Jewish Progressivism – Why the World Hates Us

The entire world as we know it derives from the principles of ancient Egypt. Those principles demand that “progress” move us away from God and closer to man as a god.  It’s why Hashem commands us every day to leave Egypt, and why the nations of the world have accused us of crimes against humanity. The fact is, they are right: We are forever guilty of crimes against their humanity! 

From ancient Egypt to Greece to today, the prevailing thought is that with each advancement in technology, as humans we “progress” away from an “antiquated master.” Since we are advancing away from the “ancient ways,” it is up to us to replace them and become masters ourselves. 

This is the guiding principle behind the modern concept of the financial and technological elite becoming gods in their own right: Their modern ways give them divine right to re-create a modern thinking for what is right and what is wrong.  

We are commanded to leave Mitzrayim and this thinking every day. Twice a day in the Shema, we are commanded not to follow our hearts and our eyes, but to follow God.  

Hashem isn’t ancient, He is eternal.  

Hashem yimloch le’olom va’ed (Hashem will rule forever) means that all our discoveries and progress don’t distance us from Him; rather, they are tools He gives us to get closer! The Chofetz Chaim, who lived during the invention of the telephone, car, recording device, and television inferred that since man could no longer perceive Hashem’s mastery, Hashem gave the world examples of how one can communicate instantly all over the world – to show how Hashem can do it.  

It’s one thing for Him to rule over the ancients, the Torah is documented proof. 

But to rule over the terabytes of data, the trillions of dollars, and the mighty high-tech empires we have created – that’s the challenge of today. 

But it’s also the opportunity: 

Modern technology has revealed to all of us the intricate processes in how food grows, how people breathe, the complex labyrinth of veins inside a single leaf, and even the flow of oxygen to the lungs carried by millions of red blood cells. It’s all to create an even greater awe for the Creator of all things.  

The first principle of faith is: I believe with complete faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, is the Creator and Guide of all the created beings, and that He alone has made, does make, and will make all things. 

Jewish Progressivism  

“Jewish Progressivism” is to always use new discoveries and inventions as new ways to discover the greatness of God. Instead of feeling bigger and farther away from our Creator, we can feel smaller and even closer to Him.  

The Egyptian way, inherited by the Greeks, Romans, Europeans, and Americans is to show how each human progression can replace the old order, making man bigger and God smaller, Hashem forbid.  

Before the great technological leaps that began in earnest in the 1970s, every school would place the 10 Commandments at the front of the classroom. Before the ideological leaps made at the end of the 19th century, the vast majority of the Jewish People were observant.  

We got swept up in the wave of secular progressivism. Imagine this impact on the non-Jewish world. They spend all their time listening to the opinions of right and wrong from their deities – men of commerce, political leaders, and celebrities who voices have been amplified by the invention of the last 20 years: social media.  

Any concept of negating humans, not trusting what we see, and acknowledging a King Who rules over all of us – especially over the pharaohs of the world – is heresy to the foundations of humanity. 

This is why Israel is guilty in the eyes of everyone. This is why the world hates Israel.  

The world wants to progress into its own nirvana of personal pleasures and call it humane.  

We are the eternal testament to the folly of their foolishness. We represent an eternal God Who doesn’t change His world, His way, or His requirements of mankind. 

As part of the morality of its new world order, the world wants to say that things like “free love” are acceptable. Sodomy is chic. Having what you want, when you want it is a right. Those who comprehend this thinking most clearly are the rabbis and sages of this modern world.  

This morality is what the world wants. However, the existence of Israel is the everlasting testament to the fact that they can’t have it.  

We, the Jewish People, represent a world of absolute standards of law, given to us by Hashem Who gave us these laws at Sinai. We make a blessing over bread in the same manner as Moshe did the day he received these laws. We observe the same Shabbat as Adam, Avraham, and King David did over thousands of years. We make the same blessings over food they did, recite the same prayers they did, and learn the same Torah they did.  

Perhaps we have electric timers to turn a light on and off, or to set automatic heaters to heat our food, but it is always according to the law God gave us over three thousand years ago, and commands us to follow to this day.  

There is no progression away from God simply because someone invented WiFi. We, the Jewish People, represent this. The world, birthed by Egypt, hates us for it.  

It doesn’t matter if you are observant or not. As a Jew, you represent the contours of humanity, the borderlines of life. You are a picture of the path of happiness through HaKadosh Baruch Hu (The Holy One, Blessed be He). You don’t need to be observant – your very existence screams it to the four corners of the earth.  

That’s why we don’t say to Hamas, “We will win!” We don’t say to Hezbollah, “You will lose.” 

We simply say: Am Yisrael Chai. 

The people of Israel, and everything God put us in the world to stand for, endures.  

We will endure because God is eternal. The Torah is eternal.  

We are prosecuted in the UN and the ICC not for committing crimes against humanity but for committing the greatest crime against humanity — the crime of telling them the truth.  

*** 

David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his family, millions of sunflowers, and Matilda, our local camel. David‘s Israeli startup, 300 Marketing Solutions, is a lean marketing agency for startups and small businesses that creates and promotes SEO-optimized ROI-driven to the right audience on LinkedIn to make your business the star of the show.