The Ari’s Contribution to the Development of Kabbalah:

Question: It is considered that since the time of the Ari, the period of correction of humanity began because he empirically derived a method that could be used by everyone. What is this method?

Answer: It is about uniting people. The Ari organized a group of students and he taught them the structure of the upper worlds and he explained the methods of their functioning and the development of a common desire in the group, which is yearning more and more for similarity with the Creator. He presented all of this as necessary spiritual steps.

He raised the teaching of Kabbalah from the corporeal to the spiritual level using what is called “the language of branches,” in which we call something by corporeal names, but in fact, we do not mean any material forms of objects and phenomena but only our spiritual qualities.

Gradually, people began understanding that Kabbalah does not belong to our world at all. Moreover, our world is an illusory world that appears to exist only in our perception. In general, this is a whole system of views, a science that is available for everyone. The Ari outlined it very specifically.

In principle, the Ari invented a new language that explained the interaction of light and Kli. A Kli is a desire that includes everything there is in the world. The only thing that this desire feels is light.

It is the interaction of light and desire, the Creator and creation, that the Ari fully described in his books.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 5/8/19

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The Expulsion from Spain and the Blossoming of Lurianic Kabbalah

Question: In the 16th century, several decades after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, a center of spiritual development arose in Safed, in the Land of Israel. This period is called “Lurianic Kabbalah” in honor of the great Kabbalist, the Ari—Yitzhak Ben Shlomo Ashkenazi Luria, who continued to develop the method of Kabbalah.

What happened after the expulsion from Spain? What is the meaning of Lurianic Kabbalah, which lasted only a few years?

Answer: First of all, it is necessary to understand that the expulsion of the Jews did not happen because the King and Queen of Spain decided to get rid of them, but because it was time to force them to go further into Europe and some of them to return to the Land of Israel. Otherwise, they would have never left Spain, because it really was going through a golden age.

Therefore, the forced expulsion of Jews from Spain was the result of an influence from above. This expulsion served as a good example for them because it gave impetus to the development of trade, the development of ties between Jews of the diaspora in all countries of the world, and it led to the discovery of new lands by Columbus.

In principle, the expulsion from Spain could only be welcomed, although by doing this Spain did a disservice to itself. To this day, Spain has not recovered from it despite the fact that many centuries have passed since then. After all, Jews were its best representatives in science, culture, medicine, and economics at those times.

And when they left, Spain did not see good times, and it continues until today.

But Spaniards did not want this. When Jews came to the Queen to ask her to let them stay, she said that it wasn’t they who wished it, but the upper providence that put pressure on them and forcing the to expel the Jews. That is, the top intellectual strata of the Spanish government understood this perfectly well.

After the expulsion from Spain, part of the Jews returned to the Maghreb countries (North Africa, Egypt), and some of them even reached the Land of Israel and modern Syria and Lebanon.

And in Safed, a small town in northern Israel, a very strong group of people who engaged in Kabbalah was formed. Their leader was RAMAK (Rabbi Moshe Cordovero). He was a respected wise man of experience when the young Ari, who was 36 years old, appeared in Safed.

The Ari began to teach people and revealed to them the Kabbalah that practically no one understood. And only RAMAK understood and accepted the Kabbalah of the Ari although, in general, he did not fully understand it. But he began to attend classes, and this was a good example for others interested in Kabbalah who also began to study with the Ari.

So, the Ari organized a small group of people whom he taught. But this lasted only a year and a half because the Ari died very young.

His students started to analyze the notes made by them during their classes. Basically, this was done by his first student, Chaim Vital (Marchu). He continued the work of the Ari, having written down what he heard from his great teacher. These records, representing extensive Kabbalistic knowledge, make up 18-20 volumes.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 8/5/19

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New Life 1253 – Immigration To Israel In The Coronavirus Era
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi

During the coronavirus era, it is natural for Jews to think about immigrating to Israel because they don’t feel safe abroad and businesses are collapsing. Jews are found in the safest position in Israel, even from the aspect of the education of children. The nation is committed to every Jew in the world, like parents are in regard to their children. Everyone’s home is here. They have no other future. In each and every nation in the entire world, Jews will always be strangers. The state must prepare for the correct absorption of the Jews, not as it was done in previous waves of immigration. What we are missing is education in love, education that recognizes that all of us are a single nation in spite of the divisions and differences between us. We must return to the doctrine of love and the principle, “You shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), so that we don’t disparage and criticize one another.

The coronavirus is inviting the opening of a new page in history. It shows that it is up to us to communicate with connections of love. A good absorption of immigrants will be such that everyone will live here peacefully and we will be a global example. A person who will immigrate here from abroad will then feel as if wrapped in the hands of a caring mother.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1253 – Immigration To Israel In The Coronavirus Era,” 6/15/20

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Disagreements Between Two Movements in the Jewish People

Comment: Over the past few centuries, confrontation within the Jewish people has been very strong, in particular between Lithuanian Jews and Hasidim, the Vilna Gaon and The Baal Shem Tov.

The reason for their disagreement was a different point of view on the dissemination of Kabbalah within their own people and all the rest.

My Response: The Vilna Gaon was a great Kabbalist, but he opposed dissemination of Kabbalah among his people.

The Baal Shem Tov, on the contrary, believed that it was necessary to spread Kabbalah, to educate Kabbalist disciples, and to pass information about the spiritual world to everyone. Therefore, Hasidism originated from The Baal Shem Tov, whereby each child was taught about the spiritual worlds, unity, and the purpose of the existence of the people of Israel.

And the disciples of the Vilna Gaon engaged in Kabbalah only as a small group of people. As a result, the emphasis in their activities was placed purely on the formal fulfillment of the commandments.

The confrontation between these two groups continues to this day, although today it is external, informal. But at that time it was a serious war.

Question: Didn’t they understand that their disagreements lead them to disunity and alienate them from the Creator?

Answer: It is difficult for us to say something about these people. These are two different approaches to Kabbalah that manifest within the Kabbalists themselves. But the fact that they could not establish a connection between them led to great persecutions. And all this is felt to this day.

Comment: Our contemporary Baal HaSulam writes that it is only due to the spread of Kabbalah among the masses that we will be liberated, both each one and all of humanity. But if you look into the history of the development of humanity, almost everything repeats itself.

My Response: No. The time is different now. Today humanity is rapidly moving toward revealing itself as falling into egoism, which does allow simply settling down, enjoying life, and correctly using all the achievements of humanity.

Thus, a favorable environment arises for revealing the meaning of life. This question, which urgently requires an answer, appears in every person in our generation. And the answer is generally nowhere to be found except in Kabbalah.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 7/29/19

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It Is not Easy To Be Carriers of a Spiritual Idea

Baal HaSulam, “The Last Generation”: Jews should present before the gentiles a novelty in the wisdom of religion, in justice and in peace. In that most gentiles are our disciples and this wisdom is attributed to us alone, and this is what they expect from the return to the Land of Israel.

One should not believe that Jews differ from other nations in their IQ, in the number of Nobel Prizes, Oscar awards, etc. The difference is that they are carriers of a cosmic idea to which all of humanity must come. This is exactly what they must discover within themselves by using the science of Kabbalah and then explain, present, and reveal to all the nations of the world.

Comment: By the way, what Baal HaSulam writes about is often used by anti-Semites.

For example: on one hand, Jews gave Jesus to the world, and on the other hand, this turned into the Inquisition. On one hand, they gave Marx, and then this led to reprisals. Dr. Freud talked about free sexual relations, and AIDS broke out. Jews invented the atomic bomb, etc.

My Response: All the good and all the bad in the world come through Jews because they are the carriers of the property of connection. But because it manifests itself in the egoistic shell, it is felt as bad.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 7/29/19

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Being Chosen Is Determined by Life

Question: Different movements within the Jewish people have a different perception of the term “God’s chosen people.” Some of them believe that the fulfillment of religious precepts is enough, and thereby, they bring joy to the Creator.

Others claim that Jews gave the world economics, morality, science, and art, and in this we are chosen. That is, the Creator gave us brains, and by this we benefit the whole world.

Still others are trying to abolish this concept of the chosen people in every possible way claiming: “We are like everyone else. There is no such thing as a chosen people.”

And Kabbalists argue that God’s chosen people are to teach everyone the correct unity.

How can a person understand what it means to be a chosen people?

Answer: I think that there is no need to think too much about it. Being chosen is determined by our life from generation to generation.

Although humanity is advancing, developing, becoming more reasonable, and understanding that there is nothing of the chosen people in us, we implicitly feel that we are separate from all of humanity, that we are chosen. For better or for worse, it does not matter, but we are. Nothing can be done about it.

Our peculiarity is that we have to bring to the world a great ethical, cosmic, spiritual meaning: why we exist and what we must achieve.

But in order to accomplish this task we ourselves need to attain, to reveal, the meaning of the existence of all humanity and of the Jewish people within humanity: what purpose we must achieve, what role to play, how to spread this knowledge, and how to bring humanity with us.

In principle, this is exactly what humanity expects of us. Let us hope that we ourselves will become aware of this and will be able to explain this to others.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 7/29/19

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The Unity of Different Forces

Question: The twelve tribes of the people of Israel were forbidden to mix between each other. On one hand, they were supposed to be united, and on the other, they had to fulfill the ban on marriages between members of different tribes and other prohibitions that are logically against basic unity.

You explained that each tribe, just like a certain organ in the body of an organism, could not mix with the others, but they all worked in unison.

Are the internal laws of the Torah the same as the laws of nature only at the level of society?

Answer: Of course. In general, in all of nature, at all its levels, there are different forces, and they do not become one, but in their connection, they appear as a single whole.

The operation of the entire world system called Adam (Man) was established in order to bring the system to a state similar to the Creator. Then there will be absolutely no difference between the internal connection of forces.

Moreover, within the system, its individual properties, individual forces will be completely different from each other, and their interconnection will be one and only.

It turns out that everything depends on the intention: What is the purpose we are doing this? But the properties themselves do not change; they are always opposite to each other.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 7/29/19

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Physical and Internal Commandments

Question: Some people think that for the purpose of correction it is enough to observe the external framework of the commandments. Others, Kabbalists in particular, claim that it is necessary to change one’s egoistic nature to altruistic, and then this will be considered a correction. What is needed in order to become corrected?

Answer: In the Kabbalistic sources it is written that all the Torah is given only for the correction of the heart. The Creator requires only this of us.

But because people cannot go to correction directly since it is very difficult, they are given a different framework, a more external one, where a person uses the world around him to somehow approach the property of bestowal, the property of connection with others anyway.

The truth is that in the end, over the centuries, these external commandments have been eviscerated, the inner meaning disappeared from them and only the external symbols remained. Therefore, their performance is not connected with the heart in any way. That is, I can hate other Jews and the whole world in general, and at the same time supposedly be righteous.

Question: In addition, there are groups of people who believe that it is necessary to fulfill only the commandments of the Torah. Others fulfill the commandments added later by the sages. And Kabbalists say that the commandments are internal changes of one’s intention to correct one’s desires. How to combine it? Which interpretation is correct?

Answer: The interpretation is simple. Because we exist in the sensation of the external world, some external actions are necessary. Therefore, on one hand, we must comply with certain external frameworks: social, family, and state.

On the other hand, we need to understand that the fulfillment of the Torah is intended to correct our egoism, to clear our hearts from evil attitudes to each other and to use other people. We need to do this.

Question: The problem is that each group wants to impose its point of view on others, considers itself to be right. In this way hatred arises. Naturally, this pushes us away from the goal of nature.

Baal HaSulam writes that the commandments of the Torah and the commandments of nature are one and the same. Isn’t the law of gravity or the law of thermodynamics the same as the commandments in the Torah?

Answer: All physical and internal laws at any level, not only the laws of the existence of our body, but also of our internal, sensory systems, and all the relationships between us merge into one single communication system. And we need to correct this connection, maintain it, and bring it to an absolutely complete integral level, complete interconnection with each other. This is called its final correction.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 7/29/19

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If There is no Rapprochement from Heart to Heart

Question: When there is a strong society in which values ​​such as mutual guarantee, solidarity, and unity are at the head of all priorities, then there are no problems with assimilation and mixed marriages. And when all this falls, then it is necessary to keep people at least in an external framework in order to preserve them as a nation?

Answer: When you fall into egoism and cease to feel the upper world, the highest connections between all, then you need earthly connections.

Question: Has this solidarity turned Jews into a nation?

Answer: The community created by Abraham rested on the bonds “love your neighbor as yourself.” No external framework was needed because people felt connected with each other anyway.

Question: It turns out that then there were no commandments?

Answer: Love your neighbor as yourself—this is the commandment, and the only one. Therefore, it is called the main commandment of the Torah. Nothing else is needed.

Question: But when solidarity began to disappear, then the commandments appeared that are fulfilled at the physical level within the external framework?

Answer: Yes. Do not go there, do not do this, do not harm others, etc. That is, the laws of commutation between people appeared because they could no longer approach each other from heart to heart.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 7/29/19

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Continuing the Family Line – Transmitting the Spiritual Component

Question: Many forefathers of the Jewish people—Moses, David,  and Solomon—took wives from the nations of the world. And only when the Jews returned from the Babylonian exile did the sages specifically stipulate that they should not mix with other nations. What was the reason for this?

Answer: It came from Moses who created a nation in the course of forty years of wandering in the desert. He divided it into tens and clearly stated the laws in each tribe. And then Jews began to fulfill these conditions.

Question: Can it be said that when they were on a spiritual ascent they could absorb any kind of people? The rest of them adopted their ideology and joined it. There were practically no external attributes. And then it disappeared.

Answer: Yes. In addition, the family line was continued by the father. And only from the sixth century did it begin to be considered by the mother.

Question: What is the reason for this?

Answer: In principle, this is all conditional because it does not matter. By father or by mother depends on how the spiritual component of a man is transmitted. It is about the conditions under which the upper force remains in the offspring and leads it further to the goal of creation, to unity.

As a result, if we look at the end of history, then universal unity should reach a state in which there will be no difference between Israel and the nations of the world, as well as between all tribes and other parts of society within Israel because everyone should merge and become as one. All this is still on the way.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 7/29/19

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