WEBVTT - The End of Genesis - Genesis 49:23-50:26 | Weekend Torah Teaching 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:07.360 Life audio in today's episode of Timeless Worst. 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:10.600 To God that Judaism introduced to the world exists, not 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:14.640 Aristotle's unmoved mover, but the God, the personal God of Judaism, 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.480 the judging God of Judaism, the merciful God of God 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.960 of Judaism, than there is an afterlife. To me, it 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:27.000 is impossible for a good God, a just God, to 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:30.000 have created a world with so much intrinsic injustice and 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:33.519 cruelty and not had a working of it out in 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:37.720 some afterlife. It is impossible for me to believe that 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.760 this world was created and the only reality is physical, 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.479 that the human being possesses no soul that outlives our 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:50.800 decrepit skin. It's just it's inconceivable to me on logical grounds. 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:57.200 I can entertain atheism intellectually, I cannot entertain belief in God, 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:03.240 but no afterlife. It's a God that is alien to Judaism. 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:04.960 But again, it's a tape you'll have to get, or 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:08.680 an article of mine you'll have to read. I'm about 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:10.759 to be gathered to my kid to bury me with 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:13.120 my fathers in the cave which is in the field 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:15.560 of Efhron. The Hittite, the cave, which is in the 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:19.920 field of Mathpela, remember where Abraham and Isaac and their 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:23.320 wives are buried facing Mamray in the land of Canan, 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:26.560 to feel that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:28.319 a burial site. How many of you have been with 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:33.240 me since chapter one? Oh, there actually are a twenty 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:37.080 or so. That's twenty, maybe a dozen six, no, no, no, 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:42.000 about fifteen of you. I'm very touched by that. Do 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.160 you recall how the Torah went out of its way, 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:49.120 almost hilariously, to say we bought the land. The Jews 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:53.200 bought the lad Here again it comes back at the 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:57.080 very end of Genesis. Let nobody say the Jews got 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:01.320 that land in any illegal way. So here it is again, 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.200 like it needs to be mentioned. The guy is dying, 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:08.800 you know, and even now he revites the one we 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:12.640 bought and from whom we bought it is mentioned. It 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:16.400 is so fascinating. The Torah is so sensitive to the 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:19.440 possibility that anyone would accuse the Jews of having that 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:25.240 area not totally fairly legally bought. So here it is again. 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.520 It got a kick out of it seeing it, you know, boys, 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:32.800 the one that Abraham bought from Efron the Hittite for 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:35.839 a burial site. There. Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There, 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.600 Isaac and his wife Rebecca were buried, and their eye 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.760 buried Leah. The field and the cave in it bought 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:45.320 from the Hittites. In case you missed, boys, when one 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.600 of you was talking while I spoke, is that funny? 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:50.639 I mean, you know when you're when you become aware 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:54.040 of it. It truly, it's comical. When Jacob finished his 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:57.760 instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into the 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:02.320 bed and breathing his laugh, he was gathered to his people. 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:05.560 It's very touching. The last chapter of Genesis is not 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.079 about Jacob. I mean, you know, he could have died 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.079 in the last chapter, but it's a way of saying, no. 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:15.760 The continuum is what happens with Joseph and the brothers. 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:20.560 The children of Israel takeover now, not Israel himself. He 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:24.120 dies in chapter forty nine. It's very touching that it 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:26.160 works that way. And so we go to the final 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:29.840 chapter in the Book of Genesis, chapter fifty. 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:35.680 That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Welcome 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:40.000 to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager here thousands of hours 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.360 of Dennis's lectures courses in classic radio programs. Had to 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:49.400 purchase Dennisprager's Rational Bibles go to Denisprager dot com tonight. 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:53.280 Incidentally, in keeping with there is a Jewish tradition that 0:03:53.360 --> 0:04:00.119 when you complete an arduous task in any of the 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:06.680 works Talmud or Torah or profits, you have a party. 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:11.920 It's called to see you. And I will introduce Alan's parents, 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:16.040 who very very very generously in from Salem, Oregon to 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.760 celebrate their son's fortieth, which is remarkable since they're both 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:30.040 fifty have have have decided to to share refreshments with us. 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.279 That even I brought many bags of Eminem's just in 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:38.120 case something had happened to the eestern plans. So we'll 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:42.039 have a little informality to celebrate. I really have you 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:44.120 have no idea for me personally, This is a very 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:47.400 big deal. Three years we've been doing this three years. 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:53.960 It is it is very huh say it again? Said then, 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:57.719 we only got that's right, three years and the efforts. Listen, 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:02.400 it took it took about two weeks or three weeks 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:05.800 to do chapter one, if I'm not mistaken, right, wasn't 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:13.080 it there quite some time? Yeah? Okay? Uh verse twenty three, Well, uh, 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.479 Laurie reminds me this is why. Yeah, yes, this is 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:23.960 why exactly. That's a very good point, shad uh y okay, yes, 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:32.520 that's right, I which is not common for me. Uh 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:35.320 uh oh yes, Uh what I s I spoke to you? 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:38.800 Uh was it two weeks ago? Uh? The context was 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:40.520 It's very important to me that you're not getting a 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:45.760 uh uh a MISSI mis apprehension of my own uh judaism. 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:48.440 Uh what was it exactly? I was discussing where kosher 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:54.320 came up. Do you remember, yeah? Or oh? Yeah? Alright. 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:56.599 Did you get the impression that I don't keep kosher? 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:57.120 Yeah? 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:00.839 No, you did get that, some of you did. Yeah. 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.320 I eat at non kosher restaurants, but I keep kosher. 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:05.560 I mean, I just wanted for the record in case 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.160 any you know, it seems to have I wasn't clear 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.960 about that, okay, So just wanted you to know for 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:15.080 the record. Okay, we're up to verse twenty three. It 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:19.440 is Jacob on his deathbed, literally on his deathbed, and 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:28.800 he is giving the suns the final blessings. Okay, twenty 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:32.599 three and as I said, I'm gonna go through this. Well, 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.840 we'll start with Joseph. SOO, right, is that what we're 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:39.240 up to? We did nineteen? We did God? I don't 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:43.520 remember doing God. I think you're wrong. Yes, I don't 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:48.360 think we did Dan either. Thirteen right? Thirteen You couldn't 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:51.520 you thought you were one? Was a two forty nine 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:56.919 thirteen Zevulun shall dwell by the seashore. He shall be 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:01.240 a haven for ships, and his flank shall rest on 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:10.440 sidon Is Sahar is a strong boned donkey. Listen, if 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.360 I read what they had here, you'd have laughed harder 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:16.960 as I mean. You know, it's not the sort of 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:19.160 thing we tend to say about our kids these days. 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.680 It's not considered a blessing to call your kid a donkey. 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:27.720 But you understand, obviously the animal imagery. Then, crouching among 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:30.080 the sheep folds, when he saw how good it was 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:33.560 security and how pleasant was the country, he bent his 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:37.680 shoulder to the burden and became a toiling surf. Only 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:39.400 I'm a few of these. Will I offer you some 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:45.080 comments In this regard, Sara writes, it would seem that 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:49.040 until the final overthrow of the Canaanite city states in 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:53.640 the time of Deborah, later on, the tribe that's Heisahar 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:57.440 had been content to perform corve labor, which is like 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:01.000 surf labor for the local overlord, in return for a 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:04.560 quiet existence. Remember what I told you about the blessings 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:07.600 of the tribes, of the children who became the tribes, 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:10.360 that this foretells the way they will be. Now you 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:12.600 even believe he was telling it in the future, or 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.080 it's written later and they put the words in his mouth. 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:17.560 You choose what you want, but it does describe the 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:21.880 reality of the tribes. Later on, Dan Dan shall govern 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:25.400 his people in Hebrew, there's a play on words done 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.120 in Hebrew, which is Dan In English. Dan comes from 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:35.800 this means judge to judge la dun is to judge, 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:39.640 And so Dan yadin Amo Dan will judge or govern 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:44.040 his people as one of the tribes of Israel. And 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:47.840 he writes SNA. These two verses may well be unconnected, 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:50.800 the next verse being Dan shall be a serpent by 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.840 the road, a viper by the path that bites the 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:58.320 horses heels so that his rider is thrown backward. These 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.920 verses may well be unconnected, each alluding to a different situation. 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:06.040 The first deals with Dan's status among the tribes of Israel, 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:10.120 the second with its position visa vi its enemies. Our 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:12.760 meager knowledge of the history of this tribe and the 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:17.400 elliptical language used here greatly complicate our understanding of the 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:21.599 aphorisms and make it difficult to identify the historic situations 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:25.079 behind them. Dan is the first of the Concubine tribes 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:28.880 to be addressed. This implies a position of importance, a 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:33.640 conclusion reforced also by its being the only such to 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:40.040 be allocated territory between the Leah and Rachel tribes. Okay, eighteen, 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:46.800 I wait for your deliverance, O Lord, very famous phrase, 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:51.680 incidentally from the Hebrew leshuwasaki viti other nine. And then 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:55.280 we go to nineteen. This is, by the way, Jacob's 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:57.560 saying that I wait for your deliverance, O Lord. It 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:01.120 is not clear what he is saying. Maybe it's because 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.600 he sees very problematic things. It is not certain why 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:08.040 he interrupts the blessings to say, I wait for your salvation, 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:12.640 O God. Nineteen. God will be raided by raiders again 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:16.120 in Hebrew at his all play on words godd YGUDENU. 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:18.600 Even if you don't know Hebrew. You can hear the play. 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:22.880 But he shall raid at their heels our scheres. Bread 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:26.320 shall be rich, and he shall yield royal dainties. Nuff 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:30.240 tully is a hind let loose, which yields lovely fawns. 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:35.120 Now we go to Joseph. Joseph is a wild ass, 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:39.720 a wild ass by a spring, wild colts on a hillside. 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:44.320 Archers bitterly assailed him. They shot at him and harried him. 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.880 Yet his bow stayed taught, and his arms were made 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:50.480 firm by the hands of the mighty One of Jacob. 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:54.760 There the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, this very famous imagery, 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:58.120 the Rock of Israel, the God of your father who 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:01.400 helps you. And Shadai, that name I had come across 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.240 that we had talked about last time, that name of God, 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:09.480 which some say is related to breast, Shadaam and Shaddai, 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.440 who blesses you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:16.800 the deep that couches below, blessings of the breast and womb. 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:20.760 And indeed Shadaim is there. The blessings of your father 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:25.560 surpassed the blessings of my ancestors. To the utmost bounds 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.360 of the eternal hills. May they rest on the head 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:32.640 of Joseph, on the bow, on the brow of the 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:36.600 elect of his brothers. Let me read to you from 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:44.760 Hurts on the blessings for Jacob Hurts is the Orthodox 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:50.480 commentator in the Dreams of Joseph. That's an interesting thing here, 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:56.079 talking now about Joseph and referring remember the dreams wherein 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.960 the brothers bow down to him, which is what started 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:03.880 their jealousy and rage and so on. In the Dreams 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:07.200 of Joseph, the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:11.319 to him. It is the stars that bowed to him, 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:15.720 and not he to the stars. This is characteristic of 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:23.480 both Joseph and Israel. Ain Mazali Israel, says Rabbi iohanan Is. 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.000 That is a famous phrase in the Talmud. You all 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.480 heard of the term mazoltov. Do you know what mazeltov means? 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:38.680 Literally good constellation? Mazal in Hebrew means constellation. It came 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.480 to mean luck, which is obviously related. You know, wishing 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.920 you a good constellation is wishing you good luck. But 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:49.840 the Talmud says Am Mazali Israel, there is no constellation 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:55.040 for the Jewish people for Israel. Some of obviously in 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:57.880 bad times which certainly have been in Jewish history, have 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:01.760 simply translated to Jews have no luck a masali Israel. 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.400 But it literally means there is no constellation for Israel. 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:10.400 And he continues in Israelite. This is Rabbi Hurts, an 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.640 Israelite should be ashamed to blame his star. I mean, 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:17.000 I tell you, those of you who know my own 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:23.280 attitudes on social philosophy or the current events, would almost 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:25.680 think that I were giving you these words. Yet these 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:30.200 were written earlier this century by an Orthodox, the Orthodox 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.079 Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, who wrote the Hurtz 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:38.680 commentary an Israelite, a Jew should be ashamed to blame 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:45.120 his star, his environment, or any outward circumstance for his 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:50.200 moral downfall or his religious apostasy. Man is captain of 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:54.280 his own soul, and wherever there is a will to Judaism, 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:58.040 there is a way to lead the Jewish life. Isn't 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.840 that incredible that a you should be ashamed if he 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:06.040 acts immorally to blame his environment, or his or his 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:10.800 stars or anything outside of himself, And so he takes 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:13.080 that from the notion of we don't bow down to 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.240 the stars, the stars bow down to us, not in 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:20.240 an egocentric sense, but in the sense that we do 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:23.880 don't bow to stars. That is just that is not 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.400 the way, and that is why the Jewish way, and 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:30.480 that is why it's his interesting Hurts interpretation in these 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:34.400 Blessings to Joseph of what Joseph first dreamed of the stars, 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.080 the moon, and the sun bowing down to him. You 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:40.240 would think, of course that that is terribly egocentric, and 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:43.240 obviously there is an element of that, But there is 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.920 a much larger point than Joseph's ego here. The purpose 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:48.800 of the Torah is not to teach you about the 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:54.000 psychopathological aspects of its patriarchs. It's to teach you a 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:59.440 basic idea. Nature bows down to man, not man to nature. 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.800 And this is particularly relevant in our time, where there 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:09.440 is a tremendous amount of nature worship. The basic Jewish 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:14.360 and Biblical attitude has been that God created the world 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:19.400 everything for us. That is what in the very beginning 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.160 of Genesis, after all, was when it says you shall 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:27.560 you shall rule over nature. It doesn't mean abuse. It 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:32.440 obviously not to abuse it. That's taken for granted, but yes, 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:36.360 to rule over it. Nature is here to serve us. 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.920 To make a point that upsets a great many people 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:43.120 when I say it on the radio, there is no 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:46.520 purpose to nature if the human being is not there 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:51.200 to use it, to appreciate it. There is no point 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:56.600 to a raccoon's life. The raccoon gives birth, and then 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.200 there's more raccoons, and then there are more raccoons, and 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:03.200 there are more raccoons. But the one to ten thousandth 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:06.920 generation of raccoon does it with any differently from the 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:11.440 first generation of raccoon. Nothing has been built. It has 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:16.480 simply gone through instinctive actions. It has had sex, it 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:20.960 has eaten, it has excreted, it has hunted, it has built, 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.640 it has died. Now, by the way, a lot of 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:29.400 people have lived like that. There is no question. And 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:34.200 in this regard, Judaism was quite revolutionary in that. And 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:39.080 I take this concept from Henry Bamford Parks, a great 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.520 medievalist at New York University who wrote a magnificent book 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.440 on the medieval world. It was not a Jew and 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:51.720 he said what Judaism gave the world was linear history. 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:57.160 All other history all other ideals were cyclical. You go 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:00.760 around and around and around. Indeed, that's what karma is. 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:04.199 In effect. You come back and you redo it. You 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:06.200 redo it, you get it right, and you leave, but 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:12.159 you redo it. The idea of history moving forward is 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:16.800 a Jewish invention, and it's what gave us a very 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:23.240 dangerous idea, namely the Messianic idea. The Messianic idea, the 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:27.800 idea of a Messiah who will come, was a Jewish invention. 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.960 One day the world will be redeemed, this world, even 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:34.680 in the highest forms of Eastern religion. And my point 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:37.280 is not at all to say they're wrong. It's just 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.320 to show you a difference. It is not the world, 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:44.160 this world, that is redeemed. And I am deep, deep 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:49.480 respect for Buddhism, for example, the highest state reached is 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:54.800 wherein you have left the world. This world is unredeemable. 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.240 In Eastern religion and in all pagan religion, the concept 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:02.560 doesn't even arise. This world is nothing except a repetition 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:06.879 of the last generation, which is the way most cultures lived. 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.359 They repeated what they did in that regard, not living 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:16.480 terribly differently, except on a higher intelligence plane than animals. 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:20.520 Animals don't build anything in the next generation. Here I'm 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:24.720 passing to you on my son raccoon the following heritage, 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.840 which I hope that you will build on. The idea 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:32.240 is absurd. Obviously, it's not that I'm anti raccoons. Please understand, 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:36.040 I have very strong pro raccoon sentiments. The point is 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:38.440 not that. The point is that to ask a raccoon 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:40.720 to do what humans do is asking you to do 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:42.720 what a truck does. You're not a truck, and a 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:48.199 raccoon is not a human. I don't anthropomorphosize animals, and 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:54.080 I don't mechanize human beings. The movement forward that is 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:59.880 a Jewish idea that history should move forward call it's 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:04.200 called progress. That the next generation should be better than 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:09.680 this generation. That is the Jewish ideal that history has meaning, 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:14.840 suffering has meaning, the world is moving toward something. This 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:19.960 is all invented in this Bible. It is an idea 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:24.119 that is taken over, of course, that is by Christianity, 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:26.760 for which reason I am one who does support the 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:31.000 concept of a Judeo Christian value system, despite the fact 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:34.040 that I fully acknowledge that there are differences obviously between 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:38.399 Judaism and Christianity, but the notion of moving in a 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:41.159 linear way. And this is not my point. This is 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:46.840 Henry Bamford Parks is invented here. We are not determined 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:49.320 by nature. That is what the tumut is saying. A 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:53.480 mazali is failed. There is no constellation that determines how 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:56.439 a Jew's fate will occur. By the way, I have 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:01.880 no problem with you getting astrological chart read. Okay, that's okay, 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:06.000 so long as you understand it's not determinative. Okay. I 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:09.080 am probably more open to astrology than you ever would 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.240 have imagined. I mean, I'm not closed minded to any 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:16.000 readings of the world that aren't going to cause you 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.479 to either do bad or believe nonsense. Now there are 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:21.640 those who say that this is pure nonsense, and that's okay. 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:24.159 I'm not going to here to argue on behalf of astrology. 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:28.160 I'm just saying I am. You can be a believing 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:32.199 Jew and still have your chart read, providing that you 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:37.560 don't believe it determines your fate. Especially in terms of 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:41.240 moral freedom. Take in a moment. Moral freedom is the 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:45.040 core idea of Judaism. You are free to do good, 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:50.720 free to do bad, as hurts rights. An Israelite cannot 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:56.000 say my environment is what caused my moral downfall. Would 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:59.240 that America adopted this attitude today, we would have a 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:03.160 far better sce society. Which is which And by the way, 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:07.520 it is Jews among others who are among the leaders 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:11.639 of those who argue that environment does determine moral downfall. 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:15.280 But these are non Jewish Jews. It is not Jews 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:19.320 who are serious about their Judaism who believe in the 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:24.480 moral determinacy of environment. These are Jews who have accepted 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:29.320 some secular views which are antithetical to these views. So 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:31.840 this is I just thought it when I read this. 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:35.080 Preparing the chapter, I said, my God, look at how 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:39.160 it hurts is contemporary? How that you cannot let your 0:21:39.280 --> 0:21:42.920 environment be held responsible for your moral downfall. 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:52.040 Yes, certain people are not inculcated any moral values as children. 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:54.280 And they reported into the Dear Tom, your environment says 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:56.560 have something to do right. Well, how does Judaism deal 0:21:56.600 --> 0:22:00.359 with those who, in moral environment did not teach them morality? Okay? 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:03.000 I gave the answer in a much earlier chapter with 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:05.760 canaan Abel. This is the beauty of having the tapes. 0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:08.160 And my point is not to sell you a tape. 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:11.680 My point is that I did deal with it very, 0:22:11.800 --> 0:22:14.040 very briefly, and I would certainly commend it to you. 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:17.600 The Canaanable story, for reasons that I can't review now, 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:22.760 to me, may clear that Judaism believes that God gave 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:30.240 universal conscience. You do not have to be taught that 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:36.680 torture is wrong. It helps. But there is a Jewish 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:42.120 belief that the most primitive illiterate knows that causing terrible 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:46.040 suffering to an innocent is wrong. Now, if cultures have 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:51.040 created such a world of evil, that torture is declared good, 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:54.439 And that, by the way, is why Judaism, why the 0:22:54.480 --> 0:22:59.239 Torah would allow for the destruction of the Canaanites. You 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:02.280 can get to a point in the Tora's view of 0:23:02.400 --> 0:23:07.760 such moral decay that it is irredeemable, that the conscience 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:12.160 has been effectively obliterated, and therefore there is no hope. 0:23:12.280 --> 0:23:15.639 This episode of timeless wisdom will continue right after this. 0:23:21.160 --> 0:23:24.720 Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom. 0:23:25.000 --> 0:23:28.439 Two forms of evil. There are two forms of evil 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:34.960 societies societies wherein the laws are moral but people violate them. 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:38.360 And then there are societies in which the laws are immoral. 0:23:40.200 --> 0:23:45.200 The second is a society that is irredeemable. The first 0:23:45.240 --> 0:23:50.879 is redeemable. That's why Jonah was sent to Ninvey. Ninvey 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:53.480 did not say thou shalt murder, but there was a 0:23:53.480 --> 0:23:56.440 lot of murder going on. So he comes to Ninvey. 0:23:56.920 --> 0:23:58.720 It's a great book, the Book of Jonah. You should 0:23:58.720 --> 0:24:01.439 take a look at it. And he says repent, and 0:24:01.560 --> 0:24:06.280 they do, to his enormous surprise, they do, Okay, fine, 0:24:06.440 --> 0:24:11.119 good idea. Thanks. He's totally shocked. But if you'd have 0:24:11.160 --> 0:24:14.280 gone to Nazi Germany instead of repent, they would have 0:24:14.400 --> 0:24:17.760 correctly said, why we are doing what is right? We 0:24:17.880 --> 0:24:22.119 follow the furre. The only person who need repent in 0:24:22.240 --> 0:24:27.480 Nazi Germany is someone who is anti Nazi. Get the difference. 0:24:28.280 --> 0:24:31.399 America has good laws but a lot of bad people 0:24:31.400 --> 0:24:36.159 in it. That is therefore a society that is redeemable. 0:24:37.080 --> 0:24:41.240 But a society that calls good evil and evil goods, 0:24:41.520 --> 0:24:48.960 as with child sacrifice, as which Meso America was filled with, 0:24:50.640 --> 0:24:53.480 that is not redeemable. So the answer to your question 0:24:53.640 --> 0:24:56.359 is you get to a point where the culture is 0:24:56.440 --> 0:25:00.639 so has so obliterated the conscience it had no longer 0:25:00.680 --> 0:25:03.919 is justified to exist. The Toa's belief is not that 0:25:03.960 --> 0:25:07.560 we exist in order to exist maybe animals do, not humans, 0:25:07.960 --> 0:25:11.600 we exist in order to morally progress. If we don't, 0:25:12.040 --> 0:25:15.800 then we have no right to be. It sounds harsh, 0:25:15.840 --> 0:25:17.680 but in any event, that's the way, that's the way 0:25:17.720 --> 0:25:20.800 it would answer it. If you truly would have children 0:25:21.200 --> 0:25:24.160 who are who are in a culture that has declared 0:25:24.280 --> 0:25:28.040 torture and murder and rape good, then the the Jewish 0:25:28.080 --> 0:25:32.280 answer is the culture should should be destroyed. Yeah, you're com. 0:25:32.320 --> 0:25:35.920 Constellation astrology, Like, how to explain the Cabalist with the 0:25:36.080 --> 0:25:40.479 strong viewing for the numerology and astrology and on your 0:25:40.560 --> 0:25:42.679 calendars that good as bad as or in the elphet? 0:25:42.720 --> 0:25:44.600 Right? How would I explain the Kabbalists? Though, if those 0:25:44.600 --> 0:25:47.919 who didn't hear it, if if Judaism doesn't allow for 0:25:48.600 --> 0:25:53.399 much of this belief in determinative outside stuff, uh, the 0:25:53.600 --> 0:25:55.960 the the truth is that there are many Jews who 0:25:56.000 --> 0:26:01.440 disqualify the those who believe in numerology as determinative. That's 0:26:01.480 --> 0:26:05.240 important as a determinative. There is tremendous belief in gamatria, 0:26:05.280 --> 0:26:10.120 which is the Hebrew for numerology among Jews, not as determinative, 0:26:10.200 --> 0:26:14.800 but as as a secret code to studying the Torah. Okay, Uh, 0:26:15.400 --> 0:26:18.080 you know so that that that's a big difference. Also, 0:26:18.720 --> 0:26:21.600 you should know that by Jewish tradition, you cannot study 0:26:21.600 --> 0:26:25.440 the Kabala till you're forty married, have children, and already 0:26:25.440 --> 0:26:29.480 know the Torah, so that you cannot you cannot be hoodwinked, 0:26:29.720 --> 0:26:33.200 as it were, by some of the more wild or 0:26:33.320 --> 0:26:40.800 esoteric stuff. Yep, how do you explain the Testament, Paul? 0:26:41.480 --> 0:26:44.200 Because I am in all good consence to this day 0:26:44.880 --> 0:26:47.400 when he had killed, proved. 0:26:47.600 --> 0:26:52.200 Her, stating, well, it's not it's not fair to ask 0:26:52.240 --> 0:26:56.400 a believing Jew to interpret New Testament scripture. Uh, it's 0:26:56.440 --> 0:27:00.240 it's it's a lesson I learned a long time ago. Uh, 0:27:00.280 --> 0:27:02.160 any more than it would be fair to ask. Uh. 0:27:02.400 --> 0:27:04.560 It's it's a little fair to ask a believing Christian 0:27:04.560 --> 0:27:07.600 because they believe in the Hebrew Bible. That's not my Bible. 0:27:08.040 --> 0:27:10.159