New Life 537 – Jewish Culture: Coming Out Of Egypt
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What does Kabbalah teach us about the ego and unfounded hatred, which are naturally imprinted in us? How do they trap us inside evil and how can we become free of this slavery?

Abraham’s time is the beginning of the era of the Patriarchs, and after the exodus from Egypt, it is the beginning of the era of the sons.

Abraham taught us how to build connections above our egoism and unfounded hatred—”Love will cover all transgressions.”
Even in the family or in politics love should be above any disagreements there may be.

Egypt symbolizes the period of our enslavement to the ego. The decision to come out of the ego comes after the plagues.
Pesach (Passover) is a birth. Egypt was the birthplace of the nation, the birth of a new world view through connection. A person is a slave inside his ego and outside the ego he is free. This is the whole story of the exodus from Egypt.

Initially you examine yourself and how the ego manages you in every way. It is a phase of self-recognition. The ego seems to be in our favor, but in fact, it ruins our life. If your neighbor buys a new car, you are sad because your ego suffers. We will be able to live a good life only when we learn to relate to everyone as to our family. This is the whole idea of Passover.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 537 – Jewish Culture: Coming Out Of Egypt,” 3/22/15

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Comment: The Chief Rabbi of Israel announced that we should deport all the gentiles to Saudi Arabia, they have no place in Israel.

Answer: As a Kabbalist, I totally agree with him. There is no room in Israel for gentiles; there is only room for Jews since the term the “Land of Israel” refers to the desire that is directed straight to the Creator, to the attribute of love and bestowal. The word “land – Eretz” refers to a desire – Ratzon, and the name “Israel” stems from the words “Yashar-El,” which mean straight to the Creator.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the terms “Torah, Israel, and Jew” are states in our world, the upper world, etc. A Jew is a person who yearns for the love of others and a gentile is a person who has no such yearning but only egoistic self-love.

Therefore according to the actual definition, there is only room for Jews in the Land of Israel, which means for those who feel the love for others, and they can be Italians, Mexicans, French, anyone. When a person begins to take others into account, which means that he transcends the internal psychological barrier, and they become close to him and not strangers, he becomes a Jew. This country is called the Land of Israel, and only our desires or the person who has corrected his desires from hatred to love, which means that he has been converted, is a Jew. The term “Jew” or “Hebrew – Ivrit” stems from the Hebrew word “Ever – to transcend,” from hate to love. All of humanity should reach this feeling of love, not only those who were born to a Jewish mother.

Jews who were born to a Jewish mother have a method of transcending from egoism to altruism, from hatred to love, which they attained in the past. Then they fell from love to hatred and have been in the state of hatred for 2,000 years. Therefore, they have to come back to life today and show the whole world how humanity rises from egoism, from hating others to love.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/28/16

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New Life 551 – What Is True Independence?
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Why isn’t anyone truly independent? How can we attain true independence and what is the connection between independence and love?

The term “independence” doesn’t actually exist in nature; after all, everything is made of at least two parts that are related. Even the US is not independent since they have to worry about preserving their control all over the world…

The wisdom of Kabbalah tells us that there is a force called the Creator and that He is good and benevolent. He created a force that is opposite from Him called the created being, which is not good and benevolent. The goal of the created being, of man, is to balance the two forces of nature, the positive and the negative forces, by building a middle line. This is true independence.

All peoples aspire for freedom and independence, but only Israel has the method of balance, the middle line. The UN gave us a state [Israel] because they were guided to do so from Above by the plan of the creation so that we will balance the world. The world is expecting us to set an example of a balanced society that exists in mutual guarantee and perfect love.

The army will not provide us with security; only the connection between us will bring security. It will also calm our neighbors and all our enemies.

Kabbalah tells us how to awaken the positive force in nature and how to reach a state of balance and independence. The positive force will awaken in us an urge to connect with others and an urge for love and giving. We need to explain and teach that it is only by adding the positive force that Israel can reach true achievements.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 551 – What Is True Independence?” 4/12/15

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Comment: Economists and psychologists from the University of Barcelona have concluded that the states and cities from which the Jews were expelled fell into decay. It seems that the Jews took the economic prosperity from these cities and transferred it to another place.

Answer: The Jews did not take the economic prosperity but they did take the Light that surrounds them. The Jews are a group that Abraham established and is connected to the upper leadership, and so when they are among other nations those nations prosper because the Jews are the most active group in the system of humanity in every area: socially, scientifically, politically, economically, etc. This group has a special attribute because for 1,500 years the Jews have created a special connection between them and the upper leadership by resembling it, which means since the year 1,500 BC until the beginning of our millennium, until the Second Temple was destroyed and the Jews were exiled. They kept a certain connection with spirituality, and so the people, the nations among whom the Jews lived, received certain spiritual nourishment through them which enables them to flourish.

Comment: Many studies refer mainly to economic prosperity.

Answer: It is not only about economic prosperity but all other aspects of life. Economy is simply the most important aspect for us.

Question: Didn’t these countries understand what would happen if they expel the Jews?

Answer: There is a struggle between two dominations: on the one hand, the domination of the parliament, of royalty, of the bourgeois, and, on the other hand, the domination of the church. These two dominations were in an unstable balance throughout history, and so when the church rose, the Jews were expelled.

Comment: Scientists have reached the conclusion that the same is happening today.

Answer: It doesn’t matter. We think that our times are special, but the connection remains the same and nature remains the same system. The only problem is that the world is now in a state that requires a stronger connection with the upper leadership.

Question: Does that mean that the situation today is special?

Answer: Today we live in a special time for several reasons. First because the whole world has become one whole global world. Second, we have exhausted all the options of our egoistic evolution in economy, literature, culture, education, organizations, social relations, in every possible aspect. The world today is in a catastrophic state because we have used our ego and cannot develop in it anymore, but we don’t have anything else in the meantime.

The key for something else is actually in the hands of the Jews. In the past the Jews followed this path when the same crisis broke out in ancient Babylon where complete egoism was revealed in its minor form in humanity. Today, however, the crisis is recurring on a different level in the whole world, in all of humanity, and so we must understand that since the Jews are connected to the upper leadership they can convey this connection to all the other nations of the world. We will not survive without it.

Today all of civilization is facing a critical decision. We should either sustain the right leadership system so that the upper system would manage all the other nations through the Jews, and the whole chain consisting of different links will operate correctly, which means that the Jews should know their role and fulfill it, and the nations of the world will know their role and fulfill it. Then the upper leadership will operate through this pyramid and humanity will prosper.

On the other hand, we can act the way we did in the past until the upper leadership will be revealed as the absolute opposite form from our innate ego, with all its poisons. The ego is so rotten that it cannot grow new sprouts. So we will have to undergo terrible afflictions and then realize that we have to build the right pyramid anyway. Baal HaSulam speaks about that in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” and I strongly recommend reading it.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/27/16

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New Life 566 – The Three Pilgrimage Festivals (Regalim)
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

In our distant past, as the people of Israel we carried out corresponding internal and external actions to connect to others and the Creator.

The exodus from Egypt was an exodus from the evil inclination, from the ego, from the desire to exploit others for our own benefit. After the physical and internal exodus from Egypt and from Pharaoh, we reached Mount Sinai to receive the Torah.

The Torah is a means for correcting the evil inclination. With its help we reach the land (Eretz) of Israel, the desire (Ratzon) to love. Within the love of others, the upper force is revealed, the power of connection, the goodness called the Creator.

The land of Israel symbolizes our general desire for connection and a more internal desire is revealed in it, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a desire to give contentment to the Creator, the power of bestowal, the source of life and the source of love. “Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4): We are connected as one person with one heart, as He is one. Creator (Bore) = “Bo Re” (come and see): We discover between us the system of bestowal and are afraid of losing the love. This fear is called, Yirah Shlemah (complete fear), Yerushalem (Jerusalem). Within it a unique connection is revealed, the Beit HaMikdash (Temple).

The three Regalim (Feet) are the three lines: the left line – the ego, the right line – the Torah, the middle line – their integration together. The pilgrimage to Jerusalem means strengthening my love of others and the fear of losing it.

The Holy Land (Eretz HaKodesh), the holiness of the land, all of these expressions speak about the holiness of the desire (Ratzon) – the desire to bestow and to love. Every physical step in the land awakens a unique feeling of love in a person, a change in attitude toward others.

The map of the land of Israel is like an electrical diagram: when you change internally, you move immediately to another place. So things were said were to be conducted, but this required a person to carry out corrections in his desires.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 566 – The Three Pilgrimage Festivals (Regalim),” 2/24/15

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Question: The Israeli Deputy Minister of Regional Cooperation Ayoob Kara said following the terrorist attacks in Brussels that they still have no answer to those who still challenge the State of Israel.

Europe understands that the hypocrisy regarding Israel has returned to them like a boomerang. Brussels has received Islam with silk gloves, and in another ten years the mayor of Brussels will be an Arab. Does it actually return to them as a boomerang?

Answer: It doesn’t return like a boomerang. It doesn’t work this way.

The same people who think about division and not about connection and unity put themselves in a position where they might receive a blow because the movement through them is along the path of suffering, while those who tend to soften things, to bring people closer and guide the two sides to reconciliation without any pressure, will advance in a smoother manner.

If we call for peace without violence or pressure on the two sides and take measures to help the two sides get closer, we will be able to do something. Actions that bring people closer are better than identifying with one side and then receiving a blow from it.

I don’t see any other natural way than by bringing people closer and certainly not by dominating everyone as today’s Islam declares that it does. All of the nations of the world should adopt the one and only principle that love is above everything. Love is a state of creative integral unity when everyone adapts himself to others like parts of a giant machine.

In that case, Belgium is the source of the entire global dispute, and this is becoming apparent now in European society. It doesn’t know how to contact others properly and intervenes in everything. Therefore, the hatred that stems from it toward the general love for the correct inclusive unity above the ego eventually returns to it like a boomerang, and the blow will be hard.

Belgium is actually the symbol of egoistic Europe that has placed the bank union as its uppermost value and not the unity of the hearts.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/28/16

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New Life 543 – Jewish Culture: The Seder Night And The Meaning Of Life
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

“And thou shalt tell thy son” (Exodus 13:8). This is not just a story for our children about the exodus from Egypt. All of us must become acquainted with, recognize, and feel the meaning of the story of the Haggadah….

It is most important that we know what exile and what redemption are, what the difference between them is, and in what situation we are in at the present time.

In the beginning there was plenty of food in Egypt and the children of Israel lived like kings. Then there were seven years of famine. The famine symbolizes a sense of emptiness, a lack of feeling why I am living for at all, a lack of meaning. As of today, an inner voice has been awakened in a person, telling him that his life is like living in a gilded cage and he is basically a slave. This is very evident in Europe and the United States. Everything is there materially, but in spite of that people are still bitter and sad, suffering from depression.

“Why is this night different” (Pesachim 116a). Come let’s sit together and think about our lives, how do we leave slavery? Did nature create us just so we would pursue all kinds of gratification in life and then die?

Throughout all generations there were sages who searched for the meaning of life. Today the idea has become public knowledge. As a result of an internal annoyance, searching for something that is unclear, the young enter into a lot of nonsense, problems, and troubles.

We have the Haggadah of Pesach (Passover), it tells us that it is possible to rise above the material, above the severity and control our lives. A person can learn to control his life, be its master, plan his life for a goal that he has chosen from the start. Everything depends on us.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 543 – Jewish Culture: The Seder Night And The Meaning Of Life,” 3/31/15

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Question: How do you explain the claims of the Palestinians and terrorists that are appearing lately, according to whom it is the Jews who are planning and carrying out acts of terrorism and other lawlessness?

Answer: All of the allegations that Arabs make against Israel—that Israel is killing unarmed Palestinians, pushing them to terrorism against the whole world, digging underneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and burning the homes of wretched Palestinians in spite of international treaties—are all a continuation of aggressive anti-Semitic acts that naturally have existed in all times among the peoples of the world against the Jews.

To the degree that the Jews have “robbed” the peoples of the world by not giving them the method, the means for attaining happiness, the peoples of the world feel the loss and damage that the Jews have caused them and the world, and their anti-Semitic behavior is the reaction to this.

Therefore, the Europeans and the peoples of the world increasingly will support the Palestinian side, even though they are destructive. Because the Jews are not repairing the world, they themselves direct the Palestinians toward acts of terrorism.

In this way, the Arabs are puppets on strings in the hands of the Jews, whereas the Jews are refusing to know the true cause of the hatred toward them from the peoples of the world. On the contrary, they believe that they have been giving the world more than any other nation and all of the nations together. This is correct, but it is not what is demanded from the Jewish people. Instead, their only role is the revelation of the method for achieving happiness, eternity, paradise, fulfillment!
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New Life 542 – Jewish Culture: Moses – The Ideal Leader
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Moses had more of the characteristic of bestowal and love for others than any other person. A leader of Israel doesn’t need leadership capability, wisdom, cunning, and things like that. Rather, he must be without guile.

To the degree that a leader of Israel is innocent, the Upper Light can work on others through him. Being innocent means he wants nothing other than adhering more and more to the characteristics of bestowal and love. Then through him, the power of bestowal and love acts on the people, educating and advancing them toward connection and love.

The characteristics of Moses are those of a divine Kabbalist who attains divinity so that the Light shines through him. Moses didn’t concede anything to himself or to the people. Whenever the ego grew, he knew how to balance it.

Moses explained what nature or divinity (which is the same thing) required from people. He explained the law of development to the people. Moses had the biggest ego, but he knew how to overcome it and was successful in balancing it.

The people of Israel are a stiff-necked people, and they were very stubborn with Moses. But he had no choice. Moses included the egoistic desires of the people so that he could transmit the power of correction to them.

Moses guided an educational process of developing an awareness that egoism is harmful to us and that we need to connect. Being a leader means to establish a system of education and explanation that leads to connection between people above all the disparity and differences between them. Moses explained to the people that all of the troubles are because the ego enslaves them. He taught them how to escape from it.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 542 – Jewish Culture: Moses – The Ideal Leader,” 3/26/16

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Comment: More than 60% of people who left Israel were immigrants from the former Soviet Union. According to the latest statistics published by the Central Bureau of Statistics, about 150,000 young people who came to Israel from the CIS have left Israel because of the high cost of living, and have moved to Canada and the US. It is a trend that has been on the rise especially in the last couple of years.

According to statistics, in the 25 years that have passed since the last repatriation,  150,000 -200,000 people left the country due to their inability to prosper financially. The bulk of the people who went to Canada and the US, are specialists in the field of hi-tech.

Answer: Of course, because it is easier to live there. But I want to point out another attribute that is typical of newcomers. People from all over the world, who belong to different religions, both Jews and non Jews, for example, aspire to reach our organization Bnei Baruch. If we could absorb all those who are interested, I believe that about 5,000 – 10,000 people would come to Israel. And they wouldn’t be worried about where to find a job and what to do, but would mainly care about being here together in the Land of Israel in order to build a new united society.

It all depends on a person’s goal. A person who comes to Israel not knowing what the right goal is, will certainly prefer to be better off abroad, and it makes no difference where.

Comment: They know the purpose of their coming to Israel. They simply want a bigger house, a good car…

Answer: That’s right, but you don’t need to come to Israel in order to fulfill the same goals people have everywhere else. We should understand the difference between members of our Bnei Baruch organization who live all over the world, and everyone else. We are managed by a spiritual goal that gives a person clear direction about what is important in life.

When the importance of the spiritual goal and the spiritual ideology awakens in a person, everything else becomes less important. He truly wants to come here and agrees to any condition as long as his soul can advance, develop, and be filled, while the body is provided with its basic necessities.

Question: Are you saying that the future of Israel is mainly spiritual?

Answer: The future of Israel is only spiritual and only those who are connected to spirituality will be able to live in it. There is no other reason for Israel to exist. No matter how much the Jews are pressured in other counties, they will always find a quiet place to live there. I have met many of them in different places in America. I have been to conventions that Israelis who left Israel organized. I have lectured there and have learned what characterizes these people. They don’t care where they live, whether it is in Phoenix, Arizona, in desolate places with terrible climates that are even worse than the climate in Israel. They don’t care, as long as they live as far away from here as possible.

They believe that the atmosphere of fear is growing in Israel, and they feel there is less pressure and threats where they are, and that they have a greater sense of security. But in fact, statistically there are many more violent events there per resident than here. Therefore this isn’t the reason, but the point is that in Israel they have no filling. This land was meant only for people who are correctly and ideologically aimed at the meaning of life. Therefore, the future depends only on us!
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/21/16

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