Audio Version Of The Blog – 1/27/22

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“There Is Hatred In Their Hearts” (Times Of Israel)

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “There Is Hatred in Their Hearts

Today, Thursday, January 27, is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Precisely a week prior to the event, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that condemns denial and distortion of the Holocaust. Interestingly, the timing of the resolution, January 20, 2022, is also the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference, where the Nazis devised the plan for “the final solution to the Jewish question.” How symbolic it is that on the day when the Nazis determined to extinguish us, the UN resolved to condemn any attempt to deny or play down that attempt. Regrettably, a symbol will not prevent the recurrence of genocide against the Jews.

The nations’ lofty words are empty since their hearts are filled with hate toward us. Just as they would not help us before WWII, when they knew that we were heading for extinction, and just as they refused to bomb extermination camps during the war although they realized what was happening there, they will not lift a finger for us now. If anything, whoever perpetrates the next genocide against the Jews will find many willing partners eager to “pitch in.”

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day is just another opportunity for UN functionaries and bureaucrats to justify their bloated salaries. No one attributes any importance to it.

In fact, if you examine the statistics, you will find that since the 1947 UN resolution to establish a Jewish state and an Arab state in Palestine, the UN has been doing everything it could to go back on its decision and leave the land entirely for the Arabs. Their remorse, therefore, over their inaction during the Holocaust, is phony.

As is becoming increasingly clear, the situation of the Jews around the world has not improved. The Holocaust may have given us a few quiet years, but these are gone, and the curve of Jewish welcome in the world is sloping sharply down.

The obvious odium that the world feels toward the Jewish state reflects its feelings toward the Jews in general. The bias against Israel is a convenient way for the nations to express their feelings that no matter how hard the Jews may try to justify their existence, the world will always find them guilty of every woe and every hardship. The harder they try to appease, the more they will meet contempt.

The only time when Jews are welcome is when they are united among themselves. When there is cohesion among them, the hollers against them subside and everyone respects them.

Jewish unity is our only protection against the violent hatred of the world. It is as the book Maor VaShemesh writes, “The prime defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship between each other in Israel, no calamity can come over them. Similarly, the book Shem MiShmuel concludes, “When [Israel] are as one man with one heart, they are as a fortified wall against the forces of evil.”

Our unity protects us not because we are stronger than the entire world when we are united. We are not. Jewish power was never about military strength; it was always about spiritual fortitude rather than physical might. When we are united, we are the example that the world wants to see, the “light unto nations” we were destined to be. Deep down, every non-Jew feels it and reacts accordingly when we are united.

In fact, over the generations, there have been very keen people among the antisemites who were aware of the nature of their hatred. They knew that they hated us for not being who we are meant to be—a light of unity for the nations. Some of them were even able to articulate the nature of that light, and stated that their grievance against the Jews is that they are not setting an example of unity, and thereby causing the world not to be able to unite.

One of the most striking examples of such a keen perception is the most antisemitic document ever written in the United States: Henry Ford’s The International Jew—the World’s Foremost Problem. In this hate-filled composition, you will find some of the most appalling statements about the Jewish people. Yet, alongside those outrageous accusations, Ford wrote that Israel’s unity will “prove a great and serviceable factor in bringing about human unity, which the total Jewish tendency at the present time is doing much to prevent.”

In other words, in one sentence, Ford both claims that Jews must promote world unity, and accuses them of working hard to prevent it. As for how the world can learn from the Jews how to unite, Ford advises that “Modern reformers who are constructing model social systems … would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”

The choice is ours. We can unite and lead the world by example, or we can remain divided and suffer the consequences. If we do not want the world to set up another memorial day for Jewish victims, we should heed the words of our sages and our haters. Both are right, and both urge us to unite.
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“Remembering The Holocaust: What Is New About Old Antisemitism” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Remembering the Holocaust: What Is New About Old Antisemitism

Record antisemitism in the U.S. and around the world has become a regular headline. But there is an important difference between it now and in the past. The perfect storm caused by the interplay of all-powerful social media platforms and the link between Covid-19 conspiracy theories against Jews and criticism of Israeli policies has triggered antisemitic violent rhetoric worldwide. A staggering 3.5 million posts with antisemitic content were posted on social media last year according to an annual report of the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs released just before the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The number of antisemitic posts on five different social media platforms increased by 1,200% in May 2021 compared to data from 12 months earlier. This was prompted by Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls, which was launched in May in response to Hamas firing thousands of rockets at densely populated Israeli cities.

The recently published findings of the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency on the state of antisemitism worldwide point in the same direction. 2021 was the most antisemitic year of the past decade. In addition to anti-Zionist diatribes, antisemitism took the form of conspiracy theories blaming Jews for the pandemic and comparing vaccination regulations to Nazi Germany’s policies. Reminiscent of the past, Europe was the epicenter of nearly half of the antisemitic incidents reported last year; North America followed with 30%.

There were some quiet years, but today Jew-hatred is reaching new levels all over the world. Antisemites are eager to find what they see as the final solution. Of course, if we consider the consequences of the Holocaust, the situation today is much better. But if we look at what has happened in the last ten years and even in the last 20 years in the United States and in Europe, we can clearly see that the situation is not changing for the better.

The peoples of the world cannot escape antisemitism; it is in their genes and in their blood. It is a law of nature. Jews can ask nothing of them until the Jews themselves bring correction to the world. They hate Israel until Israel corrects them.

If Israel does not unite and become a role model to make all the nations of the world rise up against their egoism, that is, against the hatred among them, then the nations of the world will unite and rise up against the people of Israel. One of two.

It is written that “the externality of the entire world, being the nations of the world, intensify and revoke the Children of Israel – the internality of the world. In such a generation, all the destructors among the nations of the world raise their heads and wish primarily to destroy and to kill the Children of Israel, as it is written (Yevamot 63): ‘No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.'” Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), The Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book of Zohar“).

So what is on the horizon for the Jews in the world? The answer depends solely on the Jews. In the meantime, we are approaching a situation where everyone will gang up against the Jews until the Jews open their eyes and realize that they have no choice but to activate the spirit of connectedness between them. And to rise above their selfish calculations since this is the only way to save themselves (and the world). Only in this scenario will antisemitism cease, “And all the nations will acknowledge and recognize Israel’s merit over them, until the realization of the words: ‘And the people shall take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord'” (Isaiah 14:2).

The Omicron Epoch

 202It looks like the coronavirus epidemic got completely out of our control thanks to the new strain omicron. The virus walks around the world without any boundaries. The number of infected people is growing exponentially day to day and as a result the testing system is collapsing. This means that now it is even impossible to know how many people are sick.

The virus is spreading like wildfire. It is believed that omicron will end the coronavirus epidemic since everyone will get sick with it.

On the other hand, there is a danger that it will finally undermine the health care system, which because of the excessive workload, will not be able to take care of any patient of any kind.

So, what will the omicron do to us ultimately? I think this calamity came to calm us down, to stop us from being occupied with useless work in which there are no necessities, to get us thinking about how to make our lives more modest, but also more reliable.

It turns out that the pandemic is not a blow, but a cure. It forces us to think about what we live for and how to come to a more peaceful life, how to make a person more balanced, closer to normal life, and down to earth instead of rushing around the world and spending so much time on airplanes. Let’s get some rest.

I think that the coronavirus has taught us such useful lessons that have never been seen before in the entire history of mankind. It can be seen from the news that people are concerned about a serious problem instead of talking about nonsense. People are no longer eager to travel from country to country because they don’t know what to do with themselves.

So far, we still lack the wisdom to properly organize our lives in this difficult time of the pandemic, but let us hope that in the end it will straighten us up and make us realize what we live for, how is it worth living, and for what. We will make a lot of clarifications thanks to this virus.

These will be personal clarifications for everyone and at the level of the family, city, country, between countries, and all over the world. They should concern our relationship to inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, and, most importantly, the relationships between us, people. Such viruses, which will come again and again, will do their job and lead us to the truth.

The human organism is full of viruses. I hope that due to all these virus attacks, we will get smarter, grow up, and will be able to organize ourselves properly. The virus will force us to do this.
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From KabTV’s “A Conversation with Journalists” 1/6/22

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The Group Is Between A Person And The Creator

945Question: What makes this lesson part of the convention? How is it different from any other morning lesson?

Answer: The lessons at the convention are one single connected chain that is aimed at a specific intention and at a specific purpose. In this respect, the convention is a serious moving organism.

Yesterday we were studying how to annul ourselves. We are studying it today as well, but according to a completely different principle. How I connect with the group in order to change myself? Meaning, I begin to relate to the group as a means through which I can change myself.

You can say, “But this is an egoistic use of the group.” Of course I am using the group. But I would not call it egoistic, because with the help of the group I want to get rid of my egoism, to suppress it. This is a completely different condition.

I have no other option if I want to change myself. I just cannot do anything else. What should I do if I want to come closer to the Creator, to become like Him, to reveal the Creator, to feel Him, and to enter the quality of eternity, infinity, and perfection? I want to know all this. It sits within me. This desire is given from above to each of us.

In order to actualize it, I have to do an action that is opposite to my nature, and only the group can do that. If I try to become gradually incorporated in it, even though I cannot and do not want to, then some kind of illumination descends upon me, this is what Kabbalists say. I begin to receive the upper force and it changes me. This is how I come closer to the Creator.

Therefore, the group stands between me and the Creator. It is necessary in order to rise to Him, to become more similar to Him. How do I become like Him? Through the fact that I form myself within the group by annulling myself before it.

Then I begin to see that the Creator is within the group. This is called “I dwell within My people.”

The people are the group that aims to become closer to the Creator. That is how we advance.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Annulling before the Friends” Lesson 2

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We Do Not Have To Be The Same

559Question: It often turns out that everyone understands the material in their own way. Should we consider these differences?

Answer: I do not think we need to pay attention to how everyone acquires the material. We need to talk only about the right actions between us, which nature, the Creator, requires from us. And then we will really rise.

But to check each one himself and convey it to others, no. We need to show each other inspiration, the right actions.

I do not think we should be the same. On the contrary, we should be different, but should all strive to set the right example for others. Only the right example on the part of my friends can raise me up. This is how we act.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/6/22, “Approaching the Creator Through the Network of Connections Between Us” Lesson 1

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Movement In The Spiritual World

275Our virtual lessons affect us well, if not even better, than the physical ones. They help us feel that we can indeed be close to each other despite physical distances. We can feel how much we are coming closer virtually and spiritually. And the physical distance we simply do not take into account.

But, on the other hand, we need to reach a point where we connect together and are what we call in adhesion with each other, glued together.

Therefore, we constantly have to measure the distance between us and try to fill it, not just annulling, but filling it so that the desire to attract friends to ourselves fills the huge hollow spaces between us, which will be appearing constantly.

So, the result of our development is feeling the distance between us all the way to the point of the abyss and understand how we can fill it so that it does not separate us, but unites us. Precisely because of the fact that we feel the differences and the distance between us, we develop the sense of attraction between us, as it is written: “Love will cover all crimes.”

This is the most important advantage, the most important result of all our efforts: discovering the distances, the differences, between us and filling them with love.

Moreover, these differences will be huge and we will see more and more of them between us. This is not like in our world when children practically do not differ from each other, but as they grow, they show their own character, their habits, and natural inclinations, and we see in each of them not only their parents, but maybe even their distant ancestors.

We must reveal all this and through connecting above it, create a perfect Kli (vessel) in which we will be connected in good connection despite all our differences and despite the fact that we initially reject and even hate each other.

Then we will feel glued to each other so much that if at some moment I do not feel an inner drawing, connection, or adhesion with my friends, I will feel lost and will fall from the degree of the spiritual world into our world. This is a disaster.

Therefore, our entire work is to ask the Creator to fill the space between us. According to this, we will begin to feel how the distance between us is shrinking. This sensation of coming closer will be called movement in the spiritual world.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/9/22, “Asking the Creator to Fill the Place Between Us” Lesson 7

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The Ten—A System Of Ten Sefirot

938.01Question: You said that if each friend is included in the system of the ten, then at some point it becomes the system of ten Sefirot. How can we do it?

Answer: If each one of you starts canceling yourselves before the others, you will reach the state where the system of your interconnection will take some definite form. This will be perceived by you as a system of ten Sefirot.

You will begin to feel and sense in the properties of bestowal between you that a completely different form of interaction is being organized, interaction through bestowal, not through receiving, which you have always had and are accustomed to.

This form will be called the spiritual form of your state or your soul, and what you will begin to discover among yourself is your spiritual world, the upper light, in which its source, the Creator, will gradually manifest itself.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Deriving the Greatness of the Goal from the Friends” Lesson 4

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Everyone Will Be Corrected

556Question: If a friend understands what is the result of his environment, he sees that there are complex conditions and therefore moves away from the work, then what should be the attitude toward him? How can we help him?

Answer: We must do everything to help him, but by normal means: show how much we want him to be with us and to not leave, display how connected we are with each other and how much we realize that without our unification we cannot comprehend and reveal the Creator since He is revealed precisely within our unification as the central point where everything came from and where everything must return to.

We must find out all this together with him and influence him with our thoughts, prayers, and conversations, including with him so that he remains in the group. All the same, he will not go far even if he floats away somewhere for several years.

I told you how the students of Rabash returned, after having left him for 10 to 15 years, and suddenly by coincidence returned one Saturday morning. The door opened and the man entered as if he had just stepped out to pour himself a cup of coffee. He does not feel like he had been away for ten years! How can this be in human society? But in the Kabbalistic group it can. Just like that, I fell back into place. Therefore, we do not need to worry, everyone will come and undergo their corrections. But it is desirable that we help each other.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Deriving the Greatness of the Goal from the Friends” Lesson 4

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No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

49.01Comment: Why do altruists very often cause not gratitude, but resentment? Experts say, it is because we doubt their selflessness and see the calculation behind everything. Thus, the good deeds turn into a fat minus. Psychologists call this mass phenomenon “the syndrome of do-gooder derogation.”

It is believed that the most reliable way to avoid belittling good deeds is to do them in secret. If others accidentally find out about them, and this will eventually have a positive impact on your reputation, just consider it a bonus. Oscar Wilde said very beautifully: “The nicest feeling in the world is to do a good deed anonymously and have somebody find out.”

My Response: Yes. Others “accidentally” find out, in quotation marks.

Question: Does it mean that our world is built in such a way that we cannot do any altruistic action?

Answer: We can’t in any way. This is our nature. We can only make a mess everywhere, we use, break, and violate. We cannot act in any other way. Therefore we must think about the way to limit ourselves reasonably to such an extent that we violate everything around us as little as possible.

This is possible only through educating a person.

Question: Does a good deed at the level of our world exist?

Answer: A good deed at the level of our world is when we treat our world as our home, common to all of us, and we are like one family, and we take care of everyone.

If a person has such an attitude, then of course we will put this world in order. We have passed some peak of excessive consumerism, destruction, and distortion of everything possible, and now we have to put it all in order a little, i.e., limit ourselves in everything that is not necessary.

Question: Can a person come to this?

Answer: Nature will force him. There is such a thing as necessary and sufficient. Mutual restriction by all of us, which is voluntary and accepted by each of us in order to make our planet comfortable for ourselves and future generations, is necessary.

Comment: But people say: “This is what we want.” There are many such movements.

My Response: They do not really do anything. We cannot do it by force and we cannot do it by shouting in the squares either.

Question: How can we do it?

Answer: By educating people! All these environmentalists and Greenpeace only create a lot of noise and cause hatred and distrust.

Question: What should be the basis of this education?

Answer: To turn all of humanity into a family and the entire Earth into one comfortable apartment for everyone, into our home.

Nature will force us to do this. We are in such a state. Perhaps we will go through something else. For example, there could be a world war and half of humanity or most of it will be destroyed. It will come to this anyway. Nature brings everything to balance.

Question: Do you realize that this is a very long educational process considering who a person is?

Answer: This is a long process, but it depends on the understanding of the need for it.

Question: Who can be a teacher in such schools, such universities of life?

Answer: One who has risen a little above his egoistic natural level can be a teacher.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/2/21

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