Among all the texts and notes of Rabbi Baruch Shalom Halevi Ashlag (the Rabash), there was one special notebook he always carried. This notebook contained the transcripts of his conversations with his father, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Halevi Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), author of the Sulam (Ladder) commentary on The Book of Zohar and of many other works on Kabbalah.
Not feeling well on the Jewish New Year in September 1991, the Rabash summoned his prime disciple and personal assistant, Michael Laitman, to his bedside and handed him that notebook. Its cover contained only one word, Shamati (I Heard). As he handed the notebook, he said to Laitman, “Take it and learn from it.” The following morning, he perished in his student’s arms, leaving him and many of his other disciples without guidance in this world.
Committed to Rabash’s legacy to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah, Laitman published the notebook just as it was written, thus retaining the text’s transforming powers. Among all the books of Kabbalah, Shamati is a unique and compelling composition whose power persists long after the reading is through.
For centuries, the story of Adam and Eve has captured the imagination of children and adults alike. It’s time to know the true meaning of the story, who that cunning little snake was, and of course, how all this relates to the fact that 50% of American couples today are getting divorced. Read the Full Article…
* Toward Integral Consciousness - Highlights from Düsseldorf 2006 international scientists conference “Wisdom and Science in Dialogue: The new Planetary Consciousness.”
* The Table of Free Voices - BERLIN (Sept 9, 2006): The Table of Free Voices question-answer symposium heralded a new, experimental approach to issues of global concern.
* Wisdom in Action - Highlights from the 4th World Spirit Forum (feat. members of the World Wisdom Council).
* Creating a New Civilization - The World Wisdom Council’s 3rd meeting “Creating a New Civilization” in Tokyo, November 2005.
Everyone today is counting their calories—but the obesity problem only keeps growing. Kabbalah explains that this epidemic is yet another symptom that the modern human being is not getting his “spiritual food” Read the Full Article…
Stuff. It fills our closets, our garages, and our lives. We gauge success in life by the stuff we own, and spend incredible amounts of time shopping for it. A new documentary, The Story of Stuff, shows how our entire lives have been taken over by “stuff.” And the wisdom of Kabbalah shows what we can do about it. Read the Full Article…
Today, even Tom can’t help us teach good values to our children. Not to mention Jerry…
Modern psychological research shows that a child’s cognitive development and patterns of behavior begin to form very early on. The acclaimed Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget, showed that soon after birth, a baby begins to learn through observation, adopting mental concepts from the environment. The incoming sensory data that the child receives, even as a toddler, has a major effect on his development. Later on, the child only continues developing and perfecting what he had absorbed from his surroundings during the early years.
In light of this, just imagine how sophisticated we must be in order to give our children the right examples, literally from the age of zero. On the other hand, how can we give our children positive examples when even the children’s entertainment industry feeds them countless negative values and images?
To cite just one example, here is the latest description of Tom and Jerry, as it appears on the Cartoon Network website: “Tenacious cat Tom is forever on the tail of his elusive nemesis, Jerry the mouse, and no tricks, traps or cast-iron frying pans will stop him in his timeless pursuit.” And that, dear parents, is what our toddlers learn from.
But apparently, our children are not the only victims of their environment. Society doesn’t ask any of us, “What would you like to want?”—it rather dictates to us what to want, from dawn to dusk. Whether it’s Coca Cola, Nike, iPod or Benz—“you just gotta have it!” But when it comes to our children’s education, it’s up to us, the parents, to choose the values and patterns of behavior that will influence our children.
The Oldies and the Newbies
Take a look at the games our children play or the movies they watch. Chances are, you’d be hard pressed to find even one cartoon that doesn’t use elements of violence, scorn and degradation. There will always be someone who suffers—and someone who enjoys it. Systematically, the cartoons’ plots revolve around the pleasure derived from deriding and abusing one or more of the characters.
On the other hand, think of the oldies—they, at least, had a touch of goodness. So what happened? Let’s go back to our beloved Tom and Jerry: They started off with the tiny, likeable mouse struggling to escape the big, bad cat, who was always eventually punished for trying to pick on the harmless creature. But over the years, along with the scriptwriters’ steadily growing egos, the little mouse also gained some nerve. Today, he’s a real snake, plotting how to best snare the sleepy, silly cat, and revels in making that cat suffer! Anything less than that is already boring for the mouse, and for us, too.
Time to Grow Up
The fact is that this is how we were created—as self centered creatures. However, today, nature demands that we grow up. Even as we keep encouraging our egoistic tendencies, reality is forcing us to realize that we are all part of one, big, integrated whole, and we have to start acting like it. Otherwise, we won’t survive the 21st century.
For millennia, Kabbalists have been telling us that Nature’s higher law is one of love, reciprocity and unity. But even more vital for us to know is that the law of Nature treats us the same way we treat our children: When they are young, it’s OK for them to make mistakes, but when they grow bigger, they have to learn how to play by the rules.
So today, let’s do ourselves a favor and start changing our values, if not for ourselves, at least for our children.
By the end of 2007 there were over a billion Internet users (about 20% of the world’s population) world wide, not bad for a population of almost 7 billion. That’s a growth of 265% from 2006. [Source]
Today, the whole world is accessible by means of our keyboards and computer screens. These now not-so-new tools give us full access and with it the sense of freedom of thought, speech and movement.
With the Internet as the main tool for communication it seems that today we are freer than we have ever been before. On the other hand, through the virtual connections, networks, communities and realities that we create we become enslaved to the “black box.”
In his lesson on “The Future Generation” Rav Michael Laitman explains how we became prisoners within our own freedom.
Looking at the use of the Internet by both adults and children Rav Laitman explains that the Internet and its development is a replica of the current state of our society.
Related Articles:
* You Have a New Message - U can communicate in codes like youth do on chats; u can remain unexposed behind a computer screen and a user-name, but not for long. Sooner or later we will have to leave our masquerades and make room for each other in our hearts, not in our chat rooms.
* Facebook: What’s All the Fuss? - The obsession with Facebook expresses a deep rooted desire within each of us—to feel connected with everyone. But does the largest virtual community really deliver the new and improved social world we seek?
* Better than the Virtual World!? - Second Life - You can find anything here, or at least anything the human mind can think of. An entire world of 3-D figures living a virtual life in the palm of your hand. All you need is a mouse, a monitor, and plenty of imagination. But what’s really the deal with this “virtuality” trend? What lies behind the passion for the virtual?
The obsession with Facebook expresses a deep rooted desire within each of us - to feel connected with everyone. But does the largest virtual community really deliver the new and improved social world we seek? more…
Welcome to the official Kabbalah Blog of the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute. Here you will find all the latest Kabbalah articles, videos, audio, news, features, Bnei Baruch website updates and content additions.
Kabbalah Newsletter
Fill out your e-mail address
to receive Bnei Baruch's weekly newsletter!
