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Michael Laitman
Founder and president of Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute

Israel’s startup: Light unto the nations

Behold the glittery world of Israel’s booming tech industry of recent years. Young people, mainly between 25-35 years old, have suddenly become ultra-wealthy as their startups become “unicorns“, privately-owned companies with a value exceeding a billion dollars.

This phenomenon is not the sideshow of a lucky few. Today, it is considered one of the main engines driving the Israeli economy forward. These new rich have become a role model for many young people and the dream-come-true of the Israeli Jewish mother: the high-tech entrepreneur who makes a fortune.

With the money that the young high-tech entrepreneurs receive, they buy apartments and luxury vehicles, invest, initiate and are freed from economic worries. But they do not stop engaging in regular life by going on permanent vacation. They also do not stop working just because of the huge additions to their bank accounts. The reason for this is that money is not the main driving force for their work.

Their source of attraction to the industry is the exciting competition, the pleasure of the game and of creation, the joy of invention and innovation. These are the things that fill them with utter satisfaction, and economic gain is only a nice bonus, albeit a welcomed one, but not one that will fundamentally change their occupation. We can understand them.

Technology is an intriguing and interesting field, and in a sense it is as if they feel like the industry gives them a spark of divinity — able to create and change the world, upgrade life and influence society through a few taps of the keyboard. The tech field today does have the power to generate tremendous change, and for the Jews, all the more so. Therefore, it is not by chance that Israel is positioning itself as a world leader in this industry.

The Jewish mind is built for innovation. If we explored the Jewish mind through brain imaging, it would not show any special areas that are exceptional, and yet, it is wired differently: it has a tendency to combine contradictory discernments into one, the ability to combine the opposites in one whole, harness plus and minus to the same cart.

Since the formation of the Jewish people in the ancient times of Abraham, the Jewish mind was designed to bring spiritual solutions to the world when they are needed: to unite hatred and love and tie them together into an exciting creation, the pinnacle of human society’s development. But in the meantime, until this goal has fully matured, the Jewish mind dabbles in high-tech. Not just in software creation, but in development and research in order to strengthen the Israeli nation as a high-tech power so that we are on firm footing in all areas, especially militarily where protection and the ability to attack are necessities in order for us to continue to survive as a small country.

In saying this, I am not suggesting that all members of the nation sit in front of a computer screen. Rather, we can anticipate that in the near future approximately 30% of society will work in high-tech, while the rest will engage in other professions essential to society, such as medicine and engineering, agriculture and teaching.

It is also worthwhile to prepare for the smooth integration of an influx of new immigrants to Israel in advance. There is no doubt that their contributions will benefit the high-tech industry and give it momentum. When the time comes, when the State will prosper even more in fulfilling people’s needs, we will identify and discover the one main thing we still lack: spiritual meaning—to know who we are, what we live for, what our role as a people is in relation to the world. These will be the questions that will float naturally to the surface when the ceiling of material development is reached. A clear answer to those questions will give us complete meaning in life.

Our goal is to become a united society, a spiritual power, a “light unto the nations.” If we anticipate developing such a tendency as this, then we will make an eternal fortune. The fruits of such an industry will provide new impetus and intellect to propel us to discover and realize a whole new phase in human development: a millennium of peace.

About the Author
Michael Laitman is a PhD in Philosophy and Kabbalah. MSc in Medical Bio-Cybernetics. Founder and president of Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute. Author of over 40 books on spiritual, social and global transformation. His new book, The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Choice-Anti-Semitism-Historical-anti-Semitism/dp/1671872207/
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