Entries in the 'Israel' Category

On Holocaust Remembrance Day

961.2Question: What does Holocaust Remembrance Day mean to you personally?

Answer: It is the fact that we still need to remember the Holocaust of European Jewry in addition to all the huge tragedies that the Jewish people have experienced in their long history. This was a mass extermination of Jews in the modern world, in the modern era. No one anticipated that this was possible. Even today it is somehow hard to believe that this could have happened.

Yet it is what happened, and I have no doubt that it could happen today too. It could happen exactly as it did 70 years ago.

Question: This sounds quite scary. Didn’t history teach us anything?

Answer: No, nothing has changed. People have absolutely not changed. And they will quickly build all those concentration camps.

Question: Why have we evoked and still evoke hatred upon us?

Answer: This is a question. Because this is what we are. Because we do not want to change ourselves and thus do not want to change history. Until we change, the world will not change.

Comment: But the world did not say: “You have to change.” The world simply destroyed Jews and hate them.

My Response: Man appeared in this world in order to change and to accordingly force the world to change. If man does not change, the world practically remains the same. That is, it changes, but it changes at a very slow pace.

Man is born to change, to become an altruist, to be closer to others, to unite, and to show others that this is the way to live.

If Jews do not do it despite the fact that they are obligated to, then the entire world does not do it with them. Then we have a completely new picture of the world. That is, instead of moving forward at a certain speed, the world is slowing down. This slowing down causes such excesses.

Question: Are you saying that the world implicitly, subconsciously feels the guilt of the Jews for the world not changing, not getting happier, and that the Jews are to blame for this?

Answer: The Jews are to blame for this, and all the nations of the world feel it.

Question: What does “feel” mean? They “feel” sounds very mystical. After all, they do not say: “You have to change.”

Answer: Why don’t they say it? Ask people! Ask regular, educated people of our time: Europeans, Americans, they will tell you. It is because they are in contact with Jews.

Comment: Most of the time people say something like this about Jews: “They are bankers, they own all the capital of the world, they run the world. This is why we do not like them, why we hate them,” and so on. “They are the chosen ones;” the chosen ones imply that they are special. This is what they say about Jews.

How did it then pass over to ordinary Jews who are not such leaders of the world? 6,000,000 Jews were exterminated; this did not simply happen! 6.000,000! Children and women.

My Response: Hatred of Jews is absolutely in everyone. It is inside people subconsciously because there is a root in these people aimed at changing the world.

This root is anti-egoistic. It forces people to change, so Jews are slightly different. An ordinary person who has special intuition feels in a person if he is a Jew or not a Jew.

Question: Is it because, as you say, there is some special point in a Jew?

Answer: A special point that encourages him to change nature.

Question: Does humanity need this, precisely this, point?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is this point contagious? Can it pass on to others?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: So, we were born with this point and are forced to travel the world.

My Response: You cannot get away from it, you must implement it.

Question: Does it mean that the closer the world comes to a dead end with all the hatred, with wars, the more it will turn to Jews and with even more anti-Semitism? Will it be even bigger than it was during the Second World War?

Answer: Of course! It will hate them to the measure that is necessary to change the world, but the world will not be changing.

Comment: I have been to Auschwitz and Dachau, I have traveled through these concentration camps, shot many movies there. I had a feeling that humanity would never come to this again. Never!

My Response: Easy! Any person can be persuaded in a second and be made such an anti-Semite that he himself will be the first to kill.

We have a responsibility to figure out why this is so and the responsibility to reveal to the world the reason for it hating us and not to dismiss it as all fiction. It actually exists, it is in nature, and that is why it will not disappear, and it does not depend on education or on intellect or on anything else.

On the contrary, the more intelligent a person is, the more educated he is, the more willing he is to reveal this reason: what is the difference between him and a Jew. In principle, once he understands this, he is very dissatisfied with it and is ready to really remove them all and remove them from the world altogether!

Once we come to a state that the world discovers that we are obligated to change from egoism to altruism, from hatred to love, which is very difficult to do, then can you imagine what kind of attitude will arise toward Jews? It is better not to talk about it in advance.

Now we are beginning to enter this transition period. And we want to start revealing it right now.

We, our organization, want to start revealing it now so that we can show everyone that it is possible. It is difficult, but it is possible to move into a completely different state of matter, one might say, from hatred to love.

Question: So are you saying that if the world starts to slowly understand this, then the pressure on the Jews will increase even more and more?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Are we thereby now directing the world toward the Jews?

Answer: Of course. We are saying: “Let’s help.” Because we all have to come to this stage of rising above egoism.

This stage of rising above egoism is now beginning to grow in the world. We must help it grow, like we grow crops in the field by watering, fertilizing, weeding, and so on.

We must help the entire world! This is called “to be a light upon the nations.”

The world will thereby come closer to this. However, when it gets closer to this, the world will have questions: what for, why, and how? That is, we will have to be able to explain it to the world.

Then we will have to draw the nations of the world after us to this state, to change from egoism to altruism. They will not go through the same states of ascents and descents as we do.

However, they will have to get tied to us and move forward with us. This is where the main moment of leaving Egypt is displayed, when we are in the form of Moses who goes ahead and all the nations of the world behind him. Here all the nations of the world rise from the egoistic level to the altruistic one.

This is called the time of the building of the Third Temple.

Comment: It sounds offensive to the nations of the world that we, Moses, we are leading.

My Response: Let them take this problem from us. I am ready to follow them.

Question: As long as they would lead to the right place? Will we then not be waiting for the next Holocaust that may happen? Are we then already bypassing it?

Answer: Yes. Here again everything depends on us.

Comment: How much responsibility is piled on us! There is no chance to live peacefully.

My response: There is nothing scary here if we agree to do everything so that the Creator would do everything through us. Does He need representatives in this world? Let him do it through me, I agree. That is all.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/25/22

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Gold Or Silver?

49.01Question: Why was gold always an important asset for Jews?

Answer: And where hasn’t it been? It has been so in all ancient cultures. Do we find anything other than gold in Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and Persian excavations or anywhere else?

As for the Jews, they have long been engaged in currency transactions because in all countries, wherever they lived, they were connected with each other. Their having one language, one mentality, allowed them to communicate closely with each other. That is when they turned trade into a global, integral business. Naturally, small pieces of gold were convenient to exchange.

But then states began to print gold coins. Then they were replaced with other metals. The main thing was to have a state stamp. Surely, they should not have stopped using gold. But egoism does not want to recognize boundaries, and therefore, people filed coins and cut-off corners from them. And eventually, gold was replaced with another equivalent.

And among Jews, if something was valued, it was mostly silver, silver candlesticks and items related to religious worship. And only those who were engaged in international trade were interested in gold.

Question: What is the spiritual makeup of gold and silver?

Answer: What is so spiritual about gold or silver? Nothing.

The spiritual root of gold is very simple. It represents egoistic power and authority. Silver is much less. Therefore, silver cleanses, and gold does not react with anything, it is a dead metal.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Dollars, Gold or Diamonds?” 4/21/10

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“No Safe Place For Jews, Unless We Create It” (Times Of Israel)

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “No Safe Place for Jews, Unless We Create It

As the State of Israel marked Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), thousands of Muslims gathered at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and chanted slogans calling for the massacre of Jews. It raises the harsh question of whether Israel can still be considered a shelter for Jews at a time when multiple reports find record-high numbers of antisemitic incidents globally.

An estimated 150,000 Muslim worshipers took part in mass prayers on the Temple Mount by the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on May 1. Some used the occasion to march and shoutKhyber, Khyber al-Yahud”—a call for the annihilation of Jews, like the mass murder that occurred in the Khyber battle of 629 CE.

It is bitterly ironic that this happens after decades of immense efforts to curb antisemitism following the Holocaust, and in Jerusalem no less, the capital of the Jewish state, the same state conceived as the homeland and safe haven for those escaping hatred and persecution for no other reason than being Jews.

This should remind us that it’s useless to look for a place where there are no Jew haters because we will find no such place, including Israel. Instead, we should be looking for the way to transform the hatred between Jews into love, and to build a common place of connection between us. By doing so, all the evil and rejection against us from the nations of the world and from our neighbors would be replaced by good.

We need to understand that if not for the hatred of the nations of the world towards us, we would have ceased to be a distinct people long ago. That is to say Jews, the smallest of minorities, and the most prominent, would have vanished among the nations. Unfortunately, we behave like brothers primarily in times of trouble. Only when pressured by hatred against us are we forced to be close to each other.

This is so because, according to our roots, we were not founded on the common denominators of residential area, family relations, origin or color, but as a conglomeration of different peoples. Therefore, there is no natural inclination and closeness between us; we need to work on it consciously. No less important, we must not wait for others to compel us.

As Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag, Baal HaSulam warned back in 1940 in his writings, “Even the little we have left of the national love is not instilled in us positively, as it is in all the nations. Rather, it exists within us on a negative basis: It is the common suffering that each of us suffers being a member of the nation. This has imprinted within us a national awareness and proximity, as with fellow-sufferers.” And added, “Its measure of warmth suffices only to an ephemeral excitement, but without the power and strength with which we can be rebuilt as a nation that carries itself. This is because a union that exists due to an outside cause is not at all a national union.”

We have no alternative but to rise above our differences and unite. The phenomenon of antisemitism is revealed in the world as a natural response to remind the people of Israel why it exists in the world. Our only option and shield for defending ourselves against hatred is the implementation of our role as “a light unto the nations,” which can only be achieved through our unity. Plain and simple—only to the extent that we connect with one another above the rejection and hatred between us will we be able to enjoy peace and quiet.
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Egoism Of The Two Parts Of Creation

558Question: Who is more egoistic: the nations of the world or the people of Israel?

Answer: Today it is the people of Israel because it is revealed in them first of all, and at the end in the nations of the world.

Egoism is revealed to the extent that it is possible to correct it. The strongest egoism is found in the nations of the world.

Question: So is egoism more in the female part than in the male?

Answer: Naturally. We see that men are dreamers, they need a game, football, travel. A woman needs something stable: a house, children, and taking care of them. A man, even if he does this, it is only for the sake of playing, competing. He is in the air like a child.

A woman is more down to earth, and therefore development, birth, and progress are impossible without her. Although the power of progress is brought by a man, it is carried out precisely by the female part.
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From KabTV’s “Close-up. Reincarnation” 5/3/10

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Beauty Contests

560Question: For 10 years, a beauty pageant “Miss Holocaust Survivor” has been held in Jerusalem.

Women aged up to 95 and even more tell their stories to the public, to the entire world, of how they lived, how they survived that time, and how they came to the point that they can now put makeup on and tell their tragic, difficult stories.

They say that it helps them a lot, they just blossom. There are such pageants as “Miss Elderly Woman” or “Miss Holocaust.” And people say: “Let’s hold beauty contests in a different way—contests of beauty of the soul.”

What do you think about such contests?

Answer: I think it is good. First, it is a very good therapeutic procedure.

And then, the inner qualities of a person are put forward to the first place, such as one’s philosophy and attitude to the world. You cannot compare this with anything else.

Question: A way of spreading warmth?

Answer: Yes, wisdom and good old age.

Question: Is the fact that a spectator learns that it is possible to get out of such crazy, terrible conditions with dignity also an important point for a person?

Answer: It is an important point. And a very important point is that there is huge respect, sympathy, and gratitude to those who lived through all this and survived and lifted themselves up, and now they can tell about themselves. This causes respect.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/16/21

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“Passover And The Israeli Society” (Times Of Israel)

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Passover and the Israeli Society

It’s Passover. Besides being the holiday of freedom from enslavement, there is a custom to wear something new on Passover. It is one of those times in the year when we try to bring something new into our lives. Indeed, there is a lot we would like to renew in the Israeli society. Division is deepening, hatred between the factions of society is intensifying, corruption and violence abound everywhere, divorce rates are soaring and families that still survive are struggling, and the relationship with our Arab neighbors is (literally) explosive. And while everyone wants to become prime minister and promises to solve everything, the reality proves that no one has any idea. So what novelty can we offer ourselves that will really make things better?

The “novelty” we need is actually to return to our roots, the roots of our people, the basis on which our nation was established. Any nation can live however it chooses. We, too, chose a long time ago, and as long as we stick by our choice, we are happy. When we veer off from it, this is when trouble begins.

Our choice began when Abraham, the father of our nation, wanted to understand what was going on around him. He was an inquisitive man, and in Babylon, where Abraham had lived, people’s egos were flying through the roof. People stopped understanding one another and became violent and belligerent, as the book Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer writes, “half the world died there by the sword.”

Abraham realized that existence is possible only through complementarity and connection among people, that otherwise people will destroy one another. He understood that nature had created us different not so we would fight against each other to the death, but so we would complement one another and benefit from our connection.

Abraham explained what he had found to everyone around him. People who sympathized with his ideas joined him and formed a community that Maimonides referred to as “the people of the house of Abraham” (Mishneh Torah, Chapter 1). That was the origin of the Jewish nation. As time went on, our leaders and sages polished the teaching but remained true to the principle of differences that complement one another and thereby create a stronger bond than was possible had it not been formed by rising above disputes. King Solomon articulated this principle in the verse, “Hate stirs up strife, and love will cover all crimes” (Prov. 10:12).

The principle of unity above division and dispute is unique. Until then, and since then, humanity’s default behavior was that when there is a dispute, a fight erupts and the winner imposes its way and will on the loser.

Because Israel were the only ones who had conceived a different conduct, and for some of the time even carried it out, they were commanded to spread the information about their way to the rest of the world. They committed to the law of unity at the foot of Mt. Sinai, where and when they committed to unite “as one man with one heart,” and they were promptly commanded to be “a light unto nations,” namely to set an example of unity and love of others.

This is our ancient root, the choice that had made us into a nation. Until we return to it, we will not know peace and happiness in our country.

Since those ancient days, we have deviated very far from our core principle. To return to it, we must facilitate an educational process that will put us back on track toward unity above division. We should not suppress our differences or hide them, but determine that above our different political, social, cultural, and all other differences, we place a canopy of unity, that unity is the supreme value, and everything else is secondary to it.

Just as the children of Israel were redeemed from Egypt when they united under Moses, just as they achieved their nationhood when they united as one, we must realign ourselves with our ancestors and become an example of unity for all the nations.

Passover symbolizes passing over from enslavement to freedom. It is time we freed ourselves from hate and liberated it by wearing something new for Passover: love of others, the motto of our nation.
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Little Secret Of Jews

65Question: Does the discovery of The Book of the Zohar and the fact that we are studying it indicate that a new cycle of development has begun in humanity?

Answer: According to Kabbalah, since the end of the 20th century humanity has entered a special period when it is obliged to change the paradigm of development from reception to bestowal. We must fully implement the principle of “love your neighbor as yourself.”

However, we have neither the strength nor the desire for this. We are guided only by the need to avoid suffering. If, along with this, we open The Book of the Zohar, then a person will be able to change so much that while in our world he will feel himself as if he is in paradise.

Today, there are many comments and explanations on this book available in every language. There are about two million people around the world who are studying within the system of the international KabU education centers. Therefore, we have the experience to explain to everyone the essence of The Book of Zohar.

In the past, we were promised a bright future and we will really be able to implement it because there is a force in nature that can change us. The communists did not know this, but the Jews had it as their little secret. Today they tell everyone about it.

The time has come when humanity must realize that it must change itself, otherwise it has no future. Therefore, The Book of Zohar is now revealed and we can use it. I am sure that all of us will be happy.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up, Gene of Altruism” 9/19/10

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Cure By The Power Of Good

626The coronavirus gave us a short breather for a few weeks and then began to spread with renewed vigor. We wonder why this epidemic seemingly will not end? But this is a sign that we have not yet done what we should have done to properly respond to this virus.

As usual, there is no other cure but connection or rapprochement between us and a more human and attentive attitude to each other. This would have greatly weakened the virus.

We expected that after half the country had been ill with omicron, some kind of general immunity would arise, yet for some reason the pandemic is not going away and instead is growing again. The fact is that the previous laws do not apply to this virus. They won’t help anymore.

After all, this is not an ordinary virus, but one that requires us to fix the relationships between people. It would seem, what can the virus know about our relations? However, the virus knows everything because it has all the information inside it. We think it’s just a piece of DNA, but it’s alive!

This is not a dead element or a vegetable, but is in fact on the animal level, the same as ourselves. The coronavirus has a mind and feelings. It perceives the environment and influences it. It is able to connect to others, penetrate into the human body, and integrate into it so much that it begins to control this body.

Do not treat it condescendingly and with neglect. It seems to us, well, how can the virus know if I said hello to my neighbor today? But the virus is smarter than us and it knows everything. The virus controls the world because it is a particle of the Creator.

Coronavirus is an important element of nature, which includes in it a special concentration of all the information about this world in order to influence it. Therefore, it can be destroyed only by improving our human relations.

This may sound a little naive, but let’s try it! We don’t have anything to lose. Let’s start treating each other well and with great attention and care. We will take care of the needy, the elderly, the children, and each other; let us not litter the street or make noise. Let’s try to think about others and try to do everything to make them feel good.

I’m not waiting for someone to tell me what to do, but I’m looking for where I can help others with my kind attitude and show them that I really wish them well. Let’s conduct such an experiment in the country and in a month we will check what the situation is with the coronavirus through the following questions: Is the pandemic continuing or not? How many people have died this month? How many died from road accidents? It’s easy to check, let’s try it.
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From KabTV’s “Insight” 3/21/22

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The Source Of All Problems

448.8Jews are hated because they have a quality opposite to egoistic development, the quality of altruism.

Not only do the nations of the world not understand, but also Jews themselves do not understand why this is happening.

Jews are hated because they do not implement this quality into the world; otherwise, everyone could reach a wonderful life. Therefore, they are rightfully accused of being the source of all problems.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Gene of Altruism” 9/19/10

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According To The “Love Thy Neighbor” Formula

933Before the collapse of the Second Temple, the Jewish people lived according to the formula “love your neighbor as yourself.” Therefore, they never had the suppression of one by the other like the Romans.

A person was considered great in his spiritual inclinations, in his mercy to others, in mutual help and love. The scientist who knew why it is necessary to live according to the principle of “love your neighbor” interpreted this from within himself. But at the same time, he could do the simplest work.

For example, the great sage Rabbi Yohanan was a shoemaker, someone else was a tailor, and so on. They considered it their duty to participate in simple labor.

After all, the task of a person in this world is to live by his own work, and along with this, to ascend to the very heights of creation with his inner spiritual work. But with the Romans, everything was done totally differently: divide and conquer, suppress with your pride, with your strength.
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From KabTV’s “Close up. Formula of the Creator” 7/18/10

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