Episode 145 - Anti-Semitism, Online Cancel Culture and more...

What happens when truth collides with comfort? 🤔  

Tag a friend who needs to hear this!  

In a world where many fear the truth, I had a conversation about my Rabbi who’s not afraid to speak it. His authenticity might ruffle feathers, but he's saving lives.  

Are we too comfortable sitting in silence while the real issues fade away?  

Let’s challenge the status quo!  

It’s time to reflect on how our choices impact future generations.  

What’s your take on authenticity versus comfort?  
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Full episode - link in bio  

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#authenticity
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

How come he can't stay quiet? Why can't he just keep quiet? And I said, Why? He says, He's causing me so many problems. I said, What problems is he causing you? Anti-Semitism. This rabbi is bringing anti-Semitism. Really? Anti-Semitism needs an excuse. One rabbi is the cause of anti-Semitism. Good morning, everybody. We made it. It's Friday. We cranked out another week, thank God. I don't know about you, but mine was crazy, crazy productive. Not just at work, but as it turns out, online as well. I'm into a bit of a conundrum over here, and I thought, you know what? I was debating talking about it, but this is real life. This is going on right now under our noses. And so it's important. And there's so many lessons to be taken out of this. It falls exactly into the subject matter that we are discussing in this podcast. Season one and season two, this concept of Emuna and Bitachon, knowing that there is a creator that runs the world. Get your head out of the sand. Stop thinking that it starts and stops with you. So many people are terrified of the truth. They're so scared to speak the truth because they think that it will somehow negatively impact them. Yesterday somebody said to me, What's wrong with your rabbi? How come he can't stay quiet? Referring to Rabbi Mizrachi, who I prop up all day long and will until the day I die because I know him personally. I've spent countless hours with him, and I've learned thousands of hours from him. I know who he is and I know what his goals are. It is all about saving the generation, and he's doing an amazing job of it. But he's doing it in a way that doesn't align with mainstream. It's not one that strokes your ego and tells you you're a good Jew no matter what. Just dig deep, pull out a few shackles, and give some money to charity, and you're good. You're great. God loves you. Just keep doing what you're doing. That is the toxin that has poisoned the well. And that is why we suffer today so much. And he said to me, Why can't he just keep quiet? And I said, Why? He says, He's causing me so many problems. He said, What problems is he causing you? And he says, anti-Semitism. This rabbi is bringing anti-Semitism. And I thought to myself, really? You think anti-Semitism needs an excuse? You think one rabbi is the cause of anti-Semitism? Nobody's contributing to it. Do me a favor. If saving thousands and thousands of Jewish lives is not important enough to avoid taking these haters who hate anyways and are going to take clips out of context because that's what they do, and they have nothing but time on their hands and toxicity in their heart to go out and find these clips, take them out of context, and put together a string of videos that are all just manipulated lies using the rabbi's words out of context. We're going to stop bringing back all of these Jewish kids. Do you know how many lives are being saved every day by the efforts of people like Rabbi Mizrachi, who are far and few between? 98% of the rabbis that exist today are pulpit rabbis. They've got boards of directors. There are people who are paying their salaries and therefore telling them what to do, what to say, and what not to say. And that's why it's come as you are, you're good, change is not important. If you do, if you don't, as long as you show up, you put a few coins in the charity box, everything is fine. We have too many rabbis like that. The world does not need more rabbis like that to stroke your ego. And you know who follows Rabbi Mizrahi all day long? The young generation. They can't get enough of him because they're sick and tired of the lies. They see right through it. And I had another situation happen, also happen to be just yesterday. Somebody posted something on a Jewish group on Facebook saying that a wonderful donation was made to a local Jewish school where tuitions are astronomical, a lot of money. And I thought, wow, that's fantastic. But then reality sets in. We gotta be real. It's nice, yes. But if you're gonna placate and if you're gonna run around looking for rainbows and roses all day long, then nothing is going to come of it other than to stroke people's egos. Good for you. You get it for donation. Yes, it's very nice. Forget how much that family's worth and how much they could have given and how much went to other non-Jewish organizations. Let's not have that conversation. That's fine. I don't need to berate that, but let's talk about the reality of what that donation is going to translate into. And historically, it has always been the same. It does not impact tuitions. They don't come down. In fact, they go up. And as a result, people don't send their children to Jewish day schools. They send them to the public school system where they are lost forever. Good luck trying to get one of these kids to marry Jewish. Good luck trying to have them maintain the culture and the traditions and the holidays. It's not going to happen. I see it in my own family. I have many cousins, thank God. And I've done the math, unfortunately. And I sit back and I see how many have married outside of the religion. And even those who manage to marry inside the religion, there's no tradition. There's no religion. There's no culture. All the things we grew up with, all of the holidays and the meals and the traditions that we grew up with don't exist by them. They come to me for it. I'm the one out of many, many cousins, thank God. But what are you going to do? That's the situation. They weren't sent to Hebrew Jewish Day schools. And as a result of that, they're eating what they cooked. That's life. So I try to make a comment to say, guys, let's get real for a second. Obviously, it's a good thing that people donate money to Jewish institutions. But it would be so much better if it came with terms and conditions, especially life-changing money. If you're going to give a few thousand dollars or tens of thousands of dollars, okay, no problem. It's not going to change anything fundamentally in the school. But when you give tens of millions of dollars to a school, you now have the ability to impact real change. And if you don't strike while the iron is hot, if you don't have that conversation when it's being given, you've missed the opportunity. That ship has sailed. Yeah, you can have it in different groups. Yeah, you can have it next week or next month. The iron is no longer hot. The opportunity, the best opportunity, not guaranteed, far from it, but the best opportunity is when it happens. Have the conversation. Make sure that the number one thing that happens is that tuitions come way down, way, way down to encourage other people to continue to give. Because I know people, very wealthy people, who have held back tens of millions of dollars in donations. Why? Because it came with that condition. I'm going to give the money, but I need to make sure that it gets spent properly and that it's not just the heads of school, the top three, the top brass, that end up taking away massive, massive bonuses every year. Why? Tuition's going through the roof. You're making families feel terrible that they can't afford it. You insist that they're not allowed to take vacations or do all any of these other things to have a half decent normal life. Instead, every penny they should scrape, they should beg, borrow, and steal, do whatever it takes while the top brass are making a killing. Even the teachers aren't making anywhere close to what the top brass are making. So, my friends, that was the point I was trying to make. And it wasn't made in an accusatory manner. I wasn't accusing the individuals who gave the money. I said very simply, the reality is it's been this way for decades and it's not going to change. The tuitions are going to remain unaffordable, and the top brass are going to take big pay raises. It happens all the time. And if they didn't, if they just made sure that it was transparent and that the money went to encouraging all of these families who couldn't afford it to send their kids to private Jewish day schools, then other people of means would look at that and say, ah, transparency. Ah, it's working. People are going. Enrollment is through the roof. We're building more schools. Let me give more money instead. What's happening in Toronto? All of these schools are closing. It's consolidating. Why? Because people cannot afford it. And it's become optional. Anyway, that was the conversation. But the takeaway and the worst part is that guess what happened? You know the comment was deleted. Now I thought it was deleted by the author. And it turns out he didn't delete it. He actually thinks that it should remain. But I didn't delete it. So that only left one alternative, and that was the administrators. Somebody managed to put enough pressure on the administrator, maybe a friend, maybe the person who gave the donation, who knows, to say, I don't like it. I want rainbows. I want roses. I don't want any, not even one drop of negativity. And so it worked. And so ultimately that very same council culture is now going to once again cost Jewish families their education, their culture, their history, and their religion. What can you do? Thank God for the Trust Factor podcast and others like it, my friends. And good on you for listening. I didn't read forward very much over here, but I know it's going to get hairy. I know we're going to get into a conversation over here that might resonate in a negative way for some people out there, but this is real life. We can't avoid it. So let's talk about it. Marriage and family. It's an important conversation. And when it comes to Amuna, it's the testing ground. Yesterday we said that if you're really happy with your lot in your life, it's not just cash, it's not just real estate and investments. Your lot in life means your wife and your husband and your children and your in-laws, believe it or not. That's part of your lot in life. If you're not happy with it, then you have the same problem as the one who's always looking at the bank accounts of everybody else and not being happy with their own. And it says that a person without Amuna, somebody who lacks Amuna, has endless complaints. He blames his wife for all of their troubles, and the wife blames the husband. Nonstop complaints and criticisms. The household becomes a pressure cooker. Everybody's on edge all the time. The children are undoubtedly harboring an assortment of emotional illnesses. Guys, it's a generation we live in. Just look around, look at the suffering. We're in a snowflake culture. People can't deal with the smallest amount of stress. Just look at the example I just gave you online. The smallest amount of pushback that they get are one of their ideologies and they fall to pieces. Why? Because they weren't built up at home with the concept of Amuna, that there is a God that runs this world and that everything is going to happen the way that it's supposed to happen, irrespective of what you think. You have to step up and do the right thing, and the rest is out of your hands. Now let's get into what looks like a dicey conversation. And it says that the main tests of Amuna are at home. We know that. When one consistently fails these tests, he ends up in progressively more difficult situations. One such situation, a phenomenon of modern times, is that of women evicting their husbands from their home, often using civil law to assist them in doing so. It says clearly this is not a phenomenon that happened overnight. The couple surely had a long history of friction and conflict. This is not something new. We just had our first fight, out you go. This is something that's been brewing for a very long time. And this is where it culminates. If the couple would have worked on Amuna, they wouldn't have reached this boiling point of turmoil. They would have awakened long ago and rectified themselves and their relationship. Fix it early. Don't wait, my friends. That's why I've said, and I gave you the analogy that there was a story of a young Yeshiva Baker who went to his rabbi and said, Rabbi, I'm married now. We're talking about having kids. When should we start learning about being parents? When should we start learning about child rearing? And the rabbi said to him, 20 years ago, this is not a subject that you learn in school. And the same applies for marriage. This is not a subject that you learn in school. This is real life and it's all based on character refinement. You have to spend a lifetime refining your character so that when you make room, first you have to make the room, but when you make room for somebody else to share your life with you, you're a mensch. You're somebody who can make that space and live in peace and recognize that it's about you giving and not taking, but that takes a lifetime of work. A husband whose wife is throwing him out of the house must know that although it seems that his eviction was unjust, it's nonetheless from the creator. Everything the creator does is justified. I didn't expect that. I didn't expect that. That's a heavy duty statement. That even getting kicked out of your own house is something that comes from the creator. He's not saying it should have never happened. You should work through it. That's what I was kind of expecting. Let's continue. The creator is the one who really evicted him from his home. If his behavior was damaging himself and the members of his family, it's better for him to be out of the house rather than to do further damage. That's the caveat. The caveat is that you don't have a situation where one person just feels like they're not being treated fairly, when they very might well be, but in their mind there they aren't. In their mind, they could be treated better. And as a result of that, they're going to punish their husband and the children by kicking the husband out of the house. Obviously, that's a toxic situation. We're not talking about that. We're talking about one where it's justified, where people have been battling for years or decades, and finally it comes to a boiling point, it comes to a head, and the wife says, I have no choice. I need to protect myself and my children from this toxicity. And that's the situation that he's referring to over here. And it says, even if he feels that his behavior was acceptable, the creator doesn't do anything without a purpose. If you've been kicked out after having been in a toxic relationship for an extended period of time, my friend, then it's time for some introspection. You have to look internally, you have to figure out what did I do wrong. And in general, that's the best approach to relationships. Even when you didn't do anything wrong, you're constantly measuring your actions. You're constantly assessing your choices. And that's not just in marriage. It's mostly in marriage, it's mostly in family, but it's even outside of the house. There's a term in the Torah that says, Shiviti Hashem Lenikdi Tamid. I'm constantly contemplating my actions and I'm measuring it against God's Torah. What would God want me to do? Even when things are good. It doesn't have to be when things are bad that you're going to do an assessment. Obviously, that's when you do it. But it's not getting to that point. And how do you avoid getting to that point? That when things are good, when things are stable, that's when you do the assessment. That's when you stop and say, wait a second, before I do what I'm about to do or say what I'm about to say, or choose what I'm about to choose, what would God want me to do? What's the right thing to do here? I don't care what's the popular thing. I care what the right thing is. So what does the husband do to get back in from the doghouse? The answer, my friends, we'll find out on Sunday. Shabathallah. Thank you for spending time with us on the Trust Factor Podcast. If you've heard something today that moved you, save this episode and share it with someone who might need to hear it. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming conversations that challenge, empower, and uplift. And if you're on social media, connect with us. Leave your thoughts, drop a quote that resonated with you. Hashtag the TrustFactor Podcast. Until next time, keep growing in your trust and keep living with purpose. I'm Jesse Revivo, and this has been the Trust Factor Podcast. Thanks for listening.