Comment: Most people perceive Passover as a week of celebration. Yet suddenly you are saying that this is a state one can be in every day.

My Response: The moment I discover within myself that I am under the control of Pharaoh (egoism) and that I somehow need to rise above it, to exit it, I immediately try to make every possible effort to overcome it.

But on my own, I cannot conquer the ego; I don’t fight it; I even love it. This is the most important thing a person must understand! After all, egoism helps me rise. It is said that one must thank for the bad just as for the good. Great is the one who can turn their enemy into a beloved one.

If you look at egoism the right way, then we need this force. That is why it is said that Pharaoh brought the people of Israel closer to the Creator. If we did not have an evil inclination, if we did not experience suffering, we would never feel the need for connection with the upper force, with the Creator.

But we are now considering this question on a practical, corporeal level. If we are in a state of constant egoistic growth, then Passover is an example of rising above the ego for us. It is not for nothing that it is said: in every generation, a person must see himself as if he was coming out of Egypt.

“Generation” here means every moment in time, because every change within me is considered a new generation. I must always feel as if I am coming out of Egypt even though immediately I fall into a new Egypt, and again I come out, and again I fall. In this way, I quickly complete all my corrections and reach the goal.

How is this achieved? The wisdom of Kabbalah gives a very simple explanation: through connection! The final goal we must reach is “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and this can be attained only through all possible efforts to draw closer to one another.

Kabbalah explains which efforts exactly. After all, our world is full of various ideas, theories, and practices. Everything people have come up with has been drawn from different philosophies, religions, beliefs, and psychological tricks as a substitute for the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Humanity has been searching for a way to tame its egoism because it tears us apart. It prevents us from living in families, from communicating with friends, and from interacting correctly with one another. What can be done with nature itself? Why is it set against us? And it is not just nature, man himself is set against himself!

People do not have the correct method of education. Therefore, they introduced laws that suppress, constrain, and diminish egoism in attempts to subdue it. Suppression is the foundation of all religions. But what we need is a method that would balance egoism so that each person could use it correctly and not suppress it!

The revolutionary aspect of the wisdom of Kabbalah lies in the free development of egoism and in rising above it afterward.

Kabbalah brings a person to a state of freedom. You are not ashamed, you do not scold yourself, you do not blame others. You simply must constantly strive to reveal the method of complementing egoism with its opposite force so they would work together correctly.

Egoism would raise the altruistic force, the force of love, and together they would work in a harmonious symbiosis, rolling back and forth: pe-sach, pe-sach.

It is impossible to do without the exile from the good quality of love into the qualities that Egypt embodies: cruelty, hatred, and control. But suddenly, when these qualities are covered with love, you no longer feel them as such, and you carry them out from love even though it might seem that you are strictly constrained.

In order to love your neighbor as yourself, you must care for everyone! So where is your freedom in that? On the contrary! You constantly think only about what others lack and how you could help them. In the end, where is the “I”?

It is a paradox, but through love, you forget about yourself, and then you are completely free. You are in constant motion, in constant care, yet it is sweet, and there is nothing more joyful. It is like a mother caring for her baby, and it gives her immense pleasure.

That is why we simply need to understand how egoism begins to work together with the quality of love in such a harmony that we no longer feel it as egoism. We need it; without it, we would not feel any positive sensations.

I can feel another precisely because I do not want it, but by inversely turning it into a new object, I receive new feelings. In other words, the greater the hatred, the greater the love.

It is written in The Book of Zohar that the students of Rabbi Shimon, who wrote it, felt deep hatred toward each other before each lesson, and then, as they began to unite, they created love. Only in this way were they able to attain this spiritual quality and describe it in The Book of Zohar.

They had to feel a burning hatred in order to then rise above it and reveal, in place of the consuming fire of hatred, the fire of love. Only from the contrast of these two qualities were they able to describe the immense illumination they attained.
[156504]
From KabTV’s “Conversations about Passover”, Episode #2

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Question: Was there ever a miracle that the Red Sea parted and the Israeli people went through it when they fled from Pharaoh?

Answer: The Torah doesn’t talk about events of our material world. It talks only about what happens between our souls. In this sense, we pass through an inner spiritual state called “Crossing the Red Sea.”

The exodus from Egypt and the freedom from the slavery of Egypt is freedom from the control of our ego, from the “Angel of Death.” In principle, on the way to this freedom, we move through some kind of passage called crossing the Red Sea. It symbolizes the end of Egypt, the end of our ego, after which we can become a free people.

A unique force of unity is hidden within nature that is called the Creator. When we invest in efforts to unite, to get closer to each other against our desire, then through these efforts the higher power creates a state where “splitting the Red Sea” will be discovered. It moves us from the egoistic nature to a nature of bestowal and love.
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From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 3/15/15

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At this time, we approach a state when humanity faces a need to change its attitude to life, to itself, to its developmental goals. Humans have to realize that there is a purpose in life and that nature leads us to achieve it.

We will advance towards mutual understanding, benevolent attainment, and comfortable existence to the extent of our correspondence with the program that guides us.

The goal we must reach is above this world, beyond life and death. Eventually, we will transition to the level of immortality. This world gradually will dissolve and we will enter a totally new dimension. By the way, nowadays all worldly sciences confirm this fact. We are going through this process as we speak.

Everything starts with Pesach (Passover), i.e., when we realize that we are capable of rising above our egoism and we shift to unity and reciprocity by observing the rule of “loving our neighbor as ourselves,” or at least following the rule of “not doing to others what we do not wish for ourselves.” In other words, when we feel like brothers and maintain mutual guarantee. This holiday is about realizing that exiting from the ego is possible.

When one “leaves Egypt” and rises to the next level one regards the prior state as absolute wickedness and clearly sees how it can be used correctly. This explains why it is said that attainment happens at the foot of Mount Sinai (derived from “Sina,”  hatred) when all human properties “stand around the mountain,” whereas our aspirations, the point of Moses, rise to its peak.

Mount Sinai represents a huge egoism and it is absolutely essential to make us rise above our qualities that stand for the entire nation gathered around the Mountain.

The final goal of human advancement is to reach the peak of the Mountain where Moses and the Creator are.
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From KabTV’s “A Talk About Passover” 3/18/15

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The Torah, “Leviticus,” 23:4 – 23:8: These are the Lord’s appointed [holy days], holy occasions, which you shall designate in their appointed time: In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, in the afternoon, [you shall sacrifice] the Passover offering to the Lord. And on the fifteenth day of that month is the Festival of Unleavened Cakes to the Lord; you shall eat unleavened cakes for a seven day period. On the first day, there shall be a holy occasion for you; you shall not perform any work of labor. And you shall bring a fire offering to the Lord for a seven day period. On the seventh day, there shall be a holy occasion; you shall not perform any work of labor.

Question: Why is it forbidden to work on the first and last days of Passover?

Answer: It is because we distinguish between two states in the spiritual work: awakening from below and awakening from above.

During the awakening from below we evoke the cooperation between the light and the vessel by our yearning. The light corrects the vessel and gives it the right intention. During the awakening from above, this work is fulfilled from above but only because we have created all the right conditions for it in advance.

We make efforts, and thus create the right conditions for the first and last days of the holiday since the week of Passover has to be closed at its ends by states in which we don’t do anything since the upper light does all the work. The first day of the holiday is the beginning of the exodus from Egypt. The last day is the end of the exodus that seals it.

It is important to say that the nations of the world have different calendars. The Christian calendar is based on the movement of the sun. The Muslim calendar is based on the movement of the moon. While the Jewish calendar takes the movement of the sun, the moon, and the earth into account since the earth is the central object between the sun and the moon.

On one hand we take the year into account, which means the revolution of the earth around the sun, and on the other hand we take the month into account, the revolution of the moon around the earth, and compare the two. Thus the Jewish calendar doesn’t change and so, for example, we can calculate in advance which day of the week will be the first day of Passover in another 35 years.

What is more, based on the comparison between the movement of the sun, the earth, and the moon, we can say that Passover cannot be on certain days of the month. This means that everything is accurately related to the general astrological system.

Question: The Torah refers to holy assemblies several times. Why do we have to gather in Passover?

Answer: Holy assemblies during Passover are the most important thing for the Israeli nation since it is actually thanks to their desire to unite that they need to come out of Egypt.

A person’s union with a group of people, with the society, with the nation, or with the whole world is actually different levels of the exodus from Egypt (from the ego). When we attain the force of unity, a certain tension, this exodus, the detachment from the ego, takes place.

It is always among us, separating us and making us feel repulsed by one another. If we begin to compress and condense it, try to unite and connect to one another, then the exit from the ego begins the moment we first attain unity.

On the first day of Passover (the exodus from Egypt) we begin to tighten this connection. Then we work on it during the week and totally unite on the last day of the exodus from Egypt. From that moment on we are a united nation.

But in the meantime, people don’t understand what they should do, although there is a direction that spurs the desire to escape from the ego, it is merely an animalistic instinct without the proper awareness. People will acquire the recognition when they gather at the foot of Mount Sinai.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/28/14

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In order to come to the state of “Passover,” (Pesach) we must reach such a level of development where we are unable to work with egoism; we need to rise above it.

The outburst of egoism happened for the first time in Babylon. Against this eruption that took place when the population was not large, Abraham, a priest of ancient Babylon, discovered the system of ascent above egoism.

Several thousand people accepted this method, and they went together with him to the land of Canaan, present-day Israel. Abraham taught his followers what it meant to be in love with each other, rising above the ego and constantly stepping over one’s ego—Pesach (from the word Pasach, to pass).

Our ego is growing constantly, and we are growing above it, covering it by the law of “… love covereth all transgressions.” Transgressions remain, but, the greater they are—up to immense hatred—the greater love appears between us.

We do not hide our hatred, are not ashamed of it, because we understand that it comes from human nature, and our task is to identify in nature the next, positive force that will give us the opportunity to cover hatred with love.

Then, we will be in a constant state of spiritual elevation. However, hatred will determine the height of the love with which we cover it.

It turns out that we can continue to grow constantly. That is, each transition from stage to stage will become Passover (Pesach), the holiday that is always with you.
[156443]
From KabTV’s “Conversations about Passover,” 3/18/15

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Question: The entire story of Purim is about Gmar Tikkun (final correction). Why do the Jews doubt again? After all, this situation has been repeated many times before; whenever they doubted and tried to receive for themselves, they ended up experiencing shattering, plagues, and similar consequences. What is different in the story of Purim that will make them stop doubting and trying to receive for themselves?

Answer: This is something we must reveal. But we understand that in order to receive the light of Hochma, the light of Hassadim is required as its covering.

Everything that happened to the people of Israel was necessary only to create a common vessel (Kli) together with the nations of the world that was capable of receiving the entire light of Hochma. That is all. In the end, that is how it will be.

Question: How are the Jews  different from the nations of the world? After all, they agree with Haman just as the nations of the world do. Does that mean they differ only because of their prior history?

Answer: No, not because of their history, but because of their obligation. They are obligated to choose a different path.
[341881]
From the Daily Kabbalah lesson 3/12/25, Writings of Baal HaSulam “An Article for Purim”

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We must create ourselves into a people that will exist in the mutual property of love and complete connection with each other. In this way we will resemble, not the nature of our world, but the nature of the upper world, which will be able to pass through us and pour into our world.

Then all the nations of the world—and subsequently all of nature: animal, vegetative, and inanimate—will receive this upper vitalizing force.

Without it the world will simply wither away until it explodes and disappears. This is true according to the true, spiritual laws of nature. By spiritual, I mean based not on egoism, but on the quality of bestowal. This is what we must pass to the world. If we do not do it, the world will instinctively demand it of us.

We cannot continue to exist in our current form. This is a people unable even to think that it must change. As the saying goes, “a stiff-necked people,” so it is.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, awakens the Jews. The nations of the world yes, but the Jews no.
Herein, perhaps, lies a certain chance for salvation through the nations of the world in a good and swift way, maybe they will still compel the people of Israel to think about their mission.

Then this will be a serious point of our correct reckoning with the Creator. We have no one to rely on but only our connection with Him. And we will have to establish this connection correctly.
[341060]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/24/19

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Question: We have been hearing from everywhere that the global community is increasingly putting pressure on Israel, and on the other hand, the main recommendation for the Jewish people for the best way to protect themselves from this pressure is solidarity and unity. This is said to be our salvation in both the Torah and The Zohar. But on the other hand, there are prophecies that say if the people do not fulfill their role, all other nations will rise against them, exile them from their land, and the Creator will be angry with them.

Recently, Einstein’s letter, written in 1939 when he already lived in America when the Nazi regime was rampant in Germany, was auctioned off for $24,000. In the letter, he wrote: “The resilience that allowed the Jewish people to survive for millennia is largely based on the tradition of mutual aid.” Before the war in the 20^th century, many sages and scholars spoke of this mission of the Jewish people. Why is this not heard?

Answer: This has never been heard. Throughout the history of the Jewish people, they have never listened to the call for unity. In every generation there were sages, entire groups of sages calling for unity, but the people did not listen. But the sages did not give up; they kept calling and trying by all means to bring the people together, to at least soften the blows they were receiving.

This is our mission. Thanks to the pressure from all other nations and also through our own efforts, we ultimately must reach unity in which both the nations of the world and the people of Israel, who are driven by the nations of the world on one hand and the sages on the other, will participate.

This is the ultimate goal of our development—to bring ourselves to such unity so that we can be an example for all the nations of the world. Then they will begin to unite. To the extent that the people of Israel strive for unity, they will inevitably serve as an example and will in turn compel the nations of the world to also strive for unity.

Comment: Herzl wrote more than 100 years ago: “Decades will pass before we learn this lesson of the necessity of unity. And again, it will be forgotten, and we will neglect unity and mutual guarantee, and we will be punished with severe consequences.”

My Response: This is what is called being a stiff-necked people; meaning, they have no strong memory of what they have lived through. Just like small children who forget and repeat the same mistakes, and step on the same rake.

Question: How can these people rise up, how can Hercules break his chains?

Answer: If the people listened to the sages and did what they advised and united, then at the same time, all the nations of the world would unite with them. Do you understand what universal unity means? It is salvation from all problems.

Question: What would be the “last straw”? When they do not hear, do not hear, and then suddenly they hear?

Answer: It could only be a huge, terrifying threat. Worse than the people taken to concentration camps because those who were taken to the camps did not know, did not understand, did not want, and were not inclined to comprehend.

We want people to know in advance, at least today, that if they do not unite, they will indeed bring upon themselves the same problems, misfortunes, and suffering again. We want them to understand where the suffering comes from and what causes it.

Today, our task is to explain to people in advance the cause of their suffering and what threatens them if they do not unite. After that, nothing more is needed. Once the Jews begin to unite, all the nations of the world will unite automatically, unconditionally, and without hesitation, and the world will come to a consensus.

These people are so stubborn, and the mission of unity is so difficult for them that I cannot even imagine how it could happen. These people are a gathering of 70 nations of the world that were once in Ancient Babylon. Abraham gathered representatives from all 70 nations and united them under the idea of “Love your neighbor as yourself.” They agreed to this then.

Partially, this was repeated in the First Temple, and partially, to a much smaller degree, in the Second Temple. But today, after all the divisions and falls from this level of mutual love, mutual caring, and unity, after we have gone through all the exiles and suffering, the only reflex that has developed in people is to close themselves off, protect themselves with knowledge, money, and that is it. To live like that for themselves and their children and look at the world and life very “briefly.”

It is impossible to even describe how serious this obstacle is—to reach the hearts of the Jews and encourage them to connect with each other.

We all have different roots. These are the roots of 70 nations in one small people. They were gathered from all the nations of the world, a few million, but they are all different and cannot unite.

Comment: It is like when everything is already burning and smoking, and suddenly, a saving rain falls from the sky and puts everything out.

My Response: That rain will come if there is disappointment in the egoistic existence and a desire to unite. Then from above, this unity will come. But for this to happen, we must try to achieve it ourselves.
[242947]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/14/19

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Question: Mutual responsibility means mutual care and connection. How do you connect opposing, conflicting poles in this?

Answer: Everyone can remain in their own religion, as Baal HaSulam writes, in their own faith, culture, and beliefs. That does not matter. Above all this, like the organs of a single body, we can be opposite to one another, have different opinions, and yet still unite, as our common nature compels us to do.

Question: How will this connection be expressed if we all keep our different opinions?

Answer: It is by the fact that we will strive to ensure that all our actions always lead us toward mutual responsibility and connection.

Comment: If I go in one direction and you in another, it means we are going in different directions! And that is exactly what happens to everyone today.

My Response: Why go in opposite directions? Let us connect our paths!

Question: How can we do that if I want to go one way and you another? I think one way is good, while you believe in a different way.

Answer: That is because you are built one way and I am built differently, meaning we are different by nature, completely opposite even.

But now we are giving each person an education in the spirit of mutual responsibility.

That means that we obligate ourselves, despite our differences, to sit together and find a way to use these differences for our common success, for the benefit of our common goal. And we do this until we reach a state where we see that even your actions, though they may seem to go in the opposite direction of mine, still contribute to our mutual responsibility.

It cannot be otherwise! Nature itself is built in such a way that it consists of opposing forces and actions, yet in the end, they all help achieve balance.

Do wolves and sheep act in the same direction when one eats the other? And yet why does this exist in nature? Are “plus” and “minus” not opposites, where each acts in its own direction? What about pressure and vacuum, attraction and repulsion?

Everything consists of two opposites. There is no force that does not have its counterpart; it could not exist otherwise. We will not be able to achieve mutual responsibility unless all kinds of opposing forces unite within it.

Mutual responsibility is like a sphere, inflated and held together by all these opposing forces.

We need to gather all the forces that exist in the country, in the nation, in society, and in every individual—who himself exists thanks to many opposing forces—so that they all begin to act together. And what will unite them is the common law of mutual responsibility that stands above them all.

I will say one sentence that may tie everything together and lead to agreement: “He who makes peace in the heavens will make peace among us.” Let me explain. We will not find peace, harmony, or reconciliation between us unless it comes from the law of mutual responsibility, the universal, upper law of nature.

This is what is meant by “He who makes peace in the heavens.” That is, the reconciliation that exists at the height of mutual responsibility “will make peace among us.” And then we will see how all these opposing principles, vectors, and desires come together.

Without uniting opposing forces, ideas, and actions, mutual responsibility cannot exist. Otherwise it will turn into just one narrow movement. But if you want, not a small, isolated stream, but a unified space where all branches, factions, directions, and movements within the people, including political parties, come together, then you must elevate the principle of mutual responsibility above them all.

Anyone who opposes mutual responsibility as the upper principle acts as a destroyer. And this is not a matter of right or wrong. No one is redundant, not even if they are a Nazi or an antisemite. We have seen many times how they ultimately help us, like Pharaoh, who “brought the children of Israel closer to the Creator.”

There is no absolute evil or harmful force, we just need to see how all these forces, in the end, integrate with one another. Bringing them together is our true skill.

By uniting our two forces, we become human, Adam, “similar” (Domeh), to the upper nature.

Therefore mutual responsibility is not some narrow ideology within the people. It is a universal method, as Baal HaSulam writes, that must encompass the entire world.

Question: So do we have this magic powder called “mutual responsibility”? Do we take opposing things, sprinkle this magic powder over them, and they unite, just like opposite processes within one body, like inhaling and exhaling?

Answer: People are fundamentally opposite to one another in their entire way of thinking, in their character, habits, in everything. But through global and integral education that teaches that mutual responsibility is a requirement of nature, and that we are subject to this requirement, each person will be able to realize themselves in a form suitable for them, yet all in the direction of mutual responsibility!

And because of this everyone will find the right application for themselves and achieve complete fulfillment.
[49440]
From a conversation about the new book

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Question: It is said the people of Israel are obliged to prepare themselves and all the people of the world for spirituality by studying the Torah and commandments.

I feel that we are intermediaries between the whole world and the Creator. How can we make our work better?

Answer: Every day we need to extract strength, a more precise direction, and a clearer goal from the material we read so we do not make mistakes and constantly feel that we are correcting our advancement from yesterday to tomorrow.

Question: We are constantly raising prayers, but so does the whole world. How do these prayers connect? Or do we gather together, and the whole world joins us later?

Answer: No, prayers are integrated into each other and uplift the mood. Only our unity helps all the nations of the world. We, as intermediaries, bring down MAD (Mei Dhurin) to the nations of the world.
[339909]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/24/25, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut [Mutual Guarantee]”

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