The Yishai Show: The Platypus of Torah Portions

[Music] Shalom everybody and welcome to the isai flyer show broadcasting live from Jerusalem to the world you're part of it wherever you are Shalom and welcome to bit midam Yakov Shalom and welcome to Rabbi Mike fo Mike Shalom oh Shalom is it's great to see you it's great to see you and and I look out the window and I see cuz we're in B mam yakova I'm looking out and I see uh those very grapes that we've been speaking about for years now right I see it there there they are again the grape vine is growing and I see the grapes and and I'm always amazed that we're in the Torah portions for example parlak that we learned uh was it already two weeks ago that talked about that the ninth of a is the an aim it's the first days of the grape grape first fruits first fruits of the grapes right and I see them and they're not yet ripe yet and they're all over and gion andon where I where I where I work and travel and it's like it's like it's grape season in the summer in Israel it's so beautiful these grapes so so so Majestic and um we have a beautiful and Majestic and entirely weird Torah portion it's pretty freaky right here's the thing you and I have already just a in our little discussion before the show uh we have I've already realized that we have a bit of a disagreement on understanding what is the main impetus of the Torah portion as I understand it your main impet you see the main Tor impetus of the Torah portion as being death the issue of death death like runs like a river through this part right and we're going to talk about the death of Aaron the death of Miriam Haron and Miram and then we're going to also talk about really essentially the death of Moses as he's kind of told he's not going to the land and it's also the end of the Death March and the death of the that's right a new wish for death again they w a little bit not to mention what do you mean explicitly and then not to mention the fact that t z Adam shut right this is the Torah of man that going to die right and also right in the beginning the parad Duma is to help you get rid of the death energy so it's just kind of a minor it's a big it's a big theme here okay my my grouping of this week's tour portion is that almost everything really weird is in this week's para it's all lumped in there it's called T portion it's called kukat which means the kind of laws that don't make Earthly sense to us uh that we can't gather the sense of and and a lot of things here including strange poetry including the strange event of the uh of the copper uh the copper snake which by the way parenthetically you know how you've always thought that the snake around the stick that's a symbol for healing for medicine right you've always thought it was a Greek thing right well I actually haven't always thought because I've been familiar with this Torah potion but people do indeed believe so but it's not uh I don't actually know how old the the Greek origin is but certainly we have a strong Contender that's right the snake with the the coer snake we'll talk about that so wait your theme is that this is the Platypus of all the that's right T that's exactly right this is the weird one this is when weird things happen weird things are said and and and just weird things are done and it's just like all this is T portion where you're like huh h Huh weird poetry especially that that notice it's never in the C like nobody ever there's no prayers that take in these some of these poems that are here they're biblical poems but they're not nobody considers them the great songs of the Bible they obscure they're obscure it's the I'm telling it's the Obscure T portion of weird stuff uh and I that's why I like it so much because let's just get weird and what could be weirder than starting with the uh the Commandment uh of the red heer right a Jew touches a dead body or is an attent with a dead body uh he becomes impure to the death energy dark energy of death it like sticks on you yeah it's contagious as well because if you actually touch a dead body you can give it to someone else right you become a source of it yourself right so it makes a lot of sense that the people who are um preoccupied with being the Eternal people with the Eternal City as I always tell you that's my favorite name foram the Eternal City or city of Eternity or city of Victory because if you Outlast the other folks you win right that is true hold fast out there people right so so how is this nation going to beat the normative energy of of uh of death it's an energy that takes over everything it's called entropy it's a scientific principle all things all electrons seek to be in a less intense place they seek to all buildings seek to go back to being dust all things want naturally to go to a state of lesser exercise of energy basically all things want to be lazy Things Fall Apart Things Fall Apart things tend to fall apart that's the direction of right so therefore uh all Empires come and go right all all buildings all things built come and go people are born and then they die then they die except for one nation which is connected to God and also has these let's call them tricks by which to beat Death to shortcut death to Short Change death I mean well here I don't know that we're talking about short changing death I think that really this is about um changing Consciousness because you know it's probably not the place to try to get to the bottom of the nature of what does it mean that coming in contact with a dead body gives us impurity but nevertheless just on a very experiential level uh I know that you have had the experience of seeing a dead body um as many times yeah many times I haven't had many times I had enough to know that quite a bit Jew and njw uh yes myself as well um and I've had enough experience to know that there is something deeply disconcerting about seeing being the body on that level for what it is something which will rot in the ground um and I think that and it's rotting the minute it's dead the second the soul leaves right that's what the the the sages said that you know that a baby who's alive doesn't need to be protected from the rats but OG Mel Bashan right the giant Biblical giant soon as he's dead you better watch out cu o he's in this par I saw him coming in terms of all the weird things he's a weird guy yeah Noti the sages connect them to death as well right they connect him to death interestingly they also connect them to uh overcoming death himself the medra says that during the flood there's the ark there's the the animals there's no one his family and there's a dude a giant dude who's hanging on behind he's hanging on to the ark who apparently was a little window there that Noah fed him through he fed him through that's right we got to get to the bottom of that at some point I think I once had an understanding about that that that we all carry with a kind of yeter har that we feed right that that's very true in terms of the sages saying that we carried idolatry out with us from Egypt there's a theme there right right to to to be returned to right but but can you just picture it this like boat that you've always imagined on on the on the on the surface of the of this watery earth right with all the animals inside and then there one dude and he's hanging out with one hand right and with another hand he's swinging swimming along holding the rud from time to time Noah like feeds him a little food you wonder what he was feeding him too why is he feeding this this this this evil giant that Moses has to kill a well I mean maybe he wasn't evil then um anyway my point was is that um I think that the connection between the red hether and and the impurity of death at the risk of trying to answer a question that even mosh Renu was not privy to um comes in the sense that the fear and the impurity and the loss of sanctity that come with death are rooted in our sense that we understand it right meaning there there's something very brutally logic about death like you see a dead body you say oh right I'm not going to last I get it everything dies and and there's a very easy path to pursue from there which is and therefore in in modern terms therefore all my um senses of Eternity all my stories about how I will live on about how God has a plan all these things are really just psych psychoemotional thumb sucking to get me around the reality of what this dead body is and there's a very Stark moment of looking at death um which is infectious it can really sort of like creep into your Consciousness and and and SE a lot of doubts uh in in in a person's experience and I think that the red heer of course makes as you said no sense at all let me get this straight you're going to take a cow that's all red you're going to burn it well you Slaughter it first when I'm burning it alive right you Slaughter it burn it mix it with some plants and some red uh dyed wool it's and the ashes are going to solve that problem and I think the answer is yes they will because what you're doing is accepting the fact that you don't understand that the world is not bounded by our grasp of it and therefore death is a great mystery it's true but it's not necessarily a great tragedy and I think that that there's a very important opening here as you pointed outat right these the H is a is a particular type of Statute of law which is not only not meant to be understood but it's a completely different type of law because there's an important Hebrew word right K or which means what um um chiseling in what's it called that engraving engraving yeah right you realize there's two ways to communicate something you can take a pen and you put on a piece of paper that's knowledge that comes through adding one thing to another that's our we're most familiar with the other way though is when you engrave you actually take something away in order to learn something and that's what a hook is what we're giving up is the sense that we can actually understand and through that a tremendous field of knowledge opens up but there is it does effectuate actual change it's not it's not a placebo it's not just a test of faith the the red heer gets rid of and by the way let me add one more thing for for people to know there were nine red heers over history a 10th one is supposed to yet emerge I think they're working on it down in Texas they sure are working on it they really are and there's farms in Israel that are growing red heers and there's as as usual in Judaism there's it's very halic it's not just a red heer it's got to have this it's got to have that it's can't have this can't have that very very minute details and and by the way if you think about it AR is really how life really works life works on the minutest details absolutely if you would take one cell of the human body and study it you would be amazed at the minute details of of what happens in any cell and how it works and the knowledge encrypted within and God forbid one goes Rogue and decides that it wants to be everything we call that cancer that's right so um the red heer I want to add also that the red hepher was done uh in eyeshot of the holy of holies and the tud goes out of its way to talk about the height of this wall and that well in order that that that when the high priest excuse me a priest not the high priest a priest any priest that thing in the presence of the high priest right it's all done in the presence of right they've got to be able to see the the holy of H in the presence of the Sagan of the assistant hypers right cuz our partner it's elazar it's elazar and he's he's the number two although he's going to take about to take over but it happens when he's still number two and so you have to you have to you have to look you have to peer into from the Mount of Olives where I live into the holy of holies has to be line of sight interestingly the Mount of Olives later becomes a cemetery yes and I always like to think that one of the reasons why the high priest who's not supposed to even be in a cemetery is supposed to go to the Mount of Olives is because he's also saying to death hey energy of death I can approach you go right into you and stick my finger in your eye we the Eternal people have this way this secret way yes uh to uh chisel we don't exactly understand it but to to ward off death because we've been given to know in real experience and not just in knowledge and text since ancient times that death is not the end doesn't it doesn't it sometimes uh doesn't it don't you kind of want to yell at people when they tell you how do you like what's the your proof for God I always just like want to tell people the proof for God is so obvious it's the people of Israel I mean that is that's the proof that God exists although I I tend in my own personal practice to just um what's the word I'm looking pity is not the right word I I I empathize and sad no I'm saddened by people ask that question because that question belies an answer someone who's asking you for proof is feeling an an emptiness within thems that can only be filled by relationship I told you about the kids in in Livingston who on Shu at night I I had a I had a session with them teenagers and they go and I'm like you can ask me any questions they're like okay why be Jewish why why buy into this whole thing right it's a good question it was a great question I wasn't quite ready for that question yeah that's a that's kind of a whack because right because like I'm like and I and I really thought it out with them together but I was like I could see that because they had no war no challenge no problem no uh no uh inability to get married outside of the Faith No fiscal issue social issue there was you know it was like there was no need that religion filled and so if you don't have that whole God thing in you and believe that the Torah is real then um it wasn't such an easy answer it is not such an easy answer but have that God thing in you is really is is the answer meaning issues of belief and intellectuality are exactly what this para comes to fight against and that's where I believe that I I agree with you that it's not just a para of death it's a par of the Platypus meaning meaning if if you build your entire relationship to God around your intellectual grasp and what that's what proofs are then you have one of two choices you can become a heretic or a fundamentalist meaning you can you can doubt God or you can shrink God to fit your conception but I don't know about you I don't want to worship any God that's small enough to fit inside my understanding right you know and and so we're left with the theim which is okay then right he's bigger than me and here's some weird stuff in a weird Torah portion that is Way Beyond your understanding and yet you also identify the very important piece which is Amel which means history it's like well okay let's tell this story this is what I'm trying to do in my in my podcast the Jewish story let's just tell the story now you tell me where this is all going good good now that leads us Segways that us right into um one of the Prime movers of Jewish history who's about to leave Jewish history and that's Moses okay Moshe Renu Moshe our great leader our great Rabbi our Great Sage our number one our number one man the father of the prophets father of the prophets you know and it's it's not easy to understand sometimes where he fits in our quote unquote Pantheon here uh because it's like you got Abraham Isaac and Jacob they're the founders you got David first king you got you know but Moses and and sometimes it's like Moses is bigger than everything else because Moses is that linkage between God and man he the Torah is channeled through a man named Moses yes the whole thing I mean sometimes when you think about who do you want to meet you think of all these other rabbis but then you're like can I really see Moses and on the other hand all the movies the famous movies about the Bible it's always Moses right it's like but it's like could I ever meet Moses what does it mean to see a man who has a shiny face whose face is shining with God's light what does that even mean so it's like it's like part lore you know it's like a it's like a but like I don't I can't even imagine it part like you know it's you know it's it's it's like like a it's like a figure that you can relate to kind of because you've seen him before you've seen him in The Prince of Egypt and he's all over the Bible he's he he is the Bible right he is the Bible he he's the five books of Moses so-called Five Books of Moses right yeah I mean in that Pantheon you were speaking about Moses Moshe represents D he represents Consciousness I mean he runs through it all he runs through it all and that's why he brought down the Torah that's why he's the most present in our minds yov are are people in in history as is Moshe but Moshe is also a way of knowing the world that's what he was able to hand down to us we struggle to know the world like Abraham like know the world like how do I do that but I know how to know the world like mosha not that I necessarily succeed but he gave us the Torah and in this week's Torah portion a new generation that doesn't know him as well that hasn't hung on hung hung up hanged out with him you know at the beer Bazaar uh in of Egypt they haven't been there H with him they suddenly say to him um you know we're dying out here there's no water uh why have you brought us out here to die in the desert us and our uh animals uh why have you brought us out of Egypt to bring us to this place this bad place this is not a place of of seed fig grape and pomegranate there's no water to drink and classic desert it's it's BR brutal it's brutal super brutal okay really it's not something you can survive for for really not a long time it's if you think you're out of water you're like you know done yeah you're done uh and so but Moses and Aaron uh do this old they they go there they go again falling on their faces and they're pretty they're pretty brokenhearted God though on the other hand seems uh filled with equinity he says listen uh take the staff gather the assembly you and Aon your brother speak to the Rock before their eyes and it shall give you Waters you shall bring forth for them water from the Rock and give them to drink the assembly and their animals and Moses is going to go to this uh session and seemingly he's very angry and he's going to strike the rock poignantly twice you could see you can imagine the dramatic moment he says here you go ju I'll show you hits the rock little drip of water little drip of water comes out and there's a moment where it's like you made a mistake it wasn't though it's not what I back down right like you and he hits it again and then the water comes out but you got a feeling that God didn't want to embarrass his servant Moses but there was a a mistake happened here it's not going to end well right it's not going to end well ostensibly and the the depth of it is the difference in tone between Moses and God Moses is treating this new generation like they're the old generation and that their mistakes are compounded while God is like these little Kindel they don't really know they're a little stubborn like the parents but they give them another chance you know this there's like some kind of sense like no no no no you got to start with these over you got to you got you got to start again with these folks and Moses is still carrying shall we say The Grudge the weight the the the the pain of of of the past many mistakes Falls and complaints and he's treating them with that that kind of uh um he's carrying over from the past I mean as parents we can relate to that right but it's what every child needs is every person really but certainly every child needs is to be related to as they are now and and not to be sort of a sort of an accretion of all the mistakes that we've made in the past um I think it's extremely important that they're sitting here on the edge of the land of Israel which is going to be a completely new existence completely new existence right and and yet mosha is unable as you said unable to see through that accumulated argument and suffering and pulling and pushing he's had and so he and he's of course literally been here before we had this incident already with the previous generation of we're going to die there's nothing to drink and God actually then told him to strike the rock you can see MH like where am I right now we're right back at square one um but God but and and and you you know from reading the text you don't necessarily know that it's a new generation true it's it doesn't actually say that to you but indeed it is and our sages explained it and and you can actually and then suddenly makes a lot of sense to understand that it's a a new generation and um there's the bad news the bad news is you didn't believe in me to God says you didn't believe in me to sanctify me in front of the nation of Israel therefore uh you are not going to come into the land of Israel okay and it seems like really harsh whoa like I just made a mistake with the rock what happened this is Moses I think think the kind of simple depth of it is like you belong to a different time you're not you're not you're not you're like you're part of that other generation and and then Moses was is going to say that in the book of of Deuteronomy he's going to say in v he's going to say like you know I got punished because of the sin of the spies because of but in a sense he says yeah I was part of your generation yes and and this there's a new generation and and Moses is not part of that all right uh but but here's the best part about Moses Moses gets bad news you not going to the land of Israel but I do need you to to continue to we still got a long way to go to the Border I need you to to to to get out there and put on your general out like right fights and battles right what do you how do you how do you see Moses does he this like uh you know religious guy religious spiritual guy or does he like does he have a beret and like can you see him have you know many swords that's kind of how I see yahushua right Joshua but like here Moses and this this is the tour portion of of Moses being this like you know real fighter guy he like I see he and schmu in the same way in that light meaning they're walking around with a staff and robes holy guy most of the time but but they're kind of like a Jedi like don't messed Jedi Jedi he looks a little bit old and kind of decrepit and he's probably focused on his books but I wouldn't step to him right he's taking that step and suddenly things are flying anyway I think that's a good way good way to see it uh they go to the king of Edom uh they asked uh they ask uh to pass in his land he says no uh he says no meaning to say they're now trying to go into the land of Israel but but but not everybody's very hospitable to their track correct they're trying to come in from the south at this point and and they get a big fat no no thanks and God makes them go around he makes them go around because [ __ ] children of asov have their own Merit and and don't start up with them okay their inheritance as well meaning it is their land but Israel asks to go without touching the land with paying for the water a family battle right exactly Family Feud here it keeps going um bad news is that Aaron is going to now be asked to go up to the mountain Jahar and to uh go up with Moses and with elazar to strip take his Priestly clothes off see his own son be dawned with those Priestly clothes and then Aaron is going to be given the kiss of death yep and he's going to leave the scene so so you know seeing his own son take his mantle uh because the the the co the levite Cohen uh line is a uh hereditary hereditary line and unlike for example the Moses thing and so and the Jewish people are going to cry for Aaron for 30 days 30 days all of the CH all of the House of Israel I.E the women of Israel the Because The Peacemaker Aaron The Peacemaker of the the family of the Jewish Home is now going to leave the scene I mean it was a tremendous loss to have someone who was so committed to am Israel that he saw a truth that really transcended the particular perspective of each one right the famous story about Aon that that two friends or a husband and wife were fighting and he would go to one and say oh you know your friend really wants to make up and of course he's lying and he'd go to the other one and say oh you want your friend really wants to make up you know so I told my kids this story they come back together and they they're reconciled I told my kids this story and they were very upset they said he's a liar and I said no he's not I said what do you mean he didn't tell the truth I said yes he did what do you mean I said because the truth of the matter is these two people love each other there was some falsehood that got between them and Aon wasn't going to fall prey to letting the facts Define the truth because he knew the truth of their love and their relationship again it's consistent with your platypus Theory right that that that um that the truth is something much bigger it's not that the facts are irrelevant I'm not going there right now it's just that that the the Holiness of Aon and his role as high priest to be able to always reconcile between God and Israel even more so than Moshe is in his ability to hold that truth which is larger than the facts yeah and he's and he and he if you remember how Aaron's career started uh basically uh this the way I always read it that that Moses says to God listen I am a harsh talker like I am not a soft talker I I I do not have a uh smooth tongue yeah I don't have a smooth tongue I have a I have a you know I have a heavy tongue I talk heavy talk I come down heavy on issues say I say it like it is I I'm from dgree I say it frontally that's a Hebrew word a Hebrew slang word uh but so God says no problem I'll I'll bring you you'll be the prophet and I'll bring you somebody who's the mouth if you remember the at face right like like like like he'll be like face like and that's what Aaron is Aaron is I think the Diplomat okay the Diplomat not like one of the diplomats today that only talking Diplo talk but he he's the he's the he's the or or you know what the negotiator the uh what do they call alternative peace negotiation alternative conflict resolution yes you know that's who he is and and the children of Israel cry for him um um and of course he carries with him also because of him are these clouds of glory and the minute he dies the Clouds Of Glory kind of disappear and the Jewish people are a little bit exposed they're exposed and that's part of that's part of the process it's like it's like the egg that breaks and and the chick has to come out you know you you the protection is less but you're out um and okay they they leave um uh they leave Jahar after those 30 days they're tired of the once again they're tired of of God's good stuff this time they're tired of the Mana and they complain suddenly snakies snakies are everywhere fiery serpents serpents they're like biting people they're biting people people all dying it's like pandemonium they're crying in just can you imagine it I like Envision it you're running and stumbling over tents you see you see the comic books are never filled with this you know that the movies like like this is awesome you know we're talking about like we're talking about like like like some kind of video game you know it's like a snaky fiery snaky thing going on uh then God asks one of the um uh God says to Moses one of the definitely most platypus of all things and that is that he says make a copper snake right a put it at a pole right I want you to and when people see it they'll be healed right and our rabbis say that they looked up to heaven uh another way to understand it is they actually understood and you can you can understand this from their response um they look up and and they see this copper snake um and they uh they get healed from it that's where we talk that's the sign of the uh of medicine but there's a line here I can't find it right now where they say like we sinned because we spoke evil against you mhm and and there's like an understanding that the it was the evil speech it's uh you want me to read it where is it it's here in the 21st chapter the seventh line right meaning to say we s because we spoke evil whoa that was a big rectification it's like you haven't heard that we Sinn this time this time oh no no how how many more of us are going to die no this time they're like you know what my bad you know and my bad is in my speech Yes my bad is and speech and that's what the snake symbolizes the snake symbolizes the evil speech they looked up they were like okay now I got it I'm getting bitten down here because of this that big snake is actually the snake of L har and I recognize that now I see it of of evil speech slanderous speech and all that negative speech and now I can atone because because God has not only has he healed me but he's also informed me what is my problem and the two come together because I really believe that true healing comes when you're able to look what you've done in the face right that I think is the power of When God says make the snake hang it there don't tell the people what they've done wrong right make them see it because once they look in the face what they've done wrong and they're mod de right they admit it like they did here that then healing will come right so realization admitting it uh we have a concept of like that for chuva for sure chuva which is you have to uh VY got to confess confess that's that's like a that's a that's not a Catholic idea no not at all I mean I think it's although I've always told you that's my favorite thing in Catholicism I think it's a very human idea you know this idea that until you take what is inside you and you put it outside enough that you can look it in the face no real healing can come okay and here comes some more unusual stuff uh I'll have to read it in English here wait is now a time to talk about lemon water yes lemon water thank you for reminding me about lemon water it's funny you say that because I was thinking this is a good time to talk about lemon water recently uh I've been squeezing lemon into lemon the lemon fruit and like on one of those turny squeezy things and and juicer juicer and and and I've been making I've been making uh a jug of water at night with a half a lemon and then just sticking it into the fridge in the morning there's cold lemon juice now Lem water lemon water now it happens to be that that I I was once diagnosed with a bit of a fatty liver okay and uh they say it's good for you to drink lemon water it's also drink good to drink some olive like a spoonful of olive oil but what I wanted to tell you is that recently I've been drinking this this uh lemon water and it's made me just so happy every time I'm like this is so tasty and you know when I was a kid I hated lemons like lemons what are they there for they're so bitter now I'm like lemon water this is awesome thank you Hashem for this lemon water in my fridge have you told your mother I told my mom and she's like of course lemon water of course I mean come on we always drink lemon water you know and I'm like I'm like I love lemon water you know and it's just just recently I've been I i' I've had a lot of stress thank God you know generally good stress although although I had a little bit of a bad stress in that my son elazar manim Ben Mala uh contracted uh Strep strep and and from that had a complication called purpura which is these like little blood vessels bursting in your legs they're not bursting like water blood seeps through the veins and arteries and and it's like in his legs and stuff and it takes three weeks to heal or something it's really very ugly and and unpleasant it'll go away hopefully uh but but generally like a lot stresses other than that also fighting UNESCO which is trying very hard to declare that the tombs of our fathers and mothers are not the tombs of our fathers and mothers and that it's a Palestinian heritage site I.E you Jews were never here okay what I call now national identity theft okay and we're trying to fight national identity theft and all that in the last few days including in the lemon water I've been just like life is so good thank you Hashem thank you for these lemon of er Israel like this is so tasty so what you're saying is that when life gives you lemons you should make lemon water make make lemon water and like I I don't know for me I think one of my and it's maybe one of my favorite things about me my favorite thing do you like things about yourself better and worse sure right yeah I haven't found the ones I like but I definitely got the worst well you should you know we all have things that we like about ourselves and like one of the things that I like best about myself is that I appreciate life and I've been taking moments every day in driving a specialty and times like ah okay so Sumer down it's all good it's all good you know and life is good and this time is good and this lemon water is just so good okay I'm going have to try some of that I don't know I can't I I really have tried to explain it but that that was it okay maybe that was a part of maybe that was part of the Platypus of of Torah portions but it certainly fits in right not fitting in how about this part how about this part therefore it is said in the book of the wars of Hashem he has given with Tempest like speed and the rivers of our known the outpouring of the rivers when it veered to dwell at R and lean against the border of Moab and from there to the well it is The Well of which Hashem said to Moses assemble the people and I shall give them water yeah right right okay I mean it's like it's like when the Bible goes biblical yeah exactly you lost me there you lost me Moos back and you know that there's super depth here yes you know that there's super duper depth here just like the paduma just like the red he but it's like you you look around and you're like this is an impenetrable few verses although there's one thing I love about it in its Simplicity is it's clearly talking directly to someone who knows what it's talking about okay you know what I mean no it's an important Insight in in understanding the Torah is that the Torah is eternal and it came from God but it was given to specific people and so therefore sometimes what appears to us completely mysterious is because unfortunately we're at a distance from the intimacy of the people to whom it was given right right just think about the fact that we don't know what this sa mem is this this book of the wars of the Lord clearly the people that mosha was talking to knew what it was right and and here we have a little fragment of it so you're saying it's a book for its time as well as Eternal yeah listen this is the great this is the great um Paradox within Revelation that philosophy has always attacked which is that Revelation by def definition is parochial what do I mean if God spoke Israel then he spoke to us in a specific place at a specific time to specific people it doesn't mean that what he revealed wasn't Eternal but it actually had to be comprehensible I would have thought that you said Revelation is by definition Eternal since Revelation is God's word God you know kind of almost has a hard time fitting himself into for sure but parochial times no but parochial because it's Revelation as opposed to philosophy right this was the great argument of the Middle Ages which we don't have to get into right now but see middleages people arguing about this this was big time they were killing each other over today we're just like what well actually no because in in many way Starbucks CFE you want to know what you want to know what the parallel is in our times wait God has a people and they're supposed to be in their land right no no no anything which is true is universal there's no significance to specificity to border the solution is that everything should be the same and equal right we've been carrying around this sense that God spoke to us listen I'm not to exclusion of you on the contrary I can at another time speak out to you how actually the fact that God chose a specific people in a specific time and specific place means that God cares about every specific person in their specific time and specific place because love is always specific love is never just general you don't love the idea of your wife you love your wife and that comes with a lot of work because your wife is real was wonderful that's not what I'm saying but you get my point is that is that we don't love the idea of our children we don't love the idea of God and and therefore the power of Revelation is in its specificity its parochial but its revelation of the universal specific love to the Jewish people yields jealousy anger and jealousy yeah and that jealousy I I like the rabbi statement very famous statement and very true statement that one of the reasons Sinai is called Sinai is because it's brought sin into the world right like it brought hatred into the world like the choosing of Israel and in part and and in part really anti-Semitism which everybody's always talking about and trying to understand is in part really quite simple it's can and AEL It's Kind which is K it's jealousy but better hatred than apathy because the reality is that hatred has an emotional charge and an energy around it that can be transformed to good I mean I can tell you as a teacher that the that the disruptive disrespectful student is always better than the completely apathetic IC and passive one right they famous CTIC story is that uh there was like two two there's actual names attach of these people two litox you know Lithuanian style Jewish Torah students and they're studying in the in the study hall and somebody and he sees a um one of them sees uh an sitter in the in the Sho in the in the in the in the b m he sees a uh that's a type of uh what's it called how do you say liturgy it's a mystical liturgy right is a liturgy it's a specific ly right specific right it's as opposed to another yeah another it's it's a another type of liturgy I mean it's the same liturgy it's a different brand I don't know there is a version okay let's say a different version let's put it that way and he takes it and he throws it on the floor and he Stomps in it he's like this is user and he like he sees that being is really evil and there was another Rabbi there and he said you see that oh the other student said ah look they have their own way you know and the other Rabbi said and a third Rabbi says you see the one that flipped out he's going to become a great kic Rabbi because he's got fire right he's fired up I don't know to me I'm when I hear that story I'm always like I would have been the other guy who's like listen they've got their way what are you so worried about you know it's a question right right but but sometimes having Holy Fire being being turned onic movement is always very focused on that uh for example one of their explanations that I like about why the River Nile turn to blood is to show you how to serve God don't serve him in cold water serve him in hot blood and there's more and more examples of that certainly uh in my work for Kon and and uh and general for pro-israel advocacy I also see that really what what really separates the the the you know the the toys from the I don't like to say the men from the boys but let's say the men from the boys from and and and the women from the gals is the serious from the not serious the serious from the not serious is like hot passion yeah who is just fired up about Israel and and that's why I'm optimistic despite what appears to be this Rising wave of opposition and hatred that's focused on us because the reality is that is what is going to allow us to achieve our mission of connecting Heaven and Earth if the world could care less if we come back to our land and it's like oh okay Bader so like you know they cut they cut up Africa into a bunch of States they cut up Asia into a bunch of states after World War II okay so the Jews got that piece and and all the people was around us said okay like what do I care it's actually such a good land anyway you know then we would have a tremendous task us how to wake up the world right now the world is awake that's they are focused on the plan right perhaps not with the same endgame that we have but that's relatively speaking easy to change um yeah no the world is definitely definitely uh fired up uh about what's happening here about what's happening here and we are definitely in in a passion a Time speaking of fired up Moser raenu he is fired up and he is now going to go to war with the Kings ofon right andbon and uh he's going to basically fight with the amorites he is fighting with the amorites and he's going to be very proud of this this is what this is what I'm saying when Moses Don his General outfit when he takes out the the the bat costume the bat uh what's it called the whatever Batman puts on whatever yeah when he put when he like goes downstairs and and he stops being Bruce Wayne and comes out with the Batmobile and he's out you know wrecking it's quick and brutal right he's he's intense out there and he's going to be proud of it he's going to say many times later on oh yeah and I fought the amorites I did you know what I mean I killed them and and where there's of course one of the uh places that was destroyed uh um Israel took all these cities and Israel settled in all the Amorite cities in kbon and its suburbs uh for kbon it was the city of seon King of the for kbon it was the city of seon King of the Amorite and he had war wared against the first king of Moab and took his land from his control until Arnon and he keeps on fighting um and and later on he's going to be very proud of that and even here's yet another poem woe to you oh Moab you are lost oh people of Kos he made his sons fugitive and his daughters captives of the king of the amorites their sovereignty over kbon was lost it was removed from debone and we laid waste to NOA which reaches until medba okay again again you're you're totally right it definitely worked for that time but the the the fantastic and famous Rabbi cook addition here is when a young man came to him one time and he said I want to make Aliyah to ER Israel and but however and he started giving him all his calculus this this this but this and I've Got Friends this and my mom is over here and that and maybe I'm learn more tour over there and he says son before you enter the land of Israel you got to kill mebon you got to kill mebon nowon has a dual meaning it means the name of this place but also means calculations yes you got to kill the king of calculations coming to the land of Israel is not a calculus okay it's not it's not a calculation like well I get an advantage hear that it's not like that you got to kill mebon and come into the land and that is of course I could see that that that's a good one for you you never heard that one I've never heard that and and it makes perfect sense here in the par as a whole once again because this theme of the knowledge that comes through accepting that you don't understand mean I think that that I can know in my own life I struggle a lot with with like the sense of making calculus like oh yeah I can do this then I can do that and which is important I mean I don't deny you have to you have to be real in this world and for for sure at the same time it all has to be under the premise of but you know what what what do I actually know I'm going to do my work I'm going to do my work in the world I'm going to pray God that I do what's right right and you know what will be will be and I believe once again that this is a big part of the message of death I mean I know in my own life right my my father died from a freak accident it's like he was and my my dad kind of too not not a freak accident but a freak heart attack yeah sudden moment we' we've spoken about this and one of the most precious legacies that I have is the fact that he was the type of person that never put things off when it came to relationships wow so that we not only myself and I have no open sort of note open you know bills with him but but I had that experience again and again and again with everyone who came to the house the morning to speak to us saying oh it's unbelievable like I just spoke to him the other day or I would just sit with coffee or lunch like like it was it was it was live it was real because you just don't know just really believe in that I really believe in that I really believe in that um so don't wait you can't yeah cannot wait can't put anything off you know my mother just said this to me and I want to dedicate the show today actually to uh my my mother's my mother's mother's my grandmother's sister's MH daughter okay who was just killed in a car accident from driving from Finland to St Petersburg Nona Nona she's my family member and uh it's it was a heart breaker and her son who I met when we toured St Petersburg with my mom uh wrote to me on Facebook and he said uh yeah you know known a p was killed in a car accident and my mom said to me immediately you can't put anything off you got you got to live I I'm telling you I've come to the conclusion that the greatest blessing of them all is yeah you know you have to have you have to live like I've I've really come to believe in that believe in that like to life to life um and finally speaking of one of the oldest dudes around was OG he was the king of Bashan if I the Bashan is basically the Golan Heights basically yeah basically like like he was a giant like imagine him sitting on the side of you know Mount Hermon is the Heron Giant on the mountain I tell you I sometimes think I should start a a a steak house in the Golan I would call it O's place or o steaks like giant steaks you know I could see you in there working the grill yeah you know Oak steaks GI by the way you're always thinking about beer you know it's speaking of beer my wife uh H it gets the more I think about it my wife my wife it was just my birthday last week was 41 and my wife made me uh she loves mala's Hungarian for her feeding and a birthday meal is like that's how you do a birthday and so she made me what she thought I want to eat and she was right she made me great plate of nachos oh right and I called it yisha nachos why were they yish nachos because you know take me a second we had y nachos it was really good by the way speaking of just one more word play you know you know there's um can you what um what synonyms can you come up for the word indigenous the Jewish people are indigenous right whatever native very good um locals Aboriginal Aboriginal okay but do you know about this word aanus aanus which is really spelled autois right yeah yeah I've seen it in literature why are you asking me I just I came up with what I I know why we are Aus to the land of Israel because our tus has been here first okay and you get your out of here we've been Aus here okay you know it's funny you say that because this paraa actually fights against you in that sense right now I think it's very important because I Ked out their well Ah that's where I'm going I actually believe just to slip a little bit into postmodern ecademic discourse that this whole discussion of indigenous people is actually itself a product of colonialism even though it claims to be the sort of postcolonial ERA this whole idea de colonialization yeah all that stuff right this they are still living inside a colonial mindset because it was the colonial world that created this concept of indigenous and that somehow indigenous is they didn't necessarily give it a legitimacy in the colonial mind it was actually a degraded state in their mind but nevertheless this the world has bought into it it you know what the Torah is coming to tell us and it's by the way very tied to this paraa is there's there's really a very simple reason why this is our land CU God took us out of Egypt right led us through the desert right and brought us here right and if you want to tell me who first rash the Torah he'll take it away from who he wants and he'll give it to us and if you want to tell me what do I care about what happened 3,000 years ago then I'll tell you well God took us out of Europe out of the ovens of the camps and he brought us here and in both cases we fought battles and we won now that's not an excuse but didn't y use the indigenous argument no he didn't he say well you were trying you're faking it because you took he said in the end of the day God took it from you right and he gave it to us even Abraham the first communication between Abraham and God is listen you live over here in Ur kazim you need to go where I'm telling you because the world is not just about some fatalistic sense oh you were born here therefore it's yours the the world is an active engagement with God so God from the beginning said yes you can this land can be your inheritance but you need to understand it's your inheritance in so far as you listen to me right and that's why it's so important that that the world that we build here is a reflection of God's Will and it's not just simply the flip side which is well it's ours because we took it I mean that's also I mean maybe we should talk about him some other time he gives three different answers which are all very important but in the end of the day what it comes down to is the connection between am Israel and er Israel comes through through our fulfillment of the Divine Mission Moses kills o he kills this giant single-handed battle single-handed battle and the the rabbi say that he like he jumped up 10 yards uh and he was 10 yards tall he hit him with like a 10 yard stick and he hit him in the ankle that's right and O dropped the mountain that he was holding over his head about to drop on Moshe on his own head and that was it that was it I'm always sad a little bit when o goes down a long time coming yeah but he's like he's like this this like he's like this ancient pillar I hope we find something of o one day you know some very large iron bed yeah no that's uh that's o That's oosha says it later yeah right and it says like his bed isn't his bed in RA in in Aman it refers to exactly where it is yes and and how big it was it's a big bed people come by and say woo look at that he must have been some big guy I'd love to find that stuff also you know but I've been dreaming dreaming about finding I've been dreaming dreaming about finding two things uh three things really very quickly if I could find anything it would be uh Jeremiah's Scroll of purchase uh of the land um in anatot yeah that's one I I think I think the folks at IR deid will find that that'll happen I want to find Samson's gate from the city of Gaza somewh M ofon right and the third one is to find the Tomb of the ramban the ramban which got lost it's 100 years after the ramban the ramban was here and somehow his tomb is not known to us and I feel I feel in my heart that if we would only look at the the writings you know and go to like one of these things you know go on a on a on a track movie yeah like go on a track you know just like Professor a nsar found the the tomb of um of of Herod the Great right uh like just we'll find it we'll find it he's just hidden somewhere any case there's a lot of things to to find there's a lot of things to pray for there's a lot of things to be happy for I'm happy to be with Rabbi Mike foyer here at B mam yov on the land of Israel Network on the show spiritual Cafe I want to thank all of you folks for being with me I want to thank God for the lemon water and for the land of Israel and uh I want to pray for the health of your children and if you don't mind throwing back a prayer for uh Alazar man Ben Mala I would appreciate that TOA and God bless all of you folks wherever you are keep broadcasting rebroadcasting the story tune in to to God he's broadcasting on the land of Israel Network he's actually broadcasting on his own network it's called the universe you just have to kind of tune in he's 24/7 and there's an incredible incredible loud broadcast that's happening right now it's the greatest music you'll ever hear it's the greatest greatest teaching you'll ever ever hear just connect to it and I want to thank you every Mike for being with me here today that's it all right folks more great stuff is on the way stay tuned stay strong stay connected God bless you and [Music] Shalom who are we as a people who are we as a nation what does it mean 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 is ratem we're going to make Judea and Samaria an issue for the entire world to know that the Jews have a place in the world Israel inspired with Arya bramwood and Jeremy gimpel on the landof Israel Network at the landof israel.com