“We started something and we need to finish it. We’ll put our flag on the moon,” said SpaceIL chairman Morris Kahn in an interview after Israel’s spacecraft Beresheet failed to land on the moon and become the fourth country in the world to achieve this goal. But we do not need to wait for an astronomical achievement to transcend as a nation. This Passover can be an opportunity to exit our divisive world and enter a higher dimension of unity and harmony, cutting the abysmal space between us.
The Jewish people and the whole world watched with expectation and excitement as Israel attempted to make history. Even though the landing failed, the space mission drew us closer together for a moment. This is exactly the deepest meaning of Passover. The holiday symbolizes our exodus from Egypt—our self-destructive egoism that crashes everything around us—to the building of one people with one heart, a state of mutual solidarity where everyone finds peace and fulfillment.
Reaching that ultimate goal does not occur in a blink of an eye. It is the result of an inner process where a period of intensifying division leads to a decision to unite, followed by the discovery of a more unified state. Indeed, Passover signifies a transition from the feeling of our world—an earthly, limited state inherent to every person on this planet—to the feeling of the upper world, an eternal and balanced state.
During this holiday, a new space opens up in us. Our hearts are a vast space, and we must fill that space with connection and love. So before we connect around a space mission, we will best contribute to humanity by connecting our hearts. By doing so, we would spread such a positive connection to wider circles of humanity.
According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the Jewish nation must set an example for all the nations, to draw them together by virtue of our connection. For the time being, we lag behind the maturity of being a united nation that we have to demonstrate. How many people really help one another unconditionally? Who feels “love your neighbor as yourself” more than a slogan?
Without working steadily on the unity between us, the human ego will trample every part of creation. The division that it will awaken will encourage us to rule over the other with great pride, creating even further separation.
Therefore, the recognition that it’s necessary to exit our egoism, and the realization that we cannot do it on our own, produce an inner outcry to the upper force of love and bestowal to come and unite us above our divisions. Such a moment of desperation is when salvation from egoism comes and we are able to exit Egypt.
We need to activate the force that lets us unite. The connection between us evokes a tremendous positive force. Nature itself works in unity, in integrality, in mutual consideration, and if we learn how to acquire those qualities, even slightly, we would discover that we could go much further than the moon: we would discover a whole new harmonious universe that would open up to us through the common unity of the Jewish people and humanity.
Featured in The Times of Israel