The Times Of Israel: “A Review Of Anti-Semitism in America After The Unite The Right 2 Rally”

The Times of Israel published my new article “A Review of Anti-Semitism in America After the Unite the Right 2 Rally”

Let’s be realistic. The magnitude of racism and anti-Semitism in America cannot be measured by the low attendance at the recent Unite the Right 2 rally, the one-year commemoration of the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, which had resulted in death and violence. Fewer people may have participated this time around, but statistics show that hatred just got reloaded.

At last year’s rally, hundreds of white nationalists brandished torches chanting “Jews will not replace us,” but it was only the tip of the iceberg. According to the Anti-Defamation League, in 2017 and 2018, there were 3,023 extremist or anti-Semitic incidents across the United States.

If we look beneath the surface we will see that this struggle transcends political affiliation and skin color. At the heart of the sentiment of visceral hate is a very specific target group, Jews. University of Chicago historian, David Nirenberg, says that this phenomenon “should not be understood as some archaic or irrational closet in the vast edifices of Western thought. It was rather one of the basic tools with which that edifice was constructed.”

Hatred of Jews requires no justifications. It lies in the collective subconscious of the nations of the world. As Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag wrote in his essay “The Writings of the Last Generation”: “It is a fact that Israel is hated by all the nations, whether for religious, racial, capitalist, communist, or for cosmopolitan reasons, etc. It is so because the hatred precedes all reasons, but each merely resolves its loathing according to its own psychology.”

An in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by Jews demands a zoomed-out view of the issue in the context of humanity’s development. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that the human milestones started in mid-1900s, a turning point for humanity, when it finished its egoistic development and transitioned to an interdependent and interconnected existence.

This new reality manifests at all levels of human activity: economy, technology, trade and communication. In order to further develop harmoniously, a new attitude toward positive human connection is required, one that matches the level of interdependence that we see we’ve reached through such systems.

Gradually, people from all walks of life, races, religions, beliefs and nationalities must acquire the skills to positively integrate into an interdependent society, i.e. to create an atmosphere of support, encouragement and friendship above divisive tendencies. Back in ancient Babylon, during the time of Abraham the Patriarch, the Jewish people were given the method of connection that gives every human being the tools to unite with others, above difference. The Jewish people were the first to receive it and are obliged to pass it on to the world becoming a “light unto the nations.”

This special method of connection is the wisdom of Kabbalah. It teaches us how to rise above our ego, the powerful force that tears us apart. By using its roadmap, we create a positive magnetic field, an altruistic force to balance our egoistic inclination and actions.

Therefore, as soon as Jews create a model of society based on solidarity and mutual understanding, they will rise to the same frequency of connection and love that underlies nature. They will harmonize with the positive force, the supreme power that will then permeate reality.

Thus, broken relations between people, manifested as Nazism, racism, and hatred of all kinds will be transformed into a balanced coexistence for humanity as a whole.