Question

Hi Michi,
Although I already presented you in the past with my idea about the hiding of the Divine face, I didn’t do so in detail. This time I want to ask in a focused way: what is your opinion of my idea that the disasters that have befallen the Jewish people are an expression of the Holy One, blessed be He’s displeasure at the fact—failure?—that the Jewish people chose to focus on preserving its unique identity instead of going deeper and understanding one thing from another—that our main role is to improve the worldview of the other nations, and in this way also improve their behavior.
For example: was it somehow decreed by fate that passing on faith in the one God to idol worshippers had to be “softened” by means of the “Holy Trinity”?! Or that monotheism would be accepted in a version that requires accepting Muhammad as the last of the prophets, with all the problems that come along with that?
Is there anything in our sources that can refute my claim?
It reminds me of the arguments I used to have with my former partner, who argued exactly this point: we will act as we are commanded, and separate ourselves from the gentiles. The gentiles will see our way of life, and that is how they will learn from us how to behave.
At that time I still didn’t understand—more precisely, I still hadn’t formulated for myself—that separateness creates an emotional barrier, and very often the result of that separateness is resentment.
And I return to the matter of the hiding of the Divine face, and I imagine the Holy One, blessed be He, wringing His hands in despair and shouting: what fools the Jews are!
Don’t they understand that separateness will bring only hatred?!
If the Torah scholars had devoted more intellectual energy and creativity to clarifying ways to reduce the violence in our world instead of focusing on laws of ritual impurity, kashrut, and the Sabbath, maybe our world would look different.
So in the meantime, all the best to you.