David Wolpe: Judaism | Lex Fridman Podcast #270
David Wolpe is a Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - Mizzen+Main: https://mizzenandmain.com and use code LEX to get 100 free credit - SimpliSafe: https://simplisafe.com/lex and use code LEX
the following is a conversation with rabbi david walpy someone who i have been a fan of for many years for the kindness and his heart the strength of his character and the kind of friends he keeps and talks with many of whom disagree with him but love him nevertheless including the late christopher hitchens i will have many conversations like these in the future about religion about islam christianity judaism hinduism buddhism and others looking to understand and celebrate the culture the tradition and the beauty of the people who practice these religions i will of course not shy away from the difficult topics i will talk both about hate and love about war and peace this conversation was recorded more than three weeks ago please allow me this time to speak on what has been on my mind if this is not interesting to you please skip i totally understand some people asked me to say a few words on the war in ukraine i think my words are worth little but perhaps let me try i consider doing a long solo episode on this war i tried several times but it is too personal for now to give you context i’ve been talking to refugees friends loved ones in ukraine in russia in poland slovakia moldova romania even uk germany canada india china and of course the united states some of them crying or angry or confused or scared i’m helping as best as i can privately and i’m hoping to help in the future by traveling to ukraine and russia and celebrating the humanity and the beauty of the people in this region this was all set up both for ukraine and russia trips before 2022 including conversations with scientists artists athletes leaders and just quote regular folks who are equally if not more fascinating to me for now it has become much more difficult but i’ll keep trying to find a way i was born in the soviet union my roots are both ukrainian and russian and today and until the day i die i’m an american i’m proud of all of this i hope to keep celebrating the culture and the incredible human beings that make up these nations and humanity as a whole we’re all one people we’re in this together that’s how i feel about the people of these nations now let me speak about those in the seats of power i condemn all actions of leaders who played geopolitical games on the world stage disregarding the cost paid in human suffering on the scale of millions for this reason i condemn vladimir putin’s invasion of ukraine and i condemn many of the military interventions by the superpowers of the world including by my country the country i love the united states that after world war ii has intervened in over 40 nations with many studies finding that the united states is culpable for an unfathomable number of civilian deaths i condem all heads of state who needlessly waged wars watching young men and women burn in the fires they started i don’t understand how humans can be so cruel to each other or rather i understand but i believe in a future world where this is no longer true let me also say a few words of what i hope to do with this podcast i want to explore the full complexity and beauty of human nature i believe each of us are capable of good and evil and i want to understand how the mind and the circumstance lead one to choose the former path or the latter and i believe conversation is one of the best ways to work toward this understanding for that i think i have to not only talk to the most inspiring humans in the world but also to the most controversial i will speak with many people who i disagree with politicians activists ceos heads of state with very different opinions on the world i will try hard to challenge their ideas without closing my mind to the depth and complexity of their perspective and their humanity my presence in the same room with wildly different people will make it easy for the media and the internet to pick and choose clips and snapshots attacking me for being a shill for one side or the other i can’t defend this point except to say that i’m a shill for no one and that i hope you see the strength of my integrity that i won’t be influenced by any of them no matter how rich powerful or charismatic they are like the poem if by roger kipling says if you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue or walk with kings or lose the common touch if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you if all men count with you but none too much this is a really really important thing to me that i try to live by that all human beings count with me the same people have criticized me for wanting to have some of these conversations like with vladimir putin and vladimir zelinski and for times in the past speaking about them without the seriousness the topic deserves for this i would sincerely like to apologize i’m disappointed even ashamed of my frequent ineloquence on these topics i will work hard to do better when i’m joking it should be clear that it’s a joke and hopefully actually funny when i’m being serious i should speak with care and rigor i’ve now done many hundreds of hours of podcast conversation despite my frequent failures and speaking i hope you know where my heart is unfortunately i think people will take clips of me and use them to attack me this will happen more and more i guess there’s nothing i can do but send them my love in the meantime try to be a better person and a better interviewer let me also say that i like humor especially dark humor i like being silly and not taking myself seriously i will keep taking risks with that all with the goal of having fun and celebrating humanity at its most absurd and most beautiful i will occasionally dress up in strange and weird outfits to celebrate the absurdity of life i will hang out break bread and joke with all kinds of people i don’t have to agree with them to laugh with them in order to escape for brief moment the tension the conflict the hatred in the world humor just might save this little chaotic little civilization of ours i love the ukrainian people i love the russian people and of course i love my fellow americans californians and midwesterners new yorkers and texans i love humans i love life and i want to share that love with others with you if i mess it up i’m really really sorry i’m trying my best i have no agenda and no one telling me what to do i feel like the luckiest guy in the world to have all these opportunities and i’m deeply grateful to be alive and to share that joy with other amazing people around me thank you for your support for all the love you’ve sent my way i will work my ass off to not disappoint you i love you all this is a lex friedman podcast to support it please check out our sponsors in the description and now here’s my conversation with david walpe let’s start with a big question according to judaism who is god it’s difficult because judaism like any tradition that is thousands of years old and encompasses so many different lands and languages and thinkers um it doesn’t give a single answer to even simple questions and to large questions it certainly doesn’t give a single answer although judaism was responsible for introducing the monotheistic idea to the world it doesn’t mean that it’s one idea so if you take maimonides the greatest sage in the jewish tradition um medieval philosopher he would say that god is an omnipotent benevolent intangible unimaginable god in fact he said you can’t say what god is only what god is not because you have to emphasize could talk more about that but basically you have to emphasize the unknowability of god you have a modern philosopher like heschel who says that god is a god of pathos a god of deep feeling whic