Transcript [00:00] in terms of this concept and it was the [00:03] Green Party in the UK that passed in [00:06] their party resolution, party conference [00:08] resolution, that Zionism equals racism. [00:11] Um and that passed. [00:14] Um and that whole concept that where [00:17] we're moving towards, especially with [00:19] the younger demographic, I think in the [00:20] US and the UK. [00:22] Um and I wanted first of all to get your [00:24] thoughts on this term, Zionism, but even [00:27] before that, I guess, Zion. Which is a [00:30] term used a lot in the Old Testament. [00:33] Um and seems to be about a place, but [00:36] also a presence of God. Do you want to [00:39] maybe your understanding as a Jew of [00:42] what that word, those four letters, [00:44] Zion, actually mean? [00:47] >> Well, Zion in Hebrew, Zion, is another [00:51] name for Jerusalem. We see it throughout [00:52] the Bible. And you know, it's an [00:55] interesting name because the word Zion, [00:57] or it's the exact same letters, it's the [00:59] same root. It's a different It's It's [01:01] the name of a place, but it's from the [01:03] root Zion. [01:05] Uh and Zion in Hebrew is [01:08] is something that is a sort of a marker [01:10] or a beacon, something that you can look [01:12] to and point to as a as a as a as a [01:16] critical location, right? Um So, for [01:18] example in [01:20] one of the words for a tombstone or a [01:23] monument is at Zion. Okay? It's the same [01:26] idea. So, Zion in in Hebrew etymology, [01:30] when you have a word that ends in on [01:33] Uh and I'm getting into the weeds of [01:34] grammar and and etymology. [01:36] But a word that ends in when you take a [01:39] noun [01:40] and you add the on suffix on it, it [01:43] means kind of like the ultimate [01:44] expression of it. So, let me give you an [01:45] example. The word al [01:48] means [01:49] on or high, like above. [01:53] Like El Al is the name of the airline in [01:55] Israel, right? Which means to the above, [01:57] right? Above. Elyon, which is the same [01:59] letters as Al but with the on suffix, [02:01] means most high. So, whenever we talk [02:03] about God as most high, it's Elyon. [02:06] Okay, so the word the on suffix or for [02:08] example, the day of atonement [02:11] Yom Kippur [02:12] is called in the Bible in Leviticus 23 [02:16] Shabbaton. So, it's a Shabbat [02:19] right? Sabbath, but it's the ultimate [02:21] Sabbath, meaning not only are we [02:22] refraining from work, but we're [02:24] refraining from eat we're refraining [02:25] from all worldly affairs, right? We're [02:27] not even eating, right? I mean, it's an [02:29] ultimate Shabbat, so to speak. [02:31] So, Zion to me is the is the on version [02:35] as it is, the ultimate version of the [02:37] Zion, of the place that we point to, a [02:39] place that we mark. [02:41] Right? It's the That's because that's [02:43] what That's what Jerusalem is. And you [02:45] know what's amazing about that is that [02:46] this plays right into [02:48] what the anti-Semitism, the obsession [02:50] with the Jews is all about. You know, [02:52] like there's no [02:54] the whole world doesn't have opinions [02:55] about, I don't know, the people from [02:57] Finland. You know, it doesn't it [02:59] everyone's got an an opinion about the [03:01] Jews. Everyone's pointing at the Jews [03:02] and [03:03] and it depends how you see the Jews. And [03:06] I think that that this is what, you [03:08] know, when God said to Abraham [03:11] that that part of his mission and part [03:14] of his blessing to him is that I will [03:15] bless those who bless you and I will [03:17] curse those who curse you [03:19] it is This isn't This isn't about, you [03:22] know, the Jewish people being a candy [03:24] machine that if you bless us, you're [03:25] going to get blessing, you know, so it's [03:26] a good thing to do to you know, you [03:28] know, for for yourself and beware, don't [03:30] curse us, you're going to get cursed. I [03:32] think God was saying something more [03:33] fundamental. He's saying, "Listen, I'm [03:34] choosing you for a very important [03:36] mission. You're going to have a unique [03:38] history [03:39] that's going to defy all the rules of [03:40] history. You're going to have a unique [03:41] mission in the world. And as a result of [03:44] that, as a result of being in the center [03:46] of everything, everyone's going to have [03:47] an opinion about you. [03:49] And there are going to be and there's [03:50] there's not going to be much middle [03:51] ground. People are either going to see [03:53] you as a force for good [03:55] and that's going to benefit you when you [03:57] see it that way. I will bless those who [03:59] bless you. And then there are those who [04:00] are going to resent you and are going to [04:02] be suspicious of you and they're going [04:03] to curse you and they're going to want [04:04] to destroy you and it's going to be to [04:06] their detriment. That's that's what he's [04:08] saying. I will curse those who curse [04:09] you. And you see it in every society [04:11] that has that has embraced anti you know [04:14] this anti-Jewish obsession, this [04:16] anti-Semitism, anti-Jewish conspiracies. [04:18] It the people Look, [04:21] anti-Semitism is not a Jewish problem. [04:23] I mean, we're the targets of it, but [04:27] my personal opinion is that all of the [04:28] billions of dollars that are spent by [04:30] Jews to combat anti-Semitism is all a [04:33] big waste of money. I don't think it [04:35] actually does anything. I I'm not I'm [04:37] not saying that it's a grift. I'm not [04:40] saying that that people are donating for [04:42] the wrong reasons. I think that they're [04:44] all well-meaning, these organizations [04:46] devoted to combating anti-Semitism. [04:48] They're all very well-meaning people and [04:50] they believe that there's something they [04:51] can do about it. I have not seen in all [04:53] my years in Jewish public life, I have [04:56] not yet seen where the billions of [04:58] dollars spent fighting anti-Semitism [05:00] have had a tangible result in reducing [05:03] the hatred of Jews. [05:04] That doesn't mean that it's [05:06] that they're just a bunch of failures. [05:07] They're not. I think it's because [05:09] anti-Semitism is not a problem for Jews [05:11] to solve. It's not something that we [05:13] really have a have a say in. It really [05:15] has to do with the deep psychology and [05:18] and you know and and spiritual rot of [05:21] people that have always been that way [05:23] who who resent success. [05:26] They resent the the very challenge that [05:29] God places before the nations of the [05:30] world. The Apostle Paul warns Gentile [05:34] Christians against boasting over the [05:37] branches. [05:38] He warn In other words, he warns them [05:40] about about looking negatively at the at [05:44] the root that they come from. And why [05:47] does he have to warn them? He warns them [05:48] because he knows that this is a weakness [05:50] of the human condition, that people will [05:52] look at the Jews and they will see them [05:53] negatively. And he says, "You got to be [05:55] careful because look, the Jewish people [05:58] are not about the Jewish people. This [05:59] isn't about Jewish supremacy. [06:02] Let me back up even more. Let's Let's [06:03] get really theological now. [06:06] Why did God choose one people? [06:08] Why did he do that? Well, [06:11] how does God reveal himself in the [06:13] world? He reveals himself in the world [06:15] through his word, through scripture, [06:18] and also through what he does on this [06:20] earth. And the most overt, explicit way [06:23] that God reveals himself is something [06:25] that we call miracles. And [06:28] you know, depending on what what type of [06:30] Christian or Jew you talk to, you'll get [06:32] different definitions of miracles. [06:33] You'll have Some of my Pentecostal [06:35] friends will call every happy [06:36] coincidence a miracle. [06:38] But let's let's narrow the definition of [06:40] a miracle, okay? To the ones that are [06:42] unequivocal miracles, like the splitting [06:44] of the Red Sea or the 10 plagues in [06:46] Egypt okay? [06:47] A miracle is, and here's my definition, [06:49] I think it's a sound definition. A [06:51] miracle is an instance where God [06:56] breaks the laws of nature for his [06:58] purposes. [07:00] But we're going to go even further. The [07:01] really because even those could still be [07:04] happy coincidences [07:06] or acts of nature that are unusual. [07:08] The really 100% airtight miracles are [07:11] when God breaks the rules of nature for [07:13] his purposes and tells us about it in [07:16] advance. Those are the unequivocal [07:18] miracles. So, all the 10 plagues in [07:20] Egypt fall into that category. Moses was [07:22] told about them in advance. This is what [07:23] I'm going to do. And And six out of the [07:26] 10, I'm sorry, seven out of the 10, [07:28] Pharaoh was also told in advance. There [07:30] are three where Moses doesn't tell him. [07:31] That's a exegetical issue we could talk [07:33] about sometime. [07:34] But [07:36] these are the these are the the pure [07:37] miracles. [07:39] And what's more, when God does a miracle [07:42] and he tells us in advance, throughout [07:45] the Bible God will also say that I'm [07:48] doing this so that people will know that [07:50] I am God. So, for example, again, the 10 [07:52] plagues in Egypt, God tells Moses that [07:54] he's doing this so that Egypt shall know [07:56] that I am the Lord over all the earth, [07:57] right? It does a few that phrase appears [08:00] a few times in those chapters in Exodus. [08:02] In the book of Ezekiel, the phrase "and [08:04] they shall know that I am the Lord" [08:07] appears many times. Ezekiel liked that [08:09] phrase. [08:10] Because Ezekiel was talking a lot about [08:12] the end times. Now, [08:14] if that's the definition of a miracle, [08:17] and that's how God is So, when God God [08:19] sets up the rules of nature and then he [08:21] chooses to break them for his purposes, [08:22] he tells us in advance and then we all [08:24] point to it and say, "Aha, that's God, [08:25] right?" So, the nation of Israel, they [08:27] see the sea split and they and it says [08:29] in the Bible they saw the Lord and they [08:31] and and they feared him and they knew [08:32] that he was the Lord, right? Basically, [08:34] they they knew God through his actions. [08:37] Well, [08:38] how does God show his dominion over [08:41] history? [08:43] Over history? [08:44] Does the same thing. [08:46] He sets up rules for history [08:48] that govern history, that govern that [08:49] govern the entire history of humanity. [08:52] And then he chooses one nation [08:55] and he says in advance that they are [08:57] going to have a completely anomalous, [08:58] unusual history that's going to break [09:00] all the rules. [09:02] So, in the ancient world, many different [09:05] nations went into exile. [09:07] Many. And that's why you don't know any [09:09] Ammonites or Moabites or whatever. A a [09:11] whole host of other nations that don't [09:12] exist anymore. [09:14] Many, many nations were conquered by [09:16] invading empires. [09:18] The fighting age males would be, you [09:19] know, would have their heads chopped off [09:21] and everyone would get sent into exile [09:22] and within a generation or two the [09:24] national identity would be gone, [09:26] subsumed in some other national identity [09:28] and as this happened as empires swept [09:30] the earth in in in, you know, in [09:32] different directions. [09:33] That's how all these ancient peoples [09:35] lost their identity. [09:37] The nation of Israel is a tiny people. [09:38] We're even It even says in the Bible in [09:40] Deuteronomy chapter 7 that we're the [09:42] least of all peoples and we still are. [09:44] We're less than half of 1% of the [09:45] world's population. [09:47] And God tells us in advance, "Yeah, [09:49] here's what's going to happen. [09:51] You're going to get conquered. You're [09:52] going to get sent into exile." This is [09:53] Deuteronomy 28:29. "You're going to get [09:56] sent into exile. You're going to get [09:57] scattered to the four corners of the [09:59] earth and it's going to go on for a very [10:00] long time." And we're told that over and [10:02] over again in the Bible. Now, again, the [10:05] rules of history are [10:07] that when a nation gets conquered and [10:09] exiled and scattered into exile, within [10:12] a couple generations, that's the end of [10:14] that nation. They're gone. [10:17] And there's only one nation that is an [10:19] exception to that rule [10:21] and it's the Jews. [10:23] We were sent into exile for a very long [10:25] time [10:26] and we survived. And lo and behold, the [10:28] one exception to that rule is also the [10:30] one that God said in advance would be an [10:32] exception to that rule. [10:34] Okay? So, [10:35] by the basic definition of a miracle, [10:39] the the history of the Jewish people is [10:41] miraculous. Is this a Jewish supremacy? [10:43] It's been a really rough road for most [10:45] of that time, okay? It hasn't been fun [10:47] being a Jew for most of our history. For [10:48] most of time, no one was looking at Jews [10:50] and saying they claim to be superior to [10:52] everyone else. On the contrary, we were [10:54] we were despised and persecuted for most [10:56] of that time. But, my point is that the [10:58] purpose of the Jewish people is not the [11:00] Jewish people. [11:01] The purpose of the Jewish people is we [11:02] are God uses us. He chose to use this [11:05] nation as a way of revealing himself to [11:08] the world. So, Ezekiel over and over [11:10] again when he talks about the [11:11] in-gathering of the nation of Israel at [11:12] the end times, he says, "And they shall [11:14] know that I am the Lord." In other [11:16] words, when you see, "Oh, this is what [11:18] God predicted he would do. He predicted [11:20] that there would be one tiny nation [11:22] scattered into exile that would remain [11:25] in exile and keep their identity for for [11:27] many generations and then they're going [11:29] to they're going to miraculously return [11:31] to their land and become in the words of [11:33] Deuteronomy 30 more numerous and more [11:35] prosperous than their ancestors and [11:36] voila it happened. Now, [11:39] that opens up the test for the nations [11:41] of the world. The question is how do you [11:43] see that? [11:44] How do you see that? And and there's [11:46] nothing there's not a whole lot that [11:48] Jews can do to alter different people's [11:50] mindsets about how they're going to see [11:51] it. That's why I'm saying anti-Semitism [11:53] this this seeing [11:55] Zionism as as racism [11:57] this is all this is not a Jewish problem [11:59] and it's not for us to solve. [12:01] But I have to say Peter, if you're going [12:02] to say that Zionism is racism, [12:05] you know, especially when the left says [12:07] it, [12:08] what they're I'll tell you what they [12:09] really mean. [12:11] They mean that nationalism is racism. [12:14] Because the left [12:17] actually believes that the one of the [12:19] reasons that they are so [12:21] um [12:23] they are they are so it is so in they're [12:25] incapable [12:27] of saying that mass immigration is a bad [12:29] thing [12:31] is that they don't actually believe in [12:32] national identities.
