Question: When Nelson Mandela passed away, the whole world started talking about how much he had done for humanity. This man spent 27 years in prison and did not change his views even under the pressure. He is counted among the ranks of the greatest people.

To what extent is such a person internally sincere?

Answer: Human nature is absolute egoism, shallow, and petty, even among so-called altruists and good citizens.

I think that Nelson Mandela did not spend all these years in prison in vain and that he realized what was happening in his country. His main task was the future of the country. He knew that if there would not be the right combination between different layers of the population and different races, it would be bad for everyone. Therefore, when he was released, he first engaged in balancing these parts of the population, and not by raising hatred of one against the other. This was his merit.

Having reasonably weighed all the pros and cons, he set a course for the unification of society. He did not allow a civil war to develop and hatred to plunge the country into all kinds of problems, provocations, and so on.

This was his great contribution and example for all humanity: it is necessary to rise above everything that was in the past, to cross out everything, and develop only together. I do not idealize his actions, but what happened is indeed rare.

The same had happened in Israel. This is a well-known story. When Israel was recognized as a state, the Arabs immediately invaded its territory. The Israelis had no weapons, one rifle for several people. And then the ship Altalena was sent to help with weapons and reinforcement.

But since there were two parties here, the socialist-communist and another, opposite to it, the party that was stronger then sank this ship with weapons right off the shore. As a result, several people died, but the rest were rescued.

This could have served as a justification for a civil war. But Menachem Begin, the leader of one of the parties, said: “No, we will not take revenge on anyone. We will leave everything as is and we will fight against the common enemy.”

There are such examples in history when a great leader takes a step above his I, above egoism, above taking revenge or putting himself on top.

Such people understand that it is necessary to act for the sake of the higher goal. But this is a rarity in history.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Death of Nelson Mandela”

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Israel Needs a Government of Tough but Equal Love”

Today, December 29, 2022, is the first day of a new government in Israel. The past year has been horrific for Israel: Thirty Israelis were murdered by terrorists, far more than in previous years, inflation has risen, Israel’s international status has plummeted, teachers are quitting the education system in droves and no one is replacing them, division is spreading—between religious and secular, progressives and conservatives—and this is a very partial list. Clearly, the new government will have a lot of fixing up to do.

The worst problem is that the outgoing government has given the feeling that no one is at the helm, and anyone can do whatever he or she wants. Not only has crime risen, but the audacity of criminals is beyond belief, committing crimes in broad daylight without even trying to hide their identity. The main problem, therefore, is one of governability, or rather, the lack thereof.

Accordingly, before anything else, the new government must make people realize that there is a new government in place, and it will not tolerate what the previous government tolerated. Deterrence must be elevated to much higher levels than the current one because at the moment, there isn’t any. When there is high deterrence, there are fewer crimes, less pressure on police, and as a result, better policing. If I had to sum up the new government’s task in two words, they would be law and order, and to that I might add, with a firm hand.

Yet, for all its significance, there is something that is just as important, yet totally ignored, but which the incoming government must develop: the one value that everyone avoids—national unity. In today’s Israel, everyone is busy proving that they are right and everyone else is wrong. The result is that no one is convinced, and everyone becomes more entrenched in their positions and adds hatred to their conviction. In such a state, any attempt to remedy the situation in Israel is hopeless from the get go.

The deepening division in Israeli society is not just another problem that the new government needs to tackle; it is the root cause of all the problems. Every single crisis that is currently affecting the lives of Israelis will vanish if there is a strong sense of social cohesion in Israel.

When there is mutual concern, there is no poverty. When there is cohesion, there is no division, and certainly no crime. When there are solidarity and unity, Israel’s military deterrence increases manyfold. Education will become better and more evenly dispersed when people care not only about their children’s schools but also about the Israeli education system as a whole.

When a government works to improve social cohesion and the well-being of the entire nation, rather than the current state where parties are concerned only with the sector that elected them, it is much easier to unite the people behind it. However, for this to happen, unity must be openly on the table as a top priority agenda item in the most important meetings: the ones where budgets are decided and laws are formulated.

Every nation has something called “national identity.” Israel’s must be “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is the motto we had given to the world in antiquity, and we were commanded to live it out, to set an example. Love of others is the basis of our nation precisely because we emerged from alienation and hostility, and merited the status of a nation only once we triumphed over them. These days, when we are divided and hateful once again, we do not deserve the title, “nation.”

In conclusion, I would like to congratulate the incoming government, and stress that it must show a firm hand and establish law and order, but not in order to oppress political rivals, but in order to be able to instill education toward unity, mutual responsibility, and concern for one another.
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The four types of exile that the Jewish people went through are identical to the basic formula of nature “Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey.“ According to this formula of the gradual development of desire, the development of any phenomenon in nature takes place.

Moreover, the first exile was not felt as an exile at all, just as people at the dawn of the existence of mankind did not feel slavery in the slave-owning order. Then the desire was so small that if a person somehow satisfied it, this was already good. And people agreed with that.

Then the desire developed more and more, more freedom was needed, and more of our own incorporation in life, development, and communication, to the point that nature made us completely integrally interconnected with each other, but we have not yet come to this.

We are late regarding this formula, this condition of nature, to develop us to the necessary degree. Like a newborn baby—what is he, who is he? He does not communicate with anyone; he has no group or social motives. And then he gradually begins to feel that he needs society, family, and everything else.

All our progress is based on the fact that we gradually begin to feel ourselves in our natural egoism in exile from the upper state, from the next degree.

There are degrees of inanimate, vegetative, and animate matter and “man” in nature. Kabbalah talks about how we gradually move from the degree of animals to the degree of man. This is the next degree, but we have not reached it yet. All of humanity is at the animate level of development because it cares only about how to live, feed itself, and raise children.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. History of the Jewish People” 5/4/14

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Comment: Israeli medicine is one of the best in the world, but at the same time it is in a big standstill concerning the detection of diseases.

My Response: This is a big problem. In Israel, they don’t treat you until you begin to die, but they will not let you die. The approach is this: You are left to manage your health, but as soon as you become very ill, then they start to take you seriously.

You can’t do anything; this is a problematic country. Here medicine is private, public, and divided into all sorts of levels. The country cannot get over itself. And it won’t!

This is not an ordinary country. It will become a normal society only when it strives for connection—not human, but spiritual. That is when it will be able to build all its levels, all its systems, in the right way. Otherwise, it will be a bad example to all mankind. Nothing good will happen here.

You won’t see Jewish brains working properly here. You won’t see any achievements here that are beneficial. It is because it doesn’t work in the direction of our purpose. I see it very concretely and explicitly.

People wonder why, and they don’t understand why. We will always demonstrate a negative example until we begin to show humanity another example—connection.

As soon as everything is aimed, first, at uniting everyone into one single nation and the conditions of support, brotherhood, and mutual guarantee are fulfilled, then at this level we will be able to work miracles and show the whole world that it is based on unity that any amazing success is achieved, and all problems, any crises, are solved. But without connection, not.

We must give humanity a good example, and if not, it will always be bad. Such is fate.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Israeli Medicine” 12/7/13

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Israeli Police Resigning in Droves”

One of my students told me about a major problem with police officers in Israel, that they are resigning in droves. It used to be an honorable position in Israeli society, but today they face more workloads and responsibilities while their income remains very low, even below the average wage.

Police officers in Israel become increasingly accused of power abuses and even face several instances of legal prosecution. For instance, when an Israeli border police officer who neutralizes a terrorist has to testify as a suspect, then he naturally feels betrayed by his country, and that he would be better off getting another job that would pay him more.

It is wrong for police to be so underpaid and unprotected. They should receive protection from their country, and get paid more than any other profession because they regularly have to deal with society’s ills. When I was in Switzerland around 15 years ago, I had a conversation with a police officer who told me that their average starting salary was a relatively hefty 8,000 euros a month, because it is indeed a complicated job to acquire and to sustain. Also, Israel is no Switzerland in terms of the additional risks that police officers face here.

Therefore, police need respect from the government, acknowledging the necessity and importance of their work to society, and they should always feel that society stands up for them. We need to raise their salary, revise the rules of their use of force, and give them a little more freedom. If we recruit and strengthen a good number of police officers, then Israel would be different. They should feel that people have their back, and the people should feel how the police protect them.
Based on the video “Israeli Police Resigning in Droves – A Kabbalist’s Response” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Symbols of Tradition Becoming Symbols of Disobedience”

Traditional and religious holidays in Israel are usually times of national unity. These days, Israel is celebrating Hanukkah, a holiday whose essence is the triumph of the Jewish spirit of unity over the Hellenistic spirit of exalting the self. Yet, precisely now, prominent elements in Israel’s society, including the (still) incumbent prime minister, are calling for civil disobedience to protest the policy of the newly elected government before it has even been sworn in, and they are doing it by advancing displays of Christian symbols instead of, or more conspicuously than the Hanukkah Menorah. Despite being a primarily political initiative, this disobedience symbolizes the level of division spreading in the nation, and a divided Israel is a short-lived Israel.

Not only politicians and opinion leaders are pushing for prominence of Christian symbols over Hanukkah symbols in Israel. Santa Claus, elves, deer, and of course, the Christmas tree can be seen in some shopping malls in Israel, and no trace of the Menorah. Universities also place large Christmas trees at the entrance to some of the buildings, either with a small Menorah next to it, or with none at all. Even the Tel-Aviv municipality has asked visitors to its Facebook page which holiday they like better, Christmas or Hanukkah.

Having different political agendas and maintaining diversity of views are the essence of democracy. It is a precondition for the advancement and development of society. Countries that maintain diverse opinions thrive, while countries that allow only one narrative to dominate, whether from the Right or from the Left, become degenerate and sink.

In the case of Israel, diversity is not only a matter of evolution or devolution. For Israel, smothering diversity poses an existential threat.

The essence of the Israeli nation is unity above diversity. The ancient Israelites came from many nations, held different ideas about everything, and were very adamant people. When they came across Abraham’s teachings (or those of his descendants Isaac and Jacob), they learned that if they do not suppress other people’s views, but unite with them despite the differences, they form a bond that makes them stronger and wiser than any biological nation. When enough people had adopted that principle of uniting without suppressing disputes and disagreements, they became a nation, the nation of Israel.

When they were united, their differences complemented one another creating a tapestry of views that did not exist in any other nation. The unity that they had had to form in order to maintain their nationhood above such diversity had to be that much stronger than any other nation.

Nature, too, consists of complementary opposites; this is what makes creation harmonious and evolving. When the people of Israel were united, they were just like the rest of nature, harmonious and evolving, and that was the secret of the success of the ancient Israeli nation.

But when the people of Israel were not united, they immediately split back into the many nations from which they came. This is why when Israel are divided, they strive to assimilate among the nations and not remain Israelis or even Jewish.

However, Israel cannot afford to lose its unity and vanish altogether. The whole purpose of the existence of the Israeli nation is to demonstrate that unity above division is possible, and that it creates a thriving society. If people do not realize that diversity must be nurtured and embraced, they will be embroiled in eternal conflicts, and humanity will destroy itself.

If Israel does not practice unity above division, it disintegrates. At that time, the world hates the Jews for advancing conflict instead of peace. However, it does not blame us because we pit countries against each other, but because the fact that we do not present an alternative to conflict forces the world to engage in the only solution it sees: eternal war. And it blames Israel for it.

Only when Israelis learn that their challengers from within are not their enemies, but their partners to the task of setting an example, they will be able to unite above their contradictions. Until then, Israel and the world can only expect strife and conflict to keep building up.*

*For more on this topic, read my books The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, and Like a Bundle of Reeds.
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Question: Did the great Kabbalists, whose books are sources of wisdom and ideas, speak about the intolerance of Jews toward each other?

Answer: Of course. Many sources say that the hatred that is revealed between Jews is the greatest in the world.

Question: Could this be one of the sources of anti-Semitism?

Answer: Without a doubt. The basis of mutual hatred, opposition, and intolerance that are embedded in the Jewish character are in the same way the basis of those events that have accompanied the Jewish people for thousands of years and accompany them to this day. This can be seen, among other things, in the example of our [Israel’s] government.

Question: I watched the swearing-in of members of the Israeli government. I was amazed when the representatives of the Arab part of the State of Israel not only did not take photos near the flag but simply left. How is such a state structure possible in which representatives of one part of the population are against the very state in which they live?

Answer: It is not only Arabs but Jews too. This is quite natural for our country. This is a special country that goes its own way.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations, Israel and Its Impact on the World” 11/18/21

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Question: Why is it very difficult for Europeans and representatives of Western civilization in general to be absorbed in Israel?

Answer: The cultures are different. Israel is an Eastern European, not a Western culture. After all, the principle of Jewish life—collectivism, mutual responsibility, mutual empathy—has nothing to do with the European, and even more so with the American way of life.

Of course, we can live and prosper there, but to truly adapt to their society, to feel comfortable in it, we cannot. However, people who settle there, the second or third generation, find it very difficult to settle here – they must go through a period of adaptation again. Therefore, they create their own communities.

In addition, the language, local culture, and local relations are quite warped here. After all, Israel is a very peculiar country, with a huge bureaucracy, security problems, and uncorrected “collective farm” that came in large numbers from all countries and cannot unite and melt into a single whole.

Of course, for Westerners who come from complete comfort, leaving huge villas, swimming pools, and everything else, European culture, which they were hooked on and which they consider to be the greatest and most advanced, it is very difficult here.

So, I understand them, but they have nowhere to go. They can go to other countries, but I do not see much of a future for them there. European Jewry has no future. This is the gradual development of Nazism, which will put more and more pressure on them.

As we know from the experience of Germany, Jews can live there until the very last moment, and then also justify their persecutors. History repeats itself. It will not be different in Europe this time.

And in America too. It is just that America is too big, too divided, and too layered. But even there mutual hatred will rise because seven to eight million Jews have settled between Latin Americans, African Americans, and Europeans and they are like a bone in their throat. The little bone in the throat still feels bigger than anything else.

Therefore, everything is going to escalate because it is through aggravation that we can solve this problem, that is, realize why such hatred arises.

In past centuries this problem also existed, but it was not recognized. First, there were religious conditions for it, then financial ones. Even though they still exist today, in principle, humanity should clarify everything for itself. This is an eternal problem that will not go away.

We, the Kabbalists, must spread our vision. As a result, sooner or later the world will know the reason for such relationships and what they lead to.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Moving to Israel” 12/7/13

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Question: Is there pressure on a person in Israel because there is a stronger spiritual energy here?

Answer: Yes. I think this is not only because Israel is here, but because this is the way the land itself is. Even if there were no State of Israel here and there were no people at all, this energy would still be felt.

Even more so when there is such a hodgepodge in this territory because representatives of all nations of the world live here and each leads his own life, so naturally this complicates the situation even further.

It is hard for me to talk about this topic. I state this purely theoretically because I live in my own world, lead my own life, and I do not exist in the general atmosphere, although I connect to it when necessary.

Question: But still, by its roots, is this place closest to spirituality?

Answer: Yes, undoubtedly! Either in a negative or in a positive sense.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Land of Israel” 12/16/13

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Question: Should our country [Israel] be strong?

Answer: It should take care of those of citizens who according to state regulations should live, exist, and be protected here.

We have no other land! We have no other place. We have no other country! We must have our own strong army and our place on this planet. And although everyone will encroach on it, we must tell everyone the truth to their face: “This is ours! It was, it is, and it will be.”

Question: Until when will there be such a position as you said?

Answer: Until the complete correction of human egoism on the whole planet.

Comment: But you are always talking about connection, about unity of people.

My Response: That is what we will do along the way.

Question: So this is how, by remaining such a strong encampment, a fortress, we will move toward unity of all mankind?

Answer: Only in this way! Only under this condition! Set an example and lead the way.

Comment: Are you not perplexed by the unification of two such poles? One pole is a strong, powerful state, ready to fight back against everyone, and so on, and on the other hand—unity and connection are such a warm state.

My Response: That is very correct. And precisely because it is a strong country.

Question: And we have to radiate this warmth one way or another?

Answer: Yes. Do not agree to any concessions!

Question: And if we say that we want to rely only on ourselves?

Answer: Yes. Isn’t that how it turns out?

Comment: But we do have help.

My Response: Yes, but we still rely on ourselves.

Question: Is this right?

Answer: We get help for all this, but we still hope to rely on forces that we have. We do not sign a contract with someone and after that we have a quiet rest.

Comment: You think that if some conditions come that we will be given help if, for example, we create two countries here…

My Response: No! It is all out of the question. Any compromises, agreements of this type are out of the question. We do not owe anyone anything, we do not have to, and we will not give it to anyone.

Question: And as a result, as you have already said, this state should radiate warmth, connection, and love for one’s neighbor?

Answer: Yes—to be a light for all nations of the world.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/3/22

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