Nachum Segal and Rabbi Benjy Kramer Celebrate the State of Israel's 78th Birthday on JM in the AM

We are celebrating the 78th birthday of the state of Israel. Rabbi Benji Kramer is with us live via telephone. He is of course spending his days, you would imagine, at Yeshiva Flatbush, where they know how to celebrate. If they're 6,000 miles away from the epicenter of the celebration, they are nonetheless still phenomenal at celebrating today. Yeah, you would think if someone's thousands of miles away, how can they even relate to what's going on in Israel? Well, they do a good job over there. Rabbi Benji Kramer, a pleasure to welcome you back to JM >> in the AM. It's so good to hear your voice. >> I appreciate that. And I want to start before I acknowledge what's been happening at your educational institution. I want to acknowledge and recognize those educational institutions that have gone ahead and have sent students to, I guess, the most difficult Bible contest in the world. I would assume the international Bible contest, the Tanakh takes place on Yum Matsmud in Israel. Again, an Israeli, as you would suspect, has won the competition. And that was uh and that was um Hoda Cohen uh who comes from uh the city of near Akiva in the southern part of Israel. However, it is with great pleasure that we announce that Akiva Shrier of Ula in LA came in second. Yeshua Applebomb of Bourbon Burman Academy in Washington came in third and Hadasa Esther Rich from our listening area uh of Buria High School came in fourth place to everybody who was in the international Bible contest. You are all winners. You are all Katanim and Kot of the Tanakh so to speak. And we say mazalto from all of us here at JM. And Rabbi Kramer, isn't it something you've been involved in Jewish education for many decades. Isn't it something to see students from the diaspora are really climbing up the charts of the International Bible Contest? >> It's just amazing. It's it's such a hard uh contest. It's really the questions are not simple and the requirement of timing and you have to it's really hard. It's really hard. I would have to spend many many months or years studying Tanakh even better to do well on these. I I I uh I don't I don't know half the answer to these questions. >> It is pretty amazing. It is pretty amazing. So that's what good that's the centerpiece of so much of the activities in Israel today in addition to the barbecues and the music and the celebration and the day off and spending time with family and friends. Um the other thing I wanted to mention was look you're you're in yeshiva flatbush. Um both you and I are by Herzburg have keep have been keeping me up to date about what's happening on Yoma Zikaron yesterday memorial day Monday night and Tuesday and then of course again last night and today for Yommood for Israel's 78th birthday and all I could say is Kavode it must be an amazing feeling knowing that you're part of one of the I don't want to say few but one of the educational institutions in this country that 6,000 miles away from Israel are making sure their students are not only aware but are active ly involved in celebrating this great day. >> Absolutely. I was just to uh show other schools I I saw Rab Denny Krauss posted on LinkedIn an amazing Yamazi Karon program. They had Rachel Poland uh Goldberg Poland um uh in their school on Yamazi Coron which is amazing. We had Seg of Kalfon, one of the last hostages to to get out of Gaza. >> Spoke unbelievably. It was you could the room was full to the brink with our students and uh you could hear a pin drop. It was so moving uh to hear his struggle and his belief system and he his uh just it I I just talking about it now it it chokes me up. It was um he saw one of the captives, one of the hostages that was with him for many months. he saw a live uh uh broadcast of him leaving and uh he saw him on stage and um and he uh he said if I get to that stage I'm going to scream out to all the gazins and they're all going to hear it. And uh of course he didn't get a chance to to be on a stage like that because Israel insisted on on the on the terrorist stop uh you know grandstanding there you know but uh in time square soon after he got out he screamed with many many thousands of Jews in front of him he screamed out together with them is elohad his uh you know I don't know what his uh religious practice is today, but he is a very religious Jew in many ways. >> Pretty amazing. And then of course, and you're citing obviously um one of the Yomazone programs, Israel Memorial Day, and a big thank you to Robert Katz for hosting ours yesterday. But then today you get to Yat and uh Rabbi Kramer, the same way I would ask any typical Israeli, including my own children, uh whether they're going to be barbecuing today, I guess if you're in the yeshiva flatbush, I have to ask you if you're going to be going on some amusement ride, uh some amusement park rides today. So I am not participating in the amusement park section of the day but we do have uh we do have an amazing today and we have two sessions not regular classes two sessions for the students before we have ruim and uh and the teachers partake in a in a manga as they say in a in a staff barbecue. not just teachers, all the staff uh participate in the barbecue and uh it is an amazing amazing celebration and the students get to have their own barbecue at the amusement park and I'm going to join them for that though. >> All right. So, I don't have to worry. You you will fulfill all of the Yoma obligations, the fa the mangal. Uh it sounds like everything will be covered, right? Benji Kramer is with us. You I opened up today's show and obviously every year there's a different theme and we think about what our brothers and sisters in Israel have been going through just over the last year since the last time we celebrated Yatsmud and there's not a day that goes by without tremendous challenges quite obviously and um one of the things I said Rabbi Kramer uh you may have heard it in the first hour was that today as we transmit these messages to our children our grandchildren our students our congregants as we transmit to everybody the importance of the day and that it is miraculous day that has to be recognized. Uh I I I I tried to emphasize the fact that our predecessors, our ancestors literally would never have believed that this dream would come true and that there would be a state and there'd be sovereignty and there'd be strength and there'd be a strong shekel and there'd be such a thing as a shekel and that there would be an incredible progression of events uh not only in the state of Israel, a progression of events that that continues to attract Jews from around the world to the state of Isra Israel with of course the ultimate message being that the future of the Jewish people is in the state of Israel. And I just I I know that sometimes I I you know hover around this topic that you know those who preceded us would never have believed it. But as we're living through it, we sometimes don't realize what we're living through. And sure enough, and I wonder if you think about this the same way I do. Sure enough, those who came before us would would never have been able to believe that we're now celebrating the 78th birthday of the state of Israel. What are your thoughts? >> I I could not agree more. I I was thinking recently of exactly this idea about uh what it would be to be uh to show a picture to travel in a a a time cap and time capsule was not the right word to travel in a time machine uh back to uh the time of the crusades back to you know where where you know all of Rishaim many of Rishaim were alive the the middle a rabbis from Middle Ages were alive during the Crusades to travel back to um 1492 in the Spanish Inquisition to travel back to the Pgrams and Taknat to travel back to the Shawah and everything that happened in between and show them a picture of a show them a picture of of just what you shall look like today. And uh even to show Beacon the Beacon, right? Uh I don't think you would believe, right? >> A just a show without the highway. >> That's fantastic. >> I'm referring to the Bacon Highway that travels under you and makes travel in your shim so much quicker. And >> suppose supposedly supposedly. >> Well, >> wow. By the way, by the way, that's another thing to show everybody. And it doesn't have to be Jerusalem. It could be many other major cities in Israel as well. The hustle and bustle, the movement, the population, the explosion, the business, the uh bo both the um the serious pursuits and the luxurious pursuits that go on on a regular basis. It is it's pretty remarkable. I mean, it's like imagine what you just said about or alluded to in terms of the congestion in Jerusalem. Imagine there are cities in Israel that have it even much worse than that when it comes to congestion if we're allowed to use that word when it comes to Israel. Obviously, traffic in us has to be viewed differently than traffic or in Israel has to be viewed differently than traffic anywhere else around the world. But it it's amazing. You just multiply it and yeah, there's still a lot of space for people in Israel. At least we hope so because real estate prices in most locations are going through the roof. So, we hope there's still room in certain outlying areas. But just just look at the remarkable way that so many cities and area areas of Israel continue to grow. you know, um I I brought my son to the airport and he went back um and we're discussing, you know, how he's gonna get from the airport to Jerusalem and he's telling me about the train. Now, I don't know if you're a trained person or not, Rabbi Kramer, >> but but I'm saying to myself, it is just unbelievable where he he's telling me about a train that in minutes, and again, it's not, you know, a few minutes, but 20, 30, 40, whatever the exact number of minutes is, can get you from the airport to the center of Jerusalem. And this is now the preferred method. and all of these incredible light rails and highways and direct roads. You know, it's funny. Last September when I was in Israel on on on one of these real estate projects I was involved with, their big pitch was that they are now building a road that from here to Jerusalem will be 20 minutes, you know, and that and that that will be the, you know, that is how much more efficient we are getting in this country in terms of trying to connect people to areas they have to get to. So could you imagine could you imagine as you just said Manakim Bean or anybody from the 30s 40s 50s 60s could you imagine showing them this describing to them what life in Israel is like cuz it's not just 78 years and 78 years where every single day there's a challenge and where every single day our brothers and sisters are surrounded by the enemy and an enemy wants to destroy them. But it's 78 years of tremendous progress and just an incredible state that has been built. And again, with our cynicism and sometimes our negativity, sometimes we need to pause and just acknowledge the incredible positive elements that the state of Israel enjoys and these remseable accomplishments that in fact have been accomplished. You could not have introduced my words better what I prepared. Um what I'm going to say actually is is inspired by uh Rabbi Aaron Goldsider who was a uh scholar and resident in our shul or Torah great shabas. He was amazing. >> Yeah. >> Um everyone should look him up on YouTube. He has so many sharim on YouTube. All of them very inspiring. And he made me think as he was speaking after shis uh about we say ink and it really relates to what you were just talking about our cynicism should be you know dissipated. We say we all know it. God should the the mercy one meaning merciful one that God should send us Elijah the prophet and we say he should be remembered for the good. We'll talk about that in a moment why he's referred to that way. Not many people are referred to that way. um the vaser and he should give us he should inform us uh uh good good tidings, good news, Yeshua and saving us and the hamot and comfort and we have to understand what exactly is this role of el ya why is he called zakur l and what does this mean he's going to bring us good news good tidings he's going to bring us Yeshua saving us uh and and and comfort. So we know that we read uh from Malah the last navi ever ever really recorded in in our and the last couple of that are in the whole Na'vi uh are these two tukim that we read um I'm trying to think we read it on on oh I just I just blanked out. We read it in um oh it's sorry um the before that's how he's written Hashem says I'm going to send you and before the day this great day of God and the assumption is although it's a mak exactly how to interpret that Elanovi is coming the day before Mashiach comes before our anointed king our future king is going to come to redeem us from the galut as if we really as mayor would always say as if we need to be redeemed from the galut we just have to go there ourselves now we don't really need to be redeemed but okay that he he's going to announce um the the mashiach before he comes but more than that the last puk and it's one those tukim I think there are four times in that we do not end with the last puk and we repeat the pen ultimate puk we have it in we have it in coal we have it in uh here in in mali and there's another place I can't think of it right now but um >> we did it this we did it this past shabas >> we did it this past shabas >> shabasesh That's the end of Yesh. That's it. The end of That's correct. That's correct. The end of Yesh. All of those have a few negative words to end with. And we don't want to end in negativity like you were just talking about. And therefore, we repeat the pen ultimate the second to last. Uh I'm reminded of this. I heard about this boy who applied to college and wanted to use a big word. He didn't have chat GPT back then. wanted to use a big word in his college application and he said let's say it's Columbia University I wanted Columbia University was my penultimate university that I wanted to go to not realizing that that he didn't get in but um anyway the penultimate puk um we repeat that puk but the last puk is almost ends with Albanim Banim alam and Ela will bring the fathers close to the sons uh and the sons close to their to close to their fathers and um raider I don't know if he quoted Rav Khalap specifically but Rav Khalap who was a great uh close friend of and Salid of Rav Cook in the uh early 1900s and he himself was an unbelievable able rabbi. There are books written about him. People should read about him. He wrote a book called Near. There's a sh in the middle of Raavia called Bul which is named after his sh. found exactly the same location I believe as his sh but it has artifacts from his sh of refers to ali as the one who he unites our hearts and there will be a recognition that the avote the older generation in his time in the early 1900s the older generation who were cynical and negative about the formation of a Jewish settlement future Jewish state uh in Israel who believe that you can't have this this this uh kind of estate in Israel before Mashiach comes and they're cynical about the younger generation the yadim and they uh they they talk negatively about them and they'll come around he said because of that generation will come around to recognize the greatness of the banim and sometimes the banim are the ones who inspire them to come around even though they they themselves are not necessarily of the same belief system. Uh and that is part of what Ela will do. We'll unite the older generation who are more cynical with the younger generation who are more hopeful. And we see all around us the uh the great great uh soldiers many of them religious. So many of the soldiers who've been fighting are religious soldiers who either went to to meote went to there and they are on the forefront. They are many of them are the commanders inspiring others. But even the soldiers who are not religious are inspired by this concept of Israel lo I just heard Ra Maidon last night speak not I mean I wasn't there in in he's the Russa of Harion and he said there's so many so many people close to God more than more than I ever remember he said people who are close to God IN IN THEIR OWN way not the way I want them to be necessarily But in their own way so many not just other Israelis who are so close to God in their own way that inspire their understanding of Shak of course we know the infer or so the end of like it says now I see um where says this to he's actually referring to God when he says God is the one who keeps Israel uh going forever. But uh the way your average Israeli understands is the idea that is will never be destroyed. Ami is will always continue. And many of them have the idea that God is behind us as as well. I'm reminded of the pilots that um that spoke to I I don't remember who quoted this. I think it was Elia Dagold who quoted a pilot who who he spoke to who said that as he's you know I trained for this while I'm flying over Iran we all trained for this and all our training went into it but you know I have to tell you this pilot non-religious pilot said to Rabbi Gold uh that I felt an extra help I felt that my training was excellent and I'm ready for this but I felt that things that happened just they're beyond belief would happen and what I was able to accomplish up there was more than I we all dreamed would would would happen and these inspiring people they don't believe exactly what we believe but that they are part of and and I I like I said when we say that that ya is poor. If you read the end of the beginning of about Ela and you see how Ela was so hard on the people, so harsh on his generation and Hashem even tells him that's not I don't I don't operate with fire. I don't operate with a harsh, you know, hurricane wind like you are. That's not how I do it. And God's message is we have to be softer to to our people. and Ela was taken away as a leader. Uh Ela Lmet, he sort of went up in a chariot uh to Shamayan. And I think it's the Zohar that actually says that Ela was told um I saw it quoted from the Zohor. Ela Hanavi was told that you have to go to every Brit and you have to be Mamemed. You have to remind people how great Ami is at every brit. And we we also have um Rav Cook writes that the reason that we mention Elani on Shabbat is because Ela and I believe there's a med in in a medish rabbi I saw it quoted I didn't look it up but um every Shabbat is sitting there under the he's sitting in and he's writing down this of every Jew he's writing down uh wow this Jew you see what he did this week you see what he did last week you see this Jew and he's writing it all down and cook says that's what we should be doing every we should be mimicking we should be mimicking ali and thinking instead of taking out our iPhone right after Shabbat or Android if you like Shabbat and and looking up bad news about what happened here what happened there we should be thinking about people and how we can how we can uh praise them and how we can uh unite the Israel from the good and when we say about I believe I didn't see this inside anywhere but I believe it's because if you read about alo's life and how critical he was and then you read what he does up there in Ghana all the time he is l he's always reminding us of the good and when we see the news and it's so easy to be cynical as you said about the news and and there's why did we really do a ceasefire we should be destroying them and why is this and why that what are they trying to do it's so easy to be negative and our job here is to is to remind ourselves that we have a little bit of yaw in all of us and we have to see the good in everything that's going on around us and see the good in the in that doesn't believe in God the way we do and doesn't believe what Israel really means the same way we do but they still are fighting for us. They're backing us. They have our backs and they are amazing amazing people and that's what we have to focus on on this amazing day of >> happy birthday to the state of Israel 78 years Benji Kramer. We so appreciate your contribution to this radio broadcast and uh may we continue to celebrate the incredible and amazing accomplishments of the state of Israel. May we always remind everybody, our students, our children, our grandchildren, our congregants, the future of the Jewish people is in the state of Israel. Right? on the map and everyone should think a positive thing about the state of Israel today and about our fellow Jews who we don't agree with in a lot of ways >> 100%. And there are a lot of positives to emphasize that's for sure. Uh big thank you to the Rotherberg law firm injuryawyer.com for presenting our special programming including today's yomat special at America's one and only Jewish moments in the morning radio program heard on listeners sponsored digital radio round them webc.com on the single network and of course on the beloved NSN app.