My new article on Linkedin “The World Waits for Israel”

A student of mine told me that thirty years ago, a sheikh from the extremist Palestinian Hamas movement predicted that in 2022, between the month of Ramadan and the month of June, Israel will be destroyed. He asked if I thought there was a chance that this could happen. I told him he can sleep quietly because it won’t, not now. However, if we continue to conduct ourselves as we have been so far, we will not exist for long. The nations voted to establish a Jewish state because deep down, they await and long for our spiritual awakening—to set an example of brotherly love and mutual responsibility. If we live up to their dream, they will rally behind us, including Hamas. If we disappoint them, they will revoke Israel.

Our internal cohesion or lack thereof determines everything that happens, not only among Jews, but in general. Everyone senses this but us. You can often hear antisemites blaming Jews for all the problems in the world. This is a testimony to the fact that they see us as responsible for the well-being of the world. And they are right, since through our own unity or disunity we make the world choose unity or division.

Since the inception of our nation, we have been obligated to serve as “a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those who dwell in darkness from the prison” (Isaiah 42:6-7). We have never been relieved from duty, and the fact that the nations hold us to a higher standard proves that they still expect us to lead by example.

It is no coincidence that the two dominant religions—Christianity and Islam—emerged from Judaism. However, because the example we currently give is one of division and hatred, this is the treatment we get from the world. If we injected a different spirit into the world, the world would be different, and so would the way the world treats the Jews in general, and Israel in particular.

This is why it is written in The Book of Zohar (Aharei Mot) that after Israel make peace among themselves, “By your merit, there will be peace in the world.” This is also why Rav Kook wrote around the time of World War I, “If we were ruined and the world was ruined with us through unfounded hatred, we will be rebuilt and the world will be rebuilt with us through unfounded love.”

It follows that the world will not like us, or even accept us as long as we do not like one another. However, if we do accept and like one another, the world will embrace us and support us because we will be setting the example it expects to see from us.

Our internal cohesion or lack thereof determines everything that happens, not only among Jews, but in general. Everyone senses this but us. You can often hear antisemites blaming Jews for all the problems in the world. This is a testimony to the fact that they see us as responsible for the well-being of the world. And they are right, since through our own unity or disunity we make the world choose unity or division. If humanity chose unity, there would be no problems anywhere. Since it chooses division, there is no solution to any of our problems, and more of them keep piling up.

Whatever we are, shines on the world. If we are “a light to the nations,” the world shines with us. If we are “a darkness to the nations,” the world darkens with us and hates us for it.

It is all a question of our internal unity. We need not please or appease anyone; we should only try to—after two millennia of hatred and division—love one another, as one man with one heart, just as we were at the moment of the birth of our nation.

This is the solution to the problems of the world, and to the grievances that the world has against us. This is why when seeking solutions to America’s social problems, the most notorious antisemite in American history, Henry Ford, founder of the auto company, recommended looking into the ancient Jewish society, before it fell into unfounded hatred: “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, … would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”

Indeed, the world waits for Israel.
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Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Israel, Israel Today, New Publications | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Medium published my new article “How We Misunderstand Leadership”

An interview with primatologist Frans de Waal was recently brought to my attention. De Waal, a prolific author who wrote extensively about his research on chimpanzees, is famous for having promulgated the concept of “alpha male.” In his book Chimpanzee Politics, he talked about this concept, and then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, recommended the book to new congressmen and women. But according to De Waal, the concept was miscomprehended and came to mean, as he explained in a TED lecture, that an alpha male “is basically a bully.”

Actually, says De Waal, alpha males are not necessarily the most aggressive or the strongest. For the most part, they rise to the top by forming coalitions with other males, and continue to cultivate their relationships with them once they reach the top position. The coalition helps them maintain their status and deter potential challengers.

However, a coalition of males is not enough to maintain the top post. Despite their physical inferiority, the females have a decisive role in the troop. To win their support, the alpha male pampers the females with food and other treats, and tickles their infants.

Interestingly, both the alpha male and alpha female play the role of peacekeepers — the male among the males, and the female among the females. When the alpha male comes to make peace between belligerent monkeys, he transcends consideration of coalition and acts as an objective peacemaker. The troop members recognize this and respect him for that.

Even more interesting, an alpha male will often assist an ailing or a sick member of the troop for no apparent reason. Even if he is not a member of his coalition and there seems to be no personal benefit in helping a weaker or a sick monkey, male or female, the alpha male will often share food, offer comfort, and assist in many other ways.

As a rule, the kinder the alpha male, the longer his reign. And when it is time to be replaced, he will not be mistreated. On the contrary, the troop will continue to respect him and assist him in his old age, a tribute to his kindness in his days at the throne.

If a bully becomes the alpha male, as it sometimes happens, he will rule just as long as his physical strength endures. When challenged, not only will the troop not support him, it will support his challenger. The end of a bullying alpha male will invariably be bitter and painful.

I am describing all this to show how similar we are. That is, if our society were as just and ethical as that of the chimpanzees, it would probably look something like this.

In the end, the desires of humans and the desires of primates are the same desires, the same thoughts and calculations. The difference lies in the intensity and sophistication, but the desires are all and all the same. Envy, passion, and power hunger all exist in humans as they exist in primates, though in the latter, they are less developed and not as sophisticated.

If we examine ourselves honestly, we will see that on the social level, we have not evolved more than they have. While we developed technology, they developed positive social characteristics that we have not. As a result, we have a technologically advanced society that uses technology against its own members.

There is a reason why this happens, a fundamental difference that makes it impossible for our society to become like that of the primates. The difference is that what they do instinctively, we must do consciously, or we will not be able to do it at all, as we can evidently see.

If we were meant to remain on the level of primates, there would be no point in becoming humans. We have been denied the instinct to build a positive and supportive society so that we would develop it of our own accord. In doing so, we would grasp the merits of such a society compared to its opposite, which is our current state. This, in turn, would make our understanding of human nature, and of nature as a whole, far deeper than any other created being can grasp.

Some may think that trying to care for one another is naive or unrealistic, but they do not understand that by doing so, we are building within us the structure that exists outside of us. We study nature by simulating its modus operandi, and since nature works in a manner of reciprocity and care, as the chimpanzee society demonstrates, the only way that we will understand nature is by building a similar society of our own accord and through our own efforts.

Nature, in a sense, has made us blind so we would develop our vision by ourselves. We, for our blindness and selfishness, think that the whole world is as blind and selfish as we are. But if we strive to act the way animals act naturally, we will discover nature’s true, caring disposition.
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Question: The symbol of the exodus from Egypt is matzah. Why is it necessary to use matzah during Passover?

Answer: Matzah is unleavened bread, that is, bread that is prepared in a special way with the minimum amount of water necessary to make a starter. Then it is baked in a simple way on coals or in a hot frying pan, it does not matter what.

Matzah is baked in memory of exiting Egypt and symbolizes our quick transition from the desire to receive to the desire to bestow. It happens unexpectedly, with a leap, in the most allegedly unsuitable place and time for a person.

An accumulating process takes place, and a person exits the control of egoism. This is called the exodus from Egypt.

Question: So, is a person not expecting this exit?

Answer: He expects it all the time, but does not know that it is so close. When it really happens to him, he does not understand how it suddenly happened. However, someday it will happen to everyone.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/19/22

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Question: In our world, it is believed that the freedom of a country is political independence, elections, the absence of subordination and dependence of the people on some other country. And by what criteria can a Kabbalist say this country [Israel] is independent?

Answer: If we talk about Israel, then by spiritual definition we are not a country and not a nation. So it’s too early for us to talk about it. We can only give approximate definitions to this and analyze why we still do not satisfy true spiritual concepts of what a country, a nation, a state, a family, and so on are.

There are very clear definitions here that relate specifically to us and not to the rest of the nations of the world. Baal HaSulam examines this in articles about the last generation.

In particular, in the newspaper The Nation, published in 1940, he writes: It is a shame to admit that one of the most precious merits we have lost during the exile, and the most important of them, is the loss of the awareness of the nationality, meaning that natural feeling that connects and sustains each and every nation. The threads of love that connect the nation, which are so natural and primitive in all the nations, have become degenerated and detached from our hearts, and they are gone.

The fact is that other nations have a sense of dependence, a sense of community, while the Jews practically do not. They are characterized by increased egoism, remoteness from each other, and a willingness to get closer to each other only in times of special catastrophes. And so on.

Question: And what is the national identity? What is he talking about?

Answer: If we take, for example, any nation and start looking for the spiritual roots in it, we will see that almost all nations have a craving for self-consciousness, and the Jews may have the opposite picture.

This comes from the fact that the Jews are the nation of the idea, which was gathered by Abraham from different clans on the basis of unity.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/26/22

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Comment: When I read the story about the Exodus from Egypt, I could not understand why the Creator was constantly hardening the Pharaoh’s heart. And then I found an explanation in the sources that the hardening of the heart is necessary for a person to have a real desire for truth.

My Response: The necessity for the Creator’s help!

A person still thinks: if I do not have enough time now, then some other time when I am smarter, stronger, and so on. Thus, he comes to realize that there is nothing in him and there cannot be anything for him to defeat the Pharaoh. And then he needs the help of the Creator and comes to prayer.

Question: Your teacher Rabash wrote that the hardening of the heart was necessary so that there would be an opportunity for prayer. Is the prayer needed not by the Creator but by the person?

Answer: Of course. What does the Creator even need? A person, on the other hand, needs the prayer so that he has a desire to receive help from the Creator.

Prayer is the final action on the part of a person when he already has everything necessary to turn to the Creator correctly.

Question: But where is the point that can be pressed to make prayer appear?

Answer: You look for it and press. No one will find it but you.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/14/22

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Question: Is it correct that according to Kabbalah, in the present moment of a person’s existence, one has no independence, not a single thought of his own?

Answer: Of course not. From where?

What does “his own” mean? Where can one’s own thought come from at all? From the vacuum of space, from some kind of an empty place? It arises from  something!

A child growing up has some thoughts, suddenly he begins to understand something. From where? After all, nothing can come from nothing. It appears and manifests itself.

It is just like when I turn on the radio. So what, that I turned it on? I have to tune it to some wave and then it will give me some information, it will somehow manifest itself. In fact, we are the receivers of a common information field, a common thought.

We automatically follow the instructions of this thought up to a certain point of development until suddenly something opposite appears in us. We do not want to act automatically as we did before. I have a revolutionary desire to rebel against this thought: I want to find out what for, why, for what reason I live, and not to be some kind of machine. I have to feel that I exist on my own.

Here a rebellion arises within a person. From that moment on, he has the opportunity to become a Kabbalist, that is, one who attains this thought from the outside and then agrees or disagrees with it. This is how his movement toward this thought begins: in disagreement, in rejection, in distance, in opposition.

It is from the fact that he attains his oppositeness and does not want to agree with this thought that he begins to explore it. He, a Kabbalist, begins to explore it and sees how perfect and pure it is, and he wants to receive it.

He makes of himself the receiver of this thought, not automatically the way he was created, but independently, explicitly. This is called attaining the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Secrets of Immortality” 1/7/11

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Question: In the modern world do we need to educate the surrounding society first of all and not the individual?

Answer: We need to urgently change mass media. This is a very difficult job because it leads to the greatest revolution at all levels. Absolutely at all levels.

The mass media pass on certain politics of each country to a person. We understand that changing it can impact big changes in society.

Comment: Naturally. If society and its laws are egoistic, when everyone thinks only about how to snatch something for himself, then the media is also built on the same principle.

My Response: Do not replace one with another and do not swap them. It is because the media is loaded and directed at people in this way that people are like that, and not the other way around.

Indeed, a person is initially an egoist, but it is the mass media that teaches him how to use his egoism. No one else. The environment, not the parents.

However, if parents also act badly, it is only because they have been taught this way, they have seen these examples. A person is brought up only by examples, as they say: “You lie with dogs, you wake up with fleas.” Therefore, we have to take into account that if we want to change something, we need to change the environment. Basically, what else do we need besides improving a person? Nothing else.

To do this, you need to change the environment around a person. Give him the right examples, not by force, but so that he is surrounded by them. Then he will have to change.

If we encourage bad examples, we end up with a terrible society. I watch TV programs and they just scare me. This is the future society!

Most programs do not talk about anything except murders and investigations. Everything revolves around this. There is nothing else. They practically make people accustomed to the fact that they live in this environment and must conform to it.

I once gave a report about this in Arosa, Switzerland at the famous World Spirit Forum. I was applauded, and that was the end of it. What else can they do? This is a massive problem. People have no problems besides education. Everything depends on the education.

If we took today’s generation and were able to educate it well, then in 10 or 15 years we would have a normal society, a completely different civilization.

Why can we not realize that we can do this, for the sake of our children? Let’s create a good society for them. Let’s make the world completely different, and they will become different.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Outlaw” 12/19/10

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Question: Tsiolkovsky had a feeling that death does not exist. He wrote that the universe is unchangeable, boundless, and constant. He related to human life and all of development in the same way. He said that man was created in order to come to some kind of perfect, intelligent system, intelligent life.

What is this perfect stage to which we are being pushed?  Tsiolkovsky also said that at that moment, the path of suffering in the development of humanity will end.

Answer: Of course, indeed, this is the ascent above our egoistic nature when we unwillingly, whether we want it or not, act only in self interest.

And the universe demands a different state from us, equivalence with it, when all forces are balanced and complement each other.

Looking at the universe now, we see it egotistically: everyone grabs, devours, pulls, draws in, and consumes. It is I who see it this way.

And if I would look at everything correctly, I would see that everything is in absolute harmony. And then I would also be in harmony with everything that is happening, and would see a different universe undisturbed by my ego.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. The Will of the Universe” 28/11/10

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The rest of the concepts, which combine the reason for their method and other methods, are forbidden to us. One who uses them breaches, “Turn you not unto the idols.” (Baal HaSulam, “Body And Soul”). 

If you imagine something that you do not perceive in your senses, it means that you are imagining it to yourself, and therefore, it is idolatry.

To imagine something in your uncorrected, non–spiritual qualities as real is pure idolatry. There is no other way to call it.

Question: So, should we not imagine unification, love, or bestowal either?

Answer: You can imagine it not as something independent but as existing between people. Then there is nothing wrong with it.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/5/22

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the importance of humans to the Earth?“

The importance of humans to the Earth is that we truly realize what it means to become human, and fulfill our role here by doing so.

Becoming human means adjusting our attitude toward people and nature on all of its levels—the still, vegetative, animate and speaking—so that our attitude aligns with the altruistic attitude sourced in nature.

In other words, we need love. By increasing love in our relations, we can stop the spread of hatred. By failing to add love in our relations, we let hatred abound and thus find that we become increasingly imbalanced among each other and with nature.

Planet Earth feels human attitudes, whether or not we feel love, hate or anything else. We live on a living organism, which is now suffering.

In order to alleviate the Earth’s suffering and to make the Earth happy, we need only wish to create a positive, mutual and balanced life, that we become the source of this newfound balance, and we will then also bring balance to the planet, to the atmosphere, and to everything else in nature.

When we reach balance among each other and with nature, we will experience a whole new abundant and perfect life.

Based on the video “It’s Time to Reassess Our Relationship With Nature” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

Filed under: Q&A, Quora | Add Comment / Ask Question →