News Report (from PRNewswire): NEW YORK, Oct. 2 — In the wake of the collapse of major investment banks and the government’s proposed bailout of financial institutions, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is reporting a dramatic upsurge in the number of anti-Semitic statements being posted to Internet discussion boards devoted to finance and the economy.

Hundreds of anti-Semitic posts regarding Lehman Brothers and other institutions affected by the sub prime mortgage crisis have been submitted to discussion boards dealing with finance, with many more arriving by the minute. The messages rail against Jews in general, with some charging that Jews control the government and finance as part of a “Jew world order” and therefore are to blame for the economic turmoil.

My Comment: “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” items 66-71, (summary):

When the people of Israel make efforts to elevate the soul, then the nations of the world recognize this and value them. But when the people of Israel lower the greatness of spirituality, they cause the nations of the world to prevail over them, to accuse and humiliate them.

Spirituality can only be elevated through the study of Kabbalah. Then the nations of the world acknowledge that Israel is special, because it has the method to correct the world. But when the people of Israel do not engage in elevating the goal of creation, then the nations of the world degrade them, considering them useless and harmful to the world.

Hence, Israel’s fate depends only on the study of Kabbalah, and its entire descent was caused by the neglect of Kabbalah. Woe to them who neglect Kabbalah - their actions cause hunger, poverty, war, violence, pillage, killings and destruction in the world.

The Talmud says, “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.”

The Tikkuney Zohar says: “Woe to them who cause poverty and ruin and robbery and killings in the whole world.”

But if they will reveal the method of correction to themselves and the world, then all the nations of the world will recognize the importance of Israel and they shall carry out the words: “And the nations of the world shall take Israel, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall posses them in the land of the Lord” ((Isaiah 14:2). And the words of The Book of Zohar will come true: “That through this composition, which is The Book of Zohar, they will be freed from spiritual exile by the Creator’s mercy” (Nasah 124). Amen!

Additional Comment: However, it’s also possible for things to take a different turn. The “patriotic” forces of every country, combined with the middle class that has fallen into poverty, may create a situation similar to Germany in 1929, when people will start demanding a powerful centralized government and compensation for their degraded state. This is how Fascism and Nazism arise.

Baal HaSulam writes about this alternative to the path of Kabbalah in the book “The Future Generation.” Russia is perhaps closest to this than any other country.

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 The Role of the Nation of Israel [4:31m]: Play Now | Download

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Two questions I received on inner work:

Question: As parts of one soul, we all depend on each other whether we’re aware of it or not. But every person contains the whole world. What is the measure of the dependency between us? Should we increase it or should we see ourselves as individuals and only unite our points in the heart?

My Answer: We should only unite our points in the heart, because all our other desires are for corporeal things. By uniting our aspirations for spirituality, we create the vessel in which the Light, the Creator becomes revealed.

Question: How does the system of mutual guarantee of the World Kli become expressed in practice, at times when one is not involved in the group work (study, dissemination, congresses, and so on), but is occupied with the necessities (work, family, and so on)?

My Answer: If a person takes proper care of his spiritual advancement in his spare time, then he provides himself with support that will sustain him on the right track during the rest of the time as well. Our world formed as a result of the descent of the Upper Forces, and it completely corresponds to the thought of creation and its purpose, provided that we use it correctly. That is, if we connect the thought with the goal, or in other words, implement the goal, going from the thought to the goal.

We have been given all the conditions - the body and its short life, including all the conditions of existence such as family and the efforts we have to make to sustain the life of the body, as well as all the disturbances and developmental forces. All of this only seems corporeal to us, but in reality this is how spiritual forces present themselves to us at their minimal level. We only have to “blend” into this picture correctly and complete the “empty space” in it with our free actions. At the end of the day everything comes down to uniting our aspirations to the Creator - to bestowal or love for one’s neighbor. We try doing this and then see that we can’t. We then ask for help, and the Creator corrects us!

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 On the Demand of Arvut: Play Now | Download

 

 On the Demand of Arvut: Play Now | Download

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Two questions I received on why women don’t stay loyal to their partners:

Question: My girlfriends and I have been wondering why one man is never enough for a woman? Why is it that even if he studies Kabbalah, she loses interest in him after a while and starts looking for someone new? Isn’t monogamy natural for a woman? As a wife and a mother, isn’t she supposed to be faithful - a loyal companion for her man? So where does this desire come from to be with new men all the time? What should a woman do with this desire, and how can she change so as to be in harmony with nature?

My Answer: I think that you are disillusioned in your men. Apart from the minimal corporeal needs, fulfillment can only be spiritual. So find a man with whom you can study the book Shamati – and you will never leave him!

Question: Could you please comment on the following news report from Ethology.ru: The managers of the IllicitEncounters.com dating website made an interesting observation. In their opinion, the economic recession and men’s bankruptcy is causing more married women to register on their site in order to find extra-marital affairs. This phenomenon opens up a broad field for further research on how a woman instinctively behaves in the areas of family and intimate relations.

My Answer: The phenomenon is indeed instinctive, egoistic, animate, and natural. There is nothing strange about it. A female chooses a partner by his ability to provide for her and her offspring. In the animal kingdom, the female chooses the partner by his strength, rather than how handsome he is or because he has a “good heart” – the way people do in the movies.

Egoism is our only force. If you want something else instead, then ask the Creator to give you the opposite force – the force of bestowal. There are no other forces in nature!

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A question I received: Free will does not exist in this world, but only environmental pressures. The only free choice that exists is which group of people one wishes to associate with. One must recognize oneself as a wretched egoist - and not only as an egoist, but as the worst of the worst ilk that has ever walked this glorious planet. One cannot get to appreciate the extent of one’s abhorrent nature without the help of Ohr Makif (the Surrounding Light), which descends on us during the study of Kabbalah. When one perceives oneself as this grotesque creature, this results in prayer, and one is then granted by the mercy of the Creator freedom from one’s evil inclinations, and becomes one with the Creator.

Now for my question: Given the fact that free will does not exist, how can an individual rationally see oneself as the worst? Yes, one may come to recognize that one is at odds with the Creator, but how and why is it necessary to come to realize that one is the worst of the worst of the worst? Would it not suffice to just see oneself as an egoist, like the other egoists? Why the worst? And how can one believe that of oneself when one is aware that free will does not exist?

My Answer: Only a new, spiritual environment will give you the confidence and forces to demand the Light of Correction. Then, in this Light you will discover that you are the only evil egoist who is harming everyone. However, rather than making you depressed, this realization will give you a push to demand the Light of Correction from the Creator.

On the other hand, if the environment will not give you the force to do this and the importance of the goal, then upon discovering your egoistic qualities as evil, you will fall into depression and despair.

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 Where Is Our Freedom [2:04m]: Play Now | Download

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Questions I received on faith above reason, belief in oneself, and the purpose of suffering:

Question: Sometimes this world looks so wonderful, but in spite of it I try to hold on to the point in the heart. Is this the meaning of advancing with “faith above reason?”

My Answer: “Faith above reason” means “bestowal above reception.” It’s when you prefer to be inside the quality of bestowal in spite of the egoism that weighs you down, regardless of all its pleasures. Your entire reward lies only in remaining in this state, because it pleases the Creator, even though no one knows anything about what you are doing, and no one will find out.

Question: Why don’t I believe in myself? I am stuck in this.

My Answer: That’s good - rely on us!

Question: I don’t understand why the Creator is giving me so much suffering in the corporeal world. How can I unite with Him in this state?

My Answer: He wants you to come close to Him precisely from this state, and hence He gives you an aspiration toward Him. See the article “There Is None Else Besides Him.”

Question: How do we overcome despair, blows of fate, and hopelessness that haunt us on the path to the spiritual world?

My Answer: By receiving support from the group in study, dissemination, and revelation of the fact that the Creator is one - that “There is none else besides Him,” that He is Good and does only good.

Question: Two months ago I studied Kabbalah a lot, but now I am in a descent. Over the last month I started feeling a need for respect and honor. Before I do anything, I prepare ahead of time to acquire respect and honor. What should I do?

My Answer: You are advancing wonderfully: it’s taken you just two months to start seeing your true nature! Be grateful for the realization of evil and start trying to correct it. You will soon learn that this is impossible to do, and then you will ask the Creator to help you do this!

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Two questions I received on the ego:

Question: What does it mean to hate the ego? Before we cross the Machsom, our entire nature is the ego. So doesn’t this mean that I’m supposed to hate myself?

My Answer: Kabbalah speaks to those people who start feeling a duality inside them: the ego that desires this world, and a point in the heart, which aspires toward the Upper World. Kabbalah helps one turn this point into a vessel for the reception and perception of the Upper World.

Question: During the morning lessons you often speak about the meaning of difficulties (the “guards”) that we receive. But what is the Creator’s objective in giving us success in corporeal things, such as a promotion at work, a perfect grade on an exam, and so on? The ego gets blown up when this happens. Should I try to suppress it or “go with the flow” of the success?

My Answer: You should control it: your actions should be determined by the importance of life’s meaning. And you shouldn’t refuse success at work or school. The intention of attaining the Creator does not conflict with career.

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 We Shouldn׳t Fight Egoism [02:03m]: Play Now | Download

 

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Two questions I received on love:

Question: What is “the suffering of love”?

My Answer: There is no love in our world. What we call love is the aspiration for pleasure, or to be fulfilled by pleasure. In other words, corporeal love is one’s attitude to that which gives one pleasure. It is measured by the degree of one’s fulfillment from the source of love.

Spiritual love works differently. It’s when a person rises above his egoism and no longer depends on it. He then begins to perceive the desires of others as his own, and unites with the entire desire that was created by the Creator (with the common soul, Adam).

Once he acquires this property of bestowal and concern for fulfilling desires outside of him, he then finds the Creator - the general quality of love, inside this common desire. In this case, “the suffering of love” is when one suffers because he still doesn’t love the Creator, or in other words – because he is not inside the property of bestowal completely.

Question: If spiritual love can only be felt toward one’s neighbor, then it is probably impossible to love those who are not part of my close environment (spiritually speaking)? And when we say “love for others” this means that we understand the egoistic nature of others and realize that these egoistic qualities are temporary?

My Answer: That is absolutely correct. But in addition, it’s also necessary to provide them with a way to become acquainted with Kabbalah in a form suitable for them, and to put it in front of them discretely, so that as soon as their “point in the heart” (a desire for something other than this world) will surface, they can immediately discover the means to fulfill it.

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 Kabbalah Dissemination [03:03m]: Play Now | Download

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Questions I received on Maaser:

Question: What should I do if I want to pay Maaser (a 10th of my salary), but my wife is against it because she doesn’t study Kabbalah?

My Answer: If she did study Kabbalah, then she wouldn’t be against it. She would pay it herself and would even force you to do the same. So decide for yourself, and keep in mind that there is no spiritual advancement without separating the 10%.

Question: Whose money supports the Kabbalah Academy?

My Answer: Only the Maaser that’s collected from the Bnei Baruch members – and no external donations!

Question: I was wondering, if I get the Maaser back from taxes at the end of the year (because I described it as charity or donations) will it count spiritually? Because at the end, I didn’t give anything at all because I get it back!

My Answer: You have to give everything you get back to the group’s fund, as the government Maaser.

Question: I am an Ari-Online student and I also watch morning lessons on kab.tv (the beginner’s part). My question is short. How it is possible that we, Bnei Baruch, have different criteria about the same thing ? I am talking about Maaser.

I was watching the morning lesson on 08-12-2008 where you explain that Maaser is 10% of the income before taxes. After that I opened the Maaser webpage and read this:
“Maaser is 10% of one’s net income, after tax deduction“! I do not understand this discrepancy.

My Answer: The Maaser must be paid from the total income – you can find explanations of this on the Internet by doing a Google search of “tithe.” However, in our times, in order to avoid confusing our friends, to simplify their calculations and payment, we say that they can pay from the net income. I understand that this is confusing, but you shouldn’t get so upset about it. We take the responsibility for whatever you underpay because of our instructions.

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A question I received: This New Year what would you wish to the people who rule the world - the presidents?

My Answer: I still remember the times when one person who believed that he knew how to fix Russia and even the entire world, climbed atop an armored car and spoke such nonsense that it still makes people feel sick to this day. But they went ahead and performed their experiment - and attained the usual horrific results. Such experiments still take place in every country of the world to varying degrees, and they always prove inadequate, whether it’s done in Russia or America, the Third Rome or the Third World.

All the world’s rulers are like little boys who pretend to be grown ups. They don’t realize that they live inside nature and are parts of it. They don’t know the laws of the world they live in, and instead invent their own laws. Within this “lawful” world they build their own small “play world,” complete with made up relationships and laws. Obviously, these do not correspond to the natural laws of society.

Notwithstanding, everything in nature has its own place and law. Animals follow the laws of nature blindly and instinctively, and hence they don’t make mistakes. Man, on the other hand, was created free in order to complete himself, and to reveal - within this realm of freedom -  the laws of nature, the Creator. By doing so, man becomes equal to Nature or the Creator.

However, instead of doing this, man is performing experiments on himself! Until the times of Ancient Babylon, man developed on the animate level and his behavior wasn’t so different from nature. But as soon as his egoism began “acting up,” he decided to build a “tower up to the sky” and people started “speaking different tongues” - stopped understanding one another. As soon as this occurred, man was offered the chance to learn about the purpose of his creation – to attain the level of the Creator, as well as the means to attain this goal - the method of Kabbalah.

Just as Kabbalah predicted 4,500 years ago, we are now finding ourselves in the Global Babylon once again. We have to grow up and learn the laws of nature, instead of inventing our own, artificial laws. After all, there are laws of nature for every kind of behavior - including private and social, and ignorance of these laws evokes Nature’s negative reaction, which we perceive as suffering.

One way or another, Nature will compel us to become similar to it. And if we are opposed to this, it will bring us there by force. Hence, today we - each and every one of us - are more than ever in need of revealing and understanding what Kabbalah says.

My wish for the world’s rulers, and for all the people in the world, is to study the laws of nature and of society that Kabbalah explains. Kabbalah speaks only about this, explaining how everything develops - gradually, logically and lawfully.

Our dissemination of Kabbalah around the world is expanding, and is tipping the whole world over with its force, quality, and connection with the Upper Light. Hence I truly wish everyone “SHANA TOVA” (a happy New Year) – and I am optimistic that this will indeed be so!

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Two questions I received on the New Year:

Question: Lately there has been a lot of talk about the year 2012, as a time of change of the cosmic consciousness. Are there grounds for this in Kabbalah?

My Answer: I think that the change of consciousness will happen before that. No year is “special.” All the changes - whether for the worse or for the better – depend only on us. In addition, the New Year that we celebrate here in Israel isn’t a calendar holiday, but a celebration of the first time that egoism was recognized as evil and the first time its correction had begun. This happened in man 5,768 years ago. The New Year is the beginning of correction, and today we are continuing it on a global scale!

This is why we consider the first spiritual birth a holiday, and this is why Adam is called the first man - the word Adam comes from the word Dommeh, similar to the Creator. This is what each one of us is waiting for.

Question: Lately the the mass media is writing about the development of a plan spanning from now until the year 2020. Can we plan ahead for such an extended period of time, today, when everything is so interconnected and changes so fast?

My Answer: Unfortunately, extended plans are usually composed to satisfy specific egoistic goals that benefit someone today, and that’s where it all ends, while the extended plans become forgotten. The distant goal serves as a justification and cover-up for immediate fraud.

Just like it happened in the times of terror regimes and wars, people will once again be forced to suffer and even die in the name of a national idea. If a goal entails casualties, then it’s a false goal! I think that everything will happen differently. Globalization and global interdependence will compel us to act together!

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