Comment: There is a prayer for rain that is said in the autumn after the Sukkot holiday; great importance is attributed to it. This request for rain is included in many other prayers.

The prayer begins, “And answer us, Who created the world with the property of mercy.” Can you explain this first sentence?

My Response: It is because it is possible to feel another property of the Creator, the property of judgment, sharpness, and so on, and here is the property of mercy.

Question: What is the property of mercy?

Answer: This is initially a property of a good attitude to the world and to people.

Question: Are we asking that this particular property be pointed out?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Then it suddenly appears: “He chooses His people, Israel, so that it knows all Your majesty and the splendor of Your glory.”

What does it mean that Israel was chosen to know Your greatness? The nation of Israel was chosen.

Answer: This is a group that should inform the whole world about the Creator, His greatness, His abilities, His intentions, and so on. This is what this nation was chosen for.

Question: And this should be included in the prayer and repeated all the time?

Answer: So that we ourselves rise and set an example.

Comment: It further reads: “He who listens to prayer, send dew and rain on the earth and fill the whole world with Thy bounty.”

That is, suddenly there is a request for the whole world.

My Response: Of course, because everyone depends on water.

Question: Why do we ask for the whole world? Not for ourselves, and not for the place where we live?

Answer: Because we are dependent on the whole world. And therefore, if you ask, you must ask for everybody.

Question: Is this the correct request to ask for the whole world?

Answer: Yes, and in the prayer, it is said that we ask for ourselves in the last turn. First for the world and only then for ourselves.

Comment: Then it goes like this: “Purify and free this year from all evil, all harm, and all misfortunes.”

My Response: Yes. What else does a man need?

Question: When you say “purify and free this year from all evil,” what does it mean?

Answer: Because everything was initially created in its opposite form: good – evil, heat – cold, love – hate. That is why we ask this way.

Question: What does purify mean? Purify what?

Answer: Remove it from my way, from our way.

Question: And what is meant by all evil and all harm?

Answer: Things that can harm our life that should be aimed at rapprochement with the Creator. Everything that moves us away from rapprochement with the Creator is evil and harmful.

Question: Further it reads: “And give him hope and favorable completion.” What should hope be like?

Answer: So that everything will be good for us, for people, for His creations.

Question: Is the whole world included again here?

Answer: The whole world, absolutely.

Question: That is, you think that here all the time has been laid down before for the world?

Answer: Man’s relation to the whole world.

Question: “Have mercy on us and all our crops and fruits, and send us blessed and generous rains, bringing life and peace, as in good years.”

And toward the end, it suddenly talks about rain. It is clear that rain is good for the earth and so on. What is meant by the word “rain”? What does it mean for a man?

Answer: The word “rain” means the basis, the root, the beginning of all corporeal life. Because practically rain is a blessing that descends from heaven to earth. And it embodies the benevolent attitude of the Creator to His creations.

Question: It is said “bringing life” and immediately added, “and peace.”Life is more or less clear—it gives life. And when it is said “peace,” what is that about?

Answer: This refers not only to rain as water, H₂O, but also to goodness, to the correct attitude of the Creator to His creations with which He fills them.

Question: It goes on, but this is, as it were, the main thing. Tell me, please, what does it mean in the inner work, in the spiritual work of a man, to send rain? What is this?

Answer: Rain is a great, good blessing, spirituality that descends from above and manifests itself in our corporeal world in the form of rain, in the form of water descending from above.

Question: And what is this great blessing for my heart, for my soul?

Answer: This is what keeps us alive, what revitalizes us.

Question: Is it rain?

Answer: Yes, it is precisely water. It also means spiritual water, upper water, and lower water. It is the force of nature, the Creator’s kindness to us which descends and is transmitted precisely in such a corporeal way through His actions on us.

Question: But a person says, as it were: “My soul has died, I am dry. Everything is dried up inside me.” Is this precisely a request for rain?

Answer: Yes. In general, this condition can be terrible. Just as we are in the water in our mother’s womb and come out of it with the water. These are quite complicated things.

Question: That is, practically we always ask for rain when we feel bad?

Answer: Yes. Rain, water, means Rachamim, mercy. That is why we ask for it.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/8/23

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Comment: While studying chaos theory, scientists conducted many experiments and created what is called an intelligent mind. They made a computer programmed with certain algorithms. But scientists were not clear why in different situations the computer chose the best way to respond. It seems that these are artificial machines, but there is some element of reason in them.

My Response: It is not reason. It is just that a person cannot embrace absolutely everything and fully understand and feel everything; therefore, it seems that there is some element here above our logic.

It is indeed higher than our logic, higher than our mind, but still it is clearly defined and scientifically determined. We are not able to feel, collect, and understand all these processes. There are no miracles in nature.

Question: Are we also in this state regarding the next step?

Answer: Of course. We are controlled by the forces of nature that drive us forward. But at the same time they require us to develop, to define ourselves, to feel differently.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Artificial Intelligence” 5/7/11

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New Life 486 – The Degree Of Righteous
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

What is the degree of righteous in spirituality? Why do we experience awakening during a pilgrimage to the tombs of the righteous? How can we relate to their Torah and their spiritual level?

There is nothing of holiness in the objects left behind by a righteous—not in his relatives nor in anything material. A righteous is a person who has developed forces of love and bestowal and has revealed the Creator in his inner vessels. A righteous person is one who repeatedly transcends the desire to receive in order to awaken in himself the desire to bestow. Any person who develops spiritually can reach the level of each one of the righteous.

We can make contact with the righteous through the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah in a correct group that connects with love above the ego. The power attained in the right connection can be called righteous, and within this power we attain the Creator. It takes at least a minyan, ten people who want to transcend spiritually with the help of wisdom of Kabbalah, which is the Torah of the truth.

We must distinguish between spiritual things and religious-psychological things. Religions teach heritage and customs, and increase one’s ego. The wisdom of Kabbalah, on the other hand, speaks of correcting the ego with the help of the light that reforms.

From KabTV’s “New Life 486 – The Degree Of Righteous,” 12/30/14
This summary was written and edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can you tell me some questions which will help me introspect?“

Do I have love for humanity?

If it seems too far-fetched to have love for humanity from the beginning, then you could start with love for people in your own country.

How do you check if you have love for people in your country?

Are you willing to share everything you have with them?

If you feel love for them, then you would certainly share everything you have with them, just like you do in the family.

Today, we might be willing to be decent citizens who find a place of work and who pay their taxes, but nature requires more from us.

Nature wants us all to feel a much deeper connection to each other, “as one man with one heart.” Achieving a love-fueled connection is a condition set in nature, and it runs against our egoistic nature, where we wish to enjoy for self-benefit at the expense of each other.

While we do not want to prioritize the benefit of others according to our egoistic nature, we can, however, counter our egoistic desire in order to start taking others into consideration. It depends solely on the way we influence each other. If we set up our communications in our societies, cultures and the media to influence each other with values and examples of mutual consideration, then we will strengthen each other to positively connect above our egoistic drives.

We need to evolve in our mutual awareness to understand that our positive connection to each other above our egoistic drives is no matter of ethics or morals. It is rather a condition set in nature. The more we let our egos develop without any motions to positively connect above them, the more we will fall into a bigger and bigger pit of troubles. We thus need to bring ourselves to a state where we will tell ourselves that we have to achieve a positive connection because it is the highest law of nature.

We neither understand nor feel it. On the contrary, we constantly think in an opposite direction, about how we can make ourselves more comfortable.

Our every desire, thought and action is for our personal benefit, from how we sit, eat and drink to how we aim ourselves at various goals in our lives.

Nature, however, demands of us to elevate ourselves above our inborn nature and instead of thinking about ourselves, to think about others. Such awareness should gradually bring us to a state of realizing that we simply cannot desire, think and act for the benefit of others, and in order to do so, we need to ask—to ask for the force of love to enter our connections.

Nature created our world in such a way so that we eventually reach a genuine request for help, called a “prayer.” We will then connect with the upper force in nature, and it will pass on the force of love to everyone. We will then all become as one unit, sharing a harmonious and peaceful existence in a single connection among each other and with the positive force of love that dwells in nature.
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Based on the video “The Key Question to Help You Introspect” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, “What Is ‘According to the Sorrow, So Is the Reward?’”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 52

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Selected Highlights

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Reception for the sake of bestowal is love. Bestowal for the sake of bestowal is mercy. The difference between them is that love is when you are ready to give everything, and mercy is when you as if do a favor to another.

Question: Let’s say I have received pleasure from bestowal and I must transfer this pleasure to the Creator, humanity, and the group. How can I do it practically?

Answer: You connect yourself with a group, you wish to unite your friends and direct them to the Creator in order to receive from the Creator forces that would bring you closer to each other and to all the people in the world.

In connection with the friends, you should try to reach a state where you will have a common desire to bestow, and you will be able to work with it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah lesson 8/9/23, “Habit becomes A Second Nature”

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Question: How can work for the Creator be by coercion, without pleasure?

Answer: It may not be the best, but if we can force ourselves to do something for the sake of the Creator even when we do not experience any pleasure, it is still considered bestowal—work to correct our desires.

I cannot force myself to have fun and be happy because I am doing some work. But if I still do it, then I am interested to know what I achieve as a result of doing it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/23, “Habit becomes A Second Nature”

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Question: In our work, we acquire habits. Every day we come to the lesson, meet with the ten, and perform many other actions according to the usual program. How does they all become Kelim (Vessels) for the quality of bestowal, for spiritual attainment?

Answer: A person does not know how this happens. The light influences a person and gradually leads to an increasing understanding that the benefits of bestowal far exceed the benefits of reception.

Then one weighs: it is better for me to give, say, five dollars than to receive it. This is how it works.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/9/23, “Habit becomes A Second Nature”

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Question: How do we rely on the Creator in our sensations? How can I understand that my actions really bring contentment to Him and not to my egoism?

Answer: You must pass your actions through the group. If you bring contentment to the group, and your friends want to bring contentment to the Creator together with you, then you are acting correctly.

An indicator of receiving pleasure for the sake of the Creator is that as soon as you forget about Him, the pleasure stops.

Question: How do we correctly pass pleasure to the Creator?

Answer: It depends on the intention. You must gather as a group that is united by a common intention and common efforts to bring contentment to the Creator. And you should want to see and to feel that you all are connected with each other and with the Creator; that is how you pass the pleasure to Him.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/23, “Habit Becomes a Second Nature”

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