My latest column on Ynet

How Can You Influence The World?

We tend to think that we have no direct influence on world affairs, especially when it is an event that is far from the borders of Israel. But the fact is that we are exactly in the center and we are the only ones who can affect things for better or for worse.  “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.”

The situation in the world is becoming more complicated every day. Darkness, evil, and hatred are increasing at an unprecedented pace threatening all humanity in the form of global terrorism, financial crisis, world wars, and infinite horrifying events that occur between people, nations, and countries.

We have a tendency to think that we have no direct effect on what happens in the world and all the more so when it is an event that is far from the borders of Israel, and have no idea that ” “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.”
(1) as Rav Kook writes.

We lack the ability to discern to what extent we are targeted and feel how “In such a generation, all the destructors among the nations of the world raise their heads and wish primarily to destroy and to kill the children of Israel…” (2). There are those who think that all this is a thing of the past and that the horrors that occurred in the past and during the Nazi regime cannot happen today, but we can still see how naturally humanity can return to the state in which a third of the Jewish nation was annihilated.

“I believe that the world will believe that the end of the world is coming and in an accelerated pace,” wrote Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag in the 1950’s, “and that Israel will be hurt first just the way it was during the last war, and therefore it is best to awaken the world today to receive the only remedy there is so that they will live and exist” (3).

Time is working against us, and the helplessness every Jew around the world feels requires us to make the teachings accessible to people, and to present the solution we have to fulfill as a nation.

“No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.”

The global era we live in has tied Israel and the 70 nations of the world into one body and now “…the whole world is considered one collective and one society” (4). The Book of Zohar describes Israel as “the heart of the world,” and just as “the organs of the body cannot exist for even one moment in the world without a heart, the nations of the world cannot exist in the world without Israel” (5).

The crisis that is shaking the whole world is taking place because the nation of Israel is not fulfilling its role properly, and thus emphasizes the world’s dependence on us even more: “the building of the world that is now collapsing because of the terrible storms and the bloody sword, demands the building of the Israeli nation. The building of the nation and the revelation of its spirit is one thing and it is all united with the building of the world that is falling apart expecting full power, unity and superiority” (6).

When we are united as one man in one heart we radiate the good force through us to the world. When the good force is lacking, the evil force grows and increases bringing hatred and division between people. The negative force makes the nations of the world feel that Israel is the source of evil in the world. “It is a fact that Israel are the most hated of all the nations, whether because of religious reasons, racial reasons, capitalistic reasons, or communist reasons” (7). The accusing finger the nations of the world are pointing at us is expressed in the form of several decisions against us. In a global world it is enough to diplomatically isolate Israel in an attempt to gradually suffocate it through an economic boycott, for example.

The secret wisdom is the solution

The first who found the solution to the human crisis was Abraham—the forefather of the nation of Israel. The special method he discovered about 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon includes two levels of relations between people: one level is the egoistic force—the negative force of separation and hate, which caused his students to draw away from one another, and the second level is the level the force of love and connection—the positive force in nature.

Abraham knew how to connect the two forces and to establish in people two levels of attitude toward the world so that “…love covers all transgressions” (8). The method of connection he developed is none other than the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Kabbalah is perceived by most people as an occult science. Its concealment and the mystery that people perceived were the basis for many myths, rumors, and misconceptions. It is time for it to be open and accessible to everyone. This ancient method is the most vital thing for the nation of Israel and for the whole world.

All the great Kabbalists, the sages who have “comprehensive knowledge in all the teachings of the world, since they acquire them from the wisdom of truth itself” (9), and are “rewarded with attaining all those degrees in reality that one can attain” (10), crying out, that in the critical situation that it is our obligation to constantly engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah, which means in the correction of our relationship, as the ARI said “if we engaged in the wisdom of Kabbalah, our redemption will come, since everything depends on this wisdom” (11).

The force that is concealed in it can save us from all the dangers that await us and enable us to survive as a nation and a state since “when there is love, unity, and brotherhood among Israel, no calamity can affect them and they thus keep all the curses and sufferings away” (12).

What is the Torah according to the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Throughout history there was one prominent message in the teachings of Kabbalists, which is “love thy friend as thyself” (13) or in other words, “do unto others everything you would like others to do unto you,” as Rambam used to say. The love of others is the great rule of the Torah.

When the sages of Kabbalah refer to the Torah, they first and foremost refer to a special spice that has the power to subdue the evil inclination—the force of separation. Our sages said, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice” (14), which means the Light in it, “since the Light in the Torah reforms it” (15).

According to Kabbalah, the meaning of the word “Torah” is much more than the meticulous observation of different customs. The Book of Zohar warns us that “woe to the person who says that the Torah tells us stories in a simple manner and that it tells us in a layman’s language about Esau and Laban, etc., but that everything in the Torah is upper secrets” (16). Moreover, “…because all the commandments in the Torah or those that our forefathers corrected,” as Eben Ezra says “are all in order to correct the heart, although most of them are performed by actions or words” (17).

Therefore, Baal HaSulam concludes that, “…only through the expansion of the wisdom of Kabbalah in the masses will we obtain complete redemption.”

They also said, “The Light in it reforms him.” They were intentionally meticulous about it, to show us that only the Light enclosed within it, “like apples of gold in settings of silver,” in it lies the cure that reforms a person. Both the individual and the nation will not complete the aim for which they were created, except by attaining the internality of the Torah and its secrets.” (18).

Everything for the sake of unity

Unfortunately, different circles strongly object to the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah to the public. The wisdom of Kabbalah has to be revealed today more than ever before. It is the key to the existence of the State of Israel and the people of Israel. We have seen throughout history that when each one pulled in his own direction, the division in the nation brought Israel to troubles and wars, the climax of which is symbolized by the destruction of the Temple. “The Temple was destroyed because of unfounded hatred, when their hearts were divided and they were divided and were not worthy of the Temple since it is the unity of Israel.” (19).

The moment we fell from brotherly love to unfounded hatred, we ceased to exist as a nation according to Abraham’s teachings. Since then we keep dividing and drawing further away from one another and the value of “love thy friend as thyself” is fading away and is becoming strange and empty of any meaning.

Therefore we are commanded not to give up, but to stubbornly fight for our unity, which is the potion of life for us; Baal HaSulam strongly asserts in the Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot: “At the outset of my words, I find a great need to break an iron wall that has been separating us from the wisdom of Kabbalah, since the ruin of the Temple to this generation. It lies heavily on us and arouses fear of being forgotten from Israel.” (20).

Time for Kabbalah

We have no choice but to unite, and in order to feel the connection and love between us, we must use the wisdom that Abraham discovered, the wisdom of Kabbalah, that teaches us how to connect properly with one another and to love others. When we awaken the feelings of love and warmth, we will be able to balance the whole system. We will be an example of connection for the whole world since this is exactly what our goal is as a nation and the world is expecting us to fulfill our goal, “The purpose of Israel is to unite the whole world into one family” (21). Therefore we are obliged to change our attitude to the wisdom of Kabbalah and to try to achieve love and connection as it teaches us.

References:
1. Rav Kook, “Letters of Rav Kook”. Vol. 2, p. 324
2. Rav Yehudah Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar“, item 71.
3. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “The Last Generation”
4. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “Peace in the World”
5. “Zohar La’am“, Pichas, item 152
6. Rav Kook, “Lights”, p 16
7. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “The Last Generation”
8. Proverbs, 10;12
9. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”
10. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “The Secret of Conception and Birth”
11. AR”I, “Tree of Life”, Introduction to Sha’ar A’hakdamot
12. “Light and Sun”, Nitzavim
13. Rambam, “Mishne Torah”, the Book of Judges, chapter 14
14. Kidushin 30;2
15. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “Shamati”, item 6, “Support in the Torah”
16. “Zohar La’am” , Behaalotecha, item 58
17. Rabi Abraham Eben Ezra, “The Foundation of Fear and the Secret of Knowledge”, p. 8; 72
18. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot Umasbirot”, item 5
19. “Netzhach Israel”, chapter 4
20. Rav Yehuda Ashlag–“Baal HaSulam”, Introduction to TES, part 1
21. Rav Kook, “Whisper the Secret of God to Me”
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New Life #613 – A Temple That Is Built Between Us
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

What is the reason for the emergence of Messianic ideologies? What is the spiritual meaning of building the Third Temple and why is the search of spirituality mainly in Israel?

There have been myths about the Temple for two thousand years since we fell to unfounded hatred. Before that we could communicate with the Creator and could feel Him in the love between us, but this relationship was destroyed.

After losing connection with the Creator, different religions and myths appeared because a person needs something to hold on to.

The Temple is what we build in the relations between us. It is not stones but connection, love, and relationship.

The kingdom of Israel will be rebuilt when we reveal the method of connection to the whole world and lead a new awareness. It is not faith in the Creator of the world but knowing the general law of nature in which we live.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #613 – A Temple That Is Built Between Us,” 8/16/15

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Question: Israeli film director Udi Alon received the Panorama Audience Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. When he was asked to speak, he immediately criticized Israel, calling it a fascist state, and called on Germany to stop the military aid it provides Israel.

In an interview to channel 10, he said, “I love my state, but I don’t like the government. It is fascist.” The problem is that Aloni’s film was fully subsidized by the state he calls fascist.

Answer: Our state is an expert in stabbing a knife into its own back. If only we could actually see that we have a partner in the form of the Arab people who live with us in one country and on the same land, if we could see them as wanting to reach an agreement, it would be a totally different matter.

I am in favor of the idea that everyone should live wherever they want. I am not in favor of any borders and am against limitations, but not the way it is happening today in Europe where they let the refugees in and turn everything upside down. It all depends on whom you are dealing with and the plans that your enemy has.

I can understand Udi Alon’s views. I don’t identify with him, but I understand that he sees only one side of what is going on. These are developmental problems. We will need to raise ourselves until those in the right wing move a bit to the left and those in the left wing move a bit to the right, and together we will reach the middle line.

This is what nature requires and what the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us. When we reach the middle line, we will be able to simultaneously place ourselves and all of our political, economic, and other rivals properly. We will actually balance fascism, communism, socialism, and everything there is.

Question: How will people on the right and the left wings connect?

Answer: They will connect above their egoism, and only the wisdom of Kabbalah can do that. Therefore, I don’t pay attention to what others say. To me, they are all in the midst of the process of development. We know that when a child develops, he moves from side to side, and there is nothing we can do about it. These are developmental problems, and we should wait until everything is balanced.

The world is undergoing the last phases of evolution now. The current crisis will bring it to an end and destroy it. It will shake the world in a way that everyone will see that they should follow the middle line; they should sit at a round table. No one is right, and no one is to blame. It is our nature that has been intentionally imprinted in us that way so that we would rise above it to the next level and acquire the solution to our problems there.

We need to be patient in teaching people how to connect above the ego. Let’s hope that we will be able to acquire a platform from which people gradually will hear us. On the one hand, this platform will help them, and on the other hand, the blows that they undergo in life will push them forward.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 2/21/16

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Question: A parade of fascists carrying torches took place in Sofia, Bulgaria and it seems that the public was indifferent to it. Could such a minor incident spread and occur on a global scale?

Answer: The whole world is accepting fascist ideology now. Nazism and fascism are ideologies that are ignited in humanity when there is no other ideal. I can say that socialism and Nazism embody the dead end of human egoistic evolution and people are beginning to identify Israel as the source of all their failures since Israel is not fulfilling its historical role.

This is the reason for the revelations of such powerful phenomena and people’s inclination to accept them. On the one hand, there seems to be no real justification for them, but on the other hand, they very naturally stem from people’s internal feeling so that it is impossible to argue with them rationally. This discussion will eventually bring the Jews to the realization that there is a reason for the whole world’s accusations and that they actually have some kind of key to the happiness of the world.

The key to happiness is in the wisdom of Kabbalah, and the world can discover this ideology, the education system that changes a person, all of humanity, and the whole world in which he will acquire his future happy state. Kabbalists who live among the Israeli people are doing everything in their power to show the people that we have an ideology, a method, and everything we need in order to make ourselves and the whole world happy, which is the main thing. This is the basis of all of humanity, of all the religions; this is the right attitude of man to the world.

So let’s start engaging in it! Because only we can do it, and then the whole world will unite around us. After all, this is the reason that the world is accusing us. But the Jews don’t want to hear about it. In every generation people try to annihilate those who should take care of humanity by trying to burn, hang, hush up, or destroy the “upstarts” who are concerned about humanity. In any case, I have no right to blame anyone except the Jews who allow the world to develop this way although they have the method for happiness.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 2/15/16

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Question: In Germany the trial began of a 94-year-old Nazi criminal who was a guard at the Auschwitz concentration camp. He is accused of the murder of 170,000 Jews. The trial stimulated a lot of interest and was moved from the courthouse to the Chamber of Commerce of the city of Delmold. What is your opinion about the event?

Answer: In the war years I was a small child and I grew up in the shadow of what happened. Even though I didn’t personally experience the events of the war, I heard, saw, and felt everything because the horrors of war left a big mark on the whole surviving family.

On the one hand, this was terrible! On the other hand, when I began to study the wisdom of Kabbalah, I understood that all of this happened because the Jews hadn’t carried out their role in the world. In other words, it is possible to say that latent in nature is a need for the Jews to unite and show an example to the whole world so that our world will be transformed into the upper world. Humanity will rise to the highest level and will reveal goodness and love to the world. This cannot be done by anyone except for the Jewish people in whom is embedded the method of unity and love called the “wisdom of Kabbalah.”

When I began to study it, I saw that the nations of the world have no freedom of choice, which includes their hatred of Jews. Even though it seems externally that they hate us, from an inner look at their nature, I understand that they are enslaved and forced. The hatred that is felt from them appears naturally because the people of Israel are not fulfilling nature with the good connections and love which they can attain.

Unfortunately the Jews don’t understand their mission, do not understand that they can work and transform themselves and the whole world to achieve happiness. They remain indifferent and I would say that they are even directed against the method that will free them and humanity from egoistic evil.

As the leader of the only organization in the world that is involved with the study, the dissemination, and the promotion of the wisdom of Kabbalah, done for the purpose of correcting the Jews, I can say that at every moment we encounter their lack of desire, especially among the religious Jews in Israel and in all nations, to understand and accept the wisdom of Kabbalah in the framework of Judaism. To me this is unfortunate since we could fall into the next Holocaust because of this.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 2/12/16

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New Life 564 – Jerusalem Is Sacred To Three Religions
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

The wisdom of Kabbalah has nothing to do with religion. It is a method of revealing the Creator to man in this world. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the term “faith” has a different meaning than in other religions. Faith means the revelation of the Creator.

The meaning of “Jerusalem” according to Kabbalah is complete fear, the city of Shalem (wholeness). It is a state in which we feel wholeness and peace. The wisdom of Kabbalah is the universal method that everyone will need in order to discover the Creator.

Jerusalem is a spiritual concept that has nothing to do with the city itself, the stones and the walls. It is a spiritual attribute that means love and bestowal, exiting yourself for the sake of others, acting in favor of others.

We fell into unfounded hatred during the destruction of the Temple. Spirituality disappeared, the wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed, and religions were formed. Discovering the Creator means reaching the corrected attributes, reaching love and bestowal, and this is Jerusalem. When a person builds Jerusalem in his heart, when all people behave like brothers, it will be the city of Shalem, the whole city.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 564 – Jerusalem Is Sacred To Three Religions,” 5/7/15

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In the News (The Guardian): “Binyamin Netanyahu has announced his intention to ‘surround all of Israel with a fence’ to protect the country from infiltration by both Palestinians and the citizens of surrounding Arab states, whom he described as ‘wild beasts.'”

Answer: “Protection against wild beasts” is a Kabbalistic term. In the past, walls surrounded all the cities because they defended the city not only from wild animals but also from strangers. You could only enter a city through the city gates that were opened and closed at specific times and guarded. There was also a special regiment that protected the city. That is, the city walls were a serious defensive structure without which the city could not survive.

Question: Do you believe that Israel needs such walls?

Answer: Yes, it will give the people the necessary sense of security and enable the protection of the borders by small forces. The question is how should we fence ourselves from inside? But this issue will be examined later. Now, however, we have to at least build a wall that surrounds us from the outside because we are in great danger of massive immigration from Africa into our state. We have already seen that it is impossible to do anything about this matter. We cannot stand against the flow of refugees because of the international community that watches our moves, but a fence is a fact that no one can enter and that’s it. Therefore I believe that it is vital.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah this is a necessity when it comes to guarding a home and a yard and when it comes to guarding a city and a state. The wisdom of Kabbalah regards a fence as a special spiritual force a person builds around his area, around his home. A fence, a barrier, a wall, is referred to as a division of the upper world from the lower worlds.

The Creator is clearly revealed in the world of Atzilut to anyone who begins to feel that world because it is actually in the world of Atzilut that is actually our home. This is our true place and this is where we are expected. The lower worlds, on the other hand, the world of Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya are below the world of Atzilut and separated from it by a fence called Parsa. One can transcend the Parsa only if he has a special spiritual attribute because the Parsa is a spiritual barrier, a potential one has to leap over.

I hope we will be able to build a barrier around us out of building materials. But the most important thing is that we will create such a potential barrier around us that only those who want to be like us will be able to get near us.

In order to achieve this, we have to connect in mutual love and care for one another, and thus we can create this field around us that only those who want to be like us will be able to come near us.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 2/11/16

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New Life 630 – Overcoming Terrorism in Israel
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

We are very weak because we have made it possible for our enemies to be among us, to move freely everywhere. We are not prepared to control the situation and we cannot act aggressively because the world will rise up against us. Our hands are tied.

Everyone is screaming: Where is the security? Yet when we reach the government we understand the problem. The world hates us more than it hates them, so there is nothing to build on any improvement in the attitude towards us.

There is no army that can stand against terrorism; anyone can buy a knife and we are finished. We invest a lot in intelligence in order to prevent things before they break out. Without this, our situation would be much worse.

The world will resolve many of the problems that are bothering it now, and it will be freed to engage in anti-Israel conferences immediately after that. The world hates us without even knowing why; it’s because we hold the key to world happiness.

Bad relationships between us cause bad relationships between all people in the world. The method for the correction of human nature from evil to good is in our hands, but we don’t use it. To the degree that we correct ourselves, the relationships between us, the wave of terrorism will immediately calm down. Until then, we are existing by supreme grace, which is giving us a little time to understand what is happening and to correct ourselves.

Our powerful army will not save us this time, only correcting the relationships between us can calm the world down. Peace among the Jews in Israel will bring peace to the whole world; we will feel like a single unit, a single family.

Our correction will correct the whole world. Why? Because there is a network of connection between everyone, and we determine what happens in it. We are the smallest and determining part, like the brain of a large machine that determines everything that the machine carries out.

In today’s world, terrorism is becoming a government, it is derived from a deep and well-organized politics.
If we correct ourselves, if we connect between us, with this we will compel the entire world to unite and reach comprehensive peace.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 630 – Overcoming Terrorism In Israel,” 10/8/15

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New Life #638 – The Good Ones
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

The wisdom of Kabbalah obliges us to reach love thy friend as thyself. Mutual guarantee will fill our country with a good spirit. When the connection between us is good, we are compatible with the general good force of nature and can bring it closer.

Once we were as one man in one heart, and when unfounded hate broke out we were destroyed. Now we need to rebuild ourselves. Our good future depends only on the connection between us through which our sense of security will improve and our enemies will be neutralized. Our spiritual leaders explained that if we are connected, no one will want to harm us.

Beyond mutual help, the project of “The Good Ones” also includes a PR campaign, discussion circles, in home meetings, and more. If we stop wanting to kill one another in potential, our neighbors will no longer want to kill us in practice. We will be good to one another and the whole world will be good to us. It is an equation that everything works by.

We have to radiate a spirit of connection and set a good example with our neighbors, at work, on the road, and in the media. There is the potential of goodness in every Israeli; it is in our DNA, and this is how we gathered around Abraham. The “Good Ones” is a positive wave meant to awaken the dormant love that is concealed in us. Mutual help in addition to a PR campaign about why it is important to connect will build a zone of security around us. If we connect, we spur the good force in nature and it balances the evil in us.

We tell our children that they should behave nicely to others, but we actually forget that. Let’s create good waves of connection between us, and they will spread like ripples from Israel to the world.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #638 – The Good Ones,” 10/25/15

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New Life #640 – Israel and the Storm
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Summary

We have taken the balance out of nature, thus from time to time some natural catastrophe occurs. It’s not always possible to identify what is coming, neither the intensity nor the kind of catastrophe.

The correction of human relationships will balance all of nature’s systems because man is at the highest level. Man has the strongest influence on nature, and also is the most delicate and vulnerable.

The conflict in the Israeli electric company demonstrates decay in the general society of Israel. We see bad relations everywhere. It’s senseless to blame the electric company workers, since actually the entire Israel society needs correction.

What we need is a general educational process for society in the way of consideration and mutual help, mutual responsibility, and that’s what we do here in our organization.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #640 – Israel and the Storm”

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