Comment: Recently an incident occurred in Israel that shocked the whole country. As you know, we have a sacred attitude toward hostages. We want to free them with all our might; the whole nation is behind it. When three hostages managed to escape from captivity, reached our positions and were almost free, they were mistaken for terrorists and killed. Huge shock was felt all over Israel.

The press started digging, discussing, and looking for who to blame. And the mother of one of those murdered boys sent an audio message to the soldiers.

“I am Yotam’s mom. I love you, I want to hug you even from afar. My son’s death is not your fault. Please take care of yourselves! You are doing the right thing in the world. Do not blame yourselves for my son’s death. You must protect yourselves in order to protect all of us. Come visit us at the first opportunity, whenever you want. We want to look you in the eye, hug you, and tell to your face, no matter how hard it is, that at that moment you made the right decision, you did the right thing. No one in our family condemns you or holds a grudge against you.”

My Response: Yes, it is hard!

Question: I cannot imagine where a mother can get such strength. The most precious thing has been taken away, and she is rising above it. Tell me, where does such strength come from?

Answer: From above! There is no other way… It is revealed from above.

Comment: And this happens right when the search for those to blame is underway, when everything is being discussed. Suddenly, this voice sounds. What is going on here? A mother is the only one who unites the people. Can you imagine? Suddenly everyone feels what they are and what she is!

My Response: Yes, it is a great breakthrough.

Question: When you talk about the role of the Jewish people, that we should come to show an example of good connections by rising above hatred, can we say this mother is an example?

Answer: Yes, what she did was great.

Question: Can we call this a call for the unity of the people?

Answer: Sure.

Question: Can it influence us?

Answer: I do not know. We have already been through so much! And you see that after all this, there are demonstrations again, there is a search for whom to blame again.

What has been killing us for thousands of years continues to kill. It is our inability to unite above all our accusations and problems. I do not know how to achieve it.

Question: Still, can we say this is a call for it?

Answer: It is the call. It has to simply be on everyone’s lips all the time. Even if people do not feel it, to just say it. Then they will hear themselves.

Question: What should be said? That we should rise above everything, above all differences…?

Answer: Rise above all the differences and unite, embrace, connect, just stick together.

Comment: No matter what happens between us.

My Response: Yes! Above all!

Comment: This woman, this mother, Iris, could have shut down and blamed everyone.

My Response: You see, in this state there are people who rise above themselves. There are no words to describe her condition and her actions. It is just beyond human strength.

Question: What would you say to her if you met her?

Answer: I do not know. I would bow to her and that is all.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/25/23

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Michael Laitman on the Times of Israel: “What Has Changed in the People of Israel since October 7?”

Following the tragic events of October 7 and the ongoing war ever since, the people of Israel have become much more united. I sincerely hope that we will continue increasing our unity to its fullest possible extent, i.e., a state of “love your neighbor as yourself” through which the tendency to unite will spread throughout humanity.

Despite the anguish that has led us to unite, it is nonetheless beautiful to discover a sudden upshot of mutual concern and appreciation.

Such states bring upon us certain corrections. Many people from all walks of life suddenly feel that the best position to be in is a unified one. Soldiers feel it on the battlefield, that it is their place, voluntarily wishing to remain, and feeling better than if they were in the center of the country. There have been several instances of soldiers returning home for a few days, saying that they feel much more alive when they are with their friends on duty.

Who would have thought that in our generation, people would willingly leave thriving urban centers and pleasant suburban neighborhoods for dangerous combat zones, putting their lives at risk? We are learning a major lesson and I hope it will remain with us. I thus pray for this newfound togetherness to strengthen, that we will not return to divisiveness, and that the power of unity will spread throughout humanity.

More important than the external conflicts that erupt out of necessity are the inner conflicts against the true enemy: the egoistic inclination dwelling within. At any given moment, a sabotaging thought can take us by surprise, making us reject and distance ourselves from each other. It is precisely at this juncture that we need to fight for the success of our unity over division.

I trust, though, that as we become more aware of the harm we cause ourselves by letting our divisive drives materialize, we will become readier to better manage them. We will then voluntarily push in the opposite direction—to support, encourage, respect and care about each other—and infuse a fresh new positive unifying spirit among us and into the world.
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The war reveals to our people [Israel] that everything depends on our connection. Everyone says that the enemies will retreat in the face our unity and that our separation gives them strength. Let us hope that the unity of the nation will only increase until complete correction without wars.

It is encouraging to see how the people of Israel have suddenly united, how people have begun to appreciate each other. No one needs to explain anything anymore. Every soldier on the front feels that he is in his place and wants to stay there. He feels better among his friends there than among ordinary people in the center of the country.

It is such a difficult path, but we are going through huge corrections, the whole nation is, and are honored with unity. When soldiers come home on leave, they say that real life is there, at the front, and they want to return quickly despite all the danger.

This is a huge lesson for all of us, and let us hope that it will leave an indelible mark in our hearts that will never be forgotten. The main thing is to be with all your heart and soul with those soldiers on the front line and pray for them.

At a time when unity and brotherhood are growing on the front, the discord that existed before the war is beginning again in the rear. But this contrast will help us realize how undesirable disunity is and will help us make the right decision.

To anyone who is fighting against a real, obvious enemy that wants to destroy us and throw us out of our land everything is clear. But there is also an inner enemy, and each of us will have to feel that he is standing against his egoism and must grab it and strangle it.

How can we recognize this inner enemy? It is very easy. Everything in me that helps me get closer to others is my friend, and everything that alienates me and awakens hatred for others is my enemy.

This war has softened the hearts of the people. But the nation of Israel has experienced such terrible catastrophes in its history and still has returned to separation. Let us hope that this time there will be no return to the old habits.
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From the 3^rd part of  the Daily Kabbalah lesson 1/11/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Writings of the Last Generation”

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Question: What are your wishes for people in 2024?

Answer: To strive for peace. That is all. It is most important.

Question: What is needed for this?

Answer: To do this, you just need to strive for peace.

Question: Does everyone need to do it?

Answer: Everyone and in all its manifestations. That is, try to consider where some anti-peaceful actions are visible and look for how we can extinguish them. Today we do not yet have a single methodology, theory, or desire to do that.

Comment: There is not even a single call for peace.

My Response: Yes. So the world is in a confused state.

Question: So is this your wish for each person?

Answer: Yes, for each individually.

Question: And if you see that there is no peace, how should you live?

Answer: We must still strive for unification. There is nothing else. And I hope that our internal movement toward this, toward uniting everyone, will win and change the world.

In general, of course, the state of the world is very, very shaky.

Question: Between what and what?

Answer: Between the possibility of a huge, huge, everyday, all-around war of everyone against everyone.

Question: And will this grief really be for everyone?

Answer: Yes, of course.

Comment: Someone is thinking of sitting out.

My Response: No, I think that in general it will not be possible to sit out. Here we need to make some categorical decisions.

Question: But is this your main and only wish?

Answer: Yes. Only the desire for peace in the world.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/1/24

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Question: Can we say that the external wars that are taking place in the world now are a consequence of the fact that we are not fighting enough internally with the so-called nations of the world?

Answer: Yes, that is right. Since we are not united internally, various problems arise in the world, and therefore, the whole world screams that Israel is to blame for everything.

Question: Is it really only prayer that can transfer these external wars into internal ones?

Answer: I think so, because we have already fought enough, and it did not help. Nothing in the world will help in any war.

We must come to the decision that help can come only if our hearts are united.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/23, Writing of Rabash “And It Shall Come to Pass When You Come to the Land that the Lord Your God Gives You”

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Michael Laitman on the Times of Israel: “Is Israel a mature state?”

We might just be going through a significant maturation phase right now. Without fully comprehending what is happening within us yet, we can see how our concerns have shifted significantly to what they were before October 7 last year. What worried us before the tragic events of that date and the ongoing war ever since seems trivial in retrospect. Many are introspecting differently to what they were before, and are revising their next steps in life.

It is like a girl who was fixated on her baby doll. Her world revolved around the small little bundle of plastic and cloth, and she poured her heart into every aspect of its care.

While the girl engaged herself with her baby doll, there was a real baby in her same house. The girl, however, was uninterested in the “real-life doll.” Her mother, however, held an almost complete focus on the baby. These differing levels illustrate what we deem important at different stages of our maturation.

Our society resembled that baby doll. In terms of values that permeate society, self-concern, indifference to others and a divisive atmosphere of each one living within their personal tanks against everyone else, standing up for their own opinion against all others, reigned supreme – at least until the events of October 7. Then, all of a sudden, it is as if we started waking up to see that we share a real-life common baby needing our constant care to nurture its healthy development. This common baby has since forced us to grow out of our childish ways.

Engaging solely with self-interest seems outdated and nonbeneficial to anyone in the current situation. However, by the same token, embracing genuine relationships is still unfamiliar territory. Transitioning from self-centeredness to focusing on the benefit of others cannot be done in an instant, and we thus hover in a state between self-love and social cohesion.

Despite the girl’s attachment to the doll, her mother encouraged her to spend time with her baby brother. Gradually, she began to connect with the baby, finding ways to calm him down and comprehend his needs, becoming increasingly attentive to his growth.

There is a driving force in nature that continually urges us toward states of increasing connection, to mature in our attitudes to each other, and to engage in live dynamic relationships. October 7 and the war that has followed put spokes in the wheels of our hateful and divisive conduct toward each other leading up to that date.

We have since turned our attention to a new common engagement that has somewhat brought us more together, and it is my hope that we do not merely let tragedy and war hold us in such a state, but that after the war ends, we will take further steps in becoming even more mature – by voluntarily cultivating positive connections to each other above desires and opinions that will emerge to once again challenge the strength of the direction in which we hold ourselves.

Embracing and exercising the need to continually enhance the quality of our connections will not only secure our safety and peace, it will also serve as an inspiring unifying example for other societies around the world. Moreover, the positive rippling effects throughout human consciousness hold the potential to impact a major shift toward global peace and harmony, the likes of which we have never yet experienced.
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Internal war and external war are both parts of one single whole. Each spiritual root must clothe in a corporeal branch. It seems that the spiritual root has already touched the corporeal branch and the nation of Israel has already conquered the land of Israel. Why is there a war again?

The point is that the root and the branch must completely grow into each other and exert mutual influence. The root comes in a form that is completely inappropriate for the branch; it must receive a restriction, a screen, and reflected light in order to gradually clothe in the corporeal branch.

War is always caused by a mismatch between the branch and the root. The war that is going on now is the war for the conquest of the land of Israel described in the Torah! This is a process that takes time. We need to internally accept it, agree with the upper government, and believe in salvation.

Only with the help of the army, the force acting from below, and the force of the Creator from above can we build ourselves in the correct form and win. We have no other forces than these two. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are truly a holy army.

In Israel, it is customary to treat the army with sacred respect. But in the Israeli army there really is a spiritual force that raises the people of Israel to the level of the Creator.

Even soldiers who are far from studying the Torah and Mitzvot are eventually included in this system that leads us all to the holiness of the Creator. That is, they, perhaps without knowing it, are waging a spiritual war in Gaza.

And everyone’s duty is to support them with everything possible. It means not just material support, but connecting our hearts, and from our common heart to help them succeed in everything they are doing. And thus, the entire nation will be involved in this spiritual war.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/23, Writing of Rabash “And It Shall Come to Pass When You Come to the Land that the Lord Your God Gives You”

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Michael Laitman on the Times of Israel: “Has the Exile of the People of Israel Ended or Was It Just a Dream?”

Physically, we inhabit the land of Israel, having returned after two millennia, yet spiritually, there lingers a sense of absence. Exile, a state where the presence of the upper force of love and bestowal eludes us, leaves us without complete security or a clear path; it obscures both our path and our destination.

In his article, “What Is, ‘When Israel Are in Exile, the Shechina Is with Them,’ in the Work?” Kabbalist Baruch Ashlag (Rabash) begins with an excerpt from the Megillah illustrating the Creator’s deep love for Israel, akin to a king with an only son who errs before him. Despite past transgressions, the king, rather than banishing the son, chooses to go into exile alongside him, a testament to unwavering companionship:

Come and see how fond is the Creator of Israel; wherever they exile, the Shechina [Divinity] is with them, as was said, ‘And the Lord your God returned from your captivity.’ It did not say, ‘will return,’ but rather ‘returned,’ showing that the Creator returns with them from the exiles.’

Feeling the void left by the upper force among us paradoxically forms our connection with that force. It is written that the Creator—the upper force of love and bestowal—descends into exile with us. When we sense the absence of this force, it means that it is already present, i.e., it makes us aware of its nonexistence in our current state. It actually never truly departs or alters its stance toward us, but we ourselves fluctuate—drifting further away or drawing nearer.

Exile befalls us when we let our self-centered nature run our lives, i.e., when we adopt a culture of cutthroat competition, respecting wealth and materialistic status, and also dividing ourselves into factions and holding disdain for one another. Such qualities stand in stark contrast to those of the upper force—love and bestowal—and they ultimately operate in order to lead us to a feeling of being exiled from a harmonious state with attitudes of love and bestowal in the midst of our relations, and to draw closer together in order to reach such a state.

Those who feel their lives in this exile can first find solace in that they have diagnosed their state correctly, while simultaneously feeling the pain of drifting apart. These mixed emotions possess the potential to drive the many diverse parts of our nation to unite, and to establish through our unity a connection with the Creator. They grant us the strength to care for our people as nurturing parents, cultivating ties that bind us, enabling our collective emergence from exile.
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Question: You said that war ends when its purpose is realized. What kind of purpose can a war have and who sets it?

Answer: The war ends in Gmar Tikkun (final correction).

But this is not a war we fight with weapons; it is a confrontation between the forces of bestowal and the forces of reception. Therefore, we can say that the war has been going on constantly since the creation of the world until Gmar Tikkun.

Question: Does conquering the land of Israel mean mastering a specific desire, or can any desire be made the land of Israel?

Answer: The land of Israel does not exist just like that. When past desires with the intention for one’s own sake, under the influence of coming closer to the Creator, become desires for the sake of the Creator, they are called conquests of the land of Israel.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/23, Writing of Rabash “And It Shall Come to Pass When You Come to the Land that the Lord Your God Gives You”

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Of course, our duty in the corporeal world is to protect ourselves and, as commanded, to kill one who is trying to kill us. But we must understand that by doing this we are only buying ourselves a short delay for the correction of our souls, which is entrusted to us.

However, a soldier of the Israeli army who is at war should not fear that if he dies, he will not be able to complete his final correction. War is arranged in such a way that if he is destined to die, it means that he has already completed his correction.

This correction affects not only those who were killed or injured, but all the circles around them: family, friends, and acquaintances who experience this trauma. Desires, thoughts, and actions caused by the tragic event of the death of soldiers correct the thoughts of their loved ones, the entire nation, and all humanity.

After all, all souls are, in essence, one soul, and through the mutual inclusion of souls, they influence everyone.

There is a big difference between dying from a natural disaster like an earthquake and dying as a soldier in war. An earthquake is caused by the inanimate level, and death in battle is caused by the human level, and the difference in the correction of souls is enormous.

War comes to shake people up and shorten their time of correction. After the war, thoughts and relationships are usually renewed. Therefore, until the end of correction, it is impossible to completely avoid wars, and history continues. The purpose of war is to awaken a new response in desire so that with new desires, with the experience of war, people acquire the ability to make decisions that are closer to the final correction.

In the end, only the Creator always wins in war because in the end we are convinced that we cannot have any victory unless we unite and receive power from above. All our perfection and peace lie only in the Creator.

The Creator wants us to understand that only the unity of the people of Israel without any borders will help us save ourselves and the whole world from the abyss into which we are all gradually sliding.

Therefore, let us be strong in spirit, let us not cry, and, as they say, let us meet the coming day with a new song in our hearts.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/23, Writing of Rabash “And It Shall Come to Pass When You Come to the Land that the Lord Your God Gives You”

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