A question I received: How can the failure of our education system be due to a lack of unity between people? I don’t see it.

My Answer: What people call “education” gives knowledge, but does not foster the development of a human being. Schools do not raise children to be a human, but merely provide a certain amount of knowledge in physics, chemistry, and so on.

Society refers to the education system as an upbringing, but as a matter of fact, it doesn’t do the job. It is clear from the results as well as the subjects studied. How many lessons and class discussions are aimed at nurturing a human being? Does anybody care about this? School schedules are filled with physics, chemistry, reading and writing, and later we wonder why we have such difficulties with our children.

Schools produce robots trained to work in various enterprises. The task of the school is to prepare a worker (engineer and so on) for a position within the industry “pipeline.” The board of education does not concern itself with the kind of person one becomes or how he will live. This is because the education system has nothing to do with the system of rearing a person.

The education system has never been aimed at raising a human being. It was formed during the Industrial Revolution with the goal of turning peasants into industrial workers. The school as we see it today was invented then for the purpose of teaching people who worked the land and raised cattle to read and write so that they could work with machines, understand basic laws of physics and chemistry, and follow instructions. Such was the foundation of the modern school and it remains today.

Today we must move to the true “educational” system, and this is something entirely new. It is not defined by how many physics or math classes a person has taken, but by how human a person becomes. A human is one who is connected with all others. Only this connection allows a person to be called a human being, not the amount of knowledge obtained.

If a person continues to succeed in gaining knowledge alone, it will only assist in the design of more deadly weapons because a person will only be adding the knowledge received in school to an uncorrected ego. A person learns how to use others with this newly acquired information; this defines his success in life. An education determines only what profession one chooses and how much it pays. Is that education?

If people see that there is a new system that offers true education for their children, they will immediately respond because the problem of education is obvious to everyone. Today people don’t even want to have children because they have nothing to give them. They would rather not bring them into this world of suffering and pain.

Therefore, we must show people that all problems in society and their personal lives are caused solely by a lack of connection between us. We can arrive at that connection only though the path of Light.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/28/30, Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “Kabbalah Now”
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Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “Freedom of Choice”
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Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “Purpose of Creation”
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We can’t even imagine how much the environment in which we grew up has shaped us for life. We were constantly exposed to examples of how to profit in our egoistic desire. This is how the others conducted themselves, and from them we learned to do the same. We never received a single example of how to perform acts of bestowal! That is so even when we were taught “good” behavior or it was explained that certain behaviors were in our best interest.

In other words, we were constantly receiving egoistic examples. The program of reception aimed at securing an egoistic gain was simply “embedded” into us. Then a habit became a second nature, and now I can’t see the world in any other way. Possibly, if I saw the world in waves of bestowal, instead of  reception, I would see a completely different picture. Who knows, maybe I would see something which I presently cannot discern?

I simply grew up and became like I am. Now, an enormous work is required in order to transform my nature. But perhaps the time will come when children will be growing up in a different way, in an environment of teachers, parents, family members, and society in general in which everybody relates to each other completely differently: altruistically. Then children would be influenced in this altruistic manner.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/10, Article, “Concerning the Importance of Society”

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Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, Shamati #213 “Acknowledging the Desire,” Shamati #211 “As Though Standing Before A King“
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Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence“
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The Works of Rabash, Vol.3, Dargot Sulam Articles, pg. 1774 (abridged): With regard to spiritual attainment, the society is divided into the majority and a chosen few. The majority need to be educated, taught how to mechanically observe the Torah and commandments. The education that a person receives compels him to perform these actions.

A person justifies his actions, why he performs them, by citing the way he was educated which includes the customs he learned from the environment in which he was raised. This is why education, habit, does not allow a person to refrain from keeping customs, since habit becomes a second nature. Therefore, all the habits, words, and actions that a person acquires as a result of education are not difficult to observe.

However, if a person wants to perform actions that he hasn’t become accustomed to in his childhood, his body questions every, most minute action: “Why are you doing this?” or, in other words, “What makes you do it?” If a person does not receive support from the environment, he has to look for it in the Creator.

This is why such a person is chosen and doesn’t belong to the majority. He needs the Creator’s support, as it is said, “One who comes to cleanse himself (of egoism), receives help from Above.” He is unable to receive help from the environment and thus compels help to come from Above.

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A question I received: Yesterday I went to the Creator’s restaurant and ordered steak for 100 dollars, but today with just 80 dollars available, I can only order chicken. If I’ve never tried the chicken, how can I calculate the pleasure against the desire using the screen (price)?

My Answer: This is a very deep and important question since it determines the difference between all the states and degrees by which we ascend or descend. Every fulfillment differs from another, like the pleasure from music differs from the pleasure from art, and so on. So can we perform this calculation or not? If we can’t, then how do we advance in spirituality?

How do I perform a calculation based on yesterday’s steak for 100 dollars with today’s chicken for 80 dollars if I’ve never tried the chicken, and yet nonetheless want to perform the maximum calculation for bestowal? If bestowal is not 100%, then it’s not called bestowal. Furthermore, if I receive more than what is possible, it will go to the Klipa (egoism) which should be avoided.

Therefore, I perform a calculation on Dalet-Itlabshut (the fourth level of pleasure) and Gimel-Aviut (the third level of desire), meaning a calculation on how much of yesterday’s meat I would receive for 80 dollars. Yesterday I received steak for 100 dollars, and today with only 80 dollars it appears to be the same steak, only smaller. I cut off the Light of Yechida from it, and leave only Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, and Haya.

As a result, I begin to feel the difference between the fourth and the third level. Accordingly, instead of performing a calculation on the steak that I now reject, I perform a calculation on the money: What does 100 dollars mean in relation to 80 dollars? The difference is in the pleasure that I now reject. Hence, I now understand the value of 80 dollars, and so I perform a calculation regarding the maximum that I can receive from it for the sake of bestowal.

This is one of the principles of education: to understand one thing from another (“Lilmod Devar Mi Toch Devar”). I perform a calculation regarding one thing, then connect it to another, and go on to a third calculation.

Therefore, in our calculation we always account for the Rosh de-Itlabshut (the former Light) of the past spiritual state (a former Partzuf). From there we can already descend to Rosh de-Aviut (desire) in order to perform a calculation on a new fulfillment.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/10, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

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A question I received: How will the method of correction and dissemination of Kabbalah change when the entire world is transitioning toward a virtual connection?

My Answer: We need to quickly build a system of disseminating the wisdom of Kabbalah through the Internet, a system that will exude warmth and give a person a feeling of universal connection. This system needs to teach us how to be connected with one another, and to provide virtual education for both children and adults. Presently our Learning Centers focus more on theory and intellectual development, but now we need to put greater emphasis on educating and “forming” a person.

A spiritual connection is when I feel another person within me as my inseparable part, even closer than a mother feels her child through her maternal connection. A spiritual connection is even tighter.

A virtual connection is a stepping stone to the spiritual one. Additionally, we need to accumulate a certain might by uniting together a multitude of desires. Indeed, our success depends on a global awakening, and the primary means of achieving that goal is the Internet. It was created for this very purpose. The Internet didn’t develop in order to disseminate sales or other petty nonsense, but to create a connection between people. That is the purpose of the world-wide web.

This connection may only be one of love. Therefore, as soon as we begin to create this web and wish for these electronic cables to transmit a feeling of connection and love, we will understand how to properly construct it.

Subsequently, humanity will feel that the Internet is changing, that is possesses an Upper, spiritual force, and it will truly become a web covering the world – a spiritual web, and not simply a means of conveying information or reaping profits. The Internet will cease to use people for profit; instead it will be used to elevate people to a new degree.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/10, Article “Exile and Redemption”

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