My new article on Linkedin “A Lesson from the Iron Dome Funding Saga”

This week’s saga surrounding the funding of manufacturing Iron Dome interceptors, which protect Israeli citizens from Hamas rockets, should come as no surprise. Much of the press tried to portray the attempt to withhold the funding as an initiative of a few left-wing liberals within the Democratic Party, and nothing more. But it is much more than that since the real force behind the push toward an anti-Israel policy is the majority of American Jewry, who see Israel as a hindrance to their efforts to dissolve beyond recognition into American society.

Fewer and fewer strings connect the State of Israel with Diaspora Jews. Jews outside of Israel wish to assimilate in the general population, and Israel’s deteriorating international status often causes them to “take the heat” for Israel’s perceived crimes. In many ways, they feel they have become unwitting ambassadors of the Jewish state, when they want nothing to do with the Jewish state or with Judaism. No wonder they resent Israel and want to prove their alienation from the pariah state.

In fact, if anything still keeps them Jewish, it is the one cause that has kept Jews together for two millennia: Jew-hatred. In 2005, when I spoke at Hillel San Francisco and warned Jews about rising antisemitism, they jeered at me. They thought I was delusional. In November 2014, when I spoke about rising antisemitism in the US at the Inaugural IAC Conference in D.C., they still did not believe me, though they weren’t as arrogant and complacent as before. Today, they are stripping their doorposts of mezuzahs to avoid being recognized as Jewish homes. Today, they are no longer confident that the Holocaust will never return. And to secure their future, they want to get rid of the State of Israel, the last reminder of their Jewishness, as they see it.

But antisemitism did not start when the State of Israel was established. Israel was established precisely because of antisemitism and in order to abolish it. While it hasn’t, abolishing the State of Israel will not abolish antisemitism; our history of 3,500 years since Egypt proves it.

If we want to end antisemitism, we need to adopt a completely novel approach. Instead of hiding our identity and trying to blend into the environment like hunted animals seeking to camouflage themselves, we should assert our Jewish identity and live up to our legacy.

Our nation is unique, and so is its role in the world. The Jewish nation contains within it representatives from every nation that existed in antiquity around Babylon, Egypt, and countless other nations from the Near and Middle East. In those days, they gathered around a unique individual who introduced a novel idea to the world: compassion and care for others. His name was Abraham, and he is the father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The people who came to him did not know or like each other. They united only because they agreed with their teacher’s idea that the right way to live is with love for one another rather than hate. Hate cannot be suppressed or eliminated; it is human nature. However, we can rise above it by increasing the importance of loving others and mutual responsibility. This is what Abraham taught his students; this is what he bequeathed to his children; and this is what they taught their own children.

In doing so, Abraham and his descendants created a nation whose motto was “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and whose duty was to pass their method of uniting above division to the world. In the words of the Torah, the duty of the Jews, once they achieved nationhood, was to be “a light unto nations.”

Since then, when Jews were united, they thrived and were welcome by all. When they squabbled among themselves and hated one another, they became the world’s pariahs, who sent merciless oppressors to penalize them.

But the Jews, instead of owning up to their errors, condemned the nations for their cruelty and mourned the loss of their freedom and sovereignty. Instead of realizing that all they had to do was reestablish their unity, they tried to hide and become invisible among the nations, and chastised any Jew who championed unity.

To this day, we do not understand that our fate is in our hands. A billion dollars more or less will not create a protective dome above us. If we want lasting and effective protection, we will find it only in our unity. It will not shelter us from missiles; it will open the hearts of the nations toward us with love.

If we love each other, the world will love us. If we hate each other, the world will hate us, too.

For more on this topic, see my book Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour.
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My new article on Linkedin “The Legacy of a Spiritual Giant”

He knew the clock was ticking; he knew they had to move to Israel; he told the Israeli Prime Minister how Israel can truly be independent; and he dedicated his life to helping the Jewish people and all of humanity. This week, 67 years ago, Yehuda Ashlag, known as Baal HaSulam, the greatest kabbalist in modern times, and among the greatest of all time, passed away and left us with a legacy of unconditional love for his people, for all people, and for all of creation. He also left us with books and a road map that can help us become like him.

It was 1921. Ashlag, a brilliant Dayan [judge in Jewish Orthodox court] in Warsaw, the “capital” of Diaspora Judaism, who was appointed to this venerable position when he was only 19 years old, had now been excommunicated for several years. But he didn’t mind the extreme hardship he and his family endured because of it. His only focus was the fate of his people and the fate of the world.

A few years back, he realized that Europe was headed for extreme and lethal antisemitism. He tried to warn his fellow Warsaw Jews, but the Orthodox leadership prevented his voice from being heard. When he insisted, they terminated his position as a Dayan, severed their connections with him, and instructed the entire Jewish community to ignore him. In those days, a boycott was a life threatening situation since one had to rely on the community for work, housing, education, and provision. Without them, one was at the mercy of the Poles, and they were no Jew-lovers.

But Ashlag kept on trying. He struck a deal to purchase 300 wooden shacks from Sweden and a place for them to be erected in Palestine. He even managed to secretly convince 300 Jewish families to move there and escape a bitter fate in Europe. Alas, the Orthodox leadership discovered his plan and convinced all 300 families to remain in Poland. We will never know how many of them, if any, survived the Holocaust.

But in 1921, something happened. Ashlag realized that it was time to go. By then, he had been studying Kabbalah for many years, and he has reached a level where he transcended his own teacher. In such a state, there was nothing more to keep him in Poland. That same year, he and his family moved to Jerusalem and he began to write profusely.

Ashlag’s writings testify that he was not only a great kabbalist, but revolutionary global thinker who understood the intricacies of human nature. Using his keen insights, he was able to predict what would happen in Israel and in the world, and tried his best to change things for the better. He was an avid Zionist not for the sake of conquering the land, but in order for the Jewish people to carry out its duty to the world: to set an example of unity and love of others that he knew the world would desperately need.

He did not settle for writing. He met with every influential person in the county at the time and tried to convince them that sovereignty in and of itself is not enough, that if Israel is to thrive, it must set an example of unity and mutual responsibility. He begged those leaders to establish education toward unity above all differences, and establish the society based on people’s care for one another, and not expect matters to work themselves out.

He spoke several times with David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, Moshe Sharett, Israel’s second Prime Minister, Haim Arlosoroff, head of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency, Member of Knesset (Israel’s parliament) Moshe Erem, and with many others. He spared no effort. In the 1930s, he wrote a series of essays that detailed his views as a global thinker. In his essays, “Mutual Responsibility,” “The Freedom,” and especially in “The Peace” and “Peace in the World,” Ashlag detailed how humanity can thrive in prosperity and peace.

But Ashlag was first and foremost a kabbalist. It was through his profound understanding of creation, acquired through his study of Kabbalah, that he became such an astute thinker. His dream was for everyone to be as wise as he was, and that everyone would care about humankind as much as he did.

To achieve this, he wrote two monumental commentaries on the most seminal compositions in the wisdom of Kabbalah. His first feat was a six-volume commentary on the writings of the ARI, particularly Tree of Life and Eight Gates. In his commentary, which he titled The Study of the Ten Sefirot, he interpreted the writings of this great 16th century kabbalist so that contemporary people could relate to them and understand them.

His second, and most illustrious achievement, was the writing of an elaborate commentary on The Book of Zohar, complete with four introductions that tell the reader how to understand this vital text. In his commentary, which he titled the Sulam [Ladder], he translated the Aramaic text of The Zohar into Hebrew, and interpreted the meaning of the words so that readers could see how the book speaks not about the physical world, but about spiritual processes that all Kabbalah students go through. As a token of respect, Rav Ashlag later became known as Baal HaSulam [Author of The Ladder] after the name he had given to his commentary.

Humanity has yet to discover what this greatest of men has given us. He begins his introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot with the following words: “At the outset of my words, I find a great need to break an iron wall that has been separating us from the wisdom of Kabbalah since the ruin of the Temple [2,000 years ago] to this generation.”

But why should we study Kabbalah? A few paragraphs later, Baal HaSulam answers this question himself: to find the meaning of life. In his words, “If we set our hearts to answer but one very famous question, I am certain that all these questions and doubts will vanish from the horizon, and you will look unto their place to find them gone, meaning this indignant question that the whole world asks, namely, ‘What is the meaning of my life?’ In other words, these numbered years of our life that cost us so heavily, and the numerous pains and torments that we suffer for them, to complete them to the fullest, who is it who enjoys them?”

In his treatise, “Time to Act,” Baal HaSulam shares his great yearning for everyone to know what Kabbalah is truly about. “For a long time now,” he writes, “my conscience has burdened me with a demand to come out and create a fundamental composition regarding the essence of … the authentic wisdom of Kabbalah, and spread it among the nation, so people will come to know and properly understand these exalted matters in their true meaning.”

Thankfully, today his writings, and the writings of all the kabbalists, are only a click away. At Kabbalah.info, we have made all the material available for free so everyone can study.

But Baal HaSulam’s work is not done. Humanity is suffering and more divided than ever. We, who value his sacred legacy, must pick up where he left off and pass on the wisdom of truth, love, and unity to all.

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My new article on Linkedin “Why Even China Can’t Stop Social Media”

It is now scientifically proven that social media is bad for our health. The content you can find there is bad for our mental and emotional soundness, especially that of adolescents. When social media just began, it purported to connect people and in this way make them happier. But people create social media, and people are inherently bad. As a result, social media does the opposite of its proclaimed intention: It makes us more depressed, insecure, and disconnected from the real world than before. Only when we change who we are, we will change how we connect on social media and elsewhere.

Nothing will change until we change our flawed nature. In the long run, all measures will fail until we realize that we have no choice but to dump the focus on regulations, restrictions, and penalties, and focus on educating ourselves, on teaching ourselves to be humane, which is the real meaning of being human.

Currently, China, for example, is imposing limits on the hours that teenagers can play online games. Instead of healing China’s teenagers, I think it will increase their craving for games. Moreover, the problem is not that they are playing games, online or offline. The problem is their disconnection from others. This is what sickens children, adolescents, and adults alike.

If, previously, people connected to each other naturally, since people needed each other’s help in many cases, today people feel much more self-sufficient. As a result, their tendency to see human connection as an asset rather than as a burden is waning. The more AI becomes ubiquitous, the more automation will take over our lives and make other people seem superfluous.

Instead of treating it as a problem, we should see it as an opportunity. This trajectory toward automation and disconnection, which will not change, is our chance to take our relationships to the next level. It is a chance for all people to connect in the heart rather than in the body.

We can reach beyond the screen of the phone only if we aim for the heart. There is no other solution to the excessive use of social media since this is exactly where we need to advance—into each other’s hearts.

For now, social media helps us recognize that disconnection is bad. But revealing the bad is not the same as recognizing it. Revealing the bad means that we see that social media is bad for us. Recognizing the bad means that we recognize the root of the problem: our alienation from each other. We need to work on fixing our disconnection, not on its symptoms, whether they are addiction to social media, bullying, substance abuse, or anything else.

If we use the symptom to recognize the problem and treat it at its core, it will no longer be a problem, but a part of the healing. May we be wise enough to recognize the bad rather than reveal it, and courageous enough to teach ourselves to love rather than to hate.
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My new article on Linkedin “Sukkot: A Covering of Peace for the Entire World”

The holiday of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) is an important and joyful tradition which represents a spiritual ascent. The true meaning of this festival is to build a new reality of mutual understanding and support—a sukkah (hut) of peace—through the positive force we generate through our cohesion.

Today—when disunity is the common denominator among families, within societies, between countries—the principle of this celebration is particularly relevant.

This festivity is also called the “Feast of Harvest,” because it celebrates the annual gathering of the harvest. As it is written, “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the festival of the Lord for a seven day period.” (Leviticus 23:39)

From a spiritual perspective, Sukkot symbolizes a beautiful process of inner change. It is customary to celebrate this holiday in a temporary structure built specifically for this period, the sukkah. Its roof, called schach, must be made of the “waste of barn and winery.”

This waste represents the things we toss aside and rate as less essential. We raise values such as giving, caring, empathy, solidarity, mutual responsibility above our heads as the most precious and important attributes there are, like a sheltering roof to shade us from the burning sun. As it is mentioned in the Song of Songs: “I sat down under his shadow with great delight…”

Making the roof specifically from those usually discarded elements into the covering of the festive hut means we have the intention to invert our values and transform ourselves from self-centered individuals into caring and empathetic human beings. It seems that today these ideals are precisely what we need in order to mitigate the raging anger that has spread throughout our daily lives.

Sukkot is a call to exit our comfortable egoistic “home,” meaning our self-love, and to build a new structure, a sukkah, as a symbol of the new world that we can create if we acquire the qualities of bestowal and brotherhood, the qualities most important for creating a solid and sustainable society from which everyone will benefit.

What stands in the way of us creating a good life for all, including ourselves? It is none other than the human ego—the desire to enjoy at the expense of others. As part of humanity’s natural evolution, the ego has grown to dreadful proportions, while nature expects us to keep its basic law of balance between all its elements: still, vegetative, animate, and human.

The harsh conditions humanity is enduring with a global pandemic, climate imbalances, and worldwide disruptions, are nature’s attempts to reverse our state of separation and bring our hearts closer to one another. Such states call for the building of a true sukkah of love and unity that will cover all of humanity for a good future. The sooner we comprehend the lesson nature is teaching us, the sooner we can transform our fleeting and fragile life into one that is positive, stable, and peaceful.

We, as Jewish people, must be an example of cohesion and lead the way for others to follow, gathering the whole world beneath one big thatch-covering where we will be united as one. When this comes to pass, the temporary dwelling of the sukkah will be completed as the common space we make for each other within our hearts, ensuring humanity a healthy life and happy coexistence under one global roof.
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My new article on Linkedin “Where Is Greta Thunberg?”

It seems as though the world is on the fast lane toward cleaning the car industry from polluting emissions. Everyone is rushing to create clean cars, whether battery or hydrogen powered engines, and bask in their cleanness.

But the green alibi hides behind it a dirty truth: Zero emission does not mean zero pollution. Mining rare Earth materials required for zero-emissions engines, building charging stations, and the complex logistics surrounding the “clean” industries will take a heavy toll on Earth. In the end, the only ones who will gain from the “clean revolution” are the tycoons who are selling it to us, and the government officials who placate them for their own reasons.

Where is Greta Thunberg these days? Like the rest of the pawns in the battle for wealth and power, the “climate knights” have sent her back to oblivion once they finished using her. It is all power games among giant corporations, but the environment and the climate are no one’s concern.

Even if we switch to wind energy or ocean-wave energy, I don’t believe that we will gain much. We will have to pay for it elsewhere.

For this reason, I think that the crux of the problem is not emissions, but our behavior toward nature and toward our fellow human beings. Here is where we can produce positive and lasting results. If we could communicate with one another positively, we could stop the madness of excessive development that manufactures unnecessary and harmful products.

If we could slow down a bit, we wouldn’t need to burn so much fuel in order to defeat competitors in a race for wealth that makes no one happy. Only if we realize that our happiness depends on the quality of our relationships, and not on the padding of our bank accounts, we will be able to pause a little, think, and rebuild our civilization in a way that contributes to nature, to humanity, and to each of us.
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My new article on Linkedin “Selfish People Can’t Produce Unselfish Solutions”

In Europe and elsewhere, governments are paying colossal sums to big corporations to help them avert bankruptcy. Whether they call it a “rescue package” or “quantitative easing,” in the end it’s all the same: the government pays companies to stay operative.

I don’t think it will work in the long run. It may keep companies afloat for another six months or a year, but as a rule, a government, any government, cannot sustain companies that cannot sustain themselves. In the end, the situation will blow up in a blast that will be worse than what it would have happened had the government let them fall naturally.

There is more to it than that. I don’t believe that a government can do anything good for its people. Civil servants, ministers, and deputy ministers always pull their own way and have their own interests in mind. Since everyone is inherently selfish, everyone has an ulterior motive that is not for the benefit of the public.

We cannot expect selfish people to do unselfish acts; it is like asking a tiger to become vegetarian. If it goes against nature and it won’t work. Therefore, asking people whose only focus is their own career to focus on other people’s well-being is unwise, unrealistic, and will invariably fail.

Socialists, capitalists, far right, or far left, they are all immersed in egoism. It is not their fault; it is human nature, and we should adjust our expectation from our leaders.

If we want a real and lasting positive change, we must transform human nature. Since our nature is selfish to the core, changing it is the only way out of the crises that the world is falling into nowadays. We will fall deeper and deeper until we realize that the problem is not the fuel we burn, the forests we cut, the water we pollute, or the people we kill. The problem is the cause of all those harms we are inflicting on nature and on each other: our inherent self-absorption. When we start working on changing ourselves rather than demanding everything and everyone else to change, we might be able to save ourselves before it is too late.

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My new article on Linkedin “Where Europe Is Going”

More and more, I have been hearing about the worsening economic situation in Europe. Friends and students from all over the continent have been telling me that life in their country is deteriorating, that it’s getting harder and harder to make ends meet, and they are losing hope. I have been warning about it for quite a few years now. Nevertheless, the solution now is what it’s always been—reeducation from the self-centered attitude Europeans have endorsed to an inclusive and considerate one. This is the continent’s only way out.

Currently, there is no reason for things to get better. The reports I have been getting about rising prices of housing and goods in the Czech Republic, the migration out of Hungary in search of work, the growing inequality between inland Spain and its coastal areas, and countless other problems I have been hearing about do not even scratch the surface. In addition, the struggle of the second and third echelon countries in Europe against the affluent European countries helps neither the oppressors nor the oppressed.

European countries are at a risk of war, and the immigrants pouring into the continent are only exacerbating the situation. Now that Europe’s economy is shutting down, what will they do? Add to it the “icing on the cake,” aka “coronavirus,” and you have a very precarious and unstable situation on your hands.

I am not optimistic, but as long as there is hope, we must try to explain the only way out of the downward spiral. Europe can be saved only if people and nations stop looking only after their personal profit. In an economy where everything is interdependent, the concept of “personal profit” simply doesn’t exist. “Interdependent” and “personal” are, in a sense, an oxymoron.

No one can tell Europe what to do; they must take their lives into their own hands. However, they must take everyone’s lives into account, not just those of the wealthy countries, or they will destroy everyone’s lives. Europe needs to teach itself what it means to be considerate, to see that everyone, truly everyone, has what they need. If it is to be a common market, as it professes to be, then it must see to the common good. Otherwise, what’s the purpose of a common market in the first place?

In order to create a (truly) common market, there must be a common interest. This means that first of all, Europe must stop the influx of people from all over the world, mainly from Asia and Africa. Their interests are very different from those of Europe, and their culture has nothing in common with European culture. At the moment, Europe is unable to sustain foreigners invading it and changing its cultural and religious makeup on top of the economic and structural problems it already has.

Next, once they stop the migration influx, they must see that everyone in Europe has minimal and decent living conditions. If one part of the European market is neglected, the whole arrangement will tumble like a deck of cards.

Third, caring for everyone’s provision must be a given, just as one does not abandon a close family member. However, acting in this way requires Europe to overcome centuries of wars, conspiracies, and bad blood among the countries. We must not forget that the two world wars we’ve had so far began in Europe, and for a good reason. This is the education I was referring to in the beginning of this piece: education toward mutual responsibility, trust, and good faith.

A lasting change can only be the result of a thorough educational process. If all the countries agree to it, Europe can come out triumphant from the challenge it is facing. If, on the other hand, it lets countries opt out of mutual responsibility, or allows aliens to keep pouring in, it is doomed. It will not be long before Europe’s fate is decided one way or the other.
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My new article on Linkedin “The Jewish People Are About Quality, Not Quantity”

The Jewish people are growing. A comprehensive study conducted by researchers at the Hebrew University and recently published by the Jewish Agency reveals that despite antisemitism and other threats, the Jewish population worldwide has increased from 15.1 million last year to 15.2 million Jews today. However, the rise in the number of Jews does not represent a sign of higher strength. The potential of the people of Israel lies not in matter, in quantity, but in spirit, in the quality of our unity.

About 45 percent of all the Jews in the world reside in Israel, that’s close to 7 million. The United States, with 6 million Jews, represents the second largest Jewish community globally. In the face of growing antisemitic events in the world, we were supposed to see new waves of immigrations to Israel, but that is not the case. There is no correlation between the increase in the number of Jews on the one hand and the pressure on them on the other.

Antisemitism is hardly a factor influencing Jews to immigrate to Israel because they are already accustomed to looking for a place to hide on earth despite the fact that it is round and connected and there is literally nowhere to run to. Sooner or later they are exposed to hatred.

It always seems to the Jews that they have managed to find a safe haven, but it is only on the surface, like a child who closes his eyes and thinks the danger has passed. Jews have an innate urge to live among the nations of the world, and the possibility of living among Jews in the Land of Israel does not appeal to them.

Diaspora Jewry is not where the State of Israel can cast its hopes for the future, nor do we need to because numbers have no significance. As it is said about the people of Israel, “You are a few of all the peoples.” The might of the Jews is not measured by our numbers but by the quality of our connection.

Today we do not feel the strength of the spirit in the people of Israel because we are divided and conflicted, immersed in material and earthly struggles. When we are properly united, we create an extraordinary spiritual force. It is the quality of the relationships and connections between us that determines the intensity of that force.

The opposite happens in our current state. The Jewish People’s Policy Institute has recently warned of the erosion of the Jewish people that has intensified in the past year and is reflected both between Jews and in their relations with the rest of the world. One of the reasons for this, as the researchers suggest, is the distance of the younger generation from Israel and the weakening of their Jewish identity.

Even if there are a plethora of organizations aimed at connecting the Jews wherever they are, they are also split, arguing, divided by partisanship. We are confused in thinking that Jews can prevail when they are weakened by political polarization which has no grip in Judaism that speaks only of unification. The people of Israel are founded on the principle of being as one man in one heart. When the people are partisan, the Jewish idea is dead.

This is the only problem the people of Israel have. We do not realize how critical our connection is. Our fate depends on that because if the Jews connect above all differences, in this they bring peace within them, which is then poured out to the whole world. Judaism has only one ideology: to be as one. This is called “being with the Creator.”

We just need to drop the political discourse, the shouting over opposing opinions, and connect together above all the differences. This is the only thing that can help us strengthen the nation. We must strive for a situation where we decide not to consider anything other than a clean and authentic desire to be brothers and sisters. Think of a mother who has a million children. How does she want to see them? This is how we should behave toward each other.
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My new article on Linkedin “80 Years after the Babi Yar Massacre – Our Duty Cannot Be Destroyed”

In September 1941, within just two days, the Nazis murdered 33,771 Jews in the Babi Yar ravine on the outskirts of Kiev in then Nazi-occupied Ukraine. In doing so, they had effectively eliminated the Jewish population in the country’s capital. The Jews did not gather in the ravine of their own volition. On September 19, the Nazis conquered the city and immediately started gathering all the Jews, with the locals eagerly assisting them. Once at the ravine, they were stripped of their clothes, jewels, and documents, then shot and dumped into the valley of death. Heaps of men, women, and children were buried there, and their story was silenced for many years.

The Nazis were the killers, but the thing that astounded many people most was the enthusiasm with which the Ukrainians helped them. Even the Nazis were bewildered by the ruthless hatred of the locals, as I had personally heard from people who lived at the time when the event took place.

Nevertheless, I truly have no grievances, no bitterness or anger toward any nation, however antisemitic. Since I understand where the hatred comes from, I can only point the finger at its source and urge its correction: we ourselves, the Jews.

Since the inception of our nation, we have been an oddity among the peoples. Our ancestors were not blood related or emerged from a single tribe, as is usually the case with the birth of nations. Rather, they were outcasts, pariahs, rebels who did not get along with their own people because they asked too many questions or were too opinionated. In the end, they found a like-minded leader who united them all under a unique ideology, which King Solomon later captured with a single verse: “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes” (Prov. 10:12).

That leader was Abraham, and the ideology he had developed grew into what became a binding law of love of others. The specifics of that law were described in the Torah, and based on the law of love of others, a new nation was born: the “People of Israel.”

The birth of the Israeli nation was no fluke. It came into the world in order to prove that people can unite above all differences, that there can be peace on Earth, and that by rising above our differences and hatred, we develop a new quality: the quality of love of others, to the point that one loves one’s neighbor as oneself.

Another uniqueness that Israel possessed was the fact that in order to become a Jew, you needed only to adhere to the law of loving others. It was an internal bond with others that made you Israel, and adhering to it was Israel’s source of strength. When Israel maintained it, it was untouchable; when it abandoned it, it grew weak and vulnerable, and other nations would conquer and afflict it. But the people of Israel were never entirely eliminated, not even during World War II, since its duty cannot be destroyed.

Once the people of Israel became a nation, they were tasked with setting an example of unity above division. The Torah phrases it with the simple onus to be “a light unto nations” (Isaiah 49:6), a light that illuminates the path out of the ego that is ravaging humanity and destroying the planet.

But we failed the nations and fell into unfounded, deep, and constant hatred of each other, and the world will not forgive us. This is why there is not one nation that is not antisemitic to various extents.

However, not all is lost. On the contrary: As soon as we reestablish our unity, the world will change how it feels about us. You can destroy the Jews, but you cannot destroy the mission of the Jews. Therefore, until we carry out our duty, become the light of the nations by uniting above internal hatred, the world will not accept us or regard our existence in the land of Israel or anywhere else as legitimate. But once we rise above division, we will indeed be “a light unto nations.”

For more information on the topic, refer to my books The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord, and Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour.
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My new article on Linkedin “The Twenty Dark Years of the Durban Conference”

Durban is a global port city in South Africa, a city steeped in influences from many countries and immersed in a mixture of different cultures. It is a city of contrasts: modern skyscrapers alongside urban areas surrounded by markets, a promenade adorned with palm trees alongside dark roads.

Despite all the abundance and multicultural atmosphere this city has to offer, the name “Durban” carries with it a bitter connotation for Jews. Particularly, the words “Durban Conference.” Twenty years ago, in September 2001, the first Durban Conference, which was supposed to be an event to combat racism, discrimination and xenophobia, rapidly became a potent fertilizer in the ground of hatred against Jews and Israel in particular.

It is clear that the seeds of antisemitism did not start then, but the forum certainly accelerated and expanded the venomous accusations against Israel as an “apartheid state,” it propeled the deligimitazation of the state of Israel and its subsequent boycott through global movements such as the BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanctions.)

This is where the new antisemitism began and the hostile treatment of Jews and Israel erupted in full force, again. Zionism also became synonymous with racism, and the Holocaust was portrayed not as an atrocity aimed at destroying European Jewry, but the justification for “Israel’s wrongdoings.”

On September 22, 2021, an event marking the twentieth anniversary of the Durban Conference will be held in New York as part of the annual UN General Assembly, but unfortunately, nothing has changed for the better in the last twenty years. They are the same wolves in sheep’s clothing.

This year, too, when at least 16 countries show support for Israel and are boycotting the event because of its antisemitic stench even more so than in previous conferences—it is not a real sign of progress. I do not believe for a moment that these countries tend to favor the State of Israel or are sympathetic to Jews wherever they are.

You can buy some fake smiles with money, but the world will not turn over and change as a result of it. It is impossible to solve the phenomenon of age-old antisemitism at conferences. It is possible to gather from conference to conference, but other than money and publicity to promote political agendas or to mark that we have done something about it, no real benefit will come out from such events.

The only condition for change is the self-awareness of the people of Israel and a new attitude about our destiny. The Jewish people were founded from a collection of representatives from different peoples, a composition of different elements, equally committed to unity and love of others.

Antisemitism is resentment of us by the nations of the world. They feel Jews hold the secret for a better future but that we are not opening the pipe for that goodness to flow to all the peoples. Subconsciously, the world expects us Jews to connect with each other, to be united and reach a strong feeling of love for others. If we act in this way, we will be a light unto the nations, we will spread light and not darkness, love instead of hatred. Only in this way will we eradicate the hostilities against us.

Our mission is to bring the method of connection to foster unity and mutual consideration. If we dedicate ourselves to this task and connect together over the differences between us, over the elements that separate us, over the ethnicity and partisanship that tear us apart from within, then we will be an exemplary nation for all peoples.

Even the first tiny step towards unity between us will awaken a stronger connecting force, a supreme force that is essential for all of us. Then, the direction will change from bad to good. As it is written, “We are commanded at each generation to strengthen the unity among us so our enemies do not rule over us.” Rabbi Eliyahu Ki Tov, The Book of Consciousness
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