Vayishlach: The Great Realignment

About a year ago, during the height of COVID lockdown in London, I spent lots of time in a popular park in Central London.

One day as I was sitting on a bench in the park, I noticed a friend of mine from a distance.

As I came closer to him, I realized that he was engaged in an intense conversation with someone.

He noticed me, and immediately introduced me to his friend, who had just moved back to London from NY.

As they say, we hit it off quite naturally, talking for the most part about the mental impact of COVID, especially on school children.

Before we parted, he mentioned his name and I left them both to continue their conversation.

I was deeply curious. The man I had just met had tremendous energy and was, I believe, a creative genius.

He seemed to have his finger on the pulse of Generation Z.

I immediately searched his name on google. It turned out that he was the founder and CEO of one of the most successful producers of video games in the world.

Being a big believer in “Divine Providence,” I knew that I had to meet him again.

I asked my friend to arrange an appointment. He bluntly replied, “don’t hold your breath.”

He explained to me that his friend was working day and night on producing his next video game.

I asked if he would at least kindly pass on a message. He said he would.

I asked myself, what could I possibly say which would grab his attention.

When all else fails one speaks genuine words of truth, without the slightest nuance of an agenda.

After some thought, I asked my friend to send the following message:

“I would like to meet you because I believe you can bring the Messiah”.

My friend promptly advised me that his friend would certainly think I’m crazy, however, he nevertheless agreed to send it.

Twenty minutes later he received a response. “Tell your Rabbi friend that I would very much like to meet him.”

We met in the same park, on a hill overlooking London. We spoke for about three hours.

It became obvious from our conversation, that the world was desperately seeking a profound realignment.

Not just because we are becoming more aware our emotional and mental wellbeing - but also and especially because we are becoming more sensitive to our core spiritual identity.

Young people today are resigning in their millions, even from well-paying jobs. They are doing so without alternative employment.

The CEO of Microsoft was recently quoted as saying:

“Not only are people talking about when, where, and how they work, but also why they work.”

Messiah = the perfect alignment of interest.

“No war, no poverty. No envy, no hate”.

Who could argue with that?

At no time in history have we experienced the interconnection and interdependence of society, as we are now.

Win/lose as an option of engagement is losing its appeal.

We are desperately looking for that alignment of interest.

But that journey begins from within each and every one of us.

We all need that alignment between the ‘physical’, ‘emotional’, ‘mental’ and ‘spiritual’.

There is however a secret to attaining this inner peace.

It all begins with our core identity. Inner peace can only be achieved if it is predicated on the ‘spiritual’ level.

And “If not now, when?”