What have we learned during this period about true wisdom? Here are some of the things I said at an event for Ariel University last week in London:
"Especially during these times, we understand how much knowledge is not enough. Academic knowledge, intellectual knowledge – all of this means nothing if you don't have the right values.
We saw what distortions come out of the most famous institutions in the world, from the most prestigious universities. You can be a professor at Harvard, but any 3-year-old child knows better than you how to distinguish between good and evil, between Israel and Hamas.
We learned that in the end, everything needs to be based on the right values, otherwise all the degrees in the world are meaningless.
There's a lot of talk about hasbara [public diplomacy], and that's important, but Rabbi Kook taught us about the right approach:
here in Britain, when the Balfour Declaration was accepted, which recognized the right of the Jewish people to a national home, Rabbi Kook said a profound sentence: ’I do not thank Britain, but rather bless it for the historical privilege it has, to do the right thing.’ In other words, Rabbi Kook doesn't beg and doesn't go overboard with gratitude. They're not doing us some kind of favor. He knows that God chose us and chose the Land of Israel, and that this is the correct historical direction, for the entire world. So he simply blesses Britain for the privilege it has, to be on the right side of history.
Thanks to the many brothers and sisters who even in confusing and turbulent times - are also today on the right side of history".
