News Report (translated from 7KANAL.com):“The Study of Economics in the Spirit of Judaism.”

The Jerusalem Institute of Hi-Technology, “Machon Lev” is opening a unique course, which will certify students with a Masters of Economics degree. This course includes the study of economic aspects of the Jewish Halackha based on the commandments of the Torah.

The Torah contains many commandments and instructions that regulate economic relations, such as, “Do not retain a worker’s day wage,” “Do not collect interest or lend out money on interest,” “Do not use faulty scales for measuring weight and volume,” “Do not pressure your impoverished neighbor by requiring him to pay back his debt,” and many others.

My Comment: If they were to take the real foundation of the entire Torah, its general law, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and make it the basis of all relationships, then all the other rules would fall right within its margins. But instead, they are just studying how to do business correctly, egoistically.

This is similar to the way people learn to “speak properly” with one another in order to avoid using “Lashon Ra” (bad language), instead of attuning their hearts to love for one’s neighbor. If they did the latter, then naturally everything they said would also be good! However, instead of correcting their hearts, they will learn to do business and communicate strictly “according to the law.” There won’t be anything to pick on, but they will still be opposite to the Torah!

This is the difference between religion and Kabbalah: Religion does not aim to correct man, since it doesn’t have the instrument of correction, the force of the Light. On the other hand, Kabbalah’s objective is precisely this: to correct man and raise him to the level of similarity to the Creator, since only Kabbalah contains this force (see item 155 of Baal HaSulam’s “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot“). This is the difference between their objectives. One’s purpose in religion is to look proper in the eyes of the society, whereas one’s purpose in Kabbalah is to attain approval in the Creator’s eyes.

Appendix: Baal HaSulam. Article, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose“

Many are mistaken and compare our holy Torah with Ethics. This is because they have never attained the meaning of true religion through revealing the Creator. I call upon them: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” But still ethics (Musar) is as distant from the true religion (Kabbalah) as the distance between the thought of the Creator from the thought of man. For true religion extends from the thought of the Creator, while ethics (the system of Musar) is produced by thoughts of flesh and blood and from man’s life experience. Therefore, the difference between them is obvious, both in practical aspects and in the final aim.

For the recognition of good and evil that develops in us through ethics as we use it, is relative to the success of the society. With religion (Kabbalah), however, the recognition of good and evil that develops in us as we use it is relative to the Creator alone. That is to say, from a change of form with the Creator, to equivalence of form with Him through the quality of bestowal and love, which is called adhesion.

For the purpose of Musar (ethics) is the well-being of society as it is understood by practical reason, which is taken from the events of life in this world. However, Kabbalah allows one to attain love for others, and thereby to reach similarity and adhesion with the Creator. And along with it man passes from his narrow world, full of pain and impediments, to a spacious and eternal world of the Creator.

Thus it is obvious that true religion (Kabbalah) is only for man’s correction. And the goal is attained during one’s life, while living in this world. However, if one has not attained equivalence with the Creator, one dies just as he was born, having achieved nothing in his life.

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A question I received: It follows from the articles “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” and “The Future Generation” that from the economic point of view, a Kabbalistic society is one of collectivism or communism, and that this is a necessary condition for everyone to receive the Torah and reveal the Creator, since only then can people stop thinking about themselves completely. Are there plans being made regarding new economic relations within the framework of the “Virtual State of Kabbalah?” Or is it still to early for it? Maybe we can implement transitional economic schemes and incorporate them into the modern capitalistic global economy? Generally speaking, how do you think the world economy will develop toward the ideal state?

My Answer: We should not change society and its institutions artificially, but rather we should correct the connections between us from egoistic to altruistic, by means of the Upper Light. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains how we can become similar to nature. Hence, by studying it we evoke upon us the Light of correction (the Surrounding Light, Ohr Makif) from above. It changes us, giving us the desires, thoughts, and forces to change everything in us and between us.

If we won’t change under the influence of the Light, but will instead change in whichever way we want to, then we’ll create a big mess all over again, like what happened with socialism in Russia and with the Kibbutzim in Israel. America is now compelled to nationalize businesses, and thus it is becoming socialist instead of capitalist. However, this is not the kind of socialism (or communism) that Kabbalah speaks about.

We, the members of the International Kabbalah Academy (the Bnei Baruch group), must do the following:

1. Provide ourselves with the necessary level of existence;
2. Correct ourselves by studying Kabbalah in the right environment (in our environment – see the article “The Freedom,” which explains what lies in our power of action).

The rest is done by the Light.

Our objective is to create a virtual society, which will serve as an example for the entire world.

Related Material:
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“Freedom of Will” – Lessons

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A question I received: You say that Kabbalah has nothing in common with religion. Then why don’t Christians, Muslims, and followers of other belief systems have books on Kabbalah? Didn’t they all come from the Jewish religion?

My Answer: Baal HaSulam writes that all people may keep their respective religions even after reaching the final spiritual correction – adhesion with the Creator. This is a sign that the external actions bear absolutely no relation to spirituality, even though many people want to attribute this to them.

Kabbalah was developed by Abraham in Babylon 4000 years ago. The Jewish religion as we know it today appeared after the downfall of the Jewish people from the spiritual level 2000 years ago. Kabbalah then became concealed (when The Book of Zohar was written), and all that remained is a corporeal, egoistic “imprint” of the previous, spiritual way of life. This is how Judaism was formed in the way it exists today. Later Christianity and Islam also originated from it.

The Jewish religion divides into the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform branches. However, they differ only by having greater or smaller limits of observing the physical commandments. Hence they understand each other, are on the same side of egoism, and work to preserve it. In other words, the aim of one’s actions is inside a person, in the intention “for oneself.”

Kabbalah, on the other hand, summons people to observe the intention “for bestowal” (for one’s neighbor or for the Creator – that is, “outside oneself”), rather than to observe physical actions. It deals with the internality rather than the externality (see item 61 of the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”). Hence Kabbalah is opposite to all religions.

This is why all the religions understand each other, but they consider Kabbalah absolutely unacceptable. Humanity will receive many more blows of fate before it will uncover the Creator’s Plan – to come close to Him through one’s intention.

Today Kabbalah is coming back into use, in order to correct man. We have to add it to our lives by beginning to correct ourselves. There is also a place for religion: to remain as a form of culture. This is because Kabbalah reveals the Creator and the Upper World to a person, leaving no room for suppositions about them. In this case, all that remains of religion are customs or traditions.

The reason why the religions are hostile toward Kabbalah is that Kabbalah gives every person an explanation of how to reveal the Creator, and in doing so it negates the need for religion. By giving people a personal connection with the Creator, Kabbalah strips the religious leaders of their power over the people.

Nevertheless, Kabbalists are in favor of preserving religion as a tradition or culture, as a nation’s framework and way of life. At the same time Kabbalah says that we should complement this way of life with the attainment of the Creator – which is the purpose of man’s creation and his perfect state.

Related Material:
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Questions I received on marriage, family, abortion, and jealousy:

Question: Today, when people’s life expectancy is so long, it seems unlikely for people to stay married just once. How can a couple live together for so long and stay happy?

My Answer: Everything depends only on your willingness to give in to each other.

Question: My husband is turning 45, and I would like to get him involved in Kabbalah. Where should I begin?

My Answer: Leave him alone! He lives with you, so I think that by now he has heard about Kabbalah many times. If he’s not interested in it, then stop trying to “educate” him. This big egoism of yours is only harming you. You should love your husband as a person. His time to grow spiritually will come when the time is right for him.

Question: Why is it that even though the Jerusalem Temple doesn’t exist today, it’s still forbidden for a Cohen to marry a divorced woman?

My Answer: This isn’t a question for me, because Kabbalah is the method of revealing the Creator to a person in this world. Kabbalah deals with one’s spiritual ascent, rather than one’s earthly well being.

Question: What is your opinion on abortion?

My Answer: I’m usually against it.

Question: Is jealousy just another manifestation of egoism?

My Answer: Jealousy is the same as greed.

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Kabbalah & Relationships

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Faith isn’t in the mind or a feeling, but a revelation within of the inner level of the soul’s essence, when its natural development is not distorted.
Rav Kook, Articles “HaRaiyah,” 70

All pessimism comes from uncertainty and doubt, when one thinks that our corporeal life is all that exists.
Rav Kook, Articles “HaRaiyah,” 69

There is one commandment: to attain the Creator’s greatness through examining the works of the great Kabbalists, in order to attain all the worlds and everything inhabiting them.
Rabbi Chaim Vital, Otzrot Haim, Chapter “Shmot,” p.57

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News Report (translated from RB.ru): The global financial crisis, which has brought bankruptcies and countless job losses, has revived the European people’s interest in the ideas of Karl Marx, the founder of scientific communism. Book publishers in Berlin say that The Capital – Marx’s main work – is becoming a best-seller.

Recently the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, was seen reading this book. The German minister of finance, Peer Steinbrueck, said positive things about the book, and even the Pope in Rome praised it for its “deep analysis.” The longer the financial crisis continues, the more confused people become. They are asking, “Why did this happen to me?”

My Answer: I hope that they will come to the idea of Kabbalah just as fast. Universal equality, the idea that everyone deserves to receive what they need and are expected to give according to their natural skills, the idea of mutual guarantee and brotherhood – these are all good things, but only as the means and not the end. They should be a means to make us similar to the Creator, come closer to Him, and attain adhesion with Him. Otherwise these ideas – they way they are usually used – will once again lead to terror regimes and a world war.

Bringing the communist idea to life was a failure because in theory everything is nice and true, but it is impossible to transform man’s egoistic nature into altruism. (See Baal HaSulam’s newspaper “HaUma (The Nation)”). This is where the entire humanity will “stumble.” The crises and globalization will reveal to us that we are tightly interconnected, and hence we must observe the rule of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” However, our nature won’t allow us to do this. We are ready to destroy one another and the entire world, because we can’t live in a mutual guarantee (See the article “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee).”

Hence, only the method of correcting human nature from egoism to altruism – Kabbalah – will help us survive. That’s because Kabbalah draws the Upper Light on a person, which created us and is the only thing capable of changing us.

Kabbalah will change man, as seen in practice, and will enable us to observe the law of brotherly community within the closed global system of mankind. This is why it is natural for people to be interested in Marx, but his theory cannot be realized in practice. To do this we need the Upper Force that corrects man, and only Kabbalah can provide it for us. I hope that people will soon realize this and will desire to actualize it the good way, instead of inflicting much more suffering on themselves.

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News Report (translated from gazeta.ru): Many countries, including Russia, received a boost of energy and confidence during the years of the raw material boom. For these countries, the financial instability that has swiftly spread all over the world has showed just how interdependent everyone in the world is, and has also outlined the limits of economic possibilities, and consequently – of the geopolitical possibilities as well.

Ideally, for powerful countries around the world, including Russia, the financial crisis can become an incentive to recognize the collective interests and the need for diversified actions as well as a rejection of egoism, which is presently inherent to all the people in the world without exception. However, in order for this to happen, people need to seriously realize that there is an impending catastrophe. Unfortunately, for now they don’t realize this.

My Comment: Of course, we can sit and wait for the crisis to turn into a catastrophe, and to bring about Nazi regimes in the developed countries, as well as a world war. This will make humanity realize our common, collective dependence, as well as the need to reject egoism. They will then look for a way to correct human nature, and finally reveal Kabbalah. But this is the path of suffering.

The alternative path is to spread the method of egoism’s correction around the world today, and to implement it.

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Two questions I received on soccer and Kabbalah:

Question: Soccer draws the attention of many people. What is its spiritual root? I heard that you once drove by a soccer field with Rabash, and he said that it is a special place because it brings joy and pleasure to people. Soccer is full of corporeal, egoistic desires of the fans. What kind of ascent did Rabash see in this place? Maybe his words were a joke or a parable, or is there really a spiritual root to soccer?

My Answer: What’s important is not the game of soccer, but that a person receives pleasure from life. And this pleasure, of course, comes from the Creator. There are many parables like this.

If a person’s point in the heart – the yearning for the Creator – hasn’t surfaced yet, then he exists in exile from spirituality,even without being aware of it. As long as he is in this state, he enjoys the small pleasures of this world, called “a weak glow.”

Here we are talking about people who are not yet ready for spiritual work. The Light gathers people together and gives them some contentment – and hence it is a special place. By being there, they don’t harm anyone, but on the contrary – unite with each other.

Question: What if I want to be a soccer player and a Kabbalist at the same time?

My Answer: Give it a try!

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A question I received: What Is your opinion on the negotiations to divide Jerusalem? Are you for or against its division?

My Answer: I don’t have an opinion of my own; I accept the opinion of the great Kabbalists. Baal HaSulam writes: “If the people of Israel will accept the laws of Kabbalah, then it will be possible to build the Temple and bring back all the past glory. And of course this would prove to all the nations of the world – even the Arabs – that the people of Israel have the right to return to their land. This will be very different from the present secular repatriation, which does not impress the nations of the world. We need to act quickly, or else they might sell Israel’s independence for their own needs, not to mention giving away Jerusalem.”

He wrote this 93 years ago, when there was no talk of  repatriation yet, or the state of Israel, or our Jerusalem, and moreover – its current division. I am neither “for” nor “against” it, because I know that the only thing that will help us is our correction. Hence correction is the only thing I am “for.”

It is also written: “If you follow the path of the wisdom of Kabbalah and accept the Creator’s teaching – things will be good. And if you don’t accept it, then you will still advance toward the goal He has set, but your path will be one of suffering. In other words, wars will break out in the world, fought with atomic and hydrogen bombs, and all the nations of the world will search for counsel on how to avoid the wars. And they will come to the Messiah in Jerusalem, and he will teach them this wisdom.”

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Spirituality is called that which will never be lost. Hence, the will to receive, with the intention “for one’s own sake,” is called “corporeality,” and it will be canceled from this form and will adopt the form of “for the sake of the Creator.”
Baal HaSulam. Shamati article, “Spirituality Is Called That Which Will Never Be Lost”

We have to work for bestowal, because it is opposite to our nature, which is “the will to enjoy.” We have to do the opposite – aspire only to bestow, and not to receive for ourselves.
Baal HaSulam, article “The Essence and Correction of the Creation”

“One who is angry is like an idolater,” because when one is angry one enjoys the anger and moreover, one is proud because he knows he is right. There are two sins here: enjoyment and pride. It is written about pride, “I cannot be together with a proud man” – and one’s soul leaves such a person.
Baal HaSulam, article “One Who Is Angry”

One must know in one’s heart that the Creator chases him just as much as he chases the Creator. One must never forget that, even through the greatest longing for the Creator. When remembering that the Creator misses and chases him, he should aspire for the Creator even more, until reaching adhesion through love.”
Baal HaSulam, Letters, p.70

We can draw the great souls into our world, and they will bring about the redemption of the world by virtue of their great desires. Everything depends on our desire to become similar to the Creator.
Rav Abraham Isaac Kook, “Arpilei Tohar,” 41

Here is the knowledge that a person is obligated to have: to know his Creator and to know himself – who am I? How was I created? Where did I come from and why? Where am I going? How can I correct my desire? How should I appear before the Creator?
The Book of Zohar, “Shir HaShirim”

The law of Kabbalah is that there is no connection between spirituality and corporeality, not in any word, notion, or letter, because the letters are figures drawn on white paper, while man is a body and a soul.
Rav M. Faivosh, “Esher Divrei Emet,” p.27

“Impudence will increase in the end of days” (Talmud. Sota, 49). That’s because this generation is extremely removed from the Creator, for people are proud of their igonorance. And he who is more removed from the Creator, is more deceitful and impudent.
Rav M. Faivosh, “Esher Divrei Emet,” p.28.

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