The war between the Hasmoneans and the Greeks is an internal war in a person who discovers that he consists of two opposing forces that must be constantly held against each other. The problem is that we surrender to the negative forces, to our egoism, since it is more convenient for us to please it than to fight with it all the time. As a result, a person understands that there is no way out and that he must turn to the Creator to fight for him because he himself is unable to fight with his evil inclination, which also comes from the Creator. An action against egoistic forces is the appeal to the Creator in which a person, with his egoism, wages a war against the Greeks toward complete victory.

This war does not end until a person wins and reaches the light. Let this be a little light in the vessel of Bina, but this is already the beginning of the revelation of the soul.

First of all, we must reveal that we are in danger and cannot escape from the power of our egoism, which does not let us turn to the Creator. This whole war is only for turning to the Creator, whom we ask for the strength to unite. The success of the war is measured by this only. This is how we advance until we win.¹

The egoism does not let us turn to the Creator through the ten, but does not prevent us from turning to Him personally. The whole world appeals to the Creator because this is a Klipa, opposite to spirituality. The Creator can be revealed only through the ten, and if the appeal is not through the ten, then it is not to the Creator.

The power of the appeal to the Creator is the power of the Maccabees, the power of the ten. First of all, we must unite and create one common force, perhaps small yet a precise one, which will deliver success.

You can become a hero through quantity and quality. Those who are disconnected are strong in numbers. And those who are united as one person possess the power of quality.

The main thing is to get an opportunity to turn to the Creator because this whole war is aimed at revealing the one standing before us and achieving similarity to Him. Unity is not the end goal but the means of revealing the higher power that once created this unity and then broke it.²

The Hanukkah song “The Mighty Rock of My Salvation” says: “The Greeks attacked us in the days of the Hasmoneans and broke through the wall of the tower… .” This means that we must reach a certain level of connection, build a tower. And then we will feel how the “Greeks” attack us, break through the walls of our fortress, meaning, egoism attacks trying to break through our thoughts, desires, and destroy us.³

If in our ten we want the greatness of the Creator to enter into our whole being, affecting us as if we actually see Him and feel Him, then we attract the returning light that builds this feeling within us. Thus, we are already behind the fortress wall. And then the Greeks appear, wanting to break through the walls of our tower, meaning, these are all kinds of extraneous thoughts from all directions trying to break through our faith above reason.

Faith above reason—because inside my reason I do not see or feel anything. I received a backlight from above that keeps me in the air like a magnet holds a piece of metal. Thanks to this, I am in the tower behind the wall. This tower and the wall were built for me by the upper light, so, I depend on it.

In order to make me even more dependent upon the upper light and demand even more strongly, the Creator reveals in me faults called “the Greeks.” And I must ask Him and demand that He again performs a miracle and lets me stand against them. Of course, I do not have the strength, and if the Creator does not perform a miracle, I will certainly fall. Therefore, I have nothing to hope for except for the Creator.

Everything works according to one system: the Creator does something bad, I ask Him to correct this evil, and He does good. And so it happens at every step. Every time the same story occurs. We must finally understand how this happens and what needs to be done today: how to turn to the Creator asking for the power of faith above reason in order to advance with it.

The Creator builds a wall, and He sends the Greeks to destroy it. The Creator operates everywhere, and we are in the middle of this battlefield, between the powers of good and evil in order to combine them both within. Then we, as beings created by the force opposite to the Creator and having received a form similar to the Creator, become one with Him.⁴

We must ask for faith above reason because this is the wall behind which we can hide. And the tower is the greatness of the Creator built inside the wall—the faith above reason higher than our reason and feelings—only thanks to the prayers to the Creator and His actions. We only need to cry out together. If we ask together, we will certainly succeed.

Therefore, we need to bring together our knowledge, prayers, aspirations, and desires, in order to understand exactly what we want. Everyone should separate as much as possible from their own “I” and take care of the tower and the wall, that is, the greatness of the Creator which is inside faith above reason.⁵
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/19, “Hanukkah”

¹ Minute 3:40
² Minute 6:10
³ Minute 11:20
⁴ Minute 14:58
⁵ Minute 23:20

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New Life #654 – Hanukkah: Light And Darkness In Life
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New Life 1124 – Mental Resilience
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Only trusting oneself is false because only a bond of mutual responsibility can really give a person mental resilience. When we base our relationships on the principle “love thy neighbor as thyself,” we become equivalent to the mutual, integral connection that is inherent in the upper force. Through this force of influence, we acquire faith in the collective strength of the group to the extent that no one would have to think of himself. When people connect in an integral way, they discover the upper force and see the future.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1124 – Mental Resilience,” 6/18/19

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How to Fulfill the Law of Nature

Question: “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the ultimate goal of nature. But there are still preliminary laws, one of which is “Do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself.” What does that mean?

Answer: This is not about love but about not doing evil. This is our first law.

Remark: Man cannot do this either. If I am an egoist, then by taking care of myself I still cause harm to someone else. It turns out that we are given laws that we cannot comply with from the start.

On one hand, it says you must do this, and on the other, you cannot do this because it is against your nature.

My Comment: If you have any inclinations, aspirations, and desires for this, if from studying Kabbalah you realize that you need it and that this is truly a universal goal, that you cannot get away from it, and you also understand how the entire world has to reach this, then you must seek a way to realize it.

However, it can only be done with the help of the upper force, which will give us the ability to act above our nature.

Suppose we have a piece of iron in front of us. Earth’s gravity pulls it down. If I put a magnet over it, the iron will rise and hang in the air. That is, both forces will be balanced and the piece of iron will be between them.

Similarly, if my egoism is placed below and an opposite force is used over it, then I will “hang” in the air and the egoism will not have power over me, I will be independent of it, somewhere in the middle. If the upper force is so strong that I cleave to it and all my egoism remains below, then I will become a totally righteous person.

So, we need to discover this force in order for it to affect us. That is all there is.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/7/19

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Lesson Preparation

Lesson on the Topic “”The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism,” Chapter 3

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom” 

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Today, as we read the third chapter from my new book, The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, which describes how the Jewish people were allured to Hellenism 2,000 years ago, which led to horrific fallouts, the rise and fall of the Hasmonean Kingdom, the rule of Judea under the Romans, and the Great Revolt and the self-inflicted genocide of the Jewish people under Roman rule, an overriding principle to the book became clear.

It is that what we read are not merely historical events. Although the book is rich with historical facts showing how Jewish social discord has brought about much ruin upon the Jewish people throughout history, professing that unity is the salvation of the Jews, more important than the history itself is the book’s atmosphere.

It is an atmosphere that constantly follows us. The characters in the stories change, but the essence remains the same: if the Jews choose to unite, they succeed, and if they let the divisive forces disband them, they experience terrible consequences.

What we read are not merely events that took place around 2,000 years ago, which have since disappeared, and which we now learn as some distant history that is irrelevant to us today.

Rather, the struggle of two forces—for and against unity—is constant.

Until today, we live in a shattered and divided world as a result of this struggle. It is quite amazing how everything in our world has been, is and will be organized between these two forces, all the way to our future and final corrected state.

Therefore, when reading The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, even though it is abundant with a variety of historical sources and examples, it is worthwhile to think of it not as a history lesson, but as relationships, attitudes and interactions that we can see unfolding before our very eyes in today’s world.

—

My new book, The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism is now available at Amazon and Laitman Kabbalah Publishers.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 1/5/20

Standing together in a march of solidarity is an admirable act, but if the Jewish people want to solve anti-Semitism at its root, they need to also sit down and learn together. Learning in groups has been part and parcel of what made us Jewish to begin with. It dates all the way back to when we learned how to unite according to the commandment, “love your neighbor as yourself,” under Abraham’s guidance some 3,800 years ago. Marches, on the other hand, have never been a Jewish activity.

Therefore, while we are in solidarity with the Jewish people of New York City today, we should still recognize that unifying in order to “say no to hate and no to fear,” as mentioned in the march’s promotion, is far from the kind of unity that made us a Jewish people to begin with. The essence of our unity is not reactionary to hatred that rises against us, but that we positively connect with a common intention to equalize ourselves with the laws of nature. This is why we received the name, “the people of Israel” under Abraham’s guidance: “Israel” stemming from the words, “straight to the upper force” (“Yashar Kel”), i.e., a common intention to love and bestow as is the quality of the upper force.

Therefore, I hope that we will realize the immense potential we hold: to learn our important role in the world, and not wait for more acts of hatred and fear to momentarily unite us, but that we will take our future into our own hands, implement the method made for uniting us, and become a positive unifying example to the world. We would then have a very good reason to be proud. By doing so, we would uproot anti-Semitism from its root, and witness a complete inversion of the sentiment surrounding us into one of support, encouragement and appreciation.

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As fear still ripples throughout the Jewish communities of #Monsey, #Brooklyn and #JerseyCity following the recent string of anti-Semitic attacks, today’s Solidarity March in NYC, organized by the @UJAfedNY aims to counter the negative sensation, and bring Jews together.
#JewishandProud #StandTogether #NoHateNoFear

The people of #Israel are any person who feels the obligation to unite, in order to correct the EGO-nature of the world. After all, Isra-el (Yashar-el) means yearning to be similar to the Creator. Abraham picked these people from all of the Babylon and taught them the principles of unity – how to love others as oneself.

While we are in solidarity with the Jewish people of #NYC today, we should recognize that unifying against hatred and fear is far from the kind of unity that originally made us Jews.
#JewishandProud #StandTogether #NoHateNoFear

The essence of our unity is not reactionary to hatred, but to positively connect with a common intention to equalize with the laws of nature.
From Twitter, 1/5/20

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The Times of Israel published my new article “How Russian Immigration Reshaped Israel”

The contribution of Russian immigrants to Israel is considered to be a key factor in the country’s success in multiple levels and areas. These days, as Israel commemorates 30 years since the beginning of the massive aliyah (inmigration) wave from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, we are able to assess that its influence will continue to resound for generations to come.

However, despite decades of experience with the absorption of new immigrants, we have yet to realize that it is precisely by rising above the differences between us that we will be able to strengthen Israel’s social fabric.

The Largest Immigration Wave

Three decades ago, Israel became home to about 30% of Soviet Jewry, close to a million people, changing the face of the country for good. My family and I were not part of this wave. We arrived in the small precursor wave of the 1970s, before the massive influx, which didn’t change the difficulties of absorption and integration into the country. When we arrived, all that I had with me was a small tent and a few basic utensils I thought we might need. I had next to no idea what would I find in this desert land.

I arrived neither destitute nor abandoned since I had my diplomas in hand and a profession as a scientist and researcher. I had my family and was economically established. Despite my advantages, moving from one country to another is always accompanied by feelings of insecurity, since you never know what you could encounter. Until you step into the experience of the land of Israel you really have no idea about its true character.

After a short period of time, I was accepted into the Israel Air Force. Since the crews were under daily pressure to be alert for any operation at any given moment, our commitment to work together, no matter what the challenges, always prevailed over our differences. There was no place for degrading anyone. Therefore, on a personal level, I had no experience of the bitter treatment that many immigrants have complained about since.

However, I fully understand the source of the disparaging treatment many immigrants describe. Trouble integrating into Israeli life is not unique to the Russian immigration wave. It has always been this way. It was the common experience of every immigration wave that arrived, whether from Morocco or Yemen, to undergo some sort of discrimination. Depictions of immigrant treatment even found their way into skits, which until today have become part and parcel of the Israeli humor lexicon.

I remember that the janitor in the building where we lived was a doctor from Moscow, and the street was cleaned by an engineer from St. Petersburg. These were the people who made aliyah in this Russian wave: doctors, engineers, technicians and nurses. These were the people who made this immigration wave so successful. They catapulted the nation forward in sports, culture, medicine, academia and many other fields. They brought an ambitious spirit that pushed for achievement. Notwithstanding their contributions, they were not spared from surges of cynicism and contempt.

Learning to Live Together

The Israeli mentality is one of contempt toward everything and everyone. The scorn is not directed specifically against the Russians or any other group. It is deeply ingrained in our Jewish DNA. In fact, we are even contemptuous of the upper force. It is a permanent phenomenon and not a passing phase, and it cumulates and passes from one generation to the next.

The ego that separates us is an open social wound. It reveals itself with every wave of immigration. The good news is that it also reveals the only place that needs mending: our relations.

Sooner or later we will have to learn positive relations above and beyond our differences. Such an achievement will secure our lives in a prosperous and balanced nation where all the newcomers, regardless of their origin and background, will be respected and appreciated for their contribution to society.

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New Life 1121 – Fairy Tales, Wars, And Heroes
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Every person is obligated to be a hero in the war between the good force of nature that connects, and the evil and divisive force found in human egoism. Unlike the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, humans want to define what is right and wrong or good and bad. While the rest of nature is in a battle for survival, humanity can only grow supernaturally, through a force of goodness not found in our world. In order to win and discover the new world, today’s hero must organize his or her inner forces correctly and relate to his surroundings with consciousness and concern. The future of the world depends on this. Global integrity can only be achieved when everyone is connected into one group.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1121 – Fairy Tales, Wars, And Heroes,” 6/11/20

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