My new article on Linkedin “What Really Can Solve Our Problems”

Siberian forests, of all places, are being consumed by fire; Germany, Belgium, the UK, and several other European countries, are drowning in floods in midsummer; British Columbia and Northwestern United States are still reeling from what is called a “heat dome” that covered them just over a week ago and sent temperatures past 120°F (49°C), melted roads, and claimed hundreds of lives. These, along with countless other “routine” problems that seem to pile up higher with each day, exacerbate the sense that the world is going out of control. Before we solve one problem, two new ones appear, and always at record breaking severity. Is there really nothing we can do?

In fact, there is a lot we can do, but it takes great commitment from all of us. There are two levels to deal with the crises: the particular level and the overall level. The particular level means dealing with crises one at a time. Here, the main thing we need to develop is cooperation. For now, each country is dealing with its crises on its own. In a globally connected world, this is a pathetic approach. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that an infection anywhere is an infection everywhere. But since each country (with a few rare exceptions) worries only about vaccinating its own people, countries that cannot deal with the issue effectively become hotbeds for new strains, which then spread into already vaccinated countries, rendering the vaccines far less effective.

The overall level derives from the particular level. In order to cooperate, we need to have some sense of solidarity, or at least a realization that we are dependent on each other. Indeed, we are dependent on each other for even the most basic things, such as food and water, clothing, health care, housing, and education. Our economies are completely intertwined, but somehow we want to destroy each other as if our own country will not be destroyed as a result, as well.

When a common danger threatens them, such as a flood or a forest fire, animals stop hunting one another. Humans, the apex of creation, are somehow devoid of this common sense. Instead of fleeing together, we try to exploit even the common tribulation to hurt others. We don’t even care that in doing so, we are cutting the branch we are sitting on, as long as we are the last to fall.

This sort of egoism is our core problem. To solve it, we must unite against it. Not against each other, but against ourselves, against our own egoistic nature. If we all commit to creating a positive social environment, everything will change.

Since we will stop exploiting one another, we will have no need to deplete Earth’s resources, and the negative trend of climate change will turn around. As the crises calm, we will be able to direct more resources toward helping the less fortunate among us, and all of humanity will benefit from the new attitude.

This is not a task for governments. Governors are those who excel in the traits that society values. In an egoistic society, therefore, the governors are the most egoistic people. As a result, they cannot lead a transition toward a non-egoistic mindset. It would be foolish to expect them to. This is why this task is on all of us. We must support each other in cultivating mutual responsibility and caring. If we are bold enough to do this, we will transform our world beyond our wildest dreams. If we do not, then as one newspaper title I read said, “The hottest summer you have ever experienced is the coolest summer of the rest of your life,” if not far worse than that.
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My new article on Linkedin “Meet the Press – David Rosenthal – Session 2”

Highlights from an interview with op-ed columnist and radio talk show host Prof. David Rosenthal

Below is the second collection of highlights from an interview recorded on July 12, 2021, where columnist and radio talk show host Prof. David Rosenthal asked kabbalist, scientist, and global thinker Dr. Michael Laitman about Kabbalah, current affairs, and his predictions for the future.

* Elaborated bios at the bottom of the page.

DR: Dr. Laitman, will there be a time when the wisdom of Kabbalah, The Book of Zohar, and all the other books are recognized and all of humanity studies them?

ML: I really hope so. We have published them in many languages and in every way we can. We have thousands of students in every continent, with free access to all the materials. Our sources predate even The Book of Zohar, and continue from The Book of Zohar through all the writings of the kabbalists throughout the generations.

DR: What advice would you give to the world, to humanity, and to the people of Israel in these days of uncertainty?

ML: Only that they should understand that we are within nature’s system, which requires that we become more connected positively until we truly become one mechanism, positively communicating among all of us. We have a lot of material about this on our site, for beginners and veterans, and it’s all available at no cost.

DR: I see, and what does the Jewish people need? Is it more prayers, more studying of Torah, or other activities to increase balance in the spiritual world?

ML: The only thing that the Jewish people needs is to understand that only through connection within the Jewish people can they become a good example for all of humanity, and this is the meaning of being “a light unto nations.”

DR: So what will be the position of Kabbalah in the future?

ML: I think that Kabbalah needs to be the basis of education, meaning that the world needs to shift to a state of “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and the wisdom of Kabbalah will explain about the system that we live in. We can become independent of our bodies. We can rise above it and begin to feel all of humanity and all of reality. We can attain this through the wisdom of Kabbalah, and we’re inviting everyone to come and learn it, as it is written, “My house shall be called ‘a house of prayer’ to all the nations.”

DR: Thank you. Do you think it’s important for Jews to return to Israel?

ML: The wisdom of Kabbalah does not attribute special significance to making Aliya [lit. “ascent,” but it means “immigrating to Israel”]. What is important is that people make a spiritual Aliya [spiritual ascent]. They may live in the State of Israel, but that doesn’t mean that they are truly in the land of Israel. The word Eretz [land] comes from the word Ratzon [desire], and Israel comes from the words Yashar-El [straight to the Creator]. So a person who has a desire straight to the Creator, to the quality of love and giving, is regarded as being in the “land of Israel.” But you can be in this state anywhere in the world.

I don’t think that people living in the current State of Israel are more spiritual than those living in Latin America; there is absolutely no connection between the two. Therefore, if we are speaking of the future of the world, the future of the world is that everyone will awaken to connection, and through connection become one world, one higher force, as it is written, “And they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.” Therefore, one’s place of residence is irrelevant.

DR: On another topic, it seems as though the world is losing control over the environment, the climate, and even over governments and people as a whole. What’s going to happen?

ML: Climate is indeed one of the blows we are feeling, and will feel more and more. We need to wake up and start thinking about our future.

Through the climate, the pandemic, and other natural forces and natural disasters, nature will awaken us as it did before the exodus from Egypt. In those days, it was hail, locust, and other plagues. We, too, will feel plagues; I’m certain that there will be more natural blows that will eventually pressure us to the point where we will have to seriously contemplate why this is happening to us.

DR: Will there be more fatalities in the world and in Israel than we’ve already had?

ML: Many more fatalities the world over. I hope we can correct these states, but this is possible only through connection among the hearts of the children of Israel all over the world. If we don’t do this, these blows will bring upon us antisemitism from every direction so we don’t have a choice but to do it.

DR: In light of the hatred and egoism in the world, what is the main problem that the world needs to correct today, and what is the best way to do it?

ML: There aren’t many problems in the world. Our only problem is our ego. Human nature is egoistic, as it is written, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth.” We can correct it only by learning what is this ego and how we can correct it by connecting among us. When we work toward it, we will make the upper force correct our ego. I hope we come to this very soon.

DR: Thank you. What advice would you give to the world, to humanity, and to the people of Israel in these days of uncertainty?

ML: Only that they should understand that we are within nature’s system, which requires that we become more connected positively until we truly become one mechanism, positively communicating among all of us. We have a lot of material about this on our site, for beginners and veterans, and it’s all available at no cost.

DR: I see, and what does the Jewish people need? Is it more prayers, more studying of Torah, or other activities to increase balance in the spiritual world?

ML: The only thing that the Jewish people needs is to understand that only through connection within the Jewish people can they become a good example for all of humanity, and this is the meaning of being “a light unto nations.”
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* Elaborated Bios:

David A. Rosenthal

Political scientist, analyst, researcher, journalist, and columnist in various national and international media outlets.

Host of “Sepharad’s Footsteps in the New World,” a radio show on Radio Sepharad about Sephardic heritage in America.

Michael Laitman

Michael Laitman is a global thinker living in Israel. Laitman has a PhD in Philosophy and Kabbalah and an MS in Medical Bio-Cybernetics. He is a prolific writer who has published over 40 books, which have been translated into dozens of languages. He is a sought-after speaker and has written for or been interviewed by The New York Times, The Jerusalem Post, Huffington Post, Corriere della Sera, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Newsmax, The Globe, RAI TV, and Bloomberg TV, FOX Radio, among others. Dr. Laitman teaches live daily lessons to an audience of some two million people worldwide, simultaneously interpreted into English, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, Russian, French, Turkish, German, Hungarian, Farsi, Ukrainian, Chinese, Japanese, and more than 20 other languages. For more info, visit www.michaellaitman.com.

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My new article on Linkedin “Humanity’s Next Level of Development”

A strong burst of accelerated human development pulsates through the world over a certain period of time. Such a pulse occurred in the Middle Ages and culminated in the era of the Industrial Revolution touching off breakthroughs in all areas—in science and technology, in culture and education, in society and philosophy. Unusual leaps in spiritual development also occur in the same manner.

Accelerated development is the result of a force that underlies society and all creation: the force of desire. Human desire constantly expands and, as a result of it, there is an endless quest for new ways to fulfill our intensifying yearning. The power of desire acts in individuals and in society in general in the form of self-centeredness, that is, in an egoistic, selfish intention for our own pleasure, including those achieved at the expense of the good of others.

But all the developments of the world point in one direction: to prepare mankind for a spiritual connection of perfect reciprocity, both between human beings, and between all the elements of nature and the supreme power. So even when we ostensibly develop selfish human systems, we inadvertently prepare the infrastructure for beautiful and corrected future connections.

Take the development of the internet as an example. Social media has become a hotbed of vitriolic discourse between people, with hatred often on open display which is completely the opposite to creating good interconnection. However, the current set up could serve as a perfect preparation for social media to carry positive messages of harmonious human connection.

Today the impetus towards more communication between all the inhabitants of the world is evident through two main epicenters: Covid-19 and immigration. The Covid plague is drawing us closer together through unmistakable and inextricable global ties around the world. The disease appears in one place and it immediately spreads everywhere with incredible speed.

Mass migration is another phenomenon that can no longer be stopped. Although prime ministers resist because the situation is spinning out of control, humanity has already permeated beyond the political boundaries formerly set. Immigrants have discovered that their opportunities are improved in more permissive and tolerant environments, and this has fostered the incentive for massive migratory movements. The phenomenon will intensify until we see representatives from different peoples in every country, societies worldwide will become increasingly diverse and complex at the same time.

In fact, we see that human interventions in society such as the one that we have just described, impact us like a head-on collision: countries are destroyed, cultures collapse, violence increases. So, the puzzling question emerges: How can difficult and complex processes lead to ideal connections?

The processes themselves are neither beautiful nor pleasant, but the beauty of them is that they lead to truth, to the opening of eyes, to the recognition of what exactly is broken and needs to be fixed. On one hand, this means that our total interdependence is exposed, and on the other hand, the revelation of this interdependence only comes about through negative events. Thus, one fact will gradually settle for us: our interdependence is inescapable and the negative connections between us are the only source of all trouble in the world, they are the only thing we must correct.

What next? Mankind will have to realize the full potential of its force of desire, to use all its resources to strengthen the bonds between us until we transcend the material sphere to an internal unity through which the thought of nature and the good and benevolent force behind it will be revealed.
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My new article on Linkedin “Why the Creator Hides the Truth”

The wisdom of Kabbalah describes the Creator as a force, or a quality of absolute benevolence, a quality of giving. Naturally, a quality of absolute giving wants to give absolutely everything. Also naturally, absolute giving means giving everything, including even the nature of the Creator, namely the quality of giving.

But to give, you need a receiver. Therefore, the quality of giving created an absolute receiver, the created being, which wants to receive everything, and therefore wants to be like the Creator, namely a giver. If there seems to be a catch here, you’re right, there is: We want to receive so much, that in the end, it makes us want to be givers.

When we look at our world, we don’t see that the quality of giving is governing the world, and we don’t see that the created beings, namely us, are absolute receivers, that we cannot do anything unless it is ultimately for our own benefit. There’s a good reason for this: If we saw who we are, that egoism is destroying everything in our world, we would immediately want to become givers, too. It would be the obvious and, in fact, only conclusion to be drawn.

However, in doing so, we would not be choosing to be givers, we would be impelled to do so by seeing the damage from our egoism. We would have no free choice, and we would actually be giving for our own sake, again. In the end, we would be devoid of free choice, and unable to acquire the true quality of giving. This is why the Creator, the quality of giving, hides from us the truth about our nature and its oppositeness from the nature of the Creator of the world. It does this for our own good: to give us free choice.

Yet, if we develop kindness, by building a society that commends unity and togetherness, we will gradually learn about our nature and the nature of the Creator. This will enable us to compare and make a free choice to be givers rather than receivers. The more we work on it, the more we will improve our society and therefore our lives.

Currently, we see that the world is deteriorating into anarchy. We cannot see why since the truth is hidden from us, but this is happening because of our egoism, which spoils everything we try to build. Because of this concealment, we see the problems that the ego is causing as separate incidents, since we cannot see the common cause beneath them.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches about this common cause, and the common solution of becoming givers. In order not to deny us our free choice, Kabbalah books were hidden for centuries. Even after they were revealed, they were found in odd and uncanny ways. For example, The Book of Zohar, the seminal book of Kabbalah, was discovered when a man bought fish in the market and discovered that the pieces of papyrus paper that wrapped them contained an unknown text. Another example is the ARI, the great 16th century kabbalist, whose teaching is the basis for contemporary Kabbalah. He did not write a word, but rather his disciple, Chaim Vital, and his writings were divided among several of his heirs after his demise. Later, these writings were dug out of the graves of the heirs and were compiled into books, which were naturally quite disorganized.

Today, problems are piling up around the world at such a rate that will soon make us look for a common cause. But today, our egoism is so potent that it is no longer needed to hide the truth. Therefore, the sooner we start working on becoming givers, the sooner we will change ourselves and the world around us, and reverse the world’s slide toward utter chaos.
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Michael Laitman, On Linkedin: “Meet the Press – David Rosenthal – Session 1“

Highlights from an interview with op-ed columnist and radio talk show host Prof. David Rosenthal

Below is the first collection of highlights from an interview recorded on July 12, 2021, where columnist and radio talk show host Prof. David Rosenthal asked kabbalist, scientist, and global thinker Dr. Michael Laitman about Kabbalah, current affairs, and his predictions for the future.

* Elaborated bios at the bottom of the page.

DR: It is a great pleasure to be able to interview you, Dr. Laitman, thank you very much for your consent. I would like to begin with a question regarding the Torah [Old Testament]. How can we summarize the content of the Torah, as Rabbi Akiva said, “Love your neighbor as yourself, this is a great rule in the Torah,” or as Hillel said, “That which you hate, do not do unto your neighbor, and the rest is commentary, go study”?

ML: This is precisely the essence of the Torah. The purpose of the Torah is to bring every single person into a bond with all the people so that all of us, regardless of sex, religion, or nationality, will unite in our hearts in such a way that there will be no difference between people. This is the purpose of our being in this world. Through the wisdom of Kabbalah, we try to approach this goal. The wisdom of Kabbalah also teaches that we are nearing a time when this should happen, so let us hope we will achieve it.

DR: In that case, I would like to ask why this generation has to deal with the pandemic, why did it deserve it?

ML: In the wisdom of Kabbalah, this generation is called “the generation of the end of correction.” Basically, we need to complete all the corrections that humanity went through so far, and in this generation, each and every person should implement it and shift from receiving to giving, from hate to love.

In order to accelerate this development, all kinds of troubles come to us in order to wake us up, and push us toward correction, so we will ask why these troubles are coming. One of these troubles is the current pandemic.

We’re paying great attention to technological development, politics, and other things, but we’re ignoring human development, and we are still unwilling to recognize each other. This is our main problem, and this is why this pandemic has come. It surrounds us on all sides; it is an integral woe, common to all of us, so if we don’t want to understand that we all belong to one humanity, such blows will make us feel this more and more each time until we are forced to establish more humane relationships, at least.

DR: In what way should humanity focus on human development?

ML: By learning that we are in a system that requires of us to become closer to each other and establish good relationships despite the negative, egoistic forces in each of us. We must learn to be considerate. It is not about being nice to one another, but about bringing ourselves to congruence with the surrounding nature, which is completely integral. Therefore, our relations must also be integral. Basically, the Torah, and all of Judaism, speak only about this: achieving the state of “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

DR: So what do you think will happen because of the pandemic?

ML: I said a year and a half ago, when the pandemic only started, that it won’t end and we will suffer blow after blow, with breaks in between, that the purpose of these blows is to wear us down so we stop frantically chasing technological developments as we have been doing for the past several decades. We need to understand, as a result of the blows, that the problem is in the connection between us, and begin to pay more attention and efforts to it.

DR: What are the main challenges facing humanity today?

ML: The blows we are suffering, and the ones we will suffer, should make us see that if we don’t understand it by ourselves, nature teaches us that we must abstain from the race for technological, industrial, and financial dominance, and instead, we should pay attention to our human development, to the education we need to give—not only to children, but to entire nations, to all of humanity.

Our current international relations are so horrible that I see it as a threat. I think that as a result of the blows, we will begin to understand that we have no choice but to start nurturing the human part of us. Nature will no longer let us go in directions that contradict unity. It will force us to unite, if not voluntarily then through a path of suffering. Because of it, the blows we’re suffering now are actually a cure. They may not be sweet, but they heal.

DR: Do you think we could end up with another world war?

ML: Perhaps. It is written in several places in the wisdom of Kabbalah that a third, and even a fourth world war are possible, and even a nuclear war. Either way, it is all in order to shake up humanity and show us that there is no alternative to internal development, to correct the evil in humankind.

DR: There is a rise in antisemitism in many places in the world. How will it end and how can we avoid it?

ML: We cannot fight against antisemitism because we ourselves are stirring it up. The people of Israel was established in ancient Babylon by Abraham the Patriarch [Our Father]. We were a collection of many nations that lived in Babylon, and Abraham assembled whomever wanted to join him and turned them into a group. He called that group Ysrael [Israel], from the Hebrew words Yashar-El [Straight to God], meaning straight to the Creator. The members of that group were drawn to reveal the Creator. Abraham took them to the Land of Canaan, today’s Israel, and this is called the “people of Israel.” In other words, [Israel] is not a nation; it is not counted among the seventy nations, it is a collection from all the nations who joined together in order to attain the upper force. Today’s Jews are the progeny of that group.

The rest of the nations, which remained in Babylon, later dispersed throughout the world. Nature’s forces operate in them and make them understand that their good future depends on the connection among everyone, which in turn depends on that group called the “people of Israel,” since if they unite and achieve correction, all the nations will benefit. But if they don’t unite and don’t achieve the correction of the world, all the nations suffer. This is the reason for antisemitism.

To this day, we see that all the nations of the world accuse us of being the cause of all that is bad in the world. This is so also according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, so we cannot tell them that they are wrong when they are right about that. Therefore, there is nothing we can do but unite among us and by this calm all the negative forces in the world, and the world will return to peace.

Everything depends on us. This is why the nations of the world accuse us of being the power of evil in the world. They are right about it; they feel it from within; it is a natural feeling within them, so we have no choice but unite among us and achieve our spiritual degree. Then we will be able to project to them the spiritual force that will allow them to unite, as well, and obtain all the good in creation.

Meanwhile, we are standing between them and the Creator like a cork that does not allow the abundance to flow from the upper force to our world. This is why everything depends on our connection.

DR: So what is the importance of Israel in the near future?

ML: Israel is critically important! Basically, Israel is that same group (the people, not the country) that should unite and exemplify to all of humanity how we should all unite. Israel is like an extract of all of humanity; therefore, if we unite, all of humanity will begin to unite after us. This is what makes Israel so important.

With each passing day, we will discover more and more the importance of [Israel’s] role. If we do not create the connection among us in order to set an example for the nations of the world, we will not be doing our duty. As a result, we will feel more and more hatred and pressure from the nations of the world.

Things will not get better, only worse. It won’t help to try to rationalize things to the nations; it won’t help because they are right, and they feel it naturally. We will not convince them. They may smile at us, but they cannot stop hating us because deep down, they feel that we really are doing harm to all of humanity.

More highlights will be published soon.
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* Elaborated Bios:

David A. Rosenthal
Political scientist, analyst, researcher, journalist and columnist in various national and international media outlets.
Host of “The Footprints of Sepharad in the New World,” a radio show on Radio Sepharad about Sephardic heritage in America.

Michael Laitman
Michael Laitman is a global thinker living in Israel. Laitman has a PhD in Philosophy and Kabbalah and an MS in Medical Bio-Cybernetics. He is a prolific writer who has published over 40 books, which have been translated into dozens of languages. He is a sought-after speaker and has written for or been interviewed by The New York Times, The Jerusalem Post, Huffington Post, Corriere della Sera, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Newsmax, The Globe, RAI TV, and Bloomberg TV, FOX Radio, among others. Dr. Laitman teaches live daily lessons to an audience of some two million people worldwide, simultaneously interpreted into English, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, Russian, French, Turkish, German, Hungarian, Farsi, Ukrainian, Chinese, Japanese, and more than 20 other languages. For more info, visit www.michaellaitman.com.

Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Israel, New Publications - No Comments →

My new article on Linkedin “Setting Higher Goals for Our Children This Summer”

After a disruptive school year caused by Covid restrictions the long-awaited summer break is here. In order to reintroduce some kind of learning framework to children this summer, an overwhelming majority of large school districts in America are providing summer school programs. If implemented correctly, it is the right move. Excessive free time is a recipe for disaster.

Around 97 of 100 districts across the U.S. are offering summer school programming, in-person, virtually, or a combination of both. The plans include recreational trips, outdoor activities, and artistic programs according to monitoring educational organizations. After the challenging circumstances imposed by the pandemic, these measures could be an example for other societies around the world.

Children should not feel that they have so much free time that they have no idea what to do with themselves and hours seem to stretch endlessly. They need to have their time organized so that they will be happy with the built-in agenda, and understand that the expected plans are exactly what they want and need. Otherwise we spoil them.

There is nothing worse for them than free time with a huge void wasted lying on the couch, staring at the screen, or wandering around in the street. Children are not used to having free time and filling it themselves, so giving them “freedom” is like teaching them not to do anything. Children have desires and thoughts, all kinds of natural impulses, and we sort of tell them, “Do nothing with your drive or aspirations. What are they good for? What benefit will you get from them?”

There is of course time to rest, but it is not advisable to lie on your back for hours or walk around aimlessly. Playing football or dancing after studying geography for example, can be a break. Anything that is different from the intense action that preceded it is called resting.

If children are left without studies and without other activities, the impulses that are naturally vibrant in them can lead them to bad places. Parents should be greatly concerned about their children having unlimited freedom and should contemplate ways to fill their time constructively in order to further their development.

Firstly, a clear goal should be established: What do the parents want the children to achieve with their free time so they can provide enriching activities accordingly. In my opinion, the most important goal is to build the children into integral human beings, to develop a person who knows how to communicate properly with others, how to manage complex situations, how to create beautiful relationships with others, and who achieves in-depth understanding on the multiple levels in nature: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human.

With the goal of elevating the child to a higher scale of merit as a human being—one with values, sensitivity, and consideration of others—the activities programmed for our children must have nurturing content that develops their thoughts and expands their feelings. At the end of the activity, it is valuable to promote a discussion for them to share their experiences with each other.

We should consider bringing children to the theater, to the symphony, to various museums. As a child, I lived in a city in Belarus that had a large building specifically designed for children. In the summer, I sat in a photo lab and developed pictures in a darkroom. In the winter, we went skiing together. These are only examples of some activities that could be implemented according to the conditions of each society.

Today, the schools we enroll our children in and entrust their education and a significant part of their upbringing have largely become breeding grounds for crime, violence, promiscuity, bullying, and drug dealing. Everything except what we would wish for our offspring.

A summer break where time is properly managed by parents can heal some of the hardships of the past year, but the real test of educating our children will be in the next school year. The education system, with just a few of its deficiencies touched upon, was founded about one hundred and fifty years ago. We need to think carefully about whether it is suitable for today’s world.

Let’s thoroughly examine and scrutinize what we are doing with the institution called “school” and the education we provide for our children. The scrutiny should include the appropriate plans for how to spend the next summer break. As adults, thinking about the future of our kids’ education might be a good idea on how to spend our free time this summer.
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My new article on Linkedin “Headed for Another Masked Summer?”

The summer vacation has barely begun, and we are already seeing signs that it might soon end, or at least the fun part about it. Covid-19 is returning to Israel in a big way and threatens to do this summer what it did last summer, keep us at home, or at least at a distance from each other. It seems as though nature has no mercy on the children, who only want to enjoy the summer—their brief break from a traumatizing school year riddled with corona lockdowns.

But then, why should nature have mercy on children if we, their parents, don’t? That is, through our own misconduct, we are bringing on them the lockdown that we could prevent if we only conducted ourselves more responsibly. If we were better parents, we’d do what we have to do, both regarding ourselves and regarding our children.

And what we have to do is reorganize our relationships. Otherwise, we will not be able to cope with Covid, and certainly not with the upcoming viruses that are already standing in line to plague us, and which are bound to be more troublesome than the current pestilence.

Until we learn that we must rearrange our relationships from competitive to supportive and from callous to caring, nothing good will happen. We must understand that our only cure from the virus is by healing our hearts from negative thoughts about others, developing positive ones, and connecting with the very same people we currently repel.

To connect means to understand and feel that I am dependent on others. I may live in my physical body, but the heart of this body is in someone else, not in me. And not only is it in someone else, but in everybody else besides me. In other words, each and every one of us is entirely dependent on everyone else. We don’t determine our fates, and we don’t determine our present. In fact, we don’t determine anything; our interconnections determine everything, and we only follow the dictates of this network, consciously or not.

Even if we cannot feel this right now, we should at least understand that this is so and realize that if that’s the case, then “Love your neighbor as yourself” is not some lofty motto that no one takes seriously, but our only hope of changing our lives, of shifting them toward a positive direction.

We can ignore it and continue treading the path of meanness we have nurtured so fervently for so many decades, but it won’t be long before life forces us through pain to rethink our route.

The virus isn’t our enemy; it is showing us the truth of our interdependence. Had we acted on this truth, we would not have had a pandemic whatsoever. Our social responsibility would have made us separate ourselves once we got sick until we got better, and the virus would not have spread. This, by the way, is what sick bats do in order not to infect other members of their cloud (a colony of bats). If we had their sense of responsibility, we wouldn’t be talking about the Covid-19 pandemic, certainly not two years down the line.

Because we are utterly dependent on each other, we influence each other. This is why it is so important that we monitor our feelings toward others and try to cultivate positive ones. By doing so, we will influence others, who will influence still others, even without speaking about it. Before long, that positive wave will come back to us and to our children.

We determine each other’s fate, so let’s be responsible. Let’s draw the obvious conclusion that “Love your neighbor as yourself” is our only viable option for the future. We have tried everything else and look where we are: on the verge of another masked summer. Now that it’s getting to our children, we should stop taking risks. I hope we will learn and implement this lesson that nature is trying desperately to teach us before it resorts to harsher means.
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My new article on Linkedin “Heaven and Hell – Where Are They?”

“Imagine there’s no Heaven,” sang John Lennon. “No Hell below us, above us only sky,” he went on. In a way, he was right. The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches that Heaven and Hell are not places, but states in our relationships with one another. Hell is when we cannot stand each other, a bit like today except that we are more aware of our hatred, and Heaven is when we love each other as we love ourselves, pure and simple.

There are no people, animals, plants, or minerals in the wisdom of Kabbalah, no places, times, or movements. When Kabbalah books discuss relationships between people, or describe journeys from one place to another, they are actually using them as symbols to describe people’s relationships with one another, and how much love there is between them.

That quality of love, by the way, is what we refer to as the “Creator.” He, too, is not some entity or a deity in the sense that religions think about Him. He (or rather It) is the quality of love, the nature of love.

When a person acquires the nature of love, it is regarded as attainment of the Creator, and then that person is considered to be in Heaven. When we discover how hateful we are toward each other, that our relationships are based on exploitation, manipulation, and abuse, then we are clearly in Hell. But if we already know that we are in Hell, then we are probably on our way out of it, since now we can begin to change ourselves, to correct our nature from absolute self-absorption to caring and benevolence.

It turns out that according to Kabbalah, we determine whether we are in Heaven or in Hell, and we determine it according to our relation toward others. So, simply put, Hell is total hatred, Heaven is pure love. Doesn’t it make perfect sense?

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My new article on Linkedin “Living with Covid”

To me, the news of experts realizing that Covid-19 isn’t going anywhere is good news. From the very beginning, I said that even if there is a vaccine or a drug that cures Covid, the virus will mutate or another bug will come along and render our efforts futile. As I have said probably hundreds of times since the beginning of the outbreak, trying to outsmart nature with technology will not work. We are products of nature, so trying to outsmart our producer is, to put it mildly, unwise.

Personally, I am happy that this is the way nature is directing us. I am not at all happy that people are suffering, but they are not suffering because of nature, but because humanity is obstinate and insists on going where nature isn’t going. When you bump your head against the wall of reality, you’re bound to get a major headache. In the case of humanity, this headache manifests in millions of needless fatalities and countless people suffering from long lasting symptoms because of our mulishness.

Like it or not, Covid is telling us to slow down. The technological rat-race we’ve been on has nearly devastated humanity, and we need to calm down and bring it under control. People need to stop fighting and start talking about what really matters: our relationships.

Since we cannot communicate with each other positively in the physical realm, nature has shifted us to the virtual one. If we learn to communicate positively in that realm, we will see Covid easing its grip and letting us communicate with each other physically, too.

Nature is using Covid to teach us that our real immune system is not in our bodies but in our hearts, in how we relate to one another and how we feel about each other. Since we are all connected, one person’s ill-will percolates to everyone else, and our negative emotions spread like viruses and sicken us. Positive emotions percolate and spread, as well, but those are desperately scarce, hence the pitiful state of humanity.

The vaccines are helpful in keeping the pandemic at bay, but as long as we avoid making the necessary changes in our relations, the virus will keep returning in various forms and intensities until we realize that we need a more fundamental change than just a new vaccine. Covid is not a strain of flu. The way to remove it is not physical, but emotional. Only when we comprehend this, we will be able to heal ourselves, after we heal our malignant relationships. Then, we won’t have to go on living with Covid.
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My new article on Linkedin “The Power of the Force of Separation”

These days, Jews are commemorating the Three Weeks. In the year 70 CE, the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem after a several months long siege. However, it took them three weeks of bloody battles to finally defeat the Jews, destroy the Temple, and exile the residents of Judah from the land of Israel, thus ending Jewish sovereignty over the land of Israel for the next two millennia. In those days, the Romans defeated the Jews mainly because of in-fighting among the Jews, and less thanks to the military superiority of the Romans. When Jews commemorate these days, they lament the unfounded hatred that had conquered their hearts and defeated their nation.

Today, it is evident that the same force of separation that prevailed then still prevails now. We have been given the land back, but not thanks to our unity, but because of the world’s pity on us after the atrocities of the Holocaust. Yet, separation still rules our hearts, and unless we overcome it, it will destroy us once again. The Jerusalem Talmud writes about it very clearly (Yoma 1:1): “Any generation in which the Temple is not built, it is as though in those days it was ruined, for it was not built due to unfounded hatred, which is as though it is ruined, as this was the reason for its ruin.”

These somber weeks—and especially their beginning on the 13th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, when the Romans first breached the walls, and their conclusion, on the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av, when the Second (and first, by the way) Temple was ruined—should be days of introspection for us. Mere bewailing the ruin of the Temple will not do us any good. Victimhood is a treacherous bait, and we must avoid it at all cost. We must take a proactive approach and reflect on the reason for its ruin, on our hatred for each other. Only if we realize that this was the cause of our downfall, we will be able to prevent its recurrence.

Since the beginning of our exile after the ruin, we have adopted the attitude of the helpless victim. Yet, if you read what our sages, the spiritual leaders of our nation, wrote about the same events that we regard as calamities we could not avoid, you will find a very different viewpoint.

Considering the ruin of the First Temple, for example, which we attribute to the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II, our sages actually attribute it to internal conflicts. The Babylonian Talmud (Yoma 9b) describes the leaders of the Israelites in the following pejorative manner: “Rabbi Elazar said, ‘Those people, who eat and drink with one another, stab each other with the daggers in their tongues.’ Thus, even though they were close to one another, they were filled with hatred for each other.” The Talmud also emphasizes that “the hatred was only among the leaders of the nation, while the majority of Israel did not hate one another.” As we saw before, by the time of the ruin of the Second Temple, the hatred had spread to the entire nation, and we have not recovered from it since.

Today, the force of separation still reigns supreme. One look at what is happening in Israeli politics immediately brings to mind the events leading to the ruin of the First Temple. In fact, some pundits have even found similarity to the events leading to the fall of the Second Temple. Since Israeli politics reflects the state of the Israeli society, currently, we have no reason for optimism.

The bottom line is that we are treading the same ruinous path as our forefathers. If we do not veer off from hatred, we will find ourselves succumbing to yet another “villain,” who will be just like the rest of the villains that have tormented the people of Israel throughout the ages: a consequence of our own mutual malice.

The nations look to us for leadership. And just as every IDF commander learns, one leads by example, and by nothing else. If we do not set an example of unity, the nations will revoke our right to this land. We think this land is undeniably ours, but it is ours only if we are Israel: united “as one man with one heart.” If we are like the rest of the nations, then we are not Israel and we have no right to sovereignty over this land.

The forces of separation are gnawing at our ranks and weakening our power. We are strong only when we are united because then we are Israel, “a light unto nations.” When we do not strive to love each other as ourselves, however difficult it may be, then we have no justification being regarded as Israel, and therefore no right to the land of Israel.

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