Today humanity has reached such extreme growth of egoism that we can’t even dream about kind and altruistic human beings anymore. Some time ago, we still had hope of our capability of educating and cultivating such caring people. The 20th century has put an end to these dreams. Now, we understand that the human being is simply incapable of altruism. This is a great realization, since it is already recognition of our evil.

However, now we are facing the question: Can people continue to exist in this world if we don’t become more altruistic? Today, we are realizing that we are in a common, global system – a global “village” where everyone is interconnected. With such a recognized interconnection, will we be able to survive if we don’t become altruists?

It is clear that we will not be able to exist this way much longer. We are becoming torn apart. For humanity to survive, we must bestow to each other and become like one man with one heart. Yet as we have seen historically, we have no chance to achieve this with our own strength; it is simply impossible!

But we can reveal that there exists a third force – the Creator, who can do this. We can reach the point of making this revelation and clarification by way of horrible suffering, wars, and epidemics, which would force us to reveal the need for the Creator who will “establish peace between us.” However, this path of natural development is very lengthy and difficult.

There is an alternative. If we study the science of Kabbalah, if we understand the states that we need to go through and the decision that we need to reveal, if we disseminate this knowledge all over the world and draw the Upper Light, then the Light will correct us. It will give us the quality of bestowal, which we are unable to achieve on our own through our nature. This alternative allows us to reach correction through a short and pleasant path by “accelerating time.”

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Every person in this world is governed from within by two forces: egoism and altruism. The egoistic force pulls everything inside a person, making him the center of the universe, while the altruistic force enables him to give to the outside, to other people.

However, even though this force is called altruistic, it’s clear that with the boundaries of this world, it, too, can only act egoistically. Thus, even if I give to another person, it is not a selfless act; I still expect to receive something in return. I don’t have any possibility of giving without compensation being the motivation or “fuel” for my act.

This is how man is built: he’s a machine that can only work on egoistic fuel, the benefit he expects to receive. I cannot work as an eternal engine, Perpetuum Mobile, without receiving any energy and satisfaction from outside. I have to receive energy from outside because I’m not the sun that shines with its own light.

Only the Creator possesses the true quality of bestowal since this is His nature. In order for creation to be able to bestow selflessly, it has to receive fuel from the Creator in the form of the sensation of the Creator’s greatness. This is the only opportunity to attain bestowal – to use the Creator as the source of the driving energy.

This constitutes the whole problem of the communists, socialists, kibbutzniks, and altruists of all kinds who desire to correct the world: they don’t understand that man does not have the energy to bestow. He does not have the fuel to implement this idea. Not one person will object to the fact that life will be better if everyone becomes altruists. But the problem is, no one knows how to make this happen; no one besides Kabbalists, that is, because they have access to the Source of energy!

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A question I received: If a person asks the Light to bring him closer, isn’t this an egoistic request? After all, he wants it to happen in order to feel better.

My Answer: That doesn’t matter. It’s called Lo Lishma, which means that a person desires spirituality egoistically, for his own sake. He wants to feel the spiritual world, to gain a spiritual life and the sensation of the true reality, and to see that his life is not going to waste. One way or another, life keeps going on, and no one knows how much time they have left. A person doesn’t want his life to end in a meaningless way.

From the start, we cannot think about anything besides our own benefit. Therefore, if we don’t desire spirituality egoistically, by imagining how good it is for us, then it would be impossible for Kabbalah to reach us. The spiritual path starts with egoistic attainment, called Lo Lishma, and then, as a person keeps being influenced by the Upper Light, Ohr Makif, one’s egoistic attitude to spirituality is replaced with an altruistic one, called Lishma.

This is why a person’s egoism is called “help against himself” (Ezer Kenegedo). It’s because it brings him to a state where he suddenly realizes, “My own egoism is standing in my way!” He reaches a point where he has to annihilate the same ego that always used to help him and pushed him forward. However, he shouldn’t annihilate his desires, but only their egoistic intention.

This is how a person is gradually transformed by the Light.

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Because our egoistic desire constantly develops, we also perceive the world as becoming more developed, as the world is our internal, subjective perception. As our desire grows, we feel that we become more developed, yet we also feel emptier.

As each individual egoistic desire (each person) develops, it starts to feel its dependence on the other egoistic desires (other people). At the same time, it perceives them as alien and strange to it. This kind of perception was created inside us on purpose, so we would collect all the other desires and make them our own.

It is in order to make us do this that the circumstances make each of us feel our dependence on the environment, whether our country or town, our relatives, the world, or all humanity. We later discover that our connection to the world is not simply necessary for our existence in this life, but in order to create the Upper World and our future existence.

This is why a new law is being revealed to us in this world: the law of mutual participation, or the law of mutual guarantee, altruism, and unity.

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A question I received: You explain that the reason for the financial crisis is people’s egoism, which acts in contrast to harmony with Nature. Bnei Baruch feels responsible to present the world with an alternative economic model, which is founded on altruism and harmony among all parts of the world’s society.

I am sure that there are economists, businessmen, and executives who could help us to build this social and economic model. We have to schedule meetings with such people.

My Answer: I agree with you completely. However, I have not been able to find people like this yet. There are only a few individuals who are specialists and agree with us on some issues. Evidently, it will take some more development of the current events and the suffering to make people more sensitive and ready for a new outlook on the world.

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In the News (translated from Elementy): Research done on followers of the six major religions shows that people who regularly attend services are more prone to religious fanaticism and hatred for followers of other faiths, and are more likely to justify suicide bombers.

Collective worship is a powerful way to strengthen people’s devotion to “their own kind” and hatred for “outsiders.” The phenomenon of suicide bombers is an extreme form of parochial altruism: people sacrifice themselves for the sake of “benefiting their own kind” (altruism), and their attempts to annihilate the outsiders (parochialism) are seen as “good deeds.”

My Comment: Religion is opposite to Kabbalah in every way (there is a verse that says, “The opinion of the Torah is opposite to the opinion of the egoists.”) Kabbalah directs everyone to attain love for all people. It explains that everyone is “of the same kind” – we are all cells of one body.

Religion, on the other hand, generates hatred for “outsiders,” even to the point of self-sacrifice, which is done for the sake of killing those who are not “of your kind.” This is why religion will disappear when people will reveal the quality of “love for one’s neighbor.” Religions will then be reduced to folk culture or popular tradition.

In other words, religion will let go of all the aspects that regard the Creator, the Upper World, the after-life, and reward and punishment. This will happen because the revelation of the Creator will expose religion’s emptiness and lies about these questions.

This explains religion’s strong hatred of Kabbalah. However, Kabbalah tells people that they can keep their religion as their tradition, and in addition, supplement it with the revelation of the Creator. Still, the religious leaders will then lose their main bargain chip, “reward in the afterlife,” and will become leaders of folk culture and popular tradition.

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In the News (from Science): American microbiologists have created a synthetic microbial system, wherein altruistic microbes that produced a resource beneficial to the public, at a cost to themselves, nonetheless benefited the most in the end, despite losing the competition to egoistic bacteria in each separate population. The affluence of the altruists is attributed to the statistical effect known as “Simpson’s Paradox.”

My Answer: This is taking place on an animate, egoistic level. This is not the altruism that’s above egoism, but rather one that helps egoism to continue existing in conflicting situations.

The altruism that Kabbalah speaks of, and the one we must attain, is above egoism and it utilizes egoism as a basis. This is only possible under the influence of the Upper Light, and only when one consciously uses one’s egoism, instead of the natural egoism of the animate body.

A Kabbalist’s body works by the same egoistic principle as the body of any animal! The confusion stems from the fact that all the books of the Torah, including Kabbalah, use the word “body” to allude to the body of the soul – or in other words, one’s desires. After all, the desire is the only thing that was created; it is the entire matter of creation.

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News Report (translated from Israelinfo.ru): The more Israeli cities end up “on the front lines,” the more Israelis from other regions of the country offer their own homes to accommodate refugees from the south. Right now the number of those offering help is much higher than those asking for it.

My Comment: Common misery brings people closer and helps them unite, if they can’t manage to do it otherwise. Perhaps if we try to unite without the wars, then we won’t need any!

Question: Are the people who help others in this world also egoists because they receive something in return, such as a feeling of appeasement?

My Answer: Yes.

Question cont’d: Does that mean that in this world, altruism is impossible without studying Kabbalah?

My Answer: That’s right, because one is not drawing the force of correction.

Question cont’d: Still, aren’t the people who help others in this world behaving “better” than outright egoists?

My Answer: Yes, but only temporarily, until their egoism will force them to change.

Question cont’d: Then what’s the use of helping others in this world?

My Answer: We should help others, but at the same time we have to understand that this is not the solution. It only buys us time and the opportunity to study Kabbalah – and Kabbalah will provide the correction, the treatment of the problem at the root. Then, no one will need help anymore.

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Questions I received on the upcoming Congress and inner work:

Question: What is the best way to prepare for the upcoming Congress?

My Answer: You should study the materials from the last Congress (February 2008) and participate in the preparations for the upcoming Congress. Go through the materials about the Congress, and finally, you should be systematically present at our daily lessons (held between 3am and 6am Israel time), or at least at the third part (from 5am until 6am Israel time).

Question: I am trying to find the best way of studying for me. Can a student who’s attracted to his own sex and who studies Kabbalah regularly over the Internet, participate in the Congress that will take place in Israel (to actually come and be there together with everyone)? Can he participate in the Congress preparations? Can he sometimes attend a congress in other countries?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: What is the correct way to unite with the common system?

My Answer: Through the quality of bestowal.

Question continued: Is a person capable of this?

My Answer: Yes, if he does it through a group, by receiving Ohr Makif from above.

Question continued: What kind of force is this, and where can it be found?

My Answer: Only in the study of Kabbalah.

Question: If I understand that everything I do is for the Creator’s sake, and my intention is “for the sake of the Creator,” how can I use Kabbalah to achieve my purpose in life?

My Answer: If you’re already at a point where everything is for the Creator’s sake, then there’s nothing more for you to do…

Question: How is it possible to go from external love to inner love?

My Answer: The same way it is possible to go from egoism to altruism.

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News Report (translated from Pravda.com.ua): The Ukrainian Secretary of Finance, V. Pinzenik stated: “The world can come out of the crisis if we all reach out to each other. The key problem facing the world right now is egoism. In a normal situation, egoism is the right thing. But in the current situation, the world will not come out of the crisis unless people forget all about egoism for a year. The problem is in people’s heads.”

My Comment: Actually, egoism has never been “the right thing,” but the world has never known another nature. However, now that we’ve revealed our integral interconnection in one closed system, we will be forced to subdue every person’s individual egoism in favor of the system’s existence. We must forget about egoism forever. And the problem is not just in people’s heads. We don’t know how to get rid of egoism. Therefore, humanity will still have to go through the following stages:

• Finding the correct definition of “What is egoism?”
• Recognizing that man’s egoism is the only source of evil
• Recognizing that egoism is our entire nature
• Recognizing that it’s impossible to get rid of egoism
• Discovering that Kabbalah is the means to replace egoism with altruism
• Applying Kabbalah and attaining the integral existence of all people

Only the dissemination of Kabbalah is able to reduce this path of suffering. Nevertheless, it’s nice to see that people are beginning to open their eyes! They have never done this before!

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