In the News (The Wall Street Journal): “As more Israeli women push to join combat units, the military is opening more roles to them, but the moves have met resistance among some former soldiers and the religious community. …

“’I think that in the end the woman’s role is to be a mother and to bring children into the world,’ retired Brig. Gen Avigdor Kahalani, a former Israeli tank commander, told Army Radio last month.”

Question:  Soon afterward Kahalani was accused of chauvinism and of wanting women to stay in the kitchen serving the home and the family. What is your opinion on this matter?

Answer: I believe that General Kahalani is right. We cannot go against nature. It is above us and we cannot change it.

A woman is a woman. She should be a homemaker, give birth, and do housework, not shoot. It is not for her. That’s the way it should be according to the Torah and the wisdom of Kabbalah. Therefore, I advise we stop this in time. We have enough manpower to recruit only men to the army.

Question: Don’t you fear that women will be offended?

Answer: Of course not. It all depends on their upbringing. I am not demeaning them; I am only saying that we are different.

I served in the army for four years and can say I don’t see any point in men and women serving together in military units and especially not in combat units. It is a great responsibility.

Men should fight, but this is not for women. Their business is the home, family, giving birth. I am speaking from the perspective of Kabbalah and nature. Women may come to their senses only in another 30-35 years, after having made many mistakes, but they will not succeed in going against nature. Not with anything, and all the more so in this matter.

We mar human nature, both men’s nature and women’s nature. We have to distinguish between the two, and only then will our society function properly.

We are special creatures, both men and women, and we have to protect the female nature.
[198000]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 11/23/16

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Question: Letters have a geometric and sound interpretation. What does the essence of the sounds indicate?

Answer: According to the five parts of the spiritual Kli, Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut, we distinguish five groups of sounds: guttural, lingual, palatal (from the palate), from the cheeks, and lips. In this manner, it is possible not only to write the letters but also to express them.

The same thing also exists regarding musical notes, the colors of the rainbow, and everything that exists, since all of them are rooted in the five parts of the spiritual Kli.

Everything in our world that people work with is included in this system, just like our five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
[197441]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/17/16

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New Life 805 – From The Greek Culture To The Culture Of Love
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Nature’s press of evolution pushes us to develop. If we understand where it is pressing us to develop, we can save ourselves great pain.

Just as the vegetative level developed from the still level of nature, so can we advance to the next level today. So far we have developed according to Greek culture, but the new level of development requires the development of all new mind and feelings according to the wisdom of Kabbalah.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how to receive fulfillment not by fulfilling ourselves but by fulfilling others. Our progress stems from the fact that a person wants to know the secret of life and to understand why he lives. The force that develops a person’s perception is the upper force, which we have to learn how to draw unto us so that it will change us.

The future culture will be the culture of “love thy friend as thyself.” It is the most advanced culture. In this new life, a person will receive total, eternal, unlimited fulfillment and satisfaction. The upper force is the force of love and bestowal. It changes us until we are in an unending feeling of love.
[199318]
From KabTV”s “New Life 805 – From The Greek Culture To The Culture Of Love,” 12/22/16

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Preparation for the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic: “Education for Concession,” Part 1

Lesson on the Topic: “Education for Concession,” Part 2

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From my weekly column in Ynet: “How Do We Change the Next UN Resolution?”

Chanukah symbolizes the victory of the few over the many; the victory of the Maccabees’ choice of the force of unity over the forces of separation. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah we can change the balance of power for the better only if we unite, so we could prevent the UN from voting against us. Just before the next anti-Israeli resolution comes up, Rav Laitman explains how we succeeded in the past and how we can succeed today.

If the UN Security Council had to vote on the establishment of the State of Israel today, chances are that most of members in the UN would vote against it and some countries would abstain. It is time we acknowledge that the Jewish State does not have many true friends among the 193 members of the UN

It is true that Barak Obama, the American president, is the one who initiated, led, and cooked up the last scandalous anti-Israeli resolution, choosing to end his administration this way. Even Britain, headed by the pro-Israeli Theresa May voted against Israel, just like Russia headed by Putin, Israel’s “friend”; every country according to considerations of expediency, as it is in politics. But Obama’s “revenge” is only a symptom. The problem is much greater.

If we put interests aside, we will discover that there is no state or nation today which truly supports Israel. Somehow, sooner or later, they condemn us. In some countries they actually hate us and in most countries they would simply be happy if we disappeared from the globe. This has been the attitude toward the state of Israel since the days of Ben Gurion and Golda Meir. You cannot connect it to the ongoing conflict with our cousins the Arabs since many nations like them even less than they like us. Could it be that the hatred stems from our geographical location? But we are also rejected abroad… and as for Israel, the hatred raged even before we settled here. The culprits may change each time, but the phenomenon remains.

When we face such significant moments in which the waves of hatred are growing threatening to wash us away, we should stop for a moment and try to understand why we are so hated and unworthy in the eyes of the world. Is there a root to the deep hatred that the other nations have been feeling toward us since the dawn of humanity?

The Law of Anti-Semitism

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, anti-Semitism, or anti-Israelism in its modern name, is not a passing phenomenon but a law of nature that can be measured. When we unite above our conflicts and disagreements, the positive force that can do wonders spreads in the world. On the other hand, when we are separated and divided, we invoke the negative force in the world, which boomerangs and hits us with a burst of anti-Semitism.

The irrational hatred that is gaining strength today reminds us the hard way that we have a role, and although we would be glad to avoid it, it is impossible. Even if we assimilate or blur our Israeli identity, we will forever remain Jews. We are the nation that carries the idea, the social ideal of love of man, the nation, and of the world. We became a nation on the basis of love of others that is expressed in the rule “love thy friend as thyself.” Only if we return to fulfill this love can we defuse the hatred the world feels toward us. Kabbalists tell us that we, the Jews, determine the fate of the world. The Book of Zohar says that just as the organs of the body cannot exist even for a moment without the heart, the nations of the world cannot exist in the world without Israel.

By uniting, we compel the world to unite and great abundance begins to flow. However, the division between us divides the other nations of the world and clogs the pipes of the abundance and invokes wars and hatred in humanity. The direct and the indirect outcome of this process pushes the nations of the world to harm the spiritual root called Israel and to try to annihilate us, since we are perceived as the root of all the evil in the world.

Baal HaSulam, Rav Yehuda Ashlag, the greatest Kabbalists of the 20^th century, said that the nation of Israel is a kind of a transmitter and to the extent that Israel are united, they can convey their power to the other nations of the world. He says that “we are the sons of the ideal” and only when we fulfill it and unite will we find peace.

Nowhere to Run

The UN Security Council resolution takes us back decades. It is enough to look around and see how countries, which just yesterday were considered to be stable, are crumbling and being destroyed. If international pressure is put on the State of Israel for a long time, it may make our life very difficult and take us back to the time when whole communities in enlightened Europe were destroyed. Although it seems that the Jewish nation has a stable home in the land of Israel, its success and its existence depend on the fulfillment of our role, as Baal HaSulam said, to build a model society in Israel based on the principles of connection and to convey this method to the world, since otherwise the whole Zionist movement will be disintegrated.

The cry of Baal HaSulam, who warned people of the anti-Semitic events of the past century and who knew the laws of nature that operate in reality, still echoes today and is more relevant today than ever. The UN Security Council resolution 2334 should be a reminder of our role: to unite and to be Light unto the nations of the world—to set a good example of a corrected society in which everyone lives in brotherly love above all differences.

Even the vain attempts to find shelter in the shade of the new administration headed by President-elect Donald
Trump and to expect him to save us will not rid us of our duty. We may feel short-term relief regarding our security, but eventually we will once again advance toward our fatal choice, just as we did when we first became a nation at the gathering before Mt. Sinai.

Then, at the foot of the mountain, we managed to overcome the mountain of hatred and connected as one man in one heart. If we connect as one bundle today, we will be able to harness the hatred the world feels toward to our favor. As long as we continue to treat each other cruelly, the world will be cruel to us. So as it says in our sources: “the main thing that protects Israel from calamity is love and unity, and when there is love and unity and friendship among the people of Israel, no calamity can harm them.” (“Maor VaShemesh“)
[199456]
Ynet 12/27/16

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Question: Why do we light Hanukkah candles?

Answer: Hanukkah represents the state of a person that reaches correction and ascent above egoistic material life, and he becomes like a candle that shines in this world. In other words, the candle symbolizes the spiritual condition of a person, and a person is like a candle.

Oil from which the candle burns symbolizes our egoism, and if we use it correctly, it gives us light while burning. The candle’s wick symbolizes rising above the ego, when we ignore egoism, but use it in the opposite way.

The wick dipped in oil, gradually absorbs it, and thanks to the wick (the resistance to egoism), the oil gives light while burning. Egoism is a great force and the lamp symbolizes a correct use of it.
[199562]
From KabTV Program “News with Michael Laitman” 12.19.2016

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Question: How can we see the actions described in the Hanukkah story in the modern world? Can we see them?

Answer: In the modern world we can only see darkness, our mutual hostility, and destruction, the terrible egoistic states up to the complete rejection of each other.

But we don’t see the struggle itself, the struggle that is described in the wars of the Maccabees, because it takes place inside a person who reaches the wisdom of Kabbalah and wants to ascend above his egoism through this method. The war against the ego is called the war of the Maccabees.

Victory in this war is a person’s ascent above his egoism, detachment from it. Then he begins to feel the upper world. Therefore, Hanukkah symbolizes the holiday of the Upper Light, a holiday in which we exit the darkness of our world and enter a new state, a new illuminated eternal dimension.

A person who is in the framework of our world does not see any of that, he just celebrates and eats doughnuts.
[199559]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 12/19/16

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In the News (CNBC): “As the global workforce modernizes and low-skilled workers lose their jobs, momentum builds around the idea of a universal basic income, or a fixed, regular payment that all residents, no matter their employment status or wealth, would receive from the government.

“Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SolarCity, Tesla, and SpaceX, recently declared that a universal basic income was a reasonable next step for the U.S. ‘There is a pretty good chance we end up with a universal basic income, or something like that, due to automation,’ Musk told CNBC. … 

“Computers, intelligent machines, and robots seem like the workforce of the future. And as more and more jobs are replaced by technology, people will have less work to do and ultimately will be sustained by payments from the government, predicts Elon Musk, the iconic Silicon Valley futurist who is the founder and CEO of SolarCity, Tesla, and SpaceX. …

“‘This idea of giving people money for nothing is a real adjustment for people. It goes against our basic values.’ -Martin Ford, Author of Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future…

“That said, there is currently one privately-funded, short-term pilot program being run by the Silicon Valley accelerator, Y Combinator, in California. The goal is to see how people react in the U.S., says Sam Altman, President, Y Combinator Group. The program gives ‘unconditional’ payments to selected residents of Oakland. The administrators write, ‘we hope basic income promotes freedom, and we want to see how people experience that freedom.’ If it is successful, the plan is to follow up the pilot with a larger, longer-term program.”

My Comment: The problem is that if a person is given a social income, which means that he is provided with the minimum necessary to live on, he will sit in front of the TV and will become increasingly more insensitive, and what is more he will might smoke grass too.

A businessman who lays off his employees has to provide them not only with the minimum necessary to live, but also must employ them and take full responsibility for them and for their social problems. Eventually it will cost him much more than to pay them their full wages.

(CNBC): “Even if provided with regular payments from the government, Ford predicts that America’s workforce won’t give up altogether. ‘The vast majority of people will do more. They will want to work if they can. They might work part time; maybe they can only find a part-time job. That combined with the basic income will be enough. Or maybe they will start a business.'”

Answer: These people will not take on anything if they are not seriously taken care of and if the right society is not established of them. Ninety percent of the world population will be laid off work as a result of robots, machines, and computers taking over and replacing people, so those 90% of the workers who are free have to engage in the correction of man and of society.

We have to occupy them during their work day in a serious manner in studying the nature of human society. We have to learn how we can all be connected to each other and how to mutually cooperate correctly in order to be in harmony with nature. This means that they have to study the wisdom of Kabbalah and no one can escape this.

Therefore, on the one hand, the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed and, on the other hand, robots are replacing people.

Question: Does it turn out that the allowance is like a stipend given to people so that they will study?

Answer: No, these funds will be given as a salary. At first, the salary can be progressive for those who study seriously and don’t miss any lessons, etc. And those who miss lessons will not get paid.

Thus, we can force people to participate in this process, since otherwise humanity will bring itself to its end.

Question: Is this a social revolution?

Answer: Yes, a quiet revolution which obliges all people to learn what a human being is and what human society should be relative to nature. A person will learn how to live in harmony with himself and with the world around him.

Otherwise, humanity very quickly will come to the point that the streets are full of roaming vagrants and gangs, killing and burning everything around them. If we reach this point no special forces will be able to help us.

Therefore, we have to start the learning process right now. I welcome robotics and the fact that people will be free from the need to work, as Marx also wrote about. But this is only for one purpose: so that we will begin to turn people into human beings.
[197949]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 11/9/16

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Question: Why do people whose time for correction has not yet come still need to suffer? And during the period of thousands of generations when the wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed, until the year 1995, what could they have done besides suffer?

Answer: Suffering is caused by the fact that our egoism must develop to point where it will truly want higher, special, and eternal pleasures.

So we had a long way to go, beginning from the creation of atoms, molecules, soil, and water, then primitive organisms, plants, animals, and finally to the human in his present state. This was a really long way and all of it in suffering.

It is only today that we have begun to develop in our final phase. But we now have the possibility of advancing with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is a special method by which it is possible to attract the Upper Light.

And then we can advance by the way of Achishena (hastening time), by accelerating our development without nature pushing us from behind through suffering, but through yearning to move forward by anticipating attainment. It is in this way that suffering stops. It means that it is possible to “run” forward toward the goal of creation faster than the “stick” that is always behind us, so that it will not catch up to us.
[197485]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 8/28/16

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