Prayer is an appeal to the Creator, which is called raising MAN, (female waters), that is, the burning desire of a person, which he raises from himself to the Creator. Of course, then the Creator will be able to answer his request.

Prayer is a genuine request of a person to the Creator, the Creator waits for it and answers. Prayer is a person’s connection with the Creator.

Do not think that prayer is inherent only to man. The still, vegetative, and animate nature in their existence are constantly in prayer. But their prayers are organically part of nature because it is known in advance what a stone, plant, or some animal will want. Therefore, their desire does not need a special expression; it acts automatically.

Whereas a person is obliged to work on his prayer, and therefore he is given free will. To the extent that a person organizes his prayer in accordance with what the Creator wants to give him, to that extent he will succeed and establish a mutual connection with the Creator: “I am for my Beloved, and my Beloved is for me.”

The Creator prepares an answer for a person in advance and thereby awakens him to prayer. The person must search and find with which prayer to appeal in order to give the Creator the opportunity to answer and help him. Then there is a mutual connection between them in the form of: “I am for my Beloved, and my Beloved is for me.”

The moment we ask, the Creator is already helping us, and even earlier because when He awakens us to turn to Him, He already helps us with this, as it is said: “Just call, and I will answer.”
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/22, “Purifying the Heart” 

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Since the whole world is in mutual connection, and I am just a small cogwheel in the general system, I am obliged to take care of everyone, and not just in words, but in deeds.

After all, we must rise above all our differences and connect. We are all very different, but it is like a machine where each cogwheel turns at its own speed and in its own direction, but each performs its own special role in order for the machine to work.

The main thing is not to cause damage to one another, but to try together to maintain the work of a common mechanism. This should be the main law of social existence, and this is how we will reach final correction. In the final correction, everyone will be turning in different directions, everyone will be fully expressing themselves relative to everyone, and then this common mechanism will reach the complete connection.

The correction does not mean that one defeats the other in war, but that each one defeats himself in order to connect with others in a nice way and to complete each other. According to this condition, we can see how far we have progressed toward the final correction.

To the extent that every country, every nation, and every person wants to connect with others, to work together day by day on the connection, to cooperate in trade and industry and the exchange of natural resources, that is, to help each other, they will succeed.

Why should we fight if we can provide each other with everything we need by combining forces, means, and resources? War does not bring anything good to anyone. We should fight against war.

Our world is a closed and interconnected system, and it can move forward successfully without wars, troubles, and problems, without hunger and death, all of which are growing more and more. It all depends on good connection between people.

We think that we need connections only for the development of trade and industry. But these are only successes visible to the eye. In fact, through connection we awaken the upper light and it begins to act. As a result, from some small piece of land we can suddenly get a harvest that is enough to feed the whole world. Everything depends on the blessing, on the upper light that blesses our work.

Therefore we must put all our efforts into connection because only connection will bring us a blessing. The entire well-being of the country depends on the relations between people.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/9/22, “Connecting the World in the Last Generation”

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Question: There was a story on a Russian website that listed who betrayed whom and how, and how it ended up. There were literally two thousand comments in an hour, which shows that there is a feeling in humanity that betrayal is terrible.

An example was given of Jack London; he was macho, washed gold on rivers and so on. And he died of depression at the age of 39 after his friends betrayed him. Other examples are Edith Piaf and Russian singer Vladimir Vysotsky. Charles VII betrayed Joan of Arc. There were a lot of betrayals listed.

According to psychologists, by the age of 40, a person may have only one friend, and not always even that.

Victor Hugo wrote, “I am indifferent to the stabbing of the enemy, but I agonize by the pinprick of a friend.”

When teachers asked an audience: “Has anyone suffered betrayal?”—the whole audience raised their hands. They were students, practically children; what have they been through at all? But they already know what betrayal is.

Is there any way to protect yourself? Is it possible to distance yourself? Is it possible not to bear the terrible blow of betrayal at all?

Answer: The Creator presents us with such cases—novels, stories, and detective stories—that no one would ever come up with.

Comment: Now you have quietly transferred everything to the one who organizes it all.

My Response: This is because we need to get close to the source, after all. And the source of betrayal is not a person. It’s just a game played by the Creator. The Creator arranges all these experiences for us. And the coldest ones, which are called betrayal, are also Him.

Question: How do we protect ourselves?

Answer: There is no way! Only when you are sure that you are completely in His power can you attune yourself to the Creator. If you approach the Creator, study Him, want to be like Him, and want to be close to Him, then you cannot just protect yourself, but you begin to acquire the same qualities He has, and you are no longer afraid of such tests.

Question: Let’s say I experienced a terrible betrayal. I can barely stand it all; I’m just burning all over, and you say, at this moment or a little later when my anger diminishes a bit, I need to direct everything to the thought of where it came from, and not to the one who betrayed me?

Answer: To the Creator! What does the little man have to do with it?! He’s a doll. And the puppeteer is the Creator.

Question: So I have to start a conversation and work with the Creator? And let go of this man who allegedly betrayed me? Are you saying he didn’t betray me?

Answer: You can’t demand anything from him! He’s a doll! That’s all. And so you feel calm. You don’t see any traitors or devotees around you, nothing and no one. You see dolls. And the Creator from above plays with all of them on a thread and that’s it.

Question: You say that when we hate someone, we should instead start to change ourselves and change our attitude toward the Creator. And that’s it?! Is this all our work?!

Answer: That is all. But this is the hardest part.

Question: Meaning, if I can control myself in such a way that I direct all my efforts to work with the Creator and only with Him, then everything will begin?

Answer: Then you need to rebuild in general what is truth, lies, loyalty, and betrayal.

Question: All concepts! All concepts disappear. Now you have taken and practically removed the concept of “betrayal.” It turns out that, from the other side, it is not there. Do you mean that I can’t blame anyone?

Answer: No. Not love, nor hate, nor devotion, nor loyalty; there is none of this.

Question: Should I direct the vector at myself and that’s it?

Answer: Yes. But it is beautiful and true, it is pure!

Question: Then will it be a pure experiment?

Answer: Yes.

Question: But then I hate Him! At the moment of my hatred for the traitor, you say: “The Creator does it; He exposes it.” That is my first feeling: “I hate the Creator!” Is that true?

Answer: Certainly! Naturally! There is no question about it! If you hate anyone at all, it is the Creator. You always really have a relationship with Him!

Question: And how does my hatred of the Creator change?

Answer: We do everything only with the Creator. We are attuned only to Him. And everything that seems to us that we are in some kind of good or evil relationship with each other is all pure lies!

Question: Why does the Creator do this to us?

Answer: So that we can put this whole world aside and deal with Him alone. But in order to do this, we must be pure, either absolute egoists or absolute altruists. He doesn’t tolerate anything else. Another thing is that all this is already called slag, or dirt. Therefore we need to tune in only to the Creator and deal only with Him.

Question: How does this state of my complaints, hatred, and prayers to the Creator such as, for example, “Leave me alone!”—how does this go into another state, a state of love?

Answer: It turns into prayer; that I want to see His actions behind everything that surrounds me, both within myself and all around me, that there is none else but Him!

Question: Is this the main prayer?

Answer: Yes. For Him to reveal this to me.

Question: Is this the main change in a person? And does it change everything, the whole world, everything?

Answer: It changes everything. It turns everything upside down! It turns my head! Because I always thought somehow that you were connected to something else, dependent on someone, and doing something else. In fact, no one does anything!
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/11/22

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Question: You said that Rabash taught you the principle of opening a book to any place and to start reading the source. Why is it often used?

Answer: When I have a few minutes of free time or I want to renew my thoughts, I take some source, open it randomly, and start reading from any paragraph. Then I begin to think along with what I read.

Question: It is interesting that in those moments when there is some kind of disturbance and people try to concentrate on some passage, suddenly everything lines up and falls into its grooves. Is that how texts work? At what level does this work take place?

Answer: It takes place on the spiritual, on the deepest level, which is in us and has nothing to do with the body. That is, you gradually establish contact with your true body, which is not connected with our flesh.

The text connects us with spirituality, not the letters themselves, but rather what they create in you. This should play within you. It acts inside you.

Question: But does it have limits so that it does not turn into a routine? As in, I took out a book, prayed, and went on.

Answer: No, we are not talking about ordinary prayer here. It is about being included in the internal state that depicts the text.

All Kabbalistic texts speak of some connection between creation and the Creator. That is, I connect with everyone or maybe I do not even connect, or this is already going on subconsciously and is connected with the Creator.

Question: How can we read and enter this piece of text correctly?

Answer: Keep any book next to you, even a book of Psalms (Tehilim). Open it on any page, read a couple of sentences, and that’s it. Then get included in them. Or open Shamati (I Heard), or statements of the Kabbalists about anything. But Shamati is the best.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Secrets of the Kabbalistic Text“ 4/30/13

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Question: You say that everyone has their own purpose. How can Jews see Arabs as an important element; they are not just brothers for them, but enemies as well?

Answer: I do not think this is a serious feud. There can be no great enmity between these religions. I know from the sources that there should be a confrontation. It is said that at the end of the days of the world, at the moment when it begins to improve, the Arabs will be at enmity with the Jews, hate them, hate the entire world, and want to subjugate it.

There is a book in our archive in which the sayings of all the prophets are collected.

The prophets are people who lived mainly at the time of the First Temple, even before the exile to Babylon 2,800 years ago. They wrote the book Prophets (Nevi’im), which together with the Torah and Holy Scriptures (Ktuvim) make up the Tanakh.

The prophets that lived in the period 600-800 years BC, closer to our era, wrote about events that will happen in the future, because, based on the upper structure everything was clear to them. This has been known to all Kabbalists since the time of Abraham, but only the prophets have stated it.

They predicted that there will be a long period of confrontation between Islam and Christianity, they would fight cruelly, but in the end, they would turn against Israel together. Then, oddly enough, they will start wars.

But we are talking about spiritual wars. To what extent they will manifest in the matter of our world is unknown. It depends on us, whether we will need such blows to begin to change ourselves and show the world the way it should be. It also depends on freewill and on the way the Jews will react.

I hope that we are preparing the ground so that this does not happen. Already today we can change the entire world for the better.

Yet, in general, the prophets describe very bad problems that must necessarily happen in the spiritual world. Whether they will happen in corporeality depends on us, to the extent that we will be running ahead of our internal change it will not be needed externally.

According to the thought of creation, to its structure, there should be a confrontation between three lines: the right (Islam), the left (Christianity), and the middle line (Judaism). All of them must change, rise to their spiritual source, and unite there in their one single source. This is Abraham.

Abraham is the upper Partzuf Hesed, that is, the highest detail in the upper scheme, which should correct the entire world, which is the entire former Babylon.

In his time, Abraham was able to correct only one node of the general system of the universe, that is, only a part of Babylon, which left together with him.

After all this perturbation for 4,000 years, Abraham’s group underwent tremendous preparation. The entire world, that is, the entire former Babylon, which has dispersed all over the world, has also undergone very big changes. Now the same force called Abraham, with his disciples, meaning us, can correct and show the world its correct state.

Today it is quite possible to explain and express this since there already is a basis. I believe that over the years of the existence of Bnei Baruch, we have already created it. There may be a few finishing touches missing, but they will always seem to be missing. It is always possible to improve and adapt the methodology for the masses more and more. This is what we are doing.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call, Arabs and Jews“ 4/28/13

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Question: Is being present at the lesson bestowing to the Creator? By the fact that a person comes to a lesson, is he bestowing to the Creator and bringing Him contentment?

Answer: Not necessarily. Absolutely not. It is said that study can be either the elixir of life or the potion of death. The study does not happen by itself but by the way a person perceives it. It depends on why he is studying.

Let’s say I am going to study now in order to be a great expert and show everyone that they don’t know anything. Do I bring contentment to the Creator with this? Am I doing good in the world through this? This does not mean anything yet.

The intention is the most important thing and not the fact that I perform any action of study, work, etc.

Question: And if a person dragged himself “by the ear” to the lesson?

Answer: What is the difference? Dragged himself, so what? A good student dragged himself by the ear because tomorrow is the exam. Would that make him a saint?

The question is why do people come to the lesson, what is their intention? We do not need the ones that come just like that. Kabbalists consider such people to be the most harmful. Please, let them go to others, but not to us. If a person is not purposeful, it is a burden, ballast.

Question: You also said that it is better not to wake up, lie in bed, and gnaw at yourself that you did not come than to come and sit with pride that you are now present at the lesson, right?

Answer: Yes, of course. Everything comes from the recognition of evil. According to how a person analyzes himself, he moves forward. If I am sitting at home and I feel how insignificant I am and I cannot even get out of bed, then I am much closer to the Creator than when I am sitting in class and trying to understand the material to show everyone how smart I am.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call, Contact with the Creator” 4/19/13

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Rosh HaShanah“

Writings of Baal HaSulam. Newspaper: The Nation

Selected Highlights

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My new article on Linkedin “The Age of Unhappiness”

A recent article on the global analytics and advice firm Gallup revealed that unhappiness is rising around the world. According to the article, the situation “is concerning because unhappiness is now at a record high. …People feel more anger, sadness, pain, worry and stress than ever before.” While it admits that the pandemic contributed to the rise in unhappiness, the article also states that “In fact, unhappiness has been steadily climbing for a decade.” Studies show that happiness depends on social ties. Statistically, people with stronger and more numerous social connections feel happier, while introverts are more likely to report feeling unhappy.

The correlation between happiness and social connections points to a fundamental element in all of creation. In every part of reality, robustness, vitality, and evolution depend on the connections with the environment. Every change that happens anywhere in reality, happens because of some interaction with the environment. Even ostensibly negative connections, such as escaping from predators, accelerates evolution.

What is true for all of nature, is just as true for our own body. Our body can sustain itself, nurse itself, protect itself from pathogens and pollutants, and keep itself healthy and strong only through the myriad connections between the cells and the organs. The diversity of these connections and their mutual support give the body its strength, resilience, and vitality.

The only place where these connections are broken and flawed is human society. All other communities and all other natural systems function harmoniously, and their parts complement and support one another. In our case, however, there is no mutual support and no complementarity. Our connections are exploitative and abusive, and our goals are not to improve our lives, but to make the lives of others worse.

Therefore, all the negative phenomena that the Gallup poll reported—the anger, sadness, pain, worry, and stress—stem from the corrupt and broken ties between us. The age of unhappiness that has begun is our own making. If we change how we relate to one another, we will emerge from it into an era where everything we currently perceive as negative will be inverted into its positive opposite.

The negative relations that currently prevail in society will become the substrate of a society that insists on closeness and mutual concern, as it knows the price of carelessness and alienation. The age of unhappiness can become a trigger for an age of true enlightenment, of knowledge of nature and of learning from it how to correct human nature and make life good for all of humanity. Alternatively, if we choose inaction, the widespread unhappiness can continue to escalate and become an age of unprecedented misery.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Abraham’s Wisdom”

“The greatest among the giants,” this is how the sages referred to Abraham. Why did they refer to him this way? What did Abraham discover that others did not? This post is about the biblical Abraham, who deciphered the code of nature.

Animals do not ask questions. They follow instincts. The more man evolved and reached beyond the animal kingdom, the more he began to ask questions about the essence of existence. “What is my life about?” “What governs me?” “Is suffering the result of punishment, and joy the result of reward?” And most importantly, “What is the meaning of life?” “What am I living for?”

These questions engendered faiths. People bowed to the forces of nature, prayed to the wind, to the rain, to the earth, to the sun, the moon, and the stars. They gave offerings and sacrifices to statues, wore ritual attire, tattooed their bodies with symbols, danced around fires, and performed all kinds of rites and rituals. They did these things in order to appease the superior forces they believed in, to make the forces that govern them make their lives better, bless them, protect them, give them confidence, and diminish the insecurity and uncertainty about the future.

Abraham was the son of Terah, a statue maker and among the highest ranking priests in ancient Babylon. People would come to Terah for guidance, and he would advise them and sell them statues. Abraham was intended to take over the lucrative family business, but something happened to him.

At some point, after prolonged reflections, he realized that there is no need to bow to nature’s forces. He realized that these forces are themselves “statues,” false perceptions. We should smash them because they are unreal. All our pictures of nature are fundamentally wrong. All that exists is one singular force, and all the forces we perceive are faces of that one force.

What is more, that one force is opposite from our self-centered nature. It is a force of creation, whose quality is unbounded giving. This force has created and governs all of reality, and this is the one we need to relate to in our lives.

Since this force governs everything, and since it is absolute giving, it wants to give us its own quality, to make us similar to itself. To achieve this, it must make us discover it and know its every facet. This is the purpose of our life, the purpose of our existence in this world.

Abraham discovered all this, but he also discovered that man is governed by an inherent quality of reception, the opposite of giving. He discovered that man is born an absolute egoist, as it is written, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21).

This force is omnipresent, but we do not feel it. It is concealed from us because our qualities are opposite from those of the force. It is the foundation of nature, and the more we reveal it, the more we understand and feel what happened before, what is happening now, what will happen in the future, and why.

Abraham discovered that revealing this force depends on the level of people’s warm connections and bonding of the hearts. For this reason, he realized that the quality we need to develop within us is “mercy.” This is why we call Abraham the “man of mercy.”

Abraham explained what he had found to anyone who cared to listen. People who realized that his words were true gathered around him and became a group of students. Maimonides referred to them as “the people of the house of Abraham,” and there were many thousands of them.

Abraham taught his students how to connect to one another with the quality of mercy rather than form egoistic connections, in line with our inherent nature. After Abraham’s passing, his students continued to develop their connections, each time led by different teachers: Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and then Moses. Finally, after overcoming many levels of egoism, Abraham’s group became a nation. This is how the people of Israel came to exist.

However, the people of Israel, true to their original teacher’s legacy, did not strive to keep their knowledge to themselves. On the contrary, they wanted to share their good fortune with all of humanity, to be “a light to the nations.”ADVERTISEMENT

Over time, the people of Israel fell from their degree of giving into the same inherent egoism with which everyone is born. They mingled with the nations and strove to be like them, instead of aspiring to lift everyone to a life of giving and connection with the singular force in existence.

Since Abraham’s group fell from their degree and stopped leading toward connection and mercy, humanity has begun to resent them for being selfish. This is the essence behind what we interpret as antisemitism.

Humanity expects the descendants of the students of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, namely the Jews, to keep being givers, to keep the connection with the singular giving force in reality, and to lead the way for all of humanity to reach it, just as the lineage of teachers did for them. This is why when Jews are united and carry out their expected role, the world embraces them, and when they are divided, the world rebukes them.

These days, when there are two great Jewish communities in the world, one in Israel and one in the US, there is an opportunity to rebuild the bonding that made the people of Israel what it is and accomplish our mission in the world. If we revive Abraham’s wisdom among us, we will lead the world to connection, to the end of wars, exploitation and abuse, to the end of misery and loneliness.

In a world that is as connected as ours today, establishing connections on mercy rather than on selfishness is mandatory for maintaining a sustainable society. For this reason, the more we delay our building of a society based on mercy, the more the world will resent us and blame us for its conflicts. No one else has the key to changing human nature except for Abraham’s descendants, and changing human nature has never been as urgent as it is today.

For more on Abraham and Jewish history, read Self-Interest vs. Altruism in the Global Era: How society can turn self-interests into mutual benefit.
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