Timeless Wisdom - Why are American Christians Israel's Best Friends?

Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Hear thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs. And to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to DennisPrager.com. Okay, welcome to the latest tape, this one. I'm Dennis Prager, by the way, but I think you know that. I guess I have to say it anyway. This tape consists of two parts. The first part is a talk that I gave, Why American Christians Are Israel's Best Friends. That's why. It's a fact that they are, but the question is why. And I deal with the objections that many Jews have and many others to this idea. I deal with every one of them that I know of and then answer them and then take some questions. This was given at the Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel in Los Angeles, in Westwood. Rabbi Daniel Buskila invited me. He is a wonderful man, as you will hear me mention in the beginning. Also present were members of an evangelical Christian church and their reverend, who I did leave in. I wanted, even though it's not as clear because the microphone was not next to him, whose remarks I did leave in I wanted people to hear what he had to say because those remarks are typical of what evangelical pastors are telling their churches about the Jews and Israel at this time. And as always, I look forward to your comments. I certainly hope you enjoy this, and I thank you as always for getting the Prager Tape subscription. So here goes. Thanks.

Well, it's a pleasure to be here. This is my first service in a Sephardic time of worship, and I have to say I really enjoy all the singing and the children and the joy of this service. We are a church in San Diego called Maranatha Chapel, and there are about 7,000 in our community. We only brought about 20 of them tonight, but you guys can wave. They're down there. And I have to say, I never would have dreamed or imagined as a Gentile and as a Christian that I would ever be in a service like this, but here I am. And I am here for a number of reasons. One, because because I owe you, as the Jewish people, a tremendous debt, and our entire congregation feels exactly the same way. We owe you a debt because our ancestors worshiped who knows what— stars, planets, things in nature, and in creation, worshiping the creation rather than the Creator. But today, because of you, because of your faithfulness, because of your witness, I am now a believer in one God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And so our entire community is made up of people who believe the same. We share so many of the same values, and we share a tremendous love for Zionism and for Israel. We believe very simply and very practically, God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people 4,000 years ago. And we believe that he gave it as an everlasting possession and that God's name, his character, his integrity are tied to that land. And that nothing that man can do or governments can do can stop what his will is. As Christians and those of us who are Gentile Christians, we not only owe you a debt of— for our faith, we owe you a debt of gratitude. You a debt of friendship. For many years I have believed that Israel becoming a nation is a fulfillment of what God said through His prophets long ago. But I must confess that I often looked at Israel and read about Israel kind of distantly, as if it was like a clock on the wall saying, what time is it in history and God's purposes? And God has convicted me and us that it is time for us to be friends and to show our to show our love. And so I spent a wonderful day here with Rabbi Daniel Gossela and with Ray Malel. They hosted us for a day and shared with us the history, the culture, the tradition, your faith. They fed us a wonderful lunch. We just had— we laughed, we talked, we even discussed the idea of a coalition, a national coalition for the support of Biblical Israel between Christians and Jews. And we know that the Jewish people in the world, there are not so many of you, though you are very influential. But there are about 2.5 billion Christians. And though not all agree with us, I just want to say to you tonight, there are millions who like us, love you, who appreciate you. And the greatest debt that we owe is a debt of love. We love you, and we just thank you that you would accept us, that you would receive us, that you would allow us to be with you here tonight. We have a very special friendship with a city called Ariel and the mayor there, Ron Hoffman. And he is in an area that receives a lot of attention these days because of where it is located. But I have been to the city of Ariel myself, and I just want you to know they are people just like us that love the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their families, their children, their hopes, their dreams, and their future. And it's been our pleasure and our privilege to help them financially. From our congregation. So we believe that it's not only important what we say, but it's maybe even more important what we do. And I must say that for many things, as far as the Church is concerned, I can only say that I'm sorry and I ask your forgiveness for not being the friends that we should have been, for paying the debt that we owe. But I cannot live the lives of those who came before me. I can only take the time that God has given me today and say this is what I will do with my time and with my congregation, with my children, with my generation. We will say we love you, we are your friends, we will support you practically, we will give to you and offer you our friendship, and we will stand with you, especially in these days. Thank you very much.

It is very rare that I feel anticlimactic, but I truly, after Rabbi Buskila and the pastor, I feel that all I could do is perhaps answer some questions. I was so touched by the pastor's words, and I hope that he will be touched and his congregation will be touched by mine. I, uh, I have very long and interesting, uh, relationship with the Christian community, and I want— I will talk to you about that. Before anything else though, I need to say a word about your rabbi, and I warned him and that I would do this, and he warned me of the famous statement in the Talmud that he who embarrasses someone in public has a particularly dark future. So I just want you to know, and it is certainly not to embarrass him, but the woman who arranges my speaking, wonderful woman Lori Zimet, has done this now for, oh, 8 to 10 years, and she has talked to a lot of people and a lot of rabbis and pastors and lay leaders all over the world. And she said, I just want you to know, this is an extraordinary man. She does not say that much. And she said, I just want to give you an example of his goodness. I, uh, we had been playing phone tag, and I knew he very much wanted to speak to me. And finally I got through to him on his cell phone, and, uh, he said, I'm sorry, I just can't talk right now because I am with a person in a hospital who's just not well. And she said, it's— you never hear that because people always say, oh, I'll, I'll be back in a moment, they'll say to the person that they're, they're ministering to. And she was so taken by that, that no matter how important the call, this person who wasn't well was the most important thing in the world. And I know you know this is your rabbi, but I want you to know that others know it too. So I am honored to speak from your pulpit. I just want to, I just want to say that. Yes, Christians are our best friends at this time in history. Not all Christians, and I will explain that. As well. And it has been a remarkable education for me as a Jew who was raised in the yeshiva world, who really in effect never met a Christian, consciously at any rate. In fact, I never met anybody outside of Brooklyn Orthodox Jewry through my late teens, essentially. I lived in a cocoon, essentially. And I didn't meet Reform Jews, I didn't meet Conservative Jews, I didn't meet Christians, I didn't meet anybody. I just met the world that I was raised in. I knew there was something awry about that. That's why my hobby became shortwave radio. It was the only way I could hear other people all the time. And it was a very wonderful hobby for me. But in any event, I was raised with some many traditional beliefs. And if you'd have told me at 15 in yeshiva, Dennis, one day you will say on national American radio that Christians are the best friends that Jews have, I would have said to you, you are under a deep hallucinogenic. And thank you for stopping by. It would have been unbelievable to me, but life teaches you if you're open to learning from it. Life teaches you, and I have come to understand this now for quite, for a number of decades, of this, this truth. And it is really been a sort of mission of mine to explain this to Jews who have understandably, and I say this to our Christian brothers and sisters as I say it to you, my fellow Jews, a deep suspicion of Christians, and for good reason. Jews did not live well under Christendom in Europe. It's just a fact of life. I remember many years ago, I was very fortunate to be invited to speak on Vatican Radio, and they asked me— this was obviously in the Vatican in Rome— what would my message be to Catholics? And I said, well, it would be that this is the first generation that a pope and that the Catholic Church, specifically addressing Catholics, can change the way Jews look at the cross, because I was raised to look at the cross as a sign of terror. Most Jews were raised to see the cross with fear. It never occurred to Jews that the cross could be really anything else, because when it was marching, it was often marching toward a pogrom. It was often marching to an Easter Day Massacre. And so I said it can change, and it is changing. It doesn't change fast, but it needs to change, and Jews need to understand what the change is about and why we need to recognize it. I have given a lot of thought to this. I am a Jew who is, as you know, deeply committed to Judaism and to the Jewish people. I have also come to realize that American Christians will, I believe, be in the final analysis those who save this great country, or it won't be saved. That is how deep my sense of what some Christians are doing for this unique experiment of America. Before I tell you why I believe that we Jews need to understand how Christians have become our best friends, and let me, let me add American Christians, that there are exceptions in Europe, but they are exceptions. America is different. When you understand that, When Christians understand that, it will be a very important realization. Let me deal with the objections and then tell you, make the case, because I've always understood whatever the issue is, if I take the problems people have first, I can open their hearts and minds, hopefully, to the ideas that I would like to offer. Let me deal with 4 objections that Jews traditionally have to reassessing their suspicion of Christians. And in no order of importance: 1, they believe we're going to hell. Let me deal with that. I want to deal very forthrightly with this issue. I get this on my radio show frequently from a Jewish caller. Dennis, you're so pro-Christian, don't you know they think you're going to hell? So, that's a very fair question, and I have a very fair and open and honest answer. I have learned two magic words that half the time apply and are powerful. And in this case, I will use them and explain it to you. And I will say to my caller, "So what?" So therefore what? Go on, tell me why that troubles you so much. Well, Dennis, isn't that obvious? I mean, there are people who think that because you don't believe as they do, you're going to go to hell. And so I say, so? And then I go on to explain, and I want to explain to you. There are Christians, many Christians, in fact many of those who are our best best friends who believe that only if you affirm Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and the Trinity and the, the general statements of dogma that come into a Christian assertion and Christian faith that you are not saved. I honor that belief. I don't disparage it. That is their belief. I don't fit that belief. Therefore, I'm not saved in the view of many of these people. So what? Let me tell you something. I judge people by how they treat me, not by their theology. Isn't that how we want to be treated? The very Jews who say, look, they dismiss us because of our theology, dismiss them because of their theology, right? So wait a minute, I don't dismiss people because of their theology. I ask, how do they treat me in this world? That they believe that in the next world I may not be saved, I understand that. Do I wish they believed otherwise? If we have to get into the realm of wishes, I would wish otherwise. So what though? So what? You know how many people think that I am not unsaved or think I'm going to heaven and treat me awfully? It doesn't matter. I mean, the average professor at the average university in the United States who has hostile feelings towards Israel or at best ambivalent ones, to use the subject of this evening, would would scoff at the idea of salvation and so on. But in real life, on this earth, at this time, he is not my friend. I have learned— I learned this when I was in graduate school at an Ivy League university— what people profess, their great ideas, don't matter in translation into reality. I saw people tear my university apart during the Vietnam War who spoke of brotherhood and love and peace and progress. Who's against brotherhood, love, peace, and progress? But the people who spoke in those names were fascists. Fascists of the left, but fascists. I learned at a very early age that I can't judge people by their words alone. I have to judge them by how they act. That's deep Jewish. Lo hamachshavah ikarel hamasah. It's not the thought that counts, but the deed. We are a behaviorist religion. When I was in 4th grade in yeshiva, the rebbe, the rabbi— forgive me, Sephardi Jews, for the Ashkenazi terminology— I have a very positive story to tell you, and if I forget it during the talk, remind me afterwards, about a deeply affecting moment in my life that Sephardic practice had on my outlook on life. When I was in 4th grade in yeshiva, it was time in the afternoon to daven, to pray, as we used to say, daven, the afternoon prayer, Mincha. So the rabbi got up, "All right, boys, let's go, it's time to daven Mincha." And I always had chutzpah. I was born with it, I still have it. You can't be a talk show host without chutzpah. It's not possible. And I walked over to the rabbi, very respectfully though. I knew you respect elders. I still do, and I always did. But respectfully, I said, Rabbi, I'm not in the mood to daven mincha. It was really one of the great moments of my life because I learned a lot. His reaction, it was fascinating. Fascinating. He understood the words, though English was not his mother tongue. It was, but he had no idea about what it meant. He had never put the word mood and daven in the same sentence. And he thought and he thought, and it was clear I had disrupted his whole mode of thinking in life. And he then said, Dennis Prager is not in the mood to daven Mincha? So what? I think that was the first time that I learned 'so what' as a very powerful two words. Judaism is behavioral, whether you're in the mood to do it or not. If you're not in the mood to make Shabbat Friday night, do you not make it? If you're not in the in the mood to fast on Yom Kippur, and I'm never in the mood to fast. Do I? Oh, not in the mood, just not in the mood. But by the end of Kol Nidre, I'm in the mood, right? When Yom Kippur is on its way, I get into the mood. Judaism is behaviorist. It teaches you to judge people by their behavior. Not that faith is not central to Judaism, it certainly is, but in the final analysis, in this world, That's how you judge people. If a man mistreats his wife constantly and regularly, but constantly says, "Oh, I love her." There are men who beat their wives who say they love them, but so what? Who cares? What matters is how do they treat their wives? Better to say "I love you" less and act more loving more often. So when I hear this argument that Jews have, well, look at, look at, they think you're not saved, they think you're going to hell. Okay, so what? How does it translate itself in how they treat me? And it doesn't translate itself at all. For 10 years, I was the moderator of an interreligious show, as many of you know, when I was only on LA radio. And it was called Religion on the Line. For 10 years, every Sunday night for 2 hours, I talked to a priest, a rabbi, a minister, and other faith representatives, different ones each week. And I'll never forget, it was a very touching moment when this subject would come up about you have to believe in Christ to be saved and so on. And I'll never forget one evangelical pastor who had been on a few times And he, uh, the subject came up. I never raised it. It was raised by callers. It never troubled me, but it was raised often. And we, he, at one point it was clear to me both off the air and on the air that while I can't go so far as to say he lost sleep over it, I know that it troubled him that he thought that I would not be saved, because he knew what I was doing for belief in God on the radio. He knew what I was doing for Christians. You know how many Christians have called me and told me, you know, Dennis, thanks to you, I'm back at church? And what I always say on the air is, you don't know how happy I am. All I ask, though, is if you're ever asked who really moved you there, tell them it was a religious 'And they say, absolutely, that's a deal, and they do it.' So it bothered him, but it bothered him in a sense more than it bothered me. I don't believe that is my fate as a believing religious Jew. I don't believe my fate is an unsaved one, to use Christian language for a moment. But nevertheless, that there are those who do, that is their fate. Faith. That's okay. I want to know how I will be treated. And here's the irony: the Protestant Christians who do not believe that are far less likely to be the Christians who support Israel. How's that for irony of ironies? 3 Episcopal priests in Boston Last month, I did a show on this, because I, every so often, I devote an hour to what I call the moral idiots of our civilization. Usually, usually it's a professor. Often it's someone in Hollywood, and sometimes it's a religious spokesman, and that's the most painful, because I want religious people to be better, whatever their religion is. 3 Episcopal bishops, not bishops, uh, priests, uh, looked around and decided that there was one nation on earth whose consulate they decided that they would picket for its great violations of human rights. Was it Sudan, which has murdered 1 million blacks, including many, many Christians? Still managing your rental business like a side hustle? Stop risking your cash flow. 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Was it China for its slaughter of Tibet and persecution of Christians? Nah. Was it North Korea, the totalitarian regime that starves its people in the millions? Nip. Was it Iraq, which has used poison gas against its own people, its Kurdish citizens? No. Was it Syria? No. It was Israel. The only functioning democracy in the Middle East. A place where Muslims have more human rights than in any Muslim country in the Middle East. That's what they decided to picket, these moral idiots who happen to be religious leaders. They probably believe that I can be saved. So who do you prefer, folks? If we had the same exact theology as the Christians who support us, we'd either be them or they'd be us. Obviously, obviously. How can I expect us to have identical theologies? The identical theologies means the same religion. We're not in the same religion. So that's fine with me. Why do I care? Objection number 2: they want to convert us. To which I have 2 magical words. Yes, thank you. All right, that's right. Yes, indeed, it is true that evangelical Christians, indeed every Christian who is true to his or her Christian mission, wants the world to come to Christ. That's what they're in business for, to bring the good news to everybody. That's okay. God bless you. Maimonides, the greatest Jewish thinker, and a Sephardic Jew. I know where I'm speaking. The greatest Jewish thinker who ever lived. "Mi Moshe ad Moshe lo kam ke Moshe." From Moses to Moses, Maimonides, there was no one like Moses, says the Jewish saying. He thanks, he says at the end of his great work on Jewish law, he says it is Christians who have brought the Torah to the world. Is that or is that not true? You said it to me just before. We should have been doing this. That's exactly right. We're supposed to bring the Torah to the world, but we, for whatever reasons, we decided not to. It's a story unto itself. We didn't. We originally brought it to humanity, but the vast majority of people who know about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob know about him thanks to Christians. You owe us a thanks, and we owe you a thanks. We introduced the world to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and you took this God to far more people than we Jews did. That's a fact. People know about the Torah largely thanks to Christians. Christians want to bring their story, their beliefs, to humanity. God bless them. So it's a non-issue to me. Now, for those who direct their efforts exclusively to Jews, I have problems. But to those who direct their efforts, and where there will be a Jew included, there is a Jew included. That is the way it is. I'll never forget, I spoke at an evangelical, uh, college, and, uh, it was really— it really was I thought it was very cute. The name of the biggest building there was something— I don't remember the exact— was something like the Norman Eisenberg Building. And so even when Jews convert, they still build buildings. It doesn't stop. It was really— it was a great moment for me. I'll never forget it.

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But let me, let me tell you something. Do not believe for a nanosecond that these Christians are in this synagogue tonight in order to convert us. Okay? They are here to help us, to befriend us. That's what we have to understand. Objection number 3 that Jews will raise to the statement that Christians today, some Christians, many Christians, not all, are the Jews' best friends today is that the New Testament has many anti-Semitic passages. The truth is that there are statements attributed to Jesus, especially in the Book of John, that are not, shall we say, philo-Semitic. They don't sound like they're very friendly to the Jews, and they're not. You have the devil for a father and so Now, let me tell you something. It all depends who reads it to understand how important or dangerous a passage is anywhere. I read the Torah, so do Jews who have totally opposite views of me on every subject, on every major moral issue. We read They read the same Torah, they quote the same scripture. Who's right? Today, Christians read that and they do not, as a result, think, ah, you see, the Jews have the devil for a father. What they say is that all those who were hostile and rejected Christ in that time and that way, and that includes Gentiles, these are the people that are being referred to. That it has no more to do with you than any statement about the ancient Egyptians and the Exodus corresponds to Egyptians today living in Egypt. Is the Torah anti-Egyptian? Could be used the same thing. Egyptians could say, look, Jews hate us. Look at the way we're described in the book of Exodus. Look at what is done to us in the book of Exodus. But there is no Jew walking around who thinks that because of Pharaoh, one is supposed to hate modern Egyptians. The idea is preposterous. Yet one could theoretically take those passages and say, "You see?" Or, as indeed some Jews have, just label anybody they don't like as Amalek, whom we are told to never forgive and never forget what Amalek had done to the Israelites. So it depends who reads the verses. That's why people call my show all the time and say, Dennis, what does the Quran say? And I said, ask a Muslim who reads it. Um, I can't tell you what— I know what it's— I mean, I've read the Quran, I've studied even Arabic, but it depends who reads it. Do you want to, do you want to take the part that speaks terribly of Jews? Where there's a battle between the first generation of Muslims and older generations of Jews? Or do you want to take the statements that the Jews are the people of the book and must be honored? You want to take the statements in the Quran that say there shall never be coercion in matters of religion? Did the Taliban follow that phrase? Of course not. So it depends. You don't think we have difficult chapters in our scriptures? Everybody has difficult chapters. It depends what you do with them. And fourth, many Jews will say, "Come on, Dennis, how could you be so naive? These people want a Christian theocracy in this country. They want— the Christians want to take this over and make it a Christian republic." This is the easiest of the four to show the absurdity because when Christians— I always ask these people who say this, and these are usually liberal Jews who are frightened at this thought, I say, and liberal Jew is almost redundant but not entirely, I ask these people a question: when Christians had all the power before the heyday of multiculturalism and diversity and Supreme Court rulings that you can't say "God bless my teachers" in school. Let me ask you, why didn't they establish a theocracy then? Who could have stopped Christians in the 19th or 18th century America?

Who?

If they wanted to establish a theocracy, couldn't they have done it then? But it happens, it shows the ignorance that fear can in fact produce and encourage. That anybody would think that American Christians want to create a theocracy. It is a statement of principle, of faith, of Protestant Christendom, that there is a separation of church and state. It was in fact Christianity that started the idea that there could be secular government, in that you grant to Caesar what is Caesar and to Christ what is Christ. The very notion developed in this country that you have such a separation. Not in those words, it's— those are not the words. It's not an establishment of religion. That's the real words of the Constitution. But Christians have been the fore— in the forefront of making sure that there is no state religion in this country. It is a— it is truly a malicious attack on Christians in America to say they want the theocracy. If a Christian wants prayer in school and this Jew wants prayer in school, it has nothing to do with theocracy. It has to do with the belief that children who grow up in this country should not grow up without reference to God. Okay, we may be wrong, but that's what it has always been. And they didn't grow up producing pogroms or crusades or inquisitions. In fact, what they did what they did create was the greatest country for Jews in the history of the world. That's what Christians in America produced. That's undeniable. Oh, of course it's deniable. I debated this very issue with Alan Dershowitz, and Professor Dershowitz had a different view. It was secularists who produced this great tolerant America. And I asked them to name who they were. Who are these people? Where are they? Where is this great secular strand of of the people among the fathers of this country. These were Christians. A handful of cases they were more deist than they were Jehovahist, if you will. But even they thought it was essential that people knew their Bible, and children studied their Bible. So now that we've talked about the objections, now let's Now let's talk— I've offered objections, answers to the 4 major objections. Let's talk about the case for the argument that Christians are our best friends. Number 1: I offer you this phrase from the Reverend Jerry Falwell, who for liberal Jews is like like a cross before Dracula. Utterly undeserved, in my opinion, with whatever mistakes any public person making a lot of comments will make. Jerry Falwell said, in the height of his power in America, during the— as it happens, coinciding with the Yom Kippur War in 1973, with the Arab oil embargo, and there were there were very long lines for gas, especially in the East where I was living at the time. And Falwell told his national Christian audience— this was not Jews tuning in, he told it to his church during a church service, to millions of Christians listening— he said, with regard to not giving in to the Arab oil embargo. He said, I would sooner drive my bicycle and give up my car than compromise our support for Israel for the sake of oil. And then he explained why. Because, he said, does it not say in the Holy Scriptures, in this case referring to our Torah, Torah, God says, "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you," referring to Abraham and the Jewish people. May I say, number one, that I actually believe that statement in the Torah. I don't believe it because of my great faith alone. I believe it because Because it is true. Nations that have blessed Jews have been blessed. Nations that have cursed Jews have been cursed. I know of no exception. When Spain blessed its Jews, Spain was a great country. When it cursed its Jews, it went into 500 years of hibernation. It was called the sick man of Europe. Europe is cursed, in my opinion, by the way. I do believe Europe is cursed. It is cursed for its Holocaust, and it is cursed for its lack of support for Israel today. I am convinced that Europe's days are numbered as a distinct Western civilization. Okay, the United States is the most blessed country on Earth, and you may say it's a coincidence that it is the most blessed country that Jews have ever lived in. I don't think it's a coincidence. These Christians sitting here don't think it's a coincidence. Jerry Falwell doesn't think it's a coincidence. Your average Jew probably does think it's a coincidence because your average Jew has a different religion than Judaism. That Jew has a secular liberal faith. Liberalism has supplanted Judaism as the source of faith for most American Jews. The New York Times editorial page represents Jewry, not the Torah, for the most part in the United States. I say that literally, not figuratively, not sarcastically. For the New York Times editorial page, The notion that Falwell might be right on anything other than what time it is, is truly not possible. He is, he frightens these people. I want people to believe. If you were an atheist Jew, atheist, secularist, leftist Jew, would you Do you not want, just on selfish survival grounds, people to believe that God will bless them if they take care of you? Just on those grounds alone? It shows how angry so many Jews are at Christianity that they can't even take blessings without thinking that there's trap involved. Number 2, American Christians are not European Christians. Even American Christians don't know this, but they're not. The gulf between the United States and Europe from 1776 to today is enormous. Enormous, and the wider it is, the better America is. This was founded to be different from Europe. The secularists are different, the Christians are different, everybody's different. But there is a great strand today among the left-of-center Americans to embrace Europe and its thinking more than America. It was after one of the great Hollywood directors, producers, who just said, just a few weeks ago, Robert Altman, who grew up in Catholic schools, but I suspect is not a very believing Catholic today, who said, "I want to live in Europe. I can't stand this flag-waving in America. George Bush frightens me." America basically scares him. He loves Europe. He should live in Europe. I thought it was a great idea that he should move to Europe, frankly. Remember how many said that they're going to move, they're going to leave the US if George Bush is elected? Cowboy Christian, the ultimate nightmare. Guy prays a lot. Boy, is that scary to a lot of folks in Hollywood and and at the New York Times. American Jews need to understand that America is different and that American Christians are different. Christians need to understand that. That's why Christians don't have to be defensive when the terrible record of so much of European Christianity, morally speaking, is revealed. There's nothing to be defensive about. You're not them, them both, as you said, chronologically, and you're not them ideologically. Yes, you share a faith in Christ, but as you know, that doesn't mean anything. There are people who believe in Christ who have different views than you on every single subject. Number 3, the Christians believe that the Jews are the chosen people. I believe that too, but I'm a very rare Jew in believing that. There are probably 10 Christians who believe that the Jews are chosen to every 1 Jew who believes that in the United States. Jews are uncomfortable with that language. Christians affirm it. If we're not chosen, and we're all, we're all, uh, Whistling Dixie, then no, our faith isn't legit and their faith is not legit. We ride on the— God doesn't choose and then rethink it. Yes, they are the chosen people. I believe that. That's why my son is in Israel this year. That was not easy. To allow that son, bar mitzvahed in this shul, to go to Israel while people are taking bombs on their chests to find young people to blow up. He has heard 2 bombings with his own ears this year. He'll never be the same. Hey, you can't be. Because when you hear that, you know how many people have just been blown up to bits. My son is in Israel because I believe that the Jewish people is the chosen people. I believe that Israel is a holy place, and therefore I am not abandoning Israel as some of our fellow Jews did, one of our fellow movements did, right? When Reform Judaism canceled the trip of its young people to Israel. But you know what it is? It's a lack of faith, because more Orthodox rabbis are going to say the Jews are the chosen people than Reform rabbis. Simple as that. Faith is very important. It's not just Christians who understand the centrality of faith. It is Judaism that understands it too, and not enough Jews do. Yes, that's a third reason why Christians support us, those who believe this, and support Israel. Fourth, Christians today recognize the Jewish roots of their faith, of their Bible, of their Messiah, of their God, of their faith. You want to know when Islam will leave its dark period that it is now in? When it recognizes recognize Jewish roots of its faith, that Muhammad prayed toward Jerusalem in the beginning, fasted on Yom Kippur in the beginning, took so many of the practices of the Jews around him. This does not delegitimate a faith, it is simply truth. I'll never forget when when Yasser Arafat declared that Jesus was a Palestinian. It is laughable. It is laughable were it not for the fact that it's actually uttered as basic dogma in Palestinian writings today. It reminded me of when there were those who said in Nazi Germany Jesus was an Aryan. There's no difference. Because to say Jesus was a Jew. It's too heavy a cognitive dissonance. How can you hate Jews, as too many Palestinians do, and too many Muslims do, or too many Germans and Europeans did, if you recognize that Jesus was a Jew, a serious Jew? Or as one button I'll never forget in Greenwich Village in New York many— 40 years ago I saw this button Jesus was raised in a kosher home. Jews should know that too, by the way. He's not that foreign to us. Recognizing the Jewish roots, the chosenness of the Jews, that a country and a people are blessed if they bless the Jews. Oh, these are pretty powerful motivators, aren't they? I, I didn't deal with one, uh, well, I did, I did, but let me rephrase it. How again Jews too often will be nervous about any of this. Oh yeah, they support Israel, but it's just because if the Jews are in Israel, then Jesus will come. To which I say, guess what? Yes. So that's what they believe. Isn't that a fantastic blessing to us, that we'll have such powerful support? Let's say it's true. Why does that bother you? I don't understand what's wrong with you. So let me tell you the deal I made, and please, you'll think it's funny. It has lightness to it, but it's not meant as a joke. Jerry Falwell and I publicly Here in Los Angeles made a deal. It is on video and audio somewhere among those who sponsored this evening. And I said to him, I said, Reverend Falwell, can we handshake on this? You will support, you and your supporters will support Israel and the Jewish people until Jesus comes, and we in turn promise to recognize him when he does. And he liked it, and I liked it. Jews who find that a bad reason to take Christian support for Israel seriously are nuts. It shows how anger can overwhelm Anger and fear can overwhelm rational thought. So, this is the state that we are in now. And I want to tell you, I hear from Jews who say to me, Jews who suffered, for example, in the Holocaust, Dennis, you're a good man, but you're naive. Still managing your rental business like a side hustle? Stop risking your cash flow. Over 800,000 landlords use TurboTenant to streamline their rental operations for free.

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Could happen anywhere, including America. I say, why do you say I'm naive? Did I ever say anything could not happen anywhere? If America descends into terrible values, of course it could happen here. Of course, I totally acknowledge that. So, so therefore what? They said, ah, the German Jews thought that they were secure. You American Jew, Dennis, you think you're secure. I tell them, you know what? There's a big difference between Germany in the 1920s and '30s before Hitler and Jews today in America. Many differences, but I'll tell you one. And I will tell it to you based on an a story that actually happened. At about the 5th year mark of my show, Religion on the Line, I was then on KABC radio, I'm now on KRLA in Los Angeles, by the way I'm on KCBQ in San Diego. Oh, you know? Oh, I'm very touched, thank you. Okay. And at about the 5th year, the head of the station, a wonderful man named George Green, called me into his office office. I didn't think I was going to be fired, but I had no idea why I was being called in, so I was a little anxious. He said, Dennis, I got a question. And I said, okay. I didn't know what was going to happen. He said, Dennis, I don't understand something. You've been on this station for 5 years. You've been doing this show every week, 2 hours a night. I have never received one antisemitic mailing about you. So I said, why does that surprise you? Your predecessor at this program never told anyone that she was a Jew. Never. And her name was completely American. It had no Jewishness to it at all. And I got a lot of anti-Semitic mail against her. So I said, George, I know the reason. I'm a Jewish Jew, and non-Jews trust that. She was a non-Jewish Jew, and a lot of non-Jews don't trust that. I said, oh, really? Thanks. And that was my visit to George Green's office. And that is the answer. That is why. That Protestant minister that I told you, the evangelical minister who would come on my show periodically, do you know he had his own show at the time on Christian radio? And he took a day off and invited me to sit in for him. Me, who doesn't believe in the most important thing he believes in, I could sit in for him on Christian radio. I got on my show the next week and I said, folks, there's a very funny story I want to relate to you. How come it is that an evangelical a radical Christian conservative can have a Jew sit in, a practicing Jew, sit in for him on his own radio show, but I've never once been invited to KPFK, the liberal leftist secular station in town. But I'll tell you why. Because they are more open than the left is. The Christian right that is called closed-minded and narrow-minded and narrowly focused is actually more open than those who think they're open. Next day I was invited to KPFK. It so bothered them that they should look bad on the thing they most most revel in openness, diversity, and this, compared to Christian conservatives, that I got an invitation to go on KPFA. It was a very funny moment. Jewish Jews are trusted. This is a lesson to us Jews. When we are faithful to our religion, to the God of Abraham, Isaac, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to our chosenness. Just as I trust the Christian who believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and in his faith, in his faith in America, I trust that Christian for reasons that I have delineated tonight. So too, they know whom they can trust, which is why they're with Rabbi Buskila here tonight and with you. Because they trust people of faith. We're not going to change. We're serious. You're serious. These are awesome lessons to understand. Do you know who employ me? Evangelical Christians are my employers. People who believe probably— I didn't ask them when I signed the contract— but who probably believe I'm not saved, pay my salary, hire me, give me a microphone across this country. Because while, yes, there are theological differences, or as I said, we would be in the same religion, on that which matters in this world right now, in this country right now, we are the same. And I say that with joy. Isn't it nice to know that taking similar scriptures seriously, that taking this God seriously, is going to lead you cross-religion to similar ideas? Of course. And so that is why the irony of ironies in this blessed country alone has happened, that Christians are our best friends. Shabbat shalom. Yeah, right. Yes. Jews for Jesus. That's a very provocative and important question. I think that Jews for Jesus insult Christianity. That's my belief. If you convert to Christianity, you should call yourself a Christian. That you still treasure your Jewish ethnic background, that's— listen, the Archbishop of Paris, Lustiger, or Lustiger, was born a Jew. He loves the Jewish people. He is a voice against anti-Semitism in Europe. I bless that man. And here he is, one of the foremost Christians of Europe, the Archbishop of Paris. He's been spoken about as a potential pope. He's a very major figure. But he doesn't call himself a Jew for Catholicism or a Jew for Jesus. He calls himself a Catholic who loves his Jewish background. That's all I ask from Jews for Jesus. Please acknowledge the truth. You have become a Christian. Thank God it is a free country that you can do so, and that's what you should call yourself. Is that fair? Okay. Why do I consider European Christians different from American Christians, or why are they? Why are they? Because America decided in in 1776 to make a country that was different. Indeed, not 1776, the people who came over from Europe decided to be different from Europe. Both circumstances and philosophy, they had realized there were so many religious wars in Europe, for example, they realized there was something wrong on that continent. There was something wrong about kings in the secular world, there was something wrong what's wrong with the way they practice religion in that world. We are going to make a shining, a bright shining light. We will be a different place. We will be what Lincoln called later the last best hope for mankind, which I still believe is true. I believe— listen, I have come such a long way. I told you I believe the Jews are God's chosen people. I totally— I, I— what animated my allowing my wonderful, precious son to go to Israel this year. But I also believe that America is chosen. I can't draw other conclusions. History simply tells me that. You know, and here is perhaps the most convincing answer for you why America is different and why American Christians are different. And I should have I was going to put this in the body of my talk, so I thank you for pushing me on this. There are many Christian countries, and have been many. There are many Muslim countries. There are many secular countries. There is one Jewish country. But there is only one Judeo-Christian country. We are living in it, and it was always considered by Christians, even when Jews were so numerically insignificant as to be almost absent. It was always considered a Judeo-Christian country. So long as Christians regard that as what it should be and what it is, it will be different. Thank you again. Thank you. Al Gore actually had his part in the White House. I do believe that. And I don't— this is not meant to politicize things, but obviously— Okay, I hope you enjoyed the talk. And now on to other matters. I, as many of you know, I teach the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible, verse by verse. Have been doing so at the University of Judaism for now 10 years. I have taught all of Genesis, all of Exodus, and am just about to complete the 4th book, Numbers. I skipped for the time being the 3rd, Leviticus. Those, uh, are on tape and available through my website or my office at 800-225-8584. But aside from that, I also give talks on religious subjects and sometimes biblical subjects that I believe are relevant to people of any faith and no faith. In fact, that's my whole point, is either the Either the ideas of the Torah are important to anyone on earth, or they're not important to anyone on earth. They have to be important to everyone, or they're not important to anyone. And so in that belief, I offer these comments on Deuteronomy chapters 29 and 30, and I trust that you enjoy them. And I, of course, always welcome your feedback. That will begin now in 20 seconds. Please don't write me about delays on the tape. I am now telling you that it is only 20 seconds, and in fact, because of what I just said, it is now only 10 seconds. All right, sit back and enjoy. Why doesn't it just say, you know, you're standing before you for the covenant? I believe there is a tremendous lesson to be learned here, and here it depends on your own philosophy of life on how you will read it. One way of reading this is look at the Torah and equality, right? There's equality here. You have from the, the heads to the lowest menial worker to the children. You are all standing here for the covenant. And it is true, it is a statement of equality, but it's a bigger statement than a statement of equality. The Torah teaches another type of equality that we have in large part abandoned in modern, in contemporary, not modern, because it's newer than modern life, in contemporary life. It's equality of obligation, and that is lost to us. We believe in equality of rights, The Torah believes in equality of obligation. And really, you have to figure out, we all do, which do we believe will create a more wholesome society, a better society, where we say to everybody, all of you are obligated, or all of you from top to bottom have rights. The Jewish approach has been equality of obligation. That results in an equality of rights in any event. But equality of rights without feeling an equality of obligation does not work. The poorest of you, the least of you, is as obligated to the covenant as the greatest of you. And likewise the other way around. Just because you are in a great position does not in any way exonerate you from the obligation. You might think, oh, you know, well, I'm chief priest, or I'm this or I'm that, I'm a clan leader, so it's, I'll let the poor guys do this stuff. No, you are as obligated as the poor guys, and you poor are as obligated as the most important. There is here, and, and that's going to be my next point, not only a profound lesson for in which way we should live, make society society live. An equality of rights or equality of obligation. But there is also a— and the only way I am convinced to make people feel equal is to bind them equally. Telling them that they all deserve the same thing isn't as powerful as they must all give the same thing. That is why everybody gave half a shekel, or even the poor gave and the rich gave. There was a different one with Teruah tuma, where it came from your heart. But when it came to the half shekel, everybody had to give, and the richest person didn't give more than a half shekel. So that the poorest person— you tell me, what is more egalitarian for a poor person, to know that he gave the same amount as the richest man, or not? Or to give a correspondingly little or nothing? The Torah believes that you make people equal by having them obligated equally. I contributed this half shekel just as much as Bill Gates. Gates didn't give $1 more to the, to the Mishkan than I did, or whatever it— or to the, to the census, or what have you. That he might be obligated elsewhere because of, of the, of the gifts of life that he has is a separate issue. But when it came to that half shekel, we all have it. And likewise here, every one of you is obligated. The heads of the clans and the guy who hews water and the child, you are all equally obligated to the covenant with me, God. That's equality as the Torah understands it. I spoke— when I last spoke to you, I mentioned how poor, the receiver, the recipient in Judaism of tzedakah, is then obligated obligated to give 10% of what he or she received. And I gave my grandmother as an example, who my father would give her money and then she'd give it away. In fact, I was just talking to my father about that today. I mean, that was what she would do. She gave more than 10% away, so he kept shoving her money. I mean, it was— he wasn't thrilled about it, I must say, but it was— she knew that the law— she can't keep all of what she got. So she was, she was extremely poor, obviously, obviously, otherwise the story wouldn't make sense. And she would give away, and that was the way it was understood. Even the recipient of tzedakah has to give tzedakah. The idea that you earn so little you have nothing to give to society is not known to the Torah. It is known to us, but it is not known to the Torah. Or the idea that some are obligated more than others. No, everybody is obligated, and that's why the Torah lists here the hewer of the water, and all the menial tasks, and even children as being obligated. When you give a child tasks, as any parent I believe knows, you give a child tasks, that's what makes them feel important. Not telling a child you don't have to. Telling a child you have to. Oh, you have this task in the home or in the family. Or at the school, that's elevating, and they love it. I'm in charge of— and it could be anything— taking out the garbage, making the beds, cleaning the floors, whatever it might be. We don't think in that way today, and we— I believe it's a terrible error. The next sentence is also tremendously relevant, as generally the Torah is. And the next sentence is verse 12, and it says, after we are told all of you are obligated to the covenant, and then it says, "Lema'an hakim otcha hayom," to raise you in order to raise you today, "lo, to him, le'am," to be a nation, "vehuiyeh l'khal Elohim," and he will be for you God, as he has spoken to you, the kashem nishpalavotekhaneh, as he swore to your fathers. But I want to repeat that line because there is a verb here that is life-changing. Lema'an, in order, le'ha'kim otcha, to elevate you. Many of you will know this word, come, to stand up, to rise. God rises you or raises you, elevates you, or raises you to be his nation. It could have easily said, as it does sometimes, "Lehiyot lo la'am," to be him, to him for a nation. But it says no, to elevate you. First of all, you are elevated by having a sense of obligation. That was what I just earlier prayer spoke of. But there is in this verb a more important point. If you live the Torah, you will lead an elevated life. And that too is missing even more profoundly than the sense of equality of obligation in our, in our society at our time. I submit to you this question: what in our society elevates people? And I would say to you that the answer is virtually nothing. We are entertained, we are amused, but we are rarely elevated. Elevating institutions are what enable a society to prosper, and I don't mean economically, though eventually that is a factor, but to prosper in any way as a society. Elevating institutions have virtually disappeared from the American scene. Where do our kids have an elevating institution? Are most of our kids in Boy Scouts or Boys Clubs or 4-H clubs? I mean, I look— my wife grew up in the Midwest, and it is unbelievable what she was a member of as a little girl in Kansas, and she still still has her workbooks from her 4-H club. Does anybody know what the 4 H's stand for? Health, hygiene. You mean you don't know? Is honor one of them? I don't know. Anyway, it was— if the average 7-year-old, forget 10-year-old, today saw my wife's workbook from the 1950s in Kansas, they would laugh at it, not with it, at it. They would dismiss it as so silly, as so primitive, as so unsophisticated, so uncool. So what do our kids have to elevate them? Does television elevate? It's a rhetorical question, answers are not necessary. Do movies elevate? Does school elevate? Does school elevate? There was just a huge thing in, I believe it was in Pennsylvania, just this past week, where they prohibited students from wearing white t-shirts because they considered it underwear, which strikes me as a not unreasonable thing. I believe in dress codes for kids to begin with at school. And then 150 kids protested, all wore t-shirts to school, and then not only did they give in, the principal The principal then came in in a t-shirt to show his solidarity with the students. Just that now, and you know what he said? It was great. He said, "This shows democracy working." And he's right. It did show democracy at work. It didn't show school at work. It didn't show anything elevating at work, but it certainly showed democracy at work. Democracy and elevation are not at all the same thing. Democracy is spectacular for choosing political leaders. That's it. It is not good for anything else. Now that's important, that's rather critical. I would die for democracy. But we have democratized values. Let's vote on what's right for our kids. But that's not elevating. Democracy and elevation are in conflict. So the principal was right. It was democracy at work. Now they'll wear t-shirts to school. But it wasn't elevation at work, and clothes elevate. That's why you're not wearing a t-shirt to shul, because you wish to elevate the religious experience at shul. And by the way, shul, as you know, means school. That is how high it is in Jewish tradition, in Jewish culture, Jewish tradition, you know how high it is, uh, the, the, the concept of school. If you have only money to build a synagogue or a Beit Midrash, Jewish law says you first build a school, a place of study. But it was always regarded obviously as elevating you. And I ask you, if you have kids or nephews or nieces or grandchildren, or, or even if you just think about society for our ourselves. Where are we elevated? What elevates us? That is why Shabbat is so critical today, more so, I believe, than in the Middle Ages. A Jew had elevating aspects daily because most Jews had some Judaism in their lives daily. They lived usually in a Jewish community which was usually, you know, somewhat observant, and, and very frequently they would study Torah, uh, during the week or Talmud or something. Joseph Telushkin and I, in one of our books, we— he found a great, great source about the, the wood choppers of a Polish city who got together every day for a little Torah study. That's how you have an elevated life as a wood chopper, if you get together and have a few minutes of Torah study on a given day. That's why, by the way, one of the 5 questions the Talmud said God will ask us when we die is, did you kava'itim leTorah? Did you make regular times to study Torah? Why? Because regular times to elevate yourself is very good. We have lost that, regular times to elevate ourselves. I'm speaking to, you know, in effect to the choir, because you're here and elevating yourself by definition. And you know it's different. You know that how you feel here is different than when you go to the movies. And I'm not anti-movies, I love movies. But if life is only amusement and entertainment, where will the elevation be? That's why this is so powerful. If you live my Torah, you will be elevated. That's the sentence that is given here. And we lack for these, for these places to elevate us or our children. Then is it odd that we have a coarseness in our life where cursing becomes the norm. Non-elevated speech is what cursing is. It's descended speech. And so much is descended. The way in which people act, there's a coarseness. You know that in our daily life because you won't leave here cursing. It just doesn't work. You know, you would leave here, you know how you you feel when you leave here. So you have a living test in your own life of what it is like to feel elevated and not elevated. Then God goes on, and Moshe goes on to say in verse 13— these first verses of Nitzavim are just incredible— lo itchem levadchem. I mean, the words are so powerful. Not you alone plural. Anochi koretet habrit hazot. Do I make this covenant with? Ki et asher yeshno po imanu omeid hayom. Even those who are not with us here today, I also make it. And that's you and me. Isn't it powerful to have the Torah of 3,000 years ago address you and me? This is for us. We're the ones who were not there then that Moshe is talking to. It is so— I get the chills when I say it to you. It is addressed to you and me as directly as it was to them. As directly. I believe that we understand it better than they did. I don't believe they had a clue what he was talking about. These are ex-slaves coming from Pagan Egypt, they're going to understand these elevated ideas? We are in a better position to understand Moses' discourse than they were. The whole idea of elevation— they heard these words, 'I'll be raised to be a nation to this God.' That's why you had to have so many punishments in here. That's what they understood. 'Oh, you mean I won't have good crops? That's powerful.' But for us, it's not the good good crops. It's the idea of descent versus elevation, holy versus profane, good and bad. This is addressed to us. I believe half the Torah was not understood at its time. I, I believe maybe 100 years, 1,000 years from now, they'll be able to understand more. So this is addressed to us, and very much so. Then in, then in 17 God says, or Moshe says, so listen, I took you out of Egypt, which had all of these terrible primitive stuff, you know, fake gods, things made out of all sorts of materials. But lest there should be among you a man or a woman or a family or a tribe whose heart turns away from God and serves those of the nations, Lest there be a root among you that bears wormwood, and it comes to pass when he hears the word, and that he bless himself in his heart. This is my favorite, if there is a favorite verse, because they were all so good. I have two things to talk to you about. One is the concept here, Elohei Hagoyim. Here, it's much better when I do it from the Hebrew. If somebody comes to you and wants to go away from God, "La lechet la avod," to go and worship. By the way, it's very interesting, parenthetical point. Do you know what worship is in Torah Hebrew? Avodah. But what does avodah literally mean? Isn't that interesting? The truth is there is no word worship. If we did a literal translation of the Torah, you would never hear "worship God" or "worship false gods." You would only hear "work for." And that's much better than worship, because nobody here thinks we worship— who worships a false god here? But if I said, "Do any of you work for a false god?" Ooh, that may be very different. What do I work for? That's a question all of us need to ask. What do we— forget worship. Worship me, because we all worship God. Nobody in here comes in here with a statue of Baal. None of you have Baal in your house and bow down to it. So worship, it's like we've taken off the hook, but it's not the word. It's lavod. What do you work for? Are you working for a false god? Is your life— and the false god may be making a mint, making a fortune. That's working for a false god. It's okay to make a mint. It's whether you work for it. And does it take you away from God when you do it? And it's very easy to take you away from God because it's very easy to compromise in order to make money. And there is no profession that I can't give you and you can't give me examples of doing the wrong thing and being rewarded as a result. In business, being a little, you know, obviously under the table, whatever it might be. In medicine, just, you know, prescribing more procedures and getting paid for it, reimbursed by the government, you know, procedure I didn't need. In law, bringing, you know, just constantly manipulating the court and more delays with the judge and getting and billing your client even more money? In my profession, I mean, you know, the whoring for ratings is almost deified. You're almost admired if you work. What god are they working for in my profession? Is it God, or is it the god of ratings, and therefore of money and fame and all the things that people live for. So just a reminder that it doesn't mean worship, it means work. What do you work for? So, to work for Elohim. So lest somebody in your midst wants to worship the, the gods of the nations. Do we worship the gods of the nations? Do we work for them or the God of Israel? It's just one. The gods of the nations, and it could be view, you know, that we have imbibed. I— whenever, you know, the newest thing is, uh, whenever people now win awards, uh, Emmys— I mean, there are more awards. The season, basically the year, is between award shows. That is now what it's come to be. And they always kiss them. It has now become de rigueur almost to kiss the trophies. And it is, it is remarkable because— and whenever I see the Academy Awards and I watch them and I get a kick out of them just like any of you. But the statues really do remind me of entering an ancient pagan temple. How large those awards are, what people might do in order to win it, what they will sell of themselves to win one. That's "la'avod Elohei ha'goyim," the gods of the nations. That there are many Jews involved in this doesn't make it any less pagan. On the contrary, many pagan Jews. Now then, there is this remarkable line here in this. So what will happen? Somebody will lead you astray who was in your group and says, "Vehitbarech bil vavoh." The words are awesome. He will be blessed in his heart. "Lemor," to say, Shalom yihyeli, I will have peace. There will be peace to me. Ki bishrirut libi eleich, because I will follow the counsels and designs of my own heart. Look at the wording here. Hitbarech dovavo, he'll be blessed. In other words, with only good motives, you will be led astray. It is not even implied that the person who will lead you Jews to worship other gods has bad motives. Notice that all of it is positive. I will be blessed, I will seek shalom, and it will be the counseling of my heart. If I told you, here is a man I want you to meet, Chaim Schnitzeldorf, a great Jew, and he has been blessed in his heart, and he is a pursuer of peace and follows the counsel of his heart. Please welcome Chaim. You'd give him a cheer, as I would. He sounds like one of the— how could you be— how could you go wrong? I'm blessed in my heart, I follow my heart, and I pursue shalom. That's the guy who's going to lead you to ruin. It is not sincerity, it is not heartfelt, it is not goodness of motive that is enough. It is whether something is right or wrong, not whether you are sincere and feel blessed and have a good heart. I have commented to you in the past, I believe, of Rabbi Wolf Kelman, may he rest in peace, the former head of the Conservative Rabbinate. When I was in my 20s, he counseled me. One of the few people I went to for counsel, and he gave me a good one. Gave me a lot of good ones, but one of his famous ones, because I'm not the only one to have quoted him on this, said, you know, Dennis, I gotta tell you, I've gotten into trouble in my life, but you know what? It's never been with my Yetzer Hara. It's never been with my bad impulse. It's always been with my Yetzer Hatov. It's always been with my good impulse. And I never— obviously, that's 30 years ago he told that to me, or 28 years ago, and I never forgot it. Most people don't get in trouble with the Yetzer Hara. I mean, Only truly terrible people will do that. It's the Yetzer Hatov. It's the desire to do good because you think that's enough. I want to do good, therefore how could I do bad? It's enough to know I mean well. Who could mean better, more well, more good than the guy who's blessed, who has a good heart, who seeks shalom, home, and then leads you to false gods. That is why when I am told, and I'm taking no position now because I never politicize my talks, but we're told often my generation, the '60s generation, was very idealistic. That's the way it's always described. But that has never impressed me. So what? Idealistic means nothing. The question is, was my generation right or was it wrong? But was it idealistic? In Incident at Vichy, the Jewish doctor wants to escape Vichy, France, or he will be killed by the Nazis and sent away to death by the Nazis. He needs to find a corrupt Nazi because he can only bribe a corrupt Nazi. An idealistic Nazi will send him to his death. You think all— you think You think all Nazis were motivated by the Yetzer Hara? Oh, I believe that the average torturer was, yes. But the average person who became a Nazi didn't think he was idealistic? Didn't love his fatherland? That's nonsense. You can't rely on your heart and on the Yetzer Hatov and on seeking shalom, seeking peace. Neville Chamberlain sought peace. People who would advise us not to fight Hitler sought peace, not to fight the Communists sought peace. Tell me this is not contemporary. Blessed in your heart seeking peace, and this is the guy who's going to lead you to false gods and to ruination. So, just wanted to share that with you. And one final thought, because it's so unbelievably rich. It's really, it's almost too rich. Any one of these alone is so powerful. I liked your take, even though you cited me. That's what always cracks me up. He cited me and I thought, "That's a great point." But it wasn't my point, it was your point. It was my point that you made a new point on, so I'm going to make a newer point on the point that you made on my old point. This is an amazing verse in the Parsha. "The hidden things belong to God, and the open things are to us and our children." That's a very fascinating— this is the most philosophic chapter perhaps in the Torah, this Nitzavim, this little gem a gem, gem, gem of a parsha. Now, what does that mean? And I think it means a lot of things, and I didn't think of it that way, but I love that way. We, we can judge. We need to be judging about what happens in public. God is the one who takes care of what happens in private, and we have lost that distinction, especially in sexual matters. It really is adults' business what they do in that area alone. That is not society's, but it is society's business when you are public with it. And so that is the pfarhesia thing, which is unbelievably important and uniquely Jewish. You know how much I have learned from Christians, so I don't, I don't have to, uh, belabor that point. But it is always interesting to me when I speak to Christian groups about the concept in Judaism that there was a very major distinction between public and private, it is clearly a fairly radically new idea, just as there are Christian ideas that would strike us as radically different from our ideas. Obviously, they're not the same religion, though they have many similar values. They're not the same religion. The idea, though, that the public in private are so different. Not on ethical matters, obviously not. If you murder someone privately, it is just as evil as if you murder someone publicly. But I, but I'll give you an innocuous example of how, since yeshiva and learning this distinction, I drew it. And I, I mean, you may have heard me say this, uh, I may— I'm sure I've said it here— I am prepared to go through a red light at 2 AM if there is absolutely I will drive no car at all anywhere. Not because of the car with the safety issue, but because I will never go through a red light where another citizen could see that. Because I am flaunting the law in public, and that to me is the sin. But if it is truly in private, what— who was injured by my not waiting at a light in a rural area or in a darkened street at that hour? Now you could say, well, how do you know? A guy may be coming without his headlights on. Yes, this is all possible, I agree. I'm not getting into that point. I'm only getting into the point of I would never do it in public. For example, I'll give you another example. Would I park in a handicapped space if I needed to stop my car somewhere and it was 2 AM and the place was closed but I needed to park? Of course I would, because there's nobody handicapped coming. It's irrelevant. It's a non-issue. But would I if one person could see it? No, because again of the idea of violating the law. And obviously if they were handicapped there, then it becomes an ethical issue. But I learned over and over and over the difference between the hidden and the public. And that is why, and in the matters that I mentioned earlier, and because there are little kids here, I'll be very obtuse, but you'll understand. There are behaviors behaviors that are totally between you and God, done privately, but done publicly— forget even the matters of the erotic. How about this: going to the bathroom. Going to the bathroom is not a moral issue. It's a non-issue. We all have to relieve ourselves or we would die. But if you do it publicly, it's terrible. Why is the same act terrible publicly and perfectly fine privately. And that's a deep, deep concept that we have lost again, I think, in our society. But I think there are other definitions there. I have always understood this in a different way, but not a better way, just a different way. That which is hidden belongs to God, and that which is obvious belongs to us. It means that, folks, there are things you can't understand. And that is my province. You are not God. There are nishtarot. There are hidden things that you humans just can't understand. Make peace with that. And when you make peace with that, it does give you some peace, a lot of peace. I can't understand everything. It is hidden to me the meaning of the Holocaust. It is hidden to me why so-and-so died at 40 years of age. It is hidden to me a whole host of things— why this child is born into a family that is going to abuse it. There is much hidden to me. It is hidden to me what happens after we die. And that is why I think this is a statement of don't speculate on it. It's a waste of your time to speculate on what will happen after you die. I know because it is hidden to you, and therefore it belongs to me, God. It is not in your province. That's why there's the great medieval Hebrew saying, "Lui yadati v'hayitiv"— if I knew him, I'd be him. If I knew God, I'd be God. I can't. Again, this is a calming, and has always been a calming verse for me. Dennis, you can try all you like, and you should try all you like in some arenas, but know that there are some places that are hidden to you, and do what you can understand. So what is, what is nigla? What is opened to me and not hidden? How people treat each other. Can we get together and make a better a minion? Can I do better at my work? Can I, can I love my friends and family more? That's open to me. That's what I have to work on. I can't work on the hidden. The hidden belong to God, and that is important. And the best hidden, I believe, is the afterlife issue. It is not available to us, so don't bother. There is a third thing, and, and I am confirmed by it and this, with this I really will end— where it says in 30:11, it is such an unbelievable statement. That's what I mean, it's the most philosophic parsha. Lo bashamayim hi. It's not in heaven, the Torah. It's right here on earth. This is where you live it. And so that's why I combine these these two sentences: the hidden is God's and the open is man's. And the— and this statement: the Torah is not in heaven. And I conclude from it that we are not— we are never to allow people to come to us and say, hey, we have a special understanding of the Torah that's not available to you. This has been done in all of history. It's known as Gnosticism. We— there's a special hidden understanding here. You can't understand it, but we in fact can. This is not— the Torah says in, in this parsha, it is not in heaven, it is on earth. There is, there is the The hidden is for me, God, not for you people. No one should ever come to you and say, hey, I have a hidden explanation of the Torah, you follow me, because your answer is, excuse me, there is no hidden. It is here. It is open for every child to read. And it is done all over these hidden explanations, this idea. It is why I'm convinced academics write in a different different language so that you and I can't understand it. You really need a PhD to understand our writing. Yeah, that means it— that it is hidden from you. The Torah, any water hewer can understand, but a sociology text, you need to be a PhD in sociology to understand. And that is a violation. Any Any intelligent person should be able to understand what is written. Nothing is hidden. It is all open. So nobody could ever fool you. Follow me, I have a hidden understanding of the Torah. No, you don't. It is all written. And that's why whenever I teach it and when I learn it, I always believe we must have the P'shat. We must learn what what does the text say? I want to know what the text says before I hear any esoteric commentary. And I'm willing to hear any of that, but it must not violate what the text says. There's much more that I, that I can't even get to. I can only say that Moses dying here, getting ready for his death, these unbelievable statements of God are the greatest preparation for Rosh Hashanah. The Jewish calendar is truly a work of art. If the Jewish calendar were an artwork, you would think of it in Michelangelo— Michelangelesque terms. It is so extraordinary. The calendar, the year. This parsha, I all of a sudden, I started feeling Rosh Hashanah. I mean it. Every year I think, oh God, I'm not ready for Rosh Hashanah. You know, I'm The summer is here and I'm not ready. And then I read the Parsha and now I'm ready. Moshe dying tells me we all die. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are a time to absolutely— it is a wake-up that we're not here forever. And that any of us can go and some will. Who by water and who by land, right? Who by choice and who by smoking, and who by fire, and all of those very, very— and I believe Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which are not sad, they're just solemn. They're not sad at all. And that's— Tisha B'Av is sad. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are not sad, but they're serious. And it's a time to remember. And now even Moses is going to die. And we should be— we should try to be, I guess, like him, having Having led a life that's meaningful, having led a life that's God-oriented, but knowing, as you pointed out, there are going to be things afterwards. If he couldn't fix the world, even you can't. It's very comforting. If Moses, the man who spoke to God regularly, couldn't fix the world, you know, even Schwartz can't. Well, that does it for this month's tape, and I of course hope you've enjoyed it. And you know, let me know if these thoughts on the, on the Bible and the religious ideas are helpful to you, whatever your faith, or no faith for that matter. Now let's see here, what can I tell you? Oh yes, I'm now writing a column each week, and it's being syndicated. And if you are interested in having your local newspaper carry it, please let me know. Or actually, let your newspaper know. It's— don't let me know, just let the newspaper know. And to contact me also, I am putting those articles on my website where it says Articles by Dennis. Also look at Articles Cited by Dennis, even if you don't get my radio show. To see the latest things that I have been citing. Even on occasion, there are pictures that I would like you to see from various world events. And I think that about does it. Please let friends know about this subscription series, and of course, it'd be deeply appreciated if you get anybody a gift subscription to it. I gotta believe it's a pretty good gift for somebody for a birthday or anniversary or what have you, Father's Day, Mother's Day. Anyway, thank you so much. It means a great deal to me getting your comments, which I receive regularly now through email. So be well, and until next month, all the best.