R' Asi Spiegel in Conversation with Rabbi Shais Taub | Understanding ISRAELI culture

if you want to talk a little bit about Hebrew and Israelis I'll tell you you know which language the tawa had never been translated to Hebrew torah's never been translated I remember years ago we were in New York somewhere and it was a tour of reading in Chavez and a good Israeli friend of mine wasn't religious he comes to me after the tour reading he said I didn't understand words all right so uh wanna welcome everyone to soulword Studios we're doing a little informal interview podcast with uh somebody that I just ran into randomly yesterday at the aisle many people know that we're here in the five towns Which is less than 15 minutes from the aisle and I'm there quite often so yesterday I was it was and I was sitting in the back and Rabbi ASI Spiegel now of it's fast came over to me and said you know what you told me do you remember what you told me um remind me you said I'm your biggest fan oh that's right I did I said you're an Israeli how do you be my fan I speak for an American audience you don't even that's not your your world but you said no no I'm your biggest fan I said you know what I'm not gonna argue with you but you know what come to my studio and we're gonna do a podcast okay here we are should I tell you why I'm your biggest fan yeah convince me yeah well it started actually with Tanya uh you put a CD but the map of the Tanya and this is right behind you by the way oh yeah oh there it is so but I got to the map after I I listened to the CD and and I learned Tanya all my life and like many other people I was always challenged by you know the makeup of the chapter what comes after what and when I listened to your uh CD lecture I was very impressed and since then I I follow you and uh you know I'm not in America so I don't see all the magazines and everything but I'm also a fan because the amount of content you release them really I admire your output it's amazing I I that's nice to say and the truth is I wish I put out more because mashiach's not here yet so he's still you know the balchem had Elias and a shame he went to heaven he saw the soul of mashir he said when are you coming he said when your teachings are spread out so I guess okay well we all got to do more I agree um speaking of uh see this and spreading out the teachings of the balshamtov um and pinemia satira the inner Dimensions the the secrets of the Torah um you know you know the word that um the balship is in other words right right okay and this is where I'm heading right but they say the voice for me and then like take me where I'm trying to go I'm trying to basically from balchant of tomorrow okay okay so yeah I'm some Iran is really the author of The Zora as we all know but is is the root is the shortest the root of all cabal and mysticism and we we believe very strongly that our repaim uh the continuation you know barish glay it says over there that the Jewish people are coming out of Exile with uplifted Med right right um and the bowel Center says uplifted head is with the teachings of Ravi shiman Aramaic uh it turns out you could read it also as Rush B and also and also the ribosomes you could also read it as rabiosper right which is right right and also yeah so so in that very word We have basically the secret code which is right the teachings of the Zohar okay so you have this word which is Aramaic where it's the target monkeys of the but yeah drama the Jews left with upper hand with the upper hand right and and by the way speaking of tiger uncleis so British Clay is really is a voracious ahead right right yeah drama is a hand right but when you translate I think like the ramam told even tibun when you translate don't be so literal that's right that's actually a good example okay and I want to talk about this actually what what it means translate to this but at any rate so I want to get back to this idea of translating citizen what it means to translate it for Americans or what it means to translate it for Israelis but at any rate this word it's an Aramaic word it has the letters base your shin which is the letters which is also about right right works both ways right um or you said the rabbit man should oh well there's a note we're getting a big one if it's fast right it's fast it's the Ariza right right but there but is it is in the in there yeah oh that's right this is also the same and then the rabbit adds that somebody told him okay so now we got a lot of things out on the table uh meron belshamtov rash B uh put it all together now you live it's fast I do believe it's fast but you told me you can see you can see my own from your backyard I could swim around from my porch my porch but I also go to Miron almost every day four times a week I give a serious class in Miron and we also have an evening color there so every evening study program in Maryland every day which is incredible it's like the last six seven years that's what I do every evening and what kind of people come to learn to do this uh the people there are mostly religious Jews who come but to further considers I'm sure that we have it's a variety a variety of people that some what we call polish some you know modern Orthodox Jews right what's the toughest crime even come they even come and also a lot of people come to them in there and they don't come to our program we have a unique colon and then they end up getting they end up coming today getting pulled in or hearing a class during their marriage you know you mentioned to me when I saw you yesterday that maroon is the second most visited holy site in ETC that's right that's very surprising yes yes no why is it surprising I wouldn't have guessed it okay so well it is because the Western Wall obviously right and after the koisel basically is most popular it's been like this for years however I would say in the past five ten years it has grown um tremendously a lot of people come for Shabbos you know in Israel they have what's called what's called simmers you know they have like these rooms they rent this I think I would guess and I'm I'm I think I'm pretty close to to the right number there's about 5 000 rooms to rent in Miron that's wild there's maybe maybe 300 families living there wow but five thousand beds I would say okay yeah it's huge and Shabbos it's huge over there so so it's interesting I saw you yesterday at the aisle at oil the CNN and you told me you've been you've been around I said where you stay you're staying in Crown Heights I said no I'm staying right here right I'm staying right here in Cambria Heights it's not Crown Heights and camberites and it occurred to me that like okay so you're in meron almost every day when you're coming to New York you're staying at the aisle like how would you compare they're both place it's interesting because they're both places where they're significant because of a burial site and yet they're both like full of life and right but how would you compare the okay well I have to say before comparing I would say you mentioned I live in France so there is all which we just talked about the reason is the one who brings to life this idea then hanging out at a cemetery yeah what's up morbid it's so weird I know it is it is it sounds strange yeah um initially but I gotta say for people and Council we live there we we do it on a regular basis it's something very very special because we do believe that the soul of the righteous person stays around the barrel place and when you come there of course you dive into Hashem and you learn torvish and that's obvious we don't got forbid dub into the tadiq but G but just being in close proximity of where the Titanic is buried is similar to being in close proximity that Sadiq when the Tariq is alive and I gotta tell him it's it's there's an expression you know it's like at least for me you know so uh that's that's from their reason the result is the one who talks about coming to the key rate sadikim and so um to compare it it's it's um you know it's it's hard to compare right because I had the fortunate uh to be by the rabbi when the rabbi was here in the world alive and everything so it's different come to the rabbi you know I have I have movies in my mind to to connect with where in Ashby you know obviously this is almost 2 000 years ago so it's a different relationship with with the Tariq with Raj B himself um but if we talk about again like I said being in close proximity I'll tell you what it is it's very simple let's say you'll learn it also makes a difference where you study it it makes a difference when you study it you know you can compare them Shabbos more in class when you're all relaxed to a midweek busy class you know the time makes a difference you know okay the mood makes a difference but location apparently makes a difference too yeah so it's not just the what or even the when it's the location yes and she's like sitting down and learning Zaya in meron by Kevin rash B is different than it is it is well here I'm saying something very personal but but I want to say what's important what are you here for we want person exactly give us personal I've been doing it for a little bit more than six years going to Miron every day and I feel um in my mind that yes those ideas are much easier to connect with it's not even an intellectual thing it's not even just that and it's any better it's connecting with it and feeling that it actually has relevancy to me and and it and it kind of enters my being not just my mind yes absolutely for those who haven't studied Zaire I don't think relevancy is one of the first words that people think because it's very esoteric it's hard to decode it and to make sense of it right okay it's it's uh relevancy when I use the word relevancy I mean that you feel that the teaching is actually saying something to you like I read something and then it stays in my mind for a while to process it that's why I challenge you for something sure could you tell me something comes higher and you could explain it to me in everyday language a concept a concept sure uh conflict will familiar with but I'll just say this before Zohar when we started with saying the rash biarism yeah so it's not just studying Zora in lashbe okay it's studying of any Cities Fire and everything that comes from it right so it doesn't have to be just straight zor which not everybody could study right but but let me tell you something about this soil before I give you the example the sore is is treated by most people as like you just said as an esoteric book which is very hard to understand it's not completely true it's not completely true zor is actually mid-rush and midrash has in it many stories and many anecdotes in many statements that could be that could be understood for example there is a story in the Zohar or these are Marshall like how would you say a parable in the Tsar that the king is uh is is was upset at the queen and he was so upset at her he shouted he screamed and and he and he kicked her out of the palace and later he uh he had the second thoughts about it and he was looking for her and he was searching and he found her um it's crying somewhere in the mud and very depressed and the King talked to the to the queen and he and he invited her back to the Palace okay and the Tsar says that this is a parable from God and the Jewish people and God was upset at us and exiled and everything but at the end of days the way it's going to be is no matter how we're going to be in the Jewish people I don't just mean the entire Jewish people I also mean every single individual Jew comes to snore and says and this is an example I'm giving like you asked even if you feel depressed and in the mud and crying Guess what at the end of days it's going to be the king himself God himself is going to approach every Jew and and and bring you back into the palace so for example this is this is a statement or a story from The Sword and anybody could relate to I think I think by the way that this is the main message if I can say that yeah but the main message of the zoha which turns to be the main message of the rebbe I think is that our job is to turn Darkness into light it's in Tanya you know this is all it's all about exactly which is from exactly exactly which is why it's an Aramaic right right yeah right yeah there's a stickle is that is that from uh empathic you're a chapter 10 when it's talking about the different types of Sadiq the different levels of Sadi right right right is that a piece of Zion yeah yeah it says yeah there's the story yeah there's a story that's that's the level in heaven where rash B right that's like the space of Russia right right and the space of Rush means only a person who turns Darkness into light is allowed in now again in the zone when you read it it's a mystical story of crying and going up to heaven when you read it in the Czar it sounds unrelatable to a common person but that's exactly the point if we do get into the concept that we also could process the idea of turning Darkness into light guess what we just entered the Chamber of avish so what okay so when you turn darkness in the light you have entered the Chamber of okay so what is turning Darkness into light mean because that's poetry it is it is it sounds like a slogan but let's let's break it apart let's break it apart to our daily life don't tell me no no we talked about relevancy and that word that's making it relevant it's very simple in principle it's simple darkness is when I find myself in negative thoughts you know a person somebody just humiliated me who had a conversation with somebody and he just gave it to me okay okay so you're talking about internal Darkness subjective Darkness yes yes I'm talking about in the inner Journey this is and in the inner Journey if I'm able to rethink my own thoughts and say you know what it can't be oh that this person just humiliated me there must be some message from above and instead of getting all upset and angry and wanting to kill the guy God forbid you know I'm working on myself to say no this there must be some light in there I can't just treat this as Darkness it's a lot of inner work it's very very hard but that's that's how I look at it you know if I do that remember if I'm able to fight those thoughts or at least I try to you know what at least I try at least I know that it could be done even if I can't do it I'm already getting closer to the Chamber of abhishimon because I'm going on that stream of Consciousness concept so when you reframe a negative experience and either you find the good or at least you embrace the idea that there must be a good you're entering the Chamber of rubby Sherman I think so yeah I think when that's cool yeah it is it's super cool yeah because once you enter the Chamber of a machine you're not alone oh my gosh you have some help from above you're like okay wow you're in the club okay I think that's how that's how it feels wow wow that's good that's good stuff okay so we were talking a little bit about that's very good stuff okay we're talking a little bit about translate we spentless and translate Exodus and uh English and Hebrew right okay so I have I grew up in America I'm an American boy I my mama lotion is English by the way my favorite you sent me yesterday a letter that I've been English my favorite thing in the world is the Reba's letters in English and I don't mean letters that ever wrote in Hebrew or Yiddish that were translated in English because that's a translator but when the Reb is own English and by the people a lot of people don't understand if the Deva signed a letter it doesn't matter what language it was in of course the rabbit dictated okay let's back up a little bit even letters in Hebrew or Yiddish that have dictated right and then secretary would give them back to give the letter back to the devil the devil would would review and edit and change and if even the slightest punctuation mark was off that ever would change it okay and if the devil signed it that means it's the Deb is words and punctuation and everything is the Revis including in English and there are hundreds of pages of documents that we have of that I've been making very very meticulous edits in English so it wasn't like oh the devil wasn't so particular a lot of people think that no if they ever signed a letter it's in English it's the devil's English down to the spelling you know that down to everything down to a comma all right so I love English letters of the devil because that's my navigation my animal Soul speaks English so okay I know English and not just the language of English but the American mindset I think I understand I'm this is where I come from this is what I get this is my beer you know who I never understood oh Israelis okay I don't what makes them tick I don't do where are you from I'm from Israel but one in Israel my parents are born in Israel oh wow second generation um yeah no I'm even fifth generation Israeli from one grandmother Believe It or Not wow okay yeah I'm very very Israeli okay okay so what's up with the what's up with the Israelis like what what that's a big question but let me tell you before what's happening Israel I just have to insert this yeah because I know maybe I'm going to blow your mind I got to tell you something yeah even though I'm Israeli and Hebrew is my first language yeah the whole thing yeah I love the river's letters in English more than his letters in April what do you like that why why because in English I feel that the rubber is um coming to the culture and to American mind a lot more than I feel it in the Hebrew because Hebrew is is a is a different language you know and in Hebrew even though even if the rabbi would write Mother in Hebrew there's still rabbinic Hebrew in there okay so it's it's keeps certain religious tone to it okay you can't get away from it right but in English the the modernity of the rabbit the look of the revenue model comes out much stronger to me that's uh if you want to talk a little bit about Hebrew and Israelis I'll tell you it's very hard here I'll throw you another good line I think it's a good line okay you know which language the thought I had never been translated to Hebrew Dora's never been translated it's never been translated into Hebrew it's a fact okay you know I I remember years ago we were in New York somewhere and it was a tour reading in Shabbos and a good Israeli friend of mine wasn't religious invited him for Shabbat and he comes to me after the story reading he's like I have no idea what it says it's like I mean he obviously got a lot of words in there but he couldn't make up sentences so that tells you a lot so they have they have translations of Hamish I'm not talking about like uh King James uh you know I'll have deal I'm saying there are authentic translations of the five books of Moses in every language any language you want right okay but not Hebrew except so the Israelis they don't just read the original yes exactly no but but they should have it in Hebrew that's my point right the point is that it's not available yet they didn't make that translation yeah so how would you do it um it's have you thought about it yeah yeah actually actually I tell you there is I am involved a little bit in translating from English into Hebrew like a book daily wisdom yeah yeah so daily was gonna be some really popular book in English I am the editor of the translation into April okay we're holding in volume three right now and we're definitely planning to do the same thing for the Hamish that daily wisdom is actually taken from the hummus Edition which is a full edition of uh you know and we think about doing it in Hebrew actually and we're working on it I mean we're not yet there but it's so strange that we're looking into an English thing about the Hebrew it's it's complicated you know the the you're asking me about the Israelis maybe give me some more Direction where to take it it's a big question yeah and what do you mean what's the story of the Israelis I mean I I kind of know it confused me because because here's a here's the thing I can't figure out what the Israel is honestly I'm just I'm just telling you how I experience it I can't tell if they're super super uh skeptical or super super like overly believing because I see the both extremes like one one I like super cynicism they don't believe anything and then you see the Other Extreme of like without questioning with you know in Chabad everything's intellect just simple like but but like almost zealous like they just buy it or I don't know it's you know with the Russians I see it's like they're skeptical but I understand why they're skeptical because the Communists burnt out any level of of trust but then when they buy in then they buy and they're very very strong like they were stopped because they were stubborn also so once they buy in then they're very stubborn about it so that makes sense and I kind of figured that out I can't figure out the Israeli mentality okay well it's it's a big topic you know I want to know about it but I'll tell you I'll tell you I think a key key element in the Israeli story and I hate to say it but I have to because I think it's true the Holocaust really yes yes Israel the state of Israel is actually unfortunately a product of the Holocaust that's the greatness of the state of Israel and that's the problem of the state of Israel okay because basically the Jews of their Holocaust went to Israel and and the ones who after the Holocaust didn't want to do anything with Judaism they didn't want to have anything to do with Judaism they didn't make it to Israel some Jews many Jews the message of the alcohol is unfortunately for them was assimilate and forget about how right those guys didn't make it today so they went to America or whatever yeah they they went wherever they went right they're gone they're gone the ones who went to Israel uh because because let me give like a big credit to the zionists okay I want to do it even though I'm I'm I don't want to say I'm anti-zionist that's that's uh you know it's okay pretty harsh I am a non-zionist thank you for helping your help okay okay creating new words right okay by the way in in America well I think the the internet did this terrible as everyone's polarized so your I'll tell you a joke this I don't even tell me if this is an Israeli joke because to my knowledge this is an American joke about Israelis an American was flying an LL and the Israeli flight attendant comes over and says would you like dinner so he says what are my options she says two options you eat or you don't okay that's an American joke about like Israelis really talented yeah very tough but um in America it's like you have two options like R and D right everything is polarized something your Zionist or anti-zionist maybe it's more nuanced than that it is it's way more noise okay I grew up in a Zionist home by the way so not you know so I'm very familiar with it let's say that today I like the term that you offered me it makes me feel good about it you know I'm an unzionist but I want to give a huge credit to Zionism okay let me let me tell you what it is and again it's this is the advantage and the disadvantage at the same time okay in Europe prior to to World War II you know prior to World War One the enlightenment movement uh pushed the simulation basically that's what it did so designers with those Jews were yeah they wanted to be modern but they did not want to kill the Judaism they want to remain Jewish with a strong Jewish identity right but not religious right it's those people post the Holocaust where they created the state of Israel and then that's Israeli culture yes and they have a lot of Jewish Pride right very proud to be Jews but they're very upset they never treated the anger this is we're going into maybe a difference you know trauma and therapy and all that you know you know a lot about it right there is a lot of pent up anger about about God about the world about and so I think I think that the issue and I'm talking about current events what's going on today is that The Narrative of the state of Israel is post Holocaust by the way you know they when they bring like let's say the chancellor of Germany or whatever the country is from what did they take them to yadav Hashem okay that's the message you know that Holocaust should never happen again right right and that that is not a good enough as opposed to you they take from the other sham the Holocaust Museum as opposed to as opposed to know take him to the Temple Mount I mean I know I sound I sound radical here but but so what you know as opposed to telling to the wall and tell them here's where the temple was or was supposed to you know what as opposed to talking to them about the vision of the future of Israel where is the vision of the future it's all about let's not let whatever happened in the past let's not let it happen again so but back back to the regular Israeli without all the big words I think that's that's a key way to understand Israelis Israelis a very Jewish in terms of Jewish pride and Jewish and then they're protecting Jews shouldn't be killed Jews shouldn't be hurt you know but in terms of you talking spirituality I don't know you're talking about God we have a long husband with God you want to speak to me about God I'm still upset about my grandfather well in America in America the secularism of America didn't come from anger people came here then they had to work on Shabbos that's why they are secular not because they have anything it's almost like in America so you want to talk to me about God okay I'm not familiar with the topic but it's a clean slate exactly okay okay so Tom ignorant we don't have a relationship it's not loaded it's not loaded Israel it's a triggering exactly it's a trigger it's a trigger and you're saying even now where you're talking about grandchildren of survivors untreated untreated trauma and that's why I use the word narrative because that's what they teach in the schools and that's what you know the most religious event in Israel is yamasha oh what do you mean by most religious meaning that that it's like a religious ritual you have to stand and quiet and there's like protocol religious means that you know you've got to show right there's things you have to do so there's the thing that Israelis take the most seriously right because Israelis they they like their lights on us they like to scoff and I think it's part of the cynicism right but you're saying everyone will take it seriously yes or you're saying the most generally you know yeah because because that is where the identity is expressed you know we all agree that we don't want the shot to happen again there we have agreement you know then we have an identity and that affects a lot of the Outlook of religion because once sure is your basis of your relationship with the spirituality or with God or with your own identity it's a mess why because the show is a mess I mean it's you start your starting point is like I can't believe God did this I can't believe the world is so cruel and evil and to start there like you said before the American is a clean sight you know it's like okay let me hear what you have to say Israeli is already loaded and and triggered if you say the word God you know you know what God doesn't appear in the independence in Declaration of Independence of Israel such and such they didn't right they couldn't even say the word god a few years after the Holocaust that's how how harsh uh the the wounds that's how you're saying they couldn't bring themselves to say they couldn't bring themselves to say it exactly because it was a Gods you know slow down don't don't talk about God you know let's talk about Jews State you know you talked about before about turning Darkness into light okay okay one of the things we learned is is that there's no such thing as a setback there's no such thing as loss everything's progress everything is Forward Motion um because it's all part of a process so even the gulless itself the exile is not the is not a deviation it is part of the process forward to Gula to Perfection okay and the more you learn this is the more you learn this and in in the microcosm in your personal life even when God forbid you have a moral failing but that's not if you look at a snapshot yeah you're going away from God but if you look at it as a movie if you look at the whole process you're going toward God even when you're going away from him you're going toward him right you can't get away from God right so everything is always moving forward so here's my question deep philosophical question for you apparently Hashem created an entire people a rather by people I don't mean the Jewish people are the people but a segment a subculture called the modern Israeli which is a lot of people millions of people and they have a culture and I'm not saying that it's a uniform that everyone and you're not implying that either there's one culture but generalizing there is a certain prevailing culture and the way you categorized it is a culture of unprocessed trauma a culture of I still have very real issues with God I want my Jewish identity but I can't stand the religious aspect of it um so Hashem created and I'm not getting to why did hush I make the Holocaust what I'm saying the reality is now post Holocaust Hashem made millions of people who belong to this culture which you just characterized as people who have this complex relationship very complicated relationship with God it has to be part of the plan it has to be a good thing it has to be ultimately a way of bringing us closer to Redemption so how is the creation of modern Israeli culture part and parcel of the unfolding of the process of the ultimate Redemption all right that's like a bombshell question but I want to say before I enter it I want to say just um a little reservations about what I said before okay what I described before is mostly the the official state of Israel you know uh culture it's not is this like in Iran where you have the government and the people well you know that's that's a pretty uh interesting comparison no but I want to say it's like a mix because it's there I'm not I'm not taking back what I said but I do want to say that um you're describing the establishment right The Establishment in the past view which is changing now which is changing now so a lot of young Israelis are more open to God and I'm more open to to Judaism and to the Jewish culture and everything there's still a lot do you think that's why Israelis get more religious when they go to America yeah absolutely absolutely because the American because they feel Jewish Israelis feel Jewish you know what they many of them claim they're more Jewish and me and you because they go to the army they defend the Jewish people right and you know what they they got a problem with them feet right right there's a there's a there's something amazing about what they do I can't I can't dismiss it right so they feel very Jewish and they come to America suddenly you know there's no Hebrew there's no Community right there's no Army we're not finally gonna share the enemy right gotta go to show I had to do something Jewish send my kids to some Jewish kindergarten or something go to Chabad for Shabbos right that's why outside of Israel Israelis many of them not all of them many of them I always think something additional that I'm what you're describing I'm familiar with that they when they have no other way of expressing their Jewish identity so then they they would fight religion I'm saying something else based on what you told me earlier that America is sort of the blank slate is it possible when the Israeli leaves Israel and he goes to America in a way he sort of gets a blank slate right like it's okay to meet God here because there's no history there's no bad blood there's also another point which I really don't want to talk about so we'll talk about it but in Israel a religion is part of the politics okay and that doesn't exist here at least not not for the Israelis it may exist somehow for America but it's a very very different so here when you go to show you don't feel that the rabbi is going to convince you why you have to vote the way he thinks right so it's a different ball I want to talk about that real quick okay because I think this there's a huge danger of that happening in America and I've been warning my colleagues about this I agree with you it's a big danger I spoke about before the polarization and rabbis I gotta tell you something when you get up there and you say a thinly veiled regurgitation of your favorite YouTube pundits political editorial I'm uh you're not allowed to do it you're not allowed to do it I agree with you a shul has to be a place where a Jew coming from any type of background can come and leave their politics at the door and just connect on a Jewish level absolutely you know I was I was actually in Oregon this is another chapter in my life it's a very political I mean yeah very liberal left leaning whatever you whatever those names are and it was very challenging to be there but you know and my family my wife's family is from Northern California I go there very often and I you know they're not all religious there at all you know so yes I totally agree with you I think there's a big problem going on because we tend to get the circle that's closer to us and that's the kind of the right wing politics Republicans you know trumpy whatever the whole thing yeah there's no question that if you represent organized religion in today's political climate the more conservative leaning people are low-hanging fruit right okay but let me let me just talk about this I was talking to a friend of mine and and I said you know that you know today Chabad is so established and with shuls and it's almost like normal it's almost like a part of normal Judaism mainstream Judaism but you know when I was a bakar a lot of it was just gorilla you know like Judy is going out on this on the street you know he's standing on the street corner excuse me sir are you Jewish excuse me are you Jewish and we love dealing with those people who are like antagonistic religion the most secular the most and and that's to us that's what it was all about and I feel like I'm just gonna editorialize for a second we got so comfortable with oh now we're surrounded with people who don't push back people who are pro-religion pro uh Traditional Values and it's like come on that's that's not even fun like I I it's not a shabba's table without somebody screaming atheistic things at me and how can you believe that and you're so you're uh so backward those are the conversations we used to love and now it's almost like oh I don't want to talk to those guys absolutely no I live in I lived there for 11 years and when people ask me how how do you like twice I loved twice but where are the secular tools I mean I I want to hang out in Tel Aviv more for the same reason I'm trained by the ready you know I love everybody I want to talk to everybody I don't want to be surrounded by religious Jews I mean I love religious dudes but I mean give me some color give me some challenge you know yeah I give a sure in my run it's like come on guys tell me that I'm wrong you know let's not argue I I totally agree with you I think that um it shouldn't be like that we shouldn't fall into this political trap you know uh you said low or hanging fruit you know we should be very careful it's uh it's hard it's also I mean it's a big topic but I agree with you you know you talk about Zionist anti-zionist and now non-zionists there was a great story that I saw a few years ago that the shlochen uh University of Wisconsin-Madison which is also very liberal I mean I don't know how you compare it to Oregon but Madison is like mad town it's and the and there was a story about a girl who was very close to Chabad into the slogan there to the matasovs and shield the Jewish girl the president of the anti-zionist Club on campus and I read that he said you know that's that's as it should be because she's Jewish and she has a place at Art we're a family and whatever her politics are to the country let her politics be the most extreme politics if we don't have a place for someone like that then then are we a family I'll respond with a story from Oregon you know when I came to Oregon so I met a Jew by the name Gary I was a really good guy I remember this very clear he was sitting on a bench somewhere in a park and he tells me I want to tell you rabbi I don't give a penny to anything relating to Israel I said why he said because when I see the picture of the Israeli soldier with a gun I just can't handle it and he gave me his old speech and you know what I told him I told him listen Gary politically you know I think we don't vote for the same party but spiritually I totally understand what you're saying you know why you can't stand the picture of the solder with the gun because you know very deeply inside you on the shama the Jewish people should fix the world with other tools and with that I agree with you I'm also in agreement with you you know what he loved it and we became very good friends we gave money to Chabad and he was he was telling me his friends are telling him like how come you go to Chabad I said because I love the rabbi the way he said it you know it's but but it's true it wasn't like a line I came up with I could disagree with somebody politically you know but I could appreciate the other opinion it's uh it comes from you know all those liberal ideas they come from being very spiritual very sensitive could be the technically we disagree but I don't have to ex another person you know cancel culture you know I'm not gonna it's it's crazy yeah yeah I think I think that what's lacking is the nuance right and that is something I learned from the rebbe Nuance yeah that yeah you can you could disagree yeah and still be friends you know and still find a point of agreement and and not just focus on on what takes us apart you know but you know we started with uh um speaking Yeah in Hebrew right yeah yeah so it's it's it's very interesting you know I I listened to um a talk by the rebbe yesterday it's one of my favorite talks I listened to it before and it's about translating okay nerva says they're a line that translation is not just the words but it's actually the getting into the mind of The Listener the type of life that they live the culture that they are in and trying to fit the ideas of whatever you're translating into their world okay and and I saw it when I worked on translation I'm not a translator I'm an editor so I would get the materials and my job is basically to to you know make it better you know make it read like it was written in that language originally that's the trick of translation I know it shouldn't read like a translation it should look like it was written in that language right it's a very hard thing and that's the work you know so so that's my leading thought when I work on those kind of texts is that's what it is I want somebody who is not steeped in rabbinic literature not stupid in Hasidic literature but somebody who reads matter in Hebrew and somebody that didn't you know they watch TV they watch movies they watch the news that's the language that they speak I want to insert into that language the idea that that is translated I wonder if you could it is probably not possible but for a real American like me give me an example of a translation choice that you made to get it just right for the Israeli ear that's that's a tough one I I you know I don't see how I uh Oregon went off is there something that I'll give you an example of something that just popped into my mind it's a very it's a very little thing okay it's it may not be exactly what you're looking for but I I translate a story where somebody describes meeting the rabbi talking to the rabbit and the rabbit said any rights and the rabbi giggled in English in English Okay okay when you say this in Hebrew giggled is it's not coming out the same as giggled in English because giggled in English the way I get it is not a derogatory there's no derogatory no it's very quaint it's like oh right in Hebrew kind of cute almost right right and it's okay it's also a feeling word to say about the rabbi the rabbit giggle it's not disrespectful right it's not disrespectful disrespectful for the rabbit to use a term like this but when you Transit into Hebrew so first of all it's not a word that really fits Arabi so much but but worse than that it is a derogatory tone to it like you're laughing at the person right yeah yeah it's like which would the rabbit would never I mean that's so the opposite of the way that I've treated everyone right now if you if you go with pure translation it's the right it's the correct translation of the word but if you go with the spirit of what was going on in the meeting with the person meeting in Arabic he said what did you do I did I did smiled and this one I I sat on it for a long time why not laugh um I thought that was too much yeah because giggled ones it sounded like it was less than a laugh yeah I felt smiled was was more appropriate but that's not the best example for what you ask for okay no that is good though okay that's very interesting well here is an example of how one word no but that's huge because I'll tell you something like somebody's reading this some Israeli and the story is probably a very nice story whatever it is you didn't even say what the story was about but and he could read that and that one word could turn him off that's right oh mama should I was laughing at people right right that's it exactly so that that was the consideration and and things like that you know you have to be you have to be familiar with both languages you know I can't do it necessarily from Hebrew to English you know even though my English is okay but I don't think I would take such a job but when I understand the English really well and I have to play with Hebrew that that I can do you know so but again takes more this is an example that I say it takes more than just the actual technical words you have to get the feel of the language or what people mean when they say something you know you just said the low hanging fruit you know right there's no such a thing in Hebrew but I get what you say you know it's a term it's an idiot right exactly how do you say it in pit cam [Music] maybe I don't know I have to think about it I was speaking to my kids the other day about the difference between Marshall and Melissa right oh you could probably help me here I I figured out what I thought of when they're doing the Marshall and Malita what what's it what did you say I said Marshall and and actually I had another one and guzma okay okay I said a marshall you translate it as a metaphor right where you're comparing something to another thing and usually comparing an unfamiliar thing to a familiar thing so the person could understand the unfamiliar Thing by way of its Association to a familiar thing I said malitza is more a language thing where you're using a phrase or a group of words that have meaning in a in an original context but now that group of words is used in other contexts and and to the extent you may not even be aware of the original context like low-hanging fruit you could you could probably work out it's pretty easy oh it's a it's talking about a farm you're picking fruit oh it's like a commercial but but but you know but you're using it in a context where it's almost like emotional right but the melitza like uh is when you have I'll give you an example okay um a wording from a verse which by the way somebody complained to me and he said say this I don't like to see this because the altitaba said that a soul is a part of God and that's uh that's heretical so I said do you know by the way that helical is not from the outerbe so the villagon also used that expression and actually predates the and the villagon I think the source is the shafatal tequila the only edition of the Altima is even in a body it's still where he says this is my portion from God from God above so means my portion from God like my destiny this is this is my lot my Latin life so you're taking the group of words and you're using them in another context a person who reads that they don't know it's Allah from you if they don't know that though that group of words originally appeared in scripture by the way you know it was really amazing to me when I actually started uh paying attention to the haftarah I'm sure you know how many famous expressions are from there I almost felt like the guy who the gusset sat down in shul and he opened up a a Shir hashiram a song of songs and he said who wrote this thing he stole all of Lakota foreign is also a little bit of a code word like Marshall is using like a parable you know Melissa requires a little bit more uh wisdom a little bit more understanding of perspective that not everybody could get it oh so now you remind me another thing because I it was a Shabbos table discussion with my kids so I brought out a a rambam uh say for shaftim and I was reading about mashiach at the very end everyone who talks about mashiach and he says yeah so he says there that this is a marshall this all this is all it doesn't literally mean that the nature of I mean well with a lamp he says it doesn't literally mean that because that would be miraculous and the mashir is not a miraculous thing at least not at first um he says it means that there will be world peace that the aggressive countries will become docile so it's a martial but then he uses another word he says so my kid said what's the difference between a Marshall and it's like oh I didn't think about that I thought I thought about martial Melissa guzma um then I realized okay um what's the word riddle riddle right so what so functionally what's as opposed to a martial this is what I came up with when my kids asked me okay it's a marshall that's supposed to be a little bit hard to figure out the purpose of a marshall is to be easy to figure out that's the whole purpose of it is supposed to make you work a little bit Christ work oh that's nice I like that a Riddle's supposed to make you work yeah okay so bottom line uh you what do you want to tell us about what's with you what's your message for us so what do we have to do to to bring mashiach what's the bottom line bottom line I think that um who started with rushby started with Miron and I think that you know we talked about spreading the Wellsprings we do believe very strongly that the secrets of the universe are found in in the you know in the Torah of course but in the mystical elements of the Torah we also do believe very strongly that those esoteric esoteric teachings that were not available to the Mass public right are available now to every single Jew and in fact to every single person in the world so what's now left to do is to make those teachings actually available um to to make to bridge to bridge between the common language the common culture and those esoteric parts of Judaism I think I think it's being done I think that's what you do that's what I try to do many people try to do it but like I said in the beginning there's so much more work to do I think that more people my messages for more people to look into this idea that basically whatever whatever wounds and diseases I'm talking about spiritual and mental all disease you know stress and Trauma and and all the the the the the crazy stuff that's going on and people are you know walking around themselves trying to find Solutions and there's there's some great stuff going on trust me I'm not putting anybody down however I think a lot more attention should be put into looking in those teachings people like you and me we should work harder to to translate stuff to try to explain it and people are consuming the information should be you talk about in your name yeah like like spiritual matters you know about the person about uh yeah or to use another lotion of plastic from from right so this says you'll learn about high spiritual worlds and really it is learning about yourself right I think you asked me before to give an example of this Zohar and we talked about turning Darkness into light I would say one more thing and that is that the concept that the world Consciousness is actually in our minds it is there in other words we're looking at the world we're like we want to be more love well it's up to me if my Consciousness is going to be more full of love than the people around me are going to be more full of love we have the ability to change the world with our own minds I totally believe that but it requires a lot of a lot of winning work and a lot of study of the popular teachings okay this is so you're challenging everyone out there to study the inner dimension of Toyota whether it's Kabbalah cities and and not just and I want to again remind everyone not just what you study but you said when the good time and also where so maybe you want to encourage people if they're ever how do you get from Ben Gurion to uh what's the quickest uh actually it became easier and it's in there you know the road system in Israel has improved tremendously well we'll start with with the rebbe right here like you mentioned beginning you know coming to the Ruby and hanging out by she started the aisle started the oil it's close to JFK you're going to JFK and when you come to Israel yeah absolutely check out Miron you know there have been some uh you know crazy things happening there unfortunately it made headlines for negative reasons but that's another turning Darkness into light you know a lot of people heard of Miron in the last two years not for a positive of reasons but they they heard about it so if you heard about it I'm saying it to the people who hear it right if you heard about it you haven't yet been there and you haven't been yeah come and and before you come I mean not everybody could come tomorrow get a hold of some books of nimisa Torah and check out the wisdom of ravish the way it is a loose explained in in that's beautiful that's great amazing and you should come you should come tomorrow you know yeah I just don't know locked by him I'm very conflicted because the devil said is at the aisle right so so come with some other time anyways exactly exactly come on it's quiet you know I come here also right it's quiet now right now he's there you're getting out of here before you try before okay okay amazing amazing thank you thank you thank you so much really really amazing thank you