My new article on Linkedin “The Ancient Divide Is Menacing Today”

You can always tell when a youth becomes a grownup: It’s that shift in their attitude when instead of blaming others for their misfortunes, they examine themselves soberly, learn what they did wrong, and work on improving it so it doesn’t happen again. Our nation, too, has an attitude, and that attitude determines our fate. When we are mature and examine ourselves judiciously, we succeed. When we lean toward the victim’s narrative, we are victimized.

Since the onset of our nation—when we came out of Egypt and established our nationhood by pledging to unite “as one man with one heart” and be “a light unto nations”—we have been divided into two groups. One group followed the spiritual idea of sticking to the rule, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” These people went through ups and downs in their level of unity and often fell into deep hatred, yet they always came through and united above their divisions. They saw in their divisions a calling to reinforce their unity even more. The other group that formed back then took to observing various customs and traditions. They were satisfied with observing rituals and did not seek union of hearts because they did not see this as the core of Judaism.

The divide between the two groups was never bridged, and over the years, hatred and alienation have developed between them. These two groups might have been able to live side by side peacefully were it not for the vocation of the Jewish people. We were not created to follow rituals and observe customs and traditions; we were created in order to be a light unto nations, to set an example of unity “as one man with one heart.” If we omit the element of unity from our Jewishness, we lose the meaning of our peoplehood. This is why our Torah states, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18), and why our sages wrote explicitly “What you hate, do not do unto your neighbor. This is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary” (Shabbat 31a). Of course, hatred sometimes erupts, but it is precisely so as to show how to rise above it by increasing our unity. This is why King Solomon wrote, “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes” (Prov. 12:10).

The Book of Zohar, too, explains why we have disputes and why it is vital that we rise above them and set an example to the world. In the portion Aharei Mot, The Zohar writes, “‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to also sit together.’ These are the friends as they sit together and are not separated from each other. At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another … then they return to being in brotherly love. …And you, the friends who are here, as you were in fondness and love before, henceforth you will also not part from one another … and by your merit, there will be peace in the world.”

For many centuries, our forefathers fought to maintain their unity despite the chasm. When they succeeded, they thrived. When they failed, they were punished and banished by foreign rulers such as Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, in the First Temple, and Titus, the commander in chief of the Roman legion, in the Second Temple. However, our forefathers did not blame Nebuchadnezzar or Titus for their woes, although both committed their said atrocities against our people. Instead, our forefathers blamed themselves, their own people, for their lack of unity, for slandering each other, for shedding blood, and for hating one another. After the ruin of the First Temple, we reunited in Babylon due to the threat of destruction that came from evil Haman. Soon after, we were given back the land of Israel. After the ruin of the Second Temple, we dispersed, immersed ourselves in the nations around us, and lamented our misfortune. As a result, we remained persecuted, used, abused, banished, and murdered for two millennia.

In the late 19th century, we started to take matters into our own hands and established the movement for creating a Jewish sovereign state once more. We still did not realize the significance of unity above all divisions to our nation, but we abandoned the victim narrative and started to work on a solution. After the Holocaust, the nations decided to give us a chance and granted us sovereignty in the land of our fathers.

Here, we abandoned the victimhood narrative but developed a new, even more sinister narrative: hubris. We think we are powerful, we think we’re entitled, and we think we are smarter than everyone else. Additionally, there is still that part of the nation that thinks that because it observes rituals and customs, it is entitled to protection from above. The one thing no one thinks about is unity. Instead of setting an example of unity, we have become an example of conceit, entitlement, and mutual disgust.

And just as before, by doing so, we have turned a powerful empire against us. The new administration in the US is anti-Israel and seeks to abolish the Jewish state, to strike it off the map. We should have no qualms about it. If we want to thwart its scheme, our only weapon is our unity. Otherwise, it will succeed, and we will be left with nothing but our narrative of victimhood. But just as before, our misfortune will not come to us because of any outside ruler, but because of our own division and mutual hatred, which we have cultivated instead of mutual responsibility and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

We have no time to lose. If we do not rise above our hubris, stop childishly blaming others for our woes, and begin to take matters into our hands and unite very, very soon, we will not be able to save our country.
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My new article on Linkedin “People of Israel, Unite Before It Is Too Late”

Any period before elections is nasty, and Israel’s campaign before Israelis go to the polls in March to elect the prime-minister is no different. The split is at its peak, the mutual contempt is celebrated while everyone pulls in opposite directions with only one goal in common, to slander the other. The difference between us and other nations is that the very existence of Israel depends on its unity in order to defend itself from all the evil forces that want to annihilate it, including forces within America.

The only period that can be compared to our current one, to get a little estimate of our dismal situation, is the time before the destruction of the Second Temple—days of unrestrained hatred, days of disgust and rejection, days that invite negative forces to dismantle our people.

As long as we fail to collectively turn the steering wheel with all our might to the right track, the deterioration of division will lead us down the slippery slope to a real disaster, to no less than destruction of our society. Behind the current U.S. administration are extremist forces whose ambition is to destroy Israel, to wipe us off the face of the earth, and to impose ideals opposite to the Judeo-Christian tradition. The minions of those forces will swarm to gleefully sign on its behalf to repeal the legal validity of the State of Israel—not with one hand, with both hands!

Therefore, if we do not come to our senses and realize how immersed we are in social sludge and ego that invites sick evils upon us, the situation will deteriorate and the forces of destruction will be revealed. At best, a few Israelis will be able to escape with a one-way ticket away from here.

There is a hard inner core in this administration that is confident in its position and strong in its will, and it is further supported by a number of American Jews who have learned nothing from the darkest period of the Jewish people. History repeats itself.

But just as this threat unfolds, the solution also reveals its hand. Our future fate depends on our knowing how to correctly focus the stronger latent power within the Jewish people: to connect as one man with one heart, above the forces of separation and conflict between us. Coming suddenly face to face with the threatening forces that loom against us, can spur us on and empower us to build and fortify a bond of love between us above all the hate that divides us.

The connection between us will save both us and the whole world. According to the seminal ancient book of Kabbalah, The Book of Zohar, which explains the secrets of the Torah: “Israel is the heart of the whole world, just as the organs of the body could not exist in the world even for a moment without the heart, so all the nations cannot exist in the world without Israel.” Therefore, the people of Israel must function like a heart that abides by the law of loving connection and passes it on to the world—in other words, acts as a light unto the nations.

Israeli brotherly love evokes a positive force—a supreme force over and above all our little individual forces—with the capacity to neutralize all evil. This power corrects, straightens, settles, and organizes reality in an integral and acceptable way for everyone. Only in Him must we trust, only on Him must we lean; this is the short and good way. The long and excruciating way would be to ignore the warning signs and the call for unity between us—the force which has been the foundation of the people of Israel since time immemorial—and to continue to allow hatred to gnaw away at our cohesion until our foundation is undermined and destroyed.

Trump has completed his term as president. He spoiled the people of Israel, gave us billions to sign agreements with the Gulf states and more, but we used those gifts to strengthen our pride, justifying ourselves in hanging on to it. Biden, and behind him Obama, on the other hand, operate along a rigid line. With the help of Iran and the rest of the hostile countries in the Middle East, their thrust will make our lives bitter indeed.

In the days of Trump there was an opportunity for us to wake up, to recover, to positively influence each other without the need for blows to drive us toward unity, but we missed the chance to do it through a gentle influence. Now the field has changed with the new administration and the challenges will grow. As it is written, “permission has been granted to the Destroyer.”

From now on, even the millions of sworn pro-Israel Americans who voted for Trump will gradually flock to the mainstream, join the opposite line and abandon support of Israel. These people are no less antisemitic by nature than others, and now that they do not have to fight for their party, they will not fight for us either. Therefore, the Israeli line must be sharp and uncompromising: we will only succeed if we connect above our differences, and this includes all sectors and small streams within our people. We will only succeed if we lovingly cover all crimes without exception with devotion. Only in this way will we be able to overcome those wanting to destroy us.

It is precisely when everything around us splits, breaks, and is on the verge of destruction that the time is ripe and ready for our connection and unification because the revelation of evil must precede the revelation of good. From the worst place where it seems impossible to find a common ground, there good will grow.

Any evil forces against Israel can be reversed for the better, and the reversal depends only on the unity between us. If we know how to unite as one, then we will align with an auxiliary force that will help us on our way to still the enemy and fulfill our destiny in the world.
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Question: To the extent that the people of Israel strive for connection, they will inevitably serve as an example to the people of the world and will force them to strive for it too. If everyone strives to unite involuntarily, then why is it necessary at all?

Answer: Involuntarily because we are originally created as egoists.

We, as a proper sensor, should consist of two opposite parts. And then between these opposite qualities we will begin to capture some phenomenon. For example, there must be a contrast between darkness and light, according to which we can feel something.

So is our egoism. If it is properly attuned for us feeling the opposite altruistic quality to it, then between them we can determine where we are.

Therefore, we just need to develop altruistic qualities in ourselves and, in accordance with our egoism, use both qualities in order to correctly navigate the spiritual space.
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From KabTV’s “Ask a Kabbalist” 3/20/19

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Question: Who are the “sons of Israel?”

Answer: The children of Israel” comes from the word “Israel” which, in translation, means “directly aimed at the purpose of creation” or “directly to the Creator.”

When a person is directed toward seeking and revealing the Creator within himself, then he is called Israel, and all his actions are called the sons of Israel, that is, they are aimed at creating a spiritual vessel in him in which he would feel this.

Question: Can everyone feel the quality of “Israel?”

Answer: Of course. In general, Jews are not a people. They are immigrants from ancient Babylon, from all those peoples who scattered from there, across the entire globe and formed the peoples of the world. Therefore, the Jews are like a mini-collection of all the peoples of the world, a mini-humanity.

But how did they get together? By their striving to reveal the Creator. Therefore, they called themselves “Isra-el.” “El” is the Creator and “Isra,” from the word, “Yashar” means “direct.”
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From KabTV’s “Ask a Kabbalist” 3/20/19

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My new article on Linkedin “The Futility of Leading the World in Vaccinations”

As far as vaccinating its population, Israel is leading the world by such a huge margin that the country in second place, the UAE, is just over half as successful as Israel, and the United States, where the vaccinations are manufactured, is at a distant no. 5, with a vaccination rate that is eight times slower than that of Israel, per capita. Astounded world leaders send delegations to Israel to learn what it is that we are doing right. But while leaders are in awe, the rest of the world is far less impressed, and, stranger still, the infection rate is not declining despite the vaccinations and despite the closure. Why are the vaccines not working?

Instead of admiration, we’re getting admonition from all sides. People are blaming Israel for denying vaccines to the Palestinians. It’s not true, of course, but the truth doesn’t matter. If the Palestinians were to get them first, before any Israeli person, people would say that Israel is trying to eliminate them. Since they’re not getting them fast enough (in some people’s opinion), people are saying that we want them to die of Covid. Either way, their woe is our fault. That’s how it’s always been, and that’s how it’ll always be until we start doing what we must.

Our success in vaccinating the population is remarkable, but it’s not something we should brag about. If we were smarter, we would have done it more quietly and not showed off the numbers. Generally, I don’t see any cause for pride; we’ve created a huge national debt, a huge deficit, and I don’t think that the hope that in a few months the economy will recover thanks to the vaccines and we’ll be able to pay off the debt has any legs to stand on.

It’s great that we’re vaccinating the population but we didn’t do the most important thing, so the vaccines will not help. As long as we don’t follow nature’s laws, nature will keep steering the nations against us. Nature’s laws dictate that Israel will set an example of unity, but we are busy declaring new political parties every other day. We are not an example in the eyes of the world; we are a mockery. A typical comment by a non-Jew to a tweet that one Jew wrote against another stated: “I was told that it’s usually Jews who hate Jews the most.” They look at us with pity.

It’s not as if they don’t know what they want from us. Deep down, the most rabid antisemites feel what they are looking for in Jews. When they blame us for causing all the wars, as did Mel Gibson, for example, they are actually saying that we could prevent these wars. And indeed we could, if we only set an example of unity. But when we set an example of mutual disgust and hatred, this is what the world absorbs from us. Will it be a wonder then that at some point the nations will decide to get rid of us?

It’s not as if we never did anything right. Judaism is based on the most laudable values. We are the only people who became a nation only after they committed to love one another “as one man with one heart”; we are the only nation whose motto was “Love your neighbor as yourself”; and we are the only nation that was tasked with being “a light unto nations,” to set an example of love of others and mutual responsibility.

This is the example that antisemites want us to give. Henry Ford, clearly one of the most notorious antisemites in American history, wrote in his book The International Jew—the World’s Foremost Problem, “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, … would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.” Likewise, Vasily Shulgin, a senior member of the Russian Parliament before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, was known for his rabid antisemitism. In his book What We Don’t Like About Them..., he wrote about Jews: “Let them … rise to the height to which they apparently climbed [in antiquity] … and immediately, all nations will rush to their feet. They will rush not by virtue of compulsion … but by free will, joyful in spirit, grateful and loving, including the Russians!”

There are more examples but the message is clear. Our job, the job of the Israelis, and the job of every Jew, is to set an example of unity. Whenever we do anything else, it is interpreted as an act against the nations, and we interpret their counter reaction as antisemitism. Therefore, if we want to eliminate antisemitism, we must eliminate division among us. This is what nature’s law demands of us. If we do this, we will inoculate ourselves against any misfortune, including viruses, wars, economic crises and every other misfortune, since we will be in congruence with nature.
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Question: Does history teach us anything?

Answer: History doesn’t teach us anything. History cannot teach us anything. History will repeat itself until the Jews change it. On the whole we see in everything that happens, a direct instruction that we need to act.

Comment: Your conclusion is paradoxical for many. According to what you say Europe will not be able to do anything while the Jews, Israel, can impact what happens in Europe and in the world.

My Response: Yes.

Comment: I expect angry comments in response to what you say.

My Response: I have gotten used to comments, attacks and insults. Thirty years ago we spoke about what will happen and it is happening today, so you can learn from that that I am telling the truth. The truth is in nature, and the wisdom of Kabbalah takes the data and conveys them to you.

Comment: The idea that the Jewish people are chosen invokes anger.

My Response: Which Jew will not want to get rid of the title of being chosen, of the fact that the Creator has chosen us? This is the burden that we carry.

Question: Are the Jews forbidden to live in peace and quiet like everyone else?

Answer: No, it will not work. It is not a cross but a Star of David that we need to carry.

Question: How is being chosen by the Creator expressed?

Answer: By having to take the management of the world into our own hands and to guide the world to the good, to show the world that it is possible to unite. The good force will be revealed in the world only if we unite.

We need to attain the highest level of human development, love thy friend as thyself. Is that possible? We need to implement this whether we like it or not and to insert it into the world.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 2/26/18

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Question: A well-educated population is more tolerant of sexual minorities, but is intolerant of the violation of moral norms in their own selfish interests, for example: bribery, tax violation. A group of religious people is much closer to such a moral principle.

Do you, as a Kabbalist, believe that moral principles should remain unchanged or can change depending on the circumstances?

Answer: True moral principles do not depend on anything. They do not belong to societies or religions, but are above that.

Question: Do you think that moral norms should be the same for everyone or each nation can have their own norms of behavior and moral principles?

Answer: Norms of behavior can be different in different nations and moral principles should be the same for everyone. Although it depends on the development of the nation. But all norms and principles should be aimed toward love your neighbor as yourself.

Question: Considering that all people have different levels of desire according to the Maslow’s hierarchy, could it be assumed that each level has its own norms of behavior?

Answer: Relatively. But everyone should understand where they are on this pyramid. And, although one has not attained the highest levels yet, one knows these levels exist.

Comment: You say that there should be one principle, love your neighbor. And norms could be different in each nation. But inside the nation, there are different layers, more developed and less developed.

My Response: Yes, but they all belong to the single pyramid, the peak of which is love your neighbor as yourself.

Question: Do ethical and moral norms need to be classified according to age, gender, and nationality? Or should they be universal and a person should be gradually taught them from childhood?

Answer: Undoubtedly, a person should be taught this from childhood and constantly. It is imperative to lead him to these principles raising them to a level that does not depend on the nature of man, on his national, ethnic, and other characteristics. This is the responsibility of all humanity.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/9/20

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Comment: A strange thing happened after the evacuation of the Jewish settlements in the Gaza strip. The agricultural products in this region were grown on sand using special technology. They were considered to be the best exported produce.

When the decree was signed that all the Jews had to evacuate this region, one of the families that had big plantations there left them to the locals because the managers and the workers were all Arabs.

After a while, the manager called the former owner and said: “Listen, I have been the manager of this plant for 20 years, and I know every detail of the technology. No one knows it better than I do. When you were here everything grew and prospered, but now that you have left, we are doing everything in the exact same way, yet nothing works.”

My Response: There is a connection between the Jewish nation and this land, but it is not totally correct in our days yet.

The correct connection of the Jewish people with its land lies in the fact that it behaves in accordance with this land, that is, it draws closer to it, draws closer to each other. If it is correct, it will feed the whole world. The whole world! It will give such scientific achievements, discoveries, and technical achievements that will raise humanity above nature.

Why? You can think about it all you want, but you won’t guess. Because our world is fueled by a special higher power, which gives our world, our Earth, the entire planet, the air, all of this a reproducing force, a multiplying force, an upper force, as they say. And if this does not happen, then, of course, everything will calm down and wither away.

Nothing will help us except the only remedy: our unity. It is through our unity that we will begin to neutralize the evil forces in the world and will awaken goodness and abundance in the world. We will awaken the upper forces of nature that will enable us not only to exist correctly between us, but will also feed us and supply our needs, clothe us, and put an end to the problem of climate change. They will do everything and will totally balance our life.

The main thing is that humanity will finally acquire the knowledge about the purpose of its existence. Because, in fact, no matter how we live or whatever happens to us, we will still ask ourselves what we are living for. After all, our existence, whether good or bad, eventually ends aimlessly and with no purpose.

So, we better begin to understand what our goal is.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/27/18

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My new article on Linkedin “Brothers? Friends? Or Co-Sufferers? Who Are Israelis to Each Other?”

A student told me that even though Israel is headed toward its fourth general election in just two years, the government has determined that the topic of Israel’s next Independence Day, which takes place April 14, 2021, will be Israeli Brotherhood. How ironic. The student asked me about the significance of choosing specifically this topic at a time when we are so divided.

Well, regrettably, choosing this topic in itself is meaningless. We are not brothers, and there is no brotherhood among Israelis. At best, we are co-sufferers when some crisis, such as war, comes over us. But today, even in crisis, our unity is shrinking.

Regrettably, unity as a means of protection against blows does not last, nor is it real unity. We are forced to stand together by circumstances, so as soon as circumstances allow, we become belligerent and divided once again, and more so than before.

Real unity must come from within, out of our own volition. When our forefathers joined Abraham’s group, which eventually became the Israeli nation, they chose unity because they believed that this was the right way to live. They weren’t brothers; they weren’t even friends. In fact, they often came from enemy tribes and clans, yet they decided that unity is more valuable than hatred, and so they chose the higher value and established a nation whose foundation was brotherly love, or as King Solomon wrote, “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes” (Prov. 10:12).

Centuries later, their descendants had abandoned the forefathers’ unity and became so divided that they lost their sovereignty over the land of Israel. Since then, the only unity that Israel had known was the ephemeral and opportunist cooperation of fellow-sufferers.

The people of Israel are like no other nation. Therefore, our country cannot be like any other country. The only way that we can reestablish our nationhood and merit being sovereign in this land is if we live up to our task, to be role model nation, a light of unity to the nations. In other words, if we unite above all our enmities and differences just as our ancient forefathers did, and for which they merited being regarded as a nation, we, too, will earn our sovereignty here.

Currently, the outside pressure of our enemies keeps us together. Were it not for their pressure, we would have dispersed long ago and went wherever we felt more comfortable. Nothing holds us here but the fear of those who hate us. Regrettably, soon, our hatred for each other will grow stronger than even the hatred of our enemies for us, and then we will disperse regardless of the outside dangers. If we come to this, it will truly be a threat to the existence of the State of Israel.

In order to succeed in reestablishing our nationhood and forming brotherly love, we need to understand the unique unity that our forefathers achieved. Although they came from tribes and clans from all over the Fertile Crescent, they all subscribed to Abraham’s message, who championed mercy, compassion, and love as the top-most values. Since Abraham’s followers had no such feelings for each other, they had to cultivate them despite their initial antipathy toward each other.

However, hatred kept raising its ugly head once in a while, forcing Abraham’s group to reinforce its unity despite emerging hatred. The surprising result was such solid union that Abraham’s followers managed to triumph even the most deep-seated loathing within them, to the point that they became a nation despite their initial disconnect and ill feelings for each other. Such union, which is built on the idea of unity itself and not on some material, biological, or some other opportunistic impetus, is unheard of to this day. Indeed, no other group of people has achieved this; no other group of people has even attempted it.

Today, when the loathing among Israelis is skyrocketing, when numerous countries are in possession of both weapons of mass destruction, and the means to deploy them, it is imperative that we find a way to overcome the growing hatred. And no one has any experience but the ancient forefathers of the people of Israel. And the nations, subconsciously aware that Israel has the key to resolving the world’s conflicts, blame Israel for causing all the wars.

If Israel does not revive the method for uniting, despite, and above enmity in the near future, it will find itself at odds with the entire world, which will blame it for its woes. It will revoke UN resolution 181, to establish a Jewish state, and we will find ourselves alone in the world, without any support from any country.

However, this scenario is not set in stone; it is up to us, Israelis. If we revive the kind of unity our forefathers established, above differences and hatred, we will become the world’s role model and everyone will praise us for trailblazing the world out of a third, nuclear world war. If we eschew our mission, the world will plunge into another war and will take its anger out on us.
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Question: The Greeks, led by Antiochus IV, captured the Temple in the 2^nd century BC. There was a division of the Jews into Hellenized Jews, who supported the Seleucid Greeks, and Orthodox Jews led by the Maccabees. The Maccabees led the uprising and expelled the Seleucids from the Temple that had been captured and desecrated. When the Maccabees entered the Temple, they saw that the pure oil for the Menorah candles could only last for one day. But a miracle happened, the oil burned for eight days.

These are historical events that occurred more than 2,000 years ago. What do they mean from the point of view of Kabbalah?

Answer: After leaving Egypt, the people of Israel received the method of connection (mutual guarantee, Arvut), which developed during 40 years of traveling in the desert. Gradually, they became more and more united according to the method received from Jethro, the father of Moses’s wife. Jethro was not a Jew, nor was his daughter, but as the Torah says, he fully joined them.

The term Torah comes from the word “light”(Ohr). The light of the Torah, which a person receives from above, is necessary in order to bring people together and turn them into one single whole.

Despite the fact that they are egoistically distant, opposite to each other, and each wants to rule over the others, with the help of the right environment and the upper light, everyone can subjugate himself to society and make sure that all the people in it are directed to the center of society to unite with each other.

This is what the Jews were doing for 40 years in the desert. After they reached the state of unity, the desert turned into a fragrant land for them, called the Land of Israel. “Land – Eretz” comes from the word “desire – Ratzon.” That is, their desire began to blossom and bear fruit.

They built the Temple that represented the result of their efforts that came from the connection between them. The Temple does not mean something materialized, not stones and wood, but the connection of their desires.

So they lived, fought, reconciled, and constantly chose new conditions of connection. They were changing because new egoistic desires constantly arose in them. Therefore, they had to attract the upper light called the Torah more and more, to unite and thus advance.

But they could not hold on to this and for some time they fell into the slavery of egoism called the Babylonian exile of the time of Nebuchadnezzar. And then, with the help of Queen Esther, they came out of exile and began to inhabit the Land of Israel again, i.e., the desire to unite and connect with the Creator.

So they moved on until they reached the state of building the Second Temple, uniting in one common vessel in which they attained the Creator. But it did not last long because once again there was a huge, tearing egoism between them. This is how the Second Temple was destroyed, the common vessel was broken, the mutual desires and intentions for loving each other that allow us to reveal the Creator.

It was at this time that Rabbi Akiva called on the Jews to unite and shouted that one should love one’s neighbor as oneself,” but they could no longer hear him. This is the state the people of Israel are in now, people who, on one hand, understand that it is necessary to unite, and on the other hand, are not able to force themselves to unite.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/16/19

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