Question: From the point of view of Kabbalah, what will become of the current younger generation that is growing up in an atmosphere of violence and terrorism?

Answer: I hope that though our efforts, and I say this with complete responsibility and great hope, this generation will be wiser than their parents.

They will understand that there is no other way out of the present situation but uniting and creating a powerful force between us that will affect the whole world. This is what we can do.

Imagine any other people now, for example, in Switzerland or in Finland, where everything seems to be fine. I was there not long ago and I know their lives first hand. They are in an inner state of subconscious waiting.

Immediately after the Second World War was a time when the peoples of the world secretly hoped that we would bring good to the world. But from the 70s of the last century their attitude to us began to change.

They understood that we want to be like all other peoples, and that we aren’t exerting a positive influence on them, denying them a quiet, tranquil life. Anti-Semitism is growing, and has begun pressure Israel. And today you are wondering about it.

If we look back five years, there wasn’t yet such a boycott from the United Nations and other international organizations. In Israel we were fed “candy,” lulled by what doesn’t exist. In fact, the world has risen up against us.

And all this comes from the upper management! We need to understand that this force is behind all of nature, so the imbalance between people is caused by us and directed against us. It is a system of forces, and not some kind of single entity called God that decided something. I say this as an investigator of nature.
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From KabTV’s “Confrontation. How It Works in Reality” 10/28/15

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Question: If we compare Israel to other countries, we can see it isn’t worse here than in other places and it is even better.

Answer: The problem is that you are comparing us to other countries. Of course, in many respects Israel is a better place and the relations between people are warmer, but this is in comparison to other countries.

I compare us to what we should be and to what the world demands of us.

If we don’t unite, nature will drive us to happiness with the stick of affliction: by another Holocaust, pogroms, wars, and other sufferings. Kabbalah warns us. But we can play our trump card and come to unity quickly and comfortably. It depends only on us, and the rest of the world will follow us. In line with this, we will receive the world’s support or blows accordingly.

Many Kabbalists wrote about the unity of the nation. The last Kabbalist who spoke about it in a way that is closest to us is the great Kabbalist Baal HaSulam who lived in the first half of the 20^th century.

In his book The Last Generation, he describes a complete social system of social security, protection, and mutual assistance, a system in which everyone cares about other.

This is basically what Marx wrote about in his time, but he wasn’t properly understood. The Marxist interpretation of human evolution was quite close to the truth. This is the reason Baal HaSulam tells us how we should understand Marx correctly because Marx was followed by several opportunistic movements that totally distorted his ideas.

According to Baal HaSulam, we must first educate people and only then teach them to care of one another, mutual responsibility, which is what we call mutual guarantee, Arvut.

Of course this isn’t an instant transition to a brighter future. But as soon as we begin moving toward each other with mutual support and mutual care, toward a round society, our world will immediately begin to change.

Do you want the Intifada to end? Start taking the first steps toward one another and you will see how all of our enemies suddenly will fade. Today’s enemy will come to help you tomorrow and will do it whole-heartedly because the world is a common system, and you control the good force entering our world to create its harmony with the power of evil, egoism..

People will begin to feel that they are one family, will stop cutting each other off on the road, will stop scheming against colleagues at work, and surround one another with care and attention. Then, all of the other nations will feel at ease; tensions will subside. And it all will be thanks to us. Today they say we are to blame for all their problems.

Question: But the better off we are, the worse they will feel. They will see this and will want to destroy us.

Answer: No, the good state between us will be conveyed unto them. Suddenly they will be able to balance their social and political system, the relations in their families, in society, and everywhere. Otherwise, they will not succeed and will continue their attacks against us.
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From KabTV’s “Confrontation. How It Works in Reality” 10/28/15

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Question: You say that the only means against terror is the connection and unity of the Jewish people through the method of Kabbalah. Does that mean that instead of soldiers we need religious people who study the Torah?

Answer: Baal HaSulam explains the difference between those who study the Torah in the ordinary religious sense and those who study the true inner part of the Torah, which means the wisdom of Kabbalah, by which they correct the world.

It isn’t about keeping the corporeal Mitzvot (commandments) but about the main Mitzva of the Torah, which is the love of others: the love of all the people of Israel. Our main work is in our intention.

Baal HaSulam divides the nation of Israel into non-religious people and those who are connected to the upper force. The latter are divided into those who engage in the inner part of the Torah, which means the wisdom of Kabbalah, and those who engage in corporeal Mitzvot.

When we speak about the method of uniting the people of Israel, we speak only about the internal intention, not about corporeal Mitzvot.

Question: Don’t you think that there is a much simpler solution, like closing Gaza, which will put an end to terror?

Answer: I am not an expert in military strategy, but I only know one thing: even if we had all the weapons and all the money in the world, and the rest of the world would have nothing but the hatred they feel towards us, we would not be able to live securely either.

After all, the hatred the world feels toward Israel is ignited from above in order to guide all of creation toward adhesion with the Creator. Therefore, any action in this world, whether economic, social, or military, will not help, except one: our intention to unite all the people of Israel.

A group that adds the right intention to bringing the Creator contentment, that is, to realizing His desire to do good unto His created beings, should lead this unity process. In order to do that, we need to turn to all of humanity and connect everyone with the upper force, as it is written: “My home will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/5/15, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: I am 40 years old and I am the fourth generation of our family in Israel. I served in the army and have seen unity between people and mutual guarantee. And also now in the streets of Israel, I see that our nation is quite united: if someone has an accident or if something happens to anyone on the street, all rush to his aid.

It is the same in times of war. There is no unity and mutual help like in our nation. I don’t understand what you are talking about, what is the mutual guarantee that we should reach?

Answer: It is true, on the one hand, the Jews feel that they are “in the same boat,” belong to the nation, linked in unity. They feel especially close to one another as a result of our history and the difficult times that we share. We are brothers in misfortune. That is what brings us together. But that doesn’t mean that’s the way we are in good times.

The unity the wisdom of Kabbalah tells us about and the Torah demands of us is to be “as one man in one heart,” “all of Israel are friends.” The word “friend” (Chaver) in Hebrew stems from the root word “connection” (Chibur).

The principle of “love thy friend as thyself,” is not a pipe dream or just nice words, but a real condition by which we achieve a very special life when we ascend to a totally different level of existence, to a totally different dimension, to eternity and wholeness. This isn’t what we see in the people of Israel today…

But if we were at least a bit closer to such unity in times of peace and not only in times of war or Intifada, no one would come to us with any complaints, not our neighbors nor the nations of the world.

Question: So, if we are brothers “of routine,” we would not need to be brothers “in distress”?

Answer: Of course!
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 10/25/15

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” Item 26: Bear in mind that these things are evident to every educated person in the invitation that the Creator had sent to Israel through Moses, prior to the reception of the Torah.

It is as it is written (“Exodus,” 19:5), “‘Now therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine; and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.’

And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said: ‘All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do.’ And Moses reported the words of the people unto the Lord.”

Do all of the people of Israel carry out the promise given to the Creator or at least some of the people?

The Creator promised that He would guarantee a special relationship with Him, called a covenant, as long as we maintain His conditions. The Creator says that He chose our people from among all of the peoples, and we must become this whether we want to or not because that is what the Creator decided.

99.9% of us refused to be the chosen people, a special people. Who needs it? We have suffered enough from it throughout our history. Everyone can confirm this covenant hasn’t brought us any good; at least, that is how it seems to us so far. But the covenant was decided from above, and we must accept it; there is nothing to argue about.

The Creator says, “…ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples,” meaning that we must become a transitional link between the higher power and all of humanity so that we will convey the higher management to the world.

“For all the earth is Mine,” all creation, all of the desire to receive that was created is under the control of the higher power. However, the Creator wants to pass the control to the people of Israel who were chosen by Him for this role. The Creator chose us, and we must take control over our egoistic desire.

“And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests,” meaning that you will carry out this work. And the work is to transfer all the sparks of bestowal to all the peoples so that all of them will reach bestowal and discover the Creator within it, “for they shall all know Me from their smallest to their greatest” (Jeremiah 31:33). Through this work, we become “a holy nation.”

“These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” That is, each received the order from the Creator, not personally, but through the point in the heart that is called Moses; they heard the voice of the Creator not directly with clear knowledge and feeling, but through an emissary.

Moses transmitted this command to the children of Israel. Everyone knows from the Torah that it was difficult for Moses to carry out this mission and obtain the consent of the people. But ultimately the people agreed to work together as one person, and they proclaimed, “All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do,” and then, “Moses reported the words of the people unto the Lord.”

This means that the mutual consent is already in our roots. It acts and works even if we don’t feel it. Now no one asks to receive and sign this covenant again, but only renew it according to the level of our development today.

Even though we severed this connection from our side, it doesn’t lessen our connection with the higher power and with each other. It is just that a deep descent occurred that made it possible for us to discover all of the evil among us so that we could correct and sanctify it, meaning that we would come to the level of bestowal for the sake of bestowal and even to the level of reception for the sake of bestowal. This is what the people of Israel must do.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/19/15, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Torah “Numbers,” Chapter 17: 21 – 17:23: Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and all their chieftains gave him a staff for each chieftain according to their fathers’ houses, [a total of] twelve staffs, and Aaron’s staff was amidst their staffs. Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the Tent of the Testimony. And on the following day Moses came to the Tent of Testimony, and behold, Aaron’s staff for the house of Levi had blossomed! It gave forth blossoms, sprouted buds, and produced ripe almonds.

Twelve staffs stand for twelve parts of the common soul (four stages of three lines). So, Aaron’s staff is above the others.   

Dry staffs symbolize unpromising routes of advancement and a budding staff symbolizes the path that leads to life. Therefore, all should aspire to follow Aaron and pick up their staffs under the condition that they follow him.

The common soul consists of 12 major internal properties called the tribes. Everything is built on a symbiosis, a mutual connection among them.

Twelve tribes can be connected with each other only if they are tied to Aaron of the house of Levi. This is why the Torah directs us who to follow.

Only Aaron can serve as a connection of opposite qualities. The tribe of Levi never did anything for their own sake, they work only in bestowal and the education of the people. Therefore, people advance in accordance with the degree of the self-correction that is possible as a result of the Levites’ governance and teaching.

The entire Torah speaks about faith above reason, which is a state of complete self-annulment. When we approach the revelation of the Creator, we naturally arrive at the complete annihilation of selfishness. Enlightenment is the understanding that our egoism is not us. This makes it easier on us.  
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/27/15

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Published recently in my column on Ynet, “The Answer to Terrorism—Strengthening the Foundations of the Nation.”

In these difficult and pressing times of “daily attacks” there is only one answer to those thirsty for blood who rise up to annihilate us—strengthening the foundations of our nation.

Even a talented screenwriter would have difficulty writing a more complicated scene. Within a radius of a few hundred kilometers, a collection of the most extreme terrorist organizations of humanity has gathered, and they surround us from every direction. The terrorist attacks are turning into a daily routine, and with them difficult scenes. Bloodthirsty murderers try to injure, stab, and ruthlessly eliminate everything in their path. It is impossible for us to reconcile ourselves to this situation.

We can only stand against this wild, frenzied hatred and extremism if we can revitalize our nation’s roots—unity. Only our unity will make our country, again, a safe home. If we miss the opportunity to come together and stand as one against those who hate us, the ring around us will ignite and we will lose the ability to be a free people in our land. This is exactly what our enemies wish.

Despite the severity of the sights, and in the worse case events, we experience daily, we continue to fence ourselves off from each other, each confined to his own world, and each party crouches in its corner and continues to advance only the narrow interests of its constituents.

With the danger that is lurking in every corner, we must take advantage of the benefit of a broad process that would lead the nation to unity, above all separation.

Harmony in a Single Body

Interactions in a nation are similar to the interrelationships between the various organs in the human body. Harmony exists within the human body: the brain is responsible for thinking, the eyes for seeing, the legs for carrying us, and so on. The nation is also made up of leaders, advisors, managers, and workers who must operate in complete harmony as a necessary condition for maintaining normal life.

The weakening of the nation is the result of impaired relationships between its “organs.” Our sages said, “Jerusalem was only destroyed because of unfounded hatred” (Yoma 9b). Hatred and division are an illness that weakens the body of the nation, disintegrating it from within, like a deadly disease, which is the result of a lack of harmony between the organs.

Unity in a Nutshell

The only way to reinvigorate into the Israeli nation these days is to create a sense of connection, a mutual bond and Arvut (mutual guarantee) between us. We must pull ourselves together and understand that the personal happiness of each one of us depends on the happiness of the entire nation. And personal weakness also depends on the weakness of the nation; so strengthening the network of social connections between us and cultivating our social capital will give us strength, and in a period of crisis like this, they are in our psyche.

During the years of exile, we lost the feeling of natural nationalism. The threads of love that bound us atrophied and detached from our hearts. Unlike every other nation in the world, the nationalistic feeling that still remained in us stems from the common suffering we experienced and still experience. The wars, hardships, and disasters are what consolidate us—we are brothers only in a time of trouble.

Unity whose source is in common external suffering is not true unity; it is “unity in a time of emergency” and it doesn’t have the power to build a nation that will be strong even in routine times. We are like a collection of nuts with hard shells put together into a single sack. Within the sack each one is closed within his shell. The sack creates an artificial unity between the nuts and doesn’t consolidate them into a single body. When the sack disappears, the unity disappears.

Strengthening the National Muscles

There is only one way to stop the horrific wave of terror and ensure our future as a strong nation—to start a nationwide social and educational process aimed at uniting people. We need to once again revive those national muscles that have been inactive in us for these two thousand years.

Social capital is our strength. Unity is the basic condition for the rebuilding of the people of Israel in the land of Israel. Without unity, we cannot ensure the welfare and future of the State of Israel. Without it we are like a building without a solid foundation, which is threatened to collapse with any vibration.

Our concern for the revival of the Israeli nation must have priority over every other concern. Only an educational process whose goal is to instill unity among the people of Israel will lead to success, prosperity, and security. We can no longer turn a blind eye our eye. Our unity is the foundation of the building; it is the only thing that will determine the stature of the State of Israel and the attainments that we will achieve.

This article was written according to the newspaper, The Nation published by Baal HaSulam, Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag, June 5, 1940.
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Published on Ynet 11/04/15

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Question: In the Arab nations there were a number of revolutions that occurred with the help of social networks like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Even now, the same thing is happening with us. In other words, our enemies are using the same achievements of the modern world without declaring war on us. Do we need to conduct a cultural war such as this with them?

Answer: You can do anything you want. But nothing will help! Only if there is really a life and death threat, is it necessary to defend yourself without considering anything else. But simultaneously, it is up to you to move the people towards internal unity.

Then everyone will gradually begin to change their opinion about you, because through connection and unity, you will be connected with the whole world. Then you will channel completely new forces of good, mutual connection, and unity to the whole world, which the world needs so much. And without the power of connection and unity, it will move toward war.

Everyone understands and knows this, but they cannot do anything because other than the people of Israel, nobody has freedom of choice. So the whole world condemns the Jews. The peoples of the world subconsciously feel that they depend on us. And it is not just that they blame us for all the troubles, it is an internal feeling of dependence. For example, if I feel that I depend on a particular person, I am afraid of him, hate him, he doesn’t leave my mind, and I don’t know what to do with this connection. This is precisely what the nations of the world feel about us. This is a fact.

Question: So this means that they are afraid of us?

Answer:  They are frightened, meaning they feel that they cannot annihilate us. If they could, they would wipe us off the face of the Earth. They have tried, but it didn’t work. But this is not the idea; rather, it is a feeling of powerlessness before Israel that everyone feels subconsciously. I have travelled throughout the world, given interviews and lectures at dozens of universities, major newspapers, in the mass media, and I have conversed with scientists, politicians, and sociologists. This is what people feel.

Question: Does this mean that the people of Israel and the nation itself cannot be destroyed?

Answer: The people no, the nation yes. We could quietly be expelled from here. In the meantime, a bilateral world still supposedly exists, but we have no need of anyone. If there were no higher management through which we need to unite on this land, we  already wouldn’t be here.

Nevertheless, from day to day I see how the people of Israel are becoming more and more consolidated internally, more sensitive, and understand that nothing will save them except for the connection and unity between us. They are becoming more prepared to understand, perceive, and hear this idea, and our organization is becoming increasingly capable of explaining this and giving an example.
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From KabTV’s “Confrontation. How it works in reality” 10/28/15

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Comment: If we don’t provide humanity with the key to happiness, no one will help us. Even America which has always helped us will not protect us now

Answer: If it isn’t in the American interest to stand against Russia, Europe or any other country. We will become useless and meaningless for them and they will not take us into account, even for a second.

The American Jews will not say a word in our favor either. The Americans understand perfectly that this place on the planet is important only from a political point of view, as opposition to other structures in the world.  

If this opposition doesn’t exist, Israel will disappear, and not take its rightful place in the world becoming its ideological center, which the world needs so desperately. Today the world doesn’t need us; we are merely a tool of resistance between the different systems in the world. American military representatives in Israel candidly say that this is the only reason they need us, while in every other sense, we are simply a burden on them.
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From KabTV’s “The Current Emergency Situation In Israel” 10/14/15

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Comment: Ten years ago you said that the confrontation between Israel and the radical faction of the Arab community is not a local conflict, extremists would begin a confrontation with Israel and, sooner or later, this would reach a confrontation with the whole world, and that this would be the beginning of World War Three, which will only continue to grow.

So this seemed to me like Kabbalistic vagaries, but today I understand that it is necessary to begin to listen to Kabbalistic predictions more attentively, with particular concern.

Answer: Unfortunately what is said in the wisdom of Kabbalah has been carried out throughout all of history with mathematical precision. There could be a difference in time, but in principle, even this doesn’t happen.

Forty years ago my teacher told me that around the year 1995 the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah would soon begin among the masses, after that there would be another period, etc. All this would happen precisely, and arouse great fear among all those who are aware of the predictions.

A third World War would not be like previous wars; it is the sum of a multitude of slow and endless local conflicts, exhausting all of humanity.

The idea is that humanity is reaching a threshold in its development. They will begin to understand that they have not succeeded in getting along with each other or with the laws of nature, which determine their lives.

Not only aren’t we aware of the laws of nature, but we cannot even manage our society in any area of life. Science is deadlocked, families are falling apart, and people prefer to escape with drugs and tranquilizers.

Humanity is in confusion. The strong in this world don’t know what to do. Generally, the world in which we used to live successfully has become totally unclear. So conflicts and confrontations have begun.

The world became integral; it became rounded; different laws are operating in it—the laws of integral connection between everyone. Every person influences the entire world, and the whole world influences him; everything is interwoven. We still don’t see this network of forces, but it connects us very strongly, like cells in the body of humanity. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, this was written about thousands of years ago.

But the problem is that we are built according to an individualistic egoistic principle and not integrally. We cannot encompass this entire system; we cannot correctly cooperate mutually with each other; we don’t aim towards receiving and bestowing together.

A human being is the only creature in nature created on the egoistic principle. The still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature exist instinctively; they have no freedom of choice. But a human being is built according to another principle; only egoism operates within him.

So it follows that if the inanimate, vegetative, and animate parts of nature are in a dynamic balance: plus-minus, warm-cold, dark-light, our inner egoistic nature is not balanced by a good force, but only bears a negative character.

Question: But there are people who would object: “Excuse me, yesterday I helped an old woman cross the street”. Another will say: “Excuse me, but ten years ago we couldn’t even imagine that an amazing social network like Facebook would be created!” So, don’t we have a positive direction of development?

Answer: Yes. But this is also managed by our ego.

It turns out that we cannot just do good, not to mention carrying out the main commandment of loving others. A person requires an inner positive force that will balance him.

This problem is felt in all of us because we are basically guided only by the negative force. Where can we attain a positive force to manage ourselves and the world successfully? This is the most prominent challenge humanity faces today.

To be continued…
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 10/23/15

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