A question I received (from a student in Russia): Aren’t you happy about “the end of America?”

My Answer: Unlike you, I cannot revel in hearing news about the crisis in the USA nor rejoice at this being God’s punishment for their pride, because I respect the people who have built such a powerful country with their own hands, without outsourcing it. I don’t believe in a polar world; I know that the world is round and that’s the only way it can be.

In order to be a great country, it is necessary to have influence in the world: capital, technology, developed sciences, and a perfect system of government, instead of manipulating people through fear. I look at the world objectively, from above, and I feel sad about the suffering that’s to come. I don’t feel any animalistic pleasure from this.

However, you will soon be disappointed, because America will live through the crisis. It’s more flexible than other countries and will be able to re-adapt more easily. The collapse of the Western civilization and the end of the world as we know it will force all of us to change. Those who are smart won’t be too squeamish to study Kabbalah, and they will suffer less and recover faster. This is what I wish for everyone – including the Russian people.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Why Was America Hit First?
Laitman.com Post: The US Market – A Chance for Recovery
Laitman.com Post: Obama: A Chance for Hope or Another Disappointment?

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →

A question I received: Why do you say that the word Mashiach (Messiah) originates from the word Lishmoch – to pull? I think it originates from the word Limshoach – to anoint, and it refers to one who is anointed for service.

My Answer: To be anointed means to draw the Upper Light of Hochma upon a person. In our world, this Light is represented by oil. This is how a person ascends to a level required to serve the Creator.

This procedure was done by a prophet who was on such a high level that he could pull a person up to the spiritual level of service to the Creator. Kabbalah doesn’t talk about “whom, how and with what to anoint,” but tells us about the essence of this phenomenon: about the reception of the Upper Light that actually gives a person the force and right to be God’s anointed, to be close to the Creator. I “translate” these words to get directly to the essence of what is happening.

By the way, these letters are interchangeable in Hebrew. However, if you feel more drawn to corporeal anointment, then you should read the non-Kabbalistic explanations. Everything written in the Torah can be understood directly, as physical actions, and/or according to its true, inner meaning. Still, by understanding the text literally, one does not reveal its true meaning. It is because the Mashiach is the force of liberation from egoism, and not a person.

It says in the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar, Item 70: “Alas, these people, who make the spirit of the Messiah vanish from the world, so as never to return, make the Torah dry, without the moist of mind and knowledge, for they confine themselves to the practical part of the Torah, and do not wish to try and understand the wisdom of Kabbalah, to know and educate themselves in the secrets and the reason behind the Torah and Mitzvot…”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Coming of the Messiah
Laitman.com Post: The Messiah – the Force that will Correct the World
The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya”, items 57-60

Filed under: Torah - No Comments →

Three questions I received on Kabbalistic texts:

Question: If Kabbalah lifts man above his animate and psychological levels, how are the Kabbalistic texts emotional?

My Answer: Because of the force of the Upper Light that they evoke, since they speak about the Upper World.

Question: Can a person cross the Machsom without knowing the structure of the spiritual worlds and without understanding the Talmud Eser Sefirot, but by just evoking the Surrounding Light?

My Answer: A person does not have to understand the Talmud Eser Sefirot in his mind in order to cross the Machsom, but he does have to strive to find out how he is governed and where is his root. For more on this, see item 155 of the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot.”

Question: What books should a husband and wife read together and separately?

My Answer: They should read the parts of the Kabbalistic materials that they like reading. It’s best to read together for up to half an hour a day, and even better to do it every day.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Which Books Should One Read to Learn Kabbalah?
Laitman.com Post: How to Read The Book of Zohar
Article: Kabbalistic Texts Contain a Unique Quality that Ensures a Successful Partnership

Filed under: Spirituality - 1 Comment →

News Report (from The UK in the USA): The Prime Minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, believes that the global financial crisis can become a catalyst for the creation of a new global society, one that is united through shared aspirations. He is calling upon all the world leaders to start laying the foundations for the new global order.

In his annual foreign policy speech to the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “Historians will look back and say this was no ordinary time but a defining moment: an unprecedented period of global change, a time when one chapter ended and another began – for nations; for continents; for the whole world.”

My Comment: This shows us how suffering helps people to understand the things taking place. However, it’s also possible for everything to happen without the suffering, through conscious understanding of the world’s development. Then we would strive toward a good future ourselves, with a sensation of comfort, by anticipating a bright future instead of being “pushed to happiness” by the blows of nature.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: War Is No Solution
Laitman.com Post: What Will Happen If Countries Draw National Boundaries on the Internet?

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →

Two questions I received on spiritual perceptions:

Question: On one hand you say that there is no connection between the soul and the corporeal body, that these are two parallel worlds. On the other hand you says that there’s no such thing as this world and that world, that everything is united, and our current reality is the lowest part of the spiritual world which is revealed in our sensations for the time being. Does this mean that the corporeal body is also the soul or spirit?

My Answer: Of course, this world is what we perceive in our smallest desire. The rest of our desires are concealed from us, and become revealed to the degree that we progress toward spirituality. What becomes revealed in them is called “the Upper World.”

At the same time, all of one’s desires remain. This is why a Kabbalist retains the sensation of our world, but this sensation is also complemented by the sensation of another world – the Upper World. And at the end of all the corrections, all the worlds “fold up” into one – the World of Infinity.

Question: While listening to your lessons I have this thought that the Upper World is concerned only with our reaction to everything that happens to us, and what it (the Upper World) sends us. Is this correct?

My Answer: That’s absolutely correct, and how to correctly react to the Creator’s influence is exactly what we study. It is a process of attaining Him and achieving equivalence with Him.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Reality Is Imaginary
Laitman.com Post: Perception of the World
Laitman.com Post: How Will We Know That the Revelation of the Upper World Is Not an Illusion?

Filed under: Perception - No Comments →

A question I received: Lately I need to listen to the lessons and read materials on Kabbalah just like I need to eat and drink. Every day I feel as though I just cannot go on if I don’t do it. When I study, I feel great for the rest of the day. But then when evening comes, I have to study some more, or otherwise I will feel like I’ve lost something. What is going on? Is this to my advantage or do I have to overcome these feelings?

My Answer: We were created in this world in order to reveal the Upper World while living in this world, and then we will exist in both worlds as one. Hence, according to Nature’s plan, we must devote all of our free time (free from acquiring the necessary things for existence) to the revelation of the second part of our existence – the Upper World. We must enter the Upper World before our physical bodies die, and then continue to exist there even after our bodies die. If we don’t do this in time, then we will continue the revelation of the second, concealed part of our life in the next life cycle.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Today’s Souls Cannot Be Suppressed

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

A question I received: What is ”The New Society” written by Rav Ashlag? This is almost word for word the Communist Manifesto:

1. The acceptance of the religion of “love thy neighbor as thyself” (meaning the religion is “love thy neighbor as thyself”!).
2. A just distribution of the profits, so that each works according to his skills and receives according to his needs.
3. Private property exists, but its owner must not profit from it more than he really needs.
4. Property owners will be under public supervision, or under self-trusteeship, or through bookkeeping.
5. The unemployed will receive their needs equally with the employed.
6. Profits will be utilized for building public assets.

Question: Why does Kabbalah preach Communism when it has been proven that it does not work?

My Answer:
1. “Love thy neighbor as thyself” is the general law of nature, since nature is a single organism.
2. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” is the law by which any interconnected system operates.
3. The owner benefits from realizing himself for the sake of the society because he receives respect and dignity.
4. He remains under the supervision of society until he rises to a degree above his egoism in every respect.
5. Those who are unemployed for reasons that are not in their control will receive the same as everyone else.
6. All the profits, except those necessary for every person to live, are collective and will be used for the benefit of the entire system.

The difference between this and the Soviet structure is that every person receives the Upper Reward for the common unity – adhesion with the Creator, an eternal and perfect existence! This is the reason why people will observe the commandment of “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” with everything it implies.

However, humanity will come to these conditions gradually and willingly, not by force. That’s because the revelation of the concealed world gives people the strength and the desire to exist in it!

Filed under: Society - 2 Comments →

Two questions I received on people who don’t study Kabbalah:

Question: Those who feel the point in the heart are already receiving blows of fate in order to make them follow the designated path. But what about everyone else?

My Answer: Everyone is pushed toward the goal of creation by blows of fate because we go through a part of the path – before revealing the point in the heart – unconsciously, by means of blows and running away from the suffering. However, after the point in the heart is revealed in us, we still receive the blows, but gradually we discover the cause behind them and their purpose.

From that moment on, we must already aspire to the goal (the Creator) consciously and through our own additional desire – a desire that isn’t received from above, but from our environment (the group).

Question: As far as I can tell, there is no group in France that’s close to me. Are there any plans to establish one? I am new to Kabbalah and feel a bit lonely sitting in front of the computer screen by myself, even though there are other students in my country who feel the same way.

My wife is not against me studying Kabbalah. She says that it’s ok because it’s kind of “biblical.” However, I am already afraid that the community will influence her and she will blame me for engaging in “satanic” things. How should I react to this? I am sure that it will be a struggle, but I don’t want to stop studying Kabbalah.

My Answer: The global connection between all people that’s being revealed in the world, and the nonconformity (and opposition!) of human relationships to it, will bring about such immense blows of Nature upon humanity – from climatic to economic – that people will quickly discover that Kabbalah’s method to change the world for the better is unique.

However, we should try by all means to inform people today about the reason for the crises and suffering, in order to shift humanity’s development from the path of suffering to the path of conscious correction. Then the suffering will be replaced by Nature’s favorable treatment of humanity.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Let Others Mature On Their Own
Laitman.com Post: Who Can I Talk to About Kabbalah?

Filed under: Suffering - No Comments →

During the international children’s lesson that was held on 10.10.2008, we talked about prayer. Prayer is the most secret, concealed desire in one’s heart. It hides so deep down in our hearts that we don’t even feel it. But precisely this desire has a connection with the Creator, or we can say that the Creator dwells inside this desire.

In order to reveal the Creator, we must reveal this desire for Him. But how can we influence this desire? A person cannot reach it himself, but only through the environment (the group). He evokes all sorts of influences from the environment, which make his desire for the Creator, for love and bestowal, grow. In fact, these influences have a direct effect on one’s heart.

In this manner, through the group, one can evoke such a great desire for love and bestowal in his heart that it will become similar to the Creator in the minimum degree, and then he will immediately sense the Creator within it. This is the meaning and purpose of prayer – to gradually reveal the Creator in one’s heart!

no images were found

During the following international children’s lesson, held on 10.17.2008, we talked about blessings. A blessing is a sensation of gratitude that involuntarily appears in one’s heart. It is gratitude for the corrections that take place within a person under the influence of the Creator’s Light:

“Blessed are you, Ruler of the world… Who opens eyes to see the Upper World… Who spreads the earth (the desire to receive) upon the waters (the desire to bestow)… Who gives the heart the understanding to distinguish day (the Upper Light, the quality of bestowal) from night (egoism)… Who clothes the naked (with the Light of Hassadim, in which the Light of Hochma is revealed)… and so on.

Filed under: Children - No Comments →

A question I received: I’ve noticed an obvious growth in the number of women studying Kabbalah, and I’ll be honest: this makes me very happy! Is this happening because their desires are increasing?

My Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed from humanity for millennia in order to allow humanity to develop their egoism and finally reveal the global egoism – the “small village” where all people are completely interconnected. As long as Kabbalah was concealed, it was passed down only through men, because in our world a man represents the quality of bestowal, and a woman – the quality of reception.

However, as soon as we reached the level of global egoism – which is how our souls are connected inside the system of the single soul of Adam – the wisdom of Kabbalah started being revealed to everyone, because it is the method to correct our common egoism, which is represented by the woman in our world.

This is why more women than men are attracted to the study and application of Kabbalah. However, this cannot be done without the male part because it is precisely the male part that evokes the Light’s influence, but it does so by using the female desire and hence draws the Light onto both of them. This is similar to how a woman takes care of the home and children while a man acquires the means to realize the woman’s desires.

Related Material:
Kabbalah & Women

Filed under: Women - No Comments →