“A Sukkah Of Peace To The World” (Times Of Israel)

The Times of Israel published my new article “A Sukkah of Peace to the World

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This is a Jewish holiday season not to forget. The celebration of Sukkot this year will be characterized by the restrictions in the way it is celebrated due to the pandemic. The traditional extended gatherings and hospitality will have to wait. Why are events unfolding this way? To cause us to reflect and realize that our situation with the pandemic does not come as a punishing blow, but as a wake-up call to scrutinize the state of hatred and division between us. By keeping us physically apart, nature is trying to reverse our state of separation and bring our hearts closer to one another for the building of a true Sukkah of love and unity that will cover all of humanity for a good future.

The festival of Sukkot (The Feast of Tabernacles) is considered a joyful celebration. This year there is no reason to feel differently, as we have been given a great opportunity to analyze our poor-treatment of each other and to correct it. For this, a deep soul-searching must be made. It is similar to needing an accurate diagnosis before being able to receive the right medicine to fully recover from a sickness.

We are used to living our lives in a comfortable partnership with our ego. In all honesty, we cannot play the victims as if we are innocent lambs for the slaughter, who have been unwillingly under the control of our egoistic actions toward others, as if we have been without say or free will. Our selfish behavior is intentional and has fulfilled our self-centered interests, regardless of whether they have been to the detriment of those around us. Therefore, nature is signaling to us that we are not worthy to sit together in a common Sukkah and welcome Ushpizin (guests) until we correct the way we relate to each other. The virus is teaching us that in our interdependent world, the survival of the whole civilization is at risk if cooperation for our mutual benefit is not deemed as our primary goal.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, humanity is entering a stage of development called “The Last Generation.” This refers to a gradual process of change during which a new society must be built in such a way that its functioning will correspond and align with the laws of nature, meaning that it will be in connection and balance with nature. This new society must know how to manage itself correctly to reach a balanced state. This period of transition is providing an entryway for the first generation to begin to carry out true love of others. However, until this state is reached, the opposite state is revealed before our eyes—one of exploitive and reckless attitudes and actions. This unpleasant state of separation is being disclosed for us to look at ourselves, see the damage we cause, and ask for help in making a correction from the upper force that controls all of reality.

Sukkot symbolizes the beautiful process of inner change in our egoistic attributes during which we take the “waste of barn and winery”—items that represent the quality of love for others and which now seem to us to be of no value at all—and raise them above our heads as those most precious and important attributes there are, like a sheltering roof to shade us from the burning sun. Sukkot is a call to exit our comfortable egoistic “home,” meaning our self-love, and to build a new structure, a Sukkah, as a symbol of the new world that we can create if we acquire the qualities of bestowal and brotherhood.

Therefore, the true meaning of this festival is to build a new reality of mutual understanding and support—a Sukkah of peace—through the positive force we generate through our unity. We, the Jewish people, must be an example of cohesion and lead the way for others to follow, gathering the whole world beneath one big thatch-covering where we will be united as one. When this comes to pass, the temporary dwelling of the Sukkah will be completed as the common space we make for each other within our hearts, ensuring humanity a healthy life and happy coexistence under one global roof.

Happy holiday!
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“What Do You Think About Israel Ordering A Second Coronavirus Lockdown After Bungled Reopening?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: What do you think about Israel ordering a second coronavirus lockdown after bungled reopening?

As I live in Israel, I think that we are truly advancing in our understanding as to why we are being locked in, that greater forces beyond what people instigate in this world are shutting us in to give us an opportunity to sit and contemplate the deeper reasons behind this whole fiasco.

When we understand that the laws of nature are to bring us into positive connection with each other, and that nature only requires of us to improve our attitudes and connections—that we become more considerate, responsible and loving of one another—then we can measure ourselves in relation to such an expectation and see where we are going wrong.

Currently, we have made no moves to positively connect with each other above the fiery hatred burning within our society. Our negative attitudes to each other result in phenomena that we perceive as negative, but it is like children who misbehave and whose parents tell them to go to their rooms in order to sit and think about what they’ve done wrong.

Israel is full of hatred. Also, the worse the situation becomes, the more the hatred seemingly grows. As such, it becomes unclear just how much worse it will continue becoming if we fail to pinch ourselves in order to wake up from our negative course.

That is why I support the current lockdown in Israel.

On one hand, it will pressure many people here, but on the other hand, and more importantly, it provides an opportunity for us to ask about its ultimate purpose, and what we can ultimately do about it.

I therefore wish for the people in Israel to understand that the negative phenomena unfolding here are fundamentally due to our hatred of each other. The coronavirus thus emerges as a kind of punishment for our failure to rise above our divisiveness and animosity.

We have reached a stage in human development where nature expects us to start following its laws—laws that sages expressed many generations ago in the tenet, “And you will love your neighbor as yourself.” Positive connection and unity among all people is the rule of the Torah, and it was our initial observance of those rules that granted us the name “the people of Israel” to begin with.

Undergoing a serious self-scrutiny to see how our egoistic human nature operates on us, behind our every action, thought and desire, in a way that parts us from each other, is an important part of our progress to a much better life for us all. By discovering the evil embedded in our egoistic nature, we can then proceed to wish for a correction of such evil, and start building new and positive connections above our divisive drives.

If we succeed in contemplating our current state according to the lines mentioned here, we can then expect the coronavirus to fade away—as we would then enter into balance with a new stage of development nature is inviting us to.

Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash.

“Why Is Almost Everyone Becoming Blind Due To Hatred?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: Why is almost everyone becoming blind due to hatred?

While hatred is bursting at the seams today, it has always been latent within us. Hatred blinds so many of us today precisely in order for us to learn how to open our eyes above the hatred, and see the world through new lenses of love and kindness.

Moreover, hatred sweeps throughout humanity today, which is precisely so that humanity as a whole learns how to rise above hatred with love and unity.

Humanity has reached a very significant transitional phase in its development. Our global interdependence and interconnectedness has become painfully evident together with our rising hatred and divisiveness.

We find ourselves in this paradoxical entanglement so that we see how, on one hand, we have reached tightening global interdependence and interconnectedness without any special strategizing or planning to bring about such a state; and on the other hand, we find ourselves increasingly hateful and disconnected in our attitudes to each other.

Currently, the most apparent example of our “external connection versus internal disconnection” scenario comes with the coronavirus: a global pandemic that has forced populations around the world to adhere to similar conditions in the struggle against it.

However, while we simply find ourselves in such global circumstances without any special strategizing or planning, and where the more we connect externally, the more we find ourselves hating and detaching from each other internally in our attitudes to each other, then the sooner we will reach a very significant self-examination: where is our free choice and free activity in such a process?

The answer: it is in our motion to positively connect to each other, to develop ties of love and kindness above the innate hatred and estrangement.

We have reached a point in human development where, with a little guidance, we can reach the realization that if we fail to actively love and positively connect to each other above our involuntary hatred toward each other, then the hatred will blind us, consume us, and lead us to various tragedies, so that we learn how nothing positive results from blindly following our hateful impulses.

We need to dust the dirt away from the treasure that we’re so close to discovering. By seeking how to develop ties of love and kindness above the innate hatred we feel toward each other, then we will reveal newfound happiness, prosperity and confidence that we never would have dreamed is possible.

We just need to raise our sensitivity a little, to feel how the hatred flaring up within us is not an emotion that we should follow through with, in order to inflict pain upon others, and ultimately, also to ourselves; rather it is an invitation to become conscious and aware human beings in the fullest sense of the term: to make conscious moves in elevating love, kindness and unity above the hatred, and by doing so, unlock a new reality and discover a whole new world of fulfillment.

We can expect nature to surface more and more hatred and divisive attitudes within us, and while it does, we would be wise to build a society that supports each other to rise above those involuntary nudges from nature, and build a new world—one where we construct new bridges of positive attitudes among each other, and by doing so, discover no less than perfection.

From Conflict To Consent

627.1Question: Scientists say that conflicts can be constructive and destructive. You can classify them according to the goals that arise between peoples, countries, and religions. There are personal and interpersonal conflicts, conflicts of opinion, emotional conflicts, hidden and open, etc.

What types of conflicts do you think may arise in groups where people will receive integral education?

Answer: Any kind! We can’t even imagine what they could be. And we will awaken them, enjoy them, and develop them. And all in order to rise above them and connect with each other thanks to them. There is nothing in nature, not only in our world, but in all worlds, that does not consist of two opposites: conflict and agreement.

Question: Are conflicts a necessary condition for the development of society?

Answer: Absolutely! Initially given and manifested.

Question: You say that we need to awaken conflict by ourselves. But they are aroused by nature, so I shouldn’t look for them?

Answer: Of course you don’t need to look for them. We don’t do anything artificially. We should only strive to unite, and as a result, we will become more and more open to our differences, contradictions, and distance.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 7/16/20

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I Do Not Believe In Billionaires

546.03In the News (Business Insider): A group of 83 millionaires are pleading in an open letter to be taxed more in order to pay for the damage COVID-19 had caused to economies around the world.

“Signatories to the letter, addressed to ‘our fellow global citizens,’ called themselves ‘Millionaires for Humanity.’ …

“The signatories said that the extra governmental challenges of providing healthcare and education, and helping struggling businesses — all of which have been hit hard by the pandemic — cannot be solved through charity.

“They do not drive ambulances, serve hospital wards, or stock grocery shelves amid the pandemic, the group admitted. ‘But we do have money,’ they wrote. ‘Lots of it.’

“The group said the responsibility lies with government to raise the funds needed to address the issues that they said will last for decades, they wrote.”

Question: Do you believe it?

Answer: What are they saying? “We have been stealing for dozens of years, raking out of your empty pockets almost everything you had, to the last cent, and now we are ready to give back a little. And this so that you will buy, develop everything, and we continue to get rich from that so everything keeps going, and we have what to live on.

You do not have enough money to spin this machine? We will give you! We will “pour some gasoline” for you. And you keep working! Keep working so that we get more billions. From the fact that you spin on a penny, we earn billions.”

What do they want now? They play at nobility, saying: “We are giving it to you! We are ready to donate to you! We are ready to pull money out of our pockets!”

Question: How else can they express their empathy?

Answer: They have no empathy. Absolutely not. They know that if they pour a couple of billions into the economy now, they will continue to rake in 20 to 30 times more.

Question: And if they want this money to go to those who are at the forefront of the fight against coronavirus?

Answer: It does not matter. The main thing is to keep it going. And where the money goes, it does not matter.

Question: What act of theirs would you call noble? Noble at least within the framework of our world. What should they have done?

Answer: I think that we just need to take everything that they have and to give it away, and they should keep for themselves only what everyone has, because they earned all this due to the fact that tried to take the most they could at the lowest possible cost.

I may be an idealist in some way, but one cannot earn such capital in an honest way. One cannot! This is due to the fact that one forcefully takes that which belongs to everyone for oneself.

Question: But you understand that they will not do such a noble deed. They will not give all their money away. Well, will he then go and shoot himself?

Answer: It is obvious that they will not. They will buy the media as usual, although they have already bought it. They will spread the news everywhere, will ring it up, will hold charity events and concerts, and everyone will admire them.

Question: What does a person feel when he acts, in his opinion, in such a noble way? Is it only his pride that grows in him?

Answer: Of course!

Question: And they will no longer be able to do a noble deed?

Answer: This is not a noble deed. This is pompousness! Super arrogance! Say, we have earned everything through hard work and now we give part of this away to society. Let us say, I have 100 billion and I give you two billion!

Question: So what is a “turning point”? What can urge them to give away their money, even if not all of it?

Answer: Nothing can urge them. Not in any way. With such capital, they will not move.

Question: There is nothing to take over the armored egoism of these people?

Answer: No. They are accumulating lots of billions now; they are now earning much more than before. They profit from this crisis even more. But it will be over soon, and what next? After all, all this will be no longer needed, all this fashion, all these jewels. For this to exist the masses are needed!

Question: When the masses will not be able to pay for it, then a new period will begin?

Answer: Of course! They already feel it.

Question: One way or another, if not this coronavirus, as you say, then something else will lead them to the state where their thinking will turn over?

Answer: Their thinking will not turn over. I think that money will just lose its value, its meaning.

Question: What will be valued?

Answer: A person’s attitude to the world. Gradually, we will begin to appreciate a person’s attitude to society. A person will be appreciated; this will be most important.

Question: What kind of a letter from a billionaire would you take seriously?

Answer: “We have come to the conclusion that we are obliged to invest all our hundreds of billions in creating such a society that would lead all of humanity to unity, right up to the feeling of the common force of the world.”
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/20/20

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Jews Of America, Part 6

293Become One Common Force

Remark: One of the most important events of the 20th century for our people was the Holocaust of European Jewry. Many historians ask themselves the question: “Was everything done to save them?”

Henry L Feingold, author and professor of American Jewish History and Holocaust studies wrote much on why the efforts of American Jewish leaders were ineffective including an article entitled “Was Their Communal Failure? Some Thoughts on the American Jewish Response to the Holocaust” in which he wrote, “During the Roosevelt era American Jews were more politically active than ever before, and they had achieved a place in the Roosevelt administration; but throughout the crisis they remained a divided community wracked by bitter internecine strife. What could account for this? Had the bonds between them become so weak that they could not hold in a crisis?”

However, there is an opinion in the world that Jews, on the contrary, help each other, stick together. But reading the historical evidence of their constant strife, it’s hard to believe in this.

My Response: The more developed a nation is, the greater hatred it has until it begins to correct itself. This hatred is inherent in nature precisely in order to turn it into connection and love.

Question: So is it not anyone’s fault? Are you blaming nature?

Answer: I don’t blame nature. I say that this is inherent in nature in which there is neither good nor bad. And the fact that a person takes information from nature and how he uses it depends on him.

We are given a method of connection called Kabbalah where people, coming closer to each other, become as if one single whole. In this case, the connection between them affects the rest of the world.

If the whole Jewish nation tried to unite as the Kabbalists are trying to realize between themselves, then naturally their power of connection, literally one gram from each of them, would become one common force affecting the whole world, and the nations of the world would begin to draw closer to each other. This is called “being a light to the nations of the world.”
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 11/18/19

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Who Will Win?

419Question: It is not a secret that today the world’s two largest empires America and China are in a state of confrontation, in a trade, political, and ideological war. Who do you think will win?

Answer: Neither side because they both use egoism to the maximum, each in its own way. Therefore, there can be no victory here of one or the other.

Victory will come only from the side of humanity’s insight that it needs to go in a different way, not by suppressing each other, but by connecting through the good forces.

Question: Can using egoism serve as a weapon?

Answer: Nothing can serve as a weapon. We already are out of the state where we were fighting with its help. Of course, we can fight, but it will solve nothing.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 9/1/20

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Rising Above Conflicts

566.01Question: The reason for a conflict may be lack of information, lack of or excess attention, need or, conversely, the lack of need for communication, unequal distribution of resources, etc. What do you think could be the cause of conflicts in a group of people who are undergoing integral education?

Answer: Everything comes only from the highest system of control. It can deliberately provoke contradictions, omissions, and misunderstandings in people so that by clarifying them, they understand even better what kind of an integral system they are in.

Question: Which conflicts arise more often: interpersonal or within one person?

Answer: I think it will still be between people.

Remark: But if they have nothing to share, no resources, nothing in common.

My Comment: They have a common goal. Being opposite elements of creation, they must come to mutual incorporation with each other in order to reveal among themselves a single higher power, the next step.

Climbing it, they suddenly discover a divergence between themselves like a herringbone: from the top (approaching) to spreading branches (distance). And again, they will reach up trying to connect with each other.

So gradually they will rise along the middle line.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 7/16/20

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In The Garden Of Eden

421.01Question: If the whole world was created for me and is inside me, how can it be that my life is a struggle and it seems that the whole world is against me?

Answer: It is that way so that you, an egoist, will change and correct this world into the opposite world. This is the only reason it is this way.

The world is the reflection of your internal attributes. Change yourself and the world will change and you will find yourself in a world called the Garden of Eden. This means that your desire, corrected from egoistic to altruistic,  is completely similar to the Creator, is filled with Light, and is in a state of eternity and wholeness.

You can attain this in our world, during your lifetime. It is all right in front of you and it only depends on the right request.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 11/4/18

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