Michael 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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is there so much anti-Semitism on the Internet such as in YouTube comment sections and social media?“

I don’t think that there is a particularly unique role of the Internet in relation to the rise of anti-Semitism. It is simply a platform for people to express whatever they feel, and they can write as much as they want there. However, anti-Semitic comments on this electronic medium are merely an expression of anti-Semitic sentiment that has been around for generations, regardless of the Internet.

Anti-Semitism is a natural phenomenon depending solely on the Jews. The world is under nature’s governance, and Jews hold the potential to be above nature in their ability to bring themselves and the whole of humanity closer to the revelation of the upper force.

What does it mean that the Jews have the ability to be “above nature”? It means that the Jews became known as “Jews” through the spiritual unity (“love your friend as yourself”) they discovered under Abraham’s guidance in ancient Babylon (the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2]). Such unity is considered as above nature, because

• Human nature is a desire to enjoy for self-benefit alone.
• Unity with and love for others is foreign to human nature, and thus
• Achieving unity among people requires a special revelation—of the upper force, a connecting force of
  love and bestowal—in order to rise above our nature to the second, spiritual nature.

The Jews lost contact with this spiritual nature about 2,000 years ago when they went into exile and dispersed around the world. However, the fact that the Jews once attained spiritual unity remains latent within them, and as the need for such unity starts becoming sensed on a global scale—with a lot of problems revealing worldwide that have no comprehensive solution but in rising to a higher, spiritual level—then there is an increasing demand on the Jewish people by the nations of the world, who subconsciously expect a solution to their problems from the Jews. Thus, anti-Semitism rises in order to pressure Jews around the world to wake up to their role.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Are anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism the same? How are they similar?“

Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are definitely connected. Anti-Zionism only started being felt toward the end of the 19th Century and beginning of the 20th Century with the First and Second Aliyah. Arabs were against the return of the Jews. The Jews who wanted to return to Israel were met with Arab opposition. The Arabs even waged war against the Jews who came to settle in Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberius, and other nearby places.

Also, anti-Zionism is a result of the Turkish and British rule over Palestine. They used divide-and-conquer tactics to complicate relations between Jews and Arabs, cunningly positioning them against each other in order to establish their governance over them.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why have Jews been persecuted throughout history?“

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Two questions I received on whether spiritual correction requires observance of physical rituals:

Question: You say that it’s possible to attain spiritual correction without physically observing the commandments of Judaism. Maybe you’re just saying this out of your concern for Kabbalah’s dissemination around the world? Or maybe what you really mean is that people can’t understand these commandments by simply reading them? If you can’t publish the answer on the blog, I would like to receive a private answer.

My Answer: The Creator created the will to receive pleasure with an intention “for one’s own sake,” and this is how we find ourselves in this world. We were created this way in order to correct our intention to “for the sake of the neighbor or the Creator,” on all of our 613 desires. This correction happens under the influence of the Upper Light, Ohr Makif, which descends during the study of Kabbalah.

This bears no relation to the observance of religious rituals. A person can attain correction and spiritual attainment without physically observing the commandments, or rather – the traditions. This is true for both Jews and the nations of the world. Moreover, every person can keep his religion, because religion is no more than a nation’s cultural framework. Kabbalah only teaches us about the intention “for the sake of the neighbor,” how to love and bestow to others – and nothing else.

Question: You’re all about spirituality and the love revolution. But what about connecting the root with the branch? After all, the still, vegetative, and animate levels are also levels of the will to receive. You always speak about the internality without any externality, and this confuses me. Baal HaSulam writes at the end of the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar” that the internality should be preferred over the externality. But it looks like Bnei Baruch gives 100% of their attention to the internality, and 0% to the externality! This is difficult and confusing. Why not make a small change and pay a little more attention to the externality? Why not combine both parts? Dedicate 90% of your attention to the internality, and 10% to the externality. This will really help everyone! What do you think?

My Answer: We at Bnei Baruch actually do this – we follow the traditions. But do you really think that all the people in the world – who are now approaching correction – have to observe the physical commandments of Judaism, even if it isn’t their tradition? In the article “The Future Generation” Baal HaSulam writes that every person can keep his religion!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Religion and Kabbalah Are Opposite
Laitman.com Post: Look Forward, Only Forward
Laitman.com Post: The Peace (Baal HaSulam)
Laitman.com Post: Intention Is Action

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