Michael Laitman, on the Times of Israel: “Together We Will Prevail”
The international support that Israel is receiving in this terrible war, including aircraft carriers from the Americans as deterrence and backup, provides Israelis with a sense of reinforcement and protection. However, we must not forget that no amount of preparation and weapons can replace the connection between us: our primary shield against all threats.

It is our division that fuels, emboldens, and strengthens our enemies. The more divided we are, the more determined our enemies are to destroy us. If we take the initiative and strive to build a cohesive society here in Israel not only at times of national anguish, we will have permanent security and peace, since they depend above all on our unity.

The relationship that exists between us should give us the confidence that we are one people who always remain connected despite our differences. Where the opposite situation exists is where the war begins. When it is clear to our enemy that we are not united enough to defend ourselves, the fences that are supposed to protect us are easily breached.

We must eradicate the enemies who want separation between us: both the external enemies and internal enemies. The external enemies are the terrorists from whom we have the right to protect ourselves, and our internal enemies, which we also need to annihilate, are the negative and harmful thoughts, intentions, and desires which divide us and cause mutual rejection.

Therefore, military measures aside, our first and foremost effort must be to unite our ranks and create an unwavering force between us; otherwise, every other war will be worse and more painful than the previous one. History has provided us with living proof that if we do not connect as one, our existence will have no meaning and we will remain forever as a persecuted people.

Our greatest challenge is to build a solid force field of connection, a sense of unity that will remain in times of peace, and not only as a comfort or as support in times of war. It is vital that we achieve this. Unity is our shield at all times, and the lack thereof brings trouble upon us. It is written in the book Shem MiShmuel, “When Israel’s unity is restored, evil will have no place in which to install error and external forces within them, for when they are as one man with one heart, they are as a fortified wall against the forces of evil.”

The book Maor VaSehemesh echoes these words, saying, “The primary defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship between one another in Israel, no calamity can befall them and by that, all the curses and suffering are banished.” We therefore see that unity is not just a shield we should only erect during times of trouble for the Jewish people; unity is our ultimate weapon for achieving success, prosperity, and safety always.

Before the destruction of the Temple, due to unfounded hatred, our forefathers developed a unique method of connection as the foundation of the people of Israel. Rather than suppressing one’s characteristics or viewpoints, they harnessed individual skills for the collective good, creating a society that upheld personal fulfillment while strengthening the social fabric.

In order for us to unite, we need not suppress or downplay our differences. What is required from us is to rise above all that separates us and to find a common ground. Today, the same simple-yet-effective method of connection that our forefathers perfected and committed to sharing with the nations of the world is imperative for us to implement for the sake of the survival of our society.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Rising Global Antisemitism: A Dark Reality Despite Mainstream Support for Israel“

Despite mainstream global support for Israel following the tragic events of October 7, there has also been inescapable looming antisemitic sentiment, crimes and threats around the world. These include:

Spikes in antisemitic rhetoric in social media, including celebrating the October 7 attack on Israel’s civilians, calls for further aggression against Israel and its supporters, and a surge of antisemitic conspiracy theories starting from the same day as the attack. (Source: ADL)
Four times more antisemitic incidents in the UK since the attack than in the same period the previous year. (Source: BBC)
A variety of antisemitic expressions from naming Jews in the diaspora as dirty/filthy Jews, accusing diaspora Jews of dual loyalty, blaming Jews for killing Jesus and for purposefully targeting Palestinian children in Israel’s attacks, waving Nazi flags, a crowd shouting “Gas the Jews” at a pro-Palestinian protest in Sydney, a break-and-enter at a kosher restaurant in London with “Free Palestine” spray-painted on the cash register, and vans painted with “Holocaust never happened” and “Hitler was right” in Florida. Jewish students at US campuses reported verbal assaults, and three Salt Lake City synagogues were forced to evacuate due to a bomb threat during pro-Palestinian rallies following the war’s outbreak. (Source: AJC)
The Day of Rage declared by Hamas’ former leader on Friday, 13 October involved more than twenty countries holding pro-Palestinian protests, and made emotions run high. In New York City alone, some people, like Marc Schiller, who attended a synagogue in Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Friday, sought solace and strength in his Jewish identity, drawing inspiration from feeling a need to stand in solidarity with Israel. Others, however, became extra cautious. For instance, some Israeli musicians opted to cancel their participation in a Friday service in Manhattan, citing concerns about being part of large Jewish gatherings. Also, beyond the Jewish community, many people in general chose to stay home in order to avoid public areas. The responses within the Jewish community, however, show stark contrasts that highlight the complex interplay of pride, fear, anger, trauma and solidarity within the Jewish diaspora at a time when Israelis themselves also deal with a swell of emotions as they deal with the aftermath of the tragic events on October 7 and head into war.

Many wonder why Jews in the diaspora often face animosity for situations taking place in Israel, especially when many Jews around the world do not identify with or support Israel. The answer is that a lot of people have a problem with Jews, period. This can lead to hostility not just against Israel but also against Jewish people as a whole.

If there had been any doubt that Hamas was solely against the existence of the State of Israel prior to October 7, the terror attacks of that day clearly and painfully displayed the organization’s genocidal antisemitic intent. Even US President Joe Biden made well known to the public in his remarks following the attack that Hamas is “a group whose stated purpose for being is to kill Jews.” But it is not just Hamas that has tried to shadow its Jew-hating sentiment under an anti-Israel and anti-Zionist disguise.

Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) stated that Jews are “hated by all the nations, whether for religious, racial, capitalist, communist or for cosmopolitan reasons, etc. It is so because the hatred precedes all reasons, but each merely resolves its loathing according to its own psychology.” That is, hatred of Jews is deeply rooted in the fabric of human nature, and it transcends individual psychological explanations and sociological analyses.

In today’s globally interconnected and interdependent world, where the pains or the joys in one place can spread to the other side of the world in an instant, in order to maintain equilibrium and stability, Jews from all backgrounds must foster unity above their differences. The Jews’ unifying influence would then radiate positively through today’s complex web of globally-established connections.

In his article, “The Arvut [Mutual Guarantee],” Baal HaSulam expressed that the Jewish people were “constructed as a sort of gateway by which the sparks of purity would shine upon the entire human race the world over… until they develop to such an extent that they acknowledge the pleasantness and tranquility that are found in the kernel of love of others.”

When this unifying influence is absent, the world falls prey to the grip of human egoism, fueling hatred and division. And the more people feel problems and crises entering their lives, the more they feel instinctively that Jews are to blame.

While many in the world today identify antisemitism as a growing problem, the effort to combat the phenomenon, whether through education, diplomacy, advocacy, awareness campaigns or dialogues, only address the surface symptoms and fail to approach the issue at its core.

Education is indeed necessary, but it should aim at raising awareness of the natural system we all live in and share. This system develops its every level—and most significantly humanity—to higher levels of unification. It was this ability to unite above divisions that established the Jewish people in their very beginnings (the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2]).

If the Jewish people activate a unifying spirit among one another, they act as a conduit for such unity to spread worldwide. When people feel the positive effects of a unifying spirit entering their lives, the negative antisemitic sentiment will invert to a positive feeling that Jews serve to bring harmony and peace to the world. It is as Rav Abraham Kook once wrote, “In Israel lies the secret for the unity of the world.”
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Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Image: “2023.10.08 Pro-Terrorism Rally, Washington, DC USA 281 20109” by Ted Eytan.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “A Plea from a Broken Heart“

The heart of the people of Israel still aches from the tragic events of October 7, 2023. It is a pain felt deep within, permeating the very air they breathe. As the Kabbalist Menachem Mendel of Kotzk once proclaimed, “No one is complete when their heart is in pieces.” A broken heart is highly sensitive to its own fractures. It yearns fervently for restoration, to become whole once again.

A broken heart is like an open book, vulnerable and exposed. It notices even the faintest impurities that pass through it and can regret those moments when it lets those impurities pass by.

The stark divisiveness of the people of Israel throughout the year, expressed in the constant protests and demonstrations, all shattered with the tragedies on October 7. Today, brokenhearted, they can naturally implore for healing.

The plea is simple: may no unkind thoughts traverse our hearts, may no folly enter, and may we shed no disdain or arrogance in our interactions.

By doing so, we draw closer to balance with the fundamental laws of nature—laws of love, bestowal and connection—for if we do not wish to align our unity with the total unity that exists in nature itself, then we have a rickety basis for our unity.

How can we align our unity with nature’s unity? It is by regularly developing our very plea to mend our fractured hearts to unite as one.

In our wounded state lies an immense opportunity: to ask for healing, to pray for the unity of all, so that we could stand as a single harmonious entity—a nation bound together “as one man with one heart.”

It is my hope that this plea from a broken heart will accompany us moving forward, and that with its help, a positive sense of unity will take shape not only in our nation, but the world over.
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Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on October 12, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Image: “Broken Heart” by Suzanne Schroeter on Flickr.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Unifying Israel: A Call to Action for a Better Future”
The world has again turned its attention toward the tiny Jewish state. Celebrities, journalists and world leaders are among a legion of people expressing their sympathy and standing by Israel’s side. Iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower in Paris are bathed in the colors of the Israeli flag.

History, however, clearly shows that support for Israel can fade in an instant.

The people of Israel are meant to shine, to be “a light unto the nations,” and set an example for other nations. It is not by chance that it is a nation renowned for its innovativeness. The pioneering spirit of the Jewish people is due to a deeper potential that they possess, the ability to create a model society where unity prevails over intense division.

Such a unified spirit formed the people of Israel to begin with, i.e., people from all walks of life in ancient Babylon who applied Abraham’s method and attained a higher unified level of consciousness—namely “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

A faint glimmer of unity now seems to surface after heavy blows. But if slander and divisive pride return, the people of Israel risk losing the world’s admiration.

In my book, The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, I showed a historically-recurring pattern of attitudes among the Jewish people, and toward them from other nations: When the people of Israel let divisions drive them apart, they invite tragedies upon themselves; and when they unite, they prosper.

A Hamas member who participated in the terror attacks on October 7 revealed how the ongoing demonstrations in Israel encouraged Hamas during their year-long preparations for the attack. The intensely divisive atmosphere among the people of Israel throughout 2023 ended up exploding into what has already become widely known as the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust.

Then, after the tragic events on October 7, the people of Israel experienced a collective heartbreak and melting, and they regrouped in a new climate of mutual concern and support.

We need to view today’s unfolding of events as another painful reminder that division does the people of Israel no good. It is not what the world wants from them, and it emboldens those who seek to harm them.

Subconsciously, the world wants a united people of Israel. As Rav Abraham Isaac Kook wrote, when the hearts of the people of Israel unite, “all the world’s civilizations will be renewed through the renewal of our spirit, all opinions will align, all life will glisten with the joy of rebirth at our emergence, all beliefs will don new clothes” (Shmoneh Kvatzim, vol. 5, 64). Abraham’s blessing to all nations will manifest strongly and openly, spearheaded by the efforts of the people of Israel. As long as the people of Israel continually add to their unity above any kinds of divisions that surface among them herein, then it is certain that the world’s support for them will also continually rise.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Significance of Israel’s Unity Today and Throughout History”
Following one of the most tragic attacks on the people of Israel, who is no stranger to hostilities, today millions of Israelis are showering their soldiers with supplies, gifts and support. People from all walks of life give of themselves, not asking who will receive their help. At times of crisis, personal beliefs and goals are replaced by an outpouring of kindness and the spirit of unity that brings people together.

The people of Israel now feel a wave of that unifying spirit. Their hearts expand to help and encourage each other. They share a mutual anger about the cruelty they just bore. Stories and scenes of heroism inspire, while those of bloodshed and anguish sadden. This swell of emotions has melted the icy barriers dividing them before the tragic events on October 7, 2023, and they are now opening their hearts to each other.

While a unified spirit awakens in the people of Israel, it is important to plan for the future, using common sense and learning from history. Why? It is because if animosity again becomes routine, it will freeze over today’s warmth.

The present and future of this nation depends on today’s promises. First, we need to gain a better understanding of the central role of unity in our lives. Unity should not only be from the heart but also from a place of wisdom. Otherwise, if in the next moment resentment, anger or guilt surface in our hearts, our unity shatters.

We see such an example in the very founding of the people of Israel around 4,000 years ago. It was a period marked by self-aimed desires in humanity growing and driving people apart. Everyone saw others as threats to their own wishes.

But Abraham stopped and asked why.

He deeply observed the world and how our desires operate on us in a constant self-serving direction, and discovered a single sublime force dwelling in nature behind and beyond our fragmented selfish desires. Using this force, he worked out how to direct our desires in a completely opposite direction—giving. He found that reaching an optimal harmonious life requires striving to emulate and to acquire a giving intention above inborn self-aimed desires, even though it goes against natural human instincts.

Those who felt affinity for Abraham’s teaching joined him. These were people from all around ancient Babylon who formed a society based on the idea of exercising and attaining the ability to give, love and positively connect above their innate divisive drives. Accordingly, they discovered the most fundamental law of nature that exists when people connect in mutual giving to each other. That law became known as “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In other words, we are born as self-centered beings who aim to benefit ourselves at every moment, and we have the ability to reach the opposite: to love and care for others as we do to ourselves. By doing so, we enter into balance with nature’s most fundamental law—the key to a complete sense of peace, harmony and happiness.

Under Moses’ leadership, this society became a nation at Mount Sinai. They made a lifelong pact of mutual support—a pact that continues to rescue and strengthen the people of Israel in times of need, just like today.

Since that time, we have faced many challenges. We have gone from strong unity to deep discord, and back again. But every time, the pact—the promise to stand together—lifted us up. There was a time during the Second Temple when our disagreements were so fierce that we broke apart. The pact shattered and has never been the same, and leading up to the tragic events on October 7, there were again high tensions among the people of Israel.

Moving forward, our hopes rest on uniting above division. I hope that we become aware of our need to unite, and also that it is beyond our own nature to unite, but that we need to awaken the ability to unite from the more fundamental and all-encompassing nature above our own. If our unity is detached from the unifying force in nature, then we would be just a group of people with a few manners and morals, trying to hide our brewing divisiveness within. Unfortunately, we see how the latter approach continually explodes in our faces.

I thus hope that the unifying spirit now filling the people of Israel will stay with us, and that we will not let the next dissenting upshot in our thoughts sweep it aside. Instead, I hope we make a promise to stay united—adding the wisdom of unity to our emotions of unity—and request the strength for such unity to flourish and spread not just among the people of Israel, but among humanity.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What should Israel do next in light of their declaration of war?“

First, we should reflect deeply upon the painful divide that has festered among us, causing the devastating toll of hundreds of lives lost and thousands wounded. We need to yearn for a major change and wholeheartedly unite as one. Only the bonds of unity can shield us from future tragedy and elevate our nation from the abyss of despair.

We cannot afford to nurse bitterness or delay action, waiting for the war’s end to ponder our fractured state. Now is the time for introspection. We need to pinpoint the reasons behind our present circumstances and act accordingly.

Our quest for understanding needs to extend to our lives’ very source: the upper force of love, bestowal and connection that acts on us beyond our current level of awareness, which perceives through an egoistic and divisive lens. It is no matter of religion, but a realization that reality’s governing force is singular, and we accordingly need to stand united before it as one.

Precisely in our trying times, we are in need for an expansion of consciousness to let the upper force of love and bestowal into our lives. We need to raise the pain and anguish that erupts in so many people in such times to the upper force, and wish for it to mend our torn relations, and draw us closer together. We must seek to hold each other close to our hearts, not solely in times of war, but as an enduring duty.

We are a nation established not on a biological foundation, but on a spiritual-ideological one: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” That is, we were people from all around ancient Babylon who felt a problem with living our lives solely according to competitive-materialistic ideals and sought for a higher truth to our existence, which we revealed as a higher force of love, bestowal and connection that united us above our divisive drives. That is why we cannot remain divided without suffering from our separation.

Our mission to unite above our divisions is constant, because divisive egoistic desires constantly surface within us, driving us apart. Therefore, much like a diligent student who finds new homework awaiting them each day, we should not accumulate any more overdue assignments that end up exploding in our faces, pressuring us into critical situations such as the one we now find before us. Instead, we should hurry up and correct our hearts to favor unity “as one man with one heart” above our divisions.
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Based on the afternoon lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on October 9, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “1,000s of People Open Their Hearts into One Giant Heart”
We are currently in the midst of our World Kabbalah Convention taking place with over 2,000 participants from over 30 countries in Petah Tikva, Israel, and with thousands more virtual participants all over the world.

The theme of the convention is opening our hearts. How can we open our hearts as wide as possible to everyone? To open our hearts as wide as possible to everyone, we must recognize that such a gathering as this one takes place within each of our hearts.

At the convention, we focus on directing ourselves to unite our hearts into one, and by doing so come closer to the Creator, the upper force of love and bestowal that reveals itself where our hearts unite. If our goal is to reveal the Creator, then that is the way to do it.

Therefore, those who seek to discover and attain the Creator have no alternative. Humanity, in the end, must traverse a path marked by suffering, challenges, thoughts and desires until we reach a state where the barriers within our hearts dissolve, and we unite as one heart. That is the ultimate objective.

Consequently, humanity progresses from year to year and from day to day, encountering a variety of challenges until it realizes that the only way forward is to combat the egoistic nature that constantly seeks to separate us from each other. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we learn how the Creator maintains such a state of separation between people in order to give room for our efforts to bridge the divide, and by doing so, we can amplify our connection to the Creator and experience His presence much more profoundly.

Therefore, initially, we observe that each person is primarily focused on their egoistic desires, and there is no choice but to strive for closeness and connection among each other, uniting in a common desire. This is what we refer to as “one heart,” the goal that Kabbalist Baruch Ashlag (the Rabash) wrote to us about.

I remember that after a few years studying with Rabash, I conducted Kabbalah introductory lectures in various locations in Tel Aviv, and several new students came as a result. I invited these students to a gathering, toward which, on one of my daily walks in the park with Rabash, I had asked him, “What should we discuss with them?”

He asked for some aluminum foil from a cigarette pack I had. I gave it to him.

He then proceeded to write his very first article titled “Purpose of Society – 1” with the words: “We have gathered here to establish a society for all who wish to follow the path and method of Baal HaSulam, the way by which to climb the degrees of man and not remain as a beast…”

It has been nearly 40 years since that day, but there is no change to the topic. Although many have heard of it, the process and method of correction remain the same as elucidated by ancient Kabbalists even thousands of years ago.

Thousands of people right now are making special efforts to come together as one, to connect their individual hearts into one collective heart. That heart is made up of many different parts, and their connection creates a vessel for the revelation of the Creator, which is one for everyone. In other words, all we need in order to reveal the Creator is for everyone to open their hearts to everyone, that everyone has a place in each one’s heart, then by doing so, we open our collective heart. That is what this convention is all about.
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Based on Lesson 1 from the World Kabbalah Convention on September 30, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the Sefirot?“

The word “Sefirot” comes from the word “Sapir,” which means “glow” or “illumination.”

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that there is a spiritual force of love and bestowal, which it calls “light,” and when we adapt ourselves to this force, we let it enter our desires and it shines in them. We then call the desires in which the spiritual light illuminates, “Sefirot.”

The process of spiritual attainment is one of rising above our inborn corporeal desires with a spiritual intention to love and to bestow. The more we do so, the more we reveal the Sefirot.

We discover these Sefirot in the place of what are called the spiritual worlds (Olamot), from the word for concealment (He’elem). That is, the more we rise in spiritual degrees, the more we reveal the illuminations of the Sefirot and the concealments upon our perception and senses disappear.

Based on KabTV’s “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on August 27, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What should I look for when I look at nature?“

You should look for how smart, perfect and eternal it is.

Nature is good. Where there are no people, there is goodness.

The human is the only creature that harms others and himself. Nature without the person does not do so.

Why does man possess this evil quality? It is in order to acknowledge that we are evil, that we must change in a direction toward goodness, and to bring ourselves to goodness through self-recognition.

If we will know how to correctly participate in nature, then indeed, by the laws of nature, and not by artificial laws of our own, we will be able to live harmonious and peaceful lives.

We need to learn from nature how to behave, how to cause no harm to anyone, how to support and help everyone, and to see everyone as beautiful, good and drawn to a perfectly-connected state of love.

Based on the video “This Is What to Look for in Nature” with Kabbalst Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/eited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is nature so beautiful and people are the opposite?“

A recent study published in the journal, Science Advances, discussed findings that living near plants for long enough can extend people’s life spans by 2.5 years.

Indeed, we are parts of nature that consist of the still, vegetative, animate and human levels, and their interconnection leads us to bear witness to such phenomena.

The question is whether people can soothe and calm other people’s lives similarly to how plants can do so?

We can, and even more so. Whether we feel people around us as aggravating or as calming depends on the extent to which we view them as important and close. We thus need to urge ourselves to change such that other people feel closer and closer to us.

And on this point, we indeed encounter the question: Why does nature seem so beautiful while people seem the opposite? It is because our ego, the desire to enjoy at the expense of others, rejects the egoistic nature of other people. We like plants, for instance, because they generally bring us no harm. People around us, on the other hand, can drive us crazy.

We should thus switch our attitude to other people in a way where we check ourselves in relation to them: “How will I appear in their eyes?” Why? It is in order to become a positive example to them. Then, perhaps as a result, they will also change by the example that we show them.

If we come to see nature as a force that constantly directs everything and everyone toward goodness, harmony and peace, then we can perceive beauty in nature on all of its levels—still, vegetative, animate, and especially the human level. It is because we then see the need to align ourselves with nature’s positive force, and our own aim in that direction, particularly at the level of human connections, leads us to seeing the beauty in people as well as in nature.

Based on the video “Why Nature Seems So Beautiful and People Don’t” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi.Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Robert Lukeman on Unsplash.

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