Audio Version Of The Blog – 10/9/22
Posted on October 9th, 2022
Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3 Audio
Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3 Audio
My new article on Linkedin “Nine UC Berkeley Law Students Sign Illegal Bylaw”
Antisemitism is racism, which is illegal in the United States. Anti-Zionism, that is, “targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity,” according to the US government, is a manifestation of antisemitism, and therefore illegal. Yet, this did not stop nine student groups at the UC Berkeley law school from signing an openly racist statement against Zionists, anyone who supports them, and the State of Israel collectively. The nine organizations pledge to ban “speakers that have expressed and continued to hold views … in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine,” and to support the BDS movement. They signed it, purportedly for the purpose of “protecting the safety and welfare of Palestinian students.”
You could argue that nine student organizations out of more than a hundred that exist in UC Berkeley’s law school is a small minority, but only a few years ago, the very idea of composing such a statement would have been unthinkable, let alone signing it.
Also, if you consider that even though antisemitism is illegal in the US, no one has taken any measures against these groups, other than condemning them, and that, too, was voiced mainly by Jews, it is clear that antisemitic views are far more prevalent under the surface. If this trend continues, and it seems to be accelerating, it will not be long before the observation of Berkeley Law alum Kenneth Marcus comes true, that the incident is a sign of “ university spaces go[ing] as the Nazis’ infamous call, judenfrei. Jewish-free.”
When I spoke to students in California in 2004 and warned them that this is where things were going, they did not believe me. When I spoke in 2014 to organizations trying to fight against antisemitism on US campuses, and warned them that this is where things were going, they did not believe me. Now they are alarmed that it is happening, but they still resist the only solution to their plight: their own unity.
It needs to be said in plain words: If American Jewry does not unite, and unity may well begin with Jewish students, the demand to make Berkeley Zionist-free will spread throughout the country. The demand will not confine itself to banning explicit Zionists, but also those who might be covert supporters of Zionism, namely all the Jews.
Just as Spain expelled all the Jews because it suspected them of secretly aspiring to convert Christians to Judaism, anyone who supports, or might support Zionism will become a suspect, and therefore an outcast. Just as it did not help the Jews to declare, sincerely by the way, that they were not trying to convert Christians, it will not help American Jews to state that they do not support Zionism or the State of Israel.
Antisemitism is already omnipresent in the “Land of the Free.” If an Arab student shows support for Palestine, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, or any other explicitly Muslim country, that support is fiercely protected by human rights groups and by university faculty and administration as a legitimate expression of free speech. But on campuses, that same right is denied of Jewish students who support Israel; they are afraid not only to show support for the Jewish state, but even to identify as Jews or wear Jewish insignia such as the Star of David.
The best lesson that Jewish students should learn is why they are hated. They feel that they did nothing wrong, but this is clearly not the view of many of their peers, and many more are joining their indicters. The cycle of Jewish history has not changed since the inception of the nation: They are welcome, tolerated, hated, and finally expelled (or exterminated) everywhere they go.
The only antidote to Jew-hatred is Jewish unity—not against antisemitism, but caring for the sake of caring. Solidarity has been our only source of strength, since our vocation is to show exemplary unity, mutual responsibility, and caring for others as ourselves.
Our strength is in our unity because the universe is a united entity, and only people feel apart. The Jewish people became a nation when they managed to unite above their separation and become similar to the rest of nature; this is why they were tasked with being an example.
Since then, humanity has fixed its eyes on us and follows our example. When we are apart, we are willy-nilly an example of division, so the world accuses us of inciting conflicts. When we are united, we are an example of unity, so the world embraces us.
This is the message I have been trying to convey to Jewish students in America since 2004. If they embrace the message and unite, it will be the most valuable lesson they will ever learn, and the world will thank them for it.
[303904]
My new article on Linkedin “The Legacy of a Giant”
Today, October 7, sixty-eight years ago, Rav Yehuda Ashlag, the greatest kabbalist and thinker of our time, and one of the greatest of all time, passed away. He became known as Baal HaSulam (author of the Sulam [ladder]) after his Sulam commentary on The Book of Zohar. He lived through both world wars, predicted them well in advance, and warned his fellow Jews in Poland that a calamity awaits them long before the Holocaust. He wrote about it, talked about it, and organized the escape of hundreds of families from Poland to what was then Palestine and later became the State of Israel. His efforts were thwarted. The families were intimidated into staying in Poland, and his writings were banned.
Subsequently, Baal HaSulam moved to Palestine on his own and toiled just as diligently to spread the message of unity among Jews and unity throughout the world. Yet, in Palestine, too, his writings were banned and he was threatened that he would be imprisoned if he continued to spread his ideas.
Fortunately, many of his writings survived so we can learn of his greatness and realize his message. Today, it is imperative that we understand his legacy and realize his teaching because, among other things, he detailed how we can avoid a third, nuclear world war.
In the latter years of his life, Baal HaSulam dedicated his time to writing his monumental commentary on The Book of Zohar, the only complete commentary since the writing of The Zohar nearly two millennia ago. In the years prior to his work on The Zohar, he divided his time between writing a comprehensive commentary on the writings of the ARI, which became known as The Study of the Ten Sefirot, and writing essays on contemporary events and processes that shaped the world’s history.
In the 1930s, long before people spoke of globalization or the interconnectedness of nations, Baal HaSulam wrote a series of essays warning against exploitation because we are dependent on each other. Two essays in particular, “The Peace” and “Peace in the World,” analyzed the state of humanity, where it was headed, and what needed to be done.
In June 1940, he published a paper which he sold on the street like a regular newspaper. It contained opinion pieces in which he analyzed the situation in the world in view of the world war that was raging in Europe and elsewhere, and outlined the peril that awaited Polish Jewry. Alas, it was too late to save them. Had they listened to him in the 1920s, things would probably have been very different.
In the 1950s, shortly before his passing, he wrote what he predicted for the world, but never managed to publish it. He hoped that now that the world had seen the horrors of nuclear weapons, people would be willing to rise above their ego and unite. He also warned that if they did not, humanity would plunge into a third, and even fourth world war, both of which would be nuclear, and the relics would still have to rise above their ego and unite in order to put an end to hatred and war.
Baal HaSulam’s legacy is his efforts to help humanity unite. Today we see how essential it is that we understand his message of unity and spread it, as it is the only message that can prevent a third world war.
Kabbalists have always been ahead of their time. Baal HaSulam’s predecessors, too, were misunderstood during their lifetime. It is my hope that we understand the message of Baal HaSulam not centuries after his passing, but now, while there is still time to avoid a global tragedy.
For the writings of Baal HaSulam (not including The Book of Zohar and The Study of the Ten Sefirot), read The Writings of Baal HaSulam, Vol. 1, and Vol. 2.
To learn more about the travails of kabbalists and resistance to their message throughout the ages, read A Very Narrow Bridge: The fate of the Jewish people.
[303778]
Question: What is the difference between group prayer and individual prayer?
Answer: It is an entire system. The fact is that if we turn to the Creator, then it is very important for us that our prayer be collective and mutual, and that it comes from many people, not from one person.
When a person connects with other people, he tunes himself in such a way that the Creator can hear him. If he asks alone, then his prayer is ineffective.
Question: Do you mean being with other people physically?
Answer: Not necessarily physically. The main thing is for a person to feel that he is connected with the others and wants to combine his request with the request of many people.
Question: There is even a prayer called “The Prayer of Many.” Explain what this means. That is, should I pray for many and not for myself?
Answer: Yes. When a person asks for many, this is the most effective prayer.
Question: What do you need to ask?
Answer: For goodness, correction, coming closer to the Creator, and so on.
[303542]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 9/25/22
Related Material:
How To Deserve Answer From The Creator
Collective Prayer
The Unity Of Brothers: The Best Gift For The Father
The development of humanity leads to the growth of egoism, individualism, and the desire to gain as much as possible at the expense of others. At the same time, the modern world strives for integration, and therefore, whether we want it or not, we must move toward connection and mutual integration between everybody.
But we do not do this and a sort of scissors is formed. On one hand the world is moving toward technological and economic development, and on the other hand, there is no corresponding social development. It turns out that we ourselves produce all the problems that arise in modern society.
This discrepancy leads to crises, conflicts, and wars that carry the danger of escalating into global world war. Therefore, we must recognize our nature and how egoistic the direction of its development is. Instead, we do not care about correcting it and we treat each other worse and worse. We cannot stop and cease our constant quarreling, competing, and even fighting.
Therefore, it is not surprising that we fail to improve our lives. After all, we do not correct humanity, we do not give children the proper education and understanding of what kind of society and world they live in and in what direction they should develop.
We completely neglect the development of human society year after year and invest only in the development of technology, in mobile phones and computers. But it is just a shame to see what kind of information we fill these modern means of communication with and how degraded we are.
We are able to create microprocessors that already operate at frequencies of several gigahertz that provide our connection.
But at the same time, our separation is growing in direct proportion.
How can we expect that with such ”advancement” our world will come to a good life? With all the power achieved in economics and finance, our entire tomorrow, our entire future existence, is in question. This only shows how weak we are, how much we do not understand what means we have in our hands, and how we could improve the world if we established a connection between us. This is our only problem.
It is necessary to change the system of education in order to change the nature of a person so that he does not reach only for material acquisitions, but sees a great advantage in bringing people closer together and together building a correct, more merciful and kind society. At present, we are not building such a society and we are not teaching this to our children.
[303474]
From KabTV’s “World” 9/22/22
Related Material:
The Main Problem of the World Is Education
It Is Time for People to Open Their Eyes
When Will the Awakening of the World Come?
Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Should I stockpile food in the case of shortages?“
I think that doing so is useless. Food shortages and famines do not happen in order for us to fill our storage, barns, kitchen drawers and whatnot. We rather need to understand how we can realistically make sure that the world will be abundant with everything that everyone needs. The reality that food shortages and famines could quickly spread throughout our modern world is in order for us to reach such a conclusion.
The world is indeed at risk of a prolonged period of famine. It is written in the Torah that we will reach states where mothers will eat their babies, their own children. It could indeed become that severe, where we would be reduced to the level of animals.
We should thus use such knowledge in order to help us avoid looming food shortages and famines. We would then see that the sole cause of such terrible phenomena is our imbalance at the human level, that we are not doing what we should.
What, then, should we be doing?
We need to reach a mutual understanding among each other—to establish such connections among us that would help us reach balance. But we fail to do so. On the contrary, we regress, as if we want the boat we are on to head straight into a rock. And as a result, the world is indeed headed toward periods of shortages, famine and destruction.
The reason that today we hear about such impending doom scenarios is in order to frighten us so that we would change ourselves in order to change the world. The only reason we can reach such states and know about them in advance is to change ourselves. And the essence of the transformation we need to undergo is in our values: that we shift to prioritizing the benefit of others over self-benefit.
In terms of how this change will play out, together with the suffering, there will also be people who discuss connection and how to overcome the suffering. The change depends on listening to such people, and suffering will help people become readier to listen.
After certain periods of suffering, people will change. They will have a different attitude to life and to its values. They will understand that survival and the reason for survival is of utmost importance.
Moreover, even though humanity has undergone great suffering and famines in the past, today is different because we are ready to realize the true evil behind such suffering: the human ego that wishes to benefit itself at the expense of anything and anyone. It takes enormous suffering to sense, define, attain and draw conclusions from such evil.
However, we are coming closer to a state of recognizing that evil. Some signs that we are moving toward it is that we no longer hide behind all sorts of slogans, and we no longer believe in abstract values. Instead, we are becoming interested in what is most important: whether or not there is a meaning of life. And even if we assume that there is no meaning of life, we can still see how to live optimal lives on the animal level—by realizing the evil in our desire to benefit ourselves at the expense of others, the tremendous suffering it brings, and moving to re-prioritize the benefit of others over self-benefit.
Based on the video “Should We Stockpile Food in Case of Shortages and Famine?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself (George Bernard Shaw).
My Response: This is not an easy task.
Question: Let’s say “finding yourself” is more or less clear: finding yourself in a profession… What do you mean by the words “creating yourself “?
Answer: Creating ourselves is what we are facing. In fact, this is not such a sky-high thing. This is the requirement that is imposed on us from our life, to make ourselves similar to the Creator.
Comment: I do not know what the Creator is, I do not know who He is…
My Response: This will be explained to you in detail. Write down: “The first condition is to love everyone.”
Question: So the first point is: Should I learn to love everyone? Does this mean to be similar to the Creator by and large?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Is it a prayer if I write it down and look at it all the time?
Answer: Yes, that is a prayer. Imagine that you are like a parent, maybe strict, maybe kind, no matter which, but loving. The way such a parent treats his children, so you should treat people.
Question: At the moment when I read this daily and realize that I cannot, is this a prayer: “I cannot!”?
Answer: This is not a prayer, but a state when you check yourself and see how much you need to be corrected. Then you have already prepared some claims or requests for correction. So you wait for the day of atonement and present them.
Question: Is this the real prayer of Yom Kippur?
Answer: Yes. You judge yourself, you come and demand the Creator to correct you because you cannot correct yourself. The only one who can is Him. But only in accordance with your demands, requests, and pleas. So hurry up!
Question: You started from loving everyone. Is this, in principle, the basis of Yom Kippur?
Answer: Yes, it is called “Ahavat olam“—love of the world.
Question: Is this what I want to come to and I cannot, and I ask?
Answer: Absolutely! So get ready.
[303620]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 9/29/22
Related Material:
Judge Yourself
Judging Yourself
Nothing Will Help But Prayer
The Memorial Day of Baal HaSulam, Rav Yehuda Ha-Levi Ashlag is a special event. After all, it is dedicated to a unique person, a very special soul who descended in order to connect us with the Creator. He no longer needed this work for himself, just for us.
Baal HaSulam opened the path for the possibility of contact with the spiritual for souls who descend into this world in the last generation. It is us who are the coarsest souls with the greatest egoism, which could not be corrected until now. And our duty is to correct it with the help of the methodology that Baal HaSulam left us.
The teaching of Baal HaSulam, his method of correction, is a very great light that every person can attract to himself. Baal HaSulam spoke, explained, taught, and described to us all the steps for the proper advancement of our souls to correction, so that we could connect them together and thus realize our destiny.
Thanks to the work of Baal HaSulam, even the most ordinary person following his method can achieve connection with the Creator, as if he is an outstanding expert of the Torah. And before him, only great experts of the Torah were awarded this.
The correction of souls in the process of human development went step by step. Before Baal Shem Tov, it was necessary to be very exalted people with unusually high souls in order to attain the upper force and achieve connection with the Creator. And after Baal Shem Tov, it became easier in a way, the upper lights approached the lower souls. Therefore, low souls have more opportunities to attain the greatness of light, the greatness of the Creator.
The further humanity progresses, the easier it becomes for us to approach the sources of the upper light and reveal them.
[303713]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/22, “Baal HaSulam Memorial Day”
Related Material:
Present From Baal HaSulam To The Last Generation
Baal HaSulam—The Channel Of Our Connection With The Creator
Gratitude To Baal HaSulam
Repentance (Teshuva) is the main content of the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) because this is the main thing we need to do to return to the place, to the state, in which we existed before the sin of Adam. This is our goal and purpose, our duty to return to exactly the place where we were and then fell.
We were all in adhesion with the Creator, inside Him like an embryo in mother’s womb. Then we fell from this stage of adhesion into our egoism, and now we have to return from one pole to the other.
After all, now everyone thinks only about himself and cannot think about anyone else unless it is profitable for him. However, we are not able to take care of others selflessly, simply love and help each other by giving ourselves to others.
In order to return to the state we were in, we need to change our egoistic nature, which we received as a result of the shattering and separation, as a result of falling from that high place.
Rabash writes: “Repentance refers to Adam HaRishon prior to the sin being adhered, but became removed because of the sin. Hence, each and every one, because he is a part of the soul of Adam HaRishon, must approach spirituality once more,” that is, return to its root, to the state where he was before the sin.
This is an extremely exalted state where we are inside the Creator and adhered to Him like an embryo inside the mother. It is impossible to even imagine such an exalted state, but we must come to it and we certainly will. That is why we are so happy to be in a group that is learning and yearning to implement this return, and we are firmly confident that we will reach it soon.
First of all, we need to study what thoughts and feelings dwell in us today, and then we will learn how to correct our heart and mind in order to come closer to the state we were in before sinning, before falling and distancing from the Creator. How did it happen that we fell from spirituality as if there was a miscarriage and the mother lost the child? The same thing happened to us when we fell and were distanced from the Creator. But today, we have a happy opportunity to return back to Him!
[303653]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/22, “Yom Kippur—The Day of Atonement”
Related Material:
Returning To Bestowal
Getting Ready For The New Year
Man’s Birthday
Comment: Yom Kippur is the day of atonement, the day of judgment, the day of forgiveness. It has many names. It is the most important day and even secular Jews in Israel celebrate it. On this day, highways are empty and children ride their bikes peacefully. Everything stops.
People scan the year that they have lived, they check, and think it over. They even say that there is such a rule from above that you have to check it because you are being sealed for the next year.
My Response: Yes. Humble yourself and check all your actions over the past year.
Question: What does it mean to check all your deeds over the past year?
Answer: How good and kind you were to others. Because if you have any problems with others, then no judgment will redeem you. So it is said! You have to ask everyone for forgiveness and check all your actions toward connection with others.
Question: One should perceive it directly like this?
Answer: Yes, directly! That’s how it is written and that’s how I take it.
Comment: Meaning, if I hated someone, or I snapped at someone, I did some nasty things to someone…
My Response: I’m letting go.
Question: “I’m letting go” in the sense that I am in some way apologizing to them?
Answer: There are some people to whom I cannot turn and ask for forgiveness. I do it within myself. Ostensibly, I apologize to them, although I know that I cannot approach them, I cannot approach them in any way, but I apologize.
Question: Is this to say, it is required from above?
Answer: Not just from above. This is a very serious psychological action that helps a person evaluate his attitude to the world, to life, and to people.
Question: Does it give some kind of purification to a person?
Answer: Of course. I know that I have to apologize now and come out of this state in such a way that everyone will forgive me.
Question: And if I really don’t want to forgive? If I know he’s a scoundrel?
Answer: It doesn’t matter.
Question: So even to the one who offended me, I apologize to him as well?
Answer: Yes, even if he is such a scoundrel as you say, you still need to apologize as if you are to blame for all this. And how do you know? Maybe it is so.
Comment: You’re talking in such a way now, as if it’s a world holiday. You don’t add the word “Jews” or “Israel” here, as if it applies to every person.
My Response: In general, everyone should have it. This is indicated for the Jewish people, but I believe that everyone should have a day of atonement.
Not necessarily at the same time. On different days or different times of the year, but every nation and every person should experience it as if he really is before the court and is obliged to ask for forgiveness from everyone!
Question: On this day I am judged for my character?
Answer: Yes!
Question: What should I be like?
Answer: I have to be like the Creator.
I should strive to not do evil to anyone and not to hold evil against anyone and I must be ready to do good at any time of day or night. The most important thing is to come to love the Creator through love for people.
Question: So one way or another, the end point is love for the Creator? From the love of creatures to the love of the Creator? Is this the most important formula?
Answer: Yes.
Question: But if a person does not feel the Creator and does not believe in Him?
Answer: It doesn’t matter at all. All people, from the age of maturity onward, who are considered adults (women at 12 years old and men at 13 years old), are obliged in some way to sanctify themselves. Sanctify is from the word “light” and the word “holiness.”
Comment: There are judgment day prayers. What is more effective: a prayer that is written or a prayer that is in the heart when a person sits, thinks, and prays?
My Response: Undoubtedly, the one that is in the heart. What the sages wrote, they wrote. But the way I think and what I would write, as it is said, “Write on your heart,” is much stronger.
Question: What would you wish now, on this day of judgment, toward this complicated world of ours?
Answer: I would wish the world peace.
Starting with a person in himself, with friends, with relatives, and ending with absolutely everyone, the most remote up to the very last person in the world, so that the whole globe is covered with forgiveness and that we would never let our egoism rule over us again. Then everything will be fine!
Question: So I have to come to the conclusion that egoism dominates us?
Answer: Yes, of course. The entire Yom Kippur consists in the trial of egoism.
Question: So I identify the enemy on this day?
Answer: Undoubtedly.
Question: It’s not the neighbor, it’s me. And then my request is to get out?
Answer: Free me from this evil inclination in me.
Question: And this is called the best spent Yom Kippur?
Answer: Yes. When I sit, think about it all, and decide that I don’t want to use it anymore, and I ask the Creator to free me from it.
[303658]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 9/29/22
Related Material:
Yom Kippur: A Request for Correction
Yom Kippur—Recognition of Egoism
The Calendar and Spiritual Yom Kippur
Daily Audio Version-MP3
Get the Weekly eNewsletter
Follow on Twitter
