Transcript [00:00] everybody. So, this video is going to be [00:02] somewhat different than what I usually [00:03] do. [00:04] I'm here in Dallas, Texas [00:06] on the second day of a week-long trip to [00:09] the United States. [00:11] A number of speaking engagements and [00:13] media appearances that I'm making while [00:14] I'm here. [00:15] Um after Dallas, you know, right now [00:18] it's late at night in Dallas on Thursday [00:19] night and tomorrow on Friday, I'm [00:21] heading up to Washington, D.C. And this [00:24] has been a very special trip for me. [00:26] And um [00:28] uh for for an important reason I'm going [00:30] to share with you in this video. [00:32] So, a lot of you don't necessarily know [00:34] a lot about what I do. You probably [00:36] watch this channel and you see me [00:37] talking about politics and uh talking [00:39] about what's going on in the Middle [00:40] East, which is the main thing that I [00:41] cover here on this channel. [00:43] But many of you are probably already [00:45] aware that my career for more than the [00:47] last decade [00:48] has been Jewish-Christian relations, [00:51] building bridges between the Jewish and [00:52] Christian communities. [00:54] And that means that I spend a lot of [00:56] time and I have spent a lot of time for [00:57] more than a decade traveling [01:00] across the United States and Canada, [01:02] speaking in churches and Christian [01:04] seminaries, [01:06] uh sharing Bible studies, connecting [01:09] with Christians about all that we share, [01:12] uh and about Israel and about the Bible. [01:15] That's a lot of what I do for a living. [01:17] And um you know, for for the Jewish [01:19] viewers who are watching this and you're [01:21] wondering how I go into churches because [01:23] there's been a tradition in Judaism, uh [01:26] an understanding that uh Jews are not [01:27] supposed to go into churches, but that's [01:29] a a larger topic. [01:31] And uh I assure you that everything that [01:33] I do is perfectly permissible under [01:35] Jewish law and we can have that [01:37] conversation some other time. [01:39] But this trip has been especially uh [01:41] important to me. It's been very [01:42] meaningful for me already because I'm [01:45] accompanied on this trip by my son Meir. [01:47] Now, my son Meir is 28 years old [01:51] and uh he's a brilliant young man. [01:54] And he's also a combat soldier in the [01:56] reserves of the Israel Defense Forces. [01:59] He's a squad commander in the Givati [02:01] Brigade in reserves. [02:03] And since October 7th, he's served over [02:05] 500 days [02:07] uh of reserve duty in various combat [02:09] situations in Gaza and Lebanon. [02:12] And he's accompanying me on this trip [02:14] sharing his experiences with some of the [02:16] audiences that I usually speak to. This [02:18] is the first time I've ever done this [02:19] bringing one of my [02:21] one of my children along with me to [02:22] participate in what I do and to and to [02:24] engage in it. So, where I'm speaking on [02:27] this trip, he's also joining me and also [02:29] sharing his story. And what I'd like to [02:31] share with you [02:32] is a clip of Mayor speaking to a [02:35] Christian audience last night [02:37] in Texas at uh at Vantage Church [02:40] pastored by by Pastor Stephen Martin, a [02:43] dear friend of mine. [02:44] And uh this was Mayor's uh this was [02:47] Mayor's message. So, [02:49] enjoy it with me. Here we go. [02:54] >> Yeah, so I'm I'm really glad we got that [02:56] disclaimer out of the way. I don't do [02:58] public speaking for a living. [03:00] So, it's a tough act to follow. [03:05] So, [03:06] I was born and raised in Israel to [03:08] American parents. That's why my English [03:10] is good. [03:12] And [03:15] I've been pretty busy lately. I'm a [03:18] squad commander in the Israeli army [03:20] reserves. [03:22] But [03:23] I [03:25] I want to share a message here that will [03:27] take us back to where my military [03:30] journey began. [03:32] So, as some of you may know, Israel [03:35] always has had [03:37] a mandatory draft. Means every young man [03:40] and woman, when they finish high school, [03:42] they join the military. [03:45] And [03:47] like everyone else, after high school, I [03:49] joined the military. I joined a program [03:52] called Hesder. [03:53] Which is just Hebrew for arrangement. [03:57] Now, the way this program works [03:59] is that instead of going straight off to [04:01] boot camp, [04:02] we go from high school to a seminary. [04:06] And we spend 2 years there [04:09] studying together with our rabbis, [04:11] working on our faith, [04:13] studying [04:14] theology, studying the Bible, [04:17] studying Jewish law. [04:19] After 2 years there [04:21] working on our spiritual side, [04:25] we go as a group [04:27] from the study hall, [04:29] everyone together, [04:30] off to boot camp [04:32] in the army. [04:34] And after a year and a half in the [04:35] field, [04:37] once again, as that same group, [04:40] we return back to the study hall. [04:43] And we have another year and a half of [04:44] study, again working on our faith. [04:48] Now, why would the Israeli military have [04:50] a program like this? [04:53] What's the message here? [04:55] You see, [04:57] it's not about a scheduling crunch. [05:00] It's not like we have a few things we [05:02] have to squeeze in, and they say, "Okay, [05:05] we'll do a year of this and 2 years of [05:07] that, and then we'll circle back and do [05:09] another year to make up what you [05:11] couldn't squeeze in that first time." [05:14] It's not about just fitting a few things [05:16] in. [05:17] The Israeli military runs this program, [05:19] which is very popular, by the way, [05:23] to send a message. And that message is [05:25] that these different parts of our life, [05:29] working on our faith and our spiritual [05:31] side, [05:32] and doing all the other stuff that has [05:34] to happen out there, [05:37] it's really it's all part of the same [05:38] journey. [05:39] And we go back and forth, and we go back [05:41] and forth, and it mixes together. [05:43] It's with the same people, [05:45] and it's under guidance from the same [05:47] in our case rabbi [05:49] teach their own [05:51] and [05:52] it all [05:54] lives under the same roof. [05:57] Because there's something very easy or [05:59] very simple about dealing with our faith [06:02] when we're in the right context, when [06:04] we're in church [06:05] or we're studying the Bible at home [06:08] or when we spend time in a seminary [06:10] that's the time that we set aside [06:14] to work on those things. [06:16] And so it's easy. [06:18] But then all of a sudden [06:20] life goes on, we go out we have a [06:22] routine [06:24] crazy things happen wars happen [06:28] and sometimes we suddenly realize, wait [06:30] a minute [06:31] all that work I did on my faith [06:34] I left it all behind. [06:36] We're busy. [06:38] We have a lot going on. [06:40] And the message here, the message of [06:43] this program is [06:46] you can never leave your faith behind. [06:48] You always have to take it with you. [06:51] And sometimes we focus on it more, [06:53] sometimes we focus on it less. [06:56] But [06:57] even when we're out there, even when [07:00] we're as busy as can be [07:02] we have to remember [07:05] that these different sides of us aren't [07:07] really different sides of us at all. [07:10] The outside world us [07:12] and the spiritual us [07:16] they feed off each other. They're two [07:18] sides of the same coin [07:20] or they're even the same side of the [07:21] coin. [07:23] Our faith will only get stronger if we [07:25] take it with us [07:27] out into the world. [07:29] And we're only going to be able to [07:30] function out there in the world [07:33] if we take our faith with us. [07:37] Over the past 3 years [07:39] I've been pretty busy. [07:42] You know, I've been Lebanon, I've been [07:44] in Gaza. It's been interesting. It's [07:46] been challenging. [07:48] It's been challenging in a lot of [07:49] different ways. [07:51] And one of them is And I'll mention two [07:53] ways in which it's been challenging. One [07:56] way [07:57] is that it raises a lot of questions. [08:00] Many of them were mentioned in the [08:01] speech just now. War raises a lot of [08:04] questions about how should we behave? [08:06] What's worth fighting for? What's our [08:08] ultimate goal? [08:10] When should we go forward? When should [08:11] we stop? When's the time for war and [08:13] when is it a time for peace? [08:17] But [08:19] with all those questions flying [08:21] over our heads, [08:24] another big challenge of war [08:27] is that it doesn't really share well. [08:30] When war demands our attention, [08:33] we don't have time for anything else. [08:36] And some of that can be even when we're [08:37] sitting at home and big things are [08:39] happening and [08:41] you know, we can't focus, but especially [08:43] someone who's in the field [08:45] as some of us have been, you don't have [08:48] time for sports, you don't have time for [08:50] your friends, you don't have time for [08:51] your family. [08:53] Doesn't share. [08:55] And so precisely at the time [08:58] when all the biggest questions are [09:00] raging and everything is coming up to [09:02] the surface at once, [09:05] that's when we have the least time to [09:06] deal with it. [09:08] And [09:10] what I've come to realize [09:12] in my case in war situations is that [09:16] like what we started with, [09:19] it's not about taking a step back from [09:21] war and making time to work on my faith, [09:25] finding a few minutes for it. [09:27] It's about realizing that when I'm in [09:29] war, [09:30] when I'm dealing with these challenges, [09:33] that's me working on my faith if [09:37] I come with the right attitude. [09:39] And when I do, [09:41] it means that [09:43] these challenges [09:45] that come my way [09:47] are an opportunity to work on my faith. [09:50] And as [09:52] my faith is strengthened, [09:54] I'm strengthened [09:55] for those challenges. [09:57] And we all have challenges. Most of us [09:59] aren't running around in war zones every [10:02] day, thank God. [10:04] But we all have our own wars. [10:06] We all have things that keep us busy. We [10:08] have our challenges. [10:11] And [10:12] when those things come up, [10:15] we [10:16] as I said, sometimes [10:19] that's not the time to work on faith. [10:21] Right? We have time that we dedicate to [10:23] it. Right? There's a schedule. Come to [10:25] church on Wednesday, on Sunday, [10:27] whenever it is. And the rest of the [10:28] time, [10:29] we have other things going on. [10:32] But it's important to realize that [10:35] it's precisely when we have so much [10:37] going on, [10:38] that that's when we have to [10:42] queue God in. That's where we have to [10:44] bring up bring him along for the ride. [10:46] Right? He's always with us. [10:49] And when we have the most going on, [10:52] that's when we need him the most. [10:55] I just want to tie this into a Bible [10:58] verse that I sort of remember by heart, [11:00] but I'm going to paraphrase. But a lot [11:02] of you will recognize it. [11:04] Where in Psalms, [11:07] David says, [11:09] "When I walk through the valley of the [11:11] shadow of death, [11:13] I will fear no evil because you are with [11:15] me." [11:17] Now, I want to point out two interesting [11:20] things in this verse. [11:22] The first thing is what David's talking [11:24] about. Right? He's going somewhere [11:26] that's dangerous, that's scary. [11:29] And he's not saying, "Oh, God's going to [11:31] protect me." [11:32] He doesn't talk about protection. [11:36] He says, "I'll fear no evil." [11:38] Now, what's the difference? [11:40] What's the difference between David [11:41] saying, [11:43] not I trust God to protect me, [11:46] and David saying, "I'll fear no evil." [11:50] Because [11:51] the difference is God's going to protect [11:53] him. [11:54] God's a good guy. [11:56] But [11:57] if God's protecting him, if God's [11:59] protecting someone, and that person [12:00] doesn't know that God's protecting them, [12:03] they're going to be scared. [12:05] Right? Someone's looking out for them, [12:07] but they don't know it. [12:10] The only way to not be scared [12:12] is to know [12:14] that God's out there with us. David's in [12:17] the valley of the of the shadow of [12:19] death. [12:20] This isn't David sitting [12:23] and working on his spiritual world. He's [12:25] out there in the world. [12:28] And if he's not going to be afraid, [12:30] he has to remember that God's there with [12:32] him. [12:34] And that's [12:35] what appears later in the verse. [12:37] Why doesn't he fear? [12:39] Not because God's [12:42] looking out for him, you know, [12:44] sitting there and with his [12:46] you know, keeping an eye on David. Says, [12:49] "Because you [12:51] are with me." [12:53] Not only is he speaking to God in the [12:55] second person, [12:57] where he's not saying because God is [12:59] with me, he's saying because you are [13:00] with me. [13:01] And God is with me. Where's [13:04] where and where's David? [13:06] He's in the valley of the shadow of [13:07] death. [13:09] And that's exactly that same message. [13:12] That wherever we are with our [13:14] challenges, whether what whatever our [13:16] valley of the shadow of death is, [13:19] whenever we're busiest, [13:21] and whenever things are craziest, and [13:23] whenever the most questions are coming [13:24] up, [13:26] and whenever everything is as crazy as [13:28] it's ever been [13:30] and we have the least time for faith [13:32] that we've ever had, [13:33] that's when we have to remember this [13:36] message of David, [13:38] the message of the program I mentioned. [13:42] We always have to bring our faith along [13:45] for the ride [13:47] because our faith and our life, [13:50] it's all the same. [13:52] So, I'm excited to be here. Thank you [13:54] very much. [14:00] >> That's my son. [14:01] Beautiful message, huh? [14:04] You know, even as I walk through the [14:05] valley of the shadow of death, I fear no [14:07] evil, for you [14:09] are with me. [14:11] You're with me. [14:12] And it's such a beautiful message that [14:14] the way God is with us is that we bring [14:17] him in, that we're conscious of him, [14:19] that he's with us. And this is a good [14:20] message for us to remember at this time [14:22] where we're going through a lot of [14:23] turmoil in the world over these last few [14:25] years and we often feel like we're [14:27] walking through the valley of the shadow [14:28] of death. [14:29] And as Mayor pointed out, [14:32] that verse is in the second person. I [14:33] fear no evil for you are with me. [14:36] Sometimes we talk about God. Sometimes [14:39] we talk to him. [14:40] And it's at those difficult times when [14:42] we're walking through the valley of the [14:43] shadow of death [14:45] that we really turn to God and we have [14:46] that more intimate relationship. [14:49] I'm talking to you, God, and and you are [14:51] with me, with me in what I'm going [14:53] through. [14:54] And that's spoken by someone who [14:56] he's my son, but he's also a hero to me. [14:58] He's someone who spent a lot of time [15:01] um in fighting [15:02] in this war. I mean, and he's not my [15:04] only son who has been. I have other [15:06] children who've been in this who've been [15:08] in these battles. [15:10] And [15:11] I just wanted to share that with you. [15:12] It's a proud moment for me. [15:14] And [15:15] and Mayor is is someone who has a lot of [15:17] has a lot of strengths. [15:19] And we're looking forward to him uh [15:21] more of his messages with more people [15:24] in days to come. [15:25] So, thank you so much for watching that [15:26] one. If you enjoyed it, please uh share [15:28] it. Please like it. Please drop a [15:29] comment and I'll share it with Mayor. [15:31] Uh and uh I appreciate you. [15:34] Um I appreciate everything uh every [15:37] comment you have for me. If you have any [15:38] words of advice for the young man, [15:40] you know, let us know. God bless.
