Question: Jerusalem has always been considered the heart of Israel and the whole world in general. How did it happen that Jerusalem today became the center of hatred among the Israeli people? The most negative events flare up there: hatred between the religious and secular, hatred of religious movements among themselves. What is the reason?

Answer: Since the Jews are the group of people who left ancient Babylon with Abraham, who preferred spiritual development to material development, over hundreds of years they developed spiritually, achieved becoming one with the Creator, and were at the level of the Temple. This is when a person becomes one with the Creator in his heart and begins to feel as existing eternally.

Therefore, upon leaving Egypt (egoism), they realized the call “to become like one man with one heart,” that is, to unite with each other in such a way as to completely overcome all kinds of selfish differences and mutual repulsion.

And then they achieved not only mutual rapprochement, but also mutual love. Therefore, Rabbi Akiva, although he was not born a Jew, was the greatest sage at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, and he urged: “Do not forget that love your neighbor as yourself is our most important commandment.”

Nevertheless, unfounded hatred broke out among his twenty-four thousand disciples. They fell from the spiritual level and ceased to feel their community. And the spiritual world, the Creator, is felt only in community, in a single integral desire. Therefore, after falling to an egotistical fragmented level, they lost the feeling of the Creator, the feeling of the upper world.

Since then, mutual hatred, mutual repulsion, among the Jews is much greater than among the rest of the nations of the world. However, from the outside, it is perceived as mutual assistance of Jews to each other, but only because there is a mutual hatred of all nations toward the Jews, which keeps them together.

Mutual aid between Jews is manifested when there is a common external trouble. But as soon as it disappears, then immediately there is mutual hatred and mutual rejection. This is what we see everywhere, and especially here in Israel.

This is not particularly felt abroad because there is nothing for the Jews to share; there is no state pie, there are no big points of contact with each other. Jews live among other nations, and therefore, everything is diluted. They need to feel that there is someone who can help them, sympathize, that he hopes for you and you count on him. It works there.

And in Israel where there is no such reason, a terrible, mutual hatred appears, especially in the religious part of it, so much that it leads to very unpleasant manifestations.

In this respect, a religious person today does not differ from a secular person because he does not pursue the goal of improving himself. A person is not brought up knowing that he has to love another individual, help him, take care of him, merge with others into one whole, and merge with the whole world.

Religion is not Kabbalah, not human correction. People built their usual life out of it. It teaches them the mechanical fulfillment of the commandments for which they will allegedly receive a reward in the next world. That is, it is addressed purely to human egoism.

Believers will continue to demonstrate themselves like everyone else, they just have it in a closed society, veiled. Therefore when suddenly something happens, special cases appear that cannot be hidden. In fact, absolutely the same vices exist there as in the non-religious part of society.

I hope that all this will lead us to remember our main commandment “love your neighbor as yourself,” that we should be a light for all the nations of the world.

We were favored by God to set an example in uniting with each other, like at Mount Sinai, and to attract the whole world to this. In this case, we will truly become the element in the world that we must be.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Return” 2/19/10

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Today we are in the very last moment of our exile from the spiritual when all the evil that can only be in humanity is manifested. As it is said in Prophets, terrible events are still possible. Let’s try for them not to happen. Let’s begin to correct ourselves before they force us to go to correction with great suffering.

At the same time, there is no need to blame anyone. We just need to tell people about what our mission is and not make a special calculation of who is right here or who is to blame. We are all in a state of isolation from the spiritual. We are all egoists, we are all uncorrected, we are all terribly sick with egoism. We are a cancerous tumor because we are completely disconnected from each other.

Therefore, we must come to connection, to mutual love at the level of souls, and call on the upper light to correct us. This is called the Torah.

It is said: “I’ve created the evil inclination, I’ve created Torah as a spice.” You need to see that you are an egoist. And religious education hides this from a person, encourages them to consider themselves perfect, righteous. Only by revealing egoism will a person understand that he is obliged to correct it and attract the upper light, because the light corrects. That’s when he will feel the correction.

I hope that Kabbalah will be revealed to all the people of Israel and also to the whole world. We will mutually help each other in general correction and come to a perfect state. And there is no point in starting to figure out who is better, who is worse. We are all sick and we all need the same medicine—the upper light.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Coming Back” 3/22/10

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The whole globe geographically consists of parts that are a projection of spiritual forces. External spiritual forces act on matter and form their consequences in our world: continents, seas, oceans, and everything else. Since these forces are diverse, their influence on our world differs.

Therefore, there are seas, oceans, land, deserts, forests, fertile lands, and areas where a person can live and where he is unable to live.

In addition, there are places more favorable from a spiritual point of view, spiritual states develop there. There are places opposite to spirituality where egoistic spiritual states develop, such as the confrontation between Rome and Jerusalem.

Rome represented explicitly an egoistic power to subjugate, so the whole of Europe adopted this ideology and developed in egoism. But as we are now approaching the stage of correcting the world, Europe will gradually fall more and more.

In Kabbalah, particularly in the Study of the Ten Sefirot, which forces that act on each piece of land is described: first on Jerusalem, then on the land of Israel, on Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the rest of the parts up to Babylon, and then on the rest of the world.

The whole land of Israel is, so to say, divided into ten Sefirot. From Hermon through the Golan to Lake Kinneret it is like upper Malchut, Bina. Jordan is Zeir Anpin. Jerusalem is in the middle, like the Sefira Tifferet, which then descends into the lower Malchut—into the Dead Sea.

This whole geographical picture is clearly constructed according to the projection of spiritual forces. Therefore, it is very important where a person lives. If he feels the influence of various spiritual forces, then moving from place to place, he will feel how everything changes. It is not for nothing that it is said that by changing a place, you change luck, i.e., fate.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up—Return” 2/19/10

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The True Touristic Magnet of the Land of Israel”

Travel and tourism is among the sectors most affected by the Covid 19 pandemic around the world. Israel is no exception. Last year, only 300,000 tourists visited the Jewish state due to travel restrictions, in contrast to the record-breaking 4.5 million tourists reported for 2019. But even as the virus comes under control worldwide and the situation normalizes, we must recognize that what Israel has to offer is much more than breathtaking landscapes and iconic sites.

Among the victims of Israel’s battered tourism industry are tour guides and travel agents who have been virtually unemployed for the past two years as travel bans have been repeatedly imposed to control new variants of the coronavirus imported from abroad. Hundreds of tourism workers demonstrated in the heart of Tel Aviv a few days ago to demand compensation for the long period during which they could not work regularly. The protests erupted after the finance minister advised them to “change jobs,” but in the end a financial aid package was approved.

Nevertheless, love of the land and enjoyment of the profession are not enough to try to keep tourism the way it was. In general, tourism today has undergone a kind of distortion. There is a tourism that encourages shopping, a tourism that encourages entertainment, and another that encourages prostitution. The original tourism, which was based on traveling to different places, especially abroad, and learning about the culture there, has already lost its appeal. Therefore, I do not believe that the tourism industry should be artificially revived.

It is also a mistake to blame all the problems of tourism on Covid-19. Without Covid-19, some other disease would have occurred or some other natural phenomenon would have brought down the tourism industry, which needs to be revamped.

If we were to see the big picture of reality, we would realize that the goal of the human race is to achieve the unity of all and join together as one big family. If we use tourism as a means to come closer, to get to know other peoples, to overcome differences, then this means is helpful to us. But if we, especially Israelis, allow ourselves to be captured by the magic of foreign cultures, abandon our ancient Jewish culture and tradition and replace them with new, foreign worldviews in our social fabric, then there will be no more room for tourism and it will insidiously continue to dwindle.

We Jews have a true treasure in our hands. If we were to tap into the exemplary sources of the Jewish people that speak of brotherly love as a way of life, and unite “as one man in one heart,” we would serve as a magnet for all in the world. “The Land of Israel is not some external entity. It is not merely an external acquisition for the Jewish people,” as Rav Kook wrote, but “rather, the Land of Israel has an internal meaning. It is connected to the Jewish people by the knot of life. Its essence is imbued with extraordinary qualities.” ( Lights, The Land of Israel)

The power of mutual connection between us is capable of evoking a greater positive force, a force of the highest nature. With its help, it is possible to open a new tourism, such as has never existed before – a tourism that connects the spiritual level with the physical level, between the Land of Israel from above and the Land of Israel from below, a sublime feeling that will be transmitted to every person in the world.
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Question: Do genetic Jews have a spiritual predisposition?

Answer: No, it is just a biological group of people that has existed for a long time, created families, and reproduced. Therefore, there are some natural biological processes in it.

Their various internal crossings are of interest to biologists and geneticists. My daughter, a doctor of biology, is researching such processes. This is interesting information that helps scientists learn more about the animal development of our organisms, and nothing more.

It has nothing to do with the soul since we cannot investigate the soul by any biological means or apparatus.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up—Return” 19/2/10

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Question: It is time to summarize the results of the past year. What happened? The UK completed the exit from the European Union; Joe Biden took the office of President of the US; Naftali Bennett became Prime Minister in Israel; the use of disposable non-degradable tableware and plastic was banned in Europe; serious flooding occurred in Western and Central Europe; there were numerous volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in Indonesia, Haiti, and so on; fires blazed throughout Europe, Russia, and Australia; and many tornadoes caused damage in the US.

The Summer Olympic Games were held in Tokyo; Kabul fell and control transferred to the Taliban; same-sex marriage was legalized in Switzerland; Angela Merkel resigned from her duties; the coronavirus continued and continues, and has resulted in nearly 270 million people falling ill and the deaths of 5.3 million people.

How would you sum up the results of the past year?

Answer: It was a year of exacerbations. That’s what I’d call it.

And the most important escalations are between Israel and the United States. It is very serious, to the point that soon we will be at odds with each other. We are already in opposition to each other. I think there are even some who disagree with our existence.

The only thing I still hope is that the Jews in America will slowly come to their senses and will not be in such solidarity with the Democratic Party, with left-wing movements. They still need to realize that, although the government is called “left” and “democratic,” it is not democratic, it is not for democracy, it is not for the people.

But with regard to Israel, we must say it will be worse, much worse. There was nothing better for Israel than the Trump government. And we didn’t appreciate it, no matter how much I wrote and talked and shouted about it. It did not register. The Jews betrayed him. We pushed him away. And it hurts a lot, and we will still suffer a lot because of the fact that it turned out this way.

It will take a long time for the Jews to learn from this, but the lessons will be very serious, lengthy, and, I’m afraid to say, bloody.

Question: Is this the main outcome of the past year for you?

Answer: There is no other outcome because it is tied to the goals of the development of the world.

Question: Summing up the past year, what were you thinking about, yourself, Israel, or us?

Answer: No. I was thinking about the realization of the program of creation in our time, about which way it will be realized. And, unfortunately, we are turning this whole path from a kind, brief one into a bloody one, which in the end will be tragic, long, and painful. Especially for us, but, in principle, and as a result, for the whole world.

Question: You said “the path.” Then explain, please, why these two countries, or one, stands as if in the center of the world?

Answer: Israel is at the center of the world. Not because I’m in it, but because it is so for objective reasons. We have seen this throughout history. And, in principle, most people agree with this, those who see the situation and view the whole of history through the lens of time and events. It’s all tied up this way.

We are in the center of events, and our task is to lead the world to unity and connection by showing an example and dragging others after us.

And we don’t do that. Therefore, of course, it is our fault that the world is in the state it is now. We will have to fix this, and keep on fixing it, maybe, in very, very unpleasant ways. This is called the “path of suffering.”

So there will be no connection, there will be long separations, there will be long term problems, skirmishes, wars, and misunderstandings, but in the end we solve all this. And when we, meaning the Jews, go on the wrong path, not on the path of connection, then, of course, it’s bad.

Question: Does this formula work: bad for us, bad for the world?

Answer: The world will not be better off. The world will be the same way as us, only in a different form. If they deport us, destroy us, force us to vacate our territories, and so on, then the world will eventually also be covered in wounds bleeding. It will just be like a hunted animal.

Well, what will you do? We are to blame for this. I have written about it, talked about it, and in the end we are coming to this now.

Question: What’s more important for you, that the Jews will hear you more or all the nations of the world?

Answer: The nations of the world is good, of course, but the main thing is the Jews since everything depends on them after all. At any moment, if they change and understand that they are the central point and that the state of the whole world depends on their condition, if they unite among themselves, the world will begin to unite and it will be possible to prevent war.

No one will help us. The Americans are already openly declaring that we are not participating in your plans. They don’t even want to supply us with tanker planes. Which means, we won’t even be able to attack. We cannot attack Iran, its nuclear facilities, which they openly say are intended for us. They don’t hide it.

And the Americans also do not hide that they are stopping all help to us. And there’s nothing left for us to do. Are we going to sit here and wait for the atomic bombs to fall? And this is quite likely.

This is what we have brought upon ourselves by ourselves both physically and spiritually. We do not seek connection. We do not seek solidarity. We do not seek solidarity among ourselves. We are an example of such mutual rejection that does not exist in any other nation.

No nation in the world can show an example of such separation and division as we do. We are practically repeating all the same Jewish wars that have been waged throughout history within the Jews with each other.

Comment: When the Temples collapsed.

My Response: It’s the same now.

Question: What is your conclusion from all this?

Answer: Conclusion: Beware, Jews! That’s the conclusion. Just this. And that’s why I’m very pessimistic about the future! Everyone in the world is becoming more and more convinced that Israel and the Jews are just a problem, a malignant tumor on the body of the world.

Comment: But in this case you are not offering to remove the tumor, you are offering to cure it.

My Response: I don’t know how to cure it. I think that people, the nations of the world, the countries, will have the same thought again: “Why did we create this Israel? And what does it even exist for? It’s like an eyesore to us.”

Comment: Let’s say this thought arises. The action is not about destruction I hope.

My Response: There will be such actions that we will be banished from all international clubs and organizations.

Comment: Judged in all international courts.

My Response: It’s already happening. And we will supposedly reassure ourselves that this is not so, that it is all temporary, and so on. Just like the Jews did in Nazi Germany before they were all taken to concentration camps.

Comment: But you have said that it is impossible to destroy this nation.

My Response: Well, there will be a few people left. I’m being completely serious!

If a large number of people can only be in such discord among themselves, then in order to bring them to some more or less logical, correct relations, there will be nothing left but to reduce their numbers. Let them feel how dependent they are on each other.

Question: Let’s say I hear it. Here I am, a Jew, or I am a representative of other nations, I hear it. What are my actions? You’re not talking just for the sake of talking.

Answer: Your actions will be dictated by what will happen to these nations.

Question: If I am a Jew, what are my actions?

Answer: To throw everything off and engage only in connection: to gather all the Jews as much as possible into one single feeling, one awareness that they are one single whole and must connect with each other, overcome mutual hatred, and achieve a state almost like love.

All this is done so that after connecting together, we can do our real work, not only on our own connection, but on the connection of the whole world. Then we must be a light to the nations of the world. And we will have to spread the methods of connecting and uniting all people in the world with each other.

And they will ripen by this time because there will be so many more cataclysms, so many problems, that we would hardly have time to explain to them that it can only be stopped by our kind mutual relations should that come from the Jews.

Comment: You are not talking about the advantage of Jews. You’re talking about the pretty hard work they have to do.

My Response: About their duty to all mankind.

And they don’t feel it. Humanity feels this in its claims to the Jewish people, and the Jewish people themselves do not feel it. And that’s the problem. How can these stiff-necked people, such stubborn ones, be shaken so that they wake up. It turns out that inside they are just frozen, still, preserved for many, many centuries.

I do not know how to do this. And therefore, on the eve of next year, I am in a state of anxious expectations. And I don’t see what good can happen next year. There are no prerequisites for this.

Comment: And if I, a representative of any other nation, hear this, and it even annoys me.

My Response: If you don’t belong to the Jews, then I ask you to put pressure on the Jewish people, explain to everyone what I explained to you. And try to make them, the Jews, understand their necessity, their real role in this world, especially in our time, and immediately begin to implement it, to connect between themselves, to show an example to all the nations of the world of how to unite. And then the world will calm down and come to its correct state.

This should be explained to everyone.

Comment: Still, it amazes not only me, but everyone that you put this to the forefront, at the forefront of everything that is happening in the world! In the world!

So much is happening in the world and you put this at the top of everything.

My Response: There is a free fall of all mankind happening in the world into a moral, technological, ecological pit.

Comment: And you say it is because of us.

My Response: Yes. Because we don’t raise the value of connection. Only it matters!

Question: Connection in a simple sense?

Answer: The connection of people among themselves, because in this case they can reveal the upper force, bring it closer to themselves. As we unite, we bring the upper force closer to ourselves and thus reveal to all of us the existence of all of us in a certain new world. We begin to see the forces that control us. This is very important! And then we understand where we live, what for, how to live, and so on. Therefore, when we begin to unite, we begin to reveal the manifestation of the upper force between us.

Question: Does this revelation really have to come to every person? To absolutely everyone?

Answer: It will come to every person. Sooner, later, depending on one’s internal qualities, but it will come to every person.

Comment: We are entering the next year, what are your wishes, please.

My Response: To be heard!
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/13/21

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Question: Kabbalists write that the mission of the people of Israel is to pass the method of connection to the whole world. But to do this, they must first unite within the framework of the nation of Israel.

What is this term “God’s chosen” and why are the people of Israel exposed to external and internal impacts, division, and pressure?

Answer: The fact is that the mission of the people of Israel was revealed in ancient Babylon to absolutely all Babylonians, which means, to all earthlings. But only a small part of them wanted to know what it was.

The rest of them have not yet been developed to such a moral level to understand that connection between people is really the task of humanity, in order to come to a perfect state.

Therefore, only a small group of disciples followed the ancient Babylonian priest Abraham, from which a whole nation later grew. In fact, it is not a nation. For example, I can become an Italian citizen, but, according to my origin, I cannot become an Italian. But anyone can become a Jew, and then it will be written: “Jew.” You can be of any nationality, and all this is crossed out when you become a Jew.

A Jew is not your material (animal) origin, but your goal in life, your philosophy of life, your burden that you take, to show yourself and others that you are correcting yourself, bringing an element of correction into the world, and contributing to the correction of humanity. All people should rise to the level of the Creator by uniting with each other and becoming one single whole.

At the same time, “love thy neighbor as thyself” as the main commandment of Judaism is the only fundamental law. If other principles aren’t based on it, if a person is not guided by it in his activities (no matter what he does in life), he is not considered a Jew. He’s just nobody. Call him whatever you want.

The term “Jew” comes from the word “ever” (“transition”), the transition from egoism to altruism. “Judaism” from the word “Ihud” has a deeper meaning, the connection between man and the Creator.

“Israel” (“Yisra-El“) in translation means “straight to the Creator” and is applicable to a person who directs himself directly to the Creator, to the quality of bestowal and love. It is like an image of someone who takes upon himself the method of correcting his nature in order to reach a connection with everyone for the sake of equivalence of form with the Creator.
[291443]
From KabTV’s “Close-Up—Return” 2/19/10

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Question: Is an individual, born in our world as a Jew special?

Answer: Yes because he initially has a special connection with his soul. In the animate (physical) state, he is closer to his soul than a person who was not born a Jew.

We live in our bodies and sense this world, but our souls exist in the upper world. Those people who are called Jews are much closer to their souls, practically, in the union of their animal and spiritual levels.

Therefore, they are more predisposed to spiritual pursuits, discoveries, and development, to something that is at the peak of human capabilities and above, but only because they are closer to their soul. If humanity begins to engage in the development of the soul, then all the rest of the people will rise to the same level. There is no doubt about that.

Question: Is this a certain predisposition?

Answer: The fact is that this group of people was engaged in the development of the soul and spirituality for many millennia. Only in the last two thousand years has there been a deep gap between their spiritual and physical development.
[291513]
From KabTV’s “Close-Up—Return” 19/2/10

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My new article on Linkedin “To Live in Israel, Be Israel”

Israel, the land, not the state, is a very special place. Over the generations, millions of people from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have praised it, longed for it, and hallowed it. Yet, over the centuries, the land had been scarcely inhabited. Even today, with millions of people living in Israel, not many do so by choice. Many would gladly move to Europe or the United States, if only they were welcome there. There is a good reason for this: You can only feel at home in Israel if you are Israel on the inside—if you strive to live by the principles of the people of Israel: solidarity, mutual responsibility, and love of others.

When the ancient Jews lived here, they were strong when they were united and weak when they were divided. Our sages do not blame our ruins on foreign legions, but only on internal division. They attribute the ruin of the First Temple and the expulsion to Babylon to bloodshed and slander, and the ruin of the Second Temple and the exile that lasted until about a century ago to hatred without cause.

The people of Israel became a nation when they pledged to unite “as one man with one heart.” Immediately thereafter, they were given the task of being a model nation, “a light unto nations,” setting an example of unity to all nations. Subsequently, they were given a land in which to fulfill their obligation to the world.

The unity of the people of Israel was like no other. The first Israelis, known as Hebrews, were complete strangers, at first. The only thing that held them together was their adherence to the three above-mentioned principles that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had taught them. It was an ideological unity, not a biological or a geographical unity, as was the case with other nations.

By forming such a unique, uncanny union, they showed what the future of the world could look like if all the nations united. Because they were the trailblazers, they were given the task of being “a light unto nations,” of setting an example for the rest of the world.

The unity of the ancient Israelites had many ups and downs. When unity reigned, they were on top of the world, so to speak. When division overcame them, they became a horde of bitter enemies fighting each other to the death. But in doing so, they showed the world that peace among the nations was impossible.

Today, too, only those who can live by the laws of unity will feel comfortable living in Israel, and they will be the contemporary people of Israel. If there are not enough people, the country will disintegrate.

As long as there is a State of Israel, the world will look for an example of unity specifically from the people who live in it. If they provide it, they will be venerated and hallowed. If they show division, they will be hated and despised.

If there is no State of Israel, the world will not be a better place. Without the example of unity that Israel must set, the world will be mired in fighting and war.

Only if the people who live here know what it means to be Israel, are willing to take on the task, and strive to fulfill it among themselves, humanity will have a beacon, a compass to follow to the shores of unity, and the world will be spared the looming wars. In the coming years, it will become evident that only people with such a mission in life can call Israel “home.”
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Jewish Ties”

Even before the establishment of the State of Israel, the ties between the Jews in Israel (which was then part of the British Mandate in Palestine) and the Jews around the world were complicated. Many Jews in the Diaspora rejected Zionism and believed it would increase antisemitism. They were content to live where they were and did not want to move to a land that (at the time) had nothing to offer but swamps, desert, and hostile Arabs. Nor were the Zionists keen on Diaspora Jews. The heads of the Jewish settlement in Israel wanted only young, socialist immigrants, and preferably unmarried or with small families.

Since then, suspicion and tensions between Israelis and Diaspora Jews, particularly American Jewry, have not improved. In fact, in recent years, relations have deteriorated rapidly, to the point where many American Jews would prefer that Israel did not exist at all. Many of them even side with Israel’s enemies, while Israelis feel growing resentment toward American Jewry, whose values and culture are often very different from those of Israelis.

Mutual alienation helps neither side. On the contrary, it intensifies hatred toward Diaspora Jews and toward Israel alike.

All Jews, no matter where they live, have the same obligation to the world. Whether we are German, American, Russian, or Israeli Jews does not change our obligation to be a light unto nations and an example of unity above all differences.

The people of Israel does not exist for its own sake. It is unlike any other nation. It is a nation comprised of descendants of numerous tribes and nations who united in antiquity around the idea that unity among all people, regardless of differences, is the most noble idea and the key to happiness and prosperity in life.

Accordingly, the sole purpose of the Jewish people is to demonstrate the value of unity by setting an example. This is why the more hatred and alienation increase among nations, the more the world becomes antisemitic. It is looking for a way out of the entanglement of mutual hatred and distrust, and in the absence of an example from the Jews, it is at a loss as to how to achieve it. Jews perceive the world’s anger at them as antisemitism, but in reality, it is the world’s cry for help out of hatred.

No Jew is relieved from this obligation. Hence, no Jew will be spared the anger of the nations for not giving them what they need.

Therefore, despite the chill between Jews in the Diaspora and Israeli Jews, the one thing all parties can do to assuage antisemitism is increase the level of their solidarity and unity. Even though we have accrued generations of mistrust, the only thing that can help us mitigate the world’s anger toward Jews is to rise above the bitterness and restore our nationhood around the principles of our ancestors: solidarity and mutual responsibility. Even if we do not feel inclined toward it, the feedback from the world once we begin to work on it will convince us that this is the way to go.
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