The coronavirus will inevitably return. We did not draw the correct conclusions from the first wave of the pandemic, and the second wave will come. All that we understood from the first wave is that we should stay at home, and if we go out, we should wear a mask and keep distance between us. And of course, this is not enough to correct our state.

Therefore, I initially did not expect the coronavirus to disappear quickly. This was only the first wave and a second would come after it, and it is already happening. Not just a repetition of the wave, but new mutations of the virus from a new source. And closer to winter, I think there will be a third wave.

It is very possible that these waves will come with great frequency, time after time, to teach us that we need to finally do something with ourselves. Otherwise, the virus will disconnect us from the normal life we had before. We will have to change the whole routine of life, the economy, industry, forms of work, child care, and forms of communication and interaction.

The virus affects everything because our whole world is built on the connection between people. The pandemic is striking precisely this connection between us. We will now begin to feel more and more how much of a qualitative disturbance this blockage of connection is. The pandemic does not allow us to communicate even with masks on.

The virus will mutate to such an extent that vaccinations will stop working so that we will start thinking about what should the nature of the vaccination be, what it should do, and how we should prepare ourselves so as to not undergo heavy blows. We need to start getting smarter!

The waves of the pandemic are like the Egyptian plagues that push us to rise above our egoism, to get out from the power of the Pharaoh. Is this the direction of our actions, thoughts, and conversations? Do we realize that the coronavirus is the same plague that the people of Israel experienced in Egypt: blood, frogs, lice, and everything else? We have to go through all this, but in a different form.

You can try to close borders so the virus does not penetrate from the outside, but this will not help because the Creator still implements His upper program. The virus will not disappear and will not leave us, because it has not caused any changes within us so far. And so it will have to beat the people of Israel and the whole world again and again.

Israel can by its internal correction cure itself and the whole world of the pandemic by serving as the medicine for the entire human society. If the Jews start treating each other correctly, the pandemic will disappear all over the world, and all of humanity will be cured.
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From KabTV’s “A Conversation with Journalists” 6/24/21

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Look what is happening: the Creator is allowing us to almost eliminate the pandemic, but as soon as we breathe a sigh of relief and take off our masks, it suddenly returns with a new force. This is to show us that nothing has gone away, and we have learned nothing from the last wave. Therefore, after a temporary abatement, it returns again.

We needed this respite to distinguish the second blow from the first one and understand that we did nothing. If the pandemic just continued, it would be one blow from which we would learn nothing.

Why were there ten plagues in Egypt? Was one not enough? The Passover Haggadah says that the people of Israel received four hundred blows, one hundred, two hundred, three hundred.

We are at the stage of the final correction when all evil must be revealed. However, in what form it will be revealed depends on us, on our desire to receive the force of correction.

The shortest, ideal way is to turn to the Creator and ask him for the force of connection. We must be connected together as in the corrected system of Adam HaRishon. However, there is no way we can reach such a connection except with the help of the upper force that would influence us and make it possible to connect with each other and all of us together with the Creator.

We have no other choice. Otherwise, we will receive blow after blow. The people of Israel are able to hear this because they have a point in the heart and the heart is the place where this information is received.

The coronavirus binds us. It is like a symbol of our egoistic connection. Therefore, it passes from person to person and manifests itself egoistically in order to eventually teach us how to change the relationships between us.
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From KabTV’s “Conversation with the Writers” 6/24/21

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Operation “Guardian of the Walls” has ended, which has become another round in the fight against the constant military threat that does not leave Israel for a single day. The operation has helped reduce the threat to some extent, but it cannot eliminate the confrontation from the opposite side, which inevitably escalates again and again and leads to a military confrontation. War has become so familiar that people are bitterly aware that their children will live on this land in incessant wars.

How to get out of this vicious circle? Apparently, this is not possible either at the expense of a military operation, through a state agreement, or by dividing this land: this is for you and this is for us, each nation on a piece of land. There is no solution visible here. And so the conflict feels like a tangle of contradictions that cannot be unraveled.

Finally, we came to this realization and realized that there is no solution. This is not a state conflict or a religious one, but in the essence.

Therefore, it can be solved only at a new stage of understanding of the purpose of creation, the purpose of human existence on earth, different peoples and states, and religions.

This conflict is at the central point of all reality, of all the world, of all humanity. And it is intended to lead us to the question: How to reach the point of balance for everyone, for the entire universe?

It is possible to achieve such balance, but this decision is not in the hands of a person. For this, the participation of two conflicting parties is not enough, a third force is needed, the upper force of nature. If we find out what nature wants from us, we will know how to solve this problem.

The balance is based on the right, good connection between all parts of creation, even the most opposite, and not only between the Jews and Arabs, but as it is said in the prophets that “the wolf will live peacefully next to the lamb.”

And first of all, it is necessary to explain to everyone, both Arabs and Jews, that peace in the world depends on how much people are willing to sacrifice themselves, unite and relate themselves to one upper force. I don’t think it will be difficult to convey this to the Arabs because in essence their upper force and our upper force is the same force.

A person should know only one thing: If we advance, we must reveal the upper force of nature and unite everything around it. Let it be called differently in each nation, but it is always the upper force of nature, just each nation represents it according to its perception. However, we must realize that we are at the mercy of one force, and we must achieve balance, connection, and attain it.

The Creator wants to see everyone on this earth, if they live in such a way that there is no difference between nations, but a good mutual connection between all. The ruler in such a country will be peace, tranquility, and unity, and people will be in power who believe that peace, tranquility, and unity should rule.

The only way out of this conflict is for everyone to understand that no one has any egoistic right to own any part of the globe. The whole human race is on equal terms under the rule of one supreme force whose nature is connection and love, and this is the only God we need to worship.

We can accept it, even though it’s against our nature. Today, a Palestinian child is taught to kill Jews, not to unite with them. How can you come from such radicalism to a place of concessions, connection, and love when they seem far from one another as heaven and earth?

And it is written about this: “Love will cover all crimes.” Where there are the greatest crimes there is a chance to reveal the unity and love if the relation of the person is corrected. Instead of hatred, it is possible to come to love. Love is revealed precisely from hatred, from the polar state.

We will see that it is impossible to continue to exist like this. We find ourselves opposed to the upper force and to the whole of nature in general. The forces of nature require us to replenish and unite between all the opposing forces.

This conflict is at the center of the entire universe, and if we can resolve it here and achieve mutual fulfillment, then peace and tranquility, unity, love, and full abundance will reign throughout the world. We must come to the realization that it is impossible to achieve peace by conventional methods.

The good future of the world depends on everyone understanding what form of connection there should be in the world, and that the mission of the people of Israel is to bring the world to connection. And the role of the world is to put pressure on the people of Israel to push them to unite and pull all the nations of the world with them.

This is a mutual work in which the nations of the world and the people of Israel must help each other. The nations of the world are pushing Israel forward, and Israel continues and opens the way for all nations to rush after them. As it is written in the prophets that the people of Israel should strive for the Creator, and then the nations of the world will carry them on their shoulders so all will ascend to the mountain of the Creator and achieve connection with the upper force.
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From “KabTV’s “Look from the Inside” 5/24/21

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My new article on Linkedin “A Needless Conflict Generates Needless Victims”

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, or as it was previously known, the Arab-Israeli conflict, is widely considered as the source of all the problems in the Middle-East. Over the past century or so, this conflict has inflicted tens of thousands of casualties on both sides, and tremendous suffering of countless innocent people. The sad thing about it is that the conflict is needless. If the two peoples acted according to their roots, there would be no conflict whatsoever, and the area would be a role model of amity.

In our roots, Jews and Arabs aren’t that far. We both come from the same father, Abraham, who taught us all the same law: the law of mercy and kindness. Abraham taught us that nature consists of one force that moves the stars in the sky and “rules the capital,” as Maimonides put it. Abraham taught us that that force is one of love and giving, and this is why he taught his disciples to love and give, as well, so they would be like nature.

The conflict began once we abandoned the principle of love and giving and gave in to the power of the ego. Once the ego has set in, religions took over where simple love once ruled. Religions thrive on separation and distinction; they set apart Jews, Christians, and Arabs, and then continue to separate them into countless sects and factions. Since the ego wants to be the king, it cannot tolerate connection and bonding. When it cannot be the sole ruler, it finds “flaws” in others, which justify parting from them. This is how new religions form.

It is true that people need traditions and cultures; it is very human and serves positive roles in people’s lives. As such, religion is not at all negative. However, when it drives people away from one another, presents others as enemies simply for wearing a different kind of clothing or for praying to the same force in a different way, then religion becomes a source of conflict and hate, and anything that increases hatred among people is negative.

Despite the apparent deadlock, I see the solution as easy, as long as people do not try to annihilate others or force their ways of life on them. To establish peace, all that people need is to consider that the one force that guides our world is good and does good, and if we want to be close to it, we should try to be likewise.

An approach of love and giving never reproaches or delegitimizes other people. Each one should live according to one’s own culture and tradition. All that we need is to add another layer, a coating of love over our diversity, above our different approaches to life. If we remember that we all have the same father, who wanted us all to have the same things, to attain what he had attained, and spread what he had discovered to the whole world, I think it will be only natural to lead a peaceful and harmonious life here in our tormented piece of land, and leave our bloody history behind, for good.
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My new article on Linkedin “ The Ten Plagues of Covid ”

In the last week or so, it has become clear that we are in the beginning of the fourth wave of Covid-19 in Israel. We thought we had beaten the virus, and so did much of the world, but once again we’re closing down as the number of new cases quickly rises. Even though about 60 percent of Israel’s population is inoculated, we’re still losing to the virus.

As I have warned countless times before, we’re not sickened by the coronavirus; we’re sickened by hubris and conceit. Self-importance and egoism are sure recipes for disaster, and we are proving it every time we see that Covid cases are declining. What’s more, Covid is not a local or a national problem; it is the problem of the entire world, and unless the entire world is included in the solution, we will not get rid of it. Covid-19 will teach us that we’re in this together, for better or worse, dependent on each other. Unless we think about each other’s health, we ourselves will not be well.

In a sense, I’m happy that Covid is here because it teaches us this mutual responsibility. At the same time, I am equally unhappy about our obstinacy and reluctance to learn, as it is costing us lives, millions of lives. I myself lost friends, students, and some of their family members to the virus. No one is excluded from this bug, which is precisely why it is so effective in teaching us mutual responsibility.

Just as the ten plagues in Egypt ushered a new era in the history of the people of Israel, when they pledged to unite “as one man with one heart,” Covid-19 is ushering the world into the exact same state. Its plagues will grow less and less quantitative, and more and more qualitative, meaning leading us directly toward understanding that without pledging to care for one another, we will not survive.

In the desert, after they fled from Egypt, the Israelites did not willingly accept the pledge for unity. They, too, had to deal with their egos. The Talmud writes (Avoda Zarah 2b) that “The Lord had forced the mountain over Israel like a vault, and said unto them: ‘If you accept the Law [of mutual responsibility], very well, but if not, there will it be your grave.’” Today, it seems as though Covid is taking God’s role in forcing us to make the same pledge. I hope we will not be obstinate much longer since the plagues, we already know, will only grow harsher.
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My new article on Linkedin “Is National Identity a Thing of the Past?”

In our global village, national identities seem to be blurring. People can live almost anywhere they want, the culture is more or less the same culture everywhere, everyone admires the same mega popstars, the same multibillionaires dictate the global agenda, we feed on the same ideas and aspire for more or less the same things. In such a state, a national identity becomes almost irrelevant.

But when it comes to Israel, the picture is very different: No one wants us to lose our identity, not our neighbors, and not the entire world. Everyone is demanding Israel to be certain things and do certain things, while Israelis only want Israel to be a country among countries, an unassuming member of the family of nations. Yet, everyone is singling us out, usually for condemnation, while we have no idea what it is they want from us.

The problem is not with the world; it is with us. If we knew what the people of Israel are about, we would know why the world is always demanding toward us and what we need to do about it.

Everyone knows that the father of the Jewish nation was Abraham, whose lineage evolved into what we now recognize as Jews. However, although the Midrash wrote about it, Maimonides wrote about it, and countless other sages have mentioned it throughout the ages, we forget that Abraham formed the nation after he looked into reality, realized that the separation that has plagued humankind since its inception is contradictory to nature, and built his group according to the principles of mutual responsibility and kindness embodied in the words “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In this way, he formed a nation that operated in congruence with the rest of nature. Over the years, Abraham’s group had evolved into a nation, and this is how the Jews came to be.

The contradictory manner of connection among people continued to plague them and wreak havoc on humanity. Wars claimed millions of lives, and famine, abuse, and oppression were the norm. At the same time, the Jews, the descendants of Abraham’s group, developed a society based on mutual responsibility and love, and thrived despite countless attempts to destroy it. The world realized that the Jews had found the way to unity and wanted it, too. The Jews, too, felt that it was their onus to be “a light unto nations,” to set an example of unity for the rest of the world. As a result, whenever the Jews fell prey to division, the nations hated them, since they had no example to follow, and when Jews united, the world praised and admired them.

The onus on the Jews to exemplify unity is the reason that the nations do not let us forget who we are, blend among them, and vanish. This onus is also why we do want to blend and vanish, since we do not want to unite, and certainly not to be anyone’s model of unity.

But the world will not let us disappear. Our unique identity, which stems from our unique duty, has no expiration date. The more the world falls into enmity, the more it will blame us for it. It will not tell us that it is accusing us of not setting an example, but when we do it, we will see that we are welcome. As long as we do not set an example, nothing that we do will help us ease their anger. The more we turn away from each other and cater to the nations, attempting to appease them, the more they will hate us and despise us. The more we turn to each other and strive to unite above our hatred, the more they will praise us. This has been, is, and always will be the one rule dominating the fate of the Jewish people.
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My new article on Linkedin “Can Hamas Not Hate Israel?”

In a recent video that was posted on my Facebook page in Hebrew, I said that if we connect with one another in Israel, Hamas will not only make peace with us, but will also come and help us. The video, as would be expected, got many comments. The interesting part about them was that it got comments from both Jews and Arabs. The comments from the Jews were mainly that it was unrealistic, that we have always been hated and we’ll always be hated. The comments from the Arabs, however, were mainly praises for the truthful words I said, and encouragement to continue speaking about it.

While we weren’t always hated, as some of the comments claimed, we have indeed been hated for the past two millennia, since the ruin of the Second Temple. But then, the Temple was ruined, and the Romans exiled us, precisely because of our hatred for each other. Read every Jewish text on the subject and it will tell you that the only reason that this catastrophe came upon us was our own hatred for each other.

Since the ruin of the Temple, we have not healed the hatred that splintered us, and history shows that whenever Jews became more belligerent toward each other, antisemitism intensified. While it is true that since the ruin of the Temple, there has not been a time without antisemitism, it is just as true that since that time, there has not been a day when we did not hate each other.

Prior to the ruin of the Temple, we did have brief periods of unity, and those were our most glorious days. When we united under Joseph in Egypt, we were given the land of Goshen, Egypt’s most fertile stretch of land. When Joseph died, we broke apart and the Egyptians began to hate us. When we reunited under Moses, we were liberated from Egypt and received our code of law, the Torah, of which the most fundamental tenet is “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18).

In Israel, we began to part once more and lost the land to the Babylonians. In the exile in Babylon, we united once again because of Haman’s intention to annihilate the Jews. A short while later, we received the Cyrus declaration, which sent us back to the land of Israel with the king’s blessings, the treasures of the First Temple, provisions for the journey, and the king’s support in building the Second Temple. While we were united in Judea, the nations came to learn from us the wisdom of unity: The Torah was translated into Greek, and people from all the nations came every pilgrimage to Jerusalem to watch the miracle of Jewish unity.

Then we lost our unity once more when many in the nation adopted Hellenism. A civil war broke out. When the united Hasmoneans won the war, the mighty Seleucid Empire reinstated our freedom. But that unity was very fragile and short-lived. The next time we fell into internal hatred, we did not recover from it. As a result, the Romans conquered the land and finally drove us out. Since then, we have not recovered from the internal hatred, and since then, there has not been a time without antisemitism.

To understand why our hatred for each other makes the world hate us, we must remember that our ancestors came from precisely those nations that hate us now, meaning from the rest of the world. Our ancestors came from all the nations and united into a nation only when those complete strangers heard Abraham’s message of unity and implemented it with one another, with those people around them, who believed in the novel idea of unity of all nations.

Abraham taught his ideas to his successors, who continued to develop it until, under our greatest teacher, Moses, we vowed to reach the ultimate level of unity and be “as one man with one heart.” The code of law that we received at that time, the Torah, was to help us realize our vow to become a virtuous people, a light unto nations. In this way, people who were originally hateful of each other became bonded at the hearts. Through our own society, we demonstrated that peace among the nations was achievable; we presented an alternative to the enmity that ruled the world until then. This is why the nations loved us while we loved each other.

These days, when the world is quickly sinking into intensifying hatred, humanity desperately needs a solution that will save it from a third world war. Instinctively, the nations look to the people who presented an alternative before, to present the alternative once more. But what do they see? They see the same hatred that has plagued our people for the past two millennia. This leaves the world without hope for a peaceful solution to its problems, since the agents of the solution are not carrying out their duty. The world wishes that we did, but we are not, so how can it not hate us?

The State of Israel is an opportunity for the Jewish people to do its task: to unite and be a light unto nations. This is why if we unite, everyone will love us, as they did before. If we hate one another, as we do today, everyone will continue to hate us and will seek to get rid of us.

For more on this topic, refer to the books The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord, and Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour.

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Comment: The UN has established a commission to investigate human rights violations in the Palestinian territories and in Israel as a result of the latest operation Guardian of the Walls. After each military operation, a commission in the UN is formed and they constantly want to judge our soldiers and officers.

24 countries voted in favor, 9 against, and 14 abstained. Look who is voting in favor! Those who trample their citizens, kill them, put them in concentration camps. They are the ones voting to condemn Israel.

My Response: This is the world we live in.

Question: Soon we will not be able to carry out any military operation at all, even the most precise, and not be condemned later or face a military tribunal declaring something against us. How can we defend ourselves?

Answer: We do not need to defend ourselves. We need to act the only way we can, that is, to turn to the Creator, unite above egoism, and then no one will attack us. That is all. Otherwise, we will not get away with anything.

Comment: But no one understands this except you and a small number of Kabbalists.

My Response: Then it will be bad. These are laws of upper nature and we cannot escape them. If we do not execute them, it will be bad. If we do it at some point, it will be good.

Question: But everyone already sees perfectly well that logic does not work, that it is impossible to prove anything. But for some reason, we don’t arrive at these conclusions. Why does this happen to us all the time?

Answer: Because the whole world exists within the framework of egoism! So it draws correct conclusions.

Question: What does it demand from Israel?

Answer: I think that ultimately it would demand that Israel simply leave, and that’s it. Disarm Israel and remove its entire population. They would receive demilitarized land, which would immediately be populated at the delight of all nations around us—the Arabs.

Comment: And start wars between each other.

My Response: It does not matter what they start. It is their business. No one will blame them for it.

Question: So they really want to destroy the only democracy in this region?

Answer: They do not consider democracy. It is not a consideration for them. It is in their way. In everybody’s way: Arabs, Americans, Russians, no matter who. It is an obstacle for everybody.

Question: What should we do?

Answer: We must either correct ourselves the way we need to be corrected, or we have to get out of here.

To correct ourselves means to achieve a bond of friendship, brotherhood, and even love.

We must create those conditions, those relations between us. And then nothing else is needed.

Question: You do not even have to arm yourself,  you do not have to do anything?

Answer: We can stay with what we have for now, but actually, it will not be needed.

Question: We need a strong army in order for time to come when we can unite with each other?

Answer: Yes. We need to create such relations between us. That’s it! And the world will watch and rejoice.

Question: And so, peace and quiet will come to the world only because of this small point where this great event took place?

Answer: Of course! It all started here, and it will end here.

Question: Is this what they want us to understand?

Answer: Yes. But we do not understand. And we will not understand if for a while longer; it is a stiff-necked nation.

Question: How do you see the future? The time-frame, how much time do we have?

Answer: I don’t know. We need to act. Our organization, which understands this, must act and spread this knowledge in the world, among the nations of the world, mainly among the Jews. What happens next is none of our business.

We must spread this knowledge everywhere.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/31/21

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My new article on Linkedin “Reply to a Question about Jews and Arabs in Israel”

One of my students told me that since the beginning of Operation Guardian of the Walls (the most recent military campaign against Hamas in Gaza), dozens of Israeli Arabs left positive messages on my Hebrew Facebook page. They didn’t relate to the conflict, but expressed their agreement with the message of unity that I am conveying there. The student asked me if I could explain their sudden interest in the content on my page.

I think it’s easier for Arab Israelis to access my content than it is for Arabs in other countries for the simple reason that Arab Israelis speak and read Hebrew. From the content of their comments, which are also written in Hebrew, it’s clear that they agree with the message in my words, and this, I think, should be the clearest message to the Jews regarding what we need to do if we truly want peace.
First, I think it’s easier for Arab Israelis to access my content than it is for Arabs in other countries for the simple reason that Arab Israelis speak and read Hebrew. From the content of their comments, which are also written in Hebrew, it’s clear that they agree with the message in my words, and this, I think, should be the clearest message to the Jews regarding what we need to do if we truly want peace.

The message, as we know, is simple: The world has no respect for us because we have no respect for the connection between us. Our sages repeated this message in the ears of our ancestors. They wrote about it profusely, yet we refused to listen. Antisemites, too, have told us in countless ways that they despised our loathing of each other. History has repeatedly shown that the worst blows we suffered from the nations came after periods of intensified discord and infighting among us, and our most prosperous times were during strong internal unity.

Now the Arabs are telling us the same message. In my eyes, they are not enemies; they are messengers who tell us that they will appreciate us when we appreciate the connection between us. It is the same message that the nations of the world have been telling us since our inception as a nation, but now it is being told by our contemporaries. To me, the positive response of our Arab neighbors to the message of Jewish unity is a testimony to the paramount need to begin the process of reconciliation with our neighbors with reconciliation among ourselves. The sooner we start, the better it will be for everyone: for the Jews in Israel, for the Arabs in Israel, and for the rest of the world. As soon as we begin to unite, we will find that the Arabs are not our enemies, they are our partners.

For more on this topic, refer to the books The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord, and 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 “A Maximum Plan and a Minimum Plan for the Government”

As we evidently see, the State of Israel is unlike any other country. We’re trying to conduct ourselves like the rest of the world, but we’re not; this is why we have been in a political limbo for the past several years. The problem is that we don’t know what we should be like, so we look for role models in the world around us. However, they are not right for us, and we are seeing the results.

Therefore, I think our government needs to conduct itself in two parallel routes, one that follows a maximum plan, and one that follows a minimum plan. The maximum plan is the nation in its ideal state of solidarity and union; the minimum plan is sustaining ourselves until we get there.

The minimum plan has two primary objectives: defense and life. Defense means securing Israel’s borders and addressing military threats to its population. Life means seeing that the economy as a whole is functioning, including the job market, industry and agriculture, and housing, and to maintain the healthcare and welfare systems. As stated, the overall objective of the minimum plan is to sustain us until we realize the maximum plan.

The maximum plan relates to the ultimate goal of the State of Israel, namely to bring the people of Israel to complete unity and solidarity, to the point of realizing the motto of the Jewish people: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” To achieve this, the government must establish an educational system that pertains to all ages—from kindergarten through school, higher education, work, and even retirement homes.

Currently, the nation is in dire need of unity. Its factions are divided and hate each other’s guts. They undermine one another and in the process, they weaken the entire country. Therefore, our survival as a sovereign state depends on our solidarity and unity. If we generate them, we will thrive and prosper. If we do not, we will be overrun by our multiple enemies from without and from within.

Moreover, the nature of our people does not permit us to acknowledge that someone else is right and we are wrong. It is with good reason that the Torah refers to the Jews as a “stiff-necked people” (Ex 32:9), and it is not about to change. Therefore, any plan to generate unity must take into consideration that it must build this accord atop existing, persisting, and even increasing discord. While this is clearly a formidable challenge, the other option is the dissolution of the State of Israel.

In light of all this, the maximum plan will detail and implement the steps toward establishing initial unity, based on the understanding that we are dependent on each other, and either we all succeed or we all fail. Subsequently, the plan will outline the stages of enhancing and solidifying that unity using instances of discord and disputes as incentives for enhancing our unity.

To succeed, the entire nation must commit to the process. If only some of us seek to establish unity, and the rest of us do not, the process will fail. In his essay “Mutual Responsibility,” the great 20th century kabbalist and thinker Yehuda Ashlag, aka Baal HaSulam, offered a poignant analogy from The Book of Zohar pertaining to our mutual responsibility: “If a part of the nation does not want to keep the mutual responsibility … they cause the rest of the nation to remain immersed in their filth and lowliness [of self-interest] without finding a way out of their filth. Therefore, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai [author of The Zohar] described mutual responsibility as two people sailing in a boat, when one of them begins to drill a hole in the boat. His friend says, ‘Why are you drilling?’ The other replies, ‘Why should you care? I am drilling under me, not under you!’ So the friend replies, ‘You fool! We will both drown together in the boat!’”

Right now, we’re sinking. We’re drilling holes in our boat out of vindictiveness, and we don’t realize, or don’t care that in the process, we are drowning ourselves, as well. Still, we haven’t sunk. If we pull together, we will cruise ashore. If we stay apart, we’ll sink for sure. This is why I believe that the government must run the maximum plan and the minimum plan concurrently, with the goal of bringing the people of Israel to the finish line of mutual responsibility and love of others as soon as it possibly can.

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