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.

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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.

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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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My new article on Linkedin “Is This Awful Summer the Best Summer of the Rest of Our Lives?”

I am not afraid of the pandemic; I am afraid that nature has started to relate to us the way we relate to it. It seems as though chaos has taken over the world. Natural disasters of unprecedented magnitude are occurring in multiple places simultaneously: unheard-of floods in some places, unparalleled fires in other places, sometimes a few hundred miles apart, and scorching heat in still other places. At the same time, the coronavirus is spreading once again with the Delta variant, and threatens to hamper humanity’s efforts to recover from the pestilence, while international relations are growing increasingly tense and volatile. But worst of all is the trend: it’s negative. Things are not only bad, but quickly worsening. If this trend continues, this awful summer will be the best summer of the rest of our lives.

We need to think things over. It makes no sense that so many crises are happening all over the world at the same time, that a virus is spreading around the world and disrupts the lives of every person in humanity, and all of these are unrelated incidents.

Perhaps you can blame climate change for natural disasters, but you cannot blame it for countries threatening to destroy one another. There is a deeper cause to our woes, and we can find it only in ourselves. When we analyze all the crises, we find that the one common element in all of them is man. If we are the common element, then the reason for the crises is within us.

More precisely, the reason for the crises is how we relate to nature and to one another. Nature is a perfect system. It maintains a dynamic balance we call homeostasis. Contrary to nature’s balance, we seek only to take and overtake. We have forced our winner-take-all attitude on a system that operates in a manner that guarantees everyone’s sustenance and well-being. We injected hatred, violence, and meanness into a system that contained none of it before. Now it seems as though that system is paying us back in our own coin: the currency of hatred.

If we wish to avoid unimaginable catastrophes, we must abandon the currency we’ve used so far and adopt nature’s currency of mutual responsibility and consideration. We have to start respecting each other’s right to lead healthy and safe lives, without trying to subjugate them, but for this, we must feel that we are all parts of one, global system.

Our sages knew all this thousands of years ago, and talked about this with anyone who wished to listen. The Jerusalem Talmud, for example, offers a beautiful allegory about our connectedness: “If the writing warns about habitual mistreatment, vengeance and bearing a grudge should be forbidden also toward those who are not from among your nation. Also, how is it possible for one to forgive an affront? [Suppose] one is cutting meat, and the knife descends into his hand; would he consider avenging his hand and cutting his other hand for cutting the first? So is this matter … the rule is that one does not take revenge against one’s neighbor, for it is as though he is taking revenge against his own body” (Nedarim 9:4).

We really haven’t any time to waste. Nature is clearly signaling that it is losing patience. If it erupts in all its wrath, Covid will be the least of our worries. Therefore, to save ourselves, we must start treating each other, and all of nature, as we would like others to treat us.
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Only good forces come to us from above, but if we are not ready to receive them, we feel them as blows. This is the case with the coronavirus. If we were ready to accept this force, which eventually came to us in the form of a pandemic, if we united to become internally closer to each other in the face of danger, it would not have manifested itself.

Look how animals unite against a common disaster. When they run together, fleeing from a flood or a forest fire, they no longer attack each other. They feel that they must save their lives, and their predatory instinct is suppressed by the instinct of self-preservation.

We are now in the same situation. The blows that we feel from nature or the Creator, the upper force, should push us to correct conclusions about how to get rid of them.

We need to see how animals behave, when fleeing from danger, they do not attack each other. The predator’s instinct disappears and only the instinct for the struggle for life remains. If we took an example from the animate level, we would have defeated the pandemic and correctly and successfully gotten out of this state.

But the problem is that we are not at the animal level. We are spoiled animals because we have human egoism, which poisons everything.

Therefore, we cannot even think in the direction of connection, unity, and closeness in order to escape from the pandemic. Even in the context of a global pandemic, governments and individuals are trying to make profits and cash-in on each other because they believe this will bring them wealth and success.

Thus, they make the trouble twice as bad, incur double the problems. Instead of being together with others and thus softening the force of Gevura, they multiply the power of evil. Therefore, we will have to learn through suffering.

The pandemic does not come to make people sick or kill them, but to teach us how to behave toward each other. But for now, we see that we are not learning, but we are going the opposite direction, that is, the path of suffering. Every country thinks that it can succeed and win at the expense of other countries and nations. And this is the mistake.

However, gradually, under these blows, we will descend to simple survival like on the animal level, and then we will begin to see that it is worth helping each other and not hurting others when you are running from a common disaster together.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/21, “The Ruin as an Opportunity for Correction”

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My new article on Linkedin “Humanity’s Next Level of Development”

A strong burst of accelerated human development pulsates through the world over a certain period of time. Such a pulse occurred in the Middle Ages and culminated in the era of the Industrial Revolution touching off breakthroughs in all areas—in science and technology, in culture and education, in society and philosophy. Unusual leaps in spiritual development also occur in the same manner.

Accelerated development is the result of a force that underlies society and all creation: the force of desire. Human desire constantly expands and, as a result of it, there is an endless quest for new ways to fulfill our intensifying yearning. The power of desire acts in individuals and in society in general in the form of self-centeredness, that is, in an egoistic, selfish intention for our own pleasure, including those achieved at the expense of the good of others.

But all the developments of the world point in one direction: to prepare mankind for a spiritual connection of perfect reciprocity, both between human beings, and between all the elements of nature and the supreme power. So even when we ostensibly develop selfish human systems, we inadvertently prepare the infrastructure for beautiful and corrected future connections.

Take the development of the internet as an example. Social media has become a hotbed of vitriolic discourse between people, with hatred often on open display which is completely the opposite to creating good interconnection. However, the current set up could serve as a perfect preparation for social media to carry positive messages of harmonious human connection.

Today the impetus towards more communication between all the inhabitants of the world is evident through two main epicenters: Covid-19 and immigration. The Covid plague is drawing us closer together through unmistakable and inextricable global ties around the world. The disease appears in one place and it immediately spreads everywhere with incredible speed.

Mass migration is another phenomenon that can no longer be stopped. Although prime ministers resist because the situation is spinning out of control, humanity has already permeated beyond the political boundaries formerly set. Immigrants have discovered that their opportunities are improved in more permissive and tolerant environments, and this has fostered the incentive for massive migratory movements. The phenomenon will intensify until we see representatives from different peoples in every country, societies worldwide will become increasingly diverse and complex at the same time.

In fact, we see that human interventions in society such as the one that we have just described, impact us like a head-on collision: countries are destroyed, cultures collapse, violence increases. So, the puzzling question emerges: How can difficult and complex processes lead to ideal connections?

The processes themselves are neither beautiful nor pleasant, but the beauty of them is that they lead to truth, to the opening of eyes, to the recognition of what exactly is broken and needs to be fixed. On one hand, this means that our total interdependence is exposed, and on the other hand, the revelation of this interdependence only comes about through negative events. Thus, one fact will gradually settle for us: our interdependence is inescapable and the negative connections between us are the only source of all trouble in the world, they are the only thing we must correct.

What next? Mankind will have to realize the full potential of its force of desire, to use all its resources to strengthen the bonds between us until we transcend the material sphere to an internal unity through which the thought of nature and the good and benevolent force behind it will be revealed.
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My new article on Linkedin “Setting Higher Goals for Our Children This Summer”

After a disruptive school year caused by Covid restrictions the long-awaited summer break is here. In order to reintroduce some kind of learning framework to children this summer, an overwhelming majority of large school districts in America are providing summer school programs. If implemented correctly, it is the right move. Excessive free time is a recipe for disaster.

Around 97 of 100 districts across the U.S. are offering summer school programming, in-person, virtually, or a combination of both. The plans include recreational trips, outdoor activities, and artistic programs according to monitoring educational organizations. After the challenging circumstances imposed by the pandemic, these measures could be an example for other societies around the world.

Children should not feel that they have so much free time that they have no idea what to do with themselves and hours seem to stretch endlessly. They need to have their time organized so that they will be happy with the built-in agenda, and understand that the expected plans are exactly what they want and need. Otherwise we spoil them.

There is nothing worse for them than free time with a huge void wasted lying on the couch, staring at the screen, or wandering around in the street. Children are not used to having free time and filling it themselves, so giving them “freedom” is like teaching them not to do anything. Children have desires and thoughts, all kinds of natural impulses, and we sort of tell them, “Do nothing with your drive or aspirations. What are they good for? What benefit will you get from them?”

There is of course time to rest, but it is not advisable to lie on your back for hours or walk around aimlessly. Playing football or dancing after studying geography for example, can be a break. Anything that is different from the intense action that preceded it is called resting.

If children are left without studies and without other activities, the impulses that are naturally vibrant in them can lead them to bad places. Parents should be greatly concerned about their children having unlimited freedom and should contemplate ways to fill their time constructively in order to further their development.

Firstly, a clear goal should be established: What do the parents want the children to achieve with their free time so they can provide enriching activities accordingly. In my opinion, the most important goal is to build the children into integral human beings, to develop a person who knows how to communicate properly with others, how to manage complex situations, how to create beautiful relationships with others, and who achieves in-depth understanding on the multiple levels in nature: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human.

With the goal of elevating the child to a higher scale of merit as a human being—one with values, sensitivity, and consideration of others—the activities programmed for our children must have nurturing content that develops their thoughts and expands their feelings. At the end of the activity, it is valuable to promote a discussion for them to share their experiences with each other.

We should consider bringing children to the theater, to the symphony, to various museums. As a child, I lived in a city in Belarus that had a large building specifically designed for children. In the summer, I sat in a photo lab and developed pictures in a darkroom. In the winter, we went skiing together. These are only examples of some activities that could be implemented according to the conditions of each society.

Today, the schools we enroll our children in and entrust their education and a significant part of their upbringing have largely become breeding grounds for crime, violence, promiscuity, bullying, and drug dealing. Everything except what we would wish for our offspring.

A summer break where time is properly managed by parents can heal some of the hardships of the past year, but the real test of educating our children will be in the next school year. The education system, with just a few of its deficiencies touched upon, was founded about one hundred and fifty years ago. We need to think carefully about whether it is suitable for today’s world.

Let’s thoroughly examine and scrutinize what we are doing with the institution called “school” and the education we provide for our children. The scrutiny should include the appropriate plans for how to spend the next summer break. As adults, thinking about the future of our kids’ education might be a good idea on how to spend our free time this summer.
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