Question: How is independence expressed when the Israelis leave Egypt? From what do they become independent?

Answer: So far they are only running away from Pharaoh, from their egoism. This is not yet gaining independence, but breaking away from slavery, and nothing more. There is a very long way from slave to master.

Comment: Let’s say a country gains independence, just as the Poles became independent from Russia …

My Response: What is their independence? They are all dependent on each other. And most importantly, they are in bad dependence, because it is selfish.

And if they begin to unite with each other in the properties of love and bestowal, then their dependence will be good, they will merge together. Then it will not be considered, as it is today, that they are linked by bonds of some kind. After all, if I know that you love me, then I am independent of you: I use your property of love as a property of my own independence, and you are mine. Then we are free, although the same connection exists between us.

We use our egoism as a link that ties us all into a single net and manifests itself in an eerily obligatory state. We see that we cannot get away from each other, on one hand. On the other hand, when we rise above the ego and build the property of love and bestowal over it, we gain the third level—independence.

The internal property of hatred, egoism, and the property of love, bestowal, create a third line in us—absolute freedom.

Question: As a result, we gain independence from the Creator?

Answer: First of all, from the Creator. Because the Creator is the only one who created this situation. So it is said: “I created evil and gave the Torah to correct it.” He is the first and only one. And I’m only secondary.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #6

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Question: All the primary sources that we study are written in Hebrew. They are translated into Russian, English, Spanish, and other languages. Is there any difference in the influence when you read the original source in Hebrew or in translation?

Answer: The language of Kabbalah is very specific. The point is that here it is necessary to describe the world that we do not feel, to introduce a person to the sensations of this world, to arouse in him certain reactions, tastes, rumors, and so on. It is necessary to adjust it so that it begins to feel those vibrations that an ordinary person does not feel.

Therefore, there is a certain complexity here, which is not easily overcome. A person’s preparation for sensing the upper world has been going on for many years. Not all people are able to try to comprehend the higher world, since this comprehension is emotional and at the same time analyzed by the conceptual apparatus.

So, this is a very complex system of knowledge that requires serious books and, most importantly, primary sources.
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From KabTV’s “Questions about Kabbalistic Books”, 10/22/19

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Question: Researchers argue that such a concept as “materialism,” which is characteristic of both the rich and the poor, means people’s addiction to things.

The social image and value system created by this addiction is destructive for both society and the individual. Whoever succumbs to this loses the joy of life, peace of mind, brings anxiety, depression, and the collapse of relationships.

Nevertheless, in the past year of the “crown,” coronavirus, people began to demonstrate less materialism. But, on the other hand, now it is already clear that this is the reverse side of the same coin. Why do people love things so much?

Answer: Man is an egoist. He loves to acquire and feel that it is his: “Mine, mine, mine!” We see this in the example of small children, when they grab a toy and do not give it to anyone else. Even if you convince him that this is not appropriate, the child does not understand. He always wants it to be in his hands. That is how he is born.

Therefore, we cannot condemn people for the fact that they have such a craving for acquiring everything they like: “I want this to be mine.” Or even something that he doesn’t like, but the other likes it, obviously, this is good, he also wants to have it.

Moreover, he wants to have this thing himself, while the other child should not have it, and if this is not possible, then no one should have it. That is, this is absolute selfishness, childish and petty that accompanies us all years of our life. You can’t get away from it.

How can you balance it? Only with the right upbringing. But for this it is necessary to build a system that will work on people and educate them in such a way that they are satisfied with what they have, even in comparison with others. In general, this must be a special education system, otherwise, we will never get rid of materialism.

Question: In essence, materialism is the decoration of oneself. A person decorates himself with something extra. What should replace materialism or will it go away over time?

Answer: I think it will. Instead, a more internal decoration will prevail: the attitude of a person toward others, the attitude of others toward him, but not the replacement of some things with other things.

As a result, a person must come to the understanding that his greatest acquisition is his love for his neighbor as for himself, and even, perhaps, more than himself. This is a completely different ascent of man over his little egoistic nature.

I hope that under the influence of correct upbringing, one will gradually cancel the other.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 2/16/21

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Comment: You often give students different advice, for example, to write articles. But there are such states when a person does not have the heart to write, thoughts completely disappear. There is a feeling of great regret that the teacher’s covenant cannot be fulfilled.

My Response: I myself have not written for a long time. There is Facebook, Twitter, several sources where you can write. Basically, I sometimes tweet little “bullets” for my students. On the same day, they are translated into different languages, and people read them.

They are based on the material from the past lesson or what is happening in the world or on the topic of the next lesson planned for tomorrow.

Sometimes I get up at 12 am and I can fill up Twitter before class, sometimes I do it during the day. I believe that what I write there is very important, and I am glad that there is such an opportunity where it is limited and you sit and calculate, you really calculate, so that each word has its own weight, and the message does not go beyond the allowed amount of letters.

And I don’t write articles. I do not even slander a detailed article, but I give my ideas to people who have such abilities. And they are the ones who write mainly in four languages: English, Spanish, Russian, and Hebrew.

Therefore, if you come across current articles somewhere, signed by “Michael Laitman,” then these are my ideas expressed by my students.

Question: Are they not getting distortions from this?

Answer: No. I know and clearly control those who write, and therefore, I speak so calmly about it. You can take these articles as absolutely mine.

Question: But Twitter is personal instruction?

Answer: Yes. This is me personally.
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From KabTV’s “Teacher – Student” 2/7/19

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Pesach (Passover)”

Selected Highlights 

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Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3 Audio

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A person who feels the quality of bestowal and love and who perceives his participation in the whole of humanity as necessary and desirable, gradually comes to the fact that this quality begins to prevail in him. In that way, he gets closer and closer to bestowal. One who wants to fully acquire this quality, he, as a a pray, asks it to act in him, and thus approaches the Machsom, the border between the two worlds, and passes through it.

It is a mesmerizing state, because we really begin to feel that our world consists of two systems. Our system, in which we are today, is purely initial, weak, specifically created so that, proceeding from it, we would want to be in the quality of bestowal and love despite our nature.

Question: Kabbalists say that the goal of nature is to transport the whole of humanity though the Machsom?

Answer: Yes. Absolutely everyone and everything.

The fact is that our world that seems to us to exist, is actually illusory. It is specifically created for us to want to get out of it, to choose the next world, the next state: the quality of bestowal as the most necessary, desirable.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 2/6/20

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Comment: It is said, “Adhere to the Creator.” Our dream is to reveal the Creator in our sensations. At the same time, you say that we will become independent of Him. There is some kind of contradiction in this.

My Response: Indeed, we are given two contradictory lines, the right one and the left one, above which we build the third, which is the middle line consisting of both of them, and at the same time above them.

The quality of complete bestowal and love is the right line, the quality of egoism and hatred is the left line, and using them, I build the middle line above them.

There is egoism, anger, greed, and envy inside me, I want to receive everything. And in you, as a host, on the contrary, there is bestowal and absolute love, and I can take them from you. You are completely ready to give everything. However, if I use you with my egoism, then I depend on you.

In addition, my humiliation is revealed here. This is what we see in the world today, depression and everything else, as a result of the upper quality, of the quality of the so-called upper shame.

To rise above this, I must completely nullify your influence on me. I can only do this when I apply both qualities. At the same time, I fully use my egoism, I receive everything that is possible from you, I pass through myself the pleasure that comes from you, but in order to give contentment to you.

As a result, I do not become a receiver, because I receive only for your sake. I am the giver because I give everything to you. And you turn into a receiver.

I am the receiver and the giver. You are the receiver and the giver. We become absolutely equal to each other. Then there is absolutely no difference between us at the degrees of “creation – Creator.” I fully reach the degree equal to you.

Moreover, since here I am the leader, the creator of this new relationship, I become even higher than you. After all, I manage the whole process: I create it, I invent it, and I implement it.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #6

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My new article on Linkedin “Covid Isn’t Going Anywhere Yet”

After more than a year of battling with Covid-19, vaccines are available and their distribution is gaining momentum. It seems as though we are finally emerging from the pandemic as many states have lifted some, or all, of the limitations.

Nevertheless, I think we are a bit too quick to jump to conclusions. We are still not conscious enough of how we should relate to one another, and the reckless race to lift the limitations could produce a very negative response. We’re not out of the woods just yet, especially since we still don’t feel how close or far we should be from one another.

As I have said countless times, nature is smarter than we are; it demands that we overhaul our conduct. This is why it sent us the coronavirus, and the virus will continue to plague us (in various forms) until we comply with nature’s demand.

The virus is very nimble, mutates easily and quickly, and is now far more contagious than it was when it first appeared. Since we don’t feel how far we need to be from one another—to keep two feet away from this person, and ten feet away from that person—we don’t know how to conduct ourselves.

Also, even when vaccines do work, they don’t inoculate one hundred percent and are only effective for six months or so. Therefore, I see no cause for celebration.

As I have said countless times, nature is smarter than we are; it demands that we overhaul our conduct. This is why it sent us the coronavirus, and the virus will continue to plague us (in various forms) until we comply with nature’s demand.

Currently, whenever we lift the limitations, we revert to the way we lived before: selfishly, and without consideration of each other or the environment. This is exactly why the plague broke out: to compel us to transform our relationships. If we revert to the previous way of life every time we lift the limitations, the virus will keep coming back, and more virulent and violent each time. Only when we start using the forced distance between us to build positive relations, to learn about our mutual dependence, and the necessity to care about each other, we will be able to conduct ourselves in more thoughtful ways and we will not need a virus to keep us from harming one another.

To do this, we must start thinking that by keeping our distance, we are not protecting ourselves, but the ones from whom we keep away. That is, if we, collectively, cultivate a mindset where we see ourselves as infected (even if asymptomatic), and that we must keep away from each other in order not to infect others, then we will stop infecting one another. If we do this, the virus will be gone in a matter of weeks. But even more important, we will have succeeded in our first exercise in mutual responsibility.

This exercise will demonstrate that only through mutual responsibility can we build a secure and successful society, and we will want to cultivate that mindset instead of the reverence we currently have for extreme individualism and narcissism.

Our physical (and emotional) health depends on our social health more than at any time prior. If we want to be healthy, we must first heal our society from corrupt egoism. We must learn to appreciate, and gradually rejoice in our differences. We must come to see that the diversity of human society is required for its strength, and that without people who think, look, and act differently, no one can develop and succeed, since we only develop through contact and communication with different people. When we realize this, we will be able to build a balanced, healthy society, and the virus will truly be gone.

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My new article on Linkedin “Israel – A Country in Paralysis”

For the fourth time in two years, Israel is going to the polls. The country is in an unprecedented state of political paralysis, and it feels as though regardless of the election results, and whatever government is established afterwards, it will not work. Signed agreements are not kept, alliances mean nothing, and the country is in deadlock.

The problem is that we don’t understand that the motto “All of Israel are friends” is not some lofty idea conceived by an ancient sage some 3,000 years ago. It is a goal that we must strive to achieve every moment we are here because this is our vocation as a nation. Our brotherhood is not for our own sake; it is to set an example of unity above hatred and rows. The ancient bond that the people of Israel achieved was unique. It was not a bond among kin or among otherwise related people, but one that was achieved among people whose ancestors came from countless tribes and clans who were often sworn enemies. This is why King Solomon said (Prov. 10:12), “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes [of hatred].” Only when we conduct ourselves in this manner are we regarded as “the people of Israel,” and only then do we merit living in the Land of Israel.

It does not have to be this way; we brought ourselves to it. We, the people of Israel, must be as brothers to each other, as it is written, “All of Israel are friends,” and until this happens, we are not a nation, and we have no country or society.

At the moment, we are behaving like raucous siblings who were sent to their room because they misbehaved. But we are all living in one room, so we are continuing the unruly behavior while on “lockdown.” If we keep this up, we really will lose the country.

The problem is that we don’t understand that the motto “All of Israel are friends” is not some lofty idea conceived by an ancient sage some 3,000 years ago. It is a goal that we must strive to achieve every moment we are here because this is our vocation as a nation. Our brotherhood is not for our own sake; it is to set an example of unity above hatred and rows. The ancient bond that the people of Israel achieved was unique. It was not a bond among kin or among otherwise related people, but one that was achieved among people whose ancestors came from countless tribes and clans who were often sworn enemies. This is why King Solomon said (Prov. 10:12), “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes [of hatred].” Only when we conduct ourselves in this manner are we regarded as “the people of Israel,” and only then do we merit living in the Land of Israel.

At the moment, the country is running sort of on its own, but this is not the right way to run things. If we were united as we should be, above our hatred, we wouldn’t let politicians run the country; we’d have professionals running it. Educators should run the ministry of education, doctors should run the ministry of health, and the same goes for commerce and industry, culture, and so forth. Professionals should run the country and not politicians, who see only the promotion of their own careers.

As long as there is money to waste, we’ll keep going to the polls. And for our own sake, I hope we will learn what we must do sooner rather than later.
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