Rabbi Guy Matalon - The Kuzari - Part 12

we are in the kuza in the middle right just in the middle of a very very important section that describes to us that teaches us probably one of the most important uh basic pillars of judaism which is why and how people saw god on harshinai so the kusari says to us the reason that god revealed himself to everyone at once was because the people didn't really believe mushroom they knew that he was able to do all sorts of things he said that he spoke to god but they weren't sure they always had a doubt and god did not want his religion to be based on doubt he wanted it to be based on experience so that each person will experience god for himself or herself so that's where we are in the in the section so they received the ten commandments right we talked about that that god revealed himself to all the people and told them each of the ten commandments that's the sheet of the kusari there's another shita that they only got the first commandment or the two first two commandments but according to the kusuri they got all 10 of them and here's the key this is what he says they believed in mosher being after this that everything that moshe abandoned said comes directly from god having that experience why why did they believe everything that moshe told them because what's the first commandment i am the lord your god who what brought you exactly brought you out of egypt and so mosher bennett said god is going to take you out of egypt and now you have experience to say i brought you out of egypt must mean that god does what he says clear aaron does god do does god do every time what he says who said yes take a lap he's never said he's wrong i don't know he said he was going to distress well he did destroy something he said he'll he told him i'll share a bit and i will wipe the people out i'll destroy all of them did he no no okay so things that can be negative things that you can change that's right but if god says we're the jews are his chosen people does that mean he could take that back and say jesus no he made a covenant with us oh is it like a is it like a like a prophet like a prophet if he makes a good prophecy it has to come true and if it makes it a bad one right either or right correct is that the same thing not the same thing not the same thing hashem has when he says things he does it for different reasons so it depends we have to look at what he says and then figure out what's happening in the context so he says the following the rabbi in the kusari continues up robine received prophecy from god without any prerequisites what does that mean he did not go to prophet school and he took prophecy 101 right and then he had prophecy lab and then after that he had a seminar on prophetic you know experimentations no he was just in the desert all of a sudden he finds himself in front of a bush that's burning and he says hmm what is that and then all of a sudden god is speaking to him how this was literally a burning bush it's not metaphorical for anything says burning bush you want to say you want to say that a burning bush is not a burning bush was it a bush i have no idea i'm asking burning bush so no prerequisites to mushroom why and here he gives a fascinating reason that is probably going to take us about a good 15 minutes to discuss but we may skip it it depends on what you guys want so here's what he says the reason there was no prerequisite so that prophecy should not be in the same way that the philosopher's claims claim it works so there were philosophers in amen in the middle ages and in the greek period like greek philosophers that explained how prophecy works it is a natural process that if a person does a b c d e f g he gets prophecy and hashem and judaism is based on a on a religion that says not like that why because then it means that god has to work according to necessity and not according to his will god gives prophecy to whomever he chooses if he wants you'll have to get prophecy he'll get it if he wants matt to get it he'll get it and yourself not yet it's not ready yet erin next week next week gotta sweat a little bit more is there anything against uh judaism to do like a sweat lodge like a native american swell are you dressed in the sweat lodge are you dressed like pants are you dressed you're covered not really that's a problem why are you naked you're not like totally naked usually but usually it's close enough yeah and why because it's a purpose yeah what's the point of the sweat lodge to see spirits to pass around the pipe no no no no no not that kind of i don't mean that i mean some people do that i know i know so i don't know i don't know i think if a person is doing it for health reasons then it's probably um but if you're doing it as a way to connect to the spirits which was what native americans were doing that's for sure crossing boundaries there buddy isn't there a certain mindset they have to be in in order to receive prophecy that's what you're saying you're saying that's the philosophers are saying if you do a b c d e f g you take these steps you get it prophecy oh whatever it is yeah whatever whatever it is usually two units privacy proficiency right yeah can you hold your breath underwater for you know 20 minutes no okay sorry then no more then you're a witch that's right that's right yes i can and your wish if you can't then you'll die okay it's very simple so he says because the philosopher believes that once the soul purifies its thoughts it can connect to the agent intellect which is called sometimes the holy spirit or the angel gabriel and the seche la poel will emanate to him if moses was a prophet and he was able to talk to god how can we let him the long way for 40 years to get to he says it he's stalling hashem said i the all the generation that worshipped that you know rebelled against me they will die in the desert it's because of the spies says they will die in the desert and they will not enter the land of israel they will die in the desert it says punishment no it's preparatory it's preparation you know you how do you get rid of the slave mentality you know you've been generations upon generations been a slave now they're telling you you're free and what do i do with my freedom how do you i think there is hashem says that these people cannot go into the land of israel just the camp but if you say it's because of the slaves then it's because of the witnesses the the spy guys not witnesses yeah sorry miraculous that's that's what the taurus says i'm not making this i know you're not making it up but it's because of the spies then if the spies didn't happen they would have been able to go into this round yeah because that means that we're ready isn't it just switching to a different slate so they rebelled when the the spot it was it's not the egg all that that more of a rebellion than coming back and saying look at the cousin if we will get to it we could get to it today maybe he explains what the issue was with the golden calf because the king is going to ask him okay they all saw god fine then what happened moses goes up to the mountain and what do they do they build an idol and worship it they just saw god what are they doing right so he's telling europe shot as to what happened is wrong because if they all saw god if you saw god the next day would you now make a little statue and then pray to it after you heard you experienced god telling you don't make statues so your lady is going to have to the the rabbi in the cruiser he's going to explain but did i answer your question ju you want that something didn't you so the people come to moshe urbana and say okay we know that you're going into the land of israel why don't we send spies to figure out the land you know look at the topography the people there's a good land is a bad land can we conquer it can we you know so fine they send 12 spies they all come back they bring with them fruits of the land which are you know show the the bounty of the uh of the land and so the people say okay so what how's it going to go if how is it going to go down says say the spies 10 of them say we'll never be able to conquer them we're all going to die and our children are going to be you know taken to slavery it's going to be horrible and two of them says what are you talking about trust in god god is saying just we can do this and the people like oh my god you know god brought us out of egypt to kill us in the desert where we don't want to die and you know they they are totally lost it and moshe benue's got a problem because the people say oh you did this to us are you kidding me so hashem says you know what they're not ready they can't go in they're gonna have to stay in the desert and remember the generation that came into there it's israel right so just imagine they're in the like crossing the border right there's a board of patrolmen like you know passport inspection and they he walks up there right and the guy says yes he says i'd like to commit he says where are you from what would the guy say where is he from from the desert right so i'm from the desert so the border guard would say to him what do you mean you're from the desert nobody lives in the desert where were you born where was he born desert no these there's a brand new generation they were all born in the desert so i was born in the desert what do you mean nobody's born in the desert fight you were born in the where did you grow up in the desert you mean you tell me all your life you've been okay you've been in the desert fine so what do you eat so he says what what did you what is that so this is stuff that you know falls outside your door if you're a tadic and if you're not it's a little farther and you eat it and it's very nourishing and it's yeah what it tastes like anything you want it's like i'm sorry you wanna tell me that there's some type of food that falls in front of your door a little farther it tastes like whatever you want and it's amazing and this is all in the desert right and the guy says yeah pretty much that's it are you crazy we don't need crazy people in kanan go away he says what are you talking about this is what we and the guy the border patrol is losing his patience and so the guy says you know what fine you don't believe me where are you from he says i'm from here he says okay so what do you do what are you going to eat what do you eat so what do you mean what do i eat a sandwich what's a sandwich so what do you mean what's a sandwich you take bread you what's bread what do you mean what's bread what's bread what are you talking about so this is bread you know you take wheat grain and you grind them up and you make it through you know dough and then you bake it wheat grain what's wheat grain so you see these little seeds you you take them and you plant them in the ground it says okay you're telling me that i'm crazy you take a seed you put it in the ground and from that you have bread that's what you want to tell me she says no no you put the seed and you water and the seed rots and breaks open yeah i'm the one that's crazy like you're just as crazy as i am that is the people who lived in the desert the generations in the desert didn't know anything about normal life all the things that we take for granted for them they were like brett what are you talking about like they're looking at them like what's mana what and it really is at the core trying to understand what a miracle is usually people define miracles as that which they can't explain to the guy from the desert the concept of bread coming from wheat is a miracle it's unbelievable for him mana is what normal it's like all the time it's fine yeah it's this is it and the other is like what are you talking about it all depends on how you're looking at the situation so what okay i didn't know i don't know that nobody called me positive thinking i'm very negative i'm a very pessimistic person like i'm very good at you know when my kids do that that's not going to end well oh that's going to be that's going to leave a mark i'm not very optimistic i don't believe that trust me that's why i'm so happy that's why you're so happy yeah i'm happy because i expect the worst and it's so good it doesn't happen because if you look at the probability things should go bad all the time but you could see the site of ishmael that the college barracuda gives us so much and helps us in so many ways it's just amazing like if we were up to our own devices all right yeah slide was on that's right okay here we go now kazoo is just like a you know one of those combs with the uh have you ever seen the the combs with a piece of paper down it and they blow and it makes sounds look the same okay so the philosophers say that a person can reach prophecy a level of prophecy through certain taking certain processes okay judaism says but doesn't that contradict what philosophy believes like or is their their idea of prophecy different than judaism the prophecy that god's talking to to you but if the pro if the philosophers don't believe that god has any interaction or he doesn't care about what you do in this world so how is god going to talk to you how are you going to get very very good question so they define the although they use the language religious language often and they are talking about prophecy but it's not what we have in mind for them it is the ability of the human mind to abstract universal principles from sensory data that's sort of at the lowest level of prophecy does anybody understand what i said yes no not again it's the ability that a human being has to abstract a universal principle from sensory data yes that is you have a pink dragon dancing to frank sinatra's song and from that you can get a universal principle whatever that is i don't know how that's that's the philosophers philosophers say that god could send you a universal truth into your mind and it's coming in boom god doesn't have any interaction with you so the way that it works is that god have you ever listened to a radio yes how do you do you know the old dial radios how do they work news right you hear very clear right that's how it works when you tune in when you have reached a level of tuning your mind to the right frequency you get automatic universal so it's something that's just going on that's right according to that god doesn't choose you that's what i said necessary like if you take uh philosophy 101 intro to prophecy do the lab you know intro to ethics get your ethics ready you do your pe classes you get your body in order get your mind in order and then all of a sudden you tuned in to the right station and god and you are getting through the seche la poel or gabriel that's what he said you get universal truths that's what the philosophers are saying who the phosphorus who the philosophers who the man so it starts with this model is begins in aristotle it is also in the mysterious and then you have alexander aphrodisias so um you've got some of the christian philosophers then you have al-farabi ibn sina veruis the rambam mentions this model and you have the kuzuri mentioning this model ibn baja is a philosopher spanish philosopher in the 11th century i think in spain that writes about this even to file is another famous one so i know it sounds like i know a lot of people but i just practice these names i have no idea what they wrote i'm kidding i keep telling you guys i'm not as dumb as i look so what do i do to become a prophet oh you have to move into level two learning gemara and when rav zweig says to me he's ready we take you to the basement and start teaching you intro to prophetics but you have to have rev spikes tell you tell us that you can do this so we are talking about how can we get god to speak to us that is how do we become prophets and some people here are asking i won't name any names aaron some people want shortcuts right yuda alevi says that it is not a process that you just take a series of steps and then god talks to you the way that you reach prophecy is your genetic material that's like kind of the idea that i want to say that is he says that every jew you remember this from father to son we transmit the ability to connect to god it's called the inanna elohi or in arabic that exists in every jew right in every jew and he has the ability to connect to god does it mean that just because he has the ability it will happen it could if you don't have it what does it mean won't happen what you're not the chosen one no god the guy has to come to you specifically okay so now we have we will get to bilham at some point in 2016. if we keep with this rate don't worry you don't have to we don't keep you here for two years because you know in in this year i just heard today that this is the ninth inning and we're almost at the end so the monsieur is coming this year so i heard that's what he said so i heard didn't you hear i heard it but that's not what i did at the home of it is that promise no it's the truth you know i could just see him go up to the person listen you said and it didn't happen so sorry pam can you do that what can you collect money from people who say it's the end no you can get it can you gamble there's probably like a high stakes yeah it's probably it's not one to one it's like that you know in vegas they have these signs in these hotels you know we pay 97 cents on the dollar like really i'll start a business i'll pay you 98 cents you give me 98 and i'll give you a hundred dollars for everybody who walks in who gives me a hundred dollars i'll give them 98 dollars back and that's how you bring a million dollars i'll give you right 980 000 back no problem anytime just keep going but there are people who just like chickens do you know why i say chickens they did a study where they had this chicken in the machine and if it pecked a particular button it gave him food so it would and the food would come then they had a machine where they would peck and nothing would happen and there was a machine that if you packed sometimes you would get food sometimes you don't get food sometimes you get a little one sometimes you get a lot all the chickens who packed was the one that machine like there was one you pack you get one pack get one pack get one that the chicken didn't want it wanted the one that you packed you didn't get packed you get three pack you get nothing packed you get one peck you get nothing nothing nothing nothing pack seven that's the one the chicken were like so i always see the people in the slot machine i feel like these are just a bunch of chickens waiting so i know i'm not very popular when i uh knock down uh slot machine gambling but what are you gonna do so it's possible this is how you ask me aaron like so what do they actually see he says sometimes they imagine in it that they god speaks to them in a dream while they're asleep or sometimes they hear something but it's not through their ears it's in their mind but not through their eyes but he says all of this was not how god spoke to the people in harsina that's not what happened so what happened he says there are two things one there was divine speech and divine writing what's the divine writing the tablets now how did the tablets look didn't they weren't they like written all the way through and exactly exactly it was pretty cool like however you turned it would be like this is pretty cool you just don't remember it so he says he gave it to moshe urbanus so that not only did they hear it they experienced god but they also saw what god told them so you might think how does god speak in order to speak what do you need a voice vocal cord yeah you need you need what we would call hardware correct to make this sound so the question is the question is for us how did that happen so they don't speak you mean that as a metaphor yes i know but he is saying that it actually literally happened god could create a voice create a sound from all directions yeah from one direction when we speak it's coming from one direction yeah so it came to them as i don't know exactly how it from one direction or not do you think the whole world no and did everyone here it was a personal thing or did everyone hear it as if it was like a outsider yeah it's a voice they heard a sound that is the airwaves their ears were picking up the sound waves into their ear but it was as if it was something outside or something like that not inside their heads i mean outside far away or no next to them it was they probably you know have you you've ever stood in front of a speaker with a base and you hear the sound don't you feel like the vibrations inside you like your lungs is like moving according to the beat of the all right let's stop here there's milka in two minutes and we'll continue on sunday you