In the News (Science Daily): “People with more friends have higher pain tolerance, Oxford University researchers have found.

“’To test this theory, we relied on the fact that endorphin has a powerful pain-killing effect — stronger even than morphine.’

“The researchers therefore used pain tolerance as a way to assess the brain’s endorphin activity. If the theory was correct, people with larger social networks would have higher pain tolerance, and this was what their study found. Friendships may really help take the pain away!”

My Comment: All of us are completely interconnected in a single system, so to the degree we maintain connections between people, we can also share both good and bad feelings.

If we are connected in good relationships, unpleasant sensations completely disappear. If we take on concern for others in their place, then we necessarily free them from thoughts about themselves, from the ego, and they can feel the Creator.
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New Life 436 – Rosh HaShanah
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah Rosh HaShanah (the Hebrew New Year) is the beginning of a change. What is the change? What introspection do we do on this holiday, and how does a person become compatible with the system of nature that operates in the world?

A new beginning starts by summing up the year that has passed, by finding the evil in us with regard to love. It is a self-examination of if I were directed to the upper force whose nature is love and bestowal. So that we will be a head and not a tail means that we will not encounter blows without understanding why, that we shall advance toward love by ourselves. Nature has a plan to bring us all to a state of mutual bestowal, connection, and balance to be as one man.

We can correct our attitude to this plan every day. We don’t need to wait for Rosh HaShanah. The “day of judgment” refers to the evolutionary program of nature called God. I can turn judgment into mercy. What am I judged for? To what extent do I object to or support the program of development, like a computer program. We have to do such self-examination every day, but Rosh HaShanah is a kind of general symbol.

I cannot affect this program personally but only by correcting my attitude toward others. The goal of our development is connection, love of others like ourselves, and do not do unto others what is hateful to us. The nation of Israel has to perform this self-examination since this nation has to lead the whole world to correction.

A Shofar, pomegranate, apple dipped in honey, and a fish head all symbolize the mitigation of the Dinim (judgment) by respecting bestowal instead of receiving. Crowning the king means that the goal of our development should lead us and that we should be as one bundle.

Being sealed and signed in the Book of Life means that we are all connected in one network. Establishing a connection with others is being sealed and signed in the Book of Life. A person seals his own sentence since it is up to him and to his attitude to others in the network. In order to be sealed and signed in the book of the righteous, a person has to learn the laws of the system, which are pure bestowal.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 436 – Rosh HaShana,” 9/28/14

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Comment: According to a study carried out by Harvard University, life without friends is as dangerous as smoking (Newsweek).

My Comment: A person is a system influenced by many factors: loneliness, sadness, fears, worries, all sorts of doubts and pressures put on him by society. All these factors can create great pressure, which could cause serious illnesses.

Comment: According to the study, the level of fibrinogen in the blood of lonely people who have very few ties with their relatives and have few friends is 20% higher than that of other participants in the study.

My Comment: A person needs to be in contact with society. It is our nature. Therefore, a lonely person constantly subconsciously searches for contacts, and if he doesn’t find them, he is under constant stress and pressure.

Question: Do you believe that young people who are involved in virtual relationships feel lonely?

Answer: Yes, in recent times loneliness is felt more acutely because there is no warmth in virtual relationships. But this is still a positive process because the growing loneliness leads a person to the recognition of evil. The question is how and whether it is along the long path of suffering or along the quick path of the Light.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 8/31/16

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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

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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.
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  From KabTV’s “New Life 443 – Simchat Torah,” 10/5/14

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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

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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.
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From KabTV”s “New Life 442 – The Four Species,” 10/5/14

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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.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 440 – The Sukkah In The Heart,“ 10/2/14

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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.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 439 – The Lights Of Sukkot,” 10/2/14

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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.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 438 – Yom Kippur,” 9/30/14

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