In times like these, we can really feel what a revolutionary Abraham was. Nearly 4,000 years ago, he discovered that in the end, there is only one force that created and governs all of reality. At a time when his countryfolk were at odds with one another, killing each other on the doomed gradients of the Tower of Babel, he told them that there is only one force that governs the world, a force of unity, and that if we emulated it, we, too, would be as one. People laughed in his face and continued to squabble. Four millennia later, we are still at it. But in the end, there is still only one force, and unless we emulate it, we will suffer for who knows how many more millennia.
Precisely when hatred erupts, we must remind ourselves that it is erupting so that we will rise above it and demand connection, just like Abraham, demand that love will reign over hatred. Granted, we are mere mortals and cannot rise above our hate. However, we did not choose to be this way, and we are not meant to change ourselves. The force that created and sustains all of reality created it corrupt and hateful, and only this force can make it loving.
It has been done before, several times, when the people of Israel united at the foot of Mount Sinai “as one man with one heart,” or when King Solomon said, “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes” (Prov. 10:12). We need no other victory than to cover hate with love.
If we cannot turn to the Creator and ask Him to correct us, we can and should ask Him to give us the desire to ask Him. It is written about this, “Place in our hearts understanding, so we may understand and know how to listen, learn, and teach Your law with love” (from the Hebrew Shema prayer).
The difficult situations that arise among us in these fateful times do not happen so we will bicker like children. They happen so we will turn to the one, single force in all of reality, the Creator, and ask that it would make us all one, the same as itself.
The aspiration for oneness comes from the highest root of creation, from its very origin. The idea that being as one is the solution to all our problems and our happiest state comes to us because this is indeed our root, and when we are one, there can be nothing but peace and wholeness.
All the states of separation and division are therefore triggers to make us connect and unite a little more. Now that the great hatred has been exposed, it is time to make great efforts to unite. If we pray for the resolution of the problems of all the people in the world, we will stop the harsh decrees that afflict the world. If we place connection above separation and love above hatred, we will cover our crimes with love and heal the wounds of humankind.
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