The Jerusalem Post published my new article “Will The US Become A Nation Of the Idle Young?“

At a time of high unemployment and reluctance to work, basic income contingent upon nurturing solidarity is paramount.

A poll recently published by the Census Bureau has found that in 2015 “1 in 3 young people, or about 24 million lived in their parents’ home.” The poll also found that “In 2005, the majority of young adults lived in their own household … in 35 states. A decade later, by 2015, the number of states where the majority of young people lived independently fell to just six.” But perhaps most alarming is this finding: “Of young people living in their parents’ home, 1 in 4 are idle, that is they neither go to school nor work. This figure represents about 2.2 million 25- to 34-year- olds.”

The bottom line is this: Many young people can’t be bothered to work these days. They have no desire to sustain themselves independently, and the trend is only accelerating.

These millennials are not inept or unintelligent. Their problem is not that work is hard to find; they simply have no interest in finding any. They have lost interest in what this world has to offer so they put their lives on hold. Many of them, for instance, consciously choose to stay home and play video games rather than to go job hunting.

The impressive unemployment rate tells a very partial story as millions of jobless people have dropped off the radar, but they haven’t disappeared. These people are telling us that there is a different story developing under the surface. The old era is ending and a new one is dawning, and we had better be prepared. What we are witnessing is neither the end of the liberal era nor the end of the industrial era or the end of the democratic era. We are seeing the end of the egoistic era. The question is: “Will we go through the transition peacefully or painfully?”

A Nation of the Idle Young

During his recent Harvard Commencement Speech, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, “called on the need to consider universal basic income for Americans” I have written several times that in the coming years, providing a basic income to all will become a necessity.

However, even if we provide everyone a basic income, video games and cheap cannabis will not numb people for long. It is human nature to search for a purpose, and if people cannot find meaning in their lives, they will turn toward the extremes. This is already happening to a degree, as many young people are undergoing radicalization in their quest for meaning and are becoming hazards to society (see the recent Manchester terror attack). Without a solution, the trend will spread and violence and terrorism will make normalcy obsolete.

A Drop of Sweet, Poisonous Nectar

There is a way to shift seamlessly and painlessly from the self-centered modus-operandi we have nurtured thus far into the new era. However, in order to do this we must understand the nature of the era at our doorstep and how we should approach it so as to reap its potential benefits and avoid its pitfalls.

When I first came to study with my Kabbalah teacher, Rav Baruch Ashlag (the RABASH), he introduced me to an allegory written by his father, Rav Yehuda Ashlag, known as Baal HaSulam (Author of the Ladder) for his Sulam (Ladder) commentary on The Book of Zohar. In his introduction to Tree of Life, Baal HaSulam wrote that the ego is like an angel holding a drawn sword with a drop of sweet, poisonous nectar at its tip. We humans have no choice but to open our mouths and drink the sweet nectar until it puts us to death.

This is our current situation. The drawn sword is our egoism, which threatens that terrible things will happen to us if we do not tend only to ourselves. It gives us brief moments of contentment in life, which are the nectar, but these moments do nothing other than convince us to crave more of the nectar. Eventually, we become so self-absorbed that we lose all touch with reality, as though we have died.

Baal HaSulam is not the only one familiar with this trait of human nature. All of our sages knew this, since the beginning of the history of our people until approximately the beginning of the 20th century, and some even later. Dozens of them even wrote about it, explaining what we need to do in order to break loose from the shackles of the ego. However, until recently, it was not clear that this was what humanity needed. Now that people are losing touch with reality by the millions, there is a clear need to offer a practical way to shift from the nectar of egoism into the new incentive for existing—the age of positive connections.

Instead of Fighting Separation, Nurture Giving and Connection

Of all the nations on this planet, only one has ever had the privilege of living under a different paradigm than an ego-based existence. This nation, the Jewish people, emerged from the group that Abraham the Patriarch established when he saw his townspeople of Ur of the Chaldeans growing perilously self-centered.

The egoism that Abraham noticed was not exclusive to the people of his hometown. All over ancient Babylon (of which Ur of the Chaldeans was a part), people became progressively more selfish. The book Pirkei De Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter 24) writes that when Abraham walked by the Tower of Babylon, he saw the growing alienation among its builders. They were so indifferent to each other that “If a man fell and died, they would not pay him any mind. But if a brick fell, they would sit and wail, ‘Woe unto us; when will another come in its place?’” As their alienation grew, the book continues, they “wanted to speak to one another but did not know each other’s language. What did they do? Each took his sword and they fought each other to the death. Indeed, half the world was slaughtered there, and from there they scattered all over the world.”

Realizing that the Babylonians were unable to overcome their egos, Abraham adopted a simple approach: Instead of fighting egoism and separation, nurture giving and connection. This is why to this day Abraham is known as “a man of mercy” and is regarded as the symbol of kindness.

Abraham’s disciples and descendants continued to develop their unity above their growing egos until they forged such tight bonds that they became what the great commentator RASHI termed “as one man with one heart.” Only then, after forging an unprecedented—and to this day unrepeated—unity, Abraham’s descendants were declared a nation.

Moreover, immediately after the Hebrews were declared a nation, they were commanded to be “a light unto nations,” namely with sharing the unique method of connection they had formed with the rest of the world. Over many centuries, the early Jews developed their method by matching their unity with their growing egoism. Every time their egoism prevailed, they strove and bickered with each other. And every time they matched the discord with connection, they rose to new heights of unity. This is why The Book of Zohar (Beshalach) writes, “All the wars in the Torah are for peace and love.”

The Advent of Positive Connections

When the Jews fell into such hatred that they could not overcome with unity, they dispersed and lost their land, the Land of Israel. Since then, and for the past two thousand years, the world has been developing solely on egoistic motives.

The ancient Jews bequeathed to the world the values we still hold dear today. Historian Paul Johnson wrote in A History of the Jews: “To the Jews we owe the idea of equality before the law, both divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of human person; of the individual conscience and so of personal redemption; of collective conscience and so of social responsibility; of peace as an abstract ideal and love as the foundation of justice, and many other items which constitute the basic moral furniture of the human mind.” Regrettably, because these noble notions were all based on self-centered interests, humanity could not establish sustainable social structures that could be implemented in everyday life, at least not until today.

Now that even our egos have exhausted their charm, we have a real chance at reestablishing a society that provides both happiness and meaning to our lives—through positive connections and mutual responsibility.

Now that society can provide each person with a basic income, we can focus on enhancing our connections. Since careers no longer interest young adults, they will look for meaning elsewhere, and deep and lasting meaning can be found only in positive human connections.

This is the secret that Abraham discovered; this is the method that the nation that emerged from him developed and was commanded to pass on; and this is also what contemporary science is discovering. In a famous TED talk titled “The hidden influence of social networks,” acclaimed sociologist Prof. Nicholas Christakis detailed what science has revealed about the impact of human connections. “Our experience of the world depends on the structure of the networks in which we’re residing and on things that ripple and flow through the network. The reason, I think, that this is the case, is that human beings assemble themselves and form a kind of superorganism.”

Contingent Basic Income

In order to transition our focus and awareness from individualism to connection, we need to use people’s increasing free time to undergo training that will help them establish these connections. For this reason, I do not believe that free money is a good idea. Free money means that people will not be committed to their societies, which will exacerbate already prevalent anti-social tendencies. Therefore, I think that basic income should be given only on condition of participation in these trainings.

Through physical and online meetings, and using guided workshops, people will learn to connect above their hatred just as Abraham and his disciples did almost four millennia ago.

Even the most notorious anti-Semite in American history, Henry Ford, recommended in his book The International Jew—the World’s Foremost Problem: “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”

This, indeed, is what we have to do. Governments, municipalities, and other organizations should now engage in forming such trainings for people whose time allows them to participate. Once enrolled, the trainees will no longer be regarded as unemployed or jobless. Instead, they will be regarded as employed individuals whose job is to nurture positive connections in society. In the near future, this form of connection will become the most in- demand product on the market. Positive connections are the basis of every sustainable society; therefore, “production workers” who create this will become invaluable to their communities.

In that regard, The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said in an interview with Tucker Carlson on the Tucker Carlson Tonight show: “Connecting people to people will be a huge job. …I think that the best jobs will be people-to- people jobs. We’re going to see a whole new set of jobs and industries around the heart, around connecting people to people.”

Friedman is right, but without the technology at the basis of this new industry, its products will be flawed. This is where Abraham’s method comes in. In my book Completing the Circle: An empirically proven method for finding peace and harmony in life, I detailed the technology of fostering connection over alienation. This technology is applicable for both individuals and organizations, and is very simple to apply as long as you keep this one rule in mind: Every quarrel emerges only so that we can strengthen our connection. This is the modern interpretation of the words of The Zohar I quoted earlier: “All the wars in the Torah are for peace and love.”

In conclusion, the only remedy for the disintegration of our society is basic income for all, contingent upon participation in making new, positively connected and mutually responsible communities, achieved through trainings that will take us from the egoistic era into the age of positive connections and mutual responsibility peacefully and pleasantly.
[207808]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

In my regular column in Jewish Business News, my new article: “What Our Ancestors Knew That We Don’t, And Why This Is Important Especially Today”

Precisely 50 days after their exodus from Egypt, the people of Israel achieved the level of complete unity and became “as one man with one heart.” In consequence, they received the Torah. Since then, no enemy has ever defeated the Jews except for their hatred for each other. Today, we have no unity and we have no idea what the Torah really is. Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah, is a great opportunity to relearn this vital information, which today can save our lives and restore our nationhood.

To understand the power of our unity, which granted us the Torah, think of our ancient past. The Hebrews conquered Canaan and turned it into the Land of Israel, but then lost due to their disunity and bloodshed. The book Kli Yakar (Commentary on Genesis 26:19), for example, describes “the hatred during the First Temple.” One of the key reasons for the ruin of the First Temple was bloodshed. Clearly, a nation whose members are killing one another is not a role model of unity.

Israel regained sovereignty in the Land of Israel after they united in the Babylonian exile in order to thwart Haman’s intention to execute them. Alas, after building the Second Temple, the Jews fell into internal bickering once more. In the first major instance of internal hostilities, Hellenized Jews fought against the Maccabees and lost. In the second instance, the hatred of Jews for each other became so widespread and intense that the general of the Roman Empire in the Land of Israel, Tiberius Julius Alexander—a Jew whose own father had coated the Temple’s gates with gold—destroyed the Second Temple and set off the final Jewish exile from the Land of Israel.

The Biggest Misconception about the Torah

Throughout the generations, the difference between bane and boon has been determined by our disunity and unity. The driving force that allows us to unite above the bickering, hatred, slander and ill-will is called “Torah,” from the Hebrew word “ohr” (light). The book Mesilat Yesharim (Chapter 5) writes, “This is the meaning of what our sages said (Midrash Rabbah, Eicha, Preface), ‘I wish they left Me but kept My law (Torah),’ for the Light in it reforms it (the evil inclination).” Likewise, the book Maor Eynaim (Parashat Tzav) writes: “With the Torah, a person can struggle with the evil inclination and subdue it because the Light in it reforms it.”

The Babylonian Talmud (Kiddushin 30b) writes that the Creator said, “My sons, I have created the evil inclination, and I have created for it the Torah as a spice.” Similarly, the book Metzudat David (Commentary on Jeremiah, 9:12) explains that Israel lost their land because they fell into the evil inclination once they stopped engaging in the Torah because “the Light in it reforms it.” To be clear about the meaning of “evil inclination,” the Holy Shlah writes in the book In Ten Utterances (“Utterance no. 6”), “The most evil qualities are envy, hatred, greed, and lust, which are the qualities of the evil inclination,” precisely what constitutes our ego.

VIDEO

The Torah, therefore, is not a book. The Torah is a depiction of two contradicting forces—positive and negative, giving and receiving, creation and destruction—whose interactions build and guide our universe. These forces operate in perfect harmony and unity between them and thereby create the universe we live in. When we create the same harmony and unity among us, that force influences us and changes our nature, making us equally harmonious and united. This is why the people of Israel received the Torah only after they united “as one man with one heart” and created that harmony and unity among them. This is also why as long as Israel kept their unity, they had the Torah and were kept safe from harm.

The Talmud writes, “As light protects forever, so Torah protects forever” (Masechet Sotah 21a). The Midrash (Mishley, Portion 2) also states, “The Torah protects one who engages in it.”

When we think of engaging in the Torah, we normally think of delving into the verses and commentaries in the book. This is the biggest misconception about the Torah. In truth, engaging in Torah means strengthening our unity, just as the people of Israel did at the foot of Mt. Sinai. This is why the book Maor Vashemesh (Parashat Yitro) writes, “Obtainment of the Torah is primarily through unity, as in the verse, ‘And Israel encamped there before the mount,’ ‘as one man with one heart,’ and there their filth (evil inclination) ceased.” In Parashat Emor, the book continues, “During the days of the [omer] count, a person should correct the quality of unity, and by this one is rewarded with obtainment of the Torah on the festival of Shavuot, as it is written, ‘And they journeyed from Rephidim and came to the Sinai desert, and Israel encamped there before the mount.’ RASHI interpreted that they were all in one heart as one man and this is why they were rewarded with the Torah.”

The Language of Roots and Branches

When we read in the Torah, the stories in it seem as though they are referring to flesh and blood characters. Perhaps these characters existed in reality, but this is not what the Torah conveys to us. The Torah was given to the people of Israel who lived 3,000 years ago. To them, it was perfectly clear that the Torah speaks of internal forces and how they interact rather than of physical events. However, to understand the Torah correctly, we need to be in the same state as the people of Israel when they received the Torah: united as one man with one heart.

Over time, we have grown increasingly farther from unity. In the end, we sank into unfounded hatred and thereby lost our ability to understand what is written in the Torah. To reconnect us to the reforming light, which is the Torah, new texts needed to be written. These would derive from the Torah, but would be intended to help the people of Israel regain their unity and in this way restore their understanding of the Torah. Rabbi Akiva, who lived toward the end of Israel’s connection with the real Torah, said, “Love your neighbor as yourself is the great rule of the Torah” (Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim, Chapter 9, p 30b). His disciple, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi) wrote The Book of Zohar, which states that it is a commentary on the Torah (Pentateuch). Rashbi’s disciple, Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, was the redactor of another detailed commentary on the Torah—the Mishnah.

Later, as people grew even further from unity and from the perception of the forces that the Torah describes, even the Mishnah required explanations. These explanations were collected in what we called Gemarah or Talmud. Nevertheless, none of these texts speaks of physical events. They describe only the inner forces that make up reality, and the physical depictions of them are mere instruments to reflect what happens on the deeper level.

Rav Yehuda Ashlag, author of the most elaborate commentary on The Book of Zohar since its creation, describes this mode of writing as “the language of roots and branches.” The branches, which are events in our world, describe what is happening at the roots—the realm of forces. In his essay “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Rav Ashlag writes that our sages “have found a set and annotated vocabulary, sufficient to create an excellent spoken language. It enables them to converse with one another of the dealings in the roots by merely mentioning the tangible branch, which is well defined to our corporeal senses.”

Reestablishing Our Nationhood

Approximately 2,000 years ago, when we fell into unfounded hatred and began to hate each other for no apparent reason, separation and alienation took such a hold on us that they completely detached us from the profound perception of reality by which our ancestors lived. Our ancestors received the Torah, namely the profound and comprehensive understanding of reality, through their efforts to unite. Now, in our baffling times, we must do the same. The book Avnei Miluim (Introduction) writes, “This is what our sages meant when they said, ‘And Israel encamped there before the mount,’ all of them ‘as one man with one heart.’ They wish to say that the entire nation united into one man, after which the Giver was compelled to give them the Torah.”

Without unity, we are not a nation, but a collective whose components despise and deride one another. If we want to reestablish our nationhood, and with it, our ancient strength, we must first unite and reconnect with the (real) Torah, just like our ancestors.

In Search of a Role Model

When we received the Torah, the light, we were also commanded to be “a light unto nations,” to spread that light to the rest of the world. Our nation was not created for its own sake but in order to serve as an example, that shows the benefits of unity. As long as we are as hateful of each other as we are today, we are defying our vocation and in the process, denying the world the chance to unite and the understanding of reality that is so vital to our survival in this era of bewilderment.

Had we accepted that our role is to unite and thereby spread to the world the light called Torah, we would have spared ourselves the vast majority of the suffering our nation has experienced since the ruin of the Second Temple. In 1929, Dr. Kurt Fleischer, leader of the Liberals in the Berlin Jewish Community Assembly, argued that “Anti-Semitism is the scourge that God has sent us in order to lead us together and weld us together.” Yet, not only did German Jewry not listen to the call to unity, some even supported anti-Semitism. The Association of German National Jews, for example, supported and voted for Hitler and the Nazi party.

The nations seek our example, but we refuse to give it. Henry Ford, the most prominent proponent of anti-Semitism in America, wrote in his infamous book, The International Jew—the World’s Foremost Problem: “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.” Later in the book, Ford added, “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.” Clearly, as long as we are disunited, the earth cannot be blessed through us.

Our world is changing. Globalization and the internet have irreversibly connected us. But in order to benefit from our connection, we must learn how to do so in a manner that benefits everyone, and not only the exploitative, ruling elite. Such connections are against our nature, but if we exert to unite despite ourselves, we will discover what our ancestors discovered in the Sinai Desert.

This time of the year, when Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah, is right around the corner, let us remember that the true meaning of the Torah is love of others, and let us unite in order to disclose this to ourselves, to the entire world, and thereby be “a light unto nations.”
[207661]

Filed under: New Publications - 2 Comments →

In my regular column in Haaretz, my new article: “What Our Ancestors Knew That We Don’t, and Why This Is Important Especially Today”

Precisely 50 days after their exodus from Egypt, the people of Israel achieved the level of complete unity and became “as one man with one heart.” In consequence, they received the Torah. Since then, no enemy has ever defeated the Jews except for their hatred for each other. Today, we have no unity and we have no idea what the Torah really is. Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah, is a great opportunity to relearn this vital information, which today can save our lives and restore our nationhood.

To understand the power of our unity, which granted us the Torah, think of our ancient past. The Hebrews conquered Canaan and turned it into the Land of Israel, but then lost due to their disunity and bloodshed. The book Kli Yakar (Commentary on Genesis 26:19), for example, describes “the hatred during the First Temple.” One of the key reasons for the ruin of the First Temple was bloodshed. Clearly, a nation whose members are killing one another is not a role model of unity.

Israel regained sovereignty in the Land of Israel after they united in the Babylonian exile in order to thwart Haman’s intention to execute them. Alas, after building the Second Temple, the Jews fell into internal bickering once more. In the first major instance of internal hostilities, Hellenized Jews fought against the Maccabees and lost. In the second instance, the hatred of Jews for each other became so widespread and intense that the general of the Roman Empire in the Land of Israel, Tiberius Julius Alexander—a Jew whose own father had coated the Temple’s gates with gold—destroyed the Second Temple and set off the final Jewish exile from the Land of Israel.

The Biggest Misconception about the Torah

Throughout the generations, the difference between bane and boon has been determined by our disunity and unity. The driving force that allows us to unite above the bickering, hatred, slander, and ill-will is called “Torah,” from the Hebrew word “ohr” (light). The book Mesilat Yesharim (Chapter 5) writes, “This is the meaning of what our sages said (Midrash Rabbah, Eicha, Preface), ‘I wish they left Me but kept My law (Torah),’ for the light in it reforms it (the evil inclination).” Likewise, the book Maor Eynaim (Parashat Tzav) writes: “With the Torah, a person can struggle with the evil inclination and subdue it because the light in it reforms it.”

The Babylonian Talmud (Kiddushin 30b) writes that the Creator said, “My sons, I have created the evil inclination, and I have created for it the Torah as a spice.” Similarly, the book Metzudat David (Commentary on Jeremiah, 9:12) explains that Israel lost their land because they fell into the evil inclination once they stopped engaging in the Torah because “the light in it reforms it.” To be clear about the meaning of “evil inclination,” the Holy Shlah writes in the book In Ten Utterances (“Utterance no. 6”), “The most evil qualities are envy, hatred, greed, and lust, which are the qualities of the evil inclination,” precisely what constitutes our ego.

The Torah, therefore, is not a book. The Torah is a depiction of two contradicting forces—positive and negative, giving and receiving, creation and destruction—whose interactions build and guide our universe. These forces operate in perfect harmony and unity between them and thereby create the universe we live in. When we create the same harmony and unity among us, that force influences us and changes our nature, making us equally harmonious and united. This is why the people of Israel received the Torah only after they united “as one man with one heart” and created that harmony and unity among them. This is also why as long as Israel kept their unity, they had the Torah and were kept safe from harm.

The Talmud writes, “As light protects forever, so Torah protects forever” (Masechet Sotah 21a). The Midrash (Mishley, Portion 2) also states, “The Torah protects one who engages in it.”

When we think of engaging in the Torah, we normally think of delving into the verses and commentaries in the book. This is the biggest misconception about the Torah. In truth, engaging in Torah means strengthening our unity, just as the people of Israel did at the foot of Mt. Sinai. This is why the book Maor Vashemesh (Parashat Yitro) writes, “Obtainment of the Torah is primarily through unity, as in the verse, ‘And Israel encamped there before the mount,’ ‘as one man with one heart,’ and there their filth (evil inclination) ceased.” In Parashat Emor, the book continues, “During the days of the [omer] count, a person should correct the quality of unity, and by this one is rewarded with obtainment of the Torah on the festival of Shavuot, as it is written, ‘And they journeyed from Rephidim and came to the Sinai desert, and Israel encamped there before the mount.’ RASHI interpreted that they were all in one heart as one man and this is why they were rewarded with the Torah.”

The Language of Roots and Branches

When we read in the Torah, the stories in it seem as though they are referring to flesh and blood characters. Perhaps these characters existed in reality, but this is not what the Torah conveys to us. The Torah was given to the people of Israel who lived 3,000 years ago. To them, it was perfectly clear that the Torah speaks of internal forces and how they interact rather than of physical events. However, to understand the Torah correctly, we need to be in the same state as the people of Israel when they received the Torah: united as one man with one heart.

Over time, we have grown increasingly farther from unity. In the end, we sank into unfounded hatred and thereby lost our ability to understand what is written in the Torah. To reconnect us to the reforming light, which is the Torah, new texts needed to be written. These would derive from the Torah, but would be intended to help the people of Israel regain their unity and in this way restore their understanding of the Torah. Rabbi Akiva, who lived toward the end of Israel’s connection with the real Torah, said, “Love your neighbor as yourself is the great rule of the Torah” (Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim, Chapter 9, p 30b). His disciple, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi) wrote The Book of Zohar, which states that it is a commentary on the Torah (Pentateuch). Rashbi’s disciple, Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, was the redactor of another detailed commentary on the Torah—the Mishnah.

Later, as people grew even farther from unity and from the perception of the forces that the Torah describes, even the Mishnah required explanations. These explanations were collected in what we called Gemarah or Talmud. Nevertheless, none of these texts speaks of physical events. They describe only the inner forces that make up reality, and the physical depictions in them are mere instruments to reflect what happens on the deeper level.

Rav Yehuda Ashlag, author of the most elaborate commentary on The Book of Zohar since its creation, describes this mode of writing as “the language of roots and branches.” The branches, which are events in our world, describe what is happening at the roots—the realm of forces. In his essay “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Rav Ashlag writes that our sages “have found a set and annotated vocabulary, sufficient to create an excellent spoken language. It enables them to converse with one another of the dealings in the roots by merely mentioning the tangible branch, which is well defined to our corporeal senses.”

Reestablishing Our Nationhood

Approximately 2,000 years ago, when we fell into unfounded hatred and began to hate each other for no apparent reason, separation and alienation took such a hold on us that they completely detached us from the profound perception of reality by which our ancestors lived. Our ancestors received the Torah, namely the profound and comprehensive understanding of reality, through their efforts to unite. Now, in our baffling times, we must do the same. The book Avnei Miluim (Introduction) writes, “This is what our sages meant when they said, ‘And Israel encamped there before the mount,’ all of them ‘as one man with one heart.’ They wish to say that the entire nation united into one man, after which the Giver was compelled to give them the Torah.”

Without unity, we are not a nation, but a collective whose components despise and deride one another. If we want to reestablish our nationhood, and with it our ancient strength, we must first unite and reconnect with the (real) Torah, just like our ancestors.

In Search of a Role Model

When we received the Torah, the light, we were also commanded to be “a light unto nations,” to spread that light to the rest of the world. Our nation was not created for its own sake, but in order to serve as an example that shows the benefits of unity. As long as we are as hateful of each other as we are today, we are defying our vocation and in the process, denying the world the chance to unite and the understanding of reality that is so vital to our survival in this era of bewilderment.

Had we accepted that our role is to unite and thereby spread to the world the light called Torah, we would have spared ourselves the vast majority of the suffering our nation has experienced since the ruin of the Second Temple. In 1929, Dr. Kurt Fleischer, leader of the Liberals in the Berlin Jewish Community Assembly, argued that “Anti-Semitism is the scourge that God has sent us in order to lead us together and weld us together.” Yet, not only did German Jewry not listen to the call to unity, some even supported anti-Semitism. The Association of German National Jews, for example, supported and voted for Hitler and the Nazi party.

The nations seek our example, but we refuse to give it. Henry Ford, the most prominent proponent of anti-Semitism in America, wrote in his infamous book, The International Jew—the World’s Foremost Problem: “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.” Later in the book, Ford added, “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.” Clearly, as long as we are disunited, the earth cannot be blessed through us.

Our world is changing. Globalization and the internet have irreversibly connected us. But in order to benefit from our connection, we must learn how to do so in a manner that benefits everyone, and not only the exploitative, ruling elite. Such connections are against our nature, but if we exert to unite despite ourselves, we will discover what our ancestors discovered in the Sinai Desert.

This time of the year, when Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah, is right around the corner, let us remember that the true meaning of the Torah is love of others, and let us unite in order to disclose this to ourselves, to the entire world, and thereby be “a light unto nations.”
[207600]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

The Jerusalem Post published my new article “Things That You’re Liable To Read In The Torah – They Ain’t Necessarily So“

Nothing is more valuable than the Torah. Why then have we forgotten that the Torah has nothing to do with meaningless words in printed books, and everything to do with unity?

“It ain’t necessarily so,” sang Sportin’ Life in the opera Porgy and Bess, and added, “The things that you’re liable to read in the Bible—it ain’t necessarily so.” This coming Tuesday, we will celebrate Shavuot, the festival of the granting of the Torah. The majority of non-observant Jews know that the festival includes a meal with plenty of sweet dairy foods. The majority of Jews also know that on this day, way back in time, the Torah was given to the people of Israel.

Yet, very few people know what the Torah really is. As a result, very few understand why we celebrate receiving it. Contrary to what most of us have been taught, the Torah is not a set of rules we must observe in order to appease a fearsome God, nor is it a collection of tales that may or may not have happened.

As we will see below, nothing is more pertinent to our lives than the Torah. Nothing can bring us greater benefit than knowing what the Torah is, what it is for, and how we can use it. When we understand this, we will see that Shavuot is not merely a festival, but an extremely important point in our quest for happiness.

The One Condition

In Masechet Shabbat (31a), the Talmud writes that when a convert asked about the meaning of the Torah, Old Hillel told him unambiguously: “That which you hate, do not do unto your friend; this is the whole of the Torah.” Likewise, Rabbi Akiva—whose disciples composed both The Book of Zohar and the Mishnah—said, “Love your neighbor as yourself is the great rule of the Torah” (Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim, Chapter 9, p 30b).

In order to receive the Torah, Israel united “as one man with one heart” (RASHI—Commentary on Exodus, 19:2) and thereby received a power that elevated them above their egoism and made them love each other as themselves. They did not receive a book. Rather, their unity created the required conditions to be endowed with the power to transcend their selves and unite above their egos, or as King Solomon phrased it in Proverbs (10:12): “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes.”

The book Avnei Miluim (Introduction) writes, “This is what our sages meant when they said, ‘And Israel encamped there before the mount,’ all of them ‘as one man with one heart.’ They wish to say that the entire nation united into one man, after which the Giver was compelled to give them the Torah.”

Throughout the ages, our sages have referred to the transformative power in the Torah as “light.” They stated countless times that the light in the Torah reforms, meaning transforms a person from egoism to love of others. The book Mesilat Yesharim (Chapter 5) writes, “This is the meaning of what our sages said (Midrash Rabbah, Eicha, Preface), ‘I wish they left Me but kept My law (Torah),’ for the light in it reforms it (the evil inclination).” The book Maor Eynaim (Parashat Tzav) writes likewise: “With the Torah, a person can struggle with the evil inclination and subdue it because the light in it reforms it.”

The Babylonian Talmud (Kiddushin 30b) writes that the Creator said, “My sons, I have created the evil inclination, and I have created for it the Torah as a spice.” Similarly, the book Metzudat David (Commentary on Jeremiah, 9:12) explains that Israel lost their land because they fell into the evil inclination once they stopped engaging in the Torah because “the light in it reforms it.” And just so we do not misunderstand the meaning of “evil inclination,” the Holy Shlah writes (In Ten Utterances, “Utterance no. 6”), “The most evil qualities are envy, hatred, greed, and lust, which are the qualities of the evil inclination,” precisely the attributes that constitute our ego.
No Torah Without Unity

When we, the people of Israel, succumbed to the evil inclination and fell into unfounded hatred, we lost far more than the Temple. We lost our ability to use the Torah, the reforming power, in order to rise above our egos. Instead of light, we were left with words whose connection to love of others, mutual responsibility, and unity became hidden from us. In losing that connection, we lost everything that defines Judaism and the people of Israel.

Our ancestors received the reforming light and became a nation only after they pledged to unite “as one man with one heart.” Now, we too must begin to nurture our unity. Precisely because our unfounded hatred is still so profound, we must not wait. Any further delay can cost us heavily in human lives and torments as our world will soon become too immersed in hatred and suspicion to turn back.

Engaging in the Torah does not mean delving into the words of a written book. It means exerting to unite so that our unity covers our hatred, just as we quoted King Solomon above. The book Maor Vashemesh (Parashat Yitro) explains this point with the following words: “Obtainment of the Torah is primarily through unity, as in the verse, ‘And Israel encamped there before the mount,’ ‘as one man with one heart,’ and there their filth (evil inclination) ceased.” In Parashat Emor, the book continues, “During the days of the [omer] count, a person should correct the quality of unity, and by this one is rewarded with obtainment of the Torah on the festival of Shavuot, as it is written, ‘And they journeyed from Refidim and came to the Sinai desert, and Israel encamped there before the mount.’ RASHI interpreted that they were all in one heart as one man and this is why they were rewarded with the Torah.”

The book Likutey Halachot (Assorted Rules) also explains the connection between the Torah and Israel’s unity. In the chapter Hilchot Arev (“Rules of Guarantee”), the book writes, “The root of mutual responsibility extends primarily from the reception of the Torah, when all of Israel were responsible for one another. This is so because at the root, the souls of Israel are regarded as one, for they derive from the origin of the unity. For this reason, all of Israel were responsible for one another upon the reception of the Torah,” namely the reception of the reforming light.

In the chapter Hoshen Mishpat, the book Likutey Halachot emphasizes the connection between the Torah and mutual responsibility: “It is impossible to observe Torah and Mitzvot (commandments),” meaning receive the light that transforms egoism into love of others, “unless through mutual responsibility, when each one is responsible for his friend. For this reason, each one should include himself with the whole of Israel in great unity. Hence, at the time of the reception of the Torah, they immediately became responsible for one another, for as soon as they want to receive the Torah they must merge as one in order to be included in the desire. …Thus, specifically by each being responsible for his friend, they can observe the Torah. Without this, it would have been impossible to receive the Torah whatsoever.”

If We Want to Survive

Today, in the turbulent reality that is our lives, engaging in Torah—meaning nurturing our unity—is not only our key to success; it is the key to our survival as individuals, as Jews, and as a sovereign nation.

Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah, reminds us that only if we unite we will succeed. If not, the Talmud warns in two separate places (Shabbat 88a, Avoda Zarah 2b): “There will it be your burial.”

We must not rely on foreign rulers and the trumpets they sound. Our weapon is unique and cannot be taken away. It hurts no one, but it makes us indestructible. Our weapon is the power of our unity, and the festival of the giving of the Torah is approaching at the perfect time to remind us that now we must use our secret power—the reforming light—that abides in our unity, which is our law, our Torah.
[207551]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

In my regular column in Haaretz, my new article: “A Few Words to the President”

President Trump, I wish you a successful visit to Israel, but your success in office depends on what you do back home.

Dear Mr. President:

Welcome to Israel.

While there is naturally a lot of hype surrounding your visit to Israel, I believe that your supporters at home are eager to see you putting America first. In my view, focusing on home affairs rather than on foreign affairs is key to making your term in office meaningful and effective. One American citizen put it very clearly on “Fox News Insider”: “Remember, the people that elected you are still strongly behind you. We have your back; move forward. Do the things you promised you would do, and we’re all going to be great together.”

Joblessness in America is a constant concern, as tens of millions are living on various forms of government benefits. Such permanent inactivity is a recipe for trouble. Prolonged idleness creates crime, violence, substance abuse, and can ravage entire communities. Additionally, solidarity among Americans is at an all-time low as politics creates factions and frictions within society that impede every effort for improvement. At times, it seems as though the very nationhood of the American people is at risk.

Such challenges require innovative thinking and bold leadership. In my view, America needs a nationwide program to strengthen communities and deepen the solidarity among the American people. The program would consist of two interdependent elements that together will guarantee both the livelihood of all Americans and their national solidarity.

To guarantee people’s livelihoods, some sort of Universal Basic Income (UBI) is required in this program. However, it must not be left at that. A permanent income that does not require commitment on the part of the beneficiaries will render people inept for work and will inhibit their ability to foster healthy social ties. This will turn them into hazards to society.

Therefore, reception of UBI benefits must be contingent upon partaking in courses and workshops conducted under specific rules designed to invoke trust, connection, and reciprocity. These workshops are part of a method called Integral Education (IE), which has proven itself successful numerous times over many years, and in countless places around the world, including the US, Europe, Israel, and Russia.

IE does not restrict itself to workshops. It also provides a package of practical tools for handling emotional and social crises, and includes learning about the history of the country, state, and city where people live, so as to make participants feel connected to their local neighborhoods and to the US society as a whole. IE makes people feel that solidarity and a sense of community create more value for them than isolation and alienation.

IE can be provided to millions of people online at minimal cost. People can participate from home or at public venues such as community centers. While facilitators will still be required in classrooms, professional instruction can be given online by a handful of trained professionals from one central location.

The decrease in violence and crime, and the increase in national cohesion and positive social engagement following the IE program will drastically reduce crime and violence levels, and will slash the prevalence of substance abuse. These transformations will save vast amounts of government and municipal resources, making the IE program exceptionally lucrative.

Beyond the economic value, IE transforms communities by creating an ambience of friendliness, trust, mutual responsibility, and strong engagement in pro-social activities.

Mr. President, as a pragmatic individual, I believe you should focus on America and do what is best for the American society, as you have clearly stated in your election campaign. Implementing a nationwide IE program will turn America into a role model of social stability and national solidarity. Or, to use your words, it will “Make America great again.”

With best wishes for a successful visit and a safe return home,

Michael Laitman
[207265]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

The Jerusalem Post published my new article “A Memo To President Trump“

President Trump, I wish you a pleasant visit to Israel. Still, in my view, your success in office depends on an effective implementation of the America First policy.

Dear Mr. President:

Welcome to Israel.

The Israeli public awaits your arrival with great anticipation, just as your supporters back home are eager to see the fulfillment of your America First policy. For this reason, I truly believe that turning the attention to America is the key to making your term in office a success.

You know better than anyone that joblessness in American society is a constant concern, as tens of millions are still living on various forms of government benefits. Such permanent inactivity is a recipe for trouble. Prolonged idleness creates crime, violence, substance abuse, and can ravage entire communities. On the national level, the sense of solidarity among Americans is at an all-time low. As politics creates factions and frictions within society that impede every effort for improvement, it seems as though the very nationhood of the American people is at risk.

To combat these challenges, I recommend the introduction of a nationwide program to strengthen communities and deepen the solidarity among the American people. The program consists of two interdependent elements that together will guarantee both the livelihood of all Americans and their national solidarity.

Because it is necessary to guarantee people’s livelihoods, some sort of Universal Basic Income (UBI) is required in this program. However, if we leave it at that, a permanent income that does not require any commitment from the beneficiaries will “kill” people’s ability to work and to connect with others, and will turn them into hazards to society.

For this reason, reception of UBI benefits must be contingent upon partaking in courses and workshops conducted under specific rules designed to invoke in participants feelings of connection, trust, and reciprocity. These workshops are part of a method called Integral Education (IE), which has proven itself successful numerous times over many years, and in countless places around the world, including the US, Europe, Israel, and Russia.

Besides workshops, IE provides practical tools for handling emotional and social crises, and includes learning about the history of the country, state, and city where people live, so as to make them feel connected to their local neighborhoods and to the US society as a whole. But most important, this method makes people feel that solidarity and a sense of community create more value for them than isolation and alienation.

Today’s technologies enable providing IE to millions of people online at minimal cost. People can participate from home or at public venues such as community centers. While facilitators will still be required in classrooms, professional instruction can be given online by a handful of trained professionals from one central location.

The decrease in violence and crime, and the increase in national cohesion and positive social engagement will drastically reduce crime and violence levels, and will slash the prevalence of substance abuse. These changes will save vast amounts of government and municipal resources, making the IE program exceptionally lucrative.

Beyond the economic value, IE will transform communities, creating an ambience of friendliness, trust, comprehension of social responsibility, and strong engagement in pro-social activities.

Mr. President, as you are a pragmatic individual, I think you should focus on America first and do what is best for the American society, as you have clearly stated since the onset of your presidency. If you implement a nationwide IE program, America will undoubtedly become a role model of social stability and national solidarity. Or, to use your words, it will “Make America great again.”

With best wishes,
Michael Laitman
[207101]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

The newspaper Yediot America (News of America), published in America in Hebrew, published my new articles.

[206502]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

In my regular column in Jewish Business News, my new article: “The Fundamental Flaw Behind The Cyber Attack“

The best way to secure cyberspace has nothing to do with computer technology and everything to do with human nature.

The massive cyber-attack the world has been under for several days now is a serious wakeup call for all of us. It is still unclear how many facilities and individuals have been affected and to what extent, but this is clearly the most widespread ransomware attack in history.

For the most part, the $300 US ransom those affected were required to pay were more symbolic than actual financial damages. Yet, the extent and speed of the spread should teach us several things: 1) no agency is hack-proof, not even the National Security Association (NSA), whose stolen software, WannaCry, is used in this ransomware; 2) today, inflicting widespread damage requires only a computer geek with plenty of ill-will; 3) there is no way to completely guard from such attacks.

Incomprehensible Capability to Harm

Consider this scenario: A terrorist hacker simultaneously infiltrates the computer system of several large hospitals in Iran and installs malicious software. The malware changes the prescriptions of drugs to thousands of patients causing a mass poisoning that kills hundreds of patients. The malware is built in such a way that it points to Israel as the perpetrator. How Iran would retaliate is anyone’s guess but the risk of starting an all-out war is evident.

Consider another scenario: A hacker breaks into the navigation system of a passenger jet, causing it to crash into a crowded residential area. With today’s hacking capabilities, a 9/11 type scenario would not require terrorists to hijack planes. They could simply hijack their systems in midair and cause the same damage without risking themselves.

Hacking can also hit us on a very personal level. Imagine that one morning you wake up to find that your bank account with all your savings has been emptied by what seems like a legal withdrawal. When you call the bank, they tell you that you made the transaction; it is even documented in their computers.

Train derailments, uncooling of nuclear reactors, traffic lights turning green all at the same time, drugs and dosages being changed in hospitals so as to cause harm, records of government decisions deleted or changed… In an age when everything is controlled by computer networks, anything can be hacked and sabotaged. We should know: No firewall or anti-malware is hack-proof.

Machines Control Us, but Unhinged Narcissists Control Them

Globalization and the internet provide endless opportunities for happiness. Think of all the people you can meet on Facebook, all the places and things you can see on Instagram, and all the products you can buy at huge discounts on eBay. Also, today there is no need to go to stores when you can order literally everything online.

But instead of enjoying ourselves, exploiting these possibilities for pleasure, these developments only increase our loneliness and pain. Social media has become a replacement for real friendship, and people use it to broadcast the most sickening acts that humans can do to one another. According to CNN, Facebook is planning to hire thousands of people to help review users’ posts following multiple incidents of people sharing videos of suicide and murder. The WannaCry ransomware has demonstrated that instead of benefitting from our interconnectedness, we fear it.

We have turned over control to virtual machines, but unrestrained narcissists control these machines and use them to manipulate and exploit us. The virtual arena not only reflects our ruthless, callous nature, it even emphasizes it because the relative anonymity of the virtual realm allows us to show our true, pitiless hearts. If anything good is to come out of the online realm we have developed, it is the recognition of evil—the acknowledgement that our nature is evil to the core, and without taming our very nature, we can forget about peace or peace of mind.

An Anti-Malware for the Ego

There is a way to tame the ego, if we are only willing to open our minds and hearts to it. It is thousands of years old and stems directly from the cradle of civilization. The progenitor of the method is Abraham, father of Isaac, Ishmael, and subsequently all Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

In the days of Abraham, his town of Ur of the Chaldeans—a bustling city in the Babylonian Empire—was struggling with a similar problem to ours: excessive egoism was destroying the social order. Some sources, such as Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer (Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer), detail the extent of the enmity among the ancient Babylonians. The book writes that at some point, the builders of the Tower of Babel became so hateful toward each other that they hammered their plowshares into swords and their pruning hooks into spears, so to speak, and slaughtered one another. Naturally, the building of the tower was never completed.

When Abraham saw the hatred among his townspeople, he reflected on this day and night, writes Maimonides in Mishneh Torah (Chapter 1). Maimonides also writes that Abraham discovered that there is only one, uniform force in the world, which always manifests through opposites: heat and cold, expansion and contraction, giving and receiving, life and death, etc.

Abraham also discovered that in nature, everything is harmonious and balanced because the two opposites manifest equally. Yet, in humans, the negative manifestations have such dominance in society that the positive ones barely show. This is why the Torah writes, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21).

Additionally, the sage from Babylon realized that forcefully suppressing the ego was hopeless. His father, Terah, was no ordinary man. The Midrash (Beresheet Rabbah) tells us that Terah was a high-ranking priest in the Babylonian Empire, who built and sold icons for a living and had contact with the Babylonian king, Nimrod. Abraham, who grew up with him and stood in for him at the shop, knew about the ways the Babylonians dealt with their problems and recognized their futility.

Therefore, instead of fighting with the ego head on, Abraham suggested something so radically different that to this day it is a novel approach. He said, “If you can’t suppress your hatred, use it as a tool to increase your love for others, and that way cover your hatred with love.” Several generations later, King Solomon capped Abraham’s method with his adage, “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes” (Proverbs 10:12).

How Hate Increases Love (if used correctly)

Abraham’s idea was revolutionary, but implementing it was quite easy: Every time the ego increases and people become more hateful toward each other, use this enmity as an indication that it’s time to increase unity. When there is no hatred, people mind their own business and have no need to unite. They get along but they are basically indifferent to each other. But when hatred manifests among them, they can either part ways or strengthen their unity and brotherhood to match the increased hatred. The result of such work on unity is that brotherhood among people increases proportionally to the intensification of the hatred.

Think of it this way: If you build a house where there are hardly any winds, you do not need to make the walls exceptionally strong. But if you build it in an area that is prone to hurricanes and fierce storms, you must build it that much stronger in order to withstand the weather. As a result, your house would be much stronger.

Abraham realized that the intensifying hatred was therefore an opportunity to restore the balance between positive and negative that exists in nature but is absent in humans. Moreover, the conscious effort to unite made people aware of nature’s modus operandi and granted them wisdom that they could not otherwise acquire.

With this knowledge, Abraham’s descendants built the social system by which the ancient Hebrews were arranged. That system was so perfect, just, and balanced, that it became the basis of human justice to this day. Historian Paul Johnson wrote in the prologue to his book A History of the Jews: “No people has ever insisted more firmly than the Jews that history has a purpose and humanity a destiny. At a very early stage in their collective existence, they believed they had detected a divine scheme for the human race, of which their own society was to be a pilot.” Even the most notorious anti-Semite in American history, Henry Ford, noticed the importance of the ancient society of the Hebrews to humankind. In his book The International Jew—the World’s Foremost Problem, Ford wrote, “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”

Restoring Abraham’s Method

When Abraham’s descendants and followers achieved a sufficient level of unity, they were declared a nation, after committing to unite “as one man with one heart.” For more than a thousand years, they struggled with their growing egos and overcame them, all along improving their method of unity above hatred.

Yet, 2,000 years ago, the Jews succumbed to their egos. Awash with unfounded hatred, they helped the Romans overtake the Land of Israel and were exiled and dispersed. But worst of all, they have forgotten the true meaning of Judaism—to exalt love over hatred, to love your neighbor as yourself.

Today’s world has become worse than Abraham’s Babylon. We are not only killing one another like the builders of the Tower of Babel, we relish our selfishness and take pride in our narcissism. We want more of everything not because we need more, but because we need to have more than others! The need for superiority is the sovereign of our hearts. And as we are fighting one another, we are destroying ourselves just as cancer destroys the healthy cells around it until it kills its host and at the same time itself.

Despite its widespread damage, the WannaCry ransomware is but a tiny sample of the harm the human ego can inflict. It is a warning sign that no one is protected. All of humanity is in this together. The more humanity becomes technically interdependent, without correcting our attitude toward each other, the more suffering our interconnectedness will cause us.

We have failed at suppressing our egos, so now we must learn how to use them to increase our unity, just as Abraham did almost four millennia ago. This may seem like a formidable task, but the history of the Jews proves otherwise. If we rise above our cynicism and resignation, we will achieve such powerful solidarity and mutual concern that our unity will dwarf even that of our ancestors.

In the process, we, too, like Abraham, will reveal the unity that drives all of nature into harmony. We will find that meaning in hatred can be found only when it is turned into love of others, and that love of others does not exist unless through our efforts to unite above our hatred. If we choose to meet the challenge, we will emerge united and triumphant over our egos. If we capitulate, we will be tormented beyond belief.
[207023]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

In my regular column in Haaretz, my new article: “The Fundamental Flaw Behind the Cyber Attack”

The best way to secure cyberspace has nothing to do with computer technology and everything to do with human nature.

The massive cyber-attack the world has been under for several days now is a serious wakeup call for all of us. It is still unclear how many facilities and individuals have been affected and to what extent, but this is clearly the most widespread ransomware attack in history.

For the most part, the $300 US ransom those affected were required to pay were more symbolic than actual financial damages. Yet, the extent and speed of the spread should teach us several things: 1) no agency is hack-proof, not even the National Security Association (NSA), whose stolen software, WannaCry, is used in this ransomware; 2) today, inflicting widespread damage requires only a computer geek with plenty of ill-will; 3) there is no way to completely guard from such attacks.

Incomprehensible Capability to Harm

Consider this scenario: A terrorist hacker simultaneously infiltrates the computer system of several large hospitals in Iran and installs malicious software. The malware changes the prescriptions of drugs to thousands of patients causing a mass poisoning that kills hundreds of patients. The malware is built in such a way that it points to Israel as the perpetrator. How Iran would retaliate is anyone’s guess but the risk of starting an all-out war is evident.

Consider another scenario: A hacker breaks into the navigation system of a passenger jet, causing it to crash into a crowded residential area. With today’s hacking capabilities, a 9/11 type scenario would not require terrorists to hijack planes. They could simply hijack their systems in midair and cause the same damage without risking themselves.

Hacking can also hit us on a very personal level. Imagine that one morning you wake up to find that your bank account with all your savings has been emptied by what seems like a legal withdrawal. When you call the bank, they tell you that you made the transaction; it is even documented in their computers.

Train derailments, uncooling of nuclear reactors, traffic lights turning green all at the same time, drugs and dosages being changed in hospitals so as to cause harm, records of government decisions deleted or changed… In an age when everything is controlled by computer networks, anything can be hacked and sabotaged. We should know: No firewall or anti-malware is hack-proof.

Machines Control Us, but Unhinged Narcissists Control Them

Globalization and the internet provide endless opportunities for happiness. Think of all the people you can meet on Facebook, all the places and things you can see on Instagram, and all the products you can buy at huge discounts on eBay. Also, today there is no need to go to stores when you can order literally everything online.

But instead of enjoying ourselves, exploiting these possibilities for pleasure, these developments only increase our loneliness and pain. Social media has become a replacement for real friendship, and people use it to broadcast the most sickening acts that humans can do to one another. According to CNN, Facebook is planning to hire thousands of people to help review users’ posts following multiple incidents of people sharing videos of suicide and murder. The WannaCry ransomware has demonstrated that instead of benefitting from our interconnectedness, we fear it.

We have turned over control to virtual machines, but unrestrained narcissists control these machines and use them to manipulate and exploit us. The virtual arena not only reflects our ruthless, callous nature, it even emphasizes it because the relative anonymity of the virtual realm allows us to show our true, pitiless hearts. If anything good is to come out of the online realm we have developed, it is the recognition of evil—the acknowledgement that our nature is evil to the core, and without taming our very nature, we can forget about peace or peace of mind.

An Anti-Malware for the Ego

There is a way to tame the ego, if we are only willing to open our minds and hearts to it. It is thousands of years old and stems directly from the cradle of civilization. The progenitor of the method is Abraham, father of Isaac, Ishmael, and subsequently all Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

In the days of Abraham, his town of Ur of the Chaldeans—a bustling city in the Babylonian Empire—was struggling with a similar problem to ours: excessive egoism was destroying the social order. Some sources, such as Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer (Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer), detail the extent of the enmity among the ancient Babylonians. The book writes that at some point, the builders of the Tower of Babel became so hateful toward each other that they hammered their plowshares into swords and their pruning hooks into spears, so to speak, and slaughtered one another. Naturally, the building of the tower was never completed.

When Abraham saw the hatred among his townspeople, he reflected on this day and night, writes Maimonides in Mishneh Torah (Chapter 1). Maimonides also writes that Abraham discovered that there is only one, uniform force in the world, which always manifests through opposites: heat and cold, expansion and contraction, giving and receiving, life and death, etc.

Abraham also discovered that in nature, everything is harmonious and balanced because the two opposites manifest equally. Yet, in humans, the negative manifestations have such dominance in society that the positive ones barely show. This is why the Torah writes, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21).

Additionally, the sage from Babylon realized that forcefully suppressing the ego was hopeless. His father, Terah, was no ordinary man. The Midrash (Beresheet Rabbah) tells us that Terah was a high-ranking priest in the Babylonian Empire, who built and sold icons for a living and had contact with the Babylonian king, Nimrod. Abraham, who grew up with him and stood in for him at the shop, knew about the ways the Babylonians dealt with their problems and recognized their futility.

Therefore, instead of fighting with the ego head on, Abraham suggested something so radically different that to this day it is a novel approach. He said, “If you can’t suppress your hatred, use it as a tool to increase your love for others, and that way cover your hatred with love.” Several generations later, King Solomon capped Abraham’s method with his adage, “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes” (Proverbs 10:12).

How Hate Increases Love (if used correctly)

Abraham’s idea was revolutionary, but implementing it was quite easy: Every time the ego increases and people become more hateful toward each other, use this enmity as an indication that it’s time to increase unity. When there is no hatred, people mind their own business and have no need to unite. They get along but they are basically indifferent to each other. But when hatred manifests among them, they can either part ways or strengthen their unity and brotherhood to match the increased hatred. The result of such work on unity is that brotherhood among people increases proportionally to the intensification of the hatred.

Think of it this way: If you build a house where there are hardly any winds, you do not need to make the walls exceptionally strong. But if you build it in an area that is prone to hurricanes and fierce storms, you must build it that much stronger in order to withstand the weather. As a result, your house would be much stronger.

Abraham realized that the intensifying hatred was therefore an opportunity to restore the balance between positive and negative that exists in nature but is absent in humans. Moreover, the conscious effort to unite made people aware of nature’s modus operandi and granted them wisdom that they could not otherwise acquire.

With this knowledge, Abraham’s descendants built the social system by which the ancient Hebrews were arranged. That system was so perfect, just, and balanced, that it became the basis of human justice to this day. Historian Paul Johnson wrote in the prologue to his book A History of the Jews: “No people has ever insisted more firmly than the Jews that history has a purpose and humanity a destiny. At a very early stage in their collective existence, they believed they had detected a divine scheme for the human race, of which their own society was to be a pilot.” Even the most notorious anti-Semite in American history, Henry Ford, noticed the importance of the ancient society of the Hebrews to humankind. In his book The International Jew—the World’s Foremost Problem, Ford wrote, “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”

Restoring Abraham’s Method

When Abraham’s descendants and followers achieved a sufficient level of unity, they were declared a nation, after committing to unite “as one man with one heart.” For more than a thousand years, they struggled with their growing egos and overcame them, all along improving their method of unity above hatred.

Yet, 2,000 years ago, the Jews succumbed to their egos. Awash with unfounded hatred, they helped the Romans overtake the Land of Israel and were exiled and dispersed. But worst of all, they have forgotten the true meaning of Judaism—to exalt love over hatred, to love your neighbor as yourself.

Today’s world has become worse than Abraham’s Babylon. We are not only killing one another like the builders of the Tower of Babel, we relish our selfishness and take pride in our narcissism. We want more of everything not because we need more, but because we need to have more than others! The need for superiority is the sovereign of our hearts. And as we are fighting one another, we are destroying ourselves just as cancer destroys the healthy cells around it until it kills its host and at the same time itself.

Despite its widespread damage, the WannaCry ransomware is but a tiny sample of the harm the human ego can inflict. It is a warning sign that no one is protected. All of humanity is in this together. The more humanity becomes technically interdependent, without correcting our attitude toward each other, the more suffering our interconnectedness will cause us.

We have failed at suppressing our egos, so now we must learn how to use them to increase our unity, just as Abraham did almost four millennia ago. This may seem like a formidable task, but the history of the Jews proves otherwise. If we rise above our cynicism and resignation, we will achieve such powerful solidarity and mutual concern that our unity will dwarf even that of our ancestors.

In the process, we, too, like Abraham, will reveal the unity that drives all of nature into harmony. We will find that meaning in hatred can be found only when it is turned into love of others, and that love of others does not exist unless through our efforts to unite above our hatred. If we choose to meet the challenge, we will emerge united and triumphant over our egos. If we capitulate, we will be tormented beyond belief.
[207020]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

In my regular column in Haaretz, my new article: “The Fire of Hatred, the Fire of Love”

Lag BaOmer marks the emergence of the light of unity in The Book of Zohar. It is a call to unite “as one man with one heart.”

Every year there is the “Lag BaOmer craze,” when children and youth throughout the country collect any piece of wood they can lay their hands on, and not always wood that was meant to be trashed, and pile them up into huge mounds days before the festival. On Lag BaOmer night, the 33rd day of the omer count, which begins on the first day of Passover and ends in Shavuot, they set them all on fire.

Aside from the fires, on Lag BaOmer, tens of thousands of people perform a pilgrimage of sorts up to the grave of the author of The Book of Zohar, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, to pray and to celebrate the writing of this seminal book of the hidden wisdom, the wisdom of truth, also known as “the wisdom of Kabbalah.”

This may not be the most fundamental festival on the Jewish calendar, but like all Jewish festive days, Lag BaOmer marks a profound point in our evolution as a nation, and in our individual spiritual development.

In a Few Words

Around this time of the year, some 20 centuries ago, all but five of Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students fell ill and died. According to the Talmud (Yevamot 62b), this happened to them because they did not follow Rabbi Akiva’s most fundamental law, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The five students who survived stayed healthy because they followed their teacher’s guidance and stuck to the principle of love of others.

Of these five students, two in particular passed on their teacher’s tenets: Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, chief redactor and editor of the Mishnah, and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi), author of The Book of Zohar.

Thirteen Years in Hiding

Rashbi lived and taught in the period following the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire (circa 132–136 CE). He was among the most prominent dissidents against the Roman rule in the Land of Israel. The Roman emperor, Hadrian, sent men to find Rashbi and kill him.

According to legend, Rashbi and his son, Rabbi Elazar, hid in a cave in the Galilee for 13 years eating only carobs from a nearby tree and drinking water from a nearby spring. During that time, they delved into the wisdom of the hidden, the wisdom of Kabbalah, and revealed the secrets of creation. Through their efforts, they grasped nature’s deepest levels and perceived the underlying unity at the basis of existence.

After 13 years, Rashbi heard about the death of Emperor Hadrian and emerged from the cave. With eight more students, Rashbi and his son went into another cave in the Galilee, where he taught them the secrets of Torah he had revealed. With the help of his students, Rashbi wrote The Book of Zohar—an interpretation of the Pentateuch, parts of the Prophets and the Writings (Hagiographa), and the seminal book in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Contrary to popular belief, The Book of Zohar does not talk about mystical creatures and esoteric powers, but rather describes the natural relationships that exist among all people. It writes about us—the process we go through as we develop our spirituality through our relations with other people.

Through stories and allegories, Rashbi explains how we should construct our relationships correctly through love of others, and how love of others will bring peace to the entire world. In the portion, Aharei Mot, the book writes, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers sit together. These are the friends as they sit together, at first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another. Then, they return to being in brotherly love. Henceforth, you will also not part … and by your merit there will be peace in the world.”

The brothers and friends that The Zohar mentions are regular people, much like you and me, but they have connected around one goal: the attainment of that underlying unity at the basis of existence that we mentioned earlier. By acknowledging their mutual hatred, as the quote above describes, and through their subsequent exertions to rise above it and unite, Rashbi and his students connected to that force of unity and established among them profound brotherly love. Their unity was so intense that even The Zohar fails to describe it and simply refers to it as “a burning flame of love” or “the light of The Zohar.”

Why the Fire

The omer count begins on the first day of Passover, and Lag BaOmer happens on the 33rd day of the count. On that day, Rashbi passed away, which is why it is also the day when The Book of Zohar was sealed and the wisdom of Kabbalah was given to the world.

We light fires on Lag BaOmer to symbolize the great light that appeared in our world when The Zohar was signed and delivered to humanity—a light that can establish among us connections of love.

In the Labyrinth

In recent decades, our egos have driven our world to the brink of collapse. This is the exact same malady that consumed Rabbi Akiva’s students. Just as the Temple was ruined and the students died only because of unfounded hatred among them, today’s alienation and aggression in society are wreaking havoc the world over.

To find our way out of the labyrinth, we must use the method of connection and unity that our ancestors used 20 centuries ago. If we implement it and connect above our isolation and mutual distrust, we will light up the same great flame that burned before and the light of The Zohar will be revealed.

My teacher, Rav Baruch Shalom Ashlag (RABASH), wrote, “In each one there is a spark of love of others. However, the spark cannot ignite the light of love. Therefore, by bonding together, the sparks becomes a big flame” (The Writings of RABASH, vol. 2, “What Is the Degree One Should Achieve”).

Selfish, But Not Hopeless

Today, it is becoming clear that our society requires a fundamental and sustainable solution to the problems we face. We must establish among us the great rule of the Torah: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” However, this will happen only if we choose together to install it among us. We are indeed selfish to the core and our “inclination is evil from our youth,” as the Torah tells us. Yet, even a journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step. Now we must take that step and begin to march on a new path—toward unity, connection, and brotherhood.

Lag BaOmer celebrates the appearance of the immense light of unity in our world through The Book of Zohar. It is a great opportunity for us to begin this journey toward mutual responsibility, toward being “as one man with one heart,” toward being what the nation of Israel is all about—love of others—and toward sharing that light with the nations, just as we have been commanded to be, “a light unto nations.”
[206737]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →