In the News (from The Washington Post): “Out of Gaps In Treaties, First Salvos Of Trade War” Leaders worldwide face intense pressure at home in the deepening financial crisis. In the United States, a move to greatly expand Buy American provisions as part of the $819 billion fiscal stimulus package has generated shock waves in other countries. [The Buy American provision can result in] potentially dramatic series of countermeasures by America’s trading partners if it is passed and signed by President Obama.

My Comment: If countries take the route of limitation and separation, they will harm themselves and everyone else, which means they’ll harm themselves either way. The only chance they have of developing positively (instead of through suffering and war) is by taking all people, economies, and countries into consideration.

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In the News (from The Economist): “The integration of the world economy is in retreat on almost every front” Globalization means the global integration of the movement of goods, capital and jobs. Each of these processes is now in trouble … the process is going into reverse. World trade has plunged. In December, says the International Air Transport Association, air-cargo traffic (responsible for over a third of the value of the world’s traded goods) was down 23% on December 2007 – almost double the fall in the year up to the end of September 2001.

A poll in 2007 by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found that majorities in 47 countries saw international trade as good for them; majorities in 41 out of 46 welcomed multinational firms. [However,] a CNN poll in July 2008 showed that, for the first time, a small majority of Americans saw trade as a threat, not an opportunity. The economic meltdown has popularized a new term: deglobalization. Britain’s prime minister, Gordon Brown, is among those who fear the results will be bad.

My Comment: He’s right. In fact, this may even lead to a world war. Therefore, it is necessary that we find a way to connect with everyone in our “small global village.” And the only way to create this connection is for everyone to recognize that we are absolutely interdependent.

This is exactly what the wisdom of Kabbalah does: it helps us reveal our interdependency. At first we reveal it from the egoistic side, which enables us to recognize that our egoism is evil. And then Kabbalah shows us how to correct our egoism, how to transform it into attitudes and relationships of kindness in “our small village.”

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In the News (from The Earth Times): Czech President Vaclav Klaus, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, was quoted on Thursday by a French weekly as comparing the 27-member European Union with the former Soviet Union. “One thing is sure, just as it was in the USSR, very important decisions are not taken in the countries that they concern.” Klaus said he hoped there would never be the single European super-state that is the goal of what he described as “Euro-nihilists.”

Klaus said the upcoming G20 summit in London was a bad idea. “The crisis is an economic phenomenon with its own internal dynamics,” he said. “It is a mistake to want to change the world in order to resolve it… I don’t think that you find a solution by organizing a summit with 20 leaders.”

My Comment: The fact that people are criticizing the “European Union” indicates that they desire real integration. Many are already beginning to understand that the changes have to be made inside the human society, and they shouldn’t be political or economic, but purely social.

We have to start by recognizing that our nature is egoism and it is evil. The next phase will be to correct our nature by ascending above it: “moving away from evil” and “doing good.” However, this can only be accomplished by means of the force of correction, which affects us while we study the system of the world that’s revealed to us by Kabbalah. And actually, even the “recognition of evil” is impossible without studying Kabbalah, because otherwise we can only reveal our own, personal evil, rather than the evil inherent to the whole system.

Indeed, what we have to reveal is the evil that prevents us from uniting. We should realize that this is the real evil, rather than all the things that may be bothering us. In short, in the future the G-20 will have to study the structure and system of the world as explained by Kabbalah. Only then will they find the correct solution to the crisis.

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A question I received: One of the principles of Kabbalah for inner work is the “recognition of evil.” Should there not also be a recognition of evil in the collective? You wrote,

“There is only one single opportunity in our world for us to influence the events: by continuously creating a better and better environment (society) that will influence every person. This environment will change everyone’s priorities from corporeal (receiving and using others) to spiritual (bestowal and love).”

Very true. However, the sound principles of Kabbalah will never be institutionalized because all education, economics, media, government, etc. are controlled by the Federal Reserve, IMF, World Bank and Bank of International Settlements that have taken over every segment of society with the exponential power created by the issuance of fiat currencies.

My Answer: The crisis will wash everyone clean, and then everyone will turn into “good boys and girls.” It’s because we are nothing but a desire to enjoy, and when we feel bad, we can become anything and anyone. We will do anything to feel good, without hesitating to give up all our principles. This is why it’s easy to control us, or our egoism.

You will see something happen that has never happened before: suddenly everyone will turn into “good boys and girls.” People will become altruistic in order to survive. And then everyone will start to understand the higher value of love for one’s neighbor. But people won’t just value it because it gives them comfort and safety; they will value it in and of itself. In fact, people will value it so much that even if you offer them all the riches in the world, they will take them only in order to use them for the benefit of others.

But there is another, quicker and easier path to the same result: we can reveal the Creator, the Upper World, and the connection between us by studying Kabbalah. When people see the interdependence of everything in nature and of all people, they will immediately start to act correctly – and then the crisis will disappear.

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Two questions I received on how to overcome the financial crisis:

Question: Can you suggest the most economical way to overcome the current financial crisis?

My Answer: We have to start following nature’s law of correct distribution, where every person will realize himself to the maximum and divide everything he earns into what he needs and consumes, and all the rest. He will contribute the latter to the society, to be distributed to everyone according to their need. We can learn all about this from the human body, because this is how all of its parts are interconnected.

Let each person earn for everyone’s sake according to his ability. Let every person make millions – society will only benefit from it! If we begin to create these kinds of contracts and agreements, if people will use their talents in business and management to attain the maximum benefit for the society, then they will be compensated by the social and spiritual reward – the sensation of the Creator. And then any business we open is guaranteed to succeed!

Question: What can help the affected countries come out of the financial crisis?

My Answer: The only thing that can help everyone is to recognize the reality we have now (unwillingly) found ourselves in – a reality of complete interconnectedness and interdependence.

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In the News (from The Financial Times): “Remember the bottom billion in our brave new world” In 1978 James Tobin, the Nobel economist, proposed a tiny tax of 0.5 per cent or less on all foreign currency exchange transactions to deter speculation and pay for development. Some calculate this tax could yield $375bn (€289bn, £253bn) annually. Even at half that amount, it is on a par with the amount that should already have been directed to development globally. This levy, even if it is cut to 0.005 percent, would limit volatility in small economies whilst generating enormous sums for the poor. It would also cost taxpayers nothing. It is a smart, painless way to create revenues and jobs while bringing the poor into the global economy. It, like the Tobin tax, is tax neutral to the consumer while curbing overproduction of carbon dioxide and helping the world’s poorest.

My Comment: This proposition was made 30 years ago, and it still hasn’t been implemented (nor will it ever be), because it goes against our egoistic nature! And if it ever does get implemented, it will only be in order for the organizers to pocket the proceeds.

There’s no getting around the fact that we have to correct our egoism. None of our actions, no matter how “good,” will help us, save one – correction of our nature. And actually, we aren’t capable of doing this. Only the study of Kabbalah will correct everyone.

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In the News (from Spacewar): “Russia 2008 arms sales post-Soviet record: Medvedev” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that Russia sold 8.35 billion dollars worth of arms last year, a new post-Soviet record. And despite a rise of 800 million dollars (around 10 percent) in arms sales in 2007, Medvedev told his top officials to boost further purchases by seeking out new international markets.

My Comment: How barbaric are we, that a modern government takes pride in having record arms sales, in distributing weapons of mass destruction!? Governments punish their citizens for selling weapons, but then they go and do the same thing…

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In the News (from Bloomberg): “Global Confidence Weakens as Slump Deepens, Job Losses Mount” Confidence in the world economy waned in February. Advanced economies are already in a depression and fiscal stimulus alone won’t succeed in dragging the global economy out of its mire. Central bank officials say transmission channels for their policy actions are still clogged, delaying the effect of interest-rate cuts.

“They’re thinking this recession is going to persist,” said survey respondent Yoshiki Shinke, an economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. “We can’t be optimistic yet. The bottom of this recession isn’t in sight.”

My Comment: The crisis can only be resolved by:

1. Diagnosing its true cause

2. Finding the means to correct or treat it

3. Preparing this means

4. Utilizing it

And here is the solution:

1. The cause of the crisis is our egoism, which has become global and interconnected into one whole

2. The only thing that can change and correct our egoism is the force that created it and controls it

3. Learning to control the force that controls our egoism

4. By influencing the force that controls our egoism, we will transform our world

All of this is explained in the science of Kabbalah and is ready for us to use. The “patient” (we) should use it while still alive. Just think: what would happen if a person discovered that he’s ill, and instead of seeking professional medical help, he decided that he would go and study medicine on his own? Wouldn’t it be too late?

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In the News: (from The New York Times): “Recession Can Change a Way of Life” In the United States and other affluent countries, physical health seems to improve, on average, during a downturn. Sure, it’s stressful to miss a paycheck, but eliminating the stresses of a job may have some beneficial effects. Perhaps more important, people may take fewer car trips, thus lowering the risk of accidents, and spend less on alcohol and tobacco. They also have more time for exercise and sleep, and tend to choose home cooking over fast food… In the United States, a 1 percent increase in the unemployment rate, on average, decreases the death rate by 0.5 percent…

David Potts studied the social history of Australia in the 1930s in his 2006 book, “The Myth of the Great Depression.” Australia’s suicide rate spiked in 1930, but overall health improved and death rates declined; after 1930, suicide rates declined as well … he found in interviews that many people reminisced fondly about those depression years… today’s teenagers stand less chance of making foolish decisions in the stock market down the road. In addition to trying to get out of the recession — our first priority — many of us will be making do with less and relying more on ourselves and our families.

My Comment: This is what happened during previous crises, and it may also happen during this crisis. However, the crisis will not go away until we reach harmony with the world around us, because we caused the crisis with our lack of harmony with Nature.

Therefore, we need to change. Time alone won’t change anything. I hope that the crisis will quickly teach us how to change: we have to become altruistic toward one another. I hope that we won’t just feel comforted by the above mentioned statistics, but will soon realize that it’s necessary to provide a global education for humanity.

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In the News (from The New York Times): “Job Losses Pose a Threat to Stability Worldwide” Laurent Wauquiez, France’s employment minister, said, “The thing that is new [about the crisis] is that it is global.”

Worldwide job losses from the recession that started in the United States in December 2007 could hit a staggering 50 million by the end of 2009, according to the International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency.

High unemployment rates, especially among young workers, have led to protests in countries as varied as Latvia, Chile, Greece, Bulgaria and Iceland and contributed to strikes in Britain and France.

In emerging economies like those in Eastern Europe, there are fears that growing joblessness might encourage a move away from free-market, pro-Western policies, while in developed countries unemployment could bolster efforts to protect local industries at the expense of global trade … increasing the likelihood of protectionist trade battles.

My Comment: What kinds of losses will the current economic slowdown in the United States lead to in the entire world, and how soon will it echo in the whole world? Frankly, we don’t know, and the reason it’s impossible for us understand the crisis is that it is global.

Fear and hopelessness will cause the politicians and economists to look for new ways of solving the problem. However, in the meantime, everyone will just blame America for everything, saying that everyone suffers because America isn’t buying their products.

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