Medium published my new article “Nineteen Years and Very Little Learning”

On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, America suffered the worst blow to its pride since Pearl Harbor. On that fateful day, nineteen years ago, nineteen terrorists hijacked four passenger airliners. They crashed two airplanes into the Twin Towers in NYC and destroyed the World Trade Center, roared a third airliner into the Pentagon (headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense) and set its western wing on fire, and flew the fourth airliner toward Washington D.C. In that last plane, the heroism of passengers, who fought against the terrorists, prevented an even greater disaster as they caused the plane to crash into a field in Stonycreek, Pennsylvania. Three thousand lives were lost, 25,000 people were injured, and countless more suffered and still suffer from substantial health consequences in what became the single deadliest terrorist attack in human history.

America missed a chance to change its future for the better because it did not see that its heydays were behind it, that they crumbled together with the collapse of the Soviet bloc, which kept America on its toes. Now, smug and complacent, it was decaying and declining, but it could not see it yet. Today it can, but I am not sure it’s not too late.

It left not only America, but the whole world in shock. No one perceived America as vulnerable, certainly not on its own territory, and in its most sensitive and essential spots. Anyone who was old enough to understand a news bulletin will never forget where they were when they learned what had happened.

To many people, the collapse of the towers meant much more than the grief over lost and ruined lives. It implied that the 21st century was going to be very different from its predecessor and that it did not bode well for America.

The US did everything it could to prevent another 9/11 (nine eleven), as that day became known. It tightened airport and airplane security, and launched a massive manhunt in Afghanistan, where Osama Bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda, the organization that carried out the attacks, was hiding. In 2011, after nearly a decade of frantic searching, Bin Laden was found and killed.

The security measures did help, and a second 9/11 did not occur, and not because terrorists did not try to carry one out. But as for the American way of life, nothing really changed. Any event, especially a traumatic one, brings people together. For this reason, even the most tragic circumstances can yield positive results and build a more robust and cohesive society.

For a while, America came together. The people stood behind the president when he launched the campaign against Bin Laden and when the government introduced increasingly stricter security measures. But the unity did not last and did not go anywhere positive.

The things that were hurt the most in the attack were America’s two most prized assets: money and military power. So money was poured in abundance to restore the military deterrence and to reconstruct the WTC, but nothing was done to nurture the budding sense of family, the feeling that “We are in this together, all Americans, as one nation.” Nothing was done to water the shoot, and it withered and died. Today, we are witnessing the final stages of its disintegration.

America missed a chance to change its future for the better because it did not see that its heydays were behind it, that they crumbled together with the collapse of the Soviet bloc, which kept America on its toes. Now, smug and complacent, it was decaying and declining, but it could not see it yet. Today it can, but I am not sure it’s not too late.

Writer Robin Wright eloquently articulated the sensation that America is coming apart in a recent column on The New Yorker: “The United States feels like it is unravelling. It’s not just because of a toxic election season, a national crisis over race, unemployment and hunger in the land of opportunity, or a pandemic that’s killing tens of thousands every month. The foundation of our nation has deepening cracks — possibly too many to repair anytime soon, or, perhaps, at all. The ideas and imagery of America face existential challenges … that no longer come only from the fringes. Rage consumes many in America. And it may only get worse after the election … no matter who wins. Our political and cultural fissures have generated growing doubt about the stability of a country that long considered itself an anchor, a model, and an exception to the rest of the world.”

Robin’s intuition is dead on; there is no mending to the fissures. But there isn’t meant to be. People will only grow further from each other over time since this is the trajectory of the evolution of the ego, and no country cultivates the ego like America.

A solution will be found only if people decide that the unity of the nation is more important to them than the victory of their own view. At the moment, I don’t see it happening. I hope and pray that America will prove me wrong and the American people will rise above their numerous conflicts and bridge the deep chasms in their society. However, without understanding that cancelling the other side also cancels them, I don’t see what will be the impetus that will drive them to save their country from collapse.
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My new article on BIZCATALYST “Rosh Hashanah, Will It Get Worse Before It Gets Better?”

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 antisemites 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 that puts in jeopardy the continuity of a vibrant Jewish life now and for generations to come. 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 to amplify 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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Medium published my new article “Social Life in a Changing Job Market”

Think about it, a reality where you need two breadwinners to sustain a family simply makes no sense. Both parents stay out most of the day, and by the time they get home they are exhausted and barely have energy to dedicate their attention to their children. And in families with only one breadwinner the situation is of course much worse, both because there is only one parent to raise the children, and because single parents often have to work two jobs just to provide for the basic needs of the family.

We are living in transformative years. We can stream through them easily and joyfully if we come together and emerge on the other side as a united and caring society. Or, we can experience them as painful and oppressive, and still eventually realize that they were only for our sake. Either way, the coronavirus will make us learn to care.

This is an unnatural and unhealthy situation whose outcome is a generation of neglected children, abandoned by their captive parents who are struggling to keep a roof over their children’s heads and put bread in their mouths. But the biggest oddity about this miserable state is that we’ve come to think of it as “normal” and even “desirable.”

Thankfully, the coronavirus is forcing us to reconstruct our world. We are rebellious, contentious, but it will bend our arms and force us to comply. Covid will shatter the economy however hard we might resist, force us to provide for those who have been struck by the collapse, and will obligate us to start thinking also of each other rather than only of ourselves. We will have to, or the collapse will hit us, too.

Covid will leave very little surplus for indulgence in things we once thought were necessary, but it will not leave us empty handed. On the contrary, it will show us what we’ve really had all along but did not notice: each other. The virus will teach us the obvious — that nothing matters more than caring family and friends, and nothing makes us happier than having them around. It will make us reconstruct our lives and put people at the center of our attention rather than money, which is how it should be because only when we see other people, and they see us, we can be happy.

The world is producing and will continue to produce abundant food and the rest of life’s necessities. There will be no shortage of them. The only question is how fast we will learn to distribute them among everyone and guarantee that everyone is fed, dressed, lives in a proper home, and gets proper education and health care. When we learn that and act on that perception, the only thing that we will still need to do is learn how to relate to one another favorably, which is what we have neglected to do for the past several decades. And this learning will finally make us happy.

We are living in transformative years. We can stream through them easily and joyfully if we come together and emerge on the other side as a united and caring society. Or, we can experience them as painful and oppressive, and still eventually realize that they were only for our sake. Either way, the coronavirus will make us learn to care.
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Medium published my new article “Caring For Each Other Heals”

For quite some time we have been going through a full-blown crisis that has shattered every aspect of our lives. Everything that we had known has crumbled. We need to start over but we don’t know how. So instead, we wait and hope for a vaccine. But lingering is very bad for us; it only makes the necessary changes more painful and slower to occur.

The virus is hitting on all levels: biological, emotional, and social. However, its blows are not random; they have a clear trajectory: to separate us from each other, meaning exercise social distancing, and reconstruct our relations in a non-detrimental fashion. The virus may be a pathogen to our bodies, but it is a remedy to our society.

The sooner we acknowledge that we will not return to our lives before the virus, the better it is for us. To do that, we must understand what we are going through and what is happening around us.

The virus is hitting on all levels: biological, emotional, and social. However, its blows are not random; they have a clear trajectory: to separate us from each other, meaning exercise social distancing, and reconstruct our relations in a non-detrimental fashion. The virus may be a pathogen to our bodies, but it is a remedy to our society. It may be hard to see this at the moment, with all the contradictory reports and misinformation we are fed from all directions, but if we follow the orders given by the authorities, regardless of whether or not they are helpful in curing our bodies, we will find that they are helping us, perhaps unintentionally, build more caring communities and enhance our mutual responsibility.

We shouldn’t regard the instructions to wear masks or wash our hands, or keep a six-foot distance as intended to protect ourselves. This would only perpetuate the current, deleterious attitude that got us where we are. Instead, we should follow these instructions in order not to infect others. Whether it does or does not prevent contagion is really unimportant. What is critically important, however, is that this completely reverses our attitude toward others compared to the attitude we usually exercise.

If the majority of people adopt this attitude, to think about the neighbor’s health and take appropriate action to support it, it will revolutionize society. It will not matter what prompted the change, but simply the fact that the change has happened will work miracles. And since it would not happen were it not for the coronavirus, we will find that it’s the virus that has brought us to a new level of connection among us.

Naturally, in such a state of mutual concern, the chains of infection will all break and the virus will vanish in a matter of weeks. But more importantly, we will find that our society has risen to a new level of concern for one another, a new level of cohesion, and we will not want to return to the alienation, loneliness, and suspicion we had harbored before the onset of Covid-19. Instead, we will want to keep developing the new agenda that caring for each other heals.
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My new article on Linkedin “Oceans Apart – Israeli and Jewish Separation Is Bad News for the World”

Some six months ago, the first Covid-19 patient passed away in Israel. Now, after breaking another record in the number of new confirmed cases and widening our “lead” as the country with the most infections per-capita, we are finally beginning to realize that there is a real problem here, that people are really dying, and that we are losing control over the pandemic.

We did not become a nation for our own purposes, but in order to be “a light unto nations,” to show the world how love can cover all the crimes, all the hatred, and through our own example lead the way to unity, so they could do the same.

I warned about it months ago; I said that if we don’t do what we must, we will be among the countries that will be struck the hardest. And not only in confirmed Covid cases, but also in unemployment and social disintegration.

We shouldn’t be surprised that this is happening. We didn’t do what we must, so the pandemic is spreading in Israel and around the world faster than the forest fires in California. And if people blame us for it, they are only echoing what our sages said thousands of years ago: “No calamity comes to the world but because of Israel” (Yevamot 63a). Covid-19 is certainly a calamity, but it will get much worse unless we Israelis begin to act as Israelis.

And here is what being Israelis means: Our nation was forged when we agreed to unite “as one man with one heart.” We didn’t like each other; we didn’t agree; and we didn’t want to be together. We came from different clans and tribes from all over the Fertile Crescent and we joined Abraham’s group because we liked what he taught, that we should love each other above our differences. However, it’s not as if we really cared for one another, not at first anyway. But there, at the foot of Mt. Sinai, after escaping from Egypt we finally agreed to unite as one above our disparities and disputes.

At that moment, we became a nation. And even though we fell into belligerence and struggles soon after, we always knew what we are meant to do. In the words of King Solomon, “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes” (Proverbs 10:12).

Yet, we did not become a nation for our own purposes, but in order to be “a light unto nations,” to show the world how love can cover all the crimes, all the hatred, and through our own example lead the way to unity, so they could do the same.

Today, although we have regained sovereignty, Israel is anything but united. It is torn apart into sects and factions, classes, political views, private sector vs. public sector, and religious vs. secular. Each faction of the nation wants its piece of the pie to be as big as possible regardless of its own size or needs, and regardless of the needs of other factions in the nation.

Moreover, the Israeli society as a whole is oceans apart from American Jewish, not just physically, but mainly emotionally. There is a deep chasm between the way that American Jewry perceives Judaism and Israel, and the way Israelis perceive them. This makes the two most predominant Jewish communities in the world perpetually at odds with one another.

The book Sefat Emet writes, “The truth is that everything depends on the children of Israel. As they correct themselves, all creations follow them.” Currently, we are not correcting ourselves; we are only breaking apart more deeply by the day.

Covid-19 saved us. It stopped us en route to annihilation. It enabled us to reflect on our society and start fixing it, making it more cohesive and caring, and by that, at long last set a positive example to the world.

We didn’t take the opportunity; we blew it. So as the world looked in awe as we were prevailing over the virus in the beginning, now it looks in bewilderment as we are falling behind all other countries due to our surrender to the whims of our factions and sects. Once again, division is the source of our troubles yet we are too busy indulging in righteous indignation to recognize it.

It is written that Israel is a stiff-necked people, and indeed we are very obstinate. Being obstinate can be advantageous, but it also has its limits. At some point, a critical mass of people will point a blaming finger at Israel and say that we are the cause of all their troubles, and nothing we can say will convince them otherwise. If we get there, Israel will be in big trouble. Before it happens, we must do what we were meant to do from day one: Unite and in this way set an example, so the whole world will look at us and do the same.

Surprisingly, The Book of Zohar (Aharei Mot) wrote about our situation and the solution to it nearly two thousand years ago: “‘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 each other. At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another … then they return to being in brotherly love. …And you, the friends who are here, as you were in fondness and love before, henceforth you will also not part from one another … and by your merit, there will be peace in the world.”

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The Times of Israel published my new article “Here’s Why There Is a Jessica Krug in Every Jew (An elaborate reply to readers’ comments on social media)”

On Sunday, September 6, I posted an article on my blog in Times of Israel titled, “There Is a Jessica Krug in Every Jew,” where I explained that the tendency, or wish, to eschew our role in the world is common to all Jews. In some, it is expressed by the argument that Jews are like all other nations. In others, it is expressed in objection to anything Jewish. Others still choose to convert to other religions or marry non-Jews and raise their children without any, or hardly any Jewish traditions and symbolism. Jessica Krug, who chose a rather unusual way to reject her Judaism—by pretending to be of a different religion—is therefore no exception. She simply chose an unorthodox mode of action, but her wish is a conscious or unconscious wish that every Jew harbors, though of course, not everyone acts on it.

Jewish Self-Hatred through the Ages

One of the comments on the post in TOI said “The Jewish strength is precisely in disagreement, but civilized disagreement.” Disagreements, certainly, but civilized? I don’t know about that. There have been cases of what one might call “civilized” disagreements, such as the case of Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai. However, history is laden with testimonies of our uncivilized disputes and the misery they had wrought on our heads.

There was nothing civilized about the arguments among the leaders of the nation that caused the ruin of the First Temple. Our sages described those leaders as “people who eat and drink with one another, [yet] stab each other with the swords in their tongues” (Yoma 9b). There was also nothing civilized about the arguments between Hasmoneans and Hellenists, who were Jews who wanted to introduce the Greek culture and belief system into Judea. The war between them was a full-blown civil war, and to this day we celebrate on Hanukkah the victory of the Maccabees over their own coreligionists (who were assisted toward the end by the Greeks, to no avail).

Speaking of civil wars, we must not forget what the Jews did to each other in Jerusalem during the siege before the ruin of the Second Temple. The slaughter, starvation, and even cannibalism that Jews perpetrated on each other within the walls of the desecrated city preceding the Romans’ conquest of Jerusalem are still today a harrowing reminder of the depravity of human nature and a mark of disgrace on our people.

Interestingly, our sages never attributed our downfalls to foreign rulers, but to our own vices. In the First Temple, they said that it was ruined because of bloodshed, slander, and incest among us. In the Second Temple, they said that it was ruined because of unfounded (baseless) hatred among us, namely hatred for no reason.

It wasn’t as if our sages thought that Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the First Temple, or Titus, who destroyed the Second Temple, were faultless. They knew they weren’t, but they didn’t place the blame with them, but with our own divisions. The book Maor VaShemesh writes, “The prime defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship between each other in Israel, no calamity can come over them.” Likewise, the book Likutey Halachot states, “The primary element of correction is the advice to gather together, meaning that there will be unity, love, and peace in Israel.”

As for the evildoers throughout the ages, our sages simply said, “Goodness is given by the good, and wickedness by the wicked” (Shabbat 32a). In other words, our own misdeeds against each other bring upon us bad people who punish us.

But so far, we haven’t learned the lesson. Centuries after the destruction of the Temple, the fiery hatred of Jews toward Jews with other views still divides us. There was the 18th century struggle of the followers of the Vilna Gaon (GRA), who tried (and partly succeeded) to convince the Ukrainian authorities to jail the followers of The Baal Shem Tov and perhaps execute them using false allegations that they were plotting against the government. Then there was loathing between German Jewry and Polish Jewry in the 19th century, between Orthodox Jews and Zionists in Poland in the late 1800s and early 1900s, between assimilating Jews and Zionists in Germany and Austria at around the same time, between the Revisionist Movement and the Zionist Organization in Palestine in the 1930s, before the establishment of the State of Israel, and between the Zionist Organization of America and Reform Judaism in America before, during, and after World War II. In all those cases, Jews not only disagreed with one another; they tried to extinguish one another politically, or financially, or physically, or all the above, and no means was too extreme.

In my book The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, I illustrate the common process that unfolds in all of our tragedies: mutual hatred and division, the rise of a Jew-hating ruler, and the bitter end of the Jewry in that place. It always follows the same procession, and in all those cases, Jews even assist the prosecutors in hunting down their dissenting brethren.

The Surprising Demands of Rabid Antisemites

Today, we are seeing the same trend developing in America between Jewish supporters of the Democratic Party and supporters of the Republican Party, and between Jewish Zionists and anti-Zionists. It is still not as violent as in past divisions, but it is already as caustic and the trend is very clear. If this mutual enmity continues, an oppressor of Jews will surely rise, and probably sooner than later. When that happens, it will be impossible to prevent the tragedy.

Ironically, all this self-hatred comes from the nation that conceived the imperative that defines absolute love: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In fact, we did not officially inaugurate our nationhood until we agreed, at the foot of Mt. Sinai, to unite “as one man with one heart.” And immediately thereafter, we were told to be “a light unto nations,” namely light up the road to unity to the entire world. This is why when antisemites accuse us of causing all the wars, I cannot blame them. In the absence of unity among us, they have no example to follow, so how can we expect them to unite and make peace with one another?

It is no coincidence that some of the most notorious antisemites were also very perceptive in their grievances with the Jews. Henry Ford (founder of the Ford Motor Company), for example, wrote in his infamous book The International Jew—The World’s Foremost Problem: “The whole prophetic purpose with reference to [the people of] Israel seems to have been the moral enlightenment of the world through its agency.” Elsewhere, he adds, “Society has a large claim against [the Jew] that he … begin to fulfill … the ancient prophecy that through him all the nations of the earth should be blessed.” And most astonishing is his advice to sociologists to learn from the ancient Jews how to build a role model society: “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems on paper, would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”

At around the same time when Ford wrote his book, another antisemite, in another part of the world, wrote another book. Ukraine born Vasily Shulgin was a senior member of the Duma, the Russian Parliament, before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, and a proud self-proclaimed antisemite. In his book What We Don’t Like about Them, he explains what he thinks Jews are doing wrong. Shulgin complains that “Jews in the 20th century have become very smart, effective, and vigorous at exploiting other people’s ideas.” But out of the blue, 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.”

Subsequently, just like Ford, this rabid antisemite invites the Jews to lead humanity: “Let them … rise to the height to which they climbed [in antiquity] … and immediately, all nations will rush to their feet. They will rush not by virtue of compulsion … but by free will, joyful in spirit, grateful and loving, including the Russians! We ourselves will request, ‘Give us Jewish rule, wise, benevolent, leading us to the Good.’ And every day we will offer the prayers for them, for the Jews: ‘Bless our guides and our teachers, who lead us to the recognition of Your goodness.’”

But in order to be teachers, we must be what the people of Israel are meant to be, united “as one man with one heart” above all our differences, setting an example of unity to the entire world, and thereby being “a light unto nations.” This has been our vocation from day one, and this will continue to be our vocation until we carry it out. It is not an easy one, and I cannot blame anyone for shunning it and denying its validity. But denial won’t deter the detractors, who will come and punish us once more for not doing our duty.

Unity, and Memories from Europe

So yes, we disagree on everything, but doing it in a civilized manner is not what we are meant to do. What we are meant to do is love each other even though we disagree. This is a much harder task, but it is the one required of us, and we can only pull it off if we unite and help each other out.

We didn’t only give the world the motto, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” we also gave it arvut hadadit (mutual responsibility). Indeed, we are mutually responsible for one another in this task, too. Only if we all pull together, we will unite above our differences and the world will follow our example. But if we don’t pull together, if we fall victim to our mutual hatred, the world will not forgive us and we will experience what our people went through eighty years ago in Europe.

I wish I didn’t have to write these words, but this is the truth as I see it, as I learned from history and from my teachers, and it is my duty to do what I can to save my people from annihilation while it is still possible. I lost almost my entire family in the Holocaust; I cannot sit idly by when I know what can prevent it from happening again.

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The Times of Israel published my new article “Israel – The First at Being Last”

Israel is now the world leader in new coronavirus disease cases. That is, every other country in the world has fewer coronavirus infections per capita than Israel. Data from Johns Hopkins University has revealed that Israel averaged 199.3 new cases a day per 1 million residents in the week ending September 2. Since then, Israel has only widened the gap.

When COVID-19 first emerged, countries lined up to praise Israel for its handling of the pandemic. But in the second wave, reality aligned itself with our behavior and we have dropped from the zenith to the nadir. Even if we shut down the economy once more, place all cities under quarantine, and every household under stay-at-home orders, we will not find more than a momentary relapse in contagion until we do what we must—change our attitude to one another. Then, and only then we will overcome the virus.

When the virus first appeared I said that it was not an ordinary virus. I cautioned that it is here not in order to shut down the economy but in order to teach us how to relate to one another. So far, we have failed miserably, and so the virus celebrates with record breaking infection rates, total helplessness of the authorities, and depravity suggestive of the last days of Rome.

On the surface, there seems to be a battle between those who want to keep the economy running and sustain people’s livelihoods, and those who want to restrict economic and public activities and sustain people’s lives. In my view, as long as we treat each other with such derision and disdain, we will sustain neither.

The whole problem with the measures we are taking in order to avoid contagion is not the measures themselves, but that we are taking them in order to protect ourselves instead of others. When the motivation is so self-centered, those who are young and healthy, and not in the risk groups, or who believe that the disease is nothing but fake news, have no reason to comply with instructions. By doing so, they not only increase the risk to the lives of those at risk, they also increase hatred and alienation in society, and this is the real problem.

We need to treat the masks, vaccinations, and all the other measures not as medical tools, but as social tools that help us portray our relation to others. If we change our relation to others, we will be able to open the economy without any limitations and the virus will be gone in no time. But first, we need to show our efforts to change our attitude to one another, and the way to show it goes through wearing masks, keeping social distancing, and doing everything required in order to preserve the lives and health of our fellow persons. Not our own lives, but those of others around us.

The State of Israel is always at the center of attention. Just as countries lined up to praise us when we succeeded in curbing the virus in the beginning, they now stand bewildered at our colossal failure to do the same in the second wave. If we show the world that the way to oust the virus is through unity, the world will follow suit, and, as a result, a new, united society will emerge around the world.

We must remember that the State of Israel, as are the people of Israel, is not just another country. It was established to enable the people of Israel to carry out its duty to the world—to set an example of unity above divisions and show the nations how they can do it, too. Here in Israel we are meant to become “a light unto nations” by uniting “as one man with one heart.”

Despite recent agreements, the Arab world as a whole will not make peace with us, and the world will not support our being here, as long as we do not make peace with one another. Instead, the nations will blame us for inciting wars and taking a land that is not ours, as UNESCO has been saying for several years now.

Covid-19 has given us an opportunity to change our relation to one another, thereby change the world’s relation to us, and thereby change the nations’ relation to one another. We shouldn’t underestimate our power to do good, or bad, to the entire world. If we rise to the challenge and unite, we will oust the coronavirus, the world, too, will learn that the solution to the pandemic lies in positive relations and will do the same, the pandemic will disappear, and the entire global society will change for the better.
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My new article on Linkedin “The War We Are All Fighting”

Long lines of vehicles waiting for hours to get a box of supplies from drive-in food distribution centers has become a common scene across America. Covid-19 is underscoring deep social imbalances and inequalities to the point that hunger may kill more people worldwide than the pandemic itself by the end of this year, according to the UN forecast. The situation is similar to a war, but the enemy we are fighting is not only economic; it is a war to establish what should be the highest value and the pillar of any society: mutual responsibility and care for one another.

We have the opportunity to make this connection real today, and we must know that nature is deliberately provoking us with these uncomfortable situations like the coronavirus pandemic and other problems to push us to make this move: the unification of humanity. Thus, only the fight against the divisions between us will bring the long awaited victory of unity, abundance, and a brighter future.

Trillions in stimulus packages have been injected into the US economy, as in other major developed countries, yet many people are still out of work and without the means to put food on the family table. UN data shows that more than 5 million Americans (2% of the country’s population) cannot afford a basic healthy diet that could prevent malnutrition. And like most of our current challenges, the food crisis is global. The number of people drastically impacted by food insecurity is expected to double to 270 million worldwide by the end of 2020, according to charity organizations.

Suddenly, entire communities have been left without the basic needs for life because of the pandemic, and the security they had in life has slipped between their fingers. At the same time, there is a growing tendency among people to help one another and give each other a hand, because they no longer believe (and righteously so) that either the upper classes or the leaders will come to their rescue.

Even if someone has no more to offer to another than a desire to help, this already affects the overall situation for the better. Mutual concern sweetens the bitterness of life. In fact, we have reached a time when we are realizing that we can expect nothing from anyone except ourselves.

So, if we come to terms with the fact that only we can help ourselves, this will already be a meaningful step in the right direction. We can tackle our problems only through a correct connection between us. If we become aware of it, we will be on a safe path for sure. By learning to put that connection into practice we can ensure that we will reach our desired destination successfully.

Defeating the Ego, the Enemy between Us

We must strive to unite, not only to get out of the difficult situation we face, but to truly become “as one man with one heart.” Why? Because everything that happens in the global system of nature is driven according to the level of beneficial integral connection between its parts. The more we connect with each other, the more we will harmonize ourselves with the general force that operates the system according to the law of mutual guarantee. In fact, all the problems that arise do so to push us closer and closer toward a state of ultimate unification. When humanity reaches such a state of existence, we will no longer suffer from struggles over control, respect, domination or hunger. When we finally reach that state, happiness and the means to exist will no longer come at the expense of others.

We should clearly understand that distributing food and medicine—generally helping each other on the material level only—will still not be enough to correct our imbalances and disparities. We need to realize that as far as nature is concerned, humanity is one single system. Therefore, we must rise above all forms of hatred and mutual rejection, above our egoistic approach that constantly tears us apart and distances us from one another. It is vital that we try to get closer to each other internally, heart to heart, and evaluate the intention behind all our actions.

We have the opportunity to make this connection real today, and we must know that nature is deliberately provoking us with these uncomfortable situations like the coronavirus pandemic and other problems to push us to make this move: the unification of humanity. Thus, only the fight against the divisions between us will bring the long awaited victory of unity, abundance, and a brighter future.

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The Times of Israel published my new article “There Is a Jessica Krug in Every Jew”

A few days ago, a George Washington University African history professor confessed that she had pretended for many years to be of Afro-Latina descent, when in fact she was white and Jewish. As part of her identity, she even spoke against the state of Israel and police brutality, and, according to JTA, “delivered testimony virtually in a New York City Council meeting in which she criticized the New York Police Department as being trained by the Israeli army.”

The confession left everyone in shock, and she, herself, apparently, is in a deep state of remorse. “I should absolutely be cancelled,” she wrote. “You should absolutely cancel me, and I absolutely cancel myself,” she continued. Toward the end, she wrote, “I have to figure out how to be a person that I don’t believe should exist.”

Yet, Jessica Krug is not an exception. She is an eccentric expression of a problem from which the majority of Jews suffer, and of which US Jewry is the most prominent example. The problem I am talking about is denial of the essence and purpose of Judaism.

We’d like to think that we can be like everyone else, but we’re not. The world knows it and treats us differently, and it’s time we started doing likewise. The world blames us for its wars and its problems, and it won’t help us to say “It’s not our fault”; they won’t believe us.

We have to understand that our “fault,” as I have written in The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, is that we’re not bringing unity to the world, so the nations hate us for causing them to hate one another. I reiterate: The world feels that we are causing them to hate each other, and this is why they hate us.

Of course we’re not trying to make people hate each other, but we’re also not trying to unite among ourselves. And because everyone is closely monitoring our every step, we serve as a constant example of hatred, disunity, and ill-will through our relationships with one another. By doing so, we install an atmosphere of belligerence and hatred among the nations, and they, who sense that the hatred originates with us, blame us for causing their wars with each other.

Being “a light unto nations” is not a metaphorical, obsolete slogan. We became a nation precisely for that purpose, and not in order to be Americans, Germans, or Chinese. It’s no coincidence that we came up with the impossibly altruistic motto, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is where our uniqueness lies—in attempting to live by that motto. Even if we fail, by simply trying we will become an example that the world will admire and would try to emulate.

But we are unaware of it so, just as Jessica Krug believes, we don’t believe we should exist. In that belief, she is not the exception; she is the norm among us! I, who have been taught by my teachers that Jews must unite above their differences and serve as a role model of unity to the nations, and that this is our vocation as a nation, I am the exception.

Still, it is my prayer that soon more Jews will hear me out so that my warnings will not go unnoticed as were the warnings of Baal HaSulam, my teacher’s father, in Poland in the 1930s.
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Medium published my new article “Faith and Belief in Times of Crisis”

When things go wrong people look heavenward for answers and comfort. Since ancient times people have looked for something to hold onto in moments of crisis and distress, so it is only natural that this pandemic has triggered a search for an upper force, as studies confirm. This outcry will accelerate our discovery of the meaning of life and help us internalize an answer that will be found in the power of love between us.

This outcry will accelerate our discovery of the meaning of life and help us internalize an answer that will be found in the power of love between us.

A quarter of Americans say Covid-19 has strengthened their religious faith, while just 2% claim it has weakened it, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Other studies confirm a direct link between natural disasters and moments of crisis and an increased tendency to turn to a higher power. The number of Google searches for the word “prayer” in 75 countries has nearly doubled since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.

People need to feel that they have an anchor, that there is something to trust or hold on to. Like a child grabs its mother and does not let go because she is perceived as the safest place, we too, grownups as we are, need a source of security. In the world around us we find no such source.

Humanity once turned toward the inanimate forces of nature such as the sun and moon as ruling powers. Today, with nowhere left to turn and nothing left to believe in, only a higher power remains. But exactly who or what this is, we are not sure. There are endless discussions, hypotheses, perceptions, and beliefs surrounding these questions. After all, our hearts yearn for certainty that something is managing and arranging everything in life.

At the end of the day, we may ask whether the exact nature of a supreme power matters, as long as its very existence helps us feel safer in our short lives in this world. As long as our faith calms the weary psyche, we choose to cling to it.

And when one person feels better, it is good for those around him because calm people are kinder to one another. They are less willing to quarrel or hurt others. Although specifics and customs around belief may differ, each of the eight billion people in the world believes in something, and this faith is accepted as normal by almost every person.

This notion of faith is also related to the concept of prayer. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, people’s beliefs have brought them together in common prayers that have been broadcast live to masses on social media. The consequences of collective prayers are also positive because when people believe that they can access a powerful force by uniting in a common plea, they do it through the process of connecting together and asking as one. And if there is some trouble in our lives, this trouble binds us to each another. When we are more unified, our unity certainly draws a response.

When we overcome the distance between us and express willingness to gather to unite in a common request, transcend above the individual ego — the single factor that keeps us apart — we thereby improve everyone’s fate. As long as we ask for everyone’s sake, and not for the detriment of anyone, our prayer is accepted. In the end, it does not matter at all why we believe, to whom we turn, the specific religion or method we practice, or even in what language we pray. What matters is our common desire and request.

As a result of the pandemic, we have reached a new stage in our development, which will propel us to a new degree of life, a new worldview of humanity as one family. The problems we face are pushing us forward. They are helping us discover that the supreme power is one and is for all, and that it can be accessed through the connection between us. Humanity is discovering the power of love that is revealed in our unity.

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