The Tragic Loss of the American Soul: How To Move Forward - Rabbi YY Jacobson

to my dear friend Ralph they tell a story about a b Mitzvah boy who wanted to deliver a beautiful speech at his b Mitzvah am I hearing a double voice no okay so he comes to his mother and says Mom I would love to talk at my B Mitzvah about where we come from so Mom says of course our family ancestry is prestigious and she begins to wax eloquent about their lineage he says no no Mom all the way in the beginning back back the beginning where do we come from she says oh in the beginning God created heaven and Earth on the sixth day he created Adam and Eve for whatever reason they decided to have kids I don't know why then you have Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Sarah Rebecca Rachel and here we are 5,784 years later okay puts it down in his little notebook or in his tablet comes to Dad Dad is a very proud graduate of Columbia University says Dad I want to talk about our lineage where we come from so Dad talks about his grandpa and his grandma and his great grandparents no no no dad all the way back where do we come from how did it begin oh Dad says we have evolved over billions of years we have evolved from chimps and apes and monkeys and what about they oh they have evolved from other primates and that goes back to 26.3 billion years a big bang and what what does it all begin it begins with helium gas bacteria okay puts it down in his tablet comes back to his mother says Mom I'm very confused about my B Mitzvah speech you see you tell me we come from Abraham sah Adam Eve god dad tells me we come from monkey chimps Apes gas bacteria what should I say the Mitzvah where do we come from mom looks at her son and says my dear boy there's no contradiction your father was talking about his side of the family I'm talking about my side of the family it's an old and good Jewish joke but somehow this week this joke came back into my mind because I realized that America is at a Crossroads and we're going to have to choose which side of the family we want to identify with most we each have two sides in every family we don't have a mono brain we have complex brains and psyches but I think there comes a moment in a nation's history when a people people is challenged to make choices that under ordinary times maybe it can evade or it could be ambiguous about and I want to say I get invited to many events corporate events universities synagogue centers different types of lectures and very often people just want me to say things that everybody will like which means nothing you know just be par when I spoke to Ral this week he said I want you to say something that matters something that's meaningful we living in serious intense time say something that's significant I said but then I have to be authentic and tell people what I really feel he says go ahead I appreciated that and I thought of that's how he runs Inspire it's inspiring it's inspiring because we often lives in a climate and a cult culture where not only you know I understand that you don't have to believe what I have to believe you don't have to but when people are afraid of saying what they believe then there's no authenticity there's no Integrity there was once a history Professor here in the United States and he opens one class one class lecture to his classroom high school kids and he turns to the girls and the boys and he says can anyone tell me when and who said the following statement ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country who said it and when very good you get an extra pinac colada very good you know the day [Laughter] too but those boys and girls shrug their shoulders in ignorance like that guy they're like I don't know it's before Google so nobody can Google it one boy from Japan knew the answer he came from Tokyo to study in the states and he says John fil Gerald Kennedy January 22nd 1961 during his inauguration address it was raining in Washington that day he did it in a Japanese accent the teacher was so impressed but he was so annoyed with the American Kids he's like you American boys and girls you're a bunch of spoiled brats lazy good for nothings narcissistic self-centered kids who know nothing about our leaders about our Visions about our ideals about our history about our heritage about our dreams you're all addicted to your iPhones to your iPods to your iPads and everything but you is ey iPhone iPod iPad and even when you have a game called we you spell it with two eyes I I I I we have to learn from the Japanese here is a kid who comes from a foreign culture and civilization he didn't know about Bell works and he comes here and he knows what Kennedy said and when he said it and for 20 minutes this teacher waxes eloquent about the virtues of the Japanese not only Japanese food Japanese Ambiance Japanese atmosphere Japanese culture Japanese etiquette until and you forgive me folks I like telling stories the way they happen until there's a voice from the back of the classroom the hell with the Japanese the teacher was dumbfounded 20 years he was teaching nobody ever spoke to him this way he screams out who said that the boy says Harry Truman 1945 I think you know people wake up in the morning people wake up in the morning and they have a choice I could say the hell with the Japs or the hell with this one or the hell with that one or I can wake up and ask not what my country can do for me what I can do for my country what what my spouse my wife can do for me but what I can do for my wife make sure you tell that to her Ral not only what my community can do for me what I can do for my community and not only what God can do for me but what I can do for God and I'm inspired to be in the presence of Ralph and your wife and your beautiful family and all your friends here part of a company that it's leaders all the way from the top Inspire integrity and friendship and commitment to a larger cause because we all wake up in the morning and yeah we want to know what people can do for us but I know Ralph and his colleagues wake up in the morning and also ask what can we do for God for his world for our people for Humanity for the planet and it's at such a moment when we Face a crossroad that is fateful because the world was stunned this past Saturday 6:13 p.m. when a young 20-year-old in yish they call him a pisher I don't know if you how you say that in Japanese how do you say that in English a a baby a 20-year-old baby Thomas Matthew Crooks take five shots murders one person critically wounds two others in an assassination attempt on the former president and president candidate Donald Trump everybody was stunned and overwhelmed first of all from a security perspective just a few hundred feet away Secret Service was warned the police was warned you know that's obviously a major part of the story obviously the loss of life of a good man trying to protect his children and his family while shot down of those wounded but also of the story in then of itself what motivates a 20 year old boy to do such a thing to do such an act I found myself thinking would I ever want to kill somebody I mean we all want to kill somebody you know what I mean you know like drop that whatever but usually it's how far it goes and then you go to therapy for a couple of years to deal with your anxiety and anger management you know and I asked myself why don't I why wouldn't I kill somebody even if I vehemently disagree okay thank God I don't really have anybody MERS to kill you know but what really what really stops you know we often say it's probably Insanity the person is demented psychotic or some other mental illness it's a very easy explanation but it's a cheap shot because so many murders and so many murders in schools in recent years happened by people who you can't call insane and let's even talk about people who are mentally challenged I know in my community in extended family and Community a lot of people who are mentally challenged but they would never even entertain the idea of taking a gun and trying to murder somebody even somebody you loathe somebody you disagree with somebody you hate somebody you feel should certainly not be in the position that they crave to be and this comes down to one of the deepest questions in life morality what is morality what creates morality where does morality come from what can I do what can we do to guarantee that our children our youth that other 20-y olds don't entertain this in a practical real way the last assassination attempt in the history of the United States was almost 50 years ago 1981 Ronald Reagan some of you remember that like I remember that 1912 Teddy Rosevelt was wounded in assassination attempt four presidents of the US were murdered were assassinated Abraham Lincoln 1865 Garfield 1881 McKinley 1901 and of course John F Kennedy 1963 and now the assassination attempt against Donald Trump it's this question of morality that our founding fathers had to Grapple with on July 4th 1776 when they made this bold experiment of the United States of America to ask this question what will inspire what will motivate people to be civil to be kind to be human and decent towards each other is it just police enforcement that's a factor good police enforcement good law enforcement good Security Service obviously is it knowing who gets a gun can be helpful is it giving people the right medications when they need it all very very important things but ultimately what about the internal psyche and makeup of a young man and woman and let's not kid ourselves look what this 20-year-old almost accomplished and almost Changed History he already changed history but he almost changed it in another way if Trump wouldn't have turned his face maybe a half a millimeter 1 millimeter he would have been killed all of history would have been quite metamorphosized at that moment it was already affected quite deeply and then I remember it what was the greatest most cataclysmic event in the last century that together these two events brought forth the death of more than 100 million people the greatest catastrophes in human history it was the first world war which ultimately led to the second world war the first world war had 20 million casualties unheard of 20 million dead people another 21 million wounded the second world war with the Holocaust 85 million people lost their life including a third of the Jewish Nation including one and a half million Jewish children who died in gas Chambers who triggered these first world war you know who a 19-year-old kid by the name of Gabriela princip when he pulled the trigger on Arch duuk Ferdinand the ear of the the austri Hungarian Empire and his wife Sophia in June 1914 a 19-year-old kid literally ushered in the first world war then it was called the Great War which led to the second world war here is a 19-year-old here is a 20-year-old wow power does lay with the youth but if such catastophic power lays with a young person lest nobody say that a young woman or man can't change the world in a positive and productive and meaningful way so our founding fathers in their Declaration of Independence July 1776 understood something very powerful that with all external motiv ations precautions barriers fear of penalties punishment imprison pleas sentences Etc courts the deepest motivation will only come from within and thus they declare those very powerful words we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and I emphasize the word created that they are are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness note they put in the word Creator twice here in the same paragraph all men created equal endowed by their creator but this was not a religious Republic the whole point of the United States of America was there would be a separation of church and state there would be the freedom of religion where each and every person can worship according to their own conviction and understanding thus this country has been a blessing for so many of us and so many minorities including the Jewish Community I could stand here with a yoka as you may notice and even some pis and a beard and a Jewish tie among my Japanese oh American friends and you even laugh at some of my jokes and you forgive my Brooklyn accent what did the founding fathers understand so well they understood the following truth and that is that if Dignity of life is rooted in personal taste it is also so frail and flimsy and superficial if what gives people the right to pursue happiness the right for Life the right for Liberty it must come from a place that transcends any individual mind any individual heart even the heart and the vote of a Nation it must come from a absolute higher authority that transcends every country every color every race every religion every Faith every philosophy every ethnic group they understood not only with the Brilliance of their mind with an IQ but with a deep EQ that when the conviction to respect the life the Dignity of another human being is rooted in the fact it's nice to be nice some 20-year-olds think it's not nice to be nice theyve heard rhetoric that this man will destroy the nation different cultures teach different things we have different opinions you say well it's not nice to well look what happened in Germany the most phds came out of Germany the greatest scientists the greatest musicians the greatest philosophers it did not stop them from sending one and a half million little angelic children to the gas Chambers and killing another 40 million people why because I choose who is vermin who is not Vermin who is bacteria who is not a bacteria you have a mouse trap and I have a Jew trap there's no absolute respect anymore and therefore the founding fathers inculcate this of course separation of church and state everyone is free to worship according to their religion to define God according to an understanding based on their faith and their culture but that the respect for Life comes from a place that transcends any particular mind any particular mood any particular inclination and even the majority of the state agreeing to it one day votes can change one day convictions can change one day look what happened here in a few years political climate can change I would have never conceived in my worst dreams that our ivy league universities where you parents sweat away with sweat Blood and Tears to pay $400,000 tuition for four years and some of these ivy league universities should openly support nazil likee Hamas murderers inconceivable for a person like me parents survived Stalin's Gulag other relatives survived Hitler's concentration camps this is what the founding fathers understood and it's rooted in that first moment they were great students of the Bible and they remember that opening those opening verses in Genesis the human being Adam and Eve woman and man were created in the Divine image spilling the blood of another human being Genesis says is the worst act on Earth because you killed the peace of God you murder the image of God the revolution in that should not be underestimated what the Bible was teaching Humanity at that moment was you may not be in my image I may not be in your image you may not look like me you may think different than me you may speak different than me you may Harbor different perspectives and opinions you are not in my image I am not in your image but you're still in God's image and I am in God's image we encounter God in the face of a stranger our founding fathers knew well the Ten Commandments which begin with the words I am the Lord who has taken you out of Egypt do not murder do not steal do not commit adultery why do you need I am the god do not murder who disagrees well Mr Crooks disagrees Trump you can murder somebody else may may think you could murder somebody on the other side you can murder if I don't agree with you I can murder I am the Lord your God who's telling you you're not murder and therefore it's absolute unequivocal non-negotiable in all conditions all times what happened this last week in the United States of America I believe represents a historic opportunity for every father and mother for every teacher and educator for every politician essayist business person every lay leader and every simple person men women and youth ACC from the entire political and ideological Spectrum to come back to the DNA of the United States of America because if Mr Kooks when he went up to the roof saw that there were three Secret Service people surrounding him with guns pointed to him he would never be a do it he did see a policeman coming up but he pointed a gun and the man well fell the man went down and that's when he had his opportunity to take a shot but what if Mr Crooks and thousands and thousands and thousands of our youth everywhere in the country and everywhere in the world would deep down be educated from day one that somebody is looking somebody does see me there is an eye that sees and an ear that hears somebody is looking somebody does know everything I do and I say the creator of the world is looking is seeing he will hold me accountable and responsible he conceived the world in love and asks one thing be kind to each other be respectful to each other be civil to each other even if you disagree with every fiber of your being the Dignity of life is absolute you were created in my image not in anybody else's image and there's no negotiations it's a Creator once it's a Creator you can say well we have this color we're more intelligent we have a greater IQ we're the majority we have the money we have the power that's all if it's a right given by people so the founding fathers said don't make this right from people people can cancel the right it comes from the Creator who transcends everyone and includes everyone if every kid knows this deep down God cares about what you do he knows what you do then I realized that's why the schools that the money is going to tonight's money are schools of Jewish Education I want to tell you an interesting secret I believe in America today there is not a single school that doesn't have a metal detector for good reason after Sandy Hook after columia and after the shootings in so many schools 24 four babies kids shot in their mouth you remember Sandy Hook by a loner I know loners in my community they don't shoot they wouldn't kill a mosquito it's about education values so every school has a metal detector I want to tell you something there's one demographic you could test this you don't have to believe me Ralph will agree there's one demography that I know that I know in America there's hundreds and thousands of schools there's no medal detectives there and those are the schools you're supporting tonight Jewish schools you know why because from the milk of our mothers we have been taught every Jewish child this is the foundation of foundations that the most important thing that God wants from you is values character make a lot of money be powerful take over the world suck the marrow out of life make a difference but the most important thing is your values your character one day you're going to be accountable to the creator of the world values are not only taught they're caught like a cold values are ingrained in the DNA we stop talking about values you're not want to talk about values anymore in America and this has nothing to do with you're a Republican or a Democrat you want to vote for Trump you want to vote for somebody else you believe in this policy or in that policy this is back to the DNA of what made this country an amazing country because getting rid of this is what we are seeing now there is no respect is ultimately everybody can do whatever they want if I decide you're evil this one says I can do this this one feels I can do this and 12-year-old goes and does it and it's a climate that has contaminated our discourse from the youngest age to the oldest and it has cost many many many young lives especially in schools shopping centers around the country people don't even see it as big news when they see oh there was a shooting six people were killed there was a shooting six people were killed oh there was a school shooting two children were killed next two children were killed in a school two children by whom by somebody who graduated the school was a loner they're saying that Crooks was bullied okay I was also bullied by the way maybe I should kill all the was a great moment I was also bullied I know Ralph you were bullied no you were good at basketball I wasn't he was good at basketball still good at basketball today I'm better already bullying is a horrible thing I speak a lot about bullying but I won't kill anybody first of all I'm scared of my wife that's the first thing right right after God is God is my wife my mother-in-law I'm just joking I'm just joking when there's values I have in a family I have someone knows Down syndrome I have a close child in my community autistic serious mental challenges they don't hurt a fly because from the milk of their mother they were ingrained with these values and friend I want to tell you there's another casualty in all of this you know people always talk about we need civil discourse Biden spoke on Sunday president by how we have to remove the toxicity of our language not be so inflammatory and negative and toxic beautiful ideas but why I ask you a question why should my discourse be civil why should I respect my political or ideological opponent why why well it's nice I don't want to be nice I feel this is right and here we go back to the same issue we have been avoiding in our schools and in our homes civil discourse is because you were created in God's image and when I'm looking at you I'm looking at God's image and when I'm looking at you I'm looking at God's image this is an inspiring thought children will gravitate to this so people say oh you want to turn America into an Orthodox Jewish Soul no heaven forbid first of all the Herring is not healthy the chalant is not healthy the kishka is not healthy stay away go to the gym Saturday morning it's fine I'll go Sunday you go Saturday it's fine you go to church Sunday I'll go to the gym on Sunday I stay away from the jalapeno Herring I like the Japanese food better that's why I'm here I heard there was a good Japanese dinner Ralph is a nice guy I came for dinner my wife makes healthy food this is almost healthy this is not about turning America into a religious Christian state state but this is giving America back the gift of knowing that the source of morality must come from an absolute higher authority and that every child needs to learn that and there's one more big casualty here and that is one more thing that has been sacrificed is truth do you know people don't trust doctors anymore they don't trust scientists anymore they don't trust physicists anymore they don't trust biologists anymore but what's they not to trust I understand politics philosophy but when you're talking about Science Biology medicine these seems to be at least exact Sciences at least it's an attempt for some exact science why not you know what happened something very tragic happened in America I look how is Israel was treated since October 7th and I realized what else was sacrificed on the altar of Truth and that is truth itself I didn't know why how can intelligent people Professor graduates phds deny truth you're entitled to your own opinions as Senator monan said but not to your own facts but today you're entitled to your own facts and then I realized there's a verse in Psalms I realize American Youth supporting Hitler Osama Bin Laden nasala sinir Kamas I mean the me too movement could not condemn the raping I don't know if you saw the videos what Hamas did to Jewish women in middle of raping a woman beheading her how could you not condemn it doesn't mean you agree with Israel on everything and then I realized there's a verse in Psalms the Genesis of wisdom is the awe of God the Genesis of wisdom is respect for God the moment there's no concept of Truth everything is relative what is truth who even says there's truth you think based on your Prejudice I think based on my Prejudice cuz the moment there's no one reality the moment there's no absolute reality the word truth is a myth it's a fiction so for thousands of years Humanity knew we need to strive for truth we need to seek truth we need to look for truth we want to fight for truth we want to discover truth and then we created a generation that says whatever you're feeling now that's truth and if tomorrow you want to change it that's truth and even science and physics biology medicine fact on the ground news doesn't mean anything and there's no trust anymore I know when I look at an article there may be an absolute Distortion of facts not an interpretation that I disagree an absolute Distortion of facts and it doesn't mean anything in the fact that you're an academic and you spent 60 years in a university means that you're probably even more stupid or possibly more stupid I should say the moment we got rid of that Creator completely there's no higher authority there's no truth everything is relative and it's unbelievable because when that shuts down you can have discourse you break down the fabric of family of community there's no loyalty there's no truth because there's nothing common that we're dedicated to you're just dedicated to your feelings I'm dedicated to my feelings and when they Clash there's no limits there's no limits on power that's what we are seeing this is God's wakeup call in my opinion to an entire nation such a great nation to reclaim its Soul its heart its Constitution its Bill of Rights it's Declaration of Independence it's what the founding fathers based this entire country on my dearest brothers and sisters friends there was a family whose great great great great grandfather came here on the Mayflower and the family was very proud of their lineage and they hired a biographer to Chronicle the history of this family the lineage and the biographer began to do research and then he came to the family and he said I have a horrible a horrible discovery that I have to share with you I found out that your great grandpa Richard Smith IV was a horrible criminal a petty criminal he was sentenced to death he died on the electric chair he was executed so if this guy was living today he would just make up a story or delete it but unfortunately he was living a few decades ago you still have to keep to the truth so he says what do we want me to do they said oh my God we can't embarrass the family it's going to be horrible but we want to write the book he says you know what I'll figure it out this is what you're paying me for I'll figure it he writes the book he gives it to the family they open it up to this page about Grandpa Richard Smith ivth and this is what he says this is how he writes it Richard Smith IV occupied a very important cheer in a central governmental institution he remained tied down to his position with the strongest of chords until his last breath despite all of his attempts he could not tear himself away from this important shair his death came as a sudden shock friends you have to know how to write a story you have to know how to write a story the story of trump attempted a attempted assination of Donald Trump you have to know how to tell the story the story could be told as just another insane crazy muga who got up on a roof and tried to shoot a president and killed someone that's one story it's true the story can be told as a colossal failure of the Secret Service and law enforcement which is quite interesting what happened there and I have my own speculations but we're not going there tonight the story can be told about what Democrats and others were saying about Donald Trump and what instigated this climate in the United States there can be a story about him being bullied or being a loner there could be a story about his father's rifle a lot of different stories can be said but I believe friends that the most profoundest and important story is this story a wakeup call to a nation in a com state to reclaim its soul and its identity let me conclude with this little anecdote about a little girl a little girl who was standing at the shores of California and as the tide was retreating and the starfish were being spit out she felt so bad for these stranded starfish and she lifted up starfish after starfish and threw them back into the water and one old cynical Man meets this girl and says you foolish little petty girl this ocean this beach stretches for dozens of miles there are millions tens of millions of fish stranded there even if you'll work a whole day you will accomplish nothing you are being ineffective you are wasting your time you're not making a difference the little girl looked at him picked up one little starfish and as she cast it back into the water she said for this one I made all the difference friends I don't know that any one person can change the entire world although my hunch tells me that sometimes a 19 or 20y old can but one thing I know for sure about every single one of us sitting in this room there is that starfish for whom I can make a difference there is that youngster that young man or woman that young boy or girl that young teenager that young adult that older person that I can make all the difference for by looking at their face and saying wow you're in the image of God by waking up in the morning and asking not what everybody can do for me but also asking what I can do for my family for my friends for my community for my country and for God's world thank you very [Applause] [Music] much this class is brought to you by the yeshiva.net please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at ww.the usa.net 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