Rabash, “Concerning Above Reason”: The envy that he feels toward the friends when he sees that they have better qualities than his own. It motivates him to acquire their good qualities, which he doesn’t have and of which he is jealous.

You probably remember how your mother told many of you in your childhood: “Play with this boy and not with that one because you will learn something good from this one and from that one, on the contrary, only bad.”

The problem is that we need envy and to use it properly. We are surrounded by friends who have very good properties for spiritual advancement, but we are not jealous of them. They might even repel us physically, outwardly, or in some other way.

We need to overcome all the rejections in our world in terms of appearance, habits, movements, and everything that can repel us from a friend. The most important thing is to start envying them regarding their goals and capabilities.

Only then will I be able to approach them, attach their aspirations to myself, and accumulate a sufficient number of such desires from my friends so that I will form a whole Kli, vessel. Therefore, envy develops our Kli and allows us to make it large and universal.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Deriving the Greatness of the Goal from the Friends” Lesson 4

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Jews of Today’s German Army”

After Nazi-Germany’s attempt to wipe out its (and the world’s) Jewish population, today 118,000 Jews reside in Germany. Eight decades have passed since World War II and there are currently about 300 Jews wearing the German military uniform “ready to die” for their homeland. Some of them even come from families of Holocaust survivors.

How is it possible for Jews to join the German army after the military atrocities committed against Jews by the Nazis? The answers vary.

Some argue that this is the way to heal the wounds of history and others think that this is actually the way to clear prejudices since today there is a new Germany. But each assertion springs from a sense of self-righteousness, from a desire to show everyone that “Jews are not what people always thought they were.” It is a desire to be accepted and understood.

During World War I, about 100,000 German Jewish soldiers fought for their country. Before they were banned from serving in the army when Hitler came to power in 1933, they fought as hard as any Christian German to serve their homeland and did their best to show that they were loyal Germans. But did that help them when the Nazis, with their Aryan supremacy agenda, came to power? Why do they think it will be different today? How can they ignore that there is still rampant antisemitism throughout the country and right-wing extremists within the German military and police as authorities have uncovered in recent years?

Just as no one foresaw that only fifteen years after World War I Jews would be blamed for all of Germany’s troubles and their participation in the war would be presented as an act of betrayal against the country they fought and died in, today no one will salute them.

To understand where the phenomenon of Jewish self-denial comes from, one must understand who a Jew is and what his or her role is. Jews have an element that was imprinted in them in the time of our ancestor Abraham, which culminated with the acceptance of the Torah at the foot of Mount Sinai. This spiritual element connects the Jews to the power of nature; it is an element that does not exist in any other nation., Through this spiritual element the Jews can become a channel leading to abundance, light, and spiritual power for the whole world. That is what it is to be “a light to the nations.”

During the period of the Second Temple, the Jewish people were at the height of their glory and united in brotherly love that enlightened all of mankind. But as selfishness, the evil instinct, the negative force, grew and separated them, brotherhood and love were replaced by free hatred that sent the Jews to all corners of the world.

Since the destruction of the Temple, the Jews have failed to fulfill their role in humanity, and as a result of it, they evoke a sense of hatred known as antisemitism. In order to escape the hatred against them, they try to hide their Jewish identity wherever they live or attempt to blend in within the establishment, like those Jews who join the ranks of the German army, for example. In extreme cases, consciously or unconsciously, they become Jew-haters themselves.

In all ways, Jews are trying to free themselves from the role assigned to them by trying to uproot their spiritual origin. But this is impossible. The Jewish “gene” is in their essence. It is a spiritual root that is above nature, and it forces them to be Jews.

The only action the Jews have to perform today is to unite among them. That is the act that made them a nation to begin with; it is also the only act that has ever earned them respect and goodwill from other peoples and nations— it is the simple act of promoting the value of solidarity and cohesion from the Jews to the entire world.
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My new article on Linkedin “Why Israel Has Become Corrupt”

Every year, Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption, publishes its Corruption Perceptions Index. In 1996, when Israel was first added to the index, we came in at no. 14. In the 2021 index, we came in at no. 36. At the moment, I cannot see what will reverse the dismal trend unless some blow lands on us and straightens us up, if it does not destroy us.

When you read the lofty words in Israel’s Declaration of Independence, the chasm between them and reality is staggering. The assertions that the State of Israel “will be founded on the basis of freedom, justice, and peace,” that there will be “complete social and political equality for all its citizens,” and “freedom of religion, conscience, tongue, education, and culture,” stand in stark contrast to the grim reality.

I come from the former Soviet Union, where the promises after the Bolshevik Revolution were even more ambitious, and the subsequent fall into corruption even deeper, so I have no expectations from declarations. Nevertheless, these words highlight the pretense in the leaders’ words, who really aim for nothing but their own renown and power.

We think that the founders of the country were idealistic and pure, but in reality, the only thing that has changed is that their expectations were a little more modest than today’s leaders. Since then, everyone’s egos have grown, and the self-centered aspirations of the leaders have grown proportionally. Today, no one takes anyone into account, and everyone is willing to do whatever it takes just to be at the top.

There is no boundary to where human egoism can grow or what it can do, none whatsoever. Today, people who should be behind bars are running the country. The concept of “concern for the citizens” no longer exists in anyone’s lexicon, not to mention their minds.

Until a blow by some force majeure forces us to reflect on the country that we want to live in, nothing will get better. I only hope that it happens before we lose the country altogether.

Having said all that, there is another way. It takes courage, persistence, and the conviction that the current path leads nowhere. But most of all, it requires solidarity and participation of many people.

That path is the path of education. We can choose to teach ourselves to live by the values that we believe are right, but to do that, we must help each other maintain our resolve that living in a just and equal society means first of all that we have a society to speak of. Living in a society means that we accept that we are dependent on each other, that we can and must rely on each other, and that we see to the well-being of all the parts in our society, or we are not really a society.

Next, we need to realize that maintaining mutual responsibility only on the physical level will not hold. We need to “translate” it into emotional commitment, which implies developing concern, care, and eventually love for one another.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” is not an empty slogan that our ancestors concocted for political purposes; it is a tenet we must eventually live out among us. Once we achieve it, there will be no concerns of corruption or mistreatment. Just as these vices do not exist in a loving family, they will not exist in a loving society.

We will need to be brave. We will need to paddle upstream because the ego does not like sharing or caring, but if we want a future for the State of Israel, we simply have no choice. Solidarity, mutual responsibility, and mutual concern are not slogans; they are our weapon against the dissolution of the country.
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Question: Don’t I belittle my friends if I ask for correction for them?

Answer: By no means. Because none of us can ask for ourselves. This will not work, but will only push a person who prays for himself away from the Creator. And he who asks for others receives first.

Question: When I see my friends uncorrected, how can I exalt them? Is it just through playing, annulling, and praying, or is there some other means?

Answer: As soon as I see the friends as uncorrected, I must be horrified by my properties in which I see them as such, and immediately, proceeding from this, ask the Creator for correction, not in order to correct myself, but in order to see my friends as corrected in my corrected properties. It hurts me.

Question: How do I know if I am trying hard enough to connect in the ten?

Answer: Include yourself in the ten and the ten in yourself so that there is no distance, no lack of thoughts, no lack of desires, and no lack of connection between us, for our connection to be absolute, “face to face” (Panim le Panim).

And then, oddly enough, in this state we will find the Creator because He does not need a place.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Adhering to the Friends” Lesson 3

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Question: What kind of relationship should we have in the ten during the lesson in order to build the Kli (vessel)?

Answer: We must pay attention not to what happens in the ten, but to how we can rise and save ourselves from all circumstances, and what the Creator does to us—all sorts of divisions, dissatisfaction, discontent with each other, and so on—it does not matter to us. These are all the properties of division. You should not delve into them, dwell in them for a long time, investigate them, and chew them over.

The main thing is to quickly rise above these states. So it is said that it should be like a small nip: you should feel your egoism and no longer be in it, but immediately rise above it. And so every time. That is enough for it to inject its poison in you. And then you are already working on it—turning it from darkness into light.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/6/22, “Approaching the Creator Through the Network of Connections Between Us” Lesson 1

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When a person goes by faith above reason, it does not matter to him how much he knows, what he knows, and what he thinks and understands. He goes above his knowledge with closed eyes, without trying to learn anything.

Nevertheless, he has some of his own knowledge, understanding, sensations, and he does not cross it all out, he does not make himself a limited person, but tries to go above it. If in this way he tries to move in the property of bestowal, in the property of drawing closer to his friends, and in love, then these actions lead him to the state of Ibur, spiritual birth.

Therefore, Rabash writes: “When a person can go with his eyes shut,” that is, is not guided by his feelings and his mind in which he sees our world egoistically and nothing else, but wants to go “above reason,” that is, “and believe in the sages and go all the way” (faith is a property of bestowal), then by doing so he performs an action that is called Ibur. He brings himself into a state of surrender. And gradually the property of the spiritual germ manifests itself in it, it begins to develop.

“May only goodness and kindness pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for length of days” (Psalm 23).

Therefore, the most important thing is to not stop trying to imagine a world filled with the Creator, and to think of how we can approach Him according to our properties, actions, and  intentions, in order to begin to feel Him and ourselves in Him. This is called dwelling “in the house of the Lord for length of days.”
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Going with Faith above Reason” Lesson 5

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Question: If I make an effort to annul, should I make additional efforts to show it to my friends?

Answer: We should try all possible methods to annul ourselves and adhere to the friends.

Question: To be in the state of Hafetz Hesed (the one who does not want anything for himself) with regard to the ten, is this a state of complete zero?

Answer: There are a lot of shades in this. Therefore, I cannot answer you in the affirmative. But it is similar.

Question: Does the will to receive always feel rejection from annulling itself?

Answer: Egoism, naturally, feels rejection from everyone, it wants to be alone and above everyone.

Question: You said that annulment in the ten is a creative annulment. What does it mean?

Answer: Creative annulment is when in our annulment we constantly create greater and greater similarity to the Creator. We sort of build Him, mold Him.

Question: What should I do if I manage to annul myself in the ten, but at the same time my ego is raging? What to do with this feeling of bifurcation?

Answer: You do not have to do anything! Be happy about the fact that your egoism gives you the feeling that you are working against it.

Question: When I feel the connection in the ten, does it mean that the Creator is already revealed to me?

Answer: This does not mean that the Creator is revealed. Rather the condition for the revelation of the Creator is already being revealed.

Question: Should I first start annulling myself internally and then physically?

Answer: You can do both. It is better to do both.

Question: Is there a difference between the type of annulment in the ten, between Ibur (conception) and Ubar (embryo)?

Answer: Ibur is a state and Ubar already is a formed desire that is being corrected.

Question: What does it mean “Do not forsake your mother’s teaching”?

Answer: We will see this in the future on our spiritual path. We have not yet entered the state of receiving from the qualities of mother and father. These are the spiritual qualities that are above us: Bina (mother) and Hochma (father).

Question: When we say “to annul myself,” then who is this “I”: egoism or the man in me?

Answer: This is a man who so far has only egoism within him.

Question: Spirituality is opposite to corporeality. Would it be too much of a simplification to say that lowering myself is, in essence, elevating spirituality?

Answer: Yes, this is so.

Question: Does annulling toward friends lead to an increase in empathy or love for them?

Answer: This is a transitional process. At first it may be rejection and then empathy.

Question: What does it mean to rise above my desire and not cancel it?

Answer: It means to change your desire to the opposite, from the desire to use people for your sake to the desire to act for their sake, for the sake of the group.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Annulling before the Friends” Lesson 2

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is winning the lottery a blessing or a curse?“

Margaret Loughrey, 56, from Strabane in Northern Ireland, was found dead in her home. In 2013, she won 27 million pounds in the lottery, acquired real estate, bought a house, a pub and opened a recreation center for residents of the city. She planned to build affordable housing for residents on her property. She spent half of her winnings on charity. The recreation center was set on fire more than once. She also received a suspended sentence for drunk and disorderly conduct. She later claimed that people stole millions from her. Shortly before her death, she said: “I regret winning the lottery […]. I was a happy person before. I am a human being and all it has done is destroy my life.”

We mostly think of winning the lottery as a blessing, that if we had won the lottery, we would have used the money well. But there are no such examples. Winning the lottery is a curse. Our seemingly good deeds within the framework of our limited understanding of the world, i.e. giving millions of dollars to one or more causes, will always fall short and boomerang back to us in negative ways.

I see no solution to such a problem other than an extensive worldwide educational program that teaches us to develop a sense of mutual responsibility and consideration toward each other in society, and to prioritize positively connecting to each other above our divisive drives.

Humanity will come to realize that after all the unsolvable global challenges, the only cure left will be to implement unity among each other. We need different conditions and not people or organizations trying to manage these massive amounts of money. My conclusion is to not award such sums of money. Do not incite a person in such a way. I personally would also ask to not have such sums of money offered to me.

Based on the video “Is Winning the Lottery a Blessing or a Curse?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by dylan nolte on Unsplash.

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Comment: You received the following letter:

I watched one of your videos yesterday in which someone wrote very sincerely that he is sick and is worried he about his father who wanted to help him. Thank you for responding to such letters. I decided to write to you. I have Alzheimer’s disease, and I’m only 47 years old. Mostly old people suffer from it, but I am in that small percentage of young people, what can you do?

I’m not complaining. I’ve been watching you for a long time. I understand that everything is in the hands of the Creator, and I honestly don’t care what happens to me. Only one thing bothers me: I don’t want to be a burden to my loved ones, and everything is coming to this. I know what awaits me: immobility and dementia. There is no cure for this disease, which means that everything falls on the shoulders of loved ones.

My Response: From a medical point of view, I would only advise him to walk a lot and to listen to and read scientific materials, meaning, to give a load to the brain. And moreover, if he knows our materials, then delve into them as much as possible. This will take him in another direction. He will heal himself.

Question: Can a person not become a burden? Let’s say he enters these materials and does not think about it.

Answer: He will dive into our materials, and if he lives inside them, then everything will change. And he won’t be a burden to others.

Question: Will this life bubble in him even in any state?

Answer: Certainly.

Question: And will those close to him feel that he is not a burden?

Answer: They will feel from him that he is busy with his business, that he has withdrawn into himself so to speak, into his occupation, that he walks a lot, thinks a lot, and works a lot with both his head and body. And gradually, gradually, he will overcome in some ways and be able to stop the progress of this disease.

Question: If, as he describes, this is really such a state of mutual love and mutual support, is it possible to at least keep this spark of love and connection in any state a person may be in?

Answer: Yes. But his problem is different. He worries about others, not for himself. He regrets all the time—being sick, how he will become a burden for them, and so on. There is nothing you can do. There are possible objective reasons that he will not be able to overcome in any way, and then he may only have thoughts of leaving.

And this isn’t right.

Question: And why are these thoughts and these states given to a person from above?

Answer: For the correction of the soul.

Question: Whose? His or his loved ones?

Answer: His soul and the others, his friends, acquaintances, and relatives. We live only for the correction of the soul, not for the correction of the body. Our body lives and dies. There is nothing to it. This is our animal degree, and we have to think about the next degree.

Question: If we could see that this is how it is, that it is given for the correction of the soul, how would our worldview change?

Answer: We would all live for a different purpose, for the sake of elevating the soul. And then indeed our whole life would receive a completely different direction and different meaning. We would put ourselves in a completely different framework. We would treat each other differently; we would live differently. It would change everything.

Question: What would an incurable disease turn into then?

Answer: It is quite possible that we would simply understand that this is not a disease, that this is the natural end of earthly life and the body. It exists for a certain amount of time in order to allow the soul to develop after that.

Question: What does it do to a person then? Does it give him some kind of freedom?

Answer: Of course! In general, everything happens differently.

Comment: Your teacher’s wife was immobile for five years. She was practically paralyzed. And I know that between them, as you said, there was great love.

My Response: Yes.

Question: How did he feel, and how did she feel about what was happening?

Answer: She couldn’t do anything, she couldn’t even talk. She was just completely paralyzed. And he took care of her and did everything he could. It is incredible when an 85-year-old man takes care of his paralyzed wife at that age.

Question: It was thanks to this connection, and only to this connection?

Answer: Yes. They loved each other. It’s not just a habit for 50 years of life; it really was love.

Question: How does one get to such a state?

Answer: These are special souls.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/2/21

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