We’re surprised that the virus in #Israel is ‘the worst’ while our methods of fighting it are “the best.” The reason is that nature (Creator) does this for our own correction, as upon our correction hinges the pandemic and the correction of the world as a whole. #COVID19
From Twitter, 9/21/21
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All over the world, the #coronavirus is destabilizing governments and societies. But everything is on the contrary: it’s necessary to change people and societies to become more #spiritual, and since they are not changing, the coronavirus appears. It’s clear how we are making the good path change to a bad one.
Only after we grow disillusioned of attempts to stop #climatechange will we understand that only by a good connection between us can we stop #climate change and restore nature’s balance, and only therein lies our salvation.
But in the meantime, #nature will afflict us with all of its resources.
From Twitter, 7/29/21
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My new article on Linkedin “The Israeli Covid Hubris”
There is a famous anecdote that once, when President Richard Nixon met with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, he confessed in a moment of candor that it was complicated governing 200 million Americans. To this, she replied, “You may have 200 million Americans to govern, but I have 6 million prime ministers to govern.” To this day, we don’t know how Nixon responded to Meir’s quip.
What we do know is that she was right. In Israel, everyone knows everything about anything.
When Covid-19 came along, the whole world panicked, and we in Israel immediately knew what to do, and we voiced our opinion to anyone who would (or would not) listen. Indeed, we are an obstinate people.
There is a reason for it. Our ancestors were fierce and strong minded individuals who left their own tribes and peoples and joined Abraham to form a new nation that united above all differences. At times, they succeeded and profound bliss had spread among them.
At other times, their adamant selves would take over and they would revert back to their old, opinionated selves. Then, fiery hatred would burst among them. However, after some time, they would remember the principle that had made them a nation—unity above divisions—and they would reaffirm their nationhood.
Today, we still have those fiery divisions, but we no longer have the times when we rise above them. Hatred has grown so intense among us that we can no longer unite above it. This is why every issue that comes along becomes an opportunity for altercation.
The only time when we do show some level of unity is during war. All Israelis feel it, and many admit that if there is anything to be thankful for when Gaza fires rockets into Israel, it is that this is the only time when we stop fighting one another.
For now, I don’t see that this will change soon. But at some point, Israelis will realize that they must unite not only because they are being bombed, but because they have a mission: to set an example of setting divisions aside, uniting above them, and building a strong nation.
Precisely the example of a nation created from strangers is what the world needs to see today, since everyone feels estranged from everyone else. When Israelis unite, they set this example, and this is all they need to do in order to solve all their problems with their neighbors and with the entire world—unite among themselves.
For now, they prefer to unite with anyone but each other. At some point, they will have no choice and they will do it. I hope this point comes soon.
My new article on Linkedin “Two Ways to Deal with Covid”
The State of Israel and the coronavirus have had a tumultuous relationship so far (not that it was very quiet in the rest of the world). We began on top of the world when we succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations with the first lockdown. After a few weeks, we thought we’d beat the virus so we all went out to celebrate, and the virus came roaring back. In a matter of weeks, we went from the zenith to the nadir as more people per million caught the virus in our little country than anywhere else, even more than in the United States at its worst moments.
Humiliated and reluctant, we went into another lockdown and the tsunami of contagion began to recede. As we came out, the virus struck again. Luckily, this time the vaccines came around and Israel rushed to get millions of them. It worked for a while and the number of new cases went down to nearly zero.
Then came the Delta strain and everything we thought we had achieved collapsed. Now we’re in the midst of administering the booster (third) shot hoping to curb the spread once more, but we are no longer confident and we are no longer hopeful that we will truly get rid of the virus. More than anything, Covid seems to have defeated our defiance. Many of us no longer believe that we will return to the pre-Covid days, and they are right.
Nature will not let up. From the very beginning, back in the days of the successful first lockdown, I said that this is not another virus but a new stage in our relationship with nature. You could say that we have exhausted our credit with nature, and now it demands that we will pay for what we take. If we don’t want to pay, fine, but nature will not give.
There are two ways we can learn to deal with nature: a long and painful one, or a short and pleasant one. Currently, we are treading down the long and painful one. On this route, we do not take into consideration where we are, the people who surround us, and the entire planet that sustains us. We are using and abusing all of them on our path and focus only on ourselves.
This road, the narcissistic one, sees only the needs of the self. This is why we cannot see the consequences of our actions so calamities surprise us when they happen. If we step into a busy street blindfolded, we are certain to run into other people, stumble on obstacles along our path, and even be hit by the traffic that we cannot see.
When we are looking only at our own needs, due to our egoism, we are blindfolding ourselves, denying ourselves awareness of all other things in existence. We should not be surprised that we bump into things.
When bad things happen to us, personally, socially, nationally, or globally, it is not because they are misfortunes or that bad people do them to us. They were there all along and we could have seen them, be more considerate, and avoid any friction or discomfort. Yet, we ignored them and kept walking straight. The pain we feel now is not because they hit us, but because we bumped into them. It is we who should say “sorry” and mind where we’re going, not the other way around.
This brings us to the short way. If we open our eyes to look around us, we’ll see that everything is connected and moves in synchrony with everything else. In nature, mutual consideration is a given. In us, it is nonexistent. But if we open our eyes to it, we will be able to begin to work on it, to build it among us.
By building mutual consideration, in accord with nature, we will synchronize ourselves with it. Then we will know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it so our lives will run smoothly on their paths.
Vaccines and lockdowns are necessary just as long as we cannot synchronize ourselves with nature. If we can become as considerate and harmonious as nature, we will not need any lockdowns, just as nature never goes on lockdown and never stops evolving.
The brakes nature presses on us are nature’s way to force us to stop and reroute into a more considerate path, where we see others, too, and not only ourselves. If we begin to change our mindsets toward mutual consideration rather than alienation and self-entitlement, we will be free to roam the planet, safe, healthy, and happy.
My new article on Linkedin “There Is Really Only One Vaccine”
With the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) calling on countries to “halt on COVID-19 vaccine boosters until at least the end of September … as the gap between vaccinations in wealthy and poor countries widens,” you’d think that if poorer countries had high vaccination rates, the pandemic would be over. It wouldn’t. That is, we should still take the shots if we can, but we should also not expect them to eliminate the virus. There is really only one vaccine that can do this. Since the pandemic is a symptom, we should vaccinate ourselves against the pathogen, and not against the symptom. The pathogen for Covid-19, as well as for all our countless crises during this horrific summer, is our own nature. If we cure the wickedness in our own nature, we will heal the world, heal humanity, and heal ourselves.
When it comes to healing human nature, we need to look no further than ourselves—the Jewish people. Our ancestors conceived a method for correcting human nature and strove to spread it far and wide. This is why they aspired to make the people of Israel “a light unto nations.” When Abraham discovered that the division among his Babylonian countryfolk stemmed from their growing self-centeredness, “He began to call out to the whole world” that they should be merciful and kind, writes Maimonides in Mishneh Torah.
Even before Abraham, but certainly after him, writes Ramchal, our ancestors wanted to correct the entire world. “Noah was created to correct the world in the state that it was at that time … so [his contemporaries] would also receive correction from him,” writes Ramchal in his commentary on the Torah. Also, he continues, “Moses wished to complete the correction of the world at that time. …However, he did not succeed because of the corruptions that occurred along the way.”
Our sages throughout the ages declared that unity is the way to go. “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes” wrote King Solomon (Prov. 10:12). Rabbi Akiva stated that “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the great rule of the Torah. His disciple, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, wrote in The Book of Zohar (Portion Aharei Mot): “These are the friends as they sit together and are not separated from each other. At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another … then they return to being in brotherly love. …And you, the friends who are here, as you were in fondness and love before, henceforth you will also not part from one another … and by your merit, there will be peace in the world.”
All of our spiritual leaders wrote likewise. In the 20th century, the great Rav Kook reiterated the linkage between Israel’s unity and the correction of the world. In the book Orot HaKodesh, he wrote, “Since we were ruined by unfounded hatred, and the world was ruined with us, we will be rebuilt by unfounded love, and the world will be rebuilt with us.”
It is already clear that great catastrophes are encroaching on humanity, but we have yet to recognize that they all have a single root: our own division. If we, the people of Israel, realize that our division has global consequences, perhaps we will be more attentive to the message of unity that our sages have been trying to communicate to us for centuries without success.
For elaboration about the connection between Israel’s unity and the world’s prosperity, please read Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour.
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My new article on Linkedin “WHO Is Asking for Consideration”
The World Health Organization (WHO) is asking countries that have enough vaccinations for a booster (third) shot to wait with it so that poor countries where people haven’t received the first shot may get it. No one is taking its request seriously, but the WHO is still asking for consideration.
I don’t understand this request. All over the world, the approach is that each country fends for itself, so who does the WHO expect to comply with such a request? It is sad that not everyone has received the vaccine yet, but this is not a matter for one country to decide, but a matter for international organizations like the WHO itself to initiate and carry out. If a country’s own Ministry of Health cannot tend to that country’s people, international organizations should step in and help. This is why so many such organizations exist, which are funded by wealthy countries precisely in order to help less fortunate ones.
In addition, I think that the problem isn’t in the number of shots, but in the organization and distribution. There are plenty of shots to go around. The problem is that in the world we have built, each one fends for himself or herself; no one feels accountable, and there is no mutual responsibility, certainly not among countries. Everything is determined by money and corruption.
If we want to change the way things work, we have to change how we work. The pandemic treats us equally; it infects everyone indiscriminately. Therefore, if we want to overcome it, we must also treat each other equally, since if you leave one spot unattended, that spot will become the source of new infections.
Once we organize ourselves truly as one family, perhaps through a new organization, unrelated to the old and decadent ones, we should consult with everyone, get the full data from everywhere, and decide what, and how much goes where. If we think of humanity as one family, we will decide what is best for the entire family and will draw the right conclusions. But in order to do that, we must first see each other as a family, and then we will be able to make the right decisions taking everyone into consideration.
My new article on Linkedin “The Spiritual Reason that I Took the Third Shot”
A little while ago, I received an invitation from the Ministry of Health to go to a certain vaccination center in my country, Israel, to get my third shot. I stood in line for maybe half an hour before my turn came up, but once I was inside, the whole thing was over in less than a minute. I was told to wait for 10-20 minutes after the shot to make sure I had no side effects but admittedly, I didn’t have the patience. I felt just fine, just a little tired from standing outside for half an hour, so I went straight back to the office to get ready for the daily shows.
We can only blame ourselves for the fourth wave that’s raging now in Israel. Had we been more united, this wouldn’t have happened. From the spiritual perspective, the virus isn’t a medical problem, but a test to our union, and we are failing it. The rule in spirituality is that if we work together, we will be safe, since our unity makes us equal to the unified force that creates life. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is called “I dwell among my own people.”
RABASH, my teacher, had taught me by example and in words that we should obey what the doctors say. If there are disputes, he follows the government’s directive. This, to him, was the meaning of dwelling among his people. RABASH didn’t immerse himself in the intricacies of the medications he was given; he knew he had to follow the doctor’s orders because it was the right thing to do in the spiritual sense.
Like him, I don’t get into the question of whether the vaccine works or not, whether there are ulterior motives behind it or not, or into any other question. All I know is that the Israeli government has recommended that anyone over 60 be vaccinated, and it summoned me to go and do it on a certain day at a certain place. Therefore, I do it, to be among my people, the people of Israel.
To me, it is an expression of my desire to unite with my people. Had we all had the desire to unite, we wouldn’t have come to this; we would have eliminated the virus. It is a test that we are failing every single day. As long as we keep failing, the virus will keep spreading, and no vaccine, medication, or any other measure will help.
If we don’t learn to unite through the virus, another blow will come, more sinister and aggressive than Covid. If we don’t learn from the second blow, a third one will land on us, worse than the former two. When we learn that our only remedy is unity, to choose togetherness over everything and anything else, our troubles will stop.
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My new article on BIZCATALYST “IMF: Covid Scars The Vulnerable The Most”
On the homepage of its website, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) writes that it is “an organization of 190 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.”
In a report the IMF published recently, titled After-Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the organization concludes that “The degree of expected scarring varies across countries, depending on the structure of economies… Emerging market and developing economies are expected to suffer more scarring than advanced economies.” As usual, the rich and powerful get away with everything, and the exploited weak bear the brunt. We don’t need an organization of 190 countries to know that this is the case, but to change it. When it does nothing to change it, it means that its purpose is not to change the situation but to perpetuate it, mask the ploy from the vulnerable, and if possible, collect a few compliments on its great service to society.
The pandemic is a blessing for the rich and powerful. They use organizations like the IMF as lip service, and I have zero expectations from them. When they act, it is only in order to gain even more wealth and power. When you bring them an idea, start with what benefit they will get out of it. If you don’t, don’t waste your time or theirs. Things won’t change until the poor raise an outcry that they can no longer survive. Then, things will get interesting. But the clash will be short-lived. In the end, nothing will change because the ego has not changed.
If the rich can get away from the crowd by hopping on a private jet to a resort in the Maldives, what incentive will they have to change anything?
It looks like things will change only when humanity is lying face down in the gutter. As long as heads of states can get away from it all, and get away with it, nothing will change. On the contrary, there will be “world peace” based on a global economy where people have equally nothing, and a global moral system that says, “Steal as much as you can, however you can, and wherever you can.”
You would think that there is no point in talking about the situation, but that is not the case. A change will come, but it will happen only when the lie is exposed to the whole world, and the world cannot ignore it. When this happens, humanity will not sit idly when more than 400,000 people are diagnosed with Covid every single day in India alone, and 4,000 people die there for lack of oxygen and basic medical treatment or adequate facilities. A few weeks ago, this disgrace was happening in Brazil, now it is happening in India, in a few weeks it will happen elsewhere, and we don’t care until it hits us in the face. It isn’t just “aid” organizations that are indifferent; it is all of us.
If we cared, they wouldn’t dare. They wouldn’t have the audacity to contort their faces in phony frowns of sympathy.
Sincerely, I have no hope that a change will come from suffering. People will continue to ache until they feel that death is better than living, but they will still not change. The only thing that will eventually change us is the realization that our only strength is in each other. Then, when people turn toward each other, they will realize that they cannot unite, that their hearts are frozen, and this is why they’re suffering. Only when people try to merge their hearts will they realize that their egoism is their enemy, the cause of their afflictions, and that all along, it has been fooling them into thinking that it is someone else’s fault.
When we try to form a bond, we will finally find the strength and gumption that we need in order to overcome our ordeals. The horrific future on our path will materialize only if we remain oblivious to the solution of unity, the only solution that can work.
Human suffering is not written in stone; it is written in our hearts of stone. If we turn our hearts toward each other, it will soften them, and this will soften our fate.
Nature isn’t cruel. No animal suffers as much as we do, unless we afflict it on them. The only thing that’s cruel in nature is human nature. If we change it, by reaching out to one another and forming a bond that is similar to the bonds among all parts of nature, nature will cease its lashing at us. Then, and only then, we will begin to heal, and start living for real.
The #epidemic will expand all over the world until humanity realizes that it has to take care of everyone. This is how nature teaches us the right relationships. Next it will teach us through its #disasters until we learn to behave the right way—everyone all over the planet.
From Twitter, 7/29/21
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My new article on Linkedin “How to Exit the Pandemic in a Split World”
Covid-19 has split the world between those who strongly support the need for massive vaccination to tackle the pandemic, and those who vehemently oppose mandatory inoculation and restrictions, taking to the streets of Europe and America to express their discontent. As the Delta variant spreads across the world, in the U.S. alone, an average of 43,000 new cases are reported every day, a 65% increase in one week. How can we ever exit the pandemic in such a divided scenario?
It is written, “I dwell among my own people” (2 Kings 4:13)—a statement that means: I am part of the society I live among, and I share the public’s frame of mind. If the vaccine is acceptable to most people and recommended by health officials, then I must go out and get vaccinated. I do not disengage from the people and do not consider myself more of an expert than the experts.
This is how I chose and will continue to choose to act, and I will certainly not determine choices for my acquaintances or students, nor do I have the authority to do so. Every person is free to make an independent decision, and I respect and accept with great love each one and the choices everyone makes.
It makes sense that there are concerns and objections—anxiety from the unknown and fears from the risks of failure—and other doubts arising from people involved in the medical field. Such voices have been heard and have resonated in the public space from the day the plague broke out. However, we will not come to a unanimous conclusion from within the swirl of endless rumors.
The sages wrote to us in black and white about a spiritual law, “It was taught in the school of Rabbi Ishmael about the verse, ‘He shall cause him to be thoroughly healed’ (Ex. 21:19). From this we learn that permission has been given to the physician to heal.” (Babylonian Talmud, Berachot, 60a). The supreme force of nature heals through a representative within society, the doctor.
It is true that today’s medicine has fundamental flaws. This is also true about every other system we have built, because when the relationships between human beings are broken and the connections between us are selfish, society itself is broken. Naturally, this breakdown also affects the systems themselves. And yet, despite all the negative and positive things that are part of the medical field, it is nature acting through it in order to heal.
Medicine is neither better nor worse than the human beings who rely on it. Doctors are not angels and the health systems are not heaven, but with all the shortcomings that we have, the medical situation is still the service we need. In other words, current spoiled medicine dresses like a glove on our spoiled society.
If we were better, then we would be healed from this Covid plague by more natural forces, or we would find more creative solutions. But we are not corrected. Everyone can see that humanity is a society that is eating itself from within. People behave badly towards each other. We are locked within ourselves with self-interested calculations, ignoring the fact that we are not alone, that we are all connected and interdependent. So unfortunately, we cannot wait for a cure until everything within human society works properly. In the meantime, we have to recover from such diseases, and the available solutions are dressed in matter, in chemistry, in vaccines.
If we make a change for the better in society—if we become a more supportive, loving, considerate, close, healthy society—then physical medicine will also change for the better. But it will never happen the other way around. Medicine will not change for the better until we change.
Then, in every area and every situation in our lives, when we become more corrected, our world will also be more corrected. The plagues will disappear, the air will be cleansed, the water will clear, volcanoes will calm down, hurricanes and other hard forces will subside. It all depends on our inner state, on our relationships with one another.
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