New Life #367 – Self-Sacrifice
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

How is a situation of sacrificing one’s life for the benefit of others, what affects the decision to sacrifice lives and what is the sacrifice for the attainment of inner truth?

Summary

A soldier is ready to sacrifice himself for his friends if he feels them as his own.

A person is able to connect with others, feeling others as himself. Animals don’t have such an ability. A person has a point of connection with everyone because all of us come from one source.

For a person who goes according to his inner truth, it doesn’t matter to him how and when his physical life will stop. For him, attainment of the truth is more important than life itself.

When a person works on connection, he begins to feel the truth that all of us are one, he discovers love for others. The point of truth is found in the center of the group, in the center of the circle. It doesn’t belong to anyone, it belongs to everyone.

Today all of humanity is like a team of soldiers found in a single tank, but without the protection of armor….

The point of truth is when a person is included with others and devotes his energy and abilities to them.
[152366]
From KabTV’s “New Life #367 – Self-Sacrifice,” 5/13/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Children, Education, New Life - No Comments →

New Life #366 – Courage
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Why do we all want to be heroes? How do we measure courage in our world and how is a person’s true courage expressed?

Summary

Everyone wants to be a hero since a hero is almighty, doesn’t depend on others, and can turn the world so that he can benefit from it.

Courage is a more personal matter. It isn’t about just being a hero like others.  There is a hero who overcomes others and there is a hero who overcomes himself, his bodily weaknesses, his laziness. True courage is when a person fights his egoistic nature on the path of loving others.

There is a point of truth in every person that is hidden deep inside him like a pearl under a pile of garbage.

“Who is a hero? He who suppresses his desire.” It is about an inversion of values—love of others and giving instead of self love and receiving, The point of truth in us tells us that the truth is external to our desire to consider only ourselves.
[150776]
From KabTV’s “New Life #366 – Courage,” 5/13/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Children, Education, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 565 – Jerusalem: The Capital Of Love
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

The religions are constantly bickering and arguing about who is right and which is the true religion. The religious wars that we have seen throughout history stemmed from this.

At first, Abraham taught them all to “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and that is how he brought different people to the discovery of the Creator. As the ego grew, love for others was destroyed and the feeling of the Creator disappeared. As a result of the destruction of love for others, Jerusalem was destroyed and we went into exile and the revelation of the Creator was lost to us.

The people of Israel were left only with physical actions, Mitzvot (commandments). Instead of the wisdom of Kabbalah, Judaism developed. And then the city of Jerusalem and the stones in it were made holy, instead of love for others.

What is in Jerusalem today is Klipa (a shell) and not Kedusha (Holiness), hatred instead of love. When we return to using the Torah correctly and demand love to dwell among us, then Jerusalem will be rebuilt. And then there will be a new religion for all people, the religion of love, the wisdom of Kabbalah and the revelation of the Creator.

The way to peace in Jerusalem is through building connections of love between us. From us this will extend to the whole world. If we make peace between us, peace will come to all people, but it is up to us to be the first.

Why doesn’t the world recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel? It is because it is torn apart by mutual hatred. In fact we have not yet established the land of Israel and Jerusalem. The land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael) is the desire for love (Ratzon Le Ahavah), and we have yet to reach this.

Next year in Jerusalem: Today there is not one corrected brick from which it is possible to build a holy city. In the future, the whole world will become the “Land of Israel,” when the sovereign will be the upper force, the power of love; the whole world will be a desire for love, the Land of Israel.
[159118]
From KabTV’s “New Life 565 – Jerusalem: The Capital Of Love,” 5/7/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 544 – Jewish Culture: The Passover Haggadah
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

“What makes this night different?” Tonight we feel free. We were slaves and now are free…

We were slaves: we were enslaved to Pharaoh and couldn’t escape by ourselves. Today we are also enslaved to our ego, the evil inclination that divides us and sparks disputes between us and doesn’t let us be. How can we be liberated? We have to decide at the Seder table that we will no longer relate to this egoistic form.

The Torah spoke about four sons: the wise one who is clever, the wicked one who doesn’t want to engage in connection, the simple one who doesn’t understand anything, and the one who doesn’t know how to ask and realizes that there is something sublime about connection but for the time being we cannot digest it.

This is what stood by our fathers and us: if we wish to ascend above our ego, we will be rewarded with a force that will help us, the connecting force.

And the Lord saves us: the Creator turns Iran and everyone against us so that we will rise above our ego. If we build corrected relationships between us, the attitude of Iran and the rest of the world immediately will change for the better.

The Egyptians treated us badly; after the material abundance comes a feeling of emptiness and pain so that we will ascend.

The Lord took us out of Egypt: there is an upper force that can bring love among us right now if we only want it. We want to aim at the right place, not at good food, but at love that will reside among us.

With a strong hand: you tear yourself from your bad attitude to others and switch to a good attitude to others.

The Lord himself: just as He created us with an evil inclination, He will also build the good inclination in us. Who is the Lord? The force of love and bestowal, the force of unity, connection, mutual guarantee, and cooperation.

The ten plagues are ten disconnections from the negative attitude towards others and the switch to a positive attitude.

The slaying of the first born: why did God kill the babies in Egypt? It refers to our ego, that should not grow anymore. We must not allow any negative attitude toward others to grow in us; we must immediately kill it.

It would have sufficed us: we can attain everything if we only have good relations between us, we don’t need anything else. It would have sufficed us, the warmth between us at the Seder table, the force of connection and love, we want it to be among the whole nation of Israel. It is with the help of this force that we can solve all our problems, get rid of all the troubles and really flourish.

Next year in Jerusalem: A new world will be built from the force of love that we have created among us.

One, who knows (what it stands for): we begin to know the upper force from the connections of love, the one force.
[156825]
From KabTV’s “New Life 544 – Jewish Culture: The Passover Haggadah,” 3/31/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 541 – Jewish Culture: The Ten Plagues In Our Day
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What is the Torah really telling us, what is revealed to us through the ten plagues, and by means of the proper education how can we build a balanced world so we can live in peace and tranquility?

The Torah is not talking about things that happen in this material world, but the upper world. Every person must realize all the stories of the Torah by himself, and within himself: Adam, the period of the flood, the Exodus from Egypt, and so on.

Every person must write a Torah scroll for himself, meaning he must correct his characteristics according to the letters in the Torah.

We were created with an egoistic nature; we only do things for our own benefit. Our goal must be transcendence to love. To correct ourselves, either through blows or through awareness, we must feel that the ego is detrimental to us.

Pharaoh symbolizes the ego in a person; it doesn’t let us be considerate to others or develop love for others. So Pharaoh, the ego in us, must receive blows. Today all of humanity is in a state of “Egypt.”

The 10 plagues led the children of Israel toward breaking away from the ego that is divided into 10 parts. An example of a plague: The world is full of abundance today, but as a result of bad relationships, half of the world is starving while the other half throws large quantities of food into the garbage.

The rampant ego is the cause of the high cost of living, housing and retirement problems. In addition, nature assaults us mercilessly. The education of children, divorces, drugs, murder, violence, and terrorism—it is up to us to recognize that all of this is derived from the ego.

The situation in the world necessitates publicizing the method for correction, the method for connection above the ego, how to remedy the situation, and that there is a cure. In addition, through connection we can rise to a new, eternal, and whole dimension of existence. And the Haggadah of Pesach (Passover Haggadah) tells us about this, about freedom from the angel of death, freedom from the ego.
[156598]
From KabTV’s “New Life 541 – Jewish Culture: The Ten Plagues In Our Day,” 3/26/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 539 – Jewish Culture: Between Chametz (Leavened Food) And Matzah
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

What important phases in our lives do Chametz and the Matzah symbolize? What is the meaning of the burning of the Chametz and why don’t we use a strong light when we search for it at home?

Matzah symbolizes our detachment from our egoistic desires so it is called the bread of affliction. Pesach (Passover) symbolizes the state in which we break away from our ego and operate as much as we can in love and bestowal.

The term “ego” does not refer to personal pleasures but to the enjoyment of hating others, using others and taking advantage of them. We have to treat others nicely. First, we will not feel any taste in it, just like the Matzah, but later it will grow and expand.

Leavened bread, Matzah, and Chametz are like kids who enjoy irritating others, for example, and then learn to restrain themselves and become loving and giving.

This is the way the world is today: it is under the domination of Pharaoh, under the domination of the ego, and so people need tranquilizers, drugs, and alcohol. The phase of restraint results from the recognition of evil when we all realize that the ego is destroying us. Eating Chametz after Pesach symbolizes a new world, connections of love and bestowal and the revelation of the upper world.

The burning of the Chametz symbolizes the elimination of the ego inside me, when I don’t agree to suppress others and dominate them. We search for the Chametz by the light of a candle since we have no more than a slight illumination that signals that the ego is bad and awful. The selling of the Chametz symbolizes that I am getting rid of the ego in order to exit it, and then I bring it back in order to correct it.
[156406]
From KabTV’s “New Life 539 – Jewish Culture: Between Chametz (Leavened Food) And Matza,” 3/24/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 538 – Jewish Culture: Pharaoh Among Us
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Pharaoh, the power of the ego, controls us even today. So in Israel there is a huge division among people.

The story of the Exodus from Egypt is more relevant today than ever. We left Egypt, we achieved loving relationships, we went through destruction and exile. Today we must once again get out from the control of the ego and sweep the entire world after us to connection and love.

Because there is no connection between us and there is war between us, our neighboring enemies rise up against us on the outside, and so does the world.

When we talk about the “ego,” I mean the desire to exploit, oppress, subjugate, and control others—“Pharaoh.” Pharaoh is considered the king of Egypt because he dominates people, giving orders every moment.

The Passover Seder comes to remind us that in the past our people left Egypt, the ego, and today it is up to us to leave this situation again. We need a general process of social education that will bring us to feel that all of us are one family. The exodus from Egypt is a story about an educational process, the development of consciousness through impulses that move us.

One family means that everyone will relate to others as their children. Only life in a state like this is called living in paradise.
[156347]
From KabTV’s “New Life 538 – Jewish Culture: Pharaoh Among Us,” 3/22/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 536 – Jewish Culture: Passover And The Israeli Society, Part 2
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What do we want to renovate this coming Passover? We have to do some self-searching.

The divide in the nation is growing. According to Kabbalah we have not started to build the Israeli society, and today we must begin to do so.

The Israeli society will be able to exist only if it is based on Abraham’s principle of “Love thy friend as thyself.” The disputes that have been typical of the Jewish nation for ages may lead us to destruction today.

We need to educate the Israeli society to love above any differences of opinion, to connect between different people. By educating Israeli society, every individual will relate to others as if they love them, as if they were his own children.

No revolution or change of the leadership will help. We need a revolution in the perception of our relations. We will be able to solve the security problems, the foreign affairs problems, the high cost of living, etc., only if we learn how to connect.

Pesach (Passover) means a transition from the state in which everyone wants to devour everyone else to the state of love and connection. On the evening of the Seder we should speak about how we can take a step forward outside our narrow egoism that buries us. Love will cover all our transgressions. The wisdom of Kabbalah offers us a unique method of how to bring the connecting force into our lives.
From KabTV’s “New Life 536 – Jewish Culture: Pesach And The Israeli Society, Part 2,” 3/19/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 535 –  Jewish Culture: Passover And The Israeli Society, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Why were the people of Israel founded under the condition and obligation to connect, how does the transition from hatred to love among a people improve the situation for all of humanity, and how is this transition connected to the story of the Exodus from Egypt?

As a society we have become stuck; not today but for two thousand years already. It was then that we fell into unfounded hatred. If we don’t function as a “Light to the nations” (Isaiah 49:6), it is bad for us and for the whole world.

A Light to the nations means love for others. The people of Israel were founded on the principle of kindness and mutuality among people who are different, under the leadership of Abraham.

It is clear that every person is an egoist by nature. But the wisdom of Kabbalah brings the upper force that can connect us. There is no reason to wait for the leaders to bring us to a new place; the leaders are a reflection of the people. It is up to us to find the strength that will bridge between us over all the differences of opinion. “Love covereth all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12).

It is impossible to take an example from any other nation because they are all being totally destroyed. We have a unique way. We don’t need to correct anyone but only to build connection above all the differences, like in a family.

To do this we need a general process of social education. Without it Israel will be totally destroyed and so will the whole world. We have a method for connection, the wisdom of Kabbalah. So our role is to provide the world with an example of a connected society. We must give the steering wheel of the nation not to the right or the left but to the power of love, the higher power.

The practical implication at the moment is that we must concentrate on the education and information that is needed in order to learn how to connect. In the wisdom of Kabbalah there are connection exercises and activities that develop feelings of love between different people.

The Passover (Pesach) holiday represents skipping over/transitioning – the exodus from hatred to love.
From KabTV’s “New Life 535 – Jewish Culture: Passover And The Israeli Society, Part 1,” 03/19/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →

New Life 537 – Jewish Culture: Coming Out Of Egypt
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What does Kabbalah teach us about the ego and unfounded hatred, which are naturally imprinted in us? How do they trap us inside evil and how can we become free of this slavery?

Abraham’s time is the beginning of the era of the Patriarchs, and after the exodus from Egypt, it is the beginning of the era of the sons.

Abraham taught us how to build connections above our egoism and unfounded hatred—”Love will cover all transgressions.”
Even in the family or in politics love should be above any disagreements there may be.

Egypt symbolizes the period of our enslavement to the ego. The decision to come out of the ego comes after the plagues.
Pesach (Passover) is a birth. Egypt was the birthplace of the nation, the birth of a new world view through connection. A person is a slave inside his ego and outside the ego he is free. This is the whole story of the exodus from Egypt.

Initially you examine yourself and how the ego manages you in every way. It is a phase of self-recognition. The ego seems to be in our favor, but in fact, it ruins our life. If your neighbor buys a new car, you are sad because your ego suffers. We will be able to live a good life only when we learn to relate to everyone as to our family. This is the whole idea of Passover.
[156262]
From KabTV’s “New Life 537 – Jewish Culture: Coming Out Of Egypt,” 3/22/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - No Comments →