The Times of Israel published my new article “Solidarity March in New York City: From Hatred and Fear to Love and Unity”

As fear still ripples throughout the Jewish communities of Monsey, Brooklyn and Jersey City following the recent string of anti-Semitic attacks, today’s Solidarity March in New York City, organized by the UJA Federation, aims to counter the negative sensation head on, and bring the Jewish people together “proud, united and strong.”

My students in New York City will also be joining the march. As an act of unity aiming to support all Jews in New York City, it can have a certain positive effect, since unity of any kind acts throughout nature.

For instance, if secular and religious Jews walk side by side in a common identification, then it can bring a very brief moment of correspondence with the force of nature, which connects all parts of reality. Such short-lived unity can thus bring a temporary sense of relief from the rising anti-Semitic sentiment.

However, marches and demonstrations play no long-term role in preventing anti-Semitism’s future rise, and will thus fail to secure a positive future for the Jewish people.

For instance, a memorial march followed the Pittsburgh massacre with thousands of attendees. However, despite the march, a continued rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the US followed. The ADL reported a near-mirror of 785 reported anti-Semitic incidents in the first six months of 2019, which closely mirrored the 780 reported incidents in the same period a year earlier. Also, in New York City alone, anti-Semitic crimes rose 21% in the past year. Thus, as anti-Semitism has been exponentially increasing the past few years, it can be expected to continue increasing regardless of any marches and demonstrations.

Standing together in a march of solidarity is an admirable act, but if the Jewish people want to solve anti-Semitism at its root, they need to also sit down and learn together. Learning in groups has been part and parcel of what made us Jewish to begin with. It dates all the way back to when we learned how to unite according to the commandment, “love your neighbor as yourself,” under Abraham’s guidance some 3,800 years ago. Marches, on the other hand, have never been a Jewish activity.

Therefore, while we are in solidarity with the Jewish people of New York City today, we should still recognize that unifying in order to “say no to hate and no to fear,” as mentioned in the march’s promotion, is far from the kind of unity that made us a Jewish people to begin with. The essence of our unity is not reactionary to hatred that rises against us, but that we positively connect with a common intention to equalize ourselves with the laws of nature. This is why we received the name, “the people of Israel” under Abraham’s guidance: “Israel” stemming from the words, “straight to the upper force” (“Yashar Kel”), i.e., a common intention to love and bestow as is the quality of the upper force.

Therefore, I hope that we will realize the immense potential we hold: to learn our important role in the world, and not wait for more acts of hatred and fear to momentarily unite us, but that we will take our future into our own hands, implement the method made for uniting us, and become a positive unifying example to the world. We would then have a very good reason to be proud. By doing so, we would uproot anti-Semitism from its root, and witness a complete inversion of the sentiment surrounding us into one of support, encouragement and appreciation.
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The Times of Israel published my new article “How Russian Immigration Reshaped Israel”

The contribution of Russian immigrants to Israel is considered to be a key factor in the country’s success in multiple levels and areas. These days, as Israel commemorates 30 years since the beginning of the massive aliyah (inmigration) wave from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, we are able to assess that its influence will continue to resound for generations to come.

However, despite decades of experience with the absorption of new immigrants, we have yet to realize that it is precisely by rising above the differences between us that we will be able to strengthen Israel’s social fabric.

The Largest Immigration Wave

Three decades ago, Israel became home to about 30% of Soviet Jewry, close to a million people, changing the face of the country for good. My family and I were not part of this wave. We arrived in the small precursor wave of the 1970s, before the massive influx, which didn’t change the difficulties of absorption and integration into the country. When we arrived, all that I had with me was a small tent and a few basic utensils I thought we might need. I had next to no idea what would I find in this desert land.

I arrived neither destitute nor abandoned since I had my diplomas in hand and a profession as a scientist and researcher. I had my family and was economically established. Despite my advantages, moving from one country to another is always accompanied by feelings of insecurity, since you never know what you could encounter. Until you step into the experience of the land of Israel you really have no idea about its true character.

After a short period of time, I was accepted into the Israel Air Force. Since the crews were under daily pressure to be alert for any operation at any given moment, our commitment to work together, no matter what the challenges, always prevailed over our differences. There was no place for degrading anyone. Therefore, on a personal level, I had no experience of the bitter treatment that many immigrants have complained about since.

However, I fully understand the source of the disparaging treatment many immigrants describe. Trouble integrating into Israeli life is not unique to the Russian immigration wave. It has always been this way. It was the common experience of every immigration wave that arrived, whether from Morocco or Yemen, to undergo some sort of discrimination. Depictions of immigrant treatment even found their way into skits, which until today have become part and parcel of the Israeli humor lexicon.

I remember that the janitor in the building where we lived was a doctor from Moscow, and the street was cleaned by an engineer from St. Petersburg. These were the people who made aliyah in this Russian wave: doctors, engineers, technicians and nurses. These were the people who made this immigration wave so successful. They catapulted the nation forward in sports, culture, medicine, academia and many other fields. They brought an ambitious spirit that pushed for achievement. Notwithstanding their contributions, they were not spared from surges of cynicism and contempt.

Learning to Live Together

The Israeli mentality is one of contempt toward everything and everyone. The scorn is not directed specifically against the Russians or any other group. It is deeply ingrained in our Jewish DNA. In fact, we are even contemptuous of the upper force. It is a permanent phenomenon and not a passing phase, and it cumulates and passes from one generation to the next.

The ego that separates us is an open social wound. It reveals itself with every wave of immigration. The good news is that it also reveals the only place that needs mending: our relations.

Sooner or later we will have to learn positive relations above and beyond our differences. Such an achievement will secure our lives in a prosperous and balanced nation where all the newcomers, regardless of their origin and background, will be respected and appreciated for their contribution to society.

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The Times of Israel published my new article “The Next Holocaust in America?”

As the topic of anti-Semitism fills more and more Jewish people’s hearts with fear, as well as the news headlines day after day, we read some parts of my new book The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism with my students today. It was notable how the pace of anti-Semitism’s rise is as has never been before.

Unprecedented Speed of Anti-Semitism’s Rise

Due to the fast acceleration of anti-Semitism’s expansion, two examples from the book that I mentioned about the rise of anti-Semitism in the US, dating back to March and April 2019, already sounded outdated. That is, the examples we have at the turn of the decade, are already far more aggressive.

In a letter dated December 29, 2019, of the New York State Senator, Simcha Felder, New York State Assemblyman, Simcha Eichenstein, and two New York City Councilmen, Chaim Deutsch and Kalman Yeger, addressed to New York City Governor, Andrew Cuomo, they described how:

“Anti-Semitic hate crimes have grown to frighteningly high numbers over the past several months. During the past several days in particular, identifiably Orthodox Jews in and around areas we represent have been targeted with a rash of violence unseen in modern history. Orthodox Jews are being regularly assaulted, menaced, stabbed and murdered in increasing numbers. This has been appropriately described as a ‘slow-rolling pogrom.’ We are writing to ask that you declare a state of emergency. … Simply stated, it is no longer safe to be identifiably Orthodox in the State of New York. We cannot shop, walk down a street, send our children to school, or even worship in peace.”

Moreover, former Democratic New York State Assemblyman and radio show host Dov Hikind mentioned that “If you were to ask Jews 20 years ago if a Holocaust could happen in America, you would get a uniform answer: ‘it’s impossible, not in America.’ Well, that’s not the case anymore. What will happen next?”

In the 2000s, I spoke about anti-Semitism in the US as a forthcoming problem, and was laughed at.

In the 2010s, when anti-Semitism began its exponential climb in the US and around the world, and started becoming acknowledged as a problem, I then talked about the next Holocaust taking place in the US.

Today, at the turn of the new decade, we can see how the awareness of the possibility of the next Holocaust taking place in America is coming to light.

Indeed then, as Dov Hikind asked, what is next?

The Fateful Shift from Division to Unity

The laws of nature are bringing human society to tighter connection, and the Jewish people, whether knowingly or unknowingly, host a method to make a key shift in realizing such connection positively—the ability to unite above all the fiery social division, as is written in the words, “love will cover all transgressions,” in order to pass such an ability to all people of the world, i.e., to be “a light unto the nations.”

Nature is demanding us to cease being a destructive and divisive force, and start becoming a positive and unified force.

If we fail to initiate the beginning of the Jewish people’s correction, by starting to implement unity above our differences, we will feel increasing pressures. The pressures would not only be in the US, but everywhere in the world, including the State of Israel where we could expect more and more sanctions and constraints. We would then continue strengthening our security until we would feel stuck in our little fortress with enemy forces surrounding us from all sides.

And if that would fail to prod us to unite, then we could expect such events as even an elimination of the State of Israel, and such disasters where, as Kabbalists have written, only a small group would remain to unite above our divisive drives.

“If the total ruin that they are destined to bring upon the world is still not evident to the world, they can wait for a third world war, or a fourth one … and the relics that remain after the ruin will have no other choice but to take upon themselves this work, where both individuals and nations will not work for themselves more than is necessary for their sustenance, while everything else they do will be for the good of others.” – Yehuda Ashlag, The Writings of the Last Generation.

The sooner we realize that our unity causes the unity of human society as a whole, and that by so doing, we will experience a wholly different positive, harmonious, peaceful and appreciative response from the world, then the sooner we can reverse the foreboding trend of anti-Semitism and find ourselves in a harmonious world. By uniting, we carry out our role in the world, and establish a newfound balance of forces between humanity and nature.

The First Step toward Unity

The first step toward unity is that we understand the need to save ourselves from destruction together with the need for adaptation with nature’s connecting tendency. If we do so, then we will see incredible phenomena unfold before our very eyes: a complete inversion of anti-Semitism to its opposite—a love and appreciation for the Jewish people who bring unity and light to the world. There would simply be no reason for anyone to hate Jews since people would know how to unite, and united people do not hate each other, nor the ones who teach and encourage their unity.

We need no long painful paths to reach such a state. By starting to think and act in a direction of the unity of all Jewish people right now, we can start pioneering an epic and historical positive transformation.

My new book, The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism is now available at Amazon and Laitman Kabbalah Publishers.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 12/31/19

Unity of the Jewish people is intended to bring spiritual prosperity and well-being not only to the Jews, but to humanity. The role of the Jewish people is to be a “light unto the nations,” providing every person on this planet with a method to achieve unity and the manifestation of a positive unifying example.

Anti-Semites harbor unexplained irrational enmity toward Jews. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, this negative sensation is inherently a longing for unity among Jews, one that will fill all of life’s gray spaces with light and vitality.

Read my full article

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KabNet published my new article: “Why Divorce Negatively Affects Men More Than Women”

Divorce and parental separation has been associated with a range of negative outcomes affecting all those involved in the process. But why is it particularly difficult for men, as multiple studies indicate it to be?

How could men and women create a support system that will not only help the couple overcome challenges related to the split, but also help children cope with their parent’s separation?

Marriage has been directly associated with men’s health. 66% of men rely on their wives for their primary social support. Thus, divorce greatly increases a man’s sense of isolation. Also, socially isolated men have an 82% higher risk of dying from heart disease.

“66% of men rely on their wives for their primary social support. Thus, divorce greatly increases a man’s sense of isolation. Also, socially isolated men have an 82% higher risk of dying from heart disease.”

Why Is it Harder for Men to Endure Divorce?

Comparing the impact of divorce by gender, we discover that one of the reasons men find it more difficult to deal with a separation is their inability to open up and share their failures, worries, and pain from divorce with others. In comparison to women, since men are less prone to reach out for support when their family gets shattered, their chances of suffering from helplessness, stress and depression increase. In some cases, severe mental health problems arise in men that even lead to suicide. As confirmed by an investigation of the University of California, divorced men are nine times more likely than women to die by suicide. How can this be explained?

In general, factors that impair the mental and physical health of the divorced are loss of control over life, impairment of family and social sense, financial anxiety, loneliness and emptiness. All these feelings are intensified in divorced men. In addition, we can add to this difficult situation the potential for false accusations that often become part of the lawyers’ disputes over the custody of children.

There is a common misconception that it is easier for a man to live the single life after a separation, a life free of worry and commitment, while single mothers are left overwhelmed with the task of raising children alone, often dealing with most of the economic burden single-handedly. However, in practice, this picture often turns out to be unfounded. Instead of celebrating their supposed freedom, men often feel like abandoned children alone in the world, unable to pick up the pieces of their broken lives and carry on. Their confidence and self-esteem is undermined by divorce.

While in many cases women receive almost full custody of the children, fathers find themselves “divorced” from their children as well. Relentless quarrels with the ex-spouse often complicate the relationship with the children who sometimes hold a grudge against the father for leaving home, feeling distanced regardless of the compensation he might try to give them to maintain his position in their lives.

Understanding the Other Side Better

What Western society misses is that a man, despite the “macho” image he might portray to cover up his own insecurities, is almost totally dependent on the emotional support of the woman next to him and his family for a sense of well-being, much more so than most of us imagine. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that a man by nature is fragile and vulnerable and needs a feminine influence resembling a mother figure to accompany him from childhood and throughout his life. Just as a fetus receives nourishment from its mother through the umbilical cord, a man remains in need of a woman’s nourishment in the form of support and care to continue to remain fulfilled.

Women in return should receive from men security, confidence, and total recognition for the pivotal role and contribution they play. A man needs to constantly emphasize his love and appreciation for his wife and should pamper and embrace her as much as possible to avoid losing her.

The problem is that both men and women, from an early age, receive no education on how to understand this interactive mutual support mechanism and how to use it positively for the sake of family integrity. Each partner is locked in the ego, in individual self-concern, and often misinterprets the other until the partnership is unable to endure the resulting emotional crunch and the decision is made to tear the family unit apart.

The Key to Successful Relationships

In fact, the success of a marriage does not depend on physical attraction or even on personality, as our consumerist culture would have us believe. Marital success depends on the attitude and warmth that partners provide to each other, a necessary condition for a balanced relationship.

We need to stop assuming that we know what the other loves or needs. How can we expect that two different people from two different families, with two different upbringings, would know what each other want? It is unwise to sit back and wait until one would suddenly do something positive to the other. Instead, they must proactively and openly discuss their needs and desires, and then they will realize how positive such communication is to their relationship.

If, after making all possible efforts to preserve the family unit, divorce seems to be inevitable, it is indispensable for ex-spouses to transcend their own nature and differences to build a life as friends. In such a scenario, all family members — men, women and children — will benefit from the encouraging communication and cordial relations. Everything must begin with an education that aims to develop close and positive relations.

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The Times of Israel published my new article “Flashbacks of the Nazi Era in Present Time: Are Jews At Risk As Before?”

The outbreak of World War II in 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, materialized the cravings of Hitler’s war-thirsty regime. However, the Third Reich’s escalating discriminatory policies targeting Jews led up to that moment in history.

Why is this precursor so vital for us to recognize today? It is critical that we look back and read the signs from the history of the Nazi Era—the assimilation, liberalism and boycotts—because they are strikingly similar to what we see today. The resemblance should sound an alarm for Jews around the world, and especially in America. A new Holocaust may be on the horizon unless we can transform the splintered Jewish community into one indivisible force.

Then and Now

Earlier this year, I visited Berlin and Nuremberg. From the moment I landed, I noticed that both cities are still soaked with radicalization and the German people are gradually getting ready for the next blow. In the past, the storm might have taken years to gather, but now, God forbid, a sharp transition in the attitude toward Jews could occur within a few months.

The signs are not obvious on the surface, so it is difficult to point them out directly. But they are felt through the local TV shows, conversations with city dwellers, and impressions of my longtime students in Germany.

A recent example of this trend is the election of a neo-Nazi, Stefan Jagsch, as mayor of a town in the German state of Hesse. Mainstream parties, including Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and her coalition partner the Social Democratic Party (SPD), voted for him. These are telling signs.

Leading historians warn about the realistic possibility of another Holocaust if the current divisive geopolitical climate, polarization and escalating anti-Semitism persist.

Film director, Steven Spielberg, who established the USC Shoah Foundation to preserve the memory of the Holocaust, expressed deep concern that genocide is as possible today as during the Nazi era. “When collective hate organizes and gets industrialized, then genocide follows,” Spielberg commented in a recent media interview. “We have to take it more seriously today than I think we have had to take it in a generation,” he added.

Looking back at history, just a few days after Hitler rose to power in early 1933, a country-wide boycott of Jewish businesses was ordered. It was followed by legalized edicts to confiscate Jewish property and possessions. Although decades have passed since then, the word “boycott” still reverberates to this day in the anti-Jewish lexicon. What has changed between the times of Nazi Germany and today is the existence of a Jewish state. How does this change the game?

Israel’s Enemies from Within and from Without

The State of Israel was originally considered as an insurance policy for Jews, but nowadays, its very existence has been commandeered by our enemies to garner popularity and legitimacy for anti-Semitism in the guise of anti-Zionism. Interestingly, in the futile attempts by Jews to blend into the general population and be “like everyone else,” some extreme Leftist Jewish organizations—J Street and IfNotNow to name a couple—and Israeli activists and intellectuals have rejected their own roots, and play a leading role in global hatred campaigns such as the BDS movement to delegitimize, demonize, and isolate Israel.

Jews should take note that the efforts of German Jews to distance themselves from traditional Judaism in the past, and assimilate into German society, failed to guarantee their escape from the gas chambers of the Third Reich.[1] Such efforts will not save Jews from today’s hatred either. Current anti-Semitism makes it clear that the menace can affect any Jew, anywhere, since the threats come at us from all sides and in every shape and form: from radical Islam, through the far-right and far-left, to mainstream politics, economic forces, and the world of arts and academia.

A vivid example of this threat is the recent assault on an Israeli film festival in Berlin by BDS activists who violently disrupted the event, causing injuries to attendees, according to German police.

If we consider for a moment only economic boycotts, the BDS movement’s wide-ranging influence signals the danger that lies ahead. Zooming in, we would reveal that the boycotts are working effectively, not only on the macro level of countries and multinational companies, but also at micro levels. 19% of Americans think that small shops have the right to refuse service to Jews if doing business with them goes against the religious beliefs of shop owners, according to a recent survey published by the Public Religion Research Institute.

On a wider scale, Europe’s largest bank, HSBC, divested from the Israeli defense company Elbit Systems, and the German sports company, Adidas, ended its 10-year sponsorship of the Israel Football Association (IFA). The BDS movement takes credit for both actions. Current IFA sponsor, Puma, is now the new target in the BDS movement’s #BoycottPuma campaign, which accuses Puma of being “complicit in Israel’s violations of international law and human rights abuses, due to the membership of teams from illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

Similarly, after mounting external pressure, the Israeli companies, Soda Stream and Ahava relocated their factories from the West Bank to undisputed areas in Israel. Just recently, a Canadian court decision ruled that Israeli wines from the West Bank cannot be labeled as products of Israel.

Europe buys 20% of fruits and vegetables exported from the Jordan Valley. After the decision made by the European Union to label settlement goods (for easy boycotting), Israeli producers have been forced to look for alternative markets. Ireland passed similar punitive bans. The UK National Union of Journalists has also called for boycotting Israeli products.

We cannot be naïve and think these are campaigns only against Israeli settlements: It is a war on the very legitimacy of the Jewish state, which is constantly singled out by international organizations and accused of the worst possible atrocities.

Why Should an Israeli Boycott Concern All Jews?

Israel is an intrinsic part of the collective Jewish identity and is perceived that way by the nations of the world. So when judgment is passed and punishment is imposed on Israel, it falls on the entire Jewish collective and not on only an individual part.

“Anyone who defames people because of their Jewish identity […] questions the right of the Jewish and democratic state of Israel to exist or Israel’s right to defend itself,” reads a motion recently adopted in Germany that defines BDS as anti-Semitic, comparing its method with the Nazi slogan “Don’t buy from Jews” as “reminiscent of the most horrific phase in German history.”

During a Third Reich boycott campaign, Nazi trucks in the streets with signs and slogans proclaimed, “Defend yourself and don’t buy from Jews!” Windows of Jewish shops were broken, stores were looted, and Jewish business owners were physically attacked.

The Nazis’ official explanation for the boycotts was that they were implemented as a counter-reaction to the demands of Jewish organizations in the US and Britain to boycott German-made products due to the Nazis coming to power (which was true). That measure legitimized anti-Jewish activity and gave it official support, which had not existed until then. Anti-Semitic ideology began penetrating into German consciousness.

All dispersions cast on the Jews by the Nazis are echoed today by BDS supporters against Israel and Jews. The Nazis claimed that Jews were the root of all evil, brought World War I to Europe, destroyed the German economy, and undermined the country. Similarly, BDS proponents claim that Israel is waging war, exploiting innocent Palestinians, extorting the world, and committing genocide.

But besides the economic impact, the most resounding success of BDS activity has been recorded in the academic world in Western countries. Senior researchers refuse to maintain links with universities in Israel or with Israeli researchers, while student associations pressure for the marginalization of Israel. The New York University Department of Social and Cultural Analysis voted to boycott the university’s Tel Aviv campus, and the American Association of University Professors issued a statement supporting the decision.

The boycott movement covers virtually all campuses of US academic institutions including the campuses of elite universities such as Harvard, Princeton, Columbia and Yale, just to name a few. It also reaches inside student dormitories, creating a hostile and violent atmosphere for Jewish students who publicly support Israel.

In comparison, in April 1933, the Nazis enacted “The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.” Its purpose was to keep Jews away from all key state positions and Jews were prohibited from teaching and studying at the universities. That same year, the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was founded, headed by Josef Goebbels. Hitler wanted to base the German educational system on the “purity of the Aryan race,” and non-Aryan teachers and lecturers, most notably Jews, were fired.

That same Ministry defined and outlined Nazi culture. The state determined which works of art, music, books, films, newspapers and plays would be accessible. Works by Jews and the “enemies of the race” were boycotted. The entire population was indoctrinated to harbor a hostile attitude toward Jews from a very early age. In school books, the Jew was depicted as the worst kind of villain. In the press, radio and speeches, misdeeds of individual Jews became generalized and portrayed as Jewish crimes for which all Jewry was responsible.

German Jews were expelled from cultural life, educational institutions and scientific faculties. Thousands were left with no means of subsistence.

Compare that to the cultural world of the 21st century where the BDS movement has been successful in convincing international artists not to perform in Israel. One of its most vociferous leaders is former Pink Floyd band-member Roger Waters, who works tirelessly on this aim. The movement has also pursued banning the performances of emblematic Israeli groups such as Batsheva Dance Company in US and European venues.

Our Common Destiny

Although many Jews in the Diaspora denounce the State of Israel in the name of its official policies, the various boycott movements make no such distinctions. For them, a Jew is a Jew. A good Jew is a dead Jew, as frequently appears in anti-Semitic propaganda at Western universities where those groups operate, and a good Israel is the one that is wiped off the map and erased from reality, as our enemies openly wish.

Getting involved in the political arena does not guarantee any special protection either. The salient presence of Jews among the two leading US parties may be counter-productive at times of trouble. Jews were always the scapegoats and nothing can guarantee that this will not be the case in the future by any of the political forces.

To understand the hatred against Jews, we need to look at the origin and purpose of the Jewish nation. Our Patriarch Abraham, as narrated in The Midrash (Beresheet Rabbah), saw his countryfolk in ancient Babylon arguing and quarrelling, so he tried to bring them closer together to make peace, and anyone who resonated with that message of unity above all differences was welcome to join him.

Abraham’s efforts toward unity and brotherly love are also described by Maimonides, the great 12th century scholar, as the foundation of the Jewish people: “And since [people in the places where he wandered] gathered around him and asked him about his words, he taught everyone…until he brought them back to the path of truth. Finally, thousands and tens of thousands assembled around him, and they are the people of ‘the house of Abraham.” The people of Israel was declared a nation only after they pledged to be “as one man with one heart,” at the foot of Mt. Sinai, as RASHI writes in his Commentary on Exodus, 19:2. When we received the Torah, the light, we were also commanded to be “a light unto the nations,” to spread our unique method of connection to enlighten the rest of the world and serve as an example that shows the positive effects of unity.

This unique example of how our nation was forged after it transcended different backgrounds and beliefs to become one people is what makes us unique and special. But being special does not mean looking down at others from above; it means to serve others. Delivering that example of unity under the premise “love your neighbor as yourself” is what the nations of the world demand from us. They instinctively feel Jews hold the keys for peace and prosperity in the world, and their complaint for not sharing it is manifested as anti-Semitism.

Infamous American anti-Semite, Henry Ford, manifested in his composition The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem, what seems to be a paradox about his perception of Jews and their role: “The whole prophetic purpose, with reference to [the people of] Israel, seems to have been the moral enlightenment of the world through its agency.”

Similarly, a senior member of the Russian Parliament, before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Vasily Shulgin, a self-proclaimed anti-Semite, wrote in his book, What We Don’t Like About Them…, the demand for Jews to lead humanity:

“Let them … rise to the height to which they apparently 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.’”

Clearly, in order to implement this leadership role, we Jews first need to unite above our differences. Even the tiniest desire to do that, within the sphere of the collective, will draw a positive force that will permeate the world, and hatred against us will vanish.

In the words of the book, Sefat Emet (True Language):

“The children of Israel became guarantors to correct the entire world … everything depends on the children of Israel. To the extent that they correct themselves [and become united], all creations follow them. As the students follow the teacher, the whole of creation follows the children of Israel.”

In a nutshell, the increasing pressure against Jews and the State of Israel is a calling for us to come together and ask essential questions: Who are we? Why is the world obsessed with hating us? Where are we headed?

As Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag wrote during WWII in his 1940 paper, The Nation:

“It is also clear that the enormous effort that the rugged road ahead requires of us mandates unity that is as solid and as hard as steel from all parts of the nation, without exception. If we do not come out with united ranks toward the mighty forces that are standing on our way to harm us, we will find that our hope is doomed in advance.”

From that common ground and goal, Jews must embark on a shared path. Instead of being hunted by the tragedies of the past resembled in today’s reality, we are required to take all those signals as an impetus to take our people’s vision and fate in our own hands, becoming one unified and thriving nation for this, and for future generations.

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My article in Newsmax: “The Hague vs. Israel: The Tribunal Should Be Within Us”

The recommendation to launch an investigation by The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against Israel for alleged war crimes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is another proof that the Jewish nation is once again singled out among all the nations in the world by international organizations. However, if I were to be questioned at the ICC in The Hague, I would not have anything bad to say against the prosecutors, but rather, I would explain to them and to ourselves why the world hates Israel and what it is that we are guilty of.

I would run a quick survey of the system of creation from beginning to end and demonstrate that “no calamity comes to the world but for Israel” (Yevamot 63). The reason for the hostility against us is not because of the “occupation” and has nothing to do with our necessity for self-defense, but is because we fail to execute what the world needs from us: to connect and provide the world with the system for ultimate connection.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the nation of Israel was created differently from all other nations of the world. Ours is a nation established to serve as a source for humanity’s future connection, of every nation in the world. It is why Israel was created and it is our destiny. Moreover, it is what the world subconsciously expects of us.

However, the current situation is that the ego in us increases daily, widening the divide between us to a point of hatred, a hatred that must be covered with love.

Even the issue of the world’s hypocrisy for singling out Israel is out of place.

While it is true that Syria is using chemical weapons against innocent civilians, Turkey mercilessly attacks the Kurds, and Iran shoots demonstrators indiscriminately, if we were to delve into understanding the system of creation, we would see that even these cases are a result of the spiritual negligence of the people of Israel.

We are the ones who fail to rise above the hatred and rejection between us, and the nations of the world reflect the state of our relations. We are not only responsible for this world, but for all the worlds, for better or for worse.

Even if a predator attacks another animal, it is our responsibility; even if one insect kills another it is because of us, i.e., our negligence to awaken the positive force between us that can balance the natural negative force of the ego that is revealed. As it is written, “Love will cover all transgressions.”

Only the balance between hatred and love can stabilize the world.

As long as we are divided and bring no equilibrium to humanity, we the people of Israel, have no right to this land on the shores of the Mediterranean. In his commentary on the first verse in the Torah, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (RASHI) writes:

“If the nations of the world say to Israel: ‘You are robbers who have occupied the lands of seven peoples,’ they respond unto them: ‘All the land is of the Almighty, he created it and gave it to whom he saw fit. Of his volition He gave it and of his volition He took it from them and gave it to us.'”

The world does not care what goes on among the people of Israel. They hate us and want to see an end to the Israeli enterprise. On the other hand, we are weak and lack an ideological basis and understanding of the conditions upon which we exist here in the land of Israel, and what our role is vis-à-vis the world. Therefore, it is not about a few leaders or political parties who are guilty, nor about war crimes. In truth, we are all guilty for all crimes in the world.

We are a stiff-necked people. Instead of learning how to implement the principles of connection that are embedded in the system of creation, we behave like a small child who is being punished by his mother until he begins to listen and does what is expected of him.

He calls her a bad mother, but just as in our upbringing, there is no choice: we have no option whether or not we should carry out our role.

Over and over again, we have to hear the explanation of our sages until the message filters through and the formula reawakens the desensitized-yet-integral part of us: If we will only get closer and unite among us, we will change the relations that affect the balance of the entire system. We will then be bestowed with honor and appreciation from the world, as is written, “And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord.” (Isaiah 14:2)
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The Times of Israel published my new article “How to Reconstruct a World in Pieces and Attain Peace”

The world is entering a new year, carrying on its shoulders a heavy weight. An unprecedented number of people worldwide, around 168 million, will need urgent humanitarian assistance and protection in 2020 due to global crises and conflicts, according to the United Nations’ overview for this year and beyond. Why should we continue repeating the same vicious cycle? Can we do no better as humanity? We certainly can and should. We just need to know how.

The number and intensity of highly violent conflicts has risen for the first time in four years, according to UN officials. One in 45 people are expected to require humanitarian aid with even the most basic needs such as food, shelter and healthcare as a result of the world’s instability.

Following every war, research is undertaken, books and plays are written all about the aspiration and desire for peace, but it seems to be a pipe dream. After all, what is peace? Is it the opposite of war, or something else? A penetrating examination of the term “peace” from the perspective of the wisdom of Kabbalah sheds new light on this important goal and how to achieve it.

Following difficult conflicts, wars and much suffering, people have no choice but to concede to ceasefires, armistices and peace treaties. And then it is always a question how long they will last till the next outburst.

The essence of the term “peace” in Hebrew (Shalom) means wholeness (Shalem). Is the mere absence of war sufficient to experience wholeness? Certainly not. A deeper analysis of the term “peace” brings us to the common root of our nature, the root from which we split into male and female parts, myriads of species, and diverse nations.

Today, we number billions of people. We perceive ourselves as separate from each other, and often not even at peace with ourselves. The lack of understanding concerning how to arrive at peace is humanity’s central problem.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches that nature develops us to a state of absolute peace. However, in order to approach peace, we need to recognize the global principle: nature is an integral system where all its components are mutually interdependent.

We humans are the sole violators of the delicate balance on the planet with our narrow egoism, i.e., the desire to benefit ourselves at the expense of others, with which we harm humanity, the world and nature. It is interesting to note that as far back as 1930, Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) recognized the interconnected state of the world:

“Do not be surprised if I mix together the well-being of a particular collective with the well-being of the whole world, because indeed, we have already come to such a degree that the whole world is considered one collective and one society.” (Yehuda Ashlag, “Peace in the World”)

Preparation for a state of absolute peace will require a comprehensive societal educational investment for many years to come. It will then be possible to actively start changing human behavior and the state of the world.

This is where the wisdom of Kabbalah’s knowledge of nature can help. It teaches how to bring about an internal change in human nature, which strengthens the will to reach the state of peace. What is needed on the way is the learning of how to work properly with the feelings of hostility that have separated people and nations. Just like a couple that makes up following a quarrel, it is precisely in uniting above the great hatred that a stronger connection can be built.

Proverbs (10:12) teaches us that, “love will cover all transgressions,” and it is the same in nature. Everything is defined by its opposite: light and darkness, heat and cold, sweet and bitter, and so on. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov explained, “The essence of peace is to try to make peace between two opposites.” (Likutei Etzot, “Peace”)

The peace process depends on the development of advanced connections between opposites, the incorporation of opposites to such an extent that a new perception emerges in which there is no longer “them and us,” but a commonality that grows and develops. There are no borders in a state of absolute peace; all exist as a common area and it makes no difference where one is. Government offices, taxes, harvests, resources, budgets—all become the property of the people who have united in peace, and thus they earn a new level of prosperity.

Nothing is more important than the genuine peace toward which human development is headed, and Kabbalah provides a method to do it swiftly and pleasurably, with growing awareness, understanding and sensation. We need only implement it.

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The Times of Israel published my new article “Tackling the Question of Jewish Identity After the Jersey City Shooting”

The eternal discussion of who is a Jew recently became revamped when the attacker of the recent deadly shooting at a Jewish supermarket in Jersey City was found to be connected to the Black Hebrew Israelites.

Who Is a Jew?

If we examine Israel’s original sources, we find that Jews are a nation unlike other nations. That is, the Jewish people share no biological roots, but rather emerged from unifying based on a spiritual idea: the need to love and unite above all differences. The first instance of this unification was around 3,800 years ago in ancient Babylon where Abraham the Patriarch guided diverse groups of people to achieve such unity.

It means that if Jews unite based on this spiritual idea, and organize themselves under the supreme value “love your neighbor as yourself,” then they can be considered as a nation. Likewise, there is no basis for them to be called a nation if they make no effort to connect above the inborn selfish human nature.

When the group gathered by Abraham aspired to unite, they discovered that they hated each other, and upon the hatred, without eliminating it, learned how to love. In other words, unification was only achieved through the principle, “love will cover all transgressions.”

Why Does Hatred Appear When We Try to Come Closer to Each Other?

As in any natural system, interaction of opposites vitalizes and sustains the system. For instance, we cannot have day without night, left without right, and positive without negative. Unity is achieved through balance between the opposite forces. Therefore, when we take steps toward unification, we need not erase the hatred that surfaces, but instead, rise above it.

Mutual complementarity is key to the process of uniting. It is less like a young couple who quarrel out of unfamiliarity and relax, and more like a mature couple who have lived together for many years, who recognize each other’s weaknesses and know how to complement their differences of opinion. Therefore, similar to the balance between spouses, there should be balance between various factions of the nation, and between all nations of the world, as is written in Likutey Halachot (Assorted Rules): “The essence of life and existence, and correction of all of creation is in people of different opinions integrating together in love, unity and peace.”

Why Is There Growing Pressure on the Jewish People Today?

Today, there is growing pressure upon us to realize our role: to unite and spread love and peace to humanity, i.e., to be a “light unto the nations.” If we fail to repair our connections and reach the balance in question, we prevent the positive unifying force from flowing to the rest of the world. And when we block the positive force from reaching other people, negativity flares up specifically toward us in the form of anti-Semitism. Such hatred can lead to outbursts of violence, as we saw in the horrific murders in Jersey City, and in many other Jewish-targeted shootings, stabbings, crimes and threats.

As for defining who is a Jew, the Hebrew word for “Jew” (Yechudi) derives from the word for “unity” (yichud). By uniting, Jews attract the positive unifying force dwelling in nature, the force that is necessary for rising above hatred and achieving balanced relations.

Therefore, the remedy that can protect us from trouble is the power of unity. It is as Rabbi Kalman Kalonymus wrote in Maor vaShemesh (Light and Sun), that “when there are love, unity and friendship between each other in Israel, no calamity can come upon them.”

Similarly, the ADMOR of Gur, stressed in Sefat Emet (True Tongue): “Israel’s unity induces great salvations and removes all the slanderers.”

By rekindling the unification we cultivated centuries ago, and sharing Abraham’s method of connection with everyone, we can guarantee a happy and peaceful life for everyone in the world. It is my hope that we can realize this method sooner rather than later, as by learning how to positively connect above hatred, we will spare much suffering to ourselves and to the entirety of humanity.

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The Times of Israel published my new article “When Jews Become Anti-Semites”

Is speaking a foreign language in Paris dangerous? Apparently it is not, unless the language is Hebrew. That was the recent experience of an Israeli student, victim of a brutal attack at the Paris metro by two unknown perpetrators who left him unconscious after he was heard speaking Hebrew on the phone. The assault was “clearly motivated by the hate of Israel alone,” said Meyer Habib, member of the French National Assembly, the same body that days ago passed a resolution equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.

For a moment it seemed that with such a bill, truth had won, but the ongoing anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli sentiments prove that one cannot rest on laurels. The next step is to secure our lives against the constant threats toward us. A day before the vote, 127 Jewish intellectuals, including Israelis, published an open letter in the Le Monde newspaper against the law equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. The Paris metro attack is symbolic of how their beautiful words failed to help them, but the letter exposes our true nature: the Jew can become his own greatest enemy.

What Is the Line Between Criticism of Israel and Anti-Zionism?

There is no problem with criticism of Israel, but not the venomous criticism which calls for its destruction. Total freedom of expression for anybody calling for peace should be allowed, but not peace through annihilation, certainly not through anti-Semitic messaging of which we have had more than enough.

Jews make up less than one percent of France’s population and yet, nearly 40 percent of the violent acts linked to religion or race were committed against Jews in 2017. Last year, anti-Semitic attacks rose by 75 percent. France’s interior minister has described these manifestations as hostility that is “spreading like poison,” forcing entire families to emigrate.

In earnest, what brings educated people to act illogically? How is it possible that Jews who live either in Israel or abroad identify with organizations that promote delegitimization of their home? How do they envision their future?

BDS (the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement) is already a known phenomenon among international organizations, especially in those acting against the Jewish people and the State of Israel. It includes Jewish and Israeli activists, who are the biggest anti-Semites. Why is it so? The reason is that they try to break free from fulfilling their destined role to be “a light unto the nations” and look for ways to erase or hide their roots. Some even think that if they assimilate, they will lose their inherent Jewishness, but according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is impossible. Jews will forever remain Jews. Their Jewish spiritual root is eternal.

As hatred for this uncontrolled, and even unwanted status awakens in the Jew, so does his or her hatred for the essence of the people of Israel. It is an animosity that people in general cannot explain the root of to themselves, but it is strong enough to motivate them to act aggressively against the Jewish people.

Jews vs Jews: The Struggle With the Spiritual Root

Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) writes that, “In every person, even secular, there is an unknown spark that demands unification with God. When it sometimes awakens, it awakens one to know God, or deny God, which is one and the same.” (“The Solution”)

That unknown spark Baal HaSulam refers to is called the “point in the heart.” It exists in every person in the world, but it is more salient among the Jews and less evident among the nations of the world. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that the heart is the amalgamation of self-love or egoism, and the point in the heart is the unique spark aspiring for the love of others. As the ego grows, so does the tension between it and the point in the heart, and thus, dislike and even hatred for the Jews surges in the person. Moreover, the internal relations between the point in the heart and the heart are reflected on the outside in the relations between Israel and the nations of the world. We thus are approaching a situation where the nations of the world without exception will rise against Israel.

Therefore, there are Jews who feel deprived and pressured by anti-Semitism or anti-Israeli sentiments, and in order to escape the hatred toward them, they live in different countries around the world, trying to hide their Jewish identity. Gradually, they themselves become Jew-haters, either consciously or unconsciously. There are others who, instead of leaving Israel, remain in the country, make a living, study, teach, and establish a family, but rejection of their true identity remains in their hearts. Examples of such anti-Semitic Jews living in Israel are the ones who sign public letters of support for anti-Semitic organizations from their offices in academia.

If the people in academia worry about the fate and situation of Israel, they would do better to open the history books and the authentic sources of the Jewish nation, to understand the role of the people of Israel, which is to unite and pass on the method of unification to humanity. However, they lack awareness of their noble role, and the height of their responsibility to the world.

When Jews recognize the importance and urgency to become united above what separates them and spread this unity to the world, anti-Semitism will disappear and all boycotts, demonstrations and accusations against Jews will stop. In its place, there will be a newfound radiance, plenitude and fulfillment that spreads through the Jewish people to the entirety of humanity, inverting anti-Semitic sentiment into its opposite: support, respect and encouragement of the Jewish people.
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