After standing at Mount Sinai, the people of Israel began the process of internal self-correction called the forty years of wandering in the desert.

Forty years stands for a period of time (although it has nothing to do with actual time, but indicates a certain number of steps) covered while rising from complete egoism and correcting its portions to the point of attaining complete altruism.

However, it doesn’t mean that they were connected to the Creator. They reached a state of only standing in front of Him, but not yet merging with Him. Even though the property of mutual bestowal was already shaped in them, they didn’t ascend to the degree of reciprocal love.

At this point, they had to implement another tendency called mutual love, i.e., to transition from a condition of “not doing to others what they didn’t want for themselves” to “loving their neighbors as themselves.”

The first criterion was achieved in the desert and signified that all of them would never have a desire or a thought of harming others no matter how beneficial it seemed to them.

And yet, it is not the degree that allowed them to reach the level of loving thy neighbor as thyself, which is a prerequisite for the restoration of huge, universal, internal egoism and re-directing it towards altruism and connection with others.

This level can be reached in the process of conquering the land of Israel, where seven nations (seven gigantic egoistic qualities) had to be overcome and surmounted. This process is called the war of liberation. In other words, conquering the nations, making them leave the land or killing them stands for modifying​ the ​egoism that is associated with the last step of correction in the land of Israel.

By internally correcting, the Israelis attained the state called the Temple, i.e., they achieved the revelation of the Creator among them that kept them united for about 800 years before the Temple was destroyed.

This period of time was full of numerous twists and turns, rapid ascents and crucial downfalls, wars with Rome and Greece, and various local conflicts. The only reason for these events taking place was to enhance the connections among the people of Israel.

The people reached the state of correction and attained the Creator. They knew the purpose of their lives and realized that they existed in the eternal, perfect, infinite world. Their physical actions and spiritual attainment were inseparable. However, they began gradually sliding down from this height until they completely lost it.

The question is why was this situation created if they reached the state of complete correction?! It was given to them in order to correct the Babylonians throughout the world. They still remained at an egoistic degree of ancient Babylon, at a low, selfish level. The Babylonians had not gone through the stage of Egypt or did the stage of the golden calf.

This explains why the people of Israel, who stood way above their egoism, fell from their degree and reached the level of other nations, but still preserved a huge egoistic potential.

Here is the point when the antagonism between the people of Israel and the Babylonians (the rest of humanity) appeared. The nations of the world do not associate the people of Israel with this material civilization this people do not feel like they belong to this world. There is something strange, not like other peoples.

It can be felt through numerous tiny details. No matter how much some Israelis want to be similar to other nations that inhabit our planet, they just cannot be similar to them, since they do not come from this world. Instead, they fell from spirituality to this realm.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/22/14

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The Mission of the Israeli Nation

“Once we have clarified the higher roots, we will clarify the branches in this world. Know that a branch that extends from the internality is the people of Israel, which have been chosen as an operator of the general purpose and correction. It contains the preparation required for growing and developing until it moves the nations of the worlds, too, to achieve the common goal.

“The branch that extends from the externality is the nations of the world. They have not been imparted the qualities that make them worthy of receiving the development of the purpose one at a time.”—Baal HaSulam, “A Handmaid that Is Heir to Her Mistress.”

“The role of the Israeli nation to qualify the world for a certain measure of purity, until they are worthy of taking upon themselves His work, no less than Israel were worthy at the time they received the Torah.”—Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut,” (Mutual Guarantee), Item 21.

“Jews should present before the gentiles a novelty in the wisdom of religion, in justice and in peace. In that most gentiles are our disciples and this wisdom is attributed to us alone.”—Baal HaSulam, “The Last Generation.”
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Question: You spoke about money as an obsolete unit of currency, and that society is heading towards the creation of a new currency that will be based on the strength of mutual cooperation between people. One of the greatest concerns related to money is the fear that there won’t be any. How can this new currency help a person to overcome fears of this kind?

Answer: Fear doesn’t depend on the number of banknotes I possess. This is an internal, psychological phenomenon. A person always checks himself in relation to the environment, so he honestly believes that with a large amount of money covering him, he will feel more secure and less afraid.

For a large part of the world’s population it would be helpful if they could be released from this fear, with what is called a basket of goods necessary for living. And people would pay for all of the products that go into this basket, as is done now with health insurance and pensions. It could be that it will be possible to solve part of this question at the expense of those whose income is above average. But this action must be accompanied by an explanation to and education of the population.

Comment: Until now a person truly thought of money as a motivating force. Whereas now we are speaking about a new resource, which we apparently ignored and didn’t taken into account.

Answer: We always celebrate important events while we gather around a table. Here a person apparently generally gets respect. This is not just the generosity of the rich strata to the poor, rather it is an act of connection, with the participation of everyone. In this way we raise people to another level of understanding: How do we attain a life where money belongs to everyone and doesn’t belong to anyone individually?

On the other hand, this activity must itself be carried out cooperatively. I would absolutely put the reception of a basket of necessities as a condition for participation in integral education, lectures, and workshops.

All of our fears are derived from comparing ourselves with others. But if I am in the same situation as everyone else, then even in the worst of times, I can feel good about myself. In addition to this and through connection, we are ready to discover additional sources of power that are derived from the connection itself, the combining of opposites, and those that may be at a distance. We can find new wealth that we didn’t know existed.

By representing this educational program to the people, as a result, we receive positive energy and the ability to influence even the most indifferent strata of the population. As a result, they will also be compelled to change. Therefore, successful steps to popularize the idea about a consumer basket of necessities will serve as a key for general change within the entire nation.
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From the program “A New Life” 9/03/14

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Question: What does a strong family, a strong home, mean for a Kabbalist?

Answer: A strong family is a family that lives in a strong environment, and since an environment like this is good for them, this is a strong home for them.

A home is a human environment, not the stone walls or physical structure. Nowadays, the concept of a home has gradually changed its meaning, and it is understood that stone walls no longer can protect us from anything whatsoever and don’t provide any sense of security. This is because security is found in the good relationships and incorporation into all the circles of human society.

Today society is the next circle for a strong family home, and for society, a wider circle is the nation, and so on.

This means that the concept of a home as a cave, tent, tabernacle, apartments, etc., no longer exists. A home is about going out to establish interpersonal connection.

So here all of the physical borders have been destroyed and only internal contact between people remains. Walls, seas, and oceans cannot separate us, as we must be connected. The development of the Internet clearly shows this to us.

Question: Can Europe, which opened the borders between the nations of the European Union, serve as an example for us?

Answer: Unfortunately, Europe took this step from the point of view of egoistic benefit for itself, to make more money, avoid war, and exploit the weaker nations.

The nations of the European Union connected only the banks. In their program, the integration of all of humanity and the mutual penetration of cultures with each other did not enter into the plan. Only today are they beginning to understand how far they are from integration.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/23/14

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Question: In Israel Arabs are rioting. Are all of our efforts around the world don’t help?

Answer: I know only one thing; everything that happens is a result of our efforts. If the efforts are successful, one thing will happen; if they are less successful, something else will happen.

We are the only ones who determine what will happen to the nations of the world abroad and with our neighbors here. Everything is determined by the efforts that the people of Israel must make. Are they investing them? This is the problem. According to what is happening, we really haven’t been ready to direct events in the right way so that it will be good both for us and our neighbors.

One way or another, we determine this and nobody else. It isn’t Nasrallah, Ahmadinejad, Rohani, or Abu-Mazen. Why do we ascribe any actions to them? There isn’t and there won’t be anything from their side. Everything depends on you, you are the only one in the world who has freedom of choice. You determine everything that Israel encounters internally or externally. It is as if you are sitting in some machine and are running it. And nothing more.

We are always drawn to hear the news: what is happening in our country and abroad, what are the world leaders doing. But everything depends on you, so why should you know about them?

You need the news about which groups connected, which events happened, where we distributed materials, how many threads we have passed between Jews through television and the Internet so that they also will understand that everything depends upon them. This is what you need to know. This is the real news. After all, they don’t determine what will happen either today and tomorrow, nothing.

And so, when you are horrified about the Arab riots, know that you have a part in them.

Comment: The problems of Israel are not only the Arab riots. There is also corruption.

Answer: I am not talking only about security, but also about the economy, politics, health, and more. You alone determine everything, including all the phenomena of nature: the still, vegetative, animate, and human. Who are you? You are the people of Israel.

And who else are you? You are the Bnei Baruch group, which is the main culprit in what is happening. After all, the spiritual center of action is found here. Imagine that the whole world will get up and point at us, will discover who we are and say, “They are to blame for what is happening.”

Regarding corruption, you haven’t only involved in it, but have also awakened it. You have implemented the model of corruption in its root, and after that, someone realized it by traditional means.

Question: What must I do today to remove all the faults that I see in front of me?

Answer: Everything depends on you. You can build a wonderful life that will bring the Light that Reforms to the world. Do you want a good world that will return you to the good? This is what the Light does. So, attract the Light that will turn everything towards the good. Only you can do this, together with your friends.

Organize a strong event and connect, consolidate a shared idea, reach a common decision, do something. You are ready. Otherwise, neither you nor we will discover the power of evil that we feel today. If we feel its influence, it is designed to arouse us. And this testifies to our lack of work and our lack of precise correspondence to this force.

In other words, everything is simple. If there are riots in Israel, this means that we are constantly deteriorating backward. We have not completed our part, but instead, the opposite. The process demands much greater advancement, agility, and acceleration from us, and, on the contrary, we have slowed down. Otherwise, would we have discovered the problems as they are today?
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How can we avoid problems even before they come, by relating ourselves to the upper governance, which apart from that there is nothing else?

Answer: Without waiting for problems to appear, we should transform them into the attainments of greatness, mercy, and revelation of the upper governance. Unhappiness is the result of the same Upper Light that I take into myself for the sake of bestowal that brings me suffering by its effect on me.

After all, if I do not receive it in the correct form, for the sake of bestowal, when it enters my egoistic desire, it causes a breakage. That is what is felt as misfortunes, death, problems, hunger, and disease. It is all the same Light, as there is nothing but the Light and desire.

The Light is coming towards us because it is compelled to do so according to the program of creation, the plan of natural development on the time axis. Its time to be manifested inside the desire has arrived and we must be ready to accept this Light for the sake of bestowal.

But our desire is not ready! Are you not ready? Nonetheless, the Light enters the desire and causes a feeling of darkness. We are not able to take in the Light for the sake of bestowal; we have neither restriction on our ego nor the screen. This darkness will be manifested as catastrophe, wars, problems, and epidemics. Terrible misfortune will be revealed if we are not able to stop them, and all this because of a lack of correction of desires.

Everything is done by the Upper Light, and it can be both the elixir of life or fatal poison for us. We choose what it can be! Therefore, the people of Israel have no one to blame. We ourselves were the cause of everything that happened to us, especially in the 20^th century, no matter how painful it is to talk about that. I grew up in a family that suffered greatly from the Holocaust.

But nothing can be done if it is a law of nature. And now, according to the general program of development, which is realized on the time axis in a natural way, we come to a similar situation that existed before the Holocaust. If we do not prepare ourselves, then the Light will come closer to us and an uncorrected vessel will be found again. Terrible darkness will be revealed in this vessel, this desire, which will cause terrible problems in the world.

This will affect every person, every nation, and every part of the world and all civilizations, which now according to various estimates, there are six or eight. Everyone will be hit to the extent to which each of us have already developed, and it is our fault that we still lack the screen and the reflected Light, that is readiness for connection. In normal earthly language, it is called a lack of good communication between people. This is the example of unity that the nation of Israel must show the world.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/14, Shamati #1

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The process through which the people of Israel go is different from the process through which the nations of the world go. In the days of the First Temple, Israel reached its individual correction, and since then has been in a constant descent because the intention of creation lies in the fact that it is broken, according to the breaking of the spiritual vessels.

As a result, the vessels were mixed; the people of Israel went into exile for an indefinite period of time. In our case, it is 2,000 years; however, in essence, the exile was completed during the time of the Ari. Here there are also plenty of calculations, but they are not so important. Whatever it was, this exile was bound to happen, and it was told about it in advance.

Now the people of Israel need, first of all, to awaken, and then make the nations of the world follow it.

In general, we are talking about two parts of a single receiving desire. One part has already experienced a spiritual ascent and fell, and as a result acquired an even stronger and crueler egoistic desire. But today, standing in front of the need to correct itself from falling and breaking, it has such a great potential that is able to lead the nations of the world, to convince them in reality in this world, to benefit them.

The people of Israel lived among the nations of the world and mixed with them. Due to this, now that it is awakened and draws the Surrounding Lights, these Lights come also to the nations, but cause a backlash, make them against the people of Israel. The nations are still in evil, and they have no desire of their own to come to good.

However, they feel their dependence on the people of Israel, which is expressed in anti-Semitism: The nations claim that the Jews cause all the evil in the world.

It is indeed so: Evil can be caused only by the one who can but does not bring the Light to the world, in other words, the people of Israel, because only it can carry the Light.

Therefore, the allegations of the nations are true, which in principle are reduced to the fact that all the evil is caused by the people of Israel and they depend on it, and if it wants, they will be fine. In these circumstances, the attitude of the nations seems justified.

The people of Israel must understand the negative outburst of emotions against it is to urge it to correction, which it is obliged to bring to the whole world.

Let’s hope that the people of Israel finally understand this and give the world correction.

The overall layout is quite simple and clear: The general desire is divided into two parts: internal and external, Israel and the nations of the world, each of which has the same division. From this it follows that Israel, Galgalta ve Eynaim, is able to attract the Light that Reforms, and the nations, AHP, are incapable. This is the reason for what is happening.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: The external performance of the Torah, is this descent or not?

Answer: External performance of the Torah is the result of the exile of the people of Israel. Before that, it did only internal work because everyone was in attainment of the Creator. Yes, there were problems, troubles, wars, but all this was part of a powerful internal analysis.

And then in the days of Rabbi Akiva, the people of Israel fell from the degree of brotherly love into unfounded hatred. If in the past, everyone had understood the Torah in a spiritual sense since their vessels, desires, were in revelation, after falling to the material level, they began to understand the Torah in the material sense. As a consequence, they started to perform it as we see today: strengthening themselves only by actions, not by intention.

The vessels of Israel have Galgalta ve Eynaim, part that is engaged in intentions and AHP, part that is engaged in actions. So it happened that there are two Torahs:

• For the vessels of Galgalta ve Eynaim, it is the wisdom of Kabbalah, called the true and also hidden science because it is revealed only to the one who lifts the veil over it;
• The science of explicit material actions, performed by part of the people of Israel, belonging to AHP.

We are not going to evaluate anyone, to judge anyone. There are no clever or stupid, good or bad. No one should be punished or despised. Simply, these are the facts. We should have come to this after the breaking of the vessels and exile. This is the way how the vessels, desires, are arranged in the process of its correction.

But now the question arises: How can we collectively become awakened to the true work of the Creator?
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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All the Jewish holidays stem from the wisdom of Kabbalah and symbolize different phases in our spiritual evolution.A person goes through many levels as he ascends the ladder of the spiritual worlds totally detached from the Creator until he reaches complete unity with Him. But in between there are special levels called “holidays” or “good days” (Yom Tov).

Pesach (Passover), which in our world symbolizes the redemption from the slavery in Egypt, reflects the first spiritual level, the exit from the ego, breaking free from it and ascending above it.

Then there is the level of the giving of the Torah that is symbolized by the holiday of Shavuot.

The breaking of the “stone tablets,” which means the temporary return to Egypt “falling into the ego” (Tisha B’Av) is symbolized by the Ninth of Av. This date now symbolizes a day of mourning, but in the future it will be the most joyful day.

After the Ninth of Av there is Rosh Hashanah (New Year), a major turn towards the new spiritual correction.

Ten days after Rosh Hashanah there is Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) when all of a person’s states are revealed and then his sins are revealed and corrected.

After Yom Kippur a person begins to receive a special Light of correction called the Light of Sukkot, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) that reforms him.

During the seven days of Sukkot a person reaches a state called Simchat Torah (rejoicing in the Torah), since the Light that descends on him provides him with the general corrections, bringing him close to the Creator.

The next holiday is Hanukkah, which is the holiday of Light that raises us above the ego and frees us from it. When we ascend above the ego a person feels that he is free, but this isn’t the end of correction yet.

The end of correction comes when we finally change the ego to a state of love and bestowal. This happens in Purim.

This is how a person goes through a whole cycle of holidays that symbolize the history of the Jewish people. I really hope that we will finally reach Purim, the end of correction, in the near future and thus the whole earthly saga, the history of man’s existence in this world, will come to end.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/22/14

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The Mission of the People of Israel

“But the end of the correction of the world will only be by bringing all the people in the world under His work…

But the role of Israel towards the rest of the world resembles the role of our Holy Fathers towards the Israeli nation…”

“Thus, each and every Mitzva that each person from Israel performs in order to bring contentment to one’s Maker, and not for any self-gratification, helps to some extent with the development of all the people of the world. This is because it is not done at once but by slow, gradual development, until it increases to such a degree that it can bring all the people in the world to the desired purity.”
– Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee), Item 20
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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee), Item 20

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