The Michael Knowles Show - August 27, 2023


Michel Knowles & Jewish Rabbi Discuss DEMONS In The Bible ｜ Rabbi Pinchas Taylor

Topics
reincarnation in Judaism
Hosted by
Michael Knowles
Guests
Rabbi Pinchas Taylor
Mentioned
Jared Taylor Michael Judas Abel Good Ranchers Uncle Aristotle John Milton Torah Seth
Michael & The Former Psychic： ＂It Was Fine Until the Demon Touched Me＂ Ep. 1318 - Trump's Best Campaign Ad Yet

Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

170.23

Word count

2,800

Sentence count

179

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Toxicity

6

sentences flagged

Hate speech

7

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode of Mythology Thursday, Rabbi Taylor talks about reincarnation, UFO demons, and why women can be rabbis. Rabbi Taylor is the author of A Jewish Guide to the Mysterious: An Illustrated History of the Mysterious, a book that explores the mysteries of the Jewish past, present, and future.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
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00:00:37.600 Let's bring on Rabbi Taylor.
00:00:40.000 Rabbi Taylor, thank you for coming on the show.
00:00:42.360 Thanks so much for having me, Michael.
00:00:44.060 So we started Theology Thursday just a few weeks ago.
00:00:48.200 We're cycling through different religions and religious traditions.
00:00:52.500 And one topic that keeps coming up, though, and maybe it's just because of the age that we live in,
00:00:56.980 is the occult, demons, the UFO stuff in the air, all this kind of stuff.
00:01:02.880 And I always prided myself on knowing, thinking that I knew the Jewish view on things.
00:01:07.920 Because I grew up in New York.
00:01:10.000 Virtually all of my friends were Jewish.
00:01:12.080 I've been to many a bar mitzvah.
00:01:14.040 I lived in Los Angeles.
00:01:16.540 So I thought, and then I was talking to a Jewish friend of mine the other day.
00:01:20.220 And she said, Michael, you know how the Jews believe in reincarnation?
00:01:22.940 And I said, wait, what?
00:01:24.180 She said, yeah, yeah, the Jews believe in reincarnation. 0.91
00:01:26.400 I heard this from a rabbi.
00:01:28.940 She said, blah, blah, blah.
00:01:29.900 I said, wait, she? 0.76
00:01:30.820 How the hell is there a she rabbi? 1.00
00:01:32.200 Hold on. 0.82
00:01:32.520 Wait, what is this?
00:01:33.260 So I realized I don't know anything about Judaism.
00:01:35.080 And now I have your book, A Jewish Guide to the Mysterious.
00:01:38.280 But even better than that, I've got you on here to give me the answers directly.
00:01:41.800 So do Jews believe in reincarnation? 0.84
00:01:45.340 Why can ladies be rabbis? 1.00
00:01:46.780 And then more importantly, to the topic at hand, what's all the UFO demon stuff?
00:01:51.480 All right.
00:01:51.800 So let's start with reincarnation, I guess.
00:01:54.840 So one of the big misnomers, I think, about Judaism is we're called the people of the book.
00:02:01.780 And it's interesting because really the Hebrew Bible, the way it was meant to be given over generationally was orally.
00:02:12.640 Like the Hebrew Bible is basically like the notes or the cliff notes, I guess, that a professor would hand out an outline of the lecture.
00:02:21.560 And then the college professor gives the lecture.
00:02:25.060 And that's if you didn't attend the lecture and you didn't hear the whole class, you may have a basic understanding of what went on in the class, but you don't really get the full capacity of it.
00:02:34.800 So the main body of Jewish thought actually was carried on orally using the Hebrew Bible, obviously, as the index or as the cliff notes.
00:02:47.160 But the discussion – so what I'm trying to bring out is this idea that some of the concepts in Judaism are not very clearly written in the Hebrew Bible.
00:02:58.740 Even the concept of an afterlife is not really clearly written in the Hebrew Bible.
00:03:04.020 Reward and punishment in the Hebrew Bible is essentially if you do what you're supposed to do, you're going to get the rain when you're supposed to get it.
00:03:10.120 And if you don't do what you're supposed to do, you're not going to get the rain when you're supposed to get it.
00:03:13.080 There's not a whole lot of spirituality and mysticism.
00:03:16.140 It's the Hebrew Bible talks directly, clearly and practically to people from all ages and all times, something that a farmer 3,000 years ago could clearly relate to.
00:03:26.440 I better do the right thing.
00:03:27.560 And something where us in our modern day, we can relate to it in a different sort of way, in a different sort of level and still gain and understand and be motivated to do the right thing.
00:03:39.380 So as far as reincarnation is concerned, this is something that the Jewish mystics in particular have – has been a core of Jewish mystical theology for quite some time.
00:03:53.700 There are commentaries in the Torah text that discuss various instances where you would see reincarnation.
00:04:03.680 So for example, after Cain and Abel have their squabble and Cain kills Abel, the words that the Hebrew Bible uses in the original Hebrew is that when Seth is born, it says that he stood in Abel's place.
00:04:22.420 And some of the Jewish mystics interpret that to mean that he was actually sort of a reincarnation, fulfilling the mission that Abel – so there are places where we see this in Jewish tradition.
00:04:35.240 I think a lot of people like to focus on sort of the mysterious stuff because living practically and living morally is a lot harder.
00:04:44.940 And so like I'd rather talk about angels and demons and aliens and all this other stuff because it's just fun to talk about and it's kind of just theoretical.
00:04:54.540 And so that's sort of why people I think focus on that.
00:04:58.580 You know, I was reading in the Nicomachean Ethics last night, you know, good old Uncle Aristotle says that, you know, it's fine to read about virtue, but virtue is practical.
00:05:12.360 You know, moral virtue is a practical thing.
00:05:14.240 It's about habit.
00:05:15.120 You just have to do it.
00:05:16.420 If you just sit there and kind of muse about it and read about it and banter back and forth, that's not going to get you where you need to go.
00:05:22.840 You just need to actually do the day-in, day-out work of growing in virtue, which is a little less sexy, but, you know, ultimately more conducive to your flourishing.
00:05:33.520 That's our society, though.
00:05:34.640 We like going where it's just going to keep my mind entertained.
00:05:38.860 So angels, demons, reincarnation, lots of fun.
00:05:42.120 Right.
00:05:42.600 So – but on that point, you do write about it in your book.
00:05:46.320 And my main interest in it is not purely speculative right now.
00:05:51.620 It's because this alien stuff is taking over the PSYOP media – sorry, is taking over the, you know, important hearings at the U.S. Congress.
00:06:01.200 And so I think it's all a bunch of nonsense.
00:06:04.420 And I think that either people are hallucinating or they're seeing weapons, you know, as has happened, you know, secret weapons programs.
00:06:11.200 Or I do believe in spiritual realities.
00:06:13.880 I believe in angels and demons and spiritual combat.
00:06:15.800 So maybe they're experiencing some of that as the occult grows in our culture, as a traditional religious practice disappears.
00:06:24.500 And – but also I think it's just kind of like a PSYOP and a distraction.
00:06:29.200 So what is the – do aliens exist?
00:06:31.820 You know, is that a possibility in the Jewish view?
00:06:34.380 So there's a possibility.
00:06:37.900 And it wouldn't impact our life in the way that some people think that it would.
00:06:42.420 So some people think, oh my gosh, if there's intelligent life out there, that's the end of religion.
00:06:47.060 Because the worldview that we had until now is completely changed.
00:06:54.140 One of the interesting things that's discussed regarding humanity in the Jewish context is – and this is openly in the Hebrew Bible – that everything conceptually is centered around the human being.
00:07:07.680 The human being is seen as the sort of pinnacle of creation.
00:07:11.020 And we're created in the image of God.
00:07:13.440 And that's something unique.
00:07:14.660 In fact, interestingly enough, in the Hebrew Bible text, especially – you really get the full gist of it in the original Hebrew, that the difference between the way in which everything in the universe is created compared to the human being is subtle but vast.
00:07:32.560 Everything else in creation, the Bible describes it as being spoken into existence.
00:07:37.300 God said, let there be light.
00:07:39.040 God said, let there be plants and animals. 0.97
00:07:41.160 When it comes to a human being, a human being is formed from the dust of the earth and God blows the breath of life.
00:07:48.600 And so the Jewish – the oral tradition and the mystical texts actually say that there's a big difference between speaking something into existence and deep breath.
00:08:02.460 What's the difference?
00:08:03.820 When you speak, the air expenditure that comes out is very superficial.
00:08:08.640 You can talk for hours and many of us know people that can just talk for hours.
00:08:15.220 And then – but deep breath, if you're taking deep breath, it's – you know, you'll pass out after five minutes.
00:08:21.480 And so the idea is that God has a very – a deeper relationship with the human being than does with everything else in creation.
00:08:28.700 And so the being created in the image of God, our commentaries offer various ideas as to what that actually means.
00:08:37.080 But the central idea as to being created in the image of God means that you – that we – you and I, we have free will, that we can make moral decisions.
00:08:46.200 And this is something that is unique to a human being in the same way that God can make – makes decisions to, for example, create the universe and completely undeterred by anything else.
00:08:57.540 A human being, despite any challenges, nature or nurture, can make a free will decision to act just like God.
00:09:05.700 In other words, to not be influenced by any sort of external factors.
00:09:10.540 So being created in the image of God means – from a Jewish vantage point – means to be a being with free will, to be able to make moral decisions.
00:09:19.580 And that's something that's unique to human beings.
00:09:21.780 Even the angels in our tradition don't have free will.
00:09:24.620 Demons don't have free will.
00:09:26.200 And aliens, if they were out there, they don't have free will.
00:09:29.600 So in the same way that I can conceptually believe in the idea of angels and demons and that sort of thing, if aliens were out there, if they were a physical being from another planet and they landed in Times Square tomorrow and it was like universally clear that there is life out there, you know what I would still do that morning?
00:09:48.640 I would still put on my tillin.
00:09:50.680 I would still pray because, OK, I mean it would be cool.
00:09:53.760 It would be interesting to see and to reconsider things and kind of get a new look at the universe.
00:09:58.900 But it's not going to affect my daily – because, again, one thing I know about the aliens, the angels, and the demons is that they don't have free will.
00:10:07.740 The human being is created in the image of God.
00:10:11.000 Now does – is this complicated by the account of the fall of the demons?
00:10:18.000 You know, the Christian account is that there's a war in heaven, Satan rebels, and a third of the angels go with him, and there's a big war, and it doesn't turn out very well for Satan.
00:10:28.900 And then this is depicted in later artistic traditions, you think – which I actually coincidentally just referenced in the show today.
00:10:35.660 You know, you think of John Milton, Satan, who says, well, I'd rather reign in hell than serve in heaven.
00:10:41.700 The mind is its own place.
00:10:42.880 It can make a hell of heaven and heaven a hell.
00:10:45.080 Does the rebellion of the angels imply free will, or does that not factor into the Jewish conception of demons?
00:10:54.040 So it's interesting because one thing I think that may be a distinction in Judaism is that Satan, or as we call it in Hebrew, Satan, means adversary.
00:11:08.560 It's a Hebrew word that means the adversary.
00:11:11.440 We find it in the book of Numbers, chapter 22, for example, where that word is used as meaning just an adversary.
00:11:18.440 And there is – in our tradition, there is no sort of rebellion in heaven, that there was an angel that had free will that said, God, I hate you, and I'm going to go make a big fight.
00:11:30.240 There's no real concept of like a duality, that there's the forces of good, the forces of evil, and they're kind of duking it out.
00:11:37.360 And then the good guys are going to win in the end, but what the idea of the Satan or the Satan is, is more sort of the idea that it's an adversary.
00:11:49.280 It's something to sort of bring you up.
00:11:51.280 In fact, one of the ways the Jewish mystics sort of describe it is imagine you have a king who wants to test the loyalty and the love that his son, the prince, has for him.
00:12:01.960 And so what he tells him is you need to live a moral life.
00:12:05.960 You need to make sure that you're not involved in various forms of immorality, and you need to be on the straight and narrow.
00:12:14.040 And then after he has a conversation with his son, the prince, he goes and hires a harlot to try to seduce the prince.
00:12:23.000 In other words, the harlot's job is to entice the prince as much as possible.
00:12:28.740 Her job is to really try to get him to fall.
00:12:33.920 But the harlot knows that the whole thing is a game.
00:12:38.040 In other words, the whole reason that she's trying to entice him is just to bring out the love.
00:12:42.620 If she doesn't try to entice him, then there's no love and loyalty brought out.
00:12:46.800 But is the harlot not culpable for her, even being used instrumentally to bring out this love and to be this trial?
00:12:56.300 Is she not culpable?
00:12:57.920 I mean, I think of Judas, right, who Judas betrays Christ, and this is providential, right? 0.95
00:13:05.160 Christ tells his apostles, one of you is going to betray me.
00:13:09.920 Judas comes up, he says, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?
00:13:12.980 And he says, do what you're going to do.
00:13:15.760 And he says, you know, the Son of Man is going to be crucified.
00:13:20.600 But woe to that man who does it.
00:13:23.360 It would be better for that man had he never been born.
00:13:25.800 Which is mysterious, because you think, well, hold on.
00:13:28.720 This had to happen.
00:13:30.260 This is the key of the story.
00:13:34.040 And yet, this person is still morally culpable, even for doing it.
00:13:38.240 Is that mystery worked out in the sort of Jewish conception of Satan, or even like the temptress harlot? 0.61
00:13:46.960 Or is it, or do you get a pass if you're doing a bad action for a good end?
00:13:55.160 So the Satan, Satan is an emissary.
00:13:59.280 He's called the shliach, an emissary of God for the purposes of challenging the human brain, bringing out that love, bringing out that loyalty.
00:14:09.360 And that's the only way that free will can be expressed.
00:14:11.800 God wanted to create an environment, a world that seemingly is devoid of godliness, and that people should be able to look beyond the veil that the world entices us, see the godly core, and make this world into a place that openly reveals godliness.
00:14:29.220 The only way that you can do that is with free will and temptation.
00:14:31.960 And so the Satan is an adversary, but the focus—and also, it's important to note, I think, as well, that in Jewish tradition, the Satan isn't seen so much as the way it is in cartoons, with like the little angel on the right side and the devil on the other side.
00:14:50.900 That the focus of the challenge is on what we call the yetzir hara, the evil inclination within all of us. 0.99
00:14:58.060 If you see something that you desire on the outside, it's not so much the thing that you're desiring that's causing you.
00:15:05.580 It's something on the inside of you that is pulling you in that direction.
00:15:08.760 Right.
00:15:09.720 So this is something that is—the focus is on the internal struggle between doing right and wrong, as opposed to some external force always kind of prodding us in the wrong direction.
00:15:20.780 Right.
00:15:20.980 We'll have to have you back, and I'm very pleased that even though you didn't give me the precise answer I was hoping for on aliens, you gave me at least most of the answer I was hoping for, which is, who cares?
00:15:33.580 Who cares? 0.98
00:15:33.980 I don't care about the stupid aliens, which is pretty good and very, very interesting. 0.99
00:15:37.420 And you can get the book, A Jewish Guide to the Mysterious. 0.99
00:15:39.960 And, Rabbi Taylor, we will certainly have to have you back on the show.
00:15:43.060 Thank you for coming on.
00:15:44.460 It was a great pleasure.
00:15:45.200 Thanks so much, Michael.
00:15:45.840 We'll see you next time.
00:16:15.840 T.D., ready for you.