Question: A little boy plucked two pears from a tree and brought them home. Mom asked, “May I try one pear?” The boy thought about it, then took a bite from both. Mom thought that her son was greedy and she needed to have a conversation with him about greed. But the boy suddenly handed her a pear and said: “Both are delicious, but this pear is much sweeter.”

How can one learn to give the better thing to the other?

Answer: In general, this is the correct state in children. Because for them to take a bite, try, and then give it to the other is natural. Just like small children pull a pacifier out of their mouth and hold it out to you as a sign that they love you.

Question: Yes, exactly so! But here the emphasis is precisely on the fact that he gave his mother the better pear. The sweeter one. Is that what you mean?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Why do we, once we grow up, give the others the less sweet pear?

Answer: We are getting smarter. This is a child; he does not have much egoism yet, and therefore he does it wholeheartedly.

Question: What is our cleverness and our growing up? I mean, our growing up is that we do not give the best to others, but we keep the best for ourselves. Is this growing up?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Why does this happen?

Answer: Because our egoism always turns everything to the opposite.

Question: Are we aware of this?

Answer: We are aware of this. I remember it even on myself, that about two years ago I also did this; I gave the best to the other. But then I had to mess it up. They gave me two postcards, and they said to give one of them to my cousin. I did not know which one to give, because they were both beautiful, so bright, colorful, and nice. I had to do something with it, so I bent the corner of one postcard, rubbed it a little and then gave it away. I was already smarter.

Question: But did you realize that it was wrong of you to damage it specifically to give it away without a worry?

Answer: So that I know which one to give, otherwise I could not choose between the two.

Question: And the further the scarier?

Answer: Of course!

Question: When do we receive this feeling: “What am I doing?! How is that possible?!”

Answer: We need to learn a lot through examples. This is not easy.

Question: But does it always come to a person or may it never come?

Answer: It depends on the person.

Comment: That is, it may come, and then he is horrified that he wants to give the worst to the other all the time.

My Response: Yes. You see, I still remember this example.

Question: Apparently it does go into the heart.

When a person understands this, feels that he is like this, and he does not want to live like this, in such a nature, what should his actions be? Let’s say, I felt completely how I am giving the worst to the other

Answer: If this is already changing in a person and he begins to recognize this, then this is already the road to correction, to self-examination, and so on. This is already a cool thing.

Question: So can I internally tell myself that I am already going down some wrong path?

Answer: Probably, yes. Somewhere you are already getting close to self-examination.

Question: I remember you told me how you were sitting with your teacher, sorting coffee beans. This sorting them bean by bean was really annoying. Suddenly your teacher said to you: “Imagine that you are sorting these beans for your teacher, and the teacher will drink coffee made from these beans.” And let’s say, these others are for the friends.

Tell me, did that thought give you strength at that moment? You, in principle, perceived your teacher practically as a father. Does an exercise in thought give strength to a person?

Answer: Frankly speaking, at that moment, I do not think I understood it yet. But in general, of course, this is a great example.

Question: Did your teacher RABASH live like this himself?

Answer: He lived like this. I remember when he told me this, I realized how much I was not on topic.

Question: When a person finally understands that he is on topic, does it mean that he has reached some kind of straight line, has reached the path?

Answer: Yes, it is good for a person to reach this state.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/8/23

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Question: People who practice Kabbalah develop certain callousness after a while as a natural effect. How can this callousness be used correctly?

Answer: They are like that because they are given freewill. This is how I behave with my students as well. Otherwise, will I be force them to be the way I want them to be? No. They must take each step by themselves or they will not start walking and learn how to navigate in this world!

A little man changes under the influence of the environment. He looks at others and this is it, he does not need anything else. He sees a child a year older than himself, and it is an angel for him, it is an example for him. He looks at him and does the same.

He automatically enters the kindergarten and nothing else exists for him: other kids sit down, he sits down; they get up, he gets up; they go somewhere, he follows them like a monkey! Look how this instinct introduces us to life and helps us. Look what nature does!

It means you need to use this instinct. This is the most natural action. We just need to get into the right environment, the right “kindergarten,” and learn from good, right people, and then everything will be fine.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Ruthless people” 9/17/11

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Question: If punishments are forbidden in Judaism, then how can it be avoided that a person might abuse the fact that he will not be punished?

Answer: In Judaism, the most terrible punishment has always been public opinion, censure, excommunication from society, and expulsion from it.

Children were specially brought up in love and respect for parents and relatives: “These are your distant relatives, this is your community, your people. You have to think this way, you have to help everyone.”

There should be no beggars in the society! Everyone should have food! If a husband dies, be sure to help the woman and the children. There was a duty to marry all the girls and teach children literacy and mathematics. Everyone must learn! And so on, and so on.

That is, a huge number of auxiliary systems were created, such as today’s social organizations. All this has existed for a long time, long before the exile of the people.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Prison” 8/16/11

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Question: Does it harm a person to be changed, for example, from left-handed to a right-handed?

Answer: Of course, any intrusion in the natural inclinations of a person is harmful. We must give a person the right to freely develop his or her qualities and based on them participate in the general correction of all mankind and the common soul. It is then that we will be able to realize everyone correctly and achieve harmony.

Therefore, Kabbalistic education is based on the fact that in no case do we get inside a person and say what is bad in him and what is good. We only fill him with knowledge from the inside, and he will realize this knowledge as soon as he can.

Question: So it does not matter if a child is right-handed or left-handed?

Answer: It does not matter at all with what inclinations a person was born. He may be weak, clumsy, limited, not brilliant, but if he fulfills his purpose and realizes himself, he reaches his perfection.

Then, in a spiritual state, he feels absolutely like everyone else. After all, if he was created with such qualities and this is exactly what is part of him in the common soul, then he does not need anything else. He attains the same perfection as the highest righteous souls. Absolutely the same because the system is integral.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Left-handed and Right-handed” 8/11/11

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Question: Should we give money to children?

Answer: Generally, yes. It depends on what it is for, but for sure, we should. On the one hand children should understand the value of money, and on the other hand what can be done with it and how.

Question: Did you give money to your children?

Answer: Of course.

Question: How do we raise confident children?

Answer: This is a problem. The most important thing is to show them that they can be confident in themselves.
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From KabTV’s “Blitz Of Kabbalah Tips” 5/18/23

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Question: Does the choice of a person’s name play any role? Where does a name come from?

Answer: Yes and no. The fact is that the name of a person is supposedly given by accident by his parents. Why the parents had a desire to give him or her a particular name seems to be their business.

In fact, the name speaks of the inner essence of a person. There is nothing random in the world because everything is absolutely predetermined! But we do not know that.

What if your name is so-and-so and my name is so-and-so? Our parents wanted to name us that, based on the circumstances, i.e., on the advice of relatives, or a young mother read a novel and wanted to name the child by the name of its character.

Let’s say the name Madonna or Diana is popular today. At one time, the name Angela was popular, and so on. It does not matter. The popularity of names does not matter. It is predetermined anyway. Therefore, any hint of anything contains an internal source.

Do you think you can guess the qualities or fate of a person by their name? This is unavailable to us unless you are Wolf Messing. It was enough for him to look at a person, and he immediately saw both his name and his fate. It is written down in nature but not for our use.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Choosing a Name for the Child” 5/7/11

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What do you think are the responsibilities of a school principal?“

Other than being well-educated and having experience, a school principal is a person who needs to understand children’s and teenagers’ characters.

They need to be special people in that they have patience, an understanding of human nature, and knowledge of how to modulate the school atmosphere.

School principals need to make room for everyone and try to reveal among everyone a tendency toward a positive connection, creating a peaceful school climate.

It is quite a complicated role and I am not sure that there are many such people.

Based on the video “What Is a School Principal According to a Kabbalist?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Comment: It often happens that a person changes his name or surname in the hope of changing his fate.

My Response: I do not take it seriously. Perhaps he will start behaving differently, but it is purely psychologically.

Comment: However, I noticed a pattern that people with the same names behave the same way as if they have some kind of program.

My Response: Maybe. I can agree with this.

Question: Is there any connection with spirituality in the fact that you were called Michael?

Answer: I do not know. I think I was named after my grandfather. This is a very ancient name that goes back to biblical times to the angel Michael.

Most of the names of mankind are of biblical origin. In general, these are Jewish names, only slightly adapted to other languages.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Choosing a Name for a Child” 5/16/11

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Question: How can I control my reality?

Answer: We cannot control our reality directly but only through our actions, through our attitude to others. If we treat others correctly, we will positively change our own data, and then reality will be manifested in us clearly, correctly, and consistently.

Question: How do you understand how you can really be useful to people and do it with pleasure?

Answer: You can be useful to people only if you try to help them reach the correct goal. That is, imagine that this person is your child, and you are therefore trying to help him and support him. This is the most important thing. If we treat each other like this, we will become like a group of good children.
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From KabTV’s “Blitz of Kabbalah Tips” 5/18/23

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Question: When I was a child from ages six to sixteen, my parents drove me to the stadium to run five kilometers. Every weekend we went to the mountains for a 24 kilometer run. After that, I developed a wild hatred for sports.

When you give a child an education that will help him in the future, how can you make sure that he does not get scared and does not run away from it?

Answer: Education should take place under the influence of the environment. Parents are, of course, good. But in principle, in any society a child is not educated by by parents. He is educated by the environment, by the community, by some great big family like a flock.

Already in the womb, the baby is being brought up there. Then he is born and is raised next to his mother, near her breast, and after that he moves away a little and his education takes place under the influence of society.

That is, first comes the internal animalistic development, then, after birth, the external, preparatory one, the period of nursing. Until the age of three, he is not a socially developed being, but from the age of three, society becomes included in his education.

Here no influence of parents as such should be traced. It is the influence of society that shows a person that it is important, that interaction with it is important, and that integration in it is important.

This is the correct education, especially in our time when we are entering the period of a global integral society, which is still being formed and will happen some way or other. Therefore, the more we teach the child the art of communication and integration with society, the better this is for him. Then the society will tell whether he should run to the stadium.

But only together with others. Then it will be simpler, easier, more interesting, and more attractive for him. He will do it with pleasure, and not under pressure from his parents.

See what impressions you have. If you did it with your peers, you might have done work ten times harder, but you would have been inspired, like with all the games in childhood.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Influence of Society” 4/30/11

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