Episode #86 - Second Interview with Rabbi Daniel Lapin

 

Ed and I were honored to interview Rabbi Daniel Lapin for the second time (our first guest to make an appearance twice). Ron has been a big fan of the Rabbi, listening to his radio show, and reading his books, for over a decade.

We only had the Rabbi on for about 30 minutes, so we ran without commercials for the first half of the show.

We covered the following topics with him:

  • His 2/6/16 Podcast on The Blaze Radio Network: “There Are No Poor People in America.”

  • His thought experiment about paying $20 to prevent suicides, and the three Biblical punishments (Capital, Restitution, and Lashes), and why Rabbi supports all three.

  • We discussed Father Sirico’s statement: “I value the truth more than my freedom.” Rabbi didn’t agree. This will be discussed more in the future.

  • Does he think taxation is theft? Rabbi, “No, I don’t.”

Biography

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, known world-wide as America's Rabbi, is a noted rabbinic scholar, best-selling author and host of the Rabbi Daniel Lapin Podcast on The Blaze Radio Network. He is one of America’s most eloquent speakers and his ability to extract life principles from the Bible and transmit them in an entertaining manner has brought countless numbers of Jews and Christians closer to their respective faiths. In 2007 Newsweek magazine included him in its list of America’s fifty most influential rabbis. 

Before immigrating to the United States in 1973, Rabbi Daniel Lapin studied Torah, physics, economics and mathematics in Johannesburg, London and Jerusalem. He quickly became persuaded that God continues to smile on the United States of America and he became a naturalized citizen on what he describes as the proudest day of his life.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin was the founding rabbi of Pacific Jewish Center, a now legendary Orthodox synagogue in Venice, California. He implanted the community’s mission of demonstrating the relevance of traditional Faith to modern life.

Pacific Jewish Center, synagogue in Venice, CA, est. 1978 with Michael Medved, served as rabbi for 15 years

Books 

America’s Real War: An Orthodox Rabbi Insists that Judeo-Christian Values are Vital for Our Nation’s Survival (1999)

Buried Treasure: Secrets for Living from the Lord’s Language (2001)

Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money (2009)

Business Secrets from the Bible: Spiritual Success Strategies for Financial Abundance (2014)

Other Resources and Readings

Ron’s review of Thou Shall Prosper

Rabbi Lapin’s website: www.youneedarabbi.com and www.rabbidaniellapin.com, where you can subscribe to his weekly Thought Tools column, which contain Biblical principles on family, finance, faith, marriage, and relationships.

Rabbi Lapin’s Podcast on The Blaze Radio Network

Ed mentioned the article, A Plea for Culinary Modernism:  Why We Should Love New, Fast, Processed Food (pdf).  Gastronomica I (February 2001), 36-44.

Ed’s blog post on his grandfather, who used to sit on the porch and say, “I wonder what the poor people are doing?”