The Split of the Jewish People.

Question: The famous rabbi, the Maharal of Prague, wrote about the spiritual descent of Israel: “The Second Temple had special quality: Israel wasn’t divided, they had only unity between them.

“Therefore, the First Temple was destroyed due to sins, that is, filth, and the Creator cannot dwell among them in filth. However, the Second Temple was destroyed due to unfounded hatred.”

What is the reason for the destruction of the First Temple?

Answer: The reason, in principle, is that during the First Temple, the division of the people into different groups and estrangement, alienation began, and during the period of the Second Temple the people already reached hatred for each other.

Question: Baal HaSulam writes in one of his letters: “And maybe our sages had this in mind when they claimed about the destruction of the Second Temple that there was no idolatry there and were experts on the Torah, and said: ‘Because of unfounded hatred.’” Could it be because they could not fulfill the basis of the Torah, which is love your neighbor as yourself?

Answer: They could carry out any actions, but they could not observe the intention to unite, to love their neighbor.

Question: As Baal HaSulam wrote, the conflict between the Sadducee sect and the Pharisees led to the final fragmentation of the people. The Sadducees were a wealthy corrupt elite: judges and priests who worked in the Temple. The Pharisees were the spiritual leaders of the people.

The Pharisees were for peace between dozens of sects who fought among themselves. But this was already the peak of the Jewish discord, after which there was a long exile of 2,000 years?

Answer: The problem is that it still had to collapse.

We see that the whole story is the development of egoism, which destroys everything as it grows. The people continuously work to rise above it, but the ego is again growing and destroying what is built.

To date, we have gone through all four exiles: Egyptian, Syrian, Babylonian and Roman. And now we are ready for liberation.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 7/8/19

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United By One Goal

Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut”: It is as they said, that the Creator went with the Torah to every nation and tongue and they would not receive it. In other words, they were immersed in the filth of self-love up to their necks, some in adultery, some in robbery and murder and so on, until it was impossible to even conceive, in those days, to even ask if they agreed to retire from self-love.

Question: The Torah was offered to everyone?

Answer: There is no such thing as “offering the Torah.” This is just an allegorical statement. Do we really think that the Creator came down from heaven holding the Torah in His hands?

The Creator is the law of nature. There are people who, through their development, are more prone to discover the global force of nature. They are attracted to globality, unity, integrality, and the general forces of nature. But there are those who do not care about it; they are addicted to something else.

People with a thirst for knowing this single system, single force, single law of nature, become Kabbalists. They are engaged in its attainment. And gradually it becomes a science of how to reveal the Creator.

Naturally, we cannot attain Him by using physical devices. Neither telescopes, nor microscopes, nor any other devices can reveal the upper force of nature because it is immaterial, not subject to our physical influences.

But we can attain it with our additional actions. If we rise above our egoistic nature and try to create anti-egoistic, altruistic forces in ourselves, then with their help, we will begin to feel the Creator in the world around us.

Question: There are several million homo sapiens on Earth, and out of them, a group of people that are more predisposed to His revelation stands out, which is done by nature itself, i.e., by the Creator, the higher mind? Natural selection occurs?

Answer: Yes. These people are involuntarily attracted to each other. They are interested in being in a circle of like-minded people where they constantly communicate, understand each other, and are passionate about attaining the upper force.
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From KabTV’s “System analysis of the development of the people of Israel,” 7/15/19

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Idol Worshiping

Comment: In 928 BC, the united kingdom of Israel split into Israel and Judea. In 722, just a few decades after the death of King Solomon, they had already separated. And after 150 years, the kingdom of Israel ended and the ten tribes were scattered.

At that time, ten tribes of the Jewish people were lost, although from the point of view of history they did not disperse anywhere but simply changed their priorities and assimilated among other nations. Most people began to worship idols.

My Response: It depends what you mean by idols. Any material object that you attach special significance to is an idol. I can buy a silver candlestick for tens of thousands of dollars, put it in my room, and it will represent the Sabbath for me. This is how I create an idol for myself.

Question: If we do not feel the single force of nature or the Creator that stands behind all the objects of the corporeal world, then, in principle, we are considered idol worshipers. Are we all idol worshipers?

Answer: Yes. You can treat your clothes, your car, or anything else as an idol because you value them above your purpose.

The utmost value is unity, similarity to the upper force of nature. If you do not value this as the most important thing in life, then all other goals are idol worshiping.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 7/8/19

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Egoism’s Impulses

Comment: During the time of the First Temple, the schism between people gradually intensified. The people, like its spiritual leaders, were constantly faced with a choice: either to live by the method of Moses, which he received at Mt. Sinai, or to adopt the lifestyle of their neighbors.

Interestingly, throughout history Jews have always tried to be like their neighbors.

Answer: To be like means to reject living above one’s ego and existing within egoism, like all other nations. Of course this inclination exists inside each of us because it is a natural internal impulse of one’s egoism. Since egoism keeps growing, it follows that such impulses are constant.

Thus, when we are talking about assimilation, “to be like other nations” means to use egoism for oneself.
From the perspective of Kabbalah, the “nations of the world” are our egoistic desires, while “Israel” is the altruistic desires. As a result of this, there are both kinds of people in the world.

Concerning nationality, any person who begins to correctly balance their egoism can become a Jew.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of Development of The People of Israel,” 7/8/19

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Spiritual Actions and Worldly Terms

Comment: Many Kabbalists and even philosophers of the Middle Ages write that in all primary sources there isn’t a single word about our world, only objects and phenomena that are above time, space, and motion. Even back then people already knew about such things.

The great Kabbalist of the 20th century, Baal HaSulam, writes in his Study of the Ten Sefirot, (Talmud Eser Sefirot,) “The authors of the Kabbalistic books use the ‘worldly’ terms only as symbols to denote the higher, spiritual roots.”

My Response: The stories of Kabbalists might seem strange to us, but they describe only spiritual events and actions, not what is happening in our world, although they use worldly terms to describe them. Therefore, the story is perceived as if it really happened in our world. But the fact remains that it could take place or couldn’t.

Question: It turns out that not all spiritual states described by Kabbalists have materialized where a person and all of humanity must go through. Is that the case?

Answer: They can’t all materialize. A person’s and humanity’s experiences in their spiritual development isn’t everything that is displayed in our world. A person experiences special internal events and a struggle with himself, with а general and private egoism, unification and separation within a group. In general, all this is internal work. Does it have a reflection in our world? Such reflection is very insignificant as a rule.

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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 3/24/19

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Temple—a Place of Strengthening Unity

Comment: Once the Jews entered the Land of Israel, they began to connect even more. As a result, the First Temple was built.

My Response: Yes. However, this was also quite nominal since many of them were unable to unite.

Connection was not the uniform desire of all the people. After all, we are talking about voluntary, conscious connection over the ever-growing egoism that tears people apart. This is not easy.

Comment: After the death of King David, his son ascended the throne and built the First Temple—a symbol of unity. It was a place where people came at least three times a year in order to connect.

There is evidence that in Jerusalem, pilgrims were accepted as relatives, given free accommodation, and no one was deprived of care. There was joy everywhere and people felt like one family.

We usually think of a Temple as a place where sacrifices are offered. Here, however, it is referred to as a place of connection.

My Response: Sacrifice is a purely allegorical concept. Animals in the Temple were slaughtered only to prepare a meal. After all, a huge number of people were gathering there and all had to be fed.

Question: Was it not an act of appeasement of the upper force?

Answer: No. In no way. No one thought about it. A person made a donation from the bottom of his heart so that it would help unite all those who came to Jerusalem.

This was the most important thing for those who came to the Temple. At that time, people lived in very small families distant from each other. Each with his own sheep, goats, and a small piece of land that was cultivated with simple, unpretentious tools.

Three times a year, they brought all this to Jerusalem, where they held meals to strengthen unity. The tradition of holding meals exists to this day. Kabbalists have always paid special attention to this. They especially earned, stored, saved money for this, and brought everything possible to the meal: meat, bread, and wine.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 7/8/19

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To Absolute Connection

Question: When people consciously draw closer to each other rising above their egoism, then, as a result, they begin to feel the single law of nature. What is this law?

Answer: We exist in a single system called “Nature” or “The Creator.” To the extent that we, in spite of our egoism, are similar to this system, we feel communication between us and this system and can exist in a sensible and good way.

This is the whole of Kabbalah. We must reach the correct interaction between us in order to begin feeling this vast system, that is, this upper world in which we exist, and gradually become more and more similar to the laws, principles, and rules of this world. In other words, we must interact with each other so that we will bring ourselves to the state of absolute connection.

When we begin to unite, we feel the manifestation of this single law, the single force, between us. However, if we do not do this, the second, completely opposite law is activated—the negative force that pushes us toward unity. This is the opposite side of the Creator.
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FFrom KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 7/8/19

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He who buys a Hebrew slave, it is as though he buys a master for himself.

Comment: After entering the land of Israel, the nation managed for several thousands of years without a king or an acting army. There was a special way to treat women, children, and even slaves. According to law, one could keep a slave for up to six years, after which he had to be freed.

Most importantly, if a master had only one pillow, he had to let the slave use it. Such an attitude defies all logic.

Answer: This means that the life of a slave did not belong to the master. A slave could only be with him for a certain period of time. In a way, a master paid for his work within a strict framework of rules and could demand only a certain amount of effort in return. In everything else this person was not a slave but a partner for him, even a friend who lived with him, someone who the master had to care for.

As it is written: “He who buys a Hebrew slave, it is as though he buys a master for himself.” It means that a slave was not some kind of a “homeless animal” with which the master could do anything he wanted to, unlike the way the slaves or prisoners were treated in other countries.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 7/8/19

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why are Israelis so smart?“

Why are Israelis so smart?It is because the Israeli ego is the biggest one out of all the world’s nations.

Everyone has a desire to enjoy life, which acts on us subconsciously. Israelis also want to enjoy from the next world, here and now. That additional desire to enjoy is called “the point in the heart” in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

3,800 years ago, when the Israeli nation was founded, it was that additional desire that differentiated between all the ancient Babylonian residents and the group that Abraham named “Israel” (from “Yashar Kel,” i.e., “straight to God”). In other words, out of all the Babylonian residents, it was this people called “Israel” who desired to attain the meaning of life, a clear perception and sensation of the complete picture of reality, while living in this world.

How is it that the Israeli nation emerged in such a way?

Very simply, the ego in certain people grew and started demanding the reason for existence.

The ego’s growth makes us unhappier and more impatient. Why? It’s because an additional desire means an additional void, and it makes us restless until we find out why we’re alive.

The wisdom of Kabbalah was developed solely to answer the question about the meaning of life. Through the study of the wisdom, we discover our place in nature, as well as how and why nature works at its deepest levels. The wisdom of Kabbalah was developed by Abraham around 3,800 years specifically for anyone who hosts that additional desire to know why we’re alive.

Therefore, the Israeli ego is many times greater than the ego of others, i.e., of the nations of the world. There is nothing we can do about it. It is simply how the system of nature operates through us.

With this additional ego in the Israeli people, it becomes important to learn how to use it and direct it optimally and constructively, i.e., so that it would be aimed at the discovery of the meaning of life, and not that it would be used for self-serving motives at the expense of others.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a method of guiding the desire for the meaning of life to the attainment of the higher reality, where we discover the reason for our existence, while we’re alive in this world.

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The Times of Israel published my new article “The Spiritual Root and Corporeal Branches of the Jews”

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a method that was established by Abraham around 3,800 years ago, which guides a process of positive connection among people toward their resemblance with the higher force of nature, one of love and bestowal.

Kabbalah teaches that by trying to resemble the force of love and bestowal through our efforts to connect, we attract it into our lives and it corrects us.

“Correction,” in the wisdom of Kabbalah, means reaching the perception of the uniqueness of the force of love and bestowal, and when we reach such perception, we see how no other force operates in the world.

Opposite the force of love and bestowal is the force of reception—the force acting in the created beings.

The force of reception, which is the nature of the created beings, provides us with the ability to differentiate between reception and its opposite force of love and bestowal, as through the opposite of a certain phenomenon, the existence of its opposite can be perceived.

By existing in an opposite receptive nature to the giving nature, we can connect by awakening the force of giving and love above the force of reception, and by doing so, reach balance with nature, a sensation of harmony, perfection and eternity.

According to the two opposite natures of giving and receiving, humanity divides into two general groups: one is a small group originating in those who studied with Abraham, which directed itself to connect and attain the force of love and bestowal. The other is much larger, holding beliefs in myriad corporeal forms, objects and images.

Abraham’s group received the name, “Israel” (“Yashar El” [“straight to God”]), from their orientation to attain the force of love and bestowal, and in later generations they received the name, “Jews,” from the word for “united” (“yihudi”). People with no such inclination received the name, “the nations of the world.”

According to the Jewish nation’s origin—a unification in a common tendency toward the force of love and bestowal—that same tendency should remain as their primary engagement. In other words, the nation of Israel has no need to conduct numerous physical actions, but need only focus on connecting “as one man with one heart.” That is Abraham’s method in a nutshell.

During its years of exile, the nation of Israel mingled with the nations of the world. Many descendants of Abraham’s group ended up functioning solely with the force of reception, detached from the force of love and bestowal. In the meantime, some of the nations of the world who felt attracted to unity joined the group of Israel.

Those from Israel who failed to unite above the increased egoistic desire that acted in them became idolaters, infusing corporeal forms, objects and actions with spiritual importance.

The two groups exist in a certain blend until today.

The change from being a unified nation that senses the higher force, to becoming detached from the sensation of unity and focusing solely on receiving, took place mainly during the ruin of the First and Second Temples, and intensified in the exile that followed them.

Many people from the Jewish nation started performing a number of actions, seeming signs of spiritual motions that exist separate from the human body and the material world. They thought that in such a way they would be able to somehow protect themselves in a common framework and not disperse.

My teacher, Rabash, called such actions “customs.” Customs have their place, until we will become ready enough to understand what is most important: the work of the heart, i.e., the inner work of unity with others in a common tendency toward the force of love and bestowal.

What we do with our hands, legs and mouths is in order to ultimately advance us to conduct internal actions upon our attitude to others: an inner shift from being concerned only about ourselves to being concerned about others, to a point where we love them.

Until today, humanity finds it difficult to absorb the idea that the Creator is a force. It is understandable, since our entire perception is based on corporeal senses.

Yet, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, there is nothing holy in a tree or in a stone, nor in blood or flesh. Holiness can only be in the connection between us, differentiated from and above the egoistic force that separates us. Holiness exists in the balance between two fundamental forces at the foundation of nature: reception and bestowal, without canceling either quality or inclination.

That is why the principles of the wisdom of Kabbalah sound complicated and difficult to absorb, even though the main principle is easy to understand: that we need to reach positive connection among all people, a connection that includes each and every person equally. Moreover, in the heart of our connection, love becomes revealed, which is a positive force that covers all division, hatred and conflict, and by reaching such a state, we discover nothing less than perfection and eternity.
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