Millennium - A Confused Generation

As we enter the new millennium there are a lot of unexplained events happening around the world.

Here at home the stock market just keeps on moving like a trailer truck without breaks.  The market knows no restraint.

It used to be that a person investing in the market would check carefully for what is known as the bottom line.  Are there profits, assets, and what has been the past performance?  It only makes sense to ask those questions. 

See what investors are doing today.  For example, the stock Amazon.com has had no profits and is guaranteed to lose at least $350 million this year.  Its past performance shows large losses and by all means it should be a loser and it is not.  It staggers the mind to hear that the stock may be moving higher and higher with no profits and guaranteed losses!

Things at the movie industry are strange.  It has been reported that a record amount of actors are turning to religion.  Imagine, Madonna is studying Kabbalah and Kirk Douglas has become a reborn Jew, complete with a new Bar Mitzvah ceremony!  Stranger than the X-Files.

Let's see what is happening with world leadership.  Recently, the elected Russian leader, Boris Yeltsin, unexplainably stepped down from his job as Prime Minister.  A day or two later he took a plane to, of all places, Bethlehem.  There he joined in a worship service.  Try to explain that.

In the Middle East there is now talk of peace between the Jews and the Arabs.  Syria, the most hated enemy of Israel is willing to sign a peace agreement, as did Yassir Arafat.  That the Jews are willing to give away the Golan Heights is mind boggling.

Religious groups are as busy as ever.  Pope John Paul, in a recent visit to India, released a document on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church in Asia.  He called for a new millennium movement; evangelisation throughout the continent.

In response, the Hindu Right Wing leader, H.V. Seshadri, has answered the call with,  "We are under great threat.  We must remain on guard."  This leader is the ideological mentor of the Federal Coalition Government that controls India.  Tensions between Hindus and Christians are at an all time high.  It wasn"t too long ago that missionaries were attacked and prayer halls burnt.  In Egypt, the practicing Christians fare no better.

The Evangelist world eagerly awaits the Second Coming of the founder of the Christian religion.  They claim that the State of Israel will be changed forever with Christianity becoming the world religion.  Israel, worried about the prediction, is concerned that some pilgrims to the Holy Land may speed up the process.  They beefed up their police force, adding new police stations at sacred places of holy worship. 

If that is not enough to worry about, the Director of Mental Health has issued a report concerning a strange disease called the "Jerusalem Syndrome" where people become possessed with voices of G‑dly proportions and act on them.  They have prepared ample hospital space should such an event take place.

As the threats of religious happenings increases so does the threat of real terrorism. 

You may call it religious terrorism like Islamic militants and Hindu militants.  There are Christians, Jews, and Buddhists who are all convinced that their way is the right way. 

Political terrorism and cyber terrorism on the Internet is also a real concern as terrorism is terrorism.

Recently, one of the most important Buddhist spiritual leaders, a 14 year old Karmapa Lama, has escaped from China.  He has caused tremendous excitement in the Tibetan population.  Karmapa Lama is the third highest member of the Dalai Lama and is accepted both by the Beijing China and by the Tibetan leader in exile.  The current Dalai Lama has met the young 14 year old and there has been no word on what takes place when they meet. Who knows what plans are in store for the world?  Indeed, is there a religious leader that gives the millennium generation clear directions?

I think it may be the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

New York State houses the headquarters of the world wide Chabad Lubavitch Movement.  This Jewish hassidic group is currently celebrating a 50-year milestone.  It was in early 1950 that the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, assumed the leadership of the hassidic movement.

The Rebbe, as he is called by millions, changed the way the Jewish movement worked.  Instead of waiting for Jews to look for religious meaning he began outreach programs to reach out and find those lost in a world bereft of warmth or meaning.  The Rebbe became a teacher and guide for the poor unlettered Jews as well as to the richly educated ones.  Whether you were a Holocaust survivor, assimilated Jew, or an ordinary guy the Rebbe had something to offer.  The Rebbe also offered non-Jews direction and influenced many a non-Jew to live a better and meaningful life.  Do a good deed and goodness will follow.  Bring a little light to the world was the Rebbe's message.  He was fond of saying, "A little light dispels a lot of darkness."

For many years the Rebbe would inspire Jews and non-Jews alike.  He helped bring G‑d Almighty into many lives.  Religious freedom and expression were his mission.  Public menorah lightings, a moment of silence in the public school and a massive campaign of publicizing the seven Noachide laws are his everlasting contribution to the world.

The Rebbe told his world of followers that things were cooking.  He foretold of a time when the communist government rule would fail.  That Iran would lose its status as a super power and be punished and that there would be peace movements in the world.  Uncharted waters were a challenge for the Rebbe.  He seemed to say that when things get a bit shaky out there, it is time to do good.  One must take advantage of the searching for religious beliefs and find a common goal for peace.  This, he claimed, would be accomplished if all religious people would go back to their roots, Noah, and observe the Noachide Laws.  They are: Do not worship idols.  Do not blaspheme.  Do not murder.  Do not steal.  Do not commit immoral sexual acts.  Do not be cruel to animals, and maintain justice.

The only way we will be able to be prepared for the events that the millennium will bring is by performing acts of kindness and love.

On Monday, January 17^th thousands of people worldwide will celebrate the Rebbe's accession to the Lubavitch movement.  Take the time to reach out and touch somebody with an act of kindness and love.