Opposition To Unity, Part 4
Three Trends in the Development of the Jewish People
Question: Throughout history, three main trends have constantly been manifested in the Jewish people.
The first trend is the preservation and strict observance of the commandments of the Torah in the diaspora. The second is the assimilation of Jews, their becoming similar to the surrounding nations. The third is the preservation of unity when a small group of prophets, sages, or Kabbalists (they were called differently at different periods) tried to maintain unity among themselves and pass the spiritual methodology to others.
These trends exist until today. Can representatives of such different ideologies coexist together?
Answer: Today it is very difficult to talk about any clear division within the Jewish people. Of course, there are religious Jews who in turn are divided into different trends.
There are secular people who have nothing to do with all that, especially in our time, when there is a very strong mixture of everyone with everyone. They were just born as so-called Jews, and on this basis they belong to the people of Israel. What will remain of this cannot even be said.
Between religious and secular people there are still some other small groups.
But in general, this problem is changing its appearance very quickly. No one imagined that American Jews would be so absorbed, so mixed up with the American public. Today, almost 70-80% of American non-religious Jews are in mixed marriages.
Question: What is the meaning of this problem from the point of view of Kabbalah?
Answer: From the point of view of Kabbalah, there is no such problem.
Question: But we said that the purpose of the whole creation is to intermix. What is assimilation?
Answer: From the spiritual point of view, assimilation is the penetration of the idea of genuine, spiritual Judaism into other nations of the world. And they begin to understand that Judaism consists in rising above the egoistic nature of man, above the nature of this world, in order to feel themselves and all of nature in a different way, in the property of bestowal, in the property of connection and love. Then completely different events occur.
Question: That is, intermixture is not a rejection of any external traditions of one’s people?
Answer: No. It is just an intermixture of everyone with everyone. There is nothing special here because in both religious and non-religious families there is no idea of unity, solidarity, of the nation anyway.
Intermixture is a fact that we emphasize in order to simply show very serious internal processes taking place within a nation.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 7/29/19
Related Material:
Opposition To Unity, Part 3
Opposition To Unity, Part 2
Opposition To Unity, Part 1
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