In order for an individual to want to get rid of his egoistic nature, he must, on the one hand, understand what evil it brings to him, that it is like a disease that does not allow him to live a high-quality life. On the other hand, he must have the desire to become like the upper force that gives him eternal life.

In other words, he needs to somehow see the benefit of fighting his egoism and understand what he loses by not being within the Creator’s system. Otherwise, the mere recognition of evil does not achieve anything.

After he stops himself based on the principle “do no harm to others,” the next stage is that he must open up and start emanating good, become its source. At this point, there is already some closeness to the Creator, with His quality, and to others, because the quality of the Creator is attained through closeness to others.
[329412]
From KabTV’s “Era of the Last Generation” 5/9/24

Related Material:
Recognize the Root of Evil within Me
The Truth of the Recognition of Evil
What Is Evil?

Filed under: Egoism, Israel, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: The spiritual development of the State of Israel and the connection of the country of Israel with the whole world can be divided into five stages.

One of them is the awareness of the evil of our selfish nature. Do you think this is the first stage for further development?

Answer: Yes selfishness is our primordial nature, and we we cannot get out of it by ourselves. The only thing we can realize is its depravity, its doom for us, but nothing more.

Question: Baal HaSulam writes that our natural selfishness is the essence of every human being and it gives us a sense of self. As each develops their abilities, they are ready to enslave others, take over the whole world, and control it. Why did the Creator create mankind like this?

Answer: The Creator specially created humans this way so that in the end we would reveal our egoistic essence, want to change it, and start developing from selfishness to altruism consciously.

Therefore, our egoistic essence is the foundation from which we begin to grow. Thanks to it, we see who we are and do everything only for ourselves in our narrow animal egoism. From this point, we begin to rise.

There are several means by which we can rise a little above selfishness, explore it, and then change it.
We have been given the worst foundation, the worst condition on purpose, and we must rise to the opposite.
[329233]
From KabTV’s “Era of the Last Generation” 5/9/24

Related Material:
The Basic Principle Of Spiritual Development
What Is Needed For Our Spiritual Development?
The Choice Is In Favor Of Spiritual Development

Filed under: Egoism, Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World - No Comments →

Question: Baal HaSulam writes that a primitive person uses his egoistic nature without being ashamed of anything. A more developed person already feels some kind of shame and tries to use others in a veiled way.

But he gradually begins to realize that and is ashamed of his nature. He is looking for where he can somehow correct it until sparks of altruism appear in him.

Do you think that in our country, in Israel, we are already at a stage when people recognize the evil of their nature and understand that it separates us?

Answer: No way! This recognition can be reached only through the study of Kabbalistic sources and with their help a person can expose himself to the influence of the upper light located in them, i.e., under the influence of a special quality—the quality of bestowal, love, and connection with all humanity.

If a person works in order to attain these changes within him, then they occur in him. Then he begins to see that he cannot bear his present nature and is ready to rush into the future.
[329273]
From KabTV’s “Era of the Last Generation” 5/9/24

Related Material:
The Enemy Is Among Us!
We Are Strong When We Are Together And We Are Weak When We Are Separate
The Israeli Nation In The Modern World

Filed under: Egoism, Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World - No Comments →

Question: At one time was all of humanity in spiritual attainment?

Answer: No, it was not. Only the group of Abraham, who left Babylon, was in spiritual attainment for a brief period; upon exiting Egypt they all ascended to a new level, and then later during the construction of the First Temple. Of course that was not about a building with stones and wood, but about the inner construction of the soul, first, with the erection of the First Temple, then the Second Temple, and then the fall from the spiritual level 2,000 years ago. But together, as one unified nation, this group existed for only a very brief period.

As for all of humanity, it has never been in spiritual attainment because, while in Babylon, it did not want to master the methodology of revealing the Creator, of unity, and rising to His level, which is the highest level of bestowal and love in nature. Therefore, Abraham had to leave there.

Question: So it seems that people should come to this sensation soon. How realistic is it that everyone will feel the spiritual system?

Answer: It is absolutely realistic! Absolutely everyone and the entire scheme of creation. It is all within each of us. All together, we are in collective adhesion with each other in one unified soul called Adam, “Malchut of the world of infinity.” Call it whatever you want; there are many definitions for this state.
[328811]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. All People are in Spirituality” 1/24/12

Related Material:
The United Body of Humanity
How To Assemble A Perfect Humanity
Common Soul—A System of Desires

Filed under: Adam-The Common Soul, Ancient Babylon, Israel, Nations of the World - No Comments →

Question: What does it mean to be in a natural connection with the Creator? What does this give a person?

Answer: This gives a person the opportunity to see the whole world as the Creator sees it, to influence others as the Creator, and so on.

When a person is in some kind of contact with the Creator, it gives him fuel for the next stage called “love your neighbor.” A person receives such an ability and can already love by being in connection with Him.

Question: What is the difference between the altruistic quality of bestowing to one’s neighbor and loving one’s neighbor?

Answer: The altruistic property of bestowing to one’s neighbor is not based on universal laws. It is just that society, as a result of its development, concludes that this is better, more convenient, and safer. Therefore, it accepts this condition or agrees that it is good. But in fact, this property is opposite to our nature.

After all, if we want to come to absolute unity among us, to “love your neighbor as yourself,” we must change our nature. It is not enough for us to say that the law of the Creator is an altruistic attitude toward each other. Everyone needs to be internally convinced that our current nature is absolute evil and that that the similarity to the Creator offered to us is absolute good.
[329562]
From KabTV’s “Era of the Last Generation” 5/9/24

Related Material:
Connection With The Creator
Correct the Point of Connection with the Creator
States of Connection with the Creator

Filed under: Israel, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: You have a student, and I have a very close friend, Gilad Shadmon, who has been with us for 30 years.

His father was in Auschwitz and at the age of 15 he was evacuated as part of the Death March from Auschwitz in 1945. The remaining living prisoners were marched to other camps across Poland. People died of hunger and exhaustion during the forced march and many were shot along the way.

His father recounted that he was with 12 teenagers, 15-year-olds. They were terribly hungry, but when they got hold of a piece of bread, they decided that each would take a small piece and pass it on to the next.

He was one of the first, almost a whole piece of bread was passed to him. At that moment when he was biting into it, he felt: “I cannot hold back, I will eat the whole piece.” But he restrained himself, and everyone else did too. Each took a small piece and passed it on.

This story impressed me a lot. Why do you think he restrained himself, this absolutely ravenous teenager?

Answer: Because he was connected to his friends. What else could have restrained him? And so he held back.

Question: So this is real connection?

Answer: Yes, it does not allow a person—to the point where they would just die on the spot.

Question: So this state of connection you just mentioned, it is higher than everything, right? Higher than hunger, higher than death.

Answer: Probably. I do not know, I have not experienced it. I cannot say.

Question: But you still have confidence that this happened precisely because of that? He saw these guys standing next to him and felt it?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Although it is known that starving people—and there are many examples in history—forget everything, even their closest relatives. It is an instinct, they start eating. They are not to blame maybe, those people?

Answer: No.

Question: But here, these are teenagers. Is there still something in this?

Answer: At that age, people can neglect themselves. Adults, not anymore. And younger than that age, children of course, no. But teenagers, yes.

Question: So, something in adults still dies out? And teenagers still feel that there is a future in this connection?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Another question. These were starving people, and we are well-fed today. We do not think about others, that is, those who are hungry, and so on. And even teenagers today who are well-fed do not think about other hungry people.

Why? What happened? Do we need to see it for ourselves, or what? What is needed?

Answer: No, these are completely different circumstances, different areas of consciousness are activated in us, the well-fed. And therefore, we cannot be compared with them.

Comment: So you cannot say: “There was such nobility there…”

Answer: No! You cannot mechanically transfer that.

Question: You cannot compare?

Answer: No.

Question: Can this be called nobility? In the Russian language, there is such a lofty word as “nobility.”

Answer: I do not know if it is nobility. Life just does it like that.

Question: So at that moment comes the realization that connection is everything, above life and death, above everything—connection?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Sooner or later will humanity, the world, come to feel that that is everything?

Answer: It will come.
[329028]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/8/24

Related Material:
The World Is a Reflection of a Person’s Inner State
We All Live For The Sake Of Others
Do Good to the World

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

Question: There is a well-known story of Rabbi Akiva, the great teacher of generations, when he and three sages stood amidst the ruins of the Second Temple, and suddenly a fox ran through the place where the Holy of Holies stood. All the sages wept, but Rabbi Akiva suddenly laughed. They asked him, “Why are you laughing?! Wild animals are already running where the Holy of Holies stood!”

He said, “One prophecy has been fulfilled, the prophecy of the prophet Uriah, that the Temple would be destroyed, and this means that another prophecy will also be fulfilled, the prophecy of Zechariah, which says that Jerusalem will be rebuilt.” And so on. In response, the sages said, “Akiva, you have comforted us!”

Rabbi Akiva understood that the prophecy of the future Jerusalem and the Land of Israel would be fulfilled.

How would you comment on the words of Zechariah in his prophecy?

His prophecy relates to the period of the final redemption, which is called “the end of times.” He lived 350 years before our era.

Zechariah predicted, “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of staggering unto all the peoples round about. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it“ (Zechariah 12: 2-3).

What is the “end of times”?

Answer: The end of times is when the time has come to hold righteous judgment over all people.

Question: How can we Jews become a “cup of staggering” for all nations?

Answer: Because the nations will see that in our hands lies the ability to correct ourselves and thus correct the world, yet we fail to do so.

Question: Is this what it means to become a “cup of staggering”? It feels like this time is approaching. I see how people are beginning to treat us.

Answer: Yes, it will come in waves, sometimes rising, sometimes falling, and it will reach a point where the entire world will want to destroy us.

Question: So will it truly become a cup of staggering?

Answer: Yes, but our actions must be the opposite. We must show the world that only by uniting among us can we save the world and then a force called “Messiah” will emerge within us.

It will pull all of humanity out of egoism and elevate them to a spiritual level. “Messiah” comes from the word “to pull out.”

Question: Further, Zechariah writes: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem“ (Zechariah 12:9).

So far, today armies and diplomacies are fighting. In what case does the Creator engage in battle? It is written here that He, the Creator, fights for Israel.

Answer: He does not fight for Israel as it exists today. He fights for the manifestation of faith in the Creator in the world and the need for Him to teach all humanity how we truly should live.

Question: Here it says, “I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” What does it mean?

Answer: Jerusalem represents the fear of God. It is Ira Shlema, complete fear, before the Creator.

Question: Then it continues: “And there shall be no more extermination; but Jerusalem shall dwell safely” (Zechariah 14:11). How do you understand this?

Answer: I understand that from then on, people will no longer attack each other. They will try to live in peace and fully follow, as much as they can each time, the laws of the Creator.

Question: Are you referring to all people in the world in this case?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: Although it is said that “Jerusalem shall dwell safely.”

My Response: Jerusalem represents the whole world.

Question: Moving on. Zechariah predicts: “Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls” (Zechariah 2:8). When there is no need to build walls anymore, what kind of state is this?

Answer: This is already the common redemption of people from their egoism, from all prejudices, beliefs, and so on, and the revelation of the Creator to all nations.

Question: Are you again talking about the world?

Answer: Yes.

Question: “Yea many peoples and mighty nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favour of the LORD (Zechariah 8:22). …in that day shall the LORD be One, and His name one “(Zechariah 14:9).

What does it mean “mighty nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem”?

Answer: Because He must be revealed in this city, in this place. But Jerusalem is in the heart of each person, the most central, secret place. They will strive to feel Him there: “Is there a Creator in me, at the center, in the depths of my heart?” And everyone will seek like this.

Question: Do I have this point of fear before the Creator?

Answer: You do. Every person does.

Question: Will they find precisely this point? Then what does “shall the LORD be One, and His name” one mean?

Answer: Then they will connect all these points in the heart, and God will be one and His name will be one.

Comment: This is very beautiful! If we say, “the LORD is one,” then all religions, all beliefs…

My Response: All of that will be abolished. There will be one aspiration.

Question: When we say “The LORD is one,” are we talking about the quality of the Lord? Love, bestowal,  is that what we mean?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Moving on: “Thus saith the LORD: I return unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth” (Zechariah 8:3).

This phrase I return unto Zion always goes after the Jews, after the people. Poets and Psalms talk about this. What does the return to Zion mean for the world, if we are already talking about the world?

Answer: Zion, or rather, Tzion, comes from the word “Etzia,” exit and distancing. That is, through distancing from Jerusalem and coming as if to Jerusalem, through these small steps, the Creator creates a real desire in us to reveal Him.

Question: If you said that this is the point of fear before the Creator within us, then we lose it, find it, lose it, and find it again. Does it become stronger as a result?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So, by doing so, do we come closer and closer to it?

Answer: Yes, in this way it is revealed more and more in us each time.

Question: Should there always be these entrances and exits in us?

Answer: Yes.

Question: They do exist. You lose, then you find… All the time either in disbelief or in faith, that’s how you are.

My question is: Jerusalem as the “city of truth.” “Truth” what does it mean here?

Answer: Truth is when it will be revealed that there is truth in the world.

Question: Does this relate to the fear before the Creator?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is this what truth is?

Answer: Truth is to know the Creator.

Question: We constantly say, “We seek the truth. We seek the truth.” Is this what we are seeking? Are we constantly seeking the Creator?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: But He hides behind all the clothing, and so on.

Further, there is a very beautiful phrase, just the song of songs!

It says: “Thus saith the LORD of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women sit in the broad places of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for every age. And the broad places of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the broad places thereof” (Zechariah 8:4-5).

My Response: Beautiful!

Comment: Very beautiful!

My Response: This is tranquility, this is wisdom that descends upon the city, which represents all the aspirations of humanity, and which will receive all this wisdom and distribute it to all the nations.

Question: It is very interesting here. Why does it speak specifically about the elderly who will sit in peace “with his staff in his hand for every age” and then it immediately talks about boys and girls playing?

There is not some kind of middle, just old age and youth.

Answer: This is because the more a person strives for wisdom, the younger he becomes. The wisest and the youngest in each person will find each other, understand each other, and coexist in joy.
[327386]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/18/24

Related Material:
Understanding The Language Of Prophecy
Was The Prophecy Wrong?
Kabbalistic Prophecy

Filed under: Israel, Nations of the World, News, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Inna writes:

I cannot stand being disliked; I have been this way since childhood. I always do my best to be loved: I give gifts; I do everything I’m told. And here I see how my people are disliked. I have been living here for 30 years and I feel ready to give up everything just to be loved. But on the other hand, I understand perfectly well that you can’t buy love that way. So what should I do?

Answer: Look for ways to get closer to other people.

Question: They don’t want us to be here. What kind of heart do you want to open to them? They say, “Maybe we will love you, just so you are not here.”

Answer: No, we are not talking about that. We received this from the Creator, and we cannot give in.

Question: Then what actions can we make to be loved? If you and I both have that desire, what should we do?

Answer: Show them our love, and if they do not agree, we are ready for war.

Question: What does it mean to show them love without giving in?

Answer: That we love them in our hearts. But if they do not agree to reciprocate, then we will be forced to fight.

Comment: Hamas is still nearby, here next to us. There is Hezbollah.

My Response: We can show that we want peace, we want friendship. If you are strong, you can say that.

Question: Is this the law of the East?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So, we must be strong for this?

Answer: Yes! This comes first!

Question: Do we have to show them this strength, that we are strong?

Answer: Yes, we must.

Question: Once Jabotinsky wrote an article: “The Iron Wall.” He said then that they will not back down from getting us out of here unless we create an “iron wall.” They must understand that this is impossible.

Does this enter into a state of love for us? Is this the construction of an “iron wall” that makes it impossible to throw us out of here?

Answer: Yes, that is the priority. We need to understand that, on one hand, we must come to peace with them, to mutual understanding. And on the other hand, we must always think about our security and not giving them the opportunity to capture us, conquer us, and so on.

That is the psychology of our neighbors, and there is nothing difficult to figure out here. Whoever they are, if they are our neighbors, especially our neighbors, then they are always against us.

Question: And we must show our strength?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And at the same time show that we are ready for peace, for communication, and so on?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Are these two states even possible, that you show strength and the second, that you are ready for peace?

Answer: Of course.

Question: So what is our miscalculation? We even sent them money, supplied them with gas, and more.

Answer: None of that does anything.

Question: What will?

Answer: Only strength.

Question: And what about what you always say that we must internally love our neighbor as ourselves, and so on? Where do you attribute this: to strength or to some other part?

Answer: To strength.

Question: Is that strength?

Answer: Yes.
[328928]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/15/24

Related Material:
What Does Israel Need to Win?
Jews Cannot Be Annihilated
Why Did We Come To The Land Of Israel?

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

Dear Michael Laitman,

I am 92 years old. I have been living in Israel for 34 years. I love this country, I love my people. My children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, all are here, no one has left.

Tell me, we have been celebrating Independence Day in Israel for 76 years. We have defended Israel in six wars. Today, we are at war again, and I see that beasts are against us. Hamas are beasts. In the north, there are Hezbollah terrorists. Iran will not leave us alone. There is such antisemitism all over the world! It is scary for a Jew to walk the streets. So many people want our country not to exist, and this worries me greatly.

Michael, tell me, will we be able to celebrate our independence in a year or in ten years? I am not thinking about myself when I ask you this question.

My Response: I understand you, and am very touched by your words. I think that we will still celebrate Israel Independence Day in such a way that it will be a holiday for the whole world. For the whole world!

We will achieve the point where the idea outlined in the Torah becomes the fundamental idea of the existence of humanity “love your neighbor as yourself” first and foremost.

Question: So are you saying that if the country lives by this law we will celebrate these holidays all the time?

Answer: Absolutely.

Comment: But tell me, is it possible that we could be expelled from here by force?

My Response: I do not think that we can be expelled from here. I do not think that difficult times lie ahead. Now we need to think not only about ourselves but also about the world: what we say to the world, what we need to show it, what we need to lead it to. This is how we will defend our independence.

Question: Should we also defend it militarily today?

Answer: Of course! Of course, we must.

Question: Have you no doubts about that?

Answer: No. For Israel, peace is a means to spread the idea of “love your neighbor as yourself” to humanity. We must not forget this and always behave in accordance with this principle.
[329189]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/6/24

Related Material:
We Should Celebrate Independence
Israel’s Independence Day
Memorial Day Is Inseparable from Independence Day

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World, News - No Comments →

Memorial Day and Independence Day follow right after each other because Memorial Day speaks about who we are and where these special people came from. It is said that the people of Israel do not belong to all other nations that arose naturally, but were created from a group that was gathered by one person, Abraham, the forefather.

These are people who have no other connection between them except their willingness to unite together for the sake of a common spiritual idea.

This idea is abstract, not material, and does not belong to this world, but we see that it holds the people of Israel together and does not allow them to dissolve among other nations. On the other hand, it opposes all the nations of the world and holds it more strongly than any other nation.

This idea is so strong that it gives the whole of humanity the foundations of culture, enlightenment, spirituality, and morality; it is such a strong influence that none of the most numerous nations could exert.

The influence of the nation of Israel continues to this day, and who knows how much more important it will become in the future. This phenomenon seems very strange and unique. And in fact, the people of Israel themselves and even more so the nations of the world do not know what they are really dealing with.

Memorial Day is not only in the memory of the people who gave their lives for the establishment of the State of Israel in our days. It is also dedicated to where these people and the state originated from, what the basis of its independence is, and why it is called a nation although it does not have the usual biological basis like all other nations.

We need to explore our roots based on their knowledge, realize our entire history, and honor the memory of the entire path we have gone through. We may understand what is happening to us today and where we are going.

Rambam writes in the book Yad Khazaka: “At the age of forty, Abraham knew the Creator and began to proclaim publicly to all the people that there is one Creator for the whole world, and in His name it is worth working. And he went and gathered people from city to city, from state to state, until he came to Eretz Canaan…

“And he informed each of them until they returned to the path of truth, and tens of thousands gathered around him. And these are the people of the house of Abraham. And he put this great principle into their hearts, and wrote books about it… And a people was formed in the world who knew the Creator.”

We see that a very special event happened: one man, forty years old, revealed the spiritual message and continued to spread it, and urged everyone who wanted to join him regardless of gender, race, nationality. Everyone who heard and accepted this idea joined Abraham’s group, and so “a nation was formed in the world who knew the Creator.”

This is the whole point of this idea: to bring together people who have a desire to know the Creator of the world. From this, we should understand our roots, our purpose, and the force that holds us together. It is on this basis that we unite as a nation.

Without attaining the Creator as the purpose of our existence, there is no need for the nation of Israel. In this case, we will not receive any opportunity from below in the material world nor permission and strength from above for existence, and we will not find any reason to be together.

Initially, the nation of Israel was formed on a spiritual basis, not on a biological commonality like all other nations who came from the same ancestral clan, one village, one territory. The nation of Israel unites completely different, opposite people. This has always been the case, and it will be so at the end of generations when everyone joins in this one goal of revealing the Creator.

These strange, unusual conditions relating to the nation of Israel are not like those under which any other nation exists. It is obvious that our history, laws, fate, and the forces acting on us must be completely different from all other nations. From this, we can understand what the reason for the emergence of the nation of Israel is, what its mission is, its basis, what forces are acting on us, and what our fate is.
[225308]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/18, “Memorial Day & Independence Day”

Related Material:
Memorial Day and Israel Independence Day
Independence Day: A Paradox that Leads to Full Independence
We Should Celebrate Independence

Filed under: Ancient Babylon, Holidays, Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World - No Comments →