I triggered my friend, the Buddhist priest

I used to study with a Buddhist priest. Now you want to take one guess why I used to study? Why? Because he's Jewish. Because he was Jewish. Of course. But when a Jew becomes Buddhist, you know, you know, there's an expression, the Jews are like everybody else, only more so. So a good Jewish boy becomes a Buddhist. He can't be a regular Buddhist. In fact, not only he was a Buddhist priest, he was the world's foremost translator of Tibetan scripture. Wow. Yeah. A genius. The guy was a genius. Absolute genius. He had a PhD in philosophy from Princeton. And the guy was a genius. I'll tell you what a genius he was. I would go study with him the deepest concepts and he would immediately be able to hold a conversation about those ideas. And even more than that, he would be able to make jokes about the subject matter that made sense that were funny. Jokes that were funny and made sense and were appropriate to the subject matter. So I I don't know if you that that that impresses you or not. But from my perspective, somebody who can hear an abstract idea that's totally new to them and like be so comfortable with it that he's he's making jokes about it that actually are funny. That's okay. He was he was he was an amazing mind. So we used to study together. One time we were studying together and I don't remember the subject but I said to him you know there's a recording a video of the labavatur speaking about this idea would you like to see it so he says yes I would like to see it by the way just a side point but one thing that was cool about studying with him is American Jews get nervous with the relationship because Americans are very independent right because we don't want anyone to tell tell us what to do. Like if you ask an American like, you know, uh, where are you going? Oh, I'm going to Taekwondo. Who's your teacher? Master Cho, right? No problem. Taekwondo, they have a master. Master Cho is my master. Then you ask them, by the way, you're Jewish, right? Yeah, I'm a religious Jew. Who's your master? Oh, I don't have a master. Taekwondo, they have a master. Judaism, they don't have a master. Judaism started with Mishabeno. I don't want to scare anyone, but the translation is Moses, our master. Taekwondo, you have a master, but not in Judaism. So, but he he liked the Deba stories cuz I asked him, I remember I when I met him, he showed me a picture of his guru, Lahavdil, and I said, uh, did you ever serve him? I don't know. I was trying to make chitchat. I thought was a question. He says, I was his butler for 15 years. The guy was a genius, but he was the the guru's butler for 15 years. Anyways, what I'm saying is American Jews. Just a side commentary. American Jews have lost touch with this very important part of Jewish culture since I started. Maybe I'll just continue my commentary here. But during World War II, you might know many Jews ran away eastward across Asia and they ended up there was a community in Shanghai. And uh at one point the Japanese the Japanese had invaded China. It was Manuria. The Japanese weren't Japanese were part of the Axis. they were you know uh in cahoots with the with with the Germans. So they were getting pressure to hand over these Jews who had escaped from Eastern Europe. So the Japanese governor made a meeting with the Jewish community. The representative of the Jewish community was in this particular meeting was the amino. So who was aidic from Poland originally. So there was an interpreter and there was the Japanese governor and there was no and the Japanese governor said why ask him why do the Germans hate you guys so much. So the aminova told the translator tell him because we're oriental. So told him that answer and the Japanese governor got up and he said meeting adjourned and he found different things to do for the rest of the war. You know he didn't because we're oriental. It's not a joke. We think we're part of Western civilization. You know what civil? Western civilization is Edim. Edim is asov. Yankov and Asov are arrivals. Western civilization has been our host, not such a hospitable host. America, we're lucky. You know, we're the end of uh of of of history, so we're getting close to Msiah, so Western civilization is pretty refined now. America is pretty nice. But, you know, ask your great-grandparents what Western civilization was like in Europe. You know, ask them what, you know, the Holocaust and Crusades and Pgrams and Inquisitions. Western civilization wasn't always so nice to us. Only the past 50 years, the evangelicals decided that they love Israel and they love Jews, right? But, you know, wasn't so long ago they didn't. That a religious Christian was as scary to a Jew as a religious Muslim. Wasn't so long ago. I'm getting off on a tangent, but my point is we are orientals. We're an eastern culture. In Eastern cultures, they value having a master. Nobody would have the to dare to aspire to excellence in any area and not have a master. Which is why you you study martial arts, of course, Master Cho is my master in Taekwondo. But when it comes to Judaism, I don't have a master, you know, barely listen to the rabbi. But my friend, getting back to my story, he understood that a Jew has to have a master that any in anything you want to be good at, you have to have a master. He appreciated that. So we were studying and we came to a certain thing and and I said, "Oh, the spoke about it." He knew that that's my master. So I said, "He spoke about that topic. Would you like to see a video of him speaking about it?" So he's like, "Yeah, I would." So I said, "Great. Where's your computer with internet?" This was like 15, 20 years ago. So you know, it wasn't like you just whip out a smartphone. So I said, "Where's your computer with internet?" So he says, "In the other room." Now I should explain to you. I had never been in any other room in the guy's house except for his front room. I knew he was an active Buddhist. So, I knew there had to be, let's call it, paraphernalia around. I just didn't I didn't I just focused on just the front room. We would just sit down at the coffee table and that's where we would study. I never saw the rest of his house. But he asked him, "Where's the computer?" He says, "It's in this other room." So, we get up. We walk into a room that's be that had always been behind us. We go in there and he has a computer and I go on.org and I find the video and we watch the video. Very nice. And the video finishes and we turn around to leave the room. And as we turn around to leave the room, I see what has been behind me the entire time that I was unaware of. an altar with an idol and incense like literal of a des like from Gamarra, you know, like lit like this is something I learned about in Yeshiva, a guy that I love and who I who I who who I study with and who I know, a beautiful Jewish person, he has this altar and this idol and of course I knew he was a practicing Buddhist. I understood he must have that kind of stuff. But there's one thing intellectually to know and then to see it. It was shocking. It was hurtful. It was I don't know how to describe it, but it was like a punch in the gut. So, at that moment, I wanted nothing more than just to be out of that room. I did not want to be in that room. I needed to get the heck out of there. And so, I'll just preface by saying, if you don't know me, you should know I have zero sense of direction. literally to the extent I in my own home I cannot tell you which direction I can't I couldn't tell you which way is Misra I couldn't I mean I don't know I if I if I'm in a shul I look I say I look for the where the is but that's the only way that I know and if you would trick me and put it on the west wall I would believe you I have no sense of direction at this moment I wanted to get out of that room and I you know how when you're in a really high pressure situation and you think really really fast and your mind is just working at lightning speed and you just say something. So I don't know how I don't know why but it was a stupid thing to say. I'm walking out of that room and I'm trying to run out of that room and I somehow realize that I'm facing east and he points to that thing, that abomination. And he says, "That's where I pray." And that was like a second punch to the gut. Just seeing it was enough. But then he sees that I see it. He says, "That's where I pray." Oh, like why? Why do you have to say it? Right? So, I just want out of there and then I'm cognizant of the fact I'm facing east and I got to get out of this room and run past that geta and I have to move east. He just says that's where I pray. So, I said, "Oh, so you pray facing east like a Jew." I don't know why I said I just wanted to get out of there. I was just thinking way too fast for my own good. Now, I I should also mention to you that from the time that I met my friend that he was very very ill with the disease that he eventually um died from. And he was not very mobile. He couldn't move very quickly at all, which is why I would h that's that's why I had to come to his house even though I knew what kind of stuff was probably in the house. So he says, "That's where I pray." Oh no, I want to get out of here. And so I say to him, "Oh, so you pray facing east like a Jew." And I start running. And this guy starts running after me. I told he didn't move. He couldn't move. He starts chasing me. He starts chasing me like I just ran away with uh with his wallet and he's screaming after me through the house. What is he screaming at me? He says, "What? Not like a Jew. I am a Jew. A real Jew." Listen to that. He just pointed out his idol to me two seconds ago. But now I just cast dispersions. I said, "Oh, you're like a Jew." That's when the pentilid come what like a Jew. I'm not like a Jew. I am a Jew. A real Jew. And that moment he had absolute clarity. Absolute clar. Now I want to tell you something. 5 seconds later, if you would have gone over to him, I didn't. But if you would have and you would have asked him, "Are you Jewish?" I guarantee you with his brilliant genius mind, he would have given you the most phenomenal dre answer. Am I Jewish? Well, you know, I was born Jewish. My mother's Jewish. Culturally, I like bagels and locks. I mean, I was raised in Judaism. He would not give you a straight answer. You get this all the time from people, you know. I don't I don't know who you interact with, but I I mean I I know in my in my experience, you ask certain people, are you Jewish? And they give you the he oh it's complicated. What's complicated? Either you are you are you or or you aren't. But there's this simple core identity that has clarity all the time. And for it there's there's not I'm kind of Jewish. I'm a little Jewish. Yeah. Well, it depends what you mean by the question. No, I am 100%. This is who I am. This is my essence. Not like a Jew. I am a Jew. A real Jew. That's it. That exists within every single Jew. Every single Jew. And if it doesn't look like it, if you're looking at a particular Jew who's protesting their Jewishness, who's who who's cursing Judaism, whatever they're saying, I promise you that is sleep talk. People say neskite when they're talking in their sleep, but if you would wake them up and it depends what's it going to take to wake somebody up. So in my story with my friend, that's what woke them up for a second. If you would wake them up, they would speak with clarity and they would tell you that they are Jewish and that that that is their essence and that is their everything. Hey, this is Shay Ta. You were just watching a clip from this class. If you want to get the full context, the full class that this clip that you just watched was from, you watch right here. Click right here. Here.