Israel's in Danger: After October 7, A Civil War Could Cost Us Everything | 2 rabbis 1Truth

She went up to Shuki and she told him very gently, "So your father died." And he said is gadasha. Well, we were exactly 10, but there was a problem. One of the 10 guys was Uval, Armedic. Yuvall was from one of the shar kibbutim. Uval's mother was an active atheist. His father didn't believe in religion. This is the way he was brought up that religion to him was anathema ter everything oh is really but he's the 10th man and here Shuki is saying kadesh and if all 10 don't say oh man the doubt guys are worth anything so we all looked at you [music] most people will probably assume and and judge from what they see have no idea that you were part of a combat battalion unit in the Israeli army facing the enemies in Lebanon and wherever mamish eye to eye face to face. So why don't you tell us you know a little bit about that the same mistake you made the head of northern command in 1984 in Lebanon he made the same mistake what was happen I was the intelligence NCO intelligence on commission officer I was in charge of all the targets all the maps high sense intelligence but two years before in Beirut when I came out of Beirut alive in the first Lebanon war then I decided I've got to look for who got that out of their life that was Hashem and I made a commitment to change my life. Okay, that's when I started becoming observant. And so already two years later when I was on reserve duty, we were 400 meters from the Amal front lines before was founded. That was called El Amal. That was the Shiite terrorist, the Shiite fighters. And their front line was 400 line 400 meters from where we were. Had to go through a forest right there. And there we were on the forward most forward post. And I'm with my battalion commander, my company commander, and showing the maps, the targets, finding the targets. Well, in comes the head of northern command. He says, "What's the Mashkia doing with all these intel maps?" So [laughter] the the the head commander, he he knew a lot of us personally. And so the battalion commander says, he says, "It's not the Mashkia." He says, "You remember laser?" He says, "What? Your intelligence?" Yeah. He says, "That's laser." He says, "That's laser." There it was. So the question I have now is so which is the disguise, the uh the soldiers outfit or the uh or the rabbitic outfit? >> It's part of the same person. You could take a Jew away from Judaism, but he's still a Jew. You could take a soldier away from the IDF, but he's still a soldier. When you kind them both, it's what the Reb used to call, the armies of Hashem. The one thing you learn in the IDF is how to be a good soldier. the discipline you see people that don't get up for synagogue at night to get up forot especially this time of the year when you know you have to get up if I get up for general inspection 3:30 morning I get up in general for general inspe for general prayer for stay freshem I hear 100% but let me ask you I didn't go to the army and uh you know I was I have unc unconventional child raising so what do people more like us that were not used to you know being robots and being so so focused on on routine and regimen. I mean, how does a person that's not so perfect in getting up every morning and being in the right place at the right time, how does he approach this idea of the the yoke of heaven and and and being a Jew and doing all of the mitzvah? >> Urizor, who was a fantastic comedian, he didn't throw away his past. He brought his past into Torah. So then when I first had trouble in Gomorrah, before I went to Torah, I found out that I had grandparent great-grandparents that were stolen. I said, "Where's they stolen in Israel? It's called Carlen." So I did total immersion Torah and me Sharim. What a me started learning more in Yiddish. And here I was learning. >> How's your Yiddish now? >> My Yiddish is it's pretty good. It's It's pretty gooding. So there I was already the big shot university graduate. I had degree in agriculture in Maryland and from a good combat unit and this etc etc etc. And I'm sitting in yeshiva with a kid 17 years old and pimples on his nose and he says to him, "You don't understand the question of Gomorrah." I felt like the biggest idiot in the world. Wow. Rabbi Brody, this is incredible what you're saying because you know we talk a talk, you know, rabbis generally talk, but living through the things you're speaking about. I mean, so honestly, people listen to anyone on YouTube today, anyone in social media, and the truth is, are you really listening to the right person? Do this does this person really know what he's talking about? And does he has he earned the right to speak? But here, I'm [clears throat] sitting before someone that has earned the right to speak. Who better to ask about Israel and Israel making it through this birth pangs that it's going through identity crisis almost god forbid civil war an end to democracy which I can't say that without without smiling and laughing because we know what democrats and here the leftists mean by an end of democracy I mean the the end of their control of democracy of course I revealed where I stand but let's hear what you have to say Rabbi Brody about what we Israel as a nation as a people as human beings beings at the center of so much attention can do to save us from the the harsh predictions of of destruction and world wars and and please we need we need a light in this incredible darkness that we're in the middle of Rabbi one word answer that's unity you say unity that's easy to be unity with a guy doesn't believe like me a guy's from a a leftist kibbutz and I'm from a religious or natural I'm from a yeshiva or whatnot here's the thing when You have to face a lifethreatening situation and I know that I might need you at my back and you know that you might need me. That is a brotherhood and I'll give you an example. To this day I get calls from guys I name and last week last week I heard from my old battalion commander. There is a brotherhood in arms when you know you have a mutual commitment. Now if we know that we here in the land of Israel that this is the future of the Jewish people you can look what's happening England is going down the drain America like King David says being attacked from the right being attacked from the left the leftists are becoming really you could see with the all the woke business and all this and on the rightists with the the the white supremacy the Jews as all in history the Jews had a golden age. We see this pattern repeating in history. We saw this in the golden age of Spain. We saw the golden age of Germany. And it comes out Hashem doesn't want the golden age. There's only one gold like that the the the the Jews that came from Europe to America and Yiddish. They come to New say the golden of Medina. The the golden they they call that the golden state. It's not the golden state. There's only one the gold. That's Jerusalem of gold. That's the gold we have to believe in where Jerusalem are rebuilt holy temple and this is the future for all of us. So we have to know that we have a mutual responsibility to perpetuate ourselves and stay alive same way we stayed alive always same. Okay. Um [clears throat] I what I want to ask you I hear that you have a military background. You were a soldier and you carry that with you which I think is amazing. What about the karedi the very religious people or someone like me that was just too old and too out of shape to even be part of our army? There's a big idea of polar opposites. You're not with us because you're not in the army. Uh you're not with us because you don't believe in God. So, how do we bring the two people that are separated together? So, I understand people like you that that are together in the army and together with Hashem can help bring us together, but how do we get the two polar opposites to come closer so we could create some real lasting union that brings God's kind of protection upon us? >> That's a great question. Did you ever ask yourself why does everybody love Kabad? Why does everybody love Kabad? >> They have a Kabad a Kabad boy that doesn't serve in the army. You'll see him in the hospital and you'll see him bringing a lul on sukot to a wounded soldier and you'll see them say they show the love and they show the care theat is the why he spoke about the unity. You have to show yourself your love. And even if you don't say, "Well, listen, I'm not I'm a Torah scholar. I'm a Torah student." Then you have to learn for all of Claw. You have to learn. I'll give you an example. This a moving story. This is something really I have three sons. Two of these sons are Roshi Shivas today. Okay? And the one son is a physical therapist. But my two oldest boys, they were both commandis units. My oldest son was in the sea commandos, the equivalent to US SEALs. Wow. >> And my second son was in Duv Devon. It's a really dangerous unit where they call Mistim. They dress up like Arab. They go into Arab villages, do something. Well, my third son was about to go into the army. And this way, they living in both worlds. And my son Kagay today is the the head of a coil right here in Jerusalem. And I said to Kagay, I said, "I'm giving you the option. You want to go to the army or you want to go to yeshiva?" And he says, "Aba, I want to learn tone to go to yeshiva." I said, "Okay, but I'm going to give you a responsibility just as your two older brothers are risking their lives for Jewish people. We're not talking about politics, talking about their yes army, no army." They grew up because that they grew up in high school. I was still secular. And by the time I became really religious, they were already in high school, already on their way into the army. When I became religious, my third son, he was still right about at before bar mitzvah. And after bar mitzvah, I put him into a religious school. And he wanted to continue in yeshiva. I said, "Kagay, as long as Gilead and Daniel are awake, you're going to be awake learning Torah because you're responsible for your brothers. You're going to learn Torah for your brothers. And it's no easy life. You go to sleep this and that. And the weekends you're going to learn this and that. If you're willing to learn Torah like that, I'm willing to have you go on Shiva. All right. He says, "Aba, I make a solemn promise. I'm going to be on my guard in the Gomorrah just as they're on their guard in the army." And he became the biggest masid ever came Roshiva. And the Roshiva took him. He married the Roshiva's daughter. But that's said within my own film, there is there are places for people to learn Torah, but we're talking about really learning Torah. We're not talking about convenience Torah where a guy wants to learn Torah because they want to go to work. No. Just as the combat soldier is dedicating himself to protecting the country, we have to dedicate ourselves to protect the combat soldier and to protect the spiritual safety of the Jewish people. >> So I here this is this is a very nice approach. What I'd like to perhaps add is, you know, what what what what could be really un underneath the superficial division is the idea that we don't care enough for each other. Meaning >> exactly bingo. >> A person that that just chooses the sight of God, I think it comes together with choosing to accept to to have at least a mindset that I am responsible for and I care about all of God's children. And this even extends to the entire world. And so I think we have a responsibility to help these people wherever they are to feel that we care about them and that they're part of our mindset. They're on our mind. They're on our heart and and vice versa. I'm sure so many of the people that we think are so polar opposite and hate us don't hate us as much as we think from far away. We need to get closer in many ways. And I think we'll see that a lot of this is the Sahara that creates smoke. And in that smoke, we think there's a fire. But the fire of hate, I don't think is as real as we make it out to be. When you see I I saw that I saw that in the army. Inside the army, you can see we had guys from all kinds of backgrounds, religious backgrounds, secular backgrounds, kibbutz backgrounds, right-wing there, people from Betar, right-wing Jerusalem. But when a guy had to say kadesh, something moving, I'll never forget. We came back from a mission. We came back from a mission in Lebanon and it was a dangerous mission. And when we got back to the border, battalion commander, unit commander and the head of northern command and there was Captain Reena. She was our welfare officer. I said, "What is Captain Reena doing at a debriefing? She's a welfare officer. She should be back at the base." She went up to Shuki and she told him very gently, "So your father died." Wshuki came from a Jerusalem Moroccan background, very traditional. He himself was a family kept Shabbat family as he did. But he right away took and he put a hat back on us. He started crying and he said, "We were exactly 10 with the battalion commander and another command. We were that they were exactly 10, but there was a problem. One of the 10 guys was Yuvall Armedic. Uuvall was from from one of the uh in the south one of the share kibbutim. Uval's mother was an active atheist. His father didn't believe in this is why he was brought up that religion to him was anma everything. Oh he is really but he's the 10th man. And here Shuki is saying kadesh and if all 10 don't say amen the top are worth anything. So we all looked at Yuva. Okay. And Shuki said that he put his hand on his head. He said Omain. If his mother and father heard that they would have killed him. But no that's the brotherhood. That's the type of brotherhood in arms we had where even this guy we had respect from each other. Why' you have so much respect for each other? because we had to take care of each other. >> Amazing. You know what you're making me think about over here. What I want to share is something maybe the exact opposite of what you're saying. I don't know if I have the answer, but maybe maybe we'll hear what the Rev has to say. We talk about, which is odd, the idea of defending your Judaism, defending the Torah, defending the idea of God's mitzvah. Now, I understand this in America or in other places where there's anti-semitism, but hearing it in Israel in God's land and the whole idea of it's Israel and it's a Jewish nation and a Jewish state, it's it's just it's hard for my mind to just, you know, get a handle on this. But even even more so, what I wanted to do is flip the script a bit and bring out this point. Yes, it's good when the secular Jews accept and embrace us and our way and give us our space. It's amazing. What about the other way? You know, we have a very big uh challenge and an obstacle is that we can tell ourselves we're the good guys. We're right. God's on our side. But you know what? In the name of these holy and sacred things, we could be sometimes going so far that we cause separation and hatred in in what we think we're doing for Hashem. And I tell other people, who said Hashem hired you to do that? I have to remember this is great point but this is something I try to share people with my background I came up and my parents weren't religious they were very Zionistic we had when when Robin was shagrier when he was ambassador in Washington he was guest for us for dinner for Friday night dinner when my parents came to Israel they were active in the Zionist movement uh they went to see golden Mayor my mother was an artist and sculptor she the bust of golden mayor They had offices. My mother made that. Okay. B Hashem. And uh that's it. But I remember I wasn't always like that. I didn't always have the beard. I didn't always have the payers behind my ears. I came up strictly secular and that conservative schol in Silver Spring, Maryland. And that's it. There are people there. So you have to know that Hashem has people born this people born. She has people Everything is from Hashem. If you believe in Hashem, he alone did, does and will do. that people look at someone doesn't believe like them as the enemy. That's not the enemy. That's where this particular person is in life. This particular person has his own journey, has his own soul correction. Accept it and believe it. He's a Jew. He's one of us. That's it. So, I don't have to agree with him. I don't have to agree with you to respect you. That's the point I hear. I think that the takeaway is that we even when you feel like your your your side is the side that's right and the other person is wrong. That's where the real avas Israel kicks in for you to be able to embrace and include that person in your world as well and give him the respect that he needs. >> But see that I'm I'm not the right person. I'm the privileged person that opened my eyes. Okay, didn't have an easy time with me. He had to take me to the brink. There were a couple of times that this was not my first war when I made Shuva when I decided to look for Hashem. There were very dangerous situations before that, but uh reinforced concrete up here. So when if I know I've got reinforced concrete up here, it takes a Hashem needs a a sledgehammer to break through, then I got to be patient with other people. >> Excellent point. uh you know I think maybe right now let's face really the uh the most the crucial and important thing that we have to all try to work on right now I think is this what do we do now to protect us from all all of the harm that we hear that when we're fighting it just encourages our enemies uh it also weakens us spiritually makes us more vulnerable to their sword which is the ancient terminology but their missiles and their bombs and their guns what's the direction we could take Now, hopefully people out there are listening to us to really make a real change here, especially with elections coming up. It's funny, the elections, I think, are just a sideeshow. The real elections are is who we choose to dismiss and who we choose to embrace and accept. Okay, there's a I'm going to paraphrase the American President John F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country could do for you, ask what you could do for your country." Okay, say that. We should all ask ourselves, what can I do to make the Jewish people a bit stronger? What can I do? So, one person can visit a hospital. One person can need woolen hats for a Golani soldier in the winter. One person could decide that he's going to learn an extra half hour a day. Even after all the other guys go back from Kao Yeshiva, he's going to above that. This extra half hour is exclusively for the soldiers of Israel. If we all make this decision to get out of this box of ego, what can I do for my people and my country? Just ask that question. And once you ask that question, you've got 50% of the answer. I have another another question to ask and hopefully the right answer we'll all find is am I going to choose to hate a entire group of people without even getting to know who they are or trying to? Am I going to allow someone else's hate and someone else's view to to to define me? Am I just a puppet? Am I just a robot? >> Let me ask you a question. Yes, that's a great question. Let me ask you a question. >> If I say, "Hey, listen. I've got the greatest cheeseburger in the world. Have a bite." What are you talking? You're going crazy. Of course not. Not that. But I said, "Enjoy it and then do chuva. It's easy." So do chuva. That's milk and meat. That's just And no, but I that's that's an That is a transgression between man and Hashem. Hashem is so loving. All you do is your forgiveness. Ask him forgiveness. Confess what you did. Ask I went crazy with my my my lust, my appetite. Okay. And finished. Finished. Chuva. To believe in Hashem means that we believe in chuva. Their slate is clean. Hold it. But you decided, heaven forbid, not you. Someone decided to hate another group of people that they're Jews. hate another group of people. Wait a second. That is a transgression between man and fellow man. You know what the shor says on Yum Kipper? You don't come to Yum Kipper and hit yourself on the chest. Oh, forgive me. Hold it. That's only good for the cheeseburger. That's good for the cheeseburger. But that's not good for the hatred of the fellow man. For the hatred of the fellow man. If you hate somebody that you don't like, you have to ask forgiveness from them. If you said slander about someone else, you have to forgiveness from them. And until when when you plate and ask forgiveness from another human being, that's chuva man to fellow man. You know, I'll even add the end of the day, we think it's so important to be good with God and we ignore or or we're not able to, let's call it a maybe even we we might want to we were not so great with our fellow people. So the Balatanya the founder of the movement has a beautiful story whereas asks him what's more important what's greater in the end of the day loving God or loving your fellow and he answers what could be greater than loving the one that God himself loves and so we have it backwards literally backwards when we talk about yam kipper it's a day that we try to be like angels and we try to you know focus on praying all day long talking to God and almost like trying to fly away to heaven to be with God and we feel like it's all about being okay with God. The day has nothing to do with the forgiveness of our fellow that has to happen actually before yip where you actually make peace with all the people around you. And this brings me to a beautiful a beautiful insight I want to share with you is the aiz says great kabalist that in the end of the day yam kipur is only like another famous Jewish day holiday. It's purim. Purim is greater than yam kipur in some way. that arisal explains it is it's like porim but the real deal is porm and here's the beautiful takeaway you want to be an angel and you want to reach God who says you're an angel who says you're going to reach him but on por we say let's have a let's sit together with unity with a with love with with friendliness giving and and and being married together all of God's children Hashem says you don't have to come to me I'm coming down to you after everything we've talen about the King Solomon said all the rivers come to the sea. Everything we spoke about it brings us together to a to unity and that is the future and unity means loving each other. Loving each other does have it's not like physical love with Hollywood love. It means respecting knowing that what I love about you is that you have within you a divine soul. I have a divine soul. This soul is spiritual DNA. What the Zor says, your soul is a tiny chip of Hashem. My soul is tiny chip of Shem. So since you have Hashem's DNA, I have Hashem's spiritual DNA. That means we're brothers. And we have to remember that no matter what the physical manifestations, this brings us together. The physical, this one's white, this one's black, this one's red. That separates us. But remember, we focus on spirituality. Remember that every one of us is a child of Hashem. And that brings us together. >> Amen. Excellent. What I want to add is one point I want to push. I'm always about I'm the Baltu. I came from very far away. I think so am I. >> Amazing. So you'll enjoy hopefully this push. I won't be pushing you. You'll come with me. We It's great that we love each other because we both are children of God. We have the divine spark. But you know what? I think we got to work on even loving that animal in the other guy. That that not so perfect part of that guy. That's what we got to work on also.