy. We should use our differences as building blocks to construct bridges of affection. Differences should never be used to increase pride or conceit.

It is written, “Love will cover all crimes” (Prov 10:12). The crime is hatred among people. Yet, hatred is a necessary element. Just as without the night we would not know when it is day, without hate we cannot know when there is love. Because of it, hate enables the existence of love. Moreover, the deeper the darkness of hatred, the brighter the light of love that follows.

America is full of hatred. It is built from layers upon layers of hatred. Yet, this is exactly why America has the potential to become a role model, a world leader in rising above differences and hatred.

Nature didn’t create us different for no reason. There is a special intention here, a purpose. Anyone who ever studied nature’s ways knows that no part of it, not even the tiniest iota, is redundant. Nothing should be eradicated or erased from the world, except for pride and separation. So trying to blur one’s unique skin color or other physical, mental, or emotional attributes is like saying that nature made a terrible error and it’s our job to fix it. There is so much ignorance and hubris in such thinking.

We must relate to what nature has created as a given that we work with progress toward correction, and the correction is in the relationships between us—the only place where there is a flaw. Let’s learn what love means and what it can do with our given attributes. Let’s learn how it “disarms” our egos and our foolish pride, how it brings us closer while exposing every bit of our uniqueness, and how it joins our differences into a perfect whole.

Everything is burning now in America; it is difficult to hear a delicate message of love beyond the smashing shopwindows and glee-filled hollers. Yet, if we do not hear it, the wave will pass and matters will resume an air of normalcy, but the hate will not vanish. It will strike again with even more ferocity because we haven’t treated it; we haven’t tended to the hatred that is fueling it.

Perhaps when we find ourselves embroiled once more in a civil war, the anguish and distress will open our ears and hearts to hear the message. Maybe then we will accept that being different is a blessing when we want to unite in love, and the only curse is the hatred in our hearts.

[Photo by Josh Hild on Unsplash]

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Question: After the exodus from Egypt, the Torah was received, which represents the special holiday of Shavuot. Receiving the Torah means receiving the upper light with the help of which a person can correct himself and reach the level of the Creator.

Why did this happen on Mount Sinai?

Answer: Mount Sinai personifies hatred toward our egoism, due to which we can receive the highest light.

We received the method for correcting the ego because we hated it as we were standing under Mount Sinai, we saw how much this selfishness is odious to us, how much it is against us. We were literally ready to bury ourselves under this mountain if we did not receive the force of correction.

Only after that were we able to enter the Land of Israel, in Eretz Yisrael.

“Eretz” is desire, “Israel” (Isra-El)—aimed directly to the Creator (Yashar-Kel).

Being in the Land of Israel, we built the First and the Second Temples there, which personify the unification of the whole soul in its leading form, called Israel. And in our time, we must draw to this not only ourselves, but also the whole humanity and reach the Third Temple.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/29/19

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Question: Can work in one ten affect all of humanity?

Answer: There is no difference between a small ten and all of humanity. If we awaken a higher power through our actions in the ten, then through it we influence the whole world. Such is the peculiarity of the integral system that even a ten contains all parts of reality within itself.

If we pump the ten with higher light, then it expands and so does the size of all of humanity. Imagine that there are a billion people in each friend. There are eight billion people in the world and all of them, except the point of the Creator (Keter) and the point of Malchut, are within this ten.

As we move forward, we begin to reveal all of reality within this ten, all of humanity, all the worlds, everything is inside it, you just have to penetrate deeper into it.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/20/20, “Connecting the World in the Last Generation”

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The Torah describes so many different events. Can it all be just in order to achieve love for the created beings, to get closer to other people, and replace your hatred with love? Why is this written in the Torah, in the instruction given to us by the upper force? We do not understand this.

In fact, it is unclear how this is possible because experience shows everyone is ready to speak beautiful words, every religion calls for kindness and love, and as a result, the entire history of humanity is accompanied by mutual hatred and wars. This is why it is so important to understand what the Torah says. It describes the only thing that has not happened in history.

Baal HaSulam writes that the Torah speaks exclusively about one thing: about love of one’s neighbor as oneself, that is, the love of people. You have to love them as if there is nothing else besides this: to love all of humanity and every person (some people love humanity, but they do not love people). A person should do everything for the sake of love and live in this world only for the sake of it.

The only purpose of a person’s existence in this world is to bring good to all people. The Torah describes 613 actions of bestowal that a person must perform, and all of them are in regard to other people, relative to one’s neighbor. Only then does a person observe the Torah, that is, corrects his soul.

Rabbi Akiva, the greatest sage in times of the Second Temple, said that “Love your neighbor as yourself is a great rule in the Torah,” its entire essence. The Torah is intended for reaching love for people.

What should we do in order to receive the Torah? You must want to receive it! After all, why do you need it? To study the Torah means to study how to love your neighbor. Are you ready for this, do you really want this?

Little by little, we begin to understand that the attainment of the greatness of the Creator, His revelation, and reaching love for one’s neighbor are one and the same thing. The love of friends and love of people cannot be less than the love of the Creator since one is clothed into the other.

This one commandment about loving your neighbor as yourself includes all the commandments, that is, all the corrections that a person must make in his egoistic desire in order to bring him to bestowal, becoming a complete righteous. And within this love for people, he will attain the love for the Creator.

Each commandment is a correction of an egoistic desire. There are 613 desires in a person, and all of them are egoistic, and we need to turn them into the bestowing ones.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/20,Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah [The Giving of the Torah]“

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Question: We see in nature how atoms combine into molecules and molecules into more complex substances. This process of unification we understand. Unified plants can cause rain. Ants organize themselves in colonies, etc.

And what about humanity? We look at the inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, but we cannot see an example of how our society should be built. We cannot do it.

Answer: Why not? How is man different from inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature? By the fact is that he has freewill. It can act as an integral part of nature or it can act contrary to it.

Comment: But ants interact with each other instinctively.

My Response: And we must act not instinctively but consciously. I must consciously restrict my selfish impulses so as not to harm nature, not to go beyond the framework of its integral picture.

Question: Does humanity have any special role?

Answer: Yes. When we build ourselves in the likeness of nature, we begin to understand and feel it. We become intrinsically closed within it and gradually begin to see its inner meaning, the program of development.

We are included in this program, but do not want to match it. We want to do everything according to our egoistic program. And here, we are in conflict with nature.

Question: If we, people, begin to draw closer to each other, what will humanity turn into? What transformation will happen?

Answer: In order to get closer, we first need to rise above everyone’s petty, personal egoism. We must belittle it, control it. Thus, we will rise to the level of controlling our human nature, we will rise above it.

Through connecting together, we will create a system similar to nature on the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels. And then, we will build a nature called Adam, Man. This is a single system, like the inanimate, vegetative, and animate have a single mind, single feeling, and common properties that combine together mutually complementing each other.

Building this system, we will understand that there is a single mind in it, which we will perceive as being born precisely at the connection between us, the egoists. And so, we will begin to feel the higher management of nature, the upper world.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era,” 4/2/20

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Medium published my new article “The Search for Truth in a World of Lies”

What we see is no longer what we get. An avalanche of unreliable and misleading information is spreading around the world at an alarming rate, particularly now, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conspiracy theories and promotion of false vaccines for the virus proliferate worldwide putting lives at risk, say international organizations. In truth, the false reality we now see is a reflection of the calibre of the chain of human connections we have forged between us, of our human relations. We can invert this worrying situation by fostering trust and credibility within society by changing how we relate to one another.

This web of lies is the product of deliberate manipulation originating from within political parties and camps, big business, and high-powered decision makers that is cunningly injected into daily publications.

US President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order targeting social media companies in order to “defend free speech from one of the gravest dangers it has faced in American history.” The action was taken after Twitter marked two of his as “potentially misleading.” What is judged as trustworthy clearly depends on the eyes of the beholder. Social media has largely replaced the traditional media outlets as the main information provider. But credibility in the online environment is much more complicated and less straightforward than in traditional media. The United Nation’s Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) calls it “information contamination,” a problem hard to tackle since much of the misinformation is disseminated under-the-radar on social media platforms.
It is almost impossible to obtain reliable, factual information. It is difficult to trust the media to act with integrity, fairness, and impartiality. There is almost always some exaggerated description, false information, misleading quotation, or opinion disguised as fact in an article.

This web of lies is the product of deliberate manipulation originating from within political parties and camps, big business, and high-powered decision makers that is cunningly injected into daily publications. For this reason, confusion reigns in the world between facts and lies, what’s credible or not. However, if we take a step back and put things into perspective, we will recognize that society is not a passive spectator in this spectacle of misleading reality. We are not accustomed to the truth, so we pleasantly buy into the lies, even enjoy them, and pay for them. Where there is demand, there is supply.

Even if there were a truthful man, our false world would swiftly dismiss him. His truth would be interpreted as false. We cannot afford to continue to be the promulgators of division, allowing the egoistic nature that we have been feeding to drag us into each other’s struggles. The time has come to deal with the actuality of our lives and understand that we need real communication, which will open up new, high quality bonds that we desperately need to grow and spread widely. Such communication will not only be a source of reliable information, but an enterprise for social education, a tool and a means for ensuring regular and proper communication. In fact, what is needed is a new educational system for the whole society, children and adults, which would give us an accurate picture of where we stand, what needs to be fixed, and how to accomplish the task in order to enjoy a truly trustworthy world.

When this awareness clarifies within us, we will be able to correctly filter the poisoned information and establish a brand new media, a media that puts human well being first. This new media will be securely grounded in the fundamental laws of nature, the interconnected reality of the global and integral world, and will strive to maintain a balanced spirit in society and contribute solely to social union. A world in unity is a world of truth.
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Medium published my new article “How to Find the Joy in Simple Life”

In simplicity lies the key to happiness. Thus, the change the world needs now is not only to get back to basics, but back to simple. If we could have a look at our planet from a higher perspective, like astronauts describe their view from space, we would realize with clarity how the Earth encompasses one humanity in a stunning and circular, yet simple way, without divisions.

The coronavirus is leading us to a new dimension of existence. It has dramatically altered our routine and habits so we can look at ourselves from a different viewpoint, reconsider what is essential and what is superfluous.

The virus cleans us of our complex and artificial life, our twisted and cumbersome life, and brings back the importance of family warmth, the thought of proper education and the simplicity we need.

We begin life in a very simple way, close to nature. A man and a woman conceive, a baby is born and needs only basic food and care. Then, as the baby grows and develops, the demands for more possessions and attention grow, as well.

In our prime, we chase money, diversions and amusements, and success in our careers. We squander our energy and end up feeling empty.

As we age, we become drawn again toward simplicity. This is not necessarily just because our energy diminishes over the years, which is a physiological reality, but mainly because all the fancy and intricate trappings of the world we constructed no longer impress us. A person at this stage in life tends to realize that the simpler things are the most meaningful. Nature is this way also.

Instead of complexity, nature is drawn toward simplicity. This is why we start life in a simple and natural way, and we also finish it in that same fashion. It seems that the more we develop as a society, as we become more evolved human beings, we reach a peak from which we, as a society, begin to crave for a simple but meaningful life.

If we examine the culture we have created over the years — music, paintings, dance — all the human ways of expressing deep inner feelings and thoughts — we will see that every thing that inspires us and that we admire is, at the end of the day, close to nature and relatively simple. This is the future of humanity.

So after completing the current, complicated phase the world is going through, it will end and we will feel increasing attraction to a simpler life in which we will experience a myriad of flavors, the most important one being the flavor of love.

Simplicity does not necessarily mean a meager life with nothing to do. Instead, it is a life in which we come to identify more closely with nature, so that we begin to feel the role we are born to fulfill, and what nature wants from us. Subconsciously, we all want to find the answer to this question, to discover the secret of life and its purpose. That is life’s simplest question, and also the deepest.

The coronavirus is accelerating an inner scrutiny within us. Under the pressure of nature, essential questions awaken. The virus cleans us of our complex and artificial life, our twisted and cumbersome life, and brings back the importance of family warmth, the thought of proper education and the simplicity we need.

Life is short, and the lifestyle that has gripped us up to this point has left us no time to think about its purpose. The coronavirus gives us a chance. It invites us to think and understand how to truly live rather than to just exist and survive. How? By finding joy in the small but meaningful things in life. It is much simpler than it seems.
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Question: Why does the coronavirus spread mainly to older people?

Answer: In principle, the virus spreads to everyone. It is just that the young people tolerate it so easily that we do not even notice it. However, its next modification will be clearly evident on them as well.

The fact is that the virus is carried by everyone: by both animals and us. There are people who experience the disease almost imperceptibly. There are those who feel a slight ailment in the form of chills or colds, and those who feel them more. And there are people who even die.

As for children, the younger their age, the easier the virus is tolerated. However, it nevertheless affects them. In any case, it should affect everyone! As a result, you will not see a single person in the world that this virus has not passed through.

Now is the time when we should get one universal injection. This is neither good nor bad, we just need to understand what nature demands of us. If we understand, then we will behave correctly and enjoy life. And we will not have any losses.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/12/20

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Comment: A forum in commemoration of 75 years of the liberation of Auschwitz was held not long ago. According to the statistics on the day that the forum was held, Israel curbed 800 cyber-attacks on airports and on the airplanes of world leaders.

My Response: This is actually the war of the future. What’s the use of killing people? It also costs much more money. A cyber-attack, on the other hand, is done quietly, because all the world leaders come here and the goal is to eliminate them. This kind of cyber war takes place every day, but not at this rate and not so intensively, not everyone together.

Comment: The hackers in different countries tried to disrupt the runway of as many as 60 planes at Ben Gurion airport.

My Response: According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, humanity can replay its faith and annihilate itself in a thermo-nuclear war and then be reborn thousands of years later and grow, like in Chernobyl, and history will repeat itself but in a better way, because after such an event the mutations will be better. They will preserve all the problems of the past internally and will not repeat them anymore.

Comment: This is a horrible script, of course, especially after Holocaust  Remembrance  Day.

My Response: But they will not repeat the problems of the past.

Question: There are many important meetings all over the world that world leaders attend. Why is it possible to see this now so clearly by Israel?

Answer: It is general love when world leaders come together and at the same time there are cyber-attacks.

Question: The outcome is a very romantic story, when all the world leaders come together, Israel reflects this attack; after all, it is Israel! So the attack must always be reflected. Does this mean that the hackers will never succeed?

Answer: They will never succeed.

Question: Why is this related?

Answer: It is because this nation, the nation of Israel, has a mission. It has a mission in this world. It is a mission that the whole world needs, and so nothing will happen to Israel. This is the reason that it is the safest place on earth. No matter which place in the world you visit, you may always think: “it is safe here, well, but…”, whereas in Israel, although it is not safe, and not so easy to live in, nothing will happen.

They need to find out through all their attempts that they will never succeed in any way, and ask themselves why they don’t succeed. Then they need to look for an answer. But if they don’t find an answer, they should get an answer which seemingly doesn’t make sense from a Kabbalist and accept it.

Question: What changes need to take place so that humanity will reach that?

Answer: This also depends on the nation of Israel and whether it will be able to explain this to everyone in the world: who it is, what it is, and what it exists for.

Question: And how can the nation of Israel want to do that?

Answer: It needs to listen to what the wisdom of Kabbalah says. All the people in the world need to know what the world exists for, for what purpose, and what each of the created beings must do in order to bring the world to the optimal state.

Question: And what law do they need to implement once they are all under “the hat” of Israel? Which laws do people need to keep between them?

Answer: Absolute, complete, mutual participation, unity, closeness, and understanding of each other, as one single whole, when all of humanity is as one family, when everyone together are like one man, an absolute feeling of the other as yourself. It should be as a woman feels the baby in her womb. This is how each one needs to feel everyone else inside him.

Question: Will Israel be like a warm blanket?

Answer: Yes, a warm blanket that covers the whole world and everyone feels warm, good, and safe.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 1/28/20

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It is not possible, yet, to explain where Zeir Anpin, Malchut, and the other Sefirot are in the ten. A ten still does not feel this, does not have such abilities. To work with spiritual concepts, one must already incorporate the properties of bestowal and engage in the love of friends above one’s desire to enjoy, above love for oneself. Thereby, we will acquire the properties of Zeir Anpin and will be able to grow Malchut, otherwise it is impossible.

Therefore, all our work is to attract the upper light that will affect us. We must ask the Creator to shine the returning light on us, which will give us the quality of bestowal. To the extent that the upper light affects us, we will want to love our neighbor and to bestow to him. We only need to attract the light and for this we need a common prayer.

If together, as a ten, we demand and ask for the light to come, it will come and unite us into one body called Zeir Anpin or Malchut. Then we will understand connection and what Baal HaSulam writes about in his article the “Study of the Ten Sefirot.” Right now, we do not understand this; we only read: Zeir Anpin and Malchut, but we do not have such workings in us and, therefore the text remains dead. These are simply lifeless letters to us.

But after the correction, we will be able to read and perform these actions inside, in our feelings. This text will become for us like notes for a musician who can play them or even sing a melody by ear. After all, he feels these notes.

If a person is not familiar with the notes, he does not understand how to sing and play them. He looks at musical notes and does not know what each note means. So we do not know what the structure of the upper worlds means. Until we acquire the qualities of bestowal, we will not be able to perform any of the actions described in the Kabbalistic book.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/30/20

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