Entries in the 'Q&A' Category

What Is The Actual Reason As To Why Nazis Still Exist, And Why Do They Still Hate The Jews? (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the actual reason as to why Nazis still exist, and why do they still hate the Jews?“

To state it concisely, it’s because the Jews have not made any steps toward realizing their spiritual role, to unite (“love your friend as yourself”) and become a positive example of unity for humanity (“a light unto nations”).

As human egoism—the desire to enjoy at the expense of others—grows from one day to the next, humanity increasingly suffers. The more humanity suffers, the more anti-Semitism increases and surfaces among people globally.

How does this work? It is because the Jews became known as “Jews” by uniting “as one man with one heart” some 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon. It was at that time that Abraham guided Babylonians from all walks of life to unite above the growing human ego that was causing problems in society, and to be a positive example of unity to all people. These people who implemented such unity became known as “the Jews” (the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2]). Since then, the Jews lost consciousness of their spiritual unity (when they fell into the exile some 2,000 years ago), and developed among the nations of the world.

Over the course of human development, the human ego has grown to a state where today, it is overblown and demanding correction. The symptoms of having a continuously growing-yet-uncorrected ego are the myriad problems and crises that the world experiences on all scales: personal (e.g. depression, loneliness, anxiety, stress, suicide, drug abuse), social (e.g. social division, crime, war, poverty, unemployment, inequality), and ecological (e.g. natural disasters, global warming, food insecurity). The demand for the ego’s correction today coincides with a demand for unification above the division we experience in our world. Since the Jews fail to implement their spiritual unity—unity above egoism—and have it enter mainstream society, then Nazi and fascist versions of unity appear in society’s fringes. The Nazi and fascist versions of unity are dangerous because they are not unity above egoism, but unity within egoism, i.e. the unity of one people against others.

Last century, the climax of Nazism and anti-Semitism erupted in Nazi Germany, since Germany was the most developed country in the world at the time. Today, there is a strikingly similar tendency of rising Nazism and anti-Semitism that is headed toward a climax in the United States, Europe as well as all around the world, because of today’s tight global interdependence and interconnectedness.

Therefore, since the Jews have made no steps toward realizing the method for their and humanity’s positive unification, the negative form of unity surfaces as Nazism. And Nazism is a force that indeed once again threatens to rise in its power and inflict much suffering upon the Jews if they again fail to bring unity to the world in time.

What Is The Root Of All Arab And Nazi Hate For Jews? (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the root of all Arab and Nazi hate for Jews?“

Arab hatred of the Jews comes from Arabs and Jews being quite close to each other, struggling for the same land. However, beneath this surface reason, the deeper cause of the hatred is due to us Jews failing to realize our spiritual role and purpose in the world. This spiritual role is one of uniting (“love your friend as yourself”) in order to spread unity to humanity (to be a “light unto nations”), as we received it around 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon under Abraham’s guidance. If we were to realize our role, then certainly we would be awarded with a different, positive attitude not only from Arabs, but from everyone in the world.

In relation to Nazi hatred of Jews, in the 1930s, the Nazis tried organizing Jewish emigration to the Land of Israel, as such a physical gathering would have been a major stepping stone toward the realization of the Jewish spiritual role in the world. The Jews, however, objected. As such, they received punishment. The punishment didn’t come from people, since people in our world aren’t running anything. The punishment came from nature, which acts also through the desires, thoughts and behaviors of people. If the Jews had wanted to emigrate to the Land of Israel, as the Nazis strongly recommended them to do over many years, then the outcome would have been very different. Jews, however, refused, and we thus experienced the Holocaust. (I elaborated on the Nazi efforts to move Jews to Israel in the 1930s in my answer to “Were Jews able to escape Nazi Germany in the 1930s as the Nazi party became increasingly aggressive towards them?” and in my article on “Holocaust Remembrance Day.”)

Today, as we discuss these matters, we also see a sharply rising anti-Semitic sentiment showing a tendency toward another Holocaust.

Will There Be Anti-Semitism After The Coming Of Moshiach (Messiah)? (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: “Will there be anti-Semitism after the coming of Moshiach (Messiah)?“

Firstly, what is the Moshiach (Messiah)? According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the Messiah is not a human being, but a higher force that unites people above all differences and divisions. It becomes revealed through people’s efforts to attract it through their efforts to unite to one another, above their differences. It is a force that we need to attract, to draw upon us, which connects us and fuses us into a single nation on this planet.

The word “Moshiach” (“Messiah”) comes from the word “Moshech” (“attract” or “pull”), since it is force that pulls us above our divisive drives, the human ego residing within each and every one of us. The act of attracting this force is reciprocal: We attract it to correct us, and we attract it to pull us above our destructive ego, and when we engage in this action, then not only anti-Semitism, but all problems, diseases and negative phenomena in the world will disappear.

Why Did God Allow Millions Of Jews To Die In WW2? (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: “Why did God allow millions of Jews to die in WW2?“

We need to understand, as is explained in the wisdom of Kabbalah, that in history, nature doesn’t consider the amount of bodies in the world. The upper force, or nature, calculates only with regard to the implementation of the process toward the attainment of its final perfect state of complete unification. In this process, there are times when we Jews flow in the currents of the world, like a disease in its latent period, and there are periods when the disease surfaces and needs to be treated.

The wisdom of Kabbalah became open for all in the 16th century, during the time of the great Kabbalist, the Ari (Rav Isaac Luria). Since then, there has been a demand for its realization, i.e. the revelation of Godliness (the force of love, bestowal and connection) to all people in the world. Accordingly, if the Jews would have approached this method, wanting to engage in it and reveal Godliness both for their own sake and for the whole world, then we would be living in a completely different world today, filled abundantly with love, happiness and peace.

Since the Jews have made no significant steps toward the implementation of this method, then they cause all negative phenomena to appear in the world. Both Jews and non-Jews are unaware of this, but it subconsciously dwells within non-Jews that the Jews are to blame for the negativity in their lives. Therefore, the mass murder of Jews during World War 2 came as an extreme climax to implement the hatred toward them for that reason.

In his “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) describes this phenomenon:

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

How To Become Immortal?

laitman_744Question from Facebook: You say that a person can be immortal and he does not have to die to see the Creator. But man is material, and as long as he lives, this cannot be. For this to happen, we need to leave our body and join the Creator with our soul.

How can this happen if you say that dying is not necessary?

Answer: The fact is that the human body has nothing to do with the sensations of our world. It is purely an external appearance and nothing else. Therefore, it seems to us that we feel the material world through the five bodily sense organs.

In order to experience the upper world, we need to develop five spiritual senses. The wisdom of Kabbalah deals with their development and explaining how a person can begin to sense the spiritual world. So dying is unnecessary.

Question: Do you promise people immortality if we unite and develop our spirit?

Answer: Undoubtedly! This is not a promise, but a spiritual technique, and it is in fact realizable. Today, even in our world, you can meet people who have come to the attainment of the upper world and perceive the world as eternal, immortal through this method.
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From KabTV’s “Answers to questions from Facebook,” 3/10/19

Related Material:
How To Become Immortal
The Secret Of The Passage To Eternal Life
Mortal World And The Eternal Soul

How Are Jewish People Able To Obtain Such High Positions In Government, Media, Academia And Hollywood Given The Anti-Semitism They Have Faced? (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: “How are Jewish people able to obtain such high positions in government, media, academia and Hollywood given the anti-Semitism they have faced?“

Anti-Semitism actually helps Jews succeed in many areas of life since it pressures them to outsmart, outwork and outcompete others.

In addition, Jews experience disproportionate success because in addition to their corporeal root in this world, they embody a spiritual root. The spiritual root of the Jewish people comes from their ancestors becoming Jews in ancient Babylon some 4,000 years ago. Abraham gathered Babylonians from all walks of life according to a spiritual idea, to rise above people’s divisive drives of that time and reach “love your neighbor as yourself.” The attainment of this state is what made this gathering of all kinds of different people “Jewish” to being with (the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2]).

Therefore, due to once experiencing a spiritual state of unity, that special connection with the spiritual force of nature remains latent within the Jews till today. Jews themselves don’t know that they possess such a force, but they do, and this additional force is the reason for their disproportionate success in many fields. Especially in areas involving innovation and invention, the Jews are particularly sharp, which stems precisely from their inner connection to nature’s hidden unifying force.

What’s The Difference Between Being Anti-Israel, Anti-Zionist And Anti-Semitic, And How Do You Know Which Is Which? (Quora)


Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What’s the difference between being anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic, and how do you know which is which?“

Today, many American and European Jews are anti-Israeli. Moreover, today many Jews themselves, including those in Israel, are anti-Semites in how they relate to other Jewish groups scornfully.

“Anti” in and of itself is a Jewish characteristic. Why? It’s because the root of this people is spiritual: “spiritual” meaning that the Jews are a people founded on the spiritual idea of “love your friend as yourself,” and thus being Jewish means seeking unity (the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2]).

The spiritual unity of the Jews is one where they united among each other and with the single force of nature that governs everyone and everything. Therefore, whoever wishes to identify with that force is considered “Jewish,” and whoever doesn’t have that approach or whoever hasn’t received such an upbringing is against it.

Therefore, every Jew, to the extent of his lack of knowledge of what is true Jewishness—which isn’t religion, but a search for unification—is both anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli.

In relation to anti-Zionism, see my answer to this question: Are anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism the same? How are they similar?

What Is The Difference Between A Spiritual Jew And A Jew Of The Flesh? (Quora)


Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the difference between a spiritual Jew and a Jew of the flesh?“

A Jew of the flesh: we can see Jews living in and between different countries. They have no problem doing so, even though they feel different in their various countries of residence.

A secular Jew is like any secular person who lives according to the cultures and norms of their respective society.

A religious Jew is one concerned with observing religious laws.

A spiritual Jew is concerned with the revelation of the Creator (the force of connection, love and bestowal) to His created beings in this world.

Can You Be Anti-Semitic If You Don’t Know What Jews Are? (Quora)


Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can you be anti-Semitic if you don’t know what Jews are?“

Yes. I can be an anti-Semite even if I don’t know what a Jew is, because I feel, without any intellectual grasp of what I feel, but I simply feel that my happiness, the world’s peace and my advancement in life depend on the Jews. I feel that this small nation of 15 or so million people runs and manipulates the world, squeezing out its juices and energies, preventing human society from enjoying a good life. That is a subconscious sensation of every person in the world. Also, if one doesn’t feel that way, then it can awaken very quickly, since it lies latent within every person.

Are We Currently Witnessing A Resurgence Of Anti-Semitism? (Quora)


Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Are we currently witnessing a resurgence of anti-Semitism?“

Yes. We see that throughout history, there are periods where the hatred of the nations of the world toward the Jews rises and falls. Moreover, such hatred is distinct to Jews, and not to Arabs or other nations, and you could say that Jewish-directed hatred specifically has risen and fallen multiple times over 1,000s of years. Therefore, many have researched anti-Semitism but no one knows its causal foundation and how to solve it, and so it remains a problem.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains the reason for anti-Semitism and why it rises and falls throughout history. According to Kabbalah, anti-Semitism depends solely on the Jewish people: To the extent that the Jews come closer to their spiritual root—a united people (“love your friend as yourself”) who shine an example of unity to the world (“a light unto nations”)—anti-Semitism lessens. Likewise, the more distant the Jews become from their root, anti-Semitism rises, reaching the genocidal extremes we have seen in the Holocaust and the pogroms.

Anti-Semitism depends on whether the Jews attain their spiritual root: to unite “as one man with one heart” and reveal that sublime connection to the world. The nations of the world sense that the Jews have a certain foundation, which the Jews are keeping away from them, and that this foundation holds the key for all nations’ happiness and prosperity. Thus, the nations of the world subconsciously hold a demand toward the Jewish people, that the Jews bring the abundance and truth that is locked away from them. The nations of the world think that the Jews know that they hold this key, but Jews themselves are completely unaware of it.

Therefore, in our era, the wisdom of Kabbalah carries an obligation to explain the role of the Jewish people, since a future of happiness and prosperity or a future of suffering and despair for everybody—Jews and non-Jews alike—rests in the hands of the Jews uniting and passing unity to the world.