Entries in the 'World' Category

The Global Crisis Will Not End!

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Michael Khazin, economist): “The world crisis will not end in 2013-2014; there are no grounds for this. The difficulties in Europe are not over; on the contrary, they are just beginning. Europe’s main problem is not debt, but the fact that it can no longer increase it, which automatically means a fall in GDP. Accordingly, it will not be able to return the debts accumulated during this time. …

“The recession continues, stimulation of demand has led to the situation that now households’ expenses exceed their income by 25%.

“In four years, Obama has increased the expenditure side of the budget by a trillion dollars that went entirely to support demand. Otherwise, the U.S. GDP would have fallen by 10%.

“But another trillion dollars is needed, and it is unclear from where to take it. Emission has no effect. For this reason, the decline in the world will continue. …

“The U.S. economy will not collapse until 2014 if Obama’s policy to ‘plug holes’ with money emission continues. No economic disasters will happen in Europe until the elections in Germany because money will be sought at all cost. Perhaps, it will be printed. Sharp falls in 2013 are not expected, but there will be a tendency towards gradual worsening of depression.”

My Comment: There is time to improve and disseminate the method of correcting the global crisis by means of integral education, as well as to raise the spiritual level of the world BB group. This will help the forces of the integral mind, unity, and equal reasonable consumption to be manifested in the world.
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From The World Of Fantasy To The World Of The Higher Dimension

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Recently, I watched a movie in which a group of boys came across a cave with a spaceship in it. After they looked at the spaceship, they suddenly began to fly. Can those who participate in group integral education start flying?

Answer: What imagination!

This world is based on very rigid physical laws. There is nothing else here! The upper world partakes in this realm through numerous physical laws.

Talk with physicists; they will tell you that all there is behind this material plane are waves. They will prove to you that there is no such thing as matter and that it blurs, meaning that when we penetrate deeper into its tiny particles, they simply disappear and turn into waves and energy; nothing more than that.

All that we observe is the interaction of energies in space. What lies beyond the observable world? Who knows? Energy, space, everything fully disappears when we get beyond these boundaries. There is no time, no motion, no distance whatsoever.

Interaction between things is independent of the distance between them. We have already seen this on the border of physics.

Comment: This picture seems pretty empty for an egoist.

Answer: Why? There is a huge egoistic field that we can work in. We don’t see our bodies, nor do we need them. Our bodies dissolve and disappear from our sensations.

We see ourselves as being stretched all over infinity and eternity; we sense infinity, we control it and fulfill ourselves with it. In return, we fill it with ourselves. This is the way we exist. Each of us regards this dimension from his or her personal viewpoint. These states are quantifiable by regular physical devices. Kabbalah provides actual tools for that to us.

Comment: In other words, there is a flow of energy, bliss, and love.

Answer: Energy is the joy that flows through our desire with enormous strength.

Actually, there are two kinds of desires: to please and to be pleased. They are constantly changing, shifting, and flowing; this complementary interaction is life.

Everything else is outside of this life.

Comment: Our people who like to fantasize will be upset.

Answer: I think that people are approaching truth at a pretty fast pace. Our egoism grows and fairy tales won’t satisfy us any longer.

Interest in yoga, new age theories, etc. is almost over. This period was required solely to “decorate” our existence, to add a pinch of spice to our life to make it a little juicier. That’s why all sorts of salespeople are travelling all over the world selling red strings, holy water, and promoting a variety of training, but all of this is meant for the public; of course, it isn’t worth anything.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Dr. Laitman,” 11/4/12

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Am I Correcting The World?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the correction of the world?

Answer: We are on the highest level of a general system because we yearn to be above ourselves. The previous lives have made us the way we are.

There are different illuminations in the world, and this whole system is mutually connected. But the signal comes from above. The Light goes through us to the world and then spreads everywhere. This is called the “correction of the world.”


I don’t correct anyone. If we correct ourselves, then the Light is transferred through us to all the other parts of the world. Most people cannot draw the Light; they cannot correct themselves; they don’t understand; they don’t know; they lack the desires. Try to talk to them about the meaning of life and what does it mean to them. It isn’t good or bad, since in the meantime they have no such desire. What is more, these people make up 99% of the world population, and it is up to us to correct them that way.

On the other hand, Kabbalists speak about our obligation to pass the wisdom of Kabbalah on to them, so that they will feel that there is hope and that there is an ideology of correction, that there are levels the world has to go through in order to be corrected, and that we can ease this path for them and make it simple and quick. They have to know a little about it, only generally. The actual correction takes place under our internal influence on them, since we are all connected in one network.
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From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/7/12, Lesson 2

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Anti-Globalization And A Global Government

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Globalization is actually an example of the unity of the world, but how do you explain the movements against globalization? Globalization also involves the creation of a global government that is rejected by many.

Answer: The point is that the definition of globalization/integration is perceived by many in different ways. I mean by this the forced connection of the world and the unavoidable interdependence of everyone.

It is not expressed in every aspect of life yet. There are areas in which it is expressed and there are areas in which it is less evident, but it is increasing daily. Nature is advancing towards integration and it is unavoidable. We have to see what is happening in nature and not what people like and what they don’t based on their personal interests.

The world is becoming global despite our desire. We are egoists and we don’t feel a need for it at all. Today we already see that we cannot manage the world. People accept the possibility of war. There is powerlessness, helplessness, and people lack the means to manage things.

We are all in one network, and it is expressed more strongly now. By the way, there is a lot of research on this issue. I hope that our inner efforts will wake the world up through this collective network, and they will feel and understand that we are mutually connected to such an extent that no one can feel good if another feels bad. There is nowhere to run. It is like in a family: If there is a problem with someone in the family, then it is your problem; you are connected to everyone! This is how we will feel everyone regardless of distances or anything else.

This is a feeling that comes gradually and will be felt by everyone. It may lead to great problems in the world since there are many who oppose globalization, and we can certainly understand them.

“Let’s separate!” Each of us has the immediate urge to move to a distant place like Alaska and live there in peace. “No matter how long I live, I want to live quietly. Why do I need to think about this globalization all day long?” So there are different protectionist movements that urge governments to defend themselves; we see what is happening in Europe: to separate or not to separate? We will not be able to separate. We cannot!

A few months ago when I went to a convention in Italy, we had a meeting with a representative of the EU. We talked for an hour and a half. They understand very well that they mustn’t separate, that we are all connected, and it isn’t even a matter of banks or military alliances. Today you simply will not be able to separate. You can isolate a certain country, but by that you will bring about its destruction. So globalization is already a fact.

What can we do with this?

Humanity has no tools to deal with it. It is only possible to manage globalization if you are global too, if you have a global sense, a global consciousness, a global approach. You must become integral internally and feel this whole system in its analog, general, closed form. However, we are not managed that way internally, since we are egoists. When you rise above your ego, you begin to feel how the integral analog system, in which everything is mutually connected, operates.

Imagine a large family of 20 people; imagine how you solve your problems in such a family. There are a few thousand dollars on the table, which you have made, and you have to invest it in the family. Just as you take everyone into account in order to solve family problems, you have to take into account all the problems in the world to solve them today. Who can do that?

The desire to separate is great; it seemingly would free us of some headaches, but it is already impossible to break apart.

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about the possibility of a world war that may force people through the path of suffering to acknowledge the fact that the world is global and integral and we have to solve things differently. But how? By rising above the ego, this is the next level of our development. Nature, together with us, has reached the end of its development on the egoistic animate level and it has to develop to the “human” level. It isn’t part of nature yet. The “human” level is higher than the “animal” level in us. This is what we have to develop by ourselves, and in order to do that we were given freewill.

As for a global government, it is still impossible to establish one. You see how the European leaders have cashed in on this idea and don’t think about it anymore. It is possible to establish global leadership only by people who have ascended above their ego and who feel and understand this system. If this doesn’t happen, then we will see the same things that happened with the Soviet regime.

It isn’t even enough for the global government to be made of people who have ascended above their ego, who would it manage? Who will listen to it? After all, everyone else is an egoist.

So we must first deal with integral education. We have to educate people, to draw them to such a level that they will begin to understand that there is no choice and that we must rise above ourselves. We have to think that everyone should have the same reasonable standard of living, and everything else should be invested in connecting. Either life will force us or we can educate ourselves that way. So the problem is only in integral education.
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From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/7/12, Lesson 2

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From Individual To General

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Does the point in the heart awakening in a person indicate the dead end of material development?

Answer: I wouldn’t say that it’s the dead end of material development, although a person may, in all he does, whatever he may be doing today, feel that he’s reached a dead end in all spheres of action in our world.

In reality this isn’t a dead end of development, but a dead end of today’s paradigm. If we change it, then naturally we will begin to sense a totally different level of the universe. However in an egoistic, individual cognition, not in unity, in struggle with one another, we understand we can’t attain more, and can’t advance any further.

The next level of humanity’s development is global unity and creating a common body of attainment. This is why people can’t continue to develop individually. We observe this in all that is happening to us. We have reached a dead end not only in the sciences, but also in everything else. That is, we’ve reached a certain limit beyond which everything becomes a blur, as though it disappears. Our egoistic organs of perception, which are only directed toward reception, can’t receive any more. In order to expand, we must begin to connect them to each other.

Each one of us has a point in the heart, an aspiration toward a greater, or so-called “out of this world,” non-egoistic attainment, the desire to go from the individual to the general. If we begin to connect these points, to create a connection between us, then the connection of at least ten points gives the power sensor, which is able to perceive the next state: the upper world. This state is followed by further development, which takes place not in an individual but in a collective consciousness and perception. Therein lies the difference between our world and the next level. Only in this!

Hence, if today we’ve reached a dead end, it is only a dead end of our individual attainment of the world. By connecting the aspiration toward the upper world, we can create a new organ of perception for the next level.

This is why our current world is pushing us out of ourselves today; it is showing us that we must become integrated, interdependent, and united. This is why such interaction and great interdependence is being revealed in the world. Through all this, we are gradually being shown the next, gradually revealing the next level of our world.

Let’s hope that we can attain this level. Then we will have to teach this to everyone else. Right now we are at the beginning stages, at the approach to this next realm.
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From the Virtual Lesson 12/2/12

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Correction From An Inner Need

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When we speak about the unity of the Israeli nation, to what extent do we expand this concept?

Answer: It includes all the Jews. After all, they are the descendants of Abraham’s group that took upon itself to be one whole, “as one man in one heart.” It isn’t a question of religion; the Jews simply have a Reshimo, a spiritual gene, because they already fulfilled mutual guarantee in the past. We may say that after the exile of the Jewish nation and its mixing with others, this Reshimot now exist in everyone. It is true, and yet this is the obligation of the Israeli nation.

People with a point in the heart that pulls them upward (•), no matter where they live, join the Bnei Baruch organization (BB). There is also the part called “Israel in this world” or “Jews,” who at the moment have “quiet Reshimot,” points in the heart (•) that have not awakened yet, which, on the contrary, pull them downward. After all, they are using the force of bestowal in order to succeed in their dealings in this world.

Finally, there is the part called the “nations of the world”: They have a point in the heart (•) hidden even more deeply that are hardly noticeable, which pulls them even further downward. As a result, people with points in the heart who have awakened are drawn to correction by themselves; the people who belong to “Israel” must be corrected, and the “nations of the world” are left in a state that cannot be envied, meaning that they depend on the levels above them that are responsible for the correction.

This is why we need to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah among the Israeli nation. Otherwise we would keep silent like Kabbalists in previous generations. A new era has begun and although dissemination is a burden that none of us wants, we have no other choice. Baal HaSulam wrote about it in the article “Messiah’s Shofar,” in The Nation newspaper, and in other places.

Question: What will the rest of the development of people from the second layer be like?

Answer: They won’t be able to do anything on their own; they will have to join us and to learn to help us actively. They will understand in their mind and their feelings that they must participate in the correction. Their point in the heart has not awakened yet and they are aware of the need for it rationally, simply because otherwise there are troubles.

Then they will turn to us: “We must unite, help us do that!” and we will help. They will not yearn for the Creator, but for a secure life. We are pulled upward by a desire, while their desire is to manage in this world, yet at the same time they are able to unite. Only later will the spiritual spark awaken in them, and also in the “nations of the world.” After all, it says that at the end of correction they shall all know the Creator from the smallest to the largest.

So it all depends on us, meaning on our dissemination to Israel and to the extent that we ourselves are united. This is what Baal HaSulam says in his article “Messiah’s Shofar“: The dissemination of the wisdom in the masses is called “a Shofar.” Like the Shofar, whose voice travels a great distance, the echo of the wisdom will spread all over the world, so even the nations will hear and acknowledge that there is Godly wisdom in Israel.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/3/12, “Exile and Redemption”

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Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When using the integral method, we will reveal positive relationships between us and special states: kindness, intimacy, the meaning of life, and a sense of the next level of our development. However, we know that interaction among people causes various forms of conflict and aggressive behavior, such as quarrels, arguments, and so forth.

Answer: Our entire society is built on comparisons, and we must find a common denominator. You have your own ideas, goals, thoughts, tastes, and culture. We each have our own habits. Let’s figure out what we have in common.

Of these two circles, we’ll find one common segment, but large areas still will stay detached. This is my personal territory, there is yours, and we never will understand each other while we hold onto them.

For example, a variety of people from the same society share one culture that is in fact, quite different for its higher and lower segments, for educated people and common people. We see that there is a huge difference in their considerations, attitudes to life, inner codes, relationships within families, among neighbors, work ethics, and so on.

So, it will be very hard for us to arrive at a unified conclusion here. People change just like the society we live in constantly changes. That’s why we always will encounter problems.

Integral upbringing is built on the foundation that we must rise above ourselves. We cross out everything we were used to before today. Not only should we cross out everything we previously had, such as when spouses who decide to start with a clean slate to start a new chapter in their lives, but we also must realize that we have to continue rising above our mundane properties. In other words, our egoistic desire, which represents our internal essence, isn’t involved in the connections between us.

So, it does not matter what inborn qualities we have, nor does what we had been receiving from the environment for 20 to 50 years of our lives, wherever we currently are, or whatever “viruses” we have. It doesn’t mean a thing!

We want to rise to the next level, to the place where we connect with each other and where differences and similarities are not important at all. Let’s say that we sit in a circle and discuss something. We should care less about our personal interests, as if we don’t have them at all.

The only thing that we should have in common is the search of a communal basis that will become the foundation for a totally different type of society, an innovative paradigm, a different dimension in which none of us exists separately, where we represent one common system within which it’s impossible to identify ourselves as “I” since it will be integral and analog. We pursue this state from the very beginning.

That’s why, no matter who comes to the discussion table—nor it is relevant if the tables are small or big enough to encircle the entire Earth and accommodate seven billion people—all of us must search for commonalities that will lead us to our next state, to the main, crucial point from which we will continue growing.

Then, earthly things that we have been accumulating for thousands of years—things that we are comprised of, the society we live in, or anything else that causes contradictions among us—won’t interest us anymore and will just fall down. We must take a new step and cut ourselves off from the place where we are now.

It’s impossible to have five people who are “for” something and one who is against it. That means we will become involved in criticism. There is nothing to criticize! Everything we have dealt with so far is now in a state of crisis and is not suitable for further use. That’s why we simply “wash our hands” and become born anew.

Question: Modern people are built in a way that if they are given only positive information…

Answer: It’s not positive! This is a search, an affliction, an internal tension, and mutual scrutiny, but all of the above should be done only for the sake of the next integral level that we must reach.

I cannot take my current principles, views, criteria, and values with me there because the next realm is totally different. It’s a matrix into which we all are mutually included and where we are completely interconnected with each other. It’s the n-dimension, a space in which I lose the notion of myself. It’s impossible to have my opinion or your outlook there. First, we must reach the connection among us, and then we’ll decide what to do next.

Differences among us still will remain, but they will come from a new level, from the next state. Each of us will be adding much more to become included in the integral mechanism. It still will move forward, but none of this will happen if we continue using our prior egoistic habits and properties. We shouldn’t take them with us.

The animal developmental state is over, and a new step named “A Man” (Adam) will soon begin. It will orient us only toward unification and integration. By no means will it have an egoistic nature as it did in the past, but rather it will be built on the basis of integration, and each of us simply will lose themselves in a collective mechanism.
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From a Talk on Integral Upbringing 5/28/12

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The Method Of Evoking Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe see that the world lacks unity. The common market can serve as a bright example of this. Europeans strove to create unity, but they overlooked that it should be supported by the desire and goodwill to connect among people, countries, and nations.

It’s not enough to establish financial, industrial, and commercial liaisons. Things don’t work without human input. Today, in order to make any business profitable, we must maintain good relationships with employees, spend weekends together with them and their families, open kindergartens, and so forth. Many things lack a human element.

However, the architects of Europe didn’t take into consideration the human factor. They didn’t include integral upbringing in their program. They haven’t taught people to unite and become one entity, instead of simply joining a common market. That’s why their projects have failed.

In Israel, we must consider such things. Correction should be provided through the mass media. I spoke about this fact at the Arosa forum six years ago. We must engage radio, television, the press, the Internet, and educational programs and courses at the workplace and in schools. We must build an environment that will remind people about the necessity to unite in order to survive.

It’s not about being polite to each other, like adults asking small children to stop fighting. We are facing a very difficult choice: Either we go down the path of discord or we choose the path of unity. Taking into consideration the tools of destruction we have at our disposal, it’s extremely dangerous to choose the first option.

Question: What hardships will the people of Israel face if it won’t aspire to unity?

Answer: The Prophets predicted very unpleasant things. The people of Israel will implement their predetermination anyhow, even if it will require tremendous pressure and predicaments.

It is said that potential affliction is not limited by the next world war. As it is written in the Holy Scriptures, “The hands of merciful women have boiled their own children. They have been for food to them.” Terrible commentaries are given in this respect. All of them are meant to obligate the people of Israel to fulfill their mission to correct the world.

The people of Israel must realize that no one else in the world has the authority, except them, nor does anyone else have a chance to achieve this task. The explanations that are given to other nations are needed only to make them comprehend the role of the people of Israel and then compel the people of Israel to act in good faith, thus avoiding catastrophes by pushing them to begin doing their work.

Because our correction bears a common and reciprocal nature, the people of Israel must elucidate and disseminate the knowledge of it and implement the method of integral upbringing, which explains how to unite and where to start the process. We conduct our activities in Israel to demonstrate that it is possible and to initiate this practice.

Everywhere we go, we try to organize roundtable discussions and create an atmosphere of collaboration. This applies not only to the Jews but to everyone who lives here. All our neighbors and the entire world must understand that it is possible.

The purpose of the people of Israel is inextricably linked with the correction of the world. As it is written, “And you shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” meaning that the sparks of bestowal and love should pour onto all nations through the sons of Israel. If this nation doesn’t choose to act accordingly and doesn’t transmit the Light to the entire world, it will be deprived of its role on the world stage, and thus will turn into an unnecessary part.

The principle, “love thy neighbor as thyself,” is the basis for the Jewish people. It has been preserved since Abraham first formulated it. However, those are not only beautiful words, but a real methodology of attaining unity that allows the stirring of the love of other nations and, consequently, uniting so that everyone becomes as “one man with one heart.”

The method is quite simple. Egoism (the left line) is rapidly developing within us, yet we must come to the middle line. For that, we sit down at a roundtable, or without it, in groups of ten people and begin talking about unity and solidarity. At the same time, each of us diminishes their left line (ego) and enhances the part that is oriented toward love and connection with others. As a result, the left line lowers, whereas the right line moves up.

Then, while we are applying efforts to unite, we see that it is possible because of the power of love (the right line) that rules among us. If we happen to unite, we resolve the problems that are caused by our egoism, that is, in our left line. As it happens, it’s not that complicated to combine them together, and out of this combination, we can grow the middle line.

Now, we understand that the sons of Israel went through exile and not by accident; they needed to acquire their ego. It amplifies the value of love that they possessed at the times of the Temple.

In Hebrew, the Temple stands for “the House of Sanctity,” that is, a general spiritual vessel where mutual bestowal and reciprocal love dwells. In ancient times, the Jewish people attained it to a certain extent, but, essentially, they must reach the level of the Third Temple. Today, we must return to love by going above the egoism that was acquired in exile and exalt it above the left line to the level that is called “the Third Temple.”
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From a Conversation on 6/5/12

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Crisis For The Sake Of The Future

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Steen Jakobsen): “Steen Jakobsen, Chief Economist of Saxo Bank the online trading and investment specialist, stated that the human mind does not accept changes easily.

“We are programmed to seek safety, stay inside the box and avoiding confrontations – basically to avoid any changes of habit in our thinking and actions. This is particularly the case on a political and societal level, not just for the individual. It’s this mentality that keeps us from engaging in a bold new course of action, even when things have clearly gone wrong. …

“Any government will always start by denying there is a crisis – the denial – they will claim it’s temporary, it’s due to external factors. … A year to two later there is some stabilization, but it’s still a crisis because the underlying dynamics have not been altered by any real structural changes. … But eventually, the pain of not changing our ways becomes so great that we have no choice but to strike out in a new direction. . …

“At least half of the effort in getting out of a crisis is a change of mind – what a behavioural economist might call overcoming the sunken cost of past ways of thinking. Once a majority of us get over the mental hurdle of admitting that real change is necessary, then the exercise of ending the crisis becomes relatively easy – and even invigorating.”

My Comment: A crisis takes place in the mind. If humanity does not have enough willpower to accept the inadequacy of its nature for survival and to change itself, to make the agenda to implement integral education and training everywhere in order to achieve positive change—Nature, as usual, will make these changes on—and the extinction of suffering. Most important in resolving the crisis is the desire for change!
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The Accomplishment Of The Kabbalists Of The Past

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What do you mean, “Kabbalists passed the Light to people”? After all, they just changed their perception.

Answer: Kabbalists are the people who cross the Machsom, integrate in the upper system of management, and by their desires to become corrected, bring their activity to this system.

We study this in the system of the upper worlds, which is in a passive state and works as though idling; it has only the Light of Hassadim. And when our corrected egoistic properties become integrated into it, then the Light of Hochma appears there and the system begins to work. As if you add gas, and the engine starts working, not idling; it’s the same thing here.

That is why the Kabbalists who have corrected themselves, being parts of the entire system, both ours and the upper one, added their Light to this system. They added the Light of Hochma on their corrected egoistic desires, and thus the entire system already works on different revolutions. That is, it is capable of accepting us, processing us, and including us into itself; this is their accomplishment.

We are acting today in the same way. Correcting ourselves, we in general do the same for the future generations that follow us. Thus gradually, everyone follows one another.

Therefore, the correction of the world occurs from lighter egoistic qualities to the heavier ones. And people who will come to Kabbalah in a few years to correct themselves will be much more egoistic than we are, but we will prepare the ground for them by drawing the Light into the system of the worlds, which without us would have worked only on the Light of Hassadim, that is, it would have been in the small state (in the state of “Katnut”).
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From a Virtual Lesson 11/18/12

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