New Life 770 – The Month Of Selichot (Forgiveness)
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

We have to know the structure of reality in order to understand the meaning of Selichot. We are all connected in one system, but this system is shattered.We have to fix the network between us since it will not be corrected by itself and will only reveal more and more how torn it is.

The right forgiveness is an outcome of the recognition of evil in us, in our attitude to love and mutuality, which should be in the corrected system. We ask for forgiveness for not having set a good example for others. It isn’t just lip service but an examination of where we have neglected the correction of the connection between us. There is no point starting a new year, a new change, before conducting serious soul searching and examining whether we have tuned ourselves correctly.

The prayers for forgiveness begin with self-examination because by being uncorrected we are the cause of all the evil in the world. Before we rush to correct our relations with anyone we must first correct ourselves internally. Then our external attitude to others will also be corrected, of course. Before the correction, we need to acquire a “ruler” according to which we can measure the good and evil in the system.

The right system is based on a connection from heart to heart, as one man in one heart, according to the rule of love thy friend as thyself. The right forgiveness includes the correction of my evil attitude toward the whole world, the correction of the evil inclination into a good inclination called true repentance. Through love, a person raises himself to the Creator’s level.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 770 – The Month Of Selichot (Forgiveness),” 9/20/16

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New Life 622 – A New Year
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Why are we excited about renewal? Because we are people, not inanimate, vegetative, or animate. We are always in a state of development.

The expression, “new year” immediately arouses hope, but on the surface the situation is not very good this year. My personal expectation is that this year people will want to change their lives for the better and will be inclined to listen to the wisdom of Kabbalah.

What can bring renewal today is the discovery of the essence of life, a state which opens a door to a wonderful world. In this good world everything works differently, always advancing toward what is good and even better. It is like it was when we were children, when each and every day was full of pleasure and joy, games, and fun things.

Life today is very exhausting. Sometimes we take a breather, but from day to day we run an insane and tiring race. So many people no longer want to have children. Into what kind of a world would we be bringing them?

Changes are stressful for us because they require adaptation from us, accommodating ourselves to a new situation. In the future world that we described above, the innovations would be pleasant because they wouldn’t require effort. The possibility of opening a door to a new world depends upon our agreement to live a new life. The main condition for this new life is to live in connection with others, to become a single family.

This is against our egoistic nature, so we require a method that will develop a desire in us for connection. What will help to overcome the fear of change is a social agreement that it is impossible for things to continue like this.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 622 – A New Year,” 9/8/15

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New Life 621 – The Secret For A Good Year
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What should we expect in the coming year? How can we make sure that the new year will be a good one and why is it actually by the revelation of evil between us that we can turn the coming year into a good one?

The new year can be a good one if we understand that the past year was a bad one. It is a time for introspection. Society is beginning to realize that this isn’t the state we have dreamed of. Evil is being revealed, and thanks to it people realize that the situation we live in is false. This is a very important step toward the truth.

We have to discover where the remedy is. It is concealed in the Torah, in its internality, in the wisdom of Kabbalah. It isn’t about becoming religious, but about the revelation of the upper force that connects us, the Light.

The goal that Israel should set for itself in the coming year is connection. Connection means being able to connect to others and to fulfill their desires. We are all parts of one system.

The world hates us because we don’t function properly. We don’t set an example of being connected. When we begin to feel that we depend on each other we will realize that there is no other choice but to learn to connect.

We are called Israel stemming from the words “Yashar-El – straight to the upper force of nature,” the force of love and giving. Once we understand that hatred destroys us and we try to connect, we will discover that we need the upper force.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how to use the upper force in order to correct the corruptions in our lives. Our egoism depicts all the problems, and the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how to draw the upper force that corrects it.

A good year is a year in which we will feel the upper force among us, the force of love and giving. This change is natural, like a child grows; we feel the force of nature that develops life.

We have to develop a desire for God to dwell among us, the force of love and giving, the connecting force. Once we recognize our evil state, we will reach the desire to anoint this force as our king, and this is Rosh Hashanah (the head of the new year).
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From KabTV’s “New Life 621 – The Secret For A Good Year,” 9/1/15

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New Life 620 – Holidays and Festivals: Selichot
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What are the laws of nature that are represented by the Selichot (Atonements) of the month of Elul? How is it possible to discover these laws and what forces will be revealed among our people if we begin to try connect among us?

What are the laws of nature that are represented by the Selichot (Atonements) of the month of Elul? How is it possible to discover these laws and what forces will be revealed among our people if we begin to try connect among us?

The Selichot indicate the process that we must go through a process of transcending our egoistic nature. This is not a matter of asking for forgiveness from someone. What assures that in the next moment I will behave better?

It is impossible to understand what the Selichot are through looking at the popular practices, but only in the truth that is latent in them. The Israeli customs point to the hidden laws of nature. The customs provide a preparation, until we approach the truth, to the revelation of the concealed laws of nature. There are several layers in nature, laws of nature, they are the inner layer pointed to by the customs of Israel. To discover them, one must become familiar with the general formula of the system of nature we live in.

The law of Selichot says that we must examine our nature well; it is entirely egoistic. These days we can recognize the highest level to which we must climb, the “Speaking level.” On this level all of us are connected in complete harmony. But our present nature is its opposite!

Elul = “Ani Ledodi VeDodi Li” (“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” – Song of Songs 6:3). If I need help to love others, the upper force will come to help me.

That he should ask for forgiveness, is to not take advantage of this opportunity we had to connect. How does the mechanism of this amendment?

We should ask for forgiveness for not taking advantage of the opportunity we had to connect. That for which it is worthwhile to ask forgiveness is not having used the opportunity that we had to connect. How do we activate this mechanism of correction? Kabbalah deals with this method of connection.

Israel has a great obligation toward the world; we must lead everyone toward connection and love. The work of connecting between one another leads to the upper force that is revealed in the connections between us. It is specifically through division and hatred that we can advance toward connection, “…as far as light excelleth darkness” (Ecclesiastes 2:13).
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From KabTV’s “New Life 620 – Holidays and Festivals: Selichot,” 9/1/16

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Dear beloved friends, children and grandchildren!

I welcome all of you to the holiday of Tu B’Av! Tu B’Av is a special holiday that symbolizes love, relationships built above hatred, above the destruction of the Temple, which was destroyed because of personal and mutual hatred between us. We correct it when we rise above it and thus attain the great love, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).

This is a special feeling of connection between us called true love, which elevates us to the level of eternity, wholeness, and infinite expansion of our feelings and thoughts. We begin to feel that we exist eternally, fully in every feeling, in all information, everything, that all other people relate to him only with love. Imagine the feeling that everyone loves you; everyone looks at you and relates to you as their little child! We need to give each one of us this feeling.

This is what Tu B’Av symbolizes, built specifically above the hatred among us that we discover between us today. Let’s hasten its discovery!
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 8/11/16

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Comment: The 15^th of Av, the day of love occurs a week after the tragic day of the 9^th of Av…

Answer: According to our sources, this is the day that the young women of Jerusalem go out dressed in white to the orchards and the vineyards and sing. The young men join them and choose their bride. This is what characterizes this holiday.

Comment: Many believe that the 15^th of Av is similar to Valentine’s Day and that it is not deeply rooted in Jewish tradition.

Answer: This holiday is mentioned in writings that are 3,000 years old, and so I believe that it is a tradition. Our holidays and special days should be divided into those that have already been fulfilled in our calendar and those that have not yet been fulfilled. We should understand that there are holidays and special dates that only Israel have undergone and those that the whole world, all of humanity, has to undergo.

We celebrate certain dates since they will appear only in the future, like Purim, for example. In fact, they were revealed to some extent and there was such an event in the our history, such a problem did come up, and as usual they wanted to destroy our whole nation in ancient Babylon, and we managed to avoid it successfully; we came out of exile, etc…But this holiday is basically the embodiment of a future state and not of a historical event.

It is the same with the day of love. The day of love is basically the greatest day, the greatest holiday! Love! However, it isn’t the love that young men and young women look for in the vineyards, but a totally different kind of love that is built on top of the correction of the ego that brought about the destruction of the First and Second Temples and which the period between the 17^th of Tammuz and the 9^th of Av symbolizes. It is about the time of the destruction of the two Temples and other problems and afflictions that the Jewish people have undergone. And just a week later, when all that is gone and corrected, a new period begins.

It is a time in which we build the Temple, but this Temple is in our hearts, the connection between us. We look for a spiritual partner, and the spiritual partner for both men and women is the upper force, the Creator. We connect with Him and together receive the absolute filling, pleasure, and enlightenment, the revelation of the real world. We exist in it and not only in a small fragment of this world. The whole process symbolizes the correction, the rebuilding of the Temple, and the transition from hatred to love.

Question: Is this what the 15^th of Av, the day of love, symbolizes?

Answer: Basically yes, but it is a holiday for which we have no special date, because it is seemingly celebrated on Purim. Purim is the holiday of freedom, the holiday of correction only for the Jewish people, while now we are nearing a state in which we will celebrate it with the whole world. It says in the Book of Psalms that the Third Temple will be called “a house of prayer for all the nations.” This is the reason that the 15^th of Av seems similar to Valentine’s Day. Symbolically it indicates that this will be a holiday of love for the whole world.

Question: Can we compare it with the holidays of all the religions?

Answer: Yes, it seems to be external to religion, like the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Comment: You have said that it will be a holiday that can be celebrated any time…

Answer: That’s true, since what else do we mean by rebuilding the Third Temple? It is a state in which we connect into one single system called man, Adam, stemming from the Hebrew root “Domeh – to resemble,” to resemble the Creator. When this system is connected by the positive forces, when all of humanity is connected together, it will be called the Third Temple. The Creator will be revealed in the system of the positive connection, the upper force of the world, and thus we will live in what we call the Third Temple, in a totally different world, in a feeling of eternity and wholeness. It will be like a real day of love as it is written: love will cover all our transgressions, and love thy friend as thyself, etc., which means that this is the ultimate state of all mankind. We will reach it whether by force, by the stick, or in a clever rational way, as the wisdom of Kabbalah advises us to do, quickly and easily.

Comment: The 15^th of Av is a clue of the sublime state that we call the third Temple.

Answer: Yes, at the same time, a young woman symbolizes all of humanity and a young man symbolizes the Creator. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah describes and explains. It is impossible to imagine that King Solomon, a great Kabbalist who left us such a masterpiece, simply wrote about love! The 15^th of Av, the day of love is the greatest holiday because all the other holidays represent how we reach it, and it comes at the end, at the end of our development.

Question: What do we find behind the absolute love we attain?

Answer: It is only a condition, the connection of two opposite forces, of two attributes, into one; the new energy that develops on top of this connection, the consciousness, the understanding, the feeling, raises us to the next level, which is not described anywhere. The wisdom of Kabbalah only tells us about how we should reach this state. What is beyond that? We are not told because we cannot understand it. We don’t have the feelings or the mind to understand the next level.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 8/11/16

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The 9^th of Av is a state in which egoism dominates us, separating and destroying everything good that can be between us. It is a state that is called the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple).

Today we are found precisely in this situation. Nobody has good feelings about others, so it is up to us to begin rebuilding our temple, building The Third Temple—the state of unity and complementing of each other, rising above hatred, arrogance and pride.

We need to create a connection between us in which the good force called the Creator  will be revealed. For the meantime, it is still concealed in our world. The moment we establish proper and good connections, the goodness of the world will be revealed in us and we will show the whole world how to build the Third Temple for all peoples, as it is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7).

I wish all the tragic events that are happening to our people would stop, that we would recognize and understand what is causing them and uproot it, rising above it with a connection of love. May we do this successfully!
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 8/10/16

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Question: The 9^th of Av is a tragic day in Jewish history when the Temple was destroyed, when the Temple Mount was destroyed, and when the Jews were expelled from England, France, and Spain. The first ghetto was founded on the 9^th of Av. And it was on the 9^th of Av that the Jews were taken from the  Warsaw Ghetto to be killed.

Answer: This is a critical date. Today, the greatest egoism is being revealed–meaning the negative attribute in human beings that is opposite to the natural, positive force, which we call nature or the Creator. It is the positive attribute that we must expose and reveal.

A person armed with knowledge sees in advance what is allowed and what is forbidden, where he can step and where he shouldn’t. And so he goes through the same situations with ease that a person who has no information is immersed in.

Although he must spend a lot of time studying and developing himself in learning how to sense danger, it is worthwhile because eventually he advances in a normal way. He understands that he must resist his ego, and he knows how to fight it. He knows that it is necessary to study systematically about himself in a group with others what we learn from the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Thus, we overcome all of the problems that must be revealed within us in a predetermined order because if they are not revealed, they are in concealment and it is impossible to correct them.

If we prepare ourselves properly for these problems in advance, they are revealed to us to the degree that we want and at a pace that we are able to correct them. However, if we are not prepared for them, they occur in the form of disasters like the Holocaust, expulsion, pogroms, and other problems.

This is how it always happens, so the wisdom of Kabbalah warns us and tells us that we must advance consciously, increasingly more strongly connected to each other. In fact, we are not connected at all, and we are growing further apart and increasingly more divided every day.

There are big circles in Israel that are dividing the nation and setting an example of opposing others. They operate only for their own sake, not for the sake of the state or the people. Unfortunately, all of this is leading us to another disaster, and we are approaching unpleasant events, while according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, we in spite of our separation, the immense egoism that always resides in us and constantly grows, we must unite, in spite of everything and above it all, as it is written, “Love covers all transgressions.” It will not correct them but cover them.

We don’t need to pay attention to the fact that we have this negative motives toward each other. It is only natural as the most developed nation, but in spite of all that, we must get closer to each other.

There is a method to get closer, which the wisdom of Kabbalah precisely explains, and we must implement it.

Question: Is the preparation for a possible fall on the 9^th of Av is that the moment the fall comes it can be immediately covered by love?

Answer: Yes, a week after the 9^th of Av is the day of love because according to the plan of the creation, after all of the problems, we reach unity and love.

It is basically in our hands, and I hope that people who are far from the wisdom of Kabbalah, including those who oppose it, still will understand that the method of unity is in this wisdom. We must take it upon ourselves to realize it and show it to the entire world. This is the only way that the world will reach peace and tranquility.

Let’s hope that we will build in our hearts, between us, in our good unity, what we call the Third Temple and reveal the Creator in it, the force of love between us.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 8/10/16

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Question: Why specifically on the 17^th of Tammuz was there a siege on the Temple and its walls destroyed?

Answer: Indeed, the physical destruction of the Temple happened on this day because everything that happens in our world comes down and evolves from the upper world. This is first realized as an “energy field” and then also in our material world.

The Temple is called the world of Atzilut; it is the dwelling place of the Creator. Around the world of Atzilut exists what is called a Parsa (barrier, wall). Outside of this wall, under the world of Atzilut are found all the rest of the characteristics of our world. The function of the wall that is between the world of Atzilut (the characteristics of the Creator) and our world (our desires and characteristics) is to make it possible for only those who are worthy of being on this level to pass to the world of Atzilut, into the Temple. It apparently filters the characteristics. In this way it restrains those who are not worthy and throws them back.

The destruction of the walls of the Temple symbolizes the world of Atzilut acquired the same characteristics that also exist in our world, found outside of its walls. As a result of the destruction, a mixture of all the characteristics of the world of Atzilut and our lower world happens. After that, a gradual recognition that the characteristics of the world of Atzilut are different in spite of everything and a clarification and compilation of the characteristics of the world of Atzilut begins from the general heap of mixed characteristics.

It is up to us to move through this state and build the “Third Temple” from the right characteristics. Then it will no longer need a wall because everyone will dwell within the Temple. About this it is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7). “Atzilut” (derived from the word “Etzlo” – approximate to Him) is the characteristic of the Creator to which everyone will ascend without exception. The entire world will acquire these characteristics and there will then be no restrictions on anything.

If we imagine the ruined Temple in the form of iron filings and the world of Atzilut as a magnet, then those filings whose characteristics match the magnet will begin to be drawn toward it and ascend from the lightest to the heaviest. It is written, “They shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them” (Jeremiah 31:33).
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 7/11/16

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My article, “Breaking Out From the Straights” was published in The Jerusalem Post on July 28, 2016.

The Three Weeks, or Bein ha-Metzarim (“Between the Straits”), that begins on the 17th of Tammuz (commemorated last Sunday) and ends on the 9th of Av (commemorated this year on Sunday, August 14) mark a very dark time in our past. In the days of Candy Crush and Pokémon Go, no one really wants to know about it, but we really should because the ailment that devastated our nation 2,000 years ago has never been cured. Today, just as it did then, it is causing all our problems.

The Sad Story about Kamtza and Bar Kamtza

The Talmud (Masechet Gitin) tells us that once, when the Temple still stood, a wealthy Jew in Jerusalem had a friend named Kamtza, and an enemy named Bar Kamtza. One day the wealthy Jew decided to make a feast. He sent his servant to invite his friend, Kamtza, to the feast, but the servant mistakenly invited his enemy, Bar Kamtza. The surprised Bar Kamtza took this as a gesture of reconciliation and accepted the invitation. He put on his best clothes and went to the home of the man who he thought was no longer his enemy.

When the host noticed that Bar Kamtza was there, he was infuriated and demanded that he leave at once. The mortified Bar Kamtza pleaded with the host to let him stay. He even offered to pay for his own food and drink, and for everyone else’s, too. The host not only refused him mercilessly, but even had Bar Kamtza dragged out of his house and thrown into the street.

Humiliated and disgraced, Bar Kamtza pledged vengeance not only against his host, but also against the guests, who supported the host. “I’ll slander them before the Emperor,” he decided.

Bar Kamtza went to Emperor Nero and told him that the Jews were planning to rebel against him. After some cunning persuasion, the emperor was convinced that Bar Kamtza was telling the truth, and sent his army to destroy Jerusalem and the Temple.

Over the generations, this famous story has symbolized the unfounded hatred that led to our social and moral decline and to our subsequent exile. In today’s social climate, it could not be more pertinent. As we can see, read and hear each day, conflicts, manipulations, and dishonesty have never been more prevalent among us. The sarcasm and derision we use against each other point not to our wit, but to our dislike of one another.

Time to Reconnect Our Threads of Love

The Three Weeks marks the time between the shattering of the walls of Jerusalem and the ruin of the Temple. The Holy Shlah wrote that “unfounded hatred caused the ruin of the Temple.” Indeed, as Baal HaSulam noted, “It is a shame to admit that one of the most precious merits we have lost is the natural feeling that connects and sustains each and every nation. The threads of love that connect the nation, which are so natural and primitive in all the nations, have become degenerated and detached from our hearts, and they are gone.” As a result, the only thing that keeps us together as a nation is the world’s hatred toward us.

Today’s Western world still offers Jews freedom of speech and freedom of movement. We must use this freedom to reestablish brotherly love above our alienation and rebuild our peoplehood. Now, before the door of freedom closes once again, our nation must work tirelessly to rebuild itself from the ruins of unfounded hatred and realize our people’s vocation—to become a role model of a truly united nation, one that all the nations will want to emulate so that they, too, can benefit from that unique power of unity.

Building the Temple Within

As we reflect on the ruin of the Temple, we should also consider the future. When The Book of Zohar describes the building of the Third Temple, it does not speak of bricks and arches; it speaks of our connections. It describes the mending of our shattered hearts, which suffer from the sickness of unfounded hatred. The Zohar explains how the whole world will come to embrace the connectedness beaming from the united people of Israel. Building the Third Temple is therefore done within us and between us, mending our broken ties and covering our hate with love, or as King Solomon wrote, “Love covers all crimes.”

Just as we invoke a negative force when we separate from one another, we invoke a positive force when we connect with one another. This force inverts our mutual suspicion into mutual concern, and our isolation into mutual responsibility. The beauty of this power is that we maintain our individuality and fulfill our personal traits while contributing to society and collecting benefits from others’ contributions. In this way, we weave a “blanket” of connection that covers our separation.

The Gene of Unity

Today’s Judaism is fractured and fragmented into more pieces than probably anyone can count. But the “gene” of unity lies latent within each of us, and we can bring it back to life if we so choose. If, despite our bursting egos, we will strive to join forces toward our common goal as a Jewish nation—to provide humanity with an example of unity at a time when it so badly needs it—we will accomplish our vocation.

Now is the time to be proactive. The world is spiraling downward, and it is plainly visible that ego has at least a large stake in this descent. But no one knows how to stop our collective suicidal conduct. We, the Jews, the bearers of the tenet, “love your neighbor as yourself,” must rise to the challenge, put down our egos, and unite above them. This is the true and positive message we should take from The Three Weeks, and it is the one thing that will guarantee our safety and happiness in Israel and the world over.
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From The Jerusalem Post 7/31/16

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