Audio Version Of The Blog – 1/4/21

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What Awaits Us In 2021?

294.2Question: The year 2021 is inevitably approaching. It has been called a year of extraordinary uncertainty.

There are a lot of assumptions about what it will be like. What will happen regarding the battle for vaccines, how many people will agree to take them? The gap is widening between the rich and the poor, which will establish of a new world order.

Tensions between the United States and China will rise, companies will be drawn into trade wars, the digital revolution will accelerate, and the world will become less easy to raise. Tourism and flights will not exist or will decrease.

Then, there is Bill Gates’ prediction that it will be better; we will be better prepared for a pandemic, the world will become better, and we will treat diseases, diabetes, and so on. “I am optimistic,” says Bill Gates.

What is your prognosis for 2021?

Answer: If humanity turns out the way Bill Gates wants, I do not see this as especially good. This has been said by a techie who does not understand the direction in which humanity is developing at all. So what, if we get some more technical stuff?

Question: How do you see the 21st century? What do you think it will look like?

Answer: I think this will be the first year of the fading out of all kinds of fogs we have wrapped ourselves up in, and we will finally begin to understand that neither the vaccine will help us, nor other tricks like lockdowns or something else that will probably only help us rebuild ourselves; in fact, this virus is smarter than we are.

It is meant to raise us up to the next level of relationship with nature so that we will begin to think about how we can really attain the correct vaccination, that is, how can we reach a state in which we have nothing to fear and nowhere to run. We just have to exist correctly. This only depends on our relationships with each other.

If we reach a state in which people treat each other with good feelings and find out where we get them from as well as how to use them correctly, this will be our greatest victory over the evil nature of egoism that sits within us. Then we will get the correct vaccination.

Question: So you think this step will be taken in 2021?

Answer: I think it will begin to manifest itself gradually.

Question: Do you think there is actually only one way out?

Answer: The only way out is in the correct rapprochement to each other so that we will find out that we can reduce the distance between us, free ourselves from the egoistic virus that is separating us and pushing us away from each other, and begin to create positive feelings on top of this virus. Only in this case. If this begins to be felt in humanity, then, of course, this will be the shortest path to the correct vaccination of the earth’s population.

Question: Will we take this step, at least a little bit, in 2021?

Answer: I hope that there will be some kind of a turn. I see it.

Comment: And if not, then all these horror scenarios about which it is written here will take place: wars, tension between the United States and China, etc.

My Response: In fact, what has happened in the world is very interesting. The media have pushed themselves into a corner. People have stopped believing them. They are no longer the mass media.

Nobody trusts them and nobody looks at them at all. What is written here is fake news and what it is written there is also fake and so on. That is, no one looks at anything at all. If they do confuse the population, then this confusion will not be to their advantage.

Question: Will it turn out badly for them?

Answer: In the end, yes.

Question: Does it look like it is already happening?

Answer: Yes. These threats regarding America and China are of no interest to billions of people. As a result of this divine pandemic, this divine virus, billions still want to find some peace of mind.

And it will appear in the new future. That is why politicians and all these international organizations end up with petty egoism; everyone already understands to what extent all this is saturated with it.

Question: That is, the search for this peace of mind in billions of people will continue to increase?

Answer: The search for reassurance will take place not through politics, nor through banks, nor through any enterprises, nor through governments; this will not be the case. All of these egoistic systems are practically finished up.

Question: So what will happen?

Answer: There will be awareness of the absence of any system of correct government. On the other hand, no one will give mismanagement a chance. This is the kind of vacuum that the world will live in.

Question: And where will we end up?

Answer: With the fact that no one will be able to rule.

Question: So What will a person be ruled by? He used to be ruled by the government and the mass media.

Answer: I think that society will be drawn toward some kind of a small feudal system in which everyone will look for some kind of work from day to day that provides him with the opportunity to exist and get what he needs. In the end, this will lead us to build new connections.

Then a need for a kind connection between people will arise. I think it will start from the bottom precisely because a very interesting nihilism is emerging all over the world now. It is an interesting time.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/14/20

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“The Pandemic Unmasked Humanity’s Utmost Desire” (Thrive Global)

Thrive Global published my new article: “The Pandemic Unmasked Humanity’s Utmost Desire

If we constantly keep in mind that our good future depends on our relationships based on mutual care and solidarity, we will experience a fruitful and happy new year, full of positive emotions, purposeful revelations and learning experiences.

Person wearing a protective mask against Covid-19. Rennes the 2020-09-19.Personne portant un masque de protection contre le Covid-19. Rennes le 2020-09-19.NO USE FRANCE

As a new year starts people are eager to leave memories of the pandemic way behind, but the virus is relentless. Even when millions of Covid-19 vaccines have already been administered in America and around the world, some preventive measures such as mask-wearing should remain for some time according to health officials. How will a mask covered society affect our personal interactions, particularly within the young generation? We will soon discover that trust and closeness will not be conditioned by the use of masks or the lack of wearing them. Progress at all levels will depend on good connections with others, on our internal desire to build meaningful relations.

The use of masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19 has transformed people’s mindset globally. With the exception of some Asian countries already accustomed to using face masks to prevent contagion of infectious diseases, the measure has awakened controversy in the US and other countries where people have been told to get used to wearing masks as the “new normal.” After a year of partially covering our faces due to the pandemic, new research from European and North American experts revealed that it complicates social interaction between people since it disturbs “emotion reading from facial expression.”

The results of the study indicated that emotional states such as happiness, sadness, and anger were misperceived as neutral. And people disgusted were misinterpreted as angry. These findings were not meant to question the use of masks or not but to evaluate its psychological impact on human interactions. People will slowly start to realize what happened to them during this time since the virus appeared, as the changes unfolded, and why the world experienced such a dramatic transformation.

What should be done to move forward? Our progress will not be conditioned by mask-wearing or social distancing. It will depend on our ability to realize that the pandemic is activating our utmost desire: our need for connection with others as our world is revealed as increasingly interdependent.

As social animals, our longing for deeper and closer relations with others have become more visible, more authentic and qualitative. What has the virus taught us the hard way? It shows us that we had to keep distance between us since we were not in good connection with each other, were incapable of living together in brotherhood and positive relations. So we will not be able to get closer again until we internalize this principle and change direction toward a more balanced society.

Who are most affected by the lack of social interaction? Undoubtedly, the younger generation. Some of us may have forgotten what it means to be young, the first kiss and embrace. Therefore, it is hard for us to grasp what today’s youth experiences now. They feel harsh restrictions inside, they disagree with whoever wants to stop and limit them, they even curse the supreme force, nature, for bringing such a situation upon the planet. They are willing to get rid of anything in their way regardless of the consequences just to live the moment to its fullest.

Nature knows how to fix us. From a sociological level it could have been a much sharper blow. Imagine a world where human connection would not exist at all, in which our contact between relatives, couples, children, and parents completely vanished. A sort of complete disconnection in which we wouldn’t be able to breathe, would feel helpless, alone, empty. As painful as it is to remain distant from each other, the pandemic is still giving us an opportunity to change by conducting us to the right direction.

So, how can we not lose hope after a year of the pandemic? It is possible through our positive thoughts toward connection. If we constantly keep in mind that our good future depends on our relationships based on mutual care and solidarity, we will experience a fruitful and happy new year, full of positive emotions, purposeful revelations and learning experiences. We will know how to live properly, shortening the distance between us, connecting our hearts.
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— Published on January 4, 2021

“Corona-Time Education” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Corona-Time Education

One of the best indications we have for the state of any society is its education system, or rather. Since the beginning of Covid-19 and the disruption of the schooling system, the negative phenomena that infested schools have penetrated our homes and placed a very unpleasant mirror before us. Now we are experiencing firsthand what our children have been “learning” at school.

With no place to vent aggression, domestic violence and abusive language toward parents and vulnerable siblings have increased dramatically, and parents are aghast at what they are seeing. But they are seeing now what their children have been living through for years. Better now than never.

If there is any lesson to be learned from the pandemic as far as education goes, it is that the education system teaches nothing but bad values.

Nevertheless, now that we see that our education system is fundamentally flawed, I hope it will incentivize us to make amends. Now I hope we understand that the education system must, first and foremost, teach youngsters how to communicate with one another positively and constructively. Any person, however intelligent, will not be able to succeed in today’s society unless he or she knows how to communicate constructively with others.

Constructive communication requires much practice, and a profound realization of the interdependent nature of society. We cannot succeed in life if we think only of ourselves. We also cannot succeed if we forget about ourselves altogether. Currently, we are immersed in narcissistic tendencies and feel it is legitimate to ignore other people’s feelings and care only about our own. While this may feel good when we exercise it, it produces loneliness, depression, and anxiety when others exercise it toward us. For this reason, self-absorption is not a sustainable approach if we want to maintain a healthy society. Balance is the key.

Changing the education system alone will not work. You cannot expect children to change if they come home at the end of the day to a family where the parents inculcate egocentrism. There needs to be an overall effort in society to change the social paradigm. Now that we see the results of a sick education system, I hope it will give us enough of an impetus to change the way we operate on all levels of society. Otherwise, children will grow up just as they have been educated, become parents themselves, and the vicious cycle will continue with worsening consequences until life becomes Hell on earth, if it isn’t already.

We have built all the technology to lead an affluent life with abundance to everyone. The only reason for people’s misery today is our lack of education, our lack of mutual responsibility and our excessive self-absorption. Even poverty is not a curse from above; it’s a result of carelessness for one another, a lack of education of the poor and of the affluent. When we don’t understand that we are all parts of the same society, we close our doors before each other until the streets become battlegrounds. In the end, neither the rich nor the poor will enjoy living in such a country. Education toward mutual responsibility is the first step toward healing society; everything else will be mended afterwards.

The Lessons Of 2020

963.1The coronavirus epidemic has made such an explosion around the world, as if a world war broke out, and has led to an economic crisis and sense of despair and fear. Why have people still not realized the need to rebuild the world by making significant changes in society?

The fact is that everyone is acting out of their own personal, individual egoism. Therefore, no one cared about what was happening in the world and with other people, what was important was only what concerned him personally. We were watching how others were suffering, and were not very impressed. The main thing is that we feel good and we can confidently exist and succeed.

But here we suddenly find ourselves in a different world and feel that society, the environment, the country, the people, and the world, everything has become interconnected and dependent on each other. We pass on a deadly virus to each other, we cannot travel freely and are forced to obey lockdown orders.

On the one hand, we had to break the useful ties that existed before and allowed us to fly around the world, travel, and get to know each other. In addition, we were forced to isolate ourselves even more, put on masks and gloves, and keep the distance of two meters between each other.

Some new mandatory rules that we do not like very much were put in action. It is as if nature is telling us: “You cannot behave as before, you must distance yourself from each other. You cannot go where you want and travel around the world, you cannot send your children to school and kindergarten.”

We feel that nature is placing a wedge between us and teaching us what the connection between us should be. In order for the connection to be new, good, and correct, it must comply with the new laws that the coronavirus is teaching us. If we abide by these laws, then we can communicate with each other; and if we do not comply, then we must not approach each other.

Nature is beginning to teach us new forms of communication between people, and soon we will realize that this is for our benefit. I can only connect with people if I act for their benefit and not for my own benefit. This is the lesson nature teaches us. Through the quarantine, through the inability to communicate, fly, and travel, it shows us that we can be in touch only on the condition that we care about each other and think about the good of others.

You are welcome to go out for a walk, to visit others, to communicate, only if you think kindly about each other and take care not of yourself, but others. This is how nature will gradually teach us good relationships.

This will happen quickly and painlessly if the media cooperate with Kabbalists who understand how to behave in order to help nature change human society, to move it to the next stage, and to convey to all people what form of relations we should come to.

“Each man will help his neighbor” to establish a connection between us above hatred so that we understand that the future is impossible without good relations. It depends on us whether we get to them in a short and easy way or in a long way of suffering, including world war.

It depends on Kabbalists and the media how quickly humanity will go through the transition period and establish new connections between people so that nature will cease to put pressure on us and limit us. We will not need any external pressure because we ourselves will understand what is good for us.
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From KabTV’s “The World” 12/27/2020

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The Ten Is The New Me

934Annulment and subjugation are so important in spiritual work because they symbolize the transition from the authority of egoism to the authority of the force of bestowal, love, and unity with the Creator.

There are two authorities: the good inclination and the evil inclination; each time we shift from one to the other, fall and rise, so that in our connection, in their comparison, in evaluating the one relative to the other, we find ourselves.

Our place is not inside the evil inclination, but also not inside the good inclination because we would disappear in it. Therefore, we need to stand in the middle in order to be an independent individual. This is possible only by being integrated in the ten. In the ten, we have the opportunity to assert our status, become human beings, and acquire independence and the image of Adam.

Through the mutual guarantee between us, we become similar to the Creator, the state in which we have the right to be called human beings.

Therefore, as one advances in spirituality, one feels less and less confident, more and more doubtful of one’s understanding and feelings. In contrast to this world where everyone stands firmly on their own opinion, a person who yearns for spirituality feels confused, helpless, like a lost child. It seems to him that he is lost in the big world and has cut his connection with reality.

In fact, these are happy moments on the spiritual path because we gradually begin to see that we exist in the group, in the ten. It seems to me that the savior has come and He pulls me out of helplessness and despair, from the emptiness in my mind and heart.

In this desperate state, we suddenly recall that we have a group. This is how the Creator is giving us the right direction, as if saying “Do you want to be a man, do you want to grow? Please, here is your next image, your next form.” You feel lost right now, and it is good. The new you is the ten. Get integrated in it, dissolve in it, and there you will find yourself, feel the world.

There is nothing outside of the ten. To the extent that you feel your friends and enter the correct state, you will enter a new world, a spiritual dimension. In our time, we are going through this junction between worlds, the boundary between the previous, old, individualistic world, and the integral, perfect world.

In the previous world, a single Kabbalist could reveal the upper force, but now we have to connect into tens. Otherwise, we have no chance to reveal spirituality. Only by connecting with the friends do we find a shield, a steering wheel, and correct means for advancing toward the goal that appears at the end of a smooth path. The whole path is through greater and greater connection in the ten. Thus, I come out of a hopeless, lost state.

When I realize that my whole progress is done only through the connection in the group, everything becomes clear to me, and a straight path opens up. Nothing else is required but to connect with the friends in order to feel the confidence within our connection that comes from the Creator who is concealed there. The Creator gradually comes closer and reveals Himself because I aim for connection.

That is why I am so happy about my dependence on the ten, on this small circle. The entire path becomes very simple: I just need to annul myself before the ten and to that extent I will advance toward the goal. The implementation is clear and it is in my hands.

I was feeling desperate, like a lost child, a complete zero, and suddenly I find that I have everything, everything is in front of me. There is nothing beside the friends, and I will find everything in them.

If I am outside of the group, I feel completely helpless, drowning in egoism and questions that have no answers. All the confidence and joy, happiness and fulfillment is in my connection with the ten. Only there, in the direction inside of it, I find my good future.

I need the group because that is where my soul is. All negative states arise only from disconnecting from the ten, and all positive states can only be in the connection with it so that I would not imagine myself without the ten, as it is written: “for I am lovesick.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/21, “Annulment and Submission”

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“I’m Perfect! It’s Everybody Else Who’s Terrible” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “I’m Perfect! It’s Everybody Else Who’s Terrible

Look at the title; isn’t this what we all think? The world is in terrible shape; look at what happened in this year alone: People have become mean, hostile, distrusting, and contentious. Look at what happened with the presidential election; look at what’s happening with Covid-19; look at what’s happening on the streets, between Blacks and Whites, the super rich and, well, everybody else, between police and civilians, with unemployment and stimulus packages, and the list is endless. Wherever you look, you find nothing good. The only exception, of course, is me. People are terrible, but I? There is nothing wrong with me. Isn’t this what we all think? And if we all think so, except, perhaps, for very few, is it a wonder that our world is what it is?

We can tell ourselves a million stories about why we can’t do anything about the world, that powerful people or countries prevent us from connecting, or that they are the true destructors of the world. These stories may be true, but we still have to ask ourselves if we did our very best where we could make a difference. Because if we didn’t, then we are to blame for the poor state of the world.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we look at things quite differently: It is written in the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 4:5), “Each and every person must say, ‘The world was created for me.’” According to the book Likutei Moharan, “It follows that if the whole world was created for me, I have to look and delve into the correction of the world at all times, satisfy the needs of the world, and pray for them.”

In other words, the fact that the world is bad is not because other people are bad and I’m the only one who’s good. On the contrary, it’s bad because I have been negligent in my duty to “look and delve into the correction of the world at all times, satisfy the needs of the world, and pray for them.” That is, it is bad because I am not doing my job; it is my fault that people are suffering.

And when you look into the type of work we have to do in order to make the world a better place, you will find that our only work is to strengthen our cohesion. Nothing else is wrong with the world except for how we relate to one another and to nature as a whole. The wisdom of Kabbalah sees every single person as fully accountable to the state of the world, none excluded. We can tell ourselves a million stories about why we can’t do anything about the world, that powerful people or countries prevent us from connecting, or that they are the true destructors of the world. These stories may be true, but we still have to ask ourselves if we did our very best where we could make a difference. Because if we didn’t, then we are to blame for the poor state of the world. If we all acted based on that premise, the world would certainly be a great place, and no tycoon or media mogul would be able to change it for the worse. The only thing required for the improvement of our world is our resolve to do so.

Happy New Year.

“A Fourth Election, And No End In Sight” (Times Of Israel)

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “A Fourth Election, and No End in Sight

We haven’t even recovered from the stream of three consecutive general elections, and a fourth one is already underway. Moreover, all of a sudden, everyone thinks they can be a better, if not the best prime minister for the State of Israel.

But if you ask me, this frivolous attitude toward the task of being the prime minister of Israel indicates a lapse in understanding and lack of accountability. People’s egos have grown to the point where they just want to rule, to be kings, even if just for a few minutes, and regardless of the consequences. I see a distinct similarity between what is happening now and what happened to the people of Israel shortly before the ruin of the Second Temple and the exile from Jerusalem. In those days, the High Priest would buy or bribe his way to the title, and would serve for very short times until he was pulled out of there and replaced by another. There was no sanctity in that institution anymore, only power struggles and the desire to be “king for a day.” We all know how it ended.

It isn’t happening only in Israel. All over the world, there are no systems that prepare people to be governors. How can a person be expected to know how to rule over a country without prior preparation? Any job requires learning and preparation, but the most impactful job in the country does not? Where is the sense in this approach?

Previously, in monarchies, a prince was born knowing that one day he will become king. From day one, he was taught what this means, what it entails, how to control the nobles, how to lead the army, and manage a taxation system that could sustain the monarchy and sustain the monarch. In that sense, democracy is a failed system by default since it allows people who know nothing about ruling to proclaim that they deserve to govern based solely on their word. Because they know that they are here today and gone tomorrow, they feel no accountability. They claim to work for the sake of the people when all they really want is to use their term at the top to gain as much as possible for themselves.

A king, on the other hand, feels that the monarchy is his, that his kingdom is his legacy, that he is the state. In the days of monarchies, a king was not just an autocrat. People hung their hopes on the king. A good king meant good living for everyone. A king was respected not only out of fear, but also as a sign that the people agreed to his authority to manage their lives and make them better. Compare this to the obligation that a “democratically” elected head of state feels toward his or her constituency, and you will see how flawed our system is.

However, the sad state of today’s democracies does not mean that we should reinstate monarchies. The raging egos of people will unquestionably make them abuse their absolute power. One look at North Korea or Venezuela demonstrates what happens when you give unchecked power to individuals today.

The solution to the deadlock that world governments are in can only be found in the realization of our connection, our mutual interdependence. As long as we lack the comprehension that what hurts each of us hurts all of us, and what helps each of us helps all of us, we cannot do anything right, much less govern correctly.

The past rulers of Israel were the Sanhedrin. They were people who engaged first and foremost in connection among them. They sat in a semicircle so they could all see each other and communicate with one another. Only people who achieved a certain level of connection among them, a certain level of care for others, could become members of the Sanhedrin. Those people were the governors of the land of Israel since they had the best interest of the people in mind, not their own.

Today’s governors reflect the level of connection among all of us. Since we, in society, are disconnected, and since our governors come from among us, they, too, are disconnected from the rest of the people and do not care about us. The only difference between them and other people is that they have a desire to be in power and they managed to convince us that they would work for our benefit. But if no one in society works for anyone’s benefit, if selfishness is the trait that dominates human relations, and they emerge from the people they now govern, how can we expect them to be anything but selfish?

For this reason, if we want to save the country, to improve the government, and to change the way that governors relate to their constituency, we must teach ourselves and our entire society to live by different values. When we live by values of mutual responsibility, caring, and accountability, so will be the nature of our leaders. Until then, we will continue the endless cycle of elections until we’ve had enough, or until we end up the way our forefathers did 2,000 years ago.
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“How Do You Feel About The Universe?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: How do you feel about the universe?

The universe appears to be enormous, but it is in fact minuscule in comparison to the world that we can discover if we rise above the limits imposed on us by our inborn egoistic nature.

If we break free from our egoistic approach to life by developing an additional sense of bestowal, then we enter the perception of a completely new reality existing outside us.

Our inborn five senses—sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste—are senses of reception. They draw information from a source unknown to us, and what we ultimately perceive is an extremely narrow corporeal picture of reality. And within this narrow picture of reality, we perceive a wide and expansive universe with unfathomable space.

However, we perceive such a picture through our five limiting senses. The reason for perceiving through narrow channels that limit the information we receive is so that we will develop a desire to break beyond the limits of this perception, and by doing so, discover a truly wider and broader reality.

The question then becomes, how can we break free from such a limiting picture where we wish to receive into ourselves at every moment? The answer is—by developing a new sense of bestowal. The attainment of a new sense that feels reality not through reception, but through bestowal, will let us exit our physical sphere of time, space and motion, and discover a much more expansive reality than the universe we currently perceive.

The method for the development of this additional sense is called “the wisdom of Kabbalah.” By applying this method, we can develop a new sense of bestowal and love, which grants us a new perception of the eternal spiritual world. We then discover that another reality exists adjacent to our current one, but it becomes revealed through a new perception and sensation of reality: from oneself outward.

Therefore, it is written that “Love your friend as yourself” is “a great rule of the Torah,” because it points to the quality that we need to develop in order to attain a new sense of bestowal and love. By undergoing this shift in perception, we come to sense the spiritual world and the upper force filling reality.

Based on an interview with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on an Israeli Radio Program, 103FM, on August 16, 2015.
Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash.

The Effect Of Feminism

627.2Question: What is the reason that feminism has dominated in the world for the last two centuries?

Answer: Feminism is the result of the fact that a woman has felt the need to develop and participate in the world. She has really developed to be no less than men. She can cope with everything maybe even better than men.

In general, competition between the sexes is absolutely unnecessary. At home, none of us competes to see who will be the best at arranging life and everything else. It is clear to us that a woman is capable of this beyond any competition. She can do such work at home in half an hour that a man will not be able to do in a day or, on the contrary, will ruin everything. That is how we are made.

Therefore, we need to know how and with what we can properly complement each other and, thus, build relationships with one another, especially in our time when we are already beginning to move away from the useless, completely unnecessary work that has filled our time. We will filter out absolutely everything that is unnecessary so that only the most necessary work will remain.

Then, we will need maybe 20% of the entire population to launch the whole system that will serve people and the world. All the rest of the time, we will only be engaged in providing for our inner needs and understanding how to unite and achieve the manifestation of the upper world within us. This, I think, will be very special and attractive for the new generation.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 12/7/20

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