“Jews Will Always Be Hated”

Opinion (Iddo Netanyahu, younger brother of Prime Minister of Israel): “I would say that the Jewish people in general throughout its history have had a poor understanding of what is happening around him. I think I understand. But actually – no. We some how are much more blind (politically, I mean) than other nations.

“Probably because we do not fully integrate into the political system of the countries in which we had to live. …

“I’ve been in the mass of Jewish museums – in Europe, America. And in all these museums and memorials dedicated to the Holocaust, for some reason is always the same story: Once there was such a terrible Hitler, he came to power, made the Holocaust, and then it was destroyed, and all was well. But this is absolutely not true. The Holocaust – was the result of the centuries of anti-Semitism, of deep-rooted hatred of Jews. Mini holocausts took place at different locations … . Hitler’s only uniqueness is that he came to power and conquered the whole of Europe. Therefore, he could realize what others have dreamed. But in reality, this is just one of the tragic pages in the history of the Jewish people in Europe. …

“The problem is that in order to properly understand why such terrible things happen to us. …  And the Jews do not want to understand, … Because it’s very hard psychologically – to recognize the hostile reality.

“Jews do not understand the hatred. Because to understand and recognize the existence of such a inexplicable hatred, which can not be resisted in ways that seem effective, is very hard. It is believed that anti-Semitism and the Holocaust happened because Hitler came to power. But in fact the opposite is true – Hitler came to power because there was anti-Semitism, anti-Semitism, he used to win the love of the people. He saw the Mayor came to power in Vienna anti-Semite Karl Lueger, and realized that the hatred of Jews – was a powerful force. But admit it is incredibly difficult, because if we accept that the Holocaust and the pogroms were not an issue of a single period of time in a particular place, then the question arises, what future do we have.

“This is the conclusion arrived at by the Zionist Leon Pinsker here in Russia. He created the Zionist movement … . He thought that if the Jews are emancipated, received education, ceased to speak Yiddish, learned Russian, and removed their traditional clothing, anti-Semitism would end. … A massacre began with the first riots of 1871, which were arranged by educated people, the Russian intelligentsia. Pinsker was sixty when he realized that the forty years of his life was wrong. … Then he realized that the only acceptable solution – is the creation of a separate Jewish state in which Jews would themselves build their future and would not be dependent on other people, on their good or bad will, on the mood of their rulers. …

“The State of Israel does not protect against anti-Semitism. But Israel can defend itself. …

“Unfortunately, anti-Semitism – is unshakable, an integral part of European consciousness. … Hatred has existed for centuries. And to think that it can be destroyed, talking about the Holocaust or the failure of communism, is short-sighted and naive. …

“One can be assimilated, cease to be a Jew. And many Jews simply disappeared, vanished into other nations. But if a person wants to remain a Jew, he would have to admit that putting an end to anti-Semitism is not realistic.”

My Comment: Further education is necessary! 

The Jews as well as all the peoples of the world must understand the roots of anti-Semitism. This is not to uproot it from its source but to understand the origin of this eternal phenomenon and elevate the entire world and all peoples to the next level of existence. And the Jews will be the ones who will awaken humanity to rise.
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New Life #538 – Jewish Culture: Pharaoh Among Us

New Life #538 – Jewish Culture: Pharaoh Among Us
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

Pharaoh, the power of the ego, controls us even today. So in Israel there is a huge division among people.

The story of the Exodus from Egypt is more relevant today than ever. We left Egypt, we achieved loving relationships, we went through destruction and exile. Today we must once again get out from the control of the ego and sweep the entire world after us to connection and love.

Because there is no connection between us and there is war between us, our neighboring enemies rise up against us on the outside, and so does the world.

When we talk about the “ego,” I mean the desire to exploit, oppress, subjugate, and control others—“Pharaoh.” Pharaoh is considered the king of Egypt because he dominates people, giving orders every moment.

The Passover Seder comes to remind us that in the past our people left Egypt, the ego, and today it is up to us to leave this situation again. We need a general process of social education that will bring us to feel that all of us are one family. The exodus from Egypt is a story about an educational process, the development of consciousness through impulses that move us.

One family means that everyone will relate to others as their children. Only life in a state like this is called living in paradise.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #538 – Jewish Culture: Pharaoh Among Us,” 3/22/15

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New Life #536 – Jewish Culture: Passover And The Israeli Society, Part 2

New Life #536 – Jewish Culture: Passover And The Israeli Society, Part 2
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

What do we want to renovate this coming Passover? We have to do some self-searching.

The divide in the nation is growing. According to Kabbalah we have not started to build the Israeli society, and today we must begin to do so.

The Israeli society will be able to exist only if it is based on Abraham’s principle of “Love thy friend as thyself.” The disputes that have been typical of the Jewish nation for ages may lead us to destruction today.

We need to educate the Israeli society to love above any differences of opinion, to connect between different people. By educating Israeli society, every individual will relate to others as if they love them, as if they were his own children.

No revolution or change of the leadership will help. We need a revolution in the perception of our relations. We will be able to solve the security problems, the foreign affairs problems, the high cost of living, etc., only if we learn how to connect.

Pesach (Passover) means a transition from the state in which everyone wants to devour everyone else to the state of love and connection. On the evening of the Sederwe should speak about how we can take a step forward outside our narrow egoism that buries us. Love will cover all our transgressions. The wisdom of Kabbalah offers us a unique method of how to bring the connecting force into our lives.
From KabTV’s “New Life #536 – Jewish Culture: Pesach And The Israeli Society, Part 2,” 3/19/15

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New Life #535 – Jewish Culture: Passover And The Israeli Society, Part 1

New Life #535 –  Jewish Culture: Passover And The Israeli Society, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Why were the people of Israel founded under the condition and obligation to connect, how does the transition from hatred to love among a people improve the situation for all of humanity, and how is this transition connected to the story of the Exodus from Egypt?

Summary

As a society we have become stuck; not today but for two thousand years already.It was then that we fell into unfounded hatred. If we don’t function as a “Light to the nations” (Isaiah 49:6), it is bad for us and for the whole world.

A Light to the nations means love for others. The people of Israel were founded on the principle of kindness and mutuality among people who are different, under the leadership of Abraham.

It is clear that every person is an egoist by nature. But the wisdom of Kabbalah brings the upper force that can connect us. There is no reason to wait for the leaders to bring us to a new place; the leaders are a reflection of the people. It is up to us to find the strength that will bridge between us over all the differences of opinion. “Love covereth all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12).

It is impossible to take an example from any other nation because they are all being totally destroyed. We have a unique way. We don’t need to correct anyone but only to build connection above all the differences, like in a family.

To do this we need a general process of social education. Without it Israel will be totally destroyed and so will the whole world. We have a method for connection, the wisdom of Kabbalah. So our role is to provide the world with an example of a connected society. We must give the steering wheel of the nation not to the right or the left but to the power of love, the higher power.

The practical implication at the moment is that we must concentrate on the education and information that is needed in order to learn how to connect. In the wisdom of Kabbalah there are connection exercises and activities that develop feelings of love between different people.

The Passover (Pesach) holiday represents skipping over/transitioning – the exodus from hatred to love.
From KabTV’s “New Life #535 – Passover and Israeli Society, Part 1”

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Reading A Kabbalistic Text

Question: Can the same text or the same book be understood differently when reading it again? If so, what is the reason for that?

Answer: It depends only on the person because two people who read the same book are in totally different states.

The book was written by a Kabbalist who felt the spiritual world and expressed his impressions from his high level in words, sentences, and characters. Therefore, while reading the Kabbalistic text, we must resemble that Kabbalist as much as we can in order to feel, at least to some extent, the state he was in.

At the same time, we do everything that we can to fulfill what is said in the writings with the help of our teacher, according to the advice given to Kabbalah students to get together, read from Kabbalah sources, and then discuss these topics.

We must focus on Kabbalistic sources and yearn to resemble the spiritual vessels as much as we can in our relationships in the complete connection between us when we get together, ten people studying from a source. We should try to attain the spiritual root, which means the height of the person who wrote it.

We must connect and resemble the spiritual state, expecting the same Light to affect us that the Kabbalist discovered and described in his writings.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 2/7/16

Why Does A Kabbalist Need A Family?

Question: Why must a Kabbalist have a family?

Answer: First and foremost, it is obligatory for every Kabbalist to have a family because concern for a family shapes a person.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is said, what does a person get when he marries? He gets one more egoistic desire. So, when a person gets married, he has two egoistic desires, and he can now safely engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

It is up to us to be like our higher roots where Zeir Anpin and Malchut are, between whom all of the corrections happen, the birth of new Partzufim and new souls. The same thing is found here in our world as well. So, it is obligatory to get married. We must give birth to and raise children to develop. The next generation continues through us. In fact, they are us, but in a new form.

Question: When a woman appears in the life of a man, he thinks about her more than about the Creator; so he feels discomfort, fear, and distance from the Creator. How is it possible to balance the two?

Answer: A man must divide his life clearly and precisely into two parts. What is God’s is His, and what is man’s is his, to the divine what belongs to Him, and to man what belongs to him. In other words, everything that belongs to the body belongs to the body, and everything that belongs to the soul belongs to the soul. A man must work, carry out household chores, dedicate some time to his wife and children, and commit to allocating a specific time for this. However, most of his time he must dedicate to the purpose of life, the development of the soul.

The main thing is that he must prepare a schedule and divide his time. If a person uses time correctly, he will begin to see that the proper division of his forces will lead him toward the goal.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/31/16

Was Albert Einstein A Kabbalist?

Question: What’s your opinion about Albert Einstein, was he a great physicist, a philosopher, or maybe a Kabbalist?

Answer: I would say that Einstein is somewhat of a Kabbalist and that’s why he introduced the concept of relativity, more precisely  relative to the observer, a person, and thus introduced into science, into the world, the concept of the relativity of our perceptions, knowledge, and life.

It all depends on the observer from his or her properties—and this is exactly the Kabbalistic evaluation of man on the person himself with respect to the absolute, theCreator, the property of complete communication (bestowal of love), all the (opposite) parts, and the properties of nature.

And besides, everything we perceive is perceived by the person, in relation to the person, and as if what exists outside of a person doesn’t matter. The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about what we achieve, and so, specifically, it is the science and foundation of all sciences.
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Money Cannot Buy Happiness

Comment: After extensive research, scientists in the UK discovered that a high level of income doesn’t make people happy. Results were published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Answer: Although there is a saying that “money can’t buy happiness” and people understand it, everybody wants money.

If you ask a modern person what he wants more, money or happiness, he will probably reply: “Money. Once I have money, I will buy happiness.”

The ego, which is now being revealed in the whole of humanity, needs nothing but money. In the past people were less egoistic, they had other inclinations, their ego didn’t require such a thorough satiation.

Comment: So you in a way refute this research, which says that people regard happiness as family, friends, and children?

Answer: They came to this conclusion after thoroughly checking the ability to buy everything and seeing that it doesn’t work.

But we haven’t reached our absolute development yet. We are at its final stage, which isn’t over yet. Humanity already realizes that money doesn’t bring happiness and that ultimately happiness is more important than money.

But on the other hand, if a feeling of happiness is not built on any material basis, it is a false feeling. It’s like taking a drug: “I am happy.” “What’s the matter?! Why is that?” – “Happy.”

You received some kind of injection and the enjoyment overwhelms you, doesn’t let you move, because you don’t feel any suffering or emptiness, you don’t need to yearn for something, do anything. You even can’t understand the sufferings and desires of others; you can’t be connected with anyone! Like an idiot, you simply stand in the middle of the world and feel good.

Question: Does it mean that happiness stalls development?

Answer: Of course! Had the greatest artists, writers, or musicians not suffered, had they not been internally unhappy—whether or not they had a piece of bread or not—if they weren’t unhappy in their inner search, in suffering, would they created anything? Never!

Happiness lies not in the definition that we begin to ascribe to him immediately. Happiness can only be felt over the sorrow, only above what is hard to find, above suffering, when you strive for—and achieve, strive—and reach! When you desire—and then achieve, desire—and then achieve—this isn’t happiness!

Happiness includes simultaneously both suffering and a pleasure above it. This state can only be attained in the wisdom of Kabbalah, when emptiness doesn’t get filled but builds a fulfillment above it. Both emptiness and fulfillment exist constantly! Let’s say I long for something, and through this longing I feel pleasure, fulfillment.

Happiness, if we define it correctly, from the Kabbalistic point of view, in its true form, is a state of absolute unhappiness and absolute happiness at the same time—emptiness and fulfillment, which don’t annul each other.

And then you don’t need to cover it with money or anything else because all your empty spaces are getting filled and stay empty at the same time. For example, you eat something—and all the time want it, drink something —and all the time want it, see something—and all the time want it. It means that the pleasures don’t end, but only grows upward, and to this extent the emptiness grows downwards!

This is the wisdom of Kabbalah! The science of obtaining true happiness. And the feeling of endless happiness brings you to the sense of eternity!
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/27/16

New Life #537 – Jewish Culture: Coming Out Of Egypt

New Life #537 – Jewish Culture: Coming Out Of Egypt
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What does Kabbalah teach us about the ego and unfounded hatred, which are naturally imprinted in us? How do they trap us inside evil and how can we become free of this slavery?

Summary

Abraham’s time is the beginning of the era of the Patriarchs, and after the exodus from Egypt, it is the beginning of the era of the sons.

Abraham taught us how to build connections above our egoism and unfounded hatred—”Love will cover all transgressions.”
Even in the family or in politics love should be above any disagreements there may be.

Egypt symbolizes the period of our enslavement to the ego. The decision to come out of the ego comes after the plagues.
Pesach (Passover) is a birth. Egypt was the birthplace of the nation, the birth of a new world view through connection. A person is a slave inside his ego and outside the ego he is free. This is the whole story of the exodus from Egypt.

Initially you examine yourself and how the ego manages you in every way. It is a phase of self-recognition. The ego seems to be in our favor, but in fact, it ruins our life. If your neighbor buys a new car, you are sad because your ego suffers. We will be able to live a good life only when we learn to relate to everyone as to our family. This is the whole idea of Passover.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #537 – Jewish Culture: Coming Out Of Egypt,” 3/22/15

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“I Do Not Believe Hawking”

Question: The famous British astrophysicist, Stephen Hawking, believes that in order for the human species to continue to exist, it must settle on other planets. He is convinced that in another 100 years we will live on Mars, we will get energy from black holes, and we will create our own black holes. Hawking has lots of vitality and imagination.

Answer: As is understood, these are fantasies. So, it would seem that life on Earth is not enough for us, and we would escape from it to Mars. Then, we would jump from Mars to other planets and leave behind us everywhere the same civilization that we have on Earth.

What would force us to leave Earth and move to living on Mars? Our development has been wretched and miserable.

So, would we run away from ourselves to Mars, establishing a colony there identical to the one on Earth? Why do we need to do this? What do we need energy from black holes for? Must we make black holes inside ourselves? Without a person’s changing, there is nowhere to move! What is the point?!

Hawking always is dreaming that the conquest of heavenly bodies, which are actually stones, will provide humanity with happiness.

I remember how I dreamt about other planets in my childhood. I was ready to fly there and not come back.

Then, what? What would that be for? How would that be beneficial? Suppose that I landed on Mars. I would go out, look around, and see that everything is empty and quiet. What would we have to do there? Would we reproduce in space suits? Would we sit in hermetically sealed houses?

Relationships between us would remain the same as they are on Earth. Would we duplicate the Earth with additional forms?

Poor Earth, as long as we don’t change humanity, we have nowhere to which to escape.

Why do we need to spread pollution and garbage all over space? Does this sum up the dream of the astrophysicist? I don’t understand this scientist!
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/30/16

Transform Everything Into Something Good

Question: If everyone around us represent the Creator, when a person close to us hurts us mentally and insults us, is that useful for us? What does it give a person other than emotional pain?

Answer: As a general rule you should write off all pain within yourself. Suppose that someone hurts you. You should try to forgive him, especially if this is someone close. Try rising above the situation and transform the offender from an enemy into a friend. You should transform everything into something good. In this way a person changes himself and begins to adjust himself correctly toward the world that is always good and is filled with only one higher Light.

If a person behaves like this in his relationships with people, then gradually he begins to perceive his environment correctly and through it see one great pleasure—the Light that is filling all of creation.

Question: Are you saying that all who condemn do so with their own defect (Kiddushin 70b), and if I have a negative feeling from someone, I am to blame?

Answer: Certainly. If you are feeling bad now, it is only because you are bad. There is nobody to blame but yourself.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/31/16

Sending The Gentiles To Saudi Arabia

Comment: The Chief Rabbi of Israel announced that we should deport all the gentiles to Saudi Arabia, they have no place in Israel.

Answer: As a Kabbalist, I totally agree with him. There is no room in Israel for gentiles; there is only room for Jews since the term the “Land of Israel” refers to the desire that is directed straight to theCreator, to the attribute of love and bestowal. The word “land – Eretz” refers to a desire – Ratzon, and the name “Israel” stems from the words “Yashar-El,” which mean straight to the Creator.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the terms “Torah, Israel, and Jew” are states in our world, the upper world, etc. A Jew is a person who yearns for the love of others and a gentile is a person who has no such yearning but only egoistic self-love.

Therefore according to the actual definition, there is only room for Jews in the Land of Israel, which means for those who feel the love for others, and they can be Italians, Mexicans, French, anyone. When a person begins to take others into account, which means that he transcends the internal psychological barrier, and they become close to him and not strangers, he becomes a Jew. This country is called the Land of Israel, and only our desires or the person who has corrected his desires from hatred to love, which means that he has been converted, is a Jew. The term “Jew” or “Hebrew – Ivrit” stems from the Hebrew word “Ever – to transcend,” from hate to love. All of humanity should reach this feeling of love, not only those who were born to a Jewish mother.

Jews who were born to a Jewish mother have a method of transcending from egoism to altruism, from hatred to love, which they attained in the past. Then they fell from love to hatred and have been in the state of hatred for 2,000 years. Therefore, they have to come back to life today and show the whole world how humanity rises from egoism, from hating others to love.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/28/16

Undue Risk – Contagious

Comment: Scientists from the Universities of Melbourne and California have proven that unduly risky behavior is contagious. We see how much gambling, reckless driving on the highways, and even terrorist organizations attract many people because the environment influences us very strongly.

Answer: The idea is not in the influence of the environment, but that the person comes in contact with the unknown in this manner. He feels that there is something unknown that manages him; there is some kind of force found above him. In the monotony of daily life he cannot come in contact with that power. It is only if he tries to break through to it that he can come under its influence and feel a connection with it.

This is a very internal and strong need. What is gambling? If I were to know from the start the benefit or the loss, then this would become a business. The game lies in the fact that I do not know the outcome, and it is my pleasure, and it is desirable, because when I climb over the unknown, I rise above egoism and begin to feel the force of that is above us—the force that controls our world.

This is what throws people into the arms of gambling and terrorist organizations. I am not talking about those who are attracted to a future “paradise” after death, but specifically about those who are looking for adventure or daring scientists who conduct experiments on themselves, etc.

But all of this is very small. A miserable man has no other way to connect with the higher management, a higher purpose, to rise above himself, to escape from himself. What kind of benefit does a person derive from Bungee jumping?

I had an acquaintance who loved jumping without a parachute very much and his friend had to catch him in the air. This gave him inner satisfaction. Fear prevents regular people from doing this, while he explained everything very simply, “I get the pleasure that is higher than the fear; I cannot stop myself!”

Question: Is it possible to direct such people to search for spirituality?

Answer: This is a problem, because seeking spirituality places a person in situations that he creates with his own effort. When he understands his dependence on the upper force, he discovers these states, and then the higher power is revealed to him. But this happens in a very complex inner struggle with serious preparation.

This is not a breakthrough, it is not an adventure; it is life. When the person lives his dependence, he raises himself to the level of the managing upper force and begins to work in partnership with it. Then a “second wind” develops in him. He is found simultaneously in the present, the past, and the future. Everything merges into one single whole. The feeling that fills him removes all impressions of time, movement and location and he feels that he flows permanently in this state.

So when you look at the childish attempts to obtain a “grab a tiger by the tail” feeling, you  realize that people so want to fill themselves for a moment, while this feeling may be tested constantly. In spirituality it is possible to feel this sensation permanently.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/20/16

The Fourth Industrial Revolution Or The First Spiritual One?

Opinion (Foreign Affairs): “Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab, … explains that the fourth industrial revolution ‘is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.’

“‘The speed of current breakthroughs has no historical precedent. When compared with previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth is evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace. Moreover, it is disrupting almost every industry in every country. And the breadth and depth of these changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance,’ writes Schwab. ‘We must develop a comprehensive and globally shared view of how technology is affecting our lives and reshaping our economic, social, cultural, and human environments. There has never been a time of greater promise, or one of greater potential peril,’ he urges. …

“In recent years, an influential strain of techno-optimism has promoted the idea that ‘humanity stands on the verge of breakthroughs in information technology, robotics, and artificial intelligence that will dwarf what has been achieved in the past two centuries,’ writes Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator for the Financial Times. Others, he notes, warn of ‘great dangers, including those of soaring unemployment and inequality.’ But is all the hype justified? ‘The answer is no,’ Wolf argues.”

My Comment: The revolution is in understanding a new picture of the world that will change all the values of humanity and reshape its consciousness. People will not live for the sake of work. The existence of the human body will not be primary, but will be a means for attaining the spiritual level, the highest eternal existence; people will not be egoistic, but will have an altruistic attitude toward the world.

Our development will necessarily lead us to this new level. This picture has been revealed to the Kabbalists and it should begin to be revealed to the masses in this generation.
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New Life #551 – What Is True Independence?

New Life #551 – What Is True Independence?
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Why isn’t anyone truly independent? How can we attain true independence and what is the connection between independence and love?

Summary

The term “independence” doesn’t actually exist in nature; after all, everything is made of at least two parts that are related. Even the US is not independent since they have to worry about preserving their control all over the world…

The wisdom of Kabbalah tells us that there is a force called the Creator and that He is good and benevolent. He created a force that is opposite from Him called the created being, which is not good and benevolent. The goal of the created being, of man, is to balance the two forces of nature, the positive and the negative forces, by building a middle line. This is true independence.

All peoples aspire for freedom and independence, but only Israel has the method of balance, the middle line. The UN gave us a state [Israel] because they were guided to do so from Above by the plan of the creation so that we will balance the world. The world is expecting us to set an example of a balanced society that exists in mutual guarantee and perfect love.

The army will not provide us with security; only the connection between us will bring security. It will also calm our neighbors and all our enemies.

Kabbalah tells us how to awaken the positive force in nature and how to reach a state of balance and independence. The positive force will awaken in us an urge to connect with others and an urge for love and giving. We need to explain and teach that it is only by adding the positive force that Israel can reach true achievements.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #551 – What Is True Independence?,” 4/12/15

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Ways To The Creator

Question: Most new students are very excited and enthusiastic about studying the wisdom of Kabbalah and the method, and see it as the salvation for their lives. All are distinguished by the fact that they were led to search for the meaning of life.  I came because of an inability to escape the oppressiveness of egoism.

I am perplexed and confused because I had a non-standard beginning than all the rest. They were inspired. They were all searching for the meaning of life. But I came because there was no way I could go on like this. Is my way normal?

Answer: There are many ways to reach the Creator, ways we don’t choose but through which the Creator conducts us. Feeling a need to be released from the ego is a very advanced feeling and indicates a person who is close to the goal!
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Eternal Pleasures

Question: Why are there so few pleasures in life if we were born to receive pleasure? Why doesn’t nature, the Creator, protect us from making mistakes that only lead to pain?

Answer: I would put it differently: all of your problems come from the Creator! He is the only one who manages, arranges, and organizes everything, so the afflictions also stem from Him.

Everything is meant only to guide you to look for real pleasure and to protect you on the way from receiving small, worthless pleasures. This is why the Creator constantly trips you on the way so that you will begin to choose between good and evil, so that you will begin to determine correctly what is worth enjoying in life, so that your life actually will be full of pleasure.

Therefore, you should take what happens to you very seriously. First, you should realize that everything comes from the Creator and only from Him, that He manages you at every given moment and controls both your mind and your feelings. In other words, you should not detach yourself from Him even for a moment and should be in a constant, inner dialog with Him.

Then, you must find out how you can get closer to a pleasure that is more and more correct. If it is the right pleasure, it will not disappear! You will be continuously in it, and it will keep on growing. You will experience an internal explosion of pleasure that will fill you.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/31/16

An Answer For All Questions

Question: Why do you believe that only the wisdom of Kabbalah gives a correct and true answer to the questions about the meaning of life, building a family, human society, and education?

Answer: Simply because that is at the same level; as a consequence of the nature that created it, a person cannot reach the need to become aware of the question about the meaning of life, all the more so in solving it when he himself is within nature.

Einstein talked about this when he said that in order to jump on a table, one must jump above the table. What this means is that we need a system that is “above ourselves.” This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah provides. By studying its wisdom, it becomes possible to attract the power that will elevate us, the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light).
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Ready To Be A Kabbalist’s Student

Question: Why do people who don’t know the wisdom of Kabbalah think that it engages in mysticism and magic?

Answer: In order to deter those who are not ready to engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah. A person has to ripen before he begins to study. Even people who wanted to study the wisdom of Kabbalah were turned down and had to make great efforts for a long time before being allowed entry to the study.

He was accepted under very strict conditions with all kinds of restrictions. By performing them, he was allowed to gradually become part of a Kabbalistic group, and then he was dedicated to the requirements for the study of Kabbalah. It was explained that this should be done in association with like-minded people who are building together a small, integral, closed society.

In this society, all are equal, all support each other, are included in one another until they dissolve into one single entity in whom they discover the upper world, and begin to study and explore it.

It says that this is what happened to the great Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who later authored The Book of Zohar when he came to his teacher Rabbi Akiva. The latter sent him away three times, claiming that he wasn’t ready to study the wisdom of Kabbalah yet.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 24/1/16

New Life #363 – An Approach to Life: Achieving Goals

New Life #363 – An Approach to Life: Achieving Goals
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

How can a person be helped by the environment to achieve goals that he sets for himself, how does it influence success in realizing them, and how do they harness the members of a group for a common goal?

Summary

In defining a goal for myself, it is necessary to be certain that I have the skills to achieve it. Then it is necessary to enter into an environment of people who are found in this area and see if this is right for me.

-To achieve the group goal, you should take an example from successful groups in our field.

-A group means that everyone is working for one common goal and not that each one wants to stand out.

The work in building a group is to really transform individuals into a single body. Each one will feel his friend.

-For example, people on a team who want to shine must first develop a common or group mind.

        -There are those who are naturally focused on a goal and those who are not. By coming closer to each other, everyone will become focused.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #363 – An Approach to Life: Achieving Goal,” 4/29/14

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