Question: Why isn’t the wisdom of Kabbalah considered a religion if it speaks about the upper force, about the Creator?

Answer: It is because the wisdom of Kabbalah explores and studies the upper force like a physicist who explores and studies the physical forces in our world. The wisdom of Kabbalah explores and studies the next layer of nature, the physical forces of the upper world.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/22/17

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Question: The Book of Zohar mentions demons, angels, and other miracles. It seems strange to me that Kabbalah is not mysticism. Would you explain what you mean by that?

Answer: The fact is that the Kabbalists used terms such as “satan,” “angel,” “demon,” and so on, to name physical forces of nature.

The positive and negative forces of nature are equivalent. Moreover, negative forces are in no way worse than positive forces, but in Hebrew, they are described in those terms, and therefore, Kabbalah uses them. It was written in Kabbalah 5,000 years ago when there was no Christianity nor Judaism.

The fact that people began to give the names of physical forces, forms, volumes, and add them to their lives as if placing them in our world is the imagination of a person; this is mysticism.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/22/17

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Throughout his entire life, a person cannot make a single action aimlessly, without any connection with the upper force. However, it is preferable that he or she acts only in order to resemble the upper force and to connect with it since thereby he approaches revelation.

Question: Why do I need the upper force? Why do I need to resemble it? In what way is it connected to my everyday life? I get up in the morning; I go to work; my concern is for my children to get to school safely and return home safely. I would like for everything to go well at work, for my boss to be in a good mood, and for my projects to go smoothly.

In the evening I return home and want to be greeted by a satisfied wife and happy children so that there is no stress or aggravation.

This daily routine repeats year after year, only with new problems, discernments, inventions, and losses. How does trying to resemble the upper force, which theoretically protects my life, fit into all this? What kind of connection, if any, does it have to a person’s life?

Answer: All your life you were following commands of the upper force without even being aware of who was controlling you. You just ran along the tracks of life like a toy train that is set in motion by a remote control. And it seemed to you that you did everything yourself.

The problem lies in the fact that the upper force is hidden from us. But if you begin to sense who is controlling you and for what purpose, and how you can participate in all the things that He is doing with you, then you will understand that you are not being aimlessly led around in circles like a toy train. Precisely by participating in these actions you will be able to attain the One who is controlling you and to see your entire life from His perspective.

And then in all that you do, you will attempt to establish contact with the Controller. A person must conduct this type of inner work each moment. That is, all that you do in life is only in order to reveal the upper force that directs you. You begin to sense how it behaves at each moment.

Question: A person senses his complete vulnerability in life, in not knowing what tomorrow will bring. Does a connection with the upper force give us a greater sense of security in tomorrow?

Answer: If a person is connected with the upper force, then he is not concerned at all about tomorrow, the main thing is to remain in contact, in adhesion with the Controller. What difference does it make where He is leading me? I am not concerned about the next moment, my only concern is to not lose contact with Him.

This provides such a protective shield in life that nothing else is required because you are connected to the upper mind. Connection with the upper force is like an insurance coverage for all situations in life from the biggest and most successful insurance company that includes all of existence. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah offers a person.

Question: But what if the person is not religious?

Answer: This has nothing to do with religion, only with a desire to attain the force that governs us.

Question: Where do we look for this upper force?

Answer: We need to look for it inside our own hearts with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah. It’s not an easy task and it requires time. But ultimately, each will be able to “know your G-d and serve Him.”
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From KabTV’s “A New Life,” #818, 01/26/17

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Question: How does a Mezuzah (doorpost) symbolize the spiritual force that protects the soul?

Answer: A Mezuzah has four components, which together represent the entire HaVaYaH: Yod-Key-Vav-Key, in other words, the upper system. A person, wishing to resemble the Creator, enters this system of complete HaVaYaH. It is then his home, the mother’s womb, in which he develops.

The system HaVaYaH symbolizes the loving attitude toward us from this upper force, the Creator. Attaining love of others, we resemble the Creator who loves His creation and unite with Him in a mutual embrace.

Question: If He loves me, why does the Creator not embrace me now?

Answer: Because you do not correspond to Him, you disregard Him, you are opposite to the upper force of the system, and therefore undesirable.

The Creator relates to everyone with love, but His goal is to bring everyone to attainment of the upper force, in order for all to know the Creator, to reveal Him and become equal to Him. In this way we stop being puppets without free will, not understanding anything in our own lives, and raise ourselves to a higher level, eternal and absolute.

Question: But what is the purpose of the commandment to put a Mezuzah in the doorway?

Answer: It has to remind us that there is the upper force on which we are dependent and we need to resemble it, behave as it does. As it is merciful, so we should to be merciful, as it is compassionate, so we should be compassionate. In the end, all is very simple.

Question: So the Mezuzah symbolizes the force of love and positive connection between us?

Answer: Just as any other commandment in the physical world, it directs us to the need to follow it spiritually, internally.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life,” #819, 01/26/2017

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Judaism obligates Jews to follow many commandments: blessings, Kashrut (keeping kosher), Mikveh (ritual bath), prayer, in addition to multiple other actions. Judaism is considered the most complicated and an extraordinarily difficult religion.

All of it is in order for us, day by day, moment by moment, to remind ourselves by these action about the connection with the upper force and the need to constantly maintain it.

Question: Are you saying that this connection, love between people, guarantees us protection from above?

Answer: “Love your neighbor as yourself” is a great law of the Torah and represents the height of human development. There is nothing higher than that because this is how I include myself into the other person and do whatever he or she needs. Love is the law of an integral system, by which all its elements have to be connected.

Question: How does that protect me?

Answer: This is how I, or rather the single element of the system that I represent, follow the laws of the integral system. Naturally, this provides protection for me. I can never protect myself. I safeguard myself only through my ability to correctly unite with others because in reality I am connected with everyone and receive sustenance from them. In essence, they determine all my states because we are interdependent.

I am joined by connecting bonds with a multitude of others. If these connections are negative, then I suffer until I finally die. However, if from my side, these connections become positive, then in return, I receive a positive reaction from the system. Even if other people toward whom I act with kindness do not intend to respond to me in like manner, the upper force, functioning within the system, will influence them in such a way as to make them relate to me correctly.

In this way my actions begin to be in harmony with the force filling the entire system. My attempts to love my neighbor make me similar to the upper force. I tune into this force and by doing so, obligate the system to protect me. Resembling the upper what can be safer? I enter the upper almost as if I am entering a mother’s womb; is there a safer place than that?

The upper will protect me because I annul myself, my egoism, and become similar to it. I don’t think about myself, but act only according to the wishes of others. As a result, I become similar to the upper and enter it in the most minimal form. But even in this minimal form, nonetheless, I am within it as an embryo inside the mother. Where else can you feel more protected?
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From KabTV’s “A New Life,” #819, 01/26/17

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Question: Is correction possible with asceticism and isolation? If not, then why is this so widespread?

Answer: This is widespread because people are used to this form of life. In ancient times, they behaved this way to allegedly “kill” the flesh. But this does not correspond  to Kabbalistic principles.

The mortification of the flesh doesn’t come from and has nothing to do with Kabbalah. Therefore, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, one must not remain single.

We need to help single people organize their lives. By the way, helping to establish a family is a great Mitzvah (commandment). Therefore, the friends in a group, especially women, should help each other to create families.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/4/16

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Question: Everyone wants to make their lives as safe as possible. In Judaism there are all kinds of traditions and symbols that are regarded as means of guaranteeing protection from above: a mezuzah for the protection of the individual and their home, or prayers, such as the traveler’s prayer, the blessings of the home or the business. Shabbat also is considered to be a means of protecting the person who observes it.

Do all these methods actually guarantee our protection from misfortunes?

Answer: All these provide nothing more than a psychological effect. It gives an individual an inner experience of calm and confidence, but they do not impact the occurring events. First thing that Abraham did was to destroy all the “idols,” that is, all external symbols, that can affect our fate. This symbolized the beginning of his spiritual path.

So if today a person believes that external objects and actions can guarantee them protection from above, it is considered idol worship. Traditional commandments of Judaism are not meant to guarantee us protection in this life. Kabbalists created them in order to give people a feeling of belonging to the nation of Israel, in order for them not to forget about their connection with others, about the Torah. But by following them, they are not changing their fate.

A person donates a few cents before getting onto a bus so that the bus does not explode; he as if wants to buy for himself a kind reaction from the Creator for a dollar. But even in this way, he is connecting himself with the system, with the society. This is why I do not laugh at this tradition and view it as beneficial for the wider masses. However, that which is good on one level, is called idol worship on a higher level of development.

Question: It is said that the home with a mezuzah on its doorway is protected by the Creator. How does the mezuzah protect those who are in the house?

Answer: It does not, in no way. It provides purely psychologically comfort, a positive feeling. It is a way for a person to calm themselves. It acts like a tranquilizing pill, nothing more.

If an individual really wants to be under the protection of the upper force, he must study it and enter into contact with it. He needs to know in what way to fulfill the desire of the upper force, not to get what he wants, but to act according to the purpose of creation for the benefit of the entire system.

If he does this, then of course he becomes desirable in the eyes of the general force of the system, called Creator, and he guarantees for himself correct, positive, and fast advancement.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life,” #818, 01/26/17

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New Life 829 – Religions And The Development Of Man
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

What does the return to religion today indicate? How did Abraham discover the upper force? What was the impact of this revelation on humanity and why did popular religion emerge?

There is a trend of returning to religion today as a result of the growing egoism. People are looking for meaning of life. Religion tells us that there is a force that manages us above nature, that we should believe in it and obey its commandments. We don’t need to “believe” in order to reveal the Creator; we need to work and to acquire the attribute of love of others.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 829 – Religions And The Development Of Man,” 2/14/17

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New Life 828 – Between Religions And The Wisdom Of Kabbalah
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

What does religion provide us with? How does the wisdom of Kabbalah teach us to get to know the upper force and what is the goal that people of all religions have to reach according to this wisdom?

We don’t know what we are living for, and religions offer a person something that is beyond this life. The wisdom of Kabbalah is the internality of Judaism. It is the method of revealing the Creator to man while still in this world.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 828 –  Between Religions And The Wisdom Of Kabbalah,” 2/14/17

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In the News (Al Arabiya): “Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis – ISIS-affiliated extremist group in Egypt – has released images purporting to show the execution of a 100-year-old man.

“The group, who rebranded as ISIS-Sinai when they pledged allegiance to the extremist group holding swathes of Iraq and Syria, killed Sheikh Sulaiman Abu Haraz after kidnapping him earlier.

“Abu Haraz, considered one of the symbolic Sufi clerics and elders of the Sinai Peninsula, was taken by the group from in front of his house in Arish city under gun point.”

My Comment: Sufism is Islamic Kabbalah. They live their lives in exile from their nations because they are hated, similar to the attitude toward Kabbalists in Judaism. Likewise, Sufism calls for everyone to achieve unity through limitless love, as a fundamental principle for all of humanity.
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