New Life 551 – What Is True Independence?
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Why isn’t anyone truly independent? How can we attain true independence and what is the connection between independence and love?

The term “independence” doesn’t actually exist in nature; after all, everything is made of at least two parts that are related. Even the US is not independent since they have to worry about preserving their control all over the world…

The wisdom of Kabbalah tells us that there is a force called the Creator and that He is good and benevolent. He created a force that is opposite from Him called the created being, which is not good and benevolent. The goal of the created being, of man, is to balance the two forces of nature, the positive and the negative forces, by building a middle line. This is true independence.

All peoples aspire for freedom and independence, but only Israel has the method of balance, the middle line. The UN gave us a state [Israel] because they were guided to do so from Above by the plan of the creation so that we will balance the world. The world is expecting us to set an example of a balanced society that exists in mutual guarantee and perfect love.

The army will not provide us with security; only the connection between us will bring security. It will also calm our neighbors and all our enemies.

Kabbalah tells us how to awaken the positive force in nature and how to reach a state of balance and independence. The positive force will awaken in us an urge to connect with others and an urge for love and giving. We need to explain and teach that it is only by adding the positive force that Israel can reach true achievements.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 551 – What Is True Independence?” 4/12/15

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New Life #363 – An Approach to Life: Achieving Goals
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

How can a person be helped by the environment to achieve goals that he sets for himself, how does it influence success in realizing them, and how do they harness the members of a group for a common goal?

Summary

In defining a goal for myself, it is necessary to be certain that I have the skills to achieve it. Then it is necessary to enter into an environment of people who are found in this area and see if this is right for me.

-To achieve the group goal, you should take an example from successful groups in our field.

-A group means that everyone is working for one common goal and not that each one wants to stand out.

The work in building a group is to really transform individuals into a single body. Each one will feel his friend.

-For example, people on a team who want to shine must first develop a common or group mind.

        -There are those who are naturally focused on a goal and those who are not. By coming closer to each other, everyone will become focused.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #363 – An Approach to Life: Achieving Goal,” 4/29/14

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New Life 566 – The Three Pilgrimage Festivals (Regalim)
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

In our distant past, as the people of Israel we carried out corresponding internal and external actions to connect to others and the Creator.

The exodus from Egypt was an exodus from the evil inclination, from the ego, from the desire to exploit others for our own benefit. After the physical and internal exodus from Egypt and from Pharaoh, we reached Mount Sinai to receive the Torah.

The Torah is a means for correcting the evil inclination. With its help we reach the land (Eretz) of Israel, the desire (Ratzon) to love. Within the love of others, the upper force is revealed, the power of connection, the goodness called the Creator.

The land of Israel symbolizes our general desire for connection and a more internal desire is revealed in it, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a desire to give contentment to the Creator, the power of bestowal, the source of life and the source of love. “Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4): We are connected as one person with one heart, as He is one. Creator (Bore) = “Bo Re” (come and see): We discover between us the system of bestowal and are afraid of losing the love. This fear is called, Yirah Shlemah (complete fear), Yerushalem (Jerusalem). Within it a unique connection is revealed, the Beit HaMikdash (Temple).

The three Regalim (Feet) are the three lines: the left line – the ego, the right line – the Torah, the middle line – their integration together. The pilgrimage to Jerusalem means strengthening my love of others and the fear of losing it.

The Holy Land (Eretz HaKodesh), the holiness of the land, all of these expressions speak about the holiness of the desire (Ratzon) – the desire to bestow and to love. Every physical step in the land awakens a unique feeling of love in a person, a change in attitude toward others.

The map of the land of Israel is like an electrical diagram: when you change internally, you move immediately to another place. So things were said were to be conducted, but this required a person to carry out corrections in his desires.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 566 – The Three Pilgrimage Festivals (Regalim),” 2/24/15

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Question: The Israeli Deputy Minister of Regional Cooperation Ayoob Kara said following the terrorist attacks in Brussels that they still have no answer to those who still challenge the State of Israel.

Europe understands that the hypocrisy regarding Israel has returned to them like a boomerang. Brussels has received Islam with silk gloves, and in another ten years the mayor of Brussels will be an Arab. Does it actually return to them as a boomerang?

Answer: It doesn’t return like a boomerang. It doesn’t work this way.

The same people who think about division and not about connection and unity put themselves in a position where they might receive a blow because the movement through them is along the path of suffering, while those who tend to soften things, to bring people closer and guide the two sides to reconciliation without any pressure, will advance in a smoother manner.

If we call for peace without violence or pressure on the two sides and take measures to help the two sides get closer, we will be able to do something. Actions that bring people closer are better than identifying with one side and then receiving a blow from it.

I don’t see any other natural way than by bringing people closer and certainly not by dominating everyone as today’s Islam declares that it does. All of the nations of the world should adopt the one and only principle that love is above everything. Love is a state of creative integral unity when everyone adapts himself to others like parts of a giant machine.

In that case, Belgium is the source of the entire global dispute, and this is becoming apparent now in European society. It doesn’t know how to contact others properly and intervenes in everything. Therefore, the hatred that stems from it toward the general love for the correct inclusive unity above the ego eventually returns to it like a boomerang, and the blow will be hard.

Belgium is actually the symbol of egoistic Europe that has placed the bank union as its uppermost value and not the unity of the hearts.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/28/16

Related Material:
Where Is Europe Headed?
Right-Wing Extremism In Europe, Part 5
What Will Happen To Europe?

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New Life 543 – Jewish Culture: The Seder Night And The Meaning Of Life
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

“And thou shalt tell thy son” (Exodus 13:8). This is not just a story for our children about the exodus from Egypt. All of us must become acquainted with, recognize, and feel the meaning of the story of the Haggadah….

It is most important that we know what exile and what redemption are, what the difference between them is, and in what situation we are in at the present time.

In the beginning there was plenty of food in Egypt and the children of Israel lived like kings. Then there were seven years of famine. The famine symbolizes a sense of emptiness, a lack of feeling why I am living for at all, a lack of meaning. As of today, an inner voice has been awakened in a person, telling him that his life is like living in a gilded cage and he is basically a slave. This is very evident in Europe and the United States. Everything is there materially, but in spite of that people are still bitter and sad, suffering from depression.

“Why is this night different” (Pesachim 116a). Come let’s sit together and think about our lives, how do we leave slavery? Did nature create us just so we would pursue all kinds of gratification in life and then die?

Throughout all generations there were sages who searched for the meaning of life. Today the idea has become public knowledge. As a result of an internal annoyance, searching for something that is unclear, the young enter into a lot of nonsense, problems, and troubles.

We have the Haggadah of Pesach (Passover), it tells us that it is possible to rise above the material, above the severity and control our lives. A person can learn to control his life, be its master, plan his life for a goal that he has chosen from the start. Everything depends on us.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 543 – Jewish Culture: The Seder Night And The Meaning Of Life,” 3/31/15

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New Life 542 – Jewish Culture: Moses – The Ideal Leader
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Moses had more of the characteristic of bestowal and love for others than any other person. A leader of Israel doesn’t need leadership capability, wisdom, cunning, and things like that. Rather, he must be without guile.

To the degree that a leader of Israel is innocent, the Upper Light can work on others through him. Being innocent means he wants nothing other than adhering more and more to the characteristics of bestowal and love. Then through him, the power of bestowal and love acts on the people, educating and advancing them toward connection and love.

The characteristics of Moses are those of a divine Kabbalist who attains divinity so that the Light shines through him. Moses didn’t concede anything to himself or to the people. Whenever the ego grew, he knew how to balance it.

Moses explained what nature or divinity (which is the same thing) required from people. He explained the law of development to the people. Moses had the biggest ego, but he knew how to overcome it and was successful in balancing it.

The people of Israel are a stiff-necked people, and they were very stubborn with Moses. But he had no choice. Moses included the egoistic desires of the people so that he could transmit the power of correction to them.

Moses guided an educational process of developing an awareness that egoism is harmful to us and that we need to connect. Being a leader means to establish a system of education and explanation that leads to connection between people above all the disparity and differences between them. Moses explained to the people that all of the troubles are because the ego enslaves them. He taught them how to escape from it.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 542 – Jewish Culture: Moses – The Ideal Leader,” 3/26/16

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New Life #362 – Setting Goals In Life
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

A person has different goals in his lifetime. How does that affect his life and what goals should he set for himself according to the current trend of our development?

Summary

Does fate determine our goals in life or do we?

– There are people who set their own goals and who strive to attain them. Others flow with current of life.

– It is best to set your own goals in life that go along with the current trend of our development.

Nature obliges us to be increasingly more connected, so the future profession will be the wisdom of connection.

– Setting the right internal goal, connecting to others, will make the attainment of external goals much easier.

– We are egoists by nature while the world around us is becoming increasingly more connected, which leads to a clash.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #362 – Setting Goals In Life,” 4/29/14

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New Life 540 – Jewish Culture: Were We Slaves?
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Why are we in a state of slavery today like we were in ancient Egypt? How can we break away from the domination of Pharaoh? What will the life of the nation of Israel be like once they truly become a free nation in their land?

Israel is divided and torn and the ego is celebrating. This is the slavery in Egypt, but we are not aware of that.

Being a slave is a more advanced state in which a person already recognizes the domination of the ego over him.
The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us that man’s nature is intentionally evil so that he will gradually get to know it and differentiate himself from it.

The first disconnection from the ego is called the exodus from Egypt. Then during the counting of the Omer (the days between Passover and Shavuot) we correct ourselves. It is like an internal inventory where I locate all the egoistic inclinations in me and correct them.

In that case, the whole Passover story is about the correction of the relations between people. We will feel the upper level of our existence in the loving relations between us and will merge with eternity and wholeness.

It is customary to use a new set of dishes in Passover; it symbolizes a new set of relationships between me and others.

The Seder describes the sequence of actions a person should perform in order to exit his ego, his evil inclination. The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks quite a lot about the ego because it is our nature. Egoism means a negative attitude to others, using others and taking advantage of them.

The Passover Seder plate symbolizes different forces that operate and lead us into Egypt and take us out of there. Let’s examine ourselves and discover that the ego dominates us and ruins us, and agree to escape it.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 540 – Jewish Culture: Were We Slaves?” 3/24/15

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New Life 550 – Longing For The Land Of Israel
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

We have returned to the land of Israel from all the ends of the Earth because we have a special role within the entire system of creation. After generations of yearning for Israel, today half of Israelis want to leave the country. Why? Because they are disappointed….

The Land of Israel is said to be a special place; specifically there we can fulfill the most important Mitzva (commandment), “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). It is “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8). A land flowing with milk and honey, the land that has corrected relationships between people that makes everyone feel abundance ,flowing with milk and honey.

The wisdom of Kabbalah provides a method for building connection above the differences that exist between us, “…love covereth all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12); it is a method of love above everything.

The beautiful Israeli, the ugly Israeli, who are we really? We are both this and that. It is up to us to learn to rise above all the differences, above everything, and cover everything over with love.

The feeling that we are about to devour each other is a very good feeling; it clarifies the need that all of us have here in the land of Israel for social correction.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 550 – Longing For The Land Of Israel,” 4/9/15

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New Life #604 – A New World Order
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Summary

The wisdom of Kabbalah analyzes what happens in the world from the perspective of the upper world and the system of leadership. The world has changed greatly. In the past, countries had plans for many years ahead and today this is practically impossible.

Islam was dormant and now it is suddenly awakening. But this awakening will soon die out since new energy sources other than oil have been found. Americans were greatly dependent on the Arab States because of their oil, but now the US has oil resources too, so that’s it. The US will lose interest in the Middle East.

Islamic terror will die out when there will be no more money to fund it. Iran will go on with its projects, but Russia will restrain it so that both countries will not be brought down. Muslim immigrants that have conquered Europe are now in the US, but they will soon be limited. Israel is a technological superpower, but the US doesn’t need us anymore. China cannot be a superpower since it doesn’t have the brains Israel or the US. Israel will be like a small island in the ruined Middle East. Turkey will remain strong and Egypt may rise.

But the most important change is that nations that have the spirit of unity and connection will be the strongest. Growing egoism doesn’t allow countries to get closer, and only Israel will provide the method of connection. The major factor that will determine which country will be strong is the unity between its people. The alliance between all the states in the US will collapse and the US will be divided into fifty states.

Only those who are strong in spirit will prevail. We are facing the era of spirit. Those who will be close to Israel will succeed. The unity in Israel, that is now divided, will stem from the wisdom of Kabbalah and then we will be a “Light unto the nations.”
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From KabTV’s “New Life #604 – A New World Order,” 8/4/16

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