Question: The Jewish people do a lot of good things and good deeds. But I see that non-Jews view it negatively, and instead of seeing us as good, they see us as bad. Why?

Answer: What good did we, the smartest and most educated people, do for the world? Did we perform our mission to be the light for the nations? Why should they love us?

Humanity feels intuitively that we bring harm and hatred into the world. We cannot imagine how this could be possible, so ask, “What are we doing wrong? We do not wish anyone any harm! Why does everyone hate us and not the people who seek to destroy others? For what?” Start to investigate this and try to find the true cause of this phenomenon.

Why does North Korea, with whom we have never had any relationship, hold first place in the world for anti-Semitism? Why such hatred?

Because anti-Semitism exists inside nature, is its law, and there is nothing we can do about it. No amount of logic will help us. If this phenomenon has been observed for thousands of years, then we should take it seriously, and not on the level of feelings. We must get to the bottom of why we occupy one place in nature and the rest of the world another.

I have been studying laws of nature for the past 40 years. Prior to that, my specialty was bio-cybernetics. But over these 40 years I have come to realize that unity is the cardinal foundation that exists in all of nature, and there is nothing one can do about it because we cannot go against a law of nature.

Abraham was not a Jew, but an ancient Babylonian who worshiped idols. But yearning to understand why there was such disconnection in his society, he revealed that in nature, there is a law of unity and that humanity needs to come to unification. All of nature strives for oneness within itself from the time of the Big Bang until final correction, and having revealed this law, Abraham began to teach it to anyone who wanted to learn.

The most sensitive, developed, and responsive people joined him. With them he went out of Babylon. They started calling themselves Yehudim, from the word “Yichud” (unity) or Ivrim from the word “Laavor” (to cross over).

Prior to the destruction of the Second Temple, this group fulfilled its mission. But since the time when the last exile emerged, they have not. And until we come together and understand our mission, until we grasp it and announce it to the whole world, we can not expect anything good.

Because ultimately, all the Babylonians, i.e., all humanity, must arrive at unification. And it is we who have to bring this unity to the world.
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From a public lecture in New York, 7/20/15

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In the News (worldcrisis.ru):  “As far as it seems, Zionism has become obsolete and I don’t think that the world needs it anymore, as the nation state of Israel. The Rothschild family and the like simply used Zionism as an ideology for self-enrichment, so the Jews were only necessary material for them.

“An analysis of events from the last few years shows that they have already handed over Israel, handed over Zionism. Their plan and most important task is Israel and millions of other Jews to be annihilated. Since the beginning of the new millennium the rumors began that they were ‘discarding’ Israel.

“America still supports us, because their interests demand their permanent presence and influence in our area. So that they will maintain their interests, they have stood on both sides of the conflict in the Middle East and have not been interested in its solution. But today, the circumstances have changed, America has had enough fun and world support for the Palestinians has grown, whereas support for Israel has decreased.

“Information analyzed by United States intelligence: ‘Planning for a Middle East without Israel,’ noted that Israel cannot stand against the growing Palestinian power, whereas the American government doesn’t have the military resources and finances to continue supporting Israel.”

My comment: Everything depends only on us, on the people of Israel. After all, we are the only ones who are determining the state of the world! So it is necessary to see all the external pressure on us as pressure from Above to connect and unite. If we can implement unification, or at least the trend and tendency towards it, then before the eyes of the whole world, the situation in Israel and the entire world will be changed.
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Opinion (Alexander Shoihet): “A United Nations report says that Israel has committed war crimes. This is a modern blood libel against Israel by the United Nations. In fact, all of the meetings of the United Nations consist of false accusations against Israel ‘committing genocide, apartheid and crimes against humanity.’

“The new report by the United Nations Commission rejects the right of Israel to self-defense. Only last year this society of anti-Semites called the United Nations, accepted 20 resolutions condemning Israel, and not even one against other nations in the Middle East. The United Nations is a world organization for ‘human rights’ in which Iran is a member of the committee for equal rights for women, Sudan oversees the preservation of human rights, Syria is at the head of the Human Rights Committee, in which Cuba, Venezuela, Russia and Saudi Arabia are also members! That is the United Nations.

“Why is Israel a member of this Nazi and anti-Semitic snake pit, why does it need to listen to all of this abomination, justify its actions to defend itself, and further pay a lot of money for this despicable assembly? Do we have so little respect for ourselves that we are still prepared to expect benevolence from these students and disciples of Hitler and Goebbels?”

My Comment: The United Nations is held out to be the representative of all the nations of the world that openly say to our face that we are to blame for all human disasters! And they are right! Our Torah tells us the same thing; all disasters come into the world only as a result of the actions of Israel.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains how through our unity, we must correct our negative and harmful influence on the world. The choice of the future world lies only in our hands, and so the accusations against us are justified. The nations of the world have no possibility of correcting the world and they express this openly with their accusations against the Jews.

It is up to us to explain within the United Nations, how all of us will jointly correct the world through applying pressure on the Jews and by helping them do so. In this way, hatred towards the Jews will force them to unite. So it is possible to say (jokingly) that the United Nations deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for “establishing peace among the Jews!”
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In the News (AEH): “Anti-Semitism is the most ancient and stable form of human hatred. In our time a new form of anti-Semitism has spread throughout the world that is distinguished according to four basic signs:

• Non-acceptance of the right of Israel to exist.
• Support for terrorism against the Jews.
• Demonization (defamation) of Israel and the Jews as the main source of trouble for humanity.
• Political factors that make it possible for politicians to gain popularity by denying the right of Jews to self-determination. This category of anti-Semitism belongs especially to the United Nations, where in the last year they accepted 20 anti-Israel resolutions, while against all the rest of the nations of the world there were only 4.”

My Comment: The development of humanity for thousands of years has happened according to its relationship to its future state, which the population of ancient Babylon that became the Jewish people adopted for itself. So it is said that anti-Semitism is eternal.

This is not due to hatred of the Jews; rather, it is from the rejection by the natural human egoism of the future altruistic state that is intended for it. In our time we are already close to the point of transition from the natural egoism to the ascension above it, to the characteristic of bestowal and love.

The people of Israel rose above egoism under the leadership of Abraham, then fell back into it 2,000 years ago, and today must rise up and serve as an example to all the nations of the world, as the prophets wrote for us. Anti-Semitism is designed to help us in this.
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Question: Anti-Semitism always develops in a spiral. Relatively short periods of tranquil Jewish life alternate with outbreaks of anti-Semitism. For example, in 15^th century Spain, Jews assimilated successfully into Spanish society. Many of them were politicians and financiers close to the royal court. But at the peak of their positive impact on the country and positive contribution to society, they were expelled from Spain. How can this be explained?

Answer: As a rule, a society is managed by natural envy, not just envy but the resentment of the people, “Who governs us? Why is it bad for us? It is because rule by the foreigners is directed against us. They have no interest in the Spanish people!” It is clear that not only the people, but also all the elite, the courtiers, and the rich are also not interested in seeing and feeling foreigners among them.

But the surge in anti-Semitism is not attributable to the rise of the Jews and their activities. The fact that after their elevation comes a completely unpredictable decline relates to our overall program  and general historical development.

Initially, wherever Jews appeared in Spain, in Germany, England, or any other nation, the country came to life with their arrival. But as soon as they were forced to leave, even without taking anything with them, everything immediately declined. This is quite clear, and, in spite of this, there is no way to convince the leaders of some nation to retain the Jews so the nation would continue to flourish. Spain knew very well that with the departure of the Jews, it would be worse for them, abut still had to expel them.

Question: Why did a great blow always come following attempts to assimilate in a foreign society and the subsequent separation within the Jewish community?

Answer: This was completely natural because, if we don’t connect together and have great opposition between us, we don’t exist as a people. This law is completely clear. To the degree that we are connected and united, we are a unique spiritual force, and then we have nothing to fear. We need to be connected internally between us, like a single “spiritual fist,” a person to person connection, each one surrendering oneself to the others. That is how we connect among us, integrate together, wanting to feel ourselves as a single whole, as one family. Everyone thinks not about oneself but about the people in general and about how to serve them.

When there is mutuality between us like that, we bring good not only to the nation in which we live, but we also can protect ourselves from all problems. Then those nations where we have come and people within them look at us differently.

But it always ends up that we could not hold onto the state of connection that formed between us in the previous place we were expelled for long, and then the decline begins.

The moment that we are expelled from some nation, the hatred of the population compels us to connect together. We leave there “naked and barefoot.” We throw everything into the hands of fate, and this united us.

When we enter into another nation as a single united people, we truly infuse a vital higher power into it, but the moment we settle there, we begin to engage in making profits, entering into national and social institutions, and then the separation between us would immediately begin.

When we are poor and naked, we are all equal, but the moment that we get along in the nations of exile, we begin to separate and split apart. Who is higher; who is lower? So, the environment into which we try to merge influences us. It divides us according to level and direction. As we distance from each other, we lose the connection between us, and then hatred toward us flares up in that society. It would no longer feel that we were influencing it positively, and then the period that leads to another expulsion begins again.

The cause for all the expulsions of the Jewish people is only one: our separation. In each country we arrived internally united, spiritually united, so that we could occupy it spiritually: entered it and gave it our spiritual potential. Then, the nation would flourish. But once this action was made, it also gave rise to a connection with the people living there, and this would separate us from each other, which is what leads to the expulsion.
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From KabTV’s “About Our Life” 6/4/15

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Before our eyes a global phenomenon is gaining momentum, a new front against Israel—different organizations are boycotting Israel.

The boycott covers various spheres such as culture and economics. The organization that sponsors such initiatives is called BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) specifically founded in order to put pressure on the State of Israel.

A few recent examples:

– in Australia shop owners were threatened to be killed if they continued to sell merchandise imported from Israel.

– the British Association of Journalists’ was called to boycott Israeli goods and to impose sanctions on Israel.

– in The Hague measures are being taken to start an investigation of Israel’s “war crimes” in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

– in North America the postal workers union, universities, and campuses initiated a boycott of Israel.

I see this as a natural logical and legal phenomenon. The general trend is that eventually all the nations will turn against us because we are not performing our duty in the world.

As Baal HaSulam writes: We were given a certain length of time to organize and to build a nation so that we will be able to fulfill our goal. Kabbalists explain that we have to open people’s eyes so that they will understand what world in which we live and what the purpose of existence is.

Our task is to set an example of unity that allows us to discover the upper force in the connection between us. But we are not doing that. As a result, humanity suffers because the upper force isn’t revealed, and instead it sinks into difficult states that continuously replace one another and only increase the negativity. People feel in their subconscious that it all happens because of the Israeli nation. Today they blame the State of Israel and in the past when it didn’t exist, they blamed the Jews who were scattered all over the world.

To be continued…
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From KabTV’s “About the Boycott of Israel” 6/3/15

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In the News (from mnenia.zahav.ru): “After hearing this advice on a television program on the first Russian channel, the writer Yuri Mowaor-Muradov responded: ‘When I heard this call 25 years ago, I did that and emigrated to my Israel….’

“I relate with understanding to the Jews who have remained there for all kinds of considerations, because of an emotional attachment to the state, because of a cultural affinity with it, for economic and ideological reasons…I have a completely different complaint against them.

“For decades we have heard this sanctified phrase, ‘Go back to Israel!’ from the mouths of the ‘native’ residents of greater Russia, incorrigible drunks and the educated, externally normative people, the poor and the rich, dandies from the capital city and the residents of remote places. And I want to tell the Jews who are living in Russia that after all they must have a response to this call. This should be a normative answer and not just a fist in the face of the anti-Semites, which is also a legitimate response to this situation.

“I am talking about an appropriate response on the verbal level. This is because going out of the studio and slamming the door hard is not an answer. This is more acceptable as a powerless response for someone who has no answer to the ‘hot’ advice that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Russians are ready to subscribe.

“Yarmolnik is a public figure; his statement can cause widespread resonance. He cannot justify himself by saying that apparently he was embarrassed, that the despicable act of his opponent was a kind of surprise for him. He has been a television announcer for many years; he doesn’t feel himself inhibited by the studio because of the floodlights, cameras and microphones. He cannot rely on the attack of the opponent caught him off guard.

“Even I, from my wonderful distance, see that the Jewish question appears as a background in every argument in Russia, political or economic, in the subject of social order, when talking about democracy, ethics, ecology, and, as we see now, even in a discussion about a seemingly completely cosmopolitan subject like the protection of our little brothers.

“Why have the Jews come to such unexpected public opposition like this? I don’t know what his answer or that of other Jews in Russia could have been. But I know that if they still remain in a country where such a great mass of people are wondering why they don’t move on and leave for ‘their Israel,’ then they should have come up with a response for a long time already. Each one should have his response, according to his views, feelings and principles.

“For Yarmolnik the unique opportunity to finally respond to all of Russia on the main television channel became possible. That same ‘transplanted’ anti-Semite gave him the opportunity to respond. Yarmolnik needed to do this for all of the Jews who live there and for the Jews of the whole world who are fed up with hearing these rude cries, and also finally for the sake of the Russians themselves.

“He should have answered: ‘We live in Russia according to such and such a right, there is an ethical right, and all of your legal requirements for us to live here. It is up to you to permit this here and not in some other nation.’ He could have recalled that his forefathers shed blood while defending this country, talking about the men and women who cured the sick, taught children, created industry, advanced science, served the people with their creativity for years. And ultimately recall that generations of our ancestors are buried in the soil of that nation. I don’t know, I am now writing all of this impromptu, yet it is possible to prepare our thoroughly thought out and considered speech for the next time.

“It is up to you to make this speech at least once, don’t slam the door, don’t make yourselves wretched and insulted; this is forgivable in someone else, but for you, writers, journalists, actors and scientists, this is unforgivable. Give an overwhelming response without entering into a verbal conflict with an idiot. Use a microphone and camera that broadcasts throughout the country, and finally give a prepared and convincing speech that will later be quoted for decades in reaction to situations like these.

“But now, the statement, ‘Yarmolnik, go back to Israel’ was said, and indeed what did he do, he got up and left, and this is encompassing and extends throughout the entire Russian-speaking world.”

My Comment: In spite of all it all, I see the advice to go back to Israel as completely correct, legitimate, and natural from a Russian regarding a Jew. We can look for excuses in a modern world where everyone is mixed up and lost…but this isn’t so. In any place that there is a massive relocation from one place to another, conflicts are created, sometimes decades or even hundreds of years later!

There is a special bond among all people within themselves and a special rejection between people. As much as it may seem that in our time everything is ready for complete mixing, the differences between peoples still manifest and require correction.

Kabbalah says there are 70 nations in the world and the people of Israel. As much as they are becoming mixed together artificially, this mixture is external, and there will be a need to correct it with an inner unity. It will appear in our world as a single, integral and global world, which is what we are seeing in our day. And therefore we, the Jews, have received the opportunity to reveal the method of unification, the wisdom of Kabbalah, through our return to Israel, later bringing that to the nations of the world. So I see that the advice to go back to Israel has its place and time.
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In the News (Radio Echo from Moscow): “One of Hollywood’s most famous producers, Harvey Weinstein, called to all of the Jews in the world to gather together to resist the anti-Semites. He said that faced by these terrorist groups like the Islamic State (ISIS) and Hamas, the time has come for the Jews to become as organized as the Mafia.

“To paraphrase him, ‘Good will defeat the evil, if the angels are organized like a Mafia.’ Until now, contrary to all the speculations of the proponents of conspiracy theories, the Jews have not only been unsuccessful in becoming consolidated like the Mafia, but not even like a symphony orchestra. No wonder they say that when there are two Jews, there are three opinions.

“Each one of the old Jewish organizations has its own policies, its own ‘fiddle’ and its own ‘party.’ Not even the blatant acts of anti-Semitism which are regularly happening in Europe today get a unified response. There may be a furious defense and severe imploring, but the attacks on the Jewish synagogues keep on becoming more frequent.

“This Hollywood producer says: I think that the struggle against anti-Semitism is a vital interest not only of our people, who lost millions of its sons and daughters in pogroms and the Holocaust, but it is the spearhead of the struggle of modern man with the barbaric ideologies of human hatred which threaten life itself on the face of the Earth. And so at least for the sake of this we need to be ‘organized like a Mafia.’”

My Comment: I think that his conclusion is correct. We must show an example of connection and unity, because we are the only ones who can do this correctly. Subconsciously,  the world is waiting for such an example from us, because all the suffering in the world is revealed only so we will unite and only then will all the suffering in the world cease. The The heads of countless Jewish organizations need to stop denying anti-Semitism, must stop being divided from each other, and come together in spite of their apparent differences. To the anti-Semites, we all look the same, and more precisely, we all have the same nose. As it is written: “Introduction to The Book of Zohar:”

67) When a person from Israel enhances and dignifies one’s internality, which is the Israel in that person, over the externality, which are the nations of the world in him, that is, when one dedicates the majority of one’s efforts to enhance and exalt one’s internality, to benefit one’s soul, and gives minor efforts, the mere necessity, to sustain the nations of the world in him, meaning the bodily needs, as it is written (Avot, 1), “Make your Torah permanent and your labor temporary,” by so doing, one makes the children of Israel soar upwards in the internality and externality of the world as well, and the nations of the world, which are the externality, to recognize and acknowledge the value of the children of Israel.

We see that redemption from the suffering of Israel and the entire world depends only on the unity of the people of Israel. All of the suffering of Israel and the world is only because of the absence of the requirement, “And you shall love your friend as yourself.”

70) Woe unto them that make the spirit of Messiah leave and depart from the world, and cannot return to the world. They are the ones that make the Torah dry, without any moisture of comprehension and reason. They confine themselves to the practical part of the Torah, and do not wish to try to understand the wisdom of Kabbalah, to know and to understand the secrets of the Torah and the flavors of Mitzva. Woe unto them, for with these actions they bring about the existence of poverty, ruin, and robbery, looting, killing, and destructions in the world.

71) 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.

But if we begin to unite and show an example to the whole world in this way, then all the nations of the world will recognize and acknowledge the merits of Israel. And they will fulfill the text: Isaiah 14:2: And the peoples shall take them, and bring them to their place. And as it is written: Isaiah 49:22: …and they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
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The Torah, “Leviticus,” 26:36: And those of you who survive I will bring fear in their hearts in the lands of their enemies, and the sound of a rustling leaf will pursue them; they will flee as one flees the sword, and they will fall, but there will be no pursuer.

This is about a state of absolute lack of confidence. No one in the world feels fear, uncertainty, and worry like the Jews. We have very special feelings of inferiority, fear, humiliation, dependency, and I would even say, guilt. These attributes are revealed in us in a very distinct manner because our mission and goal is to make the nations of the world feel that they are connected to one another so that the Creator can be revealed among them. Imagine how a person feels who constantly causes others harm by his inaction!

This is how everyone feels! A few years ago, my grandfather’s brother, who emigrated from Russia before the revolution, came to visit me with his family. He and his descendents have been living in England for almost 100 years. They are very well off, but there is something that they feel the same. If we dig a bit more deeply, we will discover that they all share the same feeling of guilt. It does not depend on our circumstances.

In an interview with Larry King, a famous American television journalist, I was asked why anti- Semitism is again rising in the world. This was the issue he found most painful. He is in his 80s, has Russian roots, and although he has been living in America his whole life, he feels that he came from Russia. It seems that it has been so long, all long forgotten, but he instantly understood me. The recognition of our responsibility for the world doesn’t disappear and the Creator will not let us escape it. We have to fulfill our mission, our goal.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/10/14

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Like A Bundle of Reeds, Why Unity and Mutual Guarantee Are Today’s Call of the Hour, Michael Laitman, Ph.D.

Afterword

Humanity deserves to be united into a single family. At that time all the quarrels and the ill will that stem from divisions of nations and their boundaries shall cease. However, the world requires mitigation, whereby humanity will be perfected through each nation’s unique characteristics. This deficiency is what the Assembly of Israel will complement.
—The Rav Kook, Orot HaRaaiah [Lights of the Raaiah], Shavuot, p 70

It has not been easy to write this book. I have written dozens of books, but none has been as emotionally demanding or intellectually challenging. For many years now, I have known the task that stands before us, but I have always been hesitant about writing directly to my Jewish brethren. I did not wish to be perceived as condescending or overbearing, and being tediously preachy or admonitory is not high on my “To Do” list.

And yet, my Kabbalah studies with Rabash taught me that the direction in which the world is moving is en route to ending in mayhem. That is why the Rabash’s father, Baal HaSulam, as well as his son, were more eager to circulate the ancient wisdom as a cure to humanity’s soaring egotism than any previous Kabbalist.

Baal HaSulam was anxious about the growing global interdependence early in the 1930s, when very few people in the world were even conscious of the process. He knew that it would lead to an irresolvable crisis if humanity did not support that mutual dependence with mutual guarantee, that human nature would not be able to tolerate the contrast between interdependence and mutual aversion.

At the same time, even at that early stage in our globalization, Baal HaSulam realized that the process was irreversible, that because we are parts of a single soul, a single desire, we are inherently connected. He also knew, as did all the sages quoted in this book, that the goal for which we were created was not for people to be strangers and hateful, but to bond and unite through the quality of bestowal.

Today we see how right he was. We are hopelessly ill-connected, and vehemently resentful of it. Our social systems, such as economy, health, and education, assume that ill will is the foundation of human relations, and therefore each entity shores itself up through regulations, legislations, and solicitors.

But this modus operandi is unsustainable. As good families assume goodwill among family members, all members of humankind must learn to trust one another.

However, as shown throughout the book, because our egos constantly evolve and emphasize our uniqueness rather than our unity, we need a method to help us achieve unity atop our disparity, without suppressing or nullifying it. That method is rooted in the spiritual patrimony of our people, and is the gift of the Jews to humanity, the salvation that the nations all await from the Jews.

The gift can be handed down through the wisdom of Kabbalah, through Integral Education, by the means that Baal HaSulam suggested in The Nation, or by any other means that will yield a fundamental change in human nature from divisiveness to unity, from animosity to empathy and care. If we achieve that unity, then the more we differ in our character, the stronger and warmer will be our bond. As Rabbi Nathan Sternhertz described it, “It primarily depends on man, who is the heart of Creation, and on whom everything depends. This is why ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is the great klal [“rule,” but also “collective”] of the Torah, to include in unity and peace, which is the heart of the vitality, persistence, and correction of the whole of Creation, by people of differing views being included together in love, unity, and peace.”[i]

Indeed, the beauty of our people is in its unity, its cohesion. Our nation began as a group of individuals who shared a common desire: to discover life’s essential force. We discovered that it was, in a word, “love,” and we discovered it because we developed that quality within us. That force of love united us, and in the spirit of love, we sought to share our discovery with anyone who willed it.

Over time, we have lost our connection, first with each other, then with the force we discovered through our bond. But now the world needs us to rekindle that bond, first among us, and subsequently among the whole of humanity.

We are a gifted nation, a nation with the gift of love, which is the quality of the Creator. Receiving this gift is the goal for which humanity was created, and we are the only conduit by which this love can flow to all the nations. Since the dawn of humanity, “never have so few owed so much to so many,” to paraphrase Winston Churchill’s words. And yet, never have so few been capable of giving so much to so many.

Indeed, as Baal HaSulam says, “It is upon the Israeli nation to qualify itself and all the people of the world … to develop until they take upon themselves that sublime work of the love of others, which is the ladder to the purpose of Creation, which is Dvekut [equivalence of form] with Him.”[ii]

[i] Rabbi Nathan Sternhertz, Likutey Halachot [Assorted Rules], “Rules of Tefilat Arvit [Evening Prayer],” Rule no. 4.

[ii] Rav Yehuda Leib HaLevi Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), The Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut [Mutual Guarantee],” item 28 (Ashlag Research Institute, Israel, 2009), 393.

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