New Life 629 – Sukkot And Temporariness
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Man, just like any other animal, aspires for security and stability. In the past, life was predictable and stable, but today everything is changing, unexpected, and uncertain. We could have built a good life for all of mankind, but the ego didn’t let us do so, and half the world is starving. In the 21^st century, millions are wandering from one country to another, everything is unstable, changing, uncertain, and unsure.

The message of Sukkot is that only if we change our values will we be able to build a stable, good, and beautiful world. The essence of the change is switching from self-love to love of others, to caring about everyone.

The immigration of millions from one country to another is part of the evolutionary program of nature. We may be afflicted by natural disasters that will cause millions to wander, the Japanese, the Chileans, and others.

The only practical solution is to explore nature’s program in depth and adapt to it. The sure thing we can rely on is universal knowledge, the connection to the upper force of nature. The formula of holding onto the upper force is the rule of “love thy friend as thyself,” of changing our senses and the world.
From KabTV’s “New Life 629 – Sukkot And Temporariness,” 9/27/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Children, Education, Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 443 – Simchat Torah
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

What is the Torah, what makes us happy on Simchat Torah (Rejoicing in the Torah), how do we reach this unlimited happiness, and what do we discover when we reach it?

Torah means the Light of the Torah. It is a unique force that reforms a person, changing the evil inclination to good.

• The Light in the Torah locates the evil in us and then transforms it into good.
• When the Light transforms the evil in me to good, it makes me similar to the Creator.
• A person who reaches this exalted state, merits to feel what Simchat Torah is from a spiritual aspect.
  Simchat Torah comes after Sukkot, which symbolizes the seven Lights that come to correct a person.
• At the end of the process of correction, complete bestowal and love for everyone are built in a person, and through them to the Creator.
• But aren’t there those who study the Torah in whom we don’t see love for others? Right, that is because there are special conditions for this.
• One must specifically learn Torah from books of Kabbalah that are designed for our generation, and with the right teacher. Kabbalah is called the hidden Torah because it makes what is hidden in me visible.
• In  the period of exile, Kabbalah was concealed from the general public; today it is again revealed to everyone.
• Simchat Torah today is from our having received the possibility of revealing the Light that Reforms to the entire world.
  [145264]
  From KabTV’s “New Life 443 – Simchat Torah,” 10/5/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Children, Education, Holidays, Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 628 – The Secret Of The Sukkah
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

I remember that there were no Sukkot when I was a child living abroad. When I became interested in the depths of the Torah, in the wisdom of Kabbalah, I discovered the reason for our customs. This is how I discovered the secret of the Sukkah: The Sukkah is a symbol of a new world that we can build for ourselves.

The Sukkah is a new world that we build from the waste materials of the granary and the winery, of materials we can lay our hands on and don’t consider important at all. My world is made of things that are important to my ego, and I don’t feel things that are not important to me at all. If I change my attitude so from now on, everything that is unimportant becomes important; I will live in a new world.

A great part of reality is concealed from me at the moment since I have gotten used to not paying attention to it since I was born. Today what’s important to me is what is good for me, and what is good for others is not important to me. This is the whole idea of the Sukkah.

I would like to be connected with everyone, to reach “love thy friend as thyself,” at least for a week.

The waste materials of the granary and the winery: “granary (Goren)” refers to wheat, to bread, and “winery” refers to wine.

The waste materials of the two are usually unimportant to us. Why is “love thy friend as thyself” important? It is by this attitude that I transform myself and build a new world.
From KabTV’s “New Life 628 – The Secret Of The Sukkah,” 9/27/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Children, Education, Holidays, Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 442 –  The Four Species
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

What does the Sukkah symbolize in the context of our relationships with the upper force; how do the four species symbolize our accommodation to it, and which emotions does a person experience in searching for it?

All of our work in Elul, Rosh HaShanah, and Yom Kippur is to discover our lack of the Creator, and then comes Sukkot.

The Skakh (thatch) symbolizes that we already made the shade that conceals the Creator so that we will gradually discover Him. The Sukkah symbolizes that the Creator embraces and surrounds us with His Light. The four species symbolize that a person will adapt himself to the Creator.

The seven days, Lights, Ushpizin (guests), build seven characteristics in me that are imperative for sensing the Creator. Holding the four species symbolizes the desire of the person to accommodate himself to the Creator.

The Creator is entirely bestowing and loving. I can understand and feel Him if bestowal and love are within me. Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut—these are the forms of bestowal of the Creator to us. A person cannot relate to the Creator better than through his relationship to others. Through others we reach the Creator.
[145213]
From KabTV”s “New Life 442 – The Four Species,” 10/5/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Children, Education, Holidays, Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 440 – The Sukkah In The Heart
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What does the Sukkah and its special structure symbolize? What is the meaning of the lights and shadows that are typical of this holiday, and what does it mean to build the Sukkah in the heart?

The Creator is the general force of all of reality and He is absolute love and bestowal. Every natural phenomenon is felt only after a person prepares the right sense for it. The Creator is the force of love and bestowal. If there is a little bit of love and bestowal in me, I will feel Him. The wisdom of Kabbalah is the wisdom of absorption and of how to tune ourselves to the same wavelength as the Creator.

The covering of the Sukkah symbolizes the Masach (screen), meaning that I don’t want to receive this illumination for my own pleasure but for the correction. The soul is not in the Sukkah that we build in the yard, of course, but it is our desire that is aimed at bestowal. How can we aim our desire at bestowal unto others? By the Lights, the forces of correction, called Ushpizin.

The four varieties (used in Sukkot) represent the four parts of the soul, י-ה-ו-ה – Yod – Hey – Vav – Hey. The etrog (citron) is very important since it represents the Sefira of Malchut, the foundation of our creation. We hold the four varieties together and move them from side to side. Other than the external custom, we also have to move the soul from side to side.

In addition to the custom of building a Sukkah in the yard, we also have to build a Sukkah around our heart. That’s the main thing.

Developing our love and bestowal, just like the Creator’s, is called building a Sukkah around my soul. Seven Sefirot separate me from my next state. Sefirot are the levels of the correction of the soul. The covering of the Sukkah symbolizes the fact that I don’t want to receive the abundance for my own pleasure but so that it will correct me. After Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and Chanukah comes Purim, the end of correction, when everything is permitted.

Building a Sukkah in the heart is establishing the conditions for our desire and our intention to be corrected to love and bestowal.
[144900]
From KabTV’s “New Life 440 – The Sukkah In The Heart,“ 10/2/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Children, Education, Holidays, Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 439 – The Lights Of Sukkot
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What is the internal meaning of Sukkot? What do the lights, that are typical of this holiday, symbolize and how is that related to the transition of a person from evil to good?

On Rosh HaShanah we crown the force of love and bestowal. During the Ten Days of Repentance, we separate the desires in us that can be corrected and those that cannot. The seven days of Sukkot are seven special illuminations that turn the evil in us into goodness.

The lights that come are called Surrounding Lights. They symbolize the Sukkah and the Sukkah covering. The measurements of the Sukkah match the measurements of the soul. In the Sukkah, these are Amot (the length of a forearm), in the soul, it refers to desires and Lights.

A soul is a desire that is totally aimed at love of others. Repentance is the examination of the heart: which desires are in me and to what extent I am willing to work for the sake of others. Sukkot are the Lights that correct the evil in us into goodness until Shemini Atzeret (the eighth day of Sukkot) when there is nothing more to correct.
[145031]
From KabTV’s “New Life 439 – The Lights Of Sukkot,” 10/2/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Children, Education, Holidays, Israel Today, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 438 – Yom Kippur
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

What is the spiritual meaning of the Yom Kippur customs and how do they awaken us to scrutinize our internal desires and intentions in our attitude to others, to connection, and to true love?

Almost everyone goes to the synagogue on Yom Kippur. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, Yom Kippur is a very special state in the cycle of the year for a person who develops spiritually.

We are used to examining our actions, but we should also examine our intentions, especially with regard to others: Where do I stand with regard to the upper force whose nature is love and bestowal? The examination, just like an X-ray of the intention of the heart, is done by the Light that comes from studying Kabbalah.

The Ten Days of Penitence are ten X-rays of the heart, which show where I am for my own sake and where I am for the sake of others.

The Torah requires a person to correct his heart. Nature, God, examines only the intention in the heart. The fasting symbolizes the need to first stop receiving for only my own sake, restriction. Then we can bestow. We learn from the story of the prophet Jonah that we have to put ourselves aside and act for the sake of others. A person cannot turn to the Creator if there are people he has hurt in the world.

True reconciliation with others is not that they should forgive you, but that you should build in your heart whole love for them.
[144815]
From KabTV’s “New Life 438 – Yom Kippur,” 9/30/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Children, Education, Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 437 – The Ten Days Of Repentance
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

What is the meaning of the Ten Days of Repentance? How do they direct us toward our personal and social development and how do connection workshops help us do so according to the wisdom of Kabbalah?

The wiser and more sensitive a person becomes, the more he sees what he has to correct internally. Identifying as many flaws as possible is the first step toward correction. Just like in a medical diagnosis, I examine what is flawed in me with regard to the goal of my development, which is to be as one man in one heart.

When we begin to examine our attitude toward others, we discover a system called Ten Sefirot between us. On Rosh HaShanah I decide to correct it, and during the ten days of repentance I examine exactly what needs to be corrected.

The repentance reveals ten desires in me, which I have to change from for my own sake to the sake of others. This is called performing a Mitzva, a commandment of the general plan of nature, of God. The ten days of repentance symbolize the ten groups of desires that I have to sort out, the ten Sefirot.

The ten days of repentance are establishing a plan for correcting the evil in me. This requires inspiration from above. Such introspection doesn’t require great wisdom or academic knowledge. It is done in a group. While working in a group, sitting in a circle with ten people, we develop the right attitude toward others.

This process of self-correction can be done any day of the year and not only during the ten days of penitence.

During the ten days of repentance we clarify which desires can be used for the sake of others and which cannot. It is a closed system. Everything a person takes for himself beyond what he actually needs is at the expense of others. At the end of the ten days of repentance, a person discovers that all his actions are only for his own sake and begins the corrections.
[144657]
From KabTV’s “New Life 437 – The Ten Days Of Repentance,” 9/28/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

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

New Life 434 – The Meaning Of Israeli Holidays
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

What are the spiritual meanings of the holidays of Israel, how are they connected to realizing the goal of our lives, and what is the difference between them and the holidays of other nations?

Abraham studied the trend of developmental in ancient Babylon. He understood that everything advances toward connection. Abraham discovered that humanity must come to identity with nature, balancing and harmonizing with it. To be balanced with nature, we need to understand this enormous system. It is profound.

Abraham discovered the law by which all of reality evolves toward general unity, and humanity is a part of this. The process of rapprochement of mankind’s union has steps, such as during the course of human life. The connection is expressed in “What is hateful to you, do not do to your friend” (Shabbat 31a), and after that, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). Abraham told this to the Babylonians. Most of them didn’t want to hear it. Tens of thousands followed him to love of others. The stages of development on the way to connection can be given the name, “The Annual Cycle.” It repeats on every level.

It follows that the holidays of Israel are spiritual and not a commemoration of historical dates as with other nations. The holidays of Israel are determined by nature as states of development on the way toward complete connection.

• From the start, we are within the connection and harmony of nature in an opposite state of division and destruction. It is necessary to do some soul-searching. This is called the month of Elul.
• Crowning the power that connects all parts of nature—to rule over us: Rosh HaShanah
• Connecting all of humanity to this, not just us the people of Israel—Yom Kippur—the reading of the book of Jonah.
• On Sukkot: we connect the four species together, corresponding to the four stages of correction of the egoism that separates us.
• Simchat Torah (Rejoicing of the Torah)—we are happy that the upper force connects us.
  Chanukah–a spiritual holiday above the ego.
• Purim—we correct the entire ego, all of the bad tendencies that were in us, and we can celebrate.
• Pesach (Passover)—symbolizes how we always depart from the slavery of egoism to freedom.
  Counting the Omer —we count how many of our desires we have already corrected.
• Shavuot—the giving of the Torah, the power of correction. Through the Torah we build ourselves, but we cannot hold onto this and shatter.
• Tisha B’Av—from this we learn the depth to which we truly must correct ourselves through complete connection.
  [144237]
  From KabTV’s “New Life 434 – The Meaning Of Israeli Holidays,” 9/14/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Children, Education, Holidays, Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

Question: Should you treat a person the same way he treats you?

Answer: Under no circumstances should you respond to someone’s negative attitude toward you in the same way! On the contrary, you should display the right attitude toward him and purposefully exaggerate your positive attitude toward him.

If he responds correctly, it is good. If not, break away from him. This indicates that he cannot understand and appreciate correctly your attitude toward him yet.
[193761]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 5/1/16

Related Material:
How To Become Impervious To Insults
How Does One Become Immune To External Influences?
Is It Necessary To Change Character Traits?

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