From Babylon To Rome, Part 1

The Foundation of the People of Israel

Question: During the First Temple, the Jewish people reached their point of unity. As a result, the Temple was built, a symbol of the union of all 12 tribes. A spiritual decline then began, which entailed the separation of the people. It lasted about 16 years and ended with the destruction of the Temple and the Babylonian exile.

Baal HaSulam, in his article “Exile and Redemption,” writes about this period: “And because they would not do it, but wished to include their narrow selfishness, meaning the Lo Lishma, this developed the ruin of the First Temple, since they wished to extol wealth and power above justice, as other nations.”

But because the Torah prohibits it, they denied the Torah and the prophecy and adopted the manners of the neighbors so they could enjoy life as much as selfishness demanded of them. And because they did that, the powers of the nation disintegrated: some followed the kings and the selfish officers, and some followed the prophets. And that separation continued until the ruin.

What kind of justice are we talking about?

Answer: In this case, the concept of justice refers to the Jewish people since it follows from its very foundation: why and how it was created.

The fact is that they gathered from various small nations that inhabited Babylon during the time of Abraham, and were created on the condition “love thy neighbor” and “love covers all transgressions.”

Therefore, if they adhere to this rule, then they exist as people, and if they take other conditions as a basis for their existence, then from the point of view of the forces that act upon them, they are no longer a people.

Other forces influence the rest of the nations, since each nation is affected by its own strength, its so-called “guardian angel.” In other words, the common power that exists in humanity selectively acts upon each group of 70 nations of the world.

The people of Israel do not belong to them because it is an assembly of their representatives. The Jewish people are very different and opposite to each other. If they gather in order to coexist correctly over their egoism, then they are viable. But if this rule is violated and they stop rushing to unite over all of their problems, then they become a dispersed people.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 7/8/19