My new article on Linkedin “A Granddad’s Heart”

When I first became a granddad and saw my grandson for the first time, my heart filled with love. I held him in my arms; I wanted to play with him, to do something for him to make him feel good. I had never experienced such an emotion before that time.

Love is the reason we are here in this world; it is the reason why the world was created. Yet, unlike natural love, such as the instinctive love of a grandfather to a grandchild, among strangers, there is natural resistance, alienation, and enmity, rather than love.

However, life is formed precisely by overcoming these emotions. Every living being evolves by overcoming resistance and hardships. These “obstacles” create the need for growth and development. Had it not been for hardships and resistance, there would be no evolution and humans would never have come to be.

Feelings of separation from others, alienation, and enmity are therefore not negative emotions; they are levers for growth. We see them as negative when we don’t want to rise above them and grow. If, instead of rejecting them and fearing them, we would see them as opportunities to grow and develop ourselves, we would welcome them and benefit from them tremendously. Moreover, by rising above them, we would create a greater and tighter bond than the one we had before the appearance of those “hindrances.”

For example, think of the complexity of a unicellular creature compared to the complexity of the human body. They are incomparable. The reason for the creation of such a complex system as the human body is precisely the obstacles that all the levels of complexity encountered before they came to make a human organism. In a sense, therefore, we “owe” our lives, our existence, to the hatred and separation that appeared on the levels preceding ours.

This should teach us that we cannot eschew our duty to face the hatred that is being revealed among us today. Hatred appears for no other reason other than to promote evolution and greater union. If we avoid facing our resistance and uniting above the new and tougher level of hatred, we will hamper the evolution of our own species and pay heavily for it.

Our attitude toward the social crises plaguing our planet should therefore not be as natural as among family, but rather conscious and intentional. We should acknowledge that we do not feel like family, use family relations as an example to strive for, and try, together, to establish such relationships among us.

The key word here is “together.” Overcoming mutual alienation must be a mutual effort in which all parts of the population participate. Otherwise, one part will exploit the other and the whole feat will tumble like a deck of cards. We must install the awareness of how paramount it is that we form union above our separation until we truly feel as one family. Today, our lives, and the lives of our loved ones, depend on it.

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My new article on Linkedin “No Desire for Children – China as an Example”

Recently, China lifted the cap on births from 2 to 3 in what it now defines as a “three-child policy.” According to a story by David Stanway and Tony Munroe published on Reuters, the reason for the policy shift is that “recent data showed a dramatic decline in births.” Although China canceled its one-child policy back in 2016 and raised the cap to two children, it “failed to result in a sustained surge in births,” state the writers. Now, Beijing has not only raised the cap once more, but added various incentives for married couples to have more children.

I don’t think the birthrate is a matter of policy. The Chinese, like most people all over the world, want fewer and fewer children. Humanity is growing increasingly selfish and people find no pleasure in raising children that they know will ignore them as soon as they can sustain themselves. Zhang Xinyu, a 30-year-old mother of one from Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, clearly articulated her characteristic attitude: “Thinking of the big picture, realistically, I don’t want to have a second child. And a third is even more impossible.”

In light of our growing self-absorption, we are going to see a decline in the world population. Personally, I see nothing wrong with it. Technology will make up for any shortage in working hands, and there will be fewer mouths to feed and fewer people populating the already overpopulated planet. A hundred years ago, humanity was about 2 billion people; now it is close to 8 billion. I see no harm in returning to more sustainable numbers.

However, the more important question is not how many people there are in the world, but what they do here. If people are as hateful of each other as they are today, the fewer of us the better for everyone. But if there is love and unity among people and nations, we can sustain as many people as we want, and we won’t feel any crowdedness or shortage. Therefore, what is important is that we begin to invest not in birthrates but in shifting the attitudes of those who are already here from animosity to amity.

Everything that is happening now—the tensions and pandemics, the crises and upheavals—should lead us to one conclusion: We must deal with the root cause of our problem—our relationships. Nature’s laws dictate that we will operate in an integral and integrated manner, as does nature itself. Our relentless efforts to destroy one another economically, socially, and even physically, put us at odds with nature. We are opposite from the environment we live in, so how can we expect to feel good? Would you expect a fish out of water to feel good? Would you expect it to survive? This is what we are doing to ourselves: We’re living in an interconnected and interdependent environment, yet we are behaving as though we are independent and self-sustaining beings. In such a state, we cannot feel good here, and in the long run, we won’t be able to survive.

We have come to a point, not only in China but the world over, that we must build our connections as an interdependent and interconnected network, just like the world around us. We are too big and too influential for nature to tolerate us at our current level of disruption of its structure. Since we are inside of nature, and since nature created us and sustains us, if we insist on fighting it, it will eradicate us just as it eradicates any being that is incongruent with its laws. Therefore, instead of worrying about the quantity of people, we should worry about their quality, the level of our connectedness and mutual concern.

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My new article on Linkedin “Reply to a Question about Jews and Arabs in Israel”

One of my students told me that since the beginning of Operation Guardian of the Walls (the most recent military campaign against Hamas in Gaza), dozens of Israeli Arabs left positive messages on my Hebrew Facebook page. They didn’t relate to the conflict, but expressed their agreement with the message of unity that I am conveying there. The student asked me if I could explain their sudden interest in the content on my page.

I think it’s easier for Arab Israelis to access my content than it is for Arabs in other countries for the simple reason that Arab Israelis speak and read Hebrew. From the content of their comments, which are also written in Hebrew, it’s clear that they agree with the message in my words, and this, I think, should be the clearest message to the Jews regarding what we need to do if we truly want peace.
First, I think it’s easier for Arab Israelis to access my content than it is for Arabs in other countries for the simple reason that Arab Israelis speak and read Hebrew. From the content of their comments, which are also written in Hebrew, it’s clear that they agree with the message in my words, and this, I think, should be the clearest message to the Jews regarding what we need to do if we truly want peace.

The message, as we know, is simple: The world has no respect for us because we have no respect for the connection between us. Our sages repeated this message in the ears of our ancestors. They wrote about it profusely, yet we refused to listen. Antisemites, too, have told us in countless ways that they despised our loathing of each other. History has repeatedly shown that the worst blows we suffered from the nations came after periods of intensified discord and infighting among us, and our most prosperous times were during strong internal unity.

Now the Arabs are telling us the same message. In my eyes, they are not enemies; they are messengers who tell us that they will appreciate us when we appreciate the connection between us. It is the same message that the nations of the world have been telling us since our inception as a nation, but now it is being told by our contemporaries. To me, the positive response of our Arab neighbors to the message of Jewish unity is a testimony to the paramount need to begin the process of reconciliation with our neighbors with reconciliation among ourselves. The sooner we start, the better it will be for everyone: for the Jews in Israel, for the Arabs in Israel, and for the rest of the world. As soon as we begin to unite, we will find that the Arabs are not our enemies, they are our partners.

For more on this topic, refer to the 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 “Israel’s Founding Principle – Unity Above All Else”

Israel faces an identity crisis. Over the years we have followed without much thought the rules imposed by the British Mandate after the Ottoman period in the Land of Israel. It has been a natural precedent to carry on, an easy and convenient one. However, the conditions for the governments of other nations cannot and will not suit us here. Therefore, we keep failing time and time again, from government to government, and have yet to get it right.

Nowadays it is already clear to everyone—for better or for worse—that we are a unique people. The world does not allow us to be like other peoples, and Israel is likewise revealed as a country that cannot be like all other countries.

The State of Israel must build itself and its form of government in accordance with its unique character and identity. While the current conditions in Israel are characterized by social havoc, by unruly hatred similar to that which erupted between us in the days of the destruction of the Temple, love of others and the unity of the people above all else is still the requisite state to which we must aspire. We are a nation founded on the supreme commandment to reach love above hatred, to transcend self-interest and to establish good mutual relations between us.

Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion understood this well. He said: “By these will the State be judged, by the moral character it imparts to its citizens, by the human values determining its inner and outward relations, and by its fidelity, in thought and act, to the supreme behest: ‘and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Here is crystallized the eternal law of Judaism, and all the written ethics in the world can say no more. The State will be worthy of its name only if its systems, social and economic, political and legal, are based upon these imperishable words.” (“Rebirth and Destiny of Israel”)

Ben-Gurion was right. The Supreme Providence will not allow the State of Israel to function according to the conditions of other countries. Pressure will be put on us until we begin to fulfill our destiny. We must understand who we are, what is expected from us, what our role is towards the nations, and govern accordingly. The question is: will we reach such an awareness in a positive or in a negative way, out of awakening and consent on our part to connect as one people, or out of anguish from internal and external pressures?

In order to avoid insurmountable divisions leading to terrible civil war, we must internalize the fact that the basic laws of the people of Israel are the spiritual laws of mutual care and unity.

This fundamental value must be the backbone of every governmental decision, law, and its implementation. From the top downwards, the idea of unity must permeate all avenues of Israeli society. Just as we care for our children’s intellectual upbringing regardless of their socio-economic background, we must provide education to build good and harmonious relations between all members of the nation, to establish close ties connecting each and every one of the people. This law of mutual responsibility and love is the founding principle of our people and should be our lasting recipe for success.
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The Creator deliberately collides opposites so we would need a third force to connect good and evil, right and left, any contradiction at all levels and in any form. This third force, that is, the force of the Creator, is revealed as reconciling all opposites.

We will see how hatred in our world is growing day by day. All connections that people have established until our time will now begin to break, crumble, and expose our separation and hatred.

This revelation will be so substantial that it will become clear that we cannot establish connections between us on our own. There is only one upper force that prevents our connection and the good existence of all of humanity, of every family. Relations between countries, between people, and man with himself will explode, revealing the shattering more and more so that it becomes obvious that only with the help of the upper force is it possible to connect everyone and cover all crimes with love.

Yet, we do not know how to do this because, from the point of view of our common sense, it is illogical since it is above our degree. Only the wisdom of Kabbalah explains how to make such a connection, come closer to each other, and establish peace so that humanity does not crumble and scatter in different directions like animals fleeing from beatings.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/21,” Justifying The Creator”

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A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.
(Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

We are hidden from ourselves in such a way that we do not know who we are.

In fact, we are parts of God. Everyone! Pieces of God.

Question: So there is a divine spark in everyone?

Answer: Yes. How to reveal it, how to connect all these parts, this is what has been given to us. But people are not aspiring toward it yet.

Question: If a person would observe from this particle that is in him the particle of another, from this particle, the divine spark, and he sees the divine spark in the other, what would happen then?

Answer: Then they would join together, gradually unite all the others, and create out of themselves, out of all these particles, the receptacle for the Creator.

Question: One way or another, we must come to this? See this spark in yourself and in the other?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Can you call it a spark of love?

Answer: We must unite our sparks of love from the existing sparks of hatred in us and then the Creator will clothe Himself in these sparks of love as love itself, as feeling itself.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/10/20

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Making A “Heavenly Firmament” Above Us
Where Does The Unifying Force Come From?

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#Antisemitism will unite the Jews of America and Israel—this is the benefit of it once again…

We are perplexed by the fact that we are at the center of attention for the nations. But according to the thought of creation, they have to unite around us, and with us. The whole problem is only that we do not pull them in, do not become the point of the world’s unity.
The yearning for unity—this is what we have to show the world!
#jews #israel
From Twitter, 5/25/21

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My new article on Linkedin “Full Speed in the Wrong Direction”

The Palestinians’ cheers of victory, and the hesitant sigh of relief that Israelis let out at the start of the ceasefire are both genuine. Israel won the battle but it is losing the war, and the Palestinians know it. With each campaign, our grip on the land weakens while theirs grows stronger. We may win future battles, too, but the world is with the Palestinians. If we continue battling them only on the physical level, we will eventually lose the war and the land we live in.

The only way that we can win is on the ideological level. If we grasp why we are here and what benefit our presence here brings to all of humanity, we will win the world’s support. Otherwise, the nations have no need for a country whose people hate each other so profoundly that their 120 members of parliament are splintered across dozens of parties. The sense of mutual loathing this tiny country discharges is so caustic that the whole world is troubled by what is happening in this tiny piece of land, which is roughly the size of Connecticut. We are making great efforts to strengthen and fortify ourselves, but we are going full speed in the wrong direction.

We must remind ourselves over and over that our strength lies in our unity, and only in our unity. Nothing else will hold for long. Defense systems such as the Iron Dome are good for only so long, but permanent protection comes to the people of Israel when we think of each other instead of ourselves.

Our ancestors founded our nation on the basis of mutual responsibility and love of others. We conceived the commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself” and made it our foremost tenet. Without living it out, we are not true to our legacy, to the basis of our peoplehood, so we are not really Israel. And since we are not really Israel, we have no claim on the land of Israel. This is what the Arabs feel, as does the whole world.

For our claim on the land to be valid, we must be true to our vocation: to be “a light unto nations.” As long as we are divided, they feel that we are bringing them nothing but darkness. They feel that we are the cause of all that is wrong with the world, and it is precisely because of our hatred for each other. Therefore, if we rise above our hatred and unite, the world will be with us, including the Palestinians. If we give in to division, the world will kick us out of here.

The Book of Zohar (Aharei Mot) wrote about the significance of our unity many centuries ago. In the words of Rabbi Shimon, “‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to also sit together.’ These are the friends as they sit together and are not separated from each other. At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another … then they return to being in brotherly love … and by your merit, there will be peace in the world.” May we follow the advice of our sages and avoid the punishments of our ignorance.

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My new article on Linkedin “Jews Are Sitting on a Powder Keg”

There is a sense of imaginary peace after the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, but abroad, the fuse of antisemitism is again lit and flaming. Jews both in Israel and basically anywhere in the world are in a constant war for their lives, looking to their backs, keeping an eye on their surroundings because danger can arise at any given moment from both obvious and unexpected places. What else do we need to face up to in order to understand that the world has a problem with Jews? Both Israel and the Jewish people are basically standing alone. Therefore, the only place to find a solution to the hatred is between us, in our willingness and capacity to unite.

Since the beginning of Operation Guardian of the Walls launched by Israel to defend its population from thousands of missiles attacks from Gaza, there has been a sharp spike in antisemitic incidents around the world, as well as international condemnation of the Israeli military response. The perpetrators of these antisemitic attacks deliberately singled out and targeted synagogues and Jewish institutions. The incidents occurred in broad daylight and included verbal and physical aggression against Jews in the plazas, restaurants, and streets of major cities across the United States, Europe, and Latin America, among other locations.

American Jews say they fear to identify themselves publicly as Jews. Some have taken off their Star of David necklaces, some have considered removing the mezuzot from their homes, and some even hesitate to walk to their synagogues.

So one may ask why is it that Jews are taking the hit for Israel’s actions which have been judged as wrong and unjustified by the world? Very simple. People have a problem with Jews in general. Therefore, they lash out against the State of Israel, against the Jewish people, and will be happy to erase both completely.

Our enemies point out very precisely that what needs to change can be found with us, within the worldwide Jewish community. We need to reconnect to and strengthen our common identity as a people whose existence is eternal because we were given a special role to carry out in the world: to unite in love above all differences and to help others do the same.

Within this united amalgamation, our differences will remain, as they are an integral part of the fabric of who we are, but rising above them is mandatory. We can either annihilate the threats against us by establishing unbreakable connections above whatever separates us, or our enemies will annihilate us without mercy.

Foremost Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) wrote about the tendency of the Jewish nation to draw closer together when danger lurks: “It is the common suffering that each of us suffers being a member of the nation. This has imprinted within us a national awareness and proximity, as with fellow-sufferers. This is an external cause. As long as this external cause joined and blended with our natural national awareness, an odd kind of national love emerged and sparked off this jumble, unnatural and incomprehensible” (The Nation). But now, we see that even in times of trouble we are not banding together!

Until there is a need for a connection between the factions we have built in our far flung Jewish community, and until we transcend the conflicts and arguments that incite hatred between us, the external wars will not stop. They will only become more intense.

Many Jews in the Diaspora are trying to disassociate from Israel, and by doing so, they increase the pressure on us inside Israel and cause the realization that we stand completely on our own. Each community will stand alone then if that’s what they want. They can unite and take care of themselves for their own sake. And those living in Israel will have to do the same until we reach the critical integration necessary to face our existential threats.

In the final analysis it comes down to this: The more we indulge in indifference to our only mission—the crafting of the unity subconsciously expected of us by all the nations of the world—the easier it will be for our enemies. Our enemies will not even have to fight with weapons; they will need no rockets or missiles. What for, since all of humanity is ready with its forces, systems, and fronts to fight together with Hamas against Israel? All of humanity—from America and Russia to faraway China—everyone. In every country in the world, in every government, there are enough people who will be happy to abolish the legitimacy of the State of Israel and the people sitting in it and to wipe us off the face of the earth.

It is difficult for us to hear that the source of the problem lies with us; it is difficult to realize the enormity of our role and the responsibility placed on us, the reason for all this hatred directed at us. It tends to enter one ear and exit from the other. But we must listen and act with all haste. The heart of the Jewish nation is very broken, shattered, and grounded within egoism, but there is no choice but to strive at every moment to reach the connection between us until our collective heart begins to awaken and beat. Once we realize our mission and unite in love, we will discover that sitting on a powder keg need not be our destiny. Instead, our loving unity will create a peaceful garden around us where we can calmly sit.
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My new article on Linkedin “Guardian of the Walls – the Day After”

Ceasefires are illusory in the Middle East. Everyone realizes that the hiatus in hostilities between Israel and Hamas will last only until the first provocation occurs. In the coming months, hundreds of millions of dollars will flow into the Gaza Strip, which will rebuild its military infrastructure that the IDF so skillfully destroyed with surgical precision to minimize civilian casualties after Hamas deliberately positioned its most critical assets in high-rise buildings, hospitals, and kindergartens. Israel’s hope that it will take Hamas years to rebuild its power has no grounds to stand on. With the entire world behind it, it will refurbish its arsenal and reconstruct its military infrastructure in no time, and at no cost to itself, since the world will readily finance it. And when Hamas feels strong enough, it will rain another barrage of rockets on Israel’s civilians, and no one will blame Hamas for it, but rather Israel.

I don’t know how the next round will unfold, but I know that as much as we don’t want it, we will be compelled to partake in it, since we don’t call the shots, but rather Hamas. In the eyes of the world, no reasoning justifies our presence here since reason is meaningless when it comes to feelings, and the feeling that pervades the world when it comes to Israel is hate.

The only way we can avoid future standoffs with our neighbors, and in the process turn the world’s opinion in our favor, is to understand why things go against us and how we can change it. First, we need to understand that reasonable arguments don’t convince anyone. We can employ the most eloquent speakers, the most knowledgeable pundits, and the most successful models and actors to present Israel’s case, but no one will buy our story. Since they don’t believe a word we say, it makes no difference who speaks or what they say. Second, we need to understand that appeasing the Arabs’ demands will not pacify them. On the contrary, it will only embolden them. We must understand that they do not want a piece of this land; they want all of it, but even more than that, they want us dead.

Third, in light of the first two, we should stop looking at what we can do for the world, and start looking at what we can do for each other. This is the battlefield we have neglected for too long. Among each other is where we will find our strength, and where we should have focused all the time. I understand why it made more sense to try to convince the world that we want peace, but now that this strategy has failed entirely, it’s time to reroute and see how we can build our inner strength.

Historically, our strength came from one and only source: our unity. Our ancestors did not evolve into a nation as do other nations: through natural multiplication of biologically affiliated people. Jews, on the other hand, had to weld their nationhood consciously and laboriously, since their nucleus consisted of members of just about every tribe and clan in the ancient world. These foreigners were initially so alienated from each other that unless they united, they would have slit each other’s throats, as indeed they did in times when enmity defeated unity.

However, when unity prevailed, a miracle unfolded before the eyes of the world: People from all the nations lived together in harmony, mutual responsibility, and loved their neighbors as themselves. Indeed, the ancient Jewish people was a proof of concept, a role model that presented an alternative to the bloodshed that was the everyday reality of people in antiquity.

Whenever Israel’s internal unity prevailed, the nation thrived and achieved greatness. Whenever division got the better of us, the nations tormented, persecuted, and banished us from our land or from among them.

History seems very consistent when it comes to this aspect of our history. Under Joseph in Egypt, we were united and thrived. When he died, we aspired to assimilate and the Egyptians enslaved us. When we united in the desert after fleeing from Egypt, we were declared a nation that was not only “legitimate,” but was tasked with being “a light unto nations,” namely set an example of unity and cohesion to the whole world.

While our unity prevailed, over crises and strives, we went from strength to strength. We even conquered the land of Canaan and built the First Temple. But when our unity waned, Nebuchadnezzar II banished us out and sent us out to Babylon. In Babylon, we wanted to be as the Babylonians and brought upon us Wicked Haman, the “archetypal” Hitler. But when we united, following Haman’s intention to annihilate us, we prevailed and earned the Cyrus Declaration, which sent us back to the land of Israel with gold, silver, lots of food, and the support of an empire to build a Second Temple.

When we divided, became Hellenists, and sought to become like the Greeks, war broke out among us and the Temple was burned. When the Maccabees managed to reunite the people, even if only briefly, we won the Temple back and drove out the Seleucid empire, who took the treacherous priest Menelaus and put him to death for inciting them against the Jews.

When we divided once again, the Romans came and put a siege on Jerusalem. Here, they waited for us to decide, and we opted for civil war, killed each other indiscriminately, burned each other’s food supplies, and the Romans finished the job and exiled us from here for two millennia.

History has never deviated from the correlation between our inner division or solidarity and the world’s enmity or affinity toward us. Currently, Israel’s precarious situation requires that we notice this pattern and employ our ancient tactic: unity against calamity, or as the Talmud states it: “Either friendship, or death” (Taanit 23a).

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