Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Will the Jews be Blamed for the War in Ukraine?”

As with any conflict, especially a major one, it is only a matter of time before a blaming finger is turned toward the Jews. The war in Ukraine is no exception. As the war continues, more and more posts and videos are popping up online blaming Israel, or Jews, or both, for the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine. In our defense, we may argue that the truth is to the contrary: Israel’s prime minister tried his best to broker a truce, we set up a field hospital in Ukraine at our own expense, Israel took in tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees although we are a very small country, and Ukraine’s prime minister is himself Jewish. But no one listens to us since the hatred of Israel and Jews is as old as Judaism itself, and its roots are buried deep in the heart of every person on the planet.

In his comprehensive composition A History of ‎the Jews, acclaimed historian Paul Johnson eloquently articulated how the world feels about Jews: “At a very early stage in their collective existence they [Jews] believed they had ‎detected a divine scheme for the human race, of which their own society was to be a pilot.”

Indeed, the Jewish people did not evolve naturally, out of a core clan or tribe. It evolved by gradually gathering individuals from many different tribes and nations over generations. These individuals eventually amalgamated into a nation by following a single tenet that determined everything they did: the aspiration to love each other as themselves.

If you examine the legacy of Judaism, you will find that it consists primarily of social rules that determine how to build a just and cohesive society where people care for one another. This is why Rabbi Akiva, possibly the greatest sage since Moses, said that the encompassing law of Judaism is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is also why Hillel, another one of our greatest sages, said to a man who asked him to explain the whole Torah (Jewish law) in a nutshell (allegorically, while he is standing on one leg): “That which you hate, do not do unto another; the rest is commentary.”

When we were tasked with being “a light unto nations,” at the foot of Mt. Sinai, this love of others was the “light” that we were ordered to shine, our unity above all differences. King Solomon immortalized the tenet of love above all divisions with his words (Prov. 10:12), “Hate stirs up strife, and love will cover all crimes.”

Throughout our ancient history, we struggled to maintain our unity and love for one another. We fought to overcome internal hatred and struggles that arose within us, and be the light to the nations that we were ordered to be.

However, toward the beginning of the Common Era, we succumbed to self-hatred and our social structure collapsed. That failure had made us the world’s pariahs, as we had failed to be a light unto nations. Until we restore our unity and fulfill our vocation, the nations will not forgive us and will not want us among them.

For the most part, they will not be able to articulate exactly why they hate us, so they will rationalize their anger by blaming us for contemporary plights such as diseases, wars, economic crises, religious conflicts, and all the other problems for which Jews have been blamed. However, underneath them all, there is, was, and will be only one grievance that the world has against us: our lack of unity, and in consequence, our failure to shine the light of unity to the nations.

Only when we rise above the division that has been tearing us apart from within for more than two millennia, the world will accept and welcome us. If we unite, we will not need to explain our position; we will not need to justify ourselves; and we will not need to fight against antisemitism. If we defeat the antisemite within us, who hates his own brethren, the external antisemitism will vanish on its own.
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Medium published my new article “Indebted against Our Will”

Much has changed in the job market over the past two years. There is a constant shortage of employees as more and more people are unwilling to groan under jobs they do not like. They are looking for freedom and satisfaction, and they are willing to settle for lower wages in return for more freedom. People are becoming increasingly narcissistic. As a result, they are reluctant to follow instructions, and will easily quit just to be free of their bosses. In many cases, people have become so rebellious that they can barely obey law enforcement officers. They simply cannot bow to anyone. But when we break the system that sustains us without building a better one instead, we are risking ourselves and all of society.

If we live in a society, any society, we are indebted to it whether we like it or not. The society influences us, and we influence the society. Since we cannot survive on our own, we are compelled to live in a society.

Therefore, in order to live in a society that we like, we must know the rules of our society and how to conduct ourselves calmly within it. To achieve calm, we must maintain balance among all parts of society. This includes not only the people in our society, but our entire environment, since our peace of mind and well-being depend not only on the people around us, but also on the climate, vegetation, and everything that surrounds us.

The key word in the formula that makes life peaceful and sustainable is “balance.” Everything in nature is balanced in the sense that it is equally nourished by its surroundings and nourishes its surroundings.

We, on the other hand, think only of ourselves. We have no interest in giving anything to anyone. But a society of narcissists is unsustainable. Since everyone operates with only themselves in mind, the society is collapsing. This imbalance between giving and receiving is the source of all our troubles.

We struggle against the compulsion to maintain balance, but the result is that we are in a climate crisis, social crisis, and an economic crisis. There is a growing shortage of food, extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and ferocity, inflation is soaring, and social orders are collapsing the world over.

If we want to feel free, we must free ourselves from egoism. This is what causes our narcissism, and this is our real tyrant. The ego enslaves us and forces us to obey its will. If we choose freedom from egoism, we will learn what real freedom means.
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Medium published my new article “Why We Subsidize Industries that Harm the Environment”

There is an interesting irony in human nature: Whatever we do, we must also do the opposite. If we do something good, we must also do something equally bad, or we will not feel the value of the good thing we have done. This necessity to compare leads us to do just as much harm as we try to do good. For example, while governments around the world are making huge investments in sustainable living and renewable energy, a new independent research has found that “governments worldwide are spending at least USD$1.8 trillion a year on subsidies to support heavy polluting industries including coal, oil, gas, and agriculture, driving further environmental pollution and degradation, as well as biodiversity loss.” Why do they do it? Without the existence of polluting industries, no one would appreciate their efforts to curb them.

We feel, measure, and evaluate everything only in comparison to its opposite. We would not know that seasons exist if they were not contradictory. Likewise, we would not know that satiation feels good if hunger did not feel bad. In the same way, we long for love because there is hate, and we love peace because there is war. If something does not have a clear opposite, we cannot perceive it.

Because this is how we perceive the world, we have constructed it to fluctuate between extreme opposites. And since we need constant excitation to feel alive, we need these opposites to grow increasingly extreme. If this continues, we are certain to bring upon ourselves a catastrophe.

The only way to avoid the disaster is to understand that our nature is a deadly trap, and we must change it from the core. Once we give up on the possibility of securing a good, or even safe life for ourselves without fundamentally changing who we are, we will be able to find a true and lasting solution. The impasse of human nature forces us to rise above it.

When we begin to want to emerge from our own nature, we will discover that the root cause of all our problems is not what we do, but why we do it: to lionize and elevate ourselves, and to belittle and disparage others. Because of our negative motivation, everything we do becomes harmful. And because this is how everyone works, the entire planet is harmed and everyone suffers. It follows that only a fundamental transformation of all of humanity will reverse the destructive course we are on.

The sooner we realize this, the sooner we will decide that awareness of the truth is our only weapon against our nature. It is a hard truth to swallow, but then, no medicine is tasty.

Once we accept the truth, we will be able to begin an educational process that will teach us to care for one another because our lives depend on it. Then, when we aim to help others rather than harm them, we will be helped, as well. This transformation of intention is the only change we need to make, and the only one that will clean up our environment and reverse the menacing trajectory of the climate.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “In France, Jews Should Expect Protection from No One”

A new case of an alleged antisemitic murder, downplayed as an accident, could affect the outcome of next Sunday’s presidential election in France. A possible victory by far-right candidate Marine LePen over incumbent President Manuel Macron, who is up for re-election, could benefit French Jewry and Israel, not by LePen’s love for the Jews, but out of interest. But in truth, regardless of who is in power, Jews have no one to rely on but themselves.

Jeremy Cohen, a 31-year-old Jewish man wearing a yarmulke, was attacked in February by a gang of young Muslim immigrants in Bobigny, a town in the northeastern suburbs of Paris. When he tried to escape from his assailants, he was killed by a tram.

The police initially reported the incident as a “pedestrian accidentally being run over,” but Cohen’s family obtained a video as evidence of what looks like an unprovoked attack prior to the accident. It prompted law enforcement to reopen the case under accusations of covering up the antisemitic incident for political reasons.

Cohen’s death occurred around the anniversary of the 2017 murder of French Jewish teacher Sarah Halimi, who was beaten to death and thrown from her balcony by a Muslim neighbor. He was not prosecuted because the court ruled he had acted in a cannabis-induced psychotic episode. The decision sparked protests in several countries.

The Jewish community can continue to seek justice for any crime it uncovers, but it is highly doubtful that it will succeed. The French government and many French people are more sympathetic to the Muslim community than to French Jews. This is nothing new. France is a country with deep antisemitic roots, and one should not be impressed by its exquisite culture. As we have seen in the past with Germany, the more developed and enlightened a nation is, the more antisemitic it becomes.

French nationalist leader Marine LePen and Jewish right-wing candidate Éric Zemmour have campaigned on the need to combat violence by Islamic fundamentalists. The message seems to resonate with French voters, which could favor the right.

It may seem an oxymoron, but the rise of the far right, usually associated with anti-Zionist rhetoric, could actually benefit French Jewry. A strong government could better stand up to all those who hate Israel and would more likely put them in their place. This would keep the country calm and serene, which is what every society strives for. The right sees an opportunity to distance itself from the leftist agenda and gain Jewish support both through votes and sponsorship. Throughout history, it has been the case that Jews have had the ability to negotiate with kings, governments and leaders in order to preserve themselves.

The Jews’ struggle for justice is no longer expressed through mass demonstrations as in previous antisemitic cases. They have realized that rallies and shouting slogans are not conducive to ensuring their safety.

In any case, the Jews in France and in all the countries of Europe are weakening. They are not joining together to form a strong body to look after their well-being in each country and throughout the European continent. Their economic and political calculations and arguments gnaw at them and prevent them from uniting. But without cohesion, the Jews have no future. This is an eternal condition.

The Jews should put into practice and enact the deeper meaning of the term that has prevailed for generations: “Jew” (from the Hebrew word “Yehudi”) – “Yechudi” means unique and united. A Jew is one who strives to connect all humanity and all reality with the primary force of nature, the Upper Force. Therefore, only a Jewish community that learns to stick together, to overcome all the differences that grow and separate its members, will feel prejudices and negative attitudes towards it change for the better.
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My new article on Linkedin “China Lockdown: Food Shortages Anger Aplenty”

China is running out of food and people are growing desperate. That’s no small problem when more than 190 million residents in some 23 cities are living under full or partial lockdowns enacted as part of the official “zero Covid” policy following record numbers of cases, particularly in Shanghai, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Shanghai, China’s most populous city with 26 million residents, report thousands of new Covid-19 infections daily, the worst increase since the virus appeared in the central city of Wuhan in 2019. China is one of the last remaining nations still committed to eradicating the pandemic, unlike most of the world, which is trying to live with the virus in its Omicron variant.

Shanghai’s strict lockdown impacts millions of people who are suffering from food shortages, some say they are already starving. Parents are forcibly separated from their children who have tested positive for the disease. As living conditions continue to deteriorate with no end in sight, the anger of the population grows. The normally disciplined and obedient Chinese defy authorities through street protests and warn of the consequences, including potential civil unrest.

Indeed, the food shortage could have a major impact on Chinese society. There is nothing more important than food. It is the basic sustenance of any society, literally. Food is our most important need on the scale of human desires, followed by sex, family, money, honor, and knowledge. Rational thinking does not work on an empty stomach, and what controls the mind is the way to satisfy basic needs at any cost.

As a result of the pandemic, the Chinese are certainly going through great changes. They are a people with a very strong foundation and tradition, so any change they go through could be an example for the rest of the world. But can popular social pressure bring about change in China’s governance? Governance is a problem everywhere in today’s world. Countries that expected full hegemony over others are realizing that it is no longer as easy when large masses are poised to oppose.

Governing would be easier if there were a king who ruled according to family heritage, could lead the people, and the people would accept his mandate as part of an agreed lineage. But that is not the case, so people must understand that nature acts as the supreme king. Humanity must get away from expecting great changes from governments and politicians, the earthly level of governance, and realize that there is a supreme realm, the realm of nature, that controls our lives, the virus and everything in reality.

We will be able to abide by this dominion when we realize that we can solve our supply and health problems when we come to terms with the power of nature. We must achieve a balance with it by recognizing that there is a price we must pay for overpopulation and exploitation of our limited natural resources.

More importantly, we need to understand that we cannot continue to exploit others only for our own personal gain without consequences. In the not-too-distant future, both Western and Eastern cultures will have to discover that what humanity is lacking is a sense of mutual responsibility.
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Medium published my new article “Total Escapism”

I already shared with you that I get emails all the time from people who have questions they cannot resolve. In one email, a physician wrote me the following question: “Lately, I’ve noticed that people are in distress. There is high demand for prescriptions for antidepressants; people feel insecure and uncertain about their lives, and besides drugs, I have nothing to offer them. They’ve tried coachers; they’ve tried trainers, but nothing seems to help. So my question to you Dr Laitman, is what can they cling to in order to move forward?”

I can understand why people feel this way. For thousands of years, people’s lives changed very little. They lived in small towns and villages, had a craft or a plot of land to till, and they knew their surroundings and the people around them. They were close to their families, married within the town or village, so everyone had the same way of life, culture, and tradition. People knew what to expect. Their lives were hard, but they had a sense of direction, a clear set of values, and therefore, peace of mind — the very thing people do not have today.

Today, material life is very easy, but people feel lost because they do not understand the world around them. They no longer live in small villages because the whole world has become a global village. Even farmers cannot till the land without seeds and machinery from other countries, and the price of their crops depends on global commodity markets. In other words, to be a farmer, you need to understand global systems of supply, demand, markets, climate, and fuels. You need an internet connection, contracts with shipment and supply companies, and accountants to understand your own balance sheet. Is it any wonder that people feel lost?

Because they feel this way and cannot find answers, they have no choice but to try to forget. They dream about the moment they can get away from it all. They take up hobbies, play computer games, and exhaust themselves in sports.
They travel, vacation, and meditate. They drink and do drugs, convert and become extremists, and do whatever they can to avoid dealing with their inability to understand the world they live in. In their effort to suppress their disorientation, they turn to total escapism.

Everything that we have built — the entertainment industry, professional and amateur sports, shopping, tourism, art — we have built them in order not to think about our lives.

But we have run out of gas. We have used up our energy — our own and what we can pump out of the ground — and we are running out of ideas for escapism. Soon, there will be only two options left: a war that will annihilate everything, or to learn about the world we live in.

Assuming that we choose the latter, we will have to learn how we all affect each other, how we are connected around the world, and how we are dependent on each other. As a result, we will realize that we must care for one another.

And if, at the moment, we do not, we will acknowledge that it is harmful to others and harmful to us. Only when we accept that the world has changed for good, and we must embrace the changes and welcome the connection with all of humanity, we will be able to reap the benefits of progress and feel comfortable both physically and emotionally.
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Medium published my new article “Depression Comes Earlier”

The Oxford based research center Our World in Data recently published a report showing that in many countries, “People are being diagnosed with depression at an earlier age than in the past.” The report showed that in Denmark, for example, in 1996, the highest share of people diagnosed with depression were around the age of fifty. Twenty years later, in 2016, the highest share of people diagnosed with depression were twenty-four-year-olds. While the research center attributed the earlier diagnosis to growing willingness to “seek treatment for mental health conditions,” other researchers have found different reasons for the earlier age of diagnosis.

Indeed, we are living in special times. In previous times, people were more connected to the land, to the soil. Today, everything is artificial. We are born and live within the walls of the hospital, then the walls of a house, then the walls of a school, then the walls of a business. As a result, we are different from previous generations, and our approach to life is also different.

To prevent depression, we need to make constant investments with the right approach, since people are no longer adapted to natural living. The investment is not a financial one. Rather, we need to build an envelope that will serve as a mediator between the new generation and the reality they live in. This envelope should prepare them for life on every level — personal, social, and environmental. They need to learn how to communicate and connect with one another and with nature. Otherwise, they will be lost, as is already happening.

Previously, people were more outside than they are today. They communicated with other people, and much of their lives involved interaction with others. Today, they do everything online and indoors, and the outdoors and other people are unfamiliar to them. We must familiarize them with the outside world, make them spend less time on their own and on their phones or laptops, and communicate instead with other members of the family, friends, real friends, flesh and blood ones, and with animals.

The technological advancements of the past several decades have enveloped us in gadgets, and disconnected us from people. Even our food is not real food, and we don’t make it; we only heat it in a digital microwave.

We needn’t shun technology; we only need to help people balance their lives. And the key factor in reestablishing balance is constructive, positive, and supportive human connections. If people find that connections with other people satisfy them in ways that technology cannot, they will nurture them.

Today, people mostly feel that their connections with others are competitive, where each one tries to outsmart, outperform, and generally outdo others. This is very tiring, so people naturally turn to a less competitive and abusive environment: the digital one. If people had positive experiences from their relations with others, if they felt that other people approve of them, appreciate, and welcome their company, they would have no reason to retreat into a virtual environment.

Moreover, connections with other people can give them what no technology can: meaning in life. Life becomes meaningful and purposeful only in connection with other people. The reciprocal giving and receiving gives meaning and purpose to everything we do. When we do something for another person, it stays. The act takes on a life of its own, a new meaning, and it affects our lives and the lives of the other people involved in ways we cannot predict. When we do something online, with ourselves, our act is lost in the digital cloud and leaves us feeling empty and meaningless.

Therefore, if we want to cure depression, we must find ways to encourage people to go out, communicate, and connect with other people. It will give them joy, satisfaction, and meaning, and a meaning in life prevents depression.
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Medium published my new article “The Folly of War”

There has been a lot of talk lately about war crimes. The definition of war crimes is very broad, so there are many injustices that fall under the category of war crimes. What used to be customary for past conquerors is now often considered a war crime. To eradicate war crimes, we must abolish war. Since this is currently unrealistic, we should at least spare those who are truly uninvolved, namely children, women, and elderly men. That would be a first step in the right direction.

In ancient times, a victorious king would plunder and take for himself everything his rival king had. It was considered an inalienable right of the triumphant king, and a reward taken for granted.

As humanity’s morals evolved, it determined that such behavior was unacceptable. Since a large part of the population does not make any decisions or take part in the fighting, that part should be excluded from punishment. Particularly, this referred to children, who do not even understand what the war is about, women, who do not participate in the war, and elderly men, who cannot participate in the fighting. All in all, some 70–80 percent of the population should be exempt from punishment or retaliatory actions. This population is also the main focus of the rules that define war crimes, in order to protect those vulnerable and uninvolved populations.

In previous times, wars were largely over territory, since land meant crops, and crops meant provision and wealth. Today, however, territory does not have any role in determining a country’s wealth, so the only incentives left for war are prestige and self-glorification.

While it is understandable that someone would win renown for being a great commander on the battlefield, today’s wars are often fought in cities, in civilian areas, and the majority of casualties are precisely the populations that have nothing to do with the war: children, women, and elderly men. How will a rocket that demolishes an apartment building help the one who fired it win the war?

The self-centered mindset that paying soldiers to fight my wars and blowing my budget on high-tech weapons proves that my ideology is completely irrational. What connection is there between my ideology and killing other people, who may believe something else or believe in nothing at all and want only to live, have children, and lead their lives in peace?

If anything, such a mindset makes my ideology fundamentally flawed. After all, if the result of my ideology is the aspiration to annihilate all other schools of thought and wipe out the people who believe in them, then my ideology is inherently unjust.

The solution to the folly of war will come only when we overthrow our king: our own egoism. We are gradually approaching the realization that egoism is leading humanity to the edge of a cliff. The question is whether we will realize in time that if we let it keep ruling, it will destroy all of us, or wait until we see with our own eyes that there is no limit to what the ego can do. If we wait, the atrocities we have seen so far will be heaven compared to the hell that the ego will bring upon us.
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My new article on Linkedin “If You Can’t Beat Them, Fear Them”

The terror attack at a restaurant in downtown Tel-Aviv last Thursday evening killed three civilians and injured fourteen others. But terror attacks do much more than kill innocent people; they terrorize entire populations. The recent spate of terrorist attacks in Israel inundated emotional support call centers with people suffering from anxiety. The atmosphere is so tense that centers remain flooded with calls even on days when there are no attacks. So far, the terror seems to be winning. But it is not because terrorists are good at what they do; it is because we are not doing what we should.

If we cannot, or will not deal with terror and with terrorists the way such people should be dealt with, we should at least offer emotional help at every turn. Either we fight the terrorists, or we fight the consequences of terror, or both. ‎At the moment, I see us doing neither.

We need to understand that Palestinians have no desire to cohabit with us, let alone live in peace with us. They want us out of here, and they will go to any length to get what they want.

We should not be so naïve as to think that we can live like all other nations. We are not like other nations, and the rest of the nations will painfully remind us every time we forget that.

Our calling, which we have spurned for two thousand years, is to unite among us and set an example of unity above all the differences, divisions, disputes, and hatred. Our calling is not to unite with other nations, but among ourselves. If we forget this and offer them our hand in piece, they bite it to prove to us that we have nothing to expect from them.

Those who disrupt us from uniting among ourselves should be expelled from the country. However, if we try to hit back at those who attack us without working on our unity, we will not be able to repel our attackers. On the contrary, they will grow stronger, more brazen, and more determined, while we will grow weaker and more indecisive until we are driven out of Israel by fear. In fact, this process is already underway in Israel.

There is only one way to resolve the situation positively: to think and act confidently on the military level and on the spiritual level. On the military level, we must kill those who come to kill us, plain and simple. On the spiritual level, we must work with all our might to strengthen our unity. We will earn the world’s approval only when we approve of our being here for the sake of forging an unbreakable union. When we present the world with such a resilient bond between us, the nations will support our presence here, and we will find peace and security, not only for us, but also for all our Arab neighbors.
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My new article on Linkedin “Israel’s Defense Against Terrorism”

Terrorist attacks are not just another headline in the news, it is the shattering of people’s lives cut short, and it is the panic and chaos that rip through an area in their wake. Fear ripples through and takes up residence in the psyche of the people who live through it. For two weeks terrorists have targeted a series of brutal attacks in Israeli cities, and again just last night in a popular nightlife spot in Tel Aviv that claimed the lives of three young men.

Anxiety has overpowered people’s mindsets. Everyone walks down the street with caution, suspicion, alertness, and looks automatically for a place to escape if another terrorist motivated by Islamic fundamentalism strikes again. Every ambulance howl evokes thoughts of despair and concern.

As Israelis, there is no need to pretend like nothing is happening and act as if everything is normal. We all need to take care of ourselves and take care of each other and be vigilant. We also need to open our eyes to what is happening on a more internal level, and open our hearts to what Israel’s sages wrote: “The prime defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship between each other in Israel, no calamity can come over them” (Maor vaShemesh – Light and Sun).

Likewise, The Book of Consciousness writes, “We are commanded at each generation to strengthen the unity among us so our enemies do not rule over us.”

All of Israel is an amalgamation in which everyone is connected to each other, but we do not see it and certainly do not feel it. But the spiritual connection is direct: the connection of our hearts radiates favorably to the whole of society. Therefore, along with the phenomenon of terrorists who need to be uprooted, we must act with all our might to unite and be guarantors of each other.

Only if we can support each other wholeheartedly can we gain a sense of security on our streets. But as long as we prefer to live in our own bubble, caring only about our personal well-being, then this cold snowball of indifference forms between us, it rolls down a slope picking up more layers of coldness and alienation, and wraps each in an icy shroud that keeps us apart, until the next disaster forces us to briefly ward off peril.

Our Torah is all about love. It includes the greatest rule, “love your neighbor as yourself.” We must apply it in moments of peace, not just in times of terrorist attacks, but always because, like our ancient wisdom tells us, awakening to the love between us will awaken a supreme power, and it is He who will protect us from all evil.
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