Bob Dylan Could Have Been A Rabbi - Parshat Behalotecha - Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

[Music] Jerry Wexler was a major player in the music business from the 50s to the 80s think Ray Charles the Alan Brothers Chris Connor artha Franklin Leed Zeppelin Wilson picket die Straits Dusty Springfield and Bob Dylan it was he who coined the term rhythm and blues to commercialize its original title which was race music in 1979 Wexler agreed to produce an album by Bob Dylan he didn't know what the material was about and wexel recalled we decided to prep the album in La where Bob lived and that's when I learned what the songs were all about Born Again Christians in the old Corral I like the irony of Bob coming to me the wandering jew to get the Christian feel but I had no idea he was on this born again Christian trip until he started to evangelize me I said Bob you're dealing with a 62-year-old confirmed Jewish atheist let's just make the album [Music] when I think back over the many EX observant Jews I've known in my life I often see a current theme when they were young their innocent questions about Judaism were often met with don't ask questions that's the way we do it that's the way we've always done it how often this attitude turned them into unwilling atheists I've often thought that the highest paid teachers in the Jewish educational system should be the first grade Rees a child's entire future spirituality May rest in their hands if a child's question how do we know that God exists is met by red-faced stammering and a lather of you you can't ask questions like that the child May well conclude that the reason you can't ask questions like that is because there's no answer to it it's well known that super talented Jews are well over represented in the Arts I can't help thinking that some of them might well have taken their talents away from their Orthodox backgrounds and contributed them to the secular world because they weren't given the right answer at the right time it says in when you Kindle the lamps now the usual word for to Kindle or to light is but here the word the Torah uses to go up to ascend the manur represents the spiritual Ascent of the Jewish Soul the striving to go up it's not enough just to wave a match in the general direction of a child spirituality you've got to hold that match there long enough and carefully enough until the flame ascends by itself [Music]