Rise Above Opposite Opinions

Remark: When talking in circles, rejection is very common, especially if someone says things that are contrary to my opinion.

My Comment: You should be happy to identify opposing opinions because by rising above them, we can reach the next level of problem solving.

As much as I think that the problem is unsolvable, as much as I feel that we are not able to rise above it due to huge contradictions, we should understand that this problem has a special mission, a special value.

If we can’t come to a common agreement, we must continue to work on it with respect for this problem because in the end it can take us to the next level of completely different solutions, different states.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 7/9/20

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Question: Today the world has become more complex, and I can enjoy all the goods and services even through an egoistic connection. Will it change in the future?

Answer: The connection itself will change. It should not be coerced in order to make money from each other, but conscious in order to provide for each other.

Question: Let’s say that millions of people who produced coffee worked just to earn money. They were thinking not about me, but about their wages. Yet, I received this product.

You are saying that in the future our intention will change, what we are working for? What will happen? Will I feel this somehow when I drink coffee?

Answer: First of all, it is not about coffee. The earth can feed not only 8 billion, but 30 to 40 billion people. Moreover, feed them well. It can also dress them and provide them with shoes, and give everyone a normal home that they are accustomed to, give a system of education and upbringing for their children, and so on. We can provide ourselves with all this without any problems.

The problem is not to produce unnecessary things, not to deplete the Earth, and to work for the sake of making us all comfortable, good, and safe. This is what we must aim for, and in this we must invest tremendous internal forces, not physical, but moral.

Here we begin to bump into our egoism, which places us against each other and does not allow us to be kind to each other. Therefore, we need a common education, a common movement toward a common goal—to make from humanity an integral system.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 6/4/20

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Question: How do my corporeal senses change in spirituality, and will they become coarser or more sensitive?

Answer: The corporeal senses practically do not change. As you were like an animal, you will remain an animal. When you reveal the upper world, only your spiritual attainment changes, which is a very significant addition that begins to lead you forward.

Your corporeal aspirations, on the other hand, will necessarily be only in order to survive, and it doesn’t even matter how. What do you really need? A bed, a fridge, a table, a chair, and a computer to study Kabbalah. If in addition to that you also need to work, then work. Do you need a family? You will have a family and you will take care of it. But all this is secondary.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 10/7/18

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The world-wide Kabbalistic group is a huge spiritual force, the Kli. Had we not lived in the times of the last generation, then in accordance to this force, we would have risen to very high degrees a long time ago. But the fact is that we need to pull a lot of people with us, just like a locomotive that pulls a whole train, dozens of cars, behind it; we must possess enough power for them all.

And so, we make an effort to try to achieve connection between us that corresponds to the whole of humanity, which must follow us. I hope that we will be able to quickly achieve the required force that can unite all of humanity and gradually bring everyone to the stage of final correction.

The Bnei Baruch world group must pull the whole of humanity with it into the spiritual world. At the same time, each ten is concerned with pulling the other tens. Each ten has its special character that distinguishes it from the rest, and this adds to the overall work not only in strength, but also in quality.

The Creator has arranged it so that only through the connection between us can we achieve the necessary strength not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively; we acquire a special quality that allows us to pull everyone after us.

After all, all of humanity is one Kli, one soul, in which one point has received the desire for the Creator and feels the force that attracts it. All the other points, all of humanity, do not feel drawn to the Creator, but they are attached to me, and I am obliged to pull them up with me.

This may seem like a heavy burden to us now, like a heavy load that we have to bear. But as we move forward, we will understand that this is what gives pleasure to the Creator, and if we feel that He is great, then we will gladly bear this burden without feeling any heaviness. After all, we bring joy to the Creator precisely by advancing, not one ten, but all of humanity.

This is precisely the source of the Creator’s joy. All the desire to enjoy is concentrated there and we are only Galgalta ve Eynaim. AHAP, which we need to pull along, receives the light of Hochma and delights the Creator. Therefore, we will gradually see that it is with the help of all of mankind that we can give pleasure to the Creator.

And if we do not prepare ourselves to pull the whole world with us, we can be removed from this role. There is a risk here. When one is given some satisfaction in corporeal life, he may forget about spirituality. If a person does not make an effort above and beyond to reach correction, does not convince himself with the help of society that he must come to be corrected, then there is no point in his spiritual existence and he is brought back down into material existence.

We are given a chance to achieve the degree of a human, to become Adam, similar to the Creator. Being similar to the Creator means pulling the whole of humanity toward correction. This is our work, and that is why we are called servants of the Creator. This is a very high privilege, a special and honorable mission. And if a person neglects it, then he is removed and replaced with someone else.

Lesson after lesson, gathering after gathering, workshop after workshop, we will realize more and more that there is a vast number of people, humanity, that our group has to lead. So, it will gradually become clear that we are the locomotive that pulls the whole train of many cars to the goal. Gradually, everything will begin to add up to one picture and become manifested in feelings.

Currently, we do not yet feel that we are connected to all of humanity or that we have the power to pull everyone along like a train that runs on its tracks toward the Creator. We must ask the Creator for strength and receive it within our connection. This is how the locomotive works and is able to pull the cars along with it.

Gradually, this state will become clearer, and I hope that after the holidays we will begin a different kind of work between ourselves and with all of humanity. We will begin to feel this connection within us and in accordance with it, our responsibilities and forms of work.
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From the Rosh HaShanah Convention 9/19/20, Lesson 2

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The Times of Israel published my new article “Decoding the Book of Jonah the Prophet for Salvation”

The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, is considered the most solemn on the Jewish calendar, but do we know why? The answer lies in the Book of Jonah the Prophet. Its reading as a key part of the prayer on this special day is intended to unravel the code for saving humanity, and by doing that, saving ourselves—the Jewish people.

Jonah’s story speaks of a prophet who first tried to dodge his mission, but finally repented. His mission was to save the city of Nineveh, whose residents were not Jewish. In light of today’s precarious state of the world, we should take a closer look at this story and its meaning to every person on Earth, in particular to us, Jews, and our role toward all of humanity.

In the story, God orders Jonah to tell the people of Nineveh, who became very mean to one another, to correct their relationships if they wanted to survive. However, Jonah bailed out of his role and took to the sea by ship in an effort to escape God’s command, causing the sea to roar and nearly sank the vessel. At the height of the storm Jonah went to sleep detaching himself from the turmoil and leaving the sailors to fend for themselves. Gradually, they began to suspect that someone among them was the cause of the storm and the lot fell on Jonah, the only Jew on board.

Today’s world is similar to Jonah’s ship. Yet, the sea around us is raging, and the sailors, who are all of humanity, are blaming the Jew on board for all their troubles. As it is written, “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel” (Yevamot 63,) and as Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) writes, “they cause poverty, ruin, robbery, killing and destruction in the whole world” (Introduction to The Book of Zohar).

A Light unto the Nations

We can be wiser than Jonah and avoid the blows to activate us and willingly unite to neutralize all our predicaments. In the book, Jonah tells the sailors to throw him overboard, as only this will calm the sea. Reluctantly, the sailors obey and the storm calms. A whale swallows Jonah, and for three days and three nights he stays in its abdomen, introspecting his actions and decisions. He begs for his life and vows to carry out his mission.

Like Jonah, each of us carries within something that is stirring up the world. We, the people of Israel, carry a method for achieving peace through connection. Unity is the very root of our being. It is what makes us a people because we were declared a nation only after we pledged to be “as one man with one heart,” when we stood before Mt. Sinai and strove to love our neighbor as ourselves.” Today we must rekindle this bond because wherever we go, this untapped power is destabilizing the world around us in order to compel us to unite and open up the pipe of goodness and tranquility.

Just as the current separation among us projects separation to the whole of humanity, unity between us will also radiate the rest of the nations, inspiring them to unite. It will endow humanity with the force required to achieve worldwide connection. That is the meaning of being “light unto the nations.” So the only question is whether we assume our responsibility, or prefer to be thrown overboard, only to subsequently agree to carry out our task.

If we want to end our troubles, be rid of antisemitism and have a safe and happy life, we must unite and thus set an example of unity for all the nations. This is how we will bring peace and quiet to the world. Otherwise the nations’ hatred toward us will keep growing. Therefore, the people of Israel must become a role model to the world. Rav Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, explained it in his book, Orot Kodesh (Sacred Lights), “Since we were ruined by unfounded hatred, and the world was ruined with us, we will be rebuilt by unfounded love, and the world will be rebuilt with us.”
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Do you think the story of Jonah and the whale is true or a metaphor?“

The story of Jonah explains that we need to place the benefit of others ahead of our own.

It starts with God giving Jonah a mission, which is to pass a message to the people of Nineveh that they need to repent their evil ways, and change their attitudes to each other from hatred to love.

Jonah, however, dissatisfied with the mission, escapes it by boarding a ship and sailing away. His getaway sparks off a storm. The sailors eventually comprehend that Jonah is behind the storm, and as a result, they push him overboard. In the ocean, Jonah becomes swallowed by a whale, spends three days and three nights in its belly, and afterward gets discharged to land, where he then moves forth to Nineveh to complete his mission.

Jonah’s story holds immense significance to the Jewish people, and all the more so today than ever before.

The Jewish people, like Jonah, have an inescapable mission. It is the same mission today as it was in ancient Babylon, when Abraham united them as a nation upon the foundation of “love your neighbor as yourself”: to generate Jewish unity in order to become a positive example of connection for humanity, i.e., “a light unto the nations.”

The Israeli nation had been constructed as a sort of gateway by which the sparks of purity would shine upon the whole of the human race the world over. And these sparks multiply daily, like one who gives to the treasurer, until they are filled sufficiently, that is, until they develop to such an extent that they can understand the pleasantness and tranquility that are found in the kernel of love of others. – Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” Item 24.

Over the course of history, the Jewish people have felt how the interaction between them and other nations functions: During times of Jewish unity, e.g., the First Temple, both Jews and humanity prospered; and on the contrary, during times when the Jewish people failed to rise in unity above their differences and divisions, anti-Semitism reared its ugly head together with various crises that struck the world.

As time passes, and the Jewish people continue failing to acknowledge their mission—to unite (“love your neighbor as yourself”) above differences (“love will cover all transgressions”) in order to become “a light unto the nations”—they head more and more toward a situation where unity appears to become a grave impossibility.

Jewish self-hatred gets out of hand as divisions between secular, religious, ultra-Orthodox, pro-Israel and anti-Israel Jews become painfully apparent. Unknowingly, the failure of the Jewish people to realize their mission heads them into a downward spiral of unfounded hatred, and prepares the conditions for an enormous storm.

During the Holocaust, the sailors in the Jonah story dressed up as Nazis; during the pogroms, they acted as Russians and Eastern Europeans; and during the Spanish Inquisition, they became Catholics.

In our era, we have just come out of the year with the highest recorded anti-Semitic crimes and threats in the United States, and a decade of anti-Semitic normalization around the world. Just after a spate of anti-Semitic crimes in New York at the close of 2019, concerned Jewish community members, lawmakers and politicians started expressing that a “slow-rolling pogrom” was unfolding in New York, and that the next Holocaust could take place in America—concepts that had previously seemed unthinkable in relation to Jews in America.

In the last few years, there has been a sharp rise in anti-Semitic crimes and threats running parallel to a sharp increase in many other problems: depression, suicide, drug abuse, social division, terrorism, and natural disasters, to name a few. The more humanity experiences crises and problems, the more their fingers point at the Jews as the source of their problems.

The Jonah story describes the roots of anti-Semitism.

Jonah’s escape from the mission he was granted describes the Jewish people’s escape from their role to unite above their divisions and exemplify that unity for humanity.

The sailors’ realization of Jonah as the cause of the storm, and the throwing of Jonah overboard today describes the rise of the Jews being blamed for all kinds of problems people experience.

The time will come when the Jews will have to be thrown overboard, and enter into the whale, i.e., undergo a serious scrutiny of what it means to be Jewish: Why do so many people hate the Jews? Also, how can the Jewish people improve the situation both for themselves and the world?

The question is only in how much suffering the Jewish people will need to experience until they reach that self-scrutiny: Is the current amount of anti-Semitism enough to spur on this self-scrutiny? Or, will the Jewish people continue escaping their mission, and will that suffering need to take on proportions of world wars and holocausts?

When the Jewish people agree to accept their role—to “love your friend as yourself” and to be “a light unto the nations”—will they and the world experience a new tendency toward peace, harmony and happiness, i.e. the whale that brings them to the safe shore, to Nineveh.

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Round Table: Common Opinion

Question: When holding round tables, there should be no disputes or criticism. You can criticize the idea itself, but not each other. Should criticism be constructive?

Answer: Arguing and criticizing are not allowed, only clarification of the opponents point of view and meticulously clarifying why he thinks this way and not otherwise.

Question: What should we do if after clarifications two or three opinions are formed?

Answer: Continue scrutinizing until you find something in common. Or you can come to several conclusions, but they should express the general opinion of all, which led to two or three decisions. In one case, like this, with another, like this, and with the third, like that.

Question: If we decide at a round table where to hold an event, such as a picnic, then coming to two or three opinions does not matter much. And if we are solving issues at the national level, must we come to one opinion, to one decision?

Answer: The round table must end with a clear resolution.

Question: Who says the last word: the chief, the president, the moderator of the circle?

Answer: Nobody. A round table can’t end with someone’s single opinion, otherwise it’s not a circle!

Question: Let’s say we are deciding whether or not to introduce a quarantine in the country and we come to two opinions. What’s next?

Answer: This is the end of the round table and the decision will be made outside the round table. How else could it be? It is impossible to bend a round table under some sort of a straight line!

Question: So if you are, say, the minister of health, and I am the minister of economy, and we have not come to a single decision, then we go to the president, and the final decision is up to him?

Answer: Yes. This was the end of democracy. The president is already deciding exactly what to do.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 7/9/20

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Filed under: Education - No Comments →

From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 9/27/20

The story of Jonah explains that we need to place the benefit of others ahead of our own.

It starts with God giving Jonah a mission, which is to pass a message to the people of Nineveh that they need to repent their evil ways, and change their attitudes to each other from hatred to love.

Jonah, however, dissatisfied with the mission, escapes it by boarding a ship and sailing away. His getaway sparks off a storm. The sailors eventually comprehend that Jonah is behind the storm, and as a result, they push him overboard. In the ocean, Jonah becomes swallowed by a whale, spends three days and three nights in its belly, and afterward gets discharged to land, where he then moves forth to Nineveh to complete his mission.

Jonah’s story holds immense significance to the Jewish people, and all the more so today than ever before.

The Jewish people, like Jonah, have an inescapable mission. It is the same mission today as it was in ancient Babylon, when Abraham united them as a nation upon the foundation of “love your neighbor as yourself”: to generate Jewish unity in order to become a positive example of connection for humanity, i.e., “a light unto the nations.”

“The Israeli nation had been constructed as a sort of gateway by which the sparks of purity would shine upon the whole of the human race the world over. And these sparks multiply daily, like one who gives to the treasurer, until they are filled sufficiently, that is, until they develop to such an extent that they can understand the pleasantness and tranquility that are found in the kernel of love of others.” – Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” Item 24.

Over the course of history, the Jewish people have felt how the interaction between them and other nations functions: During times of Jewish unity, e.g., the First Temple, both Jews and humanity prospered; and on the contrary, during times when the Jewish people failed to rise in unity above their differences and divisions, anti-Semitism reared its ugly head together with various crises that struck the world.

As time passes, and the Jewish people continue failing to acknowledge their mission—to unite (“love your neighbor as yourself”) above differences (“love will cover all transgressions”) in order to become “a light unto the nations”—they head more and more toward a situation where unity appears to become a grave impossibility.

Jewish self-hatred gets out of hand as divisions between secular, religious, ultra-Orthodox, pro-Israel and anti-Israel Jews become painfully apparent. Unknowingly, the failure of the Jewish people to realize their mission heads them into a downward spiral of unfounded hatred, and prepares the conditions for an enormous storm.

During the Holocaust, the sailors in the Jonah story dressed up as Nazis; during the pogroms, they acted as Russians and Eastern Europeans; and during the Spanish Inquisition, they became Catholics.

In our era, we have just come out of the year with the highest recorded anti-Semitic crimes and threats in the United States, and a decade of anti-Semitic normalization around the world. Just after a spate of anti-Semitic crimes in New York at the close of 2019, concerned Jewish community members, lawmakers and politicians started expressing that a “slow-rolling pogrom” was unfolding in New York, and that the next Holocaust could take place in America—concepts that had previously seemed unthinkable in relation to Jews in America.
In the last few years, there has been a sharp rise in anti-Semitic crimes and threats running parallel to a sharp increase in many other problems: depression, suicide, drug abuse, social division, terrorism, and natural disasters, to name a few. The more humanity experiences crises and problems, the more their fingers point at the Jews as the source of their problems.

The Jonah story describes the roots of anti-Semitism.

Jonah’s escape from the mission he was granted describes the Jewish people’s escape from their role to unite above their divisions and exemplify that unity for humanity.

The sailors’ realization of Jonah as the cause of the storm, and the throwing of Jonah overboard today describes the rise of the Jews being blamed for all kinds of problems people experience.

The time will come when the Jews will have to be thrown overboard, and enter into the whale, i.e., undergo a serious scrutiny of what it means to be Jewish: Why do so many people hate the Jews? Also, how can the Jewish people improve the situation both for themselves and the world?

The question is only in how much suffering the Jewish people will need to experience until they reach that self-scrutiny: Is the current amount of anti-Semitism enough to spur on this self-scrutiny? Or, will the Jewish people continue escaping their mission, and will that suffering need to take on proportions of world wars and holocausts?

When the Jewish people agree to accept their role—to “love your friend as yourself” and to be “a light unto the nations”—will they and the world experience a new tendency toward peace, harmony and happiness, i.e. the whale that brings them to the safe shore, to Nineveh.

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Question: Europeans save hundreds of billions of dollars in banks. According to statistics, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany have accumulated about 100 billion euros in savings in banks.

And besides that, even where people barely pull from paycheck to paycheck, where there are meager pensions, people still put money in savings. They don’t put it in a bank, but they put it in a cash box.

That is, people are beginning to save. They are either afraid of a second pandemic, or they don’t trust anyone, and they don’t know the future.

Here I am, a simple man—what can I save for a rainy day?

Answer: Keep saving money. You can’t take this away from a person. But that’s not all. You should understand that money will help you, and it’s good to have it. But in what circumstances will you live tomorrow for this money to help you? Let me draw you a little picture. I’ll clarify for you what you will face, and you can decide what to do. And then I tell the person what tomorrow will be like. Then let him decide what to do.

Tomorrow will be like this: Whether you want to or not, everything is built on a completely good connections between people. People become convinced that egoism is their enemy, and they can no longer exist in it. Otherwise, their oxygen is just blocked for them.

In other words, we do not experience any satisfaction or positive results in any of our activities. We have no choice but to be bound by good ties with one another.

This will gradually become clear from nature. We will suddenly see that nature is changing its laws. That is, there are negative forces and positive forces, and suddenly we see that it is with good forces that we can achieve something, and with evil forces, on the contrary, nothing. How will we proceed? I hope it will be that way.

Question: And then where will I invest the money that I put aside after listening to and following your words? In the education of my child or what?

Answer: Naturally, in upbringing, in education. And, of course, in coming closer to other people.

Question: Will this be the best investment?

Answer: Yes. With this money you will be able to purchase securities, and on each security it will be written that you are connected by good ties with ten, with a hundred, with a thousand people.

Question: And will this be my real money?

Answer: This is your contribution and the environment that you buy for yourself.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/22/20

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