A Holiday Full of Light
by Dr Michael Laitman Hanukkah is known as “the festival of light.” But the rise in anti-Semitic incidents from France to New York casts quite a heavy shadow on our lives. Can we cast it away? Can we blow away the dark clouds gathering around the Jewish people? Apparently we can. Since the world is examining our every move with critical eyes, it means that we, the people of Israel, can also influence the world much more than we dare (or like) to think. If we build a society based on mutual love and mutual connection, it will become a role model to the entire world. But once we do, says Rav Kook, we will change our fate—and the fate of the entire world—to the better. Here is his poetic description of the connection between the people of Israel and the correction of the world: “Since our own vocation is ever standing, accompanying the vocation of the whole of Nature—whose law is to complete all creations and bring them to the apex of perfection—we must guard it devoutly for the life of us all, which is kept within it, and for the whole of humanity and its moral development, whose fate depends on the fate of our existence.” (Appeared in HaPeles, a rabbinical magazine, Berlin, Germany, 1901) Rav Yehuda Ashlag (author of the Sulam [Ladder] commentary on The Book...
Maccabees vs. Greeks, Round II
by Dr. Michael Laitman Hanukkah is a great time to discuss hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure as a matter of ethical principle, which the Hellenists nurtured so enthusiastically. I would like to present an idea that may sound novel to many of you, but is actually at the basis of Jewish thought. On the face of it, there is nothing wrong with wanting to enjoy. In fact, our very nature is that of a desire to receive pleasure. The Greeks knew how to make the most of human nature. They were masters at cultivating culture, sports, science, and architecture all to our amusement. Opposite them were the Maccabees. They maintained a very different approach—that human nature is rotten to the core, as it is written, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth,” and “Sin crouches at the [womb’s] door.” To be sure, the Maccabees (or Jews who didn’t subscribe to Hellenism), did not object to cultivating culture, science, or technology. It is more that they objected to the self-centered implementation of our skills and talents, to the glorification of the self rather than of the common good. This is why the Greeks admired winners and adored competition. The Jews, on the other hand, cultivated “love your neighbor as yourself” as their ideal. Granted, the implementation of the ideal was not as ideal as the notion...