Entries in the 'Politics' Category

A Government For The People


A question I received: In the society of the future, if everyone works for everyone’s sake, then all the excess will go to the government treasury. But this means that everyone will be working for the government. So how will this system be any different from the system we have today, which forces everything away from everyone?

My Answer: Society and the government will be one whole, whereas today the government is a means of enriching and giving power to a small part of society.

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It’s Up To Us, Not Our Leaders, To Improve The World


A question I received: The G20 leaders, including Obama, Putin and others, will never reach an agreement, except when they begin to be personally affected by the problems in the most physical sense. So, if the Creator wants them to reach an agreement, why doesn’t He make them suffer sufficiently?

My Answer: The government leaders are simply enacted from above to carry out what the people deserve at a given time, and they are not viewed personally by the Upper Governance. This is why the correction must begin and be carried out from below – the people, rather than above – the leaders.

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Taking Advantage Of Opportunities Presented To Us


A question I received: Changes are taking place at the White House, a new President has come to power, and the pressure on Israel has increased. This can lead to the intensification of conflicting views in our nation. Maybe we should concentrate our thoughts on this particularly?

My Answer: Politics is unstable and nonlinear; the public’s expectations of political figures very rarely match politicians’ plans; instead, they are aimed at particular goals. It is a complicated matter, which we shouldn’t try to penetrate.

However, it is necessary to understand that, to the extent that the nation of Israel delays carrying out its mission, the pressure on it will increase. We must lead people to understand and feel the need for correction. They must agree to play their role in the spiritual development of all of humanity. The nation of Israel should understand and accept this duty and realize its fault for what is happening.

The pressure on us will grow in order to wake up the nation of Israel. This is precisely what has happened to us over the course of history – starting with the Egyptian pharaoh and on present time. Prophets wrote about this; they said that if we don’t come to realize what responsibility is placed on us, we will need to go through very difficult trials.

The pressure that we experience is nothing more than the states that we have not yet corrected, and although we need to, we have not taken advantage of the opportunities that have been presented to us. To the extent that the pressure increases, we can judge our uncorrected states. However, the states themselves are revealed only to the extent of a person’s development.

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The Creator’s Presidential Puppet


A question I received: What is your take on President Obama’s recent speech in Cairo?

My Answer: Such cliché-filled speeches are a hallmark of any leader.
Everyone wants to open a new page, to restart relationships based on common interests, mutual trust and respect. To conduct an open dialogue, everyone needs to have the same rights and opportunities, aspire to peace, and what’s left is for us to do it together, etc., etc.

It’s written in the Bible “The hearts of rulers are in the hands of the Creator” – in other words, all of them are puppets, carrying out His will. Simple people are the ones who have freedom of will, they are the ones that can influence the Creator, and He, through his presidential puppets, changes the world.

The subject of the science of Kabbalah is how to influence the Creator. Up until now we had to develop egoistically. From our time and on, we have to unite together into one society. With such understanding, we must turn to the Creator for help to achieve that – then the world will become peaceful and kind.

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The Rotting Russian Empire


Two questions I received on the current state of the Russian government:

Question: How can the unification of the Russian government and the people of Russia be possible if sufficient resources are not available to sustain the entire population?

My Answer: The government should give the people an explanation of the true system of the world and humanity, about the global system and everyone’s complete interdependence. In addition, it must tell them about humanity’s common goal – our common task as human beings. In addition, they should explain that we can only achieve this together, by following the good path and participating in our own correction by becoming similar to Nature, instead of achieving the state of love and bestowal to one’s neighbor through the path of suffering.

If you address the Russian people with this message, you’ll see that they will understand you better than anyone else. That’s because the Russian people have suffered more than any other people in history.

They are looking for their place in the world among the other nations, and they haven’t found it yet. This is why the Russian people will follow you. However, you have to tell them the truth and stick to it despite all obstacles. Otherwise, the opponents of this idea will destroy you.

An opinion of an international affairs professor at The New School, NYC, “Russia’s Rotting Empire” (excerpts):

The trouble with Russia is that the state develops, but society doesn’t. The structures of democracy today are as underdeveloped as they were under Peter the Great. … The good of the people is sacrificed for the good of the nation. And people themselves are ready to believe that they should be willing to forfeit their freedoms for the sake of the greatness of the state.

With a remarkable consistency, [Russia] insists on defining its global role on its own, as a unique and special nation. Russia under Putin feels it can afford to become confident and assertive, even militant, because it still has to protect itself from the deceitful Western influence that is so eager to bring Russia down.

The “Double Eagle” emblem, the heads facing East and West – originally adopted in Russia around the time of the Byzantine demise – was brought back after 1991 as a state symbol.

To Putin, Moscow remains the “Third Rome” it declared itself to be in 1472. The not-so-subtle idea behind all this nostalgia for Byzantium is that Russia can (and should) exist only in opposition to the West, which hated the Byzantine Empire before and which hates its spiritual heir, Russia, today. However, like Joseph Stalin, Putin believes that Russia can only become a member in the world’s most powerful nations club by using a strong hand. Putin indeed subscribes to the traditional thinking of most Russian rulers: fear equals’, or even trumps’, respect. … “I’m referring to Russia’s intimidation of its sovereign neighbors, its use of oil and gas as a political weapon,” says Condoleezza Rice.

The picture emerging from this pattern of behavior is that of a Russia increasingly authoritarian at home and aggressive abroad,” said Rice. … If Moscow’s anti-Western paranoia continues and the Byzantine fantasy lasts for the next 15 to 25 years, both forces will lead to China, the new global superpower, swallowing whole the Far East and Siberia. A vastly weakened Russia then will lose also the Northern Caucasus and the Volga region to their growing Muslim population, and Kaliningrad will once again become German Königsberg. Russia will lose its 11 time zones and would then no longer have claims to be Greater Russia.

Question: What “sweet world of the past” are you talking about? The world without self determination where autocratic regimes tell us what to do? The world where your future is determined by your birthright as opposed to how hard you work? There has never been a world where so many people have the freedom to choose. Is it perfect? Of course not. We still have to deal with the human factor which, by definition, is imperfect.

My Answer: This is how everyone sees the world today. This is our old, familiar and simple world.

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Israel Now India’s Top Arms Supplier


In the News (from The Jerusalem Post): Israel has overtaken Russia as the main defense supplier to India after breaking the $1 billion mark in new contracts signed annually over the past two years. According to news reports, Russia had averaged sales of $875 million annually to India for the past 40 years.

My Comment: A few days ago Russia was bragging about its record-breaking arms sales in 2008. Now Israel is joining the chorus of those with the record for being barbaric. I’m definitely not proud. Actually, I’m very ashamed!

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Laitman.com Post: Record Arms Sales Are Nothing to Be Proud Of

Russia Should Be Offered NATO Membership, Joschka Fischer Says

When It Comes to the Global Crisis, We Cannot Afford to ProcrastinateIn the News (from Bloomberg): NATO members should consider inviting Russia to join the military alliance as a way to blunt the Kremlin’s challenge to the West, according to former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.

My Comment: Drawing closer to one another is always good, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, because it’s a step toward the world’s unity and convergence into one whole. This cancels out our opposition to Nature, which will disappear one way or another according to Nature’s plan. However, if we don’t do this on our own, it will happen as a result of lengthy international conflicts and suffering.

If it weren’t for the European Union’s weakness and stupidity, and Russia’s complex of always feeling degraded, which makes it proud and quarrelsome, then there would be hope for a union, which would evoke Nature’s kindness over these countries (according to the law of equivalence to Nature). But unfortunately, they’re like little boys who need a good beating to straighten them out! Otherwise they’ll start spending their last money on “guns before butter,” instead of investing it in social programs. And then we’ll get the beating right along with them, but our beating will be much greater than theirs.

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Obama Will Have to Change Along With Life


News Report: An article that appeared in today’s The New York Times, called, “2 Years After Campaign Began, a Different World,” shows how different the world was when Obama became the Presidential candidate in February of 2007. It was before the economic crisis, and the situation in Iraq and the Middle East was just beginning. The article poses the question, “While the world has changed, has Mr. Obama changed along with it?”

My Comment: Life will force him to change. However, I wish for him to go through the change as quickly as possible – after all, he is the Creator’s angel.

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Why Mr. Obama Can Benefit Fom Learning Kabbalah

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe President-elect of the United States, Barack Obama writes in his book, Audacity Of Hope – Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream:

“In response, I would usually smile and nod and say that I understood the skepticism, but that there was – and always had been – another tradition to politics, a tradition that stretched from the days of the country’s founding to the glory of the civil rights movement, a tradition based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and that if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done.”

My Comment: Throughout all human history, from the ancient times to today, there were many people who realized and wrote about the cause of all the suffering and crises that take place in society and in nature as a whole. That cause is man’s egoistic nature.

However, in our world there is no means to correct man’s egoism. The only thing capable of correcting it is the Upper Light, which created it. And there is only one method in our world that can draw the Light’s influence upon our egoism – the Science of Kabbalah. Its intended purpose is to reveal the Creator – the quality of love and bestowal – to man in this world (see the beginning of the article, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”).

So if the new American President plans to make the world better, he has to familiarize himself with Kabbalah. Otherwise, things will turn out as they always have.

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Is Capitalism In Russia Realistic Or Necessary?


A question I received: Why doesn’t capitalism work in Russia like it does in the West?

My Answer: You are mistaken because Russia hasn’t experienced capitalism yet. However, today this is no longer necessary, if we do as Baal HaSulam wrote: provide people with an understanding of the world we now live in – a world that’s global and interconnected. In this new world, the competition changes from “who will receive the most?” to the spiritual competition “who will give the most in order to merit a greater connection with the Creator?” However, when it comes to technology and service, it’s still best to “learn what is good in the West,” as Vladimir Mayakovsky put it.

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