The Golden Calf—Symbol of Egoism

Question: As soon as the people of Israel received the method of connection at Mount Sinai, separation between the people began again: the golden calf, the Korah uprising, the complaints of the people, the spies, and so on.

What does the golden calf mean?

Answer: The golden calf is all the egoism that people took with them from Egypt. They cannot get away from it, it is always with them. Sometimes they rise above it, sometimes they do not.

Thus, the golden calf is a symbol of egoism that pulls them back to the same states. It is not about geography, although they want to return to Egypt, but it is about their feelings, at what level of communication they want to exist.

After all, we talk about society. Therefore, the desire to return to the state in which they are separated from each other is the worship of the golden calf, that is, of their egoism.
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From KabTV’s “System analysis of the development of the people of Israel,” 7/1/19

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Difference Between the Method of Moses and the Method of Abraham

Question: What kinds of means were there in the method of Abraham and in the method of Moses who pulled people out of egoism?

Answer: Moses had very simple means. From below, everything depends on the desire of the people for connection, for mutual guarantee (Arvut). To the extent that they aspire to this, they are provided with the upper force that connects them.

Question: That is, the main condition is the law of mutual guarantee. In the Babylonian Talmud it is written, “If you accept the law of guarantee, that is good. If not, here will be your burial place.” Does it mean that nature or the Creator forcibly demand this fulfillment?

Answer: There is nothing else in nature. It is all very simple; there is one law: to bring humanity to connection. In the case that along this path there are suddenly some kinds of interference from people, then nature, as usual, destroys them. It will unite us by force.
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From KabTV’s “System analysis of the development of the people of Israel,” 7/1/19

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The Foundation of the People of Israel

Question: During the First Temple, the Jewish people reached their point of unity. As a result, the Temple was built, a symbol of the union of all 12 tribes. A spiritual decline then began, which entailed the separation of the people. It lasted about 16 years and ended with the destruction of the Temple and the Babylonian exile.

Baal HaSulam, in his article “Exile and Redemption,” writes about this period: “And because they would not do it, but wished to include their narrow selfishness, meaning the Lo Lishma, this developed the ruin of the First Temple, since they wished to extol wealth and power above justice, as other nations.”

But because the Torah prohibits it, they denied the Torah and the prophecy and adopted the manners of the neighbors so they could enjoy life as much as selfishness demanded of them. And because they did that, the powers of the nation disintegrated: some followed the kings and the selfish officers, and some followed the prophets. And that separation continued until the ruin.

What kind of justice are we talking about?

Answer: In this case, the concept of justice refers to the Jewish people since it follows from its very foundation: why and how it was created.

The fact is that they gathered from various small nations that inhabited Babylon during the time of Abraham, and were created on the condition “love thy neighbor” and “love covers all transgressions.”

Therefore, if they adhere to this rule, then they exist as people, and if they take other conditions as a basis for their existence, then from the point of view of the forces that act upon them, they are no longer a people.

Other forces influence the rest of the nations, since each nation is affected by its own strength, its so-called “guardian angel.” In other words, the common power that exists in humanity selectively acts upon each group of 70 nations of the world.

The people of Israel do not belong to them because it is an assembly of their representatives. The Jewish people are very different and opposite to each other. If they gather in order to coexist correctly over their egoism, then they are viable. But if this rule is violated and they stop rushing to unite over all of their problems, then they become a dispersed people.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 7/8/19

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The Method Received at Mount Sinai

Question: The method that the people of Israel received at the foot of Mount Sinai was given to them on condition that they would become “as one man with one heart.” What is this?

Answer: The condition “as one man with one heart” means to be in our connection as similar as possible to one common, unified upper force and to feel that we are unable to do this ourselves. When we invest a certain amount of effort into connecting, we develop a strong desire to become similar to this force.

Such an aspiration to a state where we together want to become as one common whole awakens the upper light. The upper light affects the person or people who awakened it, and it performs certain spiritual actions upon them; that is, it gives them the strength to connect, to rise above their egoism.

Question: What was new in this method that Abraham did not have?

Answer: Firstly, egoism changed. If egoism is bigger, not in quantity but in quality, then, of course, a different method and other actions are required.

The new egoism requires new means in order to rise above it, to start working with it, and to connect with each other precisely because of it, despite the fact that it separates people.

Therefore, this method is called “the method of connection.” The force that we need to apply in order to connect is called “the upper light” or “the Torah.”
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 7/1/19

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Method of Connection: Before and After the Egyptian Exile

Question: What is the difference between the method of Abraham and the method that the people of Israel received when they exited Egypt?

Answer: It is all about connection.

Abraham also called people to unity. But in those days in Babylon, there was no particular hatred, no one killed each other. The Babylonians simply suddenly ceased to understand each other, which led them to an insurmountable rejection from each other. It was necessary to somehow soften, to overcome this rejection. As it is written, “Love will cover all crimes.” In principle, it was possible for them.

In Egypt, however, people’s egos have grown so much that the inclination to kill was revealed in them. They not only disagreed with each other, but were ready to destroy whoever was against them. So they could not remain in egoism because it threatened them with what is called “the Egyptian plagues.” It was necessary to exit it and rise above it, which in general they did.

They rose above their separation and in order to connect at a new level, they received a method called “the Torah.”
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 7/1/19

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The leaders of the EU’s four pillars— Germany, England, France and Italy—don’t have kids. It means that a large number of people who are making decisions about Europe’s future, have no personal interest in this future. One view states that they simply struggle for power, to rule the world without doing anything for it, and that personally, they have no one to build a good future for.

What does Kabbalah say about this phenomenon of child-free leaders?

Today, we find ourselves in a world where people who rule countries do not relate to them as their home. According to the Torah, one cannot hold a governing position without a family and children. However, in our case, we deserve the situation that has appeared. The child-free leaders of Europe demonstrate to us who we are and how we treat the world. We don’t really care about what happens tomorrow. We mechanically relate to the world, inconsiderate of the consequences of our intentions and actions.

Why? It is in order for us to arrive at the recognition of evil, i.e. that the human ego that aims at self-benefit at the expense of others is behind every human thought, decision and action. Once we reach such a recognition of evil, we can then work to build good over it. The world needs such enlightenment.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 2/7/20

In Japan, more and more people, so-called Hikikomori, choose a “social diet:” they isolate themselves, make money by freelancing, and don’t even leave home. They live their lives in the virtual world.

How does it influence both themselves and the society that they live in?

According to the laws of nature, there are two main phenomena happening all around: disintegration and integration. Disintegration flows naturally, while integration requires our common efforts, including exiting our comfort zones.

Therefore, either physically or virtually, we need to start connecting in order to realize the purpose of our lives. We shouldn’t wait until we reach helplessness caused by our separation, but rather to ask ourselves now: “What is it all for?”

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, sooner or later, we will all come to a point where we have to realize what are we living for and start acting in order to attain our destination, no matter if we are Hikikomori or “real” people.

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The Highest Desire—Israel

Question: Evolution constantly separates some parts of nature. It turns out that a group of people called “Israel,” which has a certain path of development, is selected by evolution. Then, all kinds of small groups called “tens” comprise that group.

Why is it impossible to work with the whole of humanity? Why is it necessary to be locked in a small group of people?

Answer: The fact is that the soul, that is, the general desire created by the Creator, is divided into many different levels and sublevels. For example, if we take its highest, most sensitive level, then, it is, in turn, the most egoistic and at the same time closest in its effect to the light back and forth. That is, it is directed to the light and the light is directed to it. Light is the Creator’s influence on a desire.

Therefore, in the first place, it is this highest desire that begins to develop, which because of its aspiration for the Creator is called “Israel,” meaning “directly to the Creator.” Being closest to Him, it must first come into contact with the Creator and then through it the influence of the Creator passes on to other desires.

Remark: We know that it is unrelated to nationalities since the group of Israel was assembled from the least egoistic representatives of various tribes of ancient Babylon.

My Comment: I would not say that they were less egoistic. On the contrary, they felt more detached and more susceptible to all kinds of bad states. As a result of this, they felt that they were obliged to attain the meaning of life, or, allegorically, that they must attain where it comes from, who rules them, and how they can change their lives.

Therefore, they gathered around Abraham who called them to spiritual attainment. He explained to them that this is possible only if they begin to work together on unity among themselves.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/6/19

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Who is given the technique of correction?

Question: In the article “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings,” Baal HaSulam writes that the Kabbalistic methodology was given to one kind of people, but with the goal that they pass it on to all other people.

It turns out that from the whole creation, after hundreds of thousands of years of development, the Creator singles out a certain group of people who were predisposed to this?

Answer: He takes representatives of all the people of the world, collects them into one group, which he calls “Israel,” meaning “straight to the Creator,” and gives them this technique so they realize this goal and pass it on to everyone else.

The correction technique consists of a person acquiring the properties, meaning the properties of bestowal, when I put the desires of the other above mine.

Question: If the Creator is a property of bestowal, then He does not think about Himself?

Answer: Of course. He does not even have a single thought about Himself. We, on the other hand, always think about ourselves. Above these thoughts, we build thoughts about others.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/7/19

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Question: In Kabbalah there is the concept of 70 nations of the world. Where does the number “70” come from?

Answer: It comes from the fact that spiritual roots form corresponding consequences in our world.
Zeir Anpin is composed of seven Sefirot, and each Sefira of ten, which totals 70.

Question: Kabbalists wrote that our desires, from a spiritual point of view, are divided into 70 nations. But if we begin to study historically, could it be different, not necessarily 70?

Answer: No. Josephus Flavius has confirmation of this; after all, he is considered a great historian.

He was captured by the Romans and he left with them from the subjugated, destroyed Judea. In Rome, a huge institute was created for him where hundreds of people worked under his supervision so that he could write his treatises. Therefore, we cannot say that these facts are false or in some way far-fetched.

Question: How do Kabbalists relate to his treatises?

Answer: They are not particularly relevant because he did not write about spiritual conditions. He described what happened in our world as a consequence. But still, his book begins with the words: “In the beginning the Lord created heaven and earth … “ and so on, as described in the Torah.

Question: Can you, as a Kabbalist, confirm that the consequences he described in our world clearly correspond to those spiritual laws that you know from the spiritual world?

Answer: Of course. He described everything precisely.

Question: Doesn’t it happen that historians can distort things?

Answer: He was not at that level, and the Romans too. They just had to record everything for future generations, which they did. In the eyes of the Romans, he glorified them forever. That is why such conditions were created for him, and he was able to describe it all.
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From the Kab TV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/28/19

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