A New World

I remember the hippy revolution some fifty odd years ago. I remember walking in Yorkville, a hippy hangout in Toronto, and some hippys were sitting on the steps of a porch, and one called out to me, “Shalom.”

It was a major upheaval. Kids were rejecting their parents’ way of life.

Fast forward to today. I’m noticing revolutionary upheaval. Television and movies have become less influential. Newspapers and mainstream media have lost ground to social media on the internet. It’s a new world.

Is it good or bad? It depends how it’s used.

When the hippy movement happened, many people wrung their hands in despair, worried about where society was headed. But the Lubavitcher Rebbe looked at it as an opportunity. The youth were waiting for, and were open to, direction.

It seems that now, too, there is an opportunity. And the message is getting through, as we see more acceptance of G-dly values.

Chassidus teaches that, unlike the Exodus from Egypt, when the Egyptians and their gods were smashed, the future Redemption will be user friendly, and accepted by all. As Isaiah prophesied (30; 15) “Peacefully and restfully you shall be saved, tranquility and trust will be your strength.”

Now is a time to take advantage, to calmly explain and reveal G-dliness, to the whole world.