Laitman.com » Television

A Nation Of Vidiots

admin_bb — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:21:46 +0000

Opinion: (Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Economics and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Special Adviser to United Nations Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals): “The past half-century has been the age of electronic mass media. Television has reshaped society in every corner of the world. Now an explosion of new media devices is joining the TV set: DVDs, computers, game boxes, smart phones, and more. A growing body of evidence suggests that this media proliferation has countless ill effects.

“The best evidence suggests that Americans watch more than five hours per day of television on average – a staggering amount, given that several hours more are spent in front of other video-streaming devices.

“Time that used to be spent together in the community is now spent alone in front of the screen. Robert Putnam, the leading scholar of America’s declining sense of community, has found that TV viewing is the central explanation of the decline of ‘social capital,’ the trust that binds communities together.

“Certainly, heavy TV viewing is bad for one’s physical and mental health. Americans lead the world in obesity, with roughly two-thirds of the US population now overweight. Again, many factors underlie this, including a diet of cheap, unhealthy fried foods, but the sedentary time spent in front of the TV is an important influence as well.

“America’s TV ownership is almost entirely in private hands, and owners make much of their money through relentless advertising. Effective advertising campaigns, appealing to unconscious urges – typically related to food, sex, and status – create cravings for products and purchases that have little real value for consumers or society.

“American politicians are now brand names, packaged like breakfast cereal. Anybody – and any idea – can be sold with a bright ribbon and a catchy jingle.

“All roads to power in America lead through TV, and all access to TV depends on big money. This simple logic has put American politics in the hands of the rich as never before.

“The American Academy of Pediatrics recently warned that TV viewing by young children is dangerous for their brain development, and called on parents to keep children under two away from the TV and similar media.”

My Comment: We will be able to change TV from being commercial and egoistic to socially useful only by realizing the need for positive social influence on everyone, which will inspire us to unite and to become similar to the global interconnection developing between us.

TV will become the source of integral education and training and will help us create a new society that will be similar to unified nature. As a result, the crisis will turn into well-being.
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What Is Required Of Us In Dissemination?

admin_bb — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:15:29 +0000

We must create our own educational media agency: television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet. We must build a system for children’s education, as well as the women’s organization. The women are ready to work. They feel the problems that are being revealed more than the men do. And they have a huge force of influence that is not being taken advantage of correctly. This is very important.

We need to turn to governments. The contacts that exist today with the UN, UNESCO, and other organizations are not enough. We need to do it massively, by relying on the words of the scientists.

There are many plans, but we can’t realize them because our creative forces are limited. We need to write daily articles and to distribute them on the Internet. We need to create short clips with attractive animation, which will explain various aspects of our message in a simple manner. But this doesn’t exist. We need many people with each of them creating a certain influence towards the outside.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/23/2011, “One Commandment”

The Media Is A False-Bottomed Case

bb_admin — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 06:39:43 +0000

Question: A person watches TV several hours a day on average. Modern programs, movies, and shows literally promote violence and murder. How is it that, on the one hand, we want to propagate the right values in society, while on the other hand, we poison people’s minds with on-screen violence from their very childhood?

My Answer: As you can see, the people are drugged, while the governments are doing their own thing. And the same is true around the world, except for countries with authoritarian governments, such as Iran and Venezuela.

In all places, media as a whole and television in particular know no bounds.

This drugging is no accident, and it will remain until the people display their attitude toward the goal. Only then will they get the strength to solve this problem. The problem is that modern communication channels reveal the evil of our lives and thereby aim us at the goal. So if you begin to simply liquidate the “good-for-nothing” media, how would people discover their evil?

We are dealing with two opposites in one phenomenon. In reality, the Creator uses this evil to direct us toward goodness, but toward true goodness and not the fake idyll of good media, fostering good boys and girls. That is not the purpose. From our end, we must aspire to correction. And our correction lies through love of others as ourselves, and toward love for the Creator. This is the only way to reach our goal. Simply watching the “good” kind of television won’t help us. For more read Baal HaSulam’s article, “Building the Future Society.”
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From the 5th pat of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/23/11, “Arvut“

The “Mutual Guarantee” Movement Gathers Momentum

bb_admin — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 18:33:18 +0000

Last night, on August 6th, there were mass demonstrations held all over Israel, demanding social justice. The central event was held in Tel Aviv, where hundreds of thousands of people came out to the streets.

Banners of the “mutual guarantee” movement were visible in almost all of the photos and videos published by news agencies and shown in the news. These banners, carried by several thousands of participants, appealed for justice and unification regardless of one’s political views. They proclaimed mutual guarantee as the highest value.

[Show as slideshow]

The event was broadcast live via radio and Internet.

The “mutual guarantee” movement was founded by the “Kabbalah L’Am” movement. Its objective is to unite the nation, in conformity to the demands of the new era, as part of humanity’s process of becoming a single, integral whole. Today, the topic of the mutual guarantee which we proclaim is being vigorously discussed in the Israeli mass media and picked up by a wide audience.

“Mutual guarantee” is gathering momentum!
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Edward Topol: Save Israel!

bb_admin — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 18:59:14 +0000

A Russian newspaper has published an article by Edward Topol, a famous novelist, screenwriter, and essayist, called “Save Israel!” Below are some excerpts from the article.

“Recently Barack Obama declared that Israel has to return to the boundaries of 1967. For most of the civilized world, this came like lightning out of a clear sky because it signaled a clear shift of American politics to pro-Arab, even pro-Hamas positions because returning Israel to the boundaries of 1967 would narrow down the country to an eight-mile long stretch along the ocean, which could be leveled by any Arab tank brigade in a couple of minutes….

“In September, meaning immediately after summer vacation, the UN will hold their next meeting, where most of the voices have long belonged to the Muslim countries. Once this resolution is passed, any aggression against Israel will become legitimate, and more important – inevitable, because Israel protected by the USA and Israel abandoned by the USA are two very different things….

“Today I turn to all those who understand that Israel’s demise (no matter what you think of Israel!) will unleash a total Arab expansion to the south of Russia and Europe and will be the beginning of the demise of the entire Christian, European, and Russian civilization. Let’s act before it’s too late and not allow the extermination of Israel! And finally, believe my words…: History has allotted just two months for this rescue operation….”
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The Genre Crisis

admin_bb — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:21:46 +0000

In the news (from screendigest.com): iHS Screen Digest, industry analysts covering global media markets, published an opinion about the fate of the 3D film format.

“In 2011 to date, titles released in 3D have grossed an average 64.4 per cent of total box office from US 3D screens, a slight reduction from the 69 per cent 3D/2D split in the first three months of 2011, and below the full year 2010 average (66.8 per cent)….

“The move shows how some US consumers have flipped in their appreciation of broad market 3D and in certain cases may believe it offers little incremental value over the standard 2D version.”

My comment: People get tired of meaningless horror and war stories; everything passes, and folly too….
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Live News: Thirteen Minutes About The Most Important Thing

bb_admin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 08:58:41 +0000

The crisis that has enveloped the world was very obvious at the recent conventions we held, including the one in Italy three weeks ago and especially the one in Madrid, Spain a week ago. There the crisis is very apparent. The masses are in disarray, and the rate of unemployment among young people is 40%. And things only get worse every day. There are demonstrations and protestors holding sit-ins on the streets, and more.

I deliberately walked around the streets there and talked to people. They don’t know what to do and are holding protests in front of government buildings. But the government also doesn’t know what to do. Everyone is confused and no one is guilty. And it’s all because we are finding ourselves facing nature’s challenge.

Work places cannot be created out of empty space. And what for? By doing that we would only exhaust the remaining natural resources even faster, ruin the soil, and pollute the environment even more. Our water and air resources will dwindle even faster. So why should we stimulate the deteriorating economy? Just to give people work? With these kinds of consequences, it’s better not to give it to them!

In Spain I appeared on the most popular TV channel during prime time. Instead of speaking for just a few minutes, which was planned according to the program, the interview lasted thirteen minutes. Can you imagine—thirteen minutes on the morning news, among reports about the most important current events! They just couldn’t put an end to the interview.

My suggestion was simple and came down to one piece of practical advice: We have to sit people down to study. They should be paid unemployment benefits (which will also be the most effective money-saving strategy) and they should be taught about what kind of world we are living in, what exists in front of us, and what kind of challenge nature is throwing at us.

This is not someone’s whim or the interests of a certain party or government leaders. This is none other than nature, which is challenging us. And the challenge is for us to change. We do not have to change anything besides ourselves.

We have to become integral and global, in conformity to the current crisis. After all, the crisis is the sensation of one’s lack of conformity with the surrounding nature. Therefore, if we correct ourselves this way, everything will become balanced out and will reach harmony. This is what people should be taught.

The interview received a widespread positive response throughout all of Spain, as well as Latin American and North America, and that’s because it really is the only sensible way to come out of the situation that has formed. And Spain is not alone. Greece, Iceland, Italy and others are in a similar situation, and there are many other countries gradually entering this crisis. And in other places the crisis is coming in different ways.

That is how nature places a clear task before us: We have to change. We have to be integral with nature just like everything else it contains—the still, vegetative, and animate levels. Man should not think that he is above nature and that he can do anything he wishes. His most important task is to consciously become an integral part of the whole.

By becoming an integral part of nature, he begins to understand what it is, and suddenly discovers new depths in it: the worlds of Assiya, Beria, Yetzira, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon, and the world of Infinity. He no longer obstructs himself from nature with his egoism, but starts to feel nature as transparent. He finally understands and becomes aware of the forces that control everything, including himself.

This is the task we are facing today. Therefore, if we desire it and use the force of aspiration forward, which exists in many people in the world, then we really will aspire to self-correction, to the world’s revelation, to exiting from the state of dreaming, from unconsciousness. Then we will attain total equality with nature, the Creator’s level.
From the 1st lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

Everyone’s Dancing

bb_admin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 08:14:34 +0000

Question: Today we will be holding a convention to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. But when I imagine what will happen there, I don’t want to go. Does that mean I have to rise above reason?

Answer: People will dance there, but you don’t like to dance. There will be delicious food there, but you won’t like it. There will be many children there, and you are not too excited about that. It turns out that there really is no reason for you to go.

Or you can imagine the situation differently: What do I care about the food, the movements people make with their bodies, the songs, the screaming children, and all the people who are there? All of this is the external form of the desire that is being awakened by the Creator. He puts people together who wish to come closer to Him. Out of the entire Malchut of the world of Infinity, He has gathered a group of separate desires in order to unite them in the future. That is why He now gives them this necessity. They don’t even know why things turned out that way. Every person has his own reasons for coming and every person imagines why he is there differently. But I came there in order to join the Creator’s desire, which is hidden inside of them.

You can sit quietly in the corner and constantly try to keep an intention of being connected with their desire. I don’t look for their inner urges, but precisely for the desire that the Creator awakens in them. This is what I need. This need is my soul. After all, I have just the point in the heart and I have to attach these desires to myself, which will give me the volume of the spiritual vessel. Then I will be able to advance.

However, if I don’t make a connection with them, then where will I get the desire, where will I find my soul? Into what will I receive the revelation of the Creator? By myself I don’t and won’t have anything besides the initial point. So should I not go to the convention? Should I let the opportunity go by?

Question: Can’t I watch the broadcast on TV and join in people’s desire that way? Is it really necessary to be physically present?

Answer: This depends on what makes it easier for me to be permeated by their desire and its outburst, and on how many efforts I will make for it. Maybe if I watch it from home, I will receive 50 pounds of desire from them, but if I go there, then even while sitting in the corner, I will experience such great repulsion that I will barely acquire 2 pounds. However, if I prepare ahead of time, and if I start dancing together with them even though I absolutely hate doing anything like that, if I hold the intention inside—why am I doing this?—then it will be very beneficial.

We all work above the desire even though we don’t talk about this all the time. All spiritual work is done above the desire, so the mind will rule over the heart.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/11, Writings of Rabash

NTV On Kabbalah Or “Growing Pains” Of Humanity

admin_bb — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:09:03 +0000

Question: Have you seen a TV program about Kabbalah broadcast on NTV, a Russian television channel? What can you say about it?

Answer: We were approached three times by the NTV producers asking us to participate in this program. But having discovered who other participants were, we had to refuse: You have to choose who to talk to.

Counting knots on a red string and believing in its magical force is beyond my comprehension. And magic spells such as “Pulsa deNura” arouse nothing but sadness at people’s late development.

But these are only “growing pains.” It will pass. Poor children! Why are they so hateful? Kabbalah talks about love, and not love as a commodity ($20 for a string). But I would agree to an interview on our terms.
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“Ask The Kabbalist” – 14

bb_editor — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 04:34:51 +0000

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“Ask The Kabbalist” – 13

bb_editor — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 04:30:13 +0000

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“Ask The Kabbalist” – 12

bb_editor — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 04:30:58 +0000

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Joy Is A Sign Of Bestowal

bb_admin — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 08:38:11 +0000

Yesterday while watching our TV channel I saw a broadcast of the cultural program that was held at the big Convention in Israel last fall. It included performances by different groups and special dances of different nations from all parts of the world where people came from to attend the Convention. There was a huge audience and a very special atmosphere, making it impossible to take your eyes away from the TV screen. I had to watch it until the very end.

I didn’t see any disappointed or dejected faces there because every person was influenced by the common inspiration and the entire hall was filled with joy, hope, excitement, and inspiration. And it wasn’t even because any special spiritual revelation was taking place there, but simply because the mood of the society influenced every person in this way. Every person that was part of it felt happy and joyful at that moment.

That is the power of social influence and it is the only thing we lack in order to advance at every moment in time. On the path we cannot demand any revelation other than the revelation of bestowal, meaning the correction that enables me only to bestow, to connect to others and not to demand anything else, like Bina which does not desire anything for herself (Hafetz Hesed).

The Creator demands for us to become the same as Him: To bestow for the sake of bestowal, and then to receive for the sake of bestowal. That is why our advancement always happens “above knowledge,” meaning we cannot ask for any other quality or fulfillment to manifest in our sensations besides the quality of bestowal. Moreover, I don’t even care whether I will be given the opportunity to bestow. I don’t expect anything in response form the Creator besides the very aspiration for bestowal which will always develop in me, more and more.

The world does not understand this attitude yet and we, too, are only gradually coming closer to being able to hear and understand what is the essence here. But there is no other way to go. All of humanity has already entered this process of correction and we have to understand that there’s no way back. We cannot stop history. The whole world is undergoing very swift development in the direction of this new quality – the quality of bestowal that will begin to rule the world.

That is why Kabbalists say that we don’t have any other means besides organizing an environment that will support us on the path to the goal and will give us strength, inspiration, and joy. We cannot receive all of this from the Creator and especially not from ourselves, but only from the society.

That is why our dissemination should emphasize inspiring events such as, for example, the cultural programs at the Conventions. This means “joining the good,” which is our motto of choice. The more programs like this we will have, which convey joy, unite, and might that has been acquired, the greater is the life force that this will give to every person.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

“Ask The Kabbalist” – 11

bb_editor — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 04:30:44 +0000

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“Ask The Kabbalist” – 10

bb_editor — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 04:30:23 +0000

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“Ask The Kabbalist” – 9

bb_editor — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 04:30:36 +0000

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“Ask The Kabbalist” – 8

bb_editor — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 04:30:22 +0000

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“Ask The Kabbalist” – 7

bb_editor — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 04:30:05 +0000

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“Ask The Kabbalist” – 6

bb_editor — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 04:30:08 +0000

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A Big War For A Little Person

admin_bb — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 09:41:58 +0000

Question: As I understood, you wish to turn mass media into educational resources as though every individual has to be schooled. But do you really think people will comply? As a matter of fact, they don’t like to study and prefer entertainment instead.

Answer: You simply don’t realize that while you are swallowing the information with which mass media are “entertaining” you, you are schooled indeed, but by a very bad school! You just don’t register it, but mass media do whatever they want with you. They reform you, which means that you are in their school, and it is educating you even more than you think!

You thought that there is no agenda behind them, no politics? Somebody pays for everything and defines in what key it will be presented. From dawn till dusk, people sit and think what the tone of the newspaper should be, what trend it should follow. And this regards all mass information. There is nothing that would be published just to entertain. Step into showbiz and you will see its policies and ties with the newspapers.

A little person doesn’t understand what huge wars are being fought for the right to control him or her. You are being thoroughly schooled day by day; they brainwash and modify you to the core.

This aim at changing a person should remain, but changing him for the better! All of us are the product of mass media, and look at our society, what we have come to. School is not only when I sit at the desk and stare at the teacher. Everything around us is a school, and all of it is arranged by someone, supported by some ideology.

Newspapers should keep being fun and interesting for the readers, but it has to have a good purpose. It requires great skill. It’s easy to photograph and publish murder scenes. It is much more difficult to present it so that a person wouldn’t want it to be repeated, which is against our egoism.

Harder yet it is to evoke in a person regret that this did happen so he might feel compassion, so that the media worked to truly connect people. The modern mass media cultivates man’s ego, everyone’s desire to feel pleasure. And we, on our part, must employ all our channels, use all our interrelations and our ties with the world to work on them, pouring the wisdom of Kabbalah through them.

And it’s alright if people don’t understand or listen, but one day, suddenly, it will start surfacing within them, and they will start talking about it themselves, clueless of whence these new thoughts came to them.

In other words, we need two things: The world ego must mature as quickly as possible, but our dissemination of Kabbalah must grow ahead of it! And when these two components, one’s great egoism and our influence aimed at bestowal, will link within each person, it will produce the right outcome.
[36422]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/24/2011, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

An Educational Channel Instead Of Commercials

admin_bb — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:53:43 +0000

Question: You said that mass media must change and instead of being a commercial tool, it should become an educational one. What will they teach and how will they raise us?

Answer: A person has to be raised gradually, by way of various articles, information, and a special approach. In other words, the content itself could remain the same, but the key is how to present it and why. Any article in a newspaper, a video clip, a breaking news report, even an ad, everything is accepted and published only on condition that it leads us to correction.

There is a place for everything, but let’s focus on how we use it: What do we wish to achieve with it, what transformations in a person? Instead of chewing on all negative events and screaming, “Look what is happening in our schools, with the police, in the slums,” we should use it for correction and analysis of why this occurred, how to resist it, what can be done so that tomorrow it won’t happen again.

Mass media has to organize human society since they are called “the means of communication,” and our salvation lies in the connection between us. They have to mobilize us all to unify and, together, put these fires out, heal all these sores that are opening here and there in our society.

Mass media must build society, rather than fish some tiny accident out and blow it out of proportion in order to sell themselves at a higher rate. We need a completely different approach and media hosts. Mass media should be in the hands of wise men that understand the purpose of creation and know what humanity must be moving toward.

They must be great guides in order to use everything that exists in the world. After all, we can publish information about anything (nothing must be hidden), but the key is how to explain it in reference to the spiritual goal: Where it is rooted and where it leads to, how not to repeat the same mistakes, how an event that took place in one region impacts the entire world, why it occurred, why there and not here, and so on.

It has to be an explanation accompanied by explanation and not merely an exaggeration of a certain accident; on the contrary, it must be a call for sympathy, connection, and realization that the world is global and we are totally interconnected.

I spoke of this in Arosa, Switzerland, as long as five years ago. Mass media will keep reporting the same news as they do today; the only difference lies in how the information will be presented, how it will be approached, disclosed, and served. That’s what the focus should be on!

It is a very delicate thing. It could be just a few lines, but they will be presented at such an angle as to point a person in the right direction.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/24/2011, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

“Ask The Kabbalist” – 5

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Open The Door To Tomorrow

bb_admin — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 08:33:35 +0000

The world is reaching the state of wanting to become unified! It has to become unified as a result of the revelation of our inner desire due to nature’s demand. That is why our mind is starting to develop and we invent things that help us hear each other from a distance. That is how we invented the radio 150 years ago. It was just 150 years ago! Then the television appeared less than 100 years ago and people invented the cinema in order to create the illusion of motion. Then, around 25 years ago we reached the developed of the Internet connection.

All of this is a result of our desire which develops and demands greater integration and unity among us. This desire develops and we cannot stop it. It demands constant, unceasing, and universal interconnection, 24 hours a day, all over the world.

200 years ago a person would travel to somewhere and then he would return. During his absence of a month, for example, he did not know what was happening back home. But today this is impossible! In addition, books have disappeared. It takes too long for someone to write, print, and send it, and then for someone to read it…. Newspapers, the news, and everything will happen at the speed of light, at the speed of electronic connection. All of this is caused by the need for our correction!

Our nature is being revealed as a single, integral system, forcing us to be connected together. What happens in one place is immediately continued in another place and everything around begins to be set aflame. Who throws the match that ignites the whole world? No one! It’s happening because we are connected among each other in our inner desires.

If you compare the beginning of the year to its end, you will see the whole world totally interconnected. After all, we have to advance towards the general correction, to become as one man with one heart, to attain the state where we are in the world of Infinity, to reveal the single force of connection among us.

That is why we have to develop our Kabbalistic television and Internet resources in this way, so they would be as interactive and live as possible. Live broadcasts must take place around the clock and people should be calling each other from the whole world in all the languages so no one would feel any separation or difference between anyone. This has to happen live, rather than being recorded ahead of time and pulled out of the archive. That way the information won’t be perceived as “dead,” but everyone will feel that it is live! Your desire lives in the present and no longer perceives what you did yesterday. It has changed, but you are trying to sell it something that’s already dead.

People will feel this so acutely that they won’t be able to watch movies! You will feel that you are not impressed by a movie that used to excite you or make you cry. You will see that this does not affect you because it was filmed several months ago, so it’s no longer live! Everything has to happen at this very moment. I am giving you my sensations, while the external form that helps us be virtually connected with one another is just a means to attain the inner connection from heart to heart! If we could do things in this way, we would achieve success in disseminating the science of Kabbalah!

This is what the whole world is yearning for. It doesn’t even know that yet, but this is exactly what it desires. A person who understands this and knows how to tell the world the right things from his heart, how to tell the world about the things it aspires for, and to do so in a way that’s not only current today, but also tomorrow to some extent—that person opens the door to tomorrow!
[35731]
From the lesson on the weekly Torah portion on 2/10/11

“Ask The Kabbalist” – 3

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“Ask The Kabbalist” – 2

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