I really enjoy Rabbi Shvat's incisive thought- and presentation.

oh dear oh dear. Maybe if you reversed roles and imagined that you are a Jew watching an Irishman or a Russian saying that the role of his people is to teach morality to the rest of humanity ( including the Jews) you'd get a feel for how laughable this clip sounds to non Jewish viewers. This clip is an example of ethnocentrism taken to the point of farce.

This series is a real eye-opener. Very interesting and well-presented.

Peace via balance: a SECURE BIG ISRAEL. Ishmael as a GOOD NEIGHBOUR and family, finally blessed also in ISRAEL'S HOMECOMING and NOT living in our HOUSE as well. (The Arabs have very many countries.) Arab transfer for balance. An EMPTY Temple Mount, to take away the false MAGNET for Ishmael. The "Third Temple" will be for the time being the development of Israel together with Humankind towards a truly just, peaceful and pleasant society, based upon a new socio-economic THIRD WAY, an economy more connected to physical reality than to abstract markets. A SECULAR/TRADITIONAL cultural foundation: An historically much needed separation of on the one hand Leshon Kodesh, traditional/dati Hebrew (including Aramaic), taught ascendingly at ALL SCHOOLS as the cultural foundation of, on the hand a PROPERLY MODERN Hebrew (a better name would be Yisraelit) with a few extra (vowel) letters for 100% readability, pronuncation clarity, enabling fast learning via CONTEXT. Finally a real everyday language at last for all pursposes, all walks of life, so we can BREATHE for G-d's sake. Lerning and puzzling will still be available. Yisraelit as a practical (inter)national-jewish information and communication vehicle: - unites the nation, Israel and the galut. -unites the cultural past with the modern present, incorporating e.g. big chunks of Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Persian, etc. - gives a socio-economic BOOST. - increases social mobility, an important aspect of social justice. - will create CONTINUITY. "NORMALIZATION", as much as is jewishly posible. Not another "theocratic" movement. A movement towards a practical NATIONAL FOUNDATION, certainly not antireligious, but SECULAR (also freedom from religion) and TRADITIONAL as a basis to keep it real, Am Yisrael. We need to do OUR THING to survive as a nation, G-d will find ways to :) interfere anyhow. SHALOM

The rabbi speaks eloquently. I am sure many, including the rabbi himself, are persuaded by such eloquence. I am also sure that there is many a nation which considers itself the repository of morality and a light unto others. The truth however is more prosaic: a nation comes about for reasons of communal solidarity and perpetuates itself on the basis of retold histories and myths, the identification of common enemies, the creation of a common language and often a common religion. Nationalism is an ideology which, in the beginning, can be an expression of self-determination. Unfortunately, in the midst of justifying the need for collective survival, nationalism very soon degenerates into an expression of hatred for others, together with a proclivity for violence and destruction.