Question: We in Israel want peace so much and it doesn’t come. What is peace in general? And how do we bring peace to Israel?
Answer: First of all, peace (Shalom – שלום) is wholeness (Shlemut – שלמות). And wholeness for Israel has always been inner completion (Hashlama – השלמה).
The forefather Abraham took his supporters out of Babylon and called for them to be a “people,” meaning a group of people who live according to the laws of the property of mercy in mutual love and unity. And around 5,000 people followed him, according to Maimonides. A small group of Babylonians were attracted to bestowal around 3,500 years ago.
Abraham taught them how they needed to connect between them. After that, Isaac and Jacob continued on this mission, and ultimately our ancestors truly became a nation. This happened because they truly took upon themselves the requirements: “Don’t do to your friend what is hateful to you,” “You shall love your friend as yourself,” and “All of Israel are guarantors for each other.”
“And you shall love your friend as yourself” is called the “great general rule in the Torah.” This is the basis of the nation, its constitution, and the fundamental law according to which it exists. The group of Abraham separated from the whole world specifically to unite and live according to this general rule.
How many pursued this small number people and why didn’t they try to? The ten tribes disappeared and those who remained were scattered all over the world. They went through countless troubles and were persecuted again and again, until we returned to the land of Israel.
So what was wrong with this return?
During the period of the exile, the hatred of the nations of the world somehow connected us externally. Because of it, we were connected together, supported each other, and helped one another.
But in the land of Israel, we don’t feel the dominance of the nations of the world upon us, and now it is as if we lack this animosity and our own inner hatred took its place.
In principle, after we are released from the constant pressure, we will need to live here as a true people of Israel in the land of Israel and according to the law of love and oneness. But nothing is happening and nobody is even thinking about this, no sector is calling for this. Once unfounded hatred led to the destruction of the temple and scattered us all over the world,. Now there are the same troubles and the same hatred accompanying us on our return to the land.
Because of the gap in the connection between us, we are not a people. We become a people only if we are united by the power of mutual love. This is the condition, and as long as there is no love between us, the nation of Israel don’t exist.
Other nations arose in different places in the world according to local conditions, on the basis of local tribes, villagers, etc. The creation of every nation is based upon a common history and geography, i.e., earthly foundations.
We were not born this way. We were created on an ideological basis and were separated from the whole world according to an idea that is the opposite to the others, to the whole world. This is the fundamental difference, our original characteristic.
As a result of this, we developed and lived differently. All of our history is different from the usual template. All those around us always related to us as a foreign body, as a strange addition that was “not of this world.” There were even theories that we came from another planet.
How did this happen that today we have “gone crazy” to such an extent that we dream about peace without uniting as the people of Israel on their own soil?
Indeed, separation and division dwell among us, and always in circumstances like these, we are surrounded by “wolves” who want to prey upon the “sheep” that quarrell among themselves. That is how it always has been. So why do we hope? If we look at the present state among the people in the nation of Israel and at what happened two thousand years ago, we see the same picture.
The history is known, the causes are defined, and everything is laid out before us. But we are waiting for something from the Palestinians, maneuvering between political interests of nations near and far, and for what? All of this is most certainly not in our interests.
The moment we unite among us, we will reach wholeness in the relationships between us and will educate the people on the basis of those fundamental principles. As a result of this, we will reach peace.
Indeed, we are a people of the idea, and we must implement it. When we fell from the level of the temple, meaning from love and unity between us, everything was destroyed and we were thrown into exile. This means that only love will make it possible for us to rise again to the level of the temple, the level of peace and well-being.
In fact, these are the foundations of our history that are well known to us. Therefore, calls for peace and attempts to come to terms with the Palestinians are pointless. When we act like this, we are taking the usual approach of the nations of the world, using external means to solve problems of an internal nature. This has never worked and it never will work. After all, the nations of the world are always trying to annihilate us.
But we can become many times stronger than they are and win over all of our haters only if we unite and are truly united. We must not be like nuts packed in a sack by our neighbors who press upon us from all directions and remind us about unity, even if it is artificial. Otherwise they will simply tear us apart.
So there is nothing more important than educating the people. We must explain to people that their good future depends upon them. The only requirement for peace for the people of Israel is unity within itself.
If we focus upon relationships between us and learn how to cultivate and improve them, everyone around us will relax. The riots will stop because everyone will be waiting for the time when we will finally come to peace among us. Subconsciously, this is what the nations of the world are waiting for.
Moreover, they are waiting for us to show them how to do this and how it is possible to reach wholeness of the self. What they want from us is an example of national unity resulting from mutual love, an example of an economic and national structure based upon this principle. They want us to build the country on the basis of love and bestowal, not based on competition, strife, and hatred.
After we show all of this to the world, we will become a “light to the nations.” Then they will want to receive this and copy this from us.
This is what the world is expecting during the global and integral crisis affecting everyone. There is simply no other choice for the world, as it is hoping for a means and an example that will show what must be done. We specifically can provide the world with this example.
Question: What must the nation of Israel do when the world is constantly chastising it? “Your neighbors also want to live,” they say. “Give them the opportunity to proclaim a state of their own and then sign a peace treaty with them.”
Answer: The subtext is different: “You have ships in the ports. Get on them and float away far from our land. We will bring you to someplace in the middle of the ocean, if you don’t sink on the way, of course. We will let you off on some nice island and you will live there in peace.”
In fact, something similar has already happened. This is specifically what they want and this is what they mean. We will yet see how things progress rapidly in this direction if we don’t begin the process of connection from our side.The people of Israel must initiate the correction of the world and give everyone the example of how the human society of tomorrow must look.
Question: And what if they isolate us in the international arena? In the modern era, a boycott is a serious weapon.
Answer: This will not help them if we act according to a new nature, the quality of bestowal. In this case no egoistic boycott will succeed. It will only make it possible for us to be quietly concerned about essential things and we will not feel a lack of anything.
Don’t be concerned about the economy, especially since up until today nobody knows according to what laws it operates. I am not afraid of anyone. I am only afraid about the people of Israel returning to the land of Israel: When will it finally want to be a nation in the full sense of the word?
Question: So everyone is against us. There is no reason to look at the others; come, let’s take care of our internal problems.
Answer: Of course, this doesn’t mean that we should defiantly run away from everyone, deny what they say and sever all connections. First of all, it is up to us to be concerned about our people. It is necessary to take care of the politics, but above all, 99% of our efforts must be focused upon educating people. Indeed the truth is not power, not money, and not an army that dominates the world.
Question: We always thought that in order to live in peace we had to make peace with our neighbors. And we say that peace begins from us, from what is latent in us.
Answer: This is understood. In fact, we don’t need to search for ways of making peace with our neighbors at all. It is enough for us to make peace among ourselves . All of humanity will look at us with amazement: “Wow! We also want this!” People will suddenly feel a yearning for this.
Indeed, the nations of the world will want to learn from us; but in the meantime, there is nothing to learn. On the contrary, we are trying to take an example from them instead of serving as an example for them. This is the reason that they hate us.
Our mission is to show what the Light is, which is a life of true serenity, mutual bestowal, and love, that is said to be the necessary basis for our existence.
If the world is perfection, then the Light is the power of bestowal and love that brings us this perfection.
Question: How do we nurture love among a people that is divided into thousands of factions?
Answer: Begin to teach them until they understand that separation and fragmentation harms them all along any axis. People will connect among themselves above all the differences. That is how parents love their children. It makes no difference how different they are from each other. All of them are different and all are equal, as one person with one heart.
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From the program “A New Life” 4/10/2014
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Filed under: Ancient Babylon, Crisis, Group Work, Israel, Mutual Guarantee, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work, Torah, World - No Comments →
Question: Baal HaSulam says in the article “The Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee) that the Israeli nation had been constructed as a sort of gateway by which the sparks of purity would shine upon the whole of the human race the world over. What are “sparks of purity?”
