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There is no question that there has been a significant rise in antisemitism recently. Today the world is passing through a very special stage in its social and political development, and naturally many painful questions arise, about the relation we Jews should have to what is happening, about Israel, about the world, and especially about the growing phenomenon of antisemitism. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, this rise in antisemitism is neither accidental nor merely political. To understand it, we must begin much earlier, from the very root of human development.
According to the plan of creation, all of humanity must evolve until it reaches the revelation of the broad, eternal, complete reality in which we already exist, though at present we feel only a tiny fragment of it. This fragment is what we call “our world.” The goal of human development is to open this limited perception and discover the full reality, together with the force that governs it, which in Kabbalah is called “the upper force” or “the Creator.”
This process first became apparent in ancient Babylon. At that time humanity experienced a profound social crisis, symbolized in the Torah as the Tower of Babel. In the midst of that crisis there appeared a Babylonian priest named Abraham, who discovered that the crisis could be solved only through connection above egoism. He gathered around him those Babylonians in whom there awakened a tendency toward this higher discovery, and he led them toward what later became the Land of Israel. From them he formed a group of people who learned how to discover the upper world and the upper force while still living in this world. They lived, so to speak, in two worlds at once, with their bodies here and with their inner awareness in the spiritual reality. From this attainment came the Torah and all the Kabbalistic writings, which speak about the spiritual world and about the laws that descend from there into our world.
The commandments and laws described in the Torah are nothing less than spiritual commandments and laws. They do not discuss this corporeal world at all. The sages who wrote them attained the upper force and described its laws in the language of this world. This is why those laws are ultimately directed at positive human correction and connection with the upper force.
Not all the Babylonians followed Abraham. Most remained in Babylon and later scattered throughout the world. These became what Kabbalah calls “the nations of the world.” Abraham’s group became Israel, not in the biological or national sense we usually think of, but in the spiritual sense. Israel comes from two words, “Yashar-El,” or in English, “straight to the Creator.” It refers to those who carry within them a special urge or potential for connection with the upper force.
That group developed, entered the Land of Israel, built the First and Second Temples, and lived in spiritual attainment. Then, through the loss of unity and descent into unfounded hatred, this nation lost the sensation of the spiritual world and fell into exile. Exile in Kabbalah is also discussed purely spiritually, as a loss of the sensation of the Creator, an exile from the positive human connection that comes about when we invite the Creator into our connection.
From that point onward, what remained outwardly was religion, but the inner spiritual attainment was lost. During the exile, the people of Israel mixed with the nations of the world. This was necessary. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that Israel went into exile precisely in order to mingle with the nations, to prepare them for a future correction. During these 2,000 years, many sparks of the spiritual idea spread into the world through philosophy, religion, science, and culture.
Today, we are at the end of that process. Humanity is again entering a state very much like that of ancient Babylon, a global crisis caused by egoism—the desire to enjoy at the expense of others and nature—only now on a worldwide scale. The whole world is becoming interconnected, integral, and interdependent, like one body. Nature is forcing us into a single system. However, unlike the ancient Babylonians, today all of humanity is involved in this process.
This is exactly where the problem of antisemitism becomes acute. Antisemitism is not just a social prejudice. It is a law embedded in nature. The nations of the world instinctively and subconsciously feel that the people of Israel carry within them an essential “something” for humanity’s development and are not providing it. What is this “something”? It is the method of connection, the method Abraham discovered in Babylon, the wisdom of Kabbalah.
As long as the people of Israel fail to fulfill their role of showing humanity how to unite above egoism, the nations will feel that lack as suffering, darkness, and an absence of abundance and livelihood. They might not know how to articulate it, and it becomes expressed in myriad different ways from conspiracy theories through to finding a way to blame the people of Israel for every misfortune that unfolds in humanity. However, all of these external expressions of antisemitism are an inner calling that the nations of the world feel that the “pipe” through which blessing should come to the world is blocked. This is the spiritual root of antisemitism.
This is why antisemitism rises especially during times of crisis. The more the world suffers, the more it instinctively turns toward the Jews with blame. This tendency will continue to increase. There is no escaping it through politics, diplomacy, or assimilation. The only real solution is for Israel to become what it was meant to be: a light unto the nations.
What does that mean? It means first of all that the Jews themselves must unite above their differences, just as Abraham united his students. Through that unity, the upper force becomes revealed. Then, through this example and this method, they can teach the whole world how to connect correctly. This is the meaning of being “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” i.e., a conduit, a passageway through which the method of connection and the upper abundance can flow to all humanity.
The current crisis, the growing global interdependence, and the rise of antisemitism all point to the fact that the time of realization has arrived. We are now in the same situation Abraham faced in Babylon, only on a global scale. There is again a Tower of Babel—global egoism—and there must again be a method of connection. That method is Kabbalah. And those responsible for bringing it to the world are the people of Israel.
Therefore the rise in antisemitism today is no accident. It is nature pressuring us to fulfill our role. If we begin to unite and to pass the method of connection to the nations, we will bear witness to a dramatic change in attitude toward Jews. But if not, the pressure will only intensify. So the issue is not merely how to respond to antisemitism outwardly. The real answer is in understanding its root and to act accordingly: by rebuilding unity among us and sharing the way to human connection with the world.
Based on “Why Is Anti-Semitism On The Rise? – Jtimes with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.” Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Posted on Facebook, Quora, The Times of Israel