Baal HaSulam writes in the article, “Inheritance of the Land,” that we inherit the land of Israel when we are accommodated to it and become the people of Israel. This is not just coming to Israel, receiving citizenship, and that’s it, you are an inhabitant of Israel already. An inhabitant is  a person who has a place in this land.

“Eretz Yisrael” (the land of Israel – “Eretz,” from the word “Ratzon” – desire) is a desire to be together with everyone, because Israel is a gathering of people who are connected and united together, as it is written: “All Israel are friends,” otherwise, this is not called “Israel.” So we are found in exile, outside of the land of Israel, and we are not called the people of Israel. “The people of Israel in the land of Israel” is a concept of unity, union, and connection because only this makes it possible for us to be in a state called, “The people of Israel in the land of Israel.”

The question is: how can we attain a desire like this, transforming into becoming one whole? And how is it possible to have one desire? After all, each one of us is very different from the others. This is particularly prominent in Israel: there are so many perspectives, extreme points of view. It is like a pie divided into thousands and thousands of pieces. And what can be done with them?

Moreover, to the extent of our development, when we are passing through so many different states, especially in recent years, each one of us feels how much his ego has grown, how far he is from the others. Basically, instead of coming closer, we are moving further away from each other. So when and how can we transform to become, “like one person with one heart,” “all Israel are friends”?

We see that other peoples get along with each other, more or less. But arguments and problems appeared with us even at the moment that we gathered together in this land. And these problems didn’t disappear, on the contrary, they became increasingly bigger and bigger, and we don’t know what to do with them. So our problem is: how can we overcome our ego that bubbles and erupts in everyone? And we see how mutual hatred is out of control.

Here the wisdom of Kabbalah provides a solution. First of all, it explains why nature developed us in the direction of the growth of the evil inclination, the ego, the strengthening of outbursts of anger in every person in his attitude towards others who are not like him. From year to year, all of these revelations only increase.  There was a time when the relationships between the religious and the secular, the relationships between the secular themselves and the relationships among all the religious were more peaceful. Today the relationships are becoming worse and worse.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that this is a correction from nature. To advance a person forward in his evolution, nature develops the ego in a person, a desire for pleasure, aggression, as these tendencies are necessary for a person to grow, but only on condition that he knows how to use all the extreme things that are awakened in him. So the suffering that we feel when we cannot attain the desired is necessary. And if that is how it is, so how is it possible that each one, having a big ego, can ultimately put up with others and connect with them into a single whole?

After all, it is written that the people of Israel can achieve peace and be a strong people accepted by everyone, and the whole world will calm down in relation to us and will stop attacking, pressuring, and hating us, only on condition that we become like a single whole. So how can we transform to become a single whole, both internally and externally, if our ego is growing all the time? At first glance this seems contradictory.

Question: What does it mean that “the ego grew”?

Answer: From year to year I feel that I want more and more, that I am not prepared to accept others more gently, with understanding, with agreement. In every one of us the same perpetrator is concealed, but in some individuals these inclinations are found to a lesser extent and aren’t even felt; they think of themselves as good people; whereas in others they break out, demand action, and so they kill and burn houses. But in principle, this is everyone’s problem. There is no such thing where something happens to one person that is not found in others. All the tendencies, all the characteristics are found in everyone.

So here the question is: how can we ultimately reach correction? The correction is that we become so close to each other that everyone accepts the others, each one is included in the others, even more than today, to such a degree that I understand the sufferings of others, their nature, their necessary behavior, and I accept them as they are.

Question: But isn’t this contrary to our growing ego?

Answer: If we leave everything as it is now, then it will only be worse. There is something to think about here, and we see this from many studies by psychologists and sociologists. So as the wisdom of Kabbalah says, to reach mutual acceptance we need education, a comprehensive education for all of the people. Only with the help of consistent and constant education that encompasses all of the people, that puts all of the problems of the people and the nation at the top, we will discover and know not only how to complement each other, but also to become a single whole.

In this single whole are both the Left and the Right, there are secular and religious, there are gays and straights, there are all kinds of parties and factions; it doesn’t matter who or what. But specifically thanks to this unique and integral education that the wisdom of Kabbalah recommends, we learn not just to complement each other, to concede to each other; rather, we see that all of these differences must exist. For the ego that grew in each and every person became even more opposed to others and wouldn’t accept them to such a degree that each one is ready to kill the other due to unfounded hatred, as it was before in the time of the destruction of the Temple.

But with the help of education the wisdom of Kabbalah recommends to us as a correction, we see how important each one is, like ingredients in a salad.  Each one has his place, and specifically with the acceptance and not the correction of someone’s characteristics. Only education will help us; it knows how to connect us. And nobody needs to change; everyone needs to receive this education, so it is called integral. Then we will see how important each one is, and we will not think that if we were to correct someone things would be better for us, as sometimes happens in a family. Suddenly we would see that all of us are one family, everyone has his role and all complement each other. But education is what must give this to us.

Integral Education, which the wisdom of Kabbalah offers, can give us a vision like this, and then everyone gradually, with understanding, will begin to accept each other, will know why our ego grew so strong, for this is the higher program of nature that is realized in us in this form, and in any case, it obligates us to complement each other; otherwise, we will simply kill each other.

That is how we understand why our ego is growing all the time, so that our connection will be much more powerful, strong, conflicting, so that within this conflict we will create the united people of Israel, a single whole. Then we will feel that we exist as the people of Israel in the land of Israel, that we have truly returned to our land as one united people.
[164462]
From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/2/15

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