Indeed, Jews have received the blame for a lot of phenomena throughout history, from poisoning wells to creating viruses, and from drinking children’s blood to running the world. Often the blame is completely illogical, yet it becomes accepted by masses of people. Why is this the case?
Around 3,800 years ago, in a time of great division in human society, Abraham, a priest, explained to anyone willing to listen to him that the human ego had increased, and that people needed to rise above it. His followers received the name “the people of Israel” (“Israel” from the words “Yashar Kel” [“straight to God”]), and Abraham guided their unity to a state of “love your friend as yourself” above their divisions. Later, this group became known as “the Jews,” where the Hebrew word for “Jew” [Yehudi] comes from the word for “united” [yihudi].
This group detached from human society because they had an opposite direction in life to the rest of the people. In other words, by primarily wishing to reach a state of “love your friend as yourself,” they became detached from the egoistic goals that ran rampant throughout Babylonian society at the time.
Then, around 2,000 years ago, this group separated and scattered in all directions. They lost track of what initially brought them together, and continued to exist without directing themselves at a goal of uniting above their differences. This period is called “the 2,000 years of exile.”
Now, the time has come when we as humanity increasingly feel our interdependence, and we likewise need to undergo a process of unifying above our divisive drives in order to realize our interdependence harmoniously. At the same time, humanity has no idea how to apply itself to such a process, and more and more people thus instinctively feel that the Jews are to blame for all kinds of problems in their lives. We thus see surges in antisemitic crimes and sentiment from one year to the next.
Why is there an instinctive feeling of blame and hatred for the Jews? It is because the Jewish people were formed due to their attainment of unity above division, i.e. the attainment of the state of “love your friend as yourself” amid an increasingly divided society, and they hold the method that Abraham once granted them in order to rise above their divisive drives in order to attain the sublimity of unity. Today, however, the Jews themselves have no idea that they hold such a method, and thus they do not implement it. Instead of realizing what made them Jews to begin with, they try to live solely according to the smorgasbord of corporeal goals at everyone’s fingertips.
Therefore, more and more people subconsciously feel as if the Jews are robbing them of something, without pinpointing that what they mostly lack is a harmonious connection to expand throughout human society, which would bring about happiness, peace and love to everyone, and that the Jews hold a method to achieve such a state. Likewise, Jews themselves also do not understand that the method to achieve such exalted unity above division is what brought them together and made them Jewish to begin with. They only feel hated, not knowing why they consistently become the targets of accusations, while they—disproportionately to other nations—make significant advances in fields that seemingly contribute much benefit to humanity, such as science, medicine, technology and culture.
Only kabbalists, which are merely a few hundred from among the Jewish people, exert in trying to communicate the message to Jews about their role, and how it ties in with the cause and solution to antisemitism. Moreover, antisemitism is exponentially rising in our era, and history has shown the terrible consequences that can come about when the antisemitic inclination is left untreated. We have the ability, however, to take hold of the method to unite above the abundant divisive drives in our society today, attain the most magnificent goal of “love your friend as yourself” that has been given to humanity, and by doing so, act as a conduit of the positive force dwelling in nature to reach every person in humanity. It is thus my hope that the Jewish people will awaken to their role sooner rather than later, and that they start making motions in the direction of unity. A good future not only for Jews, but for humanity as a whole, depends on it.
Based on the video “Why Are Jews Blamed for Everything?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Chaim Ratz. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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