New Life 536 – Jewish Culture: Passover And The Israeli Society, Part 2
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What do we want to renovate this coming Passover? We have to do some self-searching.

The divide in the nation is growing. According to Kabbalah we have not started to build the Israeli society, and today we must begin to do so.

The Israeli society will be able to exist only if it is based on Abraham’s principle of “Love thy friend as thyself.” The disputes that have been typical of the Jewish nation for ages may lead us to destruction today.

We need to educate the Israeli society to love above any differences of opinion, to connect between different people. By educating Israeli society, every individual will relate to others as if they love them, as if they were his own children.

No revolution or change of the leadership will help. We need a revolution in the perception of our relations. We will be able to solve the security problems, the foreign affairs problems, the high cost of living, etc., only if we learn how to connect.

Pesach (Passover) means a transition from the state in which everyone wants to devour everyone else to the state of love and connection. On the evening of the Seder we should speak about how we can take a step forward outside our narrow egoism that buries us. Love will cover all our transgressions. The wisdom of Kabbalah offers us a unique method of how to bring the connecting force into our lives.
From KabTV’s “New Life 536 – Jewish Culture: Pesach And The Israeli Society, Part 2,” 3/19/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 535 –  Jewish Culture: Passover And The Israeli Society, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Why were the people of Israel founded under the condition and obligation to connect, how does the transition from hatred to love among a people improve the situation for all of humanity, and how is this transition connected to the story of the Exodus from Egypt?

As a society we have become stuck; not today but for two thousand years already. It was then that we fell into unfounded hatred. If we don’t function as a “Light to the nations” (Isaiah 49:6), it is bad for us and for the whole world.

A Light to the nations means love for others. The people of Israel were founded on the principle of kindness and mutuality among people who are different, under the leadership of Abraham.

It is clear that every person is an egoist by nature. But the wisdom of Kabbalah brings the upper force that can connect us. There is no reason to wait for the leaders to bring us to a new place; the leaders are a reflection of the people. It is up to us to find the strength that will bridge between us over all the differences of opinion. “Love covereth all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12).

It is impossible to take an example from any other nation because they are all being totally destroyed. We have a unique way. We don’t need to correct anyone but only to build connection above all the differences, like in a family.

To do this we need a general process of social education. Without it Israel will be totally destroyed and so will the whole world. We have a method for connection, the wisdom of Kabbalah. So our role is to provide the world with an example of a connected society. We must give the steering wheel of the nation not to the right or the left but to the power of love, the higher power.

The practical implication at the moment is that we must concentrate on the education and information that is needed in order to learn how to connect. In the wisdom of Kabbalah there are connection exercises and activities that develop feelings of love between different people.

The Passover (Pesach) holiday represents skipping over/transitioning – the exodus from hatred to love.
From KabTV’s “New Life 535 – Jewish Culture: Passover And The Israeli Society, Part 1,” 03/19/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 537 – Jewish Culture: Coming Out Of Egypt
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What does Kabbalah teach us about the ego and unfounded hatred, which are naturally imprinted in us? How do they trap us inside evil and how can we become free of this slavery?

Abraham’s time is the beginning of the era of the Patriarchs, and after the exodus from Egypt, it is the beginning of the era of the sons.

Abraham taught us how to build connections above our egoism and unfounded hatred—”Love will cover all transgressions.”
Even in the family or in politics love should be above any disagreements there may be.

Egypt symbolizes the period of our enslavement to the ego. The decision to come out of the ego comes after the plagues.
Pesach (Passover) is a birth. Egypt was the birthplace of the nation, the birth of a new world view through connection. A person is a slave inside his ego and outside the ego he is free. This is the whole story of the exodus from Egypt.

Initially you examine yourself and how the ego manages you in every way. It is a phase of self-recognition. The ego seems to be in our favor, but in fact, it ruins our life. If your neighbor buys a new car, you are sad because your ego suffers. We will be able to live a good life only when we learn to relate to everyone as to our family. This is the whole idea of Passover.
[156262]
From KabTV’s “New Life 537 – Jewish Culture: Coming Out Of Egypt,” 3/22/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 543 – Jewish Culture: The Seder Night And The Meaning Of Life
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

“And thou shalt tell thy son” (Exodus 13:8). This is not just a story for our children about the exodus from Egypt. All of us must become acquainted with, recognize, and feel the meaning of the story of the Haggadah….

It is most important that we know what exile and what redemption are, what the difference between them is, and in what situation we are in at the present time.

In the beginning there was plenty of food in Egypt and the children of Israel lived like kings. Then there were seven years of famine. The famine symbolizes a sense of emptiness, a lack of feeling why I am living for at all, a lack of meaning. As of today, an inner voice has been awakened in a person, telling him that his life is like living in a gilded cage and he is basically a slave. This is very evident in Europe and the United States. Everything is there materially, but in spite of that people are still bitter and sad, suffering from depression.

“Why is this night different” (Pesachim 116a). Come let’s sit together and think about our lives, how do we leave slavery? Did nature create us just so we would pursue all kinds of gratification in life and then die?

Throughout all generations there were sages who searched for the meaning of life. Today the idea has become public knowledge. As a result of an internal annoyance, searching for something that is unclear, the young enter into a lot of nonsense, problems, and troubles.

We have the Haggadah of Pesach (Passover), it tells us that it is possible to rise above the material, above the severity and control our lives. A person can learn to control his life, be its master, plan his life for a goal that he has chosen from the start. Everything depends on us.
[156823]
From KabTV’s “New Life 543 – Jewish Culture: The Seder Night And The Meaning Of Life,” 3/31/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 542 – Jewish Culture: Moses – The Ideal Leader
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Moses had more of the characteristic of bestowal and love for others than any other person. A leader of Israel doesn’t need leadership capability, wisdom, cunning, and things like that. Rather, he must be without guile.

To the degree that a leader of Israel is innocent, the Upper Light can work on others through him. Being innocent means he wants nothing other than adhering more and more to the characteristics of bestowal and love. Then through him, the power of bestowal and love acts on the people, educating and advancing them toward connection and love.

The characteristics of Moses are those of a divine Kabbalist who attains divinity so that the Light shines through him. Moses didn’t concede anything to himself or to the people. Whenever the ego grew, he knew how to balance it.

Moses explained what nature or divinity (which is the same thing) required from people. He explained the law of development to the people. Moses had the biggest ego, but he knew how to overcome it and was successful in balancing it.

The people of Israel are a stiff-necked people, and they were very stubborn with Moses. But he had no choice. Moses included the egoistic desires of the people so that he could transmit the power of correction to them.

Moses guided an educational process of developing an awareness that egoism is harmful to us and that we need to connect. Being a leader means to establish a system of education and explanation that leads to connection between people above all the disparity and differences between them. Moses explained to the people that all of the troubles are because the ego enslaves them. He taught them how to escape from it.
[156683]
From KabTV’s “New Life 542 – Jewish Culture: Moses – The Ideal Leader,” 3/26/16

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 540 – Jewish Culture: Were We Slaves?
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Why are we in a state of slavery today like we were in ancient Egypt? How can we break away from the domination of Pharaoh? What will the life of the nation of Israel be like once they truly become a free nation in their land?

Israel is divided and torn and the ego is celebrating. This is the slavery in Egypt, but we are not aware of that.

Being a slave is a more advanced state in which a person already recognizes the domination of the ego over him.
The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us that man’s nature is intentionally evil so that he will gradually get to know it and differentiate himself from it.

The first disconnection from the ego is called the exodus from Egypt. Then during the counting of the Omer (the days between Passover and Shavuot) we correct ourselves. It is like an internal inventory where I locate all the egoistic inclinations in me and correct them.

In that case, the whole Passover story is about the correction of the relations between people. We will feel the upper level of our existence in the loving relations between us and will merge with eternity and wholeness.

It is customary to use a new set of dishes in Passover; it symbolizes a new set of relationships between me and others.

The Seder describes the sequence of actions a person should perform in order to exit his ego, his evil inclination. The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks quite a lot about the ego because it is our nature. Egoism means a negative attitude to others, using others and taking advantage of them.

The Passover Seder plate symbolizes different forces that operate and lead us into Egypt and take us out of there. Let’s examine ourselves and discover that the ego dominates us and ruins us, and agree to escape it.
[156460]
From KabTV’s “New Life 540 – Jewish Culture: Were We Slaves?” 3/24/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - 1 Comment →

Purim symbolizes the liberation of humanity from the terrible legacy that the Creator has given us. It says: “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” Thus Purim symbolizes the proper correction of our ego by means of the Torah, the correction of our evil inclination that keeps us apart from one another, which is repulsed by others and forces us to hate and not to be able to feel one another.

Purim symbolizes the end of correction of all the evil on our planet, not only among the Jews, but among all of humanity. The Jewish nation is called a stubborn nation for a reason. It is because it is the most egoistic nation, and therefore the moment it is corrected, all the people of the world will easily follow it and will also be corrected without any special effort.

It is for this reason that the other nations hate us; their correction totally depends on our correction. A great pressure is put on the Jews by external forces that are expressed both externally and internally. We cannot get along with one another. This is also typical of Jews all over the world who keep away from one another aspiring to hide among the other nations who do not wish to get closer to each other. There are many parties, many streams; there are Orthodox Jews, nonreligious ones, and many other differences among the Jewish people.

The Book of Esther, which tells us about the origin of Purim, says that the Jews are a nation that was dispersed in 127 nations of the world. These events that took place in the 6^th century BC in ancient Babylon during the Babylonian exile are called the exile of Madai. The persecution of the Jews began then.

The leader who inspired these persecutions was the personal assistant of King Ahasuerus, Haman. He is the one who decided to annihilate all the Jews. Everything was ready for their annihilation, but the Jews managed to turn his plotting in their favor, and instead of being killed, they actually destroyed all their enemies in all the 127 states.

Haman told King Ahasuerus that there is one nation that is dispersed among all the nations in the kingdom and so they could easily destroy it because not only were the Jews not connected between themselves, but they were even against each other. This served as an incentive for the spiritual leader of the Jewish nation, Mordechai, to call the Jews to unite. They listened to him and thus united.

The moment they began to get closer to each other, a great force appeared among them. They began to feel their upper goal; they became confident, had faith, power, and a goal and managed to destroy their enemies. They managed to get rid of all their troubles and together leave the Babylonian exile and return to the land of Israel and build the Second Temple.

Today we are living in very special times as great forces of separation are operating on us trying to divide us more and more. ISIS, the Hezbollah, and various European organizations are examples of such forces that pressure Israel on all sides, trying to devour us. Moreover, internal forces in the State of Israel also intensify the hatred and the repulsion and lead to a greater breach in the nation for which both Orthodox and nonreligious Jews are responsible. We have reached a state in which all of the nation’s forces are aimed at dividing it. The Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah claims that in the current state it is very easy to annihilate us, and he is absolutely right of course. Haman said the same thing 2,500 years ago during Purim.

Our only salvation is by uniting. Today there are those who support the separation of the nation. The secular are involved with this, and oddly enough, religious streams too. They are causing great damage and act against what the Torah tells us to do: to rise above all our differences and whatever keeps us apart by love. It says: “love will cover all our transgressions.”

We have to act in order to attain that state so that we will fulfill the historical achievement that is described in the Book of Esther. When we unite and destroy all the forces that threaten us that are against our unity, all the nations of the world will gather around us into one single unit.

I hope that this holiday will embody the unity and the connection between us, which we have to acquire. We will thus heal ourselves from mutual repulsion and will put an end to the hatred and ant- Semitism that the whole world feels toward us. All the peoples of the world will begin to realize that they actually need us in order to heal the great extensive crisis that we are undergoing. They will find out that when Israel are united, the whole world will be liberated from the original evil that the Creator intentionally created in us so that we will correct it and ascend to His level, to His revelation. Then the people of the world will gather to carry the nation of Israel on their shoulders and climb to the mountains of Jerusalem and help us build the Third Temple.

We truly hope that it will happen during the current holiday. I am calling everyone to unite their hearts, in love, friendship, and mutual agreement! The liberation of the world from all its troubles depends on that. The closeness between us will also lead to our ascent to the next spiritual level of the world, toward entering the next dimension. Let’s do it for our own sake, for our children, for the whole world, and for the Creator!
Good luck to us all and a happy holiday!
[179860]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/7/16

Related Material:
Purim Is A Call To Unite
No More Theatrical Performances
Feeling Purim

Filed under: Holidays, News - No Comments →

Question: Who is Haman in our time?

Answer: Haman is the force that divides us and thereby weakens the nation so that it is easier to manage us. In the Book of Esther, Haman told king Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and separate among the peoples throughout all the provinces of your kingdom…”; they are weak because they are divided, and therefore it is easier to destroy them.

This is the reason that we must unite above all of our differences, including every part in the nation, in spite of everything that divides us, without any arguments as to who is right.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is directing us toward this unity, to unity above all of our differences, so that, as it is written, “Love covers all transgressions,” since this is the only kind of unity that there can be in the nation of Israel, which otherwise would remain as a gathering of exiles, as a collection of immigrants from different counties.

Haman is the force that tears the Jewish nation into pieces. We can identify him in every part of society, religious and secular, left and right political streams, etc. Kabbalah is the method of uniting opposites, above all rejections. It is the only method that has the force of correction, the force of Esther and Mordechai.
[179765]

Related Material:
The Characters Of Purim: Haman
Haman’s Irrepressible Desires
Destined To Unite

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Why do we have to drink a lot and rejoice in Purim?

Answer: When it says that we have to drink, eat, and be happy people usually don’t ask questions. On the whole, what brings our body pleasure raises no questions, but in Purim this is raised to a level of a Mitzva (commandment), which means that we have to be happy and to get drunk “until one doesn’t know.” This isn’t meant literally, of course, but when we say “to get drunk and be happy” we refer to the maximum receiving of the Light of Hassadim (Mercy) symbolized by eating and of the Light of Hochma (Wisdom) symbolized by drinking wine.

Once we receive these two Lights, the joy appears and all of a person’s attributes participate simultaneously. All the attributes that a person has acquired are included in this joy starting from the lowliest and most negative attributes to the most sublime and highest attributes. Thus, by using all of our capabilities in this state we attain the Creator.

It is actually in this state that the holiday is considered successful. Thus, we should reach a state where a person actually loses control, “loses consciousness,” until he cannot tell the difference between good and evil, because all the evil has already been corrected and is aimed at goodness.

This doesn’t mean that he has to fall unconscious, but simply reach a state in which he realizes that the Creator has not created anything that is evil. The state in which all the evil is corrected into goodness actually gives a person the height of his attainment, which is expressed by joy and gladness. In this state there is a sharp encounter between the lowliest attributes and the most sublime ones and they support and justify each other.

This is the end of correction. In Kabbalah it is called a state in which “love will cover all transgressions.” It’s when all the sins, the evil, the oppositeness, the hate don’t disappear but are revealed and on top of them love appears. Therefore, the first commandment is the commandment of fear, and above it there is the second commandment which is the commandment of love. This is the only way by which the contact between a person and the Creator is attained, the understanding and the identification with Him and with what He has done for a person. At the same time all the barriers disappear and everything becomes for the sake of unity.

Comment: What a pity that Purim is only one day…

Answer: No, it is a state that lasts forever. We can attain it in one day and then it continues forever, since a person understands and perceives that it was all done by the Creator in an opposite manner, as it says: “I have created the evil inclination, and I have created the Torah as a spice,” in order to reach the state of the end of correction called Purim, which means the uppermost level of the Creator.

This is the ultimate, ideal, and perfect state. We have to help one another yearn for the end of correction and do our best so that everyone should reach this state as soon as possible. This concludes the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is only according to this method that we can reach such a high level among us called Purim.
[179855]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/16/16

Related Material:
Drunken From Wholeness
Purim Symbolizes Existence Without Deficiency
The Beneficial Days Of Purim

Filed under: Holidays, Israel - No Comments →

Question: Why is it a custom to masquerade on Purim?

Answer: Purim is the exposure of our previous states because each of us is actually evil! We masquerade as different figures both wicked and righteous: On one hand as Haman and Ahasuerus, and on the other as Mordecai and Esther. Purim is a carnival. We hide our faces behind masks because it is about the revelation of goodness and evil when you totally lose your identity, your face, and cannot tell the wicked from the righteous, because they are totally mixed and support each other as we move towards the Creator.

It is actually by the right combination between the wicked and the righteous that we attain adhesion, connection, closeness, equality, and identification with the Creator. We can masquerade as anything and even several times. We can wear a double costume: a mask of a righteous in the front and a mask of a wicked from behind, or vice versa. Purim is the last correction of humanity from evil to goodness when the absolute evil is revealed and changes into goodness.
[179852]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/16/16

Related Material:
Purim Symbolizes Existence Without Deficiency
The Beneficial Days Of Purim
No More Theatrical Performances

Filed under: Holidays - 1 Comment →