The Times of Israel published my new article “Israel’s True Strength and Gift to the World Is Unity”
The tension on the Israel-Gaza border that materialized as 2018’s Passover set in is a clear reminder that Israel’s enemies haven’t changed their plans. This goes for both its direct neighboring enemies as well as its enemies around the world, which quickly jumped on the opportunity to once again permeate the media with their criticism of Israel as “inhumane” and “oppressive.” We can expect more hostility to organize against Israel if the people of Israel continue to resist unification.
The State of Israel is a reflection of its residing Jewish people. The problem is that currently, there is no State of Israel in the sense of a unified Jewish people (the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi] [Yaarot Devash, Part 2, Drush no. 2]). There is but a cluster of separate groups. Wars and tensions with neighboring countries momentarily unite Israel’s inhabitants against a common external enemy, but as soon as a period of peace sets in, Israel’s factions enter into constant struggle with each other: left vs. right, religious vs. secular, Ashkenazi vs. Sephardi, to name a few.
Jewish Values Are about Love and Connection
In order to construct an authentic State of Israel, we first need to reinstate the values that originally united us as a Jewish people. These are values initially established by Abraham and his group 3,800 years ago, which is why he is considered as the father of the nation. He set the foundation of unity and connection, in which “love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) and “love covers all crimes” (Proverbs 10:12) were the leading principles for its adherents to live by, harmoniously under a single tent, in one connection.
We do not need to achieve this elated state of love and connection right away. If we can simply accept the willingness to start heading in a transformational direction, we can then start organizing as a genuine Jewish society.
When Abraham united his group in ancient Babylon, they were not a genetically-based group, but people who gathered around a certain idea, who felt that love for one’s fellow person was the leading value worth dedicating their lives to. If one’s intention is to reach unity and connection with other people, one can follow that path Abraham paved and enter the tent of peace and harmony.
The Time Has Come for Israel to Show Its True Colors
If we thus gather under a common flag that unites us toward a common goal of love and connection, we can then become ready to deal with all our current and future problems, and engage in a mutual construction of building not only a genuine Jewish people, but also a well-established State.
The State of Israel will be one based on laws that serve to strengthen the bonds of love among its inhabitants, laws of connection spanning across people, groups, factions, ages and genders, which aim to unite everyone, without exception, into a single cooperative society. The Jewish state is one that concerns itself with unity above everything else, while also allowing for the fullest expression of each individual’s uniqueness.
A Nation Bonded With the Higher Power of Love and Connection
By engaging in this mutual venture to build a new, positive society based on love and connection, will we be able to make giant strides toward realizing our destiny that our forefathers dreamed of, to become the State of Israel in the maximal essence of the word: “Israel” from the words “Yashar Kel” (“straight to God”), a nation bonded with the higher power of love and connection. By realizing such a vision, we will serve as a model for a perfect society of happy and successful individuals who share life’s most important values of love and connection. As a result, the world will absorb the atmosphere that we will spread, and the criticism of Israel will disappear.
Those who currently protest against, boycott, slander and plain hate Israel will be the first to feel Israel’s positive transformation. They are the constant reminder that emphasizes the division of the people of Israel. Hatred of Israel and the Jewish people only points out the lack of love among the Jewish people themselves.
The majority of nations were favorable toward the establishment of the State of Israel mid-last century. It represented an opportunity for a new society of love and unity to emerge. However, the opportunity given to the Jewish people in the State of Israel over the last 70 years to build such a society is quickly reaching its expiry date. As a result, the world’s outlook on Israel and the Jewish people has taken a negative course. When we fail to progress in our mission, the world discredits us. Gradually, we get taken down from the stage, dissolving like any world power that has ruled in certain historical periods. However, since other people’s happiness and well-being depend on Israel carrying out its role, then unlike the other nations that rose and fell, whether it be Germany, Russia, Ancient Greece and Rome, Israel will be obligated to carry it out and unite.
On a Mission to Unite the World
Those brief moments when the world pressures us and we come together are examples of how we should treat each other every day. However, there is no long-lasting unifying power in such connection since it is based on external causes. In order to create a unified society out of a positive, we need to create an incentive to connect us to a lofty goal. Even if we remain a handful of Jews on earth who will be forced to do so, the world will not give up. Our mission is to unite and by doing so, allow the spreading of that heightened unified consciousness to spread to humanity as a whole. If we work on our connection, then we can attract the positive, unifying force dwelling in nature to enter our connections, thereby allowing this force to spread, setting up a new basis for a society of giving, connection and love.
Previous Generations Gave Up Because They Lacked the Means
That is also the society that the founding fathers of Zionism dreamed of, including David Ben-Gurion. However, they gave up at a certain point, because they did not have the means by which to realize their vision of a positively connected society. However, today these means are available and becoming all the more needed in order to rise above the intensifying social division and realize a whole new positive, harmonious direction society can take.
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