Do Jews Control the Whole World?

[00:00:00] It seems like Judaism has an inherent contradiction. [00:00:05] Every religion as well as every secular ideology believes that the whole world would be a better place if everyone would adhere to their tenets. [00:00:16] The only difference is that some are trying to achieve it by means of a carrot, which is convincing everyone that they are right, while others are trying to achieve it with a stick by waging wars. In the recent American history, we also had some attempts of spreading democracy by force. Did not work very well. [00:00:38] We Jews, on the other hand, say that the 613 commandments of the Torah are just for us Jews. There's no point for a non Jew to keep Shabbat. The Torah does have seven Mitzvot, Bnei Noach for non Jews. But we Jews have no obligation to compel Gentiles to follow them. [00:00:59] So it looks like our Jewish policy is live and let live. We do what we want and you do what you want. We couldn't care less what others believe. [00:01:12] But on the other hand, it is said in the Torah and in our liturgy that a day will come when the whole world will recognize one God. [00:01:25] Everyone will understand that we Jews are right and were right all along. [00:01:30] It is said that with the coming of Mashiach, our temple in Jerusalem will be the spiritual center for all nations. [00:01:39] So do we care what other nations believe or not? [00:01:46] The motto of Judaism is think globally, act locally. The Torah says that we must fulfill our Jewish duties by observing 613 commandments of the Torah. That is, you take care of what you need to do. But when we do that, we influence the whole world. This is the concept of tikkun olam, fixing the the world according to the Torah. Tikkun olam is not recycling and not saving whales. It is influencing all of humanity through spiritual channels by means of keeping mitzvot. [00:02:24] Maybe this is where the idea of Jews ruling the whole world came from. We do rule the whole world through keeping mitzvot. And if we do what we are required to do, then the Torah says the entire population of the planet will begin to understand the truth by themselves. [00:02:48] When the Alter Rebbe, the founder of the Lubavitch movement, was arrested in Tsarist Russia at the end of 18th century, the entire teachings of Chabad and the Hasidic movement itself were in danger. [00:03:03] The Alter Rebbe saw this threat as a sign that we had not done enough of our spiritual work. [00:03:10] When he was acquitted and the authorities recognized his right to teach the Torah, it was a huge spiritual milestone. The fact that non Jews stopped preventing us from doing our job as Jews marked a great step towards Tikkun Olam, the rectification of the world. [00:03:33] In the 1980s, when ancient books and manuscripts were stolen from the Lubavitch Library in New York, the case ended up in courts. Some people offered to buy these books out with their own money and returned them to the Rebbe. The Rebbe refused. [00:03:52] He wanted the legal case to go through. [00:03:57] The Rebbe saw a great value in non Jewish authorities recognizing our right to these books. [00:04:07] We Jews are not trying to convert others to our faith, neither with a stick nor with a carrot. We are not trying to convince anyone of anything. But we believe that if we do our job by observing the Mitzvot, we will rectify the world through spiritual channels and everyone will recognize one God and will do what he wants of them.