Why Greek Culture Still Controls the Western World - Rabbi Menashe Bleiweiss

There was, and you know it very well, a culture that swept up the world. One of the four kingdoms in Denil's dreams, in Ibanzar's dreams, one of this powerhouse, influential kingdoms, uh, and it wasn't just a kingdom, it was a culture unto itself called the >> Greeks. You know about it. We're coming up soon on Kaneka, right? The reason why every year we continued to have Kaneka as a builtin celebration is because we never got over the Greeks. You may not realize it, but many of your lives are western. Many of your values are influenced by the western world. The western world is a is an extension of the Greek culture. Something that's unfortunately too familiar to us. People who live for self-indulgence. Eat and be married. Tomorrow we're going to die. That's actually it grows right out of the Greek culture. Greek culture captivated the world. We can't overstate it really. And the Jews are not immune. Jews are also built with the Sahara. Yeah. And quite the contrary, the bigger the sidic, the bigger the great greater the harsh were holding on a certain level. But Alexander the Great came and conquered the world. And to a certain degree, there's a very famous story of in the Gmoran Yuma of Alexander the Great meeting up with our host Art Namely who lives down the street from us or who's buried right down the street from us. >> Shimati, name of the street of Osame. Shimat Sadik. Yeah. So he had this great famous confrontation with Alexander the Great. He charms Alexander who's who's really on a mission to kill him, but he ultimately he spares him and then some. He kills our enemies, the hutim. And um so we make friends with Alexander and that's a fair weather friend you really don't want to have because the Greeks totally influenced us and the Jews started living between the worlds and really you can't give a proper answer to your question until you address >> the Greeks went into how long >> they came in and they never left. They're still alive and well and they're with you every time you go and build unnecessary muscle in the gym. >> Yeah. Wasn't Alexander the Great like the only person who actually made it to the gates of like a story about that? >> Give me a source. >> I don't know. But they gave him like an eye and then he eyeal source for that. I'll tell you, as far as our enemies go, he really isn't one of the worst. Quite the contrary, he was pretty nice to the Jews. Shimon Shimonadi charmed him correctly. So, uh, and for as big and bad of a brute as he was, he only lived 32 years. Alexander >> got done to the Cohen when he came to >> the cohen was Shimonadik same story correct you know the story >> but the problem is of having friends like that it's sort of like having friends being friends with Donald Trump you know he's got great policies and kind of helpful to the Jews he's his meos are deplorable the same kind of a double bind Jews find themselves in we're better off we really have a we should depend on him we shouldn't really team up with such people >> let me see like this is what was sending us. >> Yeah, we should upgrade it and theoretically better than that. But you know there's a reason why the Torah warns us and actually it's a mitzvah called don't walk in the statutes and not just the statutes don't walk in the ways of the non-Jews because sometimes what they do and really what they think and how they practice is antithetical to everything we believe in. And as much as we like to think of ourselves as being individually strong and intellectually rigorous and we can kind of I can hear all these ideas rabbi and I I can still hold my convictions very strongly. Yeah. Well, we delude ourselves and we're not all that strong and these foreign ideas creep in and that's why forbade among other things a certain wisdom of the Greek world. But really what it is is that the Greek world promised a great life. This is uh my newest song. Uh it's about this. The Greeks did this. They built a whole cosmology of gods and goddesses. You ever study the the gods and goddesses of the Greeks? >> This is brilliant. Hania, stay with me. I'm answering your question. Uh the the gods and goddess. Sit up. The gods and goddesses built this entire cosmology of these vile beings like Kronos. I'm actually singing my I'm singing the lyrics of my song. Like Kronos who ate his own children except for one. >> That's homicidal Zeus. >> Yeah. right, who killed in the tens of thousands. Uh there's Athena over there and she turned Arachnne into spider and on and on and on. Now think about what does that do? If you have if these are the gods and goddesses, small G's all of them, but still you have like a whole cosmos that these are the greater forces out there. Well, I'm just flesh and blood as a human being. You can't you can't hold me to a higher standard. It gives total justification for people's sins. You don't have to be moral in a universe that the that the the gods themselves are immoral. What happened was the Greeks presented a lifestyle that was so new and fresh and novel where you could eat and drink, be merry, indulge your sahara and every whim, every everything that you possibly want and even a lot more. But then the Jews had a problem with that because they were becoming very Greek in their value system. But then they went home and they had something that we call very healthy. the western world doesn't like it because the Greek world doesn't like it. And that's called guilt, >> right? We'd come home and we have the Torah saying, you know, you're better than that and you're bigger than that and you should beat your Yatesore who's a strong man for that's our that's our theme song, right? We we try to conquer Yates. The the Greeks say embrace your inner Yates. You're born this way. Love yourself for your desires. That's the Western world, too. You know the the Jews start with Hashem who sets the gold bar, the gold standard very very high. Okay, we can't reach. I can't be I can't be one of these Sadiki. It's like beyond me. Fine, but I have no excuse not to be the biggest psychic that I can personally become. Why are you not Zusha? The famous story about Zusha. Why? What? I have to be as good as I can be. And I can't just justify being mediocre. We said that in one of our classes recently. We can't. A Jew is not allowed to be mediocre. You have to be excellent spiritually in every possible way. This came to um a peak early on. The first guttle with a Greek name, that's how deeply they infiltrated our system was Shimonadik's own student who knows the first chapter of Perkyavos. Who is Shimonotadic's own student who was the next link in the chain of our masur of our holy tradition? Antiggonosho who taught. Do you know this? Some people know Picavvis. You should memorize it. You should not be like a servant. Don't be like a servant who serves in order to get a reward. Ella rather you should be like a servant who doesn't want to get a reward. He taught profoundly because if you really are grateful and that's of course the key word you need for happiness in life and for have a decent life is gratitude. What most people don't have nowadays because most people grow up entitled. That's why they walk into the lunchroom and they say, "You call this food, right?" And they go out and they spend too much money on expensive food instead because they're entitled to something better because they're I don't know why they just are, right? And but like we're just grateful. So if you start with that basic assumption, then you just want to be a servant who's just so grateful to Hashem. Thank you for making me alive every day because I died last night and I'm coming back right now. And so what can I do for you? That's what he's trying to teach. He had, you can't even call them students. They were barely sitting in the back row. Two guys half listening. You know people like this right? Their names were significant names Saddok and Busus. You could read all about this in Abasan. That's where the story is brought down. Bryce's uh and they were half listening. And one of them said to the other one, "Hey, you hear what he just said? You have to be like a servant. You're not doing it for receiving a reward." You know what he's saying? There's no reward and punishment in this world. What? Antigos didn't say that. Yeah. Well, they were hearing what they wanted to hear like the Greeks, right? They they they conveniently selectively listened and they said, "Oh, no reward and punishment." Well, there's no afterlife either. This is all about here and now and having fun. They went out and started for the first time in Jewish history something called sects. S ect, right? A sect, denominations, different what they called brands of Judaism. Saduk started >> really logically. What was the name of his group? The named after him, Sudukim. In English you say Sadducees. It's you don't know the story. It's a whole long story. It's sad. You see the sadukim >> took everything like literal or something like that. >> Well, no more complicated than that. They felt that they were even more intellectual and complex than the main rabbitic Jews who they named they put a they slapped a label on them. They called them prushim Pharisees. Even though the main standard Jews were not didn't accept that label much I don't like the label Orthodox either. I'm just a normal Jew as were these establishment Jews. But the other sects made the religious Jews into religious Jews as a sect themselves. You understand? You understand what I'm saying? Right? Who made up the term Orthodox? A reformed rabbi in the beginning of the 19th century because that what do you really? It's brilliant. It's a great idea, right? Because then, oh well, we're reformed and they're Orthodox and therefore there's two options of Judaism. There aren't two options of Judaism, right? There's Judaism. It revers multiple multiple uh esporges here. Anyway, saduk and bus had a smaller less known group called the busim and this would break out into a massive sectarian time where you could what does sects do? You can then make up your own level of Judaism around your lifestyle much like the Greeks did. They started with the gods. They worked backwards and said this is the way I want to live. Let me philosophize it and the theologize it and make it all smooth and so I I can indulge my every appetite and then wake up the next morning guiltfree. Perfect. Great system. the tukim then the day in the life of the Jews. You didn't realize I was going to get go off on this, right? You just asked an innocent question two minutes ago, right? But but meanwhile, the Jews then were getting totally seduced by this Greek lifestyle, right? They would go to the Olympic Games, who athletics, they would build unnecessary muscle. They would indulge in body and soul and spirit. They got intellectually involved in the philosophy and the mathematics of it all. >> What's that? >> Being strong is not good. >> Oh, you want to digress into that one, huh? I didn't say that. You should be strong in the way I defined in Perkyos. Conquer yeets. That's really great. Oh, building unnecessary muscles so you can flex in the mirror and and and and be arrogant. Oh, yeah. Oh, that sounds really good. Yeah. >> The book of health >> in a in an age when it's such a narcissistic age and narcissism narcissist is another Greek myth uh that people are so self-absorbed. Ironically, we have this thing called self-esteem. How do you say self-esteem in Hebrew? You can't. There is no word for it. It's a modern phrase that's an outgrowth of narcissism. Um, when they call the closest translation is, but our is we have trust in Hashem. They they call it self-confidence. We don't have any of it anymore. And that's why the most insecure, usually the least self-confident people need to build outside muscles because they feel so bad about themselves. They need they need outside praise. Hey, look at you. you're so buff. So the Greeks moved in, the Jews just got gobsmacked. They just got um into it and then they were living between the worlds and the these sects gave them a whole justification. Now you're part of an entire movement and it's anti-rebinic. I mean those rabbis, they're so stodgy and archaic. They're so stuck in the mud. They're not with it with the times. The youth got caught up in this complicated time. Do you know in the entire first temple period how many people served in the role of Coen Goda? >> 12 >> 12. But come on, you're talking about 410 years. So 12 people served. That means they had great >> total over 410. But if you do if you crunch the numbers, that's longevity. They each lived long lives. Only 12 kgles. That also meant that they were each sadikim of of stellar character. >> Second temple period. This is how degenerate things got. How many people served in the role? >> How many years? >> 420 years. Not much different. >> Well over 300. >> Most of them didn't survive the year, especially near the end as things got way out of control. And that Sukim would bribe people for the job. You don't bribe your way into being the high priest. And what were they thinking? It was a power play because you were the high priest and it gave you certain ins with with government officials and you could you could uh accept bribes and become very wealthy that way. It was corrupt to the to the top. And that's why this is famous. You know the sanomipur, you're next. Do you know the sanomipur? They it got to the point it was tragic. They had to tie a rope around the kongut's ankle every time when he went on Yumipur leaf n leaf name into the holy of holies because >> die in there. >> Well, >> you would die in there. >> Yeah, almost everybody did. And so and because you can't go in there, they had to drag the body out. >> Is that true? >> That's our tradition. Yes. >> Crazy, >> right? Why would they want the job? But they were so power hungry. They were so, you know, why would a drug addict >> who knows that the next shot of heroin he's going to inject into his veins is going to maybe kill him? Why would he inject it anyway? Why are people self-destructive? The eight Sahara gets up every day, the Gimmorra says, and tries to do nothing less than kill you. And people get so fixated on I got to have this. I'm going to do this and I'm different. I'm going to be immortal. They're not even thinking. It's wild, right? So day in the life of the second temple period. What a complicated time. And you had bright lights. You had the likes of Shim Shiman Benshett who's one of the zugos in the middle of this. Shim Benetta whose sister was very famous. Schlomion who's the queen, the one queen during that entire period for nine years. But Shiman Benshett had to go into hiding because the Stukim were so powerful. They they had a death warrant for him. So he and his students went out and they were almost starving. They were so they were so poor. And one day they tried to do a little work in the in the field and they needed they needed to buy a cheap mule. So they go to a Ishmael, they go to a a an Arab. There were no Muslims of course go to a descendant of Ishmael and they bought a donkey. This just to give you like a sense of the caliber of people and the donkey had um unbeknownst to the non-Jewish owner had a small priceless diamond around its neck and they sold it to the guys sold it to the sold it to Shimab Ben Shhatak and his students and his students the students come running at Shim Benhatak by the name notice the gdole have no titles still in this period Shimab Shatak that's his name titles will come near the end of the second temple period why why do rabbis suddenly have have titles before their names. The bigger rabbis, Hill Shami Katan says it all. Little Samatan. Yeah. Why? They didn't need They didn't need the steam, the prestige. We're all insecure. We need titles. You ever call a doctor by his first name? And he corrects you. I'm sorry. I went to medical school. I want every single initial after my name pronounced right now. They're so arrogant, right? Back in the day, arrogance was under undid you. You You were a guttle because of your humility, >> right? They only started needing the titles. The first person with the title was Rebang Gum Leel, the grandson of Hillel, the first Rabbiel. Um, and the reason why they needed titles is because people had declined so drastically spiritually that the rabbinet itself had gone down in in public esteem and they needed to bolster the the rabbis in people's eyes. Shimak to finish the story, his students say, "Rebi, we just got rich. We're going to eat dinner tonight for the first time. We're going to sell the diamond and get money and go out and buy food so we can survive." Shimon tells his students, "By the way, what's the about that? If a non-Jew sells you a donkey, if it's a go, you can keep it." >> What? Why? What's the What What category of are we dealing with in this? >> You can't steal from >> It's called hash hash hash. >> Yeah. Yeah. Say it out. Be be confident and strong. >> The dean of the returning lost object is between Jews. Technically, you're exempt from doing it for a nonju unless he'll know. If he'll discover it, you should for sure return it. However, most people say to do like Shiman Benetta, he said, "Return the diamond." Oh, but Rebei and liver quivering lower lip and everything. No, Rebby, come on. We're hungry. Return the diamond. You will see no benefit. Runs the world. Hem runs the world. You will see no benefit. ill gotten gains from a non-Jew. We learned from Abraina two weeks ago in para we don't take gifts handouts. Hashem will make it work out. They go to the give him the diamond. Excuse me. This must be yours. Immediately he says he recognizes these people are not real. Right? And he says borrow hashem and they came into some money naturally and they came into some food and they survived and they did just great. That's how we should be and that's how they were in this period under against all odds under immense persecution, right? And yet they they saw Keshu in their lives. By the way, there's a lot of modern stories. There's there's some modern stories to this effect, too. Technically, you're exempt. But there's a recent story, not so recently, maybe 10 years ago, the couple in Waterbury >> with the with the with the bought on um what is it on Amazon? They got a desk. >> Oh, it had like $40,000. >> It had $70,000 in it. And they called up the owner and they said, "Excuse me, we have something in the desk." And she said, "Oh, no." >> Was in the news, >> you know. Yeah, it was in the news. And it was what we call a kidm. >> There's even more famous story of Yakov Kamineski early in his uh in his in his term as a rabbi back in Poland in which a postal clerk, a non-Jewish postal clerk returned too much change to a Jew. He went to Revy. Revaku said, "Return the money, but Rabbi returned the money. But Rabbi returned the money. He returns the money. Sometime after that, Kesbaru runs the world. Ravakov himself as a young rabbi goes to the same post office, goes to the same clerk, not planned. The clerk now is thinking, you know, that was just a fluke. These people, those Jews, they're money grubbing. That's the that's a caricature, right? Shillock is the money grubbing Jew, right? So, it's all a caricature. I'm going to give him I'm going to test him. I'm going to give him too much money and see what happens. And and indeed, Ravakov counts the chains. Excuse me. I think there's a mistake. I you gave me too much. That postal clerk was a well-placed public official who when the Nazis rose of Yakov had gotten out Barashem is already in America. But when he was well placed during the time of the Nazi invasion, he was in the position to save many Jews. He said those people's lives we save. So do the right thing in the present. You don't know Keshbu's plans. Just do the right thing. Uh it'll work out. Anyway, that's the caliber of the people in those days. I have more stories if you want me to continue, but I'll take questions I think are then Adam. What what made the Jews like in town first base of Mikdash ever want to do idols like they were like they were so close to Hashem at that time? >> It's a great question and we have three more minutes. Uh so let me do it quickly and I'll try to take your question too. >> Um remember this for idolatry >> ravenous powerful and the opposite was immense spirituality. You had prophecy you could just dive in from the heart right? It was the same force. So great upstanding people >> they saw it >> would just see it even intellectually it's ridiculous. What do they see in these in these ridiculous little idols and yet there was such a passion for it? It was what we were describing before. Why would the heroin heroin addict want to shoot himself up? He can see what it is. His veins are gang green but he he he can't control himself. At in a famous Gomarra in Sanhedrin, the end of the Gimar period, Rav Ashi sees Manasha Melik who's one of the big Rashim who got involved with idolatry in a dream. It's a famous story and Manasha shows what a great he had been even though he's guilty of some of the greatest sins of all time. He's on some level uh responsible for the destruction of the first temple. And Rav Ashi in his dream asked Manasha, you're so smart. You know so much. your question, how could you follow idolatry? And Manasha tells him, you don't know what it's like. You've never had anything remotely similar to this driving power of of desire towards idolatry. If you were alive then, you would pick up your coattails and publicly debase yourself and run after the idols. It was a force that we have nothing like it, but we have short of something like it in the form of the eight sahara. Some good people do some really bad things. That much, you know, we could tell stories. Let's not that kind of thing. Um, why like why do our Jews always describe us like >> where does that come from? >> I'm going to try we're it's now officially we're over but I'll try to give you a very short it's a great question spot on. I'll try to give you a um a historical technical answer for it. It's the church's fault >> because even though they don't have an obligation in the in in the Christian religion of keeping the mitzvah for some reason selectively they did and between at least other Christians between one another they don't charge they don't lend money with interest okay usery is forbidden among Christians irrationally and anybody who knows basic economy knows that if you have no interest and you don't especially as the economy of the world changed and became increasingly not yet capitalistic but moving in that direction. If you have no loans, you have no economy. The whole thing falls apart because people need capital. People if you want to do a venture, you know, want to be an entrepreneur, you need money. But if you're not going to lend the money because I'm not going to interest on the money, then the whole thing comes to a a a standstill. But Christians in their religion did not forbid forbid Jews from lending on interest. So they became reliant on Jewish on Jewish uh uh bankers and and and people to lend money on interest they became therefore the fulcrum of the e economy of the society and because they were often the loan collectors the caricature of of Shillock in the merchant of Venice of Shakespeare is illustrative of this that that was the role that they were by no choice of their own put in because they weren't given any other jobs they didn't have a chance to have other other kind of livelihood so that became their so so ironically the oppressor The Christians forced the Jews by lack of any other options into that position and then resented them for