Well, hi everybody and welcome to the fireside chat. So I have a very challenging thought before I take your questions.

There is a verse actually a law. There are 613 laws in the Torah, the first five books. All the laws of the Bible are in the first five books, the Torah, which is...

which are the most important books of the Bible. I know people don't like to make measurements. They don't like to say,

bigger sin or lesser sin or more good or lesser good, but I'm a big believer in that.

Anyway, the first five books are the basis of the Old and New Testaments. There is a law which I would like to apply to modern American life.

And if you're listening outside of America, I think you will find this just as important.

So the law is Deuteronomy, chapter 23 verse 7. And I want to remind you incidentally that the latest volume of my Bible commentary is Deuteronomy,

which is not well known, even certainly by name, but I just like you to know for your interest.

It is the most cited book of any, including any secular book, any enlightenment book, any Greek or Roman classic, or any biblical book.

It is the most often cited book by the founders of the United States of America.

And it's the second most cited book by Jesus in the New Testament from the Old Testament, which is the only Bible he knew, obviously.

And that is Deuteronomy. The first, by the way, was Psalms, in case you're curious in the terms of Jesus' citations.

The law is, do not hate an Egyptian.

It's an amazing law, amazing. The Israelites had just spent horrible long years of slavery, generations of slavery in Egypt.

And there's a law, if you believe it, and I do, given by God, if not given by Moses, and if you will, in the name of God, doesn't matter.

But there's the law, and it is ancient, and it is probably to the generation that has just left Egypt, and forever. You cannot hate an Egyptian.

Why is this so important? I wish that there were leaders in America today saying to Black America, you cannot hate a white.

That is so relevant and so important. This issue of hatred of whites among some blacks in America is never touched because people are afraid, cowardice is the human norm.

There's no other explanation because everybody knows it exists. And if not hatred, resentment, anger, you name the negative emotion. If hatred is too strong, the other tool will suffice.

And it's particularly remarkable, given that we are now living 160 or so years after slavery. This is not the first generation after slavery.

This is 160 years later, and there was still a great deal of hatred and resentment. Now, of course, there was Jim Crow and racism in the meantime. It's not like the day slavery ended.

The treatment of blacks was wonderful throughout America. I'm not claiming that. I know that. But certainly in the post-World War II era, and certainly in the civil rights era and on, the reasons for a black to resent whites certainly receded.

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