For the people of our world, the rule “love your neighbor as yourself” is so disgusting, boring, already tried, and does not attract anyone.

In reality, love your neighbor implies a state where we unite together like small dots, small elements of the universe, into one single mosaic, into one single picture, gathered into one system, and we start working with each other in it like cells in a common body.

And then, from a dead organism that we are today in separation, we turn into a living organism.

If you cut off pieces from the body and divide it into elements, it dies. Therefore, you must collect them. To the extent that you try to do this, the Creator breathes into you the light of life, the spirit of life.

It turns out that we need to yearn for each other, for a universal mutual connection. We will thus restore our common body, our common soul, by connecting with each other.

Question: How do we yearn for this?

Answer: On one hand, we are driven by evil, emptiness, disappointment in this existence, fear of what will happen tomorrow, and disappointment with the kind of world we leave to our children.

On the other hand, from this emptiness inside, an aspiration for something appears. A person begins to feel: “I have been pulled toward something! There is a vector in me that works that looks for something.”

This was not the case before. This is happening right now, in our generation. Together with emptiness, with general depression, there is also a quest, an aspiration for something. A person begins to realize that all this is not as it is and that there is something, somewhere, waiting especially for me.

Our current state has been specially adjusted for us so that we can get out of it and move on. Therefore, our generation is a transition.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #13

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Following an attack by Islamists, #Facebook is obliterating the largest pro-Israel page. This will happen in all media across the world. #Israel will find itself completely isolated.
And the guilt for this lies on the nation of #Israel itself, which does not wish to realize that the whole correction of the world depends only on it!

All the problems in the world come only because the #Jews are not united. There are 2 kinds of unity: on the level of this world, and most importantly, on the spiritual level, in the Creator. As a result, the whole world will meet in the Creator. And this is the end of all correction. Thus we have arrived at the beginning …

Every #war destroys our nation more and more. We are given the opportunity to come closer to one another internally, but we do not use it. When will we understand that peace is created only by us, between us!
#israel
From Twitter, 5/23/21

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My new article on Linkedin “Why Connection Matters”

In March 2009, in the wake of the Great Recession financial crisis, economist Mark Vitner offered the Associated Press a tactile description of humanity’s inescapable interconnectedness: “It’s like trying to unscramble scrambled eggs. It just can’t be done that easily. I don’t know if it can be done at all.”

Today, when we look at the world around us, we realize that everything is even more connected than in 2009. You cannot manufacture anything, from a pencil to an airplane, without including products from half the countries in the world. And for those among us who still weren’t convinced that this is so, the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated that infection anywhere is infection everywhere.

However, just as we are all connected, so we are all alienated, suspicious, and hateful of each other. In other words, we are inescapably connected, as Vitner pointed out, but we hate each other. The result of these unwelcome ties is endless friction, violence, and aggression to the point where our civilization is tearing at the seams. It is impossible to force people on each other if they do not want to be together. And today, the reality of our lives forces people to rely on foreign countries that are often their enemies, and tensions around the world are flaring.

Since we cannot “unscramble” the “scrambled eggs” that human society has become, our only other option is to learn to like one another. At the very least, we have to come to tolerate one another, agree to each other’s existence. Otherwise, we will fight each other to the death, and no one will win.

The solution to the deteriorating state of humanity is therefore to nurture in us affection for each other and understanding of our mutual importance. For humanity to survive, we have to shift from a technical connection to an emotional connection, to appreciating the very idea of connection. Otherwise, we will not be able to embrace the idea that we are all connected.

That is, we needn’t work on increasing our connection; we have plenty of this already. Instead, we need to work on increasing our desire to connect! We need to come to recognize the huge benefits of connection.

In fact, the term “connection” may sound a bit obscure. But if you think of connection as affinity, affection, and even love, the task before us becomes clearer. Now we can realize how far we are from it, how much work we have to do, and why it is so vital that we succeed in building warm and positive connections. Currently, we are like sworn enemies being forced to share a room. Can anything good come out of it? It is no wonder we are sitting on a time bomb.

The only way to disarm the bomb is to disintegrate the gunpowder—the hatred. The mixture is there; we can’t “unmix” ourselves, but we can and must teach ourselves to see each other’s beauty and contribution to society. If we understand how much each of us contributes, and why it is necessary that we should all be different, since what one contributes, none other can, we will welcome the changes between us, appreciate them, and be grateful to those who are different from us, precisely for being different from us!

When a mother loves her child, we needn’t ask if she is connected to her child; it is a given. This, eventually, is how we must come to be. It will not happen overnight, but it is enough that we begin to work on it to prevent the looming cataclysm that is headed toward humanity.
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My new article on Linkedin “Shavuot: Light in the Midst of Chaos”

The Jewish holiday of Shavuot, the celebration for the giving of the Torah, has a special meaning this year. While Israeli society is under missile attacks, there is no festive atmosphere. It is a time to make a seminal decision about the people we want to be and how we want to face the future: in division and quarrels or to become guarantors for each other, to look at our actions through the world’s lens or through a deep introspection of our role as a people that received at the foot of Mount Sinai.

The Austrian Chancellor hoisted the Israeli flag on the roof of his office as a sign of solidarity with Israel. The Czech President tweeted a picture of his country’s flag next to the Israeli flag with a heart. Slovenia, Hungary and Poland expressed support for the struggle against Hamas, and Western governments, the UK, France and Germany, strengthened Israel with words of appreciation.

But the enthusiastic demonstrations of support by world leaders will have very limited affect, particularly if it only stems from personal sympathy with Israel. Politicians send hearts and wave Israeli flags in large cities in their countries, yet simultaneously hordes of enthusiastic people wave Palestinian flags and demonstrate against Israel.

If the clashes on the home field are not enough, then the clashes also spread abroad. In Germany synagogues have been vandalized and Jewish communities in Europe are on high alert for possible attacks and clashes.

This is the real way humanity looks at us, not through the diplomatic smiles and handshakes that come from some world leaders. The hateful demonstrations will far outweigh the expressions of support. Hostility will replace the former friendships until we are not tolerated anywhere in the world; no place will be left where a Jew will be able to live in peace.

But there is a way out. It is through our unity. Rabbi Akiva said, “Love your neighbor as yourself is the great rule of the Torah” (Jerusalem Talmud, Nedarim). When Israel received the Torah it received a power that elevated them above their egoism and division—the root cause of all the threats the Jewish nation faces—and made them love each other as themselves. It reminds us that only if we unite will we succeed. Otherwise, the Talmud warns us, “There will it be your burial” (Shabbat 88a, Avoda Zarah)

Mount Sinai, the place where we received the Torah, symbolizes thoughts of siná, hatred toward each other. From the time of ancient Babylon to this day, the ego has not stopped growing and overpowering us, demanding more at the expense of others and tearing us apart as Jews. And there, at the foot of the mountain, we were first required to make a far-reaching decision as a people: either we would be united as one man in one heart or we would endure ongoing suffering and external pressure.

There is no sooner or later in the Torah, these are eternal laws. What we go through in these difficult days is another link in a chain of predicaments we have experienced as Jews throughout generations. The external pressure today requires us to unite and create a protected space between us.

We received the Torah, the method to connect us, the means to cover all crimes with love. This is how we became a people, the Jewish nation or “Israel,” which stems from the Hebrew words “Yashar Kel” (“straight to the Creator”). It refers to a state where we are granted the method to attain the Creator, the quality of love and bestowal, through our freewill.

The connection between us, the Jews, harnesses what the wisdom of Kabbalah explains are the seventy roots of the nations of the world. We are included in them and involved with them after a long exile in which we have absorbed those roots. Therefore, if we connect, we will radiate the power of the connection between us to all of humanity. The roots will all come together and grow into a strong tree that bears fruit for everyone, each and every one. And the stronger we become, the more we will radiate light to the nations of the world, and the more we will gain the world’s support as chaos will transform into peace.
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Question: What is the connection between Passover and receiving the Torah? Why did the people of Israel receive the Torah on the 50^th day after leaving Egypt?

Answer: The fact is that from the exit from egoism (from Egypt) to the ascent to the level of the quality of bestowal, which is necessary to enter into the realization of love thy neighbor as thyself, 50 levels must be passed. These are the 50 days.

There are seven degrees from Bina (the property of bestowal) to Malchut (the property of receiving): Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. 7 times 7 equals 49. This means that it is necessary to reach these 49 steps.

On the 50^th day, it becomes possible to contact the property of Bina (the property of bestowal). Having achieved this property, a person can already receive an instruction called Torah.

Question: Are all these figures: 40 years old, 600,000 men, etc., steps?

Answer: Yes, these are states that you must go through.

Question: Who are the 600,000 men? What are these steps?

Answer: This means the six parts of Zeir Anpin: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, each of which consists of ten thousand.

It turns out that 60 times 10,000 equals 600,000. When we raise ourselves spiritually, we rise from the level of Malchut to the level of Zeir Anpin, and from the level of Zeir Anpin to the level of Arich Anpin. This is a power of multiplication by a factor of 10,000 . Therefore, it turns out that the capacity of our association is 600,000. All these figures speak only of a qualitative change within a person.

Question: But did such events take place? Did 600,000 men stand at Mount Sinai?

Answer: There were perhaps millions, but only 600,000 were ready to receive the condition of “love thy neighbor.”

Question: But again, is this the number of people or the quality? Is that sort of the strength of those people who were ready to receive the Torah?

Answer: Yes, by uniting with each other, they created such a force.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 6/3/19

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My new article on Linkedin “The Rockets Expose the Myth of Coexistence”

The good thing about crises is that they expose the truth. After the Israeli War of Independence, Arabs remained in many places in Israel and became Israeli citizens. Over the years, it seemed as though we’ve learned to live together in peaceful coexistence. It was clear that there is no love between the two populations, and that the Israeli Arabs sympathized with the Palestinians in the West Bank, but they still chose to remain in Israel and lead a full civic life here, work alongside Israelis, trade with Israelis, and benefit from the amenities of a prosperous economy. For many years, it seemed as though the hatred that flared during the War of Independence had subsided thanks to the frequent contact with Israeli Jews. It was a myth. The rockets from Gaza and the riots in Jerusalem exposed the truth: Israeli Arabs identify themselves as Palestinians, and they only waited for a time when the Jewish society in Israel was divided and weak enough for them to expose that they, too, want the destruction of the State of Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian state from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea. For some reason, we enjoy lying to ourselves. We cannot afford this luxury; we should tell ourselves the truth: Nothing has changed since the establishment of the State of Israel. The Arabs, who supported the Nazis in World War II, are just as keen to destroy us now as they have always been.

“The Israeli nation had been constructed as a sort of gateway by which sparks of purity would flow onto the entire human race throughout the world,” to use the words of kabbalist Baal HaSulam. This purity, this unity above the ego, is the meaning of being “a light unto nations.”

We have to understand what Israel stands for in the world. The nation of Israel was “officiated” when descendants of strangers who were often hateful toward each other chose to unite above their enmity. By doing so, under the leadership of Abraham and his lineage, and finally under Moses, they set a precedent showing how people can overcome their egos and unite. “The Israeli nation had been constructed as a sort of gateway by which sparks of purity would flow onto the entire human race throughout the world,” to use the words of kabbalist Baal HaSulam. This purity, this unity above the ego, is the meaning of being “a light unto nations.”

But since human nature is selfish to the core, or as the Torah puts it, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21), Israel’s method of achieving peace among sworn enemies has put it on a collision course with the rest of humanity. In truth, no division is greater or deeper than the division between Israel and the rest of the world, and no hatred is more intense. The chasm between Israel and the nations is a projection of the chasm between the nature of giving and unity and the nature of receiving and selfishness. There is no compromise; in the end, only one will remain.

When Israel are united, they are powerful enough to deter any enemy. In fact, a united people of Israel has no enemies since the light of unity it emits attracts the nations toward it to learn how they, too, can unite. The book Sifrey Devarim (Item 354) writes that in antiquity, in times when Israel were united, people from the nations of the world would “go up to Jerusalem and see Israel … and say, ‘It is becoming to cling only to this nation.’”

Alas, today we are anything but united. And when we are disunited, we are powerless, and the world feels our weakness and wishes to seize the moment and destroy us. When we are disconnected from our unity, our anchor of strength, the ego takes over the world and wishes to destroy its only enemy: the people of Israel. “Israel will be a holy congregation and one association, as one man with one heart. Then, when unity restores Israel as before, Satan will have no place in which to place error and external forces,” writes the book Shem MiShmuel. “When they are as one man with one heart,” it continues, “they are as a fortified wall against the forces of evil.” However, “If there is division among them,” writes the book Masechet Derech Eretz Zutah, “it is said about them (Hosea 10:2), ‘Their heart is divided; now they will bear their guilt.’”

This is what is happening today. We are suffering the consequences of the baseless hatred among us, and the whip is our neighbors. Our own disunity is the instigator of their violence, and the only fire extinguisher we have is our solidarity, our care for one another. If we can rise above the chasms in the Israeli society, we will prosper more than any other nation. If we do not, we will bear our guilt.

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My new article on Linkedin “Peace Begins Within”

Hundreds of rockets, fatalities, injuries, homes severely damaged, and entire cities shut down. Palestinians in the West Bank, and Israeli Arabs throughout the country, are beating and stoning Jewish civilians, attacking police officers, attempting to shoot and car-ram soldiers, and to lynch people in their cars. This is what Israel looks like today. We can complain about the biased and antisemitic reports that the press is showing, or that the Biden administration enables such things to happen and even tacitly supports them, but they aren’t the problem; they are the symptom. If at such a critical time, we allow ourselves to engage in infantile bickering and “I told you so” type arguments, then we are the ones encouraging the violence; we are the enablers.

How can we solve our security problems when we put sticks in each other’s wheels? Our own division is our haters’ fuel. If we want to be in a different place tomorrow, we have to start going there today. But when everyone points a blaming finger at others and says “Only I know the way,” then clearly no one knows the way and nothing will improve.

How can we solve our security problems when we put sticks in each other’s wheels? Our own division is our haters’ fuel. If we want to be in a different place tomorrow, we have to start going there today. But when everyone points a blaming finger at others and says “Only I know the way,” then clearly no one knows the way and nothing will improve.

The clash between Jews and Arabs is as old as our efforts to reestablish the Jewish State toward the end of the 19th century. But their level of activity against us depends on us, not on them. When we are united, they are quieter; when we are divided, they rise up with murderous intent.

If we want them to change, they need our positive influence. They need to feel that there is love within us, then they, and the whole world with them, will run to us. But when there is hatred among us, and hatred is what we project, then hatred is what we will get from them.

The book Kol Mevaser writes in this regard: “This is the mutual guarantee on which Moses worked so hard before his death: to unite the children of Israel. All of Israel are each other’s guarantors [responsible for one another], meaning that when all are together, they see only good.” Likewise, the book Bina LeItim asserts, “The foundation of the wickedness of evil Haman … is what he had begun to argue, ‘There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed,’ etc. He cast his filth saying that that nation deserves to be destroyed since separation rules among them, they are all full of strife and quarrel, and their hearts are far from one another. However, He put the healing before the blow [took preventing measures] … by hastening Israel to unite and … be one, as one man, and this is what saved them, as in the verse, ‘Go, gather together all the Jews.’”

Accordingly, when we unite, we will see the world changing its attitude toward us for the better. Moreover, we will see that our hopes for peace and for a good future are in our hands, and all we need to do is learn how to activate our secret power: internal unity. Indeed, peace begins within.
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My new article on Linkedin “We Made the Bed, and We Will Lie in It”

Over the past year, I repeatedly said that if the leadership changes in Jerusalem and Washington, Israel will be in trouble. To some of my social media followers, it sounded as if I was making political commentary or promoted a political agenda, but this is not the case. I gain nothing from this or that individual being the head of the State of Israel, and certainly not from the identity of the president of the US. Rather, my one and only concern is the unity of the people of Israel, as a springboard for instigating the unity of all of humanity.

The implicit, and sometimes overt support of the Biden administration for these acts of violence are the most worrying, since they are the harbinger of far more vicious storms to come. In fact, the Palestinians are the least of our problems. Now that the US administration has opened the floodgates for antisemites around the world, we can expect onslaughts from Iran, Russia, Arab countries, and basically from everywhere. We will lose on all fronts and our situation will go from bad to worse.

The end goal for humanity is to be “as one man with one heart.” It may take us decades of unbearable torment, including a nuclear world war, to get there, or it may take a few short years and a pleasant and swift ride into a society whose members care about each other and are committed to the well-being of humanity and the planet. My concerns, therefore, are spiritual and not political, and certainly not partisan.

Yet, since it is impossible to establish unity without security, before we establish unity, we must secure the persistence of the State of Israel and the security of its people. As I see it, Benjamin Netanyahu has done a far better job at keeping Israel safe than any other prime minister. Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump has done more for Israel’s security than any other American president. Because security is the most essential requirement for establishing unity, I supported both of them.

Accordingly, even before Joe Biden took office, I warned that should he win the election, Israel’s security would be jeopardized. Sadly, as soon as he entered the White House, my prediction began to transpire. The return to the Iran deal, the growing support of the Palestinians, the tacit permission his administration has given to various organizations to attack Israel, such as the International Criminal Court, the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Security Council, and countless others, all seeking to sanction, censor, weaken, and ultimately demolish the Jewish State, are only the beginning.

The riots we are seeing in Jerusalem, Haifa, and Jaffa, as well as the rockets from Jaffa on civilian population seem to stem from various reasons: The Sheikh Jarrah evictions, tensions surrounding the Temple Mount, the threats of Hamas to escalate the violence, and incitement for violence on social media, are a few of them. However, the implicit, and sometimes overt support of the Biden administration for these acts of violence are the most worrying, since they are the harbinger of far more vicious storms to come. In fact, the Palestinians are the least of our problems. Now that the US administration has opened the floodgates for antisemites around the world, we can expect onslaughts from Iran, Russia, Arab countries, and basically from everywhere. We will lose on all fronts and our situation will go from bad to worse.

However, and this is the most important point—I don’t see the Biden administration as the guilty party in this downward spiral. Rather, I think we brought this on ourselves. American Jewry, as well as much of the public here in Israel, wanted Biden to win. They wanted to unseat Trump and place Biden and his progressive administration in the White House. Well, we made the bed, and now we’ll lie in it.

As Jews, we do not understand the power we possess. I am not even talking about political clout and maneuvers that prominent Jews took in order to bring Biden to the White House; I am speaking only on the deeper level. With our desire, we seated Biden and unseated Trump, and all the Jews will pay, including the American Jewry.

The division among Jews is the malady of our people. It has brought upon us every evildoer since the onset of our nation. The division among us also prevents us from winning the world’s favor, since all that they expect from us is unity, and all we ever show them is division. That division causes us to want to see Israel haters in the White House, and makes us cloak our hatred for each other with sanctimonious outcries about justice. But where there is no love, there cannot be justice.

Let me reiterate: I do not speak from any political perspective, but from my spiritual perception of the world. If we want to see a peaceful world, where people are united, we must establish security and unity, in that order. And since the unity of the world begins with unity within the Israeli nation, there must be security in Israel so that Israel may establish unity.

In that regard, I’d like to quote the great Rav Kook, who, during World War I, outlined the connection between the world’s troubles and Israel’s unity. In his book Orot (Lights), he wrote, “The construction of the world, which is currently crumpled by the dreadful storms of a blood-filled sword, requires the construction of the Israeli nation. The construction of the nation and the revealing of its spirit are one and the same, and it is one with the construction of the world, which is crumbling in anticipation for a force full of unity and sublimity, and all of this is in the soul of the assembly of Israel.”
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Pursuing the Shechina means pursuing the state our common soul was in before the shattering of Adam HaRishon. We were all united as one soul, filled with the upper light, the presence of the Creator.

But we could not hold on to our connection because a personal desire appeared in each of us, the connection disintegrated, and the light, the presence of the Creator departed from us. This means that the Shechina departed.

We are left with only a tiny glow, with a faint spark of life, the minimum measure of upper light given to us to sustain life so that we can return to the perfect state we were in. But you can return there only through your own efforts, thanks to your own request, prayer, and efforts to unite.

Any steps toward connection, even physical ones, are important because they bring us closer to inner connection. As a result, we will return to the previous state and the presence of the Creator, called Shechina, will fill us. All the gaps and cracks between us will be filled with the presence of the Creator.

Therefore, every time we feel distant from each other, we must imagine how the Creator can fill these gaps. We do not need to come together in such a way as to eliminate all the cracks between us, but we need the Creator to fill all these empty gaps like water fills the gorge between the mountains and forms fjords.

So, to the extent of our annulment, the rejection of egoism, the upper light will fill the whole space between our peaks and connect us together. Then we will feel that we are truly one. But we are not connected to each other directly, only through the Creator who is between us. We strive to reach this state as one man with one heart.

We do not need to go back to the old state, to the same one heart. This must be the heart in which the Creator fills all the voids, the whole space between us.

We will feel this separation more and more. More and more differences and disagreements of all kinds will be revealed between us. We do not cancel them, but want to fill them with the Shechina, the Creator. Therefore, all our work consists of pursuing the Shechina, the presence of the Creator who binds us.

We are not able to unite as one man with one heart, but the Creator can enter between us and unite us. Without the presence of the Creator and the connection between us, we feel ourselves in exile. We come out of exile if the Creator is revealed between us and we connect with each other through Him.

The Creator is revealed only as a connection between us; it is impossible to connect unless the Creator fills all the gaps between us and connects us. If we are so different and distant from each other, then only the upper force can connect us, equalize us, and establish the contact between us.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/21, “Chasing the Shechina“

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My new article on Linkedin “War and Peace in Jerusalem”

My grandfather, back in Belarus, was a very religious man. When I was a child, he would often tell me about Jerusalem. Even though I was only five or six years old then, I vividly remember the emotion in his words. He longed to feel Jerusalem, to unite with it. Simply speaking about it made his eyes shine.

The reason that Israel now governs Jerusalem is that the people of Israel have the onus of being “a light unto nations,” of bringing unity and peace to the world. The fundamental rule of the Torah is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Israel must practice it and set an example to the rest of the world. Only when Israel does this will the rest of the world follow.

My grandfather was born in exile and died in exile. But when I came to Israel and went up to Jerusalem, I remembered his stories, and as soon as we started the climb into the mountains of Jerusalem, I felt his spirit with me; I was realizing my grandfather’s dream. It moved me deeply.

Regrettably, Jerusalem today is very far from the Jerusalem in my grandfather’s dreams. The Hebrew word for Jerusalem, “Yerushalaim“, is a combination of two words: “Ir” [city] “Shlema” [whole/complete], meaning “a city of wholeness” or “a city of completeness.” Also, the word “Shalom” [peace] comes from the world “Shlemut” [wholeness] or “Hashlama” [complementation]. This is why Jerusalem is also regarded as Ir Shalom [a city of peace].

Evidently, there is no wholeness in Jerusalem, no complementation, and certainly no peace. There is plenty of the opposite: division, conflict, and hate. King David, who wrote in Psalm 122 that Jerusalem was built as a city that was joined together, would not be happy if he saw that Jerusalem has become a symbol of conflict, a hub of religious fanaticism and bloodshed.

Despite the intolerance, the city will become what it was meant to be—a center of peace and wholeness, a center of healing for a tormented world. The Book of Zohar writes about Jerusalem (Pinhas, 152): “Jerusalem among the rest of the countries [is] like the heart among the organs. Hence, it is in the middle of the whole world, like the heart, which is in the middle of the organs.”

Jerusalem, being the central place for Judaism and Christianity, and an important center for Islam, reflects the relationships among the faiths. Since there is no peace among them, the center, where the three religions meet, becomes the focal point of the frictions among them, and therefore the center of hostilities. Over the centuries, the city has been governed by all three vying religions, but the governance has always been achieved by war. Jerusalem will become a city of wholeness and peace, but the question is how long it will take us to make of it what it is meant to be, and how much we will suffer in the process.

The reason that Israel now governs Jerusalem is that the people of Israel have the onus of being “a light unto nations,” of bringing unity and peace to the world. The fundamental rule of the Torah is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Israel must practice it and set an example to the rest of the world. Only when Israel does this will the rest of the world follow.

For a short while in antiquity, Israel did just that. During the 3rd century BC, there was relative calm in the nation. Three times a year Jews would march up to Jerusalem to celebrate the festivals of pilgrimage: Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot (Feast of Weeks). The pilgrimages were intended primarily for uniting the hearts of the people. In his book The Antiquities of the Jews, Flavius Josephus writes that the pilgrims would make “acquaintance … maintained by conversing together and by seeing and talking with one another, and so renewing the recollections of this union.”

Once they entered Jerusalem, the pilgrims were greeted with open arms. The townsfolk let them into their homes and treated them as family. The Mishnah (Bikurim 3) lauds this rare camaraderie: “All the craftsmen in Jerusalem would stand before them and ask about their well-being: ‘Our brothers, men of so and so place, have you come in peace?’ and the flute would play before them until they arrived at Temple Mount.” The book Avot de Rabbi Natan writes that every material need of every person who came to Jerusalem was met in full. “One did not say to one’s friend, ‘I could not find an oven on which to roast offerings in Jerusalem’ … or ‘I could not find a bed to sleep in, in Jerusalem.’”

While they lasted, those festivals of bonding had made Israel “a light unto nations.” The book Sifrey Devarim (Item 354) details how people from other nations would “go up to Jerusalem and see Israel … and say, ‘It is becoming to cling only to this nation.’”

Moreover, when Ptolemy II Philadelphus, King of Egypt, heard of the unity of the Jews, he wanted to learn their wisdom. Ptolemy invited seventy sages from Jerusalem to his palace in Alexandria to translate their books into Greek. But before he sent them off to create what is now known as the Septuagint, the first translation of the Old Testament into Greek, Ptolemy asked them about their wisdom, and mainly how he could benefit from it as a ruler. In The Antiquities of the Jews (Book XII), Josephus writes that Ptolemy had sat with the Hebrew sages for twelve straight days asking them “rather political questions, tending to the good … government of mankind.” Ptolemy was “delighted with hearing the laws read to him, and was astonished at the deep meaning and wisdom of the legislator,” writes Josephus.

Finally, “When they had explained all the problems that had been proposed by the king about every point, he was well-pleased with their answers,” concludes Josephus. Moreover, the historian writes that Ptolemy testified that “he had gained very great advantages by their coming, for he had received this profit from them, that he had learned how he ought to rule his subjects.”

Regrettably, Israel’s unity did not last. Internal division and conflicts destroyed the land, and the people were exiled because of their hatred for each other. Now that we are back in Israel, the burden of proof is once again on our shoulders to show that we are worthy of being “a light unto nations,” the center of unity whose heart is Jerusalem.
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