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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News Report (from National Science Foundation): A team of researchers funded by the National Science Foundation is investigating the role of ethical and religious beliefs, or “sacred values,” in motivating human behavior. The team’s most significant finding is that individuals who hold sacred values are rarely willing to barter them for economic gain. “Our research tells us when there is a confrontation involving sacred values, then offers to give up or exchange sacred values for material incentives is taken as a deep insult…”

My Comment: Here’s the scale of human values, from the lowest to the highest:

• bodily desires (food, sex, and family); these arise from the bodily needs,

• social desires (wealth, power, fame, and knowledge); these arise from society’s influence,

• spiritual desires (revelation of the Creator); these arise from the awakening of a “Reshimo” or a spiritual gene.

Hence, it’s no surprise that we value even the “sacred values” of our world above all others. However, this does not apply to extreme situations, when the instinct of self-preservation compels one to choose the “bare minimum for one’s survival” over all else.

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News Report (from Health News): As many as one in eight teens in the United States takes a virginity pledge at some point, vowing to wait until they’re married before having sex. But do such pledges work? A new study suggests that the answer is no. According to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, pledge takers are as likely to have sex before marriage as other teens who are also religious, but don’t take the pledge. However, pledge takers are less likely than other religious or conservative teens to use condoms or birth control when they do start having sex.

My Comment: We always obey nature’s orders. We must discern where our free choice lies, and act only there, because everything else has absolutely no importance. Battling “windmills” won’t get us anywhere. We will only scold ourselves, and then fall further into drugs and depression.

Our free choice lies only in constructing the proper environment – one that facilitates the attainment of the goal of creation. When it comes to bringing up the young generation, the greatest priority is to educate them on how to distribute their efforts correctly, in order to attain the maximum, eternal bestowal in life.

News Report (from Time): “Are Romantic Movies Bad For You?” Researchers are beginning to ask whether the make-believe world projected in “rom-coms” might actually be preventing true love in real life. They found that problems typically reported by couples in relationship counseling at their counseling center reflect misconceptions about love and romance depicted in Hollywood films.

My Comment: We are all brought up, and later live, according to non-realistic standards that were invented by others. The only correct upbringing is to use Nature as the example, without believing in anything or fantasizing. This is what Kabbalah reveals to a person.

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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 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 →

News Report (from University of Miami News): Self-control is critical for success in life, and a new study by University of Miami professor of Psychology Michael McCullough finds that religious people have more self-control than do their less religious counterparts. Among the most interesting conclusions that the research team drew were the following:

• Religious rituals such as prayer and meditation affect the parts of the human brain that are most important for self-regulation and self-control;
• When people view their goals as “sacred,” they put more energy and effort into pursuing those goals, and therefore, are probably more effective at attaining them;
• Religious lifestyles may contribute to self-control by providing people with clear standards for their behavior, by causing people to monitor their own behavior more closely, and by giving people the sense that God is watching their behavior.

My Comment: In our times, all of this is coming to an end because egoism is growing in every person. People no longer have “naive faith” like they did in previous centuries. Only those who are egoistically underdeveloped still have this kind of faith, to some degree. And whether directly or through their contact with the rest of the world (the other souls), these people will also reach a point where their egoism will develop.

Hence, faith is disappearing, and religion remains in the capacity of a custom, a culture, or a framework for domestic life. Religiosity is gradually disappearing, and the only thing that can help us stand up against the global egoism and mutual hatred emerging in us, is what Kabbalah reveals to us: the vision of our global interdependence and the need to observe the commandment, “Love thy neighbor as thy self.”

This is what we must do in order to survive, instead of any other, egoistic, commandments of any religion! Religion won’t help us cope with the modern uncertainty, suffering, and crises, despite the fact that people are still coming to religion in the hope of being saved from their misfortunes. Everyone has to go through this and become convinced that religion’s psychological effect no longer works to counter our developing global egoism.

The reason for this is that religion pertains to the level of “Domem de Kdusha,” where a person in society is obedient in a natural way, like a good child. This is the level of the still, vegetative, and animate egoism in us. But today, humanity is rising to the “human” (Adam) level of egoism, where egoism compels us to become individual egoists, and then to conquer this individual egoism and unite in order to attain the Creator.

This is why Kabbalah states that religion will be reduced to just the cultural traditions and customs of every nation, but it will no longer be able to provide psychological support for the people. Faith will be replaced by the knowledge of the Creator, as it is written, “For all will know Me, from the smallest to the greatest!” However, Kabbalah is not against religion, but is there to supplement it – to fill the void that is forming inside the growing, modern egoism, and which is impossible to fulfill by religion.

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A question I received: I am taking the fall Ari Online course, and I have the feeling that Kabbalah is the only method that can explain what is out there. I am Cuban and now live in the USA, where I studied Chemistry and earned a Master of Science degree. I have a better material life than what I had in Cuba, and I can say that I am happy. But I am very concerned about the environment, the wars, terrorism, religious intolerance, drugs, and so on.

I am studying with Ari Online, and also watch the programs on kab.tv with great interest. I want to learn more, but I am worried because I don’t know that to do.

My Answer: You have to find the answer for yourself. I have no right to persuade you. It is precisely by searching for the truth that you will reveal the Creator. But this will only happen on one condition: don’t believe anyone and don’t follow anyone except your own heart, once you cleanse it of what you received in childhood and from those around you (once you cleanse it from all the “garbage”). It’s as if you were just born today and have never heard anything about this world yet. It is written that everyday a person should feel like he was born anew, in order to reexamine and check his attitude to the world and his path: “Let the days be new in your eyes” (Ve Ihiu Be Eineicha Ke Hadashim).

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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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Filed under: Israel - 2 Comments →

News Report (translated from Welt Online): The financial crisis is depriving people of jobs, savings and homes. Meantime, religious institutions the world over are experiencing a surge of new believers. When a person experiences a deep shock, he opens his soul to God.

My Comment: The psychological support of “God, from Above” and the masses of people that believe in it, along with the chance to write off everything taking place as “God’s will,” have always been very appealing to people. However, people will go through this state and outgrow it, egoistically. They will then discover that they have to make their own actions, and then they’ll reveal their hatred for one another, which is killing humanity. They will stand face to face against it, and will clearly see that it is the main cause of this “life that’s worse than death.”

Appealing to God won’t help. Only when we recognize that it’s necessary to correct ourselves will we reveal that God doesn’t want our appeals about improving the world, but only our appeals for correction.

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News Report (from Science Daily): New research by University of Illinois psychology professor Jesse Preston and her colleague, Nicholas Epley, of the University of Chicago shows that a person’s unconscious attitudes toward science and God may be fundamentally opposed. Those who were asked to use God as an ultimate explanation for various phenomena displayed a more positive association with God and a much more negative association with science than those directed to list other things that can explain God, the researchers found. … The most obvious implication of the research is that “to be compatible, science and religion need to stick to their own territories, their own explanatory space,” Preston said. “However, religion and science have never been able to do that…”

My Comment: Faith is opposite to science, which is based on reliable facts and does not accept unproven data. A belief in God is a belief in something that others said. With respect to its attitude to facts, Kabbalah is science: a person reveals a new reality and then scientifically (experimentally) researches it. He obtains data and then passes it on to others, who also reveal this reality and research it. The results are compared over the course of millennia – and this is what comprises the science of Kabbalah.

The opposition between Kabbalah and religion has been demonstrated for thousands of years. Religious people hate Kabbalah and desire to replace it with their theories, to confuse people by any means possible by offering them their own fabrications under the name of Kabbalah (whether cameos, blessings, healings, or explanations). It’s clear why Kabbalah makes religious people anxious: it’s because Kabbalah comes to replace religion, to reveal the Creator – which is the subject of the science of Kabbalah by definition. Hence Kabbalah annuls religion, reducing it to mundane social and familial cultural traditions.

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