So this is a great clip where Charlie
Kirk is speaking at the Oxford Union and
he's talking about Israel and everything
that's happening and Jew hatred and he
has the confidence which I so respect in
him to speak to a I'm sure widely uh
secular or religiously hostile uh
audience or institution
um about his belief that the return of
the Jews to Israel is a fulfillment of
biblical prophecy. and he's out and
proud about his belief in God and God's
divine relationship with the Jewish
people. He is of course a Christian. I'm
Jewish. This Orthodox Jew is a Jewish
channel. Um but we obviously have uh
some shared theological beliefs and it's
so terrific to hear him say some of
these things. Have a watch of the clip
and then we'll unpack it on the state of
Israel in terms of its existence. Oh,
here we go. Great.
I was going to leave it to the Q&A but
we started um uh just a question and a
your belief in the state of is Israel
existing in its current form. Is it
biblical or is it just a political
belief? Okay. So you asked is it
biblical or what? So is your belief in
this current state of Israel where it is
and how it's formed? Is that is that
belief biblical? So I'm not Got it. I'm
not a theologian. uh but I am uh
definitely more let's say aligned with a
view of Ezekiel 36 that there is a
reconstitution of the state of Israel
and that was prophesized I will I will
bring you from across the lands and
graft you together more I don't want to
get into that again if you guys want to
talk about end times theology I'm
honestly going to be like let's get a
more important question because I don't
know it that well I'm not that
interested in it called esquetology
there's like there's pre-tribulation
Christians and then there's
post-tribulation Christians I'm pantrib
it's all going to pan out in the end.
Okay, I'm not I'm not overly interested
in that. I'm instead I think what is
lost and I think I would like at least
the anti-Israel advocates I don't want
to say anti-Israel the critics of Israel
that will come up and ask questions to
acknowledge this that it is miraculous
that Israel in this current form exists.
I mean it's really unbelievable what
Bengurian and the Zionists were able to
pull off um from just a Zionist
perspective. It is a miracle considering
they were attacked from every direction
from its charter completely under attack
and totally brutalized. Number two, it's
interesting because in the Bowfor
declaration, as you will know, it
actually was the smallest suggested size
for Israel as of all the four plans. All
that to say, what do I believe about the
current composition of the state of
Israel? Well, my historical analysis of
whether you know it should be formed or
not, I actually think it should be is
not that relevant. The more important
moral question is what do you think
about what is happening right now? Uh do
you think that Israel has I I I don't
like the qu I think it's a little bit of
a copout like do you think Israel has a
right to exist? I think more importantly
do you believe that a country has a
right to be able to defend itself into
existence? That's a more important
question that if a country can prove to
itself that to you that it can exist,
should it then be given recognition? So
I don't know if that answers your
question. It's kind of just a mind dump
on the topic. I seek to actually find
reconciliation on this. I think there is
a downplaying what happens on October
7th to a great detriment. Charlie, of
course, making some really important
points here that I've been saying for
years on the channel um and stressing is
a key part of my faith. Actually, the
fact that there's been so many things
that have happened in Jewish history
explicitly prophesized in the Torah and
have now come to pass, particularly the
return of the Jews after 2,000 years of
exile. Has there ever been a nation
that's been scattered all over the world
maintaining its common land, language,
and culture? In ter when I say common
land, I mean it's it's association and
desire to return to that land. And after
2,000 years, they return and reestablish
sovereignty. It's unheard of. And I want
to show with you share with you two
videos I've made that really dig into
this uh point about biblical prophecy.
The first one is about things that have
happened throughout Jewish history. And
the second is about the Jewish people's
miraculous relationship with the land of
Israel. And Charlie is absolutely right
to use those terms miraculous because it
is. And in those video, these two
videos, I highly encourage you to watch
them all. You will find it a uh faith
encouraging um eyeopening
mini documentary which shows you the
miracle of Jewish history and the divine
hand so clearly at play. Have a watch.
Okay, so let's deal with a lighter topic
this week. Evidence for God's existence.
Just kidding about the light topic part,
not the God part. Because I actually
think that there is compelling evidence
for the existence of God. And while
people use different avenues to provide
evidence, the most compelling one for me
is a quick analysis of Jewish history.
What I'd like to do is to show you five
phenomena which have taken place in
Jewish history. things that any
objective historian would agree are
unprecedented, remarkable, and extremely
unlikely. And then I would like to show
you how each of these phenomena were
explicitly promised and foreseen in the
Hebrew Bible. My argument is that only a
being unbound by time would have had the
foresight to make these predictions.
Only a god could have done so. Phenomena
number one, the survival of the Jewish
people over the last 3,000 years. We
take it for granted that there are still
Jews around. But consider all the
ancient peoples that existed at the same
time as the ancient Israelites and are
now extinct. The Canaanites, the
Hittites, the Jebusites. But it's not
just ancient peoples. Even the greatest
empires and nations. Often those that
actually tried to persecute the Jews
have died while the Jews remain. If you
would have gone up to a Roman
imperialist 2,000 years ago and asked
him, "Who do you think is more likely to
be around in 2,000 years time, your
imperialist nation, the Romans or the
Jewish people?" He would have laughed at
you. In his essay on the Jews, Mark
Twain noted that the Egyptian, the
Babylonian, the Persians, the Greeks,
and the Romans all enjoined their
moments in the spotlight in history, but
they now sit quote in twilight, and yet
the Jew remains. What is the secret of
his immortality? He asked. Leo Toltoy
said, "The Jew is the emblem of
eternity." Historians are in fascination
at the continued survival of the Jewish
people while so many others tribes and
peoples and empires and nations have
faded away. Now, let's have a look at
what the Torah says about Jewish
survival. God says, "Just as I am God
and I do not change, so too you, the
children of Jacob, shall never be wiped
out.
[Music]
Number two, worldwide exile. Throughout
most of Jewish history, the Jewish
people have been scattered across the
globe. There are Jews on all five
continents, and Jews are constantly on
the move. What's so interesting is that
while the Jews are one of the oldest
peoples in the world, in terms of the
countries they currently occupy, they
are actually one of the youngest cuz
Jews are always moving around.
Sociologists will tell you that if you
want to assimilate a people, if you want
to get rid of them, then scatter them
and they will disappear. And yet,
despite worldwide exile, the Jewish
people have remained. All this clearly
foreseen in the Torah.
And yet, despite this grave threat of
global exile, the Torah remains
convinced of Jewish survival. Number
three, few in number. The total number
of Jews in the world has never exceeded
16 million and rarely exceeded 1% of
total world population.
This is particularly remarkable because
at one point millennia ago, the Jewish
people were about the same in population
as the Han dynasty of China, about 12
million. Yet today, the Chinese
population is 1.3 billion according to
the most recent census, give or take
about 14 million. Well, 40 million is
the entire number of the Jewish people.
And today there are fewer Jews than
there were before the Holocaust. Now,
obviously, our small population can be
explained partly by the high levels of
persecution, but our tiny size coupled
with worldwide dispersion makes our
survival even more remarkable. And the
Torah clearly states, "And you shall
remain few in number among the nations
where God shall lead you." Number four,
anti-semitism.
Something which has baffled historians
for four key reasons. Its longevity, its
universality, its intensity. Consider
the long list of words created
specifically to describe Jew hatred. And
its irrationality. Just consider the
reasons given for hating Jews. They're
money grabbing capitalists, but also
revolutionary communists. They're
parasites on other nations societies.
And when they have their own states,
they're militant occupiers of a land not
their own.
No historian has been able to find a
consistent reason to explain
anti-semitism throughout history. A
common explanation for prejudice given
by sociologists is the dislike of the
unlike.
That if a group of people can manage to
assimilate, they will no longer face
persecution. Yet, when the Jewish people
assimilate, such as in Germany, where
they declared, "Berlin is our
Jerusalem," they eventually face the
most intense persecution ever seen in
modern history. The Nazis declared,
"Stop trying to become like us and
infiltrating our race."
Anti-semitism is totally irrational. And
once again, the Torah clearly forewarns
the Jewish people of the persecution
that they will face in exile.
[Music]
So the Torah foreworn global exile being
few in number and intense persecution,
an unprecedented recipe for national
extinction. And yet the Torah remain
convinced that the Jewish people will
survive. But we're not done yet. Number
five, the remarkable impact of Judaism
on the world. When I was at college
studying history, we were asked by our
lecturer who we thought was the most
influential human being in all of human
history. I think it's pretty easy to
make the case that this man was Abraham.
Just think about this. The majority of
the world today believe in the God of
Abraham. The majority of the world is
made up of Christians, Muslims, and
Jews. Yet 3,000 years ago in Abraham's
time, or even 2,000 years ago, the
majority of the world was polytheistic
or pagan, believing in many gods.
What's even more remarkable is that
Abraham was a man with no army, no
empire to command, no political power,
and nearly everyone was against him. And
yet somehow the author of the Torah was
convinced thousands of years ago that
one day the world would look to Abraham
as their spiritual forefather.
God tells Abraham, "I will bless you and
make your name great, and all the
families of the earth shall bless
themselves by you." But it's more than
monotheism that Judaism brought to the
world. Many of the world's values that
the world holds dear today were first
articulated by the Bible. The value of
human life, the importance of family,
peace as an ideal, justice and equality,
social responsibility, and education.
These were not concepts that were given
much credibility 2,000 years ago. The
Jews were looked down upon for upholding
them. War was glorified by the Romans.
The Greeks practiced promiscuity as an
ideal. The poor were blamed for their
own misfortune. People's social status
define their rights. John Adams, the
second president of America, said,
quote, I will insist that the Hebrews
have contributed more to civilized men
than any other nation. If I were an
atheist, I should still believe that
fate had ordained the Jews to be the
most essential instrument for civilizing
the nations. Now, surely if the Jewish
people are going to be small in number,
how could they make such a worldwide
impact? And if they are hated, who's
going to listen to them? And if the Jews
really are looked up to, wouldn't others
want to join them? Does it make sense
that the Jewish people have had such an
impact? The very fact that they have
survived is eyeopening in and of itself.
But they have also thrived in the global
conversation of ideas.
All this clearly foreseen when Isaiah
prophesies that Israel would be the
light unto the nations. Somehow despite
being intensely persecuted small in
number and dispersed all over the globe,
the Jewish people have managed to
survive while countless empires have
come and gone. And despite all these
setbacks, Judaism has influenced mankind
in an astonishing way. Now, if all of
these events had simply occurred without
being foretold, I would be willing to
say, you know what, all of this is
pretty remarkable, but maybe it was just
a fluke. Maybe the Jews got lucky. Or
alternatively, if the predictions were
based on normal historical processes,
then I would say that the writers of the
Torah were probably human and were
simply making educated guesses.
But the problem is that all of these
predictions are totally extraordinary,
not following any of the rules of the
history of nations. In my mind, the only
reasonable option we have is that the
author of the Torah must have been a
being that is not bound by time, a being
that transcends time, God. Bla1 Pascal,
the founder of probability theory,
someone who had a thing or two to say
about making a decision on what is most
probable, was asked by King Louis the
14th of France for proof of God's
existence. And Pascal responded, "The
Jews, your majesty, the Jews." Imagine
if I told you that there is a certain
area of land in the world where its
fertility is dependent upon the people
that dwelt in that land. That would seem
pretty preposterous, right? Agriculture
doesn't work like that. Either a land is
fertile or it isn't. It doesn't depend
on which group of people inhabits the
land. Can land really have some kind of
direct relationship with the people
living on it? Well, I have some news for
you. Such a relationship does exist and
it's between the Jewish people and the
land of Israel. Let me explain. When the
Jewish people entered the land, even up
until the time of Josephus, i.e.
Approximately 1300 years later, it was
still very prosperous and fertile.
Josephus wrote, "For the whole area is
excellent for crops or pasturidge and
rich in trees of every kind, so that by
its fertility, it invites even those
least inclined to work on the land. In
fact, every inch of it has been
cultivated by the inhabitants, and not a
parcel goes to waste. It is thickly
covered with towns and thanks to the
natural abundance of the soil, the many
villages are so densely populated that
the smallest of them has more than
15,000 inhabitants. Indeed, according to
the Torah, when entering the land, the
Jews are told, "God will bring you to a
good land, a land flowing with streams
and springs gushing out in the valley
and the mountains. It is a land where
you shall not eat your bread in
rations." But then they are also warned
that if they mess up, God says, "I will
devastate the land and your enemies who
dwell in it will be desolate. You I will
scatter among the nations at the point
of my drawn sword and your land will be
completely desolate and your cities will
be in ruins." The basic idea is this. As
long as the Jews are in the land of
Israel, the land will be very fertile.
However, as soon as a majority of the
Jewish people leave the land or are
expelled from the land, it's going to
become desolate and inhospitable to all
others who try to live there. Now,
obviously, no scientist could ever begin
to explain how a plot of land could only
flourish for one particular people. But
that's exactly what happened. No one
living at that time 2,000 years ago
would have been able to see how their
blossoming land could suddenly turn
desolate and remain so as long as Jews
stayed in foreign lands. But exactly as
predicted, 2,000 years ago, the Jewish
people were oppressed and exiled from
their lands by the Roman Empire. And so,
what happened to the land's fertility?
During the 2,000 years that the Jewish
people were exiled, many empires and
nations conquered its territory, and
countless wars were fought for its
possession. Indeed, the land is situated
on the fertile cresant, where three
continents meet, a prime location for
nations and empires to acquire. And yet
astonishingly no conqueror succeeded in
permanently settling there or in causing
this desolate wasteland to blossom.
Remarkably the land became and remained
desolate despite all the odds. The
medieval Jewish scholar Nakmanades the
Rambun wrote in a letter to his son in
1260 quote the desolation is great. The
more sacred the place the more it is
suffered. Mark Twain said on his visit
to the land in 1867 that it is a
desolate country whose soil is rich
enough but is given over holy to weeds,
a silent, mournful expanse. Has this
ever happened anywhere else in the
world? The Europeans came to the US and
took it over from the American Indians.
Did the land's fertility suddenly
change? No. If a land is fertile, it's
fertile. If it's a desert, it's a
desert. Not so with the land of Israel.
Only there does the land become
uninhabitable when the Jews are exiled.
Obviously, we can see in hindsight how
nation after nation squabbled over the
land and never made it blossom. But how
could anyone be able be bold enough to
predict such an occurrence? How could
they know in advance that it would
happen? Why would they write that in
their book? What guarantees do they have
that it would happen? None. Now,
remarkably, after many years of exile,
the Torah states that the Jewish people
will eventually return to the land of
Israel. and with their return will be
the miraculous physical rejuvenation of
this desolate land. Quote, "And God will
return your captured ones, and he will
have compassion upon you, and he will
gather you in from all the nations that
God scattered you there." While Jews
always maintained a presence in the land
while most of their brethren were in
exile, from the end of the 19th century,
Jews began to return in large waves to
the land of Israel. And by 1948, the
state of Israel was declared a reality.
This was an unprecedented event in human
history. What other nation has returned
to its land after such a long period of
dispersion, minority population, and
persecution? We are all witnesses to the
fact that in less than one generation,
the land of Israel has undergone an
unbelievable transformation from a
desolate wasteland into a prosperous and
blossoming land. Israel is a large
exporter of fruits and vegetables around
the world. Today, Israel has gone from a
negligible population to about half the
Jews in the world and counting. from the
colonies of countless empires to a
secure homeland for Jews across the
world to return to. It's amazing. The
land has responded to her people. Who
could have predicted that such a
phenomenon would take place? How could
someone know 3,000 years ago that the
land of Israel would only respond to the
Jewish people? That when they leave the
land on mass, its fertility will
suddenly fall despite nation after
nation attempting to acquire it. And
only when the Jews return will it
finally become fertile again? Could such
a human being take a risk by making this
prophecy in the Torah? What if they got
it wrong? What if some other nation did
rebuild the land? To me, the history of
the land of Israel's relationship with
her people is testimony to the divine
hand over human affairs. Today, we are
witness to an ancient prophecy becoming
manifest. We are witness to what I
personally think can only be described
as the hand of God. Before we end, let
me show you a quote from Professor Sir
John William Dawson in his book, Modern
Science in Bible Lands. He said this in
1888.
He said, quote, "Until today, no people
has succeeded in establishing national
dominion in the land of Israel. No
national unity or spirit of nationalism
has acquired any hold there. The mixed
multitude of itinerant tribes that
managed to settle there did so on lease
as temporary residents. It seems that
they await the return of the permanent
residents of the land. I'm Olly Anisfeld
and you're watching JTV. Hi, thank you
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