Question: What should be done if a person hears slander against someone?

Answer: Say that you do not want to hear it, cut it off, and in this way you will teach a friend to do the same. This is a great correction for the group.

Question: If women are discussing someone, is it natural for them to group into cliques?

Answer: They can do whatever they want, but then they must understand that they are not walking along the spiritual path with us. The Kabbalistic group must be equal, absolutely homogeneous.

If someone slanders, then in theory he multiplies evil, this diverges like a virus. You can fight this only by having a good relationship with everyone and covering everything with love. If a person is in a group, then he was brought here and we must accept him as a closest one.

Question: How can I teach myself not to give criticism outwardly, not to utter it?

Answer: Through habit, example of others, constant self-criticism, and introspection.

Question: You said that before a certain period, a person is still learning. At the initial stage is it acceptable to gossip?

Answer: No. As soon as a person arrives in the group, we must immediately inform him about this and teach him like a child, and constantly point out to him the inadmissibility of slander.

There must be an awareness of the importance that without this we will not reach the goal. I hope that everyone will understand this, and in the end they will reach the goal. I will not be hurt so much that they themselves break the ties in which they can reveal their highest state.
[302407]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Beware of Gossip!” 3/19/13

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic, “Purifying the Heart”

Lesson on the Topic, “Connecting the World in the Last Generation”

Selected Highlights

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My new article on Linkedin “The Dead Silence of American Jewry on Iran”

While Netanyahu was Israel’s prime minister, his disapproval of the Iran deal placed him at odds with the majority of American Jewry, which supported it. Their criticism of the State of Israel, they claimed, was not because of their dislike of Israel, but of its leader. However, for more than a year now, Israel has had two prime ministers who are the coming true of American Jewry’s sweetest dreams. Yet, they, too, oppose the disastrous new version of the Iran deal. Since now American Jewry cannot say that it opposes the prime minister, one would expect it to join the voices opposing the formulating deal, which will allow Iran to build a bomb and forbid the West to intervene. Yet, American Jewry is dead silent. Its silence, however, reveals the truth: The majority of American Jews feel completely alienated from the State of Israel. Their silence whispers their indifference, their utter disconnection from the Jewish state.

Some of them hide their carelessness behind the fact that they have family in Israel. It means nothing. If you have a relative who lives in Germany, for example, it does not mean you feel anything for Germany. They feel nothing for Israel, and their disregard toward what is happening with a deal that will put the very existence of the State of Israel at risk reflects their apathy.

I am not surprised that this is happening. This disinterest is characteristic of Jews, and reflects our origin. Since our ancestors came from countless different, often rival nations, the sense of disconnection is rooted in our hearts. Only after Moses united us at the foot of Mt. Sinai, when we pledged to be “as one man with one heart,” did we become a nation. But since then, we have broken our vow and returned to our mutual dislike.

Only antisemitism reminds us that we are bound together. And the more intense it is, the more we huddle together. But as soon as the threat is lifted, we return to our prior aversion from each other until the next wave of Jew-hatred emerges.

Sometimes, the hatred becomes so intense and violent that it crushes the prime community of the time. This is what happened in the First Temple, and this is what happened in the Second Temple. This is also what happened in England in the 13th century, in Spain in the 15th century, in Poland in the 17th century, and in Germany (and consequently in most of Europe) in the 20th century. The prime community is always the target of the violence.

The pattern will be broken only when Jews initiate their connection of their own volition, rather than wait for antisemites to force them. In 1929, Dr. Kurt Fleischer, leader of the Liberals in the Berlin Jewish Community Assembly, argued that “Antisemitism is the scourge that God has sent us in order to lead us together and weld us together.” In those years, the German Jewish community was going through an intense process of assimilation and disintegration. Four years after Dr. Fleischer made his accurate observation, the Nazis came to power.

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Medium published my new article “Rising above the Differences”

Every international conflict that is currently unfolding proves the same point: Aggression does not pay. We have become so dependent on each other that there is simply no way to tip the balance in one place without tipping it throughout the system, namely worldwide. The coming years will prove two facts: 1) We cannot stand each other and do not care one bit for one another. 2) We cannot live without each other’s help. The collision between these contradictory facts will make us realize that we are like wheels in a machine. Each wheel turns in a different direction, but only when all the wheels turn in the direction they are supposed to turn, the machine works properly. If even one wheel changes its direction, the machine stops working.

When we realize this, we will understand that we have no choice but to turn the fight inwards. We will have to fight against our hatred of others, rather than fight against each other because of our mutual hatred.

We will have to realize that it is precisely the differences between us that enable us to get what we need from others rather than having to make them by ourselves. Progress, rising standard of living, improved health, nutrition, education, transportation, communication, professional opportunities, and every other benefit that modern civilization offers is built on different people with different skills and different fields of interest contributing their part to the global system that our world has become.

The difference between modern civilization and the ancient cavemen is rooted in increased cooperation and collaboration. If we were all the same and did the same thing, we would be more backward than our most ancient ancestors who had just come down from the trees and found a mate to live with in a cave and protect each other from predators.

We couldn’t stop the direction of evolution toward increasing cooperation even if we tried. Just as organisms evolve by increasing their dependence on each other and the complexity of their connections, humanity evolves through increasing connection, communication, and the complexity of our systems. The only reason that natural organisms are succeeding and human society is failing is that we resist the diversity and its benefits while nature embraces it.

If we were aware that only our excessive individualism and narcissism prevent us from reaping the benefits of diversity, perhaps we would stop fighting against other people, and began to fight against the element that pits us against each other: our own ego. I am convinced that simply realizing that our real enemy is not outside of us but within us will improve the world dramatically, and we will reap benefits that today, we cannot even imagine.
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Question: How can we get up immediately when we are falling into Klipot, so we won’t remain in them for a long time?

Answer: There will always be various problems between friends in the group. But if you are connected with the group and clearly understand that everything depends only on the connection with the friends and if together you act correctly with regard to the Creator, then you will quickly rise from these problems.

Thus, each of your descents will be accompanied by an even greater ascent from egoism to altruism, an even greater connection between you. As a result, you will reach your goal quickly and easily.
[302592]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 8/21/22

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Question: In The Study of the Ten Sefirot it is written that at the beginning of creation there was no free space in the form of empty air. Here we do not mean material air, but two categories of light in every desire: the light of Hochma and the light of Hassadim. What are these two kinds of light?

Answer: The upper light manifests itself in two main emanations.

The first is the light of Hochma, which fills the creation, according to the natural, primordial, innate desire of the creation itself, i.e., the desire to enjoy, to be filled. It is given to the creation initially from the Creator Himself.

And then the creation chooses that it also wants to be filled with a special light called Hassadim, the light of bestowal, love for the Creator, likeness to Him.
[302139]
From KabTV’s The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES) 8/14/22

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Comment: Psychologists say that aggression is a part of a person that one cannot get rid of.

My Response: Yes. There is no way.

Comment: They say that its origins are in the animalistic past of humans.

My Response: In egoism.

Question: Psychologists say that aggression comes from the desire of living beings, animals, and humans to survive. Does it mean that aggression appears when there is hunger, fear, or war?

Answer: It generally appears every moment in life. This is the basis of a human being. Every moment of my life I have to overcome something.

Question: Can aggression be directed toward peaceful purposes? Everyone understands about non-peaceful purposes. What about peaceful purposes?

Answer: Toward peaceful purposes means against myself.

Question: So is aggression currently directed from myself outward? Are you saying that this vector needs to be turned on myself?

Answer: Slowly, little by little, I somehow have to turn it on myself.

Question: Does it mean that aggression exists so that I can slowly turn it on myself?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Against what am I directing aggression within myself? What should I attack in myself?

Answer: The fact that I would like to attack others is inherent in me.

But if I want to turn it against myself, then this is a real fight with myself, a fight within which the quality of bestowal, the quality of connection with others, is built.

Question: So does it mean that I am attacking this very “I” of mine? My “I” that affirms itself?

Answer: Your “I” is hatred of others, the desire to dominate others. If you change it to the opposite desire, if you realize that it is impossible to remain in such a quality, then you receive instead the quality of bestowal and love, a spiritual quality.

Question: So, is aggression toward myself good? From bad—aggression toward others—it turns into aggression toward myself, and this is good. Is this why it exists?

Answer: Yes. Then you really start treating yourself as an enemy. And this is good.

Comment: Humanity should try very hard.

My Response: It will be trying hard; it will have no choice. There will be such suffering that people will want this.

Question: Only enemies are around for humanity. Everyone feels that only enemies are around. But you say that the enemies are inside you. This formula is clear to me. But can it enter into the mind and into the heart of a person?

Answer: If you understand this, others will understand it too.
[302470]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/30/22

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Comment: There are a lot of different names in The Book of Zohar, but Baal HaSulam, especially in Talmud Eser Sefirot, has more unearthly terminology.

My Response: What is the difference? This is just a description. We have four languages to describe the spiritual world: the language of the Torah, the language of the Talmud, the language of legends, and Kabbalistic language.

Kabbalistic language is the most accurate because it mathematically and physically describes all levels, qualities, and interactions. Of course, this is not lyrical language; this is dry language. But what can we do? It is always like that in science!

Suppose you are crying now and you are feeling upset. I say, “Give him ten grams of such-and-such.” They inject you, you calm down, and I state: “Now he has descended from this level of excitement to such and such a level.”

This is how The Zohar talks about how much of an “injection” you need and from what level to what level you will descend. But at the same time, it does not convey your sensations. However in a different form, that is, in a different description, it will convey them.

Therefore it does not matter because we are talking about the same thing; we just approach a person from different angles.
[302451]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What Is The Zohar after All?” 4/15/13

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Comment: You said that envy is a good quality that advances us in Kabbalah.

My Response: Yes, if envy is good, it creates a group, and if it is bad, it destroys it. It depends on what kind of envy it is.

If I envy the way others study, then I myself want to study like they do, I myself want to advance like this. It is said that envy creates intelligent, developed people. It enriches the world with knowledge. But this is a good envy when I want to be like the best, smart, capable, successful people. If a child has such a feeling, then it is great! What if it is the other way around?

Negative envy is a quality of petty, philistine egoism.

Question: Why is it so easy for a person to belittle someone in the eyes of others?

Answer: Because he benefits from it, he does not need to lift himself up. If someone is lower, it means that I am higher compared to him, and it is very difficult to raise myself relative to someone who is above me.

Comment: The culture of modern, massive megacities is such that there are groups of people who, as a rule, by belittling others, they raise themselves. Everyone is afraid to fall under their fire.

Answer: Of course. This is how we live.
[302489]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call, Stupid Stubbornness” 4/18/13

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