Question: Why is money the basis of all problems in the world?

Answer: Because it is the equivalent of our investing in each other. I give something so I am supposed to take something.

Question: If we remove money, would there be no problems?

Answer: If everything that is common were removed, completely does not belong to anyone at all, and when everyone is concerned about each other as one common whole: either I will receive, or I will give, or another will receive, or will give to me, and all this is equivalent in my feelings, only then can we talk about removing money completely.

Money is a cover for my attitude toward others. There is nothing you can do about it.

Question: So in our world, will the problems disappear even if the money disappears?

Answer: No. Only when we rise above ourselves in our feelings will this world itself simply disappear because it exists only in our sensations.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. It’s All Because of Money.”

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Reception of pleasure—when one receives for one’s own benefit—removes him from cleaving to the Creator.

And this is why we gather here—to establish a society where each of us follows the spirit of bestowing upon the Creator. And to achieve bestowal upon the Creator, we must begin with bestowal upon man, which is called “love of others” (Rabash, “Purpose of Society – 1”).

Instead, one should receive pleasures that bring contentment to the Creator. This means that the creature will want to bestow upon the Creator and will have fear of the Creator, of receiving for oneself, since the reception of pleasure—when one receives for one’s own benefit—removes him from cleaving to the Creator.

Question: Is bestowing upon one’s neighbor and loving one’s neighbor the same?

Answer: Love is a feeling, and bestowal is an action in intention, in thoughts.

The society Rabash writes about consists of selfish individuals who come together with the goal of reaching the Creator and realize their goal through bestowal and love for others. In such a way, we must train ourselves to bestow upon the Creator.

Question: Why can’t one work with Him directly?

Answer: And how would you reveal the Creator if you lack the qualities that He has? It is precisely through drawing closer to others and connecting with friends toward the same goal that you gradually acquire the quality of bestowal that is already the quality of the Creator. You become more similar to Him, start feeling Him, and thus draw closer to Him.

Comment: But a person talks with the Creator within himself.

My Response: These are just his internal ideas, not what happens. To connect with the Creator, we need the same qualities that He has.
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From KabTV’s “Practical Kabbalah” 12/5/23

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But when the shade comes because of a sin, it is called “images, image makers, and sorcerers,” which is “God has made them one opposite the other.” As there are forces in Kedusha to make changes and to show signs and omens, so there are forces in the Sitra Achra (Baal HaSulam, Shamati 39 “And They Sewed Fig Leaves“).

Question: Why is it that when the shade comes because of a sin, it is called “images, image makers, and sorcerers”? What does it mean?

Answer: These are egoistic forces that are opposite to the will to bestow. This is why they are called that.

There are forces of bestowal and forces of reception. The Creator created some against others, and we have to choose which ones we want to develop with. The righteous do not use the force of reception, rather they use the force of bestowal wherever possible.

Comment: First, we need to recognize a sin, but the Sitra Achra does not allow us to do this.

My Response: You should hold on to each other and see how quickly you can identify your egoism and rise above it.

In order to come to this recognition, you need to be honest with each other, to at least open your heart somehow. Then, you will be able to rise above your common egoistic heart together and acquire the quality of bestowal from everyone to everyone.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/23, Writings of Baal HaSulam “And They Sewed Fig Leaves“

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, “What Does It Mean that a Judge Must Judge Absolutely Truthfully, in the Work?”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 2, Part 6, “Inner Observation,” Item 1”

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Selected Highlights

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Internal war and external war are both parts of one single whole. Each spiritual root must clothe in a corporeal branch. It seems that the spiritual root has already touched the corporeal branch and the nation of Israel has already conquered the land of Israel. Why is there a war again?

The point is that the root and the branch must completely grow into each other and exert mutual influence. The root comes in a form that is completely inappropriate for the branch; it must receive a restriction, a screen, and reflected light in order to gradually clothe in the corporeal branch.

War is always caused by a mismatch between the branch and the root. The war that is going on now is the war for the conquest of the land of Israel described in the Torah! This is a process that takes time. We need to internally accept it, agree with the upper government, and believe in salvation.

Only with the help of the army, the force acting from below, and the force of the Creator from above can we build ourselves in the correct form and win. We have no other forces than these two. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are truly a holy army.

In Israel, it is customary to treat the army with sacred respect. But in the Israeli army there really is a spiritual force that raises the people of Israel to the level of the Creator.

Even soldiers who are far from studying the Torah and Mitzvot are eventually included in this system that leads us all to the holiness of the Creator. That is, they, perhaps without knowing it, are waging a spiritual war in Gaza.

And everyone’s duty is to support them with everything possible. It means not just material support, but connecting our hearts, and from our common heart to help them succeed in everything they are doing. And thus, the entire nation will be involved in this spiritual war.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/23, Writing of Rabash “And It Shall Come to Pass When You Come to the Land that the Lord Your God Gives You”

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Michael Laitman on the Times of Israel: “Has the Exile of the People of Israel Ended or Was It Just a Dream?”

Physically, we inhabit the land of Israel, having returned after two millennia, yet spiritually, there lingers a sense of absence. Exile, a state where the presence of the upper force of love and bestowal eludes us, leaves us without complete security or a clear path; it obscures both our path and our destination.

In his article, “What Is, ‘When Israel Are in Exile, the Shechina Is with Them,’ in the Work?” Kabbalist Baruch Ashlag (Rabash) begins with an excerpt from the Megillah illustrating the Creator’s deep love for Israel, akin to a king with an only son who errs before him. Despite past transgressions, the king, rather than banishing the son, chooses to go into exile alongside him, a testament to unwavering companionship:

Come and see how fond is the Creator of Israel; wherever they exile, the Shechina [Divinity] is with them, as was said, ‘And the Lord your God returned from your captivity.’ It did not say, ‘will return,’ but rather ‘returned,’ showing that the Creator returns with them from the exiles.’

Feeling the void left by the upper force among us paradoxically forms our connection with that force. It is written that the Creator—the upper force of love and bestowal—descends into exile with us. When we sense the absence of this force, it means that it is already present, i.e., it makes us aware of its nonexistence in our current state. It actually never truly departs or alters its stance toward us, but we ourselves fluctuate—drifting further away or drawing nearer.

Exile befalls us when we let our self-centered nature run our lives, i.e., when we adopt a culture of cutthroat competition, respecting wealth and materialistic status, and also dividing ourselves into factions and holding disdain for one another. Such qualities stand in stark contrast to those of the upper force—love and bestowal—and they ultimately operate in order to lead us to a feeling of being exiled from a harmonious state with attitudes of love and bestowal in the midst of our relations, and to draw closer together in order to reach such a state.

Those who feel their lives in this exile can first find solace in that they have diagnosed their state correctly, while simultaneously feeling the pain of drifting apart. These mixed emotions possess the potential to drive the many diverse parts of our nation to unite, and to establish through our unity a connection with the Creator. They grant us the strength to care for our people as nurturing parents, cultivating ties that bind us, enabling our collective emergence from exile.
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Question: You said that a ten can open any gate in spirituality. Which ones exactly?

Answer: There are many gates that we have to go through, but the most important gate is the gate of tears. When a person has no strength left to turn to the Creator and is convinced that he is a loser and nothing will help him, then he bursts into tears and the Creator opens the gates to him.

Everyone who comes closer to Him passes through this gate.

Question: What should you ask Him at the moment when you really see that you are a failure?

Answer: Explore what you need, and ask for it.

Question: But what about the quality of bestowal? We are studying that we should ask precisely for it.

Answer: But if you don’t have any impulse for that, then what are you going to ask for?

Question: Is it important to just ask for what you lack, or to ask to be in connection with the Creator?

Answer: It depends on what you choose. Don’t make me choose for you.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/23, Writings of Baal HaSulam “My Soul Shall Weep in Secret – 1“

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Question: You said that war ends when its purpose is realized. What kind of purpose can a war have and who sets it?

Answer: The war ends in Gmar Tikkun (final correction).

But this is not a war we fight with weapons; it is a confrontation between the forces of bestowal and the forces of reception. Therefore, we can say that the war has been going on constantly since the creation of the world until Gmar Tikkun.

Question: Does conquering the land of Israel mean mastering a specific desire, or can any desire be made the land of Israel?

Answer: The land of Israel does not exist just like that. When past desires with the intention for one’s own sake, under the influence of coming closer to the Creator, become desires for the sake of the Creator, they are called conquests of the land of Israel.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/23, Writing of Rabash “And It Shall Come to Pass When You Come to the Land that the Lord Your God Gives You”

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Of course, our duty in the corporeal world is to protect ourselves and, as commanded, to kill one who is trying to kill us. But we must understand that by doing this we are only buying ourselves a short delay for the correction of our souls, which is entrusted to us.

However, a soldier of the Israeli army who is at war should not fear that if he dies, he will not be able to complete his final correction. War is arranged in such a way that if he is destined to die, it means that he has already completed his correction.

This correction affects not only those who were killed or injured, but all the circles around them: family, friends, and acquaintances who experience this trauma. Desires, thoughts, and actions caused by the tragic event of the death of soldiers correct the thoughts of their loved ones, the entire nation, and all humanity.

After all, all souls are, in essence, one soul, and through the mutual inclusion of souls, they influence everyone.

There is a big difference between dying from a natural disaster like an earthquake and dying as a soldier in war. An earthquake is caused by the inanimate level, and death in battle is caused by the human level, and the difference in the correction of souls is enormous.

War comes to shake people up and shorten their time of correction. After the war, thoughts and relationships are usually renewed. Therefore, until the end of correction, it is impossible to completely avoid wars, and history continues. The purpose of war is to awaken a new response in desire so that with new desires, with the experience of war, people acquire the ability to make decisions that are closer to the final correction.

In the end, only the Creator always wins in war because in the end we are convinced that we cannot have any victory unless we unite and receive power from above. All our perfection and peace lie only in the Creator.

The Creator wants us to understand that only the unity of the people of Israel without any borders will help us save ourselves and the whole world from the abyss into which we are all gradually sliding.

Therefore, let us be strong in spirit, let us not cry, and, as they say, let us meet the coming day with a new song in our hearts.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/23, Writing of Rabash “And It Shall Come to Pass When You Come to the Land that the Lord Your God Gives You”

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