My new article on Linkedin “Living Robots – Bad News for Humanity”

A few days ago, Wyss Institute at Harvard University, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Vermont and Tufts University, published a paper showing that they have developed biological robots that can move on their own, “feed” themselves, and even self-replicate and reproduce. With this feat, these robots have met the three basic requirements for science to define them as living beings. However, they are living robots and not organisms that have evolved naturally. As robots, they do what their operator instructs them to do. As living organisms, they can be placed anywhere and reproduce independently and indefinitely.

This is bad news for humanity. I cannot imagine anything good coming out of this. These games of ours, when we “play” with new inventions, never lead to anything good. Now, in addition to nuclear weapons and the countless other curses that science has wrought on our heads, we will have another headache.

It has been known since biblical times that “The inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21). Regrettably, knowing how evil we are has never stopped us from behaving according to our nature. Despite the horrors of the twentieth century, with its two world wars, the Holocaust, and several genocides on a massive scale, humanity does not seem to have improved one bit, or that it even tries.

Man must not be given more than a rock and a stick. In fact, you can trust him to misuse even these, not to mention anything more sophisticated and potentially harmful.

Even in ancient times it was clear that unworthy people should not have access to knowledge. In his book Phaedrus, Plato wrote, “When [speeches (teachings)] have been once written down, they are tumbled about anywhere among those who may or may not understand them, and know not to whom they should reply, or to whom not. And if they are maltreated or abused, they have no parent to protect them, and they cannot protect or defend themselves.”

But who listens to the wise? No one. We listen only to our own selfish whims, which is why our world is in such a poor state.

I am not being pessimistic. I know that in the end we will wise up and learn to use knowledge for the common good. In the end, we will realize that we are all connected and we cannot hurt others without hurting ourselves. The only question is how much agony we will have to endure before we learn.
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My new article on Linkedin “Jewish Unity – OK; Responsibility – No Way!”

An email I received regarding one of my op-ed columns on Times of Israel read as follows: “I think you are 100% correct that the biggest problem Jews face is their constant infighting and lack of unity. HOWEVER [caps in the source], I think you are making a very serious mistake when you end up, in fact, blaming the Jews for all the world problems including antisemitism.” I understand where this view is coming from, and I think this email merits an appropriate reply.

First, the idea that Israel are responsible for their fate, for better or worse, is not mine at all. It has been the view of our sages and spiritual leaders throughout the ages. It is actually the idea that the nations that afflict us are blameworthy that is quite recent. If you read the Talmud, Midrash, The Book of Zohar, and countless other authentic Jewish texts, you will find very few statements (if any) that place the blame on foreign kings and nations.

Below are a few notable examples of our sages placing the responsibility for our woes with us rather than with our enemies. These quotes only scratch the surface of what actually exists, but there is a word limit to newspaper columns. For more information, as well as ideas on how to foster unity, I recommend reading my books The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism and Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour.

We attribute our woes in Egypt to evil Pharaoh. Yet, we conveniently ignore the words of our sages on this matter. Midrash Rabbah (Shemot 1:8) writes, “When Joseph died, they broke the covenant and said, ‘Let us be as the Egyptians.’ …Because of it, the Lord turned the love that the Egyptians loved them into hatred.” In other words, Pharaoh and the Egyptians did not turn against Israel because Joseph died, but because after his death, the Jews wanted to abandon the unity they had obtained under him and disperse among the Egyptians. This brought upon them the hatred of the Egyptians.

Here is another example from later in our history: In the days of the First Temple, Nebuchadnezzar II conquered the land of Israel and destroyed the Temple only after Jews became spiteful toward each other, slandered each other, shed blood, and “stabbed each other with the daggers in their mouths” (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 9b).

The page just mentioned in Masechet Yoma (9b) also mentions the reason for the ruin of the Second Temple. In simple words it states, “The Second Temple … why was it ruined? It was because there was unfounded hatred in it.” Elsewhere, the Talmud writes (Yevamot 63a), “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.”

In one of the most scathing texts ever written about Israel’s obligation to the world, The Book of Zohar details what happens to the world when Israel shun their obligation to set an example of unity to the world. In the part known as Tikkunei HaZohar (Corrections of The Zohar), correction no. 30 is probably the harshest: “Woe unto them,” the disunited Israel, “for they cause poverty and ruin, looting and killing, and destruction in the world. Woe unto them, for with these actions, they bring about the existence of poverty, ruin, and robbery, looting, killing, and destructions in the world.”

On a more positive note, here is what happens when Jews unite. During the period of the Second Temple, when Jews were united, the nations would “go up to Jerusalem and see Israel … and say, ‘It is becoming to cling only to this nation,’” writes the book Sifrey Devarim (354).

More recently, 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. … [If] there is bonding among them, and no separation of hearts, they have peace and quiet … and all the curses and suffering are removed by that [unity].” Similarly, the book Maor Eynaim stresses, “When one incorporates oneself with all of Israel and unity is made … at that time, no harm shall come to you,” and the book Shem MiShmuel adds, “When [Israel] are as one man with one heart, they are as a fortified wall against the forces of evil.”

The last example I would like to share is an inspiring quote of one of Israel’s greatest contemporary sages, Rav Kook. In his book Orot HaKodesh, which contains assorted writings penned at different times after World War I, Rav Kook writes, “Since we were ruined by unfounded hatred, and the world was ruined with us, we will be rebuilt by unfounded love, and the world will be rebuilt with us.”

I hope now it is a little clearer why I place the responsibility for our future on our laps, and stress that we can determine our fate through our choice between unity and division. I hope you read my books and appreciate the historic examples contained in it, but most of all, I hope we all unite and put an end to the troubles of our tormented nation, and the troubles of our tormented world.
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My new article on Linkedin “Buy Nothing Day or Black Friday? Neither”

Buy Nothing Day is a day of protest against consumerism. It is held the day after Thanksgiving, concurrent to Black Friday. In my opinion, the protest accomplishes nothing because shopping fills a void that makes us briefly happy. If you asked me, I would say, “Open the stores and let people take whatever they want.” Once we realize what animals we are, we might seriously consider doing something about our nature.

On the one hand, I am glad people have so much money to spend. On the other hand, the spending seems redundant to me. If I need something, I do not wait for a shopping day to buy it. If I can wait for a shopping day to buy it, I probably do not really need it.

In other words, I think these days mostly benefit the store owners and perhaps the economy in general, but I do not think the shoppers benefit. I am sure they have no real need for most of the things they buy on Black Friday and other such days.

Shopping days may help people forget the emptiness inside, but if they really enjoyed life, they would not need it. Worse yet, buying things we do not need gives very little and very short-lived pleasure, and the void that remains after it leaves grows even deeper and darker.

If we want a lasting pleasure, a delight that grows the more we have of it, and where even its absence is enjoyable, we need a very different kind of pleasure. The only pleasure that can give us such a feeling is the pleasure from giving to people we love.

Think of a mother and her children: The more they have, the happier she is. When she wants to give them something but cannot, she does not suffer the way we do when we do not have something we want. She simply waits for the moment when she can meet them and shower them with her love.

It seems unreasonable that we should feel this way about strangers, but we feel them as strangers only because we do not realize how intertwined we all are. What if you met a complete stranger whom you didn’t like, but after some time you realized that the stranger was actually your long lost brother or sister?

Our closeness to each other is hidden from us, but it is even closer than kinship. We are literally the same body, the same organism whose organs are unaware that they are connected.

We can feel our connectedness, but we must be willing to feel it. Currently, we hide behind walls of alienation and coldness, presumably to protect ourselves from strangers. In truth, we deny ourselves the power of our connectedness and the joy it brings.

Gradually, as problems grip the world, we will learn that we are connected whether we like it or not. When we acknowledge our connectedness, we will discover that it is not a curse, but a blessing. We will discover that this is where our true strength lies and that only our ego has prevented us from seeing it. Then we will learn to enjoy giving, and Black Fridays will be but faint memories of dark times when shopping was our definition of happiness.
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My new article on Linkedin “Omicron Is Nature’s Precise Spanking”

We haven’t finished with Delta, yet here comes Omicron. The new strain of coronavirus is said to be five times more infectious, but there is as yet no evidence that it causes serious illness in vaccinated people. Nature’s precision is astonishing. Like a skilled judge, it punishes us for our sins. However, it feels more like the educational admonition of a school principal than the wrath of a vengeful God. Its lesson is unity. To the extent that we refuse to learn, the admonishing virus will grow more adamant.

Since the dawn of civilization, we have tried to overpower nature. That’s about as smart as a fetus trying to overpower its mother. But then, we have never been smart except in our own eyes.

So while all of nature works harmoniously, we interfere with every process, disrupting and disturbing the natural order of things instead of joining it in our attempt to make the rules. When things do not work the way we thought they would, because a machine cannot work right after you break it, we try to fix it and prove our superior intelligence.

These “feats” are tearing nature’s intertwined threads, shredding the tapestry that sustains us all, and triggering the numerous adverse phenomena we have been experiencing. The most recent of these adverse phenomena is Covid, but if we continue to ignore the basic rules of nature—reciprocity and balance—it will not be the last, and certainly not the worst “spanking” that nature will deliver.

If we want to change course and truly improve our situation, we must begin with our attitude. We cannot maintain a self-centered attitude and expect it to work in an environment designed for the well-being of the community.

Nature is an integral whole. Its parts are interconnected. If one part is dysfunctional, all of nature is dysfunctional. This is why nature maintains the well-being of all its elements, and not just this or that species of animal, plant, or mineral.

All species obey this law of reciprocity except for man, which means that we are the only dysfunctional element in nature. In other words, all the negative phenomena we are experiencing are our own doing, created by our egocentric mindset.

Therefore, to live a good life, we needn’t change anything in reality itself; we need to change our thinking. If we think unity rather than individuality, we will benefit everyone, ourselves included. If we see the well-being of humanity and of nature as an integral part of our own well-being, we will see reality as it really is, and our actions will be equally successful. A collective mindset is the only way to thrive in a world that is built as a collective. Our current attitude will bring nothing but doom.
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My new article on Linkedin “In America, Einstein Discovered the Omnipresence of Antisemitism”

You would think that someone as renowned as Albert Einstein, whose contribution to science in general, and to the US in particular, is unquestionable, would escape the plight of antisemitism. He did not. In a recently discovered letter from 1936, he wrote to a friend about his situation in the US: “A tremendous degree of antisemitism exists here,” he confessed.

After fleeing Germany in 1922 for the exact same reason, the scientist discovered that antisemitism knows no boundaries. It affects all Jews, regardless of social, academic, or political status. These days, wealthy Jews in Beverly Hills and at the top of Biden’s administration are making the same grim discovery.

In Einstein’s days, antisemitism in the US was overshadowed by the horrors of Nazi Germany. The scientist wrote that Jew-hatred in the US “never takes the form of brutal speech or action, but simmers all the more intensely under the surface. It is, so to speak, an omnipresent enemy, one that is impossible to see, and whose presence you only perceive.”

Today, antisemitism in the US is already brutal in both speech and action. There have been several massacres in recent years, violent incidents have become ubiquitous, and hate speech is more prevalent than ever. For example, a few days ago, antisemitic fliers left outside homes in Beverly Hills declared, “Every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish.” Moreover, the flier listed more than a dozen Jews in key positions related to the American health system.

There has always been antisemitism in America. It used to be easier to ignore it, and governments had an interest to conceal it since Jews were regarded as major contributors to the economy. In a country where money sets the tone, those who have it are the powerful. But when too many people have too little, as is happening now, the wealthy become targets. And when the wealthy are Jewish, it is a sitting duck, and the duck will be shot.

No one is impervious to antisemitism; it is a law of nature. Just as you cannot escape gravity, if you’re a Jew, you cannot escape Jew-hatred.

In fact, the root of antisemitism goes even deeper than the most basic laws of physics. The ancestors of the Jewish people waved the banner of altruism. They coined such terms as “Love your neighbor as yourself,” “that which you hate, do not do unto your neighbor,” and established their society on mutual responsibility and mercy.

Moreover, they did not build their society for themselves, but in order to be “a light unto nations,” to set an example for the world to follow. They were a chosen people, chosen to pass on the message that man can rise above self-absorption and form a thriving society without disparaging competitiveness and oppressing leaders. Is it any wonder that no one wanted their success? At the same time, if they fail, who will show the way out of the darkness of egotism?

Indeed, Jews represent the struggle between good and evil. When they succeed, they are a bright light that shines as a beacon of hope for the entire world. When they fail, they are worse than any selfish person on the planet. Not only do they wallow in self-centeredness, they also deny the world the necessary example in order to emerge from it. Therefore, when they are selfish, they are hated more than any nation, person, or being in existence.

The Beverly Hills flier we just mentioned targets such high profile individuals as CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, Secretary of Health Xavier Becerra, his assistant Rachel Levine, and founder and president of the American multinational investment management corporation BlackRock, Robert Kapito. There is a good reason for mentioning such high profile individuals. It shows that we cannot argue in our defense that we are contributing to the community; people want something else from us, and when they do not get it, they hate us.

Specifically today, when greed, selfishness, and narcissism set the tone, a different voice must rise—a voice that champions consideration and social responsibility. It is a far cry from the exemplary society of the ancient Jews, but it is a step in the right direction. Naturally, the ones who are expected to lead the way toward it are the Jews. It is our legacy and our obligation to the world. For its part, the world expects nothing less from us.

Now that the people of Israel are scattered around the world, we must grow and develop within the world. We must show the world that we place unity above division, that our society is an example they can follow, an example of unity above division, and care rather than alienation. Only a united people of Israel can lead humanity toward unity in its struggle against egoism, and the world will not forgive us if we fail it.

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My new article on Linkedin “The Miracle We Celebrate on Hanukkah”

Every Jewish holiday has deep spiritual meaning. Hanukkah is no exception. On Hanukkah, we celebrate the miracle that happened to the Maccabees, who defeated the mighty Seleucid Empire and its allies, the Hellenistic Jews. After their victory, they cleaned the plundered Temple and found just enough oil to light the menorah for one day. But lo and behold, the oil lasted eight days. By then the Maccabees had procured more oil and the candles on the menorah could keep burning.

However, in all the festivities, we overlook a very important message in the holiday. The candles on the menorah symbolize our struggle with our egos, our hatred of others. The burning of the candle symbolizes our triumph in using even our most depraved desires for the benefit of others.

Traditionally, a candle consists of three elements: 1) the oil, which serves as fuel, 2) the wick, the thread that is dipped into the oil and carries it to the edge of the wick, and 3) the fire, which uses both the wick and the oil (mainly the latter) to burn. RABASH, my teacher, explains that the oil is a pool of bad thoughts and intentions toward others. The wick is a single thought or intention emerging from that pool. The miracle happens when we determine that we do not want to follow our corrupt intentions, but rather develop love for others.

If we succeed, it is regarded as lighting the flame, and this is considered a miracle. The flame needs a constant supply of bad thoughts or it will have no thoughts to “burn,” to rise above, so bad thoughts are necessary. However, given the extent of our self-absorption, it really does take a miracle to rise above our wickedness and turn it into good thoughts about others.

It is an even greater miracle when this transformation occurs not in a single person, but in an entire nation. The people of Israel established their nationhood precisely by performing this miracle when they pledged to love one another as themselves.

Today we need an even greater miracle. With the whole world interconnected and all the nations engaged in constant power struggles, the miracle we need is for the whole world to rise above hatred and suspicion and use them as fuel, as oil, to light the flame of love.

The chronicles of the Jewish people are not stories about people who lived in ancient times; they are lessons for humanity. The Jewish nation formed from people who came from all over the ancient world, so it is only natural that their annals should pertain not only to themselves, but above all to their original nations.

The union that our ancestors achieved was a “pilot” for a program that the whole world must implement today. The more we shun the idea of rising above hatred and wallow in our mutual odium, the more shaken we will be when we finally realize that we have no choice but to change our attitude toward others, just as our ancestors did back then.
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My new article on Linkedin “Only One Condition Justifies a Jewish State”

Today, seventy-four years ago, the United Nations decided to adopt the proposal suggested by the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) and create two separate states in Palestine—one for the Arabs and one for the Jews. The proposal, known as the “United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine,” created a de facto Jewish state, which became official some six months later. Regrettably, we’ve never lived up to our task, and we’ve never lived up to our title: the Jewish State. At best, we have been a “midway station” where we must decide our future: dissolve among the Arabs or build a model of unity for all of humanity.

The very notion of the Jewish state serving as a safe haven for Jews is wrong. This is not a justification for the existence a Jewish state. A Jewish state that does not set an example of unity will never earn the world’s support, and the Jews themselves will turn their backs on it, as is already happening.

The Jewish people are not a nation like the rest of the nations. They have no common origin, no common culture, and no distinct biological ancestry.

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The Jews are an ideological nation. When Abraham first started circulating his notions of mercy and kindness to all, people from every nation in the ancient world gathered around him and attempted to practice what he taught. They forged unions among people who were previously unfamiliar or even hostile to each other, yet believed in Abraham’s ideas.

The Hebrews polished and honed their union through centuries of trials and tribulations. Finally, after a prolonged exile in Egypt, they reached such a level of unity that they became “as one man with one heart.” At that moment, they were declared a nation.

Their nation was of a kind never before seen: a nation formed by people’s conscious choice to unite above their divisions, and for the sake of unity alone. They had no other reason to stay together other than the importance of unity above differences. But in doing so, they proved, in practice, that nations could make peace, that love above differences can triumph, and that war was not necessary. This is why as soon as they became a nation, they were tasked with being “a light unto nations,” namely with sharing their unique unity with the entire world.

Through the ages, the Jews were exiled and returned to the land of Israel several times. They were sovereigns in the land when they were united, and were expelled from it when they became divided. In a sense, the real “land” of the Jewish people is “the land of unity.” Put differently, our geopolitical state always reflects our level of union or division.

Yehuda Ashlag, author of the acclaimed Sulam [Ladder] commentary on The Book of Zohar, wrote about it in The Writings of the Last Generation. In his words, “Judaism must present something new to the nations. This is what they expect from the return of Israel to the land!” Baal HaSulam added that unless the Jews in Israel set an example of unity, “Zionism will be canceled altogether … Undoubtedly, either [the Jewish settlers in Israel] or their children will gradually leave the country, and only an insignificant number will remain, which will ultimately be swallowed among the Arabs.”

The world’s unfulfilled expectation that Baal HaSulam talks about will determine whether we can remain here or not. As then, so now, our physical residence in Israel reflects our inner level of union or division. Currently, our level of division is so high that there is no doubt we are well on our way to disintegration, just as Baal HaSulam warns. We will not want to remain here, and the world will not want us to remain here.

Therefore, there is only one condition that justifies the existence of a Jewish state, and only one condition that merits being called “Jewish”: If we are united, we are true to our legacy and merit the title, “the people of Israel.” If we are divided, we are back where we came from: a collection of people who have nothing in common and feel nothing but hatred for each other.

On the other hand, if we want to unite above our differences, we have every right to tell the world: Don’t interfere with our lives here in Israel; we are building our union so as to set an example for the world. Everyone will accept this. Everyone knows this is our calling, and everyone knows that our calling is to benefit the world. Therefore, if we work on our unity, and for no other reason, everyone will support our efforts.
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My new article on Linkedin “Money Can’t Feed the People that the Ego Starves”

David Beasley, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme, said that billionaires “need to step up now, on a one-time basis,” and donate $6 billion to save 42 million people “who are going to die if we don’t reach them.” He also said, “I’m not asking them to do this every day, every week, every year; we have a one-time crisis, a perfect storm of conflict, climate change, and Covid.” If Mr. Beasley believes that this is a one-time crisis and that six billion dollars will eliminate world hunger, he is probably the only one. Hunger does not exist for the reasons he cites, but because of human selfishness, and no amount of money is large enough to feed the people that the ego starves.

Hunger does not exist for the reasons he cites, but because of human selfishness, and no amount of money is large enough to feed the people that the ego starves.
Nor will money satisfy the ego. On the contrary, money only makes the problem worse because it goes into the pockets of the wrong people, who become even greedier, while those who could make good use of it see very little of it. If we believe that we can solve the hunger crisis with money alone, hunger will surely increase and many more will die.

In fact, I believe that our approach of fighting the symptoms rather than the pathogen itself will make things so bad that it would be better for us not to live through those times. There will be abundance, yet acute shortage of the most important staples like bread and water all at the same time. People will be miserable.

You will see entire battalions guarding food while others starve nearby. It will not be done in secret, but in plain sight; you will see it in the news. Those who have will say they feel sorry for the starving, but they will not lift a finger.

The ego will never let us feel satisfied. It will always make us feel empty, however rich we are. Even if we deny all the people in the world the most basic needs and keep them all to ourselves, we will still be unfulfilled.

The only good use we have for our egos is to realize that they are leading us to extinction. They are teaching us that as long as we focus only on ourselves, we will not feel satisfied. Once we learn this, it will drive us to rise above our selfishness.

Another thing that the ego teaches us is that we are dependent on each other. We cannot feel rich unless we compare ourselves to others who are poorer than us. We cannot have what we want unless someone brings it to us. In other words, we cannot live, and we cannot evaluate ourselves without other people around us.

Since we cannot get rid of egoism, as it is our core, we must “teach” it the value of cooperation and consideration. When our egos learn that it is in their best interest to be considerate, they will enable us to enjoy unselfish pleasures and we will stop humiliating other people and destroying our environment, which are currently our only pleasures (whether we admit it to ourselves or not).

We can find joy in connection and consideration only if we give up trying to satisfy our ego. We can come to it by seeing what our egos have done to us and to the world around us, or we can come to it by waiting for disasters to strike us personally. The first way is faster, easier, and safer. I hope we choose it before we experience the disadvantages of egoism first hand.
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My new article on Linkedin “No One Loves a Nation Whose Members Hate Each Other”

I have been told that the problems in supply chains afflicting the global economy have gotten so bad, and the prognosis is so dire, that some countries are considering shutting down international trade and trying to become self-sufficient. It is clearly an impractical idea, but it shows how desperate some countries have become, and how pessimistic they are about the future. There is a solution, but it involves reciprocity and consideration of others, and no one wants to go that way. So, for the time being, we will continue to suffer.

Look at what we have done to our planet. We have polluted it, corrupted it, and depleted it of resources and much of its beauty for the illusion of power and control. We could have achieved so much more with a fraction of the effort and a fraction of the resources we have drained from the planet, but for this, we would have to work shoulder to shoulder with each other, and no one wants that.

Regrettably, the situation will continue to worsen until everyone points their finger at the Jews and blame them for everything that is wrong with the world. Around this, everyone will be happy to unite, and not around anything else.

It is not only the world, but many Jews feel guilty, too. Look at how many Jews justify Jew-haters! Moreover, Jews who do so are not treated as traitors, as they would be anywhere else, but as progressive, justice-seeking people. Why are we like that? It is because deep down, we feel that the world is correct in its accusations, that we really are responsible for the world’s troubles. We cannot rationalize it, but we feel it nonetheless. Even if we do not admit it, our meek resentment to the most absurd allegations proves that we do not feel innocent.

Especially now, when the world has become such an interdependent, closed system where everyone affects everyone else, anything bad that someone does immediately impacts the entire world. We, Jews, are expected to correct the world. Since the world is broken, in the eyes of the world, as well as in our own eyes, it is our fault.

Think about it, no nation has conceived such a notion as Tikkun Olam [correction of the world], certainly not as one of its core values and goals. No nation has pinned its entire essence on love of others, to the point where one loves one’s neighbor as oneself. No nation has made mutual responsibility such a deeply rooted principle that its members feel entitled to demand it of each other. And finally, the sages of no other nation blame their defeats on unfounded hatred among the members of the nation, instead of on external enemies.

Even with regard to the nations of the world, our calling has always been a positive one. As soon as we became a nation, we were designated as a chosen people—chosen to exemplify those core values just mentioned: Tikkun Olam through love of others and mutual responsibility. Is there anything the world needs more than these?

Yet, instead of living up to our vocation, we have become the opposite. We are a display of self-loathing, inner division, and mutual derision. We are arrogant, but we have nothing to be proud of since people don’t need technology; they need to love and be loved, and we are denying them their needs through our negligence in our duty.

No one loves a nation whose members hate each other, all the more so when that nation was forged to be the trailblazer toward unity. If we reject our calling, who will pave the trail?

We are an assortment of members of nations from all over the Near and Middle East, who once united “as one man with one heart.” Because of our unique example, we must lead the way for the unity of the world, and the only way to do it is through our example.

Each of us is a descendant of those members of the nations. The nations will not be able to unite without our example. Our ancestors were “ambassadors” of the nations, and we are their heirs; it is incumbent upon us to carry out our ancestors’ legacy: to be a light unto nations and redeem the world of hatred. If we unite among us, the world will follow through. If we shun one another, the world will shun us.
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My new article on Linkedin “Hunger Games – the Real Story”

“Pundits” and experts galore keep warning us that soon there will not be enough food to feed humanity, and not enough fresh water to drink. Remember peak oil, when a slew of “experts” warned us that soon we will run out of oil, that gas prices will skyrocket, and lines at the pumps will stretch for miles? Why is no one mentioning it now? It was never true. It was a useful story to tell the world in order to promote the interests of certain mega-powerful people and corporations, but once the “fact” became redundant, it went off the radar.

The same is true for food and water shortages: It is bogus, a manmade scarcity that is promoted to cater to the interests of those who run the world. Hunger on Earth is real, but the real story behind it is not one of scarcity, but one of cruelty and greed.

We trash nearly fifty percent of the food we make in order to keep food prices and profits as high as possible. Mull over this figure for a moment. If we trash half the food we make, and the majority of the world still has plenty to eat, it means that even today, at our current pace of food production, we can provide for a world population twice as big as today’s.

If we cut production by half but made sure everyone got their food, we could decrease pollution of air, water, and soil so drastically that it would exceed by far the highest hopes of climate change champions. Moreover, it wouldn’t require any efforts to achieve it. On the contrary, we would do less and achieve far more.

The same is true of hunger. We could easily provide everyone with enough food and plenty of fresh water. The problem is that in some places, food provision doesn’t pay as well, and where profits do not go through the roof, no one wants to come.

Moreover, hunger is good for politics: It allows bleeding-hearts and other do-gooders to visit afflicted areas with camera crews to document them “helping” the poor and dying. Hunger pays, except not for the hungry, but for the wealthy who create it and perpetuate it. Hunger creates more than PR. It is great for promoting agenda that empower the powerful and weaken the weak, and for controlling the politics of subordinate countries.

It hurts no one that the hungry and sick are agonizing and perishing. It hurts no one but the sick and the hungry, and they are powerless to change.

It is not that my words will change people’s behavior; the ill-will is rooted at the bottom of our hearts. But if such posts can open people’s eyes to see reality for what it is, there is hope that something will begin to change.

Right now, we cannot do more than know the truth. But for now, this is all we need in order to initiate the change. If enough people know how evil we have all become, and wholeheartedly repel our wickedness, they will start a snowball.

Awareness, we need to focus on awareness of our crooked, corrupt nature to the point that we detest it. Then, just as we stay away from anything that we abhor, we will run from our own selves. Instead of seeking to abuse all of creation, we will begin to ask why it was all created in the first place.

We needn’t occupy ourselves with what to eat, but with what to be! When questions about the purpose of life trouble us, we stop domineering and start listening. Instead of speaking, we begin to converse. This is when true growth begins.

Trying to force ourselves to change our behavior is hopeless. But raising ourselves above the level of material dominance will put order in our material world, as well, as we will busy ourselves learning about the meaning of life instead of trying to deny others life.
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