The Jerusalem Post published my new article “Can There Be Nazism In America?“

In the early 1950s, Ashlag wrote: “There is no hope that Nazism will perish with the victory of the allies, for tomorrow the Anglo-Saxons will adopt Nazism.” Could he be right?

After seventy incidents of bomb threats aimed at JCCs [Jewish Community Centers] throughout the US, two vandalized cemeteries (one in St. Louis and one in Philadelphia), a Texas school teacher who was fired for a “kill some Jews” tweet, and after swastikas and racial slurs were spray painted on cars, a building, and a school playground near Buffalo, and a CUNY administrator complained about having “too many Jews” on the staff, we can officially say that there is antisemitism in America. Finally, Jewish leaders feel confident enough to talk about a “worldwide pandemic” and not exclude the US from the picture.

The intensification of antisemitism is not coincidental. It is a result of a natural, mandatory process by which the more selfish a society becomes, the more it is prone to antisemitism. In the book, Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why Unity and Mutual Guarantee Are Today’s Call of the Hour, and on the Internet site, “Why Do People Hate Jews,” I show that regardless of upbringing, beyond a certain level of egoism, antisemitism must surface in the same way that only so much salt can dissolve in water before it begins to show.

Egoism vs. the Law of Unity

Maimonides, Midrash Rabah, and many other sources tell us that during the time of Abraham the Patriarch, Abraham would observe his countryfolk building the Tower of Babel. He noticed that the builders were growing increasingly self-centered and alienated from each other, which prompted him to search for an explanation. The book Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter 24) illustrates how the Babylonians “wanted to speak to one another but did not know each other’s language. What did they do? Each took up his sword and they fought each other to death. Indeed, half the world was slaughtered there, and from there they scattered all over the world.”

This hatred troubled Abraham and he wondered who or what was causing this change. According to Maimonides, Abraham “began to ponder day and night, how it was possible for this wheel to always turn without a driver” (Mishneh Torah, Chapter 1). In doing so, he discovered a unifying force that is the root of all of creation, and called that force “God.”

Abraham realized that in order to ensure a good life, people did not need to bow to this God or offer it semolina, as his countryfolk would do with their gods at the time. All you needed to do in order to be happy and resolve the hatred was to rise above it and unite. But when Abraham suggested that the Babylonians unite instead of fighting, their king, Nimrod, expelled him from his country.

As the exiled Abraham wandered toward Canaan, people “gathered around him and asked him about his words,” writes Maimonides. “He taught everyone … until thousands and tens of thousands assembled around him, and they are the people of the house of Abraham. He planted this tenet in their hearts, composed books about it, and taught his son, Isaac. And Isaac sat and taught and warned, and informed Jacob, and appointed him a teacher, to sit and teach… And Jacob our Father taught all his sons.”

Finally, a tribe that knew the law of unity was formed, as was the hatred for that law and those who espouse it.

A few centuries later, Moses wanted to do the same as Abraham. He aspired to unite his people, and faced Pharaoh’s fierce resistance. Like Abraham before him, Moses fled with his people, except this time they numbered in the millions and therefore needed an “upgrade” of Abraham’s method of connection.

The upgrade was the Torah—a set of laws that comes down to one and only principle, which Old Hillel described very simply: “That which you hate, do not do unto your neighbor; this is the whole of the Torah. The rest is commentary; go study” (Shabbat, 31a). Under Moses, the Hebrew tribes united and became a nation, but only after they committed to be “as one man with one heart.” The new nation got its name, Israel, from its vocation, to go Yashar-El (straight to God)—to achieve the same unity as the force that Abraham had discovered.

Immediately after becoming a nation, Israel was tasked with completing what Abraham intended to achieve when he first began to speak of unity above hatred—that the whole world would benefit from the method. “Moses wished to complete the correction of the world at that time. … However, he did not succeed because of the corruptions that occurred along the way,” wrote Ramchal in his commentary on the Torah. But once Israel achieved unity, they were tasked with passing it on, or as the Torah put it, with being “a light unto nations.”

When Egoism Spreads Ruin, the Jews Are Blamed for It

Following the formation of the Jewish nation, the Jews knew many ups and downs. When unity prevailed among us, we prospered. When egoism took over, we suffered. But when the egoism of our ancestors reached such levels that they could not tolerate each other, sina’at hinam (unfounded/baseless hatred) erupted among them and weakened their strength. Finally, the leader of the Roman legion in Judea, Tiberius Julius Alexander—himself a Jew whose own father had coated the Temple’s gates with gold—destroyed the Temple and exiled the Jews from the land of Israel. In the words of the Maharal of Prague: “The Temple was ruined because of unfounded hatred, because their hearts divided and they were unworthy of a Temple, which is the unification of Israel” (Netzah Israel).

The hatred that destroyed us then persists to this day. And yet, the seed of unity still lies within us and is still our only source of strength. Throughout the ages, our sages have stressed that unity is the key to our salvation. The book Maor VaShemesh writes, “The prime defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship between each other in Israel, no calamity can come over them.” Likewise, The Book of Consciousness writes, “We are commanded at each generation to strengthen the unity among us so our enemies do not rule over us.”

Although the seed of unity exists within us, as long as we are disunited, we cannot be “a light unto nations” and we are not spreading unity to the world, as Abraham and Moses had intended. At the same time, humanity is growing increasingly egoistic. Our egoism today is so intense that even though we know that we are ruining our children’s future by polluting our planet, we simply do not care enough to stop. We understand that pluralism is important and liberalism is vital to society, but everyone is so narcissistic that we simply cannot listen to each other, much less unite above our differences. In such a state, the hatred toward Jews intensifies because we both hold the key to overcoming egoism, yet the egoism within us rejects that remedy, like King Nimrod before and Pharaoh after him. This is when the situation becomes dangerous for Jews.

At the heyday of the Spanish monarchy, for instance, when its pride and confidence were at their highest, the axe came down on the Jews. Despite their deep immersion in the Spanish society and remoteness from their own religion, the Jews were blamed for all of Spain’s troubles and were expelled, tortured, and killed by the Inquisition under the leadership of Torquemada, who—like Tiberius—was of Jewish descent. In the previous century, Germany was on the top of the world. But as it fell, it turned its anger at the Jews. When Adolf Hitler could not expel the Jews, because no one would have them, he simply exterminated them.

Teetering between Nazism and Unity

The Book of Zohar writes, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to also sit together. These are the friends as they sit together, and are not separated from each other. At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another. Then they return to being in brotherly love. …And you, the friends who are here, as you were in fondness and love before, henceforth you will also not part … And by your merit there will be peace in the world” (Aharei Mot).

Similar to The Zohar, its great commentator, Rav Yehuda Ashlag, wrote that “the Israeli nation had been constructed as a gateway by which the world can understand the pleasantness and tranquility in love of others.” Like Ashlag, the Rav Kook wrote, “In Israel is the secret to the unity of the world” (Orot Kodesh).

As much as we may hate the thought, we are the carriers of Abraham’s method of correction for the egoism that separates and destroys our world. If we do not implement among us this method of uniting above differences, the nations will blame us for their woes and punish us yet again. But if we do implement it among us, the whole world will come to learn how. The most notorious anti-Semite in American history, Henry Ford, recognized the role of the Jews toward society 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.”

For decades, America has been on a path of growing egoism, alienation, and social isolation. Depression has been the primary cause of illness in the country for years now, and despair is growing rapidly. If a book titled The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement can reach the top of The New York Times bestseller list, and Millennials define their milieu as the “Me, Me, Me” culture, you know that the country is on the brink of implosion. And when the American society collapses, it could easily take on some form of Nazism or extreme fascism.

We think that Nazi Germany was a one-time event. But saying “Never again” will not prevent history from repeating itself. We are forgetting that it was not the Germans who invented the yellow badge, but the British, as early as 1218.

In the early 1950s, Rav Yehuda Ashlag wrote in The Writings of the Last Generation: “The world erroneously considers Nazism a particular offshoot of Germany. In truth … all the nations are equal in that; there is no hope at all that Nazism will perish with the victory of the allies, for tomorrow the Anglo-Saxons will adopt Nazism.”

If American Jews do not take their lives in their own hands and force themselves to unite above their mutual dislike, the Americans will force them to do so through bloodshed. There is no more time. The Jews must put aside all differences and unite because unity is the Jewish people’s sole salvation, and because when we unite, we are a light unto nations—giving the world what Abraham intended for humanity to have almost four millennia ago, and what the world so badly needs today.
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A Russian-language Weekly Newspaper in Florida Экспресс-Курьер (Express Courier) published my article “Does Capitalism Have a Future.” 

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The Jerusalem Post published my new article “Trump Must Initiate Next Stage Of ‘America First’ Policy”

 

The latest terror attacks prove President Trump is on top of things. But if he wants to make America great again, he’ll have to implement the next stage of America First—unite the “United States.”

Despite controversy over whether President Donald Trump should have consulted Congress prior to launching the April 7 missile attack on the Syrian Shayrat Airbase, whose planes apparently dropped sarin gas bombs on civilians just three days prior, the general feeling is that a military response was required.

Two months ago, Carl Bildt, former Swedish PM, mocked the president following Trump’s implication that there was a terror attack in Sweden perpetrated by immigrants. Mr. Bildt tweeted, “Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking?” Two months later, the current Swedish prime minister declared that Sweden will “never go back” to the days of mass migration after an illegal immigrant killed four people and injured 15 in a truck-ramming attack in downtown Stockholm.

After months of derision at Trump’s statements that the Obama administration spied on him and his advisors prior to the election, Bloomberg’s Eli Lake has revealed that Susan Rice, former national security adviser to Barack Obama, did precisely that. In my view, President Trump has proven that at the very least, he deserves a chance to lead the country, as former Vice President Joe Biden put it last month.

Where to Go from Here

Despite persistent efforts by the likes of CNN and The New York Times to discredit President Trump, and despite senior individuals within the GOP appearing to act like a fifth column, Trump must press forward with his agenda and take America to the next level. And by “next level,” I mean consolidate, unite, and fuse the American society into a cohesive whole. As president of the United States, this is his primary obligation to the American people, and nothing he can do will earn him more respect in the eyes of the American people.

The Obama era was one of the most divisive periods that the US has seen since the end of World War II, if not longer. The rifts that Donald Trump exposed by his very election have been in the making for decades. Trump did not create them, but his election brought them to the surface. Throughout the American society, accelerated marginalization is occurring, and the center is quickly shrinking on both sides of the political map. Trump has come to power at what might be America’s last chance to reunite itself into a society with a common agenda, common goals, and common agreement on what is good for America. If he fails, the next president might have to tackle such problems as states declaring political independence from the central government, rampant violent clashes between police and civilians, and other problems more characteristic of Third World countries than of the leader of the free world.

The fact that Trump was elected proves that despite the media’s attempts to portray a different picture, the American people are largely behind him. Just as he went above the media and addressed the American people directly during the election, as president, he can do this even more effectively. Steps such as providing “historically black colleges and universities a long-awaited boost as he looks to outdo his predecessors, including the nation’s first African-American president,” can earn him points and are a step in the right direction. However, if they are not part of an entire strategy of connection, they will not produce the desired result.

One of the President’s main assets is his businesslike approach to governance. He is willing to make changes both to policy and to personnel. As this is the case, I would suggest that Trump look into building his cabinet from people who are committed to the connection of the entirety of the American people, rather than to promoting a specific political or sectoral agenda.

The current challenges of American society are indeed heavy, but a proactive approach can do wonders for them. The government should not regard problems as isolated crises, but rather as indicators of disunity in society. Tensions between police and African-American communities, LGBT issues, growing economic gaps, and the shrinking middle-class all highlight the lack of mutual responsibility and the absence of a sense of interconnectedness and interdependence in society. The mode of work should resemble that of a healthy family: It has to prioritize, yet without leaving family members behind. If Trump comes to view the American people the way a healthy family treats all of its members, there is no doubt America will be great again.

Trump Can Set a Unique Precedent

There is another element that the president should try to utilize. As with any administration in the last several decades, that of Donald Trump is rife with Jews in key positions. It is a common belief that Jews use financial power to pave their way to the top levels of administration. Yet, viewing their success as a mere outcome of wealth misses the key strength of Jews. Jews are at the top primarily because they are great connectors, making them key figures in the functioning of every system. In many ways, Jews are like hubs, mediators who help connect people in order to produce the desired result. The problem is that every administration uses Jews in order to promote its own agenda. Trump will set a precedent if he uses them in order to promote an all-American agenda of unity. Everyone will benefit from this.

There is a good reason why Jews excel at connecting people. The Jewish people are the only nation in the world that has an official birthday. According to the Torah, on the 6th of the Hebrew month of Sivan, in the year 2488 on the Hebrew calendar (1272 BC), the Jewish people was pronounced, having fulfilled the prerequisite of committing to unite “as one man with one heart.” Henceforth, the rise and fall of the Jewish people would depend on its level of adherence to the principle of unity.

For centuries, the Jews endured countless internal disputes and conflicts. They overcame them by applying the law that King Solomon succinctly worded, “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes” (Prov 10:12). At some point, around the beginning of the Common Era, they lost their ability to overcome their partisanship and disunity. In consequence, the alienation between them evolved into such hatred that it brought upon them the exile from the land of Israel and the ruin of the Temple.

Jews remained experts in connection, but because they no longer wanted to connect the nation “as one man with one heart,” they used the skill they had honed for centuries to promote only the interests of their own coterie. Since political success requires good connections in order to pave the way to the top, politicians have always kept several Jews nearby as advisors. The position even has its official, derogatory title: “Court Jew.” Though more often tied to money lending and banking, the term also has a lot to do with politics. Just recently, Jonathan Levi of Forward Magazine asked, “Is Jared Kushner the ‘Court Jew’ of Donald Trump’s Realm?” Clearly, it is not Kushner’s money that President Trump needs. The President feels he needs Kushner precisely where he has him, as a “senior advisor.”

Making America Great Again

If Trump truly wants to deliver on his promise to make America great again, he will need to take a different approach from all his predecessors. This must also require that the Jews in his administration work differently than in all previous administrations. To make America great, it must be a united nation. Trump needs to require that the Jews facilitate connections and rapport among themselves on both sides of the political map, and subsequently extend that amity to the rest of the American people.

If the Jews, who are in key positions on both sides of the map, establish trust and mutual responsibility among themselves, it will be much easier for the President to reconcile with the Democratic Party and establish a government that enjoys the full support of Congress. The longer Trump waits, the harder it will be for him to operate. Divisive forces such as Barack Obama, John McCain, and Bernie Sanders will grow stronger through the relentless push of neoliberal media outlets, which encompasses nearly all major news media including, to an extent, Fox News.

For the most part, advisors suggest to a ruler which way to go and what tactics to embrace at any given situation. But Donald Trump is not your ordinary president. As a businessman, he understands that in order to see results, things need to get done. He is a leader and will determine in what way he wants his advisors’ help. If he is smart, he will tell them that he wants them to draw up a roadmap leading from the current partisanship to trust, cooperation, and eventual cohesion of American society and the political establishment.

This will make America not only great, but also a role model for all other nations, “a light unto nations,” if you will. Implementing a plan of this nature will reverse the negative global trajectory and will guarantee our future, that of our children, and our children’s children.
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The Ukrainian newspaper “Evreiskie Vesti” (Jewish News) published my article about the World Kabbalah Convention that took place in Tel Aviv, Israel February 21-23, 2017 (pg. 12), as well as the article about the Passover by my student, Oleg Isekson (pg.2).

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In my regular column in The Jerusalem Post, my new article: “Passover — A Story Of Hebrews Who Wanted To Be Egyptians“

Pharaoh selfishly enslaved the Hebrews; Moses selflessly freed them. The “king” of egoism still enslaves our hearts. To free ourselves from bondage we must free ourselves hating one another.

To most of us, the story of our exodus from Egypt is nothing but a tale. It is a fascinating story, no doubt, but is it relevant to our time? When placed against the dishes served before us on the table, it is an unfair match toward the Haggadah. However, if we knew what Passover really means to all of us, we would be “drinking-up” the narrative instead of waiting for it to make way for the main event: the food.

Underneath a tale about the struggle of a nation to be free lies a description of a process that we as Jews went through, and which we are going through again today. It is with good reason that the Torah commands us to see ourselves each day as though we had just come out of Egypt. The ordeals of our ancestors should be both warning signs and traffic signs, directing us which way to go in a world fraught with uncertainty and trepidation.

Israel’s Heydays in Egypt

When Joseph’s brothers went into Egypt, they had it all. Joseph the Hebrew was the de facto ruler of Egypt. With Pharaoh’s blessing, he determined everything that happened in Egypt, as Pharaoh said to Joseph: “You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage. …See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. …I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt” (Gen 41:40-44).

Thanks to Joseph’s wisdom, Egypt not only became a superpower, but also enslaved its neighboring nations and took their people’s money, land, and flocks (Gen 47:14-19). And the prime beneficiaries from Egypt’s success were Joseph’s family, the Hebrews. Pharaoh said to Joseph: “The land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land, let them live in the land of Goshen [the richest, most lush part of Egypt], and if you know any capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock” (Gen 47:6).

There is a good reason why Joseph became so successful. Three generations earlier, his great-grandfather, Abraham, found a method for healing all of life’s problems. Midrash Rabbah tells us that when Abraham saw his townspeople in Ur of the Chaldeans fighting one another, it deeply troubled him. After much reflection, he realized that they were growing increasingly egoistic and could no longer get along. The hatred between them was causing them to quarrel and fight, sometimes to the death. Abraham realized that the ego could not be obliterated, but could be covered with love by focusing on connection rather than separation. This is why Abraham is regarded as the symbol of kindness, hospitality, and mercy.

Although Nimrod, king of Babylon, expelled Abraham from Babylon, Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah (Chapter 1) and many other books describe how he wandered toward the land of Israel and gathered tens of thousands of followers who understood that unity above hatred is the key to a successful life. By the time he had arrived in the land of Israel, he was a wealthy and prosperous man, or as the Torah describes him, “And Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold” (Gen 13:2).

Abraham passed his knowledge on to all of his disciples and descendants. According to Maimonides, “Abraham planted this tenet [of unity above hatred] in their hearts, composed books about it, and taught his son, Isaac. Isaac sat and taught Jacob, and appointed him a teacher, to sit and teach… and Jacob our Father taught all his sons” (Mishneh Torah, Chapter 1). Joseph, from the Hebrew word osef (assembling/gathering), was Jacob’s prime disciple and strove to implement his father’s teaching. In Egypt, Joseph’s dream of uniting all the brothers under him came true, and everyone benefitted from this. This was the heyday of the Hebrews’ stay in Egypt.

How the Tables Turned Against Us

Everything changed when Joseph died. As it happens every time throughout our history, when Jews are successful, their egos overcome them and they wish to abandon the way of unity and become like the locals. This abandonment is always the beginning of a turn for the worse, until finally a tragedy or an ordeal forces us to reunite. Egypt was no exception. Midrash Rabbah (Exodus, 1:8) writes that “When Joseph died they said, ‘Let us be as the Egyptians.’ Because they did so, the Creator turned the love that the Egyptians held for them into hatred, as it was said (Ps 105), ‘He turned their heart to hate His people, to abuse His servants.’”

The Book of Consciousness (Chapter 22) writes even more explicitly that had the Hebrews not abandoned their way of unity, they would not have suffered. The book begins by quoting the Midrash I just mentioned, but then it adds, “Pharaoh looked at the children of Israel after Joseph and did not recognize Joseph in them,” meaning the quality of assembling, the tendency to unite.

And because “New faces were made, Pharaoh declared new decrees upon them. You see, my son,” the book concludes, “all the dangers and all the miracles and tragedies are all from you, because of you, and on account of you.” In other words, the good Pharaoh turned against us because we had abandoned Joseph’s way, the way of unity above hatred.

When Moses came along, he knew that the only way that he could save his people was to pull them out of Egypt, out of the egoism that was destroying their relations. The name Moshe (Moses), says the book Torat Moshe (Exodus, 2:10), comes from the Hebrew word “moshech” (pulling) because he pulled the people out of the evil inclination.

Yet, even when he pulled them out, they were still in danger of falling back into egoism. They received their “signet” as a nation only when they reenacted Abraham’s method of uniting above hatred. Once they pledged to unite “as one man with one heart,” they were declared a “nation.” At the foot of Mt. Sinai, from the word sinaa (hatred), the Hebrews united and thereby covered their hatred with love. This is when they became a Jewish nation, as the book Yaarot Devash (Part 2, Drush no. 2) writes, “Yehudi” (Jewish) comes from the word “yechudi” (united).

The Pharaoh and Moses within Us

It has been many centuries since this epic story unfolded, yet it seems that we have learned very little. Look at our current values, we are just as corrupt as the Hebrews were after Joseph’s death. By “corrupt,” I am not saying that we must avoid life’s amenities. Neither Abraham nor Joseph was abstinent in any way. By corrupt, I mean that we are shamelessly selfish, narcissistic, and promote these values wherever we go. We are arrogant, self-entitled, and have completely lost our Jewishness, meaning our tendency to unite. In consequence, just as the Egyptians turned against the Hebrews when they abandoned Joseph’s way, the world is turning against us today.

Pharaoh and Moses are not historical figures; they live within us and determine our relationships on a moment-to-moment basis. Every time we let hatred govern our relationships, we re-crown the Pharaoh within us. And every time we make an effort to unite, we revive Moses and the oath to strive to be “as one man with one heart.” Andrés Spokoiny, president and CEO of the Jewish Funders Network, described our situation beautifully in a speech he gave last year: “In the last few years, we saw an unprecedented polarization and ugliness in the Jewish community. Those who think differently are considered enemies or traitors, and those who disagree with us are demonized.” This is precisely the rule of Pharaoh.

Being Jewish does not necessarily entail observing specific customs or living in a specific country. Being Jewish entails placing unity above all else. However fierce our hatred, we must rise above it and unite.

Even The Book of Zohar writes explicitly about the paramount importance of unity above hatred. In the portion Aharei Mot, The Zohar writes, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to also sit together. These are the friends as they sit together, and are not separated from each other. At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another. Then they return to being in brotherly love. …And you, the friends who are here, as you were in fondness and love before, henceforth you will also not part … And by your merit there will be peace in the world.”

Learning from the Past

Versions of the story of Egypt have occurred throughout our history. The Greeks conquered the land of Israel because we wanted to be like them, to worship the ego. We even did the fighting for them as Hellenized Jews fought against the Maccabees. Less than two centuries later, the Temple was ruined because of our unfounded hatred for each other. We were deported and murdered in Spain when we wanted to be Spaniards and abandoned our unity, and we were exterminated in Europe by the country where Jews wanted to forget about our unity and assimilate. In 1929, Dr. Kurt Fleischer, leader of the Liberals in the Berlin Jewish Community Assembly, accurately expressed our centuries’ long problem: “Anti-Semitism is the scourge that God has sent us in order to lead us together and weld us together.” What a tragedy it is that the Jews back then did not unite.

As though we are incapable of learning, today we are placing ourselves in the exact same position we always do. We have become slaves to our self-entitlement and arrogance, and we do not want to be Jewish, meaning united. We are letting Pharaoh rule all over again. What good can we expect to come out of this? We must not be blind again; we should know better by now.

In each of us there is a Moses, a point that moshech (pulls) toward unity. Yet, we must crown it willingly. We must choose to liberate ourselves from the shackles of the ego and unite above our hatred. This may seem like an impassable mountain to climb, but we are not expected to succeed, only to agree and make an effort. Just as the Hebrews were declared a nation and were liberated from Egypt when they agreed to unite, we also need only agree to unite, and the rest will follow. We will find within us the power and ability to unite.

In this Passover, we really must pass over from unfounded hatred, the blight of our people, and restore our brotherhood. Let’s make this Passover one of rapprochement, reconciliation, and accord. Let’s turn this holiday into a fresh start for our nation. Let’s put some seder (order) in the relations between us and be what we are meant to be, “a light unto nations,” spreading the glitter of unity throughout the world and to our brethren. If we only try, I know that we will have a happy Passover, a Passover of love, unity, and brotherhood.
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In my regular column in Haaretz newspaper published my new article: “Thirty-Five Centuries Later, It’s Still Pharaoh vs. Moses“

From rulers of Egypt we became its slaves because we didn’t want to be Jews—united above hatred.

The story of the liberation of the Hebrews from enslavement has captured the imagination of billions of people throughout history. The Exodus has come to embody man’s struggle for freedom from oppression and injustice. But there is something odd about the Exodus: The Torah commands each and every one of us to see ourselves each day as though we have just come out of Egypt. Why is this story so important? Could it be that underneath the epic tale lies a deeper, cryptic meaning?

If we look into the texts of our sages throughout the ages, we will indeed find that the exodus from Egypt details a process that we as Jews went through, are going through again today, and which impacts the lives of Jews and non-Jews the world over. If we understand this process better, we will find compelling answers to many of today’s most pressing questions for the Jews, such as the essence of Judaism and why there is anti-Semitism.

Abraham’s Secret

When Joseph’s brothers went into Egypt, they had the best life anyone could imagine. With Pharaoh’s blessing, Joseph was the de facto ruler of Egypt. “You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage,” Pharaoh said to Joseph. “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. …I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt” (Gen 41:40-44).

Under Joseph’s leadership, Egypt not only became a superpower, but also made its neighboring nations slaves to Pharaoh, taking their money, land, and flocks (Gen 47:14-19). Yet, the prime beneficiaries from Egypt’s success were the Hebrews. Knowing to whom he owed his wealth and might, Pharaoh said to Joseph: “The land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land, let them live in the land of Goshen [the richest, most lush part of Egypt], and if you know any capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock” (Gen 47:6).

The secret to Joseph’s success was his lineage. Three generations earlier, his great-grandfather, Abraham, saw his townspeople of Ur of the Chaldeans losing their social stability due to growing hatred among its people. All over ancient Babylon, people were becoming increasingly self-centered and alienated from each other. This manifested most evidently in the efforts to build the ambitious Tower of Babylon. The book Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer describes how the builders of the Tower of Babylon would “push up the bricks [to build the tower] from the east, then descend from the west. 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?’” Finally, the book continues, the Babylonians “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.”

Distraught, Abraham reflected on the plight of his townspeople and realized that the intensification of egoism could not be stopped. To overcome it, he suggested to his townsfolk to increase the cohesion of his society in synchrony with the growth of the ego. In Mishneh Torah (Chapter 1), Maimonides describes this as Abraham beginning “to provide answers to the people of Ur of the Chaldeans.”

Abraham’s success drew the attention of the Babylonian king, Nimrod, who, according to the Midrash (Beresheet Rabbah 38:13), confronted Abraham and tried to prove him wrong. When King Nimrod failed, he expelled Abraham from Babylon. As the expat wandered toward the future Land of Israel, he continued to tell people about his discovery and garner followers and disciples. According to Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah (“Idolatry Rules,” Chapter 1:3), “Thousands and tens of thousands assembled around Abraham. He planted this tenet [of unity as an antidote to egoism] in their hearts, composed books about it, and taught his son, Isaac. Isaac sat and taught and informed Jacob, and appointed him a teacher, to sit and teach… And Jacob our Father taught all his sons.” By the time Joseph arrived, he had a well-established method for achieving social stability and prosperity through unity in the face of growing egoism and alienation.

How the Tables Turned Against Us

As we saw above, Pharaoh supported the unity of the Hebrews. He gave the best land in Egypt exclusively to them and let them cultivate their unique way of life—continuously enhancing unity—not only uninterrupted, but with his full support. Eventually, that unique unity became the essence of Judaism. As the book Yaarot Devashi (Part 2, Drush no. 2) tells us, the word “Yehudi” (Jew) comes from the word “yihudi,” meaning united.

The problems began when Joseph died. Pharaoh, says the book Noam Elimelech, “is called ‘the evil inclination.’” Pharaoh is not simply egoism; he is the epitome of it. He will be nice to you only as long as you serve him. When he told Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt,” he meant that Joseph would rule over Egypt because Pharaoh knows that unity pays off. Without unity, he would have no reason to give any special favor to Joseph’s kin.

Yet, after Joseph’s death, the Hebrews did not maintain their unity. They wanted to be like the Egyptians: egoists. But they were unaware that by doing so, they would lose their favor in Pharaoh’s eyes and become what Jews have always been: pariahs. Midrash Rabbah (Exodus, 1:8) writes, “When Joseph died they said, ‘Let us be as the Egyptians.’ Because they did so, the Creator turned the love that the Egyptians held for them into hatred, as it was said (Ps 105), ‘He turned their heart to hate His people, to abuse His servants.’”

The Book of Consciousness (Chapter 22) writes even more explicitly that had the Hebrews not abandoned their way of unity, they would not have suffered. After quoting the Midrash I just mentioned, the book adds, “Pharaoh looked at the children of Israel after Joseph and did not recognize Joseph in them,” namely the tendency to unite. And because “New faces were made, Pharaoh declared new decrees upon them. You see, my son,” the book concludes, “all the dangers and all the miracles and tragedies are all from you, because of you, and on account of you.”

In other words, Pharaoh turned against us because we had abandoned our way, the way of unity above hatred, and wanted to stop being Hebrews. Throughout our history, the worst tragedies befell us when we wanted to stop being Jews and abandon the way of unity. The Greeks conquered the land of Israel because we wanted to be like them and worship the ego. We even did the fighting for them as Hellenized Jews fought against the Maccabees. Less than two centuries later, the Temple was ruined because of our unfounded hatred for each other. We were deported and murdered in Spain when we wanted to be Spaniards and abandoned our unity, and we were exterminated in Europe by the country where Jews wanted to forget about our unity and assimilate. In 1929, Dr. Kurt Fleischer, leader of the Liberals in the Berlin Jewish Community Assembly, accurately expressed our centuries’ long problem: “Anti-Semitism is the scourge that God has sent us in order to lead us together and weld us together.” What a tragedy it is that the Jews back then did not unite despite Fleischer’s truthful observation.
Exodus

When Moses came along, he knew that the only way to save the Hebrews was to pull them out of Egypt, out of the egoism that was destroying their relations. The book Keli Yakar (Exodus 6:2) writes about Moses: “The spirit of the Lord spoke in Pharaoh’s daughter to call him Moshe (Moses) from the word “moshech” (pulling) because he is the one who pulls Israel from exile.” That is, like Joseph before him, Moses united the people around him and thereby delivered them from Egypt.

Yet, even after their exit, the Hebrews were in danger of falling back into egoism. They received their “signet” as a nation only when they reenacted Abraham’s method of uniting above hatred. Once they pledged to unite “as one man with one heart,” they were declared a “nation.” At the foot of Mt. Sinai, from the word “sinaa” (hatred), the Hebrews united and thereby covered their hatred with love.
By their unity, Moses reestablished the Hebrews’ commitment to unity as an antidote to egoism. This has been the essence of Judaism ever since, or as Old Hillel put it in the Talmud: “That which you hate, do not do unto your neighbor; this is the whole of the Torah” (Shabbat, 31a). By covering their egoism with love and unity, the Jews managed to overcome the countless trials and tribulations they endured since the Exodus and until the ruin of the Second Temple. King Solomon succinctly worded the principle of Judaism with a short verse in Proverbs (10:12): “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes.”

Pharaoh and Moses within Us

As we read the Haggadah, it is a good idea to keep in mind that Pharaoh, Joseph, Moses, and all the other characters are more than parts of our history. We are commanded to remember the exodus from Egypt every day because they are actually parts of us! We all have Pharaoh, the evil inclination, but we do not have within us enough Moses and Joseph, the forces of unity. We are arrogant, self-entitled, and egoistic to the point of narcissism. We have lost our Jewishness, our tendency to unite.

In consequence, just as the Egyptians turned against the Hebrews when they abandoned Joseph’s way, the world is turning against us today because of our disunity. We will not find solutions to anti-Semitism in suppressing anti-Semitic tirades. This will not uproot the hate. As The Book of Consciousness writes in the quote just mentioned, “You see, my son, all the dangers and all the miracles and tragedies are all from you, because of you, and on account of you.” Our disunity creates, feeds, and fans the flames of anti-Semitism.

When Abraham found his way to overcome egoism, he wanted to share it with everyone. Likewise, as soon as the Hebrews became a nation, they were tasked with being “a light unto nations.” Put differently, they were commanded to bring unity to the world and complete what Abraham had begun. But in order to accomplish this, we must first exit our internal Egypt—the rule of the Pharaoh within us—and choose the way of Joseph and Moses, the way of unity. Moses knew what Abraham had wanted to achieve and tried to do the same. Ramchal wrote in his commentary on the Torah that “Moses wished to complete the correction of the world at that time. However, he did not succeed because of the corruptions that occurred along the way.” So, at the end of the day, being Jewish means following the path of Abraham and Moses—the path of unity, mutual responsibility, and brotherhood. When we seek unity, we are Jews. When we seek other goals, we are not.

The Festival of Freedom

Passover is the festival of freedom. Yet, we cannot be free as long as we are slaves to our egos.
Liberation from Pharaoh means freedom from the evil inclination: the desire to harm, patronize, and oppress others. We are far from it. As long as we remain this way, we must not expect anti-Semitism to subside. On the contrary, it will only grow because, as I said above, our egoism creates, feeds, and fans it.

If we want to celebrate a proper Seder, we must put our priorities in the right order: our unity comes first, and everything else follows. We may disagree on politics, LGBT issues, Israel, or family matters. But if we do not unite above all our disagreements then we are wrong regardless of our position. Just as a mother loves her children regardless of their traits, beliefs, and actions, we must find a way to at least begin to march toward each other. This will be the beginning of our liberation from the inner Pharaoh.

This year, as we discuss the story of our ancestors, let’s also think about the ancestors within us, the forces of egoism or connection and brotherhood—to which of them we are catering, and to which of them we should be catering.

I wish us all a happy and kosher (hatred free) Passover.
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In my regular column in Haaretz, my new article: “Connection: Something New on the Seder Menu“

This year, as we sit around the table during the Seder and talk about freedom, let’s talk about freedom from hatred

The deeper we go into 2017, the more chaotic the world appears. Today, the only thing most people can agree on is that the train of human society is derailing and the driver seat is empty.

Donald Trump is struggling to set his administration in motion against loyalists of the previous government in the media and the judiciary system. Even in his own party, Trump is battling criticism that sounds as though it came straight from a Bernie Sanders speech. In Europe, the UK has begun the Brexit process, no one is certain about the results of the breakup, nor is anyone certain about the desired direction for the EU.

A Passover Seder table setting

Today, most leaders of the European Union and MEPs agree that the bloc has lost its way. Leading figures such as Gianni Pittella state, “We need a new direction for Europe that goes toward a strong social pillar.” Similarly, Rosa D’Amato said, “There is the EU of the banks, big companies and lobbies, and the EU of the citizens; those who have lost their jobs and have no rights.”

It appears that the leading trend in the political arena is “each country for itself.” Brexit is underway, Trump’s policy is “America first,” Marine Le Pen in France and AfD in Germany are garnering support, and the majority of Swedes are supporting a Swexit. Yet, if the EU falls apart and each country must fend for itself, who will be the responsible adult calming things down when conflicts arise? In such a state, the distance between a relatively minor dispute and a full-blown war could be a matter of days.

Nature vs. Human Nature

Nobel Prize laureate in physics Dennis Gabor wrote in 1964: “Till now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature.” Indeed, for several decades we have been technologically capable of providing every human being with every basic need in order to sustain ourselves. If we wanted to, we could provide everyone with fresh food and water, adequate sanitation, electricity, communication, and education.

The problem is that we have no desire to do so. Our hatred of each other is causing the most technologically advanced era in human history to produce the most widespread hunger since World War II, which in itself was the most satanic display of human hatred.

Everything around us, including our own bodies, is the outcome of different, often conflicting forces, organs, and vectors complementing one another to create the universe we live in and of which we are a part. Each part in the web that is our world contributes its share to the stability and prosperity of the system that is our world. Moreover, the higher up the evolutionary chain we climb, the more complex system of interconnection and interdependence we find, requiring a higher level of communication and connectedness among the parts.

Yet, we humans are completely opposite to nature. We strive to separate ourselves from everything as though we are not dependent upon the world around us. On every level of human existence, we strive to create “Brexits.” Even our health is affected by our mutual dislike. In an interview for Channel 2 in Israel, Thomas Friedman of The New York Times said that he asked Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, “What’s the most prevalent disease in America, is it cancer, diabetes, heart disease? He said, ‘None of those; it’s isolation!’”

It turns out that our alienation from each other is causing our personal, social, and global crises by attempting to go against the connected nature of reality. In fact, that tension between our isolationism and narcissism vs. the connectedness of reality has grown so intense that in all likelihood, it should have snapped by now. We view the global wave of terrorism as a tragedy, but for all its tragic consequences, terrorism is a way to vent ethnic and religious hatred in less injurious ways than an all-out war. Yet, clearly, this type of “pressure-relief-valve” is unbearable and unless we hurry to decompress this time bomb, it will explode in an all-out war.

The more we develop, the more connected and interdependent we become. Ironically, our narcissism is driving globalization even faster because it makes us want to exploit everyone for our own benefit, and therefore compels us to connect to other people even more tightly than before in order to use them. Yet, since our narcissism grows as well, our forced connection is becoming so painful that we are losing our ability to connect to one another properly. We either avoid connection altogether through suicide or substance abuse, or attack it by being abusive, aggressive, and sometimes even homicidal.

The Brexits brewing the world over are necessary adjustments to ease the pressure of our forced connection. Romano Prodi, former Italian Prime Minister, correctly concluded that “The EU has no strategies and there is no leader to follow. The Europe I dreamed of is dead.” He was also correct in saying, “Whoever leads a political coalition and a group of countries must consider the interests of all the members.” Since this consideration is clearly not the situation in the EU, it must be taken apart before it blows us all to pieces.

Mutually Responsible

Despite the need for temporary separation, in the end we will have to join nature’s course and connect. Proper connection will be the next great challenge of humanity. Our “final frontier” is not space, as we thought back in the 1960s. Our final frontier is our connections with the people with whom we live. Our connections with the people around us and the connections among societies and countries will determine the fate of humanity.

The first step toward building a sustainable society is to understand that whether we like it or not, there is mutual responsibility between us. In the 1930s, the greatest commentator on The Book of Zohar, Rav Yehuda Ashlag, wrote an essay titled “Peace in the World” where he observed that we are all interdependent. In his words: “We can no longer speak or deal with just conducts that guarantee the well-being of one country or one nation, but only with the well-being of the whole world because the benefit or harm of each and every person in the world depends and is measured by the benefit of all the people in the world.” What was true in the 1930s is far more so today, but we have yet to come to terms with the fact that mutual dependence implies mutual responsibility.

In fact, Judaism is built on educating people toward connection. Now that we are nearing Passover, it is a good time to remind ourselves that we were declared a nation only after we agreed to unite “as one man with one heart.”

Throughout our formative years as a nation, we strove to enhance our connection over the hatred that erupted among us. We turned connecting above hatred into an ideology that has survived throughout the generations. King Solomon said, “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes” (Prov 10:12). Likewise, the book Likutey Etzot (Assorted Counsels) writes, “The essence of peace is to connect two opposites. Hence, do not be alarmed if you see a person whose view is the complete opposite of your own and you think that you will never be able to make peace with him. Also, when you see two people who are completely opposite to each other, do not say that it is impossible to make peace between them. On the contrary, the essence of peace is to try to make peace between two opposites.” Additionally, the book Letters of the Raiah declares that “The great rule about the war of views, when each view comes to contradict another, is that we need not contradict it, but rather build above it, and thereby ascend.” Finally, just last year, Andrés Spokoiny, president and CEO of the Jewish Funders Network said, “Respect and disagreement have historically been a major part of who we are. We are a people that believes that disagreement is a way to refine our moral compass. We are the people that taught the world to embrace diversity and celebrate the difference.”

At the Forefront of Connection

Recently, as Mr. Spokoiny also noted during his speech, we have seen “an unprecedented polarization and ugliness in the Jewish community. Those who think differently are considered enemies or traitors, and those who disagree with us are demonized.”

Once we understand that our problem is our separation and mutual hatred, we must strive toward the opposite. When we Jews united at the foot of Mt. Sinai, we were immediately tasked with setting an example of unity so the world could unite, as well. In other words, we were commanded to be “a light unto nations.” We did not know how, but we were willing to try. This is all that is required of us today.

Similarly, in the essay I mentioned earlier, “Peace in the World,” Rav Ashlag writes that we will not know how to connect until we try. In his words, “Such is the conduct of the development in nature—the act comes before the understanding, and only actions will prove and push humanity forward.”

We Jews are at the forefront of science, technology, and finance. Yet, what the world needs is for us to be at the forefront of connection. As Mr. Spokoiny said, “The collapse of civility is not just a Jewish problem. We as Jews are like everybody else, just a little bit more so.” Yet, we as Jews are the only ones who are expected to be a role model of unity and civility, and not an example of the opposite. The severity with which the UN judges Israel compared to all other countries in the world combined is not merely an expression of anti-Semitism. Underneath the hatred lies the expectation from the Jews to be “a light unto nations,” meaning to lead the world in the opposite direction—from hate to love. When that expectation meets the harsh reality of our separation, it results in anger toward us, which then turns into hatred. We call this anti-Semitism. What flames it is not whether we are leftist globalists or hardline conservative isolationists. Rather, its fuel is our treatment of our coreligionists, regardless of their political or economic views.

We must use every opportunity at our disposal to try to reverse the trend toward isolation. Next week, as we sit around the table during the Seder and talk about freedom, let’s talk about freedom from hatred. Let’s really think about what it means to be “a light unto nations” and why there is anti-Semitism. If we do, this may very well turn out to be our most meaningful and memorable Passover night, ever!

Just last month, EU President Antonio Tajani stated before the EU Parliament: “Today more than ever we need show that these challenges can only be overcome if we are united.” Everyone understands that unity is imperative, but only our nation has a hidden key to make love cover all crimes, as King Solomon put it. If “the act comes before the understanding,” as Ashlag wrote, then let’s act on unity and see what it produces. Whatever happens, if we aim for unity, we can’t go wrong.
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The Jerusalem Post published my new article “Exodus – The Secret Of Our Nationhood“

This Passover let us give a final blow to separation and to egoism; let us strive to connect with one another at the heart.

THE PASSOVER seder plate – this Passover let us give a final blow to separation and egoism..

Each Passover, we focus our attention on the historic struggle between Moses and Pharaoh, and the enslavement of the Hebrews. Yet, the story of our people in Egypt is more than a collective memory; it is an accurate depiction of our current situation.

The Exodus is the culmination of a process that actually began when a Babylonian pundit named Abraham discovered the reason for humanity’s woes and tried to tell the world about it. Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah narrates that Abraham was an inquisitive young man whose father, Terah, owned an idol shop in downtown Ur, a bustling city in ancient Babylon.

Selling idols and amulets was good business, but Abraham was displeased. He noticed that his townspeople were growing increasingly unhappy. Night after night, Abraham pondered the enigma of the Babylonians’ woes until he discovered a profound truth: Humans are devoid of kindness. According to the book Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter 24), Abraham observed the builders of the Tower of Babylon and saw them quarreling. He tried to persuade them to stop fighting and cooperate, but they only mocked him. Eventually, they fought each other to the death, and the tower was never completed.

The distraught Abraham began to tell his countryfolk to leave their egos and hatred aside and focus on connection and brotherhood. He suggested they would rise above their hateful egos and unite.

Abraham began to garner followers until Nimrod, king of Babylon, grew unhappy about Abraham’s increasing popularity and expelled him and his entourage from Babylon.

Wandering toward what was to become the Land of Israel, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, spoke to anyone who cared to listen. After some time, Abraham’s company numbered tens of thousands of disciples and followers.

Maimonides writes that Abraham indoctrinated his son Isaac into the notion of connection above hatred, Isaac taught Jacob the exact same tenet, and after a few generations, a unique assembly of people was created. They were not yet a nation, but they had a unique form of unity.

Their “glue” was the idea that hatred can be triumphed over only by deepening unity and mutual love.

Abraham’s people had no biological affinity, yet their solidarity grew stronger by the day thanks to their efforts to unite.

The exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt was the final stage in the forging of the Israeli nation. When they came out of Egypt, they stood before Mount Sinai, whose name derives from the Hebrew word “sinah” (hatred). Moses, who united the Israelites in Egypt, scaled the mountain to bring back the Torah – the code of unity – while the people of Israel prepared themselves to receive it by committing to unite “as one man with one heart.” With this commitment, they passed their test. They were declared not only a nation, but one tasked with being a role model of unity, “a light unto nations.”

The formation of the Israeli nation seems to narrate the unlikely forging of a nation from complete strangers.

In truth, however, this story depicts the battle we all face between our innate hatred of others and the need for connection.

Pharaoh, the evil inclination, has turned our 21st century world into a contemporary Egypt, where egoism is king and narcissism is the trend. Our polluted and war-stricken world, polarized society, ubiquitous depression and sickening trends such as live broadcasts of suicide on Facebook, indicate that Pharaoh is the king of our planet, and our world is Egypt.

As we have our inner Pharaoh, we also have our inner Moses, but he cannot succeed alone. Without directing all of our forces and desires toward connection, we will remain in Egypt, slaves to our egos, and the world will continue to go from bad to worse.

Currently, we are so divided that if we had to recommit to being “as one man with one heart” and thereby become a nation, we would unanimously decline. We are willful slaves to our egos. The book Yaarot Devash writes that the word “Jew” (Yehudi) comes from the word “united” (yihudi).

As long as we remain apart, we are not Jews, just as we were not Jews before we united and agreed to strive to love our neighbors as ourselves.

This Passover let us give a final blow to separation and to egoism; let us strive to connect with one another at the heart. In trying times such as ours, our unity is vital. It will restore our peoplehood, make us “a light unto nations,” an example of solidarity and cohesion, and free us from the scourge of narcissism and the rest of our social ills.

Happy and kosher Passover, dear people of Israel.
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In my regular column in Jewish Business News, my new article: “Jewish Self-Hatred Is The Leaven We Must Clear Out“

If there is any hatred more enigmatic than antisemitism, it is Jewish antisemitism. Our self-hatred is a sinister, undying fountain, but it will not dry out until we find its trigger and defuse it.

History is replete with examples of Jews who hated their people so vehemently that they dedicated their entire lives to its destruction. The rebellion of the Maccabees, circa 160 BC, was first and foremost against Hellenized Jews rather than the Seleucid Empire. Likewise, the commander of the Roman armies that conquered Jerusalem and exiled the Jews was Tiberius Julius Alexander, an Alexandrian Jew whose own father had donated the gold and silver for the Temple gates that Alexander shattered. In fact, prior to the ruin of Jerusalem, Julius Alexander obliterated his own Jewish community of Alexandria, causing “the whole district [to be] deluged with blood as 50,000 corpses were heaped up,” according to Jewish-Roman historian Titus Flavius Josephus. Similarly, during the Spanish Inquisition, the chief inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada was of recent Jewish descent, but that did not abate his zeal in expelling and killing the Jews. And just this past century, the Association of German National Jews supported and voted for Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Indeed, George Soros and Noam Chomsky did not invent Jewish self-hatred, a.k.a., Jewish antisemitism. In fact, the past week has seen a galling parade of this mania. First, we learned that the majority of JCCs bomb threats had a single perpetrator and that the felon was not an alt-right zealot or a Muslim extremist, but a 19-year-old Israeli-American from Ashkelon, a small town in southern Israel. Next, we saw the scores of self-righteous Jews protesting Vice President Mike Pence’s speech at AIPAC, claiming that if there is no peace for the Palestinians (who declare every other day that they do not want peace with Israel but its destruction) then there will be no peace for Israel. And third, while the state of Israel and some Jewish organizations have finally mustered enough international support to hold an anti-BDS conference at the UN General Assembly Hall, the BDS movement itself is rife with Jewish activists and Jewish organizations that support it, such as J Street, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Jews for Justice for Palestine.

Indeed, Jewish self-hatred seems to be an undying fountain of sinister ingenuity. If there is any hatred more enigmatic than antisemitism, it is Jewish Jewish self-hatred.

How We Became a Nation

In September 2014, I wrote an article in The New York Times titled “Who Are You People of Israel” that talked about the unique origin of the Jewish people and the reason for antisemitism. Following numerous requests to elaborate on the idea of Jewish unity as the solution to antisemitism and the sources I relied on to support my view, I wrote a more elaborate essay titled “Why Do People Hate Jews.” The essay quickly became a mini-Internet site that contains, in addition to the essay, a video clip explaining the ideas and a free copy of my book Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why Unity and Mutual Guarantee Are Today’s Call of the Hour. Under the constraints of a newspaper column, I can only offer a brief explanation, but you are welcome to follow any of the above links for more details.

Our nation is unique. It was not founded on ethnic or biological affinity, but around an idea. The book Pirkei De Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter 24) writes that Abraham, the father of the nation, was very concerned about the Babylonians among whom he lived. He noticed that they were growing increasingly hostile toward each other and asked himself what caused this.

As he reflected on their hatred, writes Maimonides in Mishneh Torah, he realized that in all of nature there is perfect balance between light and darkness, expansion and contraction, and construction and destruction. Everything in nature has a balancing counterpart. At the same time, he noticed that unlike the rest of nature, human nature is completely off balance. Among people, self-interest, egoism, and wickedness reign high. The hatred that Abraham discovered in his countryfolk for one another made him realize the truth about human nature, that “the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen 8:21).

Abraham realized that if people did not introduce nature’s balance into human society of their own accord, they would destroy themselves and their society. He began to circulate among the Babylonians the idea that when hatred erupts they need not fight it, but instead increase their efforts to unite. Abraham’s idea began to garner followers, but as we know from Maimonides, Midrash Rabbah, and other sources, Nimrod, King of Babylon, was not happy with Abraham’s success and chased him out of Babylon.

Abraham began to wander toward the land of Israel and speak of his idea with people he would come across along the way. His notion was simple: When hatred erupts, cover it with love. Centuries later, King Solomon summarized it with the verse: “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes” (Prov 10:12).

Abraham’s disciples grew more and more united, but it was not until they achieved a profound level of unity and solidarity that they were officially regarded as a nation. The name Mt. Sinai comes from the Hebrew word “sinaa” (hatred). Only when the people of Israel united at the foot of Mt. Sinai and vowed to be “as one man with one heart” did they become worthy of the title, “nation.” At that same time, they were also given the task to continue spreading the method of connection just as Abraham and his disciples had taught it to them. In the words of the Torah, they were tasked with being “a light unto nations.”

The Jewish people continued to develop their connection method and adapt it to the changing needs of each generation, but the principle of covering hate with love remained the same. When a man came to Old Hillel and asked him to teach him the Torah, he simply said, “That which you hate, do not do unto your neighbor; this is the whole of the Torah” (Masechet Shabbat, 31a).

Jewish Anti-Semitism—a Profound Rejection of Our Role

Over the generations, factions of the Jewish people that could not maintain the principle of love that covers hate retired from the nation. These people either assimilated or developed less demanding forms of Judaism, which catered to their growing self-absorption.

While the majority of these factions and individuals disappeared among the nations, some of them, such as the Hellenists, became staunch enemies of Judaism. Ka’ab al-Aḥbār, for example, was not only Jewish, but a prominent rabbi from Yemen who converted to Islam and became an important figure in establishing the Sunni denomination. He accompanied Khalif Umar in his voyage to Jerusalem. When Umar asked him for advice concerning a location for a place of worship, Ka’ab pointed to the Temple Mount. In consequence, today’s Dome of the Rock is located precisely where the Second Temple stood before.

When Jewish self-hatred become anti-Semites, it is not simply a rejection of a faith. It is rather a profound objection to the role that Jews must carry in the world: to circulate Abraham’s method of connection to the entire world. Being “a light unto nations” means setting an example of unity above hatred. This is a grave responsibility to carry because it means that if we do not set an example, the world will have no way to achieve peace and people will blame us for their hatred of each other. We can already see this happening in many places and in many situations, but as hatred and egoism intensify in our societies, this phenomenon will become increasingly commonplace and perilous, unless we provide the antidote by setting an example of defusing hatred by working on unity.

As hard as we may try to show that we are no different from any other nation, we are always treated as outsiders. Just recently, Dr. Andreas Zick of Bielefeld University in Germany revealed that antisemitism is still rampant in Germany. But more importantly, Dr. Zick attributes the ubiquity of Jew-hatred to the fact that Jews are “not being viewed as an integral part of society, but rather as foreigners.”

Indeed, we will continue to be pariahs until we restore our mutual responsibility, our sense of unity and love of others, and become a light of unity unto nations. Then, and only then, we will be welcome everywhere. The most notorious anti-Semite in American history, Henry Ford, expressed that specific demand 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.”

The Leaven Between Us

During this time of the year, when families are getting together to celebrate Passover, the festival of freedom, we should remember that the one slavery we have yet to cast away is the hatred of our brethren. The hametz [leaven] is our unfounded hatred, and removing it, even if just for a week-long holiday, will be our greatest ever cleanup operation. It will also be the greatest service we can do for ourselves, our nation, and the world.

Being “a light unto nations” means setting an example of unity and brotherhood. With Jewish self-hatred, we are setting the opposite example. Biur hametz [clearing out the leaven] symbolizes the clearing up of our hearts from hatred and preparing them for unity and the establishment of our nation. This is why the festival of freedom, Passover, comes before the festival of the reception of the Torah (Matan Torah), which as we said is “love your neighbor as yourself,” and which began our peoplehood.

At a time of conflict and alienation, let us be true Jews—united in love that covers all crimes, and bonded in brotherhood and mutual responsibility.

Happy and kosher (hate free) Passover.
[#204541]

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In my regular column in Haaretz, my new article: “Our Own Worst Enemies“

Jews-turned-anti-Semites reject not only their heritage, but primarily their task to bring the method of connection for the entire world.

After a prolonged silence regarding the JCCs bomb threats, the FBI released the stunning news that the majority of threats had a single perpetrator and that the felon was not an alt-right zealot or a Muslim extremist, but a 19-year-old Israeli-American from Ashkelon, a small town in southern Israel. Indeed, the self-hatred of Jews seems to be an undying fountain of sinister ingenuity.

Another example of self-hatred is the Jewish involvement with the BDS movement. Today, the UN is finally recognizing the anti-Semitic nature of BDS and is holding an anti-BDS conference at the UN General Assembly Hall. But while the state of Israel and various Jewish organizations have finally mustered enough international support to fight the BDS, many Jews and former Israelis are among the leaders of the movement, and several Jewish organizations support it, such as J Street, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Jews for Justice for Palestine.

Jewish self-hatred did not begin with the BDS. Nor did it begin with George Soros or Noam Chomsky. Throughout our history, we have had to face internal disputes that often erupted into full-blown wars. The rebellion of the Maccabees, circa 160 BC, was first and foremost against Hellenized Jews rather than the Seleucid Empire. Likewise, the commander of the Roman armies that conquered Jerusalem and exiled the Jews was Tiberius Julius Alexander, an Alexandrian Jew whose own father had donated the gold and silver for the Temple gates that Alexander shattered. In fact, prior to the ruin of Jerusalem, Julius Alexander obliterated his own Jewish community of Alexandria, causing “the whole district [to be] deluged with blood as 50,000 corpses were heaped up,” according to Jewish-Roman historian Titus Flavius Josephus. Similarly, during the Spanish Inquisition, the chief inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada was of recent Jewish descent, but that did not abate his zeal in expelling and killing the Jews. And just this past century, the Association of German National Jews supported and voted for Hitler and the Nazi Party.

History is replete with examples of Jews who hated their people so vehemently that they dedicated their entire lives to its destruction. If there is any hatred more enigmatic than anti-Semitism, it is Jewish anti-Semitism.

Who Are You People of Israel

A couple of years ago, I wrote an article in The New York Times titled “Who Are You People of Israel” that talked about the unique origin of the Jewish people and the reason for anti-Semitism. The responses I received from readers made me write a more elaborate essay titled “Why Do People Hate Jews,” which I turned into a mini-Internet site that also contains a free copy of my book, Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why Unity and Mutual Guarantee Are Today’s Call of the Hour. Under the constraints of a newspaper column, I can only offer a brief explanation, so you are welcome to follow any of the above links.

If we search for a specific origin for the Jews, we will not find one. Our nation is based on an idea, not on familial kinship or ethnic or biological affinity. The “progenitor” of the Jewish nation was Abraham, which is why we refer to him as “Abraham Our Father.” The book Pirkei De Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter 24) says that Abraham was very concerned about the Babylonians among whom he lived. He saw them growing increasingly hostile toward each other and wondered why this was happening.

As he was reflecting on the predicament, writes Maimonides in Mishneh Torah (Chapter 1), he realized that in all of nature there is perfect balance between good and bad, connection and separation, and strength and weakness. Everything in nature is balanced by its opposite. At the same time, he noticed that human nature, unlike the rest of nature, is completely off balance. Among humans, the bad reigns high. The hatred of Abraham’s countryfolk for each other revealed to him the truth about human nature: “The inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen 8:21).

Abraham realized that if people did not replicate nature’s balance of their own volition, they would destroy themselves and their society would collapse. He began to speak of his idea to anyone who would listen and started gathering substantial following. Regrettably, as we know from Maimonides, Midrash Rabah, and other sources, Nimrod, King of Babylon, was not happy with Abraham’s success and chased him out of Babylon.

As the expat wandered toward what became the land of Israel, he kept speaking of his idea that human society must cultivate unity and brotherhood as an antidote to human egoism and hatred. Over time, Abraham garnered thousands and even tens of thousands of followers, whom he and his disciples indoctrinated with a method of connection that had one simple principle: When hatred erupts, cover it with love. Centuries later, King Solomon summarized it with the verse: “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes” (Prov 10:12).

Despite their efforts to unite, Abraham’s disciples were not regarded as a nation until they achieved a profound level of unity and solidarity. At the foot of Mt. Sinai, they pledged to be “as one man with one heart.” Then, and only then, were they officially declared a nation. At that same time they were also given the task to spread their method of connection to the world, or as the Torah states, to be “a light unto nations.”

Over the generations, the Jewish people developed their connection method and adapted it to the changing needs of each generation. During Moses’ time, the simple principle that Abraham had taught was not enough to lead an entire nation on a path of unity above hatred, so Moses gave them the Torah. But the principle of covering hate with love remained the same. When a man came to Old Hillel and asked him to teach him the Torah, he simply said, “That which you hate, do not do unto your neighbor; this is the whole of the Torah” (Babylonian Talmud, Masechet Shabbat, 31a).

Anti-Semitic Jews

For all their efforts, the hatred and egoism among Jews was (and is) growing just as it does in all other nations. As factions of the Jewish people became too self-centered to maintain Hillel’s principle, they departed from the Jewish people and either assimilated or developed less demanding forms of Judaism, which catered to their growing self-absorption. These factions eventually disappeared among the nations.

However, sometimes, such as with the Hellenists, these rogue factions became staunch enemies of Judaism. Ka’ab al-Aḥbār, for example, was not only Jewish, but a prominent rabbi from Yemen who converted to Islam and became an important figure in establishing the Sunni denomination. Ka’ab accompanied Khalif Umar in his voyage to Jerusalem. When Umar asked him where he thought the khalif should build a place of worship, Ka’ab pointed to the Temple Mount. This is why today the Dome of the Rock is located where the Second Temple stood before.

In resenting their origins, Jews-turned-anti-Semites are rejecting not only their heritage, but first and foremost their role as the bearers of the method of connection for the entire world.

Yet, like it or not, the Jews are treated as different despite their endless efforts to blend, mingle, and assimilate into the local culture. Just recently, Dr. Andreas Zick of Bielefeld University in Germany revealed that anti-Semitism is still extremely commonplace in Germany. Moreover, Dr. Zick attributes this to the Jews “not being viewed as an integral part of society, but rather as foreigners.”

We will be regarded as foreigners until we acknowledge that we were formed through unity and that our vocation is to share the method for achieving unity above hatred with the world. All of our sources state that the Temple that the convert Ka‘ab al-Aḥbār turned into a mosque was ruined by our hatred of each other and that this is why we were exiled and dispersed. We will continue to be pariahs until we restore our mutual responsibility, our sense of unity, and love of others. When we do this, we will be welcome everywhere. The most notorious anti-Semite in American history, Henry Ford, expressed that specific demand 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.”

Clearing Out Hatred

During this time of the year, when families are getting together to celebrate Passover, the festival of freedom, we should remember that the one slavery we have yet to cast away is our own hatred of our brethren to the tribe. The hametz [leaven] is our unfounded hatred, and removing it, even if just for a week-long holiday, will be the greatest ever cleanup operation of our lives. It will also be the greatest service we can do for ourselves, our nation, and the world.

Being “a light unto nations” means setting an example of unity and brotherhood. With our current hatred, we are setting the opposite example. Biur hametz [clearing out the leaven] symbolizes the clearing up of our hearts from hatred and preparing them for unity and the establishment of our nation. This is why in the Torah, Passover comes before the reception of the Torah, which as we said is “love your neighbor as yourself,” and which began our peoplehood.

At a time of conflict and alienation, let us be true Jews—united in love that covers all crimes, and bonded in brotherhood and mutual responsibility.

Happy and kosher (hatred-free) Passover.
[204445]

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