New Life 547 – The Covenant Between God And The Jewish People In The Mirror Of The Holocaust
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

How is it possible to understand and accept what happened in the Holocaust, what kind of covenant exists between us and God, how can we go back and establish it, and thus bring all of our troubles to an end?

The history of our people is full of terrible events, pogroms, murders, and the like. The Holocaust divided people into two, some became more devout and some generally moved away from religion.

Religion doesn’t look for answers about what happened in the Holocaust because there really are no answers for it. The Holocaust, and in general all of our troubles, are derived from our not understanding how God behaves with us. God is the law of nature. His program is this: we were created with an evil inclination and our goal is to transform it into a good inclination. It is up to us to transcend the ego and love others. If we do this, we get help. If we don’t, we suffer.

The covenant is an obligation to be a light to the nations. This means that we must provide the world with an example of connection and love. We did this at a particular time in the past. Today we must take the entire world out of the crisis that it is experiencing. The wisdom of Kabbalah is the method that will save the world from general destruction and ruin, from the eruption of egoism.

The part of God in this eternal covenant is to help us reach connection for better or for worse. Before the Holocaust, Baal HaSulam called for all Jews in Eastern Europe to emigrate to Israel, to build a society here, to connect as a single person. After two thousand years we got the opportunity to return to Israel, and we disregarded this and the connection of hearts. The covenant is eternal; we must realize this program of creation and connect above egoism.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 547 – The Covenant Between God And The Jewish People In The Mirror Of The Holocaust,” 4/7/15

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New Life 718 – The Exodus From Egypt Is True Freedom
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What can be learned from the relationships between Moses and Pharaoh in the story of the Exodus from Egypt about the relationship we must develop with the ego, what do the plagues in Egypt affirm, and how do we become free people?

A person who wants to transcend his ego begins to identify how much he is totally controlled by his ego; he sees how the reality of his self-interest encloses him within a “bubble” that doesn’t allow him to feel the complete reality.

“Let my people go” (Exodus 5:1) means the search for how to be freed from the dominance of my own ego. Moses wants to break through the limitations of the narrow perception of the ego and see the illumined world.

The reason for this served to convince the public that his power, that it is up to the good forces under the control of Pharaoh, and show them how weak pharaoh, sod and not really in control.

Moses needed to convince everyone that the power was in his hands to show the good forces under the control of Pharaoh how weak and despicable Pharaoh was and that Pharaoh really had no control in order to elevate the good forces. With every plague Egypt receives, Pharaoh frees additional characteristics that are found under the control of the ego, which awakens more difficult plagues.

The ten plagues correspond to our ten inner characteristics called Ten Sefirot. Each plague represents a blow to the egoistic perception of reality. For example, the plague of blood (Dam) is from the word “Domem” (Still); it symbolizes Malchut, which is the lowest desire to receive and represents stillness.

The goal is to transcend the ego, to stop thinking only about myself and to think about everyone together. That is how we reach the complete perception of reality, unlimited spiritual life, and adhesion with the Creator.

Pharaoh symbolizes the general desire to receive, which includes unique desires called the children of Israel. These desires can leave the control of Pharaoh and the ten plagues help them detach from him. The Creator is the power of bestowal and love that is found outside of the desire to receive. When we depart from the desire to receive, we feel free; this is the future of the human species, this is the correction of the world.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 718 – The Exodus From Egypt Is True Freedom,” 4/19/16

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Question: According to the results of a poll that was arranged by the ICN company, more than a third of the adherents of Islam in Britain believe that the Jews have acquired too much control in Britain and influence over the communications media, financial institutions, and the economy. In addition, more than one-fourth of them are convinced that the Jews are responsible for most of the wars on Earth.

Unlike the other citizens in Britain, 27% of the Muslims who were questioned, acknowledge that they hate the Jews simply because of their behavior. So has anti-Semitism been more pronounced among Muslims than anyone else historically?

Answer: Throughout many generations Jews and Muslims existed together more or less normally because they never had any religious opponents, there weren’t special contrasts between them.

The crisis in relationships began from geographic and political opposition, when England didn’t want to leave the land of Israel and began to incite hatred among the Arabs toward the Jews. This was the usual policy of “divide and rule.”

Islam in its essence is not at all opposed to Judaism; on the contrary, these have been two religions that have been close as a counterweight to Christianity.

Question: Why does the current radical Islam bear such intense aggressiveness toward the Jews?

Answer: Modern Islam is radical Islam, yet the foundation of true Islam is Sufism (Islamic Wisdom of Kabbalah). Arab Kabbalists (Sufis) have lived in all times, from which are great literary works.

Today a major clash of egoism is happening in the world. So it is natural and necessary for Israel to go out first and present the method of unity to the whole world. This exists only with us, and we don’t want to reveal it in us and begin to work with it. This method of unification is called the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is not mysticism, Tarot cards, or red strings, but specifically the true wisdom of Kabbalah.

If we begin to be involved with the wisdom of Kabbalah, all of humanity will immediately feel how serious our intention is to introduce corrections of the egoistic nature of humanity into the world and bring everyone to unity, establishing peace and tranquility. Then all the streams that are directed against us will disappear.

Question: What is the first current that will accept the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: First everyone will be against the Kabbalists, including Judaism. After that, awareness and understanding will begin to happen partly among Christians and partly among Jews.

In the meantime, the matter is much more complicated among the Muslims even though inside they are closer to understanding. But there is a very big internal problem among them regarding their identity.

The best thing will be if we Jews unite and show the peoples of the world how to achieve global unity in our world.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/14/16

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Question: The Management Committee of UNESCO passed a decision regarding Jerusalem which did not mention the connection of the Jews and Israel to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.

The Temple Mount is mentioned solely and only as a place in which the Al-Aqsa Mosque is found and the area of the Western Wall (the Wailing Wall, Kotel) is called Al-Buraq Square, the square from which the prophet Mohammed ascended into heaven. In the same document they state that Israel is “occupying” that area.

The resolution formulates a demand for the Israeli government not to limit the access of Muslims to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and likewise condemns the Israeli government for “illegal actions against religious freedom.”

From your acquaintance with the Chairperson of UNESCO Irina Bokova, how would you explain their attitude toward us?

Answer: This is a completely legal attitude. Subconsciously, the world is demanding the method for the correction of its nature from us. Since we are not acting on this, they blame us for everything that is happening in the world.

We had to gather in the land of Israel to carry out our mission to become one people, as one person with one heart, and live according to the general rule, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), thereby serving as an example to everyone. Throughout the 70 years of the existence of the nation we have not reached the realization of our destiny, so we have no right to this land.

Comment: When you met personally with the representatives of UNESCO, there was a good mutual understanding between you and warm meetings that were supposed to lead to changes in the attitude toward our nation.

Answer: The attitudes have only changed in a negative direction.

They heard from me what the wisdom of Kabbalah says and what our organization is about, yet reality shows them that the trend is completely the opposite!

Question: And where is their support?

Answer: About what?! Everything depends on us. We are the Jewish people; it is up to us to reach mutual agreement, a mutual link, friendship, love, connection, and unity, mutual support!

But with each passing day, more and more political parties arise in our nation; separation and division happens because we have not implemented the function for which we exist here.

We have received an opportunity from above to establish a nation here that will show humanity the future of the world, but if we don’t carry this out, we have nothing to do here! We have no possibility of claiming a right to this land because we don’t strive for friendship and love between us, the creation of the right society, and we are not an example for the future of humanity.

So it is natural that the representatives of UNESCO have stopped taking all of our claims to the land of Israel into account. They accept the Palestinians because they have no obligation toward them, but that is not so for us. The Palestinians want to live here, this is their land. They feel that they belong to it more than we do, and in fact, this is so.

Unfortunately the people of Israel are not carrying out their destiny and so there is no place for them here.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/18/16

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New Life 546 – The Threat Of Extermination From The Holocaust To Now
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Jews the world over fear another Holocaust. How can the right understanding and perception of what happened in the Holocaust be implanted in people? What can we do as a people to prevent history from repeating itself?

We are in a process where we need to recognize our egoistic nature as bad and want to correct it. The people of Israel are unique in that they were created on the basis of “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).

According to the program of creation, we will be compelled to return to brotherly love and lead the entire world toward this. The inner Torah, the wisdom of Kabbalah, teaches how to stitch together the rifts and splits between the people and the world.

Despite all the pain, we should investigate the reason for this: we are in the system of nature that operates with permanent lawfulness. Abraham discovered it. The Holocaust was part of a continuing destruction that was caused by unfounded hatred, a lack of connection and love among the people. The people in general are not maintaining the general rule of reality, “Love your friend as yourself.”

“There is none else beside Him” (Deuteronomy 4:35). “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4). There is no other power that is operating, not even during the time of the Holocaust. Until we want to connect with each other through love, we will absorb more and more difficult blows. This is a predetermined law. We are not required to rise above our egoistic nature, but only to develop a desire for it. In each and every generation they have stood against us to destroy us to bring us closer to this correction so that we would want to connect with each other.

If we want to be connected with each other as brothers, a new reality will be opened before us, heaven. The Jewish people will be compelled to lead the world to connection, even if most will become extinct. We have no choice. It is possible to stop the waves of anti-Semitism only if we establish a system of explanation and education about love for others. In the connection between us we expect a happy life, for us and for the whole world. That is the way we will gain the sympathy of the world.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 546 – The Threat Of Extermination From The Holocaust To Now,” 4/5/15

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New Life 545 – The Holocaust As A Turning Point For The Nation Of Israel
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

What is the reason for the desire to annihilate the Jewish nation? How can we prevent another Holocaust and how can our connection as a nation change all of reality?

There have been pogroms throughout our history, but the holocaust is notable for the desire to totally destroy the whole nation.

My family are Holocaust survivors and most of my family perished in the Holocaust.

If we want to prevent further disasters, we have to carefully study the laws that operate here.

The wisdom of Kabbalah has discovered that the world is supposed to advance toward perfect connection between people. The nation of Israel descend from Abraham who discovered the method of how to connect different people.

We connected in the days of Abraham and reached a peak of connection during the time of the Temple, and then fell into unfounded hatred.

The exile could have ended in the 16^th century when the Ari revealed the wisdom of Kabbalah, but it didn’t happen.

At the beginning of the 20^th century Rav Kook and Baal HaSulam called people to come to the land of Israel and build a model society. Baal HaSulam wanted to organize the Aliyah from Poland, but he was excommunicated. Finally he came to Israel on his own and everyone else was killed in the Holocaust. Baal HaSulam wanted everyone to come to Israel in order to build a society based on the principle of love thy friend as thyself and thus be spared from the afflictions.

Today we are at a very critical point in history once again. The world is desperate for the connecting force that the Jews have.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 545 – The Holocaust As A Turning Point For The Nation Of Israel,” 4/5/15

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Question: As a result of the series of earthquakes in southwestern Japan, close to 40 people were killed and more than 2,000 were injured. The same thing also happened in Ecuador; there the number killed reached 233 people, and more than 1,500 injured.

Why in these peaceful and harmless nations do terrible tragedies like these occur?

Answer: It is very difficult to explain this because everything depends on the general distribution of humanity on the surface of the Earth. Why does a disaster like this suddenly happen specifically to these people and not others? What is the connection to Ecuador?

If we seek a reason for what is happening, soon everyone will say and write that the Jews are to blame for all the disasters. For every problem that appears in the world they will only blame the Jews. Through their incorrect behavior, the lack of union among them, such behavior is aroused both in nature and in the nations of the world.

Nature begins to become unbalanced, which is expressed in climate change, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and additional disasters. We arouse the lack of balance in nature and human society in all its forms. So we are to blame for everything!

Question: But the direct connection is not visible to the eye and a person doesn’t feel guilty. So why does the upper force behave with us like that?

Answer: To see a direct connection, you must reveal the upper system of management. Otherwise it is impossible because you would then behave because you were coerced, trying to avoid blows. But it is up to you to behave differently; it is up to you to carry things out independently, without the goading of the main law of nature, the Creator, the law of unity between all of its parts.

This is in your hands. It is up to you to move toward this by yourself, through wanting to elevate yourself to the level of Adam (Man) and not remain on the level of a “beast.”

Question: And for this purpose thousands of people are killed?

Answer: Billions of people innocent of crime! Imagine what kind of guilt rests on your shoulders.

There is nothing else. Read what is written in the books of Kabbalah. All the great representatives of our people have talked about this, beginning from Abraham and on.

We are responsible for all the problems of the world and also for all of its happiness, if we behave appropriately.

I believe that it is up to us to think seriously about what is happening and about what the wisdom of Kabbalah says. Otherwise, we will be taught through even more terrible bloody methods than we witnessed 70-80 years ago.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/18/16

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Comment: The reasons for the failure of the security forces in Belgium have been exposed. The first reason is the ongoing division and mutual animosity between the Flemish in the North and the Walloons in the South. The second reason is the pathological unwillingness to recognize the character of the war that Islamic Jihad has declared on all forms of the free world.

Answer: That is why there is such underestimation of the danger of terror: it will not be published anywhere, there is nowhere for it to be illuminated. Governments pressure the press; for a long time already in all nations the media and the governments work in partnership. This is no secret.

Journalists operate precisely according to the instructions of the state and say: “We have no terrorism. There are individual terrorists whom we must expose and isolate from society. This is irrelevant to the huge mass of Muslims who are filling our nations.”

Comment: This mass has actually declared war on Europe.

Answer: They claim: “There is no war!” “These are people who are friendly and whom we need. It is just that there are extremists among them sometimes. We only have to get rid of them, while all the rest are very good people.”

Comment: As has been clarified, there is an additional reason for the failure of the Belgian security forces, which is again what you have been talking about all the time.

The Israeli television host, Ya’akov Eilon, interviewed a high level Belgian politician from the Socialist Party and asked him to comment on the terrorist activity in Belgium. The politician claimed that Israel is to blame for the wave of terrorism that has flooded Europe because of the occupied territories and not implementing the program for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Answer: Yes, they say very clearly: “You have transformed the Middle East into a terrible powder keg, you sow famine and misery there. People flee from there like crazy wherever possible. Look at what you did in Iraq and Syria….”

Question: But what is our connection to this? Where is the logic?

Answer: “No, this is you, you. This ‘Mossad’ of yours intentionally organized this so that they wouldn’t fall on you with their justifiable fury. And after the population that supports peace and the poor flee from these places, we are forced to receive them and suffer because of your aggression.”

Question: And where is the “Islamic State” here that is slaughtering the Muslims?

Answer: “There is no Islamic State! There are only a few crazy extremists there and the cause is not in the millions of refugees. It is only because you are sowing misery throughout the Middle East.

Through your clever Jewish methods you have undermined all the neighboring nations and it is not known at all how you influence them politically, economically, and especially psychologically. People simply don’t know where to flee from you.”

Question: Does this mean that you are still convinced that these individual voices will become the one voice of Europe?

Answer: Certainly. Hitler was alone and all of us have seen what he did.

The ground exists, it is just “waiting” for the seed to fall into it. Then the whole world will flare up against Israel! This is our future if we don’t wake up and begin to behave in such a way that summons the upper force, which arranges all of these circumstances for us so that we will begin to work in the opposite and positive direction. The Creator is managing all of this. This is His true action. The hand of the Creator is in everything. There is none else beside Him.

We are to blame for not balancing the two forces that exist in the world, the positive and the negative. So this is what happens.
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New Life 706 – Jewish Culture: The Light In The Torah
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Rav Laitman tells his life’s story, about his grandfather, a synagogue in Russia, and his search when he arrived in Israel. The desire to know what is behind the Jewish rituals brought him to the wisdom of Kabbalah. Kabbalah teaches us that there is a special force in nature called the Torah.

The Torah is not a book but the force for the correction of a person’s ego. When we connect, together we can draw the force of the Torah, which will build the love between us and reveal the Creator to us.

In the material world we have different symbols indicating the upper spiritual roots. The Light in the Torah is a force that is in nature like other forces, and we can reveal it in the connection between us. This force is not in a book in the Holy Ark written on parchment. The book is only a symbol of that force. This is the reason that it says: “I would rather they left Me and kept my Torah, since the Light in it reforms.” We have to pay attention to others, which means to want to reach the state of good relations between us, so that we will be as one man with one heart.

The Light gives us the answers to existential questions such as: What are we living for? And why can’t we receive everything?

Everyone understands the Torah according to his own capabilities. Thus Kabbalists don’t see stories in the Torah but the phases of correction. The Light is a natural force that can be identified with the suitable device, and that device is the special connection between us.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 706 – Jewish Culture: The Light In The Torah,” 3/17/16

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New Life 704 – Spiritual Sexuality
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Question: Why does sex play such a central role in our life?

Answer: It is because life is created by the connection between opposites, and the desire for sex is actually a desire for life. Our sexual desires grow during our evolution as human beings. In nature we also see that the male wants to have offspring and the female wants to belong only to him. It is rooted in us. Our attitude to sex is actually the basis for everything in our life even when we are not aware of it. Freud also spoke about it.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us that it stems from the upper root in which we are intended to be in coupling, in a perfect connection, in a perfect mutual connection between people, in a connection in which every individual acts both as a male and female, as the one who gives and the one who receives.

At the peak of our evolution we will reach a state in which we are connected as one, since we all stem from one soul. The greatest insight we need to acquire is that no one can fill himself and that each individual has both a male and female part in order to connect, which means the readiness to give and to receive.

The wisdom of Kabbalah deals with spiritual sexuality and tells us that it is the basis of nature. Our whole perception of life stems from the spiritual root and includes accounts of giving and receiving, and when I connect correctly to more and more people, a corrected system of interconnection is built between us. As created beings, we all exist as a female facing the male who wants to fill us, the Creator, the upper force, the good and the benevolent. This is the ultimate joy and all our desires and passions stem from it.

Question: Why is the human sexual desire not limited to certain times in the year like in the animal world?

Answer: The more developed a species is the more unlimited it is. This is also from where the human sexual distortions stem. The wisdom of Kabbalah tells us how to reach a spiritual coupling, the ultimate connection between us regardless of sex.

The more an individual fills another in a perfect mutual manner, the more we ascend to a spiritual level of existence.

Women want to look beautiful and to attract men by nature, while men pay less attention to their looks. The sexual desire that is rooted in us since the thought of creation is to “to do good unto His created beings.” We are yet to discover the spiritual coupling!
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From KabTV’s “New Life 704 – Spiritual Sexuality,” 3/17/16

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