Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why are people blaming the rise of anti-Semitism in the US on Trump’s election?“

Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), the greatest Kabbalist of our era, explains how anti-Semitism is a sensation that exists in all nations, and that before people translate the hatred they feel toward Jews into all kinds of circumstances in our world, the hatred itself precedes all reasoning.

“It is a fact that Israel is hated by all nations, whether for religious reasons, racial reasons, capitalist reasons, communist reasons, or for cosmopolitan reasons, etc. It is so because the hatred precedes all reasons, but each merely resolves its loathing according to its own psychology.”
– Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag, “The Solution.”

Therefore, today there are people blaming the rise of anti-Semitism in the US on Trump’s election. Tomorrow, someone else will be blamed, and yesterday, anti-Semitism was due to something else.

Anti-Semitism is a historically reoccurring phenomenon that has taken place over 1,000s of years, so how could you explain its existence 1,000s of years ago? Was it because of Trump? Of course not. Everyone explains it according to however best suits them.

I think Trump is less anti-Semitic than those who shout at him that he is anti-Semitic—less anti-Semitic than American Jews themselves who hold government positions, especially liberal Jews.

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Prof. David Patterson, Hillel A. Feinberg Chair in Holocaust Studies at the University of Dallas, Texas, meets with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman to discuss the reasons for anti-Semitism and the role of Jews in the world.

As author of the book, Anti-Semitism and Its Metaphysical Origins (2015), Prof. Patterson mentions that one of the main reasons for anti-Semitism is the secretiveness of Jewish culture and the ability of the Jewish people to communicate with God, which the Jews hide. Moreover, Prof. Patterson states how this divine ability is what makes the Jews a chosen people, separate from other nations of the world.

Dr. Laitman elaborates on what it means to be a chosen people: i.e. it is to convey to the people that they are chosen. This can be done by showing an example of a loving attitude, according to what is written, “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). If so, still, why Jews? It stems back to the origins of Jewish people.

The group of Israel (from the words “Yashar Kel” [“straight to the upper force”]) as a collective of 70 nations, was gathered by Abraham around the principle “love covers all crimes” atop of the great crisis in ancient Babylon called the Tower of Babel.

According to Abraham’s teaching, there are two forces operating reality: continuously evolving human ego (“negative”), i.e. ego as the desire to enjoy at the expense of others, and the force of connection between people (“positive”). Apparently, by connecting these two opposite forces and setting “positive” above “negative” it is possible to reveal Godliness, a single force of love and bestowal, called in Kabbalah “the Creator.”

After the Jews left Babylon, the human ego continued evolving. They thus revealed the unfounded hatred between them and could no longer cover it with love. Therefore, Jews lost their connection with the upper force, forgot their method of connection, and dispersed all over the globe.

Because of the current global crisis in every area, the world requires the method of connection above the ego, revealed by Abraham, and the Jews, even if they are unaware of it, are the carriers of this method. From now onward, the people of Israel have to reactivate their connection and show an example to humanity: to be the so-called “light unto the nations” (Isaiah 42:6): to teach and share an educational method for everyone to be able to learn how to live harmoniously in today’s world. If the Jews fail to fulfill their role, anti-Semitism will rise even more, but if they succeed, the entire world will receive an opportunity to reveal the sublime upper force of love and bestowal through their unification, and live a new life of happiness, confidence and perfection.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is the Right or Left where most American anti-Semitism comes from?“

Anti-Semitism is equal to everyone. However, for the time being, there is more anti-Semitism coming from the left, because the left can cover itself more and say “no, we’re liberal, we’re for equality,” etc., but it’s interesting to see that after all that, they’re more anti-Semitic than the right.

Also, why does the right support Jews, Judaism and Israel? It’s because, for the time being, it fits with their struggle against the left, the liberals.

These things, however, can overturn, because as I mentioned, anti-Semitism is equal to everyone.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the actual reason as to why Nazis still exist, and why do they still hate the Jews?“

To state it concisely, it’s because the Jews have not made any steps toward realizing their spiritual role, to unite (“love your friend as yourself”) and become a positive example of unity for humanity (“a light unto nations”).

As human egoism—the desire to enjoy at the expense of others—grows from one day to the next, humanity increasingly suffers. The more humanity suffers, the more anti-Semitism increases and surfaces among people globally.

How does this work? It is because the Jews became known as “Jews” by uniting “as one man with one heart” some 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon. It was at that time that Abraham guided Babylonians from all walks of life to unite above the growing human ego that was causing problems in society, and to be a positive example of unity to all people. These people who implemented such unity became known as “the Jews” (the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2]). Since then, the Jews lost consciousness of their spiritual unity (when they fell into the exile some 2,000 years ago), and developed among the nations of the world.

Over the course of human development, the human ego has grown to a state where today, it is overblown and demanding correction. The symptoms of having a continuously growing-yet-uncorrected ego are the myriad problems and crises that the world experiences on all scales: personal (e.g. depression, loneliness, anxiety, stress, suicide, drug abuse), social (e.g. social division, crime, war, poverty, unemployment, inequality), and ecological (e.g. natural disasters, global warming, food insecurity). The demand for the ego’s correction today coincides with a demand for unification above the division we experience in our world. Since the Jews fail to implement their spiritual unity—unity above egoism—and have it enter mainstream society, then Nazi and fascist versions of unity appear in society’s fringes. The Nazi and fascist versions of unity are dangerous because they are not unity above egoism, but unity within egoism, i.e. the unity of one people against others.

Last century, the climax of Nazism and anti-Semitism erupted in Nazi Germany, since Germany was the most developed country in the world at the time. Today, there is a strikingly similar tendency of rising Nazism and anti-Semitism that is headed toward a climax in the United States, Europe as well as all around the world, because of today’s tight global interdependence and interconnectedness.

Therefore, since the Jews have made no steps toward realizing the method for their and humanity’s positive unification, the negative form of unity surfaces as Nazism. And Nazism is a force that indeed once again threatens to rise in its power and inflict much suffering upon the Jews if they again fail to bring unity to the world in time.

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The Times of Israel published my new article “Unity as a Panacea, But What Unity Are We Talking About?”

The deep divisions within Israel, America, and basically every society in the world are the subject of in-depth study in both academia and the media, but the most effective way to repair the breakage is itself also a source of intense dispute. This dispute is one which I will clarify. As a Kabbalist and researcher I publish in dozens of different publications on social networks on a daily basis. My message is constant: unity is the solution to all problems. Egoistic human nature divides and distances us from one another and is the root cause of all problems and predicaments we experience every day.

One of the recurring questions that is sent to me asks what unity am I talking about? What connection do I call for? Is it for the reunification of the souls? Is it unification between men and women, or political and/or religious alliances?

My answer is simple, set, and it derives from the ancient sources of the wisdom of Kabbalah. The unity I speak about is a unity not meant to fix anyone or change anyone’s perception, mind or heart. All we need to repair is the connection between us, the way we relate to one another. We have to rise above all our myriad opposite attributes, characteristics and viewpoints and unite as one. As our sages rightly wrote: “Love will cover all transgressions.”

Achieving this level of connection is precisely the role of the Jews in the world. We must join between two layers, like the meat between slices of bread in a sandwich: “All transgressions” is the bottom layer, and “will be covered with love” is the top layer. The correct connection between those two layers will make a very tasty meal. Both sweetness and a little bit of salty spice are necessary to balance the flavors when love and hate are revealed. Nothing in life can exist without its opposite, like how the plus requires a minus in physics.

Although the people of Israel should be the first to pave the way to such a “tasty” existence, all humanity, every person on earth, ultimately has the destiny to attain this approach to fulfillment in life. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, Jews are obliged to experience this unity first by learning how to connect above differences, above hatred and rejection. To discover existence “in the middle line” means, on one hand, that you might want to reject the other, while on the other hand, you learn how to embrace the other person in spite of all. On one side, I am right. On the other side, the other person is right. Since everything is in the eye of the beholder, we are all right, and justice lies above us. This is the love that covers everything.

Even further, we must not destroy evil, conceal the differences, or uproot the undergrowth. We need only realize that they are the foundation over which we have to add the good, the spice that gives complex new flavors to the relationship. Therefore, I see no hater or enemy in anyone, but instead full partners in unity.

The way to travel this golden path is taught by the wisdom of Kabbalah. Because the clock is ticking and our troubles are increasing, we must hurry to rise above the egoistic force within us that seeks to draw everything to its own advantage, to rise above the gathering storm clouds into a wide and open dimension, to rise from this world into a spiritual, complete and eternal world. The entire Torah encompasses this: unity and love cover schism and hatred.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the root of all Arab and Nazi hate for Jews?“

Arab hatred of the Jews comes from Arabs and Jews being quite close to each other, struggling for the same land. However, beneath this surface reason, the deeper cause of the hatred is due to us Jews failing to realize our spiritual role and purpose in the world. This spiritual role is one of uniting (“love your friend as yourself”) in order to spread unity to humanity (to be a “light unto nations”), as we received it around 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon under Abraham’s guidance. If we were to realize our role, then certainly we would be awarded with a different, positive attitude not only from Arabs, but from everyone in the world.

In relation to Nazi hatred of Jews, in the 1930s, the Nazis tried organizing Jewish emigration to the Land of Israel, as such a physical gathering would have been a major stepping stone toward the realization of the Jewish spiritual role in the world. The Jews, however, objected. As such, they received punishment. The punishment didn’t come from people, since people in our world aren’t running anything. The punishment came from nature, which acts also through the desires, thoughts and behaviors of people. If the Jews had wanted to emigrate to the Land of Israel, as the Nazis strongly recommended them to do over many years, then the outcome would have been very different. Jews, however, refused, and we thus experienced the Holocaust. (I elaborated on the Nazi efforts to move Jews to Israel in the 1930s in my answer to “Were Jews able to escape Nazi Germany in the 1930s as the Nazi party became increasingly aggressive towards them?” and in my article on “Holocaust Remembrance Day.”)

Today, as we discuss these matters, we also see a sharply rising anti-Semitic sentiment showing a tendency toward another Holocaust.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Will there be anti-Semitism after the coming of Moshiach (Messiah)?“

Firstly, what is the Moshiach (Messiah)? According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the Messiah is not a human being, but a higher force that unites people above all differences and divisions. It becomes revealed through people’s efforts to attract it through their efforts to unite to one another, above their differences. It is a force that we need to attract, to draw upon us, which connects us and fuses us into a single nation on this planet.

The word “Moshiach” (“Messiah”) comes from the word “Moshech” (“attract” or “pull”), since it is force that pulls us above our divisive drives, the human ego residing within each and every one of us. The act of attracting this force is reciprocal: We attract it to correct us, and we attract it to pull us above our destructive ego, and when we engage in this action, then not only anti-Semitism, but all problems, diseases and negative phenomena in the world will disappear.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why did God allow millions of Jews to die in WW2?“

We need to understand, as is explained in the wisdom of Kabbalah, that in history, nature doesn’t consider the amount of bodies in the world. The upper force, or nature, calculates only with regard to the implementation of the process toward the attainment of its final perfect state of complete unification. In this process, there are times when we Jews flow in the currents of the world, like a disease in its latent period, and there are periods when the disease surfaces and needs to be treated.

The wisdom of Kabbalah became open for all in the 16th century, during the time of the great Kabbalist, the Ari (Rav Isaac Luria). Since then, there has been a demand for its realization, i.e. the revelation of Godliness (the force of love, bestowal and connection) to all people in the world. Accordingly, if the Jews would have approached this method, wanting to engage in it and reveal Godliness both for their own sake and for the whole world, then we would be living in a completely different world today, filled abundantly with love, happiness and peace.

Since the Jews have made no significant steps toward the implementation of this method, then they cause all negative phenomena to appear in the world. Both Jews and non-Jews are unaware of this, but it subconsciously dwells within non-Jews that the Jews are to blame for the negativity in their lives. Therefore, the mass murder of Jews during World War 2 came as an extreme climax to implement the hatred toward them for that reason.

In his “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) describes this phenomenon:

“In such a generation, all the destructors among the nations of the world raise their heads and wish primarily to destroy and to kill the children of Israel, as it is written (Yevamot 63), ‘No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.’ This means, as it is written in the above corrections, that they cause poverty, ruin, robbery, killing, and destruction in the whole world.”

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The Times of Israel published my new article “Unity Is Our Only Shield against Anti-Semitism”

Campuses in the US and UK, once places for the enlightenment and ideological progress of society, have descended into epicenters of vicious anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli sentiment, two sides of the same coin. They have become hotbeds of fundamentalist political agendas sponsored by special interest groups. A recent visit by a group of my students to Oxford University in England confirmed this perception. The Jewish professors they spoke with anxiously await retirement due to the hostile atmosphere and threats against them. Conditions will only worsen unless we Jews take this situation into our own hands and unite.

As part of a research project about anti-Semitism, some of my students conducted a series of interviews with scholars and professors in the UK who have faced anti-Semitism in academia. According to their testimonials (which will be compiled into a documentary to be aired later this year), they have been victims of threats and harassment for being Jewish or for supporting Israel, a country constantly under attack on both American and European college campuses.

Jew-hatred dressed as so-called “legitimate criticism” of Israel and its policies, singles out the Jewish state for harsh accusations of “apartheid” and “genocide.” “Israel Apartheid Week” claims to be mushrooming this year into 200 events held across 30 countries on five continents. And where are the events’ preferred venues? Indeed, they are in the very college campuses where the seeds of anti-Semitism are being methodically planted and harvested.

Recently, an officer of a student minority group at Bristol University in the UK, whose role is to combat prejudice on campus, told a Jewish student to “be like Israel and cease to exist.” This is no isolated case of bigotry against Jews. In the beginning of the year, hundreds of students voted against allowing the creation of a Jewish Society at Essex University after a member of the British university’s Amnesty International group urged students to reject it arguing that the initiative was not “politically neutral.” This reflects the tendency shown in a 2017 survey of 485 Jewish students in England: two-thirds of the survey’s respondents reported being targeted on campus because of their Jewishness.

In the last few years, millions of dollars have been injected into universities around the world to advance anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish agendas, all sponsored by foreign governments and organizations whose aim is to advance their anti-Semitic rhetoric and agendas. While faculties are permissive, under the guise of pluralism, even Jewish academics jump on the bandwagon to actively support and promote these causes, as paradoxical as it may seem. By way of illustration, last year, the American Association of University Professors issued a statement attacking Israel for banning professors who are active members of the BDS movement against the Jewish state.

What Can Be Done About Such a Highly-Funded and Methodical Approach to Anti-Semitism and Israel Delegitimization?

As I explained in my recent article, “If you were donating to combat anti-Semitism, where would you donate?” any effort to confront the growing plague of Jew-hatred and demonization of Israel with costly campaigns will be useless, as witnessed by the fact that they have borne no fruit up until now.

We Jews are a nation conceived in order to bring connection and unity to the world. When we fail to carry out our vocation, our ancient sages tell us that the nations instinctively feel that there is no justification for our presence here on Earth, and unmerciful anti-Semitism unfolds and spreads in every field in which Jews are engaged. It is written in The Book of Zohar that when we do not carry out our mission, “Woe unto them [Jews], for with these actions they bring about the existence of poverty, ruin, and robbery, looting, killing and destructions in the world” (Tikkuney Zohar, 30).

In other words, our only shield is our unity. As it is written, “The prime defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship between each other in Israel, no calamity can come over them” (Maor Vashemesh).

Before the ruin of the Temple, our forefathers developed a unique method of connection. They did not suppress one another’s characteristics, nor did they exploit one another. Each used their individual skills for the common good, thereby creating a society that both supported everyone’s personal fulfillment while strengthening the social fabric that kept it together.

In order for us to unite today, we need not suppress or downplay our differences. What is required from us is simply to rise above the differences that separate us. Today, that same simple-yet-effective method of connection that our forefathers perfected and committed to sharing with the nations is imperative for the survival of our society. The world is telling us that it is time to return to our roots and reignite our mutual responsibility, putting into practice the principle of “love your neighbor as yourself.” By doing so, true peace and tranquility will prevail on campuses and in every walk of life.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “If Arabs are also Semitic, then why does the term “Anti-Semitic” mean anti-Jew only?“

Firstly, I think that there is no real need to deal with such definitions, because they change throughout history according to the tastes and views of different people and cultures. Likewise, “Semite” has many definitions according to various sources. According to what is written in the Torah, the Arabs are the outcome of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar, and accordingly, the Ishmaelites are relatives of the Jews. Today in particular though, anti-Semitism relates only to Jews, and Arabs themselves also relate to anti-Semitism as anti-Jewishness.

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