Article On Y Net: “In recent weeks, a lot has been said about the “state of youth.” According to the data of the anti-alcohol and drug abuse authority, children in grades 7 – 11 participate in parties where alcohol flows like water and in which they also engage in free sex. ‘The combination of alcohol, hormones, puberty, and the absence of a responsible adult is very dangerous,” says Dr. Yossi Harel Fish, Chief scientist of the Israeli Anti-drug Authority and an expert in the field of children’s risky behaviors. ‘If in the past teenagers went out to have fun and also drank little, today the purpose of entertainment is the drinking itself.”

“’Later on in the evening the clothes come off as these kids get drunk and soon the atmosphere intensifies. Such parties take place in guest rooms with a Jacuzzi, in fancy lofts, or in distant forests. In most cases the parents don’t know what is going on or perhaps prefer not to know.” This may be part of the explanation as to why they don’t ask…

If you also take into account the trendy sayings about today’s youth like “they are indifferent, cold, and alienated” or “today’s youth are shallow,” along with terms like “the screen generation,” you get a combination, which according to recent studies conducted by the University of Michigan, there is an 80% decline in the ability of today’s youth to feel empathy towards one another. “Our kids are less humane, and we don’t notice it,” said anthropologist Tamir Leo recently. Leo is right but only as to the second part of the sentence; indeed we don’t realize what is happening with the youth today.

The youth are not the problem at all

We are the problem—the parents, not the youth. Nothing in this world happens by itself. There is no such thing as “good youth” or “bad youth.” Every generation is a product of their upbringing. And our generation is the direct outcome of our neglect. We have brought this trouble upon ourselves by our own hands.

We can build the world that we want for ourselves. We have dedicated our lives to the chase after a comfortable life, a successful career, and self-fulfillment, building our status and accumulating material possessions, and along the way have abandoned our children. Where were we when they left the playground, the ball games, and the walks in nature and fell into the poisonous dosage of screens, sex, alcohol, and drugs and rolled into a state where they don’t know how to communicate if it isn’t through the screen?

Instead of preparing the infrastructure for a happy life for them, we sent them to school hoping that something good would happen to them there. But what can happen in a system whose only goal is to provide information? A system whose only goal is to prepare them for making money, to succeed, to become famous but not for what they really need in life. We have created a distorted reality for them, which is everything but what life really is. It includes infinite connections between a person and a machine and zero connections between people and between one heart to the next. Today school is one of the worst places one can be, the source of most of the “viruses” our kids are affected by.

From the Ministry of Information to the Ministry of Education

What will happen in the next generation? In a decade, in two decades? When our children will manage the world? If we go on like this, the future doesn’t look so bright.

If we wish to give our children an entry card to life, we must make education, and not the teaching of information, an important national mission. The Ministry of Education and schools as its leading institution need a face lift. Instead of the obsessive engagement in information, grades, and international achievement tests, schools should focus on building the human being in a child. It has to cope with the greatest cause of distress youth feel today—their inability to speak, to open up, and especially their inability to properly connect with the environment.

Research shows that children and teenagers simply don’t know how to converse with one another. This is one of the reasons for their drinking or smoking: drinking dulls the pain and fills the internal empty void.

This goal goes along with one of the most highly demanded skills in the labor market today, which is teamwork. The more global the world becomes, the more we need to know how to work together, how to build the right relationship between us, to develop relationships of trust and cooperation. But instead of focusing on such skills, the education system focuses on an assembly line of chemists, mathematicians, or other technocrats.

A different type of education

Education means providing a young person with the right tools to understand himself and others, to understand the impulses he and others have, to teach him how to build a relationship with a mate and have a family, and how to make the world a warm and humane place. A child needs to feel that school teaches him how to live and prepares him for real life in the complicated era of the 21^st century.

Social dynamics that should result from workshops, games, and activities during the school day should turn the child into his own “psychologist.” He has to study and to explore his nature, discover himself, and thus be able to successfully deal with life.

Today’s youth are experiencing a distorted reality of norms and behaviors that they see on the screens. They see artificial patterns of what is considered beautiful and expect the scenes that they view to be realized in life. School must become a mediator which is aware of the hormonal roller coaster these young people experience and help them learn about the inner world of both sexes, while respecting others and being sensitive to them. Ultimately most of the problems stem from lack of mutual understanding.

Teenagers must feel that they have someone they can talk to and who will listen to them. They must feel that what happens to them also happens to others, and therefore there is no reason to feel ashamed or to hide anything. This process must be accompanied by the right professional guidance, but the main point is that a child has a whole inner world that school doesn’t relate to in any way, and so he doesn’t understand why he is there and only becomes increasingly frustrated as the days pass.

My private room

It is actually from this seemingly indifferent uncaring generation that all the questions about the meaning of life will burst and which will open up the door to a world that is much deeper than the one we are used to. But until that happens, we have to explain to them what is happening to them, what the point of their development is, what they undergo and what their inability to satisfy themselves stems from. We also need to study a little more about life and the purpose of life in order to do so.

What is happening among the youth and also between us today is a natural phase of our development. The human ego is changing and this is the reason for the generation gap. It is the ego that makes us uncaring and indifferent, addicted to technology, closed inside our little shell, in our private room.

But this is only the intermediate phase, one stop along the process of our internal development. We didn’t come into this world in order to communicate through a keyboard or a touch screen, but in order to break through all the partitions that keep us apart, and to communicate from one heart to another on a dimension of feelings and mind that is beyond our corporeal reality.
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From the Rav Laitman’s Article On YNet

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My latest on Ynet:

The Islamic terror stems from the unbridled evil force that permeates even girls as young as 14 – 16, poisoning their minds and causing them to leave their homes brandishing scissors in search of a victim. This is a time to unite and inject the positive force into the world that can stop terrorism.

While we are debating whether we are in the midst of a wave of terrorism, the third intifada, or war, we are missing the main point–every day young and old, men and women, innocent civilians are being murdered, innocent citizens who until a moment before had dreams, are murdered each day. We thank God that that this time we were spared. We delete the news update on our mobile phones, switch to another radio station, and run away from the news. Man, like animals, has an inherent ability to adapt to any reality, even a very harsh one.

But we must not accept a routine of bloodshed; we must not give in to apathy. As hard as they work, the Israeli security forces are only putting out fires; we must also act at a deeper level—to stand up and fight against the real enemy that lies within us: our separation. At every moment of separation, the external enemy is gnawing away at us, but if we want to end the war, we must subdue the enemy within.

Out of Balance

The mad impulse of terrorists to murder us comes from a deeper place. Even the accusations of Sweden’s foreign minister and those of her colleagues in the EU who tried to connect the bloodbath in France to Israel, come from the same place; they harbor inbred hatred that stems from sources that go far beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It is written in The Book of Zohar that all of humanity is connected in a single network. Currently, negative forces are flowing through it leading the world toward extremism, hatred, and destruction. The channels through which the good forces of unity, mutual consideration, and concern for others should flow to the world are almost fully blocked, There is much room for improvement in the network of connections among us.

The nation of Israel has a special role in determining the balance of powers in this network. When we make an effort to unite, we “inject” positive forces into the world, and balance out the negative ones.

In contrast, when division reigns among us, we become part of the negative force and increase its power in the world, as it is written in The Book of Zohar that there will be “poverty, ruin, pillage, looting, killing, and destruction in the world.” The direct result is that our enemies “raise their heads and mainly want to destroy Israel,” as it is written in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar.”

Chronicle of Destruction

The hatred of Israel and terror toward the Jews is not a new phenomenon. The nation of Israel was founded over 4,000 years ago on the tenet of “Love thy neighbor as yourself.” The main novelty that we brought to humanity was our wondrous ability to unite because “Israel holds the key to the unity of the world” (Rabbi Kook, Sacred Lights). This mutual guarantee is the only justification for its existence. When unfounded hatred broke out among us and ravaged every decent part of it, the Temple was destroyed. This hatred cut off the flow of the positive force from us to the world. You can see this law throughout history—when the evil force prevails, it brings destruction, war, and bloodshed.

“In each and every generation, we are commanded to strengthen the unity among us so that our enemies will not rule over us,” writes Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov in The Book of Consciousness. As long as we don’t repair the social rift between us, the evil force will generate more hate to destroy us. This does not end at Israel’s borders; the more Europe suffers from the evil force, the more it will blame us and hold us responsible for the spread of radical Islam. And the results will not be long in following.

Bestowing Good Upon the World

The security forces will continue to protect the citizens of Israel and make every effort to prevent the next attack, but this is not enough to prevent the next victim. We must awaken love of others, connection, and mutual guarantee. These are the components of our national strength.

When these positive forces begin to flow through us to the rest of the world, it will balance out this chaos the world is in. Accordingly, peace, tranquility, and sense of security will return on the streets. As Rav Kook wrote, “If we are ruined and the world was ruined with us by unfounded hatred, we will be rebuilt, and the world will be rebuilt with us through unfounded love.”
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In my column on Ynet:

Nobody “Deserves” This

The increase in Muslim terrorism is an outward sign further suggesting the world is out of balance. It is important to understand that the more the waves of violence continue, the peoples of the world will point an accusing finger at us. The answer lies in the connection between the people of Israel who are ready to change the fate of the entire world for the better

On Friday the 13^th, in France the penny dropped—this time it is an ideological war, “Islam against the Western world,” the analysts write. And truly, all the symbols of the west suffered one after the other. Beginning with the famous soccer stadium of Paris, cafes and fashionable restaurants, and ending with a popular rock club. The killing map was drawn as if to verify that they would succeed in striking all the symbols of the free world.

Meanwhile, Israel is accustomed to the daily attacks; the members of the Litman family (deceased), a father and his son who were on their way to a pre-wedding Sabbath celebration were murdered by a bloodthirsty terrorist. The other children in the family were saved only by a miracle.

The massacre in Paris caused mixed reactions in Israel. On the one hand, the horror, the pain of loss and bereavement, we are familiar with in daily Israeli life, aroused identification with the French in us. After all, we know the sad cries, the candles in the squares, the young who gather at makeshift memorials.

At the same time, other voices were heard: “Serves them right! Finally, they felt what we feel. Now they understand us.” Some went further and offered to send shipments of food and wine from Judea and Samaria. Yes, the very same products that the EU has decided to label only a few days before.

At the same time, a hidden hope spread among many that maybe now the Europeans “will understand us,” as brothers in times of trouble… But let’s not delude ourselves. Unfortunately, the more that Europe feels under attack, the more it will increase the hatred of Israel.

What is the difference between a terrorist strike in Paris and Israel?

The wave of terror in Paris is the first dark herald of the new situation that the world is entering. In the near future the pressure embedded congenitally in extremist Muslim circles will break out through terrifying attacks. The goal: to impose Islam on the entire world, Europe first.

The Book of Zohar predicted these processes over two thousand years ago, “And in the future the children of Ishmael will provoke great wars in the world” (Zohar for the People, Parshat VaYera). Even if on the surface it seems that the battles are between various Muslim denominations (Sunnis, Shiites), in practice all the dominations bow to the same ideology.

The increase of Muslim terrorism in the world is an outward sign further indicating a world out of balance.

According to The Book of Zohar, all of us are connected in a single network. In the current situation, the force that flows through this network is a negative force, which drags us into extreme separatism and hatred. In contrast, the positive forces that vitalize the network of connections between us—unity, concern and mutual concern—are concealed and aren’t flowing through it.

Increasing the Positive Force in the World

In contrast to the nations of the world who were assembled on national foundations, the Israeli nation was founded on an ideological basis. 4,000 years ago, in the days of our father Abraham, the original foundation that connected us was altruism. The character of the nation and the manner of its incorporation already dictated a historical role for us: to unite and inject positive, unifying forces into the network of connection among all the inhabitants of the world.

When we look into the dark abyss racing through the world today, the mission imposed upon us becomes clear. A connection between us is the only way to inject goodness into the world, to be a “light to the nations.” Therefore it is the only force that makes it possible to mitigate the evil that is presently expressed in Islamic terrorism. Connection among the people of Israel is able to change the fate of the entire world for the better. This is the real ideological war that is being waged today.

It is important for us to understand that the more that the world becomes flooded by waves of violence, the peoples of the world will turn to us with an accusing finger. The root of the hatred that has been burning in them for 2,000 years stems from an unexplainable feeling that we are the root of evil on the face of the Earth.

The attacks in Paris and Israel are a wake-up call for the whole world, and for us. To prevent the next bloodbath, we are compelled to connect and to stream the positive force, the force of connection, through us, which will counterbalance the negative force in the world. From the moment we begin to get closer to each other, our lives and those of the world will change for the good. The decision is in our hands.

The Appropriate Social Time

Let’s get used to connection between us in daily life: at home, in the workplace, on the street, and even in the supermarket. On the highway, for example, one can give the right of way to others, not honk at each other, and imagine that our favorite child drives the car in front of us.

Let’s begin to look at one another favorably, and the moment we identify our evil inclination drawing us into competition and exploitation instead of friendship and fraternity, we will catch it red-handed and silence it.

The first step is for us to recognize the egoistic nature in which we are acting. After we carry out a number of simple exercises like those that will be further detailed in the next articles, we see how change will happen among us in Israeli society and how the attitude of the world toward us will change.
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From the Ynet Column 11/16/15

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From my weekly column in Ynet, the largest Israeli news and general content website.

According to a recent survey, our children are traumatized. Sixty four percent of the children are afraid to leave their home, to be in public places, or walk to school, following exposure to violent videos released recently.

We are becoming dangerously indifferent from one bloody breaking news to another, and it is as if we are getting used to living in anxiety. It is insane to live in a reality in which a knife might be pulled out at any moment on a bus, a tram, an entrance to a mall, or on the street.

This difficult situation affects all aspects of our lives. The general fervor is heated by daily news videos of ordinary people being slaughtered by terrorists that shoot to kill. All this is live, immediate, and close. Not surprisingly, in these conditions, our senses are dulled. How can you cope with such a bizarre reality any differently?

And if troubles at home aren’t enough, Israel is also in the eye of the storm abroad. The foreign media set new records of anti-Semitism, and as a consolation prize, the EU decided to tag thousands of Israeli products with the intention to boycott Israel.

The World Depends On Israel

Hatred toward Israel is not a new phenomenon. We have known it for ages, regardless of the political situation. The attitude of the peoples of the world toward us has been the same for ages and it seems that it is rooted in nature. We have already realized that the more the world suffers, the more they point their finger at us with accusations, and the day is not far off when the whole world will hate us just like the Arabs do now.

According to Kabbalah, all of humanity connected in one network, and Israel has a decisive influence. The Book of Zohar states that the thoughts and actions of the people of Israel, positively or negatively, affect the fate of the whole world. Israel is responsible for all the evil in the world and it comes back to us in order to wake us up and force us to fulfill our role. On the other hand, when we act in favor of the world, we will immediately feel a positive response.

How Can We Change Our Fate for the Better?

First we have to realize that the key for changing our destiny is in our hands alone (as the whole world claims against us…), and then we begin to act, to make tremendous efforts to connect, to strengthen the network of connections between us, between non-religious and religious Jews, between new immigrants and veteran citizens, between those living in the center and those in the periphery, between everyone. We must begin to live as one man in one heart instead of tribes living here in an obscure federation.

When we connect, when we care for one another, we become a conductor for all the goodness that flows into the world. On the other hand, if we are hostile towards one another, we reflect evil into the world, which leads to terrible disasters unto all of humanity and ourselves. Mutual guarantee and caring for others is what determines what our life will be like tomorrow, what the world will look like, and what the response to that state will be.

Is it possible to connect? Every person we will turn to with this question will agree to connect, but will also add that it is impossible. This is true. We need a method in order to connect. This method is the wisdom of Kabbalah; a wisdom that is all about correcting the connection between people. When we study Kabbalah and show even the slightest desire to connect as a result, we already balance the forces that manage our lives. The inclination to love others inspires the positive force that spreads through us to all of humanity and calms it down. The peoples of the world subconsciously feel that and will be grateful to us.

Unity between us determines what the next breaking news will be!

***

The “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” (Items 66-71,) tells us how the connection among the people of Israel determines the fate of the world:

66) Bear in mind that in everything there is internality and externality. In the world in general, Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are considered the internality of the world, and the seventy nations are considered the externality of the world. Also, there is internality within Israel themselves, which are the wholehearted workers of the Creator, and there is externality—those who do not devote themselves to the work of the Creator. Among the nations of the world, there is internality as well, which is, the righteous of the nations of the world, and there is externality, which are the rude and the harmful among them.

Additionally, among the servants of the Creator among the children of Israel, there is internality, being those rewarded with comprehension of the soul of the internality of the Torah and its secrets, and externality, who merely observe the practical part of the Torah.

Also, there is internality in every person from Israel—the Israel within—which is the point in the heart, and externality—which is the inner nations of the world, the body itself. But even the inner nations of the world in that person are considered proselytes, since by cleaving to the internality, they become like proselytes from among the nations of the world, that came and cleaved to the whole of Israel.

67) When a person from Israel enhances and dignifies one’s internality, which is the Israel in that person, over the externality, which are the nations of the world in him, that is, when one dedicates the majority of one’s efforts to enhance and exalt one’s internality, to benefit one’s soul, and gives minor efforts, the mere necessity, to sustain the nations of the world in him, meaning the bodily needs, as it is written (Avot, 1), “Make your Torah permanent and your labor temporary,” by so doing, one makes the children of Israel soar upwards in the internality and externality of the world as well, and the nations of the world, which are the externality, to recognize and acknowledge the value of the children of Israel.

And if, God forbid, it is to the contrary, and an individual from Israel enhances and appreciates one’s externality, which is the nations of the world in him, more than the inner Israel in him, as it is written (Deuteronomy 28), “The stranger that is in the midst of thee,” meaning the externality in that person rises and soars, and you yourself, the internality, the Israel in you, plunges down? With these actions, one causes the externality of the world in general—the nations of the world—to soar ever higher and overcome Israel, degrading them to the ground, and the children of Israel, the internality in the world, to plunge deep down.

68) Do not be surprised that one person’s actions bring elevation or decline to the whole world, for it is an unbending law that the general and the particular are as equal as two peas in a pod. And all that applies in the general applies in the particular, as well. Moreover, the parts make what is found in the whole, for the general can appear only after the appearance of the parts in it, according to the quantity and quality of the parts. Evidently, the value of an act of a part elevates or declines the entire whole.

That will clarify to you what is written in The Zohar, that by engagement in The Book of Zohar and the wisdom of truth, they will be rewarded with complete redemption from exile (Tikkunim, end of Tikkun No. 6). We might ask, what has the study of The Zohar to do with the redemption of Israel from among the nations?

69) From the above we can thoroughly understand that the Torah, too, contains internality and externality, as does the entire world. Therefore, one who engages in the Torah has these two degrees, as well. When one increases one’s toil in the internality of the Torah and its secrets, to that extent, one makes the virtue of the internality of the world—which are Israel—soar high above the externality of the world, which are the nations of the world. And all the nations will acknowledge and recognize Israel’s merit over them, until the realization of the words, “And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord” (Isaiah 14, 2), and also “Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my standard to the peoples: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried on their shoulders” (Isaiah 49, 22).

But if, God forbid, it is to the contrary, and a person from Israel degrades the virtue of the internality of the Torah and its secrets, which deals with the conduct of our souls and their degrees, and the perception and the tastes of the Mitzvot with regard to the advantage of the externality of the Torah, which deals only with the practical part? Also, even if one does occasionally engage in the internality of the Torah, and dedicates a little of one’s time to it, when it is neither night nor day, as though it were redundant, by that one dishonors and degrades the internality of the world, which are the children of Israel, and enhances the externality of the world—meaning the nations of the world—over them. They will humiliate and disgrace the children of Israel, and regard Israel as superfluous, as though the world has no need for them, God forbid.

Furthermore, by that, they make even the externality in the nations of the world overpower their own internality, for the worst among the nations of the world, the harmful and the destructors of the world, rise above their internality, which are the “righteous of the nations of the world.” And then they make all the ruin and the heinous slaughter our generation had witnessed, may God protect us from here on.

Thus you see that the redemption of Israel and the whole of Israel’s merit depend on the study of The Zohar and the internality of the Torah. And vice versa, all the destruction and the decline of the children of Israel are because they have abandoned the internality of the Torah. They have degraded its merit and made it seemingly redundant.

70) This is what is written in the Tikkunim (corrections) of The Zohar (Tikkun 30): “Awaken and rise for the holy divinity, for you have an empty heart, without the understanding to know and to attain it, although it is within you.” The meaning of it is, as it is written (Isaiah 40), that a voice pounds in the heart of each and every one of Israel, to cry and to pray for raising the holy divinity, which is the collection of all the souls of Israel. But Divinity says, “I have no strength to raise myself off the dust, for ‘all flesh is grass,’ they are all like beasts, eating hay and grass.” This means that they keep the Mitzvot mindlessly, like beasts, “and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field, all the good deeds that they do, they do for themselves.”

That means that with the Mitzvot they perform, they have no intention of doing them in order to bring contentment to their Maker. Rather, they keep the Mitzvot only for their own benefit, and even the best among them, who dedicate all their time to engagement in the Torah, do it only to benefit their own bodies, without the desirable aim—to bring contentment to their Maker.

It is said about the generation of that time: “A spirit leaves and will not return to the world,” meaning the spirit of the Messiah, who must deliver Israel from all their troubles until the complete redemption, to keep the words, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.” That spirit had left and does not shine in the world.

Woe unto them that make the spirit of Messiah leave and depart from the world, and cannot return to the world. They are the ones that make the Torah dry, without any moisture of comprehension and reason. They confine themselves to the practical part of the Torah, and do not wish to try to understand the wisdom of Kabbalah, to know and to understand the secrets of the Torah and the flavors of Mitzva. Woe unto them, for with these actions they bring about the existence of poverty, ruin, and robbery, looting, killing, and destructions in the world.

71) The reason for their words is, as we have explained, that when all those who engage in the Torah degrade their own internality and the internality of the Torah, leaving it as though it were redundant in the world, and engage in it only at a time that is neither day nor night, and in this regard, they are like blind searching the wall, by that, they intensify their own externality, the benefit of their own bodies. Also, they consider the externality of the Torah higher than the internality of the Torah. And with these actions they cause all the forms of externality in the world to overpower all the internal parts in the world, each according to its essence.

This is so because the externality in the whole of Israel, meaning the nations of the world in them, overpowers and revokes the internality in the whole of Israel, which are those who are great in the Torah. Also, the externality in the nations of the world—the destructors among them—intensify and revoke the internality among them, which are the righteous of the nations of the world. Additionally, the externality of the entire world, being the nations of the world intensifies and revokes the children of Israel—the internality of the world.

In such a generation, all the destructors among the nations of the world raise their heads and wish primarily to destroy and to kill the children of Israel, as it is written (Yevamot 63), “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.” This means, as it is written in the above corrections, that they cause poverty, ruin, robbery, killing, and destruction in the whole world.

And through our many faults, we have witnessed to all that is said in the above-mentioned Tikkunim, and moreover, the judgment struck the very best of us, as our sages said (Baba Kama).

60) “And it starts with the righteous first.” And of all the glory Israel had had in the countries of Poland and Lithuania, etc., there remains but the relics in our holy land. Now it is upon us, relics, to correct that dreadful wrong. Each of us remainders should take upon himself, heart and soul, to henceforth intensify the internality of the Torah, and give it its rightful place, according to its merit over the externality of the Torah.

And then, each and every one of us will be rewarded with intensifying his own internality, meaning the Israel within us, which is the needs of the soul over our own externality, which is the nations of the world within us, that is, the needs of the body. That force will come to the whole of Israel, until the nations of the world within us recognize and acknowledge the merit of the great sages of Israel over them, and will listen to them and obey them.

Also, the internality of the nations of the world, the righteous of the nations of the world, will overpower and submit their externality, which are the destructors. And the internality of the world, too, which are Israel, shall rise in all their merit and virtue over the externality of the world, which are the nations. Then, all the nations of the world will recognize and acknowledge Israel’s merit over them.

And they shall follow the words (Isaiah 14:2), “And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord.” And also (Isaiah 49:22), “And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.” That is what is written in The Zohar (Nasoh, p 124b), “through this composition,” which is The Book of Zohar, “they will be delivered from exile with mercy.” Amen, will this be so.”

The column is based on the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” by Baal HaSulam, Rav Yehuda Ashlag.
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Dr. Laitman’s column in Ynet 11/12/15

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Published recently in my column on Ynet, “The Answer to Terrorism—Strengthening the Foundations of the Nation.”

In these difficult and pressing times of “daily attacks” there is only one answer to those thirsty for blood who rise up to annihilate us—strengthening the foundations of our nation.

Even a talented screenwriter would have difficulty writing a more complicated scene. Within a radius of a few hundred kilometers, a collection of the most extreme terrorist organizations of humanity has gathered, and they surround us from every direction. The terrorist attacks are turning into a daily routine, and with them difficult scenes. Bloodthirsty murderers try to injure, stab, and ruthlessly eliminate everything in their path. It is impossible for us to reconcile ourselves to this situation.

We can only stand against this wild, frenzied hatred and extremism if we can revitalize our nation’s roots—unity. Only our unity will make our country, again, a safe home. If we miss the opportunity to come together and stand as one against those who hate us, the ring around us will ignite and we will lose the ability to be a free people in our land. This is exactly what our enemies wish.

Despite the severity of the sights, and in the worse case events, we experience daily, we continue to fence ourselves off from each other, each confined to his own world, and each party crouches in its corner and continues to advance only the narrow interests of its constituents.

With the danger that is lurking in every corner, we must take advantage of the benefit of a broad process that would lead the nation to unity, above all separation.

Harmony in a Single Body

Interactions in a nation are similar to the interrelationships between the various organs in the human body. Harmony exists within the human body: the brain is responsible for thinking, the eyes for seeing, the legs for carrying us, and so on. The nation is also made up of leaders, advisors, managers, and workers who must operate in complete harmony as a necessary condition for maintaining normal life.

The weakening of the nation is the result of impaired relationships between its “organs.” Our sages said, “Jerusalem was only destroyed because of unfounded hatred” (Yoma 9b). Hatred and division are an illness that weakens the body of the nation, disintegrating it from within, like a deadly disease, which is the result of a lack of harmony between the organs.

Unity in a Nutshell

The only way to reinvigorate into the Israeli nation these days is to create a sense of connection, a mutual bond and Arvut (mutual guarantee) between us. We must pull ourselves together and understand that the personal happiness of each one of us depends on the happiness of the entire nation. And personal weakness also depends on the weakness of the nation; so strengthening the network of social connections between us and cultivating our social capital will give us strength, and in a period of crisis like this, they are in our psyche.

During the years of exile, we lost the feeling of natural nationalism. The threads of love that bound us atrophied and detached from our hearts. Unlike every other nation in the world, the nationalistic feeling that still remained in us stems from the common suffering we experienced and still experience. The wars, hardships, and disasters are what consolidate us—we are brothers only in a time of trouble.

Unity whose source is in common external suffering is not true unity; it is “unity in a time of emergency” and it doesn’t have the power to build a nation that will be strong even in routine times. We are like a collection of nuts with hard shells put together into a single sack. Within the sack each one is closed within his shell. The sack creates an artificial unity between the nuts and doesn’t consolidate them into a single body. When the sack disappears, the unity disappears.

Strengthening the National Muscles

There is only one way to stop the horrific wave of terror and ensure our future as a strong nation—to start a nationwide social and educational process aimed at uniting people. We need to once again revive those national muscles that have been inactive in us for these two thousand years.

Social capital is our strength. Unity is the basic condition for the rebuilding of the people of Israel in the land of Israel. Without unity, we cannot ensure the welfare and future of the State of Israel. Without it we are like a building without a solid foundation, which is threatened to collapse with any vibration.

Our concern for the revival of the Israeli nation must have priority over every other concern. Only an educational process whose goal is to instill unity among the people of Israel will lead to success, prosperity, and security. We can no longer turn a blind eye our eye. Our unity is the foundation of the building; it is the only thing that will determine the stature of the State of Israel and the attainments that we will achieve.

This article was written according to the newspaper, The Nation published by Baal HaSulam, Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag, June 5, 1940.
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Published on Ynet 11/04/15

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A New Article On Ynet

“Hate Is The Terrorist Among Us”

The Israeli public is shocked time and again by the lies that the international media spread about the terror wave in Israel. Twenty-four hours after Abu Mazen’s false accusations regarding the “execution” of the 13 year-old terrorist Ahmed Mensara on the international media channels, the boy was seen being fed by the staff of Hadasa Hospital.

This didn’t stop the reporter of MSNBC from arguing on a live broadcast that the terrorist (in this case referring to another stabbing in Jerusalem) was an innocent passerby. Unfortunately, the terrorist was shown holding a knife on the split screen behind him and the reporter had to reluctantly change his version.

The question is: why should we expect a sympathetic response from the world? It has never happened! And if we want this to happen, we need to make some drastic changes. The hostility the world feels towards us is growing stronger from day to day. So it isn’t surprising that international organizations compete to see who will put the state of Israel on a more dubious public trial.

What Are They Actually Saying?

Instead of opening our eyes, we run around blindly insisting on pushing our uniqueness aside and assimilating among all nations, while the world treats us like a foreign body that has invaded human society and contaminates it. The world blames Israel for all the problems on this planet and there is no way we can escape this.

An ISIS activist who threatened us in Hebrew this week accurately described the enemy’s intentions “soon there will not be one Jew left in Jerusalem and all over Israel, and we will keep going until we eliminate this disease (the Jews) from the world.” It is a mistake to think that the media all over the world are lying. They express the great frustration they feel.  There is a clear message between the lines that we may not like to hear: Israel, you are responsible for the current situation!

Subconsciously they feel that there is something good and unique in the Jewish nation that they deprive the world of, and this is the reason that the whole world hates us.

What Do They All Want?

Goodness lies in the connection between us. When we unite, we are strong and invincible. So it is actually in the point where anti-Semites throughout history and leaders of terrorist organizations call for our destruction that we must close ranks and connect as one. Thanks to the hatred of the nations of the world towards us, we are forced to realize the one illness that is gnawing us—the lack of connection between us.

There is special power in the force of the connection between us that can stop the evil in the world and change the situation for the better. This stems from a spiritual root around which an ideological group called the “Nation of Israel” has gathered.

By using this force we will be able to stand as a firm rock against our blood thirsty external enemies that are flooding the Middle East. In the past, the wars in Israel and the threats it faced helped us unite in the face of a common enemy, while in the current wave of terror the enemy is among us, inside us. This is a new phase in the relations between us and it obliges us to reorganize them.

Hate Is the Terrorist Among Us

Instead of cutting each other off on the road or throwing Molotov cocktails in the Knesset; instead of “stabbing” each other endlessly on the social networks, we have to neutralize the “terrorists” who are revealed in the corrupt relations between us. The hatred directed toward our neighbor, friend, or family member is the terrorist among us.

The main message Abraham taught in ancient Babylon 3,500 years ago was that we should be connected. We were founded around this principle when we first gathered and united as a nation. We have an important role in teaching the method of connection to all of humanity. We have to be Light unto the nations—to offer an alternative of connection and unity to the dark and terrified world.

The wisdom of Kabbalah, including all our great spiritual leaders have been guiding us to fulfill this mission for ages. They pondered, dreamed, and wrote only about this idea and talked about it whenever they could. A united nation of Israel will be able to cope with the current intifada successfully and even put an end to it. Connection and unity are the key to real and sustainable peace.

I hope we will have better, more peaceful days.

Recently a new movement called the HaTovim [The Good Ones]—Mutual Guarantee from Kabbalah La’am was initiated. Hundreds of volunteers from all over Israel guard kindergartens every day. People who would like to join the protection project are invited to contact HaTovim headquarters. (Tel. 1700-509-209 and/or the Good Ones’ facebook page). Once you register, you will be scheduled to guard a kindergarten near your home.
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This is the tenth consecutive year our publishing company is participating in the international book fair in Frankfurt. Our stand this year is in the main hall, near leading publishing companies in the fields of printed and electronic books.

This year we are also presenting interviews and video clips that I have had with different people like Larry King and we project them on a big screen in our pavilion.

Our students from Kabbalah La’am centers in Norway, the Czech Republic, Canada, and Germany are helping us.

In 2015 we published two new books in German, three in Turkish, three in Romanian, one in French, two in Italian, one in Czech, three in Danish, and three in English.
Thank you very much for all your support!
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The Italian online magazine for the Jewish community Iarchon published my article “Noi Siamo Giona” (“We Are Jonah”)

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In my column in Ynet a new article was published about the month of Elul, the month of mercy and forgiveness and especially about our fate.

“We Sinned, Betrayed, Stole…United!”

We find ourselves in a state of war every other year. When this happens, we are the world champions in connecting and in mutually caring for one another, but when the last missile lands, we quickly pull out the arrows of hate. That’s the way we are, but are we meant to live that way? Is this really our fate?

The month of Elul quietly arrives at the end of every year and we put on a righteous face (after all, this is the month of mercy and forgiveness) and cannot just let it go by. So we rush to call out: We sinned, betrayed, and transgressed. Beautiful. But what?

Even a quick glance around doesn’t promise us a rose garden. Hamas continue to dig tunnels; the Iranians keep fooling everyone and continue to arm themselves; the Europeans are experiencing a first encounter with the Middle East, and the world is losing its balance. Some may say that the Jews can never benefit from a situation like this, and that the waves of anti-Semitism and different anti-Israeli organizations are on their way to us and our families in the Diaspora.

Tracking Our Roots

We have to go 4,000 years back to the days of ancient Babylon in order to understand our fate. It was then that a wise man Abraham discovered that if people’s ego grows sky high, they cease to understand one another and begin to fight each other. Remember the Tower of Babel? This is exactly what it is about.

Abraham developed a method of working with the human ego correctly so that it can help people connect more strongly to one another and rise above the hate and the fighting. Together with his wife Sarah, he established a system of disseminating the method of connection that he developed. Eventually thousands gathered around him, which eventually formed our nation.

Since then, our relations are defined by clear laws: The moment we harm the connection between us, hatred and contempt overcome us. When we grow weaker internally, there are forces that immediately rise to destroy us externally.

Introspection?

The last year should make us all realize that if we don’t start a meaningful process of connection between us, our country could fall apart. The division, the polarization, and the gap between us is growing increasingly greater from day to day. The ego is growing in each of us and no one can give it up in order to connect, and so there is no doubt that we need help. We need a method that will teach us how to channel the ego, that can explain to us what the right connection is and how we should connect.

This is exactly what the wisdom of Kabbalah that Abraham established engages in, and today we need it more than ever before. We need the uniting force that connected us then. Only if we use it will we survive and actually become invincible.

Happy New Year!
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This article about the global crisis many countries are undergoing and about the sharp declines we see in stock markets around the world was published in my column on Ynet August 27, 2015.

“What Does The Pension Fund Of Shoshi From Hadera Have To Do With The Bad Investment Of Li Ming From Shanghai?”

“The sharp declines in the stock markets around the world remind us all of how strongly we are all mutually interdependent. Only when we acknowledge the laws of the global human system will we be able to lead a good life.

“Volatility in the stock markets intensified, further sharp declines in global equity markets and subsequent rise, have reached Israel. There is no better example than the financial markets to demonstrate the mutual interdependence between people, states, nations, and markets all over the world, which has become one global village.

“The world is becoming increasingly more connected. This is the reason that the financial collapse and the economic slowdown in China is not a local event but an event with emerging global implications. Seemingly, the Israeli economy should not be affected by the fall of the markets in China, and yet it happened. What is the connection between the pension fund of Shoshi from Hadera and the bad investment of Li Ming from Shanghai?

“This global drama shows us how the system can not be balanced—unless the parts are assembled and well connected. Until then, the system will continue to be sensitive, and every minor explosion will destabilize it all.

“We Are All in the Same Boat

“The wisdom of Kabbalah is the wisdom of connection. It studies the connections between people and the connections in nature since the beginning of time. According to this wisdom, we can balance our relations in mutual interdependence only if we acknowledge the laws of the global human system. All the systems of life between us, including the financial markets, are included in these systems.

“We didn’t need such laws in the past, so the wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed and very few engaged in it. The need for this wisdom and knowledge has become relevant only when the world became global and our mutual interdependence completed. Today when the connection between us is growing stronger, it obliges us to learn the laws of the new globally connected world. We have no other choice. Learning the laws according to the method of connection will allow us to create the right social order in the whole human society.

“When a person knows how to connect correctly, realizing that we all depend on one another, the result will be a good life for all of us. This is the uniqueness of the wisdom of Kabbalah, which the world needs today more than anything else.

“The solution to the crisis in the stock market, the crisis of the pension fund of Shoshi from Hadera, and other upcoming crises is not in the traditional financial means, but in establishing a good, balanced, corrected connection between us. We have to learn how to establish the right and balanced relationships and thus reach a good and peaceful life.
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