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Speaker 1: Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Here thousands of

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Speaker 1: hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs had

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Speaker 1: to purchase Dennisprager's Rational Bibles. Go to Dennisprager dot com.

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Speaker 2: Don't approach this solely as literature. I approach this as

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Speaker 2: my Torah. It is my teacher. Terra means teacher. Tora

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Speaker 2: does not mean law. It's a common misconception. It's understandable

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Speaker 2: why it's made, and therefore, in Judaism, it is a

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Speaker 2: religious act to study Torah. However, I don't teach it

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Speaker 2: as purely something of relevance to Jews. My whole attitude

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Speaker 2: to Judaism generally and to the Bible specifically is if

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Speaker 2: it doesn't have something to say to everybody, then it

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Speaker 2: has nothing to say to anybody. Is that clear to

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Speaker 2: you either? It is completely relevant what if you are.

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Speaker 2: If your background is Hindu or Muslim or atheist, it

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Speaker 2: should not matter. The stuff should speak to you. If

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Speaker 2: it only spoke to Jews, I wouldn't be here. I

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Speaker 2: approach it as a human being first, and as a

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Speaker 2: Jew specifically, but first as a human That is why

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Speaker 2: I read it to try to find its relevance to

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Speaker 2: our lives today. And if there is a unique aspect

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Speaker 2: to my teaching of the Torah Toah is the five

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Speaker 2: Books of Moses, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible,

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Speaker 2: the first five books of the Hebrew or Christian Bible.

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Speaker 2: Then if I didn't find it relevant or that would

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Speaker 2: be that would not be a unique thing. That is

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Speaker 2: what I try to bring to it. What does it

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Speaker 2: say to me? What can I learn from it? I

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Speaker 2: never ask you to take anything on faith. If it's

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Speaker 2: not in the text, then you point that out to me,

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Speaker 2: and I'll stop teaching it. That idea is that clear

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Speaker 2: to you. It's got to be there. You've got to

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Speaker 2: look at it and say, wait a minute, based on

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Speaker 2: the text, what you've just said doesn't make sense. Well,

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Speaker 2: I read it differently. That's fine. Now. The only thing

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Speaker 2: I want to say is I like to try to

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Speaker 2: get through a certain amount of material. If I made

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Speaker 2: this a class of constant interaction, we would probably do

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Speaker 2: two verses each night. As it is we do about eight.

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Speaker 2: But the fact is we would really get nowhere. So

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Speaker 2: I beg of you, and I mean it sincerely. I

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Speaker 2: want your feedback. I want your questions your alternate readings,

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Speaker 2: and if something isn't clear, I need to know that

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Speaker 2: as well. Mark it down and I will leave time

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Speaker 2: two times at the end of each class and at

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Speaker 2: the beginning of the next tonight. I'm not obviously because

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Speaker 2: there's nothing to ask about from a previous session. One

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Speaker 2: final word, I have done the first seventeen chapters of

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Speaker 2: Genesis just to bring you up to date in case

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Speaker 2: you missed it. Created the world, was unhappy with what

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Speaker 2: he ended up creating with regard to human beings because

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Speaker 2: we turned out to do so much hurting of one another.

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Speaker 2: So God decided to try it. Decided to try again,

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Speaker 2: destroying the world and the flood, saving only mister and

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Speaker 2: ms Noah and their children. That didn't work out too

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Speaker 2: well either, and so God, for reasons that are absolutely

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Speaker 2: unmentioned in the Bible, picks one person through whom to

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Speaker 2: make his will known to humanity. This is one the

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Speaker 2: one preambul idea that I want to share with you,

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Speaker 2: and then go into Genesis eighteen. I view the Jews

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Speaker 2: as God's final attempt to bring knowledge of good and

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Speaker 2: evil into the world. Christians view Jesus as the fine

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Speaker 2: attempt Muslims view Mohammad as the final attempt. But whatever

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Speaker 2: your view, what were the earlier attempts. Let's not debate

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Speaker 2: what the final was. Let's figure out how we needed

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Speaker 2: a final attempt. I view God's attempts to have us

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Speaker 2: do good rather than evil based on three attempts. Attempt

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Speaker 2: number one is conscience. God's first attempt to have us

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Speaker 2: know good and evil is by implanting in every human

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Speaker 2: being a conscience. Wherever you are in the world, an

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Speaker 2: Aborigine in Australia or someone living and in Cambridge, Massachusetts today,

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Speaker 2: it wouldn't matter. The belief that the Jewish belief, indeed

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Speaker 2: the jude or Christian belief, is that we are born

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Speaker 2: with some basic concept of good and evil that fore

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Speaker 2: EXAs ample to inflict unnecessary suffering on another human being,

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Speaker 2: on an innocent human being is wrong. How do I

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Speaker 2: know this? From the Torah? Very briefly, because I don't

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Speaker 2: want to go over material which reminds me parenthetically, If

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Speaker 2: you are interested enough to really get into this, tapes

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Speaker 2: of every one of these sessions are available, both video

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Speaker 2: and audio. If you are television addicted, get the video

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Speaker 2: and you'll think you're watching TV while learning. Otherwise, feel

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Speaker 2: free to get the audio and play it in your

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Speaker 2: car or wherever you would like. I developed these points

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Speaker 2: at length, then, so I don't want to do it

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Speaker 2: at great length. Now, very simply, I read conscience into

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Speaker 2: the story of Cain and Abel. The children of Adam

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Speaker 2: and Eve are Cain and Abel. And by the way, again,

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Speaker 2: I always have to deal with some very basic issues.

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Speaker 2: Do I believe that Adam and Eve actually existed as

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Speaker 2: Adam and Eve? The answer is yes and no. I

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Speaker 2: don't know, and it doesn't matter to me. Adam and

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Speaker 2: Eve are more real than the people who live three

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Speaker 2: houses away from me. There are people, real people who

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Speaker 2: live three houses away from me, but they are not

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Speaker 2: relevant to my life. I don't even know who they are,

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Speaker 2: but they really exist. Adam and Eve may not have

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Speaker 2: really existed, but they're very relevant to me. Do you understand, therefore,

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Speaker 2: why the question doesn't interest me? Did they really exist

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Speaker 2: as such? A guy named Adam and his wife named Eve?

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Speaker 2: Who cares? Let's say the answer is yes, Does it

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Speaker 2: make any difference. If the answer is no, does it

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Speaker 2: make any difference? The purpose of the Torah is to teach,

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Speaker 2: not to reveal. Geology or anthropology or any other scientific

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Speaker 2: pursuit of history. That's how I read it. It's my teacher.

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Speaker 2: So I don't know when I say to you that

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Speaker 2: canaanable with the children of Adam and Eve. Can I

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Speaker 2: prove it? Know? But if I proved it, would it

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Speaker 2: matter to you? Would it change what you did tonight

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Speaker 2: when you got home? Would it matter tomorrow at work?

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Speaker 2: What matters tomorrow at work is the idea of conscience

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Speaker 2: that Cain and Able teach. Now, how do they teach it?

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Speaker 2: The first human beings? After the first human beings are

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Speaker 2: Cain and Able? And what does one do to the other?

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Speaker 2: Murders him? Not a very proficious start for the human species,

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Speaker 2: as I pointed out earlier. And it's not my point,

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Speaker 2: it's Rabbi Gunther Plaut's great, great point. He once asked

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Speaker 2: the group, who is the most tragic figure in the Bible?

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Speaker 2: And people call that every conceivable person, And then he said,

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Speaker 2: you're all wrong by far. The most tragic figure in

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Speaker 2: the Bible is God. And it is great wisdom to

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Speaker 2: that God is so sad, so disappointed. God had invested

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Speaker 2: so much in the creation of the world and the

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Speaker 2: creation of people, and what turns out with all the

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Speaker 2: beauty God gives, it turns out that Cain murders his brother.

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Speaker 2: Now here's my point for conscience. God says to Cain,

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Speaker 2: where's your brother Abel? And remember Cain's response, Am I

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Speaker 2: my brother's keeper? Or I didn't know if I'm my

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Speaker 2: brother's keeper? I meanway I went into that of depth

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Speaker 2: because his response could be understood in many ways. But

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Speaker 2: his response should have been, hey, I killed him, so uh.

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Speaker 2: If he had no conscience, he should have simply said,

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Speaker 2: I killed him. Why are you asking? Don't you know?

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Speaker 2: What's the matter with that? Why are you You seem

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Speaker 2: to be annoyed God, I don't understand why I killed him.

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Speaker 2: He didn't say that. It's clear he's guilty him. He

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Speaker 2: knows he's guilty. How did he know? No ten commandments,

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Speaker 2: no law from God, thou shalt not murder. It's built in.

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Speaker 2: It's called conscience, the still small voice telling you that's wrong,

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Speaker 2: that's right. You can blunt your conscience unbelievably easily. When

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Speaker 2: people make person to person phone calls and first dial

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Speaker 2: through the operator just to get the other person to

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Speaker 2: call back station to station, they have blunted their conscience.

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Speaker 2: Everybody knows they're robbing the phone company. Who does that?

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Speaker 2: But they have a million ways of getting around it.

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Speaker 2: The phone company knows cheats. It's a mix for to

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Speaker 2: cheat the phone company mitzvits even for commandment or good deed,

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Speaker 2: as it's often called.

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Speaker 1: This episode of timeless wisdom will continue right after this.

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Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Frager's timeless wisdom.

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Speaker 2: We have an infinite ability to dull our conscience. You

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Speaker 2: dull your conscience with repeated wrongdoing. It is very hard

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Speaker 2: to cheat the first time. It's very hard to commit

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Speaker 2: adultery the first time. I've been told make that clear

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Speaker 2: at the outset. But the tenth time, apparently it's a

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Speaker 2: lot easier. Whatever wrong you do, it's easy to blunt

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Speaker 2: the conscience through rationalization, repeated action. Whatever. Caine kills his

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Speaker 2: brother and doesn't say cheat, what's wrong with that? Okay?

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Speaker 2: What is God's second attempt at giving us knowledge of

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Speaker 2: good and evil? Second attempt is through Noah? God realizes

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Speaker 2: and I put realizes in quotes. Whether God actually learns

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Speaker 2: or not is a philosophical question I don't want to

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Speaker 2: get into, because if you imply that God. If you

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Speaker 2: state that God learns, you're implying that God doesn't know

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Speaker 2: something before you learned it. Then God's not on mission.

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Speaker 2: Those are not things that I really like. That's fun theology.

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Speaker 2: I'm not into that much. But God realizes quote unquote,

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Speaker 2: so that we understand how things develop, I have to

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Speaker 2: reveal basic morality. It is not enough to implant it

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Speaker 2: in the conscience. So God gives Noah and his children

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Speaker 2: certain basic moral laws, which include not murdering all right,

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Speaker 2: basic Jewish belief. If there were seven moral laws that

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Speaker 2: the entire world is responsible for. That doesn't work either.

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Speaker 2: The world lapses again after Noah into hurting each other,

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Speaker 2: into evil, which is what we're going to get to today.

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Speaker 2: The third example of universal evil in Sidom and Gomorrah

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Speaker 2: and with that's the most dramatic example, but we already

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Speaker 2: have discovered it prior to this. Therefore, God gives one third,

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Speaker 2: a third attempt, a final attempt to reveal knowledge of

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Speaker 2: good and evil to the human being. It didn't work

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Speaker 2: to implant conscience, It did not work to we're getting

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Speaker 2: a little, we get a little we are now, is

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Speaker 2: anybody up there where it's echoing? Thank you, sir. The

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Speaker 2: second attempt is through the children of Noah its revelation,

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Speaker 2: but it's universal that doesn't work. The third attempt is

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Speaker 2: I will reveal my will to an individual group of

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Speaker 2: people who will carry my will into the world. That

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Speaker 2: people is known as the Jews. I'm writing an article

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Speaker 2: for the next issue of my journal, Ultimate Issues, which

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Speaker 2: is titled very simply, why are their Jews? Why? This

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Speaker 2: committed religious jew regards to the Jewish people as an

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Speaker 2: ad hoc committee that, in effect, should the Jewish role

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Speaker 2: ever actually be realized, there won't be a need for

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Speaker 2: Judaism anymore. It may sound to some Jews as revolutionary

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Speaker 2: or heretical, but it's not really. The world didn't start

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Speaker 2: with Jews, why should it end with Jews. The Jews

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Speaker 2: have a task. If the task is completed, then you

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Speaker 2: don't need them anymore. It's like it's like how I

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Speaker 2: feel about the civil rights establishment. I don't think they're

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Speaker 2: needed anymore. I think that the basic civil rights legislation

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Speaker 2: was formed, and after that it's just basically staying in

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Speaker 2: jobs like the March of Dimes would have done if

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Speaker 2: they had continued to collect for polio after the Salt vaccine.

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Speaker 2: Once you have a mission completed, you should retire. Now,

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Speaker 2: the Jewish mission is not completed to bring the world

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Speaker 2: to God and God based ethics, ethical monotheism, so there's

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Speaker 2: still this need. But the fact is that it is,

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Speaker 2: as it were, God's third attempt. That's how I look

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Speaker 2: at all of this. Okay, that attempt is done through

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Speaker 2: a man called Abraham. Why God shows Abraham, as I

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Speaker 2: pointed out, is no way implied in the Torah. All

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Speaker 2: of a sudden, it says, and God said to Abraham

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Speaker 2: as follows, and that was it. We don't know why,

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Speaker 2: but we're going to learn today what sort of human

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Speaker 2: being it was that God shows. If you would like

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Speaker 2: to bring a Bible with you and follow along, you're

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Speaker 2: certainly welcome to. In some ways, it could be distracting.

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Speaker 2: You might just want to hear it, so there's no

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Speaker 2: need to, but you're certainly welcome to. In future sessions,

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Speaker 2: we are up to chapter eighteen, and the Lord appeared

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Speaker 2: to him, that is, to Abraham by the terrabins of Mamray.

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Speaker 2: I always liked, did anybody have another word for terrabins?

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Speaker 2: There trees? I prefer trees. I love when they give

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Speaker 2: these English words. Yes, oaks, I like oaks too. I

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Speaker 2: never met a Terrabin in my life, so it's I

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Speaker 2: always get a kick out of that. Anyway, God appeared

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Speaker 2: to him, and he was sitting at the entrance of

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Speaker 2: the tent as the day grew hot. Now again, for

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Speaker 2: those of you not studied with me, I learned in

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Speaker 2: Yeshiva Jewish religious school till I was eighteen years of age,

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Speaker 2: and I learned there one of the greatest things that

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Speaker 2: I could ever learn. When you read, always ask why

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Speaker 2: do they use this word and not another? Why did

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Speaker 2: they give this idea when they could have dropped it?

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Speaker 2: For example, in this sentence, couldn't it have been the

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Speaker 2: Lord appeared to him at the oaks of Mamre. And

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Speaker 2: then and then go to the next sentence, why do

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Speaker 2: we need he was sitting at the entrance of the

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Speaker 2: tenth as the day grew hot? Why do we need

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Speaker 2: either of those things? I think what the Tourra is

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Speaker 2: trying to show here is the sort of man that

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Speaker 2: he is, the sort of person that Abraham is. One

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Speaker 2: of the key characteristics of Abraham positive characteristics is hospitality,

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Speaker 2: a massive sense of wanting to do good to the stranger.

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Speaker 2: How do we know. We know from this and we

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Speaker 2: know from the way he argued for Sadoman Gomorrah, which

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Speaker 2: we'll get through tonight. One of the most dramatic stories

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Speaker 2: in the entire Bible. Anyway, it's a very odd thing.

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Speaker 2: Look at what happens here. And by the way, it's

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Speaker 2: also in the heat of the day. Why is that

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Speaker 2: important that it's in the heat of the day, Because

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Speaker 2: it's a time when you wouldn't expect to see people

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Speaker 2: walking in the desert. It's the last time that you

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Speaker 2: would expect it. So he has a particular sense of

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Speaker 2: empathy for strangers walking in the heat of the day

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Speaker 2: in the desert. Now, it's a very interesting thing here

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Speaker 2: about what happens. It says that God appeared to him.

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Speaker 2: But look at the sentence number two, looking up, he

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Speaker 2: raised his eyes sometimes I use my own translations. And

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Speaker 2: he looks and he sees three men approaching him. This

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Speaker 2: is extremely confusing. Where's God? The sentences don't flow one

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Speaker 2: into the other. It says that God appeared to him

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Speaker 2: at the oaks of Mamree, and then the second verse

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Speaker 2: is he looks up and you think you see and

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Speaker 2: he saw God and he saw three men walking to him.

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Speaker 2: It's very confusing. There are a number of possible interpretations,

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Speaker 2: none of which are absolutely certain to be true. My

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Speaker 2: sense is that the beginning of chapter eighteen is for us,

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Speaker 2: it's not for Abraham. Are you with me? I'll give

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Speaker 2: you an example. And I don't like to do this

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Speaker 2: at all foreshadow what's coming up, but I have to

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Speaker 2: do this to make it clear. When God commands Abraham

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Speaker 2: later to sacrifice his son Isaac, it says in the

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Speaker 2: beginning of the story, and God tested Abraham. That was

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Speaker 2: not for Abraham. Abraham didn't know it was a test.

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Speaker 2: It's for us later to know what's happening. Are you

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Speaker 2: with me? It's for us after the event to know

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Speaker 2: what's going on. God appears to Abraham, and now let's

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Speaker 2: go I'm telling you that. I'm the narrator. I'm telling

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Speaker 2: you that, And now let's go back to the story.

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Speaker 2: He looks up and he sees three men. He doesn't

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Speaker 2: see God. He sees three men. So we are now

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Speaker 2: aware that God is going to be entering the story,

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Speaker 2: even though for Abraham it's men involved in the story,

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Speaker 2: at least at the beginning. Is that clear? Okay? Abraham

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Speaker 2: looks up and he sees three men approaching him. He

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Speaker 2: looks and he runs to greet them from the opening

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Speaker 2: of the tent and bowing to the ground.

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Speaker 1: All right, this episode of timeless wisdom will continue right

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Speaker 1: after this. Now back to more of Dennis Frager's timeless wisdom.

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Speaker 2: This is a way of telling you the sort of

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Speaker 2: man Abraham is that he goes and he runs to them.

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Speaker 2: It emphasizes his goodness. Let me read to you what

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Speaker 2: Sarna Abraham. Sarna, one of the Bible experts in our time, writes,

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Speaker 2: Abraham's open hearted, liberal hospitality to the total strangers knows

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Speaker 2: no bounds. As you will see in the next sentences.

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Speaker 2: He has water brought for them to bathe their feet,

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Speaker 2: a much appreciated comfort, as you could well imagine, said

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Speaker 2: the traveler, with his sandal like footwear and the pervasive

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Speaker 2: dust of the roads. He invites them to rest under

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Speaker 2: the tree, probably one of the famous local terrabins, famous,

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Speaker 2: very famous. We all know. He promises to fetch a

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Speaker 2: morsel of bread, but prepares a lavish feast. And I'll

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Speaker 2: talk to you about that, and it tells and he

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Speaker 2: goes on to say, how extraordinary Abraham is these are strangers.

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Speaker 2: Abraham personally serves the strangers this rich fair, and stands

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Speaker 2: close by, ready to attend their needs. Let's go on

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Speaker 2: and watch. Remember the reader of the Torah the first time.

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Speaker 2: If you're an adult reader, the trouble is, you know

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Speaker 2: what the trouble is. It's both a blessing and a

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Speaker 2: curse that we learn these things, many of us, when

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Speaker 2: we're children. It's like the classics. You learn Shakespeare when

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Speaker 2: you're in high school. You read Dickens when you're in

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Speaker 2: high school, and as a result, you read, you know,

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Speaker 2: junkie novels. When you're an adult, write spy novels and

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Speaker 2: what is her name? Jackie Collins? Right, and so on.

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Speaker 2: That's what happens. I think we should get kids Jackie

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Speaker 2: Collins and say, don't you dare read Charles Dickens. Well,

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Speaker 2: I will punish you. You are grounded. If you read Shakespeare,

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Speaker 2: then they will lust for Shakespeare later. Maybe we do

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Speaker 2: it backwards. It's like this with I'm sure I'm convinced

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Speaker 2: with the Bible. Is the Bible stories for children? So

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Speaker 2: adults don't think it's for them. But if you're coming

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Speaker 2: to this the first time as an adult is a

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Speaker 2: blessing to it for you because you can appreciate it

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Speaker 2: for the depth that it is. I envy people reading

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Speaker 2: it the first time, just like I envy people going

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Speaker 2: to classical music for the first time. A lot our

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Speaker 2: richnesses and door for you to learn it as an adult. Anyway,

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Speaker 2: if you would look at this, you have one overriding question.

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Speaker 2: Who on earth is this Abraham that God would pick him? Whoo?

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Speaker 2: Why did he deserve this extraordinary honor that through him

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Speaker 2: the world will be blessed? It's not right? Why so

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Speaker 2: we are now getting filled in with regard to the

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Speaker 2: character of the father of this people that God chooses. Okay,

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Speaker 2: we're not known as Jews, yet they're known as the

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Speaker 2: seed of Abraham. Okay, so we're learning about this man.

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Speaker 2: Let's continue. And he said, my Lord's now it's problematic here.

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Speaker 2: There is one overriding problem that I'll just tell you

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Speaker 2: at the outset. If Abraham knew that these were angels

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Speaker 2: of God, messengers of God, then all of his hospitality

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Speaker 2: is unimpressive. Believe me, any of you would have done

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Speaker 2: at least as much if you thought God was showing

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Speaker 2: up at your tent. Okay, so you know, I mean

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Speaker 2: that's very important, and that is why it is very important.

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Speaker 2: You will understand now what verses one and two really meant.

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Speaker 2: Verse one is God appears to him, but he looks

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Speaker 2: up and sees men. Okay. If he would have said

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Speaker 2: he looked up and saw angels, which is what Loath,

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Speaker 2: his nephew sees. Later, you'll see in the next chapter

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Speaker 2: when Loate looks up he sees angels. Lot wouldn't treat

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Speaker 2: or a lot in English. But it we'll call him

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Speaker 2: by the Hebrew name for absolutely no reason. Might go

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Speaker 2: back and forth, but retreats angels nicely, not people. Abraham

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Speaker 2: treats people nicely. Anyway, he goes, my lords, if I

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Speaker 2: have found favor in your eyes, please do not pass

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Speaker 2: by me. Okay, don't go past me, which implies to

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Speaker 2: me that he doesn't know their any angels. If he

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Speaker 2: thought they were angels, he would know they came to him, right,

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Speaker 2: he would not have said, don't go beyond to the

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Speaker 2: next ten or whatever. Stay, So stay here, all right.

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Speaker 2: Let a little water be brought. You'll wash your legs,

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Speaker 2: and you will rest under the under the tree. And

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Speaker 2: I'll bring a morsel of bread, and you will fill

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Speaker 2: yourself up that you and you will excuse me, you will,

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Speaker 2: you will refresh yourself and then go on, seeing that

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Speaker 2: you have come your servant's way. And they replied, do

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Speaker 2: as you have said. I get a kick out of

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Speaker 2: that reply. It's not the sort of of reply we

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Speaker 2: would do today. If somebody offered a great deal in fight,

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Speaker 2: say you know, I'd like to give you a beautiful

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Speaker 2: meal and have a seat here, and then you would say, yes,

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Speaker 2: do exactly as you said, you know. Isn't it funny?

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Speaker 2: I mean, when you think about it, if they should have,

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Speaker 2: they should have said, gee, thank you, that's very kind

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Speaker 2: of you. That's the way we would speak in that culture.

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Speaker 2: Giving a person an opportunity to engage in hospitality for

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Speaker 2: you was your way of being nice to them. You

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Speaker 2: get it. I am giving you the chance to be

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Speaker 2: nice to me, you lucky thing. It's different from us, obviously,

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Speaker 2: but that's the reason for it. Don't think that these

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Speaker 2: angels were a bunch of rude people. Do exactly as

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Speaker 2: you say. After he offers all these things, Okay, so

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Speaker 2: what happens. It's very touching. The wording Abraham hurries up

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Speaker 2: into the tent to Sarah, his wife. Now again, Notice

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Speaker 2: he hurries up. He's really dying to help these people.

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Speaker 2: It's a very touching thing. This is the sort of

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Speaker 2: guy is. And he says, hurry up and make three

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Speaker 2: say ohs in that's a measurement. We don't know what

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Speaker 2: it is, a choice or I don't know what it is.

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Speaker 2: Maybe others do of choice. Flower needn make cakes? Now,

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Speaker 2: by the way, wait, it is very funny if you'd

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Speaker 2: only stop here. There is a certain humor to it.

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Speaker 2: He's all excited to help them and then has Sarah

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Speaker 2: do the work. Right. That's why it's very important to

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Speaker 2: read the rest of the story. Oh, let me bring

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Speaker 2: you a lot of foods Sarah make it, which has

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Speaker 2: happened in Holmes, and it has been known to happen.

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Speaker 2: Actually though he tells her to make the cakes, but

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Speaker 2: he does the other half. This is what we call

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Speaker 2: a liberated man. Abraham. He tells her what to make,

401
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Speaker 2: but he runs. Notice verse seven vi El habakar most

402
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Speaker 2: of you don't know. And to the herd, to the calf.

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Speaker 2: He ran. Abraham ran. He's still running around. He's just

404
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Speaker 2: absolutely beside himself, helping strangers. For all we know, he

405
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Speaker 2: was very lonely out there with Sarah, you know, I mean,

406
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Speaker 2: who knows what was going on. It's it doesn't seem

407
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Speaker 2: quite the sort of thing most of us would do,

408
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Speaker 2: you know. Can you imagine if Sarah another group has

409
00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:27,720
Speaker 2: showed up, you know, did not happen here. So he

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Speaker 2: runs out and he takes a he takes a calf

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Speaker 2: tender and choice tender, and choice takes best. One. Gave

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Speaker 2: it to servant boy, probably Ishmael because it says nah

413
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Speaker 2: in Hebrew, and and that is what Ishmael is called

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Speaker 2: earlier than Nah. It doesn't we don't know who. But

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Speaker 2: since it's han Nahar the lad, then the assumption is

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Speaker 2: we know which lad it is, and it's and therefore

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Speaker 2: it's overwhelmingly likely it's Ismael. And he hurries up to

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Speaker 2: make it all right? See if I have any notes

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Speaker 2: for myself. I'm sorry. They can starve by the time

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Speaker 2: he finishes. Thank you. That's uh, it's all right. They're

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Speaker 2: not starving in their angels. It doesn't matter. Don't worry

422
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:21,200
Speaker 2: about him, okay, all right? So he prepares and it's

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Speaker 2: the why does he give them? It even tells you

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Speaker 2: what he served them Verse eight. He takes butter and

425
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:30,919
Speaker 2: milk and the calf which he had prepared, and he

426
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,840
Speaker 2: puts it before them, and he stands on them, I mean,

427
00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:39,040
Speaker 2: in literal Hebrew stands right by them, by the under

428
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:42,320
Speaker 2: the tree, and they ate. So he just stands there

429
00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:45,240
Speaker 2: as the servant, as it were, of these guests who

430
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,240
Speaker 2: have shown up. Those of you who know Judaism will

431
00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 2: know that there's a very striking thing about what he

432
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:54,800
Speaker 2: served them. That he gave them milk and meat. And

433
00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:59,240
Speaker 2: this has not gone over big in the Yeshiva world.

434
00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 2: How could the father of Judaism serve milk and meat together?

435
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,479
Speaker 2: For those of you want to wear Jewish law bans

436
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,440
Speaker 2: the eating of milk and meat together at the same time,

437
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,720
Speaker 2: There are many reasons. I'll just give you one. I

438
00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,360
Speaker 2: mean I could literally I have given a whole talk

439
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 2: on this subject. Judaism constantly separates anything that represents death

440
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:24,520
Speaker 2: from anything that represents life. It goes all through Jewish law,

441
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:29,120
Speaker 2: and this is a classic example. Meat represents death, milk

442
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:32,400
Speaker 2: represents life. That is why a Jew is permitted to

443
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:37,240
Speaker 2: eat fish and milk, because fish don't produce milk. Therefore

444
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:41,760
Speaker 2: milk does not represent life vis a v fish. Some

445
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,040
Speaker 2: of you who are really into both Judaism and zoology

446
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:48,240
Speaker 2: will then ask them, why can't you eat chicken with milk?

447
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 2: Chickens don't produce milk, yet you can't eat the two

448
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:54,560
Speaker 2: of them. The truth is, in early Judaism Jews did.

449
00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:57,520
Speaker 2: There are rabbis in the Talmud who are recorded as

450
00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:02,440
Speaker 2: having eaten milk and chicken together, like Rabbi Josi Haglili. However,

451
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:06,280
Speaker 2: the rabbis made a fence at the Hebrew calls a

452
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:10,520
Speaker 2: fence around the law and said, lest jew ever confuse

453
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:13,280
Speaker 2: meat with chicken and therefore think it's chicken and have

454
00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 2: it with milk, chicken will arbitrarily be called meat. Okay,

455
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,560
Speaker 2: if you didn't follow that, don't worry at all. I'm

456
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,800
Speaker 2: merely explaining to you what the dilemma is here. For

457
00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:28,600
Speaker 2: traditional Jews reading this, the answer that the Orthodox give

458
00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:31,920
Speaker 2: on this is that he gave the milk first and

459
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:37,600
Speaker 2: the meat later. If you read Rabbi Hurts his commentary

460
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:41,080
Speaker 2: on the Torah, there is now a There is now

461
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:46,640
Speaker 2: an Orthodox, conservative and reform commentary on the Torah. The Orthodox,

462
00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:49,520
Speaker 2: which is the oldest is Rabbi Hurts is the former

463
00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:53,480
Speaker 2: chief Rabbi of the British Empire, published by Sansino. The

464
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:57,720
Speaker 2: Reform is Gunther Ploutz, and the Conservative has different authors

465
00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:01,240
Speaker 2: for each book, different commentaries. The Saran and ACKLM. Sarna

466
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:04,760
Speaker 2: did the Genesis. Rabbi Hurts in the Orthodox commentary says,

467
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:07,600
Speaker 2: there's no problem here because you can have meat, you

468
00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:09,840
Speaker 2: can have milk and then meat according to Jewish law.

469
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:15,080
Speaker 2: I have never found it necessary to argue that Abraham

470
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:19,440
Speaker 2: followed Jewish law. He lived quite well before Jewish law,

471
00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,440
Speaker 2: so why stick it on him? Why not just understand

472
00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:27,200
Speaker 2: what it says he gave them both because Orthodox Jews

473
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:30,520
Speaker 2: would never give somebody today milk and then bring me.

474
00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:34,800
Speaker 2: It's not a practice that Rabbinic Judaism would have would

475
00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,960
Speaker 2: have it would have allowed technically, but it wasn't done pragmatically.

476
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:43,840
Speaker 2: I have never seen a need to saddle the patriarchs

477
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:48,160
Speaker 2: or matriarchs with Jewish law when they lived before. It

478
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:51,840
Speaker 2: be that as it may, just confronting something that that

479
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:59,280
Speaker 2: views okay, it's very This stuff is very confusing. Where

480
00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,920
Speaker 2: did God come in? God comes in out of nowhere.

481
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:06,440
Speaker 2: He's talking to three strangers, and then it says Vyomrad.

482
00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:10,560
Speaker 2: And God said, is it clear that one of the

483
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:15,040
Speaker 2: strangers is divine? Or all of a sudden, does God

484
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 2: appear in some way to Abraham? Well, I can only

485
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:22,920
Speaker 2: tell you that there are those who hold that this

486
00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:27,560
Speaker 2: entire thing was a vision. Wherever God appeared in this chapter,

487
00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:32,560
Speaker 2: and I'm talking Jewish, traditional Jewish commentators took from number one. Remember,

488
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:36,520
Speaker 2: God appeared to him, that this was a vision. How

489
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:39,400
Speaker 2: God appears to anybody is unknowable unless any of you

490
00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:45,240
Speaker 2: have had God appear to you. Excuse me, it's not knowable.

491
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:54,280
Speaker 2: So God now speaks to Abraham. Now it gets even

492
00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:57,480
Speaker 2: more confusing. I did part of this with some of

493
00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:00,080
Speaker 2: you who were here, but I have rethought this chapter

494
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,200
Speaker 2: much more fully, and that's why we're doing some of

495
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:08,920
Speaker 2: these things again Sarah. Then in verse fifteen says It says,

496
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:14,680
Speaker 2: Then in verse fifteen, Sarah lied saying I didn't laugh.

497
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,480
Speaker 2: Why did she say that? Because she was afraid. It

498
00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 2: says that in the Torah okay literally, and Sarah lied

499
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:30,480
Speaker 2: saying I didn't laugh because she was afraid. And he said,

500
00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:38,280
Speaker 2: and he replied, no, you did laugh. Who's he God?

501
00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:41,320
Speaker 2: It can't be Abraham Abraham didn't know she laughed. She

502
00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:46,360
Speaker 2: laughed inside of herself. So now Sarah is talking. Got

503
00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:49,920
Speaker 2: to write it down. Sarah is now talking to God.

504
00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,560
Speaker 2: So did Sarah know who these three people were? These

505
00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:59,640
Speaker 2: are very difficult things to understand here where God comes in,

506
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,720
Speaker 2: where the three men are at this moment, is any

507
00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:05,360
Speaker 2: one of the men representing God and that is God?

508
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:10,800
Speaker 2: It's not truly possible for us to know. It is

509
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:15,200
Speaker 2: understandable though, that Sarah would laugh. It's understandable that Sarah

510
00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:18,560
Speaker 2: would lie. And as I have pointed out frequently and

511
00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:21,720
Speaker 2: gods in Genesis, it is as clear as anything that

512
00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:25,440
Speaker 2: Torah goes out of its way to portray its heroic

513
00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:30,480
Speaker 2: figures as human beings with flaws. I mean, if you're

514
00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:36,080
Speaker 2: looking for a president without character flaws, please know that

515
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,440
Speaker 2: the Bible didn't even look for patriarchs and matriarchs of

516
00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:43,160
Speaker 2: the Jewish people without flaws. And some people running for

517
00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:48,759
Speaker 2: office have fewer flaws in some cases. So it's very

518
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 2: important to be tolerant of flaws, not of evil, but

519
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:55,759
Speaker 2: of flaws. There's a difference. It's not an evil that

520
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:59,319
Speaker 2: she laughed, and it's not presented that way, nor does

521
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:02,399
Speaker 2: God get good, nor does God punish her. He simply says,

522
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:05,600
Speaker 2: is there anything that God can't do? Now, let's say

523
00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:08,040
Speaker 2: she knew it was God. Even saying this, would you

524
00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:12,000
Speaker 2: not laugh? Even if it was God talking to you,

525
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:17,840
Speaker 2: you'd still laugh. Understand that God is real to these people,

526
00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:24,280
Speaker 2: So of course there is a sense. Moses argues with God.

527
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:27,920
Speaker 2: See Moses. Moses and God meet at the burning bush,

528
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:29,360
Speaker 2: and God says to him, I want you to go

529
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,719
Speaker 2: and take the Jews out of Egypt. Moses says, are

530
00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:39,360
Speaker 2: you kidding? I can't do that. They won't believe in

531
00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:43,399
Speaker 2: me anyway, I stutter anyway, and he gives a whole

532
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:48,359
Speaker 2: series of arguments. It's very different their relationship to God

533
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:51,080
Speaker 2: than what we think it would be. As I've often said,

534
00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:55,360
Speaker 2: we would be appreciative if just God sneezed in our presence.

535
00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:59,840
Speaker 2: We so yearn to touch God directly in our lives.

536
00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:03,600
Speaker 2: We are very different from these people for whom God's

537
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:07,040
Speaker 2: reality was so much more vivid, at least for these

538
00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:13,440
Speaker 2: people certainly, and so they would have normal reactions, pardon me,

539
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:19,960
Speaker 2: they would simply react. And so even if God says

540
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:22,040
Speaker 2: you're going to have a child next year, so laugh

541
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:29,080
Speaker 2: inside of herself, so she denies it. But God said, no,

542
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:32,239
Speaker 2: I know you laughed. And who is this God? Is

543
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:34,239
Speaker 2: it the man in the name of God or God?

544
00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:38,080
Speaker 2: We cannot know at any rate. Verse sixteen. The men

545
00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:46,520
Speaker 2: got up from there, and they looked upon Sidom, and

546
00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:51,359
Speaker 2: Abraham walked with them to send them away. Seventeen And

547
00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:56,960
Speaker 2: God said, obviously I assume to himself. Am I going

548
00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:05,640
Speaker 2: to cover conceal from Abraham that which I do? And

549
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 2: after all, Abraham is going to be a great nation,

550
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:14,319
Speaker 2: a great and awesome nation, and through him all the

551
00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:16,759
Speaker 2: nations of the earth will be blessed. And I'm going

552
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 2: to hide from this person blessing to humanity what I'm

553
00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:27,120
Speaker 2: going to do? And then it says why God shows Abraham,

554
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:30,960
Speaker 2: why there will be the seed of Abraham. This is

555
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:34,800
Speaker 2: the raison debthra of the Jewish people. In verse nineteen

556
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:39,920
Speaker 2: of chapter eighteen. Okay, why are there Jews? I have

557
00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:43,440
Speaker 2: known him in order that he will instruct his children

558
00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:47,279
Speaker 2: and his house after him, that they may follow in

559
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:52,480
Speaker 2: God's way? And what does that mean? To do righteousness

560
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:56,239
Speaker 2: and justice or if you will, compassion and justice. A

561
00:37:56,280 --> 00:38:01,800
Speaker 2: word about this. The world rests on two pillars justice

562
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:09,120
Speaker 2: and compassion. In a sense, I can almost give you

563
00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:14,719
Speaker 2: the division politically and philosophically today that exists in our

564
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:19,719
Speaker 2: society rooted on these two things. Conservative people tend to

565
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:25,680
Speaker 2: emphasize justice, Liberal people tend to emphasize compassion. They are

566
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:33,720
Speaker 2: both right, However, one without the other is impossible. Justice

567
00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:42,120
Speaker 2: without mercy is cruel. Compassion without justice will have anarchy.

568
00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:48,120
Speaker 2: Either either will ensure a world of evil. You cannot

569
00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:53,440
Speaker 2: have only justice, and you cannot have only compassion. Whenever

570
00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:56,239
Speaker 2: you tip too much to one, you will get a

571
00:38:56,360 --> 00:39:02,560
Speaker 2: very cruel society. And both need to understand this. Both

572
00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:06,400
Speaker 2: need to know this, this balance. That's what God is

573
00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:10,440
Speaker 2: saying here. You must do both, and that is why

574
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:12,640
Speaker 2: I have known you. And that is what you choose

575
00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:18,160
Speaker 2: how to teach to thes of justice and compassion. Also,

576
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:24,000
Speaker 2: you notice that's what God wants Jews to teach, not faith,

577
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:29,080
Speaker 2: not faith alone, but faith in a God who demands goodness.

578
00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:33,239
Speaker 2: And that is what is called ethical monotheism, ethics that

579
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:36,280
Speaker 2: derive from one God, goodness that derives from a God.

580
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:45,720
Speaker 2: It is a religious mission whose task is human goodness.

581
00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:59,640
Speaker 2: Verse twenty. God said the cry the outrage of Sidom

582
00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:06,680
Speaker 2: and Gomorrah is very great, and their sin is very heavy,

583
00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:11,960
Speaker 2: very very grave. I am going twenty one. I am

584
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:16,080
Speaker 2: going to go down and I am going to see

585
00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:22,040
Speaker 2: if her cry that has come to me has ended,

586
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:28,439
Speaker 2: and if not, I will know what does that mean?

587
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:31,439
Speaker 2: What does mean? God will go down and check it out.

588
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:36,200
Speaker 2: This is a very important concept. Remember all anything God

589
00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:38,120
Speaker 2: does is to teach us how to behave, not to

590
00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:43,560
Speaker 2: tell us about God. Okay. It means that you before

591
00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:47,920
Speaker 2: you cast judgment, you check it out very well. It

592
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:51,360
Speaker 2: also means that just in case they have gotten better

593
00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:54,759
Speaker 2: in the last couple of days, I won't do what

594
00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:57,600
Speaker 2: I plan to do, Abraham, I'm going to check if

595
00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:03,000
Speaker 2: the screams have ended. By the way, in Hebrew, it

596
00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:06,440
Speaker 2: is her scream. Do you all have that in your English?

597
00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:14,360
Speaker 2: Twenty one? Yes? According to the outpride. Oh that's different.

598
00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:18,880
Speaker 2: Oh you have an our pride that has reached me. Okay,

599
00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:23,600
Speaker 2: it's literally her cry? Has her cry stopped? Her could

600
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:26,399
Speaker 2: be Saddam, although I don't know if Sadome would be

601
00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:31,719
Speaker 2: feminine that it's actually in the Jewish tradition, it's held

602
00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:35,359
Speaker 2: that it was the cry of one girl, one mistreated

603
00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:38,960
Speaker 2: girl by the society was enough. She had shown tenderness

604
00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:41,080
Speaker 2: to a stranger and was tortured to death by the

605
00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:45,640
Speaker 2: people of Sadome. That's the traditional understanding of that cry.

606
00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:49,839
Speaker 2: In other words, if the society tortures people for being hospitable,

607
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:54,040
Speaker 2: we have a serious problem here. But the point is

608
00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:57,920
Speaker 2: that God goes down and checks it out. Okay, you're

609
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:07,560
Speaker 2: with me, Okay, Before we get to Abraham's debate, probably

610
00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:11,240
Speaker 2: one of the two three most seminal things to happen

611
00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:14,560
Speaker 2: in the Torah, I want to talk to you about

612
00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:18,239
Speaker 2: what God what is being taught here, and it might

613
00:42:18,239 --> 00:42:21,800
Speaker 2: take the rest of the time because it's so important.

614
00:42:23,200 --> 00:42:26,000
Speaker 2: There are a number of points here about God being

615
00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:32,160
Speaker 2: ready to destroy Sadoman Gamorro number one. It tells us

616
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:36,719
Speaker 2: unlike the gods of paganism, and those of you who

617
00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:39,680
Speaker 2: have taken this from Genesis one, know that Genesis is

618
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:44,440
Speaker 2: a battle with Paganism. Unlike the gods of all other people,

619
00:42:45,239 --> 00:42:48,360
Speaker 2: the God that the Torah is revealing to the world

620
00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:52,719
Speaker 2: is a god who is not capricious. It is a

621
00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:58,319
Speaker 2: predictable god. It is a god who we understand the

622
00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:02,560
Speaker 2: behavior of because this God acts according to his own

623
00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:06,399
Speaker 2: moral rules, which is the preface to why Abraham can

624
00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:10,600
Speaker 2: then challenge him. You couldn't challenge Zeus, Zeus, I don't

625
00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:14,239
Speaker 2: understand what you're doing, And Zeus would say, why are

626
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:18,560
Speaker 2: you nuts? I'm Zeus. I do whatever I want, that's all.

627
00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:22,080
Speaker 2: I want to make love to this woman, I want

628
00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:28,319
Speaker 2: to slaughter this village. I'm God. Now there is an

629
00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:32,439
Speaker 2: element of that even in monotheism, that ultimately God's will

630
00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:37,239
Speaker 2: is inscrutable because we're only people. Nevertheless, God is not capricious.

631
00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:41,799
Speaker 2: Number two, God is moral. God is a mora being

632
00:43:41,880 --> 00:43:44,919
Speaker 2: who is preoccupied with how you and I treat each other.

633
00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:50,360
Speaker 2: God does not punish people for people mistreating God. God

634
00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:56,279
Speaker 2: punishes people for mistreating people. This is critical if you

635
00:43:56,360 --> 00:43:59,120
Speaker 2: want a human analogy. If you are a parent, I

636
00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:02,359
Speaker 2: think you will relate to this. Every parent wants their

637
00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:08,239
Speaker 2: child to treat him or her well, to love them, obviously,

638
00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:13,520
Speaker 2: but the biggest pain is if our children don't treat

639
00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:18,000
Speaker 2: each other well. We're prepared to take this respect that

640
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:22,600
Speaker 2: they shouldn't call up us. Whatever it might be. It's painful,

641
00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:25,319
Speaker 2: but we could live with it. But it is the

642
00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:29,080
Speaker 2: most painful when they can stand each other and if

643
00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:32,080
Speaker 2: can you imagine if one of your children murdered the other?

644
00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:36,400
Speaker 2: Can you imagine that? Would that not be the ultimate pain?

645
00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:39,080
Speaker 2: And is there any joy as great as your children

646
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:42,600
Speaker 2: loving each other? Is there not a parent who reminds

647
00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:45,920
Speaker 2: one kid to call the other kid to remember the

648
00:44:45,960 --> 00:44:50,040
Speaker 2: other kid's birthday or anniversary or something like that. You

649
00:44:50,160 --> 00:44:54,840
Speaker 2: want your kids to like each other. That gives you

650
00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:57,759
Speaker 2: the single greatest sense of joy, much greater than they're

651
00:44:57,800 --> 00:45:01,160
Speaker 2: liking you. You want them to take care of each other.

652
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:05,520
Speaker 2: If we feel that way with our children, presumably God,

653
00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:08,000
Speaker 2: who is the parent of all of us, feels that

654
00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:12,080
Speaker 2: way when we hurt each other. Because you can't hurt God. Remember,

655
00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:14,640
Speaker 2: you have to make this analogy that I gave to

656
00:45:14,760 --> 00:45:18,840
Speaker 2: humans much greater. You can be hurt by your kids,

657
00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:21,799
Speaker 2: but God can't be hurt by you. If you don't

658
00:45:21,840 --> 00:45:25,760
Speaker 2: call God, he's not hurt. But if you hurt another

659
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:29,640
Speaker 2: one of his children, he is hurt. That's that's the

660
00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:32,440
Speaker 2: point that's being made here. That's what God has preoccupied

661
00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:35,440
Speaker 2: with canaan Abel, how the world treated each other in

662
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:39,400
Speaker 2: Noah's time and now with Sidoman Gomorrah. It doesn't say, Gee,

663
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:43,000
Speaker 2: these people don't pray to me right, there is not

664
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:46,640
Speaker 2: even an hint of that. These people don't relate to

665
00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:50,640
Speaker 2: me God, these people don't know me. There's nothing of that.

666
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:56,200
Speaker 2: They hurt each other. That's what matters. That's what God

667
00:45:56,280 --> 00:46:02,120
Speaker 2: most cares about, how we treat each other. That's ethical monotheism.

668
00:46:02,239 --> 00:46:08,200
Speaker 2: Number four. Number three, God judges. God is not capricious.

669
00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:11,719
Speaker 2: God is moral. God judges. A lot of people in

670
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:14,680
Speaker 2: our time are not happy with that. That's part of

671
00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:18,759
Speaker 2: I believe what helps New Age thought become popular. There's

672
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:21,560
Speaker 2: no judging God outside of you. In New Age thought,

673
00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:24,400
Speaker 2: God is in me. Well, if God is in me,

674
00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:29,279
Speaker 2: then who's to judge me? God is outside of us

675
00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:34,239
Speaker 2: in the Hebrew Bible, not inside of us. God is

676
00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:37,640
Speaker 2: out there. We can touch God. We have a spark

677
00:46:37,680 --> 00:46:40,120
Speaker 2: of the divine, a spark of the divine in us

678
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:43,000
Speaker 2: where in God's image. But God is not in us.

679
00:46:43,239 --> 00:46:48,120
Speaker 2: God is outside of us, and God judges us, and

680
00:46:48,239 --> 00:46:51,280
Speaker 2: God judges us. Is not a thought that the world

681
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:54,719
Speaker 2: lives with. Well, it is to my belief that the

682
00:46:54,800 --> 00:47:00,520
Speaker 2: single greatest reason for anti Semitism historically that the Jews

683
00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:04,600
Speaker 2: introduced into the world a universal God who judges people

684
00:47:04,640 --> 00:47:08,800
Speaker 2: and punishes bad people. Has been a source of great

685
00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:14,800
Speaker 2: hatred to Jews. Historically, people don't like that belief. Don't

686
00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:22,080
Speaker 2: give me a judging God that bothers me. God is judgmental,

687
00:47:22,280 --> 00:47:26,440
Speaker 2: to use the worst possible term to many people today.

688
00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:30,960
Speaker 2: He's not judgmental on trivia. He's judgmental on how you

689
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:35,080
Speaker 2: treat other people. Though. That's the type of God that

690
00:47:35,160 --> 00:47:41,640
Speaker 2: is introduced in Genesis number four, both in the case

691
00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:46,120
Speaker 2: of the destruction of the world in the time of

692
00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:51,880
Speaker 2: Noah and in the case of Siddom and Gomorrah. We

693
00:47:52,080 --> 00:47:56,480
Speaker 2: have the principle that the entire world can be wrong,

694
00:47:57,440 --> 00:48:04,520
Speaker 2: meaning morality does not emanate from society. Morality emanates from God.

695
00:48:05,560 --> 00:48:12,080
Speaker 2: And if everybody in society says kidnapping is okay, kidnapping

696
00:48:12,120 --> 00:48:16,560
Speaker 2: is still not okay. You vote laws into power, but

697
00:48:16,600 --> 00:48:20,319
Speaker 2: you do not vote morality into power. There is a

698
00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:24,640
Speaker 2: right and there is a wrong, irrespective of what society says.

699
00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:29,440
Speaker 2: Slavery was wrong, even when society said it was okay.

700
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:34,680
Speaker 2: And it goes on and on. For whatever example you

701
00:48:34,719 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 2: would like to raise, only Abraham was right here, then

702
00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:43,840
Speaker 2: only Abraham was right. Only Noah in the whole world

703
00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:48,759
Speaker 2: was decent, because decency is not a matter of society.

704
00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:53,280
Speaker 2: So when your kids are taught at college that morality

705
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:57,080
Speaker 2: emanates from society, they are being taught the opposite of

706
00:48:57,120 --> 00:49:01,839
Speaker 2: what the Judeo Christian tradition teaches and what Judaism specifically

707
00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:06,960
Speaker 2: in this case, is teaching. Because that Sidome University they

708
00:49:07,080 --> 00:49:12,400
Speaker 2: taught all the ethics of Sidon. Sidome had an ethical system,

709
00:49:12,719 --> 00:49:16,200
Speaker 2: but God considered it evil. So it didn't matter that

710
00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:19,719
Speaker 2: professors of ethics at Sidon you with ta one thing.

711
00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:24,800
Speaker 2: They were wrong. And that is what is being emphasized

712
00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:29,040
Speaker 2: by the destruction of Sodom and Gomorro. One other point,

713
00:49:31,560 --> 00:49:36,479
Speaker 2: there are two forms of societal evil. One is far

714
00:49:36,600 --> 00:49:41,320
Speaker 2: worse than the other, and really only two forms. One

715
00:49:41,400 --> 00:49:48,239
Speaker 2: is the society has evil rules by which people live by.

716
00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:56,760
Speaker 2: Two society has good rules, but people violate them. Number

717
00:49:56,800 --> 00:50:01,759
Speaker 2: two is more common today, but it is not, but

718
00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:04,000
Speaker 2: it is not the only form of evil. What is

719
00:50:04,080 --> 00:50:06,640
Speaker 2: number two? Number two is simple. It says, in the

720
00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:10,319
Speaker 2: United States, murder is against the law. A lot of

721
00:50:10,360 --> 00:50:13,279
Speaker 2: Americans murder. I don't mean a lot in other words,

722
00:50:13,360 --> 00:50:17,400
Speaker 2: a huge percentage, but far too many. Okay, in absolute numbers,

723
00:50:17,440 --> 00:50:22,399
Speaker 2: A lot in percentage wise not a That's why, By

724
00:50:22,440 --> 00:50:24,319
Speaker 2: the way, those of you who hear me on the

725
00:50:24,400 --> 00:50:30,360
Speaker 2: radio constantly inveigh against calling America racist. America is not racist.

726
00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:35,680
Speaker 2: The South was a generation ago, America was a few

727
00:50:35,719 --> 00:50:40,480
Speaker 2: generations ago. America is not racist. There are racists in it.

728
00:50:41,400 --> 00:50:45,719
Speaker 2: So to America is not murderous. There are murderers in it.

729
00:50:47,600 --> 00:50:51,400
Speaker 2: The difference is very important. A murderers society is a

730
00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:55,560
Speaker 2: society that says it is okay to murder. Nazi Germany

731
00:50:56,000 --> 00:51:01,040
Speaker 2: was evil of type one. The laws themselves were evil.

732
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:10,040
Speaker 2: The Nazi who murdered a Jew did nothing illegal. That's

733
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:14,120
Speaker 2: the ultimate form of evil. That's what Saiddom and Gomorra had.

734
00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:20,360
Speaker 2: Sadoman Gomorrah were of type one, the worst and today

735
00:51:20,440 --> 00:51:24,520
Speaker 2: the rarest. But it exists. It is when the law

736
00:51:24,800 --> 00:51:29,360
Speaker 2: is evil that you have the greatest capacity to do evil.

737
00:51:30,320 --> 00:51:32,359
Speaker 2: That is why there is a great difference. You see,

738
00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:34,880
Speaker 2: people will often say, look at how many religious people

739
00:51:34,920 --> 00:51:38,600
Speaker 2: do evil. That's true, religious people have done evil, But

740
00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:42,920
Speaker 2: the question is did the religion's countenance it or not,

741
00:51:42,920 --> 00:51:45,680
Speaker 2: not whether people did it or not. That is why,

742
00:51:45,719 --> 00:51:50,399
Speaker 2: to give a contemporary example, the Komani death edict on

743
00:51:50,600 --> 00:51:56,840
Speaker 2: Salmon Rushti is far worse than a bunch of murderers

744
00:51:56,840 --> 00:52:02,160
Speaker 2: in Tehran because they're violating the laws murderers and Tehran.

745
00:52:02,200 --> 00:52:08,040
Speaker 2: They're violating Islamic law, they're violating Iranian state law. It's terrible,

746
00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:13,480
Speaker 2: but it's not as dangerous as an evil law. That's

747
00:52:13,560 --> 00:52:19,200
Speaker 2: the worst. That's where murder is okay. Those are the two,

748
00:52:19,680 --> 00:52:23,600
Speaker 2: and Sidoman Gomorrah is the worst. It's where a society

749
00:52:23,800 --> 00:52:27,920
Speaker 2: has stated it's okay to hurt people. It's a mitzvah,

750
00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:32,320
Speaker 2: as it were to do bad. Though there's no hope

751
00:52:32,320 --> 00:52:36,279
Speaker 2: for such a society, that society must be destroyed, there

752
00:52:36,320 --> 00:52:41,000
Speaker 2: is always a chance for people violating laws to come

753
00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:45,640
Speaker 2: back to doing them properly and being decent. That is

754
00:52:45,719 --> 00:52:48,719
Speaker 2: why I have just answered for myself a question that's

755
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:52,239
Speaker 2: plagued me for the last month. It's interesting, nothing like

756
00:52:52,320 --> 00:52:56,760
Speaker 2: thinking on your feet to help yourself. I have wondered

757
00:52:57,040 --> 00:53:03,400
Speaker 2: why Abraham did not argue with God that the people

758
00:53:03,440 --> 00:53:11,160
Speaker 2: of Sidoman Gomorrah do penitence. And I have look and

759
00:53:11,280 --> 00:53:15,279
Speaker 2: look and found no answer to that question. And now

760
00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:18,600
Speaker 2: I just answered it for myself. You can only do

761
00:53:18,640 --> 00:53:22,960
Speaker 2: penity when the evil you do violates the laws of

762
00:53:23,000 --> 00:53:27,360
Speaker 2: your society. Look, you're sinning. But you couldn't say to

763
00:53:27,440 --> 00:53:30,560
Speaker 2: someone in Sadoman Gimori you're sinning. They wouldn't. They would

764
00:53:30,560 --> 00:53:32,719
Speaker 2: have looked you with the blank stare, what do you

765
00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:36,759
Speaker 2: mean sinning? This is the way we behave Then there's

766
00:53:36,760 --> 00:53:41,360
Speaker 2: no chance for repentance. Are you with me? That's why Nazis.

767
00:53:41,600 --> 00:53:45,239
Speaker 2: Nazis couldn't have repented. They actually thought they were doing

768
00:53:45,280 --> 00:53:49,440
Speaker 2: the right thing. There was a very famous speech given

769
00:53:49,520 --> 00:53:52,759
Speaker 2: by Himmler, who was in many ways the architect of

770
00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:56,520
Speaker 2: the Holocaust. He spoke in posing Poland, I believe it

771
00:53:56,560 --> 00:54:00,919
Speaker 2: was nineteen forty three, at the depths of the Holocaust.

772
00:54:01,600 --> 00:54:04,279
Speaker 2: He gave a speech which is pretty well known to

773
00:54:04,840 --> 00:54:08,879
Speaker 2: the ss men in charge of implementing what they call

774
00:54:08,960 --> 00:54:14,640
Speaker 2: the final solution the murder of Europe's Jews, and the

775
00:54:14,719 --> 00:54:18,680
Speaker 2: speech goes basically as follows, I know what you're doing.

776
00:54:18,760 --> 00:54:22,520
Speaker 2: Some time seems hard, but you must know that you

777
00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:26,920
Speaker 2: are doing great and idealistic work for the fatherland that

778
00:54:27,120 --> 00:54:31,480
Speaker 2: generations hence will look to you as the saviors of

779
00:54:31,560 --> 00:54:35,640
Speaker 2: Germany and the saviors of the Aryan race. In other words,

780
00:54:35,719 --> 00:54:40,359
Speaker 2: it wasn't like the mafia. The mafia know that they

781
00:54:40,400 --> 00:54:43,680
Speaker 2: are operating outside of the law, and that's the way

782
00:54:43,680 --> 00:54:48,799
Speaker 2: they have chosen to live their lives. An incident at

783
00:54:48,880 --> 00:54:53,240
Speaker 2: Vshi by Arthur Miller, the play There is a Jewish

784
00:54:53,280 --> 00:54:58,240
Speaker 2: doctor in Nazi occupied France. He wants to be saved.

785
00:54:59,080 --> 00:55:02,080
Speaker 2: He praised that he will meet a Nazi who is

786
00:55:02,160 --> 00:55:07,359
Speaker 2: not idealistic. He has a chance to get saved if

787
00:55:07,400 --> 00:55:12,280
Speaker 2: he could bribe a corrupt Nazi. If he bumps into

788
00:55:12,320 --> 00:55:15,360
Speaker 2: a Nazi who believes in Nazism, he has no chance

789
00:55:15,400 --> 00:55:20,000
Speaker 2: to be saved. You see the point. When you believe

790
00:55:20,520 --> 00:55:24,920
Speaker 2: that the evil you do is legal, is right, you

791
00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:29,560
Speaker 2: can't do penitence. You can only repent when you are

792
00:55:29,680 --> 00:55:32,719
Speaker 2: When you know your sinning and allow yourself to do it,

793
00:55:32,880 --> 00:55:37,239
Speaker 2: You're weak. Whatever it might be, well, you get it.

794
00:55:37,960 --> 00:55:40,120
Speaker 2: That's all the difference in the world. That is why

795
00:55:40,160 --> 00:55:44,400
Speaker 2: it is so important to have good laws and good principles.

796
00:55:44,840 --> 00:55:48,240
Speaker 2: That is why I so deeply believe in keeping ideals

797
00:55:48,280 --> 00:55:52,480
Speaker 2: before people. I don't care about hypocrisy. I don't care

798
00:55:52,560 --> 00:55:55,120
Speaker 2: if people say, on the one hand that you know,

799
00:55:55,280 --> 00:55:59,359
Speaker 2: ladies and gentlemen, it is if a preacher says it's

800
00:55:59,400 --> 00:56:02,840
Speaker 2: wrong to commit adultery from his pulpit and then commits

801
00:56:02,840 --> 00:56:07,840
Speaker 2: it on Monday. I mind it for him and his wife,

802
00:56:08,280 --> 00:56:11,440
Speaker 2: but I don't mind it for society. He is simply

803
00:56:11,520 --> 00:56:14,800
Speaker 2: he has violated a law that he knows he shouldn't violate.

804
00:56:14,880 --> 00:56:18,680
Speaker 2: He's still weak. The issue is not hypocrisy. The issue

805
00:56:18,680 --> 00:56:22,320
Speaker 2: is weak. Weakness is sin. But if the man gets

806
00:56:22,400 --> 00:56:27,920
Speaker 2: up and says, my friends, wife swapping is beautiful, we

807
00:56:27,960 --> 00:56:31,880
Speaker 2: should all be sleeping with each other's spouses. We're finished.

808
00:56:32,960 --> 00:56:35,600
Speaker 2: There's nothing I can say to him. How could he repent?

809
00:56:35,640 --> 00:56:40,120
Speaker 2: He's not doing anything wrong. That is why it is

810
00:56:40,120 --> 00:56:44,840
Speaker 2: so important for society to maintain standards, even if people

811
00:56:45,040 --> 00:56:50,719
Speaker 2: violate them. We need standards. At least know that there

812
00:56:50,800 --> 00:56:54,480
Speaker 2: is something that I fail, a standard that I fail.

813
00:56:54,640 --> 00:56:56,920
Speaker 2: So what I do? You do? We all fail the

814
00:56:57,040 --> 00:57:00,880
Speaker 2: highest standards. But if there are none, there's no chance

815
00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:06,120
Speaker 2: to improve. That is why Abraham, when he now appears

816
00:57:06,160 --> 00:57:10,319
Speaker 2: before God, will not argue. Let me go and call

817
00:57:10,400 --> 00:57:16,480
Speaker 2: them to repent. They won't understand later. Jonah, the prophet, Jonah,

818
00:57:16,840 --> 00:57:19,360
Speaker 2: who you know is swallowed by a big fish. Know

819
00:57:19,400 --> 00:57:21,000
Speaker 2: the story, and that's not a way. It's just a

820
00:57:21,040 --> 00:57:26,800
Speaker 2: big fish. And why is he swallowed by a big fish.

821
00:57:27,200 --> 00:57:30,160
Speaker 2: Jonah is told by God to go to a city

822
00:57:30,400 --> 00:57:34,360
Speaker 2: of Ninvey, the major major city of the time, and

823
00:57:34,440 --> 00:57:37,640
Speaker 2: to tell them to repent their evil ways, and he

824
00:57:37,760 --> 00:57:40,520
Speaker 2: tries to flee God by the way. There's another example.

825
00:57:40,600 --> 00:57:43,040
Speaker 2: Could you imagine today, if you thought God spoke to you,

826
00:57:43,040 --> 00:57:45,480
Speaker 2: you'd run away to a ship. Think about it for

827
00:57:45,520 --> 00:57:47,320
Speaker 2: a minute. You see what I mean. They had such

828
00:57:47,360 --> 00:57:50,680
Speaker 2: a more real interaction with God than we do. He said,

829
00:57:50,720 --> 00:57:58,320
Speaker 2: I'll forget it, I'm leaving. But the point is, you know,

830
00:57:58,400 --> 00:58:02,640
Speaker 2: the end of the story, well, the near end is extraordinary.

831
00:58:03,320 --> 00:58:07,479
Speaker 2: Jonah goes to Ninvey, says, repent, and they do. That's

832
00:58:07,480 --> 00:58:09,919
Speaker 2: really a riot they do. They all put on sack,

833
00:58:10,040 --> 00:58:14,040
Speaker 2: law ashes and get better, which blows Jonah's mind out.

834
00:58:15,320 --> 00:58:19,560
Speaker 2: Now that is where you had people who understand there's

835
00:58:19,600 --> 00:58:22,800
Speaker 2: a God, there's a law, we did wrong, will repent.

836
00:58:23,520 --> 00:58:29,520
Speaker 2: No such chance in the case of Saddome, apparently, what

837
00:58:29,640 --> 00:58:32,959
Speaker 2: then does Abraham argue? For what time is it? Who's

838
00:58:33,000 --> 00:58:37,040
Speaker 2: got I didn't? Okay? Then all right, if you want

839
00:58:37,160 --> 00:58:40,160
Speaker 2: questions or do you want me to continue? That was

840
00:58:40,200 --> 00:58:47,040
Speaker 2: pretty apparent, Thank you, rich okay. Verse twenty two the

841
00:58:47,120 --> 00:58:52,440
Speaker 2: men went from there to Sadame, and Abraham is still

842
00:58:52,480 --> 00:58:56,880
Speaker 2: standing before God. Here's an interesting thing. Look at twenty

843
00:58:56,920 --> 00:59:04,200
Speaker 2: three Abraham stepped forward, that is, to God and said, no,

844
00:59:04,280 --> 00:59:07,720
Speaker 2: wait a minute. If Abraham is still standing before God,

845
00:59:07,760 --> 00:59:12,200
Speaker 2: what does it mean he stepped forward. I don't have

846
00:59:12,960 --> 00:59:15,520
Speaker 2: a direct answer, but what as clear as it can't

847
00:59:15,520 --> 00:59:20,200
Speaker 2: be literal. If let's take Godd's name away, Let's say,

848
00:59:20,200 --> 00:59:27,080
Speaker 2: and Abraham is still standing before his friend Walter, and

849
00:59:27,120 --> 00:59:31,480
Speaker 2: then Abraham stepped up to his friend. It doesn't make sense.

850
00:59:31,640 --> 00:59:33,600
Speaker 2: He's already standing in front of his friend. You don't

851
00:59:33,640 --> 00:59:36,880
Speaker 2: step up to your friend and then talk. What I

852
00:59:36,920 --> 00:59:41,480
Speaker 2: think it might mean is he entered God's presence in

853
00:59:41,680 --> 00:59:47,040
Speaker 2: order to continue the dialogue. He entered into an understanding

854
00:59:47,080 --> 00:59:49,240
Speaker 2: of what it is that God wants. And I pointed

855
00:59:49,240 --> 00:59:52,200
Speaker 2: out in an earlier tape that it meant that he

856
00:59:52,360 --> 00:59:57,320
Speaker 2: was deeply aware of God's sense of goodness. It was

857
00:59:57,360 --> 01:00:01,160
Speaker 2: pointed out in an earlier session. But whatever it means,

858
01:00:01,760 --> 01:00:06,400
Speaker 2: he steps into this presence of God and then says,

859
01:00:08,520 --> 01:00:15,920
Speaker 2: will you destroy the innocent along with the guilty? What

860
01:00:16,080 --> 01:00:21,640
Speaker 2: we have here is such a revolution that I can't

861
01:00:21,680 --> 01:00:24,160
Speaker 2: fully describe it to you because we are the heirs

862
01:00:24,200 --> 01:00:27,720
Speaker 2: of the revolution. And take it for granted. Number one,

863
01:00:27,840 --> 01:00:34,160
Speaker 2: we have man arguing with God. It's such a powerful notion.

864
01:00:35,840 --> 01:00:40,760
Speaker 2: It is also it is also a staggering power that

865
01:00:40,840 --> 01:00:44,320
Speaker 2: you could not only argue with God in Judaism, but

866
01:00:44,400 --> 01:00:48,920
Speaker 2: you could call God account for his acts. Remember what

867
01:00:49,040 --> 01:00:52,800
Speaker 2: I said earlier, it's not capricious God. It doesn't make

868
01:00:52,920 --> 01:00:56,840
Speaker 2: sense what you're gonna do because you God, don't do that,

869
01:00:57,000 --> 01:01:03,720
Speaker 2: because you hold the following standard. If in any other religion,

870
01:01:03,880 --> 01:01:07,360
Speaker 2: First of all, nobody would have argued a moral argument

871
01:01:07,480 --> 01:01:10,280
Speaker 2: with God and another in a pagan religion. But let's

872
01:01:10,280 --> 01:01:12,840
Speaker 2: say they did that, God would have said, shut up,

873
01:01:13,080 --> 01:01:15,760
Speaker 2: I smite you with the dragons of the sky and

874
01:01:15,840 --> 01:01:21,040
Speaker 2: drop dead. That basically would have been it. Instead we

875
01:01:21,280 --> 01:01:24,320
Speaker 2: have here a remark. What is more, I don't know

876
01:01:24,360 --> 01:01:29,200
Speaker 2: which is more remarkable that Abraham argues with God or

877
01:01:29,200 --> 01:01:33,160
Speaker 2: that God takes it. I don't know which is but

878
01:01:33,240 --> 01:01:38,080
Speaker 2: they are both equally stunning stunning. And here is truly

879
01:01:38,120 --> 01:01:42,040
Speaker 2: where you understand why Abraham is the father of the people,

880
01:01:42,080 --> 01:01:44,840
Speaker 2: that God wants to teach the world compassion and justice,

881
01:01:45,560 --> 01:01:50,320
Speaker 2: because that's exactly what he's arguing for here compassion and justice,

882
01:01:51,120 --> 01:01:58,480
Speaker 2: even for the miserable people of Saddam. Will will you

883
01:01:58,640 --> 01:02:01,040
Speaker 2: destroy the innocent along with the guilty? Now here's a

884
01:02:01,120 --> 01:02:06,760
Speaker 2: question who is he pleading for? It's a real complex

885
01:02:06,840 --> 01:02:10,200
Speaker 2: issue here. Who is he? Who is he arguing on

886
01:02:10,320 --> 01:02:15,200
Speaker 2: behalf of Is he arguing on behalf of the good people?

887
01:02:15,840 --> 01:02:22,080
Speaker 2: Or is he arguing on behalf of all the people? Again,

888
01:02:22,160 --> 01:02:30,240
Speaker 2: here's the question. Abraham came forward and said, will you

889
01:02:30,440 --> 01:02:37,480
Speaker 2: kill the innocent along with the guilty? What if they're

890
01:02:37,480 --> 01:02:39,960
Speaker 2: selemy finish his argument? What if there should be fifty

891
01:02:40,000 --> 01:02:42,120
Speaker 2: innocent within the city, will you then wipe out the

892
01:02:42,160 --> 01:02:44,560
Speaker 2: place and not forgive it for the sake of the

893
01:02:44,600 --> 01:02:48,680
Speaker 2: innocent fifty who are in it? Who's he arguing for?

894
01:02:50,920 --> 01:02:56,360
Speaker 2: It's pretty clear he's arguing for everybody, because of the

895
01:02:56,400 --> 01:03:02,600
Speaker 2: good people who are in it. Okay, I will continue

896
01:03:02,600 --> 01:03:04,280
Speaker 2: with that thought a little later. I want you to

897
01:03:04,320 --> 01:03:09,960
Speaker 2: see the entirety of his argument. Notice what he's not arguing.

898
01:03:10,160 --> 01:03:12,480
Speaker 2: Number one, He's not arguing why don't you send me

899
01:03:12,520 --> 01:03:16,360
Speaker 2: in and ask them to repent? Okay, that's clear. I

900
01:03:16,600 --> 01:03:20,919
Speaker 2: offered one answer earlier that this is not a repentable crowd.

901
01:03:21,520 --> 01:03:26,800
Speaker 2: I may be wrong. If I am wrong, the question remains,

902
01:03:27,000 --> 01:03:31,800
Speaker 2: why didn't he ask for repentance. There are non Orthodox

903
01:03:31,840 --> 01:03:34,720
Speaker 2: scholars who hold that he didn't ask for repentance because

904
01:03:34,760 --> 01:03:39,120
Speaker 2: repentance is a later prophetic idea. It's as simple as that.

905
01:03:40,000 --> 01:03:43,800
Speaker 2: I find it difficult to believe that the concept of

906
01:03:45,240 --> 01:03:49,200
Speaker 2: becoming good after doing bad is only a prophetic idea.

907
01:03:49,640 --> 01:03:51,840
Speaker 2: But be that as it may, we certainly don't have

908
01:03:51,880 --> 01:03:53,760
Speaker 2: examples of it, to the best of my knowledge, in

909
01:03:53,800 --> 01:03:57,120
Speaker 2: the Torah, so there may be some substance to it

910
01:03:57,200 --> 01:04:00,800
Speaker 2: that it was not a deep Torah idea. Though of

911
01:04:00,800 --> 01:04:03,920
Speaker 2: course you have young Kipur in the Torah, and you

912
01:04:04,040 --> 01:04:08,200
Speaker 2: have the whole sacrificial system, which is personal penitence, but

913
01:04:08,320 --> 01:04:10,320
Speaker 2: you don't have as a whole society doing it but

914
01:04:10,440 --> 01:04:13,680
Speaker 2: sell up. It's not a story that would have arisen

915
01:04:13,720 --> 01:04:18,120
Speaker 2: in the Torah. Therefore, it's an open question if you

916
01:04:18,200 --> 01:04:22,880
Speaker 2: don't accept my earlier explanation, why didn't Abraham say send

917
01:04:22,920 --> 01:04:26,280
Speaker 2: me in and I'll tell them to do good. Number two,

918
01:04:27,000 --> 01:04:30,640
Speaker 2: He does not ask what I would have asked. I

919
01:04:30,720 --> 01:04:34,120
Speaker 2: admit to you, I am not Abraham. I admit it

920
01:04:34,160 --> 01:04:39,320
Speaker 2: at the outset because even knowing what Abraham the Great

921
01:04:39,480 --> 01:04:43,520
Speaker 2: asked for I still wouldn't ask for it. I would

922
01:04:43,560 --> 01:04:48,040
Speaker 2: have asked, why don't you just save the good fifty

923
01:04:48,840 --> 01:04:52,960
Speaker 2: or forty or thirty that you find and take them out.

924
01:04:53,200 --> 01:04:56,520
Speaker 2: I when a society reaches the level of evil of

925
01:04:56,520 --> 01:04:59,560
Speaker 2: a a Sidome, of a Nazi Germany, et cetera, I

926
01:04:59,680 --> 01:05:03,240
Speaker 2: will not plead for those people. Personally. I am not

927
01:05:03,280 --> 01:05:07,200
Speaker 2: on Abraham's level. I admit it to you. Had I

928
01:05:07,560 --> 01:05:09,800
Speaker 2: would have argued with God that part I know, that

929
01:05:09,840 --> 01:05:13,360
Speaker 2: part of Abraham I have, But I would have said,

930
01:05:13,400 --> 01:05:15,560
Speaker 2: wait a minute, maybe there are good people in there,

931
01:05:15,640 --> 01:05:18,240
Speaker 2: take them out first, then do whatever the hell you are.

932
01:05:19,160 --> 01:05:21,840
Speaker 2: That's how I would have done it. He doesn't do that.

933
01:05:22,040 --> 01:05:27,480
Speaker 2: Isn't that interesting? He wants the whole place saved if

934
01:05:27,480 --> 01:05:30,800
Speaker 2: there are enough good people in it, a number of

935
01:05:30,800 --> 01:05:34,080
Speaker 2: good people in it. That's why you must understand. He's

936
01:05:34,120 --> 01:05:38,080
Speaker 2: not pleading for the good people's lives. He's pleading for

937
01:05:38,320 --> 01:05:42,960
Speaker 2: all of saidome's life. You get that. It's a very

938
01:05:43,000 --> 01:05:47,280
Speaker 2: big difference. But he's doing so on the grounds that

939
01:05:47,320 --> 01:05:51,480
Speaker 2: there are fifty good people there. If there are fifty

940
01:05:51,520 --> 01:05:55,120
Speaker 2: good people, Now, if you think this is amazing that

941
01:05:55,160 --> 01:06:00,120
Speaker 2: he's arguing with God. Number twenty five is absolutely to

942
01:06:00,240 --> 01:06:07,360
Speaker 2: use it very sophisticated theological term, mind bodiling. Far be

943
01:06:07,560 --> 01:06:11,000
Speaker 2: it from you to do such a thing, But the

944
01:06:11,080 --> 01:06:15,400
Speaker 2: Hebrew is much stronger than far be it from you. Khalililaka.

945
01:06:16,320 --> 01:06:19,600
Speaker 2: That's disgusting if you should do such a thing. I mean,

946
01:06:19,640 --> 01:06:22,800
Speaker 2: there is no English equivalent khalila laha. It's like, it's

947
01:06:22,840 --> 01:06:25,640
Speaker 2: disgraceful and repugnant that you would do such a thing.

948
01:06:26,600 --> 01:06:28,600
Speaker 2: It's the sort of thing you would say to a kid.

949
01:06:29,000 --> 01:06:30,600
Speaker 2: If you were a parent of a kid who was

950
01:06:30,680 --> 01:06:34,760
Speaker 2: about to smack another kid, khalil laha. You wouldn't even

951
01:06:34,760 --> 01:06:38,200
Speaker 2: say it to your parent. It's not Hebrew that a

952
01:06:38,440 --> 01:06:42,840
Speaker 2: traditional Jewish child, an Israeli child, because khalila laka would

953
01:06:42,840 --> 01:06:45,520
Speaker 2: still be used, would used to a parent. It is

954
01:06:45,560 --> 01:06:49,919
Speaker 2: so strong, don't you dare? It's probably the closest, don't

955
01:06:49,960 --> 01:06:52,720
Speaker 2: you dare? Don't you dare do such a thing to

956
01:06:52,760 --> 01:06:55,040
Speaker 2: bring death upon the innocent as well as the guilty.

957
01:06:55,840 --> 01:06:59,480
Speaker 2: So the innocent and guilty fair alike. Far be it

958
01:06:59,520 --> 01:07:03,400
Speaker 2: from you, shall not the judge of all the earth

959
01:07:03,560 --> 01:07:07,480
Speaker 2: deal justly. I mean that the words resonate that they're

960
01:07:07,680 --> 01:07:10,120
Speaker 2: among the words you always remember, USh your faith Claudu's

961
01:07:10,160 --> 01:07:13,920
Speaker 2: Loya semi shap Will the judge of all the earth

962
01:07:15,120 --> 01:07:20,960
Speaker 2: not judge fairly? Or not? Do? Just believe me? A

963
01:07:20,960 --> 01:07:24,480
Speaker 2: lot of Jews historically have asked God this question when

964
01:07:24,520 --> 01:07:26,800
Speaker 2: they have seen the injustices of their lives.

965
01:07:27,200 --> 01:07:30,600
Speaker 1: This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

966
01:07:36,080 --> 01:07:40,959
Speaker 1: Now back to more of Dennis Bragger's timeless wisdom.

967
01:07:41,040 --> 01:07:47,080
Speaker 2: Now, what does he say here? It's very It's an

968
01:07:47,080 --> 01:07:53,160
Speaker 2: odd thing. First you think he's pleading for all of Saddam, right,

969
01:07:53,240 --> 01:07:55,560
Speaker 2: But then he says, how can you do such a

970
01:07:55,600 --> 01:07:59,080
Speaker 2: thing to bring death upon the good people as well

971
01:07:59,120 --> 01:08:05,680
Speaker 2: as the bad people? Are you with me? He's mixed

972
01:08:05,760 --> 01:08:11,160
Speaker 2: two arguments together, Abraham, because he's if he now it

973
01:08:11,280 --> 01:08:13,440
Speaker 2: sounds like his worry is not that the bad people

974
01:08:13,440 --> 01:08:15,720
Speaker 2: are getting killed, but is that the good are getting

975
01:08:15,760 --> 01:08:19,880
Speaker 2: killed with them? Right? So which one is it? The

976
01:08:19,960 --> 01:08:23,680
Speaker 2: answer is I think he's trying both. Don't you do

977
01:08:23,760 --> 01:08:25,879
Speaker 2: that if you'd ever argue with your parent or something,

978
01:08:26,000 --> 01:08:29,079
Speaker 2: or for that matter, anybody, you don't just use one argument.

979
01:08:29,160 --> 01:08:32,560
Speaker 2: You throw in everything you can. And that's what he's doing. Well,

980
01:08:32,600 --> 01:08:35,039
Speaker 2: it ever comes to his mind he throws in because

981
01:08:35,080 --> 01:08:39,080
Speaker 2: it's not fully logically coherent. First he argues on behalf

982
01:08:39,080 --> 01:08:40,479
Speaker 2: of the whole place, and then he says, how can

983
01:08:40,560 --> 01:08:45,040
Speaker 2: you destroy them both? Meaning I understand why you destroy

984
01:08:45,120 --> 01:08:49,840
Speaker 2: the bad ones. Interesting little thing there. So it seems

985
01:08:49,880 --> 01:08:54,599
Speaker 2: that part of him makes peace with the bad being killed,

986
01:08:55,160 --> 01:08:58,559
Speaker 2: because twenty four argues for the whole place, twenty five

987
01:08:58,760 --> 01:09:01,800
Speaker 2: argues for not killing good people with bad people. And

988
01:09:01,840 --> 01:09:05,320
Speaker 2: they are two entirely different arguments. I would have given

989
01:09:05,360 --> 01:09:08,960
Speaker 2: the second one. Maybe I'm just thinking. Maybe he gave

990
01:09:09,000 --> 01:09:11,240
Speaker 2: the second one because he got no response to the

991
01:09:11,240 --> 01:09:14,320
Speaker 2: first one, so very quickly he realized it didn't work.

992
01:09:14,960 --> 01:09:17,320
Speaker 2: Let me try this other one, and I mean it

993
01:09:17,320 --> 01:09:19,760
Speaker 2: and might very well because there's no God response after

994
01:09:19,800 --> 01:09:23,400
Speaker 2: twenty four, so he tries twenty five. Maybe then I

995
01:09:23,520 --> 01:09:26,360
Speaker 2: maybe I am on a good level. Maybe in fact,

996
01:09:27,120 --> 01:09:30,679
Speaker 2: God didn't bother answering number one because it wasn't worthy

997
01:09:30,680 --> 01:09:35,440
Speaker 2: of a response. So then he asked the fairness one. Remember,

998
01:09:36,040 --> 01:09:40,519
Speaker 2: the first one is a compassion one. The second argument

999
01:09:40,760 --> 01:09:48,200
Speaker 2: is a justice one. But what's God's answer? Listen to this.

1000
01:09:48,479 --> 01:09:53,760
Speaker 2: God's answer is and God says, it's twenty six. If

1001
01:09:53,800 --> 01:09:57,120
Speaker 2: I find in saidome fifty good people in the city,

1002
01:09:58,240 --> 01:10:02,519
Speaker 2: then I will save the whole place on their behalf.

1003
01:10:05,200 --> 01:10:10,520
Speaker 2: Which argument is God responding to? Right? Isn't that interesting?

1004
01:10:10,920 --> 01:10:16,439
Speaker 2: God responded to the compassion argument. He didn't say, hey,

1005
01:10:16,439 --> 01:10:19,280
Speaker 2: if I find fifty, I'll take him out. Have been

1006
01:10:19,320 --> 01:10:22,120
Speaker 2: the most logical response to argument number two. Sorry, God's

1007
01:10:22,120 --> 01:10:27,200
Speaker 2: a liberal. I know I knew somebody would can can't

1008
01:10:27,280 --> 01:10:31,400
Speaker 2: argue with you on this basis That is correct. Well,

1009
01:10:31,439 --> 01:10:38,240
Speaker 2: I told you I'm not at that level yet. So

1010
01:10:38,320 --> 01:10:42,240
Speaker 2: God responds to this first argument, I will save the

1011
01:10:42,280 --> 01:10:48,480
Speaker 2: whole place if you find fifty, at which point Abraham

1012
01:10:48,560 --> 01:10:52,880
Speaker 2: realizes he's on shaky grounds because God basically knows how

1013
01:10:52,880 --> 01:10:55,160
Speaker 2: many good people are there. We trust that God knows

1014
01:10:55,200 --> 01:11:01,080
Speaker 2: those things. So twenty seven Abraham answers and he says, listen,

1015
01:11:01,120 --> 01:11:05,920
Speaker 2: I just it's very beautiful. He knows he's talking to God.

1016
01:11:06,320 --> 01:11:10,160
Speaker 2: So he says, you know, how do they do it? Here? Here?

1017
01:11:10,240 --> 01:11:15,040
Speaker 2: I venture to speak to God. It's really there. I

1018
01:11:15,439 --> 01:11:19,639
Speaker 2: dare to speak to God, and I am only dust

1019
01:11:20,479 --> 01:11:24,800
Speaker 2: dust and from dust. It's very powerful. What he does.

1020
01:11:24,840 --> 01:11:27,080
Speaker 2: He realizes what he's doing is he's not a fool.

1021
01:11:27,360 --> 01:11:30,000
Speaker 2: This guy's arguing with God. I mean, listen, I know

1022
01:11:30,080 --> 01:11:33,080
Speaker 2: I'm dust. I just dare to do this. Let me continue.

1023
01:11:33,680 --> 01:11:39,160
Speaker 2: So twenty eight, maybe h if the fifty innocent should

1024
01:11:39,240 --> 01:11:45,320
Speaker 2: lack five, he doesn't. He doesn't want to save forty five.

1025
01:11:45,439 --> 01:11:48,160
Speaker 2: Isn't that funny? What if they're a fifty innocent tip

1026
01:11:48,200 --> 01:11:52,160
Speaker 2: for five? It's so beautiful how he does it. It's like,

1027
01:11:52,200 --> 01:11:53,720
Speaker 2: I just want to keep it at fifty because I

1028
01:11:53,760 --> 01:11:57,080
Speaker 2: know the lower numbers don't sound as good. So will

1029
01:11:57,120 --> 01:12:00,479
Speaker 2: you destroy the whole city? Not for the forty five

1030
01:12:00,880 --> 01:12:04,320
Speaker 2: just because they're a five? Missik You see, he's tricky Abraham.

1031
01:12:04,640 --> 01:12:07,599
Speaker 2: He doesn't say for forty five. He says, just for five,

1032
01:12:07,720 --> 01:12:10,320
Speaker 2: less than you would have saved them four for fifty.

1033
01:12:10,760 --> 01:12:14,040
Speaker 2: So and God answers, okay, God doesn't say for the five.

1034
01:12:14,120 --> 01:12:16,760
Speaker 2: God gets his tune. He goes, I won't destroy if

1035
01:12:16,760 --> 01:12:22,720
Speaker 2: I find forty five. So Abraham continues in twenty nine,

1036
01:12:22,880 --> 01:12:28,960
Speaker 2: and he said, well forty I could just see him

1037
01:12:29,000 --> 01:12:31,080
Speaker 2: doing it. You know, just how about forty would you

1038
01:12:31,120 --> 01:12:33,679
Speaker 2: would you do it? Would you save it for the forty?

1039
01:12:34,800 --> 01:12:38,360
Speaker 2: And God answered, I won't destroy it for the sake

1040
01:12:38,400 --> 01:12:43,479
Speaker 2: of forty. And then Abraham said, please don't be angry

1041
01:12:43,560 --> 01:12:48,080
Speaker 2: with me if I go on, how about thirty? It's

1042
01:12:48,120 --> 01:12:51,240
Speaker 2: truly remarkable, It's truly there is. It's epic. We are

1043
01:12:51,280 --> 01:12:57,760
Speaker 2: in an epic literature of I think divine proportions. And

1044
01:12:57,840 --> 01:13:00,320
Speaker 2: God answered, okay, I won't do it if I find

1045
01:13:00,400 --> 01:13:04,920
Speaker 2: thirty there. See Abraham is not feeling happy at this time, obviously,

1046
01:13:05,640 --> 01:13:09,880
Speaker 2: but he continues. I venture again to speak to my lord.

1047
01:13:10,400 --> 01:13:14,120
Speaker 2: What if twenty should be found there? And God answered,

1048
01:13:14,240 --> 01:13:16,000
Speaker 2: I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.

1049
01:13:16,000 --> 01:13:18,160
Speaker 2: God is really robotic in this regard. You know. He

1050
01:13:18,320 --> 01:13:21,320
Speaker 2: just said, no problem, ade, now I won't touch him

1051
01:13:21,320 --> 01:13:27,479
Speaker 2: for twenty, right, And Abraham said, let God, don't be

1052
01:13:27,560 --> 01:13:31,760
Speaker 2: angry if I speak just one last time. What if

1053
01:13:31,840 --> 01:13:34,800
Speaker 2: ten should be found there? And God said, I won't

1054
01:13:34,800 --> 01:13:37,320
Speaker 2: destroy it for the sake of ten, same answer as

1055
01:13:37,320 --> 01:13:39,920
Speaker 2: he gave the whole time, and just added the word ten.

1056
01:13:41,160 --> 01:13:45,120
Speaker 2: And when God finished speaking to Abraham, he departed. God

1057
01:13:45,160 --> 01:13:50,160
Speaker 2: departed and Abraham returned to his place. That was it.

1058
01:13:51,360 --> 01:13:53,920
Speaker 2: The most obvious question at this point is why didn't

1059
01:13:53,920 --> 01:14:02,120
Speaker 2: he go to five right? Three two one? The answer

1060
01:14:02,320 --> 01:14:06,280
Speaker 2: is and the answer and the fact that he stopped

1061
01:14:06,280 --> 01:14:09,880
Speaker 2: at ten really shows what he was arguing for. He

1062
01:14:10,000 --> 01:14:15,439
Speaker 2: was arguing to save the place. His second argument. He

1063
01:14:15,600 --> 01:14:18,719
Speaker 2: dropped the In other words, I admit it. The argument

1064
01:14:18,800 --> 01:14:23,240
Speaker 2: I would have given is never dealt with. Remember that

1065
01:14:23,320 --> 01:14:26,120
Speaker 2: second argument, how can you destroy the good with the bad?

1066
01:14:26,760 --> 01:14:30,759
Speaker 2: It's not argued. God doesn't answer it, and Abraham doesn't

1067
01:14:30,800 --> 01:14:34,479
Speaker 2: pursue it, the entire argument. And you know why not

1068
01:14:34,520 --> 01:14:38,280
Speaker 2: because God's a liberal. I'll tell you why. God's a

1069
01:14:38,280 --> 01:14:43,560
Speaker 2: liberal and a conservative. I'll tell you why because already

1070
01:14:43,600 --> 01:14:47,040
Speaker 2: it is clear on justice grounds alone, the place deserves

1071
01:14:47,080 --> 01:14:51,200
Speaker 2: to be destroyed. So the only leg Abraham has to

1072
01:14:51,280 --> 01:14:56,280
Speaker 2: stand on is the compassionate and God is compassionate and says, yes,

1073
01:14:57,160 --> 01:14:59,360
Speaker 2: it's clear. The fair thing to do with such a

1074
01:14:59,439 --> 01:15:02,599
Speaker 2: rotten place is to kill the place. That's the just

1075
01:15:02,640 --> 01:15:06,160
Speaker 2: thing to do. We've established that both Abraham knows it

1076
01:15:06,200 --> 01:15:09,000
Speaker 2: and God knows it. So the only thing he can

1077
01:15:09,080 --> 01:15:12,640
Speaker 2: argue for is all right, but maybe you'll have compassion

1078
01:15:12,680 --> 01:15:14,720
Speaker 2: on the place if there are some good people in it.

1079
01:15:16,920 --> 01:15:21,000
Speaker 2: And that is why he stops at ten. If his

1080
01:15:21,160 --> 01:15:23,880
Speaker 2: interest was saving the good people, he would have gone

1081
01:15:23,920 --> 01:15:27,160
Speaker 2: to one. God, there happens to be a good person

1082
01:15:27,240 --> 01:15:31,880
Speaker 2: living on elm Street who you should save. But he

1083
01:15:31,920 --> 01:15:36,559
Speaker 2: doesn't do that. So it is clear that his argument

1084
01:15:36,680 --> 01:15:40,760
Speaker 2: is not primarily it's not fair to kill the good

1085
01:15:40,800 --> 01:15:43,479
Speaker 2: with the bad, because he should have kept going down

1086
01:15:43,520 --> 01:15:46,000
Speaker 2: to one. It's not fair for one good person to

1087
01:15:46,040 --> 01:15:49,439
Speaker 2: suffer in a bad place, right, he doesn't do it.

1088
01:15:50,040 --> 01:15:53,440
Speaker 2: His argument is for the place, and it's not just compassion.

1089
01:15:53,479 --> 01:15:56,840
Speaker 2: It's one other thing. And it is this, which is

1090
01:15:56,840 --> 01:16:00,639
Speaker 2: why he stops at ten. After all, Remember, Tora means teacher.

1091
01:16:00,800 --> 01:16:04,400
Speaker 2: The story is to teach you something. You can't make

1092
01:16:04,600 --> 01:16:11,880
Speaker 2: a good world alone. You cannot. You have to do

1093
01:16:11,960 --> 01:16:17,240
Speaker 2: it with others. And if there aren't even a quorum

1094
01:16:17,280 --> 01:16:24,559
Speaker 2: of ten of you, there's no hope. Nine people figuratively speaking,

1095
01:16:25,200 --> 01:16:30,760
Speaker 2: can't fix a bad place. There has to be a unified,

1096
01:16:31,040 --> 01:16:34,320
Speaker 2: united group of you. And I think the story is

1097
01:16:34,320 --> 01:16:38,920
Speaker 2: there to explain the Jews. There needs to be a

1098
01:16:38,960 --> 01:16:43,240
Speaker 2: group carrying on an idea. After all, all of this

1099
01:16:43,400 --> 01:16:47,200
Speaker 2: is explaining why God chose Abraham. Remember it's all in context.

1100
01:16:48,120 --> 01:16:52,400
Speaker 2: There's got to be a group of you doing good work.

1101
01:16:53,040 --> 01:16:56,719
Speaker 2: It can't be done alone. That's why I'm picking a people.

1102
01:16:58,680 --> 01:17:02,320
Speaker 2: I need a people to carry on a mission of goodness,

1103
01:17:03,360 --> 01:17:06,360
Speaker 2: And it is true, my friends, you can't do it alone. Alone.

1104
01:17:06,360 --> 01:17:08,360
Speaker 2: You can help your neighbor, you can help others. You

1105
01:17:08,360 --> 01:17:11,360
Speaker 2: can even find a cure for cancer theoretically alone, though

1106
01:17:11,360 --> 01:17:13,519
Speaker 2: nobody does alone. It's always on the backs of other

1107
01:17:13,600 --> 01:17:18,880
Speaker 2: researchers and so on. Abraham chosen. Just look at the

1108
01:17:19,000 --> 01:17:23,840
Speaker 2: difference between Abraham and Noah. Noah's told the world's going

1109
01:17:23,880 --> 01:17:27,040
Speaker 2: to be destroyed, not just Sidome, the world. And what

1110
01:17:27,120 --> 01:17:36,960
Speaker 2: does Noah say? Where is the wood? Right? We went

1111
01:17:37,000 --> 01:17:40,280
Speaker 2: over that when we talked about Noah. Why were those plans?

1112
01:17:40,320 --> 01:17:45,320
Speaker 2: Where were those plans for the ship? Not a word,

1113
01:17:45,439 --> 01:17:49,840
Speaker 2: not a word about the world being destroyed. Just give

1114
01:17:49,840 --> 01:17:52,040
Speaker 2: me the ship's dimensions, and I'll get the hell out

1115
01:17:52,040 --> 01:17:58,479
Speaker 2: of here. Not Abraham. And Abraham had nothing to lose.

1116
01:17:59,960 --> 01:18:02,519
Speaker 2: He wasn't invot, he didn't live in Sidome, he wasn't there.

1117
01:18:02,520 --> 01:18:04,000
Speaker 2: He had a nephew there who was going to be

1118
01:18:04,000 --> 01:18:06,120
Speaker 2: bailed out anyway, he wasn't, And he didn't plead for

1119
01:18:06,200 --> 01:18:09,639
Speaker 2: his nephew. Noticed it's very interesting. He did not plead

1120
01:18:09,680 --> 01:18:18,600
Speaker 2: for Lot. He pleaded for strangers. To care about strangers

1121
01:18:19,439 --> 01:18:24,839
Speaker 2: is perhaps the deepest message of the Hebrew Bible. Jews

1122
01:18:24,880 --> 01:18:29,200
Speaker 2: are instructed to do it. Vahaf tematage Kigary ten Benetes masterryme.

1123
01:18:29,280 --> 01:18:31,800
Speaker 2: You will love the stranger because you were strangers in

1124
01:18:31,840 --> 01:18:35,000
Speaker 2: the land of Egypt. The whole task of life, I

1125
01:18:35,080 --> 01:18:38,760
Speaker 2: am convinced, is to learn to love the other. When

1126
01:18:38,800 --> 01:18:41,280
Speaker 2: we come back in two weeks, we're going to talk

1127
01:18:41,320 --> 01:18:44,320
Speaker 2: about an issue which is of to me, the single

1128
01:18:44,520 --> 01:18:48,679
Speaker 2: most difficult issue in contemporary life. It makes abortion look simple,

1129
01:18:49,000 --> 01:18:52,559
Speaker 2: and that issue is homosexuality, because it comes up obviously

1130
01:18:52,640 --> 01:18:56,720
Speaker 2: in Sidon. But one of the arguments that I have

1131
01:18:57,640 --> 01:19:04,080
Speaker 2: learned and believe in for the emphasis on heterosexuality in

1132
01:19:04,439 --> 01:19:08,439
Speaker 2: the Hebrew Bible is the need to learn to love

1133
01:19:08,760 --> 01:19:13,719
Speaker 2: the other. It is not easy. It's easy to lust

1134
01:19:13,920 --> 01:19:17,720
Speaker 2: after the opposite sex. It is difficult to love the

1135
01:19:17,800 --> 01:19:22,640
Speaker 2: opposite sex. It is difficult to love the stranger, and

1136
01:19:22,760 --> 01:19:25,720
Speaker 2: the opposite sex is a stranger to us. Our own

1137
01:19:25,800 --> 01:19:29,880
Speaker 2: sex is no stranger at all. I know men real well,

1138
01:19:30,439 --> 01:19:33,240
Speaker 2: and every one of you women know women real well.

1139
01:19:33,840 --> 01:19:36,960
Speaker 2: That's why women can fool women and men can fool men.

1140
01:19:37,600 --> 01:19:41,120
Speaker 2: Men can fool women with charm, and women can fool

1141
01:19:41,200 --> 01:19:45,840
Speaker 2: men with seduction. But it's very hard to fool your

1142
01:19:45,880 --> 01:19:49,720
Speaker 2: own sex. But that's why when Rabbi pointed out that

1143
01:19:49,840 --> 01:19:54,400
Speaker 2: incest is banned not because of health reasons, but because

1144
01:19:54,960 --> 01:19:57,599
Speaker 2: it's not loving the other. If you love your sister

1145
01:19:58,560 --> 01:20:01,240
Speaker 2: but you love your brother, you have to learn to

1146
01:20:01,360 --> 01:20:09,800
Speaker 2: love a stranger. Abraham is passionate about strangers, and that's

1147
01:20:09,840 --> 01:20:12,879
Speaker 2: why he's the father of the Jewish people, as Genesis

1148
01:20:12,920 --> 01:20:14,759
Speaker 2: teaches it. See in two.

1149
01:20:14,600 --> 01:20:20,840
Speaker 1: Weeks, this has been timeless wisdom with Dennis. Visit Dennisprager

1150
01:20:20,920 --> 01:20:24,439
Speaker 1: dot com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses

1151
01:20:24,520 --> 01:20:29,120
Speaker 1: in classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles,

1152
01:20:32,800 --> 01:20:32,840
Speaker 1: m