Who Are You People of Israel?

WHO ARE YOU, PEOPLE OF ISRAEL? Time and time again we are pressed and terrorized until we feel helplessness and pointlessness. Being Jewish, I wonder at the purpose of this relentless suffering we experience. Indeed, why can’t we escape these torments? Why is there no end to these ordeals that seem to repeat themselves every generation? As our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents suffered hatred during WWII, we, too, are underway to experience similar “treatment” from the rest of the world. Some among us believe that the past cannot return, that the atrocities and the way people treated one another in ancient times, or when the Nazis were in power, are unfeasible today. And yet, we see how easily humanity is reverting to that state. And once again, we are the only ones at stake. I have written this booklet because Jews the world over are afraid. The pages before you are an attempt to answer questions that Jews face everywhere, an effort to present the solution we are required to pursue. I have tried to be as brief and as concrete as possible, as I’m aware of the restless nature of our generation. And yet, it is my sincere hope and wish that you will find it helpful. You will find further explanations in the link at the end of the booklet. With love, Dr. Michael Laitman   Where...

The Struggle to Stop Fighting [Opinion]

If a person takes a bundle of reeds, he cannot break them all at once. But taken one at a time, even an infant will break them. Just so, Israel will not be redeemed until they are all one bundle. (Midrash Tanhuma, Nitzavim, Chapter 1) Even as a child I was troubled with deeper questions. As a child with a passion for knowledge and a penchant for research, I became intrigued with “life, the universe, and everything” (to paraphrase on Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy). I was fascinated with nature, and intrigued with human nature. And one of the issues that touched me to the core was anti-Semitism. As I wrote in my latest book, Like a Bundle of Reeds, a shadow followed through my childhood years, and even through my teens. It was the specter of the Holocaust, that thing which many chose to never mention, though it was always there. When I grew up the questions surrounding anti-Semitism kept haunting me, and became a very tangible issue through my years as a refusnik (Soviet Jews denied permission to leave the USSR during the 1970s). But once outside of the Soviet Union, and being a new oleh in Israel, more worldly challenges demanded my attention, such as learning a new language and providing for my family. It just so happened that in Israel I became a...

Invitation to Unite: The Connection between Us Keeps Us Safe

Oh People of Israel These days are trying days for Israel—as a nation and as people. And trying days are an opportunity for reflection on the essence of our nation. The survival of the people of Israel has always been dependent upon its unity. Therefore, now, more than ever, we must unite. If we rekindle the love among us, we will protect ourselves better than any “Iron Dome” will ever do. Moreover, unity will continue to protect us even when the storm subsides, endowing us with peace within, and the favor of the nations.   The Least of All the Nations We are a small people, and like it or not, what happens to our fellow Hebrews affects all of us. This is what compels us to watch the news so often, or keep checking out the news bulletins, especially concerning Israel. At such a trying time we should embrace and support each other, and keep up hope. But beyond the military campaign that seems to split our nation and tear it from within, another, graver struggle is underway—the struggle for our unity. This, and none other, will determine the fate of the campaign that has been raging not only in Gaza, but indeed the world over.   The Connection between Us Keeps Us Safe Shortly before the IDF began its ground campaign in Gaza, Hamas published a song...