Beyond the Tragedy: Finding Hope in a Unified Future on Holocaust Remembrance Day

While we solemnly reflect on the atrocities of the past this Holocaust Remembrance Day, we would be wise to also look into the deeper spiritual significance of the Jewish people in today’s world in order to prevent any future such tragedies.

The Book of Zohar likens the role of the Jewish people within humanity as to the heart among a body’s organs:

“Israel were made by the Creator, the heart of the whole world. And so are Israel among the nations, like a heart among the organs. And as the organs of the body cannot exist in the world even a minute without the heart, all the other nations cannot exist in the world without Israel.” — Zohar for All, Pinhas, “Why Israel Are More in Sorrow than the Rest of the Nations”, Item 152.

But what does it mean to be the heart of the world? It means that the people of Israel serve as a center of connection, facilitating the relationship between all nations and the Creator, the upper force of love and bestowal. Like a heart pumping life-giving blood to the body, the role of the people of Israel is to channel the positive force of love, bestowal and connection to the world, enabling humanity to receive a heightened form of fulfillment capable of bringing newfound peace, harmony and happiness to the world.

Throughout history, the role of the Jewish people has been mostly absent from human consciousness — both among Jews and the nations of the world — which led to periods of antisemitism and persecution. Today, antisemitism has once again risen to new worrying peaks as overblown human egoism — the desire for self-benefit at the expense of others — has developed a new aggressive and poignant demand for a greater kind of fulfillment that it is not receiving. Likewise, more and more people instinctively feel that the Jews are robbing them of this fulfillment.

The surmounting pressure on us Jews from several directions in today’s world is due to our need to realize our fateful role. We, the people of Israel, must recognize our responsibility as conduits of the positive force of love, bestowal and connection in the world, and work toward fulfilling this mission.

We can do so by realizing the method to unite (“love your neighbor as yourself”) above our divisions (“love will cover all crimes”) in order for that unifying tendency to spread worldwide (to be “a light unto the nations”). All the negativity and suffering in the world will then miraculously transform to a world filled with a harmonious, peaceful and joyous light. We will then experience that new form of fulfillment as it will fill all the gaps in our lives.

Therefore, our mission standing before us is to become unified as one heart. This unifying message should override all others that we tell ourselves, as both our own fate — and the world’s — depend on our motion toward unity. Whether we are in Israel or in the diaspora, we can see that the hatred against us has surpassed physical and rational boundaries, and that our lives are under an increasingly looming threat.

Together with our need to unite, we should also understand that it is possible only with the help of the upper force, the very source of love, bestowal and connection that vitalizes all life. We will need to strengthen each other specifically in this unifying tendency among each other and with the upper force, otherwise we will fall short of realizing this role. As it is written in Psalms (27:3):

“If an army encamps against me,
My heart will not fear;
If war arises against me,
I am confident.”

In memory of the lives lost and in dedication to a harmonious and peaceful future, let us unite in pursuit of awakening the positive upper force of love and bestowal into our lives.