Entries in the 'Kabbalah Study' Category

Salafism And The Wisdom Of Kabbalah

laitman_626Opinion (welt.de): “Salafism [Jihadist-Salafism] is the greatest threat of our time, not deficiencies in our social or educational systems, but the missionaries of a bloodthirsty religion. If we let them, they will destroy our civilization.

“Failed integration – with this concept is explained the metamorphosis of disorientated youngsters to Islamic assassins. However, the much more fitting description is: successful disintegration. The lack of prospects of adolescents, the dreariness of dropouts or the feeling of the not belonging are not what make young people from Central Europe hunt dozens and hundreds of victims… .

“In truth, a number of Islamist killers in Europe were well integrated into society. One of the suicide bombers from Brussels studied electrical engineering. Then he turned to bomb making, wounded thousands of victims and destroyed life. …

“The terrorist pilots of September 11, 2001 in America were privileged men from rich Arab countries, lived with friends, drank alcohol at parties in Hamburg; before many thought these mass murderers had a boring social life.

“The man who cut the throat of the Dutch film director Theo van Gogh on an open street had been previously active as a municipal politician, and could not speak Arabic.”

My Comment: In modern society there is nothing that can replace the radical movement, filling life in this world, giving a prospect of eternal life, except for the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah to wider circles of society. Kabbalah makes it possible to discover a bigger life here and now.

It requires individuals to make internal efforts, but with proper organization; the quality of effort is replaced by the quantity of participants. After all, we are talking about the masses and their work on the revelation of the upper world and the Creator.

It’s not time to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah widely and clearly, especially among radical Islamic circles, but soon this movement will fade and then it will be possible, even among them, to reveal the program of development of the world.

It could be that the dissemination of the idea of unity and love among all people will happen in Muslim society not as the dissemination of the ideas of the wisdom of Kabbalah but as the revival of Sufism (the Islamic version of Kabbalah).
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We Can Teach Everyone The Torah!

Laitman_137Question: Why do you believe that you are allowed to teach the Torah to people who are not Jewish?

Answer: According to the Torah, the goal of creation is to bring all the created beings to adhesion with the Creator. Adhesion is attained by the correction of the ego to love, as it says: “love thy friend as thyself; this is the great rule of the Torah.” Jews are a nation that has to fulfill the Creator’s rule first, and then teach it to the whole world. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah says and what I believe. I will refer to the following items:

The source of the prohibition

Contemporary Rabbi Yoel Shwartz, says: a non Jew who studies the Torah commits a sin. It is forbidden for Jews to teach the gentiles the Torah. The prohibition for a gentile to study the Torah is first mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud: Rabi Yochanan said “A gentile who studies the Torah should die, as it says, ‘Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.’ (Deuteronomy 33:4). This is our legacy and not theirs!” (Sanhedrin 59:1).

“It is forbidden to teach the Torah to gentiles” (Hagigah, 13:1). Rambam quotes Rabi Meir as the authority, “a gentile who studies the Torah should die, and they are allowed to study only what is related to the seven commandments” (Mishna Torah, the Laws of Kings 10:9).

Shmuel Abuav who lived in the 17th century said: The Christians use the Jewish writings in order to prove the reliability of their faith and it is therefore forbidden to teach them the Torah.

However, there are quite a few examples of famous rabbis who taught the Torah to gentiles. A teacher of the German researcher of Judaism Johan Raichlin was the composer of the classic commentary of the Bible, “Our Story.” Such people knew the Halacha and couldn’t consciously break the rules of the Torah!

Rambam said that it forbidden to teach the Torah only to the gentiles who don’t acknowledge the Godly nature of the Torah. “We can teach the Torah to Christians because they believe that our Torah was given to us by God through our teacher Moses (Pe’er Ha’Dor, 38).

The Talmudic scholar of the Middle Ages Menachem HaMeiri said that if a gentile studies the Torah out of curiosity, it is not forbidden to teach him. This became relevant in modern times when the question of whether it is allowed to teach Jewish matters at universities arose.

The American Rabbi Jacob Weinberg said that when a gentile studies the Torah for academic purposes, there is no prohibition to do so. He was a lecturer at the non-Jewish University of Giessen in Germany who taught the Torah and the Talmud.

In the 19th century the Lithuanian, Rabbi Israel Salenter dreamt of turning the Talmud into one of the subjects at non-Jewish universities and at that time only gentiles studied at universities.

Teaching mixed groups

Halacha authorities such as Jacob Weinberg, Isaac Klein, Moshe Finestein, Ovadia Yoseph and others claimed that the prohibition to teach the Torah refers only to a group that is totally non-Jewish, but it is possible to reach the Torah to a Jew in the presence of gentiles even if they can also study.

According to Rav Finestein a non-Jewish slave of Raban Gamliel, Tabie, is mentioned in the Talmud as a great expert in the Torah. Tabie acquired his knowledge when he was present in the lessons given by Raban Gamliel to his Jewish students. The sages of the Talmud had no problem teaching the Torah even when there were non-Jews among the listeners.

The seventh Rabbi from Lubavich welcomed the study of the Torah by modern means of communication and in modern languages although this form of teaching included many non-Jewish readers and listeners.

Constraint: The prohibition to teach the Torah to non Jews is cancelled if there is a government decree because disobeying such a decree might endanger the Jewish community. Today any attempt to separate Jewish and non-Jewish students in academic institutions might arouse negative responses. Thus a Jewish lecturer may believe that he is constantly under the government decree which nullifies the prohibition to teach the Torah to non-Jews.

Is there a prohibition to teach the Torah to non-Jews?

Rav Isaac Ilinburg (1550-1623) noticed that his Italian colleagues taught the Torah to non-Jews. He emphasized that neither Rambam nor other Halacha authorities ever mention the prohibition to teach the Torah to non-Jews.

He thus concluded that parallel expressions in Masechet Hagigah are not the Halacha at all. He said that he was not ready to publicly declare that only for fear of the reactions of his colleagues.

Rav Arie-Leib Ginsburg (1695-1785), the author of The Lion’s Roar, holds the same opinion.

Summary:

History provides us with plenty of examples of non-Jews who studied the Torah and used their knowledge not in order to harm the Jewish nation but in its favor, in order to contradict false accusations against Judaism.
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Happiness And The Pursuit Of It – It’s Bad!

laitman_527_03In the News (mignews): “Scientists claim that people who are happy and carefree live less than people who are dismal because a high degree of feeling happiness is crazy and makes a person take unnecessary risk. The researchers found that happiness and even the desire for it – it is bad, it can hurt the psyche, poison life and even reduce its duration. This is according to experts from Yale University in the United States, from the American University of Denver and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. This is confirmed by the collected factual material. … Books that give advice on how to become happy are also a bad influence. Readers begin to pursue happiness, suffer failure and as a result feel worse. Scientists advise that one should stop being concerned about happiness and this will bring true happiness.”

My Comment: That is how we become aware that it is a justified but unfulfilled desire that is optimal for existence. The Creator created it so specifically for us to attain the goal of creation.

The desire for fulfillment will never be fulfilled. Above it, we aspire for the unlimited greatness of the Creator, His infinite comprehension, and in this yearning we attain happiness! Kabbalah described the conditions for attaining happiness almost 6,000 years ago…
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By A Spring Of Fresh Water

laitman_525Question: Will it be more difficult for the next generations to correct their ego?

Answer: It will be easier for the next generations to correct their ego because we are paving the road for them. We are the pioneers, and that is why it is so difficult for us. When I began to study, there were no easy books about the wisdom of Kabbalah. There were no introductions, and my teachers spoke in a language that I didn’t understand at all.

Today, everything is much easier and simpler. There are many materials on our Internet site, and everything has been prepared for you, for those who study. I hope that new students will arrive who will open new opportunities for us and give us a big push toward the right description of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Question: People who read the writings of Baal HaSulam don’t understand anything, which means that there is no way they can understand him without commentaries.

Answer: When I began to study, it wasn’t easy either. On the other hand, I had the feeling that I was drinking fresh water—that I was by a spring that I couldn’t reach, but it was spraying drops of fresh, cool water on me. I couldn’t reach the water, but it was fresh. This feeling lasted for a very long time.

My teacher always said that many pennies add up to a big sum, which means that every small effort is added to the previous effort and that you need a lot of patience for that.

I didn’t have a group and friends who studied with me. I had no one by my side but my teacher. On the one hand, it was very hard. However, on the other hand, I realize today that it was necessary in order to bring me up as an independent individual, a lone wolf, a loner who could advance in life without needing anyone. This is the reason that I can be independent today.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 2/16/16

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Ynet: “It Seems Like Modern Blood Libel”


Published in my weekly column in Ynet: “It Seems Like Modern Blood Libel.”

The difficult history of the people of Israel has not made us experts in treating the disease of anti-Semitism. Now that the danger is in the doorway but still have the option for action, we must carry out preventative treatment. Rav Dr. Michael Laitman decodes the mechanism that is hidden behind the phenomenon of anti-Semitism of the leaders and politicians against the nation of Israel and challenges us with social experiments to neutralize the hatred against us.

Currently Channel 10 News is airing a documentary series that reveals the scale of the boycott against Israel (BDS) in the academic institutions of the United States. Therefore, it is no longer just the EU or the Swedish Foreign Minister. The venom and hatred against Israel also has permeated the citizens of our best friend, the United States of America. More and more statesmen, political leaders, academics, and key figures in many areas freely and openly express hostile and uncompromising hostility toward Israel.

Leading Experts – Result, None

In order to deal with the wave of virulent hatred, Israel has enlisted a front of information ministers, business executives, and representatives from around the world and has launched high budget Internet campaigns.

However, despite the significant allocation of resources, Israel’s image has not improved and the problem persists. Unfortunately, anti-Semitism is mounting, world public opinion has surrendered to an anti-Israeli perception, and racism against us is intensifying.

(Venom and hatred against Israel have penetrated everywhere) (Photo: citizenside.com)

Anti-Semitism has been our inheritance for years and has never had a logical explanation. The worldwide impression is backed by a strong inner feeling that Israel and the Jews are to blame for all of the troubles and crises in the world. It seems that the urge to condemn Israel, to annihilate and eliminate it, lies in the subconscious of the nations of the world, and in recent times erupts from the mouths of senior officials.

What do they want from us?

Henry Ford, one of the biggest anti-Semites, published a series of booklets entitled, “The International Jew.” Among other things, he wrote, “The Jew has been too long accustomed to think of himself as exclusively the claimant on the humanitarianism of society; society has a large claim against him that he cease his exclusiveness, that he cease exploiting the world, that he cease making Jewish groups the end and all of his gains, and that he begin to fulfill, in a sense his exclusiveness has never yet enabled him to fulfill, the ancient prophecy that through him all the nations of the earth should be blessed.” Ford is one example among many.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, there is no reason to be surprised. The age-old hatred of Israel is rooted naturally in every person (1). Moreover, there is a direct connection between the hatred of Israel and the system of relationships among the people of Israel. The source for this has its origin somewhere around 3,500 years ago when we agreed to walk in the footsteps of a Babylonian priest named Abraham. Abraham taught the Babylonians how to hold unity as the highest value despite the divisive ego that leads the people to mutual hatred (2).

Against the force that separates, a force that connects is available. Its function is to link the various parts, connect them, and bring unity. The people of Israel are the first who must realize this process. The connection must begin here between us because we are the initiators of the method of connection called the wisdom of Kabbalah (3). The moment we unite, a positive force will spread through the world that is capable of creating wonders (4).

Uniting Against The Anti-Semitism Within Us

At the foot of Mount Sinai, Israel contended with an additional dilemma when an unequivocal choice was placed before them: mutual responsibility or unfounded hatred, all or nothing. With Titanic effort, they conquered the mountain of hatred and connected “as one heart.” From there, the way to the land of Israel—the building of the Temple, and prosperity—was short until the poison of unfounded hatred swept the people, the Temple was destroyed, and we went into exile (5).

Two thousand years have gone by since then, and even though we have returned to the land, we still behave in it as if we were in exile. Divided tribes and communities alienate each other, engage in self-glorification instead of building commonality, emphasizing and sanctifying difference instead of building what unites, and we actually are detached from our spiritual roots (6). The world expects us to be “a Light of nations” (Isaiah 49:6), providing a good example of a model society in which everyone lives in connection and brotherly love above all differences (7).

Waves of modern anti-Semitism have visited us. They must be used as a reminder to us of the role imposed upon the Jews to make the world unite “as one man with one heart.”

According to Kabbalah, anti-Semitism is a law of nature that can be measured. Let’s challenge ourselves and arrange a nationwide experimental study, a practical tool by means of which we examine on our own flesh the immensity of the power of connection. For a limited time, we will try to create and adopt a warm, sympathetic, and connected social atmosphere in the relationships between us, above the cold feelings, above the alienation and indifference between us, and we will see how a change in attitudes toward others leads to a significant reduction in the hatred toward us (and improves political relations, productive and friendly attitudes toward us in the world) (8).

References:

1. “It is a fact that Israel is hated by all the nations, whether for religious  racial, capitalist, communist, or for cosmopolitan reasons, etc. It is so because the hatred precedes all reasons, but each merely resolves its loathing according to its own psychology.” Rav Yehudah Ashlag (Baal HaSulam). The Writings of the Last Generation, Part One, Section Nine.

2. “There has never been kindness as it was found with Abraham…and he brought peace between a person and his fellow, for he was the father of many nations, for this is the one who unites and makes peace between all creatures.” Gevurot HaShem, Chapter 6.

3. “Also, it is upon the Israeli nation to qualify itself and all the people of the world to develop until they take upon themselves that sublime work of the love of others, which is the ladder to the purpose of Creation, which is Dvekut with Him.” Rav Yehudah Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” section 20.

4. “Through the people of Israel, who are more prepared than all the other peoples to approach the Creator, abundance will be bestowed upon the rest of the peoples.” Rav Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag (Rabash), Letters, “Letter 18.”

5. “The house was ruined because of unfounded hatred. Their hearts divided and they were parted and were unfit for a Temple that is the unification of Israel” Rabbi Israel Segal, Netzah Israel, Chapter 4. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-laitman/when-we-are-united-isis-i_b_8717558.html

6. “It is a shame to admit that one of the most precious merits we have lost during the exile, and the most important of them, is the loss of the awareness of the nationality, meaning that natural feeling that connects and sustains each and every nation. The threads of love that connect the nation, which are so natural and primitive in all the nations, have become degenerated and detached from our hearts, and they are gone.” Rav Yehudah Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), The Nation.

7. “Israel brings Light to the world as it is said, (Isaiah 60:3) ‘And nations shall walk at thy light’” Midrash Rabbah, Shir HaShirim, Section 4, Verse 2.

8. “When Israel will be elevated according to its true inner quality, giving the whole world a new and corrected form, then not only Israel will be elevated but the entire world. Then will begin a new era in which there is no mixture of evil filth; wickedness and insurgency will not work against it at all, anger and sadness cannot dominate within it, and worry about the balance of the world will not be able to arise in the heart. Then brute force will be essentially eliminated and the sword will lose its major importance and will become a complete disgrace.” Rav Raiah Kook, Ein Aya, Shabbat 2, Jerusalem 5660, pages 98-99.

9. Ford, H. (1949). The International Jew: the World’s Foremost Problem. Library of Alexandria. Pp. 51-52.
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From Ynet, 4/13/16

Passover

Dr. Michael LaitmanPassover means transition from the feeling of our world, inherent to every man in this world, to the feeling of the upper world. Only a Kabbalist can master it.

Passover, like all other Jewish holidays, is a purely Kabbalistic holiday. It recounts man’s leap from the state of not being able to unite with others to the state when his ego allows him to do it.

Men’s exit from the control of the ego to the unity with like-minded people is called “Passover.”

Question: What enables him to undergo such a leap?

Answer: The desire. After all, from the arriving to Egypt until exiting Egypt the enormous egoistic desire is continuously growing, not allowing the people of Israel to unite between them.

The people of Israel have to unite in order to reveal the Creator,  the quality of love and bestowal, in the connection between them. And when they see that they don’t have any ability to do so, they feel that they are in the darkness of Egypt. And now they are ready for anything just to break free from there! And this is called flight, escape from Egypt.

And if we consider it in the light of what happens to a person, because usually Kabbalah talks precisely about it, then we are talking about man’s property. A person is ready to do anything, even jump into the sea, just to break free from his ego, to rise above it and to reach the quality of the Creator, which is love and bestowal.

He throws himself into the sea and the sea parts before him. He crosses it, cutting himself from the ego and this way he, by being above the ego, becomes ready to start working with it, transform it into altruism.

This is the exit from Egypt we celebrate during Passover.
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Blitz Of Kabbalah Tips – 2/7/16

laitman_216_01Question: What should my intention be when I read Kabbalistic sources?

Answer: I should have only one intention: to discover the uniqueness of the upper force that manages not only my perception of the world, but the entire world. Everything stems only from that force, and I must reveal it and connect to it so that all of the sights that it invokes in me will serve as phases in its direct revelation.

Question: What forms of art help us discover the soul?

Answer: Kabbalists don’t use any forms of art to express their feelings, other than music and poetry.

Question: If a student of a Kabbalist writes a book, is he closer or more distant than we are?

Answer: If we are speaking about a true student of a real Kabbalist, he can even write a book that is closer to you, a book that can serve as a bridge for you to more serious sources. However, it is always a good idea to read the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash. I also consider my books as a bridge to the sources.

Question: Will there be another commentary to The Book of Zohar?

Answer: I don’t think that any other commentaries should be written, considering all of the materials that have already been prepared.

Question: Is it true that the Hebrew language has a special power and that wonderful energy stems from it?

Answer: I see millions of people who speak Hebrew, but I don’t see any special, wonderful power in them. No miracles happen in our world, and if something seems to be a miracle, it is because we haven’t revealed its cause and source.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 2/7/16

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What Is The Uniqueness Of Our Organization?

laitman_269Question: In what way is your organization unique and different from other organizations?

Answer: We are different not only from other groups and methods but from all of humanity, from the whole nature of this world, because it is totally egoistic.

Today, everyone in our world wants to control others and swallow them, whereas we want to ascend to the next level of our development, which is defined as love and bestowal. This means absolute altruism, when a person performs acts of bestowal unto the world not because he is born that way, since we were all born as egoists, but because this is what the Creator tells us to do, not for one’s self.

We are opposite and different from all the religions, beliefs, and philosophies because the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches a person how to devote himself to the world by performing the main commandment of the Torah, to love thy friend as thyself. We must first exit ourselves in order to do it.

It is enough to take a look at what happens in our society in order to find out that everyone has actually abandoned the main commandment of the Torah of love thy friend as thyself and everyone cares only about their self interest. This is the reason that we seem so strange and why people don’t understand us.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches a person how to change his nature from receiving to bestowal and how to discover the upper world and the Creator in the attribute of bestowal. When a person starts to study he doesn’t understand that yet because once he realizes that he has to go against himself he is offended and may turn against us and the wisdom of Kabbalah and even become our rival.

This is the reason that there are so few who study and acquire this wisdom and reveal the Creator.
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Is The Universe A Hologram?

laitman_739In the News (nature.com): “A team of physicists has provided some of the clearest evidence yet that our Universe could be just one big projection.

“In 1997, theoretical physicist Juan Maldacena proposed that an audacious model of the Universe in which gravity arises from infinitesimally thin, vibrating strings could be reinterpreted in terms of well-established physics. The mathematically intricate world of strings, which exist in nine dimensions of space plus one of time, would be merely a hologram: the real action would play out in a simpler, flatter cosmos where there is no gravity.

“Maldacena’s idea thrilled physicists because it offered a way to put the popular but still unproven theory of strings on solid footing — and because it solved apparent inconsistencies between quantum physics and Einstein’s theory of gravity. It provided physicists with a mathematical Rosetta stone, a ‘duality’, that allowed them to translate back and forth between the two languages, and solve problems in one model that seemed intractable in the other and vice versa … . But although the validity of Maldacena’s ideas has pretty much been taken for granted ever since, a rigorous proof has been elusive.”

“In two papers posted on the arXiv repository, Yoshifumi Hyakutake of Ibaraki University in Japan and his colleagues now provide, if not an actual proof, at least compelling evidence that Maldacena’s conjecture is true.”

My Comment: According to Kabbalah, there is nothing but the 10 Sefirot (Root and the 4 letter name of the Creator, these are 5 Sefirot. One of them, ZA, consists of 6, thus 10). And yet, all that you can imagine is the private view of the 10 Sefirot, because each of the Sefirot is divided into 10 of its sub-Sefirot, etc.

Thus, we believe: 5 worlds, five Partzufim, 5 Sefirot ‑ total 125 degrees from our world to the world of Infinity. All stages have the same structure, and the difference between them is only in the clarity of details of disclosure of the Creator in the world. The higher the level, the more detailed it is and the more clearly it reveals the Creator.
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A Study About Atheists And Believers

Laitman_511_01Comment: Ohio State University conducted research on atheists and believers. According to the results of the study, a person who doesn’t believe in God is likely callous and manipulative. And a person who is a believer has more characteristics associated with compassion, understanding, and sympathy for others.

Atheists are also dominated by psychopathic traits associated with lack of emotional response to pain of other people’s suffering, etc.

Answer: There are many different nuances that express the differences between believers and non-believers in our world. But all of them operate egoistically.

They simply have different models of behavior. These perceive the world according to their value system and those according to their value system. In both cases, this system is egoistic, so in relation to the wisdom of Kabbalah, they are, in fact, equivalent. The only thing is that the believer is more difficult to convince that he is living according to egoistic laws because he believes that he is living correctly.

Faith in the wisdom of Kabbalah is a completely different property than the “faith” of religious people. With them, faith is the acceptance of the existence of a higher power, and if I follow the rules that seem to be detailed in the Torah, I will earn the world to come. In contrast, a person who is a non-believer (secular) believes only in the payoff that he will get directly in this world. This is the entire difference.

In The Book of Zohar, there is a description of three types of awe (fear). The first type of awe is typical of an ordinary secular person (non-believer) who is concerned about everything being okay for him in this world. The second type of awe is that of a religious person (believer) who is concerned about his life in this world and in the next world after death.

The third type of fear is typical of the Kabbalist who only yearns to be like the Creator, meaning that he will have a characteristic of bestowal and love for others without receiving anything in exchange since being like the Creator is his reward.

Everyone thinks that the wisdom of Kabbalah is a part of religion, but it has nothing to do with religion. The wisdom of Kabbalah brings a person to fulfill the law of the Torah, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), which all the others not only don’t touch upon, but don’t even talk about.

Although they give lip service to “Love thy neighbor,” nobody thinks that this is the main general rule toward which all implementation, resolution, and realization of the Torah is directed.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/4/16

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