Question: What is the difference between the religious and secular approach to life? For example, I consider myself a secular person, but I always have an internal conflict, and it is difficult to figure out where in me the secular person ends and the religious one begins. The same division exists in the entire Israeli society.

According to the latest poll: 50% of the [Israeli] population are completely secular, 17% observe the traditions but do not consider themselves religious, 13% observe traditions and consider themselves religious, 12% are religious and 8% are Orthodox religious.

Answer: Secular people believe that the world is governed by laws of nature and there is nothing else except what we see and discover through science. The secular approach to life means that the world should be taken such as it is, according to one’s feelings, without relying on any upper forces, destiny, life after death. Any unsolved phenomena are no more than a figment of our imagination and fantasy.

The secular approach is the real approach. Inside it are many varieties that define man’s relationship to himself and society, but they are not to the level of the difference between the religious and secular approach.

The religious approach is based on the belief in the upper force that created the world and puts us in the conditions that we have to perform. If we fulfill all the wishes of the upper force, we deserve the award, if we do not fulfill them, we will be punished.

There are different kinds of relationships with the upper force, of attitudes to reward and punishment, to a person’s participation in this and one’s freedom of choice. But the point is that religious people take into account the existence of the upper force, a higher design, program, the purpose of creation. Thus, the center of creation is no longer the human being, but the Upper Force, the Creator.

Because people believe that the Creator arranges and organizes everything in response to one’s behavior, they have to continuously relate their lives to the Upper Force. That is, they think that one is dependent not on the laws of blind nature, but on the Upper will. Therefore, it is necessary to pray to the Upper, ask, be ashamed, repent for one’s past actions.

Many different religions and beliefs once existed and vanished or are still existing today Religion has a great influence on the world and on humanity. During the past two thousand years, humanity has evolved under the influence of religion, first after the destruction of the Second Temple Judaism arose, and then from it came Christianity and Islam.

All these religions are fighting among themselves, and there are very complex relationships between them. Each religion has many movements: Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christianity, Shiite and Sunni in Islam, and many streams of Judaism.

Every synagogue in Israel is somehow different from the rest. Not to mention the conflict between the secular and religious who are not able to organize their lives so as not to interfere with each other but want to impose their own view on others.

I do not want to judge who is right and who is wrong. But such a conflict exists only in Israel. For example, in the US or in Europe there is no conflict between religious and secular people. If you are a Jew, no one cares whether you attend the synagogue on Saturdays or only on major holidays.

The Jews abroad feel they belong to one nation. In Israel, there is a conflict, because religion is not separated from the state and is involved in a power struggle. Thus, it appears into the area of general interest, where our desires clash. Over the years, this conflict increases because everyone believes that the opposite side wants to grab a piece from it.

This confrontation in society is gaining strength, leading to such hatred and division, which had never existed among the people of Israel. And I do not think that it is the result of a different approach to the world. It’s just a struggle for power in our lives—desires of some to control others and the state so that it serves their interests, be that of the secular or religious community.

The struggle is for the state, for power, for the state treasury, and using it for their own benefit.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/21/15

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Question: Why did the first settlers in Israel lose their main internal essence of the mutual relations between them and just accepted socialism with all its implications and mistakes?

Answer: The fact is that in Israel there was mutual exclusion between Kabbalists and traditional Judaism, between Rav Kook and the religious people. Rav Kook called for unity, for the Light that is reflected in his writings, while the other Jewish leaders continued to educate their followers according to the principles laid down in exile.

They didn’t welcome the spiritual revival of the nation according to the principle of “love thy neighbor as thyself.” So far this condition has not been met because they are awaiting the arrival of the Messiah, that is, some force, some special circumstances, that will reveal the love of others in us. They don’t realize that this is only possible due to our own internal work, as the wisdom of Kabbalah tells us. From the Kabbalistic perspective it is totally wrong to tie the fulfillment of the law of “love thy neighbor as thyself” to some upper illumination or to a certain person or leader.

After the first wave of settlers in Israel, there was a delimitation between Kabbalah and Judaism. After all, the masses that came to Israel totally rejected religion, or clung to its ordinary corporeal frameworks. The number of Kabbalists among them, was very small and no one listened to them. Moreover, they were afraid to speak in public, afraid they would create a situation that would force them to leave the country.

It soon became clear who belonged to which camp among the settlers that caused the division among society according to political, economic, spiritual, and physical principles. This led to great problems. None of the famous Kabbalists who lived here were able to speak openly about spiritual correction. Rav Kook for example, used a language that could not be understood; therefore, everyone regarded him as an ordinary ideologue, not a Kabbalist.

The great Kabbalist, Baal HaSulam tried to publish a paper to reach the people, but he wasn’t able to achieve anything; the paper was shut down under the accusation of pro-communist ideas. After all, if you pursue the principle of love thy neighbor as thyself, it is perceived as a communistic principle.

Thus a quarter of a century after the first Zionist congress in Basel, the situation in Israel is that we have to revive everything all over again today. There are many people and movements opposed to the Kabbalistic approach of creating one nation since each one is trying to grab a “piece” for himself to become a tiny king in his own community.

We see how divided and torn apart modern Judaism is; a huge confrontation exists between the religious and non-religious factions of society. The entire nation is divided into many sectors.

I think that today we can speak openly about the wisdom of Kabbalah and with an appeal for the love of others, as a consequence of the deep frustration people are now beginning to feel and realize as a result of the cumulative experience gained over 150 years of development.

Therefore, we have the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of the first settlers and the founders of the country to call for practical actions based on our internal constitution of love thy neighbor as thyself.
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From KabTV’s “About Our Life” 5/7/15

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Question: People are always waiting for new reforms with the hope that life will be better. For example, in their opinion, the crisis in the housing sector can be resolved through reform in the Israel Lands Administration, or through the allocation of additional plots for construction, or through a zero value added tax when buying a home.

In general, each project under discussion in the media or government arouses a multitude of reactions depending on whose interests they represent. So do we need reforms?

Answer: Reforms are useful. By announcing them publicly, politicians muffle the loud voices of opposition and shelter themselves from criticism. “Be patient, I am working on the problem.” Over time, the sore subject is obscured, giving way to another, and again someone comes out with new reforms and proposals for sensitive issues.

In brief, talk about reform helps calm passions and shifts people’s attention in the direction convenient for the government or the reformist. Therefore, the only effective reform is possible only on condition that we understand how and in which direction humanity is developing. This basic “educational plan” will allow us to judge if we can continue to live under the egoistic lifestyle that determines all of our mutual connections, the entire nature of our relationships.

Today, unlike in the past, humanity is feeling itself as a single jumble that is welded together in a system that includes the still, vegetative, and animate nature. The entire globe is a single whole.

Just open our eyes and make out the picture, we see, we see that we are in an integrated, global structure, which tightly binds us together. As long as we don’t get along within it, we can expect a thorny path of failures for us.

So in any reforms except for social ones, I see no benefits. They are just a waste of time;  their results will show that the time is up, nothing was accomplished, even to the extent possible in the existing frameworks, and the problem is only exacerbated.

We must bring modern society in accord with the requirements evolution applies to us. Suddenly we are discovering that we have formed an integral community in which all depend on each other. At this stage, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, we need to consider ourselves as a single common family. First of all, it is necessary to take care of the appropriate social reforms. After the development of this approach, it must be conveyed in educating people. It is necessary to provide people with educational and informational systems so that he will begin to be involved in this actively, so he will understand and feel what is at stake. Only then will unity stop being a hollow sound for him.

Today a new force is manifested in society that connects all people, even against their will. But we don’t take it into account, not in politics and not in economics. And so we stand on the threshold of chaos, continuing to form artificial “bubbles” of systems that have already completed their life cycle and no longer inherent in the nature of human society.

Based on our egoistic understanding, we are trying to implement these “fossil” remnants of the past in new structures of mutual integral relationships, but they don’t match each other. Hence, the dire results we see here in the course of development today have become negative.

Of course we always find excuses for ourselves, referring to the deficits of another choice. But if we look realistically at the matter, humanity finds itself before a serious problem.

Whether it wants it or not, it is advancing towards an integral world “kingdom” that is more strongly mutually connected. Still within the old habits, we want to insert into it our vision of a “digital,” discrete world, although in reality there is a completely different calculation.

We don’t take into account the universal mutual connection and interdependence, ignoring the “underground” threads that strongly connect us with each other. Or we want to squeeze them into formats of our egoism, placing them under the control of money and power, the military and banks. As a result of this, two types of systems are in conflict, clashing against each other, and we are entangled more and more in a mass of concealments and contradictions. The time has come to turn to the root cause, instead of making vain reforms.
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From KabTV’s “The Solution” 5/6/15

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Question: In an atmosphere of complete disconnection and lack of understanding, how can we convey the law of love for others to people?

Answer: The same state of disconnection occurred at the time of receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Before that, the people of Israel came out of Egypt, where Pharaoh, the evil that separates us, was revealed.

We found ourselves in terrible darkness, passing through the “49 Gates of Impurity.” That is why we were rewarded the revelation of the force of unity, the Light of the Torah.

It is said that the advantage of light is known from the darkness. So today, when no one considers others and everyone hates each other, the light of the Torah is revealed to us.

Question: Why is this light hidden from us?

Answer: The light is hidden because we do not use it. The evil force is revealed to us through our egoism and desires, and the force of good has no place to be revealed. Let’s begin to perform good actions, bringing the force of good from concealment, and we will suddenly find out that we have two forces: the plus and the minus, the good and evil.

We will be able to balance these two forces and live in a world where we will become the masters of everything we do. The world will be opened before us.

Question: What would you like to wish the people of Israel on the holiday of the giving of the Torah (Shavuot)?

Answer: I would like to wish that we all understand that we have been given the Torah. We need to recall every day that we were given the Torah and that we must receive it. It is the only thing that we lack. This is not about religious traditions but about the method of correction, which allows every person to correct himself and attain love for others.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/3/15

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Question: Does every person have a soul, and is it eternal?

Answer: Only a person who builds his soul has one. Building a soul means attaining the level of love of others. To the extent that I attain the love of others, I feel the love of others in my corrected desire, a feeling that is called the Upper Light. The desire with the Light inside it that is absolutely aimed at bestowal and love of others is called a soul.

The Light is the feeling of the upper force, of the Creator, inside the desire. The desire that is aimed at love of others and the Light that fills it, which means what I feel in my desire by aiming at love of others is called a soul. The vessel of the soul is the desire and the filling of the desire is the Upper Light. This is how we discover the soul. Thus it is clear that initially no one has a soul, but everyone can acquire it if he corrects his attitude to others. Our life is arranged so that eventually everyone will attain his soul no matter what.

If we speak about the nation that will attain it first, the nation of Israel is intended to reach the attainment of the soul first. Now in our generation everyone can do it. This is the reason that the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed, the method that tells us how to attain the soul out of the egoistic desire, how to change the desire for the benefit of others according to the principle “love thy friend as thyself.” When the whole Israeli nation begins to engage in it and attains that level, the state that is called a soul, all the nations of the world will be able to do the same too. Whatever the Israeli nation attains will also flow unto them. All the problems and the corruption that have lately been revealed in Israel are because we should have started to correct our soul long ago but we are lagging behind.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 5/10/15

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Question: There are holidays that we remember and celebrate like Rosh Hashana and Pesach (Passover), while Shavuot isn’t so impressive as compared to them. Can we say that it is less important than the other holidays?

Answer: On the contrary, it is the most important holiday. On this day we received the method according to which we can raise our life to a spiritual level and discover the next world here and now, just as it is written, “You will see your world in your life.”

We all were created in this world from the evil force, our ego, but we can add the good force to the evil force by this method and balance them. Our entire world is merely an evil inclination. This inclination is a desire, and it is evil because everyone thinks only about how he can fill it at the expense of others, without taking others into consideration. This is the reason that our nature is evil, as it is written, “…man’s heart is evil from his youth.”

If we begin to see that everything is evil and that only the evil is revealed as it is revealed now in our state, then we will be able to reach a state in which we will say, “Enough! That’s it! We must change something!” Then, we have the opportunity to bring in the good force. When we discover this force in nature, we can balance the evil force with the good force, and we can manage ourselves correctly with these two forces like with two reins. Without the good force, which the wisdom of Kabbalah helps us reveal, we are lost. We will not be able to do anything with our egoistic nature.

This is why I am happy that we have reached this evil state because it is actually from the evil that we can ascend and reach the good.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 5/17/15

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Question: This life of survival, where one eats the other, apparently pleases us. Is it possible to correct this situation? After all it only continues to become worse all the time.

Answer: The situation is truly becoming worse and worse because we are advancing. All of humanity is developing within its ego that burns more and more in the next moment. So we are locked around the Earth, completely linked with each other, but on the other hand we are divided by our great egoism.

We see how distant we are from each other. People are no longer able to get along and live in the same home. Children run away from home and couples divorce. We are not able  to talk directly with each other anymore, only through the mobile telephone or emails. It is good that we still have these means of communication; otherwise we would not communicate with each other at all.

Kabbalah explains how it is up to us to correct our nature if we want to continue our existence. Otherwise, we will become completely separated. Correction is possible only through the force of the Light that Reforms, the positive force of nature. The problem is that we live in the world and discover only the negative force of egoism. This egoistic force operates everywhere.

Even if I do something good for others, it is only on condition that I will also get some kind of benefit myself. Otherwise I cannot do any good selfless deed . This means that in every case my intention is to profit at the expense of others.

We are able to make any truly good deeds without self-interest. Such a good force without self-interest exists in nature, but it is concealed from us. We need to awaken it, and then we can balance these two forces: the force of egoism and the force of good. The Book of Zohar and the entire Torah speak only about this: how it is up to us to balance our nature and attain harmony. And then between us we reveal the higher power of nature called the Creator.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 3/5/15

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Question: In March of 2014,  there was a connection convention called, “Transmitting Light to the World!”. In what way was this convention different from all other conventions?

Answer: This convention was most practical, in that we actively learned how to transmit the dissemination of the method of connection through which a spiritual Kli is built. The Kabbalists write that there is no more useful activity for our spiritual advancement. If we want to grow, we must expand.

So we had to bow our heads and actually participate in this work. It had to be explained to each and every person, heart to heart and to a greater and greater degree, that the progress of the people of Israel is possible only through connection, “As one person with one heart” (Rashi on Exodus 19:2), with mutual Arvut (guarantee) and reciprocity until “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). Through the connection between us we can solve all of our problems.

Question: What approach to this convention was needed in order to derive the most benefit?

Answer: It was necessary to learn from people who have a great deal experience and understanding of how to disseminate. I am very happy that there was a convention like this because specifically it is work such as this that advances us toward discovery of the Creator. Otherwise we will not merit discovering Him. Whoever participated in preparation for the convention was a winner. Whoever didn’t participate or was there passively, did not feel anything. Even now there are people sitting in the lesson who already have a particular spiritual feeling and there are those who don’t feel anything. Everything depends on the exertion and effort that each one invests.

The convention was held simultaneously in four cities that became our four dissemination centers. Every one of them has their own independent management and group responsibility, which is the mind or the head that organized the dissemination efforts in that area and acts completely independently. The main thing is that they knew precisely what they had to do and they organized everything independently like an independent nation.

We want to develop people who will act independently, with the main thing being that they will work correctly. We want to transmit the entire method together and to summarize, consolidate, and teach everyone so that everyone can go out and disseminate in their area.

Everyone must manage dissemination in their area, on their own and be connected to the local center because it’s their own place. It doesn’t seem to me that all dissemination must go out from one center as this limits and makes work very difficult.

Question: How did every friend go out after this convention?

Answer: It was up to each one to know how to go out to the community, explain why the people of Israel needed to connect as “one person with one heart,” and why we are in such a unique situation with all of humanity in crisis. It was up to each person to have received a simple, short, and clear explanation and understanding of how it is better to speak with the person standing in front of him. We must continue to give everyone the practical tools for working.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/26/14, Writing of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How could it have been that precisely in Israel, which was to become a home for all the Jews of the world, that such a despicable attitude has emerged about the Ethiopian emigrants only because of the black color of their skin? What must be done to become a united people?

Answer: Israel is divided today into factions that oppose each other: The left and the right, Ashkenazi and Sephardic, Ethiopians and Russians, and more and more. A small people, constantly forced to defend itself against external enemies surrounding it from all sides cannot even establish peace for itself.

We cannot succeed in attaining unity if we don’t call for help from the force that can unite us. Each successive government has committed to strengthen the unity of the people and establish peace and consent in our society. However, it is not in the power of anyone to keep his promise, and this is not at all the role of the government.

For unity, we need to know how to awaken the unique force, the Light that Reforms, so that it will correct the relationships between us, the evil in us. Only then can we connect and become one united people. But if we don’t do this, we can expect very difficult times ahead.

So, we are conducting discussion-circles throughout the country: in recreational areas, in promenades, and in parks. During the process of such discussions, a feeling of special unity appears. That is how we show an example of how to awaken the higher power that is concealed in nature and oblige it to influence us.

Already in the first circle, people gathered who met by chance, and relationships appeared among them where they began to rise above their problems and integrate together in a common unified field. Totally different people can sit in a circle: Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Ethiopians, Arabs, and foreign tourists. It doesn’t matter. This method works and influences everyone.

The entire world is in terrible need of unity, for without it, everything falls apart. So throughout the world, anti-Semitism is growing, and the nations of the world blame the Jews for harming the world. This will continue to grow from day to day. Actually we are not the cause of evil, but the blame is ours because we are not bringing the good force to the world which will balance all of the evil.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 5/3/15

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There are many forms of independence in our world—economic, political, social and so forth—but this is fictitious independence. A person searches for his independence all his life, but actually is limited in every sense, which is the reason that we need a different approach for becoming independent.

The Israeli nation can only be independent within the state of Israel because geographically it is our land. If we connect and unite in our land when we are allowed to do so by the upper Providence, then, of course, we can be truly independent here and now—truly independent and not fictitiously.

In this land, we must set an example of true independence for the entire world because there is nothing more sublime than this attribute that determines everything. This is what all of nature on all its levels, aspires to! Even a person’s egoistic nature aspires to be free of any form of dependence because otherwise it feels that it is flawed.

This is the reason that we must find a way in which we feel independent for the sake of our ego. It turns out that this can only be attained by balancing the most egoistic state with the most altruistic one so they will eventually connect.

I have read that we need to live in the land of Israel, to develop this state, to fight for it and thus protect our independence. I thought that there was no other way of breaking free of a foreign domination. However, the more I developed, I came to the conclusion that this is not the way to become independent. Independence is acquired by actually ascending above the small local concepts of Zionism, politics, and all the rest. Our goal and our mission are universal. It is above time and doesn’t relate to us personally but to the entire world. We need to translate it to reality. Then, the world really will become independent by uniting with the upper force and reaching the next level of existence, the human level.

Everything depends on us. We must discover our independence above all the obstacles and ascend above them. Then, the world will receive what it is waiting for. Independence is the defining force that pulls and leads us. This is what we feel as a necessity both in egoism and altruism, and it is attained only in the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “A Talk About the Independence Day” 4/2/15

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