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Articles on current events, culture, popular science, relationships and more, presented from the unique perspective of the wisdom of Kabbalah
The content is based on talks given by Dr. Michael Laitman and is written and edited by his students.

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What Does the Body Have to Do With It?

49.01Question: If the corrections we go through are meant for the soul, what sensations do we feel in the body? It seems like they complicate the work of feeling correction. Why are they given to us then?

Answer: Honestly, I do not understand what you are talking about. If I focus on clarifying my relationships with my friends and clarifying my relationship with the Creator through these relationships, what does the body have to do with it?

Of course, the body also suffers; it shakes and feels various tensions, but I would say these are minor side effects. There is nothing significant about them.

You can rest assured that nothing will happen to your body. The body only becomes healthier if physical states result from your spiritual efforts. I guarantee you that.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/20, “Questions from World Kli

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Questions about the Quality of Bestowal

258Question: It is said: “We shall do and we shall hear.” Is this one action?

Answer: “We shall do” is an action, and “we shall hear” is a result. If my action or request to the Creator is for the sake of bestowal, then we will receive this quality and act for the sake of bestowal.

Question: What is the connection between bestowal for the sake of bestowal and reflected light?

Answer: Any bestowal, whether bestowal for the sake of bestowal or bestowal for the sake of reception, relates to the reflected light.

Question: The intention to achieve bestowal to the Creator may not be entirely pure. How is this corrected? At what moment?

Answer: It is corrected immediately on the spot. As soon as you have any desires, you should immediately examine them, and the desires above egoism we must use for the sake of the Creator.

Question: What is the upper light the Creator gives us for bestowal?

Answer: It is the light of the Creator that corrects our intentions. And then, with these intentions, we can act for His sake through our friends.

Question: If one of the friends feels a connection with true bestowal, how can he gently and correctly convey his feelings to the friends?

Answer: They will feel it themselves. Additionally, the friend can pray that the Creator helps him explain it to his friends without words.

Question: How can I understand that I am giving pleasure to the Creator?

Answer: You must feel it through your connection with Him.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/20, “Questions from World Kli

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Promote the Property of Bestowal

528.01Question: Your teacher Rabash said that one can still attend a lesson without intention if he has already arrived. If we did not establish an intention of bestowal before the lesson or a meeting with the ten, where should we direct our thoughts?

Answer: At least part of the ten should be in the correct intention, and the others can connect to them. The most important thing is not to be passive. If I have even the slightest connection with the property of bestowal, I must promote or express it within the group.

Question: Can the greatness of the friends be a minimally sufficient intention for a group meeting?

Answer: Yes, you should strive for this. When you feel that through this, you are working for the sake of bestowal to your friends, you can hope this action will also lead to bestowal to the Creator. He will unite you all and bring correction.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/29/24, Writings of Rabash “He Who Comes to Purify Is Aided – 1”

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Consult with the Wife

627.2Question: Have you experienced situations where your wife’s opinion was very important to you and you listened to her?

Answer: Of course. There are moments in family life when, first of all, I see that I cannot make certain decisions without my wife. On the other hand, her opinion is necessary, not only because she is knowledgeable and understanding, but because she is your other half. It would cost you dearly if you do not listen to her. So I believe it is essential to consult with your wife.

Question: You beautifully said that she is the other half and she is even more precious. It feels like male and female parts come together into one whole. That is very beautiful! Did you ever see such a relationship between your teacher Rabash and his wife that you could take as an example?

Answer: No, in this regard, he was very private. Although I was always around, I did not see any particular external display of their connection.
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From KabTV’s “Men and Women” 8/20/24

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The Main Function of a Woman

292Question: We talk a lot about the need for connection. With men everything is clear, there is a lot written about it in the Torah. But what about the connection of women? Because the Torah says nothing about it.

Answer: A woman, in general, does not connect with anyone. Of course, she can have friends both in childhood and when she grows up. But for her, there is a period when she gets married, gives birth, and takes care of her children and family. This is her whole life. So there cannot be much else here.

Question: It turns out that her main function is still the home.

Answer: Yes.

Question: I can say from my own experience that this fills me very much. I feel like a queen in the house. This is mine!

But what is the function of a man? To give a woman this feeling? Not to interfere or to help?

Answer: It is to give a feeling, not to interfere, to help. That is true.
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From KabTV’s “Men and Women” 8/20/24

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Choose a Husband by Smell

294.2My husband and I both do not understand how we chose each other. We are so different—like water and fire. And when I remember how it happened, I remember that I did not choose him for his beautiful eyes, there was no “at first sight” between us. And not because he is handsome or strong.

I chose him by smell. But it was not the perfume; it was the smell of my childhood. I don’t even know how to explain it. That is why I ask you, please explain it to me: how could smell conquer everything: character, beauty, everything? (From a Letter to Dr. Laitman)

Answer: It can be so because smell is a very natural sensation that attracts and binds a person so much that one cannot get away from it.

Question: Why is the smell of childhood a decisive factor?

Answer: Because childhood leaves a pleasant impression on us.

Question: Forever? The smell of childhood?

Answer: Basically, yes.

Question: After all, a person lives with another person who has his or her own character, his or her own appearance, his or her own, as we said, peculiarities, thorns, and so on. And you say that after all, above all this, above all this is the smell?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What happens? I inhale. Is it something in the nose or in the heart?

Answer: You have a part of the other.

Question: And this cannot be done any other way but by smell?

Answer: No other way.

Question: Please tell me, is it connected to the heart? After all, they became a couple, they continued to live together. The smell, how is it connected with everything: with the heart, with the soul, with the brain, with everything?

Answer: It leaves you with an impression that explains to you that this person relates to those sensations that you once experienced in connection with this smell.

Question: Good ones?

Answer: Yes, therefore, you cannot so easily leave this behind.

Question: If we understand it, is it possible to maintain the smell?

Answer: Of course.

Question: It is possible? Although in fact it probably disappeared.

Answer: It doesn’t matter; we are animals in this regard. Smell is purely an animal thing.

Question: I wonder how can one maintain the scent if it disappeared? That is it, this smell is gone, but still.

Answer: It is in you. It is the Reshimot (records).

Question: The records?

Answer: Yes.
[334283]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/12/24

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Women’s Advancement

604.03Question: Many women have been studying with you for many years because they have a desire for spirituality. What qualities should they choose so as not to remain stagnant, not to cool off, not to pass through all this, but to truly progress toward the Creator? What should they focus on?

Answer: If a woman wants, then we have courses for both men and women, general classes, and so on. In principle, it is the same information, the same curriculum as for men.

When this course ends and it can last from three or four to ten or fifteen years. Depending on how you study, the person continues studying according to a different plan.

Question: And yet, what will help a woman the most in her spiritual progress? A man, or her personal effort in something specific?

Answer: Generally, a woman does not strive for spirituality in the same way as a man. She is much more involved with herself and her family: children, clothing, comfort, and so on. All of this is very important to her. For a man, if he truly desires spirituality, it becomes everything for him. Everything else makes up only about five percent of his concerns. For women, it is the opposite.

Therefore, her progress depends on the man, on her husband. We see this in life although there have been only a few examples in history—like the wife of Rabbi Akiva or the daughter of Rashi. Generally, a woman cannot progress in the same way as a man. Such women have been very rare.

Question: Did these women have a special soul?

Answer: Yes, but it was still a female soul.
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From KabTV’s “Men and Women” 8/20/24

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If We Were Perfect

947Question: We all must come out to the light as one, together. What is the proper work between us in order to achieve this?

Answer: It lies in the fact that everyone strives to emerge from darkness into light and does this for the sake of their friends.

Question: What is the help we give to one another if we see everyone as perfect?

Answer: If we were perfect, we would have no work to do. We would simply be in a state of absolute bestowal to one another, and this state would be called the corrected world.

So we should not consider ourselves or our friends to be like that. After all, we understand that we are all in an uncorrected state and must begin from this point each time.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/24, Writings of Rabash “Internality and Externality”

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White Points on White Background

594Question: We are supposed to be in prayer all day, and before we even turn to the Creator, He will answer. How can we reconcile these two points? It seems like there are many blank spots.

Answer: Yes, each point is a blank spot, and they all connect together. But in order to connect them, you must continuously move forward. Gradually, you will see how your points blend into a common white background, on which your connections with your friends and the Creator will begin to emerge.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/24, Writings of Rabash “Who Causes the Prayer”

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The Soul Is the Intention to Bestow

608.02Question: The Creator gives the soul, which means intention. So does the quality of the intention define the soul?

Answer: The soul can only be formed when there is an intention to bestow. To the extent there is this intention, the upper light descends upon a person, shapes them, and creates them within the quality of bestowal. The intention to bestow is called the soul.

Question: How can we understand that we are coming closer to the soul? What are the correct indicators?

Answer: The indicators are the connection between you, and through it, the connection with the Creator. In this work, we only have two steps: to reach the quality of the connection between us in the ten and then to connect this ten with the Creator. That’s all. Nothing more is needed.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/29/24, Writings of Rabash “He Who Comes to Purify Is Aided – 1”

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“Fear God”

610.2  As it is written, “In the end, after all is heard, fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man.” Our sages said the whole world was created only for this” (Rabash, Assorted Notes, 552, “He Who Comes to Purify Is Aided—1).

Question: What does the quality of fear God add to a man’s system? Why is it so important?

Answer: It is important for a person to not fall into the desire to receive, to always hold oneself in the desire to bestow, and to maintain a clear connection with the Creator.

Just as the Creator wishes to act for the sake of a person, so too must the person act for the sake of the Creator.

Question: But why must one necessarily fear? Wouldn’t it be enough to just have respect for the Creator?

Answer: No, respect alone is not enough. There must be fear, fear that you might fall into the quality of receiving and start receiving for yourself.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/29/24, Writings of Rabash “He Who Comes to Purify Is Aided – 1”

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The Need of the Soul

544Question: What does it mean that through the ten I receive the mind, which is the true spiritual Kli?

Answer: It means that everything you receive comes from the Creator through your friends. You feel how it descends upon you and compels you to act. Therefore, something very interesting happens here, friends influence you with their thoughts and force you to perceive both the internal and external in spiritual work.

Question: What do my friends have that is not in me, and by finding it, I will be able to achieve correction?

Answer: There is a certain need in you to feel the common desire, the common aspiration of your ten toward connection with each other and with the Creator. This is the need of the soul.

Question: What does it mean to be the material of the Creator in the ten and how do we receive correctly from the ten in order to bestow?

Answer: For this you need to try to be together all the time in lessons and spiritual work, try to imagine, see, and feel how much you can unite by making efforts. In unification, you will be able to feel new opportunities, new desires, new intentions, and thus move forward.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/24, Writings of Rabash “Internality and Externality”

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How Can We Speed Up Time?

Question: It is said that first you need to act, and then you will come to the level of  righteous and receive strength in faith above reason. How can we do it? For example, there are friends in the ten who cannot come to class. It lasts for months. How can they gain the strength to rise to faith above reason?

Answer: With prayer. It is said about this: “If you leave Me for one day,” the Creator says to man, “I will leave you for two days.” This happens very firmly. Therefore, we must make friends come to the lessons, pick them up, stop by, call them, etc.

I know myself how difficult it is to return to lessons after a long break.

Question: You said the Creator leaves us for two days if we leave Him for one. How does a person make up for these days? How can one speed up the times?

Answer: Only through lessons. We study in the morning and at noon. Anyone who wants can also connect in the evening. So you have all the conditions.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/24, Writings of Rabash “Righteous and Wicked”

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When Is Prayer Born?

289Question: Is a prayer born when I make efforts with the right intention?

Answer: It all depends on the strength of our connection, on how much we strive for bestowal between ourselves and above ourselves so as to transform all our initially egoistic relationships into bestowal.

After all, we do not have the power of bestowal. We build it by rising above our egoism and beginning to reformat it into the ability to bestow. We make the Creator out of ourselves. This is what the Creator said: “You make Me.” We really create Him.

A prayer is born when I make efforts with the right intention, either when I cannot make efforts and understand that I am not able to make them or when I can make efforts, but I understand that they are wrong and at the same time I do not have any others.

A prayer can be for any reason; the main thing is that its final direction is to the Creator. Then it can be called a prayer.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/20, “Questions from World Kli

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What Should I Do if I Do not Want to Give Birth, but I Have To?

627.1We told each other even before getting married that we did not want to bring children into this world. We are two lonely souls who found each other and who understand that the world is terrible. We decided that we would live for each other. But now I am writing to you being five months pregnant. It is too late for abortion. We agonized over the decision, whether to go through with it or not, and now I will be giving birth. Yet, we both do not understand how we got here. (From a letter to Dr Laitman)

Answer: You were brought to this.

My first question is: how could this happen to us? We clearly did not want this.

Answer: Many people would not want children, but life itself pushes them to conceive a child.

Question: When you say “life itself,” are you hinting at someone or something?

Answer: I am hinting at the fact that nature made us this way, and that is why we end up here.

Question: So resistance is futile?

Answer: There are people who consciously, even excessively, build such boundaries around themselves saying “We do not want this and that is final.” There are societies like that too.

Question: Who forces a person to cross this boundary? Is this, in principle, also something that happens from above?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So you do not understand how it happened, but that means you were closed off in that moment?

Answer: Yes.

How can we protect our future child from this world? What can we do, how can we raise him so that he is not touched by this dirt?

Answer: I don’t know. Raise him well and give him a good education, a reliable profession. That is all.

Question: When you say “raise him well,” what do you mean by that?

Answer: Raise him well means knowing how to relate to people in a way that elicits positive reactions from them. That is it.

Question: Is that what you mean, not education, but upbringing specifically?

Answer: Yes, upbringing.

Question: What advice can you give to a couple who finds themselves in a situation where their decisions and plans have changed and they are expecting a child?

Answer: Solve all these problems together.

Question: And go for it?

Answer: Go for it. How else? Work through it together and support each other. And they will see that this shared child actually connects them and gives them a new chapter in life, in existence.

Question: So this becomes their new life, right?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What is the best way to deal with anxiety about a future child? This is more of a general advice for others. There is anxiety about a future child, not wanting to give birth. How do you deal with this anxiety?

Answer: This is natural. You need to give birth, you need to raise the child and do everything you can. And gradually, you will see yourself one day as a mature person, a grandparent.

Question: What practical steps can be taken right now during pregnancy to create a safe environment for the child? Because this is something that worries them constantly.

Answer: The most important thing is for the child to understand life. This means understanding why a person exists, how they should behave, which people to avoid, which to get closer to, and so on. In other words, teach them how to interact correctly with this world.

Question: You are giving some very simple, vital, wise advice. Stay away from certain people, get closer to others, try to love others so that they love you. Is that the main thing in upbringing?

Answer: Of course! What else could there be?

Question: How is it that nowadays there are so many people being raised completely differently? That is, people who are filled with hatred…

Answer: You should not raise your children that way because it will only make their lives harder. Hatred eats away at a person.

Question: You do not watch much television, I know. But today, all these channels, YouTube and others are full of fights where people hit each other hard, on the back of the head, wherever. Then, all these movies are packed with strong people who twist others and so on. That is, there is a completely different process of upbringing, more and more, not to love and be loved.

Is this a demand today? Do people want this, do they watch this?

Answer: I think it is not so much a demand as they are being pumped full of it. And of course, this will only make things worse for people.

Question: If we’re talking about raising a child, is it advisable to keep them away from this?

Answer: Yes.

Question: To the point of shielding them from seeing it?

Answer: Of course. What is the point?

Question: There is no point?

Answer: None.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/29/24

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Questions about Spiritual Work—173

281.02Question: What can I bestow to the Creator in a state of enjoyment and a state of descent?

Answer: Whatever you feel, that is what you should bestow.

Question: When outwardly it seems that a friend cannot overcome some obstacle for many years and does not genuinely ask the ten for help, how can this state be identified?

Answer: It is difficult. Everything goes through the Creator; everything comes from Him. You need to ask Him to clarify your state for you.

Question: Do we need to chew over our descents to feel and experience them deeply?

Answer: No, not as much as you think. You should not dwell on, worry about, and chew over descents. The main thing is to get out of these states as quickly as possible.

Question: What can help us avoid falling into self-indulgence when we are in ascent and positive states from our connection with the Creator?

Answer: It is only if you support each other together.

Question: How is a new vessel of bestowal built during an ascent?

Answer: As I rise, I constantly check myself to see how much more I can bestow to the Creator.

Question: When we are in ascent, it is as if the Creator pushes us down, and when we are in a descent, the body says, “Why continue working in this state?” How can we maintain balance and connection with the Creator in these calculations?

Answer: For this you need to constantly stay connected with your friends so that your connection with the Creator is maintained through your unity, and then you will not go wrong.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/24, Writings of Rabash “The Creator Is Meticulous with the Righteous”

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“I Asked God To Punish My Enemy”

624.07I asked God to punish my enemy. And God said to me, “No. He is destined to become your best friend” (Author Unknown).

Question: What should a person ask for if there is an enemy in front of him? How can it not be asking for help to destroy it? Please explain.

Answer: I don’t think it is necessary to ask for it, of course.

Comment: But this is an enemy.

My Response: This is only if it is a global enemy.

Question: Who wants to destroy me?

Answer: Not just me, but in general, to destroy everything around me.

Question: The Creator answers here: “He is destined to be your best friend.” If I keep this in mind even though I have an enemy in front of me, what is going on then, can you tell?

Answer: You are slowly adjusting to the fact that you can get closer to him.

Question: Is this the right way?

Answer: Yes.

Question: That is, over this hatred, over this whole situation, what he has done to me, I kind of forget everything and say: “You will be my friend”?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Can this be called a prayer?

Answer: Yes, it is a prayer, and it will happen.
[332398]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/1/24

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A Man and a Woman: The Attribute of Bestowal

509Thus, the craving of the lower one, the female, is included in the craving of the upper one, the male, and the two souls become one, without separation (Rashbi, Zohar for All, Vol. 2, Lech Lecha, “Like an Apple Tree among the Trees of the Forest” #205)

Question: What determines that the lower part is the female part?

Answer: This is determined by the presence of the attribute of bestowal in the male part, which, in principle, is much stronger than in the female part.

Question: Does the female aspect have the attribute of bestowal at all?

Answer: Of course it does. This is very important. Otherwise, if one is only receiving and the other is only giving, there would be no connection between them at all.

If both are receiving and both are giving, then it turns out that the male part is primarily the giver, and the female part is primarily the receiver.
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From KabTV’s “Men and Women” 8/20/24

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The Fervent Desire of the Creator

239Question: When you were studying with Rabash and had certain complaints toward him, he would say: “Why didn’t you ask?” Is it the same request every time? Or does it change? What did he mean when he asked you that?

Answer: He meant that one must always turn to the Creator but only after properly clarifying the issue. That is, when I want to achieve such a connection with my friends that the Creator is revealed within it and by doing so I will give Him contentment because He desires to dwell within and fill the creation with everything He has.

This state is compared either to the suffering of a cow bursting from excess of milk, eager to give to everyone but no one is taking, or to the agony of a woman in labor who wants to give birth, but the moment of birth has not yet come.

Such a state is very intense. It is an inner state that the Creator experiences because the desire to bestow is much stronger than the desire to receive.

We need to imagine this state of His and prepare ourselves to ask, not because we want it, but because He needs it.
[333965]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/20, “Questions from World Kli

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The Cause of All Problems

599.02Question: How can one constantly remain in mutual responsibility so that the Creator does not remind us of Himself with obstacles like accidents, courts, or health issues?

Answer: I do not think the Creator reminds us of the lack of mutual responsibility in such a way; these are your assumptions. We cause all the problems with our increased egoism, not by not participating in mutual guarantee. Do not think of the Creator’s governance in this way.

We have a system of self–management in our hands, partially of course, but still in our hands, and therefore we must be fully oriented toward the Creator.

But in no case claim that because I am not in mutual responsibility a brick fell on my head. No, don’t do that. Otherwise, you will wander off into very bad philosophies.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/20, “Questions from World Kli”

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