Ron’s Questions: Segment One

Welcome to The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Knowledge Economy, sponsored by Sage, transforming the way people think and work so that organizations can thrive. I'm Ron Baker, along with my good friend and VeraSage Institute colleague Ed Kless. On today's show, folks, we're honored, we have Rabbi Daniel Lapin for the fifth time. Hey, Ed, how's it going?

It's going great. And at the risk of extending my stay in purgatory, I'm going to suggest a change to the Hail Mary, which is as follows: “Hail Mary, full of grace/Sirico is now in second place.

Ron

He doesn't need an introduction, but let me try and do it anyway. Rabbi Daniel Lapin, known widely as America's Rabbi, and to this audience, known widely as my rabbi, is a noted rabbinic scholar and best -selling author and TV host. In 2002, he published the fantastic book, Thou Shall Prosper: The Ten Commandments for Making Money. He followed that up with its sequel Business Secrets from the Bible, and I'm thrilled to see that they have been translated into different languages. Pairing his inheritance as a descendant of a multi-generational rabbinical family with his background in science and business, he teaches ancient Jewish wisdom in an unparalleled manner. And I can vouch for that, as a longtime listener. Rabbi Lapin, welcome back to The Soul of Enterprise.

It's our pleasure. Earlier this year, there was a couple weeks when your podcast didn't drop. And I thought, I wonder if he's traveling. Then you came back finally, and announced that you had COVID and had recovered. And I just wanted to ask you, what did you learn from that?

Ron

I hope you don't get this long COVID that they're talking about? Good, good. And I have to ask you, Rabbi, with what's been happening between Hamas and Israel and the attacks on Jewish people in the USA. You were talking on one of your shows recently, that you're very hesitant to use the term anti- Semitism. I know this is something you speak about a lot, and have even written about, but why?

That's very compelling. Rabbi, we were going to do a show today on envy, until you graciously agreed to come on. Michael Novak said that envy was the most destructive force in any free society, more so than hatred. And when you think about the seven deadly sins—they're called that because they lead to other sins. What does ancient Jewish wisdom teach us about envy?

That's true. Is envy as destructive in Jewish wisdom as it seems to be in some other religions?

I'm sure you saw, Rabbi, the ProPublica disclosure of the IRS tax data from all these rich people. Nothing frustrates me more. But when we talk about income inequality, and like you were saying about it, we fight it from the economic side with all these statistics, but what's the moral and ethical argument? I mean, what is my fair share of what you earn?

That's a great point. Well, Rabbi, we're up against our first break.

Ed’s Questions: Segment Two

We are back with our first ever five-time guest, Rabbi Daniel Lapin. So thrilled to have him on today. And I'm going to take advantage of the fact that I have a rabbinical scholar on, and you and Ron we're having a great conversation about envy and jealousy. I thought as I was preparing for this show, now would be the time to learn something, Ed. I’d really liked for you to go deep with us on the story of Cain and Abel in the Bible, because I think this is one of the original examples of envy. Because as a Catholic, I'd never read the Bible in Hebrew, so I know there's stuff I'm missing. One of the things that I never quite understood was, what did Cain do wrong with his offering? Is is just because they didn't like it? Help me there.

It's also the first offering that that takes place there, right? And the offering is, in a sense, it's the notion that I can I can put off today and benefit in some way tomorrow. In a way, it's almost the invention of time, isn't it?

So East of Eden is a very good explanation of that section of the Bible. Great movie with James Dean, too. We have just about 90 seconds before our break, and I want to ask you something. As I re-read the story of Cain and Abel today, I came across this. Tubal-cain, who is one of the descendants of Cain, he is the fashioner of bronze and iron weapons. So from Cain descended the creation of weapons, is that correct?

Very interesting. Well, thanks. I really wanted to take that to the essence of it, maybe get some insight, which I certainly did on envy. But right now we're up against our break.

Ron’s Questions: Segment Three

Welcome back, everybody. We're here with my Rabbi, Daniel Lapin, and Rabbi, you were talking to Ed about names and how there's no Fred or Sally in the Bible. And I want to ask you about the first born Jew, who you had mentioned on your show, being named Isaac, and how in Hebrew that means laughter. What the significance of that is?

No, that's fine. It was great explanation. I remember John Cleese, of Monty Python, saying that “All humor is critical.” And that's so true.

Well, Rabbi, I'm going to change subjects on you again. You've taught me that anything random can’t happen just once. And this is why Darwinists must find life on other planets. Otherwise, life on earth is not just random. I have to ask you, I know you have a science background, and you're a pilot, and I have tremendous respect for pilots. They're not kooks, they tend to be very smart, practical people. Rabbi, tell me about these videos of these UFOs. What's your take?

Okay, make sense. And Rabbi, you did a show recently on Taiwan. Through Father Sirico, and others, we've been following Jimmy Lai and his travails in Hong Kong. How do you see it unfolding, and by the way, we recently had on Charles Cooke [Episode #342] from National Review. And he's a big Second Amendment proponent, even though he's from Britain. And he thinks maybe we should maybe provide the Taiwanese citizens with guns. What's your take on all that?

Unfortunately, I think you're right, Rabbi. Well, this is great, we're up against our next break.

Ed’s Questions: Segment Four

We are back with Rabbi Daniel Lapin, and Rabbi, I'm going to take you back out of the present day. And we're going to go back to some scripture. Because I want to take advantage of this wonderful time with you and I want to read you a story from another Rabbi and get your reaction to it. Someone in the crowd said to him, “Rabbi, tell my brother to divide my inheritance with me.” The rabbi said, “Man, who appointed me a judge or arbiter between you?” And he said to them, “Watch out. Be on guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in abundance of possessions.” So what are your thoughts on that story? Now, the rabbi Jesus. But he's the only other Rabbi I know.

Well, I think you've done an excellent job of explaining that parable even with your lack of knowledge of the New Testament, in that it's really about, Hey, work on your relationship before you worry about the division of this inheritance thing, connect back with your brother, first. Rabbi, we only have about a minute left. Here's the impossible question in a minute. In a world where there is envy and jealousy, what's the best thing for us as individuals to do?

I love the fact that you said “build on small accomplishments” and also, and I think Father Sirico would join me in saying this, recognize the humility of when you find out what that small accomplishment is, to realize that yes, that's just it. That's all, be humble, that's all you're capable of. So do it and make it happen.

Absolutely. Well, Rabbi, thank you so much for being on The Soul of Enterprise again, this was a fantastic visit, as usual. Ron, what do we got coming up next week?

Ron

Next week, Ed, we have Mark Wickersham. A lot of our listeners have been asking for him, so we got him on.

Excellent, see you in 167 hours.

Ron

This has been The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Knowledge Economy, sponsored by Sage, transforming the way people think and work so that organizations can thrive. Join us next week, folks, Friday at noon. In the meantime, feel free to check us out at www.thesoulofenterprise.com. We'll post full show notes on our interview with Rabbi Lapin, who you can find at www.youneedarabbi.com you should subscribe to his Thought Tools, which is his weekly newsletter, which is fantastic, and listen to his show [The RDL Podcast]. Thanks for listening, folks. Have a great weekend.

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