|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Unifying Israel: A Call to Action for a Better Future
The world has again turned its attention toward the tiny Jewish state. Celebrities, journalists and world leaders are among a legion of people expressing their sympathy and standing by Israel’s side. Iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower in Paris are bathed in the colors of the Israeli flag.
History, however, clearly shows that support for Israel can fade in an instant.
The people of Israel are meant to shine, to be “a light unto the nations,” and set an example for other nations. It is not by chance that it is a nation renowned for its innovativeness. The pioneering spirit of the Jewish people is due to a deeper potential that they possess, the ability to create a model society where unity prevails over intense division.
Such a unified spirit formed the people of Israel to begin with, i.e., people from all walks of life in ancient Babylon who applied Abraham’s method and attained a higher unified level of consciousness—namely “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
A faint glimmer of unity now seems to surface after heavy blows. But if slander and divisive pride return, the people of Israel risk losing the world’s admiration.
In my book, The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, I showed a historically-recurring pattern of attitudes among the Jewish people, and toward them from other nations: When the people of Israel let divisions drive them apart, they invite tragedies upon themselves; and when they unite, they prosper.
A Hamas member who participated in the terror attacks on October 7 revealed how the ongoing demonstrations in Israel encouraged Hamas during their year-long preparations for the attack. The intensely divisive atmosphere among the people of Israel throughout 2023 ended up exploding into what has already become widely known as the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust.
Then, after the tragic events on October 7, the people of Israel experienced a collective heartbreak and melting, and they regrouped in a new climate of mutual concern and support.
We need to view today’s unfolding of events as another painful reminder that division does the people of Israel no good. It is not what the world wants from them, and it emboldens those who seek to harm them.
Subconsciously, the world wants a united people of Israel. As Rav Abraham Isaac Kook wrote, when the hearts of the people of Israel unite, “all the world’s civilizations will be renewed through the renewal of our spirit, all opinions will align, all life will glisten with the joy of rebirth at our emergence, all beliefs will don new clothes” (Shmoneh Kvatzim, vol. 5, 64). Abraham’s blessing to all nations will manifest strongly and openly, spearheaded by the efforts of the people of Israel. As long as the people of Israel continually add to their unity above any kinds of divisions that surface among them herein, then it is certain that the world’s support for them will also continually rise.
Posted on IsraelHayom, LinkedIn Newsletter, The Times of Israel, Facebook, Quora