Preparation to the Lesson
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Lesson on the Topic “Crown the King Over Us”
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Writings of Rabash, “They Helped Everyone His Friend”
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Selected Highlights
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Do you think you have the qualities to be a judge? Why? What qualities are important?“
A true and fair judge is an intermediary between the Creator and the world.
The world can bring any charges against the Creator, and a fair judge can acquit everyone of almost all of these charges. That is, a fair judge should be neither a judge nor a prosecutor, but a defender, a “justifier.”
In other words, a fair judge passes acquittals, not sentences. How can we justify someone who is completely under the Creator’s control? If we see that he committed a crime, then the Creator committed the crime through such a person. We need to thus rise to a level above judgments, courts and investigations, a level of kindness and mercy.
A fair judge considers all other people as judges who judge him. In the Torah, judges were appointed collectively by the people. Naturally, they were held to great standards and expectations. A fair and true judge is both the Creator’s and the people’s representative. He must unite them, and be above the fray, so to speak.
Based on the video “Will AI Ever Replace the Judicial System?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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Comment: Researchers have been studying the effect of joining the majority for a long time, meaning when you choose what the environment chooses, when you choose what your relatives and friends approve of and what is in fashion, it is like you do not have a particular opinion. Researchers note that it is often the fear of missed opportunities that motivate us to follow the majority. This is a condition that occurs when you start thinking that the grass is greener behind someone else’s fence, someone else’s life is more interesting, and so on. They basically direct everything to the fact that there is a fear of missed opportunities.
My Response: Of course.
Question: Is that why we choose what everyone has chosen?
Answer: I do not know who chooses but mostly, yes. Mostly because it seems that others have it greener, better, and so on.
Question: Can a person break out of this lack of freedom? From the fact that I live like everyone lives as they choose, so I choose the same, can I escape this?
Answer: I think that only if a person works on himself, if he has a different defense system at the same time, he will understand why he is doing this.
And why follow the majority just like that? There is nothing in the majority but a brute animal force that directs me to choose what it chooses.
It just pulls and says: “You will be safe with us, everything will be fine, be like everyone else, you do not need anything more or you will feel bad, and so on.” We can already see how it works.
A person can be free only if he stands above the collective, if he can be free from the collective, and when he decides what to join. Then he either creates a team himself or already joins a known team.
Question: But only when he decides by himself?
Answer: Yes, of course.
Question: What does he have to weigh for this, for him to join them?
Answer: The goal! His own and the goal of the collective, and choose from that which group to join.
Question: What goal determines whether a person is free or not? For example, you will be told: “He went for this goal.” You say: “This is a free man.” If he has chosen this goal, he is a free man. Is it possible like this?
Answer: If, first of all, he does not fall under the influence of any collective.
Question: What can you do with human nature, which is all under the collective and under the general opinion?
Answer: That is what we see.
Question: So he needs to break out of his nature, in general?
Answer: Yes. These are special people who are born like this, develop, and therefore they are not able to be in any team at all. And then they find their realization.
Question: Can a person be taught this?
Answer: No.
Question: If born not free, he continues not to be free?
Answer: Yes.
Comment: This is generally a verdict.
My Response: This is not a verdict; it is nature that operates like this.
Question: Have you seen such free people in your life?
Answer: Very few. Usually such people choose real lack of freedom. They are looking for a team they could approach, into which they could join and give themselves till the end. Because they understand that it is impossible to exist separately. And therefore, in order to realize yourself, the main thing is to find the right team.
Born free, man takes his freedom and follows the collective. He sacrifices his freedom in order to realize himself correctly. Because the implementation is still in the collective, in the team.
Question: Is this really his heroism? Is it much cooler than if you stay free because you were born free?
Answer: What is the point? It is a lonely existence.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/23/22
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Question: What is the most important advice you would give to a country that decides to rise from complete disorder, from the state it is in, to become different, to become happy?
Answer: First of all, it is necessary to educate a society to be an interconnected, good society, and everything will go from there! They will be blessed for everything they do.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/14/22
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Comment: You say that humor is especially inherent in Jews.
My Response: Jewish humor where people laugh at themselves is welcomed in Kabbalah, and therefore, it has penetrated into all Jewish literature, art, and worldview.
To some extent, this is also the case with the British. I have not observed such a feature in other peoples. It is very rare to find small, narrow zones in the culture of peoples where they laugh at themselves.
Most societies do not like it, they like to glorify themselves. All their anecdotes are based on their own praise. It seems to me that this speaks of some of their underdevelopment. They lack a sense of their own real place, and therefore they have to cheer themselves up all the time.
The English have a very particular humor, which does not exclude jokes about themselves. This also happens among some other peoples, but usually it is something specific, very narrow, for example, stinginess, frivolity, or impatience, meaning some distinct personality traits that are ridiculed.
And the Jews have it all over. All the character traits of an ordinary person are exaggerated and presented as common, typical, and ethnic. Moreover, all this is retold, encouraged, and inflated by the Jews themselves.
This suggests that the people are free from the need to showing themselves, they do not have a feeling of inferiority. That is, this is our nature, this is us, this is how I am, and that’s it.
The centuries-old development of the people, in general, gives such grounds. Whatever we do, the phenomenon itself exists. Therefore, I can make fun of everything, including my most terrible states.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call, Humor and Jews” 5/22/13
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Question: How can one determine if he is making correct efforts?
Answer: Do what is good for the group. This is the only correct way to check. However, there is no indication inside of you. It is only for the benefit of the group. Then you are able to know clearly (if you are capable to determine at all) that you are performing a deed of bestowal. There is nothing else. Your personal feelings don’t matter.
Question: You often say, for example: “Try to feel The Book of Zohar.” You say: “Try to feel.” Here you are not talking about doing something good for the group, right?
Answer: You have to feel not yourself, but you have to feel within the group what The Book of Zohar is talking about, precisely in the group. A person cannot feel it by himself.
Question: Does the person have to associate himself with this group, to have some connection with it, some contact?
Answer: Obviously. I am speaking to the people who are members of the group. A person has to feel that he together with everyone is a single unified whole. All hearts, as if naked, connect in one big mega-heart. This is how one should imagine it. Then in this common heart, the Creator is sensed.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call, Proper Application of Effort,“ 4/20/13
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My new article on Linkedin “New Antisemitism: Mutation of a Long-lived Hatred”
After publishing The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, I felt that while the explanations in it covered the history of the Jewish people, the book did not address current expressions of the oldest hatred. In light of the exponential rise in antisemitism since the turn of the century, the need to publish such a composition became increasingly urgent. Now, thanks to the great efforts of Norma Livne, the editor in chief of my latest book, the picture is complete.
New Antisemitism: Mutation of a Long-Lived Hatred not only covers the myriad exhibitions of antisemitism around the world, it also details a unique solution that derives directly from the ancient wisdom of our sages.
Current solutions focus on curbing displays of Jew-hatred or fighting it on the legal arena and on social media platforms. However, the results speak for themselves: These methods do not work. At best, they are slowing down overt displays of antisemitism, but they are fighting a losing battle. Already, antisemitism, a taboo until only a few years ago, has become mainstream, a legitimate topic of discussion.
New Antisemitism suggests an additional approach, a more proactive one, to complement the arsenal of weapons against antisemitism. Relying on the legacy of our sages, the book celebrates the power Jewish inner solidarity as an antidote to Jew-hatred. It suggests a revolutionary idea: The world hates Jews only as much as Jews hate one another.
In a reality of escalating violence against Jews on one hand, and Jewish helplessness against it on the other hand, this idea provides a feasible and powerful solution, which requires nothing but resolve on the part of the Jews. For this reason, I believe that New Antisemitism: Mutation of a Long-Lived Hatred is a must-read for anyone who seeks to defeat the indefatigable nature of this social virus, and is willing to employ its long-overlooked, practically free solution that lives in the heart of every Jew, namely Jewish unity.
I wish to convey my deepest gratitude to all the editors, proofreaders, designers, researchers, and everyone who helped in publishing the book for their hard work, and for making it into a composition that can benefit all of humanity, and first and foremost, the Jewish people. They put their heart and soul into the work, and I believe that the world can be a better place thanks to their efforts.
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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 9/25/22
Almost every culture celebrates the beginning of the year. Each tradition has its own customs, meals, gifts, and inner meaning. For Jews, celebrating Rosh Hashanah (the beginning of the year) comes with symbolic foods and a day of judgment. This judgment is the heart of Rosh Hashanah.
We can think of the spiritual significance of Rosh Hashanah as an operating system, like Microsoft Windows or Apple IOS. The human race did not come out of nowhere. Evolution has a purpose, and the operating system leads it toward it.
The operating system runs throughout nature, and all creations but humanity follow it instinctively. We, on the other hand, can study it and manipulate parts of it for our benefit.
On Rosh Hashanah, before we taste from the fish’s head, we say a blessing: “May we be the head and not the tail.” These words express our wish not to remain oblivious to the operating system and governed by it unconsciously, but to become aware of it and able to steer our development in a positive direction.
The operating system invariably leads toward a state of harmony and balance among all the elements in reality. It is aiming to bring all of humanity into a state of unity and closeness as though we are all a single warm and loving family. The system does not strive for sameness, to make us all the same, but for complementarity, to make us complement each other so that each of us contributes our unique skills and talents for the common good, and enjoys the contributions of everyone else, just like a loving family where everyone helps everyone else because they care about them.
As we study the system, we gradually realize how opposite we are from the state of closeness and care. These realizations precede Rosh Hashanah, and they are called Selichot (asking forgiveness). Selichot are prayers we say when we feel how opposite we are from the state of balance and mutual care.
The Hebrew word for “prayer,” by the way, is Tefilla, which comes from the word Haflala, namely criminalization. During a prayer, we “criminalize” ourselves, namely discover that we are criminals, and therefore ask for forgiveness. The crime we realize we have committed pertains to the operating system, namely that we have been selfish, thinking of ourselves and loving only ourselves rather than embracing all of creation and working for its favor. In spirituality, selfishness is always the only sin, since every wrong we do comes from thinking only of ourselves.
The physical Rosh Hashanah happens once a year. However, the process of reflection, regret, asking forgiveness, and praying to become more loving is not limited by anything. It can, and should be a constant cycle that we do internally. Each time we complete a cycle of requests for forgiveness, we reach another Rosh Hashanah, until the next realization of selfishness emerges in us through our efforts to correct our egoism and become more caring.
When the cycle of Selichot is over and we reach Rosh Hashanah, we not only wish to be the head and not the tail, we also celebrate the correction of our corrupt qualities. We symbolize this by dipping an apple in honey. The apple represents the heart, and the honey stands for sweetening (correcting) it from selfishness to caring for others.
Another custom is to eat a Rimon (pomegranate). A pomegranate has many seeds in it. Each of them stands for one selfish desire. Eating them stands for correcting them from selfishness to giving, which gives us a feeling of Romemut (elation, note the similarity to the word Rimon).
Finally, on Rosh Hashanah, we blow the Shofar—a festive horn. The blowing of the horn stands for our yearning for correction from carelessness and hatred of others into being loving, connected, and united as one with all the people in the world. The word shofar comes from the Aramaic word Shufra (the best of the best). This is the state we achieve once all our desires have been corrected and we become united as one loving, global family.
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