This means that each and every one in Israel would take upon himself to care and work for each member of the nation, to satisfy all their needs, no less than the measure imprinted in him to care for his own needs (Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut [Mutual Guarantee]”).

We must always compare taking care of ourselves to caring for others: how much does striving for oneself differ from striving for others, what is the difference between them, and can we somehow equalize the desire to care for others with the care for oneself. That is a specific and uncomplicated task. Defining it is very simple, but carrying it out is almost impossible.

Mutual guarantee (Arvut), described by Baal HaSulam is like a fantasy. We understand that it is practically unattainable and beyond human capability. I cannot think about others, not even those close to me, in the way I do about myself. It is impossible. The task set before us is, in fact, not achievable. So, what are we discussing here?

Once the whole nation unanimously agreed and said, “We will do and we will hear,” each member of Israel became responsible that no member of the nation will lack anything. Only then did they become worthy of receiving the Torah

It is enough if we understand that we have no other way out. And we do not need another way out because, in reality, this is the highest goal that can be in our lowly, insignificant world. Therefore, if we agree to live in mutual guarantee, we will begin to draw upon ourselves special upper forces that will lead us to this state.

However, no one says we must become altruists and kind, love everyone, and connect with everyone. That is not serious. It says we must realize our current nature and the state we must reach that nature pushes us to.

Look at what is happening in the world. Nature pushes us toward complete unification. We may not understand this, but in principle, this is what lies ahead of us. If we want to live on our small Earth, we must become one unified whole. Otherwise, we cannot survive.

By realizing this, we will become suitable for receiving the Torah and for receiving the upper light that will change our nature and drive us toward collective unification.

The world is experiencing more division, fragmentation, and distancing every day, and accordingly, more confusion about where it exists, why, and how. Humanity feels the egoism that seems to play with it from within and acts accordingly.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson 2/18/20, “The Arvut [Mutual Guarantee]”

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All of Israel became responsible for one another. Because the Torah was not given to them before each and every one from Israel was asked if he agreed to take upon himself the Mitzva [commandment] of loving others in the full measure expressed in the words “Love your friend as yourself” (Baal HaSulam, Article “The Arvut [Mutual Guarantee]”).

Question: What does it mean “each one was asked”? Or is this an inappropriate question for us?

Answer: This question is always within you, in your soul. Every day you must answer it: Are you ready to move forward?

With this question, a person progresses: “Who am I? For what purpose am I here? Why? What goal am I heading to? With what means? What exactly must I do? What is the essence of each of my steps?” This is what organizes a person in the movement toward the quality of giving, toward the spiritual quality.

For us, the most important thing is to acquire the first spiritual quality. This means that we will begin to perceive the spiritual world.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson 2/18/20, “The Arvut [Mutual Guarantee]”

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All of Israel became responsible for one another. Because the Torah was not given to them before each and every one from Israel was asked if he agreed to take upon himself the Mitzva [commandment] of loving others in the full measure expressed in the words “Love your friend as yourself” [Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee)].

First, there is no such nation as the people of Israel. They came into being out of people who wanted to rise above their egoism because they realized it was impossible to exist within it. That happened in ancient Babylon 3,500 years ago. People understood that if they continued to act egoistically, they would destroy themselves and each other. There was great turmoil, mutual hatred flared up, and the inhabitants of Babylon did not know what to do next.

Therefore, Abraham, the son of the high priest Terach, saw problems, internal strife, and various conflicts among the people, and began to study this phenomenon. He realized that it stemmed from the growth of egoism in each person and that the only solution was to rise above the ego and somehow balance it.

Abraham began to preach this idea among the ancient Babylonians and urged them to unite and rise above egoism to achieve proper mutual understanding, to stop killing each other, and to bring themselves to a normal state.

His father Terach also supported this, but the Babylonian king Nimrod was against it. Nimrod thought that he would lose his power because when people become closer to each other, less aggressive, and kinder, they generally do not care about authority. However, if they become hostile toward each other, a king can intervene and control them.

Therefore, Abraham had no choice but to call upon all those who agreed with his idea of unification and lead them out of Babylon to the so-called land of Canaan. Today, this is the State of Israel. Thus, they came to be called the people of Israel (Yisra-El) from the phrase “straight to the Creator” (Yashar El).
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/18/20, “The Arvut [Mutual Guarantee]”

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Leonid asks:

Dear Michael Laitman, I recently learned that many great Jews were not originally Jewish. For example, the most famous Rabbi Akiva was not born Jewish, but became the leading teacher of the Jewish people.

King David, the greatest king of Israel, had a grandmother Ruth, who was not Jewish. The well-known Torah commentator Onkelos was a Roman who converted to Judaism and translated the Torah into Aramaic; his translation is the most famous. My question is: how is this possible, and is there an explanation for it in Kabbalah?”

Answer: I do not know the explanations. I just know that it does not matter. A person who wants to be closer to the Creator accepts all the laws stated in the Torah, and thus becomes Jewish.

“Yehudi” comes from the word meaning “connecting with the Creator,” “drawing closer to the Creator.”

Question: Does “Yehudi” mean more like “Jew”?

Answer: Yes, so it doesn’t matter.

That is why we welcome, respect, love, and honor these people.

Question: So it is like there is a navigator—if I want to be closer to the Creator, I get closer to the Torah?

Answer: Yes, of course because the Torah speaks about how to be closer to the Creator.

Question: So initially there is this desire “I want to be closer”?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Who instills this desire in a person?

Answer: The Creator.

Question: So it turns out that He is the one who calls upon a person?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Are these selected individuals? Leonid mentions selected individuals like Rabbi Akiva, Onkelos, Ruth?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So there are certain people whom the Creator calls and they come to the Torah?

Answer: Yes and they come to the laws and conditions stated in the Torah.

Question: Next Leonid asks: “What does it mean to go through the conversion process and become a Jew?”

Answer: It means accepting the obligation to fulfill the conditions for drawing closer to the Creator.

Question: Is that what it means to “go through conversion”?

Answer: Yes.

Remark: He asks: “Why is it so difficult to go through conversion today? I know from my own experience.”

Answer: It depends on the time, of course. But mostly, it depends on bureaucracy.

Question: So there are such barriers?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is it good that there are barriers?

Answer: Yes, it is good.

Question: So it is good that they initially push you away and make it difficult?

Answer: If it is within reasonable limits, then yes, of course.

Comment: We know that it was easier for King David’s grandmother. She said, “This is my people; I want to be with my people.” And that was called conversion.

My Response: Yes.

Comment: Today that would not happen.

My Response: A lot of time has passed, and people have become much more complex.

Question: It turns out that someone who goes through conversion can even become a leader of the generation, higher than those born Jewish. Doesn’t this offend Jews?

Answer: Not at all. This person who has gone through conversion is 100 percent Jewish and even a bit more. Because he came from outside and made an effort.

Question: So in principle, it turns out that someone who truly goes through conversion and becomes a Jew is even higher than a natural-born Jew?

Answer: Of course.

Question: So a true Jew, who is that, what is that, and how is that? If you could summarize it once more?

Answer: A Jew is a person who desires to draw closer to the Creator. That is it.

Question: Such a simple formula?

Answer: Yes. “Yehudi” comes from the word “Yichud“(bringing together).
[330544]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/13/24

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Comment: A person under the avatar “Truth-Seeker” asks, “Why does the whole world hate Jews, and I do too?”

My Response: Because the world is arranged in such a way that Jews have the only true point of this world. This is the feeling of the Creator. For this, everyone hates them.

Comment: But ideally, it should be the other way around.

My Response: No, the truth is attained only from the darkness. Therefore, we must constantly be on the transition between darkness and light.

Question: What does this indicate?

Answer: This indicates that the Jews, the people of Israel, have a tool. This tool can determine whether I am following the Creator or anything else.

Question: Does a Jew have such a tool?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Why hate them for it?

Answer: Because they have it.

Question: Is it like they have it and I do not? Is that the game?

Answer: Yes, it is even higher. It is because the Creator makes it so. If it were at the level of our world, it would be only half the trouble.

Question: So if it were just between us, you say it would be half the trouble. Does that mean the Creator directs this hatred toward us, the Jews?

Answer: Yes.

Question: The fact that Truth-Seeker admits as he writes at the end, “And I hate them too,” how do you interpret that?

Answer: That is how he feels inside. If he feels it, then that is how it is.

Question: Tell me, please, when he says, “And I hate Jews too,” is there pain in this, that “I hate you”? What do you think?

Answer: This is the pain of the Jews’ connection with the Creator. I can have anything, but if I do not have this point of connection with the Creator, then I am simply nobody.

Question: What should we do to be truly connected with the Creator?

Answer: We must justify that we are Israel. “Israel” translated means “straight to the Creator.” That is all.

Question: What do we need to do for this?

Answer: Leave everything aside except this yearning to the Creator; it is the most important thing.

Comment: So everything else is just toys, you say.

My Response: Yes.

Question: Should only this remain?

Answer: Yes.
[330433]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/6/24

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The upper light is acting upon us even now but very cautiously and in the opposite direction. It does not reveal itself to us; instead, it makes even greater darkness for us to feel a strong need for it. That is how it works.

When we begin to ascend the degrees of attaining the system of the upper connecting force, we will be able to speak to humanity in a completely different language. We will explain our methodology to them through our own experiences and demonstrate it in action.

We must reach this state because the nations will not strive toward the Creator and connection themselves. They are immersed in their egoistic desires and will suffer silently. If the point in their hearts, the desire to reveal the source of their lives, does not awaken in them, they will continue to live as they do. After all, desire determines the development of a person.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/17/20, “Preparation for the Convention”

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Question: One of the top five most popular words lately, especially now in Israel, is “Tehillim,” the Psalms of David. After all, is it written in the genetics of people that when I am anxious, when I feel bad, I should turn to the Psalms of David?

Answer: That is why he wrote them, in general. This is exactly the language, the form, in which we can turn to the Creator.

Comment: But it was he who turned to the Creator.

My Response: It does not matter.

Question: Then it turns out that he exists practically in everyone?

Answer: Of course. This is King David! He is the person closest to the Creator.

Question: And for us, if each of us turns to Tehillim, to the Psalms of David, does it mean that he is in us too, the closest to us?

Answer: He is partially inside us, of course, inside each of us.

Question: Are we talking about more than just the Jewish people? Are we talking about the whole world?

Answer: Yes, King David is universal to the whole world.

Question: Is there is a point called King David and Psalms every person in the world?

Answer: Yes, that is why they are so popular. That is why everyone sings them.

Comment: All religions…

My Response: Yes.

Question: Please tell me, does reading Psalms help psychologically?

Answer: Not only. This is a real help from above. They have strength; let us say, the power of protection.

David was strongly connected with the Creator, with the upper world. He was a king. That is, he paved this connection to the Creator. And therefore, his Psalms are the most important.

Question: Now, there is a question: Did King David really write them?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Was he thinking about writing them for us or was he simply spilling out what was inside him, the cry of his heart and soul?

Answer: I think he was simply describing what he felt.

Question: Why did he write them? He could have just said it all? Moreover, the feeling is that everything naturally comes out from the heart.

Answer: Of course, he said it too.

Question: What is happening when a person is writing?

Answer: He is pouring himself out. He is pouring himself onto paper.

Question: So, you advise working like this?

Answer: I recommend it! When a person reaches this state, he does not need advice.

Question: Will it work like this on its own?

Answer: Yes.

Question: It means that this connection of mine with my hand, with what I am writing, will not disappear?

Answer: No.

Question: Despite all the existing devices and recordings?

Answer: No. A person will reach out for a pen, paper, or a knife and stone.

Question: That is, civilization will not affect this in any way?

Answer: No.
[329104]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/15/24

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Question: What is this leap—love?

Answer: Love is a state where you treat others with a desire for complete bestowal and you strive to become like the Creator in action.

Comment: I still cannot grasp the difference. Suppose a person works like an organ in the body. He receives the most necessary things for himself and gives everything else for the sake of the entire organism. Thanks to this, the organism lives.

My Response: Yes, this is if we are talking about the internal system of the organism.

Question: So, can we say that our organs are altruistic? But we still do not say that they love each other. What is love, then?

Answer: Love, as Baal Sulam says, is a state where each organ feels all the other organs and helps them function properly.

Question: And on the human level?

Answer: There is no such state between people. It exists only at the level of the internal system of the organism.

Question: What did our sages mean when they wrote “Love your neighbor as yourself”? What is this stage when people reach such a state?

Answer: This is a stage of our internal development when we realize we must connect through good connections. That is, it is an emotional state when a person directly lives the life of society. Then we feel each other as if living in one organism.

Question: And is this organism the Creator or an upper force?

Answer: It is the Creator. Right!
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From KabTV’s “Era of the Last Generation” 5/9/24

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Question: Rabash did not want to let his friends or students read Shamati because they did not have the left line. We study that Israel is the lightest, purest aspirations and desires. So why do you say that they are the roughest and the heaviest ones?

Answer: The vessels (Kelim) that need to be corrected are determined by the amount of egoistic impurities, and therefore, they are felt as particularly selfish and in need of correction first. In others it doesn’t feel that way; it seems as though nothing serious is happening with them.

Therefore, it is evident that the people of Israel stand out in their egoism relative to other nations of the world, but only because they have different demands made on them.

If these demands were the same for both the nations of the world and the Israelites, then the people of Israel would not be the most egoistic.

So it all depends on how we approach it initially and by what standards we measure.
[329860]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/24, Writings of Rabash “Concerning the Omer [Count]”

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Question: Can each of the stages of spiritual development (revelation of evil, do no harm to others, love your neighbor as yourself) take decades?

Answer: Today it takes much less.

Question: How can this be; we are all so different? There are people who may still be at the first stage and there are those who are already at the third stage.

Answer: This is the same as in our society; there are different people: rich and poor, smart and not so smart, and so on. That is, they always complement each other.

Question: Baal HaSulam explains that when a person acquires the altruistic property, meaning, the ability to unite with others and not use them for one’s own benefit, he immediately begins to feel the upper force according to the law of equivalence of properties.

He writes that contact with the upper force is the most natural state for a person. How can you explain this?

Answer: It is a return to our root, the root we came from.

Question: Is it natural for a person to be in connection with the Creator? It is certainly natural for us to be egoistic.

Answer: But our egoism also comes from there. The Creator created everything. He created evil and gave us the opportunity to correct it. In this way we move toward good.
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From KabTV’s “Era of the Last Generation” 5/9/24

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