The Times of Israel published my new article “If Israel Were America”

For months, I have been watching with growing trepidation the cavalier nonchalance of Israelis toward COVID-19. Now, I am afraid, it’s too late to undo the damage. In the past week, the average death toll was 31 people, and the rate is quickly rising since many hospitals have passed max capacity and medical personnel are worn out. Proportionally, 31 deaths are equivalent to a daily death rate of 1130 people in the US. And it’s rising quickly. And as far as new cases go, no one even comes close to Israel. On September 3rd, the number of new confirmed cases was 2,990 on that day alone. A week later, on the 10th, the daily tally was 4,400. Six days later, on the 16th, 6,600 tests came back positive, and a week later, on the 23rd, no less than 11,300 people tested positive for the coronavirus on that one day. If Israel were America, this rate would mean 419,000 new confirmed cases in a single day!

And all the while, entire sections of the nation are defiantly ignoring the government’s lockdown orders. They’re saying that they will not comply until other sectors comply. They protest against the government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, but they refuse to wear masks or keep social distancing. In the first wave of the pandemic, we stood shoulder to shoulder and nearly eliminated the virus. In the second wave, we have become an exemplar of a country paralyzed by internal bickering.

In the battle against the virus, it seems as though we have made every possible error. But when we can’t even agree to try one course of action, and if it fails try another, we are left with no course of action whatsoever, and the horrific results are now beginning to show. Before long, the proportional death toll in Israel will outpace that of every country by a huge margin. Because the world always examines Israel with a close-up lens, we will become a proof that disunity wreaks destruction.

The closure that has been declared now will likely yield poor results not because it’s a bad idea, but because we’re not united and we’re not obeying it. We’re still doing whatever we want despite government orders and police attempts to enforce them. The result will be that people will be dropping on the streets of Israel, literally.

The coronavirus could have been an opportunity to serve as a positive role model. When the world is in darkness, fear, and division, we could be an example of unity. We could show how we rise above our differences and (deep) dislikes, and unite in order to defeat an otherwise undefeatable enemy. But we are failing left and right, thinking only of ourselves and seeing only our own interests.

We just celebrated Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when we are meant to atone for our sins. But Yom Kippur does not atone for sins against our fellow persons, and even during that holiest of days to the Jews, we committed countless sins against our neighbors by not obeying the simple rules that could cut the infection chains.

The current level of internal hatred and division in Israeli society has become an existential risk. We are weakening our ranks and our ability to withstand aggression. Moreover, we are on the brink of erupting with internal acts of violence and aggression.

More than once we were consumed by civil wars before. In the last one, we lost our sovereignty and it took us nearly two millennia to regain it. Now we see that the ills that caused our destruction then are still just as active, and threaten to bring doom on us once more if we don’t get a grip on our raging egos.

We cannot, and will not convince one another. We must only remember that being Israel means sticking to our unity despite our differences, above them. Besides the fact that by doing so, we will set an example that others will want to follow, accomplishing this will save our nation from another civil war and another exile.

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The Times of Israel published my new article “Decoding the Book of Jonah the Prophet for Salvation”

The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, is considered the most solemn on the Jewish calendar, but do we know why? The answer lies in the Book of Jonah the Prophet. Its reading as a key part of the prayer on this special day is intended to unravel the code for saving humanity, and by doing that, saving ourselves—the Jewish people.

Jonah’s story speaks of a prophet who first tried to dodge his mission, but finally repented. His mission was to save the city of Nineveh, whose residents were not Jewish. In light of today’s precarious state of the world, we should take a closer look at this story and its meaning to every person on Earth, in particular to us, Jews, and our role toward all of humanity.

In the story, God orders Jonah to tell the people of Nineveh, who became very mean to one another, to correct their relationships if they wanted to survive. However, Jonah bailed out of his role and took to the sea by ship in an effort to escape God’s command, causing the sea to roar and nearly sank the vessel. At the height of the storm Jonah went to sleep detaching himself from the turmoil and leaving the sailors to fend for themselves. Gradually, they began to suspect that someone among them was the cause of the storm and the lot fell on Jonah, the only Jew on board.

Today’s world is similar to Jonah’s ship. Yet, the sea around us is raging, and the sailors, who are all of humanity, are blaming the Jew on board for all their troubles. As it is written, “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel” (Yevamot 63,) and as Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) writes, “they cause poverty, ruin, robbery, killing and destruction in the whole world” (Introduction to The Book of Zohar).

A Light unto the Nations

We can be wiser than Jonah and avoid the blows to activate us and willingly unite to neutralize all our predicaments. In the book, Jonah tells the sailors to throw him overboard, as only this will calm the sea. Reluctantly, the sailors obey and the storm calms. A whale swallows Jonah, and for three days and three nights he stays in its abdomen, introspecting his actions and decisions. He begs for his life and vows to carry out his mission.

Like Jonah, each of us carries within something that is stirring up the world. We, the people of Israel, carry a method for achieving peace through connection. Unity is the very root of our being. It is what makes us a people because we were declared a nation only after we pledged to be “as one man with one heart,” when we stood before Mt. Sinai and strove to love our neighbor as ourselves.” Today we must rekindle this bond because wherever we go, this untapped power is destabilizing the world around us in order to compel us to unite and open up the pipe of goodness and tranquility.

Just as the current separation among us projects separation to the whole of humanity, unity between us will also radiate the rest of the nations, inspiring them to unite. It will endow humanity with the force required to achieve worldwide connection. That is the meaning of being “light unto the nations.” So the only question is whether we assume our responsibility, or prefer to be thrown overboard, only to subsequently agree to carry out our task.

If we want to end our troubles, be rid of antisemitism and have a safe and happy life, we must unite and thus set an example of unity for all the nations. This is how we will bring peace and quiet to the world. Otherwise the nations’ hatred toward us will keep growing. Therefore, the people of Israel must become a role model to the world. Rav Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, explained it in his book, Orot Kodesh (Sacred Lights), “Since we were ruined by unfounded hatred, and the world was ruined with us, we will be rebuilt by unfounded love, and the world will be rebuilt with us.”
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Medium published my new article “United Nations? No, United Peoples”

It’s a new world. A global pandemic has highlighted the weaknesses of all the systems created by humanity. Enormous health and economic challenges, deep social problems, and polarized societies are the order of the day internationally. Is it possible that an aging United Nations holds the solutions to these ills? As the organization celebrates its 75th anniversary, it is clear that what it has failed to accomplish until now cannot be expected to suddenly materialize. Humanity needs to realize that solutions for the current crises will not come from any geopolitical body but only from the individual correction of our human relationships from egoistic to altruistic.

The call to action for the UN should be bringing people together through a comprehensive education program for social connection as a condition for societies where everyone is closer to each other. At the end of the day, it is the unity of the peoples that make the nations truly united.

“In an interconnected world, it is high time to recognize a simple truth: solidarity is self-interest. If we fail to grasp that fact, everyone loses,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres during the General Assembly celebrating virtually for the first time in history, as COVID-19 shows who really runs the show going on in the world and who establishes its conditions.

And if the impact of the most engulfing pandemic we have ever experienced were not distressful enough to so many people, we have other crises waiting in the wings of our overwhelming international scenario — growing geopolitical tensions, rampant poverty, hunger, poor and outdated education systems, hatred, bigotry and antisemitism.

It is revealed in our daily lives in an unprecedented fashion how globally interdependent we are. A basic tenet of interdependence is that if any piece fails, the entire mechanism comes to a halt or barely limps along. Thus, we have come to realize how our smooth connection is indispensable in order to enable individuals and nations to thrive. On the contrary, if we fail to reach a profound shift to positive mutual relationships between all of us, then we can expect to experience increasing pressures and crises in a steady downfall as it has been the case throughout the years.

After 75 years of the existence of the UN, not many achievements can be attributed to the organization. From the eyes of an ordinary citizen in a remote country, one may ask, “What has this organization done for me?” Instead of global cooperation in the face of threatening challenges, we instead witness a club of government representatives throwing accusations at each other, emissaries of senior world leaders taking pot shots at the opposition and flamboyant expenses.

I have previously met with senior representatives of the UN and UNESCO so I understand they operate according to a predetermined policy. Therefore, I know better than to expect UN politics to suddenly behave differently tomorrow morning. In our current situation they have no chance of success. They get clear ideological lines from their respective heads of state and behave according to script without deviating right or left. It is clear that they are distinctly politicians and nothing more.

Nevertheless, a call for the abolition of the UN is not an alternative. It is still an important diplomatic space to meet and talk instead of engaging in wars and struggles. For the UN to function beneficially for humanity, however, would require turning it from end to end to set a higher goal, streamline the organization, and improve and upgrade it. The face of the UN is the face of the international community which depicts the face and state of every country and person in the world. And since every person is selfish by nature, his tendency is to care for himself only. In other words, we cannot expect anything more than the same from an organization that resembles and reflects the state of the world.

The next step that humanity longs for from a global organization is to act as an arena and platform for unity instead of division. Instead of glossing over and blurring the crises facing humanity with beautiful sounding words, it is my hope that the UN will join hands with other international organizations to put the interests and good of all the world’s citizens at the center of attention. The call to action for the UN should be bringing people together through a comprehensive education program for social connection as a condition for societies where everyone is closer to each other. At the end of the day, it is the unity of the peoples that make the nations truly united.
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My new article on Linkedin “How We “Earned” Being Covid’s Prime Target”

What timing! In the first wave of Covid-19, we spent Passover in lockdown and didn’t get to celebrate it with our extended families, the way Jewish families have been doing for centuries. I warned then that unless we learn the lesson that the virus is trying to teach us, we will suffer from an even worse outbreak.

We didn’t learn a thing. The whole world looked at us in Israel in awe as we nearly eliminated the virus, eased the lockdown, and went back to normal life. But “normal” life was the reason that got us Covid in the first place, so it returned with a vengeance. Now, once again the world stares at us, but for the opposite reason. We have become a role model of incompetence, with more infections per capita than any other nation—from the zenith to the nadir in a matter of months.

These days, the days of the High Holidays, the second period of the year when Jewish families come together, we are going into full lockdown once again. Nature has turned our hubris against us and made Israel the world’s laughing stock.

To understand how we “earned” nature’s admonition, we need to understand who are the people of Israel, where we come from, and what is our role. Maimonides, Midrash Rabbah, and many other sources tell us that during the time of Abraham the Patriarch, Abraham would observe his countryfolk building the Tower of Babylon, where he had lived. He noticed that the builders were growing increasingly alienated from each other, which prompted him to search for an explanation. The book Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter 24) writes that the Babylonians “wanted to speak to one another but did not know each other’s language. What did they do? Each took up his sword, and they fought each other to death. Indeed, half the world was slaughtered there, and from there they scattered all over the world.”

The hatred among Abraham’s people troubled him. He reflected on the plight of his people and realized that the intensification of the ego was the cause of their hatred. To overcome it, he called on his people to increase their cohesion to match the growth of the ego. In Mishneh Torah (Chapter 1), Maimonides describes this as Abraham beginning “to provide answers to the people of Ur of the Chaldeans,” explaining why their society was disintegrating and what they could do about it.

However, Abraham’s answers did not please everyone in Babylon. The Midrash (Beresheet Rabbah) tells us that Nimrod, king of Babylon, tried to persuade Abraham that he was wrong. When the king failed, he expelled Abraham from Babylon.

But as the exiled Abraham wandered toward Canaan, people “gathered around him and asked him about his words,” writes Maimonides. “He taught everyone … until thousands and tens of thousands assembled around him, and they are the people of the house of Abraham. He planted this tenet in their hearts, composed books about it, and taught his son, Isaac. And Isaac sat and taught and warned, and informed Jacob, and appointed him a teacher, to sit and teach… And Jacob our Father taught all his sons.” That was the beginning of the people of Israel, but it still does not explain our role in the world.

A few centuries after Abraham, Moses wanted to do the same as his predecessor. He aspired to unite the people of Israel, and faced Pharaoh’s fierce resistance. Like Abraham before him, Moses fled with his people, except this time there were millions of them. Under Moses, the Hebrew tribes united and became a nation, but only after they committed to be “as one man with one heart.”

Moreover, immediately after they united and became a nation, the people of Israel were tasked with passing the method of unity to the entire world in order to complete what Abraham intended to achieve when he first began to speak of unity above hatred. “Moses wished to complete the correction of the world at that time. … However, he did not succeed because of the corruptions that occurred along the way,” wrote Ramchal in his commentary on the Torah. But once Israel achieved unity, they were tasked with passing it on, or as the Torah put it, with being “a light unto nations.”

We often like to think that our responsibility to the world is a thing of the past. It is not. Both antisemites blame us for their troubles, and our sages blame us for the troubles that the nations make for us. Our role, to bring the light of unity to the world, is as valid now as it’s always been. The book Sefat Emet writes that “The children of Israel became guarantors to correct the entire world … everything depends on the children of Israel,” and many other books by our sages write similarly.

If we look at what is happening in Israel today, it is easy to see that we desperately need mutual guarantee, the unity that had made us into a nation. Without it, we are not a nation, we are not “a light unto nations,” and both we and the world suffer.

This abandonment of the mutual guarantee among us “earned us” Covid’s admonition. It is so easy to see that had we all cared for one another just a little bit, we would have taken the minimum precautions not to infect one another and the plague would stop. And just as we were a great example in the first wave and nearly curbed the virus, we are the worst example in the second wave, the “darkness unto nations.”

This coming Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), we needn’t regret our sins so we can start the new year with a clean slate, ready to sin again. We need to recognize what is the only sin that we are committing, and commit to stop it. And that only sin is our lack of mutual guarantee, our unfounded hatred of each other, our alienation and cruelty toward our brethren. If we commit to trying to stop it, to reverse our attitude from negative to positive, the next year will be Covid free. We will defeat it through our unity, and suffer if we stay apart.

And as we are now a bad example, when we unite, we will become once more “a light unto nations,” and truly win the world’s approval.

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The Times of Israel published my new article “A Yom Kippur Prayer that Will Be Heard”

Regarding good and evil—“No matter how we behave or where we are, we will get away with anything in the end because God is good and benevolent to our people.” That is the usual Jewish calculation for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. To put it plainly and simply: Think twice, because this is pure nonsense. Our “special treatment” can actually be summarized as constant blows steadily pushing us toward deep soul-searching about our self-centered and harmful behavior toward others. The very admission of our uncorrected state, however, is a great step toward the true prayer we need, one that will bring forgiveness and redemption.

But what is a true prayer? It is an internal process of self-scrutiny that brings one to the understanding that I have a problem, that I cannot seek any justification for how I am or my egoistic desires and actions for self-benefit at the expense of others. This is the nature each of us was created with and inherited from birth, so in order to rise above it and desire to be truly considerate of others, we need to cry out to the Creator for help, for correction.

This year, the coronavirus pandemic presents a special opportunity for such an entreaty. Our dire straits situation works as a help against us by adding urgency to our appeal. The congregational restrictions need not interfere with the essence or efficacy of our prayer. Physical connection has nothing to do with what happens in the heart, the spiritual place where prayer takes place. Instead of standing as an obstacle to our connection, physical separation will reveal the true distance between us, the great gaps and separation between our hearts.

Through the unpleasant troubles of our times, we may finally discover what it is that we should be asking for. If we reach such a discernment, this current crisis will be an invaluable help to us. As it is written,

“There is no happier moment in a person’s life than when he discovers how absolutely powerless he is and loses faith in his own strength since he exerted all possible efforts that he was able to, but reached nothing. This is because precisely at this moment, during this state, he is ready for a complete and clear prayer to the Creator.”
– Kabbalist Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Pri Hacham: Igrot Kodesh.

We must pray to heal the wounds we inflict on each other in our daily lives, when we treat everyone and everything around us with disregard and lack of consideration, pursuing only our personal goals against the common good.

Thus, the real sin is the fact that I do not want to know what my sin is, how I harm others. Just that. Because if I had known, then it would have been clear to me that I should have turned to the Creator asking for correction. In our current state of unawareness, we are unable to discover in our actions the real situation we face. We do not think that our qualities and actions are really that bad.

My sin is that I do not reveal my true evil, do not attribute it to myself, and refuse to think that I need to change. I do not ask to be able to love others, help everyone, and sacrifice myself even a little for the sake of humanity. I never even think about it. So the realization that we must come to in the first place is that this is our sin, and this should be the place of real remorse in our hearts.

In our globalized world, it becomes clearer every day that humanity is increasingly connected and interdependent. Everything in reality is so intricately intertwined that even if I do not actively cause harm to anyone, it does not mean that I have caused no evil. I simply did not do good to them, therefore, by that omission I caused harm. Our inaction is also our transgression. So, instead of trying to fix the world, we first need to fix ourselves and learn how to be an example to others.

Particularly on this Yom Kippur, while facing a powerful plague of nature in the form of the coronavirus, we can come to terms with the realization that the situation gives each of us an opportunity for profound introspection. We can realize that a real prayer is not a mechanical reading of verses but a deep scrutiny of ourselves that moves us closer to an honest request for unity as our ultimate goal.

May we all achieve true connection of our hearts and be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for a good year!

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Medium published my new article “Undesirable Dependence”

Suddenly, we can’t escape our dependence on others. We don’t want to be dependent on others, but if they are not careful, they could infect me, and if I am not careful, I could infect them.

How can I protect myself from them? What if they are irresponsible? But I, too, am often irresponsible, so can I trust others to be responsible? Do I even have the right to expect this of them?

So Covid emerged with a message in its spikes: Be nice to one another. With debilitating force, it restored Earth’s systemic balance. It sent us home and kept us there so nature could recover. And once it did, the virus let us out but told us not to misbehave again.

Covid-19 has forced us to recognize and address our interdependence. We didn’t want to; we wanted to keep living a carefree life as though we could go on doing whatever we want without accountability for our actions. But nature threw us a curveball. Out of nowhere, it tossed a virus in our faces and forced us to rethink everything we’ve known about ourselves, society, and the world we live in.

Until it tossed Covid at us, we exploited and manipulated everyone and everything, and everyone else did the same. The winner of the cheating game was the one who exploited and deceived the most and got away with it. We created a society of miserable people, high on prescription drugs, hopelessly insecure, and dragging themselves through aimless and pain-filled lives. And toward nature — the soil, plants, and animals — we showed no mercy.

So Covid emerged with a message in its spikes: Be nice to one another. With debilitating force, it restored Earth’s systemic balance. It sent us home and kept us there so nature could recover. And once it did, the virus let us out but told us not to misbehave again.

We wouldn’t listen so now it’s back, stronger than before. It is not a punishment; it is more of a rein that nature uses to direct us where it wants. Today, it wants us to walk toward mutual responsibility. It has already made us mutually responsible for one another on the physical level, through our responsibility for each other’s health. Now it wants us to be responsible for one another on the emotional, spiritual level, so we will feel each other’s needs and won’t need the physical restrictions it is currently imposing on us.

The coronavirus is teaching us to think about each other positively rather than negatively, to tend to each other’s health even if we do not want to, since my health depends on everybody else’s. But the virus is aspiring for more. If we think about each other of our own volition, the virus won’t have to force us. And this is its goal: to make us think of one another, care for another, and build a united humanity, like nature itself.

When we become like nature, we will understand why it sent us the virus. We will see the wholeness of the system that has engendered us and everything around us. We will understand the cycles of life, and the reason for living, and we will form a unified human society whose people understand why they are here and enjoy every moment of their lives.

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Medium published my new article “For the World Economic Forum to Realize “The Great Reset,” They Must Reset the Ego”

This week, the World Economic Forum is convening with a lofty goal in mind. In its statement, it declares: “There is an urgent need for global stakeholders to cooperate in simultaneously managing the direct consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. To improve the state of the world, the World Economic Forum is starting The Great Reset initiative.” The forum wants this initiative to “offer insights to help inform all those determining the future state of global relations, the direction of national economies, the priorities of societies, the nature of business models and the management of a global commons.”

The initiative will fail. Since the members of the forum have no idea what causes the virus, they will not be able to curb its spreading or make decisions about the future that will be good for all of humanity.

The ego is the driving force behind every plight that’s afflicting the world, and there are numerous right now. As a result, it will not help to tackle this or that problem. Cut out the root cause and you have dried out the vital force behind all the plagues. Keep the ego burning, and you will bring on yourself more blows, and more painful than today’s.

The World Economic Forum has no clue how to curb the ego, or even that the ego is the cause of Covid-19. We needn’t do a reset for the world; there is nothing wrong with it. We need to do a reset for ourselves, since everything that’s wrong with the world is coming from within us.

First and foremost, we need to teach ourselves to see the benefits we can derive from other people’s success. We need to revolutionize everything, from social media to politics, to entertainment, to schooling. The values we promote through every platform must condone solidarity and show how we enrich each other precisely through our differences. We must show that just as nature thrives only because of its diversity, so we can thrive only if we keep our societies diverse and dynamic. And for this, we must put aside our egos and look at each other from a supporting angle rather than a demoralizing one.

The ego is literally killing us. We must not only reset it, but install a correcting code that will neutralize its destructive operations. If we don’t hurry, it will eliminate us in the most literal sense of the word.
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My article in Newsmax: “Moving Out Over Virus, Never to Return”

All over the world, people are moving out from the coronavirus-struck city centers into the suburbs and beyond, to the country or even to different countries. Within a few months from the outbreak of the pandemic, people have gotten used to working from home, making the necessity to live close to the office redundant. As a result, thousands of apartments in the once high-end neighborhoods in big cities around the world are standing vacant.

The shift is more than temporary. People will have no reason to return, other than for possible recreational activities, but even these will probably die out in the big cities. The shift we are witnessing the world over is nothing short of a transformation of human civilization.

It is not just work, but everything is becoming virtual. Banks and financial services, government offices, software and high-tech companies, and most other products and services are moving to the online arena. And where physical presence is required, drone deliveries will replace much of today’s necessary rides.

But people will not be happier. On the contrary, the ill-feelings spreading across America and around the world will only spread further and deeper into people’s hearts. COVID-19 has exposed our mistreatment of each other, our disregard, callousness, and venom that we harbor toward anyone we disagree with. Those who will hide in their country homes will stay there for fear of the violence in cities and on the roads, and will feel very isolated and alone. Those who will stay in the cities will be afraid to step out of their homes even to get groceries.

In that situation, people will have no choice but to start looking for real answers to their problems. When they do, they will realize that those who have been telling them that their misery is caused by the president (whomever he may be in two months), or a certain party, or a particular policy, or some injustice, may have been correct, but missed the root cause. And without finding the root, cutting off the shoots does nothing to ease the pain.

As people examine their situation, they will realize that there is one common root to all their plights: broken human relations. They will see that our troubles all stem from our shattered relations with each other. We have turned our society into a battlefield of clashing sects divided by race, affluence, religion, political affiliation and generally anything that can set people apart and pit them against each other.

Our misery does not stem from a certain leader, party or any other authority. It stems from the fact that I don’t like and I can’t trust my neighbor. In many cases, we feel estranged even from our own families. When this is the situation, it makes no difference who is in power; we will always feel miserable. Conversely, if we have a great, tight-knit family, and great neighbors that we like and can trust, we won’t really mind who is in power and what they do; we will feel safe and happy in our communities and families.

When people protest against injustices, they vent their frustration and anger. Their causes might often be noble and worthy, but the anger they express in their protests does not stem from their indignation at the injustice inflicted by the authorities; it mainly expresses their disconnection from society. Otherwise, they would not be able to torch other people’s businesses and homes, shattering their livelihoods and beating them up to protest injustice.

The social breakdown is happening all over the western world and beyond. In America, however, it is the most conspicuous, for now. If America can cope with it, so will other countries. If America doesn’t, others will have a much harder time succeeding.

The emptying cities of America are a red alert, a call to establish solidarity, care, and mutual responsibility in society. There will always be different opinions in society because the nature of human beings is to have their own opinions. The question is not how we make everyone see that we are right, but how to make everyone feel like one family again, or at least, like one neighborhood, where a good neighborhood is good for everyone!
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The Times of Israel published my new article “The lesson that ignorance about the Holocaust should teach Us”

A survey that was recently quoted in USA Today found that almost “two-thirds of millennials, Gen Z, don’t know that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.” Worse yet, the survey found that “in New York … nearly 20% of millennials and Gen Zers incorrectly believe that Jews caused the Holocaust.”

It doesn’t matter what story we tell the world. Even if the facts are right, and in this case they are, the world evidently doesn’t listen. If organizations that profess to exist in order to commemorate the Holocaust are doing so poorly, then why do they exist at all?

The most telling data that I find in this survey is that in New York, nearly 20% believe that Jews themselves caused the Holocaust. It is an indication that education about Jews in the most “Jewish” city in America is totally off the mark.

We must tell the truth. If we hide the truth about Judaism, it will only intensify antisemitism, Jews will be blamed for the wrong things, and the end will be the same as in Germany.

And the truth is simple: Jews are different from all other nations. They have a huge moral debt to the world. They owe the world to be an example of uniting above hatred. Jews hate each other more than they hate their enemies. In fact, the majority of Jews don’t hate their enemies, but they sure hate one another.

But there is a good reason for it: Jews hate each other because their task is to be role models, an example of unity above hatred. This is the meaning of being “a light unto nations.” At the foot of Mt. Sinai, we inaugurated our nationhood when we vowed to unite “as one man with one heart.” Immediately after, we were told to shine the light of that unity to the nations. And in the final moments of our unity, when the Temple was already ruined, Rabbi Akiva bequeathed us with the ultimate motto of altruism, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This should have been our legacy. But look where we are now.

Once we became a nation, we immediately started facing disputes. The more we united, the more the hatred grew. But that was the whole idea, or as The Book of Zohar (BeShalach) describes it, “All the wars in the Torah are peace and love.”

Finally, King Solomon formulated the way that Israel must work with hatred: “Hate will stir strife, and love will cover all crimes” (Prov. 10:12). But it wasn’t for our own benefit, but for the benefit of the world. The Book of Zohar articulated the impact of Israel’s efforts to connect on the world. In the portion Aharei Mot, The Zohar writes, “‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to also sit together.’ These are the friends as they sit together, and are not separated from one another. At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another … then they return to being in brotherly love. …And … as you were in fondness and love before, henceforth you will also not part from one another … and by your merit, there will be peace in the world.”

If we focus our efforts only on remembering the past, the future will bring us many more catastrophes to commemorate. People don’t care what happened to us. They are already saying “Hitler was right,” and “We will finish Hitler’s work.” And these are people who do know what happened there.

We should remember the past only in order to know what we must do in the present: to unite and be a role model of unity to the world. Our overt hatred for each other is the reason why antisemites blame us for causing wars. They have a gut feeling that it’s our fault, and even though they cannot rationalize it, they are basically correct because if we aren’t showing the way to unity, the world has no one else to pave the way to peace, so it blames the wars on us.

Here, for example, is a quote from a book written by one of the most notorious antisemites in Russia, certainly in his time. Vasily Shulgin was a senior member of the Duma, the Russian Parliament, before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. In his book What We Don’t Like about Them, Shulgin analyzes his perception of the Jews and what he thinks they are doing wrong. He complains that “Jews in the 20th century have become very smart, effective, and vigorous at exploiting other people’s ideas.” But all of a sudden, he takes a sharp turn from the trite canard and declares, “[But] this is not an occupation for teachers and prophets, not the role of guides of the blind, not the role of carriers of the lame.”

The only way we can be teachers is by example, and the only example we can give is unity. As long as we hate one another, the world will hate us. If we rise above it, it will lift us on its shoulders. If we don’t, it will extinguish us.
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My new article on San Diego Jewish World “Covid19, Jewish divisions: somber prospects for 5781”

PETACH TIKVAH, Israel — We are about to celebrate the Jewish New Year, a Rosh Hashanah like no other. Synagogues across America and the world are adjusting their services to the Covid-19 restrictions limiting physical gatherings. Besides the loss of lives, individual members and entire congregations have been deeply affected by the pandemic’s economic blows, wreaking havoc in rippling waves, which have fueled anti-Semites to blame Jews for the creation and spread of the virus. A somber future looks like the most realistic scenario, but this can definitely be changed if only we will see our fate as a single, seamlessly-shared project.

The opposite is happening now. Within American Jewry, division, self-hatred, and bickering signal an internal fragmentation which puts in jeopardy the continuity of a vibrant Jewish life now and for generations to come. In Israel, politics, who is considered Jewish, these topics and more are igniting burning clashes within our community.

Interestingly, Covid-19 arrived without paying attention to who is religious and who is secular, left-wing or right-wing. Meanwhile, we fail to look at the big picture which is the threatening crisis caused by a virus that disregards no one. Covid-19 appeared and halted regular life with the clear purpose of making us reflect on ourselves and our egoistic perspectives toward others and our surroundings.

How can we grasp a global view when we are so busy with quarrels and fights? Sadly, we enter the holiday season with blinders on, preoccupied with getting back to the routine and to our usual power struggles, caring only about our personal interests.

It’s high time for us to stop in our tracks and take a firm hold on the new year as a unique opportunity for introspection and change. Rosh Hashanah, from the Hebrew “Rosh Hashinui,” marks not only the beginning of the Hebrew calendar, but also symbolizes renewal—a time for inner evaluation of our thoughts toward others and the intention behind our actions.

We are currently ruled by our intellect that immediately makes calculations about how to best pursue egoistic relationships for self-benefit, stirring up separation and conflict. The time has come to be inspired by a higher, more comprehensive and steady mindset, one that will help us to open our eyes and recognize our exhausting and fruitless struggles in life and choose change instead.

How is such a meaningful transformation possible? Through the power of nature—a force that works consistently to unite all the details of reality, that embraces and connects us all as one, that transcends our limited and selfish views—profound change is assured.

Our problem is that we are currently in a state opposite to nature where everything works in balance. Due to our lack of integration with the larger system in which we live through our broken relations with each other, nature will continue amplifying the impact of the pandemic until we react and unite.
Our lives are already ruled by closures, restrictions, uncertainty, and every successive blow will be even more painful than the last until we make efforts to improve the connection in our human relations.

However, there is no need to wait for the situation to get worse. Things can get better if we will begin to ask what the root cause of the coronavirus is, learn from life what is essential for us to exist, and approach one another in a healthy and considerate way. Like the round and connected natural world around us, nature is trying to teach us to live in harmony and peace out of a desire to do good to others, implementing the ultimate Jewish tenet, “love thy neighbor as yourself” and transforming our hearts.

We awaken the force that propels a positive change when we take a step toward connection, when we get closer and reduce the huge gaps between us. We may do it either against our own will or proactively with open hearts. We do not even need to erase the negative feelings and disagreements between us, but only to rise above them in the spirit of, “love will cover all crimes.” (Proverbs 10:12)

In a nutshell, the power of love we activate through the connection of our hearts, above everything tearing us apart, is precisely what will sweeten our fate as Jewish people and as individuals, keeping us strong and healthy. Happy Rosh Hashanah!

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