Entries in the 'Nations of the World' Category

The Contrast Between Light And Darkness

laitman_207Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 67: When a person from Israel enhances and dignifies one’s internality, which is the Israel in that person, over the externality, which are the nations of the world in him, that is, when one dedicates the majority of one’s efforts to enhance and exalt one’s internality, to benefit one’s soul, and gives minor efforts, the mere necessity, to sustain the nations of the world in him, meaning the bodily needs, as it is written (Avot, 1), “Make your Torah permanent and your labor temporary,” by so doing, one makes the children of Israel soar upwards in the internality and externality of the world as well, and the nations of the world, which are the externality, to recognize and acknowledge the value of the Children of Israel.

If we attribute ourselves to the upper part, to GE, to the part of Israel in the nation of Israel, we have no obligation to turn to the public and to disseminate among those who belong to AHP until we ascend as high as we can by our connection and unity, until we reach actual mutual guarantee, until we receive the Light that Reforms by this unity, which will really connect us.

Then the illumination will flow from us to the AHP, since there will be a contrast in the general vessel: there will be more Light in its GE part while in its AHP part it will be the exact opposite. On the whole, the nations of the world will acknowledge the importance of the vessels of bestowal called Israel. Those who are the external part will be able to recognize the internal part and this will be the direct outcome of our internal correction.

Therefore, if we connect and unite, even those who are against, who have nothing to do with this work, also receive an illumination from it by which it becomes clear to them that we have the Light while they are in the dark.

“And if, God forbid, it is to the contrary, and an individual from Israel enhances and appreciates one’s externality, which is the nations of the world in him, more than the inner Israel in him, as it is written (Deuteronomy 28:43), ‘The stranger that is in the midst of thee shall mount up above thee higher and higher; and thou shalt come down lower and lower,’ meaning the externality in that person rises and soars, and you yourself, the internality, the Israel in you, plunges down? With these actions, one causes the externality of the world in general, the nations of the world, to soar ever higher and overcome Israel, degrading them to the ground, and the children of Israel, the internality in the world, to plunge deep down.”

The nations of the world grow stronger when the part of Israel doesn’t function properly in the vessel. Then the darkness becomes thick, the children of Israel fall from their level, and the externality in them overcomes the internality until the destructive forces totally smash and humiliate them…
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Laitman_167Hard Days Under the Siege of Egoism

The upper system of governance acts in accordance with concrete, rigid laws that have numerous parameters and define our calendar.

The Christian calendar is based on solar cycles; as for the Muslim calendar, it is linked to lunar rotation. Judaism takes both solar and lunar circulation into consideration.

This is why the Jewish calendar is permanent. In other words, throughout all of history, starting with the first man Adam, who lived several thousand years ago, and up to today, any event that ever took place on the face of Earth can be predicted and calculated: Pesach (Passover), Shavuot, Sukkot, etc. It’s possible to tell what year, month, or week these holidays will take place in the future.

All sunrises and sunsets can be clearly calculated as well as in what proportion days and nights will be split into hours of light (day) and night (dark).

The Jewish calendar is very precise. It is built on astronomical formulas and embraces the entirety of nature. It is possible due to the wisdom of Kabbalah.

There are special dates in the calendar, i.e., favorable and unfavorable times that are outlined by either enhancement of egoism or the prevailing of the energy of love. These two forces, the right and left, usually are balanced out and constitute the middle line.

Due to this state of affairs, there exists an unfavorable period that starts on the 17th of the month of Tammuz and lasts until the 9th of Av. This period has been considered negative for thousands of years throughout all generations. For the duration of this period, it is common to mourn since the upper force of bestowal and love conceals itself in this world.

Various disasters happen to the people of Israel because they are connected with the higher power. On the contrary, the nations of the world that are interlaced with the evil force of egoism are especially successful during this period.

Question: It looks fatal and inevitable, is that so?

Answer: Yes, it’s inevitable because spiritual and material roots are connected. The spiritual system that governs this world moves the sun, the moon and the Earth. It rotates the entire universe.

Accordingly, the force of the upper governance influences not only astronomic objects of the Universe that are yet at a still developmental level, but also impacts the vegetative and animate levels.

We see that each plant goes through yearly cycles of flourishing and wilting. Animals as well are subject to yearly cycles; they multiply during certain periods of the year since they are connected with the governing system. Only humans are not subject to the influence of the cycles since they are not limited by inanimate, vegetative, or animate stages of nature.

Humans depend on inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature because this is where they get their nourishment. However, they do not conform to laws of nature the way plants and animals do. Yet, humans also go through good and bad periods because they are governed by nature at the speaking level.

If we rise above our nature, bad periods transform into the most benevolent ones and become immeasurably better than our happiest times. It all depends solely on us human beings. To make this happen, we are granted the wisdom of Kabbalah.

It means that the period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av is very harsh for the people of Israel since evil is activated strongly during this period. The only reason for the emerging of the evil is to make it transform into the good. So far, we are not ready for that, nor do we have energy for such transformation.

Our unity has not yet reached a degree at which we attract a benevolent power of the upper governance that acts in this world and helps us unite even more and pour out the force of unity into this world, thus changing for the better.

Question: Does it mean that human relationships define the destiny of the entire universe?

Answer: The Creator is nature. The upper force of nature called “the Creator” influences us from above, that is, from outside to inside us. We have an ability to rearrange this situation, make it opposite, thus impacting it by acting from the inside out, from bottom up. By doing so, we change reality. This is our job.

To be continued…
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/5/15

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The Essential Commodity Of The Jews

laitman_214We are approaching a major crisis—financial, military, leadership, and political—a universal crisis fraught with the collapse of core systems. All of the top universities, a huge army, leading banks, and thousands of tons of gold in the vaults—none of this will help.

If connection between systems is severed, everything falls apart. Likewise, an organism also dies if healthy organs are deprived of interconnection due to a failure of the nervous, circulatory, or lymphatic systems.

This is exactly what is happening today in every country and in relations between countries, and only we can bring back to life the vital systems of the global body. We are doctors who will hook them up to an IV and revive the connections, domestic and international. This is the only way the world can survive.

This method is rooted in us, in the wisdom of Kabbalah, and we are approaching the stage when it will be necessary to implement it within the people of Israel, and then, by way of example, pass it on to others. Everyone will have a need for it: America, China, India, Russia, the Islamic world, and Europe. It will become our core commodity.

I hope that in the next two or three years, if not sooner, humanity will realize that this is the only thing it needs. Moreover, people will see that only Jews have it, and they will come to us with the most important demand, the age-old grievance of anti-Semites, “This is what you have, but you are not giving it to us.” At last, we will be glad to share our assets.

Question: What exactly is this commodity?

Answer: It is a method of connecting people from which arises the unity of people and governments, of all parts of a nation, of all parties and movements. Let everyone have their own opinion and their own direction, but we will learn to unite above everything, as it is written, “love covers all transgressions.”

Then, every country will become unified as one, after which it will understand how it can complement the others, and thus international unity will arise. Thus, all of humanity will become truly one whole.

It is written about this, “…for they shall all know Me from their smallest to their greatest,” and “…My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” This is what we need to come to. Therein is the salvation of the nation of Israel. It is not with America, but with each other that we need to build correct relationships, and only then will we save ourselves and the entire world.

Our real weapon, the true means of salvation, is the method of connection, the wisdom of Kabbalah. It structures our relationship with the world through a higher system of governance and through the providence of nature itself, the nature of creation. Through it, we can truly influence the entire world for the better.

People accuse us of wielding a secret power over the world, and indeed, we truly are capable of leading it, but only on condition that we do so responsibly, if we bring humanity to a good interconnection and a true universal unification.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 8/4/15

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Long Way To The Temple, Part 5

laitman_747_01Exiled for Thousands of Years

After destruction of the First Temple, the Babylonian exile began. Purim events described in Megillat Esther took place during this period of time.

The hardships of exile forced the Jewish people to return to the land of Israel and enhance their unity.

They managed to build a good, strong connection among them even though their unity was not quite the same level as it was previously. They returned from Babylon with a new higher degree of egoism and strong selfish desires that they picked up from other nations.

It was as if they returned to Babylon that they once abandoned, submerged in the bubbling egoism, and then again returned to Israel. However, this time they were unable to build relationships as faithful, strong, and wonderful as they had initially. So, they decided to build something less complicated, that is, to create the type of connection called the “Second Temple.”

They were intertwined with each other but still divided into various confronting groups and clans. As a result, a new round of collapsing began. It’s very important to realize that unity can be reached only for a moment; after this moment, for centuries people slid down from the height of unity.

This is what happened to the Second Temple. The First Temple lasted for several centuries and then collapsed. The Second Temple repeated this pattern.

Great Kabbalist, Rabbi Akiva, lived at the time of the Second Temple. He made every effort to strengthen unity among the people of Israel.

Unfortunately, an unexplainable hatred instead of brotherly love suddenly appeared among his disciples who numbered 24,000 people. Distorted connection among them didn’t allow them to sense a magnificent “circle” that embraces the entire universe.

Detachment among Rabbi Akiva’s students accelerated the collapse of the Second Temple, i.e., hastened annihilation of their internal connection. This explains why they once again were exiled. The exile has lasted or two thousand years, until now.

To be continued
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/5/15

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Rav Laitman On Ynet – Who Are You, People Of Israel?


Hello Dear Readers,

I invite you to read my article published on Ynet on the subject of the role of the people of Israel.

“Who Are You People of Israel?”

Time and again, Jews are persecuted and terrorized. Being Jewish myself, I often ponder the purpose of this relentless agony. Some believe that the atrocities of WWII are unimaginable today. And yet, we see how easily and abruptly the state of mind preceding the Holocaust is re-emerging, and “Hitler was right” shouts are sounded all too often and all too openly.

But there is hope. We can reverse this trend, and all it requires is that we become aware of the bigger picture.

Where We Are and Where We Come From

Humanity is at a crossroads. Globalization has made us interdependent, while people are growing increasingly hateful and alienated. This unsustainable, highly flammable situation requires making a decision about humanity’s future direction. Yet to understand how we, the Jewish people, are involved in this scenario, we need to go back to where it all began.

The people of Israel emerged some 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon. Babylon was a thriving civilization whose people felt connected and united. In the words of the Torah, “The whole earth was of one language and of one speech” (Genesis, 11:1).

But as their ties grew stronger, so did their egos. They began to exploit, and finally hate one another. So while the Babylonians felt connected, their intensifying egos made them increasingly alienated from each other. Caught between a rock and a hard place, the people of Babylon began to seek out a solution to their plight.

Two Solutions to the Crisis

The search for a solution led to forming two conflicting views. The first, suggested by Nimrod, king of Babylon, was natural and instinctive: Dispersion. The king argued that when people are far from one another, they do not quarrel.

The second solution was suggested by Abraham, then a renowned Babylonian sage. He argued that according to Nature’s law, human society is destined to become united, and therefore strove to unite the Babylonians despite, and atop their growing egos.

Succinctly, Abraham’s method was a way to connect people above their egos. When he began to advocate his method among his countryfolk, “thousands and tens of thousands assembled around him, and … He planted this tenet in their hearts,” writes Maimonides (Mishneh Torah, Part 1). The rest of the people chose Nimrod’s way: dispersion, as do quarrelsome neighbors when they try to stay out of each other’s way. These dispersed people gradually became what we now know as “human society.”

Only today, some 4,000 years down the line, we can begin to assess whose way was right.

The Basis of the People of Israel

Nimrod forced Abraham and his disciples out of Babylon, and they moved to what later became known as “the land of Israel.” They worked on unity and cohesion in accord with the tenet, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” connected above their egos, and thus discovered “the force of unity,” Nature’s hidden power.

Every substance consists of two opposite forces, connection and separation, which balance themselves out. But human society is evolving using only the negative force—the ego. According to Nature’s plan, we are required to consciously balance the negative force with the positive one—unity. Abraham discovered the wisdom that enables balance, and today we refer to his wisdom as, “the wisdom of Kabbalah.”

Israel Means Straight to the Creator

Abraham’s disciples called themselves Ysrael (Israel) after their desire to go Yashar El (straight to G-d, the Creator). That is, they wished to discover Nature’s force of unity so as to balance the ego that stood between them. Through their unity, they found themselves immersed in the force of unity, the upper, root force of reality.

In addition to their discovery, Israel also learned that in the process of human development, the rest of the Babylonians—who followed Nimrod’s advice, dispersed throughout the world, and have become today’s humanity—would also have to achieve unity. That contradiction between the people of Israel, which formed through unity, and the rest of humanity, which formed as a result of separation, is felt even today.

Exile

Abraham’s disciples, the people of Israel, experienced many internal struggles. But for 2,000 years their unity prevailed and was the key element that held them together. Indeed, their conflicts were meant only to intensify the love among them.

However, approximately 2,000 years ago, their egos reached such intensity that they could not maintain their unity. Unfounded hatred and egotism erupted among them and inflicted exile on them. Indeed, Israel’s exile, more than it is exile from the physical land of Israel, is exile from unity. The alienation within the Israeli nation caused them to disperse among the nations.

Back to the present, today humanity is in a state similar to the one the ancient Babylonians experienced: interdependence alongside alienation. Because we are completely interdependent in our global village, Nimrod’s solution of parting ways is no longer practical. Now we are required to use Abraham’s method. This is why the Jewish people, who previously implemented Abraham’s method and connected, must rekindle their unity and teach the method of connection to the whole of humanity. And unless we do it of our own accord, the nations of the world will compel us to do it, by force.

On that note, it is interesting to read the words of Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, and a notorious anti-Semite, in his book, The International Jew — The World’s Foremost Problem: “Society has a large claim against him [the Jew] that he … begin to fulfill … the ancient prophecy that through him all the nations of the earth should be blessed.”

The Roots of Anti-Semitism

After thousands of years of exerting to build a successful human society using Nimrod’s method, the nations of the world are beginning to understand that the solution to their problems is neither technological, nor economic or militaristic. Subconsciously, they feel that the solution lies in unity, that the method of connection exists in the people of Israel, and therefore recognize that they are dependent on the Jews. This makes them blame the Jews for every problem in the world, believing that the Jews possess the key to the world’s happiness.

Indeed, when the Israeli nation fell from its moral apex of love of others, hatred of Israel among the nations commenced. And thus, through anti-Semitism, the nations of the world prod us to disclose the method of connection. Rav Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, pointed to that fact with his words, “Amalek, Hitler, and so forth, awaken us toward redemption” (Essays of the Raiah, Vol. 1).

But the people of Israel are unaware that they are holding the key to the world’s happiness, and that the very source of anti-Semitism is that the Jews are carrying within them the method of connection, the key to happiness, the wisdom of Kabbalah, but are not revealing it to all.

Mandatory Disclosure of the Wisdom

As the world groans under the pressure of two conflicting forces—the global force of connection, and the separating power of the ego—we are falling into the state that existed in ancient Babylon prior to its collapse. But today we cannot pull away form one another in order to calm our egos down. Our only option is to work on our connection, on our unity. We are required to add to our world the positive force that balances the negative power of our ego.

The people of Israel, descendants of the ancient Babylonians who followed Abraham, must implement the wisdom of connection, namely the wisdom of Kabbalah. They are required to set an example to the whole of humanity, and thus become a “light for the nations.”

The laws of Nature dictate that we will all achieve a state of unity. But there are two ways to get there: 1) a path of world suffering, wars, catastrophes, plagues, and natural disasters, or 2) a path of gradual balancing of the ego, the path that Abraham planted in his disciples. The latter is the one we suggest.

Unity Is the Solution

It is written in The Book of Zohar, “Everything stands on love” (Portion, VaEtchanan). “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the great tenet of the Torah; it is also the essence of the change that the wisdom of Kabbalah is offering humanity. It is the obligation of the Jewish People to unite in order to share the method of Abraham with the entire human race.

According to Rav Yehuda Ashlag, author of the Sulam (Ladder) commentary on The Book of Zohar, “It is upon the Israeli nation to qualify itself and all the people of the world … to develop until they take upon themselves that sublime work of the love of others, which is the ladder to the purpose of Creation.” If we accomplish this, we will find solutions to all the world’s problems including the eradication of anti-Semitism.
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The World Is Waiting For Happiness

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What makes the Jewish people the chosen people according to the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: The Jewish people are considered the chosen people because they are the first who have to learn and adopt the Kabbalistic method and bring it to all of humanity.

But in the meantime, the fact that we are the chosen people is negatively reflected on us because we don’t fulfill our role. This is the reason that we feel the negative attitude of the world towards us. We need to understand why we are excommunicated, why we have suffered throughout history, and why everyone hates us, including countries we have never had any contact with, and why this hatred emerges over and over again. We have to pay close attention to this since this attitude towards us stems from the general law of nature.

If we examine it as a natural process and begin to study and explore it, the wisdom of Kabbalah explains everything very simply: we have to bring the method of unity to the world, especially at this time when humanity is so divided. The world is in crisis: families are breaking up, countries are destroyed, everything is disintegrating, and man is internally shattered. It is actually in these times, according to all the sources, that the Kabbalistic method is most vital and required.

But because we don’t bring it to the world, humanity will increase its claims that we are the reason for all the afflictions because we don’t bring the world happiness, and this is because we are the only ones who can do it.
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From an interview on RTN, New York, 21/7/15

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The Cause Of Anti-Semitism

Dr. Michael Laitman

Question: The Jewish people do a lot of good things and good deeds. But I see that non-Jews view it negatively, and instead of seeing us as good, they see us as bad. Why?

Answer: What good did we, the smartest and most educated people, do for the world? Did we perform our mission to be the light for the nations? Why should they love us?

Humanity feels intuitively that we bring harm and hatred into the world. We cannot imagine how this could be possible, so ask, “What are we doing wrong? We do not wish anyone any harm! Why does everyone hate us and not the people who seek to destroy others? For what?” Start to investigate this and try to find the true cause of this phenomenon.

Why does North Korea, with whom we have never had any relationship, hold first place in the world for anti-Semitism? Why such hatred?

Because anti-Semitism exists inside nature, is its law, and there is nothing we can do about it. No amount of logic will help us. If this phenomenon has been observed for thousands of years, then we should take it seriously, and not on the level of feelings. We must get to the bottom of why we occupy one place in nature and the rest of the world another.

I have been studying laws of nature for the past 40 years. Prior to that, my specialty was bio-cybernetics. But over these 40 years I have come to realize that unity is the cardinal foundation that exists in all of nature, and there is nothing one can do about it because we cannot go against a law of nature.

Abraham was not a Jew, but an ancient Babylonian who worshiped idols. But yearning to understand why there was such disconnection in his society, he revealed that in nature, there is a law of unity and that humanity needs to come to unification. All of nature strives for oneness within itself from the time of the Big Bang until final correction, and having revealed this law, Abraham began to teach it to anyone who wanted to learn.

The most sensitive, developed, and responsive people joined him. With them he went out of Babylon. They started calling themselves Yehudim, from the word “Yichud” (unity) or Ivrim from the word “Laavor” (to cross over).

Prior to the destruction of the Second Temple, this group fulfilled its mission. But since the time when the last exile emerged, they have not. And until we come together and understand our mission, until we grasp it and announce it to the whole world, we can not expect anything good.

Because ultimately, all the Babylonians, i.e., all humanity, must arrive at unification. And it is we who have to bring this unity to the world.
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From a public lecture in New York, 7/20/15

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The Diagnosis Of Bialik


One of the leading Russian news sites in Israel, Zahav.ru, published this article by my student.

“The Diagnosis of Bialik”

“Scholarly Jews who were present in the early days of the state of Israel shaped the goal which identified the main problem it faces. Nevertheless, this didn’t prevent us from continuing to postpone the solution for a later time.

“Tel Aviv, Balfour Street, the year 1934. The last speech of Chaim Nachman Bialik. Soon he will travel to Vienna for an operation and return from there in a coffin. What did he talk about? About the division and the hatred that is destroying us from within: ‘How did we greet our brothers fleeing from war? We raised the price of housing and took their last pennies from them…the glitter of the Satanic gold blinded our eyes. We boasted the shine of the devilish gold blinds our eyes. We took pride in our initiative and prosperity, but in fact this was an empty speculative commotion.’

“What concerned Bialik was not the external threats, not problems with the authorities, but the root of all the troubles of the people—losing themselves in the twisting road of history. For hundreds of years they tried ‘to be like everyone else,’ conforming to the external standards. And even on their own land they continued in the same direction of assimilation—not physically, but ideologically and according to values.

“To this very day we have insisted upon imitating the ‘enlightened’ part of humanity, and are convinced that this is the only right way. But is it not here that our essential error lies because of which we haven’t attained true peace, not with our neighbors and not with ourselves?

“The conclusion of Bialik is prophetic and relevant for our times: ‘The main symptom of the disease is a terrible lack of internal unity, factional conflict and unfounded hatred that is tearing us apart.’

“Since the time that we fought for our independence, for our right to live in this land, we have not stopped quarreling between us and we even murder each other on the basis of factional disputes, as in the case of the ‘Altalena.’ We don’t miss an opportunity to warm our hands on the troubles of our brothers. Imagine the development of events in the case of a great new immigration, say from the Ukraine or from France and Belgium. I’m sure you’ve said this before—raise the price of housing!

“So what has changed? Nothing. It makes no difference that now laws are accepted in the Knesset of Israel and not by the Mandate government—we still remain in spiritual exile, on the outskirts of the land to which we should have returned differently, not just physically.

“It wasn’t only Bialik who indicated that separation is the main problem of the Jewish people and unity is the key to prosperity. Bialik, the famous poet, often visited a modest house in the old neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Neve Tzedek, at 21 Brotherhood Street, where Abraham Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, lived. In the 60 years since the nation of Israel was born, specifically he has been recognized by the entire nation as the person who has had the greatest influence on Judaism. One line below his would be—the name David Ben-Gurion. Nevertheless this recognition has remained as merely a formality, as a memorial to Rav Kook. After all, we haven’t listened to his message from the last century.

“And Abraham Kook spoke and shouted that we lacked cohesion and an understanding of our role in history. He saw the immigration to Israel as a basis for the revival of the nation and unity as a unifying platform for self-realization. Nevertheless, many in the religious sector hated Rav Kook because of his commitment to Zionism, and the secular, on the contrary, hated him because of his faith. In the Autumn of 1913, together with a group of Zionist Rabbis, Rav Kook entered the dining hall of Kibbutz Merhaviah, and immediately silence pervaded the room.

“Many suspicious glances stared at the strange guests, and one of the settlers shouted: ‘Don’t waste your words and energy, you will not find even one here who will join you!’ Rav Kook approached him and said: ‘We have come not to be joined but to join.’

“Over the course of hundreds of years we have lost the ability to appreciate our sages. Maybe Kook, like Bialik, appeared before his time, and remains as a believer in a utopia that is not understood, though in fact he didn’t talk about anything utopian. Today, when before our eyes we differentiate between people from different nations, cultivating enmity and hatred between them and do this with understanding, unity seems like a very logical solution and even a necessity.

“But the word ‘logic’ is not written on our flag. The Gallup center recently arranged a global survey about problems that concern people. 70 thousand people from 65 nations indicated their problems —’crying’ about corruption (21% in contrast to 15% in the previous year), economic difficulties (14%) poverty and inequality (12%). In brief these are problems that are recognized and understood in Israel. But these are the results. And there is one cause—isolation, apathy, mutual distance in heart and mind.

“Why doesn’t anyone complain about this? Maybe people are simply confused by the media? But we already know the answer that was heard not long ago and hasn’t lost its relevance.

“How is it possible to reach us? Even the Holocaust didn’t cause the people to think again about their fate.

“’I already let my essential considerations be heard in the year 1933. In addition to this, I spoke with the leaders of the generation, and my words weren’t accepted then, even though I shouted loudly and warned about the collapse of the world, but this didn’t make an impression….’ —that is what a close friend of Abraham Kook wrote, the Kabbalist Yehudah Ashlag. He shouted not only here, but in Poland too, from which he tried to bring out 300 families before the Second World War. Everything was ready, and nobody interfered, except…the Jewish leadership that banished Ashlag and really drove him away to Palestine, making it impossible for him to realize his plan. Needless to say, both those leaders and the families that he enlisted perished in the Holocaust.

“Isn’t all of this enough for us to draw conclusions? For us it is not enough.

“’The son of Ashlag came to me,’ writes Ben-Gurion in his diary in the year 1958, ‘I told him about my meetings with his father, when I wanted to talk with him about Kabbalah and he wanted to talk with me about Socialism…,’ that’s all.

“Smart, knowledgeable, caring people unanimously indicated the essence of the problems, the systemic social defect that impeded the nation from the start, but their voice has been swallowed in the cacophony of mutual accusations and recriminations, in minute disputes with great implications. If even a person possessing stature like Ben-Gurion didn’t comprehend, didn’t absorb, the message that was so clear to the members of his generation, it is not surprising that we still suffer from the same malady.

“The diagnosis of Bialik is correct: in our land we are strangers to each other to a great degree. Israel is split, divided into sectors, and confused by a greedy gaze at a golden calf clothed in the honorable clothing of liberal values.

“Are we the only democracy in the Middle East? Yes. But democracy is sick, lacking warmth in the normal relationships between people. So has the time come to recover from the illness? ‘Our Tel Aviv is sick,’ said Bialik, ‘And I bless you and myself for us to merit to see signs of recovery after I return.’ Sometimes hope lives longer than the person himself and passes on to his descendants, so that they will realize it in spite of everything.”
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A Good Example Of Education For Everyone

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is so special about the education method that you suggest? After all they also speak about love of others in schools and about the need to treat friends nicely, but we see that it isn’t working.

Answer: Talking about how to behave has nothing to do with education, since education is based on learning from examples. Only examples operate on and influence a child. If we want an adult to be well educated, he too needs to have the right examples, just like a child. We have no choice. We need to establish systems that will set an example of the right relations between people. But from where can we take such examples if everyone mutually hates one another? Who will set the example for us?

Therefore it is necessary to organize special workshops in small groups called tens for all sectors and social classes within the population. We hold such circles all over the country in Israel: in Eilat, in the Tel Aviv harbor, in Tiberias, and in other cities. Many people already know us. If a person participates in such a circle, this circle becomes an example for him and he begins to feel that something special is going on within it.

Strangers who find themselves sitting next to one another by chance begin to communicate in the circle according to certain rules and about a certain topic and begin to discover feelings of connection, unity, warmth, and understanding. Their eyes shine and they look at one another in a totally different way than they did when the workshop began. People totally change during this 15-20 minutes. All this disappears, of course when they go home afterward. A person has to repeat this process every day and then after a week or a month he will change.

What I say is based on the great experience I have had. I have many students in Israel and all over the world who thus are changing and so are the new people who know what the success of the world depends on and how we can rise from the general global crisis that is founded on mutual hatred between all the countries, peoples, and individuals.

We can overcome it instead of advancing towards terrible destruction. The Torah says that we will reach a state in which “a person’s enemies are in his home,” which means that a person will see that everyone rejects him, is distant from him, and refuses to understand him, within his own home.

Is it possible to live this way?! After all, we know that our body lives and operates in harmony between all its parts while a dead body is destroyed. So let’s choose the right way!
[164090]
From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/2/15

Related Material:
The Future Of Education
The Proper Education For A Person
A Circle Is The Form Of Existence Of the Corrected Society

Weekly Russian Canadian Info: “What Do We Jews Owe The World?”


The weekly periodical Russian Canadian Info published the article: “What Do We Jews Owe the World?”

“It is clear to everyone that a problem exists with the Jewish people. They are unique. Even though our people are only 0.2% of the population of the world, it laid the foundations of culture, education, and religions for all humanity. The world is obligated to it for development in various areas.

“The Jews constitute 27% of the Nobel Prize laureates in physics and 31% of the Nobel Prize laureates in medicine. They received half of all the Pulitzer Prizes. 37% of the directors who have won an Oscar are Jews. Not to mention high-tech, the start-ups and the internet.

“The list of the ‘Jewish legacy’ could continue for some time, but the impression that is created is that nobody appreciates us for this. We are waiting for the world to recognize our services: ‘See how much benefit we have brought.’ Yet this benefit is not taken into account.

“Furthermore, the Jews have been persecuted throughout history. The charges are different: the death of Jesus, the economy, politics, control of the world…and it reaches the absurd: The Jews are accused of organizing the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and even a Tsunami that struck Japan in 2011.

“They ‘find’ our footprint in a wide variety of disasters, and there is no end to these fictions. Both 100 years ago and 1,000 years ago the attitude towards Jews has not changed. In the best circumstances they would tolerate them, in the worst circumstances – they would destroy them.

“This seems irrational to us – the reason changes all the time, and the hatred remains.

“This is talking about a unique people who have preserved their uniqueness until our day. This is a group of people, headed by Abraham, who left Babylon and decided to live according to the principle of mutual love and assistance. They became a people thanks only to this, and this was their entire foundation. If there were no such foundation, then the Jews wouldn’t have been a people, and they would not feel themselves belonging to each other.

“Like Abraham who once explained the need for unity to his students, much later standing before Mount Sinai (the mountain of hatred – Sinah), Moses also taught the people: ‘If you will be as one person with one heart, then you will go on the right way to the land of Israel. If you accept the method, you will become a people. Otherwise, here will be your burial place….’

“And even today the Jews must bring to the world the knowledge about redemptive unity. But in general we flee from our mission; we want to be like everyone, only so that they will treat us well.

“But again the statistics about attacks on Jews is rising, Mezuzahs are torn from the doors of houses, and swastikas are drawn on the asphalt. We are again blamed for all the major problems of the human species.

“’Anti-Semitism is the shadow of the Jewish people….I am a physicist and I know that everything casts a shadow. The shadow that my people cast is anti-Semitism.’ (Albert Einstein).

“The idea is that anti-Semitism is not a chance phenomenon and not someone’s whim. It is latent in the program of nature as a means for influencing the Jewish people, not allowing anyone to escape or disperse.

“Anti-Semitism has become an international, global phenomenon, and zealously it comes to be expressed with the consent of billions of people. It is no longer hidden, but operates absolutely out in the open.

“In the modern era, the world is watching us, and without knowing how or why, they are beginning to demand from us the law according to which we will live tomorrow. After all, our present life seems more and more unbearable, hopeless and irreparable from day to day. We don’t see the picture of tomorrow in it any more. And people unconsciously feel that the answer is with the Jews.

“The world feels that there is a secret with the Jews that they don’t want to reveal to others.

“This feeling is indestructible, and ultimately it is up to us to understand what they want from us. Truly, what is the secret that is concealed in us? After all, what is it that we keep in us, what is concealed in the Jewish people without their knowledge? This is the sublime, beautiful, alluring, brilliant goal and future of the world.”
[151502]

Related Material:
Jewish Telegraph: “Unity Of Jews Sets An Example To Nations”
In The New York Times: “Who Are You, People Of Israel?”
The Jerusalem Post: “Our Higher Root Cause”