Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is antisemitism prevalent among the progressive left, particularly the feminist left?“

Antisemitism is a natural phenomenon, which emerged together with the emergence of the Jewish people in ancient Babylon around 4,000 years ago. It is rising in both the political left and right, as they both stem from the very causes of the phenomenon of antisemitism itself. Hatred toward the Jewish people unfolds in several additional ways to how it appears from a particular political standpoint.

However, the burning question right now is, what do we do about it?

Antisemitism is not just against Jews. It is against the inner law in nature, where only unity among all people can save us from this phenomenon and bring about a positive transformation in humanity. Antisemitism is thus by no means a narrow inclination toward Jews. It is much broader in scope.

The human ego—the desire to enjoy on account of others—has started consuming itself, and it needs correction. The more this ego makes people feel hatred toward each other, and the more this hatred pains them, then the more people instinctively connect that hatred to the Jews. In addition, hatred toward Jews temporarily helps them, because without it, their growing hatred would erupt more among themselves.

Therefore, I think that we should view antisemitism as a natural phenomenon that exists before and beyond political sides, and we need to respond to it accordingly. Antisemitism cannot end with any small fixes within or between political sides, or if we leave the State of Israel, as several of our critics—especially in the Arab world—demand.

Antisemitism is a phenomenon that exists at the level of nature’s forces, which permeate humanity and all of nature. Jews, the people of Israel, the nation founded on uniting (“love your neighbor as yourself”) above division (“love will cover all transgressions”) in order to spread that unity to humanity (to be “a light unto the nations”) need to correct the human ego—to unite positively above it. They have a method that can save humanity from the ego’s overgrowth in our era.

Therefore, I make no special connection of antisemitism to the left, the feminist left, or to anywhere else on the political spectrum. Antisemitism goes much deeper than politics. However, natural evolution through the inanimate, vegetative and animate levels of nature has turned humanity into a self-consuming being. And it is not that the Jews are the worst people in the world. It is simply that they have a method for how to unite humanity, and by doing so, save humanity from today’s excessive and dangerously destructive human ego.

We should thus not think about how to make small fixes here and there. Instead, we need to achieve unity. I am certain that if the few million Jews on the planet today would think about how to unite in order to do good to all humanity, then that unifying tendency would expand throughout the world, and everyone would join in.

As a practical measure, if I had it in my power to do so, I would not turn to Jews, but to all haters of Jews and Israel. I would explain to them how exactly the Jews block their happiness, and would also request that they redirect their pressure on the Jews: to demand Jewish unity. This is because, if Jews unite, antisemitism will disappear, and the whole of humanity will unite. And when united, all the burning problems we perceive in our lives today would simply disappear.

In short, humanity is headed toward a state of perfect unity. Humanity can unite on condition that the people of Israel unite. Today, however, the Jews are more divided than any other people. Therefore, antisemitism will gradually acquire forms that will force Jews to unite. Eventually, an inner perception will form within us Jews, that we need to unite, and by doing so, we will save ourselves and the whole of humanity from all hatred, division and crises.

Based on a talk “Meetings with Kabbalah” between Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman, Prof. Eli Avraham, Gabriel Malka and Dr. Eli Vinokur on May 28, 2021.

Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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We won’t be able to affect the deterioration of the climate in any way, other than by our relationships. Because of them, it is changing for the worse, and because of them, it can also start changing for the better.
We exist in a closed system of nature, where our thoughts and relationships are its highest force!

In our world, only Isra-El, one who rises above #egoism, has freedom of will (of decisions and behavior). Otherwise one is ruled by one’s animate egoism. Therefore we have to see the world as a world of puppets that are controlled by the Creator according to our choice to behave in the quality of bestowal.

The riots in #Israel will stop only if the #Jews carry out the Creator’s commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” to rise above the individual egoism. Otherwise the Arabs will “teach” us the right relationships. Because we are at the last stage of correction! The Creator is managing us through them…

Why does the #UN investigate Israel’s actions in Gaza in the May 2021 military campaign, but doesn’t talk about the victims on Israel’s side?
It’s because it’s okay to kill #Jews!
And if they don’t do it, then they are to blame for everything!
From Twitter, 5/30/21

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My new article on Linkedin “Jews vs. Israel”

It is nothing new that Jews are campaigning against the State of Israel. It began with various Orthodox groups that objected to the founding of the Jewish state, and is continuing now with groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace, or individuals such as Noam Chomsky, Bernie Sanders, and others. Recently, the campaigning of Jews against Israel has even come to the corporate world when a group of 250 odd Jewish employees of Google signed a letter urging its CEO to recognize “the harm done to Palestinians by Israeli military and gang violence.” The signatories also “object to the conflation of Israel with the Jewish people,” declare that “anti-Zionism is not antisemitism,” and demand, among other things, “the termination of contracts with institutions that support Israeli violations of Palestinian rights.”

In some sense, I do agree with them, though not in the sense they would probably hope I would. Indeed, we, Israelis, are not conducting ourselves as Jews. The word Yehudi [Jew] represents two things: 1) our origin, the ancient kingdom of Yehuda [Judah], whose capital was Jerusalem. 2) Yechudi [united/unique], meaning the aspiration for unity, for oneness. This is why the Jews made the tenet “Love your neighbor as yourself” their foremost commandment. Because today, we are so far away from unity, I agree that we are not conducting ourselves as Jews.

When Abraham began to assemble people around him and form the nucleus of the Jewish nation, there were no Jews. There were Babylonians, where he lived. Abraham spoke to them and called on them to unite. He invited everyone, indiscriminately. In Mishneh Torah, Maimonides writes that Abraham “began to call out to the whole world … wandering from town to town and from kingdom to kingdom until he arrived in the land of Canaan … When [people] gathered around him and asked him about his words, he taught everyone … until he brought them to the path of truth.”

Therefore, if we are not united, we are disconnected from the heart and soul of Judaism, from the very meaning of being Jewish. And if we are not calling on the whole world to unite, as did the father of our nation, Abraham, we are not carrying out his legacy. So in what way are we Jewish? And if we aren’t really Jewish, then what is our claim on the land of Israel?

We can do more than silence our critics both within Judaism and among the nations of the world; we can bring everyone to support us, including Hamas and anyone we currently perceive as our worst enemy. But for this, we must first stop hating one another and start living up to Abraham’s legacy of unity and oneness.

And we must begin with each other. Saying we want to unite with all the nations, while at the same time vilifying, pillorying, and demonizing our own people, exposes our insincerity. When we unite with one another, above all the current divisions among us, the nations will believe our candor and gladly join our efforts.

The worst antisemites in history, such as Adolf Hitler, Henry Ford, Vasily Shulgin, and countless others, all wrote about their contempt for Jews because of their hatred of each other. Objecting to the security, and even existence of the State of Israel, sends the world a message of internal division, and the world responds accordingly—with disgust toward us. No other nation denies its own right for sovereignty, and no other nation places its own people last in the list. By doing so, we are not appeasing the nations’ anger; we are increasing it and turning it into hatred since we are proving that we are not striving for unity. Only if we return to our roots, the aspiration for unity, we will win the world’s favor and support.

Our nation was created so as to be an am segula [a virtuous nation]. Our only virtue is our unique unity, when people of diverse backgrounds, faiths, and cultures have united into a single nation, as did Abraham with his disciples. Without being a virtuous nation, there is no benefit to the world from our existence, and it wants to do away with us. This is what we are beginning to experience more vividly today, and it will continue to escalate until we understand the message and adopt the virtue of unity and oneness, or suffer the consequences that our nation has suffered so many times before.
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My new article on Linkedin “The Crime of Being Jewish”

“Dirty Jew,” shouted a man in New York’s Times Square while he punched, kicked, and pepper-sprayed a young Jewish man who ended up in the hospital as result of the recent unprovoked attack. “I would do it again” said the pro-Palestinian aggressor after being arrested and briefly held in custody, according to prosecutors. That is today’s America. Rampant widespread antisemitism aggravated by the latest escalation of the Israel-Gaza conflict. It is a turning point for the Jewish people to either wait for the worst to happen or unite and survive and live happily and safely.

As humanity progresses and becomes more enlightened, hatred of Jews becomes less logical and at the same time expands and deepens. Hatred no longer belongs to a people or to a transient union of peoples, but it is spreading throughout the entire global world almost at once. Never has the condemnation of Israel and hatred of the Jews been as open, unequivocal and extensive as it is today. If once hatred was hidden, except in times of particular outbursts, today it roams shamelessly in the streets; Jews are brutally beaten simply for being Jews and no one seems to even try to stop it.

What would be considered inconceivable in the past is now a reality: American Jews are afraid to wear yarmulke in public, as confirmed by the Jewish Federations of North America. Unfortunately, history has shown us that our enemies will leave no stone unturned until they fulfill their goal: to cause harm or annihilate Jews wherever they are. To hide, assimilate, and try to become like everyone else will not help.

Why? Because Jews are not like everyone else. We must carefully study our history and exemplary sources and stop repeating the same mistakes of continually minimizing the threats with blind and unconscious stubbornness that brings us murderous blows.

The people of Israel are different because they are not a group of people born in a common region. We do not share a common culture, mentality, and similar tendencies. We are a collection of people from every nation, descendants of Mesopotamia, ancient Babylon, who gathered around the ideology developed by our ancestor Abraham: a connection between human beings over differences that divide us.

Abraham came up with the idea of unification from the deep confusion and discord that prevailed in the kingdom of Babylon. Abraham trained us to unite as one man with one heart, not only to discover the positive, good and benevolent power that would improve our lives between us, but to become a model of a reformed society that would pass the idea of unity and in this way to radiate light into the nations, the peoples of the world. This is our fate; we have no other purpose and no possibility of escaping from it.

This is why the Jews in the Diaspora will not be able to assimilate into their homelands no matter how hard they try. And we in Israel must not think that we are any different or more united than them. We are also in exile. Not in body, of course. We are physically on the land of Israel, but the spirit, the mentality, the thought, are all completely in exile.

“Exile” is first and foremost a departure from the commandment to connect, a flagrant disregard for our destiny. When Jews live an egotistical routine, for their own benefit only, they become the greatest egoists in the world, exactly against their potential to be pioneers of the global connection.

In this mission there is no difference between us and the Diaspora Jewry. We all have one fate and we are currently very far from it. Everything can change at the speed of light. Change depends on a modest understanding that life has a purpose and it does not end with corporeal achievements, which only are accompanied by suffering and war. A little understanding that we were not born just to survive around seventy years in perpetual existential fear and then die, will help us to live differently, safely, peacefully, happily, purposefully. Only a little understanding, a subtle inclination, a good thought toward connection between us, will make a huge difference toward a more promising future for us and our children.

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My new article on Linkedin “Pariahs”

All over the world, and on every social media platform, antisemitism is thriving. What’s more, no one seems to want to stop it. Had Jews expressed themselves this way toward people from other ethnicities or countries, they would have been expelled, banned, boycotted, and possibly tried as criminals. But when it comes to bashing Jews, it’s open season. Why have we become pariahs?

To answer this question, we must remind ourselves of our origin and our vocation. In the prologue to his book A History of the Jews, Christian historian and novelist Paul Johnson eloquently describes the sense of purpose that pervades the Jewish people, and to which he, as a Christian historian, was very receptive: “No people has ever insisted more firmly than the Jews that history has a purpose and humanity a destiny. At a very early stage in their collective existence they believed they had detected a divine scheme for the human race, of which their own society was to be a pilot. …The Jewish vision became the prototype for many similar grand designs for humanity, both divine and man-made. The Jews, therefore, stand right at the centre of the perennial attempt to give human life the dignity of a purpose.”

Indeed, from the very beginning, Jews were not as the rest of the nations. We didn’t come from anywhere in specific. Rather, we came from everywhere to follow a specific ideology that the son of a Babylonian priest by the name of Terah had conceived. The son’s name was Abraham, and the message he conveyed was clear and simple, though hard to carry out: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

At the time when Abraham began to preach for mercy and camaraderie, his countryfolk were in the midst of a wave of growing egoism. The Babylonian empire, where Abraham was born and raised, later became known as the “cradle of civilization.” But while Abraham had lived there, its people could not tolerate the idea of mutual responsibility and care for others that he had taught. They were enthralled with glorifying themselves and sought to build a tower that would reflect their greatness. Abraham, who criticized them sharply, ridiculed their beliefs and culture, and broke his father’s idols, was therefore persecuted and eventually expelled from his homeland. Thus, Abraham became the first Hebrew pariah.

Wandering westward across the Near and Middle East, Abraham continued to speak about unity and love of others wherever he went. Many of those who agreed with him joined him and gradually formed a group made of strangers who began as alienated, and often hateful strangers, but who nevertheless believed in unity above animosity.

Generations of trials and tribulations had solidified Abraham’s group until they were declared a nation at the foot of Mt. Sinai, named after the Hebrew word sina’a [hatred], which they had overcome in order to become a nation. But the nation of the Jews was unique. Since they did not have a common origin, but consisted of people from all over the ancient world, whenever they could not maintain unity above their estrangement, their different roots emerged within them and pitted the members of the nation against each other. As a result, in order to maintain their nationhood, they had to constantly reinforce their unity and solidarity. And since their roots were from many foreign nations, yet they had proven that cohesion among strangers was possible, they became a role model of peace among the nations.

This was their vocation, the purpose that Johnson had so perceptively observed. The ancient Jewish society became a pilot for a plan to establish peace on earth, harmony among all nations. When they were united, they were a living proof that such a feat was possible, thus carrying out their task to be “a light unto nations.” But when they succumbed to division and enmity, they proved that humanity was hopeless and doomed for eternal warring.

This is why whenever Jews show hate toward each other, the world hates them, too, and treats them as pariahs. Conversely, when they unite, they become the world’s favorite. Since the roots of the members of the Jewish people lie deep within each nation that emerged from the ancient cradle of civilization, the enmity or unity among the Jews reflects itself directly in relationships among the nations. This is why they blame the Jews for the wars among them. They cannot explain it rationally, of course, but they feel that their hatred for each other is the fault of the Jews. As history has proven, no rational argument will convince them otherwise.

This is also why when Jews unite under the pressure of the nations, the nations’ animosity subsides. Inadvertently, the unity of Jews eases the world’s hatred toward them since their unity increases the unity of the world, even if they do not mean to do this and are unaware of it. If Jews were even slightly more conscious of their ability to help the world unite, I have no doubt they would pursue it heart and soul. The problem is that they insist on denying their uniqueness, their vocation and purpose, and that their society must once again be a pilot for world peace. Until the Jews accept this, they will continue to be pariahs.
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#Antisemitism will unite the Jews of America and Israel—this is the benefit of it once again…

We are perplexed by the fact that we are at the center of attention for the nations. But according to the thought of creation, they have to unite around us, and with us. The whole problem is only that we do not pull them in, do not become the point of the world’s unity.
The yearning for unity—this is what we have to show the world!
#jews #israel
From Twitter, 5/25/21

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My new article on Linkedin “Jews Are Sitting on a Powder Keg”

There is a sense of imaginary peace after the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, but abroad, the fuse of antisemitism is again lit and flaming. Jews both in Israel and basically anywhere in the world are in a constant war for their lives, looking to their backs, keeping an eye on their surroundings because danger can arise at any given moment from both obvious and unexpected places. What else do we need to face up to in order to understand that the world has a problem with Jews? Both Israel and the Jewish people are basically standing alone. Therefore, the only place to find a solution to the hatred is between us, in our willingness and capacity to unite.

Since the beginning of Operation Guardian of the Walls launched by Israel to defend its population from thousands of missiles attacks from Gaza, there has been a sharp spike in antisemitic incidents around the world, as well as international condemnation of the Israeli military response. The perpetrators of these antisemitic attacks deliberately singled out and targeted synagogues and Jewish institutions. The incidents occurred in broad daylight and included verbal and physical aggression against Jews in the plazas, restaurants, and streets of major cities across the United States, Europe, and Latin America, among other locations.

American Jews say they fear to identify themselves publicly as Jews. Some have taken off their Star of David necklaces, some have considered removing the mezuzot from their homes, and some even hesitate to walk to their synagogues.

So one may ask why is it that Jews are taking the hit for Israel’s actions which have been judged as wrong and unjustified by the world? Very simple. People have a problem with Jews in general. Therefore, they lash out against the State of Israel, against the Jewish people, and will be happy to erase both completely.

Our enemies point out very precisely that what needs to change can be found with us, within the worldwide Jewish community. We need to reconnect to and strengthen our common identity as a people whose existence is eternal because we were given a special role to carry out in the world: to unite in love above all differences and to help others do the same.

Within this united amalgamation, our differences will remain, as they are an integral part of the fabric of who we are, but rising above them is mandatory. We can either annihilate the threats against us by establishing unbreakable connections above whatever separates us, or our enemies will annihilate us without mercy.

Foremost Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) wrote about the tendency of the Jewish nation to draw closer together when danger lurks: “It is the common suffering that each of us suffers being a member of the nation. This has imprinted within us a national awareness and proximity, as with fellow-sufferers. This is an external cause. As long as this external cause joined and blended with our natural national awareness, an odd kind of national love emerged and sparked off this jumble, unnatural and incomprehensible” (The Nation). But now, we see that even in times of trouble we are not banding together!

Until there is a need for a connection between the factions we have built in our far flung Jewish community, and until we transcend the conflicts and arguments that incite hatred between us, the external wars will not stop. They will only become more intense.

Many Jews in the Diaspora are trying to disassociate from Israel, and by doing so, they increase the pressure on us inside Israel and cause the realization that we stand completely on our own. Each community will stand alone then if that’s what they want. They can unite and take care of themselves for their own sake. And those living in Israel will have to do the same until we reach the critical integration necessary to face our existential threats.

In the final analysis it comes down to this: The more we indulge in indifference to our only mission—the crafting of the unity subconsciously expected of us by all the nations of the world—the easier it will be for our enemies. Our enemies will not even have to fight with weapons; they will need no rockets or missiles. What for, since all of humanity is ready with its forces, systems, and fronts to fight together with Hamas against Israel? All of humanity—from America and Russia to faraway China—everyone. In every country in the world, in every government, there are enough people who will be happy to abolish the legitimacy of the State of Israel and the people sitting in it and to wipe us off the face of the earth.

It is difficult for us to hear that the source of the problem lies with us; it is difficult to realize the enormity of our role and the responsibility placed on us, the reason for all this hatred directed at us. It tends to enter one ear and exit from the other. But we must listen and act with all haste. The heart of the Jewish nation is very broken, shattered, and grounded within egoism, but there is no choice but to strive at every moment to reach the connection between us until our collective heart begins to awaken and beat. Once we realize our mission and unite in love, we will discover that sitting on a powder keg need not be our destiny. Instead, our loving unity will create a peaceful garden around us where we can calmly sit.
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Following an attack by Islamists, #Facebook is obliterating the largest pro-Israel page. This will happen in all media across the world. #Israel will find itself completely isolated.
And the guilt for this lies on the nation of #Israel itself, which does not wish to realize that the whole correction of the world depends only on it!

All the problems in the world come only because the #Jews are not united. There are 2 kinds of unity: on the level of this world, and most importantly, on the spiritual level, in the Creator. As a result, the whole world will meet in the Creator. And this is the end of all correction. Thus we have arrived at the beginning …

Every #war destroys our nation more and more. We are given the opportunity to come closer to one another internally, but we do not use it. When will we understand that peace is created only by us, between us!
#israel
From Twitter, 5/23/21

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why are the Jews (and Israel) hated so disproportionately throughout human history?“

If we would not have been hated disproportionately throughout history, then we would not exist.

Hatred toward us has been our key unifying factor. We have no natural will to unite, but nature’s forces act in order to unite us, first among each other, and then through us to humanity.

We should not try to escape antisemitism, but rather understand it as a necessary force in nature, and penetrate into the core of the phenomenon in order to extract the knowledge of exactly why it exists and how to leverage it to humanity’s and nature’s benefit.

We should seek to deepen our knowledge and implementation of the wisdom of connection, to learn the core reasons for all events taking place today and in history, to show us how nature operates on all of us, and what we can do in order to unite, and by doing so, enter into balance with nature.

When we start enriching our connections through education that paves the path to unity above division, then we will start progressing to a positive form of unity that is in balance with nature. And when we unite in such a way, we will realize our role as “a light unto the nations.”

Therefore, the way to solve antisemitism once and for all is for us to unite according to the rule “Love your neighbor as yourself.” By doing so, humanity will start discovering a whole new harmonious and abundant reality.

In short, when people feel the positive effects of unity entering into their lives—happiness, confidence, safety, good health, relationships and the feeling that we lack nothing in our lives but to increase our love and care for others—then the hatred of Jews will not only disappear for good, but on the contrary, it will invert into a positive form of love, respect and appreciation toward a people that serve as a conduit for a newfound happiness entering their lives.

Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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My new article on Linkedin “Britain’s Jews Have Nowhere to Turn But to Each Other”

Since the beginning of the current campaign between Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Israel, there has been an alarming spike in hostilities against Jews. According to The New York Times, the Community Security Trust, which records antisemitic threats, saw a “490 percent increase” in antisemitic incidents from the previous seven days. The trust also said “it believed that many more attacks had gone unreported.” The attacks are not only growing more frequent, but also more brazen and violent, and the media coverage of them is, as always, biased or partial or nonexistent.

Regrettably, I don’t think there is much that UK Jews can do about it. As always, when Jews, or the State of Israel, are involved in a conflict, it galvanizes antisemites into action. As a result, the increase in antisemitic aggression is visible the world over, and not only in the UK.

For this reason, I don’t think that the UK Jews have anywhere to go. Israel might have been a safer place before, but I’m not sure this is still the case. It might become, in its own way, as unsafe as London or Brooklyn or anywhere else. In fact, the very places where Jews felt the safest have become the most unsafe places for Jews.

We are approaching a situation where people all over the world will tell Jews, “Who are you? You are not a nation, and therefore, you have no place. You conquered the land of Canaan, which belonged to seven other nations, and you think it belongs to you? Subsequently, you were driven out, and you yourselves fled from here, and now you want to return to that land?”

If we look into it, we will see that wherever there are Jews, there are problems. We are hated, rejected, and it will reach a point where we will not have one safe place for Jews. If we look even deeper, we will realize the reason for it, and then we will understand that in the current state of the people of Israel, we have nothing to look for on Earth. No one likes us; no one wants us, everyone hates us; and everyone rejects us.

In light of all this, the best, and only thing that Britain’s Jews should do is turn to one another. The unity of Jews has always been our shield against oppressors, aggressors, and other evildoers. Now, too, it is their only hope.

This, by the way, is true not only of UK Jews, but of all Jews wherever they are. In fact, our unity would be most effective if we weren’t forced into it by antisemites. If we opted for unity rather than our customary enmity toward each other, our haters would stop hating us. We wouldn’t have to apologize for being; our unity would project warmth and power, and its radiance would draw all the nations toward us, not in hostility, but in friendship.

Currently, the nations are becoming increasingly belligerent toward each other, and one way or the other, they blame it on the Jews. For our part, we do very little to show that they are wrong. On the contrary, we exude so much self-hatred that no one wants to associate with us. Therefore, the world will not change its attitude toward us until we change it toward each other. Our only hope lies in our unity—in times of war, as in times of peace.

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