Two questions I received on women’s problems in this world:

Question: Why is it that I can’t be as cunning, shrewd, and sharp witted as some of my friends who don’t study Kabbalah? Shouldn’t I be more egoistic than they are? But instead I’m not street-smart or calculating, and I don’t adapt quickly to different situations like my friends who still don’t study Kabbalah and are incredibly witty and street-smart.

My Answer: They are cunning in the animalistic sense, whereas you are above this and hence you appear naive on their level! Don’t worry: by making spiritual calculations you are gaining more in the long run, but they are harming themselves with their cunning ways.

Question: Can women take anti-anxiety medication and sedatives if they suffer from anxiety and other symptoms brought on by stress and fatigue? Does this interfere with Kabbalah studies?

My Answer: You can take it, it won’t interfere with your studies. But eventually you will feel that you don’t need these medications anymore.

Related Material:
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Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah – The Cure for Any Affliction
Attaining the Worlds Beyond, Chapter 23: “Spiritual Work”

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A question I received: What happens to a person who converts to Judaism? Does a Jewish soul really incarnate into a gentile if his intentions are sincere and he is fully aware of what he is doing?

My Answer:
1. You must differentiate between our earthly traditions and the spiritual actions. A person can do the physical actions on his own, but not the spiritual actions. No physical actions can correct the soul, or even any earthly, physical qualities of a person. The only thing that can correct a person is the Light that descends during the study of Kabbalah, when one learns about the corrected states and how to come closer to them. It is called “the Light of the Torah,” about which the Creator said: “I created egoism and the Torah for its correction, because the Light in the Torah returns egoism to the corrected state.”

2. The soul is a “part of the Creator in man” (Helek Eloka Mi Maal), or in other words, it is the quality of bestowal (love for one’s neighbor) that a person acquires, because this is the only quality that the Creator has (“Good and Does Good”). When one acquires this quality, one become Isra-El, which translates as “Directed toward the Creator.” Everyone else are gentiles (nations), meaning egoists, regardless of their physical origins and whether they were born Jewish or not.

We all came from Ancient Babylon and we must all attain correction. In the past this was achieved by a small part of the Babylonians, the group headed by Abraham, and they were called Isra-El – those who are directed toward the Creator. Today, everyone must do this.

Related Material:
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Baal HaSulam Article: “The Revelation of Godliness (Matan Torah)”

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News Report: (translated from gazeta.ru): Analysts are eagerly looking for signs that the world’s financial markets are nearing the end of their collapse. Investors all over the world are waiting for the markets to finally hit the “bottom.” They’re hoping that this will be followed by a recovery, and then they will be able win back their losses, or perhaps to gain even more than before.

My Comment: The collapse will not be followed by a recovery. People are very far from understanding the cause of the collapse, because the cause lies deep in the egoistic qualities of our egoism and its opposition to the Creator. Even if the financial crisis will end, it will be replaced by another crisis, whether shortage of food and water or an environmental crisis. “The plagues of Egypt” will continue until we realize their cause – our egoism, called “the Pharaoh” – and annul it.

We must realize that the way out of the crisis is the way out of “Egypt” – out of our egoism. There is no other way.

Related Material:
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Article: “Exodus – From Physical to Spiritual”
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: Chapter 14 “Revelation and Concealment/Transforming Egoism to Altruism”

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A question I received: In the last lesson on the article “The Revelation of Godliness (Matan Torah)” you explained that in reality the other religions do not contain the rule “love your neighbor.” You gave an example of wars that are fought over issues such as the right way to pray and the Caste system in Hinduism, and that these are all signs that religion do not follow the rule “love your neighbor.”

So how are we to understand the “wars against the seven nations” and the war with Amalek? I am trying to understand how these actions can be implemented while keeping the rule “love your neighbor.” I think that even if they are performed while keeping this rule, the future generations will make wrong conclusions about them and as a result, commit cruelty and destruction.

My Answer: Correction takes place precisely through wars and clashes between egoism and the Light. Take King David for example, whose Psalms are valued by the entire world because they are the highest manifestation of love to the Creator. He spent forty years fighting wars, and moreover, he was the aggressor. This is known as the “Conquest of David” (Kibush David), spanning from Egypt to Babylon, including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and other territories that have Upper Spiritual roots (other territories don’t have such roots). Another example is Joshua, who conquered the Land of Israel and exiled seven nations from it. Moreover, it was the Creator’s prohibition to let them stay in that land. All of this is described in the Torah, and it happens in congruence with the correction of egoism and its replacement with “bestowal.”

In order to correctly picture the arrangement of people in our world, one must imagine the forces that govern them. If the actions happen according to the Creator’s directive, like the wars fought by Joshua and David in Biblical times, then it is equivalent to the correction of egoism (see Rashbi’s commentary on Beresheet). On the other hand, if the actions are based on man’s decision, then they are egoistic! Since those times, Israel has not fought any wars where it was the aggressor.

Related Material:
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News Report (translated from Evrazia.info): On November 11, in the Marina Roscha Synagogue in Moscow, the chief rabbi of Russia, Berl Lazar, met with the director of the Ramchal Institute, Mordechai Shriki, one of the world’s leading Kabbalah scholars, and Pavel Zarifullin, the head of the administration of the International “Eurasian Movement.” The discussion was on issues of reviving traditionalism in Russia.

Rabbi Berl Lazar expressed a deep concern about the sectarian and charlatan activities among the Russian Jews, such as the pseudo-Kabbalistic false doctrines of Berg and Laitman. He spoke about the danger of sectarianism and the need to strengthen the orthodox traditionalism.

My Comment: I perfectly understand Mr. Berl Lazar: his patrons have lost billions, and therefore he also lost his share. People are getting smarter and no longer looking into his eyes so naively, nodding to everything he says. Traditionalism is in crisis. The elite is leaving him for Berg – this is fashionable; while people of sense are leaving him for Laitman – which is correct. Meanwhile, our poor Berl Lazar may remain with nothing but a long nose, poor indeed. Time is working against him! And that’s because the revelation of the Creator brings religion to an end.

Religion exists due to the Creator’s concealment, and as soon as He will be revealed to all – which will happen in our days – religion will end! See Baal HaSulam’s article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose.”

Related Material:
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Baal HaSulam. Article “Freedom of Will:”
“When mankind attains its goal, meaning ascends to the degree of complete love for the fellow man, when all the people in the world will unite in a single heart – only then will all the happiness intended for humanity be revealed in all its glory.”

Baal HaSulam. Article “Peace in the World:”
“First and foremost, each person must thoroughly understand, and explain to those around him, that peace in society, peace in the nation, and peace on the planet are absolutely interconnected.”

Baal HaSulam. Article “The Future Generation:”
“The ethical form, determining the life of every nation, primarily must obligate people to bestow to others according to the principle of “love thy neighbor as thyself.” This will be the social consciousness of all the nations. But except for this, every nation can follow its own religion and tradition, and no nation should interfere with another.”

Baal HaSulam. Article “The Peace:”
“Egoistic resistance between people and nations can only disappear from the world with the help of the Upper Force of the Creator (Nature), if we will wish to unite with Him. This was initially planned in the thought of creation. And if we will strive toward this goal of adhesion with the Creator, then envy, pride, and hatred will disappear, and we will all gather in one heart, filled with the knowledge of the Creator.”

Related Material:
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A question I received: Can you explain the phrase “falling in order to rise” and how it is expressed in action? When a person who’s been studying Kabbalah for a year suddenly falls so deep into the animate level that he does things he never did before Kabbalah, is this falling in order to rise? Is this the correct process of revelation? How is this useful?

My Answer: This is explained by all the books on one’s inner work:

• First, a person’s egoism increases,
• Then he recognizes that the egoism is evil,
• He then desires to break away from it,
• But then he realizes that it is impossible,
• He then recognizes that only the Creator can do this to him if he will ask,
• Then he makes lengthy efforts to appeal to the Creator,
• And finally, the Light corrects him, revealing the sensation of the spiritual world – the quality of bestowal and love.

Related Material:
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Globalization is the revelation of the law of connection among people. However, instead of being beneficial, it is causing problems in our society because every person desires to use the global system of people’s connection into one organism, for his personal gain, instead of the way the system is designed to be used: for everyone to use it together for the well-being of us all.

Today we are interconnected with each other like organs in one body, and the life of the collective depends on everyone. Under these conditions it is useless to be egoistically honest – to create a global government, a world bank, or a common regulator. This will not help us stop being opposite to Nature and its law of universal interconnection. Instead, we must change our relationships from commercial to integral, to be based on the consideration of others as yourself. Even the most honest relationships of “what’s mine is mine and what’s your is yours” and the politics of non-violence will continue evoking crises until we realize what we have to do.

Kabbalah proposes that we start seeing humanity as a single organism and learn about how to behave correctly in our new state. Even if we don’t change anything about our relationships in the beginning, by just studying the laws of communication and distribution in a single organism, we already stop being opposite to nature – and then we will immediately feel a reduction in the suffering.

The most practical solution to the crisis is to study its true cause. Or in other words, to learn to live in an integral society, where the benefit of every individual depends on every other individual. Moreover, we must teach this law of nature to our children.

Related Material:
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A question I received: I still don’t understand why the Jews concealed Kabbalah until now.

My Answer: I understand you: if Kabbalah is only meant for man’s correction, is a science, and doesn’t manipulate the world in any way, then why was it concealed for 5769 years, since the time it was first revealed by Adam? Is there a prohibition on correcting egoism?

The fact is that throughout all human history, there was only one time when Kabbalah was open to all. That was in Ancient Babylon, which was a “small village” where every person influenced everyone else. When society is in this state, being a single system, it necessitates people to follow the law of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” This is what the Babylonian priest Abraham urged his countrymen to do.

However, only a few people listened to him, those in whom “the point in the heart” was revealed. They followed him and received a name according to their aspiration: Israel, which means Isra (straight) + El (Creator). The rest chose not to unite, not to correct their egoism, nor to acquire the quality of love and bestowal, but to separate from one another. Hence they removed the effect of a single system, of a “small village,” from the society, and scattered all over the world.

Meanwhile, Abraham’s group evolved and grew until the time when, 2000 years ago, an enormous egoism was suddenly expressed in it. That’s when they (Israel, the Jews) fell from the level of “Love thy neighbor as thyself” to the level of unfounded hatred for each other. As a result, they lost the perception of the single system, and therefore their perception of mutual love, the Creator, disappeared as well: the Creator “concealed Himself” from them.

Today, once again, the world has reached a state of a single system, “a small village,” just like in Ancient Babylon. In this state, where all the people are completely interconnected, in order to exist (for us to survive) we have to observe the condition: “every person is responsible for everyone.” And this can only be done under the condition of mutual love. How can we attain this quality and survive? This is what Kabbalah explains. And this is why Kabbalah is being revealed again today – because there is a need for it.

It is because we have revealed precisely the global, systematic egoism that has to be corrected, rather than the individual egoism. As long as this egoism wasn’t yet revealed, Kabbalah – the science about its correction – was also concealed. But today it is revealed to everyone, because everyone will have to correct their attitude to others! This is a law of nature. Because the global egoism has been revealed, there is no prohibition on its correction, and this is why there is no prohibition on Kabbalah. So go ahead and study about what we should be like in a new world.

(On the photograph above, I’m standing on the background of the Tower of Babel. You have to feel that all of it belongs to you!)

Related Material:
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Laitman.com Post: The Consequences of Egoism’s Growth
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Kabbalah Today Article: Havoc in Modern-Day Babylon
Interview With the Future: Part 5 “Spiritual Exile”

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Two questions I received on the present state of the world:

Question: Shlama Ilelochum, Rabu Michael. Do you believe in the revival of the Assyrian State? Are you FOR or AGAINST?

My Answer: I am for only one state in the world – the State of Kabbalah, whose law will be “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Then all the nations will be as one family. This is what we are obligated to do by the Creator or Nature. We must live in accordance with the global connection in which we exist. The emergence of separate states contradicts world unity. See Baal HaSulam’s articles “The Peace” and “Peace in the World.”

Question: Many people who post comments seem to think that economic prosperity acquired via free markets is egoistic and evil. The only thing that can be evil is the intention. As humans we need access to resources to survive – i.e., food, shelter and education. Surely the problem isn’t in acquiring prosperity and knowledge via the economic market, but in the distribution among those who need it. This distribution is best done in one’s own community. The meek will inherit the world only when those who amassed resources will find a way to distribute it to those in need. Please comment.

My Answer: I would advise you to look at the materials on the crisis and its solution, as well as Baal HaSulam’s articles on it – “The Peace,” “Peace in the World,” and “The Freedom.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: How Will We Live In the Last Generation?
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