January 28, 2026 -
January 28, 2026 -
The Changing Paradigm
Our beloved Israel is 77 years old. Considering how brilliant the country is, and I know I don’t have to convince you of Israel’s financial, technological, military, artistic, and medical contributions to the world, how come peace is taking so long? Why isn’t that Yiddishe kup, those beautiful Jewish brains, making headway regarding peace with the Palestinians?
Let’s keep that question on hold for now.
Here’s a new query:
Considering that Rosh Hashanah is a time for renewal, and Yom Kippur is a time for forgiveness, it’s curious that so many of our prayers emphasize worldwide unity.
וְיֵעָשׂוּ כֻלָּם אֲגֻדָּה אֶחָת לַעֲשׂוֹת רְצוֹנְךָ בְּלֵבָב שָׁלֵם.
And so, grant that Your awe, God, be upon all Your works, that they may all form a single band to do Your will with a perfect heart.
וְתִמְלוֹךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה לְבַדֶּֽךָ עַל כָּל מַעֲשֶֽׂיךָ
And You G-d will reign alone over all Your works from Mount Tziyon, the dwelling place of Your glory.
וְיֶאֱתָֽיוּ כֹל לְעָבְדֶּֽךָ
And all shall come to serve You and bless Your glorious Name, and throughout the isles they shall declare Your righteousness. And people will seek You, who knew You not before.
And the mountains will burst out in joyous song, and the isles will exult in Your Kingship, and they will accept upon themselves the yoke of Your kingdom.
It appears that one of our goals is to bring this stage to fruition.
Somehow, we’re supposed to create one unified planet.
Our prayers, however, only vie for this time. They don’t provide instructions on how to accomplish it.
So, how is this united planet to come about? Is it just a dream?
Is it something that only the Messiah can accomplish, or is it a process we can be a part of?
I know that many of you consider our world to be messed up. When kids in Texas are coming down with measles, and we are no longer shocked by school and church shootings, it’s easy to understand why we feel this way.
However, we’re looking at our world and country through too narrow a lens. If we widened our perspective, we would see the world as improving.
Imagine that a group of highly advanced beings came to our planet one thousand years ago and conducted a study on the human species. They took notes and left. Then they returned one thousand years later in 2025. Would those aliens think we advanced or regressed?
Technologically, we have certainly progressed, but I’m referring to our social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual development. Are human beings, in general, better off now, or are we in a lower state?
One thousand years ago, I think Aliens would have seen a planet at war with itself. Religions are fighting religions. Nations are fighting Nations. Monarchs have all the power and wealth, while the average free man has little of either. Many people are enslaved to others, and more than half the human population, women and children, have very few rights at all.
But about 800 years ago, things started to change.
In 1215, the Magna Carta established the principle that all individuals, including the monarch, were subject to the law. This concept, known as the rule of law, directly challenged the belief in the absolute power of kings and laid a foundation for constitutional law and individual rights. It included clauses that formed the basis for fair trials and protection against unlawful imprisonment, as well as the right to trial by jury.
The Declaration of Independence was the next step in advancing human rights. Not only was it the beginning of the end of monarchy worldwide, but it also introduced the core ideas that “all men are created equal” and are endowed with certain “unalienable Rights,” including “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”.
Lincoln then came along 85 years later and said that the institution of slavery must be abolished. That all men are truly created equal, and therefore, no person shall be owned by another.
The Suffragettes then followed, demanding that these privileges be extended to women.
In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was signed into law, which restricted child labor and established the first federal minimum wage and overtime pay standards.
In 1947, India’s independence from the United Kingdom heralded the end of colonialism. It sparked a global chain reaction that led to the dismantling of colonial empires all across Asia and Africa.
In 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruled that “separate is not equal,” paving the way for genuine equality for Blacks and minorities.
In the 1970s, the feminist movement began to achieve equal rights and equal pay for women.
And in the nineties and early two thousands, the LGBTQ communities received acceptance and the ability to enter into same-sex marriage.
Mental Health has also dramatically improved in the past 150 years. Through Freud, Jung, and advancements in therapy and psychiatry, people who would have been designated as lunatics and relegated to insane asylums can now live healthy lives.
Addictions are no longer a death sentence. Thanks to the efforts and insights of Bill W and Dr. Bob, people with all types of crippling addictions can join a twelve-step program and be functional members of society.
People are also more in touch with their emotions and spiritual nature. The self-help and new age spirituality sections at bookstores continue to expand in size every year. Meditation and Yoga are now mainstream activities.
So, if we compare humanity now to the way it was one thousand years ago, I think we’d all agree that we’ve advanced.
Not only that, but humanity is also becoming more united.
In 1781, the 13 states agreed to function as a single entity.
Similar events followed in the city-states of Germany and Italy.
In 1992, the European Union was established with nine countries. These nations committed to a unified currency, a common foreign and security policy, and enhanced collaboration in justice and home affairs. There are now 27 members of the EU.
These advancements are fascinating, especially considering that they may have been predicted. The Zohar, the foundational text of Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah), foretold a significant expansion of wisdom, both spiritual and worldly, that would begin in the Jewish year 5600 (corresponding to 1840 CE). This expansion was intended to prepare the world for the era of the Messiah, which would be a united world.
The prediction was based on an interpretation of a verse in Genesis dealing with the Flood: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life… all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the windows of heaven were opened” (Genesis 7:11). The Zohar interpreted this as an allegory for the “sixth century of the sixth millennium”.
The dual expansion of wisdom represents an increased revelation of spiritual knowledge as well as the rapid expansion of science and technology.
I mentioned on Rosh Hashanah that a few weeks ago, I attended a seminar led by the enlightened Guru Sai Maa. She claims that it has been revealed to the current spiritual masters that we are living in a time of Global Transformation, a phase of transition from one era to another.
At its core, it’s a paradigm shift from living and acting based upon fear to living and acting based on Love.
I’ll give you a few examples of the fear-based paradigm.
Our Bible is rooted in the old paradigm: we are rewarded for performing mitzvot and being loyal, and punished and abandoned for disobedience.
Furthermore, it has always perplexed me why seemingly every prayer or praise also has a negative aspect to it.
Our future matriarch, Rivkah is going to get married. Her father and older brother give her a blessing:
וַיְבָרְכ֤וּ אֶת־רִבְקָה֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְרוּ לָ֔הּ אֲחֹתֵ֕נוּ אַ֥תְּ הֲיִ֖י לְאַלְפֵ֣י רְבָבָ֑ה וְיִירַ֣שׁ זַרְעֵ֔ךְ אֵ֖ת שַׁ֥עַר שֹׂנְאָֽיו׃
And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
“O sister! May you grow into thousands of myriads, and may your descendants seize the gates of their foes.”
What’s with the foes? She’s getting married, not sending her sons off to war!
Likewise in Psalm 92, the Song for Shabbat; it starts off lovely:
מִזְמ֥וֹר שִׁ֗יר לְי֣וֹם הַשַּׁבָּֽת׃
A song for the sabbath day.
ט֗וֹב לְהֹד֥וֹת לַיהֹוָ֑ה וּלְזַמֵּ֖ר לְשִׁמְךָ֣ עֶלְיֽוֹן׃
It is good to praise the LORD,
to sing hymns to Your name, O Most High,
לְהַגִּ֣יד בַּבֹּ֣קֶר חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ וֶ֝אֱמ֥וּנָתְךָ֗ בַּלֵּילֽוֹת׃
To proclaim Your steadfast love at daybreak,
And Your faithfulness each night.
Such spiritual and lofty words.
But then, we must curse our enemies:
כִּ֤י הִנֵּ֪ה אֹיְבֶ֡יךָ יְֽהֹוָ֗ה כִּֽי־הִנֵּ֣ה אֹיְבֶ֣יךָ יֹאבֵ֑דוּ יִ֝תְפָּרְד֗וּ כׇּל־פֹּ֥עֲלֵי אָֽוֶן׃
Surely, Your enemies, O LORD,
Surely, Your enemies shall perish; all evildoers will be scattered.
Could we just have one Shabbat without thinking about our enemies?
But now it makes sense, the Bible, composed more than 2500 years ago, is representative of the old paradigm.
So are our daily blessings.
Blessed are you, Ado-nai, Melech HaOlam, King of the Universe.
Why is G-d portrayed as a King? To inspire awe and obedience.
Nowadays, the new Siddurim are replacing King with other appellations:
Ruach HaOlam-Spirit of the Universe
A Fountain of blessings are you, source of life of all the world
Blessed are you, Ado-nai, Shechinta, Divine Presence, Source of our life…
So humanity is transitioning from an old fear-based paradigm to one of self-empowerment and love. But it’s a slow process.
Considering that Homo sapiens have existed for a few hundred thousand years and civilization has been around for about six thousand years, our period of transition is relatively brief.
The process began approximately 800 years ago, but it has accelerated significantly, particularly since the time the Zohar predicted it would happen in the mid-nineteenth century.
Yes, to many of us, it seems like we’re going backwards, but expand the chart, and you’ll see that we are still way higher than we were one hundred years ago, and certainly a thousand years ago.
In terms of the number of deaths by war, the world is also improving. According to the website, Our World in Data, “while every war is a tragedy (and there are still many regional wars), the data suggests that fewer people died in conflicts in recent decades than in most of the 20th century. Countries have also built more peaceful relations between and within them.”
So perhaps, our High Holiday prayers are correct. Someday, there may be a unified planet.
It won’t happen tomorrow or in five years. But maybe in fifty. Perhaps our children will live to see a more unified, humane planet.
The joke goes that Israel is a beautiful country, but in a bad location.
But could this be intentional?
Imagine if the geniuses in Israel could devise a way to bring about peace. It would impact the world.
Now, we all know it hasn’t been easy. When partition plans were set in place, the Palestinians never agreed to them.
The Oslo Accords recognized the Palestinian Authority, but failed to produce a complete resolution.
In 2008, Olmert offered Abbas a Palestinian state on 93.7% of the West Bank, with Israel annexing the remaining 6.3%.
The proposal was said to include placing the Old City’s “Holy Basin” under international trusteeship, which would have granted Palestinians more control in East Jerusalem.
Yet, this offer was not accepted.
In 2005, Ariel Sharon removed Israeli Governance from Gaza, and since then, we’ve been bombarded nearly every other year, culminating in the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.
Has Israel handled the Gaza war perfectly? Certainly not. Could less civilian and collateral damage have been achieved, most likely.
But you need to know the enemy.
When training cadets about Hamas, the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point includes a statement by Khalil al-Hayya, a member of Hamas’ politburo. He has said, “Hamas’s goal is not to run Gaza and to bring it water and electricity and such. Hamas, the Qassam, and the resistance woke the world up from its deep sleep and showed that this issue must remain on the table.”107 Referring to the October 7 attack, he explained: “This battle was not because we wanted fuel or laborers. It did not seek to improve the situation in Gaza. This battle is to completely overthrow the situation.”[1]
We Jews were given the most complex challenge. Think about it: if we could achieve peace in the Middle East, who knows what kind of reverberations that would have globally?
When Begin and Sadat, the greatest of enemies, made a peace pact, it showed the world infinite possibilities.
Now, Sadat was assassinated for this. And Rabin, too, for his efforts in the Oslo Accords. However, that’s because change is difficult for the world to accept. Lincoln was also assassinated for moving the world forward. It doesn’t mean he was wrong.
So if we, Israel, and Jews worldwide, have failed at this peace process, we need to be kind to ourselves and forgive ourselves.
Steven Dubner interviewed former Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the Freakonomics podcast on July 25th.
Just to give you a little background, Blinken’s grandfather helped establish the State of Israel by advising Truman that the newborn state would be financially viable, and his stepfather, Samuel Pisar, was born in Bialystok, Poland, and was a holocaust survivor. Blinken is a supporter of Israel.
He points out Israel’s main mistake:
Speaking from Israel’s point of view, he says, “Wait a minute. We gave up the land. We gave up the settlements. We got out. And what did we get? We got Hamas.” Similarly, in the north, after occupying southern Lebanon for 18 years, they left. And what happened? Hezbollah came in and launched attacks against northern Israel repeatedly. So if you put yourself in their shoes, I think their feeling was, you know, decades of rejection by Arabs. Then we had extremist groups who, again, rejected our existence and sought our destruction.
But then finally, they got to a place where they thought they had a status quo that could prevail, where, after the second Intifada, there was relative quiet and relative calm, and I think Israelis were lulled into a sense that, “Okay, we don’t have to do anything.”
Then Oct. 7th came.
Were there mistakes, sins, and even negligence in the peace process and in dealing with the masses in Gaza? Yes.
However, it needs to be viewed from a broader perspective. All of this is part of a grand process that takes time.
Tonight, in our prayers, we ask for forgiveness.
וְעַל חֵטְא שֶׁחָטָֽאנוּ לְפָנֶֽיךָ
And for the sins we committed before You
בְּיוֹדְעִים וּבְלֹא יוֹדְעִים:
knowingly and unknowingly.
אֶת הַגְּלוּיִים לָֽנוּ
for those of which we are aware
וְאֶת שֶׁאֵינָם גְּלוּיִים לָֽנוּ.
and for those of which we are not aware.
אֶת הַגְּלוּיִים לָֽנוּ
For those of which we are aware,
כְּבָר אֲמַרְנוּם לְפָנֶֽיךָ.
we have already declared before You
וְהוֹדִֽינוּ לְךָ עֲלֵיהֶם.
and confessed them unto You;
וְאֶת שֶׁאֵינָם גְּלוּיִם לָֽנוּ
and those of which we are not aware,
לְפָנֶֽיךָ הֵם גְּלוּיִים וִידוּעִים.
before You they are revealed and known,
because You are the Pardoner of Yisrael,
in every generation,
So, for failing to create peace with our Palestinian neighbors, we ask for forgiveness and the opportunity to try once more.
It’s all part of a stupendous global plan. The world is in a process of transition, from an old paradigm of Monarchy and fear-based action to self-empowerment and love-based living.
It’s a slow process; be patient and give it time.
In Israel’s 77 years, there have been successes, terrible mistakes, and some complacency.
However, when we accomplish this, imagine what it’ll mean for the world. If Israelis and Palestinians can make it work, then any two belligerent cultures can.
For now, we need to forgive ourselves for the sins and damage we know of, and for that which we’re unaware of, so that we can move on and ultimately make our world a better place.
Shana Tova.
[1] https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-road-to-october-7-hamas-long-game-clarified/
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