What is the rubbing of hearts—a feeling of closeness to another? After all, I am in an egoistic desire and even perceive closeness from the point of view of my own benefit. I cannot do it any other way—I do not have another nature yet.

So, what can we do? How can we try by force to bring our heart closer to the heart of a friend to such an extent that we feel the heat between our hearts, the resistance?

We want to connect, we realize that it is necessary. And at the same time we understand that we are not able to do it, that it is impossible to come to one heart. And as we try to connect again and again and each time we are pushed away from each other, we begin to feel the friction of our hearts. And the stronger this friction and inability to penetrate into the heart of another, it just means that the heart is already ready for a genuine connection.

We know from the experience of spiritual life that if you try to get closer to someone to whom you do not feel inner rejection, it is quite easy to do. It is nice to be together, but such people usually do not get very far.

Those who advance are those who have a hard heart, are very stubborn and selfish, and do not feel or understanding others.Therefore, we are given the mind to realize this spiritual principle and understand that we are obligated, by overcoming, to grasp the end of the thread connecting us.

And since we do not allow ourselves and the other to lose this connection, and out of hopelessness we remain connected in order to feel and recreate the system of Adam HaRishon, we continue until drop by drop everything is added to the large score, and the mind begins little by little to connect to the feeling. Then we see that they can really go together and unite according to desire and feeling. This is how we achieve the rubbing of hearts.

The more space I free up in my heart for the heart of a friend, the stronger we can connect.

Rabash writes in Letter No. 40: Through the friction of the hearts, that is, when each one prepares his heart for the connection with others, even of the strongest ones, each will bring out warmth from the walls of his heart, and the warmth will ignite the sparks of love until a clothing of love will form. Then, both of them will be covered under one blanket, that is, nothing separates them anymore and vice versa, that which separated them now becomes their common blanket, one shell, meaning a single love will surround and envelop the two of them, as it is known that Dvekut [adhesion] unites two into one. And then they seem to have one heart because they are covered with one blanket that holds them together, turning them into one body.

In every human body there are billions of different, alien cells that perform different functions each with its own purpose. But all are connected into one body, surrounded by one skin, and therefore are considered one organism, one structure.

We and the entire universe are built according to this principle within which we come to the concept of a structure called the Creator beside whom there is nothing.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/23, “Preparation for Opening the Heart at the Congress”

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The geographic area of Israel corresponds to the structure of the upper world, the world of Atzilut. Mount Hermon in the north of the country is Keter (the crown), from where all the upper light descends and spreads downward. Similarly, streams of water descend from Hermon and the Golan Heights, which revive and nourish the land of Israel.

These streams pass through Galilee, which is a purely Kabbalistic part of the country where Kabbalists lived and The Book of Zohar was written. The cave where The Book of Zohar was written, special places, graves, Mount Meron, and the ancient Kabbalistic city of Safed are also there. These places are very strong in their influence on man.

If Hermon is Keter, then Galilee, from where the waters descend into the Sea of Galilee, is Hochma descending to Bina. The entire area extending to the Kinneret personifies Hochma, which in Hebrew means “wisdom.” Indeed, it was there that Kabbalistic wisdom was being revealed for hundreds of years.

And Lake Kinneret [the Sea of Galilee] is Bina—the property of mercy, the property of water, the property that brings life to everything, and therefore, this lake is special. There is Miriam’s well in it. Miriam is a great prophetess, the sister of Moses.

As Chaim Vital writes, one day his teacher, the great Kabbalist, the Ari, took him to Lake Kinneret. When their boat sailed up to the well gushing from inside the lake, the Ari gave him a drink of this water, and Chaim Vital suddenly began to understand everything—the upper world opened up to him.

It is interesting that when you look at the water of the lake from above, you see how the Jordan River flows in the middle of it. Moreover, the water of the river flows in its own channel, not at all mixing with the water of the lake. The water of the Kinneret and the water of the Jordan River symbolize two different qualities. Indeed, the Jordan River descends from the upper mountains, passes through Bina, and flows further, just as the light of Hochma passes through Bina and descends.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalistic Geography” 10/10/10

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Question: Does the external picture that a person sees, in principle, show his internal state? Suppose he sees crises, cataclysms, revolutions, you name it, what should his reaction be to this?

Answer: Baal HaSulam writes that everything depends on the world because people have free will. As they come closer to each other, they invite upon themselves the upper light upon themselves and move in a good way toward a predetermined goal, to complete equivalence to the light.

If they do not know this method or do not want to know it, then they move by evil, suffering, and being opposite to the light. Nevertheless, they advance toward the light.

Especially in our time when everything is accelerating, it is a staggering process! Everything rises like from the bottom of the ocean upward, huge masses of desires are awakening! This will be revealed in the upcoming years.

I hope it will be revealed in a good way. I really hope so! Otherwise, it will be a very serious, hard transition, with extreme right-wing elements, dictators, Nazis, and terrorists. A person will be afraid to leave the house and even just to be in it. There will be no salvation anywhere!

I hope that we will not reach this point, that our influence on the world will nevertheless make it reasonable and gentle.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. World Terror” 5/19/12

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Question: Do you think it makes sense to ever create a Kabbalistic center in Jerusalem or is it pointless for now?

Answer: I do not think it is necessary because today the main thing for us is to disseminate  knowledge about the state of humanity and about the true solution to all our problems to all the people in the world.

We are an educational organization and we only want people to know where they are from the point of view of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

They will gradually become convinced that we are really in a state from which there is only one way out—to rise above ourselves. Not by ourselves, but by attracting—according to the Kabbalistic method—a special upper force that will open our senses, our eyes, and lead us into an eternal perfect dimension in addition to this small, flawed animate world where we exist.

Certainly, when we begin to perceive the external volume of the universe, our corporeal life will also change.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Jerusalem Syndrome” 4/7/12

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Question: How can you create an acute need, a hunger, for spirituality?

Answer: Only through systematic studies and dissemination.

Through studies with the group, you receive a greater desire for the goal, and through connections with friends the greatness of the goal and its importance.

Through systematic dissemination, you receive a feeling of external, informational, any kind of hunger, i.e., a lack, what people are missing and what they want.

Together this forms a condition in you where the upper light, a common field, influences you because you become similar to it. You become its conduit, its representative, because by studying in a group, you connect yourself with the field, and in dissemination, you connect yourself with the masses, and thus the upper light influences them through you.

Then, on one hand, you receive the feeling of greatness of the upper light, a spiritual state, and on the other hand, you feel the suffering of the masses, who are also drawn to this, but do not know where and why.

These two polarities in you expand to the limit where they really reach the full measure, called Seah in Kabbalah, and then the upper light begins to be revealed in you. It passes through you to others. It does not enter you, but passes through you. That is all! This is called that you work in bestowal.

You have nothing to bestow to the Creator, you just need to pass the light from Him to the others! This is your bestowal. You yourself should be in the middle, neutral. You do not need anything for yourself, you just do it in order to receive from the Creator and bestow it to others because He wants to bestow and wants it to be completed in this way. That is it! The simplest thing! Everyone is a conduit for everyone else!
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Benefits of Fasting” 5/7/12

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In the News (The Guardian): “New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul…legalized natural organic reduction, popularly known as human composting or terramation, after death.

“In most cases, the deceased is placed into a reusable, semi-open vessel containing suitable bedding – wood chips, alfalfa or straw – ideal for microbes to go about their work. At the end of the process, a heaped cubic yard of nutrient-dense soil, equivalent to 36 bags of soil is produced that can then be used as fertilizer….

“‘For a lot of folks being turned into soil that can be turned to grow into a garden or tree is pretty impactful,’ Spade told the Associated Press.”

My Response: Do you want to be made into a mummy, as a pharaoh? There is no need. It is better this way.

Question: How do you feel about the fact that a person leaves like this, with such a thought, and his body decomposes?

Answer: If we think about it a little bit, we will accept it with pleasure. I’m going back to nature. That’s correct, that’s good. Let people know and think about it.

Question: What about the fact that it was in the Jewish tradition all the time to bury in a way so that the body decomposes quickly? Was this also because complete decomposition is necessary?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: In other traditions, there is a great worship of the body.

My Response: No, the opposite is true here, it is necessary that nothing remains of the body. Utilize it.

Question: Why? Is there any basis for this?

Answer: Serve the world normally by returning to global nature.

Question: A simple answer, just like that?

Answer: Yes.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/12/23

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic” “Connecting Into One Ten”

Selected Highlights

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can we create energy from nothing?“

According to our current understanding of nature, we cannot create or extract energy out of nothing. At least not yet.

More generally, it is impossible that something emerges from nothing.

Why?

It is because nature initially created something out of nothing.

In the language of Kabbalah, we say that the Creator—which is synonymous with nature, a pure desire to bestow goodness and delight—created the desire to receive the delight, out of nothing. Everything and everyone that was created, the entirety of nature, is under the providence of the Creator, i.e. the upper force of love and bestowal that creates all life.

It is in no way a negative phenomenon that we cannot create something out of nothing. It simply means that we live in a limited world, and while living in a limited world, it is impossible for us to create something out of nothing.

Moreover, it is even a positive phenomenon because it means that from our limited state, we can reach a state where we will become unlimited like the Creator, and thus experience the immense richness and depth of feeling two opposite poles of reality. In other words, we can reach a state where we experience the eternity and perfection of attaining the same quality of love and bestowal upon our desire to receive.

That is why we say that we can only become “like” the Creator: that we remain as a desire to receive, but we can attain an intention to love and bestow like the Creator upon our desire to receive. Therefore, as exalted as such an attainment is, there is still a lot we cannot do.

Based on the video “Can We Create Energy from Nothing?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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What does it mean that everyone has to prepare their heart for connection? In the old days, houses were built not from smooth bricks but from stones of arbitrary shape. They were only trimmed a little so that they could be put together, and this is how the walls of the house were laid.

This is how we rub our hearts to polish them and make them suitable for reaching one goal: connection and advancement on the spiritual path. Everyone adjusts himself to the friend in order to build a common house, a common spiritual vessel.

Therefore, we need to trim our hearts. Everyone checks how much he is able to connect himself with the others: what stands in his way, what is superfluous, and what is missing. Through this personal work on ourselves, we can reach rubbing even between the stony hearts themselves. Everyone warms up their hearts.

If we understand that we are obliged to do this according to the purpose of creation, then everyone is trimming his own stone in order to adapt it to others. He no longer looks only at himself but evaluates himself in terms of readiness to connect. Where and how much I need to trim myself is checked only with respect to connecting with others in order to make contact with them.

Therefore, there is no need to try to make everyone completely rectangular. We just need to match each other. Let each one have a curved shape, but if the other has the suitable curvature, then we match each other.

That is why we can start working together from the first second. The main thing is not to check how straight a friend is (like a standard brick), but how much he matches me and I him. If we can adjust ourselves to each other, then we have the opportunity to build together a system inside us for the revelation of the Creator, a temple, a house of holiness, for the revelation of the quality of bestowal between us.

I do not know in advance what my qualities should be. I am not able to choose my qualities and form; rather, it is the environment that determines what form I must take in order to become integrated with the friends.

It is like in ancient masonry where you need to fit one stone under another to lay down a wall, this is how we need to work on our hearts. Not a single heart wants to be trimmed to a flat rectangular shape, removing everything that does not match the other.

In order to make standard blocks that are used in construction today, it is necessary to completely crush the natural material in order to mold the desired shape from these crumbs. But in spirituality, it is impossible. We would like to do this to others according to our egoism, but it does not work.

In true spiritual development, it is necessary to let everyone develop in his own way, and then he will develop into his optimal form. The other will remain in a way that is suitable for him. It is only necessary to eliminate the force of resistance between us, and then we will reveal the form of connection that the Creator wished to have between us. It is the form of connection revealed between us that is called the Creator.

Otherwise, we will not reveal anything except fabrications of our mind with which it is impossible to build any building. This is why we see that everything built by people is being destroyed: both the structure of the family and the spiritual society.

Therefore, we just need to know how to connect hearts.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/23, “Preparation for Opening the Heart at the Congress”

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