Israel is at war with Hamas. Innocents are being slaughtered on both sides of the fence in Gaza. It is a nightmare.
There isn't much to say so here is over an hour of us talking about it.
Israel is at war with Hamas. Innocents are being slaughtered on both sides of the fence in Gaza. It is a nightmare.
There isn't much to say so here is over an hour of us talking about it.
[00:00:00] Zach: This is an emergency broadcast from Hashem's Hot Tub. It's an emergency
[00:00:03] Sam: episode of Hashem's
[00:00:04] Zach: Hot Tub. Just to remind you all, Everton is iry, even though it doesn't feel that way.
[00:00:13] Sam: Oh my gosh. It's terrible. Yeah, we were gonna record, we were gonna record anyway today, and um, but yeah, now Israel's at war.
And so... We're just going to talk about that, I guess. I've been anxious about it. I've been like really, you know, I don't even know where to start. Like, first of all, like I guess, I guess like social media has really been fucking me up today. Yeah. Cause I see a lot of posts and I see a lot of posts that are just like straight up like.
[00:00:52] Zach: Anti Semitism?
[00:00:53] Sam: Well, at the very least, at the very least, like, I'm gonna call it, um, pro Palestinian without any consideration for Israelis at
[00:01:04] Zach: all. Yeah, you know, I saw somebody who said that, it's called brainwashed. People are
[00:01:10] Sam: brainwashed. People are brainwashed
[00:01:13] Zach: against Israel, you're saying. Yeah, cause it's not cool to be pro Israel.
[00:01:18] Sam: Is that what it is? That it's just not cool to be pro
[00:01:20] Zach: Israel? I think so. I think people gravitate towards what's cool. Because they want to feel like they're part of something. Yeah, it's just
[00:01:26] Sam: like, I've seen a lot of... I don't know, I guess I've seen a lot of people like, kind of, um, speaking out against Israel under, under like an ideological umbrella that says like, oppressors are bad and must be destroyed and like...
And like, the, the people must rise up in violent protest and, and destroy the oppressor at all costs. And in Israel, and in America, and all over the world, and like, this is like, It's somehow, it's, it's, it's a good, it's good to, to, to slaughter people in the streets. Wait, what? Yeah, like, I've seen that. Like, it's, it's this sort of like, like, anarchist mentality that like, That like, uh, oppressed people must rise up and destroy the oppressor.
[00:02:15] Zach: Here's the thing. The people that are talking shit online have never been in a war. I've never seen war. I've never seen someone shot in front of them. I've never seen someone beheaded in front of them. I've never seen someone brutally raped in front of them. They don't have access to that. So they're just going off the mob mentality.
That's what I believe. I believe there's like a mob mentality. People... Gravity towards it, and it's always the people that are, it's always the outliers that stand out in history. Joan of Arc. It's always a very small percentage of people who stand up for what they believe is right. It's always the majority of people that follow the crowd, follow the mob.
And I think social media is an echo chamber of I don't know what it is of, but
Social media is an echo chamber It's just an echo chamber And um, the problem is that Right now, as Jews I feel, I feel like A trauma Um, coming up for me You know, like Trauma, right? Um, and uh And then on top of that, seeing like the social media posts, it's like adding fuel to the fire. It's not really healthy.
So, I personally like, saw the videos of what's going on. I saw it. I saw it. Cause I didn't want to see it, but I felt like I needed to see it. I did not want to see it. It doesn't feel real, in a way. It feels so like, it's... You're cut off guard, you know? And we're, I'm so, we're so far away from it. You know, we're so far away.
We're still in America. Pretty safe. But, uh, let's, let's unpack it. How about that? Let's unpack it. Let's unpack it. Okay, here we go. We're gonna unpack this. This is
[00:04:20] Sam: Hashem's hot tub.
[00:04:21] Zach: Welcome. Welcome. .
Yeah, this is Hashem's Hot Tub. I'm Sam Kavanagh. And I'm Zach. I still feel awkward saying my name. I'm Zach Sanders. There you go. Remember my name. Own it.
[00:04:34] Sam: Um,
[00:04:36] Zach: yeah, lots to unpack today. Let's start with, let's start with, um, have you, do you follow at all, um, Andrew Tate?
No, I don't follow. Let me tell you real quick because this is part of it.
I have in the past listened to Andrew Tate and have been moved slash inspired by the words he says
but today the snake came out of the bag so to speak. Like what he was saying on social media was Either he's the biggest, the world's biggest troll, doesn't matter, doesn't matter. I see him for who he is, and I feel ashamed that I listened to him in the past. What did he say? He just was praising Allah today, and I think, and whether, and I thought, well, you know, he's just trying to get publicity because that's what he does, right?
Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. He's a, he's an entertainer, and he doesn't give a fuck about, uh, Anything other than himself. They're, they're, they're both, him and his brother are self serving entertainers who step on the dead bodies of Israelis to, um, boost themselves up on the Twitter sphere.
And in the influence sphere. So, thank God that delusion has been smashed. Cause I have listened to him in the past and I liked what he said about being a man. You know, a man must! X, Y, and Z, you know, a man must have these qualities, you know. You know what's wrong with the youth in today's society? It's they're weak.
And I'm like, yeah, I feel weak. I feel, you know, I feel like I need to step up as a man. But, and it's funny, I guess I'm attracted to people like, who seem to be confident. You know, I guess I'm a prime member for a cult. So thank God that delusion has been smashed and, uh, I'm learning a lot about myself, but that's all I wanted to say about Andrew Tate.
Let's never mention his name again. I want to unpack what's going on. Cause it's like really crazy. Yeah, it really is crazy to even start.
[00:06:45] Sam: Um,
I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't feel like trying to be a new show. I think that anybody who is listening to this. Our few listeners, thank you for being here. Um, knows what's happening, which is that Israel is at war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and that they've taken hundreds of Israelis hostage and that, um, many thousands have died on both sides.
Israel is currently, uh, bombing the Gaza Strip. Uh, Pretty heavily, and, uh, Hamas is invading Israeli land, and, um, it's, it's fucked up. To the highest order.
[00:07:44] Zach: Okay, my roommate locked themselves out, now I'm back. Um... Yeah, so I, I, I did think a lot about the plight of the Palestinians during this whole thing.
[00:07:55] Sam: So did I, you know, this is, this is why, so, so I've actually held back from, um, posting anything on Instagram or really being involved in any way in like public discourse.
Because it's genuinely hard for me to,
[00:08:08] Zach: um, Take sides?
[00:08:11] Sam: To take sides, to appear to take sides, to, to engage in this conversation. Through anything but genuine conversation.
[00:08:22] Zach: Yeah. I'm
[00:08:23] Sam: like through posting through social media, through like very specific statements, you know, like I see, I see, um, I see people posting statements that are, um, entirely pro What, what they seem to call Palestinian efforts for freedom, which I don't, I, this does not feel like a fight for liberation to me, like, you know, I, because, because I, I do support Palestinian liberation to a large degree, like I, I have long my whole life grappled with the realities of, of Israeli treatment of, um, Palestinian people since the inception of Israel.
, this is something that I've been very, , interested in and passionate about and, and have held deeply in my heart. , and I do want to see the Palestinian people free. I want to see them thrive. I want to see them have a place even in the land of Israel. I... What Hamas has done in the last week were not strategic military actions for the, liberation of their people.
It was not, , moving the needle in any real way towards,
freedom and safety and peace. It was, indiscriminate slaughter of innocent people, period. Like that's just what happened. You see it like, look at the videos, look at, look at the pictures, look at the reality on the ground. And it's fucked up that people, it's totally fucked up and it's stupid and it's pathetic.
It's pathetic, um,
That so many people that I know, Are blind to that reality. There's evil on both sides, like I'm not, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that Israel is a perfect country and And I'm also not going to sit here with this, you know, uh, kind of Semitic narrative, the Zionist narrative that I see that's kind of like, it's like, it's like, Oh, I'm Jewish.
And this is, this is the Holocaust part two. And what was me? Um, because that's not how I feel. , I don't feel like what was me right now. I feel like, , what we're seeing right now is a,
Predictable and maybe even inevitable consequence of many, many, many years of mistreatment of our Palestinian brothers and sisters. And at the same time, it's unacceptable and I won't stand for it.
[00:11:18] Zach: I agree. There's no, there's no, um, There's no, the words are escaping my brain.
Today, uh, not today. Okay, the incursion was preplanned and premeditated in a very extensive way. It was supported by other countries who are using the story of the Palestinians to destabilize their enemies. Yes. Okay. There is no, uh, justification for someone to support people murdering anyone, raping anybody.
That's it. Full stop. I don't have to go further than that. There are, there are ways to make peace. And that comes with communication. And I don't think Hamas wants to communicate because they don't want peace. I don't believe. I believe the story of being an oppressed people fuels their mission. And especially when you have God in the equation, you don't have to feel, you feel more morally obligated to serve God.
And if that means murdering people, raping people, kidnapping people, then to them that's the highest way of living. That's their mission.
The real question for me is, What do I do?
You know, and for me, for me it's taking, for me, I believe it's taking a very fierce moral inventory of myself. And To understand where I, where I stand. Where, where am I evil? You know, where is the, where, where is there evil in me? right, and How could I improve myself? How could I? How can I improve myself?
How, how could I aim closer to the truth? How could I align myself? Closer to Whatever truth is higher See if I'm a radical Jewish person, I may believe and this is called brainwashed that It's my duty to go into Uh, Palestine and murder Palestinians, right? For God! But that, but, but that's, obviously that's wrong.
But if I'm in that ideology, I can't see that. I'm blind, I'm brainwashed. And I think a lot of people are brainwashed. And I don't think people are very sensitive to, like, what's going on. They're very attuned. I think we're, it seems that social media makes me feel that the whole world is not in tune. But obviously there are people.
High level people who, who are very much in tune with truth, whatever truth is. Who are able to be sensible and calm. Yesterday I watched a movie called, uh, Ninja Scroll. Mm hmm. Have you seen Ninja Scroll? No. Okay, so Ninja Scroll is a movie that we must watch. Okay. And we must talk about it at some capacity.
Because it is, this manga, this anime manga, is that too, is that redundant to say? It's, it's philosophy, it's life. It's about, it's about like, this, this ninja. He's basically a ninja for hire, right? But he's got fierce moral ba Moral code. He lives by a code. Right? And when he, when he could, uh, have sex with a girl in the show, in the movie, Yeah.
He doesn't. He, he, he restrains himself. Cause he, cause he knows the difference between right and wrong. He lives an elevated life. And I, and I, for me, I want to like live the, I want to live an elevated life, you know, and, and that's for me personally, because I can't, someone said to me today, they're like, yo, I want to go to the streets of New York City and scream at the other people that are pro Palestine.
I'm like, I don't want to do that. That's just wasting my breath. That's like banging my head against the wall. Nothing good is going to come out of that. And then I thought, well, should I join the army? I don't want to do it either, you know, because I think that's not cau that's, uh, there's plenty of people to join the army and do that.
And, what it comes down to is, is things that are out of our control. I think, I think it's all politics, it's political, it's stories, it's evil. And at this time, at this moment, for me, I think the best thing that I can do for myself and for everyone around me is to just really stay with myself and ask myself hard questions like, who am I?
Um, Where am I falling short? Where am I, where have I become desensitized? What do I, what do I need to work on myself? Where can I return to, uh, return to, I don't, you know, people say, like, they say God. I don't think God, I mean, like, God doesn't want this. You know, I don't believe God, um, has anything to do with this.
I think that this is human nature playing out. And, uh, and sometimes, like, it takes a really bad tragedy to wake people up, you know? Like, it takes a huge tragedy for us to like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, let's recalibrate, right? After 9 11, people came together. Yeah, but
[00:16:59] Sam: my fear, even more so, is that... I mean, after 9 11 people rallied around the American flag and invaded
[00:17:10] Zach: Iraq and Afghanistan.
Yeah, but that was, that was politics. Right. Fuck politics. Right,
[00:17:14] Sam: but what I'm saying and my fear here is that, you know, there's a world, I think, I think the right path, the light path, there's a world in which this catastrophe wakes people up on both sides to understand. The inequity, the, the division, the terror that has been the reality on the ground in the land of Israel for 75 years.
And that this is, this moment is, is the opening of a door. For a reckoning with ourselves, with, with, uh, the realities of the ground. And that leads to peace between peoples. My fear is that this, uh, instead becomes a rallying point for extremists on both sides to get angry, get armed. And. Continued the
[00:18:27] Zach: terror I agree Here's one thing.
I know for certain How must Hamas must be eradicated completely? Okay, I agree Now, how do you do that? With that Israel also has to show its might it's got to show its force. It can't show any weakness. It does fortunately That's the truth. I Don't believe Israel wants to kill Palestinian children They don't wanna do that.
In, in, in fact, I believe Israel takes a lot of caution around preventing that by like amassed cell phone peop to people in the area that, that they're bomb, that they're about to bomb look bombings. It's all fucked up. But like, you know, they, they drop, like, first they make phone calls like we're about to bomb.
You get outta your house asap and then they drop leaflets. Or maybe they do the opposite. They drop leaflets, warning people get out or they drop bombs. Problem is, is that, is that the Hamas make, makes. Make people believe that they're a martyr if they stay because they know they know that they want Palestinians to get killed They want Palestinians.
They they want the image of a father carrying his daughter dead daughter out of the rubble Because that's straight it strengthens their image. It's PR Okay, so so in the day, it feels like we need a Messiah which is something sounds crazy to say we need like cuz like you can't you can't because governments are governments governments are gonna government and politics is gonna politic And, and unless the people themselves, like the actual people on both sides, the people wake up and they say, we don't want to live this story anymore.
We don't want to live your story anymore. We don't want to be part of your pawn for your chess piece. That's, I think that's the only, really the only way that's going to change that or UFOs come down. Yo, yo, humans, you gotta chill the fuck out. You know, I'm just joking. I don't think UFOs, uh, aliens would say, they wouldn't communicate that way.
Maybe they would communicate telepathically, but like, it's crazy. Fear is fear, man. You know, there's a lot of emotional, chemical reactions that are, that are like, that are, um, putting our central nervous systems at full capacity, and it's very difficult to think in that way. Yesterday, Sam, when we sang at that house, with all those people, that felt really good.
It did. You know?
[00:20:52] Sam: It did. It felt really good. Yeah, what a trip, dude. Because we're also coming off of like a very spiritual weekend. Yeah. For both of us. We both had like a weird, beautiful, like... Chabad Simchastor. It was important.
[00:21:17] Zach: It was important. Yeah, it was, it is beautiful. It was very beautiful.
[00:21:26] Sam: Yeah, it's, it's um,
it's, it's tough to know what to do. You know, like, I'm anxious about going about my daily life tomorrow and just like going back to work Starting, uh, another podcast for work about, um, video game world building. It's weird. It's so weird. Like, it's, well, like, you know.
[00:22:02] Zach: While processing traumatic events.
While we're all
[00:22:05] Sam: processing traumatic events. While, while people that I, I know and love fight for their lives and the lives of their families. While, um. Yeah. While, while like the. The Jewish people struggle for their, like, existence?
[00:22:25] Zach: Yeah. Yeah, it's very interesting, you know? Um, I think, for me, I also don't want to make any statements right now, because I'm, I'm riled up, you know?
Yeah. I also don't know how to feel, because like, my trauma responses are on high, are on full capacity. My trauma responses, Cut me off from feeling. When I was younger, I grew up in a very Like traumatic household. I hope my parents aren't listening. Whatever, listen, it is what it is. If you listen, I love you guys, but it was very traumatic and I Learned through that how to cut myself off from feeling, from feeling.
Today I was making jokes. I was like, I just, I didn't post it. I was just writing it. I wrote like Israel Stein. There, I solved it. Can we just move on with our lives now? Yeah. Which is a funny thing, cause Israel Stein sounds like a Jewish name. We're all brothers. You know, we're all brothers. We're all brothers.
We're all brothers and sisters. I believe that completely.
[00:23:30] Sam: We're all humans. It's like, it's so tragic. It's like, it's just, it's just like simply a tragedy. And I don't know how to respond. I don't know how to feel, like, right now I'm fucking like sitting here with the tears on my face. Uh, three hours ago I was in Washington Square.
And I, like, ran into, I, like, met these guys that had, like, a...
[00:23:51] Zach: Is there a vigil in
[00:23:53] Sam: Washington Square? No, no, there was like a sword fighting league happening. That's amazing, I love that. And I signed up and I just beat
[00:24:00] Zach: the shit out of some guy. That's amazing. Fuck, I wish I would've came. I went into work today because of fear.
I just beat
[00:24:06] Sam: him up. I just, I fought this guy and I mean, he fought well and we, we, yeah, it was like a real duel, but like, he fought valiantly, but like, but like straight up, like I was, I was there to fucking fight. Like I, I came in with with like,
[00:24:20] Zach: yeah, I, I Aggression. Yeah, bro, I, I can see you roll like B j j Brazilian jiujitsu.
You have the build for it. You have the body for it. Dude, I get that's healthy. I like that. That's a good outlet to have. I would love to do that too. Sword fighting. That's amazing.
[00:24:38] Sam: It was cool, but it was also like definitely, and I knew at the time, an outlet to get.
[00:24:47] Zach: Was there no, there's no vigils today?
You know what's fucked up? Here's what's fucked up. What's fucked up, here's what's, it's the name of the episode, here's what's fucked up. Or that's the name of the podcast. Maybe. What is really fucked up is that I'm afraid to have a vigil. Out of fear that there are people that are going to be upset by it.
That's how you know that you're really, uh, in a abusive relationship with people. When you're, your people, first of all, we're all people. Even, when you think about your people, right, that's a separation. But if you see humanity as one, then it's everyone's people. You're, so, so to the people that hate Israel, your people, your fellow human beings, on both sides, Okay, are being killed.
But your fellow human beings on the Jewish side, I'm going ear quotes. I don't even like to say the Jewish side on the, but, but that's how the ident, the identity of the Jewish side have been slaughtered and massacred in the worst way. I don't believe it. I'm still in shock. I'm like, no way. This is 2023.
This isn't like 1938. This is 2023. And you know what? The world, right now, based on social media, feels very pent up. Feels like there's a lot of tensions, you
[00:26:10] Sam: know? There is, and, and, and, and, you know, it's somehow we've gotten to a point where, where, like, people are, are of the opinion that, that, this is good.
[00:26:22] Zach: Yeah, that's crazy. And you know what? Unfortunately, you cannot, you cannot, uh, People,
[00:26:27] Sam: people that, like, that, like, genuinely, I know to be, like, thoughtful, compassionate, kind, not, not assholes, not people who like, who like just, uh, are in, in it for violence. People who I know to be thoughtful people are posting the most like
disappointing stuff. Disappointing.
[00:26:56] Zach: Yeah. And do you feel like It's worth your breath to express to them specifically how you feel. It's not worth your breath. No, I,
[00:27:04] Sam: I, there, there have been several times today where I've considered writing messages to them. I don't want to, fuck you, like, just, I don't want to waste my time, I don't want to waste my energy, like.
No way. I just, I, I, I, I, I, my, my eyes are open, you know.
[00:27:21] Zach: Yeah, and you know what, now is the time to make, to, it's, I think now is the time to see the, to see truth. I believe, I believe truth is subjective in each of us, but I believe this is a time for myself and for you and for everyone to really, uh, see the truth and to make a choice.
And when I say make a choice, I don't mean take a side. I mean make a choice of moving in a truthful direction within yourself. Yeah. That's it. And, and for me personally, if you ask me how do I feel about this, I don't even want to get involved. I don't want to get involved in people's stories. Everything is stories.
I wanna go to a part of the world that's far away from everything and just live in peace and not get involved in like the stories of, you know, that cause war and chaos and destruction, you know. But in the day, it's like Jonah, the Jonah story. You know, you can't really run, you can't run away. You have to, I don't want, look, in theory.
I would love, it feels good for me inside to join the IDF and to like train with a unit and to like train with weaponry. Cause now I have a mission. It feels good to do that, intellectually. I like that stuff too, I like like activity. At the end of the day, it's like, you're going out to kill people. This isn't a video game.
This isn't a, this isn't a... This isn't a video game. This is real life. People die. And a lot of people are going to be coming out. There's going to be a lot of charlatans that are going to start. Praying off of our fears. They're gonna say it was for say it was foretold in the prophecies that this would unfold and those who repent shall be saved.
And you know what I'm saying? Like those people are gonna come out of the word of the
[00:29:15] Sam: works. It's inevitable, isn't it?
[00:29:18] Zach: It is inevitable. And there's gonna be mass confusion. But also, I think there's gonna be a lot of beauty that comes out of this. I think there's gonna be a lot. I think through pain, there is so much beauty.
There's, there's a togetherness. There's a unity. And I don't, I struggle for myself with what does it mean to be a Jewish person. For me, I don't want to be a Jewish person. I want to be a person. That's why I feel like I don't want any labels. These labels have caused so much problems. I mean these labels are sometimes could be good too, right?
There's a lot of good stuff that come out, that came out from the Jewish people. But, but... The identity, like, I identify as this, and you identify as that, and we are separate. I've spoken to many people, and I don't feel separate from anybody. I feel, I feel connected. Totally agree. So I don't, for me, I don't know what it's like to be, I don't, so for me it's easy, like, where do you stand?
I stand with Israel. I'm, you know, I'm Yisrael Chai. You know, I'm Yisrael, you know, like, it's like, it's so easy to get on that bandwagon. Yeah, it is. It feels so exciting, too. I'm saying, whoa, let's, I want to slow down and, uh,
[00:30:26] Sam: Right, because it's, it's dangerous on both directions. You know, because, like, on one hand, of course, Hamas is fucking evil, like, like, I think we can call a spade a spade, right?
At the same time, uh, nationalism, even, and maybe even sometimes especially, Jewish nationalism, Yeah. Can also be evil. Agreed. It is not immune to evil just because it is Jewish. Right. And we need to
[00:31:00] Zach: recognize that. Look, I don't believe Jewish people would ever do what the, what Hamas did.
[00:31:05] Sam: I actually agree.
Genuinely, I do. Yeah. I don't, I, I don't think you will ever see an Israeli battalion driving around with the body of a naked woman and spitting on the body and... Horrific fucking shit. Yeah. You won't, you won't see
[00:31:24] Zach: it. No, you won't see it. Those people have no respect for human, for human life. Fuck, it's so evil, dude.
It's so horrendous. Yeah, it is, it is atrocious. It's so
[00:31:33] Sam: fucking atrocious.
[00:31:35] Zach: Yeah, totally. Yeah, but I, I, here, I've been getting some good support from people that, from, from Arabs. My Arabic friends. See,
[00:31:45] Sam: this is the thing, is like, the one person, the only person that I reached out to today over Instagram, and actually spoke with, and actually engaged with, is a Palestinian friend of mine.
And we were on the same page. Wow, that's beautiful. Exactly the same page. And we always have been. But like, you know, it's these fucking like, like White leftist Americans who think that they have like some kind of moral superiority over anything. Yeah. And, and, and post shit that is just like dangerous at best and like genuinely harmful at its worst.
You know, because of like some moralistic argument that they don't even understand. No. And it's frustrating. Because that's how it's sad. It's frustrating. That's, that's how like the darkness wins.
[00:32:48] Zach: Yeah, I mean, yeah,
I'm an optimist. Me too. I believe that the darkness can never really win. I believe the darkness shows the light, you know, and I do believe we are heading towards very hard times now. Because, and, and what Because I believe everything is in cycles, right? History is in cycles. Empires rise, empires fall.
People are prosper, people are poor. And we're entering into a stage in our time, history, in our history, where It's inevitable that there's going to be some sort of war on a larger scale. There already is. But the problem is, is that we don't want to believe that. Yeah, we don't. Because when you read history, you're far removed from it.
And when you're a kid, when you have the most empathy, when I felt like I had the most empathy, I questioned, I said, how could a person do that to another person? You know, like, I was genuinely scared, like, when I learned about the Holocaust. When my grandfather told me what he, I couldn't, I couldn't imagine what my grandfather went through, like, I couldn't even imagine, for me, I was so scared, and I was taught as a kid, like, the Gentiles hate the Jews, like, I thought that, until like, I woke up, thankfully, but like, people, there's, okay, I do believe we're heading towards, uh, some interesting times, I think, you know, the government of Iran, Hates Israel.
The government of Iran hates Saudi Arabia. They're sworn enemies. Saudi Arabia is on the verge of making a peace treaty with Israel. If they do that, then that will weaken, uh, Iran. And they don't want that to happen. So I believe it was premeditated and preplanned. I don't, but first of all, I'm just saying what I think.
I don't know if this is reality. I'm not,
[00:34:47] Sam: uh, Well, it was confirmed that Iran had a significant part to play in the planning of these attacks. Really?
[00:34:54] Zach: Yes. You know, so, Iran is a very evil, the government of Iran, I don't say Iran itself, because I know many Iranians, both Jewish and non Jewish, and they are lovely, amazing people.
The government of Iran hates Israel, and it hates Jewish people. I don't know why, they just do. Um, Jewish people also have to wake up, and to understand, we're, Am I, am I in a bubble? Am I in a bubble? Am I evil? I thought that today. I thought today. Am I evil? Where am I evil? Where is there evil in my heart?
I'm sure that there is evil in my heart. You know? Yeah. Just like there is good in my heart. It's, it's a really, it's a, it's a fearless searching of moral... Of a moral inventory within yourself and, and also empowering yourself to, to, to make the, to, to make the right choices of what you think is right. I, I, I feel your pain.
These people that these people are, your friends are your friends. These people, you, you respect their opinion. You respect their camaraderie, camaraderie ship. I can't, I forgot the word com, comradery ship, whatever. And now you see these people like making statements that are so abhorrent. That it's like, oh my god.
It's almost like you have an existential crisis, like there's existential anxiety in your body.
[00:36:27] Sam: They're also
[00:36:28] Zach: just fucking stupid. Yeah.
[00:36:33] Sam: Like it does not take into context most of like the historical reality of the situation we're
[00:36:41] Zach: dealing with. Yeah. There's a lot going on here. There's a lot of going, there's a lot going on.
There's a lot going on. I keep thinking about the, the, when we were singing together, the one, uh, one day. Yeah. Maia, yeah. . I, I was crying by that. When they, when they, when we were singing one day. 'cause when, when we sang one day, we'll, all one day we'll all be free and proud to be singing the same song. I can't for the words, but it basically like, stop with the violence.
Stop what they hate, you know? Yeah. Singing songs of freedom. Man, there are beautiful cultures out there. Beautiful, beautiful cultures who promote, like, You know who a beautiful people are? Uh, like the Jamaicans. I know it sounds crazy, but like West Indian, like the West Indian, The people from the West Indies, I walk around in Prospect Park, I talk to them.
Jamaican.
[00:37:44] Sam: You do, you're always talking to Jamaican
[00:37:46] Zach: guys in Prospect Park. I'll tell you, there's something magical about Jamaican people. They're... Deeply religious, deeply empathetic. They're kind of like garden creatures. They're like the earth people. They're very earthy. They're like always eating healthy plant medicines.
Not plant medicine. Plants are medicine. But they're always, they're just, they share. There's a beautiful, uh, quality about, about, about, you know, I really believe we all have something to share with each other. Like, um, There's a lot of years of wisdom and knowledge that we've, that we've, we've accumulated and we can share with the world.
And, uh, and I, I do believe that, um, that, that eventually we will get to that point. We will cross that, we will have to cross a threshold where we do not, we will not want to fall victims to the stories of, of politics and governments and become victims to their, To their plans, to their schemes, you know, and to live, to live like with love in your heart and genuine care and concern for your people, for your fellow neighbor, for an animal, for a plant, for, for, for life, for life, a lover of life, you know, like, I think like, what's the word?
Uh, not exorcist, uh, Nihilism, right? Depression, like, nihilism is like a hate, it's, there's a, it's an emotional sickness that makes you hate life, not hate life, but like, be, uh,
[00:39:20] Sam: Resented. There's a resentment to nihilism. Nihilism is, that's why I've never understood it or never
[00:39:26] Zach: respected it. There's a numbing.
I've felt, I've felt nihilist many times and it's, and I, I understand the feeling of it. It's a, it's a, it's like a, it's very numb and it's very like late. It's like, it's very removed from life. When you do something that, that is full of life, you feel life. You know, you feel the beauty of it, you know, when you worked out tonight, I'm sure, or you played, when you sword fought that guy.
Yeah. I'm sure after you felt like very grounded. Oh, I felt great. Right? I felt super great. Yeah, I don't know, Sam, I also want to know what I should do. I really do, I, I, I, I, I, my brain is like, we have to do something. What are we going to do, right? But it's overwhelming, right? It's, it's super overwhelming.
[00:40:16] Sam: It's overwhelming, it's, it's so big. But I also, like you said, I also, I, I do not believe, I refuse to believe, and I genuinely don't believe that it's hopeless. I, I really, I, I know in my heart that there is a path to peace. That there is a light at the end of the tunnel. That good can come of this. I really believe it.
Genuinely. Like a hundred percent. Do you think prayer works? I don't know. I don't know. I think that action
[00:40:55] Zach: works. Action definitely works.
[00:40:58] Sam: And I ask myself now, like, how can I be involved in a way that is useful? In a way that is authentic to me? In a way that, um,
can move the needle towards an outcome of peace and not just an outcome of victory? In, in a way that is aligned, I don't know, but I, but I really, I really hope and if I pray for anything, I pray that I can find a way to get involved and to make a difference in a way that is genuine.
[00:41:42] Zach: Amen. When I was in, uh, rehab, we used to do AA meetings and I remember these people used to always say, I think it's in the big book.
Faith without work is dead. And now I understand it. You know, what you just said. You illuminated that for me. Or prayer without work is dead. Yeah, you can pray. And praying feels good. It's very cathartic. But you're right. It's like prayer plus action equals outcome. So... And honestly, right now I'm thinking about what are the actions I want to take.
There's a part of my body that's like, no. It's like a lazy, I don't know what it is, there's like a lazy part of me that's like, no. Yeah. Stay cozy, bro.
[00:42:21] Sam: Yeah, we're safe. We're here in
[00:42:23] Zach: Brooklyn. It's like, no! Brain, mind, whoever you are, it's time to take the action. That's why I really think a lot about your meditation practice.
That your daily meditation practice that you do. I think it's really, I don't think, I believe it's Super important and a superpower, you know, how was your meditation today? Was it difficult?
[00:42:50] Sam: Um, this morning was difficult. Well, I don't want to call it difficult. This morning was, um, uh, a little rushed and not totally comfortable for several reasons, um, that both involve Israel and other factors.
Um, When, after we record, I'm probably going to meditate when you go to yoga, and I'll give you an
[00:43:12] Zach: update. Whoa, that's so
[00:43:15] Sam: weird. Wow, that's the timer for when we're supposed to stop recording.
[00:43:22] Zach: I'm thinking maybe I should stop, I should skip yoga and go to, and continue this podcast. But at the same time, I think we pretty much said what we needed to say.
What do you think?
[00:43:33] Sam: I mean, I, I think that, uh, I've, I've gotten at what, what I feel I, It is like immediately in my heart. I don't think I have much to add though. I'm sure that if we kept talking we would discover more
[00:43:51] Zach: Man I'm so tempted to go to yoga. It's hot. It's Candlelight night. I never have done it. I imagine it's like dark room kind of like good music, you know Stretching. Yeah, you feel so good. That's not good
[00:44:09] Sam: And there is to be clear a value in the same way that I have value in my meditation practices, value in my yoga practice as
[00:44:16] Zach: well.
Yeah, there is a value in my yoga practice. Um, but again, I don't trust myself, Sam. I do not trust myself. Flat out. Let's flip a coin. No, I'm sorry, forget that. I'm okay to not go to yoga.
[00:44:33] Sam: I'm not telling, I'm telling you that you can do either. I'm
[00:44:35] Zach: just saying, no, I know. I'm saying that I do not trust myself.
I don't trust my mind. I don't trust my mind. Hands down. I'm not at war with myself. I'm not like, sometimes I am. I feel very like frustrated, but internally, the internal dialogue in my brain that leads me in directions. Is a wild, wild Entity That is crazy And I don't trust myself It doesn't do me any good It makes me Stay
And I don't know what to do about it I keep thinking about that line, people People, uh Always like to use Albert Einstein's That the same Mind that created this problem can't fix it self or something like that the same consciousness used to create the problem can't fix itself And I'm like damn I'm fucked And I know that there's practices.
I've done the practices. I know I know and I know for me yoga is a practice that when I do it Sometimes it's it's very hard in my brain is like Out of control. But there is actionable steps that help me ground and center, center, help the deepest part of me that is truth and awareness sit in itself, in its center and, and create some sort of force field from all, from that crazy mind that is always leading me astray.
Always leading me astray. It's a, it's a severe addiction, and, and uh, that's that Sam, if that, if you haven't, you know, I'm just telling, I'm just, I'm like saying this to you as if I was talking to a priest and confessing my, my sins, cause I feel like I don't have an answer for myself, and, and I feel like I'm at war with myself, and I feel like despite knowing maybe what to do.
I don't want to do it.
Do
[00:47:10] Sam: you, do you relate? I think that that's the reality and the struggle for everybody. I think that's why having practices, personal practices of meditation or prayer or yoga or Art, or whatever it is that you as an individual are connected to, having that as a personal and daily practice is mission critical because otherwise we get lost in the whims of our mind and our body, which we cannot trust.
What you said is true. There are also certainly things about myself, instincts that I have that cannot be trusted, that need to be second guessed, that need to be considered before acted upon. And I think that that, to a large degree as well, is what we're seeing play out in the Middle East right now. You know?
A lot of, a lot of people on both sides acting in a reactionary and violent way. And uncompassionate and unthoughtful manner over the course of decades that has led to yet another, um, burst of violence. And one that I hope doesn't break the shell.
[00:48:44] Zach: Oh man, this one is, is, is, yeah, okay, yes, agreed.
[00:48:51] Sam: And I think, I mean, that's like the fundamental human struggle.
That's like, that's like the thing that we deal with every day.
And, and, and, you know, we have, we have, it's like being on a plane, we have to put the safety mask on ourselves before we can put it on the child. Yeah. You know, we have to save ourselves before we can save the world.
[00:49:12] Zach: I know.
[00:49:14] Sam: And, and, like, if, if we, if we just jump in blind, then we become yet another reactionary actor.
[00:49:20] Zach: That's what, that's what I am. I'm just a reactionary actor.
[00:49:25] Sam: And we're, and we, the royal we, the world, humanity, we deserve more than that. We deserve more than reactionary actors, everywhere.
[00:49:38] Zach: Yeah. Oh man, you know, God, God,
the top G. Top G. The real top G. Andrew Tate is a narcissist, dude. Yeah, no shit. I never realized that. Until now. No shit, yeah. I never knew that. That one was kind of obvious. I would argue with people. I would say, I actually like what Andrew Tate says. Like some, some of it. Not all, not everything. But, I felt like empowered by his...
I'm a sucker for, uh, confident, you know, strong males. Yeah, you are. I've seen it. I know I am. Such a sucker. I, I, I admit it. And that's it. And uh, arrogant narcissist. He really is an arrogant narcissist. And he's dangerous. Very dangerous. Because he's just very, because people that speak with such authority, with such steadfast assertiveness.
Yeah. People listen. And they drink it up. And it's bad. It can take you astray. Yeah,
[00:50:50] Sam: I think it does. I think it takes all of us to stray. Ugh. Yeah. Yeah, I never liked that guy. He always seemed like a piece of shit. But I mean, that's the reality, right? It's like, It's like, we um, But even his beliefs though, he's Muslim, right?
Yeah, he's
[00:51:14] Zach: Muslim. Actually, you know, I'm not going to yoga. I figured. It was just a fear. I need to go and do something that feels good. That's it.
Here I am. Yeah, he became Muslim. Hineni. Hineni. That's beautiful. It's so beautiful. Hineni is so powerful. And so beautiful. I want to cry every time that like, you know. I want, I want to go and earnestly tell God Hineni. I so want to do that. But I don't trust, like, that I'm talking to God. I'm just... Does it matter?
Well, it does matter. Does
[00:51:58] Sam: it? Does it matter? Like, like, like,
[00:52:01] Zach: genuinely, right? Yeah, it does matter. Like... It does matter. Why? To me it matters. Because I want it, because it matters. Because, because, uh, it doesn't really matter, but for me it matt but, but I know it doesn't really matter, but for me it matters because it doesn't feel genuine.
Because, like... Heini is such a humbling thing to say. Heini, you say that when you're dying. Heini. Here I am. My, I wanna say heini. Here I am. God. And then God being like, welcome back son. And you know, yeah. I'm saved. And you know, like, I don't know, bro. I'm be, I'm, I'm being hard on myself. You're right. Right.
[00:52:45] Sam: Because that's not how it, it works. That's not how it's gonna work. Like I. And maybe we'll, who knows? I can't speak for God. Who am I to fucking say? But, like, we need to be able to... And this is in the spiritual arena, this is in the political arena, this is in our working lives, this is everywhere. In our relationships.
We need to be able to act with faith. With faith that there is something more than what we see in front
[00:53:18] Zach: of us. I, I agree with you. I believe you.
[00:53:20] Sam: Whether it's God or whether it's, it's, it's, uh, uh, an optimistic future or whether it's, uh, uh, whatever. You know, like, if you, if you, if you act out of cynicism, if you act out of, uh, Out of a, what we call realism, uh, a calculation of, of, of simple like numbers and facts.
Then you leave no room for a miracle. You leave no room for an optimistic future. You only create what you sow.
[00:53:57] Zach: Yes.
[00:54:02] Sam: You know, we, we need to be able to sacrifice. Things that are important to us in order for there to be a future of peace
[00:54:15] Zach: and prosperity beyond what we can
[00:54:17] Sam: see now. Yes. And often times that will mean
acting off of faith, acting off of what might not be the proper calculation of
[00:54:30] Zach: numbers. Sometimes it's very hard for me, when I say me, I don't mean to be selfish. But I'm just trying to relate to myself and not project myself onto other people, even though I have a strong suspicion that everyone feels, that most people feel this way too.
But for me, it's so difficult to do that because I think, I call it an addiction because of my, my, you know, inclination towards being pulled by my, by my mind, you know, and, and, As you were speaking, I was thinking, okay, so what, like, you do have to make sacrifices, right? In the Bible, um, people made, had to make sacrifices, right?
It doesn't necessarily mean, like, a physical sacrifice, but it could be something that's, like, a sacrifice. A, hey, God, listen, um, you know, I'm always on my phone so much. And it's like taking me away from being focused, so I'm going to sacrifice my desire to look at my phone before bed and leave my phone, you know, in the kitchen for a week.
It's not like a sacrifice for God, but it is a sacrifice that helps you become more aligned, which is godly, I believe, I think, I feel. But it definitely helps when you have empowerment from people around you. For me, personally, I feel like I want to be part of a, like I want to be part of like a, uh, like a, like a, like a, like some sort of temple in the Himalayas.
Where, you 4 a. m. and do our meditations and our martial arts practices and condition our bodies and minds. You know, the body is a, is a, uh, is a very powerful, the body is very powerful, the mind is very powerful. These are very, very powerful things that we're in control of, which is very interesting. And untapped potential lies within ourselves.
And uh,
I definitely want to start doing something and make a change. I don't know what it is.
Um, you know, what do you, what do you think is something that, uh,
what do you think, is there anything coming to you that, that you feel like you, that you would be willing to sacrifice in order for you to, uh,
come into alignment with your being?
[00:57:22] Sam: Okay, a few things come to mind. The
first is, is on, on the idea of sacrifice. I always think about, um, the philosopher Kierkegaard, who, um, outlines this sort of like modality of being that he calls the knight of infinite faith. And he actually cites Torah, um, to make his point. He's a Christian philosopher, but he cites Torah. He cites, um, Abraham and Isaac on the mountain.
You know, God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son. The thing that was the reward of the covenant with God was Isaac. Abraham went to, God went to Abraham and said, I will make you a people. I will give you a son and he will have sons and that, and that your people will spread in exchange for your devotion to me.
Right? So, the thing that Abraham wanted was a son. Yeah. And he got it. His why. His why. Isaac was Abraham's why. Fundamentally. And he was willing to... And God asked Abraham to sacrifice him. To kill him. Yeah. To tie him up and stab him through the heart. And he did. He literally does it. He does it. He, he doesn't, he doesn't back out.
He doesn't complain. He does it. He killed his son. It is only the intervention of the angels stopping his hand, which is already moving. Yeah. Changing the reality of physics to end the momentum
[00:59:03] Zach: of the question about that. I'm like, the little, the little asshole comes out. He's like, angels have no free will, right?
We're taught that angels don't have free will. Exactly. So how could angels go against our nature and stay at the hand of Abraham?
[00:59:15] Sam: They didn't. It was God's
[00:59:16] Zach: demand. God demanded the angels to do that? Yes. He also demanded the angels to do that at the same time? Yes. God is a fickle f...
[00:59:24] Sam: No, God is not fickle.
Uh huh. Because the thing is that... Kierkegaard
describes the night of infinite faith as being willing to sacrifice everything. Yeah. And in exchange for his willingness to sacrifice, he receives it all back and more than he ever could have imagined. Yeah. Through What he calls the virtue of the
[00:59:51] Zach: absurd. I love that. It's kind of similar to Job also.
Very
[00:59:55] Sam: similar to Job. And we see this in Torah consistently. Yeah, I agree. This is the theme of Torah. Oh man. Be willing to sacrifice your most sacred cows. Yeah. For the sake of God. For the sake of humanity. For the sake of this universal energy that we all feel. Be willing to sacrifice. And if you are willing to sacrifice faith, that you will get it back and more, the virtue of the absurd.
Faith moves mountains.
[01:00:28] Zach: Faith literally moves mountains. That's what Jesus said. I love quoting Jesus with Torah. It's so beautiful. Because
[01:00:34] Sam: Jesus was an amazing rabbi. He
[01:00:36] Zach: says, have ye but faith you could have moved mountains. I don't know if it was Jesus or one of his people. It's, it's, and,
[01:00:45] Sam: and, so, so this, this is what, this is what comes to me.
You know the question of what to do specifically. I don't know yet. I learned Torah Maybe that's a part of it for me. Like I mean, we've already discussed my desire to become a rabbi Yeah, if I'm gonna be totally honest part of the reason that I feel drawn to That path in life is because having a voice among Jews In this specific political situation that we find ourselves in, in this moment in time, I think is, um,
[01:01:25] Zach: important.
I agree. I also think this podcast... I think this
[01:01:31] Sam: podcast is a part of it. Is a part of it. I think that, um, I think for me something that is important that I would like to be involved with is, um, conversations with... Palestinian people. Yeah. Is, is, is really engaging with the other side. Yeah. Um, I think, I think that there's not nearly enough.
[01:01:55] Zach: There's not. There is not. No. Especially people from like our, you know, background.
[01:02:04] Sam: It just doesn't happen. Um, and it's tragic. It doesn't happen here. It certainly doesn't happen
[01:02:10] Zach: in Israel. I saw Lex Freeman interview a Palestinian person. The problem is that there's no compromise. Palestinians really feel, rightfully so.
That they were forcibly removed out of their houses. They were by an oppressing go nation or a government. Right. How do
[01:02:30] Sam: you re-wire that? How, how do you rewire that? Because, because, because there is a, you gotta apologize. You have to, there is a reality there, you know, like you have to accept responsibility.
But my, my, my, my whole life in many ways was changed by my time in Israel. And especially my, uh, time in Sfat. Yeah. And I know for a fact, I literally read a plaque in the city, um, that there was a, like, dramatic ruse that forcibly evicted the entire Arab population of Sfat out of their homes so that Jews can move in.
[01:03:10] Zach: Yeah. This happened. I know it happened. I know it happened. I know people, I know there are Arabs living in Haifa who, for generations... Who are removed and then and yeah, okay, you know what my excuse is Sam and I'm being I'm being sarcastic It's this is our homeland, right? No, but now okay The Jewish people have a right to homeland.
Okay, they do because here's the truth if we didn't have a home homeland We probably probably be I mean, like, pretty, like, exterminated.
[01:03:42] Sam: I mean, we need a homeland. The reality is that we have seen the extermination of Jews happen. Time and time again. Time and time again. Like, like, like, you know, I, of course the narrative that Arabs, Palestinians are oppressed within the borders of the state of Israel, um, and without it is, Legitimate narrative to some degree, you know, like it did it look we've seen it.
We know what we've been discussing it for an hour It is also real that the Jews aren't oppressed people and always have been.
[01:04:17] Zach: Yeah Oh, no, it seems that we're not because we're the richest people
[01:04:21] Sam: We're not the richest people right right now like like right now. Like yes. Yes bike by capital Jews have been very successful You know, thank have
[01:04:28] Zach: to be we have to be successful We're successful out of necessity.
[01:04:32] Sam: Right, because otherwise
[01:04:32] Zach: we would be in the dirt. We have to be successful. It's a fear. It's a fear. You have to be successful. You have to be able to... And you know what? I'm not making excuses for being successful. Okay? It's good to be successful. It's empowering to be successful. Everyone should try to be successful in their own rights.
It feels good to be successful. Success is not a bad thing. And it isn't something to shy away from or to feel shame around. I'm not going to feel ashamed because I'm Jewish. I personally am not successful. Whatever that means. Like, wealthy at any stretch of the imagination. I am, uh, you know, I don't want to get into that.
It's a whole different story, uh, topic. But, um,
You Coexist together with Israelis, Israeli Jewish people. Israeli Christians, coexist, coexist peacefully. I've driven through Arab villages in Israel, myself, coming back from the, from tfa, coming from coming back from the ra, driving down the highway. You know that there's a highway mm-hmm. that goes through the desert.
I've driven on pal. I've driven on rules with Palestinian license plates. I'm not going to lie, I was really scared. And when I reached Jerusalem, I was like, thank God. Because it was like, very scary. Thinking about all the stories. It was very scary. But I do believe that we, that we could, like, I want to live, I want to live peacefully with Palestinians, and I want to live peacefully with everybody around me.
You know, I, I don't like the, Singapore has a very interesting, uh, uh, thing, where they purposely, the government of Singapore makes, They make you live with other nationalities, like if, like you have, you're incentivized to live with, like, if you're like, you know, European, you don't live in the European part of town.
You live in the same part of town with like other nationalities. New York is kind of similar. New York is like that. We, we, New York is a melting pot of nationalities, you know, and there's little sub factions in New York, but you know, but still if you walk around, you're, you know, you meet everybody from all walks of life.
Um, more dialogue, Sam, more dialogue, more, more dialogue. I, I, I would like to sit in a dialogue with people from, all have, that have all, that have views, other views, other than my own. To, to, to learn, to learn, you know, how we could, uh, to learn how we're similar. To learn how, to learn, to learn how, how we're similar.
And
[01:07:13] Sam: I think that that's, like, the,
and, and, and, you know, and, and, and, like, this, this goes in every direction, because this is something that I've seen. I'm very disappointed with, amongst many of my Jewish friends as well, is, is an unwillingness to see past their own nose. Is, is, is a, a fundamental, um, belief, they can't, and that's okay, but, but, but this, this, this belief that, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, you know what, I'm gonna fucking say it, this belief, this belief that being Jewish, Makes us special, makes us morally superior, makes us spiritually superior, Makes us any different from any other person on the planet at all is false.
Bullshit! It's bullshit. It needs to stop. It needs to
[01:08:03] Zach: stop now. I agree. It does.
[01:08:05] Sam: Like it needs, if we are going to be a light on ten nations, it cannot be from the top. No. It cannot be saying that we are special or different or better.
[01:08:13] Zach: No. Knock it off, Jews. Knock it off.
[01:08:18] Sam: Knock it the fuck off. I'm serious.
Like, it, it, cause, because you know what? It's gonna lead to this. It's gonna lead to our own destruction. It's gonna lead us to destroying others. It's gonna lead to death and fear and
[01:08:30] Zach: blood. And, and us destroying ourselves. We
[01:08:33] Sam: can't have it. No.
[01:08:35] Zach: I won't stand for it. But it's interesting because we're, we're taught in the Torah that like, half of the festival of, that we just went through is like, thanking God that he chose us from all other nations.
Right? It's like, ר ה ס Right? Like, That you, blessed be thou, God, who chose us from other nations and gave us the Torah. Which I guess doesn't make us, he's not really saying that we're morally superior. It just means that, like, You chose us to receive the Torah? Well, no, that is making us morally superior.
You're right. So that's confusing for me. It's so confusing for me, because it's like, I don't believe, I don't want to believe that. Like, okay, and, and, and, and even if I don't want to believe that, even if I have to believe that,
[01:09:20] Sam: what does that mean? Right, what does that mean? Right, I, I, I think that like, because, because, okay, like, fine, there's Maybe, maybe, maybe, right, it is true that, that God Uh, chose Jews in a, in a specific way to inherit the Torah and, and, and you can, you can even make arguments that like by the Jews, um, uh, accepting and then passing down the Torah, it led to, uh, a tremendous shift in the human psyche across the world in every single person.
Christianity, Christianity, which, which, uh, Christianity is an offshoot of Judaism or an extension of Judaism or an extension of Judaism. And, and, you know, for all of its, and so is Islam, and for all of their many, many faults, Jews included, um, the world has become a better place. There's, there's, there's been, there's been a general acceptance of, at the very least, peace as an ideal.
[01:10:24] Zach: I agree with you, and I promise you, I think it all comes down to experience. When you sit in your little cozy bubbles and echo chambers, and please listeners, my dear listeners, forgive me if I'm getting passionate. This, I've, this is not towards you. This is just my passion flaring up. But when I go out into the world, and I explore into uncharted territories for myself, which means like, Getting out to a new country or a new culture and experiencing that physically experiencing that it opens up my heart in an experiential physiological way.
And if we sit in our little cozy houses and we just sit behind the computer of a bubble, an echo chamber of negativity and you know, and, and me, me, me, me, me, my, my, my, my, my. It's all then you're then we're all liars, you know, uh when I was traveling in israel I was doing a hike and I think I mentioned this in a previous podcast, but just in case you haven't heard that I hiked, it's called Yamliyam, sea to sea and along the way, we hiked through Arabic villages, which for me were really scary, actually, because it's not, it doesn't look like the most friendliest places.
It's kind of not that nice. Now, there are really beautiful Arab, Arabic neighborhoods, but the ones that I hiked through were kind of scary. And a lot of stories crept up, you know, you're going to get killed, kidnapped, etc. And you know what, as we were hiking, This Arab woman runs out of her house screaming at us in Arabic, and I'm fucking petrified.
Oh, no, what do you want from me? She's like you better come here and drink water and eat some food or else you're gonna get dehydrated or something like that I'm like wait what my friend translated for me. I'm like oh my god. That's amazingly beautiful and you know and I've I've uh Really tried my best to uh Open my heart to people that are not, that are different, that I perceive as different.
And now, okay, again, here's, here's a big thing that Jews will say. Not Jews, generally, but my friends who are Jewish will say, Can't trust a Palestinian. You know, you show them love, they're gonna stab you in the back. Now that may be true. I don't know. It happened to me, like, the people that were doing work in our basement in Israel, who I thought we were friends, they robbed us one night.
Blind. What we were like in synagogue, they just
[01:12:56] Sam: busted through it. Really, they, they, and you knew it was these people that took the stuff?
[01:13:00] Zach: Yeah, I mean, like, it's a common story, you know. But I'm okay, I don't, I'm not mad, I'm not, I'm not, they, they, you know, it is what it is. Yeah. I think it's a, it's a conscious evolution.
I'm not saying that they're less, you know, evolved. I'm just saying each, individually, we have to evolve consciously. 10, 10 years ago, I wasn't where I, where I am today. Totally. And I'm sure in 10 years in the future, I won't be where I'm today. My under, hopefully I'll be more op, I'll be open-minded and even tempered and have a good, um, equanimity in, in, in me.
An e an an an ous equanimous spirit as Ramm Dass would say,
actions, action. Action. We gotta, I wanna do more action. I wanna do more action. So do
[01:13:44] Sam: I. And I hope that we can hold each other accountable to that.
[01:13:48] Zach: we must hold each other accountable. We have been holding each other accountable. We have been, this podcast is us holding each other accountable. Okay. So then we're going to have to start leveling up, I think.
And we're going to have to invite people from different walks of life on our, on this show. It's not even our show. It's a, it's a platform to express. Okay. It's an expressionary platform.
[01:14:09] Sam: Yes. And that's it. Yes, that's it. All right. Stay tuned guys. It's going to, yeah. Well, you know what? We're going to step it up.
We're gonna do, I don't know what we're gonna do, but we're gonna do something that we've never done before. It's true. We're gonna do something that, um, hopefully is, is unique, hopefully is powerful, hopefully moves the needle in some way because I can't... I can't do nothing.
[01:14:38] Zach: No, we can't. We can't sit idly by and expect other people to take care of the problem.
When they themselves are not, are like...
[01:14:46] Sam: I mean, that's the reality, that's the truth. The reality is that... Look, I mean, the sad reality is that everybody on both sides who hold power in this situation, I do not trust.
[01:15:00] Zach: Neither do I. So stay tuned next week. And watch how Sam and I solve the Palestinian Israel problem.
[01:15:15] Sam: This is Hashem's hot tub. Where slowly but surely, we're bringing peace. Yeah. To the Middle East. Yep. Good night.
[01:15:26] Zach: Good night, everyone.