Don’t miss the first class of the semester tonight at 8pm EDT (Americas class) and 8pm GMT (Europe class)

Kabbalah is a whole new approach to life which will most certainly change the way you perceive your reality. One of the unique features of this online Kabbalah course is the ability to ask questions and interact with your instructors in real time!

Also if you miss any classes you can download them for free from our lesson archive. Finally the student forum is a great place to visit to get answers to questions that weren’t answered in class.

If you haven’t signed up yet, don’t miss your chance

Click Here To Reserve Your Place In The Course Today!

We will be studying from Kabbalah for the Student, the official Learning Center textbook.

If you haven’t already, it is recommended to get a copy of this book to make the most out of your course.

Download as PDF
Purchase Your Own Copy

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Last night, the Winter 2010 Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Learning Center semester began. In two introductory classes (one for the Americas and one for Europe), BBLC intructors introduced the wisdom of Kabbalah, overviewing what it is, who it’s for, and why it’s becoming popular in our era, and also answered questions asked during the class by attendees worldwide.

The Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Learning Center is currently hosting over 30,000 students, and over 4,000 students have signed up for this Winter semester. If you missed the first lesson, then it’s not too late to sign up, download the first lesson, and catch up with the rest of the course. New students are welcome to sign up until January 20.

Sign Up Free for the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Learning Center Winter 2010 Semester >>

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Bnei Baruch Learning Center is hosting a free, live, interactive video course introducing authentic Kabbalah.

Fall Semester 2009 Begins September 9, 2009 at 8pm Eastern Time

Click Here To Sign Up

Learn more about Bnei Baruch’s Learning Center. Visit us at Kabbalahlearningcenter.info

Want to hear what other people have to say about our free Kabbalah course? Click Here to read course testimonials from students

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Everyone Is Invited!

When: The course will begin on April 19, 2009 and will continue through June 2009.

How much does it cost? The course is completely free of charge.

What: This interactive course will cover the basics of authentic Kabbalah, providing a deep understanding of nature, the world, and who you really are. It will give you practical tools with which to take control of every challenge in life by learning the real rules of the game. The study of authentic Kabbalah texts will allow you to sense a unique illumination that reveals and helps you realize your life’s true purpose.
During the classes, students can ask questions live over the Internet, and the lessons will also be available for free download for anyone who missed them. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in forum discussions about the classes.

The course will be taught in English and simultaneously interpreted into Spanish, Italian, German, and French. Over 17,000 students from 150 countries have already registered!

Here is what Brett Bailey of New York City, a graduate of the 2007 “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” course, had to say about his experience:

Click here for more information and to sign up

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In this video Bnei Baruch senior instructor Tony Kosinec introduces the upcoming course in authentic Kabbalah at the Bnei Baruch Learning Center.

*Click Here For More Information and to Visit the Registration Page

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Machsom (Hebrew for “barrier”) is the barrier that stands between this world and the spiritual world. Here’s what Rav Michael Laitman wrote about the Machsom in this must read post…

A question I received: You’ve been the leader and mentor of the Bnei Baruch group for nearly twenty years. Maybe it’s time to make a public summary? How many people have crossed the Machsom over this period of time, and how has the world changed as a consequence? Or is this no longer the objective today? Are you now simply trying to change the world without your students’ personal correction?

I understand that this question will be deleted, but at least someone will read it. But if you do decide to publish an answer, then please don’t beat around the bush: give us real numbers and results, and the actual improvement in the world.

My Answer:

* Number of students in the world – around 2,000,000.
* Number of groups in the world – 73.
* Number of people who have crossed the Machsom – 19.
* Number of people who are about to cross the Machsom – 210. The rest will cross it by the year 2012.
* Annual growth of students – 700-900%.
* Number of hopeless students – 1. It’s you.

Related Materials:
*Register for Free Online Kabbalah Courses
*Your First Course in Kabbalah

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Sign Up Free Here

What Does the Course Give You?

* A firm basis in authentic Kabbalah methodology, providing a deep understanding of nature, the world, and who you really are

* Practical tools with which to take control of every challenge in life by learning the real rules of the game

* A unique illumination that can be sensed only by the study of authentic Kabbalah texts, an illumination that reveals and helps you realize your life’s true purpose

What Is in the Course?

* 24 weeks of graduated study made simple, starting with fundamentals and progressing through technical aspects of the structure and inner nature of the force and law shaping our lives. You will learn how to connect with this force, and use it for yours and humanity’s benefit

* You’ll discover what Kabbalah is and isn’t, how it defines our perception of reality, what determines our feelings of pleasure and pain and how to correct the source of suffering, how to understand the “language of the Kabbalists” – what the texts are actually talking about, what free will is and how to attain it

* Instruction on how to study from authentic Kabbalah texts

* Study according to the schedule or at your convenience by downloading archived lessons

* Educational forum for direct personal answers by instructors to your questions as they arise in the study

* Free authentic texts and supporting books

* Free access to a virtual community of other students of Kabbalah

Click Here for More Information & to Register

Click Here to Go Straight to the Registration Page

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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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Kabbalah Introductory Lecture on Second Life

Second Life users are invited to the ARI Online Kabbalah Education Center’s first Kabbalah introductory lecture being held today, Sunday March 30 at 6:00PM PDT, on Second Life.

About the Kabbalah Introductory Lecture on Second Life
Authentic Kabbalah provides a response to escalating global issues by demonstrating how we all interconnected at a higher reality. The goal of this introductory lecture is to begin recognizing this parallel reality to ours in order to restore harmony on our planet. By teaching us how to reach wholeness, completeness and balance with nature, the method of Kabbalah enables us to discover our role in creation, and what can be done to lead the world to stability and peace. Further classes will also provide insights about where the world is heading, and how we can help avoid future crises.

The Second Life lecture and its further series of classes at the ARI Online Kabbalah Education Center will address the many misconceptions about Kabbalah while shedding light on current affairs: The escalating global crisis: natural disasters, terrorism, collapse of health and education systems, collapse of the economy; Freedom of choice — where we have it and where we don’t; Reality — how we can expand our perception of the reality we live in and learn to design it.

Register Now for Today’s Kabbalah Introductory Lecture at Second Life
To reserve a seat in the Second Life Kabbalah classroom write to slkabbalah@gmail.com.
(This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Second Life Related Articles

* ARI Online Kabbalah Education Center Opens Virtual Classroom – a press release on this lecture at Second Life’s SLReports.net Online Publication

* What Is “Second Life”? – Second Life is not a computer game. It is a website enabling visitors to enter a huge 3-D virtual world with millions of participants.

* 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?

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An introduction to Kabbalah by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD with more-heated-than-usual questions from an audience of 500, in Times Square, New York City. Lecture given on October 25, 2007.

This lecture was given as part of Rav Laitman’s The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah United States and Canada Tour, October 2007. More from this tour: http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/kabbalah-worldwide/rav-michael-laitman-october-tour-2007

Download this Lecture: wmv video | mp3 audio

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SAN FRANCISCO (October 11, 2007): Rav Michael Laitman, PhD gave a public lecture at the Embarcadero Center, Le Meridian Hotel entitled “The Kabbalah Experience”—an introduction to the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Rav Laitman opened the lecture stating that the wisdom of Kabbalah has it written that the year 1995 would see the beginnings of the disclosure of the wisdom of Kabbalah to humanity. In order to explain this, Rav Laitman compared the state that humanity is in today to the state that humanity was in 5,000 years ago, and why this difference has come about.

Rav Laitman was asked to clarify what makes the Kabbalah he teaches authentic, as well as answering questions on how Kabbalah treats the ups and downs of everyday life, who or what is the Creator, how is peace found in one’s life, Kabbalah on the family, Kabbalah on the education of children, and whether there are age restrictions on the study of Kabbalah.

Download the Lecture: wmv video | mp3 audio

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A lecture Rav Michael Laitman, PhD gave on
Baal HaSulam’s article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

Baal HaSulam: Bear in mind, that two forces serve to push us up the rungs of the aforementioned ladder, until we reach its head in the sky, which is the purposeful point of the equality of our form with our Maker. And the difference between these two forces is that the first pushes us from behind, which we refer to as the Path of Pain, or the Way of the Earth.

Commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD: Progress always arises out of pain. As a result, our entire life turns into flight from misfortunes and problems towards something that is possibly better. Baal HaSulam calls this path “the path of pain.” Generally speaking, its benefit is that it gives us a possibility to identify our ego as the source of pain. Without having the ego, I would not perceive nature that continuously acts upon me and pushes me forward. I would develop in a different manner. Let’s see what the other path of development is.

Baal HaSulam: The second force pushes us consciously, that is of our own choice. That force stands in front of us and pulls us forward, and that is what we determine as the Path of Torah and Mitzvot. For observing Torah and Mitzvot in order to bring contentment to our Maker, rapidly develops that sense of the recognition of evil, as we’ve shown in The Revelation of Godliness.

Commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD: We attract upon ourselves the Upper Light paying absolutely no attention to the ego, pain and everything else. Only a Light that Reforms is important to us. We are drawn forward as a result. Naturally, we feel everything that is awakened by pain, egoism, and our nature as evil. However, we long for good and because of this recognize evil very quickly.

View this lecture: wmv video | mp3 audio (55 min)
Read lecture transcript: html | doc
Read Baal HaSulam’s original article: html

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A review of the first Online Learning Center lecture, written by Ed Stedman.

The new semester of the Online Learning Center started on September 4th with a Fundamentals lesson by Tony Kosinec with more than 800 new students. This was followed by an intermediate lesson also taught by Tony with more than 100 students.

Students come from all around the world including many unlikely places such as China, Saudi Arabia, and Monaco. Of course the 8:00 PM EST time is impossible for some locations on the other side of the world, and so many students will watch the recorded lessons instead of watching the live lessons.

As always, the first Fundamentals lesson started with an explanation of what Kabbalah is and also what it is not. There were the usual questions asking whether Kabbalah could coexist with various religions and mystical practices and also about the nature of reality:
• Can Catholics study Kabbalah?
• Does practicing Judaism help in coming to spirituality?
• Can commandments be skipped altogether?
• Is this world a reality or a dream?

The difference between the new fundamental students and the intermediate students who have already completed the fundamental course is a testament to just how effective the fundamentals classes have been. Tony’s first intermediate lesson featured the “Peace in the World” article from Baal HaSulam and questions centered on the intricacies of the attributes of truth and mercy (discussed in the article).

Many of the intermediate students will be going to the Learning Center Retreat that has been scheduled for October 26th through 28th in St. Louis, and there was some discussion and anticipation of this event.

Further Study

The first fundamental and intermediate technical lessons from Mike Kellogg and Igal Zahavi respectively are scheduled for Sunday September 9th while the first of the Advanced Tutorials conducted by Mark Berelekhis is due to happen on Monday September 10th.

Want to enrol to the new Online Learning Center course? Click here for free registration and more information

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Next Course Begins September 4

Part One of our free online interactive courses explains the key to this long hidden wisdom, and provides a firm basis in the Fundamentals of Kabbalah revealing its methodology making clear its true purpose and use. Those who are interested can then move to Intermediate study (semester 2) after which they can join classes taught by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD.

Click here for free registration and more information

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Click here to read lecture transcript

A transcript from a public lecture filled with Q&A given by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD in Toronto (January 7, 2007) is now available. Rav Laitman first gave an overview of humanity’s egoistic development and some of the key stages of egoism’s growth in this development, and then answered the following questions:

? Is there a connection between the Torah and Kabbalah?
? How do Kabbalists feel about all the existing religions?
? Are you aware of the energetic images which constitute the Kabbalistic tree of life, and which were received as a consequence of extrasensory perception?
? From what I heard, famous Kabbalists are of the Jewish faith. Are there any Kabbalists of other faiths?
? Will everything written in the Torah occur in reality, or is it just an object of one’s imagination and unreal?
? What is the Creator? How do you see Him?
? How do you feel about Berg’s Center?
? Can a person join a group the moment he realizes or feels his “point in the heart”?
? Is it possible to change your fate once you grow spiritually?
? How does a person’s diet influence his studies in Kabbalah?
? How does Kabbalah differ from theosophy?
? Has any scientific data been collected affirming Kabbalah?
? Why did the Book of Zohar only become available in 1995?
? Are there Kabbalists-scientists who are not of Jewish descent (except Madonna)?
? Why do you call egoism an integral part of Kabbalah? Why is it egoism specifically, and not another positive word? Doesn’t egoism refer to a situation when something is done for one person, while Kabbalah wants the opposite, for everyone?
? Based on Kabbalah, as a science, can you assert that there is immortality?
? For how long does one need to study Kabbalah, and what will happen once a person learns it?
? Does having a grasp on Kabbalah help to conquer illnesses?
? What awaits North America?
? What can you tell us about the works of the Roerichs and the Blavatskys?
? Are the laws of the Upper Providence known?
? Can one study the original sources in translation?
? What do cybernetics, the theory of informational governance, and Kabbalah have in common?
? Why did Kabbalah become available during World War II?
? Kabbalah rejects religion. What connection does Kabbalah have with following a religion? In particular, what is the meaning of the Kippah (yarmulke)?
? Is there such a thing as reincarnations of souls?
? Is there a separation between the soul and the body after death?
? How can we tear a teenager away from drugs? What does Kabbalah say about this?
? How do the governments of different countries that are in authority today feel about Kabbalah?
? Is asceticism necessary in order to achieve the Upper spiritual world?
? Do you teach about the spiritual world?
? There are lots of different directions in Kabbalah. Which of them is correct?
? Are the Ari and Chefetz Chaim primary sources?
? Does Kabbalah engage in medical treatment, such as acupuncture?
? What happens to the soul after a person dies?
? Do all the feelings remain in the soul after death?
? Can Kabbalah explain the fact of life after death, or rebirth?
? Can you briefly state your opinion about the spiritual act called “the blow of fire,” or Pulsa Denura?
? Does this mean that there exists only one reality? …and we will need to return in order to achieve the proper level, or a transition to another reality?
? Is it possible to study Kabbalah without a teacher?
? Who is a Kabbalah teacher?
? How important is it to undergo the beginner stages of the revelation of egoism in one’s development? Is it possible to reach the Upper level, by-passing the lower stages?
? Are the books that laid the foundation for Kabbalah also written by people?
? Is Kabbalah the only way to attain the Upper level?
? How do I rid my wife and children of super egoism?
? By learning Kabbalah, do you believe in God?
? You mentioned that the world is becoming more dangerous. When will this change, when will it become better?
? Is it possible to receive the information we need without studying from books?
? You said that only by developing the soul and attaining the Upper World is it possible to fix our fate. In our understanding, this means finding a better position in this world, getting married successfully, making more money, or finding a better job. If a person attains the Upper World, doesn’t he become a part of the governing system?

Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, Lecture presented at the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education Center, Toronto. wmv video | mp3 audio | ms word transcript

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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

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Altruism is Life’s Principle – The evolution of desires from our egoistic foundation in this world to our altruistic destiny in the Upper World. Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, commentates (with Q&A) on his article “Crisis and Resolution,” prepared for the 4th World Spirit Forum, January 2006.

Peace in the World – Correction of the individual and the correction of the whole of humanity are discussed with the aim of actualizing world peace in the soonest time possible. Commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD on Baal HaSulam’s article “Peace in the World.”

Q&A with BB USA Students – Rav Laitman answers question from BB students digging into how to cross the barrier between this world and the spiritual world, determining truth against falseness, the role of mistakes in the spiritual work, what it means to achieve the level of “love thy neighbor as thyself,” dealing with Klipot (shells) in the correction process, and other inner-work-related questions.

What Does It Mean that the Creator Hates the Bodies in the Work? – Fighting the will to receive and the inner war on desire in the spiritual work is discussed by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD in this 3rd commentary on Baal HaSulam’s 19th Shamati article.

Lishma – An investigation on what it means to work in Lishma (i.e. for the sake of the Creator), and advice on how to attain this spiritual degree. Rav Michael Laitman, PhD teaches based on Baal HaSulam’s 20th Shamati article.

The Profit of a Land – The work of attaining the Creator’s nature – bestowal – through the discovery of the creature’s opposite nature – reception – and the request for its correction. Commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD on Baal HaSulam’s 34th Shamati article.

The Fear of God is His Treasure – The work of cancelling oneself before the Creator and the obstacle of pride in the spiritual work, with advice for how to correct its use. Commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD on Baal HaSulam’s 38th Shamati article.

Love for the Creator, Love for the Created Beings – Creation’s final state of the reconnected soul of Adam ha Rishon, bonded in eternal adhesion with the Creator, with the quality of absolute, unconditional love as the quality needed for the attainment of this state. Commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD on the article “Love for the Creator, Love for the Created Beings” by Baal HaSulam.

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In the 1960s, the Beatles declared that all we need is love, and they were right… Kabbalah says that the only force and the only law that exists in reality is the force (or law) of love.

In the 1960s, love was the name of the game. Woodstock, Hair, and “make love, not war” sentiments were the models by which we lived. But if even the law of reality agrees that love is the name of the game, why didn’t the ideals that attracted us to Woodstock last? Where is the love we were promised?

Love Is Life
Before we find where love went, we need to understand why Kabbalah states that in the whole of reality, there is nothing but love. Just imagine a woman holding her newborn baby in her arms. She gazes down at it, smiles, feeds it when the baby is hungry, and wraps it in blankets to keep it warm. Beneath all her actions is only one energizing force: her love for her baby. This is the law of love.

This seemingly obvious example demonstrates why love is the only force that can create life. What other force could guarantee that parents would care for their offspring, thus securing the continuation of their species? What other force would make certain that existing species have the means to persist and thrive? Evidently, without love, there is no life. This is why Kabbalah says that Creator, nature, and love are synonymous.

There is yet another statement that Kabbalists make, derived from the statement that the Creator is love: Because He is good, He created creations that want to receive His benefits.

According to The Book of Zohar, the seminal book of Kabbalah, reality originates from the Creator’s thought to do good, to benefit. The Zohar explains that the Creator’s nature is good; hence, so is His will, and hence, so are His thoughts.

And because He wants to do good, He created a world that runs on a desire to receive the benefits He wishes to give. This is why the law, and the force by which the whole of reality operates, is the Creator’s love.

A Mother’s Love
This brings us back to our question: Where is the love we were promised? Where are His benefits? Since the Creator formed our reality, we are the creations that wish to receive the benefits He wishes to give.

The mother-and-child example shows us that the love doesn’t exist in the baby (creation), but in the mother (the Creator). She is really the one who is enjoying her love for the baby, and the baby simply exists to enjoy her love for it.

And as cute as babies are, being a baby isn’t life’s purpose. Babies don’t remain babies, but grow up, become adults, and develop their own abilities to love. Thus, they become like their creators.

Likewise, the Creator’s purpose in creating us is for us to become like Him. The Kabbalistic term for being like the Creator is Dvekut (adhesion). Dvekut doesn’t mean that two things are “glued” to one another, but that they are at the same time identical, yet separate beings.

Therefore, to enjoy the love that exists in our Creator, we need to “grow up” and become “spiritual adults,” like Him.

Many Pieces, One Soul
In the whole of reality, as we’ve described above, there is only the Creator’s love. This love created us, the intended recipients of that love. The name Kabbalists gave this creation is “the soul of Adam ha Rishon (The First Man).” For short, we call it “Adam.”

Adam is not many souls (creations) put together; Adam is one collective soul, divided into billions of pieces. Just as our bodies are made of trillions of cells, all functioning as one unit, Adam’s soul is made of billions of pieces, all functioning as one spiritual entity.

If the cells in our body work harmoniously, we are healthy; if they work against one another, we become ill. Similarly, when our souls, the pieces of Adam’s soul, work together, our souls—the whole of humanity—are spiritually healthy.

Adam’s division into so many souls was no coincidence, but a predetermined act by the Creator. The division is imperative for our success in becoming like Him. Just as children need other children around them to develop social skills and grow up, our souls need other souls in order to develop into being like the Creator.

These souls are not really separated from ours; they are different parts of the same soul (body). But our perception of these souls as distinct and separate allows us to relate to them as separate, and thus create a “society of souls,” just like our human society. And just as children play and thus learn how to become grownups, we learn how to communicate with “other” souls, and work harmoniously with all of Adam’s parts. This is how our souls mature.

Straight to God
Yet, there is a fundamental difference between the way our souls develop, and the way we develop our social skills. Children have visible grownup role models to emulate and learn from. But our “spiritual parent” is hidden. We cannot emulate Him because we cannot see or hear Him.

To become spiritual adults, we need to employ a slightly different method than our regular school classes, where everyone learns together. Just as each cell in our bodies has a different function, each piece of Adam’s soul represents a slightly different facet of the collective desire to receive pleasure. Some pieces are created to want to be wealthy, some want to be powerful, some want to be knowledgeable, and some want to be Creators, or at least like Him.

The first person who wanted to become like the Creator was Abraham. He discovered that being like Him meant having His nature—that of giving. When Abraham became like the Creator, he started to spread the knowledge of the Creator wherever he could. In fact, we call him “the Patriarch” because of his affinity with our spiritual Father, and his desire to bring all of us to Him.

In Kabbalah, souls that want to be like the Creator are called Ysrael (Israel). Ysrael is a combination of two words: Yashar (straight) and El (God). Therefore, Israel are those whose desire is to go straight to the Creator, to achieve His nature.

Abraham’s Legacy
The early patriarchs taught whomever they could, since they knew from their own experience that this was the best thing they could give their fellow people. This was also their spiritual legacy. In his book, The Mighty Hand, The Rambam (Maimonides), the great 12th century Kabbalist, beautifully describes how Abraham roamed from city to city and from country to country, spreading wisdom and knowledge to anyone who’d listen. This is how he created the first group of Kabbalists.

Abraham’s group grew into a nation, named after its desire—Israel. This nation’s role in the world has not changed since it first appeared as a group of Kabbalists. The spiritual legacy to spread the method of achieving the Creator remains the same. The Holy Ari, the great sixteenth-century Kabbalist, puts it beautifully in his book, Shaar HaPsukim (Gate to the Verses), Parashat Shemot: “Adam ha Rishon contained all the souls and contained all the worlds. When he sinned, all the souls … divided into seventy nations. And Israel should be in exile in each and every nation, to gather the roses of the sacred souls that were scattered among those thorns.”

Longing for Love
They say that money makes the world go around. Curiously, the Hebrew word for money is Kesef, which stems from the word Kisufim (longing). The great 20th century Kabbalist, Baal HaSulam, addresses this similarity and explains that money is indeed longing, but the longing isn’t for the money itself. Beneath the desire is really a longing for the Creator’s love. Then, Baal HaSulam continues to explain that we can only attain the Creator’s love when we are “in Dvekut” with Him, when we are like Him.

All we need to perceive His love for us is the right method. Then, the love that He feels for us will be felt within us, toward each other, and back toward the Creator. The Rav Kook (the first Chief Rabbi of Israel) eloquently expressed this love in a talk with the author, AZAR (1911): “I wish the whole of humanity could be placed into a single body, so I could embrace them all.”

Love Links
8 Key Love Resources

Articles on Love

The Law of Love – is called “the law of equivalence of form.”

Videos on Love

The Law of Equivalence of Form – everything reaches balance.

Toward Integral Consciousness – scientists on the need for common love.

The Table of Free Voices – 100 questions to 112 speakers.

Why Can’t We Just Get Along? – why we can’t love each other yet.

Rav Michael Laitman, PhD on Love

Unconditional Love – classic lesson by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD.

One Law – Rav Laitman discusses the law of love.

Love Quotes

One body of humanity
The purpose of creation
Bonding as one
Equivalence of form
A never-ending coupling
Strengthening the bond
Buying love
One thing common to all
Love thy neighbor as thyself
A great rule
You cannot force love
Self-love
Cleansing self-love
One law
Worldwide unanimous agreement
Friends
Critical mass
From one nation to the world
I love God
I love everything
Revealing love
Dependence on the love of friends

One body of humanity
“I wish the whole of humanity could be placed into a single body, so I could embrace them all.”
–The Rav Kook

The purpose of creation
“The whole desirable end for the Creator from the creation He had created is to delight His creatures, so they would know His greatness and His Trueness, and would receive all the abundance and pleasantness He had prepared for them.”
–Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of The Book of Zohar”

Bonding as one
“Hence, turn away from all the false engagements and set your hearts to think thoughts and innovate proper innovations to bond your hearts literally as one. And the verse, ‘love thy friend as thyself,’ shall actually be realized in you.”
–Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (Fruit of the Wise), letters

Equivalence of form
“When one reaches love of man, one is then straight in the form of Dvekut (adhesion), which is equivalence of form with one’s Maker. Along with it, one transcends one’s narrow and painful world, which is filled with obstacles, toward a vast, eternal world of bestowal upon the Creator and upon the creations.”
–Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

A never-ending coupling
“But he must acknowledge in his soul that the Creator chases him just as much as he is chasing the Creator. And he must never forget that, even during the strongest longing. And when he remembers that the Creator chases and yearns to cleave unto to him as much as he does, too, he will always progress from strength to strength with yearning and craving, in a never ending Zivug (spiritual unity), which is the complete perfection of the soul’s power, until he is rewarded with love.”
–Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (Fruit of the Wise), p. 19

Strengthening the bond
“Let our hearts see the merits of our friends and not their faults. And let us each speak to our friends in the upright way, which is desirable to you. And let no hate rise from one over one’s friend. And strengthen our bond with love for You, as it is known and revealed to you…”
–Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, “A Prayer before a Prayer”

Buying love
“We must know that love is bought through actions. By giving presents to one’s friend, each gift is like an arrow and a bullet, making holes in one’s friend’s heart. And even though one’s friend’s heart is like a stone, still, each bullet makes a hole. And from the accumulation of holes, a hollow is made, and the love of the giver enters that hollow. And the warmth of the love draws to it one’s friend’s sparks of love, and then from the two loves, a clothing of love is made, and this clothing covers them both.”
–Rabbi Baruch Ashlag, Dargot HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), Part 1, article no. 776

One thing common to all
“We see that there is one thing that is common to all—the spirit. It is said, ‘A concern in one’s heart, let him speak of it with others.’ This is because with regard to feeling high-spirited, neither wealth nor erudition can be of assistance. Rather, it is one person who can help another… It turns out that each and every one must pay attention and think, how he can help his friend, uplift his spirit, because regarding one’s spirit, anyone can find a needy place in one’s friend, which he can fulfill.”
–Rabbi Baruch Ashlag, “They Helped Every One His Friend”

Love thy neighbor as thyself
“Here before us is a clear law (Halacha), that in all 612 precepts and all the writings in the Torah there is none that is preferred to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself,’ because they only aim to interpret and allow us to observe the precept of loving our neighbor unreservedly.”
–Baal HaSulam, “The Revelation of Godliness”

A great rule
“Love thy neighbor as thyself (Leviticus 19:18), Rabbi Akiva says, ‘This is a great rule in the Torah.’”
–Midrash Raba, Chapter 24

You cannot force love
“One can bend oneself and enslave oneself and follow anything. But with love, no enslavement and subjugation in the world will help.”
–Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot”

Self-love
“The whole of evil is only self-love, called ‘egoism,’ since it is opposite in form from the Creator, who has no desire to receive anything for Himself, but only to bestow.”
–Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

Cleansing self-love
“It is only possible to love in the same measure that you make within yourself a place cleansed of self-love.”
–Rav Michael Laitman, A Thousand Questions about Kabbalah

One law
“The essential axis in the Torah is love thy friend as thyself. The rest of the 612 Mitzvot are its interpretations and qualifications for it.”
–Baal HaSulam, “The Revelation of Godliness”

Worldwide unanimous agreement
“When all the people in the world unanimously agree to annul and eradicate the desire to receive for themselves within them, and will have no other desire but to bestow upon their friends, all worries and harmful ones will be banished from the earth, and each will be secured a complete and healthy life. In the end, each of us will have a whole world to care for our needs.”
–Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of The Book of Zohar”

Friends
“Let our hearts see the merits of our friends, and not their faults.”
–Noam Elimelech, “A Prayer before a Prayer”

Critical mass
“Each item in the 613 Mitzvot in the Torah revolves on the axis of the one Mitzva, ‘love thy friend as thyself.’ This axis can only be sustainable within the framework of a whole nation, whose members are all willing and ready for it.”
–Baal HaSulam, “The Revelation of Godliness”

From one nation to the world
“It is upon the Israeli nation to qualify themselves and the people of the whole world to develop until they assume this sublime work of love of man, which is the ladder to the purpose of creation, which is adhesion with the Creator.”
–Baal HaSulam, “The Bond”

I love God
“I am filled with love for God. I know that what I ask, what I love, is not called by any name. How can there be a name to what is more than everything, more than the best, more than the essence, more than being?! And I love, and I say, ‘I love God.’”
–The Rav Kook, Orot Kodesh (Sacred Lights)

I love everything
“I love everything. I cannot not love people, all the peoples. I wish, from the bottom of my heart, for the glory of everything, and erection of everything. My love for Israel is fervent, deeper. But the inner desire spreads through with its power over everything. I have no need to bend that emotion of love; it stems straight from the depth of the sanctity of the wisdom of the Godly soul.”
–The Rav Kook, Mar’eh Cohen

Revealing love
“Our whole work is to reveal the love within us, every single day.”
–Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (Fruit of the Wise), letters, p. 35

Dependence on the love of friends
“I shall remind you still the validity of the love of friends at this time, for upon this depends our right to exist, and in that is our measure of soon-to-come success measured.”
–Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (Fruit of the Wise), letters

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TORONTO (Sunday, 13 May): In a lecture aimed at the students of the ARI Online Education Center course, Rav Michael Laitman, PhD lectured on the essence and the purpose of Kabbalah, its role in human evolution and specifically in the world today (aired live on Kabbalah TV’s Live Stream).

As Rav Laitman motioned to open the lecture with the first sentences of Baal HaSulam’s article The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah, he quickly detoured, stating in a lot simpler words “What is it?” then proceeding to give his modern version of Baal HaSulam’s definition in the article:

Definition of Kabbalah:
“The wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of nature’s laws that are systematically arranged before us so as to bring us to the recognition of the Creator.” –Rav Laitman (from the lecture)

Rav Laitman continued the lecture with a discussion of how nature arranges life on the still, vegetative, animate and speaking degrees of nature, how a person living in this world perceives evolution through this arrangement, and how we develop through these degrees in order to achieve blissful, eternal life, perfectly balanced with nature.

The following quote by Rav Laitman (from the lecture) defines Kabbalah’s approach to the state we are being led to, and the ultimatum that Kabbalah states nature is placing before humanity in our era:

Kabbalah on Balance with Nature:
“Balance with nature is expressed in the wisdom of Kabbalah by the words ‘equivalence of form.’ In other words, nature’s form is in giving everything, and man wants to receive everything, and thus our nature is opposite from nature in general. We therefore have to bring man to the degree of the Giver, to equalize with it. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, the degree of the Giver is called ‘equivalence of form’ or Dvekut (adhesion).

This is how, in the wisdom of Kabbalah, we define the final goal that we should reach. If we achieve it, we will have an eternal, perfect and tranquil life, as is nature itself. If we do not achieve it, nature will constantly pressure us until we completely improve and correct ourselves.”

The rest of the lecture was a Q&A session between Rav Laitman and the ARI Online Education Center students, questions dealing with how we should relate to violence, the role of religion in humanity’s evolution, how we should relate to Kabbalistic books, as well as many other questions.

Follow the links for the full lecture:
Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.” Lecture presented at the Toronto Bnei Baruch Education Center (13 May, 2007):
wmv video | mp3 audio (86 min)

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Click Here to Sign Up for a Free Kabbalah Introductory Course – Starts Soon!

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