What Can End the Suffering?

Monday evening Learning Community

We are living through difficult days in Israel as we mark Monday, October 5, as the national memorial day for the October 7 attack and the war.

We remember those who were killed in the war as we approach October 7, and the questions become impossible to avoid. Why, after 78 years of building a successful and innovative country, do we still face hatred, conflict and threats to our existence? How can we change this reality?

Why, after 78 years of building a successful and innovative country, do we still face hatred,

conflict and threats to our existence?

In this week’s Monday Learning Community, we explored these questions through the writings of Baal HaSulam and the explanations of Michael Laitman .

The answer provided by the wisdom of Kabbalah begins with a difficult idea: our external reality is connected to our internal state. The purpose of Israel is not simply to establish a strong nation and protect ourselves from our enemies. We were given an opportunity to develop a different kind of connection between people - to become an example of unity above our differences.

This does not mean ignoring our differences. On the contrary. We have enormous disagreements, opposing opinions and deep divisions. The work is to learn how to connect precisely above them.

As Rav explained during the morning lesson, the “middle line” is found when we do not demand that everyone think the same way. We learn to rise above the conflict and build a connection that is stronger than the disagreement itself. This is what the method of correction is about.

The wisdom of Kabbalah describes the purpose of human development as moving toward connection, love of others and what it calls adhesion with the Creator. Israel, according to this approach, has a particular role in leading this process - not through power, superiority or isolation, but by demonstrating that people with opposing desires and opinions can connect above them.

So what does this have to do with suffering? If we continue to develop only through our egoistic nature, every difference becomes another reason for division, hatred and conflict. But if we learn to use our differences as the basis for deeper connection, we begin to develop a higher level of awareness.

We need the light - not simply to make us feel better for a moment, but to change our nature and give us the ability to connect. And this is where happiness comes into the picture.

True happiness is not the absence of problems. It comes from discovering that we have a method by which we can rise above them. We were given an opportunity to change our relationships, our thoughts about one another and ultimately the way we experience reality.

The work begins between us. As Rav said during the lesson, we do not have to understand the entire equation intellectually. We have to begin to implement it. When people move toward connection, mutual support and positive concern for one another, the environment begins to influence each person.

This is why the learning community is so important. No one can make this change alone. “A person helps his friend” is not simply a beautiful idea. It is part of the method.

We cannot erase the suffering of the past. But we can ask what it is demanding from us now.

The answer of the method of correction is simple, even if putting it into practice is not:

We need to learn how to connect above our differences, awaken the force of connection between us, and allow that connection to transform us. That is where the path from suffering to a better future begins.