Sometimes you hear certain words that resonate so intensely, for good or for bad, that they stay with you forever. A sincere compliment. An ugly insult. A sharp insight. Even years later, you feel them with the same intensity as when they were first said. I was used to hearing such flaky New Age polemics from pseudo-ex-hippies and wannabe spiritualists around the campfire, which made it easy for my exceptionally healthy inner cynic to deflect and dismiss them. But this was different. This bit of wisdom was coming from a Chassid who I had come to admire for his intelligence and down-to-earth sensibilities, and he was paraphrasing the Baal Shem Tov, the Rebbe of all Rebbes. So, coming from there, it hit me hard, and it still does.

Projecting our inner daemons is probably the most popular game we humans play – at least it’s up there with some of our other favorite pastimes like drowning in denial, ping pong hypocrisy, and feigned righteousness. As a sweet and simple Russian Jew once demonstrated to me, pointing your finger outward at others is easy and natural, but pointing it at yourself is difficult and painful. (Try it – it actually physically hurts.)

“You can only smell your own garbage.” There is no question that there is garbage out there, and plenty of it. But what causes me to fixate on a particular issue or problem, and to dwell on it? Of all the types of garbage out there, why do I obsess only about certain varieties? I am attracted to it because, in one form or another, that particular garbage is inside me. I therefore have a specific proclivity, or even an affinity, for that garbage. Why else would I see it and smell it so readily, so easily, so often? I attract it like a magnet because it exists within my own thoughts. It penetrates my senses and my imagination so effortlessly because it is already within my sphere of awareness, a product of my own consciousness. It disturbs me and repulses me so violently because it troubles me to think that it is mine. And so I make a sport out of repelling it, deflecting it and projecting it, convincing myself it is not mine, taking whatever contorted position will allow me to escape it and the pain of acknowledging it is me. Instead of despising my own shortcomings, I project the image of my garbage, and its stench, onto objects upon which I can unleash my hatred.

Like an addict, I become hooked on the illusion of personal freedom created by deflecting and projecting my own garbage onto other things, and other people. Ironically, I am trapped by this false freedom, and it’s lack of accountability hampers my growth.

How do I overcome this addiction and break the cycle? The only way is to seek within myself whatever negativity I perceive around me – to turn the accusing finger and point it toward myself, and laugh. For though the process may seem painful and fraught with fear, there is no greater joy than the joy of uncovering something new. The true treasure of who I am is buried in there, beneath the garbage, if only I am courageous enough to seek it out.

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Life is like a roller coaster. This might mean different things to different people, but I think we can all relate, one way or another.

Once in a while I find a little peace and manage to escape the incessant chaos, take a break, and resolve to find a quiet place, to make plans that would enable me to stay there for a while. But, for some reason, when the train comes around again I can’t resist. It convinces me that my escape plans are audacious, even contemptuous. I jump back on and ride it again. Part of me is addicted to the chaos, to the possibility that I can somehow tame it, that the next time around the ride I will finally be able to assert my control over it. Driven like an egomaniac mad magician, I keep thinking that one more small adjustment to my calculations, one final tweak to my routine, one last hurdle to overcome, and I’ll finally get it right.

But the ride is alive, and it is smarter than I am. It keeps evolving and changing as I do, but remains one step ahead, forever twisting, adding another unexpected loop here, another surprising, gut-dropping fall there. It denies and resists my attempts to tame and control it; just when I am about to feel secure in my mastery of a certain aspect of life, it shifts, forcing me to retreat, regroup and reevaluate before I jump back on the ride to try again. It keeps that elusive state of absolute certainty and security just beyond my grasp – close enough to tempt me into thinking I can get there, but far enough to keep me honest, if I want to be.

It toy with me. When things are propelling forward beyond my control, I desperately want to jump off and escape. When things finally slow down, I convince myself that I’m stuck, frustrated by my inability to get back on the ride, that I have to wait in line for the train to come back around my way. The insanity does not take a vacation.

At the end of the day, it seems like a crazy ride that goes nowhere. The linear progression of it is difficult to discern, and matters only to its architect. So it is not the destination that is most important, but how I live my life along the way. Happiness, therefore, is not a goal I live my life in order to attain, and life is not the road I happen to traverse on my way to achieving happiness. Happiness is a state of mind, a state of being. Happiness itself is the road I need to be traveling on. Happiness is the means through which goals and dreams are achieved, not the result of them. Don’t live life in order to enjoy the ride. Enjoy the ride in order to live life. Enjoy the ride.

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What’s a simple Jew living in the midst of all this upheaval supposed to think? And when I say in the midst, I mean it literally in the middle – I am sitting now in Tzfat, in Northern Israel, surrounded by all these hostile people and a stone’s throw from the Lebanon border, where Hezbolla has 50,000 rockets aimed at me. So if anyone would have something to worry about, it would be me.

Call me naive, but in my mind, the excitement is overdone. The drama is being generated by the overactive imagination of pseudo-journalists seeking to outdo one another’s storylines, and a gullible public with an appetite for dystopian fantasies. Journalism, once the proud profession of objective documentarians has become a commercial enterprise and a creative art, a subdivision of Hollywood. What’s happening in the world? Whatever sells. And as the advertising market shrinks, they get increasingly desperate and competitive, taking each minor event or propaganda piece that they are fed and blowing it up into the story of the century. So here’s my version of the news, for those who want to know what’s really happening.

Right now the economy sucks and people are suffering. But the ups and downs of the economy are part of life, and we’ll get through it. It’s definitely not as bad as they’re making us think – especially as far as the average person is concerned. The fact is the world is more prosperous now than ever – we just need to find a way to ensure that the prosperity benefits everyone. True, people are starving, and this is tragic. But there’s more than enough wealth and food to go around, we just need to change the management system. Ever try to argue or deal with a stressful situation on an empty stomach? Fix this imbalance, make sure people are well-fed, and everyone will have clear heads, which will make the rest much easier to resolve.

In the meantime, Israel and America have the smartest and most powerful militaries in the world. We can protect ourselves. Islamic fundamentalists are taking over much the Middle East. But they’ll still be superstitious, backward civilizations that have nothing going for them other than oil, which they will need to keep exporting if they want to survive. And it’s only a matter of time before the world’s appetite for oil, or the oil itself, dries up. Either way, any plans for world domination and Jewish annihilation will be superseded by internal bickering, economic realities, and just plain incompetence – as it always has been – which may be the greatest proof in our time for the existence of G-d and that He’s on our side.

So relax. Don’t worry. Everything is going to be good. Everything is good. Overall, the transformations taking place are leading us to a better world. If anything, with a few small tweaks, we are heading for the Great Socio-Economic Upturn, which will be accompanied by the Global Revolution for World Peace and Prosperity and the Human Summer of Tolerance, Mutual Respect and Brotherly Love. We may as well join the bandwagon now to do our part, speed things up, and enjoy the ride.

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Solid revelation abounds, if only you look.” These words were scrawled in large block letters using white chalk on a brick wall in Burlington, Vermont, where I spent a couple of weeks a while back. To this day, the image remains firmly embedded in my conscious mind. I have no idea who wrote it, or why – or even what their original intent was. But for some reason, it struck a chord with me, it grabbed me, it resonated. I was in a strange state of mind – one of those outside of self, dizzying, spinning, mind full of questions type of days where I feel the undeniable need to challenge the foregone conclusions of yesterday, and my very existence, by looking for answers to questions I have no business answering in places I have no business going to. I was contemplating where I’d been, where I was at, and where I was going, and I started feeling that my life was lacking in clarity and cohesiveness. I felt my mind unwinding out of control, like a fishing reel set loose by a wild catch too large to handle. Who do I think I am? How am I supposed to know if I am living the life that I am meant to live? Why can’t I see any sign

And, in an instant, the writing on the wall broke through all that inner static. It was an answer in plain words, in plain sight – blatant and undeniable and simple as the bricks upon which they were written. Hours later, I found myself standing there again, capturing the scene with my camera as it captured me once more. Real answers are not found in inner-dimensional wisdom or superconscious states of being. Though they might help me get there, and see the world in its proper light, it is the world beneath my nose that contains the real answers – but only if I take the time to really take it in.

To me, moments like these are the greatest miracles. They might not be grandiose. They might not be glamorous. But, if we take the time to appreciate them, they can shatter the mundane natural reality of the egocentric self and expose the soul – and anything that can accomplish that without requiring hours of focused meditation or a psychotropic cocktail is a miracle in my books.

In a certain sense, this type of hidden miracle is more powerful than the open, earth-shattering experiences that make headlines, because it is mine, and because it doesn’t need to turn the whole world up-side down to make its point; I am elevated by it, but remain firmly within my earthly reality, with an instant clarity of how to bring the wisdom gained into my life.  And perhaps greater than the miracle itself is the capacity and presence of mind to appreciate it, and the ability to recall it later, defying time and space to relive the moment and its lessons.

But, more often than not, we tend to forget and take things for granted – the writing on the wall, the unexplained coincidence, the undeserved success, the unbelievable sunset, the birth of a child. We tend to file them away and forget, or at least lose the sense of awe we once attached to them. A recent study published by Gabriel Radvansky out of the University of Notre Dame suggests that passing through doorways causes memory lapses. “Entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an ‘event boundary’ in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and files them away,” Radvansky explains. “Recalling the decision or activity that was made in a different room is difficult because it has been compartmentalized.”

If I view my life as a series of disconnected events, then I will have trouble connecting the dots to recognize the miracles that got me here, the miracle that is my life. But if I perceive the events of my life as one thread, or perhaps more aptly one complex rope weaved of many multi-colored threads, with a unified purpose, then I am better equipped to appreciated the “little” miracles and harness them to grow further.

Some people go through life with their heads buried in the sand, some with their heads buried in themselves. I’m not sure which is worse, hiding from the answers or looking for easy ones. But I know neither gets me anywhere worth going. But if I look at the signs that are right there in front of me, confront them, and trust that they are exactly what they seem, then I find that they point to a unified and elegant and intelligent order hidden within the chaos. Because solid revelation abounds, if only you look.

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I remember when learning how to drive I was taught by my wise and esteemed father to always look ahead to avoid hazardous situations, and keep my eye on the rearview mirrors to see what’s going on around me and what’s coming my way. But, at the same time, to never take my eye off the car in front of me. This is the art of driving, and of living. Focus on the road beneath you, but never lose sight of the road ahead of you or forget what’s behind you.

Becoming a master of the moment sounds like a simple and obvious path to spiritual enlightenment and bliss. So why haven’t we all gotten there yet? Because in order to be a master of the moment, I have to cease being a slave to the past and a servant of the future. I have to free myself of all distractions and attachments that take me away from the moment, so I can focus on the task at hand. Not so simple anymore, but there is a way: By designating specific times to immerse myself in past reflection and future contemplation, I free the rest of my life for living in the moment. And, fittingly, even those times of reflection and contemplation do not take me away from the moment, since that itself is the task at hand at that moment in time.

In a rapidly evolving (some would say devolving) technology-driven world, one that seems to disembody us from living in the moment, how do we connect ourselves and our children to the values and beliefs we hold dear? As with all things, the ultimate lesson is not to preach the manifesto, but to live it – to live every moment in a conscientious way, to listen to what the moment and the people and the birds and breeze or whatever is present there is telling us. To reject the distractions and anxieties that interfere with this type of living, and assign them to their designated time.

In my writing and teaching, I have found that I am most effective when I am being, rather than writing or teaching. Writing or teaching implies that I am here, the reader/student is there, and the message is something that is being forced from here to there. Being means that we are both entering a space in which all is one, where souls merge and a common voice emerges, and the writing or teaching simply flows. On the surface, the wisdom may be similar either way, but only through being is the wisdom an authentic and lasting creative experience that penetrates the heart and mind of all those involved – because it is alive, it is in the moment.

People who achieve great things and are humble (or who want to appear to be) often say that they were simply in the right place at the right time. The truth is that at any given moment we are all in the right place at the right time. Right now, I am the right person in the right place and in the right time. The question is, do I have the presence of mind to acknowledge this fact in the moment itself, or only in retrospect when being interviewed for my biography?

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But psychoanalysts have reached the counterintuitive conclusion that instead of being empowering, the notion, whether real or imagined, that you can do anything, can sometimes be paralyzing. Open-ended, unbridled, unhinged choice actually becomes psychologically oppressive, both on an individual and societal level, stymying social change and personal growth. It turns out the constant need to seek self-validation by exercising the power of choice doesn’t make you a master. It merely enslaves you in a different way. It enslaves you to yourself.

The paralyzing anxiety of choice manifests in different ways, depending on the psychology of the individual. Often, the choices we make are not ours at all, but choice influenced by what others are choosing, or fueled by our concern with how our choice will be perceived by others. Sometimes we become so obsessed with making the perfect choice that we either choose not to decide, or are constantly changing our minds. And choice also implies that we have to abandon the alternatives, which brings with it a sense of loss that can be overwhelming. For all these reasons and others, the power of choice can become a burden rather than a privilege, a suffocating obstacle rather than a springboard for change.

Choice is probably the most powerful gift we have. But clearly it has its pitfalls as well. The only way to avoid them is to ask ourselves what it is we really want. Whatever the answer is to this question, all the other choices we make become subservient to it. In this context, choice is no longer unhinged and chaotic, but disciplined. Answering this question also implies that we live our lives in a manner that is consistent with the objective we want to achieve. So it is also principled choice based on something more than our whims or psyches. Choice becomes guided and directed within the framework of the destination we are working toward, and the values that make it important. Rather than limit us, the boundaries and guidelines set ground rules that liberate us from the potential perils and paralysis of unhinged choice. The real potential of choice is then available to us, enabling us to make healthy choices grounded in reality that lead to social change and personal growth.

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There may soon come a day when humanity makes the unimaginable technological advancement that will enable us to produce time. Today, we exert the vast majority of our energy to get the mundane things – work, finances, chores – out of the way, in order to makeroom for important things – family, friends, study, meaning, self-discovery –– whose time may never come. But tomorrow we will have the freedom to pursue the beauty of life without the imposing deadlines of modern living looming over us. We will focus our energies on pursuingmeaningful life, and utilize synthetic time, manufactured by quark physicists in nuclear laboratories, for the mundane. Perhaps.

The truth is that we already possess the potential for such technology.

In general, life is experienced as an overwhelming array of fragmentation, flowing from one event to the next, one day to the next,without any sense of continuity, control or causation. We intuitively sense that life is precious, that it offers an opportunity to contribute something unique to the world, but worldly exposure serves to desensitize us to our personal mission; we are too busy treadingwater and staying afloat to realize that we could learn to swim or fly instead. On the one hand, we yearn to transform this existential paradox and transcend it. On the other hand, we feel the need to keep moving madly in all directions, either because we are afraid to admit our ineptitude or too foolish to recognize the truth. Time after time, we find ourselves reacting to sudden circumstances, somehow surprisedby the fate that we ourselves have generated. This is true of us as individuals, in the way we view our private lives, as well as thecourse of humanity in general, in the way we view our collective history and sense our common future.

Creating mastery over time, and thereby over life, is to see the inherent value of each and every moment as a newly created, living opportunity, implying that even seemingly mundane activities can be infused with meaning and inspiration. The ability to live this ideal depends on the strength of our determination to confront life using our faculties of memory and imagination. Memory deconstructs past experiences to determine what was right or wrong, while imagination makes adjustments to confidently plot a new course for the future. But these forays into the periscope of time, whether backwards or forwards, need to be controlled to be effective. When time is set aside for constructive reflection or pondering the future, then it is effective, and is itself an example of living in the moment – because it is what that particular moment demands. But when thoughts of past reflection and future pondering creep up on us, bringing with them regret, doubt and uncertainty, then it can be distracting and even destructive.

The passage of time is a relative phenomenon; is it really time that is passing or flying by, or is it we who are passing by time, missingopportunities to do the necessary good that will revolutionize our lives and the collective life of the entire world? The gift of time isnot subject to the limitations that our perception of it suggests. Deconstruct the yesterday, rebuild the tomorrow and live today. Inour memory of days past and bygone eras, and in our imagination of days to come – and even more so in the present that is created at everysingle moment – we have the potential to transcend the constraints of time, and boldly go where no one has gone before. If only we could find the time…

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There are situations of such twisted and inexplicable darkness, and we want to know why. Why? Why now? Why ever? It would be so much simpler if we knew where to place the blame. As if blaming makes sense of it. A sick man kills and dismembers a little boy within his own community. A drunk man decides to shoot at a lightbulb and hits a baby in the head. Lightning strikes a train and dozens are killed, hundreds injured. A delusional ideologue with a political vendetta shoots down children while pretending to be a police officer coming to help.

Grotesque. Absurd. What is going on? Everyone is looking for someone to blame. Some blame it on the individual. Some blame it on his past. Some blame it on society, on X-Box. on Osama, on Obama, on… anything. As if finding someone we can comfortably blame would ease our pain. But would it? Should it?

If I could tell you who was really to blame, would it ease your pain?

In the Kabbalistic model of existence, everything that we experience in the physical reality is an extension of a spiritual reality. According to Jewish tradition, darkness came into the world when the moon was transformed from a powerful luminary like the sun to the more diminutive object we are familiar with today. The cause of this demotion was the moon’s insistence that you can’t have two luminaries in one sky. So, if you want to place blame for all your troubles and all the tragedy and darkness in the world, blame it on the moon.

When you look at the moon you can see it has guilt written all over its face – the way it keeps changing its expression, fidgeting like a criminal on the witness stand. It’s like the moon is ashamed or something. There is an entire half of the moon that we never see; it’s always facing away from us. Why is it looking away? What is it trying to hide?

But is the moon really to blame? Tidal forces exert influence on its rotation ensuring that the same side of the moon is always facing us, and the other side is always hidden. Some mistakenly call it the dark side of the moon, but really it is merely the far side, the part that was destined to be hidden, to exist in the “darkness” of the other side. But, in truth, it is dark and concealed only because of our perspective. Because perspective is everything.

Look inside a flame. Can you see its essence – the place where the flame touches the wick? No. Because the essence of the light cannot be seen. The essence of the light looks like darkness. That’s the part that touches the wick, the body and the physical world.
The Talmud calls a blind man “Sagi Nehora”, which means “too much light”. Darkness is not the absence of light. Darkness is an abundance of light that cannot be registered by our eyes – like if someone were to shine a powerful spotlight into your face: You would see nothing, and it would hurt.

There is no such thing as darkness. All of existence has to find expression. But there are elements of existence that are beyond expression, at least beyond our ability to perceive them. Darkness is light that is beyond human perception because we haven’t evolved (spiritually) to the point that we can perceive it without it burning us. So, for now, in our world we experience them as darkness and suffering. The ideal future is about becoming transformed to the point that we can see that part of the light and appreciate it as light – and it will be expressed as light, with war and jealousy and suffering and violence and tragedy becoming completely extinct from the human experience. And in that future, the moon will shine in a special way – not like the sun projecting light from its surface, but like a gemstone refracting complex orchestras of light from within through infinite prisms, expressing the dynamic and complex beauty of light after it absorbs the darkness and transforms it.

Ultimately darkness exists because it is necessary. The circumstance of the moon is a reflection of a deeper reality that is playing itself out behind the curtains. Just as the moon was destined to play the foil, set up to be blamed for the darkness that would inevitably come, so too is everything (and everyone) we try to blame for the darkness in our world. True, choices are made and so we mourn those choices, feel the pain, and place culpability for the consequences with the perpetrators of the darkness. But darkness, or the illusion of it, only exists so that we should help create the world the way it was meant to be. So that we should make it ours. And the darkness that is necessary to make us walk that path is only darkness from our perspective, because a light of that kind would be too much to handle. We could not exist in its presence.

So who is ultimately responsible for the darkness? Whoever fails to turn on the light.

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How can I know if I have a healthy relationship with the world? This crazy world that seems to be spinning to an increasingly absurd and chaotic tune, when all my inner being wants is some peace and a sense of purpose in it all – how am I supposed to relate to it? From the microcosm of daily survival to the macrocosm of global geopolitics, how is an ostensibly sincere individual supposed to function within this elaborate, chaotic world of duplicity, double-standards and outright deception?

Some say you hide. Retreat to an inner sanctum where you create your own reality that is separate, removed, even elevated. Lock yourself into a transcendent sense of being and an elevated state of mind, and lock the world out. But is this a refuge, or a prison?

Some say when in Rome do as the Romans; either you join the hedonistic party, or get trampled by the hedonists. Immerse yourself in the materialistic reality, the pursuit of wealth or power or self, and conquer it and take its spoils. But is this conquest, or an elaborately orchestrated defeat of the inner being? Or perhaps a very large prison?

Neither of these approaches is palatable or honest. This physical world with all of its challenges and trappings exists for a reason, and we were placed in it for a purpose. Neither denial of the material reality nor succumbing to it achieves anything truly worthwhile, at least not anything that addresses the reality of our existence. We are not angels. We do have spirit, but we are human beings and as such are built and meant to engage in the physical. But how do I do so and remain in control? How can I have a meaningful and healthy relationship with the material world without it making me shallow or materialistic, without becoming addicted to consuming, and without being consumed by every whim or temptation of the body and ego?

Each person has to find their own answer to this question, an answer that addresses the unique challenges each one faces and the special talents each one is blessed with. But through understanding where the common mistakes come from, perhaps we can avoid them and achieve greater clarity.

There are two mistakes people make that lead to an unhealthy relationship with the physical world. The more obvious one expresses itself when I relate to the material reality as a self-important, independent entity that is divorced from its source, or from any spiritual significance or higher purpose. I see the material reality as the true power in my life. As such, it is logical and worthwhile to worship it and immerse myself in that reality.

The less obvious mistake, and therefore the one that is perhaps more dangerous, manifests when I accept that there is a higher source that orchestrates the material reality, and a higher purpose. But I see the material reality working in partnership with that source – not completely cut off, but operating independently and with free reign within its material domain. As such, I don’t outright worship the material reality. That would be demeaning. But ultimately I still accept it (perhaps even reluctantly) as the supreme power within the reality in which I operate. At the end of the day, it still runs my life, albeit more surreptitiously.

So the trouble in my relationship with the world begins when I find myself succumbing to the illusion, expertly and elegantly crafted by the high priests of Madison Avenue, the gods of Wall Street, my boss, my clients, my ego, or whatever else distorts the true nature the material world by trying to convince me (whether directly or simply in my own perception) that material, physical and even spiritual self fulfillment is the answer to everything. So I should worship myself, and by extension that which feeds this fulfillment. This is a recipe for existential indigestion – the inability to properly digest the material experience of our life. The antidote is honest acknowledgement, constant awareness and profound connectedness to the source from which the material reality and its purpose emanates.

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Take the word peace for example. The word peace in the context of relations between nations is, “A state of harmony between people.” It follows that it is only reasonable to negotiate a peace agreement with people when their dedication to living in harmony can be reasonably guaranteed. Making peace with people who deny your existence, incite others against you, are members of an international terrorist conspiracy to destroy your way of life, call for your destruction in their official charter, teach their children to hate you and destroy you or die trying, and admit openly that they use the concessions they receive through peace negotiations as a strategic asset in their quest to destroy you, is not peace. It is a game of extortion and capitulation. We shouldn’t even be speaking about peace, since a prerequisite for peace is the rehabilitation of Arab society into a culture that wishes to live in harmony with us. Until that time comes, the word peace is completely irrelevant, and instead we should focus on achieving calm by subjugating the enemy – a.k.a., winning the war.

Let’s also take the word refugee, which is defined as “a person forced to leave their country to escape war, persecution or natural disaster.” Children of refugees are not considered refugees. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs and Jews were forced to leave their homes when the State of Israel was founded – almost an equal number actually. The Jewish refugees resettled in Israel and other places. The Arab refugees were forced to live in squalor in refugee camps, and never accepted as citizens in their host nations, in order to leverage their suffering against Israel. And unlike any other people in the world, their refugee status is inherited by their descendants through a perverse UN mechanism that perpetuates their suffering and enables their continued exploitation. According to this formula, I would be called an Egyptian refugee. My mother’s family left Egypt in the early 1950s, forced out by a suddenly hostile government that confiscated all their property and their rights. I should be living in a refugee camp in Gaza, demanding the right to return to my familial villa in Heliopolis, and receive restitution for all the assets stolen from my grandfather. And I should also be blowing up the pyramids unless the Egyptians accede to my demands. Refugee status is meant as a mechanism to address injustice, but a distorted refugee regime is being applied, to the detriment of the refugees it is supposed to protect, as a weapon against Israel.

What about the word withdrawal? In military terms, a withdrawal means to “retreat forces back while maintaining contact with the enemy. A withdrawal may be undertaken as part of a general retreat, to consolidate forces, to occupy ground that is more easily defended, or to lead the enemy into an ambush.” So what is the talk of Israel withdrawing all about? The territory Israel captured and settled was for defensive purposes. With this territory, Israel can defend itself. Without it, Israel is vulnerable to attack and destruction. End of story.

And while we’re on the topic, let’s talk about occupation, which “occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a hostile army.” The assumption is that the occupied nation had control and authority of the territory beforehand. Tell me, who was in control of Gaza and the West Bank before 1967? Egypt and Jordan, respectively. Who was in control of Palestine before 1948? The British. And before that the Ottomans. And before that the Romans. And the Assyrians. And the Babylonians. And the Israelites. And the Canaanites. So whose land is Israel occupying exactly? What nation ever claimed sovereignty there in recent history, or ever ran a functional society there? I’m not denying that Arabs lived here, or that their suffering is real. But, like I said, my family lived in Egypt, and we’re not going back. Their real enemy, and the true cause of their suffering, is their own brothers and leaders who co-opted their hearts and minds and concocted their twisted reality in order to fight Israel.

What should be clear from all of this is that the current discourse is not meant to arrive at a just solution, but at a modern, more gentrified version of the final solution. We should stand strong and have faith that truth and justice will prevail, insist on accurate representation of terms and facts, and not cede an inch to radical misrepresentations that hijack the terminology and mechanisms of justice and democracy to facilitate oppression, empower terror and foment genocide.

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