The Book of Zohar, Chapter Bo (Come Unto Pharaoh), Item 68: And all the herbs grow around that still Nile on either side.

We are talking about the vegetative level, about what grows out from the ground. Slowly, plant sprouts appear, that is, there is a need for something, in particular for growth.

Although the silent river does not seem to give anything, the spiritual, altruistic desires of man begin to develop around it.

Bina is the future world. And so gradually, underneath, it implicitly develops in us sprouts of our future spiritual desires, which grow around it and rise up.

Then, that monster climbs unto the herbs and grows among them, and then returns to all these Niles. The herbs are the light that grew out of the dark.

Thus, the quality of water (Bina) gradually develops in us.

Water is, in principle, an inanimate substance but it practically gives life. Thanks to it, plants develop from the earth because the property of mercy combined with egoism—the property of the earth—gives the earth (egoistic quality) that life-giving power when new properties begin to grow out of it in man. Therefore, our egoism alone is not enough. We need to acquire the property of Bina, the property of the upper world.

This is basically what The Book of Zohar does, because when we begin to study it, we attract the quality of mercy.

And all four rivers that descend from the Garden of Eden to our sinful earth, to my sinful qualities, begin to change me. New spiritual properties in which wisdom gradually increases grow out of me, and I begin to develop to the point that I will eventually reach the Garden of Eden, the future world, and I begin to exist in it.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #1

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Question: Is it proper to constantly turn to the Creator or only to do so in very difficult moments?

Answer: We must make sure that it is always relevant, that we always have a reason to turn to Him.

Question: Do we look for a reason for it?

Answer: Don’t look for it, but really move forward, and then you will always have reasons to turn to the Creator. He is interested in being addressed constantly.

Question: And He is able to accept all the requests of billions of people at the same time?

Answer: I think so. We are under His complete control, and everything depends only on our desires, on our requests.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/3/19

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Question: How can we teach children to be happy? And is it worth teaching them something related to Kabbalah?

Answer: Naturally, we want to teach children to be happy, and we can teach them. We tell a child: “Do not be a bully, do not hit others, be kind, be polite,” and so on, because we understand that in this way he seems to be guaranteed better circumstances.

This is how we should educate our children until they reach the age where we can teach them the method of connection. And then they will definitely have guarantees for a good life.
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From KabTV’s “Ask the Kabbalist” 12/31/18

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic of “Ibur (Conception) and Preparation to Birth”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot, ‘Histaklut Pnimit,’ Vol. 1, Part 3, Chapter 7, Item 1″

Selected Highlights

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Joy is a very important indicator of whether we are on the right track. I am happy to be in the group and I treat my friends with an open heart and love. I feel our connection and unity, and I come closer to the Creator sometimes in the right line and sometimes in the left.

This is the joy of doing good deeds in which I participate, the joy of fulfilling the commandment, that is, the decree of the Creator to come closer and cling to Him.

Joy testifies that I am going in the right direction, toward the right goal to bestow, to meet the Creator, my Creator. But there can be an opposite joy, egoistic, from feeling yourself at the center of creation and not the group and the Creator in it. Joy is built from those two poles: the good and the evil principles, the desire to enjoy and the desire to bestow, from the two forces operating in creation.

Therefore, in our progress, we need to check whether we are in joy and where does this joy come from. After all, this is an extremely important indicator, and if we pay attention to it, it will help us very quickly evaluate each state and determine what we need to come to. The goal is to always be happy that I am drawing closer to the Creator through the ten.

Joy should overflow the heart with good deeds and connection with the true goal. There may be a completely different joy, not from the desire to bestow and unite but just the opposite, from the filling of egoism.

Therefore, it is necessary to check what causes my joy: is it the fact that I am in a group together with my friends, that I strive for the Creator, and want to merge with Him through the actions of bestowal, through the group? If this is my goal, as is said, “The Torah, the Creator, and Israel are one” and I rejoice in it every moment, then this is a sacred joy.

If I do not feel joy, then I am not directed to the right goal, not directed to the Creator, to the ten, and all my efforts are wasted. Joy is a result of good deeds, of striving for the right goal, for the Creator.

Joy is a test criterion as if I am tuning in to a radio wave, twisting the dial to hear everything better, or adjusting the focus for more sharpness. I focus my vision or hearing, and if I am focused on the target, I perceive everything with joy.

If the connection with the group makes me happy, then I am really connected to the ten. The more I connect with my friends and with the Creator, the more I am filled with joy. Joy is a result of good deeds and an indicator of the right direction.

If I am not happy, then I am not yet moving in the right direction, but I am in my own egoism and the group does not seem to me to be a spiritual area. It is important to focus on the spiritual goal in such a way that it evokes the joy of the commandment in me, that is, to achieve this goal, I need to acquire the quality of bestowal.

I am glad I have risen a little more above myself. I want to connect with my friends so that I can get lost there and not feel myself but feel that I am inside them as if there is nothing but my friends. If I am happy, then I am on the right track.

As I join the group, I gradually give up my desire to enjoy and begin to feel the Creator in it. I do not yet realize that this is the Creator, but it already fills me with joy. This is a spiritual law. Therefore, joy is a compass that clearly determines the direction of the goal: egoistic or altruistic, for the sake of oneself or for the sake of bestowal.

As a thief rejoices that he has picked up the key to the safe to rob it, so I rejoice that I have found the key to open my heart and let in all humanity, the whole world.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/21, “Simcha”

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I wish us all a special miracle! A really big, big miracle in the new year. One! So that we rise above our lives and learn at least a little bit about what it is for. Then we all will feel good. We will all have a purpose. We will know why we give birth to children, raise them, and what we are leading them toward.

The only thing we need to do is reveal the world in which we exist. It is necessary to understand what nature does to us, what it wants from us, what we must be in order to change ourselves. Let’s try it! Let’s think about this and try to change something.

I hope that the year 2021, practically the first year after the blow we received in 2020, will be the year of some kind of enlightenment. I wish that to all of us. Happy new, a really new year!
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/28/20

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Comment: Man is the only animal that laughs. There are 50 types of laughter: infectious, irrepressible, homeric, laughter from tickling, laughter through tears, and laughing at yourself, which is the most sophisticated laughter. They say that laughing at oneself is for the strong ones.

My Response: Of course.

Question: In many countries there are clowns who come to hospital wards and even cure people with laughter. A science called gelotology tries to understand how laughter appears. That is, it is easy to understand how tears appear, but it is much more difficult to understand how laughter appears.

Can we talk a little about laughter and humor in your life?

Answer: I am not one who often laughs.

Comment: But sometimes you like to read jokes.

My Response: I do not like jokes, I like wit, an unexpected twist when the mind shines on and shows that it can see everything inside out.

Question: Is laughter really a healing and sublime thing?

Answer: Yes, of course. A person rises a little bit above his egoism, in spite of it. And this, of course, heals and saves him.

Comment: In the past, they used to scornfully talk about comedians: “To write tragedies, yes; but comedies, so-so.”

My Response: Comedians are tragedians inside out. That is, they feel both this and that inside. The fact that they amuse others does not mean that they themselves do not empathize with the opposite.

Comment: Probably the best comedians are those who have experienced depression.

My Response: Yes. They act in spite of themselves.

Comment: Say a few words about this sublime thing—about humor.

My Response: Humor is not just laughing at oneself; it is rising above one’s egoism, above which a person usually cannot rise. And we must watch that it is done kindly. Because hating yourself is not a problem. But making it all appear in a kind way is not easy.

Humor should be such that first, it would not hurt anyone. We laugh at our nature, at who we are, what we are. And we have enough intelligence, precisely as humans, to laugh at what animals we are. It is usually with kindness, condescension, and positivity.

Comment: There are satirists who cast down others a little.

My Response: That is not satire, that is insult. This is not humor.

Comment: But many people love it.

My Response: This is a different matter. People love it because it uplifts them. This no longer applies to rising up, seeing yourself, your nature, a little and treating everything kindly. No. Everything that is real humor should not cause any particularly harsh, negative attitudes in any person.

Question: That is, neither he nor any other person should be humiliated?

Answer: Yes. I think that this is a special innate property of man. And if a person does not have this property—he can be the strongest analyst and clever in all other matters but has no humor—it means that he lacks a human quality.

Moreover, it can be not only developed, but also suppressed. Many military men and politicians lose their sense of humor. They are so busy with self-control that they suppress it initially, instinctively, a priori.

Question: How can it be that it existed and suddenly disappeared?

Answer: It can happen. A person can teach himself that he cannot relate to the world, to life, to all kinds of messages in this way.

Question: If it were possible to teach such a difficult science as Kabbalah by telling jokes and stories, do you think it would lower it or not?

Answer: No, I don’t think it is possible. But Kabbalists love humor, they appreciate it. Laughter in Kabbalah is an ascent above oneself because what looks negative at our level looks joyous and positive at the next level.

And therefore, these states force us to rise upward and already laugh at our weaknesses, at our little egoism, above which we were able to rise with the help of the Creator, and now we rejoice at this.

Question: Do you think we will laugh at what is happening now? The world is now experiencing a difficult, tumultuous era. Will we laugh at this time and rejoice?

Answer: Of course we will. Naturally. We will all see what we have gone through and where we have arrived. And then everyone will be filled with joy and laughter. And big, elated, healthy laughter will fill the heavens.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/30/20

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Question: In the middle of the last century, anthropologists introduced the concept of contact and non-contact cultures. There are cultures, for example, in Asia or Southern Europe, in  which people engage in tactile interactions more often, and there are colder nations who are far from this type of behavior.

Some researchers have calculated that a couple, sitting at a table in a restaurant in Paris, made 110 mutual touches per hour whereas in London, not a single one. What is the root of this phenomenon? Does this closeness between people mean that there are some nations who are closer to unity?

Answer: No. I would not say that this signals the closeness of people, but nevertheless, it does speak about their national folk character and upbringing. A lot depends on the environment in which the person was brought up. Still, we can see from people who move from place to place and live, for several generations, far from their native land, how different they are compared to the local residents.

Question: So, all of our natural qualities do not affect in any way the degree of unity that you are talking about? Will everyone have to make their own efforts?

Answer: Undoubtedly, everyone should make some effort to unite, to rise not only above their egoism, but also above their habits in order to be closer to others.

After all, if someone who is talking to you touches you once an hour and someone holds your hand all the time, this still does not mean anything. We must take into account the particular qualities of this person, how he was brought up, and in what environment. It is all very complicated.

I’m talking about the closeness that happens when people feel the same way. The most important thing is to be in a common heart. Perhaps everyone is making a different degree of effort that we cannot compare. But this is already a problem on a higher level.

Question: About what sorts of things do people feel the same way?

Answer: About whether they are in a common desire or aspiration as well as how they define this state, what they do with it, why they are together, and what the purpose of their uniting is.

All this should be clear to them. How much closer to each other they can be in clarifying this goal is the result of their uniting.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/30/20

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Question: Why can’t we reach an agreement with the Creator?

Answer: It depends on what you want to reach an agreement. If you want Him to do you favors and to make concessions, it won’t happen. We are all in a very rigid system of mutual connections. In this system, there can’t be any requests like: “Why are you toying with me? Why do you mistreat me for so long? See how much I suffer!?” All this does not help. After all, you see how humanity has been trying to plead with the Creator and offering Him sacrifices as if He expects such sacrifices from us. It does not work.

There is a perfectly accurate, healthy system of mutual connection of all the egoistic desires into a system of altruistic connection. We need to learn this system in the best possible way, to understand it, and then we will be able to exist in it, and to reveal it while still living in this world.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 11/25/18

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