The Times of Israel published my new article “American Jews and Israel, the Great Divide”

The US election was not only the thermometer to measure the temperature of American politics, it also tested the waters between American and Israeli Jews on what they might consider their best common interest. The result was freezing cold. The American presidential race revealed that the alienation between both communities is only growing.

Back in October, an American Jewish Community’s survey revealed that only 22% of US Jews would vote for President Donald Trump and 75% would choose former Vice President Joe Biden. That estimation was close to the 77% support received by the Democrats according to exit polls during the election. Interestingly, that same percentage of Israeli Jews favored the opposite candidate, Trump, who is considered by many to be the friendliest US president toward Israel in history.

The rift between the world’s two largest Jewish communities is not surprising. People’s worldview is marked by the environment in which they live. I am here, in the Middle East, on a small piece of land surrounded by enemies who are constantly thinking about how to slaughter us, to destroy us, so it is natural I think differently than if I were in America, sitting in comfortable physical security. It is clear where the opposite views derive from.

One may ask, isn’t it in Israel’s best interest to work to close the gap between the two communities? As the situation now stands, it is a lost cause. What can Israeli Jews offer that will be appealing to them if they do not care about Israel’s security and future? It seems to Israelis as if we do not exist to American Jews in any real way, not as a nation, not as a country, not as a people. It feels like they consider themselves as part of the people of Israel in name only but without common feelings.

After traveling in America throughout the years and meeting US Jewish leaders multiple times, my assessment is that beyond superficial declarations of being one people, actually drawing closer to Israel is not in their consciousness, in their awareness. They are Jewish people in America only. There is complete disconnection. No wonder almost 6 out of 10 American Jews have never visited Israel in their lives and these statistics haven’t changed for decades.

However, just as the detachment from Judaism did not save the Jews in Germany from persecution almost a century ago, the detachment from the Jewish state will not help American Jewry now. With antisemitism spreading rapidly, Jews are under threat, and distancing from Israel will do nothing to improve the perception of haters toward them. Just as in the past, Jews will be held accountable for whatever problems are on the agenda. This is the nature of antisemitism. Therefore, the only remedy capable of offering real help in this situation is unity.

From an economic perspective, those who still believe the American dream is alive and that their livelihoods are secure should wake up from their sleep. For a long while, America’s hegemony is slowly fading, as did happen with all the ancient empires. The trend is shifting away from the West towards the East, and Asia is poised to take over control of the world’s economy. Not only is China already at the top of the competition, but Japan, South Korea, and other countries in the Far East are also not far behind.

What does all this mean for American Jews? It means that the importance of Jewish unity cannot be overstated as the only safety net to guarantee a good future. Unity must be built with all haste above the split between Right and Left, between Republicans and Democrats, between American Jews and Israelis, above all the differences. Our future does not depend on any particular person or political camp; it depends solely upon our connection as one people.

Clearly, there are many contentious issues between the two communities worthy of addressing—opposite political views, disputes about who is a Jew, how Judaism should be practiced, just to name a few. However, above and beyond our disagreements, the State of Israel and the American Jewry must feel that no matter what, there is an underlying and indivisible bond that connects us together, similar to the way that siblings sometimes fiercely disagree but always remember that they are family.

Unity does not mean erasing our unique opinions or demanding that all think the same. (That would erode the very essence of the Jewish people who fiercely debate on anything.) No, all the differences remain and we just build a connecting bridge above them from recognition that our connection is far more important than any other issue.

As foremost Kabbalist Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) wrote,

“It is also clear that the immense effort required of us on the rugged road ahead requires unity as strong and as solid as steel, from all factions of the nation without any exceptions. If we do not come out with united ranks toward the mighty forces standing in our way then we are doomed before we even started” (The Writings of Baal HaSulam, The Nation).

Unity is the prime commodity and the bedrock of the people of Israel in that we possess the priceless method for bringing people together—families, nations, and all of humanity. When we begin to implement this method first and foremost between ourselves, the positive impact will reverberate forcefully around the world and our common destiny will be safeguarded.
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My article in Newsmax: “The Disunited State of America Today”

America’s bitter political divide is taking a toll on personal relations. While one half of the nation exuberantly celebrates, the other half is depressed and frustrated over questions of fraud in the electoral process. Rifts over the nation’s leadership, direction, and vision have deepened and are causing social severing into two opposing camps.

Will it be possible to find common ground under the current circumstances? It certainly is possible because we have no other alternative. It is a matter of existential importance.

A recent poll conducted by an independent research institute revealed that 8 out of 10 Republicans believe the Democratic Party has been taken over by socialists, while 8 in 10 Democrats think the Republican Party has been taken over by racists. Both sides, each from their own perspective, consider that the core values and the character of the nation are not only at stake, but at risk.

Friends have been torn apart as a result of political differences. The same has happened in families whose members have opposite views about which candidate and party has the most appropriate qualities and policies to occupy the highest U.S. office. The 2020 presidential race shows that opinions of who is more suitable to become not only the commander in chief, but the so-called “leader of the free world,” have destroyed even strong and decades-long relationships.

Such signs of erosion in personal relationships as these were identified in a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center before the elections. The survey revealed that most Trump and Biden voters said they had “just a few” or “no friends at all” who supported the candidate of the other political party.

While it is true that our environment influences our opinions and decisions, deep inside each person is born with specific tendencies and preferences. From birth we lean by nature toward a specific side, either left or right. Humanity was created with this natural symmetrical split in which every side wholeheartedly believes its perspective is the right one and the other side is completely wrong.

In short, there isn’t a single idea in the world fit to connect every single person. The common truth can only be found in the middle ground between the opposites.

Just as the Earth has a North Pole and a South Pole, nature divides people into two equal camps (as we are now seeing in the USA, for example) for a purpose. Both Left and Right will strengthen in their opposing positions. Why? Because this polarity between the Right and the Left will finally reveal to Americans the need to build their common future together, the need to discover the path between the two poles that will allow all to thrive.

The contrasting positions will together reveal a common denominator that now does not exist. In truth, the root of all reality will be revealed — a force capable of balancing the opposite sides to open space for a peaceful coexistence.

All the possible forms of reality should mutually complement the others rather than erase the others. Fulfillment for all is possible only in the middle ground that emerges between opposites. If people understand that the general advancement of all is possible only in this “middle line,” or middle ground, they will perceive their opponents differently.

If I see that every negative and positive occurrence happens only in order to propel me toward a higher goal, I will treat both sides with equal respect, as the sages wrote, “love will cover all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12). Reconciliation in the current state of political opposition can be found in finding a common “sweet spot” for mutual benefit, where no one gives up but everyone gives in, in order to realize the shared ideal of a thriving nation and an harmonious society.
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My new article on Linkedin “It Takes Two Sides to Build a Bridge”

The Left and the Right will not compromise. They cannot, since human self-centeredness is ever growing and people are becoming increasingly obstinate and intolerant. We cannot help it; nature is developing our egoism just as it develops every plant and animal. The only thing we can do is direct our egos toward positive causes or negative ones. If we choose the former, humanity will rise to new heights in every aspect of life. If we choose the latter, we will find ourselves embroiled in World War III.

Because nature makes our egos more intense, we are bound to become even more divided than we already are. Moreover, as we see in America, it splits us into two halves that are nearly identical in size. And since nature also makes us increasingly obstinate, it leaves us with two choices: fight to death, or transcend our disputes and find unity above them.

To choose the latter option and save ourselves from destruction, we must make unity the single most important value in our lives. It need not conflict with any of our current values, such as devotion to God, caring about the environment, campaigning for women’s rights, for patriotism, or for any value that we currently hold dear. Unity should be on a level all to itself, and it should mean that we may disagree on everything, but at the end of the day, we are one nation.

Within that nation you have every faith, race, color, gender, political agenda, and anything else you might think of. But as it should be in a vibrant democracy, the diversity makes each faction shine even brighter. Without diversity, we wouldn’t be able to think, judge, learn, and grow as individuals. We would be robots whose perspectives are installed in them at childhood and we would never develop from there.

But life is development and change! Life is birth and death, day and night, ebb and flow, storm and calm. Life is myriad opposites intertwined in one another to create countless colors and shades, and maintain everlasting harmony and balance. Those who wish to destroy diversity, wish to destroy life.

We cannot have common ground nor should we because that would be the end of our existence as human beings. Only when we take those who think the opposite of us and build with them a canopy of unity above our differences we will discover why we are apart: because it takes two sides to build a bridge.

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My new article on Linkedin “On Beautiful Women and the November Shopping Fest”

November has become the month of online shopping. This year, for example, you have the Singles’ Day, Veterans Day (targeting Americans), and Remembrance Day (targeting Canadians, Australians, and British), all on November 11. Three days later, on November 14, you have Diwali, the Festival of Lights, which targets Hindus, Thanksgiving, on November 26, Black Friday, immediately after, though Black Friday sales now begin a few days before Thanksgiving, and Cyber Monday, which comes immediately after Black Friday, and this year on the last day of November.

One of the main trends that’s been developing since Covid started was the increase in sales of home decoration products and decrease in sales of cosmetics. It makes sense. After all, what’s the point of spending so much money and taking so much time making myself pretty if in the end I cover it all with a mask? And since I’m forced to spend so much time at home, I might as well take better care of it and make my stay in it more pleasant.

Especially since the onset of Covid-19, online shopping has exploded and become many people’s primary mode of shopping. Also, following the tense presidential elections, it’s likely that many people will want to treat themselves to something nice, either as a consolation or as a celebration.

But then, if women can’t look pretty, does it mean that they can’t be pretty? I think it’s to the contrary: The external limitations shift the focus to internal qualities, and this is where real beauty lies.

A beautiful woman is not one who wears lipstick and covers her face with makeup, and she certainly does not need to expose her body in order to look beautiful. These are only costumes. A woman’s real beauty is something far deeper. When a woman is beautiful within, her man will follow her like a child follows his mother. It’s not about looks, but about internal wisdom and soundness that only women can offer.

Women can, and should, employ that same wisdom with which they raise their children to “raise” their partners. After all, a man is really not much more than a grownup baby; give him confidence and support, tell him right from wrong, and do so lovingly, and he’ll be yours forever.

I think that today, inner beauty is what all people need the most. It may not be a vendible product that you can sell for profit, but it’ll certainly be in high demand the more our world loses its way.

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The Times of Israel published my new article “Whoever Is President, Israel’s Security Depends on Itself”

If eventually elected, Joe Biden will clearly not give Israel what Donald Trump will give if he is elected for another term. But either way, and though it may be counterintuitive, Israel is the only country that can determine its own fate. If we do what we, Israel, must do, it will benefit us and the rest of the world.

President Trump has been very generous with Israel. He has given us more than any US president in history. In fact, he gave us more than we had asked him to or expected he would give. Biden has a different agenda and his administration’s support for Israel will not be a given.

Nevertheless, when the people of Israel behave as, well, Israel, in unity and mutual responsibility, they are not only safe, but are loved by everyone because by doing so, we serve as a role model and a proof that bridging differences and rising above hatred are both possible, and well worth the effort. That example is all that we need in order to be safe and sound in our country, and in good relations with everyone, and first and foremost with our neighbors.

Yet, when have we behaved like that? Have we ever been united? Perhaps sometime in the middle of the 3rd century B.C., before we started dividing into factions that inflicted on us the civil war known as the Maccabean War, and later the civil war that caused the destruction of the Second Temple and the exile of our nation from the land of Israel.

Back then, some 23 centuries ago, there was great unity in the people of Israel. It was a short hiatus in our internal conflicts, and probably the only time when we truly were “a light unto nations,” but it made a deep and lasting impact nonetheless. This was the time when Ptolemy II, King of Egypt, invited 70 Jewish sages to Egypt, to translate the Hebrew scriptures into Greek, teach him their meaning, and share their knowledge of spiritual governance based on unity and mutual responsibility. In his book The Antiquities of the Jews (Book XII), Flavius Josephus writes that Ptolemy “asked every one of them … political questions, tending to the good … government of mankind.” According to Flavius, the king was “delighted with hearing the laws read to him, and was astonished at the deep meaning and wisdom of the legislator.” Moreover, “When they had explained all the problems that had been proposed by the king about every point, he was well-pleased with their answers,” and said that “he had learned how he ought to rule his subjects.”

Not only Flavius documented the success of the Jews of the time in being an example of unity and mutual responsibility. The Mishnah (Mesechet Bikurim) delights in this solidarity: “All the craftsmen in Jerusalem would stand before them and ask about their well-being: ‘Our brothers, men of so and so place, have you come in peace?’ and the flute would play before them until they arrived at Temple Mount.” The book Avot de Rabbi Natan writes that every material need of every person who came to Jerusalem was met in full. “One did not say to one’s friend, ‘I could not find an oven on which to roast offerings in Jerusalem’ … or ‘I could not find a bed to sleep in, in Jerusalem.’”

The philosopher Philo of Alexandria portrayed the pilgrimages of Jews to Jerusalem as festivals of unity: “Thousands of people from thousands of cities—some by land and some by sea, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south—would come each festival … as if to a common shelter, a safe haven protected from the storms of life. …With hearts filled with good hopes, they would take this vital vacation with sanctity and with glory to God. Also, they would make friendships with people they had not met before, and in the merging of the hearts … they would find the ultimate proof of unity.”

But perhaps the most important lesson we can take from that period of unity is how other nations viewed our unity. The book Sifrei Devarim writes that people from other nations would “go up to Jerusalem and see Israel … and say, ‘It is becoming to cling only to this nation.’”

Regrettably, our union didn’t last. When division struck the Israeli nation, it began to weaken. This, in turn, led to the intervention of the Greek empire, which left us alone as long as we were united. As a result, the Maccabean (civil) war broke out between supporters of the Greeks and supporters of the priests. The Maccabees won a short-lived victory, but the disintegration of the nation deepened, leading to the outbreak of a fierce civil war inside the walls of Jerusalem, which paved the way to the conquest of the land by the Romans and the inevitable exile.

For this reason, Israel cannot rely on military strength for its survival, or on the protection of political leaders of other nations. It needs to maintain its military edge as long as it has not formed unity, but once the people of Israel, within the State of Israel, unite and become the role model we once were, if briefly, with or without the support of the US president, we will regain the nations’ approval as described above, and our conflicts with our neighbors will dissolve as if they never existed.
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My article in Newsmax: “Any President of Half the Nation Is Illegitimate”

America is split between two halves that hate each other to death. Whatever one says, the other instinctively counters, regardless of the content. When one candidate represents half the nation and the other represents the other half, then neither represents the country. It’s a stalemate that will either lead to a civil war or to union on a completely new level. Currently, the former is far more plausible.

Both sides have great arguments. They present them clearly and convincingly, but no one is persuaded. No one is even listening. In fact, both arguments are valid, yet both are wrong. Why are they wrong? Because if you think your way will make the country better, but all it really does is increase division and enmity, then whatever your argument may be, it’s wrong.

Moreover, when a society reaches such levels of intolerance, it is no longer a democracy. Even if you win the election, still, almost half the country opposes everything you do and feels that you, the winner, are imposing your view on the other half against its will. The basis of democracy lies in accepting that the majority leads while considering the views and needs of the minority. When you have no trust, no feeling of mutual consideration, you have no democracy.

What you have instead is tyranny of one half over the other. This is an explosive situation and it is currently the situation in America. Unless Americans overcome the impasse in the near future, a civil war is bound to erupt.

To change the situation in America, Americans first need to understand that they will never convince the other side. No one will agree with anyone—not now, not ever. We have come to such a level of self-absorption that we cannot listen to each other, so persuasion is off the table. Next, Americans must accept that disagreements are not a problem, but a given situation that they must deal with or kill each other until only one is left.

Assuming the American people do not opt for mutual extermination, they must find a way to live together. Indeed, there is such a way. All of reality is built on complementing opposites that live side by side and only their mutual existence creates harmony, balance and life!

Opposites never agree. If they did, the agreement would cancel them and they would cease to exist. In fact, the existence of one enables the existence of the other. Would there be day without night, birth without death, spring without fall or heads without tails? There wouldn’t be anything; the universe would not exist.

Only once you realize that you need both sides you can begin to resolve anything. In fact, when you unite above the dispute, you discover that the dispute no longer exists, that its only purpose was to impel you to unite against your will. This is true of personal relationships as it is true of international relationships. It may be hard to fathom right now, but if America unites its ranks, none of the foreign policy issues it is dealing with right now would remain.

When you go hand in hand with reality, reality goes hand in hand with you. When you go against reality and try to impose your view on half the nation that does not agree with you or accepts your leadership, you will fail in home affairs as well as in international affairs. The only thing that’s required in today’s divided world is unity. Those who miss it will stay behind and fall, either through war or through social disassembly. Those who grasp it will lead the world into the future.
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The Times of Israel published my new article “It’s a Draw! Hash It Out!”

Whether Trump or Biden end up in the White House, neither will be the president of the United States. He will be the president of only the Americans who elected him. A president who is one hundred percent accepted by half the country, and one hundred percent rejected by the other half, cannot be regarded as POTUS. It leaves the American people with two options: hash it out or fight it out. I hope they choose the former.

America is a highly developed country, especially when it comes to politics. As with any developed nation, its people are very opinionated. And the more opinionated they become, the harder it is for them to budge from their opinions. They become less tolerant and more arrogant, less attentive and more assertive, until finally, the whole country explodes in riots, violence, and civil war ensues.

This is the natural way, and countries should watch carefully what is happening in America because it will also happen to them. It’s the natural evolution of human nature.

Despite the morose prognosis, humans have more than human nature going for them; they’ve got intellect. When a situation becomes an evident impasse, look for a bypass. There is no reason things should end in violence if we already see that this is where we’re going; we can reroute.

There is a lot of truth in Albert Einstein’s famous adage, “The problems we are dealing with cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.” But there is more to it than that; we, that is our nature, created them so as to rise to a higher level.

Consider this: If everything had been alright while we were living in caves, would we ever have come out of them? If everything we did then succeeded, would we ever develop new tactics or tools to improve our lives and make them easier? Life keeps posing problems now as it always has, and always for the same purpose—to drive us forward, impel us to evolve. And today, evolution centers mainly on society.

Indeed, our society is lame. Human relations everywhere are plagued with suspicion, animosity, alienation, and hatred. Do we like feeling this way toward each other? If we did, we wouldn’t see the rates of depression, substance abuse, violence, homicide and suicide that we are seeing. We have become a society of sad, depressed, scared, and mainly hopeless people, and it’s all because there is a demon inside of us that makes us hate each other.

But it’s not a demon; it is human nature, the same engine that has developed us throughout the ages. Previously, it made us feel uncomfortable physically so we would develop easier and ways to live. Now it makes us feel uncomfortable emotionally so we will develop easier ways to live with one another.

This is why the Left and Right will never agree. Republicans will always think that Democrats are dead wrong, and Democrats will think the same about Republicans. But without the tension, there will be no impetus for growth, no realization that we must somehow establish unity or we will kill each other.

There is a funny thing about unsolvable conflicts. When you finally manage to reconcile, you often feel closer than before the conflict broke out. Moreover, you often realize that the problem doesn’t exist anymore even though you never touched it, but only focused on connecting with the other party. If it ever happened to you that you fought with your partner and after you made up you couldn’t remember what you fought about, then you know what I mean.

But it isn’t only on the personal level. The same idea is true for social, national, and international conflicts. When you work on unity, the problems aren’t solved, they disappear since they were only there as catalysts for connection.

America has been the leader of the free world since pretty much the end of World War II. Now it’s in a crisis that can send it soaring or sink it down. If Americans want, they can be the trailblazers they have always been and lead the whole world to a new era, where problems are promoters of connection, and conflicts are opportunities for deep concord. It’s been a political draw in America since 2016; it’s time to hash it out and rise together to a new level of solidarity and cohesion, and pave the trail away from friction and toward real and lasting peace.
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Medium published my new article “In the Jungle of American Politics, Donkeys and Elephants Must Coexist”

At the time of the writing of this article, there is still no clear winner of the presidential election. But even at the time the final results are officially declared, still there will be no winner unless his aim is to unify the nation. Why? Because when the country is split into two pieces, one side overpowers, annuls, disqualifies, and overshadows the other. This cannot be called a real democracy, a concept that by definition must include and embrace the plurality of opinions.

So, as the situation looks now, is it possible to prevent a clash between the two fronts? No, it’s impossible. But America is not the exception. The same is relevant in every country and any society in the world because the distinctly opposite poles in people’s perspectives stem from human nature. Each side wants to prove that it is right and the other is completely wrong, an attitude that destroys any chance of reaching a civilized understanding. It would mean rejecting the basic premise that everything in reality has the right to exist even if it has opposite qualities. Similarly, everyone’s point of view should be considered and valued, even of those whose thoughts or upbringing are radically different from our own.

The best school for understanding politics and any model of human interaction that may actually work for people, for all people, is the jungle. Literally. For instance, who is right in the wild, the wolves or the sheep? Actually, both. Wolves and sheep have always existed side by side in a common space. Never have the wolves eliminated all the sheep at once; they only feed on what is essential for their survival. It is true that if we look at this particular action without considering the whole picture of nature, one eats the other, and therefore the strongest survives. But the principle here is that what we judge as weak or strong is not classified by nature as such, it simply considers every element as essential. This way, nature maintains its balance by making sure that every part within its system is important and serves a purpose.

If that were not the case, evolution would have left alive only powerful species. Yet for thousands and millions of years the weak have been preserved by the laws of nature through ongoing reproduction, sustaining their place in creation.

On the other hand, human history shows us that the strong are not forever kept in an advantageous position. Empires have risen and fallen one after another — the Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the rule of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Turks — because nature evolves according to its general plan depending on what is needed for the overall general benefit at that particular moment in time.

One may ask how could a “middle line,” in which opposite views can converge and harmoniously coexist, possibly be built in such a divisive and hostile reality as in America? How could we possibly establish a society where no one belittles the other and instead everyone finds a place to freely express his views, finding a common ground of mutual respect and consideration?

It is clear that the path we have used to build our societies — based on cruel competition and in disregard for one another — has provided a breeding ground for endless conflicts. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a new mechanism for inclusiveness that would be implemented by the elected leadership while listening to people’s voices and demands, paying careful attention to the grassroot needs regardless of their political preferences, a government that would represent everyone under one shared roof called the United States of America.

The current breakage that is now being revealed in US society is actually a unique opportunity for all to realize that there is no way to survive and thrive unless the country unites. In a perfect world, under the current circumstances of razor-thin margins of the American electorate, the nation shouldn’t have to be led by only one direction. The leading figures of the two political parties should have to gather to find joint decisions on the most pressing issues affecting US society.

But that is wishful thinking. The implementation of this kind of process would require an education based on the integral system of nature in which the balance point is reached precisely through considering opposites — small and large, solid and liquid, cold and hot, negative and positive. When the opposites rise above their disagreements and differences a special common force is revealed which forms the middle line, meaning the common area created to sustain the right functioning of any system in nature, the social system being one of them.

This may now sound like an utopian goal. It is at the moment, but sooner rather than later, both Donkeys and Elephants will realize they are not meant to act according to visceral instinct, devouring each other like other species do to achieve balance. On the contrary, human beings are meant to understand that they will need to get closer, not because they profoundly love each other, but because the alternative is an unbearably explosive situation of constant struggle. Thus, it is in our common interest to overcome our differences to find the joint force to survive and thrive.
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The Times of Israel published my new article “The Lesson Still to Be Learned from Kristallnacht”

Dozens of Jews were murdered, many more were publicly humiliated and sent to concentration camps; homes and businesses were destroyed and more than a thousand synagogues across Germany and Austria were torched—That was the tale of destruction left behind by the Nazis on Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” on November 9, 1938. On the 82nd anniversary of the day, it is crystal clear that history could repeat itself as the shadow of antisemitism and radicalism expands around the world.

A new series of Islamic fundamentalist terrorist attacks have shaken Europe in the last few days. The UK elevated its terror alert level to “severe” after the deadly attacks in France, in Paris and Nice days ago and most recently, in Vienna, Austria where four people were killed and 22 injured in shootings perpetrated in an area near several synagogues. Even if one believes that Jews were not specifically targeted in that attack, the peace and quiet the city offered to the Jewish community is over. In a rare statement, European Jewish leaders called for more “control and transparency” of the mosques across the continent—over what is being preached and where they get financing that could promote incitement to commit such acts of violence.

But radicalization is only one of the threats, albeit not a minor one. Antisemitism is generally on the rise in Europe and has been for a while as record-breaking cases of physical attacks and harassment are reported in major European cities. Anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli sentiments created by extremist groups are nowadays not items of historical reference but a very current reality worldwide.

However, Jews predictably think everything will pass by. They are convinced that letters of condemnation to organizations or to governments will do the job. Wake up! It has not worked so far and never will. We still haven’t learned the lesson from the entire history of persecution toward Jews. The Jewish people resist accepting the fact that they are unwanted in Europe. As terrorism intensifies and social and economic problems worsen, Jews will be held to blame, as always happens. Many will want to conclude what Germany and Austria started more than eight decades ago, claiming “why must they live among us; we really suffer from all these people; we are in trouble and we have no choice but to finish them off.”

Great pressures upon European Jewry and the Jewish communities of the entire world are in store until Jews realize that they are at the epicenter of hatred for a reason. We need to learn that the world does not change, so we must. We must show humanity as a whole how to repair the breakage in the world—this is what is expected of Jews.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that Jews have a special role in the great human puzzle: “Israel’s purpose is to unite the entire world into one family,” writes Rav Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel. The mission of the people of Israel, according to the most renowned Kabbalist of the 20th Century, Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), is to serve as a conduit to transfer the system of positive connection to humanity so that it can recover balance and ease its pains. He wrote, “And when they do that, it is plain to see that with His work, all envy and hatred will be abolished from humanity” (“The Peace”).

However, in order for that to happen first Jews must unite. As long as this role is delayed, suffering on the personal and global scale will continue to intensify as a hard reminder of the role Jews need to fulfill. So let’s not forget that our lives depend on our good connection, as simple as that. As long as we present the impenetrable armor of unity to the world, no enemy will rise against us. Only then will we be able to relegate our painful past to the annals of history and turn over a new leaf to begin writing a sunny present and future.
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The Times of Israel published my new article “Regardless of Election Results, If Israel Unites, It Can Decide Its Own Fate”

Around the world, people are looking closely at the vote count in America. When it comes to the United States, everyone has an interest. In Israel, too, the split society is split between supporting the candidates. But Israel is different from the rest of the world. If Israeli society manages to unite above its internal disagreements and aversions, it will not have to choose which president is better for it; everyone, including current enemies, will want to help Israel.

Instead of looking overseas for satisfaction or dismay, Israelis should look at one another and make peace among themselves. Nothing hurts Israel more than its internal hatred.

There have always been conflicts and disagreement among Jews. It’s the nature of opinionated people to be obstinate. This is not a problem. The problem begins when we think that we must convince our dissenters that we are right and they are wrong. This will never happen; it isn’t meant to happen.

The Jewish people weren’t meant to agree with one another; they were meant to rise above their disagreements. We might think it’s not important to do so, but the inability to transcend hatred and dispute is the world’s number one problem. Today, everyone is becoming increasingly opinionated and intolerant to other views. Because everyone thinks they are right, we begin to hate each other and want to cancel one another. Unless we find a way to maintain social cohesion, the tension will increase until it snaps and chaos will take over.

The ancient Hebrews were the only ones who found such a way. They discovered that disagreements enrich them, hone their thinking and polish their ideas, as long as they increase their love for one another more than the distance that the disagreements create. In fact, they learned that the purpose of the arguments, and their real benefit, was not the polishing of views, but the increase of love and unity. The disagreements were merely the impetus that drove the Israeli people to deepen their cohesion and strengthen their bonds. This is why The Book of Zohar (BeShalach) stated, “All the wars in the Torah are peace and love.”

Without disagreements, we would become indifferent to each other. The disputes cause us to pay attention to each other and the anger makes us feel uncomfortable. If we succumb to our anger, we end up in hate. But if we strive to love each other just as siblings love each other even when they disagree, then the love between us increases after each dispute, since the intensity of the dispute forces us to match it with love in order not to disintegrate society.

Currently, Israel is sharply divided. This is exactly the point where we must increase our love for one another in order to match it with our mutual dislike. If we do not do so, we will end up in civil war and the country will disintegrate. But if we increase our unity and care for one another above the level of hatred that reveals itself each time, the whole world will see that this is possible and will want to learn from our example. The ability to rise above disputes is the trait that everyone needs and no one has. If we show how we can do this, everyone will be thankful, including our enemies. This is why Israel is the only country whose fate depends solely on its people, and not on external forces.
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