Crossfire with Rabbis Manis Friedman, Yosef Schusterman, YY Schochet
Hating Israel is the new form of hating Jews. Do not accept the narrative of the NYT and CNN.
You can never have too many Sefer Torahs since everything comes from the Torah.
Successful marriage: Never ask why. Woman must be able to trust her husband, the man is the giver who must feel he is bringing something to the marriage. You can’t fool mother nature.
Doctors tell the rabbis what the medical situation is, then the rabbis consult the Torah to see what is medically permissible.
God has no grandchildren. Every child is his, irrespective of the child’s relationship with the parent.
The concept of a Minyan is biblical. 10 men is mandatory.
Friedman: Prayer can be done by praying on the meaning of the words (Kavanah), or just by the words themselves. Those words are holy themselves.
Shochet: AI: The Jewish perspective is to buy the stocks. ChatGPT can’t give you a hug, show sensitivity, or work on Shabbos. Rabbis are can.
Schusterman: Humility doesn’t mean going around thinking I’m a nobody. That’s idiotic. Humility is knowing myself, but recognizing everything I have is God-given. Humility is about being better.
Friedman: A man’s wife takes priority before the children and his parents.
Schusterman: God doesn’t kill or steal. God takes people back because their mission was accomplished. He’s not killing them. Purpose of creation is to advance to the next level. Plant to become animal, animal to become human, human to reach higher. God doesn’t steal because everything is his anyway.
Shochet: You are allowed to destroy if it’s for later reconstruction. That’s how we know God will eventually build the 3rd Beis Hamikdash.
Shochet: The rest of the world will respect Jews who know how to respect themselves.
Friedman: We don’t discuss transgender with our children. We discuss gender. Transgender is for people suffering from dysphoria. It is inappropriate to discuss at the dinner table. To make it a national conversation is really bad.
Schusterman: Righteous non-Jews have a share in the world to come, whether it is a Jewish or non-Jew0sh world to come. Non-Jews should keep the 7 Noahyde laws. Those laws are to civilize the world. You can’t function in a jungle. Jews are to take the civilized world and bring Godliness into the world through Torah and Mitzvahs. We have a different mission from non-Jews, but in both cases our job is to complete our mission.
Friedman: Affection is meant to be personal and intimate and should only happen in private.
Friedman: No middle ground on transgenderism. You can’t reason with desperation. His program used to make teenage girls to be proud Jews. Now we teach them first to be proud girls.
Schusterman: If children say they are transgender, something is wrong. You can’t let children do whatever they want and then wonder what happened. Raise healthy children.
What were they thinking? with Rabbi Chaim Block, Chabad South Texas
Moses rarely got angry, but every time he did, there were negative consequences. Nothing good ever comes from anger.
God gives us opportunities to fail. That doesn’t mean we have to fail. Our obligation is to do our very best to do the right thing.
The snake is in every one of us. It’s our Yatza Hora.