How to Create Connected Families & Communities – Like a Bundle of Reeds with Dr. Michael Laitman
How to Create Connected Families & Communities Dr. Michael Laitman discusses how to create connected families and communities with “Like a Bundle of Reeds” executive editor, Chaim Ratz. “Like a Bundle of Reeds” is a TV series originally broadcast on JLTV based on the book of the same title. It deals with the following topics: * Are we Jews different from other nations? * Why was I born Jewish? * Why is there anti-Semitism? * Could the Holocaust happen again? * What can I do? * Why are there Jews? Download the eBook version of “Like a Bundle of Reeds” for free here » http://www.bundleofreeds.com(also available is the softcover version for only $15). We invite your comments and will do our best to answer your...
What is a Miracle?
What is a Miracle? by Dr. Michael Laitman Hanukkah is a great time to talk about miracles. A miracle, by definition, is something that according to the laws of nature isn’t supposed to happen. So for example, if at the end of the eight days of Hanukkah I’ve only gained two pounds or less, that can certainly qualify as a miracle. But more seriously, how do you define something as “defying the laws of nature?” And if something defies the laws of nature, is it only defying the laws of the nature that we know, or the laws of all of nature? Because if it did, then what law caused that miracle to happen? If you showed a person living in the 18th century that you can touch a tiny switch on the wall, and the whole room becomes illuminated by a device that by all accounts is disconnected from the switch, that would easily qualify as a miracle. But we all know it isn’t. So a miracle is an event that defies the laws of nature that we know. That is, if we learn new laws, perhaps what seems miraculous today will seem obvious tomorrow. The world as we know it operates according to a very simple law: the stronger one wins and the weaker one loses. On all levels of nature, balance is kept by the fact that the stronger ones take only what they need for their sustenance. But on the human level, people take what they need in order to satisfy their need for superiority. The result is an unchecked war among people, fear, alienation,...
Five Things You Never Knew About Hanukkah
Five Things You Never Knew About Hanukkah by Dr. Michael Laitman #1 Hanukkah is the Festival of Light. But what is light? It is the good, friendly relations among people. This is what the Jews must show the world. This is the meaning of being “a light unto the nations.” The people of Israel must first unite, and through that unity bring out the light of love. This is achieved through a special education, and once it has been achieved, it is our duty to pass it on to the rest of humanity. This week of Hanukkah is an ideal time for Jews everywhere to ponder how to fulfill their role in these troubled times, to truly become “a Light unto the Nations.” #2 The first thing we need to fix are the broken relationships between us. We can start by not doing to others what we ourselves hate. All the Jewish holidays represent stages in the process of correction of our relationships. The people of Israel first have to perform it on themselves, then convey that form of behavior to the rest of the world. Hanukkah symbolizes the first stop on this path. At this first point a person doesn’t really have to love others but needs to feel connected. #3 The Greeks in the Hanukkah legend represent our ego. It’s simply that each of us wants to be independent, disconnected from others. We want to run and find some safe haven where we don’t need to care about anything or anyone else. Yet this is impossible. But if we try to connect slightly above our egos, we...
What Does It Mean To Be Jewish Today? Course – Lesson 5: The Role of the Jewish People
Lesson 5: The Role of the Jewish People [With Chaim and Gilad] Chaim: Welcome to another lesson of What Does It Mean to Be Jewish Today, or actually maybe we should ask what does it take to be Jewish today. In the previous lesson we talked about: a nation being on a mission, the role of the Jewish people and what it means to be Jewish, what it takes to be Jewish, the assignment that the Jews were given at the foot of Mt. Sinai to be a light for the nations, and what it actually means in terms of changing human nature and change of being a role model to society, and how anti-Semitism is rooted in the Jews not doing what they are intended to do and therefore arousing on themselves pressure from the nations, which now more than ever require us to unite and to be a role model to humanity. That was the gist of the message, not just the last lesson, but all of the lessons so far. It is the gist of the message of the entire book. We also had great questions… Gilad: And also we invite you today to write in the chat any questions you have about the lesson in general. We’ll be happy to answer them as much as we can. We have some questions from last week. I’d like to go back to a couple of the questions from the last lesson that we didn’t get to answer. Question: Is that human nature to dislike everyone else? I see no fault with anyone unless they commit a...
Two Streams: Altruistic vs. Self-Centered
by Dr. Michael Laitman The world as we know it operates according to a very simple law: the stronger one wins and the weaker one loses. The universe we perceive seems egoistic, and balance is kept only by the fact that all creations are “programmed” to take only what they need for their sustenance. But on the human level, there is a “bug” in the program. In programming languages, a “flag” is a predefined bit (or several connected bits) that a program uses to remember something or to leave a sign. It seems that in humans, the flag that tells all other creatures to stop consuming is missing. So the bug is that we are programmed to eternal voraciousness. Or are we? In truth, the self-centered stream that animals follow is constantly accompanied by another, parallel stream, which operates on the exact opposite paradigm—altruism. When an animal has satisfied its need, the other stream comes into play, and the animal instinctively stops eating or hunting. In humans, the altruistic stream is disconnected from the self-centered one. So what we, humans, have to do is make that connection consciously! Otherwise, we’ll stay with only one, imbalanced stream, and will consume ourselves to extinction just as cancer consumes its host body until the body dies and the cancer goes with it. If you examine the crises engulfing the world around every corner and in every area of human engagement, it is easy to see that life on Earth will eventually become unsustainable. And that point, where humans must become active and balance themselves out, is where we Jews come in. Almost...
Who Wants to Be Elevated?
by Dr. Michael Laitman A student posted in his Twitter account a picture of his shelf at home, where some of the books we published stand. To the picture, he added a message: “There is a big focus on Jews and Israel lately that I don’t really find in your books. I’m uncomfortable with ethnic groups elevated.” Indeed, there is a big focus on Jews and Israel lately. Except the focus isn’t mine; it seems like the whole world is focused on us. The UN is hardly dealing with anything else, and has been doing so for years. Anti-Semitism has become such an issue in Western countries that heads of state keep having to “reassure” their Jewish citizens that everything is alright, when the only reason they are saying it is that everything is not alright. But the reason I am focused on the Jewish issue lately is not that there is anti-Semitism. I have been saying there is anti-Semitism, and that it will only grow, for at least ten years now. What’s changed is that now people are willing to listen, as you clearly are. Quite honestly, I am using the current burst of anti-Semitism as a tool to make the explanation about the role of the Jews more acceptable, especially to Jews. We can declare that Jews are like everyone else and shout it from the rooftops. No one will buy it. No one believes we’re like everyone else, and everyone is right, we’re not. We want to be like everyone else, but we are not. Just the fact that everyone is constantly pointing the finger...