The Times of Israel published my new article “Israel and the Diaspora Jews – Very Distant Brethren”

Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Omer Yankelevich, is promoting a proposal that will obligate the Israeli government to consult representatives of World Jewry on matters relating to them before making decisions. The idea, although essentially correct, highlights the chasm separating Israel from the Jews outside of Israel.

Before we make any decisions, we need to get to know each other. How can I make a decision concerning other people if I don’t know how they live, what they aspire for, how they make a living, or what they aspire for? Jews have been disconnected from each other in the Diaspora for nearly 20 centuries. If previously, religion kept some sort of similarity among Jews at least in prayer books and services, today even that aspect is gone. As far as their Judaism is concerned, there is nothing in common between American Jews, for instance, and Russian Jews or Israeli Jews. They are literally worlds apart.

For this reason, I think that if we want to rebuild the connection among Jews, we have to do it not through religion or relation to the State of Israel, which has become a contentious matter for many Jews, but through the ideology of Judaism, namely the idea of mutual responsibility.

If there is one motto that Jews the world over relate to, it is Tikkun Olam [correction of the world]. While each denomination interprets the term differently, there is consensus that hate is not part of Tikkun Olam. Therefore, this is where we must begin, with the acceptance that even if we disagree with one another to the point of hatred, we do not let hatred take over, but rise above it and form unity. King Solomon said about this, “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes” (Prov. 10:12). In other words, we do not deny our ill feelings toward each other, but raise the importance of love above it all.

Why is this important? Because by doing so, we set an example of Tikkun that the world will see. In rising above our hatred, we will help the world correct by setting an example. No other nation is expected to do this but the Jews, and the internal rift between us is on everyone’s minds (just read the news headlines). Therefore, if we unite and show the opposite example, it will prove that it is possible to rise above hatred and will set an example that other people will follow.

We don’t need to teach Tikkun Olam; we only need to set a good example. If we want to mend Israel’s relations with the Diaspora Jews, this should be our focus.
[273032]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

Effect of the Circle Method

Remark: The process of circles builds strong relationships and resolves conflict situations. It promotes openness of dialogue and change of motivation from external (i.e., as under a whip) to internal where a person already understands why he should do something. People work with the root of the problem, their egoism, and not just external problems. In addition, circles form a systemic vision.

Conclusion: the circle method is not only effective for communication, decision-making, and conflict resolution, but is also the basis for creating a society of the future.

My Comment: Sure. And we need to move toward this.

Question: Do you consider the round table as the only method that will be used by everyone or are there any other methods?

Answer: No. Except for the circle, there is nothing. We should strive to apply this methodology wherever possible, in all spheres of activity where more than one person is involved.

Question: Did you and your teacher also use this method?

Answer: There were two of us and he thought we were a group.

Question: So even two people can work according to the circle method?

Answer: Yes. So it is said: “The minimum of many is two.”

Round tables exist in order to bring a person, a group of people, even the whole of humanity, to a state similar to the integral law of nature. If they really unite and want to solve a problem, then they come as close as possible to the correct solution or at least to the highest resolution in solving this problem.
[271488]
From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 7/9/20

Related Material:
Guide For Round Tables, Part 21
Guide For Round Tables, Part 20
Guide For Round Tables, Part 19

Filed under: Education - No Comments →

New Life 491 – The People Of The Book, Part 2
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Every nation has its own written proof that it is the chosen nation. We Israelis don’t think that we are chosen, but the world forces us to acknowledge this. The wisdom of Kabbalah, which means the oral Torah, teaches a person how to get to know the director of his life. Without this intention, we don’t understand a word that is written in the Torah according to its true, internal content, and we suffer as a result. The general law of, “love thy friend as thyself,” requires an internal change from being inside of oneself to being inside of others.
[151474]
From KabTV’s “New Life 491 – The People Of The Book, Part 2,” 1/4/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: New Life - No Comments →

Question: Earlier this year several news sources reported on a Carleton University School of Journalism survey in which almost half of the 2,000 Canadians reported believing in coronavirus conspiracy theories ranging from it being an engineered bioweapon to a 5G cover-up.

Who is behind the pandemic from your point of view?

Answer: It is human egoism that does not want to rise above itself and be in good connection with other people. With everyone! Just to be in a good connection without all kinds of conspiracy theories and without the dominance of someone over someone.

The unwillingness to treat each other well leads to the fact that viruses are awakening between us. We will not get away from this until we correct our attitude.
[272623]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 9/27/20

Related Material:
Where Did The Virus Come From?
Antibodies Against Egoism
Managing Stress, Part 6

Filed under: Coronavirus, Crisis, Globalization, Health, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: What remains after death?

Answer: Nothing disappears in the universe. We simply stop feeling ourselves existing in the physical body and begin feeling in a different form.

Question: Is our world an illusion or reality?

Answer: What is the difference? An illusion is something that we thought was real before and then suddenly it turned out to be an illusion, something imaginary. It can be the other way around. There is no difference. We cannot distinguish one from the other; we have nothing to compare it with.

Question: So, there is no objectivity?

Answer: No, of course not. We cannot rise above ourselves and start to feel the universe, not from within ourselves. Therefore, we cannot talk about things that happen outside of the body, outside of life and death.
[272508]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 9/1/20

Related Material:
What Dies And What Remains?
How Can We Distinguish Between Reality And Illusion?
Fantasies And Reality, Part 1

Filed under: Body and Soul, Perception, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: The Internet is full of fascist elements and racists, and anti-Semitism is through the roof. Look at what is happening in many countries: riots, oppositions to governments. There is a lot of evil in the world. Do you agree that there is really a lot of evil?

Answer: The Creator created a good world!

Remark: He said: “I create evil: I the LORD do all these things,” and now we see with our own eyes that He really created evil.

The great Kabbalist Baal HaSulam wrote, “All there is in reality, good, bad and even most harmful in the world has a right to exist. It should by no means be completely destroyed.”

My Comment: Yes. Just to correct it by balancing it with its opposite.

Remark: Then he writes, “Our task is to merely correct it and return it to the Source.” A person would like to destroy the evil that comes into the world; for example, one wants to get rid of this virus.

My Comment: It is because he is reasoning with his egoism. If he were reasoning from the point of connection with the Creator, he would have said, “Everything has the right to exist.” Everything has the right to exist! It is very good that there is evil, and it is very good that it exists.

But how will it lead us to good? After all, on one hand, everything is one, and on the other hand, it points to the opposite of itself.

Question: How can I reason so logically when it comes to me? Evil comes to me and my first reaction is to avoid it! I had a normal life, I had everything good both at home and in the family.

Answer: That is correct. This is instinctively true.

Question: But why should I suffer? Can you explain this to me?

Answer: You do not have to suffer.

Remark: Then I should destroy the evil.

My Comment: No, by this you do not destroy evil. On the contrary, it is how you grow it! That is what is interesting! Both left and right, good and evil, all of them, both from their own side only cultivate evil and in case destroy it.

Question: Why don’t they understand this? We see more and more confrontation over the years.

Answer: A one-sided view of the world.

Question: Can they do some logical scientific research and see that it only gets worse and that their resistance makes it worse for everyone and for the world? Can a person sit down and think?

Answer: You see that they cannot. Thousands of years of existence of human society and it has not been achieved. It happened once a little bit when people fought among themselves and seized fortresses. Then they even threw food over the fortress walls for their opponents because they wanted to defeat them not by starvation, not by pestilence, but by their valor.

There are a few such examples. Yet, that was a long time ago when people fought not with firearms.

Question: Then what can we do? How can we introduce into the brain, into the consciousness, and into the heart of those who are fighting evil that this is useless, that it only increases evil?

Answer: Only through education and upbringing. Only by explaining to them that evil cannot be destroyed. Evil and good are two qualities of the world that run in parallel. Thus, you cannot destroy one or the other. By increasing or decreasing one, you influence the other. But in no case do you destroy it.

Remark: Baal HaSulam says that all the villains of the world should also be protected, not destroyed. How do you explain this?

Answer: I speak about this absolutely calmly. The Creator is above them and He lowers every one of them on a string into our world. And they are rustling and bustling in it. We have no right to destroy them.

We need to reveal their insignificance, harmfulness, and in parallel with it, also the opposite characters and actions. If in our world evil manifests itself in the form of some villain or a bunch of people, no matter whom, you must to the same measure reveal the good in the world.

This is the only way you can fight evil. You do not even need to fight with it, you must balance it correctly. Then it will be revealed as a necessary thing for the manifestation of good. Initially, evil is revealed only in order for us to reveal, expand, and increase the good in our world.

Question: In other words, the bigger the evil, the more good is revealed?

Answer: Yes.

Remark: The second part about not destroying evil still requires some explanation.

My Comment: You cannot destroy evil because it is the force of the world—the force that manifests itself in human society. You can only balance it with good so that both good and evil will co-exist together eternally, and the most comfortable state of humanity will be between them when it absorbs both of these forces and builds an image of the upper force out of them.

How else can you build the upper force? Only by the correct combination of good and evil, and both come from Him. That is why the Creator says, “I created evil inclination. And then I have created good for its correction. ” Evil is the basis of the world! And good is for its correction.

Remark: This is beautiful! Yet, I still wonder if I could treat the real, terrible, huge evil like this!

My Comment: Rise above your egoism and you will be able to do this. Above egoism! Evil will force you to rise above egoism and good will not.

Everything is based on absolute inversion! Turn it inside out and you will get the truth!
[272698]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/10/20

Related Material:
Evil, Hell, Love
Evil Is The Foundation Of The World
The Law Of Balance Of Good And Evil

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, News, Television - No Comments →

Question: Do you think it is right that every nation should have its own type of leader?

Answer: I think that today all this is absolutely obscured, and such concepts as a leader, a leading person, finally come to naught. In the next generation, we will already have spiritual leaders.

Question: Do you agree that in conditions of chaos the role of the leader will grow? Or, on the contrary, will the role of society, the role of the collective in decision-making, increase?

Answer: Society cannot make decisions. It can only obey and fulfill. Society needs to have explained to it the existing goals, and not to be ordered and kept under arms.

Question: Can a group of people be the leader, and not one person?

Answer: No. Maybe a group of leaders. But there must be one leader.

Question: So there should always be a leader in the future?

Answer: There will be one leader for all of humanity.
[271963]
From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 6/11/20

Related Material:
Who Can Become A Leader Today?
Leadership Behind An Idea
Prevent The Suffering Of Humanity

Filed under: Education - No Comments →

Question: It says that the whole world was created for man. So why doesn’t a person feel that?

Answer: We don’t feel that the whole world was created for us because we don’t want to feel it because it obligates us.

If a person constantly thinks about the fact that he or she is responsible for everything that happens in the world, they will feel very bad. So why would you need this headache? A person naturally looks for a quiet spot.

But gradually, as a result of one’s work, a person begins to feel that the whole world is a projection of your internal attributes. One sees it in front of him, like on a white screen, and thus accordingly begins to feel that he is responsible for the world.
[240404]
From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 11/4/18

Related Material:
The Mission Of A Kabbalist
Feeling The Suffering Of The Whole World
We Are Educators

Filed under: Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Today everything is based on vocational training. Value-semantics or spiritual-personal guidelines are practically not used anywhere. Why is it not taught?

Answer: I believe that in our time we have entered a state where we begin to feel changes in nature. However, humanity has not yet absorbed it within.

Until now, it is not nature that has changed but its individual parameters within a very narrow framework. Today we begin to feel that the very attitude of nature toward us, the meaning and content of its effects upon us, is changing.

This is why we need to understand deeper why it changes, what happens to it. We seem to find ourselves in a slightly new environment every day, and we do not know what to do with it.

In other words, nature affects us every day in a different way, not the way it used to. This is not just an increase or decrease of temperature, pressure, humidity, and other parameters, but a change in the attitude toward us. We do not get it yet. Even if we do get it, we do not know how to react correctly.

We do not really understand what can be useful for us, what can be harmful, and how to be connected with it whatsoever.

Let us say I had my own company and I understood how I should behave with the employees, why we get together, what we do, how we work, and how we fill our leisure time. Suddenly I feel that their attitude toward me is changing in many aspects, but I do not know what to do about it.

I ask them, but they do not say anything, and they seem to behave as usual but, nevertheless, it seems to me that it is different. Suddenly some problems appear and I do not know why and from where. It seems that they do not require any new relationships, but it somehow matures by itself. This is the state in which we are now with nature.

I feel the way I previously acted toward myself, toward the surrounding society, and toward nature is not enough anymore. I need to choose some other mechanism of influence upon nature, another language of communication with it.

It is necessary to acquire such abilities in order to understand how to decipher the tendencies of nature and its impact upon us. After all, nature is the upper mind, the upper program, and not just some physical laws. This is why a person with ordinary sensory organs, with ordinary skills and abilities cannot decipher what it wants from him or her.
[272125]
From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 7/24/20

Related Material:
Professional Or Amateur?
Slaves To Work
Adult Education Under The Conditions Of Globalization

Filed under: Education - No Comments →

Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Rabash, “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?“

Lesson on the Topic of “Bereshit” 

Lesson on the Topic of “Concerning Above Reason”

Selected Highlights

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →