Remark: Baal HaSulam wrote that the Torah was given to the people of Israel for improvement; however, here the people of Israel play the role of guides.

My Comment: “Torah,” from the word “Oraa” (instruction), is a method of uniting. We do not need to do anything except correctly implementing in on ourselves and demonstrate to thepeoples of the world how to apply it. Then everything will settle down and take its place.

Being guides means that once we connect properly with each other and begin to understand in detail how the control system works that influences our world from the upper world (called the Torah), we can do the same for the nations of the world.

In this way the system of the upper governance will begin to influence all of humanity through us. We all will become one single whole, controlled from above, and the world will reach its correct, perfect state.

Question: Looking at the world today, it is hard to imagine that Jews can be spiritual guides and give something to the world, except for such things like Hollywood, business, IT technologies. Can they really bring any moral values and change social relationships?

Answer: To do this, we need to turn everything a little upside down, place everything as it should be. Kabbalists call for this, but no one is listening to them so far.

According to Kabbalah, the world will experience tremendous suffering, falls, and crises in all directions at all levels until people understand what the cause of their ever-growing problems is and the people of Israel understand that everything that happens in the world depends on them.

They are the source of all evil in the world. It does not mean they radiate evil from within themselves, but the people of Israel just do not bring the method of correction that leads to good into our world.

This is their problem, and this is why the peoples of the world hate them. This will continue until all the nations of the world get together against the people of Israel and force them to think seriously about what Kabbalah has been saying for several thousand years now: bring all peoples to the correct state, to connection between them.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 12/9/19

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New Life 1279 – The Code For Success In The New Year
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

In order to have a successful new year, Israelis need to discover the connection between all their diverse citizens such that they achieve Arvut or mutual guarantee between them. The coronavirus was sent by the Creator to arrange us in ties of mutual love and connection according to an evolutionary plan. Humanity doesn’t understand this so far and is busy hiding and trying to protect itself. Subsequently, we are frozen in terms of our international and cultural relations.

It is the role of Israel to show the world how to connect correctly according to the principle, “love your neighbor as yourself,” and therefore become a light unto the nations. It is not enough to be brothers in times of war, but Israelis must understand that they are locked into an integral system and that they have to change themselves in order to develop inner closeness between them.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1279 – The Code For Success In The New Year,” 8/31/20

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Question: During the Enlightenment, many Jews moved to cities. 70 to 80% of them were engaged in trade, worked in factories, enrolled in universities, served in the army, and created their own parties. There was a departure from religion.

Jews participated everywhere, even in the most anti-Semitic organizations. Among them were Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Bolsheviks, and even Black Hundreds.

A new division appeared, a religious one, which became one block, and the part that left religion. Why, from the point of view of the purpose of creation is such a withdrawal from the spiritual roots of the majority of Jews?

Answer: Neither Hasidim nor the Litvaks [Lithuanian Jews] suited people who needed a clear methodology. What is religion for? Where does it lead? What is its purpose, its meaning? Why is it given to the Jewish people?

This is a natural set of questions that arise among Jews who have gone through such long exiles, who emerged from the Middle Ages surrounded by other peoples, who also began to catch up, develop science, open universities, etc.

In addition, a vision about the Jewish masses was created as being completely intimidated, ignorant, very far from the modern, constantly developing world. Therefore, there was a very serious difference between the progressive Jewish strata who went into science, art, and those who remained in the Jewish villages, in their yeshivas [Jewish educational institutions devoted to Talmudic study].

Question: But from the point of view of spiritual development is it good that people leave their history and forget everything?

Answer: This story has outlived its usefulness since it existed on the ruins of the destroyed Temple. It had no opportunity to continue further. There is a time to scatter stones and a time to collect them.

But to this day, echoes of that period are felt, although in our time not so much because the leaders of the religious part of the people realized that something had to be done, to somehow develop further.

Therefore, in recent years, they no longer alienate people from approaching science, from acquiring normal occupations.

Earlier, if a person wanted to live a religious life, he condemned himself to a beggarly existence without a normal profession. His family lived on a level lower than the rest of the Jews that were engaged in civilian practices.

Therefore, having received the rights, the Jews rushed to the cities, to factories. When the Bolsheviks came to power, Jews became the bulk of the leadership in all parties and organizations. Not only men, but also women. Paradoxically, most of the Soviet leaders had Jewish wives.

For more on this topic, read my book The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 12/28/19

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Medium published my new article “If Peace with the UAE and Bahrain Is Good, Where Are the Trumpet Sounds?”

Less than a month after the normalization agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain has also joined the peace train. I am all for it; peace and normalization are always better than war and animosity. But to be honest, I don’t see that the rest of the world is so excited about it, and I think this shows how isolated we are in the world. Despite the fact that Israel has established connections with countries who were previously enemies, no one is cheering, no one is sounding the festive trumpets. For all our efforts to be accepted, Israel, and Jews (though they may not recognize it), are excluded from the family of nations.

Wherever Israel appears, it is unlike any other country, and so it is with regard to Jewish presence anywhere. It is time we asked ourselves why this is so; it is time we understood that the way the world relates to us depends on us and not on them.

Wherever Israel appears, it is unlike any other country, and so it is with regard to Jewish presence anywhere. It is time we asked ourselves why this is so; it is time we understood that the way the world relates to us depends on us and not on them. The nations will welcome us when we bring to the world something that not we, but they consider worthwhile. Until then, whatever we offer them — advanced technology, developed agriculture, innovations in medicine, and brilliant novelists, actors, and filmmakers — the world will only hate us more. We will not receive an ounce of gratitude until we bring them what they really want from us. They do not express it, but we must figure it out and do it nonetheless.

But that something is plain to see: In a broken world, splintered by hatred, we — Jews and the State of Israel — have to bring correction to the world, Tikkun Olam, through unity. The world will accept nothing less from us.

We hate the idea, but we are not like everyone else. If you don’t believe me, ask anyone who isn’t Jewish and they will tell you that they feel that there is something special about Jews. Some hate us, some like us, but most everyone senses that we are different, and they’re right. No other country or person has to justify their existence, but we Jews do, as a nation, as a country, and as individuals. We should recognize it, since otherwise the nations will tell us this the way the Nazis told this to us eighty years ago.

No nation attracts more attention than the Jews, since no other nation is expected to set an example to the whole world. We are judged by a different standard because we are expected to be more virtuous than everyone else, more loving, caring for each other, and with more mutual responsibility toward each other than all other nations.

For saying this, some Jews have accused me of being antisemitic. But denial gets us nowhere. Instead, we must roll up our sleeves and get to work, because the whole world is waiting, and it is becoming increasingly impatient.

The demands of the nations from the Jewish people are not some fabrications of sick minds; our own sages told us throughout the ages that we must be a role model nation, “a light unto nations.” Rav Kook, the leader of religious Zionism before the establishment of the State of Israel, articulated this message poetically and succinctly in his book, Orot HaKodesh: “Since we were ruined by unfounded hatred, and the world was ruined with us, we will be rebuilt by unfounded love, and the world will be rebuilt with us.”

As just said, we need to unite not for our own sake, but to set an example to the world. In the days before the ruin of the Second Temple, there was a period when we were so united that people from the nations flocked to Jerusalem to see the miracle. The book Sifrey Devarim details how gentiles would “go up to Jerusalem and see Israel … and say, ‘It is becoming to cling only to this nation.’”

Similarly, The Book of Zohar (Aharei Mot) wrote about our hatred for each other and the importance of our unity for the rest of the world:

“‘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.”

The book Kol Mevaser also stresses the importance of unity for the people of Israel: “This is the mutual guarantee on which Moses worked so hard before his death, to unite the children of Israel. All of Israel are responsible for one another, meaning that when all are together, they see only good.”

Therefore, we need to realize that we will have no peace or peace of mind until we make peace among ourselves. Until we rise above our deep-seated hatred for each other and unite in order to serve as an example to the world, the nations will treat us as pariahs.
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Question: In the seventies and then in the nineties of the twentieth century, the repatriation of Jews from the Soviet Union began. Why, after the establishment of the State of Israel, are we gathered here right now?

Answer: We live in a unique time. Now it must be decided whether we will go the right way, meaning that we will explain to the Jewish people, wherever they are and no matter how they are mixed with other nations, their special historical role: to show the method of unification to all the peoples of the world. We need to fulfill this mission, and then the world will achieve its correct, perfect, comfortable existence.

If we do not do this, then the world will have to plunge into even greater troubles. In the end, it will still realize the viciousness of his selfish development, but this will happen after many years of severe suffering.

Question: Spiritual development, meaning an appeal to the study of the Creator, nature, and the soul, began to revive in the 18th century with the emergence of Hasidism. Interestingly, the first Zionists came from Russia. In principle, they created the State of Israel. Is it somehow connected with the same Hasidism?

Answer: They were all from Jewish religious communities so they had an instinctive inner movement toward unification, plus external oppression. So it all coincided.

But in our time there is a completely different state of both people and the state. The rapidly expanding global anti-Semitism will probably take on a driving role that will bring Jews together in one place and make them realize why they are so hated.

Question: It turns out that it was the Zionists from Russia who became the basis for the formation of the State of Israel and for spiritual development in general?

Answer: Yes. First, they renounced the faith and left the religious part of the people that did not support the resettlement to the land of Israel. These were non-religious, absolutely healthy, vigorous young people who believed that it was necessary to build socialism and communism, not on foreign lands, but here, in Israel. That is why they came here with such a communistic impulse.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 12/28/19

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Assimilation Instead of Spiritual Ascent

Comment: Today, America has taken the place of Germany. The Jews there follow almost the same path as their counterparts did in Germany and Spain. Everything comes back.

American Jews are well-established and do not think of any other place to live beside America. In addition, they also despise Israel and do not want to associate themselves with it in any way.

My Reply: This is the same thing that happened to the Jews in Germany. American Jews will have an opportunity to leave, but they will not take it. Although they could go to any other country, they will not!

Question: I am trying to understand what assimilation is. After all, it is not merely about stopping to follow traditions and become like everybody else. What is the inner meaning of assimilation?

Answer: It is the fact that Jews sink into the nature of other nations, societies, and religions, and do not want to hear about their purpose or their duty to the entire civilization.

According to the science of Kabbalah, Jews are indebted to everyone. And the nations of the world feel it. If the Jews are not engaged in paying back the debt, nor seek to figure it out even for themselves, then naturally, the reckoning comes.

This is about internal assimilation. The Jews, who were once altruists, who had a spiritual method that could unite other nations, suddenly fell into egoism and became like everyone else. This is called assimilation. And what is required of them is spiritual ascent.

For more on this topic, read my books Like a Bundle of Reeds: why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour, and The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.

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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 8/12/19

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Don’t Rely on History

Comment: Disunity in Israel is stronger today than it was 100 years ago. I see that no one learns anything from history.

My Response: Don’t rely on history. We just need to explain everything in our generation. I hope that our generation will start listening to us after all.

I have to execute this. There’s no problem with that. Looking at history, I doubt that I will be disappointed or that all my work will be for nothing. Nothing is wasted. We must still fulfill our purpose.

If you can save at least one person, not to mention the masses or the whole of humanity, which is looking for direction, but does not know where to find it, and you can somehow show them the way, then you must act so that the general advancement is aimed at a higher goal, toward a more gentle common movement of peoples.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 8/12/19

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Question: In the early 30s of the 18th century, a new movement appeared—Hasidism. What was it?

Answer: In the 16th century, since the appearance in Safed of the school of the great Kabbalist of the Middle Ages, Ari, the spiritual ascent of the Jews began in the Land of Israel, as well as in all the countries of the diaspora, since the ties between the Jews were quite close.

No one doubted that the Ari was a special person. He called the people to unification, spiritual ascent, the development of Kabbalah, the revelation of the Creator, and the fulfillment by the Jews of their spiritual destiny. As a result, groups of Jews appeared in many countries of the world who followed his idea.

This is what led to the emergence of Hasidism. The Ari’s direct follower was the Baal Shem Tov, who lived in Eastern Europe in the 18th century. He preached the teachings of the Ari in a practical way: how Jews in connection with each other can reveal the Creator.

This idea was warmly received by Jews who lived in the southern part of Eastern Europe in lands belonging to Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and the present territory of Belarus. The Jews who inhabited the northern lands, including Germany and the countries of the present Baltic states belonged to the opponents of the Baal Shem Tov. They did not agree that it was necessary to raise the spiritual part of the people.

Their opposition reached the point that they even reported on each other to the tsarist authorities. This is how great problems arose that still exist among the believing masses.

In addition, you need to understand that the resettlement of Jews in Europe, Asia, Russia, and in the world, in general, took place under the influence of higher forces, like the entire movement of man in this world. Therefore, those whose souls were more predisposed to spiritual development settled in Poland, southern Belarus, Ukraine and southern Russia. Opponents of spiritual development, who set as their goal only dry fulfillment of the laws of the Torah, settled in the Baltic States and northern Russia.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 12/9/19

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Question: Throughout the history of the Jewish people, there has been a constant confrontation between them.

Even the Zionists were divided between those who believed that Israel should become a spiritual center, and those who argued that it was enough to move here and create a political center here.

At this time, many parties appeared in Russia: the Mensheviks, the Socialist-Revolutionaries, and the Black Hundreds. And in each of them the Jews took an active part. That is, following the religious fragmentation was the political one.

How did the alienation of Jews from religious principles cause such phenomena in nature?

Answer: This is not alienation, but the absence of the right course toward the correction of the people, toward the realization of their historical spiritual mission. The lack of understanding of their own singularity, their purpose, led to the fact that Jews began to engage in politics instead of teaching the people the basics of spiritual engagement.

They lived according to their earthly needs, and went where their earthly soul led them. They were not taught to care for their higher, spiritual, historical purpose, and so many years were wasted.

It was only at the end of the nineteenth century that Baal HaSulam appeared and explained the basis of our existence: why and to what we should advance.

Comment: Having obtained the rights and the opportunity to study, many Russian Jews began to work in the ruling bodies and other organizations. But all this did not last more than 10 to 15 years. Anti-Semitism did not disappear and it began to unite Jews.

My Response: During this period, the Jews began to penetrate into different world currents. And when Anti-Semitism appeared within these currents, the Jews flocked together in one group.

For more on this topic, read my book The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.

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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 12/28/19

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The Futile Attempts of Baal HaSulam

Question: Before the Holocaust, there was a special discord among Jews of different countries. The revisionists did not get along with the Jewish Agency, neither did the German Jews with the Eastern European Jewry, nor the atheists with the Communists, etc.

Rabbi Meir Simcha Cohen of Dvinsk wrote:”They think that Berlin is Jerusalem…from there will come the storm winds that will uproot them.”

It is known that the great Kabbalist, Baal HaSulam, wanted to take the Jews out of Poland. How did he try to accomplish it?

Answer: As a native of Poland, he traveled there from Israel and spoke to Polish Jews, trying to persuade them to leave the country. But when he realized that this was impossible, he returned. Poland, at that time was a Catholic, anti-Semitic country. Although Polish people understood Jews and had cohabitated for many centuries, it did not matter. In addition, the Polish Jews themselves were not ready to listen to Baal HaSulam.

Moreover, Baal HaSulam tried to bring the Jews out in the 1920s but they boycotted him, and he was forced to leave Poland.

Question: So back in the 1920s, he already knew that Holocaust was nearing?

Answer: Sure. In addition to him, there were several other major religious authorities who called for leaving Europe, but they did not listen to them. Usually a Jew would go to his synagogue and consult with his Rabbi who would calm him down.

For more on this topic, read my books Like a Bundle of Reeds: why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour, and The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.

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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 8/12/19

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