June 23, 2025 • 19 mins
Join Emily and Holly as we sit down with Rabbi Yakov Menken, executive VP of the Coalition for Jewish Values, for a profound and eye-opening conversation on what Judaism teaches about miracles. From the parting of the Red Sea to personal stories of divine intervention, Rabbi Yakov shares how Jewish tradition sees every moment of existence as miraculous. They explore why some people resist calling anything a miracle, how science and faith can coexist, and what the Hebrew word for "miracle" really means.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
As we've interviewed people, we've discovered something incredible. Miracles transcend boundaries,
in fact, no matter someone's background or religious beliefs. A
Newsweek poll found that eighty four percent of Americans believe
in miracles.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
But here's the thing. We are not priests, we're not
pastors or religious scholars. We're just two sisters who love
God and love miracles. So we thought it would be
fascinating if we sat down with different religious leaders to
see what they teach about miracles. This is the Miracle Files.
(00:40):
I'm Emily Jones.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And I'm Holly Worthington. We're two sisters who love a
captivating true story, but we're also seeking more light in
our lives.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So we're on a mission to find and share unforgettable,
uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us
on this journey.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Today, our guest is Rabbi Yakov Mencken. Rabbi Menkin is
the executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values.
He's the founder and director of Project Genesis. He's been
published in Fox News, Newsweek, The Federalist, The New York Observer,
and others. He's also the author of the Everything Torah Book. Welcome,
(01:21):
Rabbi Yakov.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I'm glad to be with you.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Thank you so much for being here. So I'll be
honest with you. I don't know a lot about the
Jewish religion. I know a little bit. Are you Orthodox Jewish.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Or observant the traditional what Judaism always looked like. The
jous is that all the modern movements are a two
hundred and some odd year old invention, which is a
blip on the radar when you look at the length
of history and Jewish history in particular.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I actually was a wedding videographer, so I filmed an
Orthodox Jewish wedding and it was amazing. I mean it
was so impressive and the amount of like scripture that
they had memorized in Hebrew, and I was so impressed
by everything I saw. But maybe you can enlighten us
a little bit more about the Jewish faith.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I know that.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
You, you know, you believe in miracles in the Old Testament.
You know, the Party and the Red Sea, Jonah in
the whale, and.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
So many miracles in the Old Testament.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, yeah, So can you tell us what the Jewish
faith believes about miracles, and also do you believe miracles
still happen today?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yes, miracles happen at every moment. That that's the short answer.
Judaism regards every our very existence is something that God
is doing and not that God did. There's no past
tense in that we actually read. Now I'm going to
(02:55):
say it and they're going to translate it. Makadholm Tommy
Mysa Braves who renews in every day, always or constantly
the work of creation, that that's part of our morning prayers.
That that phrase that I pulled out is right there
(03:15):
in daily prayers. That this concept that at every moment
God is renewing the work of creation. So even the
air we breathe is a miracle. The fact that our
bodies continue to function properly is a miracle. We actually
have a blessing of gratitude every time we use the
(03:37):
bathroom correctly, because when a person is filled with vessels
and orifices, and if any of them go wrong all
of a sudden, the person can no longer survive. And
so we are enjoined to continue remembering and thinking about
this idea that life itself is a miracle. And so yes,
(04:00):
of course we see miracles all around us.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It sounds like you live in a lot of gratitude,
which is really beautiful.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
That is a very important place to be. I think
that that's one thing that if we think that everything
is coming to us and we expect more, you live
a very different life because you're looking at all the
things you don't have. When you live a life of gratitude,
you're looking at life and thinking about all the things
(04:27):
that you do have. And yeah, it's a much better
place to be.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I would definitely agree that our lives and just existence
are miracles.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So how would you define a miracle.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Well, what we regard as a miracle is when something
goes off the charts, as it were, meaning to say
that since everything is a miracle, it's all a matter
of a judgment called when you see something that is
really like, oh, that should not have happened that way,
and yet it did. You know, recently, I was dressed
(05:02):
yesterday speaking to someone who, you know. I asked how
he's doing, and he says, oh, I'm getting better, you know,
day by day. And I had understood that this fellow
had an illness from which one is not meant to
recover and keep recovering. That's a miracle, you know. That's
(05:22):
the type of thing you know that you don't expect.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
It is amazing to me that, you know, so many people,
regardless of their religious faith, believe in miracles. And that's
something that kind of we discussed it earlier, that it
transcends boundaries. We all kind of share this belief in miracles.
So one question I would have for you is have
you experienced any really powerful miracles in your own life
that you would be willing to share with us.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Meeting my wife, Yeah, very complicated miracle, seeing my kids
meet their espouses. I remember, you know, it being described
to me by a rabbi. The fact that I progressed
so quickly in my studies if I started as an adult.
(06:10):
I started at the age of eighteen to be observant
and at the age of twenty to really start studying.
And that is something that the whole concept of Jewish
schooling is that we start a child off from preschool
level learning Judaism and learning Jewish texts as part of
the study every single day up to the high school
(06:33):
years and then into college. So how does a guy
come in at the age of twenty and catch up
to that, so, you know, and he said to me.
You know that he quoted an aphorism from Jewish thought,
that is, the one who owns the miracle, the one
who went through the miracle is the last person to
(06:54):
recognize the miracle. In rough translation of what he said,
just the fact that I can make my way through
the books behind me is complicated and I shouldn't have
been able to accomplish that if not for God shepherding
me along the way.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, so we always need to hear the term divine intervention?
Is that something like would you use that term or
is that?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yes, divine intervention? Yeah, that works with us.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
That is awesome.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
There are certain terms we can tell you the ones
that are uniquely Christian when they come up, but sure
that is definitely not one. The divine intervention is all there. Yeah,
hashkaka pratit is like particular supervision is almost a more
precise translation of that, like that somebody's watching over that,
(07:44):
you know, person at that moment, or obviously the divine
was watching over that person at that moment. Yeah, I
mean the whole point of this concept of hashkakha protest
is that every individual experiences that that God really is
watching over each of us.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, I would definitely agree.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
So why do you think miracles happen? And or like,
what is the point of miracles?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Well, it's built into the world. As I said, everything
is a miracle. So therefore every moment we wouldn't be
here without that constant refresh on the universe. And at
the same time, these you know, there's no question that
sometimes these miracles happen because God has a greater purpose.
(08:29):
There's something special there that you know, there was a
situation where you know, the only two people walked off
that plane crash, and you know there was something there,
there was some reason.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
It's interesting that so many people see these amazing miracles
and just want to say, oh, you know, I'm going
to credit it to just coincidence or have you seen
all the bad things that are happening in the world too,
And there's so many people that just want to explain
away a miracle through science or coincidence. And so what
would your response be to when people just say, oh, well,
(09:04):
bad things are happening to or you know, not everything
ends up being a miracle.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
There is definitely you know, obviously there's bad things happening
in the world. And you know, we regardless everything having
a purpose, even the bad things. When you know, we've
seen a holocaust in Jewish history, so yeah, we know
what bad things are. Yeah, but there's always a divine purpose.
And you know, there's obviously a psychological resistance to acknowledging
(09:34):
a miracle that when people want to live their their
own lives, and a lot of it is the idea
that you know, you're subjugated to an ultimate authority. If
there's somebody watching over you want something better for you
or from you that you know, your failure to deliver
on that becomes something that you have to deal with
(09:54):
and think about. It's easier to say that life is
up to me, I can do whatever I want. And
you know that's that's a great way to you know,
you live your life with total freedom to do whatever
you want. Your overwriting religious principle becomes don't get caught.
You know that that's that's not it, that's not you
know The point is that you know when when when
(10:17):
you're when you are, authority is a real authority when
it's God, he knows what's going on in the bedroom
when nobody else is watching you, So you know, there's
no such thing as don't get caught. You were caught
the moment it happened.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, So what would you say about like science? Would
you also say like science and miracles coincide? How would
you describe a Jewish perspective on science?
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Well, you know, it's it's colored a little bit by
my background. I'm a science person. My degree is in
computer science. I uh, not only did physics and chemistry,
also did biology, you know, and and so you you
see when you look at what the Medris says about.
(11:00):
For example, Adam and Eve were twenty years old when
they were created, meaning biologically they were adults. They were
adult people walking around. They were not babies who needed care, guidance, feeding,
changes of diapers, etc. The universe in which they were found,
the fact that it looks to be fifteen billion years old,
(11:23):
is not a contradiction. According to us, that's what it's
supposed to look like. It is supposed to be that
the universe is also adult. In fact, it would not
make sense for a twenty year old Adam and Eve
and encountering adult trees and adult animals to be walking
on an earth that was five days old. So it's
(11:45):
the fact that it looks five billion years old. That
is again not a contradiction. That's a pretty not short
answer to the science and Bible question, you know, from
our perspective.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
So you could be Jewish and you could be a
sign and.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
It's oh a lot, there's a lot who are Yeah,
evolutionary biologists are self selecting groups somehow, But the rest
of the sciences are filled. You know, there's plenty of
observant Jewish physicists and astronomers. And I actually had the
wife of a friend of mine. I knew the friend
before he got married. The wife joked later that she
(12:24):
was having problems with technical support and she said to
the guy, don't tell me that you have to be
a rocket scientist to understand this, because I'm a rocket scientist.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Okay, So we are Christian and many of our listeners
are Christian. I figured that I was just wondering, Yeah,
I was just wondering, like, what do you want Christians
to know about Judaism?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
It's interesting. Mike Huckabee several years ago, long before he
was nominated to be the new ambassador at Israel, he said,
you know, Jews can go through life not having a
whole lot of familiarity with Christians. But Christians can't go
through life without having a familiarity with Judaism, because you
(13:10):
know what, Jesus was a Jew. The Founding Fathers used
the Book of Deuteronomy more than any other source text
for the ideas that they were using to form America
a first world civilization depends on certain Biblical ideas, and
those are ideas that we share. Yeah, the value of
(13:31):
human life, choosing peace over warfare, universal education, universal justice,
social responsibility, charity, the value of family. They're all built.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
In so we have a lot more in common than
probably people even realize.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Okay, one more question I have for you is if
you were to just pick your favorite miracle in the
Old Testament or anytime, Well, hey, start with.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
What I'm familiar with. Yeah, I mean, I know the
story is about the fish, but you know, but I mean,
obviously the revelation at Sinai, the whole the number of
miracles on which that surround all of that, the forty
years in the desert, that's you know, those were the
(14:19):
biggest biblical miracles. Those were you know, an entire nation
confronting the voice of God to the point where they
the people said, Moses, we can't handle it. You have
to go. You go listen and you tell us what
God says. We believe it. We've heard God speak now
and it's too much for us, you know. So they
(14:41):
that was obviously miracles, the whole thing being surrounded, having
clouds of glory, fire by day by night, clouds by day,
all the protections, Gods, divine presence descending on the tabernacle,
all of these things which we don't see today. And
that was all, you know, at one point happening together.
(15:02):
Pretty miraculous food every morning. Oh yeah, Anna, that interesting,
you know, speaking of the manna was perfect food. Every
molecule was digested. There was no need to excrete afterwards.
So this is all, you know, Like, that's really about
(15:22):
that as a miracle. That's it. That's in our mantrash.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Wow, Well, is there anything else you would like to
share with this about your thoughts?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
You know, I think I really do think we covered
you know, miracles pretty well. I mean, even even the negative,
even the ones that you know don't work out the
way we would like them to because we don't know
what's going on upstairs. There's there's a reason we don't
know what it is, and you know, one day we
will learn.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, well, it is such an honor to speak with you.
I love to, you know, just learn more about other
religions and cultures and really to find our common ground
and the things that we can share and the things
that we can appreciate together. So I really appreciate you
taking the time to talk with us today.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Sure, I just have to ask you, how do you
say miracle and Hebrew.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Nice and n ees is the spelling in English characters? Yeah,
we could be I'm remembering. You know, there was there
was some case where an entire building fell during the
first the First Gulf War when Saddam Hussein was firing
(16:29):
scud missiles at Israel and one after the other was
landing and nobody was dying, and there was a woman
in a building, you know, and the entire building was
destroyed and she didn't have a scratch. And the reporter
on TV or radio, the radio reporter, I know this
story because there was an observant fellow riding the back
(16:50):
of a taxi being driven by an apparently secular Israeli
and the reporter asks the woman, what do you think
about this? Miracle you just experienced, you know. She walks
away without a scratch from the building falling all around her.
She says, nays, mapito nas, you know a miracle? What
do you mean as a miracle?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
That's what happened.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
And the taxi driver said to the fellow in the back,
she doesn't know what she's talking about. She's still in shock.
Wait wait until she wakes up from the trauma and
realizes that she experienced a miracle, because it's obvious that
what she experienced was a miracle, and she just wasn't
prepared to accept it.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah, a lot of people recognize miracles easier than others
that they're just always going to say it wasn't a miracle.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Just depends. Okay, Well, will you before we head out,
will you share your favorite scripture or prayer in Hebrew
with us?
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Favorite prayer?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
A favorite?
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Will you share it a favorite? I think about the
paragraph of the Shama Hero Israel the Lord or God
the Lord is won that that first paragraph of Schama,
which women at least recite it once a day, Men
have to say it, say it twice a day. That
(18:11):
passage right in there has Vishinan Tamlafnavi Divartamo. You should
teach it to your children and used to speak about them.
It's a parental obligation to educate the next generation. That's
you know, that's part of the whole mission of forming
a family is you have kids, you have a next generation.
You teach the next generation right from wrong, and so
(18:33):
that makes it a favorite passage, both in the way
it's constructed and what it tells us to do.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, awesome, Well, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, we really appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, it's been great to talk with you.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
All right, thank you. Have a great day to you
and all your listeners.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle
to share, contact us at the Miracle files dot com
or find us on Facebook.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
We're now releasing multiple episodes each month, so subscribe on
your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content
as well.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Join us next time as we discover more of God's
miracles and don't forget to look for His light in
your own lives.
As we've interviewed people, we've discovered something incredible. Miracles transcend boundaries,
in fact, no matter someone's background or religious beliefs. A
Newsweek poll found that eighty four percent of Americans believe
in miracles.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
But here's the thing. We are not priests, we're not
pastors or religious scholars. We're just two sisters who love
God and love miracles. So we thought it would be
fascinating if we sat down with different religious leaders to
see what they teach about miracles. This is the Miracle Files.
(00:40):
I'm Emily Jones.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
And I'm Holly Worthington. We're two sisters who love a
captivating true story, but we're also seeking more light in
our lives.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So we're on a mission to find and share unforgettable,
uplifting stories of God's miracles. We hope you'll join us
on this journey.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Today, our guest is Rabbi Yakov Mencken. Rabbi Menkin is
the executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values.
He's the founder and director of Project Genesis. He's been
published in Fox News, Newsweek, The Federalist, The New York Observer,
and others. He's also the author of the Everything Torah Book. Welcome,
(01:21):
Rabbi Yakov.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I'm glad to be with you.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Thank you so much for being here. So I'll be
honest with you. I don't know a lot about the
Jewish religion. I know a little bit. Are you Orthodox Jewish.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Or observant the traditional what Judaism always looked like. The
jous is that all the modern movements are a two
hundred and some odd year old invention, which is a
blip on the radar when you look at the length
of history and Jewish history in particular.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I actually was a wedding videographer, so I filmed an
Orthodox Jewish wedding and it was amazing. I mean it
was so impressive and the amount of like scripture that
they had memorized in Hebrew, and I was so impressed
by everything I saw. But maybe you can enlighten us
a little bit more about the Jewish faith.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I know that.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
You, you know, you believe in miracles in the Old Testament.
You know, the Party and the Red Sea, Jonah in
the whale, and.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
So many miracles in the Old Testament.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, yeah, So can you tell us what the Jewish
faith believes about miracles, and also do you believe miracles
still happen today?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yes, miracles happen at every moment. That that's the short answer.
Judaism regards every our very existence is something that God
is doing and not that God did. There's no past
tense in that we actually read. Now I'm going to
(02:55):
say it and they're going to translate it. Makadholm Tommy
Mysa Braves who renews in every day, always or constantly
the work of creation, that that's part of our morning prayers.
That that phrase that I pulled out is right there
(03:15):
in daily prayers. That this concept that at every moment
God is renewing the work of creation. So even the
air we breathe is a miracle. The fact that our
bodies continue to function properly is a miracle. We actually
have a blessing of gratitude every time we use the
(03:37):
bathroom correctly, because when a person is filled with vessels
and orifices, and if any of them go wrong all
of a sudden, the person can no longer survive. And
so we are enjoined to continue remembering and thinking about
this idea that life itself is a miracle. And so yes,
(04:00):
of course we see miracles all around us.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It sounds like you live in a lot of gratitude,
which is really beautiful.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
That is a very important place to be. I think
that that's one thing that if we think that everything
is coming to us and we expect more, you live
a very different life because you're looking at all the
things you don't have. When you live a life of gratitude,
you're looking at life and thinking about all the things
(04:27):
that you do have. And yeah, it's a much better
place to be.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I would definitely agree that our lives and just existence
are miracles.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So how would you define a miracle.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Well, what we regard as a miracle is when something
goes off the charts, as it were, meaning to say
that since everything is a miracle, it's all a matter
of a judgment called when you see something that is
really like, oh, that should not have happened that way,
and yet it did. You know, recently, I was dressed
(05:02):
yesterday speaking to someone who, you know. I asked how
he's doing, and he says, oh, I'm getting better, you know,
day by day. And I had understood that this fellow
had an illness from which one is not meant to
recover and keep recovering. That's a miracle, you know. That's
(05:22):
the type of thing you know that you don't expect.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
It is amazing to me that, you know, so many people,
regardless of their religious faith, believe in miracles. And that's
something that kind of we discussed it earlier, that it
transcends boundaries. We all kind of share this belief in miracles.
So one question I would have for you is have
you experienced any really powerful miracles in your own life
that you would be willing to share with us.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Meeting my wife, Yeah, very complicated miracle, seeing my kids
meet their espouses. I remember, you know, it being described
to me by a rabbi. The fact that I progressed
so quickly in my studies if I started as an adult.
(06:10):
I started at the age of eighteen to be observant
and at the age of twenty to really start studying.
And that is something that the whole concept of Jewish
schooling is that we start a child off from preschool
level learning Judaism and learning Jewish texts as part of
the study every single day up to the high school
(06:33):
years and then into college. So how does a guy
come in at the age of twenty and catch up
to that, so, you know, and he said to me.
You know that he quoted an aphorism from Jewish thought,
that is, the one who owns the miracle, the one
who went through the miracle is the last person to
(06:54):
recognize the miracle. In rough translation of what he said,
just the fact that I can make my way through
the books behind me is complicated and I shouldn't have
been able to accomplish that if not for God shepherding
me along the way.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, so we always need to hear the term divine intervention?
Is that something like would you use that term or
is that?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yes, divine intervention? Yeah, that works with us.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
That is awesome.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
There are certain terms we can tell you the ones
that are uniquely Christian when they come up, but sure
that is definitely not one. The divine intervention is all there. Yeah,
hashkaka pratit is like particular supervision is almost a more
precise translation of that, like that somebody's watching over that,
(07:44):
you know, person at that moment, or obviously the divine
was watching over that person at that moment. Yeah, I
mean the whole point of this concept of hashkakha protest
is that every individual experiences that that God really is
watching over each of us.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, I would definitely agree.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
So why do you think miracles happen? And or like,
what is the point of miracles?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Well, it's built into the world. As I said, everything
is a miracle. So therefore every moment we wouldn't be
here without that constant refresh on the universe. And at
the same time, these you know, there's no question that
sometimes these miracles happen because God has a greater purpose.
(08:29):
There's something special there that you know, there was a
situation where you know, the only two people walked off
that plane crash, and you know there was something there,
there was some reason.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
It's interesting that so many people see these amazing miracles
and just want to say, oh, you know, I'm going
to credit it to just coincidence or have you seen
all the bad things that are happening in the world too,
And there's so many people that just want to explain
away a miracle through science or coincidence. And so what
would your response be to when people just say, oh, well,
(09:04):
bad things are happening to or you know, not everything
ends up being a miracle.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
There is definitely you know, obviously there's bad things happening
in the world. And you know, we regardless everything having
a purpose, even the bad things. When you know, we've
seen a holocaust in Jewish history, so yeah, we know
what bad things are. Yeah, but there's always a divine purpose.
And you know, there's obviously a psychological resistance to acknowledging
(09:34):
a miracle that when people want to live their their
own lives, and a lot of it is the idea
that you know, you're subjugated to an ultimate authority. If
there's somebody watching over you want something better for you
or from you that you know, your failure to deliver
on that becomes something that you have to deal with
(09:54):
and think about. It's easier to say that life is
up to me, I can do whatever I want. And
you know that's that's a great way to you know,
you live your life with total freedom to do whatever
you want. Your overwriting religious principle becomes don't get caught.
You know that that's that's not it, that's not you
know The point is that you know when when when
(10:17):
you're when you are, authority is a real authority when
it's God, he knows what's going on in the bedroom
when nobody else is watching you, So you know, there's
no such thing as don't get caught. You were caught
the moment it happened.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, So what would you say about like science? Would
you also say like science and miracles coincide? How would
you describe a Jewish perspective on science?
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Well, you know, it's it's colored a little bit by
my background. I'm a science person. My degree is in
computer science. I uh, not only did physics and chemistry,
also did biology, you know, and and so you you
see when you look at what the Medris says about.
(11:00):
For example, Adam and Eve were twenty years old when
they were created, meaning biologically they were adults. They were
adult people walking around. They were not babies who needed care, guidance, feeding,
changes of diapers, etc. The universe in which they were found,
the fact that it looks to be fifteen billion years old,
(11:23):
is not a contradiction. According to us, that's what it's
supposed to look like. It is supposed to be that
the universe is also adult. In fact, it would not
make sense for a twenty year old Adam and Eve
and encountering adult trees and adult animals to be walking
on an earth that was five days old. So it's
(11:45):
the fact that it looks five billion years old. That
is again not a contradiction. That's a pretty not short
answer to the science and Bible question, you know, from
our perspective.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
So you could be Jewish and you could be a
sign and.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
It's oh a lot, there's a lot who are Yeah,
evolutionary biologists are self selecting groups somehow, But the rest
of the sciences are filled. You know, there's plenty of
observant Jewish physicists and astronomers. And I actually had the
wife of a friend of mine. I knew the friend
before he got married. The wife joked later that she
(12:24):
was having problems with technical support and she said to
the guy, don't tell me that you have to be
a rocket scientist to understand this, because I'm a rocket scientist.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Okay, So we are Christian and many of our listeners
are Christian. I figured that I was just wondering, Yeah,
I was just wondering, like, what do you want Christians
to know about Judaism?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
It's interesting. Mike Huckabee several years ago, long before he
was nominated to be the new ambassador at Israel, he said,
you know, Jews can go through life not having a
whole lot of familiarity with Christians. But Christians can't go
through life without having a familiarity with Judaism, because you
(13:10):
know what, Jesus was a Jew. The Founding Fathers used
the Book of Deuteronomy more than any other source text
for the ideas that they were using to form America
a first world civilization depends on certain Biblical ideas, and
those are ideas that we share. Yeah, the value of
(13:31):
human life, choosing peace over warfare, universal education, universal justice,
social responsibility, charity, the value of family. They're all built.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
In so we have a lot more in common than
probably people even realize.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Okay, one more question I have for you is if
you were to just pick your favorite miracle in the
Old Testament or anytime, Well, hey, start with.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
What I'm familiar with. Yeah, I mean, I know the
story is about the fish, but you know, but I mean,
obviously the revelation at Sinai, the whole the number of
miracles on which that surround all of that, the forty
years in the desert, that's you know, those were the
(14:19):
biggest biblical miracles. Those were you know, an entire nation
confronting the voice of God to the point where they
the people said, Moses, we can't handle it. You have
to go. You go listen and you tell us what
God says. We believe it. We've heard God speak now
and it's too much for us, you know. So they
(14:41):
that was obviously miracles, the whole thing being surrounded, having
clouds of glory, fire by day by night, clouds by day,
all the protections, Gods, divine presence descending on the tabernacle,
all of these things which we don't see today. And
that was all, you know, at one point happening together.
(15:02):
Pretty miraculous food every morning. Oh yeah, Anna, that interesting,
you know, speaking of the manna was perfect food. Every
molecule was digested. There was no need to excrete afterwards.
So this is all, you know, Like, that's really about
(15:22):
that as a miracle. That's it. That's in our mantrash.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Wow, Well, is there anything else you would like to
share with this about your thoughts?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
You know, I think I really do think we covered
you know, miracles pretty well. I mean, even even the negative,
even the ones that you know don't work out the
way we would like them to because we don't know
what's going on upstairs. There's there's a reason we don't
know what it is, and you know, one day we
will learn.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, well, it is such an honor to speak with you.
I love to, you know, just learn more about other
religions and cultures and really to find our common ground
and the things that we can share and the things
that we can appreciate together. So I really appreciate you
taking the time to talk with us today.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Sure, I just have to ask you, how do you
say miracle and Hebrew.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Nice and n ees is the spelling in English characters? Yeah,
we could be I'm remembering. You know, there was there
was some case where an entire building fell during the
first the First Gulf War when Saddam Hussein was firing
(16:29):
scud missiles at Israel and one after the other was
landing and nobody was dying, and there was a woman
in a building, you know, and the entire building was
destroyed and she didn't have a scratch. And the reporter
on TV or radio, the radio reporter, I know this
story because there was an observant fellow riding the back
(16:50):
of a taxi being driven by an apparently secular Israeli
and the reporter asks the woman, what do you think
about this? Miracle you just experienced, you know. She walks
away without a scratch from the building falling all around her.
She says, nays, mapito nas, you know a miracle? What
do you mean as a miracle?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
That's what happened.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
And the taxi driver said to the fellow in the back,
she doesn't know what she's talking about. She's still in shock.
Wait wait until she wakes up from the trauma and
realizes that she experienced a miracle, because it's obvious that
what she experienced was a miracle, and she just wasn't
prepared to accept it.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah, a lot of people recognize miracles easier than others
that they're just always going to say it wasn't a miracle.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Just depends. Okay, Well, will you before we head out,
will you share your favorite scripture or prayer in Hebrew
with us?
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Favorite prayer?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
A favorite?
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Will you share it a favorite? I think about the
paragraph of the Shama Hero Israel the Lord or God
the Lord is won that that first paragraph of Schama,
which women at least recite it once a day, Men
have to say it, say it twice a day. That
(18:11):
passage right in there has Vishinan Tamlafnavi Divartamo. You should
teach it to your children and used to speak about them.
It's a parental obligation to educate the next generation. That's
you know, that's part of the whole mission of forming
a family is you have kids, you have a next generation.
You teach the next generation right from wrong, and so
(18:33):
that makes it a favorite passage, both in the way
it's constructed and what it tells us to do.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, awesome, Well, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, we really appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, it's been great to talk with you.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
All right, thank you. Have a great day to you
and all your listeners.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle
to share, contact us at the Miracle files dot com
or find us on Facebook.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
We're now releasing multiple episodes each month, so subscribe on
your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content
as well.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Join us next time as we discover more of God's
miracles and don't forget to look for His light in
your own lives.
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