>> that's a look at some of the programs booktv will be covering this week and many of these are content events are open to the public. >> [inaudible conversations] >> good evening. good evening, everyone. my apologies for the slight delay, but i'm rick powell, the president wilshire boulevard, temple there were thrilled you here tonight but for security reasons we are a little slow getting people check into what you know each and everyone of you can appreciate. first let me wish all of you a very happy and most importantly a healthy new year. i would like to have our current trustees, our past trustees and our past presidents at the time please stand up. [applause] >> that would you, howard. thank you all for being here tonight. i am excited about this new year and all the wonderful things that this temple will be doing for our members and for our community as you see this evening here we are continuing to grow and we want to devote our purpose in our community. we want wilshire boulevard temple to be a welcoming hand to you. by offering a variety of services, counseling and support. you are a part of our large family, and we embrace each and every one of you. may our helping hand always be extended to anyone in need. that is the great message that this temple brings to each and everyone of you. as members we each have a responsibility to ourselves and each other. we are so grateful to all of you for your continued support and commitment to helping us grow and be more effective each and every day. tonight is just one example of the diversity of experiences we bring to our members and friends. you are truly in for a treat tonight. so without further ado, let me introduce our direct of adult programs rabbi susan nanus. [applause] >> thank you and welcome everyone. speaking of community, i must acknowledge a few of our amazing partners for this evenings program. first of all we are in partnership with the u.s. the cast and institute, united states holocaust memorial museum. and this entire program is sponsored by the jerome toepfer fund, and mrs. ruth toepfer is here in the front row and we would like to thank her. [applause] >> "newsweek" called him the most influential rabbi in america. the jerusalem post named him one of the 50 most influential jews in the world. he is a scholar and author of eight books. he is an educator, having taught at the jewish theological seminary, american jewish university, hunter college, and ucla. his columns have been published by numerous newspapers and websites, including the "new york times," the "l.a. times," and the "washington post." he has appeared on the today show, face the nation, abc this morning, cbs this morning, pbs, amd, the history channel and the discovery channel. he is the senior rabbi of our sister congregation sinai temple. is our colleague and our friend. and that we are honored to have it in conversation with our guest speaker. please welcome rabbi david wolpe. [applause] >> bernard-henri levy is so well known to the french that they call him by his initials bhl. dashing, charismatic, as celebrated as any rockstar, he is unique figure which has no equal in the united states. an action driven moralist, and international thought leader who moves fast, writ writes fast, as listened to with respect. recently i heard someone call him the mick jagger of intellectuals. [laughter] for over 30 years he is been a philosopher, publisher, author of more than 30 books, including barbarism with a human face, and who killed daniel pearl? he is a playwright, journalist, filmmaker, defender of causes across the globe, cofounder of the antiracist group sos racism. known as a provocateur, he is challenged and counseled world leaders, and served on diplomatic missions for the french government. he has been called a tribal sage, a visionary, perhaps a profit, speaking out in defense of israel and against the return of anti-semitism. also named one of the 50 most important jews in the world and the most important intellectual in france, he has now turned his thoughts to his jewish heritage, to our jewish heritage in his new book "the genius of judaism." in which he explains how his ideas are shaped by the wisdom and beauty of judaism, while judaism and jewish peoplehood are so important to the world, and why the global resurgence of anti-semitism poses an existential threat to us all. after this program will have time for questions, as well as book sales and signing. but for now please welcome bernard-henri levy. [applause] >> i want to begin by just addressing two comments to those of you who are gathered here. the first is that because were being taped a c-span, it's very important that you laugh at the appropriate places. [laughter] and also we have asked our guest, instead of addressing his answers to me, which is a natural thing to do, to look out to you because of the c-span cameras. so the second is that i'm going to try to be as explicit and careful as i can in my questions. because even though, as you will hear, our guest speaks magnificent english. nonetheless, i think to conduct an interview in one second or third language is not an easy endeavor. and so i hope that you'll be patient with both of us as we try to explore this quite remarkable book "the genius of judaism." and i want to begin by asking you the following. which is, obviously you are more than familiar with the work of one of your french philosophical predecessors john paul saul, and you know his book anti-semite and you. that book was criticized because it suggests that in some ways at the anti-semite gets to decide what the jew is come that you defined by outside forces instead of by yourself. and so i wonder why you chose to get a book about the genius of judaism by talking about anti-semitism, instead of talking about judaism itself? >> it is the best question to start with. let me say first of all how happy i am to be here. i set it before to a little group of us, for me to be hosted in this place in this wilshire temple is more than a draw in. it is a great honor and it was a dream of my life to be here, to be received here and to have the honor to speak in this place, which is such a denial of the stupid theory of the opposition between jewishness and art, between jewishness and -- such and more complicated thing than, what say, some of our enemies. it's such a treat, such a joy, such an honor to be here dick and even more with rabbi david wolpe who is in america and anglo-saxon world in general, a legend. and i am really honored to be here on this stage sharing it with rabbi wolpe. [applause] >> so in reply to his question,, it is a question which i ask myself when i began the writing of this book. it is true that the jew has not come into this world to discuss anti-semitism. industreight is true that antie boring. it is true that when i reply on the tv to the question of the rise of anti-semitism, i have the feeling to lose a few minutes of my life. it is true that to enter into the cycle of entitlement to try to understand his reasons is something completely absurd. and by the way, it is not what i do in this book. the chapter about anti-semitism, which is the first chapter of the book, is not devoted to that at all. i don't try to answer in the reasons of the -- [inaudible] i try to say, because anti-semitism is in progress, because it is a proceeding of every front and not only in europe, also in america. i could not start this book without mentioning it, and without saying how i conceive the resistance of it. not how to convince the anti-semite. i will not convince them. not how to understand them. i don't care about them. most of them illiterate, stupid people. not even the soul, if i compare in france the anti-semites of the day and those of the '30s, there is certain -- between the brick in the '30s, alas for my grandfather, my grandfather's, anti-semitism could have bragged to have some great writers burning the flag. jean-paul sartre was a great writer of course. today, there is nothing. really rednecks of the south. really stupid, nonthinking women and men. so i don't delete the chapter about anti-semitism. it is devoted to reply to the question how to contain, how to resist, and how to win and prevail about anti-semitism. how to be stronger than them. the only questions which the anti-semitism addresses to be, to you, rabbi, and to all of you is, how to do in order to be stronger than them. we are not going to cure them. we are not going to understand them. we are not going to convince. we just have to be stronger. and in these stages of the reading of the book, i try, strong of my experience, strong of what rabbi wolpe just said, this very that season, this great at age in the history of jewelry which was opened by summit. this idea that i was a jew on the because a non-jew sold as a jew, was a horrible idea -- saw me -- was in mind rising i did. transforming the jew in nearly nothing, a shadow, and affect of the look of the other. so my idea in this chapter is to try in my modest way, i'm not at all and profit. i'm a little jew. i am a little jew trying to know more, trying to get into the mystery, the secrecy of judaism. but a little jew who i am has and will experience, and a little knowledge about how to be strong enough, do be stronger than them. this is what i tried to say in this chapter. >> so understanding that we suffer from low quality of anti-semite these days -- [laughter] in fact, what you do here is incredibly important, and i found it helpful, and i don't doubt that you will, too, which is that you tried to address the best arguments of anti-semitism and talk about why they are fallacious. so, for example, you don't address holocaust denial, which is stupid, but you do address why the holocaust can't be compared in some ways to any other tragedy in history. would you tell us something about that? what makes it different and what she would know because the analytical power of that is very potent. >> yes. this question is very important because one of the pillars of the new anti-semitism is the holocaust denying. it is one of the pillars. there is a way to say the jews are horrible beings because they traffic, exaggerate, or invent what should be the most sacred thing for them, which is the memory. this is the denial of holocaust turns into anti-semitism. it depicts the portrait of the jew capable, able to do the worst which is making up hayes, the most sane memory which he has. so the question is really, i try faithfully and thoroughly to raise the question of what is at the end of the day the holocaust. what is the holocaust matter, unprecedented, and allowed without any real following? why is it so special? there's not a question of number of events. it is not a question of clarification as it is sometimes said. there are some general sites which have been playing a fight. it is not -- the speed or the reason of the massacre, the genocide and all that has probably the world record of the speed of the massacre. it is not, i take a few generally said reasons of these and i reached the conclusion that there are two things which make the genocide of the jews, the holocaust, absolutely unity. number one, the holocaust made the world, the entire world, a trap for all the jews. entire world. even for an armenian. there was some possibilities exist. if he could, which was practically very difficult but in theory if one could escape to vietnam, if an armenian could escape from the desert of syria, he was safe. for the jews there was no safe place in the world. the project of the arrogance was to eradicate, to kill the jews whether they could, the entire project was again to make the entire world a trap for the jewish, considered as a prey. so no recourse. and the second specificity, mathematical. it is not, it is not a creed what i say. it is a fact. that it is the only general side which has been supposed to be, which was supposed to be without rest, without any piece of the body remaining safe. all the other genocides, as cruel as it could be, had i would does have limits but in some case the general, they decided to spare the old people. they decided to spare the children. you know the cases they do not care about the books. they did not care about the memory. they did not care about the dead, for example. the holocaust is the first genocide in the history of genocide which was a total project of destruction. nothing had to be left, no human living body, no human dead body, and not even the other living body which is the letter of the book which had to be eradicated or so. so no place remaining in the world. no member of these people having to remain alive. these are the two specificities of this genocide. and this is what entitles the scholars of the holocaust without any satisfaction. of course, it would be so better if it wasn't the case, but it is that which entitles the scope of the holocaust who say that it is sort of inhumanity, that it is a sort of climax which a man can do to the other man. and what isaac also in this chapter is that far from making the role take care of the other, far from consisting, sort of monopoly of the suffering this way of thinking the holocaust as an absolutely special massacre is an invitation to be aware, to get the first signs, and to be able to resist to any other massacre of humanity. i show in the book, and again it is not a creed. it's a fact, that since i am in the age of involve myself and to see and do think, each time in our history since 50 years, each time that the smell of genocide has come back, each time that the huge massacre has begun, those who gave, those who went on the bridge first were always not the jews, but those who had in their heart, in their memory and in their intelligence this idea of the specificity of the holocaust. it was that in bangladesh in the '70s. it was that. it was the case in dark for. it was the case in rwanda. the specificity of the holocaust gives to those who take it seriously a sort of sixpence, a sort of radar of inhumanity, which makes that they are always the first to feel, to know, and to fight. and this is very important because one of the arguments of the new anti-semitism is to say that if you give too much to the jews you have nothing left. one of the major arguments is there is not enough space in the human heart to have soul for the juice and for the others. it is the opposite. it is when your heart as a real and clear knowledge of what happened really to the jews, that enticed explained, i know that, that you are immediately aware and immediately unabridged for the other massacres and genocides. >> that is, it's a wonderful prelude to what i want to ask you next. also reminds me of the writer cynthia bozek was a beautiful image. she said that the shofar has a narrow and and a broadband be but if you start out by blowing into broad and you get nothing. if you start up by pulling in the narrow and you get a sound everyone can hear. and what i want to ask you is what made you, is it do you think you are jewish legacy, your of the holocaust, what made you continually throughout your life go to places where people were in danger, and thereby, endanger yourself? since you could've lived a very comfortable and renowned life without traveling to all the places, only some of which you recount in here, and making common cause with people in danger? >> they are probably many, many reasons for that, and probably some family models. i don't know if i have to answer in that year but in one world, i come from, in france there is a real strong dividing life between those who accept that fascism and those who refused fascism. and this is one of the reasons, by the way, why i love so much and i admire so much america. because america was at the end of the day the fatherland,, physical and spiritual of those who in my country refused fascism. it happens that my family, my father was one of these young heroes who, when he was 17 years old, decided to enlist himself and to commit himself to the physical fight against fascism. he did it in the spanish republic and the international brigade, and then he did it in a free army of france. he was one of the most decorated heroes of the battle of monte cassino. he had the terrible drug which fascinated me all my life, and especially when i was a child of his job was to be a volunteer to go beyond the lines, to take the fire of the enemy, to take his comrades, his companions who were wounded. this is a most difficult task in a battle, to go under fire beyond the lines to take your friends who are heavily wounded. so this was my father. i suppose that in the back of my mind all of my life i had come as any first, as any little jew who is devoted to his father, who loves his father, i suppose that i had that in the back of my mind. i suppose that i had the will to try to be worth of the message of the glory of my family. this is my main reason. .. the various places i just quoted and where i went. exactly as when i heard the american young jewish as a physical shock to commit myself to go on his footsteps to celebrate his name if i dare say exactly as i did for that. the name of course. i did the same for so many without any grave dead in this idea of a bunch of women and men dead impacts without name and number and without the disguise without leaving a trace of the memory of mankind it is true that this has made me crazy nl i devoted a little little part of my time. not enough to try to give back so just to figure the proper number of these. this is one thing. the other thing as more deeply. more accurately related to what they were called. for me to be a means in a way in which i try to express to care about the other. the question of being the i often hear people ask me what about your jewish identity. i'm always embarrassed by a the idea of identity because i'm not so sure that judaism is a matter of identity which means to be the same of ourselves. the real challenge for a the real stake in the real work is the relation not with the idaho but with the other. and for me the most challenging way to relate to the other is the way in which the most substantial profit. he goes to the biggest he goes to the proper embodiment and he deals with that and he speaks to that he tries to say that. being a. all my life what i feel has been consistent fighting in trying to be there again. not in the memory of my father but this time the message. in the little faithful to the profit. it is an attempt they read in the book. the hope and attempt to add a tiny drop of ink to the commentary. my life has consisted in doing that it was a summary of my life and attempt to express them. [applause]. something i would like to preface my next question with which you may not know because most of you have not have a chance to read the book is that the same sense of depth and force that you hear him speaking it actually comes through in the book as well. it is rated in that prophetic style. you will have that experience when you read the book just as i know you're grateful for having it here this evening. and i think the arc of our conversation has followed the ark of the book which is beginning with anti- semitism and opening to concern for the other with judaism and jonah celebrate it. god tells jonah to speak to the city of nineveh which is a heated city in ancient times and israel. and then eventually the fish spits them up. that's the idea. and in fact i remember many years ago hearing a comment from a wonderful rabbi who passed away a year or two ago who said why does jonah get to be a prophet. jonah unlike the rest of us only ran away from god once. so that's what i want to ask you is, -- does part of that genius that you speak about here mandate that belief in god and especially in the teaching of your teacher that beat and god's presence is less illogical the best moments of your life. they said it was a practice. the practice with the others. they did not used to say that. one of his one of his confirmed. he said judaism is not the religion. that is a spirit behind with the quantity of her religion in the world. with them speaking the master of judaism in the 20th century wanted to stick in front of his little house. the experience not of the present but of the retreat of god. it was one of the inspires it has this experience the terrible test of the world becoming suddenly devoid of god. empty of god and then says the rabbi then begins the question of what the men had to do. if the god retracts itself if god quits in a way. there is relief in the world. they had been created to relate itself is the height. what do the men and women in the reply. to pray and they have to study the text. and it is their world which will be like the chuck barnes of the world. they hold against this threat. because of the study. this for me is the crucial question. i try to say at the end of the book probably because because i am not familiar with the rituals and the jewish life. but my feeling is that one of the differences what was required. it was less to believe that the study and to bring the different religions of the world. a christian beliefs of course a christian has nothing more important than to jump in belief. to make the economy all the scales reached the neighbor we welcome the commentary. let's forget all of these details let's jump to the bets. to stop speaking and stop thinking. in jumping. my feeling is that the does not drop -- a jump. a never stops commenting studying. adding the paradox and so on. and there is a great quote who was asked one day if i have to choose between on one side a lazy student who is never here but who believes in a hard-working student who uses all of the strength of his mind. who really dies on the walk of the commentary. who would you choose. of course he would prefer not to have to choose. but if he have to choose he would prefer the hard worker who devotes his life to the commentary to revive and make more and more vibrant the letters of the text and the one who believes. in this for me is what i would call the genesis of debate. see. >> i will now ask you a very pedestrian question that a rabbi would ask. the idea that judaism is about study and text in ideas and searching is a beautiful and wonderful and inspiring idea and i don't think anybody here would object to it. kidney survive if people don't know hebrew don't keep the culture which are specific to judaism whereas ethics is not. you can care about other people and be any religion or no religion but nobody who prays in hebrew or isn't jewish. i wonder if in an attempt to grab the and. we are not losing something of the everydayness that also maintains places like this. see mick you are right that's enough. the jews have a way of eating at meeting and is speaking. when i say that. i mean between other things that i am disappointed in myself to be still so failing to the language. but i don't agree to say that everyone takes care of the other. i don't think that this concern of the other is common to all religions. at least say in another way. i do believe that there is a real jewish way very specific to live under the shadow to put his own shadow on the other into command to the text. question commands as of course. those who are faithful to that there is what being a means also having a very special way. i would like to take one example which is in the book which is a few pages of the book saying that has to be read as if it have a face. they said that the subversive means three things. which are very specific to jews. you will not find it there. to say that the first has to be read as if it has a face number one means the person that text is a living body. it is never frozen. opposed to the vibrant spirit. it is living and itself. number one number two has to take even more seriously and literally a face as a face he says. this is the face of the reader. it has to be understood in a way that does they find their own face. when you read the verse you find your face when you find your proper face the jewish idaho of being related to the text is the best way to jump out of the rank it to become a real subject. and they say a third thing. the verse has not exactly been read as if he only had one face but he said it has to be read as if he have the verse. and they wonder about this. as if it have 70 faces. seventy is not 12. it was the number of the nations. of the jewish experience is to address the convocation of all the nations of the world this way this way of reading and the verse. they have their own beauty. the the practice and so on. i don't believe in judaism. which is the content are happy with living a jewish life with great rhythm the great task of ordering and asking escorting the nations. >> before we take questions and i will take questions next what you remind me of is that you say in this book that the great division is not between orthodox in non- orthodox. it's between thinking jews and non- thinking jews. walking with the students. they don't ask questions anymore. they walked on for a minute and said one of the student said how students and how do i know i'm not dead. and he said because you ask. so how do you see that and make that between who is a thinking and who's not and i'm asking that seriously without being at all facetious or funny because some of us are non- thinking jews but if we hear your thinking we will rethink our nonthinking nest. >> this is a correct question. i am so angry when i hear my religion i should check to the jewish life is to be frank so i don't belong to the world of the men in black. i don't belong to this world. i'm so angry when i see them reduce this is just not fair. and those who want to be that. to overcome. what does it mean to be an orthodox is a great port which means to believe that there is one my opinion and the right opinion is right forever. it cannot be changed it is present in its rightness. i'm sorry but my friends do the opposite of that. their days in their nights. to try to go deeper in their opinion against the temptation. there is nobody that is less orthodox than those who are called orthodox. it might be this name. it has been an important name for me. in the 60s the chief of the french. he went in china he was the secretary and he is the man in the one this stupid idea the reflect of the eyes of the other they need to be in the second path of his life. at the end of the most spectacular of the history of the great jewish scholars became the man in black. he became a man in black. my dear friend who was as he often said the inventor of the palestinians. there was always a crazy guy at the end he said come on please. you tell me i invented them. this man became the most devoted man of study as they would say even if he have always the same. he never wore it which have artie been won by someone else. it is a true formula for genuine jewish experience. it is a lazy idaho they are created they don't understand anything. it was a love of the jewish people. on the other side you have some jews who i would call orthodox i would not make politics here the best friend. we realize is not just this one. the real dividing line is between those who believe is a test as an adventure of the spirit is a metaphysical and those who believe in the comfort of being a. since the first day when moses came to the jews of this time. moses knew that have been proposed to all. he knew some say the day. it had been proper all the nations that all of them refused and it was in despair of course to the people who accepted to do into here the jews new the company of moses knew they believed that it was easy they knew it was not an easy task. that it was not a comfortable state. they knew it was not even a state i'm sorry. all the years of your life. in the moments of your day there are moments when you are more jew than other. we should just head to entertain that. that's much more uneasy than that. and there is to name for the last time he is with his most famous book. he could've entitled it difficult judaism [applause]. one of the difficult's is asking a concise question. so i will help you because if you're not concise i will cut you off. i do this largely because this is not my synagogue and therefore at the end of the night i will be going to my place in escaping any appropriate for cutting off. please be concise. >> i have the pleasure of introducing you. with the leader ship. you also say that today's anti-semitism the conclusions up. it turns out they said no. i'm wondering if your group view is worthwhile and should we keep trying to keep at it. israel has its hands full. it's a difficult question. i believe i demonstrate there is no other way. it is not the political claim. if he wants recruit a big has to be the easiest boycott. it's the only way. pro- israel. i love israel not only for religious reasons. not only for national reasons. i think very precise topics as a model for democrats the only democrat now. in the way of dealing with democrats and building democracy was the a case for some the jews. this is one of the main reasons why i love this. and that's one of the things which at least in my country i try to say and to recall as often as i can. and there is in france but all about the world also in america which sometimes it shapes its goals. of denying this use of israel which is of course a sore subject for me. this i don't avoid the question. i'm very sad with it. it was a mistake. off of december. in my book. about israel. i must say that this un resolution in this meeting in paris i say publicly in france to be sure. was in our and is the wrong place the wrong moment three more. i want to invite you just to continue on a little bit and maybe i will direct your thinking for your answer towards the future of judaism in europe particularly france and may maybe in western europe in general. we hear a lot of difficult things about what is happening in europe. what you think. as you might have noticed i am a fighter very seldom there will be difficulty to quit i think most of the jews i know and france are such fighters. they know that france is there along the best architect of the constituency of france in the spirit of france and most of them will certainly not be the first one to leave. if someone has to leave france today is not the jews. these guys they don't even know why they hate them. they're so striking. and in the attacks when you hear the jihadists it reflects that. they don't even know why. they don't even know what is. they're just not. they are just stupid. how would they live at the risk of his blood. which might ancestor not exactly my they built that. how would i leave this country and leave them on the battlefield impossible. i'm sorry to tell you that. i know the american press does not say that. i think i'm right. as may be difficult and may even be a brilliant one. i think the future of the jews in france has to be great. they made them socially contract. they made the demonstration in the book that the very stemming cell the first draft of the french language the language which i speak a little better than english the first one who has produced putin to motion is a french language is the greatest jew of his time. you will find it here. if you want to demonstration it's the inventor of the french language. so how would they lead france except if they think that they're in israel except as i might do at a point in my life except that they believe that the next project is to add something to contribute to the great dream but this is another story. i believe and i demonstrate again that zionism is still alive. i don't believe that it is out of breath. i completely understand they think that the task is to contribute to that. to live by defeat and living there [applause]. this is a comment not a question i take to heart what you said about the unthinking and i have to apologize when i did made my thinking person who brought bermard-henri levy without her he would not be sitting here just thrilling us with his intellect and i would like to publicly thank linda kent for making this happen. it is concise but important. thank you very much for pointing out the 70 faces i had been a passionate interface activist for almost 30 years and i feel like that is my responsibility as a jew and i don't think i could be a jew unless i was concerned about the other 70 faces. you just put it so beautifully. here is my question. in the many years that i had been working together with people from many different faiths one of the stereotypes that has come up often about jews from non- jews is that we hold herself maury -- morally superior too other people that we say look and see how we behave and then you will know how to behave. i've heard that a number of times when people have been totally honest about how they feel even though they may recognize that those same jews they are talking about our the ones that gave them their first job the name of your book is the genius of judaism. it's a written as opposed. is there a sense in which they speak to all of themselves basically and is writing a book called this feeding into that stereotype. >> probably some of those. he you stupid people everywhere. more remote from the genius complex. i quoted very quickly before a name which is coming out to all of you and is proof of that. it isn't name. who is a cousin of moses who taking advantage of one of the journeys of moses decides the time has come that the nation is seen as itself. he gathers around him 250 followers who by the idea that to be a jew and makes immediately you are a saint. given aura of's entity. you're the best of the best. the salt of the earth. and the wait for moses to tell him we are fed up with your complexity. we are fed up with your promises and we are the best. we are superhero. we are a saint nation. we are proud of this. you know what happens moses asked for a milk --dash miracle. it is a new beginning of the earth. transformed into a big mouth which swallows the followers. the comment to wonder why moses was so severe against his first cousin wyatt moses makes so many compromises in deals certainly he's so sharp and brittle merit be there was a compromise. others wonder why he took the huge risk was to ask for a miracle which is the most difficult risk for a jew. the mistake. superiority there was nothing else. then this example. no compromise with that. from the worlds of moses this idea of the jewish people is an offense. we all had to be faithful to that. each time. [applause]. is the most difficult thing i will say tonight this has to be the last question. forgive me. and forgive me everybody who wants to sit for more hours as we all do i think and listen and listen almost all of us have lived all of our life in the presence of israel. i want you to tell us how you think israel defined the jewish character when i think before when the old testament goes on and so we were defined by the witness of the success of christianity. how does israel define the character today. >> i'll try to be short. metaphysically the creation is probably one of the biggest test which was given to the jewish people. at the end of the day they owe their survival to the other people. to a nonpolitical and the reason the jewish tradition against political temptation to know how the gods of israel are always unwilling gods the kings i'm sorry. they are always unwilling kings. they have to be able to fetch by force. when they become kings they are so different from the greek kings kings for example. who are supposed to be pure and exemplary the kings of israel. they are great kings but the greatest kings are full of mistakes. you know all of that. of the idea. the difficult experience of the sovereignty so with that the experience the creation is something that makes a real difference. the story of the jewish people. it's a metaphysical test which for the moment it is. i am among those who believe that israel has been a deliver of this great hope and dream and experience of the jews. but it is a test. the other thing which i would add politically i believe israel makes every in the world stronger. for me this idea of strength is very important i know a lot. i don't remember but i remember about these generations of jews. they were weak. they were not happy to be weak of course but they felt compelled to be weak. they felt to be weak at least outside was an obligation and duty. in one of the new things of the jewish likes the last 50 years especially in america but it came also to europe as a break with the idea of weakness. a break with this idea that to be a jew meant to be a jew in the shadow. the new mechanism portugal and spain the fact is in france and in america there is a moment there. they were inside in secret. so the identity is there. it consists in having broken with this tradition of self-hatred and of self inflicted weakness. there is many reasons for that. for the revolution. many reasons. there are semi reasons. in france, i said yesterday in another place that there is one great writer who gave to all the jews of my generation they brought this. he have the body who have a handsome body this was the revolution in europe. a breaking with the tradition the bodiless. -- jew. they were off there. it is the only exception. there is some literary reasons there is some particular reasons a reason to study the assumption of this idea that we have to be there. this is a new idea for the secular jews to know that they have to deal with that and it might be the most decorative tree experience. the self explanation. it is the first of the state. again i don't pretend to demonstrate. that there is no one jew today even those who refuse to define themselves as jews. they are reluctant to see the state. they make somebody to show the white hand. there is no one who does not always of standing and strong. on earth. i did love that. i demonstrated i think it is through. for these we all had to think israel. -- we all had to think israel. remember that bermard-henri levy will be signing books. i want to thank the rabbi leader. and say how wonderful it is. thank you rabbi david. thank you the books will be on sale and he will be happy to sign a book. this is book tv on c-span two. some of -- television for serious readers. tonight starting at 7:00 eastern the university of delaware and escaped slave once owned by george and martha washington. he weighs in on president trump's political agenda. and then at 9:30 p.m. eastern they provide a history of american television on book tv afterwards program sabrina fulton and tracy martin parents of the late trey on martin remember their sons life and death. they look at civil wars throughout world history. >> do you think the union commanders recognized the talents among the mechanical trades amongst their soldiers were they aware of this advantage. it's actually an excellent one. i think what happened was the professional engineers were really miffed by the nonprofessionals who were being relied upon to pull off these remarkable feats. i think that's where the difficulty was so yes i think men like grant and mead and someone like william road krantz. the talent they have within the audience. the real question was did professional engineers like james duane did they recognize and where they prepared to give full credit to these upstarts. and i think they felt very threatened and as you read official reports you can really see that as you read between the lines. you can watch a dozen other programs online. ..

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