The Power Of The Land Of Israel

 

Comment: A strange thing happened after the evacuation of the Jewish settlements in the Gaza strip. The agricultural products in this region were grown on sand using special technology. They were considered to be the best exported produce. 

When the decree was signed that all the Jews had to evacuate this region, one of the families that had big plantations there left them to the locals because the managers and the workers were all Arabs.

After a while, the manager called the former owner and said: “Listen, I have been the manager of this plant for 20 years, and I know every detail of the technology. No one knows it better than I do. When you were here everything grew and prospered, but now that you have left, we are doing everything in the exact same way, yet nothing works.”

My Response: There is a connection between the Jewish nation and this land, but it is not totally correct in our days yet.

The correct connection of the Jewish people with its land lies in the fact that it behaves in accordance with this land, that is, it draws closer to it, draws closer to each other. If it is correct, it will feed the whole world. The whole world! It will give such scientific achievements, discoveries, and technical achievements that will raise humanity above nature.

Why? You can think about it all you want, but you won’t guess. Because our world is fueled by a special higher power, which gives our world, our Earth, the entire planet, the air, all of this a reproducing force, a multiplying force, an upper force, as they say. And if this does not happen, then, of course, everything will calm down and wither away.

Nothing will help us except the only remedy: our unity. It is through our unity that we will begin to neutralize the evil forces in the world and will awaken goodness and abundance in the world. We will awaken the upper forces of nature that will enable us not only to exist correctly between us, but will also feed us and supply our needs, clothe us, and put an end to the problem of climate change. They will do everything and will totally balance our life.

The main thing is that humanity will finally acquire the knowledge about the purpose of its existence. Because, in fact, no matter how we live or whatever happens to us, we will still ask ourselves what we are living for. After all, our existence, whether good or bad, eventually ends aimlessly and with no purpose.

So, we better begin to understand what our purpose is.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/27/18

“A New Day, A New Party” (Times Of Israel)

 

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “A New Day, a New Party”

(Yet) Another general election is coming up in Israel in less than three months. As we have seen over the past recent general elections, all of which happened in the last two years, a new campaign brings with it new parties. And as we have seen, these parties turn out to be ad hoc initiatives, which often fall apart soon after the election or, perhaps, last just until the next election.

Jews have always been opinionated people; it’s our nature. However, when the only purpose of establishing new parties is to politically eliminate other parties or other people and to take control instead, nothing good can come out of such political maneuvers. If there is any purpose to them, it is to discover that this road has no way out; it will amount to nothing. The only question is how soon we will discover it.

You cannot achieve anything by splitting the society. You also cannot establish a solid and stable party when you have dozens of other parties whose sole purpose is to ruin one another. We are only splintering our society to the point where we will be compelled to agree that we cannot build anything this way.

At the same time, we also cannot agree on anything, although we know how destructive division is to our society. What do we do? We realize that we cannot reconcile our differences, yet we must find a way to coexist despite the fragmentation. When we acknowledge this, we will realize why we are so divided—since this is the only way that we can build unity.

We must understand that without division, there is no unity. If we have no disagreements, we can live peacefully next to each other, but not with each other. We may live side by side, but not in any form of unity, but as neighbors who ignore one another, oblivious to each other’s existence. If this were the case, we’d be like different animal species sharing the same habitat, yet are separated from one another.

Humans aren’t animals. If we were, we wouldn’t evolve the way we have; we wouldn’t have developed civilization and we wouldn’t have developed global interdependence. Humans are meant to mingle because only mingling, connecting, and disagreeing force us to find a tighter bond than separate animal species cohabitating.

The process of forced unification is very meaningful. It’s the only way we can come to feel consciously what animals feel instinctively: that we are all connected. Instead of sensing that connection and following it instinctively, and therefore unconsciously, we humans must toil on our connection, exert for it, and overcome hatred and conflicts. In the process, we become aware of all the intricacies in our connection, cherish it, and comprehend it on levels that no animal can. This is the advantage of man over beast: the profound understanding of the makeup of life. But it happens only if we 1) reveal the separation that exists between us, and 2) exert to overcome it.

The Jewish people, or more correctly, the ancient Israelites, were the first to achieve this unity, at the foot of Mt. Sinai, when we connected “as one man with one heart.” Only once we did that, we became a nation. Immediately afterwards, we were instructed to reflect that unity to the rest of the world, or as the Torah phrased it, be “a light unto nations.”

It is therefore no wonder that we find that the Israeli society is more divided than any other society. The conflicts manifest in us more than anywhere else precisely so we will set an example of rising above them. We will never be able to eliminate them, since then we will have no need to unite. All we will be able to do is realize that our common goal is to be a light of unity for the nations and because of it—and for no other reason—unite among us.

I have no timeline for the completion of this process; I don’t know how long it will take, or how much pain the people of Israel in the State of Israel will have to endure before we realize what it is we have to do. Either way, unity will be the end result, and it will also be the solution to our problems. I hope we come to it sooner rather than later.

Happy New Year to all.

“2021 – A Decisive Year For Europe” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “2021 – A Decisive Year for Europe”

2021 is going to be a decisive year for Europe. The Old Continent has become a cesspool of divisiveness among countries, factions, movements, and peoples. The UK, Germany, France, the Balkans, Italy, Spain, everything is so divided and splintered that unless Europeans start thinking of themselves as one entity very soon, they will suffer terribly. It will certainly not be easy, but a pan European identity is their only way out of anguish.

Europe is in many ways the cradle of human development. As such, the world will look at it and learn, and Europe should show the world what the future of the world can be like. It must show that despite all the many colors, races, nationalities, and their war-ridden history, they can rise above it and build themselves as one family, truly as one family. Otherwise, they will simply consume one another. If they do not unite, I see no future for them.

Besides their internal frictions, China, Russia, and the US will vie over control in Europe, and nothing will be left of “the Old Lady.” Even Africa will join the “party,” as is already happening with the migration of refugees, but in other ways, as well.

When you look at the world map, it’s interesting to see the unique role that each place has in bringing the world to a better place. The US is an example of a nation divided into myriad factions that are still one nation. Europe is an example of many nations that must function as one nation. Each must provide an example of unity above the differences that the world can follow. If either of them fails to carry out their role, they will suffer. I can’t say who will suffer more if they do not execute their required union, but both will certainly agonize.

Israel, too, has its unique role. In fact, Israel’s role is perhaps the most important in the process of unifying the world. Israel must provide the philosophy, the theory, the ideological infrastructure for unity: where it comes from, why unity is essential, and by which rules and regulations we are to arrange it.

The current European Union will not achieve these goals. In fact, I am all for dismantling it, and I’m happy that the UK left it. The current EU was not built in order to unite Europe. It was established in order to bolster banks, industrialists, and billionaires, but not to unite Europe. One could drive from one end of Europe to the other before the establishment of the EU, so there is no benefit in terms of open borders. The regular person does not gain anything from living in a so-called united Europe.

As I said in the beginning, a European union should be a union of the hearts, where they feel that they are in deep connection. And the more different they are, the more tightly they will unite, according to their efforts. The ones who are the farthest now will be the closest once they unite.

This union must be completely unrelated to the existing institutions of the EU. It must be a separate entity that functions whether or not the current EU survives the approaching upheavals. This union of hearts is the union they were searching for over the past thirty years or so since they established the EU.

And as for Israel and the ideology that Israel is required to provide, the level of hatred that Europeans will harbor toward Israel depends on the level of their hatred for connection. If Israel offers a way to connect—which isn’t the current situation, but presumably—and the Europeans shun it because they do not want to connect, then they will have no choice but to take some more beating from other countries or from nature until they yield and become receptive to the notion of connection.

And speaking of antisemitism, we think it is impervious to reason, and perhaps this is so, as are all hatreds. However, antisemitism is not impervious to a model of unity coming out of Israel. Even Henry Ford, whose antisemitic ideology Hitler admired, wrote in his rabid composition The International Jew—the World’s Foremost Problem, “The emergence of the Jewish Question is a part of the culmination of destiny that has come upon us, not for harm but for good. …The justification of a discussion of the Jewish Question is the good for the Jews, and the greatest present obstacle to that good is the Jews themselves. The time is here when they shall see it.”

In other words, antisemitism is not necessarily a fact of life, but something that Israel can overcome by carrying out its role, and by the nations accepting Israel’s contribution—the ideology of unity. The future of Europe hangs in the balance; if Europeans overcome their divisions soon, they will triumph. If not, they will lose bitterly. Israel, for its part, must do its duty in the healing by providing the ideology of unity above differences and by setting an example.

Hanukkah—To Serve The Creator

 

Question: Is it possible to trace in the events of the second century BC, when people were divided into Maccabees and Hellenized Jews, the current division in the State of Israel?

Answer: I don’t think so. I do not see that there are people in Israel who want to be corrected. No one believes that we are in a spiritual descent.

In the time of the Maccabees, there was a battle for ideology: how people should advance, how to serve the Creator, i.e., achieve the principle of “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Does anyone today have a method for achieving this spiritual rule? Do you see it in the program of any party or any part of society? And in those days, there was.

Rabbi Akiva and 24,000 of his disciples, and many others, believed that the principle of “Love your neighbor” must be fulfilled. But they could not resist their egoism because the rest of the people were heading in the opposite direction.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/16/19

“A New Administration And The Prospects Of Peace For Israel” (Times Of Israel)

 

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “A New Administration and the Prospects of Peace for Israel”

Currently, it looks as though Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States. If Biden comes into office, it will be bad news for Israel. The normalization with Arab and Muslim countries that Trump worked so hard to achieve will dissolve, and the new administration will re-embolden Iran. Peace, and certainly normalization, will fly out the window.

A Biden administration will actually be run by Barack Hussein Obama and company, and Biden will be a puppet that does what it should. Just as now countries make peace with Israel because they want to please President Trump, they will shun that peace when they want to please “President” Obama, and Israel won’t be able to do anything about it. Obama, with his Muslim background, harbors profound hatred for Israel; he can’t wait to be rid of it.

Israel will also not be able to get help from Russia, since Russians will always prefer their relations with the Arab world, leaving Israel isolated, surrounded by enemies, and under fire from every direction.

Europe is even worse. Europe has already attempted to annihilate the Jewish people in the previous century, and Europeans have not changed since. When the time comes, we should not expect anything good from that direction.

However, as I once connected Israel’s good future to President Trump, since I thought that Israel would succeed in being more serious about its duty to the nations, now I hang everything on Obama and Biden since their pressure on Israel might direct us toward correction.

We need to understand that Israel’s only justification for existence is its performance of the task for which it was created—to set an example of unity. Instead of unity, it is displaying division and internal hatred that has led to a staggering frequency of elections. The coming general election will be Israel’s fourth in just two years, and according to the Israel Democracy Institute, since 1996, Israel has held general elections every 2.3 years on average, the highest rate in the OECD.

Now, toward the next election, we can see the already splintered political system in Israel disintegrating into even more parties, with everyone’s proclaimed goal being to oust the incumbent prime minister, and no one is actually proposing some truly alternative platform. If we continue to behave in this way toward each other, the nations will decide that there is no benefit in the existence of a Jewish state and will resolve to erase it from existence.

The phenomenon of airlines removing Israel from their maps of the Middle-East, as reported by The Telegraph, or CNN’s omission of Israel from its map of the Middle-East, or the German military counter-intelligence making that exact “mistake” is no coincidence; they are expressing their views through their actions. If Israel doesn’t pay attention and act accordingly, meaning become a model of unity rather than a model of division, countries will move to make their feelings an official policy, and Israel will face a world that is united in its desire to eliminate it.

Our only way to overcome the looming external pressures is through unity. And not because unity makes us strong, but mainly because unity is what the world wants to see from us.

The world needs unity. No one can unite with anyone, and soon countries will slide into all out wars. The natural desire for dominance that governs every human being is going out of control, and unless we learn to rein it in, it will overtake the world.

The only nation that can do that is the Israeli nation, as I have written in The Jewish Choice and Like a Bundle of Reeds, two books that if you haven’t read, you should. If Israelis don’t go first and rise above their egos in order to connect, no one will know how to do it. If Israel does it and thereby becomes an example to the rest of the world, everyone will know how to do it and will be able to do it. This is why when the people of Israel unite, they needn’t worry about defeating their enemies; they will simply have none.

It makes no difference whether or not these words make sense to our ego driven minds. It’s simply that if we don’t go for unity soon, we’ll have to choose between uniting against our will or perishing.

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Every Day To The Polls?

 

When I listen to speeches from the Knesset [the legislative branch of the Israeli government], I wonder what kind of elections they are talking about. What are we going to choose? Does every speaker have a program to bring the whole country together and make society a better place? No one can offer any solution for connection, each only tries to prove their case.

But in this form, everyone is wrong, everyone brings separation, and there is no one to follow. No one calls for connection and unity, but only demonstrates how he is the only one who is right and the others are wrong. If this continues, of course, we will hold elections not only four times a year but every day. I do not know how the state can function in such conditions.

We must understand that only our internal efforts to unite the whole nation and the whole world can bring peace to the world. Otherwise, explosive points will always arise that threaten to flare up in war.

Nothing is more important than our efforts to unite the nation. But the problem is that everyone thinks that only they know how to unite and only under their leadership can unity be achieved. However, we see all these attempts fail one after another.

And this will continue until we change our approach in a way that we do not define exactly how it should be, but everyone should think that first of all unity should be in their heart. That is when it will be implemented. No matter in what form, I do not set any conditions: the main thing is to strive for connection. Getting close to each other is always a good thing.

The question is what to do if there are several groups, several parties, and opposite methods, and each one thinks that they are right and the other is wrong? There is only one solution. No one should have any other opinion but the desire to unite, as it is said “Love will cover all transgressions.”

All transgressions, all contradictions, do not need to be taken into account at all. All these differences remain between us, we are aware of them, we understand that we are far from each other and are opposite, everyone among us: socialists, communists, opportunists, capitalists, etc. No matter what party, there are several dozen of them in the small country of Israel, and they will grow endlessly if the separation continues.

We must understand that we cannot talk about our contradictions with each other because it is clear that everyone’s egoism manifests in its natural form, which is different from the others. In this respect, each person is unique, so should everyone organize their own personal party?

And if he digs deeper into himself, he will see that he is also torn by conflicting opinions and will have to divide himself into several battling parties. There is no other solution than to rise above all obstacles, all contradictions, and cover all crimes with love.

Transgressions help us build love because we must cover all the differences with it. This is why sins are revealed—to help us build love—this is how it comes from the thought of creation, the thought of the Creator.

If we treat each other in this way, there will be no disagreements, attacks, and quarrels between people and parties. We will build together, each will take into account their idea of their own righteousness and mistakes of others, but will cover it all with love. This will be the right structure.

And then each party and each person will build a form of love that is based on the opposite of their negative critical feelings of others. There will be hatred inside and love outside, until we see the whole world as corrected and ourselves in the best possible state.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/3/20, “Unity Above All”

“The Chance We Were Given Today, 73 Years Ago” (Times Of Israel)

 

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Chance We Were Given Today, 73 Years Ago”

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution, which adopted the plan for the partition of Palestine, which paved the way for the establishment of the State of Israel. For the Jewish refugees from the Holocaust, that resolution meant hope of a safer life in a Jewish state. For the world powers, it was a way to ease the burden on their conscience after having done nothing to save the Jews throughout the war, and even prevented their escape while it was still possible. For the world, it was an unwritten, unspoken, and perhaps inadvertent contract between the Jews and humanity, where the world was to give the Jews a sovereign state, and the Jews would build in it a role model nation that would serve as “a light unto nations.”

After a heroic battle, the Jewish settlement paramilitary organization in Palestine repelled the six invading Arab armies from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia, which joined the armed forces of the Arab residents of Palestine, and established the State of Israel. It was time to start carrying out Israel’s commitment to the world.

This is when troubles began. Israel had been fraught with division from the very beginning. Zionist groups strove among themselves over power and over the way to run the struggle for the establishment of the State of Israel. Once Israel received sovereignty, these struggles did not abate but rather escalate. Waves of immigration from Arab countries and war ravaged European countries created new cultural enclaves, and every sect mocked the other sects. Many Jews from poorer countries, mainly Muslim countries such as Morocco, Libya, and Iraq, were sent to towns far from the center of the country and became what is known as “the second Israel.”

In June 1967, another misfortune struck Israel: After being threatened and harassed by its neighboring countries, and after realizing that there was no hope of avoiding another war, Israel opened fire. Within six days, and with relatively few casualties, Israel defeated and conquered territories in Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, including the Old City in Jerusalem. While the military triumph was a much required blessing, the hubris that it brought with it has been a plague we haven’t been able to shake off despite all the years that have passed, and all the failures we have suffered since then.

That hubris has only made our separation worse, and Israel has become a model of divisiveness, alienation, internal hatred, and slyness, the opposite of our intended goal in being here. Instead of mending the separation that inflicted on us the ruin of the Temple and the exile two millennia ago, our return to Israel seems to have revived the enmity within the Jewish people, and the ancient unfounded hatred is resurfacing.

The Jewish people are very opinionated and intransigent. This is our nature and nothing will change it. Nor should it change. We have been given this obstinacy not for ourselves, but precisely so as to serve as a model to the world. We must give up the notion that we can ever change each other’s mind. Instead, we must focus on nurturing unity above our different views. We need to focus not on this or that moral or ideology, as these only separate us. Rather, we should strive to elevate the value of unity itself!

Only if we focus on uniting above our differences, we will find the real merit of the differences, the real value in each distinct view, and the benefits of uniting above them. If we unite above our opposite opinions, we will create an entity that functions like any organism does, where the different, and often opposing, organs work in harmony to create a solid, healthy living being. If any part of that body were to grow weak or disintegrate, the living being would die. If all the organs operate to the fullest, this is when the organism is the healthiest and strongest.

If Israel makes peace among its vying sects, the world will look and learn from its example. If Israel does not do it, the world will regret having agreed to the creation of the Jewish state in the first place and will take whatever measures are required to eliminate it. Israel, in that sense, depends on itself. Its internal relationships will determine its external future. No other country in the world is in that position.

In Hebrew, the word “shalom” [peace] comes from the word “hashlama” [complementation]. If the struggling factions in the Jewish people learn to complement each other rather than compete and wish to annihilate each other, they will benefit, the world will benefit, and there will be peace, both in the sense of complementation, as well as in the sense of tranquility and good relationships. If the factions in Israel do not manage to unite above their differences and complement each other, then we will miss the opportunity that the world had given us on November 29, 1947, and the State of Israel will not be able to survive.

New Life 449 – The Phenomenon Of Emigrants From Israel, Part 1

 

New Life 449 – The Phenomenon Of Emigrants From Israel, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

The people of Israel are a group of people who are associated with our ancestor Abraham in Babylon on the basis of kindness, connection, and love. They were a group of strangers who interacted with love in order to go Yashar-El (straight to) the upper force. The land of Israel is a spiritual place to which people who have a desire for connection with others and with a higher power are drawn. People who abandon the importance of being connected together with others in the land of Israel emigrate from the land.

The people of Israel must live in the land of Israel, but in order to do this they have to return to living in connection and love. If we were “like one person with one heart, ”they would feel that in this land there is a force that belongs to them. If a spiritual revolution doesn’t happen in the land of Israel, the entire Zionist enterprise will fade away.
From KabTV’s “New Life 449 – The Phenomenon Of Emigrants From Israel, Part 1” 11/11/14

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New Life 460 – The Law Of Nationalism – Identity Crisis, Part 1

 

New Life 460 – The Law Of Nationalism – Identity Crisis, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Israel is a special nation that is founded on the basis of connection and love above all differences. When we lived in the diaspora, the question of our nationality never came up. It does now when we are living in Israel because we have not taken advantage of the opportunity we were given after the Holocaust to build a state in which everyone is as one man in one heart. Adopting ideas from other nations will not sustain our state since it was founded on the goal of bringing everyone to mutual love. The world is arranged so that everyone expects something special of us. They feel that we have a concealed secret, and we do have such a secret. We must share the method of how to bring love and connection to all.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 460 – The Law Of Nationalism – Identity Crisis, Part 1” 11/30/14

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“American Jews And Israel, The Great Divide” (Times Of Israel)

 

The Times of Israel published my new article “American Jews and Israel, the Great Divide”

The US election was not only the thermometer to measure the temperature of American politics, it also tested the waters between American and Israeli Jews on what they might consider their best common interest. The result was freezing cold. The American presidential race revealed that the alienation between both communities is only growing.

Back in October, an American Jewish Community’s survey revealed that only 22% of US Jews would vote for President Donald Trump and 75% would choose former Vice President Joe Biden. That estimation was close to the 77% support received by the Democrats according to exit polls during the election. Interestingly, that same percentage of Israeli Jews favored the opposite candidate, Trump, who is considered by many to be the friendliest US president toward Israel in history.

The rift between the world’s two largest Jewish communities is not surprising. People’s worldview is marked by the environment in which they live. I am here, in the Middle East, on a small piece of land surrounded by enemies who are constantly thinking about how to slaughter us, to destroy us, so it is natural I think differently than if I were in America, sitting in comfortable physical security. It is clear where the opposite views derive from.

One may ask, isn’t it in Israel’s best interest to work to close the gap between the two communities? As the situation now stands, it is a lost cause. What can Israeli Jews offer that will be appealing to them if they do not care about Israel’s security and future? It seems to Israelis as if we do not exist to American Jews in any real way, not as a nation, not as a country, not as a people. It feels like they consider themselves as part of the people of Israel in name only but without common feelings.

After traveling in America throughout the years and meeting US Jewish leaders multiple times, my assessment is that beyond superficial declarations of being one people, actually drawing closer to Israel is not in their consciousness, in their awareness. They are Jewish people in America only. There is complete disconnection. No wonder almost 6 out of 10 American Jews have never visited Israel in their lives and these statistics haven’t changed for decades.

However, just as the detachment from Judaism did not save the Jews in Germany from persecution almost a century ago, the detachment from the Jewish state will not help American Jewry now. With antisemitism spreading rapidly, Jews are under threat, and distancing from Israel will do nothing to improve the perception of haters toward them. Just as in the past, Jews will be held accountable for whatever problems are on the agenda. This is the nature of antisemitism. Therefore, the only remedy capable of offering real help in this situation is unity.

From an economic perspective, those who still believe the American dream is alive and that their livelihoods are secure should wake up from their sleep. For a long while, America’s hegemony is slowly fading, as did happen with all the ancient empires. The trend is shifting away from the West towards the East, and Asia is poised to take over control of the world’s economy. Not only is China already at the top of the competition, but Japan, South Korea, and other countries in the Far East are also not far behind.

What does all this mean for American Jews? It means that the importance of Jewish unity cannot be overstated as the only safety net to guarantee a good future. Unity must be built with all haste above the split between Right and Left, between Republicans and Democrats, between American Jews and Israelis, above all the differences. Our future does not depend on any particular person or political camp; it depends solely upon our connection as one people.

Clearly, there are many contentious issues between the two communities worthy of addressing—opposite political views, disputes about who is a Jew, how Judaism should be practiced, just to name a few. However, above and beyond our disagreements, the State of Israel and the American Jewry must feel that no matter what, there is an underlying and indivisible bond that connects us together, similar to the way that siblings sometimes fiercely disagree but always remember that they are family.

Unity does not mean erasing our unique opinions or demanding that all think the same. (That would erode the very essence of the Jewish people who fiercely debate on anything.) No, all the differences remain and we just build a connecting bridge above them from recognition that our connection is far more important than any other issue.

As foremost Kabbalist Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) wrote,

“It is also clear that the immense effort required of us on the rugged road ahead requires unity as strong and as solid as steel, from all factions of the nation without any exceptions. If we do not come out with united ranks toward the mighty forces standing in our way then we are doomed before we even started” (The Writings of Baal HaSulam, The Nation).

Unity is the prime commodity and the bedrock of the people of Israel in that we possess the priceless method for bringing people together—families, nations, and all of humanity. When we begin to implement this method first and foremost between ourselves, the positive impact will reverberate forcefully around the world and our common destiny will be safeguarded.
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“Regardless Of Election Results, If Israel Unites, It Can Decide Its Own Fate” (Times Of Israel)

 

The Times of Israel published my new article “Regardless of Election Results, If Israel Unites, It Can Decide Its Own Fate”

Around the world, people are looking closely at the vote count in America. When it comes to the United States, everyone has an interest. In Israel, too, the split society is split between supporting the candidates. But Israel is different from the rest of the world. If Israeli society manages to unite above its internal disagreements and aversions, it will not have to choose which president is better for it; everyone, including current enemies, will want to help Israel.

Instead of looking overseas for satisfaction or dismay, Israelis should look at one another and make peace among themselves. Nothing hurts Israel more than its internal hatred.

There have always been conflicts and disagreement among Jews. It’s the nature of opinionated people to be obstinate. This is not a problem. The problem begins when we think that we must convince our dissenters that we are right and they are wrong. This will never happen; it isn’t meant to happen.

The Jewish people weren’t meant to agree with one another; they were meant to rise above their disagreements. We might think it’s not important to do so, but the inability to transcend hatred and dispute is the world’s number one problem. Today, everyone is becoming increasingly opinionated and intolerant to other views. Because everyone thinks they are right, we begin to hate each other and want to cancel one another. Unless we find a way to maintain social cohesion, the tension will increase until it snaps and chaos will take over.

The ancient Hebrews were the only ones who found such a way. They discovered that disagreements enrich them, hone their thinking and polish their ideas, as long as they increase their love for one another more than the distance that the disagreements create. In fact, they learned that the purpose of the arguments, and their real benefit, was not the polishing of views, but the increase of love and unity. The disagreements were merely the impetus that drove the Israeli people to deepen their cohesion and strengthen their bonds. This is why The Book of Zohar (BeShalach) stated, “All the wars in the Torah are peace and love.”

Without disagreements, we would become indifferent to each other. The disputes cause us to pay attention to each other and the anger makes us feel uncomfortable. If we succumb to our anger, we end up in hate. But if we strive to love each other just as siblings love each other even when they disagree, then the love between us increases after each dispute, since the intensity of the dispute forces us to match it with love in order not to disintegrate society.

Currently, Israel is sharply divided. This is exactly the point where we must increase our love for one another in order to match it with our mutual dislike. If we do not do so, we will end up in civil war and the country will disintegrate. But if we increase our unity and care for one another above the level of hatred that reveals itself each time, the whole world will see that this is possible and will want to learn from our example. The ability to rise above disputes is the trait that everyone needs and no one has. If we show how we can do this, everyone will be thankful, including our enemies. This is why Israel is the only country whose fate depends solely on its people, and not on external forces.
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New Life 493 – Online Connection Between The People And The Elected Officials

 

New Life 493 – Online Connection Between The People And The Elected Officials
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

The modern forms of communication enable people to confuse, cheat, and rob each other. On the whole, the current use of the Internet brings mainly destruction to our lives. This is the recognition of evil. There is no turning back.

We need to learn how to use the Internet wisely. It was revealed to the world in order to help us to connect in a circle, in equality, and in mutuality. An online education system will align everyone, bring us to a common understanding, and generate future leaders who will explain how to connect with each other. It will help us advance toward a more internal network of connection between the hearts until we feel as one man.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 493 – Online Connection Between The People And The Elected Officials,” 1/6/15

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“The Latest Scheme To Divide Israel – Cantonize It” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “The Latest Scheme to Divide Israel – Cantonize It”

The latest whim among those who want to see Israel disintegrated is to split it into cantons. “It makes perfect sense,” they exclaim, “We will be like Switzerland!” And why not? Those who want a liberal lifestyle will live in the Tel-Aviv canton, those who want an Orthodox lifestyle will live in the Bnei Brak canton, and so on and so forth. Everyone will have their way and we will all be happy.

The divisions between us will not vanish; we will never agree. But they must not deter us from striving for unity despite them. If we strive for unity as a value in itself, a worthy goal we must achieve, even if only so as to serve as an example, we will find that our rejection of each other is but the reason and the impetus to form unity and solidarity. Without the hate, we’d have no need to build love. Without rejection, we’d have no need to forge connections. And without connection, we are not a nation.

If we do that, we might as well pack up and leave now. We didn’t come to Israel to live in separate tribes; we came here to reunite the Jewish people. We can’t expect 2,000 years of exile not to leave its marks on all of us, but if we don’t want to revive our common identity, we might as well leave now because it defies the purpose of our coming here, and the meaning of being Jewish.

Jews have never been similar to one another. Our forefathers were outcasts from various tribes, and believed that only when we rise above our differences we can achieve true unity. King Solomon called this motto, “Love will cover all crimes” (Prov. 12:10), and RASHI explained that Rabbi Akiva’s motto, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” is the great rule of the Torah.

In other words, we weren’t meant to let our separateness remain, but to rise above it and unite. The whole world consists of separate nations that have no idea how to unite. They fight each other to death; they’ve been through two world wars; they are well on their way to another one, and no one knows how to prevent it. The only way this can be stopped is if people find a way to unite above their inherent and immutable differences.

We, the Jews, were the only ones who ever attempted it, when we first formed the nation, and the only ones who succeeded, albeit for very short periods and with countless clashes in between. Nevertheless, that successful attempt, or perhaps better defined as “effort,” has earned us the mission to be “a light unto nations,” to show the way to forge unity among different and hostile peoples.

Subconsciously, this is why the nations voted in favor of establishing a Jewish state in the land of Israel in 1947. The Holocaust was certainly an impetus, but we shouldn’t be so naïve as to believe that countries that wouldn’t let in pleading Jewish refugees before and during World War II had suddenly become philo-Semites when it ended.

Despite its innate dislike of Jews, the world has given us a sovereign state, a chance to reestablish our nationhood. And since our forefathers were aliens who united, when we are not united, we are aliens. If we embrace our alienation and divide the country into cantons, we will admit that we are unable to connect, the nations will feel that we have given up on the effort to unite and set the example of unity above hate they so desperately need, and that will be the end of the State of Israel.

The divisions between us will not vanish; we will never agree. But they must not deter us from striving for unity despite them. If we strive for unity as a value in itself, a worthy goal we must achieve, even if only so as to serve as an example, we will find that our rejection of each other is but the reason and the impetus to form unity and solidarity. Without the hate, we’d have no need to build love. Without rejection, we’d have no need to forge connections. And without connection, we are not a nation.

When Will The Holy Land Be Ours?

 

Question: In the Torah in Bereshit, it is written that Abraham asked the Creator: “How will I know that I will inherit it?” And the Creator answered him: “You shall surely know that your seed will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will enslave them and oppress them, for four hundred years. And also the nation that they will serve will I judge, and afterwards they will go forth with great possessions.”

Can we rely on the primary sources written thousands of years ago to say today that this is our land?

Answer: The laws of nature are absolute and they must be applied. Therefore, what was said three to four thousand years ago is coming true today.

Remark: In the Midrash, it is written that Israel will not return to their land until they are all in one bundle. But we are back.

Answer: No. Our physical return does not mean anything. Absolutely nothing! This is not the return that should be. Therefore, Kabbalists believe that there is actually no return yet. We have arrived here, we are on this land, but it is not sacred and not ours.

Our land will be a desire in which we can unite because “land” – “Eretz” from the word “Ratzon” – “desire.” And these are not stones under your feet but hearts that will unite together.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 11/25/19

To Become One Nation

 

Baal HaSulam, The Nation: These loose ties—language, religion, and history—are important values, and no one denies their national merit. However, they are still completely insufficient to rely on as a basis for the independent sustenance of a nation. In the end, all we have here is a gathering of strangers, descendants of cultures of seventy nations, each building a stage for oneself, one’s spirit, and one’s leanings. There is no elemental thing here that unites us all from within into a single mass.

To this day, we have failed to build a country, a nation, or a society. The world does not understand it. And the Jews themselves, those living in Israel, see it as strange.

All values based on language, religion, and history do not reach their hearts because they do not touch the foundation of the Jewish people, the foundation of the land of Israel. Therefore, the land rejects everything that does not correspond to its spiritual root.

Thus, the people of Israel will have no choice but to accept the true laws of nature of this land, i.e., the laws of bestowal, love, and relationship above our egoism. And then, we will begin to really feel that we live on our own land, create our own society and state. Only in this case, will everyone start to accept and approve of us correctly.

Remark: If you had said this a year ago, you probably would have had to convince people that there is a strong division in the nation. But now there appears to be such discord between the right and the left that we cannot even choose the head of government. And this conflict is only growing every year.

My Comment: In general, we live in a very interesting period of history when we begin to understand that we have no other choice but to create a nation and a state according to the laws of our nature, our common soul. After all, our roots come from a broken soul—the so-called “soul of Adam.” And so, until we start to restore it, to connect all the fragments together, we will not be able to create anything.

Question: Are you talking about some kind of emotional relationship between people?

Answer: Yes. There is nothing else.

We must create the right connections between us, and then we will become a nation. When by restoring the connection we understand how to build a state,  we will be able to create it. Everything must begin with the search for how to become properly united as one nation.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 11/25/19

Education First, Then Unification

 

Baal HaSulam, “The Nation”: This is why I said that we must establish for ourselves special education through widespread circulation, to instill in each of us a sense of national love, both from one person to another, and from the individuals to the whole, to rediscover the national love that was instilled within us since the time we were on our land as a nation among the nations.

This work precedes all others because besides being the basis, it gives the stature and successes to all the other actions that we wish to take in this field.

Most important is the education and upbringing of those people (fragments of the broken soul) who come to Israel so that they understand what their main mission is. Living on this land, they must realize that their task is to unite in spite of all the differences, of which are huge among the Jews so that above all so-called transgressions, love will be formed.

Remark: In principle, Baal HaSulam is saying that mass media need to work on the uniting people and not on separating them as is the case today.

My Comment: Most important is not even unification but education. Unification will happen when people understand who they are, what their nature is, and what state they should come to.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 11/25/19

“If Peace With The UAE And Bahrain Is Good, Where Are The Trumpet Sounds?” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “If Peace with the UAE and Bahrain Is Good, Where Are the Trumpet Sounds?”

Less than a month after the normalization agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain has also joined the peace train. I am all for it; peace and normalization are always better than war and animosity. But to be honest, I don’t see that the rest of the world is so excited about it, and I think this shows how isolated we are in the world. Despite the fact that Israel has established connections with countries who were previously enemies, no one is cheering, no one is sounding the festive trumpets. For all our efforts to be accepted, Israel, and Jews (though they may not recognize it), are excluded from the family of nations.

Wherever Israel appears, it is unlike any other country, and so it is with regard to Jewish presence anywhere. It is time we asked ourselves why this is so; it is time we understood that the way the world relates to us depends on us and not on them.

Wherever Israel appears, it is unlike any other country, and so it is with regard to Jewish presence anywhere. It is time we asked ourselves why this is so; it is time we understood that the way the world relates to us depends on us and not on them. The nations will welcome us when we bring to the world something that not we, but they consider worthwhile. Until then, whatever we offer them — advanced technology, developed agriculture, innovations in medicine, and brilliant novelists, actors, and filmmakers — the world will only hate us more. We will not receive an ounce of gratitude until we bring them what they really want from us. They do not express it, but we must figure it out and do it nonetheless.

But that something is plain to see: In a broken world, splintered by hatred, we — Jews and the State of Israel — have to bring correction to the world, Tikkun Olam, through unity. The world will accept nothing less from us.

We hate the idea, but we are not like everyone else. If you don’t believe me, ask anyone who isn’t Jewish and they will tell you that they feel that there is something special about Jews. Some hate us, some like us, but most everyone senses that we are different, and they’re right. No other country or person has to justify their existence, but we Jews do, as a nation, as a country, and as individuals. We should recognize it, since otherwise the nations will tell us this the way the Nazis told this to us eighty years ago.

No nation attracts more attention than the Jews, since no other nation is expected to set an example to the whole world. We are judged by a different standard because we are expected to be more virtuous than everyone else, more loving, caring for each other, and with more mutual responsibility toward each other than all other nations.

For saying this, some Jews have accused me of being antisemitic. But denial gets us nowhere. Instead, we must roll up our sleeves and get to work, because the whole world is waiting, and it is becoming increasingly impatient.

The demands of the nations from the Jewish people are not some fabrications of sick minds; our own sages told us throughout the ages that we must be a role model nation, “a light unto nations.” Rav Kook, the leader of religious Zionism before the establishment of the State of Israel, articulated this message poetically and succinctly in his book, Orot HaKodesh: “Since we were ruined by unfounded hatred, and the world was ruined with us, we will be rebuilt by unfounded love, and the world will be rebuilt with us.”

As just said, we need to unite not for our own sake, but to set an example to the world. In the days before the ruin of the Second Temple, there was a period when we were so united that people from the nations flocked to Jerusalem to see the miracle. The book Sifrey Devarim details how gentiles would “go up to Jerusalem and see Israel … and say, ‘It is becoming to cling only to this nation.’”

Similarly, The Book of Zohar (Aharei Mot) wrote about our hatred for each other and the importance of our unity for the rest of the world:

“‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to also sit together.’ These are the friends as they sit together and are not separated from each other. At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another … then they return to being in brotherly love. …And you, the friends who are here, as you were in fondness and love before, henceforth you will also not part from one another … and by your merit, there will be peace in the world.”

The book Kol Mevaser also stresses the importance of unity for the people of Israel: “This is the mutual guarantee on which Moses worked so hard before his death, to unite the children of Israel. All of Israel are responsible for one another, meaning that when all are together, they see only good.”

Therefore, we need to realize that we will have no peace or peace of mind until we make peace among ourselves. Until we rise above our deep-seated hatred for each other and unite in order to serve as an example to the world, the nations will treat us as pariahs.