Question: There is a parable about an old man who used to sit and fish by the river every day. One day, he caught a goldfish which promised to fulfill one wish. The old man asked: “Let every person in the village be happy.” The fish fulfilled the wish.

The old man returned to the village and saw that everyone was busy with their own happiness and forgot about him. The old man realized that true happiness is not in desires for others, but in the ability to be happy yourself. Do you really agree with this?

Answer: Why not?

Comment: Still, he wished happiness for others. There was a case that I could wish happiness to others, and suddenly I came to the conclusion that I should be happy myself and not wish happiness to others.

My Response: If you do not picture what happiness means, your own happiness, then what can you do for others? It is not easy.

Question: So first I must understand what happiness is?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Then, can I ask you what happiness is?

Answer: Happiness is when you do not feel any limitations. It can be from above when you are a billionaire, young, etc.

Comment: Full of energy.

My Response: Yes. And it can be the other way around, when you understand your limitations, but they do not restrict you.

Question: That is, I come to terms with them. You are as if saying: I enjoy what I have. Is this called “without limitations”?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And can a person wish this for himself?

Answer: Of course.

Question: And then can he wish others the same kind of happiness?

Answer: In general, yes.

Question: And can we say that in this case the old man wished happiness for others and missed his own happiness?

Answer: No, this cannot happen. He automatically builds himself up in relation to others.

Question: That is, he somehow perceives what happiness is?

Answer: Yes.

Question: You know, we get a lot of letters in response to all our videos. Parents write: “We have done so much for our children’s happiness, and as a result, we are left alone, and our children are busy with their own happiness and not with us at all.” What would you answer these parents?

Answer: There is nothing to answer. This is human nature. And it is unreasonable to reproach parents for reproaching their children now.

Question: I see. But can parents reproach their children for leaving their parents? Or is it better not to do that?

Answer: This is also unreasonable.

Question: So in this case, if we are talking about restrictions, is it better to live with it as is?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And is it right to live with it?

Answer: Yes.

Question: You once told me that your teacher used to say about relationships with children: “Shut your mouth and open your pocket.” Give the children what they need, and leave them alone. Is this the right approach?

Answer: Yes.

Question: At what age should you treat children like that?

Answer: At about 14.

Comment: Even at 14, leave a child so that he…

My Response: Yes, don’t leave him completely but gradually distance yourself.

Question: Then another question, based on all this. Should one want to make other people happy? Should one have this thought?

Answer: I think this is a very egoistic question. You start meddling in other people’s lives and there is no way out of it.

Question: So what is the conclusion from this?

Answer: Do not meddle with others.

Comment: Do not meddle with other people’s lives.

My Response: Do not meddle.

Question: And how should one live?

Answer: Just live. Live simply, and that is it. Why do you need to compare your life with other people’s lives and direct yourself toward other people’s achievements? “I will be happy if they are happy.”

Question: Yes, this formula is well-known. Do you think it is egoistic?

Answer: It is the most egoistic one.
[335576]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 9/23/24

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Question: We often hear the phrase: “one man with one heart.” If the heart is a desire, doesn’t the entire world Kli want to reveal the Creator? What do we still lack to become one man with one heart with one desire to attain the Creator?

Answer: We only lack the correct work in the heart: to open it in relation to friends, connect everyone within our heart, and reach connection with the Creator.

Question: Are we not mature enough for this, or are we lazy, or are we not yet supposed to reveal this?

Answer: Perhaps you are not yet mature enough. But mostly, you are held back by a certain inertia, where you cannot convince yourself to rise above yourself.

Question: I can judge for myself: I feel very comfortable in our society; it’s so good, so beloved, it truly opens the heart. And within this cocoon of love, the thought arises, “Why move further?” What should we do about this?

Answer: This is a problem. The point is that you must forcefully break the shell (Klipa) in which you are encased and try to emerge into the fresh air. Moreover, everyone must do this together.

Rise above yourself, to a new degree. Feel that on this degree, you are indeed in some state of elevation, and from this state, begin to connect with each other, and direct this connection toward the Creator.

Question: Is it possible to do this if I do not see that this is relevant for the ten now?

Answer: That cannot be! This is precisely what you must work on. It will only become relevant through your simultaneous effort when each person “comes out of themselves,” connects with their friends, and in a common desire, connects with the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/13/24, Baal HaSulam Memorial Day, Rav Yehuda Ashlag

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Question: You are often asked personal questions like have you ever experienced real fear? If so, how did you feel about it then, and how do you feel about it now?

Answer: I have probably not experienced real fear. I have had fear of death, and I have had fear of failure.

Question: And any primal fear?

Answer: It is the fear of suffering. I have had that too, but I would not say those are the highest forms of fear.

Question: How did you get out of these states?

Answer: I would retreat into my activities, into Kabbalah, and try to find their root. And when I would find it, I would realize I was creating these sufferings myself. And the fears would disappear.

Question: Perhaps this is exactly what people want to hear in response, that they need to go inward, search for the root?

Answer: That is a problem. If a person feels that they have enough strength to fight such visions of suffering…

Question: What brings on fears?

Answer: Yes, that is a problem. A person first needs to understand that they are heading toward suffering. They will have to endure it, accept it, rise above it, and so on. It is not an easy task.

Question: So, you are talking about suffering and, by extension, talking about fears?

Answer: Yes, it is the fear of suffering

Question: So I should go toward it like in the movie “Into the Storm”? I should face it head-on, and then I can reach the root?

Answer: Yes.

Question: But what if I am just afraid? What if fear just overwhelms me? What should I do? People are full of fears nowadays.

Answer: Then all the more so, you must immediately break out of that state.

Question: How?

Answer: Under no circumstances should you remain in it. I believe the best thing for a person in this case is serious exercise like cycling. Go forward, forward, and pedal for an hour a day.

Question: But if you recommend your science, Kabbalah, is not for everyone?

Answer: No, it is not for everyone. It is only for those who can place their mind above their emotions. Otherwise, it will not work.

Question: Another question: “You write that you were constantly with your teacher. Does that mean your wife raised the children? As a woman, it is very important for me to know her feelings, please forgive me.”

Answer: Yes, that is how it was.

Question: What were your wife’s feelings? A woman is asking.

Answer: At least she had the children, participated in their education, and so on. Meanwhile, I was only focused on my teacher.

Comment: That is a heroic life on the part of the woman.

My Response: For her, yes.

Question: And you fully acknowledge that?

Answer: Absolutely! She has earned everything the Creator can give.

Question: And you could not have done it differently?

Answer: No.

Question: And today you understand that you could not have done it differently?

Answer: I understand that, of course.

Question: And does she understand that?

Answer: Yes!

Question: One more question: What do you think about when you are teaching your regular students? And what do you think about when you are giving a public lecture to people who know nothing at all?

Answer: When I am giving a public lecture and no one knows anything, I have to teach them the most basic, most understandable fundamentals of Kabbalah so they feel they understand, accept, and adapt it within themselves.

Question: So you practically have to come down to their level?

Answer: Yes, of course. But with my regular students, I try to structure the lesson so that it consists of two, maybe even three levels. So that they rise through them and start looking a little higher than the perspective they had before the lesson began.

Question: What should a student leave a lesson with?

Answer: With the feeling that they have risen above what they came with, and that this satisfies them, lifts them up, and makes them feel worthy.

Question: So they should leave with a mental checkmark that they have achieved something?

Answer: Yes, absolutely.

Question: Does this fade away during the day, and then the next lesson again, right?

Answer: Relatively, yes.

Question: And what should a beginner leave with after your introductory lecture?

Answer: That they came, got filled, and left generally satisfied.

Question: And do you need them to feel drawn to your wisdom, for you to awaken that in them?

Answer: Of course, I worry about that and think about it, but it depends on the person.

Question: Another question: What does Israel mean to you? Do you consider yourself a patriot of Israel?

Answer: Israel means a special place to me, a truly holy place in the world where all Jews can and will live.

Do I consider myself a patriot? I do not think about it. I just have a practical, and I believe, correct assessment of this country.

Question: Then the question is: What is that assessment?

Answer: That this is the place for us. And we must cling to it by all means.
[335622]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 9/23/24

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Question: When we are thrown from spiritual degrees, how should we correctly combine annulment before the will of the Creator and efforts on our part?

Answer: A person needs to accept what he receives from the Creator and try to correct this state together with his friends.

He must climb upward with closed eyes toward the quality of bestowal. But only through the group! Alone, he will not succeed.

Question: What qualities should a person have to avoid falling from spiritual degrees?

Answer: The qualities of bestowal, connection with friends, and, if possible, love for the group.
[336479]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/24, Writings of Rabash “The Sorrow of the Shechina – 2”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #20 “Lishma (For Her Sake)”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Lesson on the Topic “On the Verge of Lishma“

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Question: Why does the Creator give taste and smell to some but not to others? What does it depend on?

Answer: It is impossible to explain because we do not know the spiritual root of each of us. No one compares themselves to others. Everyone simply wishes to be together. Therefore, we must act as instructed, as we are obliged, and in the future, this will be revealed to us.

Question: How should one work in the group if there is no taste or smell?

Answer: Be devoted to your friends without any taste and with eyes closed; strive for unity with them.
[336182]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/24, “Sukkot”

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Question: Do I understand correctly that unity with the Creator is not just adhesion to Him, but a state in which a person completely annuls himself, becomes a channel for the light, and allows it to manifest in others without even being attached to the feeling of unity itself?

Answer: Yes, you are correct. You gave a very good definition!

Question: Should we feel joy in recognizing the force of the Creator that is moving us?

Answer: Absolutely, we must reach a state where all our actions, thoughts, and intentions bring contentment to the Creator.

Question: Who is dearer to the Creator: a person who has been righteous all their life or a wicked who has become righteous?

Answer: A wicked who has become righteous.

Question: What comes first: my desire to bestow to my friends because I want to bestow to the Creator or receiving energy from my friends that makes me strive more toward the Creator?

Answer: The Creator comes first. In our thoughts and actions, He is always first. It is for His sake, in principle, that we do everything.

Question: We have accepted the condition of mutual responsibility. But most people do not devote themselves to love for others, thereby causing suffering for the entire nation. Can we, Bnei Baruch, reach the desire of Lishma without the help of the entire nation?

Answer: Yes, even if we have just one united ten.

Question: I want to love a friend and see her as righteous, but I cannot because I see in her the same quality that is uncorrected in me. This quality in me acts as a wall between me and the Creator. How can I love my friends in what I do not love in myself? How can I rise above this?

Answer: Ask the Creator to correct this quality within you, and then you will no longer perceive it in your friend.
[336362]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/24, Writings of Rabash “Noah Was a Righteous Man”

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In the beginning of the year, a person is judged according to his actions, and he is sentenced how much Torah he will learn at this time.

Hence, if his actions in the beginning of the year were righteous, he is allotted much rain. Afterward, they reverted from their way, meaning he sinned, and then he is considered wicked (Rabash, Assorted Notes, 883, “For Man Is the Tree of the Field – 1”).

On Rosh HaShanah, at the beginning of the year, it is determined who among the people will be righteous and who will be wicked.

Question: How can we always be righteous to receive a good fate?

Answer: Consider all your friends as righteous except yourself. That way, you will never be mistaken.

Question: If my friends are righteous and I am wicked, then who is a “whole man”?

Answer: Let everyone see themselves as wicked and strive to rise from this state to draw closer to the Creator and justify Him. That is the best approach.
[336379]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/24, Writings of Rabash “For Man Is the Tree of the Field – 1”

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Question: There is a parable about a strong wind blowing at a tree, bending and almost breaking it. The tree told the wind: “You’re going to break me.” The wind answered: “No, I will make you stronger, your roots will strengthen, and you will become even more powerful after the storm.”

How can we realize that life is like this right now, that we are being broken precisely to strengthen our roots?

Answer: This must be realized. If we say that the Creator is good and does good, then we have no choice but to understand all His actions as good that bring only good.

Question: That is, those strengthen our roots?

Answer: Yes, we have lived through such upheavals throughout our history, such changes, that we must believe that special, good days are ahead, which we must accept with love.

Question: Do you really think that everything that has happened to us has strengthened our roots?

Answer: Undoubtedly!

Question: Among our people and other nations in general?

Answer: Yes, undoubtedly.

Question: But when one still feels broken, he is on his knees. How does he get up from his knees?

Answer: A person must think. Think about who I am, what I am, what I am for, who controls me, and what I am meant for. The person will see that all this prepares him for real correction. When he rises above his nature, the Creator awaits him there.

Question: We were just talking about a tree strengthening its roots. The wind and the storm strengthen the roots of the tree. What do you call a person’s “human roots,” which are strengthened by all suffering?

Answer: I call a person’s roots his connection with like-minded people. What else does he have? Only this. If these roots are correctly connected, then we have a really strong tree.

Question: In other words, we can say that we, who came out of this unified state, should return to it, but after going through all the suffering, winds, and storms?

Answer: Yes. There is nothing you can do about it.

Question: Is this the plan?

Answer: Yes, because otherwise, we would be unable to find out our essence or the Creator and direct ourselves to Him.

Question: Summing up everything, you say that our roots are the connection between us, and the goal is to direct ourselves to the Creator. What practical advice do you have for strengthening the roots?

Answer: It is hard to say. A person should think about the essence of his life: What it is given for, what is exciting and special about it, and to whom can he bring salvation and correction. A person should be aware of all this.

Question: Is this our training?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is this how we train our muscles, with thoughts of where do I come from, what do I live for, and so on?

Answer: Yes, all the time.

Question: Is this your advice to absolutely anyone?

Answer: To any person. Think about it continuously.
[336386]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/7/24

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