Medium published my new article “The World Would Be Better Off without The Giving Pledge”

The Giving Pledge, according to the statement on the site, “is a promise by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes.” In 2010, Warren Buffett, Melinda Gates, and Bill Gates founded the Giving Pledge initiative after a series of conversations with philanthropists about how they could set a new standard of generosity among the ultra-rich. The Giving Pledge aims to address some of society’s most pressing problems. The 231 billionaires who have signed the pledge include names like David Rockefeller, Jeff and Marieke Rothschild, Richard Branson, Charles Bronfman, Elon Musk, MacKenzie Scott, Mark Zuckerberg, and of course the three initiators.

Many of these people have already donated billions of dollars, but the world continues to deteriorate. I am afraid that even if all the people on the list follow through on their promises, the world will not be one bit better than it is today. They will scatter their wealth across the globe, build a hospital wing here, a new school there, but people’s lives will not really improve.

It is true that in many places, the health and education systems need to be improved, but pouring money into sick systems will not cure them. If anything, it will only worsen the disease. As it stands, the world would be better off without those billions.

The dysfunctional welfare, healthcare, and education systems that we see all over the world are in this state not for lack of money, but for lack of good will. There is no desire to make them work well because people do not care for one another. When people want to exploit each other, they take pleasure in seeing others suffer and have no interest in improving anyone’s life.

When you pour that much money into a system that is so corrupt, there is not a shred of doubt that the funds will stay with those already at the top, and none of it will trickle down to those who need it.

Money can be put to good use if people want to put it to good use. To prevent billions, if not trillions of dollars from entrenching corruption even deeper and remaining in the hands of corrupt bureaucrats, all of society must go through a comprehensive educational process. When people learn to care for one another, they will naturally use whatever resources they have for everyone’s benefit. When this happens, we will find that we can have excellent health and great education for a fraction of the cost that people now consider necessary.

To achieve this, we need an educational process. Indeed, the only education that we need is to learn to care for one another. To achieve such a mindset, we must approach the issue from all angles. Science proves that only systems whose parts collaborate and maintain the overall health of all their elements survive and even thrive. History also proves that societies where solidarity and cohesion were strong thrived, and that they fell apart when internal divisions took over. We need to show in every way that we are only strong, healthy, and happy when we are united, when we care for one another.

In the coming years, hundreds of millions of people will remain jobless. The pandemic is accelerating this process and already, tens of millions are out of work either voluntarily or because their pre-pandemic jobs have disappeared. How are they to support themselves and their families if there is no mutual responsibility among us? How will they stay sane if they do not feel that society cares about them, and that they are obligated to society? They will become rogue individuals ready to explode and do harm at any moment.

However, if their minds are set on solidarity, if they understand and feel that we are all dependent on each other, and that society will care for them, they will find constructive ways to contribute, and society will benefit from them.

The longer the pandemic continues to wreak havoc in society, the more urgently we need to teach ourselves the rules of the new, emergent world and how to operate in it. Only when we understand how the rules of the game have changed, we will know what to do with the billions of dollars in donations. Then we will also realize that we do not need people to give their money to society, but to give it their hearts.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Israel’s Most Effective Weapon against Iran”

“It seems that the Zionist regime has forgotten that Iran is more than capable of hitting it from anywhere,” the Tehran Times recently opened its front-page article with a map of targets against Israel covering virtually the entire territory of the country. The headline, “Just one wrong move!”.

The accuracy of the targets has been questioned by Israeli officials, but no one questions Iran’s clear intention to wipe out Israel. Therefore, the Israeli people must wake up from their slumber and bring to the forefront the hope that there will be no war, either against the Ayatollahs’ regime or against any other hostile factor. The next war could be very difficult and even involve the use of nuclear weapons.

Even though we are surrounded by the feeling that our armed forces are capable of responding quickly to any attack, from wherever it comes, the situation is nevertheless alarming and we must not remain idle for a moment. No one wants to see pictures of destroyed houses, frightened people or screaming women and children. That is why we need to think seriously about how to prevent what looks like an imminent war. We must be constantly on our guard and vigilant.

Cohesion among us should be of paramount importance. We have no stronger weapon than the power of connection between us. There is no stronger force than a close and cohesive bond between the people, of a positive spirit flowing between us as the result of mutual guarantee. If we can overcome our inner enemies: polarization, division, and rampant selfishness, we will be able to prevent any threat or war.

The people of Israel have a supreme power to protect us, but it only works if we awaken it from a heartfelt connection between us. “When there is love, unity and friendship among Israel, no disaster can come upon them,” says the Book of Maor VaShemesh (Light and Sun) and dozens of other ancient sources, and “When there is a connection between them and no separation of hearts, they have peace and tranquility … And all curses and afflictions are thereby removed.”

When I look at the behavior of government officials and read the news, I do not see unity being considered a priority for solving our problems at home and abroad. Even those who are aware of the danger lurking on our doorstep are not taking social, domestic responsibility.

Our existence, social and political, begins with the question of whether we will be able to raise our heads a little above our bickering bubble. We must realize that we have no other way to save ourselves than to begin to draw closer to one another, despite our natural sense of distance.

We are given opportunities for correction from above, for a change in our relationship, from estrangement to cohesion. The threat from outside should bring us closer to our heart, but we underestimate the message of unity and are not ready to digest it, or at least to spread it and make everyone aware of its importance.

In times of war I am sure we will unite to be saved, we will be brothers in need. But it is an outward and temporary unity out of desperation and there is no real love in it. “The eyes of the wise man are in his head” (Ecclesiastes 2:14), said King Solomon. So it all begins with our realization of the need to turn over every stone until we reach the noble goal of overcoming our differences. This is the correction we must strive for, to raise the value of the connection between us and make it happen. We, the Jewish people, have an orderly method, inherited from ancient times, waiting for us to apply it for peace and tranquility.
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Medium published my new article “Protestant Americans Becoming Unaffiliated Is Not Good News for America”

According to a recently published Pew research, in 2007, 78% of Americans identified as Christians. Now, in 2021, that number is down to 63%. At the same time, the share of Americans who identify as having no religion (nones) went from 16% to 29%. When you look at the Christian population, you will find that the share of Catholics in America has changed very little, and the vast majority of Christians who become nones comes from Protestant denominations.

Taking into consideration that this development is not a result of a revolution, but a gradual and voluntary trend, I think it is a problem. It is a deflection from the spirit of the founders of the nation, and quite a rapid one at that. If religion becomes a matter of culture, without any commitments to certain codes of conduct, it will not be good for America.

Religion used to give people a sense of belonging and a purpose. It gave them a moral code and a system of rules by which to behave at home, at work, and everywhere throughout their lives. People would learn the laws of their religion at childhood, and would continue with them through their lives. It was the people’s “philosophy” of life.

Religion no longer gives people any of that, so they leave. For the most part, as the survey shows, they do not leave for anywhere in particular. They don’t venture into other religions, at least not yet, but rather away from their own faith, and often away from faith altogether.

Today’s young people do not need religion; there are no advantages in it for them. In Russia, the authorities are reviving religion after decades of being stymied under the Soviet regime. They are doing it to keep people in check, so they do not go too far to the extreme Left or the extreme Right. Instead, religion is used to manipulate the public and control it.

But America is not Russia. Americans do not feel about religion what the Russians feel, and so the whole structure is crumbling.

Ironically, the only part of life where religion can still give answers that people might want to hear is death. We are all afraid of it, and religion has comforting answers. Because contemporary life offers no comfort over the passing of our loved ones or the fear of our own demise, we suppress the fear through distractions. Video games, online broadcasts, movies, and other forms of entertainment are taking the place of religion. But for those who still believe in the afterlife, religion offers a welcome comfort.

Previously, religious centers also served as community centers where people would gather for community meals or to celebrate holidays. But today, people keep more to themselves and have no interest in community life. We have become very materialistic; everything is a bargain, a give and take relationship. People want to see immediate results, and religion does not offer it. At best, it provides a soothing promise of a good future in the afterlife, but fewer people need it as a source of comfort, so religion is losing its appeal.

The ebb and flow of people moving into religion and out of it will continue, and it will eventually lead people to ask about the meaning of life. They will begin to ask “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” and they will have to answer these questions or they will find no reason to live, no meaning in their lives. It is already happening in the younger generation, and it will continue to expand across all age groups.

Once they come to that point, they will find that the meaning of life is not in comforting answers about the afterlife or in imagining a world where everyone follows the strict rules of one particular God of one particular religion. Instead, they will find the meaning of life here and now, among us, in nurturing mutual concern and care for one another. People will find meaning in giving and helping, rather than in taking and defeating others. They will fill their hearts with love for others, and love itself will be the meaning of their lives.

Granted, it is a process, and we are not there yet. At the moment, matters seem to be growing darker, but isn’t it always the darkest right before the dawn?
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My new article on Linkedin “Redefining Progress”

The James Webb Space Telescope Mirror is seen during a media unveiling at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, Maryland November 2, 2016.REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/

This Saturday, NASA is planning to launch its much-awaited next-generation space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope, which has been in the making for decades, is the most complex space science observatory ever built. According to NASA, “Webb will peer more than 13.5 billion years back into cosmic history to a time when the first luminous objects were evolving. It’s the first observatory capable of exploring the very earliest galaxies… Webb will also study the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars, and observe moons, planets, comets, and other objects within our own solar system.”

Technology is a wonderful thing. It has given us abundant and cheap energy, appliances that make our lives easy and traveling enjoyable and safe. Technology has given us advanced medicine, longevity, knowledge beyond our dreams, and “eyes” that can see the edge of the universe.

Yes, for centuries, we have been pinning our hopes on technology to give us something that it isn’t meant to give us: happiness. We thought that making life easier and longer would make us happier, but we were wrong. This is why from the days when we derived light and heat from a fire we lit by banging stones against each other, to the days when we switch on an electric device energized by solar panels, we have not been able to satisfy our most basic need: to feel happy.

Happiness comes not from technology, but from good relationships with the people around us. If we keep pinning our hopes on technology to make us happy, we are sentencing ourselves to a life of misery. However, if we focus on nurturing good relationships with the people around us, we will surely be happy.

Once we have that solid foundation of good relationships and feel happy and content, technology can be a great addition. In this case, we will know how to use technology to improve and strengthen our relationships, and we will not be misled into thinking that technology itself can, or should, make us happy.

Currently, when we think of progress, we think of technological progress. But real progress is not in switching from fire-power to solar-power, but in building better connections that generate warmth between us. We need to redefine “progress” to reflect improvement in our relations rather than in our ability to generate more energy through nuclear fission or fossil fuel production.

When our hearts are lit up by the people around us, we will know what kind of energy to use, how much of it we really need, and how best to use technology for our sake and for the sake of everyone else.
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My new article on Linkedin “Israel’s Hopeless Fight against Terrorism”

Recently, we learned that the US government and the Palestinian Authority have resumed their economic talks after a five-year hiatus. According to the State Department, the talks will revolve around infrastructure development, access to US markets, US regulations, free trade, financial issues, renewable energy, and environmental initiatives. In Israel, some people are concerned that the funds will not go to their stated goals but to fund terrorist activities, while others hope that a higher standard of living for Palestinians will reduce their propensity for terrorism. I think that terrorism stems from hatred and the political goals of those who promote it. Therefore, more or less resources will have no effect on its intensity or frequency.

Look at Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and all the governments in the Near and Middle East. For them, terrorism is a tool, a means to gain power and further their goals. The Palestinians are pawns to be sacrificed when circumstances make it advantageous. For leaders in the Middle East, terrorism is a legitimate means to pressure rivals and enemies, a way to gain control. It is a dirty business, as is the business of funding it.

As for Israel, we have only ourselves to blame, since our internal division weakens us and emboldens our enemies. There is only one thing we can do to protect ourselves: solidify our cohesion, social unity, mutual responsibility and solidarity.

Instead of worrying pointlessly about what others are doing, we should rekindle the spirit of connectedness among ourselves. Otherwise, our “neighbors” will soon oust us. The social rules of the State of Israel must be those that guided us until the ruin of the Temple: mutual responsibility and solidarity. When Maimonides repeatedly emphasizes in his commentaries on the Mishnah that “All of Israel are friends,” he means it not as a metaphor, but to affirm the basis of our nationhood. Without it, we are strangers who have no place on this land since we are not a nation.

The only law that should apply in the State of Israel is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Since we are still unable to live by it, we should at least strive for it. Our progress toward it will justify our presence here.

When we strive for unity and cohesion, we are “a light unto nations.” When we bicker and slander each other, we spread poison and bile throughout the world, for which the world then hates us.

We can make any hostile government or regime behave favorably toward us or the other way around. We do not need to cajole or cajole anyone into accepting us. All we need to do is work on our internal unity. The example we will set will earn us the recognition of the world and make our presence in our country welcome in the eyes of the world.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “An Israel That the World Would Love”

Among the many divisions that plague the Israeli society, one of the fiercest is the dispute between those who want to define Israel as a nation state for all its citizens and those who want to define it as the nation state of the Jews. Currently, the chasm between them seems irreconcilable. There is a way to resolve it in a way that benefits both sides and which the world embraces, but to do that, we must revive the original spirit of Judaism.

Maimonides writes in Mishneh Torah that in ancient Babylon, Abraham discovered that a single force governs nature, but it divides into the two opposites that we experience as day and night, winter and summer, cold and hot, male and female, and so forth. He also discovered that when you realize that the opposites come from a single source, you see how they complement each other and together create our reality and maintain its balance and harmony.

Abraham told what he had discovered to anyone who took interest in his words. In those days, Babylon was in a social crisis and tensions and violence grew among its people. The book Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer details the conflicts that Abraham observed: “They wished to speak each other’s language” as before, but “they did not know each other’s language. What did they do?” asks the book, “They each took his sword and fought one another to death. Indeed,” concludes the book and describes the inevitable outcome: “half the world died there by the sword.”

When Abraham introduced his idea that differences are inherent in nature and complement one another rather than compete with one another, many people in Babylon took to it and Abraham began to garner followers. Gradually, people from all over Babylon united around him. When he moved out of Babylon and headed for Canaan, still more people joined him along the way.

Isaac and Jacob, continues Maimonides in his description in Mishneh Torah, followed in Abraham’s spiritual footsteps. Under their leadership, the alien individuals became a nation united by the idea that opposites complement rather than compete.

These were the ancestors of the people of Israel. They were individuals who came from countless tribes and nations, cared nothing for each other, had no relation or affinity for one another, but believed in the tenet that opposites complement rather than compete, and this is the secret to nature’s vitality and harmony; this is the secret of life.

Eventually, they were called Jews for two reasons: One was that they settled in Judah, and the other was that the Hebrew word Yehudi [Jew] comes from the word Yechudi [united/unique]. The unity-above-oppositeness that they had attained made them a nation and gave them their strength.

Over time, Jews often fell from their sublime perception. When they were overcome by competitiveness and hostility, they became divided and weak, and other nations conquered and tortured them. When they restored their unity above oppositeness, they regained their strength and other nations venerated them.

The current State of Israel is rife with division and replete with clashing opposites. There is no Abraham to tell them to unite above their disputes, that opposites complement rather than compete, and that one-sidedness is their worst enemy. But if we want the State of Israel to persist and for the world to appreciate it, we must nevertheless return to our core tenet of complementary opposites.

Currently, the world hates us because instead of demonstrating how to make opposites complement, we are exporting high tech weaponry and cyberwar software. If we want peace to prevail, we must do it the way we teach Israeli officers to lead: by personal example.

Only if we realize that no one will win the argument over defining Israel as a nation state for all its citizens or only for the Jews since we are meant to complement these opposites rather than win the argument, only then will we be able to make peace among ourselves. And as we do so, we will find that the world welcomes our newly found unity and embraces the idea of unity above divisions. If, however, we insist on division, the world will divest from us, boycott us, and sooner rather than later, the country will dissolve.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Trump Calls a Spade a Spade”

The anger of many American Jews over Donald Trump’s remarks about American Jewry comes as no surprise to anyone. In a recent interview with an Israeli journalist, Trump quoted his father’s words that Jews used to have “a great love of Israel” but it had “dissipated over the years.” To this he added his own words: “I must be honest. It’s a very dangerous thing that’s happening. People in this country that are Jewish no longer love Israel.” He has said it before, and I think he is absolutely right when he says that the chasm between the State of Israel and American Jewry is very dangerous, not only for Israel, but also for American Jewry.

Many American Jews support anti-Israel movements such as BDS and Jewish Voice for Peace not only because they believe in the values that these entities purport to stand for. They support them because they are anti-Israel, and they are anti-Israel because they are ashamed of their own Jewishness. Every day, they move further away from Judaism until eventually they lose all connection to it.

When I say that they shun their Judaism, I am not talking about Jewish customs. I am sure many of them observe those, and still shun Israel. The shunning of Judaism has to do with rejecting the core of Judaism—the unity and mutual responsibility that Israel is obligated to show the world. Instead of caring for their brothers, they show concern for the enemies of their own tradition thinking that by doing so they are showing true Jewish values. Someone should tell them that their Muslim “friends” are not buying that. Muslims will not love them any better when they decide to wipe out the Jews.

This is the same type of Judaism that aroused the most intense hatred in the Nazis, and today’s American Jewry is going to great lengths to form a sequel. The few who understand this are moving out, some to Israel and others elsewhere. However, unless we unite above the chasms in our nation, there will be no safe haven for Jews.

When it comes to anticipating trouble, we have never been wise. We tend to bury our heads in the sand or sink into hubris and complacency. When trouble starts, it invariably gets worse and worse until there is a cataclysm. Only afterwards is there relief. It is all too bad that for all the times we have been through this scenario, we never seem to learn.

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Medium published my new article “We Can Make Inflation Work for Us”

All over the western world, prices are on the rise. In the US, consumer prices have gone up by more than 6 percent, the most since the 1990s. In Germany, prices have gone up 4.5 percent, and in the United Kingdom, prices are up 5.1 percent. These leading economies demonstrate what is happening across Europe and North America. Pundits tell us that jams in supply chains have created a shortage in commodities and raw materials, and an increase in demand, which spirals prices upward.

I believe we can make inflation work for us. We can turn it into an opportunity to rethink our entire value system and figure out if there are more things to enjoy besides shopping, things that are more satisfying and less costly to us and to our planet.

Currently, we produce far more than we need. We throw away half the food we produce, manufacture unprecedented amounts of weapons of all kinds, and trash perfectly good phones in order to buy the latest model. We also apply this senseless approach to clothing, shoes, and many other goods. Do we feel happier when we act this way? Very briefly, before we sink into an even deeper depression. Meanwhile, our needless excessive shopping causes delays in supply chains where there should have been none.

The shopping frenzy does not help anyone. We are filling the soil and oceans with garbage and waste, polluting them with plastic and toxins, poisoning ourselves, the animals, and the fish. The only ones who benefit from this cycle are the business owners who see the number of zeros in their bank accounts grow even though the money is sitting there uselessly.

There is an alternative: We can produce as much as we need to live comfortably, which is less than half of what we produce now, buy only what we need, and spend the rest of our time bonding with each other. Instead of deriving meaningless pleasures from new smartphones, we will enjoy the stronger bonds among us, the greater sense of belonging and security, and the feeling of being surrounded by people who care about us rather than alienate us.

This is not a new idea. The ARI Institute wrote about it back in 2012 in the book The Benefits of the New Economy, and a few years later, The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman expressed similar ideas when he wrote in 2017 that in the future, people will need to “create more value with hearts and between hearts.” To this, he added, “We used to work with our hands. Machines replaced that but we started to work with our heads instead in a knowledge economy. …Next I think we’re going to work more with our hearts.”

To break the logjam where things are stuck because of our excessive competitiveness and alienation from each other, we should shift from pursuing material pleasures, which do not bring lasting happiness and charge a hefty environmental tax, to spiritual pleasures that come from enhancing and tightening family and community ties, and enhance the overall feeling of mutual responsibility in society.

Such a transition still requires explanation. People have been “programmed” to suspect and alienate everyone. If we want a sustainable society, we must “reprogram” ourselves to be the social beings we once were. We can wait a little longer if we want, but we must do it sooner rather than later. The longer we wait, the more compelling our shift in values will be since the broken supply chains and all the problems that plague our world will not heal themselves. Either we heal them by shedding what is redundant and adopting a more caring approach to each other and our planet, or life will strip us of anything that is not an absolute necessity.
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Medium published my new article “54 Nobel Laureates Are No Match to Petty Politicians”

Physicists Sir Roger Penrose and Prof. Carlo Rovelli, as well as fifty-two other Nobel Laureates, are among the signatories of a new initiative called “Global Peace Dividend.” The initiative seeks to “reduce military spending by 2% in all countries,” thereby “save one trillion USD over 5 years,” and use the money “to fight planetary emergencies.” Since, as they write, “humankind faces risks that can only be averted through cooperation,” the scientists suggest that we “cooperate instead of fighting among ourselves.”

As much as I would like their initiative to succeed, Nobel laureates do not run the world; politicians run it, and they will go to any length and spare no effort to achieve military dominance, even if it leads us to an atomic, third world war, which it will.
We have a problem. Hatred, folly, and selfishness have climaxed to levels that form an impenetrable wall. Humanity is in a desperate state. This is how I see it.

In every society, the people who excel in its most dominant trait are its leaders. In an egoistic society, the most egoistic are the leaders. Human society is not only egoistic, but is growing more so by the day. Therefore, our leaders are the most self-centered. As such, they cannot see anything or think of anything but themselves. They will preach to us and pretend to care about people when in truth, their only goal is their seat at the helm.

It is not their fault; it is human nature, and they cannot go against the nature that drives them from within. They are totally enslaved to it and will do whatever it tells them. If it tells them that it is perfectly OK to destroy the economies of their own countries to keep up with the arms race, they will not hesitate for a minute.

Russia, for example, has extracted everything it could. Other than a few hundred super rich individuals, the rest of the people are in poverty. The US, too, is deteriorating rapidly. Yet, governments cannot control their passion for control. Remember the rule: In an egoistic society, the one at the top is the most egoistic. Therefore, people should not expect any benefits from the leaders.

The only time when politicians listen to scientists is when they tell them that they can develop a more lethal weapon that will give them military superiority. If they tell them anything else, they will reply, “Just give us nuclear weapons; we will know what to do with it.”

In 2020, the world economy shrank by more than 4%. During that same year, global arms purchases reached an all-time high of nearly two trillion dollars. This goes to show how focused world leaders are on their own objectives. One would think that if there is a recession, arms purchases would decrease, but the opposite occurred.

When you think about it from a self-centered perspective, it makes perfect sense: The worse off we are, the more money we need to spend on arming ourselves, since leaders are more likely to start wars. Since leaders need to keep their people from rebelling, they must incite them against others. So the worse we do financially, the more we need to spend on arms in order to prepare for war. And if you think that at some point the resources for weapons will run dry, I would not count on it; leaders will spend their last dime on weapons.

Even building shelters will not help. You can build shelters that protect from rockets, but you cannot build shelters to protect a nation from atomic bombs.

The only solution that does exist is to change the ego itself. The ego is the drive behind the arms race and the impending war. Hence, only changing the ego and reining it in will help prevent a war.

People who understand me should join forces and nurture unity, care for one another, and eventually love one another above all the differences. This is the only antidote to the virus of egoism. There is no other vaccine for it other than to try to care for one another despite our inherent alienation.

If we are already aware that we are dependent on each other, and that narcissism is our enemy, we should start working together on changing our behavior from self-centered to caring. Just as we currently teach ourselves to be selfish, we should teach ourselves that if we are selfish, we are hurting ourselves, so we had better learn to be unselfish. If many of us work on it together, around the world, then it is not too late.

For more on the importance of solidarity, see my book Self-Interest Vs. Altruism In The Global Era.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “On the Verge of Ruin”

A few days ago was the tenth of the Hebrew month of Tevet. On that day in 587 B.C. began the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon, which culminated in the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people. Jewish sources, however, do not attribute the downfall to the Babylonian king, but to bloody internal conflicts, slander, intrigue, and other forms of mutual abuse. Seventy years after the exile, we returned to the land, rebuilt the Temple, but let the Second Temple fall once more for the same reason: our hatred for one another.

Today we are once again the sovereign in Israel, and once again we are fighting among ourselves. Not physically, yet, but we are definitely fighting, and the hatred is only growing stronger. Religious Jews hate secular Jews and secular Jews detest religious Jews; the Right hate the Left and vice versa; Ashkenazi Jews cannot stand Sephardic Jews and the other way around; and every day new divisions arise. The hatred that destroyed two Temples will also destroy our fragile country. We are on the verge of ruin.

Just as we blame Nebuchadnezzar for the destruction of the First Temple and the Roman general Titus for the destruction of the Second Temple, today we blame Iran, the UN, and a host of other hostile countries and organizations for our troubles. But just as our own sages attributed our ruin only to our own division, today’s approaching fall of the State of Israel is happening for exactly the same reason.

If we are to avoid a similar fate to the one we have already experienced twice, we must address the common cause that keeps failing us: internal hatred. We must recognize that our strength lies first and foremost in our unity, and everything else, including military might and sophisticated technology, is an adjunct to the most essential element: unity.

Our vocation, our calling as a nation, has not changed since our inception. From day one, our mission has been to unite above the hatred that has always existed among us, and by doing so, to set an example for the world. When we were divided, foreign rulers overcame us and tormented us. When we were united, we were safe and welcome among the nations.

We may think of ourselves as a “startup nation” or believe that we are strong because of our military might and technological edge. However, wars are won with spirit, not computers, and when it comes to spirit, we have none. We do not believe in our cause, we do not understand what it means to be “a light unto nations,” people who set an example of unity, and we have no wish to learn about it. We are obstinate and arrogant, and there is nothing more stupefying than hubris.

If we do not wake up now and realize our calling, it will be very difficult and painful to do so later. At some point it will be too late to turn around, the country will be ruined, its people exiled, and the whole world will suffer because Israel failed to recognize its calling.
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