Question: Why can’t Jews outside of Israel unite? What is so special here? There are seven to eight million Jews living in America today. Who’s preventing them from uniting there? After all, the country does not prevent them.

Answer: The country does not interfere with them and yet they do not unite.

Comment: But in Israel also people do not unite.

My Response: There is an equivalence of root and branch. Therefore, those who strive for the spiritual root also strive for its earthly branch, meaning, the land of Israel. But we cannot understand this, we cannot imagine what it is and why it is so important to be in the earthly representation at the same time, in the land of Israel, in Jerusalem. We do not understand and do not feel it. But, in principle, I have met people who feel it very clearly.

Question: If nature should unite a certain number of people, and then it spreads to the whole of humanity, then those who are in Israel have a greater potential for this connection, right?

Answer: There are actions that must occur at the material level and then gradually rise to their spiritual identity.

Comment: If you look through the eyes of an ordinary person, then abroad, for example, in America, people there are more united than here. It is a nightmare what is going on here.

My Response: Yes, but that is why the nightmare happens, so that it must be overcome. By overcoming it, you will see how suddenly you find yourself in a state of spiritual forces.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/26/22

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Enemy Within: Antisemitism on Israeli Campus”

Once common only at US and European universities, Israeli higher education institutions have now become the site of heightened political confrontation. Images of heated demonstrations—some of them turned violent—in which Palestinian flags are raised in front of Israeli flags, are commonplace on Israeli campuses. Statements of support for terrorists and incitement chants such as, “Death to Israel” resound with increasing frequency. So, what are we waiting for? Either we begin to move toward Jewish unity, or soon there will be no more land in which to weep.

The commemoration of Nakba Day, the day the Arabs call a “catastrophe” marks the day of Israel’s independence. Its onset last week initiated widespread protests against Israel’s existence. The physical clashes between Jewish and Arab students show that the situation on Israeli territory is deteriorating. At prestigious higher education institutions such as Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, there are increasing tensions between demonstrators who support the Palestinian cause and pro-Israel activists.

Jewish students worry about their safety, they feel threatened and fear that the situation could escalate into terrorist attacks on campus. They see that both the authorities and the administrators of the universities turn a blind eye toward campus antisemitism on the grounds of freedom of expression.

Everything we do in the context of rapprochement between Jews and Arabs, we do wrong. Nothing we have done has brought any good, nor will it bring any good. Unfortunately, we do not learn from our mistakes. So, we try again and again to bring the Jews and Arabs closer together by all possible means: at universities, in the workplace, and in everything at our disposal. In the end, it becomes clearer that we just prepare live ammunition to shoot ourselves in the feet.

Radical opinions that hanker to wipe Israel off the map hide beneath the facade of “intellectual” debates. The problem is simply that Jews and Arabs fail to live together in harmony on Israeli territory, period. Judging by the current circumstances, a point may be reached where we will be forbidden as Jews to enter our own capital, Jerusalem, until eventually we will have no place in the Land of Israel to call our own.

No Arab person who feels that this land belongs to them can support the State of Israel. I understand them. They will use their seats in the Israeli Congress, their ministerial positions in the government, and all other possible means to push us into the sea. I do not think there is any real intention for coexistence, even if such is not openly stated now. We as Jews must begin to open our eyes and realize that we can only rely on ourselves, on our ability to unite to secure our place in Israel.

The problem is that we are not idealistic enough, and instead only think of how to serve ourselves at the expense of others. We do not rise above the private individual ego. The Arabs realize that this weakens us and they take advantage of it. In contrast, they understand that their success depends on how connected they are, on how strong they are together, and therefore they succeed everywhere.

Do not get me wrong. I, too, want the Arab population to do well and live a quiet, normal life, but land for peace will never be the solution. Instead, we must create the conditions to divide the population into two peoples and make it clear that the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. How long will we continue our endless debates and realize that this is how it has to be? The problem is that by then, it may be too late.

But to live in the land of Israel, we must earn this right or we had better give up the land. We can triumph over any threat and prevail only when we use the help found in our special Jewish spirit.

Today, the opposite is the case; we are not carrying out our role. We have a fragmented society with all kinds of groups that come from different countries but without a common vision. This checkerboard approach may work in America which is not existentially threatened, but for Israel it could spell a death sentence. Quite simply, Israel will survive and thrive to the extent that Jews are bound together by good relations, reciprocity, and mutual care. The sooner we move in that direction, the better.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Globalization: The Good, the Bad, and the People of Israel”

Much has been said about globalization. On the one hand, it gave everyone access to amenities that until a few decades ago only the rich could have. It opened us to new cultures and places, and improved the material life of most everyone around the world. On the other hand, globalization has devastated local production in countless countries and inflicted destitution on millions of people whose jobs have moved to other countries. Yet, alongside these heavy problems, there is another process that globalization has set in motion: the fusing of humanity. Globalization has made us similar, created a common basis for cooperation and understanding, nurtured shared desires and aspirations, and opened the door for understanding among all people.

The fact that now, after decades of accelerated globalization, we can understand each other’s words and gestures means that we can begin to understand each other’s hearts all over the world. Until now, there has never been a situation where all of humanity shared the same problems and aspirations, and could communicate freely among all nations in order to join hands, solve the problems, and realize the aspirations.

Curiously, the process that humanity is undergoing today is the same process that the Israeli nation went through when the nation first formed. The first Israelites were strangers from different, often rival tribes and lands. Yet, as they all elevated the ideal of unity above all else, they managed to unite above their different origins and form a new nation.

Now, humanity is inadvertently being driven to undergo the same process. We may not want to understand one another, but we do, since the global circumstances have become similar around the world, and the problems are similar and affect all other places. We may come from Finland or from India, from the US or China, Japan or Latin America, but our aspirations are the same, our technology is the same, and our upbringing is more or less the same. Like it or not, we are becoming one, global nation.

This is why at such a time, Israel is getting so much attention, predominantly for condemnation. We are the only group of people who has ever dealt with such a situation, and we have found a way to overcome suspicion and alienation and merge into a nation. We formed a society that, for significant periods of time, managed to become the “chosen nation,” a model society where people love their neighbor as themselves. At such times, non-Jews from around the world would come to Jerusalem to witness Jewish unity, especially during the festivals when Jews gathered in Jerusalem in a pilgrimage that brought together the entire nation.

Eventually, we succumbed to suspicion and alienation like the rest of the world, but humanity has not relieved us from our duty to set an example. It keeps stating that we are responsible for all the problems in the world, effectively saying that it is within our power to correct them. Jews relate to it as antisemitism but in fact, it is humanity’s demand that we fulfill our calling, our commitment to the world.

Now that we are scattered and dispersed throughout the world, we, Jews, are “globalized,” as well. Nevertheless, the root of our ancient union lives within us and projects itself wherever we go. It accelerates the process of unification and globalization even though we cannot feel that our ancient root is still alive within us.

When Israel become aware of who they are and what they are meant to bring to the world, the anger toward them will subside and the world will join them in establishing a global village whose diverse cultures and ethnicities are united by love. Humanity will not suppress the differences between nations and cultures; on the contrary, it will welcome them and thrive because of them, as everyone will contribute their exclusive traits to the common good.

When that happens, the world will realize Israel’s secret: Success does not come from one dominant doctrine or perception, but from opposing and conflicting views that join together under a canopy of brotherly love, where everyone uses their various qualities and perceptions for the common good.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Tlaib is winning because we are fighting the wrong war”

Last week, Rashida Tlaib, accompanied by her fellow “squad” members and several other progressive members of Congress, introduced the first-ever congressional resolution that would see the US formally recognize the Palestinian “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” which is how they refer to the establishment of the State of Israel. By all indications, the proposal will not pass. Nevertheless, it is another chunk off the thinning wall that protects Israel. It will not be long before Congress joins the growing choir of voices calling Israel an apartheid state and voting to revoke it.

But it is not for their wit that they are winning, but for our folly. We are fighting the wrong war. If we fought for our own cohesion rather than against their divisive rhetoric, we would have no problems with anyone.

Instead of fighting against the forces that seek to weaken us, we should fight for the thing that gives us strength—solidarity. Currently, we are wasting our time, resources, and energy in every direction on pointless apologetics that convince no one, not even ourselves. We are trying to explain that we have a right to live in the land of Israel, but when even we have no idea why we are here, can we complain that others don’t, as well?

Every nation takes pride in what makes it unique, in its legacy and traditions. We have abandoned our culture, abandoned our legacy, and adopted cultures and traditions of other nations. Why then are we surprised that they despise us and regard our existence as redundant and undesirable?

Instead of clinging to our own legacy and offering it to the world, just as every other nation does, we have built a patchwork culture that combines the legacies of other nations, but nothing that belongs to the unique gift we were meant to bring to the world. In such a state, we really don’t deserve our land, the land of Israel.

Our legacy is the achievement of our ancestors to form a nation out of complete strangers. Although they were often hostile toward each other, they nevertheless insisted on unity at all costs. King Solomon defined it as love that covers all crimes (Prov. 10:12), and The Book of Zohar (Aharei Mot) says that by carrying it out, we bring peace to the world.

In the previous century, Rav Kook wrote 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.” When the great 20th century kabbalist and thinker Baal HaSulam talks about “national pride,” he means the pride to be the trailblazers of unity above all differences.

When acclaimed historian Paul Johnson wrote in his comprehensive ‎composition A History of the Jews, “At a very early stage in their collective existence the ‎‎Jews believed they had detected a divine scheme for the human race, of which their own ‎society was to be a pilot,” he meant that the Israeli society was to be a “startup nation” in achieving solidarity where it did not seem achievable.

The more divided the world becomes, the more the Jewish pilot society is needed, and the more the world resents us for not building it. It is no wonder that the most rabid antisemites also admired the Jews and sought their example. Henry Ford, in his venomous compilation The International Jew—the World’s Foremost Problem, also inserted statements that show what he expected from us: ‎“Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems … would do well to look into ‎the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”‎

In fact, even the Nazis initially supported the fledgling Jewish state. It was for their own reasons, of course, and they later retracted their support and sided with the Arabs, but when they first came to power, they fully supported the Zionists’ efforts to build a Jewish state in the land of Israel.

If the November 29, 1947 League of Nations vote to establish a Jewish state took place today, no one would vote in favor. In fact, no one would even propose it. We have no one to blame for it but ourselves. Rashida Tlaib and her cohort are only a reminder of what we are refusing to do: restore our legacy of unity above all differences and divisions, and become the pilot society that the world expects from us.
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Comment: It is written in all the sources that if the people of Israel do not correspond to the Holy Land, which they received as collateral, then it spits them out.

My Response: The disparity between the people’s qualities and the country’s qualities will lead to the fact that the country we are building will not be established. Since the land on which we would like to settle is special and is intended for us only when we are corrected, it will simply throw us out of here if we try to develop it while remaining uncorrected.

We should not think that this will happen through some special qualities. Just as the Romans came 2,000 years ago and threw us out of here, the same thing will happen now if we do not reach the quality of connection between us in an acceptable time frame.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/26/22

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What do you think of Israel announcing that the Iron Beam laser defense system was tested successfully shooting down drones and rockets?“

Against any good thing, there is always a bad thing. So you will not find me jumping with joy that we have rid ourselves of our problems and threats.

I do not think that this laser defense system can give us a real sense of security in Israel. Things will get worse. Our problems will rise to an even higher level.

In order for us to truly have a sense of quiet, there is a simple idea that we must adhere to—that of connection, or to reach “Love your neighbor as yourself” among the Israeli nation.

This is no innovation of the defense industry. It is up to us people to implement. If we fail to upgrade our attitudes to each other, then no sophisticated technological, scientific or military equipment would help us.

Developing ties of love between us would protect us from all harm. If we had a very strong sense of connection, then this force of connection would reject all evil forces.

This is because thought and desire are forces much more powerful than laser beams. They are similar to laser waves, only sharper, operating beyond time, space and motion.

We need to establish a network of love between us, love that comes from the heart, and then we would see those same inclinations starting to surface in our enemies’ thoughts and desires. We can make this much-needed innovation in human connection, and sooner or later, we will have to.

Based on the video “Kabbalist Responds to Israel’s Iron Beam Laser Defense System” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Umberto on Unsplash.

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My new article on Linkedin “The World Waits for Israel”

A student of mine told me that thirty years ago, a sheikh from the extremist Palestinian Hamas movement predicted that in 2022, between the month of Ramadan and the month of June, Israel will be destroyed. He asked if I thought there was a chance that this could happen. I told him he can sleep quietly because it won’t, not now. However, if we continue to conduct ourselves as we have been so far, we will not exist for long. The nations voted to establish a Jewish state because deep down, they await and long for our spiritual awakening—to set an example of brotherly love and mutual responsibility. If we live up to their dream, they will rally behind us, including Hamas. If we disappoint them, they will revoke Israel.

Our internal cohesion or lack thereof determines everything that happens, not only among Jews, but in general. Everyone senses this but us. You can often hear antisemites blaming Jews for all the problems in the world. This is a testimony to the fact that they see us as responsible for the well-being of the world. And they are right, since through our own unity or disunity we make the world choose unity or division.

Since the inception of our nation, we have been obligated to serve as “a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those who dwell in darkness from the prison” (Isaiah 42:6-7). We have never been relieved from duty, and the fact that the nations hold us to a higher standard proves that they still expect us to lead by example.

It is no coincidence that the two dominant religions—Christianity and Islam—emerged from Judaism. However, because the example we currently give is one of division and hatred, this is the treatment we get from the world. If we injected a different spirit into the world, the world would be different, and so would the way the world treats the Jews in general, and Israel in particular.

This is why it is written in The Book of Zohar (Aharei Mot) that after Israel make peace among themselves, “By your merit, there will be peace in the world.” This is also why Rav Kook wrote around the time of World War I, “If we were ruined and the world was ruined with us through unfounded hatred, we will be rebuilt and the world will be rebuilt with us through unfounded love.”

It follows that the world will not like us, or even accept us as long as we do not like one another. However, if we do accept and like one another, the world will embrace us and support us because we will be setting the example it expects to see from us.

Our internal cohesion or lack thereof determines everything that happens, not only among Jews, but in general. Everyone senses this but us. You can often hear antisemites blaming Jews for all the problems in the world. This is a testimony to the fact that they see us as responsible for the well-being of the world. And they are right, since through our own unity or disunity we make the world choose unity or division. If humanity chose unity, there would be no problems anywhere. Since it chooses division, there is no solution to any of our problems, and more of them keep piling up.

Whatever we are, shines on the world. If we are “a light to the nations,” the world shines with us. If we are “a darkness to the nations,” the world darkens with us and hates us for it.

It is all a question of our internal unity. We need not please or appease anyone; we should only try to—after two millennia of hatred and division—love one another, as one man with one heart, just as we were at the moment of the birth of our nation.

This is the solution to the problems of the world, and to the grievances that the world has against us. This is why when seeking solutions to America’s social problems, the most notorious antisemite in American history, Henry Ford, founder of the auto company, recommended looking into the ancient Jewish society, before it fell into unfounded hatred: “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, … would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”

Indeed, the world waits for Israel.
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Question: In our world, it is believed that the freedom of a country is political independence, elections, the absence of subordination and dependence of the people on some other country. And by what criteria can a Kabbalist say this country [Israel] is independent?

Answer: If we talk about Israel, then by spiritual definition we are not a country and not a nation. So it’s too early for us to talk about it. We can only give approximate definitions to this and analyze why we still do not satisfy true spiritual concepts of what a country, a nation, a state, a family, and so on are.

There are very clear definitions here that relate specifically to us and not to the rest of the nations of the world. Baal HaSulam examines this in articles about the last generation.

In particular, in the newspaper The Nation, published in 1940, he writes: It is a shame to admit that one of the most precious merits we have lost during the exile, and the most important of them, is the loss of the awareness of the nationality, meaning that natural feeling that connects and sustains each and every nation. The threads of love that connect the nation, which are so natural and primitive in all the nations, have become degenerated and detached from our hearts, and they are gone.

The fact is that other nations have a sense of dependence, a sense of community, while the Jews practically do not. They are characterized by increased egoism, remoteness from each other, and a willingness to get closer to each other only in times of special catastrophes. And so on.

Question: And what is the national identity? What is he talking about?

Answer: If we take, for example, any nation and start looking for the spiritual roots in it, we will see that almost all nations have a craving for self-consciousness, and the Jews may have the opposite picture.

This comes from the fact that the Jews are the nation of the idea, which was gathered by Abraham from different clans on the basis of unity.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/26/22

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Istanbul Convention – Israel Should Make Its Own Rules”

The Istanbul Convention is a human rights treaty that was drafted by the Council of Europe and was opened for signature on May 11, 2011, in Istanbul, Turkey. The treaty aims to prevent violence, protect victims, and end the impunity of perpetrators. The treaty is based on the premise that tackling domestic violence requires international cooperation. Recently, there have been voices in the Israeli government calling on Israel to join the treaty. Should Israel do so, it will obligate Israel to make rules that meet the requirements of the Council of Europe.

Perhaps the treaty is indeed a sincere attempt to deal with the escalating violence around the world, but Israel must decide its own rules. We should not adopt cultures or rules that do not belong to Israel, but conduct ourselves the way a Jewish state should conduct itself in every aspect of its life, including when it comes to violence of any kind—from domestic violence through abused migrants, and to every other form of mistreatment.

The people of Israel were given morally just rules thousands of years ago, which have become the basis of Western ethics. However, when our sages established them, they were based on our ancestors’ profound understanding of human nature and its whims and dispositions. When other cultures adopted Jewish law, they twisted and warped it to the point where it has become unrecognizable and, worse, worthless.

The result is that these ethics do not work. For all the rules and regulations by which the world has tried to curb violence and make people more humane toward each other, the opposite has happened. We have become more violent, unjust, and abusive.

Therefore, in order to understand how to deal with human nature and prevent abuse, we should not look outward, but into our own past. Our sages teach us how to reign human nature successfully. They tell us that we should not suppress any trait or try to eradicate it, but only use it for the common good. In this way, we become masters of our impulses instead of letting them drive us into mischief.

The social rules of our ancestors teach us how to rise above our ego and become considerate. They help us transform from individuals who feel separate from others into people who feel deep sympathy with, and empathy for every created being. People who have been transformed in this way will not hurt a soul.

This is why maintaining our unique characteristics is imperative. And the most unique characteristic we must preserve, cherish, and nurture is the rule, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This should be the supreme law to which everything and everyone aspires. It should be the lighthouse that shows all of humanity the road to safety.

The law of loving others as ourselves is the only treaty that humanity will ever need. It pertains to all religions, all belief systems, all faiths, doctrines, and ideologies. It is the basis of any relationship and the bedrock of every sustainable and thriving society.

This should be the law that the State of Israel embraces, and in this we should be an example to the world. If we accomplish this, the whole world will be convinced that no other treaties are necessary but to love our neighbors as ourselves, and that accomplishing it is not only the ideal, but that it is an achievable aspiration.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Root of Israel’s Political Chaos”

The past several years have seen a growing political chaos in Israel. Four elections in just two years are too much for any country. But even after the fourth election, there is no stable government, it is torn from within, threatened from without, and the prevailing sentiment is that everyone disagrees with everyone else and detests everyone else. There is only one solution to the impasse: stop imposing incompatible modes of government that are good for other nations, but not for Israel, and adapt the political system that suits the nature of the people.

Israel’s multiple-party political system is not the right structure for the people of Israel. We have always had multiple opinions in the nation; it is in our nature to disagree, and we laugh at ourselves that between every two Jews you will find three opinions. However, the DNA of our people is to unite above these divisions and use the tensions they create to form a bond that is stronger than any bond can form.

This mode of work is the reason behind King Solomon’s verse (Prov. 10:12), “Hate stirs up strife, and love will cover all crimes.” This approach is also behind many other texts that our sages and thinkers have written throughout history.

In Education and World, Martin Buber wrote, “We are demanded ‎not to blur the boundaries between the fellowships, but rather recognize the common ‎reality and sharing of the test of mutual responsibility. The separation of the hearts is an ‎illness that afflicts the nations of our time … there is no cure for this except for people from different circles of views ‎who need each other with a pure heart to exert together to reveal the common basis.”

In a similar spirit, the book Likutey Halachot states, “The vitality and sustenance and correction of the whole of creation is by people of ‎differing views becoming included together in love, unity, and peace.” The book Assorted Counsels elaborates even more: “The essence of peace is to connect two opposites. Hence, do not be alarmed if you see ‎a person whose opinion is completely opposite from yours and you think that you will ‎never be able to make peace with him. Or, when you see two people who are completely ‎opposite to each other, do not say it is impossible to make peace between them. On the ‎contrary, the essence of peace is to try to make peace between two opposites.”

In other words, the correct way for our people to work is to have multiple opinions within the same party, the same governing body, but at the same time understand that no single view is right, and only a decision reached when people unite after their differences have been revealed is correct because it has emerged from the point of unity that is above any personal opinion.

Only if Israel works in this way will it have a solid government and a nation that stands behind it. Moreover, when Israel governs itself in this way, it will have the world’s support, contrary to the current situation where the world can barely keep from telling us outright to get out of the land it granted us on November 29, 1947.

While it may seem impossible to find unity above our differences, we must remember that we are not doing this for ourselves, but for the world. This will be the fuel that can give us the sufficient impetus to carry out this seemingly impossible task.

Our sages have taught us that if we unite among ourselves, we unite the world. Accordingly, The Book of Zohar writes (Aharei Mot), “‘How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to also dwell together.’ These are the friends, ‎as they sit together inseparably. 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, you will not part henceforth … and by your merit there will be peace ‎in the world.”‎

Echoing it, Raaiah Kook wrote, “If we were ruined and the world was ruined with us through unfounded hatred, we will be rebuilt and the world will be rebuilt with us through unfounded love.”

Therefore, in times of great division and dislike, it is our duty more than ever to unite above our differences and set an example of unity. This is the only remedy to our inability to establish a solid government, a solid society, and a peaceful life.
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