As An Eyesore

laitman_749_02We live in a special, exciting time that is full of unpredictable events. The last 60 to 70 years after World War II, we thought we had created a good, viable environment.

In America, Europe, Israel, and many other countries, the Jewish people began to feel more confident, not as exiles at mercy of the hosts who could do whatever they wanted with them. Rather, they started behaving as equals.

It is quite surprising how fast things change. After we gave the world numerous outstanding scientists, flourishing cultures and economics, made enormous contributions in all spheres of human life, all of a sudden there appeared a new astonishing waive of anti-Semitism.

The intensity of it is so bad that in some cities of America the Jews are afraid of wearing kippahs (yarmulkes) in the streets. Our children are beaten in the universities and accused of all sorts of sins.

Ancient, primeval, dense prejudices that repeat the old slander about the Jews who supposedly “drink blood for Passover,” head a secret world government that wants to take over the world, and in general are guilty of all disasters that humanity is going through have been revived again now.

We see that this feeling is inherent in humans by nature and doesn’t depend on developmental or cultural levels. The nations of the world live next to us; we exist among them, and yet, all of a sudden a wild, medieval, depressing animosity wakes up in them.

Where do these problems come from? Why do we end up being in the center of all predicaments? Why do we provoke hatred in them? Millions of people around the world take part in demonstrations against the Jews. Students and university professors sign petitions against the State of Israel.

Even the Jews who are not willing to associate with Israel still fall into a category of hated and persecuted people only because of their Jewish ethnicity.

The thing is that anti-Semitism is a part of nature. All great thinkers pointed out this phenomenon. Einstein wrote that anti-Semitism is a shadow of our nation from which we cannot hide.

In fact, animosity to the Jews even emerges in the countries where the Jews have never settled. Really, we never had any connection with these nations, but somehow we still are the objects of their detestation. Irrespective of the fact that we help many nations of the world and express our desire to maintain good relationships with them, they still consider us to be outcasts: the strangest, most incomprehensible creatures that do not belong to this world.

Where does this sensation come from? What is it: a curse or a blessing? What is the root of the problem?

In order to understand this phenomenon, let’s turn to the history, to the moment when our people were born. Approximately 4,000 years ago, in the ancient civilization of Babylon, its inhabitants lived in peace and friendship. All of a sudden, there appeared a growing discontent among them, an escalation of mutual reproaches, and an increase in the sensation of detachment among their people.

Good friends who spoke the same language and who understood each other very well turned into a hostile entity based on jealousy, hatred, and rivalry. The striking changes that they went through triggered a question in them: “What is going on with us?”

At that time, an ancient Babylonian priest, Abraham, one of many who explored this phenomenon, found a solution to it. By studying nature as a philosopher, astronomer, and a great scientist of his time, he arrived at the conclusion that this state stems from the very nature of human society that purposely develops the way it does so that it submerges into its own egoism and eventually would have to rise above the ego.

According to Abraham, a peaceful period that Babylonians once enjoyed was given to them as an example. Later, there appeared the era of the manifestation of the ego, a negative quality that endangered their good state.

It was not accidental. Rather, it happened because the people had to grow consciously, thus rising above the egoism that tore them apart, detached them from each other, and threatened to completely destroy the entire civilization. Abraham explained that the inhabitants of Babylon had to regain positive cooperation among them in spite of the egoism raging in them at that time.

Since he was a great scientist, a spiritual leader of the nation, he made his theory clear for public consideration. He also started disseminating this idea everywhere he could. Thus, within a short period of time, that ancient Babylonian society learned about his point of view.

A part of the people who understood his approach and accepted his solution to the problem responded to his appeal and supported him. However, the vast majority of people were not ready to accept his ideas. According to their internal developmental stage, they were confident that they should calmly continue their existence, which seemed very good to them.

“Why is it bad?” they asked. “Yes, we compete with each other… So what? By that, we develop sciences and promote culture. Competition gives us additional stimuli for a rapid development.” It was true since the egoism enhanced in humans to push them to the next developmental stage.

This state of affairs opened two paths that Babylonians could choose from. The first path was about the development of morality in the society where a benevolent interconnection among all of its members prevailed over scientific and technological achievements. This method was based not on destroying the egoism, but rather on rising above it and building an even stronger connection amongst everyone.

The second path was about the internal, egoistic advancement. It was based on competition and suppression of others. However, it stimulated technological progress.

This explains why only a small part of the Babylonians joined Abraham’s group. He took them to the land of Israel. From this moment on, his followers were called “Israel,” which means “directly to the Creator,” i.e., to the upper force of nature that governs and motivates us to unite. This is how the Jewish nation was born.

Humanity split into two ideologically opposite parts: the Jews who pursued the goal of unity in accordance with the rule “love thy neighbor as thyself,” and the nations of the world who went contrary to this rule due to their intense antagonism and inclination for technical and material development.

Both parts totally contradict each other in their philosophy toward life. This is the main difference between the Jewish people and the rest of humanity. This is the origin of a constant, centuries-long animosity to the Jews.
[147947]
From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/24/14

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