The Special Feature of the “Eighteen Prayer”

534Everyone should behave the same as in the last three of the “Eighteen Prayer.”

In other words, after having pleaded before the Creator, The Zohar says that in the last three of the “Eighteen Prayer,” one should think as though the Creator has already granted his request and he has departed (Rabash. The Agenda of the Assembly – 1. 17-2 (1984)).

“The Eighteen Prayer” is a standard prayer. The rest of the prayers a person can say from himself. He can recite passages from Psalms and other things, but the “Eighteen Prayer,” that is, “Eighteen blessings,” is the prayer with which we turn to the Creator in the morning, afternoon, and evening.

This is not an ordinary prayer, not the prayer that you build yourself. This is an established prayer, which was written a thousand years ago.
[319671]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/24/23, Writings of Rabash “The Agenda of the Assembly – 1“

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If You Want to Escape Problems

283.01Question: Thousands of people disappear in Japan every year. They leave their families and their jobs; they leave it all behind of their own freewill. They change their names and start new lives in a new place. This phenomenon is called johatsu. It is a way of escaping problems in one’s personal life and societal pressures. Someone gets tired of their work, of having many problems, and runs away. In Japan, there are agencies that help a person disappear without a trace; they are called night travel services. Such is life.

What do you think of such an escape?

Answer: The Japanese overall are a mystery to me. On one hand, they have kamikazes who can go to death with their eyes open and know in advance when it will happen to them, and on the other hand, they are running away from some small difficulty in ordinary life. They just suddenly leave and change everything.

Question: In general, how do you feel about such an escape from yourself?

Answer: I don’t feel like I can.

Question: In your case, yes. But is it even possible to escape from problems? To change everything in an instant, just like that?

Answer: I do not know how far I can run from myself. And if not from myself, then it does not matter.

Question: So you even welcome escape from yourself?

Answer: No, I don’t welcome it. I’m saying if you could run away from yourself, take a pill or something else and the whole past would break away from you and let you start over as it were, that would be good.

Question: But you would still have the same character and the same habits because the person does not change. That is, he seems to invite the same problems; another wife may be even worse, and so could other problems be. What then?

Answer: It is obvious that you cannot run away from yourself.

Question: Let’s say a person sees how terrible he is. Not even with these external problems, just to see himself, he is shown that he is, as you say, a complete egoist. How can he escape this?

Answer: There is no way.

Question: What should one do?

Answer: You cannot run away from yourself in any way nor can you run away from your egoism. You can start to work on it, slowly reform it, change it, and turn it inside out, but you cannot run from it.

Question: Why do you always say we need to get closer to others and build good relations when we are the opposite, we are egoists? How can we escape?

Answer: There is no way.

Question: So why do you suggest building good relations and connecting with others?

Answer: I really do advise that you rise above yourself to the next degree.

Question: How so if you say it’s impossible?

Answer: According to the law of negation, that is, to turn inside out.

Question: How can I do this? Can I do it myself?

Answer: In the right environment you can.

Question: So I have to find a society of people who want to turn themselves inside out? Then what? I see them trying to turn inside out. What are my actions?

Answer: I want to be like them, to join them and also to try to turn myself inside out.

Question: Is it possible to turn oneself inside out?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So what is there, on the other side?

Answer: What is good will be bad and what is bad will be good.

Question: What is good will be bad, I get it. But will the bad become good? The bad thing for me was, as we say, to connect with others, to make good relations. Will it become good? Is this just what man needs by and large?

Answer: Yes. He will be in another world.

Question: Is this truly a transition to another world?

Answer: Of course.

Question: How simply you explain this! Just turn yourself inside out, form good connections, and suddenly you’re in another world?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is this what is required of us from above? Is this why they beat us all the time in this world, so we turn inside out?

Answer: In principle, yes.

Comment: That is, running from yourself, changing your name, and so on—by and large, that’s all…

Answer: It doesn’t mean anything. He does not change his nature. He doesn’t change himself.

Question: This is the most important question! That is, he keeps living on the same plane?

Answer: He does.

Question: Can we not change anything on this plane?

Answer: No, there can only be more disappointment.

Question: So your main advice is to find like-minded people who turn themselves inside out, and ask together with them?

Answer: Yes.

Question: As a result, what turns us inside out, does it come from above?

Answer: The upper force.

Question: So all our requests, one way or another, are always to Him?

Answer: Even if you don’t ask. If you try a little, if anyone can change you, it is only Him.
[317862]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/10/23

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We Should Not Ban Speech

961.1Question: There have been debates about freedom of speech, democracy, and hate speech for decades.

Should we allow mean-spirited speeches of evil people?

Answer: We need this, we have to learn from this. Otherwise, we, the narrow-minded ones, may not get a clear understanding of the depths of human nature.

Comment: You are talking about human nature, and he, of course, was talking about democracy.

My Response: Democracy is one of the expressions.

Question: The question is, do the boundaries of what is allowed still exist or not? Here a malicious person makes terrible speeches, and they say, “Let him say it, do not do anything to him.”

Answer: I also think that we need this. It is necessary to verbally express everything. And then…

Question: And then, what will the authorities that hear this do?

Answer: This is their problem, how to limit and prevent the development from speeches to action. There should be speeches, we should study them, we should perceive them correctly and object to them, build our attitude on this.

Question: Do I have to work on this, rise above this, and generally build all the arguments in the fight against this? Is this how I grow?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: If only humanity behaved like this.

My Response: We would have learned something gradually.

Question: The first natural instinct is to suppress. It is natural to immediately suppress. Is it wrong?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Tell me, how in this case, if we talk about the country, should the people be educated to choose such leaders who will work with everyone who opposes them in this way?

Answer: People should be included in discussions, understand their dependence on such statements, and learn. They must have a desire to learn. But it depends on the preparation, it depends on the society.

Question: Do we need to raise such people? This is education.

Answer: Absolutely.

Question: What, in your opinion, is a true democracy?

Answer: True democracy is when everyone is given the opportunity to develop according to their natural inclination, on the one hand. But, on the other hand, he is put in a certain relationship with the surrounding society that he begins to perceive the consequence of his democratic approach to himself, and all the flaws in his perception of the world quickly become clear to him.

Question: Does a person in a democratic society understand that I started it and it was started by me incorrectly, and I need to correct myself?

Answer: Yes. A person should feel as if he is on such a lathe, which he starts, carves out some kind of block of himself, and at the same time, he understands and feels by the reaction of the machine, which is nature to him, to what extent he can continue, change himself, and so on.

Question: In other words, how should it be refined it to some kind of harmony, an ideal state?

Answer: Yes.

Question: You, in a way, said now that a person even manages society, as it were. Each person. Does it mean that his advice, his desire come in and work? Does he see where he made a mistake, where he did not make a mistake and he corrects himself?

Answer: Yes. We need to try to create such a society so that everyone can shape themselves.
[316773]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/3/23

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Between Multiple Authorities and a Singular Authority

165Question: How can we enter under the authority of a teacher in order to move by this to the authority of the upper?

Answer: To do it, you need to be in connection with your friends and then compare how connected you are with them, with the teacher, and with the Creator. All this connects together: Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.

Question: In the Shamati article “What Is the Measure of Faith in the Rav?”, Baal HaSulam writes that there are multiple authorities and there is the authority of the Creator, the singular authority. According to the teacher’s advice, we should be in wholeness, in connection. How can we oppose multiple authorities with the authority of the Creator at every moment of time?

Answer: Think about it all the time.

Question: Can we win this battle by constantly changing multiple authorities over us and finally come to “together”?

Answer: Of course! By the way, this is not so difficult. It is harder to start and get organized, after that moving forward is no longer a problem. That is, of course it is a problem, but it is no longer such enormous work.
[319544]
From the Daily Kabbalah lesson 10/21/23, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati 10 “What Is the Measure of Faith in the Rav?“

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Faith, Awe and Unity

610.2Question: What is the connection between faith, awe, and unity?

Answer: In unity we find the force that unites us, the awe with which we turn to it, and thus achieve the goal of creation, that is, the feeling of the Creator in us.

Everything is aimed only at bringing us together because it is only then that the Creator can be revealed in us.

Question: How can we correctly focus on the Creator giving complete faith as a reward?

Answer: Your thought should be focused on getting such a feeling from the Creator’s attitude toward you where you could do anything for Him. This will be the reward for all your efforts.

Question: Is complete faith a state of final correction (Gmar Tikkun) or is it there at every stage?

Answer: In some ways it exists at every stage.
[319499]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah lesson 10/20/23, Writings of Rabash “What Is “the People’s Shepherd Is the Whole People” in the Work?,” in the Work?“

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About the Quality of Our Effort

243.01Question: How can we separate the qualities that prevent us from moving forward from ourselves?

Answer: Separating them is very simple; if they strengthen your connection with the group, you leave them, and if they are against your connection with the group, you move away from them.

Question: How can we check the quality of our efforts?

Answer: If there is a reaction to them, then their quality was good. This is the only way.
[319832]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/23, Writings of Rabash “Come unto Pharaoh – 1“

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 11/6/23

Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, “How to Recognize One Who Serves God from One Who Does Not Serve Him”

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

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3rd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “A Handmaid Who Is Heir to Her Mistress”

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Selected Highlights

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 11/5/23

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If They Came to Kill You

200.02Question: You have been talking about the law of love, bestowal, and mercy for many years. You said that this is the basis of our nation, the basis of the law within which we exist, and the whole world exists. Is this what we should follow?

Answer: Yes.

Question: This is on one hand. On the other hand, it is written by our sages in the Babylonian Talmud: If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first. What does this mean for you?

Answer: If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first means that we must forestall the enemy. And we are obliged to do this because this is the Creator’s covenant.

Comment: Then there is the law of love, bestowal, and mercy.

My Response: It depends in relation to whom and how. But if someone comes to kill you, then you must first rise and defend yourself so as to destroy the one who came to kill you.

Comment: Can you, please, explain the law of love, bestowal, and mercy at the moment when you are going to fight and kill the enemy.

Answer: This does not apply to enemies. No. There can be no love for someone who hates you and wishes for your death

Question: Can any kind of revolution ever happen so that we will suddenly look at our biggest haters with different eyes? Will anything happen?

Answer: Only after we get rid of them can there be a completely different attitude toward them. We should get rid of the haters. And then we can negotiate with those who remain.

Comment: All the laws are kind of revolving around mercy. And this one is very sharp!

My Response: It is not sharp, it is just straight. I do not see anything drastic or anything out of the ordinary in it.

Question: Why does it not say: “Try to make peace, try…”?

Answer: Any attempt is out of the question! After all, he came to kill you!
[319614]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/16/23

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222Question: What do you see as our future, and what is it like?

Answer: I see the future as getting rid of the haters, understanding who is next to us, and making sure they understand who is next to them. We need to secure our borders and create conditions for us to peacefully exist and unite.

Question: Unity is more or less understandable to people, like the unity we have now. What are you talking about? After the war, after victory.

Answer: There is no “after the war.” In principle, we are in a state of constant war.

Question: Why?

Answer: Because the enemy wants it that way. So, we must not weaken ourselves and not act as we did before this attack.

Question: You are talking about an external enemy. What about our internal enemy?

Answer: The internal enemy needs to be convinced that we have no other way.

Question: Who is the internal enemy?

Answer: We are. Between us. I think we need to undergo very serious re-education here. There should be friendship and support among us.

Question: How do we achieve that?

Answer: By explaining that without it we will not survive.

Question: It is clear now that we are currently united by adversity. But in the future, for example when we are on the crest of victory, there will likely be disputes about what happened, why, and how. Various scenarios are possible. How do you shape the country? How do you build the future of the people?

Answer: Only through unity! We must talk about it constantly. We must promote unity from a very young age and continue to do so throughout life.

Comment: You keep talking about uniting above oneself.

My Response: Because we are egoistic, unique egoists, the biggest in the world. That is why we need to unite above our egoism.

Question: This work is endless. So it will never end. We cannot eliminate this enemy, can we?

Answer: No, and we should not. It is great that we have it. The Creator intentionally created this egoism within us so that we constantly work on it and elevate ourselves higher and higher toward Him. That is our main work.

Question: What if we falter? What if we start quarreling again?

Answer: Then the external enemy reminds us of that.

Question: That is, we must make it very clear that our disputes and their level provoke an equal level of hatred toward us from the whole world. Is that the right formula?

Answer: Absolutely from the entire world!

Question: If this fear enters us—that at the moment we start wars between each other, wars come to unite us but at an external level—if this formula exists in us, do you think it is normal to live with this fear?

Answer: It is normal. It is thanks to this fear that we can move toward unity.
[319934]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/16/23

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