JPost: “Who Is The Sovereign On Temple Mount?“

The Jerusalem Post published my new article “Who Is The Sovereign On Temple Mount?

This Tuesday, we will mark the 9th of Av, when the Temple was destroyed. The Temple represents our unity. When we restore our union, we will not need bricks to prove our place is here in Israel.

It is no secret that the Arab smear campaign in the media and the organized “popular” protests against the placement of metal detectors at the entrances to the Temple Mount have nothing to do with security measures. From the perspective of the Wakf (the Islamic organization controlling and managing the Temple Mount), and the rest of the Arab world, the resistance to the detectors represents the resistance to Israel’s sovereignty on Temple Mount in particular, in the city of Jerusalem, and in all of Israel. The longer this campaign lasts, the more the Arabs will gain the favor of the world, and Israel will increasingly be seen as the bully in the neighborhood.

By now, hardly anyone remembers that the detectors were placed at the entrances because three terrorists opened fire on Israeli police, killing two officers and wounding a third. All that everyone sees now is that Israel is not letting Muslims pray in their holy site, when in fact, the only people keeping worshippers outside the Temple Mount are the Wakf, who are telling worshippers not to enter in protest of the placement of detectors.

The Temple—the Unity of Israel

Not only the Wakf objects to Israel’s authority on Temple Mount. The resolutions of UNESCO denying the Jewish history on Temple Mount, Jerusalem, and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron represent the view of the entire world that we do not belong here. If the UN were to vote today on the establishment of a Jewish state, who would vote “Yes”? Probably not even America.

To be a sovereign in the land of Israel, and particularly on Temple Mount, you must understand what the Temple represents and lead your life accordingly. The book Netzah Israel (Chapter 4) writes, “The House was ruined due to unfounded hatred, for their hearts divided and they parted and were unworthy of a Temple, which is the unity of Israel.”

If we honestly reflect on our society, on what we project to the world, it is clear that we are deeply divided and project disunity and discord everywhere. The Maharal of Prague writes in Hidushey Avot (Gittin 55b): “The Temple should be the wholeness of the entire world, not of Israel alone. …Since the Temple is the wholeness of the entire world, the nations included, it was not ruined by the nations, but only by unfounded hatred and division, when Israel divided.”

In other words, the Temple does not belong to any one nation or faith; it represents the unification of the world. Therefore, only those who advocate and execute unity merit being there. The Hebrew word Yehudi (Jew) comes from the word yihudi, meaning united (Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2). When we, Jews, united “as one man with one heart,” it was the first and only time in history when people of different, often rival clans from all over Babylon and the Near East united and forged a nation. Our unity, therefore, was a model for the entire world to follow. As a result, immediately following the establishment of our peoplehood, we were commanded to be “a light unto nations,” to take our method of unity to the rest of humanity.

The book Sefat Emet (Shemot, Yitro) describes what it means to be “a light unto nations”: “The children of Israel are guarantors in that they received the Torah [the light of unity] in order to correct the entire world.” But if we are not united, and therefore do not project unity to the rest of the world, can we truly regard ourselves as the “children of Israel”? And if we are not truly the children of Israel, united like the children of Israel are meant to be, can we claim sovereignty over the land?

The Sedition Conquered the City, and the Romans Conquered the Sedition

Jewish-Roman historian Josephus Flavius lived at the time of the ruin and witnessed many of the events first hand. He wrote very clearly about the causes of the ruin of the Temple and the exile (The Wars of the Jews, Book IV, Chapter 6): “The sedition [among the Jews] conquered the city, and the Romans conquered the sedition.” In the days of the Temple, Flavius details, “The attribute the [Jews] lacked most was mercy. …They transferred their rage from the living to the slain, and from the slain to the living [of their own people]. The terror was so great that the survivors called the dead ‘happy,’ as they were already at rest. … These men trampled upon all the laws of men [love of others], and ridiculed the words of the prophets. Yet, these prophets foretell … that the city should be taken and the sanctuary burnt by war when a sedition invades the Jews, and their own hand should pollute the Temple. Now these zealots … made themselves the instruments of the fulfillment [of the prophecies].”

When you think of the current hatred between the two sides of the political map in Israel, or between the two sides of the political map among US Jews, the similarities to the enmity among our ancestors are too striking to ignore. “At the end of the period of the Second Temple,” writes the book A Letter from Elijah (Part 3), “strife and hatred intensified in Israel, and pride was the root of the desire for absolute dominance. This brought them into hatred of their fellow person until they could not stand the very existence of the other. From that root of pride also emerged the audacity to sin shamelessly, for they did not perceive the contradiction between their actions and their views, and their conscience did not cause them to conceal their actions. And if they do not care about the conflict between their views and their actions, then they are regarded as ‘all sin.’ These are the things that caused the ruin of the House.”

A Land Without a Sovereign

Today, we have a state, and we seemingly have sovereignty. But the name, “The State of Israel,” is still devoid of content. Our intolerance toward each other, our disdain toward our own people is skyrocketing. If we do not realize that we are repeating the same crime of unfounded hatred we committed two millennia ago, we will be banished from this land again until we are ready to unite above our differences as did our forefathers in the desert.

This Monday evening, we will mark the ninth of Av, the date when the Temple was destroyed. But it was destroyed in our hearts long before the bricks were set ablaze. With these compelling words, The Hida describes this inner ruin (Devarim Achadim, Tractate no. 6): “What can we say when we regret all day the ruin of the House and the [absence of] redemption? …It was all ruined because of unfounded hatred, and if we are disunited now and there is unfounded hatred, how can the House be built, since the cause of our ruin has not ceased from us? How can we say that we await Your salvation all the day while there is still unfounded hatred in our midst? Woe, how can man do good deeds as long as his impurity of baseless hatred is still in him?”

To be the landlords in the land of Israel, we must become once more the people of Israel, yehudim [Jews] from the word, “yihudi” [united]. Unless we reconstruct our unity and reassume our commitment to be a beacon of unity unto nations, the world will not support our being here and we will be expelled once more.

Sovereignty in the land of Israel is unlike the sovereignty in any other land—acquired by military might. This land has no sovereign; its dwellers are people who are willing to connect, to unite above their hatred, just like our forefathers. If we can learn the lesson from the horrors of our ancestors and transcend our selfish egos, we will merit staying here, and the entire world will be behind us. But if we opt once more for enmity, then we will suffer the hostility of the entire world, but not before we scuffle with each other once again.

For more information on antisemitism and the role of the people of Israel, please visit Why Do People Hate Jews.
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Russian Canadian: “Declaration: The World Is Mine!”

The Toronto newspaper the Russian Canadian published my article “Declaration: the World is Mine!“:

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Aspire To The Hidden Forces Of Nature

Unity, The Way To A Good FutureRemark: In the Baal HaSulam’s article “The Last Generation,” it is written that the law that will unite people is the law of “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Answer: This is the innate law of nature, which will ultimately begin to manifest itself in human society.

People will awaken such forces of nature that are still hidden from them today. These forces will connect humanity like a Rubik’s cube, into an integral, global, interconnected, complementary, and round system.

By attracting the forces of nature to their aspiration for them, humankind will become self-sustainable and will advance using these forces. These forces exist in nature, but because people do not long for them, they clearly do not influence and do not manifest in humanity.

However, due to despair with our development, we will increasingly turn exactly to these forces and gradually become transformed, which is called being re-educated.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 6/5/17

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The Work Of The Correction Of The World, Part 4

Laitman_712_03.jpgThe correction of the world consists of the correction of a person in resembling the upper force and approximating its qualities. The more we resemble the general force of nature in character and behavior, the better our lives will be.

The ultimate goal of creation is to become completely similar to the upper force, due to which we will begin to live in the world of absolute goodness.

Question: But why do you think that this will satisfy everyone and make them happy? After all, there are a multitude of other suggestions on how to improve our lives.

Answer: We are all a result of the upper force that created and purposely corrupted us so that we, ourselves, would come to resemble it. The science of Kabbalah doesn’t make anything up. It only studies the system of nature and presents us the results of its research. And the result is as follows: if we really want to live in a good world, we must correct ourselves to resemble the upper force of nature.

This conclusion was determined by the Kabbalists as a result of their study that has been going on for nearly 6,000 years. They tried to realize this correction at all times in all different kinds of societies and private individuals, and even on the scale of the entire nation, and based on this they made conclusions and left us this science.

Question: Many people think that all the troubles come specifically because of the upper force, which every religion perceives differently, and which happens to be the cause of many conflicts and even wars. So how can the correction depend on the upper force?

Answer: There are many fantasies and beliefs on the topic of the upper force that keep on changing. That’s why the only thing that is important is to study the upper force and through experience to determine what the good life should really be like and how to achieve it.

Question: And what if I don’t believe in the upper force?

Answer: You don’t need to believe in anything, only explore. Faith is only related to religion and research to science. As it is written, “The judge can only act based on what his eyes see,” that is the only thing we have to rely on.

Question: What is this upper force that we have to resemble and what does the person feel during this?

Answer: The upper force is the general force that includes the entire reality in it. If a person starts being similar to it, he begins to feel the entire world, just like it does. The upper force is the cause and reason for everything that exists in the world. That is why we need to learn about it as much as possible, to know it, and as a result of this knowledge we will understand how to build our lives in a better way.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 6/13/17

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You Will Build A House, But You Will Not Live In It.

laitman_243.03Torah, Deuteronomy, 28:30: You will build a house, but you will not live in it.

A person builds a house in order to reveal the Creator within it. House (Kli, vessel) is the soul.

What is being referred to here is that you will not be able to use any Kli that you have built because you will not have the possibility to make a Zivug de Hakaa on it, a right kind of connection. Others will live in this house.

It is impossible to use a Kli, a house, with an intention that is not justified, while others will partially be able to use it in their own way. They will ultimately bring you to correction, to you being able to return to your house, but only after going through a very lengthy and painful journey.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/7/17

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Convention In Rome, “All As One” – 07.30.17

Convention in Rome, “All As One,” “Brit (Convenant),” Lesson 5

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 07.29.17

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Convention In Rome “All As One,” 07.29.17

Convention in Rome, “All As One,” Preparation for the Lesson 2

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Convention in Rome, “All As One,” “Love Covers All Transgressions,” Lesson 3

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Convention in Rome, “All As One,” “There Is None Else Besides Him,” Lesson 4

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Stages Of Spiritual Elevation

laitman_747_01.jpgSpiritual work begins from the fact that you bind yourself to accept the laws of your own correction.

Like on the way out of Egypt, the sons of Israel had to understand that the most important thing is the rise above egoism, the passage of the Red Sea, the acceptance of the main principle “love your neighbor as yourself” as the ultimate goal, and aspiration to it with the help of mutual commitment, when all connect into one single whole.

They were obliged to accept this direction according to their efforts to connect together above egoism and to move forward. Accordingly, they received help from above, the upper Light of correction called Torah.

It was like entering the desert when you really are going into the desert because there are no correct states, desires, or intentions before you. You turn them into the correct source; you correct your egoistic qualities to altruistic ones, hatred into love.

Therefore, the mountain you stand before is called, Mount Sinai (from the word “Sina” – hatred), which you gradually turn into love after 40 years of traveling through the desert, meaning 40 degrees from Malchut to Bina, from the quality of complete reception to the quality of bestowal. You enter the state when you as if climb the same Mount Sinai, but already as the entire nation.

Then you can win the land of Israel, conquer it, which means to correct it, and after this erect a Temple on it, that is, create a common soul for everyone. In our world, the Temple represents creation of a single soul.

This is what is commanded to a person who ascends to the next spiritual level. At that, this is not about geographical conquests but exactly the internal state of a person when he rises to the degree called the land of Israel.

He receives the instruction for further corrections while being in the state Mount Sinai.

The next stage is the correction itself that is called forty years of wandering in the desert. During this stage, he feels various egoistic desires in himself, and by correcting them from the intention for myself to the intention for the sake of others, that is, through others to the Creator, and reaches an ascent to the next degree.

There he begins to work directly with his egoistic desires without rising above them but using them for bestowal. This state is called the work in the land of Israel.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 11/21/16

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Generation Gap, Part 4

laitman_961,1Question: How do we build the connection between parents and children through the desire for the eternal soul? How do we develop within the child the desire for the soul?

Answer: From the moment of birth, we must place the child in an environment where he can grow spiritually so that in several years we can speak with him in a language we both understand.

He must have such an environment where he can develop physically, emotionally, and intellectually for the revelation of the soul within him.

The environment is obligated to teach him how to do this through appropriate, kind, and friendly connection with others so that he can begin to sense a friendly world to such an extent that his egoism gradually goes through the lessons for correct behavior, that is, bestowal, love of others, connection, and unity.

Question: What does he need this for?

Answer: In order to see a positive response in the eyes of others and to take his place among them while he is still moved by egoistic motives. Everything else we leave to be accomplished by a special force that is at work in such a society, called the Light that Reforms.

Question: So the only method of connection between generations is the development of the soul, a process by which a person comes out of his egoism? And what does he see then?

Answer: He sees a system that controls the life of this whole world. He begins to derive pleasure, not from toys, that is, short-lived temporary pleasures—the Internet, television, movies, food, sex, family, money, power, fame, and narcotics—but from true fulfillment of experiencing the source of all pleasures.

This fulfillment is a great deal more significant and powerful than all others that are found in everyday life.

Spiritual pleasure fulfills the biggest human desire, a desire called the soul.

Question: Will this fulfill a person? Will he be happy?

Answer: Without question, because this is how we are made. It is an eternal and perfect pleasure, the biggest and fullest, giving us the ability to perceive and to be fulfilled from end to end. All other pleasures are only like tiny grains of sand that exist within spiritual pleasure.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life 851,” 4/18/17

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