Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “An Israel That the World Would Love”

Among the many divisions that plague the Israeli society, one of the fiercest is the dispute between those who want to define Israel as a nation state for all its citizens and those who want to define it as the nation state of the Jews. Currently, the chasm between them seems irreconcilable. There is a way to resolve it in a way that benefits both sides and which the world embraces, but to do that, we must revive the original spirit of Judaism.

Maimonides writes in Mishneh Torah that in ancient Babylon, Abraham discovered that a single force governs nature, but it divides into the two opposites that we experience as day and night, winter and summer, cold and hot, male and female, and so forth. He also discovered that when you realize that the opposites come from a single source, you see how they complement each other and together create our reality and maintain its balance and harmony.

Abraham told what he had discovered to anyone who took interest in his words. In those days, Babylon was in a social crisis and tensions and violence grew among its people. The book Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer details the conflicts that Abraham observed: “They wished to speak each other’s language” as before, but “they did not know each other’s language. What did they do?” asks the book, “They each took his sword and fought one another to death. Indeed,” concludes the book and describes the inevitable outcome: “half the world died there by the sword.”

When Abraham introduced his idea that differences are inherent in nature and complement one another rather than compete with one another, many people in Babylon took to it and Abraham began to garner followers. Gradually, people from all over Babylon united around him. When he moved out of Babylon and headed for Canaan, still more people joined him along the way.

Isaac and Jacob, continues Maimonides in his description in Mishneh Torah, followed in Abraham’s spiritual footsteps. Under their leadership, the alien individuals became a nation united by the idea that opposites complement rather than compete.

These were the ancestors of the people of Israel. They were individuals who came from countless tribes and nations, cared nothing for each other, had no relation or affinity for one another, but believed in the tenet that opposites complement rather than compete, and this is the secret to nature’s vitality and harmony; this is the secret of life.

Eventually, they were called Jews for two reasons: One was that they settled in Judah, and the other was that the Hebrew word Yehudi [Jew] comes from the word Yechudi [united/unique]. The unity-above-oppositeness that they had attained made them a nation and gave them their strength.

Over time, Jews often fell from their sublime perception. When they were overcome by competitiveness and hostility, they became divided and weak, and other nations conquered and tortured them. When they restored their unity above oppositeness, they regained their strength and other nations venerated them.

The current State of Israel is rife with division and replete with clashing opposites. There is no Abraham to tell them to unite above their disputes, that opposites complement rather than compete, and that one-sidedness is their worst enemy. But if we want the State of Israel to persist and for the world to appreciate it, we must nevertheless return to our core tenet of complementary opposites.

Currently, the world hates us because instead of demonstrating how to make opposites complement, we are exporting high tech weaponry and cyberwar software. If we want peace to prevail, we must do it the way we teach Israeli officers to lead: by personal example.

Only if we realize that no one will win the argument over defining Israel as a nation state for all its citizens or only for the Jews since we are meant to complement these opposites rather than win the argument, only then will we be able to make peace among ourselves. And as we do so, we will find that the world welcomes our newly found unity and embraces the idea of unity above divisions. If, however, we insist on division, the world will divest from us, boycott us, and sooner rather than later, the country will dissolve.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Trump Calls a Spade a Spade”

The anger of many American Jews over Donald Trump’s remarks about American Jewry comes as no surprise to anyone. In a recent interview with an Israeli journalist, Trump quoted his father’s words that Jews used to have “a great love of Israel” but it had “dissipated over the years.” To this he added his own words: “I must be honest. It’s a very dangerous thing that’s happening. People in this country that are Jewish no longer love Israel.” He has said it before, and I think he is absolutely right when he says that the chasm between the State of Israel and American Jewry is very dangerous, not only for Israel, but also for American Jewry.

Many American Jews support anti-Israel movements such as BDS and Jewish Voice for Peace not only because they believe in the values that these entities purport to stand for. They support them because they are anti-Israel, and they are anti-Israel because they are ashamed of their own Jewishness. Every day, they move further away from Judaism until eventually they lose all connection to it.

When I say that they shun their Judaism, I am not talking about Jewish customs. I am sure many of them observe those, and still shun Israel. The shunning of Judaism has to do with rejecting the core of Judaism—the unity and mutual responsibility that Israel is obligated to show the world. Instead of caring for their brothers, they show concern for the enemies of their own tradition thinking that by doing so they are showing true Jewish values. Someone should tell them that their Muslim “friends” are not buying that. Muslims will not love them any better when they decide to wipe out the Jews.

This is the same type of Judaism that aroused the most intense hatred in the Nazis, and today’s American Jewry is going to great lengths to form a sequel. The few who understand this are moving out, some to Israel and others elsewhere. However, unless we unite above the chasms in our nation, there will be no safe haven for Jews.

When it comes to anticipating trouble, we have never been wise. We tend to bury our heads in the sand or sink into hubris and complacency. When trouble starts, it invariably gets worse and worse until there is a cataclysm. Only afterwards is there relief. It is all too bad that for all the times we have been through this scenario, we never seem to learn.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “On the Verge of Ruin”

A few days ago was the tenth of the Hebrew month of Tevet. On that day in 587 B.C. began the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon, which culminated in the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people. Jewish sources, however, do not attribute the downfall to the Babylonian king, but to bloody internal conflicts, slander, intrigue, and other forms of mutual abuse. Seventy years after the exile, we returned to the land, rebuilt the Temple, but let the Second Temple fall once more for the same reason: our hatred for one another.

Today we are once again the sovereign in Israel, and once again we are fighting among ourselves. Not physically, yet, but we are definitely fighting, and the hatred is only growing stronger. Religious Jews hate secular Jews and secular Jews detest religious Jews; the Right hate the Left and vice versa; Ashkenazi Jews cannot stand Sephardic Jews and the other way around; and every day new divisions arise. The hatred that destroyed two Temples will also destroy our fragile country. We are on the verge of ruin.

Just as we blame Nebuchadnezzar for the destruction of the First Temple and the Roman general Titus for the destruction of the Second Temple, today we blame Iran, the UN, and a host of other hostile countries and organizations for our troubles. But just as our own sages attributed our ruin only to our own division, today’s approaching fall of the State of Israel is happening for exactly the same reason.

If we are to avoid a similar fate to the one we have already experienced twice, we must address the common cause that keeps failing us: internal hatred. We must recognize that our strength lies first and foremost in our unity, and everything else, including military might and sophisticated technology, is an adjunct to the most essential element: unity.

Our vocation, our calling as a nation, has not changed since our inception. From day one, our mission has been to unite above the hatred that has always existed among us, and by doing so, to set an example for the world. When we were divided, foreign rulers overcame us and tormented us. When we were united, we were safe and welcome among the nations.

We may think of ourselves as a “startup nation” or believe that we are strong because of our military might and technological edge. However, wars are won with spirit, not computers, and when it comes to spirit, we have none. We do not believe in our cause, we do not understand what it means to be “a light unto nations,” people who set an example of unity, and we have no wish to learn about it. We are obstinate and arrogant, and there is nothing more stupefying than hubris.

If we do not wake up now and realize our calling, it will be very difficult and painful to do so later. At some point it will be too late to turn around, the country will be ruined, its people exiled, and the whole world will suffer because Israel failed to recognize its calling.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Among All Tensions – the Worst Is the One between the US and Israel”

Come December, we start thinking about the year that has passed and what we can look for in the coming year. When 2020 was coming to a close, people were optimistic that with Covid and all, 2020 was the worst we could have, and now that we have vaccines, things would be all good again. But by mid-January, memes started circling on social media saying “We’ve seen the sample, thank you, we want 2020 back.” Since then, matters have gone from bad to worse. If I had to sum it all up in one word, it would be “extremes.” 2021 has been a year of extremes. Yet, there is one peril that is destined to be more extreme than all, though it is still slightly undercover: the tension between the US and Israel. The former allies are on track to becoming hostile.

In the current US administration, there are people who not only disagree with Israel, but in my opinion, they disagree with Israel’s existence, though at this point, they will not admit it. I do not like it, but I cannot blame Americans for hating Israel. Through our own actions, we are turning our lives from pleasant and peaceful to painful and bloody. And because it will be so for us, it will be so for the entire world, as well.

Israel is at the center of the world. I do not say this because I live in it or because I am Jewish. It is at the center because of objective reasons, and history proves it. Mark Twain noted in “Concerning the Jews,” “…The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream stuff and passed away. The Greek and the Roman followed and made a vast noise, and they are gone. …All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”

Similarly, John Adams, the second president of the United States, wrote in a letter to Francis Adrian Vanderkemp, “If I were an atheist, and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. If I were an atheist of the other sect, who believe … that all is ordered by chance, I should believe that chance had ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty sovereign of the universe, which I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization.”

Not only those two, but most people who study history acknowledge the centrality of the people of Israel in world events. There is a good reason for it, and one of the wisest people in contemporary Jewish history, Rav Kook, beautifully articulated it. In his book Orot HaRaaiah, he wrote, “Humanity deserves to be united into a single family. At that time all the quarrels and the ill- will that stem from divisions of nations and their borders shall cease. However, the world requires refinement, whereby humanity is perfected through each nation’s unique characteristics. This deficiency is what the Assembly of Israel will complement.”

Indeed, the role of the Jewish people, and the reason for its survival against all odds, is to bring the nations’ unique characteristics into a comprehensive wholeness and unity. Every nation that suffers from division blames it on the Jews because every person who feels hatred toward others subconsciously feels that the Jews are causing it. People cannot pinpoint the reason for their hatred of others—that it is because the people who were chosen to bring the light of unity to the world are squabbling among themselves—but they feel very clearly that somehow, the fact that they hate their neighbor is the Jews’ fault.

Meanwhile, the Jews are oblivious. Instead of working on our unity, we wallow in division and bond with our enemies in order to oust political rivals. When the world points a blaming finger at us, we point to our collaboration with our enemies as proof of our innocence.

But the world does not need our adulation toward enemies; it needs us to connect among ourselves. Internal unity and solidarity are the “refinement” that Rav Kook referred to in his words. This is the deficiency that we must satisfy. The world is looking for us to set an example. The mere fact that it is blaming us for its woes proves that it pins its hopes on us. If we show the way to unity, the world will follow. If we keep fighting, the world will fight, as well, and it will begin with fighting against us.

Yet, the world will not be better off if it decides to “punish” us for our sins the way the Nazis did. It will resolve to do it if we avoid our calling, but it will not make life easier on humanity. In the end, the relics of our nation, who remain after the near annihilation, will have to do what we can do now, before the storm breaks out.
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The UN has issued another statement condemning Israel. However, we must understand that the main reason for the hatred of Jews is the fact that we are not fulfilling our purpose in the world, which is to explain to all nations how to achieve good connection and peace; otherwise, the world will slide further down its downward spiral.

The growth of antisemitism comes from the general law of development of humanity. If humanity has to develop and we do not sweeten this development through our correct behavior, then we cause hatred toward us. This is a law of nature.

Therefore, antisemitism will grow, and there is only one solution, which was described in the wisdom of Kabbalah and in the Torah thousands of years ago. We will not be able to escape from our mission. We have nowhere to hide. There is no place on Earth where we would be able to exist if we do not establish correct relationships.

Then it will influence all the nations of the world and they will look at us differently. Everything depends on the good and correct connection between Jews because the people of Israel were assembled from representatives of all the nations of the world. Only in this form can we oblige all nations to good association and connection, and then peace and tranquility will come to the entire world.

We are holding the key to happiness for the entire world. I cannot express how painful it is for me to see how people suffer and do not find solutions because they do not understand in what form nature operates and what interconnections exist in it. Yet, there is a solution. According to what the wisdom of Kabbalah and the Torah say nothing is required except for one thing: to bring the people of Israel to unity, and we will thus cause all the nations of the world to unite.

Unfortunately, it is easier for Jews to unite with their enemies and haters than with each other. After all, uniting with each other belongs to correction, and uniting with haters belongs to corruption. Our stony heart is drawn to corruption.

While we do not do that, nature will be beating us. Two days ago, more than hundred people died as a result of a tornado in the US state of Kentucky. In a few seconds, the city turned into ruins, an apocalyptic scene. And nature is already preparing more tornadoes.

It is possible to stop all natural disasters by uniting people. Let’s try. Maybe it will help right now. The force of unity of people is more powerful than any tornado, any natural disaster. It is even stronger than the upper force.

Any disaster—a hurricane, a financial crisis, a viral epidemic—all these are blows of nature in response to the lack of unity between people. The connection between people is the most internal force in the world, and if it is not sufficient, then nature reacts with blows.

Yet, people cannot unite because there is a group in humanity called Jews. This group is mandated to come to unity first and thus awaken the feeling in all the nations of the world that unity is the cure for all troubles.

Therefore, the nations of the world need to turn to the Jews and demand that they start working on their unification. This is what the United Nations is for. Instead of condemning the State of Israel, let them protest against the people of Israel all over the world for not working on unification in order to prevent natural disasters in all corners of the world in any form.

It does not matter in which country a Jew lives, in Russia, in America, or in Israel, whether he is rich or poor, any Jew who does not work on unification causes disasters in the world. Therefore, time is running out, we need to unite right now. Only if we show the entire world an example of unity, will we fulfill our purpose.
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From KabTV’s “Conversation with Journalists” 12/12/21

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Question: What should Israel do to be accepted in the world?

Answer: It should be a spiritual state. We need to educate the nation to be a spiritual nation, to follow the rule of “love thy friend as thyself.”

Question: Who wants to do this in the first place?

Answer: The question is how much pressure will be put on us until we want to.

Question: Is there another solution?

Answer: To explain to the whole world that we need to build a special state here that will be a model for all of humanity, the moment we insist on that, explain it, and build ourselves in correct relationship between us as “They helped Every One His Friend,” we will be accepted in everyone’s eyes and will be able to build one nation and one state.
From KabTV’s “Conversation with Journalists” 11/28/21

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Question: Do you believe that leaders can self-restrict on a planetary scale like is done in the Scandinavian countries? For example, in Finland, the prime minister commutes to work without security officers, and sometimes even bicycles.

It is simply impossible to imagine such a thing in certain countries of the world. No one will perceive this person as a leader. Do you think that elites are capable of self-restraint in order to save themselves?

Answer: To save themselves—yes! But I do not know whether such a time has come.

The fact that this is happening in the Scandinavian countries is explained by the special relationship between the people and the peculiarity of the national character. This is natural for them. I would say that this is a kind of frozen state, that, in general, is specific to these people.

Question: Is this possible in Israel? Is the Israeli national character capable of this?

Answer: No. This is not possible anywhere else.

Remark: But Jews are most sensitive to justice. They must be the first to achieve mutual love and equality.

My Comment: At the same time, they are the most spoiled and have the greatest egoism, which we do not see in the Scandinavian nations. There, people are very level-headed. But here, people do not feel any limitations. This is their inner state.
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From Kab TV’s “Conversations” 11/1/21

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It is the central point of what the Jews are commanded, this is what they have to do in the world. Of course, the Jews must part with the golden calf. We see what happens to them in all the countries of the world, how much they really hold in their hands—wealth, banks, transactions, trade and everything else. We see how successful they are because they use their special mental potential and willpower, but only in order to earn as much as possible.

Today this is harmful not only for them and for other nations, but also for all of nature. We have come to a state where altruistic, interconnected nature, which now reveals itself as one single whole, can no longer tolerate the fact that a person consumes more than he needs.

The Jews, ahead of everyone else, are simply devouring nature, wanting to snatch more and more from it. All this reveals to us a completely disfigured human essence when a person consumes more from nature than he needs. All nature, our entire civilization is closed, global. We cannot consume more than we need, otherwise, we upset the balance in nature, and it punishes us for this.

Today we are facing great problems, including environmental ones. This is much stronger and scarier than the weapons accumulated by humanity and the atomic bombs because what we are facing is a relentless recoil.

We as if cocked the trigger, and now the recoil will go in the opposite direction from nature to us. Therefore, what we are doing is very dangerous. And in this, Jews are also at the forefront.

In addition, unity with the huge global system in which humanity exists is not just reasonable consumption, but the need for interconnection between us, for mutual support, for creating one unified humanity on the basis of the ideal “love your neighbor as yourself.”

However, no one besides Jews can do it. There is a gene inherent in them that they must use in order to unite with each other, and then the entire world will begin to follow them, but only in this movement! If they begin to unite, the world will automatically follow them.

Then we will see a very interesting picture: how a small, scattered nation shakes off all its social, economic, and other problems it is immersed in, and begins to unite. As soon as this happens, all the other nations immediately, like a shadow, will repeat the same thing after it.

This is the true reason for anti-Semitism. The nations of the world feel that their bright, good, nice future depends on these little Jews who live among all nations and do not do what they should.

But when you turn to the Jews, unfortunately, they do not see, do not hear, and do not understand this. They consider you, first of all, even more anti-Semitic than other real anti-Semites. This is where a problem arises, we feel it for ourselves, although we relentlessly continue explaining to them what their mission is.
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From KabTV’s “Conversation on Anti-Semitism”

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Question: How do you see the beginning of the awakening of the Jewish people? Given that they are settled in absolutely every country, it is very difficult to imagine where the awakening will begin. And do they even understand what nature wants from them?

Answer: Indeed, none of them understand anything and they cannot understand. And you can’t blame them for this; they were created this way. We cannot do anything with the nature that works in man.

The only thing that a small group of people called Kabbalists who understand the meaning of what is happening can do is to constantly increase, more and more, their pressure, dissemination, and explanation to both Jews and non-Jews alike, so that their teachings nevertheless seep into the masses, reach the elites, and people would begin to understand its essence.

But the most important thing is that the Jews themselves begin to understand this because then the rest of the nations will automatically begin to turn in the same direction.

Therefore the main thing that Kabbalists—people who understand this method, even if they themselves are not practically in it—should do is to explain and show everyone that the future of the world rests in good, equal unification, and only this can save humanity.

As soon as we begin to act in this way, then all the forces of integral, global nature will also begin to correctly influence all of humanity. That is, nature itself will help us come to general equilibrium.

Question: Does this mean that Kabbalists should open schools in all countries and teach people?

Answer: I think that Kabbalists first of all should unite themselves correctly among themselves and from this unification start the dissemination of their ideas through all channels. To do this you do not need to open schools, but simply use the communication channels that exist today. They were created for this.
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From KabTV’s “Conversation on Anti-Semitism”

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Question: It is said that the Creator multiplied the seed of Abraham and gave him Isaac. But there was also Ishmael. Why is it just about Isaac?

Answer: It depends on the root of the soul. Isaac is the opposite of Abraham. Abraham is the right line, Isaac the left, and Jacob is the middle line.

Ishmael did not have this seed; he remained close but not more than that.

Question: And what is “Ishmael” in us?

Answer: Ishmael in us is someone who is looking for the purpose of life and the Creator but always goes in a roundabout way. It is as if he is missing something. He is constantly near Abraham or his descendants and interferes with them all the time. On one hand he helps them, and on the other hand disturbs them.

It is written in the Torah that at the end of days, when the children of Israel return to the Holy Land where the Creator brought Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, this land will initially be filled with descendants of Ishmael, who will prevent the descendants of Abraham from entering there. And we feel it to this day.

Question: Does it mean that they want something from the descendants of Abraham?

Answer: Yes, of course. They want something, we want something, and in the end, it will turn out as the Creator wants.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 9/6/21

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