Jacob is the most important spiritual attribute, and therefore, he is called our forefather. Abraham symbolizes bestowal from the Creator and Isaac is the revelation of the desire to enjoy in the creation.

Jacob is a combination of two qualities, giving and receiving, the right and the left line, due to the inner work of a person. Man connects these two lines that come from above in order to achieve similarity with the Creator.

Man, Adam, means similar (Domeh) to the Creator. Therefore, Jacob is the most important of the three because these are the qualities revealed within a person to the extent of his similarity to the Creator. This is why the property of Jacob is called Tifferet—splendor, beauty, honor—the properties of the Creator revealed within the creation.

It is through this work that man reaches spirituality. We are granted these two qualities from above, the good and the evil inclinations. The good inclination comes from the Creator through Abraham. The evil inclination revealed in creation also comes from the Creator who created it. But the right combination of these two forces is achieved through man’s work, and we must execute it.

The left and the right lines do not cancel each other, but rather emphasize each other. If there is the right line, bestowal, then it is permitted to awaken the left line, reception. And it is precisely because the left line is opposite to the right that it increases and highlights it.

This is why Jacob includes both lines and intensifies them. The miracle of correct spiritual work is that opposite qualities are emphasized and increased even more, each one emphasizing the other.

Precisely because of the fact that there is the force of bestowal against the force of reception and the force of reception against the force of bestowal, each becomes more intense, more significant. This is why the quality of Jacob is called Tifferet (splendor) because it combines two opposites in one.

When they are correctly combined and enhance each other in the middle line, they are manifested in man not as a simple sum of the right and left lines, but as an illustration of their opposites and glory.

In our world, there is plain darkness and plain light. But if we mix darkness with light, we get a lot of different shades that can be distinguished neither in the bright light nor in the dark.

Our whole life is based on combining the left and right lines. If we want to reveal the Creator, we need the two forces bestowal and reception. By creating all possible combinations of one with the other in all forms, we will reveal the quality of the Creator relative to the quality of creation.

Abraham is the desire to bestow, Isaac is the desire to receive, and Jacob is the combination of desires to receive and to bestow. In combination, these two qualities begin to enhance and emphasize each other. As a result, the right and left lines are revealed in Jacob 620 times stronger than they were before they combined in him.

It turns out that correctly combining the force of reception with the force of bestowal allows us to experience the force of bestowal in contrast to reception 620 times greater. It is through the middle line that we increase the creation made by the Creator from a tiny Kli, a single black dot, in infinite white light to the scale of the entire light of infinity. As it is said “The darkness will shine as light.”

Thus, we reveal the Creator inside our Kli and attain the entire light of Infinity in it. But this Kli begins as a black dot with a very small change in the light.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/20, “Sukkot“

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Who would be better for Israel, Trump or Biden?“

Before asking about who would be a more supportive US president for Israel, we in Israel would be wise to question what we have done to merit the backing of a world superpower.

What are we projecting to the world? Beyond our impressive technological output, what are we contributing? And is advanced technology what the world really needs from us?

Today, the global environment we live in is changing, and likewise, the expectations upon Israel are gradually shifting as well. Heading into the future, if we will want to receive support from a major superpower, or from anyone for that matter, we will need to start paying more careful attention to what we project and contribute to the world, and whether it is what the world ultimately needs from us.

We are a unique nation because unlike other nations, we have no common biological root. Our ancestors, who were from originally from different clans and tribes, united as a nation under an idea: to unite (“love your neighbor as yourself”) above division (“love will cover all crimes”), which granted us the ability to project a positive force to the world, or in other words, to be “a light unto the nations.”

After living for a short period of time upholding our unification “as one man with one heart,” we soon afterward lost awareness of this common value that tied us all together as a nation. Likewise, as we failed to hold onto a mutual umbrella of love above our differences, then our differences eventually got the better of us, and we became exiled: we both lost our unification, and a land of our own.

Goaded by anti-Semitism throughout our exile, many of us rounded up in the land that would become known as the State of Israel, and after the mass tragedy of the Holocaust, a majority of nations agreed to its establishment.

Today, as we head toward the end of 2020, we stand after a decade of rising anti-Semitism, peaking in 2019 with its highest-recorded year of anti-Semitic crimes and threats in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. We also face growing anti-Semitic sentiment worldwide dressed in a “criticism of Israel” rhetoric, which has gained considerable support diplomatically, academically and culturally, largely due to the efforts of the BDS movement.

If today the United Nations needed to reach a two-thirds majority vote on whether to establish the State of Israel, would it pass? It certainly doesn’t seem so.

We need to understand the root of the negative attitude toward the people of Israel from the nations of the world. When we do, then we can focus on what we need to do in order to invert the negative attitude into a positive one.

The source of the nations’ negative attitude toward us is due to our failure to live up to what made us the people of Israel to begin with: our unity (“love your neighbor as yourself”) above division (“love will cover all crimes”), which granted us the ability to project a positive force to the world (to be “a light unto the nations”).

As the previous decade was characterized by rising anti-Semitism that peaked in 2019 in many countries, including the United States, another characteristic of the last decade was that it was one of ongoing crisis: from aftereffects of the financial crisis that opened the decade with mass unemployment, home foreclosures, austerity measures in many countries, global protests and the forthcoming wars in the Middle East, the constant gray clouds of terrorist acts, mass shootings and a 9.17 percent increase in natural disasters hitting the planet, as well as higher levels of depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, social division and opioid abuse in the United States than in previous times. In short, as history has shown, such as during the time of the Black Death pandemic that led to mass killings of Jews throughout Europe, or Germany’s First World War defeat and subsequent depression, which eventually led to the rise of Hitler, the Nazis and the Holocaust—when crisis hits, anti-Semitism rises.

Therefore, with our current divisive track record coupled with the crises humanity continues to experience around the world, and especially in America, we can expect more and more detractors eyeing us critically. Likewise, the next United States administration’s attitude to Israel as either positive or negative will depend on whether we upgrade our attitudes to each other to become a more unified people.

Photo by Shai Pal on Unsplash.

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Question: How can decisions be made in the family correctly? Is there some kind of hierarchy here?

Answer: All decisions in the family are made by the wife. At least that is how it should be. Abraham was told: “In all that Sarah tells you, listen to her.”

Question: Isn’t this said allegorically?

Answer: Both allegorically and not. I believe that a woman is more sensible than a man and can take part in decisions. Men should look at women’s attitude toward problem solving and learn from them how to lower themselves instead of pushing their opinions.
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From kabTV’s “Management Skills” 6/11/20

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Question: The world is entering a period of uncertainty now when it is difficult to predict the consequences and take into account all the factors that may affect decision-making. What should we focus on?

Answer: That the world should achieve full integration on all levels and turn itself from a torn, multi-sided, contradictory world into a global world, in the form of a large sphere in which everything is balanced.

Question: Are there any factors hidden from our five sense organs that could help in making decisions?

Answer: Only love. That is, complete unification between all factors for the sake of balance between all creations.

Question: Does that mean that the closer a person is to the quality of nature, the quality of bestowal and love, the more chances the right decision will be made?

Answer: Undoubtedly.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 6/11/20

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Troubled by #depression, problems?
This is the pleasure of bestowal and love
“knocking” on my door,
but I’m not ready to let it in,
to turn it into pleasure.
#MentalHealth
From Twitter, 10/11/20

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Question: What is needed for our spiritual development?

Answer: The basic condition for our spiritual development is the desire to develop and understand who am I, what am I living for, how everything revolves around me, and how I can participate in it, how I should attain something eternal, whole, and real in my life, and how do I reveal the network of forces that impact the world and the secrets of the world?

If a person lives up to all this, if he has the desire to attain nature, the Creator, he will later determine the whole way of his development.

It depends on how much a person thinks about the meaning of life even from his childhood, about why we exist and about why other people do not think about that. He looks around and does not understand why people are so caught up, so engaged in the global commotion, and what use they find in it. How can a person not engage in something so shallow and corporeal but instead hold on to something whole and eternal?

If a person has such a desire, he yearns for spirituality.

Question: How are questions about the meaning of life related to the network of spiritual forces? After all, it is a different dimension.

Answer: They are directly related as the network of forces is built on bestowal, on mutual participation, on love, on exiting yourself, but it operates on the basis of these questions.

This means that the questions remain the same and you can find the solution to these questions only if you develop the attribute of bestowal in you. Then you will not engage in swallowing everything there is, but instead, you exit yourself, outside your egoistic self, where everyone else is. This is actually how you should act.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 11/25/18

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 10/9/20

In contrast to the egoistic human perspective, nature aims to connect all its elements into a single harmonious whole. Within this harmonious whole, each part receives what it needs for its sustenance and gives according to its ability for the benefit of the whole—similar to the healthy functioning of the cells and organs in the human body.

While the egoistic quality of mankind increasingly clashes with nature’s altruistic quality, we will experience more and more blows. Blows from nature can appear as global pandemics, as we are now experiencing with the coronavirus, as well as in myriad other forms such as ecological disasters, for example.
Read my full article

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 10/9/20

When we gather with people who also wish to overcome their egoistic inclination and exert a positive influence in the world, we get ready to receive the Torah. By doing so, we set the foundation for a society that is capable of switching the current chaotic direction the world is treading to a positive and balanced one.

We can rejoice then in our recognition of the real cause of all our problems—our egoistic nature—and in our having the means at our disposal to redirect this nature to a good direction of connection, love, and giving. That is already a major step toward the reformation the Torah speaks about.

Happy holiday to all!
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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 10/9/20

Friday is the day of Simchat Torah [lit. The Joy of Torah]. On this day, we celebrate the completion of the cycle of reading Torah portions and the beginning of a new one. But why is completing a cycle of reading only to start over a reason for celebration? It isn’t. If we look only at the superficial level of things, there is nothing to celebrate.

If we want to make sense of this festive day, we have to go beyond the exterior, to the inner, true meaning of the Torah. It is written, “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice” (Masechet Kidushin). This means that the Torah is not some piece of text that we must recite without applying its content to ourselves, but a means for correcting our evil inclination. If we use it for any other purpose, we are missing the whole point.

If we achieve correction of our evil inclination, then we have a reason for celebration. If we do not, then we should keep working until we reach the state of Simchat Torah, namely the correction of our evil inclination through the “spice” of Torah.

In Hebrew, the word Torah means both “light” and “instruction.” The “light” in it is regarded as “the light that reforms,” a force that “corrects” our evil inclination into a good inclination. The “instruction” part of the Torah refers to what we have to do in order to “reform” ourselves, and that is to love our neighbors as ourselves. Old Hillel said about this, “That which you hate, do not do unto your neighbor; this is the whole of the Torah” (Masechet Shabbat, 31a), and Rabbi Akiva added, “Love your neighbor as yourself; this is the great rule of the Torah” (Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim, 30b).

At the moment, the festival of Simchat Torah is simply a reminder of what we should be doing, and in that sense I’m happy about it. But in truth, we have no cause for celebration since there is anything but love of others among us. Even if we weren’t corrected but at least wanted to use the “light” in order to reform ourselves, it would be reason enough for celebration. But currently, I do not see that we are acknowledging our desperate need to change or that we are willing to and feel accountable for the state of our nation.

The situation is even more serious when it comes to our relations with the nations of the world. As Jews, we are constantly under the world’s watchful eye. They judge us by a different yardstick than they judge any other nation, and with good reason: They feel that it’s our duty to bring them light, to be “a light unto nations.” That is, we are not only required to use the reforming light on ourselves, but we are also required to pass it on so the rest of the world can be rid of the evil inclination. Even if the nations don’t articulate this request explicitly, their accusation that we are causing all that is evil in the world is in fact the flip side of saying “You are not bringing the light you are supposed to, the light that will reform us and stop the evil among us.”

Even our own sages tell us that our task is to bring the light of unity to the world, and when we do not, we inflict trouble on the nations. The Talmud writes, “No calamity comes to the world but because of Israel” (Masechet Yevamot, 63a). The Midrash is even more specific: “This nation, world peace dwells within it” (Beresheet Rabbah, 66).

We see that when antisemites accuse us of causing wars, they are in fact saying the same thing that our sages have been saying for generations but we refuse to listen. Because we wouldn’t listen, we have been given antisemites to intimidate us and force us to listen. Perhaps if we tried to do what our sages, who certainly want our best, have been advising us for millennia, we wouldn’t be suffering from antisemitism to this day, eighty years after the horrors of the Holocaust.

The Book of Consciousness writes, “We are commanded at each generation to strengthen the unity among us so our enemies do not rule over us.” With these words, I would like to wish us all that this coming year, we will unite “as one man with one heart,” learn the true meaning of the Torah, rejoice in it, and merit the words of King David in Psalms 29, “The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.”

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