Question: Why is Tisha B’Av (the 9^th of Av) considered to be the worst day of the year?

Answer: We are under the management of a system of forces that operates on us and influences us—sometimes in a good and comfortable way, and sometimes in a bad and unpleasant way—to awaken us and make it possible for us to integrate these forces correctly and reach the middle line.

If we balance these forces, we reach a state of absolute good. This is possible! The entire year will be a comfortable temperature of 25 degrees, and everything in life will be good, regarding any topic. The person is ready to balance all of the forces of nature in that he brings everything to balance.

On Tisha B’Av, the forces of judgment act with particularly strong intensity. However, essentially, they are not negative, but aspire to awaken us to reach balance, balancing all of nature.

Question: Are these forces stronger than a person?

Answer: Certainly, these forces are stronger than a person. They force him to carry out what is required of him. The forces of nature work on us and influence us to begin to change. We see what a mess is happening in the world. The world is withdrawing and gradually slipping lower and lower, but this awakens us to action.

Specifically now, there are opportunities to reveal the wisdom of Kabbalah to everyone and show that it makes it possible to arrange our lives, because everything is in our hands. Let’s calm down, look at things rationally, and all of us together will decide how it is up to us to bring our lives into balance.

The forces of judgment only seem to us as bad temporarily, depending on how we are feeling, but essentially there is nothing better than them after all they push us toward correction.

It is possible to reach balance only with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah. We don’t have the power for it ourselves. We must get an additional, unique power from above, above our nature, the power of bestowal, love and union. This power can balance the positive and negative forces, the plus and the minus.

All technological advancement is built on this. Every engine works because we know how to connect plus and minus correctly so that the positive and negative forces will activate it and require it to do useful work for us.

We exist in nature in which positive and negative forces are operating. However, the entire problem is that, in the middle, we don’t know how to use the plus and minus correctly and transform it into a mechanism that acts on the difference between the potentials in the best way for our benefit.

This is specifically what the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us: how to use the two opposing forces that exist in nature correctly.

These forces are called the evil inclination and the good inclination, hatred and love. It is not necessary to annihilate anything! If we integrate these two forces correctly and use them correctly, we will get wonderful results.

However, a unique wisdom is required for this, because in normal life we don’t know how to balance plus and minus. We either love or hate, whereas we need to integrate both this and that by using the internal forces of a person, our attitudes, to rise above these two forces, above love and hatred. Then we can manage them and balance all of our lives through them.

Imagine that we do something like this in a family, with the children, at work, with friends, even just in the framework of our small physical world—how much happier would we become. Love and hatred must exist together and balance each other.

There is nothing superfluous in the world. Rather, it is only necessary to balance these forces. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 7/14/15

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Europe Partially United

What is to be done if the European Union has no common denominator? Some kind of common basis that connects everyone is required here.

But the political leaders haven’t preceded union with shared information and education; new values have not penetrated into their minds and hearts; they have not brought their ideas to discussion so that the people themselves will think and consider how to unite in the best way.

The concept of “union” itself requires clarification, familiarity, and there even could be the creation of all kinds of public committees. Methodological television programs are required; a unique educational program for schools is required,; all of Europe must learn the principles of connection and union, and also examine this.

In short, a complete educational process would be required for Europe before forcing the arrangements of the European Union on the continent. But instead of this, a decision was accepted and it “descended” from above; certainly it was in a nice democratic envelope, but solely and only on the basis of economic benefits. And the economy is unstable: today it is this way, tomorrow another way…a crisis arrives and all the cards are reshuffled.

Besides this, union without a common program is “crippled”: it makes it possible to profit in one thing at the expense of something else. Suppose that we provide security but lose in the economy, or we provide for the economy but lose in education. In fact, all areas must be balanced.

And in Europe the major work of cultural union was not done on time. So the Germans remain Germans, the French remain French, and so on. As in the past there was no true and warm connection between them, today there is still no connection like this.

All the threads that connect Europe pass through the banks, and this is called an “alliance.” Yes, a financial community is concealed behind its facade, but it is accompanied by internal struggles over these or other “slices of the pie.”

A structure like this will not sustain its position. It costs a vast amount of money, and ultimately a game that promised a gain becomes a loss.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 9/9/14

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Birth of the Methodology of Connection

Abraham learned from Kabbalists who lived before him, starting with Adam, the first man. Abraham understood that human egoism expands from generation to generation, thus making us even bigger egoists; it detaches and forces us to exploit each other.

This is why we eventually approach a state in which we start using our egoism correctly, i.e., make efforts to rise above it.

Still, we remain complete egoists unable to ascend our egos even though we realize that our selfishness is the reason for all our troubles. Ancient Babylonians suffered a lot from their selfishness; humanity continues to suffer to this today. Our egoism ruins our life.

Abraham’s discovery made him gather a group of disciples who were ready to rise above their egoism that burnt in each of them.

He found many people whom he gathered in a group and who were willing to ascend above their selfishness because they were not complete egoists as our contemporaries. Their egoism was much weaker than ours. Besides, they remembered how good their life was before they started hating each other, i.e., before the erection of the Tower of Babel.

When hard times began, there was nothing left for them but to split and spread around the world. Many of them felt that Abraham really offered them a true solution to their problem, so they joined him and Abraham started teaching them the methodology of unity.

This is how a group who called itself “Isra-El” (meaning “directly to the Creator”) originated. They strived to reveal the upper force that connected them and dwelled among them. While exploring the upper force, they realized what the world they live in is like. The network that we build among us is in fact the upper force.

Later, Abraham’s group grew and formed a nation named “Israel.” Israel are the people who strive for unity and who work on building connection among them above their detachment.

They value the power of separation because it gives them a chance to apply more efforts in their pursuit of unity, thus allowing them to recognize the force of nature—the system of the upper governance.

The force of detachment and the power of unity are two opposite essential forces of nature, like plus and minus, north and south. One cannot exist without the other.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/5/15

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Question: I am a bit confused about the concept of Lag B’Omer. All of the celebrations and the bonfires and potatoes and happy children, but at the same time, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai died, so I don’t understand the connection.

Answer: A person is found in this world until he finishes his task, if he has enough time to finish it. As is written in The Book of Zohar itself, with his friends, Rabbi Shimon reached all 125 levels to the completion of correction of the soul (Gmar Tikkun), and so we are not sorry about his departure from this world. Rather, on the contrary, it makes us happy, for he was a person who revealed to us the entire way to the correction of the soul, and he prepared this way and the Lights which would come and correct us for us. And so we celebrate the day that he finished the work and departed.

If a person doesn’t know what he is living for, he cries when he dies and others die. For the Tzaddikim (righteous), their entire lives are for correcting their soul, so they have no problem in passing from one world to another world. I once gave an example that Rabash told me; I asked him about death, so he said that just as in the evening you take off your shirt and throw it into the wash, people dying is the soul discarding its wrapper, called the body, but the soul remains. The main thing is that the soul dresses in a new body each time, just as you dress in a new shirt each day.

The soul is a force that is found in the same volume in which we exist. Only you don’t feel these dimensions. Do you feel radio and television waves, all kinds of phenomena like these?  Not all phenomena do you perceive with your senses. Only if you have, for example, a radio can you catch the radio waves; you don’t feel them yourself.

It is the same with spiritual phenomena. You have nothing to catch them so you don’t feel them.

The soul is a special kind of energy that exists here. If by studying Kabbalah you become like its properties, you will feel it; you will begin to discover that there is a soul in you. As long as you don’t, you don’t discover it. And if you don’t discover it, it means that it is not in you, for only what you perceive can be given a name or a word and so in the meantime, you don’t have a soul.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 7/12/15

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Torah, “Leviticus” 23:16 – 23:17: You shall count until the day after the seventh week, [namely,] the fiftieth day, [on which] you shall bring a new meal offering to the Lord. From your dwelling places, you shall bring bread, set aside, two [loaves] [made from] two tenths [of an ephah] …

That is how the story about Shavuot (the festival of the giving of the Torah) begins.

Fifty days is the level of Bina. Bina is the characteristic of bestowal, the higher level. Malchut is the characteristic of reception, the lower level. There are seven Sefirot of Zeir Anpin between Malchut and Bina, which are the intermediary levels that separate between them.

Seven levels multiplied by the seven sub-levels in each one of them are 49 altogether, and the fiftieth level is Bina, the characteristic of pure bestowal.

Bread (a new meal-offering) specifically symbolizes the characteristic of Hassadim (mercy). So, bread is the foundation of all nourishment.

According to the custom of today, Shavuot is a very simple and modest holiday because we don’t have the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) now or the offering of sacrifices.

From a spiritual point of view, a powerful internal potential exists on this holiday, even though, externally, it is completely unrecognized.

It symbolizes the reception of the guidebook for the spiritual correction of a person, the receiving of the Torah.

However, in the spiritual chain of festivals, Passover, the Exodus, is considered to be more essential. We become detached from the ego and independent, free people. As it is said, we became a people, and from that moment everything depended upon us, whereas Shavuot gives a person the way to life. He gets a “graduation diploma,” he gets the Torah, and from here on, he continues with this guidebook. Yet, from here on, there exist stages that one must go through.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 6/11/14

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Unity That Sows Dispute

The most prominent characteristic of the extreme right-wing in Europe is that they are against the present European Union. Moreover, every nation has its own neo-Nazis, and they also don’t want to unite.

This is because they look at the obvious failure of management of the European Union. Ultimately, the more successful nations are forced to pay the general European fund for the less successful nations.

And here the reasons for success and failure are no longer important; what is important is the result: nobody wants the present ongoing politics, including the smaller nations.

For example, at the time of my last visit to the Baltic nations, people were complaining about the closure of factories. They had an excellent dairy industry, but in order to enter the European Union, it was necessary to destroy it and move to imported products.

The same applies to power. If in the past they supplied themselves with electricity, now they are absolutely dependent upon the European energy supplies, for which they still must pay. And these are just two clauses from the list.

Ultimately the Baltic nations were left without industrial production and their standard of living declined. Indeed, they are members of the European Union and their currency is the Euro, but in order to earn this Euro for their livelihood they were forced to work much harder than the residents of other European nations. And therefore, not surprisingly, a great number of people left Europe to make a living, and for the most part had to leave their families.

Another example is Portugal in which they “closed” a large fishing industry.

So what is this union if it is beneficial only to a few rich nations? The division into industrial branches “cut through” entire national operational domains to which they were culturally and traditionally adapted and which were historically their asset. People were left lacking everything, and this was the greatest failure of leadership.

As a result of this, in addition to xenophobia, hostility and hatred between all kinds of European nations was also created.

For example, all of Europe considers Greece to be a heavy burden. And on their side, the Greeks ask themselves: “What did we enter the European Union for? Previously we got along by ourselves, and it is only worse for us now. Because of your laws we have become poorer and are forced to ask for monetary compensation from you. But this help is also connected to severe requirements; so essentially we find ourselves in slavery.”

The same processes are being arranged everywhere. Those who are rich and strong in the European “commonwealth” benefit at the expense of others.

To be continued….
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 9/9/14

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The boat that Jonah sails on is caught in a storm. The sailors do everything they can in order to save themselves: They throw everything that they don’t need overboard, pray to their god, and of course begin to look for the one who is responsible for the situation.

However, at the same time… Jonah goes to sleep as if everything that is happening around him doesn’t concern him.

It is only later when he has no choice that he confesses that he is running away from a mission he has been given and asks the sailors to throw him overboard.

In other words, Jonah is even ready to die and not fulfill his duty.

But this doesn’t help either. In the sea, a big fish swallows him ,and after spending three days in its stomach, he is forced to agree to accept the mission he has been given.

It is the same today: the world is becoming a global village and it is as if we are all floating in one boat on a stormy sea and the nations of the world, the sailors, blame the one Jew on board, the nation of Israel, for all the crises, wars, terror, afflictions, and disasters in the world.

Just like Jonah, we are still sleeping. We are immersed in the Israeli reality and pride trying to ignore the fact that the nations of the world hate us. We close our eyes in the midst of the stormy Arab Spring when the ever accusing finger of the world is pointed at us, waiting for everything to somehow quiet down by itself.

We did wake up for a moment under the missile attack and felt that we were one united nation, sharing the pain of others as our own. We felt the threads of our common love between us, of our common fate, but now we are sinking into a dream again, and soon we will probably not even remember our last summer’s awakening.

Still, every war and every new wave of anti-Semitism shows us more and more clearly that our fate is inevitable, just like the fate of Jonah who was responsible for the storm. If the sailors tried to save Jonah then, today the sailors on the global boat only wait for the right moment to throw us overboard. We will not even have to ask them to do us this favor…
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The first festival in the coming series of the holidays of Tishrei is Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year. It symbolizes the beginning of the awakening of spirituality; it comes up on the same day in which for the first time human beings on the face of the Earth were awakened to a yearning for something higher, of higher value, for something that would give greater value than what the days of the week give.

The name of this person was Adam. And as we understand it, he wondered about the meaning of life. So the first day when such an exceptional desire appeared in Adam and the questions that accompanied it, is indicated on the Jewish calendar as the holiday Rosh HaShanah. As far as it seems, this is the only event in ancient history about which we know precisely when it took place, on the first of Tishrei (September-October) 5775 years ago.

In decisive moments of life we also, like Adam, contemplate something higher; about something that will help us practically, and will not just be reassurances again by political, religious, or any other promises.

It was really not that long ago that our people stood precisely before questions of this kind.
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The holidays in Israel are much more than just a tradition; they are connected to the present much more than we think.

The holidays of the Jewish people are a dotted line of our destiny, a broken cardiogram of the beating of our common heart. In them lies the symbolism and information that could easily be lost in the impenetrable labyrinths of history or distorted beyond recognition.

Every holiday carries within it a message, not only about our past, but also about our future.
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Together we have gone through a difficult year and through an “extreme change in the atmosphere” we have entered into an autumn “festive celebration.” It is not enough that the sirens have subsided and the time of holidays and vacations have arrived, as if intentionally to make it possible for us to pause and have the ability to calmly evaluate what happened.

So let’s not miss this opportunity. We ourselves have grown on other holidays, but it could be that this will specifically help us lift the traditional covering a bit and peer a drop more deeply into the essence of things. The present holidays remind us that union is the key to solving our problems. I hope that everyone will receive their message and implement it this year.

Rav Dr. Michael Laitman.
Read the entire booklet – here.
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