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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Understanding Spiritual Torah and Mitzvot”

Possibly the key measurement of one’s religious devoutness is the extent to which one observes the commandments of one’s denomination. In orthodox Judaism, this might mean observing certain dietary rules, or saying certain graces at certain times or situations during the day. For Muslims, it might be observing the Ramadan fast and making a pilgrimage to Mecca, and for Christians, it might be going to Church on Sunday or, if you are Catholic, making confessions.

In Judaism, commandments are called Mitzvot, and a person is regarded as religious when he or she observes what is called Torah and Mitzvot, meaning the Mitzvot that are written in the Torah—the books of the Old Testament, as well as rules that were established later and were detailed in later texts.

Many people regard the wisdom of Kabbalah as a branch of Judaism, or as the esoteric, or mystical part of Judaism. Some even regard it as a religion all on its own. As a kabbalist who has received his knowledge from the most authoritative source—RABASH, the first-born son and successor of Baal HaSulam—I can tell you that it is none of them. Kabbalah is a scientific approach to life. It teaches the basic laws of existence and tells you what you can expect if you follow them. However, it leaves it to you to do the experiment on yourself and find out if the laws it teaches are correct or not.

Kabbalah, therefore, is not a religion, and certainly not mysticism. It is a rigorous method whose only difference from hard science is that the subject of experimentation is the experimenter. In other words, in the wisdom of Kabbalah, the observer and the observed are one and the same.

The wisdom of Kabbalah predates religion. The Jewish religion we know today evolved in the final centuries of Israel’s presence in Judah, approximately 2,000 years ago. The wisdom of Kabbalah began with the book Angel Raziel, attributed to Biblical Adam, but even more prominently with Abraham’s teachings. Abraham also composed books, but the only one that has survived is Sefer Yetzira [The Book of Creation].

Understanding that Kabbalah is a scientific method is important because one of the key concepts in it is Torah and Mitzvot. However, the Torah and Mitzvot that Kabbalah speaks of has nothing to do with the Torah and Mitzvot that Judaism speaks of.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, the Torah is simply the general law of reality. All the galaxies, stars, planets, all the people, and everything that exists follows a certain code of law. That code of law is called Torah. The word Torah has several origins to it, but one of them is hora’a, which means instruction. Therefore, the laws of behavior of everything that exists are called Torah.

Within the reality that abides by the laws of the Torah are people. People lead their lives in certain ways, think different thoughts, and have all kinds of intentions behind their actions. When they conduct their lives according to the common law of reality, namely the Torah, it is considered that they follow nature’s imperative [tzivui]. This is the origin of the word Mitzvot [commandments].

Every religion promises that if you observe its Mitzvot, your life will be good. Kabbalah says the same, but for a very different reason. In Kabbalah, there is no supreme deity to reward you for obeying its commands. All that exists are the laws of Torah, the laws of reality. If we live according to these laws, our lives become comfortable. It is like rowing upstream or downstream, where downstream is like obeying the laws of reality, and upstream means resisting them, which is what we currently do because we do not know them.

The laws of the Torah are very simple: Everything is balanced. Giving and receiving are balanced and maintain a dynamic equilibrium just as the body maintains homeostasis. If we study these laws and know how to maintain balance with reality, our lives become easy and painless. If we do not know the rules, the opposite occurs.

Kabbalah teaches us what these rules are and how to be in balance with all of reality. The more we reveal the laws of reality, the more we reveal what is called the Creator—the law that has created and sustains reality. The Hebrew word for Creator is Boreh, from the words bo–re’eh [come-see], meaning come and see the laws of creation. If you see them, you will know how to lead a balanced, happy life. This is also why kabbalists aspire to reveal the Creator, because it means knowing all of creation and how to conduct ourselves in it.

As we can see, there is nothing mystical or religious about the wisdom of Kabbalah and its terms. It is very important to keep these concepts in mind when we read the texts of Baal HaSulam and the rest of the kabbalists.

Good luck revealing reality!
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Question: A Ministry of Happiness has been established in Dubai. It is headed by a woman whose function is to develop a program to make people living in the United Arab Emirates happy.

Apart from you, who talk about this all the time, this is perhaps the first real embodiment of the idea of ​​a proper government that cares about the happiness of people. However, the question is what exactly do they mean by happiness?

Tell me how your ideas, articles, books, which are aimed primarily at the education and upbringing of the population of Israel as well as Jews around the world, are combined with this?

Answer: To be honest, I do not know the plans of the Ministry of Happiness. It would be interesting to familiarize myself with them. But I am sure that we have a completely different program.

By happiness we mean reaching mutual connection that leads people to love for each other, that is, to the fulfillment of the biblical commandment “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Nevertheless, it would be good to create such a ministry. 🙂

Question: When you talk about the spiritual world and about the fact that the goal is to reach a sense of spirituality, does this not contradict a happy life in a physical body on Earth?

Answer: In no way.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations, Israel and Its Impact on the World” 11/18/21

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Question: What is the system of impure forces?

Answer: By impure forces we mean those desires that push us to receive, not to bestow. Since they are opposite to the Creator, we speak of them as impure forces.

Question: Is our whole world in the system of impure forces? After all, we only have the desire to receive for ourselves.

Answer: Of course. Holiness is the desire to receive for the sake of the Creator, and impure forces are the desire to receive for one’s own sake.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 11/20/22

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Question: Some researchers studied harmony and interviewed a large number of people. The interviewees were instructed to close their your eyes and imagine their ideal harmonious picture. People reported various images. Some imagined themselves in silence in nature. Others pictured themselves at home with loved ones in a calm environment. And others on a trip with others.

Do you think it is possible to imagine a harmonious state by closing your eyes?

Answer: Yes. Let’s say under a blanket. It is warm, good, and quiet. For me this is harmony.

Question: Is this really harmony?

Answer: Do you mean harmony in the individual sense of the word or in the global sense?

Question: So far in the individual sense when a person, at some certain moment can reach a state of equilibrium. Is it possible to imagine?

Answer: Yes. Nothing bothers you, nothing presses you, and you do not want anything. You just enjoy the fact that you are in warmth, silence, and comfort.

Question: Does such a restriction of sensory organs as closing the eyes help in this?

Answer: Naturally. The closer you are to the intrauterine state, the more harmony you feel.

That is why, such simple things as a quiet pastime with your family or a quiet trip in nature when nothing annoys you, no one needs anything from you, and you do not need anything from anyone is the simplest element of harmony.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 11/18/22

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Question: Why is there such a difference between your spiritual education and the spiritual education of current students? Why did Rabash lay everything upon you?

Answer: It depends on the quality of the soul. There is nothing you can do here. There are some souls this is given to (even outside the group) because they have to fulfill a certain mission. I do not like to talk about this but it is so; it is granted, there are such people.

I cannot say they are better, worse, higher, or lower. Just as one person is born with some inclination toward art, another to science, a third for working with his hands, and so on, it is the same here. We do not get to choose anything here. It is about the quality of the soul.

Therefore, Rabash took me in and started educating me. What is the difference? If someone else were in my place, he would have done the same thing. Throughout all the years, until the end of his life, he constantly kept me by his side although I did not understand much regarding what or why in terms of what could have been understood and attained from it all! That is how it was arranged.

Question: How did this magnet work then since you did not understand much?

Answer: Precisely because I understood so little, he could invest so much in me. I could neither resist nor know while he was working on me. He constantly invested more and more in me, but I did not know about it. What manifests in me today is what he instilled in me.

Question: What does it mean if someone else were in your place?

Answer: What is the difference? Does it depend on my appearance? This relates to the energy states between souls. I turned out to be the charge he had to work on. And he did. So, now I am the charge that he created—I do it to others.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Fate of the Kabbalist” 11/02/09

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Question: Why is there an illusion that I can influence any external factor that is in front of me?

Answer: Because you still exist only in one plane. You are like a bug that is just crawling without understanding that there is also height. In the same way, we do not understand that the universe is arranged in a completely different, non-egoistic way.

We run into all kinds of troubles all the time and live trying to dodge them. Such is the world, and such is our state.

To show us how to get out of it, there is the wisdom of Kabbalah. Otherwise, a person will come out of these states by a method of trial and error and hitting sharp corners all the time, which is very, very painful. It will take a long time for a person to learn from this.

We see how people do not want to learn. You tell them what the problem is and why they are experiencing such a crisis, but they do not want to accept this method. Why? Because it is against their will to receive, although small and petty, but it is against it. That is why they keep suffering, but no one wants to hear you.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Turn an Enemy Into a Friend” 11/18/13

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Patience is a tree whose root is bitter, but its fruit is very sweet (Proverb).

My Response: In general, yes.

Question: The question is if patience is the trunk of a tree, then what is it in a person’s life?

Answer: It is humility. In general, for an ordinary person, it is humility. For a Kabbalist, this is humility to a large extent! This is because he receives all sorts of internal pressures and pushes. The main thing for him is to bow his head.

Question: Does it mean to accept them? Is this called “humility”?

Answer: Yes, because they come from the Creator. He perceives correctly everything that comes to him, sorts it all out, determines that it comes from the Creator, and bows his head.

Question: What does humility mean for an ordinary person?

Answer: It is the same for an ordinary person. But he is not arranged to rise above this like a Kabbalist.

A Kabbalist rises above the blows in his humility. A simple person, however, just humbles himself in order to suffer less. What else can he do?

Question: Is his task to humble himself?

Answer: The task of any person is not just to humble oneself, but to come closer to the Creator. Humility leads to this.

Question: Another question is toward what should a person cultivate patience, and toward what should he be impatient?

Answer: Patience should be applied to almost everything except personal egoistic pressure. I would say so; he must be impatient with his egoism. For everything else, maximum patience.

Question: Does he have to be patient with other people?

Answer: In everything!

Question: And impatient with himself?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Why are the roots bitter in this case according to this proverb? Is this so from the point of view of Kabbalah?

Answer: The root is actually bitter, but the fruits are sweet.

Question: Why?

Answer: Because everything starts from the roots. Until you find out, see, get acquainted, take them on yourself, grow a trunk with them, and reach the fruit, until then of course, it is all bitter.

Comment: That is, the trunk grows from very bitter roots.

My Response: Yes, and the trunk itself is also not very pleasant.

Question: What is it when sweet grows out of bitter? Is this my attitude to what is happening to me?

Answer: No, this is the revelation of the purpose of creation, which gradually is manifested in such a sequential chain of events, when, in principle, everything is considered bitter. Like a baby who is born and cries, and then through his awareness, consent, support, justifying the Creator’s actions, coming closer, connecting, and adhering with the Creator comes to a sweet fruit.

Question: The conclusion, the quintessence of this proverb: what should a tree be and what does it represent according to Kabbalah?

Answer: A tree is a tree of life. This is where a person begins his journey on earth, and how he should finish it.

Question: Is a person personified with a tree?

Answer: Yes. A person is a tree that grows and develops with the help of all sorts of possibly bitter, unpleasant sensations, without knowing how or what. He is at the inanimate level, at the level of earth, and then gradually grows and gives birth to a fruit that already reaches its maturity.

This is very complicated, we usually study this in lessons on the holiday of New Year of the trees, Tu B’Shevat in Hebrew. This is when we study it all.

Question: What is a sweet fruit to which the tree, that is, a person, should come?

Answer: It represents the fruit of the Garden of Eden. Heaven is the revelation of the Creator.

Question: Does a person reach heaven?

Answer: Yes. When the Creator is revealed in some form before him, he already sees this field in which the Creator is revealed before him, and then the tree and its fruits.

Question: Is this when he kind of produces a fruit?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What is the fruit?

Answer: The fruit is the attainment of the upper wisdom, eternity, perfection and complete connection with the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/4/22

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What do you think is really the cause of the crisis in the world today?“

We are all parts of an interconnected and interdependent system of nature. In our world today, this system manifests as interdependent relations among all people in the world, and between humanity and nature.

Egoistic human nature, however, which makes us enjoy at the expense of other people and nature, resists our interdependence. That is why we behave contrarily to the interconnectedness and interdependence that reveals itself more and more today.

The cause of the crisis in the world today is due to the contradiction between the interconnected and interdependent system of nature and the overblown human egoism that opposes connection.

Likewise, the comprehensive solution to the global crisis is to correct human egoism, to develop an intention that inverts egoism to its opposite, making it as interconnected and interdependent as nature itself. Doing so is possible through connection-enriching education, which includes learning about how our nature and nature in general works, how we develop by becoming increasingly opposite to nature until we eventually click into balance with it, and how we can use our social, cultural and media influences to help inspire our transformation to a harmonious and peaceful world. I have discussed this topic at length in several books, talks and other materials, and here is a good page to find out more about it.

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Faith Above Reason”

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Freedom”

Selected Highlights

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