Conflict Of Two Teachings In Judaism

Question: In the 18th century, two teachings emerged among the Jewish people. One of them was Hasidism—a direct appeal to the human soul, to the Creator, to the study of the Creator and oneself.

This course was opposed by another school, which promoted only the dry teaching of the Torah. There was a serious conflict between them. As it was written by the eyewitnesses: “Heretics were persecuted, subjected to Herem (excommunication), forced to publicly repent their sins, and even subjected to corporal punishment.”

What was the reason for this conflict?

Answer: The reason was very profound because it stems from the destruction of the Temple. It was destroyed precisely because people refused to work on the connection between them due to unfounded hatred. They started to distance from each other and stopped working on love and connection. And this is how it has been ever since.

Some of them understood that the most important thing is a sensory, heartfelt, mutual connection between everybody. Yet, if for them the most important thing was to create such a unity between them as was in the soul of Adam, to be as one man with one heart, it was not so for others.

This is how people usually are: physicists and lyricists, some more inclined to mental research, and others to sensory research. This was clearly evident among the Jews, and therefore, they were in great opposition to each other.

Remark: The main point is that Kabbalists were spiritual leaders for both sides.

My Reply: Yes, but it did not matter. The point was not about the Kabbalists who understood each other and knew what was going on and why the other group thought so. The point was how to lead the masses: just teach them the Talmud, or educate them in a sensory attitude toward each other.

Remark: You said that one of the reasons for this split was that it was not yet time to spread this wisdom. Although many Kabbalists of the 16th century were already writing that it is possible to reveal Kabbalah, to this day not everyone agrees with this.

Answer: Indeed, to this day, Kabbalists feel the echoes of past battles. However, not to such an extent anymore.

I hope that modern history and the development of humanity will quickly neutralize all this and bring us to a common denominator.

For more on this topic, read my book A Very Narrow Bridge: The fate of the Jewish people.
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From KabTV’s “The Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 12/28/19

Either We Stop Destroying Nature Or The Virus Will “Help Us”

Question: When people in China came out of lockdown from their rooms and apartments and seemingly were freed a little from the virus, a huge Hermes store opened there. They brought beautiful handbags covered with diamonds, a lot of leather goods, and people started buying. In one day, it made about $2.7 million.

You are saying that person’s way of thinking will change, they will start thinking differently, but a person does not seem to change much. How will this happen?

Answer: A person does not change, but I think that the virus is aimed at preventing us from making money from unnecessary actions. The virus is a consequence of our egoistic attitude to nature, and it will force us to do only what is necessary and sufficient. No more than that. Let’s wait and see.

I do not think there will be a complete return to the past. We have entered such a state with nature where it can no longer tolerate us. Look how the fish jump out of the water. Animals come and seek freedom.

This shows us to what extent we are an alien organism in nature, how we cannot, simply cannot, be an integral element of nature.

Comment: Of course, we took the places where animals once were.

My Response: If we were doing the right thing, nature would not feel this. The wolves would not rush into our parks again, the fish would not jump out of the water for joy that we are not there. I can hear the birds chirping! Everything is different! The air is so much better.

Question: Do you think that civilization, humanity, can harmoniously enter nature?

Answer: Of course. If only this were civilization and not barbarism! Today’s civilization are barbarians! The way it was a thousand, two thousand years ago. Therefore, we need to understand that we cannot continue in this way.

I am sure the virus will not leave us and more new modifications will come. I am sure it will be migrating in its different variations to many parts of the world. I am sure that against the background of suffering from the virus, against the background of fear, there will even be some kind of wars, changes in relations between countries. Especially for America and China I think there will be problems. This is on one hand. On the other hand, these problems will force the world to change.

Comment: Even Bill Gates agrees with you on many things. He says that this will continue for twenty years or more, the virus will not go away. He believes that we should be prepared for this. He has such a mindset. Only the conclusions are different. He says, “We must prepare for this.” That is, prepare injections, doctors. He has no conclusion considering, now let’s try to understand why the virus came.

Your conclusion is that we must change. Why does humanity not come to it?

My Response: It does not see a direct connection between our attitude to each other, to the world around us, to nature and viruses. It does not understand that the virus is a natural particle that we have forced to begin spreading and putting us in order.

Yet, it will change us. Through a long way, through suffering, we will still arrive at the result that we should reach, although we could have come to it through awareness. This is how it will be.

Question: How long will this last?

Answer: Until a person is completely corrected, when one becomes an absolutely clear and correct integral part of all nature, in spite of the huge egoism that exists in him.

Now we have the opportunity to return to nature in a correct way, at least partially. Do not switch on any manufacturing plants that we use to destroy the environment. Leave many people not engaged in unnecessary production that litters everything and produces unnecessary things, but engaged in studying and creating the right relationships among themselves.

This is a great positive force that nature lacks, which must come from a person. At the level of the animalistic world, it occurs by itself: animals act in the way nature dictates. A person, however, must be brought to the right interaction.

Then we will see the person’s impact on the surrounding nature. The Torah says that a little child will lead both wolves and sheep, and they will be friendly with each other. This means that people will participate in nature in such a correct way that the evil force will disappear altogether! The evil force in nature will disappear. In everything!

Today we have no idea what the world around us means. Now wolves appear, fish jump out of the water for the joy that there are no people. We left them for a month, hid in our “dens,” and they are so happy that we moved away from them.

Do you understand what we are doing with nature?! How much it hates us, cannot stand us! When you look at this, you are simply amazed, “Am I really so harmful, so evil?!”  Yes. “Do I really affect this environment so badly?!” I hope the virus will help us.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/20/20

Health And Medicine, Part 6

Virus—Man’s Friend

Question: Viruses are by far the most dangerous enemy of man today. The greatest threat to us once were large predators, but today, man himself has become a terrible predator. However, he is powerless against tiny viruses consisting of a DNA molecule, RNA in a protein coat, which behave like intelligent beings. Why is medicine unable to deal with them?

Answer: I believe that viruses are man’s friends. Moreover, viruses are friends of society. They strike in order to force us to change both people and society.

Therefore, we should look upon the virus not as an enemy but as a helper, even if not very pleasant and even threatening. But if we would seriously study what a virus is leading us to and aimed to it, we would not let it manifest itself in us as a disease. We would simply run ahead of the virus toward the changes it is supposed to bring about in our society.

Question: There are millions of different viruses. Some of them are truly man’s friends. They benefit our body. But at some point, these viruses can do harm. What does it depend on?

Answer: It depends on a person. If a person does not seriously change himself, then nature reminds us by the appearance of various problems.

See what we are doing with the world around us! During the two months that we did not work, nature started to come back to life, animals began to appear in parks, the concentration of ozone in the air increased, everything began to shine and sparkle! Now you want it all to go away?

Question: Do you think that our egoistic attitude toward each other causes the problems?

Answer: Not only our attitude toward each other but also the industrial attitude toward the world. With our consumer approach to the vegetative and animate nature, we excite certain forces in it, and it begins to balance us through the manifestation of various breakdowns; in this case, through a virus.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 5/14/20

See The World Through Others

Question: How can a person realize that what he sees in the world is the result of his uncorrected worldview, his uncorrected qualities?

Answer: It’s not easy. If a person constantly controls himself, i.e., is engaged in self-analysis and self-examination, and tries to make something objective out of himself, then he understands what his reactions are.

By being in the right society and constantly showing an example of this attitude to everyone, he can tune in to the perception of reality in such a way that he will clearly distinguish: I feel this in my egoism, which needs to be raised and corrected all the time. And thus he will see the world differently.

Question: Can this be taught?

Answer: Yes, but everything is very difficult. In principle, nobody engages in this because this is not the usual work of a person on himself when acquiring skills or a trade, but it is a clear direction to get a new view of the world.

A new view of the world is a completely different state for a person, it is the quality of giving and loving others; it is when it is necessary to change oneself. This is a completely different method of change, not professional development, not changing yourself by being exposed to regular exercises and activities, but very special exercises and activities that can lead a person to see the world through others, i.e., as others see it.

Remark: So, this means that others are like a mirror of himself for himself. In principle, this would solve all our problems. Imagine if people had no complaints against anyone—neither spouses to spouses, nor country to country—then we would only be engaged in correcting ourselves and not others.

My Comment: Quite true.

Question: But this is only possible with a good environment that understands and cultivates it. Still, a person must have some inclination to do this?

Answer: Yes, but that would not be everybody. There are very few such people in every generation.

Question: Is this something innate? Or can anyone be taught this if there is an appropriate environment?

Answer: In principle, yes. Still, there are people who are born with a predisposition to change themselves and observe the world as if through others.

For this, a person must rise above his egoism and acquire the quality of love and connection with others. Moreover, with a certain positive environment, and not with some violators or others, only in this way will he be able to observe the world completely different, not through his egoistic “I.”
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 5/7/20

Responsibility For Raising Children

Question: Who, in your opinion, is responsible for raising children: family, school, the environment? What is the role of each of these factors?

Answer: The main role in raising children lies with their parents.

Parents are obliged to take care of the upbringing of children; it cannot be otherwise. No matter how many overseers and teachers the state puts in place, no one can replace the person who has instinctive love for the child.

Remark: But in modern conditions, a child has very little time at home. So a person is brought up by society, school, and work.

My Reply: We organized our world this way. This is what we have! Our egoism is set up so that we are ready to part with our children as soon as possible.

After 15-20 years, children know that they must leave home, and parents are already ready for their children to start an independent life. And they will continue to take care of themselves.

In other words, when we build a society, we are already laying the foundation for future social relations, including family relations.

Question: In the modern family, the child is taught to take everything he needs from this world, i.e., to be an egoist. On the other hand, society promotes through schools and mass media to be altruistic, kind, and to help everyone. And the children get conflicting messages. Who is right here?

Answer: No one is right. It is necessary, as they say, to go along the middle line: where necessary, there must be a certain rigidity, and where necessary, softness. A benevolent middle course of behavior should always prevail.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 5/21/20

Why Should We Reach The Good Through Evil?

Question: We know that everything is balanced by the Creator, so why should evil begin to rule so that we can reach the good?

Answer: First, it is because this is how the Creator stirs us. Second, man’s nature is evil. So by awakening evil, the Creator shakes and awakens us very strongly. Suppose you received a letter from the police, or a message from the bank that you won something. What would have a greater impact on you? Of course the negative message would have a greater impact.

Question: But how can the negative and the positive be equal? After all, a person is not an insensitive robot.

Answer: It all depends on my attitude to the Creator’s bestowal on me. If I value any form of His bestowal, like a child who correctly understands that all of his parents actions are necessary and desirable, it makes no difference to me what I receive from Him.

I can ascend above my ego and fully and mutually participate with Him under totally different conditions. My initial conditions are in the state of zero where I am already detached from myself and am already floating above myself.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 10/14/18

“From Left To Right, We’ve Tried Every Regime, But We’ve Never Tried Caring”

From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 9/2/20

The previous century was fraught with social experiments, which cost us heavily. Twice humanity became embroiled in world wars, tens of millions of lives were lost, as hundreds of millions lost their loved ones and their livelihood. In the second decade of the previous century, we tilted to the extreme left, with communist Russia. Some two decades later, much of Europe took a sharp turn to the right, with the emergence of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

In the middle of the century, after two world wars proved that neither extreme works, we went for capitalism and the United States became the world leader. With capitalism, we thought we’d found the answer. It basically ignored ideologies and allowed both democratic America and communist China to become capitalist superpowers. Instead of consecrating ideologies, it venerated money. And since everyone loves money, we learned to work together.

Yet, now even capitalism is failing us. The gaps between the haves and the have nots, and people’s inability to climb out of poverty have made capitalism yet another kind of tyranny: a tyranny of moguls rather than of rulers.

Today’s social tensions in America and elsewhere in the world, particularly in Europe, signify that capitalism too has run its course. We have no more options for government; we’ve tried everything. Now, either we introduce a new ingredient to mitigate the severity of the situation, or everything will collapse.

If we try to pinpoint the missing element in all the past regimes, we will see that it is caring, simple human caring for one another. All the previous ideologies tried to find the best social structure in a reality where people do not care for one another and exploit one another. In short, the previous ideologies tried to find a way to rein in the obscene, self-centered human nature. But since those who ran the countries were themselves products of human nature, their efforts were bound to fail. Now, for the first time in history, we are realizing that it isn’t society we need to change, but the people who make it.

If we teach ourselves to care for one another, it will not matter what form of governance we have over our heads. Our society will be good regardless of the government since we will care for one another. If human nature is the sore, we cannot bandage it or restrain it with a cast; we have to heal it.

And the first thing we need to learn is that diversity does not weaken. On the contrary, it not only strengthens, but enables life and evolution. Imagine what would happen to us if an organ in our body tried to force out or eliminate any organ that wasn’t like it. This is kind of what we’re trying to do every time we exclude another person, faith, or ideology. If we acknowledge the natural fact that diversity enriches and strengthens, we will find that even the most extreme ideas have merit, as long as they do not lead people to physically exterminate one another. Ideas, even the most extreme, lead people to question their own beliefs, polish their thoughts, and learn more about themselves. Without differences, we would be robots.

Granted, there is a lot to learn here, but if we start by agreeing that we are all parts of one, human family, then we will learn how to embrace the different, how to learn from one another and grow stronger, wiser, healthier, and richer together.

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“Covid-19 – Humanity’s Whip”

From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 9/2/20

The virus didn’t come to correct us. It came to show us that we have to correct ourselves. However, it will not do our work for us. We have yet to accept that we can’t win the hide-and-seek we play with Covid, where each time contagion levels drop, we ease restrictions and go wild until the virus “sees” that we came out of our hideaways and returns more contagious and violent than before. Recklessly, we are playing with the lives of our loved ones, and not just the elderly and sick among us, but also with those of our children.

Just as jockeys whip their horses to make them run faster, nature whips us using Covid-19 to impel us to start working on our relations with each other. We have already made some progress, and most governments acknowledge that they cannot simply let people starve for lack of jobs. But these rescue packages are few and far between. Even worse, they miss out on the main problem: our indifference toward each other. If we were less careless and more caring for our fellow people, we could easily overcome any trials that nature sends us. If we don’t begin to implement programs that teach us how to care for one another, alongside the monetary aid, we will end up in social breakdown and bloodshed.

The simple truth that Covid is showing us is that all we think about is our own profit, and that if we can gain at someone else’s expense, so much the better. To our defense, we could argue that this is human nature, that nature has created us egoistic so we can’t be blamed for being so. While this is true, it is also true that nature does not leave its creations self-centered. It does the opposite, weaving them into a network of reciprocal connections, so the unity among them becomes their ultimate source of strength. If we insist on being egoistic, we will end up destroying one another; we will put each other to death in the most literal sense of the word. It’s just a matter of time, and not a long time from today.

Nothing is still in nature; everything evolves at its own pace toward the inexorable result of complete merger. Humanity, like all other natural elements, evolves in that direction, too. If we look at human societies throughout history, we can easily identify this trajectory. We moved from clans to villages, from villages to towns, from towns to countries until we finally became a global village.

However, we did that only on the social level. Emotionally, we are as separated now as we always have been. In fact, in many ways, we are more separated now than ever, since our individualism is constantly challenged by our forced interdependence. We cannot do anything for ourselves: We can’t make our own food, our own clothes, or our own homes. But we hate this fact even if we’re unaware of it; we want to feel as unique, special individuals. The clash between the two creates the myriad disruptions our society displays, from violence to substance abuse, to suicide, escapism of all sorts, fanaticism, mental and emotional disorders, and all the other signals of distress that people are sending.

But nature will not leave us alone; it will bring us ever closer to each other, which will make us feel ever farther from each other in our hearts. There are only two ways that this can end: a complete breakdown of society, or the joining of humanity with nature’s trajectory toward union. This is why it is imperative that governments and authorities set up educational programs that inform us about the direction of development and help us join it.

People don’t know why they feel more hateful, why they are more suspicious toward others, and why people are so mean to one another. If they knew, they could choose to unite and end their misery. But because they are oblivious to nature’s inexorable progress, they have no choice but to protect themselves and their families as best they can until it all falls to pieces, which will happen soon.

The only difference between humanity and the rest of reality is that the evolutionary process that happens instinctively in all other creatures must happen consciously in us. We are indeed the apex of creation, but we can conduct ourselves accordingly only if we understand creation. This is why humanity will get no allowances; we will have to learn how everything works, and we will have to pay our dues. But the quicker we learn, the lower will be the dues.

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