Entries in the 'Israel' Category

What Kind of Prayer?

294.3Question: How can we influence all people from within ourselves without going out to the people?

Answer: We can achieve this only if we can raise our prayer to the Creator.

Question: What kind of prayer?

Answer: That is what we need to figure out so that our prayer is so unified that it can ascend to the Creator. In this way, we implore Him to fulfill our desire.

What do we turn to the Creator with? To reveal among us what we need. And this is not just a matter of words, but it is an urgent need.
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From  the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Freedom”

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Feeling like You Are in Egypt

49.01Question: When the sons of Israel felt a great emptiness, they cried out to the Creator. This cry came out of them automatically. What was their freedom of choice?

Answer: They had freedom of choice before when they were in Egypt. Now, the Creator has gathered them and pulled them to Him. Therefore, they are under the full power of the Creator.

We must understand that we do not yet feel like we are in the desert. We do not feel that we have nothing to eat. Therefore, we cannot cry out to the Creator asking where the food we ate in Egypt is. We do not yet feel Egypt.

Question: What is the difference between Israel and the nations of the world? Is it that the people of the world in this situation would not turn to the Creator?

Answer: No, the nations of the world are those who do not feel related to the Creator at all.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “And It Came to Pass in the Course of Those Many Days”

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Either Unity or Death

931.01Question: What should be the conditions for the quality of the people of Israel in us to hear the call of Mordechai: either connection or death?

Answer: We must feel that as a result of the entire historical path, we have reached a state where the Creator (nature) sets a task: either you unite with each other and become higher, more developed than everyone else, and then everything will work out, or your end will be here.

Question: The fact is that although our lives are in danger every day, we cannot say that any sensitivity has awakened in us. How can we develop it?

Answer: Special sensitivity can be developed only by all possible actions to unite. Then we will see how much they help us and benefit every person and the whole nation.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “There Is a Certain People”

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Generate a Common Force

935Question: What happens when we come to the state of Lishma (for the sake of the Creator)?

Answer: Then we will be connected by the best ties. The Creator will be revealed between us, and we will wish to unite all the nations of the world to ourselves.

Now, with the help of our request to the Creator, we return ourselves to what we want to gain: Lishma. But so far we have very little strength.

It is possible to generate a common force only through combined efforts between all friends.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/24, Writings of Rabash “Inheritance of the Land”

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The Unique Attitude Toward Literacy

270Comment: In ancient times many people did not know how to read. Apart from Jews, virtually no one had books.

My Response: But the Torah does not address other nations. It was written in Hebrew. Since then, nothing has changed, not a single letter or shape. A unique book called Tikkun Sofrim allows you to check texts.

People who copied the Torah first had to study the shapes of the letters and correct spelling. Therefore, everything stayed the same for generations. If you find a book written 2,000 years ago, the letters will have the same shape today.

Comment: Other nations did not teach children to read and write until almost the 19th century.

My Response: Yes, but it was not like that for the Jews. Their children started studying at three years old and even earlier. Usually, a school was located in the house of one of the teachers.

Comment: That is why we envy Jews; they are so bright.

My Response: This is not intelligence; it is simply working on yourself. In earlier times, there were practically no other books. Therefore, people knew the Torah by heart. This is an entirely different attitude to life than the current one.

Question: What mission did women perform if only boys were studying?

Answer: Women practically could not read and only listened to conversations held for them.

Question: But at the same time, the wisdom of a Jewish woman is unique. I have a feeling that she is very different from others.

Answer: Yes, but not because they studied a lot. Of course, they knew by heart what was written in the Torah. This is how the Creator decreed it and how they carried it out for thousands of years. This approach led to notable development in people’s memory and attitude toward writing, science, and nature.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/29/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Looking in the Book Again”

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Our Strength Is In Unity

933We will succeed in destroying the Jews because they are separated from one another; hence, our power against them will certainly prevail (Shamati 144, “There is a Certain People).

Question: What is our power?

Answer: The thing is, egoistic forces want to enter our environment and divide us so that we are not united among us. In such a case, they distance us from the Creator and can do whatever they want with us.

But if we unite among ourselves and with the whole world, then our collective power will represent the spiritual force. We need nothing else beside that. Our strength lies only in unity.

Question: What do we lack for such unity to become an example for the world?

Answer: We lack coming closer to each other and attempts to eliminate all bad thoughts and desires that flow from one to the other. We must rapidly gain strength and speed of unity in order to dispel all opposing thoughts and actions.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “There Is a Certain People”

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Qualitative Unification Efforts

942Question: What are the qualitative efforts of our connection in our tens and our global group?

Answer: Qualitative efforts consist of thinking about our unification, and this action attracts us with its quality. After all, when we rise to the level of the Creator, we can influence all of nature, which will become unified as a result of our efforts, and then we will be invincible.

Humankind will see from our example how to act; it will also strive for unity, and the whole world will rise to the level of the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “There Is a Certain People”

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Purim on the Calendar and in the Heart

215The holiday of Purim is approaching, symbolizing concealment, the custom of dressing up in carnival costumes and wearing masks. Where does the tradition of wearing masks on Purim come from?

The main character of Purim is Queen Esther, who represents the kingdom (Malchut), the system that governs the entire universe. This kingdom is called “Esther,” which means “concealment.”

In fact, in our time we see that everything is concealed. We do not know who governs us and we are unaware that there is a program in nature that controls our lives. We exist in a realm where some upper force controls everything, which manifests as various forces like a vast network that oversees the entire world.

Science is only now beginning to uncover that everything in nature is interconnected, and the world is an integrated system with global connections. We only perceive a small part of reality. We are not talking about some unknown dark energy in the universe, but about a reality completely concealed from us, which we do not even guess about. Our entire world is a complete concealment.

Inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature is governed by instincts and therefore does not ask questions. But humans must understand why they live. If they cannot find an answer to this question, they feel greatly limited, disappointed with life, and unsure of what to do with themselves. The animalistic body continues its normal life and gives birth to offspring, but a person feels unhappy.

Humans feel there is concealment—a system, Malchut—secretly controlling them, like a vast “Queen Esther.” Esther does not appear in the image of a woman, but of the entire kingdom that governs us so that we do not understand where we are going and what we are doing.

Many times throughout history, the Jewish people have faced “Purim” situations, which means a threat of annihilation. This threat arises to awaken us and to remind us of our purpose and to not continue living like the other “127 nations” mentioned in the Scroll of Esther.

We must reveal Esther and compel concealment to unveil. All other nations within which we live act to awaken us to this mission. After all, good cannot awaken a people or their egoistic desire and make them think about spiritual life.

Jews try to forget their mission and bury themselves in corporeal values where they strive for achievements in science, culture, and especially where there is money and power.

To awaken us, King Ahasuerus and his aide Haman appear. In reality, they do not understand what they are doing because, above Ahasuerus, there is another king, entirely concealed, a king who guides everything to bring all of humanity to the attainment of the Creator. This is possible only through the Jews because within them lies the secret, the spiritual gene, that enables them to do so.

Haman is an egoistic desire that cannot be corrected, but can only be destroyed. Haman and his ten sons represent an evil system, unfit for correction, a system that opposes the rule of the upper force and the desire to bestow and love thy neighbor as thyself. Haman cannot accept this, so we need to eliminate such desires within us.

The immense egoistic desire Haman is preparing to kill everyone including Mordecai and King Ahasuerus, in order to rule the entire kingdom himself. This huge egoism cannot cooperate with other forces, but seeks absolute power over all. Therefore, today Haman manifests everywhere: in religions, beliefs, and the leadership of countries if they are claiming that they alone should govern the world.

But the Scroll of Esther tells us that by the king’s decree, Haman is hanged on the tree he prepared for Mordecai, and the city of Shushan celebrates its deliverance. Thus, we come to a point where evil no longer exists in the world because we have destroyed and nullified it.

In essence, the Scroll of Esther tells us how humanity reveals all evil in the world and understands the need to eradicate human egoism, the desire to receive for one’s own sake. This is how we achieve a completely good state and the end of correction where there is no evil left in the world.

This is what the Purim holiday is dedicated to, to celebrate and drink until “one does not know the difference between Haman and Mordecai” because there is no more Haman in the world and there is no need to fear egoism!

The evil Haman hides within each person and within all nations because it represents the egoistic desire to rule over others. If we can escape from this evil and distance ourselves from it, then we will approach the revelation of good, the upper system that governs us.

Without evil, it is impossible to reveal good or even approach it. Evil exists precisely to make us feel the need for good, and directs us toward it.

We need to identify this evil in every person, in every country, and in the world. Just as Mordecai, Esther, and Ahasuerus wisely acted against Haman, we need to bring about the disappearance of the evil force from the world. We must learn this from the Scroll of Esther, and I hope we will achieve it!
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From KabTV’s “New Life – 1094” 3/14/19

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Purim in the 21st Century

294.4Comment: Purim is an unusual, great, and magical holiday. It is known that Haman cast lots to determine the date of the extermination of the entire Jewish people at the beginning of the year, and the lot fell on the 13th of Adar, i.e., at the end of the year. The whole story from the very beginning suggests that it was staged.

My Response: Naturally. There are dates that work for various ascents and descents for both the Jewish people and the rest of humanity. All this is in dynamic connection with each other.

Comment: The Scroll of Esther (Megilat Esther) is the only book in which the Creator is never mentioned.

My Response: It is called Esther (concealment) because the Creator is hidden, and it is unknown who and what is operating there.

The queen is also named Esther, but she is revealed. And the King, that is the upper force, is concealed. The King does not manifest himself explicitly but only through figureheads and puppets.

Comment: Then let’s move on to these figureheads and puppets. We know that Mordechai never bowed to Haman. Haman had everything, but when he saw Mordechai and his behavior, it drove him crazy.

Answer: The fact is that Haman understood that Mordechai is a force set against him, and as long as Mordechai was alive, undefeated, or at least not subdued or disgraced, he, Haman, could not rule.

Egoism cannot rule the world as long as there is a force opposite to it that will not allow it. Therefore, Haman, who personifies all natural human egoism, could not tolerate the property of bestowal, love, connection, and reciprocity, which Mordechai personifies.

Question: Why didn’t he seek some compromise?

Answer: It is impossible to do this. They are opposites: it is one or the other. Therefore when they are in conflict, there can naturally be neither peace nor victory. So, they remain in conflict. Who can prevail? Only the Jewish people together with Queen Esther.

Question: What does the Jewish people represent between these two forces?

Answer: It is the force that decides which way to turn the world. If Jews perform acts of love, bestowal, and unification among themselves, the whole world turns to follow them in the same direction.

Comment: When the Jews came out of Egypt, the Creator gave a decree to wage war against every Amalekite and destroy everything that belonged to him.

My Response: This refers to all the evil forces that are inside a person.

Question: There was a possibility of destroying all egoism multiple times in history. Is there some kind of loophole intentionally built into this scenario?

Answer: Absolutely. Until the Jews correct themselves and come to a common denominator—a common bond among them in order to pull all the nations of the world after them—Haman or his descendants will exist and will always interfere with the Jews. Basically their intrusion is their help.

Comment: You often give an example that when a negative force becomes threatening or destructive, it is helpful.

My Response: Naturally it is useful and helpful. How can you not have a plus or a minus? They complement each other and together spin the whole flywheel of history.

Question: Several women are mentioned in the Purim story: Vashti, Zeresh, and Esther. Were they just female characters, or did female power play a role throughout the story?

Answer: Vashti is the queen preceding Esther. When Vashti is concealed, Esther appears—the next female force. And most importantly, Haman’s wife is a negative, evil female force that practically stands behind him and directs everything.

Question: What do these three female images represent? What do they teach us?

Answer: They teach that in principle, female power rules the world. Egoism must surely be defeated. Haman’s femenine power, his wife, is much fiercer than he is. We should fear evil, bad women more than men.

The most evil force of nature is a selfish, bad woman. This is a terrible force that cannot be curtailed. It is insidious and can manifest itself in completely different ways and guises than she truly is.

Question: What powers do Vashti and Esther represent?

Answer: Vashti is just a small female egoism. And Esther is a concealed righteous woman, the property of Bina that men should follow. In fact, it manifests the property of the Creator, the power of the Creator, only in a hidden way. Therefore, she is called Esther, from the word “Astara”—concealment.

Comment: You often say that everything we see, all forces and images, are inside a person.

Answer: We see a theater before us being played out around us. In fact, according to the perception of reality taught by Kabbalah, what we see is inside us. Let’s say that I am sitting in the studio right now, talking to you, someone is recording something here, another person is managing something there, none of it exists. In fact, it is all in me, and I am going through all these states.

Question: How can a person who sees this story and knows these characters, recognize all the guiding forces within him and be able to choose one of them?

Answer: He should simply align himself with the positive forces and distance himself from the negative ones, and eventually reach a state when these forces begin to be revealed to him. Behind all the characters in front of him, he will see the forces controlling them. Let’s say there is a so–called angel behind you; this is nothing other than a force that controls you and does everything that is needed.

In fact, you are a completely disembodied object controlled by the force behind it as well as behind all people, inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature. This is all about the governance of our world. It happens with the help of the upper force which breaks down into all sorts of levels and sub-levels and thus controls everything.

Question: Is the story of Purim intended for the Jewish people or for everyone?

Answer: For everyone. The Jewish people have no history of their own. Their whole story is aimed at bringing all nations of the world to unity. This nation does not exist on its own; its mission is only to reveal the upper force in this world to all nations.

The fact that Jews have forgotten about this and do not engage in their mission is a liability, and they suffer because of this.

Still, we must fulfill our purpose. For thousands of years we have been stumbling on the same rake: we push it away all the time not wanting to fulfill our historical mission, which is very simple—our unity.

As soon as we begin to unite, the world around us will do the same and support us—not hate, but love us. To do this, we just need to unite among us. To the extent we love each other, the world will love us.

Everything is very simple. In fact, it is a very direct and simple covenant.

So, be good children, as everyone has probably heard from their mothers: do not fight, do not argue, be close to each other, and the world around you will become closer and warmer. This is what the great Purim holiday is about. This is the essence of the vast upper goal of development of all mankind.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/22/19

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What Is Jewish Uniqueness?

222Question: What makes us unique?

Answer: Our uniqueness lies in the fact that we show humanity the right path forward, and if we do not show it, then humanity will simply perish in civil strife, in wars, in anything.

Now nature is putting pressure on us to make ourselves ready for peace, friendship, and mutual understanding so that we give up many of our goals, including completely unnecessary ones, and exist only for the love of our neighbor.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 2/12

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