TRANSCRIPT
*Transcripts are auto-generated and reviewed for accuracy, but there may be some errors in punctuation or words. Listen to the podcast at https://rabbidaniellapin.libsyn.com/ for clarification
The Rabbi Daniel Lapin Podcast
Episode: Inflation Hurting? Make More Money - But Not Alone
Date: 5/31/24 Length: 55:14
Daniel Lapin 0:00
Greetings, happy warriors. And thank you for being part of the rabbi Daniel Lapin show where I greatly appreciate your participation. I greatly appreciate the letters you send in the questions, you ask your participation on the We Happy warriors website. And I also very much appreciate the extent to which obviously, a number of you are being very effective in getting word of the show around. It's not for everybody, I know that there is no show that's good for absolutely everybody. But a huge variety of people make that an impossibility, and are very fingerprints, a test to our uniqueness. And so anytime we're able to actually gather together, a group of people with sufficient in common to form a community of sorts. That's a miracle in and of itself. It's wonderful. And so, for people who are like-minded, I hope that this show brings life changing value, and effectively provides the tools for transformation. That is very much my hope now. Let me do what I am asked to do every week, which is remind you to subscribe to the show. If you've not already done that. You've heard me say this before, please take care of that. It's a small errand that is good for everybody and hurts nobody. So do subscribe to the show. And secondly, I want to make sure you have the website of the show. It's www dot Rabbi Daniel lapin.com.
Daniel Lapin 2:00
Now, there are enclaves of like minded people where there is a group probably close, close to maybe 70,000. Who are Torah observant Jews in the Lakewood, New Jersey area, there are larger groups than that in, in New York, both in the city and also upstate. There are groups in parts of Southeast Florida, there are groups in Chicago, there are groups in in Baltimore, their groups in Los Angeles. And that's about it for the United States. You know, these aren't huge numbers. But anytime you've got you know 20 30,000 People who are closely connected with one another and have certain things in common enough in common to form a community, you have a a turbo charged economic machine. Why? Because as I explain in in different shows, different podcasts and in lectures all the time, money is made for both parties, every time there is an economic transaction. Every time there is a voluntary consensual transaction, one in one turns into 17, or some such numbers like that, that happens automatically, it's unavoidable. Every time two people effect a transaction, one person sells something one person buys something, it might be an object, it might be the service of fixing your car or mowing your lawn or doing your taxes. Every time that happens. The result is that the seller obtains a certain amount of money that he values at more than what he gave up. And the buyer has given away a certain amount of money but what he gets back he values as higher than what he gave away in the form of monetary value. This is the reality. You can do the arithmetic on it very easily. And the thing to remember is that we have to use real life accounting, not to GAAP accounting not generally accepted accounting principles, which is really an SEC a Stock Exchange Commission creation in order to provide some kind of standardized barometer It's like as if marathon race or organizers use a different measure for a mile in every different country, they do the marathon race, you got to standardize on it otherwise you can't compare. Man who wins a race is in Colorado is not the same as someone who wins the race in, in Florida, for argument's sake, because the measure for the mile is different. So one actually is run different distance from the other. In reality, there are other factors like terrain and altitude and things like that. But the point is that SEC created GAAP accounting rules in order to be able to measure different companies by the same standard. But that's not necessarily a realistic way of doing it. What I mean by that is that if I buy a pair of sneakers, you know, the ones with little lights in the heel, that flesh when you walk, I love those sneakers, and I buy a pair of sneakers like that, shall we say for $50? And if I then walk out of the store, and a stranger offers me $50 for the sneaker, would I accept? Obviously not right? Because sneakers are worth more to me how much more? Well, we could play around with the thought experiment. And we could have somebody raising the ante and saying to me, Rabbi Lapin? Would you sell me your nice new sneakers? For $60? No, $70? No. But I'm starting to hear him now. Because $70 is a $20 profit on a $50 outlay in just few minutes. That's good business, even though I want my sneakers, but I guess I could get another pair for $50 if I'm willing to wait a little bit. And I think well keep going, you know, maybe he'll go higher than the $70. And he does, he goes to $75. And when he says $75, I say to him, I'll sell him to for $80. And at that point, we realize that in my life, the sneakers value, according to a standardized unit of measure or of accounting called money dollars. In my case, we know that I gave over $50. But I got back the equivalent of $80. That's what it's worth to me, I've just told you. And so my financial statement has shown an increase of $30, just because I stopped in at the shoe store. And we got to the shoe store. And and we say to him, Hey, should we bring Rabbi Lapin back to give you back his shoe give you give him back is money. After all, you know, he probably exploited you because He's much too happy with this transaction. So you must be miserable. This is the way that progressives think. And the store keeper says, taking a phrase from President Biden to reporters, have you fallen on your head?
Daniel Lapin 8:02
Are you crazy? Why would I do that? Those shoes cost me $25 From the shoe wholesaler from the manufacturer. And I received $50. And so my financial statement is up by $25. Because Rabbi Lapin stopped in at my store, so I don't know what you're talking about. I'm very happy. And so the aggregate increase in value in our little mini economic system, he's better off by $25, I'm better off by $30. $55 has been created. And what ought to happen is that the government ought to now instruct the mint to print $25 and $55 worth of currency and put it into the marketplace. The trouble is that the government pays no attention to what's actually been created. And they on that same occasion went and printed $300. And so not surprisingly, the currency loses its value, literally day by day. But that's not the the point. The point for now is that when I and the storekeeper interacted, we both were wealthier at the end of the transaction. And if he could have many, many more transactions like that today, he'd be very happy. And if I could buy all the other things I want in as pleasant and as convenient away, I'd be happy. And so anytime that you can lubricate the interaction, any way you can take away the friction between people interacting with one another, the more effectively money can be made. You can see that, in a sense, this may sound far-fetched and idealistic, but what I am suggesting is that you and your family and the people who are already close to you should really get together. Maybe for a barbecue over the weekend. and very seriously talk about building yourselves a community of like-minded people, doesn't mean people have to sell their homes and move somewhere. It doesn't mean anything like that. But building up a network of like-minded people who share the same values, that's crucial. Because, contrary to what everyone tells you, diversity of values does not produce a, an improvement in the economy for anybody. It's certainly not a help for the company involved or anybody else. Diversity of values is a big mistake. It introduces friction into all interactions. And so one of the reasons that wherever there is an enclave of religious Bible-believing Jews, they're doing very well, as a matter of fact, Amazon is aware of the fact that right there in Lakewood, New Jersey, exists one of the biggest collections of Amazon resellers, the numbers are very large. And the few zip codes involved are well known to Amazon. Because these people have formed a, an ecosystem where they provide the services to each other. And every time two human beings interact, to serve one another consensually and voluntarily, they both make money. And so not surprisingly, in any environment, where the where the friction is reduced, here are people who know one another, they like one another. And above all, they trust one another because they all share the same values. So not surprisingly, the Jewish community in Lakewood, which is very new, is making good money Jewish communities upstate New York, and making good money. And so it is almost everywhere.
Daniel Lapin 9:20
On a larger scale. If you've ever wondered why Israel with about a 20th of the population of the surrounding countries, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, about 100 million Muslims to about 5 million Jews in Israel, the actual gross domestic product of Israel is equivalent to that of the four contiguous nations. Why is it such a small country with very good communication, buses, trains, telephones, Internet, and they get together a lot whether it's at synagogue or at social events or cultural events, you know, your cell very few people have to travel for more than about two hours to get anywhere else. I mean, if you happen to live in Haifa, and you want to go to a in the north, and a Haifan wants to go to a lot in the far south, it'll take longer, but the overwhelming bulk of the population is in the middle section of the country. Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, the coastal strip, and they can all get to see one another in no time at all in the trains are extremely effective. extremely effective. I had a speech in Orlando recently, and you knew about it. I spoke at the proven conference. And on the way back, I tried Amtrak's auto train. I tried taking the train from Orlando, back to Washington, DC. And it was it was a charming and almost quaint sort of trip. They loaded all the cars onto the train. People got on you got a comfortable seat. And there you have 16 hours later, you're at your destination. But what I found interesting was that, you know, I've got one of these apps on my phone where I can measure speed everyone has, and you can even get the highest and lowest speeds during a period. The train never exceeded 57 miles an hour. Now, when I was giving a speech in China recently, I went on a train a train, and it registered 148 miles an hour. And I believe there are plenty that are faster than that over 200 and here in the United States of America 57 miles an hour. Now, the train didn't go clickety-clack. The way trains did back in Africa in the 1960s when I rode on trains err on that continent, because they now using welded track instead of jointed track. So no click the click, but I'll tell you this, the train rocked and raw, and joked and, gosh, the train in China, the attendant brought me a cup of coffee. And she filled it right to the top and she sat it down. And I thought to myself, it's not going to be good. The next time we go around a curve, that coffee is going to spill. And it's going to be messy. Well, we went round many curves, but the curves are banked so precisely to the speed at which the train will take them that my coffee did not spill a single drop. And well, this train, as I say, joked, and
Daniel Lapin 15:52
it was, it was it was, it was a very quaint, lovely experience. This order trains been operating between Orlando and DC, for at least at least 30 years. And I think more than that, and to me, frankly, it didn't look as if the equipment had been very updated. Since they in that time. Well, I will say, all the staff were terrific. They were absolutely charming. So it was kind of a trip into the old times. Why am I telling you all this because, again, going back to Israel, you get on a train in tele in Jerusalem. And in no time at all, your you've arrived in Tel Aviv, quick, smooth, quiet. And all of these things, making interaction between human beings, friction free, produces not only greater quality of life and all and and better opportunity for social and romantic interactions. All of that is true. But I'm talking specifically now about economics, the other has come along with it as well. And so that is something that is real, you find it also in Utah, right, the economic, the economics of members of the LDS church are way above national averages way above averages you find for people in in Utah or for neighboring Nevada, again, why? Because they've got a lot of people interacting with one another. And the costs of the interaction are low. People know each other, they like each other, and they trust each other. And that means business operates friction free means more business happens at any given time. And every single time business occurs, and every single time a transaction takes place. Money is made for both parties. There are places today, mostly in the south, where there are communities of evangelical Christians. And several of them have shared with me, several communities shared with me, they even produce a trade directory where members of a group of several churches get together. And you know, I mean, a church can be a few 1000 people. And so after a few churches get together, it's 20,000 people in the directory. And next time you need orthodontics for your kid, next time you need to get a new car next, whatever it is you need, you flip through, and you'll find somebody with whom you share all the important values of life in that line of business, why wouldn't you patronize him, you'd feel much more comfortable doing business with him. And so again, and again, in whatever way this shows up. When people can form communities with like minded values, it's better for everybody. And so obviously, this is something that if you're not already part of an active community like that, you should really think about it, it could be a very worthwhile thing for you to set about doing. Now, the reverse is unfortunately, also true. And that is that things happen in a society and I'm going to say a deteriorating society that cause additional friction between people, which means that the costs of transactions, the expense of doing business rises, which means less business results. And what do you think? Obviously, prosperity plummets. What am I talking about? Well, I, again, have this on this. I've just been on a bit of a trip and I said ended up in Florida, and I spoke in a number of different states and I appeared in sales. are different states. And so I had some interesting experiences. And I want to tell you about them because they reflected again in a negative way, the value of forming, to start with even a small community of like-minded people. But if you're already a member of a church or a synagogue, you got a head start, because there already is a large group of people with whom you can begin to form an association. You know, if you, whenever you need, you need a pair of glasses. If you go to somebody you trust, for the eye exam and to purchase the glasses, you'll spend a lot less time searching around, you otherwise might go from one to three to four optometrist stores in order to find a place in which you feel comfortable. The cost of doing business is far higher, when you are not part of a community of people who know like and trust one another. Let me tell you what I mean. For a start, my car was broken into in the parking lot of a hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. And I have a one of these club devices on the steering wheel. And so I don't know why they didn't see that before they broke in it was in the nighttime, and not being able to drive the car away, I guess out of annoyance, but they vandalized and they really ripped up and damage the interior and it it upset me it was not a rental car. It was my own car. It was a car I'm fond of. And I was upset about it. And when they called me in the room early in the morning and asked me if I could come downstairs, the police want to speak to me. I went down and I was immensely saddened not only by what had been done to my car, but also concerned about how I was going to complete the rest of my journey, which I was planning to do by car. And thirdly, a more of an analytical reaction to what is the safe you add up? Like how many other cars were damaged in Atlanta last night? And tonight and the next night? And now how about other cities? How many cars are damaged in in Baltimore, and in Miami and in Detroit and in Washington, DC, and in St. Louis and in Chicago? Every single night. I don't know the number. But it's got to be a huge cost to the economy. A huge cost. Really, really distract.
Daniel Lapin 22:37
By the way if if you fall for the old lie that the broken window is good for the economy because it gives work to the glass manufacturer. I suggest you read Henry Hazlitt, terrific economist who, who read rebuts and refutes and debunks that complete none. In other words, I had to pay a wonderful mobile loss auto glass company actually wanted to mention their name, they did such a great job they came and they replaced the broken window, which at least enabled me to keep the rain out of the car. But and so I paid them hundreds of dollars to do that. And you say, Well, look, this is good for the economy that keeps the money moving? No. The the lie, is that I wouldn't have been able to use that money for something else, or at the very least if I would have invested it that would even have been better for the economy. So no, anytime something is broken, it's bad for the economy. If that wasn't true, then if there's a war and an enemy comes and knocks down buildings, nevermind breaks windows, you should be thanking him because he's stimulating your economy doesn't work like that. It's a lie. It's a total myth. And it's very, very destructive. So what a drag on the economy that is. And secondly, knowing that I can no longer trust a parking lot. I now have to park my car in a closed locked parking lot. That's going to cost more. And that's going to be not good for the hotel. All in all, the fact that these people break the trust, break the sense of security and equanimity and optimism because the optimism gets damaged. And when people do not feel optimistic, you know what you got? It's called a recession. That's right.
Daniel Lapin 24:46
And so, I'm going to give you some more examples of things I encountered on my trip, which serve indirectly to show the value of trying to build a community of like my Good people, you want to stop in at the website, Rabbi Daniel lapin.com, www Rabbi Daniel lapin.com. Let me tell you why. What you can get there on sale now is the downloadable program where I teach both by sound and sight, I teach The Book of Ruth. This is hugely important. It's part of our Scrolling through Scripture series. And it's called the Book of Ruth chorus of connection, because exactly what I'm talking about when connection fades, when connection and connectivity become eroded, the economy drops, prosperity declines for everybody. And the book of Ruth is the most amazing roadmap to what happens when things go wrong, and how things can be put right. Connectivity gets eroded, and everything goes downhill. But if you happen to live in a community of like-minded people, you know, my wife and I were actually visited Lakewood, New Jersey, some while back. And we we both realized is a good time to do some shopping. Because we didn't have to worry about whether we were being ripped off. We didn't have to work because we went to stores owned by religious observance, Bible-believing and Torah-observant Jews, it's a minority of the Jewish population of America, a small minority, maybe 20%. But when you do find a conglomeration of those people, is very convenient for us. We don't spend a lot of time wandering about restaurants, we can go into a restaurant because we know it conforms to the laws of kosher food. And we know we can, we can go into a clothing store. And that conforms to our requirements. And so it is, it's remarkable. It makes economic transactions, friction-free. And that means it's better for everybody, financially, really, really, really better. So take a look at the book of Ruth chorus of connection, special price, now, you really want to study this, and at the end of it, you're actually going to know a significant important book of the Bible in a way that nobody else does. Because I teach it in the full Technicolor perspective of ancient Jewish wisdom, it really is going to expand your consciousness very dramatically. And do right and tell me I'd like to add it to my very gratifying collection of fan mail on the book of Ruth chorus of connection. You'll see that at WWW dot RabbiDanielLapin.com. So go ahead, book of Ruth, don't miss this chance.
Daniel Lapin 28:26
And secondly, we're also making available a limited number. And I say limited, I think there's fewer than 100 left of autographed copies of Business secrets from the Bible. And you can again find that on the website at Rabbi Daniel lapin.com. They're also special on hardcover copies of my important book called, thou shalt prosper the 10 commandments for making money. And they're available at a special price for $10 Each, it's crazy. But there it is, again, not many left, we're clearing out the warehouse and you can go ahead and good time to get them maybe Father's Day presents or whatever else you want to do. There it is at the website, Rabbi Daniel lapin.com. And it's all available there. Please make a note of that and do that as soon as we finish the show. You might also want to join our community talking about communities, you might want to join our community of happy warriors, and go ahead and do that as well. And that brings access to a vast array library of resources that are all practical and impactful in areas of your life that you really care about your family, your finances, your faith. Your friendships and your physical fitness. That's it, if all of those things in shape, right? If you if you sleep at night with no money worries, and your family is loving and close, and you've got friends, and you have a connection with a boss, and on top of that you are physically fit. He got not a lot to complain about, as a matter of fact, a whole lot to be grateful for. And you as a happy warrior. Well, you already know, what is the unexpected outcome of gratitude. You know, when you express gratitude, your optimism rises. Isn't that something? If you're not feeling sufficiently optimistic, start thanking some people, you'll be amazed at what happens, really one of one of the most important things I'm telling you today.
Daniel Lapin 31:01
Okay, so, back to my little road trip. So I've told you about the incident with my car, which was, it was depressing, because I realized that this is happening on a large scale all around the country. And that imposes a drag on the economy. Then one hotel, I'm getting ready to leave in the morning. And I had to get out and get on the road fairly early. And I went down to the lobby, to get one of those trolleys. And I like taking care of my baggage myself. We don't have a whole lot. And I asked us no trolleys, they usually stuck in a corner of the lobby where the trolleys and the person behind the desk said, a lot of people take them to their rooms in the night so that they can expedite their departure in the morning, they've already got the trolley in the in the room. Wow. That's in consideration on a colossal scale. What incredible lack of consideration for other people so that you can get out on time somebody else who may be getting out earlier, doesn't have access to the edge, so we only have six of them. And a lot of people take them upstairs. So you wait around sooner or later, somebody will bring them down. Okay, so I brought down our suitcases by hand without a trolley. It turns out that that's not that uncommon. We stopped Susan was with me, we stopped at a market to get some crackers and cheese and some other things we wanted to have with us in the car and in our hotel. And I noticed this, this, this large grocery market had a big parking lot. And in every single lane, there was a colorfully decorated little enclosure into which you're supposed to return your carts. But yet, I look around the parking lot. And I saw a whole bunch of carts lying in the parking lot, taking our parking spaces, because if there's a car in a parking space is not available to me, I have to get out and move it. So I thought before, as soon as we found a parking space, I thought, Okay, I'm gonna get out. I'm gonna watch. I'm just gonna stand in the parking lot. My wife went into the store, I stood in the parking lot. I set a stopwatch on my phone, and I said, I'm gonna give this 10 minutes I want to see what happens. In 10 minutes. I saw four teen shoppers come back to their cars in the part of the parking lot I could watch load bags into their trunk on to their back seat, and then push the the cart into an adjacent empty parking space, get in their cars and drive off. In 10 minutes, I watched 14 carts taking up 14 parking places, because 14 shoppers were so inconsiderate that they couldn't be bothered to return the cards to the enclosure, which for heaven's sake was not far away. Every Lane had one. In that same 10 minutes, two people returned the carts to the lot to the place to people after they loaded their groceries into their car, rolled the cart, the 10 yards or whatever it was to the local nearest enclosure to did 14 did not. Again, it's a lack of consideration, not caring about the parking space. You're obstructing, not caring that the store has to now employ somebody to go around The parking lot instead of simply going to each collection point.
Daniel Lapin 35:07
And so I started watching out and I saw this kind of thing I for the rest of the trip, I decided to be alert for acts of inconsiderate behavior. And the other one I once I was alerted to it, I saw it many times, I stopped at a crosswalk to allow two young men who had just stepped into the street to cross. Now, I don't know about you, but when it's a call stops for me to cross the street. I'm incapable of doing anything other than walking quickly. And I usually even give a wave of acknowledgement. And that's just how I was brought up. I'm that's embedded in me, and I'm going to explain how and why. And I watched these two youths saunter across the street. They weren't being rude to me deliberately. They weren't giving me a signal. They were not staring at me, defiantly. They ignored me. And by that time, there were several other cars and the other lines also stopped. And these two years, have you ever seen an elderly senior cross a street with a with a walker, somebody with really stiff joints, while that senior crossed the street quicker than these two usted. They were completely indifferent to the fact that by this time five cars had stopped and the drivers were doing them the courtesy of letting them cross the street. They couldn't have cared less. And then I'm looking out for that. I started seeing that happening a whole lot. So what do you think this means? What does this mean?
Daniel Lapin 36:52
You know what, I'll give you one more. Last one. And there are many others. But I'll give you one more. Getting ready to board a plane, I happen to have priority boarding on this particular airline. And I'm about I see they're about ready to call priority boarding. And guess what happens? A line of wheelchairs comes down with people sitting in them. And over 20 people and many of them knew each other, which I thought was strange. And you can imagine it took quite a while to board 20 People in wheelchairs. I decided to take a good and careful look at the people in the wheelchair and I tried to memorize them by clothing, right lady with a multicolored purse, man with a beret, and so on and so forth. I can't say I got all 20 memorized, but I looked at them very, very carefully came the destination we arrived. And I'm sitting pretty close up front in the airplane. And there is a a shuffle as a crowd of people start pushing up the aisle. Well, I gotta tell you, it was the same crowd of people who had been in wheelchairs. They had experienced and miraculous recovery. There were so many of them going onto the plane that I assumed that some particularly very violent malady had afflicted that part of the country, causing so many people to be handicapped and needing wheelchairs. At the other end, they got off the plane shoving everyone aside, they were in such a hurry to get off the plane. And off they went elbowing their way up the ramp, and into the airport. I went over to a harried-looking airline representative. She was giving flight connection information to people who needed it. And when I got to, I said by the way, that whole crowd of people that was noisily running posture a few minutes ago, they got on the plane with wheelchairs. And she looked around cautiously. And then she leaned into me slightly and she said we're not allowed to challenge wheelchair requests. So tell me something. Would you find it easy to use a wheelchair if you didn't need one? I think most people who need wheelchairs find it hard to to be pushed in a wheelchair. And here's a group of people who may well have used up wheelchairs that others real people might have needed. What's here to say you know consideration, not even close. And, again, eroding optimism. It makes one feel bad. You know how it is that? I don't know if you have if you've ever been in a crowd where somebody does something conspicuous and nice and altruistic or maybe even heroic, somebody saves a kid or does something. Everybody sort of smiles at each other people greet each other people applaud together. Have you noticed that? Whenever somebody does something nice, it makes everyone around feel positive and good. Everyone witnesses it feels abulient. The converse is just as true. Whenever somebody acts with grace in consideration, it makes me less likely to trust the person next to me. I know that it wasn't him, it was the malfeasant the miscreant, I know that, but the feeling is the same. It's really important to understand and hearing we have the value of building a community of people who shared like similar values.
Daniel Lapin 41:23
Now I should point out, as I like to do periodically, and I did in a in a thought tool recently, that one of the reasons that the United States of America became an engine of unprecedented prosperity in the history of the world. And it did it pretty quickly after its founding in 1776. Was because in 1782, the Pledge of Allegiance was established the Pledge of Allegiance. Now there are, I think, four other countries in the world that have Pledge of Allegiance as they picked it up recently hoping to derive the same kind of benefits that America did from us today. It's a deterioration today, they don't say the Pledge of Allegiance hardly in America anymore. But it used to be very popular and very common school children said it every day. The Pledge of Allegiance acknowledges that we are all bound by common loyalty to that flag. Therefore, we are all unified. It builds a sense of community. We all respected the Founding Fathers, all of that is so important. The words e pluribus unum, which were placed on the Great Seal of the United States, in 1780. Oh, in the Pledge of Allegiance is late, I'm sorry, Pledge of Allegiance was was 19th century 1800s. But in the late 1700s, the term E Pluribus Unum was put on the Great Seal in there on the currency. E pluribus unum out of many, one. It's a tribute to the idea of unity. This is partially why America launched such an unprecedented prosperity. Because you felt close and friendly and united to you walked into a store, you felt okay about it. You felt the person wasn't going to do you're down. You were all Americans, you cared for one another, took away the friction and business prospered and so did people. Very, very valuable to know. But it's not like that anymore. And so, how do you go about building a society like that? How do you raise children who are considerate? If you do take my advice and start forming a community of like-minded values. consideration would be a huge one. How do you encourage it? How do you foster considerate behavior among one another? And I want to share the answer with you. The answer is that it's it's so it's so deteriorated. It's so depressing. Look, Leviticus Book of Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 14, tells me I'm not allowed to curse a deaf man.
Daniel Lapin 44:44
But you think about this for a moment. What harm is done, I get together my friends. I say come, let's have some fun. Jeff over there is deaf been deaf since birth? Can't hear a thing. So we all go over to Jeff. And we smile disarmingly at him and we pretend that we're being friendly, but we all say things. Oh, Jeff, you're such an idiot. Oh, Jeff, we can't stand you. Jeff, you think we like you? We think You're such a fool. What harm is done? We're having fun. Jeff thinks we're being friendly. He can't hear us. What's the problem? This is foundational to Judeo-Christian thinking. What's wrong is that I am eliminating my own sensitivity to inconsiderate behavior, and behaving inconsiderately, even though nobody is actually the victim. But the victim is society, because I am now less sensitive to that kind of behavior. Another example, again, astonishingly very important to understand: the 10 commandments inflicted on Egypt, in the beginning of the book of Exodus. Seven of them are brought about by Moses, but the first three, Moses says to his brother, Aaron, you must stretch your arm your rod out over the lake, over the river of Egypt and turn it into blood. Why did Moses do it himself? I mean, God's just appointed him for the most important mission, right? Imagine you get appointed to sales manager for a large company. And the day after your appointed sales manager, the CEO calls you in and says, Listen, we've got a really important sales prospect. I want you to send your secretary, your assistant to do that sales call. You say excuse me, boss, you've just hired me as the chief sales executive. Surely I should...just do what I said. It's weird. God's just appointed Moses, to take the Israelites out of Egypt, by means of plagues. And God says to Moses, tell your brother Aaron to bring this plague on Egypt, blood, frogs, and lice, the first two out of the river Nile, the second out of the sand? What's going on here? Why should this be? Why not let Moses do them all? And the answer is that the water of the Nile benefited Moses, he did him a favor. It carried him as an infant in a waterproof little arc. It carried him from the danger of being killed to the arms of his protectress, the daughter of Pharaoh, and you'll see all this in Exodus chapter two, verses three to five. And then, also, when Moses goes out among his people, as a young man, he sees an Egyptian beating up a Hebrew, so he kills the Egyptian. You gotta like us, right? Moses didn't call a symposium on Egyptian anti-semitism. He didn't write to his member of Congress, he saw an Egyptian beating up and Israelite. So he killed them. Got no one that the man was a leader. And in Exodus chapter two, verse 12, he hides the body of the Egyptian in the sand, and he's able to make good his escape. So the sand did him a favor. The river did him a favor. And so the first two plagues, blood and frogs, which, as it were cursed the river, and the third plague coastal sand, the lice came out of the sand. And not surprisingly, it's it's really rather amazing. In each of those cases, it says, God said to Moses, tell Aaron to bring the plague. And these are in Exodus, Exodus chapter seven, verse nine, Exodus chapter eight, verse one, and chapter, Exodus chapter eight, verse 12x 719 818 12. Got it? Look it up, you'll find interesting.
Daniel Lapin 50:49
Why? Why couldn't Moses do the action that would curse the room? Because you don't return good with evil? There's something particularly immoral and treacherous about hurting somebody who did you good. The river saved Moses, his life, the sand, saved his life allowing him to escape. You don't be the one to damage that it had to happen. So Aaron did it. But you don't do it. But what are you talking about? The rivers inanimate, the sands, inanimate. It can't feel anything. You're right. But consideration is what's in me what's in my heart. Consideration is part of my soul, it becomes part of my identity. I could not amble across the street. If a motorists that stopped for me, I couldn't do it because of understanding these principles. And I was raised this way. And my children were raised this way. Absolutely. I was raised. As a young boy, I remember being told a story of a rabbi, who when his shoes wore out, he took the old worn out pair of shoes, and he put them in a paper bag, and then put them in the trash. And somebody said to him, why didn't Why did you put them in a bag first, he said, These shoes are old friends, they've carried me for months and months and months, I've worn these shoes, years, who knows they're comfortable. They've been old friends. If I throw them away, they might end up next to some smelly kitchen waste. I've got to protect them from that, at least I'll put them in a bag. Also, as a boy, my great uncle was a man in his 80s he was my rabbi was being taught by Him. And He wanted to pack up his pressure called a toilet. And he was going to rest it on a table as he was folding it, but he noticed the table is very dusty. And so he looked around, and I said, uncle, would you like me to get your egg? And he said, No, I'll get it myself. And I waited, and he went to go ride. He came in, he cleaned the table. And I said, Why didn't you let me do it. And he said, Because this pressure this toilet is is mine, I have worn it every day, I, I can't just put it down on dust. And since I'm going to be putting it down, I should be the one to clear the dust. To show my respect to this pressure, but it can't feel anything. It's just a piece of fabric. That's not the point.
Daniel Lapin 52:07
When you can grow to become sensitive to inanimate objects, you will never be able to behave inconsiderately to a human being. It's a remarkable thing. That is material that was written by the creator of the universe, He who created people knows us so well. And in an America that has become increasingly secularized over the last 50 years, I think we can also say it is a society that has become increasingly less considerate of one another. And that imposes huge economic costs. And so my recommendation is that everybody think seriously about becoming part of a community of like-minded people. If there isn't, one, start forming it and building it. And if if there is one, and you can join it, grow it. Because the bigger it is, the more powerful it is. If you can get a community upwards of 20,000 people, it becomes a very powerful economic unit. And to be part of it is great value. When the United States of America was formed, it was such a community. But then diversity became a value instead of unity. And instead of the values that really lead the religion to social values, that produce people who know one another, like one another and trust one another. Consideration is an essential component of that. You don't want to lose out on it. And so my dear happy warriors, I urge you to become part of his larger community as you can and grow that community of people have shared values. Because when you do that, it's going to be good for you and your family romantically and socially and economically and even health wise, and and even friendship wise. That's right. This is a piece of advice, by means of which you can re-sculpt your life in the climate of close contact and collaboration with a large community of like-minded people, and it will only be good for you. It will do what I hope you will work on coming week improving your family and your finances your fitness your faith and your friendships I am Rabbi Daniel Lapin God bless.
