Questions I received on the commandments, the Hassidut, prayer and the Creator:

Question: Why do you teach that the 613 commandments are actually 613 desires?
My Answer: Because the only thing that was created is the desire, which was then separated into 613 parts. Our task is to correct the aim of this desire from “for one’s own sake” to “for the sake of others.” It is written, “I created evil (egoism) and created the Torah for its correction, because its Light returns one to the Source, to Goodness.”

Question: While you omit some commandments, you don’t reject others: you and your students wear Kippahs (skullcaps) and some of you have beards. Incidentally, wearing the Kippah is a relatively late commandment – given in approximately 1700.

My Answer: One’s appearance bears absolutely no relation to the commandments or the correction of one’s desire from egoistic to “love your neighbor as yourself” (the general commandment of the whole Torah).

Question: Why don’t you view the point in the heart in the same way as the Hassidut, which defines it as an awakening of the intelligent soul, which exists in the right part of the heart?

My Answer: The point in the heart is an aspiration to the Creator, which pertains to the quality of bestowal – “the right portion of the desires,” and the “heart” refers to the collection of all of a person’s desires. However, the physical heart lacks any desires whatsoever. What if a heart transplant was performed and a righteous man received the heart of a wicked person? Is this forbidden by the Torah?

Hassidut (the authentic one) comes from the word Hesed – goodness, which develops only in a person who studies Kabbalah. That’s because the study of Kabbalah is the only way to draw the Light of Correction to yourself.

Today the only thing remaining of Hasidut is the externality. It consists of rituals and the literal interpretation of the texts. This is why they interpret the statement, “Goodness lies in the right part of the heart,” literally. Kabbalah, on the other hand, explains the true meaning of these words.

Question: Why don’t you view a group of students as a Minian (traditional group of at least ten men) of those who pray?

My Answer: Prayer occurs during the studies, when a student asks the Creator for correction, and to help him attain the degree that he is learning about. Then, over the course of the day, he aspires for this transformation to take place, as it is written, “And he prays the entire day.”

Question: Some of the people who pray reach Lishma, even though they start out in Lo Lishma. This is exactly the same as your students! I am convinced that “all roads lead to Rome,” but apparently, you don’t think so?

My Answer: I don’t think, but I know, that no one reaches Lishma without studying Kabbalah thoroughly and correctly. And in order to understand my answers, you have to study it as well.

Question: If the Creator or the Upper Light is constant and does not change, then how could He have restricted Himself? And how is it possible that the Creator created anything?

My Answer: Constant and unchanging means that He does not change His intentions and actions – He is always “Good and does Goodness,” despite the fact that His actions seem contradictory to us.

Related Material:
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A question I received: Over the past two weeks the NASDAQ has risen by 20%, which seems to suggest that the crisis is over. What do you think?

My Answer: The stock market is a game. It can jump up without any realistic basis or cause. Did the pyramid schemers stop building up their schemes? While everyone’s thinking that they are going bankrupt, they’re actually devouring the billions of dollars that the governments are giving them, and they continue building up their pyramids, only in a more subtle way.

For the time being, the ego celebrates victory. But there’s been no real cure, no correction of any kind. The ego continues on like before, cooking up the next disaster. So, if you think that everything is fixed and back to normal, you’re in the worst possible state. It’s like failing to see an enemy that’s surrounding you, getting ready to attack.

You can be sure that in the end, the ego will emerge on top and the situation will be even worse than before. But for now, it seems like everything is fine. In the end, everyone made a profit and no one lost anything.

The fact is, there is no regulator for people’s growing egoism. Economics is not a science – it merely follows man’s egoism. Thus, the whole economy is based on me giving you the least I can while getting the most I can, and if possible, I’ll charge you without paying you. So, the economy is more like legalized thievery. Just think: what is the agreement that exists between us? You and I exchange goods only because I can’t take them from you by force. I have to give you something in return because I have no choice.

The economy is a reflection of our egoism, and our egoism is always growing. It is unwilling to unite with anyone, and it spurns us to exploit everyone. So what regulator can there possibly be?

The way to create a regulator for egoism, for human relationships is to observe two rules: “Don’t do unto others what you don’t want done unto you,” followed by, “love your neighbor as yourself.” But this is certainly not the direction economists are currently taking when seeking a regulator, which is why they won’t find it. Meanwhile, the next disaster will be far more qualitative. It won’t necessarily come from the financial system, the stock market or the banks; it may come by way of epidemics, climate anomalies and so on.

The fact that we’re experiencing a respite, even though we haven’t corrected anything, indicates that the next disaster is approaching. This isn’t a break or the end of the problem, but it testifies to the speed of the process, which means that the second wave of the crisis is not far away.

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A question I received: There are people, groups, and organizations that see themselves as one whole and close to nature. They say they love each other, plants and animals. Is this “love your neighbor?”

My Answer: “Love your neighbor” is a law of Nature, a condition in the world around us. This condition is suddenly being revealed to us now because we have grown into it, similar to a child that grows up to be an adult and suddenly has to abide by the laws of the society.

Imagine that all the media channels suddenly announced that everyone has to follow the law of “love your neighbor” by the end of the year, and anyone that won’t be able to do this will be executed. This is not funny at all – this is the condition Nature has set for us. However, we are unable to see it.

So, what are we going to do? We have to learn how to attain “love for your neighbor.” We must find out what this law means, what Nature wants from us. We cannot avoid this law – we must learn it. But how?

Through studying. This is the only means that will enable people to understand that there is no place to run and the only solution is to be corrected by a special force of Nature. This special force influences a person who desires to be corrected, to attain the degree of “love your neighbor.”

It is like a wave or frequency among billions of frequencies, and you will perceive it only if you desire it. Nature requires you to tune in to the frequency where you will feel that the only thing you want is to love your neighbor! Then this force of Nature will come and correct you.

All other attempts will lead us to a crisis, in order for us to find this path to the goal. Other directions are gradually dwindling all around us. This is called the “Egyptian plagues,” and they will eventually make us see that there is no other choice. When we find ourselves in total darkness, we will be willing and eager to run away and attain just one thing – “love your neighbor.” Where did the people run to from Egypt? Only to love, as evidenced by the unity that later took place by Mount Sinai.

Related Material:
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A question I received: What does it mean to learn the global system?

My Answer: Speak with system specialists and they will tell you about the laws that govern a closed system. Speak about multifunctional systems with biologists, physiologists, computer specialists and people who work in cybernetics. I think I still have formulas from college, showing what a multifunctional system is.

There are many elements that people study in order to understand how to interconnect these elements in order to bring the entire system to operation through the mutual interaction between the elements at any given moment and in the various states that these elements strive to. Based on this, you can derive a formula, and without the formula, you won’t be able to construct anything.

Let’s say you have a submarine that has to rise from the depth of four hundred meters to two hundred meters. This isn’t easy to do. In order to do it, you must we aware of every possible factor, such as the depth and equilibrium – there are thousands of parameters you must keep in mind. And every parameter changes in a specific way depending on the depth. It’s a very difficult task.

So what do we have to do? In the same way, we have to learn what an integrated system is and why the condition of “love thy neighbor as thyself” is the law of Nature. This notion must be explained in a way that’s easy to understand, in a way that’s simple and close to ordinary people and organizations. This is what we have to understand, learn and teach.
(Excerpt from the lesson on Baal HaSulam’s article “One Precept,” on 03.05.2009)

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A question I received: You say that the Jews were always a spiritual nation and they were like this ever since their nation emerged, since the times of Abraham. And you say that everyone was equal. But what about your slaves?

My Answer: The Jews were not a nation, but a part of the Babylonians, who followed Abraham from Babylon to Canaan (Israel). This group united around the idea of “Love your neighbor as yourself.” What united them is the desire to attain this quality and thereby to become equivalent to the Creator. Equivalence of form with the Creator allows one to reveal the Creator, and this is the goal of creation.

Regarding the slaves, you should not think that the Jews’ attitude toward their slaves was anything like their treatment in other nations. It is says in the Torah (Shemot 21:26) that if a man strikes his slave, or hurts his eye or tooth, he must let him go free. There was a prohibition against tormenting the slaves. An amendment to the law (Mechiltah) specifies that if the owner inflicts any damage on the slave, the owner must let his slave go free.

In essence, a slave was a worker who did not receive payment for his work, but the owner was obligated to care for the slave in the same way he would if he were free. Moreover, other sources say that one who bought a slave bought a master. Also, see texts that speak about the owner’s responsibility to marry a female slave, etc.

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In the News (from IRNA): The world could face a new gigantic economic crisis in 2013 as a result of a massive global oil shortage, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) said Saturday. The IEA chief voiced alarm, pointing to a drastic drop in global oil reserves as well as oil output capacities by 2013. “We could be headed towards a new crisis whose dimension could exceed the present one,” [said] IAE director Nobuo Tanaka.

My Comment: The crisis began decades ago, roughly in the middle of the 20th century. It was discussed in the Club of Rome and then in the Club of Budapest, of which I was a member. The crisis is multidimensional; it is happening in all areas of man’s activity. I have been speaking about it from the point of view of Kabbalah for the last decade.

However, people started worrying only when the crisis became economic, when it hit our pockets. We have lost a lot of time, and we have to take action now (better late than never). Otherwise, the crisis will develop and become even worse. It will continue until suffering will make people realize that they have to become similar to Nature, to become integrally connected and attain a mutual guarantee. Or, to put it simply, the crisis will continue until people begin to love their neighbor like they love themselves. Once they do, all the crises will end.

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Three questions I received on love for others:

Question: One sometimes feels a sensation of connectivity, unity, and pleasure during the lessons, as if one’s spiritual issues are actually the spiritual issues of others in the Kli and that it’s these collective deficiencies you address. Is it advisable to relish this sensation, or should we strive to restrict it lest it become egoistic pleasure?

My Answer: You should enjoy your love for others! People can only grow out of positive emotions; after all, the purpose of creation is to delight the creatures!

Question: Last night I got a strong desire to do good to everyone without getting anything in return, and I am enjoying it. And today I woke up feeling my usual egoistic, melancholic self. Tell me please, what was it that I was feeling? Was it a higher stage that opened itself to me for a minute?

My Answer: You are studying Kabbalah and the Light is influencing you. The Light gave you this inner sensation to give you an example of what you should aspire to (this is called “awakening from Above” – Itaruta de Leela). Now you should continue in the same direction as that sensation (“awakening from below” – Itaruta de Letata), until you acquire these new qualities and sensations forever!

Question: When a person realizes the evil within him and changes to be an altruist, how can he live and survive among others who are egoists?

My Answer: By loving them! It’s because he will be corrected and his attitude toward everyone else will be equal to the Creator’s attitude.

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In the News (an editorial from Asia Times):”Inflationism: Bane of capitalism” Wall Street finance was a destructive force imperiling our capitalistic system through the distortion of market pricing, spending patterns and resource allocation. …The effective pricing and distribution of finance throughout an economy are fundamental to the long-term success of capitalistic systems. …The focus should be on supporting the financial and economic systems toward a path of much less dependency on credit growth and the asset markets.

My Comment: People are still living with outdated theories and ways of thinking. Until they reject them, they won’t be able to shift to a new communications system and to build new economic relationships – and the crisis will not end.

The crisis is a demonstration of how far we are from being a global, integral, perfect society, where each member is guided by the quality of “love your neighbor as yourself.” We have to begin moving toward this state. Our delay in this development, our disparity with nature’s conditions, is what we feel as a “crisis.”

To the degree we will begin to adopt the correct, integral social structure, the “crisis,” or our dissimilarity to the Creator’s quality, will vanish. It seems unrealistic that humanity will develop this way, but nature will “force us to happiness,” and this will happen very soon!

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This is a letter I received from one of my students about her impressions from the Congress:

…We just got back from the Congress in Israel. I have been studying Kabbalah for a long time and I have been to different Kabbalistic Congresses before in different cities and countries. But I always went there alone, and I always wished that my husband would be there with me, yet for some reason it never worked out.

But this time he suddenly agreed to go. I can’t even begin to convey how scared and anxious I was about our trip together, and how many expectations I had. The only way to describe what happened is – it was a dream come true!

My husband and I always thought that we loved each other, but the mood at the Congress changed and strengthened our feelings for one another so much that we suddenly began to understand that everything we felt until that moment was just a sad parody of love…

The unbelievable sensation at the Congress of all the people uniting into one whole also came into our relationship. And throughout the entire Congress, beginning with day one, this feeling kept growing incredibly fast, until suddenly a point came when my husband was no longer there and I was no longer there; something new appeared – something that can only be called, “we.”

We even started having times when he would say something I was just thinking. I really want this feeling to keep growing between us. And I really wish for every person in the world to experience this feeling of love, warmth, joy, and unity, where you forget about yourself completely because you are 100% sure that every person around you feels same things you do – love and warmth.

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In the News (translated from Infox): In times of crisis, the large social networks are having a harder time attracting investors. They haven’t had time to develop an efficient business model, yet it’s very costly to support support networks. Projects that still haven’t brought profit to the investors are having a tough time during the financial crisis. Even Facebook is on a verge of losing financing.

My Comment: People today need something different than what the “social networks” have been doing until now. If these networks don’t shift to integration and globalization and become a means of uniting humanity based on mutuality, equality, bestowal, and love – in other words, if they remain opposite to Nature and what It requires of us today – they will “go extinct,” just like the dinosaurs.

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