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Every year, Holocaust Remembrance Day compels us to pause and confront the unbearable pain etched into the Jewish people. Today, as memory fades into history, we must not only mourn but reflect deeply on the causes and lessons of that tragedy. For, as the ancient wisdom says, “the deeds of the fathers will become a sign for the sons.”
If we seek a lasting lesson from the Holocaust, we need to look beyond surface causes and painful accusations. We must recognize that nature, or as the sages call it, the Creator, governs reality with absolute goodness. Every event, however dark, stems from this higher law. The suffering we experience does not flow from cruelty or vengeance, but from a breakage in the natural system of human connection, a failure that demands correction.
The Creator, like a mother who lives within her child, experiences our joys and pains through us. Our happiness lies in unity, in creating a vessel for the Creator to dwell among us. When we disconnect from one another, through hatred, division, or indifference, we evict the Creator from us. The consequences of this disconnection are not punishments but the natural symptoms of a system that has fallen out of balance.
History leaves us with tragic and harsh examples of this principle. Every exile and ruin, from Ancient Babylon to the loss of the Temples in Jerusalem, and from what Jews endured in Egypt to the Holocaust traces back to a missed opportunity for greater unity. When the people of Israel fall behind in their spiritual mission to connect above their divisive drives, reality itself responds, sometimes with unbearable force.
The Holocaust was no random senseless act of evil. It was the accumulated consequence of a historical delay in humanity’s, and especially the Jewish people’s, task to realize the next stage of human connection. It is a task on which the wellbeing of the entire world now depends. Had our forebears succeeded in forging deeper bonds of unity and love, history could have been different. The natural system would not have had to “correct” with such overwhelming, horrifying pressure.
Today, we stand again at a crossroads. The conditions are clearer than ever. Communication flows across borders. Humanity senses, even if unconsciously, that something essential, a vital glue of mutual care and responsibility, is missing. And the burden of rekindling that connection still rests squarely upon the Jewish people. As the sages taught, the people of Israel need to become a “light unto the nations” by exemplifying unity and love in their relations, not superiority or separatism.
If we again fail to seize this moment, the warning signs are already flashing. Antisemitism is rising again worldwide, not only from ignorance but from a deeper, systemic imbalance. Left unaddressed, the current divides could escalate into global crises that will make the tragedies of the past seem small by comparison.
The choice remains ours. Nature does not pity, nor does it punish, but it continually develops us according to its law of connection to a totally unified state. If we align ourselves with that law, making motions to unite above differences, we will feel life as a blessing. If we resist, we will feel it as increasing affliction.
Today, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, our memorial must not be limited to solemn ceremonies and tears. Our memorial should become an internal vow: to mend our torn bonds, to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to become an example of unity for a fractured world desperate for healing.
The power to change course is entirely in our hands. We are not powerless victims of fate. We are partners in shaping our destiny and the destiny of the world.
We have the opportunity, the time, the tools, and the knowledge. Let us not squander them. Let us learn from the unspeakable mistakes of the past and become the conduit through which the positive force of love, bestowal, and connection can pass to humanity, a “light unto the nations.”
In memory of all those who met their tragic end, and for the sake of all who live today and will live tomorrow, let us finally fulfill our role. Let us choose unity before it is too late.
Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on May 2, 2019. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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