Body and Soul Retreat 2018 Ken Spiro Jewish View of History

so rather than go to kyboots I'm gonna learn about my heritage so I checked into Asia Torah I was supposed to stay for three months I stayed a little longer my three months now turned into seven months and 36 years time flies when you're having fun so I stayed I studied full time I got Smith my mother told me it wasn't the best job for a Jewish boy so I got a master's degree in history I'm a licensed tour guide author motivational speaker I spent about 80% of my time in Israel teaching guiding writing and 20 percent I go on speaking tours to exotic places like New Jersey and I have five kids so we're all older thank God all post army finally could sleep at night and with that little introduction what I want to do is do a little introduction to Jewish history I call this class Back to the Future I hate using the term history when I teach history because as soon as I say the word history everyone thinks of subject in school and nothing turns you off to learning like making it a subject in school which is why my quote from my high school yearbook is my favorite Mark Twain quote I never let my schooling in to further my education and the longer I'm out of school the more I appreciate that what I remember in this life in use has very little to do with what I learn formally in a classroom so the reason we need to know history has nothing to do with memorizing names and dates and places it has everything to do with a quote from George Santayana Spanish American writer philosopher from the mid 20th century it's a quote you all heard those who don't learn from the past are yea doomed to repeat it exactly the idea is human nature is human nature and we tend to do the same stupid things over and over again I think it's Elie Wiesel who said it the best he says one thing we learned from history it's we don't learn from history it's one thing we learn but as to why we need to know Jewish history goes back to a much more profound point and to understand that point we have to first understand what is the most important idea that we the Jews gave the world besides guilt bagels junk bonds leveraged buyouts Einstein Marx Freud 20% of all the Nobel Prizes since 1920 4% of the fields medals of mathematics what's the greatest Jewish contribution to civilization one God brought to you by the Jewish people like that ring one God brought to you by the Jewish people one God and one absolute standard of morality totally transformative idea the first book I wrote actually I gonna have some cop I'm doing an infomercial I have some copies tomorrow night for sale now world perfect has to do with the impact of monotheism immorality but one God has huge implications for history also because what we understand about God even though we don't understand about God is that we like to define him as the creator sustainer and supervisor that God knows and controls everything that everything it happens on the planet Earth from the cosmic to the subatomic to the quantum is under the constant supervision direction and control of an infinite intelligence it's like a fundamental belief in Judaism there's no randomness that history is a control process leading to a destination it's called determinism so we got that point down so we have so history we're all in a story simply put we're in a story like a movie I don't know about you guys but if some walked up to me on the street Madison walks up and sticks a microphone in your face you're in a story like well what would your first question be what would you ask sorry okay what's Myra I would first ask like what kind of story is this it's like a romantic comedy science fiction action you know what drama and then like what's my role in it at my lead actor a bit part supporting actor or how long do we take where are we in the story so this introduction is designed to answer the most basic I would say philosophical questions and historical questions about Judaism what does Judaism say is the purpose of creation what's the people Jewish people's role in the story how long does it take where are we beginning middle end like how much time do we have left and do we get to interact with the author and decide how it turns out we just script it in like a normal movie so let's begin at the beginning and again I apologize like I said just flew in this morning so hopefully my brain will continue to function if we remainder of the class because now my body's telling me what time is in Israel now she's getting late let's begin at the beginning when do we start keeping time from in Judaism anyone know first of all the calendar we use today 2018 is a measurement from beginning from what event 2018 from from the birth of Jesus okay guys once you move forward if you don't mind so just project all the way to back of the room we got so many empty seats here if you don't mind you gonna make me work hard okay he may be he may have been a nice Jewish boy we don't start our calendar from the birth of Jesus when do we start keeping time from in Judaism anyone know from what event oh that's pretty good most people by the way most people by the way start by saying the logical place to begin would be day one of the creation story day one is the Big Bang why is that the logical place to begin cuz that's when time begins what's time my measurement of change and T of a physical world you can't have time so the logical place would be day one we actually start on day six what happened on day six or we're not where we are now day six is Friday but what happened on day six in the creation story and of you that was so gender specific you guys are not I'm just joking I went to Vassar they used to say things like when God created man she was only joking or what did God say when she created man I could do better than that those are the feminist jokes back from like 30-plus years ago well we start on day six which is the creation of human beings by the way we have a great teacher in Asia tour a dr. Gerald Schroeder and you guys dr. Schroeder oh and he goes knock you could go to dr. Schroeder so dr. Schroeder double PhD his mother's so happy my son that dr. twice double PhD nuclear physics and oceanography is written four books on science in Torah he does a wonderful job of crunching like thirteen and a half billion years down into five days and it fits beautifully by the way and we had the science before science had the science but that's not my topic what what but day six creation of human beings what's the lesson we learn from the fact that we start from day six and not day one which seems to be a more logical place to begin I always use the Hollywood movie director to explain this point a big Hollywood movie director like Quentin Tarantino the Coen Brothers Steven Spielberg they don't wake up in the morning you know get on the phone and say hey guys grab some equipment we're shooting a major blockbuster motion picture today before you start actually filming a movie what do you got to do script casting scenery special effects makeup lighting all that huge pre-production work you got to do God the ultimate producer director takes a lot of time to do pre-production but when is the director saying action with the clapboard you start to film the movie when who comes on the set the actors so just like we don't start a movie til the actors show up we don't start our story the ultimate story till we show up and just like in a movie when the actors finally show up on the set like who is the highest earned high paid actor last year in Hollywood 2017 it was Mark Wahlberg the year before it was Dwayne the rock he doesn't even act he just looks muscular last last highest paid female actress last year was Hermione yes Emma Watson and the year before Hunger Games and which testing your Hollywood trivia yeah exactly these people make the a-list actors and actresses they make a lot of money they make millions of dollars per movie they don't show up the day the first day of filming the director says action and they're like what I got lines do something what are they been spending months doing getting into their part getting into their lines so - we got lines what are our lines what's the question I'm really asking it's the biggest question there is the biggest question there is sorry what's like why are we here what's the meaning of life I asked this question to thousands of people usually most of my students are much you know it's got like 20 year-olds I always tell them guys you want to ask this question now this is not the question you want to be asking on your deathbed I have this great cartoon in my office with a guy sitting in his work station and death you know the Grim Reaper standing in the doorway and he says I'm really glad you're here because that a deadline I'd never get anything done but I asked this question of thousands of people a year most people look back at me completely blank stare the biggest question there is and most people actually go through their lives without really confronting it when I ask religious Jews that question almost all them give me one of two answers what did tell me we are here to serve God are we here - yeah learn Torah and do the mitts vote so first of all Torah and mitzvot obviously super important but there are means to an ends by the way that's a huge point I firmly believe most of the religious world doesn't even get that point they're a means to an ends and serving God is a figure of speech but it's not possible because he's infinite you can't do anything for infinity like who's the richest guy in the world today I think it's Jeff Bezos I think it's a thinking Shepherd he used to go back and forth with Bill Gates but I think Bezos beat him out and Amazon just taken over everything but you know if he's having financial trouble can you help him if you can't I want to get to know you much much better now God is infinitely God is infinitely wealthy you can't give anything to God he can give us anything and everything we can only take from him now for every relationship we have with God that is incomprehensible on a certain level there's a human relationship that gives us a taste of that so what does that sound like where one side can only give the other side can only take besides your relationship with the IRS more specific you're right I don't know I'm most pursuing that because everyone is someone's child once you get to a certain age you can actually be useful like you're a teenager your parents don't kill you you could take the garbage out I would say a mother and a newborn what can a newborn baby do for its mother isn't it amazing how easy it was to impress your mother when you were like a day old you drooled you got excited I always tell my students come back you know go home after semester here and looks at said it teddy your parents look mom she won't be impressed it's a completely lopsided relationship Judaism says the purpose of creation is and I'm getting this from for those of you know a little more depth is this from the ROM huh this said you shall read to the purpose of creation is pleasure by the way when I say that to a bunch of Jews they're like no no no no you got the wrong religion Jude is not our pleasure Jude is about neuroses like what I can eat what I can't eat what I can do on Friday night when I can't do a Friday night that's because we're confused we think the opposite of pain is pleasure the opposite of pain is no pain which is Comfort like a guy in the hospital of God forbid after a big car accident and he's on morphine there's a lot of pain the doctor walks in and says are you in pain he goes no I'm in pleasure there's no I'm comfortable it doesn't hurt anymore I'm comfortable by the way this is a short version of a class by Russia Shiva I'm no Hawaiian berg's that's all you should all go to a calm and do the class the five levels of pleasure it's like being a human being 101 class so the opposite of pain is no pain which is Comfort pain and pleasure actually go together don't wear it's not a class on sadomasochism pain and pleasure go together like we say in sports no pain no gain the more you work for something the more meaningful it is which is why I like winning your you know little the championship when you're 12 years old is not like winning the World Series especially if you're stuck cago Cubs fan because only happens once every hundred years now seriously different levels of pleasure like the Richter scale or like flying you know like I just came I just flew in this morning on El Al cattle class the plains are like so old I think Moses flew on one of them you know they got your you got your knee and your nose the guy's seat in your head you know it's like ridiculous versus like business or Economy Plus and then you got business and first class and every level is just so much better than level the level below it judaism says the lowest level pleasure is physical pleasure one level up any one other class is love a lot more work a lot greater pleasure I'm skipping level three and level two I just want to get to level one because we need it for the class but you got to go back into the class properly Judaism says that the highest level pleasure and really the purpose of creation is one thing in one thing only which is difficult or de vegas as we say in yeshiva shashka gnosis what is vay codes connection to God that one minute of your souls infinite direct connection with the infinite light that is God without all the illusion of this physical world is greater than lifetimes of lower-level pleasures in the Garden of Eden which we always see since they don't have a smartphone back then where do you see pictures of the Garden of Eden from Renaissance Christian artists it's always Adam and Eve you know without any clothes in the running through some forest with a snake a tree and what's hanging from the tree Apple there's no Apple and Jewish sources by the way grapes figs Hoonah I think the Apple Lobby Gatlin to boost Apple sales but a Garden of Eden is not like some Club Med vacation place the Garden of Eden is comparable they were synonymous with the like the perfect level of existence like being in a 20 star hotel where every single thing is taken care of nothing to deal with no car pool no deadline at work no shopping no cooking no cleaning no smartphone beeping and buzzing and making us all a DD because it knows everything and we know nothing all that no distractions a hundred percent free to use a hundred percent of our time and our energy to accomplish what our soul really wants in the highest level which is transcendence to have that relationship like like why you die screaming you can have transcendence it should have been the shortest most straightforward story God puts us in a perfect environment programs are sold to want to have relationship with him and we hang out in the garden as we say in 1960 slang and groove on the shekinah and the stories over and the tour is one Torah portion long but some obviously went really wrong think about it according to the pain is the pleasure in the highest-level pleasures relationship with God what's the hardest thing to build and maintain in this world relationship with God everyone wants it nothing just Jews everyone wants it but no one wants to work for it which is why by the way wherever you look in this world at any period of time in any place there's always religion and it's not because I hate when people say this because primitive people didn't have science they need religion to explain the unexplainable now we don't need it nonsense it's the deepest yearning of every human soul to want transcendence and connection but no one wants to work for it it's like saying I want to look great I want to be ripped have 8 pack abs I don't want to diet and exercise I'm gonna eat junk food and play on my phone all day and buy that that led that electro thing with the battery pack you put your pocket in vibrate your stomach muscles someone must buy that guy they see for selling all these men's magazines ok guys by the way dieting doesn't work what's the recidivism rate and dieting like the hundred people lose weight and dieting how many are gonna gain it back 95 because anyone who does this right knows it's permanent lifestyle changes lifetime of struggle to build and maintain a relationship with God ok we already did the parent and the mother and baby analogy which which human relationship sounds like that lifetime their struggle built and maintained sounds like see I got a room full of married people so you know well but you bunch of single people they're all like you know why because they learn about love from romantic comedies and they're all the same the guy meets the girl intense relationship develops always a crisis in the middle of the movie usually the guy's fault and they always get back together at the end but the movie always ends at or before what event the wedding because then they lived happily ever after whereas anyone married knows the real fun begins after you say I do and you're stuck with that person and you really got or exactly my father my parents met my parents paid early on their 80s by the way very impressive my father was on college with the sloan-kettering very smart guy he told me the day I got married he said now that you're married I'm gonna give you the definition of marriage night a lot of people are married in this room so you'll laugh when I do it for single people they're like said he said marriage is a really long meal with dessert first this is actually quite funny so a lifetime has struggled to build and maintain the early narrative in the Bible is exactly that people found it too hard to maintain a relationship with God he's invisible it's not easy to have a relationship with something it's not physically in front of you like I am standing there we can't go out for a cup of coffee by the way anyone whose religious knows exactly what I'm talking about you like you do the members of did I pray and if you say you never do that you'll lie I'm sorry some of us hopefully there's some of the time actually it's so it's really hard people said gee I know God's out there but it's so hard to a relationship with an infinite invisible being but we've all had moments of all right like all moment where are you when you have your own moment inside or outside almost always outside what are you looking at nature like a beautiful sunset a thunderstorm anyone seen the Grand Canyon that is like unbelievable it doesn't even look real I was I've been Seattle probably 25 times I once saw Mount Rainier come out even because it ranged 362 days of the year it looks so big it doesn't look real it's like unbelievable so people said I don't see God but I see all the really cool all inspiring things that immediately give me an emotional connection I'll have relationship with those is a way of indirectly having a relationship with God but what happened after a number of generations this is jus Judaism's take on what happened what happened people said yeah I don't worship crept in people you know people said they forgot about God who a brand new pen it doesn't even work that's not a good sign they forgot about God and just said I'm gonna worship the forces of nature idolatry abode Azolla as we say which by the way is the worst that you can do in Judaism right what's the first of the Big Ten a Nokia Schemmel okay I'm the Lord your God no there's God that's reality that's what it's all about when we say by the way in Hebrew aint oatmeal Vado what does that mean in Israel people put on the back of their windows of the car sometimes uses like a sticker what is ain't oatmeal Vado mean nothing besides God doesn't mean there's no other gods it means there's nothing besides God it means in a certain level not to get too freaky before Shabbat we're not even here we're a projection of God's infinite consciousness you can't help God like I said before you can't hurt him to have a relationship with an idol you're not hurting God you're just drawing yourself it's like being married to the visible spouse was not there you're spending your whole life with nothingness but that's what happens this is the Jewish take on how idolatry came into the world the purpose of creation relationship was God has lost humanity deteriorates down down down spiritually and as I clearly I think illustrate in the first book I wrote world perfect as a direct connection between our relationship with each other in our relationship with God that the world degenerates into violence and lawlessness until what does it say in the Bible the world is full of what's the word used actually in this second Hamas I wonder if those guys and guys and knew that when they picked the name for the organization like a lawless they probably got on the phone let's call some Jews in New York and ask what we should call our organization Hamas Himmel all isness and violence in the middle God tries to salvage it with that Noah's Ark story the flood right which a lot of us learned as a cute little fairytale Little Red Riding Hood Snow White in Ozark we have these big questions like how to know a know a male mosquito for a female mosquito how to get a rhinoceros on the ark I've been to Africa a lot of times I've seen these things live I would not want to push them on to anything but it's a really really heavy story God says use the world correctly or lose it he wipes out the whole world sparing it's all stuff you one guy Noah and his family hoping they'll do what right get the world back to the repopulate the world with people our relationship with God back to the purpose of creation is Noah successful no he is righteous enough to save himself but not proactive enough to get the world back on target so the world continues to decline until it bottoms out at the Tower of Babel story what's the plot of the Tower of Babel story humanity unites but for all the wrong reasons what do we call that today General Assembly of the United Nations most destructive organization on the path by the way dorrigo of former Israeli ambassador wrote he wrote a book called Tower of Babel be a beacon to Babel of Bab ble about how the UN there's so much damage in the world or big fans of the UN in Israel but back then they what are they unite to do repel against God and God's thinking you know for I give up you know I tried with I tried with Adam I tried with Noah you ever heard of you heard of the Big Bang not the TV show the actual theory what's the reverse the but you've heard of the Big Crunch theory it's a real theory in science which is no longer really accepted anyway the idea is that the gravitational attraction of the collective mass of the universe overcomes the energy of expansion so the universe stops expanding and collapses down into a point of nothing is called singularity and disappears it's like the ultimate black hole nuclear universe theory so God's thinking I give up forget it well nuke the universe try again and maybe next round we'll do it right but then along comes one human being and this is an amazing story the ability of one person to change the whole course of human history I think this particular person is the greatest intellectual and idealist of all time Who am I talking about Abraham Abraham Abraham I beat every new Abraham our Father who by the way is born in the Year 1948 from creation I think that's really cool because always born 1940 a Christian calendar year the Jewish state and Abraham comes to a place called or war of the Chaldees or custom where is or today by the way where we are from originally Iraq very good we all know where Iraq is you know Ambrose Bierce who wrote during the American Civil War he has one of my favorite quotes he said war is God's Way of teaching Americans geography so out of Iraq almost 4,000 years ago comes one man who's great for two reasons and in a world that has totally lost connection with with God Abraham is a radically transformative free thinking guy he's able to think outside the box and reconnect to a completely counter intuitive idea of an infinite creator of the universe but imagine being the only person in the world to believe in a radically transformative idea which no one else could accept and most people will kill you for even saying how many of us would have the hot spot that word is so Jewish by the way most non-jews can't even say it they can't say took us by the way or simply either I've noticed but how is it the hooks buddy what's what's been mean by the way call audacity gumption spunk you know to even it say arrogance I think it's arrogance but the nerves even whisper to our best friends that's the greatness of Abraham he says I don't care what anyone thinks I choose to live it if necessary to die for the reality of God now by the way Abraham knew a lot better than we know you don't live for God like I said before you don't die for God you don't do anything for God but without relationship with him we're doomed we're gonna eat each other alive so he dedicates himself to unique mission which becomes the National astark mission of the Jewish people from his day until today which is what this is the chosen people think it's amazing how few Jews can articulate correctly the chosen people think you know the non-jewish world even made up a little nasty rhyme how odd of God to choose the Jews like pick some people like with a good PR team it's popular so how do we answer that back so when we're feeling really politically incorrect after 2,000 years of anti-semitism will say how out I got the shoes of Jews it wasn't so odd the annoyed him that's not the answer no it wasn't so odd the Jews chose God Abraham says to God God I choose you I choose to dedicate my life in life of my descendants to one mission to teaching the world about the reality of you and the values that come from relationship with you and God says back to Abraham you're choosing me Abraham I choose you back you and your descendants us the Jewish people guys what are we chosen for it's not privilege it might be a privilege to be Jewish but we're not chosen for privilege we're chosen for responsibility what's the responsibility the term we love to use in the Jewish world overused and often misuse is tikkun olam how do we translate that no l'm repair the world fix the world how's that for a cause a little bigger than save the whales by the way the real job of being Jewish is actually kiddush Hashem we're the God Squad to live and act in a way that inspires other people they look at us and they say what's this guy's secret but but that's so our job is to be the nation whose job it is to bring humanity to live and act in a way that inspires the world to get the world back on target and bring humanity back to that relationship with God that is the national historic mission of the Jewish people until today okay over there okay so guys now we have a big plot rewrite the original plot was supposed to be humanity hangs out in the garden building relationship with God but they fumbled the ball I can use an American football analogy as well as teaching some English people and they'll like fumble the ball they actually they ask an English person wants to ask me he said why did they call football no one's foots touching the ball there's actually quite funny but then ask a British person to explain cricket as far as I could tell one guy runs back and forth for five days in every one else drinks beer but the so but Abraham but humanity fumbles the ball Abraham picks it up and runs with it so the plot of not just Jewish history but all of human history is humanity returns to God Jewish people lead the way this point is huge by the way when I'm teaching in Jerusalem my students I say guys this is one of the most basic points you got to get into your head because it changes your whole perspective not just Jewish history but all of human history and I tell my students and it's a good lesson for all of us that we have to learn to look at the world with Jewish lenses and Jewish software now I don't know when you guys went to school what you learned in school I went to you know public school like I said I wasn't raised religious I'm FFA from from Asia as opposed to ffb or BT belch ever or born religious but I learned when I went to school which was ages ago the history we learned was the history of the dead white guys of Europe it was all about Greece and Rome and Alexander and Napoleon and World War one and World War two in the French Revolution but I'm besides being very Eurocentric it was basically the history of what power well for sure Christianity but power now powers like the is like the loud noise it gets distracts us and gets our attention like sitting in a restaurant the waiter drops a tray everyone looks and if it's in Israel they all say Mazel Tov it's quite funny but the real plot is something is is much more subtle and it runs through and connects everything anything I tell my students if you can learn to look at history with Jewish lenses in Jewish software it's like looking at a different wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum remember that with physics visible light is only a little bit of the spectrum what else is on the spectrum gamma-ray ultraviolet infrared x-ray you look at the world with infrared glasses it looks very very different and all the same ly disconnected events start to fit together and make sense it's a huge point and we see that all fits together there's no accidents and they're the same infinite intelligence that put laws into science like this kind of thing what am i demonstrating which laws this I'm demonstrating OOP Sir Isaac Newton by the way way before you took physics you learned about gravity where like when you tried to stand up when you were a toddler when you drop food off the highchair and you rolled off your mother's bed but even before you learn this formally you knew this rules cause effect and that's how you survive in this world imagine if there's no magnet if every time you walked out your door you randomly flew in a different direction none of us would live very long so when it comes to science we know this cause and effect is you know when it comes to history I don't know it's gonna happen guys the same infinite intelligence to put laws into Sian's put laws into history it's a completely different way of looking at the world both in terms of the plot and in terms of the ability to understand that our actions especially collectively can impact the outcome just like in gravity so humanity returns to God Jewish people lead the way becomes the plot of the entire story not just Jewish history now I asked this years ago in a classroom when a guy said wait rabbi time out time out time out he said rabbi how many people in the world what's the world's population today seven point four billion he said rabbi how many Jews are in the world now by the way I fly a lot on airplanes even not just including ela but a lot in America and it really stinks nowadays with TSA and everything but one of if I can get people to talk to me I always ask them it's not the first thing I ask them like how many Jews do you think there are in the world hi my name is Kent Speer how many Jews you think there are in the world like get away from me you weirdo no it's amazing the numbers they give me usually a hundred to a thousand times higher than there really are I've had at least 30 people tell me there's many Jews in the world as Chinese and half of them were Chinese a guy once told me everyone in Hollywood isn't is it you who got his nose who's got his nose done and changed his name I said you're pretty anti-semitic with 50 percent correct although I say when I since I found out that Scarlett Johansson is Jewish I know anything is possible now if we can get her to come to one of these conferences you know many people shell out be awesome yes she is she really is actually have two more now we have DC and Marvel Comics we got gal gadot and Scarlett Johansson come on Jews do control the world it's unbelievable but seriously but why do people think there's so many more Jews in the world there really are yeah we're scattered everywhere and crazy disproportionately impact flowing tend to be kind of loud but how many Jews are really in the world the guy said rabbi how many people in the world seven point four billion he said rabbi how many Jews are in the world what's the world's real Jewish population about fourteen or so million he said rabbi what percentage of the world is Jewish I said point two percent of the world is Jewish he said rabbi you're telling me Jews aren't even one percent of the human race but the plot of human history she Manly returns to God Jewish people lead the way aren't you being a little arrogant than egocentric here I said aren't you asking a really good question a really obnoxious way it's a great question and I told him the mic one of my favorite quotes of history is a British Lord his name is Voland Brooke it's a fantastic quote he said history is philosophy with examples it's a great quote by the way so I said based on that idea I said I'm gonna give you a couple of examples from Jewish history that clearly illustrate that we play unique role in the world each of these examples is really an entire class but I'm gonna do each of them literally and in a minute or two example number one I call the infantry example as a minute military so I have to I have five I said I have five kids for the five did the army actually three did the army one did the Navy and three the three to the army including one of my daughters they were all combat medics which is pretty cool I went in Golani when in Seneca NIEM when in Krakow when in hell am I also did the army by the way in Israel I was in give a key but it was like so long ago Joshua like from the book of Joshua was my commanding officer but we would go out and patrol but when I did the army we used to do foot patrol in Gaza in Gaza because we were still in Gaza this was 20 Wow long time was thirty years ago rude go out two by two with one guy in the front this is not a Israeli military thing all armies in the world do this when they're on patrol two by two with one guys in the front the guy in the front is called I once asked and the guy yells out for the back of the audience dead the guy in the front is called what military terminology what do we call him point man the point man a position of unique responsibility but a position of tremendous danger because he's the first guy there we're gonna step into the minefield or walk into an ambush who's gonna get it first point man when humanity fumbled the ball and Abraham picked it up we became the point nation of history and I hate to do it as a huge class in a minute but this point is tremendous because what I'm telling you now from the Jewish perspective is the one true cause of all anti-semitism I'm sure you've all studied the topic why we hated you know forget all those excuses we hate the Jews because they you know they kidnapped Christian babies used their blood to bake matzah we poison wells we're in league with the devil we control the world's economy seismic activity solar flares we trigger tsunamis in Southeast Asia to drown Indonesia with tidal waves release sharks into the Red Sea to destroy different tourism send vultures to spy on Saudi Arabia and Turkey released wild pigs into Palestinian territory their crops and terror as their population we steal the cloud cover from Iran by the way some of these things were said a month ago some of these things were said a thousand years ago none of them have anything to do with reality the one true cause of anti-semitism is we have a unique role to play in the world we are out in front and when evil comes into this world you can test it like gravity we will be the first target you can literally tell how a country is doing in terms of human rights and democracy by how it treats its Jews because it starts with us and then it just spreads to everyone else and George Gilder in his book the Israel test he says the same thing and he's not even Jewish he says just as Jews within the cont the country are the canary in the coalmine the litmus test of morality he said Israel is the Jew amongst the nations as a state show me what a country thinks of Israel I'll tell you all about their democracy and human rights you think it's an accident the most dangerous rogue states in the world like North Korea Iran Venezuela hate hate hate Israel when evil comes into the world it targets us first because we have even subconscious by the way even though the most of the people do believe these stupid things about us but the ultimate even subconscious reason is that we have this different level of responsibility the other example that I gave this guy to show we play unique role in the world let's go back to the Hollywood movie analogy in a Hollywood movie we talked about that before a little bit the actors in a movie are stacked like in a pyramid at the top of the pyramid are the smallest number of actors but they're at the top which actors are those those are the a-list actors like the ultimate a list couple who's still not divorced yet by the way they're still doing this is whom Brad Jelena Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie that's like real a-list but who comes with who comes below this the lead actors sorry the supporting actors then you have what then you have the bit parts and then you have the walk-ons or the extras as they're called like the guys walking in the streets either sitting in the restaurant that how many lines there's no one on the set of a movie that's not there for a reason even if it's a bit part there's no one in the planet earth who's not here for a reason every human being serves a purpose my aunt has that in refrigerator never notice the refrigerator is the smartest appliance in your house and all the important things are on there she has a great sign it says every human being serves a purpose and a little letters underneath it says even if it just is a really bad example so but to be the a-list and Hollywood is pretty cool to be like you know any of these people like you know Mark Wahlberg or Dwayne the rock or what whoever it's great you get a lot of money people love you what's the one downside of being that famous no privacy paparazzi everywhere that's in Hollywood but in the real story the ultimate story when we chose for our self unique responsibilities we became the lead actors in the ultimate story but unlike in Hollywood we don't get the fame in the fortune we just get all the paparazzi and this points to a point that is actually you're all familiar with it it's actually quite supernatural but it happens all the time what happens when supernatural or weird happens to you daily it becomes totally normal what's the point I'm talking about it was best stated by a great journalist who just recently passed away Charles Krauthammer he had a great quote Jews is news and since good news is no news and only bad news makes news when a Jewish perceived to do something wrong even when he hasn't or the Jewish state quietly Jew in Israel like little teeny island of democracy free market open capitalist developed tolerant multicultural state surrounded by 22 states of the Arab League with no human rights no democracy no industrialization yet no one seems to care what they do and the world goes nuts on Israel when it made fun of the UN before it wasn't without justification the useless nations by the way last year had twenty-seven condom Nations they passed between the General Assembly and Security Council on human rights coming twenty-seven condom nations six for the whole world and 21 against Israel and the year before was 26 and it was six it was five for the whole world and 21 against Israel the double standard is crazy the French are telling us how to behave you know he's to stay in New York Statue of Liberty had both hands up and left Paris give me a break how many Frenchmen take to defend Paris actually we don't know it's never been tried anyway boohoo okay but seriously guys it drives us nuts but if what I'm saying is true this is the way it has to be we will never be treated like anyone else because in a deep subconscious level the world is aware you Jews you Jewish state like it says in Hebrew national they're not quite kosher meat we have to answer to a higher authority being Jewish might not be comfortable but it's always meaningful in the world is always going to remind us that we have to answer to a higher so these two examples illustrate clearly we have a unique role to play in the story so we've answered the first big question purpose of creation is relationship with God humanity blows it along comes Abraham and chooses for himself and for us this unique responsibility to the new plot of not just Jewish history but all of human history humanity returns to God Jewish people lead the way and in a few minutes we have left though we have to deal with the other huge question how long does that story take so several places in the Talmud it says for 6,000 years the world was created which doesn't mean from the Big Bang to the end of time is 6,000 years it means from the end of day 6 and that day 6 could be one very long day if you ask dr. Schroeder from the end of day 6 to the end of normative history is a maximum of 6,000 years where does the 6 come from in 6,000 besides the number of times at a wedding Bar Mitzvah or you know project inspire conference you go up to the buffet table before going for dessert what is it whereas the six come from in the six thousand yeah six days of creation exactly six days of creation and we know that Jewish weeks begin on what day of the week Sunday which in Israel we don't we don't use the pagan god names like Sunday and Thursday by the way who's - in Tuesday one day he could have been a game show like 10 million dollar grand prize who is - named after now if you get this right because of me I want like 20 percent how do I know this besides I love trivia I had a guy in my class in Israel like four years ago big huge Danish guy blond-haired blue-eyed claim to his Jewish name - I said - like the day of the week and who you named after he said oh - is the Norse God of War he's like Mars for the Vikings I said that's pretty cool but couldn't your parents give you a nice Jewish name like dove it yeah brother named Wed anyway but we don't use the heat we don't use the pagan god names we say yo me Sean first - Amy Ashley she be huh me she she she were counting 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th right and we get to Friday night at sunset a few hours from now whatever yet what do we get - we don't call Youngs fee the seventh day we call Shabbat why don't we call Shabbat and not young V because Shabbat has a different energy and Shabbat by the way is an acquired taste I was raised not yet I was raised totally secular thank you people who kept Shabbat were crazy now I would say having Chabad for a very long time even if I god forbid didn't believe in God I still keep Shabbat just have a day without my smartphone it's the best day no technology I get phantom vibrations on my hip on like sat on Shabbat morning really embarrassing but like the one day everyone's reads and talks and rejuvenates all puns intended it's an acquired taste so we have the seventh day of the week so two are being told and this is this is mentioned in several places it's mentioned and tracked at Rosh Hashanah it's mentioned in tractate Sanhedrin page 97 a that every day of creation is also equivalent to not just a day of the week but a thousand years of human history which means from 1 to 999 is the equivalent of Sunday or on Rishon from from then and then you have from 1,000 to 1099 is Yamcha me which is Monday the difference being when you get to the Year 6000 you don't enter what's called Shabbat you enter what's called in Jewish history or in Jewish time you went to what's called alum haha how do we translate Olam haba the world to come which is not we going you're dead what's death by the way death is the separation of the soul from the body like you get your new phone like your iPhone 10 whatever what do you do you know well if you're smart you take your old phone to Israel and sell it for as much as the new phone cost in America now what do you want to say from your phone you want to save the contacts the photos the music that goes to the cloud that's the soul okay the phone your recycle that's what happens the soul separates from the body the soul goes up to olam haneish Humboldt okay and then if you did it right you get to hang out there and had that first class pleasure hanging out with God having that relationship but it's not since were judged on the decisions we make and the only time we can make decisions is when we're a soul and a body together being pulled in different directions and we get judged by you know how we choose to go we have we get recycled back into another body so we could earn more points in this world to get more up there okay what's that call recycle back into a body what am I talking about transmigration of souls reincarnation gilgul me some boats okay which means by the way Judaism saying if you are here now if we're here now we have all been here before that's even when the lines from crosby Stills Nash and young song deja vu we have all been here before if you wonder who you were here before either get them to fly in or come to Israel back in the old city and I'll introduce you to my Russian Canadian psychotherapist friend rabbi dr. Phoebus fierce key who for a very reasonable price will regress you through hypnosis into who you were the last time you were here doo doo doo doo doo doo it's really cool I've done it it's called past life regression it is super cool stuff anyway who was I'm not gonna tell you then because I will only say what not the topic of the class but but I will say one thing it's a little bit it's a little bit like intense many people I know who've done it who were born post-holocaust are a gill goon of someone who died in the Holocaust so it can be and it could be an interest a very intense experience to go do that anyway so when you die you go to a luminous commode Olam haba is when the world goes back to the way it was before we messed it up if you've heard of concepts and judaism like resurrection of the dead and final judgment which Christianity also has but they took from us that takes place in Olam haba before we get to all them about we have a transitional period Judaism says like just before you get it to Shabbat I'm gonna have in a few hours before from the time the Sun Goes Down so the stars come out of Twilight what's the ceremony we do then come a lot Shabbat you got to ease your way into it what's the Kaaba lot Shabbat of human history then in terms of the historical cycle it's called the Messianic era the m-e the era of the Messiah it's amazing by the way how many Jews think messiahs not even a Jewish concept one thing I've learned teaching for many many years is lack of knowledge never stops a lot of people I know from voicing their opinions on things they know nothing about like in physics you know the famous law of physics that light travels faster than sound which is why first you see lightning and then you hear thunder it's also I some people appear to be intelligent and to hear them speak especially some politicians if I had a dollar for every time some one of my students said we don't believe my science the Christian concept you didn't say here and now religion when it comes to eating at the buffet we're definitely here and now but Messiah is our idea I have all class on this alone the Christians stole it from us change the definition use it against that's the dopest any royalties for it but without doing the whole class Messiah is simply put is a person with a certain lineage ins and and tour and spiritual connection and leadership skills but he acts like we say we already did physics so now we'll do chemistry he's a catalyst what does a catalyst do remember in chemistry what's a catalyst job has to speed up a process his job is to prepare not just the Jewish people with the whole world to enter that final phase and Jewish tradition says he has to come and complete the job by the year 6000 not show up at the year 6000 complete the job and someone always wants to ask me one of the Messiah I didn't come by the year 6000 I always give the same answer ask for your money back it hasn't happened yet but let's do the time now what we just came into a new year not so long ago what year are we in now 5 7 7 9 mm if every day the week is a thousand years and you get to five thousand what day of the week are we in Friday five thousand five hundred is halfway through Friday five thousand 750 is three quarters of the way through the day five seven seven nine where are we late Friday afternoon this is the time in a religious home when the wife is usually yelling at the husband get in the shower it's gonna be shoppers twenty minutes and you guys know you guys know Murphy's Law like the chance of the bread falling butter side down is directly proportional to the price of the carpet and those important laws of reality what's Murphy's Law of Shabbat anyone who keeps Shabbat knows this no matter when you start preparing for Shabbat even if it's in New York on June 21st Sunday morning the longest Shabbat of the year when Shabbat comes like 9:30 at night you start making your challenge at 7:00 a.m. Sunday morning what are you still doing half hour before sunset running around like a chicken with your head cut off everything speeds up and gets intense as you approach the deadline of Shabbat everything speeds up and gets intense as we approach the deadline of the Shabbat of human history but do the math guys 6000 minus 5 7 7 9 what do we got left here 221 and that's a maximum just you bring in Shabbat at sunset no you bring it in Jerusalem 40 minutes early 18 minutes early they're goin to this now but their Jewish sources that say you can literally lop 200 off the 221 which doesn't mean the Messiah is coming into one I don't know he's coming if I did I'd be a prophet of as a prophet I'd be working in the stock exchange and not teaching here but you can within a couple of decades the whole thing is over lambs are lying down with lions having soya barbecues the UN is getting together like 55 times every day to pass pro-israel resolution what do you learn from that by the way by for you guys debt real estate in Israel now anywhere the French Jews are getting all the good apartments but she is gonna come you're gonna call ll and I'm sorry is a seven month wait for a flight and you get up in a tent with the Goldbergs from Lawrence and the Schwartz is from Bathurst and Eglinton like stuck in some like corner on the Egyptian border with like 4/10 to the spigot of water and the French will be sitting in like in you know in Netanya and seven yawn and you know Jerusalem seriously hopefully by the time the conference is over we'll have a little bit they'll be an announcement mostly Shabbos I've got a return ticket already so I'm safe anyway guys so we got so we basically done it's like one more little point that we're finished so purpose of creation relationship with God humanity blows it along comes Abraham and chooses for himself and for us this unique responsibility the new plot of human history is humanity returns to God Jewish people lead the way we have a maximum of 6,000 years to do that in according to most Jewish opinions and we're very close to the end of that time with 221 and very likely a lot less time left but there's one more probably have to do before we finish is the very brief little history of time before a nice young Jewish man a little over 100 years ago in his spare time working in a Swiss Patent Office and came up with the theory that changed our whole understanding of reality Who am I talking about Albert Einstein which is the worst Jewish name to have by the way Einstein didn't world I've had both of them my class like what if Einstein is stupid Rothschild is poor but seriously so but before Einstein came along the whole world believed in the Greek Aristotelian view of time including people like Sir Isaac Newton the time like a treadmill goes around and around and around and has no beginning and no end but not only that in the ancient world and I'm gonna do a class on this tomorrow on judy's and paganism multiculturalism you believed the world was full of a bunch of gods who were just like you and I except for two things what are the gods had that we didn't have superhuman and immortal if you forgot your pathology just think of the x-men same thing okay superhuman immortal but they cynically used and abused you you didn't your decisions didn't matter the whole subplot of all Greek tragedy like you Ripa T's is the futility of fighting against your fate like it's like swimming upstream what happens he eventually just get exhausted you drown so basic worldview literally for thousands of years was the story doesn't end your decisions don't matter is that a positive or negative way of looking at the world negative is it empowering or unempowered totally unempowered let's get the guys sad face okay into this world appears us the Jewish people and we have been for thousands of years telling the whole human race that they are wrong which is why we have been so beloved throughout human history that was sarcasm our view of time looks like slinky remembers thinking okay they have a slinky out for iPhones yet we believe the time as this is cyclic but it's not static and by the way and this works for all levels of history and there's multiple levels of history there's our personal history the history of the Jewish people the history of the human race on a personal level we get the point that we're all different like snowflakes that God recycles us through challenges no one has the same challenge as anyone else here and if you don't get it right you get stuck dealing with the same issues throughout your life like you have really bad temper and anger issues as a as a toddler toddlers are not known for their patience but you're really bad you can have the same issues as a young adult and as a teenager and as a young you know and as middle-aged you're gonna die with the same juvenile attitude towards anger and impatience God by the way is an amazing coach if you can high jump five feet what your coach gonna do it's gonna raise the bar it's the essential nature of being human to deal with progressively greater challenges our whole life was like it to do list and I have run these programs on my phone when you add things on the bottom you check them off the top but hopefully the last thing we check off on the list before I check out of this world is a little bit higher level that we started out with like we started out with big accomplishments like drooled filled diaper then we got to like dry at night learn to walk but hopefully we ended with married had meaningful relationships brought beautiful children into the world ran a successful business started a really great charity won a Nobel Prize won gold in the Olympics not too likely if you're Jewish I mean that joke was the sign of maturity in a Jewish boy when he recognized that statistically he's got a far greater chance of owning a professional sports team than ever actually playing on one but on a personal level we get this but this is how it works for the human the Jewish people and the human race that we will collectively get recycled through challenges and we're not gonna get to move forward we're gonna get stuck unless we get it right just like that great 1990s movie Groundhog's Day who seen that movie Groundhog Day it's a great movie where this guy just gets stuck in Punxsutawney Pennsylvania on February 2nd this of noxious weatherman and every morning he wakes up was the same day over and over again only he's aware of it when does he finally get the February 3rd in the movie when he gets it right but that's what's gonna happen to us also we're gonna get stuck for six years six hundred years six thousand years making the same stupid mistakes over and over and over again but guys is the only way to get to the end of the story like in the movie two steps forward one step back trial and error hit miss or is their way of short-circuiting this whole process and getting the entire not just the Jewish people but the whole human race to the end of that story quickly and painlessly and the answer is yes there is in this game were allowed to cheat knock manatees the great medieval Jewish scholar in his commentary in the book of Genesis he has a great line he says must set about Samantha by name who can translate that must set about him on the by name the actions of the fathers are assigned to the children but that which happens in the beginning of the by of the of the story is the revealed pattern for everything that comes later if you want to understand who we are guys just look at our ancestors that's what the book of Genesis is all about you want on the who we are look at Abraham he's us his drivers are drive look at Joseph and his brothers and the rivalry in the jealousy that's the Jewish people until today look at Isaac in the Philistines you the Jews in Egypt that's the whole paradigm for the crazy rollercoaster relationship we have with the non-jewish world they can't live with us they can't live without us they pull us towards they push us away guys our past is our future Jewish history is Jewish destiny you can't know where you're going to is a Jew until you understand where you're coming from and I'm teaching my students in Jerusalem I always tell them I say guys first of all don't try and take notes on me no one can write as fast as I speaker type as fast as I speak first of all I forgot to bring copy but I have a great book ask my mother she will agree 100% crash course in Jewish history I have copies here by the way also mostly Shabbat please God for you special place as we say in the Middle East but I say in that book we got all the names the dates the timelines the maps the chart that's the plumbing of history I tell my students the only thing I want you to know are the lessons from the past not because it's going to be an exam but rather because these are the rules of the game that we need to know it's the playbook you know Israel mayor Lau I was float on the plane with him we were a bunch of us were flying from is when I saw him on the flight last night he's one of the youngest survivors of Buchenwald former Chief Rabbi of Israel now chief rabbi of Tel Aviv he has a great quote he said that a nation that doesn't value its past has no right to dream about its future and I would tweak that quote and say and a nation doesn't learn from its past is gonna have a very tough time getting there so guys forget the names the dates the places the lessons we learned from our past are absolutely critical so that each and every one of us in our own unique way and hopefully all of us together can learn those lessons come together focus on what unites us and stop focus on what divides us and put the incredible energy and drive and creativity idealism we have as a people together and then we get to get to the end of this story which is the ultimate story as quickly and as painlessly as possible and thank you very much and shabbat shalom