A week before the general election that was held this Tuesday, the newspapers Israel Hayom and Haaretz published two separate surveys, both concluding that contrary to the common perception of Israelis as preoccupied with problems of defense and terror, they…
The question about the meaning of our lives constantly lurks underneath everything we do in life, and we distract ourselves in myriad ways in order to avoid this very question. Around a century ago and earlier, we had much clearer…
Perfect timing: on the day of the Israeli parliamentary elections, we began studying Baal HaSulam’s article, “Peace in the World.” Among other things, the article speaks about the interdependence of all people and how the positive or negative actions…
Last week was the 77th United Nations Day, marking the anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Charter in 1945. The day’s official web page states, “There is no other global organization with the legitimacy [and] impact of the United…
We should know the final goal that we are destined to reach, and that the ego develops within us in order to reach that goal. However, it develops within us in order for us to make correct use of it,…
The world is starting to understand where it is. We are starting to agree with the fact that the future will be no better than it is today, and the next generation will be far worse off than we are.…
Of all our fears, probably the one that is the most intense is the fear of losing face, of being shamed. To most of us, our self-respect means more than anything else. If we lose it, we often prefer to…
We are made of a desire to enjoy, which enjoys at the expense of others. This is our human ego, and it gives us a sense of self by comparing ourselves with others. When we compare ourselves to others, we…
A couple of weeks ago, a journalist from the French women’s paper magazine Fémitude wrote me asking if I would be willing to answer a question for an article she was writing about the wisdom of Kabbalah. Her question was,…
It is a key law of nature that any existing body—still, vegetative or animate—desires to sustain and protect its existence. That is not considered ego. It can be called the desire to live and to exist. The human ego begins…
We should first understand that negative emotions surface in order to change us and bring us to a more positive state. Similar to diseases, they are signs that something is wrong. For instance, if my foot hurts, it is not…
A few weeks ago, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented an extremely rare 2000-year-old coin that was stolen and smuggled out of Israel, and returned following an intelligence operation by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in New York.…