Rabbi Daniel Lapin's Podcast

What really distinguishes liberalism from conservatism. Holding your own baby for the first time matters to all people in all places at all times. Tennis and marshmallows do not. Feeling hope as the sun rises is something all humans everywhere have always known. Riding a rollercoaster ride is not. Ancient Jewish wisdom's take on Scripture is that it covers everything that is applicable to all people everywhere, always. Such a universal experience is laughter. What is it and what makes some things funnier than others? Why does so much comedy revolve around toilet functions, sexual functions and God? Which is the better blueprint for families, companies, organizations and countries; kindness & compassion or law & discipline? Do you know what is so funny about laughter in the Bible? Who laughs more; liberals or conservatives?

Only about 20% of self-identifying American Jews believe in God and regard His Torah as authoritative. And the rest? What do they believe? Is it true that some parts of American Jewry are viewed as the circumcised wing of the Democratic Party? Why is so much American entertainment Jewishly flavored? This is not true for movies and TV programming from England or France. Is this observation anti-Semitic? If so, call the Anti-Defamation League. Or the Southern Poverty Law Center. The truth about both these disturbing organizations. The sad story of the Christian girl who wasted seven of her best years dating two Jewish men (one after the other). How the term anti-Semitism is no longer about trying to hurt or harm Jews but has become a club with which to bludgeon conservatives into political silence. The overwhelming majority of self-identifying American Jews are political liberals (for reasons found in my book America's Real War). They conflate Jewish values with those of the Democratic Party and regard anyone w

Today's worst insults and most indicting criticisms: It's old fashioned; it's not modern; it's archaic; it's outdated; it's so yesterday. Many mistakenly believe that any idea not sufficiently progressive is automatically false and wrong. But what if some old ideas are actually true and right? Learn to judge the value of an idea regardless of its vintage. And talking of older ideas with tremendous value, let's teach our children to court rather than date. Why the emotional roller-coaster of teenage and young adult dating does such a good job preparing for divorce.  Why do progressives always paint the past in dark colors? School children are indoctrinated to believe that everything done by Americans yesterday was evil. Did Americans really do nothing more than kill Indians and enslave blacks? Progressives believe that society needs them to make tomorrow bright and redeem us from our horrid past. History lessons are no more than exercises in self-flagellation in order to propagandize children to the idea they

Is it because the Jews convinced the Romans to crucify Jesus? No; many who hate the Jews also hate Christianity. Is it because of Jews like Saul Alinsky, George Soros, Bernie Sanders, Sigmund Freud, Herbert Marcuse and many others? Partially, perhaps, but many who hate the Jews have never heard of these men. Why is it that Jew hatred seems to go hand-in-hand with communism, progressivism, socialism or whatever else you wish to label the Left. Soviet style socialism hated Jews. National Socialism (Nazi) hated Jews and modern progressive socialism as found on American university campuses hates Jews. People and places who possess pride in economic growth and wealth creation get on well with Jews. Hatred of the free-market and loathing of wide spread individual prosperity seems to go together with hating Jews. The more left a country leans the more likely it is to hate Israel. This show explains this bizarre pattern that is so much a part of today's geopolitics. Also, why rioters destroy shops and stores In Their

This show is about the magical ten years in a man's life; ages 13—23 years-old. These are the years in which subsequent success in life is rooted and, sadly, the years in which the origin of future failure can be found. Here are the step-by-step success strategies that a young man should follow for positioning himself for everything good in life. The show is not about the importance of being cool. It is not about learning how to rap or tap dance and it is not about social media. But it is about sex and money; the two areas in which most men have the most regrets. Here are the things you wish you knew when you were between 13 and 23 years-old. The show starts with Shakespeare and ends with Kipling; those two dead white guys knew a thing or two! A genie pops out of the lamp and offers you a 're-do' of the ten years of your life; from when you were thirteen until the time you were twenty-three. Yes or no? I'd wager that you'd take up the genie's offer. You won't  be surprised to hear that over 90% of the popula

America's bizarre distinctions in how two human appetites are treated—sex and money. With sex, anything that two consenting adults chose to do is viewed as nobody else's business. Anything at all! With money, even if two consenting adults agree to a certain job at a specific hourly rate, the government steps in to insist that employer must pay employee a minimum amount. With sex, if one party decides not to deliver to another, not only is that fine but the other, the 'buying' party can be destroyed for even suggesting the deal to the reluctant 'seller'. With money, if one party, say, a baker, decides not to deliver to another party, the government steps in and punishes the reluctant seller. Why hotel rooms in liberal cities are so expensive. What did Frank Sinatra/Ava Gardner, Clark Gable/Carole Lombard & Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn have in common? Why are CEO salaries in business "scandalous" but movie & sport star salaries are unworthy of scrutiny? School sex-ed, yes but gun-ed, no? Four revolut

Your rabbi equips you with an invaluable tool: Your spouse asks you to stop doing something. Your boss at work asks you to start doing something. You kid asks you why you're doing something. Wouldn't it be great to come back with the right answer every time? The answer that, a day later you still admire rather than the answer you think of a day later and wish you'd given. How do you react wisely off the cuff? By arming yourself with the right basic beliefs. But when you start off with a wrong basic belief you end up making bad intuitive decisions in all the many daily circumstance.  For example, let's imagine someone saying: The most important thing in my life is money. Or, the most important thing in my life is my body's appearance. Or, the most important thing in my life is gaining knowledge. If you truly believe any of these 3 false ideas, and you can believe only one of them anyway since "most important" is singular, you are reducing the quality of your life. Of course each is important in its proper plac

A reasoned analysis of the Florida school shooting. Yes, there is a way to stop these tragedies, but, no, it has nothing to do with guns. What percentage of the hundreds of people you encounter every day are really crazy? How many so-called "homeless" are mentally imbalanced? Do you know why they are not being cared for in medical facilities where they would be safe—and so would we? Do you know any families being torn apart by having to struggle with a deeply troubled teenager all alone? Is the SCOTUS ruling of Roe v. Wade in 1973 connected in any way to the Parkland, Florida school shooting? Why did Hitler use precious resources killing 3 million Jews in Poland in 1942 while his eastern front was crumbling at Leningrad? Could you protect your family from a violent home invader?

Why does Socialism exercise an almost irresistible appeal to secular people?  Why are intellectuals, academics, bureaucrats, career-politicians and others drawn so powerfully to, liberalism, progressivism, well, actually to Socialism?  We cannot combat what we don't understand.  We cannot defeat what we cannot get a hold of.  Let's probe the real roots of the problem.

Grand Coulee Dam.  Air-conditioning.   Hoover Dam.  Empire State Building.  Over 3 million miles of highway.  Golden Gate Bridge.  Verrazano Bridge.  Holland Tunnel.  George Washington Bridge.  Automatic transmissions.  Commercial jet travel. Electric refrigerators.  That and more took place 1900-1960.   Since then…?  Almost nothing!  What! Why? 1960 is approximate date marking the end of Christianity as the respected central organizing force in American society.  That date also marks the end of our ability to build really significant projects like bridges, dams and highways.  Are they connected?

Is there a scientific test for honesty?  The most important organ for making money (If you're not a swimsuit model!)  Do identical twins have same or different fingerprints?  The power of optimism in financial interactions.  Do you know what medical school your doctor attended; do you really know if he attended medical school at all?  The danger of fear and how to get rid of it.

Everything we think we know about Mutiny on the Bounty is a lie!  3 Hollywood movies distorted the truth.  The 1850 novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a great work of art nourishing our higher selves with serious thoughts about good and evil, marriage and morality, hypocrisy and nobility, the inevitability of consequences and yes, adultery.  The 1995 movie The Scarlet Letter starring Demi Moore has as much to do with the book as the movie Free Willy has to do with Moby Dick, another great American novel written by Herman Melville at the same time as The Scarlet Letter.  And while we're on the topic of books and animals, I tell you something you don't know about The Life of Pi. Yes, it was the mass adoption of the birth control pill and it was a SCOTUS decision that for the first time in US history declared that saying a prayer in public schools was against the law.  This was the dangerous prayer that Steve Engel and his fellow leftists got the court to declare illegal:  "Almighty God, we ackn

Communicating honestly & effectively produces wonderful results in romantic, business & social interactions.  Only in politics is the reverse tolerated. Here's what a politician would call a spade: "It's a one person operated, foot-powered implement of wooden-metallic composition designated primarily though by no means exclusively for use in agricultural, horticultural, & constructional activities for purposes of carrying out such excavational tasks as may  be designated by supervisory grades."  Why I would eliminate and ban the use of these meaningless slurs: Anti-Semite, Homophobe, Racist, Sexist, & Capitalist. My answer to a young friend's worry that "Trump will get us into a war."

Masturbation, the art of selfishness. Why is the smallest room in the house, the bathroom, so over decorated?  Monogrammed towels? Soap shaped like seashells? Really? Why are we so embarrassed about a perfectly natural bodily function like emptying our bowels? What does relieving oneself have to do with masturbation? Why did Onan in the Bible have to die? If a woman never marries, is she better off with a child or without? Why are welfare recipients not the most patriotic and appreciative citizens? How to avoid all awkwardness in the masturbation conversation with teenagers. Why did the great, great, grandmother of King David dress up as a prostitute? Why did her former father-in-law not recognize her? No it won't grow hair on your hands or make you blind, but it will…….

Mrs. Lapin and I were offered a guided tour of the new Museum of the Bible in Washington DC. We accepted, planning on spending an hour there. We were confident that an hour would more than suffice. We know the Bible, right? We frequently visit Israel. We've already seen one too many archeological artifacts. Gosh, was I wrong! We spent five hours there.  They couldn't get rid of us. And we are eagerly planning our next visit; sooner rather than later.  How often is your rabbi speechless? Ridiculous, right? But I was lost for words. The museum is deeply moving for any American regardless of faith and profoundly impactful for any sentient human being. In this show, I describe what we saw and I place it in cultural context in terms of the socio-political canyon that cuts through our American culture. This is an immensely significant addition to our nation and I feel indebted to the Green family, creators of Hobby Lobby whose generosity and vision made it possible.

People say, "I'm not religious but I'm spiritual".  What does that really mean?  What is spiritual reality?  Why do prostitutes still prosper in the era of Tinder with quick and free hook-ups?  Why are so many mental health professionals secular when every indication is that spiritual reality is a powerful factor in mental rehab?  The role of Darwin, Freud, and Marx at the start of the 1900s.  My close encounter with a real, live African lion. Definitions of spiritual and physical and how many of the joys in your life depend upon each? The exact location of heaven.

How to overcome the resistance that obstructs every attempt to improve our lives, New Year resolutions notwithstanding. Health & weight loss; alcohol, drugs & other addictions, career advance, debt reduction and almost everything else that involves us in a struggle pitting our higher selves and our betterment against our lower desires, our laziness, and our lethargy. Learn the lesson from a famous musician & hear him play. Developing a ripped body without effort through electro-muscle stimulation. Reviewing President Trump's first year. Judeo-Christian religions liberate; secular liberalism restrains and restricts. Sexual harassment between 1967 and 2017. A secretary was not a toy, but is she now? And one of the best ways for a young woman to get ahead. 

My polite response to the rude people who accosted me for driving a fuel-hungry, twelve cylinder automobile.  Why we circumcise.  The higher and holy purpose of energy and how the Left has it all wrong.  What Chanukah lights have to do with foreskins.  Why airplane engines burn oil not coal like older railway locomotives.  The real purpose of aging and why not to dye your hair. Make a mistake with a recipe or driving directions and people gently correct you.  But if you don't agree with them on use of energy, you're not mistaken, you're evil!  If you don't recycle, you're not just ignorant, you're evil!  If you prefer a 12 cylinder 420 horsepower gasoline driven car that can do 110 MPH and  go 300 miles on a tank of gas to a cute little electric car whose main purpose is to advertise your virtue and purity, well, you're just plain evil.