Question: Why is Israel geographically surrounded by enemies who pressure it from all sides?

Answer: Only so we would rise to the next level, the level of our complete interaction. This is the state the world is waiting for as an example from us, because it doesn’t have the solution to the general crisis, just like we don’t have the solution to the conflict in the Middle East. If we solve our problem with unification, then analogously, the world will gradually solve the problem of the crisis.

Question: So what’s happening in Israel now will happen in the whole world as well?

Answer: Undoubtedly! Because we are the ones who have the method for universal unification. Two thousand years ago, we lived according to this method. Back then we were the first to realize it inside ourselves, that this was what our state’s existence was based upon. And now this nation is not in accord with these principles by which we should exist, because we need to live in overall unity between us, rising above our mutual egoism, rising above our current nature.

Question: Then how should Israel coexist with its neighbors today?

Answer: By paying no attention to them. If we start to focus on our own unity, then we’ll see how quickly, in the span of a few weeks, we will create a positive field within and around ourselves. They will stop bothering us, and the entire world will begin to feel goodwill towards us instead of hatred.

Question: So we don’t need to take any defensive actions?

Answer: Defensive actions are needed, but they’ll only help temporarily. We should do that in parallel, but only in order for us to have enough time to reach that force of unity that’s called “mutual guarantee.” It exists on a level above all the other forces in our world because it belongs to the level of “Adam – human.” Currently, we exist in the state of still, vegetative, and animate nature. Nowhere in the world has a society been created that exists as one whole. But we can accomplish it, and today the world needs it, since it doesn’t have a solution to the crisis.

This issue can only be solved through mutual connection, the correct unification amongst ourselves. Only then will we reach a balance with nature and all its properties, because if a person unites with others correctly, he develops within himself a new property, a new force that lifts him and favorably affects all other levels of nature.

This isn’t a simple unification that we’re accustomed to imagining, but a very serious and sober understanding that without unity, we won’t find that force that will balance our egoism.

We need a positive force that will balance out the negative force, and then through the help of these two forces we’ll be able to advance and also push this equilibrium through into the world. Then the world will gradually exit the crisis; it will begin to understand that through this balance between people, through mutually complementing each other, they can deal with everything that is happening around us. We call this mutual guarantee.

People become united with their hearts and thoughts, realizing that they belong to one single whole. And then the upper force appears in them, and it really releases all tensions, removes all conflicts in the world, and brings everything into a state of balance.
[94702]
From the Talk About the Situation in Israel 11/22/12

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Question: In recent news, here and there, the first drops of information regarding the upcoming international sanctions planned against Israel have started to leak. European countries have already openly stated this, and the UN is preparing certain sanctions.

Tension rising from a small seed is beginning to grow like a snowball, triggering a domino effect where one event leads to an avalanche of others. We can imagine where it may take us since we have seen how this works in the example in other countries. You explain that all evil is revealed so that we reveal the good. Now that we can already  see this evil that is about to overtake us, what can we do to correct the situation and bring us to the good?

Answer: I hope that we will first realize that everything descends from the upper force and there is nothing else. The entire nation of Israel must reach the final realization of the middle line. And then, in relation to the rest of the world, we will be a shamash, the candle that lights up all the other candles in the candelabrum.

Nature is one, and within it, there is only one upper force; Einstein attempted to discover it some time ago. This is the one force working in the entire universe, and all the other forces and laws man observes and senses derive from it.

We exist within the grid of forces, which is under the authority of one upper force that holds all of reality together. If we uncover this unified force, we will know everything: how to get along with this force, how to manage ourselves, how to achieve the best possible condition, and what our purpose is in accordance with the general program of creation, and what goal we are supposed to reach.

So, we needn’t fear the UN and other countries’ sanctions if we are holding on to this upper force. After all, we understand that all negative events are a projection of our own shortcomings that we need to feel in the form of disappointments, problems, and threats so that we may advance and be more united.

Then let’s start uniting! Let’s become as the Torah teaches us: “One man with one heart.” If we started to connect, we would be able to see the “reverse world.” In the same world today, full of hatred and enmity, there would be peace, contentment, and good relations, many times greater than the what we are trying to achieve now.

The nations of the world will immediately start feeling good about the people of Israel and will only wait for when we will achieve even greater connection. After all, through our connection, as through a pipe, the upper force begins flooding the world. And then the crisis fades, and all the hatred, all the competition, all the problems, religious clashes, unrest, and economic hardships disappear.

Everything stabilizes and calms down, and it is solely up to us! Therefore, I take the news about sanctions and the enormous pressure and threat as a sign that the nation of Israel is at a crucial, critical point in history. This is where it is being decided whether the world will move forth benevolently—toward oneness, which is the end point of our development. As it is written: “And My house will be the house of prayer for all peoples,” and “all nations will gather in it to unite in a single union.”

Or are we going to have to move towards the same goal, but by suffering? That implies a third world war and terrible misery and suffering, and most of all for the people of Israel. After all, we are the ones responsible for the world’s correction, and therefore, all the pressure and all the troubles that come upon the whole world will return to us as a result so that we suffer.

We are the center, the same group that came out of Babylon and was once perfected. But then it was correction only for ourselves, but now we have to perfect the whole world, to become “a light to all nations.”

So when I hear about impending UN sanctions and the European countries, I am not looking for some temporary relief measures. The only way to avoid this threat is to begin moving in the right direction. Otherwise, nothing will help.

We have nowhere to run; we are here and now begin the correcting process, having acknowledged that it is all up to us and it is our sole responsibility to build a center of the world here from where the whole world will be receiving its spiritual nourishment.
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From the Weekly Torah Portion 12/4/12

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Question: When we speak about the unity of the Israeli nation, to what extent do we expand this concept?

Answer: It includes all the Jews. After all, they are the descendants of Abraham’s group that took upon itself to be one whole, “as one man in one heart.” It isn’t a question of religion; the Jews simply have a Reshimo, a spiritual gene, because they already fulfilled mutual guarantee in the past. We may say that after the exile of the Jewish nation and its mixing with others, this Reshimot now exist in everyone. It is true, and yet this is the obligation of the Israeli nation.

People with a point in the heart that pulls them upward (•), no matter where they live, join the Bnei Baruch organization (BB). There is also the part called “Israel in this world” or “Jews,” who at the moment have “quiet Reshimot,” points in the heart (•) that have not awakened yet, which, on the contrary, pull them downward. After all, they are using the force of bestowal in order to succeed in their dealings in this world.

Finally, there is the part called the “nations of the world”: They have a point in the heart (•) hidden even more deeply that are hardly noticeable, which pulls them even further downward. As a result, people with points in the heart who have awakened are drawn to correction by themselves; the people who belong to “Israel” must be corrected, and the “nations of the world” are left in a state that cannot be envied, meaning that they depend on the levels above them that are responsible for the correction.

This is why we need to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah among the Israeli nation. Otherwise we would keep silent like Kabbalists in previous generations. A new era has begun and although dissemination is a burden that none of us wants, we have no other choice. Baal HaSulam wrote about it in the article “Messiah’s Shofar,” in The Nation newspaper, and in other places.

Question: What will the rest of the development of people from the second layer be like?

Answer: They won’t be able to do anything on their own; they will have to join us and to learn to help us actively. They will understand in their mind and their feelings that they must participate in the correction. Their point in the heart has not awakened yet and they are aware of the need for it rationally, simply because otherwise there are troubles.

Then they will turn to us: “We must unite, help us do that!” and we will help. They will not yearn for the Creator, but for a secure life. We are pulled upward by a desire, while their desire is to manage in this world, yet at the same time they are able to unite. Only later will the spiritual spark awaken in them, and also in the “nations of the world.” After all, it says that at the end of correction they shall all know the Creator from the smallest to the largest.

So it all depends on us, meaning on our dissemination to Israel and to the extent that we ourselves are united. This is what Baal HaSulam says in his article “Messiah’s Shofar“: The dissemination of the wisdom in the masses is called “a Shofar.” Like the Shofar, whose voice travels a great distance, the echo of the wisdom will spread all over the world, so even the nations will hear and acknowledge that there is Godly wisdom in Israel.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/3/12, “Exile and Redemption”

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Question: What is the right spiritual fear?

Answer: The right fear has to appear in a person every moment, and he should know how to correct it, which means how to ask for a greater fear.

Suppose I see that I am not so connected and adhered to the friends and I want it to really scare me. I want to feel terrible anxiety and fear of that, since if I am not adhered and connected to them strongly enough, I will not attain anything!

I know that I have to be incorporated in them and to lose myself, but I cannot do that. So where is my fear and anxiety of that? Where is the concern for that—to constantly think that I lack it, that it hurts and threatens my very existence? This permanent inner concern must constantly occupy me. I have to fear that I have no fear.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/4/12, “Introduction to the Study of the The Sefirot” 

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Question: During the convention in Novosibirsk will there be meals in silence such as Rabash used to have?

Answer: It depends only on you. I am ready for everything. I have to act according to your choice within the working framework that we usually use with you. There are new and experienced people among you. Therefore you should choose whatever works best for you.

If we see that we are in the special mood, special excitement, special inner connection, if we see that there are all conditions for that then it will be worthwhile to have such a meal. Precisely in this internal mutuality we will sense that silence which exists between us. Perhaps in this silence we will begin to sense new properties, new connections, and the network of forces between us.

I am anticipating this very much and hope that it will happen this way. After all, I am waiting to see all of you at this congress.
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From the Virtual Lesson 11/18/12

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Question: Why are there only seven billion people here on Earth and not 700 billion, for instance? After all, if there were, the common vessel would be a lot bigger and we would feel greater pleasure?

Answer: It is not about quantity; it is about quality. In this case, we are dealing with qualitative expansion—to what extent I am able to transcend myself.

When I start rising above my egoism, I don’t feel other people at all. Instead, I feel the field, the desire, the vectors that I am able to merge with to connect in our common desires, aspirations, and senses.

The greatest pleasure is to get to know the upper: the upper force, upper governance, because it is built on the opposite positive and negative forces: the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. Their clashes within us cause enormous gaps that we fill and enjoy.

First there is a huge lack of comprehension of harmony and order, and then we can grasp the harmony itself. When the opposites that were totally incomparable finally fall into place and complete each other, a person experiences indescribable delight in his senses and mind (awareness).

Question: In other words, the higher the mountain, the happier the ascent at the end?

Answer: The more joy you feel when you are standing atop of it.
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From KabTV’s “Foundations of an Integral Society” 3/11/12

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Question: What rules the Israeli nation today? What state is it in?

Answer: Now concealment rules the Israeli nation. There are no false philosophical perceptions, but there is no truth as in the wisdom of Kabbalah; there is nothing but the animal mind and feeling to fill themselves somehow without any spiritual element or at least its human parallel.

I am not saying that things are any different in the world, but the values there are also different. We measure the Israeli nation in comparison to the times when it was in the height of spiritually, whereas today it is on the lowest corporeal level. There is no spirituality and no yearning for it; everyone is confused, and at the same time they are sure that they are not confused, that everything is clear.

It is perfectly clear to people that this whole world is material and they don’t need anything more than economic prosperity and success in this ordinary life. There is no connection, no relationship, no contact with the nation’s spiritual role and its duty towards the world. People are not aware of these things, and they don’t know about them. The nation is in a state of unconsciousness, like a patient lying unconscious in bed while a group of doctors discuss how they should treat him.

I am speaking about the Israeli nation living in the land of Israel. It is because the assimilation in the outside world has reached such a state that it has lost the external form of the nation. In fact we cannot call these people “Jewish” anymore. It may be that some of them go to the synagogue in order to say Kadish on Yom Kippur or give charity, but the young ones have cut off this chain. There is no more “Israeli nation” outside the state of Israel.

On the contrary, the Israelis and the Jews in the diaspora are separated. It is enough to look at the American Jews who are dispersed both physically and morally; they don’t worry about Israel, only about themselves. What’s more, they want to show that they have no interest in the state of Israel, that they are “just like everyone else in America,” dedicated only to the country they live in. Once they were proud of their roots, but this has disappeared.

They not only show the breach with their own people, but even more than that, they show disrespect towards Israel. Some prefer that Israel didn’t exist at all. It isn’t by chance that Obama has so many Jewish aides. The Jewish vote for the presidential elections is also very meaningful. Under such conditions, the term the “Israeli nation” becomes very theoretical and actually doesn’t exist at all.

This means that the name the “Israeli nation” refers to those who experience the shattering, the general global destruction, and who begin to emerge from different places in the world to connect to a group that is aimed at the Creator “Yashar – El.” This is called the “Israeli nation.” In other words, it is our whole organization with all of its participants who have come together from all over this modern, human Babylon.

It is a new situation and it shouldn’t be underestimated; today we must at least worry about the Jews who live in the land of Israel since they share the same corporeal fate. It isn’t by chance that they found themselves in one place since it is also organized by Providence. We have to treat them as those who carry the Reshimot (spiritual genes) from the shattering, from the previous state. During the time of the Temple they were in the spiritual height and have already fulfilled their potential. This is why we have to evoke them since we are obligated to awaken them as Baal HaSulam says in the articles “Matan Torah” (The Giving of the Torah) and “The Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee).

So there is an “Israeli nation” in the spiritual sense according to the intention of “Yashar – El” (straight to the Creator), which are those who join our global group, and there is the “Israeli nation” in the general accepted meaning, who are Jews from birth, who have Reshimot from the previous spiritual states, and who have better chances of awakening to correction than members of other nations.
[96304]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/12, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy“

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Question: It is written that the righteous lament lacking suffering in their lives since it is pain that expands the vessel of perception.

Answer: It is not about the suffering of the ego when a person, looking back on the life he has lived, feels bad about missed opportunities: “There I missed the opportunity to get rich, here to make love, and here to take a break!” and so on, so that in his old age he would be reproaching and chewing at himself. This is a terrible state!

Spiritually, there is no such thing, since we discern where in my life I was unable to exert extra effort for the sake of connection with others, for the sake of their and my correction, for the sake of rising over our egoism onto a higher level, the human degree.

But this isn’t suffering because to the extent that I am experiencing it right now, I immediately correct it.

Question: Then what do the righteous mean by “suffering”?

Answer: They worry about missed opportunities and instantly fulfill them.

After all, they still experience desires. Conversely, they sort of pick up where they left some “unfinished business” in life. For example, at present I wish to see my students in a perfect state. This is my greatest wish, and it is already implementing the rest.
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From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 3/11/12

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Question: In our world, people strive to win: I am ahead of everybody; I am the greatest; and so on. When does a person win and when does he lose in the world of common integral mind?

Answer: Let’s remove the entire perception of our world as selfish and hence totally unrelated to the next state—the human degree. This means that everything we experience in our world as food, sex, family, wealth, fame, power, and knowledge is an empty zero at the next level.

The next state is a filter through which only purely altruistic processes may pass, meaning actions excluding any personal benefit, aimed solely for the benefit of others. You have to become one with others, feel their desires as your own, in order to be able to fulfill them.

Question: What is considered winning in the integral state, and does it imply losing?

Answer: There could be victories and defeats, yet all of them lead to winning nonetheless because a defeat is merely a discovery of some flaw, a lack of certain instruments that can help you become corrected and move on.

Question: What are these tools?

Answer: They are forces, properties, the power of bestowal, your connection with others, communication with nature, comprehension of the spiritual environment you are placed in.

Basically, there is only one tool—the property of bestowal; but it has many, various functions.
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From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 3/11/12

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Question: Human nature is such that in a desperate situation, one is ready to accept any illogical solutions. So if Israel finds itself in a truly critical situation, it will say: “So what can I do? Let’s try to connect.”

Answer: It is impossible without a deficiency, without sufferings. The problem is how to ease these sufferings. People have to see in advance that this is the good and easy way that solves all their problems: political, military, economic, ideological, etc., eliminates anti –Semitism, and changes the whole world so that it will treat us well.

But until we reach the minimal general connection among us, we will have to guard all our borders simultaneously. However, the moment we reach general unity, we will see clearly how unnecessary these borders are. We will summon the balance that this world needs.

I am not fantasizing; I am a very realistic person. I am speaking about the fact that there are forces in this world that we, the Israeli nation, can use, and it is a pity that we don’t do that. So it is as if the whole world is telling us that we are the reason for all the suffering, which is true.

We have a serious scientific method, although on the outside it seems like a game of “being good kids.” We have to study and implement it.
[94710]
From a Talk about the situation in Israel 11/22/12

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