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The Right to Choose, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I would like to know your opinion about the unstable political situation in Israel, which led to early elections. It has become a tradition that the Israeli government does not keep its assumed term. Egoistical play and intrigue are at fault, leading to the collapse of the government coalition.

I would like to understand this phenomenon, because it affects all aspects of our lives and affects everyone’s pocket, forcing us to come up with a few more billion for early elections.

Every government during the election promises to bring our common ship to a wonderful shore, drawing in front of us a wonderful life. But in the end, we feel that this ship is constructed with many separate blocks, where each block draws to itself.

It faces many conflicting interests, and the ropes tying the whole structure together become torn. Such feelings arise in people by causing a sense of insecurity and instability in us.

And this is not a new phenomenon; it accompanies us from the very inception of the state of Israel. Already so many governments have broken down, each time by bringing us to early elections long before they are due.

According to statistics over the 68 years of Israel’s existence, 33 governments and 19 Knesset assemblies have been replaced. The average time spent in power by the Israeli government is less than two years. This is the ruthless display of statistics.

But we do not want to open any political debates here, which are now well underway on all media channels. We just would like to understand the reason for this phenomenon and how we can fix it. How do we provide a captain for our ship who will lead the ship to the sacred shore? What was the cause for such instability in our government?

Answer: The answer is very simple. In the past there was a king put above all of society and the state government. Even though the king had many ministers, they all obeyed him. It was impossible to challenge the decisions of the king since everything he said was sacred.

How did the king make the right decisions?  He got them from heaven. People believed that the king was placed by a higher power and had a direct link with this power. This is how humanity progressed throughout its history, developing society, technology, science, religion, and education. All countries developed according to some program, with some countries becoming more developed than others. The king stood at the head of society, and under him there was the hierarchy of his assistants and courtiers.

Nature moved us along without asking for anything, yet sent everyone all the necessary thoughts and desires. Of course, we were accompanied by problems and wars, but it was all planned by nature and was supposed to happen. All we had to do was to learn from the experience and gradually move towards an understanding of how to make this a more balanced life.

The force of nature sent the king in the direction in which he lead his people and the people followed him. That was the case in all countries, and the people of Israel also went through many tests, all thanks to the higher power. Everything was planned in advance.

We see that in the days of the prophets, the entire process we had gone through was described by them. For hundreds of years before the destruction of the Temple and the people of Israel going into exile, the prophets knew and wrote about it. The Talmud says that even 70 years before the destruction of the Temple, there were signs of its destruction.

Question: Back then, did the rulers of Israel know that what was going to happen?

Answer: Of course, they knew because it was written in the Talmud and in the books of the prophets.

Among other people, the monarchy remained until recently. For example, a king ruled Russia at the beginning of the last century. People were very religious, no matter what group they belonged to within the society. Everything was organized so that humanity existed and acted at the will of the higher power.

This was ongoing until the time came to exercise freedom of will. Freedom lies in the fact that I myself get involved in the program of nature, study it, and realize how I need to change myself, the entire human society, everyone of us, and most importantly, our relationships with each other.

Now it is the duty of every person. Monarchies began to crumble and eventually we come to the fact that today everyone is king! Everyone is involved in a life of society as a separate, independent person that makes decisions.
[149403]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/9/14

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A People Woven From The Thread Of An Idea

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Recently a new wave of violent riots has swept over us. Stone throwing, stabbings, and vehicles running over pedestrians have become murder weapons.

The level of tension has risen, fear has returned to the streets, undermining the complex system of relationships that connect us with Israeli Arabs. They live alongside us, among us, and we cannot isolate ourselves from them, and their terrorist attacks have literally broken into our home.

Is it possible to say that recent events are the result of a new situation, a new trend, with which we must contend?

Answer: First of all, I would like to note that everything that I will say is derived from an understanding of the general world system within which is the nation of Israel and its population, from the wisdom that I have researched and acquired, and not from social research and analytic reports.

I won’t enter into these areas, I won’t research this population or another, and I am far from the events in the field. Besides that, I am not a psychologist who precisely understands the Jewish and Arab minds.

In other words, I will not express my opinion on the level of this world. So I feel myself free, and, on the other hand, everything that I will say later on is the truth in my eyes and not my personal truth. This is the nature of things; this is how the Creator, the higher power, the higher supervision and management, is behaving towards us. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, everything is managed by the system of nature that is also called El-okim. In Gematria (numerology), the value of the two words “HaTeva” (nature) and “Elokim” (the divine) are identical.

This system was originally found in a state that was very similar to general chaos. Kabbalah calls it by the name of Shevira (breaking) or the sin of the Tree of Knowledge. Since then, the general system, which is similar to our universe, gradually got along according to laws that became increasingly clear.

They were not at work previously because the material suitable for scrutiny didn’t exist. For example, as long as there wasn’t any vegetation, relationships between the still and the vegetative could not be discovered. As long as animals didn’t exist, the laws of behavior of the animate and the relationships between the animate and the other levels could not be discovered. And especially, as long as the human species didn’t exist, lawfulness could not be discovered in the life and development of the human species, which also determines its unprecedented influence on the natures of the still, vegetative, and animate.

In other words, we see that at the same time that all materials develop, they are organized within the framework of a most precise system. And this system continues towards balance and a permanent state. All of its parts necessarily get their own place and form of expression. According to scientific data and as far as it seems, in the future this system will ultimately become balanced and reach inner harmony.

Besides this, we have discovered various phenomena in human society that have developed in unique ways and rates in contrast to the nature of the still, vegetative, and animate. While humanity has made a quantum leap within some thousands of years and especially in the last century, in contrast to this, nature hasn’t gone through meaningful changes during that time.

We are generally finding newer and newer phenomena that typify a system that is aspiring towards balance and which indicate its imbalance.

In time they will be revealed in increasingly detailed, subtle, and personal forms. We see how much the general system takes the imbalance between parts of the system into account and takes care of them.

In this way, we observe the process through which all of humanity is passing on the background of the still, vegetative, and animate levels that have scarcely changed.

This is a natural process that is called “in its time” in Kabbalah. In other words, it happens in its own time since everything happens according to a natural rate, like a watch that measures the rate of changes similar to the signal generator in a computer. The interesting thing in this picture is the development of various parts of humanity and the relationships between them. Before us is spread the historical process through which various peoples, groups, continents, and so forth have passed. Development intrigues us, even though we cannot always see the reasons for it. Also, the conclusions we draw are in doubt.

And so, first we watched what was happening, and after that everyone had different philosophical and historical opinions. But a unique phenomenon was discovered here—the people of Israel.

The main uniqueness is its presence throughout all of history. In other words, this ongoing phenomenon is not clear. How can this be? After all, this didn’t happen with other peoples. This is strange, especially considering the troubles that were visited upon this people in the forms of exile, hatred towards it, internal conflicts, and so on.

In particular it should be noted that the whole world stands against the people of Israel. Everyone hates them, wants to annihilate them, and everyone acknowledges that they are not prepared to do this. They declare openly:

  1. We want to annihilate Israel.
  2. We are not prepared to annihilate Israel.
  3. We depend upon the people of Israel.
  4. Specifically, the people of Israel bring us troubles and problems and we are not prepared to do anything to them. We are weak in contrast to this nation.

It is possible to cite many claims and other oddities here. And the strangest phenomenon is the birth of the nation, which was essentially an absolutely artificial birth.

The rest of the nations arose naturally from tribes that populated various areas on the face of the globe on the basis of a common territory, common culture, common education, common and language, and later, on the basis of a common history. Smaller and larger nations appeared, and after that they combined into various religions and faiths, with everything continuing as usual.

On the other hand, the people of Israel appeared in a strange way from a unique organization, from an unprecedented social phenomenon. One person called Abraham threw a unique idea at humanity, which was a thought, an ideal, a vision that was connected to the role and function of the entire human species. He gathered special people from all of humanity for whom the essence of life, the goal of life, and an identity with the higher power and its discovery were important. This means that the idea upon which the nation was founded was very high, unnatural and “out of this world” as it is called. This isn’t saying that we must live in some isolated place, maintain our borders, and defend ourselves from our neighbors, etc.

These were not connections between people based upon material corporeal beastly factors, nor on normal corporeal needs. The people of Israel were founded around absolutely different principles, on another philosophical, conceptual higher level relative to the rest of the nations.

They didn’t even have a dwelling place. Rather Abraham simply said to them that connection around the spiritual idea demanded them to live as one person with one heart, all of Israel are friends, and also to live in fraternity and discover within them the characteristic of bestowal and love. So according to these principles, their place on the face of the globe was in the land of Canaan. So they headed there!

The residence of the nation was determined by its goal and according to its adaptation to the characteristics of the land. The artificial people populated an artificial place. So the connection between the people of Israel and its place is very unique. As long as the people maintain the concept of unity, it lives here [Israel], and the moment that it doesn’t stand on the spiritual conditions of one person with one heart and love of others, it enters into a dissonance to its residence and the place regurgitates it.

Never throughout history have we seen a precedent like this, that a particular territory, meaning something inanimate, reacts like this to those who are dwelling within it.

There are a multitude of other strange phenomena connected to this people. Without being aware of and feeling their character and their place, they will not succeed in understanding what is happening to them. And the role of history is to give a time and a place to the people of Israel to carry out its unique historical mission.

In this stage it is up to us to understand what Abraham taught his students. He explained to them a plan exists according to which the people of Israel must reach a particular level of correction, to be like one person with one heart through gathering. In continuation, they will need to pass through a Shevirah (breaking). In other words, instead of a good connection between them, they must discover the opposite state of separation and the internal and mental fragmentation.

According to this they passed through various situations with their neighbors, with the higher power that arranges everything. After that, during a period of exile and mutual distance, the people of Israel scattered among all the nations and did special preparatory work between them. After that they again gathered and again rose up to the level of connection, and with the same tendency, they attracted all of humanity towards connection. This is how history ends, meaning with the general correction of the human species. This is the goal of creation, the goal of existence of the human species in the state of this world.

For this to happen, a period of six thousand years has been allotted, beginning from the moment that a person with the name Adam discovered the program to the last person who will do the last correction and finish the historical process. And then this world will disappear, for it exists in our perception only because it is broken and without the right connections. And the moment that all of the broken parts become connected and the last among them becomes connected to them, the system will become united and circular. Then all of humanity will feel that it exists within a perfected and circular reality, in a state called the world to come. What will fill the people is called the Creator, the higher power, for they will attain it with the help of the connection between them, mutual bestowal and love along the entire path.

And so the historical role of the people of Israel is clear. They must go through various situations and according to this, they must function correctly to guide the whole world to the goal specified from the start. Without this nation it would be impossible to reach the goal. So it must be at the head of the process. It is not by chance that the letters of the word “Israel – ישראל” make up the phrase, “Li Rosh – לי ראש – I have a head.”

There were periods in which it was forbidden for the people of Israel to know its mission, so that they wouldn’t be disturbed from assimilating among the nations of the world in the period of exile. In other words, they were in a state of detachment from connection.

But today, If we want to explore the Jewish people at every moment throughout history, it is up to us to take into account the general program of human society and compare it to reality, to what extent the people of Israel maintain the program or, on the contrary, oppose the program. The range of its historical participation moves between -100% and +100%.

It depends on the people of Israel, it depends on how much they attract themselves towards fulfilling their role and attracting everyone else towards it. And if it doesn’t work correctly and in time, then this delay is expressed in the negative forces of nature that don’t get engaged in connection in the general system of connection, that are not counterbalanced by positive forces.

For the people of Israel, their role is to balance the opposites at all times. If they don’t balance them at every moment throughout history, then both the plus and minus work on them negatively. The minus pushes them from behind and the plus pulls them forward. And when the people don’t agree with either of them, don’t want to take the initiative, and don’t want lead the whole world after it, then as a result of this there will be the many great problems and disasters that continue to this very day.

But a unique time has arrived. After a long exile of two thousand years, we can and must reveal to all the people of Israel and to the whole world what is on the agenda. It is up to us to tell everyone:

“Friends, we are on the threshold of a critical period because the reins have been placed in our hands, which are the two forces of nature, the plus and the minus. They were prepared for us and with their help it is up to us to reach an integral connection between us, to bring society into harmony and rise to the level of bestowal and love ourselves. It is in our hands. The two forces will help us in such a way that even the negative force will become a ‘helpmate against’ (Genesis 2:18). The task is great. So come, let’s begin to implement it.”

In this manner, it is up to us to approach the entire world, ourselves, and also the higher power with the help of all means at our disposal. We have been given freedom of choice; we have been given a program and a process including a script that describes the happy ending in the completion of correction. So we must see the present situation, not from this trend, but from the higher aim of the program and to understand what it demands from us.

By watching in this manner and not from the point of view of the communications media or the point of view of the psychology of our neighbors, I am looking at what is happening today in Israel. What is the reason to go deeply into the Israeli and Arab mentality if this whole picture is absolutely superficial? Analysis like this doesn’t make it possible to extinguish the fire. We must understand the natural trends at work in these processes and it is then that we will truly know how to solve the problem.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 11/13/14

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Spiritual Category Of “The Creation Of The World”

laitman_281_02Question: As we know, after Adam there was the deluge in which only Noah and his family survived. Could we state that our lineage comes from both Adam and Noah?

Answer: All that is said in the Torah as the history of our people is understood as what happened in people’s inner ascent.

Adam was not the first person in the world; there were people before him. The human being evolved from apes tens of thousands of years ago. This is the same as stated in Kabbalah. For example, 600 years before Darwinism, in the book Etz Hayim (The Tree of Life), the great Kabbalist Ari wrote that man evolved from apes.

That is, the creation of the world is a spiritual category. The Torah tells only about the spiritual path of man, his ascent. Noah and all the other characters of the Torah are spiritual followers of Adam.
[149416]
From KabTV’s “A Special Opinion” 8/12/14

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Prayer At The End Of All Efforts

laitman_236_01Rabash Letter No. 57: “I did not tell you this truth but in order that you will not leave and not despair from mercy. And although you don’t see anything, even at time that the measure of efforts is complete, this is the time of prayer.”

Question: Is prayer a part of the effort or does it come separately?

Answer: Prayer is the result of all efforts. When you give a complete effort and the measure is complete, then the prayer is born. You need to do all that is in your hands and strength, and after that you will understand that only the Creator is able to implement His plan. And then you will turn to Him!

Question: What does it mean, to finish your measurement of effort?

Answer: It means to finish all kinds of attempts to connect with friends in order to bestow to the Creator. And you despair from truly not attaining the real quality of bestowal, and then you burst with a prayer.

In the beginning you just hear that it is good to come to bestowal, but you need to come to a state that you want to be the one that bestows; you beg for bestowal, as if you can’t live without it.

You can’t measure your vessel, and judging by the fact that is is empty, you decide you have finished your measurement of effort. From a state that is forced on you bursts a prayer, for which you immediately receive an answer, then the change happens. According to these changes you understand that you finished the measure of effort.

The prayer comes after man checks himself and sees that it is impossible to change something by himself; rather, everything is in the hands of the Creator. And this brings him to adhesion with the Creator.

You are not required to create this prayer artificially. But naturally from inside of you will burst your cry, which will be your prayer. Prayer is the work of the heart.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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