In the News (from ScienceDaily): “Scientists have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society. The scientists used computational and analytical methods to discover the tipping point where a minority belief becomes the majority opinion. The finding has implications for the study and influence of societal interactions ranging from the spread of innovations to the movement of political ideals.

“’When the number of committed opinion holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority,’ said SCNARC Director Boleslaw Szymanski, the Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor at Rensselaer. ‘Once that number grows above 10 percent, the idea spreads like flame.’”

My Comment: This means that according to science, in any confined space, area, state, society, or around the world, we only must have our friends comprise 10% of the population so that our method of correction becomes everyone’s property! This is the consequence of the influence of Malchut, the tenth part of the soul on the entire soul.
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Baal HaSulam newspaper, “The Nation”: In that sense, we are like a pile of nuts, united into a single body from the outside by the sack that envelops and unites them. Their measure of unity does not make them a united body, and each movement applied to the sack produces in them tumult and separation. Thus, they consistently arrive at new unions and partial aggregations. The fault is that they lack the inner unity, and their whole force of unity comes through an outside incident. To us, this is very painful to the heart.

Someone who supposes that we can unite the people and build a nation according to the usual pattern is greatly mistaken. Without understanding our nature, he thinks that we can act like other peoples who go back home after a forced expulsion, such as in the days of Stalin. The people who were expelled returned and re-organized their lives. But we have not succeeded in doing this because we have lost our original roots. We were once united and were brothers to each other, not brothers in misfortune like today, but brothers in mutual bestowal. Abraham initially gathered people from all corners of Babylon who were ready to go toward connection with him, unlike the rest of humanity.

This unity that Abraham gave was reinforced at Mount Sinai when the people who fled from Egypt became as one man with one heart and received the Torah. But later the connection was broken and the love became unfounded hatred; as a result of this, we went into exile. This hatred passed in part to the nations of the world as well.

As of today, we are not ready to be reborn as a people and a nation without reaching a correction of each one separately and a collective correction between us. If we don’t reach this, then only an artificial “collection” of people who do not correspond to the higher laws of nature or the laws of the lower nature that operate here.

We are not ready to build something according to the laws of this world because we originally didn’t belong to this world, and we cannot be built according to the higher laws because we have not as yet connected to the higher level. Aa a result, we are not here nor there, not this way nor that way.

What is amazing is that we were always strangers and foreigners in this world. And the 66 years of the existence of the nation of Israel are not proof of anything. I am not asserting this for anti-Zionistic reasons but from the spiritual standpoint: We undoubtedly have lost the natural power of unity, which is inherent to all the rest of the peoples on a physical level.

For us it was a spiritual force that united us. So now we are not a people, and our current consolidation is not a nation until we understand and agree that we only have one simple constitution, which is, “And you shall love your friend as yourself,” Arvut (mutual guarantee), “as one man with one heart.” We have no other constitution. And if we maintain this condition, we can restore the people and the nation.

We must build our lives according to this constitution, for it isn’t just plucked out of the air. Rather it was received from above, and this is the difference between it and the beautiful words that can be found in the fundamental laws of every nation. Clearly this will not be immediate, but we must realize this law gradually, and bring a spiritual life on earth. And it is also up to us to be a “light to the nations” in its full meaning.

Yes, it’s hard work, but without it we will not succeed in anything. Otherwise we can be fellow sufferers at best, like nuts in a sack, and nothing better will happen with us.

This is the current situation, and it may continue for another number of years until one of two things will happen:. Either we will carry out the correction or we will not be able tolerate the situation any longer.
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From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Halevi Epstein, Maor va Shemesh (Light and Sun), Chapter “VaYakhel” (And He Assembled): There is a great advantage in the connection of simple people to the righteous of the generation since simple people don’t have the heart to understand how to really worship the Creator and how to do everything clearly so that their actions will illuminate for the Creator.

It is only by connecting the righteous of the generation and by spurring their hearts with enthusiasm by the righteous’ holy words that they can understand how to really worship the Creator.

By connecting to the righteous of the generation whose work is clear and illuminating in all the worlds, it also illuminates the souls of Israel who will leave all their doings and also raise a scent of incense to the Creator.

The nature of the Light and the vessel, the created being that was created by the Light, is a circle in which at first there is no difference between all its parts, but if we speak about correction, we can see a hierarchy there.

The first restriction is made equally on all sides around the central point, but then by working with the Masach (screen) of the created being himself who wants to resemble the Light, the circle cannot remain anymore because on every level of Aviut (thickness) of the desire—the root level, levels one, two, three, and four—the created being tries to resemble the Light each time. Thus, we reach a form of a square as the corners of the square stem from the attributes of phase one, two, three, and four.

After the restriction, when it is impossible to work with Malchut itself anymore, but only with Malchut that is sweetened in Bina, the square becomes a triangle, and a Star of David is formed from these two triangles, the lower and the upper.

This is how the hierarchy of attaining the upper is created on the part of the lower, and thus the difference between the souls is created. It is because before the shattering, the souls are on different level of Aviut, and he who is greater than his friend, his desire is even greater, but he is greater since he has a Masach.

However, after the shattering and the loss of the Masach, those who had a greater ego fell lower than the others, from the high mountain to the bottom of the abyss. This is how the hierarchy of the correction is determined, from the lightest to the most serious. So there the levels of the patriarchs, the sons, the sages, the prophets, the kings, and the Kabbalists, and so forth, from the time of the second Temple until our time appears.

The corrections are derived and continue in a chain from the purest desire to the coarsest, and so the Light is conveyed from the top down, which means according to the purity of the vessels that are attained by the size of the Masach. First of all, it depends on the Reshimot (reminiscences) that are left in the shattered vessel. They actually determine when it is a person’s time to be corrected.

It isn’t up to a person who can only participate in the correction of the Reshimot by organizing the right environment. From the time of Moses until the receiving of the Torah, we constantly are drawn to the high souls that are before us, trying to adhere to them. It is because through them, we receive the Light from above, and, through them, we raise our prayer, MAN, and thus correct ourselves.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/14

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Question: Baal HaSulam wrote in the newspaper The Nation about the threat of the Holocaust almost eighty years ago. Is our situation today better than it was then, or does it only seem that way to us since hatred and anti-Semitism have just kept going and growing everywhere?

Answer: The situation today is much worse than what it was before the Second World War. This is because the threatening situation that is being created today is everywhere and not just for one nation and some of its allies.

This was a small area in relation to the entire world, and the Jews could rely on the help of other people and nations. Today, there is nobody and nothing to rely upon. Even the United Nations, which is the representative of all the nations, is against Israel. So, we have nowhere to flee.

Besides this, the situation today is much worse than before because it was founded on and has grown on the basis of a general breakdown, the global crisis, in everything and in all aspects. Humanity is going to lose all rational direction and lose everything. When it finds itself in such a bad state, it will blame the Jews for all of its problems and failures. We hear about these accusations from everyone because the crisis is global.

This is such a terrible situation that in comparison Hitler will seem like a little child playing pranks in his backyard. The present Holocaust could spread around the entire globe.

Question: We see that many European nations who supported us before are now united with our enemies, and so we need to mobilize all of our forces, and it could be that we are doing this, but I don’t see true understanding among the public. Everyone is more concerned about money and property, and doesn’t want to hear us that much. How do we awaken people and explain that the situation today is similar to the situation that existed before the Holocaust?

Answer: Try to bring this to people. Baal HaSulam didn’t succeed, but we must succeed in doing this. He did everything possible, and he published a newspaper when everyone was afraid of saying a word. The haters broke his windows with stones many times.

We are facing dissemination operations that are broad and powerful in scope, but we must prepare ourselves for them by searching and finding points of contact with people and influential points both in Israel and the entire world. We are succeeding every day in making our explanations more accessible. It might also be worthwhile for us to publish a newspaper and distribute it both on the street and on the Internet.

It is necessary to try to do everything possible. I am looking at the future optimistically. I see the great rate with which we now have begun dissemination. The main thing is not to reduce the rate or pressure and to organize workshops in circles and  roundtables. Then we surely will succeed and can advance people towards the goal of creation more rapidly than the troubles that come at us and overtake us from behind.

If we advance even more rapidly, then these troubles will become helpful and will serve us as a support. In the beginning, we only run away from them, and after that, we completely turn them around. We yearn for a state of “bestowal for the sake of bestowal,” and after that, a state of “reception for the sake of bestowal,” and then we use the troubles and problems for our own good.
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From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Baal HaSulam, The Nation: It is also clear that such an enormous effort, a solid and steel-hard unity is required, from all parts of the nation, without exception. If we do not come out with united ranks toward the mighty forces that are standing on our way to harm us, we will find that our hope is doomed in advance.

Baal HaSulam says that the Israeli nation must connect above all the differences. We were connected in the past and we must reach the same connection and unity now. By that, we overcome all the interferences and leap over everything, thus bringing ourselves and the entire world to the inevitable  correction.

If we don’t, a whip will appear that will force us to reach correction, but that will be along the path of suffering, the path of “in its time.”

Question: The problem is that the nation doesn’t have a real need for connection. People admit that we are approaching the public prematurely.

Answer: Does that mean that we must wait until the troubles and the afflictions increase? Will we be able to speak about unity only when things get worse?

But wise men can see what is being born in the world. We still can put on the right glasses, or bring our eyes to binoculars or even a telescope, or look through a microscope in order to identify lethal bacteria before they kill us.

This is what we do in science or in medicine. In every area, we try to identify the illness before it breaks out, and weed it out. This is what wise people do.

Why should we wait until people feel bad and look for changes? We must intensify our educational measures and dissemination actions now. When people feel so threatened by the buds of evil, they will feel compelled to connect. What we see as minor evil, they see as great evil and great troubles.

However, here too, we must be cautious. Scaring people isn’t our way, although it is very efficient. Doctors usually use this method, as do green organizations that scare us by speaking about ecological disasters that are coming.

We must operate differently. We shouldn’t use the method of scaring people but simply show them what they immediately gain when they connect.
[137951]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Why was the paper The Nation that Baal HaSulam published immediately shut down?

Answer: The paper was shut down because of the mixed multitude that joined the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt. According to them, the correction is in remaining the way we are now and waiting for the Messiah, instead of connecting according to the principle of “love thy friend as thyself.”

Of course, they don’t like it when someone like us calls for the love of others and for the connection among the whole Israeli nation.

Their objection is clearly understood since when we call out for that it stands in their way of pulling people in their direction. Instead we guide people in a totally different direction, letting the whole nation know that the correction is in connection and unity, as the Torah requires.

It turns out that our Torah, our teaching, is opposite from their study. It says: “the opinion of the Torah is opposite from the opinion of the landlords.” A landlord is someone who thinks that he is his own boss, while we think that it is the Creator who has to correct us, that this is what we should pray for, and that our correction actually depends on the connection among us, when we become as one man in one heart.

They, on the other hand, want to separate everyone and to pull them apart from one another, since that way it is easier to control people. This is the style of the mixed multitude.

They are called the great affliction that accompanied our exodus from Egypt until this very day. They are the ones who bring about all the dangers and the problems of the Israeli nation, including the destruction of the first and second Temples, the exile, and today’s interferences. It is all their doing.

Their role will be revealed, but one way or the other, we have to do our job.
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From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Our way is reflected in the reaction of the other nations to the people of Israel. When we see that our enemies and haters are strengthened in the surrounding nations and organizations, according to this we can identify the rate of our advancement. And we must understand that serious and strong work is required of us.

Against every new external wave we must strengthen the unity of the Jewish people. For the power that makes it possible to neutralize the external evil is found only in our connection here. And this is specifically what will bring the world to correction.

And as much as the nations want to “catch” us more and more, so our unity must be stronger. Then we can influence them and change them. This is exactly what our war is.
[137962]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: In 1940 Baal HaSulam wrote about the danger looming over us. But today we see that this danger is no longer in potential if we don’t connect, we see it in reality in our children being kidnapped (in Israel).

Answer: It depends on how you look at things. Most people don’t think this way and go on with their life as if nothing happened. They may be ready to participate in some actions for the kidnapped boys, and here too, it isn’t everyone. Everyone has very egoistic calculations, so in the meantime we are forced to advance along the path of suffering, along the path of in its time.

In order to switch from in its time to I shall hasten it, we need a powerful system of education so that people will understand that they can change things and gain something by it.

It has to be a wide system of clarification that includes the whole nation. It shouldn’t be a result of the sufferings, the blows, and the troubles. We should not wait for the moment that people will be ready to listen to us. We shouldn’t wait for the blows, but rather we want to reach them when they feel good and bring them to an even better state. We have to establish a gradual system of education that will increasingly influence people.

We are going through a difficult practical learning process with the public. We learn what people accept, what they don’t, how we should better approach them, how to talk to them, and what our message should actually be. Thus we teach ourselves how to learn from others.

Comment: It is scary to think about what may happen if we don’t manage to carry out our work and prevent the war of Armageddon that the prophets wrote about.

Answer: There is nothing to be scared of! If we do whatever we can and try to convey the method of correction to people and draw them to the goal of creation, it is enough. Even if we don’t see that we succeed, it still works. We open a passage for the surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) and allow it to reform everything.

It is like a baby who in one day advances in learning about the world much more than an adult may advance in a year. But a baby doesn’t understand that and acts unknowingly.

This is what happens to us. We act without understanding, trying one way or another, and it seems that we don’t succeed. But such states are actually the most beneficial for advancing. Thus we don’t create a barrier for the Light since we are too confused and this is actually a good thing!

Question: Can we prevent the war of Armageddon if we carry on this way?

Answer: We are already at war. If we continue to work this way and other parts of the nation join us in order to fulfill this mission, this goal, then there is no doubt that everything will be alright and things will quickly improve. I don’t foresee any disasters in that case.

But we have to try to stay ahead of the blows so they will not catch up with us. We have to run faster than the whip that is about to hit us. We are able to do this thanks to the importance of the goal, so that we will not have to escape the whip but will yearn forward because we value the connection and the goal.
[137882]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam 

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Baal HaSulam, The Nation: This paper, The Nation, is a new creature on the Jewish street, an “inter-factional” paper. And you may ask, “What does an ‘inter-factional’ paper mean? How can there be a paper that can serve all parties together, despite the opposition and the contrasts among them?”

Indeed, it is a kind of creation that was born in straits, through hard and dreadful labor-pains, from amidst the venom of hatred that had struck the nations to obliterate us from the face of the Earth, the destruction of millions of our brothers, and they are still prepared to continue.

We see that it is the same today. Our movement operates for the connection of the whole nation and of the whole world actually, so that they will all be as one bundle, as one man in one heart. We have to set an example and dedicate ourselves to serve the people and the world. Therefore, we don’t belong to any party or any political movement, but are actually among everyone above all the differences.

After all, the differences stem from the human mind that wants to perform corrections one way or another. Even if everyone acts out of good intentions, it is still only according to one’s understanding. We, on the other hand, don’t operate according to our desire but according to the desire of the upper, which we learn from the upper wisdom, from the wisdom of Kabbalah, from the wisdom of truth.

Thus our approach is inter-factional and is suitable for all the streams and movements. We are ready to work with anyone who is ready to connect to us, but if we feel that there is separation somewhere, we immediately leave that movement and move aside.

Our work is important in order to bring the idea of connection to everyone. We are ready to join anyone, no matter whom. But of course, it has to be a connection that leads to the correction of the world and not a connection of the wicked that causes harm to the whole world,

Baal HaSulam called his newspaper The Nation (Ha Uma – also translated as The People), an inter-factional paper that was first published in 1940, and we can say the same about the pamphlets that we are publishing now one after the other for all the different levels of society. All this is above any inter-factional disputes or conflicts.

As with our past experiences in history, if a nation erupts on us, we find its substitute in another.

However, now things are very different. Not only are we attacked on all parts of the land at once, but even the most advanced nations have locked their doors before us without any sentiment of mercy or compassion, and in such a ruthless manner, unprecedented in the whole of human history, even in the most barbaric times.

Baal HaSulam wrote that we have reached a state in which we must immediately bring about a change in the nations of the world by the connection between us. Otherwise things will be very bad for us and for the whole world. Baal HaSulam wrote about this in 1940. Then the paper was shut down because of complaints that came from the religious public. His inclinations and his attempts to connect the people and to soften the situation didn’t succeed, and the outcome was the holocaust.
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From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Why do we connect in times of adversity, when something bad happens, but when things calm down, everything reverts back to competition and separation?

Answer: Why do we have to wait for the blows in order to connect in the face of adversity and advance towards the Creator on the path of suffering? It is better to follow the path of “I shall hasten it” (Achishena) than the path of “in its time” (Beito).

Even now, if we hold workshops in circles after the kidnapping of the three boys, it is already the path of in its time, the natural path of evolution, and not the path of hastening time, the path of I shall hasten it. But if we don’t perform any actions of connection, it will be even worse, since we will not advance but descend.

We have received a negative blow (a minus) and if we make a circle now, which means if we draw the Light that Reforms and advance further ahead, to a better state, this path is called in its time, which means the natural path of evolution.

But if we had made this circle and advanced without the initial blow, without the minus, it would have been the path of I shall hasten it, the path of the Light.

However, if we receive a blow and don’t make a circle, but simply advance in a certain direction, we advance towards an even greater minus, as if we descend. On the path of in its time, we somehow still advance towards the goal, but here we don’t advance towards the goal at all.

This means that even if we hold connection workshops now, after the tragic case of the kidnapping of the boys, it will still be the path of in it time.

We have been given a method according to which we can improve our lives in every way, no matter what happens. Now we only have to use it. We have all the means. We know how to summon, to draw, the good force that will automatically correct everything, that will spread and clean everything like water. We only have to draw it by workshops, discussions in circles, etc. Do you want to use it, fine, and if not, then don’t!
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From the 5^thpart of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/8/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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