Why is the unity of Jews so crucially important?
When we look at the history of the Jewish people, we can see a dramatic parallel between Jewish unity and the success and survival of Jews.
Each time Jews abandoned their original unity and the so-called “mutual guarantee” — each Jew being absolutely responsible for each and every other member of the nation — all kinds of misfortunes and calamities affected them to the point of almost complete extermination.
There is no disaster in Jewish history that was not preceded by Jewish infighting, large-scale intention to assimilate into other cultures while Jews were happy to forsake their tradition and, most of all, their mutual responsibility for each other.
At the same time, we also see that Jew-hatred, antisemitism, and Israel-hatred increase when humanity is in crisis while the Jews are also disunited and infighting. It is as if the whole world expected the Jews to show a positive example to others through their unity. In fact, this is what famous and articulate Jew-haters, like Hitler or Henry Ford, demanded from the Jews and mocked them for abandoning their much-heralded Jewish unity.
Thus, the question cries out, “What is so special and crucial about Jewish unity?!”
Jews, Israel are not a nation like others. The “forefathers” and the original group which started to follow Abraham’s ideology of unity and brotherly love above and against the inherently egotistic, selfish, individualistic, and exploitative human nature. And while this unique unity above separation and love against hatred facilitates physical survival in any given conditions — which unity we can also observe in Israel now after the Hamas attack — it has a much deeper and more important meaning and significance.
It is clear why we need “Jewish-style” unity and mutual guarantee for physical survival. We are born from nature’s finely balanced and mutually integrated system, where each and every element in the system — except human beings — selflessly and unconditionally serves the well-being and most optimal development of the whole. Without such mutual guarantee and mutual “love of others” between our cells and organs, even our biological body would not survive for a minute.
Humanity, as a single species and single entity from nature’s viewpoint, also can’t survive without achieving a nature-like mutual integration. But in the case of human beings, this nature-like mutual integration will not happen instinctively and automatically like on the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels of nature.
Nature’s evolution expects us to reach this nature-like mutual integration through our own conscious efforts, above and against our inherent nature, so we can fulfill our unique and very high, evolutionary Human purpose in nature’s system.
Since this Human development needs to unfold in a “supernatural” — above inherent and instinctive nature — way, there has been and is a need for a unique group of people who can lead and facilitate this transition from the inherently selfish, egotistic, individualistic and hateful human existence to the mutually integrated and altruistic state nature demands from humanity.
The original Jews that later developed into the Nation of Israel were “chosen by evolution” through “natural selection” as a result of their unique sensitivity and natural inclination towards unity and mutual responsibility.
And while later generations of Jews gradually abandoned the original principles and their unity as a result of the growth and intensification of their ego — similarly to the rest of humanity — their original qualities and special sensitivity were still passed on from generation to generation.
By our generation, only the traditions and the external Mitzvot remain, without any real knowledge or feeling of the actual and crucially important Jewish role and purpose, although our most cherished and coveted writings are full of their descriptions.
At the moment, physical suffering and the threat of extinction push Jews to unite, and very soon, due to different reasons, humanity will also find themselves at the same crossroads of “unity or death.”
And we will have to use this necessity for physical survival as a starting point for our unity, which the Jewish people have to lead based on their ancient method. But physical survival is not a “good enough” reason to unite since the moment we feel safe again; we will immediately abandon our unity and retreat into ruthless competition and try to succeed at each other’s expense.
Thus, we have to understand and also publicize that we need to build and maintain a nature-like, mutually responsible, and mutually complementing mutual integration because this is the fundamental condition of humanity becoming similar to nature and fulfilling its very high and predetermined Human purpose in the natural system.
Unless we understand and accept this “higher and predetermined reason” and make this goal of fulfilling our evolutionary Human purpose the most important thing in our lives, we will not succeed in the long term, and neither the Jews nor the rest of humanity will survive.
Jews and humanity both need the unique Jewish method of unity — absolute mutual responsibility and mutual guarantee above and against our inherent human nature — both for physical survival and also to fulfill our evolutionary Human role and purpose.
This has nothing to do with nationality, religion, mysticism, or anything else we invented. It is nature’s laws and evolution’s deterministic plan that obligates Jews and non-Jews to comply.