Into the Wilderness—The Book of Numbers ft. Dennis Prager
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Hey everybody, today on the Charlie Kirk Show, a wonderful conversation with Dennis Prager. We talk about the book of Numbers. Now, before you decide to listen to another podcast, you're going to love this conversation about one of the most important books of the Bible. What is it actually called? We discussed that.

Dennis Prager shares phenomenal wisdom and applies the book of numbers to today. I think you'll love it. Become a member today. Members.CharlieKirk.com. That is Members.CharlieKirk.com. When you become a member, you guys get a hat and so much more. And get involved with Turning Point USA at TPUSA.com. That is TPUSA.com. Email me as always, Freedom at CharlieKirk.com. Buckle up, everybody. Here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here. Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus. I want you to know we are lucky.

to have Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks. I want to thank Charlie. He's an incredible guy. His spirit, his love of this country. He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA. We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country. That's why we are here.

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Joining us now is one of my heroes and teachers, someone who I greatly admire and respect. I'm so excited for the full hour to dive into his latest book. And I believe the finale, is that right, Dennis, of Your Rational Bible? No, no, no. I wish. Leviticus. I'm sorry. No, there's still...

It's the fourth of the five books. Okay, no, I mean, of course you have to finish with Leviticus. I mean, that... So, I want to remind everybody, this is the Rational Bible Numbers. It is not a math book. Okay? This is not a math book. When you see Prager Numbers, you think it's about geometry. Dennis, tell us about this very important work, and congratulations. It is remarkable what you're accomplishing here.

Well, this is the most important work of my life in some ways. I look at my work as parents look at their children in a healthy situation, which thank God I have. I love my children equally, but of course they're all unique. So in some ways it truly is the most important. Certainly the thing I've devoted the most time to writing what's called a commentary. I think the better word is an explanation.

of the first five books of the Bible known as the Torah. And people need to understand that those are the foundational five books of the whole Old Testament and the New Testament. No Torah, no Judaism, no Torah, no Christianity, no Torah, no Old Testament, no Torah.

No, no New Testament. Every law of the Bible is in the Torah. Everything that people value, the Ten Commandments, the Garden of Eden, the creation story,

It's love your neighbor as yourself. Love God. It's all in the Torah. Everything blossoms from there. However, if you just pick it up and read it, it is very hard to understand. As is true of much of the Bible. We need people to help us through what is really meant here. And I don't care if people begin with Genesis or Exodus or Exodus.

Numbers, which is coming out now, or Deuteronomy, it doesn't matter. Each volume stands on its own. It does not build on the preceding volume.

And the number of important themes in every one of these books, I'm crazy about the book of Numbers. People ask people, you know, what's in it? Most people don't even have a clue. And I don't blame them. And the name is so boring in any event. Who would want to know what's in the book of Numbers? The Hebrew is the really sexy name in the wilderness. Dennis, I have to interrupt. It is one of my passions in life.

to get Christians to accurately name the book of numbers in the wilderness. You know what? You may succeed if you are so young. If you keep doing that and live as long as I have, I hope you do it. It's a silly name, numbers. I understand why it's there because a census is taken, a few censuses, but so what?

The Hebrew, it tells it much better. But by the way, John, let me give the English some kudos. The Hebrew for Exodus is just as boring as numbers in English. Names, right? Yeah, names.

Exodus comes from the Greek ex hodos, which means the way out. And so I'm so glad we did not name the second book of the Bible names. No, exactly right. But it is in the wilderness. So a couple of the themes and people will realize why this this I think this work is so important and life changing. So for example,

So in the book, I'm going to try to get the quote exactly here. Let me turn to it. Yeah. So in the book, let's see. Yeah. In 11.5, chapter 11, verse 5, the Israelites or Hebrews or Jews, however you want to refer to them, they say, we remember they're rebelling against Moses again.

We remember the fish we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic. This, it is almost impossible, Charlie, to overstate the relevance and importance of that verse. We rather eat for free as slaves than work for food as free people.

People, this is one of the themes of my life. Liberty is not a human yearning. To be taken care of is a human yearning. Now, Dennis, did you have that view before COVID that freedom is a value? Because I don't remember. I've listened to you, as you know. I've listened to hundreds of hours of you. It seems around COVID that became more pronounced. Oh, there's no question. Yeah, yeah.

Charlie, you should definitely, if you're born 40 years from now, consider writing a synopsis of Dennis Prager's ideas. Nobody knows them better than you do. I'm really honored to say, by the way. But anyway, yeah, you're probably right. And so it's really perfect that I should have been writing numbers at that time. But this is so huge.

That if people understand this, that's why liberty is one of the three values on American coins. As you know, I call it the American Trinity liberty and God, we trust a pluribus unum. The founders of the country whom I consider the greatest assembly of men in the history of the world.

Obviously, there were great individuals before them, but an assembly of such great men at one time in one place, I don't believe existed anywhere else but America in 1776. And they understood that.

They really got it. They understood that liberty is a value, that it isn't an instinct. And by the way, it explains why the left wins elections all over the world and always does, because they don't promise you freedom. They promise you goodies. Another thing I learned from you is having children is a value. That is not automatic.

Having children is a value. I want people to think about that. Now, the act of reproduction that OK, that urge continues. But when you have the technology to interfere with actually childbearing, then actually having children is not something a civilization will do automatically, as you can see, through declining birth rates all across the Western world.

We are wealthier than ever, yet we're having less children than ever. It's remarkable. Okay, Dennis, do you want to comment on children being a value? I know that I saw that you motioned towards that. Oh, no, I'll comment on anything. You know that. Yes. So,

This began by my noting that liberty is a value, not an instinct. The instinct is to be taken care of. And that's based on this very profound lament of the Hebrews. It was better in Egypt. We had better food. Of course, we were slaves, but so what? That's what they're saying. So what? We were slaves. We got free food. And that's the great trade-off.

that the left makes. You give us your soul, you give us your liberty, we'll give you goodies. And most people vote for that. With regard to children, what you come to realize, and this is also relatively recent in my life, this one's not lockdown related, but it is relatively recent, that

So much of what we thought in the past was instinctive, like having children. If you'd have asked anyone in history, is having a child a value or an innate desire slash instinct? Of course they, what are you kidding? Of course it's innate. That's what people want. They want children.

People divorced it. Kings divorced women if they didn't have children, even though it wasn't the wife's fault. They wanted children. You know, was it Rachel says, is it Rachel who says to her husband in Genesis, you know, if you don't give me children, that's not worth living, which is a silly comment. But nevertheless, that's how people regarded it. The fact is everything, almost everything is a choice.

Belief in God is a value, is a choice. Some people have it instinctively, just like some people want children instinctively. But for most people, I'm one of them. I chose to believe in God. And now I do. It was one of the great choices of my life. It was utterly life-changing and fulfilling. But

Marriage, you know, I'm sure even though it's way before your time, love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. Right. That was the way people in the 1950s and 1850s and 1750s and so on backwards. That's the way they felt. Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. Right.

But that's not true anymore. Love does not go with marriage anymore. I love her. Why should I marry her? I love him. Why should I marry him? It's too big a burden. And, you know, it's not it's not worth it. It's just a piece of paper. By the way, I have a great line. Charlie, I wonder if you've heard this because you've heard me so much.

But whenever a guy say to women that they're dating, you know, five years and she said, you know, I think we should get married. Oh, you know, it's just a piece of paper to which I've always told women to say to this man, if it's just a piece of paper, what's the big deal about signing? That is such a good point. So then what's the big deal? If it's just a big paper, then let's just sign it. I love that.

That's a deal. Right.

We're not here to talk about Leviticus. That alone is a life accomplishment. To write a commentary on the book of Leviticus, from what I understand, you wrote a couple thousand words just on the verse of a man shall not lay with another man like he does with a woman. No, not a couple. 20,000 words. 20,000 words on one verse. Okay, everybody, I'll have something to offer you today. Something absolutely free. Hillsdale College, the great American college, with a huge and effective educational effort on

on behalf of Liberty, is giving away free copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence before the November election. Hillsdale's immediate goal is to put a pocket Constitution in the hands of one million Americans who don't yet have one. And if you have one already, you can order one for a young person you know who doesn't.

But this offer is for a limited time only, so claim your free pocket-sized Constitution today at charlieforhillsdale.com. Every American should be familiar with our nation's founding principles of liberty, and how better than reading America's founding documents.

So Dennis, I think it would be helpful for our audience to remind them what is

is the book of Numbers? What is the book of Numbers about? What is the context here? Everyone understands that chronologically, the book of Numbers is essentially the end of the Torah because Deuteronomy is largely Moses' farewell address. So it is the end of the story, if you will.

That's right. It's the end of the story. And so in the book of Numbers or in the wilderness, there's so much drama. You have talking donkeys. You have spies. You have people trying to turn rocks into water. You have a rebellion against Moses. You have giants. You have constant complaining. So set the table just from a context standpoint, Dennis, where and when and what is the book of Numbers about?

Well, so it's exactly what the Hebrew tells you. It's in the wilderness. So they're not yet at the promised land and they're out of Egypt. What happens during that time? That's what the book is about. It is relentlessly interesting. You mentioned the talking donkey. And there are only two animals in the Hebrew Bible that speak, the serpent in Genesis and the donkey in Numbers.

I am a big, big fan of the donkey story. Me too. Really? Oh, that's fascinating. Because the donkey says, didn't I treat you so well? What's the matter with you? Right? Yeah. Well, that story has so many great lessons.

Well, one of them, the biggest one is when there is an angel, just to remind, well, it's not even a reminder, most people don't know, but just to bring people up to speed in a nutshell, the king of Moab is,

Balak, I don't know how he's pronounced in English. Maybe it's Balak. Balaam or Balaam. Well, Balaam is the prophet. So Balak is the king of Moab and he goes to this Gentile prophet, a non-Jewish prophet named Balaam. And he says, I want you to curse Israel.

And Balaam says, I'm sorry, I can only do what God wants me to do. And he uses the term for God, Jehovah, that the Jews used. So he's referring to the Jews' God. And he goes, I'm sorry, I can't do it. So he sends a mission and they'll make him the richest man in the world if he'll only curse Israel.

So anyway, Balaam goes and will he curse Israel or not? We're not sure. But anyway, he heads towards Balak, the king, King Balak. And he's riding his donkey and the donkey stops because the donkey sees an angel of God and a sword. And so the angel knows, I don't want to get killed. I'm stopping. But here's the beauty. The prophet doesn't see it.

So in other words, an ass, that's the term usually used and certainly used in the King James, an ass can see what this prophet can't. That's the great moral of the story, how the people we revere are often stupider than a donkey.

And is that if that's not relevant to our time, then don't bother reading my book. As they say, trust the experts. Yeah, that's right. Exactly. Now, there are there are secondary fascinating matters where he keeps beating the donkey and the donkeys. This is my favorite part. Yes. Oh, for good reason. It actually touches me every time. It touches me relating it now.

And the donkey says, wait, haven't I treated you well and been a loyal animal to you for all these years? Why are you hitting me? And by the way, so the joke is Balaam answers him. Now, wouldn't you think if your donkey started talking to you, wouldn't your reaction be, huh? What? How do you speak? And instead he responds to him. I find that fascinating, but that's not critical. What's critical is

you get an empathy for the animal and, and the Torah is really, uh, really cares about animals. The animals made it into the 10 commandments. Your animal has to rest on the Sabbath. You're, you're, you're not allowed to plow, uh, with, uh, two animals of different sizes on the same plow. You can't muzzle an animal when it, uh, when it works in the, in the field. Uh,

You can't kill an animal for sport. The word for animals is really deep in the Torah. You can't kill an animal for sport, for example. All sorts of different... Animal rights are an underappreciated component of the Torah. You have to check out the Rational Bible series. It is life-changing for all people.

Because the Torah, which means teacher, has something to teach all people in all nations. So, Dennis, I want to isolate some parts of the book of Numbers that I think are very important. Can we talk about, just from my own personal curiosity, your take in the book on the priestly blessing? This is said a lot in Christian churches in Numbers 6, 11.

I believe it's Numbers 6, 24 through 26, which is the sacred blessing given by God to Moses and Aaron, and it's still used in a lot of Christian churches. What is your take on that in the book, if any? Well, if you have it in front of you, I know it in Hebrew, but

I do. I can read it, actually. Yes. So, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift you up, his countenance upon you. I don't love that word countenance. I usually have to explain that to people. And give you peace. That is the priestly blessing in Numbers 6, 24-26. Well, it...

To a large extent, except for countenance, it is somewhat self-explanatory. It's obviously profound. Christians use it regularly as they should. And I'll come back to the blessing in a moment, but I want to make the point that you ended with before the break. The notion that the Torah is only for Jews, first of all, it's obviously stupid because it is divine scripture to Christians. It is part of the Old Testament.

But my ultimate argument is it's like saying Beethoven is only for Germans or Shakespeare is only for the English. If Shakespeare were only for the English, then Shakespeare is worthless. If the Torah were only for the Jews, then the Torah is worthless. It either has to be relevant to all people or it isn't, it's just not, it has nothing to say. I mean,

My whole point is that the lessons are all universal, like liberty is a value that we discussed earlier. You'll be very touched. Just this week, I spoke at MIT and at Brown. Oh, wow. I want to hear about that. Yeah. Well, you'll be touched by this little story. Give an idea of how these are the moments that say to me, Dennis, maybe you've done some good with your life.

So at Brown, a student comes over to me and he looks like he's from India because he is from India. And he says, I just want you to know that reading your work made me conservative. I was very touched by that. We took a picture together and then I wanted a picture with him so that I would happen. And then he said, oh, that's not all.

He said, also because of you, I came to embrace Judeo-Christian values and I converted to Christianity. Wow. And so here's a guy from India reading a Jew and converting to Christianity. And as you know, that brings me a great deal of joy. And I'm a committed and religious Jew. But if Christianity dies,

It's the end of Western civilization. We're brother or sister or daughter, mother, father, however you want to put it, religions. And that's why I'm such a believer in the term Judeo-Christian. We're the only two religions on earth that share a Bible. These things are forgotten. There were Jews who were not happy with the word Judeo-Christian. There were Christians who were not happy with it. But that is a fact.

Judeo-America, until the very recent past, was the one truly Judeo-Christian nation in history. These were Christians rooted in Jewish scripture. It's a verse from the Torah, from Leviticus on the Liberty Bell. That's right. I just want to make all these points. But yes, this was the priestly blessing. The priestly class comes from Aaron, Moses' brother.

And it's another interesting point that I make in the book. We learn nothing about Moses' children, nothing. And Aaron's children carry on the priesthood.

Isn't that interesting? And Moses was a successful, much more successful brother. Aaron, nor do we know where Moses is buried. It had it had to be that way. Otherwise they would have built a shrine and it would have been a big problem. Please mention that Moses is or where Moses was buried is unknown because it would have turned into a shrine. And what other reasons?

Well, the reason is, in fact, another of the incredible stories. I think actually in terms of stories, numbers may be the richest of the Torah books. And Genesis is filled with great stories and Exodus. It's true. Leviticus does not have stories as such, nor does Deuteronomy, except for the death of Moses.

So there is the story of Moses hitting the rock and everybody understandably thinks that everybody, that's really a joke. Everybody who knows the story, it used to be everybody. Now it's everybody who knows the story. So God tells Moses to go to this rock, speak to it and bring out water. He had told him the exact same thing in the book of Exodus, but

go to a rock and he said, and hit it and bring out water. Now he said, speak to it. And he didn't, he hit the rock and everybody thinks that God then when God then says, okay, because of this, you cannot enter the promised land. And I remember even as a kid, when I learned this, I thought that's, that's not fair of God.

Moses' great dream is to enter the promised land and he can't do it because he hit the rock. Give me, what kind of God is that? And I was right. That is not the reason that God says that you can't enter the promised land. He gives the reason. You and Aaron...

They both hit the rock. You and Aaron did not sanctify my name before the people. Why? Because this is what Moses and Aaron said. Watch, you rebels, how we will bring forth water from the rock, not God. And so God realized if this man who took credit for the miracle had nothing to do with hitting

If this man who took credit for this miracle that, of course, is only attributable to God, if he gets into the promised land, there's a very good chance they will worship him. He got us into Israel, not God. And that's the reason God doesn't allow him in. And it almost is, you read into it saying,

God wanted to say, I got you out of Egypt and I brought you to the land of milk and honey. Moses did not. That's a very important distinction. That's right. Very, very important. Right. That's correct. That's why in Exodus 20, it says, I am the Lord your God who delivered you out of the house of bondage. Not Moses.

Right. It's not just Exodus 20. It's the opening to the Ten Commandments. It's interesting for Jews. That's the first commandment. I am the Lord your God, the land of Egypt, the house of bondage for Christians. That is the preamble to the Ten Commandments. That's right. That's right. So, Dennis, I'm going to ask you maybe the hardest question you will receive in the commentary on the book of Numbers, which is.

It's not even a question. I guess it's a request. Explain the law of the red heifer. Yes. So that's often noted as the Jews, even traditional Jews, use that as the example of a law whose explanation we cannot know. The key there is the red heifer.

As I understand it, this is my understanding. First of all, I don't believe that there are any laws in the Torah that cannot be understood. I don't know if they're fully understood, but certainly largely understood. And so the red heifer, which will be slaughtered, the red heifer, red symbolizes blood. And contrary to Western civilization, where blood symbolizes death,

In the Torah, blood symbolizes life. That is why you're not, by the way, I don't know if you know this, Charlie, though you might because you really follow this stuff. Not only I as a Jew, according to the Torah, am forbidden to eat blood, so are you as a non-Jew. That's right.

Very few non-Jews, very few Christians know this. It's a universal law. It's the Noahic covenant, right? One of the few universal laws in the Torah. Sorry? Was it in the Noahic covenant or was it? Yes, that's correct. Which is for all people. For all people. Yes, because blood symbolizes life. You cannot eat life. You can eat a dead carcass, but you cannot eat life.

And that's why, as Jacob Milgram, one of the great scholars of Leviticus, put it, the life is spilled into the earth. It goes back to God, but you can have the carcass to eat. So anyway, red represents life because blood is the essence of life. And so the red heifer

is a cow that represents life. And that was the essential part of the whole sacrificial system was sprinkling the blood on the altar and on the walls, because this is life, draining the blood. And so this animal represented, it was like the quintessence of life.

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Again, we need context. At this part, I really go to town on how much God hates complaining.

And despair. Right. Despair. Complaining leads to despair. That's smart, I guess. Yeah. But complaining in and of itself, if you could say this, if we can drive God crazy, complaining drives God crazy. And basically, you know, I joke when people say, oh, it's the book of numbers. Numbers of what? Complaints. And I go, numbers of complaints.

Now, Dennis, you've said this before and I won't, but you could fill in the gaps. Otherwise, I'll be called a terrible name by the media. But would you agree that a certain group of people are known to be complainers? Charlie is a mean man, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, Jews. I fully acknowledge it.

It is not one of the endearing traits of my people. And it started really early, like in the Torah, in the Bible, the complaints. You got to tell the cantaloupe analogy, Dennis. Okay, so, right. So this is, I tell the story to both synagogue groups and church groups. So I have this vision.

where a synagogue, a Catholic church, and a Protestant church, they all decide to have an ecumenical lunch at a hotel some Sunday. And I arrange with the hotel to serve them all overripe or not yet ripe cantaloupe. So I ask my listeners, whether they're Jews or Christians, I ask,

Which of the three groups do you think will complain the most about the cantaloupe? And they, so the Jews crack up because all the Jews know the answer. Christians are a little hesitant about cracking up lest it be,

regarded as somewhat anti-Jewish. But I say, folks, you're allowed to laugh. I'm a Jew and I'm telling you this story, which I made up. But of course, everybody knows there's no question the Jews would complain the most about it. It's just a given. So it started very early.

And then back to your bronze serpent. So after a particularly awful about God sends serpents to, to infect them, to kill some of them. God, God doesn't have much patience for this stuff. And then if you look upon the bronze serpent, then you will be healed. And I write a whole essay on this one. It's so beautiful. It's so profound that it,

God is using the thing that hurt them to heal them. And that's one great lesson here. Another one is, whatever you fear, you will stop fearing if you look at it. You can't stop fearing. If you fear flying on an airplane, you will only stop fearing it if you go on an airplane.

That that's I, I, I, I'm not reading into the story. That is the way it works. You have to look at what you fear and then you will stop fearing it. When I was a kid, I was very afraid of horror movies.

Monster movies, horror movies. So my older brother, whom I revered, he said, Dennis, what you have to do is watch so many of these movies, you will finally start to laugh instead of getting afraid. And that's exactly what I did. I just watched horror movie after horror movie, and they lost their ability to inflict fear in me.

So you look upon the thing that hurt you, the serpent, you will be healed. That is incredibly profound.

More to discuss here, the book of Numbers with Dennis Prager. As you can tell, the book of Numbers has really blessed my life. And Dennis is—we're not here to talk about this. This is only for the very adventurous. But on DennisPrager.com, Dennis, over the course of 20 years—is that right, Dennis? Correct? Yeah. 20 years, Dennis, once a week, with some weeks off, went through every verse of the Torah and taught it, which I think is even—

I don't want to say a greater because they're both great accomplishments, but that's a serious accomplishment. And I listened to all, I think it was 210 hours of it. Phenomenal. As a detour, the Day of Atonement. Can you tell our audience the significance of that in Judaism? I might have my days mixed up, but I think it's tomorrow, am I correct? No, no, you're correct.

Yes, it is. Tomorrow night. Yeah, because all Jewish days, whether holidays or regular days, begin at sunset, not at midnight. Even on Shabbat. That's amazing. So you're going to have a coinciding Yom Kippur Shabbat? That's right. So this is super duper holy because the two holiest days in the Jewish calendar and the Torah are Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement,

And Shabbat. Shabbat happens 52 times a year. And yet, of course, Shabbat is in the Ten Commandments. Yom Kippur is not. So to have the holiest day of the year, 52 days a year, is quite a remarkable thing. But ultimately, Yom Kippur is, in this sweepstakes, perhaps the holiest day of the year. And it is, as I said, it is known that Kippur is, L'Chaper is to atone.

And then, so you'll find this interesting. You will find you, you Charlie, cause you love this stuff. One of the reasons I love you. And so Jews in the synagogue, by the way, people can stream it at, they can go to Prager high holidays.com. They, if they want to attend or they want to, they want to stream it. And it's people of all faiths do that. And, and,

We bang our chest with a whole series of like, I don't remember the number, about 40 sins that we committed this year. And we bang our chest for each one. And every one of them is about something we did wrong to a fellow human being. None of them are ritual sins. Like you would think one of them would be for the sin of not keeping kosher.

But no, it's not listed. But there is for mocking my parents or my teachers, for cheating my fellow man in business. It is so emphatic about sins against our fellow human being. So I happen to love Yom Kippur, even though I fast 24 hours a

And it's a real fast. It's also liquids. That's tough. You know what I love about it, and Dennis, you taught me this, is that it's one day of atonement, one day of forsaking from allowed pleasures and indulgences, if you will. Right. And that means that God wants you to enjoy life, but there is a day where you stop and you...

forsake those things. God wants us to enjoy life and be good people. So Dennis, we could go on at length, and I do want to have you come in person. I'll either come to you or in Phoenix because it's so much easier in person to dialogue on this. We could do a three-hour conversation in the book of Numbers, but you touched on this previously towards the beginning, but can you dive deeper into this, please?

What does the book of numbers have to teach us today, especially maybe during this election cycle, this culture war, this cold civil war, as you put it? Apply the wisdom of the book of numbers to our times today. Well, because of your question, yes.

It will be somewhat political, my answer, even though that's not my intent. And it's certainly not anything I write about in the book. I want people of every political persuasion to be influenced by it. But I said earlier about how God is so annoyed, even though annoyed is too gentle, angered.

by the constant complaining, the ingratitude. That's what it is. Why is God angry about their complaining? Because of one of the ugliest traits in the human condition, ingratitude. I took you out of Egypt. I brought the 10 plagues there. I feed you manna. I split the sea. And then you go and do all these terrible things and, of course, just complain the whole time.

So that's how I feel about America. And what the left has done is complain the whole time. If that's not relevant, then nothing in the book is relevant. You're complaining about America. It has given so many of us, nearly all of us, such opportunity as unavailable elsewhere. And you're complaining. You ingrate America.

And that's what it is. The central characteristic of the left is ingratitude to parents, to society, to America, to the founders. And that if there's one overarching theme, that would be it. But look, there's the law is in is in numbers that you can't follow your free society if you are not grateful. Well, you can't have a free society. You can't have a moral society.

Ingrates are bad people. There are no kind ingrates on Earth. And from ingratitude leads to so many of the other vices that plague our society. Yeah, including misery. We wonder why is it the least happy generation in American history? Maybe ingratitude has something to do with it.

Grateful people are happy. Ungrateful people are miserable. To close, Dennis, this is very important as people might see news events that they like or do not like. I believe this is derived from the book of Numbers, but I could be wrong. To despair is a sin. Yeah, that does. That's what that that was the sin of the spies. Twelve spies for the twelve tribes are sent into Canaan because Israel is about to conquer it.

The Jews are about to conquer it and create Israel and Israel, the country. They already had Israel, the people. And 10 of them say we can't do it. We were there. We can't do it. Two of them, Joshua and Caleb. And by the way, Caleb is not ethnically a Jew. It's another one of the things that I develop. How heroic the non-Jews in the Torah are.

God is ethic centric, not ethnic centric. Let's just take that one example. That blood doesn't matter to the Torah. That principle built the West.

That principle is where you get e pluribus unum out of. Blood doesn't matter. And so I hope people understand that these are not just stories or mythologies. I believe they happen as written. That's my belief. I'm not here to impose it on you. But what is a fact is that people who believed it built the greatest civilization ever because they believed it. That is irrefutable. That's correct.

Dennis, God bless you. I think the word I'm supposed to say is have a fast, an easy fast. Is that correct? Or have an easy fast? Is that right? Yeah, I know. It's funny. The law in the Torah is that you should torment your soul. So if you wish me an easy fast, I'm not tormented. No cigars. Okay, Dennis? Ah, that's tormenting. No cigars. That's...

Yes. All right. Dennis, God bless you. Thank you so much. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. Email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com. Thanks so much for listening and God bless. For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.com.

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