Dr. Laitman received his PhD In philosophy and Kabbalah from the Moscow Institute of Philosophy at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and his MSc in Medical Cybernetics from the St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University, in the faculty of Biological Medical Cybernetics. In addition to being a scientist and a researcher, Dr. Laitman has been extensively engaged in Kabbalah for the past thirty years. He has published thirty books on Kabbalah and numerous publications on Kabbalah and Science.
Dr. Laitman was the disciple and personal assistant to Rabbi Baruch Ashlag, son of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, author of the authoritative Sulam (Ladder) Commentary on The ZOHAR. Dr. Laitman follows in the footsteps of his mentor’s mission in life—promoting the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah throughout the world. Laitman's scientific method provides individuals of all faiths, religions and cultures the precise tools necessary for embarking on an inspiring path of self-discovery and spiritual elevation focusing primarily on inner processes that individuals experience at their own pace.
In 1991, after his mentor’s demise, he founded the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute. Bnei Baruch is a non-profit organization that welcomes people of all ages and lifestyles to engage in the rewarding process of studying Kabbalah. The organization charges no fee for any of its diverse activities.
Bnei Baruch produces daily live TV broadcasts of Kabbalah lessons and programs for various channels throughout the world. Bnei Baruch also broadcasts live daily video and audio Kabbalah lessons over the Internet with simultaneous translations from Hebrew to English, Russian, and Spanish.
The organization established and sustains the largest, most extensive content site on Kabbalah, hosting more than half a million unique visitors, with more than 2.5 million page views a month, as well as a Newsletter in five languages with 28,000 subscribers. Available on the site are authentic Kabbalah texts in twenty-two languages, and a comprehensive web-based media and text archive, all of which is provided gratis.
Dr. Laitman’s extensive educational and scientific activities led to a title of Professor in Ontology and the Theory of Knowledge, granted by The Highest Interdisciplinary Academic Attestation Commission of the Russian Federation. Additionally, Dr. Laitman collaborated with prominent scientists conducting unique research on modern science and Kabbalah and in 2005 wrote a joint book on this topic with Prof Vadim Rozin of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, The State University of Human Sciences in the Russian Academy of Sciences
Other projects are in various production stages with leading scientists such as Dr. Jeffrey Satinover—a psychiatrist and Theoretical Physicist at Princeton and Nice Universities.
Today, Dr. Laitman’s thirty years of research into the science of Kabbalah is recognized among renowned scientists and researchers in hard science that adhere to the classical scientific paradigms. In the framework of his scientific and educational program, Laitman participates in international conferences alongside scientists from the world over. He is the founder and the president of the Ashlag Research Institute (ARI), established to research interconnections between the sciences of our world and the science of Kabbalah.
In March 2005, Dr. Laitman held a successful public meeting in San Francisco California with leading American scientists, contributors to the hit docudrama What the Bleep Do we know?. Below are some of the scientists’ impressions:
Fred Alan Wolf, PhD. author of eleven books, among them The Yoga of Time Travel & Matter into Feeling: a new Alchemy of Science and Spirit and Mind into Matter:
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"You are really a master. I would love to sit at your feet and study for a long time."
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Jeffery Satinover, M.D, M.S. – Author of seven books on Quantum Physics and Psychiatry including The Quantum Brain and Cracking the Bible Code, Department of Physics, University of Nice, France:
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"The emergence of Kabbalah from its concealment in a genuine form is historically significant and is truly remarkable. I have had the great privilege and honor of getting to know Rav Michael Laitman personally, and I am pleased to endorse this, his latest book on Kabbalah. Dr. Laitman brings to this ancient discipline a warm heart, deep learning and experience as well as a thorough grasp of modern principles of empiricism. Great minds throughout the ages have found in genuine Kabbalah (by contrast to its many superficial variants, I hasten to caution) a fount of non-sectarian, humane, spiritual guidance.
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Some more endorsements from leading figures in the world of Kabbalah appear on one of Dr. Laitman’s latest publications Awakening to Kabbalah (Jewish Lights Publications, 2005):
Prof. Daniel Matt, one of the world’s leading researchers in Kabbalah. Prof. Matt served as Professor of Jewish Spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California from 1979-2000. Additionally, he taught at StanfordUniversity and the HebrewUniversity in Jerusalem. He has published six books, including: Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment; The Essential Kabbalah; and God and the Big Bang. He is currently working on the first annotated English translation of Sefer ha-Zohar (Stanford Publishing):
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“Rav Michael Laitman is a unique and fascinating figure: a talented scientist who has created a meaningful synthesis of science and Kabbalah.”
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Rabbi David A. Cooper, author of God Is a Verb and Ecstatic Kabbalah:
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“An excellent resource for those who seek authentic traditional mystical Jewish teachings the way serious students have studied them for hundreds of years. Based on the well-known Sulam commentary to the Zohar, which up to now has been the primary source for anyone who explored esoteric Kabbalistic revelations, this is an essential text for a well-rounded Jewish mystical library.”
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Arthur Goldwag, author of The Beliefnet Guide to Kabbalah:
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“There are no red string nostrums here, no facile promises of worldly success. Instead, Rav Laitman invites us to transform ourselves—and the world—through the challenging, often painful work of Kabbalah. Fascinating, learned, sometimes startling … will provoke and inspire any spiritual seeker.”
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Tamar Frankiel, PhD, author of The Gift of Kabbalah: Discovering the Secrets of Heaven, Renewing Your Life on Earth:
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“Explains how Kabbalah, understood properly, is a science of spiritual wisdom that transforms our desires so that we can bring benefit to all of creation.”
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Dr Laitman is a member of the World Wisdom Council, a think tank organization headed by Prof. Ervin Laszlo in conjunction of the Club of Budapest. Prof. Laszlo was one of the first representatives in the area of systems philosophy and general theory of evolution, and published nearly 70 books translated into as many as 18 languages. In the course of his long academic career as a professor of philosophy, systems philosophy and future sciences, he worked in teaching and research at a variety of reputable universities in the US and Europe amongst are the Sorbonne in Paris, the Universities of Houston, Portland State, Indiana, Northwestern University, and the State University of New York. Here are some of the words that he wrote to one of Dr. Laitman's publications Kabbalah, Science and the Meaning of Life:
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“At a time of critical choices for our future on this planet, the ancient wisdom of the Kabbalah has renewed relevance and utility. The wisdom contained in the classical scriptures has to be brought to bear on the problems we face and the opportunities open to us and the message needs to be made available to all people, in Israel and in the whole world. Rav Michael Laitman is qualified like no other to meet this crucial challenge and fulfill this historic mission.”
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