Question: What is the effect of the Land of Israel on people? There are nine climatic zones here, and in each are there are certain spiritual forces that influence a person.

Answer: This is a very special place on the planet and there are a great number of natural zones in it. You can drive from north to south and in practically a few hours you will cross a variety of geographical zones. In order to experience this in another country, you need to travel hundreds of times more.

Question: It is written in all the sources that Israel is the center of the world, the heart of the world. What does it mean?

Answer: It means the spiritual center of the world. Of course, they can tell you that there are Mecca, Medina and other holy places.

However, the center of the world means a place on our planet which has a certain spiritual power, corresponding to the spiritual root. This is why it is special.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/26/22

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “When Guns Stop Roaring – War Begins”

There is a wave of terror in the State of Israel these days. Even when terrorists do not succeed in their attempts to murder innocent civilians in their homes or on the street, there is not a day without several attempts. The tension and the common anxiety are creating a sense of solidarity that Israelis do not feel during quieter times. Regrettably, when the wave subsides, we can expect Israelis to return to the normalcy of internal bickering, division, and mutual contempt that are the causes of the endless waves of violence against us. Hostility toward Israel will end when Israelis rise above their hostility toward each other.

On the one hand, missiles over our heads and terrorists on our streets are an awful reality. On the other hand, in a state of immediate danger, the picture is clear: An enemy has come to kill us and we must work together to protect ourselves. The fear creates a sense of togetherness, which in turn engenders unity. People’s willingness to help each other, make concessions, and be kind to one another creates a warm feeling of closeness.

It is good, but it is not enough because it does not last one day beyond the end of the violence against us. “In that sense, we are like a pile of nuts, united into a single body from the outside by a sack that envelops and unites them.” This is how Baal HaSulam, the great 20th century kabbalist, described it. “Their measure of unity,” he continues, “does not make them a united body, and each movement applied to the ‎sack produces in them tumult and separation. Thus, they consistently arrive at new unions and ‎partial aggregations. The fault is that they lack the inner unity, and their whole force of unity ‎comes through outside incidents.”

Our greatest challenge, therefore, is to build a connection, a sense of unity that will remain in times of peace, and not only as a comfort or as support in times of war. It is vital that we achieve it. Unity is our shield at all times, and the lack thereof brings upon us trouble. “When Israel’s unity is restored,” writes the book Shem MiShmuel, “evil will have no place in which to install error and external forces within them, for when they are as one man with one heart, they are as a fortified wall against the forces of evil.”

The book Maor VaShemesh echoes these words, saying, “The primary defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship between one another in Israel, no calamity can befall them and by that, all the curses and suffering are banished.”

We therefore see that unity is not a shield we should erect when troubles come upon the Jewish people. Unity is our instrument for achieving success, prosperity, and safety.

Moreover, because of Israel’s unique position and calling in the world, when there are peace and unity within Israel, it brings peace to the entire world. The Book of Zohar writes that when Israel are divided, “Woe unto them, for they cause poverty and ruin, looting and killing, and destruction in the world.”

Baal HaSulam quotes the words of The Zohar and adds, “In such a generation, all the destructors among the nations of the world raise their heads and wish primarily to destroy and to kill the children of Israel, as it is written (Yevamot 63), ‘No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.’” In other words, antisemitism and the aspiration to destroy the State of Israel and the Jewish people are the result of the Jews’ own hatred for each other.

In his essay “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Baal HaSulam draws a very clear conclusion as to what Jews must do following the horrors of the Holocaust. “After, through our many faults, we have witnessed all that is said, …and of all the glory that Israel had had in the countries of Poland and Lithuania, etc., there remains but the relics in our holy land, now it is upon us, relics, to correct that dreadful wrong.” And the way to correct this, he suggests, is through our unity.

His contemporary, the great Rav Kook, writes very similarly. “The world, which is now falling to the dreadful storms of the blood-streaked sword,” he begins with his eloquent style, “requires the establishment of the Israeli nation. The establishment of the nation and the revelation of its spirit are one and the same, and it is one with the construction of the world, which is crumbling and yearning for a force full of unity and sublimity, which is found only in the soul of Israel.” Therefore, he concludes, “This great hour [calls] on all the forces in the nation: ‘Awaken and arise to your duty!’”

If we are true to our calling, then the next time guns stop roaring, an internal war will not begin.
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Question: Do you personally celebrate Israel’s Independence Day?

Answer: I can feel it. I do not know what this holiday means at all. But I am glad that such an event took place.

Question: Do you have national pride?

Answer: For what? One has to do something to be proud.

Question: What feelings do you have when you look at Israeli society?

Answer: That this is a template for good deeds, but nothing more.

Question: How did your teacher feel about Independence Day?

Answer: He celebrated it within himself.

Question: There are a great number of ceremonies and events on this day. What would you suggest to the organizers?

Answer: To figure out what Independence Day is, what independence is, and how to reach and implement it.

Question: How can we make this day more significant? How can each person personally spend it with meaning?

Answer: To understand why we are given such a state. We have not yet reached independence to celebrate it. On the contrary, we depend on everyone and everything. How can we make ourselves independent? To do this, we must rise above ourselves and get closer to the Creator.

Question: Do you think people are ready for change?

Answer: Perhaps, people are not ready, but the time has come for that.

Question: What kind of future do you see in relations with the Arabs?

Answer: I think everything will end well. We will be able to come to a mutual understanding without bloody wars.

Question: When will Israel actually become independent?

Answer: It will be independent in corporeality once it becomes spiritually independent.

Question: What practical action would you recommend to everyone to come closer to this independence?

Answer: To rise above your egoism and try to get closer to others.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/26/22

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Question: Baal HaSulam writes that the condition for the independence of the state of Israel will be met if the nation becomes the basis for the spiritual development of all humanity. How do you envision it?

Answer: If we strive to be the spiritual center of the world and to show the whole world the quality of bestowal, love, and connection, then we will get the strength to hold ourselves, to support others, and to achieve it so that we will be understood, loved, and respected.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual states” 4/26/22

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Comment: We are used to the phrase, “Israel Independence Day.” We are accustomed to this holiday; we celebrate it. In today’s world, the word “independence” is spoken of everywhere: independence of countries, independent republics, independent press, independent experts. All sides of the conflict and all parties speak about it: right, left, individuals, everyone!

Besides, it is not just a word, but a very important concept in Kabbalah.

My Response: In Kabbalah, this concept is absolutely the opposite of what people, the world, society, countries, and nations understand by it.

What does “independence” mean? From what?

Comment: It is the independence of my boundaries, independence from someone else. I want to live by myself, with my national independence: republican, state, and so on. This means that I am independent so that no one gets to me; I will build my own world. This is called “independence.”

My Response: But this is impossible because in today’s world everyone depends on others. So how can we be independent?

If you are going to be independent, you have to go into the woods and provide for yourself with what you can. You are condemning yourself to terrible conditions.

Question: Can we say it another way, it is so that no one dictates to me how to live? Is it also impossible?

Answer: It is the same thing. No one will dictate anything to you, but how will you provide for yourself? How will you create and preserve this independence? It is completely unclear how this is possible.

Today, in our world, a developing country should be connected with all countries by good mutual ties. Only in this case can it feel comfortable among everyone. Otherwise, it will feel crushed, limited, humiliated, and so on.

Question: In the case it will be on its own?

Answer: Yes, but no one will give it that opportunity. After all, all countries surround each other and want; like wolves in the forest, each one wants to snatch from others as much as they can. This is our normal, egoistic world. It cannot be any different. It was always like that, only we covered ourselves up a little. We did not reveal this enough in our egoism.

Question: Do you think there is no point to demand independence in this world; it does not exist and will not exist?

Answer: We can demand, but so that at the same time we demand it from ourselves! This is the most important thing. If we will observe such conditions that there are good neighborly relations, peace, and mutual assistance between us, which are contrary to our natural, regular quality to receive, conquer, and force to peace.

Comment: If we have unity, then it is against someone. And all this is vicious.

My Response: Of course. Therefore, everything we create is only supposedly for the benefit of ourselves and to the detriment of others. There cannot be one instead of the other.

Kabbalah says that independence is when we rise above our egoism. Independence from our personal egoism, this is what real independence is, and then I only think about others. Among other people, in good relations with others, which I create with all my capabilities, I feel independent.

Question: Are you saying “only about others”? I don’t think about myself at all?

Answer: I will not exist, I am just a consequence. Today I also exist as a consequence of the attitude of everyone else toward me.

Question: Does it mean that I can only think about others, and then the consequence will be the way they treat me, the way I treat them, and so on?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Should my first thought be: “They will treat me well if I treat others well”?

Answer: I do not think this is the nature of a person and our society. Therefore, to say such beautiful phrases: “Do not hit others and they will not hit you,” and so on does not work.

Question: And what you say, does it work? How is it possible in our world that I do not think about myself, but think about others? At the level of a country, for example.

Answer: The thing is, of course, it does not work either. If I treat others well, I will only give them an additional reason to grab me and bite off different pieces from me. Therefore, the entire problem in human society is for it to transform itself from a pack of predators into an organized, mutual, voluntary, kind community.

Question: Do you believe in this fantasy?

Answer: No, I do not believe it by any means, but I say it, because, in principle, this is the only solution. Once we realize that this is the only solution, no matter how fantastic and absolutely impossible, then we will suddenly have the opportunity to implement it.

Question: From where?

Answer: From above. We will be able to receive such a force from nature that will raise us above our egoism, and then this will be realized. I will be above my nature, I will be above my thoughts, I will be above my decisions. How will it happen? It will happen because the second force of nature will be revealed: the quality of bestowal, connection, and love.

Question: Can you guarantee me that? For example, I am a politician or an ordinary person, and I hear you. Can you guarantee me that?

Answer: I can only tell you again in more detail so that you understand that there is no other way. Or we go toward perishing and die in every generation. And in the next generation, they are preparing the same fate for our descendants. Nothing is changing except that the suffering is becoming greater and the possibility of solving them with the help of wars and death is becoming more and more terrible.

Question: Will I, through understanding and feeling this, come to what you say?

Answer: Yes, we will eventually understand. Moreover, this is a very scary decision because we will feel like we are being skinned. Because this is absolutely against me.

However, there is an opportunity to resolve this issue in a kind, peaceful way. It means to study our nature and study the force of nature that can help us change ourselves. Then we will be able to expose ourselves to this kind force of nature, and it will change us from evil little predators to kind big creatures.

Question: Do you think we are getting closer to this recognition that we are vicious little predators?

Answer: We are getting closer. However, so far we are also getting closer to it not in a good way.

But according to the way all kinds of positive and negative forces are being revealed more and more, especially in our generation, we are given the opportunity to talk about it and somehow implement it, that is, there is hope that we will be able to form this system of forces of nature for ourselves, for our understanding, for our knowledge, and to understand how we can balance it and express the good force from it.

I think we can do it. Otherwise, we will still come to this, but in a long, long way, a terrible way of suffering.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/18/22

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “There Could Be Much More Light in Israel”

On the knife for cutting the Shabbat challah of Baal HaSulam—Kabbalist Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag—were engraved the words, “State of Israel.” Although the Independence Day of the State of Israel has no Kabbalistic background, the establishment of the State of Israel was of great importance to Baal HaSulam.

In the eyes of the Kabbalist, the reestablishment of the State of Israel in the land of Israel was a great step and cornerstone toward the fulfillment of the eternal Jewish vision. Two thousand years after the destruction of the Temple, when unfounded hatred broke out among Jews and we were scattered to all corners of the world, we finally founded once again a state to realize our role as the Israeli nation: to be “a light unto nations” – a model of the correct path for all mankind.

The Zionism of Baal HaSulam was not the Zionism we know, and it did not advocate one party or another. It focused on the goal for realization of the plan of creation, a plan in which the Jews play a central and significant role. From one Independence Day to the next, Baal HaSulam tried to navigate the compass and guide the Jewish people in his writings to fulfill their spiritual destiny.

Independence Day is also of great personal significance to me. Thanks to the establishment of the State of Israel, I was able to immigrate to Israel. And I share the aspirations of Baal HaSulam for the establishment of an exemplary people on Israeli soil. Let us be united as one man in one heart toward that goal. For only in this way will great and positive forces be able to arise among us, superior forces that we will spread to all the nations of the world from the strength of our unity as Israel.

I was recently pleased to hear that 90%of Israelis said in a new poll that they are proud to be Jewish. Without such national pride it is impossible to move forward. However, we should feel this pride as both a reward and an obligation.

While we are rewarded with the exalted role that awaits us, with the distinction of being a special link in the chain of humanity, it comes with an obligation to continue along the path, because we are only in the middle and we must reach the end. Our destination is to reach the state of mutual guarantee between us and then to transmit the power that comes from our unity to the whole world.

We have a heavy and significant work to carry out, and the nations of the world sense this within the contents of the internal global network that connects us all. Year by year, people put increasing pressure on us to push and force us to fulfill our destiny. Sometimes the people of the world relate to us negatively in the form of antisemitic statements, and sometimes they relate positively in the form of expressions of appreciation and a desire for cooperation. But whether from one side or another, the world is steering us toward one clear point: that Israel must be a unique people, upright before God, a people directly connected to and aligned with the revelation the Supreme Force.

Considering the darker side of the recent survey was the admission that about 33% of the respondents, young people aged 24-34, said they were considering leaving Israel. It is the intense stress and pressure, the danger and threat, and, most importantly, the lack of foreseeing a positive future that empower these thoughts of leaving Israel. They all stem from a lack of knowledge and appreciation of our indispensable role as a people, our destiny as a nation, and our responsibility to some nine billion people of the world.

Both the younger and older generations—in fact, all of us without exception—need to go through a maturing process. Simply understanding our role as taught by Baal HaSulam in his writings—a direct continuation of the message of a long chain of Kabbalists stretching back to the birth of our people— will already neutralize the latent contempt some of us may feel for our role. This deeper perception will elevate us and clarify for us how to build among ourselves and later in the world a reformed society.
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This week we celebrate “Independence Day”—the 74th anniversary of the declaration of the State of Israel. On the one hand, there is a feeling of great pride among the people that in such a short time and under incessant threats we managed to build a country with a developed economy and a powerful army on this land.

On the other hand, many people have a feeling that all this is very fragile. Polls show that half of Israelis fear that the Holocaust of the Jewish people may happen again.

When will the day come that we will feel the stable strength of our existence on this earth? It will come, when we really want it to be so. We do not understand that stability and security depend only on us, the Israelis.

It seems to us that we depend on a thousand different external factors. But in fact, they depend on us, not we on them. There is spiritual force in us, but we do not use it. It is the force of connection and love between us, within the people of Israel.

There is no other force in the world on which something could be built. We don’t have stability because we don’t reveal this force between us. It manifests itself if we treat each other with love, warmth – this is the force of the Creator. With the help of this force, it is necessary to build the country, the nation, the whole world.

We have not yet achieved peace on this earth because we do not want to seriously build our people and state on a genuine basis. We just need to stop looking at our Jewish neighbors as strangers, and outsiders. Only this does not allow us to achieve peace and tranquility.

We are obliged to treat each other as brothers, not as friends in need. I hope we will all understand what independence is, how to achieve it, build it and properly use the power of independence.

An independent country is a gathering of people, in the connection of which an upper force is revealed, binding us by the power of mutual guarantee and bringing us freedom from egoism. This means “to be a free people in your country,” meaning, free from your egoistic desire.

This state is called independence. After all, we become independent of egoism, rising above it in our connection, and in this form we build a country, a nation. A country built in this way is guaranteed peace and tranquility.

And Israel will certainly become like that, and how soon it will happen depends on the people of Israel. I wish us all to see it as soon as possible.
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From KabTV’s “Insight” 5/2/22

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Comment: You recently told us how the system of interrelationship between Jews developed when they were scattered around the world. One could come to the other and he was obliged to feed him and accept him for the night.

Even monetary relationships were completely different because the Jews were on a spiritual level.

My Response: Such a system still exists among diamond dealers today. How do they make deals? They shake hands with each other and say, “Shalom u-braha!” which means, all the best and blessings. That’s it!

This is accepted as the final signature in all international transactions, even in courts, and not only in Jewish ones. Words are enough. And to this day there is such a thing. And between whom? It is between people who deal in diamonds, oddly enough.

But they say that in recent years it has become a thing of the past. In general, it has always been like this between Jews. I could come to you a thousand kilometers away and without any connection, say that my money is with someone, take the goods from you, and promise that he will send it to you then. All based on words!

But this requires somewhat different people who, so to say, are afraid of God, for whom this world is only temporary. They feel among themselves the opportunity for correction and for reaching the upper world. In this case, it works. Now it still works due to inertia, but in general, of course, everything goes away.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Global Financial Fraud” 5/4/10

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My new article on Linkedin “If We Want, We Will Have Independence”

In the short time between 1948 and today, we have built the State of Israel as a strong and prosperous country under immense pressure and constant bombardment. However, we have not achieved a state where we feel stable or safe in this land. Quite the contrary. Day by day the menace increases both from outside the country and within it, and we feel how at any moment, everything that was achieved with blood, sweat and tears, can crumble and dissolve. There is a constant existential threat.

Our inability to achieve security stems from the way we have gathered on this land. We founded this country as brothers in need, as foreigners who agreed to live in this land, knowing that the world is against us and through lack of any other choice. From this starting point, today we are in danger of disintegrating and losing our independence.

When our ego wins and divides, and it always does, “brothers in need” are no longer able to keep us together. Every quarrel goes away instead of strengthening closeness, every friction weakens instead of strengthening and increasing love. Until we can no longer stand each other. And the neighbors adjacent to our borders, feel our disunity and strike us.

Our well-being depends on the peace between us. Therefore, from the very beginning, we should strive to see in each other not brothers in trouble, but brothers. Full stop. We should want to guide each other, be concerned with each other’s well-being and measure ourselves constantly in relation to our mutual concern: Have we achieved these ideals? If we haven’t, we will immediately need to rectify our mistake.

We should become a nation that is no less than a family. Only a concept called family can hold such abysmal differences and by so doing can turn itself into an even stronger and more successful nation.

Our independence depends on an internal factor, and that is our will. The desire to connect across the divide. Connection is the spiritual power that has been inherent in us since our ancestor Abraham founded the nation across the division created by the growing ego or self-benefit. And we do not use this power because we do not want to.

This power, which can dwell between us from the desire for love and mutual embrace, is the highest power. Since it is potentially anchored in us, it is sufficient to ensure our survival here. Nothing more, nothing less. Erecting a real building requires we do it with the right intention, i.e., that it should serve all of us. In this way, not only will Israel truly be built, but the whole collapsing world will be fortified.

It does not take much. A little compromise. I just have to stop seeing the Jew outside of me as a stranger.
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Question: Why do Christians determine their holidays according to the solar calendar and Muslims according to the lunar calendar?

Answer: Because the sun and the moon are two forces that exist in nature and they affect us.

The sun gives us everything, it gives us life. This is a very clear force. Therefore, all Christian holidays and calendars work under the sun. And for Muslims, as well as for Jews, the calendar countdown is determined relative to the moon. The lunar month begins with the new moon.

By the way, the months specified in the Christian calendar come from ancient Rome and have the ancient Roman names July, August, etc., while the Jews have different names.

Jews take their calendar from the middle line, because there are three lines in the governance of our nature. Two lines descend from top to bottom: solar (left line, Christianity) and lunar (right line, Islam).

And since the Jews have a tendency to imitate the upper power, they were guided by Kabbalah, according to which they took an alternate, solar-lunar calendar. Therefore, on the one hand, they have a very complex calculation system, but, on the other hand, it is the most universal.

Imagine a calendar created two and a half thousand years ago. Up to today, it has been smoothly carried out without any problems. We know the revolutions of the sun, the revolutions of the moon and its phases. We know in advance when there will be leap years, 17^th anniversaries, 28^th anniversaries, 50^th anniversaries; there are such periods. And all this comes from the first day of creation, when the first man, Adam, revealed the upper power for himself.

Since then, we have absolutely clearly known any date in history: on what day of the week it happened, in what year, and so on. But there is a correspondence between our central calendar and the Muslim and Christian ones, since it includes both of them and combined them together in a special middle line.

Therefore, the hours in it are calculated as in the Muslim calendar, meaning the period of darkness is divided by 12, resulting in arbitrary night hours. For example, an hour in the Muslim calendar can last 50 minutes, and in the Christian, 45 minutes. The Christian calendar simply beats time: the twenty-four hour period is divided into 24 equal parts. And for Jews and Muslims, it is divided into 12 day and 12 night parts. The winter hour is long, and the summer night hour is short. It’s more like a sundial. There are a lot of interesting things in this.

But the most important thing is that in the Jewish calendar everything is clearly carried out and known in advance. We don’t need to calculate anything. For example, in the Muslim calendar, holidays can float: one year they fall on summer and another year on winter. In Christianity, too, because it is linked only to the sun. And in the Jewish calendar it always works precisely because we exist simultaneously influenced by the sun and the moon, which symbolize two lines.
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From KabTV’s “Close up. Formula of the Creator” 7/18/10

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