Speaker 1: Life audio in today's episode of Timeless Worst.
Speaker 2: To God that Judaism introduced to the world exists, not
Speaker 2: Aristotle's unmoved mover, but the God, the personal God of Judaism,
Speaker 2: the judging God of Judaism, the merciful God of God
Speaker 2: of Judaism, than there is an afterlife. To me, it
Speaker 2: is impossible for a good God, a just God, to
Speaker 2: have created a world with so much intrinsic injustice and
Speaker 2: cruelty and not had a working of it out in
Speaker 2: some afterlife. It is impossible for me to believe that
Speaker 2: this world was created and the only reality is physical,
Speaker 2: that the human being possesses no soul that outlives our
Speaker 2: decrepit skin. It's just it's inconceivable to me on logical grounds.
Speaker 2: I can entertain atheism intellectually, I cannot entertain belief in God,
Speaker 2: but no afterlife. It's a God that is alien to Judaism.
Speaker 2: But again, it's a tape you'll have to get, or
Speaker 2: an article of mine you'll have to read. I'm about
Speaker 2: to be gathered to my kid to bury me with
Speaker 2: my fathers in the cave which is in the field
Speaker 2: of Efhron. The Hittite, the cave, which is in the
Speaker 2: field of Mathpela, remember where Abraham and Isaac and their
Speaker 2: wives are buried facing Mamray in the land of Canan,
Speaker 2: to feel that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for
Speaker 2: a burial site. How many of you have been with
Speaker 2: me since chapter one? Oh, there actually are a twenty
Speaker 2: or so. That's twenty, maybe a dozen six, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: about fifteen of you. I'm very touched by that. Do
Speaker 2: you recall how the Torah went out of its way,
Speaker 2: almost hilariously, to say we bought the land. The Jews
Speaker 2: bought the lad Here again it comes back at the
Speaker 2: very end of Genesis. Let nobody say the Jews got
Speaker 2: that land in any illegal way. So here it is again,
Speaker 2: like it needs to be mentioned. The guy is dying,
Speaker 2: you know, and even now he revites the one we
Speaker 2: bought and from whom we bought it is mentioned. It
Speaker 2: is so fascinating. The Torah is so sensitive to the
Speaker 2: possibility that anyone would accuse the Jews of having that
Speaker 2: area not totally fairly legally bought. So here it is again.
Speaker 2: It got a kick out of it seeing it, you know, boys,
Speaker 2: the one that Abraham bought from Efron the Hittite for
Speaker 2: a burial site. There. Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There,
Speaker 2: Isaac and his wife Rebecca were buried, and their eye
Speaker 2: buried Leah. The field and the cave in it bought
Speaker 2: from the Hittites. In case you missed, boys, when one
Speaker 2: of you was talking while I spoke, is that funny?
Speaker 2: I mean, you know when you're when you become aware
Speaker 2: of it. It truly, it's comical. When Jacob finished his
Speaker 2: instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into the
Speaker 2: bed and breathing his laugh, he was gathered to his people.
Speaker 2: It's very touching. The last chapter of Genesis is not
Speaker 2: about Jacob. I mean, you know, he could have died
Speaker 2: in the last chapter, but it's a way of saying, no.
Speaker 2: The continuum is what happens with Joseph and the brothers.
Speaker 2: The children of Israel takeover now, not Israel himself. He
Speaker 2: dies in chapter forty nine. It's very touching that it
Speaker 2: works that way. And so we go to the final
Speaker 2: chapter in the Book of Genesis, chapter fifty.
Speaker 1: That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager here thousands of hours
Speaker 1: of Dennis's lectures courses in classic radio programs. Had to
Speaker 1: purchase Dennisprager's Rational Bibles go to Denisprager dot com tonight.
Speaker 2: Incidentally, in keeping with there is a Jewish tradition that
Speaker 2: when you complete an arduous task in any of the
Speaker 2: works Talmud or Torah or profits, you have a party.
Speaker 2: It's called to see you. And I will introduce Alan's parents,
Speaker 2: who very very very generously in from Salem, Oregon to
Speaker 2: celebrate their son's fortieth, which is remarkable since they're both
Speaker 2: fifty have have have decided to to share refreshments with us.
Speaker 2: That even I brought many bags of Eminem's just in
Speaker 2: case something had happened to the eestern plans. So we'll
Speaker 2: have a little informality to celebrate. I really have you
Speaker 2: have no idea for me personally, This is a very
Speaker 2: big deal. Three years we've been doing this three years.
Speaker 2: It is it is very huh say it again? Said then,
Speaker 2: we only got that's right, three years and the efforts. Listen,
Speaker 2: it took it took about two weeks or three weeks
Speaker 2: to do chapter one, if I'm not mistaken, right, wasn't
Speaker 2: it there quite some time? Yeah? Okay? Uh verse twenty three, Well, uh,
Speaker 2: Laurie reminds me this is why. Yeah, yes, this is
Speaker 2: why exactly. That's a very good point, shad uh y okay, yes,
Speaker 2: that's right, I which is not common for me. Uh
Speaker 2: uh oh yes, Uh what I s I spoke to you?
Speaker 2: Uh was it two weeks ago? Uh? The context was
Speaker 2: It's very important to me that you're not getting a
Speaker 2: uh uh a MISSI mis apprehension of my own uh judaism.
Speaker 2: Uh what was it exactly? I was discussing where kosher
Speaker 2: came up. Do you remember, yeah? Or oh? Yeah? Alright.
Speaker 2: Did you get the impression that I don't keep kosher?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: No, you did get that, some of you did. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I eat at non kosher restaurants, but I keep kosher.
Speaker 2: I mean, I just wanted for the record in case
Speaker 2: any you know, it seems to have I wasn't clear
Speaker 2: about that, okay, So just wanted you to know for
Speaker 2: the record. Okay, we're up to verse twenty three. It
Speaker 2: is Jacob on his deathbed, literally on his deathbed, and
Speaker 2: he is giving the suns the final blessings. Okay, twenty
Speaker 2: three and as I said, I'm gonna go through this. Well,
Speaker 2: we'll start with Joseph. SOO, right, is that what we're
Speaker 2: up to? We did nineteen? We did God? I don't
Speaker 2: remember doing God. I think you're wrong. Yes, I don't
Speaker 2: think we did Dan either. Thirteen right? Thirteen You couldn't
Speaker 2: you thought you were one? Was a two forty nine
Speaker 2: thirteen Zevulun shall dwell by the seashore. He shall be
Speaker 2: a haven for ships, and his flank shall rest on
Speaker 2: sidon Is Sahar is a strong boned donkey. Listen, if
Speaker 2: I read what they had here, you'd have laughed harder
Speaker 2: as I mean. You know, it's not the sort of
Speaker 2: thing we tend to say about our kids these days.
Speaker 2: It's not considered a blessing to call your kid a donkey.
Speaker 2: But you understand, obviously the animal imagery. Then, crouching among
Speaker 2: the sheep folds, when he saw how good it was
Speaker 2: security and how pleasant was the country, he bent his
Speaker 2: shoulder to the burden and became a toiling surf. Only
Speaker 2: I'm a few of these. Will I offer you some
Speaker 2: comments In this regard, Sara writes, it would seem that
Speaker 2: until the final overthrow of the Canaanite city states in
Speaker 2: the time of Deborah, later on, the tribe that's Heisahar
Speaker 2: had been content to perform corve labor, which is like
Speaker 2: surf labor for the local overlord, in return for a
Speaker 2: quiet existence. Remember what I told you about the blessings
Speaker 2: of the tribes, of the children who became the tribes,
Speaker 2: that this foretells the way they will be. Now you
Speaker 2: even believe he was telling it in the future, or
Speaker 2: it's written later and they put the words in his mouth.
Speaker 2: You choose what you want, but it does describe the
Speaker 2: reality of the tribes. Later on, Dan Dan shall govern
Speaker 2: his people in Hebrew, there's a play on words done
Speaker 2: in Hebrew, which is Dan In English. Dan comes from
Speaker 2: this means judge to judge la dun is to judge,
Speaker 2: And so Dan yadin Amo Dan will judge or govern
Speaker 2: his people as one of the tribes of Israel. And
Speaker 2: he writes SNA. These two verses may well be unconnected,
Speaker 2: the next verse being Dan shall be a serpent by
Speaker 2: the road, a viper by the path that bites the
Speaker 2: horses heels so that his rider is thrown backward. These
Speaker 2: verses may well be unconnected, each alluding to a different situation.
Speaker 2: The first deals with Dan's status among the tribes of Israel,
Speaker 2: the second with its position visa vi its enemies. Our
Speaker 2: meager knowledge of the history of this tribe and the
Speaker 2: elliptical language used here greatly complicate our understanding of the
Speaker 2: aphorisms and make it difficult to identify the historic situations
Speaker 2: behind them. Dan is the first of the Concubine tribes
Speaker 2: to be addressed. This implies a position of importance, a
Speaker 2: conclusion reforced also by its being the only such to
Speaker 2: be allocated territory between the Leah and Rachel tribes. Okay, eighteen,
Speaker 2: I wait for your deliverance, O Lord, very famous phrase,
Speaker 2: incidentally from the Hebrew leshuwasaki viti other nine. And then
Speaker 2: we go to nineteen. This is, by the way, Jacob's
Speaker 2: saying that I wait for your deliverance, O Lord. It
Speaker 2: is not clear what he is saying. Maybe it's because
Speaker 2: he sees very problematic things. It is not certain why
Speaker 2: he interrupts the blessings to say, I wait for your salvation,
Speaker 2: O God. Nineteen. God will be raided by raiders again
Speaker 2: in Hebrew at his all play on words godd YGUDENU.
Speaker 2: Even if you don't know Hebrew. You can hear the play.
Speaker 2: But he shall raid at their heels our scheres. Bread
Speaker 2: shall be rich, and he shall yield royal dainties. Nuff
Speaker 2: tully is a hind let loose, which yields lovely fawns.
Speaker 2: Now we go to Joseph. Joseph is a wild ass,
Speaker 2: a wild ass by a spring, wild colts on a hillside.
Speaker 2: Archers bitterly assailed him. They shot at him and harried him.
Speaker 2: Yet his bow stayed taught, and his arms were made
Speaker 2: firm by the hands of the mighty One of Jacob.
Speaker 2: There the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, this very famous imagery,
Speaker 2: the Rock of Israel, the God of your father who
Speaker 2: helps you. And Shadai, that name I had come across
Speaker 2: that we had talked about last time, that name of God,
Speaker 2: which some say is related to breast, Shadaam and Shaddai,
Speaker 2: who blesses you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of
Speaker 2: the deep that couches below, blessings of the breast and womb.
Speaker 2: And indeed Shadaim is there. The blessings of your father
Speaker 2: surpassed the blessings of my ancestors. To the utmost bounds
Speaker 2: of the eternal hills. May they rest on the head
Speaker 2: of Joseph, on the bow, on the brow of the
Speaker 2: elect of his brothers. Let me read to you from
Speaker 2: Hurts on the blessings for Jacob Hurts is the Orthodox
Speaker 2: commentator in the Dreams of Joseph. That's an interesting thing here,
Speaker 2: talking now about Joseph and referring remember the dreams wherein
Speaker 2: the brothers bow down to him, which is what started
Speaker 2: their jealousy and rage and so on. In the Dreams
Speaker 2: of Joseph, the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down
Speaker 2: to him. It is the stars that bowed to him,
Speaker 2: and not he to the stars. This is characteristic of
Speaker 2: both Joseph and Israel. Ain Mazali Israel, says Rabbi iohanan Is.
Speaker 2: That is a famous phrase in the Talmud. You all
Speaker 2: heard of the term mazoltov. Do you know what mazeltov means?
Speaker 2: Literally good constellation? Mazal in Hebrew means constellation. It came
Speaker 2: to mean luck, which is obviously related. You know, wishing
Speaker 2: you a good constellation is wishing you good luck. But
Speaker 2: the Talmud says Am Mazali Israel, there is no constellation
Speaker 2: for the Jewish people for Israel. Some of obviously in
Speaker 2: bad times which certainly have been in Jewish history, have
Speaker 2: simply translated to Jews have no luck a masali Israel.
Speaker 2: But it literally means there is no constellation for Israel.
Speaker 2: And he continues in Israelite. This is Rabbi Hurts, an
Speaker 2: Israelite should be ashamed to blame his star. I mean,
Speaker 2: I tell you, those of you who know my own
Speaker 2: attitudes on social philosophy or the current events, would almost
Speaker 2: think that I were giving you these words. Yet these
Speaker 2: were written earlier this century by an Orthodox, the Orthodox
Speaker 2: Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, who wrote the Hurtz
Speaker 2: commentary an Israelite, a Jew should be ashamed to blame
Speaker 2: his star, his environment, or any outward circumstance for his
Speaker 2: moral downfall or his religious apostasy. Man is captain of
Speaker 2: his own soul, and wherever there is a will to Judaism,
Speaker 2: there is a way to lead the Jewish life. Isn't
Speaker 2: that incredible that a you should be ashamed if he
Speaker 2: acts immorally to blame his environment, or his or his
Speaker 2: stars or anything outside of himself, And so he takes
Speaker 2: that from the notion of we don't bow down to
Speaker 2: the stars, the stars bow down to us, not in
Speaker 2: an egocentric sense, but in the sense that we do
Speaker 2: don't bow to stars. That is just that is not
Speaker 2: the way, and that is why the Jewish way, and
Speaker 2: that is why it's his interesting Hurts interpretation in these
Speaker 2: Blessings to Joseph of what Joseph first dreamed of the stars,
Speaker 2: the moon, and the sun bowing down to him. You
Speaker 2: would think, of course that that is terribly egocentric, and
Speaker 2: obviously there is an element of that, But there is
Speaker 2: a much larger point than Joseph's ego here. The purpose
Speaker 2: of the Torah is not to teach you about the
Speaker 2: psychopathological aspects of its patriarchs. It's to teach you a
Speaker 2: basic idea. Nature bows down to man, not man to nature.
Speaker 2: And this is particularly relevant in our time, where there
Speaker 2: is a tremendous amount of nature worship. The basic Jewish
Speaker 2: and Biblical attitude has been that God created the world
Speaker 2: everything for us. That is what in the very beginning
Speaker 2: of Genesis, after all, was when it says you shall
Speaker 2: you shall rule over nature. It doesn't mean abuse. It
Speaker 2: obviously not to abuse it. That's taken for granted, but yes,
Speaker 2: to rule over it. Nature is here to serve us.
Speaker 2: To make a point that upsets a great many people
Speaker 2: when I say it on the radio, there is no
Speaker 2: purpose to nature if the human being is not there
Speaker 2: to use it, to appreciate it. There is no point
Speaker 2: to a raccoon's life. The raccoon gives birth, and then
Speaker 2: there's more raccoons, and then there are more raccoons, and
Speaker 2: there are more raccoons. But the one to ten thousandth
Speaker 2: generation of raccoon does it with any differently from the
Speaker 2: first generation of raccoon. Nothing has been built. It has
Speaker 2: simply gone through instinctive actions. It has had sex, it
Speaker 2: has eaten, it has excreted, it has hunted, it has built,
Speaker 2: it has died. Now, by the way, a lot of
Speaker 2: people have lived like that. There is no question. And
Speaker 2: in this regard, Judaism was quite revolutionary in that. And
Speaker 2: I take this concept from Henry Bamford Parks, a great
Speaker 2: medievalist at New York University who wrote a magnificent book
Speaker 2: on the medieval world. It was not a Jew and
Speaker 2: he said what Judaism gave the world was linear history.
Speaker 2: All other history all other ideals were cyclical. You go
Speaker 2: around and around and around. Indeed, that's what karma is.
Speaker 2: In effect. You come back and you redo it. You
Speaker 2: redo it, you get it right, and you leave, but
Speaker 2: you redo it. The idea of history moving forward is
Speaker 2: a Jewish invention, and it's what gave us a very
Speaker 2: dangerous idea, namely the Messianic idea. The Messianic idea, the
Speaker 2: idea of a Messiah who will come, was a Jewish invention.
Speaker 2: One day the world will be redeemed, this world, even
Speaker 2: in the highest forms of Eastern religion. And my point
Speaker 2: is not at all to say they're wrong. It's just
Speaker 2: to show you a difference. It is not the world,
Speaker 2: this world, that is redeemed. And I am deep, deep
Speaker 2: respect for Buddhism, for example, the highest state reached is
Speaker 2: wherein you have left the world. This world is unredeemable.
Speaker 2: In Eastern religion and in all pagan religion, the concept
Speaker 2: doesn't even arise. This world is nothing except a repetition
Speaker 2: of the last generation, which is the way most cultures lived.
Speaker 2: They repeated what they did in that regard, not living
Speaker 2: terribly differently, except on a higher intelligence plane than animals.
Speaker 2: Animals don't build anything in the next generation. Here I'm
Speaker 2: passing to you on my son raccoon the following heritage,
Speaker 2: which I hope that you will build on. The idea
Speaker 2: is absurd. Obviously, it's not that I'm anti raccoons. Please understand,
Speaker 2: I have very strong pro raccoon sentiments. The point is
Speaker 2: not that. The point is that to ask a raccoon
Speaker 2: to do what humans do is asking you to do
Speaker 2: what a truck does. You're not a truck, and a
Speaker 2: raccoon is not a human. I don't anthropomorphosize animals, and
Speaker 2: I don't mechanize human beings. The movement forward that is
Speaker 2: a Jewish idea that history should move forward call it's
Speaker 2: called progress. That the next generation should be better than
Speaker 2: this generation. That is the Jewish ideal that history has meaning,
Speaker 2: suffering has meaning, the world is moving toward something. This
Speaker 2: is all invented in this Bible. It is an idea
Speaker 2: that is taken over, of course, that is by Christianity,
Speaker 2: for which reason I am one who does support the
Speaker 2: concept of a Judeo Christian value system, despite the fact
Speaker 2: that I fully acknowledge that there are differences obviously between
Speaker 2: Judaism and Christianity, but the notion of moving in a
Speaker 2: linear way. And this is not my point. This is
Speaker 2: Henry Bamford Parks is invented here. We are not determined
Speaker 2: by nature. That is what the tumut is saying. A
Speaker 2: mazali is failed. There is no constellation that determines how
Speaker 2: a Jew's fate will occur. By the way, I have
Speaker 2: no problem with you getting astrological chart read. Okay, that's okay,
Speaker 2: so long as you understand it's not determinative. Okay. I
Speaker 2: am probably more open to astrology than you ever would
Speaker 2: have imagined. I mean, I'm not closed minded to any
Speaker 2: readings of the world that aren't going to cause you
Speaker 2: to either do bad or believe nonsense. Now there are
Speaker 2: those who say that this is pure nonsense, and that's okay.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to here to argue on behalf of astrology.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying I am. You can be a believing
Speaker 2: Jew and still have your chart read, providing that you
Speaker 2: don't believe it determines your fate. Especially in terms of
Speaker 2: moral freedom. Take in a moment. Moral freedom is the
Speaker 2: core idea of Judaism. You are free to do good,
Speaker 2: free to do bad, as hurts rights. An Israelite cannot
Speaker 2: say my environment is what caused my moral downfall. Would
Speaker 2: that America adopted this attitude today, we would have a
Speaker 2: far better sce society. Which is which And by the way,
Speaker 2: it is Jews among others who are among the leaders
Speaker 2: of those who argue that environment does determine moral downfall.
Speaker 2: But these are non Jewish Jews. It is not Jews
Speaker 2: who are serious about their Judaism who believe in the
Speaker 2: moral determinacy of environment. These are Jews who have accepted
Speaker 2: some secular views which are antithetical to these views. So
Speaker 2: this is I just thought it when I read this.
Speaker 2: Preparing the chapter, I said, my God, look at how
Speaker 2: it hurts is contemporary? How that you cannot let your
Speaker 2: environment be held responsible for your moral downfall.
Speaker 3: Yes, certain people are not inculcated any moral values as children.
Speaker 2: And they reported into the Dear Tom, your environment says
Speaker 2: have something to do right. Well, how does Judaism deal
Speaker 2: with those who, in moral environment did not teach them morality? Okay?
Speaker 2: I gave the answer in a much earlier chapter with
Speaker 2: canaan Abel. This is the beauty of having the tapes.
Speaker 2: And my point is not to sell you a tape.
Speaker 2: My point is that I did deal with it very,
Speaker 2: very briefly, and I would certainly commend it to you.
Speaker 2: The Canaanable story, for reasons that I can't review now,
Speaker 2: to me, may clear that Judaism believes that God gave
Speaker 2: universal conscience. You do not have to be taught that
Speaker 2: torture is wrong. It helps. But there is a Jewish
Speaker 2: belief that the most primitive illiterate knows that causing terrible
Speaker 2: suffering to an innocent is wrong. Now, if cultures have
Speaker 2: created such a world of evil, that torture is declared good,
Speaker 2: And that, by the way, is why Judaism, why the
Speaker 2: Torah would allow for the destruction of the Canaanites. You
Speaker 2: can get to a point in the Tora's view of
Speaker 2: such moral decay that it is irredeemable, that the conscience
Speaker 2: has been effectively obliterated, and therefore there is no hope.
Speaker 1: This episode of timeless wisdom will continue right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.
Speaker 2: Two forms of evil. There are two forms of evil
Speaker 2: societies societies wherein the laws are moral but people violate them.
Speaker 2: And then there are societies in which the laws are immoral.
Speaker 2: The second is a society that is irredeemable. The first
Speaker 2: is redeemable. That's why Jonah was sent to Ninvey. Ninvey
Speaker 2: did not say thou shalt murder, but there was a
Speaker 2: lot of murder going on. So he comes to Ninvey.
Speaker 2: It's a great book, the Book of Jonah. You should
Speaker 2: take a look at it. And he says repent, and
Speaker 2: they do, to his enormous surprise, they do, Okay, fine,
Speaker 2: good idea. Thanks. He's totally shocked. But if you'd have
Speaker 2: gone to Nazi Germany instead of repent, they would have
Speaker 2: correctly said, why we are doing what is right? We
Speaker 2: follow the furre. The only person who need repent in
Speaker 2: Nazi Germany is someone who is anti Nazi. Get the difference.
Speaker 2: America has good laws but a lot of bad people
Speaker 2: in it. That is therefore a society that is redeemable.
Speaker 2: But a society that calls good evil and evil goods,
Speaker 2: as with child sacrifice, as which Meso America was filled with,
Speaker 2: that is not redeemable. So the answer to your question
Speaker 2: is you get to a point where the culture is
Speaker 2: so has so obliterated the conscience it had no longer
Speaker 2: is justified to exist. The Toa's belief is not that
Speaker 2: we exist in order to exist maybe animals do, not humans,
Speaker 2: we exist in order to morally progress. If we don't,
Speaker 2: then we have no right to be. It sounds harsh,
Speaker 2: but in any event, that's the way, that's the way
Speaker 2: it would answer it. If you truly would have children
Speaker 2: who are who are in a culture that has declared
Speaker 2: torture and murder and rape good, then the the Jewish
Speaker 2: answer is the culture should should be destroyed. Yeah, you're com.
Speaker 3: Constellation astrology, Like, how to explain the Cabalist with the
Speaker 3: strong viewing for the numerology and astrology and on your
Speaker 3: calendars that good as bad as or in the elphet?
Speaker 2: Right? How would I explain the Kabbalists? Though, if those
Speaker 2: who didn't hear it, if if Judaism doesn't allow for
Speaker 2: much of this belief in determinative outside stuff, uh, the
Speaker 2: the the truth is that there are many Jews who
Speaker 2: disqualify the those who believe in numerology as determinative. That's
Speaker 2: important as a determinative. There is tremendous belief in gamatria,
Speaker 2: which is the Hebrew for numerology among Jews, not as determinative,
Speaker 2: but as as a secret code to studying the Torah. Okay, Uh,
Speaker 2: you know so that that that's a big difference. Also,
Speaker 2: you should know that by Jewish tradition, you cannot study
Speaker 2: the Kabala till you're forty married, have children, and already
Speaker 2: know the Torah, so that you cannot you cannot be hoodwinked,
Speaker 2: as it were, by some of the more wild or
Speaker 2: esoteric stuff. Yep, how do you explain the Testament, Paul?
Speaker 3: Because I am in all good consence to this day
Speaker 3: when he had killed, proved.
Speaker 2: Her, stating, well, it's not it's not fair to ask
Speaker 2: a believing Jew to interpret New Testament scripture. Uh, it's
Speaker 2: it's it's a lesson I learned a long time ago. Uh,
Speaker 2: any more than it would be fair to ask. Uh.
Speaker 2: It's it's a little fair to ask a believing Christian
Speaker 2: because they believe in the Hebrew Bible. That's not my Bible.
Speaker 2: And and so it's n it's really not fair to
Speaker 2: Christianity to get an answer from me. Okay, it's really
Speaker 2: worth asking a Christian scholar, a believing Christian scholar, on that.
Speaker 2: I I hate to do that cause I love answering questions.
Speaker 2: I just okay, yes, and possible guilty that act. For example,
Speaker 2: when you're chi and doesn't know the golden.
Speaker 3: Cap, surely you blame the cat to be after the
Speaker 3: anxiety blessed, and it's still guilty.
Speaker 2: And you're real good to anything more than you d wait.
Speaker 2: God punished them when they did what. I'm sorry, the
Speaker 2: golden cap. Yeah, and why do you blame the environment
Speaker 2: for that? Well for some years in your pains love right, Well, listen,
Speaker 2: that's so so seciety. It's still guilty. That's right. The
Speaker 2: environment does contribute, and you one would have to be
Speaker 2: a fool to deny that. If the if I, who
Speaker 2: hold the individual ultimately responsible, obviously want to create a
Speaker 2: different moral environment because the truth is that that that's
Speaker 2: the best way to ensure that goodness will prevail. But
Speaker 2: in the final analysis, you are still responsible individually, So
Speaker 2: we both agree. I mean, it's you know, I'm not edging.
Speaker 2: It's it's to say that reenvironment is powerful is one thing.
Speaker 2: To say it's responsible and you're not is another. It
Speaker 2: is powerful that will also help you in your question.
Speaker 2: I hope this is not a denial of the of
Speaker 2: the of the role of environment. Yeah, let me I'll
Speaker 2: take this as the last one, because I want to
Speaker 2: go on American company of innocent.
Speaker 3: How poult basic PHAs from one the secular constant?
Speaker 2: Why why do? I'll answer it? But has something been
Speaker 2: said that leads you to ask that question? Is it
Speaker 2: related to? She asked if the concept of innocent until
Speaker 2: proven guilty is is is biblical or a Jewish or
Speaker 2: just modern secular Yeah, well you suggest.
Speaker 3: The individuals to take responsibility first and not land the surroundings,
Speaker 3: the environment, and in a sense we lame.
Speaker 2: We protect the individual and and now discover evidence of
Speaker 2: most of the environment to group, is a person's guilty. No, No,
Speaker 2: one is a moral issue and the other one is
Speaker 2: a legal issue. Well, you could be morally responsible illegally Okay, different,
Speaker 2: I mean so that that's a separate it's really separate.
Speaker 2: And yes, in Judaism you are innocent until proven guilty too. Sure,
Speaker 2: In fact there was in the Talbent there are somewhat
Speaker 2: more stringent laws which I think actually utopian, couldn't even
Speaker 2: be enacted in order to find somebody guilty of UH
Speaker 2: of murder. For example, you need two witnesses plus UH
Speaker 2: in order to execute them. You have had to have
Speaker 2: warned the murderer before the act. You know, if you
Speaker 2: do this, you'll be executed. And he had to respond
Speaker 2: yet I know, I mean, which is to me ludicrous.
Speaker 2: So it couldn't have been meant I don't think could
Speaker 2: have been meant literally it was or or it was
Speaker 2: simply a way of their saying it was so rare
Speaker 2: in Israel to have murder that we want. We don't
Speaker 2: want capital punishment where murder is that rare. But in
Speaker 2: any event, it was very stringent. You had to find
Speaker 2: the person guilty based on evidence or else he was innocent. Anyway,
Speaker 2: I needed to share that hertzy in view with you.
Speaker 2: It's about both about nature and about constellations and so on.
Speaker 2: Back to the Tora pleas we are at twenty seven.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning
Speaker 2: he consumes the foe, and in the evening he divides
Speaker 2: the spoil. All these were the tribes of Israel, twelve
Speaker 2: a number, And this is what their father said to
Speaker 2: them as he bad them farewell, addressing to each a
Speaker 2: parting word appropriate to him. Then he instructed them, saying
Speaker 2: to them, I am about to be gathered to my kin.
Speaker 2: You might recall this is the term for I will die,
Speaker 2: and how this was a hint towards the belief in
Speaker 2: the Torah of an afterlife, that it's not just a phraseology,
Speaker 2: but actually a belief. I will not repeat this. It
Speaker 2: was a long session on afterlife belief in Judaism, which exists.
Speaker 2: I will merely state restate the obvious. If there is
Speaker 2: a God, this is not all there is. I can
Speaker 2: never prove that there is a God. It is not provable.
Speaker 2: But it is a logical axiom that if the God
Speaker 2: that Judaism introduced to the world exists, not Aristotle's unmoved mover,
Speaker 2: but the God, the personal God of Judaism, the judging
Speaker 2: God of Judaism, the merciful God of God of Judaism,
Speaker 2: then there is an afterlife. To me, it is impossible
Speaker 2: for a good God, a just God, to have created
Speaker 2: a world with so much intrinsic injustice and cruelty and
Speaker 2: not had a working of it out in some afterlife.
Speaker 2: It is impossible for me to believe that this world
Speaker 2: was created and the only reality is physical, that the
Speaker 2: human being possesses no soul, that outlives our decrepit skin.
Speaker 2: It's just it's inconceivable to me on logical grounds. I
Speaker 2: can entertain atheism intellectually, I cannot entertain belief in God.
Speaker 2: But no, afterlife, it's a God that is alien to Judaism.
Speaker 2: But again, it's a tape you'll have to get, or
Speaker 2: an article of mine you'll have to read. I am
Speaker 2: about to be gathered to my kin and bury me
Speaker 2: with my fathers in the cave which is in the
Speaker 2: field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave which is in
Speaker 2: the field of Mathpela. Remember where Abraham and Isaac and
Speaker 2: their wives are buried facing Mamrae in the land of Canan.
Speaker 2: To feel that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for
Speaker 2: a burial site. How many of you have been with
Speaker 2: me since chapter one? Oh, there actually are a twenty
Speaker 2: or so. That's twenty, maybe a dozen six, No, no, no,
Speaker 2: about fifteen of you. I'm very touched by that. The
Speaker 2: uh do you recall how the Torah went out of
Speaker 2: its way, almost hilariously to say we bought the land,
Speaker 2: the Jews bought the land. Here again, it comes back
Speaker 2: at the very end of Genesis. Let nobody say the
Speaker 2: Jews got that land in any illegal way. So here
Speaker 2: it is again, like it needs to be mentioned. The
Speaker 2: guy is dying, you know, and even now he revit.
Speaker 2: The one we bought and from whom we bought it
Speaker 2: is mentioned. It is so fascinating. The Tora is so
Speaker 2: sensitive to the possibility that anyone would accuse the Jews
Speaker 2: of having that area not totally fairly legally bought. So
Speaker 2: here it is again. It just got a kick out
Speaker 2: of it seeing it, you know, boys, the one that
Speaker 2: Abraham bought from Efron the Hittite for a burial site. There.
Speaker 2: Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there. Isaac and
Speaker 2: his wife Rebecca were buried and their eye buried leap
Speaker 2: the field and the caven it bought from the Hittites.
Speaker 2: In case you missed, boys, when one of you was
Speaker 2: talking while I spoke, is that funny? I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: when when you become aware of it, it truly it's comical.
Speaker 2: When Jacob finished his instructions to his sons, he drew
Speaker 2: his feet into the bed and breathing his last he
Speaker 2: was gathered to his people. It's very touching. The last
Speaker 2: chapter of Genesis is not about Jacob. I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: he could have died in the last chapter. But it's
Speaker 2: a way of saying, nolp. The continuum is what happens
Speaker 2: with Joseph and the brothers. The children of Israel takeover now,
Speaker 2: not Israel himself. He dies in chapter forty nine. It's
Speaker 2: very touching that it works that way. And so we
Speaker 2: go to the final chapter in the Book of Genesis,
Speaker 2: chapter fifty, Joseph flung himself upon his father's face and
Speaker 2: wept over him and kissed him. Then Joseph ordered the
Speaker 2: physicians in his service to embalm his father, and the
Speaker 2: physicians embalmed Israel. The Sauna makes the point here the
Speaker 2: text subtly underlines the disconnection of the embalming procedure from
Speaker 2: any pagan context. Remember that's what the Pagans did. Did
Speaker 2: we Jews monotheists do what the pagan Egyptians did with embalmbing,
Speaker 2: So he says, the text subtly distinguishes how by having
Speaker 2: Joseph intrust the task to physicians in his service, why
Speaker 2: is there a distinction who did the embalming in Egypt?
Speaker 2: The priests. See the subtle points that are made here,
Speaker 2: He got the doctors to do it. I have another
Speaker 2: thought on the fact that he got the doctors to
Speaker 2: do In the ancient world, doctors didn't know too much.
Speaker 2: I mean, let's be honest, they were really had tasks
Speaker 2: like this to do. I mean, you know, if you
Speaker 2: went to a doctor in those days, you know, their
Speaker 2: knowledge of antibiotics was very limited. So you know, it
Speaker 2: is just funny to think this is what God the
Speaker 2: doctors they embalmed. Well, at least they didn't kill anybody.
Speaker 2: You know, you were already dead when you came to
Speaker 2: those doctors. So it's just I got a kick out
Speaker 2: of that fact. But I think Sarnis is obviously the
Speaker 2: more important one. It's not the priest who did it,
Speaker 2: so it's not a religious procedure. It's almost as if
Speaker 2: a modern Jew might have a child circumcised by a
Speaker 2: physician and not by a moel, a circumciser to say,
Speaker 2: this is not a religious procedure, it is just a
Speaker 2: health procedure. Okay, it's an exact equivalent, though obviously I
Speaker 2: would take a different side on that one. In that case,
Speaker 2: I would want the moel to do it, but at
Speaker 2: least you'd understand that's the the same exact procedure, but
Speaker 2: depending on who does it, it has a totally different meaning.
Speaker 1: This episode of timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.
Speaker 2: Verse three. It required forty days for such as the
Speaker 2: full period of embalming. The Egyptians bewailed him seventy days.
Speaker 2: So was it seventy plus or forty plus thirty is
Speaker 2: not totally clear, but not critical to our understanding. And
Speaker 2: when the whaling period was over, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh's court, saying,
Speaker 2: do me this favor and lay this appeal before Pharaoh.
Speaker 2: My father made me swear saying I am about to die,
Speaker 2: be sure to bury me in the grave which I
Speaker 2: made ready for myself in the land of Canan. Now, therefore,
Speaker 2: let me go up and bury my father. Then I
Speaker 2: shall return. According to Sarna these words, then I shall return.
Speaker 2: The assurance reflects an undercurrent of anxiety and hints it's
Speaker 2: something of a deterioration in the situation of the Israelites
Speaker 2: in Egypt. I think there might there might be just
Speaker 2: to conjecture another hint of a slight deterioration. It is
Speaker 2: not Joseph speaking directly to Pharaoh. It is him speaking
Speaker 2: to Pharaoh's court and having them transmit the message. Though
Speaker 2: there might be another explanation for that. Being in contact
Speaker 2: with the dead might have rendered him non pure enough
Speaker 2: to speak to Pharaoh, which is some of what some
Speaker 2: of the commentaries that I read offered. Anyway, just both
Speaker 2: both thoughts from son and myself. Okay, verse six, and
Speaker 2: Pharaoh said go up and bury your father, as he
Speaker 2: made you promise on oath. So Joseph went up to
Speaker 2: bury his father, and with him went up all the
Speaker 2: officials of Pharaoh, the senior members of his court, and
Speaker 2: all of Egypt's dignitaries, together with all of Joseph's household,
Speaker 2: his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their flocks,
Speaker 2: and their herds were left in the region of Goshen,
Speaker 2: which is where the Jews lived. Chariots too and horsemen
Speaker 2: went up with him. It was a very large troop.
Speaker 2: Why the chariots be in case they met with enemies.
Speaker 2: After all, they were leaving Egypt, that's the theory. When
Speaker 2: they came to goren Hatad, which were not sure where
Speaker 2: that is, which is beyond the Jordan. Now I'll reach
Speaker 2: you something on that. In the moment they held there
Speaker 2: a very great and solemn lamentation, and he observed a
Speaker 2: morning period of seven days for his father. I'm sure
Speaker 2: many of you who are Jewish of the term to
Speaker 2: sit shiva is the Hebrew word seven. That's all it means.
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean mourning. To sit seven is what sit
Speaker 2: shiva means. It is obviously this ancient that it goes
Speaker 2: back to pre ten Commandments, pre Jews, Jews is Jews
Speaker 2: even times. That is how old. Apparently the Egyptians even
Speaker 2: had it some element of sitting seven days and mourning
Speaker 2: a death. So he observed shiva. That's how old it is.
Speaker 2: It's remarkable to think when you know somebody doing it now,
Speaker 2: how old the tradition goes back. I don't want to
Speaker 2: spend much time on this at all, but I will
Speaker 2: tell you that it is truly to me one of
Speaker 2: the wisest policies in Judaism to have people take that
Speaker 2: seven day period off, and the laws surrounding it are
Speaker 2: very wise in my opinion, where you basically just sit
Speaker 2: at home and people visit you, and there are even
Speaker 2: laws in Judaism about what you talk about when you
Speaker 2: visit somebody who's sitting shiver, and the basic law is
Speaker 2: you talk about anything they want to talk about. You
Speaker 2: don't raise the subject. You let them raise the subject.
Speaker 2: If they want to talk about the dead, you talk
Speaker 2: about the dead person. If they want to talk about baseball,
Speaker 2: you talk about baseball. And by the way, I have
Speaker 2: been to homes that were sitting shiver where nothing was said.
Speaker 2: The person literally just sat there, and so did the others.
Speaker 2: If he wanted or she wanted to be quiet, she
Speaker 2: was quiet, he was quiet. And it's a very powerful
Speaker 2: thing too. It's funny because when I have been with
Speaker 2: non Jewish friends who have lost an immediate relative, it's
Speaker 2: only for immediate relatives. I have been raised in this environment.
Speaker 2: I'm always a little shaken by the speed with which
Speaker 2: my non Jewish friends re enter normal quote unquote normal life.
Speaker 2: It is to me incredible. You mean you are not
Speaker 2: taking time off. You've lost your mother, you've lost your father,
Speaker 2: or your child or your sibling, and you're going back
Speaker 2: to work tomorrow. You're going to be at the office
Speaker 2: at nine o'clock. Please understand, it's very normal for people
Speaker 2: to do this, but being steeped in this tradition. It's
Speaker 2: inconceivable to me, and I must say that I think
Speaker 2: there are psychological benefits to it, because it doesn't allow
Speaker 2: you to be a stoic. Judaism is not stoic stoical,
Speaker 2: whereas Protestantism, for example, tends to be a stiff upper
Speaker 2: lip is where you don't wear your emotions on your sleeves.
Speaker 2: In fact, you don't wear them almost anywhere in some
Speaker 2: cases where you are very Now there's a great nobility
Speaker 2: to that, don't get me wrong. And in a country
Speaker 2: which has made complaining and whining and art, I think
Speaker 2: we could use a great deal of some Protestant stiff
Speaker 2: upper lipism and Jews have certainly been in the forefront
Speaker 2: of the fletchers, which is Yiddish for complainers. So please
Speaker 2: understand that an excess of either is not healthy. But
Speaker 2: the idea that you you must mourn, you must take
Speaker 2: a week out except for the Sabbath when you stop mourning,
Speaker 2: because the Sabbath must be a happy day, even if
Speaker 2: it's the day after the funeral. The morning period stops
Speaker 2: for twenty four hours, but other than that you just
Speaker 2: stop life. Wait a minute, I've really had a big
Speaker 2: loss here. Even if you didn't love the person, you've
Speaker 2: had a big loss. And it let's lets people gather
Speaker 2: around you and give you support. And it's a very
Speaker 2: it's a very powerful part of the of of continued
Speaker 2: Jewish practice. Okay, what what verse? My friend whom? Eleven? Oh?
Speaker 2: I want to do something on ten. There is a
Speaker 2: very interesting thing that you wouldn't think is interesting unless
Speaker 2: I tell you it's interesting. When they came to go
Speaker 2: goreen Hatad, which is beyond the Jordan, they held a
Speaker 2: great solemn lamentation. All right, this is the party, right
Speaker 2: that is going to bury Jacob. Okay, what is beyond
Speaker 2: the Jordan? Mean? They are going from Egypt to Israel,
Speaker 2: not yet Israel Kanan, So what is beyond the Jordan?
Speaker 2: Clearly they did not go from Egypt to Israel via Jordan.
Speaker 2: I mean it's like, it's not going like this, It's
Speaker 2: it's absurd. Obviously they went straight up and the geography
Speaker 2: of the trip verifies this. So what is beyond the Jordan? Mean?
Speaker 2: Do you know the geograp that I'm talking about picture Egypt,
Speaker 2: the Gaza strip Israel. Today, if you go from Egypt
Speaker 2: to Israel. You do not go around the Jordan River,
Speaker 2: which is the eastern border of the West Bank, okay,
Speaker 2: or historical Israel or okay, it's I'm not going to
Speaker 2: get into politics here. You have Jordan on the on
Speaker 2: the east side, and you have the West Bank and
Speaker 2: Israel on the west side. Clearly they didn't go around.
Speaker 2: So what does on the other side of the Jordan mean?
Speaker 2: This is used by Hertz the Orthodox commentator, to say,
Speaker 2: you see, this is proof that the Torah was written
Speaker 2: by Moses. Moses is, by Jewish tradition, the writer of
Speaker 2: the Tuah. To Moses before he dies, what is the
Speaker 2: other side of the Jordan? Israel? He is on the
Speaker 2: eastern side of the So he is now talking about
Speaker 2: he is talking here and saying, oh, where did they go?
Speaker 2: They went to the other side of the Jordan. It
Speaker 2: makes no sense any other way except to a reader
Speaker 2: who's on the eastern side of the Jordan. So that's
Speaker 2: his argument for the Mosaic authorship of the Torah. Just
Speaker 2: wanted to offer that to you as an interesting I'm
Speaker 2: not saying it's incontrovertible. I'm merely offering to you it
Speaker 2: does mean. I mean it is clear that to the reader,
Speaker 2: then that sentence itself is contemporaneous with the jew on
Speaker 2: the other side of the Jordan. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense.
Speaker 2: It would have been here and they moved here if
Speaker 2: it was written by somebody in Israel. Okay, all right,
Speaker 2: we go to number eleven. Finally, and when the Canaanite
Speaker 2: inhabitants of the land saw the morning at God and
Speaker 2: huh todd, they said, this is a solemn morning on
Speaker 2: the part of the Egyptians. That is why it was
Speaker 2: named Aveil mitzrayem Avail is to mourn which is beyond
Speaker 2: the Jordan. See once again, Thus his sons did for
Speaker 2: him as he had instructed them his sons. His sons
Speaker 2: carried him to the land of Canan and buried him
Speaker 2: in the cave of the field of Makpela. Guess what's
Speaker 2: going to be coming up, guys. It has to be
Speaker 2: the single most repeated point in the Torah. Yep here
Speaker 2: it is the field there mam Rey, which Abraham had
Speaker 2: brought for a burial site from Fron the Hittite. There
Speaker 2: must have been some lingering problem to have closed the
Speaker 2: massive repetition. I think we got the point the first
Speaker 2: six times. That is my reaction, but it is. It
Speaker 2: is charming, if nothing else. After burying his father, Joseph
Speaker 2: returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who
Speaker 2: had gone up with him to bury his father fifteen fifty,
Speaker 2: verse fifteen. When Joseph's brother saw that their father was dead,
Speaker 2: they said, what if Joseph still bears a grudge against
Speaker 2: us and pays us back for all the wrong that
Speaker 2: we did him. It's which is a very interesting thing. Obviously,
Speaker 2: it doesn't mean when they literally saw their father was dead.
Speaker 2: They knew that he was dead. But they're saying, when
Speaker 2: you know now that he was dead all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: can you imagine this is seventeen or so years later
Speaker 2: after meeting the brother and they are now still afraid.
Speaker 2: Maybe the reason that he didn't hurt us for selling
Speaker 2: him into slavery is because Dad was still alive. Isn't
Speaker 2: it incredible how long talk about punishment, that Joseph didn't
Speaker 2: have to do a thing for the brothers to be punished.
Speaker 2: This is about as self evident as you can get. Uh, oh,
Speaker 2: that is dead. We're finished. Now he can do what
Speaker 2: he wants. He was not hurting us because Jacob was
Speaker 2: still alive. So verse sixteen, this is really remarkable. They
Speaker 2: sent this message to Joseph. They didn't even want to,
Speaker 2: They didn't want to appear before him in person. They
Speaker 2: sent this message to Joseph before is dead. I don't know,
Speaker 2: I don't know why, but generally we say dad, right
Speaker 2: or our father, your father. I'm gonna do this. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna call my brother tomorrow and say, you know what
Speaker 2: your father told me the other day, and he'll still
Speaker 2: flip up. He'll think, you know, I've gone nutty again.
Speaker 2: But you know, you have to realize what I mean.
Speaker 2: It is very interest thing that they use that language.
Speaker 2: It strikes me as so obvious that they're reminding him
Speaker 2: your father, to whom you owe allegiance first, As one
Speaker 2: medieval Jewish commentator at Ravnel pointed out, they make no
Speaker 2: petition on the basis of brotherly love or brotherly duty.
Speaker 2: Solely the most primal your father, Joseph, your father. Your
Speaker 2: father has asked the following. Okay, your father left this instruction,
Speaker 2: So shall you say to Joseph forgive I urge you
Speaker 2: the offense and guilt of your brothers who treated you
Speaker 2: so heartily. Therefore, please forgive the offense of the servants
Speaker 2: of the God of your father. That is the other
Speaker 2: way in which they get him to try to forgive
Speaker 2: them by invoking God, first your father and then the
Speaker 2: God of your father. Now, before I read the next sentence,
Speaker 2: this is all beloney. The whole thing is a lie.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know they made this whole scenario up.
Speaker 2: In fact, it is clear from the Blessings at the
Speaker 2: end that his whole life till he died. In other words,
Speaker 2: Jacob never knew what his sons did to Joseph. Isn't
Speaker 2: that fascinating because of course he would have made reference
Speaker 2: to it in the Blessings. He made reference to the
Speaker 2: way they treated the Chemites, remember Shimon and Levy, no reference,
Speaker 2: totally oblivious, did not know what happened, or are knew
Speaker 2: and didn't want to ask, you know, like parents can
Speaker 2: suspect all parents have this. There is no reason to
Speaker 2: tell me, darling is an attitude that you have, for example,
Speaker 2: perhaps to your single daughter. I don't want to know
Speaker 2: all the details of your social life because I will
Speaker 2: die if I find out. That is a very common
Speaker 2: fatherly and motherly thing. You know, you don't want to
Speaker 2: know everything. My suspicion is that he did not want
Speaker 2: to know. I mean, he could have, you know, he
Speaker 2: could have pursued what exactly happened to Joseph that you know,
Speaker 2: he turns up alive at the end of my life?
Speaker 2: Where were you? How did you get there? We have
Speaker 2: no record of that whatsoever. He didn't ask and they
Speaker 2: didn't tell. So they make up what the rabbis called
Speaker 2: a white lie. The rest of us might call a
Speaker 2: total law. I mean, when you when you manufacture something
Speaker 2: out of whole cloth, it's fair to say it's a lie.
Speaker 2: They they made this whole thing up. But it's a
Speaker 2: very interesting thing about how the Jewish tradition deals with
Speaker 2: this lie.
Speaker 1: This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.
Speaker 2: I will go to Plout for this one. This is
Speaker 2: different from the Catholic tradition. Incidentally, this is from the Talmud.
Speaker 2: First Plout, the brothers told Joseph about Jacob's last instructions,
Speaker 2: of which, however, nothing is recorded, said Rabbi Ela. This
Speaker 2: is in the Talmud, a person may tell a white
Speaker 2: lie for the sake of peace. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel
Speaker 2: taught greatest peace for even the tribal ancestors resorted to
Speaker 2: a fabrication in order to make peace between Joseph and themselves.
Speaker 2: This is a fascinating issue which I won't spend too
Speaker 2: much time on, but it is very relevant to our
Speaker 2: understanding hold on. The Jewish tradition is very very much
Speaker 2: context oriented in assessing the morality of an act. I
Speaker 2: refer you to another article of mine. No act is
Speaker 2: always wrong. In the past issue of my journal, lying
Speaker 2: is not always wrong, it is usually wrong. And the
Speaker 2: same can be said about killing, about stealing, about anything
Speaker 2: in fact and literally anything the context that's not moral relativism.
Speaker 2: This is a common misconception which is plained havoc with
Speaker 2: morality in our time. To say that context determines an
Speaker 2: act does not undermine moral absolutes. It's just you have
Speaker 2: to know what the absolute morality is in any given context. Here,
Speaker 2: as I said, the Jewish tradition differs from Catholic teaching.
Speaker 2: I've learned this from Catholic priests, for example. I remember
Speaker 2: this from religion on the line. Quite a number of
Speaker 2: times when people say, what do you mean it's okay
Speaker 2: to lie? Sometimes I'll say, here's my example, and I've
Speaker 2: given it one hundred times. A man is chasing a
Speaker 2: woman whom he intends to rape, and he asks you
Speaker 2: where did she run? I want to rape her. It
Speaker 2: would seem to me and to my religion that you
Speaker 2: have to lie to him, Tell him she ran over there.
Speaker 2: The Catholic tradition holds that in no circumstance can you
Speaker 2: tell a lie. What you can do is him around
Speaker 2: the truth. He says, well, you know, it's you know,
Speaker 2: it's not easy to really know exactly and you know,
Speaker 2: or whatever they might say, but lying is absolutely wrong
Speaker 2: and always wrong. I'm not going to again. The point
Speaker 2: is not to say I have a better religion. It's
Speaker 2: only to show that there is a distinctiveness in religious
Speaker 2: treatment of certain subjects. Here is an example, the Jewish
Speaker 2: tradition that the brothers did a good thing for the
Speaker 2: sake of family peace. They're saying in the Talmud. The
Speaker 2: rabbis are saying, it's okay to tell a lie. Now.
Speaker 2: What they mean, of course, is that there are a hierarchy.
Speaker 2: There is a hierarchy of good in life, truth being
Speaker 2: incredibly important. The Torah itself says mitvark tkak. From a lie,
Speaker 2: you must you must from a word of lying, you
Speaker 2: must remove your make yourself far to be literal, put
Speaker 2: great distance between you and a lie. In fact, you
Speaker 2: mentioned numerology. You'll find this a great example of it.
Speaker 2: The words for truth and for a lie in Hebrew
Speaker 2: are very interesting. The word for truth is shech er,
Speaker 2: which is the next to last, third to last, and
Speaker 2: fourth to last words in the Hebrew alphabet alphabet shin
Speaker 2: kuf raich okay, and which is actually kufrashin as it happens,
Speaker 2: but they're the last three. And the word for truth, ammet,
Speaker 2: is the first letter, the middle letter, and the last letter.
Speaker 2: Truth encompasses all all things. The lie is a tiny,
Speaker 2: tiny bit of reality. It's just an interesting use of words,
Speaker 2: and I don't think it's completely coincidental, but who knows.
Speaker 2: Be that as it may. The Jewish tradition allows for
Speaker 2: this in cases of shalloon bay it peace in a home.
Speaker 2: Their rabbinic value of home peace is so great that
Speaker 2: you could tell a lie to keep it. Now, remember
Speaker 2: this has nothing to do with the government, Okay, This
Speaker 2: does not allow lying on macro. This is very micro
Speaker 2: to preserve the peace of a home, which shows by
Speaker 2: the way, you know, we are now becoming aware of
Speaker 2: how much, for example, how much child abuse and how
Speaker 2: much wife beating there is in the world, and for
Speaker 2: that matter, tragically in our own society. Clearly this has
Speaker 2: always been the human condition. Tragically that the rabbis would
Speaker 2: pick specifically shalom buy it peace in a family, in
Speaker 2: a home to be the thing you could lie for.
Speaker 2: Gives you an idea of how they loathed intra family
Speaker 2: violence and so it was. It gives you a lot
Speaker 2: of ideas what they built up on this. The brothers lied,
Speaker 2: you would think the tradition would have said, because the
Speaker 2: tradition has no problem in criticizing I've told you this
Speaker 2: many times. The Jewish tradition has no problem in criticizing
Speaker 2: anyone in the Bible, from Moses to Abraham. But in
Speaker 2: this case they defend the brother's outright on the basis
Speaker 2: that I just cited. Yep, you hear us.
Speaker 4: A look at it.
Speaker 2: They're just trying to protect Yes, you're right, but fine,
Speaker 2: they're trying to protect themselves. But they're also trying to
Speaker 2: protect the family. You're right, it's not a selfless act
Speaker 2: of untruth, but it's an untruth that preserves the ability
Speaker 2: of the family. I mean, what if it were true
Speaker 2: that Joseph had plans to kill them or to make
Speaker 2: them all slaves. Was it not worth their telling this?
Speaker 2: Dad said that you shouldn't hurt us, even if it
Speaker 2: is self serving. Yeah, he did, he understand is the
Speaker 2: saving device that Joseph knows their honey, and they're actually
Speaker 2: asking for forgiveness to stay their face. They use their
Speaker 2: and your personal thing that your dad said and did.
Speaker 2: Everyone knows what's going on. I don't think everybody knows
Speaker 2: what's going on. Oh, I'll tell you why Joseph cried
Speaker 2: in a moment, And to me, that proves that he
Speaker 2: didn't that he didn't fully know all the things that
Speaker 2: were going on or or or or or actually it
Speaker 2: might be he knew what was going on. Well, I'll
Speaker 2: tell you the next sentence is he cried. I believe
Speaker 2: he cried. Others may have a different interpret I think
Speaker 2: he cried because he realized, you guys are still worried.
Speaker 2: Seventeen years you're walking around thinking that when dad dies,
Speaker 2: I am going to hurt you that I'm still walking
Speaker 2: around though I am the Viceroy of Egypt, I'm still
Speaker 2: walking around angry at you, even though I know God
Speaker 2: is the one who got me here, which is exactly
Speaker 2: what he's going to say to them. That's why he cried,
Speaker 2: I feel terrible for you. You're walking around with this
Speaker 2: awful burden. I bet you many of you have had
Speaker 2: that with a loved one where after years or somehow
Speaker 2: you found out that they had a burden visa vu
Speaker 2: that you never even think about. It makes you cry.
Speaker 2: Oh my God, I wish I only knew I could
Speaker 2: have relieved you of that burden ten years ago, and
Speaker 2: you're still walking around with it. So that's why I
Speaker 2: think he cried. Yep.
Speaker 3: Well, in that context, if you read the next two
Speaker 3: sentences afterwards.
Speaker 2: Where where Joseph.
Speaker 3: Have to buy their life, because from his point of view,
Speaker 3: he's saying, I know you to be evil, but God
Speaker 3: be needed that way.
Speaker 2: He says, God meant for to all come out for good. Right,
Speaker 2: So in that context they find it really interesting.
Speaker 3: Is the rail life interpreted what the brothers did as
Speaker 3: a lie for the purpose of Sholong life when it
Speaker 3: seems like a ball faced life or of you know,
Speaker 3: self preservation.
Speaker 2: Against Joseph, Well, that's what I said, though I said
Speaker 2: he even if it was a bald faced life of
Speaker 2: self preservation, that still is peace in the family. I mean,
Speaker 2: the fact that it isn't altruistic doesn't make it less important.
Speaker 2: It It is possible to be self serving and do
Speaker 2: the right thing. It's also possible to be altruistic and
Speaker 2: do a terrible thing. So why I prefer capitalism which
Speaker 2: is self serving, to socialism, which is altruistic. The results
Speaker 2: are more altruistic among the self serving economy than it
Speaker 2: is a in in the in the altruistic economy. Couldn't
Speaker 2: he have cried because it brought back memories of what
Speaker 2: they had done the aim? Might he have cried because
Speaker 2: it brought back memories of what they did to him?
Speaker 2: I think at this point, after about eighty years in Egypt,
Speaker 2: that the guy is not walking around with all these scars.
Speaker 2: Can I ask you something about the embomding to the factor?
Speaker 1: Something they talked about the emboming in here, and my
Speaker 1: knowledge Jews don't are not.
Speaker 2: Supposed to be right, so I wonder, Yeah, the purpose
Speaker 2: was to preserve him only for that burial. There also,
Speaker 2: there is no question that they adopted some of the
Speaker 2: practices of Egypt.
Speaker 1: And why don't we involved there?
Speaker 2: Why don't we embalm? I don't know the general answer.
Speaker 2: The probable general answer, unless there was an absolute specific
Speaker 2: that I'm missing, would be that the body is supposed
Speaker 2: to return to the earth, the body itself. Judaism is
Speaker 2: intense about acknowledging that we die. That is why it
Speaker 2: is so quiet about an afterlife, even though it affirms it.
Speaker 2: The moment you talk about the next world, people filled
Speaker 2: with pain in this world will just focus on it,
Speaker 2: which on which, unfortunately is precisely what happens in our
Speaker 2: world now. So embalming is a statement that Ah, the
Speaker 2: body will continue in this journey to the next world.
Speaker 2: That's not the way it works in Judaism. The body
Speaker 2: goes back. You're dead. Death is death. Yes, yes, it's
Speaker 2: an interesting point. Is is it possible that that he
Speaker 2: that Judah got a better blessing because of because Jacob
Speaker 2: knew that he had played this this positive role. It's
Speaker 2: it's possible. It's possible, And he didn't say anything. You're right,
Speaker 2: I did mention that. Uh, but there were other reasons
Speaker 2: for Jude as well. Judah did become the spokesman of
Speaker 2: the brothers and the leader. Also, depending on when exactly
Speaker 2: it was written, by that time, Judah became very By
Speaker 2: a later time, Judah was in fact the leading leader tribe. Yes,
Speaker 2: I mean admire the way scream. Who will make that
Speaker 2: to your wife? Whatever? Well, we tell it all the time.
Speaker 2: I assume that if your if your daughter is going
Speaker 2: to the prom and she is overweight and she says,
Speaker 2: how do I look? Mom, You're not gonna say plump? Okay?
Speaker 2: I why not? If you're going to be a truth teller,
Speaker 2: you have to say, well, quite honestly, darling fat, But
Speaker 2: for the sake of preserving peace in the home and
Speaker 2: many other reasons, you're gonna say you're gorgeous, my dear.
Speaker 2: That's a perfect example why that's not superficial piece. Oh
Speaker 2: there there are. There's all sorts of things you might
Speaker 2: you might you know, listen. I don't want to get
Speaker 2: too specific because it would end up auto biographical, because
Speaker 2: I don't know your family nearly as well as I
Speaker 2: know mine. I can tell you, though, as I I
Speaker 2: as a lu to it earlier, that it is a
Speaker 2: very rare parent who wants to know all the details.
Speaker 2: And it's a very foolish child who tells every single
Speaker 2: detail even though they know that it is not necessary
Speaker 2: that the parent knows it and it might hurt them.
Speaker 2: As I said about their sex life, for example, it
Speaker 2: is just not necessary to tell that. There could be
Speaker 2: any number of things. Kids who are who don't follow
Speaker 2: in the exact religious ways of their parents, for example,
Speaker 2: do they have to announce it to them. I run
Speaker 2: my home differently than you do, mom, you do Dad,
Speaker 2: and hurt their feelings. There are not certain acts that
Speaker 2: you might put on to keep your parents happy when
Speaker 2: they visit, or vice versa. Oh, I think for family,
Speaker 2: I mean is it is a ludicrous principle let it
Speaker 2: all out, totally absolutely true. It's also ludicrous to lie
Speaker 2: about everything. That is why my favorite thing in the
Speaker 2: human species is common sense, which is Mark Twain noted
Speaker 2: is a misnown It is not common at all, and
Speaker 2: that's a very rare You have to know when it
Speaker 2: is foolish to just live and act. On the other hand,
Speaker 2: to let it all hang out. Hey, you know why
Speaker 2: you know I slept with last night? Me and mother
Speaker 2: may not want to know. To be perfectly honest, Okay,
Speaker 2: you're you know, you're the single daughter, and you're and
Speaker 2: you're you know, you're sowing your wild oats. May not
Speaker 2: be the first thing that she needs to know. So uh,
Speaker 2: that's these are these you know, and and you all
Speaker 2: have I have no doubt every single one of you
Speaker 2: has fibbed for the sake of family piece at some point.
Speaker 2: It is inconceivable to me that you haven't. And I
Speaker 2: find it touching that the Rabbis use the white lie
Speaker 2: only for that Shalom buy it peace in the house,
Speaker 2: because and as I said, if that doesn't illustrate the antiquity,
Speaker 2: the oldness of family violence, then nothing does. Okay, So
Speaker 2: here's the brothers and the white lie idea we are
Speaker 2: So then he cries, what am I up to? Eighteen?
Speaker 2: And Joseph was in tears as they spoke to him.
Speaker 2: And for the reason that I believe you may have
Speaker 2: another reason, I think mine makes sense. His brothers went
Speaker 2: to him themselves. You see. Now, they went directly after
Speaker 2: they got the word to him, flung themselves before him,
Speaker 2: just as the dream predicted a long time ago, and said,
Speaker 2: we're prepared to be your slaves. But Joseph said to them,
Speaker 2: have no fear. Am I a substitute for God? Now
Speaker 2: listen to this. Do you know I'll give you a
Speaker 2: I will give a bubblegum cigar to anyone. I know
Speaker 2: you're all dying to have one, anyone who can tell
Speaker 2: me when else? And Jenis did somebody say the exact
Speaker 2: same words, am I a substitute for God? And not
Speaker 2: Canaan Abele with Sarah and Abraham go on say it.
Speaker 2: She started blaming him for not having a baby, and
Speaker 2: he said, am I a substitute for God? What are
Speaker 2: you blaming me for? Here's a classic example of where
Speaker 2: the Rabbis take context. They blamed Abraham for his outburst
Speaker 2: at his wife. Here the same words are used, am
Speaker 2: I a substitute for God? And it is a perfectly
Speaker 2: appropriate usage. Context determines everything. Everything he is saying to them,
Speaker 2: am I a substitute for God? Now? I can't blame
Speaker 2: you God. God engineered the whole thing, intended it for good. Besides,
Speaker 2: although you intended me harm, you had to rub it
Speaker 2: in a little bit. He is human. God intended it
Speaker 2: for good so as to bring about the present result.
Speaker 2: The survival of many people, which is an interesting thing.
Speaker 2: The obvious implication would mean that it was the Jewish people, right,
Speaker 2: but it could also be Egyptians. He saved innumerable Egyptians
Speaker 2: from starvation. So it's an interesting We don't know exactly,
Speaker 2: even though I'm sure that the tradition would hold that
Speaker 2: it was that it was the Jewish people, and so
Speaker 2: fear not, I'll sustain you and your children. By the way,
Speaker 2: this is another example, Sarna says of where there's a
Speaker 2: slight deterioration hinted at between relations of relations between the
Speaker 2: Egyptians and the Jews. He says, I will sustain you,
Speaker 2: not egypt will. At least they use that as a hint.
Speaker 2: Take it as you will. I will sustain you and
Speaker 2: your children. Thus you reassured them speaking kindly to them.
Speaker 2: I need to read you something about kindly plout.
Speaker 3: On this.
Speaker 2: The rabbis talk in mid Rush about how kindly and
Speaker 2: good Joseph was to his brothers. Here, he who shows
Speaker 2: himself merciful to his fellow men proves thereby that he
Speaker 2: is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and he
Speaker 2: who is cruel to his fellow men, proves that he
Speaker 2: is no descendant of theirs. It is a very interesting thing,
Speaker 2: are their traits? Do different peoples have different traits? Now,
Speaker 2: while I always believe in the sanctity of the individual,
Speaker 2: and that you can never say, oh, this individual is
Speaker 2: a member of this group, therefore has the following traits,
Speaker 2: that's pure racism. It is also silly to deny that
Speaker 2: different cultures produce different characteristics. And it is an interesting
Speaker 2: question when Jews have self defined themselves, what did they
Speaker 2: find was their best trait and what they found was
Speaker 2: their worst trait? The worst trait is, as it's in
Speaker 2: the Arif, an extremely stubbed people, which is a fair statement.
Speaker 2: The positive trait that Jews assigned to themselves was merciful
Speaker 2: rachmana benet rachmanah merciful children of merciful ones. Now that
Speaker 2: every Jew is merciful, of course nonsense, obviously not. But
Speaker 2: it was an interesting thing of the Rabbis to isolate
Speaker 2: that trait. If you're cruel somehow or other, you can't
Speaker 2: really be a Jew. That's what they're saying in in
Speaker 2: the Tumut. It's so if you're if you lie, if
Speaker 2: you have committed adultery, if you steal. Unfortunately, we certainly
Speaker 2: won't say you're not Jewish. If you're tricky, if you
Speaker 2: complain a lot, Okay, if you start a lot of
Speaker 2: different movements. That's my addition. You know, we're certainly not
Speaker 2: going to say, boy that that that rules you out.
Speaker 2: But if you're sadistic, if you're cruel, if you love cruelty.
Speaker 2: The Jewish self description has been that you can't really
Speaker 2: be a Jew, and and I it's it's it's a
Speaker 2: touching one and I think I think there is some
Speaker 2: truth to it. And I am very critical of Jews,
Speaker 2: as many of you know, but I think that there
Speaker 2: is some truth to this. Uh, it is not a
Speaker 2: you know, Israel has been at war many times. I
Speaker 2: don't think an army in history has raped and pillaged
Speaker 2: as little as the Israeli army has. It just didn't
Speaker 2: seem to be part of their constitution. I mean a
Speaker 2: lot of miserable traits and so on. And I am
Speaker 2: very wary about talking like this because I so loathe
Speaker 2: any racial type of thinking. And I don't believe this
Speaker 2: is racial. I just believe that certain characteristics may be engendered.
Speaker 2: For example, Peter Singer points out, and I certainly have
Speaker 2: problems with his book Animal Liberation. He goes too far,
Speaker 2: in my opinion, But he does make a point, and
Speaker 2: I don't mean this to be critical, I mean it
Speaker 2: to be descriptive, how he says, and he can't stand
Speaker 2: any religion, so he's not making a pro Jewish point here.
Speaker 2: But he says a while he has a lot of
Speaker 2: problems with the Bible, at least the Hebrew Bible is
Speaker 2: filled with laws on how you treat animals, where as
Speaker 2: he said, the New Testament is silent on that issue.
Speaker 2: Say that, I mean, Protestants founded all the societies for
Speaker 2: the prevention of cruel to animals, and their record is
Speaker 2: beautiful in so many areas. So please, you know, don't
Speaker 2: take this it all the wrong way. But for example,
Speaker 2: cruelty to an animal is very alien, and that to
Speaker 2: the Jewish consciousness. There is a story told, and even
Speaker 2: if it's not true, it is it is interesting that
Speaker 2: the story is so widespread of a Jew in Poland
Speaker 2: who was taken away by the Nazis to be gased
Speaker 2: at Auschwitz and who yelled out of his train to
Speaker 2: a neighbor, a Polish neighbor don't forget to feed the chickens.
Speaker 2: That as he is boarding the train he remembers about
Speaker 2: the animals that he left that he had in his village.
Speaker 2: Even if apocryphal it is, it is a self descriptive story.
Speaker 2: And I have resonated because those of you who know
Speaker 2: me at all know how much I speak about the
Speaker 2: absolute critical importance of goodness. I attribute that to my
Speaker 2: Jewish upbringing, to my being steeped in Judaism in the
Speaker 2: healthiest way. There is a very unhealthy way to be
Speaker 2: steeped in Judaism, as could be for any religion.
Speaker 4: So I know that.
Speaker 2: But this massive emphasis, and by the way I think
Speaker 2: it is, it is so much so that a lot
Speaker 2: of Jews have taken the compassion thing and have overdone it,
Speaker 2: where the government becomes compassionate, whereas the government should be
Speaker 2: just an individuals should be compassionate. But that Jewish predilection
Speaker 2: to compassion, even when I think it's misguided, as I
Speaker 2: think it is so often in political life, derives from
Speaker 2: this self definition. You know, take it as you will,
Speaker 2: but it is. It is. At least it's interesting to
Speaker 2: see how people define their own selves or their own
Speaker 2: religion and that's what the Rabbi spoke of here, and
Speaker 2: his goodness to his brothers merits Joejoseph the great title
Speaker 2: of Josef haTzadik, the only Jew in Judaism history who
Speaker 2: had in biblical history given the title sadik. Absolutely righteous
Speaker 2: one is Joseph. If you don't say Mosha haTzadik, you
Speaker 2: don't say it about Moses. But it is said about Joseph,
Speaker 2: and it is over his goodness and especially to his brothers.
Speaker 2: As you can see here he cried for their pain.
Speaker 2: That that's what really is happening in the final chapter
Speaker 2: of Genesis. It's very very touching. What verse am I
Speaker 2: up to twenty two? So Joseph and his father's household
Speaker 2: remained in Egypt. Joseph lived one hundred and ten years.
Speaker 2: Interesting in Judaism it's one hundred and twenty. You know,
Speaker 2: you say you should live till one hundred and twenty.
Speaker 2: In Egypt it was you should live till one hundred
Speaker 2: and ten, and so he lived the Egyptian ideal number
Speaker 2: of years. I have to decide with the egypt view. Frankly,
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty is a little too long in
Speaker 2: my opinion. Joseph lived to see children of the third
Speaker 2: generation of Ephraim, the children of Mahir, son of Minashe
Speaker 2: were likewise born upon Joseph's knees. That length, Joseph said
Speaker 2: to his brothers, now couldn't be his brothers literally, they
Speaker 2: by this point are probably dead. He was the youngest,
Speaker 2: and he's one hundred and ten, so unless i Iman
Speaker 2: the youngest ecept for Benjamin. But he's younger than all
Speaker 2: of them except Benjamin, and he is one hundred and ten,
Speaker 2: So it obviously has to be is the tribes. I
Speaker 2: am about to die. God will surely take notice of
Speaker 2: you and bring you up from this land to the
Speaker 2: land that he promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac
Speaker 2: and to Jacob. So Joseph made the sons of Israel
Speaker 2: swear saying, when God has taken notice of you, in
Speaker 2: other words, when God Odd is ready to take you
Speaker 2: out of Egypt, you shall carry up my bones from here.
Speaker 2: The prelude for the Slavery is now being set, as
Speaker 2: well as the Exodus and the final verse of Genesis.
Speaker 2: Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years,
Speaker 2: and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt,
Speaker 2: to which when you finish a book of the Torah
Speaker 2: in Judaism, you say, Kazakh kazakh venit kraaseik, may we
Speaker 2: be strong and strengthen each other. And I am thrilled
Speaker 2: to death that I have finished the Book of Genesis
Speaker 2: with you, thank you very much.
Speaker 1: On Tomorrow's Sunday fireside chat.
Speaker 2: What I don't understand is I hate world music. It
Speaker 2: bothers me. I feel like it's a cop out. It's
Speaker 2: like reggae with more people, and I just don't like it.
Speaker 4: So if I was attending a college and they were
Speaker 4: going to have a world music festival, I would simply
Speaker 4: not leave my dorm that day, or I would go to.
Speaker 2: The park and study. But I wouldn't feel.
Speaker 4: Threatened, and I wouldn't try to shut down the concert.
Speaker 4: I would just announce that I will not be attending
Speaker 4: because I don't agree and don't enjoy.
Speaker 1: Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with
Speaker 1: Dennis Prigger. Visit Dennisprigger dot com for thousands of hours
Speaker 1: off Dennis's lectures, courses in classic radio programs, and to
Speaker 1: purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. We want to take just
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