“The Chosen One: Israel Can Rely Only On Itself” (Newsmax)


My article in Newsmax: “The Chosen One: Israel Can Rely Only on Itself”

The Taliban’s control over Afghanistan and the diplomatic crisis between Poland and Israel after a new Polish law will limit claims of Holocaust survivors on properties confiscated during World War II are two major international events that have raised concerns of repercussions for Israel. One conclusion is clear: we have no one to turn to, so we will only be able to navigate these tumultuous waters if we unite among ourselves and remain internally strong.

Israel should not consider the Taliban taking power in Afghanistan as a threat particularly targeting us. They are Sunnis and they want to erase the Shiites as much as they do us, so the level of hatred toward us is the same as toward other groups in the region.

We do need to worry about the message America is sending with its departure from Afghanistan, though. It demonstrates just how volatile their handling of foreign affairs could turn.

As I have said many times, under Biden’s administration we have no one to rely on. It has no desire to deal with Israel and is not in our court, so it will be ready to sell us out in a moment.

We need to realize that the state of Israel is slowly entering a situation where it has no one to turn to. We are losing those we called friends — Russia, America, everyone. We are becoming increasingly isolated in the international arena, vulnerable against our enemies without any true ally to watch our back.

Who knows this fact the best? The Poles.

They already understand that we are helpless to back up demands for compensation from them for families whose properties were stolen during the Nazi occupation and under communism, as was confirmed by the recent Polish approval of a law limiting those restitutions.

The world has long been waiting for the moment in which Israel would be cornered and alone, a desire rooted in antisemitism. Although we have repeatedly witnessed how quickly everyone turns their backs on us if an opportunity presents itself, we prefer to either ignore it or look in another direction thinking that our fate will depend on other nations.

Israel only needs to do one thing: to be cohesive inside. By achieving that, we would strengthen ourselves and ensure success.

If we unite, we will win. Otherwise, we will experience further problems reminiscent of those we experienced in the past and throughout our painful history.

As long as we are perceived as weak and divided, we will be easily defeated in a sea of enemies. But if we strive for increasing unity within, then Israel will sail smoothly forward and reach safe harbor, a good and calm destination.

In our attempt to forge unity among ourselves, we evoke a strong connecting power, a supreme force of love and bestowal that will cover all the differences between us, regardless of how deep they are. Such a force is the only partner which will protect us from all the threats we face.

In other words, we cannot rely on anyone to solve our problems or defend us because help will not be forthcoming. If we want to see positive change for Israel, we should start working toward a substantial transformation within ourselves, toward warmer mutual relationships. That is our only guarantee of a good future.
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“How Can We Protect The Cities From Sameness? How Can We Retain The Identity Of Different Cities?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: “How can we protect the cities from sameness? How can we retain the identity of different cities?“

It is impossible to keep watch over every city’s uniqueness. It is because, in the end, the connection between them is becoming so tight that obviously culture, education, specifics and language are becoming more and more common around the world. This is why it will not help us to treat certain distinctive characteristics of each city carefully. Of course, this will be preserved, but many people today want to develop in a deeper sense, and do not care that today they are in one city and tomorrow, in another one. They are not looking for the city itself, but for its inner content. Such people seek deeper and deeper for what is inside of nature. This is why we cannot preserve the individuality of each city, the “face” with which it will stand out. Instead, we will be able to safeguard the special inner content of each person. In essence, this will be our individuality.

It is time to stop looking at the still level, at the buildings that we erect and the characteristics of the animate level in nature. We must pay more attention to the human level, to the uniqueness of the person, to what is unique within. With such a focus, we will see how unique we are, and the extent to which each person is a unique creature in whom lies a unique character and unique wealth. As such, we will discover the world in all its fullness at the human level.

We should not divert our attention to levels lower than the human. We created and built all the other levels—beautiful buildings and so on—by means of our ego. When this becomes removed and does not bring us fulfillment, then the things we built will also be removed and will no longer be felt.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

“Elul: A Month Of Reckoning” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Elul: A Month of Reckoning”

The month of Elul is the last month in the Hebrew calendar preceding Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) which is characterized by soul searching. It is no coincidence that this year, at this time, special conditions such as intensive wildfires, devastating floods, extreme heat, hurricanes, wars, and terrorism, are revealed. The state of the world is putting extra pressure on us to do the math, to examine what we have done wrong, to figure out what we should ask for forgiveness for, and to decide to amend our faults in preparation for the new year.

This month people feel in a way that they are closer to their destiny and want to be more serious about life, plans, and goals and wish that everything will work out better and more successfully for them in comparison to last year. Humanity is currently facing raging situations where worrying events unfold every moment. We are beginning to fear that we literally will not be able to hold on to the Earth.

I see how the Creator is getting closer and closer to human beings demanding repentance for the way we treat each other and for our selfish relation to nature. First of all, we need to understand that everything is determined by human beings and the Creator hears and performs our will. If our thoughts and actions are for the sake of others, if we open our arms to each other and want to benefit everyone, the Creator will do good upon us.

But if we continue to behave contentiously as we do today, in conflict and quarrels with each other, then we will definitely have a very unpleasant fate. So it is really up to us to turn things around for the better. As it is written, “from the love of people to the love of the Creator.”

The acronym “ELUL” stands for “I am for my Beloved, and my Beloved is for me.” (Song of Songs 6:3) This means that in the good connection between us, we generate a common loving attitude to each other and then to the upper force of nature, the Creator. In response, He is revealed in our unity.

Our soul searching is about why we quarrel with each other endlessly, why we were created with such an evil inclination. All the species in nature operate according to their instincts and so they are never wrong. Conversely, we fail over and over again. Why is that so? Because we try to use our emotions and our mind in order to harm others and it backfires on us.

In the additional mind and emotions we were given compared to the animals, we have freedom of choice. Therefore, our role as human beings is to find the way to connection and unity. We look for the way, but each time, we discover that really we don’t want to unite and we don’t yearn for connection. This is actually our only sin or transgression; it is what stands in our way of achieving unity among us. Discovering this notion is what correction is about.

It is precisely during this time of the year when Selichot or days of repentance take place when we ask for forgiveness. First of all we ask forgiveness between us for our separation and harmful relations, and then we turn to the Higher Power asking Him for forgiveness. This way we finish our account for our deeds of the past year and start a new year with a clean sheet.

A prayer, then, is judging ourselves; it is the desire to discover and bring out all your sins and transgressions so that they can be corrected. Regret and repentance are not tears but the recognition of the need to unite. We see that the world is beginning to realize that without cohesion we simply will not be able to survive.

The conclusion of the month of Elul is that we want to reach a state of balance, the state of “love thy friend as thyself.” In order to achieve this goal and attain an inner transformation from egoistic to unselfish and compassionate we just need one thing— to open our hearts to each other. It is worth the effort.
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“Do You Support The Use Of Genetically Engineered Crops And Foods?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: “Do you support the use of genetically engineered crops and foods?“

Regarding genetically engineered crops and food, we have no choice: we are compelled to use genetic technologies and replications, because otherwise we will be unable to feed everyone. Today, we are obliged to think about how we can provide food for everyone.

Since we are egoists and are unable to control the specifics of food, then we will be able to do so later by means of a method that guides us to positively connect above the ego. At that stage, we will do everything for people’s benefit, and there will be no calculations of developing anything with the primary goal of profiting as much as possible. People will change internally and will relate to others as to their loved ones, as to themselves, and this will already compel us to think about the optimal technology and the use of the developments of biology and genetic engineering, thanks to which we will be able to provide ourselves and humanity with the best food possible.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

“What Needs To Be Changed In Humans?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: “What needs to be changed in humans?“

A Global Trends Report by the US National Intelligence Council predicted the pandemic back in 2017. They warned that the next 20 years will be chaotic and turbulent: the slowdown of population growth, major aging of the populace, and climate change; storms, hurricanes, floods and heat waves will lead to an increase in migration. International relations will become unpredictable; ties will not be established and potentially break apart. There will also be an increase in famine. The pandemic will have a long-term impact. There will be growing distrust of medicine, science, authorities and politics, and eruptions of protests and riots. In short, according to the report, we face a bleak future.

We see that many reasons are emerging for us to change.

Give humanity a good future and it will go completely wild. In the Soviet Union, we were told that things would get better, that in ten years we would arrive at communism and capitalism with the promised slogan: “Don’t worry, business will grow, and everything will get better.” Seemingly the promise of a better future is not a very good idea today after all. Those who propagated this ideology tell us “Let us lead and everything will be great for you in the future. In the meantime, go on as you were, and be content.” However, having clear hope and faith that everything will be better is no solution.

If nature’s course and our course are unaligned, then nature must force us to correct ourselves, to change. It is a process, and we initially need to see a bleak picture of the future in the event that we fail to change. We need to see a clear dependence and connection between the person’s internal state and nature’s external state. In other words, if we change, everything around us also changes. Nature influences us this way, through an opposite, negative connection. It will force us to change through all sorts of problems, and by doing so, we discover this dependence.

We will come to the realization that we have no other way out and that the only way to break out of this rotting corporeal existence is to become a self-changing being. A human being is one who strives to be like the Creator. This is expressed in Hebrew, where the word “Adam” (“human being”) stems from the words “Domeh le Elyon” (“similar to the most high”). The Creator is the immense unified force of nature, the giving force, which births everything emanating from itself. We need to become like that force. We need to reach a state where we treat everything outside of us with total love, and then everything will fall into place.

Indeed, we must change and reach a state of likeness to the Creator, where we emanate love, kindness and warmth. One day, we will desire this state more than life itself. Moreover, we need nothing but such an alignment. Also, we should think beyond mere self-transformation and consider global transformation—that the whole world will acquire the quality of love and bestowal. Through the human level, the animate, vegetative and inanimate levels will also change. In the end, absolutely everything—the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels—will be at the degree of mutual, eternal and boundless love. Then, in this huge desire, which will be common on all four levels, the upper force will manifest and envelop everything within itself, and the world will take on a singular form.

The foundations for this transformation are being laid and we must give the optimal shape to this act of nature and our personal aspiration, to aim it correctly through our appeal to humanity. Since we are sentient beings, then it will happen. We can be intimidated, brought to our knees, coerced, and we can thus be taught. At the moment, nature is relating to us more and more like a misbehaving youth, giving us blows in order for us to wake up to the change we need to make. While we can train an animal to the point of becoming a well-behaved animal, we can change a human being in a way where he rises above his nature.

The report from current-day experts is very acceptable and realistic, to put it mildly. There will be various waves from different sides, and they will batter us. We will be unable to keep up and to react with effective remedies unless we get smarter. We will gradually reach an agreement with the upper force that coerces us. The current pandemic will subside and give way to the next wave. And we will try to cope with the next wave too through our own efforts, trying to do something about it. We will come to see how selectively these waves of all kinds of suffering will affect us, forcing us to change.

Our first and most important realization is that pain will be the source of wisdom. Nature will continue battering us, and through the relatively continuous blows we will receive from nature, we will grow in our understanding of where nature guides us. These waves will depend on the extent of our intelligence. Here, we can already engage another higher and more connected level of consciousness, and the people in touch with that consciousness should pass it on to the best of their abilities.

Based on a talk with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

What To Do If Children Want Money

626Question: “What to do when your children fall below the base and do not want to ascend spiritually but continue to chase the golden calf? They say: ‘Do not teach us how to live better, help us financially.’ I want to hear Laitman’s answer, not in general, but specifically, in essence. Thank you in advance. Raya”

Answer: Dear Raya. If your children have grown up so that they are chasing the golden calf, then you should help them in some way to enter this field.

The rest is God’s will. You do not have to fully participate in this, but you must give them an initial push, you must help them at the beginning, as they are your children. It is written: “One learns specifically where one’s heart desires.”

If they really have an aspiration for something, help them a little, not hundred percent, but help normally, so to speak, push them forward. But no more than that.

Question: So I should not load them with the pursuit of spirituality? I shouldn’t tell them: “You are not looking for spirituality, you are only looking for the material. What are you doing?!”

Answer: No.

I looked at my teacher’s family and saw how calm he was about it. There were many children and many grandchildren there. He always used to let them do whatever they wanted, move out, separate, have children. This is their business. If they want to, they will be interested in life, the source of life, the purpose of life. If they do not want to, that is their business.

Question: Does that mean to let them go? Help them in whatever they want, and let them go?

Answer: Yes.

My daughter also wanted to go to a certain university, please, go. The second to a different university, no problem. The son wanted a certain direction, please. That is it. In whatever I could, I pushed them forward.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/8/21

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With The Support Of Friends

528.04Question: What is the correct way to realize the internal suffering of creation by connection with the Creator? How can one annul before the upper, before the group, the moment evil is revealed without harming the connection?

Answer: If you want to do it quickly, only with the support of your friends. The process is a little slower through reading the correct sources: the book Shamati, Rabash’s articles, Baal HaSulam’s and Rabash’s letters. But it happens best and fastest under the influence of the environment, i.e., the group, the ten.

If there is no group, then advancement slows down, it becomes very painful. No matter how much a person tries to study independently, in the end one still must find a group, enter it, and within it find oneself and act.

The entire reaction of a person to any influences in his life, but mainly to spiritual ones, should be in the ten. Whatever happens to him, if it is connected with his relation to the Creator, to his friends, to himself, no matter what, this is his spiritual part. He must realize it in the group because it is our soul.

A person by himself is a unit, one part of the spiritual body. When he connects with nine more, and they begin to form a spiritual framework, a spiritual diagram, they gradually connect and enter into each other more deeply. When this system suddenly begins to match the upper force of bestowal, connection, then love is felt in it. This power is called the Creator.

The correct connection of the ten gives the revelation of the Creator in it. The desire that the friends find in connection with each other is called a Partzuf, and the fulfillment in the Partzuf is the upper light of the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Videoconference”

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Making The House Vacant

631.4And if they make the house vacant, there will be room for idols. Do not fear the blaze of the swirling sword on the way of the tree of life. (Baal HaSulam, Letter 12)

Question: Does making the house vacant symbolize our freedom from thoughts in which there is no Creator?

Answer: Being free of thoughts in which there is no Creator means leaving the place clean for basic reasons and for other different reasons. If you believe that there is a force that operates in the world other than the Creator, it means that these reasons seemingly fill the whole Temple.

The Temple is the soul. It is the place that the Creator needs to fill with the attribute of love, bestowal, and faith above reason, which means that we have to vacate our egoism from this place.

Question: Does our unity take place on the level of faith above reason?

Answer: We cannot unite any other way, but only in faith above reason. Faith above reason refers to the fact that we have to ascend above our egoism to the attribute of bestowal, and only there can we unite.

Question: And does the descent take place when I descend to a thought in which there is no Creator?

Answer: Not only when I descend to a thought in which there is no Creator, but that there are also other forces that rule you and influence you.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 2/12/19

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How To Feel The Creator, Part 11

289What should we expect after the end of correction?

Question: What should a person do once he has found the Creator, once he has discovered the Creator inside him?

Answer: The state in which a person has fully attained the Creator is called the end of correction.

Then he begins the transition to the next phase, the upper world, where he already exists in absolute attainment of the upper creation.

We are currently going through a period of the correction of the souls starting from our world where we attain the upper world and fully ascend all the 125 levels.

Then when all the souls arrive at the end of correction and connect into one soul, one whole system of Adam, we will transcend to the next state.

I cannot say what that state is. I can guess, but I have not attained it yet. No one has attained it yet because basically we are all on the way to the end of correction after which will follow the next state.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 6/23/19

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Abraham—Great Sage And Thinker

740.02Question: Did such a Torah character as Abraham ever live in our world?

Answer: Indeed, there was such a character in history. Abraham promoted the wisdom of Kabbalah, which he revealed to the residents of Babylon. He led several thousand people away from there and they joined his ideology. Rambam, a researcher who lived in the 12th century AD, more than two thousand years after Abraham, writes about that.

Abraham, who was a priest in ancient Babylon, discovered that creation has a certain path of development, a purpose, a beginning and an end. He revealed that there are forces that develop the whole of nature, especially man. This happens according to the law of the development of egoism on the part of nature and according to the law of development above egoism on the part of man, when he rises above the egoism growing in him.

The very idea and the entire system revealed by Abraham is called “Kabbalah.” He was the first to describe it in The Book of Creation (Sefer Yetzira).

Prior to that, he was an idol worshipper, like all the other Babylonians, and moreover, one of the main priests of King Nimrod. He and his father had their own business. They made statues of various idols and sold them. This is all described in the book of those times, The Great Commentary.

This business is thriving to this day. Even today people sell red strings, holy water, amulets, and so on. But then the quality of “Abraham” grows above all this, which helps a person to rise. Thus, this is also useful.

Question: What happened to Abraham that he abruptly changed so dramatically?

Answer: He discovered that his fellow citizens suddenly began to change. Instead of asking for health, fertility, or a good harvest, they began to wish each other evil, to compete, to hate each other. Each wanted to suppress the other.

Previously, a person wanted to feel good and others did not bother him much. Now he began to want to be bigger than others, better than others, stronger than others. Humiliation of others became a pleasure for him.

This is the result of increased egoism. People stopped communicating, stopped understanding each other. Everyone wanted to become the greatest, to subdue everything and everyone.

Looking at these terrible metamorphoses in the family, in society, everywhere, Abraham began to ask the question, “What is happening?” Then he revealed the entire perspective of the development of humanity. He realized that egoism, which is growing in us, is not just progressing, but developing in order for us to work with it in a different way.

Abraham was a great sage and thinker of that time. He thought, “What is all this for? Is it in order for me to hate others and for them to hate me? What is next? As a result, we will destroy each other, we will go to war against each other. No, nature is not like that. It is global, round, takes care of everyone, includes everything. It is like a mother!” When a person observes nature, he sees that.

Question: Why does it push people into conflict with each other and they kill each other?

Answer: It is not nature that pushes people, but human egoism. Nature itself is arranged very harmoniously.

This is the conclusion that Abraham came to. He realized that the only evil in the world is our egoism, which is constantly growing in us in order for us, despite its growth, to enter into harmony with nature, connect with it, rise above our egoism and begin to use it for bestowal, love, and connection with each other.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #17

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