Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Peace with Israel’s Enemies Begins and Ends Within”

Every so often, news of the rabid antisemitism that fills the pages of K-12 Palestinian textbooks remind us that nothing has grown milder on the other side. On the contrary, the Palestinians are openly teaching their children that killing Jews and Israelis is their sacred duty. Even the EU, not exactly the most pro-Israel body in the world, “passed a motion condemning the Palestinian Authority for drafting and teaching new violent and hatful materials using EU funding.” The motion “Deplores that problematic and hateful material in Palestinian school textbooks has still not been removed and is concerned about the continued failure to act effectively against hate speech and violence in school textbooks and especially in the newly created study cards.”

Recently, matters have deteriorated to the point where Gazan 4th graders are taught arithmetic by counting shahids—Muslims who died killing or attempting to kill infidels, namely Jews. To 10th graders, Gazan schools teach that Jihad (holy war) is every Muslim’s personal duty. I have no hope for any moderation on the part of the Palestinians.

However, I have complete confidence in our ability to change the situation regardless of the Palestinians’ intentions. Israel should work on two levels. On the material level, we should withhold funds from them and limit food supply. The “arithmetic” should be simple: If you teach your children to murder us, we will treat you like the enemy that you are.

However, this alone will not work, perhaps only in the very short term. What will work is what we do among ourselves.

The way that Palestinians relate to us reflects our relation to each other. It has always been this way, and it will always be this way. Israel prospers only when it is united. When it is divided, foes attack it and destroy the country. If we were united, the Palestinians would not even contemplate including anti-Israel materials into their textbooks since they would not harbor anti-Israel sentiments.

Therefore, on the spiritual level, we must unite our ranks. The dozens of political parties that fight against each other in the current Israeli political system reflect our internal division. We cannot have twenty parties fighting one another for the throne and groveling before our enemies in order to get their support. It only emboldens them and adds contempt to their loathing.

If we want Palestinians to stop antisemitic incitement in their schools, we must teach our own children and ourselves only to love one another. No excuses will help us.

We may not see the connection between how we relate to one another and how they relate to us, but the two are nevertheless directly connected. When we stop reasoning in order to excuse ourselves from caring about each other, and try to come closer above our differences, we will see a revolutionary change in the entire world toward us.

Loving others, especially if they are different from us, is the basic tenet of our nation, the bedrock of our peoplehood. Until we exercise it, we will not know peace.

You will find more on this topic in my books Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour, and The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.
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Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Israel Today, New Publications, Unity | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: What information can be deemed as objective so that it can be trusted? Is there any such information at all?

Answer: It is outside of a person and within the image that a person discovers in the Creator. There one begins to live, so to say, according to concepts.

Question: And what information does the Creator carry?

Answer: The Creator brings to man the understanding of man.

Question: So a person starts to understand who he is?

Answer: Yes. We cannot and do not attain the Creator Himself. We attain everything within ourselves in some of our feelings regarding each other.

Question: So it turns out that all this truth and correct information is incomprehensible in our egoistic and earthly conditions?

Answer: Certainly not.

Question: Do you mean we have to break away from egoism nevertheless?

Answer: When you break away, you begin to understand that this truth is also not yet attainable.

Question: Where is it then?

Answer: It doesn’t exist. Really, it doesn’t. We still can’t escape from ourselves in any way. We attain the Creator only to the extent of equivalence to Him in the heart, in  feelings, and in the mind, which help us somehow complete the image that we always want to see and draw in ourselves.

Question: Which is the image of Him as loving, kind, and doing good?

Answer: Yes but these are still limited things. Everything is relative to a person and we can’t escape from ourselves anywhere. No matter how we imagine all this, the real truth is unattainable.

There are still degrees, worlds, and elevations that still need to be attained, they are imaginary, transcendent, and negative, which we will have to reveal.

Question: In principle, is it  good for a person that there are all these worlds and secrets before him?

Answer: It’s so exciting as we move forward! The Creator Himself is already there without any connection with us. And at the point when you feel that it’s Him there but without me, it suddenly gives you such strength and perseverance to achieve since it shows us that it is probably surmountable.

Question: Is that what you call life?

Answer: Of course!
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/27/22

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Question: There is a World Slow Day that was invented by the Italians. Now it is celebrated in 90 countries around the world, including in Paris, London, and Washington. The president of The Art of Living Slowly, notes that, “‘It’s an occasion to take a little time for yourself and remember that if we’re always rushing, we end up taking the wrong road.” The day promotes slowing down to live better. 

How do you feel about living so leisurely?

Answer: It depends on the people and not on whether or not to introduce a holiday.

Question: Can I get under this stream?

Answer: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. The influence of the environment on a person is well studied.

Question: What is a leisurely life for you?

Answer: I already think that I live slowly. Nobody drives me anywhere; I’m my own boss. The only thing is that I still have responsibility for thousands of people.

Question: And does the slowness immediately disappear at this moment?

Answer: It is already changing its form, even its function and its content. It turns into a leisurely responsibility. This means that I must not rush, but at the same time understand that I cannot just stop and allow myself to think and rest as much as I want. I have to take into account those people who somehow depend on me.

Question: And the rigid life schedule remains?

Answer: Yes! It’s above everything. I believe that slowness is when a person has everything correctly distributed. It can be at great speed. That is, the whole day is absolutely filled, but he knows what he must do this at every moment of time, and he fully relies, if necessary, on his extraneous forces. And so he relates to life as the implementation of mandatory procedures.

Question: Tell me, please, should an ordinary person live leisurely?

Answer: Any person is obliged to live slowly; that is, he is obliged to make his life, the lives of those around him, the life of the country, the state, and the world such that it obeys a very clear understanding of the goal and the steps to achieve it.

Question: What goal should such a leisurely person strive for?

Answer: To achieve true slowness because any haste leads to incredibly undesirable results: a person immediately instantly limits his analytical abilities and decisions and slides into haste and makes irrational decisions.

Question: What specific goal should a person set?

Answer: To constantly be at a certain pace, like a train: move, move, move, without slowing down or adding speed. All the time. This is the right attitude toward life.

Question: What is your goal as a leisurely person?

Answer: To achieve the maximum possible disclosure of the Creator for me, the maximum possible dissemination of the science of Kabbalah, and the maximum possible distribution of this knowledge among my students. That’s pretty much my goal.

Question: What about an ordinary person?

Answer: I think that in principle, everyone should gradually approach these same questions. And then for an ordinary person the goal will be to achieve a correct understanding of life and the world.

Question: What is it?

Answer: To reveal it. And that’s it. That is, when the disclosure of life and the world coincide with the desires of a person, with his goal and what he realizes.

Question: What is a person led to?

Answer: To reveal the inner force of the world that created our world, that created us, that controls everything, why, how it does it, and how I can work with it on this together.

Question: That is, to become an accomplice in this process?

Answer: Become an accomplice in this whole thing. It’s to be an accomplice.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 1/31/22

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Throughout our lives we develop thanks to egoism, which pushes us from generation to generation. Every time I want something new: this, that, and other things. Look at children, they are on the move all the time. This is how our egoism develops: grab this, learn that, try this.

Although we clash with each other, fight, kill, and steal, we are controlled by our nature, and therefore, no matter what, we are moving forward. This is how humanity has come to this day.

If suddenly we say: “Let us develop not with a natural egoistic force, but with an altruistic one, opposite to it,” where can we get the desire, strength, and energy for the realization of altruism?

For the realization of egoism, I have the energy, I want to receive. But to give, where will I find such a desire in myself? Can I think of others? Of course not.

I can only think about the other to the extent that I understand my dependence on him. As a result, I think only about myself and can do good for others if I clearly know that it will be good for me.

Human nature is the most common everyday egoism at any level. Look at how atoms, molecules, the valence of elements, and everything else connects, how larger substances combine into an organism and how it works.

Even altruism inside the body in which each part thinks about the other is necessary for the whole system to work; otherwise, no organ will live. Thus, there is altruism in our world also, but it is animalistic altruism.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Gene of altruism” 9/19/10

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Question: Which family model is closer to the spiritual roots: Eastern or Western?

Answer: The model closer to the spiritual roots is when the man is in charge outside and the woman inside. And we see it. The woman is responsible for taking care of the house, she is the hostess. The man, in principle, is not.

Comment: But he is trying to limit the woman.

My Response: No, in a good family the man does not do that. I have observed it in both Eastern and Western families. In the end, nature anyway leads people to look for compromise. And indeed, where the woman works, she commands.

The man does not even interfere because he is not created for that. And vice versa, when we are talking about strictly man’s duties—going out of the house to hunt or to work, going after a mammoth or after money, it does not matter what, that is, everything concerning outside the house—the woman gives him  greater freedom there.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Siamese Twins” 9/19/10

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Question: Does the discovery of The Book of the Zohar and the fact that we are studying it indicate that a new cycle of development has begun in humanity?

Answer: According to Kabbalah, since the end of the 20th century humanity has entered a special period when it is obliged to change the paradigm of development from reception to bestowal. We must fully implement the principle of “love your neighbor as yourself.”

However, we have neither the strength nor the desire for this. We are guided only by the need to avoid suffering. If, along with this, we open The Book of the Zohar, then a person will be able to change so much that while in our world he will feel himself as if he is in paradise.

Today, there are many comments and explanations on this book available in every language. There are about two million people around the world who are studying within the system of the international KabU education centers. Therefore, we have the experience to explain to everyone the essence of The Book of Zohar.

In the past, we were promised a bright future and we will really be able to implement it because there is a force in nature that can change us. The communists did not know this, but the Jews had it as their little secret. Today they tell everyone about it.

The time has come when humanity must realize that it must change itself, otherwise it has no future. Therefore, The Book of Zohar is now revealed and we can use it. I am sure that all of us will be happy.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up, Gene of Altruism” 9/19/10

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Today there are many different methods. But why doesn’t any of them evoke such internal resistance as Kabbalah does? Because it is the truth and it must be revealed.

Kabbalah acts against the ego. It says that our problem is egoism that needs to be corrected by rising above it. We must not just love each other, not just treat each other well, not change something in nature or in ourselves or somewhere else; it is also necessary to recognize the highest level of nature, which is called the Creator and to reveal Him for oneself, to take Him as a role model, and shape yourself into His likeness.

It means making something completely opposite out of yourself and leaving your interests to start doing everything for the sake of others, to turn yourself into their servant, as it were, when you begin to love everyone and to treat them with absolute care.

Their desires become your desires; their worries become yours, and for you this is the only thing that exists in life. For what purpose? In order to rise to the level of the Creator.

Here we see a lot of hurdles in front of us. The very first hurdle is to reveal the Creator. If I do that, it will be easy for me. Then I will gladly give myself to others because my reward will be eternity, wholeness, and absolute happiness.

Question: But, will I continue to act out of egoistic motives?

Answer: No. Along the way your likeness to the Creator will change you because He gives without any egoistic actions. You will start out as an egoist, but gradually, while working to bestow on others in order to reach the Creator, you will suddenly discover the quality of completeness within bestowal itself and discover that bestowal and love in themselves bring you such fulfillment that it is worth it to engage in them.
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From KabTV’s “Close-up. Partnership Agreement” 4/7/10

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What happens if a kid hits a teacher?“

Recently in Israel, a ninth grader at an art school in Tel Aviv slapped his teacher in the face, and it was followed by other students in the class applauding him. The student was suspended, and the teachers at the school spoke out against violence and discontinued their work that day.

I see this incident as a result of our current form of education. It is as if that boy gave a slap to the whole education system, and it could be that all teachers and the entire education system need to feel it. He is a result of that system, which includes not only the schooling he receives, but our society in general, our families, schools, workplaces, the media, TV, radio, and what goes on in the streets. If horrible examples are abundant in the environment that influences us, then what do we expect to see in our lives? Today’s youth are simply the results of this environment.

We need to completely change this education system because it currently has no aim of nurturing and growing children into happy, confident and well-connected human beings. Instead, it aims at nothing more than giving people a few subjects, and leading them to a certain grade standard. In other words, today’s education fails to develop the inner human in us.

What should be the main objective of the education system? It should be to develop human beings in the fullest sense of the term. In order to develop human beings, the educators themselves require learning of what that means and how to do it. If we bring about such a change, then we will start seeing the emergence of a whole new harmonious and peaceful society. Children and teens will have a positive attitude toward their parents, teachers and other people in general. We will also know how to positively connect with each other, why we connect, what is the meaning of life, and how to realize it.

That is of utmost importance in education. We will also learn different subjects and topics along the way, but we need a new foundation that defines who and what we are, why we are here, and how we can improve ourselves.

Based on the video “Ninth-Grader Slaps Teacher in the Face – A Kabbalist’s Response” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why do people burn books?“

Book burning is an expression of destroying ideas that were built on a previous generation, which is considered outdated and opposed to the ideas of the new generation. Quite frankly, it is an easier action than educating the current generation.

Education, however, cannot be replaced by anything else because its goal is to bring about inner change in people. Everything other than education is something external. Expressing hatred toward certain writers and books is a departure from correct education.

Past writers wrote what they did in a way considered correct for their time. In general, each generation destroys what the previous generation built, but there is a correct way to destroy something in order to correctly build anew.

The correct form of education is when people are taught to love one another. By reaching a common love among everyone, we remove the basis of inequality. Book burning, however, lets hatred proliferate among all strata of the population.

We need an approach where we accept the occurrence of whatever happened in the past, and we should not burn anything or break any monuments. In other words, we should not recall the bad. Instead, from the present moment onward, we should adjust our attitudes to each other—to try and love one another. We would then have no need to destroy anything that came beforehand.

We would then also understand that whatever happened had to have happened the way that it did. We were all young, we soiled our diapers. That is how we grew up. We did silly things, smashed and broke dishes, or whatever else. We all went through such paths of growth.

We undergo natural stages of maturation, and we should not forget about what has happened. Moreover, we have nothing to be ashamed of nor to justify in our past. We just have to understand why nature made us the egoistic beings that we are, and that we have a massive ego still dwelling in us. We should then focus on what we need to do in order to correct our current ego.

The human ego is a desire to benefit at the expense of others and nature. It enslaves each and every one of us within ourselves. If we set ourselves on a path to break free from our enslavement to the ego, we would then become grateful for the pages of history, because they led to our current heightened awareness and the decision to realize our true freedom and independence.

We need to learn how to control the ego dwelling within us correctly. If we destroy it, then we correct nothing, and simply keep ourselves suspended in the air.

Based on the video “Why Do People Burn Books?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Brendan Stephens on Unsplash.

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Pesach (Passover)” 

Selected Highlights

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