The Danger Has Not Passed

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, The Writings of the Last Generation: There is no hope at all that the Nazis will die off when the allies win because tomorrow the Anglo-Saxons will embrace Nazism, since they are also in the world of democracy and Nazism.

No developed nation can avoid a Nazi regime unless we prevent this disease by taking a powerful remedy, unless egoism, which is integrally locked onto itself, is reformed. Why is Nazism, especially fascism, so attractive? “Fascio” in Italian means a bond, unity. This is the answer to why people gravitate to being one whole. Therefore, it specifically threatens the developed nations. Their ego is growing, and they are starting to feel the need to unite since it is programmed in nature.

But their actions are based on the forces of egoism: People give up personal gains and become a unified nation. They want to be totally equal, if not in terms of possessions, then at least in terms of general solidarity. Peasant and prime minister alike, they share the national pride which they place above all other peoples.

This is, in fact, a type of “national unity” that our development is asking for, a response to the demand of the time, which doesn’t include correction of egoism. In other words, fascism is the answer to nature’s calling for unity. The calling itself is clear; it feels timely and right, and in order to get stronger, people start looking at other nations with disdain. In their eyes, the other nations are far from, don’t understand or feel, and are not ready for this calling.

This is where all dictators, who bring a nation together, all Nazis, and fascists come from. Essentially, they answer a certain question. And hence, the danger is still hanging over us. It has not yet passed for humanity, and the events of the 20th century were a mere “demonstration” of what can still be. Fascism and Nazism are still threatening us.
[42038]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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To Be A Model For The Nations

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During the Holocaust, not only the ideologists but also the entire nation hated the Jews….

Answer: Let’s put it this way: The entire nation was willing to accept the ideas of genocide without feeling any shame and guilt. It is a war, an ideological war, in which victory can be achieved only one way: by exterminating the nation which has an opposite idea.

Nowadays, tens of peoples can take the same course which the Germans took before. And everyone will instantly feel that, first and foremost, it is the Jews who are their rival and nemesis. Besides, it doesn’t matter what neighboring country a nation will be fighting with: “We have a war party going on here, but it’s all the Jews’ fault.”

Any nation that chooses the path of fascism will inevitably attack Israel with ideology. This is programmed in nature; there is nothing we can do about it.

Therefore, our only responsibility is to expedite correction. We must get corrected and unify, become a model and “a light unto the nations.” And then they’ll understand that it is the right, perfect example which doesn’t just provide a solution on the level of this world, but also elevates a person to the spiritual degree, the eternal life.

Having demonstrated such a model, we will be able to prevent the Third and the Fourth World Wars and all the misfortunes that might follow. There is no other solution. And hence, everyone who understands what danger is threatening the entire Jewish nation and all of humanity must participate in correction with all their strength and heart.
[42029]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do the horrors of the Holocaust combine with the principle of “There is none else besides Him” and “He is good that does good”?

Answer: There is none else besides the Creator; He is consistently good and does good, while we are opposite to Him. And hence, not reforming ourselves, we provoke the development and strengthening of the negative forces. In the world, only we possess free will. In reality, there is a balance of forces. However, in the process of exploring them, man tends to bring into the picture his own resentments, pains, and impressions, as well as worries and fears, along with the burden of his personal history.

When we approach something with our own instruments, we should study natural phenomena rather than the subjective factors that make us laugh or cry. As a true scientist, I research the forces of nature that in our world generated a form called Nazism. Who could have prevented it? Why did everything occur as it did?

This is what the research shows: A force that is good and does good acts upon us from Above, and there is nothing else besides it. The upper Light remains at absolute rest; it is invariable, and its laws are indisputable. One could provide many citations, and all of them prove but one thing: The Creator’s force and the program of creation don’t change because of our cries. They are constant and are moved by the engine that drives us to the end of correction.

The more we correspond to this process, the better our condition is. The less aligned to it we are, the more misfortunes befall us and we feel worse. Everything depends on our choice.

Essentially, the blows we receive assist our correction, but thereby we advance by the path of hardships and pain, which will bring us to the destination at a designated time. If, however, we study the system and seek an opportunity to adapt to it, we can advance along with the system, in accordance with it. Thereby, instead of being hit, we can evolve by taking a pleasant path of hastening time.

One way or the other, everything depends on us, on how we integrate ourselves into the mechanism that advances us and the whole humanity forward. Moreover, we are the only ones who can do it, unlike all other nations. Before anything else, Israel must become a model of a new, integral, global humanity, of “altruistic communism,” as Baal HaSulam defined it.

Having prepared ourselves for it, we will justify our existence. We have been chosen only for this. Only through a small group can the method of correction be brought into the world.

Therefore, there is no other option: We will either accomplish what we are supposed to, and then the entire world will be well, or, God forbid, we will choose the unpleasant path as it previously happened in history. There is no use in sitting and crying; we have to examine and evaluate all the factors and be very serious about it. This is what characterizes sensible and wise people, unlike little children who can only cry, which is exactly what the nation is doing so far.
[42026]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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An Honorable Task Of Becoming Righteous

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we switch from the state of a “sinner” who is unable to justify the Creator to the state of a “righteous man”?

Answer: To feel as a “sinner” is a very good, beneficial, and unavoidable state. While egoism is waking up in you, you are “under the protection of the Torah,” meaning that you have something to lean on: You have the Light that helps you understand that you are experiencing a downfall and descent.

You fall because you haven’t corrected your new desire yet, which is unfolding in you now. Hence, you see yourself as a “sinner.” A “sinner” is a spiritual degree, and a very honorable one. This means that I have reached a state when the Creator realizes that He can load me with an even heavier burden and I will be able to correct it! He seems to be inviting and assigning me a more meaningful, additional job.

But I haven’t corrected this additional load yet; I cannot aim myself at bestowal regarding it yet, so in this state I consider myself a sinner so far. But I don’t blame myself for it; I justify the Creator, thank Him, and rejoice in the opportunity being revealed to me right now.

This is radically different from how ordinary people interpret the word “sinner.” It is a very respectable state. The commander singled me out of the entire company and said: “Only you are capable of carrying out this task!” In other words, I am granted additional burdening of the heart, and I take it on a new combat mission. But for now, I am a wicked man, until I complete it and become righteous.

Pharaoh understood he was a sinner and the Creator was the righteous one. In other words, every state along the spiritual ladder is spiritual. The wicked are exalted degrees preceding the righteous. And so these states come in turns: One time you are a sinner, another a righteous man, and once more, a sinner and a righteous one, over and over again. It’s as though I am walking on both legs: One leg is that of a sinner, and the other of a righteous man.
[42002]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011, Shamati No. 6

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The Path To The Creator Is One For All

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is it so that a woman can attune herself to the Creator only through the men’s group?

Answer: Absolutely not! A woman also must personally attune herself to the Creator! This movement through the men’s group is necessary only to bring us all onto this degree. But tuning to the Creator is still an individual process.

How can a woman not be connected with the Creator?! We are moving ahead together: Men cannot advance without the women’s desire, while women cannot advance toward the Creator without the men’s effort. All of this must go together, just as together, we bear children.

Movement is birth at each new stage, when we beget the next state. A woman cannot be a sole parent and neither can a man. They must be together to create a family and take care of the common family circle, after which they produce new states.

But both men and women have a personal relationship with the Creator, while movement can only occur in the group. I attune myself to the Creator individually. But how do I receive fulfillment? I get it through the group.

The impact of the environment both on the men and the women is crucial. And a woman cannot advance if she doesn’t receive the influence of the environment, albeit that of the men’s rather than the women’s.
[41978]
From the Virtual Lesson in Russian, Fundamentals of Kabbalah 4/21/2011

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Separation Brings A Descent, Unity An Ascent

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 34 “The Profit of a Land”: Every form points to another [opposite spiritual] form. Thus, all the descents where one feels that he has come to separation [from the others and within them, from unification with the Creator] are an opportunity to discern between something and its opposite.

In other words, one should learn the benefits of the ascents from the descents. Otherwise, one would be unable to appreciate the importance of being brought near from Above, and the ascents that he is given…[as it is said:] “As far as Light excelleth darkness.”

After all, only from separation can we appreciate unity between us and esteem the attainment of our unity as the attainment of the Creator, of the upper force. We have to try to give the correct definitions: Separation between us is a descent, while unity between us is an ascent. Separation, meaning a state of descent should bring us the sensation of the absence of Light, whereas an ascent should be felt as the presence of the upper Light, the Light of bestowal and love.

We have to correctly interpret the spiritual properties, the spiritual definitions. Then we will gradually get used to them and will begin to see the upper spiritual value in the words so hateful for us today: “unity,” “love,” and “adhesion.”

Only then can one assess and regard the matter of adhesion, by which the delight and pleasure in the Thought of Creation can be acquired, being “His desire to do good to His creations.”
[41832]
From Lesson 8, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 05.04.11

Shamati #19 “What Does It Mean that the Creator Hates the Bodies in the Work
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The Book of Zohar – Selected, Chapter, Mishpatim (Ordinances), ‘The Grandfather,’” Item 231
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 1, Part 1, Chapter 2, Item 1. Ohr Pnimi, start with: “Now You Can Understand What the Rav Meant in the Words,” Item 2, Lesson 7
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Peace in the World,” “The Weakness of World Reformers,” Lesson 2
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From The Bottom Of The Heart….

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is a prayer from the bottom of the heart? Where is the innermost point located?

Answer: “The bottom of the heart” is such a deep desire in a person that he cannot reach it himself. There, in the deepest point of the heart, hides the upper force that maintains my entire heart, the entire desire it created. That is where the secret of life is concealed.

But if from the depth of the heart, from this innermost point inside of me where the Creator is found, who is the one that created me, supports me, and controls all of my thoughts and desires, I will be able to speak to Him, that means I have reached the right request.
[42110]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/11, Shamati

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Going Towards Each Other

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen a person already understands that he has to ask the Light to make the changes, the entire difficulty lies in imagining what changes to ask for. That is why he is led through various states in order to understand what “his own good” means according to his egoistic desire, for the sake of a pleasant mood and fulfillment.

But precisely above all of these calculations, he has to desire to act in the opposite way, preferring for egoism to suffer for the sake of rising above it, and there to build a relationship with the Light, the Creator, “for the sake of bestowal.” All the situations he had to go through were necessary in order to help him establish this relationship with the Light. Then he understands that even though everything comes from the Light and the desire does not awaken, does not change, and overall does not exist without its influence and support, still the desire has an ability to awaken the Light. This action is called “awakening from below.”

It is possible only on the condition that the desire precisely understands itself and its entire egoistic nature. It has to ask for its opposite transformation so the Light would give it a new force, enabling him to rise above himself, to step on his own desire, to squash it and freeze it, and to build the act of bestowal above it. If we will be able to ask for this, this will be called “an awakening from below.

When we receive an addition from the Light, called “awakening from below’ (Itaruta de Leila), then according to our request the Light will give us the ability to rise above our ego and act contrary to our egoistic desire. That is how a person begins building his spiritual vessel (Kli).

A new desire is continually awakened in him, burning within and not letting him rest, demanding to be fulfilled egoistically on account of the neighbor. Nevertheless, he begins to recognize the true attitude to his desire, that he has to lock it up and not let it break through in order to build a screen and the intention for the sake of bestowal above it, enabling him to use the same desire in the opposite form.

When he sees that he is completely incapable of this and only the Creator can help him, he reaches a request called “an awakening from below, “ a MAN. And if he asks correctly then he receives an answer from above—a MAD, and then he unites in a mutual action with the Light.

From then on a person already has experience in building a relationships between himself and the Creator.
[42113]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/11, Shamati

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The Nation Possessing Nothing But An Idea

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can genocide against Jews be singled out as a specific phenomenon?

Answer: It isn’t a mere historical event, but rather a natural phenomenon. It is rooted in nature itself. The extinction of other nations during World War II had particularly to do with Germany’s plans to “cleanup” territories and was purposed to solve the problem of the supply of agricultural products. All of this was calculated in advance.

However, the root of the “Jewish problem” is felt instinctively, starting in ancient times up to this day. The nation of Israel is a special people, the keeper of the method of the correction of the world. Hence, when another nation seeks to enforce its system (let’s say, Nazism) and establish its own world order, it instinctively feels that the world has someone who possesses another method which contradicts their own.

“I claim that unity is possible only if our German people unite and submit the world to their order and their might. The entire Earth must belong to us. However, there is another nation that claims to have the method. It has neither real power, nor a country, nor an army, nothing but an idea. This idea has lived in the Jews for millennia; it is set in nature, and there is nothing I can do. But in the meanwhile, my present solution is totally opposite to theirs.”

This has to do with competing ideologies: “I need to not just suppress the Jews, but to wipe them off the face of the earth. Only their total extinction will prove that I am right, which nature itself, the upper force, the Creator, will support. If, however, I let them live, I won’t be able to prove even to myself that my solution to the problem of national and world unity is correct.

Germans wanted to unify their nation, enforce a correct (from their point of view) order, and in this case, they had no foe more odious than the Jews who had a different method of unifying the world. Ideologists can see it naturally. This is what is rooted in the collective desire of the world.

A note in reference to the topic: Julius Streicher, a racial ideologist executed after the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial convicted him of crimes against humanity for his anti-Semitic propaganda and his call for the genocide, during his execution at the bottom of the scaffold, cried out: “Purim-Fest 1946!” (a Jewish holiday of Purim is the celebration of victory over the enemies of the Jews).
[42034]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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