Audio Version Of The Blog – 8/1/19

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My Thoughts On Twitter 8/1/19

Dr Michael Laitman Twitter

The EU is in crisis. It cannot be reformed because the EU is not a finished structure. There cannot be a good connection between egoists—interests diverge, the structure disintegrates.
The solution: break up before another war breaks out, or start uniting the people/nations of the EU rather than businesses…

After the destruction of the Temple, relationships fell from the level of the heart to the bodily level of communication through hands and language. Instead of connecting the hearts, they began following instructions, checking how to speak to others. That’s how they separated from the main law of the Torah, “love your neighbor as yourself,” not even remembering it!

Following the destruction of the Temple, a good connection, it is impossible for hearts to connect lest it become an outlet for ego-hatred. This is why on the earthy degree laws of behavior were established that reflect spiritual laws.
If there is no love for the neighbor, then at least (!) don’t do to another that which you do not wish for yourself.

After the destruction of the Temple (their spiritual connection with the Creator), they decided to reduce their demands for bestowal and love—to superficial demands. They began interpreting the Torah’s laws and conditions as external laws of behavior, not requiring internal correction of the heart—egoism.

Precisely the small man, who is below, far from the Creator, transmits his request upward till Malchut of the world of Infinity, evoking the light of Infinity along all the degrees and thus from above downwards, records his name, his contribution to the general correction

Unification must emerge BETWEEN hatred and love, even for oneself. Without destroying anything, but only by adding goodness. This is the middle line, “the golden mean,” in which we reveal the Creator and unite with Him, attaining the eternal and perfect existence.

Correction lies in ADDING the good force to the evil, egoistic one. The Creator created the evil force. And He will give us the good force —per our request, as written “He who creates light and who creates darkness.” Everything comes form the Creator. We must connect the light and darkness together so “the darkness will shine as light.”

Every person is right inside of his egoism, but for the common truth and justice, we must rise above the differences. We must come to love the differences between us; we can build love only thanks to them—above them, learn the middle line, how to rise above man’s egoistic nature, in faith above reason.

The corrected creation exists not by destroying egoism, but by building connection-understanding-love above it. The nation of Israel was forged in Babylon out of 70 nations in order to create, within the disagreements, above the separation, love above hatred—and to exist precisely between them (the middle line).

The nation of Israel must show the world an example of unity on 2 degrees, as written, “Love covers all sins.” We must learn not to annihilate the disagreements, but to create connection, understanding and love precisely above them. By combining love-hate, plus-minus, sweet-bitter.

Unity in society is not attained by changing each individual or one’s attitude to others. On the contrary, without changing our opinions, we must rise above them, above all the disagreements and as we cover them, we connect with each other. There’s no other way to attain unity.

In Abraham’s times, the nation of Israel was formed as a group of his students. Abraham asked the Creator: how do I fulfill the mission, attain general correction? The Creator answered: Only by being exiled to Egypt—enormous egoism. And then by gradually coming out of it…

Egyptian exile: exile from connection and brotherly love into Pharaoh’s slavery, when egoism rules over the desire to connect between people. The egoistic desire that separates us is called Pharaoh. But after suffering, 10 plagues, egoism-Pharaoh expels us out of itself!

Without the Egyptian plagues, suffering, we can’t come out of Egypt, for we have enjoyed being in egoism, as we do now. And we, too, will receive the ten plagues—blows to Pharaoh, our egoism, which is inside each of us and all of us together, to help us break free, come out it.

Separated from egoism, Pharaoh, we can move on to the stage of its correction by the quality of bestowal, by Light (Torah). We pledge to be in mutual guarantee and unity, we want to receive the force that will unite us. Therefore, we receive the force of bestowal and the method of correction—the Torah!

For 40 years—degrees, we undergo correction in the will to bestow above egoism—in the desert. Then comes the correction of Receiving for the sake of bestowal, the Land of Israel. We build the desire to love in unity, the 1st Temple. It gets destroyed. We build the 2nd Temple. It gets destroyed. We fall into egoism completely. We mix our desires with those of the nations of the world.

And every generation that does not build the temple, it is as if it is destroying it. Why has the exile been prolonged?”

In the 16th century the ARI reveals the method of correcting the world’s egoism—Kabbalah. Vital, the ARI’s student: “…deliverance is not coming. There is no cure for the destruction of the Temple, it is already 1504. Hope has run out.”

“Why isn’t it coming? Because we are not demanding the correction. We have no need for correction. We must try to achieve good relationships on our own, understand that we are unable to, and ask for help. As a result of our efforts to unite, we’ll understand what to ask from the Creator. This means waiting for the Messiah—the force of correction.”

Another 500 years have passed… Baal Shem Tov asked the Messiah: When are you coming? He answered: When my sources spread into the world. Meaning, when Kabbalah is revealed. So that people will want the correction, will understand how it will come to them. In the mean time, we are destroying the planet with our growing egoism.
From Twitter, 8/1/19

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“Unity Is Our Only Shield against Anti-Semitism” (The Times Of Israel)

The Times of Israel published my new article “Unity Is Our Only Shield against Anti-Semitism

Campuses in the US and UK, once places for the enlightenment and ideological progress of society, have descended into epicenters of vicious anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli sentiment, two sides of the same coin. They have become hotbeds of fundamentalist political agendas sponsored by special interest groups. A recent visit by a group of my students to Oxford University in England confirmed this perception. The Jewish professors they spoke with anxiously await retirement due to the hostile atmosphere and threats against them. Conditions will only worsen unless we Jews take this situation into our own hands and unite.

As part of a research project about anti-Semitism, some of my students conducted a series of interviews with scholars and professors in the UK who have faced anti-Semitism in academia. According to their testimonials (which will be compiled into a documentary to be aired later this year), they have been victims of threats and harassment for being Jewish or for supporting Israel, a country constantly under attack on both American and European college campuses.

Jew-hatred dressed as so-called “legitimate criticism” of Israel and its policies, singles out the Jewish state for harsh accusations of “apartheid” and “genocide.” “Israel Apartheid Week” claims to be mushrooming this year into 200 events held across 30 countries on five continents. And where are the events’ preferred venues? Indeed, they are in the very college campuses where the seeds of anti-Semitism are being methodically planted and harvested.

Recently, an officer of a student minority group at Bristol University in the UK, whose role is to combat prejudice on campus, told a Jewish student to “be like Israel and cease to exist.” This is no isolated case of bigotry against Jews. In the beginning of the year, hundreds of students voted against allowing the creation of a Jewish Society at Essex University after a member of the British university’s Amnesty International group urged students to reject it arguing that the initiative was not “politically neutral.” This reflects the tendency shown in a 2017 survey of 485 Jewish students in England: two-thirds of the survey’s respondents reported being targeted on campus because of their Jewishness.

In the last few years, millions of dollars have been injected into universities around the world to advance anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish agendas, all sponsored by foreign governments and organizations whose aim is to advance their anti-Semitic rhetoric and agendas. While faculties are permissive, under the guise of pluralism, even Jewish academics jump on the bandwagon to actively support and promote these causes, as paradoxical as it may seem. By way of illustration, last year, the American Association of University Professors issued a statement attacking Israel for banning professors who are active members of the BDS movement against the Jewish state.

What Can Be Done About Such a Highly-Funded and Methodical Approach to Anti-Semitism and Israel Delegitimization?

As I explained in my recent article, “If you were donating to combat anti-Semitism, where would you donate?” any effort to confront the growing plague of Jew-hatred and demonization of Israel with costly campaigns will be useless, as witnessed by the fact that they have borne no fruit up until now.

We Jews are a nation conceived in order to bring connection and unity to the world. When we fail to carry out our vocation, our ancient sages tell us that the nations instinctively feel that there is no justification for our presence here on Earth, and unmerciful anti-Semitism unfolds and spreads in every field in which Jews are engaged. It is written in The Book of Zohar that when we do not carry out our mission, “Woe unto them [Jews], for with these actions they bring about the existence of poverty, ruin, and robbery, looting, killing and destructions in the world” (Tikkuney Zohar, 30).

In other words, our only shield is our unity. As it is written, “The prime defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship between each other in Israel, no calamity can come over them” (Maor Vashemesh).

Before the ruin of the Temple, our forefathers developed a unique method of connection. They did not suppress one another’s characteristics, nor did they exploit one another. Each used their individual skills for the common good, thereby creating a society that both supported everyone’s personal fulfillment while strengthening the social fabric that kept it together.

In order for us to unite today, we need not suppress or downplay our differences. What is required from us is simply to rise above the differences that separate us. Today, that same simple-yet-effective method of connection that our forefathers perfected and committed to sharing with the nations is imperative for the survival of our society. The world is telling us that it is time to return to our roots and reignite our mutual responsibility, putting into practice the principle of “love your neighbor as yourself.” By doing so, true peace and tranquility will prevail on campuses and in every walk of life.

“One Small Step For Man, One Giant Leap For Mankind”

laitman_928Exactly 50 years ago, a significant event happened: the world watched with bated breath as man made his first steps on the Moon. All the radio stations and TV channels were broadcasting the words of Neil Armstrong: “That is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Now, after 50 years, can we say that it really was a great breakthrough for humanity?

Back then, I was a young man, 23 years old, a student, and I remember how I was inspired by these shots. I used to dream of such journeys. There were a lot of people around me and we all kept our eyes glued to the screen watching what was happening.

First of all, I was interested in this as a scientist, which I was preparing to become. It was a major breakthrough in science. Of course if you look at this event today, it does not seem so fateful. Today no one is impressed by space travel. However, at that time, people were very passionate about it. Man wanted to get out of the earthly framework, to break away from the Earth and find out what is happening beyond it.

This really was a giant leap for humanity, looking up from Earth, we established for certain that the Earth is round. In ancient times, people generally considered it to be a disk. I remember being struck by images from the Moon: the globe rising above the horizon just as we usually see the Moon rising in the sky. It was a very interesting inversion.

We began to understand that we are in a vast universe that is empty. There is no other life in the entire universe except for the one unique ecosystem which connects inanimate nature, plants, animals, and people on Earth, and gives us life. We took a step into space, opening a new space, but it was dead.

Here humanity is beginning to realize two opposites: we face the endless open space of the universe, but there is no life in it, just stones and a vacuum. Therefore, we need to take care of our planet—there will be no other place. It is necessary to perceive all people as living together in one house. I do not see that going to the Moon has changed people’s attitudes in this sense. But at least it has triggered research in this direction.

Over the past 50 years humanity has developed significantly, but for the worse. We have proven that we are alone in the universe and that the Earth is a unique place that gives us life. Yet, despite this, we are destroying it, approaching an irreversible red line, and we do not consider anyone. It shows us how destructive our egoism is; it is killing us and we need to do something about it.

The next “small step for man, which will become a giant leap for humanity” will be a step toward unification between us. To do so, you do not need to step on the Moon or another planet, but you need to step on yourself. Each person must step on his own egoism, then we will really make a huge breakthrough for all humanity because we will be able to save ourselves from self-destruction.

If each of us takes a small step out of himself, stepping on his own selfishness, it will elevate us all much higher than the Moon and the stars in a completely different dimension. We cannot abolish our egoism, but we can rise above it. This requires a special force; no rocket will be able to raise us above ourselves.

Each person is held by the force of gravity of his own egoism, and therefore, it is necessary to awaken the opposite force, which will tear him away from the love for himself. The wisdom of Kabbalah is intended for this purpose and only it gives us the power to elevate ourselves above the surface of the Earth, to tear us away from the egoism that presses us to the earth.

We would like to rise and grow above our egoism, but we cannot. This requires a special method of connection, which is taught by Kabbalah. Then we will feel ourselves in a rocket in the boundless universe. By breaking away from egoism, we will understand what special forces the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, and the entire universe have. We will learn why this system is built this way and what our role is, why we exist in it. Everything will become clear to us; we just need to rise above our egoism.
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/18/19

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If Arabs Are Also Semitic, Then Why Does The Term “Anti-Semitic” Mean Anti-Jew Only? (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: If Arabs are also Semitic, then why does the term “Anti-Semitic” mean anti-Jew only?

Firstly, I think that there is no real need to deal with such definitions, because they change throughout history according to the tastes and views of different people and cultures. Likewise, “Semite” has many definitions according to various sources. According to what is written in the Torah, the Arabs are the outcome of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar, and accordingly, the Ishmaelites are relatives of the Jews. Today in particular though, anti-Semitism relates only to Jews, and Arabs themselves also relate to anti-Semitism as anti-Jewishness.

New Life 272 – Sex And Human Development

New Life 272 – Sex And Human Development
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Can we learn how to make proper use of the sexual drive in order to improve the world? All the despair that fills the world today is designed to push us into a new, spiritual connection with one another. We are thirsty for a new type of sexual connection that is not based on enjoying at the expense of others, as is the case with lust. Sex can be enjoyed a billion times more if we add a mutual, inner, spiritual bond between the two. Without this bond, everything we feel is absorbed within our desire to enjoy and results in loss of sexual desire and sexual dissatisfaction. At the end of our development, when each one concedes to create a higher mutual connection between them, all possible passions will be revealed and fulfilled for eternity.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 272 – Sex And Human Development,” 12/20/13

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 8/1/19

Lesson Preparation

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 165

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Lesson on the Topic “Tishaa BeAv (Ninth of Av)” 

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