In the News (from The Financial Times): “Remember the bottom billion in our brave new world” In 1978 James Tobin, the Nobel economist, proposed a tiny tax of 0.5 per cent or less on all foreign currency exchange transactions to deter speculation and pay for development. Some calculate this tax could yield $375bn (€289bn, £253bn) annually. Even at half that amount, it is on a par with the amount that should already have been directed to development globally. This levy, even if it is cut to 0.005 percent, would limit volatility in small economies whilst generating enormous sums for the poor. It would also cost taxpayers nothing. It is a smart, painless way to create revenues and jobs while bringing the poor into the global economy. It, like the Tobin tax, is tax neutral to the consumer while curbing overproduction of carbon dioxide and helping the world’s poorest.

My Comment: This proposition was made 30 years ago, and it still hasn’t been implemented (nor will it ever be), because it goes against our egoistic nature! And if it ever does get implemented, it will only be in order for the organizers to pocket the proceeds.

There’s no getting around the fact that we have to correct our egoism. None of our actions, no matter how “good,” will help us, save one – correction of our nature. And actually, we aren’t capable of doing this. Only the study of Kabbalah will correct everyone.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Financial Crisis Is Turning Countries Into Outlaws of the Global Government
Laitman.com Post: The Present Crisis Is a Crisis of People’s Trust in the Egoistic System of Relationships

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In the News (from Spacewar): “Russia 2008 arms sales post-Soviet record: Medvedev” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that Russia sold 8.35 billion dollars worth of arms last year, a new post-Soviet record. And despite a rise of 800 million dollars (around 10 percent) in arms sales in 2007, Medvedev told his top officials to boost further purchases by seeking out new international markets.

My Comment: How barbaric are we, that a modern government takes pride in having record arms sales, in distributing weapons of mass destruction!? Governments punish their citizens for selling weapons, but then they go and do the same thing…

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Two questions I received on art and its purpose:

Question: What’s the role of arts and culture in the modern world?

My Answer: The methods and vehicles of art and culture should be used to explain the purpose of life and the means to attain it. After all, there is nothing more to our lives in this world other than achieving life’s inner purpose, the Creator.

Question: The times are changing and the situation is forcing us to limit ourselves to just the bare necessities. What do Kabbalists say about the role of artists and art in our world?

My Answer: The only things that will remain are those necessary and essential for the “new humanity,” or in other words, whatever is needed to reveal life’s cause, purpose, and the best way to attain it. Art will be Kabbalistic – aimed at the Creator, rather than the animalistic existence.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Is There Anything Spiritual About Works of Art?
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In the News (from Bloomberg): “Global Confidence Weakens as Slump Deepens, Job Losses Mount” Confidence in the world economy waned in February. Advanced economies are already in a depression and fiscal stimulus alone won’t succeed in dragging the global economy out of its mire. Central bank officials say transmission channels for their policy actions are still clogged, delaying the effect of interest-rate cuts.

“They’re thinking this recession is going to persist,” said survey respondent Yoshiki Shinke, an economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. “We can’t be optimistic yet. The bottom of this recession isn’t in sight.”

My Comment: The crisis can only be resolved by:

1. Diagnosing its true cause

2. Finding the means to correct or treat it

3. Preparing this means

4. Utilizing it

And here is the solution:

1. The cause of the crisis is our egoism, which has become global and interconnected into one whole

2. The only thing that can change and correct our egoism is the force that created it and controls it

3. Learning to control the force that controls our egoism

4. By influencing the force that controls our egoism, we will transform our world

All of this is explained in the science of Kabbalah and is ready for us to use. The “patient” (we) should use it while still alive. Just think: what would happen if a person discovered that he’s ill, and instead of seeking professional medical help, he decided that he would go and study medicine on his own? Wouldn’t it be too late?

Related Material:
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Our first book in Czech has been published in the Czech Republic:
From Chaos to Harmony

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Kabbalah website in Czech

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In the News: (from The New York Times): “Recession Can Change a Way of Life” In the United States and other affluent countries, physical health seems to improve, on average, during a downturn. Sure, it’s stressful to miss a paycheck, but eliminating the stresses of a job may have some beneficial effects. Perhaps more important, people may take fewer car trips, thus lowering the risk of accidents, and spend less on alcohol and tobacco. They also have more time for exercise and sleep, and tend to choose home cooking over fast food… In the United States, a 1 percent increase in the unemployment rate, on average, decreases the death rate by 0.5 percent…

David Potts studied the social history of Australia in the 1930s in his 2006 book, “The Myth of the Great Depression.” Australia’s suicide rate spiked in 1930, but overall health improved and death rates declined; after 1930, suicide rates declined as well … he found in interviews that many people reminisced fondly about those depression years… today’s teenagers stand less chance of making foolish decisions in the stock market down the road. In addition to trying to get out of the recession — our first priority — many of us will be making do with less and relying more on ourselves and our families.

My Comment: This is what happened during previous crises, and it may also happen during this crisis. However, the crisis will not go away until we reach harmony with the world around us, because we caused the crisis with our lack of harmony with Nature.

Therefore, we need to change. Time alone won’t change anything. I hope that the crisis will quickly teach us how to change: we have to become altruistic toward one another. I hope that we won’t just feel comforted by the above mentioned statistics, but will soon realize that it’s necessary to provide a global education for humanity.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: A World Without Money
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In the News (translated from Washprofile): What Americans really think about God and religion:

42% – God is male

1% – God is female

38% – God is neither male nor female

9% – God has arms, legs, a head, and other human body parts

48% – God has a body, but not necessarily a human body

27% – God does not have a body

29% – God has full control over everything

50% – God closely observes everything, but does not intervene

6% – God pays no attention to what is happening on Earth

53% – Christians, Muslims, and Jews believe in the same God, but pray differently

42% – The Bible is the actual words of God

37% – The Bible is affiliated to God, but should not be taken literally

14% – The Bible was written by people

56% of US residents are Protestant, 28% are Catholic, 2% are Jews, and 1% are Muslims. 3% practice Hinduism, Buddhism, the Baha’i faith, and other religions. One out of ten is atheist.

My Comment: People’s relationship with God is no better off in other nations. Humanity has to undergo many more changes to begin to feel (or reveal) the Creator as He had planned. However, Kabbalah enables people to reveal Him quickly by changing under His influence. Then everything will become clear as day and all of our preconceptions about God will disappear.

We have made great progress in revealing the physical world, which is open to our perception. But we have made no progress regarding that which is concealed from us. When modern scientists, politicians, or businessmen talk about God, it’s clear that they are no different from Neanderthals who used to worship images, spirits, and the signs of the zodiac.

Related Material:
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In the News (from The Guardian): “Genes reveal Spain’s forced conversions” Research has found that 20 percent of men in Spain and Portugal today still have distinctive Sephardi Jewish ancestry. The researchers compared the Y chromosomes with more than a thousand men currently living in Spain and Portugal. Use of the Y chromosome, which confers masculinity, was crucial because it remains unchanged as it is passed from father to son. In this way, the researchers were able to determine if a man’s Y chromosome came from a Jewish or Moorish predecessor or another source.

In the News: (from Israel National News): “Charge: Ahmadinejad Rants to Hide His Jewish Roots” Several Iranian media sources are quoting Mahdi Khazali – the son of a leading supporter of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – as having written in a blog that the president has Jewish roots. Khazali the son says that the president hides his Jewish roots by attacking Israel and the Jews, and by expressing strong Muslim religious beliefs. The accusations appear in an article Khazali wrote entitled, “The Jews in Iran.” He says the time has come to “reveal the truth” about the Jews’ role in Iran.

My Comment: Everyone is Jewish; it’s just that not everyone has admitted it yet.

A question I received: I find what you say about Kabbalah really interesting, but I have one problem with it. The Book of Zohar has a big connection to the Torah. And while I did not read the Torah, I know that it gives an order to destroy people who aren’t Jewish and are trying to learn the Torah, or in other words, it says to destroy the best of the gentiles. This keeps me from trusting Kabbalah completely. Can you tell me whether it’s true what I heard about the Torah’s study by non-Jews?

My Answer: It’s a wonder how certain you are about what is written in the Torah despite never having read it! But you’re right – it does say that a gentile should be deceived and destroyed. What does this mean? A gentile (or a non-Jew) is every person’s egoism, which he has to correct in order to attain the purpose of our creation – equivalence with the Creator. A gentile cannot study the Torah because it talks about receiving the Light, and the Light cannot be received into egoism. That’s the meaning of those verses.

For now, you still cannot be considered a gentile or a Jew because the Torah (Kabbalah) considers a person an animal until he gains awareness of his egoism. Then, when a person gains this awareness, he is considered a gentile. And later, when he corrects his egoism, he is considered Israel, which means, “directed toward the Creator.” But none of this has any relation to your physical origin!

So, you have a long way to go before you can be considered a gentile. Besides, a “gentile” (Goy) means “a nation” in Hebrew. When the Torah says, “Goy,” it is talking about a person’s egoistic qualities. And when it says, “Goy Kadosh” (Holy Nation), it is talking about the quality of love for your neighbor.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Nationality Results from the Soul’s Properties
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The Path of Kabbalah: “About the Study”
Shamati #21: “When One Feels Oneself in a State of Ascent”

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In the News (from comScore): “Global Internet Audience Surpasses 1 billion Visitors” Asia-Pacific Region Accounts for 41 Percent of Internet Users, Europe – 28%, North America – 18%, Latin America – 7%, Middle East & Africa – 5%.

My Comment: This shows how united people have become by means of technology. People are joining different communities and the boundaries between them are fading away. Most important, this shows that the world is technologically ready for a global education, so we can become similar to Nature by having a universal, integral connection with one another.

Related Material:
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In the News (from The Panda Organization): “Earth Hour 2009 setting new records in climate concern“ Citizens, businesses and public authorities in 375 cities across 74 countries have already committed to turning off their lights for one hour at 8:30pm on March 28… The list of cities confirming their participation in Earth Hour 2009 includes 37 national capitals and some of the great cities of the world, including London, Beijing, Rome, and Moscow.

My Comment: Anything that people do together is of benefit to the society and the whole world, because actions of unity evoke the Upper Light (as long as they aren’t intended to harm anyone).

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