From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 9/9/22

This weekend, more than a hundred friends are gathering together for the 2022 Kabbalah Retreat in the Catskill Mountains in New York, and more than two hundred friends will join them online. I would like to express my wishes for the success of the retreat. These are great friends who are gathering there, I have seen what beautiful conferences they put together, and I wish for them to continue to succeed in their efforts. But most of all, I would like to wish them a strong and close connection, as close as possible to the final correction.

The wisdom of Kabbalah introduces us to forces that no other method does. Through these forces, we can unite between us and elevate ourselves above all the forces of nature. If we acquire these forces, which are forces of connection and love, we will succeed in anything we want. I truly wish for them to acquire these forces and use them correctly.

These days, we are witnessing a great imbalance in nature. Using the forces of nature in the way that Kabbalah teaches, balances these forces and mitigates their ferocity. Kabbalah teaches how to balance the negative forces overpowering the world today with positive forces that we engender between us. It is my hope that we will achieve this and complement the negative qualities that are inherent in us, with positive forces that we create between us, and the whole world will benefit.

Good luck to the friends at the retreat, I will rejoice in your connection, and I wish you success.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “I Trust Liz Truss Will Be a Good Prime Minister”

This week, Mary Elizabeth Truss, aka Liz Truss, was inaugurated as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the third female prime minister in Britain. She begins her term at a challenging time for the UK. The British Chamber of Commerce has warned that the country is expected to plunge into a recession, inflation has spiked to 14%, and energy prices have gone berserk. Nevertheless, I have high hopes for Mrs. Truss. She is a strong woman who knows what she wants to achieve, and how to go about it.

The UK has a history of strong and successful women in top positions. Queen Victoria led her nation through the industrial, political, and economic turbulences of the second half of the 19th century, and turned her country into an empire. Queen Elizabeth, too—despite not having the political power that monarchs possessed in pre-democratic eras—is admired by her people and around the world. Then there is Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister, who served nearly twelve consecutive years, and became known as the “Iron Lady” for her uncompromising policies and leadership style. I believe that Truss will make her term a memorable one, as well, and for the right reasons.

As for Israel, I think she will be a very good prime minister for Israel, possibly even better than Boris Johnson. Israel will be wise to strengthen its ties with the UK while Truss is in office. If both the UK and the US support Israel, it will be a powerful force behind us.

At the same time, as I always say, the Jews should not rely on foreign leaders for help. They can help themselves, if they choose to, since their success depends entirely on the level of their solidarity. If the Jews were united, the opposition to the existence of the State of Israel and toward Jews around the world would dissolve by itself.

Therefore, I believe that while it is great that Truss has promised to consider moving the British embassy to Jerusalem, and it is even better that she vowed to toughen Britain’s anti-BDS rules, it would be best if she encouraged the Jews to unite among themselves. This is our only weapon, and at the end of the day, the only thing we should rely on.
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My new article on Linkedin “The Real Responsibility that Israel Should Take”

A few days ago, the Israeli army stated that after a prolonged investigation, it reached the conclusion that an Israeli soldier likely fired the bullet that killed Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. “There is a high possibility that Shireen was accidentally hit by IDF gunfire that was fired toward suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen, during an exchange of fire,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.

There is no question that Israel’s many enemies will have a field day over Israel’s candid statement. Countries that have no regard for human rights or second thoughts about brutalizing and murdering not only their enemies, but even their own people, and for the slightest reason or no reason at all, will decry Israel’s “indiscriminate” killing.

Having served in the army for several years, I know first hand that there is no such thing as indiscriminate firing on the part of Israeli soldiers. At the same time, accidents do happen, and journalists who position themselves right in the middle between the fighting parties are putting themselves at risk. It is a professional gamble that many journalists take, and as gambles go, sometimes you lose.

As for the world’s denunciation, I must admit, I do not give it a second thought, I never do. My concern is not what the world thinks, but what Israel does. If Israel does not do what it must do, the world will denounce it, vilify it, and demonize it whether or not it apologizes and whether or not it takes responsibility for the death of a careless journalist.

However, and this is a big however, I do think that Israel is responsible. I think that Israel is responsible for much more than the death of Shireen Abu Akleh. Israel is responsible for whatever it is accused of. Even before the accusation is pronounced, we should say, “You’re right, we are responsible for it; it is our fault.”

We are responsible because we are divided, and our division causes every woe and tragedy around the world. These are not my words; they are the words of our sages, who have been saying this since the inception of our nation.

When our sages wrote in the Talmud (Yevamot 63a), “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel,” they did not mean it as a figure of speech. They meant, very literally, that everything bad that happens in the world is because of Israel.

Those sages, and countless more sages and spiritual leaders in the history of Israel, have stated this not in order to accuse us, but to galvanize us into action. Because if everything bad is our fault, it means that we are doing something wrong, and that if we stopped doing it and began to do that something right, there will be no more calamities in the world.

Our sages did not settle for stating our fault; they also provided us with the remedy: Peace among us brings peace to the world. This is why Midrash Rabbah (portion 66) writes, “This nation, world peace dwells within it.”

The legacy of our sages has continued through the ages, and all our teachers have been teaching the same principle. In the 20th century, the great Rav Kook wrote along those lines in his book The Vocation of Israel and Its Nationality, “Only when complete peace and faithful love come, ‎and the pure feeling of recognizing the brotherhood between people develops … ‎when that development is completed within us, at a degree that merits being a role ‎model to many, all the nations will recognize it, and the blessing of peace will begin to ‎dwell in the world.” In other words, before we make peace among ourselves, there will be no peace in the world.

This is why we are responsible—not because an accidental bullet killed a reporter, but because our own internal division caused the external conflict with the Palestinians.

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Question: Your blog says that a Klipa is a simulator for studying truth and lie. It shows us all kinds of errors and inaccuracies. Can you explain with an example how to receive spiritual knowledge from one’s mistakes?

Answer: If we really want to reach knowledge of the inner nature, to find out how it works and how we interact with it, then we are approaching a state where all our thoughts and feelings are against ourselves.

That is, we begin to feel and understand that our earthly egoistic qualities hinder us. We are locked in them and cannot break out of them.

What can we do in order to rise above them and not feel the world around us distorted in our egoistic qualities, but rather to feel it in the form in which it exists by itself?

We try to somehow break the shell we are in and go beyond its limits. This is the task of a Kabbalist.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 8/21/22

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Comment: In our world, no matter how hard Kabbalists tried to hide spiritual knowledge from the impure, wrong intentions of people, nothing helps; even the ancient Greeks spoke about this. Somehow all the same, knowledge reaches the egoists.

My Response: Because the ancient Greeks were at the level of the same egoists; Kabbalists, however, are above this level. Therefore no one can approach and grasp this knowledge.

To approach them, to reveal them, and to work with them, one must be at the level of this knowledge; therefore, an ordinary egoistic person cannot do it.

Question: To acquire Kabbalistic knowledge must a person must change himself, his intention?

Answer: Absolutely! When he corrects himself, he has no other choice but to use this knowledge correctly.

In our world, we see that scientists can remain egoistic, receive knowledge, and pass it on. This is a big problem. Even Aristotle warned about not revealing our knowledge to the common people because they would not be able to use it correctly and would cripple the whole world.

But in our time, on the contrary, scientists reveal knowledge to everyone. Therefore, look at what is happening, look where we are turning all the power of science, mainly toward destruction.

Question: Can we still hope that there is some upper system that will prevent us from destroying each other?

Answer: Yes. But we must also think from our side. From our side however, we have already revealed everything we could.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 8/21/22

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Comment: Recently an experiment was conducted: Two beautiful girls stood passively in front of a table, and on the table were cosmetics, jewelry, food, and paint. Spectators came up to put necklaces on the girls and apply makeup. Suddenly someone poured red paint, similar to blood, on one of the girls. Then it erupted with tearing the dress of another girl and so on.

From this experiment, it is all clear that this is how a man is. On the other hand, it also happens in families. Suddenly there is an explosion. The same happens between countries that they lived normally with each other and suddenly there are murders, tears, and crimes!

My Response: It is inside of us, and there is no getting away from it.

Question: How can you catch this criminal? How can we neutralize him within us?

Answer: Commit “hara-kiri” and get him from within yourself. We have to perform this operation on ourselves and extract this bastard from within us. He is in each of us. The more he is hidden inside us, the more insidious and cruel he is. That is, insidiousness and cruelty in the world have yet to be revealed.

Question: Does it mean that first of all we must reveal that each of us has this criminal within us? For now, I am horrified by what someone has done there, but do I instead have to reveal that this criminal is within me?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Are you saying that each of us can do the same thing at some point?

Answer: I am talking about everyone. There is not a single person in our world who is free from the most terrible egoism. From the most terrible!

Question: Do you mean in everyone, even the quietest person sitting on the sidelines?

Answer: It does not matter.

Question: So, the first thing we have to do is to understand that this is in each of us. And the second thing is to ask ourselves how to pull this out of there? Should we be horrified that this is within us?

Answer: Yes. We should be horrified; we should ask ourselves how to get this out. We have to solve this issue, we have to get an answer to it that it can be done, and we have to get this inner scoundrel out of ourselves and just correct it. It is impossible to kill it. It is like some kind of little devil.

Question: Will it live in us all the time?

Answer: Yes, and it is eternal. We can only correct it. The operation on us is necessary in order for a person to agree to it, to the fact that he is ready to “cut” himself just to get rid of his evil. Then he will begin to receive such qualities that will really gradually correct this evil and extract it.

Question: Is it possible for a person to agree to such an operation?

Answer: It depends on how much he is suffering.

Question: Is this operation painful?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Does it happen “under anesthesia”?

Answer: If it is under anesthesia, then this is not an operation. Moreover, this is a very slow operation, which is carried out by the person himself, and it lasts a long time. He gradually pulls this evil out of himself. Every time when he pulls it a little bit these are terrible states!

Question: So, he pulled it out a little bit, and then, is there more? Does he pull it out again?

Answer: More and more! It does not end.

Question: What is there? This has to end somehow. Should there be any hope that I will pull everything out?

Answer: This is when a person agrees to everything! He actually agrees to everything not in words. Anything in order to get rid of this evil! Not from pain or some other states, sorrows, and so on, but from evil!

This is evil because he hurts others. It hurts him. This is why he agrees to everything to get out of this state so that he will never, in any way, hurt anyone. This is the most important thing for him, and he agrees to everything so that it would not exist within him.

Question: Can you imagine? The feeling of pain from the fact that he hurts the other is greater than the feeling of pain from being cut.

Answer: Of course!

Comment: What a crazy shift in thinking must happen there!

My Response: It is better not to talk about this at all.

Question: Do you not say that this will come, one way or another? The person will begin taking care of himself?

Answer: Yes. It will happen when we feel that we cannot, we have no right, and we are afraid to hurt the other.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/11/22

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Question: It is said that the Creator created one against the other. There are holy worlds, meaning, our intentions for the sake of bestowal, and there are impure forces or Klipot. Without these impure forces, it is impossible to reveal the correct intentions.

And this, in principle, corresponds to Hegel’s law of dialectics—the law of unity and struggle of opposites. It turns out that only from the negative can we find out what the right intention is?

Answer: Yes. Everything we learn, we learn from the opposite qualities. If we do not have the quality opposite to some phenomenon, then we will not be able to investigate the phenomenon itself.

Question: So we have to go through all the impure intentions?

Answer: Pure, impure, it doesn’t matter what, but the opposite.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 8/21/22

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These five lights are the light that the Creator created on the first day. Adam was watching it from the end of the world to its end (Zohar for All, “The Rose“).

Question: Why does it say “from the end of the world to its end” and not from beginning to end?

Answer: In our perception, we are between the qualities of judgment and mercy, between two lines. Our whole world fits within the boundaries of these borderline forms.

And therefore, in this context, we cannot see the world from beginning to end. In each state, the world is limited by the boundaries of our Kli, which we are able to discern.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/10, The Book of Zohar “The Rose (Shoshanah)”

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Our time is an amazing time! This is a completely different stage in human development. We are explaining to people that we have nowhere to go. We are all against a single nature that affects us.

Imagine that some evil spaceship, a huge flying saucer, came to Earth, like in Hollywood movies, and is hovering over and covering it. Right now we are under just such a saucer.

So what can you do about it? We live in a world where all of nature seriously pressures us and is forcing us to become mutually connected like itself. That is all we are talking about.

To the extent we are heard, we see progress in education, in the upbringing of not only children but also adults, in all kinds of corrections, in changing views on the world, in the mitigation of all kinds of problems. We see it all!

And to the extent that it is not so easy for people to agree with this, to accept it, and to start thinking about it, problems arise between them, clashes of rigidity, which also reveal all this.

Time is working for us. We see how gradually the realization comes that we must unite after all.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call, US Intelligence Agencies and Conspiracy” 3/10/13

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