Today, we see a huge number of people among different peoples who want to adopt the Kabbalistic methodology emerging all over the world. In this regard they are no different from the so-called native Jews, and they come to the same results.

Whether it is the root of their soul or not, no one knows because, as a result of the breakage of souls and the fall of the people of Israel, especially during the period of the First Temple, ten of the twelve tribes were lost. We do not know where they are today.

Therefore, there may be hundreds of millions of people in the world who come from the ancient Israelites since the time of the First Temple.

They live among the nations of the world and are mixed in with them. Imagine if today, after all the annihilations and catastrophes that Jewry has experienced, two tribes number fifteen million, how many would the ten tribes amount to without having undergone the annihilation nor catastrophes since the First Temple.

This is a huge number of people who in their spiritual essence belong to those souls who also must carry out corrections in the world. We just have to start, as if light a match, give a spark. After that, perhaps, interest and desire for the method of the correction of the world will flare up.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up, Reincarnation” 5/3/10

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Question: Psychologists say that people who are endowed with power have pronounced tyranny, stubbornness, and mental imbalance. Scientists have found that power changes the structure of the individual and even his brain. Do you agree with this?

Answer: Absolutely agree. The fact is that we are all arranged in such a way that we are between two forces of nature (reception and bestowal, pressure and release), which must constantly be in balance.

All nature consists of two opposite forces, and in whatever way they are revealed, they must be balanced. Only in this state can we achieve correct results. We need both forces. There is no darkness without light and no light without darkness.

We must choose the golden mean in everything. If a person loses the opportunity to hold on to it and he is given permissiveness: do what you want without a limit, then we will disfigure him. He will not grow up to be what he needs to be. He must necessarily be within a framework and feel that he is given the opportunity to act in a narrow range, in the balance of two forces.

An animal has no problems in this regard. It understands what it needs and does not overeat, overdrink, or oversleep. It does whatever its body requires. The organism in the animalistic state always requires the most normal and rational things.

This is not how it is in a person. The problem is that a person is always ruled by his egoism.

Question: How does this fit with what Baal HaSulam writes: It is necessary to give freedom to the individual?

Answer: The freedom of the individual lies precisely in the fact that we do not force him, but teach him. To the extent of this learning, he gains freedom, knows how to restrict himself correctly, how to limit himself, and how make a man out of himself.

That is, freedom is a conscious restriction of one’s egoism, when a person understands how he should educate himself, meaning to be “above himself” and from “above himself” to control his animalistic nature.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/22/22

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Our senses reveal only a part of what is around us. This part we call our world. There are still many more various objects and actions around us that we do not feel, do not understand, and do not recognize.

In fact, we exist in a vast world filled billions of times more than what we imagine today. We are connected with objects, actions, causes and consequences of everything that is happening.

However, in order to understand what we are for and where we belong, we must first reveal all this, and then, after getting acquainted with it, see ourselves in this entire picture. Then we will be able to draw some conclusions about who we are, what we are, for what, and how.
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From KabTV’s “Close up. Theater of the Absurd” 7/18/10

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During the time of the Roman Empire, the Jews lived according to completely different principles than the Romans. They did not have slavery. And although there was such a thing as a Jewish slave, it was written about that: when you get a slave, it’s worse than if you buy yourself a master.

After all, if the master has one pillow, he must give it to the slave. A slave is practically a guest in the house, which is very difficult to support because you need to constantly provide everything for him. If he is released, he must leave with his wife and children. That is, there has never been enslavement among the Jewish people.

We see this today. There are even jokes about the Israeli army, when a soldier can easily turn to a general: “Hello! How are you?” or something like that, because equality is in the blood of the people.

In addition, the attitude toward a woman, her position, and role, everything that exists today is completely different from what it was before. For all peoples, except for the Jews, it was absolute suppression. A woman was not considered a person at all.

And the Jews had very strict laws in this regard. When you marry a girl, you give her a wedding document, in which you undertake to support her.

As for Jewish children, there was not a single boy who did not start learning the alphabet and arithmetic from the age of three. Everyone without exception was extremely literate. We are talking about people who lived three to four thousand years ago!

There was none of this in Rome. At most, those who wanted to succeed went into sports. Although this was also not available to everyone. And those boys who were not well built or had physical defects were killed without any remorse.

Therefore, in all vitally important articles, we have a completely different approach of the two nations to life in general, the interpretation of existence, and life values.
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From KabTV’s “Close up. Formula of the Creator” 7/18/10

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is justice?“

Justice is when absolutely everybody feels good.

Such a state requires each of us not taking our own individual selves into consideration, but that we each accept everybody and create such conditions that everybody approves of.

Based on KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on March 7, 2022.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “World Jewry Will Be with Us When We Are with Us”

Last week, Tzedek Chicago Synagogue officially designated itself “anti-Zionist.” In its statement, the synagogue decried the establishment of Israel as an “injustice against the Palestinian people.” The synagogue also posted on its twitter account that “Members of Tzedek Chicago voted to affirm anti-Zionism as a core value of our congregation.” Several major Israeli newspapers in English reported on the statement, which seems to have made an impact. As I see it, the synagogue’s position is a direct result of our own behavior in Israel. As long as we are disunited and cater to our enemies, Jews abroad will disassociate themselves from us and cater to our enemies, as well.

Over the years, I have seen Jewish groups from many denominations—from Orthodox to Reform—opposing the State of Israel, and to be honest, I do not see much of a difference between them. Indeed, Tzedek Chicago, too, states that “Since the founding of the Zionist movement in the 19th century, there has always been active Jewish opposition to Zionism.”

It would be convenient to blame anti-Zionists for their antagonism to the State of Israel, but we would be wrong to do so. People’s feelings toward the Jewish state are not determined by them, but by the Jewish state itself. When Jews in Israel are united and understand what Zionism means, the resistance to Israel subsides and even turns to sympathy. But when the Jews in Israel object to their own country, when they denigrate and vilify each other and glorify Jew-haters, the world hates the Jews, and the Jews hate the Jewish state.

Unless the Jewish public in Israel strives for unity instead of division, American Jewry, and the whole world with it, will demand the cancelation and eradication of the State of Israel. It is already what the world, and much of world Jewry wants, but they are still not acting on their wish. If Israel continues to exhibit internal disintegration, the world will become more vociferous in its demands and more assertive in its actions to revoke the Jewish state.

We perceive anti-Zionists as being against the State of Israel, and this is also how they feel. In truth, however, Zionism is a spiritual movement, an aspiration to restore the core value of Judaism: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If we do not focus on our core values and pay attention only to our physical presence in the Land of Israel, we have no right to complain that no one supports our presence here. If we did focus on it, everyone would support our work here and wish for our success.

Therefore, if we want to unite and live in mutual responsibility, follow King Solomon’s motto, “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes” (Prov. 10:12), and strive to love our neighbors as ourselves, the whole world will be happy we are here, including Tzedek Chicago. If, alternatively, we find any excuse to disparage and slander one another, the entire world will turn against us.
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Medium published my new article “Humor, a Serious Matter”

What makes humor so necessary in our lives? What should be a source of laughter? Everything has been created for our development, including a sense of humor. It gives us the strength and the ability to develop.

Anyone who is close to people who are professionally involved in the field of humor knows that these are often unhappy types of people by nature, very serious, and sometimes even depressive. Out of the urge to get themselves out of the gray cloud in which they are immersed, they develop a sense of humor.

In general, the more a person develops, the more capable he or she is of appreciating fine humor. I refer to humor that has brilliance — an unexpected connection between distinctive things which in our normal way of thinking are completely unrelated.

Refined humor requires us to be able to observe our nature from the side, to be able to make fun of ourselves. Such humor is based on the ability to identify within ourselves several different identities: the original form we received from nature, the form in which we were educated, and the forms we have adopted throughout various stages in our lives, and these are the forms we have absorbed from others. Out of all these comparisons of identity come all sorts of important inquiries.

Humor can convey criticism, on the one hand, and on the other hand, it should be given in a spirit of love, pleasantly. We should never make fun of others and provoke hatred. We should laugh only about the general frailties that exist in humanity to clarify the weaknesses of our selfish nature as human beings, to help us develop awareness and cognition of our foibles. Because, if we are aware of our negative qualities then we can work on rising above them.

After all, this is the way that nature created us, imperfect. Nature gave us a sense of humor in order to help us to criticize ourselves and transcend our nature. Humor allows us to view ourselves from a higher perspective, and thus it can also help to elevate us outside of our current degree to a higher one. Viewing and laughing at ourselves from the side can spark inner scrutiny into who we truly are. If we know how to laugh at ourselves, then it is as it is written, “God has brought me laughter,” (Genesis 21:6) — a situation from which we can grow.

Good humor should always be gentle, bring about development, and evoke affection for what we are referring to. It is supposed to turn our heads upside down, to soften a rigid atmosphere.

What is it about humor that can open the heart and bring down walls between people? Humor removes from us all the puffed up clothing we put on. It is as if it undresses us from all the poses and masks, making us all equal and simple. When we laugh together about weaknesses that are in all of us alike, we immediately create a softer relationship between us.

There is no stronger means than humor to eliminate boundaries, barriers, and distances. The great challenge of our time, the most serious one, is to develop humor to bring people closer to each other, to make us more connected.
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Medium published my new article “Why We Cannot Stop Fighting”

When you reflect on the history of humanity, you see that people have always been fighting one another. It seems like there is never really peace, but only a pause between battles. Man’s disposition for constant fighting seems even more perplexing when you compare it to nature, where there is fighting only in order to eat, to avoid being eaten, or for the purpose of mating, but then animals rarely hurt each other. Why do humans fight when there is no existential reason that forces them? Moreover, even when a battle is not fought with weapons, we are still at war: We argue, debate, and fight to win the public’s opinion. In short, our entire existence consists of fighting.

There is a good reason for it. It may seem like there is no existential reason that impels us to fight, but in fact there is. While animals fight for their physical survival, we fight for our spiritual survival. Our egos drive us to exceed and triumph, since without feeling superior, our bodies may exist, but we will not feel alive. Nothing is worse for the ego than humiliation; people take their own lives because of it.

In other words, we feel alive only when we dominate someone else. This is the only assertion to our existence that the ego accepts. This is why we are compelled to fight against each other even when there appears to be no reasonable cause for it. Since all our communications, on every level, are battles of some sort, we seem to be condemned to a life of endless battles until we are exhausted and pass away.

But there is a profound reason for it. The endless fighting forces us to ask about the meaning of everything — why we fight, why we hurt each other, why there is so much meanness in the world, and in the end, why we exist.

These questions eventually lead us to realize that there is not only one (evil) force in the world, but rather two forces — one positive and one negative. The positive force creates life, warmth, growth, and connection, while the negative force generates death, cold, decay, and separation. If there were only one of them, we would not exist. It takes both to create life, and it takes both to generate development and change. It turns out that, ironically, it is war that makes us feel alive.

As a result, if one country wants to dominate, there must be other countries, too, so it will have whom to dominate. Also, if one country dominates all the time, the sensation of domination wanes, the high-handed country loses its drive, weakens, and another country takes over.

The battle between the positive and negative forces enables life, so it must exist. However, it is up to us to determine whether it becomes a war or not.

In order to enable existence and development, yet keep them peaceful, we need to understand the meaning of peace. The Hebrew word for peace is shalom, from the word shlemut, which means wholeness or complementation. In other words, there is life only when both sides exist and complement each other. Also, the power of one determines the power of the other, since the struggle between them continually drives them to evolve.

To end wars, we need to understand this process and embrace it. It will not stop the struggle between the forces, but it will make it constructive rather than destructive.

When athletes want to improve their achievements, for example, they train against greater and greater resistance. They understand that only if they challenge themselves will they become better.

Likewise, only if the competition among nations and people intensifies will we all improve. However, only if we remember that the purpose of the competition is not to control, defeat, or humiliate others, but to improve everyone involved, we will be able to both compete, yet welcome our challenges and challengers, for were it not for them, we would stagnate.

When we shift to a mode of mutual complementarity, there will not be anyone who is stronger than the other. Instead, there will be mutual commitment to cater to everyone’s well-being. Our understanding that we are mutually dependent and our perceived adversaries are in fact the guarantee of our development is the key to building a thriving, evolving, and sustainable society around the world and in every country, whose members live peacefully and happily.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is universal spiritual law?“

The universal spiritual law is a law of love, as it is written, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

We lack perception and sensation of this law in our world as it exists in a dimension concealed from our inborn qualities. In order to make contact with this law, we need to equalize our qualities with those of that dimension.

We can discover the universal spiritual law and reveal the dimension where we experience it directly by exiting ourselves. In other words, we need to exit the desires we currently feel, which we know as our earthly world, and enter into the desires that are outside of us, which is called the “upper world” or “spiritual world.” By doing so, we can truly feel what is outside of us: the universal spiritual law.

Based on KabTV’s “Close-Up. Beyond the Last Line” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on May 3, 2010. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Pesach (Passover)” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Exile and Redemption” 

Selected Highlights

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