The American portal The Jewish Voice published my article “A Kabbalistic Take on Ronald Lauder’s Blessing for the Jewish New Year“:
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Canadian magazine Shelanu in Hebrew, published my article “Every Day Is a Holiday. Calendar of Spiritual Travel”:
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The Jerusalem Post published my new article “Rosh HaShana Is An Opportunity For Change”
Considering the disasters America has been through this past month, it seems like Rosh HaShana couldn’t come at a better time. Actually, the words “Rosh HaShana,” come from the Hebrew words “Rosh Hashinui”—the beginning of change. We can only hope that the change will be for the better.
Jewish holidays are known for their culinary treats. But besides food and family gatherings, Jewish festivals have profound spiritual meanings. Rosh HaShana is not just the beginning of the Hebrew calendar; it is also a symbol of renewal. This is when we begin to scrutinize ourselves and determine how we want to improve ourselves.
Tasting from a fish’s head means that we want to be the head and not the tail. This implies that we want to determine our path for ourselves and not follow the herd blindly. We eat pomegranate seeds, and each seed represents a desire we have discovered within us, and which we want to learn how to use for the sake of others rather than selfishly. And the apple we eat symbolizes the sin (of self-centeredness), which we mitigate (sweeten) with honey, again symbolizing our desire to learn how to use even that primordial temptation altruistically.
The people of Israel coined the saying, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and to various degrees implemented it until the ruin of the Second Temple. All of our festivals symbolize milestones along the path of transformation from the evil inclination—namely egoism—to altruism, where we love our neighbors as ourselves.
Our sages tell us that the only reason why the Second Temple was ruined is unfounded hatred. That is, when egoism takes over, we fail and fall. We were established as a nation only when we vowed to unite “as one man with one heart.” When we broke that vow, we were dispersed and exiled.
No less important than our vow to be as one was the commandment we were given to be a light unto nations. But in the absence of the bond between us, what light do we emit? When we are united and we show it, we become a light unto nations and realize our vocation as Jews.
Today, mistrust and alienation prevail on all levels of humanity—from the interpersonal through the social, national, and to the international. Clearly, we are growing increasingly alienated from each other—the opposite of the unity and brotherly love that are so vital for survival in a world where everyone depends on everyone else.
The more we pursue the current trend, the greater the pressure that will be applied on the Jews. Deep down, the world remembers that the Jews once knew the secret to proper human connection. When that memory surfaces, it is vented out as accusations that we are warmongers, manipulators, and similar tirades that have become part and parcel of the anti-Jewish lingo.
Although we, too, are disconnected, we are the ones who can and must rekindle our unity. We may still be very far from it, but at least we can recognize the indispensability of this unjustly derogated value: unity.
Therefore, this Rosh HaShana is an opportunity to really make it Rosh Hashinui, the beginning of change. Here and now we should begin to change how we relate to one another. As we gather with family and friends, we must make it a point to rise above our differences and find the common goal of unity. And when we do so, the previously mentioned woes will be no more, since they all derive from one and only origin—our separation.
This year, let us spread some honey on our alienation and sweeten it with caring and concern for one another. After the recent tragedies America has suffered, it could sure use some mutual concern and mutual responsibility. And really, unity is all we need. Unity is all that the world needs, and is the key to our lasting happiness.
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The largest portal Newsmax published my new article “How to Cope With the Emotional Toll of Irma“
When the winds calm, power returns, and food and gas are available again, there will still be people who need help. Besides the obvious physical cost of the storm, there is another aftermath that survivors will have to handle. Many of these people will have lost everything dear to them to the wind and the water: their memories, pictures, and memorabilia of loved ones who passed away. No insurance can cover this. There is only one recompense for the emotional loss that such people have endured—new human connections. Forging companionships and solidarity of residents is crucial to restoring the vitality of every disaster ravaged community.
Today, most people are so detached from one another that when they need real friends to help them, many have no one to turn to. Despite our advanced technological means of communication, it is growing harder for us to communicate with one another.
We may think that self-absorption is the personal problem of the self-absorbed, but it is anything but! In truth, the quality of human connections has immense consequences on all of society, and ultimately on the entire planet.
Acclaimed Prof. Nicholas Christakis described human society as a type of “superorganism.” Everything we do, say, and even think, he explains, ripples through society and incites similar emotions, ideas, thoughts, and actions in other people.
We can prove this by this very simple experiment. Within our families, with a few friends, or even with just one friend, if this is all we have, dedicate one day to thinking not about what I want and what will please me, but about what the person or people with whom we are experimenting feel. They, in turn, will do the same toward us.
I can testify that the results will astound you. When everyone focuses on making everyone else happy, it makes life better all around. No one is left out.
If we conduct this type of experiment on a large scale, it will echo through the country and change the way we think about society and how we relate to other people. When masses of people focus on bonding, it makes recovery from trauma, any trauma, infinitely more rapid, effective, and lasting.
The current structure of society, where people are disconnected and mistrustful of each other, makes it much harder on them to endure traumas such as natural disasters. Even day-to-day life is far more difficult when your social life can be encapsulated into a 5-inch communication box, a.k.a. “smartphone.”
The current wave of natural disasters is not the last one, nor is it the worst. If we neglect our social ties, the next wave might prove too challenging to cope with, and who knows what social toll it will take.
Therefore, we can turn the current bane into a boon. Since tens of thousands of people are already concentrated in storm shelters, we can turn them into “connection centers.” Instead of waiting for the all-clear sound to go home, people can busy themselves forming friendships that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. The workshop that I shared in last week’s column demonstrates how easy it is to connect. All we need is to sit together in small groups and share these four things: 1) the most emotional moment for us in this event, 2) if and how Irma has shaped our attitude toward other people, 3) how we hope to express this new attitude, and 4) the benefits of sharing our experiences and thoughts in this manner.
Beyond the social benefit, there is another, more elusive prize to positive human connections: their impact on the environment. Social isolation undermines our emotional and mental stability, and drives us to look for compensation for our lack of human companionship. When this condition affects hundreds of millions of people, it affects everything, including even the environment.
The superorganism that Christakis describes is not confined to human society. Just like our own bodies consist of all levels of existence—mineral, vegetative, and animate—the superorganism of humanity is part of an even larger system that is our planet. When someone’s kidneys fail, it is the whole person who is sick, not just his or her kidneys. Likewise, when humanity is sick, it makes all of Earth unwell.
The symptoms may seem unrelated, but just as a headache doesn’t mean I have a problem with my head, Earth is showing its symptoms in ways we don’t understand. But what we do know is that we are an ailing society, and curing it will cure the entire superorganism we all live in. For this reason, if we want to abate natural disasters, we must heal our own society, or more precisely, our ill connections with one another.
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The largest Israeli newspaper הארץ (Haaretz) published a report on the world kabbalistic congress All As One, held in Tel Aviv on 02/21-23/17 “At the Kabbalah Congress, I Found My Ego”:
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The largest portal Newsmax published my new article “Restoring Nature’s ‘Sanity’ Begins With Restoring Our Own Connections“
While I am writing this, reports of hurricane Irma’s devastation are still pouring in. Clearly, nature has flipped. Scientists have been warning for years that global warming means stronger storms and increasingly frequent freak weather. But knowing this will happen and seeing it unfolding are two different things.
But this column is not about disasters. It is about hope and about taking action.
In my previous column, I wrote that our main problem is not natural disasters, but our alienation from each other. I suggested a practical way to create positive conversation and shared a link to a free download of my book Completing the Circle, which, among other things, offers connection games and ideas for conversations that help people connect.
A few days later, I learned that two young men, who happen to also be studying with me, initiated such a discussion with survivors of hurricane Harvey, and even filmed the conversation. If you want to have hope in the future of America, you owe it to yourself to watch the abbreviated documentation. These beautiful, intelligent young people did not know each other prior to that meeting, and judging by their appearances, chances are their paths would never have converged were it not for Harvey’s devastation. Yet, these millennials prove by their very conduct that solidarity throughout America is possible.
This horrific hurricane season will be over in a couple of months, and the fires in Western United States will be extinguished. If we put this menacing summer behind us and go on as before, we’ll have wasted a chance to make a real change.
One of the participants in the filmed discussion said, “The mindset that we have, everybody here sitting at this table, hopefully they pass it forward.” Another one added that when “there is only one goal, to help people, it restores my faith in humanity seeing everyone working together hand to hand … making connection that I believe wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for such a devastating situation, and it’s sad to say that. Hopefully, the media portrays that and shows that people can come together even without a time of need and that we’re not separated by belief, religion, or any of the other factors.”
Naturally, such isolated initiatives cannot change the face of the country. But this is nonetheless a proof of concept, which is why I’m sharing it here. The authorities can and should utilize people’s currently enhanced sensitivity and direct them toward seeing the power of connection.
After less than 45 minutes of discussion, the participants, who as I said, did not know each other prior to meeting, felt so close that they exchanged emails and phone numbers. If it’s that easy, given the right mode of discussion, why shouldn’t every American benefit from this?
In fact, human connection is more impactful than we think. In the early 1970s, renowned physicist Dennis Gabor said, “Till now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature.” But instead of focusing on human nature, we are looking for ways to fix nature itself, and in doing so, we’re missing the whole point. Our own ill-will causes every problem in the world. Global warming, financial meltdowns that impoverish millions of people, war, famine, depression, substance abuse, inequality, and racism are all man-made disasters. If we fixed our ill-will, which causes all these crises, we wouldn’t have a worry in the world.
And the way to fix ill-will is by establishing positive human connections. This is why I am so adamant about discussions like the one I mention here.
There comes a time when you must look in the mirror and say, “I’m done blaming others for my problems; I have to take responsibility.” As a society, we are at that point. Now is our time to start “practicing” positivity toward each other. It is a conscious effort that may feel a little unnatural at first, but as we all know, practice makes perfect. And in this case, it takes very little practice to make huge progress, just look at that video.
If every person in your community attended just one or two such meetings a week, within a month the whole neighborhood would change. Going to the supermarket would mean going to see friends because you would know other shoppers, or you would know their friends, who would introduce you to their friends, and you would come home smiling. In such an atmosphere, it will be natural to care for one another and society will easily find its balance.
In such a caring space, the rest of our problems will sort themselves out, which will affect our entire environment, from human society all of nature. As it turns out, restoring nature’s sanity begins with our positive connections.
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The Toronto newspaper The Russian Canadian published the second part of my article “You Are Where Your Thoughts Are.”
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Related Material:
The Russian Canadian: “You Are Where Your Thoughts Are.“
The online newspaper Continent published my article “Social Networks As A Tool For Creating Internal Links“:
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