Question: We know that the Maccabees didn’t fight only against the Greeks but also against the Hellenists. What is this conflict about? Is it about two opposite ideologies?

Answer: The concept of Hellenism is a perception of reality, a paradigm, a worldview, a philosophy, and a perspective of the world. The world perceptions of the Greeks and the Romans were totally egoistic.

They claimed that man is in the center of the creation and that it isn’t bad and it isn’t a mistake. Man was considered a perfect creature, which means that his evolution has been completed and that he cannot change his nature. According to this perception evolution could only be:

• Physical—sports and Olympic Games;
• Rational—the fabrication of myths and fantasies, which were common in those days.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is the approach that allowed the Israeli nation to come out of the universal Babylon, which is the basis for all the other perceptions, including the Greek perception, and the natural evolution of the desire and the mind in order to attain a good life in this world. All the other perceptions regarding our nature refer to this world.

That method is based on absorption, on perceiving, and on receiving with the help of the raging ego that constantly develops in a person. This force is like a tight spring that is released inside us constantly pushing us to different pleasures.

Thus we cook inside our ego, each in his own pot, and all of us together in one giant pot. This process helps us advance scientifically, culturally, in sports, and in other aspects that make our life more comfortable. Thanks to the ego that constantly burns inside us as a part of our nature, we build fantastic things to satisfy ourselves.

But there is an opposite approach according to which our nature is basically evil. Why?—Because it isn’t for connection between people but leads to separation between them. After all, each one establishes relations with others only for one’s own benefit. Therefore, this approach is flawed and destructive.

My nature forces me to take advantage of everything that goes on around me, everyone that is around me. It is all for my benefit. This is a natural desire, my innate attribute. At any given moment I weigh my moves in order to use the world egoistically.

This leads to detachment because we are in a continuous struggle between us, in competition, which is the basis of the ancient Greek culture. The Olympic Games are a clear example of that. Eventually the Greek approach requires the use of others for our own benefit.

On the other hand, our nation believes in totally different values. Abraham gathered his students and explained to them that they were to establish a society that should live on the principles of mutuality, unity, and love. The essence of the Jewish approach means that the other is more important than me.

This perception that Abraham initiated was carried on through Egypt, Mount Sinai, and the land of Israel and was accepted until two thousand years ago. The principle remained unchanged—to constantly develop for the benefit of others so that they will be more important to me than myself.

But what do I gain from that? After all, this approach is also based on the ego because we have nothing else but that.

Such an attitude towards others allows me to exit my nature, to ascend above my limitations, above my body, and to feel the world through the others who are dearer to me than myself.

This is exactly how a mother sees the wellbeing of the world through the wellbeing of her own child. It is as if she dresses in him and then she doesn’t operate according to her own desires but in his benefit.

If I dress that way in all of humanity, I will see a totally different perfect world regardless of my attributes, my desires, and my limitations.

The Greek approach is based on absorption, while the Jewish approach is based in bestowal, on exiting myself, which allows me to discover the force of nature that operates on the outside. In addition to that, I acquire the force of love and bestowal by which I explore all of reality.

The main thing is that I discover the upper force, which created all of the spiritual reality that operates in bestowal and also the corporeal, egoistic reality that operates in receiving. I know the general force and ascend to its level. When I detach myself from the egoistic desire of my body, I ascend above it to an eternal dimension of love and bestowal. Why is it eternal? Because it is whole and lacks nothing.

On the other hand, Greek perception can eventually contribute to a person during his short corporeal life and that’s all. Since all its goals don’t exceed the framework of the physical existence and the body isn’t eternal.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/14/14

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In 170 BCE, the Greeks, led by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, captured the Temple. There was a division between the adherents of Greek philosophy and religion and those who remained loyal to the concept of a single Creator.

Some priests, including the high priest (Cohen Rishon), supported the Greeks. The Jerusalem Temple was desecrated and turned into a sanctuary of Zeus. Severe persecution and forced Hellenization of the population led to the Maccabean revolt, led by Matityahu Hashmonay who issued the call, “He who is for God, follow me!”

The uprising ended with the victory of the Maccabees. Having entered the Temple, they found that the pure oil to light the Menorah candles would last for only one day. But a miracle occurred. The candles burned for eight days and so is called the miracle of Hanukkah.

Question: What does Hanukkah represent from the spiritual point of view?

Answer: The history leading to this holiday begins with Abraham as the founder of the Jewish people. Long before the Maccabees, It was he who first issued the call,  “Whoever is moving towards the Creator – follow me!” Under this motto, he gathered a large group of Babylonians, to whom he taught his approach to the universe, the purpose of life and creation, the higher human destiny, etc.

But most importantly, under the slogan of “unity in the name of unity,” Abraham began to unite those who sided with him because it is in the pursuit of unity that we reveal the upper force of nature, the Creator, which unites us. It forms us into one whole and we become invincible to either external or internal egoism. What Abraham began, the Maccabees, united with each other, continued.

In principle, it is the same action of a rebellion against egoism, only at different levels, and that is why it occurred at different points in history.

Having united people, the Maccabees came to the same state as Abraham and won. To the extent of unity with greater groups of people who joined them, they revealed a greater spiritual force, which was the force of unity, the upper force of bestowal and love. Therefore, they were invincible to egoism, which was personified by the Greeks in this case, in Babylon by the Babylonians, in Egypt by Pharaoh, and later, by the Romans.

Through unity with large groups of people joining them, they recognized more and more spiritual power: the power of unity and the supreme power of love and bestowal. Therefore, they were invincible against the selfishness personified in this case by the Greeks, the Babylonians, Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and later, the Romans.

In general, it is the only fight, a war throughout all generations. And even when we do not have an apparent enemy, our inner enemy always rebels within us, again and again pulling us towards worshiping various idols in our life. We must fight it.

It is easy to draw a parallel between these two wars and today since modern idols are fully exposed as complete nonentities, leading us to some end and we have nothing else to do with them. On the one hand, we are still drawn to them, and on the other hand, we understand that this is temporary, harmful and brings no good results.

Therefore, our behavior is reminiscent of a man who gets drunk, does not know or hear anything, forgets himself,and is disconnected from what is happening. We become immersed in business or other things just to stay occupied, thus imitating a movie hero, a literary character, or just acquaintances who have supposedly succeeded in life. This is the idol  that is so attractive to us.

Question: Do you think that these desires have exhausted themselves?

Answer: No, but I know that all this is temporary and limited. Life itself shows us that. The world is like a theater and we always play a role in it.

There are people who seek nothing. The main thing for them is to live quietly and peacefully, so no one bothers them. But, there are few of them. The majority are pulled by competition, the struggle for a place under the sun, and we begin to pretend that we are business people, running with a briefcase and changing from one plane to another, and in this way, we run to the grave.

Question: Can the miracle of Hanukkah take place nowadays?

Answer: In life there is always a place for a miracle. Every time we connect with each other, the force, which is higher than all the other forces, obstacles, conditions, is manifested, and then there is a miracle before us. We can evoke it, even today.

A miracle is a supernatural phenomenon, but we are able to cause it ourselves, when we wish. Today, if we want to rise above egoism in our unity, then a completely new upper force will be manifested within us, and with its help, we will be able to calm the whole world, arrange everything, and everyone will be fine and easygoing.

Question: What kind of a miracle happened when the candles of the Maccabees were lit?

Answer: Through their unity, the Maccabees attracted the Light that gave them the opportunity to stay in the state of bestowal, love and connection until they began to pull new masses of people towards themselves.

The desires of people who connect with each other in one whole symbolizes the oil, and their gathering in spite of their egoism symbolizes the wick. They burn in their desire to get closer, and when they unite somehow, a light appears within them that support the fire of their desires.

If they begin to be engaged in even greater dissemination and draw towards themselves greater masses of people, then the lamp will burn continuously.

The manifestation of the Light, the upper force, the Creator in the people’s unity is the miracle. Besides that, there are no other miracles because the essence of all miracles is that our unity brings about the manifestation of the inner force, called the property of love, the Creator. It works wonders. The crossing of the Red Sea, the miracle of Hanukkah and the miracle of Purim are always the revelation of the Creator in our unity. Therefore, there is just one technique and it contains nothing complicated. It came to us from Abraham, who first showed how it is realized.

The fact is that we can unite in any manner, but the essence of the miracle is that we unite so that a new upper property appears within us, which is not manifested in any other actions, that raises us to the next level of consciousness, sensation, vision, and existence.

Question: How could people believe that one candle would burn for eight days when they knew that it would be sufficient only for a day?

Answer: If we aspire to unity, we are not interested in anything except to come to this state, within which the Creator is revealed. Then we reach the conditions of infinity and go to the next level of existence, where there is neither time nor space. And eight days is just an allegory, since there are eight Sefirot from the level of Bina to the level of Malchut.

Question: How can a person not think about what will happen tomorrow?

Answer: If you work for bestowal, tomorrow does not exist for you! There is no next moment! The most important is to give.

Tomorrow will disappear from your field of vision, mind, and calculations! It does not exist! You are included in the action of bestowal and are seemingly extended to everyone else. Nothing will remain in you. Your “I” simply disappears.

Then, in the next step, a new egoistic state appears. The same thing is repeated, like the wheel that moves forward, but at the same time revolves around itself.

Question: Under what circumstances is this possible?

Answer: It comes gradually, after many years and only from Above. But it will come. I can promise to all of my students that it will come true, and they will reach this state.

I think that together with them, I will still be able to go through their first steps in this ascent. This is the desire of every spiritual teacher who cannot abandon his child halfway. The teacher wants to guide his students across the desert so that they reach full bestowal, and they would not have any possibility of turning back, since the property of bestowal would reign in all their desires.

Then, they will develop their spiritual path on their own, with the next leader, like Moses and Joshua. But it is desirable for us to cross the desert together.

Question: How do you view the miracles from the material point of view? Let’s say, for many years, archaeologists seek confirmation of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, but find no traces. Indeed, something should have been left. In addition, there no evidence has been found of the 40 years of wandering of the nation of Israel in the desert.

Answer: Archaeologists find confirmation of these or other historical events when the time comes. Therefore in its time, they will suddenly find artifacts of history in the same place where they previously could find nothing. These discoveries are still ahead.
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From KabTV’s “Secretes of the Eternal Book” 12/17/14

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In recent years,  politicians have started talking about legislative consolidation of the Jewish character of the state of Israel. The reason for this is the broad wave of  anti-Semitic attacks. The whole world has a problem with the Jewish people,  asking: “Why did they take the possession of land that does not belong to them?”

Many do not even agree with the original division of the territory in accordance with the UN resolution. Today, a secondary vote, of course, would deprive us of the right to our own state.

After the disaster, the world was uncomfortable in front of us, and if we indeed were to get the country, this will continue, according to the laws of common development.

However, we have to make it really ours, take the holy land (Eretz) as a desire (Ratzon) to purify and form not as a collection of exiles, but as the people of Israel, in the full sense of the word, fully united and aspiring straight to the Creator (Yashar El).

We have to take a course on cohesion, love, and unity, to become as one man with one heart.

If we had arranged our nation in this way, we would not have had to carry the endless war for the past 66 years without a single second of rest and relaxation. And the situation would not have been like it is today such that when all of Israel is forced to plan an emergency evacuation, an escape plan in case of a disaster.

Question: Again and again, life confronts us with basic issues that affect our very existence in the land of Israel. And always this topic covers the fog of uncertainty, vagueness. Why is there this agonizing incompleteness in our self-determination? Why haven’t all “I’s” been dotted?

Answer: It is because we want to be like all the other nations and define our country like everyone else, according to the traditional representations of territory, borders and public entities. However, for us it does not work and does not apply to us. This usual format does not cause a faithful response in us, where we do not feel for ourselves, and do not find any correlation as to how our country should be identified and appear as our people, and every person in it.

It turns out that we are not the people of Israel, as it should be, and we do not live in the land of Israel nor in the country of Israel, as it should be according to the original sources, according to our basis. We have tried to adopt the concept of external concepts, simply taking them in, but they have not come to fruition. The international standard label comes unglued again and again.

As a result, we feel that it is not suitable, but continue to burden ourselves with it, without making the definition clear. And the world, for its part, does not understand our actions and sees the state of Israel as some artificial entity.

We can eloquently argue that this is our land. We can even sacrifice for the sake of life. However, we still do not understand what “the people” and “the country” mean for the Jewish people.

Baal Sulam wrote a great piece about it in the newspaper “The Nation” (HaUma), which, incidentally, was closed following its initial release. In this paper, the nature of these concepts and the need to return to their roots after two thousand years of exile was described in detail.

Why should we turn to ancient history and to the primitive life now that once was lived by our ancestors? On the contrary, in the previous centuries advanced nations planted their cultures everywhere. A foreign culture with a particular success was transferred to the indigenous peoples of Africa and America. Languages would die out as well as the traditions and beliefs, giving way to the English, Spanish, and French influence.

But we still have not been able to keep within the margins of the present. There is nothing we can borrow from the people of the world. On the contrary, we are organized in such a way that the people of the world adapt the correct things from us.

It is not up to us and it is not pride or arrogance. We are hard-wired this way. It is no coincidence that the world sees us as an intelligent, developed people, nurturing a purpose of life. The world feels that the Jewish people have a secret they do not want to open to others, so this means they must force us to give it up.

This feeling is indestructible, and we must finally understand what they want from us. Indeed, what kind of a mystery lies within us? If we only knew, then we could sell it for triple the price. But no, it does not work this way.

After all, what we hold inside and that lies within the people of Israel without their knowledge is this great, beautiful, alluring, shining goal, the future of the world.

Our world is bound to the brotherhood in which we once lived. We need to regain it, in other words, to live together as a law-abiding people, love our neighbors as ourselves, according to the principles that we received on Mount Sinai, and to be as one man with one heart.

Today our global, integrated world feels the unbreakable relationship of all its parts, literally requires it, and requires compliance with this law. If we reveal an umbrella of guarantee over all of us, we will find ourselves in a world that is for us, is as the Garden of Eden.

That is why in this modern era, the world pays attention to us without knowing how or why and begins to demand the law from us by which it will live tomorrow. After all, today’s life seems more and more intolerable to the world, pitch black, and hopeless. It no longer presents a picture of tomorrow. And subconsciously, people feel that the Jewish people have the answer.

Anti-Semitism flourishes around the world as a consequence, affecting millions of people. Thus, it simply obliges us to wonder about the law and about the way of life that should form the basis of our existence here.

If we really did go back to the roots, if we would put into practice the concept of “the people of Israel” aspiring “straight to the Creator” (Yashar-El), i.e., to unity, solidarity, and love, if this were so, we would educate the people based upon the law combined with each other, as one man with one heart, helping neighbors and binding people together by this partnership. This would serve as an example to the world. Moreover, we would teach people how to build unity.

The world would then understand that we are a special part of it and that we really need to learn. And there is much to learn, since it’s the future and the salvation of all mankind. It is not just for a few decades comprising the lifespan of every generation, but rather a new basis for a new foundation being laid here in which our world will be perfected and ascend to a new level, into the eternal, perfect condition.

Today our egoism devours itself and as a result, we live an average of 70-80 years. If we move from the egoistic receiving desire to an altruistic one, to bestowal, and if everyone would live with their heart wide open among one’s nation, taking care of all, we would find other natural laws, the laws of love and bestowal. At that point we would enter into the eternal, perfect life and our world would open the opportunity to live beyond the limitations of time, space, and motion. We would begin to perceive the world in which there are no limits.

In the meantime, the problems towards the Jewish people, which we call anti-Semitism, will grow more and more. We cannot get rid of this. On the contrary, we will have to give an answer, as it is necessary to stand face to face with this situation.

At the same time, we will need to solve the problem of the Jewish character of the country, recently exposed for public discussion. But, it must not be by artificial language and not on the basis of the laws that we have inherited from the British mandate or Turkish rule. No, we need to take up the Torah and draw out all the necessary definitions.

For millennia, since the days of Abraham, Kabbalists have explained the meaning of “the people of Israel” and “country of Israel,” and who is a “Jewish person.” We need to open ourselves to the world, abandon the boundaries and take into our surroundings, everyone who wants to live by the law of love and unity under the umbrella of bestowal. That’s right, rather than geographic, the boundaries of the land of Israel, that is, universal mutual guarantee, will extend to the whole world.

In principle, the land of Israel is not the territory on the surface of the globe, but a place where people live according to the law of love. So now it does not exist. After all, the earth (Eretz) means the desire (Ratzon). If there is the law of love between people living in any place and they follow such law, their relationship, their common desire is called the land of Israel, the desire aspiring straight to the Creator (Yashar-El), and thus they want to be like the upper force.

That is what we have to explain, demonstrate, and offer to all peoples. And then, instead of hatred, we will feel empathy, respect and affection, which is what we feel right now from many thousands of our students around the world. We see how committed they are to us when we teach them how to unite with each other to cooperatively achieve a higher power.
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From the program “A New Life” 11/30/14

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Question: Each of us lives his life with the typical hardships, successes, and disappointments. We would like to make our lives happier, but the question is how? Where do we get the feelings of warmth and security?

Answer: The answer is in our mother’s womb, then in her arms, and then in the warmth of our home and hearth. We gradually draw away from it, but our inclination to preserve these forms remains, although we want to be independent in our ego.

What is more, we see that our ego begins to soften with regard to the way it feels the community that we establish as we participate in the discussion circles. I look at what I can give up in the ego. I don’t really annul it, but it simply begins to help me incorporate more and more in the life of the community and to feel that I belong to a greater circle. Thus, our ego can function as “help against.”

When we developed only egoistically, we continually destroyed our community life. However, now, when we restore the community—at least in the form of a game—the ego that feels the pressure begins to help us. It isn’t annulled, but takes on a new form. This is called integral community education.

Let’s hope that we will be able to attain it. We thus balance the general global force of nature, and it connects humanity according to our inner inclination. When the two forces that influence us become harmoniously balanced, our life will become happy.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 10/8/14

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Question: In today’s modern world, the greatest payoff for independence is loneliness. So how can I, on the one hand, keep my independence, and together with this gradually add elements to this life that will connect me with other people?

Answer: A person doesn’t have to give up anything in order to be included in the life of the community. On the one hand, this life is more developed, corrected, and warm, and on the other hand, you are included in it to the degree that you want, to the extent that is beneficial to you. You don’t give up anything in this.

As a general rule, we think that we need to give up our independence, our freedom, and our decisions. Come, let’s try to play with the life of the community, with agreement between us, with such a connection from a distance so that we reach a particular equality in all kinds of forms of connection. We open circles for children; we help each other mutually, and we disseminate new forms of learning in circles.

Come, let’s begin classes in organizations, workplaces, and various places where people meet, organizing meetings that look like a community, but external in the beginning. This could be a roundtable, a picnic, or a festival. Come, let’s begin to talk about the importance of such an approach to life.

With this, we begin to resemble the global nature that compresses and mixes humanity such that people are constantly moving from place to place, from nation to nation. It is no longer possible to say where the place of one group of people or another is to be found because borders have become blurred and cancelled.

Come, let’s start talking about this and clarify together how much a mutual connection of equality can be beneficial to a person as an addition to his life. In fact, we awaken in a person an additional form of thinking that doesn’t obligate anyone. It is just external participation. If we begin to work in this direction, then a person will almost immediately begin to feel additional benefit, so much so that it will be attractive to him, whereas the previous way of life will lose its value.

You want to keep your former life and add to it? Please! There is no compulsion! But gradually, thanks to this social influence, this softening, without pressure and obligation, changes will take place within you. It will also be felt in your children and your partner, and through this means of communication, everyone will begin to feel the benefit of this situation; in the meantime we are only playing, for after all all of us are egoists, and we aren’t even trying to hide this fact.

We only want to examine the validity of good connections and not the influence of the community on the life, wellbeing, the way of life at home, or anything else. Come, let’s try to feel its relevance to our region, city, and neighborhood in the relationships between us. It is not important what level of measurement we choose. With this we build a softer and more secure environment, reducing the tension in the air.

In the end, we see that growth in the general welfare of the population is worthwhile for us. In addition to this, the inner sensation of people becomes more pleasant, freer, and sweeter. Specifically a person wants this pleasantness, and specifically this is what everyone is missing, even the most independent and wealthy person.
[149651]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 10/8/14

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In the process of human development, each new state initially is perceived as good and desirable and we are pleased to enter into it. But then, gradually shortcomings existing within it are revealed and it ceases to please us. Over time, it gets worse and worse until it ends in a revolution, a struggle to move to the next stage.

We are now in this transition period. We need to make an audit of our entire previous development on the still, vegetative, and animate degrees, subject it to critical analysis and a general check to see that all this development did not work in our favor.

It was just the evolution of our egoism that made us continuously improve our material life and build systems that were able to fulfill it more and more. But it never made us happy because in the end, egoism always devoured all the fruits of our efforts, once again leaving us with nothing and an even greater sense of inner emptiness.

Having received a hundred, it is not content and wants two hundred, having received two hundred, it wants four hundred. It is a natural tendency and we will never be able to limit our egoistic appetite. It all ends when a person dies without satisfying even half of his aspirations. He never gets what he coveted, even at the end of his life.

Humanity must reveal the insignificance of its egoistic development. First of all, we need to clarify that this development was required and that we now have the opportunity to get out of the material plane and develop in a completely different direction of reality. We must move upward to a new dimension and into the matrix that is not related to this world.

To do this, we need to change our tendencies. Instead of constant absorption, which is characteristic of our egoistic nature that begins with cells and atoms and seeks only to absorb more good things, it is necessary to go directly opposite in order to feel the whole universe that is related to us.

Each of us must feel that all the others are part of us. Thus, we will feel that the whole world is one integral system. In our time, the world began to move toward such a form, but in a negative manner, showing us our inability to exist in an integral system.

We see that we are unable to succeed in the economy, in the education of children, or in any other area of life. After all, we ourselves are structured completely opposite to this integral system and everyone just grabs and pulls towards themselves.

Nature presents us with a new reality. The cause of the current crisis in human society is hidden within it. We remain in our original egoistic nature, but the total integral system is beginning to unfold before us in which everyone is connected to everyone else.

This system cannot work in an environment where everyone grabs only for himself. On the contrary, in order for this system to exist so that can we exist within it, we have to feel it as part of ourselves.

So today we need the wisdom of Kabbalah, which will reveal this upper system, the force of bestowal to us. It will explain its nature and how to work with it. Whether we wish it or not, the train of evolution is carrying us forward and bringing us to a new station. We find ourselves in a completely new condition and suddenly discover that all the previous methods no longer work.

All the capitalistic laws, under which everyone pulled everything towards himself and everyone felt comfortable, do not work. We thought we could continue like that forever, but this does not work because the force of bestowal began to work in our world. And if we are not equipped with it, if are not able to understand and feel it, to learn and begin to work with this second force, then with every moment we will lose control over what is happening and suffer more and more setbacks in our lives.

Therefore, we must study the wisdom of Kabbalah that explains all of reality “that has emerged in the worlds and those that are destined to be revealed, and in all the manners that can ever appear in the worlds, to the end of time,” as Baal HaSulam writes.

There is a science, a technique, by which we can move forward on the basis of our real experiences and sensations. As it is said that the judge has only the facts that are before his eyes and that the phenomenon that has not been comprehended is impossible to describe.

In our hands are the real tools for understanding reality. We have never had such an opportunity to see our future with confidence. Our present lives are arranged so that no one can know what the next moment brings him. The wisdom of Kabbalah gives us the opportunity not only to learn this, but also to control our own destiny. Today’s reality obliges us to do so.
[149619]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: If the Jewish people begin to implement the Kabbalistic method, what will happen in the world? How will it affect anti-Semitism in the world?

Answer: Instead of feeling anti-Semitism, people will begin to treat us with sympathy, respect, and love. The nations of the world will carry us in their arms because we will provide them with the method for a perfect eternal life.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains how we should correctly work with our ego so that it will not be just an evil force but a help against us, a help that stems from its oppositeness. When we fulfill this work, we will attain the peak of our evolution.

Question: There are people who offer different solutions to the problem of anti-Semitism, like suggesting that all the Jews should come to Israel or on the contrary, assimilate among the nations. What can you say about that?

Answer: Nonsense. Such plans will not work. It is because nature itself is managing the whole process. Sooner or later we will have to discover the potential hidden in each of us and become teachers for all of humanity.

We will have to discover the wisdom of Kabbalah by which we will be able to restrain the ego so that we will be able to use it correctly. It is very powerful and can be very helpful when used correctly. Thus we will reach the good cause.

As for assimilation, it is useless, and we are incapable of it. On the contrary, we are yet to reunite with the ten lost tribes and we will see that they haven’t assimilated either. They will come from every corner of the world and will proclaim their Judaism.

Question: Do Jews really have a kind of a protective shield that guards them from complete assimilation?

Answer: Yes. It is because of the profound basic difference that is concealed in nature itself, in the inner Reshimot (reminiscences) that operate the Jews and the non-Jews. The Jewish Reshimo is actually found in the nations of the world as well, but it hasn’t as yet been revealed, and hasn’t started to speak with them as yet.

It isn’t by chance that Abraham turned to all the people in Babel and said, “Let’s live differently and base our relations on a new principle.” But those who followed him were those in whom this Reshimo, this inner element of unity, was already revealed. Those who didn’t hear the message were those in whom unity hadn’t yet awoken, and thus they remained in their ego.

Today however, we are very close to the revelation and recognition of the seriousness of the crisis we are in and the uniqueness of this abnormal global world. People will feel that they have to unite and that they cannot keep on living any other life but the life that is based on mutual unity into one whole.

Question: Can we say that anti-Semitism is a call and a demand coming from the world “to teach us how to keep on living?”

Answer: Of course. This is the real reason for it. The nations of the world are actually telling us openly that we have the key for a good life. We may ask how it is possible to blame us for all the troubles in the world, but this is what they feel and they cannot get rid of this feeling.

The nations of the world are totally dependent on us. Only we have the solutions to the current situation by showing them how to organize and cooperate amongst themselves.

Question: Suppose I agree with you, what should I do now?

Answer: You should join the method of integral education and learn what it means to be a Jew. It makes no difference whether a person is religious or not, whether he is politically inclined to the left or to the right. We should understand what it really means to be Jewish (Yechudi), which stems from the Hebrew word “Yichud” – unity, mutual love, and how to attain it.

Then this wisdom and method should be passed on to your family and to others within your environment.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 11/25/14

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Question: You say that only the Jews are ready to help the world in the conditions of the global crisis. How exactly?

Answer: It is according to the method that was discovered by Abraham. Specifically, he understood why the ego is constantly growing and that human development is summoned in this way. During this process, more and more disasters are experienced.

For together with all of the successes and achievements, the ego pushes us further and further into an abyss, makes life difficult and fills it with unavoidable tension. More than this, in our day, the ego is growing exponentially, not linearly.

So by discovering all of this, Abraham also discovered a further unique power in nature, which is the power of bestowal and love. We can derive that from nature and through this positive force, dominate our egoistic negativity.

How is this done? It is done through connection and unification with each other. Through our convergence, we discover this power of unification between us that can cover our entire ego. Then we feel as if we are under a safe umbrella. Nature doesn’t bother us anymore and we are not threatened by any harm. We don’t lose anything, we have no need for competition and we don’t need to devour each other. Everywhere there is absolute abundance, peace, and tranquility throughout the world.

This is what Abraham discovered and taught his students with whom he disengaged from Babylon and went to the land of Israel.

We are the owners of this wisdom. And the nations of the world feel this, especially at this time of the global crisis. It is expanding and we don’t see an end to it. There will be further pauses, but the trend is moving us towards an abyss. Under such conditions, the nations of the world understand that we have a solution. This is because they are like the ancient Babylonians from whom we once branched out in a different way.

At that time, Abraham said to everyone, “Much later you will still have to face the facts and understand that this method of counteracting evil, the ego, with good, the power of altruistic love, is compulsory. You don’t want to realize this now? So you will realize it in another few thousand years.” There is no choice, and this period has been like a moment in our reality.

And now thousands of years have passed. Today we are already close to the end of the process. Ultimately all of humanity must be aware of this, that the same wisdom of Kabbalah that was given to the Jews and which they have themselves forgotten, is imperative for this. It is necessary to counteract the ego that is killing humanity and devouring itself, like a cancer that devours the body.
[149165]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 11/25/14

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Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: And humanity has already thrown itself to the extreme right, as with Germany, or to the extreme left, as with Russia. But not only did they not ease the situation for themselves, they have worsened the malady and agony, and the voices rise up to the sky, as we all know. 

Today all the means that were useful in the past are invalid. It makes no difference how we choose to advance, what plans we make, or what recommendations or innovations we come up with. Eventually all this will only deepen the crisis we are in, force us to waste our powers in vain, and increase pain and suffering.

So what can we do? A wise man tries to identify the whole process in advance from beginning to end in regards to a predetermined goal. If we do this, we will certainly save ourselves pain and follow the way that will still bring us to the same outcome.

On the other hand, as long as we keep postponing the only possible correction, the unpleasant phases will only be stretched out and prolonged. If we continue to advance along the corporeal egoistic plane, we raise our ego each time and overcome the bad states that are revealed. Our ego keeps on growing and we invent more and more new sophisticated innovations in technology, means of communication, or legislation.

Instead of a king, we have a parliament; we save money in bank accounts and give priority to private enterprises. Why is this so? In order to give people different opportunities to fulfill the egoistic desire and thus keep advancing. We are in perpetual motion, and on each level we discover its worthlessness the moment when we cannot satisfy the demands of our developing desire by ourselves and it forces us to keep on developing.

Today, the desire has reached a certain level of satiation and now we can decide what to do with it. It doesn’t matter what means we try, nothing is successful. Matter, the desire to receive, which has been the basis for the development of human society for thousands of years, is no longer fruitful. Competition can no longer be the engine of progress.

We are in search of new directions, trying to understand what else we can do. But we find nothing. There are no more opportunities in industry, commerce, or science. We have fulfilled and exhausted ourselves.

Of course, we would rather believe that this is a temporary dead end before a new breakthrough, but there is a fundamental problem here: We have developed society only in order to use the power of our ego. Today the ego doesn’t work anymore.

Therefore, we mustn’t continue our advancement in the directions that we have developed so far. The egoistic force, the basis of our progress has exhausted itself. We can already see that it has begun to consume itself.

In the past, a person wanted to have a family, bring up his children, build a home, and become rich. Only a decade or two ago, these goals and demands were clearly understood. But today, many people are not attracted to it. The old values are suddenly gone. It is therefore better to sit and smoke a joint, which has become practically legal, and that’s it.

Humanity has lost the hold and supporting pillar of the ego, which has been our engine of progress throughout history. Although governments and the media still manage to blur reality, there is actually nowhere else to which we can advance.

If we continue to hold on to the peak and keep on delving deeper into the diminishing pool of opportunities, the troubles will only increase. The more we continue to advance along this path, the quicker our negative development will be. The wrong use of the ego and its overuse in our times will eventually show us that it doesn’t work anymore. The uselessness of self-love is now becoming evident.

We already see behavioral mutations in the relations between people and countries. Many don’t even want to think rationally as to whether it is good or bad for them, but simply act out of their impulses and prefer not to think about the outcomes. Thus the ordinary egoistic behavior is gradually changing.

This is a very dangerous phase since it can lead to an outburst in any possible direction. Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah is being revealed, and although it is seemingly an artificial thing, unnatural for us, it is actually the right and natural thing.

If we have already exhausted our human egoistic impulse to advance and develop, then there is only one thing left to do: ascend to the next level that is above self-love. There is another force in the world besides the force of receiving, which is the force of bestowal. So why don’t we establish a new humanity on the basis of this attribute? Why don’t we establish our relationships upon it? Let’s use the second force in nature. We mustn’t continue to ignore bestowal. It has always been at our disposal, but we didn’t feel a need for it because the ego pushed us forward and considered the force of bestowal redundant.

The force of receiving burnt in us more and more and we didn’t even think that bestowal provides us with greater opportunities to advance. It is because with the help of bestowal we use the external vessels of the environment, which are the desires, the attainments, the connections and the great mind, the great force that is on the outside. We never even thought that we could develop along the positive path with the help of the force of bestowal.

Bestowal is based on mutual benefit. It opens up infinite perspectives because humanity can finally unite powers instead of wasting them on inner struggles, because it is actually the separation that weakens us. It is just like a rich couple who gets divorced and their lawyers get all their money. Eventually the two sides are left with nothing compared to what they had before.

On the whole, competition and ambitiousness help us advance only if we don’t directly compete with one another on the basis of mutual hate, but instead, we do this on the conceptual level, for the sake of humanity. Today the competition between us is who is better and whose merchandise is better. In this kind of struggle each one wants to wipe out the competition, which is a destructive state not a constructive one. In such cases it isn’t the general wellbeing that wins and it is therefore harmful to all of us.

We have now begun a period of destructive competition. As a result, the ego begins to consume itself and becomes an illness that destroys people. In the past the ego was the developing force, but now it has become a destructive force.
[146290]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The still, vegetative, and animate nature functions as intended. There’s no freewill. Plants and animals are limited in their ability to destroy the world and have no excessive demands.

They don’t need ten outfits; they don’t need food storage facilities, and they don’t need to exercise power over the forest or the jungle. Every animal has its natural boundaries, its own territory, and its own family.

But suddenly some “little tail” gets out from animal to human level. A person is different from other levels due to a developing negative force ready to destroy everything so only this force can feel good.

There isn’t any good force in a person, and there isn’t any impulse towards unity, everything is concentrated on a personal gain, personal success at the expense of others, even if it costs them their lives.

In nature, species eat each other only for food in order to sustain life. A person requires spiritual food; one is restless while others have something good. A person wants to be the only one who is all right.

One is consumed with envy, lust, vanity, hatred, lust for power, the power of negative individualistic force. It’s negative because it leads to mutual confrontation, which isn’t for the sake of sustenance, as it is with the animals.

Such force knows no limits. Everyone would want to leave a certain number of people and turn them into robots, completely under one’s control. “Otherwise, why do they exist if not for me? Let them fully obey and serve me, let them live only to praise and exalt me.”

It turns out, that at the highest level of nature a special creature comes into existence, a person of this world, with a negative force growing inside.

At lower levels the positive force acts automatically along with the negative. Vital restrictions themselves are positive. On the other hand, from generation to generation people gain greater destructive potential.

A person’s negativity is a different kind of quality: one wants to rule over others, desires the excellence and greatness for oneself for centuries to come. “Napoleon is still remembered, and I want to surpass him so I’m remembered for thousands of years.”

There are no limits to our egoism. Egoism is ready to do away with everyone, ready to destroy the entire planet and itself along with it. Such is the negative force of a disconnection.

On the other hand, the development of the universe, the earth, and nature in it indicates that we lack the positive force of connection, bestowal to others, and balance. But not just on a level of material exchange.

First of all, we must correct our attitude, our approach, our heart that is completely poisoned by egoism. It’s necessary to add a good part, to correct our way of thinking, our criteria, the way we look at things, everything that we feel, everything that causes us to respond.

My desire, my mind, and my senses need correction, addition, fulfillment, and balance. This crazy “left hard rudder” negative separation, I want to balance the “right hard rudder” with positive unity. We can’t allow the imbalance to occur in one-way or another; balance is what is necessary here. After all, the balance of two forces gives us development of life.

Question: What will happen to my desire to be the master of the world?

Answer: You will feel that the whole world is yours. The entire system will be felt, understood, and intended for your work. And now, you form the whole world, in fact, all the worlds, parallel universes, and more.

Question: Does this mean that the positive force doesn’t limit me?

Answer: On the contrary, it’s the force of the true dissemination in breadth without getting anything in return. I exit myself, my limitations, and then see the natural phenomena that weren’t previously recognized.

After all, I felt everything in my egoism, and while coming out with the help of the second force, I see what actually occurs in nature, beyond the perception of the five senses, beyond the limited range of measuring instruments. I feel nature as it is.

Unlike animals, this positive force doesn’t limit us. Instead, we are limited by the negative force that causes each of us to benefit from everyone around. I’m always close-minded in regards to the view of the world, I don’t comprehend anything outside, and I consider everything through the prism of personal gain.

Is it possible in such conditions to enjoy the beauty, to see something good, to perceive something? No. There is a constant craving towards the receiving that gnaws me, the unfortunate one. I just don’t know how to objectively look at the world.

However, according to the program of nature, we must start finding the good, positive force for the overall balance. And if we are behind, then we steadily and methodically immerse into problems due to which our lives become more unbalanced.

Question: How does the required balance of the two forces look like in a perfect condition?

Answer: I use the force of receiving in a balanced state, taking all that others give me, on the other hand, I give people all that is required of me.

Thus, all the abundance that exists in reality goes through me, and I feel really fulfilled and perfect. I attain and feel everything that is in all worlds, in parallel universes, and so on.

Everything that passes through me goes to others, and then I live an eternal life at the stage of a Man (Adam). Now I exist along with everyone else in these systems. Let my body die, but I don’t die, my mind is alive, and it still sees life through a common system. This is how eternal life is attained.

Question: Can each person obtain an eternal consciousness?

Answer: Anyone who wants to. In the end, all of us will achieve this, but in different ways: some intellectually and knowingly and some “under duress.”

In conclusion, man today is the worst animal of all. It’s no coincidence that he was created last. One must fulfill and compensate oneself. This is how a person reaches the stage of the “crown of creation.”
[148410]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/2/14

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