WEBVTT - Karol Markowicz Show: Why Was God Right? Mark Gerson Weighs In. 0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:05.600 Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitch Show on iHeartRadio. 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:09.520 My guest today is Mark Gerson. Mark is an investor, entrepreneur, 0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:12.880 and philanthropist and has a fantastic new book out called 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:15.960 God Was Right. Hi, Marks, So nice to have you. 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:17.640 On, Carol, great to be here, Thank you. 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:19.360 So what was God right about? 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:23.280 Tell us? Well, God was right about everything? And how 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:23.840 do we know that? 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:25.799 Well, we know that now for the first time in 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.600 the twenty first century because the Torah, the Five Books 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.560 of Moses from Genesis to Deuteronomy, was written several thousand 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:32.040 years ago. 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:35.160 And what kind of book is the Torah. It's not a. 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:37.400 History book or a science book or a cookbook. It's 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:42.320 a guide book. And it offers thousands of psychological insights guidance. 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:44.800 That means the Bible should not be in the religion 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:46.640 section of bookstore. It should be in this self help 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.559 section of bookstores. So the Bible offers us practical guidance, 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:53.520 interesting guidance. I'm just about every question we have today 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:56.720 and what I seek to do When God was right? 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:59.640 Was I line up the Biblical claims on several different 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:04.200 subject several dozen different subjects, ranging from diversity to anti fragility, 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.960 to routine to future orientation. And then I say, here's 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:11.000 what the Bible says, here's what modern social science says. 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:14.880 And then what is fascinating is every single claim that 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:17.680 the Bible has made, or the Bible made three thousand 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:20.800 years ago, is now in the twenty first century validated 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:24.200 by modern social science. So the Bible is right about everything, 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:26.440 which makes it the best book ever written in a 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.040 book worthy of our study and devotion. 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:31.319 It's funny because I definitely see it a little bit 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:33.319 as a history book, and I never thought of it 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:36.120 as a self help book. For example, what are some 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:38.360 lessons that people should pick up from it? 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:39.920 Oh? Yeah, very interesting. 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:43.920 The Bible, I mean, Moses says in Deuteronomy twenty nine 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:45.800 exactly what it is. He said, this book is written 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:48.960 for your benefit, and a book written for your benefit 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.560 is a self help book. And the Bible addresses, in 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:56.200 the most practical terms pretty much everything we do. Let's 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:57.760 talk about the first thing we do in the morning, 0:01:57.840 --> 0:01:59.800 which is what closes should we put on? What should 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.280 we Well, that's addressed in the Bible. So how is 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:06.480 it addressed in the Bible. Well, when God sends Adam 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:08.400 out of the Garden of Eden. He sends him out 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:12.360 with one thing, garments. Now this is interesting. It would 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:14.920 be presumed that Adam would leave with garments, just like 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:16.760 if you said I left my house this morning, or 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:19.000 I said I left my office. Now I wouldn't say 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.000 I left my office with garments. It could be presumed 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:24.200 that I did so. So why is God emphasizing garments. Well, 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:26.200 we don't have to go very far in the tower 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:30.960 to find out why, because relatively shory. Thereafter we have 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.000 what is quite possibly the most important twenty minutes of 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:34.760 Jewish history. 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:37.880 And this is because the great. 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:41.840 Aged blind patriarch Isaac is about to give the birthright, 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:45.359 the imprometer of Jewish leadership to one of his twins. 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:47.440 The problem, he's giving it to the twin that he 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:49.799 loves the most, but who's completely unqualified to lead the 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:50.440 Jewish people. 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:51.720 This is Esau. 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:55.200 So Rebecca, the real hero of the Bible, the real 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:58.360 hero Genesis, has about twenty minutes to change all of 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:01.519 history and to assure that our husband is tricked into 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.359 not giving the birthright to Esau but instead giving it 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:08.240 to Jacob, who, for his deficiencies up to that point, 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:10.880 he's still a young man, is much more qualified than 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:14.200 Esau to lead the Jewish people. The birthright goes to Esau, Carol, 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:16.200 you and I are not here. If it goes to Jacob, 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:18.440 we're here. Rebecca has twenty minutes to steer in the 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:21.280 right direction. What does she tell Jacob to do? She 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:26.080 tells Jacob put on Esau's less clothes, put on his 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:30.280 best clothes. Why is best clothes? Isaac is blind, so 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:32.399 what does it matter what clothes he has on it all? 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:34.239 And why is best club? Just put in any clothes? 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:38.480 Because Rebecca has a profound psychological insight, which is they 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:39.600 we feel like. 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:42.680 What we wear, and we perform like how we feel. 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:47.400 So in order for Jacob to convince his father that 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:50.040 he's Esau, he first has to convince himself. He first 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.800 has to feel like Esau himself. How can he do that? 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:56.680 Rebecca knew the answer, put on his best clothes. And 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.880 let's fast forward to the twenty first century, where there's 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:03.760 abundant social science on clothing, and what do we learn well? 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:06.640 We see in twenty twelve there's an experiment of Northwestern 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:10.080 University where one cohort of students is given a white 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:12.880 coat and told it's a doctor's coat. Another cohort is 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:14.840 given the same coat and told it's a painter's coat, 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:18.000 and then they're given attention seeking tasks. Those who were 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:20.760 told it was a doctor's coat do much better. Fast 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.320 forward two years to twenty fourteen, there's an experiment at 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:27.479 Yale which is a negotiation workshop with some real estate negotiation, 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:30.960 and one cohort of male students is told come in 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:33.800 suits and tie. The other is told come however you want. 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.120 Those who come in suits and tie end up with 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:38.520 vastly more profits in the experiment than those who came 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:39.000 as they are. 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:39.920 So what do we. 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:43.680 See time and again that we feel like how we 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.360 dress and we act like how we feel. And there 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:50.320 are deeply practical implications to this as well. When people 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.120 wake up and they're they're sad or even feeling depressed, 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:55.160 what will they normally do? They'll normally put on a 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:57.440 pair of sweatpants and something like a baggy sweater. What 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:01.120 does that do? It exacerbates the depression. So what we 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.600 now call fashion psychologists tell people to do. It says, 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:07.760 put on a floaty dress, put on fun jewelry, put 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:14.120 on bright colors. Why because fashion psychologists have rediscovered Rebecca's insight, 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:16.520 which is that if you want to feel a certain way, 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:18.640 dress that way, and then you will feel that way, 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:19.320 and then you will. 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:19.680 Be that way. 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:23.440 So your wife is a rabbi, could you have missed 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:25.640 your calling to be a rabbi as well? 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:29.560 I'm the rabbi's husband. I am so blessed to be 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:31.919 married to a rabbi and to the particular rabbi to 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.280 whom I am married. So now I love being the 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:38.560 rabbi's husband. I'm a businessman and entrepreneur, and I love business, 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:41.200 and I love studying Tora, and I love being married 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:41.640 to a rabbi. 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:42.719 I'd recommend it to everybody. 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:46.039 Only so many rabbis to go around, but that's true. 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:47.320 So get one when you can, right. 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:49.839 So, you have so much going on and you do 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:52.880 so many different things. How did you put a book 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:53.679 in or what. 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:55.440 Made you do this? Well? 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:59.800 I started studying tora every day about twenty years ago, 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.640 and I really started it in the study of the Hagadah, 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:04.760 which is the guy that leads us through the passover Sator, 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:07.599 which I think is the greatest book. Word for work 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:12.160 is very short, ever written, and then what I realized. 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:14.599 It doesn't feel that short at the let me tell you, 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:15.680 Oh yeah, that's. 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:18.039 Another discussion about about how one should use the Hagada 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:18.360 at the sat. 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:19.400 That's a good point. 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.160 But I discovered what the Haggadah really was, which is 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.480 it's the greatest hits of the Torah. And it's the 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:27.920 greatest hits of the Torah because it's the point of 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:31.120 the Passover Sator. The Passover is our authentic juition year, 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:32.960 not Russia Shana, It's not even in the Bible. 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:33.799 In Torah. 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:37.080 Passover is what the Bible calls the head of months. 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.279 So I'm ahead of months. We're supposed to use the Hagadah, 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:42.440 the greatest hits of the Torah, to review how do 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:44.679 we do in the previous year, who am I now? 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:46.240 And who do I want to be in the coming year, 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:48.440 and how do I become that person? So it was 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:51.600 the greatest hits of the Torah. So I found myself 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:54.599 studying the Torah every day. And so the first thing 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:58.320 I do in the morning is I run for six 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:00.600 miles on the treadmill, and I still the tower on 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.520 the treadmill, and then I have a harusa in Jerusalem, 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:04.440 and we study after that. 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:05.720 And I love the Tora. 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:07.960 I study every day, and I've found it to be 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:14.800 the most interesting, endlessly rich, and entirely practical book ever written, 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:19.600 with lessons and guidance that is as relevant in twenty 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:21.720 twenty five as it ever was in the past and 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:24.840 will continue to be in the future. And then I 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:29.320 realized that modern social scientists, without knowing it, have been 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:32.200 asking and answering the same questions that the biblical author did. 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:33.800 So that's what God writes about. 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.200 We're going to take a quick break and be right 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:41.640 back on the Carol Markowitch Show. What do you want 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:42.920 people to take away from? 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:43.640 God was right? 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.280 What's your main kind of goal for them? 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:51.720 I want people to take away that the Torah is 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:55.680 the greatest self help book ever written, that whenever someone 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:59.640 is questioning something, struggling with something, challenged by something, season 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.840 opportunity no matter how big or how small. And I 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:04.760 actually have a chapter in the book called No Small 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:06.720 Things about how in the Torah and modern self science, 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:08.880 we know there's nothing that small. But no matter what 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:11.880 someone's thinking about, no matter what question someone is asking, 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:14.120 whether it's what should I wear in the morning, to 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:16.640 how much should I give to charity? To how should 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.880 I orient my life in the remaining thirty forty fifty years? 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:24.040 Whatever it is, the answer is asked, anticipated, and answered 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:26.840 in the Torah. And what God was right seeks to 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:34.240 do is to extract the entirely practical meaning from hot hundreds, 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:38.560 maybe thousands of passages that are really there to guide 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:40.360 us through our daily lives. 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:44.880 What do you think people misunderstand about the Bible in 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:48.000 our modern world? It seems like we don't spend that 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.000 much time on it. Most people are not reading it 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.760 or listening to it on the treadmill. What do we 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:53.320 not get? 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:56.720 I think people get the genre wrong. And the first 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.240 step in understanding any book is to get the genre right. 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:02.679 So if you read a book of science fiction and conclude, oh, 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:05.040 it's ridiculous. People can't take a spaceship to Venus, the 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:06.760 answer is you got the GENRENG. 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:07.600 It's not a science book. 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.280 It's a science fiction book, and people get the GENRENG 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:10.840 with the Tora. 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:12.640 All too often. 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.360 People think it's a history book, and they say, well, 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:17.800 this couldn't have happened before that. It's not a history book. 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.040 The Bible tells us it's not a history book. Vegetation 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:23.960 is created before the sun early in Genesis, saying this 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.000 is not a history book, it's not a science book. 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:28.920 That's another example why it's not a science book. It's 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.200 not a cookbook. It's a guide book. So we have 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.480 to read the Torah as a guide book, and the 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.559 stories in the Torah, the laws in the Torah. Everything 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:40.839 in the Torah exists, sure to telecoherent narrative, but that's 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:43.120 not the main purpose. The main purpose of the Torah 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:46.800 is to help each of us live happier, better and 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:48.280 more meaningful lives today. 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:50.000 And that's true whenever today. 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:55.280 Is what do you worry about with regards to the 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.480 Tora anything, what keeps you up? 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:00.600 Well, there is a. 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:03.719 Chapter in the book on fear and uh and so 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:07.079 the what the Torah teaches us about fear. So the 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:09.600 Bible tells us eighty five times more than tells us 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:10.200 anything else. 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.160 Do not fear afraid, Yeah, yeah, eighty. 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:15.679 Five times, which is interesting because the Bible never tells 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.040 us to do things we would do in the absence 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.000 of guidance. So the Bible never says, for instance, you 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.880 shall love your children, because we all do. We know 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:24.240 no one needs to tell us to do it. So 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:27.720 it tells us to do things that are unnatural, and uh, 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.600 and and that and and so what is it so fear? 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:32.680 It tells us do not fear eighty five times because 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.320 we'll naturally fear. The Bible tells us do not fear. 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:39.920 So in the book. What I extract from this biblical instruction, 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.120 which is really throughout all the books of the Bible, 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:47.320 is only fear immediate thing. So if Allian's charging at you, 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.520 that's a good time to be afraid. It's an It's 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:53.959 a quite proper evolutionary response is to be afraid. Everything 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.240 else demote to a concern. And when something is demoted 0:10:57.240 --> 0:10:58.880 from a fear to a concern, what does. 0:10:58.720 --> 0:10:59.560 That enable us to do? 0:10:59.880 --> 0:11:02.800 It enables us to think rationally about it and to 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.560 decide intelligently. So I think, as Lionel Trilling put it, 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.720 we all have a moral obligation to be intelligent and 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:11.600 governing our fears is probably the first step in that process. 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:16.360 Is there a way to reorient society back towards God 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:19.400 or towards religion in a way that doesn't involve, say, 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:21.880 the government. Do you think that there is any any 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:25.160 move that we can make as a people to get 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:26.600 us back to where we're supposed to be. 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:28.559 What a great, great question. 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.640 Well, there was this kind of awesome thing that happened 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:33.840 last year, there was an authentic religious revival in Kentucky 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:37.120 and uh, and I think it's a beautiful moment. I 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:41.280 think America needs a religious revival. Yeah, And I think 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:45.640 that religious revival can come with a discovery or a 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:49.720 rediscovery of the Torah. And h and about how entirely 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:52.800 practical the Tower is. So I think if people realize 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.840 just how practical the Tower is, that it's not anachronistic 0:11:56.400 --> 0:12:01.360 work of history or ancient anything, but it's entirely earned, contemporary, 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.960 and totally relevant, people will fall in love with the 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:07.320 Torah and they'll seek its guidance. And when they seek 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:12.720 its guidance, they'll want to understand its passages and ultimately 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:13.840 follow its guidance. 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:15.520 And the towra is clear. 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:17.720 There's this fascinating passage where it talks about the God 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:20.360 of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:22.480 leading us to ask, why isn't just say the God 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.040 of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and skip the other two ovs? 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:27.440 Because what the Tower is telling us, is there are 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.680 different ways to approach God. Abraham had one way, Isaac 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:32.760 had another, Jacob had another. And what do we learn 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:33.240 from that? 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:34.040 That there are. 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.160 Different ways to approach God within a faith, and there 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:38.960 are different ways in which faiths can approach God. So 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:43.080 no matter what faith, someone has, approach God through that faith. 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:45.920 And I think it would be great to have an 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.400 American religious revival. I think America is right for it. 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:50.360 America is totally suited for it. 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:51.000 And I'm all for it. 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.439 Make America Christian again, make. 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:55.320 America religious again. 0:12:55.880 --> 0:13:00.120 Absolutely, and and and let let people discover the the 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:04.560 beauty and the truth and the eternal and contemporary relevance 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:06.560 of the Torah. And when people whether people come to 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:10.120 the Torah through Judaism or Christianity, it's all good. Yeah. 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:14.160 Absolutely. I usually ask people what their plan B would 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:15.920 have been in life, like when they are, you know, 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:18.480 an economist or something. I say, you know, what else 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:20.440 would you might have done? But you seem to have 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:23.800 done Plans A, B and C. Is there a path 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:26.960 you haven't taken that you would maybe regret not taking. 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.000 Well, that's such a good question. 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.880 Well, America is such a great country for so many reasons, 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.120 and one of the reasons is the amount of opportunities 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:40.319 that create. So I feel very blessed with the opportunities 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:43.520 that America has given me, particularly the opportunity to meet 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:46.720 and marry my wife, but other things as well, for instance, 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:50.439 to study the Torah and write about it, to launch 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:55.000 businesses and start to co found United Houtsalid Israel and 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.360 African Mission Healthcare. And I've just been so blessed with 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:01.480 these opportunities and just so grateful for the opportunity to 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:02.040 have written. 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:04.239 God was right to share. 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:08.480 The wisdom and the truly contemporary relevance of the Torah. 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:10.920 And I just hope people understand that the Tora is 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.240 it's the best ever self help book, and it asks 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:17.240 and answers all the questions that anyone anyone has about anything. 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:21.040 What advice would you give your sixteen year old self? 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:24.040 Very good question. I'll give a very practical answer. 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:28.160 And there's actually a chapter in the book on education 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:32.320 and another chapter on the limits of education, so it's 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.960 really only the answer is only tangentially related to the book. 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:38.720 But the advice I would give to my sixteen year 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:42.120 old self would be there are only four things you 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.720 get out of a college experience. Those four things are 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:49.240 the professor who inspires you, the subject that captivates you, 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:51.880 the friends you make, and. 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:53.080 The girl or boy you fall in love with. 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:55.360 Okay, those are the only four things you can get 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:59.200 of a college experience, and those four things exist at 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:03.360 hundreds and undreds of colleges and universities. So I just 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:05.880 I think it's so sad when I see young people, 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:09.440 and even sadder when I see their parents fixated on 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:13.840 the supposed or alleged importance of their child going to 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.920 one school, when in fact, those are the only four 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.640 things that someone can get out of the college experience. 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:24.720 Each four is amazing, and each four is offered at 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.760 hundreds and hundreds of places. So I would tell my 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:30.640 sixteen year old self and sixteen year old now that 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.000 it's really important to work hard. It's really important to 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:37.640 have an ethical core and a moral center. And if 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:40.720 you take that the ethic of hard work, and that 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.160 moral core and that developing sense of mission, you can 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:47.200 take it anywhere. And if you get rejected from this 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:50.000 college and that college and ten others, it doesn't matter. 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:53.720 It will not affect your life chances. So go to college. 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:57.880 Seek a professor that'll inspire you, a subject that castivates you, 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:01.280 make ten to fifteen good friends, and fall in love 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:02.160 with a terrific. 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:04.600 Boy or girl, and you'll have a great experience. 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:07.480 It's funny because I don't even count on two of those. 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.280 I would really I just root for my kids to 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:12.760 go to college, to make a lot of friends, and 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.400 fall in love with somebody, hopefully get married shortly after college. 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:18.800 That's sort of the goal for me with the whole 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:19.760 college experience. 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:21.040 If they happen to. 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:24.120 Have an inspiring professor or to learn something along the way, 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:26.160 that will be like complete bonus. 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:28.920 Well, I mean, if you look at the course catalogs 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:30.600 of these colleges. Now, of course there's a lot of 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:32.360 nonsense in these course callogs, but there's a lot of 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:36.760 really good stuff too, and so students can learn and 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:38.720 they're I mean, what a great opportunity to be given 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.680 these years when all thats expected of you is to 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.440 learn to make friends and to grow. 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:46.400 It's just an incredible opportunity exactly. 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.400 And I lovely you said, Carol about getting married young, 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.480 because I have a chapter in the book on the 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:56.320 Biblical formula for love and marriage and what they said 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:58.960 from this, yeah, direction, the story of Isaac and Rebecca, 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:02.000 how they just decided to marry each other, and the 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:04.800 logic of how they decided to marry each other and 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:07.919 how they came to have the happiest marriage in the Bible. 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.040 That logic leads to early marriage. 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:12.520 So what is it? Give us the hint? 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:12.920 Yeah? 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:17.600 Okay, So Eliezer, who's so Abraham sends his servant, Eliezer 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:20.399 to go find a wife for Isaac, and he says 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:22.440 to Eliezer, go to Haran. 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:24.440 Why Haran because Abraham. 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:26.439 Years before had made souls in Haran, so it was 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:28.439 a place where whatever making souls means, it was a 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:31.000 place where souls could be cultivated. So he says, go 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:34.960 to Haran. Eliezer goes to Haran, and she's a young 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:38.520 woman approaching, and he says she was very The text 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:41.399 tells us she was very fair to look upon. And 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:43.920 we know one other thing about her, which is she's 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:47.719 exceedingly generous. She brings water for Eliezer and all of 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:50.879 his camels, and estimated like dozens and dozens of trips 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:54.360 of water. So Eliezer knows three and only three things 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:57.120 about this woman who is Rebecca. One is that she's 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:00.640 from Haran. Two she's very fair to look upon, and 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:04.400 three she's ridiculously generous. On the basis of those three 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.920 and only three characteristics, he says she's the woman for 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:12.240 my man, Isaac. And then Rebecca is given the opportunity herself, 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.480 do you want to go with Eliezer and marry Isaac? 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:17.240 And by the way, people who say the Bible is sexist, 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:19.120 they don't understand the Bible. 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:20.879 They don't know what they're reading. This is one of 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:22.080 many examples. 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:23.639 Several which I cover in the book of How the 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:26.320 Bible is the great work of female empowerment. Rebecca is 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:28.720 given the choice herself, do I marry the guy or 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:30.600 do I not marry the guy. She only knows two 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.320 things about the guy. One is that Isaac is rich, 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:35.200 so he's a good provider, and two. 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:37.040 They loves God. Oh. 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:39.720 She says, yes, I will marry him. And then the 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:43.240 text tells us in Genesis twenty four sixty seven, he 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:47.440