ISRAEL BIBLE TALK - Book of "Numbers" with Rav Mike Feuer and Yishai Fleisher

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[00:00:01]All right, everybody. Shalom and welcome. Welcome to another installment of Torah for the Nations uh here at Yeshiva of Flatbush TV. I'm joined by Rav Mike Feuer. Rav Mike, shalom and welcome. Good morning, Yishai. Shalom, shalom. Yes, it is early here in the land of Israel, Baruch Hashem. Thank you very much for uh being willing to record this early.

[00:00:20]>> history, so it makes up for it. Okay, good.

[00:00:23]Uh and uh we got to get the numbers straight. And when I'm talking about the numbers, I'm talking about the Book of Numbers, which is the fourth book >> your accounting books. It's Well, you know, some people actually think, if they haven't read it, they think this is a book about numbers, and it really does start with numbers. Uh the reason it starts with numbers is because of a census that God makes the Jewish people take. And the census is a very sensitive and very serious thing in the Torah, in the Bible.

[00:00:53]And the The first question is, why is census so serious? It's so serious that A, you're not supposed to actually people, rather they're supposed to hand in a half a shekel.

[00:01:05]Mhm. When they hand in that half a shekel, that's how they're counted.

[00:01:09]Uh so, you know, it's you know, it it it already says to as we say in Hebrew, "Dasheini." It says like, "Why You know, ask me why a half a shekel per person?"

[00:01:19]Uh and then we're not really supposed to count heads. We're supposed to count them by the this other thing. And in Judaism uh to this very day, you're not quite supposed to count people. Let's say you're trying to count a quorum of 10. You're supposed to go 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. You're supposed to count them with a verse or other ways. Or sometimes you say, "Not one, not two." All kinds of funky ways that we do in order to actually not count when we're trying to count people. Hey, you're just trying to count some people, so count some people.

[00:01:45]What's the big deal?

[00:01:47]And and we remember that King David was punished for counting the Jewish people straight out. And that it That's a mistake. So, census something is requested, required. Why?

[00:01:58]And then if you're going to do it, why why go around like this and just not do it easily and just count it straight out? What what what's the big deal about counting? Why is it Why is there so many things involved in in the in the counting procedure?

[00:02:11]So, you want to make sense out of the sensitive senses. So, I just want That's right. Very good. Good.

[00:02:15]>> Um It Uh first of all, there's a a couple of competing values, I think that underlines the whole concept. Let's just remember the context. The context is the the residence at at Mount Sinai is coming to an end.

[00:02:30]We've been there for over a year.

[00:02:33]There's been this incredible download of educational information, of command, of a whole new national structure, which is something I'm sure we'll also speak about in this parsha today.

[00:02:45]Um so, we're between phases. And it's naturally a time when you're between phases. We're finished here and we're about to head out into the wilderness in order to head straight to the land of Israel. Whatever you may know about the future is yet it's not fixed. We're going straight there as far as we know.

[00:03:00]Um and so therefore, it's a natural time to take an accounting. I just want to say that in terms of the just the narrative flow. And the deeper level of your question of um what's the big deal with counting people, with counting Jews here?

[00:03:15]There's a tension which has existed since the beginning of creation between the individual and the collective, between as we say in Hebrew, the prat and the klal.

[00:03:25]And on one level, every individual is their own universe.

[00:03:29]Now, when we call God Ribono shel Olam, right, the master of all worlds, some people may think of the multiverse. I myself think about the fact that each of us is our own universe.

[00:03:38]If you think about it in a simple sense, right? We're basically our eyes are a window out on all creation, which means each of us is our own world.

[00:03:45]And that can't be quantified. Can't be narrowed down into simple numbers.

[00:03:50]On the other hand, Am the Jewish people, are collective.

[00:03:55]And we're not all about this sort of individualism. In fact, one of the great tensions in our society that I know you're familiar with is that how much are people committed to the whole and how much have we given into this sort of very post-modern notion that like I'm my own world and I don't have to be obligated, right? And so there's a deep tension you're touching whenever you count.

[00:04:16]And in terms of the danger, I think you gave probably the best example.

[00:04:20]King David, righteous individual, he's punished terribly for a census.

[00:04:27]And why? I think the simple reason is why would a king take a census?

[00:04:31]To know how much stuff he's got. You know, to to know >> Not just know how much stuff. He's counting people in order to do what? To know how much power >> power he has or or or fighting power vis-à-vis other nations. Ex- exactly.

[00:04:44]And the I think one of the great sins in the eyes of God is when we reduce people to a means to our ends.

[00:04:51]>> Mhm.

[00:04:52]And I think that's one of the great dangers of a census. That's what I meant when I it it it erases the individual, makes him to a collective, and therefore they're far more um easily manipulated and put to the the sort of use of of leadership and power, etc. And the Torah ultimately wants, I believe, a relationship between the individual and God. Of course, there are structures in between, but that's the goal.

[00:05:14]>> But and yet there is a census, right?

[00:05:16]Let me let me say there's a balance here. We're pragmatic.

[00:05:20]>> People, there's reasons that you need such a thing. Let's take a quick uh look a little bit at at how it looks like. We see here that there's a tally.

[00:05:28]So Shimon or Simeon in English, over here we go, Reuben is 46,500 and tribe of Shimon is 59,300.

[00:05:38]And Gad was 45,650.

[00:05:40]And the tally of the tribe of Judah, which is the number one tribe in terms of amount of people, is 74,600.

[00:05:48]Issachar 54,400.

[00:05:51]Uh Zebulun or Zvulun 57,400.

[00:05:55]Uh Ephraim 40,500.

[00:05:59]Manasseh 32,200.

[00:06:02]Benjamin 35,400.

[00:06:04]Tribe of Dan 62,700, a large tribe as well. Uh the the tribe of Asher 41,500.

[00:06:11]The tribe of Naphtali 53,400.

[00:06:14]And that's uh the sum of the tallies was 603,550.

[00:06:20]Um and and that's that tally. So, um this you know, you you said you said that there's a balance between the value of the individual and then there's also but there is a nation, right? There's a nation and it's moving forward, but you got to be careful when you when you when you count them not to reduce them to numbers. The Nazis were the ones that reduced Jewish people to numbers.

[00:06:48]Um and so, the Book of Numbers is starts with this with this tally of individuals.

[00:06:55]Uh and again, they're not also counted there's something there's something impersonal or there's something there's something wrong with counting a person and just counting them on the head, just being like 1 2 3. He has to hand in he has to take an act. He has to take an act of saying I want to be counted.

[00:07:16]Here's how you count me. Here's my And here's my contribution for counting.

[00:07:22]I contribute in order to be counted. I'm asking to be counted.

[00:07:26]I think that's so important, the contribution piece. Right. It's not that you're counting me, it's that I am asking to be counted. Here's my Here's my in.

[00:07:35]It's like an ante. I mean, I don't have to but it's like an ante in a in a poker game.

[00:07:39]>> Right. I'm in. I'm in for this round.

[00:07:40]I'm in. Right. I'm in this round. I'm part of I'm part of the game. Right, but it's basically it's not that it's not that you're accounting me, it's that I'm in the count counting myself in. I'm in the count, yeah. I mean, that's very well said. That's very different. That's very different um that's definitely not the sin of counting but rather the person saying I'm I'm opting in. That's the word I was looking for, opting in.

[00:08:01]Um and then by the way, just interesting, yesterday, literally yesterday, I got a knock knock knock on the door from the Israeli Census Bureau.

[00:08:11]Oh, really? And I got and I didn't make the connection till last night when I was preparing for the show with you today, with Mike Feuer, I was I was I was like just my mind I was like, oh my god, I the Census Bureau came to visit me and to count me in. I was randomly selected as >> have been distracted because I think in a normal day you would have grabbed the guy and taught him parsha because he said, "Do you realize what you're doing in parsha by mean bar?"

[00:08:36]>> make all the connections. It was a lady and she came and she asked all kinds of annoyingly private questions.

[00:08:43]Uh but okay.

[00:08:45]You know, I And you were made into a statistic in that moment.

[00:08:47]>> Right, right, right. And and you know, the the the families you know, financials and all that, they ask you a lot to try to understand the the the state of the of of the citizenry of the Jewish state.

[00:09:01]In any case, that was that that definitely happened yesterday.

[00:09:05]So, okay, we got through the the census and that really in the Jewish the Jewish version of the name of this book is very very different than the Anglo version, right?

[00:09:19]The Anglo version calls it the Book of Numbers and people who haven't read it and I've bumped into that think it's about a book of numbers, where it's not. It's got a census in the beginning and that's where the numbers come from.

[00:09:32]But the Jewish name of it is in the desert, BaMidbar.

[00:09:37]Uh and it it's a lot more apt because really it's the setting for a lot of the drama that happens uh between Jews uh when they're totally, you know, it it's it's a it's not a except for in some parts, but it's mostly it's not an interaction between Jews and the others.

[00:09:54]It's a very intra-Jewish, it's like, put you guys out in the desert and let's see what happens.

[00:10:00]Uh for sure, that face I just made was that you put forth the Jewish name, which is actually not entirely accurate what you said. Okay, Israelite?

[00:10:08]>> Uh no, it wasn't wasn't the issue with Jewish, it's that you're correct that the bamidbar in in the wilderness is the first functional word of the book, but actually our sages had names for each of the five books of the of the of uh of the Torah.

[00:10:24]And their name for this book is safer pikudim, which is the book not exactly of counting, but it's the book of putting things in their place. And even my even the book of uh when you're you're Well, I'll ask you. When you're bepikud, what status do you have? Pikudim is the opposite of mefakeid. Pikudim are those who have been commanded. They are They are They are given instructions. They're They're the those that are there or they're underneath >> in place. It's interesting. It's a very interesting word. The The Hebrew The modern word pakid means uh bureaucrat or a person who's in charge functionary, a person in charge by the government for a certain task. Pikudim in modern Hebrew means uh those who are charged under a mefakeid, a commander.

[00:11:15]Okay, so he is charged his pikudim, it's his let's call it subjects or or his uh underlings, the people who are who are he's he's he's in charge of.

[00:11:27]Uh so so that that's another way, but but but a pikuda is an order and uh so the chart from the like the old English way of saying their my charge, they're in your charge, right? That's that's the that's the best probably the best >> Probably yeah, you're right. Actually, that is the probably the best translation.

[00:11:45]>> Right. So >> So I think it's a nice bridge between what you were saying. There the numbers are functional and they're sort of reductive and everybody gets the faceless. There's a politics in the intra Jewish story and what we're getting here is the structure within which that happened.

[00:12:01]Is there a structure of power relationships even?

[00:12:04]As we're going to see quite in quite detail in the parshas, not just numbers, it's who does what, who stands where, how do we break this sort of mass of people up into manageable groups of tribes and camps and you know, there's a tremendous structural architecture to this parsha and ultimately it plays itself out in the wilderness.

[00:12:24]So, right. So so there so people are given structures. The Jewish people are given structures and uh it's almost like a petri dish. Let's see what happens with the Jews in the desert and that's why I call it the book of Jewish politics uh because really a lot of political issues happen as opposed to the book of Genesis, which is the founding stories in the founding family. The book of Exodus as its name uh um by the way, very different name in Hebrew. There it's called the names, Shemot, but the the the Anglo version, I think a a fair name in English, Exodus, uh the book of the book of the book of Exodus, the book of getting out of Egypt and then receiving a lot of the the first commandments and uh temple commandments. Then Leviticus, fair book, a fair name uh in Hebrew, Vayikra, and he called them and he told Moses all these commands, but it's really about a book about of as as the rabbis call Torat Kohanim, uh a book of the uh charge that is given to the priests. And then here, the book of in the desert or the book of Numbers or I'll add maybe a a book of Jewish politics the issues and we'll deal with it throughout the coming weeks and then finally Deuteronomy the second retelling of the Torah Deuteronomy means like second telling.

[00:13:37]Right? Is that right? Second telling?

[00:13:39]Yes, correct. And it's a direct translation of the sages term of Mishneh Torah. Mishneh Torah that repetition of the Torah. Of the Torah.

[00:13:46]Now the next question I have is that we we learned in the book of we look learned the book of Exodus that the Levi tribe Levi was set aside was set apart and they were set apart especially after the sin of the golden calf.

[00:14:11]And they were set apart to be here's the way I'm going to phrase it the Jews within the Jews.

[00:14:17]Right? What I mean by that is if if the Jewish people are a priestly nation meant to give light to the world minister onto the world and fulfill God's commandments so within us we have another kind of Jewish tribe that they who minister onto the Jews.

[00:14:37]And that's that's pretty cool.

[00:14:38]>> Ministers to the ministers. I wish I could say this sometimes to people the other day I was interviewed by this guy Mario Nawfal and one of his big questions was like hey what about Jewish supremacy? Are you guys supremacist? And I wanted to answer him but it was never going to work so I didn't do it. I wanted to be like we are so not into not only are we not supremacist we have a job we have our own Jews within the Jews like we're we're so we're so not like you think that like supremacy is like a lot of confidence like I'm you know I'm the I'm right I'm better than you. It's like there's there's a Jiminy Cricket within our system to keep us in the straight and narrow.

[00:15:19]I also have to add it's just such a mis projection. It's a complete projection.

[00:15:24]He lives in a world where it's all about about rights and power.

[00:15:29]It's all about rights and power. So, anybody who has more is more powerful, has more rights, therefore they're supreme. We live in a world of obligations and service. So, yes, we are a special people, which means we have a lot more obligations and we're deeply committed to service. Service of God and service of the world. So, yes, in that sense, we are supreme. We're supremely obligated and supremely committed to the service of creation. Fine. Yes, Jewish supremacy 101.

[00:15:54]But, yeah, you know, what are you going to do?

[00:15:56]>> Do you Do you think it's it's fair, my argument, which is to say to people like, "God has put in a system of checks and balances of teachers and of and of and they're the ones who are supposed to be on the inside." I spoke to my wife Malkie yesterday and she's like, "Yeah, like you don't want the masses of people inside the temple doing the temple work.

[00:16:15]We have this We have this like super group.

[00:16:18]We have the I I think of it as like Jews within the Jews, right?

[00:16:21]>> Yeah. Yeah, I think it's entirely correct. You know, it to me it touches a somewhat of a raw nerve and a and a difficult piece, which is that we live in a world which for very good reasons has elevated mass culture and is sort of very egalitarian in the simple sense in in the idea that everybody's supposed to be the same and everybody's equal and that's beautiful.

[00:16:40]But, there's been a very important thing lost.

[00:16:43]Because the Torah, in its essence, I'm going to go out on a limb, is an elitist project. Mhm.

[00:16:48]>> Meaning, it believes in excellence. Not elitist in the in this negative sense as we take it. It believes in excellence.

[00:16:54]Not only believes in demands excellence.

[00:16:57]Okay.

[00:16:57]>> what gets lost in a culture where everybody is beautiful and wonderful and the same? Excellence. Mhm.

[00:17:04]>> And what you're pointing out is that you have to have the sayer to the commando, you know, elite piece and that raises everyone's level. Because excellence has to be trained for, has to be committed to, has to be focused on, has to be all consuming, which indeed is the structure as we see it's laid out in the parashah, is exactly the role that the Levites play. Even physically, they're on the inside, as you said. I I think that your point is in very important. It's It's absolutely true. And I think your point about excellence is is maybe um maybe we understate it.

[00:17:39]And I think we we I think since this program today is also in part Torah for the nations, I I want to I want to drill down a little bit on this and say the requirement of a Jewish person is is heavy.

[00:17:58]Once you go to a good Yeshiva in your life, a Torah institution, you know that you're really supposed to spend a lot of your Let's call it you're supposed to make a lot of time, not just your free time.

[00:18:10]You're supposed to make a lot of time for the study of Torah and and and scholarship on a personal level.

[00:18:17]Which may lead to no scholarship on a on an on a written or national level, but it's for it's it's it's an a personal obligation is very heavy. It's very serious. I don't mean heavy like as in like burdensome >> burdensome, right.

[00:18:33]But you're supposed to enjoy learn Torah. You're supposed to enjoy keep God's commandments. You're supposed to enjoy love God with all of your heart and really be aware of God as much as possible every waking moment.

[00:18:46]I was going to say the I was following finish that the elite commandos are always training. There's no time at which there's no time at which a commando is not training.

[00:18:55]And And in the same way what you're pointing out is that from the book of Joshua we hear the call be he bo bo yo mom va laila, that you always day and night have an obligation to be learning Torah. It doesn't go away. You may have other competing obligations, your family and if a living, etc. Fine, everybody works it out. But, there's no point at which you're free from that obligation.

[00:19:19]And And so, there I think that it's poorly understood, and I really want to add, since this you said this is for the whole world and not just for Am Yisrael, I see in my counseling practice that as soon as you ask someone where they find their excellence, uh they they light up because we live in a world that doesn't let them take pride in everyone. I believe this very deeply.

[00:19:39]But, it One of the things it means to be created in the image of God is that you have a specific excellence that you were created to bring into the world. Whoever you are, wherever you are, God doesn't waste any human being. As a matter of fact, anything in creation, but certainly not humanity.

[00:19:55]And one of the real problems in a culture that that celebrates sort of the universalist, you know, egalitarian, everybody's the same, everybody's good, which I think is true. Everybody's beautiful and good. But, one of the problems is that you we lose this drive for excellence. And I believe that's one of the things that the Jewish people are meant to uphold in the world.

[00:20:14]And the Levites, as you're pointing out, within us, they're there backing whacking us on the head like, "No, no, better. You need to do it better."

[00:20:22]And it's funny because because I don't think people get that. I don't I don't I don't think I don't tell them I don't cuz I see it in counseling every day. I don't think people get though that the Jewish people are meant to be the inspirers The Jews don't get it.

[00:20:34]>> of of this excellence that you're talking about, right? And they're they're they're like I think a lot of times people don't get that. Like I Like I see a world I'll I'll give you an example because it's so visual in my head. I have it so like it I have it like it's like a it's like a photograph that somehow I made inside my head. I see the CEO of Lufthansa.

[00:20:53]Lufthansa.

[00:20:55]I see the CEO of Lufthansa in my head, and I see him in his office, and I see him having a big picture in his office of a Lufthansa plane flying over Jerusalem. Like today I see those up my and I'm like and I could see him saying I'm so proud of this line that we have of the line to Jerusalem to Israel.

[00:21:16]And I'm proud of your action. Like every airline should be like, yeah, you know, like you were Delta, you were United, but the flight that we're so proud of is that we've got a line to the Holy Land.

[00:21:30]Right?

[00:21:30]>> Yeah, it's a nice By the way, it's a nice phrase that we've got a line to the Holy Land.

[00:21:33]>> Right. I'm and I'm and I could just see the world being like, we're proud that that we have a that we have a hand in the temple in Jerusalem and in God's city. And I mean, we make our money off of flying around the world. We're proud of that, but we have a line to Jerusalem. The reason I'm saying that is because in my heart I just feel that and maybe this is our fault in part, but it's like it's like that idea that Israel's supposed to be this thing that that you strive towards being close to God and you come as a three a Jewish people come to Jerusalem three times a year, but the the non-Jews, right? That they come up once a year to Jerusalem and and the and the priests are there all the time. And the priestly families actually come there the priestly the priests are there all the time. There's the Levites. Within the Levites, excuse me, are the priests, right? They're the hardest of the hardcore, right? Then you have the Levites. Go ahead. This is very important what you're this what you're mapping is is this same dynamic that I named in the census. Cuz and within the priests, there's the high priest, right?

[00:22:35]And once a once a year, he goes into the holiest place in the in creation, you know, by himself alone. Meaning what? Ultimately, all relationships are direct.

[00:22:47]A group of people doesn't really have a relationship to God. Each of us has a relationship to God. But as we saw last week at the end of Sukkot, but there is something different about a group of people serving God than individuals.

[00:22:59]So so there's this dynamic. So ultimately, yes, all the connections maintained by one-on-one, but but we're collective. We're a people.

[00:23:09]And we have to learn to serve together.

[00:23:10]And as you so beautifully you said, it's the only way that works is when everybody opts in. And I think that's the challenge we face where the world doesn't really perceive us that way is that we don't um we don't perceive ourselves that way. It's been It's been a difficult Listen, it's been a difficult 2,000 years to get back to where we are. And it's a growing awareness.

[00:23:29]>> Yeah. It's a basic posture of service when you're focused on survival.

[00:23:32]>> to survive is not or and to survive within amongst ourselves, you know, that's not that's not a feeling of broadcasting out a message. But But that's I guess what we're doing here today. We're doing it right now. We're doing it right now.

[00:23:47]So, it goes from the high priest to the priests, from the priest to the Levites who serve in the outer kind of circle of the temple. And then it goes to the people of Jerusalem and then it goes out to to the tribes. And you're supposed to come as tribes three times a year to Jerusalem. Then it goes out to the nations. They're supposed to come up one time a year to Jerusalem. And it's supposed to like these concentric circles sending out this broadcast, this message of of holiness, of relationship to God, of of loving God, and a consciousness of excellence as we said.

[00:24:17]And and that's that's that's the beauty of the in-gathering of the exiles. So, you know, you I go on these shows sometimes and I'm just like, you know, I hear them say like, "Are you guys supremacists?" And I'm just like, you you have the whole polarity backwards.

[00:24:31]You have the whole You're You're You're You're not getting the polarity of the whole thing. You're missing the polarity. And and and and and all these airlines that that stopped sending their airplanes during wartime, I just thought to myself, you know, you you guys are missing it. You guys should be here.

[00:24:48]>> themselves off. They're not cutting us off. And that I want to also talk about for a second with you.

[00:24:53]We see the scourge of anti-Semitism has returned to this world.

[00:24:57]And I always tell I always tell people the the first victim the main and first victim of anti-Semitism is that whole society.

[00:25:08]Oh, historically there's no question about what you mean.

[00:25:10]>> Right. Like we will we the Jews will be okay.

[00:25:14]We'll suffer, but we will not be destroyed.

[00:25:16]>> In the end we'll we'll thrive. Right. We will suffer. It's when when they kick you out of Belgium after 800 years of of of of a of a very entrenched and very rooted a feeling in Belgium with with I'm watching right now some a program called Rough Diamonds about the diamond district there. It's very interesting, but it's a deep It's a deep connection the Jews have to Belgium.

[00:25:40]Deep connection. And now they're being like you know so >> arrested for circumcision. Right.

[00:25:48]That's what they're being. Right.

[00:25:49]>> Let's just be clear. Right.

[00:25:51]And so and so I think to myself, okay, the you know, the Belgian project is over. Okay? Let's say.

[00:26:01]As a nation the Jewish people will keep going. It'll hurt, but it'll keep going.

[00:26:04]But and we'll go and we'll thrive. But for Belgium it's a death knell.

[00:26:10]It's a reduction.

[00:26:12]You look what's happening in America where the extremes of both political and ends of the political spectrum are tearing their own country apart.

[00:26:20]They're dividing their parties. They're weakening their power out of this instead of almost like foaming hatred. What does the progressive and the far right in America really have in common? And what they have in common is their hatred of us, they're doing damage to themselves.

[00:26:35]>> Yeah.

[00:26:38]And and and and maybe another side of that is I think there's two sides of that. One is when God releases the scourge of anti-Semitism in a nation it's basically a call for that nation to shrink. It's like you have now lost your your your good graces.

[00:26:54]You do not have the blessing of blessing the Jews.

[00:26:58]And then once you start cursing the Jews, your thing shrinks inextricably, unstoppably. That's what it That's what it happens. And hopefully not catastrophically.

[00:27:07]>> Right. Right. And it Well, thank Hashem, baruch Hashem, we have a Jewish state to come home to now.

[00:27:12]But But But But there's a there's a a biological reaction. It is the end of a blessing when your when your society becomes scourged with uh anti-Semitism.

[00:27:22]But the other flip side of that is is un- mitigated love of the Jewish people that God wants to bring him into back into his fold and into the Holy Land and needs to break a certain uh uh a very hard-to-break bond between the Jewish people and a whole society.

[00:27:41]And he's like, "But I want you back home from Belgium."

[00:27:45]And so he also allows this anti-Semitism to be the thing that dislodges the Jewish people from the former host society and bring them into his bosom, into the land of Israel. Physically and metaphorically. You know, amongst American educators, Jewish educators I'm speaking of, who Zach spent a lot of time speaking to my colleagues, is they there's something that they call the surge. That since October 7th, there's been this enormous upwelling not in the Orthodox traditional knowledgeable world. That's its own story. Meaning amongst Jews who who um Jewish sociologists have been calling last stop Jews, which is a horrible term, but if you look at the sort of sociological progression, you know, people who are going to marry out or won't educate their kids, and they they're the last stop. And suddenly, there's this upwelling like, "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute.

[00:28:35]Wait a minute. Like they If they hate us that much, maybe I should think a little bit harder about who I am and what this means." Which I mean, this is not the way we want things to happen.

[00:28:43]Nonetheless, I didn't make the decision. So, I'm just trying to work with the opportunity to give people a little bit more Torah and bring them closer to our mission. That's right. And if there's a if there's a resurgence of yearning for God, of connection to Torah amongst the Jewish people, there's no doubt in my mind that lovers of Israel and lovers of God, lovers of the Bible are going to hear that call as well for excellence, for getting closer to him, to love Hashem with all of our heart, with all of our worldly possessions, with all of our soul. And that's I think that is what's happening now, and I think that there are there are countervailing streams. It seems that on the on the face of it there's a lot more anti-Semitism, but I sense that underneath it there's a tremendous pull and yearning back to Israel, back to God. And that's what this show is about. Rav Mike Feuer, I want to really thank you for getting up early to pray to the Lord, but also to for to joining me here at IDT TV. I want people to join you at ravmic.com. Is that right? That is the place if you're interested in my counseling, my content, or just be in touch, that's where I'm at. ravmic.com, and also your Jewish heroism project, there's a link for that there. So, keep up the great work, and we've been talking about the Torah portion of Bamidbar, which is Numbers, and we are continuing now sequentially. We're going to be going through the rest of the book of Numbers throughout the following weeks.

[00:30:11]I just want to bless you and bless everybody out there to continue to be connected to God and here's his his beautiful Torah, okay? Okay.

[00:30:21]Find a great book.

[00:30:23]This I this is a beautiful Chabad Torah that I use, but you can use ArtScroll and many others to to get close to the word of God. And the word of God is good, but living the living the word of God is is what we're all about. And the great living is this period that we're living, the in-gathering of the exiles, the rebuilding of Yerushalayim. Rav Mike Feuer, thank you so much for being with me.

[00:30:45]Always a pleasure. Thank you. Boker tov to you in the land of Israel, Rav Mike Feuer. And I want to remind you folks that you can connect to us very easily by doing something not so easy, which is to build the land of Israel.

[00:30:59]buildisrael.com. Join me. Let's build Israel together, me, you, and the God of Israel building the land of Israel. Join me at Elisha Fleisher TV on YouTube and on the internet we call it elisha.tv.

[00:31:12]And you can support the show this important content that you're not going to get anywhere else. For example, our tour for the nations with Rav Mike Feuer at buymeacoffee.com/elisha.

[00:31:23]And together, friends, we're going to work hard, we're going to do it, we're going to make God's name great again.

[00:31:28]God bless you folks wherever you are.

[00:31:30]Lots of love, lots of blessings from the land of blessings and heart from the heartland of of the land of Israel, of Judea. God bless you wherever you are and shalom.