Question: Kabbalists often say, “Let us think about our friends” or something similar. Does the concentration of thought change some material things in our lives?

Answer: Thought is the most important thing we have, even though our thoughts are not pure because in reality everyone thinks about themselves and not about others.

Although we think about others only when we want them to make us feel better, I could not even think about anything else because I am an absolute egoist, and this is my nature. Still, in this inner movement, in this impulse, there exists some small element of a different, unique attitude toward a friend in which I somehow realize inside myself that I cannot do without him.

I might not want this, but the Creator arranged everything this way. What can I do? I have to love him involuntarily, without knowing what loving means. Nevertheless, something like this should happen in the future. They say it is necessary.

In other words, there are many such artificial movements, but since they are in the general mechanism, they bring the light of correction upon us. I ask for my correction despite not wanting to change. It works like a child who does not know what he wants. Nevertheless, it works.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. We are Thinking about our Friend!“ 3/11/10

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Question: What is this leap—love?

Answer: Love is a state where you treat others with a desire for complete bestowal and you strive to become like the Creator in action.

Comment: I still cannot grasp the difference. Suppose a person works like an organ in the body. He receives the most necessary things for himself and gives everything else for the sake of the entire organism. Thanks to this, the organism lives.

My Response: Yes, this is if we are talking about the internal system of the organism.

Question: So, can we say that our organs are altruistic? But we still do not say that they love each other. What is love, then?

Answer: Love, as Baal Sulam says, is a state where each organ feels all the other organs and helps them function properly.

Question: And on the human level?

Answer: There is no such state between people. It exists only at the level of the internal system of the organism.

Question: What did our sages mean when they wrote “Love your neighbor as yourself”? What is this stage when people reach such a state?

Answer: This is a stage of our internal development when we realize we must connect through good connections. That is, it is an emotional state when a person directly lives the life of society. Then we feel each other as if living in one organism.

Question: And is this organism the Creator or an upper force?

Answer: It is the Creator. Right!
[329612]
From KabTV’s “Era of the Last Generation” 5/9/24

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Question: The Creator gives one a place for faith and a place for work in the heart. How can we hold and expand this space? Is this our concern?

Answer: Yes, this is achieved by increasing the importance of the fact that the Creator is working on us.

Question: What advances us faster spiritually: when we humble ourselves or when others humiliate us?

Answer: It is when we humble ourselves, but we must be careful that it is done correctly and not artificially.

Question: Should I always build an intention when working with the mind and heart?

Answer: You should always try to find yourself in what you say and think.

Question: If I have many logical proofs that my friends are doing everything right, but in my heart, I feel unfounded hatred toward them, can my mind help me change this feeling?

Answer: This is very difficult. You should pray about this. I do not believe the mind can help. Only prayer can help you.

Question: How can one be joyful when I understand with my mind that the closer the Creator brings us, the more I move away from Him?

Answer: No, the Creator constantly brings us closer, and by this, we have the opportunity to more critically and soberly realize what we are going through.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/24, Writings of Rabash “Mind and Heart”

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Question: Rabash did not want to let his friends or students read Shamati because they did not have the left line. We study that Israel is the lightest, purest aspirations and desires. So why do you say that they are the roughest and the heaviest ones?

Answer: The vessels (Kelim) that need to be corrected are determined by the amount of egoistic impurities, and therefore, they are felt as particularly selfish and in need of correction first. In others it doesn’t feel that way; it seems as though nothing serious is happening with them.

Therefore, it is evident that the people of Israel stand out in their egoism relative to other nations of the world, but only because they have different demands made on them.

If these demands were the same for both the nations of the world and the Israelites, then the people of Israel would not be the most egoistic.

So it all depends on how we approach it initially and by what standards we measure.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/24, Writings of Rabash “Concerning the Omer [Count]”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Last Generation”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, “Letter 35”

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Selected Highlights

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From a viewer:

I recently started studying Kabbalah because I was seriously ill. I was looking for any means to get out of this. Today, during the lesson, you said you could read The Book of Zohar to get well. I am very sick. The doctors gave up on me a long time ago. Should we read The Book of Zohar? What should you think about it? About your recovery?

Answer: Certainly. Read it and get better.

Question: You said The Book of Zohar is like a Segula (remedy)?

Answer: Yes, it is magical.

Question: What happens when you read it and want recovery?

Answer: You attract the upper light to yourself; it descends from top to below, passes through all the Sefirot, and reaches you. With this, you heal.

Question: Why The Book of Zohar, and why do you insist on it? There are many books.

Answer: This is the most potent remedy for our soul. Great Kabbalists wrote it at the highest levels of connection with the Creator. Therefore, this book carries a mighty charge of spiritual power.

Question: Does it matter what language you read in? It is in Aramaic and Hebrew.

Answer: It is in Aramaic. There is nothing you can do about that. But after Aramaic, of course, Hebrew, because they are practically parallel languages. And those who know Aramaic understand Hebrew. Anyone who understands Hebrew, in principle, understands Aramaic.

Question: What if it is in Russian? We also have translations into Russian.

Answer: Let him read in Russian.

Question: So basically in your language, in the language the reader understands?

Answer: Yes.
[329838]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/1/24

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Question: Can each of the stages of spiritual development (revelation of evil, do no harm to others, love your neighbor as yourself) take decades?

Answer: Today it takes much less.

Question: How can this be; we are all so different? There are people who may still be at the first stage and there are those who are already at the third stage.

Answer: This is the same as in our society; there are different people: rich and poor, smart and not so smart, and so on. That is, they always complement each other.

Question: Baal HaSulam explains that when a person acquires the altruistic property, meaning, the ability to unite with others and not use them for one’s own benefit, he immediately begins to feel the upper force according to the law of equivalence of properties.

He writes that contact with the upper force is the most natural state for a person. How can you explain this?

Answer: It is a return to our root, the root we came from.

Question: Is it natural for a person to be in connection with the Creator? It is certainly natural for us to be egoistic.

Answer: But our egoism also comes from there. The Creator created everything. He created evil and gave us the opportunity to correct it. In this way we move toward good.
[329516]
From KabTV’s “Era of the Last Generation” 5/9/24

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Question: Faith becomes reason after attainment. How can one convince oneself that faith is infinite?

Answer: You do not need to force yourself. Gradually you will come to realize this on your own.

Question: How can we perceive the attainment of friends, through faith or through reason? How do we attach this to ourselves?

Answer: Through connection.

Question: But if we see a friend’s attainment, do we take it as faith or as a fact?

Answer: We take it as a fact and include it in ourselves.
[330012]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/24, Writings of Rabash “Mind and Heart”

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Question: It is said that Napoleon was passing through Paris with his retinue on the 9th of Av. This is the day when the First and Second Temples were destroyed and other tragedies of the Jewish people occurred. When Napoleon entered the Jewish quarter, he was surprised that the streets were empty. He entered the synagogue and saw it filled with people sitting on the floor. Napoleon asked the Rabbi: “What happened? Perhaps one of your leaders died or a pogrom occurred that I am unaware of?”

“Worse,” replied the Rabbi,” our Temple was destroyed, and we were expelled from our homeland.” “But that happened 1,800 years ago,” said Napoleon. “No,” said the Rabbi, “it happened just an hour ago.”

Could you please comment on such a response? It is as if history has not moved since the destruction of the Temple.

Answer: Yes. It is believed that time has stopped and we only live until it starts again and we begin to rebuild the Temple.

Question: So does this mean that all of this life is just waiting to return to the state of the Temple?

Answer: Yes, that is how it should be. The state of the Temple is the connection with the Creator. Every person could turn to the Creator and feel that he has connection, he could ask and receive answers. People were at that level. And then there was the destruction of the Temple, meaning the destruction of this connection, and that is it!

Question: Do we have a record that we were at this level?

Answer: Yes, there is a record. It is deeply hidden within us, but it manifests from time to time.

Question: So, we lost this direct connection with the Creator? And so, as it is said here, “lost life” as a result?

Answer: Yes, spiritual life.

Question: It is also said that Napoleon exclaimed: “If the Jews still mourn for their Temple and homeland, they will surely return to their land and rebuild the Temple.” What do you think of Napoleon’s response?

Answer: It is natural; the Temple must be rebuilt. The point is that people regain the connection with the Creator, a continuous, clear connection in their hearts.

Question: So then there is the question of what comes first starting to build the Temple or sensing this point within us?

Answer: Sensing it is most important. Gathering stones and building a structure with them is irrelevant.

Question: So everything will proceed automatically?

Answer: Even if it does not, it does not matter. People will start to feel that they are in unity with each other and are building a place for their upper force.

Question: Since we have touched on this question. Two Temples fell and we are talking about the Third Temple. It is said that the Third Temple will be built by the whole world. What does that mean?

Answer: The whole world will decide that it is necessary to achieve such a level among people—harmony, connection between them—when they are all united under the common force of the Creator.

Comment: Usually all unions happen after major tragedies.

My Response: Yes.

Question: Like the League of Nations after World War I, the UN after World War II. What needs to happen for people to suddenly come to this decision?

Answer: Apparently, the world must experience a serious shock. And after that, a desire for the revelation of the Creator will awaken in the nations. And it will end with the fact that indeed the Creator will be revealed in people, in the hearts of people. This will prompt them to connect with each other, and by being ready to connect with each other correctly, with kindness, in one heart, they will invoke the revelation of the Creator within them.

Question: And naturally, they will start to build the Third Temple?

Answer: That will be the Third Temple.

Question: Why is it said that the Third Temple must be built specifically in Jerusalem?

Answer: Because Jerusalem is such a place where all hopes, thoughts, and desires of people converge. So it is not a physical place.

Question: Then what will happen to the 9th of Av, on this day?

Answer: It will become a holiday.

Question: From a day of mourning it will become a holiday? Is this the right transition?

Answer: That is right. That is how it should be.
[329059]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/8/24

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