The Yishai Show: Where Heaven Meets Earth

[Music] hello everybody and welcome to the high flyer show broadcasting live from Judea to the world you're part of it wherever you are Shalom and welcome to me I am back here in the Holy Land just landed last night and you know still discombobulated it is quite the quite - to shift gears between Northern California and the west coast of America and coming back here it's just a different life it's just a different energy and the human being is just not so geared towards I guess he is geared he or she is geared to making that kind of change still though it takes a little bit of time to get used to it to get your sea legs or your your land legs in your lands of Israel eggs it's just a different thing and I'm very very glad to be back home it's wonderful to see the family and I had a great time in America and at the last stop I was at the lis mood FSU conference FSU standing for former Soviet Union we're gonna hear more about that in the second half of the show today and at the very end of my trip - to Northern California was California but then I went to Northern California yeah I was in San Francisco area the barrier Bay Area and I got to go to Facebook and whatsapp I got to actually go visit the campus the Facebook HQ the headquarters of Facebook I got to do a little video there with the thumbs-up sign at the entrance to Facebook I was there I even tagged Facebook HQ when I did a Facebook alive in front of Facebook and on the one hand one can just kind of discount it as what is Facebook other than you know another company another internet company on the other hand the ability to have any kind of organization that has two billion users a day means that this thing has tremendous world impact in power and I tried to bring in a little bit of godliness into and spirituality into my time there but but also it was it was also a visitation to one of the capitals of the world today one of the intellectual mind capitals the capitals of what and also financial capitals and it was it was very important for me to be there to see what to see the atmosphere there to kind of get a little bit of a grip on it and I I'm thankful that I had a chance to do that and I haven't analyzed it all through in my head exactly what I saw but it definitely saw bigness grandness and sharpness and and you know as I'm walking around trying to sell and connect people to a site that's you know a building that's 2,000 year old and tombs that are three and a half thousand years old almost 4,000 years old and that are kept in a decent in an in some sense incredible fashion that they've been kept up so well all these years and yet still really doesn't have that sharpness and that fastness that their Facebook has it had a moment of like there's always a moment to me where I'm like are we are we there are we there exactly where we're supposed to be and when when you go to a place like Facebook it gives you a kick it gives you a kick in the rear and it says to you you better get up to speed on the you know on the one hand what are you trying to do trying to sell the tomb of the patriarchs and everyone and matriarchs tombs of the Mamas and the Papas and everyone is is what some kind of newfangled thing of course not you know it's it stood the test of time and it's got a depth in it that is not you know visually appealing it's much more a spiritual depth on the other hand can we afford to have the world kind of pass us by when God has returned the Jewish people to Zion and is also creating Israel recreating Israel as a startup nation shouldn't also these ancient sites that have so much spiritual value have the tools through which they can sell it and teach it in a modern way I think it's very important to be able to do that and I think it's important to be able to tell the Bible tell the stories of the Bible who which are timeless stories but but it's also up to us to be able to retell those stories properly and to be we we are we Sylla taters we are the agents of of being able of of passing over that information at this time we have to do that as best as possible if it's through the video platforms or if it's through Facebook or through it there are many query people who are teaching about Israel but also about Torah through the modern systems that have been enabled us to spread this far and wide but we have to do it professionally we have to look good we have to keep it sharp and of course I here my good friend Jack listening right now I can I can hear him listening in and my good friend Cynthia I got a chance to see my good friend Cynthia as well and it was a real pleasure to visit her also Northern California Cynthia and Scott it was great and I can hear a lot of people that are my friends listening to the show and saying to me you know yeah we do have to keep it sharp we do have to make it sharp yeah we have to make it very very today without selling it out right without cheapening it but but we have to be able to we have to deliver it into the minds of today we have to we have to be aware of our generations and also aware of the you know the technology is not some kind of foreign thing outside of God it's it's a knowledge that God has released into the world and so therefore we have to employ it as best as possible but it's not easy you know it's not easy for example I just want to kind of you know one toccata me is that when you go to northern california it's very very beautiful it's very beautiful in san francisco is very beautiful in the Bay Area and the whole Palo Alto and Mountain View and all that although where the high tech hubs are at the same time the cities of San Francisco and Oakland are full of homeless people and you're just shocked by how many homeless people there are and it really degrades the the atmosphere of the city and also just beckons the questions about about where we are as a society and it just it's it's a kind of it's a it's a it's a kind of conflict inside of itself and it or maybe or maybe it reveals a conflict underneath it all certainly also we know that those cities that I mentioned are also some of the capitals of the kind of Marxist thinking that has pervaded so many young minds today really a lot of the Capitals about the capital of much of that thinking some people call it liberal but I don't think that's a really fair word because we're all liberal we're all into liberties but some of the thinking that that really has pushed forward the gay lobby the homosexual lobby and I'm not talking about now specific rights for individuals and talking about this is a kind of the gender transgender that that whole that whole discussion has been pushed ahead by these very same places that's why in one sense you know when I heard that that Habad has got some presence at Facebook even a be at a small one I thought that's very good because we have to influence these influencers we have to be there as well so that the some some good messages go out through these these incredible channels to the world so yeah there's a there's you know when you when you when you're on a trip like that and then you land back here in Israel there is you know you have to you got to take a step back and kind of try to see the world that you know again through the lens of the people that you just saw in a faraway place and and as I've said before in the show you know Western California the the western coast is really the farthest west it's the farthest place on on the west from the land of Israel and it's it's ten hours difference and those differences really are the there's a distance there's a distance between these two places and yet there's a lot of Jews and a lot of people in the world are being influenced by this place and yeah those are some of my kind of thoughts meanderings about about the role of the light of Israel does it shine all the way to those places and it must shine more speaking of those places let's talk a bit about our Torah portion today which is a very special one called Viator which means that the Jacob departed from Bayer Sheva and went towards Quran and he is leaving everything that he knows is good and comfortable were of course in in the book of Genesis Bereshit this is the shy Fleischer's show and if I haven't told you also where on the Land of Israel network with many great shows in fact I listened to the Land of Israel Network when I was driving from Sacramento back towards San Francisco and I just needed a shot of Eretz Israel and and there was Josh hastin and he gave me a real boost and connected me and I think that this this network is doing that it's using that great technology of podcasting to send out a beacon a message of Israel and keep you connected wherever you are and I by the way i want to mention my good friend arthur how it had in phoenix who is now he's taken yet another another advice of mine that's exactly what it is it's advice you know it's just it's just an idea about how to stay more connected and plugged in and he has put on the toilet he's got Bailey's got the blue string he's a true blue Jew hashtag true blue Jew that's right when you get when you when you when you get your toilet you got to write me an email and say you're now a true blue Jew and he did so and he's a blue string man he's singing the blues he's singing the Jewish blues and that was after he also took another piece of my advice which is to to put up a picture of the Land of Israel somewhere in his house and he showed me a picture of a great photograph he took of the western wall on the ninth of off and he took it he developed it and now it's up there beautifully in his house so so great job and congratulations on Kayla Taylor of course is one of our sponsors of the show Tek hele T in fact as I'm Rita as I'm doing the show right now I got my Tallis on I got my villain on because I kind of got home and I have a chance to keep my to fill in on for a little bit longer so tek h e l 82 faileth Telecom all right it's one of the great sponsors of our show Jacob is is running away remember last time we left off we learned that Jacobs got to run away from his brother who is setting out to kill him and he runs away now now please let let us let us delve into the the situation that Jacob finds himself in and the Bible may not actually the Torah may not actually share these words with us but just think about kind of let's piece it together Jacob we know he's um he's a man of tents right we learned that in the beginning that he's a man who was a tent dweller he's comfortable at home and he knows how to make soup and his mom loves him in other words he's he's like a a mama's boy right he's he's comfortable with with his with his tents with a soup and and his and he's not as opposed to his brother like a man of the field and at the end of this Torah portion we're gonna see that Jacob becomes a man of the field just like his father blessed him right he said as I explained that that really it's a blessing when he said the voice is the voice of Jacob but the hands of their hands are of a vase of of Esau that's actually a kind of blessing to have hands ready to have hands not just a voice and here's another clue into that right now right at the beginning Jacob is leaving his comfortable house he is leaving his tents he's running away and he finds himself totally by himself on a mountaintop and the the Madras the extra the Jewish lore tells us that in fact his he was totally destitute completely poor at this moment why even though he didn't he didn't leave the house poor but what happened was is that that Esau ASA sent out one of his sons elephants to kill Jacob and when they met you know Jacob convinced them how could you kill you know you're on your uncle and and also you know I'm I'm Isaac's son and and this is not you can't do this thing she says okay fine you're right but at the other hand my father commanded me how could I go against my father's will so he says to him well take all my money and and we know that a person who's destitute as like as though he's dead and he accepted that and so therefore Jacob finds himself without anything away from his mom away from his tents and it says that it says that he encountered the place and spent the night there because the Sun had set he took from the stones of the place which he arranged around his head and lay down in that place so he's so alone and poor and broken and remember he now left his household which she probably did not want to leave he wasn't expecting that he was expecting to get his father's blessings and he was afraid to get a curse but indeed he probably thinks yeah I got a curse look at me now thanks a lot I am now by myself on a hilltop I have no money I don't have a pillow I mean I don't have a tent I don't even have a pillow for my head and what does he do he arranges rocks around his head so that animals won't kind of knot it or won't come at it and he's sleeping out there have you ever slept outside if you ever slept outside without a blanket and stuff of your stuff slept outside let me tell you something it is cold it's cold no matter how cold it is it could be a warm summer's night it's still not easy to sleep without any covering and when kind of outdoors and scary it's lonely and he's buying himself and he's probably thinking of himself what a [ __ ] I totally messed it all up I got my father's curse instead of a blessing my brother wants to kill me my mom says I have to run away and Here I am alone alone however and he dreamt and behold a ladder was set earthward in its top reached heavenward we need to say its feet were on the ground right the heinous ulama would sell out it's a ladder with what we had it was like based on the ground well show Maga Shamima and its head reached heaven which is the dream of exactly what what I said to you before about about the voice is the voice of Jacob but the hands are the hands of Esau he had the feet have got to be planted in the ground but you have to have big big dreams with your head in the sky Vahini malice a eloheem or limb vadim bo he here are angels going up and down this ladder what does that mean angels going up and down the ladder it means that there is an eternal connection between heaven and earth he dreamt and he saw he saw the the the continuous relationship between heaven and earth prayers going up commands coming down angels doing their work throughout the land in effectuating effectuating change and that is as opposed to those people who might believe that there either is no God or that that God had created the world that he has nothing to do with it he kind of set it in motion and those are both wrong he sees a vision that God is indeed active active in in the workings of this world that's really what the visions about and I think also in in in the vein that I was talking before about about being at Facebook and whatsapp and what's that by the way as a company that has in a lot of ways changed our life here in Israel change the way we communicate and and relate to one another and certainly get projects done through work groups etc information right travels the internet information travels in these packets right these packets of information in there they're flying across and reassembled in different places and that's that's in a sense what the God's sending down of these angels going up and down so like packets of information or coming to different places and we're sending our packets back up and there's this like internet connection this this this informational connection between heaven and earth and he sees that and God God kind of stands upon him he [Music] behold God was standing over him and he said I am a Shem I am God God of Abraham your father and God of Isaac the ground upon which you are lying to you will I give it and to your descendants and and it is said that that the whole Land of Israel became folded underneath the underneath Jacob when God told him that the this land that you were sleeping on you're sleeping on the whole land of Israel you know there's two ways to understand that either the whole Land of Israel shrunk under him or maybe he grew to cover all of it right and he says it continues guts got system now remember what I told you before he's totally alone he's totally broken he's totally sad suddenly God reveals to man he says to him it's me God I am the god of I am you know Abraham and Isaac that you thought maybe you got a curse from I'm that God and I'm gonna give you this land value as Akaka forits and this in your seed will be like the dust of the earth who fought stir Yama vac admah that's a phone oven Aqaba and you shall expand greatly which directions are they the directions are westward eastward northward and southward and all the families of the earth shall be blessed by you and by your offspring you need to say you're gonna expand greatly and you're gonna be a blessing to the world I'm gonna give you the land your family's gonna be big and they're gonna be a blessing for the world okay it's a three-part kind of blessing and and it keeps going God God is telling him this is this is a very personal dialogue any system the hina I know he in con and Here I am I am with you me God I am with you that's that's a lot that's that's but you could just stop right there I'm with you whoosh multi-fiber holy [ __ ] to that I'm gonna protect you in all of your sojourn all your travels that she 45 L had the maahes oat and I shall return you to this land and we'll see how that comes back to fruition in this week's Torah portion key law as of car I shall not leave you either share EEMA city not until I have fulfilled I shared about the affair which I've spoken to you I'm gonna be with you I will be with you I'm gonna take you all the way I'm gonna bring you all the way there and back I'm gonna be with you and your and your CERN's and your ups and your downs I'm gonna be with you remember again just picture this Jake a broken man by himself he thinks he has a curse and instead God says to him I am with you and got a net net net that was God's talking now Jacob's gonna wake up via khat CI coefficient until he wakes up and he says your mana then yes a sham by McComas II indeed there is God in this place finally lawyer that the United no I didn't know I didn't know that in this real world there's gonna be God I knew there was a there was God in in the tense of Torah when I was with my with my with my holy father with with with studying the Torah in the yeshiva Shem forever right he spends time although the Bible doesn't tell us but the the Jewish information shares with us that he also spent time learning with with the Shem was one of the you know first human beings who had knowledge of the Torah and his son ever and so you know I thought it was Torah when I was just in yeshiva was my father's house in the tents now I see that even when I'm out here alone and broken and that I have to actually go to exile God is with me he's he's he's taking me on this journey and there is God in this place this is God there's also God in a place when you're I think on a psychological level when you're down God is also with you when you're down not just when you're up sometimes we think that sometimes we think that you know when we feel good and and everything is right we're like God is with us but he's also with us when we're down when we were broken and and he keeps going and he says and he says via Vilma and then suddenly got afraid menorah hamako Mazda how awesome or how awful right but or is this place ain't Zeki in beit elohim physician hashem on this is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of the heavens right so we identify the place not only did he identify that there's a God in his dream and there's a voice and there's and there's a message and there's a destiny he also recognized that the place that he was at and that place was the Temple Mount and it's and it's a little bit tricky was he in beit el which is not which is not Jerusalem how is it that he at the same times identifying the place as the gate of the heavens in the house the house of God in the gate of the heavens and that is because the the Temple Mount is a jumpy mountain I have explained this before it has jumped to different places including Mount Sinai Mount Carmel in this case to Beit el where later it's gonna be called to the house of God and so he he recognizes that the place itself is a portal an opening a gateway to to the heavens and he understands that the pull it has something to do with the place itself and it's kind of ironic where said I didn't know there was God here and not only is there God here this is the gate to God and that's that's something that's the truth about the Land of Israel is that sometimes there's darkness there's things that make us think I'm sure when when when Mark Twain traveled through the Land of Israel he wrote what he wrote it was it was as though it was a totally dead and lifeless thing there's no God here it's just all stories but indeed there is God here and there's there's what what on the surface seems like a dead and lifeless thing is in fact supercharged with the with with the way to communicate with God and it says via ham fish get via scare me i cove Bob okay Jacob woke up in the morning of a cockatoo Evan chef Sam made a short of he took that he took the the stone that he put around his head wait a minute it was stones plural and now it's a stone something's changed here and in fact that stone which was twelve stones earlier has now become united into one via Samata matzah and he made that stone into a pillar V soaks chemin Auto shot and he and he poured oil he anointed it he put it on its head the stone now has a head right I'll Rashad means on the top of it but in fact it has a kind of head and maybe that's because it is not only it not does it have a head but it's also it comes from the word like initial beginnings because we know that the foundation stone the the stone on top of the Temple Mount is the the place where everything is initiated the world was initiated from vickima mikuma who beit el and he called that place baked out the house of God fool on however Luz Shem ha a little you know it had a different name Luz earlier and everybody that lives in I lived in Beit el for many years and I could tell you that we're all very happy that they changed the name from lose because the people that live in Beit el didn't want to be known as losers and so instead now it's called Beit el which is the house of God a much better name than loser but it but by the way there is a town next to Beit el called G la zone which is which is an Arab name and we think that that is one of the relationships to the ancient town of lose that was there and the word for Lomb will find that exactly four times in the Torah and I don't have the space in this in this conversation today to explain exactly how the other places maybe maybe a different time but the word vu la means really that it means like however but also means that something has been uncovered something has been revealed yes you thought the name was lose it had a kind of earthly name called lose but no it's not a lose at all it is indeed Beit el and Jacob was kind of a person who was able to uncover and if we think about what we've read so far it's really an uncovering of a kind of he saw he said I didn't I didn't know there was God here oh yeah there's this is this is the gate of the heaven he uncovers the reality that that underneath it all is something very very great and so Jacob has that power he's got these eyes that can see past what we see today and see something great and that's indeed very very necessary for the Jewish people to be able to turn this very earthly world into into one infused with spirituality in any case now that he got this message jacob is now ready to go he's ready now to go to exile he's actually armed for exile and he also is armed with faith right with and I mean even not just you know faith in God but also God kind of set them it's gonna be okay I'm gonna be with you and you're gonna need that faith because you go into twenty years of Exile 20 years reminiscence of 2,000 years he's going out there he's going out there to work and he's gonna encounter a very unpleasant reality of LaVon Laban right and he this this man is his family and yet there's something about Laban which is LaVon which is cold we're gonna get to Laban just a second first he gets out there finally to Quran right where a lot of things happen for the Jewish people that's what Rifco was found that sort of Abraham came from that so horrific ax was found now Jacob was going to that very same family and he's he's gonna see Rachel and the minute he sees Rachel he's going to give her a kiss and he's going to he's going to lift up a giant stone that is blocking the the water source for all of the sheepherders he's a gonna do it kind of in one by himself he's gets becomes super-powered when he sees Rachel and maybe maybe that's because there's there's really two people those Clark Kent he's name is Jacob Yaakov and then there's the Superman his name is Easter Island where he's gonna get that name later not even in this Torah portion but he when he sees Rachel he really sees the rest of Jewish future he and he it says that he kind of looked heavenward and and he cried he cried a kind of a cry kind of bitterly some people say because he saw her death but you know what he really saw he saw love he saw love and he saw Jewish destiny and indeed this is the Torah portion where Jewish destiny is gonna be fulfilled Jacob is gonna marry a Rach he's gonna try to marry Rachel but instead he's going to be given Leia and then he's going to marry Rachel they're gonna get also the the handmaidens and they're going to give birth to eleven children in this week's Torah portion eleven eleven sons and those eleven sons are going to be the 12th son is gonna be Benjamin he's gonna be born in the Land of Israel in next week's Torah portion and he's getting any that's gonna be when Rachel gives birth to Binyamin and indeed dies here where I'm still close to where I'm standing in the town of Bethlehem I'm right next door in the town of the frat right now and and my the the the the point that I want to say to you is is that Jacob is gonna go into he's gonna go into exile in in in the most profound ways he's gonna he's gonna work really hard for 20 years he's going to be dreaming of sheep he's gonna figure out ways to make money through the the colored and spotted sheeps and goats and he's gonna figure out how to do animal husbandry and how to become wealthy through through creating speaking of Facebook and whatsapp he's gonna learn how to make a lot of sheep right and goats and and he's gonna be out in in a different world dealing with with dark people people who LaVon is LaVon is this you know schemer this this eternal tricker who doesn't give you rest and respite and you get the feeling and there's gonna be also a family feuding there's gonna be this tension between these two beloved sisters these incredible mothers of the Jewish people are also going to be kind of at each other's throats and they're gonna be jealous of one another and that jealousy is gonna also ironically build the Jewish people because they're gonna keep wanting to out birth to out to kind of you know have have children which shows the love to to earn the love of Jacob and to be the victorious and more and more powerful wife that more important wife and ironically that that tension is going to build the Jewish people through these children who are going to be the 12 tribes 12 tribes but he has a life of no peace and he's gonna say that to Laban to LaVon he's gonna say you know I I have frost bit me not at night he dried me in the day and I had no rest I barely slept for the past 20 years I've had so much tension and you LaVon have been tricking me have been a trickster and have been a person who's kind of a charlatan a a a person who you have no peace with you have no peace with with this LaVon and by the way I I want to take a parenthesis here for a second and say I resent it sometimes when people are not friendly to one another here in the Land of Israel when when there's a when you say hello to people and there's like a kind of coldness we God brought us to this land to love one another and to give each other a little bit of peace and not just to make it to survive there's something about Jews which is always running running running wanting to succeed and wanting to get things done in and we need to sometimes give each other that embrace that hug that say hello and give each other the feeling that life is more than number crunching and getting it done and being upwardly mobile but it's a little bit of that of that we have to give each other that knock house that a little bit of consolation because life is tough but Jacob didn't have any of that consolation and I wanted to get to to really this part which is the part where where God calls Jacob back and we're gonna skip a little bit and it's going to be all the way till when Joseph is born so Jacob is gonna be very successful in his business dealings in his really in his animal husbandry knowledge and and the man became exceedingly prosperous and he attained flocks made servants servants camels and donkeys and he heard the words of lavon's sons saying Jacob has taken all that belongs to our Father and from that which belonged to our Father he has amassed all his wealth Jacob also noticed lavon's disposition behold it was not towards him as in earlier days Hashem said to Jacob returned to the land of your father's and your native land and I will be with you right so suddenly suddenly suddenly God returned so Jacob when he says any system okay it's time for you to go back to the land of Israel Jacob sentence summit summoned Rachel and Leah to the field remember by the way that's the field is where is where his father his father you get stuck was walking out of when he prayed and then he saw Rebecca right the field is this place of spirituality it's this place of connectivity to God and he sent in summoned Rachel and led to the field to his flock and he said to them I have noticed that your father's disposition is not towards me as in earlier days but the god of my father was with me now you have known you have known that it was with all my might that I served your father yet your father mocked me and changed my wage a hundred times but God did not permit him to harm him if he would stipulate speckled ones she'll be your wages then the entire flock bore speckled ones and if he would stipulate ring the ones should be your wages than the entire flock bore ringed ones thus God took away from your father's livestock and gave them to me it once happened that at the mating time of the flock that I raised my eyes and saw on a dream behold the he-goats that mounted the flock were ringed speckled and checkered and the angel of God said to me in the dream Jacob and I said Here I am and he said raise your eyes if you please and see all the he goats mounting the flocks are ringed speckled and checkered for I have seen all that LaVon is doing with you right so binax is meaning this this all means that really God was like I get it your truck your father-in-law's trying to cheat you but I'm gonna help you out and you're gonna get what you deserve right and this is one of my favorite verses in the whole tour oh okay this is one of the big ones for me here we go it's chapter 31 verse 13 I am the god of Beit el let me read that in Hebrew because I get so excited about it I know he ha el Beit el I am the God either of Beit el or I am the God Beit el I'm the God the house of God I share my shock - omits if I were there you anointed a a pillar Hashanah dot Elisha I'm Ned there you made you took an oath otta now come get up seminar leave this land the shuvits moledet eka and return to your homeland your birth land why is this important why do I get so excited about this first because this is where God identifies him with the Land of Israel he says I am the god of bait oh I think it's because also I lived in Beit el for many years that this had impact on me he said I am the god of bait oh right you're out here in New York City you're out here in Palo Alto you're out here in LA around here in Phoenix but I am the god of beta and it's time for you to come back to beta I am the god of Beit el and I'm ready for you to come back and he says this to his wives and the wives say to him let's go man they say to him absolutely it's time for you to go back if that's what God has told you it's time to go back and basically they're going to run they're gonna run away and yet LaVon is going to kind of chase after them they're gonna meet and at that meeting point they're gonna come to some kind of date aunt and that date aunt is some kind of Andris peace understanding and they're gonna build a wall and they're gonna say you know don't cross over this wall and I won't cross over this wall and LaVon says to to Jacob you know you have to treat my daughter's right you can't you can't kind of take take wives above them you got to treat them right but basically Jacob is going to have in this one Torah portion is going to be broken in the beginning right poor and destitute God reveals himself to him he cysts him you're gonna go on a tough journey but I'm gonna be with you he goes on a tough journey he gets married right at the end he's married to two women plus two handmaidens so that's that's a whole lot of that's a whole lot of wives that's a whole lot of family that's gonna come out of that there's gonna be infighting there's gonna be challenges God is gonna come to him after 20 years he's gonna say it's time for you to go back home and and the wives are going to say to them absolutely he's going to face again LaVon as he's running away from him he comes to an understanding with him and then finally the last verse is that Jacob comes back to the Land of Israel and he's going to he says that laven awoke where LaVon woke up early in the more he kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them and LaVon went and returned to his place Jacob went on his way the angels of God encountered him Jacob said when he saw them this is a godly camp they called the name of the place of mahon I'm right a camp of God that's it he's kind of done with with with his long sojourn in in exile and now he's coming to Land of Israel and he greets those very angels that he saw they kind of departed from him and when he left the Land of Israel and new angels of outside of the Land of Israel met him now he's coming back he sees the angels of the land of Israel however if Jacob thinks is gonna be all it's gonna be all good times in the Land of Israel he's got another thing coming and there's gonna be many many challenges to Jacob in fact Jacob's life is full of hard challenges and that's another question that we really have to ask ourselves you know what is the lesson of Jacob's hard life but in all that God is with them throughout and that's a lesson for us as well as I said to you in the beginning that that when when we're up surely God is with us but when we're down that's when we doubt it and and and the truth is God is with us as well and we have to have God it's it's specifically in those down moments where we have to hold on to faith and understanding and to trust and to have God and fill out those dark places in our lives that's that's a that's a real test it's easier to fake - well there's a test in being rich as well when you forget to thank God when you're in success and and I myself sometimes you know like whenever I have a success I'm like yes and and immediately like something clamps down and says but don't forget to really think don't don't do not ascribe that success to yourself it's also important to also not subscribe failures to ourselves and to let God come into - to be with us in those dark moments when we're down folks I want to play an interview that I did in San Francisco in actually in Oakland very important we're going to learn about a new movement for American Jewish teens called the globe club Z teens we're gonna hear all about that in just one second and I also want to remind that we have our great sponsors of course the Land of Israel Network great sponsor which is the host of our of this show and really a wonderful program network and I want you guys to be part of all of our great shows and I want to thank also the good folks at talat o RG we talked about that already today t EK h e le t also our good friends je brick right making amazing jewish lego and i'm i have a big dream of making a Murata Mapple a jewish lego set so i hope my friend gets is listening we're gonna we're gonna push together martha my bill out a giant one that would be awesome and our good friends at django django net is doing great job but informing us about what's going on in the Land of Israel so that we could make it here and jangled net as opposed to Laban is a smiling embracing organization and it helps you really feel together with other people who can share with you commiserate and give you that sense of love and also help you find what you need and of course if you ever feel lonely please come to heparin to Iran to the mothers and the father's really all these stories all these people that we're talking about they are they're there and they are waiting for you to visit them check out have Ron fund dot orgy have Ron fund that orgy for our weekly tours stay tuned right now we've got a great interview for you with Russian Jews right of the former Soviet Union who are making a tremendous difference in America and connecting America Russian shoes and American Jews to the Land of Israel guys god bless you wherever you are stay tuned stay strong stay connected and here we go with an amazing amazing two amazing women who are making a difference for you who are we as the people who are we as a nation what does need to be a Jew in the Land of Israel as a Jew in Judea what is our message to the world we're finally back in our land and we get to ask these questions this Ratish em we're gonna make Judea and Samaria an issue for the entire world to know that the Jews have a place in the world Israel inspired with Aria Prague woods and Jeremy compel on the Land of Israel network at the Land of Israel calm [Music] shallow up everybody and welcome to the high flyer show broadcasting live from San Francisco to the world you're part of it wherever you are Shalom and welcome yes I know San Francisco that's not exactly Jerusalem or Judea or Heffron so how is it that we're gonna talk about the issues that matter to to us here on this show we're in San Francisco isn't it this like totally liberal left bubble anti-israel isn't this work Berkeley and Stanford are and what else although all the stuff that happens like all of the organizations and movements that are related to anti nationalism anti-family anti God and therefore all anti Israel aren't they all based here what are you doing there you say well the truth is is it's not quite like that it turns out it's a little bit more interesting and mysterious and I have been coming out to California now for the last two years and more and more I'm interest in what's going on Los Angeles in San Diego and here in San Francisco now my good friend Masha she invited me out here to she pushed me to come out here to this Lee mood what is lean would lean would is this international conferencing on a Jewish education and it's all over the world there's a division of it which is called Lima Lima would f su Lima hood of the former Soviet Union being of parents and the sense of the former Soviet Union it's a very natural place for me in fact I gave a talk yesterday debate debating a left-wing Knesset member from Israel Yossi Jana from the Labour Party from the the Zionist union party and and I was like in a strange land because suddenly I was looking at secular Jews in America and yet they were loving my more nationalistic positions how could that be well then as something very much to do with the Russian story the Russian background and the way that the Russian mind has developed and here in San Francisco this this lean wood which has when been on November 17th through 19th in actually in Oakland the Oakland Marriott is a type of revolution a first time event here 800 participants from the Russian Jewish community in this region region so that's been Lee mood on top of that my good friend Masha vited merely mode is also the director of Club Z a movement trying to bring Zionism and Judaism to teenagers here in North America and that itself is a kind of revolution again doesn't it have anything to do with the Russian mindset we'll find out because mosh is with us master Shalom Shalom he's shy so great to be with you here in Oakland it is a wonderful sunny day it is a wonderful sunny day listen how big is this limb would thing I know that you and I've been contact for years and I've been kind of coming out here and then trying to understand a little bit and finding these little nuggets and and groups of Jews pro-israel Jews you're involved with all every pro-israel Jews in this whole you know Bay Area including in Berkeley tomorrow night hopefully we'll be visiting the Berkeley campus and hearing the great speaker had magic but tell me about this lien would this gathering of Jews this was very surprising li mood is an amazing organization to begin with and of course us Russian Jews we had to up do everything and so about 10 years ago I believe the mood f su was born and it is it is something that people look forward to something that people go to something where people find their mates and something where Jewish learning among Russian Jews actually has meaning actually people stand in line the the rooms are full and we talk about real things nationalistic as well as just good Torah study right so there was that there was also other things there was also a good party that's right it was a giant conference with many many classes happening simultaneously hundreds of people are here 800 800 participants but the the the whole theme was it's about Jewish in Israel and and it's a bit kind of like session for people to come in and and plug in in a sense it's a little bit of a pilgrimage it's a good retreat it's a little bit even a little hippie issues there's a feeling a little bit like it's kind of like Russian Woodstock here you know right what's an element of that no absolutely ok so so that was a lot of fun I want to thank you so much for inviting me here I'm so glad you came yeah it opened my eyes and just another funny thing that happened to me I I offer different classes I gave like a list of five different classes so I knew that they would take the you know five alternatives to the two-state solution and the debate but I also had a class about Jewish sexuality in texts through three stories of mirrors I find that people were at that session there were a lot of people at that session and throughout the time like people were really very connected to the stories the Jewish stories the issue I find it there's a lot of hunger here for traditional Jewish values and texts do you agree with that absolutely and I think also too you know Russians we are were especially those that actually came from former Soviet Union religion was the opium for the masses and so there is this hesitation there is this like don't try to convert me I don't really want to know about Judaism but here I'm curious and so they move presents this really good platform for people that are curious but they're don't want to be quote unquote converted and so it's like they they taste it they dip their toe in the water and they go okay you know what this is actually a lot more interesting there is a lot more for me so before I go and become a Buju or before I go to write or before I do something else why don't I actually explore my own roots my own heritage Who am I you're totally right it's a safe kind of space here where you're not like in some kind of like you know kirov you know bringing you closer to Judaism in the heart this is like let me let me let me experiment let me taste it let me see if it's smart that's another thing about Russian Jews that they they're generally intellectual and that that reminds me of exactly the issue that you're specifically dealing with which is the Jewish teens I gave a class to your group of Jewish teens and you're you were one of the main organizers of a whole set of programs here for the teens am i right right right so before I ask you about that just one of the things that I noticed about them was that they were just sitting there open died and curious listening listening and taking it and that is a character trait which you do not often find amongst teenagers I gave a class at eula at the University of Los Angeles high school for girls they were great but they were fidgety and and and and it kind of excited and talking I to be very entertaining in order to keep them to keep them entertained but your students your your teens here were as I say more cerebral do you agree with that right right they like to analyze I mean it's a combination of being from you know Russian parents Russian Jewish parents and also Silicon Valley where you know how to sit and listen and to really sort of like be analytical about it and be scientific about it if you will but I also think one of the reasons everybody was super excited to come and hear you the teens because they came right off the debate and they're like oh my gosh I'm gonna go listen to this guy because they heard things from you that they don't hear from you know up on a stage the Jews have a right to the land that we should be strong that we should not be apologizing the the political correctness is it is it permeates their entire beings from kindergarten on and so they are so used to always think of the other Oh I mean those are all great things but sometimes you just have to think of yourself and one has to be an advocate for yourself absolutely yeah and and and and this happens to me a lot that people will start asking me a lot about the Arabs and I'll say to them you know I'm not here to represent or be the advocate for the Arabs or they'll ask me a lot about American Trump and all that kind of something like I'm here as a Zionist I'm here to tell you about Israel and not to talk about American issues I'm sure I have you know what to say but that's not really what this is about and and you're right it kind of resent errs them anyway was awesome on the one hand I found them to be very very highly intelligent and interested inattentive and cerebral at the same time when I ask them what can tell me about Hebron everyone what can you tell me they were unable at first to identify that it's the seat of the the burial of the matrix and the patriarchs of the Jewish people which is a fundamental point I find out a lot out there and you know and I had to start with them from really the foundational level which I was also the same time was very thankful for because I said me I'll be the foundation what I'm saying to them not what the other guy is gonna say to them right absolutely and I was talking to the to the to the chance afterwards because I was wondering did they actually get it did they actually follow the lineage and they were like yeah that was super super interesting this was it finally sort of like click for them um I find out a lot of times in the Jewish world we don't take things a little bit slowly to build a very basis we a lot of times it's a little bit like Tetris remember Tetris and like I got piled on at the top very quickly but the foundation can be a little bit weak so a lot of times I like to go back to really like I know that I never in my whole Jewish career got anybody to explain to me the Jewish history how it progressed calmly and kind of didactically and so I think that builds a foundation right I'm thinking of adding the whole story to our timeline that we have you have to have a timeline is very important timelines are very very important okay so great you were talking about Russian Jew you're talking about lean would be talking about lean but FSU here in Oakland we're talking about the Bay Area the liberal side to it on the other hand the kind of scientific the high tech world that exists here the analytical the you know really there's there's an edge of Science and Technology that's happening out here you're dealing specifically with the teens you started an organization tell me the name and what exactly your organization is doing and why you started it so the name organization is Club Z and Z stands for Zionism of course you know they're musicians started quite by accident I was looking for a program to educate teenagers before they get to college I think we spent communally you know hundreds of millions of dollars probably on various campus organizations to help them educate our students and to help them be fighters for is to stand up for Israel I come from health care and I think that prophylactic things are a lot easier cheaper and make a lot more sense so why don't we prepare our high schoolers before they get to college and give them context history and being able to articulate lis express themselves as proud zena's Jews permission that's permission they have to have to feel permission to be passionate the permission to say dammit I'm right I have every right to defend myself I have every right to this thing that's a kind of permission mode that a lot of people don't have nobody tells them you have permission to to say this you know this is mine right and I have a right to it right absolutely it's like a little switch right I think for 20-30 years that only to Jewish values that were put on a pedestal among the American Jewish community were sadaqa an takuna LOM and everybody is a takuna list us and we all talk about social justice well where is the justice for the Jews where's the justice for for us we you know when when the airplane when they give you instructions they always say put the mask on yourself first and then put the mask on your kid there is a reason for it you can't help somebody if you're weak and so I wanted to raise a new generation of Zionists who are proud who are compassionate who are impassioned to help others but who also have the roots and the stamina to withstand the storm right and then inoculated than what they will face on campus all right we have one of the parents of your the club Z and you have a website by the way I missed that do we have a website before you have a website thank you it's Club Z for Zionism teens for teenagers club Z teens that org clumsy teens that org it sound like a it sounds like I like like look at one of these new movies for teenagers clumsy teens that's right clumsy Dean's we are we are we're gonna take this country by storm America by storm and really inoculate and prepare and and and give birth to the new generation of pro Zionist Jewish youth and it's so important remember folks the real storm here is not just social justice its assimilation here you can also fall in love with your identity and stick to it so speaking of that you're okay you're the founder fine but what about parents and how do they really see their children going in this direction and do they want that or is it a cult or is it I don't know what we have with us Maria Ruttenberg and Maria is a proud parent of two wonderful smart twins there's more right but but I thought anyway my classes - I think smart very smart sharp very beautiful twins who are with us at the event here at the Oakland Marriott at the November 17th through 19th Lee would FSU conference but we especially for teens Maria tell me a little bit about about this about where we are right now and the atmosphere that you think that you're the two daughters that I met are being raised and why you directed them towards club club scene hi sy yeah I was very excited to be here this is my first time at FSU because it's the first time it's in a West Coast I brought my kids which was a great idea and the most exciting thing for me was that the whole thing was about Israel which is so unusual we American Jews shy of the world Israel it's all about Judaism it's all about religion it's not about nationality and for us Russian Jews nationality comes before religion I gotta stop you right there you've said something that's so so it's hard for people to understand what you're saying but I've been trying to make this point Russian choose identify ethnically we were in Russia we were identified ethnically we understand ourselves as being eight ethnic people when I asked the first question I asked your your daughter's and the rest of the teens is are we our religion or a people hood and they all got the idea that we are people hood and a family and it came to them very naturally I wonder if I asked American regular you know Anglo born American Jews if they had they would think that I think that they would think we're a religion I saw in England that certainly people identifies a religion and not an ethnicity and that's a big difference between us and the rest of the Jewish world if you will in diaspora yes for us we have to be United around Israel for us Israel has much more importance than Judaism or a book or anything else and that's a big difference in this organization and that's why I'm so grateful for the chance for my kids to participate in it they finally got to see what what a great project Israel is and like somebody said this is the most exciting project that Jews had in the last 2,000 years yeah I don't know I think I think I remember who said that go ahead yeah and is that an important phrase this is B key phrase for me in this gathering and for my kids there was an eye-opener because they and like Marsha said and one of the meetings wouldn't like to build advocates for Israel we would like Israel to be part of our kids and once it becomes the part of their themselves they stand up for themselves they don't stand up with you anymore and that's the ultimate goal of Marcia's movement which is making a huge difference in the Bay Area they finally are growing to be proud human beings and Israel is part of that being it's funny to me that this mashes movement clubs e-teens Club T's Club Z teens comm org okay good that are edgy by the calm also and they have it forward anyway it's it's it's ironic that it rises up like a beautiful flower in the desert or in a beautiful flower in the swamp or something it's ironic that that this kind of more robust identity movements that is kind of no no apologies is rising up specifically in a place where kind of there's considered and and I think it's true really one of the the bastion of the what are we talking about the anti-israel movements for if they are if they are the new Israel fund if they are breaking the silence jay-j what's called jvp no the other one the SJP SJP students for justice in Palestine so all that that sits here it's and the hill out community that is on campus here is one that invites them all the time yes so specifically in this in this place rises up this kind of movement that's that's kind of is it is it is it because of a reaction to this or coincidence it's kind of a variety of factors if you think about Russian community in the Bay Area it finally came of age because we started as a poor immigration and now 25 some years past we're finally successful and we're ready to have our own voice and it did come out of desperation too if you will because we are surrounded by leftist movements and very powerful left voices like Jewish Voice for Peace and maybe plethora of 20 others and we figure that if we don't teach our kids now somebody else will so we had to come up with something and Masha was the leader for us and she United a lot of different movements and ideas and put them together in action mmm that is fabulous that and that's how that gives us hope it gives us hope because a lot of times you know people want to write things off of course when you come to a place like San Francisco that other people have written off you're like ah it's it's not exactly what you would think it's more complex and by the way there's there's this you know just a few kosher restaurants now that are popping up in town and there is a burgeoning Jewish identity I met some of the rabbi's and I think there's another impact which is there are places here like Twitter like Google like what's up like Facebook and they are also ideal leaders in this world today maybe the idea leaders may be the most powerful movements machines they're much more powerful than governments right and to be able to influence them because a lot of the people that we're talking about at this conference and these teens that are growing up here they very well may be working in just a few years at these companies what do you think about them well we were lucky to have a lot of participants from a tech world here and we had we get to hear their individual perspectives and you'll be surprised that there's a dissent in the companies too I know in Amazon there was a huge outcry about the whole liberal environment how few people came out and said that were fed up with this and we don't think politics should be part of our workplace the same kind of movement wasn't Facebook so there are voices of opposition here for now they're not too loud but organizations like FSU are helping them to succeed and be strong and to have a different perspective on things okay so Maria Rosenberg your your children are now part of Club Z you also are helping your parents who's involved in the club where do you see your children going in you know what's what's their trajectory what do you hope their trajectory is well I want them to grow to be decent human beings and for me Israel is part of it I think they should not forget their Jewish identity in whatever way that is they can be religious they can be Zionist whatever it is but they should not forget where they came from and hopefully not forget that they're responsible for the State of Israel I wanted to personally feel that this is their own thing and be productive and successful whatever they do very good very good thank you very much Masha last words let's let's talk about a little bit about the future of of Club Z and Lea mood in this area you are bringing together conferences you have a yearly conference for clubs e-teens right right we started again like you want to write off teens you know like teens they're not there their minds are nowhere and they're not important right and like it's so it's it's kind of surprising what you're doing yes and no I just I think that teens are an incredibly powerful force and they're capable of nuance they're capable of understanding complex things and they're also this is when they're forming their identities so I think this is the perfect time for them to really absorb this yes I am a Jew that means I'm a Zionist that means of course I'm gonna stand up of course I'm gonna speak up and the goal is simple the goal is taking over the world the world the goal is to have these kinds of groups of teens that come together learn together and our being Jewish together about loving Israel and and and then there's gonna be a whole network of our alums I want to ask you about that this is a West Coast thing is this a no no I mean this is where we're starting but we're just starting the goal is to open chapters all over the United States wherever people want us we will come and we do host an annual national conference that always takes place on MLK weekend so it's a middle January and we bring people from New York Florida Canada Minneapolis Michigan teens come from all over the North America - it is so powerful because unlike is so awesome if I remember being like in high school and stuff if I had a if I had a like a a weekend where does it happened here this is actually happening in Silicon Valley it's kind of a like a week Zionist weekend in Silicon Valley as a high schooler I would have been like right how to jumped on that plane in a second it would eventually if you're from New York or anywhere it's cold yeah they're just so cool it's just such a cool gathering and nothing like that existed in my time well nothing likes it like this exists really anywhere there are lots of conferences for teens but none of them talk about Zionism and being proud and bring incredible incredible speakers and let kids ask challenging questions there's no there's no question of topic there is no nothing is forbidden or we can talk about this exactly nothing is taboo and these are the kids that live again they live in a culture of extreme political correctness and really extreme left ISM that comes from everywhere at them and so this is a breath fresh of breath of fresh air sorry and and they come back inspired and motivated it sets their mind and it's a it's a trajectory thing it sets your minor the trajectory gives you permission it gives you permission to be passionate by the way about us about our thing absolutely which is which is something that has been taken away a little bit you see there's a lack of passion in the reformed conservative world in the regular angular world it's it's amazing and it's very inspiring I want to thank you very much and I hope that you get a lot of people to come out to your January conference and that clubs e-teens really sweeps up America takes over the world and makes us what we're supposed to be which is one family holding on to one another across the Atlantic and here it's even further than it's you cross the Atlantic that you cross America right and it's the furthest west it's the farthest out west out there the wild well right so of us and it's also ten hours difference between here in Israel it's like far away in a lot of ways and just to the the fact that you're going forward together with Maria and other people other parents and the fact that we are bringing teens here together to talk about Israel which is on the other side of the world it's an incredible resurgence and that's also part of what's happening here at Lima FSU I want to thank you again for getting me out here it's been totally a pleasure for me I've been thinking about my parents a lot you know and just seeing them kind of here and thinking about heritage you know think of thinking about heritage and reconnecting to something that's mine that's partially been lost and and I'm bringing something that has been lost to them so it's been a lot of fun I want to thank you very much matcha clubs e-teens dot o-r-g Club Z like the letter teens dot o-r-g is your website and folks if you have a teenager out there and you want to inoculate them and send them on the path do so now don't waste another minute because it's so so easy to lose our kids and the other side has been really a cradle-robber has been really stealing our children stealing our children's minds how many people have told me I sent myself to Harvard for $50,000 a year he came back haiti judaism haiti israel i just got i just paid a lot of money to destroy my son so little disconnected from our story don't let that happen to you god forbid don't be one of those statistics be one of the statistics of the great resurgence masha Maria thank you very much Club T club Z teens dot o-r-g is the website thank you so much thank you say thank you thank you [Music] martyrdom does not end something said Indira Gandhi it is only beginning for me each episode is a new beginning then I'm telling the story of the past set to build a present identity that's motivated to make the future of which we dream I'm Rob Mike Feuer and this is the Jewish story listen to the Jewish story with Roth Mike Feuer on the land of Israel calm [Music]