Question: The Israeli economy in 2016 is like a villa in the jungle. The world is in chaos, dramatic events follow one after another.

Yet in Israel we have a record number of tourist trips abroad, purchases of new cars, economic growth above 3%, the lowest unemployment rate in the last thirty years, and at the same time, increasing disparity of income and poverty.

That is, it’s a mixed picture, but in general, the year wasn’t bad, many countries would envy it. How can we explain that the world is shaking and the economic situation in Israel isn’t so bad?

Answer: The normal calculation doesn’t apply to Israel. So far we are given a possibility to exist safely. However, this postponement will soon be over if we don’t come to our senses and understand what should be done and how the whole world depends on us. But we depend on the connection between us, not of the world.

We have an interesting situation: the world feels dependent on Israel, which poisons its life, hates Israel for this, and pressures Israel. But Israel doesn’t feel dependent on the world, and it indeed doesn’t depend on anyone because it is above. Israel aims to attract the Light, the upper force, to the entire world to provide the world with the method of correction and to bring “Light to the nations.”

We feel that we don’t depend on the world, but the world depends on us, and we are proud of it. However, the world can react very badly and it is worthwhile considering this fact. Israel should unite and show to the whole world the method of connection that only we have. The world is getting closer to the critical point, and if we don’t unite before it is reached, there will be a big explosion. Then the world will fall on Israel with great hatred and accusations.

We shouldn’t wait for this moment; we should be prepared; we should reach out to the world and explain that we have something to give it. The main industry of Israel shouldn’t be high-tech but the method of connection. Everyone is talking about the need to find some method, but they can’t, and Israel has such a method.

Comment: Donald Trump said that he wants to unite America. Everyone understands the necessity of social harmony. So far, the only uniting thing is a hatred of Israel. Fourteen countries voted against Israel in the last vote in the United Nations, and only the United States abstained. Everybody around the world welcomed this decision, everybody has united against us.

Answer: The world begins to understand that Israel is the problem. But the Jews are not aware of our obligation to the world, we don’t understand what it means to be a Jew and that people hate us because we neglect our mission specified in the Torah.

Question: How does one overcome the split between the political right and left when each of them thinks they are correct and blames another?

Answer: We need to give the method of connection to everyone and explain that nobody is right; only through connection can we rise above all the differences. There we will receive an eternal reward.

Question: What is your forecast for 2017?

Answer: I hope very much that our organization Kabbalah la’Am and the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education Center will be able to connect with the people even more, and explain to them that our future depends on our connection where we reveal the upper world. And in the upper world we discover a higher dimension.
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From a “Talk About 2016 Results,” 12/25/16

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New Life 472 – The Contrast Between The Greek Approach And The Jewish Approach
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

What can we learn about man by the contrast between the Greek approach and the Jewish approach? Where is the system of nature leading us, and according to which approach should we act in order to bestow goodness unto the world?

Hellenization is a perception of reality according to which man is whole and does not need to correct his nature. There is an opposite approach that says from the outset our nature is evil and we need to correct it. The difference stems from the question of who is more important: me or others?

The Jews were different from everyone else since the days of Abraham, as they considered the other more important than oneself. Thanks to this approach, they perceived reality in a totally different manner. They saw the upper world and discovered the upper force. Their unique approach to life is not abstract but is very practical and can be applied in our daily life.

Today we have to return to the perception of the world that stems from connection and love and lead everyone to this. Humanity needs to develop the ability to feel the upper force. The word “Creator – Bore” stems from the Hebrew words “Bo  reh – come and see” the upper reality.

The process of exiting our self interest takes place according to a special method, in a group of people. Every person is born with the Greek perception and has to develop the human spirit in him, the Jewish approach. Developing the attribute of bestowal and love of others develops the sense with which he can feel the upper world, the world of giving.
[150275]
From KabTV’s “New Life 472 – The Contrast Between The Greek Approach And The Jewish Approach,” 12/14/14

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In the News (The Wall Street Journal): “As more Israeli women push to join combat units, the military is opening more roles to them, but the moves have met resistance among some former soldiers and the religious community. …

“’I think that in the end the woman’s role is to be a mother and to bring children into the world,’ retired Brig. Gen Avigdor Kahalani, a former Israeli tank commander, told Army Radio last month.”

Question:  Soon afterward Kahalani was accused of chauvinism and of wanting women to stay in the kitchen serving the home and the family. What is your opinion on this matter?

Answer: I believe that General Kahalani is right. We cannot go against nature. It is above us and we cannot change it.

A woman is a woman. She should be a homemaker, give birth, and do housework, not shoot. It is not for her. That’s the way it should be according to the Torah and the wisdom of Kabbalah. Therefore, I advise we stop this in time. We have enough manpower to recruit only men to the army.

Question: Don’t you fear that women will be offended?

Answer: Of course not. It all depends on their upbringing. I am not demeaning them; I am only saying that we are different.

I served in the army for four years and can say I don’t see any point in men and women serving together in military units and especially not in combat units. It is a great responsibility.

Men should fight, but this is not for women. Their business is the home, family, giving birth. I am speaking from the perspective of Kabbalah and nature. Women may come to their senses only in another 30-35 years, after having made many mistakes, but they will not succeed in going against nature. Not with anything, and all the more so in this matter.

We mar human nature, both men’s nature and women’s nature. We have to distinguish between the two, and only then will our society function properly.

We are special creatures, both men and women, and we have to protect the female nature.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 11/23/16

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From my weekly column in Ynet: “How Do We Change the Next UN Resolution?”

Chanukah symbolizes the victory of the few over the many; the victory of the Maccabees’ choice of the force of unity over the forces of separation. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah we can change the balance of power for the better only if we unite, so we could prevent the UN from voting against us. Just before the next anti-Israeli resolution comes up, Rav Laitman explains how we succeeded in the past and how we can succeed today.

If the UN Security Council had to vote on the establishment of the State of Israel today, chances are that most of members in the UN would vote against it and some countries would abstain. It is time we acknowledge that the Jewish State does not have many true friends among the 193 members of the UN

It is true that Barak Obama, the American president, is the one who initiated, led, and cooked up the last scandalous anti-Israeli resolution, choosing to end his administration this way. Even Britain, headed by the pro-Israeli Theresa May voted against Israel, just like Russia headed by Putin, Israel’s “friend”; every country according to considerations of expediency, as it is in politics. But Obama’s “revenge” is only a symptom. The problem is much greater.

If we put interests aside, we will discover that there is no state or nation today which truly supports Israel. Somehow, sooner or later, they condemn us. In some countries they actually hate us and in most countries they would simply be happy if we disappeared from the globe. This has been the attitude toward the state of Israel since the days of Ben Gurion and Golda Meir. You cannot connect it to the ongoing conflict with our cousins the Arabs since many nations like them even less than they like us. Could it be that the hatred stems from our geographical location? But we are also rejected abroad… and as for Israel, the hatred raged even before we settled here. The culprits may change each time, but the phenomenon remains.

When we face such significant moments in which the waves of hatred are growing threatening to wash us away, we should stop for a moment and try to understand why we are so hated and unworthy in the eyes of the world. Is there a root to the deep hatred that the other nations have been feeling toward us since the dawn of humanity?

The Law of Anti-Semitism

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, anti-Semitism, or anti-Israelism in its modern name, is not a passing phenomenon but a law of nature that can be measured. When we unite above our conflicts and disagreements, the positive force that can do wonders spreads in the world. On the other hand, when we are separated and divided, we invoke the negative force in the world, which boomerangs and hits us with a burst of anti-Semitism.

The irrational hatred that is gaining strength today reminds us the hard way that we have a role, and although we would be glad to avoid it, it is impossible. Even if we assimilate or blur our Israeli identity, we will forever remain Jews. We are the nation that carries the idea, the social ideal of love of man, the nation, and of the world. We became a nation on the basis of love of others that is expressed in the rule “love thy friend as thyself.” Only if we return to fulfill this love can we defuse the hatred the world feels toward us. Kabbalists tell us that we, the Jews, determine the fate of the world. The Book of Zohar says that just as the organs of the body cannot exist even for a moment without the heart, the nations of the world cannot exist in the world without Israel.

By uniting, we compel the world to unite and great abundance begins to flow. However, the division between us divides the other nations of the world and clogs the pipes of the abundance and invokes wars and hatred in humanity. The direct and the indirect outcome of this process pushes the nations of the world to harm the spiritual root called Israel and to try to annihilate us, since we are perceived as the root of all the evil in the world.

Baal HaSulam, Rav Yehuda Ashlag, the greatest Kabbalists of the 20^th century, said that the nation of Israel is a kind of a transmitter and to the extent that Israel are united, they can convey their power to the other nations of the world. He says that “we are the sons of the ideal” and only when we fulfill it and unite will we find peace.

Nowhere to Run

The UN Security Council resolution takes us back decades. It is enough to look around and see how countries, which just yesterday were considered to be stable, are crumbling and being destroyed. If international pressure is put on the State of Israel for a long time, it may make our life very difficult and take us back to the time when whole communities in enlightened Europe were destroyed. Although it seems that the Jewish nation has a stable home in the land of Israel, its success and its existence depend on the fulfillment of our role, as Baal HaSulam said, to build a model society in Israel based on the principles of connection and to convey this method to the world, since otherwise the whole Zionist movement will be disintegrated.

The cry of Baal HaSulam, who warned people of the anti-Semitic events of the past century and who knew the laws of nature that operate in reality, still echoes today and is more relevant today than ever. The UN Security Council resolution 2334 should be a reminder of our role: to unite and to be Light unto the nations of the world—to set a good example of a corrected society in which everyone lives in brotherly love above all differences.

Even the vain attempts to find shelter in the shade of the new administration headed by President-elect Donald
Trump and to expect him to save us will not rid us of our duty. We may feel short-term relief regarding our security, but eventually we will once again advance toward our fatal choice, just as we did when we first became a nation at the gathering before Mt. Sinai.

Then, at the foot of the mountain, we managed to overcome the mountain of hatred and connected as one man in one heart. If we connect as one bundle today, we will be able to harness the hatred the world feels toward to our favor. As long as we continue to treat each other cruelly, the world will be cruel to us. So as it says in our sources: “the main thing that protects Israel from calamity is love and unity, and when there is love and unity and friendship among the people of Israel, no calamity can harm them.” (“Maor VaShemesh“)
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Ynet 12/27/16

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New Life 795 – The Wisdom Of The Tribe
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

According to the program of nature, we should not leave the tribal framework. Egoism keeps us apart from each other and we need to learn to connect.

A person becomes wiser in a tribe because he learns the wisdom of nature, the wisdom of connection.

In the emotional or spiritual dimension, we discover that we are all one, that all of us are part of the system of Adam HaRishon (the First Man).

Abraham taught his students how to connect above the growing egoism that separates us, about how “love covereth all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12), so they were successful in protecting tribal life through connection. In connection, we discover the inner power in nature, the good force, the force of connection, thanks to which everything exists. The revelation of this force develops wisdom in us. “Hochma” (wisdom) is composed of the same letters as “Koach Ma” (what strength). A person learns to identify in advance the negative forces that come and knows how to balance them with the help of positive forces.

Nature is a single connected system, a positive energy called life flows between all the living cells in nature; the upper force connects everything. If we transcend the ego, we penetrate into the nature of the upper world, the door to a new world.

Life today is compelling us to return to the wisdom of connection that Abraham discovered and to become a single connected tribe.

Physics explores the connection between inanimate particles, while the wisdom of Kabbalah explores beyond time, movement, and space.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 795 – The Wisdom Of The Tribe,” 11/29/16

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In my regular column in the Jerusalem Post, my new article: “Israel’s best response to the UN resolution“

Predictably, Obama is using his last weeks in office to accomplish his anti-Israel goals. But how should Israel respond?

Even as Israel rightfully decries the UN resolution, it must also see that this unanimous vote of hate and anger against it bears a strong message. The world is expecting Israel to lead the way to a solution, and fast. But it is up to Israel to figure out what that solution must be.

What the World Doesn’t Know

As I wrote in my last column, the resolution is but the culmination of Obama’s eight years of efforts to force his destructive neoliberal policies upon the world. I have already written of the error inherent to liberalism, that its high and lofty aims may be correct, but it lacks the path to achieve them.

At the end of this year of terror, which world leaders have not known how to prevent, and as the world witnesses Europe suffering the deadly results of its neoliberal open border approach towards Muslim immigrants, these leaders have the audacity to try and force the same liberal mistakes upon Israel without the least concern of the security implications it would have on such a tiny state. For what actual solution to the conflict is the UN offering? How can Obama, European leaders, and the leaders of countries such as crime torn Venezuela teach Israel anything about resolving the core issues that divide Israelis and Palestinians?

Just as world leaders recklessly thought that simply letting in millions of people of completely different cultures into their land, with no prior preparation for this assimilation on the human, psychological level, would magically result in a peaceful heaven, they are now pushing for an artificial two-state solution that may bear the title of mutual “independence”, and calm the liberal conscience, but will do nothing to achieve peaceful coexistence between the two nations.

Israel has learned from its mistakes. The withdrawal from the Gaza Strip ended in the further escalation of violence toward Israel. The agricultural lands of Jewish settlers were turned into rocket launching platforms with underground terror tunnels beneath them, inciting an inevitable war that brought about so many casualties, especially on the Palestinian side. Nothing can assure us that the same will not happen with a withdrawal to all other pre-1967 borders.

What the World Does Know

However ineffective the efforts, there is good reason that world leaders push to see this conflict resolved. The amount of pressure and attention that this conflict has received along the way is not only indicative of the huge bias against Israel. Outgoing UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon himself admitted the bias, with 223 UN resolutions passed in the last decade condemning Israel, but only 6 condemning Syria–the location for the past six years of the most horrifying humanitarian crisis since WWII. It is also indicative of how the world somehow feels that THIS crisis is the source of all others, that solving this conflict will model for the world the remedy for all its other ills.

The enigma of this attitude towards Israel is rooted deep in Israel’s past and future. At present it is clear to see that subconsciously, the world expects Israel to solve its problems; it just doesn’t understand how.

Above Right and Left

It is up to Israel to find the answers. However, though Israel is right to refuse to repeat the mistakes of the past, which will endanger its safety, it does not mean that it is heading in the right direction. As Israel tightens its security measures and avoids contact with the other side, the problem is not actually treated, assuring that war and strife will continue.

New solutions are needed that go beyond what has been tried so far. The typical leftist approach calls for conciliations that irresponsibly overlook the culture gaps, hatred, and religious ideologies; while the typical approach of the political Right is the maintenance of security and furthering Israel’s goals, living forever upon our sword, without taking real steps to achieve the coexistence that will bring the conflict to its solution. Neither approach on its own can yield the desired results. What I believe CAN work is something completely different.

Israel Holds the Key

What must first be acknowledged is that coexistence when such deeply rooted hate is present is not born of decisions made on paper or by swapping land, but from true change of relations and attitudes between the two sides. Without such a change in the reality of the animosity between the nations, they will continue to fight each other in a zero sum war until one side is completely erased.

Secondly, complete separation is not possible. Evacuating Jews from all settlements and creating a “Jew free zone” will not cure the hate and the danger to Israel, with Hamas’ charter stating its intent to destroy it, and children being educated to murder every Jew. Moreover, Israel is not “Muslim free”; it is a society embedded with many religions and cultures. Thus, achieving a breakthrough in the quality of the relationships between Israelis and Palestinians is crucial for all.

Some might say it is impossible to achieve such unity, but they must know that it is not so. For millennia Jews have been unknowingly carrying within them the one method that can connect people above all differences.

Abraham’s Discovery

Thousands of years ago Abraham, the father of all Abrahamic religions and the common father of Jews and Palestinians, discovered the secret of the oneness of all life. He taught his disciples the method of achieving harmony between human beings. This deep wisdom which the world has come to know of, ever so superficially, by the precepts of “love thy neighbor as thyself” and “do not do to others what you hate”- was forgotten by most. But it was not lost. It was carried onwards for generations and elaborated by Jewish sages of Kabbalah in many texts such as the Book of Zohar and more recently, the writings of Baal Hasulam. Today, as it receives modern day practical forms, it is succeeding in bringing together Jews and Muslims in every opportunity that it is applied to the task.

The method of Abraham comes from the root of both nations and so it is the only way to move towards the healing of this ancient family strife. Rabbi Kook wrote of the future of these relations that “the brotherly love of Esau and Jacob, of Isaac and Ishmael, will raise them above all calamity, caused by evil, and turn them into light and mercy” (Igrot Haraia 1, 142).

I have had the privilege and responsibility to carry forward this wisdom and pass it on to my many students, who already implement it in discussion circles throughout Israel.

They have succeeded greatly in bringing together Jews and Arabs as you can see here, time and time again. This success can be replicated and must be the basis for any peace process; because peace begins with the people, with education, with changing mindsets and predispositions. Only by carefully constructing such peace in our societies can we expect the decisions made by leaders to last and bring good results into our lives.
We mustn’t give away the land or compromise security without first making sure that a process of education towards peace has actually changed the landscape of people’s hearts and minds. Those should be the settlements we fight for- the establishments of love and friendship between us, the building of bridges between our hearts. Only then will we be able to live our lives in happiness and security. Yes, Israel must defend itself, but also strive for this sort of change to take place.

Forecast For 2017

I predict that the world will continue to blindly pressure Israel to take the initiative. Though Trump may make things easier for Israel, it mustn’t think that it may rest on its laurels. It must continue to strive to create the coexistence between Jews and Arabs that only Israel can achieve, that will give the desperately needed example to the world of how to create peace in conflicted societies.

If Israel manages to pressure itself into finding this root solution to the conflict, it will gain immensely. Ultimately, a united Israel will bring an end to the war and to the great hatred the nations share toward it, as it finally assumes its destined position as the spiritual leader of the world, paving the way towards lasting peace. To the nations I say, pressure Israel to unite, not to withdraw. To Jews I say, don’t be tempted to take sides; unite above your differences. Only when you realize you hold the key, and find the way to create peace within you, will this conflict and all others be healed.
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  Jerusalem Post 12/29/16

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From my column in Ynet: “Who Is Running ISIS?”

Daesh [ISIS] stands at the head of the list of threatening phenomena at the conclusion of 2015. Who is really running the murderous terrorist organization, and what is the connection between the shaming on social networks of a former prime minister who was sentenced to prison and lecturers who were sent with ministers?

The rising world star of 2015 is undoubtedly Daesh—an organization that was crowned with the strongest and most sweeping brand name for this year, thanks to its widespread outbreak into the depth of international consciousness. Throughout the entire past year, hideous snuff films were posted on the social networks including: beheadings, rapes and murders of women, showcase attacks throughout the world, and stabbing and trampling attacks in the streets.

Daesh, the extremist terrorist organization, is indeed presenting the most brutal terrorist performance on the world stage, but if we take a deeper look, we will discover that we are also connected and we have a responsibility in this story (1).

Daesh is Here

The Book of Zohar indicates that we are all networked in a system of invisible connections. Imagine a network that closely links each one of us to every other person, a kind of network of thoughts and emotions that flow between us and dictate decisions and what we do in our lives.

Similar to a person, this network of connections is divided into two main parts: head and body. Each organ in this system has a defined role (2). The people of Israel serve as the “Rosh – head” (“Israel” = “Li-Rosh” – “I have a head”), and the world functions as the “body” (3).

When an ordinary person wakes up a bad thought, violence against another Jew, or even just an uncontrollable urge to “kill” or to “stab,” this thought within the “head of the system” necessarily transforms into a command in the “body of the system.”

It is not only extreme acts such as murder, stabbing, or severe violence toward others, even when I curse a driver who passes me wildly on the highway or I erupt at a clerk at the NII [government agency] or at the neighborhood children who are disturbing my rest, even then I am arousing evil.

The problem with thoughts is that they are immediately realized in the blink of an eye. Somewhere in another place, someone already goes to act out “my thought” in action against another person. As is written in The Book of Zohar (VaYehi): “Israel causes the rest of the peoples to lift their heads in the world.”

According to that perception, when a terrorist stabs a Jew in the streets of Israel—the root for this abominable deed is the direct result of those countless negative thoughts that pass through our minds and are also expressed in our negative attitudes toward each other (4).

The Hidden Connection Between the Relationships Between Us and the State of the World

These days we are dealing with increasing waves of global hatred toward the nation of Israel (5). Recognizing the fact that specifically here, in the system of relationships that we build between us in the nation of Israel, the fate of humanity is decided, and when hatred breaks out between us, it “awakens” hatred throughout the world through that hidden system of connections.
Were the enemy not so cruel, we would continue to fight and quarrel with each other.

Suddenly a terrorist murders hundreds of people in Paris. The enlightened world blames us as being responsible for the deed—an example is Sweden, which marches at the head of the haters camp, it is not ashamed to point an accusing finger at the nation of Israel as being responsible for world terror. A Daesh leader contending with many war fronts turns specifically to threaten the Jews and anti-Israeli organizations call from every stage possible to boycott us.

We must understand that things are decided for the good or for the bad on a more internal stratum. Bad thoughts and negative attitudes between us invite a hostile attitude and anti-Semitic actions toward us because “No calamity comes into the world except on account of Israel” (Yebamot 63a) (6).

Connection Is Our DNA

By virtue of our role as the “head of the system,” we must inject the power of connection, the power of vitality, into the rest of the peoples (7). This connection is our essence as the chosen people even from the days of our father Abraham who gathered us into a single nation from a jumble of foreign tribes in ancient Babylon (8).

In a sense, we must admit that Daesh are our “friends”—not because of the destruction and cruelty they bring into the world, but for the necessary uncovering that has been imposed upon us to change the basis of the relationships between us, and first and foremost, the thoughts that we scatter around the world (9). A change like this will lead us from brotherly hatred to love of Israel.

As strange as it all sounds, it is up to us to “thank” Daesh, because were it not for such a cruel enemy, we would continue to fight and quarrel with each other. Daesh grants us an opportunity to actualize our function as a people—to connect between us as one person with one heart and to restore the force of positive connection to the world. The beauty is that when we connect between us, the threat of Daesh will dissipate. This terrorist organization is “activated” by us like a puppet on strings; so when we unite—Daesh is afraid! (10).

The Real Enemy Is Us

The most important task before us is to unite against our real enemy – the separation, polarization, and division between us. We are guilty of making it possible for terrorism and all the evil in the world to run wild. The way to contend with the growing hatred is to apply the wisdom of connection—the wisdom of Kabbalah, by means of which we can elevate the value of unity above the growing egoism and self-concern (11).

The separation between us makes it possible for the ideology of Daesh to occupy the center of the world stage. It is an ideology that is based on the false unity of hatred. In contrast to it stands the ideology of unity of love for others, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18); only through its power can we neutralize every enemy from the evil power that nourishes
it and win the affection of the world (12).

So what will happen in 2016? It depends on our thoughts!

References:

1.“The Holy One Blessed be He made Israel the heart of the whole world. And that is how Israel among all the nations of the world, as a heart among the organs. And just as the organs of the body cannot exist in the world for even a moment without the heart, so all the nations cannot exist in the world without Israel” (Zohar for the People, Parshat Pinhas, 152)

“There is an intermediary phase between the totality of the world and the Creator, and it is the Israeli soul, which is very exalted in its root, and it is really a part of the divine, and it is the intermediary that connects between the totality of the world and the Creator. And through it the abundance and vitality and the existence of all the worlds is drawn; and so everything depends on Israel” (“Likkutei Halachot”, Birchat HaReiach and Birchat Hodah”, Halacha 4).

“The peace of the worlds dwells within this nation” (Bereshit Rabba, Parshah 66).

“Israel brings its light to the world, as it is said (Isaiah 60:3), ‘And nations shall walk at thy light’” (Midrash Rabba, Shir HaShirim, Parshat 4, Paska 2).

2.“You have no organ found in a person that doesn’t have a person correspondent to it in the world. For just as the human body is divided into organs and all of them stand on different levels, each one correcting the other, and all of them are one body, it is the same with the world, all of these people in the world are all various organs, and stand on different levels. And when all are corrected, they will really be a single body” (Zohar for the People, Parshat Toldot, 3).

3.“The word “Ysar-El” (Israel) are the letters of “Li Rosh” (the head (mind) is mine). This means that he believes he has a mind of Kedusha (Sanctity)” (Rav Yehudah Ashlag, Baal HaSulam, the article, “Shamati” 143).

“Israel are the first and foremost receivers of all the abundance, and from them it is distributed to the whole world. And so Israel is called ‘Li Rosh’, meaning that they are the head phase, receiving the blessing first, and after that coming to the world” (“Be’er Mayim Chayim”, Parshat Trumah, Chapter 25).

“…a branch that extends from the internality is the people of Israel, which has been chosen as an operator of the general purpose and correction. It contains the preparation required for growing and developing until it moves the nations of the worlds, too, to achieve the common goal. The branch that extends from the externality is the nations of the world. They have not been imparted the qualities that make them worthy of receiving the development of the purpose one at a time. Rather, they are fit to receive the correction at once and to the fullest, according to their Higher Root” (Rav Yehudah Ashlag – Baal HaSulam, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”).

4.“…this is why the world was created filled with so many people, each with his own thoughts and opinions, and all are present in a single world. It is so deliberately, so that each and every one….is incorporated in all the alien notions and thoughts of the entire world.” (Rav Yehudah Ashlag – Baal HaSulam, Shamati 33).

“Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Shimon said, ‘Because the world is judged according to the majority, an individual is judged by the majority of his deeds. So if he performs one good deed, happy is he for tipping the scale for himself and the world to the side of merit; if he commits one transgression, woe to him for he has tipped the scale and for himself and the whole world to the side of guilt’” (Kiddushin 40b).

“The essence of the creation, choice, correction and destruction of the world, all of these depend upon Israel” (“Siach Yitzhak,” Part 2, Likkutim 1).

5.“How many troubles upon troubles there will be for Israel, and all the nations and their kings will testify against them together, and many evil decrees will be aroused. And all of them will come against them with one testimony, bringing troubles upon troubles, and the last will make the first forgotten” (Zohar for the People, Parshat Shemot, 96-98).

“It is a fact that Israel is hated by all the nations, whether for religious, racial, capitalist, communist, or for cosmopolitan reasons, etc. It is so because the hatred precedes all reasons, but each merely resolves its loathing according to its own psychology” (Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag – Baal HaSulam, The Writings of the Last Generation, Part One, Section Nine).

6.“Were Israel to store up good deeds before the Holy One, Blessed be He, no people in the world would stand against them. But Israel causes the rest of the nations to raise their heads in the world. Because if Israel were not sinners before the Holy One, Blessed be He, the rest of the nations would surrender to them” (Zohar for the People, Parshat VaYehi, 412-413).
“When Israel sins, God forbid, then the Other Side truly has power to overcome the power of Israel” (Likkutei Halachot, Hilchot Tisha B’Av and Fasts, Halacha 4).

7.“Kedusha (the Sacred) extends from Israel to the whole world” (Zohar for the People, Parshat Emor, 92).
“…the Israeli nation was to be a ‘transition.’ This means that to the extent that Israel cleanse themselves by keeping the Torah, so they pass their power on to the rest of the nations” (Rav Yehudah Ashlag – Baal HaSulam, “The Love for the Creator & Love for the Created Beings”).

8.“At the age of 40 Abraham became aware of his Creator…and he began to stand up and proclaimed with a loud voice to all of the people, and informed them that there is one God for the whole world that should be served. And he went and called and gathered people from city to city and from kingdom to kingdom…until thousands and myriads gathered to him, and they were the people of the House of Abraham. And he planted in their hearts this great principle, and he wrote books…and this increased among the children of Jacob and those who accompanied them, and a nation was made in the world which knew the Creator” (Maimonides, “Mishnah Torah”, Sefer HaMeda, Hilchot Avodah Zarah, Chapter 1).

“The secret of the unity of the world dwells in Israel” (Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook, “Ohrot HaKodesh 2” 415).

9.If it is impossible to blow a Shofar suitable for redemption, the enemies of Israel will come and trumpet for the redemption in our ears. They will trumpet and make noise in our ears and will not let us rest. Amalek, Hitler,may their names be erased, and so forth, awaken the redemption. This national scourge of the ‘Jewish problem’ there is a kind of redemption even in that, however one should not bless this Shofar” (Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook, “Ma’amrei HaRaiah”, Volume 11).

“This Zionism therefore sees the Jews – as separate people united against their will by a ‘common enemy’. But it will not see the Judaism – the single block which aspires to exist in its unity even without any external compulsion. This is the main deficiency, which is discovered in all of its ways and deeds” (Ahad Ha’am, “The Congress and its Creator”)
“We are a people. The enemy involuntarily consolidates us into a people, as it always has been in history” (Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl, “The Jewish Nation”).

“All of the global noise…primarily only comes for Israel. They are calling us now for a great and sacred role, fulfilling it willingly and consciously, building ourselves and the whole ruined world together with us” (Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook, “Igorot HaRaiah” 2, page 324).

10.“Every king or leader, although we see him rule for a long time, and it is in his hand to kill and to give life, enrich and impoverish, is nevertheless not a true king, because he does not himself have dominion or will because (Mareh Yehezkel Bamidbar Parshat Naso) ‘The heart of kings and princes is in the hands of the Creator’” (“Yismach Moshe”, Parshat Nitzavim).
“When there is love, unity and friendship between each other in Israel, there is no place for any calamity to fall upon them” (Meor VeShemesh, Parshat Nitzavim).

11.”The wisdom of truth teaches us about world unity, the side of equality that is to be found in all of existence to the highest, the image of the form that is created and how to go in the way of this light without an obstacle” (Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook, “Ohrot HaKodesh 2”, 393).

12.“Reduction of the bad qualities in Israel, which provides the vitality of the idolaters, gradually reduces the idolaters. And everything depends on Israel” (“Arvei Nahal”, Parshat Lech Lecha).
“When Israel are like one person with one heart, they are like a wall against the forces of evil” (Shem MiShmuel, Parshat VaYikahel).

“The children of Israel were made as a guarantee for correcting the whole world with the power of Torah because everything depends on the children of Israel. Just as they correct themselves, all of creation is drawn after them” (“Sphat Emet”, Sefer Shemot, Parshat Yitro).

“Building the world, which is presently collapsing at the feet of the terrible storms of swords filled with blood, requires building the Israeli nation. Building the nation and the discovery of its spirit is one thing, and it is entirely united with building the world, which is crumbling and waiting for the full power of unity and elevation. And all of this is found in the soul of the congregation of Israel” (Rav Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook, “Ohrot”, 70, 16).

“And all the nations will acknowledge and recognize Israel’s merit over them, until the realization of the words, ‘And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord’ (Isaiah 14:2), and also “Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my standard to the peoples: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried on their shoulders” (Isaiah 49:22).” (Rav Yehudah Ashlag, Baal HaSulam, Introduction to the Book of Zohar, 69).
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From Ynet article 12/30/15

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World, New Publications - No Comments →

New Life 656 – From Greece To ISIS
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Today there is no Greek approach with Greek mythology, etc. in the world. This approach later developed into Christianity. Islam is occupying the stage today, assuring people of a good life here and heaven immediately if people just agree to join their ideology.

The goal of extremist Islam is to scare Europeans so they will be afraid to leave their houses. In contrast to Islam, Judaism never forced itself on anyone. Eventually extremist Islam and Christianity will come against Israel.

The Maccabee perception says that we must unite with love and destroy the Greeks among us, the forces of separation. Within “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) we discover “And you shall love the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 6:5), the upper force in nature. Mattathias the Hasmonean said: “Whoever is for the Creator, follow me”—this was an invitation to connect to life with the force of love and bestowal.

Today the call, “Whoever is for the Creator, follow me,” is directed to all of humanity.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 656 – From Greece To ISIS,” 12/3/15

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Comment: On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to divide Palestine into two states, into an Arab and a Jewish state. Later, the 29^th of November became the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. On the one hand, the UN declared that there are two states, and on the other hand, this is a solidarity day only with the Palestinian people.

My Comment: The UN constantly takes an anti-Semitic stand so it is not surprising at all. We simply have to understand how to act so that all its decisions will not have a negative impact. We have to carry out our mission regardless of what the nations of the world do in the form of the UN, UNESCO, and other international organizations.

If we performed our mission as a nation among the other nations of the world, we would have no enemies, everyone would support us and appreciate their relations with us and be thankful for the enormous good force that we would bring the world thanks to which the world exists. But we don’t do that.

Only the nation of Israel can bring the Creator closer to the world, so that His good force will begin to fill everything. Therefore, all the other nations of the world resent us, subconsciously they feel that we can do it, but we don’t.

Question: How can we feel the responsibility that we have?

Answer: We must believe what Kabbalists say and understand that they attained all the forces and systems that sustain our world. That is why they warn us.

Question: Can a modern person who doesn’t believe anything anymore suddenly start believing, just like that?

Answer: No, he has to study the wisdom of Kabbalah and thus be able to see that this system operates. After all, you can also deny Newton’s second law, if you declare that “you don’t believe!” But when a brick falls on your head instead of an apple, you realize that it has nothing to do with faith. This is the reason that people should become familiar with the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 11/30/16

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From my column in Ynet: “Unity Log: What Makes Us Israelis Happy?”

The wondering of so many people about the meaning of life is what motivated me to go on a cross-national journey from north to south, to meet with local leadership and mayors, and to speak with thousands of people about how to fulfill the method of connection between us. As the holiday season ends, Rav Laitman summarizes his cross-national journey in Israel.

I have spent the last couple of years in my room, deeply engaged in Kabbalistic writings, writing articles for the world press, trying to explain the authentic wisdom of Kabbalah and its relevance to our lives through a variety of media channels. Every morning between three to six a.m., as Kabbalists have studied for ages, I give the daily Kabbalah lesson to thousands of students.

Hundreds of people sit before me in the Kabbalah La’am center in Petach Tikva and thousands more join them through the Internet from all over Israel and the world: from Berlin, New York, Moscow, Tokyo, South America, Africa, and even from Arab countries. I teach only from authentic Kabbalistic sources, and together we study this ancient wisdom of how to connect.

The flow of questions sent to me daily by students and by people who surf the web and social networks, along with the genuine concern for what is happening in Israeli society, have spurred me to get up from my desk and break my daily routine to go out on a lecture tour and meetings throughout the State of Israel to tell people everywhere about the method of connection that can unite Israel.

In this coming year, the State of Israel are facing serious dangers. The UN and UNESCO are acting against our right to exist by denying our connection to our Jewish heritage. The BDS organizations are doing their best to delegitimize the State of Israel. Anti-Semitism is raising its ugly head as Jews all over the world are being persecuted, and the world media keep defaming our name. This trend, which is threatening our very existence, will not stop and will only keep growing. There are quite a few organizations in the world today are acting in order to destroy the State of Israel, and if it were possible, the international community would strive to remove us from the historical map. The only solution we can resort to is to tighten the relationships between us, to unite forces, and fulfill our unique role. As soon as we begin to connect between us, humanity’s hostile attitude toward us will immediately change to a supportive attitude. The journey of “connecting Israel” that I went on made me feel that the nation of Israel is asking for unity and gave me hope that its people will get closer to each other.

Critical Times

We started the journey from the northernmost point, at the foot of Naftali Mount at Kibbutz Kfar Hanasi.
The audience, which included members of kibbutzes in the area and people from the upper Galilee settlements and villages, did not remain indifferent and demanded an explanation as to how I know that Israel is facing critical times. I explained that, according to the global perspective of nature, the nation of Israel has a mission. If we postpone the mission we were given to fulfill the method of connection by ourselves and to convey it to humanity, we might miss the opportunity we were given to improve and better our lives. All we must learn is how to cover all of our transgressions with love as the wisdom of Kabbalah tells us.

My journey continued to an impressive event in the “energy city” of Hadera. I had a very interesting conversation with Mr. Tzvi Gendelman, the mayor of Hadera, and we talked about the contribution of the discussion circles that my students are holding for the people of Hadera. I was happy to meet a very lively and intrigued audience at the local Kabbalah La’am center who inquired about how I believe we can change the face of Israeli society. I explained that, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the change can only come from strengthening the force of connection between us.

It was actually my encounter with the people of Tel Aviv during the third stop along my journey that I felt a kind of turning point. The city that doesn’t sleep has changed, and while the image of Tel Aviv has been the capital of egoism, audacity, and thoughtlessness for years, I actually felt a totally different spirit in the young audience who came in mass to the Kabbalah La’am center in Tel Aviv. I was asked provoking and relevant questions, but I was especially impressed by the desire to understand where our life in the 21^st century is headed. It seems that it is actually because Tel Aviv is such a global city that the awareness of what is happening in the world has a very strong impact on it and arouses doubts among the people. Therefore, my encounter with the people of Tel Aviv, such a friendly, open, modern city, revealed a great potential for the fulfillment of the feeling of unity.

I or We?

In Haifa, I held a series of meetings with several local leaders—including the mayor of HaifaMr. Yona Yahav, the mayor of Nesher Mr. Avi Binemo, and the mayor of Acre Mr. Shimon Lankri. The three leaders are very different from each other, and each understands in his own way how deep the crisis is in Israeli society. Being the public’s representatives and as a result of their daily work with people, they understand and identify with the need for unity in Israeli society as the solution for all of the problems that we are facing.

“Everyone has been against the Jews for ages, and I don’t see any change in the future,” concluded the mayor of Haifa. “Unfortunately, we are not guarding our precious state, and I am not surprised that the younger generation wants to leave the country. This is the reason that I go out to teach citizenship studies to twelfth graders. I tell the students that seventy years after they burned us in the Holocaust, history is repeating itself. We destroyed the First Temple, we destroyed the Second Temple, and in the same way, we will also destroy the Third Temple, the last chance God has given us after the blow of the Holocaust. I am devastated after every lesson. The division in the nation is growing, and the ‘I’ dominates the ‘we.’It is our duty to fight this phenomenon as soon as possible and with all of our might.”

The troubling encounter with the mayors, the opposing reactions, and the rejection that I encounter with regard to the message of connection in humanity and with regard to the articles I publish in the global press, along with the growing crisis in Europe, sharpen my understanding of how far the world has deteriorated and the extent to which its hatred of Israel has grown. No, I am not speaking only about anti-Semites, but also about the attitude of the Jews who live abroad who display an increasingly negative attitude toward the State of Israel. Unfortunately, it is actually they who are leading the organizations that are trying to delegitimize the State of Israel.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, there is one reason for that: the hostility that our Jewish brothers overseas display toward us stems from the fact that we are not fulfilling our role in correcting the world. Our right to exist on our land depends on the close connection between us and on bringing our hearts together. Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) said a hundred years ago that we are living here on borrowed time and that the chance we were given is only in order to allow us to fulfill our role as Light unto the nations of the world, which means to connect as one man in one heart, thus setting an example for all of the nations of the world. The choice of whether to implement it or miss the opportunity is in our hands.

The New Israeli

Despite the dangers the nation of Israel faces, I am very hopeful that we will succeed. My dedicated students in the numerous centers of Kabbalah La’am all over Israel and the public who yearn to understand the wisdom of connection, which I have met on my journey throughout Israel, make me believe that the message of connection will eventually permeate among the people and that we will all change for the better.

I continued my journey to Ashkelon, Beer Sheva, Rehovot, and other cities. I was warmly welcomed everywhere, and the atmosphere was good. I enjoyed hearing the many intriguing and advanced questions about how to implement the method of connection. At the end of the final event in Ashkelon, I received a big bouquet of flowers and wished that the people of Ashkelon and all people in Israel would celebrate the new year peacefully.

We have a very special nation and incredible people, and I hope and pray that we will wake up, connect, and understand that the key to our success is in the good relationships between us, thus restoring the prosperous life of the past, of the times when brotherly love flourished among us and the nations of the world were nourished by the force of unity between us. Now that the holidays are over, I wish the people of Israel a good new year, a year of positive changes.
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From Ynet article 10/25/16

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