One of my students recently asked me about the rise in violence among Jews in Israel after the tragic murder of 18-year-old Yoel Lhanghal by a group of young adults at a birthday party in the northern-Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona. Indeed,…
Dr. Michael Laitman
To Change the World – Change Man
Do Jews feel different from other people?
First of all, we feel ourselves in relation to something, because we cannot discuss a feeling in and of itself. Were there only me, I would not feel myself. I feel myself in relation to the environment, the air, the…
What makes a Jew a Jew?
Jews came about by detaching from the ego, i.e. the egoistic desire to enjoy for self-benefit alone, and discovering the upper world of bestowal and love above the ego. Accordingly, in essence, Jews are supposed to detach from the ego…
Is Ray Kurzweil correct in saying that advances in science will enable man to live forever?
My question in relation to Kurzweil’s statement is: What is so good about us constantly living all the time? Why live at all if we are never to die? On the contrary, if we attain the purpose of our lives…
What are your thoughts on the rise of right wing politics in Europe and around the world?
The recent rise in popularity of the right is an outcome of our current stage of human development, where more and more people are seeing that the truth is with the more egoistic and resolute forces, i.e. those who stand…
What was the result of NASA hitting the asteroid?
Indeed, NASA managed to hit a giant asteroid and divert it from its orbit, and NASA’s director stated that NASA is trying to be ready for anything that the universe might throw our way. I think it is a positive…
Who are the Jews today?
Around 3,800 years ago, Abraham the Patriarch reached a perception of the oneness of nature, a perfect unity of everyone and everything as a single whole. He taught the ways of attaining the perception of nature’s oneness to anybody who…
Why does the Torah have so many strange prohibitions like eating shellfish or wearing masked fabrics?
First, it is important to understand that the Torah does not describe our world. The Torah is called “sanctity,” which in Hebrew means something different and separate to our world. It explains spiritual laws of the higher spiritual world, and…
How does studying Torah change a person?
The purpose of the Torah is to invert a person from the state he is in on the animate degree, called “beast,” to what is called “Adam” in Hebrew, which means “human being.” “Adam” comes from the same linguistic root…
What does the Sabbath mean to you?
The Sabbath is the state of the end of correction of the ego, the peak of our development where everything functions in an ideal manner, solely in a direction of bestowal, giving, fulfilling and loving others. The prohibitions on the…
What are the things that are prohibited in the Torah?
Prohibitions in the Torah relate to our inability to use our ego—the desire for benefiting ourselves at the expense of others and nature—in the variety of ways it can be used, when we are in a spiritual connection. The most…
What advice do you have for a mother who feels like she is losing her son?
I received the following letter from a worried mother who felt like she was losing her son: “Hello, Dr. Laitman. I’m a worried mom. I feel like I’m losing my son. I raised two children. The young one I pampered and…