Rabash, Article 6 (1984), “Love of Friends – 2”:By each joining the society and annulling oneself before it, they become one body.

For example, if there are ten people in that body, it has ten times more power (when united) than a single person does. However, there is a condition: When they gather, each of them should think that he has now come for the purpose of annulling self-love. It means that he will not consider how to satisfy his will to receive now, but will think as much as possible only of the love of others (about uniting with and filling the friend). This is the only way to acquire the desire and the need to acquire a new quality, called “the will to bestow.”

And from love of friends one can reach love of the Creator, meaning wanting to give contentment to the Creator. 

Look how many colors there are in this passage.

By annulling oneself in front of the group, each one forms a group, a single whole.

In this unified whole, each one has ten times more strength than he has alone.

Imagine if you had ten times more spiritual powers, the qualities of bestowal, than you do now, you would have had already jumped into the upper world.

Just imagine, if I get incorporated in others and take from each of them literally a grain of what is in them of the desire for spirituality that the Creator planted in them, and I annul before them, I already have ten such parts—I immediately find myself in the spiritual world, rise above myself, above egoism. I have the strength for this; I got it from my friends.

Therefore, if this whole (group) consists of ten people, then each of us has ten times more strength than each one individually.

However, there is a condition: When they gather, each of them should think that he has now come for the purpose of annulling self-love. It means that he will not consider how to satisfy his will to receive now, but will think as much as possible only of the love of others. This is the only way to acquire the desire and the need to acquire a new quality, called “the will to bestow.”

However, there is a condition: When they gather, each of them should think that he has now come for the purpose of annulling self-love (the abolition of selfishness). It means that he will not consider (think about) how to satisfy his will to receive now (their own egoistic desires), but will think as much as possible only of the love of others (only about the possibility of bestowing to one’s neighbor).

This is practically the realization of love—to give to another. This is the only way to acquire the desire and the need to acquire a new quality, called “the will to bestow.”

By including oneself in others and trying to somehow connect with them enough to wish to give to them, I acquire a new quality, the desire to bestow. So from the love of friends, we come to the love of the Creator.

The Creator is the final common goal, the sum of all our relationships to each other. And if I want to give to the whole group, then I begin to feel that my attitude toward them is love for the Creator.
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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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Question: Should the ten renew and reaffirm the mutual guarantee for each other?

Answer: Friends must constantly take care that all good deeds are open in the ten because this encourages everyone else to act in the same way.

You should care about contributing to the group and not demand something from your friends, but try to make them understand how they should relate to the group. This mainly concerns mutual guarantee (Arvut).

Question: How can I show a friend mutual guarantee?

Answer: The Creator needs only one thing: that you love your friends, and through this love you can spend your love for Him. There are friends between you and the Creator. They will be able to convey your attitude to the Creator only to the extent that you love them and are connected with them. So go ahead.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/9/22, “Working in Mutual Responsibility” Lesson 6

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In order to be considered a group, you must study together, form together, and help each other. There are certain conditions for the connection of individual egoists into a group where they commit to begin to annul their egoism and slowly unite. Not just to give in to each other, but to help each other.

This is a whole communication system of ten individuals who must sacrifice themselves relative to others. Then they could form an organization of such a team in which they will annul their egoism. And in this corrected egoism, the Creator will reveal Himself in the equivalence of His qualities relative to the qualities of the group.

Question: How do we not see things critically, but give our heart and mind completely to the ten?

Answer: This is only with the help of friends. If you are united with them, then you will achieve the quality of bestowal, because to the extent that you annul yourself before a friend, you call the upper light upon yourself, and it forms you.
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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: You have repeatedly said that we are at a transitional stage from the last generation of egoistic development and that the entire educational system is built in this way. How do you see the Kabbalistic system of education?

Answer: It should be carried out via the Internet, when from serious world centers where Kabbalistic educators are located, everything that Kabbalah does is taught: the methodology of changing a person, the perception of reality, freedom of will, the system of the universe, the interaction and connection of people with each other, the internal system of our communication, and so on. Kabbalah deals with the structural mechanics of the entire universe.

In addition, specialists should correctly teach children everything related to the natural sciences, which are taught based on the revelation of the global system of the universe.

A person is constantly given a general vision of the whole picture of the worlds as one world: where his place is, what his purpose is. And when this is revealed to the child, he begins to feel it and to work with the forces of nature and with society.

A little man (the soul has no age) begins to see what an important element he is in the global system, he has someone to take an example from, and he sees the realization of himself.

At a young age, five, six, or ten years old, when everything is explained to him, it really fascinates him. There is no system of punishments or rewards. The very revelation of the true world in which we find ourselves captivates everyone. That’s how we’re built. And therefore, the system becomes general, global, and kind.

I hope that soon we will come to such a need and do it.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Generation Lady Gaga” 3/10/10

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 67

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 162

Lesson on the Topic: “Everything Is Obtained by the Power of Prayer”

Selected Highlights 

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 2/20/22

Every deficiency, lack, or negativity we feel, every worry we experience, and every concern in our hearts, are only the results of the severance of the loving connections we once had with one another. This is why the only way to correct anything in our lives and in the world around us is to restore and improve our human connections.

When we move toward connection rather than toward separation and hostility, as is the case today, everything that seems threatening, menacing or empty, every ache in our hearts and every pain in our bodies will become positive, filled with joy, connection, and love. All we have to think about is changing our relationships from hostility to friendship.

Because we are different, we are stronger together and weaker apart. When we care for one another, the differences between us complement each other to form a whole, and wholesome society. When we are apart, they weaken us. This is why we needn’t try to make everyone the same, but rather caring, and leave our views and characters as they are. Then, the whole world will find its peace and harmony.

Photo by: Baruch Ratz

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My new article on Linkedin “The Freedom Convoy Is a Power Struggle”

The Freedom Convoy was originally created to protest vaccine mandates for crossing the United States border, but later turned into a protest about Covid-19 restrictions in general. While many of the drivers and activists partaking in the convoy do it in good faith, the forces behind them have nothing to do with freedom or health, and everything to do with power and wealth.

It is very sad that such an important issue as our health has been hijacked from the public, as well as from health professionals, who are the ones to whom we should listen. Instead, each side, for and against compulsory vaccination and mask mandates, pulls its way not because of health concerns, for most of the time, but because political and industrial entities are paying top dollar for people to push the agenda that benefits them financially or politically. As for people’s health, it is inconsequential. Since there is no profit in caring for the public, there is no reason to promote it.

As I see it, the only benefit from the struggles erupting over vaccine and mask mandates is that we will realize our true nature. In the end, each side is so focused on winning that it is impossible to know who is right, who is wrong, or even if there are right and wrong in this clash.

The solution to the questions of who is right and what is the right thing to do will come only when we change human society from the basis. The virus is dissolving the fabric of society precisely in order to force us to rebuild it, and rebuild it right.

Reconstructing society must begin where society is weakest—in our attitude toward others. Only when we begin to treat others with consideration first, and finally with concern, other aspects of society will begin to improve, as well. Until we initiate this transformation, matters will continue to deteriorate. If we do not reverse course in time, society will collapse.

War, any war, never leads to peace. A war ends when one or more parties lose, or when the parties run out of power, funds, soldiers, or any combination of the above. It does not end because the parties want peace.

The only way to turn enemies into friends is through explanation. Once people are too exhausted to fight, they will have no choice but to listen. Then it will be possible to talk to them about mutual dependence, the benefits of cooperation, the advantages of peaceful relations, and other ideas that pride and vanity shun while we are strong.

Interestingly, the Hebrew word for peace is “shalom,” which comes from the word “shlemut” (wholeness/complementation). It means that we are at peace only when we complement one another and together make up a whole. To do that, we must look at every problem from every angle, and embrace all perspectives.

Our sages expressed this notion in various ways, some of which are quite poetic. The book Likutey Halachot (Assorted Rules), for example, writes, “Vitality is mainly through unity, by all the differences being included in the source of the unity. For this reason, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is the great rule … to include in unity and peace. The vitality, sustenance, and correction of all of creation are mainly by people of differing views becoming included together in love, unity, and peace.”

Similarly, Raaiah Kook wrote, “Any division between … one collective and another … builds worlds. Since everything is improvement and construction, there is no reason to speak bitterly, but to announce the greatness that both sides are doing, and that together, they are perfecting the everlasting structure and are correcting the world. Then, … the love will grow according to the intensity of the hate, and the connection will grow according to the size of the separation.”

Only if we approach our dispute with this positive and proactive attitude, do we have a chance of turning the deepening divisions in society into greater unity. If we insist on fighting through the end, our society will end before the battle ends.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Antisemitism: The Impolite Side of Britain”

“Go back to the gas chambers” and “filthy Jews” are just some of the increasingly frequent antisemitic attacks on Jewish youth and children in the UK, who are also confronted with Nazi salutes, insulted and spat upon. Meanwhile, adult Orthodox Jews have been brutally beaten in broad daylight in unprovoked attacks. Why is hatred of Jews so virulent and shameless in the prim and proper UK?

A staggering total of 2,255 antisemitic incidents were registered in 2021, the highest total ever in Great Britain and a record-breaking number in recent years anywhere in Europe. The study conducted by the Community Security Trust, a UK anti-Semitism monitoring group, found a 34% increase in antisemitic incidents, up from 1,684 recorded cases of Jew-hatred in 2020.

In recent weeks, security cameras have documented particularly serious cases such as unprovoked beatings of Hasidic Jews. An ultra-Orthodox mother walking down a London street with her two children, one in a stroller, was verbally assaulted by a man who shouted, “We do not want Jews here.” In another case, children outside a Jewish school were victims of antisemitic slurs by a man who threatened them, “You Jews are so bad, I wish I had a gun to shoot you.” Last December, during Hanukkah celebrations, Jewish teenagers traveling by bus in London were attacked by a group of men who insulted and even spat on them.

The younger generation of British Jews is the new target of Jew-haters, not because they are an easy target, but mainly because antisemites cannot imagine a new generation of Jews growing up in Britain.

Such behavior, of course, is not expected in the seemingly polite, calm and even-tempered Britain. I have travelled through the UK several times and can testify that fine manners only deceive us and mask the deep-rooted antisemitism that has been simmering for generations.

Why is this so? The reason is that the more advanced and cultured a society is, the more antisemitic it becomes, and not the other way around, as one might think. In fact, besides being very developed, the British also have a very uncouth, straightforward and stubborn side. In addition to the medieval blood libels that are still present, and using the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a pretext, they have all the elements to be truly antisemitic.

It is precisely from their development that they have the clear understanding that Jews have a special role that they do not fulfill. That role is to connect positively “as one people with one heart,” to develop harmonious, unified relationships between themselves to become an example to the rest of the world, to become a light to the nations.

All of humanity feels that everything depends on ego or self-interest and that we, the Jews, have raised the bar of egoism to the highest level. They expect us to balance this ego by transcending our differences and uniting for the benefit of all. If we do not achieve this goal, we hinder the path of goodness and tranquility for all, and antisemitism arises.

The virulent hatred that rears its head in the UK and around the world should serve as an awakening for us to unite and unleash the positive force of nature that will be activated when we become one. Now it is up to us to be a light unto nations, to bring unity, peace and tranquility to the world by paving the way for others. Then we will guarantee a good future for this generation and the generations to come.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the most important thing as a teacher to teach your students?“

The correct worldview: a view of the world, life, a person and an epoch.

That is most important for me—to position a person toward the correct view of his life. To do so, I need to more or less explain the picture of the world we live in, where it is headed, how to change it in the best possible direction, and provide the means to do so.

The world derives from our perception. We do not actually live in the world; the world lives in us. I thus need to teach that we create our world, painting it inside ourselves. It is quite difficult to reach that point. Starting to relate to the world in such a way is a very serious and internal spiritual revolution.

Moreover, our attention needs to be drawn to the fact that the world is not what we feel. The world is a derivative of our attitude to it, i.e.. we can recreate and readjust ourselves to the perception of another world. The world has no shape or form of its own. It is a picture that we can program. Therefore, we can create the world we live in, and it will change according to the change in our wishes, qualities and efforts.

Based on KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” on December 9, 2021. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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