WEBVTT - Timeless Wisdom: Why Pray? 0:00:21.500 --> 0:00:25.820 Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Here thousands of 0:00:25.860 --> 0:00:29.500 hours of Dennis's lectures courses in classic radio programs. Had 0:00:29.500 --> 0:00:39.780 to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles. Go to Dennisprager dot com. 0:00:39.780 --> 0:00:42.060 Thank you for coming. I must tell you I was 0:00:43.060 --> 0:00:47.260 stunned to see all the cars in Los Angeles. If 0:00:47.260 --> 0:00:52.500 it goes under seventy, they cancel the lecture. To see 0:00:52.860 --> 0:00:55.340 this number of people show up on a miserable day 0:00:56.580 --> 0:01:00.380 is shows that, if nothing else, you build part of 0:01:00.460 --> 0:01:01.460 your souls in the east. 0:01:02.380 --> 0:01:05.020 But I really was, I was quite taken. 0:01:05.060 --> 0:01:09.060 I thought it would be basically the Rabbi, candor officers. 0:01:08.460 --> 0:01:11.060 And I this morning. 0:01:11.740 --> 0:01:13.820 So I am very delighted to see all of you, 0:01:13.860 --> 0:01:17.340 and do wish you wish about you alone? Just one, 0:01:17.380 --> 0:01:20.260 by the way, I must tell you what doctor a 0:01:20.340 --> 0:01:24.860 goal that that was a very interesting introduction. To keep 0:01:24.860 --> 0:01:28.700 me awake through an introduction to me is an achievement 0:01:28.820 --> 0:01:31.660 having heard a few, and I appreciated that you took 0:01:31.700 --> 0:01:33.860 the time to do that. 0:01:34.500 --> 0:01:35.900 One slight amendment. 0:01:36.180 --> 0:01:38.100 I tried to make the case last night for more 0:01:38.140 --> 0:01:41.500 than the ten commandments. Just want to just want to 0:01:42.500 --> 0:01:44.700 I want to be relieved to know that that got through, 0:01:45.740 --> 0:01:48.420 or I would go back to Los Angeles a little 0:01:48.500 --> 0:01:53.300 disconcerted that only ten that I had left that impression. 0:01:54.620 --> 0:01:57.140 By the way, I am curious talking about that. How 0:01:57.180 --> 0:02:00.820 many of you, And you have no reason to fid me, 0:02:01.140 --> 0:02:02.860 but I am curious. How many of you who were 0:02:02.860 --> 0:02:06.740 here last night did in fact not turn on your. 0:02:06.740 --> 0:02:12.579 Radio in the car when you went home? Wow? Did 0:02:12.579 --> 0:02:18.460 you see that? That is question of those of you 0:02:18.620 --> 0:02:20.060 who did in fact. 0:02:19.900 --> 0:02:23.100 Raise your hand, which is the great majority, how many 0:02:23.180 --> 0:02:28.980 did find it a different experience as a result, about 0:02:29.020 --> 0:02:32.500 half of you, So for half it was not. It 0:02:32.540 --> 0:02:35.620 didn't mean anything either way. All right, keep trying. 0:02:35.380 --> 0:02:38.540 It, I do. I mean, give it, give it a couple. 0:02:38.260 --> 0:02:41.860 Of weeks, three four weeks, and see c indeed, but 0:02:41.900 --> 0:02:44.700 I do appreciate the fact that you gave it a try. 0:02:44.740 --> 0:02:47.860 That's all I can ask. Now. 0:02:47.940 --> 0:02:52.380 What's interesting? Once again, Rabbi Maler asked me to work hard, 0:02:52.940 --> 0:02:55.460 give a speech I never gave in my life, which 0:02:55.580 --> 0:02:57.940 in Jewish life that is now reaching a point of 0:02:58.340 --> 0:03:01.900 greater difficulty. I have exhausted quite a number of topics, 0:03:01.980 --> 0:03:04.739 or at least exhausted as a poor word. They're never exhaustible, 0:03:05.180 --> 0:03:07.660 but I have certainly devoted a lot of thinking to them, 0:03:07.780 --> 0:03:12.220 or a lot of speaking. Why pray. It's ironic that 0:03:12.260 --> 0:03:14.180 I should be giving it now. I actually should have 0:03:14.220 --> 0:03:17.859 given it before you prayed, now that I think about it, 0:03:17.940 --> 0:03:20.180 But hopefully the words will last till the next time 0:03:20.220 --> 0:03:20.580 you pray. 0:03:22.740 --> 0:03:25.540 I want to say one other word about this. 0:03:26.980 --> 0:03:29.660 Rabbi Mahler has asked me to speak on my weakest 0:03:29.980 --> 0:03:32.340 area in Jewish life. 0:03:32.580 --> 0:03:35.780 However, However, there is a however here. 0:03:37.380 --> 0:03:40.380 I have found in my life either this was God's 0:03:40.420 --> 0:03:44.900 will and I mean that very sincerely, or just the 0:03:44.940 --> 0:03:47.060 way fate would have it. 0:03:47.300 --> 0:03:54.540 My lack of instinctive religiosity. 0:03:55.180 --> 0:03:57.700 Is a major reason that I have been able to 0:03:57.740 --> 0:04:01.140 be as persuasive as I am to the very very 0:04:01.180 --> 0:04:04.340 many Jews and non Jews for that matter, but in 0:04:04.660 --> 0:04:09.540 a different way, with who are also very skeptical and 0:04:09.620 --> 0:04:16.340 not inherently religious. See if faith and prayer, religiosity spirituality 0:04:16.460 --> 0:04:20.780 came to me easily came to me naturally, I don't 0:04:20.820 --> 0:04:25.260 think I would be a particularly good lecturer on it. 0:04:25.260 --> 0:04:28.180 It's the very fact that I have had to struggle 0:04:28.460 --> 0:04:31.299 every minute of the way in my own Judaism and 0:04:31.380 --> 0:04:36.420 my own religiosity from my childhood to this moment. That 0:04:36.539 --> 0:04:39.740 has made me capable of addressing the great number of 0:04:39.860 --> 0:04:44.419 Jews who also struggle. See, if it came to me naturally, 0:04:45.260 --> 0:04:47.179 then I wouldn't know what to say to you, folks. 0:04:47.260 --> 0:04:50.099 Hey, I feel it, I believe it, and I wish 0:04:50.220 --> 0:04:53.820 you did and have a great day, and nobody would 0:04:53.860 --> 0:04:55.260 be nobody would be affected. 0:04:56.180 --> 0:05:00.700 So that's why, ironically, the fact that prayer is so 0:05:00.940 --> 0:05:04.299 difficult for me, it's good that I'm speaking on it 0:05:04.380 --> 0:05:08.260 because while it does, I also deeply believe in its importance. 0:05:09.300 --> 0:05:14.179 So it's an important preamble to my thoughts on why pray? 0:05:14.820 --> 0:05:18.940 Now I'm answering this question primarily as a Jew. This 0:05:19.020 --> 0:05:22.700 is not a generic why prayer, even though this would 0:05:22.700 --> 0:05:25.660 be of relevance in many of the areas to non 0:05:25.740 --> 0:05:28.659 Jews as well, but I am specifically. This is a 0:05:28.740 --> 0:05:35.820 very specifically Jewish response. As usual, every talk I have 0:05:35.900 --> 0:05:39.060 given in my life is numbered. One of the nice 0:05:39.100 --> 0:05:41.140 things about that is is at the end I can 0:05:41.180 --> 0:05:44.060 summarize it for you, and if you fall asleep during 0:05:44.100 --> 0:05:46.660 one of the points, you know you only miss that point. 0:05:47.300 --> 0:05:50.540 So there are many advantages in talking in a numbered fashion. 0:05:51.860 --> 0:05:58.420 So I begin by offering the well not begin it is, 0:05:59.740 --> 0:06:04.580 I list for you four types of prayer, and in 0:06:04.660 --> 0:06:08.979 that way you will appreciate what I believe the importance 0:06:09.020 --> 0:06:13.140 of prayer is. Before I do, I have to say 0:06:13.180 --> 0:06:21.980 the one overriding philosophical view I have of prayer, overwhelmingly, 0:06:22.220 --> 0:06:27.180 the purpose of Jewish prayer is to affect you, not God. 0:06:28.220 --> 0:06:33.220 The moment you realize that you are open to taking 0:06:33.260 --> 0:06:36.780 it much more seriously if you are a skeptic, which 0:06:36.820 --> 0:06:41.779 is what most Jews are, I cannot over emphasize this point. 0:06:42.340 --> 0:06:46.339 The purpose of Jewish prayer is to affect the person 0:06:46.740 --> 0:06:52.820 making the prayer, not so much God. When you realize that, 0:06:53.260 --> 0:06:57.219 as I said, all of a sudden, hey, that makes sense. 0:06:57.740 --> 0:07:00.460 I do have to affect me. When do I get 0:07:00.460 --> 0:07:03.700 a chance to affect my soul? I affect my body, 0:07:03.740 --> 0:07:06.380 when I work out, when I eat. When do I 0:07:06.420 --> 0:07:10.980 affect my soul? If you think of prayer as how 0:07:11.020 --> 0:07:17.020 to affect your soul, your inner jewishness, your inner religiosity, 0:07:17.180 --> 0:07:20.140 and your spirit, makes a great. 0:07:19.940 --> 0:07:20.420 Deal more. 0:07:21.900 --> 0:07:24.740 The reason that many, and I would say most Jews 0:07:24.780 --> 0:07:28.820 have very serious problems with prayer is because when they 0:07:28.860 --> 0:07:33.460 think of the word pray, it is virtually synonymous with request. 0:07:34.740 --> 0:07:35.860 And I will show. 0:07:35.620 --> 0:07:39.220 You how that plays almost no role at all in 0:07:39.340 --> 0:07:45.580 Jewish prayer, almost none at all. It's remarkable the proof 0:07:45.900 --> 0:07:50.060 that it to pray in Judaism is to affect you 0:07:50.140 --> 0:07:55.180 and non God is the verb the Hebrew word to pray, 0:07:55.900 --> 0:08:01.260 and if you know any other language, Latin language is Slavic, Semitic. 0:08:01.940 --> 0:08:06.580 Virtually every language has this type of verb, except unfortunately English. 0:08:06.980 --> 0:08:09.179 It's called a reflexive verb. 0:08:10.580 --> 0:08:14.100 If you know Spanish or you know French, you know that. 0:08:14.220 --> 0:08:17.780 For example, when you say I wash my hands, literally 0:08:17.820 --> 0:08:21.940 you say I wash myself the hands. The word in 0:08:22.020 --> 0:08:27.540 frenchis si lave to wash oneself. If there's any verb 0:08:27.620 --> 0:08:30.940 you would never expect to be reflexive, in other words, 0:08:30.980 --> 0:08:34.099 coming back upon the doer, like I washed myself, it 0:08:34.140 --> 0:08:38.260 would be to pray. After all, the most obvious assumption 0:08:38.459 --> 0:08:43.580 is you pray outwardly, You pray towards something, you pray 0:08:43.699 --> 0:08:51.820 to God. In Judaism, le hit palel is the word 0:08:52.020 --> 0:08:55.860 to pray, and it is a reflexive verb, meaning you 0:08:55.900 --> 0:09:02.739 are doing something to yourself. You are pallawing to yourself. 0:09:03.420 --> 0:09:10.980 What does palal mean? To examine or to judge? Do 0:09:11.100 --> 0:09:14.140 you know what the Hebrew word to pray literally means 0:09:14.780 --> 0:09:22.100 to judge or to examine oneself? Nothing whatsoever to do 0:09:22.500 --> 0:09:25.819 with prayer, as it is commonly understood when we use 0:09:25.860 --> 0:09:29.460 the English term, which we have taken from Christianity, English 0:09:29.500 --> 0:09:32.780 being a Christian language more or less, which is not 0:09:32.900 --> 0:09:34.180 in any way a pejorative. 0:09:34.220 --> 0:09:37.780 It's just a fact. But if you'd say it in Hebrew, 0:09:37.980 --> 0:09:42.620 let's go meet palel and knew Hebrew? Truly? Well you go, Oh, 0:09:42.740 --> 0:09:44.219 let's go examine ourselves. 0:09:46.020 --> 0:09:52.180 What a difference. It's almost unconnected to what you normally 0:09:52.220 --> 0:09:58.260 assume prayer is. Okay, that's the first and most important point. Now, 0:09:58.340 --> 0:10:05.660 the four types of prayer, the first and rarest in 0:10:05.780 --> 0:10:09.860 Judaism is the one that you are most you most 0:10:09.900 --> 0:10:11.220 associate with prayer. 0:10:11.780 --> 0:10:19.700 It's petitionary prayer. Oh, please God do the following from 0:10:20.100 --> 0:10:23.180 heal my my mother who was ill, to heal me 0:10:23.460 --> 0:10:27.820 who was ill, to have our team win an important game. 0:10:28.700 --> 0:10:30.060 It would run that gamut. 0:10:30.860 --> 0:10:38.780 Okay, This, in Judaism and in pure logic, is a 0:10:38.940 --> 0:10:44.180 very very morally problematic form of prayer and will. I 0:10:44.179 --> 0:10:46.300 will give you an example. In fact, I gave it 0:10:46.340 --> 0:10:49.300 on the radio during the fires recently in Los Angeles. 0:10:51.260 --> 0:10:55.020 You're driving down the block of your where your home 0:10:55.100 --> 0:10:59.420 is located, and you see on your side a house 0:10:59.500 --> 0:11:04.740 is on fire. You instinctively mumble, oh God, let it 0:11:04.820 --> 0:11:10.100 not be my house. You have just prayed that at 0:11:10.220 --> 0:11:15.340 your neighbor's house be on fire. There is no other 0:11:15.500 --> 0:11:19.540 possible way to interpret that prayer. Oh God, let it 0:11:19.580 --> 0:11:21.819 not be my house me since there is a house 0:11:21.860 --> 0:11:25.339 on fire, Oh God, let it be the smiths, may 0:11:25.420 --> 0:11:29.860 their house burn down? Amen, that is what you are saying. 0:11:31.060 --> 0:11:33.860 This is a very serious problem. Petitionary prayer. I'll give 0:11:33.860 --> 0:11:37.340 you another one. Your daughter's getting married at an outdoor wedding, 0:11:37.700 --> 0:11:40.860 and you pray to God that had not rain. But 0:11:40.940 --> 0:11:43.660 what if the city needs rain? What if the farmer 0:11:43.700 --> 0:11:47.180 needs rain? What if they're having a special rain festival. 0:11:47.780 --> 0:11:52.620 Who's gods supposed to listen to the farmer or you? Now, 0:11:52.700 --> 0:11:54.939 let's go to the even more obvious one, or more 0:11:54.940 --> 0:11:58.459 if you will difficult one. Oh God, please heal my mother. 0:12:00.020 --> 0:12:02.380 But your mother is sharing a room with another woman. 0:12:02.460 --> 0:12:05.819 Equally virtuous is your mother. But she has no children, 0:12:07.540 --> 0:12:10.340 Should God pray your Should God heal your mother before 0:12:10.740 --> 0:12:14.660 the woman who has no children and therefore nobody to 0:12:14.700 --> 0:12:18.740 pray for her her husband died or she was never married. 0:12:21.780 --> 0:12:26.780 Very problematic. Petitionary prayer is very problematic. I have always 0:12:26.780 --> 0:12:31.540 felt that it's problematic in another way. Judaism, in fact, 0:12:31.860 --> 0:12:36.500 legislates you may not pray for what's already done. For example, 0:12:37.060 --> 0:12:41.980 your wife is pregnant. You're pregnant, and you may not pray, 0:12:42.100 --> 0:12:45.620 Oh let it be we really want a girl, we 0:12:45.700 --> 0:12:50.939 really want a boy. Can't It's already been decided by 0:12:51.020 --> 0:12:54.939 Jewish law. You can't even make that prayer. It's called superstition. 0:12:55.540 --> 0:12:59.540 It's which craft almost because it's already been done. 0:12:59.580 --> 0:13:01.340 God isn't going to change nature. 0:13:01.660 --> 0:13:07.300 It's already been decided at the moment of conception. So 0:13:07.380 --> 0:13:11.820 the whole notion of oh God, please do the following 0:13:11.900 --> 0:13:15.100 for this individual is a problematic notion. 0:13:16.300 --> 0:13:18.940 Either it's already been done, in which case God can't 0:13:19.060 --> 0:13:22.660 or will refuses to do anything, or you have the 0:13:22.700 --> 0:13:24.460 problem why this person. 0:13:25.500 --> 0:13:28.580 I'm not saying you shouldn't make such prayers. I think 0:13:28.580 --> 0:13:31.699 the one on the house is very problematic. I'm not saying, though, 0:13:31.740 --> 0:13:33.580 that you should not pray for your mother or your 0:13:33.700 --> 0:13:35.740 child God forbid being sick. 0:13:35.820 --> 0:13:36.620 No, not at all. 0:13:37.060 --> 0:13:40.220 I merely want you to understand the very serious problem 0:13:40.220 --> 0:13:42.780 with it, which is part of the reason why Judaism 0:13:42.820 --> 0:13:46.860 almost doesn't have it. It's not in here, It's not 0:13:46.900 --> 0:13:49.819 in the Reform, conservative or Orthodox prayer book of the 0:13:49.860 --> 0:13:50.540 Jewish people. 0:13:50.660 --> 0:13:51.580 Isn't that remarkable? 0:13:52.900 --> 0:13:55.540 We have no oh, please heal so and so. Yes, 0:13:55.580 --> 0:13:59.540 we have a mischabek. It is a later rabbinic addition 0:13:59.740 --> 0:14:03.500 because the Jews couldn't handle it. The absence of a 0:14:03.540 --> 0:14:08.140 petitionary prayer for a sick individual was too painful for Jews, 0:14:08.740 --> 0:14:11.500 and so it was added to the service. It is 0:14:11.660 --> 0:14:17.980 not part of the classic Jewish prayer book. Isn't that incredible? 0:14:18.860 --> 0:14:21.260 Something that has become so much? Oh, if you're sick, 0:14:21.300 --> 0:14:25.180 please come forward. I have come forward. I am not 0:14:25.220 --> 0:14:28.860 opposed to it, And the reason I am not opposed 0:14:28.860 --> 0:14:31.700 to it I will mention a little later. But you 0:14:31.860 --> 0:14:36.140 must understand how logically, morally and Jewishly it's problematic to 0:14:36.220 --> 0:14:40.060 pray for individual things. Please give, Please give. 0:14:41.140 --> 0:14:46.740 What I would pray for I and do is the 0:14:46.820 --> 0:14:50.620 strength to deal with what life or God has dealt me. 0:14:51.420 --> 0:14:55.900 And the wisdom with which to deal that, I think 0:14:56.060 --> 0:14:58.860 is a is more coherent. 0:14:59.460 --> 0:15:02.820 Oh, God, give us the strength to deal with whatever 0:15:02.900 --> 0:15:06.260 it is that life gives to me. That is to 0:15:06.300 --> 0:15:12.620 me a very powerful and virtuous, singular petitionary prayer. God 0:15:12.860 --> 0:15:17.980 is not, in Judaism, a celestial butler. And that is 0:15:18.020 --> 0:15:21.900 what God is. If you primarily see prayer as petition, 0:15:22.540 --> 0:15:26.500 it is God virtually as Santa Claus, this is what 0:15:26.580 --> 0:15:32.220 I want, Please deliver it. And by the way, it 0:15:32.300 --> 0:15:36.500 is never too soon to stop believing in that God. 0:15:37.460 --> 0:15:40.060 If you believe in that God, there's a very good 0:15:40.140 --> 0:15:44.180 chance you will end up an atheist because one day 0:15:44.220 --> 0:15:46.500 you're going to make that prayer God's not going to 0:15:46.540 --> 0:15:49.540 deliver and you'll say, you see, there is no God. 0:15:50.900 --> 0:15:54.940 I know someone very well for whom this happened his 0:15:55.020 --> 0:15:57.740 whole life. He was convinced that God was giving him 0:15:58.580 --> 0:16:02.100 all sorts of wonderful things. And then a dearly, dearly 0:16:02.140 --> 0:16:06.420 beloved relative of his dide and he told me, I 0:16:06.460 --> 0:16:09.580 have never talked to God since God is irrelevant to me. 0:16:10.300 --> 0:16:12.540 And of course, as I've told him, and I am 0:16:12.660 --> 0:16:16.500 very close to this person. I said, listen, the God 0:16:16.580 --> 0:16:20.260 you believed in, you should be an atheist about. I 0:16:20.820 --> 0:16:22.940 don't believe in the God you believed in before either 0:16:23.660 --> 0:16:28.180 Your God was a waiter. The God I believe in 0:16:28.260 --> 0:16:33.580 is not that God. Now we go to the second 0:16:33.620 --> 0:16:37.460 part of petitionary prayer, which is much more acceptable jewishly 0:16:38.220 --> 0:16:42.740 communal petitionary prayer. We do ask God for things in 0:16:42.780 --> 0:16:47.740 this book, but it is always always in the plural. 0:16:49.340 --> 0:16:50.340 We ask God. 0:16:50.420 --> 0:16:55.220 We call God rofei colail a mo Israel. 0:16:55.860 --> 0:16:59.580 God is the healer of the sick of his people Israel. 0:17:00.980 --> 0:17:03.900 We pray to God to heal all the sick. 0:17:05.500 --> 0:17:09.340 That makes sense, for the for the woman next to 0:17:09.419 --> 0:17:12.060 my mother who has no kid and no husband. To 0:17:12.100 --> 0:17:16.740 make the prayer, we are also praying God is the 0:17:16.780 --> 0:17:21.500 healer of all the sick. That makes a great more sense. 0:17:22.460 --> 0:17:26.820 We want all the fires on the block extinguished. Oh God, 0:17:26.939 --> 0:17:29.859 may no fire do damage. Now. I know that it 0:17:29.939 --> 0:17:33.139 is natural to wish your fire the fire not be 0:17:33.219 --> 0:17:35.219 your home. I know it is natural to pray for 0:17:35.300 --> 0:17:38.139 your own relative, and I have no problem with the second. 0:17:38.179 --> 0:17:40.700 I have a problem with the first for the obvious reasons. 0:17:42.060 --> 0:17:46.379 But Jewishly it is the communal idea that is the 0:17:46.459 --> 0:17:50.779 petitionary one, Oh we bless you, who are the healer 0:17:50.899 --> 0:17:54.740 of all the sick of Israel. So therefore number one, 0:17:55.139 --> 0:18:00.179 this is not a big part of Jewish prayer. Petitionary 0:18:00.739 --> 0:18:05.260 one final word about God and helping the individual. 0:18:07.219 --> 0:18:08.460 The more you see. 0:18:08.379 --> 0:18:12.060 God as the God who helps out those in trouble, 0:18:14.060 --> 0:18:16.899 the more you are likely to be, as I said, 0:18:16.979 --> 0:18:21.179 an atheist. And I use Auschwitz as the best example 0:18:22.979 --> 0:18:27.060 when people say God died in Auschwitz or I can't 0:18:27.060 --> 0:18:30.259 believe in God after the Holocaust. And I have a 0:18:30.300 --> 0:18:32.580 whole talk on this and many articles on it. So 0:18:32.659 --> 0:18:34.979 I don't want to belabor the point right now it 0:18:34.979 --> 0:18:36.060 would take too much time. 0:18:36.139 --> 0:18:38.580 But very briefly, what they're. 0:18:38.379 --> 0:18:41.059 Saying is the God who saves people who are in 0:18:41.179 --> 0:18:42.060 terrible straits. 0:18:42.100 --> 0:18:46.180 I no longer believe in, my friends. 0:18:46.219 --> 0:18:49.420 I have to say that, as painful as it is, 0:18:49.939 --> 0:18:53.460 that is not the God of Judaism, as I understand it. 0:18:54.619 --> 0:18:57.539 But you might say, what are you talking about. Didn't 0:18:57.580 --> 0:19:03.899 God save the Jews from Egypt? And when I speak 0:19:03.939 --> 0:19:07.739 on this at length, I point out, yes, God saved 0:19:07.739 --> 0:19:11.739 the Jewish people from Pharaoh, but God did not save 0:19:11.859 --> 0:19:15.899 all individual Jews from Pharaoh. How many Jewish boys were 0:19:15.899 --> 0:19:19.179 thrown into the Nile and drowned. How many Jews were 0:19:19.219 --> 0:19:21.139 beaten to death by Egyptians. 0:19:20.659 --> 0:19:24.820 Slave masters, We don't know, but in its own way, 0:19:24.859 --> 0:19:30.219 it was a mini Holocaust. God does save the Jewish people. 0:19:30.300 --> 0:19:35.659 I do believe that we're here in Pittsburgh four thousand years. 0:19:35.459 --> 0:19:43.179 Later, we are still here. That's pretty remarkable. God does 0:19:43.300 --> 0:19:46.139 save the Jewish people. I believe that as I am 0:19:46.179 --> 0:19:49.899 standing by that Torah, that God saves the Jewish people. 0:19:50.179 --> 0:19:52.179 There is no doubt in my mind. There will be 0:19:52.300 --> 0:19:56.259 Jews as long as there is humanity. There will be 0:19:56.300 --> 0:20:01.699 people dobvining on Neptune one day, I have no doubt 0:20:01.820 --> 0:20:02.340 about it. 0:20:03.939 --> 0:20:08.299 Temple Emmanuel of Neptune. I don't think I'll live to 0:20:08.340 --> 0:20:13.100 see it, but it will happen. It is the. 0:20:13.100 --> 0:20:18.460 Individual that can be hurt by the hater, and how 0:20:18.459 --> 0:20:21.619 could it not be that way. I don't believe in 0:20:21.659 --> 0:20:24.499 a god who will stop all rapes, who will stop 0:20:24.540 --> 0:20:26.459 all murders, who will stop all muggings. 0:20:27.340 --> 0:20:28.059 How could that be? 0:20:29.060 --> 0:20:31.219 If I believed in such a God, I'd have to 0:20:31.260 --> 0:20:35.220 be an atheist. I'd have no choice, or I would 0:20:35.300 --> 0:20:38.780 have to do even something worse, that it is God's 0:20:38.820 --> 0:20:42.179 will that people be raped and murdered, which I certainly 0:20:42.219 --> 0:20:45.299 don't believe in. Judaism certainly doesn't believe. It is not 0:20:45.419 --> 0:20:49.260 God's will that the six million or tortured and burned. 0:20:51.020 --> 0:20:53.619 It is against God's will. But God allows you to 0:20:53.739 --> 0:20:56.539 violate his will. God allows you to hurt people. You 0:20:56.580 --> 0:20:59.979 don't like that fact. I don't like it either, but 0:21:00.219 --> 0:21:04.339 intellectually not emotionally, Thank God. That's the way the world works. 0:21:05.739 --> 0:21:08.340 Would you prefer that God stop you every time you 0:21:08.379 --> 0:21:10.340 want to hurt somebody? And where do you draw the 0:21:10.379 --> 0:21:14.779 line at six million? No? But three million yes? Or 0:21:14.859 --> 0:21:17.580 three million stop? But why is three million any less? 0:21:17.580 --> 0:21:21.019 What about one? Why is one murder? O? 0:21:21.379 --> 0:21:24.419 Go? God exists if heel it's one person murdered, But 0:21:24.500 --> 0:21:26.779 if he lets six million murdered, he doesn't exist. It 0:21:26.859 --> 0:21:32.179 makes no sense for that one. What's the difference? That's 0:21:32.219 --> 0:21:35.420 all we have? You and I. We are entire universes. 0:21:35.780 --> 0:21:38.579 Whether we die with five million nine nine nine nine 0:21:38.899 --> 0:21:45.899 others or alone, we still are are away gone extinguished. 0:21:48.300 --> 0:21:50.659 So what where should God draw the line? How about 0:21:50.699 --> 0:21:53.219 he should stop all murdered? What about rape. Should he 0:21:53.260 --> 0:21:53.899 allow rapes? 0:21:54.340 --> 0:21:58.179 Or yes, allow date rape but not stranger rape, or 0:21:58.179 --> 0:21:59.820 he should stop all date rape? Two? 0:22:00.699 --> 0:22:04.659 What about how about punches? Should he allow punches? Don't 0:22:04.659 --> 0:22:07.699 you see how ludicrous it becomes? What evil would you 0:22:07.739 --> 0:22:11.939 allow God to allow? And where would you stop him? 0:22:13.820 --> 0:22:15.939 He made us, he told us what to do. We 0:22:16.100 --> 0:22:19.659 violate it. We have screwed up. It's as simple as 0:22:19.820 --> 0:22:20.580 an unappeal. 0:22:20.820 --> 0:22:21.019 Is that? 0:22:23.060 --> 0:22:26.899 So you'd say, what I pray in a foxhole? Yeah, 0:22:26.899 --> 0:22:30.580 I pray in a foxhole. I'm human, but I'm not 0:22:30.619 --> 0:22:34.219 in a foxhole now and I can think rationally, and 0:22:34.260 --> 0:22:37.459 it's very difficult to believe this foxhole. Yes, that foxhole. 0:22:37.540 --> 0:22:42.379 No. Petitionary prayer is not my cup of tea. 0:22:43.139 --> 0:22:46.139 It's not Judaism's cup of tea, except communally, and even 0:22:46.179 --> 0:22:49.779 then it is a very very small part of Jewish prayer. 0:22:50.580 --> 0:22:53.019 What we said today, I would say ninety nine percent 0:22:53.060 --> 0:22:57.139 of what we said today was not petitionary, even communally. 0:22:58.419 --> 0:23:01.779 So that brings me therefore too. Numbers two, three, and 0:23:01.899 --> 0:23:08.299 four of Jewish prayer, Number two, Part two of Jewish prayer, 0:23:09.219 --> 0:23:13.379 which is more than petitionary and a big part, but 0:23:13.540 --> 0:23:19.980 not the biggest alone is praise. We praise God. Oh 0:23:20.020 --> 0:23:22.699 you are great, you are magnificent, you are the creator, 0:23:23.179 --> 0:23:25.219 you do incredible things, etc. 0:23:25.459 --> 0:23:27.660 Etc. This bothers a lot of. 0:23:27.619 --> 0:23:33.340 Moderns, especially those with advanced degrees, because the thought of 0:23:33.899 --> 0:23:37.979 praising something higher than themselves. After all that graduate work 0:23:38.100 --> 0:23:40.459 is a very difficult emotional. 0:23:39.979 --> 0:23:44.580 Thing to do, and it is a very healthy thing to 0:23:44.659 --> 0:23:52.659 do when done in proportion to assert daily weekly. 0:23:53.780 --> 0:23:57.340 I recognized there is something infinitely higher than me is 0:23:57.419 --> 0:24:00.019 important for a lot of reasons. The most obvious is 0:24:00.619 --> 0:24:03.419 you don't worship yourself. There is something higher than me. 0:24:04.020 --> 0:24:06.580 That's a good reason to do it. But there's another 0:24:06.619 --> 0:24:08.419 reason to do it. It gives you inner peace. 0:24:09.859 --> 0:24:13.740 The thought that there isn't something higher than me or 0:24:13.859 --> 0:24:17.299 us humanity would scare the living daylights out of me. 0:24:19.139 --> 0:24:24.219 We're the highest thing that we know of. Oh, my god, 0:24:25.260 --> 0:24:26.139 that's terrible. 0:24:28.500 --> 0:24:31.100 It gives me peace to know there is a Boreolam 0:24:31.179 --> 0:24:34.819 as a creator of the world. Ah shoo, there's some 0:24:35.100 --> 0:24:41.580 order in this discord, as was read today by the Rabbi. Okay, 0:24:41.699 --> 0:24:45.299 I feel better about that there is a source of 0:24:45.340 --> 0:24:46.060 this universe. 0:24:46.100 --> 0:24:47.659 It isn't just coincidence. 0:24:48.300 --> 0:24:52.419 Yes, I want to praise that God doesn't need praise. 0:24:52.659 --> 0:24:56.019 If you think for one second that the purpose of 0:24:56.100 --> 0:24:58.820 praising God in prayer is to make God feel good, 0:24:59.540 --> 0:25:02.740 your view of God is so primitive as to literally 0:25:02.780 --> 0:25:08.100 be childish. Literally God can do you understand if you 0:25:08.179 --> 0:25:10.019 think God feels good when you praise him? Do you 0:25:10.100 --> 0:25:13.500 understand what you're engaging in your own hubris? 0:25:14.939 --> 0:25:18.379 All God feels really good because Schwartz said he's great? 0:25:21.340 --> 0:25:25.179 Isn't that ludicrous? God, the creator of the world, is 0:25:25.219 --> 0:25:28.259 happy that Prager thinks well of him. Wow, what a 0:25:28.379 --> 0:25:32.659 day Dennis Prager praised me today? Do you have to 0:25:32.780 --> 0:25:37.820 understand it's absurd? God gets no, nothing, nothing out of 0:25:37.859 --> 0:25:38.940 being praised by us. 0:25:39.619 --> 0:25:42.379 It's all for us. And that's what I kept saying 0:25:42.379 --> 0:25:43.939 from the beginning. It's for us. 0:25:44.340 --> 0:25:48.500 I assert there is a creator, and it is magnificent 0:25:48.580 --> 0:25:52.219 what you have done. I have problems with the discord. 0:25:53.619 --> 0:25:56.060 But as was read today, if we had a sunrise 0:25:56.139 --> 0:25:59.859 once a year, we'd be really dazzled by it. The 0:25:59.859 --> 0:26:04.300 fact that it happens every day we yawn. The trick 0:26:04.379 --> 0:26:05.179 is not to yawn. 0:26:07.379 --> 0:26:12.459 The trick is to be blown away every day. We 0:26:12.659 --> 0:26:15.220 just said it again, it's a great. It's a great thing. 0:26:15.459 --> 0:26:20.539 He in the Hebrew ha'ma kadesh betuvo behol young tamid saboration. 0:26:21.300 --> 0:26:25.579 God in his goodness, every day renews the acts of Genesis. 0:26:26.859 --> 0:26:30.619 I get the chills when I say it, isn't it staggering? 0:26:30.659 --> 0:26:33.259 The first sentence of Genesis and the beginning. God created 0:26:33.300 --> 0:26:36.499 the heavens and the earth. God did it this morning. 0:26:37.100 --> 0:26:38.179 God's doing it now. 0:26:38.899 --> 0:26:42.139 A dear friend of mine, doctor David Weiss, very prominent 0:26:42.179 --> 0:26:45.659