Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The agreement with Lebanon to bring neither peace nor quiet”

“Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday rejected petitions that would have held up a landmark US-brokered deal setting a maritime border with Lebanon, which Washington predicted could be finalized on Thursday,” hailed Reuters on Monday, October 24. But if the agreement does not guarantee peace, and it does not, if it weakens your position and gives up territory to an enemy that has sworn to kill you without even a formal promise to cease hostilities, then what is there to hail in this agreement? Why is it described as a “landmark” agreement?

The only relationship we should have with Lebanon is commercial: We drill out the gas that is in our territorial water and sell it to them, if they want to buy it. This is what every reasonable country would do.

I realize that it sounds as though this policy leaves no room for peace, but there is no one who wants peace on the other side anyway, so there is no room for peace to begin with. On the contrary, we should focus on strengthening ourselves in order to deter the enemy from harboring any thoughts of aggression, which would lead to casualties on both sides (mainly theirs) and still not lead to peace. When your enemy is trigger happy, a show of strength and courage is the best deterrence, the best way to prevent escalation to violence.

There used to be a slogan in Israel: land for peace. It promoted the idea that if we gave the Arabs land, they would give us peace.

We tried it several times. We tried signing agreements based on this formula, and we tried giving up land even without an agreement, believing that if the other side got the land it wanted, it would stop fighting. Neither way worked. The only formula that makes sense is peace for peace. If the other side wants peace, it gets peace; if it wants war, it gets war.

We need to understand the meaning of peace. The peace I talked about so far is not real peace. It is the absence of hostilities, and at best, it is normalization of the relationship based on economic interests. But when you are dealing with an enemy whose motivation stems from profound hatred, it is impossible to make peace under any circumstances. As long as there is hatred, we are condemned to live by the sword.

However, we can cure the hatred. Curing the hatred of the Palestinians toward Israel and Israelis is within our power. In fact, no one else can cure their hatred for us but we alone. And we can do this by curing the hatred that we feel for one another.

The Hebrew word for “peace” is shalom, from the word shlemut (wholeness). Currently, our nation is deeply fragmented and divided. When we have no shlemut among ourselves, we have none of it with others.

It could be said that the Palestinians are striving to eliminate the State of Israel because it is only natural for countries to spot division and weakness in their enemies and strive to take advantage of it. While this is true, this is not the case with Israel. When it comes to Israel, things get very emotional and relationships are determined by feelings of love or hate rather than by rational thinking.

The Israeli nation contains within it “delegates,” or “representatives” of people from all (or at least most of) the nations that inhabited the ancient world. Those nations have evolved into the nations we know today, all of humanity. As a result, all the nations subconsciously feel connected to the people of Israel, that they have a “stake,” an “investment” in this nation. This is why they feel entitled to judge and reprimand Israel and Jews, which they would not allow themselves to do to any other nation or country.

Thousands of years ago, those “envoys” carried out a feat that has never been repeated since: Despite their different backgrounds, they united and came to love one another even more than they cared for their own people, even more than they cared for themselves.

In doing so, the ancient Israelites created a model nation, a miniscule sample of world peace. However, the ancient Israeli nation was a proof of concept, and it worked. Because of their success, they were titled “a virtuous people,” and were instructed to be “a light to the nations.”

As long as they maintained their unity, they fulfilled their mission and the nations could see the example they needed. When they became belligerent and divided among themselves, the example they gave was the opposite of the one they had been tasked with giving. As a result, the world admonished them.

The people of Israel will never be freed from its mission. It will always be the focal point of all the nations, who will judge it according to its level of cohesion or separation. Although neither Jews nor gentiles are conscious of their ancient connection, that connection exists at our root and cannot be uprooted. This is why only when we make peace among ourselves, achieve shlemut and love one another, the world will love us, too. And when we hate each other, the world will also hate us.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “What a Canadian psychologist knows about Israel that Israelis do not”

Jordan Peterson, a Canadian media personality, clinical psychologist, author, and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, describes himself as a “classic British liberal.” The media often describes him as conservative. Be that as it may, his words to a 3,000 strong audience at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem should not fall on deaf Israeli ears because when he says emphatically, “You have a tremendous moral responsibility,” and “Show the world what the holy city could look like – because we need it,” we should understand that he speaks for billions and the onus really is on us.

A couple of weeks ago, at an event hosted by The Daily Wire in Jerusalem, Peterson said, “Everyone looks here to see how you are doing under this tremendous assault of adversarial criticism – as this little tiny people in the middle of no-man’s land – as a cardinal model of the nation state and the city on the hill. You have a tremendous moral responsibility like you have perhaps had for your entire history for reasons that are very difficult to understand.”

The problem is that what non-Jews feel about Israel and Israelis, we refuse to admit because while they can simply express how they feel, we have to respond to those emotions. It is a heavy burden to be responsible for the world’s problems. It is perfectly understandable that we refuse to admit it and strive to either deny it or assimilate among the nations. But the nations will clearly not allow us to do either.

We have been decrying our fate for centuries; we have written books about it, and we even titled one of them Israel, the Ever-dying People. However, when it comes to doing what we must, to making ourselves “a shining light on a hill,” as Peterson put it, we turn our backs on our mission and blame each other for the hatred turned against us.

The obligation we avoid is our obligation to each other, to unite “as one man with one heart” and become the “cardinal model” that Peterson and the rest of the world want to see. They do not need our high-tech industry or our sophisticated weapons. They need our unique, authentic moral system, the one that was established on the basis of love of others. Only if we establish our society in Israel based on this value, we will win the world’s approval.

The world is aching for it. Some of the people will ask this from us nicely, the way Peterson articulated it. Others will demand it through violence. Either way, we will know no peace or peace of mind until we provide the world the example of unity and solidarity that we must.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Can Israel Win against Terror?”

Since the birth of the Jewish nation, it has faced vicious enemies. Each time, a different villain sought to extinguish our nation. They almost always won, and we almost always lost, but in the end, we are still here and they are long gone.

Terrorism is a new kind of adversary: ill-equipped, disorganized, and untrained, yet tenacious and full of fighting spirit. The latter two were precisely our weapons when we fought against mighty enemies, and now we feel lost precisely because we do not have them. If we rebuild our spirit, we will win without a fight. If we do not rebuild it, we will lose no matter how hard we fight.

Today’s terrorists are more resourceful than ever, and they are fearless. We, on the other hand, despite having far superior equipment, are timid, passive, and dejected. If we continue to rely only on weapons, we will disintegrate, the country will dissolve, and our people will return to the dismal state it was in prior to the establishment of Israel, and which culminated in the Holocaust.

If we want to win against terror and stay in Israel, we have to act on two levels: internal and external. The internal level is the decisive one, and the one that will determine if we succeed. However, the external level is vital as a means to enable our work on the internal.

On the external level, we must cut off all ties with the enemy, and fight against it just as we should fight against an enemy. In other words, if they come to kill us, we should kill them first. At that point in our struggle, we should have no thoughts of peace because it will not happen. On the contrary, the more passive we are, the more aggressive they will become, leading to more casualties on both sides.

As with any struggle for survival in nature, if your enemy wants to kill you, and you are hesitant, it will not pacify your enemy, but only make him more aggressive because he will interpret your hesitation as a sign of weakness. But if you show strength, determination, and courage, your enemy will hesitate, and this will buy you time to do what you need to do.

Once we have relative peace, we should focus all our efforts on the internal level, which is within the Israeli society. The key element that makes us strong is our unity. Although Jews are famous for never agreeing, our ability to rise above our disagreements and form a society based on mutual responsibility and care for one another has earned us the title Am Segula (a virtuous people), whose mission was to become an example of unity, a light to the nations.

The Segula (virtue) that awarded us the title was our determination to nurture love of others to the point where we have made it the overarching principle of Jewish law. This is why Rabbi Akiva said that “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the whole, and the law of the Torah.

The unity of the people of Israel was unique and praiseworthy precisely because it was so unlikely. It was unity among people from multiple backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities, who agreed on one and only thing: unity is superior to all other values. You can believe whatever you want and live however you want, but if you value unity with all other people above all else, you are one of us, a member of the Israeli people.

The diversity of the ancient Israelites forced them to forge an extremely powerful union, something that could overcome ancient rivalries and natural suspicion. When they succeeded and united “as one man with one heart,” they became a model that the world could replicate if it were to aspire for peace among all people.

After centuries of struggles and infighting, the people of Israel succumbed to the alienation among them, and unity was no longer their superior value. The people dispersed and were exiled from Israel, and the Jewish people have become the world’s pariahs. Not only did they become the opposite example of the one they were meant to serve, but in doing so, they denied the world of hope that there could be peace among all people. This is why Jew-hatred is so pervasive.

Now that we are back in Israel, we have a chance to reestablish our unity. If we can exalt the value of unity above all other values, we will once again be a light to the nations, and we will win the world’s favor. We will win the struggle over Israel without a fight not because the Arabs will surrender, but because they will want to join our unity and will want us to set the example that they, too, need.

But if we succumb to infighting once again, there is no question that our enemies will win and drive us out from Israel no matter how superior our military capabilities may be. The fight against terrorism, therefore, will succeed only if it is a prelude to the real battle: against our hatred of each other.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Education as an Antidote for Hunger”

This week, the UN, and several related organizations, marked two significant dates: the World Food Day and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. International organizations for the poor and hungry have existed at least since the end of World War II, but neither poverty nor hunger have been eradicated. If anything, they have increased. What, then, are we doing wrong, and can we change the dismal reality?

The problem is not lack of food; there is plenty of it. In fact, much of the food that is produced gets thrown away and pollutes the water and the ground rather than feeding hungry mouths. So people are hungry not for lack of food, but because there is no interest in helping people get it.

The prevailing attitude is one of narcissism. We care only for ourselves and suspect everyone else’s intentions toward us. If we have any surplus funds, we use them to build walls and fences, not to help others. This is how we behave around the world as individuals and as nations.

To quiet our conscience, we create organizations to tend to the poor and hungry. We fund them generously and appoint functionaries and bureaucrats to deal with the problem.

But if our hearts were with the poor, we would not leave them in the hands of bureaucrats, just as we would not leave our children in the hands of social workers to see to their upbringing. We would see that the people we care about get what they need.

Because we do not care, we appoint uncaring people who present plans for dealing with the spreading poverty and hunger, and announce special days to bring the problem to public awareness. They do not do a thing about the actual problems, but simply justify their bloated salaries through professionally designed presentations and verbose speeches that glorify their (nonexistent) achievements.

If they truly wanted to solve the problem, which funds their lavish lifestyle, there would be many ways to do so. However, the surest way to lift people from poverty is education.

First, there are technologies that can increase the yield of fields by multiple times through sophisticated irrigation systems, controlled environments, and other means. Farmers need to be taught how to use these technologies, and should be given the means to acquire them. This step alone would lift countless people out of hunger and poverty.

Next, I think that organizations for eradication of poverty and hunger should use their budgets to buy lands where they will both grow crops for food that will be dedicated for the poor, and use some of the land to teach local farmers more efficient agriculture.

Additionally, these centers for agriculture and education should be used in order to provide general education. It is well known that educated people have more opportunities in life, are generally better off, and can provide for themselves and their families better than uneducated people. Therefore, as a means to eradicate poverty and hunger, these centers should also provide general knowledge and education.

Also, education should not be only about avoiding poverty. Poverty is not a personal matter, but a social one. Therefore, people who study at these education centers should also learn about solidarity, mutual responsibility, interdependence in today’s world, and other topics that will help them establish themselves as positive elements in a connected world.

In this way, we can create an agrarian transformation that will become a social and cultural transformation that can free people not only from the grip of poverty and hunger, but integrate them in the global society of the 21st century as confident and positive individuals. In turn, these people will help others rise from poverty, and the process will gain momentum.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “How to fight right”

Jews always argue. In our history, these arguments have sometimes led to violence, and even flared such hatred that they inflicted ruin on our nation. Yet arguments, or as we prefer to call them, “debates,” have been a core value in our tribe. They have endowed us with wisdom and understanding, the ability to perceive multiple perspectives, and a basis to build love of others that is far stronger than natural love precisely because it has survived trials and tribulations. How then do we fight right? How do we not let it ruin us, but use it to consolidate us?

These are pertinent questions since in less than two weeks, Israelis will go to the poles again. It has become a habit; it is the fifth general election in less than four years. So far, political division has brought no benefit in terms of consolidating our society or strengthening our unity; it has only deepened our division and emboldened those who wish to destroy us.

In order to avoid a breakdown of Israeli society, we should return to our roots: We argue only when it serves the purpose of solidifying our unity. Otherwise, we simply avoid it. If we approach our disagreements in this way, then however deep and fateful our disputes might seem, they will lead to greater unity and successful solutions.

Disagreements build us. They enrich us, make our minds keener and our hearts more sincere. They force us to reflect on our values and question entrenched convictions. Conflicts make us respect our adversaries and appreciate what we gain through our disputes with them. Were it not for discords and people who challenge us, we would remain dull, dumb, and undeveloped. But worst of all, we would never learn what it means to love our neighbor—a complete stranger whom we have come to love through common efforts.

Our current struggles revolve around two things that are actually one: money and respect, which translate into struggles for power. Views on Israel’s defense, social justice, the economy, the justice system, education, everything is up for sale for the right price. If you give me the power I want, I will give you anything you ask. This is not unity and it is not agreement; it is opportunism. It will not stop the fights, and will destroy our society and country.

If we want the State of Israel to flourish, we must return to our authentic values. We must shed the masks and the fake smiles, acknowledge our hatred, and remember why we feel it: to strengthen our unity.

We will never agree with one another, nor should we. People who agree do not argue, and therefore have no reason to build a strong and solid unity. Since we do argue, we have no choice but to build a union that is stronger than our division.

Fighting right means fighting for unity without denying or suppressing our division. Fighting right means understanding that our enemy is not our opponent but our ego, and the disagreements between us are our way to prevail over our ego.

If we all renounce our ego and place a higher value on unity than on opinion, we will find that our opinions have become steps, and our union has become a force that lifts us up the mountain. ‎When we reach the top, we will find each other.
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My new article on Linkedin “Debunking the Myth of Jewish Wisdom”

Jews have a reputation of being smart. Indeed, if you look at the list of Nobel Prize laureates, you will notice that Jewish sounding names are far more common than their share of the world’s population. There is also the famous wisdom of King Solomon, who was regarded as the wisest of men. However, if you examine the chronicles of the Jewish people and our conduct as a nation, you will find that we march from folly to folly, and never seem to learn, as if our wisdom has remained with King Solomon, and all we have is talent for math, science, and finances.

On Sunday, former president Donald Trump criticized American Jewry for their attitude toward Israel. He wrote that they must “get their act together” and show more appreciation for the state of Israel “before it is too late.”

Trump did not specify what he meant by “too late,” but Jewish history makes it very clear what that might be, although I cannot be certain that this is what Trump meant. Jewish history proves one thing, and if we were wiser, we would learn from it: When we are together, united as one, we thrive. When we are divided, we suffer. Accordingly, “getting our act together” means restoring our shattered unity and transcending the alienation between us.

Our history confirms that Jews are a nation on a mission to correct the world; this is why our motto is Tikkun Olam (correction of the world). We did not choose it; it was imposed on us.

However, we were chosen for a reason: We did what no one else has done before we established our nationhood, or since. The Jewish nation emerged from an eclectic mixture of strangers from foreign tribes and nations who had one thing in common: the conviction that living in unity and solidarity is the only viable way for humanity to exist. This is why we placed love of others above all other values.

Because unity of all people is indeed the most sublime value, we were tasked with spreading it. Since there were times when we achieved it, such as at the foot of Mt. Sinai and at other rare occasions and periods in our history, we were also tasked with setting an example, with being a model nation, a “light to the nations.”

In time, however, we have abandoned our mission and discarded our core values. Instead of being a light to the nations, we have become a darkness to the nations, setting a model of division, or as our sages called it sinaat hinam (unfounded hatred, hatred for no reason).

I respect Donald Trump and I respect his words because he respects our unity. His gut feeling that Jews should stick together does not stem from antisemitism; nor are they an attempt to play into antisemitic tropes, as some of his critics argue. Rather, his words stem from a conviction that this is the way Jews should treat one another, that Jewish unity is good for the Jews and good for the world.

He is absolutely right. Our insistence on distinguishing between American Jewry and the State of Israel works against us. Rather than mitigate antisemitism in America, this division is the very reason that antisemitism is growing.

Regardless of Israel’s actions or of the actions of American Jewry, the very fact that Jews are divided among themselves fuels the world’s anger against them because it is the opposite example of the one they should give.

At the moment, the chasm between American Jewry and Israel seems wider than the ocean that lies between us. The two communities are like two continents moving farther and farther apart. Unless we get our act together, just as Trump said, and pull together as one nation, above the alienation and hatred between us, a modern Hitler of some sort will rise and do to us what our detractors have done to us throughout our millennia of Jewish folly.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “If We Do Not Recognize Jerusalem as Our Capital, Why Should Australia?”

This week, Australia’s center-left government reversed a decision by the previous, conservative ‎administration, to recognize West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Australia’s Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, said the city’s status should be decided through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian people, and that Australia “will not support an approach that undermines” the chance of a two-state solution in which a Palestinian state exists alongside Israel.

Israel condemned the Australian government’s decision, and the Israeli Foreign Ministry has summoned the Australian envoy to lodge an official protest. But if we do not know what Jerusalem stands for or what its name means, can we expect others to recognize it as our capital?

I am not surprised that the new, left leaning government, reversed the previous decision, which was made by a conservative administration. These days, the Left is on the rise all over the world, and it has always been more antisemitic and anti-Israel than the Right.

Also, considering how Israel treated Donald Trump, perhaps Israel’s best friend since its founding, I think it is fair to say that we “had it coming.” If we do not appreciate our supporters, can we complain that our critics are emboldened?

Instead of reproving foreign ambassadors, we should focus on ourselves and do what we must do. The second part of the name Jeru-salem comes from the Hebrew word shalem (whole). Jerusalem should be a city of unity, where all Jews, of every culture, ethnicity, and denomination, come together in a celebration of unity. Jerusalem must be a symbol of unity. It will not be whole before we are whole inside, among ourselves.

In the days of the Second Temple, particularly during the 3rd century B.C., there was a period when Jerusalem was indeed a model of unity. At that time, people from all over the world flocked to it during times of celebration to derive inspiration and to learn how to unite. The book Sifrey Devarim writes that people would “go up to Jerusalem and see Israel … and say, ‘It is becoming to cling only to this nation.’”

Even Henry Ford, an otherwise rabid antisemite, advised his readers to learn from the Jews. In his compilation of antisemitic essays titled The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem, he 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.”

When we begin to nurture our solidarity and cohesion, when we stop worrying about what this or that government does, we will discover that this is exactly what the world wants us to do, including our Arab neighbors. We will not resolve our conflict with our neighbors or the hatred from the world before we rise above the inner conflicts that divide us and stop hating one another.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “When Power Is the Ideology”

The protests in Iran have not abated for several weeks now, despite reports of hundreds of casualties. The determination of the Iranian people is admirable, as is their willingness to rise above fear. I have said several times that the Iranian people are a unique nation. The area where Iran lies today was the cradle of civilization; Iranians are highly developed in the spiritual sense, but it is not the same as the religious sense.

The religious fanaticism that has taken over the country in the last fifty years or so is regrettable, but it does not take away from my respect for the people. I believe that if they direct their current awakening in the right direction, they will be a thriving and prosperous nation.

Israel used to have very good relations with Iran because there is no fundamental conflict between the two nations. The current regime is fanatical and does not allow such relations to continue, but in principle, I do not see any fundamental disagreements between us.

The reason I am pointing this out is that even among enemies, there can be respect. In fact, respect can be the first step in building closeness.

If we aspire to draw closer but see that the differences between us are currently too deep to bridge, we can begin by respecting each other’s spaces and trying not to disparage one another. If we can restrain ourselves from venting hatred, we will be able to think about more explicit acts of rapprochement.

Relationships that are built through mutual respect can eventually become even closer than relationships that did not have to go through a preliminary phase of building mutual respect.

Today, when power is the ideology, it is very difficult to imagine any reconciliation between Israel and Iran. When policy is determined solely by arms and weaponry, it is impossible to reach any agreements, let alone develop mutual respect.

If previously, the Pope, or the king, got respect from other nations or faiths, today there are no values. If I have a bomb, I have respect for no one. Power has replaced all other values.

But power is not an ideology. It brings nothing but destruction and its glory is short-lived. The fact that power is king today means that we will soon understand that having power actually means we have nothing. It will force us to resume our search for values.

Since we have exhausted such values as clerical ascendancy, social paradigms from the Right and from the Left, and wealth and power, too, are losing their allure, I believe we are becoming ready for the only value worth pursuing: love of others.

By “love of others,” I do not mean biological attraction, but love as a value, when people place the other’s needs before their own because caring lifts them to a higher level of existence.

A person who lives for others constantly creates. A person who lives for others constantly engages in giving, and derives endless strength from that alone.

The seemingly endless energy of mothers to give to their young children is nothing compared to the ability to give that a person who loves others possesses. When the sun sets on the ideology of power, love between people will begin to shine.
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Medium published my new article “Tomorrow’s World Relationships”

A perfect match? A loving family? Happy children? The pressures of today’s world create a grim reality where successful and lasting relationships are something of a fantasy. We cannot rely on the experience of elders since they lived in a very different world, so we have to find how to create meaningful and sustainable partnerships today. The key word in this search is connectedness, or rather, interconnectedness.

Because the world is changing at an accelerating pace, it is pointless to compare today’s relationships to those of our parents, or even to relationships of people a decade or two older than us. Each year, the world becomes increasingly connected, and a crisis in one place quickly spreads to the rest of the world.

On the personal level, too, things today are very different from what they were a decade ago. We have moved from fast food to fast relationships, and brief has become our permanent state of being.

To cope with the growing uncertainty and find direction in the emerging chaos, we need to understand where we are going. We are headed toward total connectedness and interdependence. It is an irreversible process. The more connected we become, the more dependent on each other we become, as well. Soon, we will realize that anything that hurts others hurts me, too, and there is nothing I can do to break my ties with the world.

In order to cope successfully with our interconnected future, we must change the nature of our ties from abusive and oppressive to supportive and embracing. Since we already broadcast our thoughts, words, and actions to the entire world, we might as well broadcast positive thoughts, words, and actions, and help improve the world for ourselves and others.

In a world that is connected positively, the family is the basic unit of connection. A reality where humanity is a mass of isolated individuals is unsustainable because there will be no connections between people and society will disintegrate just as any organism disintegrates into the smallest elements when it dies.

Therefore, the family will be the basic unit where people cultivate positive connections. Since people are becoming increasingly individualistic, the family will be the place where people learn to embrace diversity rather than fight against people who hold different views. People will learn that just as our body exists thanks to different cells and organs working together for the sake of the body, different people who work together for the sake of the family enable the success of the family.

From the family unit, people will take their lessons to the community, from the community to the city, from the city to the state, to the country, and finally to the entire world. The key, therefore, to successful relationships in tomorrow’s world, lies not only in connections, but in connections between different people for a common goal, where the differences between them ensure their success and make their mutual dependence imperative, and even welcome.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Cajoling Jew-Haters Does Not Abate Antisemitism”

Earlier this week, I wrote about the new report by the policy planning think tank Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) that revealed the depth of antisemitism on the Left and how dangerous it is. In that post, I intentionally left out the most troubling part of the report, which it defined as “Jewish communal disunity.” Our worst enemy is not this or that person who hates Jews; our worst enemy is our own hatred for each other.

According to the report, much of the Jewish establishment urged the Biden administration to make ‎‎the adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism a national priority, in line with most western countries and the official policy of the UN. However, while this was happening, “key progressive Jewish ‎groups lobbied the administration against its adoption.” Moreover, “Jewish anti-Zionists play ‎increasingly prominent roles in left-wing policy and discourse arenas.”

During the Spanish Inquisition, our worst detractors and persecutors were former Jews. In the 1930s, there were German Jews and Jewish organizations that joined the Third Reich and fully endorsed its racist ideology and policy against Jews. There have always been Jews who joined Jew-haters, thinking that by doing so, they will save their skins. It has always made things worse for the Jews, much worse.

In fact, the majority of arguments that antisemites use against Jews come to them from self-hating Jews. They provide Jew-haters with ammunition in the form of arguments against Jews, advise them how to use it against Jews effectively, and chant along with them their venomous slogans. Self-hating Jews portray Jew-haters as victims in order to justify their antisemitism and their violence against Jews.

Hoping to win the hearts of our enemies, antisemitic Jews become more sinister and malicious toward Jews than any non-Jew antisemite could ever be. Gentile antisemites feel a visceral anger toward us. Jewish antisemites make hating Jews an ideological issue, and ideologies are those responsible for genocides, not gut hatred.

I can understand the hatred of some Jews for their own people. It is not easy being born into a group that is always held responsible for everything that is wrong with the world. However, joining the ranks of the detractors does not relieve us from our duty. On the contrary, it only deepens the haters’ loathing and makes them more aggressive.

The only cure to Jew-hatred is for Jews to care for one another. The gut feeling of antisemites that the Jews are responsible for the problems in the world is correct, but self-hatred among Jews does not save the haters, it exacerbates the hatred of non-Jews. The “fault” of the Jews is not that they are harming the world on purpose, but that they are divided, contrary to their mission—to be a model of unity.

There is a reason why our Hebrew ancestors conceived such sublime notions as mutual responsibility, charity, mercy, and loving others as ourselves. They not only envisioned these ideas, they also tried to live them out. When they succeeded, our nation thrived; when they failed, our nation suffered.

Possibly the worst antisemite in American history, Henry Ford, inserted many phrases in his antisemitic compilation, The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem, which seem to contradict his anti-Jewish narrative. Among them is this intriguing statement: ‎“Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, … would do ‎well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”

We, too, must return to our roots, to the ideology that had fashioned us into a nation. We must strive to love each other above all our differences and all the hatred that may surface between us. Only when we unite are we a model nation. Therefore, only when we unite does the world embrace us.

Any division among us, for whatever reason, aggravates antisemitism because division among us contradicts the calling and mission of our people. The gut feeling that antisemites feel will change from hate to love no sooner than when we rise above our division and unite despite our mutual abhorrence.

—

For more on antisemitism and its history, read my books, New Antisemitism: Mutation of a Long-lived Hatred, and The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism.
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