Comment: According to a recent survey in France, about 60% of French citizens believe that the Jews are partly responsible for the growing anti-Semitism in France. 56% believe that the Jews are very influential and that they are richer than the average Frenchman; 40% say that their presence in the media is exaggerated and 13% claim that there are too many Jews in France. Generally speaking, the French don’t like the Jews.

Answer: Of course, that’s the way it has always been. The French dislike the Jews more than all other nations. But now the inclination toward anti-Semitism will grow all over the world because the world has reached a state in which it is obliged to correct itself and this cannot be delayed any longer. The general global egoism cannot develop any further, and so it begins to devour itself. And consequently more and more hatred is manifested.

People will suffer from the growing egoism and will not find a way to get rid of it. They will instinctively feel that the Jews have the key for the correction, but are not fulfilling their mission. Therefore along with the growing egoism, the subconscious hatred toward the Jews will grow, indicating that they are responsible for everything. The truth is that they are to blame, not for the sufferings, but for the fact that they don’t heal humanity of their sufferings.

Comment: But the Jews themselves don’t really understand that.

Answer: The Jews don’t understand that and neither do the nations of the world.

Question: So what do we want of the Jews?!

Answer: Nothing. We want Kabbalists who understand the essence of egoism to explain it as soon as possible to everyone, even to those who don’t want to hear. We have to go out and cry out on every street corner, everywhere, and in every possible way, through the media, in every language, all over the world, both to Jews and to the peoples of the world.

This is the only way that we can make people gradually listen to us. There will be more and more blows; we will feel bad and they will feel bad, and eventually everyone will listen to why the nations of the world hate the Jews, and especially the Jews will hear why the nations of the world hate us.

Then the Jews will begin to study the wisdom of Kabbalah and will unite, setting an example for the other nations of the world, which will gladly begin to unite around the Jews. It is like sourdough that you add to dough which begins to ferment. And the Jewish people perform the role of the sourdough. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah says and we cannot escape it.

But now the starter is not performing its function, and so people feel natural hatred towards us. When one of the nations calls out to a Jew: “I hate you and I will kill you,” they mean” just show us how to connect and unite and we will follow you.”

Question: Why do the people of the world believe that the reason for their troubles is the lack of connection between the Jews?

Answer: It is instinctive; they don’t actually know why and how.

Question: What is the magical thing?

Answer: The source of power is in this connection, the wellbeing of the whole world, because it is actually in the connection between them, between all the parts that are opposite from creation, especially on the highest level, on the human level, that there is a great force that will bring goodness, warmth, and wellbeing to our world. This connection reveals perfection and eternity.

The Jews have to be the first to unite and set an example for the whole world that demands it from them. This is exactly what we Kabbalists have to tell the whole world. We should show, teach, and set an example, which means to be Light unto the nations of the world.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 2/3/16

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New Life 715 – The Children Of Israel In Egypt, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

How does Egypt represent a person’s ego? How do the figures in the story about the exodus from Egypt illustrate forces that operate in a person, and what is the analogy between the slavery in Egypt and the crisis the world is undergoing today?

The story of the exodus from Egypt in its literary sense is well known all over the world, why is unclear. However, if we wish to penetrate the inner meaning of this story and understand the forces that build the figures in it, we must get away from the simple description of the characters in the story. Our world is managed in the same way that different forces create the display on a computer screen. Reality is made of two forces: the force of bestowal and the force of receiving, the Creator and the created being.

The Creator’s hand turns the images from inside, and it also motivates Batya to pull Moses out of the Nile. Moses symbolizes a special force that should correct all of the other desires that are in the attribute of receiving and take them out of Egypt, which symbolizes the ego. Moses was raised as a prince in Pharaoh’s home, egoistic system of healthy capitalism where everyone cares only about himself and everything revolves around money.

Money (Kesef) represents the ability to cover (Kisuf) (same root in Hebrew), the ability to pay for the fulfillment of my desire, while Egypt symbolizes the same dream that we have in our world today. Today, we can no longer manage our world in this way because it is against the Creator, the quality of love and bestowal, and so we must advance to a system in which everyone examines what he can give to others and not receive.

When the children of Israel fled from Egypt, it was because they did not want to live according to their lust for money, according to the desire to receive, and felt that it meant death for them. The alternative is to live in love, not in pride, and this is what Moses represents.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 715 – The Children Of Israel In Egypt, Part 1,” 4/14/16

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Question: Over eleven million confidential financial documents were leaked from a Panamanian legal firm. It turns out that through this firm businessmen, politicians, and billionaires evaded taxes. Among them were 72 past and present heads of government. Apparently six hundred Israeli companies and 850 Israelis were involved in these machinations. Do you think that they will be prosecuted?

Answer: I can’t imagine who would prosecute them! No matter what happens, the powerful people of this world, the bank managers and the heads of state, have closed major accounts that are officially registered under the names of their children and grandchildren, and nothing can be done about this. It is impossible to undermine them. They will put a few minor officials in their place who will be suddenly pushed aside and removed from their positions and they will take the money.

Comment: Still we have a president and a previous minister in Israel who are accused.

Answer: For the time being a full fusion of an oligarchy with the government in Israel has not occurred, in which one covers the other. And even if you are my political or economic adversary, we still have a private agreement that in these areas, I won’t interfere, and you won’t either. This hasn’t settled in Israel yet so within this country with lots of scandals this will gradually pass.

When I arrived in Israel 40 years ago, it wasn’t possible to consider giving someone a bribe. But in the past 40 years we have become like all the rest of the world. As a result, in part, it will lead the world to realize that we must get rid of our egoism, to rise above it. 60% or 70% of what we earn goes into a black case and disappears down some hole, which provides no benefit!

If all were revealed: how much humanity earns, how much is spent its benefit, and how much it causes harm, it would be found out that 90% are harmed!

Question: Does money have a spiritual root?

Answer: Money is a covering on desires. If I can work with my desire correctly, meaning that I use it for good deeds, then this desire is covered by a screen called “money” (Kesef), “yearning” (Kisuf). The “branch” of this characteristic in our world is money. Gold is a harmful metal, which symbolizes greed, a craving for profit, pure egoism. Gold is Malchut, (silver) money is Bina.

Question: Will this greed destroy humanity?

Answer: Eventually it will lead to the recognition of evil and humanity will need to get rid of it.

Question: Does this mean that the rulers of the world cannot be punished? Is there some kind of punishment for them?

Answer: There cannot be any punishment. We are working in a single egoistic system and the one in a high position, can do whatever he wants. Even if someone else were to stand in his place, it would be the same.

Question: Does this mean that there is no way out of this situation?

Answer: The only way out is through education, compulsory education for all executives.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/4/16

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New Life 555 – Life In Perpetual War
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

After so much suffering it’s time to ask why is this happening to us? After all, there is nothing accidental in nature.

After not finding secular and religious answers, we understand that the answers are found in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Peace depends only on us; it doesn’t depend on any other factor. Only we can bring a positive force into the world.

Two forces operate in this world, positive and negative, give and take. The evil force constantly grows by itself. Adding the positive force hidden in nature requires work only the Jews can perform.

In ancient Babylon, our father Abraham discovered a method for doing this, the method of love, “Love covereth all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12). Thousands gathered around him, and that is how the people of Israel were created, living according to: “What is hateful to you, don’t do to your friend” (Talmud Babyli Shabbat 31a), and “You shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).

If we want to build the people of Israel in the land of Israel, it is up to us to return to this spiritual source. The systems that oppose Israel will stop only when we understand that the key to world happiness is in our hands, the positive force is in our hands. If we fight for connection between us, each one against his ego, we will be spared from external wars.

Like soldiers, we are strong, we are ready for self-sacrifice. The problem is that it is not clear to us what our destiny as a people is. If we fight with the inner enemy, with the negative force that separates us, the external enemy will disappear.

We see that today people are leaving the country; it is not clear to them what the point of their living here is, in this nation with all of its problems. It is up to us to reveal the positive force that is concealed in nature that will connect us. The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us this method.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 555 – Life In Perpetual War,” 4/16/15

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Question: What are the “Ten Plagues of Egypt”?

Answer: The purpose of creation is going to the next level of existence, the upper world. While living on Earth, we have to feel the upper world, to see the system of management, the Creator of everything that exists in this world and is hidden from us today.

Egoism, which is our foundation, the enormous force of nature that we must transcend, is what “runs” us. On the one hand, the ego is drives us upward; on the other hand, it will not free us. After all, if it were to lead us as usual within itself through all the configurations and structures through which we have passed in the course of human evolution—the primitive era, the era of slavery, the feudal era, the capitalist era, and the socialist era—it would not be clear toward what we would continue.

But egoism puts a “wall” in front of us, we cannot move further; so the current phase is called “the last phase of human development on Earth.” In other words, egoism is requiring us to become rounded, to unite on the one hand, but on the other hand, it won’t let us unite. Therefore, the only solution we can come to is to transcend “Pharaoh” (egoism), above Egypt to the next level of existence, the higher system of management.

This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about. This is what we must reach. The “Ten Plagues of Egypt” exist in order to completely break away from egoism. This is because our egoism consists of ten parts, which are the ten Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Hesed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. Each one of them “portrays” for us a particular type of existence within the ego.

We must gradually release ourselves from these ten Sefirot, these ten modes of existence. This happens when we begin to see that each one of them is finite, incomplete, leading to a blind alley and giving us no hope of continuing our existence within the ego.

The final phase of each of these ten levels, these characteristics, these parts of our ego, is the ten plagues of Egypt. After them it is no longer possible to remain within the ego. Instead we must get up and run away from it blindly. On the present level, we cannot see the next level. So the flight from Egypt happens at midnight, in total darkness.

The ten plagues of Egypt are in fact a separation from our egoism, when we run away in the dark and it is unclear where we are going. But the main thing is that we are running away from it! And so gradually we develop before us a new life, a new world, new eternal, infinite, and perfect new expanses.

Question: Is it possible to get along without the plagues?

Answer: No. In fact it is not pain but insight, enlightenment. The plagues pass over our ego and in these states we rise above it!

Comment: It turns out that if I identify with the ego, I feel the plagues. But if I rise above it, i.e., identify with Moses who is leading me forward, I don’t feel them.

Answer: This how the plagues function. They obligate a person to rise above them, and then he stops feeling the ego. If the person is elevated above it, he stops feeling it. Then a relaxed, new life begins.

So in fact, the ten plagues are not really plagues. They are the highest gift that the Creator gives a person, pushing him out of egoism forcefully. So, let’s go, let’s run away from it and gain a new world!
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/12/16

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New Life 554 – Holidays And Festivals: The New Israeli
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

How is the new Israeli different from the Sabra image that was built after the establishment of the nation? How does his activity on behalf of connection among the people change them for the better and how should his desire for love of the people and the homeland be directed?

The Sabra image helped us in building the nation. After that, western culture came and the dream faded. A generation grew up focusing on itself and was less interested in the homeland.

Today, inner gentleness has reawakened, people want spiritual connection. A sensation of emptiness indicates this. Materialism no longer fulfills us.

The next Israeli hero will be a person who understands that prosperity and happiness comes from connection with others.

When the nation was established we were forced to connect in order to survive. Today, emptiness pushes us to connect. After all the materialistic successes, emptiness is eating us from the inside. We lack warmth, we lack connection.

When we begin to build connection and good relationships between us in Israel, nobody will consider leaving the country, emigrating to some other place. Connection will deeply fulfill a person from within and elevate him to a new level of existence.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 554 – Holidays And Festivals: The New Israeli,” 4/14/15

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New Life 552 – A New Israeli Vision
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Why were all the difficult events that have happened to the Jewish people necessary? What is the destiny of the people of Israel, and how is it possible to transform the nation of Israel into a model for the whole world?

In order to understand where Israel is heading, there is a need for our inner Torah, the wisdom of Kabbalah. Our social vision should be adjusted to what is defined in the program of development in nature….

Today, on the one hand, a need for connection has been revealed, and on the other hand, there is a lack of desire for connection. Each one is separate. The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches how to bring a positive energy into our lives and create a balance between the negative and the positive.

An independent Israel is a nation that will lead humanity to true independence and everything that is good.

In the Israel of tomorrow, a person will not feel alone; he will be connected to others. He will love like a mother loves and is concerned about her children. A person will not feel isolated because he will be enveloped by warmth and love. And this will be what is most pleasant in the world.

From a social aspect, we will begin to feel how corners become rounded. Generosity, consideration, and mutuality will be revealed. Different opinions will exist as plus and minus, with mutual acceptance, because above everything there will be love. Israel will be a nation that balances the two forces of good and evil and provides an example for the whole world.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 552 – A New Israeli Vision,” 4/12/15

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Question: It was reported that pro-Islamic and pro-Palestinian organizations are planning a massive cyber-attack on Israel. They are planning to break into the email boxes of Internet users, attack Facebook, and so on.

Answer: I call on them to attack me and steal from me everything that is written on our site and disseminate it. But seriously, all of the wars today are in virtual space. I don’t understand what these organizations are arming themselves against in the first place.

Question: What if we could spread our information this way?

Answer: The point is that there is a person to whom you send the information who, being trapped by his ego, says, “I don’t want to.”

What’s the point in giving him information about the need to unite? You will not be able to give him anything unless he is given a good spanking and forced to open his mouth from above, but all of this is still ahead of us. It is probably impossible to manage it without blows.

Pesach (Passover) is before us now. Passover tells us about a person who begins to move toward freedom and continues to evolve only after he has undergone terrible afflictions and feels that he must attain the truth. Therefore, being in Egypt is essential.

A person must undergo all of the ten plagues of Egypt and reach the state in which he must exit them and attain the right goal that actually is determined while being in exile in Egypt. Egypt symbolizes our ego and how we suffer from it, and the ten plagues of Egypt are ten serious blows to the ego, which means to our desires, to a comfortable bourgeoisie life, to domination, glory, knowledge, pleasures, and so forth.

The exile in Egypt, the terrible suffering, helps us break away from this type of life, and then we begin to feel that they are worthless, meaningless, hopeless, and useless. Neither drugs nor wealth can help us—nothing! It is also impossible to die, and all that we have left is this mortal existence that is much worse than death.

Then, a person decides that he is ready to do anything in order to find the truth. It is actually from this state that he yearns for the truth, so exodus from Egypt is exodus from spiritual exile.

Question: Can a person hear the message of Kabbalists and avoid such extreme states? Otherwise, what are we disseminating this information for?

Answer: We are disseminating information so that people would be able to reduce their corporeal suffering, which can become very great before they want to get rid of them, so that they could determine as quickly as possible that egoism is bad and that a person should escape it, but only toward the right goal.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/7/16

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Opinion (timesofisrael.com): “Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef said that non-Jews should not live in the Land of Israel if they do not abide by a set of seven laws mandated by Judaism.

“’According to Jewish law, gentiles should not live in the Land of Israel,’ Yosef said Saturday in a sermon. ‘If a gentile does not agree to take on the seven Noahide Laws, we should send him to Saudi Arabia. When the true and complete redemption arrives, that is what we will do.’

“The only reason non-Jews were still allowed to live in the Jewish state was the fact that the Messiah had yet to arrive, he said. ‘If our hand were firm, if we had the power to rule, that’s what we should do. But the thing is, our hand is not firm, and we are waiting for the Messiah,’ he added.

“Yosef added that gentiles who do agree to take on the Noahide Laws — a basic moral code that includes prohibitions on denying the existence of God, blasphemy, murder, illicit sexual relations, theft, and eating from a live animal, as well as a requirement to instate a legal system — will be allowed to remain in the land and fulfill roles reserved for gentiles in the service of Jews.”

My Comment: That’s right, that is even said in the Torah, but the meaning of the “Land of Israel” is our corrected ego, a desire of love for everyone, as called for in the entire Torah: “Love thy neighbor, the great rule of the Torah.”

There is no place for all other desires in the corrected desire, they must be removed from it, meaning that they have become corrected with a feeling of absolute love—a condition called complete deliverance (of selfishness), and a person must actively wait for this. He must wait for the influence of a unique power on him, which corrects all of the egoism in a person. This is called the Messiah—from the word “pulling out,” extracting a person from his ego.

To the degree that the ego is corrected, a person feels a desire for bestowal and love in its corrected part, which is called the upper world. The full correction of the ego is called the attainment of the “Garden of Eden” (paradise, heaven). Therefore love toward others is the general law of the Torah.
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New Life 713 – The Seder And The Birth Of The People Of Israel
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

How is our situation today as a people analogous to the situation of the children of Israel in the story of the Exodus from Egypt? From what must we be freed to become free people and why does the Passover holiday symbolize the birth of the people of Israel?

The night of the Seder symbolizes the birth of the people of Israel, the exit from the womb that became tight and oppressive. Even today we are living in a world full of pressures that they say will advance us toward our birth into a new world. The night of the Seder is like a family game, like a theater, and it connects us as a people. On the night of the Seder we go through everything that had been said to Abraham in the “Brit Bein HaBatrim” (Covenant Between the Pieces) (Genesis 15:7-21). Abraham wanted to know what would bring humanity to connection and love, and the Creator answered him with the exile in Egypt.

Egypt symbolizes capitalistic development, prosperity, and their problems. Like today, there is material abundance in our world, but without spiritual satisfaction. Therefore the disorder of depression has developed followed by the manufacture of sedatives.

The Torah tells about what seem to be an external situations to explain internal situations. So that we will decide that we want to escape from Egypt, ten plagues for our ego are required because the ego is what prevents us from being connected and feeling that we are one people rather than there being unfounded hatred and division. The destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) was the result of unfounded hatred, before we arose as a nation. In the meantime, we are an ingathering of exiles. Only connection and love between us can transform us into a people because the Light specifically comes out of the darkness.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 713 – The Seder And The Birth Of The People Of Israel,” 4/12/16

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