The Forth Of July (Ep. 334)

Hi, this is David Alowski and welcome to the Rabbi Alowski show. And whether you're watching with our friends over at Tory Time, wherever you watch or listen to your podcast, as always, we are very excited to have you along for the experience. I've said this many times, but I cannot begin to tell you what a cover it is for me that people take out time to from their busy schedule. There are so many podcasts. There's so many things that people can listen to and uh the fact that you take out time to spend that time with me and listen to what I have to say I think is a tremendous thing. I'm so happy that there are people who feel that I have something to contribute and are interested in listening to what I have to say. Laavd the New York Times when Mosha Feinstein was nifa they wrote how did you become the leading pisador he says people ask me questions I guess they like the answers so they kept coming back so I know a lot of people who have tried doing this and it's surprisingly difficult to get an audience uh for the sort of thing that we do here the fact that people have been following me for you know these years and and people suddenly stumble on the show and go back. It's it's more than I can possibly ever put into words how much I appreciate it. And every now and then I meet somebody who says, "I'm sure you hear this all the time. Uh how how much I I just want to tell you how much I appreciate the podcast and and how it's affected [clears throat] my life and my children's lives." I said, "No, no, no. I've never heard that enough. [laughter] I can I can use the as much as anybody else." And I've said this many times. One of the impetuses for me to begin this was that Mosh Shapiro said if you can do anything that gives people today to do it. So if I can give people I can tell you that in the process I get a tremendous amount of and uh you know uh it doesn't make a difference if you're giving a shir to one person or to 25,000 people but meet CD it makes a difference for me if I'm talking to 25,000 [laughter] people. So I thank you. I thank all of you who take out time to listen and uh and what can I tell you? Even the people who like to write nasty comments, you know, the fact that you had to listen to the whole show in order to then find that one line that you could, you know, attack me on, I think that's unbelievable. I got you to sit here and listen to me for an hour just so you could write a nasty comment. That's the level of commitment that I'm looking for in my people. >> [laughter] >> when I became when I started in NCY I started in Ets Jacob which at the time when I was there in 1978 uh it was a very old congregation the average uh age was somewhere between 80 and dead and uh there weren't many kids there few here and there that we pulled together you know and Um, and I managed by hook or by crook to inspire everybody to pull in their friends. It was an amazing thing. And I had a membership banquet, you know, that if you paid your membership, you got the banquet for free. Yeah. And um uh I remember I went uh Lee Samson had taken over the region because the other regional director who tricked me into taking the job left and um I said you know can I get a couple of advisers for this event and he says it's it's Jacob. Why do you need advisor? What you only have five kids there. I said well we have 30 reservations for this banquet. He was shocked. Oh, did I say 30? I think it was more like 60. I don't know. It was like ridiculous. He says, "How did you do that?" I said, "You know, uh, you inspire kids, they're not smart enough to know what can't be done." Yeah. Anyway, we pulled together a bunch of people and it was a rough crowd. [laughter] I brought a friend of mine uh from uh you know from Emic High School where I was teaching there today to be DC you know and he was going to do like a swami routine and he comes to me and he he [laughter] saysllo these kids are going to kill me like criminals. [laughter] Anyway, I come to this one table um they had a caterer an in-house cater. Yeah, it was close to 60 now that I think about it. 60 kids. Anyway, um there was an in-house caterer and uh they provided actual like silverware and dishes, you know, and pictures. Anyway, there were these three kids at this one table and they were taking the silverware and bending it back and forth until it snapped and dropping it in the picture. [laughter] I was kind of surprised. And I went over saying hello to everybody, you know, and uh they said, "We hate the rabbi. We're only joining the chapter so we can destroy it." I said, "Did you pay your membership?" "Yeah, happy to have you along." [laughter] And that's how I've always felt. I don't care as long as you participate. I don't need a good attitude. [laughter] In fact, uh I don't know why, but my chapter over there in LA, they had like this attitude, you know, where like instead of like really making their own cheers, they would make fun [snorts] of everybody else's cheers and things and they were they had this edge. And then when I went to Long Island and I took it over and there was nothing there and I really started from scratch, I don't know, I also attracted a lot of kids with an attitude. Um, I don't know why because, you know, I'm I'm so sweet and wonderful and I don't know how I get these people with an attitude. So, we went to our first national convention when I was running Long Island. I [snorts] may have told this story, but I don't care anymore. I'm sick and tight. People say, "Don't say it, just tell it. We know all the stories." [laughter] Anyway, Loen Brown, he had what at the time was called Atlantic Seaboard. And these were like the goody goodies of the goody goodies and you know it was like Baltimore and Philadelphia and I don't know uh uh Harrisburg I don't know [laughter] only me Maryland and uh you know they just like real easy Wilmington Delaware [laughter] like really anyway so you have to have a regional song and um so they did it to the tune of Halleluah, right, which had um recently won the Euro Vision for Israel. Da da da da da da da. And they have all these kids in unison singing, you know, a region. We're the best, but we also love all the rest. You can put our octus to the test. Ashray, something like that. You get the idea. So I my kids come over to me now. Half the region were punk rockers, [laughter] like really like like really grunge, you know, and they're like, "Uh, we don't have a song." I said, "I told you. I told you you need a raw song. You need a skit. You need all these things." So one of the kids come home and says, "Okay, I I wrote one. Can we perform it?" I said, "To what tune?" Uh, Psycho Killer. I said, "Uh, Psycho Killer." So, one of the kids said, "Well, we're adding in the chorus from Psycho Chicken." I said, "Sounds [snorts] great." [laughter] So, we were right after Ashray and our guys went up there and our girls were as tough as our guys, you know what I mean? >> [gasps] >> And I remember a little bit of the lyrics [laughter] back cuz they had to throw in the psycho chicken. You know, I'm tense and nervous and I can't relax. I find it hard to phase up to the facts. These prison wardens chasing me around. If you if you Well, you will never be found. Psycho Jew, who are you? Anyway, and they were wearing these sunglasses and like craziness. Anyway, you just look around the room and there are these horrified looks on [laughter] their faces. I remember the judges were two secretaries from national office and Barra who is the Shalia and the two of them were absolutely horrified and says, "I like it. It's very good. [laughter] We won most original songs. So there you go, you know. But um uh so those of you who are listening, those of you who are part of of the greater audience out there and um uh you know what can I tell you? It's so wonderful to have you along. And uh thank you for watching, thank you for listening, thank you for taking time out of your day. As they used to say uh on United, we know you have a choice of carriers and we appreciate you, you know, choosing United. Yeah. Uh ll is we know you have no other choice. We don't care if you're happy. [laughter] But that's okay, you know, if you're in trouble, they're the place to go to. They will always get you out. They will get you home, you know. And and I just have to say this because I shalom to to disparage you know uh since this from guy bought lal I have to say that the service has um really improved tremendously. I have found the experience on LL in the recent two years that they were the only way to fly out of Israel to be really exceptional and uh you know kudos to them you know so if would like to become a sponsor of the Rabbi Alowski show we will give you a plug every single episode [laughter] anyway I I like an I like an airline that provides on board missiles to shoot down incoming missiles. I think that that's really and I have to say they're the only airline that does that. So, kudos. [laughter] Okay. Uh some bits of business over here. Apparently, we're running out of sponsors. So, uh if you're thinking of sponsoring an episode and if you go to the website, there's options uh to partially sponsor an episode, you know. So, uh you could go check the website over there, revolowski.com, and see different, uh opportunities. And then, of course, you can go to the merch section where we have uh different types of merch items. We're adding new ones every uh 6 to 7 months. So, uh keep keep watching over there [laughter] and uh buy me a coffee. My gosh, over 200 people have already bought coffees. I can't believe it. Me and my wife can't sleep anymore. We're up all night from all the caffeine. [laughter] So, thank you so much. This one just came to the door. Thank you. I appreciate it. Ah, wonderful. [snorts] And we have a phone hotline because I have a lot of people who do not have internet access and they do not watch this on any of those uh options. They call up. The number is 6053134799. That's 6053134799. Operators are not standing by. You can also leave your feedback on the hotline as a voicemail. And eventually these will all be collected and put out as an album. So, uh, you don't want to miss that. Okay, I think that's all our bits of business before we get started. Um, we have the final sponsorship in the president's series because the 4th of July um, which is coming up is uh, the byquentennial of the United States. That's a difficult number to get down. Yeah. Quintenio is 500 years. The by cintenennio is 250 years. And uh um I I guess before I do this, I should really um read he sent me uh a little question and answer from Victor Miller about uh about America. I [clears throat] I I have to tell you I grew up at a time when uh there was patriotism. It it was there was mleus of how the best way was to make America good, make America better, this that next thing, all the different stuff that went with that. There's no question about it. And um but at least everybody was proud to be an American. The fact that millions of people are trying to sneak into the United States means that people like it here. You don't find Americans trying to sneak into other countries. Sometimes they leave. Half the time they come back again. You know, it's hard to get rid of some people. It's like America is a bad country. America is one of the greatest countries that has existed in history. And I am a student of history. And if you know about most countries, there has never been a country in the history of the world like America. But I will read you what a Victor Miller says. Question. Should a person feel loyalty to America? And if so, how should it be expressed? Should a person feel loyal to a place where you stop? Let's say when it's raining and you have a roof over your head. Should you be loyal to the one who gives you that place to be? Certainly, you have refuge from the rain. America is a place of refuge. We came here from the lands of persecution. Not only those who came as a result of Hitler, but those who came earlier from Tsarist, Russia, and other European countries. My father's father came to America um because uh World War I was starting and in in Russia they would take all the Jews and put them in the front lines as cannon fodder and everyone knew that it was it was a terrible thing. You had to escape or you were going to you were going to get killed. They put you right in the front lines all the Jews. So uh he he ran to America, you know. Um my mother's mother came from VNA because of the pgrams and uh my great-grandfather was worried about the pugs. My grandmother, he sent them to America and all of his children. Um it uh it was a place of refuge. They came to a land of equal opportunity. You know, let's be fair, okay? There's always been anti-semitism in America. There still is today. If you if you read the news, there's always been anti-semitism. Um, but it was never institutionalized anti-semitism. The government was not anti-semitic. We weren't locked into ghettos. We weren't uh forced to wear special uh outfits to indicate that they were Jews. There weren't professions that were closed to us. Were there places that were anti-Semitic and wouldn't let Jews in? Sure. I'll never forget when I, you know, I grew up in a time when the rights of religious Jews are so much stronger than ever in American history. And I remember Rab Bulitzki Zatal who was the RV of the young of New White Park and I was to have a cash with him and I said to him during World War II why aren't you know demonstrating and and fighting etc you know doing all kinds of things. He said to me ba you don't know what you're talking about. He says the number one show in on radio was Father Conklin who would spend an hour once a week just spouting anti-semitism. You would go into neighborhoods where there would be signs no Jews or dogs allowed. There were buildings no Jews or dogs allowed. The athletic club in Manhattan famously would not allow in Jews. There was a famous story with Koucho Marx who was quite a media personality and he someone asked him to join their country club and they wouldn't let him join because he was a Jew. So yeah there were certain professions there was a movie they made called gentleman's agreement where people agreed uh certain law firms would not hire Jews uh certain schools and universities would not allow Jews in. these things were known. So, but it was never came from the government. You know, you you study uh European history, study Arab history, the Jews were persecuted by the government. Next time you come to Yeah, I'll have to uh do it. I used to do tours of the old city. But when you come to the yoh and benzakai shuls. So you'll note that you have to go down this staircase to get to them. Why? Because uh the Turks had a law that no synagogue could be taller than a Muslim house. So they dug down in order to build a shul otherwise they wouldn't have been able to to get there. You know, they wouldn't be able to build it. So I mean the persecution that Jews have had in every other country official I'm talking about official uh uh from the government there here. Yeah. It was a land of equal opportunity. They were amazed at the friendliness. Our fathers when they came to America were overjoyed. They kissed the earth from happiness. This is a victim writing. The American flag is a sign of decency and of compassion. That's what it is. Of course, it's only a symbol, but it's a symbol of what is doing for us. America is a gift. It's not America that we have to love. We have to love Hashem who gave us America. I mentioned where when America is founded that this is going to be the final uh gullis of the Jewish people from here will go to Msiah and gives you Australia. You have to love Hashem who gave you Australia. But uh what can I tell you? The the amount of uh freedom that we have in Australia is nowhere compared to what we have in America. There's a principle. If you drink from a well, don't throw dirt in it. You have to preserve the well. You have to show gratitude even though it's an inanimate object. That's the principle. You must show gratitude to anything. As uh we know from uh Mosha Benu, he wouldn't hit the river because it hit him. He wouldn't hit the dirt because he used it to hide the mitzv. You have to show gratitude even towards the well. So all of us should be grateful to America, but not America. It's Hashem's gift to us. Let's try to maintain that gift and make sure that the people who do not love America don't ruin it even though they're trying their best. So certainly we should be grateful to Hashem not for America but the fact that he gave us America. America is a gift. We have to appreciate it. We have to cooperate with America and try to preserve it. He wrote this in July 1988. And uh the the fact that um the that America does around the world, the fact that it fights to allow Jews rights. Now my father who was born in 1925 he was during that period of time where they could just fire you if you were shabas. I had no rights because it's a free marketplace and eventually the civil rights act you know guaranteed that you can't fire someone for religious reasons. And so now an Orthodox Jew has to have his rights protected. if he works someplace, he can take off for Shabas and take off for Yantiff and other accommodations are made uh as Orthodox Jews and the um the fact that there are there was an Orthodox Jewish senator, Senator Lieberman, and he ran for vice president. came pretty close that there would have been an Orthodox Jew in in in the uh in the White House. Yeah. It's an amazing thing the the opportunities that Jews have in America today and uh and this has to be said today when people Americans are attacking their country and it's like it's the worst place in history. It's the worst country ever. So why is everyone fighting to get into here? You don't find people fighting to get into Uganda. You don't find people fighting to get into Haiti. You know, we we um we've gone around the world putting out wars, putting out troubles. So, okay. So, Donald Trump said he stopped, you know, nine wars or whatever it was, you know, nothing to do with us. And he keeps saying, he says, "The Ukraine Russia war, I'm trying to end it. Not for us. We live far away. It does doesn't affect us, but I don't want America doesn't want to see people getting killed, getting hurt. They're looking out for everybody. They're concerned." And um and that's a there was something the Roman Empire had what was called pox romana, the Roman peace. Why? because they would conquer somebody and they would collect tribute. They didn't care about the people that they captured. They basically let them have their own self-government and they built a system of roads so that if there was an uprising they could march their armies there quickly. Not because they cared about the people, not because their infrastructure. This is the cause of why Rashai ended up in the uh in the cave cuz somebody was saying look at Rome and all the good things that they do and what they build and what they you know and says they don't do that for the world. They're not doing that to help people. They do it for themselves. And when the Romans found out about it, they sentenced him to death. He had to hide in the cave. But um uh but that's that's what's going to be the Gimmorazara says that at the end of time all the nations of the world are going to line up when Mashiah comes to claim uh to claim credit. And Rome says look at all the roads that we built and all the bathouses that we built and all the marketplace we built and all of that was just so the Jews could learn to. So the mafur may ask, "What? You know, you're going to fool God?" No. When Mashiah comes, it's going to be clear to them that everything that they did was just for the Jews to be able to learn Torah. And that's what the says. Says, "But that wasn't your intention." If that was your intention, you're right. America has helped Torah grow in America. And uh you know they have uh places where there are school vouchers, they have busing, they have all kinds of things that they do to try to help yeshivas. This is not something that you find throughout history. And uh the amount of money that they spent to be makaz uh is uh truly amazing. I think it was estimated, let me see if I have the number over here. I don't know if he put it down, billions and billions of dollars that America has given to Israel over the years since 1948. An enormous amount of money. Uh, and they want to help them. And they they have been uh the staunchest ally helping us along the way. And I'm talking about when Russia turned against us, was trying to destroy us. I'm talking about when other countries turned against us. And some presidents were better and some presidents were worse, obviously. Um but uh but that that constancy for the Jewish people and for the Jewish state has been something that's unbelievable. Really very very special. So uh that's not the dedication. the dedication as we've been doing the presidents. This [snorts] is the last of six shows to commemorate the 250th anniversary of United States and we end with the second and third presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Now John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had a a difficult relationship. John Adams was a fire brand. He was from Massachusetts and he worked very very hard to make America come about. And at the Continental Congress, he was so pushy that he alienated a lot of people. He was not a politician. He was a lawyer. and he would push and he would push and make demands and uh he he would offend people. He Pennsylvania didn't want to break off. And uh and he and he yelled at one of the people because he says, "You know, you've you've taken this Quaker pacifism too far." You know, Benjamin Franklin said to him, "You're not going to get too far by attacking people's religions. You understand? It doesn't work that way. [laughter] But um he he was he was very very forceful. Jefferson was a southern gentleman. He was much charming. Uh he was 33 years old at the time and um uh he was uh much [clears throat] more of the politician. So, uh, so he was pushing and pushing and pushing and he was one of the people who got Jefferson to write the majority of the Declaration of Independence. Um, kids today know nothing about history. When I was a kid, not only did you have to learn American history, they had a course called civics to teach you how to be a good citizen of America. It was John F. Kennedy, the Democratic President who said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." And that attitude is hard to find today. And people are, what's in it for me? What am I getting? I want this. I want that. I want the government to to bail me out. Help me with this. Help me with that. The founders of America envisioned a government that was very small and was designed to get out of your way so that you could have the freedom to accomplish. And so today people make tremendous innovations, inventions, build businesses, and now you have these people saying, "Oh, billionaires are evil. How do they get their money?" They didn't they weren't bank robbers. That's the people who are criticizing them are robbers. You know, they all the fraud and things like that. But you know, these people worked hard and built up businesses and that's how they got their money. And you who've never done anything, all you say is, "Why does he have money? I'm going to take it away and take it for myself and give it to my friends." What is that? But that was never what America was about. America was about everybody um working and reaching your potential and you have the freedom to do what you want. It wasn't that way in uh in Europe. They had to they had uh um you had to join a guild and only certain people could join. Today it's like the unions in New York, you know what I mean? My uh uh I have a uh a nephew who's a plumber. He became a licensed plumber. It's easier to become president United States than become a licensed plumber in New York because the union doesn't want too many people joining because uh it'll uh it'll take away from the union rights. So uh they're very protective in what you have to do in order to be able to get in there, etc. It's amazing. Amazing. But America was always set up that anybody could become anybody, you know, that that you could start with nothing and build yourself up into somebody. That was the logic of it. Communism is anybody who made money is bad. Let's take it away from them and give it to the people who don't have any money. All right. AOC, one of the great uh philosophical minds of political minds of America today, you know, she had put together her plan, you know, when she first put together the the Green New Deal and um and it was people who uh can't or don't want to work should be supported by the government. And they never changed it. She lied once in an interview and said, "No, no, no. We took that out. That was a draft. It's not true. It's still there." Because uh anybody who works hard, take their stuff away and give it to other people who don't want to work and don't want to accomplish anything and don't want to contribute to society. But it used to be if you want to work hard and and uh you know make good decisions, you'll be successful. So John Adams was uh represented New England and Jefferson represented more of the South, more of a southern gentleman. So, um uh George Washington chose John Adams to be his vice president and uh he had um one term and then Jefferson who was a secretary of state ran against him and took the presidency away from him and Adams was not happy about that and they had a strained relationship even though there was a lot of mutual respect and um they made up at the end of their life. They ended up both dying on the same day, July 4th. Um which was uh which was uh I guess some people would say it's kind of ironic, 1826 on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. But um uh it [clears throat] was interesting. There was this historian who said nobody knows anything about this was uh back in the 70s says people don't know anything about the history of America. So he did a Broadway play called 1776 about the Continental Congress and the star is John Adams and another star is Jefferson and their interactions but uh John Adams is trying to get somebody to write the Declaration of Independence you know so Benjamin Franklin says why don't you write it says And and [clears throat] he keeps saying in the chorus, "If I'm the one to do it, they'll put their quill pen through it. I'm obnoxious and disliked. You know that, sir." "Well, yes, I do." [laughter] And each person says the same thing. "Yes, I do." You know, so this one turns it down and this one turns it down and he finally goes after Jefferson. And uh this is not really historically how it happened, but it makes a great scene. You know, he so [laughter] Adams was very short and Jefferson is very tall in real life. You know, he says, "You will write it." He says he says, "I'll make you." And Jefferson's towering over him. He says, "How? By physical force if I have to. [laughter] It's your duty. You have an obligation. You have to do this." And he basically, you know, in the play guilts him into it. Now, it didn't really work that way. Jefferson was, you know, was happy to participate in it and that's why they made uh actually made a miniseries about John Adams and they said one of the reasons was to correct the mistakes in 1776. But in both of them, there's no question that John Adams was the fire brand who pushed very hard to uh to get America to declare independence. A lot of people did not want to go to war against uh England and in fact at one point they said you know what let's make an appeal to the king and ask him to you know uh give us certain rights and representation let's see what happens now you know it took months to get a letter and get a letter back because you know you're going by boat across the Atlantic you know there was no uh couldn't pick up the phone yeah and so months later they get back uh a letter from the king and says is dispanders Congress or you'll all be hanged as traitors. You know, it was interesting. They asked Benjamin Franklin, they said, "Do you think it's worthwhile to go and ask the king is is do you think it'll be successful?" And he he had been like, you know, ambassador to England and working in England. He says in my experience it's her ma his majesty's government given a choice between doing that which is right and that which is not right will always choose the latter. So when they came back and they said you'll be hanged as rebels. So the question is what do we do now? And that's when Benjamin Franklin said gentlemen if we do not hang together then we will surely hang separately. And um uh so they had to write the declaration of independence and this was means you're going to go to war with England which is a world power and you were just a bunch of small colonies. It was frightening when you read George Washington when he describes what it looks like when the British Navy pulled into New York Harbor and what it looked like and how terrifying it was. And here's a bunch of farmers with musketss. you know it's uh the only reason we we uh survived was because of France. France came to help us and uh and then when France was having its revolution Adams who at this point was president refused to get involved and help them. Jefferson wanted to because he believed in universal freedom and the rights of men and everybody and he was on the side of the French Revolution. And Adam says, "Listen, we're not really in a position now to get involved in a war between the French and everybody else in in Europe." Um, okay. But this is what's uh as far as we're concerned in a dated February 16th, 1808, Adams, right wrote, "I will insist the Hebrews have contributed more to civilized men than any other nation. If I were an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate has ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this earth. [snorts] The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to threearters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more and more happily than any nation ancient or modern. What an amazing statement from the second president of the United States. Now Thomas Jefferson who was the third president and uh everybody remembered learning in school they would always get well I shouldn't say that I'm not talking to the younger people but the older people they would always have on a test explain the difference between Jeffersonsonian and jonian democracy but uh Jefferson was um uh tremendously uh um uh voice for philosophy. It wasn't just philosophy. He was um he was very much a Renaissance man, you know. He um uh he was many different uh things that he was able to do. He was um a farmer, an inventor, an intellectual diplomat. He he had a tremendous amount of talent and as I mentioned he was quite charming. Yeah. Now, uh, he throws in over here the fact that, uh, Jefferson owns slaves. And that's definitely true. Definitely true that he did. There's a comedian who calls himself a liberal, Bill Maher. And he said once, interesting statement. He says, "You're not better than people who lived beforehand. You just lived later. So, uh the fact that um that you um uh look now in an era when we know that slavery was is wrong. That's very it's very nice for you to say it, you know, but that's that doesn't make you a better person. Just you were born later. The truth is that slavery was always part of human experience. We were slaves in Egypt. Well, we know very much what it is to be a slave. Um and uh uh and that is brought up in the Torah. Be careful with the slaves because you were slaves in Egypt and you know what that means. Yeah. So we we have experience with slavery. Slavery goes back. So there are people today who want to make you believe that America invented slavery and brought him across. It's ridiculous. The whole world was practicing slavery. In fact, the word slave actually comes from Slav because the Arabs would capture people in Eastern Europe and make them into slaves. Blonde, blue-eyed slaves. That's where the term slave comes from. Is Slav doesn't come from the Africans. But the Africans would have wars among themselves and they would capture people and enslave them and they only needed so many slaves. So they would sell them to other people. But it was the Africans who were selling other Africans to become slaves. It wasn't wasn't people running out there trying to to capture them for themselves. It's it's amazing how he did it. And it was white people who risked their lives and lost, you know, tens of thousands of lives in order to free the slaves. In fact, in the Continental Congress, it was a big fight because the South said they will not vote for the Declaration of Independence if it outlawed slavery. Adams was pushing very hard for it to outlaw slavery and uh you know he was a Massachusetts New Englander abolitionist and Jefferson was willing to go along with it and he put it in the Declaration of Independence but the other southern states said we we won't sign and they had agreed you need all if one state votes against it then it uh it'll uh it will not pass and that's why they got 12 states to vote. New York abstained. So um but they didn't vote against it and Pennsylvania was like a difficult because of the Quakers and the people over there. They had to they had to get somebody to agree just not to vote in order to be able to pass the Declaration of Independence. But they wanted to outlaw slavery. But uh um they couldn't do it. So the the fact that people had slaves back then uh it was something that was uh um just very makubal in the world. Um so he brings that over here from Reverend Barl Wine. One of the important things in America is freedom of religion. Obviously, that doesn't that didn't exist in any other country. When you go to England, there is an official church. The official church of England is the Anglican Church. And the king of England is officially the head of the church of England. So you know obviously when you go to many Arab countries Islam is the official religion you know it's not anyone can do whatever they want. So um so Relin writes when Jefferson promoted the Statue of Virginia for religious freedom which was the um beginning that they they when he when they wrote the constitution so this idea was taken from there. Yeah. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. So he says Jefferson had in mind specifically protect the religious rights of the small Jewish population in the United States because of all the persecution that we had suffered everywhere and uh this was important to them. So, uh, the, uh, the fact that the 4th of July comes around, um, I'm not going to say you have to make a barbecue. There's no hal. I'm not going to say you have to go and watch fireworks. There would be frightening if there was such a hala because there'd be an entire countress July 4th and uh how many fireworks, what type of fireworks, you know, what time do they go off, etc. You know, be a very complicated issue. Yeah. What kind of a barbecue, what do you serve at the barbecue? You know, there's uh franks and burgers. Is that enough? Do you have to also have steak? Uh chicken? You have to have chicken? Yes. I have to go through all the you know you know [laughter] it doesn't mean that it means to have a sense of appreciation the fact that there is a country that cares about the Jews. Show me another country on the face of the earth that cares about the Jews and has cared about it from its inception and onwards, which we mentioned in in a past uh podcast that uh there were those who wanted to make Hebrew the official language of uh of America. Yeah. Um it was it you find universities where they have Hebrew in their in their um you know in their shield their little um motto that they use it. It's uh it's something where people had a profound appreciation. The pilgrims when they made Thanksgiving it was much earlier in the year. It wasn't at the end of November. It was the harvest festival where they gave thanks. It was essentially because the Puritans were, you know, fundamentalists. So it was supposed to be sukus. They did it based on sukus. That was the the concept behind it. Yeah. So uh no country is perfect. Nobody is perfect. Uh certainly the Jewish people have not been perfect throughout history. Otherwise we would not be in Gul now having to thank America for giving us a place to stay, for giving us a refuge. [snorts] Um but the the fact that um of all the difficulties we've gone in when I used to go with Ry freed and the seas tours throughout Europe you come to Prague they had to it took them many years till they repainted the alternatter when they had a massacre of the Jews there. There was uh the Jews of Prague were exiled and kicked out. All the Jews in England were kicked out. In France, they were kicked out. Italy, they were kicked out. You know, Germany, well, I don't have to get into that. All the difficulties that we've gone through in Russia, you know, we were you the expression beyond the pale, that was the pale of Russia, the settlement where the Jews, you know, were forced to live and were moved to and exiled. It's uh the Jewish history uh has not been very good for us. Nonetheless, the history of America has been one of the brightest spots. So 250 years um in historical terms that's not much right bias reishon stood for 850 years from the time I shouldn't say bias from the time we came into until reishon was 850 years the Roman Empire um depending how you calculate 500 600 years Um so 250 relatively young in the history of nations. Um modern England uh was basically considered to have started in 1066 with the Norman conquest. I had a student uh uh who said um that every English child is taught two dates 1066 and 1966. 1066 is when modern England was founded and uh 1966 was the last time they won the World Cup but um uh thousand years England's been around and uh 250 years the as a track record it has not been perfect but compared to everybody else you know um the you don't have to be perfect you just have to be better than the competition and America has been so much better. So this is six episodes that were dedicated in honor of America and um uh we culminate on the 250th anniversary of the state of America being founded as a country and uh give the leaders of the country the wisdom to be able to make proper decisions and do things correctly. Hashem and the Msiah should come very quickly, but we should go swiftly all the American Jews to come to. Having said all this, by the way, right? I've been here um this August will be 38 years that I'm living in. So, there is a large contingent of Americans who have come to. And I have to say as an American um the founders of the state of Israel either came from Eastern Europe where nobody really understood democracy or they came from the Arab countries where people didn't really appreciate democracy. And so that's why there's a fancy word here like protexia, you know, which basically means corruption because that's how it is. Everybody everybody's on the take. there's tremendous amount of corruption. There was a study done 10 years ago that Israel suffers from a lot of corruption, you know. So, um, by the way, apparently so does America, but it's only coming out now. But, um, uh, but the idea is that when Americans came and the more and more Americans come, they're changing the whole nature of the country, the way people think and the way that they act and do business. So uh I think it's uh I think it's a powerful force and uh you know we can appreciate America even when we're living here in Shell and uh I know I went um last summer with my daughter to have her two children registered as Americans and we went down to Florida and the woman said yeah we're used to this Israelis come you know whose grandparents were American and they want to register the grandchildren and then they start getting social security and they start getting certain rights and things like that. It's a tremendous thing, tremendous thing that America helps Americans who move to be able to make it here too. So whether you're there, whether you're here, um we should have a sense of appreciation. Okay. And now, speaking of appreciation, I have some appreciation comments that uh were sent to me. Uh Sarah writes, "I first discovered your show about a year ago, and I was immediately hooked, bedazzled, and other synonyms. I appreciate that." You know, uh, if you want to find cinnamons, you go to roier thesaurus, which has many different words for every word except thesaurus. There doesn't seem to be another word for that. I look forward to listening to it on the way home from school every Monday, especially when Reolowski answers one of my numerous questions. About half of the questions answered so far are mine under different names, mostly anonymous. Uhhuh. I don't think you should have told me that. [laughter] Thank you so much for making my life happier, more meaningful. And a third thing, because my literary brain requires lists of three for some reason. Very interesting. uh somebody who um uh was teaching speech. He said that um when you speak you should say things in three, you know, um since we talked about America, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Um what is it in France? uh equality, fraternity, and another one, you know, but there's always threes. Anyway, uh I was in a sh where this rabbi in training um was there for the summer. the, you know, the the rabbi was on vacation for the summer and he came in and he would give his drusher and he did this over and over again to the point where I I just was surprised and uh amazed and confused. [laughter] He would say it's the question is challenging. It's perplexing. It's enigmatic. And he would do this with everything. He would say three words, you know. He was excited. He was thrilled. He was motivated. [laughter] He just over and over again. Anyway, so your brain works in threes. All right. Most people do. I assume that means because Shapiro once explained that three is always the foundation. That's the music of everything has a foundation of three because it's left right and the middle which is the balance between them and you that's why you'll find threes over and over again. Um [clears throat] three pisan uh um kiva and take a person out of this world. He he had a whole series where he went through all of these threes and how they're the foundation of everything. And because I teach, you know, he did a throwaway line which to me was particularly meaningful. He says that's you know he says you find it everywhere the threes anyway. A good gibbenchar and a good nerv chabas. Editor's note. This was sent on ner shabas. I'm not sure why she said a good gibbenchar. That's the editor. Thank you Arie for that one. Um and he put in a little emoji of a person going like this. [laughter] Okay, one more. Rifica Kaplan. There are certain things in today's world that even when people know they are unhealthy or damaging, young people are still drawn to them. like bees to honey. Part of it is the terrible culture of FOMO. That's the fear of missing out. It becomes so strong that nothing else seems to matter anymore, not even Hashem. And fewer and fewer voices are willing to stand up and say clearly that it's not good. Um you you should know uh in literature I think one of the most amazing examples of FOMO is if you ever read Lord of the Ring. So, this evil ring of Saurin has to be thrown into the Mount Doom and and be destroyed and and uh and these two little hobbits, Frodo and and Sam, travel through mortar and they're captured by by orcs, you know, goblins and they come out and they're starving and there's and when they throw it in, the mountain's going to explode and they're going to get killed and you know and uh and they risk their lives and they and they do it. they're successful and the dark lord is destroyed. But in the meantime, there were wars going on all over the place, you know, and so when they manage to get saved by the by the eagles and they're recovering, so they hear about all the stories, they go, "Oh, I can't believe everything I missed," says Sam. And he goes, "Well, I guess you can't be everywhere. [laughter] You saved the whole world. You saved all of Middle Earth." But it's like, gee, I missed that. You know, talk about FOMO. That's why I appreciated every word of this episode. Editor's note. She means the question answer. Well, you bashed kiddish clubs. Now, I wouldn't say I bash them. I did present uh the problems that are inherent with them. When people say that I bash things or I rant, I don't think that's fair. That infuriates me. [laughter] You're willing to speak up with clarity, honesty, and courage. By the way, I got some real negative feedback from that one. Apparently, there are a number of Kish Club apologists who are kind of upset that I came out against it and they made some really ridiculous uh arguments, you know, like one person wrote, um uh okay, so they they just missed the Ha Torah. Missed the Haft Torah? What Haft Torah are you reading? Yeah, you're talking about the amount of time it takes to pull people out of sh, go downstairs, set up a kdish, make kdish, eat and drink, and then come back upstairs. My father's urite, it usually comes out in bashal, that's shar. It's the longest Torah. It doesn't take more than 3 minutes. So, come on, be honest. Anyway, uh especially regarding things like the kids club's culture that so many people are afraid to address. Thank you for using your platform to fight for Hashem's honor and to strengthen people with truth. Please keep going. Your words matter more than you probably realize. Yes, much more than I realize. [laughter] I wasn't going to mention it, but I got this nasty email. Uh, I just felt like I had to. Apparently, um, in one of these, uh, question answers, I mentioned how, you know, singers are essentially entertainers who, um, you know, I don't know why we're seeking their opinion on, you know, uh, Torah issues. And I mentioned I I assume I mentioned at that time there was a mleis between uh uh Morai Shapiro and Benny Freriedman on a podcast where Benny Freriedman says we have a forum we have to use it and Mai Shapiro said we're just singers you know. So this guy wrote and said well you're just an entertainer people listen to you just because you tell jokes and yet you share your opinions. So, I said, "Well, I agree with you. If you think I'm just a clown who tells jokes, you should not watch my podcast because who cares what I think? I don't care what comedians think about life. 100%. I think they're funny. I enjoy listening to the observational comedy, but if you think that I'm just a entertainer who tells jokes, why do I have a right to opinion?" I agree with you. I'd like to think that I've been teaching I've been involved in for uh close to 50 years. I was a mash and yeshiva I was a mag I give you know I don't think I'm just an entertainer but of 100% if you think that I am then by all means don't watch this podcast cuz you obviously have no respect for me as as a Torah personality in which case you who cares what I think. You're right. I wish I knew how to sing, at least I could be a singer then, you know, and do something, you know, but uh uh the fact that people feel that I have something to contribute and I use it in order to try to, as I mentioned, give people and to strengthen Hashem in the world. That uh that's really what I tried to do with whatever has given me. Well, I didn't mean to uh end on such a sour note. You know, I I often quote the line of Woody Allen where he says, "Uh, I wanted to leave you with a positive thought, but I don't have one, so I'll give you two negative ones [music] instead." [laughter] Well, that's it for this week. I guess we're going into the three weeks, so it's appropriate. Um, if you want to find out more about the show, you can go to my website, revolofski.com. You could sponsor an episode, sponsor part five, sponsor a question and answer. You could sponsor a partfully sponsor an episode. You could buy things from the merch store. You could check out the cookbook section where uh they uh went through some of my old podcast and collected the recipes I mentioned and set them up. Uh you could make a comment, uh ask a [music] question. Uh you could join one of our online showroom. I just had somebody this week join one of our online shore. So, uh, it's never too late. And that's it for this week. Until next time, I am David Olowski and this has been the Rabbi Olowski show. [applause] It's the Rabbi Orlovski Show. Torah and Sima, ready to go. The Rabbi Olavski Show. Knowledge and wisdom will help you grow. Lots of fun in every episode. And we don't have to ride the wheel. It's the Rabbi Orlavski show on Rabbi.com. Torah anytime, YouTube and more. It's the Rabbi Olowski show. Torah and ready to go. It's the Rabbi orski [music] show. Till next time, till we meet again. It's the Rabbi Show. It's the Rabbi Olowski show. It's the Rabbi Olowski show.