By Rabbi Mark Borovitz
I was reading the articles about Facebook taking down the “hate women” pages that get posted. I am angry and upset that it has taken so long for social media to do things that are not tolerated in print media and the bastardization of free speech and global connection.
What does this have to do with Redemption? Everything! We live in a world where everyone and anyone can say things and start “revolutions” in a minute. We live in a world that is truly limitless in our ability to communicate and make changes happen globally. This is both wonderful and scary.
Scary because we live in a world that is unredeemed. People still compete and compare and this leads to hatred, intolerance and war. Make no mistake; we are in a war for the soul of the world! Social media, which I am using right now, gives everyone a platform to speak up, everyone can have a voice. The war is being fought based on which voice is going to speak up. Too much of social media's voice is about hatred and “against” someone or something, be it women, Israel, Islam, or political issues. The reason this happens is because most of us have not redeemed ourselves. We are still living in our own “Egypts,” our own “narrow places.” We now have a platform from which we can spread our hatred, our discontent with our lives, our negativity about others (really about ourselves) and gain a following that feeds all of these thoughts.
When we are Addicted to Redemption, we are able to fix ourselves and see the beauty and the not so beautiful parts of ourselves, others and the world. We are able to repair old damages to our being: physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. We are also able to spread a message of hope, spirit, love and Truth. We get out of Egypt and narrowness in order to put limits on our negativity. We are able to rally others to look inside themselves and redeem themselves in order to redeem others and our world.
This is the wonder and beauty of social media. This is how we can stop the evil that permeates ourselves and the world. This is how we STAND FOR something instead of against others. Every Spiritual Tradition has paths to redemption that start with the individual and go out to others. Let us all commit to using social media to tell the stories of our own redemption and help others redeem themselves and the world, instead of building ourselves up by tearing down others. Join me in being addicted to redemption so we can use the technology of today and tomorrow to enhance everyone, free everyone from the tyranny of hatred and comparisons and redeem the soul of the world so we “men learn war no more.”
