Question: The Holocaust, which befell the Jewish nation, was the most tragic event in all of our history. But when we see how anti-Semitism is gaining momentum all over the world, it seems that instead of becoming a thing of the past, the Holocaust is possible even today. Can the Holocaust happen again?

Answer: The point of the process that is happening to us is for us to repent our egoistic nature and demand to replace it, to replace hatred with brotherly love. And in order to reach that kind of realization, we need to learn about the entire program of creation.

The science of Kabbalah explains that all of creation is one closed, analog system, all of whose parts are interconnected on all levels into one sphere. Thus, every element affects all other elements and they all harmoniously take part in the system, except for man.

Imagine a sphere that contains still nature, plants, and animals that all exist in total symbiosis with each other. Even though we see how one of them eats another, it’s only because man, the most developed creature, is evil and egoistic by nature.

Egoism separates us and forces us to profit at others’ expense, to compete and wage war. Each person feels better if he manages to get ahead of others, instead of letting them get ahead of him.

Human nature is opposite to the perfect, global, integral nature, which is a round, closed system. But eventually, humanity has to reach equivalence with nature and attain a wonderful, perfect state where all the nations of the world are united.

There is one special nation called the nation of Israel, which has the method to attain unity. This nation lived in such unity for 1,600 years, from the time of Ancient Babylon on.

After coming out of Ancient Babylon, the Jewish nation went through the land of Canaan, Egypt, and the Sinai desert, and then reached the land of Israel, where it lived until the destruction of the Temple and its expulsion into the last exile. For about 1,500 years, this nation lived by the principle of love for the neighbor as for yourself.

The Jewish nation lived in the attainment of the general nature of unity, and by virtue of that it attained the laws of the general nature, it attained the “Creator,” or perfection, mutual love and bestowal.

After that we fell from the height of love into hatred and thus became equal to all the nations of the world, among which we live to this day. But about a hundred years ago, the Jewish nation got an opportunity to return to the land of Israel in order to create the state of Israel here again.

The state of Israel needs to be created according to our program, the laws by which we used to live, meaning the laws of unity of the nation and state. Without such unity, which suits the Jewish nation, that is, love for the neighbor as for yourself, we cannot become a nation. That is why we are still called a gathering of exiles.

Only by realizing the method of unity that we were given will we build the nation of Israel. Otherwise we cannot be considered a nation. It looks like we live together, in one country, but in reality, each person is by himself. That’s how we live today. Many people would even like to leave, and they would happily leave the country if they had the chance to live well abroad.

There is no spirit of one nation here, living in one country, on its land. It is more like a refuge where we have gathered because we had no other choice. However, while in previous generations, immediately after the Holocaust, when the Jews escaped here from other countries, Israel did resemble a refuge, today it is no longer one because today every person has the chance to travel the world and live wherever he wants to. You can meet Israelis in any part of the world. That is, we are once again dispersing all over the world, as if the threat has passed and we can come out of the refuge.

But according to the program of creation, we have to become one nation, and it’s not in order for us to live well, but to show the right example to everyone else. This is the meaning of becoming “a Light onto the nations of the world.”

We will have to realize that unity whether we want to or not. Therefore, we will experience all sorts of problems inside the nation of Israel, along with horrible hatred and anti-Semitism from outside, from other nations, until all of this obligates us to unite. But we can become aware of the need to unite on our own and begin working on it according to the method of Kabbalah, which explains how to love your neighbor as yourself. Then we won’t need to be nudged toward that by internal strife or external hatred.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 04/12/2015

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Question: It is said that during the festive dinner in honor of the commencement of Passover we have to tell our children about the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. What exactly should we tell them? What’s the most important thing they should know?

Answer: First of all, I don’t think that there is a difference between the adults and children. It is said, “Tell your son,” meaning each one who doesn’t know these things and wants to learn them is like a son to us.

Everybody should figure out what “exodus” means and how it is different from liberation. We should know whether we are still in the state of an exile and continue to seek redemption.

Exile is a state that is opposite to redemption. They stand for two opposite internal sensations; so far, we are unable to define either of those states in us.

Speaking of Egypt… Was it so bad for the Jews? At first, they enjoyed an abundance of food and led a “kings’ life.” The Pharaoh treated them very well, it was a real paradise. Why all of a sudden were seven years of satiation replaced by seven years of famine and the Jews acknowledged that they are in the exile?

People lost the purpose of life. One stopped understanding why one lives. Today, very many people can make the same confession: “I don’t know why I live. It poisons my life to the extent that I don’t want to stay alive.”

People choose to become terrorists out of despair, in search of the Light in their lives. They seek an ideal that is worth living for. Fighting with things that don’t match their ideals makes them feel that they are heroes conquering enemies. This sensation makes their lives purposeful; otherwise they feel dead.

Nowadays, many people are concerned with finding the purpose in life. With no vital goal, our existence loses taste and even death looks better to us than this kind of life. Abundance of Egyptian meat and garlic do not satisfy any more.

Egypt met every kind of human desires: food, sex, family, money, power, and knowledge. It was a paradise for everybody, and the Jews were the most respectable and rich out of all the Egyptian population. So, what did they lack? Only the purpose of life. When this kind of question wakes up in a person it poisons the very sensation of living. We feel that we live in a golden cage and are unable to get out of it.

This is what is called “slavery.” Our prosperous life suffocates and kills us. If our existence were not as “satiated” it would justify our desire to run away from it. However, our egoism doesn’t allow us to reject comfortable existence.

Our ego receives pleasure from Egyptian life. At the same time, we are driven by a question: “Why do we live? Are we people or just animals?” This is what is going on in the world nowadays.

We can provide everything we need to live a good life, but everything we have is soaked with bitterness. The question about the essence of life is far more important than regular material benefits. It throws us from the top of the mountain into the abyss, thus making us acknowledge our total obscurity.

It’s very common in the modern world and particularly among younger generations. We start sensing that we are in the exile, in our egoism that keeps us under its rule and doesn’t let us go. This state is called “Egyptian slavery.” We must free ourselves from it.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/31/15

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Question: What is Egypt?

Answer: Egypt (Mitzyarim – Mitz – ra) is the concentration of the evil we are in and the hatred we feel toward each other.

Question: What is the meaning of the nation of Israel going down to Egypt?

Answer: The Jews who went down to Egypt are not a nation yet. They become a nation only when they gather at the foot of Mt. Sinai and accept the condition of ascending above the ego.

Question: What is Moses?

Answer: Moses is the force that pulls a person out of his ego and directs him toward the goal of creation, toward the Creator, toward the right action. According the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is called the “point in the heart.”

Question: What is the meaning of the phrase, “The Creator brings Moses to Pharaoh?”

Answer: There is an inner conflict in a person and the rejection of the ego, Moses versus Pharaoh.

Question: What are the ten plagues of Egypt?

Answer: The ten plagues are an essential precondition when I understand that my ego can no longer be my refuge, I have to detach myself from it, to ascend above it. It gives me so much pain and suffering that I cannot bear it any longer and must break away from my ego.

Question: Why does the breaking away from the ego occur at night, in total darkness?

Answer: The fact is that the separation from that the ego must be absolute; even if I don’t see anything before me, I still run away from it. Although I could stay in it and enjoy my corporeal life in an egoistic manner, I prefer to exit it into the darkness.

Question: What is the meaning of crossing the “Red Sea”?

Answer: A person understands that he must give up his previous egoistic perception totally, and he wants to get to know the world anew.

Question: What does it mean that the water of “the Red Sea withdrew and split in two”?

Answer: This isn’t a natural phenomenon, of course. It doesn’t exist in nature no matter how hard we try to explain natural phenomena that we don’t understand.

“The water withdrew and split in two” means that a person is allowed to enter the attribute of Bina (bestowal). He goes through Malchut to Bina and receives a feeling of elation. This means that the evil water now becomes water that helps us advance toward the goal.
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From KabTV’s “A Talk About Passover” 3/18/15

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The Torah, “Leviticus,” 26:6 – 26:8: And I will grant peace in the Land, and you will lie down with no one to frighten [you]; I will remove wild beasts from the Land, and no army will pass through your land; You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you; Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

The enemies are different uncorrected desires that suddenly emerge in a person and are revealed inside him. There are no other enemies but our internal attributes, but they are revealed externally since our world is a replica of our internal attributes.

It says: “Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you,” because a person will always have the power, the power of the Light in order to overcome the enemies that rise against him; the power to defeat them and to go on.

Comment: I always think of an allegory that is related to a small state called Israel that looks like the eye of a needle on the world map. It is surrounded by many enemies, but will it be able to overcome them if it is compatible with the law of bestowal?

Answer: Even more than that. It will have no enemies. The enemies will be revealed only for a moment and will immediately become our friends, our helpers, because we will be protected by the attribute of love and bestowal.

Question: Don’t you ever give up because this doesn’t happen as quickly as you would like it to and is actually going in the opposite direction at the moment?

Answer: We should feel that way because we come out of Egypt only in a state of total darkness. Therefore, I am waiting impatiently for this state, waiting for the time that we will all be able to undergo it.

The people who are attracted to the revelation of the Creator need to understand that we have to undergo these phases, that we have to support one another, and that we have to advance in any case or crawl if we don’t have the power to do so! There is no other way. “Only he who follows the path will overcome it.” I do hope that I will be able to be with everyone at least in the hardest path of this road, so as not to leave the people in Egypt.

Question: Has the hardest period already started?

Answer: Yes, and I am glad that it has. We shouldn’t speak about it too much since otherwise we will not undergo it. We will begin to calm ourselves: “Everything is fine; that’s the way it should be; everything is still ahead of us.” Then we will really be unable to succeed in anything. We see what the Creator does: “Come to Pharaoh once again! And then once again!” so should I calm everyone here? On the contrary, we have to undergo all that.

The Torah says: “And there was evening and there was morning, one day.” Which means that without night there is no daytime; without night there is no whole day; without night there is no Light. One day! It is only after the evening, night, or darkness that we reach the Light. Every state, whatever it may be, has to start from the negative side.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 11/12/14

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Question: What does the sale of leavened bread before Passover mean? Today, it is possible to complete a form on the Internet and sell one’s leaven in two seconds.

Answer: The sale of leavened bread means that I sell it only for a time and bring it back. I do it just to exit my ego, my “evil inclination,” which I use for the detriment of others.

Then, I will use it for the good of others. Thus, this is selling it only for some time, for seven days, to break away from the old paradigm, to get rid of my bad attitude to the world, but only my attitude, and when I get rid of it, I use all of my desires for a good attitude to the world. Therefore, I return this leaven after seven days.

First of all, we need to get rid of the old, from previous relationships. Let’s together make a decision to become “good kids.” We are in the world that is threatening our existence, like in the story of the exodus from Egypt, but we can rise above our ego and reach the genuine land of Israel, a completely good state.

Question: Are you an optimist?

Answer: Yes, this undoubtedly is going to happen. The only question is how much we must pay for it. We can achieve this in a fast and beautiful way, or in a long way, full of suffering. However, in any case, we will come to it.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/24/15

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Question: Before the holiday of Passover, we clean the house of leaven (Chametz),  and then burn it. What does the ceremony of burning the Chametz symbolize?

Answer: Burning leavened bread, i.e., my bad, egoistic attitude to others, when I use everyone else, suppress everyone, rule over them—means to remove it from the world so that it is no longer in my life.

This decision is a must! If we all support each other, then we really are ready for it, as it is written, “Man shall help his neighbor.” Then, we come to such a state that we burn all our incorrect connections. There is nothing behind us. We are standing in front of the entrance to the new world and cross the Red Sea.

This crossing is called crossing the barrier from hatred to love for others. It’s not love yet, but the beginning of a good attitude toward others.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/24/15

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The Torah, “Leviticus,” 25:30: But if it is not redeemed by the end of a complete year, then that house which is in the city that has a wall, shall remain permanently [the property] of the one who purchased it throughout his generations. It will not leave [his possession] in the Jubilee.

In spiritual work there are laws such that if I don’t correct my characteristics fully (49 = 7 x 7 characteristics, 49 years), then in the 50^th year they are all renewed and I will begin to work again. It is interesting that according to the laws of the Torah it is forbidden to sell or buy anything for more than 49 years. I can buy a house, field or plowed field for temporary usage, and after that it goes back to the owner anyway. This means that the person who possesses land (Eretz) must correct that desire (Ratzon) by himself and if he “transmits” it, meaning that he uses other characteristics for his correction, then this is only a temporary state.

So in our world these laws are shownin a very interesting form, for ultimately everything returns to its previous state and the owner remains the owner. When every tribe entered into the land of Israel, they received their inheritance; all of the sections were clearly indicated and nobody had the right to alter the boundaries. Moreover, nobody had the right to marry  someone from another tribe.

But we must understand that the Torah is not talking about houses, sheep, or slaves, but about spiritual laws. If the people of Israel begin to use these laws internally, then when they return to the land of Israel they will manifest these laws in their external form also.

Question: In the Torah it is said that if you sell a house, then after a certain period passes, you can buy it back. What is the buying and selling needed for?

Answer: At the end of development everyone must attain one commonly shared desire; the Creator will reveal this desire in the form of a stream of desires, one within the other, and the connections between them.

So we need to get married, have children, be in relationships of buying and selling between us, have familial connections, etc. This means that the connections must fill all of human society with a large number of connections so that all of our characteristics of bestowal to each other will be realized, and through this the one and only power, the Creator, will be revealed.

Comment: Which is to say, everything that happens inside of me, the buying and selling, the flow from desire to desire, this is what we are now seeing in the world…

Answer: Today we have really reached this because no nation and no individual can get along without using the entire world. If we take each one of us and see how he dresses, what he uses in his home, at work, on the street, then we see that we are absolutely connected with the whole world! This is the result of the mixing of desires within a person.

So we call our world global, integral. We are heading towards a state in which the world will exist without borders, without governments. For if I depend on everyone else, what can the government give me? I no longer depend on it. Governments will begin to exhaust themselves and disappear.

Ultimately, full and mutually dependent human relationships will encompass the whole world, and we need to discover this here in an aspect that is not so good because the relationships that exist between us now are absolutely egoistic. If the system is mutually connected, it must be reciprocal, and in the meantime we don’t have reciprocity.

It follows that on the one hand, we are found under strict egoistic conditions, but on the other hand, the same force that manages us, and has already been inviting us to move towards it, is absolutely altruistic. These are two opposing forces and here we need to produce within us a tremendous number of corrections.

We will achieve this. On the one hand, we will be obliged to nullify the borders, and on the other hand, we will see that it is impossible to do it. In this way, we understand that the idea is not about borders; rather, it is about ourselves. We must change ourselves, nullify the borders within us, which means that we must annihilate the distance between me and others. It will be clear to us that we cannot do it ourselves. So we will need the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/8/14

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Question: What could Baal HaSulam have done when he warned about the danger of Nazism and the Second World War to eliminate this danger? Could he have influenced events somehow?

Answer: Baal HaSulam could have brought with him from Poland to Israel the very strong Jewish community he was the leader of. He was a judge in Warsaw, this was a very respectable role.

He wanted to bring 300 families and had already found sponsors who were willing to buy prefabricated houses for them. He wanted to come with them and establish a Kibbutz, a rural settlement, and teach them the wisdom of connection. This was his dream.

If 300 families had been united around Baal HaSulam, without a doubt, they would have reached the completion of correction.

Question: Then, would the Holocaust not have happened?

Answer: Certainly not! Germany would have gone in a completely different direction. Hitler never would have won, and they wouldn’t have replaced the former chancellor at all.
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From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/14, Chosen Topics on: Holocaust Memorial Day

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Question: The modern Israeli society suffers from divisiveness. People feel that they are strangers to each other, really to the point of loathing and hatred. Sometimes, you simply want someone to disappear, board an airplane with your family and depart forever.

Answer: This is what we felt at the time of the Egyptian exile. This is the slavery when the ego dominates us, “plays” with us more strictly, and creates relationships like these among us.

As a result, we find ourselves in a position where we simply have no where to go. Today, some still think that they can flee somewhere to another country, but nothing will help.

Question: So, Israel will become a boiling pressure cooker in which people are locked up, totally unable to tolerate each other?

Answer: Right, that is how it was in the past and it is what will also happen in the future. There will be no other choice for us besides attaining unity. In addition, being unable to find the exit, we will agree that unity is possible only above the hatred.

A Bridge Above The Abyss

Question: The chasms that divide the people have taken shape and crystallized for years. Today the impression is that it is impossible to build bridges over them. Is it possible to forget all of the differences and insults? Is it possible to take control over the negative potential?

Answer: It is possible. I don’t ask you who and what you are, to what community or party you belong. It’s nothing like that. I know only one thing: I am with you, we are with everyone, we need to be together, and this is what I am going on. Certainly, we are different, opposed. We even hate each other. All of this is completely unimportant. Rather, what is important is only one thing: We must begin to connect and unite between us.

We demonstrate this connection and unity through workshops where we sit very different people, strangers, reflecting the entire social spectrum. Let’s take one representative from each party, sit them down together and arrange a workshop and you will see that even in such a mixed composition, they will suddenly discover ways of connecting. They would discover this on condition: that no one tramples on the others and foments his hatred in this ground. On the contrary, each is ready to unite and connect with the others above all the previous thoughts and desires.

So, we actually realize this, and in the center of the circle some kind of new force is revealed, warmth, mutual understanding, an ability to support and maintain a mutual connection. This is the second fundamental force latent in nature itself, the power of love. It is not the love that breaks out between a man and woman, but the same force that penetrates through interpersonal relationships.

Steps Forward

Today, we are in the dimension of hatred and egoism. I do not tolerate others; I always search for superiority above them and want to see them below me, under my control.

But, it is impossible to continue this way. We have reached a point in our development where egoism is devouring us from within. It won’t let us live as before, neither the people of Israel nor humanity as a whole. So, for the first time in history, the wisdom of Kabbalah has been revealed to the world. Its function is to teach us how, under new conditions and in spite of the opposition, we can hold and maintain a good, mutual connection.

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From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 3/22/15

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Baal HaSulam, “The Last Generation”: It is a fact that Israel are the most hated nation in the world, either because of their religion, because of their race or because of capitalism or communism, or cosmopolitan reasons, etc. Since the hate precedes all the reasons and each one deals with his hate according to his own psychology, there is no other way but to bring the international altruistic communism, the religion of bestowal to all the nations. It is Israel that has to accept the international altruistic communism first and be a symbol showing all the beauty and goodness in this regime.

Israel should be the example for everyone, and thus we can prevent the spread of evil in the world. If we had tried to do so since the days of the first Aliyah (immigration) to the land of Israel onward, we would certainly be in a totally different state today and all of history would have also followed a totally different course all over the world.
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From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/14, Chosen Topics on: Holocaust Memorial Day

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