From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 2/1/18

The Book of Zohar is a gateway to the causal level of reality, which is initially hidden from our perception. However, we need the right preparation in order to read The Zohar correctly.

So here are five rules to help you prepare for the great journey of discovery into The Zohar.

Rule #1: Do not seek intellectual knowledge

The Zohar is studied with the “heart,” that is, through your desire. Rather than mental processing of data, we have to develop a different approach: finding what needs to be tuned within us so as to perceive the hidden layer of reality.

Success depends only on how much we crave to discover and feel this reality. There is no need for prior knowledge, talent or wisdom. Only increasing the focus on your genuine desire to discover the meaning and purpose of life.

Rule #2: Interpret the words correctly

The Book of Zohar uses coded words and terms that may seem familiar to us from the physical world, such as: sea, mountains, trees, flowers, animals, people etc. It is critical to understand that all of the details, figures and events mentioned in the book do not speak of the external world around us, but only what is happening within us.
So when you read The Zohar, try to see the text as a bridge leading to your deepest desires and qualities.

Rule #3: Aim for the light

You may have heard that there’s a unique “light” that shines on a person when reading The Zohar. And that’s true. However, this isn’t some mystical or imaginary power.

The Zohar describes the higher states of perception attained by its authors. Yet, those states exist within every person in potential. So when you read about those higher states and attune your desire to attain them, those advanced states as if shine on your desire, making you more receptive to them. This is called “aiming for the light that reforms.”

Rule #4: Persist like a baby

When you study The Zohar correctly you begin to experience ascents and descents with regards to the intent with which you approach the book. It’s as if you tune in and out of the right frequency.

When that happens, remember that we are like babies with regards to the spiritual perception of reality, taking our first steps into it. Therefore, it’s only natural that we fall and rise up again until we can walk on our own.

Rule #5: Connect to your fellowmen

The Book of Zohar was written by a group of ten Kabbalists who connected their desires to sense nature’s governing force of connection between them, that is, the Creator. It was only the unity and connection between them that enabled them to perceive beyond the boundaries of the material world.

If we want to follow in their footsteps, we must try to build similar relations between us. The Zohar was born out of love, and its renewed discovery in our time will only be possible through love as well.

To learn more about The Zohar >> zoharstudy

This is a book with quotes from The Zohar that I highly recommend: LET THERE BE LIGHT

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Unprecedented optimism reigns in the World Economic Forum in Davos. International business and political leaders predict global economic growth and do not foresee any serious dangers in 2018. This year’s theme is “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World.”

We can understand the participants’ optimism. They are celebrating on their streets: last year about 82% of the created wealth went to the wealthiest 1% of people on the planet. As they suck more out of the world and the economy keeps growing, benefiting themselves while the real standard of living for the majority gradually declines.

In essence, the elites discuss how to disconnect and divide the world. This is how they see their common future. Their heralds promise that enough crumbs will be left for the rest of the people, but in fact, we see this is not happening. On the contrary, the fragmented world suits them: they unite and become stronger and wealthier.

What can you do? Egoism is unable to share what it has laid its hands on. As a result, the gathering of egoists only aggravates the situation.

They are not to blame; they cannot act in any other way. It is human nature at work. If we don’t want it to lead us down a thorny path, we must correct the egoism in ourselves and in everyone. Otherwise, it will destroy us.
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The largest portal Breaking Israel News published my new article “Kabbalist: I’m Bringing the Biggest Gift Ever to the Israel 70-Year Anniversary Party.“:

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.” – Deuteronomy 14:2

As Israel gears up for a massive 70th-anniversary party this Independence Day, I hope it will be ready to receive the greatest gift ever.

70 years is indeed a special period. It marks a person’s average lifespan—a period when we need to reflect on what we have accomplished in our lives. Likewise, the time has come for us to reflect on what we have accomplished as a nation:

Did we progress toward a tangible, unified goal?

Do our achievements in high tech, science, medicine, and defense truly benefit others?

Granted, any nation that has achieved the likes of what we’ve achieved with the means that we have had over the last 70 years would be very satisfied with itself.

However, the question remains: should we be measuring ourselves with the same sets of values as other nations?

We, the people of Israel, are unique. Whether it’s the Torah describing our uniqueness as a “chosen people” (Deuteronomy 14:2) and as a people who “bring Light to the world” (Midrash Rabba, Song of Songs, Portion no. 4), or the nations of the world pointing it out with increasingly intense anti-Semitic pressure, we are shown that we cannot simply rest on our laurels. On the contrary, we need to be alert to the fact that because of our uniqueness, we are held to a higher standard.

Our history, both inside and outside the boundaries of the State of Israel, is tainted with genocide, war, exile, and anti-Semitism. Even today, a UN vote on the existence of the State of Israel could very probably eliminate the State of Israel just as quickly as it was admitted in 70 years ago.

Therefore, we need to explore our ideology, our Torah, our history, our destiny, the attitude toward us from all the nations, and then examine whether we are making the right introspection in this special year.

Why don’t the same sets of values apply to Israel as they do to other nations?

While Israel continues to seek global recognition for its progress in high tech, science, medicine and agriculture, Israel stands for a completely different set of values. Therefore, no matter how much Israel exports cutting-edge technology to the world, the world’s stance toward Israel just becomes all the more bitter and harsh.

The Jewish nation was established in ancient Babylon by Abraham the Patriarch. Abraham united the people in Babylon who came to him to join the first ever “unity above differences” movement. People who refused to simply flow with the decadent Babylonian zeitgeist, and who saw the truth in Abraham’s call to “love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) gathered around him. Abraham united that first group of people called them “Israel” (Yashar El) (Drush, Ramchal), and guided them to the land of Israel, the land of Canaan.

The unique vision of that group was their willingness to unite based simply on common brotherly love. It was very difficult because each individual’s ego was burning with its demands. Nonetheless, they put in efforts to unite according to the tenet, “love will cover all crimes.” (Proverbs 10:12)

The method Abraham taught is called “the wisdom of Kabbalah.” This is a method that guides people through a process of uniting above differences. Once unity is implemented in one group, it can then spread wider and wider until it reaches humanity as a whole.

However, after we returned to the land of Israel, we failed to accept the unifying principle of “love your friend as yourself” as the essential method we needed to continually sustain and grow, that this unifying principle is what identifies us as the people of Israel in the land of Israel. We left it, and it disappeared over the generations.

In our times, when the social division is rampant and unity is needed more than ever, we don’t know how to show the world the method of uniting above our differences, the method that can fix not only ours but humanity’s problems.

Why does the world hold a growing grudge against Israel?

Since unity is a growing need, and our identity is based on being given the method to implement and pass on unity, then by not fulfilling this function for humanity, we attract a negative attitude from the world.

Subconsciously, the nations of the world feel that we hold a special key for success, which we are withholding from them. On face value, it might be seen as a disproportionate power in finance, politics, business and the media, but the deeper root of these feelings, which both Israel and the nations of the world cannot yet point directly to, is that we’re expected to bring the method of correction to the world. Therefore, anti-Semitism will only continue compounding until we do.

So, where’s the biggest gift ever for Israel’s 70th-anniversary party?

Along with the celebration, we can add awareness of our true identity, our purpose, and role in the world. We can concentrate on what is needed in order to make progress in our ability to unite in the future, thereby adding unity to all the progress we’ve made up until today.

The wisdom of Kabbalah, a method for uniting people and nations, is really the biggest gift we can give to the Israeli people on its 70th anniversary, as it holds the solutions for literally all the problems we’re experiencing: solutions to unite above our internal political, religious, and social divisions; solutions to our complicated security situation and relationships with other countries and peoples; and all the way to solving our domestic and personal problems.

Moreover, by uniting, the nations of the world would stop feeling that we are withholding something from them.

They would start feeling an upgrade in consciousness, a positive change in their lives and the tendency toward anti-Semitism would invert: we would be treated with reverence as we would be felt as the conduit of the good that fills people’s lives.

The gift is the wholeness, abundance and boundless fulfillment we can feel when the light of unity enters our lives. And the means to receive this gift is to cover all of our differences, divisions, and conflicts under a common umbrella of love.

My organization, the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute (Kabbalah L’Am in Israel), will also be conducting its own celebration of Israel’s 70-year anniversary with the World Kabbalah Convention on February 20-22, 2018. The convention will be a celebration of unity above differences, with over 7,000 people attending from over 50 countries in the Tel Aviv Convention Center. I warmly invite anyone who wishes to experience the true essence of Israel’s identity, culture, and uniqueness to join us. Anyone who feels even the tiniest curiosity or attraction to the wisdom of Kabbalah or unity as a solution to any problem is welcome to attend.
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The largest portal Breaking Israel News published my new article “BIN Exclusive: Kabbalist Says Be Optimistic About AI-Powered Weapons Destroying Everything [WATCH]“:

And it shall be at the end of the days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be firmly established at the top of the mountains, and it shall be raised above the hills, and all the nations shall stream to it. … And he shall judge between the nations and reprove many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift the sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah, Chapter 2, 2-4)
and into your hands.” (Joshua 8:1)

The dystopian vision of an AI-powered automated weapon storm wiping out humanity can help sharpen our scrutiny of what the world really needs today—unity—by showing us what can happen if we don’t match our technological progress with our progress in social unification. The Jewish people play a major role in this challenge.

The myriad ways humanity has imagined a dystopian future has been the subject of many books and movies. However, the recent short film, Slaugherbots, is unique in that its vision is followed by University of Berkeley Professor, Stuart Russell, expressing the concern of thousands of AI researchers: that with a few tweaks of our current technology, we have the means to make swarms of deadly AI mini-drones a present-day reality.

Unfortunately, I do believe that AI-powered weapons will be developed to the likes of what we see in this short film, and even worse.

Nevertheless, I see a positive side to such developments, and not because I enjoy envisioning a future killer robot scenario. Rather, it’s because such disastrous potential at our fingertips will help us refine our understanding of what humanity really needs: to align our progress in human consciousness with our technological progress.

What Technology Is More Sophisticated than AI? What Energy Is More Powerful than Nuclear Energy?

If we upgraded our human consciousness at least as much as we upgraded our technologies, then we would have no fear of creating AI terminators capable of eliminating us. Instead, we would further our research to discover a technology more sophisticated than AI, and energy more powerful than nuclear energy:

The energy is nature’s most fundamental energy source, a force that connects and binds together all parts of reality;

The technology is a method that shows us how to extract and use nature’s most fundamental energy source through our inherent potential for human connection.

Unlike other energy sources we’ve discovered throughout history, this one can only be discovered and used if done with “good intentions.” In other words, it becomes accessible only if we aim to apply its connective property into our attitudes and relationships. The way to apply its connective property through countless variable states is an ancient method that became the foundation of the Jewish people.

How the Jews Overcame “Technological” Threat of Destruction

It’s not merely by chance that so many people of Jewish origin nowadays are at the cutting edge of high tech developments, despite making up only around 0.2% of the world’s population. Latent within the Jewish population are the informational genes dating back to their Abrahamic ancestry: the time when they extracted nature’s primal energy, connecting above their conflicting egos, and saving themselves from potential destruction.

The overemphasis on technological progress over social unification is also what happened back in Abraham’s time, when the Babylonians wanted to build a tower that would reach to the heavens.

“[The tower’s builders would] push up the bricks [to build the tower] from the east, then descend from the west. If a man fell and died, they would not pay him any mind. But if a brick fell they would sit down and wail, ‘Woe unto us; when will another come in its place?’ Abraham, son of Terah, passed by and saw them building the city. He cursed them and said, ‘May the Lord swallow their tongue.’”
– Rabbi Eliezer, Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer (Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer)

Moreover, like what’s coming to our attention today with AI-powered weapon developments, the Babylonians faced a very real threat of mass destruction.

“[The Babylonians] wanted to speak to one another but did not know each other’s language. What did they do? Each took up his sword and they fought each other to the death. Indeed, half the world was slaughtered there, and from there they scattered all over the world.”
– Rabbi Eliezer, Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer (Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer)

Abraham saw that while the Babylonians became fixated on “the Tower,” they lost sight of what was truly important in life: positive human connection. In addition, Abraham discovered the cause of this fixation—the overblown human ego. He also discovered the purpose of this process—to awaken self-examination and the decision that if they failed to revise their values, prioritizing unity above everything else, then the threat of destruction would have become their painful reality.

That is when Abraham developed a method to unite above the growing ego, a method that was later referred to as the wisdom of Kabbalah. He formed groups that applied the method, and they became known as “the Jews” (the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2]). In other words, the Jewish people were Babylonians, people from all walks of life, at the cutting edge of their time, who had an inner sensation that something wasn’t going right in their society’s development. Thus, contrary to the status quo, they worked on their unity. As a result, they discovered nature’s most powerful and potent energy source—a force of unbounded connection that binds together all parts of reality—which united them above their conflicting egos, and saved them from ruin.

Since the Jews Did This Before, They’re Expected to Do It Again. Until They Do… Anti-Semitism.

Today’s focus on technological progress can be likened to the Babylonians’ belief that building a tower up to the skies would grant them divine contact. However, if the human ego continues untreated in this process, then this construction is bound to bring about destruction.

We experienced it in Abraham’s time. We’ve seen an agonizing example of it in modern times with the atomic bomb. And now, with the help of the AI researchers’ warnings, we can foresee the threat of AI-powered weapons in the same light.

The inventive power of some of the Babylonians that Abraham managed to redirect to social unification, and which became their salvation, remains in the Jewish people of today. The more the Jewish people put their inventive and connective power into technological progress instead of progress in human connection, the more problems and risks will amount. Subsequently, there will be an accumulating subconscious feeling among people worldwide that the Jews are the cause of their problems, and as a result, anti-Semitic crimes and threats will continue to rise.

Since the Jewish people have access to the method of human connection, which can reveal nature’s connective energy source and use it to unite above society’s divisions, there is a tacit expectation placed on the Jews to prioritize human connection above everything else. Accordingly, despite the immense technological, scientific, medical and cultural innovation that the Jewish people bring into the world, it’s as if the world ignores such achievements, and instead anticipates the Jews to bring the world that which made us Jews in the first place: unity.

As Abraham invited the Babylonians to connect above their egos to save them from destruction and ensure the positive use of any future constructions they would make, so it is today: the method of Kabbalah awaits to connect us above our newly peaking egoism, offering to save us from the potential threats of destruction that are becoming a very close reality.

Therefore, I hope we take heed of the AI researchers’ warnings, start emphasizing social unification as our first and foremost responsibility to ourselves and the world, and use the method at our fingertips to verify that any future technological developments would emerge only to strengthen our social ties. I warmly invite anyone curious about this method to explore it in more depth with an introductory course.
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The largest portal Newsmax published my new article: “Parents Must Teach Kids Redeeming Social Media Values“

Parents of the 21st century, the Logan Paul controversy must become your wake-up call.

If our kids can swipe their finger to watch a prankster filming the body of someone who committed suicide and then joking about it, then we should realize something went terribly wrong with the younger generation and we are either oblivious to it or simply don’t care.

Parents, after you pinch yourselves to check if you’re awake, please bring yourself up to date with what’s going on: YouTube pranksters in their twenties have become educators and role models for our kids. They aren’t scripted characters in a fictional movie, they are real people doing real pranks in the real world. Kids look up to them more than they look up to their teachers and in some cases more so than their parents.

Here are some questions for parents to ask themselves: Do I know what my kids are learning from Internet idols they’re following? Do I know what examples they are imitating? Do I know what level of explicit content they are exposed to?

Now let’s talk about why Logan Paul did what he did. Obviously, because he makes over $50,000 per video, he wants to attract as many viewers as possible, and he turned to showing a dead body to increase his fame and fortune. But how on earth did he get the idea that filming a dead body is appropriate?

My answer. Logan Paul is a 22-year-old who grew up in a culture that surrounded him with visual depictions of gore and violence, and naturally, he got somewhat used to it. Like typical Americans his age, Logan had watched more than 200,000 acts of violence that include more than 16,000 murders by the time he was 18. He also watched children’s programming that displays up to 20 violent acts per hour.

Long story short, we allowed Logan’s generation to pick up their examples, role models and values from a media culture that’s extremely saturated with violence, and now we are letting them be the role models for today’s kids.

Also, Logan Paul’s “We Found a Dead Body” video was liked by about 600,000 people before the backlash began, which means he wasn’t just intoxicated by his ego when he thought this video would fly. He actually knew his audience well enough to know that many of them would accept it.

Parents, it’s time we take a look at the bigger picture and recognize the downward spiral of violent media, the degradation of social values, and the horrifying results. If we continue down this road, we will be growing human beings that are completely numb to blood and gore, show little respect to human life, and take into account nothing besides the instant gratification of their ego.

Parents, It’s Time to Act

So parents, if you’ve had enough to make a stand and take back control over your children’s upbringing, first I suggest you join hands and demand from YouTube and other social media platforms to toughen up their regulations, and dedicate the resources needed to make sure their users cannot upload inappropriate content. Saying no to violence and gore should be one area we can all agree on. There’s no reason we should allow anyone to make money by filling our kids’ minds with violent content.

That said, regulations, sanctions and precautions are more like emergency band-aids compared to what needs to happen. Sooner or later, there will be no escape from taking our education system and its methods through a complete makeover. We will have to apply the formats, mediums and styles that appeal to kids, and repurpose them to spread positive values, set good examples and, most importantly, raise human beings that are considerate of others.

Parents, understand your kids’ world. Growing up with the Internet in the palm of their hands has turned them into the first “global-virtual” generation. It’s no wonder that we sometimes think our kids are entirely different creatures. They spend 8–11 hours a day glued to their screens, mostly on social media. They get bored easily, and quickly move on to the next attraction with a swipe of their finger.

Spending most of their waking hours being glued to their screens, our kids have become more attracted to the global and virtual than the local and physical. Keep in mind we are all moving into the global-virtual reality, and in that respect, our children are better prepared for these shifts.

We passed the stage where education was about information and knowledge. Today kids can look up the answers on Wikipedia faster than what their teacher tells them at school.

Our education must now focus on building the human being. And that means building a value system within the person and a social environment around the person that balances the human ego and directs it towards positive realization.

This isn’t about preaching moral values. Our kids won’t buy it since their egos  have evolved beyond it. We have to help them realize their potential and find their expression in a world that is becoming increasingly interconnected, by giving them tools to better understand themselves and to forge meaningful, healthy connections with others.

This does not need to be boring and didactic for them. We can certainly find exciting ways for them to experience positive human connections, through circle-style discussions and collaborative projects with their peers, both virtually and physically.

But for all of that to start happening, parents must get on board. We have to make a decision to get involved in our children’s future, and recognize the need to cultivate the global mindset that matches the conditions of the new global era.
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The Times of Israel published my new article “Why a Death Penalty for Terrorists Won’t Solve Terrorism… and What Will”

The death penalty for terrorists law being promoted in Israel by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman once again highlights an issue at the center of a tug-of-war, showing the inability of the Israeli people to unify on a specific stance. Arguments for and against the law have flooded the Israeli press on whether it would really deter terrorists, and what it would mean for Jews.

At face value, the Talmud justifies the death penalty for a person who acts with an intention to kill another person: “If someone comes to kill you, rise early and kill him first” (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 72:1). This law is no different for a terrorist as it is for any person making a move to murder another person.

However, whether or not the death penalty will pass in Israel will not influence the problem of terrorism at its root. The whole discourse around the topic is like discussing whether chemotherapy or natural treatments are better for treating cancer: you will always get a different opinion depending on who you ask, and the entire discussion doesn’t deal with analyzing the problem, and its solution, from its causal basis.

Therefore, I have no interest in meddling with the laws of the State of Israel, which are based on laws from the time of the British Mandate and also slightly earlier. If the State of Israel and the Jewish people really wanted to solve terrorism, then we would need to reach further back into our roots, to understand what makes us a Jewish people to begin with, and what laws we followed when we first became a Jewish people. Then, we might learn something about the laws that would have the power to completely uproot the problem of terrorism.

How to Override State Laws With Nature’s Laws: A Primer for the People of Israel

What makes us a Jewish people is the tendency to unite (the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2]). Our ancestors realized this tendency back in the time when Abraham founded groups not according to State laws, but according to nature’s laws. While the ancient Babylonian society was crumbling into devastating levels of social division around him, Abraham refused to accept the divisive norm of the day. Instead, he dedicated his life to a process of self-discovery and the research of nature and the system of creation. Through his research, he discovered how nature’s most fundamental laws are of love, giving, kindness and unity. Moreover, he found how these laws operate on reality’s every element, and gathered individuals who also sought better lives, formed groups out of them, and guided them on how to realize nature’s laws of love and unity in social relations. That group became known as “the Jews.”

As a united Jewish people, we enjoyed times of happiness and prosperity during the times of the First and Second Temple. Over time, however, human egoism evolved to a new level in humanity, including the Jewish people. It drove us apart and we became remote from our accordance with nature’s laws of unity. Ultimately, we replaced following nature’s laws with following man-made State laws.

Egoism makes us consider personal benefit as having greater importance than benefiting others and the whole society we exist in. If we don’t apply ourselves to unite above our natural egoistic tendency, then we build our lives more and more in a way that is opposite to nature. Terrorism is just one of the obvious ways in which our world today shows us the outcome of our natural, egoistic development over thousands of years.

We have sliced up humanity into myriad segments, sub-segments and sub-sub-segments. We value individuality over integrality, and the personal success of unique individuals or select groups over the collective success of society as a whole. This is opposite to how nature works. Nature views the planet and all its inhabitants as a single system, placing equal importance on all its parts. It is akin to cells and organs of a human body all playing a vital role in the health, sustenance and functioning of the entire body.

Our increasingly egoistic and separated approach from nature not only divides us as a people, it is the cause for every misfortune and pain in humanity. As with the example of the human body, when a certain cell or group of cells start receiving more than what they need on account of other cells, it is considered as cancerous growth. Our emphasis on self-benefit over benefiting human society as a whole separates us from identifying with and following nature’s laws of love and unity, and makes us succumb to following our man-made State laws instead. Then, the more problems surface worldwide on personal, social and global scales, the more we have to revise our man-made laws, like how we continually need to revise our medicines for treating new epidemics.

Therefore, if we approach the diagnosis and cure of the world’s many problems, including terrorism, at their source—our separation from following nature’s laws of unity—then by learning what nature’s laws are, and how we can observe them, we could pave the path to a harmonious and unified society, in balance with nature.

The Resurgence of the Method for the Discovery and Application of Nature’s Laws

The method for the discovery and application of these laws is the same method Abraham developed, the wisdom of Kabbalah. Today, this method is undergoing a modern resurgence as thousands of people worldwide, who feel the world’s current paths are leading to dead ends, start regularly gathering to discover their long-lost connection with nature, and revitalize the sense of purpose, love, unity and closeness with nature that Abraham’s group once pioneered.

Using this method, this worldwide group has become a research lab of a society based on the discovery and application of nature’s laws. If there are strong, united ties in social relations propelled by the continual learning, encouragement and promotion of pro-social values, such as unity, love, giving, mutual consideration and kindness, then negative egoistic phenomena won’t have a chance to surface. For instance, punishment would not surface as we know it in our world today, as a penalty for an offence that was done. Punishment would be felt as an inner sensation within the person, when the egoistic inclination grasps the person’s desires and thoughts with its demand for personal fulfillment on account of others.

In a society functioning according to nature’s laws, each person would have the necessary grounding, tools and supportive social environment to work with their egoistic, criminal inclinations before they materialize. Likewise, a person would be able to apply punishments, including even a “death penalty” to his own egoistic inclinations, as he would not want to harm the social atmosphere. In the Kabbalah method, such a version of punishment is called a “correction” of our nature. These corrections bring us closer and closer to the opening of a new, expansive nature where threads of love, unity and consideration bind us together.

Other than the above-mentioned times of the First and Second Temples, we have never created this kind of social atmosphere, and today our egoism runs rampant in society. As its effects of growing social division, Nazi, fascist and xenophobic tendencies, and terrorism flare up, we can either continue trying to create different kinds of band-aids and plaster them all over the place, or we can start aligning ourselves with nature’s laws and treat these problems and others at their root.

It is my hope that we will discover this positive social atmosphere that aspires to balance with nature’s laws sooner than later. The worldwide group now working on implementing this method is open for everyone to join, and already in its early stages, people immediately vouch for wondrous new sensations and perceptions that open up to them as a result of even minutely making tiny efforts towards connection and love in a society that upholds those values. It is also my hope that human society will discover the splendor of living according to nature’s laws, and that it happens sooner, through learning and encouragement, rather than later, through pains and sorrows.
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My latest article in Newsmax: “Trump Aligned With Electorate, Not Politics As Usual”

Why Trump is the Forerunner for a New Era in Governance

Racist, misogynist, and anti-Semite, are only some of the terms that have been thrown at President Trump over the last year. And while many are doing their utmost to get Trump off the stage somehow, Oprah Winfrey is now being promoted as an alternative for 2020. “I thought, ‘Oh gee, I don’t have the experience, I don’t know enough,”’ she tells Bloomberg TV, “and now [referring to the election] I’m thinking, ‘Oh.'”

While mainstream media is continuously feeding everyone with all kinds of names that we should call President Trump, I am going to point out what I believe most people are missing. The fact that most pundits, politicians, and opinion leaders are constantly speaking against him shows something about the Trump phenomenon that the public, the government and the media fail to acknowledge, or can’t come to terms with.

In my view, that something has to do with a fundamental change I anticipate taking place very soon in how we run everything on the planet. The future is not going to be more of what we already know. And Trump, whether he is aware of it or not, is the precursor of that change.

How Did We Reach This Point?

In the past, governance was much clearer. Kings would rule every detail of their countries and populations. Surely, free speech wasn’t as developed as it is today. Punishments could have been horrifying and not a lot of people were in a position to make things better if they wanted to. But a good king took care of his citizens and wanted his kingdom to flourish and prosper.

Kings, however, were surrounded by many helpers. Their job was to help further the interests of the king, whether by consulting on strategy, maintenance of the kingdom, communicating to the public and so forth. But over time, they realized they have great power and they wanted to hold onto that power. And thus, early politicians were born: Dubious characters who suck up to the king, know their way around the lobby of the kingdom, gossip, plot and conspire, all for a single purpose — to maintain their positions of power.

This has been going on for approximately 200 years. Today, the politicians themselves are called “elected officials,” the method by which they can preserve their power is called “democracy” and what they put most of their time, energy and resources into is getting elected in the next term. Sometimes, if we’re lucky, it also meets the public’s interests.

Isn’t it about time we improve this system? I argue that the time has come and the shift is already starting to take shape.

Why Trump Is Outlandish

In a world that’s characterized by heightened egoism and inextricable interdependence at the same time, in a hyper-connected world where we have the technology to create abundance for all and yet we are closer to World War III, human society is groping in the dark for a new model by which to organize itself.

So who is Mr. Trump in this process? Beyond the showmanship skills he mastered over the years, Trump is driven by the DNA of a businessman. He’s the epitome of the entrepreneurial spirit that has nothing to do with the political world as we know it. And whether you see him as good or bad, racist or patriot, is irrelevant to that quality.

It’s because of this entrepreneurial quality that I see his rise to power as a precursor to a much bigger change in governance. Therefore, it’s only natural that he doesn’t fit any of the scales that the world is trying to judge him by. He is not politically correct. He doesn’t speak or write like a diplomat. He’s direct, vulgar and not in line with the “politics” we’re used to.

Trump is a builder who challenges himself by trying to make things prosper and flourish. And even when he fell into bankruptcy he managed to rise up again and break new records. And it is precisely this business-like pragmatism that I wish to highlight about Trump.

We’ve reached a point where the world is over-saturated with politicians who use empty words and so-called values as their ticket to power. Trump’s election indicates that acknowledgement within the masses, their disdain towards lovely speeches about ideologies and the desire for a pragmatic approach to solve problems.

Leaders of the Future

What the world needs today are results-oriented pragmatists, entrepreneurs, builders, innovators and optimizers in positions of power. Trump, in my view, is only the early bird of change. I could also easily see people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos occupying that role. The point is that we have to reinvent our politics, starting by replacing politicians with those infected by the “bug” of entrepreneurship.

However, there’s one important catch: businesslike leaders of the new world must feel as if their country is their business, the country’s success is their success, and the public piggybank is their piggybank.

This is where money plays a central role. It allows us to do what is almost impossible otherwise — to measure. When I say money, I don’t mean the Wall Street driven financial sector, which is a bubble occupied by a different kind of politician: one who knows how to play with numbers to bloat his bank account, without actually creating anything in the real world. Much of the financial world is a façade that will become obsolete in the future, but that’s another topic.

Economics is a reflection of human relations, and we have to rediscover the solid basis for how people relate to each other in society: What each of us gives to society and receives from it. Money is currently our most accurate tool to measure these relations. It can also help us focus on pure worthiness and take the air out of ideological bubbles contributing nothing to our social progress.

If the U.S. and Russia, for instance, negotiate their issues with the sole aim of getting the best deal for both countries, they will arrive at clear and practical conclusions for how they can best collaborate, instead of playing power games, which are great for politicians, but ineffective for true business people.

This pragmatic approach between person and person — or country and country — will be a fresh starting point for coping with a world that has become globally interdependent, in a century that’s destined to see tremendous change.
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The Jerusalem Post published my new article:“Why a Death Penalty for Terrorists Won’t Solve Terrorism… and What Will”

The death penalty for terrorists law being promoted in Israel by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman once again highlights an issue at the center of a tug-of-war, showing the inability of the Israeli people to unify on a specific stance. Arguments for and against the law have flooded the Israeli press on whether it would really deter terrorists, and what it would mean for Jews.

At face value, the Talmud justifies the death penalty for a person who acts with an intention to kill another person: “If someone comes to kill you, rise early and kill him first” (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 72:1). This law is no different for a terrorist as it is for any person making a move to murder another person.

However, whether or not the death penalty will pass in Israel will not influence the problem of terrorism at its root. The whole discourse around the topic is like discussing whether chemotherapy or natural treatments are better for treating cancer: you will always get a different opinion depending on who you ask, and the entire discussion doesn’t deal with analyzing the problem, and its solution, from its causal basis.

Therefore, I have no interest in meddling with the laws of the State of Israel, which are based on laws from the time of the British Mandate and also slightly earlier. If the State of Israel and the Jewish people really wanted to solve terrorism, then we would need to reach further back into our roots, to understand what makes us a Jewish people to begin with, and what laws we followed when we first became a Jewish people. Then, we might learn something about the laws that would have the power to completely uproot the problem of terrorism.

How to Override State Laws With Nature’s Laws: A Primer for the People of Israel

What makes us a Jewish people is the tendency to unite (the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2]). Our ancestors realized this tendency back in the time when Abraham founded groups not according to State laws, but according to nature’s laws. While the ancient Babylonian society was crumbling into devastating levels of social division around him, Abraham refused to accept the divisive norm of the day. Instead, he dedicated his life to a process of self-discovery and the research of nature and the system of creation. Through his research, he discovered how nature’s most fundamental laws are of love, giving, kindness and unity. Moreover, he found how these laws operate on reality’s every element, and gathered individuals who also sought better lives, formed groups out of them, and guided them on how to realize nature’s laws of love and unity in social relations. That group became known as “the Jews.”

As a united Jewish people, we enjoyed times of happiness and prosperity during the times of the First and Second Temple. Over time, however, human egoism evolved to a new level in humanity, including the Jewish people. It drove us apart and we became remote from our accordance with nature’s laws of unity. Ultimately, we replaced following nature’s laws with following man-made State laws.

Egoism makes us consider personal benefit as having greater importance than benefiting others and the whole society we exist in. If we don’t apply ourselves to unite above our natural egoistic tendency, then we build our lives more and more in a way that is opposite to nature. Terrorism is just one of the obvious ways in which our world today shows us the outcome of our natural, egoistic development over thousands of years.

We have sliced up humanity into myriad segments, sub-segments and sub-sub-segments. We value individuality over integrality, and the personal success of unique individuals or select groups over the collective success of society as a whole. This is opposite to how nature works. Nature views the planet and all its inhabitants as a single system, placing equal importance on all its parts. It is akin to cells and organs of a human body all playing a vital role in the health, sustenance and functioning of the entire body.

Our increasingly egoistic and separated approach from nature not only divides us as a people, it is the cause for every misfortune and pain in humanity. As with the example of the human body, when a certain cell or group of cells start receiving more than what they need on account of other cells, it is considered as cancerous growth. Our emphasis on self-benefit over benefiting human society as a whole separates us from identifying with and following nature’s laws of love and unity, and makes us succumb to following our man-made State laws instead. Then, the more problems surface worldwide on personal, social and global scales, the more we have to revise our man-made laws, like how we continually need to revise our medicines for treating new epidemics.

Therefore, if we approach the diagnosis and cure of the world’s many problems, including terrorism, at their source—our separation from following nature’s laws of unity—then by learning what nature’s laws are, and how we can observe them, we could pave the path to a harmonious and unified society, in balance with nature.

The Resurgence of the Method for the Discovery and Application of Nature’s Laws

The method for the discovery and application of these laws is the same method Abraham developed, the wisdom of Kabbalah. Today, this method is undergoing a modern resurgence as thousands of people worldwide, who feel the world’s current paths are leading to dead ends, start regularly gathering to discover their long-lost connection with nature, and revitalize the sense of purpose, love, unity and closeness with nature that Abraham’s group once pioneered.

Using this method, this worldwide group has become a research lab of a society based on the discovery and application of nature’s laws. If there are strong, united ties in social relations propelled by the continual learning, encouragement and promotion of pro-social values, such as unity, love, giving, mutual consideration and kindness, then negative egoistic phenomena won’t have a chance to surface. For instance, punishment would not surface as we know it in our world today, as a penalty for an offence that was done. Punishment would be felt as an inner sensation within the person, when the egoistic inclination grasps the person’s desires and thoughts with its demand for personal fulfillment on account of others.

In a society functioning according to nature’s laws, each person would have the necessary grounding, tools and supportive social environment to work with their egoistic, criminal inclinations before they materialize. Likewise, a person would be able to apply punishments, including even a “death penalty” to his own egoistic inclinations, as he would not want to harm the social atmosphere. In the Kabbalah method, such a version of punishment is called a “correction” of our nature. These corrections bring us closer and closer to the opening of a new, expansive nature where threads of love, unity and consideration bind us together.

Other than the above-mentioned times of the First and Second Temples, we have never created this kind of social atmosphere, and today our egoism runs rampant in society. As its effects of growing social division, Nazi, fascist and xenophobic tendencies, and terrorism flare up, we can either continue trying to create different kinds of band-aids and plaster them all over the place, or we can start aligning ourselves with nature’s laws and treat these problems and others at their root.

It is my hope that we will discover this positive social atmosphere that aspires to balance with nature’s laws sooner than later. The worldwide group now working on implementing this method is open for everyone to join, and already in its early stages, people immediately vouch for wondrous new sensations and perceptions that open up to them as a result of even minutely making tiny efforts towards connection and love in a society that upholds those values. It is also my hope that human society will discover the splendor of living according to nature’s laws, and that it happens sooner, through learning and encouragement, rather than later, through pains and sorrows.
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The day will come when, by virtue of a new quality of interconnection between us, a new “currency” will emerge.

Below is a seven-year graph showing the Bitcoin-USD exchange rate, with an unprecedented rise in 2017 (Buy Bitcoin Worldwide).

Impressive, isn’t it?

Obviously, I am not a market analyst or expert on cryptocurrencies. However, Bitcoin is certainly not just a financial phenomenon. It is founded upon the attempt to create a completely new type of universal value.

It would seem that there is nothing backing the “virtual currency” except cryptographic algorithms. However, that is no laughing matter. After all, cryptography is intended to provide reliability and trust, which is already valuable in itself. It is as if the creators of the new coin are declaring: human nature with its “baggage” has no access to our territory.

The modern financial system cannot boast of having this feature; there, money is produced by banks and is a factor of the political and economic influences of specific countries and organizations. In other words, the “old” money serves very specific interests.

On the other hand, right before our eyes, a new, extra-governmental, extra-historical currency is being born, setting claim to becoming a universal, absolute equivalent, and even to driving gold out of its immovable position.

It is being born because the need for it is ripe. After all, globalization, which many people criticize, really is a natural phenomenon. It reflects the current state of humanity, which has already gathered into one whole technologically, but has not yet accepted this fact psychologically.

That is why we don’t yet understand how to use the cryptocurrency, how to integrate it into the system, and how it will later influence us, the ones who created it. However, that does not change its essence: the global world is demanding a global monetary equivalent that does not depend on local, subjective “circumstances” and interests.

On the other hand, if we treat this novelty like in the olden times, with traditional means, it will lose its “charm”—its objective value as seen by the public. Yes, in the beginning of the road, Bitcoin became a convenient means for deals on the black market, which found a way in here, yet the completely legal “financial mafia” will put an end to it and will find a way to secure a grip on the new coin.

Will the illegal players be able to preserve the freedom of the cryptocurrency? One way or another, its future depends on that. There are chances for that to happen since governments and banks are also connected to the “financial mafia.”

However, if we rise above the current fuss surrounding Bitcoin, we will see how egoism on a global scale is gradually building the respective global systems for itself, and in a way that does not attach artificial ideals and ideologies to them.

There is no “good” or “evil” here, but only business in the pure form. And what difference does it make if the reciprocal trust of the parties is provided by virtual computer computations? On the contrary, that makes it even better; there will be fewer errors in the calculations.

It turns out that we are talking about global trends and, for the most part, it makes no sense to resist them.

Moreover, in the future we will develop additional universal parameters, but ones of a social nature. The day will come when, by virtue of a new quality of interconnection between us, a new “currency” will emerge—social rating, expressed by a clear equivalent that anyone can understand.

People will be able to accumulate it as well, but not sell or buy it. It is more likely to have a comparative nature while having completely real value.

After all, society, especially one that is global, cannot be based on just bare egoism alone. Of course, it is rational in its own way, but when left to its own devices, it leads to a dead-end. The social aspect in man and society must take the upper hand over self-focus so the whole will not fall apart into pieces.

These are the paradigms of a new time, whose essence is not a single currency, but new relationships between people in a united, modern world.
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Related Material:
Does The World Need Money?
Money Is Merely An Equivalent
Why Do We Need Money?

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The Jerusalem Post published my new article: “Israel Must Be the Beacon of Peace the World Awaits“

Seventy years after the declaration of Israel’s independence warrants a deep look at our current state. Especially since earlier this week a U.S. President suddenly felt compelled to make a statement recognizing Israel’s right to exist.

“It went on and on, for many nerve wracking moments of that winter night in 1947. Finally the American announcer pierced the silence with his announcement: 33 in favor, 13 against, the resolution is approved. The state of Israel was declared. Then came the dancing and tears, and flags appeared. Cars honked their horns as loudly as they could, and the sounds of Shofars sounded from all the synagogues… My father said to me as we wandered between the circles of dancers, ‘Take a good look at this my boy, because you will never forget this night as long as you live, and you will tell your children and grandchildren about it long after we’re gone.’”

Amos Oz, A Tale of Love and Darkness

Indeed we’ve never forgotten that night. Somewhere along the corridors of Israel’s collective memory, those cheers of elation and bursts of spontaneous singing can still be heard, like an annoying reminder that it wasn’t just a dream. For a brief moment we experienced how it really feels to be together, unified as one.

Seventy years of endless wars, internal struggles and the exhausting search for our path, makes you stop and wonder at times, if these events ever really occurred. On the one hand, we cannot dismiss our achievements. We have a flag and an anthem, an electrical company, an airport, an army, a thriving high-tech industry, and rich culture. There is much to be proud of.

But imagine if we could take all the hopes and dreams from deep within the hearts of those dancing people, and pour them all out on the table opposite our current life in the state of Israel; If we take a good hard look and be honest with ourselves, have any of those aspirations we had come true? Have we turned out the way we hoped we would — a unified people, independent and free in our own land? Would the United Nations vote the same way if they voted again today?

DID WE LEARN ANYTHING FROM OUR EXILE?

There gap between the dreams of the past and today’s reality is undeniable. Somewhere along the way, we must have missed something big. We came back to the land of our ancestors after two thousand years in exile, and we tried to create a modern day version of the Hebrew culture, but it’s not nearly enough.

At some point the hands that once held each other tight began to loosen their grip and even each pull in their own direction. Seventy years have passed and we still haven’t found a formula for making that fleeting sensation of togetherness into a lasting experience.

With all due respect to the United Nations, the justification for the state of Israel dates way back, to a time when Abraham the patriarch gathered disciples in ancient Babylon who searched for the source of life. Together they discovered the method to rise above their ego, and cultivate genuine mutual concern for each other. The group grew until it finally became a nation — the nation of Israel who inhabited its given land upon the foundation of “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Ever since then, our moral and spiritual obligation has always been to “be a light unto nations” and serve as a positive example for the world. It is the only real mandate for our existence as a nation as well as for the land upon which we reside.

THE CHOSEN PEOPLE HAVE A SPIRITUAL MISSION

The long years of exile made us forget that we have a spiritual mission. But towards the end of the 19th century a fateful shift took place and the Jewish people began to yearn once again to return to their land and build an independent state. It was precisely at this time that Abraham’s method began to resurface as “the authentic wisdom of Kabbalah.” With this new turn of events, Baal Hasulam and Rav Kook, two of the greatest Kabbalists of the 20th century, declared that our external independence depends directly upon the attainment of our spiritual independence:

“As long as we do not raise our purpose above our corporeal lives” wrote Baal Hasulam in his article “Exile and Redemption”, “we shall not have a corporeal resurrection, for we are the people of the ideal”.

With the world’s eyes set on Jerusalem, the significance of the above excerpt becomes more relevant than ever: Israel cannot be a society based on egoistic values and principles, even if it appears to be successful in other countries. The people of Israel must rediscover their foundation of mutual love and be a beacon of peace for the entire world.

In Israel of 2017, the Promised Land has become the land of milk, honey and Coca Cola, and cars only honk in the streets after a great football or basketball triumph abroad.

However, the world needs a positive example of unity now more than ever before. The current fractured reality in Israeli society presents the perfect opportunity to build a new foundation for our shared life as a nation. It is time for Israelis to start dancing around a spiritual ideal of love. Then, Jerusalem too, can become the beacon of peace that so many around the world anticipate it to be.
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