Entries in the 'Israel' Category

Vanguard Of Humanity

laitman_941Torah, Deuteronomy 28:36: The Lord will lead you and your king whom you will have established over you, to a nation unknown to you or your fathers; and there, you will serve other deities [made] of wood and stone.

“King,” first and foremost, is those people who must lead all of humanity. If they do wrong, then naturally there is a special demand from them. We see this in the Jews. Periodically they are hit with such sufferings that no other nation has ever experienced.

However, when I see how many people are suffering today in our neighboring countries, I have great fears that all of it must somehow come back to us. If we do not start a serious ideological attack and dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah to humanity, then all of this will return to us like a boomerang.

We have come to a state when we must scatter Kabbalistic knowledge like seeds all over the world. After all, in relation to the entire world, we are its ideological part, its vanguard.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/14/16

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The People Of The Book With The Program Of Creation

Laitman_137Question: The Jewish people are called the people of the book. What does it mean?

Answer: The people of the book, that is, the Jewish people, are a group of people, who joined the forefather Abraham, who consists of representatives of all seventy nations that lived in ancient Babylon at that time.

Over time, this group was able to unite according to the law of mutual guarantee and to became a nation, as it is written about the giving of the Torah, “Today you have become My people.”

Since the Jews received all the spiritual heritage through the book of Torah that was written by Moses, they are called the people of the book. This is the same group that was wandering in the desert for forty years. During this time Moses wrote the Torah thanks to the fact that they all worked with each other in unity and love for their neighbor, and thus reached the upper world.

The book of Torah is the program of creation describing the process that we need to undergo so that a person develops to the degree of the Creator and reveals the upper force in the unlimited form, which is called adhesion with it. All this we need to implement here, while living in this world.

Question: Why did the Kabbalists write books, as if the Torah of Moses is not enough?

Answer: The rest of the Kabbalists after Moses added their commentaries to the Torah because each soul has its own special perception. Besides, every succeeding generation after the generation of the desert became increasingly worse; its egoism was increasingly revealed and developed, and therefore they could add revelations. After all, the larger the egoism, the more you can delve into the upper world.
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From the Virtual Lesson “The Time of Kabbalah” 6/13/17

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9 B’Av: The Ruin Of Spiritual Unity

laitman_293The 9th of Av is the day when the First and Second Temple were ruined. “The Temple” represents a spiritual state of Israel being united and protected “as one man in one heart.” The ruin of the Temple was due to the ruin of the spiritual unity within Israel, which continues to this day.

https://www.facebook.com/MichaelLaitman/videos/1026395500797058/

 

 

 

Spiritual Meaning Of 9 B’Av

laitman_288_2The growing Temple Mount crisis right before the 9th of Av is more than simply symbolic. Since the time of Babylon, evil forces have always unfolded around this special date. From the sin of the spies, through the ruin of the First and Second Temple, to the exile of Babylon, to the expulsions of the people of Israel from the land of Israel, and then from Spain, Germany and England.

Israel commits the biggest sins on the 9th of Av, and we are also punished for them on that day. This is because we are incapable of activating the positive force to which we hold the key. And we see the results all around us in the news, every hour of every day, leading right up to Tisha B’Av. We are the people of Israel, and for now, the ball is still in our court. We have to choose to unite and thereby activate the positive force, before it is too late.

https://www.facebook.com/MichaelLaitman/videos/1024541500982458/

 

“Between the Straits”

Laitman_006We have entered a special period called “Between the Straits,” from the 17th of Tammuz when the first Tablets were broken, till the 9th of Av when the Temple was destroyed. Looking back at history, we can understand many things about this time. We can see how difficult it is to accept the method of unification and to implement it. This is to what the days “Between the Straits” testify.

We received the Torah, the method of correction, symbolized by Moses who rose to the mountain for forty days and brought the method of unification from the degree of Bina (Bestowal), but the people were unable to accept it. Even though everything has been prepared and given from above, we are unable to receive it.

And in reality, this is not our fault. It is simply because our desires still have not sufficiently integrated with good and evil to enable us to correct one through the other. The integration occurs precisely by way of the breakage. Only an explosion can help to break the boundaries between two opposites that reject one another and force them to integrate.

This integration must be completely chaotic and disorderly, under the pressure of an explosive force because there cannot be any order in the integration of good and evil. Order can be established only after they have been integrated. Within that integration, with the help of the upper Light, everything can be discerned and sorted out, and then the proper connection and construction can be attained.

There is a complex process allowing opposite things to unite in harmony and mutual complement. This is precisely what happens in the process of the reception of the Torah.

It is impossible to do this faster with the egoistic desire that just came out of Egypt and has only a weak inclination to be corrected. It understands that it needs to be corrected, but does not realize the extent to which it is opposite to the corrected state because there is no mutual integration yet.

As long as we are under the power of Pharaoh, egoism, we do not feel that we are its slaves. Our exodus happens by virtue of an external force that pulls us out of there, showing us that this is worthwhile. However, the desires are not corrected by it.

We see this happening to us: Every day we decide to finally come out of our egoism and start thinking about the group so that our concern won’t be for ourselves on a personal level, but so it will be for everyone. However, we do not succeed.

We make greater and greater efforts, but small breakages keep taking place. This is happening to us as we are a consequence of many destructions and corrections that have already taken place in our root.

The Torah tells us about the preparation for correction. The entire path lasting six thousand years that humanity transverses was just preparation. Correction is attained only at the very end, on the day of absolute Light. All of these states have also been realized in matter: the destruction of the First and Second Temples and the horrible wars within the nation of Israel. All of this was the material incarnation of the spiritual degrees.

After the complete integration, which was achieved at the cost of many wars, shards of the broken will to enjoy and will to bestow become completely integrated with one another and fall even lower, to the very bottom. After four exiles and three redemptions, each of which was necessary, we are reaching the end of the last exile and the beginning of the final redemption.

Looking at this process, it is obvious that the Torah cannot be received all at once. And this is indicated by the day of the 17th of Tammuz, the breaking of the first Tablets. Only after the breaking and mutual integration of spiritual desires with material ones has occurred is it possible to ascend to acquire a different form.

The first Torah was “incorrect.” It was necessary only in order for the Tablets to be broken and to reach correction. The second Torah was corrected, able to fix the integration of bestowing desires with the receiving ones, which is what happens with the help of the second Tablets. This is a unique process, testifying to how opposite our qualities are to the qualities of the upper force.

We should have a balanced attitude to these days, seeing them not just as days of mourning and breakage, but as something inevitable that we have to go through. The whole world will have to go through this destruction in one form or another. However, if we know why we are doing this and for what purpose, we will be able to go through everything by the path of Achishena (hastening), as humans.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/11/17, Lesson on the topic of “The Period of “Between the Straits”

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“So That You Will Be A Holy People”

laitman_746_03Torah, Deuteronomy 26:18 – 26:19: And the Lord has selected you this day to be His treasured people, as He spoke to you, and so that you shall observe all His commandments, and to make you supreme, above all the nations that He made, [so that you will have] praise, a [distinguished] name and glory; and so that you will be a holy people to the Lord, your God, as He spoke.

“To make you supreme, above all the nations,” means to elevate within yourself the quality that is called Yehudi (from the word “Yihud” – adhesion, connection with the Creator) above all your other desires that are called the nations.

We see this in history. The people of Israel never, even in the best years when they had strength, engaged in any conquests.

Only in ancient times, did King David have to protect Israel from enemies. Then, the so-called “Kibush David” was carried out—the conquest of the territories from the Nile to the Euphrates—in order to keep all the tribes that inhabited them under control because otherwise these tribes were constantly raiding Israel.

Therefore, when the Torah speaks about the people who are chosen, praised, and great, it is referring to the work to annul yourself. Then, you elevate the part of Israel within yourself that is directed to the Creator above all the rest of your egoistic parts. This is only about the inner state of a person.

In addition, it is about serving the world in order to be, as it is written in the Torah, the Light or, in other words, an example for all the nations of the world.

The same applies to the Temple. It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7). After all, from ancient times, not only Jews went there, but absolutely everyone. A person could go there from any place, from anywhere, in order to pray, to ask something, or to participate in the classes. This is how many non-Jewish scholars appeared among us.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 11/9/16

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Why Did The Great Kings Of Israel Come From Non-Jews?

laitman_947Question from Facebook: Why was the origin of the greatest kings and teachers of the people of Israel, like King David and Rabbi Akiva, from among those who were not Jews?

Answer: A person who yearns for the Creator is called “Yashar-El” (Yisrael, Straight to the Creator). A person who wants to unite with others is called a “Yehudi” (Jew) from the word “Yechud” (Unification). This is what determines if you are a Jew or not. Today every person in the world, whether he is Spanish, French, Italian, or German, no matter who, can come and say: “I want to be a Jew.” In the wisdom of Kabbalah, they don’t divide the world into nationalities.

To be a Jew, a person must carry out what the Torah says. Namely he must yearn to implement the law “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). If he agrees to this, it means that he has become a Jew, a person who yearns for unity and unification to adhere with the Creator.

The term “Ivri” (Hebrew) is derived from the word, “L’Over” (to go over), moving from the principle of egoistic existence to altruistic existence. This is the foundation of our people, a group that accepted upon itself the principle, “And you shall love your friend as yourself.” As soon as a person accepts this principle, he becomes a Jew and everyone else, not.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 5/22/17

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Wonder Woman, Part 5

laitman_553Question: If people become super-heroes who give instead of take, then what are they going to derive pleasure from? Success is always determined in relation to others: you earned $100 and I earned $150 that means that I am more successful. If this relationship no longer exists, then what will be the source of pleasure?

Answer: Pleasure will come from the fact that you give to the entire world and feel it as your own soul. The entire world is you; you express yourself through everyone. You span the entire world and feel the upper force, the upper world, through others. If I relate to others with love, then within them I reveal my upper world.

I exchange my egoistic desires for altruistic desires, death for life, and begin to feel that life is eternal, without limits, full of pleasure. I see the entire world from end to end, rising above material existence and identifying myself with the upper force, with the Creator.

Question: Does this super-hero live in a super-world that no one other than him experiences?

Answer: It’s a world that can only be sensed within the desire to bestow. Right now we experience reality only from the point of view of constant reception. But if we change our perspective from egoistic to altruistic, without any regard for ourselves and only with the intention to give to others, then from that perspective we will begin to experience a new world, an upper world.

Right now, in our desire to fill ourselves and receive only for our own benefit, we sense only the lower world. But as soon as we change our desire from benefitting ourselves to benefitting and fulfilling others, then in this intention we begin to sense an opposite world, the upper and limitless reality because in reception we are limited, but in bestowal we are not!

The upper world is eternal because our experiences and our abilities within it do not have limits. That’s why we experience ourselves as living an eternal life, limited by nothing. All depends only on our ability to give, which begins to open up within us more and more.

This is the type of correction we need to make in our lives, separating ourselves from this egoistic reality. Israel must do this first, because in the Torah it is written that we are obligated to come to love of others. And within this love, we will then reveal the upper world.

We existed in this state at one time and fell from it, that is why we possess hidden strengths that permit us to return. The world waits only for this from us, hoping to receive the method of correction from us. That is why as life in this world becomes harder and crises grow everyone will increasingly blame Israel.

The film about the Israeli saving the world awakens hope in the world that the nation of Israel will fulfill its mission and realize correction. But is this what we are doing? We are obligated to start progressing toward love of others, about which it is written, “All of Israel are friends.”

We are the only ones who are able to correct the evil in the world because we possess the methodology called the science of Kabbalah. The movie is portraying a particular character, a super-hero; however, the entire nation of Israel is called “chosen” by the virtue of the mission laid upon it. We are not yet super-heroes, but we are obligated to become them and care for the entire world, rescuing it from the egoism in which it is drowning.

The program of correction is actualized in two stages. First, the nation of Israel must correct itself. And then, with the strength accumulated through that correction, we will be able to correct the entire world.

Israel must become a nation of super-people, bound to each other by love and mutual guarantee. This correction will impact the entire world and all nations will join with Israel as one man with one heart. As it is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

Question: Do you really think this is realistic?

Answer: It is inevitable! Either we come to this as a result of tremendous pressure and an even greater Holocaust than the one that took place during WWII or we carry out the correction willingly and consciously. This is our obligation.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 865 – The “Superpowers” Of The Israelis,” 6/8/17

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Laitman_632_4Question: The movie Wonder Woman in which an Israeli actress saves humanity awakens thoughts about the correction of the world, about the Jews having to be the Light for all the nations. People understand that this correction is needed, but how do we actualize it?

Answer: First of all, the nation of Israel must actualize its own correction. We are connected to all of humanity and that is why as we correct ourselves, we pass this awakening, this aspiration for correction, to all others. Kabbalists are obligated to teach the nation of Israel the methodology of this new unification, this method of correction, the achievement of love of others. We don’t need to pay attention to those who speak against Kabbalah because by they are obstructing people from uniting, they are simply committing a crime. Then later, this example of unity must be demonstrated to the entire world.

If the nation of Israel, being the biggest egoists, is able to correct itself and demonstrate to the others how to move from hatred to love, from separation to unity, then it will serve as an example and will give strength to the entire world. The whole world will follow the Jews toward unity.

Furthermore, the nations of the world will help the Jews in this correction, as is written by the prophet Isaiah, “the nations of the world will lift the nation of Israel onto their shoulders and deliver them to the temple in Jerusalem.”

Question: The heroine of the movie saves the world from various evil people and external forces; you are speaking about the need for us to save ourselves from our own egoism?

Answer: Egoism is the only evil. We don’t have any other enemies. The whole nature of man is evil from birth. There is nothing in creation except the evil principle. And this is exactly what we need to correct. If Israel corrects itself, the entire world will be corrected.

Egoism is my desire to build my success on the failure of others. This is a completely natural desire for every person because it is inherent in our nature. But we must rise above this nature to bestowal to others, to concern for their welfare instead of our own. A person who is ready to make this correction within himself is called a super-hero.

He overcomes his egoism, his inherent nature, and that is why he is called super-human. By doing this, he corrects the entire world, a world that is in such bad shape only as a result of human egoism because we project our negative relationships onto all of nature.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 865 – The “Superpowers” Of The Israelis,” 6/8/17

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laitman_570The movie Wonder Woman in which the main character superhero who saves humanity stars an Israeli actress caused a huge wave of excitement and pride in Israel.

But I am sad to see that our people, like little children, are still waiting for a good magician who will come and arrange our life, instead of arranging it by ourselves.

Is it possible with indifference, laziness, and confrontation tearing up the Israeli society, we are still waiting for a magician? We ourselves must change. Is there anybody who can come from outside and change our evil nature?

Question: The film encourages us to come to love, but does anyone know how to do this?

Answer: There is a method that teaches you exactly how to come from hate to love; it is called “the wisdom of Kabbalah.” This is why Kabbalah is revealed nowadays. The Kabbalists of all generations talked about our time, and we need to take up this technique and begin to study it in order for all to rise to the level of “super-human.”

Question: Why is it not so easy to love?

Answer: It is not easy because our nature is pure egoism that causes us to ill-treat others. Egoism does not relate to the fact that I want to eat, drink, and sleep more, to lie in the sun on the beach and swim in the sea.

Human egoism is the desire to improve one’s state at the expense of others—our evil attitude toward the inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, and most importantly, to people.

Egoism is when I enjoy not from my own achievements, but from the fact that I belittle others; that is, I do not just care for my own good, but I wish evil to others. Even if I do not want to harm them directly, I still measure my success only in relation to others.

When I look at the people of Israel, I see a people who had the opportunity to build a new state and a new society, but who still remain a “gathering of refugees.” The country is divided into lots of factions and communities that hate and oppose each other.

If this situation continues, the time granted to us will soon run out and we will have to leave this land. In fact, if those living here had the opportunity to leave Israel, many would do so.

It is possible that the movie about an Israeli wonder woman awakens a hidden hope regarding Israel in the nations of the world. They understand that Jews are a special people. The biggest anti-Semites in the world, such as Hitler or Henry Ford, wrote a lot about the mission of the people of Israel and accused Jews of not fulfilling the role assigned to them.

Therefore, the world makes serious accusations about Israel, although it does not understand their true cause. But the wisdom of Kabbalah explains it in all sincerity: Israel is obliged to be a Light for the nations of the world, that is, to show everyone how to unite and come to love one’s neighbor as oneself. Such a love the people of Israel must achieve within themselves and thus set an example for the whole world, to become a Light for the nations of the world.

But we do not fulfill this mission, and therefore, the nations of the world rise against us, wishing to destroy us. This is what is written in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar.” It is worth reading about what is written there and to understand that we have no other way out, neither the people of Israel, nor the whole world—the only solution is that Israel realize its mission.

The people of Israel should be the superhero who saves humanity—the Messiah – Mashiach, that is, the power that will pull out (Moshech) all people from the evil, egoistic nature to the good and altruistic, from hatred to love.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 6/8/17

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