These are not easy times for Israel. An ancient people and a relatively young state, who still searches for its identity. For decades, we have tried to be like every other nation, yet something has not worked. Something has remained unresolved. What do we keep missing, even before the establishment of the state?
“Judaism must present something new to the nations. This is what they expect from the return of Israel to the land.” This was written by Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) in his Writings of the Last Generation at the beginning of the previous century. He spoke with David Ben-Gurion and the leaders of the Jewish community of his time about establishing a spiritual state, one that would serve as an example to humanity of how to live in connection and love above differences, how to build a place where the single force that operates throughout nature can become revealed between people’s hearts.
Baal HaSulam understood that the state would have no lasting right to exist if it did not help advance the world to the connected state that humanity is destined to reach. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, this is the developmental program embedded in nature for the human species, and we are the ones meant to lead its realization. The program will inevitably unfold; that is not in question. Nature does not ask for our opinion or seek our advice. The only uncertainty is how much suffering we will have to endure before we grasp the evolutionary direction to complete integration among human beings.
In 1933, he published the article “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” where he explained:
“The Israeli nation had been constructed as a sort of passageway by which sparks of refinement would flow onto the entire human race throughout the world… until they develop to such an extent that they can understand the pleasantness and tranquility that are found in the kernel of love of others.”
In 1940, he launched the newspaper The Nation and wrote that the nation’s only hope was to instill within each of us a feeling of love, both between people on an individual scale, as well as between the individual and society as a whole.
“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.”
Unfortunately, few understood where Baal HaSulam was pointing, and Israel developed in a different direction.
And where are we today? Do we see much connection and love in daily life? In the media? On social networks? Who would have imagined a decade ago that driving on the roads could feel frightening?
We have built a prosperous state, with a strong military, advanced agriculture, world-class medicine, and a thriving high-tech sector. Yet internally, Israel is falling apart. Individual egoism is soaring, division is intensifying, and hatred is burning.
Nor does the broader world present a rosy picture. Hot wars, cold wars, cyber warfare, economic warfare, and psychological warfare, to name a few. On the one hand, reality is becoming increasingly interconnected, and everyone depends on everyone else. On the other hand, ego-driven struggles threaten to sink the entire ship.
Anyone with common sense understands that the future depends on our ability to learn how to live together on this planet. Yet no one truly knows how to achieve such a state. Socialist, capitalist, religious, secular, conservative, and progressive approaches alike are failing the test of results. Year after year, the horizon appears darker.
At the same time, technology continues to advance at an unprecedented scale, namely within the realms of AI, computing, and robotics. Many experts predict that within a few years, most of the world’s population will no longer be needed in the labor market. New technologies will replace workers and easily provide all our basic necessities. What will people do then? Wander the streets without purpose? Such a scenario is a sure recipe for social, family, and personal collapse.
At that point, humanity will need a new way of life, and the Kabbalistic wisdom of connection will emerge. We will need to establish social frameworks, similar to universities, where people will come every day, and participation will become a condition for receiving a living stipend. In small working groups, people will study human nature and the nature of the world, learning about the developmental trend that leads to a harmonious connection among all people. They will form deep bonds with one another and, together, rise to a new level of perception.
This perception concerns a higher dimension, beyond time, movement, and space. Entering it requires transforming human nature from an egoistic desire to receive pleasure for self-benefit alone, to a desire to bestow goodness and delight upon others. This transformation is defined as “spiritual development,” and it elevates a person to a state of complete and eternal existence, in unity with everyone and everything.
The people of Israel will need to lead this educational and cultural process because preparations for this spiritual way of life are embedded in our deepest roots. Unlike every other nation, we did not become a nation on the basis of a natural common denominator such as territory or ethnicity, but on the basis of a spiritual idea. Abraham the Babylonian discovered that all of nature is united and taught anyone willing to listen how to align with nature’s unity through connection, kindness, and love. The community of students that gathered around this spiritual idea eventually became a unique nation, one directed straight toward the force of bestowal and love that lies at the foundation of creation.
Since then, we have been designated as the pioneering force meant to lead humanity toward complete unity. Along the way, we experienced rises and falls, and ultimately we were destroyed by unfounded hatred. Since then, we wandered among the nations of the world until we were eventually brought back here, and not by chance.
Research and development, that is who we are. The next product needed by both us and humanity is a method for harmoniously connecting above the enormous human ego, a method essential for survival in an interconnected and interdependent world. We have no idea that this is our mission in the world. We have no idea that within us lies a method for correcting human nature. Yet that is precisely the situation.
It is no coincidence that attitudes toward Israel are becoming increasingly negative, nor that antisemitism continues to rise. It is no coincidence that the state itself seems to be enduring increasing ruptures apart from within. All these problems will continue to intensify until we understand who we are and what our contribution to the development of creation is meant to be.
“When the children of Israel are complemented with the complete knowledge, the fountains of intelligence and knowledge shall flow beyond the boundaries of Israel and water all the nations of the world.” – Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “Introduction to Panim Meirot uMasbirot.”
Based on “New Life 142 – Israelis Must Spread Integral Education To The World” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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