Question: In the course of the history of the Jewish people, we have gone through complicated situations: exodus to the land of Israel, establishing the nation, and maintaining relationships with the allies and enemies.  

How can we explain the fact that the world supported the establishment of the state of Israel at first, whereas now this support has ended, and the people of Israel are compelled to struggle all the time?

Answer: At first, the nations of the world hoped that the Jews would begin to carry out their historical mission, to be as it says in the Torah, “a light to the nations” (Isaiah 49:6), meaning that we would show an example of unification for all of humanity.

In the past, in ancient Babylon, the Jews began to carry out this mission under the leadership of Abraham, and today it is up to us to finish it. In the wisdom of Kabbalah it is said that specifically at this time, we are beginning the realization of the final state of humanity.

So, throughout history, it was up to us to advance gradually toward a state of unity. When we succeeded in this, it was good, secure, and comfortable for us. When we could not do this because of internal conflicts between us, we suffered a fall into terrible states, as in the example of the Holocaust.

Question: The great Kabbalist of the 13th century Nachmanides (RaMBaN) said that we were commanded by the Torah to govern in the land of Israel that the Creator gave to our ancestors, that we should not leave it in the possession of other people, and that we should not leave it entirely uncultivated within all of its borders, which the Creator swore to our ancestors, not leaving even part of it.

We know that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become a bargaining chip in the world today. In this context, how would you interpret the statement, “and not leave it in the possession of other people?”

Answer: From the point of view of Kabbalah, I could say only one thing: If the Jewish people won’t begin to unite at least within Israel, not to mention the entire world, we will not succeed in holding our position in this land and will be expelled from here again. If we can unite above all of our contradictions, not only will we hold the land of Israel, but no one will claim ownership of it.

Moreover, the Palestinians will relate to us loyally and will begin to cooperate with us happily. Everything depends only on how much we connect among us. In fact, through the connection between us we will begin to manage the good forces that can be discovered in our world. We have no other way of attaining a better future.

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about the internal structure of the world and about the forces that act within it. This is the hidden and secret part of the Torah, which talks about what is concealed from ordinary people. A person who wants to attain the essence of existence can learn the wisdom of Kabbalah and understand that only unification opens the way to a good future for us.
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From KabTV’s “Israeli Independence Day” 4/3/16

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Question: Germany is becoming increasingly disappointed with the policies of Netanyahu. The prime minister of Germany, Mrs. Merkel, who has supported Israel until recently, met with Mahmoud Abbas two weeks ago and expressed her support to him.

It is possible to see clearly how German policy toward Israel is changing, and incitement against us has begun even for those who have been close to us.

Answer: For the last seventy years, after World War II, Germany conducted a very clear policy of support for Israel. Germany always related legitimately in regard to the Jews, apparently atoning this way for their feelings of guilt regarding them.

In contrast to this, today it is the opposite. All of the nations of the world are accusing Israel and have no regrets about the six million Jews that were killed in World War II. Soon, there won’t be any nation left that supports us or votes for us in the United Nations or in other international organizations.

The charges against Israel lately have become an accepted correction by everyone. Some accuse us more, some less, and soon the nations will begin to compete over who will bring more complaints against us. We will be ostracized by all of the nations of the world, and no attempts to evade this will help us.

First, the nations of the world expect only one thing from us: We must show them an example of connection and unity. The world urgently needs unity. Otherwise, it will become unbalanced. The Jews again have become a stumbling block, a point around which everything revolves, or the general and only reason for all of the troubles of the world.

Second, the higher power has come into play directly and is working with us through the other peoples. We must carry out our historical mission in any case, but this will be through blows because we don’t want to carry it out in a good way voluntarily.

In a manner like this, all of the nations of the world who are being pushed by the higher power again will strike us on all levels: mentally, materially, and physically.

If we don’t attract the Creator toward us, don’t bring Him closer to our world and don’t stimulate His discovery in the world, then the evil forces will appear, and they will lead us to His discovery, but it will happen in a long way full of difficult suffering. How much are we involved with revealing the Creator to all of the nations of the world? Are we trying to learn a lesson from history? Are we trying to find a logical answer for this? No.

Question: We established the nation of Israel after World War II.

Answer: This right was bought with our blood in order to create a proper nation here, a single people that would become a Light for all peoples and bring them a method of unification that would include an integral and global world. However, in the end, we didn’t act in this direction, and in this way we invited more separation in the world.

Question: Were we given a time period for this and now it’s ending?

Answer: The time period already ended decades ago. We now have entered into the stage of realizing this.
Unfortunately, the Holocaust didn’t teach us anything.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 5/1/16

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For The Sake Of Our Common Future

Question: How is it possible that while having such great strength and an important mission, the people of Israel can’t even think about its fulfilment?

Answer: Only the wisdom of Kabbalah can explain their mission to the people of Israel. However, unfortunately, Israeli society so far has formed a hostile or at least, an indifferent attitude to the wisdom of Kabbalah. People don’t want to listen and understand what happened.

Therefore, I am so worried about the future of people of Israel and the Jewish people all over the world in general due to the threat of these evil forces that are ready to be revealed. After all, we ourselves are giving them this opportunity and creating a basis for their manifestation.

Question: It seems to me that a Holocaust is not possible today when Jews have their country and army.

Answer: This is a misconception because we see how all of Europe is taking up arms against Israel. UNESCO, the United Nations, and all of the nations of the world oppose us, and no one wants to deal with us.

So far, they still are keeping some contact with us in order to receive new technologies from Israel, but this is a temporary phenomenon. Once, the nations of the world decided to allow us to create the state of Israel, but today they can review their decision and declare that this state shouldn’t exist. If they consider it a thorn in the body of humanity, then they should liquidate it if it brings no benefit.

Indeed, Israel today is in the center of all problems and is creating headlines in the news. Therefore, we must act so that we become an example for all of the nations of the world and give them what they expect from us: the method of connection.

If we don’t want to do it, perhaps we already should disperse in different directions and scatter between other nations and not to wait until we are thrown out of here or until the biggest concentration camp in the world will be built in the territory of Israel.

We need to see this situation in its true light and not delude ourselves the way that national leaders did eighty years ago, when they reassured everyone that there was no danger and everything would be alright. This caused to six million Jews to stay in Europe and die.

We have very little time left to decide what to do. If we don’t accept the wisdom of Kabbalah as the method of correction, we don’t have a future on this planet. Moreover, then the question will arise as to whether there is any future for humanity.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/28/16

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In the News (Il Giornale): “I have decided to convene this meeting in the Golan Heights, said Netanyahu, to send a clear signal: the plateau will remain forever in hands of Israel.

“‘This area will house thousands of families who will join those who already live there. We will focus on tourism and agriculture to revitalize the area that will protect against al-Qaeda, the Islamic state, Hezbollah and all of Israel’s enemies. The Golan is an integral part of the State of Israel. In this turbulent region, Israel is a source of stability, is the solution, not the problem. Many countries in the region recognize that Israel is a buffer between Islamic extremism and terrorist groups that seek to conquer first Syria and then the world. Many recognize our strength and by many receive cooperation proposals. We will continue to maintain secure our northern border. A few kilometers away is raging the war, but not in this area. Our enemies know that if attacked, we  would reply without mercy .’ …

“Statements that triggered the immediate reaction of Damascus who said it was ready for a new war. ‘I guarantee that this is an occupied territory that violates international law,’ said an annoyed Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad – ‘We will resume there the plateau by any means.’

Answer: We cannot hand over and surrender the Golan Heights as it is a strategically important area  for the military.

When we surrendered the Sinai to Egypt, it was because in that case there was someone to negotiate with. In that case, a consensus was reached on both sides. But with Syria it is impossible to reach an agreement. It is a permanent enemy that finances Hezbollah and drives all the terrorist organizations against us.

If there were someone there with whom it would be possible to talk, as there was in Egypt, it would be possible to reach a similar agreement or at least achieve a particular rapprochement and make connections on both sides that both sides would need: mutual aid, trade, and so forth, which is most crucial for Syria!

Question: Will there come a time when Syria will understand that its citizens can receive medical care from us and that it will be possible for us to take a vacation there? In the past, Beirut was the pearl of the East, and today its situation is unclear. Perhaps this is an ideal picture, but can we achieve such a life?

Answer: I believe that it is up to us to aspire to a higher life and not this life. This would be a life in which all of us would connect through our spiritual states above the physical world. To connect with each other, we would not need trains that will travel from Rosh Hanikra to Beirut or Damascus.

Humanity needs a completely new approach toward rapprochement. In our day, we are gradually approaching the next dimension in the relationships between us, in the way we feel our world. Humanity is beginning to feel that it wants to break away from materiality and exist above it.

Completely different forces are coming to the fore in this world and we must learn to manage them. The wisdom of Kabbalah makes it possible to do this. It is up to us to teach it to all the other peoples of the world and be what is called a “Light to the nations” (Isaiah 49:6). Only in such a manner will it be possible to attain a solution to the problems of the Golan Heights and all the rest.

Question: Is it possible to get along without pushing everyone into a blind alley and suffering?

Answer: No, it is impossible. A blind alley must be expressed in an absolutely clear and tangible way, as tremendous stress, as a lack of understanding, as the impossibility of finding a solution to the conflict.

It is possible to reach this not through war, not through great suffering, not through the eruption of volcanoes, earthquakes, falling bombs, and choking gases. This is a dead end that will be felt as hopelessness—not on the physical level but on the spiritual level.

Then all the results will occur in rapid processes, and we will start to understand in a short time that nothing will be resolved in a different way. We and “our opponents” must rise to this level.

We will meet together and reach an agreement because reality will be revealed in front of us. We are in it and there is no other way out!

Why should everything be destroyed, broken, and annihilated; why should masses of people be condemned to death?! What will be the outcome in the end, more destruction?! We see what is happening in the neighboring nations: Syria, Lebanon, even in Egypt, Jordan! The Gaza Strip could not be rebuilt after the war.

It is possible to understand their bitterness. When they see that Israel is prospering and they are in such a lowly state, it is impossible for them to do anything except go out and proclaim loudly: “We will show them!”

This is exactly what must bring the Jewish people to recognize that we are in a state of war not with our neighbors, but with the entire world, and now the entire world will “squeeze” us to the end. The way out will only be if we proclaim to the world that “This is the reason for our existence!” We must unite and show the world an example of how to unite, to bring the world out from a total collapse.

Let’s all begin to deal with this together. Good luck!
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/19/16

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New Life #597 – From Destruction To Flowering
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Connection brings blossoming on all levels of nature. The essential difference between hatred and love is in our attitude toward the environment.

Summary

Connection brings blossoming on all levels of nature. The essential difference between hatred and love is in our attitude toward the environment.

Hatred—pleasure from harming others. Love—pleasure from benefiting others.

Feeling others develops in a person through education and the environment’s influence on him. Love for others begins developing as a result of the feeling of dependence, that love depends on something. We must teach that we build a good life through connection between us.

The force that can build true love for others is called the upper force, the power of love.

The social disintegration of today has come to build a need for the upper force in us, the power that connects. If we correct the hatred to love, we will cause all parts of nature to be connected and corrected.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #597 – From Destruction To Flowering,” 7/9/15

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Make Sure That It Never Happens Again

Question: What does it mean to maintain high human spirits even during such suffering as happened during the Holocaust?

Answer: High human spirits means to be one man, Adam, in total unity. Adam HaRishon is a system that connects together all people in the world so that we feel dependent on each other and connected by mutual guarantee.

Accordingly, we receive education and develop our relationships until we discover that our world is filled with the force of good, not the force of evil.

But this is only on condition that we strive to exist within this force. If we do so, a good future awaits us. However, if we don’t do it, then I am afraid that we will have a period that will be no less difficult than during the past Holocaust. We need to understand that the laws of nature, that don’t make concessions, operate here.

Baal HaSulam writes that Nazism isn’t a German invention, but a natural form of development of the egoistic society. After socialism, comes Nazism. Today, the whole of Europe is socialistic, and America is becoming more and more socialistic. Therefore, with a slight delay after Europe, it will come to Nazism as well. It will happen very quickly.

Humanity is coming to the peak of hatred for each other because Jews who have the method of connection don’t realize it and are not passing it to the world. Because of this, the enitre world is drowning in blatant, outright hatred, uniting against the Jews.

Where once only Germany acted against the Jews and the rest of the countries remained neutral, today, such an attitude will be revealed in the entire world. There will not be a single nation left, not a person, who would not hate Jews, Israel, and the people of Israel.

Question: Why does the force of the good connection exist only in Jews?

Answer: Jews acquired this force during their history, starting from receiving the wisdom of Kabbalah, and implementing it on themselves in times of the first and second temple. It is written that we must pass this force of connection to all of humanity when they require it.

Humanity has been in need of it for a long time already, and we must work on this. However, the people of Israel—who so far are deaf to their mission and engaged in all sorts of material games and values that are not at all in the spirit of our people—are called to be spiritual leaders of humanity and bring light to the other nations. This is a very dangerous situation, and we don’t have time for contemplation.

Of course, we are impressed by examples of courage and overcoming that were displayed by Jews during the Holocaust. However, today, we must talk not about that, not about how we managed to go through such trials and preserved human dignity even in the concentration camps. We need to think about how we can make sure that it never happens again! After all, this is the most relevant question of our time.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/28/16

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Question: China has defined the minimum size of a bribe for which the death penalty is given: 3 million Yuan or 463,000 US dollars. In accordance with their gradation of the amount of money, defined as “large,” “huge,” and “enormous,” the court sentences various terms of imprisonment or the death penalty.
Does the Torah permit the death penalty?

Answer: Yes. There are four types of death penalties mentioned in the Torah: burning, strangling, stoning, and decapitation. These all stem from spiritual roots. In ancient times, death sentences were so rare that it was considered an unusual event. We can count very few cases in which Jewish people were sentenced to death during the thousand years before the nation of Israel received the Torah. During the 70 years there was one death sentence and this period was considered barbaric.

In those days the Sanhedrin made the final decision regarding a punishment. But the case was heard over many years, discussed so thoroughly for so long that individuals would die, and then the case was closed. However, these laws are hardly suitable for other nations because the Jewish nation is based on spiritual principles.

I don’t know if the world needs a death sentence today, but I have no doubt that there is a need for compulsory education all over the world. Humanity is affected by egoism that develops like a virus and infects everyone, from small children to the elderly. We are not aware of the many layers of the egoistic membrane that are wrapped around each of us. We don’t feel one another and treat each other according to values that are totally incompatible with the right desirable communication between people. The world is deteriorating, and if we don’t start some kind of spiritual human social educational, it will become totally barbaric. The whole problem is us.

Question: How can we reeducate all of humanity that is now 7-8 billion people? It sounds like a fantasy.

Answer: It is impossible to educate seven billion people, but it is possible to reeducate the 3-4 million people living in Israel. If the Jews really understood that the fate of the world depended on them and that they are facing the threat of annihilation, the threat of another Holocaust, all our problems would be solved. I have been saying that for many years, but lately global problems are increasingly manifesting: problems in UNESCO, in the UN, the elections in the US, problems in the EU common market, in Russia, in Syria, and everywhere.

We need to finally open our eyes and see that we are responsible for all these terrible egoistic revelations. We have to explain this to the Jewish people because the whole world will turn to us and demand an answer, demand compensation for the centuries they have suffered as a result of our lack of understanding and our reluctance to fulfill our mission.

As for the death sentence in China, it is also related to us. All the evil in the world on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, and the human level results from the behavior of the Jewish people, and so the world is beginning to turn to us through its subconscious hatred toward us, demanding that we reexamine our conduct. We should take things seriously, and then things will be better for us and for the whole world! There is no other way.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/19/16

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New Life 724 – Holocaust Remembrance Day
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What is the soul-searching that we must do on Holocaust Remembrance Day, how do we make sure that an event like this will not return, and why is the attention of the world turned specifically toward us today?

Over time, the attitude toward Holocaust Remembrance Day has eroded because “there was a decree about the dead that they should be forgotten from the heart” (Pesachim 54b). The attitude in the world today toward Israel is reminiscent of the situation that existed 80-90 years ago, and it is up to us to prevent another Holocaust. Everything revolves around the people of Israel; we are the center of humanity because the method for the correction of humanity is in our hands.

Abraham taught the general rule, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), kindness and oneness. Until the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) we respected these values. The goal of creation is to bring all of humanity to become a single integral system. The people of Israel must lead the human species to a better life and a spiritual height. Humanity is demanding the method of correction from the people of Israel so they don’t appreciate anything else that we have brought to the world.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day it is up to us to take account of what we must do so that the Holocaust will not be repeated. It is up to us to correct the human rift, the hatred that dominates everyone, and the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches the method of how to do this. We require broad learning, a general education for all people and the world so we will understand the goal of existence. The people of Israel are required to become the pioneers in human development toward this goal. If we begin to connect, we will advance along with the good forces, explaining to the world what our role is. They will then support us. The wisdom of Kabbalah is intended for everyone, secular, religious, Jewish, or non-Jewish, this is a universal method of correction. It is up to the nation of Israel to provide an example of connection in which the Creator, the general power of love, is revealed. Instead of dwelling on the past, it is worthwhile to establish conversation circles in which we clarify how we will advance toward an enlightened world.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 724 – Holocaust Remembrance Day,” 4/28/16

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Question: The Graduate Student Association of New York University voted to support the resolution to impose a boycott on Israel. This resolution calls for the Student Union and all of its sponsors to end all ties with Tel Aviv University. Can this boycott be stopped?

Answer: It depends on us, the students of the wisdom of Kabbalah, on how much we succeed in explaining to everyone what the mission of the people of Israel is, why we exist as a nation and as a people. The role of the people of Israel is to bring humanity to the goal of creation, to the goal of the development of civilization. Those students who rise up against us as well as the entire world must discover and know this. It is up to us to say this with a “Voice of Voices” (Berachot 15b), in every street, on every stage, and in all of the communications media.

Unfortunately, we cannot even reach the Jewish people yet, all the more so everyone else; so this kind of threatening news will continue to reach us daily from all over the world, and gradually the “siege” will begin to tighten around us in the same manner but with different configurations.

The student boycott will be replaced by a technology boycott, an industrial boycott, an international trade boycott, the buying and selling of goods and so forth. But today no nation can exist in isolation, just as a family cannot exist alone without buying everything it needs at a store. So we have no choice. We must accelerate and rapidly catch up with the time that we have lost.

Jews all over the world must understand that the Creator is the one who is “narrowing the ring” around us, pushing us to carry out our mission. It is up to us to show all of humanity how to unite correctly for the sake of the world. Humanity can unite around the boycott against us, while on the contrary, we can come together if we begin to teach them about the right mutual connection between them. There are a total of two possibilities for the world. They can unite against us or unite with us in order to rise to the next higher level of human development.

The Jews cannot escape their obligation. We must carry out our mission because otherwise the boycott will become an “iron belt” tightening around us, a locked fortress that is being attacked from within and without. And we cannot hold our position because this is a “war” against the Creator.

Our role is not just to survive like all the rest of the peoples, but to show them the way toward the Creator. The Torah was given to us for this, and all the peoples subconsciously expect salvation from us. This is the reason they blame us for all of their problems.

We, the Kabbalists, must try to carry out our mission quickly with regard to the Jewish people; the Jewish people must realize their mission with regard to the nations of the world, and everyone together must carry out the general mission of humanity with regard to the Creator. Everything is realized in a single chain.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/25/16

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New Life 723 – The Holocaust In A Kabbalistic Perspective
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Why was the Nazi’s hatred aimed mainly toward the Jews? What should we learn from the growing anti-Semitism today, and how does the wisdom of Kabbalah explain the duty of the nation of Israel to the world?

The nation of Israel should bring the method of correction to the world as “Light unto the nations.” If it doesn’t do so the evil force will arrive. If it doesn’t connect the world in love and goodness, the evil force will force it to connect just as the Nazis did during the Holocaust. The Nazis attacked us as part of an ideological war. They wanted to destroy our spiritual dominance. We have brought the blow upon ourselves because we didn’t do our job and didn’t listen to the Kabbalists who called us to start the correction of the world.

When a person suffers greatly and doesn’t feel that he can overcome what is happening in any way, the only thing left for him to do is self-annulment. He accepted what happens, and thus the point of truth in him awakens, the human spirit. Rabbi Akiva was saved from drowning in the sea thanks to self-annulment when he held onto a log and lowered his head every time he a wave washed over him. After the blow, the human spirit remains in order to allow a person to recover and correct himself, and so it is less important to speak about what happened and more important to understand how to prevent another blow. Nature requires all of humanity to become one bundle as “First Man,” so in order to prevent another blow, we have to work on our connection and thus connect the whole world.

We, the nation of Israel, have the method of connection, which is the wisdom of Kabbalah. Nazism isn’t a German notion but another phase in the development of society following socialism, and it might spread throughout Europe and the US. The whole world might unite against us because its good future depends on us. We have received the Torah, the wisdom of Kabbalah, the method of correcting human nature from evil to good.

Unfortunately, the nation of Israel still lives according to values that are incompatible with its spiritual root. The fact that we have a state today is no guarantee in preventing another blow since the whole world might unite against us, and so the only solution is to work on the connection between us. The Holocaust Remembrance Day is a time for soul searching.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 723 – The Holocaust In A Kabbalistic Perspective,” 4/28/16

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