My book From Chaos to Harmony in the store window of a Persian book store in Toronto, Canada:
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The Bnei Baruch group in Toronto sent the book From Chaos to Harmony as a gift to some of the most prominent people in Canada. In response, they received thank you letters from two of the most important government leaders – Canada’s Prime Minister, Steven Harper, and Canada’s Governor General, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, who represents the royal crown in Canada as part of the British Commonwealth.
The thank you letter reads:
“On behalf of Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, I thank you for sending a copy of Michael Laitman’s book From Chaos to Harmony: the Solution to the Global Crisis According to the Wisdom of Kabbalah. She views your gift as a symbol of friendship.”
In the News (from The New York Times): The publishing industry struggles with declining sales amid a generally difficult economy.
My Comment: Baal HaSulam writes the following in his article, “Time to Act”:
Prior to the development of the printing industry, there were no false books as there were no irresponsible writers, for the simple reason that an irresponsible person could not be famous. And even if one dared to write such a book, no scribe would copy it, since there was no one to fund the scribe’s expensive labor.
However, ever since book printing became popular, books became cheaper and irresponsible storytellers were able to publish whatever books they please, for money or for glory.
Let’s hope the crisis will cleanse the book market of junk literature.
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Our first book in Czech has been published in the Czech Republic:
From Chaos to Harmony
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In the News (from The New York Times): The point may soon come when there are more people who want to write books than there are people who want to read them. …companies that charge writers and photographers to publish are growing rapidly at a time when many mainstream publishers are losing ground. Experts state that for every thousand titles that get self-published, maybe there’s two that should have been published.
My Comment: Baal HaSulam, article “Time to Act”:
Prior to the development of the printing industry, there were no false books as there were no writers who were irresponsible, for the simple reason that an irresponsible person is not famous. Therefore, even if one dared to write such a book, no scribe would copy it, as he would not be paid for his labor, which was quite expensive.
But ever since the printing of books has become popular, and writers no longer need scribes to manually copy their books, the price of books has been reduced. This has paved the way for irresponsible writers to publish whatever books they please, for money or for glory.
Therefore, the knowledge of the public has been greatly corrupted. In addition, there is an atmosphere of disregard for books: people think that a quick scan of a serious book in their leisure time is sufficient to master the wisdom.
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Three questions I received on the great sages of the past:
Question: You quote writings from sages other than just Baal HaSulam, Rabash, and Ari, although Bnei Baruch’s teachings are founded upon these. Is it permitted to study other sages’ works beside those three? Are there any sages whose writings should not be studied?
My Answer: Before Shelah (Isaiah ben Avraham Ha-Levi Horowitz, also known as Shelah HaKadosh – the Holy Shelah, 1565 – 1630), all Teachers and authors of books were great Kabbalists, but not so after him. However, you won’t be able to understand any of the books by any author from any period, except the books of Baal Hasulam, Rabash and myself. Go ahead and try it! But be careful of wasting your time.
Question: Was Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (Rambam) a Kabbalist?
My Answer: Yes, he was a great Kabbalaist.
Question: Tradition says that Moses is the author of the Torah, the book where his own death was described in advance, and that the Jews were given the book containing a description of their future as well. Do you have any rational explanation of how it was possible that Moses and the Jews could get the book with a detailed description of far reaching future events, so they were able to know their destiny, but were not able to change anything about it!?
My Answer: It is written that Moses was writing the Torah while the events unfolded in the desert during their 40 year long journey. The Torah describes only those events, allegorically telling us about what happens inside a person during his correction. And because “the particular and the general are equal,” as both consist of ten Sefirot, we can also read what is written as a description of all humanity’s development.
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This week the book Kabala. Pagrindiniai Teiginiai, a Lithuanian translation of the book Basic Concepts in Kabbalah, became one of the top ten best sellers in the central book store, “Akademine knyga” (The Academic Book).
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From 11.27.08 to 12.07.08 an international book expo, “Guadalajara International Book Fair” was held Mexico. 1,600 representatives from 39 countries participated in the expo, which is regarded as the most important book expo in the Spanish speaking world.
My books were presented at the “Tribuna Israelita” stand, which is an organization that advertises Israeli authors.
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Preface to the Science of Kabbalah (Pticha).
Items 13-16, summary:
13. Similar to how corporeal objects are separated by space, spiritual objects are separated by a difference in qualities. Two people whose views are similar are close, whereas two people whose views are opposite are far. And even if they’re in close physical proximity, they still feel distant from one another. So spiritual objects are close or far from one another only through their qualities: A difference of qualities separates them from one another, while similarity of qualities brings them closer, leading to adhesion.
The desire was created by the Creator, and is neither good nor bad. The creature’s state isn’t determined by the desire, but for whose sake the desire is used. The Creator bestows, and therefore when the creature uses the desire “for the sake of bestowal,” it is similar and close to the Creator. On the other hand, a creature that uses the desire “for its own sake” (for the sake of reception), is opposite to the Creator and hence distant from Him.
For the sake of brevity, in Kabbalah we use the terms: “will to receive” and “will to bestow,” but both allude to the usage of the same desire:
However, one should never forget that the desire to bestow does not exist in nature. There is only the desire to receive (to receive fulfillment, pleasure). However, if this desire is used “for the Creator’s sake,” then it is absolutely equivalent to bestowal.
14. The fourth phase, which feels that it is opposite to the Creator, stops receiving the Light. This action is called Tzimtzum Aleph (the First Restriction). As a result, the desire remains empty. It then decides that it will only receive if this will please the Giver, the Creator.
15. Thus arises a new condition of reception – to receive only for the sake of the Creator. In so doing, the creature attains equivalence of form to the Creator. For example: a person comes to his friend’s house, who offers him to stay for dinner. Naturally, the guest will refuse the food, no matter how hungry he is, because he doesn’t like feeling like a receiver who doesn’t give anything in return (as he would in a restaurant, for instance). However, the host urges and persuades him, saying that the guest will please him greatly by receiving his food. When the guest feels that this is truly so, he agrees to receive the food, because he no longer feels that he is a receiver; on the contrary, he feels that he’s pleasing the host and doing him a favor by agreeing to receive from him.
It follows that despite the guest being hungry and unable to receive on account of the shame of receiving, the host’s persuasion and the guest’s refusal gave rise to a new condition: reception turned to bestowal. This happened due to a change in the guest’s intention. The guest receives, but his intention has changed. It is precisely the force of repulsion of the food, and not the feeling of hunger which is the actual desire, that became the basis for receiving the food.
16. We see that instead of using the desire directly, it is used in an “opposite” manner: the pleasure runs into refusal – the Screen, which stands in the Light’s way to the desire. Then the Reflected Light emerges – the desire to receive for the sake of the host. And only to the extent of this intention – the Reflected Light, the Direct Light is allowed to enter the desire. This reception of the Light is called “Zivug de Hakaa” (striking interaction) – first the strike, then the interaction.
The desires to receive for the Creator’s sake are called “pure” (from egoism). The desires to receive for their own sake are called “impure” (mired in egoism). They cannot receive the Upper Light and hence they are called “spiritually dead.”
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The Lithuanian publishing house “Dialogo Kulturos Institutas” (The Institute of the Culture of Dialogue) has just published a new book in Lithuanian, which is a translation of the English book Basic Concepts in Kabbalah.
The book’s publication was made possible by our friends Rimantas and Daina Meshkenas, who work in the publishing industry.
The publishing house and the united group of Lithuania are starting an advertising campaign of the book. In addition, the book will be presented at Lithuania’s annual book fair in February 2009.
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