Audio Version Of The Blog – 05.10.17

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There Is Nothing Superfluous In The World

laitman_561Torah, Deuteronomy 23:05: …He [the people of Moab] hired Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim against you, to curse you.

Question: Bilam was hired by the Ammonites and Moabites (the desires that can’t be corrected) in order to curse Israel. However, at the same time, the people of Israel were already heading to the Creator. Is it possible to associate this with today’s Israel that still must be forced to move forward?

Answer: We can’t compare ourselves with the Israel that once was ascending the spiritual ladder. After all, this is the movement through an internal spiritual desert.

Bilam is a prophet that has connection with the Creator. He understands what Israel is and acts naturally and clearly according to the command of the Creator, like everything else in the world. Therefore, we need to respect this force even from the opposite side, meaning from the side of impure forces. Although from the negative side, Bilam represents the force through which the Creator rules the world. It means that He rules the world exactly through our impure desires in order to pull a person “by the ears” from spirituality.

He resists, he wants to reach spirituality, but he is dragged away more and more. Then, when his “ears” are stretched to the limit, he is suddenly released and flies directly to spirituality. This is useful.

This is precisely the work of Bilam. He intentionally goads a person to criticize, to think that everything is not the way it is, and so on. The left line must exist in parallel with the right line, and between them we build analysis and synthesis of all possible states through which we begin to understand how the universe is organized.

Question: Does it mean that Bilam in a person makes him advance even faster?

Answer: Probably not faster, but this is a necessary state in a person, when he denies the Creator, wants to rebel against Him, and doesn’t want to consider anything, egoism in him rises so much that he wants to rule the entire world. This happens to every person.

Here it is about the same actions on the higher levels. Therefore, the force of Bilam is necessary for the correct analysis of the entire path.

Nothing superfluous was created in the world, everything depends only on the extent that we will correctly work with these forces. Everything is just for our correct advancement. Thus, it is necessary to eliminate intention of the desires called Ammonites and Moabites (meaning for oneself), and the very desires to begin correcting to bestowal.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/19/16

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When Will Terrorism Come To An End?

Laitman_408Question: Recently, IDF soldiers recently killed the military commander in the Gaza Strip. Consequently, the Palestinians are threatening to retaliate with acts of terror saying that they will not leave us alone. How long can this go on?

Answer: This will continue until the nation of Israel begins to fulfill its historical mission.

We have the method of correction for all of humanity and our role is to bring it to the best and highest state, but we are not fulfilling it and so we invoke all these negative forces of nature.

Question: Are you promising that all this will stop, that our enemies will disappear and turn into our friends, if we begin to fulfill our mission?

Answer: That’s the only way. What is more, everyone will help us. Hamas and its military commanders will come and say: “Tell us what we should do.”
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Theresa May, Anti-Semitism, and Europe

laitman_426 In the News (YNet News): “LONDON – British Prime Minister Theresa May delivered a staunchly pro-Israel speech Monday during which she declared her government’s unwavering support for Israel, proclaimed her unequivocal opposition to boycotts and reiterated her commitment to expunging anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial from British society.”

Answer: I have no illusions about Theresa May and the British, both in the past and in the present. They burned Jews in their synagogues. I’ve seen all these places.

We must accept the fact that nature affects everyone: by their anti-Semitism, they affect us because we are “stiff-necked people,” that is, stubborn and unwilling to correct ourselves.

For Theresa May, it is only a political move in order to relate numerous problems to Europe. She says: “We support Israel, we are against all polls,” in order to counter Europe, which voted for anti-Israel UN proposals.

So, there is nothing new here, it’s pure politics. The British are widely known as good politicians. But internally, they have not changed, of course. Moreover, they are unable to change. They can be changed only by the people of Israel if it begins to fulfill its historical mission.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/26/17

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Men And Women: You Must Reorganize Our World

laitman_721_3Question: How and when must a woman be seriously involved with the wisdom of Kabbalah if so many tasks are imposed upon her: work, family, a husband, and children?

Answer: We need to reorganize our world so that men will earn enough money for what the family needs to exist and women will be able to stay at home, deal with family matters, and educate the children, herself, and her husband. The man must engage with work only to support the family and to study the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Question: Do you believe that there will be a turn in this direction in the world?

Answer: Nothing will succeed otherwise. What will we do with billions of unemployed, with people who are not needed? With what will they be involved?

They must be taught and educated. Gradually, they will create normal families who will be compatible with the spiritual root. Without being compatible with the spiritual root, we will not reach the completion of correction, neither physically nor spiritually.
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Returning Home

JPost: “Comment: Is Judaism Racism?”

The Jerusalem Post published my new article “Comment: Is Judaism Racism?

Through their unity or lack thereof, the Jews determine whether hatred or love of others will prevail the world over, and the world relates to them accordingly.

Just recently,Thomas Lopez-Pierre, who is bidding for a seat in the NYC council, said, “Greedy Jewish Landlords are at the forefront of ethnic cleansing/pushing Black/Hispanic tenants out of their apartments.” Zionism has already been accused of racism, but today we are seeing the argument that Jews favor only their coreligionists gaining more and more turf.

It makes sense to think of Judaism as a racist religion. After all, we are regarded as “a people who dwells apart, and will not be reckoned among the nations” (Numbers 23:9). Throughout the ages, we have been defined as “the chosen people,” “a light unto nations,” and other depictions that set us apart from the rest of humanity. But is Judaism itself racist? Does it aspire to subordinate other nations? Does it demand to convert non-Jews to Judaism? Does Judaism assert that being Jewish grants prerogatives that are not to be given to people of other faiths?

As we will see, the truth is to the contrary. Judaism means more commitment and more demands from its own adherents, and not from anyone else. Instead of requiring the subjugation of others, it requires the commitment of Jews to serve humanity.

Unity that Matches Enmity

Throughout the ages, numerous scholars and people of faith have wondered about the meaning and purpose of Judaism. Cambridge historian T.R. Glover wrote in The Ancient World: “No ancient people have had a stranger history than the Jews. …The history of no ancient people should be so valuable, if we could only recover it and understand it. …Stranger still, the ancient religion of the Jews survives when all the religions of every ancient race have disappeared … Also, it is strange that the living religions of the world all build on religious ideas derived from the Jews. The great matter is not ‘What happened?’ but ‘Why did it happen?’ ‘Why does Judaism live?’”

To understand Judaism, we must go back to its beginning, and connect it to its final purpose. Some 3,800 years ago in the area known as the Fertile Crescent, humanity was taking its baby steps toward becoming a civilization. At that time, Babylon was the ruling empire and governed the lush lands between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Even then, problems began to appear. People’s vanity began to take its toll as the Babylonian Empire and its king, Nimrod, tried to build a tower “whose top will reach into heaven” because they wanted to make a name for themselves (Genesis 11:4). But instead of a tower, writes the book Pirkei De Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter 24), the builders grew so hostile that they “wanted to speak to one another but did not know each other’s language. What did they do? Each took up his sword and they fought each other to the death. Indeed, half the world was slaughtered there, and from there they scattered all over the world.”

To counter the Babylonians’ enmity toward each other, the Patriarch Abraham realized that they must cultivate a matching measure of connection and unity. He understood that in creation, everything is united, and the apparent contradictions actually complement one another and form a perfect whole. Abraham also realized that if the Babylonians knew about nature’s wholeness they, would stop hating other people and would, instead, cherish the diversity and benefit from it.

Immediately after his revelation, Abraham began to circulate his concept, or as Maimonides describes it in Mishneh Torah (Chapter 1), “He began to provide answers to the people of Ur of the Chaldeans [Abraham’s city in Babylon], to converse with them and to tell them that the path on which they were walking was not the path of truth.”

Even though King Nimrod confronted Abraham and demanded that he would stop circulating his ideas, Abraham insisted on continuing until finally Nimrod expelled Abraham from Babylon. As the expat wandered toward what was to become the Land of Israel, writes Maimonides in Mishneh Torah (Chapter 1), “Thousands and tens of thousands assembled around him. He planted this tenet [of unity] in their hearts, composed books about it, and taught his son, Isaac. And Isaac sat and taught and warned, and informed Jacob, and appointed him a teacher, to sit and teach… And Jacob our Father taught all his sons.”

These three patriarchs of Judaism gave it its essence: Unity is the remedy for hatred. When hatred increases, do not push it under the carpet, but acknowledge it and nurture unity to match it. In the succinct words of King Solomon (Proverbs 10:12): “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes.”

It follows that Judaism does not derive from geographical or biological affinity, but rather from an ideological perception that unity is the key to solving every problem. The Hebrew word Yehudi [Jew] comes from the word yihudi [united], writes the book Yaarot Devash (Part 2, Drush no. 2). In other words, the only criterion by which one can become Jewish is one’s acceptance of the principle that love must cover all crimes, and unity must be the basis of all human relations. The myriads who joined Abraham came from all over the Fertile Crescent and the Near and Middle East, and they were all welcome as long as they followed the law of unity.

The Antisemites’ Keen Perception

The Hebrews suffered just like everyone else from the intensification of the ego. The only difference between them and the rest of the nations was that they had decided not to fight each other when hostility increased among them, but rather to increase the love between them. While our ancestors often succumbed to fierce and often violent internal conflicts, in the end, they always remembered what they must do and how to achieve peace. This is why The Book of Zohar writes (Beshalach), “All the wars in the Torah are for peace and love.”

When we achieved a sufficient level of unity, we became a nation and were immediately commanded to be “a light unto nations,” to convey what Abraham had wanted to convey to the Babylonians in the first place. The great kabbalist Ramchal wrote that like Abraham, both Noah and Moses wanted to complete the correction of the world in their respective times, but circumstances prevented this from them. In Adir Bamarom (Mighty One on High), Ramchal wrote, “Noah was created to correct the world in the state that it was at that time. At that time there were already the nations, and they will also receive correction from him.” In The Ramchal Commentary on the Torah, the sage writes about Moses: “Moses wished to complete the correction of the world at that time. …However, he did not succeed because of the corruptions that occurred along the way.”

The nations, too, recognized our unique role as bearers of redemption, though very few connected redemption with unity. It was actually the most satanic detractor of Judaism in history, Adolf Hitler, who was among those who did connect Judaism with unity. In his hate-filled composition, Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote both about the unique fate of the Jews and about the importance of their unity. “When over long periods of human history I scrutinized the activity of the Jewish people, suddenly there arose up in me the fearful question whether inscrutable Destiny, perhaps for reasons unknown to us poor mortals, did not, with eternal and immutable resolve, desire the final victory of this little nation.” Concerning Jewish unity or lack thereof, Hitler wrote, “The Jew is only united when a common danger forces him to be or a common booty entices him; if these two grounds are lacking, the qualities of the crassest egoism come into their own.”

Another notorious antisemite who observed the unique quality of the ancient Jewish society was Henry Ford. In The International Jew—the World’s Foremost Problem, Ford wrote, “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.” Ford wanted to take an example from the Jews, but since they are apart, he resorted to their ancestors, the “early Jews.”

Since the ruin of the Second Temple due to hatred, the Jews have been immersed in hatred. They have forgotten the principle that love covers all crimes and let hatred govern their hearts. But since they are intended to be “a light unto nations,” the world blames them for every act of hatred that unfolds anywhere in the world. Jews may not know that they have the key to ending hatred, but the world senses it and demands this of them.

The greatest commentator on The Book of Zohar in the 20th century, Rav Yehuda Ashlag, wrote in the essay “Mutual Guarantee”: “The Israeli nation had been constructed as a sort of gateway by which sparks of love of others would shine upon the whole of the human race the world over.”

Rav Hillel Zeitlin also stressed the importance of Jewish unity for the correction of the world. In Sifran Shel Yehidim he wrote, “If Israel is the one true redeemer of the entire world, it must be qualified for this redemption. Israel must first redeem their souls. …But when will this world salvation come? Is it now that this nation is immersed in bickering, fighting, and unfounded hatred? Therefore, in this book, I am appealing to establish the unity of Israel. …If this is established, there will be a unification of individuals for the purpose of elevation and correction of all the ills of the nation and the world.”

Double Standard

One of the criteria to determine whether a person is antisemitic is “double standard.” That is, people are tested as to whether they judge Jews and Israel differently from everyone else. If we are to be honest, we should admit that everyone, even Jews, judge Israel and Jews differently from all other nations. This “double standard” is written in the scriptures, and every person in the world feels that Jews are different.

Jews are different but they are not racists, since authentic Judaism dictates that anyone who subscribes to the idea of unity above hatred is regarded as Jewish. Yet, Jews are definitely unique.

Currently, because Jews are not “a light unto nations,” meaning they are not spreading the light of unity, the world hates them. If the Jews return to being what they were when they became a nation after committing to unite “as one man with one heart,” the world will view them as the most valuable nation on the planet. Through their unity or separation, the Jews determine whether hatred or love of others will prevail the world over, and the world relates to them accordingly.

No other text sums up this message as clearly as this excerpt from The Book of Zohar. In the portion Aharei Mot, the book writes, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers sit together. These are the friends as they sit together, at first they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another. Then, they return to being in brotherly love. Henceforth, you will also not part … and by your merit there will be peace in the world.” Let us do what we must do.
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My Thoughts On Twitter, 5/8/17

twitter

What This Means for Jews When Austria’s President @vanderbellen says All Women Will Wear #Headscarves @haaretzcom http://bit.ly/2meansforjews

haaretzTwitMay8

From Twitter, 5/8/17

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 05.10.17

Preparation for the Lesson

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Lesson on the Topic: “Awakening the Need for the Help of the Creator” 

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 8, Item 1

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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