Obsessions: Why Are We So Obsessed?

I don’t know why, but I’m obsessed with writing these blogs.
Something is burning inside me—a message that insists on coming out.
And maybe that’s the starting point: obsession.

It drives people to create, to protect, to destroy.
It can fuel purpose—or plunge the world into chaos.
It can elevate. It can corrupt.

Food: Where It Begins

Take this week’s Parsha, Shemini, for instance.
We see the beginnings of an obsession with food—what is kosher, what is not, what animals we can eat and why.
It’s the moment where sacred service meets sacred consumption.

From there, the entire kosher world unfolds—laws, customs, and an endless string of stringencies.
There’s a deep sanctity surrounding food, but also an intensity.
A need to get it right.
A layering of identity, community, and spirituality around a plate of food.

Food becomes more than sustenance.
It becomes who we are.

And Then, Obsession Turns Dark

Today is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. A sacred moment to remember the six million. But also to reflect on what led to their murder: obsession.

Not a sudden outburst of violence. No.
A long, toxic, carefully cultivated obsession with Jews.

Europe didn’t stumble into genocide—it marched there.
Fueled by centuries of antisemitism. From medieval blood libels to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. From the Inquisition to forced conversions. From pogroms to ghettos.

The Holocaust was not a break from history. It was its climax.

And today? That obsession hasn’t vanished. It’s simply evolved.

After October 7: Obsession in the Echo Chamber

After the October 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel, you’d expect moral clarity. Outrage. Compassion.

Instead? We saw the mask drop.

A global echo chamber of slogans and chants.
University protests. Street marches. Social media feeds overflowing with hate.

“Death to Israel.”
“From the river to the sea.”
“Globalize the Intifada.”
And under it all, a whisper that sounds like a scream:
Eradicate the Jews.

This isn’t activism. It’s an obsession.
This isn’t about human rights. It’s about human erasure.

Why Are They So Obsessed?

Why does Israel—this tiny dot on the map—live in the minds of millions?
Why does our existence provoke such global fixation, far beyond what reason can justify?

Countries are crumbling economically, socially, and morally—
And yet, the obsession with Israel burns brighter than any concern for their own suffering.

A History of Fixation

This isn’t new.

Christianity was born from an obsession with one Jew—Jesus.
Islam built centuries of theological and political tension around the rejection of the Jew and, later, the denial of Israel.

Sharia law. Martyrdom. Global conquest. Much of it is framed with the Jew—and later, the Jewish State—as a central antagonist.

Then there’s the Palestinian narrative—built on partial truths and full lies. Repeated until obsession becomes identity.

The fixation is so deep that tunnels are built not to save life, but to end it.
Children are taught not to dream of peace, but to die for war.
Not for survival, but for the singular purpose of preventing Jews from having a home. A country. A state

It’s not a conflict. It’s an obsession.

But Let’s Be Honest: We Jews Have Our Own

We obsess too.

And we Jews—we’re not free of obsessions either.
We have our own.

Over food. Over Kashrut.
Over cleaning every crumb of chametz before Pesach.
The vegan vs. the meat lover, the ultra-makpid with the ultra-mehadrin, and Pesach hotels that look more like five-star retreats than festivals of freedom.

It’s intense. It’s identity. It’s love. It’s fear.

It’s what makes us who we are.

There’s a beauty to it. And a burden.
Because obsession, when held with care, becomes devotion.
But when left unchecked, it can become madness.

Maybe Obsession Is a Soul’s Cry

Maybe obsession is just the soul’s way of focusing its longing.
It needs to matter. To belong. To make sense of a world that doesn’t.

Maybe it’s our inner voice crying out: I want this to be holy.
I want to feel grounded. Safe. Chosen. Whole.

Maybe this is how we hold on—through rituals, rhythms, and relentless attention to detail.

Maybe this is how we survive.

Maybe it’s all part of being human.

And maybe that’s why food matters so much to us.
Because it’s one area we can control.
Shape. Infuse with meaning.

Maybe the sanctity we place around food is our attempt to bring holiness into the physical.
To tame the chaos. To elevate the mundane.
To make a meal more than just a meal.

But What If We Shifted Our Obsession?

If the world insists on being obsessed, what if it chose better obsessions?

Instead of fixating on Jews and Israel, what if we obsessed over climate change?
Over kindness. Over truth. Overcoming poverty, helping the hungry and sheltering the displaced.

Let’s be obsessed with building a better world.
Let’s be obsessed with integrity and peace.
Let’s be obsessed with empowering society for good.

Let’s shift the obsession away from hate. Away from lies. Away from destruction.

Let’s start by unpacking our own obsessions with food, identity, and control.
And maybe, just maybe, we’ll uncover something deeper—

Something sacred is hiding inside what we eat, what we believe, and what we fight for.

For further reflection, I invite you to read my blog, Rethinking Our Food Choices, which is on my Substack channel. Please read, share, and subscribe.

https://upgradingesg.substack.com/p/rethinking-our-food-choices

Below, I share a link for reflections for Yom Hashoah.

When God Was Silent: Yom HaShoah and October 7th