January 9, 2025
Archive for July, 2014
July 6, 2014 at 1:30 pm · Filed under Events
Question: Yesterday, we talked about the upcoming conventions and various events in Latin America, and you talked about the importance of going there, that you will feel the place, the people, and that there is something special going on there behind the scenes, a special force. Can you say something about North America, whether there is importance in the place itself?
Dr. Michael Laitman: We have had many different conventions in North America. Indeed I began to feel them much more closely. The problem with North America, perhaps at least a little bit, it that there is a group dealing with Kabbalah and a group dealing also with integral education, the wisdom of connection, and I think that these two parts need to be connected, because today it is inappropriate to be divided. I really hope that the divide will be at least narrowed through the convention, because it disallows people from actualize themselves effectively and correctly.
If that divide connects, then there will be no difference between the South American and North American attitudes. For now, this is hindering, and especially lately it became a hindrance to our progress. We have to come to a state where our students feel no difference between the wisdom of connection and the wisdom of Kabbalah, as there is no difference. However, if we are talking about going outwards, then that is a different story. If we disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah and people come to us, then we teach the wisdom of Kabbalah first, and afterwards, one comes to the wisdom of connection, as Baal HaSulam writes about “love your friend as yourself.”
You can realize the wisdom of Kabbalah only by connecting to others. That is its actualization. On one hand, studying the wisdom of Kabbalah theoretically gives nothing. On the other hand, if people do not come to the wisdom of Kabbalah and display no interest, you come to them with the wisdom of connection in order to make their lives easier. Then, you gradually pull them into connection, and in the connection, little by little, you show them the basics of Kabbalah, even without mentioning it first, that it is the wisdom of Kabbalah. You then eventually reveal it. It depends on how they advance. We still need to put together these things.
Student: So it is a very meaningful stage in the development of the North American Kli [vessel], which is bringing all the different students to the same perspective and understanding with respect to the wisdom of connection.
This Q&A is based on the Special Q&A Session with Dr. Michael Laitman in Preparation for the ONE Convention, which took place on Sunday, June 16. Watch the whole video & stay up-to-date with ONE Convention preparation materials here »
July 5, 2014 at 10:00 pm · Filed under Torah Portion
Numbers, 25:10-30:1
This Week’s Torah Portion | July 6 – July 12, 2014 – Tammuz 8 – Tammuz 14, 5774
In A Nutshell
In the beginning of the portion the Creator thanks Pinhas for stopping the plague and gives him a “covenant of peace,” and a “covenant of an everlasting priesthood” to him and to his descendants. All the while, the children of Israel are preparing to fight the Midianties.
Following the instructions of the Creator, Moses divides the land into lots, following censuses held in the people by tribes and by families. At the conclusion of the censuses, the daughters of Zelophehad, from the tribe of Menashe, complain to Moses that their father died and as women, they did not receive their lot. Moses looks into the matter and the Creator rules that to do justice, the daughters of Zelophehad will be given a lot in the land, which will be named after their father.
The Creator commands Moses to climb up the Mountain of Avarim to see the land of Israel, which he will not enter, and to appoint Joshua, son of Nun, as his successor.
At the end of the portion there is a detailed description of the offerings that needed to be sacrificed each day and on different occasions during the year.
Commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman
According to The Book of Zohar, the portion, Pinhas, is profound and evokes many questions. The story tells of people such as Pinhas, who are seemingly greater than Moses. The Creator blesses and praises him that he is as great as Joshua, that he is replacing Moses, who is climbing down from center stage. There is also the issue of women’s rights, some of whom can be as the men, receiving a lot.
As we know, the Torah does not speak of corporeal events or physical bodies, but of souls. The souls are what is important, the eternal part in each of us. This is why we need to understand that the text describes the “human within us,” which must experience all the portions of the Torah along the spiritual development.
This portion speaks of a very special point that awakens in us, a special desire called Pinhas. Read the rest of this entry »
July 5, 2014 at 1:30 pm · Filed under Events
Question: How should we come to the ONE Convention and be in this whole atmosphere of togetherness when we come from a world of individualism?
Dr. Michael Laitman: Individualism and separation and these definitions… we see these things today as nothing but trouble. Precisely, out of this world’s troubles, we should explain that we are approaching an opposite, connected world. The more we resist connection, the more troubles we will suffer. We have to start explaining it. Each day, the idea of connection becomes more acceptable in the eyes of the world because the blows are becoming systematic.
Question: How we come and unite at the ONE Convention, and be together when in the outside world there is separation? The world is suffering and is separated and we at the convention are having such a great time, being united and all.
Dr. Laitman: Judging by the despair and problems that exist in the world, I don’t see the world as enjoying, compared to what it had 20, 30 or 50 years ago. Back then, the world and people thought they were progressing toward something good, and look at how quickly these things have been inverted. We just need to explain that we have no choice. We are living in a special process, which exists in Nature, and it is inescapable. If you do not do this or that act, you will suffer more and more.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 5, 2014 at 1:30 pm · Filed under Events
Question: How rare is it that one achieves spirituality?
Dr. Michael Laitman: In our world today, it is not rare. It is available for anyone. There were times, up until our time, when one out of a thousand who wanted it could attain it. Today, anyone not only can, but must, attain it. Look at the pressures and at what is now surfacing in order to push people to connect and discover the upper world, so that people will shift to a higher level and live in an altogether different place than where they currently are.
The general crisis is pushing from behind, and the light that reforms and the group, i.e. the big group that is already emerging worldwide, and is ready to absorb into itself and progress. Everything is there.
What we are now discovering is the wisdom of connection, the method of correction—the general method of correction and how everyday this explanation becomes more approachable, easier, reasonable in the eyes of the general public. Look at the kind of help we are getting from above both in terms of understanding the method and in relation to the world—how the world is becoming immersed in this whirlpool.
This Q&A is based on the Special Q&A Session with Dr. Michael Laitman in Preparation for the ONE Convention, which took place on Sunday, June 16. Watch the whole video & stay up-to-date with ONE Convention preparation materials here »
July 4, 2014 at 7:30 pm · Filed under Events
Question: Does the building of a Kli [vessel] and the intention/prayer/screen to reflect the Light take place only in the group, or can it be done individually?
Dr. Michael Laitman: Individually? No. The Creator doesn’t listen when you are alone. There is a concept called “the prayer of many”; we talked about it many times. The whole thing about the broken Kli [vessel] is about you trying to connect, trying to become one again. That is why the Torah—the wisdom of Kabbalah—was given. Call it integral education, the wisdom of connection, whatever the title. That is the whole work here in this world, which is the lowest and worst of all the worlds, i.e. that we will begin to connect and accordingly ascend—ascend not in elevation toward stars or in terms of altitude—but in understanding, awareness and sensation. We will then discover new dimensions.
Even if I connect with one person, I already discover the Upper World. I shift from the dimensions of this world into the spiritual dimension. I feel myself in a world beyond time, place, life or death, rising to the level of forces. My body exists as an animal. When it dies, it dies. As Rabash says, “It’s like putting your dirty shirt in the laundry.” That is how you feel, that you got rid of the body, but you remain, because you’ve acquired a new desire. In your connection with others you’ve acquired a common desire, and that is all. This is you now. Your heart is there in spirituality, and here in this world is just an outer coating, and thus you do not feel any loss when it dies.
This Q&A is based on the Special Q&A Session with Dr. Michael Laitman in Preparation for the ONE Convention, which took place on Sunday, June 16. Watch the whole video & stay up-to-date with ONE Convention preparation materials here »
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