Put Leaders in Our Shoes
I recently posted my reply to an email I received about praying. I receive many emails, and these days, a lot of them concern the war in Ukraine. Another email I received about the war came from a man named Vladimir. I do not know his nationality, but his plight is universal. He wrote, “Dear Michael Laitman, I’d like to share with you that I tried to put myself in my friend’s shoes. His son is fighting in the war. After five minutes, I went into a state of shock. I kept the phone constantly in sight, and dreaded every time it rang or vibrated that it might be someone giving me the worst news. My hands felt as heavy as lead, and life became the pauses between phone rings. Tell me, what kind of world are we living in? Why are we given this today?”
We are given this horrible situation so we will experience it and be able to decide how we want to live. It is we who have built our reality this way. Therefore, despite the pain, it is also our responsibility, as a collective, to make it better.
My reply to Vladimir was simple: We are given this horrible situation so we will experience it and be able to decide how we want to live. It is we who have built our reality this way. Therefore, despite the pain, it is also our responsibility, as a collective, to make it better.
One thing that would work is if we placed the “managers” of our world in this situation. If they experienced the same fear for their family as we do, even if only for a week, their attitude would change. If they, too, dreaded the ringing of the phone the way we dread it, they would understand much better what war means for those who actually experience it.
People who feel this anxiety become more responsible. When your own children are at risk, it is a different story than when your children are safe and sound, away from the war, and you are sending other people’s children to the battlefield.
If that were the case, they would do everything within their power to avoid a war. Decision makers who have children on the front lines think differently from those who have no children out there; they are far more disposed to contemplate and act in service of the interest of the public rather than seek their own glory and prestige.
Therefore, if you asked me what I would advise, this would be my advice for a quick end to the war.
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World Jewry Will Be with Us When We Are with Us
Last week, Tzedek Chicago Synagogue officially designated itself “anti-Zionist.” In its statement, the synagogue decried the establishment of Israel as an “injustice against the Palestinian people.” The synagogue also posted on its twitter account that “Members of Tzedek Chicago voted to affirm anti-Zionism as a core value of our congregation.” Several major Israeli newspapers in English reported on the statement, which seems to have made an impact. As I see it, the synagogue’s position is a direct result of our own behavior in Israel. As long as we are disunited and cater to our enemies, Jews abroad will disassociate themselves from us and cater to our enemies, as well.
It would be convenient to blame anti-Zionists for their antagonism to the State of Israel, but we would be wrong to do so. People’s feelings toward the Jewish state are not determined by them, but by the Jewish state itself. When Jews in Israel are united and understand what Zionism means, the resistance to Israel subsides and even turns to sympathy. But when the Jews in Israel object to their own country, when they denigrate and vilify each other and glorify Jew-haters, the world hates the Jews, and the Jews hate the Jewish state.
Over the years, I have seen Jewish groups from many denominations—from Orthodox to Reform—opposing the State of Israel, and to be honest, I do not see much of a difference between them. Indeed, Tzedek Chicago, too, states that “Since the founding of the Zionist movement in the 19th century, there has always been active Jewish opposition to Zionism.”
It would be convenient to blame anti-Zionists for their antagonism to the State of Israel, but we would be wrong to do so. People’s feelings toward the Jewish state are not determined by them, but by the Jewish state itself. When Jews in Israel are united and understand what Zionism means, the resistance to Israel subsides and even turns to sympathy. But when the Jews in Israel object to their own country, when they denigrate and vilify each other and glorify Jew-haters, the world hates the Jews, and the Jews hate the Jewish state.
Unless the Jewish public in Israel strives for unity instead of division, American Jewry, and the whole world with it, will demand the cancelation and eradication of the State of Israel. It is already what the world, and much of world Jewry wants, but they are still not acting on their wish. If Israel continues to exhibit internal disintegration, the world will become more vociferous in its demands and more assertive in its actions to revoke the Jewish state.
We perceive anti-Zionists as being against the State of Israel, and this is also how they feel. In truth, however, Zionism is a spiritual movement, an aspiration to restore the core value of Judaism: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If we do not focus on our core values and pay attention only to our physical presence in the Land of Israel, we have no right to complain that no one supports our presence here. If we did focus on it, everyone would support our work here and wish for our success.
Therefore, if we want to unite and live in mutual responsibility, follow King Solomon’s motto, “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes” (Prov. 10:12), and strive to love our neighbors as ourselves, the whole world will be happy we are here, including Tzedek Chicago. If, alternatively, we find any excuse to disparage and slander one another, the entire world will turn against us.
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Humor, a Serious Matter
What makes humor so necessary in our lives? What should be a source of laughter? Everything has been created for our development, including a sense of humor. It gives us the strength and the ability to develop.
Anyone who is close to people who are professionally involved in the field of humor knows that these are often unhappy types of people by nature, very serious, and sometimes even depressive. Out of the urge to get themselves out of the gray cloud in which they are immersed, they develop a sense of humor.
In general, the more a person develops, the more capable he or she is of appreciating fine humor. I refer to humor that has brilliance—an unexpected connection between distinctive things which in our normal way of thinking are completely unrelated.
In general, the more a person develops, the more capable he or she is of appreciating fine humor. I refer to humor that has brilliance—an unexpected connection between distinctive things which in our normal way of thinking are completely unrelated.
Refined humor requires us to be able to observe our nature from the side, to be able to make fun of ourselves. Such humor is based on the ability to identify within ourselves several different identities: the original form we received from nature, the form in which we were educated, and the forms we have adopted throughout various stages in our lives, and these are the forms we have absorbed from others. Out of all these comparisons of identity come all sorts of important inquiries.
Humor can convey criticism, on the one hand, and on the other hand, it should be given in a spirit of love, pleasantly. We should never make fun of others and provoke hatred. We should laugh only about the general frailties that exist in humanity to clarify the weaknesses of our selfish nature as human beings, to help us develop awareness and cognition of our foibles. Because, if we are aware of our negative qualities then we can work on rising above them.
After all, this is the way that nature created us, imperfect. Nature gave us a sense of humor in order to help us to criticize ourselves and transcend our nature. Humor allows us to view ourselves from a higher perspective, and thus it can also help to elevate us outside of our current degree to a higher one. Viewing and laughing at ourselves from the side can spark inner scrutiny into who we truly are. If we know how to laugh at ourselves, then it is as it is written, “God has brought me laughter,” (Genesis 21:6)—a situation from which we can grow.
Good humor should always be gentle, bring about development, and evoke affection for what we are referring to. It is supposed to turn our heads upside down, to soften a rigid atmosphere.
What is it about humor that can open the heart and bring down walls between people? Humor removes from us all the puffed up clothing we put on. It is as if it undresses us from all the poses and masks, making us all equal and simple. When we laugh together about weaknesses that are in all of us alike, we immediately create a softer relationship between us.
There is no stronger means than humor to eliminate boundaries, barriers, and distances. The great challenge of our time, the most serious one, is to develop humor to bring people closer to each other, to make us more connected.