The Rebbe said, that the world is ready for Moshiach and that the nations of the world are ready for Moshiach and they are ready to keep the 7 laws of Noah. The Rebbe also told CNN that Moshiach is on the way and all we have to do is add in the realm of goodness and kindness. The Rebbe also said we have completed all our spiritual work that we needed to do in exile “to elevate the sparks” and now all the Mitzvos we are doing have a new function. The new function is, bringing down and reveling the light of Moshiach in the physical world. Therefore, every time we do a Mitzvah it reveles more of the light of Moshiach in the physical world and it manifests itself by having an effect on the actual physical world! We see results if this every time there is another breakthrough in world peace, more abundance, less hunger, more wealth, more health, longer life, etc…each occurrence of this type, is a direct result of people Studiying Torah and doing Mitzvos and specifically studying about Moshaich and redemption. A good example of this is what happened in Cincinanti on Monday January 2nd 2023, some say it is a peek into the near future when there will be no wars, no hate, no jealousy no illness and no hunger. One of the players for the Buffalo Bills (of the opposing team ) suffered a very serious injury in a freak accident on the field it was so severe that he had to be resuscitated twice. For the first time in NFL history the game was suspended due to an injury. Yet nobody was upset, everyone was focused on what just happened. There have been many injuries and many accidents in sports but the reaction that we had this time, was a first. All the fans from both teams were in shock as well as many of the players. Although this was an extremely important game for the Cincinanti Bengals nobody entertained the idea of continuing the game. The outpouring of love, compassion and support was unprecedented in sports history. In addition, the player had a charity that in the past raised a couple of hundred thousand dollars, since the incident in a just a couple of days it has raised over $8,000,000 dollars! People want to support him and express acts of kindness on his behalf. Talk show hosts are asking and articles are being written about this incident. They are asking what is so different with this incident versus other incidents? Why was the reaction so much more extreme! People will say that the way it happened and what happened etc…but some people say that the the real spiritual reason is that, somehow, this opened up a flood of goodness and kindness in people. Mercy and compassion where everywhere, people that normally aren’t moved to tears were very emotional. Another first was that the hosts of one of the most watched sports channel on TV stopped their show, and on live TV prayed to G-D to heal the player. Prefacing that they hoped it was okay to do this on line TV, It was a very generic prayer just saying how when we need help we turn to G-D to answer our prayers. Here we see again how the world changed, a world where goodness and kindness is everywhere a world where we don’t only think about ourselves, a world filled with the knowledge of G-D, and a world filled with peace, tranquility health and wealth, in the material and spiritual.
For thousands of years, although it was incumbent upon the Jewish people to teach the Seven Laws of Noah to the people of the world It was never done in great measure, due to the fear of persecution.
But lately, there has been huge explosion of interest in the Seven Laws of Noah. Some people estimate that there are currently around 20,000 practicing Noachides around the world. This is unprecedented by all standards! In previous generations an individual here and there might have heard about it, but now it has gone mainstream. There are now many websites that are dedicated to the Seven Laws of Noah. Lately, there have been many books that were published on the subject. And in addition to the thousands of people that are practicing Noachides, there are millions more that were exposed and are aware in some way or another about the Seven Laws of Noah and they try to follow some of them, and that number grows every day. in fact, the president of the United States Ronald Regen signed a proclamation (#4921) mentioning the importance of the Seven Nohide Laws..and again, president Bush signed a proclamation (#5957) mentioning the importance of the Seven Laws of Noah. In 2004 the leader of the Druze community in isreal signed a declearation, calling on all non Jews living in isreal to follow the Seven Laws of Noah. The fact that so many people are keeping the laws of Noah and so many millions more heard about it are all signs of the world becoming a Moshiach world. Becuase when Moshiach comes the Jews will not be persecuted anymore by some of the non Jewish - nations, in fact, the Non -Jews will help the Jewish people. The primary reason that The Seven Laws of Noah have not been publicised for all these thousands of years is due to the fact that the Jewish people were afraid of the terrible repercussions and persecutions that would result from this effort, as a very brief review of the history of the Jewish people will show. Now, that the world has changed and it has become a world much closer to Moshaich, we are seeing it’s effects in our day to day lives. One of the major effects of the world become more of a Moshaich world, is visible in the fact that we are not afraid anymore and are able to publicise The Seven Laws of Noah freely. Whereas, until now it was not done at all!! This helps us see how the approach of the world in general towards the Jews has changed drastically for the good. Taking it a step further, the fact that thousands of people practice the Seven Laws of Noah and millions more are aware of the Seven Laws of Noah and try to Incorporate in in some form into their lives, indicates how the world itself is preparing for and becoming more Moshaich oriented. Because when Moshaich comes the entire world will keep the Seven Laws of Noah and the whole world will serve Hashem as one. So we have two exciting indiocators of change here 1) That we are able to publicise the Seven Laws of Noah and publicise it to such a degree that 2 sitting U.S presidents have mentioned it in their public declaration that becomes a public record of the government of the United States of America.
2) The fact that so many people are starting to keep the Seven Laws of Noah and so many more are aware of them as the world is moving foreward into a Moshaich world where everyone will keep the Seven Laws of Noah.
So again here we have another example of how the world changed from one extreme to another, for the good!!
This quote from Maimonides is in the final paragraph of his mganum opus, Mishnah Torah. It is from the last chapter, where he describes what the world will look like when Moshaich comes. The Rebbe has told us we need to open our eyes and we can see how Moshaich is here! Here is an article, that shows how since 1990 the amount of people in the world living in extreme poverty has fallen drastically! Where it used to be around 35% of the world population lived in extreme poverty, by 2019 it became less then 8% of the world population that lives in extreme poverty. In numbers, that translates to 2 billion people living in extreme poverty as of 1990 and to less then 500 million living in extreme poverty in 2019! By now 2023 we can assume the numbers have dropped even lower!
Israel is 5th safest country in the world for tourists - study December 7, 2022. This week in 1991 the Rebbe pointed out that we just have to open our eyes properly and see how everything is ready for the Geulah! One of the ways we can open our eyes is by seeing things around us and how they are connected to Moshiach. As we have said in the past when something in Torah fits with the narrative of the physical world it’s further sign of g-ds presence being revealed in the world. An intresting study came out yesterday that says Israel is the 5th safest place in the world! Interestingly enough the Torah teaches that Israel is the safest place in the world because g-d is constantly watching it. The rebbe pointed out many many times they Israel is the safest place in the world! Before this study people might have a perception that Israel is not safe, and one has to be reminded that the Torah says it is the safest place in the world but now we have reached a point where the “world” says that Israel is the fifth safest place in the world. now I know they’re not saying that it is the safest place in the world, but I think I will get there eventually. Just the fact that they are saying that it is the fifth safest place in the world, which seems surprising to many people is a sign that we are heading in the right direction.
When Moshaich comes, there will be the complete fusion of the spiritual and the physicial, we will see how the physical world is not at odds with godliness, but spirituality is part and parcel of this physical world, it’s just that until now it was hidden and now it’s being revealed. One of the ways how we see this taking place is how science (the world) is acknowledging the eternal truths found in the Torah. Whereas, until now, if you followed the Torah you were scorned for being old fashioned. Now there is an outburst of “discoveries” that seems to align with a Torah way of life, which brings health, wealth and blessings into a persons life. One such “discovery” is the function of sleep and dreams. In the last decade scientists have found that sleep and dreams (deep sleep, non -rem) act as a waste mangent system for the brain. It cleans the brain of toxins and helps our brain function better. Well what do you know, in the year 1817, in a discourse by the Mitteler Rebbe, the third Chabad Rebbe, (Shabbos Chazon Matzil Any) the function of sleep is explained, and why it’s needed. The Mittler Rebbe explaines that during sleep the intellect gets rid of its waste, by sorting the good from the bad, and this allows a person to think clearly after the sleep. And just like the body has a cleaning system in its external organs or faculties ( the digestive system) the body also has a cleaning system for its internel organs and facilities namely the intellect. He also explaines why exile is compared to a dream that just like in sleep and dreams we refine the intellect, the same things happens in exile, we refine and sort the good from the bed until the world is fully refined and ready for moshiach.
This quote from Maimonides is in the final paragraph of his mganum opus Mishneh Torah. Its from the last chapter where he describes what the world will look like when moshaich comes. Here is a an Intresting article that helps us see the possibly that even without miracles we can change people from being selfish into good and kind people. Where jelousy will not be an issue. Naturally we don’t know where the research will lead but the point we are making here is that even “nature” is starting to identify physical parts of the brain that control kindness and the like.
Study identifies neural connections that regulate prosocial and selfish behavior in mice
Coronal section of a mouse brain. In red the basolateral amygdala detected using a fluorescent marker Credit: Scheggia et al.
Humans and animals can exhibit a wide variety of behaviors when interacting with their peers. These include both prosocial behaviors, voluntary actions aimed at supporting or helping others, and selfish or opportunistic behaviors, which prioritize one's own needs or desires.
Several past neuroscience studies have investigated the neural processes involved in social connection, particularly in terms of the brain regions and neurotransmitters associated with bonding or intimacy. However, so far very little is known about the brain mechanisms underlying selfish or altruistic actions.
Researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) and University of Milan have recently carried out a study aimed at filling this gap in the literature, by examining the activation and firing of neurons in the mice brain as the animals engaged in prosocial or selfish behaviors.
Their paper, published in Nature Neuroscience, identifies a series of prosocial or selfish behavior-specific reciprocal connections between neurons in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, two brain regions associated with complex behavioral planning and emotional regulation, respectively.
"Over the past years, I felt a loss of the common sense of collectiveness, even before the pandemic, that contributed to self-centered concern and a disregard of others," Diego Scheggia, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told MedicalXpress. "Of course, recent physical distancing and quarantine policies further disrupted our daily social interactions and resulted in increased social isolation. The goal of my recent study was to understand the social factors and neurobiological determinants of altruism and self-interest."
To examine the neural mechanisms underpinning altruistic and selfish behaviors, Scheggia and his colleagues first designed a new experimental task that would encourage these different types of behaviors in animals. This social decision-making task offered animals two simple choices: sharing a reward with their peers or not. The researchers then used this task to perform an experiment on several adult mice.
"The task we used was modeled on the human game-theoretical paradigm known as the 'dictator game' in which a 'dictator' decides whether to share a reward with a conspecific," Scheggia explained. "In this task, we measured the neural activity of the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala that show substantial differences between prosocial and selfish subjects."
Magnification of the basolateral amygdala. In red the neurons activated during the behavioral task "dictator game." Credit: Scheggia et al.
Essentially, Scheggia and his colleagues found that the mice's decision to share their food reward with other mice depended on several factors. These factors included the mice's level of familiarity with their peers, their sex, previous social contacts, levels of hunger, hierarchical status and their emotional attunement.
Subsequently, the researchers used chemogenetics, techniques that entail the use of synthetic drugs to manipulate specific brain pathways, to silence the activity of some neurons. This allowed them to determine whether silencing specific neurons automatically resulted in more prosocial or selfish behaviors.
"We observed that silencing the neurons in the prefrontal cortex that are connected to the basolateral amygdala modulated choices guided by self-interest," Scheggia said.
The results gathered by this team of researchers highlight the role of neurons in the basolateral amygdala(BLA) in promoting prosocial decisions. Specifically, they suggest that BLA neurons projecting on the prelimbic (PL) part of the prefrontal cortex mediate the development of a preference for altruistic choices in mice. In contrast, the preference for selfish behaviors appeared to be mediated by the projection of neurons in the PL prefrontal cortex to the BLA brain region.
In the future, the findings of this study could pave the way for interesting new discoveries about the impact of interactions between neurons in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex on the nature of animal behaviors. The work by Scheggia and his colleagues also outlines a possible neurobiological model of altruistic and selfish choices, which could help to better understand the issues with social decision-making associated with some psychiatric disorders.
"As a result of the pandemic, more selfish and antisocial behavior have risen, thus threatening to multiply psychiatric diagnoses in the next few years," Scheggia added. "Unraveling the nature of brain mechanisms underlying social decision-making could represent a crucial step to suggest novel treatments for social dysfunctions and antisocial behaviorthat occur in several psychiatric conditions and neurodegenerative disorders. Building on the findings of our recent study, we are now exploring the role of previous experience and emotional memories on prosocial and selfish choices."
More information: Diego Scheggia et al, Reciprocal cortico-amygdala connections regulate prosocial and selfish choices in mice, Nature Neuroscience (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-022-01179-2
