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Jews Are Not A Nation?

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Rabbi YY Jacobson avatar
Rabbi YY Jacobson

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The debate takes place between two personalities. Arnold Toinby was a famous British historian. Cambridge University did not like Jews, did not like Israel. And Dr. Jacob Herzuk was ambassador of Israel to Canada, a scholar, a rabbi, a very educated man. He debates Twinbi about Israel. Toinby claims that Jews are not a nation. Judaism is a culture. Why? You have Russian Jews, you have Italian Jews, you have American Jews, you have French Jews. We belong to all nations. We're not a nation. We're a culture. We're a religion. Jacob Herzuk asks him, "What is a nation? Give me an example." He says, "The Italians are a nation. The Greeks are a nation. The Jews aren't a nation. The Jews are all over the place." responds. The nucleus of ideas his developing a little bit. He says, "Imagine three Olympic airplanes land. One lands in Athens in Greece. An old man comes out." The man in the airport greets him and says, "What's your name?" And the old man says, "My name is Socrates." And the man in the airport says, "What brings you to Athens?" He says, "What brings me to Athens?" Says, "My city." Says, "My country. Take me to the Acropolis." He says, "Acropolis. For $7.50, I can take you to the remnants of the Acropolis." He says, "Take me to Zeus." Says, "We don't worship at Zeus anymore." Says, "What do you worship?" He says, "We have the Greek Orthodox Church." What's the Greek Orthodox church? He starts explaining to him about the church which of course developed centuries after Socrates. He says, "You mean when the people hear the word Greece, they don't tremble?" He says, "No." They cry. Socrates says, "Why aren't you speaking the language of ancient Greek?" He says, "We don't speak that language anymore." Socrates says, "Get me out of this place. This is not my Athens." Another airplane lands in Rome. A statesman comes out. Somebody from the airport comes off to greet him. Says, "Welcome to Rome. What is your name?" Man says, "My name is Julius Caesar." He says, "Ah, from the Caesar salad." He says, "You're a I could kill you for that." Truly Caesar, the Caesar of Rome. How is Rome doing? How is the Roman Empire doing? Is the Roman Empire? There hasn't been a Roman Empire in 1500 years thanks to your friend Constantine. He says, "So what is Rome?" He says, "It's a city." "A city? We're in Italy." What's Italy? Cuz Italy is a member of NATO. Take me to my gladiator. Says, "For $8, I can show you the remnants." He said, "Are people still frightened from the word Rome?" He says, "No." He said, "What are we famous for?" He says, "Pizza and pasta." Just take me to Venice. We don't worship Venice. What do you worship? He says, "We have the Vatican." He says, "What the hell is the Vatican?" A third airplane lands in Bengurian airport in Tel Aviv. An old man comes out. Somebody in the airport comes up and greets him and says two words to him. Shalom. And he responds. He looks at the old man and he says, "Mima, what is your name?" The old man says, "My name is Moshe." And what is your name? Says, "Come on, Moshe. I'm also Moshe." Moshe says, "I'm starving. I haven't eaten in a few thousand years. Do they have any food in Israel? Need kosher." They have kosher. He says, "Kosher? They have every type of kosher." Wow. Moshe hears a swan. He says, "What's this?" He takes a man and his little classroom. And there's a teacher and the teacher is speaking to his little children to his students. And he asked the students, "Open up. Who must open up the Torah Bible?" And he says, "Repeat after me." And they repeat after him these words from the Torah. Radi Mosha Lamour and God spoke to Moses saying and two large hot pearls that we call tears stream down the cheeks of Moses as he observes this phenomenon in the Israeli classroom. Dr. Herzock turns to Dr. Toy at McKill University at his debate and he says Dr. me. If Socrates or Julius Caesar come back today to Greece or to Italy, to Athens or Rome, what will they find? Not the same language, not the same culture, not the same values, not the same God, not the same faith, not the same traditions, not the same heritage, not the same culture. All that remains is a geographical sword. And yet you call them a nation. Moses comes back today to the holy land of Israel. What will he discover? The same language, same traditions, the same gods, the same issue, the same God, the same philosophy, the same values. And yet you don't call that the nation. Dr. Toyby, if Israel is not a nation, what is a nation? And to his credit, Dr. Toinby looked at Dr.