Comment: Psychologists conducted a very interesting study that showed that volunteer workers engaged in charitable activities experience burnout more than anyone else. Emotional, physical, and mental burnout is caused by stress. They often suffer from what is called “compassion fatigue.”

My Response: This happens because of the complete powerlessness to do something above one’s own egoism. A person egoistically wants his altruistic actions to succeed, but in the end, they do not. As a result, he begins to hate it all.

He sees a wall in front of him, and he sees how much the demands of altruism are opposite to his egoism, to his nature. And there is nothing he can do about it.

Question: So what is real charity that would not lead to burnout?

Answer: Real charity is when a person works for the world in order to bring the world to perfection, fully understanding what that perfection is.

Question: And what is this perfection?

Answer: It is only in unification among people. In accumulating and developing the feeling, the quality of unification, in individuals and in nations. We have hardly seen any large-scale attempts of this kind.

Comment: People constantly unite against someone. But you are saying they should unite in order to unify the world.

My Response: Yes, that has never happened, and that is true charity.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 1/13/20

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A good environment consists of the Rav and the friends. If a student does not adhere to the teacher like the lower’s GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim) to the upper’s AHP, if one does not annul oneself in one’s most refined point, which one has discovered within oneself, the point in the heart, and does not attach this point to the teacher, meaning to the teacher’s views and spirit, then one has no place from which to receive the spirit of life. The person will lack the force that develops the Reshimo, the spiritual gene.

This matter is very straightforward: either there is such a connection or there isn’t. And much of it depends on help from above and spiritual luck. It is determined, not by external circumstances, but by the internal efforts made by a person, along with various factors related to the root of one’s soul and the judgment that this soul is going through.

If there is no connection with the teacher, then, as it is written in Shamati 25, “Things that Come from the Heart,” As long as he has no power to sentence the world to the side of merit, they subdue him, he mingles with their desires, and he is led like sheep to the slaughter. He has no choice; he is compelled to think, want, crave, and demand everything that the majority demands.

There is nothing a person can do against this. Even if he is physically close to the teacher, who is like the end of a spiritual conduit for him that descends from the world of infinity through the chain of Kabbalists, if he doesn’t connect to this pipeline, he receives no spiritual nourishment and therefore he does not develop.

In the past there were cases where a teacher would raise a single student. But in general, the teacher tends to his students through the group, connecting to its center.

The group, for the teacher, is the lower spiritual entity. The student who can connect to the center of the group, after having fulfilled two essential conditions of annulment in relation to the group and connection with the friends, will be able to connect to the teacher through that center.

The teacher is called Rav (great) because he is the upper Partzuf, the upper degree, in relation to the students. To the extent that a student annuls himself toward the group’s center, he receives, via the connection with the others, a vessel into which he can absorb the teacher’s thought and spiritual attainment.

But this annulment must be total from the depth of the heart and soul in everything that pertains to the spiritual path and authority over one’s egoism.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/10/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Things that Come from the Heart”

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Question: Are we capable of performing a clarification between holiness and Klipa? Or is our work to attract the Creator into this clarification?

Answer: We must always involve the Creator; otherwise, we will not be able to feel correctly where we are, what direction we are heading, or what is influencing us.

That is, without the Creator’s force in the midst of our forces, showing us what is better and what is worse, and how to separate one set of Kelim from another, we will not be able to clarify who we are, what we are made of, or what we truly want to attain.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/2025, “The Ruin as an Opportunity for Correction”

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If a person wants the Creator to help him come to spiritual revelation, then great persistence is required of him: faith in the sages and faith in the Creator. This is a kind of adhesion in which a person cancels his opinion and joins the opinion of the teacher and follows the teacher’s advice.

The teacher is all the Kabbalists who for thousands of years wrote books for us and explained. The student must rely on them in his progress, like a small child who does not know where he is and does not understand what to do, but obeys adults.

This is called simple faith, without which no development is possible. Little puppies look at their mother and run after her; this is always how they begin.

Everything begins with such simple, mechanical actions that the student performs even because he has no other choice, and he also following the example of others. And with these actions we attract the light that reforms.

The Creator arranges all sorts of situations for applying efforts for us, and so we advance, starting this path. There is no other way to move forward. It is not for nothing that it is said: “Like an ox to the burden and a donkey to the load.” Therefore, one must learn not to pay attention to one’s feelings. On the one hand, I am full of pleasant and unpleasant experiences, become more and more sensitive, and at the same time, I continue to move forward despite any of my states. This is very important.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/18, Writings of Rabash “Come unto Pharaoh – 1”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #70 “With a Mighty Hand and with Fury Poured Out” (11.24.2021)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 72, 66 (7.12.2006)

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3rd part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 4 “Each One Shall Help His Friend” (1984)

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4th part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” “The Donkey Driver”

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Comment: A device was recently developed that can read a person’s thoughts and reproduce them in writing or artificial voice. The next step in this “utopia” will be a computer that can read both my and your thoughts and link us so we can share them. If we’re connected through the same computer, I can literally participate in your thinking. That is what experts say. They believe the prospect of this mass consciousness is quite terrifying. It completely destroys freedom of thought and individuality.

My Response: The same thing is already happening now, just through cruder schemes of influencing people through the media, etc.

Only this will be compact, quiet, and we will all stare at the world with square eyes.

Question: And think that those thoughts are mine?

Answer: We might not even be thinking at all. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

Comment: But I need to feel that there’s an “I.” That I made a decision.

My Response: Don’t worry, you don’t have an “I.” It’s going to be great? You will be floating in the clouds.

Question: Can they implant even that, that I don’t exist?

Answer: Anything can be done with a person. Life is one big joke. A small, silly one.

Question: Then what is “I”?

Answer: There is no “I” in anyone. It is a part of the Creator that a person acquires if he rises above his nature.

Question: Your advice for how we escape this?

Answer: My advice is very simple: wake up!

But this is possible only with the help of a special, higher energy that we can draw if we unite. That is what Kabbalah says. That is the whole secret of unity: Love your neighbor.

Why love your neighbor? To rise toward the upper governing system, to the supreme information. When you possess it, it is in you and you in it; you will be able to govern it.

That is what is meant by: “My sons have defeated Me.” That is, to reach a state where you, as a human being, govern the world, your condition, everything. You will understand what is happening and see the world from end to end.

Question: Is that the true “I”?

Answer: That is the true “I” of a person.

And if that is absent, then what is the point of anything else? We are completely dependent, trapped in a matrix that governs us. We don’t understand this and we don’t know this. So why should we obey and live by the laws of the animal world?

Question: What should I do?

Answer: Engage only in connection.

Question: What is the connection?

Answer: Connection is when all of us understand that mutual, kind relations will lead us to the understanding, awareness, and sensation of upper governance.

Question: Can egoists relate kindly to one another?

Answer: No, we start by asking: Who are we? What can I even do?

Question: So I must learn my own nature?

Answer: I can’t learn my nature if I don’t try to rise above it. This is how we begin to sense who we really are. And then, within ourselves, our new selves, we begin to feel the upper governance.

Question: So the sequence is: I realize I must connect with another person?

Answer: It is not just desirable, it is necessary! I don’t want to, but there is no choice.

Question: And I make efforts and more efforts and realize I can’t. What next?

Answer: I unite with others who also want to but can’t, and together we begin to ask the upper force.

Question: So in the end, we come to a plea to the upper force?

Answer: Of course! We have no other tool to change ourselves.

If we sincerely ask, from the heart, we receive. We compel this upper force to change us.

We change our nature and begin to see the world differently: through a different desire and different intention. In a different light, as they say. In the quality of bestowal. In the way the world truly exists. We are just trapped in our own qualities and that is why we don’t perceive it.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 3/26/25

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Question: One of Jerusalem’s unique features is a psychological disorder found only in this city. It is called “The Jerusalem Syndrome.” About 50 foreign tourists suffer from it each year, regardless of their religion. Could it be that Jerusalem has some kind of mysterious influence on people?

Answer: Of course, it is a special city that leaves an indelible impression on most of us. It breathes antiquity, and the history of humanity flows through it.

Nevertheless, the Jerusalem syndrome is a purely psychological phenomenon, completely understandable and explainable. Similar effects, after all, occur at other world-famous landmarks as well.

The inner vibrations of the capital of three religions, its unique aura of being chosen by God, all of that is created by people and not sent from above. There is no holiness in stones. Spiritual qualities do not clothe in our corporeal physical world.

The true spirit is created only by people themselves when they unite in a common aspiration toward bestowal and love.

The real Jerusalem is the one in the heart, a spiritual capital of the whole world. It is not merely a city, but a special degree of human connection. A level where the trembling of creation seeking connection with the Creator and His response, merge into one whole.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 12/5/24

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Baal HaSulam made it so that if an ordinary person follows his way, he can achieve Dvekut [adhesion] with the Creator just like a dedicated wise disciple. Before him, one had to be a great wise disciple in order to be rewarded with Dvekut with the Creator (RABASH, Assorted Notes 75, “The Work of the Greatest in the Nation“).

We received this opportunity thanks to Baal HaSulam, who revealed the wisdom of Kabbalah to us and brought it closer. And we see that by following his method, we are indeed advancing and gradually drawing nearer to the Creator. Only small steps remain to reach the first contact with Him.

The actions of the Kabbalists are multifaceted. The Kabbalists worked to develop the wisdom of Kabbalah itself, its methodology, and also to make themselves a channel for conveying the upper light to us. That is, they tried in every possible way to bring the Creator closer to us, both from His side to us and from our side to Him.

And Baal HaSulam acted specifically for the last generation, so that “even an ordinary person, following his path, could be rewarded with adhesion to the Creator.” We hope that we too will be able to merit this.

Know for certain that since the time of the ARI to this day, there has not been anyone who understood the method of the ARI to the fullest…as they are in their upper root… .

And now, by the Creator’s will, I have been rewarded with a conception [impregnation] of the soul of the ARI, not because of my good deeds but by a higher will. It is beyond me, too, why I have been chosen for this wonderful soul, with which no one has been granted since his passing until today (Baal HaSulam, Letter 39).

The whole difficulty of the wisdom of Kabbalah lies in the fact that although all Kabbalistic books are available for reading, it is impossible to understand them without the detailed explanations of a teacher who constantly works on the student to develop his mind and arrange his soul. Kabbalah cannot be studied independently, and even studying with a true teacher takes many years.

A student needs a recognized teacher who is in spirituality, who will serve as a channel of connection to the upper light, and organize each step of his spiritual work just as one cares for an infant in our world. Without this, growth is impossible, as if an infant were left alone in the forest.

There are many people who passionately wish to attain spirituality and begin to study. But if they have no teacher, they may extract purely mechanical knowledge from the books, which in no way brings them closer to the Creator.

After all, this work is extraordinarily difficult and can only be done under the condition of continuous care of the student by the teacher and participation in a proper group. It is painful to see how people get entangled in all kinds of methods of their own invention.

Baal HaSulam separated the wisdom of Kabbalah from all fabrications, so that a person who wishes to engage in the work of the Creator would clearly know whether he is on the right path or not. And therefore, there are forces that try to distance people from Baal HaSulam.

We hope that despite everything, we will succeed in spreading his method in the widest possible way and to give every person the opportunity to attain the realization and revelation of their soul.

RABASH writes about Baal HaSulam in the “Introduction to the Book Pri Haham”: “Such a soul descends into the world once in ten generations.” In truth, it is impossible for us to comprehend the true height of his soul, just as small children cannot understand who their father and mother are or appreciate the home in which they are growing up—for that, one must first grow up.

We hope that we will grow and understand who our teacher truly is, he who even today serves as the connecting link between us and the upper force. We will try to realize his method; it is the very same method of ARI and RASHBI. There is no other method; one only needs to know how to correctly implement it. And it is truly possible to feel that within Baal HaSulam an inclusion of the soul of the ARI occurred.

Baal HaSulam gave all his strength to slightly bring down the wisdom of Kabbalah from the heavens and bring it closer to us. He thought only about how to write books that are accessible to the modern generation and to spread them. We do not understand how much this man sacrificed so that we, 60 to 70 years later, could take these books and extract from them all the principles of spiritual work.
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From a conversation at a meal on the day of remembrance of Baal HaSulam, 9/30/2017

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Comment: When a person is afraid, he is like a little rabbit trembling under a bush.

My Response: This is any person.

Comment: Now they are being driven into this fear.

My Response: Yes, big and small, anyone. You need to crawl under that bush with him, snuggle up beside him, and say: “Buddy, do you want to be saved? I have something for you. I’m not asking you to buy anything, just listen to how we can be saved.

Only through uniting above all our problems, hatreds, and whatever it is. Only through uniting. Don’t ask any questions. Look at the other person as your means to survive.” That’s all.

Comment: That’s interesting.

My Response: Yes, egoistically.

Question: My life and the lives of my closest, dearest one’s depend on this. Will I be able to rise above my hatred and “snuggle up” to another?

Answer: It depends only on that. Go outside and look for people you can unite with in this way. You have to do it with everyone. With one person more quickly, with another more slowly, but just unite! That’s it.

Question: When you say “unite,” do you mean it in a very simple sense?

Answer: Nothing else, no other meanings or goals, just to feel each other more closely.

Comment: It would be good to hear you.

My Response: “It would be good.” It will be good! We can’t avoid it! It will happen, either in our generation or in the next, depending on who’s lucky.

Comment:  Better in this one.

My Response: I’m still an optimist.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 7/9/25

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