A question I received: What is the song we sing after every Yeshivat Haverim (Friends’ Assembly), called “Hineh Ma Tov”? It is very deep and very special. What is it about, and what is its Kabbalistic meaning and history?

My Answer: When Yosef’s brothers, who hated him, sold him to Egypt, he became the Pharaoh’s deputy. When the brothers came there to buy food, they did not recognize Yosef and he sent the Egyptians to pursue them, thus forcing them to repent for what they did to him. When this happened, he revealed himself to them, and together, in joy and love, they had a meal where they sang this song. The words are, “Hineh Ma Tov Ve Ma Naim, Shevet Achim Gam Yahad” – “How wonderful and pleasant it is to sit together as brothers.”

And it’s the same with us: at first we hate each other, but then we grow closer and become brothers!

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In the news (from The Guardian): “Scientists open doors with the power of the mind” A mock-up of a home controlled by the power of thought has been successfully piloted by a hospital in Italy, promising new levels of independence for the severely disabled. Scientists showed that people could open doors or operate lights, a telephone, a small robot and even a robotic hand by wearing a strip of electrodes on their head to pick up brainwaves that signal “interest” and send them to a computer that interprets them as desired actions. Within three years such a system would be of practical benefit to the severely disabled.

My Comment: The power of thought is the greatest force in creation. It is only in our world that we don’t see how our thoughts affect everything that happens to us. Studying Kabbalah enables you to start discerning the net of forces that permeates our world, the matrix upon which our world lies and by which it is governed, and how we unconsciously influence these forces with our thoughts.

When you reveal this picture, you start interacting with Nature correctly. This is why it is so important to study the Kabbalistic sources.

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A question I received: You used to participate in many international conferences, but then you stopped. Why? Isn’t this a good way to disseminate Kabbalah? How can you give it up?

My Answer: We are facing global problems: a disruption of the climate, mass starvation, epidemic outbreaks, the threat of nuclear wars, fights over oil and water, religious wars and terrorism, environment pollution, and so on. In other words, the crisis is becoming so inclusive that we cannot afford to keep ignoring it. We are obligated to change the situation before we’ll have to start “solving it” with dramatic military measures.

The way out of the crisis is much simpler than we think. Initially I thought that it would be possible to gather scientists such as sociologists, politicians, businessmen, economists and other renowned people who feel responsible for what is happening in the world. I thought these people could come together in a big Forum that would solve the current problem, and in general, this Forum would have to work all the time.

However, the problem is that eventually all the participants will have to reach the conclusion that science does not understand the true solution nor does it have the means to implement it! And in so doing, they would have to negate their own importance. But people’s personal egoism does not yet allow them to overcome it. The suffering is still insufficient and people’s desires for fame and glory are still too great.

This is why I stopped participating in different international gatherings (such as in Arosa, Switzerland; Tokyo, Japan; Dusseldorf, Germany; Monterrey, Mexico, and so on). I also saw that I cannot speak as a representative of Kabbalah at these forums, because by speaking as a Kabbalist, I repel the scientists from this idea even before they can comprehend its essence. People’s preconceived notions and incorrect views of Kabbalah are still too great.

I hope that the widest dissemination of the Kabbalistic idea, specifically through the masses, through the environment that surrounds every person, will gradually cause people’s attitudes to Kabbalah to change. They will realize that Kabbalah is the initial, ancient source of all sciences and philosophies. Without revealing the fact that the solution comes from Kabbalah, we won’t be able to explain the solution to the crisis correctly and fully.

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Two questions I received on the difference between men and women in Kabbalah:

Question: You said at one of the lessons that in addition to loving one’s neighbor as oneself, a person also shouldn’t be an obstacle for his neighbor or cause him harm. How does this law work in regard to women? I know that you said women are freed from the commandment of loving one’s neighbor as oneself, but what about “don’t be an obstacle for your friend,” in regard to women in particular?

My Answer: This commandment pertains to everyone. However, its attainment or implementation differs for men and for women. For men it is done in the group, through love for the friends, whereas for women it is done through working together in dissemination and helping the men.

Question: Does the differentiation between men and women, like when they sit apart while having a meal, have a Kabbalistic meaning or is it a Jewish cultural/religious custom?

My Answer: The rules of our gatherings bear no relation to any other cultures, conventionalities, or etiquettes. Everything is determined only by the goal: for friends to draw closer to each other, which occurs separately for men and for women. All of nature in all the worlds is strictly divided into male and female, and when each part carries out its function, they reach perfection.

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News Report (from Financial Sense Editorials): Andrew Gelman of Princeton stated, “The law of unintended consequences is what happens when a simple system tries to regulate a complex system. The political system is simple. It operates with limited information (rational ignorance), short time horizons, low feedback, and poor and misaligned incentives. Society in contrast is a complex, evolving, high-feedback, incentive-driven system. When a simple system tries to regulate a complex system you often get unintended consequences.”

Examples of Unintended Consequences of the Last 100 Years:

• The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria: All sides envisioned a short painless war. The war lasted 4 years and killed 20 million people, with another 20 million casualties.

• Treaty of Versailles: The harsh terms inflicted upon Germany by the victorious Allies eventually led to the rise of Adolph Hitler as dictator and ultimately to the deaths of 70 million people in World War II.

• Manhattan Project: Led to an arms race with the Soviet Union which almost led to nuclear war in 1962. The proliferation of nuclear weapons is one of the biggest dangers to world peace today.

• Richard Nixon takes U.S. off Gold Standard: The U.S. dollar has lost 93% of its purchasing power since 1971. The welfare statists have confiscated middle class savings through inflation.

• China Embraces Capitalism: Peasants in China were turned into workers (so as to narrow the gap between rich and poor), resulting in an economic crisis and social unrest.

• Cheap oil: will halt projects aimed at developing alternative energy sources and create an energy problem in the future.

My Comment: These were just the naive errors of the past, before we revealed the closed global system of the entire planet’s absolute interdependence. Today, however, any mistake made in any part of the world will lead to an unpredictable domino effect in various parts of the planet and on various levels. In this case the best thing to do is, as written in a Kabbalistic text, “Sit and do nothing.” Or in a word – freeze!

The only chance we have of making the right actions is to take into account the well being of all humanity. But this is only possible when one perceives everyone as one family. It is impossible to calculate this legally or mathematically! It is only possible to act this way under the influence of the Upper Light, which transforms our innate egoism into Nature’s quality of bestowal and love – the quality of the Upper World. This is the transformation we’ll have to undergo.

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News Report (from Science Daily): All spiritual experiences are based in the brain, according to a University of Missouri neuropsychologist. …spiritual experiences associated with selflessness are related to decreased activity in the right parietal lobe of the brain. This study, along with other recent neuroradiological studies of Buddhist meditators and Franciscan nuns, suggests that all individuals, regardless of cultural background or religion, experience the same neuropsychological functions during spiritual experiences, such as transcendence.

My Comment: The science of our world can only discern the external manifestations of all phenomena, as in this case with physiological phenomena. However, it cannot say anything about their inner essence.

Kabbalah explains that at the very center of Nature, there is Light. Surrounding the Light is the desire It created. The desire and the Light create a system of interconnections, called the system of the worlds. The most external (the last) world creates a shell around itself – the matter of our world. We perceive just this matter, and based on it we reason about what’s happening. However, all occurrences originate at the very core of this great global system – in the “place” where God resides.

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Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Spirituality - 1 Comment →

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 →

Questions I received on Kabbalah’s view of this world:

Question: Would it be fair to say that Kabbalists are the Creator’s agents in this world?

My Answer: This wouldn’t be very modest, but that’s correct!

Question: Does Bnei Baruch plan on creating a virtual society?

My Answer: That is exactly what Bnei Baruch is doing: correcting ourselves and educating the world.

Question: I am Catholic. Do I need to change my religion in order to study Kabbalah?

My Answer: No.

Question: Does wearing the Star of David around your neck carry any significance?

My Answer: None that’s spiritual.

Question: What should be done if a person has cancer, suffers from terrible pains, and wants to commit suicide?

My Answer: They should receive medication.

Question: What is your opinion on self-defense and martial art? Does a person have a right to protect himself against violence? And do nations have the same right – i.e., are there “just wars?”

My Answer: Yes.

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A question I received: What stages will we have to go through to get to the end of the crisis?

My Answer:
1. Economists and manufacturers believe that apparently, the crisis is necessary in order to “change” our world: to rid us of excess manufacturing facilities, to shift to new technologies and means of production, to raise the consumers’ qualification when it comes to assimilating the newest forms of production and services. This is why the crisis has to go through the stages that it does: restriction of production, optimization of business, implementation of new technologies, elimination of physically and morally outdated products, cautious growth and assimilation of new products.

2. Kabbalah says that the crisis will change our society: every person will assume his objective, rational place in the integral human society. This will happen by virtue of one’s desire to receive what one needs and to give everything that one can. One will enjoy the well-being of the society and the revelation of the Upper Source of fulfillment, the Creator, which is revealed through “love for one’s neighbor.” The path can be long and difficult, one of wars and famine (this is the natural egoistic development), or it can be quick and pleasant, by means of revealing the Creator and His plan, and by coming closer to Him (the Kabbalistic development).

See the article “Freedom of Will” and others.

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Questions I received on parallel universes, the Zeitgeist movie, the year 2012, and Jesus:

Question: On a show called “The Universe,” scientists explain the possibility of parallel universes and that they will soon be able to mathematically prove their existence. I know these worlds aren’t the spiritual ones we learn about in Kabbalah, but is it possible that for every spiritual world that exists, there is a corporeal universe – parallel to this one – that also exists in direct relation to each spiritual world? And if so, and also given the fact that all of creation exists for the purpose of correction, could other corrections be occurring simultaneously on these other parallel corporeal universes?

My Answer: There is nothing in existence besides what is described by Kabbalah: our world and the five spiritual worlds. See Talmud Eser Sefirot and Baal HaSulam’s drawings.

Question: I read your blog post where somebody asked you about the Zeitgeist movie. I watched that movie as well, and I’m shocked because I saw many Kabbalistic ideas in it. I really encourage you to watch it. I would like to know your opinion about it – similar to that about the movie “What the Bleep Do We Know!?”

My Answer: I tried to watch it, but couldn’t keep going after a few minutes…

Question: I have read and watched numerous things that had dealt with the year 2012. 2012 was said to be “the end of the world.” I also read that by December 21st, 2012, it will be a new age and the attainment of the highest individual human potential. Does this have anything to do with Kabbalah?

My Answer: No. Everything depends exclusively on us – and on you!

Question: Some teach that Jesus is the middle line, yet I strongly believe that he does not move like a Kabbalist. I wanted to know if I was right or not to feel this way about Jesus?

My Answer: Kabbalah speaks only about the Creator and man, about how man can attain the Creator.

Related Material:
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