A Letter to You:

My close friend, a Jew, died, and for the first time I found myself in a Jewish cemetery. His family decided to bury him according to Jewish law. The first shock for me was that he was buried the next morning. Why were they in such a hurry? No one really had time to say goodbye to him.

Also, this tearing of clothes in the cemetery, what for? And the fact that they throw the body into the ground without a coffin, just wrap it in some rag and bury it. These customs seem to me somehow inhuman, they do not have the warmth of a farewell, everything happens quickly, without love. Why? After all, the Jews are so family-orientated, and we see just coldness here.

My Reply: First, the fact that a person is buried not in a coffin but in the ground is natural. As it is written: “From dust you are and unto dust you shall return.” And there is nothing closer to our animalistic body that is already dead than the earth. It is necessary to allow a body to decompose normally in this environment. To disappear. And everything to completely decompose.

You have to turn to dust so that there is absolutely nothing left of you. This is first.

Second, the dead must be buried as quickly as possible. The fact that he said it was done the next day is already not a Jewish custom. It is necessarily to bury the body on the same day, on the same evening. If, for example, a person died unexpectedly, no matter how, at 8, at 10 pm, he should be buried by midnight. As quickly as possible.

Question: Why such a hurry? Not even to say goodbye to the dead?

Answer: There is no need to say goodbye to him and see him! No! The body should not be touched. Life has gone out of the body, the body is already considered untouchable. It is impure.

Question: What about tearing the clothes?

Answer: It is a sign of mourning to tear the clothes.

Question: Can you explain why, from the point of view of Kabbalah?

Answer: Clothes are called “Levush“—it is the external form of the soul. Since our loved one has left us, a part of our soul has gone with him.

Question: Why does he write that there is coldness here, there is no warmth, there is no respect for the body?

Answer: Why? On the contrary, this is respect for the body but in a way that he does not understand.

It is not about treating a dead body like someone living, but what is required to be done to a dead body; you must fulfill everything. This is our attitude toward the dead. Besides, this is done in such a way that any person who has lost his life would be equal to all others. He is not buried in rich clothes, not in a golden coffin. Nothing like that!

Even more, they do everything as much as possible so that the body rots as quickly as possible, breaks away from its shells.

Comment: Here I remember the Pharaoh…

My Response: To the contrary. Quite the opposite.

Comment: Yes. You also were in the basements of the Hermitage [The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg]. There are mummies there and you can even distinguish facial  features. They were able to preserve them so well. That is, humanity has a completely different attitude.

My Response: The opposite one.

Question: Why?

Answer: It is, I would say, a hymn to egoism.

Question: A hymn to egoism, yes. That is what I wanted to talk about. Is this a hymn to egoism to bury in such a way, with honors?

Answer: Of course! That is, he is eternal, he is perfect, he continues to exist. We will bury his servants and horses and everything else with him. We will cook him some dishes, and so on.

And the Jews, on the contrary, even have custom to put lime in the ground with the body, so that the body decomposes faster.

Question: Does it mean that it should turn to dust as quickly as possible?

Answer: Yes. To break away from our lowest, worst world. That is, wrap it in a rag, in a simple white cloth, nothing more, put it in the ground, and bury it.

Comment: The world has not accepted this centuries-old tradition.

My Response: Of course. Because it is far from egoism. Egoism does not allow the body to be so disrespected.

Comment: That is, we live in a world that respects the body. It is even evident from the letter where he writes that there is no warmth, everything is very cold. We need to say goodbye to the body.

My Response: And there is nothing of it here. Here is a dead shell that is worthless and should rot as quickly as possible. It is not necessary to regard it in any way. Everything that remains went to the spiritual root, and it exists there.

Question: Can you call it reincarnation? That is, the faster the body decomposes, the faster the soul will return for future correction.

Answer: Of course. This is also considered, but the body has nothing to do with this. The soul broke away from the body and that’s all.

Comment: If only people would hear when the Kaddish is read and what it says. In effect, it does not say “What a grief that he is gone! How could he leave us!” But thank You, Creator, that You took this body. A person cannot understand that, of course!

My Response: Of course. How great You are, the Lord, for doing this to our loved one. May Your great name be exalted, the Creator.

Comment: Could you please explain this?

My Response: There is no cessation of life and there is no death. It is simply a transition in our understanding from one state to another. So why should we suffer?

When water turns to steam and then steam condenses and falls as rain, and again, the cycle of water in nature, should we regret the past, the present, and so on? No. We just say: “Thank you for these transformations.”

Question: I wonder, will this come to the world? When we start treating the body this way, will it be called advancement?

Answer: Of course.

Question: What are the seven days called “Shiva“?

Answer: Seven days of mourning are absolutely Kabbalistic concepts.

Question: Do they sit at home for seven days?

Answer: Yes. Until the soul is completely separated with the body, does not completely leave the body, and does not break the connection with it.

Question: Does it take seven days?

Answer: Seven days. Then 30 days. Then a year.

Question: Can we conclude this with one sentence? Something about the body and the soul.

Answer: I think the best thing to say is: try to live in the soul, not in the body.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 11/30/20

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Question: Can a soul be reincarnated in another race or nationality? Or are there some restrictions?

Once a woman of Tatar nationality asked me, “I moved from Tatarstan to the United States. Will I now be reborn as an American or in the next life will I emerge again in Tatarstan?”

Answer: No. This woman absolutely does not have to be born with the same qualities, the same nationality, and in the same country as the time before.

Unfortunately, we are very limited in our understanding of the world. The laws of the universe are absolutely the same in everything and for everyone. Therefore, we are not reborn into anyone. The quality of the soul determines the fate of a person.

Question: Do the same principles apply to Jews?

Answer: For Jews, these principles are more rigid. Those souls that have to carry out the method of correction in this world are born Jews. According to this, they are positioned in this way in our world.

Therefore, we see people who, during this life, suddenly join the method of correction. However, it does not mean anything for the next time.

Question: Is the gender of a person also predetermined or can it change?

Answer: The gender also changes depending on how a certain methodology should be carried out in this world. Therefore, a person is born either a man or a woman, of some nationality, and with some qualities. This is all determined by the ultimate purpose and what he must do in this life. All the parameters of our existence are manifested in accordance with this.

However, people should not get attached to this! The important thing is what I can make of myself! Everything else is not important. Among us were representatives of other nations, such as Rabbi Akiva, who became a great Kabbalist.

It all depends only on the person.
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From KabTV’s “Ask a Kabbalist” 12/31/18

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Question: Can we say that in our world there are two categories of souls: old experienced ones and new, young ones? Do the old souls come to our world specifically to help new souls?

Answer: Yes, this is really so.

Question: Do they somehow differ from each other?

Answer: It is impossible to tell the difference.

Question: That is, at first glance, I will not be able to understand whether it is a young soul or an old one?

Answer: No. In addition, there is the so-called reincarnation of souls. Every moment a person has a different soul.
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From KabTV’s “Ask a Kabbalist” 12/31/18

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Question: One of your listeners wrote to you:

Dear Michael Laitman,

You say that all diseases are from egoism, that if you restore balance with nature, then a person will not get sick. I really believe you. I feel this is correct, the things you say, but I have little time.

I knew that I would get sick, my parents died from the same cancer that I have today. These are genes, nothing can be done about it. What to do? How do I prepare to die? What to think about? Or maybe
can I somehow recover and live?

Be healthy and strong.
Alexander

Answer: First, we must do everything that medicine says. As the Torah says: “A doctor has been given the right to heal.” Take a doctor whom you can trust, trust him, and surrender yourself into his hands.

Question: He asks: “What to do? How can I prepare for death? What to think about?”

Answer: No need to prepare. Let him take Kabbalistic books; they are written by people who sense both this world and the other world which is on the other side of egoism. Then he will have a better idea of himself, and perhaps he will have enough time to feel this other world, enter it, and be in it.

In practice, the barrier between life and death for him will not be so fatal, unexpected, frightening, but on the contrary, he will be very calm about it.

Question: When you say, “other world,” there are many explanations for this. For him, for Alexander, what is it?

Answer: The otherworld is on the other side of our today’s nature. Our nature today is egoism. If during our lifetime we can reach the next state, the second, opposite to this, that is, the altruistic state, then we will practically begin to feel this next world, the upper world, the second world.

There are two possibilities, two worlds. In that state, we can exist forever because there is nothing to correct, nothing to destroy. In this respect, it exists outside of time.

I would advise him to start reading our books as soon as possible and enter the states that they describe. Because, in principle, in his state, all this is possible and easy.

Question: What to think about? Tell me, please.

Answer: About what you now want to feel and find out, and what is being done there, beyond this border of life and death.

Question: That is, I admit that I am dying the moment I start thinking about it?

Answer: So, what? We can admit all of this.

Question: Are you very calm about this?

Answer: Wait a minute. After a certain number of years, I will also be gone. You and everyone. So, what is the problem? We should all be accepting what kind of state we are passing into, what remains of us, of this world, of this life, and into what state we are moving with what remains of us.

This is preparation for death. That is, the spirit, the property, of bestowal, which man has created over his egoistic matter; it does not leave him, and with this he continues.

Question: What he writes at the end: “Maybe I can somehow recover and live?”

Answer: Maybe this will restore him for a while. I say for a while, it can be for tens of years. But it is all the same “for a while.” Because our world was created in order to change to a perfect world.

Question: I read this letter and it moved me. Are you saying that this is life, death will come, one way or another?

Answer: Do not be afraid of that. It is best to understand what our next state is after the death of the animal organism, and how we stay with our spiritual organism.

Question: So, we can stay?

Answer: We stay! We will definitely stay! My “I” remains and has nothing to do with my body.

Question: So you are saying, grab onto my real self?

Answer: Yes, and develop it and live in it now.
[276192]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/23/20

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Question: How can a person know where the root of his soul comes from, what part of Adam HaRishon one belongs to? Can I change my place in the general system?

Answer: By no means, it is impossible.

A person can only reveal the root of one’s soul when one attains it or gets close to it. On the whole, one has no need for this because the function of any spiritual root, of every cell, and of every part of what we call the soul, is absolutely identical to all the other parts of the body, which is to receive in order to bestow.

Each one receives from the whole body in order to perform its function and then bestows back to the body. A person draws and conducts all information through oneself, all the energy and all the knowledge, and then gives back to the body. It is actually in this manner that the body is locked in absolute connection with itself and constantly functions.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 11/25/18

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Question: Will a person return to this world after death?

Answer: If we talk only about the animal (physical) body and its life, then this state does not return.

There is no need for it and there is nothing to regret about it. We just need to try to extract the maximum eternal benefit from each state that we go through.

Question: If we do not speak from the point of view of the animal body, but from the point of view of human consciousness, what does life and death look like?

Answer: A person’s consciousness should lead him to a state where he begins to feel the general consciousness, connects to the general cloud of information and fulfillment and stays in it. He will see himself and everything that exists in a single stream of information.

Question: Can a person remember his past incarnations?

Answer: If in order to realize himself, a person needs some new or additional information, then he receives this from being included in this huge cloud, which is called the Creator, nature.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 12/07/20

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Question: In our world a person feels fear, joy, security, etc. Are there such sensations in the spiritual world?

Answer: In the spiritual world, all the feelings that exist in our world are billions of times higher, deeper, and stronger, and a person can control them. If in our world we are born with certain sense organs and gradually develop them under the influence of our world, but insignificantly, then in the spiritual world we can develop them literally from scratch, when we simply do not have them, since they are in a rudimentary state, and we cannot use them.

Starting to develop the spiritual senses, we bring them to a state in which we reveal the entire upper world, all the forces that are in it, all the variations of the possibilities of their influence on us.

We feel how we influence them with feedback, enter into certain interactions with them, and start playing with them. We influence the spiritual world, and it affects us. This interaction with the upper world is called the highest spiritual life.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 11/12/18

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Question: How does Kabbalah interpret consciousness? How is it related to intention and desire?

Answer: Consciousness is built from identifying an external source (informational field) and does not exist on its own. To the extent that we begin to feel the influence of an external force upon us, we can say that consciousness appears in us.

You can connect to the consciousness outside of a person by your inner development. We exist in this information field, and therefore, by tuning ourselves to it, we receive consciousness.

Question: What is subconsciousness?

Answer: This is all psychology that makes such distinctions. Kabbalah does not deal with it.

Comment: Nonetheless, there are some things that I do consciously and some I do subconsciously.

Answer: Naturally. Our actions and the impact of nature on us are practically the two sources of our existence. Using the term “consciousness,” I imply our perception of the influences of nature, their analysis, and decision-making how to act under their influence.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 8/7/20

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The human body begins with a drop of semen: a single cell that multiplies and forms new cells. But all of them implement the very program that was laid in the first cell that started it all.

The drop of semen already has all the information. One day scientists will learn to decode this information so that one cell will show the entire person that will develop from it, his entire fate and abilities, whether he will be a great scientist or a musician.

It is all there, in a drop of semen, but only in potential. If these potential forces get the material to work with, they will begin to build the human body according to the program placed in the first cell where every organ and every cell of a large healthy organism is described. We only need to provide food, the material, for its construction.

It is the same with our desire. In each of us there is a point, the first drop obtained as a result of shattering. Our common body was shattered into many parts, and if we join into ten, we will restore the drop of semen, the desire. In addition, we will draw the light that reforms.

We need two things: desire and light. On one hand, there are our ten potential forces, and on the other hand comes the light that reforms, which will connect them back into one drop of semen. None of us can become a drop of semen, each of us is only a tenth of the seed from which the soul will develop.

We draw the upper light, which connects us and begins to form a larger and larger spiritual structure called the soul or Partzuf.

Therefore, we must try to unite and from this unity turn to the Creator so that He can send us the light that reforms that will develop us. These are the two areas of our work.

It seems to me that the Creator gives me foreign thoughts that throw me out. But this reveals new forces of egoistic desires inside the ten, which must be added as fuel. Thanks to this, the ten will strengthen, grow fat, and build itself.

However, when we receive this additional fuel, it has not yet been processed correctly, and therefore feels like foreign forces of separation. If in spite of this, we join together, then we swallow this force inside ourselves and expand and grow at the expense of it. This is how waste is turned into food.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/20, Writings of Rabash, “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?“

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The coronavirus pandemic is causing a common complication for all of humanity: fatigue from losing purpose, hope, and reward for effort. A person subconsciously feels that there is nothing to live for and sinks into apathy, depression, and despondency. The whole world seems to be falling asleep.

Previously, all of us were playing in competition, building and destroying, bustling constantly like children. Today it is already impossible to continue these games, and people do not understand what to do and for what. There are so many restrictions. Therefore, everyone is seized by apathy and hopelessness; there is no strength to move, no energy, no goal.

Can it be that the Creator wants to show that there is no point in living for ourselves as we tried before? In fact, that was self-deception because no one really lived for himself, it just seemed that way to him. If we start thinking about each other now out of hopelessness, we will support each other in this, and the Creator will also support us.

In this way we will see that there is life after the death of our egoism! Another, eternal and perfect, beautiful life that can give us fulfillment, motivation to live and great energy.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/25/20, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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