Audio Version Of The Blog – 8/27/18
Posted on August 27th, 2018
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The Times of Israel published my new article “Today’s Challenges to Jews and the Lack of Leadership”
The future of the Jewish nation is at stake. Has the time come for a “modern-day Moses” for the Jewish people—a leader, a group, or a movement that will pave the way to unity in the face of the current divisions and conflicts? A type of advance-squadron leadership who addresses the most pressing issues affecting the Jews in the Diaspora and Israel, and bridges the gaps between them?
Internal fragmentation and divisiveness, apathy, assimilation and anti-Semitism are only a few of the Jewish world’s challenges. These problems are clearly evident, but no one is stepping up with solutions or feasible plans to effectively address these issues, which could rapidly escalate and threaten our very existence. We are too busy squabbling with each other while our enemies unite forces against us.
In Europe, anti-Semitism has reached such levels that Jews have been warned not to wear kippot in public for fear of being violently attacked. In Britain, anti-Semitic incidents hit record highs for the second consecutive year with over 100 new cases being recorded every month by watchdog groups. In Germany, a country that previously enforced among the toughest legislation in the world prohibiting the use of Nazi symbols, recently lifted that ban for computer games. The sale of neo-Nazi merchandise and neo-Nazi gatherings at music festivals are no longer taboo. In the US alone, 3,023 incidents of anti-Semitism were reported in 2017 – 2018, the highest level in two decades, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
Meanwhile, there is a growing rift between American Jews and Israelis. A significant shift is taking place in the younger generation of American Jews’ views about what it means to be Jewish. Thus, one of the greatest concerns of American Jewry is maintaining the Jewish identity of the next generation, and the memory of the Jewish people, to help avoid existential risks to the Jewish people.
In order to champion these challenges, we need leadership capable of renewing our ideological foundation as a united people. Such leadership should elevate us to the level of unity and mutual responsibility that was once achieved and taught by our patriarch Abraham to the small group called “Israel” before we descended into unfounded hatred, the source of all our troubles and miseries. Very simply, when we unite—not erasing our differences, but rising above them—we succeed and flourish, and our leadership should be predominantly concerned with realizing this principle.
We should aspire to a new leadership capable of learning the principles of the ancient wisdom of Kabbalah, and which can explain how humanity is connected as one integral system. We need leadership that will demonstrate how the Jewish people is a microcosm of the world, a small replica reflecting the whole of humanity, and which can guide us step-by-step in making significant positive changes toward connection and mutual understanding.
The 20th Century’s most renowned Kabbalist, Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), wrote in his “Introduction to the Book of Zohar“: “Bear in mind that in everything there is internality and externality. In the world in general, Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are considered the internality of the world.” That internal force can be activated in the Jewish people through our connection. It is what the nations of the world subconsciously want from us, dwelling deep within as the core reason behind every expression of anti-Semitism.
Rav Abraham Isaac Kook also emphasizes the importance of our role in his writings Orot (Lights): “Israel is the essence of all existence, and you have no movement in the world, in all nations, which you will not find in Israel.” As our sages convey, our Jewish role is not optional. We are responsible for everything that happens in the world, for better or for worse. It is difficult to understand because we don’t immediately feel it, but with the help of wise leadership that knows how to make this reality plain and accessible to everyone, we will come to see that this is how the system of human connection is structured at a deeper level. Instead of the current state of reacting with knee-jerk responses to hardships and dangers, a wise leadership would prevent such situations from developing in the first place, establishing our unity as our inviolable safeguard.
With the High Holidays approaching, we have a tremendous opportunity for renewal. Now is the time for a leadership that will guide us to achieve the level of “love your friend as yourself” and by doing so, become a “light unto the nations.” This will require a massive educational campaign calling for unity and togetherness. At the time when we achieve the goal of connection, instead of more divisions, conflicts and threats, we will be able to proclaim a true Rosh HaShanah, the beginning of a new year of unity, peace and tranquility for all.
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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 8/27/18
And a new king rose to power, and his name was Trump. And he ruled Israel with an iron fist, imposing economic sanctions on its citizens and stifling its international trade. And the United Nations celebrated as they finally managed to delegitimize Israel.
***
Such a horror scenario seems far from today’s reality. Trump is seen by many as an avid friend of Israel in a world that is becoming increasingly hostile toward it. However, the man who declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, who continues to protect Israel’s position in the international arena and who cherishes the Jewish people – is certainly holding the reins. With each passing day, Israel’s future seems to be dependent on his continued support.
But behind the show of sympathy for Israel, Trump is a shrewd businessman. Like a good salesman, he first grants you a sweet taste while making sure he can demand a handsome payment afterwards. In his outlandish way, Trump is paving the way – on both the Israeli side and the Palestinian side – for a peace deal that could grant him a level of prestige that no U.S. president has ever achieved before.
However, Trump is destined to fail in this area just like all his predecessors did. Peace between Israel and the Palestinians is possible only if it is based on the laws of nature.
According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, peace between human beings in general is only possible through the activation of nature’s inherent binding force, and any plan that doesn’t take it into account will fail.
The people of Israel are the only nation founded on unity that’s based on the laws of nature. They lived by the natural system of human connection for hundreds of years until they went to a long exile, wandered the world and lost their foundation.
The creation of the Jewish people was nature’s way of making a mini-model of unity among humans that would later be extended to the whole of humanity. Therefore, Israel’s conflicts with its neighbors and with the rest of the world will gradually escalate until the people of Israel fulfill their natural role.
Thus, the only way to achieve a viable, lasting peace agreement is to first reawaken the foundation of the Jewish people. Otherwise, Trump’s efforts will fail miserably, and he will gradually change his attitude toward Israel.
So, going back to the negative scenario we began with, Israel’s troubles will intensify to an unbearable degree, until they have no other choice but to painfully evoke the power of unity from the depths of nature with all their might. And only then, peace will come to Israel and spread to the rest of the world.
However, a far more ideal scenario would be to awaken unity in advance, easily and pleasantly, by initiating an educational program that raises awareness of the unique role of the Jewish people and trains them to fulfill it.
Therefore, it would be a good idea for Trump to invest the $200 million he slashed off Palestinian aid in implementing an educational process that would drive Israel to activate the peace plan inherent in nature. This would be Trump’s best shot at going down in history as the person who brought peace to the region.
Entering the ladder of merging with the Creator starts with the desire to be an “embryo” in the Creator and total submission to Him, as an embryo is in full charge of the mother. So the restriction is met: want nothing but being in the Creator i.e., all thoughts/desires—about Him.
Kabbalah: To motivate the Jews to unite, Israel must produce an educational program about the role of unity of the Jews in the unity of the world. #Trump should demand from #Israel to unite and thereby compel the whole world to follow, so he can get the Nobel Prize and relax.
Peace Israel-Palestine is possible if Palestinians will want peace, which they will—only if the Jews show willingness to unite as one. Otherwise, #Trump’s efforts will fail; he’ll change his attitude to Israel into terrible pressure! It’s the Creator forcing us into correction.
In spirituality there’s no time, day/night, months/years. I determine my day/night. Night is a new desire from the Creator, a new degree. But I cover the darkness with the light of Hassadim and then the light of Hochma clothes into it, the light of the sun—a new day comes!
The day begins at night: “There was evening and there was morning—one day”
In darkness I prepare faith, bestowal, fill my desire with the light of Hassadim. I am ready to remain in this state if only I’ll have the chance to bestow. Thus I go through the night and turn it to day.
Spiritual work begins in descent. We get a chance to move toward bestowal, faith above reason. When you feel bad, the world becomes dark, you lose importance of the goal, and the Creator, group, study and spiritual path don’t attract—remember that everything is set up by Him.
To make it possible for us to reform ourselves, desire (the soul) was broken apart. From being broken, we have the opportunity to fix the breaking, through unity. The key is to gain the power of bestowal because it is the glue that glues all the parts of the broken soul together.
When a person feels satisfied (in selfishness!), it is difficult for him to overcome himself, uncovering his shortcomings, to start spiritual work, for in the spiritual we advance only due to a sense of lack.
Selfishness (Pharaoh) evolves to the extent that its at first pleasant power becomes unbearable—which pushes us to seek how to exit it.
Kabbalah: the correct use of selfishness is in restriction. Stop gaining; by economizing, connect with all in the common organism—the Soul. Evolution spares those who adapt, i.e., lazy ones, with a decreased metabolism. Reduce the desire to receive! By bestowing receive eternity!
Crisis: Birth rate is declining and lifespan increasing. The aging of the #population leads to a rise in medical expenses and pensions. The number of taxpayers is decreasing due to lack of working people. Each woman should give birth to 2.2 children. But the earth is overpopulated.
From Twitter, 8/27/18
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The work within reason is clear to all. It is important according to our understanding, and therefore, we are ready to work. The work above reason goes against our mind and feelings. Our whole world works for the sake of receiving, according to its own mind and feeling, within reason. A human being, as the most intelligent and developed being of all, must act reasonably.
We respect a person for his intelligence. Specifically here, we need to go, as if, against feeling and reason. But what else do we have? Nothing. It turns out that we must go against everything that exists in us if we want to attain the upper world. After all, in the upper world our mind and feelings do not work, the upper world is above our reason and feelings.
This is the next step: instead of receiving—bestowal, instead of reason—above reason. But what can I do if I do not possess the properties of bestowal and the spiritual world is built on completely different principles. One cannot even say opposite, because we do not know what this opposition means.
We do not understand how to change ourselves in order to rise to a state called “the world to come,” to the next step. One just has to try to do it. The spiritual world is called “the world to come” because it will come, but it will come only according to our efforts.
Even if we do not want it, the program of creation already has our desire and it will come. He who makes efforts in advance, saves time and suffering because he quickly comes to a prayer. Otherwise, he will waste time because his stubbornness will do him no good. You have to be stubborn only with regard to application of the efforts, as the saying goes: “Do anything but leave.”
Even if I see that by all signs nothing works for me and the Creator even lets me know that I am not wanted, I still do not quit. Persistence is the key to advancement.
One needs to have profound reason in order to work above it. Our task is to make an effort until we receive the property of bestowal, the property of connection and love.1
Spirituality is revealed in the desires of bestowal, and it is necessary to know how to check and measure these desires according to the principle which is opposite to what we have. As it is written: “I saw an opposite world .”
In our world everything is measured by how much I get, how much is on my plate, in my purse. But in the spiritual world, the opposite is true: the more I would like to receive in reason, I would joyfully rise above these demands in order to bestow, despite my great desire to enjoy.
This is how my faith above reason is measured. I rejoice because I ascended to the next step, became closer to the Creator, and began to feel and explore the reality called the upper world. After all, I am sure that the Creator controls everything, and therefore, knows better what is good.
Everything that I have comes from the Creator, including all my instruments of His verification. Everything that I have directly and indirectly comes from Him, and nothing depends on me. Even if I decide to check myself, the verification comes from the Creator.
Without the Creator, I am not just an empty computer on which no program is installed; there is no computer at all. There is nothing. Therefore, the higher I can rise above reason, the more powerful and elevated sense of the spiritual world I possess.
The first step to spirituality is to give up on your good and confident feeling within reason and build above it the opposite attitude to the world, for the sake of bestowal. It turns out that I have two levels: reason and above reason. And I try to expand both of them, to open these scissors as much as possible. There, between them, I will feel the upper world, the upper reality.2
The goal of a person’s work in this world is a feeling of perfection in his desires to enjoy: to gain more, to win, to succeed, to fill oneself with all the blessings. The goal of a person’s work in the spiritual world is a feeling of perfection in the desires of the upper one. To the extent of our efforts to imagine this, we are influenced by the Light that returns to the source and leads us to the desire of the upper one and to the feeling of perfection in this desire.
One cannot exist without the other. It is impossible to feel the spiritual world and suffer from it. I will receive spiritual attainment only if it makes me happy.3
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/20/18, Lesson on the Topic: “The Work Within Reason And The Work Above Reason”
1 Minute 0:20
2 Minute 10:08
3 Minute 21:11
Related Material:
Faith Above Reason
Desires Going Faith Above Reason
Working With Faith Above Reason
New Life #71 – Money And The Jewish Mind, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz
Summary:
Israeli prosperity depends on a spiritual well rather than oil wells or gas reservoirs. Trade is based on connection. Every Jew is a tradesman because the Jewish attribute is to connect. The forefathers of the Jewish nation were people with a spiritual inclination to connect people like Abraham. The spiritual power that the nation had in the past generated wisdom and special abilities. Jews studied science and medicine in order to be rich internally and essential everywhere. Members of the Jewish nation were exiled from the land of Israel after their egoistic nature grew to such an extent that it could no longer be channeled toward mutual connection. Now, anti-Semitism guards the Jews and drives them to fulfill their role in business: to connect all the nations into one spiritual family.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #71 – Money And The Jewish Mind, Part 1,” 9/10/12
 Video: Play Now | Download |
 Audio: Play Now | Download |
Lesson Preparation
| [media 1] | [media 2] |
Lesson on the Topic “Rosh HaShana“
| [media 3] | [media 4] |
Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 5
| [media 5] | [media 6] |
Writings of Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“
| [media 7] | [media 8] |
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