MUSIC: Ki Halatzta Nafshi

MUSIC: Ki Halatzta Nafshi
June 15, 2007 at 6:23 am · Filed under Music
Listen to the quartet version for violin, bassoon, guitar and piano by clicking on the Flash player’s button below:
Ki Halatzta Nafshia song by Baal HaSulam
1. Download Instrumental Version2. Download Version Performed by the band “Bnei Baruch”3. Download Quartet Version for violin, bassoon, guitar and piano.
The melody to this song was composed by Rabbi Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag (Rabash).
Perhaps this melody seems sad, but the truth is that it is not sad, it is tender, and it expresses the feeling of someone who entered the property of Bina - bestowal, the properties of the Creator - where there are no cries and everything rests in peace. Rabash expresses the entering into this state through this melody, when he undoubtedly sees that all of his Kelim, his entire soul, all of his desires submit to this Upper Force and begin to reign in it.
It is a short song that sings about serene peace, about a man entering the Upper Force and staying there in the state of absolute, eternal rest.
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What is God?

What is God?
June 17, 2007 at 1:26 pm · Filed under Articles, Interviews
Bestselling novelist Edward Topol interviews Rav Laitman on topics ranging “What is God?”, the Bible code, smoking, human evolution, judgment, body and soul, freedom of choice, and Rav Laitman’s personal life. The following is a section from the interview:
What is God?
Edward Topol: I’ll tell you honestly. I’m not at all prepared. You are on one level and I’m somewhere there. My questions are simple, from the very first lower level.What is God?
Rav Laitman: The general law of the universe which surrounds us, and in relation to us reveals itself as absolute and total love, is called “God.” This is felt on all of the inanimate, animal, and vegetative levels in the capacity of the universe. We don’t feel this because our nature is opposite to that of the Creator.
The Creator is the quality of bestowal, the quality of love, a totally altruistic quality which surrounds us. This quality is invariable and constant, like the tremendous love of a mother towards her child. The child feels it to the degree of either its corruption or its correction. This is the relationship we are in with the Creator.
In Hebrew, the Creator and nature are described by the same word Elokim, the same word. The Creator and nature are one. There isn’t anything outside of our surrounding nature, the nature we perceive as well as the part of nature which we don’t perceive. There are higher layers of nature which are concealed from us, but are still within our scope. All of them together are called “nature” or “Creator.”
Edward Topol: If the Creator is love, if the Creator is something that surrounds us, then why do I have to move towards Him? He’s already right here, inside of me, and around me. Why do I need to study Kabbalah or other methods of attaining or comprehending the Creator? more…
Download the full interview (ms word format)
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The Spiritual Teacher in Kabbalah

The Spiritual Teacher in Kabbalah
June 18, 2007 at 10:02 am · Filed under Video, Q&A
The Spiritual Teacher in Kabbalah 03:08The role of a spiritual teacher in Kabbalah is to draw everyone to the Creator, not to himself, and Kabbalists say that eventually, everyone will be in adhesion with the Creator. Rav Michael Laitman, PhD discusses the role of a Kabbalist teacher and spiritual attainment with European MTV host Eden Harel.
Click here to view the video at Kabbalah TV
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"Fighting Terror the Right Way"

Fighting Terror the Right Way
June 19, 2007 at 3:51 am · Filed under Articles, Altruism, Terrorism
From the Kabbalistic perspective, terrorists are the headache that makes us go to the doctor for treatment. If we don’t go, we will have to go when it’s a migraine.
Fighting terror the right way is an oxymoron: You can’t fight terror, so there is no way of doing it “right.” Why is it impossible? Because terrorism is here for a purpose. Hence, whenever the victims find new ways to defend against it, terrorists will find new ways to terrorize, murder and generally wreak havoc, disorder and fear.
The purpose of terrorism is no different from the purpose of every “evil” element in our world: to force us away from complacency when we are inclined to be idle, and to force us to re-examine our situation. If you look at the world from the Kabbalistic perspective, the whole of humanity is one system, and terrorists are the headache that makes us go to the doctor for treatment. If we don’t go when it’s a mild headache, we will have to go when it’s a migraine.
As is confirmed by science, and has been known to Kabbalists for millennia, the universe is a single, interdependent system, whose well-being depends on constant reciprocity among its elements. These interdependency and reciprocity are sustained by the system’s care for each of its elements, while each element devotes itself to the well-being of the system. Thus, the rule “All for one and one for all” is the mechanism that sustains everything, including life on Earth.
However, humankind is the only species that can choose to act contrary to nature’s law of reciprocity. People can choose to care for others, or for themselves. By choosing to care for ourselves, we place ourselves in total opposition to the modus operandi of the whole of nature, and thus invert the law to “All against one and one against all.” Conversely, by choosing to care for others, we are automatically in sync with the reciprocity law. It is our choice whether or not to act like the whole of nature, but there is really no one to blame but us if our choice to be opposite from nature makes us unhappy.
All this does not mean that terrorists are good-hearted people who are trying to make us see the truth. It means that wanting to work only for ourselves will eventually cause — at least some of us — to justify doing whatever we feel like, as long as it pleases us. From a self-centered perspective, it is perfectly justified to drop an atom bomb on America if I don’t like its president, put a bullet through my neighbor’s chest if his dog poops on my lawn, or murder dozens of innocent college kids because I got up on the wrong foot today. But will this make anyone happy, even the wrongdoer?
To be happy, we need to be synchronized with nature. There are several benefits to that:1) Nature itself will support us, instead of going against us, as it is doing now.2) Humankind, like the whole of nature, will work to guarantee the well-being of every person on every level — physical, emotional, and spiritual.
In this spirit, Kabbalist Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) wrote in his article “Peace in the World“: “First, everyone must thoroughly understand and explain to his surroundings that the well-being of society, which is the well-being of the state, and the well-being of the world are completely interdependent. As long as the laws of society are not satisfactory to each and every individual in the state, and leave an unsatisfied minority from the government of the state, this minority … will seek to overthrow it.”
Thus, well-being of the individual, well-being of the state and well-being of the world are all interdependent. Only if we all decide to work together to achieve the kind of society that Baal HaSulam describes, will we succeed.
3) If we choose to behave as does the whole of nature, and dedicate ourselves to our fellow person, we will become similar to nature’s law itself. That is, we will be working in the same way as nature — in reciprocity and interdependency, veering away from self-centeredness. This will grant us much more than a comfortable life: Because this modus operandi will stem from our own choice, we will also have the knowledge that begets that mode, the knowledge of the whole of nature, the Creator of the universe. After all, in Gimatria (the numerology of Kabbalah), Elokim (God) and “The Nature” are the same.
Click here to read the article at kabbalah.info
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Social Unity - Humanity's Basis for Happiness

Social Unity - Humanity’s Basis for Happiness
June 2, 2007 at 7:59 pm · Filed under Quotes, Thought of the Week
Quote from Baal HaSulam:“Every basis for physical success is the measure of the unity of society, and the basis for the success of intelligence and knowledge, is the separation and disagreement among them.
It therefore turns out, that when mankind succeeds in the matter of success of the bodies, meaning by bringing them to the degree of complete love for the fellow man, all the bodies in the world will unite into a single body and a single heart. And only then will all the happiness intended for humanity will be revealed in all its glory.”
Baal HaSulam, in “The Freedom.”
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Baal HaSulam's Intention for Writing "Talmud Eser Sefirot"

Baal HaSulam’s Intention for Writing “Talmud Eser Sefirot”
June 3, 2007 at 2:17 pm · Filed under Definitions, Daily Lessons, Talmud Eser Sefirot
From Today’s Daily Lesson:
Student: It’s unclear how the Partzufim of BYA receive the Light of Hochma. Baal HaSulam doesn’t explain it.
Rav Laitman: That’s right. Baal HaSulam doesn’t explain it nor does he intend to. This is the problem: We think that Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) is an explanation of the Ari (Rabbi Isaac Luria).
Baal HaSulam doesn’t explain the Ari at all. He wants to direct us in how to study the Ari to reach the goal: to correct ourselves and then to discover what the Ari discusses in our Kelim (vessels/tools/receptacles), because you will never know otherwise.
It is literally impossible to bring you a picture of what is happening in the world of Atzilut. If he does explain, sometimes, that some things happen somehow by different technical actions, he also doesn’t intend to give a technical explanation so that you will learn that the will to receive and the will to bestow need to be in mutual bestowal to one another, that the Upper Light will correct the will to receive, and so on and so forth.
Why would he explain spirituality? It’s impossible to depict. At the end of it all, Baal HaSulam strives so that you will direct yourself toward revelation by the explanation. This is his entire hope; that you will reach him by your own corrections, and then you’ll discover what is being discussed.
If your Kli (vessel/tool/receptacle) is not on a degree that is written here, in the same state as the world of Beria, Yetzira or Atzilut, then you won’t understand what is written, in each and every sentence. So you have to be brought. His entire trouble is to bring you there. Not to simply “blah blah” talk about it. It’s not a world where I can tell you about a certain state, a certain place and you depict it and imagine it to yourself…
This is how it is in our world, however, in the spiritual world you’re incapable of imagining it. It’s the opposite; it’s not worthwhile for you to imagine it, because all these imaginations give you satisfaction. Therefore, he has completely no intention of bringing you any knowledge—only Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light), as he mentions in item 155 of “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot.”
Rav Michael Laitman, PhD in the lesson on Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot), Volume 6, Part 16, item 107: wmv video mp3 audio (55 min)
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A Trail Of Anti-Semitism

A Trail of Anti-Semitism
June 4, 2007 at 8:13 pm · Filed under Articles, World Peace, Anti-Semitism
Israeli Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog was quoted as saying, “There is a long trail of anti-Semitism in Europe.” Kabbalah says we must look inside for the reason.Click here to read full article
According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, anti-Semitism will continue to spread and intensify until Jews fulfill their reason for being in this world: to learn how to love their neighbors as themselves, as taught by Rabbi Akiva, and then pass this teaching on to the rest of the world.
Click here to read full article
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The Omnipotent Wizard Who Could Not Be Alone

AUDIO: The Omnipotent Wizard Who Could Not Be Alone
May 25, 2007 at 9:05 am · Filed under Audio, Kabbalistic Stories
Listen by clicking on the Flash player’s button below:
The Omnipotent Wizard Who Could Not Be Alone: A Tale for Grownups is Rav Laitman’s story about a wizard who created all life and a person within it, and a person’s search for happiness within the world the wizard created.
Click here to read the storyClick here to download the audio file (mp3)
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