Comment: American Jews are watching the news from Israel. One of the reactions to your post, “Do American Jews Need Israel?” caused disagreement about what you say regarding their attitude toward Israel. A writer claims that in America many Jews differentiate between the nation of Israel and the land of Israel. In their opinion, the land of Israel has a special spiritual mission for all of us, which unfortunately cannot be said about the country. It would be doubtful to justify putting all the Jews with a liberal outlook into one “boat,” just as it is doubtful that it would be worthwhile for all Jews to immigrate recklessly to the State of Israel in this stage.

Answer: In general, globally I agree that it is impossible to heap humanity into one pile. Indeed, there is a difference between the land of Israel and the State of Israel. I do not encourage anyone to immigrate to the country, but what I mean is that since we are the Jews who are evaluated in the world according to our spiritual root, which is the land of Israel, in which the State of Israel exists today, we need to strengthen this nation.

Even if many Jews in the world, and in particular in America, think that it would be better for them if the State of Israel ceased to exist, the land of Israel would not cease to exist and would always be called this.

It was called this even in the period of the British Mandate, the Ottoman administration, and even three thousand years ago when ancient peoples lived here. So we must not think that the land of Israel could change. It is eternal and has expanded much beyond its present national borders.

These borders were designed by the upper force, which outlines this territory called the “Conquests of King David” (“Davidic Conquest”), from the remaining areas of the Earth. This area is large and extends to Babylon on one side, to the Nile on another side, and also north and south.There is no question that it cannot be.

This is the history that is connected not only to the past, but also to the higher forces that cooperate among them mutually and have an influence on the area of the entire Earth in that they emphasize its different parts. Understandably, the nation of Israel of today is completely incompatible with the land of Israel because Jews can live in it only to the extent that there are friendly and loving relationships between them.

Friendship means that they are not treating each other badly and wish each other well. Love is an even higher level, meaning that they are ready to give everything to each other, as one would to loved one. When a mutual relationship like this exists between us, we merge with the land of Israel, with that upper force that illuminates us and appears in one common general structure. That is what we must long for and reach.

Certainly the national structure of the nation of Israel today is absolutely not like this. It takes its cue from the western example and wants to be like the rest of the nations of the world, something that cannot be among the Jews. The Jews temporarily continue to exist here by protecting themselves with all their might. Yet, this existence cannot continue forever. I don’t even call the Jews a “people” because the meaning of a people is that there is a common denominator; whereas, among the Jews there is nothing in common. This is a “gathering of exiles,” a gathering of people who have come from all the ends of the Earth, and nothing more than this.

If the Jews were to build from themselves a single people by longing for unity, rising above their ego, eliminating their mutual hatred, competitiveness, and so forth, they would be able to continue to live in the land of Israel and the land would be good for them. The upper force would begin to work on them for the better and would shield them from all troubles.

If this doesn’t happen, military preparations, neither its force or weapons, will not help us, not even the help of presidents of the United States or the nations of the world. In any case, we will reach a situation in which, as Baal HaSulam wrote, we will be forced to leave the land of Israel and among that small number who would remain, some of them would be annihilated and the others would drown in the “sea” of the Arab population that would fill this land. So we have no choice, we must reach a state in which we clearly understand our destiny, our future, and our obligation to show the whole world an example of unity. Then the world would stop hating us and would see our benefit, the reason for our eternal existence which is meant to bring the world to unity. We would truly become a “Light unto the nations” (Isaiah 42:6).

Question: The author of this response believes that your attitude toward American Jews is too biting. Why do you relate to them like this? What do you hear from American Jews?

Answer: What I hear from them is that all of the problems of Israel are Israel’s fault. I completely agree with them, except for one thing. Even though Israel is like this, we must not abandon it; we need to support it. When they place themselves beside those who want to annihilate it, they are not only slandering Israel, but are helping to annihilate it. This is not at all irrelevant to the problems of the Jewish people, for if the State of Israel were to disappear, the next thing that would follow would be a new Holocaust.

The State of Israel is like a member of the family. In any case, we cannot “throw” it out of the family circle; we must correct it. The American Jews could do this if they were to behave wisely and weren’t trying to ignore the current situation.

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of American Jews are indifferent toward the State of Israel because they are included in American life to such a degree that Israel doesn’t affect them in any way, and therefore, they don’t want to hear about it. What is important to them is their own good and what might happen to Israel is not important to them. That is not how to treat a family member because even if it would be better for you, you cannot get rid of him, you must think about him.

So American Jews must unite and think about how through external pressure they can force the nation of Israel to move forward in the right direction, to become more pluralistic, and not to succumb to external and internal coercion.

Israel must build a nation for itself that is based upon relationships of friendship and love, on the foundation of the principle of Judaism, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), and not on all kinds of factionalism, religious movements, disputes, and wars.
[193692]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 9/7/16

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In the News (Israel Today): “184 Jewish communities and synagogues in the United States have signed a letter for the protection of the immigrants from the Middle East and Africa seeking refuge on American soil, which promised to provide assistance to these people. …

“These representatives of American Jewry are ready to provide refugees with its services in education, legal protection and financial assistance.

“‘American Jews react to this greatest immigrant crisis in history, as if the victims were our countrymen’ – quotes words of the Vice-President of HIAS Jenny Rosen in the website of the newspaper The Jerusalem Post.”

My Comment: I have no objection to helping other peoples if the right basis for this exists. But, after all, you cannot provide a place next to you for a person who will rape your daughters, murder your parents tomorrow, and hang you. There already have been incidents like these, and we see where it leads.

Question: In principle, do you think that could be?

Answer: I am sure of it if we judge this according to the development of egoism in humanity, and Jews are not providing an example of the correct connection between people, are not restoring the integral system called Adam, and are causing an opposite result through this type of action.

This has happened before. There is nothing new or unexpected here. At one time, Jews were helping young Hitler. There is a lot of documentation on this subject. So history repeats itself.

I believe that the current state of society clearly shows any person, and humanity as a whole, that we have no idea about what is happening to us.

So, we cannot resolve, especially in advance, and in particular issues such as a solution to immigration, as long as it is not clear where we are going, where the world is heading, what we want from life, what will happen over time to the entering community and to those Jewish or Christian communities that accept them. We don’t know what their natural tendencies are and how they will coexist.

If this were sorted out, we would realize the first thing to be done is precise work on correctly understanding what it means to be a society: it must be connected to the manner in which people can get closer to each other despite different religions and currents.

Then, they wouldn’t just open their gates to the immigrants. Rather, first and foremost, they would move them through a very serious educational system to adapt them to the conditions provided to them. However, today, they simply are granting the immigrants aid and the ability to exist as they like.

In this case, Islam will develop in its most distorted form because the Islamic preachers are on the alert and do their best to establish militant Islamic centers in these nations. First, they will behave quietly until they become established. Then, after at least one generation, the “game” will be conducted on a serious level on all fronts.

The goal of Islam is to conquer the entire world. It is written on its flag: “There is no god but Allah, Mohammed—his prophet.”

Question: What is the goal of the Jews?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that we, the Jews, must reveal the method for connecting people. It is up to us to reveal this to the entire world that needs it so much.

But Jews don’t know this, so the method of connection and unity safely remains on hold, as it has been. When will it be revealed? This depends on many factors. When Jews begin to become interested in the reason that others are preparing to strike them, they may become interested and start exploring this: “What are we guilty of?” Then, they will find the answer with the Kabbalists. In the meantime, this question remains rhetorical.
[193972]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 9/14/16

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New Life 440 – The Sukkah In The Heart
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What does the Sukkah and its special structure symbolize? What is the meaning of the lights and shadows that are typical of this holiday, and what does it mean to build the Sukkah in the heart?

The Creator is the general force of all of reality and He is absolute love and bestowal. Every natural phenomenon is felt only after a person prepares the right sense for it. The Creator is the force of love and bestowal. If there is a little bit of love and bestowal in me, I will feel Him. The wisdom of Kabbalah is the wisdom of absorption and of how to tune ourselves to the same wavelength as the Creator.

The covering of the Sukkah symbolizes the Masach (screen), meaning that I don’t want to receive this illumination for my own pleasure but for the correction. The soul is not in the Sukkah that we build in the yard, of course, but it is our desire that is aimed at bestowal. How can we aim our desire at bestowal unto others? By the Lights, the forces of correction, called Ushpizin.

The four varieties (used in Sukkot) represent the four parts of the soul, י-ה-ו-ה – Yod – Hey – Vav – Hey. The etrog (citron) is very important since it represents the Sefira of Malchut, the foundation of our creation. We hold the four varieties together and move them from side to side. Other than the external custom, we also have to move the soul from side to side.

In addition to the custom of building a Sukkah in the yard, we also have to build a Sukkah around our heart. That’s the main thing.

Developing our love and bestowal, just like the Creator’s, is called building a Sukkah around my soul. Seven Sefirot separate me from my next state. Sefirot are the levels of the correction of the soul. The covering of the Sukkah symbolizes the fact that I don’t want to receive the abundance for my own pleasure but so that it will correct me. After Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and Chanukah comes Purim, the end of correction, when everything is permitted.

Building a Sukkah in the heart is establishing the conditions for our desire and our intention to be corrected to love and bestowal.
[144900]
From KabTV’s “New Life 440 – The Sukkah In The Heart,“ 10/2/14

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Question: Does a person have the possibility of creating another history, or is everything dictated precisely from the start?

Answer: With respect to every event that has already happened, we must say that it could not have been otherwise. Baal HaSulam writes about this in the first articles in the book Shamati and in Letter 18.

That is, regarding everything that happened, we must say: “That is how it had to happen” and in regard to everything that has not yet happened: “It depends only on us.”
[195006]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 5/29/16

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Question: Why do we live such a hectic life, swallowing life without feeling its taste? How can we find the right balance?

Answer: Everything depends on the pace of life to which a person calibrates himself.

If you think about your spiritual ascents, the pace of your life will not seem tiresome, frustrating, or obligating.

You should make sure that your continuous work is concerned with your spiritual advancement. Everything else will come along, but only according to what you really need, which means that it cannot be ignored. And everything will seem very simple.
[194604]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/19/16

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Torah, Deuteronomy 11:18: And you shall set these words of Mine upon your heart and upon your soul…

A person must recognize all the changes that happen to him and move exactly according to them, perceiving each of them as coming from the Creator, as a necessity for his advancement.

With these states that are, as if, the “words” of the Creator, he must format his heart and his mind, in other words, transform them into a completely different format.

Just as it is required to delete a previous program in a computer in order to install a new one, in the same way we, while moving forward, must gradually delete each degree within us and record a new one to replace it. We need to gradually rewrite the entire egoistic attitude to the world, to life, and to each other in an altruistic way. And we need to do this independently.

Therefore it is written, “set these words of Mine upon your heart and upon your soul,” meaning write down My program, the program of bestowal and love, upon your egoistic heart.

But the heart doesn’t really want to accept it, so this program can’t immediately go to the heart! It really isn’t easy.
[194783]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 6/15/16

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We are living in a period when the question about the meaning of life has broken out among humanity as a universal call. A person wants to know why he exists and why it is worth living.

In the past, his desires were in the framework of material existence. The main thing was to have food, sex, family, wealth, honor, control, and knowledge.

These desires developed in us during the entire course of human history, and thanks to them we developed our lives, communications, and the system of connections between us.

Until the middle of the 20^th century, all of this was normal. Then the ego changed. It began to demand: “What is the meaning of life?” It was specifically the ego that asks these questions. Its last question is: “What is all of this for?” Which is to say, there is food, sex, family, honor, and knowledge; all of this is okay, but why is it necessary if everything comes to an end? This is useless. Even if we lengthen our lives for another 100 years, what else? The question remains unchanged.

For thousands of years our ego developed with a gift for answering all the questions about life. But now it bluntly asks the question, “What is it for?!” So we are in a crisis in all the areas of life: science, art, education, family, and so forth.

The entire world is immersed in depression and drugs because people long to know why they exist. They don’t want to have children or have a family because they feel that there is no meaning to it. People didn’t feel this way in the past, like animals that don’t have this problem.

The great challenge that stands before us is to understand how to find the meaning of life and where to search for it. We cannot find it in our world. We cannot find the meaning of life on Mars either, and not even on other distant stars because all of these are lifeless, inanimate bodies, the inanimate level of nature. To do this we must rise to a higher level than our level of life.

Nature is goading and hastening us toward this, so that we will rise up from the level of the still, vegetative, animate, and human nature in this world, to the next level, the next dimension.

How is it possible to rise above ourselves? After all, to do this we need to have a different nature. This is complicated, but possible. There is a method in our world, the wisdom of Kabbalah, which makes it possible to attain this. It explains how to find the meaning of life and places this question before humanity.

This is a 5,777 year-old method. Despite its antiquity, it is very relevant today because it is beginning to be revealed and has appeared only in our generation, calling to humanity to discover it, to possess it, and to know it, and through that to rise to the next level of development, the next dimension, the next world, during our lifetimes. The question about the meaning of life was posed at the beginning of the wisdom of Kabbalah, but it had to wait for humanity to develop. It was written at the end of the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th century that it would be time for Kabbalah to be revealed and that the upper world would be attained with its help.

Every level develops from its previous level. The vegetative develops from the still, the animate develops, and then human society develops. And now we must rise to the next level, above the level of human society, to form a new man.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a very realistic method, accessible and imperative for each one of us. We are suggesting that everyone should become aware of it. It doesn’t require special changes, affiliations, or physical efforts and activities from us; just simply start studying it. It doesn’t call for believing in something; rather, it describes the world in which we are found, and according to its system, it will become clear to us what we must do to attain the real world, the next level of existence.

We don’t feel this level of existence now, just as a stone doesn’t feel the vegetative world and the vegetative world doesn’t feel the animate world because they are not on the same level of existence. So we only feel it to a very weak degree and don’t understand anything about the next level of our development.

Only a question about the meaning of life appears in us. So let’s discover the right answer and in that way we will merit immense pleasures and fulfillments! We will attain a feeling of true life!

When we begin to study this method, we will begin to understand the system in which we are found, its matrix, and this knowledge will lead us forward. It does not enslave us; it doesn’t bind us to anything, and is not obligatory. It is the only salvation for today’s  generation. A goal is being revealed before us that previously was hidden.

Here’s to your success in discovering it!
[194022]
From KabTV’s  “Questions About the Meaning of Life” 9/19/16

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In the News (WI-FI): “All the world’s store of oil is overflowing; their reserves exceed three billion barrels. At the same time, OPEC has not yet made a decision on a possible term limitation of fuel production, said OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo on Tuesday, September 27^th, reports TASS. …

“Venezuelan Energy Minister Eulogio del Pino said that the production may be limited to the level of August, it will remove an extra million barrels of oil per day from the market. …

“Earlier, the Venezuelan Minister announced a possible drop in oil prices below $20 a barrel if the representatives of the oil-producing countries fail to agree on joint action in the market.”

My Comment: Soon the entire oil industry will disappear. A new type of energy will free people from concerns about the production of energy of any kind. This would bring immense changes in the alignment of forces in the world. But it leads to the fact that only the joint solution of all problems of the world as a family, will give mankind the right decision.
[194186]

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Question: For a year and a half my partner and I have split up many times, but still have returned to each other. Knowing each other’s shortcomings, we have continued our relationship. What should one pay attention to so as not to break up again and to cherish each other?

Answer: This is a very good situation between you two. You must learn to concede to each other and only this! Compete in making concessions to each other. It’s very simple to do, deliberately show, “See how I give in without demanding anything in return and I don’t even demand the same concessions from you!”

Love grows only through concessions because all of us are damaged egoists who love themselves. If we still want a connection with each other, such a connection is born and developed only on the basis of mutual concessions.

My teacher Rabash used to say that love is a house pet that we must constantly feed through mutual concessions.
[193969]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 5/1/16

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