We have all been created as parts in one system, connected to one collective soul.

Gradually, we started feeling isolated from each other until we reached the state of lacking the sensation of unity between us.

That state is called “this world.”

The return to the sensation of true connection between us is called “the system of worlds.”

In other words, in the measure that we reveal the unity between us, we rise in the system of worlds – starting from the world of Assiya – the smallest degree of connection between the souls, through the world of Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon and the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) – the final degree of connection between the souls, as in one body.

My will to connect to others = my soul.

The wisdom of Kabbalah was given to us as a tool for discovering the true connection between us, which is the condition for the revelation of the Upper World.

In order to speed up our development toward the revelation of the connection between us, one is dependent on one’s surroundings.

By nature, the ego is against our interconnection, so we need to create surroundings that value the importance of the true connection among ourselves.

The goal of all problems that befall us are not for us to connect through troubles and pressures, but to help us find that positive part within us, the internal connection between people, by ourselves.

Therefore, the fact that an intensifying connection is revealing among all parts of reality, in ecology, economy, and in the connections between us – this is a good sign.

Everything that seems bad or evil to us in our world is made that way in order to force us to connect with each other.

Therefore, it won’t help us to solve the world’s problems in an external way.

The change that will better our lives is the change of inclination from “correcting the world” to “correcting ourselves.”

Considering the above mentioned, it becomes clear that the sole free choice a person has is in his inclination toward connecting with others.

Today we are all, as if, covered by the external shell of the ego that differentiates between us and others.

Throughout history, we have developed within this external shell, until the fruit within it ripened.

And now, the time has come for us to crack this external shell and connect among ourselves.

Only in that way will the world’s problems be solved.

3 Lessons from the South American Kabbalah Congress in Argentina (Video & Audio)

Kabbalah LIVE Video Q&A Celebration
Wednesday, September 02.09 – 8:00pm EST (U.S.)
That’s Tomorrow Night!!

Notes from a Bnei Baruch student during the lesson, published live:

There was once one soul, connected in the Light of Infinity. All the souls were within it, but in such a bond, that it was as one. Then what happened? The Light disappeared, and it was revealed that there was a disconnection between them. In other words, the Light disappearing is the reason for the disconnection among the souls, and what people feel as the disconnection between them. To the extent that people can correct this connection, by inviting the Light back into this connection, to that same extent people can rediscover their interconnection as one soul.

A person’s spiritual work is in constantly depicting this place of disconnection between the souls, not in a negative way, but in a way where one realizes what one should do in order to rediscover this interconnection.

NOW PLAYING at the daily lesson – 8:10pm to 11:00pm EST: www.kab.tv/eng

Kabbalah LIVE Video Q&A Celebration
Wednesday, September 02.09 – 8:00pm EST (U.S.)

Taken from today’s daily lesson, on Baal HaSulam’s 18th Igeret (Letter) from 1926.

Today’s Daily Lesson Featured:

• Preparation on a quote by Rabash (Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag)
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio
• Baal HaSulam’s Shamati article #27 – “The Lord Is High and the Low Shall See”
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio
• Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 1, Part 8, Histaklut Pnimit
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio
• Baal HaSulam’s article, “Peace in the World”
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio

…with commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, as well as questions by students of Bnei Baruch and live viewers on Kabbalah TV.

The lessons will be continuing daily at 8:10pm until 11pm EST, Saturdays through Thursdays, on Kabbalah TV, and will be available for free download in the Kabbalah Media Archive.

Related:

• Download the Latest Q&A PDF leading up to the Q&A Celebration, on Wednesday, 26 August – “Kabbalah on Spirituality” (PDF) – Rav Michael Laitman, PhD answering spiritual questions.

Kabbalah LIVE Video Q&A Celebration
Wednesday, September 02.09 – 8:00pm EST (U.S.)

Question: Martin from Czechoslovakia is writing, “I don’t understand why someone would want to reach such a state. Why would I want to nullify myself before someone I don’t know, and who sends me suffering?” He adds another sentence, “If I’m a thief, then at least I can be proud of that, but who wants to be a slave?”

Answer by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD: I agree with him. I have no problem in saying that he’s right. “A person’s pride will humiliate him.” The matter is in defining what is it to be a “slave,” what is it to be a “man,” what is it to be a “woman,” what is it to be a “thief,” etc. It’s a matter of definition.

“Slave” means knowing that the will to receive now controls me. That it controls, and not that I’m the landlord. I firstly differentiate myself from my ego, and see that this ego controls me. I want to see like this or like that, and my nature comes and makes of me whatever it wants. I see how this occurs in humanity: We want to try, to be in something different, but we’re incapable. Our nature conquers us and makes of us everything.

So I’m a slave to my nature, right? A slave. So he can already stop thinking that he’s a man, and that he’s free. He’s not free, but he’s blind to that. He doesn’t see how he’s completely addicted to his nature, and that he’s a beast carrying out commands. That’s one thing.

The other thing is that if he were to know that this slavery he’s currently in ruins him and eats away at him, then that would end his life without any compensation. If he’d look at it properly, then he’d understand that there might be another state, that it’s possible to exit it. It doesn’t matter what state he’d enter into, but the main thing is that he’d exit his current state. Why wouldn’t it matter what state he’d enter into? We hate the state of bestowal a lot, but I need to hate my current state more than the state of bestowal, so how do I do it?

So he’s right. I don’t know who the second landlord is. I only have the opportunity to sell myself to this second one, and thus I’d disconnect from the first. So I need to choose between them – that’s my choice. If by doing so, I don’t feel myself as turning into a slave of the second essence, of bestowal, then it’s not a decision.

Decision – I’m free in that I can choose between the two. Suddenly one identifies oneself within a very small range, a decision of whom to belong to, and thus begins his work. It’s a very internal, psychological thing that a person goes through, and he begins understanding that he’s sold to one or to the other. He begins building himself in that. There are many things here. That’s already the middle line.

Taken from today’s daily lesson, on Baal HaSulam’s 18th Igeret (Letter) from 1926.

Today’s Daily Lesson Featured:

• Preparation on a quote by Rabash (Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag)
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio
• Baal HaSulam’s 18th letter from 1926
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio
• Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 4, Part 12, Page 1201, Item 194
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio
• Baal HaSulam’s article, “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot”
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio

…with commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, as well as questions by students of Bnei Baruch and live viewers on Kabbalah TV.

The lessons will be continuing daily at 8:10pm until 11pm EST, Saturdays through Thursdays, on Kabbalah TV, and will be available for free download in the Kabbalah Media Archive.

Kabbalah LIVE Video Q&A Celebration
Wednesday, September 02.09 – 8:00pm EST (U.S.)

Question: Is there any meaning to my actions in life, whether or not I’m good or bad to people, or otherwise?

Answer by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD: In our world, you need to act like everyone, with that same nice look on your face and no more than that. All the corrections you want to perform, that you can do for the world, for yourself and for the Creator, it doesn’t matter how you aim them, they can be only by way of the Light that reforms. That Light acts on what is corrupted, and the only thing that is corrupted is the soul. The Light that corrects the soul arranges all parts in such a way that you act differently, even in corporeality, because you still don’t know what it means to act correctly in corporeality.

If you had seen Kabbalists, you would identify nothing special in them. You see people who run to hospitals, who help out, who cry “save the animals,” “save the trees, the green, the water”… people who care about humanity, ecology, about everything. They seem like they’re the most corrected people of all, right? They setup all kinds of parades and demonstrations. So are they all Kabbalists? You wouldn’t see any Kabbalists among them. None. Nor would you see a Kabbalist in anyone who sits on mountain peaks, meditating or doing special prayers…

You can only perform a correction in what is broken. What is broken is your soul, only that and nothing else. That’s what you should worry about correcting – it is incorporated with all the other souls. By including your corrected soul among all the other souls, you correct everything. You have no other possibility of bringing anything good to everyone, and through that, bringing the world to correction.

All our actions with our arms, legs, mouth, what we do in this world, will not benefit everyone. We can already see that throughout history, only corruption has come from that approach, not correction. You can pray from morning to evening, and do all kinds of deeds, it doesn’t matter what, but all that won’t bring about correction. Correction only comes through the Light that reforms.

The whole of creation is “I created the evil inclination,” and the whole correction is “I created the Torah, a spice.” What is “the Torah, a spice”? It is “the Light that comes will reform.” Who does that Light come to? It comes to whoever feels oneself as being within the evil inclination. That’s all, it’s very simple. In the meantime, you feel yourself as being righteous…

Taken from today’s daily lesson, on Baal HaSulam’s article “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot” (at 20:00).

Today’s Daily Lesson Featured:

• Preparation on a quote by Rabash (Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag)
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio
• Baal HaSulam’s 17th letter from 1926
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio
• Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 4, Part 12, Page 1200, Item 194
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio
• Baal HaSulam’s article, “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot”
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio

…with commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, as well as questions by students of Bnei Baruch and live viewers on Kabbalah TV.

The lessons will be continuing daily at 8:10pm until 11pm EST, Saturdays through Thursdays, on Kabbalah TV, and will be available for free download in the Kabbalah Media Archive.

Kabbalah LIVE Video Q&A Celebration
Wednesday, September 02.09 – 8:00pm EST (U.S.)

From the Daily Lessons – In following video, Rav Michael Laitman, PhD talks about freedom: what it is, what it isn’t, and where freedom can be found. He deals with the question “What does it mean to be free?” asking “What is free in you?” and explains how to attain a different kind of nature, and acquire the ability to exercise freedom against everything constraining us.

Video: Where Can True Freedom be Found Today?

Download this Lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio [54:02]

Additional Sources:
Videos
*Where Is Our Freedom?
*Upbringing – an article by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD

*Society’s Approval is the Greatest Reward – An Interview between Michael Laitman and TV anchor Lev Novozhenov
*Influence of the Environment – a post on Laitman.com – Michael Laitman’s Personal Blog.

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1. Video: The Freedom Prison
In this excerpt from a morning lesson Rav Michael Laitman, PhD provides a definition of freedom that is completely opposite to society’s idea of freedom, but is more natural than anything else.

Download this Lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio [66:42]
Shamati Article #190 “Every Act Leaves an Imprint” (the article on which the above video’s lesson is based)

2. Freedom of Will (An article by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD)

3. The Freedom (An article by Baal haSulam)

Related Material:
Newspaper Articles:
* Kabbalah Today Article: The Freedom Blues
* Kabbalah Today Article: A Kabbalist, a Geneticist and the Meaning of Life
Short Clips:
* Do We Have Free Will or Is Everything Predetermined
* “Kabbalah Revealed” Episode 10: Free Will, Part 1
* “Kabbalah Revealed” Episode 11: Free Will, Part 2 The Four Factors

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Related Material:
* Food Crisis: The Rising Food Prices and the Meaning of Life – taken from Michael Laitman’s Personal Blog: www.laitman.com

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In today’s daily lesson on Baal HaSulam’s “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot”—a comprehensive introductory article to authentic Kabbalah—Rav Michael Laitman, PhD unfolded the most real-life drama a person can experience: the inner battle one goes through with one’s nature when working at acquiring the qualities of absolute love and giving. Rav Laitman traced the lovesickness one experiences on this path, the self-determination and support from one’s surrounding society one needs to change one’s nature from self-love to love of the other, and the endless happiness awaiting the person who achieves this quality.

Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot – Lesson 6
Download this Lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio

Download Previous Lessons in the 2008 “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot” Series:
* Lesson 1 – wmv video | mp3 audio
* Lesson 2 – wmv video | mp3 audio
* Lesson 3 – wmv video | mp3 audio
* Lesson 4 – wmv video | mp3 audio
* Lesson 5 – wmv video | mp3 audio

Daily Lessons on Baal HaSulam’s “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot” given by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD are broadcast live on Kabbalah TV: 5:00am until 6:00am Israel (GMT+2) time, Sunday to Friday, [Time Zone Converter], and are archived on the Kabbalah Media Archive

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In the preparations for the 2008 International Kabbalah Congress, for the last two months Bnei Baruch’s daily lessons have focused a lot on Baal HaSulam’s and Rabash’s articles about the society as a factor for spiritual attainment (see the Must-Read Sources section of the Kabbalah.info Congress 2008 section for abbreviated versions of these articles).

In addition to these articles, today’s 3rd part of the lesson was based on Rav Laitman’s recent arrangement of Baal HaSulam’s writings of the Last Generation.

Unlike the articles studied over the past two months, the writings of the Last Generation are a collection of Baal HaSulam’s unpublished handwritings on the subject of human society in its final, corrected state. These writings have already formed the basis for the book Dor HaAcharon (Hebrew for The Last Generation), which is currently available only in Hebrew.

Selected parts of these writings were arranged by Rav Laitman with the aim of spiritually preparing Bnei Baruch students for the 2008 International Kabbalah Congress.

Today’s lesson was the first in a daily series of lessons based on these writings.

Download Today’s Lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio [56:38]

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Albert Einstein as a Child

Schoolchildren love to hear the story (turned myth) about Albert Einstein getting bad grades at school, thinking that they can too sit back, get bad grades, and still be a genius afterwards. In today’s daily lesson on a section from Baal HaSulam’s article “Peace in the World,” called “Practical Difficulties in Determining the Truth,” Rav Michael Laitman, PhD used Einstein’s school grades as an example of how humanity does not have the scales of measurement to evaluate a person properly, because we ultimately do not know what a person is supposed to be.

The main problem is that we create our scales of measurement out of a lack of sensing a person’s soul, of who is a person, what is each person’s role within the system of souls, what particular condition is one currently in and what is one’s duty toward the interconnected system of souls. A proper scale of measurement for evaluating each person and oneself needs to take all these parameters into consideration.

Download the Full Lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio

Watch the Daily Lessons Live at Kabbalah TV

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What began as a daily Kabbalah lesson with Rav Michael Laitman, PhD turned into a 2-and-a-half-hour long question-and-answer super session on the subject of education—its crucial state in our world today, and how to optimize education for our following generations.

Bnei Baruch are now clarifying a new system of education based on revised study methods, new teacher requirements, how to train the world’s next generation of leaders, how to use media and globally-connected technologies in the most beneficial way for humanity’s development, and how to fulfill the educational needs of our future generations.

Download the Full Lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio

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After a month of public lectures and interviews with the media across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and finishing by attending the 4th World Wisdom Council conference in Monterrey, Rav Michael Laitman, PhD has returned to giving the daily lessons, aired live from the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education Center in Israel (viewable daily on Kabbalah TV, 8:15pm EST, 6 days per week).

This video was taken from today’s first lesson, on the 113th article from Rabash’s notebook Shamati (I Heard). Rav Michael Laitman, PhD answered a student’s question on prayer and the perception of reality, talking about confusions that arise when working to make the shift from a corporeal perception of reality to a spiritual one.

Click Here to Download the Full English Text Translation of Shamati (I Heard)

Download this Lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio (58 min)

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Rav Michael Laitman, PhD commentates on an article from Rabash’s Shlavey HaSulam, providing the spiritual definitions to the terms “Israel” and “Nations of the World.”

Video clip taken from the lesson on Rabash’s article #25 from Shlavey HaSulam, Volume 4 (19 September, 2007)
Download the full lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio (55 min)

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Rav Michael Laitman, PhD discusses the Thought of Creation in relation to the creation’s sensation of that Thought.

Video clip taken from the lesson “Introduction to the Wisdom of Kabbalah – Lesson 3.”
Download the full lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio (55 min)

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From Today’s Daily Lesson

Today’s lesson began the first in a series of studying Part 1 of Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot), by Baal HaSulam.

In his commentary, Rav Michael Laitman, PhD stressed the importance of understanding the correct definitions of the spiritual terminology in this opening part of the text. One needs to attune one’s focus on Baal HaSulam’s definition of each word one comes across in order to properly attune oneself to the text’s spiritual meaning, otherwise one can easily misinterpret the text with corporeal, physical meanings.

Rav Laitman placed special emphasis on the spiritual world (which Talmud Eser Sefirot describes) being completely disconnected from the corporeal, physical world that we perceive through our senses. Therefore, in order to base one’s approach to the study of Talmud Eser Sefirot correctly, and not mix up spirituality with corporeality, understanding the spiritual definition of each term presented in Talmud Eser Sefirot is a must.

To aid the reader of Talmud Eser Sefirot establish the correct approach to the study and clarify the spiritual meanings of the terms presented in the text, Baal HaSulam included tables of questions and answers for the meanings of the spiritual words at the end of each part. In this lesson, Rav Laitman and the students of Bnei Baruch present a very good example for students interested in delving deeper into the study of Kabbalah, of how to use these tables of questions and answers together with the body of the text to best absorb the text’s spiritual meaning.

The lessons on Talmud Eser Sefirot will be continuing daily at 9pm EST on Kabbalah TV, and will be available in the Kabbalah Media Archive.

Download the full lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio

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From Today’s Daily Lesson

What is Spirituality?

Philosophy has gone through a great deal of trouble to prove that corporeality is the offspring of spirituality and that the soul begets the body. Still, their words are not acceptable to the heart in any manner. Their primary mistake is their erroneous perception of spirituality, that spirituality fathered corporeality, which is certainly a fib.

Opening paragraph from Baal HaSulam’s “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy.”

Today’s daily lesson featured Baal HaSulam’s article “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy” with commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, and with an onslaught of questions by the students of Bnei Baruch.

The lessons will be continuing daily at 10pm EST on Kabbalah TV, and will be available in the Kabbalah Media Archive.

Download the full lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio

Student: If I understood the previous paragraph correctly, does it mean that the higher spiritual level we are in, the more technology will decline?

Rav Michael Laitman wmv video | mp3 audio (55 min)

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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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