A question I received: All my life I was a rebel against the social system. After somehow finishing high school, I went off for some spontaneous and irrational traveling to find myself. I needed that to find out what I wanted to do in life, not what others wanted me to do, and what I wanted to be.

It’s not a miracle that I discovered Kabbalah in my own way. From that time since (it was in 2005) I have eagerly studied with you and in my corporeal life, I am trying to schedule my doings by the model of Bnei Baruch as much as possible.

From being spontaneous and a constant risk taking wildcatter, through those years of studying Kabbalah, I have already turned into (at least in comparison) a decent person, and now I’m trying to build up a needed healthy frame of social status and behaviour.

I found my profession, through which I earn money like a normal citizen. I have a woman who is likely to be my wife (our relationship is totally based on Kabbalah).

My question is about university studies – and specifically during our time of global instability and multi-crises. After denying the system all my life, now I just want to be  normal, and I see university studies as a means to help me attain this “normality.” I am in a huge dilemma about this, because it’s impossible for me to just see my little life with my little surroundings without looking at it from the global point of view. And watching from there I become very, very unsure.

If I have a profession (photographer), do I need to study at a university (in international business and communication or advertising management)? Because you said that a person must go into the army, attend a university, have a job and make a family.

My Answer: You don’t need it. What I meant was that you shouldn’t give up education if it allows you to make your living. But nothing more than that.

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Two questions I received about topics for PhD research and studying other subjects in addition to Kabbalah:

Question: I am new to reading about Kabbalah and I am planning to do research on Kabbalah for a PhD. The topic I was thinking about was “Kabbalah as a way of attaining enlightenment for the ordinary human being.” Please advise me if this topic will be a good research topic. If not please advise on a possible topic and books that I can read for my research.

My Answer: I am ready to help you!

Question: What should my attitude be towards self help, self education and various learning programs when I study Kabbalah? I feel I still have not covered my basic needs, so I am listening to self education tapes about money, sales, men and women and I also study Kabbalah.

My Answer: Study what you want, but choose among it that which is most important and eternal.

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In the News (from CNET): “Kids’ search terms: Sex, games, rock ‘n’ roll” Kids search for the damndest things online. …”I think seeing how dominant the terms ’sex’ and ‘porn’ are, that they come up well within the top 10, doesn’t surprise us,” said Marian Merritt [Symantec Internet safety advocate].

My Comment: The proper education is not to restrict the kids, but to help them develop and form the right objectives and values, which will direct their natural desires in such a way that they will use them correctly.

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In the News (from The Guardian): “Atheist camp to give children ‘godless alternative’” An atheist summer camp for children is to be held in the UK for the first time this year, offering a “godless alternative” to similar religious events under canvas… The purpose of Camp Quest UK, which has been praised by the atheist and skeptic author Richard Dawkins, is to encourage critical thinking and provide children with a summer camp “free of religious dogma”…Camp Quest UK’s website says its counselors and volunteers will lead activities teaching eight to 17-year-olds “about science, free thought and humanist principles. Activities cover critical thinking, science, history, human rights and ethics”.

My Comment: The religious view of God as an angry or an all-forgiving persona originated from ancient human fears of Nature and our desire to safeguard and secure ourselves.

But the complete negation of a higher world (which is impossible to perceive using our egoistic desires but which we are in a position to perceive if we change our desires in the opposite direction) also restricts a person to the physical world without giving him an understanding of “science, free thought and humanist principles.”  In fact, the denial of religion gives birth to yet another religion.

Kabbalah explains that this world consists of two forces. Our world is based on the force of the will to receive. But an opposite world is possible, an anti-world, which is based on the will to bestow. Kabbalah is the method for the revelation of this other world to man.

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A question I received: What is the Light that Reforms in education for children?

My Answer: The Light that Reforms is an Upper force, the force of wisdom that comes from the teacher and influences the student who then asks, “What is it?”

The Light that reforms is an effect of the Upper degree on the lower, an influence with force and status, not knowledge. When the lower one equalizes his qualities with those of the Upper one, he reveals what is in the Upper one. Therefore, a true upbringing consists of constantly supplying the children with situations to tackle. Through discussion, problem solving, and overcoming obstacles in their own way to solutions, they eventually attain the knowledge on their own.

It turns out, that the truest form of teaching is through discussion. Ancient schools used precisely that method. Rabbi Akiva sat under a tree surrounded by his students where together they discussed various topics.

Other nations as well used to establish a special place where people would come to discuss various matters. They came and left freely, listened to others and expressed their opinions. Thanks to discussions and the free exchange of opinions, a person was included in the society. This form of education was characteristic of many cultures, even the word “school,” translated from the ancient Greek, means “leisure” – time well spent.

Herein lies the essence of a school: a person goes there to partake of the pleasant atmosphere, beneficial for his/her development. Instead, we stuff dry knowledge into the kids’ heads, clogging them to their detriment. They can’t stand such education. Firstly, a person doesn’t study his own self, rather he is like a robot being stuffed with data. Secondly, he’s not shaped into a ‘Human.’ That, according to Aristotle and Plato, brings great harm.

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Humanity has been developing its educational system for thousands of years, and it consists of two parts:

• Education (mind, intellect, brain): a child is taught his future profession, since he can’t get along in life without it.

• Upbringing (senses, heart): in absence of a process that shapes a child into a human being, education has the potential to do harm rather than good.

Even while learning a profession, a child should not be given ready-made explanations, formulas, solutions or anything in that matter.  He should not receive anything in its final form.  First, he needs to discuss, test and analyze the subject to eventually reveal the truth on his own, feeling the thrill of discovery. Such an approach inspires him; he is independently reaching the conclusions that the teacher wanted him to reach.

Studying Torah has always been in the form of discussions and allowed an exchange of opinions. A student is intentionally confused, being dragged into researching a task. That makes him search for the solution, honing his independent arguments. Eventually, in the process of his development, he masters the problem, while he’s “opened the book” for himself and thus understands what is written in it.

A book needs to obligate a child to develop. He needs to discover the formula following the steps of the discoverer. One must attain knowledge, not be given it, such as occurs in mainstream education.

In that sense, the Talmud serves as an excellent example of a true text book. After all, we study it to develop and not to memorize data.

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A question I received: How can we combine the new method of education with the students’ aspiration to earn good grades, which allow them to continue their education in a university? After all, our entire society is based on competition.

My Answer: To be successful in life a person needs to develop in a manner that is truly free. We are experiencing a crisis in science, education and culture precisely because we do not correctly mold the person.

Modern people can no longer make discoveries in Nature; they are not able to reveal anything because we have made them too narrow, having crammed them into strict boundaries. We have made every single person into a screw and nothing more. He knows what profession to choose to earn more money, the subjects to study in order to make it happen and that is his only goal. But this does not make him happy, only affluent.

The biggest problem is that we do not provide the child with an opportunity to develop on his own: he is not required to invent or imagine anything new. He is quickly crammed full of various knowledge to pass his tests, get good grades and to continue his higher education. By doing so, we destroy the child’s creativity. This becomes a problem – people turn into puppets.

We think that a child must be educated in distinct separate batches and within strict forms: classes, exams, formulas and so on. However, the reality is that our nature cannot stand this approach. And if we do not amend this erroneous system of education, our children themselves will reject it. We see that each new generation despises this system more and more, as we become more and more uncorrected, unable to find ourselves.

It is possible to study geography, history, math and every other subject in a very different manner – creatively. The approach to learning these subjects must be different, in a more social manner. After all, we always say that the world is “round”; similarly, a classroom must be “round” as well consisting of everything. And children must educate themselves in the form of discussions, questions and answers. The educator’s job is to assist them in transitioning from topic to topic.

It is precisely education by way of dialogue, discussion and argument that facilitates a person’s development. This is verified by thousands of years of experience amassed not only by the science of Kabbalah but by many ancient cultures.

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When people left the ancient city of Babel there arose a need for a consistent and systematic teaching in order to raise the new generation with the values of correct attitude amongst people. This originated from the science of Kabbalah. It was at this time that the notion of a school emerged. Children in that group were taught to read and write at the age of three. They learned to unite amongst themselves to attain the perception of the spiritual world. The learning process was in the form of discussions: experienced people shared their knowledge with others (including children) in groups where all could participate through questions, debate, and discussion.

The ancient Greeks, who received their philosophy and natural sciences from Kabbalah, also adopted its school format. Translated from ancient Greek the word “school” means “leisure” – a place where people spent their spare time. People came there precisely for that purpose.

It is obviously a far cry from the modern school. Today, a child is obligated to attend school to receive an education. However, a child needs to want to be in the atmosphere called school because otherwise he or she does not learn.

First and foremost, a child will develop and with the school’s help, a person is shaped. Not by dumping knowledge into his head, but by changing him, making him understand himself, Nature and human society. He has to know what to change inside himself in order to attain his life’s purpose. By changing himself, he will then understand what occurs in the world and in Nature. He needs to be assisted in that through exciting conversations.

When a group of equals gets together, age is not a factor. The teacher does not suppress or limit – he stays at the common level. The children teach other children, and the school as a whole becomes a place of communication, learning, conversations, and associations of children, where everyone can participate freely.

The science of Kabbalah teaches that a person is brought up by his environment. What we need in school is not walls, teachers or textbooks. We need to form a society in which every child would feel an obligation to be everyone’s friend and to support the society as best as he can. Such natural attributes as envy, competitiveness and ambition will help a child advance because he would be sensitive to the reaction within his environment.

If we teach one generation correctly, they will pass their experience on to their children. The descent of generations will stop, and the ascent will begin.

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A question I received: What is your opinion regarding the use of video games to teach and educate children?

My answer: I consider the use of games for the purpose of educating a person to be a positive thing, as the sole method of growth. Both children and adults learn only from games, from the simulation of the correct and desired future condition. Even the vegetative and animal kingdoms develop this way, by forming in themselves the future state according to a set of examples.

Games are a serious matter. They form the future of man. A child learns from games. He is drawn to the desire to know, to take apart, to break and to reassemble. A child sees the opportunity to learn about the world in every second in his life. We are mistaken in calling this undertaking a game. Children see these actions as an opportunity to learn about themselves and the world. Adults are the ones that waste their time in vain, not children!

This is why our task is to use all the modern means available to us to develop useful games. We invite everyone to take part in the realization of this method of education.

Anyone who feels he can develop games, write books or create anything else in the realm of education for the new generation should contact us. We have a dedicated center precisely for this and would be happy to work with all who want to take part.

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After being around for over 200 years, modern schools are experiencing a deep crisis which has been unfolding over the last few decades. Schools must become places where the environment is enjoyable as it was in the past. The word “school” translates from ancient Greek as “leisure,” which is a pleasant way to spend time.

A person cannot develop in an environment of oppression, as it causes a person to constrict and close himself off from others.  This is precisely the environment that schools present to students today. Freedom is necessary for a child to open himself up and find his own place and purpose in the world so that he is able to make these important choices and decisions in an independent manner.

This is why we have to help our children develop without any sort of limitations. Each one has to be completely free inwardly and educated by society. Children will naturally educate each other within the group to which they belong, and the group will take care of those that are its members.  The role of teachers is to organize the group.  Society will monitor the groups, since society creates order and will not allow any person or group to do whatever he pleases, as each and every one will want to be a member of that society.

According to the science of Kabbalah, this is the most favorable method of societal organization that is conducive to the correct human development. Under such conditions, the presence of parents, teachers and other adults should not be noticeable and should not be felt by the children. This method will give each child the best opportunity to develop himself to his own potential.

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