In my column on Ynet, “What Is the Difference Between the Flowering Almond Tree and the Falling Economy?”

The Tu B’Shvat customs are simple and kind—we eat dried fruit, drink a little wine, the children plant trees, and that’s it. But the truth is that Tu B’Shvat is one of the most significant holidays because it holds the secret to solving the problems in our lives. Dr. Michael Laitman on the key to a good life that grows on Tu B’Shvat

Tu B’Shvat is not among the “famous” holidays; the holidayis not often talked about. It is hidden among Sukkot, Shavuot, and Pesach, entitled the “New Year for Trees,” and occupies a “modest” place on the Israeli calendar. Its customs are simple and affable—we eat dried fruit, drink a little wine, the children plant trees, and that’s it. The truth is that Tu B’Shvat is one of the most significant holidays! According to the Kabbalists, Tu B’Shvat holds the secret to solving the problems in our lives.

How Everything Is Interconnected

We live in a global world. From event to event it is becoming clear to us how much we are linked to each other in all the various levels of life (1). When an economic crisis breaks out in China or in Russia, it colors the world stock exchanges red; a murderous injury in the heart of Paris puts all the world powers on alert; civil wars in Syria are causing mass migration that is changing the demography and composition of the population in continental Europe, and this is even before we have spoken about oil prices, the war initiated in the Ukraine, or the crazy weather that reminds us that we are living on the same planet and influence its “mood.”

“The 21^st century, unlike the periods that preceded it, consists of a collection of numerous communications networks that are connected to each other by endless intersections,” writes Professor Ludger Kühnhardt, director of the Center for European Integration Studies. Joined by well-known researchers, he describes how much we are linked to each other (2). Unfortunately, it is specifically the global crises that are causing this insight to seep into our feelings (3).

The Nobel Prize Laureate in economics Professor Paul Krugman writes, “In the global age all of us are in the same boat.” And today the boat has cracked and water is slowly penetrating inside. It is clear to all of us that the world is global and managed as a closed system, and in spite of it, we continue to conduct ourselves as every man for himself, as if nothing has changed. The negative system of connections between us is causing the boat to sink (4). One can imagine us as tenants of a single building that suddenly discover that they have signed an agreement that obligates them to mutual responsibility. From now on, we must pay for any damage that a neighbor’s child does, and the problems of one of the tenants is our problem too.

The gap and the contradiction between the global connections, which are “pressuring” us to unite, in contrast to the egoistic concern of every man for himself are the cause for the various crises that are being revealed before our eyes. “Our world is becoming global and integral, which is to say, all of us are connected to each other”, is the way that Professor Yehudah Kahana of the Faculty of Management at Tel Aviv University analyzes the situation. “The change in the significance of values that we require for this is to stop thinking only about ‘I’ and to begin to also think about ‘we’.”

The Question Is, How To Connect?

We have tried a multitude of methods “to plug up the hole in the boat.” Only last weekend the Economic Forum Conference in Davos, a prestigious summit, ended. World summit conferences, regional cooperation, the fake European Union, and countless international organizations have not succeeded in patching the crack, and the boat continues to fill with water…

It is not enough to warn: “Most of all we need to unite today” (5), the time has come to do something. Unfortunately no “union” succeeds and will not succeed in holding its position, for a method for dealing with the egoism that is continuing to grow is missing. Human egoism is the negative force that destroys human relationships. The only wisdom that offers a method for connecting above the egoism that separates us without suppressing it is the authentic wisdom of Kabbalah.

This ancient method (6) teaches us to build links of mutual consideration and concern that are so important in the global world of today. It directs us to realize the ancient principles of connection, like: “What is hateful to you, don’t do to your friend” (Shabbat 31a) “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). By means of this we learn to discover the power of connection in the link between us, the positive power that is inherent in nature, and with its help, balance the egoism in interpersonal relationships (7).

And How Is all of this Linked to Tu B’Shvat?

The New Year for Trees that begins today reminds us of the positive power that exists in nature. The seed that we plant in the ground symbolizes the enormous potential that exists in the relationships between us. This seed will germinate and grow into a tree that gives life, and later bears fruit like: personal safety in the streets, the reduction of disparities and inequality in the economy, a healthcare system that is concerned about all of us and an education in values; it needs the water of life of the wisdom of Kabbalah. When a spirit of oneness spreads between us, like living water, it seeps into all the social systems.

The need to invest in fertile soil, building an environment that will hoist the flag of the importance of unity between us as a key to the good life, is the central and universal message of Tu B’Shvat. This is the reason that this holiday was always important to the Kabbalists. It is not for nothing that the Torah compares humanity to a tree in the field. Tu B’Shvat, the New Year for trees, is an invitation to the beginning of growth, the beginning of a new life (8).

Happy holiday to the whole house of Israel.

References:

(1) “Do not be surprised if I mix together the well-being of a particular collective with the well-being of the whole world, because indeed, we have already come to such a degree that the whole world is considered one collective and one society. Meaning, because each person in the world draws his life’s marrow and his livelihood from all the people in the world, he is coerced to serve and care for the well-being of the whole world…. and therefore the well-being of the collective and his own well-being are one and the same” (Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag – Baal HaSulam, in the article, “Peace in the World”).

(2) “To know who we are, we must understand how we are connected” (Nicholas Christakis, professor of sociological medicine, Harvard University, from his book Connected).

“Within the vast fabric of humanity every person is connected to his friends, his family, his work associates and his neighbors. However, these people are linked to their friends, their families, their work associates and their neighbors and so forth endlessly into the distance, until all the people in the world are connected to all the rest in this way or another” (Nicholas Christakis, professor of sociological medicine, Harvard University, from his book, Connected).

(3) “Globalization is not only something that will concern and threaten us in the future, but something that is taking place in the present and to which we must first open our eyes.” (Ulrich Beck, from an interview with Brigitte Neumann, in the monthly, Deutschland, 2003).

“Globality means that from now on nothing which happens on our planet is only a limited local event; all inventions, victories and catastrophes affect the whole world, and we must reorient and reorganize our lives and actions, our organizations and institutions, along a ‘local-global’ axis.” (Ulrich Beck, What is Globalization?, 2000).

“There will not be a solution to problems of the climate, unemployment, the economy, trade, carbon dioxide emissions or any other problem until the world will understand that the solution to all of these problems lies in unity and cooperation” (Gordon Brown, Phd History, former British Prime Minister).

“Recently, from the findings of a report on climate change by the IPCC they stated that there is a 95 percent certainty that humans have been the dominant cause of global warming since the 50s of the last century. The report indicates that ‘effective improvement is not liable to be attained as long as individual agencies will continue to promote their own private goals. Common responses, including international cooperation, are imperative to improve the level of greenhouse gas emissions and to relate to additional climatic factors” (Stocker, Qin, Plattner, Tignor, Allen, Boschung, Midgley (2013), Report on “Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis.” Working Group Contribution).

“Most people are aware that human behavior is harmful to the environment. The damage will now be dangerous – in many areas we are approaching the turning point that will lead to the collapse of ecosystems. It is especially important because human beings evolved from nature; we depend upon nature to exist, for nature is the source of all nourishment, air and water. If the systems of nature that support life on Earth collapse, humanity will collapse” (Dr. James Lovelock, The Vanishing Face of Gaia).

“The three most likely risks for the years 2012 and 2013 are the product of an old selfish paradigm of thought, and they are: severe income disparity, chronic fiscal imbalances and ecological crises, all of which are human acts” (Global Risks 2013 Report, World Economic Forum, Geneva Switzerland).

“Four of the five most probable risks that humanity faces are a product of negative links between people. Among these risks are counted, international conflicts, the failure of leadership, political collapse and unemployment” (Global Risks 2015 Report, World Economic Forum, Geneva, Switzerland, page 60).

“Nearly one out of every ten Americans in their twenties, and one out of every sixteen of all ages, have experienced symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder” (Stinson, Dawson, Goldstein, Chou, Huang, Smith, Pickering (2008), Prevalence, correlates, disability and comorbidity of DSM-IV narcissistic personality disorder: Results from the “Wave 2 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions,” Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 69(7), 1033)

“Narcissism among the youth is on the rise” (Twenge and Campbell, “The Narcissism Epidemic, Living in the Age of Entitlement,” 2009).

“Our social connections rapidly collapse” (Shirley Turkle, Life on the Screen, Simon and Schuster, 2011).
“Till now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature” (Professor Dennis Gabor, Nobel Prize recipient in Physics).

“We are by no means strangers, and we are linked by a common destiny. And these turbulent times must bind us ever closer together” (Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund).

“The challenge that we face today, on a background of the systemic crisis, is to create a civilization that will weld the energy of all of us, even our mutual hatred, for the creation of a common collective” (Mikhail Delyagin, Director of the Institute of Globalization Problems).

“There is a need not only for a change in the social system, but for something much more complex, profound changes in the consciousness and behavior of modern man” (Boris Wolfson, expert on the study of comparative education and the history of education).

(4) “Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai gave a parable about people who were sitting in a boat. One of them took a drill and began to drill underneath him. His companions said to him, ‘What are you sitting and doing?’ He said to them, ‘What does it matter to you, am I not drilling underneath me?’ They said, ‘The water is rising and flooding the boat on us’” (Midrash Rabbah, Leviticus, Parshat 4:6)

“Do not be surprised that one person’s actions bring elevation or decline to the whole world, for it is an unbending law that the general and the particular are as equal as two peas in a pod. And all that applies in the general, applies in the particular, as well. Moreover, the parts make what is found in the whole, for the general can appear only after the appearance of the parts in it, according to the quantity and quality of the parts. Evidently, the value of an act of a part elevates or declines the entire whole.” (Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag – Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” 68).

(5) Pascal Lamy, Director-general of the World Trade Organization.

(6) “There has never been any kindness as there was with Abraham…and he brought peace between one person and his fellow, for after all he was the father of many nations, because of this he unified and made peace among all the created beings” (“Gevurot HaShem,” Chapter 6)

“Abraham was forty years old when he became aware of his Creator. … And he began to stand up and proclaim in a loud voice to all of the people, to let them know that there is one God for the whole world and that He is worthy of being served. And he went and called and gathered the people from city to city and from kingdom to kingdom…until thousands and myriads gathered around him, and they were the people of the house of Abraham. And he implanted in their hearts this great principle, and wrote books about it…and the matter went and increased among the children of Jacob and in those who accompanied them, and a nation was made in the world which knows the Creator” (Rambam, Mishnah Torah, The Book of Knowledge, Hilchot Avodah Zarah, Chapter 1).

(7) “The great evils that occur between people, from one person to his fellow, are derived from ignorance. Were a person to have knowledge about the human form, he would cease all harm to himself and others. This is because knowledge of the truth removes animosity and hatred, and eliminates the harm that people do to each other” (Rambam, “Moreh Nevuchim”).

“The Wisdom of Kabbalah is the Wisdom of Truth” (“The Shelah HaKadosh,” Toldot Adam).

“The Wisdom of Truth teaches us the oneness of the world, the equal side that is to be found in everyone’s being, higher and higher, to the image of the form of the Creator, and how to go in the way of this Light without any obstacle” (The Rav Raiah Kook, “Orot HaKodesh 2,” 393)

“Only this is the entire Wisdom of Kabbalah—to know the behavior of the Supreme Will which created all of these people and what it wants from them, and what will be the end of all the orbits of the Earth” (Kelach Pitchei Hochmah, Preface 30).

“The Wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t let us pass our lives in the dust, rather it raises our minds to the summit of knowledge” (Johannes Reuchlin, German philosopher and humanist, De Arte Cabbalistica).

(8) “The person is called a tree of the field, and Rosh HaShanah is the time of judgment, for better or for worse.

“It is written, ‘For ever is mercy built’ (Psalms 89:3). So on Tu B’Shvat, which is called the New Year for Trees, we must be strengthened with the quality of kindness, because for this we merit fruit, which is called ‘a tree bearing fruit’” (Rabbi Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag – Rabash, Dargot HaSulam, the article, “New Year for Trees”).

“…that each and every individual will understand that his own benefit and the benefit of the collective are one and same thing. In that, the world will come to its full correction.” (Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag – Baal HaSulam, the article, “Peace in the World”).
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From the article on the Ynet website

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New Life 677 – The Meaning Of Tu Bishvat
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Tu Bishvat represents a special state in which a person sees the fruit of his work of planting himself in the right environment. Having performed the 39 labors, he is rewarded with fruit: the fruit of the tree of knowledge and the fruit of the tree of life.

The impression from the spiritual life of the past still remains in the Jewish people so they can renew it today. But in order to develop properly, the society has to help us advance toward the spiritual goal and we will grow like the tree of the field in it.

The first phase in the growing process is the recognition of good and evil. We have to accurately define what is good and what is evil and perform self-checks, internal scrutiny, of ourselves and those around us.

The goal is to reach the attribute of love and bestowal. In order to do so, we have to ascend above our egoistic nature, which wants to suckle everything for its own sake, and acquire an opposite nature, which wants to give everything to others, to fill them, as it is written: “I have seen an opposite world.”

The more we want to ascend, the more we have to connect to people below because our attitude toward all of creation and especially to people is what connects us to the upper spiritual forces.

If we change our attitude from receiving to giving, we will discover the upper world and suddenly see a new reality in which everyone is in perfect love and wholeness, loving one another. To do so, we don’t need to correct others, but ourselves, and then we will feel love, the Shechina, peace, and pleasure that fill this world. This is the fruit we will eventually reach.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 677 – The Meaning Of Tu Bishvat,” 1/14/16

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New Life 676 – “For Is The Tree Of The Field Man”
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

It is written, “for is the tree of the field man” (Deuteronomy 20:19); but it must be precisely understood from what field a person is born. Human society was built from our natural drives, not our knowledge from the level of Adam (Man). The Adam in us was born from a drive for internal development that exists within us. And its success depends on its ability to approach the useful, to avoid the harmful, and to be exact about the definitions.

A person doesn’t want to feel limited. He feels that he has everything, but he has nothing. This world has become too small for him and he wants to escape to eternity, to see true reality. When he wants to know the reason for everything that happens and to understand the general law of nature, then he is linked to a higher and eternal field of knowledge in which he grows like a tree of the field. He draws from his upper roots and discovers the perfect law of connection between everyone.

Our roots are on a level higher than we are, which we must penetrate in our development.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 676 – For Is The Tree Of The Field Man,” 1/14/16

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Question: What is the Kabbalistic meaning of the Chanukah holiday?

Answer: Hanukkah is a holiday of Light. We celebrate a state where the Light enters our lives, illuminates them, warms and unites us. All that is required from us is to be better towards each other, not to quarrel and bicker.

Comment: This reminds me of the instructions my mother gave me when I was a child.

Answer: What can you do if you haven’t listened to these words until today?! This is the discovery of our egoistic evil inclination. During the Hanukkah holiday we celebrate the coming of the Light, which reigns in our ego and makes it possible to hear that we must connect and unite and in this way expel the darkness.

Darkness is our separation, the conflicts, arguments, competitiveness, and the desire to exploit and dominate others. And we want to be good friends who rejoice in each others’ successes; we share in everything: the general joy as if we belong to a single body. If we take at least the tiniest step in this direction, we will see how a small lamp, the smallest jar of oil, will kindle a strong, warm and good fire that illuminates all our lives.

Question: How is it possible to explain the miracle of that one jar of oil that burned for eight days to people who don’t believe in miracles?

Answer: A miracle is a force, an action of a law of nature that in the meantime is unknown to us. So we perceive this force as a miracle. But in fact, it exists in nature and there are no miracles.

For us it seems like a miracle that we are approaching a natural Light that is revealed from above; it is the force of the mind, the force of the Light and the life that we acquire ourselves thanks to our unity. In this way we eliminate all the enemies that are within us that don’t let us unite. This is the war of the Maccabees on behalf of our unity. If we succeed in expelling the “Hellenists” (Greeks), our individual egoistic desires found among us, and connect, then we discover the Light in our lives. And the Chanukah holiday is dedicated to this.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM 12/6/15

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Question: Why is it a custom to spin a dreidel on Hanukkah with the acronym of the Hebrew letters of the words “a great miracle happened here” on it, and see on which letter it will fall?

Answer: The spinning dreidel is our life. We spin and spin our life and eventually realize that it is only when we all spin ourselves together around one common axis that we will reach our fulfillment and our goal.

Question: The Israeli nation is terribly divided today. Around which axis would you recommend that we all spin: the right wing, the left wing, the religious, or the non-religious?

Answer: It is said, “love will cover all the sins,” which refers to the division between us and the hatred and rejection we feel toward one another. Differences will remain and it is actually above them that we all connect and unite. We spin around this unity, and this is our common axis.

Let’s hope that we, the people living in Israel, will set an example of unity to Jews abroad and even to the Jews in the US who are starting to draw away from Israel. We will draw them all to us by our unity.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM 12/6/15

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Comment: During the Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony at the Western Wall, the prime minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Israel is a torch in the darkness. Great darkness surrounds us and here in Jerusalem, in the nation of Israel, we lift the miracle of the independence of humanity, in honor of humanity, for the right of the people of Israel to live freely in its land and in its city, the same city that the Maccabees liberated. This struggle continues even in our generation. In each and every generation they have risen up to eliminate us and in each and every generation the Holy One, Blessed be He, saved us from their hands, provided that we hold onto the banner and torch, and even the sword of Israel.”

My Comment: Hanukkah is a battle of the supporters of the union of the Jewish people as an ideology and as the only means of our salvation. Specifically through unity, the higher power is awakened in us, and Abraham created the Jewish people precisely through unity in ancient Babylon, so our existence depends on our unity. But when we separate, we scatter, and we have already seen this for 2,000 years, especially in our time. Benjamin Netanyahu can claim anything that he wants, but to this very day, in Israel there is no nation and no people. According to the natural and historical definition, the people and the nation can exist only when we are united by a single ideology, a single goal, an understanding of our existence and its significance.

And so the miracle of Hanukkah happened. That is what happened in history and this is what must happen now, but it isn’t happening because we are not united.

We need to understand why we are conducting endless wars with shield and sword in hand instead of holding a seven-branched Menorah in our hand and bringing it to the world. The Menorah symbolizes the unity of the people according to the ideology of “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). But we don’t have this unity.

We don’t have such a policy; there is no ideology like this and there is no education of the people like this that will place the goal of providing education of the method of union. It doesn’t exist anywhere: not a in private life or in society.

Jews from different countries with different world views coexist in Israel, and in no way do they consider themselves s a single, united people. They can say, “We are one people,” but their feeling comes from the fact they are surrounded by enemies who force them to defend themselves. And in this state of self-defense, they feel themselves as a people. It is specifically the enemy that unites them and not an inner yearning for each other. So it is thanks to our enemies who press us that we still exist; without them there would not have been a Jewish people for quite some time. If they were to stop applying pressure from the outside, we would cease to exist as a people.

This is a paradox! For, on the other hand, it would seem that if pressure is applied, then everyone would flee in all directions. No! Here they will not flee. Here, like sheep, they huddle together to escape the wolves.

But is this the only way we can exist as one people and still convey the ideology of our unity to the entire world, which is so needed now?

Therefore, we should not just have a shield and sword but also the awareness that we are fighting for the sake of unity. Then the shield and sword will become the menorah of Hanukkah.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 12/8/15

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Question: How can it be that a small jar of oil enough for one day was enough to last for eight days? After all, didn’t you say there are no miracles?

Answer: It was not a miracle, because when we move to the next level, other laws operate there. There it is possible for one small jar of oil to burn for eight days. We see that even in our world, as we develop, we learn to extract energy from sources we previously were unable to use, or we use known sources more efficiently, with a new quality. Who would have thought that a kilogram of material, for example Uranium, could be more energy efficient than a mountain of coal?

Question: So what is the secret here? How can one small jar of oil be made to burn for eight days?

Answer: This happens thanks to our connection. We add our integral union to this combustion energy, instead of the energy of one person.

By uniting, we rise from our closed, mortal world bounded by three coordinates—time, motion, and space—to the world of Infinity. It is not just an eightfold increase as in the miracle of Hanukkah; we rise to an infinite world.

I am a scientist, I want to know, due to what can we multiply our world to the infinite dimensions? It is only through our connection. In this manner, each one becomes a master of the entire integral world instead of a single point. I connect with seven billion people, and so do you, and so does he, and so does each one of us. So instead of being by myself, I am with seven billion, and each one of them is connected with all seven billion.

We are connected, all the while increasing the power of our unity. Anyone who attains the intensity of connection connects with those who are also connected with the seven billion, and so we multiply our power infinitely.

And ultimately we become a sphere with an infinite number of connections, and each connection gets the unit of energy and mutual understanding of life. That is how we ascend to the world of infinity.

This is a simple scientific mathematical formula, so this is not a miracle. The miracle is only in one thing: that an ordinary Jew who hears about this now will want to try to implement this unity at least a bit.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM 12/6/15

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Question: Why are burning candles the symbol of Hanukkah? We also light candles on other holidays, and lighting candles is basically part of many cultures.

Answer: A candle is a symbol of light, a symbol of physical and spiritual power that fills us and helps us feel that we are beyond the boundaries of this world, in unlimited space.

We forget our body and don’t feel that it limits and pressures us but as if we are floating in the air.

Question: Why is it a custom to add a candle each day of Hanukkah so that there are ultimately there are eight candles?

Answer: I receive a new Sefira with every day that goes by, a new spiritual level from Malchut to Bina. Hanukkah is not the end of our development yet, but only part of it. This is the reason that it is called “Hanukkah”, stemming from the Hebrew words  “park” and “here.”

This is how we attain part of the spiritual world, a relatively small part of it, freed of the interference of the “Greeks” inside of us and interconnected. Then, there is another part of the correction from Hanukkah to Purim. In Purim, we attain the complete end of correction and gain control of the whole upper world.

Question: Why is it customary to eat doughnuts during Hanukkah?

Answer: Doughnuts represent the oil, the light. Hanukkah is the holiday of light. When we attain the first unity between us, we feel to what extent it was not in our power, but that it was done with the help of the upper force that fulfilled this unity between us.

This is why the symbol of the holiday is light, a light that is above us like the light of the sun, the light of life, the light of the burning oil.

Once the people had no lamps other than lamps that burned oil. Oil is considered a source of light.

If we Jews begin to fight for our unity, ignoring all external enemies, and strive to get closer to one another, a Light suddenly will come to us from above and connect us. Then, with the help of the great force that will be opened between us, we will be able to overcome all obstacles, conquer all fears, hatred, ISIS, and intifadas.

It is all in our hands, and it all adds up to our force of unity. This is the reason that the Torah tells us only about unity. This is the first and foremost condition for receiving the Torah. Are we ready to connect as one man in one heart in order to keep the rules of “‘What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbor” and “You shall love thy neighbor as thyself”?

Everything is aimed only at connection because in the connection between us we discover the upper world that is meant for us. As it is written, “May you see your world in your lifetime” because it is in this life that we begin to feel spirituality and life in both worlds.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM 12/6/15

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Question: What does the miracle of the Hanukkah holiday symbolize?

Answer: If we are connected with each other, we discover a system called the “soul” between us within which the higher force is revealed. This system is eternal, and when we discover it, we feel connected with the flow of eternal and permanent life. We no longer die, but exist in an eternal and perfect world.

After the first miracle happened—which is called the exodus from Egypt and revealed the eternal and perfect reality to us that exists beyond our physical and temporal view—suddenly our ego returned and enslaved us. The ego returned us again to the beastly body, so only this unhappy world is seen through it.

Here a struggle happens between us to restore our connection built according to the method of our father Abraham and making it even stronger. If we connect, then we rise above the evil forces and again enter into awareness of the upper world, which is eternal and perfect. This is called the war of the Maccabees against the Hellenists.

The Hellenists are those forces within us that separate us. For example, the force of rejection between me and you, among all the Jews in the land of Israel, forces us to quarrel, cut each other off on the highways, and strive to succeed at the expense of others. This alien force is located between us; so let’s root it out, destroy and remove it, connect, and transform to be as one man in one heart.

The force of the Greeks doesn’t let us feel that we are close to each other, ready to help each other. It is against the unity of the people of Israel. The “Greeks” are the forces of separation between us and not people who lived in Greece. If we begin to struggle with these forces of egoism, then we can achieve success with the help of the upper force that makes it possible for us to defeat them and unite.

When we unite, we feel that a miracle happened, and we are filled with the Upper Light, with higher spiritual life. All of our previous life on this land was only to implement this internal spiritual ascent.

Question: Does all of this depend only on our relationships with each other?

Answer: Only on that. The entire Torah speaks only about this, about our unity. Let’s do an exercise like this in Israel: Throughout this week of Hanukkah, let’s be a bit kinder toward each other and expect a miracle.

The miracle must happen! Suddenly, a leap to a new level will happen, and in addition to this world, we will begin to feel the upper world in which we also exist, but we don’t perceive with our five senses. It is possible to feel the upper world only on condition that we unite among us.

Question: What is the upper world?

Answer: The upper world is a new reality that is felt here and now. Now, we are living simply on a geographic area, and then the next level is revealed to us.

The miracle of Hanukkah is a symbol of this, that we can attain some Light in our lives that draws us forward and makes it possible for us to see the world from end to end, filling ourselves with eternal joy here and now. The key to all of this is to unite at least a bit.

This small jar of oil is that light that reaches our lives if we connect with others.
[171731]
From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM 12/6/15

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Question: We are celebrating Hanukkah to commemorate the miracle that occurred during the war of the Maccabees, when the jug of oil provided enough oil to light the Menorah for eight days instead of just one. Do you believe in miracles?

Answer: No, I don’t believe in miracles. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, a miracle is a serious, scientific matter not as we perceive this concept in our world. The upper force doesn’t perform miracles and doesn’t do anything that is supernatural and that exceeds the limits of “He has given a law that cannot be broken.”

All the miracles are only in relation to us. The system functions according to rigid laws that operate everything from the beginning of creation to its end. We have to learn these laws and then the phenomena we encounter in the system will not seem like miracles to us.

The first miracle, for example, is the miracle of the exodus from Egypt. People wanted to connect but could not do so because a force separated them. This force is called Pharaoh, their egoism.

They wanted to be as one man in one heart, as Abraham had taught them in ancient Babylon, so that love would cover all sins, but their efforts were in vain. Following seven years of satiety, seven years of hunger came along, until there was a miracle that allowed them to escape from Egypt and the domination of Pharaoh.

The same thing is happening today in era of technological advancement, when the accelerated development of technology, culture, and education begins. First it seems that it provides us with unprecedented opportunities and everyone aspires for the American dream: a wonderful career, science, and that promise to reveal all horizons.

But suddenly we discover that we have reached a totally different state than what was dreamed of. The American dream burst like a bubble, and the whole world finds itself in a whirlpool that drags us more and more deeply to the bottom. This is the end of the seven years of satiety and the beginning of the seven years of hunger.

I also felt as if I was living in the seven years of satiety in the 60’s and the 70’s when I believed that the horizons were open before me. But then I discovered that the science I engaged in did not provide any answers to my questions about the meaning of life and the purpose of life.

Thus, the seven years of hunger began and I began to search for a way to revive myself, for the meaning of my life, for the purpose of life, and for what I could give my children. This is how I found the wisdom of Kabbalah, and this is a miracle, just like the miracle of the exodus from Egypt.

A miracle is when a person who has no way of discovering the meaning of his life in an ordinary way suddenly receives a special Light, an extraordinary force, that shines on him, opens his heart and mind, and reveals that this life has a  goal and that he is part of a special process.

This miracle that opens a new life to him is called the exodus from Egypt, and it has to take place in everyone’s life to a certain extent.

A person escapes from Egypt, from his egoism, by acquiring the attribute of bestowal, the force of connection and unity, and begins to implement it. But then his egoism erupts again and he needs a miracle once again in order to overcome the egoism, and this time it is the miracle of Hanukkah.

Question: How are events that occurred in ancient times, like the exile in Egypt and the time of the war of the Maccabees, related to our time?

Answer: It is said: “the actions of fathers are a sign for the sons.” This means that what happened to our forefathers will also happen to each of us.
[171665]
From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM 12/6/15

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