Like a tornado that tears through the countryside, leaving trees with their roots exposed and cars suspended in impossible places-Western society is undergoing a profound upheaval. Long-held assumptions about identity, freedom, security, and human expression are being challenged and, in many cases, discarded. And yet, we hold the answers to some of the deepest existential questions of humanity today in our holy texts.
In Likutei Moharan 67:2, Rebbe Nachman writes of the time when “Glory is blemished and has no face." Glory is then described as the face of God, as the text quotes from Numbers 6:26 “May God lift up His countenance toward you."
What does it mean for God to lift His countenance toward His people? It is the revelation of His presence in the world through His abundant kindness, providence, and protection. The Divine Countenance is seen when God's sovereignty is made manifest-when justice prevails, the innocent are defended, and the weak, vulnerable, and righteous find refuge under His care.
On the other hand, when there is a “concealment of the face," The manifestation of God’s kingship, his power over the world is diminished and impoverished and succumbs to the Other Side (forces of darkness), namely the brazenfaced (Likutei Moharan 67:4). At this time, his glory is obscured, and the world seems abandoned to the insolent and brazen forces of the Sitra Achra, the “Other Side." In such times, evil becomes emboldened, while holiness and truth become fragile.
Western Europeans are experiencing a chaotic rejection of values that touches at the core of their existence. We can see instances in Britain, in France, and across Europe, where the sense of terror is palpable. Like the dread an antelope feels at the sight of a group of lions encircling it.
Ten years ago, a French-Israeli co-worker of mine told me that she feels fear the minute she lands at the airport in Paris. I looked at her with compassion. “You mean as a Jew?" I asked. She responded, “No-as a human being."
This is the personal experience of someone who had an instinctive sense of fear in reaction to her perception of the surrounding moral environment.
One horror story in the UK is the exposure of the so-called “grooming gangs" - organized child sexual exploitation networks - with what seems to have been an intentional cover up by the politicians and the media. These failures have fueled accusations of systemic negligence and, in some instances, deliberate suppression of the truth. Public confidence has been shaken as questions continue to be asked about why vulnerable girls were mistreated for so long.
This was followed in June of this year by the release of police footage and transcripts of the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak who suffered his last breath handcuffed under the custody of the British police despite repeatedly telling officers he had been stabbed. At the same time, his assassin (and supposed victim) was taken on a tour of the canteen. The incident has come to personify the complete failure of British police to take proper protective and investigative action at the scene of a crime.
In the last ten years, France has seen the monstrosity of murder by decapitation not once, but several times. Among the most widely recognized cases was the execution of 84-year-old Catholic priest Jacques Hamel, attacked before the eyes of his helpless congregation while celebrating Mass. Another was the murder of secondary school teacher Samuel Paty, upon exiting school grounds where he taught.
Segments of the local media’s discussion of these affairs can resemble an uprooted tree: attention is drawn toward the outer branches - secondary issues - while the real roots - motivations - remain unexamined and are diverted to secondary speculation.
Should a Sikh be permitted to carry a very large knife in the UK? Should academics have the freedom to critique or analyze Islam? Who is a racist? These detached musings do not address the prevailing violence.
The fundamental core of all morality, the commandment: “Thou shall not kill," becomes an inconvenient consideration. There is no accountability for acts of ruthless, primitive brutality.
When these secondary discussions are not front and center, a troubling new question makes its way in these very same unhealthy debates: “How can responsibility be shifted onto the victim in suggestion that their personae, is the essential culprit for their downfall?" This is when the focus on the actions of perpetrators shifts to scrutiny of those who were harmed.
This troubling distortion of perception is what made it possible for police officers to arrest young girls begging to be rescued from grooming gangs, as well as to allow the victim of a stabbing to bleed to death in police custody.
This same deformation also shaped the tone of the the debate on the death of Quentin Deranque (to be discussed below). The death of a person does not make the desecration of their reputation taboo. Quite the contrary, to illustrate further:
In February 2026, 23-year-old Quentin Deranque was beaten to death in Lyon by a group of thugs while serving as a body guard for young women who came to protest a speech by Rima Hassan. Rima Hassan is French politician of Palestinian Arab background who was banned from entering Israel in February 2025 due to her hateful vitriol. Freedom of expression, normally guaranteed under French law, was the motivation for the slaying. We can observe the disorientation of French public discourse, in the disturbing way in which his memory is being honored:
“Quentin’s parents are broken and the media bias in the reporting does not allow them to mourn… daily attacks on the reputation of their son, his name thrown to the dogs, harassment by certain media channels whose supposed “investigation" only aim to tarnish his memory," as reported in C-News based on an interview with Le Figaro.
I refer again to the case of Henry Nowak, whom, you will recall, was not treated by the police until he died. The footage is deeply disturbing, and for that reason I have chosen not to include it here.
I do wish, however, to present the words of his father, in a statement to the press:
“Henry had been stabbed multiple times... his chest filled with blood...When police arrived, Henry was lying on the floor, barely able to sit up and plainly in severe medical distress.
With his final words, he told officers that he could not breathe... Henry told officers that he could not breathe nine times. He told them he had been stabbed four times. The response from one officer was, ‘I don't think you have, mate.’
Henry was pulled across the gravel, his hands forced behind his back, and he was placed in handcuffs. Instead of being treated as a dying victim, police formally arrested Henry for assault and read him his rights.
Henry did not die with dignity… with the care he deserved. He lost consciousness before anyone believed him… The way he was treated was inhumane and degrading. “
His assassin was:
“afforded decency… believed… whilst under arrest for Henry's murder, police even took him to the kitchen so he could choose his food. The contrast is unbearable."
Can there be a more haunting depiction of “God has no face"?
Solutions for social conflicts will not come unless they are solidly rooted in the principle of “The soul is most precious. One must be careful with it and guard it well." (Likutei Moharan 67:1)
Elsewhere we can see how the “brazenfaced Other Side" has risen with great force in our generation.
French politician Jordan Bardella, in a discussion with journalist Darius Rochebin, denounced the “barbarization of French society."
In an interview with the French radio program RCM, one of the founders of Le Canon Français-whose mission is to create large festive banquets around traditional French culture-described the threats he has received, stating that he is “threatened with death quite regularly." Among the messages directed at him was a chilling social media post: “We are going to do a Deranque on you."
The journalist confirmed the term “Deranque":
“That is the name of the young man who was killed in Lyon?" “Yes."
Not only has the victim’s name been denied the honor it deserves; it has now been absorbed into the French lexicon as a perverse, cynical, and violent expression of premeditated murder.
Unfortunately, while editing this article, I came upon news of another assassination in France. Louis - whose last name is not publicized in the French press, most likely due to the fact that he was a minor - was beaten into a coma by a group of adolescents and died on June 23, 2026.
This 17 year old had been placed under the care of L’Aide Sociale à L’enfance, the French equivalent of Child Protective Services in the US. On the 11th of May, he had filed a complaint with the police department of Narbonne. On June 12th, a week before his death, he once again requested protection in a police station in Tarn, for acts of violence so severe that they had left him in the hospital. Perhaps out of fear of retaliation, he chose not to file an official complaint.
A week later, he died under extremely brutal and cruel circumstances. He was beaten and abandoned, and his unconscious body was discovered the following day. Evidence appears to indicate that the killing was premeditated, and investigators believe it may have been motivated by a desire for revenge, although the exact motive remains unclear.
Police were alerted by an acquaintance of one of the alleged perpetrators after she received a video he had sent her as a trophy and reported it to authorities.
Likutei Moharan addresses its message to the Jewish nation, but its message is universal.
“The soul is most precious. One must be careful with it and guard it well." (Likutei Moharan 67:1).
Any discussion of the concerns confronting modern Western society have to stand firm on the protection and dignity of the human soul. This is the foundation of the equilibrium that sustains humanity. Otherwise, as Nowak’s father stated “the contrast is unbearable."
A society where murder becomes unremarkable and even defensible, cannot endure. Certainly not one where homicide becomes a form of child’s play, accompanied by its own disturbing jargon and film creations.
Let us not lose sight of the essence of the debate. As stated in Isaiah 56:11 “The dogs are brazen, they are never satiated; these are shepherds who cannot understand." We must recognize the brazenness for what it is, a strengthening of the wicked, and not be like the dumbfounded shepherds.
Western Europe is encircled by a pride of lions, but if it does not concentrate its political and media deliberations around the proper issues, it will contribute to its own demise by continually fostering confusion, disorientation, and blindness into the discernment of the petrified antelope, leaving it at the mercy of its predator.