Yishai Show: Abraham’s Chutzpah

[Music] Shai love everybody and welcome to the shine Fleischer's show broadcasting live from Jerusalem to the world you're a part of it wherever you are and I mean it I really really mean it those are not just catchphrases you are part of it wherever you are show them and welcome to Jerusalem to a beautiful day I drove out of my house today see now today when I live in a front now right so I'm Anna frot Ian I just moved there about 10 days ago in my street which is called Shevat seoane and I thank the Lord for putting me on Shabbat see on street because it's like thank you God for putting me on my life mission Street and which means the return to Zion there is there are nice days were right from my house you could see the Temple Mount itself today was just one of those days it rained at night perfectly beautiful clear day today in Jerusalem and everything just looked beautiful yet yet on the lower world there was a lot of intensity my parking here next to the partes Institute was shall we say I won't be surprised if there's either a break in a dent or a ticket or or a towaway when I get back to my car after this that's annoying but it's all worth it because I get to see Rabbi Mike Feuer rabbi Mike Shalom and welcome that's real self-sacrifice how you say well it is the Torah portion of self sacrifices or sacrificing someone else as the case may be well it's really right when you're sacrificing your own son you're pretty much sacrificing yourself and you're sacrificing tell it to the kid right we got a perspective on this is gonna hurt me talk about it more that's gonna hurt you son there's no long run that we're gonna talk about the akkada I used to say they have al-qaeda we have the akkada okay we'll talk about 1990s yeah they are 2000 they are they are they are they're not they're nothing they're not the real jihad these days no but a bunch of sissies anyway they were just like into blowing up large buildings right there no word until like driving pickup trucks into crowds of people right right oh man first thing this morning like early in the morning I look at the thing and it's just like we stand with oh it was like an anti it was an anti Israel jihadist guy tweeted like I hope my friends in New York aren't hurt this guy's such a master snake he's a snake mastered man King Cobra this guy such a snake his name is ISA I'm rue he is the worst snaky a snake of all time his my hashtag for him is fake human rights this guy all day long uses fake human rights anyway whatever so yet there's been a terror incident in New York although I saw that there's some debate whether it was a terror incident yes the guy's got a long beard and he's a Muslim yes yeah Allah Akbar and left notes proclaiming loyalty to Isis Isis dashboard but that could really be a warrants or a warrant what's it called when you're like dissatisfied with work going postal postal yeah anyway that was that listen rabbi Mike before we get too pressured by air I just want to talk for for one second with you oh we're on the Land of Israel Network lynda.com good friends already and Jeremy doing great work thank you so much for hosting us here at this wonderful network it's true that I've hosted you in the previous two networks that I ran and now you're hosting me but that's life it's a wheel goes around comes just got to hang onto the as my friend Jeremy Jeremy Sultan once said to me said politics is like a steering wheel and you just have to hold on when they cut off your hands grab it with your teeth that's what he said I'll never forget that imagery but I kind of characterizes our prime minister that's right that's right that's right although he and yet his hands are whole somehow god bless him so with the Land of Israel Network we also have a lot of great sponsors or good friends at the Janklow Network the Janklow jangled net informational superhighway of what's happening here in Israel we can navigate Israel without it our good friends at Jay brick-making Jewish LEGO pieces for your office so that you could you know play with something while thinking about those big dreams that you have about moving to the Land of Israel and building the temple so go to Jay brick calm get yourself a nice little Jewish Lego set or for your kid and our good friends at heparin hammer on fund we have a humongous unbelievable Shabbat coming up folks Shabbat hi sera there's a VIP thing that you could get through the hammer on fund you will fly in for the weekend you'll come to hammer on and be part of it it's going to supercharge you for the rest of the I could say with and I say this with as I you know with with full confidence there's like to Shabbat star in the year to date certainly or if you get part of it you fly in for that you're gonna be supercharged for the rest of the year obviously the the what the three you know big pilgrimage holidays but other than those High star and of course lag of Omer you come into those two Eric's Easter out you're gonna be you're gonna be like it's gonna it's kind of juice you for the rest of the year anybody else rabbi Mike who else other sponsors skillet that's a little organization I was just checking if you remembered that's right toilet dollars that's right find the blue the the blue car the blue string true blue Jews you said Reverend Mike and I'm very proud to have the Nike contract with with the good folks at the pilot I I live it I breathe it I see rabbi Mike is wearing it and sporting it can I tell you something you're like such the I've used to have you thought honestly now seriously with no joke have you felt a change since you put on toilet as a you da Vinci dish my I know you're I do but you're into prayers as a thing when you when you look down at your teats eat when it says a kind of oh yeah for sure it's it's a much more visceral experience yeah it really is it really is also I want to say another not exactly sponsor but related part of the show is your show which is called the Jewish story and that I happen to listen to it last week I try to catch it every week but this past week was particularly interesting to me because I am personally very fascinated with the period of the 1550s and with the confluence of these great people that all came to the spot the Golden Age spot right yeah and you you did a show about reveals of Karo mm-hmm I knew most of the facts but there were a few things that I didn't know for example you talked about how the Chicano rule was actually a kind of cliffnotes yeah I mean he wrote it at the end of his life and there are many scholars who look and say that he never intended it to be definitive but rather as a study guide so to speak for his real work which was the biggest thing I didn't know that part so that was that was really cool and I'm really much looking forward to this week's show which is gonna be about the Rizzo yes the Mormons side of what was happening in spot right but you also did point out the reviews of karo who's the known as the macabre the great I wouldn't have a comic hammer in English the great author the great author sure of he's just called the author you cannot love Judaism you gotta love Judaism that hey you get these titles some people are called like there's only a few people go Rebbe you know Rebbe that's you know you know nazi right and then you have you know the rabbit that's the lavash or ever you know who the river is right and then you have you know you have all these different titles like and some people have no title like hello like that everybody knows that's him there's all these great names you get in or people named after great books well that's that's there's a shift actually in the Mahabharata win that shift begins before him it's people titles like the Rambam they're on the rash but people in the rashon him the early medical authorities didn't get the name of their books it's it's the acronym who become oh he's the Shahana he's the you know the time is the brewer when you and when you do your show you really get to feel like you're shaking these people's hands to me the reason I'm so fascinated by that particular segment that you're covering right now first thing you pointed out in your show that it's a great transition of time on many levels including you know between be shown a macaroni man and also the the issue of modernity or early modernity and the printing press that whole business and that that big change but to me and I'm very feel very strong about this this is the beginnings of Zionism of I'm talking about this third return design in my mind do you ever did you ever see that movie Pirates of the Caribbean sure a long time okay nothing to talk about here but there's this part where the coin there's kind of whatever at least this this treasured coin falls into the water and it sends out like a ping it sends out a ping and you see this like wave reverberates to the horizon yeah and you mentioned that you said something you said it you said it right at the very end of your show that you were story on this network you said the the the aerosols he sent some kind of shockwave some kind of a verb raishin through time yes and I really feel that there was a ping that went out to the world and it was the confluence of these many good people but especially the ariza in reviews of car together at the same time in spot under the Turkish mandate under the Turkish sovereignty of the Land of Israel and it just sent out a signal that said come home we're in the time of ingathering I mean it's an amazing thing I don't know how far you want to go with it but there's a very important shift that happens in the person in the air ezel you know join me great 20th century bridge historian not a big fan of the Jew not a big fan of the Jews nor did he understand us because in his masterful study is called the study of history he calls us a fossilized people because Toynbee one of his most important observations is he said a civilization can actually already have crossed from rising to falling even though it continues to grow Americans by the way listen up right because if the difference becomes in his mind whether you worship your ancestors or your pioneers so for most of our history most last 2,000 years we've been looking backwards and the ariza represents that moment where he returns his own divine experience to a central legitimate source of authority and is that turning point were allowed were we able even to turn our eyes forward if you think about what the Zionists did in a brutal fashion was they cut off the past and they said we're done with that moving forward and suddenly you have a culture at a state an empire if you will the fifth kingdom as something like to call it my fifth because there are four kingdoms in the vision of Daniel oh yeah yeah and you mean empires that we kind of know but we are meant to because the fifth kingdom will last forever in the vision of Daniel mm-hmm right and that's a longer discussion we can have in another time but my point is certainly the third Commonwealth third Commonwealth of Ami's are what the kingdom of the world right they ate the ariza represents that moment of transition from from backward-looking to lookin God in the face as it were in the present which opens up the future and that's really the power in my mind of what happened spot and it was really only possible together with the macabre the other was someone who who did all that work to bring the past into a solid foundation which he could build so that ping that you're hearing which we live in today we really live in today because I agree with you 100% that it was the beginning of the return at that point was he's opening up the possibility that our experience of God in the world today could be a legitimate source of guidance for where we're trying to go moving forward if you agree with that rubric you might agree with the next step which i think is a bit of a jump really the Jewish people were actually exiled around the Year 500 here in the Land of Israel is when really like because the Jews remember after the destruction of the temple are still around the mission is completed afterwards they move north it but they're still around but basically I started thinking to myself the Exile really lasted about a thousand years the true core exiled I put a little earlier in 500 we can debate that later okay but like but like it's 1,000 years of Exile right it's a nice number for us but you are correct yeah any great theories on where and we're definitely living in this time were there resolves energy and his you know great students that come after him the Baal Shem Tov the the gerado gonna Vilna and the Orihime a Kadosh they all have two things in common the study of the cup a lot in the return to Zion means received they have what they received in the past and the return design is a vision of where they're trying to head and their ability to embody that in the presence is what made them such powerful charismatic leaders I want to say hi to two folks that listen all the time first thing one of my great rabbis who taught me so much Torah in the continual inter from him is rabbi Aaron Ziegler do you know how by Sigler by any chance I do not he gives Sumika he's a fantastic fantastic teacher also lectures a lot at the owe you and over the holidays it has a fantastic Cole Cole Cole Fame and he gives me honey's fantastic teacher and he's he's a devout listener to the show he writes me an email every week and and I learned so much from him got my stuff from him and and I really appreciate him so much Aaron Sigler rabbi Aaron Ziegler is fantastic here in your shall I made on the off course so god bless him and I also want to say had a good friend of mine Jake Bennett out in air who listens to show and there's a lot of great Arizona folks Jake is one of them I didn't know that he listens to the show we were talking this week he told me that he listens every week so I want to say hi to those two fabulous people we're doing great work Jake is fighting for Israel on so many different levels and people like him who are not here are sometimes just emissaries of God to be fighting for for Israel wherever they are I mean anyway I want to say you're doing great job in your show and I'm really looking forward to this week's installment you know to me it's very important to understand this period because I also think that it leads to the first Ali oat and the first Ali owed are really religious Elliot and Naima gracious to Land of Israel and there's it's not called the first alia no but they called it that you Shu how you shun no there's no question that it was God that called us back before sort of European romantic nationalism fired up in the masses right I do wanna make an invitation to people to go to my facebook page I'm I'm looking for folks to help me make history right at the time and the effort yeah it always involves money so if you want to be a patron you can go to my facebook page Rob Mike at Facebook and you can see you at the top a list there a very easy button to push for patreon.com absolutely that's great and in general uh folks you know pony up be part of the story your money is not just your money I was sitting with somebody the other day who was I sitting with and I had to explain to him that like money is not dirty money is a good thing with the tool for doing in the world so the question is what type of person are you right but but but some people who are raised in a more you know literary and humanistic fashion not in the business world they think of money is something like sorted sorted right and I'm just like no dude no not at all he's like well how should I approach this person I said with clarity with honest to tell him that you need your is help and he's gonna be excited because he wants to be part of your starring part of your story in any case a folks be part of the story be part of the Jewish story in the Land of Israel Network and of course they flash a show to help support this show go to a flashier calm and I saw my friends the McHale family were here from Switzerland who always me and thank you so much for for your you know continued support over the years and all the good friends out there thank thank you so much for being part of story keep being part of the story got in little into the car today on the way over here it's been it's been what what is what is the word of our time the word of our time is used to be called frazzled or fragmented or you had to do a defrag today they have a different word frenetic frenetic is that a correct word netic frenetic that's like that's the jumbled crazy world that we live in yeah driving out of a fried I told you I saw the Temple Mount but I picked up an 81 year old Jew named Eliyahu he proceeded to tell me the story of his life Moroccan Jew and he told me about how his first wife died he married a second wife a second wife wanted a divorce he divorced her then she called them and she wanted him to get back together and he said okay they got back together and they bought apartments and he told me this whole story and inside he weaved so many blessings to me to have a you know new life and all this I really felt like Italy I came and gave me a lot of blessings in the in the Moroccan you know Israeli fashion so so there's there's but still the life is very frenetic and this to our portion is a bit frenetic as well in the sense that two themes that we heard last week are going to come back to us again and then at the end of the store portion we're gonna see some revolutions in this Torah portion I think we're gonna see two big we revolutions let's call two huge revolutions well three big revolutions one revolution is gonna be that there's gonna be a revolution in the sense that Sodom is gonna be flipped that is a revolution yeah but before then is there's gonna be an argument between man and God Abraham is gonna go to bat for the first liberal Jew by the way the I'm sure of it Abraham the first liberal Jew let's call him the First Universalist whatever you know it was a difference okay you know you know fine he okay maybe he's the first progressive whatever you want to call him okay but the bottom line you know what I'm talking about he goes to bat for the bad guys okay he says don't put him in jail put color called rehabilitation he's he say are they anti opera home right it's not just that he goes to bed it's a setup let's just clarify and I'm gonna let you get into it we're talking about the we're gonna have to go fast through this port or portion the first thing is is that that god is once again going to send angels he's gonna once again tell Abraham that guess what you're gonna have a son his name is gonna be it's like and this time it's going to be Sarah that laughs remember last week Abraham left this time Sarah laughs but this time slightly different tone slightly different tones seemingly God says to Abraham you know Sarah laughed saying and this is so awesome because we hear what Sarah says in her heart the Torah tells us you know I have become all I've become my skin has become withered will I once again be young and my master ie a brand new bri hem why did she say that she got old he didn't tell her left out the other half right he left out the other half the Kamara says this is a proof that sometimes you can bend the truth for shell and bias some people just remember this there are three gates that everything that comes in your mouth has to pass through right is it true is it necessary and is it kind right if it doesn't pass those qualifiers don't say it right in general by the way we need a ticket for the mouth we needed secret for what goes in no yeah and what comes out and that's that big stuff any case is so so that's the the first part of the story then we're gonna learn that God wants to destroy Sodom Sodom nearby here really really a few claps I live I live quite close you live quite close to Sodom and it was one time like a very green place until God flipped it sent down the destruction the kind of which hadn't been seen since the model since the since the local but quite intensive right yeah very intensive a big deluge and in Abraham God tells Abraham he kind of informs him what's going on well and that's actually where I wanted to start it's a phenomenal event in the Torah when God turns to the reader and draws you into the narrative right this line Pacha mama Hasani mama ma chere Nilsa am I going to hide from Avraham that which I'm about to do and he goes on explains but the question is we got who are you talking to the only answer there could be is the reader and when you're learning you need to pay close attention anytime the Torah turns directly to you as reader and invites you into what's happening it means you must not miss what is about to come because what's about to come is truly revolution as you said right that when Avraham who you know on the surface of it when God says I'm going to destroy Saddam what Tom say oh it's your world boss not only that but yeah I'll go down like they are the anti-prom the Midrash makes it very clear that their great sin was that they not only rejected guests but that they that they they abuse them that torture and we'll get an actual will get a glimpse into it the Torah will give us a you know we'll zoom right over there and we'll be we'll be privy to what they do and basically they are sodomized errs they are they are rapists yes and and when they found out that there's guests in the town little do they know that these guests were laser-powered angels right who are gonna thank you I mean let's not go there yet right because what's the first revolution the first revolution is that God says to Abraham I'm gonna destroy the city and and Abraham gets into a long and detailed discourse dialog shall we say even argument negotiation our advocacy advocacy basically goes to advocate for for these sodomites according on will say it certainly my rabbitov daniel has told me many times and I've seen hints of it in in Islamic adoshem as we say the holy books that this is the first actual prayer in the entire Torah that everything up till now everything that no off might have done everything that Adam might have done when kind says to God Wow like it's really too hard for you to bear my sin that was something else it was pleading it was asking you know by the way you know how does a dog bark in he in in Israel what a dogs have right so it's important to know that Israeli dogs don't bark in Hebrew they in Aramaic uh-huh right because have an aramaic means gimme gimme gimme so the sages tell us that that up until now all the pairs of the of the of the Bible had been like dogs barking and a lot of us unfortunately pray that way give me give me give me Avraham is the first person to step the god and say know that the world doesn't need to be like that not only that I show fat klutz oh yes any Shabbat he says the judge of all the land isn't going to do justice God I know you better than that says out huh you can do better you can do better than this he demands that the world be better than it is better than God's expressed will it's there of the two big revolutions of this like inter-human at the I vow the the God human relationship which we'll learn about in this week's Torah portion this one is just the what did the camera say just the other day and did I feel me puts / clapface my Mahon yet even even as a certain bit of hutzpah certain bit of well you know what if I have to translate clips but then don't listen to the show okay no okay every juice every Gentile in New York City knows what hurts plays okay yeah watch Seinfeld you know what what's present anyway yeah so so so certain this this is the ultimate hot spot towards gun I can't and that's one of the phrases in the Bible which I'm always like I like do a lump swallow in my throat one got one when Abraham says shouldn't the judge of all the land do justice or the judge of the land will shall not do justice question why it's like it's like it's like sardonic a little bit it's like and yet all of creation up to this point has been heading for this moment for this moment because otherwise why make up the world right I mean if you go right back to the biggest question of all why make the world if you can't well more I think more fairly why make right well so might make the world why make a welding at all because because you had to make to make the world you have to give free choice or else or else you didn't need to make the world everybody's following your things it's a red herring this whole free choice thing it's a red herring because everyone getting too much with it but but but you know you didn't choose your race you didn't choose but wrote but don't choose it's all about relationship and in a real relationship there has to be other and it's true free choice is a an expression of that other Ness but the core issue is that there is other and you know what you know who else says to us I shuffle ours asme spot the judge of all the earth shouldn't do justice you know who else says to us I know you better than that the people that we really love think about it your spouse your friends the people you're close to are the ones who look at you when you're acting a certain way and they say no it's not you you see what do you mean it's not me but ya know it's absolutely me right now no no no it's actually not you I know you and that's why God parentheses the whole episode here I thing I miss my sad name album I'm gonna cover this up no he's hinting to the reader pay attention I want you to know what life is about life is not about a passive obedience God says I created the trees I created the dogs I created the crickets I created all that they're all very nice and sweet and kind and very passive and then I created humanity now we've seen Stone what happens when humanity just takes it's active nature and goes astray well that gets destroyed so cuz I'm not afraid to do that either but what I really want is someone who will be an active partner with me in creation and following on the circumcision roms active completion of himself that we saw last week this is its expression because now he is so much himself he will step to God and say no this is not the way we run the world all right so so so there is a fight here let's off whatever let's put it this way he's he's demanding of God even more yes isn't fine exactly and yet we're gonna deal with two cases within this Torah portion where that is challenged I'll explain what I mean the first is now Isaac is going to be born in this week's Torah portion dunt dunt on that by the way is also revolution yes that's also a revolution the fact that God intervened in this world made such a miracle happened Isaac is born and when Isaac is born that really is continuity for Abraham that and that's what that's what's the last the the last week's Torah portion I click on the big question mark is there continuity for Abraham and in the end of this week's Torah portion the answer will be yes there is continuity today pray not the way you thought well I'm saying at the very very end or last week's for this week's at the end at the end of this week's Torah portion we're gonna it's gonna be like and there is a daughter yeah how they are to marry Isaac there is continuity for Abraham we'll get to that in a second but before we go to that abraham stands up in his in his let's call it his season he's known as the man of kindness he should I said yet he is going to face a moment where his head is and this is like this is where I'm putting that liberal conservative kind of argumentation tonight and you know it doesn't fit it's anachronistic but still he he at some point after Isaac is born Sarah recognizes hey this Ishmael it's not good to keep Ishmael around with Isaac Isaac is Dean does the true inheritor and I have to separate them okay it's got they need some distance from one another I need Ishmael to leave and she says you got a kick out of Shamal in his and his mom you got to kick them out of this household it's just not gonna work together well it needs separations like meat and milk you know they both have their place but neat separation I need my son to inherit properly here and and Abraham coming from that place of kindness is unable to make that parsh that cut that cut that harsh cut and God says to him everything that Sarah told you schmuck hola listen to her voice in my explanation always is he doesn't command him to kick Ishmael and in hug our out he says your wife actually saw it he didn't need a godly commandment you don't need a prophecy she saw it with her fleshly eyes by the way she is a prophetess but in any case she saw what's right and you sir you missed it you missed it Abraham you missed it she saw it with her regular eyes and that's why I want you to listen to her I mean part of this is also the fact that Abraham will never be able to raise you talk to whom he needs to be if he doesn't listen to his wife meaning it's a message for what it is to be a parent is that it's not about being right it's about be together mm-hmm right and there's a very important sort of very simple element of their relationship in this is that you might think on the surface of it Abraham is everything and so is his wife he's also got hug ah he's also got a mistake that's not the way you talk we'll come into the world that's a great point that you're making that I want to by the way talk just for a second tiny parenthesis tell you that in Hebrew as an English you could say father's and that includes fathers and mothers the the male form in language can be encompassing of the female as well yeah it is the the gender-neutral right and so you can say in Hebrew Hebron is the city of the forefathers or in Hebrew Aloha votes but I've been saying to people even though that is true linguistically it's not enough today today we have to say vote the emote the city of the fathers and the mothers had the ghee should sit like give it an emphasis make it clear make it clear because that the women are very much part of the story and so even though you has come around to that perspective yeah the Abraham's kindness in a sense is a what I want to find here it's like - it needs to be a little bit reined in Ted well because his kindness it Abraham is easy has said right and it's truly translated as as kindness or loving kindness but remember that the core meaning of acid is its boundless right and and therefore there's a very important element where it needs to be bounded as and and now I'm gonna jump I'm gonna skip over the whole Sodom story which is one of the more intriguing stories in the Torah I'm fairly well known and fairly well known it will get we'll get back to it I hope on the show today and also it's uh very graphic oh yeah just you know what I'll talk about that in a second but I want to skip now because we're on one theme here which is these themes of the revolutions of Abraham's the Abrahamic revolutions we could call them really you say you want a revolution right and and the revolution here is the first one I think is the birth of Isaac the first revolution is Abraham you know just a fact that there is an Abraham and I mean it's expression in that argument with God that's it right gonna go they knew it in the birth of yet Scott right and then oh here we go the the big bump of them all in the big the big the big challenging kind of story of the Torah is the story of the binds is so essential the binding the akkada their kiddies got its own name like the story the story's got his name it's that word the akkada does you know it doesn't say and now begin the story of the akkada that's a word that the name that we give it because it's such a central story it's it's it's like it's like just a paragraph long but that story has its own name the akkada hawk it down in many ways that the centerpiece of the bible right right and it's certainly the pillar of faith for the Jewish people and and basically the same man that argues for the rights of the of the wicked the members of Sodom he the same man who who prayed so much we learned and really gave other options for his own continuity whether it be Eliezer or Ishmael gets the real continuity through Isaac and this man is a man who has fought against idolatry throughout his life including the idolatry especially of child sacrifice suddenly gets the commandment guess what Abraham I want you to go sacrifice or offer up your son at this special place the the land of Moria okay and he gives them the second LexA there's a second life in this world there's two left with us the first LexA is like going to the land and sanctify the land now I want you to go up to within the land I want you to go up to this holy mountain right and go left left Hut to the air it's to the land of Moria there I want you to offer up your son and here we have the famous three days of silence where where Abraham is walking and he is contemplating and this is also made famous by a non-jewish a scholar [ __ ] guard who talks about these like three days of what's going through Abraham's book on it right it's fear and trembling a very powerful work before we get into it I do want us to say it's very important in context of ever discussed in the akkada that our sage is place the akkada at the beginning of the para service in the morning meaning any conversation that we have about this I think needs to be in the context of returning to it every single day this is not a story that one gets make up that they just understand it and like oh I've got I know what that means it's a story that changes through one's light it's a story that is meant to actually change you through your life it is a fixed point around which so much of our consciousness revolves and returns again and again mm-hmm and in the end of the day master I believe this stories about because if the first revolution new names really birthed Avraham into the world as he was meant to be he finally had that hood spot that that sense of fullness of self mm-hmm that allowed him to stand up and look at God his explicit command say no that's not the way not the way it's he doesn't say it's not the way it's meant to be not that you want to be the next phase is actually birthing a new face of God into the world it's a very important process of the kid which has nothing to do with our I mean let's everything to do with God you know there's a very critical piece that the English reader may miss and that's why I want to actually bring this out and then I'll I'll bounce it back to you is that that when it says when the text says the a funny dream I a there well you him me side around it was after these things that God tested Abraham that word Elohim is a very particular name of God but in that critical moment when God stops Abraham it's a different name God up until then it's been a know him and then in that moment it's javea it's the four-letter name of God and there is a revolution so it starts with the judgment type name the the or the laws of nature type name look with God is bounded by human existence okay meaning I mean God is speaking down ROM so there's something coming from outside but the word Elohim is that means all the powers of the world right and one of the greatness of that word can be even used interchangeably with judges would you think about judges are another power of the world right and one of the geniuses of Israel a human the human the the the the sovereignty that's granted over to humanity right judging life and death right and and one of the geniuses of Israelite tradition is we recognized that though one can experience the powers of the world as diverse they have one source so that's why that name is actually plural but it's referring to singular mm-hmm whereas what happens when a firm is faced with a situation where his experience is out reaching overreaching his understanding his understanding of the world is based in Elohim he gets the world God is speaking to him and then God says by the way you talk he's gonna be your future now take him up on that mountain that doesn't work together in the world as he knows it and yet he moves forward but that's what Kierkegaard by the way calls the absurd because he was like the extension type but it's not absurd it's mom's acceptance of the fact that if you live in a world which is always bounded by your understanding then your God will be an idol because you must reduce God to your world and even if God is because you own him through because if you don't understand and you reject that as something which is not real that means you shrink the world to your understanding that means tricking God as well right but it also doesn't mean a blindness of then saying well whatever God tells me must be true the struggle must have been Titanic and in his ability to move forward and to allow his experience to drive him and not his understanding he bursts a completely new understanding of it to the world well let's let's let's try to do let's try to let's try to drill down on that but at the same time without going you know to too deep I'd like what's the what's the simple essential message here because a lot of the the lot of folks what they find to be very troubling is that and there are even Jewish not not in the traditional kind of world but you know Jewish thinkers about the Bible who sometimes say here is this big mistake of course we don't read all the test might fail the test and he should have said absolutely not but what what and I think those are those people are wrong and also textually wrong because you see that God does not say that but the question that they levia level is where's your arguments now Abraham yeah where's your where's your where's your where's your sense of morality with which you judge God at least where's your like at least throw out a question mark feel like did I hear you're right is it right that I just get heatstroke it's the desert out here you know think he cited I think he said sacrifice your son but couldn't have meant that and it's very important by the way that he says versus what is the silence he says cough nah that says cough noises please please right please stickers it's not a command right it's a request and in many ways that's what makes it different than when it happens that still write them God gives a command and Abraham says no way you know we're not gonna do it like that I know you better than that here God is asking abiram to be something other than he's ever been so I'm honestly I want to say two things about that one thing is I've mentioned a few times in the show now is that this this past year I went to Auschwitz for the first time in my life and or first time in this version of life right and I was I was in Auschwitz with shmuly Patel I don't know why but I gotta tell you that what that that made a big imprint on my mind and we walked and walked through Birkenau it's my feet were so tired I was mama he like schmuely he like he like he like he what's the word I'm looking for like he totally finished me off physically that day you know and there was something of an of dude like a like a slavery that I felt Bend that day and it's somehow just fit I didn't even realize until afterwards and I heard I saw for the first time a gas chamber because there's one that's actually extent the rest were destroyed in various ways including the famous Jewish revolt at Birkenau but you know I saw one of those gas chambers where there's a gas chamber and then there's a and then there's a crematorium yeah they're related things kill him and then get rid of the evidence yeah and I heard it you know I heard the akkada I heard the the call of the Jews saying we're going in and we're going to die we're going to offer ourselves up on some kind of altar here but the story will go on and and and that and that we you know if father Abraham almost finished off his progeny and in at the end we were saved and so to our souls will be saved and it was just like this thing here's what I'm trying to say there's an element of self-sacrifice as a Jew II absolutely and what it is is it yet it's a dedication to life where my embodied life is a tool of my dedication to life but it's not the sum total right what get stock represents is is if you reverse the letters of his name Cates high the edges of life right what gets [ __ ] in the image of Yitzhak when you pray needs to be fire right the it stock is that fire that sense that when I look at the world I see all these specific things you know what the power of we're sitting in this room with Lou you know with tables and chairs and boxes you know every single thing in this room will burn yeah because there's an energy which they share that transcends their individual form and yet Scott is the embodiment of a dedication to life which transcends embodied form and when Abram was tested but God was saying to him is listen you begged and pleaded to me for continuity because you're dedicated to life you are each facet you are the person of boundless love and commitment but I want to see do you really understand what life is because if this becomes a worship of yourself and your particular form and your ability to hand on to your children then you are a night out or you will stay in that world of Elohim of the boundedness and you will never really be able to bring the shame of laia into the world notice by the way when the atok says hey dad he I see the wood I see the fire where is the sacrifice I notice he doesn't mention the knife he says he says where's the lamb Avram says Elohim yet right God sees what does he realize what I meant God will show him your lolol he'll heal himself you're the two shows to play between show then the whole life dog lifetime's working and anybody out there wants to join us at partes in my class on Mondays and Wednesdays we're gonna get into this in a very big way it takes a lot of time but the the between seeing in is very big but he basically says God sees but God has him what does he renamed the place you're a chamois red right that they have and that becomes part of the word you Rachelle a becomes what you sh lime is is that there's a way in which Abraham used to relate to the javea to the sense of God that transcends all boundary that you have to have a loss of self because God is the infinite means that I can't exist right and he has a realization that God is the infinite means that I can exist and sees me and ultimately that I will see God mixed into this whole story is also the birth of the temple and this at this very spot great Talmudic phrase leo dooley he wrote where you come to the three festivals you come to see and be seen absolutely both by others and by God Rudi's in that story of the binding right and right after the binding you know famously he will not be sacrificed oh and I have to I have to mention here something that Jonathan Sacks Jonathan Sacks you know not a trivial person at all not by Lord dr. rabbi Lord dr. Jonathan Sacks great ties he said and a lot of super smart books but he said something about the akkada which I found to be at least a great little chunk that you could chew on and he says basically he was arguing with some atheist or some famous atheist and basically they got into the topic of their kada and and basically you know the guy accused God the the the other day would accuse god of of you know wanting child sacrifice and then and then and then Jonathan sex is no the acade is exactly the opposite in those times everybody every god every if you were serious God you wanted a child sacrifice and what God said through this act is I do not want that I do not want that like this is a story to tell you know do not see I kind of lured you in and then I was like no I don't want that at all in many ways the greatness of our home in that moment was his ability not to do it right and and and and the Talmud goes on and it says can I at least Nik draw a little blood we are hearing in that is his transformation fully from the roots of idolatry into the true worship of God this is his moment of freedom right this is the moment in which his consciousness is birth on the level that we are still sitting here talking about that story now because if he had stayed in the world of Elohim of the god of nature the god which is bounded by our experience then we would not be having this conversation now and the akkada is the turning point so the akkada The Binding is really the Abrahamic revolution the continuing survival and also in a sense the rebirth of Isaac since the the the Kabbalistic literature says that he actually gave his soul the soul left his body got kind of kind of pushed back in also Midrash says the Abrams slaughtered him and burned his body in his ashes the rest before God forever that's right so there's a kind of there's there's like death and life all mixed in there but it's definitely and that's why as you said earlier rabbi Mike Feuer that it's it's kind of a study a life study a returning text daily daily and in so and and the temple was born the temple is born without without it being said so exactly the Temple Mount the temple was born and that that great service for the future is is there any present there did you see this is the same thing I get this for my students here all the time speak of liberals and progressives and say why this place wasn't that idolatrous right we have a place they say them listen if you're everywhere you're nowhere the fact that having a place if you've undermined everything you've underlined nothing yes exactly they go with that's an excellent example yes you go through a book and you underline everything that's important you've got the same book you've learned nothing right right the power of the temple is that place matters but not to the exclusion of other but to the emphasis my God loves one people doesn't teachers he loves them to the exclusion of others teaches us that he couldn't love at all love his intimate intimacy is about commitment to you and not someone else this place is about the fact that we can connect to God in this world at all and that is absolutely boring at the akkada right and it's in its [Music] there's a point there's a meeting point between heaven and earth if there's no meeting point if there's no everywhere there's no relationship exactly relationship always happens in this specific okay so now let's go to the we just dealt with the equator that's the end of the Torah portion let us know by the way if I didn't say we're in the Torah portion of ie era what chapters is that around or ends in twenty-two lanza 22 and beforehand there's a book of Genesis book of very sheet and there's a sister story here also has violence because you could you could say that the the akkada is violent or almost violent you know and and through that is kind of learnt out something else but and and and we basically gave birth to the masonic period in terms of the temples and replacements there's a sister story here I think which is the story of Sodom and basically you have here lope he went down to to live in Sodom and Gomorrah which were obviously very successful places very wealthy places very very lush places Jose the good life they chose the good life but but they also had a very chronic there was a true breakdown of morality there they were rotten to the core it was rotten to the core in Rome at the height of its wealth you know it seems to me even more than that it seems to me that it was it was corrupt in a in even a loveless way it was like it was like kind of like where where it was it was a it was much more like a kind of you know the worst places that you can imagine where power was absolutely corrupted where people's where people were not valued the humanity of individuals are not valued I mean in that way you are corrected it is the inverse of the akkada story it was the debasement of life right is that the individual in stone was just an object as opposed to the individual being a specific point of meeting for the infinite and so therefore that's why stone was characterized by literally using people as objects right and buddy-buddy but against their will and the violence that's my object there's an object has no will right what I mean that's right if I have a subject object relationship I'm the one that matters you're just an object of my desire right you know because there's there's a difference like laughs deal but you know for example the story of like Weinstein Harvey Weinstein right now just engineers I happen to be very interested in that story cuz I feel like it's also a Jewish story did we talk about that when you think back we spoke like and I'm actually heading out to Los Angeles in two weeks and I'm I'm just kind of curious to see where it's at there because you know I think that that that we all know that a place like Hollywood is a place of licentiousness objectification an abscessed occasion but but it's kind of like but but one thing you could say about is that generally speaking you'd like to think that it's a consensual thing but when you have an objectification is never consensual or it is because an object has no will you can understand what you might be willing to go into becoming an object you might be willing to do that okay we don't be but the point is is that is that there's but but but it can but it can but it goes but you're right in the sense that it regresses from there oh yeah you know I mean and that's what Weinstein is one scene is is and by the way if you've watched some of the wines - movies they're fabulous some of the movies that he's chasing I don't know any men you know some of my favorite movies that's what that's what bothers me also because I don't have so many favorite moves in the ones that are happened to be under this under this production house for example a lady in gold which is about which is about I've done many interviews on this on this movie about about art restitution the famous Klimt restitution of the Austrians great movie and also another one of my personal favorite movies which is the King's Speech okay that's great stuff and you see the genius the creative genius and how it devolves how how absolute power kind of becomes corrupted and and money and all that it just becomes like and then when you hear these stories about what was going on you're like this isn't even human that he was a predator yes yes he was a predator but I think that there's when you say that here's me being liberal to this guy I think there's also I think there's a sickness yeah a lot but but but I think he was a predator on I think he was being I think he had succumbed to to the most you know executed yeah right became totally became like you we Nielsen story is really it's been lost all sense of Selam aleykum listen there's a deep question in between the creative and that desire and also by the way the the pain that you feel around like do i watches movies anymore do it like it it's not necessarily the time or place to discuss it but but there are many people whose contributions to thought our experience have been rich and powerful and when you scrape even the surface off their personal life you say oh my father for example would never never bought German products never listen to vogner and he was also very sensitive hewed be like that's that's them he would be able to point out that that's your influence he was very good at that you know I could listen to Tabasco or Beethoven not since any kind of German influence but he was very he was very sensitive to their to their to their influence anyway that is that is an interesting question about art that we're talking about any case let's get back just a second to Sodom basically basically Sodom is this place where like you know these these days like and it's speaking of Hollywood here's it we here's a real Hollywood version of things you know what two angels come down there you know and they're like okay we're gonna sit we're gonna clean this place out what we're for boys and kids get out of town right oh you know I had another visual thought about that you know there is a visual image of mrs. lote right and mrs. lote she's being whisked out of town everything about Lodi doesn't want to get pulled out of this thing he's beat my man right he is he is delaying what would they really have to go what is this what is this forget with that there's a cancellation mark which makes you say it's in a very long way and he gets he gets like he's pulled in he stasek don't look back now don't look back and misses load she looks back becomes a pillar of salt yeah cuz she looked back at Nordstrom and she was like Nordstrom super target no to me right you go downtown to Manhattan you see that golden Merrill Lynch bull and the the quintessential opposite of that is mrs. Potiphar's salt pillar right the quintessential opposite like visual thing that's supposed to represent you don't go there man don't go there why do you why don't you become a pillar of salt early and so that you know that there's this thing that's what should be downtown in Manhattan a big pillar of salt representation and they keep ill keep you on the straight and narrow I mean it's it's a very powerful reminder that that God's grace does exist in the world right that God does pull us out of these situations of of stone but if you get that grace the most important thing to do is don't look back don't don't regret it may have been great it may have been a lot of fun but live your life looking forward and they'll get pulled back in don't get pulled back into that thing way after the danger yam just when I thought I was out they pulled me back in right that's funny that's from the Godfather yeah anyway mrs. load goes down Sodom goes down gets flipped we hear echoes of that in the story of Jonah 40 days from now this town's gonna be flipped you know people like oh my god they mean business where you know that phrase we know that phrase in this town is brimstone right it becomes right it literally becomes a fire principal Holmstrom right right exactly but the last part of the story is that load is saved with his two daughters as two daughters are the ones that make it alive and guess what they think they think the world's been destroyed they think the world's been destroyed and now it's their job to repopulate the world and they're in a cave and guess what there's a bottle of wine there look at that a number of them apparently look at that would you quit can you believe that there's a bottle of wine in here well that's gonna be good because what we're gonna do is we're gonna we're gonna ply and it is an English great that it hasn't word like that ply I don't think there's a word like that you know in in in in Hebrew that specifically to get somebody drunk to I'm gonna apply our Father with wine we're gonna that we're gonna have relations with them and thereby repopulate the world thereby they do create and that indeed does happen they're create two nations I'm on and morph who are going to be the enemies of the Jewish people so well you know the lote and his offspring in the end and being being end up though protected by God kind of at the time of the Jewish people's are conquering the Land of Israel they become enemies they become so far the the distance between Abraham and load is so far that his that his ancestry of load becomes the enemies of the Jewish people and yet and yet and yet within that there's going to be a Moabite princess who's going to make her way back following a poor broken old lady named the O me and she's gonna come back to Bethlehem she's gonna marry she's gonna convert and marry into the Judean dynasty the dynasty of Judah the tribe of Judah and and through that is going to be birthed the seed of of King David and later on Messiah mushiya so so in this dark Sodom flipped upside down in a dark cave with incest is gonna be born the enemies of the Jewish people and so to the Messiah of the world I mean this is one of the great mysteries of the narrative of the Torah and also of course one of the great mysteries of the narrative of Messiah of Messiah in the world and to two things that I'm not gonna solve the problem but there's two things to always remember when you're looking first Redemption and they both come from this story first of all choose life that whatever we may say about the the the ugliness of the story of lot and his daughters it's driven as you said but that that that fear that life should not continue and that drive to choose life as a core drive of who we are as a people in the world and the other one is that the secret of Michelle is that God doesn't need us for the angelic and perfect side of creation God can have that so to speak without us we have is actually the messy broken dirty side of the human experience because we can uplift it and offer it to God and so that's the core message I think that comes out of this miss Jeff is that a that choosing life is what allows us to take that gross dark ugly side of life and lift it up and through that to bring Redemption I just I can think of I just feel like there's a Los Angeles or Hollywood Jew that's going to be disgusted by what's happening in Los Angeles and say to himself you know I don't want my kid to grow up and Sodom and Gomorrah I don't want him to do this and he's gonna make alia and that kid's gonna cure cancer his son you know or daughter Aubrey machine right bring me whatever it is I and I just mean to say in that like like there can be an anchor there can be an ah-ha moment here and also at the same time there's something that is beyond aha there's a lot beyond behind one of the things that really the Kabbalists say is that the seed of Messiah is so precious and so much is the hunger for the dark side to destroy it for Darth Vader to get this you know Luke Skywalker of Messiah that it needs to be hidden away it needs to be hidden away in the dark places where where where the dark forces are like it's definitely not here look there yeah we want to look there you know where's-where's mushiya Where's Waldo Kirby Darth Vader that kills the Emperor Luke very good friends all right folks there is so much in these Torah portions but really we talked about big revolutions in the birth of the temple and Messiah are hidden hidden in this Torah portion rabbi Mike for I want to thank you again for taking time to meet with me here at partes Institute I appreciate it so much thank you so much for being part of the show I flash your show always a pleasure a lot has come up here people should send us an email if they have some thoughts or questions that is a good point an email would be nice and I think I've been a bit recalcitrant at reading your emails out loud I will prepare that I have been moving for the past like year but but but certainly for the past few months don't slow down yeah so things are slowly starting to to settle yeah don't say it well settle for more right my life yeah my life wasn't Sodom and Gomorrah not in and not in the sodomizing sense but in the overturning the overturning sense and and by the way the Talmud I want to myself is it funny that licentiousness bread also a type of giant spa that was good for the body and I found that the Talmud says exactly that the helmet says exactly those things that led to a kind of destruction of the body and we're you know out of control led to a place where you go to to actually heal the body so that's today's Dead Sea and by the way the Land of Israel does not have the highest place in the world but it certainly has the lowest teaches you about the holiness of the Land of Israel and how deep we really are there you go all right so rabbi Mike for your email is rough Mike at the Land of Israel Network dum also your Facebook Facebook page facebook.com forward slash rough Mike mine is facebook.com forward slash ty Fleischer Yishai at the Land of Israel network.com send me an email if you were able I want you to send me an email that says I listened all the way to the end of the show and stood half of what you were done right I want I want you I want you to put in the subject line listen to the end that's all that's all I'm asking for here listen to the end ok small ye that's right right not the big end god bless you folks wherever you are thank you so much thanks to Ben brusky for editing the show thank you so much to man Amitha for taking care of everything thank you to my producer Moshe Herman who makes a lot of it happen and getting it out to two months to your mind networks a lot of folks out there are really part of the story thank you so much folks we got to ramp it up and take it to even the next level whatever we're doing we need to be broadcasting even more we need to be reaching out to one another even more lead to be talking about it even louder we need to be talking about it even crowded that's what we have to do right now the Dark Horse is one of out broadcast us we cannot let them we've gotta let the narrative the Jewish story and and war of zion.t her grounded over my design bra that's right god bless you folks wherever you are stay tuned stay strong