Arina asks:

Why are people not ashamed today to be wealthy and even flaunt it; they build palaces, villas, buy diamonds, cars, and do all this ostentatiously? How can people have a clear conscience when there is so much poverty and sorrow around?

Answer: It has always been this way, at all times. There are those who hide it. There are those who show it.

Question: So you do not think this is indicative of the present time?

Answer: Yes, today of course people are not ashamed of anything.

Question: Why did this happen? Why is one not concerned that someone has nothing to eat while he builds…?

Answer: It is a lack of upbringing, actually. Great people, though they may have immense wealth are not focused on that; what matters to them is inner wealth.

Question: Please tell me, what kind of upbringing should there be to address all this?

Answer: A person should be taught, first of all, to be content with their destiny, whatever it may be.

Second, to not consider themselves above others in wealth, knowledge, or anything else. Only in wisdom concerning the Creator, in modesty. That is the main thing.

Question: Can this be cultivated in someone?

Answer: It can.

Question: Is this not a natural quality?

Answer: No, this can be cultivated, and it must be cultivated.

Question: In principle, will a normal society, even let’s say the society of the future, follow such upbringing?

Answer: Yes. People will not flaunt their cars, houses, and wealth.

Question: So this will not be so valuable to a person?

Answer: It will say a lot, that perhaps he has earned something, but in principle, it will not be as important to a person.

Comment: You said that it is important for a person not to look at either the rich or the poor, but at his own destiny—this is my destiny.

Answer: He should focus on his connection with the Creator—that is what he should look at. A person will only delve deeper into himself: me and the Creator.
[330576]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/13/24

Related Material:
The Happiest Moment in the Life of a Billionaire
Empathy Alone Is Not Enough
Are We Ready To Pay For Happiness?

Filed under: Children, Crisis, Economy, Globalization, News, Q&A - No Comments →

From a letter:

I am a teacher with little experience and I am not Jewish. But I have always been interested in the fact that you teach your children to read from the age of three. I know that a lot of attention is paid to memorizing text.

“You” refers to Jews.

It is known that elementary school children could read the entire Torah fluently from memory. They could even tell how many times and on which page a particular word is mentioned.

I have many questions. Of course, we were taught a lot at university, but your answers are especially important to me. I take a lot from your programs. The first question is: What does starting education at three years old give?

Answer: It gives development.

Question: “What does such rigorous memorization of text give?” she asks.

Answer: It is also memory development.

Question: What is the purpose of this for the child?

Answer: So that they know the Torah well, can recall any part from memory, and quote it.

Question: Why specifically the Torah?

Answer: To develop abilities in a person that cannot be developed by anything else. By nothing else. I have talked with many people who studied the Torah this way, and they say it is impossible to convey this to those who have not studied it. The texts of the Torah “bind” a person’s mind into one harmonious whole.

Question: So in principle, is the goal to bring a person closer to this harmony?

Answer: Yes.

Question: How does a Kabbalist read the Torah?

Answer: A Kabbalist does not read the Torah, they see it. It evokes images within them. Not the ones illustrated in books. They see their own personal images behind the words.

Question: Are all these layers sort of removed?

Answer: This is impossible to explain.

Question: Another question from her: “Progress has brought us to the point where memorizing texts is unnecessary. Information can be obtained instantly. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this, in your opinion?”

Answer: The fact that we can juggle texts, books, and encyclopedias however we want, and find quotes in seconds, is natural, on one hand. But on the other hand, it extracts the soul from all this. It results in pure information.

Question: And is there a soul in learning the Torah this way?

Answer: In this way, yes. Of course!

Question: Her last question: “I have just started teaching. What is the most important thing to teach children?”

Answer: The most important thing to teach children is to have the right attitude toward the material you are teaching them. They must understand that the learning process itself develops them. Therefore, it doesn’t even matter what you study, but the process itself turns a small child into a person.
[330034]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/8/24

Related Material:
What Is The Difference Between The Revealed And The Concealed Torah?
We Should Know How To Read The Torah
The Torah Begins From A Secret

Filed under: Children, Education, News, Q&A, Torah - No Comments →

And they had no sons. He said, “We do not bring any benefit to the Creator” (Midrash Rabbah, Bereshit 17).

Question: Is it possible that if there are no sons, then we do not benefit the Creator? For example, there are two daughters in our family. Why are daughters of no use to the Creator?

Answer: They are, but not completely. You are not considered to have fulfilled the commandment “be fruitful and multiply.” But you are still young, so go ahead!

Question: Still, I want to understand what the sons bring that pleases the Creator?

Answer: According to Kabbalah, a son means a special quality, power, and a daughter is something accompanying, less important than a son.
[329788]
From KabTV’s “Man and Women” 5/14/24

Related Material:
“He Had No Sons, But Daughters”
“If A Man Has A Wayward And Rebellious Son ”
Harmonious Complement

Filed under: Children, Education, Man and Woman - No Comments →

From a viewer:

Why can brothers hate each other so much? I see that the same thing happens with brotherly nations. It is the same with Israel and the Arabs. You are brothers, you have the same father—Abraham. And you hate each other so much! I have two sons, they are already adults, and I could not reconcile them. I know that they will kill each other when they meet. Why does God do this?

Answer: This is a consequence of our nature, the egoistic nature of our world and of us. In every atom, in every molecule, in every gathering of living particles, everything is built on the idea of suppressing others and being above them. This is nature—absolute egoism.

Question: Is our world like this?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Well, fine, this is my attitude toward others whether close or distant ones. But why brothers?

Answer: Brothers are even worse because inside them hatred for each other is constantly brewing as each subconsciously believes that the other has taken their parents away and lives at their expense. This feeling makes them fight constantly.

Question: But still they are brothers from the same parents. How can this be changed? Are there any methods, steps, or practices?

Answer: No, there are none because this goes back to the very depths of time, to the birth of our world. And so it will continue until we decide to change this world within ourselves!

Question: Now you are approaching the question that was asked at the end: “Why did God do this?”

Answer: So that we will change ourselves.

Question: Does it mean that until each of these brothers works on himself everything is doomed?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: You often say, and Baal HaSulam, the great Kabbalist, wrote that the future of humanity is to become one family. We talk about brotherhood. But we mean a different thing, we mean closeness.

My Response: When the Creator desires it, we will do so. But when we need to act, we see how much nature is against us.

Question: So, can we not do this with our own hands?

Answer: We cannot.

Question: Then what do we need to do so that the Creator would do this?

Answer: Beg Him to change our nature.

Question: Do I need to feel bad because of my hatred for my brother?

Answer: Yes.

Question: But it does feel bad when one hates one’s brother, right? Or not?

Answer: No.

Question: Is it He who makes it so that I feel bad from this hatred?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Are you putting everything on Him? Let Him deal with it?

Answer: On whom else?

Comment: If everything is on Him, it makes us feel disheartened. We cannot do anything. Let Him deal with everything, and that is it.

My Response: You can ask.

Question: Do we, in principle, have only one job—to ask?

Answer: To ask the Creator.
[329565]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/1/24

Related Material:
The First Murder in History
Cain and Abel are Within Us
When the Point in the Heart Awakens

Filed under: Children, Education, News, Prayer and Intention, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: When I hear what Kabbalists say, something inside me rebels: “But this is some kind of utopia! That is impossible! How can this be?”

Answer: Certainly, because if we compare the demand for unity and love with the egoistic laws of our nature, then, of course, it certainly seems impossible. But, on the other hand, we see that humanity has no other path. Either it will destroy itself in some terrible war or try to rise above its nature and start a better life.

It is necessary to look at everything, not with egoistic eyes, but to take into account the existence of an upper force that has a goal to which it leads us.

Question: The educational process is very long. Should a person see the ultimate goal from the beginning, or is it enough to focus on: “Let us realize that egoism is bad and try to limit it somehow”?

Answer: A person should study all the stages and understand that the most important thing for him now is to begin to feel his closeness to others. And so he will come to a vision of the whole process, which will gradually be realized.

Question: So even if I am now making some product that, as Baal HaSulam writes, will clearly show a person that, living in the world of atomic bombs, a person cannot exist, and it is time to recognize this evil, he still needs to see the final stage of development to reach the purpose of creation?

Answer: Naturally.
[329733]
From KabTV’s “Era of the Last Generation” 5/9/24

Related Material:
What Path of Development Will Humanity Choose?
Kabbalah Should Become the Property of Everyone
The Classical Wisdom Of Kabbalah And The Evolution Of The Urgently Needed Planetary Consciousness

Filed under: Children, Crisis, Dissemination, Education, Globalization, Israel, Nations of the World - No Comments →

From a Viewer:

I have a wonderful baby girl. But she was born sick. My husband left us. And I am happy. Is this normal? I am asking because you keep saying that the child needs a father. And I do not want to look for any father for my Sveta yet.

My Response: Don’t, the daughter does not have to have a father.

Comment: Yes? This is news, actually.

My Response: No, that is how she lives; the daughter is with her mother and that is it.

Question: The fact that the father left when the sick child was born was, of course, a blow for the mother. And she does not want to start a family anymore. So she can go on like this?

Answer: Yes, she can.

Question: Two women live. Is there some kind of root in this—that a boy needs a father but a girl does not?
Answer: A boy will one day be attracted to his father, to an adult man, but a girl will not.

Question: But they say: “Our female destiny” means that we have some kind of divorces all the time in the female part. Will that not be a sequel?

Answer: No.

Question: Will mom not tell her that it is good to be alone?

Answer: I think she will not. What the girl lacks now with her father, maybe she will feel later when she starts dating guys; then she will correct this lack of communication.

Question: In general when a girl meets a guy, who does she want to see in him? Should he look like her father? Or does the girl have something else? You once said that when a man meets a woman, or a guy meets a girl, he looks for his mother in her.

Answer: That is for sure.

Question: And when a girl meets a guy, what is she looking for in him?

Answer: It is more complicated. Maybe she is thinking about her grandfather.

Question: So if she has not seen her father, let’s say, she remembers the man in her life that she wants her husband to look like?

Answer: Yes.
[329519]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/1/24

Related Material:
This Powerful Word—Father!
How To Become A Good Father?
The Proper Education For A Person

Filed under: Children, Education, Man and Woman, News, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: According to Kabbalistic sources 6,000 years are allotted for the complete world correction. According to the Jewish calendar, it is now 5785. So the correction stage should end somewhere in 2240.

Is this a firm date, or could the correction end sooner or take tens of thousands of years more?

Answer: No, there does not have to be an exact date. But by all indications, we are, as they say, at the end of days.

Question: What must we do to move on to at least the first stage of spiritual development—the awareness of evil?

Answer: Study and teach.

Question: In other words carry out the educational process?

Answer: Indeed! You do not need anything else! As soon as we are convinced that our most important task is to accept the laws of a correct relationship with each other, we will immediately begin to join the new system of relationships and thus accelerate our development.
[329700]
From KabTV’s “Era of the Last Generation” 5/9/24

Related Material:
The Future Of Education
Give A Person What He Is Ready For
Our Students Are Our Hope

Filed under: Children, Crisis, Dissemination, Education, Globalization, Nations of the World - No Comments →

Alyona writes:

Dear Michael Laitman,

Parenting is one of my greatest concerns today.
I found this quote from Korney Chukovsky: “Hearing a fairy tale, a child usually sides with the kind, courageous, or unfairly treated. Our whole task is to awaken, foster, and strengthen, in the pliable mind of a child, this precious ability to empathize, sympathize, and share other’s joy, without which a human is not really a human.

In your opinion, which books should be available to a child? A battle of good and evil so the child can choose a good force or books that describe this world as completely good without any evil?

Answer: At first, completely kind books for elementary school children if I may say so. And then in a more natural way books where evil is present on a par with good: Good wins, evil retreats, and so on until a child matures and begins to read books and novels where evil prevails.

Comment: Such is a person’s preparation.

My Response: To bring him out of fairy tales and introduce him to real life.

Question: And in real life where evil wins?

Answer: Of course. So a child must learn not to oppose evil because he will only bring problems on himself. He must learn that evil wins, but he should remain on the sidelines; at no point does he engage in a fight against evil.

Comment: I understand this progression. At first, he is just a small, gentle child; we don’t want to scare him. The first stage is clear. Second, gradually evil appears, yet good still wins. This too is clear, so he would be on the side of good. Then you made a drastic turnaround, you said our world is all evil.

My Response: Meaning, we explain to a child that although there is good and evil in our world, we need to dodge evil.

Question: Is this what we explain to the child?

Answer: Yes, to a child, but only at the third stage.

Question: So you don’t accept evil after all? One should avoid it, as you said. This is the third stage.

When does he understand that our world is built on evil?

Answer: He will understand this when he is in the third stage. He will turn away, step back, and distance himself from it. Then comes quite an interesting stage when he gets involved with evil and uses it for his own selfish needs, career advancement and so on.

Question: So our little protagonist, who started out so pure, suddenly climbs the career ladder, stepping on others and so on?

Answer: Yes

Question: And then the fifth stage, should he understand he is like that?

Answer: We have not yet reached this in our world, so we have no clear examples. That is why I don’t want to talk about it.

Question: But should he at least come to the conclusion that this is bad?

Answer: He must come to the conclusion that he cannot live in such a world, that indeed in our world of egoism everything is distorted. So he has no choice but to simply distance himself from this world as much as possible, because he still has to exist, provide for his children, and so on. But in general it is a problem.

Comment: It’s a problem to isolate yourself from this world. Especially now when social media is everywhere.

My Response: Yes, but if he knows this basic principle, he distances himself from the world.

Question: The principle that it’s all a lie, that everything he’s being fed is paid for and that he needs to distance himself?

Answer: Right.

Question: Then just tell us the right way to distance oneself. What should one surround oneself with? No wonder, Alyona asks: “What to make available to a child?” And now I’m asking you about adults: what should one surround oneself with, how can one distance oneself from the world?

Answer: Surround yourself with self-care. Find something you love besides work or home. I remember I had a neighbor who was into woodwork. That’s all. That was his activity. He searched for all sorts of wood, logs, and everything else and then worked on them. Made birdhouses, all that kind of stuff. He liked it.

Question: So you are gradually, gently bringing us to such a way of distancing yourself from the world by taking up a hobby? Collecting soldiers, I don’t know how to process woodworking?

Answer: It doesn’t matter, yes.

Question: And then? Still, how do we take care of the soul?

Answer: Well, I’m talking about ordinary people.

Comment: But let’s take it a step further.

My Response: This will bring him closer to his soul.

Question: So we have now gone from a small child to an adult. Where should a person come to as a result, having gone all this way, in the end?

Answer: To the fact the simplest handiwork softens the soul. In general, he will be satisfied with his existence.

Question: But will this question vex him, after all, such a small question about his soul?

Answer: Maybe, yes, and maybe that will be enough for the level of development of his soul.
[325128]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/21/23

Related Material:
Will The Fairy Tale Of Our Life Have A Good Ending?
Harmful Children’s Fairy Tales
How Can We Teach Children Kindness?

Filed under: Children, Education, News, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Can we say that the path of the Torah is the path of education?

Answer: Of course, the Torah is the teaching about educating a person or, more correctly, a society. We must educate ourselves to be kind, good people who support one another and rise above our physical nature.

Question: If a person decides to follow the path of suffering, i.e., the natural path of come what may, can he come to spiritual revelation?

Answer: Maybe, but this is a long path where one will endure great suffering.

Question: Does a person have freedom of choice? For example, do I have a choice in the case that I am considering whether I should follow the path of the Torah or the path of suffering? Or do we not have this choice?

Answer: Everyone has it. Not at every moment in time, but we have it. Unlike inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, a person can choose how to advance.
[327206]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual states” 3/14/24

Related Material:
Engaging In One Thing Only
The Diagnostic And Curative Power Of The Torah
The Elixir of Life and Death

Filed under: Children, Education, Free Will, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Timidity wanted to hide from itself. But where? Cunning advised it: “Why don’t you settle with Courage, it’s not so scary with it.” Timidity went to Courage, but was afraid to knock on the door, so it just lay down on its porch. Since then, the path to courage lies through timidity.

Is this true?

Answer: Yes, because with an egoistic nature, it is impossible to achieve courage without fear. How do courageous people deal with this? It is because they overcome timidity.

Question: So the more a person is timid and the more they overcome timidity, the braver they are? So fundamentally are we timid?

Answer: Yes, because we have egoism within us. It prevents us from acting recklessly against ourselves; where there is a possibility of harming ourselves, it doesn’t allow it.

Question: So is there always a risk?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And is it our egoism that causes this? Why then is timidity so despised?

Answer: Timidity is despised, but it is important to understand that it is a human feeling and very strong. It, by the way, protects us from many problems that we could cause ourselves and others.

Question: So a person who admits they are timid is not despised by you?

Answer: No, not despised. You just need to know how to balance this force and take care of yourself in any situation with consideration for how much it is needed.

Question: Is there courage without fear?

Answer: No, only if it is a pathological state.

Question: So you consider it a pathology? When there is complete recklessness?

Answer: Of course. Look at animals, how they behave. They don’t recklessly attack anyone. They check, they make circles, and so on, and so forth. And only then, if necessary, they rush forward.

Comment: Yes, that’s true. Only in rabid dogs, it seems, this is disabled.

My Response: Yes.

Comment: So it is actually a disease if a person is purely reckless, brave, as they say.

My Response: That is not courage.

Question: How should children be raised? When we tell a child, “Don’t be timid, be brave.”

Answer: Weigh everything.

Question: Whom are you talking to right now?

Answer: The child. Weigh everything for and against. And only if you are convinced that there is no other way, attack.
Comment: You’re now addressing the child as an adult, as someone with wisdom.

My Response: What can you do? That is how it is with adults too.

Question: But should this be the attitude toward a child? So you weigh, weigh everything for and against? And only after that…?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is this what is called upbringing?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Can a child do that?

Answer: They can. Since this caution, timidity can help them.

Question: What age of the child are you talking about?

Answer: A young child. From three years old.

Question: Can you say “weigh” to a three-year-old? Sit in front of them and say “weigh”? Can you already treat a child like an adult from such a young age?

Answer: Yes.

Question: If a parent acts like this, what does it say about the parent?

Answer: That the parent teaches their child a balanced approach to the world.
[326191]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/22/24

Related Material:
How To Win In Any Situation
Does Freedom Of Choice Exist?
The End of the Development of Egoistic Nature

Filed under: Children, Education, News, Television - No Comments →