It should be obvious, at our lower-level (physical world), unity is a major issue facing mankind. We find “unity” being a product of coercion or rather engineered by propaganda (by way of mainstream media), military presents, economic hijacking, laws established by governments that have stopped representing the people, and religious establishment pushing their agendas via the pulpits. There is so much push from so many angles that typically unity is bread out of lack of interest. This is a very fragile, fickle, pretend unity that can and will easily dissolve.
It is easy for us to think of the perpetrators of this coercion as being “them” and “us” as the victims. But in reality “they” are people like “us”. We have to ask, “Would we do any different in their position?” Would we want our neighbor running the country? More than likely not. So we have to start at home with ourselves first if we want real change. Not the “Vote for Change” recent politicians sold us on. We need to act to effect change in our world by first changing ourselves proactively then the world will automatically change.
The Baal Shem Tov told a story about how a man wanted to change the world. To paraphrase: He realized that he first had to change his country. Then realized that was not going to work and need to change his town. Without success he concluded he needed to change his home. Without any success up to that point he realized he need to start with himself.
We have to start with, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). Once we have an appropriate love for our neighbor then we can “Love HaShem our G-d with all of our Heart, with all of our Soul, and with all our might”. We cannot love our G-d without first loving our neighbor.
Ask yourself Without the Torah can we know how to love our neighbor? Sorry this is a loaded question but it is important to explore.
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