I'm very thankful to Steve White for his many kind words about me and my column in his comments on it in his column two weeks ago. Sadly, as he reported since the column that I wrote a month ago, many more incidences of hate have occurred.

As I like to point out, we live today in the best eras of human history. We have so much abundance, conveniences, and pleasures. Still, people are so disgruntled and upset. So many people across the spectrum think that we are at the apocalypse. Why?

As I quoted in the past Yuval Noach Harari, a professor at Hebrew University, “For the first time in Human History, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; more people commit suicide than from being killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together.”

If so, why are we so upset?

I don't know the right answer. I'm sure the answer is multi-faceted, it involves the media, social media, politicians, and many other things.

My hope is that one day every news channel will also have a section “positive news”. There is much positive news and one important solution to many problems will be to start looking more positively at the world, at our neighbors, and at ourselves.

I commend Steve's courage in stating that he might have made a mistake with the article he wrote last year strongly criticizing the seasonal Jewish community in Sullivan County. I'm not taking sides on the actual issues, but I believe that much can be achieved with normal dialogue “outside of town halls”.

I also disagree with Steve that, “Moshe is way more righteous than I”. I believe that the measurement of righteousness lies in the effort and sacrifice that a person does for moral choices, for other people, and for the Creator. Who knows who puts in more effort to be righteous?

I agree with Steve that more security and self-defense is needed, but that doesn't take the place of fighting hate with love. In this article I want to add a component, “fighting disgruntlement with positivity”.

Sullivan County's population is 77,000 according to Wikipedia's quote from the Census Bureau. When we turn around and shine positivity to ourselves, neighbors, and communities, we will accomplish really a lot in our county. Once our county is a hub of positivity, I'm sure the whole country will be affected.

Also, even when we do criticize, we can't forget about the positive sides as well. Sadly, many times people criticize the Orthodox Jewish community without bringing out the positive. In such a case, people just shut down and don't listen.

As I said, I don't take sides on the issues, but one cannot criticize the twenty days of traffic on Route 42 (Friday and Sunday) in the summer, without pointing out that the summer community brings vitality to the county and to its economy. I'm not minimizing the issues people have, but knowing the positive sides and pointing them out, makes the arguments more effective and is healthier for everyone, including for the one who criticizes.

May we only hear good news in the year 2020!

“Making a blessing over life is the best way of turning life into a blessing.” - Rabbi Sacks

Comments? Email me: moshe@jaketv.tv.