Two questions I received on conversion to Judaism:

Question: Why would you say that Rabbi Akiva was not Jewish? How carried away can you get? He was 100% Jewish! I guess tomorrow Rav Ashlag will also be called non-Jewish!

My Answer: First of all, this doesn’t matter at all in relation to the Torah. We are all Babylonians by origin. The Jews started calling themselves differently because they differed from other people in that they based their lives on the law, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is what is now required from the whole of humanity, including the Jews, who have fallen from the level of following this rule.

I heard my teacher explain Rabbi Akiva’s origin. You can also go to Google.com, type in the words “Akiva proselyte” and read what it says. Please verify your knowledge. And you shouldn’t get so offended: it’s an honor to be a proselyte! After all, it’s an indication that a person went through correction. I wish for all of us to become proselytes as defined in the Torah! The Torah repeatedly states, “Love a proselyte.”

Question: Upon reading the text, “The Last Generation,” I came once again upon the reference to Jews and Gentiles. I am the latter in the physical sense and have at times felt exclusion from Kabbalah because of this fact. But I have read with much interest other texts where the dynamic has been clearly explained in the spiritual realm: the term “Jew” pertaining to an individual with the point in the heart. However, I still seem to feel that there are two definitions in various texts, some referring to the physical and others referring to the non-physical. Any clarity would be greatly appreciated on what is the correct way to view these two terms.

My Answer: There is no such nationality or people as “Jews”! It’s because this “nation” emerged from Abraham’s students, according to their spiritual quality. Kabbalah explains that there are 70 spiritual roots of the nations of the world, but there is no separate spiritual root for the nation of Isra-El! And that’s because anyone who aspires to the Creator can become Israel. Here is what we have today:

• A genetic Jew must study and disseminate Kabbalah (see item 70 of the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar”).
• A spiritual Jew (Isra-El) is any person who aspires to reveal the Creator.

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A question I received: I am studying Kabbalah for 3 years and I have translated many writings from English to German. I also know almost all of your women’s lessons. But sometimes it happens to me that I still wonder why, for instance, the children’s lessons are made only by men (even if a woman appears, her role is played by a man), or why women are not allowed to read texts for audio material or translate your lessons simultaneously? All the Kabbalistic songs are sung only by men. Why are women excluded from participating at cultural evenings during Congresses? Is it really because men are distracted and cannot concentrate on the goal?

My Answer: The lessons are taught by men because Kabbalah in general is taught by men. As the method of correction, Kabbalah must come from men. Didn’t you study that Zeir Anpin corrects Malchut?! However, the translation of our lessons to Spanish, for example, is always done by a woman. Our TV shows also devote a lot of time to women and women participate in them. We welcome women’s participation anywhere possible. However, it doesn’t correspond to our inner work to have women speaking in front of men. We learn in Kabbalah that the female part (Malchut) receives from the male part (Zeir Anpin), but not vice-versa.

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Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Women - 1 Comment →

Two questions I received on development through Kabbalah:

Question: It says in a book by Rav Kook that there are two kinds of redemption: redemption that comes in due time (בעיתה – Beito), and redemption that comes in response to a person’s plea (אחישנה – Ahishena). Either way, redemption will come eventually. According to Kabbalah, we have to change from within, and then we’ll attain happiness. And by spreading the wisdom of Kabbalah, we will make everyone happy because they will receive the same Light. But then it would seem that Kabbalah contradicts the notion of the existence of time for correction.

Answer: You’ve mixed it all up! Kabbalah was given to us so that instead of progressing “in due time,” we will speed up time (progress through אחישנה – Ahishena). This means that we can develop without waiting for the suffering to come (without בעיתה- Beito).

Question: What do you mean by the point in the heart? Also, do you mean that fate – or circumstances in our life that might be difficult – push us to this point so we will discover our purpose?

Answer: Suffering and emptiness lead a person to the question about their meaning, cause and purpose. Gradually a person starts feeling that he needs to understand the cause of all that’s happening, and this feeling is a subconscious desire to reveal the Creator. A person then discovers the source of this knowledge (the books, group, and teacher), and reaches the goal.

The point in the heart is the desire to reveal the Creator, and Kabbalah is the method or means to reveal Him. The point in the heart is your soul’s initial desire, and your soul then begins to develop from this point. The point in the heart is similar to a seed: when it’s placed in the environment that’s right for its development (the group, books, and teacher), it begins to develop into a vessel of the soul – a desire in which a person begins to sense the Upper Force, the Creator.

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News Report (from The Economist): The cimarrón is one of at least ten alternative currencies in different parts of Venezuela. … But none of these tokens can be exchanged for the bolívar, the country’s legal currency. Their use is limited to “prosumers” – you have to bring something to sell before you can actually buy anything with them. … ‘It’s magic,’ says Pablo Mayayo, an Argentinian who is advising Venezuelans on these schemes. ‘When you take away money… people relate to each other in a different way, by co-operating, not competing.’”

My Comment: Kabbalah states that progress is programmed by nature and determined by the egoism that continuously grows in us. Our egoism cannot be stopped, but it can be corrected. Then, instead of using it to harm others or for illusory self-benefit, we will use it to benefit everyone. This is the principle of a closed system, and today we are revealing that human society is just such a system.

Therefore, any movement backwards, our attempts to reverse history, are opposite to nature and will inevitably bring about an even greater crisis.

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News Report (from Universe Today): Billions of years in the future, when our sun bloats up into a red giant, it will expand to consume the Earth’s orbit. But wait, you say, the Earth travels the Earth’s orbit… what’s going to happen to our beloved planet? Will it be gobbled up like poor Mercury and Venus?

My Comment: When I was in school, we were taught that our Universe was eternal and infinite. Then they discovered the Big Bang and started teaching us something else: that the Universe was created from a micro-dose of matter 15 billion years ago. But will the Universe end someday? This is a question science still doesn’t have an answer to. However, everything that has a beginning also has an end.

Kabbalah says that everything exists only for man and inside man, or more exactly, inside his sensations. In order to come out of our perception of the world and enter a new perception, we have been given time to correct our qualities (sensations): 6000 years from the birth of Adam, the first man to discover a different, Upper World. We all have to “migrate” there in the remaining 230 years we have left until reaching the 6000 year mark. Kabbalah explains how to do this quickly, consciously, and easily. Even if we’re stubborn and refuse to budge, nature will still banish us from this world and force us to “migrate.”

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This week the book Kabala. Pagrindiniai Teiginiai, a Lithuanian translation of the book Basic Concepts in Kabbalah, became one of the top ten best sellers in the central book store, “Akademine knyga” (The Academic Book).

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Three questions I received on using the internet as a means to connect:

Question: Research indicates that 11 out of 100 global citizens have access to computers and Internet. How can we feel like one society when just a few of us in the world can actually connect virtually?

My Answer: Initially, the connection between people was not created by the Internet, but by the Creator. Our souls are rigidly connected in one system. Thoughts and desires pass directly from soul to soul, and not through the web. Regardless of having the Internet or not, everyone will feel that they belong to the entire world in equal measure.

Question: If the global crisis harms the Internet, what will happen to our dissemination and the virtual groups?

My Answer: We must do everything we can to ensure that our friends all over the world can stay connected to us. If the world will need us, then we will certainly retain the opportunity to connect to the world. Perhaps we will receive even greater opportunities to do so.

Question: I had an idea during the Blackpool Congress: I was thinking about old people, who are unable to use computers. I think it would be great to give them the possibility to feel unity. We could also tell them about reality, freedom of choice, and how to see the world from the point of view of Kabbalah. This could lead to more actions made by this group of “aware old people.” If I try to develop this kind of thing with the “old people group” of my town, do you think it could be useful?

My Answer: One’s age is completely irrelevant when it comes to studying Kabbalah, because the soul has no age. Uniting with the idea already corrects the soul. Try it! I hope that once we reach a certain level of success in our dissemination to the masses, the television channels will become interested in our TV programs.

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Filed under: Internet - 1 Comment →

A question I received: I have been studying with you for four years already, and I disseminate Kabbalah on the Internet. But there is one question that has been bothering me for a while. Many of the sites that I connect to don’t want to hear anything about Kabbalah, and they say awful things about me and about you. They don’t understand what crisis we are talking about. After reading these comments about us, I feel empty and lose the desire to disseminate. What should I do?

My Answer: You are lucky to be living in a generation when it is permitted to disseminate Kabbalah. Imagine how the great Kabbalists of the past felt! You should read about them: how they were beaten (physically and otherwise) by their own kind.

You have to understand the level of your opponents’ development and patiently wait for them to mature. (“Ma Laasot Im Yeladim She Hizkinu – What can we do with children who have grown old but stayed children?”) However, in our time the crisis will hit everyone, and it will force everyone to wise up and to accept Kabbalah as the means of salvation. They simply don’t know what Kabbalah is, because they have been scared off and deceived. Give them time to suffer and figure things out.

As for where to get emotional strength, read what Kabbalists write about the need to disseminate Kabbalah. Personally, I tell myself that I am obligated to follow their instructions, and this frees me from thoughts such as, “Is this really necessary?” – even if the only things I receive in return are hardships… The Goal obliges a person! For centuries, Kabbalists dreamed of the opportunity to disseminate, and we have been given this opportunity. Must we even ask for anything in return?

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News Report (translated from chaskor.ru): The concept of ecovillages has gained popularity because people are hoping to escape the trap of civilization that has cornered them. Only yesterday such communities seemed extremist and sectarian, but today they’re regarded as a way to survive the global crisis, which is turning into global chaos. In addition, it’s easier to survive a crisis in a commune.

My Comment: Separating from the global civilization to save one’s own neck will bring any commune to a terrible crisis – one that’s greater than in the rest of the world. It’s because a commune will isolate itself from everyone in order to survive on its own, and this goes against unification, globalization, and Nature’s plan to unite everyone. These aren’t eco-villages, they’re EGO-villages!

News Report (from World Net Daily): …the U.S. is moving closer to a Nazi-style totalitarianism, warns a former German member of the Hitler Youth in a new book. “Every day brings this nation closer to a Nazi-style totalitarian abyss,” writes Hilmar von Campe…

My Comment: According to Kabbalah, if we’re not moving toward global integration, then we’re moving toward mutual isolation and the emergence of Nazi regimes in the developed countries.

News Report (from National Post): More singles are turning to the Internet as a cheap, convenient way to find love during trying economic times. A poll by Opinion Research Corp. found that 57% of Americans said the credit crunch made them worry about their love lives… similar surveys in Australia and Britain came up with the same results.

My Comment: Suffering and fear are showing us just how fragile we are and how much we need the support of the environment. We were created as social creatures and we have to create a friendly and supportive society around us. And if we don’t want to, nature will force us to. Then we’ll want it and therefore build such a society!

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My blog is now available in Chinese. It is called “Kabbalah, Science and the Meaning of Life”:

卡巴拉、科学和生命意义―――迈克尔•莱特曼博客

There are only a few dozen people currently studying with the International Academy of Kabbalah in Chinese, because many of our Chinese students reside in North America and study in English. However, we hope that with the release of my new book in Chinese as well as this blog, we will find many new friends.

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