We resist people that want us to change and especially those that demand change. Change under such conditions means that I have to give up something that I very much treasure: my self-importance. If the demand for change persists, if it’s really in-my-face, and especially if it goes against my core values, then what starts out as irritation can quickly become full-blown hatred.

You can find many examples of this in everyday life, but nowhere is it more evident than what is happening in America today, in the political and ideological landscape defined by the liberal left versus the conservative right, where each side stands firm on its views, across an ever-widening political divide that increasingly forebodes violence and riots.

Here it’s important to understand our nature: Conceding to any demand for change brings us such a sensation of lowness that our ego can’t tolerate it. We don’t feel any reward in sacrificing something for the sake of others—especially our righteous indignation—and so we oppose the ones demanding change.

In the America of today, this has taken the form of significant anti-change protests, unrelenting accusations against the other side (including efforts to delegitimize the Trump presidency), along with an explosion of hate crimes and inexplicable murders.

Interestingly, at the same time, we have also seen a significant rise in anti-Semitism, for example, vandalism of Jewish cemeteries and bomb threats against Jewish Community Centers, schools, synagogues, and Anti-Defamation League offices. This may give one pause to consider if there is there a connection.

Indeed, there is a connection. But to understand the connection, we have to step back and take a look at the ancient past of the Jewish people.

The Jewish people, specifically those in Abraham’s time that implemented his teaching of correction, achieved a spiritual state that enabled them to fulfill the main spiritual law of loving another as yourself; meaning, they acquired the ability to relate to others as if they were relating to themselves.

Just as we, in our current nature, operate according to an automatic inner program, egoism, that always chooses what is good for us, they acquired an additional program, altruism, that superseded any thought of self in favor of others. The benefit to this was, and still is, enormous: the attainment of oneness with the resulting sensation of belonging to an eternal, whole, and perfect system, that is, eternal life filled with enormous spiritual pleasures.

In order to share this blissful state with the rest of humanity, it was necessary that the people of Israel lose the sensation of oneness, descend once again to the level of separateness, and then become, as you may have heard, ”a Light unto the nations.” Now, in our days, by uniting once again above all their differences, Jews will become both an example and the means for the rest of humanity to achieve the exalted state of oneness.

This is important to understand because it explains the connection between Jewish opposition that leads to disunity and separation and the rise in anti-Semitism.

This is because once the Jewish people achieved the state of oneness—loving your neighbor as yourself, in complete contrast to our current nature—and with this attainment becoming their unique spiritual heritage, they became directly responsible for the happiness and well-being of the rest of humanity. And because non-Jews subconsciously recognize this dependence on Jews for their personal well-being, they automatically respond in negative ways whenever Jews bring about disunity.

This, then, is the root cause of rising anti-Semitism. In such a manner, even unknowingly, Jews evoke it upon themselves, and it will transform into positive support only when they accept their unique role and demonstrate to everyone the benefits of oneness in love and unity above all differences.

By Brenda Jones