Assimilation Is Impossible

Question: In the territory of Germany, the Jews first appeared with the Romans in the 5th century AD, but the epicenter of Jewish settlements dates back to the 10th century.

As in Spain, they contributed to the development of the economy and trade. Despite the instability of the situation of the Jews, Germany became one of the most important centers of the Jewish community. Here a special type developed, the Ashkenazi community. By the 17th century, the center of the Ashkenazi community moved to Poland, Lithuania, and Prague.

This is how the German historian of Jewish origin Heinrich Graetz described the state of German Jewry, “If the laboriously constructed organism of a nation has lost vitality, the bonds connecting the individual parts are weakened, and internal dissolution has set in, even the despotic will which keeps the members in a mechanical union being wanting; in short, if death comes upon a commonalty in its corporate state, and it has been entombed, can it be resuscitated and undergo a revival?”

In addition, the mass process of conversion of Jews to Christianity, assimilation, and emancipation began. What do you see as the problem of assimilation?

Answer: The fact is that it is impossible. As soon as assimilation begins, anti-Semitism immediately rises with such a force that assimilation is suspended, and despite the fact that Jews would very much like to dissolve into the people among whom they currently live, it is impossible.

Comment: However, on the other hand, you said that the dispersion of Jews among other nations and their mutual mingling has a purpose.

My Response: The goal is not to physically mingle, but rather to bring their own ideology, culture, and monotheism to the nations of the world. We are talking about a historical movement that existed for several thousand years.

It is written in the Torah that Jews should bring light to all nations. To do this, they need to become its source. In other words, they should not be dissolved, but should be a source of light, knowledge, monotheism, and a correct attitude to the development of civilization in every nation.

For more on this topic, read my books Like a Bundle of Reeds: why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour, and The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.

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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 8/12/19

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There is fear that intense protests in Israel will end in violence and turn into civil war. But in fact, this war has been going on since we started returning to the land of Israel. After all, we are not corrected; therefore all our actions are very egoistic. Our egoism is evident in them so brightly that they turn out worse than those of all the nations of the world.

In the uncorrected state, we are the quintessence of all evil in the world, and in the corrected state, we will become the opposite, the quintessence of all good. And so it is written, that rising, Israel rises above the rest, and falling, falls below all. After all, we are an extract of the greatest desire to enjoy of all the nations of the world. This is why Israel stands out from all other nations.

Until people know what they really need to do, it will be impossible to calm them down. It is necessary to give them a method of correction so that they understand what needs to be corrected and what our mission assigned to us from above is.

If you do not give it to people, they will start killing each other. The inner flame will flare up so much that they will go out every day to beat or even kill each other, which was the case in the time of the Temple.

The main wars were not with the Greeks and Romans, but between the Jews themselves. And there is nothing new in today’s riots; it is again revealed what was two and three thousand years ago—the war of egoism that does not want to give way to anyone , until it reveals its insignificance and asks for correction.

Extinguishing the irritation and anger can only be done by revealing the true cause. Otherwise, it is impossible to ease the tension, hatred, and conflict of forces. They can be dimmed for a week or two, but in fact, nothing will change if all the cards are not revealed. And it is good that such a flame is burning inside people; it just needs to be directed and shaped correctly.

The riots and unrest that we see today on the streets of Israel are caused by the absence of a middle line, a lack of methodology, a program, an ideology that would connect different poles: the desire to receive of the creation, which is in contradiction with the desire to give of the Creator.

The two opposites must come to work together, to balance, to connect, to embrace, and to love. But there is no understanding among the people today that we need these two forces and only need to combine them correctly. And the right connection is possible if we have a goal in front of us, a guiding polar star to which we must precisely come together.

Let us move toward this goal together. These two opposing forces must find what they have in common. This means that both should rise above their egoism and find what unites them, only in this form. And this should be the case not only in Israel, but in the whole world. There is already unrest in America and then it will spread to all continents.

The polar star is the connection of all the forces of nature together in order to manifest one force that unfolds in the connection between us if we can unite over all differences. This force unfolding in us, gives us a sense of true reality instead of this material world. And then we begin to live in the upper world, called so according to our feelings, in a world that is eternal.

The blows received from the coronavirus will eventually cause all of humanity to bow, calm, and quiet down, realizing that there is an upper force at work here that will not allow us to do what we want, neither right or left. We will have to surrender to the influence of a third force from the higher degree.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/20

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The division took place in two stages, the First Temple and the Second Temple, until it reached its full measure. And now it is already possible to come to the construction of the Third Temple, that is, the state that we build on the basis of the past destruction and thereby achieve the correction of all reality, the whole world. This is the challenge we face today.

The 9th of Av symbolizes a special date on the calendar that reflects the spiritual root of the passed breakdowns: the collapse of the First Temple and the Second Temple. This division spread from top to bottom, and today we are at the very foot of this staircase, so the First Temple was higher than the Second.

The First Temple was at the level of the light of Chaya, very high, and the Second Temple was much lower, at the level of the light of Neshama. We had to go through this fall, the collapse of the First Temple and then the collapse of the Second Temple, to a complete loss of the spiritual. And this is so that today we can rise, correct these broken spiritual genes (Reshimot), and build the Third Temple.

Of course, we do not build it ourselves, but only clarify this state and raise the broken Reshimot, and then the light comes, which builds a spiritual vessel called the Third Temple.

Since the 9th of Av symbolizes the destruction of the Temple, this day is considered a day of mourning. But this does not mean that you have to sit and cry. First of all, we need to think in order to understand what is happening and why we have to grieve. This day comes in order for us to learn from it how to restore our house of holiness, our soul, in a corrected state, filled with the revelation of the Creator.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/20, “Tishaa BeAv (Ninth of Av)”

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Ani-Semitism—a Natural Phenomenon

Question: You say that anti-Semitism is a law of nature. Can you not explain anti-Semitism as a coincidence?

To compare even a complex, unusual, yet still, a social phenomenon with the law of gravity is very extravagant. After all, what is a law of nature? It is a phenomenon that exists always and everywhere regardless of our attitude to it.

Answer: There are laws of nature that exist under certain conditions. Why take such a law that cannot incorporate everything? It is just silly. Besides, gravity also depends on where you are on the Earth and on how far from Earth the object is.

We know that there is mutual rejection, alienation, and hatred by non-Jews toward Jews. It exists almost everywhere. The more developed people are, the stronger the hatred.

It manifests itself even in those nations that have never been in contact with Jews. And since this feature exists everywhere and at all times, then we say that this natural phenomenon has been accompanying humanity for thousands of years.

Remark: Here are some facts. It is believed that there is no anti-Semitism in Georgia and never has been. Jews have been living there for more than two and a half thousand years, ever since the destruction of the First Temple. The term is unimaginable.

But after digging into the archives, I found that in the second half of the 19th century, there were six blood libels in Georgia. Incidentally, this period was marked by the highest number of pogroms not only within the Russian Empire, but throughout the world.

They also say that there is no anti-Semitism in Japan. But the Prime Minister of this country Okuma Shigenobu said that Jews around the world are destroying patriotism and healthy foundations of the state.

My Reply: Anti-Semitism is everywhere. It is a natural phenomenon. But the fact is that it can be especially interesting in Japan—where, how, and on what basis it manifests itself.

Remark: That is, we can safely say that anti-Semitism is a law of nature. It has existed for thousands of years and is constantly repeated under certain conditions, mainly when there is a disunity among the Jews.

My Reply: Quite right.

For more on this topic, read my books Like a Bundle of Reeds: why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour, and The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.

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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 8/12/19

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Return Issue

Question: Why, even in our time, do religious Jews who live, say, in America, not move to Israel? What is the reason?

Answer: There are two reasons. The first reason is that American Jews have no religious incentive to live here. It is enough for them to come here once a year. Moreover, today it is not a problem at all. Basically, they come here three times a year for three major holidays.

The second reason is that it is said that the Jews will return to the holy land together with the Messiah (with the deliverer), but he is not there. So, if he is not there, then where should I go? I’m not going to break the basic commandment to return.

That is, returning when you are ready and going is an anti-religious, Zionist movement. And in the religious sense, the Jews will arrive and populate the Land of Israel together with the Messiah.

Comment: Nevertheless, there are many religious Jews living here.

My Response: Different religious trends interpret the question of return in different ways.

Question: What is the reason that many religious and non-religious movements, including the peoples of the world, believe that the place of the Jews is in the Land of Israel?

Answer: It should be so. Basically, the people should return to their land. This is what the Torah says, all the prophets say so back in the days when we were expelled from our homes. After all, the Babylonian exile took place at the time of the prophets who brought us back from Babylon to this land in the period between the First and Second Temples.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 8/12/19

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Lack of Spiritual Connection with the Land of Israel

Question: From the 17th to the 19th century, one more call was added to the standard anti-Semitic claims, which was heard in different strata of society: to ask, persuade, beg Jews to return to where they came from 2,000 years ago.

For example, French philosopher Charles Fourier wrote: “Jews! Descendants of Cain and Iscariot, leave us, leave us! Cross the Red Sea again and go to the desert, to the promised land that awaits you, to the only country that suits you; you evil, rude and dishonorable people, go there!!!”

After waiting in vain for any concrete action from the Jews, statesmen took the initiative into their own hands. The French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, while in Acre, said that the Jews are the true heirs of Palestine, and urged them to admit this fact and return there. A willingness to help Jews was also expressed by American President Abraham Lincoln.

So what did the Jews do? They were in no hurry. Upon getting the rights during the period of emancipation, they rushed into politics, science, and economics and succeeded everywhere. They had no time for the land of Israel.

However, anti-Semitism had grown even more. Before, the Jews were hated for their dissimilarity, then they became like everyone else. And yet the hatred did not disappear.

What is the root of the paradox that the Jews waited so long to return to the land of Israel, and when the opportunity arose, they did not use it? Most Jews today live outside the State of Israel. What is the root of this phenomenon?

Answer: The root is very simple—the lack of connection between the people and the land. The people do not feel that their land is here, that they are attached to it. One does not feel any origins, does not see anything special in this land.

The people are divided. A person comes from the other end of the earth, meets people here who are completely different from them, who also consider themselves Jews, and even, perhaps, greater than him.

And a paradoxical picture arises: Every Jew read and was told that this was his land, and having arrived here, he did not find any connection with it. The climate is terrible, the land is dry and scorched; there are no signs of life. What is promised in it? Where is the earth flowing with milk and honey? There is none of this.

Moreover, Jews who come to Israel do not look like Jews. They live in conflict with each other. A person who came here from Europe understands the French, Germans, British, and Russians among whom he lived more; he cannot understand these Jews at all. After all, people come here mainly from the Maghreb, Asia or even more distant places. It turns out that there is nothing familiar here.

In addition, here you have to work with your hands, farm, cultivate the land so that it becomes more suitable for agriculture. It turns out that Jews have to do work that they have not done for many years.

Since the 18th century, they have been employed in industry, business, finance, science, and art. Even in Russia, where there was very strong anti-Semitism, the founders of the Russian Philharmonic Society, scientists, and artisans were mainly Jews. True, they often hid under pseudonyms, but they were all the same. And where can such conditions be found here?

Question: What does it mean to feel a connection with the earth?

Answer: The feeling of a physical connection with the land is no longer the condition that can be imposed on Jews today. This connection is internal, spiritual.

Perhaps the material connection is felt by someone who has received a special religious Jewish education. He was well stuffed with all sorts of stories about the holy land, and therefore just living on this land is already a great commandment for him.

Besides, in the past, Jews were simply paid to come and live here. Thus, several large communities were built in Tiberias, in Safed, partly in Acre, in Jerusalem, and Jaffa.

For more on this topic, read my books Like a Bundle of Reeds: why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour, and The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 8/12/19

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How can tension in society be relieved?

Question: If in the past Jews were a homogeneous mass and lived in one place. Then, in the era of Enlightenment, secular, religious, ultra-religious, and various reformist movements appeared. Today we see how the split between the left and the right, the ultra-right and ultra-left, extremists, and all others is going on.

I understand that this is how nature pushes us toward development, toward diversity, but how can such different movements get along? It is not clear how this is going to happen. What is the next stage?

Answer: The next stage is the realization of the evil of our nature, our state, the society that we have created proceeding from our egoism, and how to rise above this, correct and raise ourselves to the next level of development: communication, connection, and ascent to the level of the Creator.

Comment: But it is not that all these movements do not understand each other, they do not even confront and do not want to hear each other!

My Response: We have again come to a state when a huge internal tension has accumulated in society where each movement does not understand what is in front of it. We only understand our final component: nothing good will happen if this continues. There will not even be the existence that used to be before. We are heading for some kind of a disaster.

Therefore, I believe that people are internally ready for big changes. However, on the other hand, they are scared and do not want it.

Question: Take, for example, the secular, ultra-religious, and reformists. They have to unite somehow. What will be the essence of this unity?

Answer: They will not be able to unite.

Comment: But you say that the people of Israel must become one.

My Response: This is a gradual process. I believe that this is possible only if non-religious people and perhaps partial reformists begin to study Kabbalah and understand that it addresses a person: how one should correct oneself and society. Proceeding from this, they will be able to attain the upper world and reveal their upper predestination for themselves and for the whole world.

And the ultra-religious circles will come to this in the last turn, against their will, by diffusion, slowly being included into them. But this process is gradual and consistent since all of them at once will not be able to get together.

Question: In the human body, all organs differ from each other in their function. But if there is some upper goal, for example, the maintenance of life, then all of them adjust to each other and work in unison.

And for this to happen at the level of society, it is not clear what sublime idea can really equate everyone?

Answer: It is unity. Because in unity the Creator, the upper force, is revealed.

Question: It turns out that without clear revelation of this force there is no chance of getting to reconciliation?

Answer: Without movement toward the revelation of the Creator, there can be nothing. Everything proceeds from the problems that arise in society, and we see how dead-end they are, how they do not allow us to develop, to achieve something. Therefore, all of humanity consciously and inevitably goes to some kind of precipice, beyond which there is emptiness.

And the science of Kabbalah helps to understand why all this exists—to lead us consciously or unconsciously to mutual reconciliation and revelation of the Creator within it.

Comment: That is, the fact that nature pushes us toward such diversity is good, it should be so. But without revelation of the upper force of nature, some kind of initial cause, there can be no unity or even movement toward it.

My Response: There can be no meaning of existence.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 8/5/19

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Rejection of the Religious Perception of the World

Question: In the first half of the 19th century, the struggle within the Jewish people began to subside, and it is perceived as a single whole. However, another problem arises, the era of the Enlightenment begins, the development of sciences, the acquisition of civil rights by Jews, and freedom of movement.

This again led to a split among Jews: on one side, the Orthodox society, and on the other side, people who began to leave religion. That is, there was a rejection of the religious perception of the world.

Why, for the first time in history, Jews, as well as other nations, began to leave religion en masse and engage in science?

Answer: It is because religion did not explain to them that love for one’s neighbor is its main law.
Following religion consisted only in the fulfillment of prescriptions, fasts, and all kinds of holidays.

It obliged people to observe traditions, but at the same time it did not explain at all why this was necessary and to what it should lead. Therefore, a person who did not feel why he was doing things and what positive purpose they had, simply renounced religion.

Question: How did this period affect the correction of all humanity and the role of Jews in this process?

Answer: I believe that this was a necessary period, firstly, because nothing happens in vain. It was necessary to sober up and cut off the figurative fulfillment of the laws of the Torah without any thoughts and feelings when they were realized only because this must be done, scrupulously and mechanically at that. After all, this is not what the Creator requires of us, but that we correct our thoughts and feelings, mind and heart.

Comment: In principle, such a mechanical religious approach is quite egoistic. I follow the traditions, and for this I am entitled to something in this world and in the other world, paradise is promised to me.

My Response: This is an egoistic, medieval approach that did not provide a person any development. Naturally, the great sages knew and understood why and for what purpose everything was happening this way, but there were only a few of them.

Question: It was necessary, because it kept people within limits and gave some kind of confidence in life?

Answer: Yes, this was demanded by the current period of human development. Everything depends on the development of the person’s inner desires.

Question: Why weren’t all these laws revealed 1,000 years ago and their disclosure took place precisely in the short period of Lurianic Kabbalah?

Answer: There are periods of accumulation of some internal tensions in a person and in society, and then they are released, as a rule, in an explosive way.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 8/5/19

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The Confrontation Between Two Movements

Question: Some time after the expulsion of Jews from Spain, spiritual movements began to flourish in Safed, and Kabbalistic knowledge among the masses began to spread.

But then the rapid dissemination of the new movement caused a response and resistance. Spiritual teachers of the traditional Lithuanian school began to oppose the spread of this knowledge with boycotts, slander to authorities, and physical extermination.

How does one explain this? Why did the teaching of the Ari, which should have already been embodied in humanity, suddenly fail and the fall began again?

Answer: This is not a failure, but a natural development of the method of correction, which cannot go by only one line. It goes precisely by two lines and is realized between them, in the third one.

As a result, it turned out that the Kabbalah of the Baal Shem Tov is the same Kabbalah of the Ari, which was understood by the masses. He organized a Cheder, that is, a place for classes. He recruited talented young people into his group, completely regardless of their status. And then large groups of students and leaders of Hasidic movements were formed from his students. They were especially popular among the Jewish population of Ukraine, Belarus, and Eastern Europe where their own schools were organized.

But at the same time, another school, which was founded by the Vilna Gaon appeared. He believed that people should be taught gradually, and only those who had achieved great knowledge in the Talmud, in a simple study of the Torah.

In his opinion, studying Kabbalah should be spread not among ordinary people, but among the elite to whom the spiritual worlds and other predestinations of humanity can be explained only after they had seriously mastered the “dry” Torah.

Question: Kabbalah speaks of love for one’s neighbor in its simplest, earthly form. What could be the danger of studying Kabbalah?

Answer: The fact is that when you simply talk about love for your neighbor, by that you let a person think that if he treats others correctly, then nothing else is needed. Therefore, there is some lightheadedness in the understanding of “love for one’s neighbor.”

This is how a movement was formed in Hasidism that if you love another person and seem to treat him correctly, then this is enough. Nothing more is needed, and you are already fulfilling your predestination.

And the Vilna Gaon claimed: “No, it is necessary to seriously study the Torah, the Babylonian Talmud, and carefully keep all the laws. Only after that one can study Kabbalah.”

Therefore, in the introduction to his great work, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Baal HaSulam pays much attention to this. At the very beginning, he asks the question: “Is it really necessary to fully know all the great laws of fulfilling the Torah in our world and only after that study Kabbalah?

“Or is it enough to do it in parallel? Or even, perhaps, is it not at all necessary to know and obey all the laws so scrupulously? Because the Creator requires us to correct our hearts more than to fill our heads with all kinds of laws.”

So here we are in a state of great ideological contradiction. And it is very serious because it speaks of the method of the soul’s correction. Should it be taught to children from the age of thirteen or even earlier? Or maybe, it can be explained to women as well? Or only to great experts on the Babylonian Talmud?

This ideological contradiction was a necessary process and was brewing by itself.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 8/5/19

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Question: How do you see the fate of Israel? You cannot help but be concerned about it, as well as all people in the world, because, despite its small size, Israel is in many ways at the center of many conflicts and events.

Now everyone is watching with bated breath when the next phase of Israel’s jurisdiction over the territories will be announced, and how it may end.

Answer: Yes, I understand that the problem with the territories, in general, is completely out of place and beside the point. What is it for, anyway? Everything is completely artificial. Our ancestral territories are still much larger. They extend from the Nile to the Euphrates. This is all described in ancient books. We are not going to chase the ancient borders.

But the fact is that Israel has its own historical mission, which it must fulfill—to stand at the head of the spiritual reconstruction of humanity. I hope that this will begin in our century, in our time.

This will not reduce its role in any way. On the contrary, it will become more significant and eternal. Israel is Israel, there is no getting around it. It is a spiritual creature that needs to live and preach from here. People will come to understand, accept, and agree with this.
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From KabTV’s “Today’s International Situation” 6/18/20

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