Audio Version Of The Blog – 10/13/20

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“A Noble Ideal For Peace Beyond The Nobel Prize” (Times Of Israel)

The Times of Israel published my new article “A Noble Ideal for Peace Beyond the Nobel Prize

Hunger could be used as a weapon of war and conflict in these challenging times. That is the concern over which the Nobel Peace Prize this year was awarded to an organization that fights famine globally: The UN World Food Programme. In response to the announcement, the organization stated, “Until the day we have a medical vaccine, food is the best vaccine against chaos.” Regardless of why these “peace” prizes are given and to whom, we should first ask, “What is peace?” The essence of peace is the optimal connection between opposite things, opinions, people, and movements. I see no organization or person in the world acting to fulfill such a goal.

The number of people facing hunger worldwide will double from 135 million to 265 million this year—the particular result of the Covid-19 pandemic—according to UN estimates. Predictions forewarn of starvation of “biblical proportions” as a result of the economic and food crises caused by the spread of the virus. Even if the work of The UN World Food Programme and other organizations is important, I do not see anyone in the global arena who deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, no person or organization that strives for real peace and whose actions focus on bearing fruit in uniting people.

The peace agreements between the Arab Emirates, and Bahrain with Israel this year under the umbrella of the US was spoken of as a historical event that deserves the international prize. However, I’ve noticed that the recent trend has been to move away from political actions toward peace and to give the award to global organizations instead of individuals.

Why, despite so many efforts, does humanity repeatedly fail in its attempts to make true peace? The reason is that we do not know how to rise above our egoistic human nature which obstructs any possibility to attain tranquility. Every action we make is for our own benefit. We manipulate ourselves and others into believing that we act in their favor, while deep down, self-interest guides our every move.

The essence of the term “peace” (in Hebrew, Shalom), means “wholeness” (Shalem). Is the mere absence of war a sufficient enough achievement to claim that we experience wholeness? Certainly not. A deeper analysis of the term “peace” brings us to the need to understand the forces acting in reality and how to balance them properly to achieve true peace.

Two forces coexist in nature: the negative force of self-interest, and a positive force that promotes mutuality, consideration, and thinking about the common good. Ecosystems naturally balance these two forces so they complement one another. The apparent competition we observe in nature actually generates homeostasis, a harmonious coexistence that fosters life and development.

In humans, the negative force creates a crippled society which needs to enforce binding restrictions to stop us from destroying one another at the first opportunity. Worse yet, we see how the negative force within us keeps growing and intensifying. We are quickly nearing a point where the tensions will be unbearable.

Today we number billions of people. We each perceive ourselves as separate from the other, and are often not even at peace with ourselves. This lack of understanding of how to arrive at peace is humanity’s central problem.

We humans are the sole violators of the delicate balance of nature on the planet with our narrow egoism, i.e., the desire to benefit ourselves at the expense of others. And in precisely this, we harm humanity, the world, and nature. Therefore, only by changing our viewpoint from being self-centered to an interconnected and rounded perspective will we bring peace to the world.

As our sages observed:

“Do not be surprised if I mix together the well-being of a particular collective with the well-being of the whole world, because indeed, we have already come to such a degree that the whole world is considered one collective and one society.” (Yehuda Ashlag, “Peace in the World”)

Kabul, afghanistan.- In the photos, WFP authorities work to deliver food to the most vulnerable families. The UN World Food Program (WFP) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this Friday (9), announced the Nobel Committee in Oslo, underlining that the need for multilateral solutions to major problems such as hunger is “more evident never”.
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“Pandemic Fatigue – A Symptom Of The Virus Or A Proof Of Senselessness?” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Pandemic Fatigue – A Symptom of the Virus or a Proof of Senselessness?

The more time passes without a vaccine or a sure cure in sight, the more impatient people are growing. They are refusing lockdown and curfew orders, congregating recklessly as if there is no virus, protesting without maintaining social distance or wearing masks, and filling up restaurants, bars, and other places of recreation.

Changing the center of our attention from the “me” to the “we” changes everything: our behavior, our caution with ourselves and with others, our attitude toward others, and even our feelings toward others. There is nothing we can’t do today that we did before; the only thing preventing us from doing it is our attitude toward others. If we change it from negative to positive, we will guarantee the health of everyone around us, and they will guarantee our own health, and then there will be nothing that we won’t be able to do. So the bottom line is this: Let’s think about each other; it’s healthy!

But the virus has not changed. If people behave recklessly, contagion increases. And indeed, all over the world, where countries and cities relax closures, infections rise again. As the tension rises between understanding that there is no end to the virus in sight, and the inability to remain in permanent lockdown, people are driven toward the breakdown point of hopelessness and helplessness. At that point, social order will collapse and mayhem will take over the streets.

Without a medical cure in sight, the only cure we have is each other. This is also the one cure we haven’t tried. It’s not that we should disobey orders to keep 6 feet apart. On the contrary, we should be very strict with our observance of health regulations, but we should also remember that this will not kill the virus. If we stay apart, infections will decrease; if we resume our connections, infections will increase. This is what’s happening now and people won’t be able to sustain this in-and-out mode much longer. In fact, they already can’t.

But what this pattern does show us is that the problem lies—in our connections. Staying apart for good is no solution, so we have to find a way to connect in a way that does not resume infections. To do that, we must reverse our thinking. Instead of thinking, “How can I protect myself from catching the virus,” we should start thinking, “How can I prevent from passing the virus to someone else.”

Changing the center of our attention from the “me” to the “we” changes everything: our behavior, our caution with ourselves and with others, our attitude toward others, and even our feelings toward others. There is nothing we can’t do today that we did before; the only thing preventing us from doing it is our attitude toward others. If we change it from negative to positive, we will guarantee the health of everyone around us, and they will guarantee our own health, and then there will be nothing that we won’t be able to do. So the bottom line is this: Let’s think about each other; it’s healthy!
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“Between Left And Right, It’s Everyone’s Plight” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “Between Left and Right, It’s Everyone’s Plight

On the morning of November 4, some people will smile and some people will cry. Hopefully, the aftermath of the election will not be as contentious as the months leading to it have been, and the president will be able to do his job in a more constructive atmosphere than in the past four years. I’m not hopeful, but perhaps the challenge ahead will convince the parties to cooperate. And that challenge is the coronavirus. Whoever occupies the White House after January’s inauguration will have an impossible task on his hands. He will have to deal with an exhausted American people, a healthcare system on the brink of collapse, and worst of all, pervasive hopelessness in the absence of a vaccine for Covid-19. And when medicine fails, people have no one to rely on but each other.

In today’s globalized world, no country can rely on itself. Self-sufficiency is an impractical fantasy. Since every country is dependent on other countries, it makes perfect sense to cooperate, just as the example of organs in a healthy body. Without this approach, countries will resort to their former self-centered policies which will result in mutual destruction. Indeed, we are entering a dramatic phase in the history of humankind where unity or destruction will be our only options.

The tensions and the hatred being exposed in American society have always been there, but it seems like they’ve never been as exposed as they are today. As frightening as they may be, exposing them is the first step toward correction. Just as we must diagnose a disease before we can treat it, hatred must be exposed and acknowledged before we can mend it. However, while the exposure happens spontaneously, overcoming it requires a conscious effort. If people decide to rise above their pervasive, negative feelings and unify the American society, they will overcome anything, including the virus, and will show the world how to defeat Covid. If they fail to unite, the consequences will be horrendous.

The first thing to realize in the healing process is that there are no superfluous elements in American society. Every part of it has its role, even if it seems as though it does nothing but harm. The trick is to relate to each part of society not as a competitor over territory or power or wealth, but as a complementing element without which America cannot be the powerful country that it is.

Think of the human body. Within the body, each organ functions very differently, often in contradicting manners, yet feeds on the same source of energy and food, namely oxygen and sugars. If the organs competed against each other in the struggle for supply of these essentials, we would die along with the organs that supposedly “won.”

This, by the way, is what happens with cancer. There are many tumors that aren’t deadly because they don’t “kidnap” blood vessels and don’t deplete the neighboring organs of food and energy. These lumps may stay in our body for years without causing any serious harm. But when a tumor begins to “snatch” blood vessels and deplete neighboring organs, when it begins to spread and tries to “take over,” that “self-centered” behavior turns it from a benign growth to a malignant tumor, and we have to pull it out or it will kill us.

Therefore, the plight of society is not its diversity. This is actually the source of its vitality and strength. The plight of society is people’s self-centered attitude, the fact that everyone feels that they are more entitled than others instead of seeing society as a system where everyone is vital.

And what is true for America is true for the world. Countries are depleting Earth’s resources and fighting for dominance because of the exact same approach that is destroying American society. In the case of the world, the situation is even worse. Today, we are at a point where if we don’t reverse course, we will destroy each other. The choice is simple: world-connection or world war.

In today’s globalized world, no country can rely on itself. Self-sufficiency is an impractical fantasy. Since every country is dependent on other countries, it makes perfect sense to cooperate, just as the example of organs in a healthy body. Without this approach, countries will resort to their former self-centered policies which will result in mutual destruction. Indeed, we are entering a dramatic phase in the history of humankind where unity or destruction will be our only options.

“What Makes A Good Leader?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: What makes a good leader?

Good leaders first and foremost need to love the people they lead.

Their people need to be like their baby, the number one priority in their lives. They should thus be willing to live, work and sacrifice themselves for their people.

By loving their people, good leaders have no thoughts about themselves, but only about how to benefit their people.

In addition, good leaders should have the ability to foresee the future, to feel closeness toward the people they are directly responsible for, as well as the wider spectrum of human society. Good leaders should thus possess the wisdom to understand that a positive future depends on positive connections among people, and have it in their interest to develop positive ties not only among their own people, but between their people and all others. In other words, good leaders need to have a broad heart, a willingness to love everyone, and treat everyone’s success as their own success—not to build their own people’s success on the ruin of others.

The Holiday Of Sukkot: Aaron

177.13The Torah does not really distinguish Aaron. He accompanies Moses all the time as if hiding in his shadow. Moses acts as a connector between the Creator and the people, and Aaron stands beside him as his assistant and brother.

The role of Aaron is not very clear from the story. But exactly because it is not understood, it is apparently more hidden. It means it is closer to a person, to you and me in relation to our work.

Aaron prepares the vessels, the connection of people with the Creator. Moses comes from above, and Aaron comes from below, from the people, from all the properties of a person, the entire group, the ten in relation to the Creator. And therefore, the role of Aaron does not stand out so much because one must add his work to it. Moses acts as the representative of the Creator before the people, and Aaron is the representative of the people before the Creator.

If I am under the rule of the Creator and there is none else besides Him, then I must always be content in any state. And if I am dissatisfied with something, then it means that I am separated from the Creator. Therefore, I need to return to the connection with Him, and a sign that I have this connection will be my joy in any state, whatever it is.

The quality of Aaron is the most important quality in a person. The qualities of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses are just preparation from above. And the quality of Aaron is our work from below, which we realize when we achieve faith above reason, that is, mercy (Hesed), which is above all, bestowal, which is above any desire to receive pleasure.

To study the qualities of Aaron means to accept him as a guest in our Sukkah. We want his property to build our soul, the right connection between us. To clothe the Hesed property on all of your inner properties called “the people of Israel” means to do the work of Aaron—to take over his property on yourself, on all your desires to receive pleasure.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/20, “Sukkot

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Jews Of America, Part 8

400A Consequence of Spiritual Shattering

Question: More than 50% of American Jews have never visited Israel. Why?

Answer: They have no connection with Israel at all. For them America is their homeland, their country. If they are not pressured by anti-Semitism, they show no relation to Israel. This is the law of nature. It is inside people.

Where did modern Zionism appear? In Russia. After all, it did not arise in Germany or anywhere else, but namely in the south of Russia where pogroms were imposed and enormous pressure was exerted on the people.

Remark: There are many who claim that the assimilation of Jews among other nations is a silent Holocaust. For example, the American linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky, a Jew by birth, believes that Israel is an aggressive state that has no right to exist. He does not believe anti-Semitism is a problem in America. And there are hundreds of such professors.

My Comment: The fact is that Jews are a people that fell from the level of love your neighbor to the level of unfounded hatred for each other. Therefore, Noam Chomsky says what he really feels. He does not cheat, he does not try to show off in front of other cosmopolitans. No. He just feels that way.

And there are a lot of Jews who think this way without any backward intent or any gain for themselves in Israel and throughout the world.

This is a consequence of the spiritual shattering. Reshimot (informational records) that appear in people force them to think and speak like that. You cannot do anything with them. I met with them and I realized that it was simply useless. A spiritual gene that sits in a person rules him this way.

Remark: A lot of Jewish anti-Zionists are ardent supporters and inspirers of the BDS movement, which advocates an economic boycott of Israel, divestment, and sanctions against the state.

My Comment: They are not just supporters, but participants and leaders of these anti-Semitic movements. But they do not consider themselves anti-Semites.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 8/12/19

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The Essence Of Conflicts

232.05Remark: According to Kabbalah, two forces exist in nature: the force of bestowal and the force of reception. The force of bestowal emanates and develops. The force of reception differentiates, it is responsible for diversity. The collision of these two forces in man is the essence of conflicts.

My Comment: Yes. But without this it is impossible. If there was no egoistic force in each of us, then that single altruistic force that would act on us would be very monotonous. It would not be able to develop us. We develop from opposites.

Therefore, on one hand, the force of breaking is necessary. And on the other hand, the force of unification, integration is necessary.

Question: Does that mean that conflict is a natural state?

Answer: The most important thing is what we want to achieve through conflicts. If these conflicts are proper, if they are organized by us in such a way that we develop correctly and learn from them how by rising above them it is possible to exist in a better way, then we would see the positive force in them, a positive force that breaks us down so that we rise even higher above them.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 7/16/20

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For The Sake Of A Collective Decision

530Question: You say that decisions should be made collectively, preferably in a group of ten people. The main thing is not to argue, but to annul yourself. But if everyone annuls themselves, how is a decision made? What is the technique for collective decision making?

Answer: This is the whole technique: to annul yourself all the time for the sake of a collective decision.

Question: If everyone annuls himself, who is going to make a decision then?

Answer: But you will speak out. Then from all the denials of each one’s self, a common solution will appear. It will appear from the fact that you all annul your egoism, and then the decision that is above you will appear.

Remark: But this is already the higher level. There should be really clear communication between people.

My Comment: We need to implement this.

Question: Is it possible to use voting in this case?

Answer: No! This is all savagery and selfishness. We see what happens in the world as a result when a group of time-wasters, people, who do not understand anything, not being guided by the upper reason, not connecting to it, give out their opinion.

Question: And if one solution does not appear in the group?

Answer: There is nothing to do then. We wait. We don’t make any decisions. There is a leader, there is a manager, and we follow them implicitly.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 6/11/20

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 10/13/20

Preparation to the Lesson

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Lesson on the Topic of “Bereshit

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 8, Item 1″

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Selected Highlights

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