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Route 60- Suffering and Salvation (Part 3) - The Biblical Highway
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00:11It can be said that for everything we wish to learn or want to become, there is a road to
00:17follow.
00:21From the beginning, the road to believing in only one true God, the maker of heaven and earth,
00:27has carved its roots through the ancient land of Israel.
00:32It is a road that Abraham, the father of nations, walked as the first believer in monotheism.
00:40It was along this road that God made his covenant with Abraham,
00:44promising that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.
00:52It is a road walk by Jesus, the central figure of Christianity.
01:00This road is deeply symbolic in the story of God shared by Jews and Christians.
01:06And it is a literal highway that bisects modern Israel, where it is now known simply as Route 60.
01:19Route 60 follows the ancient path from Nazareth to Beersheba.
01:24It connects many holy sites and biblical events in what could be called the original Bible Belt.
01:32It has mile markers, human and divine, to memorialize the acts of celebration, suffering and salvation
01:40that are woven into Israel's history.
01:45I'm David Friedman, and I invite you to join me and my co-host and fellow traveler, Mike Pompeo,
01:53as we explore the ancient mysteries of Route 60, the biblical highway.
02:08David Friedman is an Orthodox Jew born in North Woodmere, New York.
02:13David's father was a rabbi of a conservative congregation.
02:16David served as the U.S. ambassador to Israel,
02:19overseeing the long-promised move of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
02:24He helped negotiate the historic Abraham Accords,
02:27which normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and the four Arab nations
02:31for the first time in nearly three decades.
02:35Mike Pompeo is an evangelical Christian who was born in Orange, California.
02:40The grandson of Italian immigrants, he graduated first in his class from West Point.
02:45He was elected the U.S. House Representative for the Kansas 4th District
02:50and served three terms before being appointed as director of the CIA
02:56and then as U.S. Secretary of State.
03:13We were walking that 2,000-year-old road that Jesus walked in.
03:17He comes in here on what we call now Palm Sunday.
03:19We all know the stories of them waving olive branches
03:22and welcoming them into the gates of the city.
03:52David, we're standing just above the Garden of Gethsemane,
03:55down beneath the Mount of Olives.
03:57This is a really special place for Christians.
04:00This is the garden to where Jesus came right after the Last Supper.
04:05Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
04:08the disciples came to Jesus saying to him,
04:11where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?
04:15And he said, go into the city to a certain man and say to him,
04:32I just would love to know what that Last Supper was like
04:36because I've been having Passover Seder my whole life.
04:40We all end our Passover Seder, you know, with the words,
04:43next year in Jerusalem.
04:46When he sacrificed his life,
04:50I hope that part of that was that we'd all be able to say,
04:54next year in Jerusalem.
04:55Next year in Jerusalem.
05:03And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it,
05:06and gave it to the disciples and said,
05:08take, eat, this is my body.
05:12Then he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them,
05:15saying, drink from it, all of you,
05:18for this is my blood of the new covenant,
05:20which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
05:24Matthew 26, verses 26 and 27.
05:31He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed,
05:35saying, oh, my father,
05:38if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.
05:45Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.
05:51Matthew 26.
05:53Verse 39.
05:59He knew what was before him,
06:00but like so many of us,
06:02when we have troubled times,
06:04when there are difficult things in our lives,
06:05we pray to the Lord,
06:06said, Lord, is there any other way?
06:07Do I have to go through this hardship
06:09that I know is in front of me?
06:10And it gives us all the inspiration
06:13and the courage to accept challenges.
06:19We don't want challenges.
06:20We pray that we don't need to confront challenges,
06:24but we also know that we're going to have challenges,
06:27and we pray that we'll meet them.
06:30Sometimes you can't go to the right,
06:31you can't go to the left,
06:32you have to go straight,
06:33you have to confront the challenge,
06:34and then it's not about avoiding it,
06:36it's about prevailing over it.
06:38I remember the second time
06:40the president sent me to North Korea.
06:43I met with Chairman Kim.
06:45Just before that,
06:47Chairman Kim had returned an American
06:48who had been held hostage,
06:50Otto Warmbier,
06:50and he died as a result of his mistreatment
06:53in the hands of the North Korean guards.
06:55There were still three Americans held there,
06:57and we very much wanted them home.
06:59We weren't prepared to pay a nickel for them,
07:01but we wanted them home.
07:03I had prepared for this moment.
07:05I knew Chairman Kim wasn't going to be happy.
07:07This was leverage for him.
07:10But about 4.30 that day,
07:12just as we were getting ready to leave,
07:13I looked Chairman Kim in the eye and said,
07:15Mr. Chairman, the president and I expect
07:18that when I take off from Pyongyang Airport today,
07:20there will be three more Americans on the plane.
07:23than when I arrived.
07:26He didn't say much.
07:28I returned.
07:28I hopped back in the vehicles.
07:29I returned to the airport.
07:31Just a little bit later came these three Americans.
07:34We thought they might be in terrible medical condition.
07:36Out of this van came these three Americans,
07:39all ambulatory, all walking.
07:40Indeed, they ran the last handful of steps to climb on.
07:45They thought they were on their way to be killed
07:47when they left to that prison.
07:50I think of the strength that I needed to make that demand.
07:52It doesn't compare to what they had to suffer.
07:56It makes me, still, it's very emotional for me to tell this story.
08:01One of them pulled out a card.
08:04After having been held in captivity for hundreds of days,
08:07took the time to write out a psalm.
08:10I called the president as soon as we got out of North Korean airspace
08:12and said, Mr. President, good news,
08:14Chairman Kim has agreed he's going to meet with you.
08:16And second, I have three Americans on the plane with me.
08:28I came into office with a commitment to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
08:35And President Trump gave me the runway to work on that.
08:38And I came to the Oval Office one day and started discussing it
08:42and found that it was vehemently opposed by your predecessor,
08:47the prior Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense,
08:50and the National Security Advisor.
08:52And I made the case, and the president was very much willing to hear me out.
08:56And I thought he was moving in that direction.
08:58And then one of those three got up and said,
09:01well, let's have an interagency process.
09:04And we'll get through all the issues.
09:06And I'm thinking to myself, that doesn't sound good.
09:09That will not end well.
09:10That will not end well.
09:12And I remember General McMaster said to me,
09:15look, I'll do a T-chart.
09:17I'll have a chart with all the risks and opportunities,
09:19and I'll get it to you, Mr. President.
09:21And I said, Mr. President, can I work on that with him before you see it?
09:26I want to make sure it at least has my views.
09:28So he said, sure.
09:29I go to see him the next day.
09:31There's a chart.
09:32And it's got pros and cons of moving to the embassy.
09:35And there's about six pages of cons.
09:36And it's not one word, not one word of pros.
09:40And I said, what's going on?
09:43He said, what do you think?
09:44I said, what do I think?
09:44I think you're not a big fan of this thing.
09:49And I said, all right, will you let me write the pros?
09:52You can put an asterisk that says, you know, I wrote it, not you.
09:54But he says, yeah.
09:55So I went back to somebody's office, got on a computer,
09:58started typing out all the pros.
10:00As I was doing that, I realized, you know, it's on me.
10:04I'm going into a room in a couple hours where what I want to achieve
10:08is opposed by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense,
10:12and the National Security Advisor.
10:16It was a challenge that, you know, I couldn't get around.
10:19There was no way around it.
10:20I had to confront it.
10:22What chances do I have?
10:26Every time we pray, we say the main prayer three times a day.
10:30We say in Hebrew, Hashem,
10:32God, please open my lips.
10:34We don't just pray.
10:36We ask God to open our lips so we will say the right words.
10:40You know, we have challenges.
10:43We're always going to have challenges.
10:45Sometimes the best path is not to avoid them.
10:47Sometimes you want to avoid them,
10:48but sometimes the best path is to take them straight on
10:52and with the inspiration that we draw from a place like here
10:55and with God's help to succeed.
11:01You know, it reminds me, too, as we sit here in Gethsemane,
11:04of the work that you did and that our team did
11:06to generate what became the Abraham Accords.
11:14You know, one of the things that I'm hoping for
11:16is through the Abraham Accords,
11:17more and more of our friends in the Gulf
11:19will come to Jerusalem.
11:27You see Israelis and Emiratis and Bahrainis and Moroccans.
11:32They actually like each other now.
11:37I mean, they're traveling back and forth
11:39and they're visiting each other.
11:47We confronted and I think we defeated hatred,
11:50which is, I think, the hardest thing to do.
11:53I mean, hatred is the toughest emotion to break.
11:58We haven't broken it fully.
12:03There's nothing I'm more proud of
12:05than where there once was hatred.
12:06We now find love.
12:11I think it's the highest level that we can achieve
12:13in our careers, in our professions, in our faith.
12:23Judas first betrays Jesus.
12:26Peter then, on multiple occasions, denies Jesus.
12:31They were unable to do the right thing that night,
12:33but they handled it in very different ways.
12:36Judas goes on to kill himself.
12:38Peter has a historic great second act.
12:45The reason we tell the story of this biblical week
12:48is because we are all forgiven sinners.
12:51I think that lesson preceded Jesus, Peter, and Judas
12:55in the comparison of King Saul and King David.
12:59King Saul, the first king of Israel,
13:02tall, majestic leader,
13:04led his people successfully in battle,
13:06but he did not, when he needed to,
13:09follow the instructions of God.
13:12And when he was confronted by Samuel,
13:15you know, he made excuses.
13:17It wasn't my fault that people were getting restless,
13:20people were getting hungry,
13:21I needed to do this.
13:22Only excuses.
13:24And because of that,
13:25the kingship was taken from Saul.
13:28It was given to David.
13:29Now, was David perfect?
13:30Of course not.
13:31But when David sinned,
13:33and he was confronted by God,
13:35he admitted his mistakes,
13:36he admitted his sins,
13:37he was accountable for his sins,
13:39he was punished for his sins,
13:41but he also repented.
13:42And the wife,
13:43his wife Bathsheba,
13:44of his numerous wives,
13:45the wife with whom he sinned,
13:48became the mother of King Solomon,
13:50who then went on to lead the kingdom of Israel
13:53through the 40 greatest years
13:55of their growth and prosperity.
14:08We have a messianic tradition.
14:10We believe that the Messiah
14:13will begin his journey right here
14:14on the Mount of Olives.
14:16And that's why so many people I know
14:19have purchased graves here
14:21and are buried here.
14:23Because they want to be first in line
14:25to be restored to life
14:27when the Messiah comes.
14:34If you see to my left,
14:36that closed gate
14:38on the eastern wall
14:39of the entrance to the temple,
14:42it's called the Gate of Mercy
14:43in Hebrew.
14:44And it's the gate that is closed
14:46in our tradition
14:47until the Messiah comes.
14:49Our hope,
14:50our belief,
14:51is that the Messiah
14:52will come one day.
14:53He'll come from the Mount of Olives.
14:55People will begin to be reborn.
14:57He'll walk down this valley,
14:59ascend to the Gate of Mercy,
15:02open the gate,
15:03and the messianic age will begin.
15:11We're walking that old road,
15:13that 2,000-year-old road
15:15that Jesus walked in, right?
15:16He comes in here
15:17on what we call now Palm Sunday, right?
15:19We all know the stories
15:20of them waving olive branches
15:21and welcoming them
15:22into the gates of the city.
15:25He then,
15:25just a few days later,
15:27has the Last Supper,
15:28comes here,
15:29and on that following day,
15:30that following Friday
15:31is crucified.
15:34And Jesus said,
15:35Father, forgive them,
15:36for they do not know
15:37what they do.
15:40And they divided his garments
15:41and cast lots,
15:43and the people stood looking on.
15:46But even the rulers
15:47with them sneered,
15:49saying,
15:50He saved others.
15:51Let him save himself
15:53if he is the Christ
15:54and the chosen of God.
15:57Luke 23,
15:59verse 34 and 35.
16:38Well,
16:39this building
16:39is so complex
16:40archaeologically,
16:42politically,
16:42historically,
16:43but the sanctity
16:44behind it all
16:45is the claim
16:45that the hill
16:47behind this wall
16:48is the Golgotha,
16:49the hill
16:50of the crucifixion
16:51of Jesus of Nazareth.
16:53The Romans
16:53would put someone
16:54to death
16:54on a prominent hill
16:56where the punishment
16:57will be public,
16:58so everyone
16:59will be terrified
17:00by their power.
17:02Carrying his own cross,
17:04he went out
17:05to the place
17:05of the skull,
17:07which,
17:07in Aramaic,
17:09is called Golgotha.
17:12John 19,
17:13verse 17.
17:14Why?
17:34I don't know you
17:35matter there,
17:43because I am
17:44afraid of
17:44and I will
17:44because I will
17:50And after he is dead, the family is eager to bury him, but they are from Nazareth.
17:55Where are we going to bury him?
17:56A man called Joseph of Arimathea offers his own tomb for that purpose.
18:12The Golgotha is behind me, the tomb is behind you, and the stone where the body was prepared
18:18for burial is right here.
18:21Look how pilgrims venerate this stone, will touch it, will put items over it.
18:37They are actually about to end mourning processions and prayers.
18:42In the back of the tomb now, the Coptic Christians are conducting their ceremony.
18:56The front of it is right here.
18:59This is maybe the climax of any pilgrim coming to the Holy Land, the empty tomb.
19:06Usually the lines to get in are so long because it is a small place with two chambers.
19:11And it is the inner chamber on the right side where the body was laid.
19:17They buried him.
19:18They sealed the tomb.
19:19They go back home into the city.
19:21This is all outside the city.
19:22And three days later, according to the Gospel of John, it's Mary Magdalene who returns to
19:28the tomb.
19:31Now the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still
19:36dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
19:41John 20 verse 1.
19:44The tomb is empty.
19:45She calls Peter, what's going on here?
19:47And as he tells everyone, she sits on the side, the Catholic tradition over here, when all
19:52of a sudden she sees a man looking like the gardener, but then he approaches her.
19:56Jesus said to her, Mary.
19:59She turned to him and said, Rabboni, which is to say, teacher.
20:05John 20 verse 16.
20:09And this is the foundation of the most important component of Christian faith, the resurrection
20:15of Jesus.
20:17The most holy site in the Christian world, controlled today by the Greek Orthodox Church.
20:24A magnificent also piece of architecture with so many layers.
20:28I could spend a whole day explaining this building, but from a sacred point of view, nothing
20:34gets more important than here for the Christian believer.
20:38In tradition, it's the year 33 when these events take place.
20:42Thirty years later, the Jews make a bold decision to rebuild against the Romans.
20:46Right.
20:46And the whole city is wiped out.
20:48The whole city is in ashes.
20:50Only 300 years later, Helena Augusta, the mother of the emperor, Constantine, convinces
20:55him to embrace Christianity.
20:57And then she's the one to come here.
20:59And the local bishop shows her the Golgotha, shows her the tomb.
21:02She's convinced this is the place.
21:04And the whole thing is transformed to something that was four times bigger than this.
21:08This is just a quarter of the original 4th century visiting complex.
21:13Imagine a giant basilica, four times bigger than this, connected to the Cardo Maximus, the
21:18main street of Ilia Capitolina.
21:27As we go down, you can see crosses chiseled into the wall here.
21:36A testimony of pilgrims coming here in large numbers in the Middle Ages and leaving even
21:42their name in some places or just a cross to say, I was here.
21:48And halfway to that important spot, we have here the Armenian chapel with Armenian mosaic
21:55showing how Christianity was introduced in Armenia.
21:59It's often talked about as if this is where Jesus were killed.
22:02The truth is he gave his life willingly.
22:05He so loved the world that God gave his only begotten son.
22:07We both had the privilege to go lots of places where there's evidence of sacrifice, places like
22:13Gettysburg, the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, lots of places here in Israel.
22:17This place, this was the sacrifice that God made.
22:23You know, I'm just in awe of this place.
22:27As you know, well, religiously, theologically, this is not my place.
22:31But I have such respect for people of faith, people who come here really seeking guidance
22:37and connection to something bigger than themselves.
22:40It's an extraordinary building.
22:42There's another reaction I have here as well, which is, why aren't there any buildings like
22:51this that are a testament to the Jewish faith?
22:55I mean, there was a huge, big temple.
22:57We got here first and they had built this massive temple.
23:02Unfortunately, there were magnificent Jewish edifices at some point, but they, unfortunately,
23:08they all have been destroyed.
23:09I am glad that places like this exist and reinforce the importance of faith in Jerusalem
23:14where it began.
23:16You know, as we were walking here, I heard, I heard some German spoken, I heard some Spanish
23:21spoken, I heard some Hebrew spoken, I heard different languages.
23:24So many people from all over the world come here to find inspiration.
23:28And the state of Israel, which is a Jewish state, it's not a Christian state, it's a
23:31Jewish state, goes out of its way to make this church available.
23:35I brought a government official here.
23:37He went into that little room where there's the tomb, right?
23:40The tomb, yeah.
23:42And I left him alone for a minute because I could see that he wanted to have his own moment.
23:47The idea of being in that place and all that happened in that place, he came at it visibly
23:54different.
23:54People of faith are people of faith.
23:57People who feel there's a God, a God who is good, a God who is just, a God who cares
24:03about the world, a God who wants people to be accountable for what they do, that's the
24:09key.
24:09Anyone of faith who feels that way, together we'll make the world a better place.
24:12Amen.
24:29You know, it doesn't feel like it sometimes, but we're a young country in America.
24:35You know, we have historical sites that are 100 years old, 150 years old, 200 years old.
24:44In this part of the world, something that happened 200 years ago, it happened yesterday.
24:52Here we're talking about, you know, life as it was 2000 years ago, 3000 years ago.
25:07In the 21st century, you know, many of us are feeling a little confused about which direction
25:13the world is going.
25:16A little untethered to our Judeo-Christian values.
25:23To come here, to reconnect is so important.
25:53To beont
26:16I found that, you know, there is a very genuine love of Israel
26:20within the evangelical community, and it's textual.
26:24It's rooted in the Bible. It's rooted in God's covenants.
26:28Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Isaiah, Ezekiel, they know their Bible.
26:33They believe in the Bible, and in that, we are exactly on the same page.
26:38I felt that their love of Israel was very genuine and permanent,
26:41and it's a relationship that I get great comfort and confidence from.
26:57We're in this sacred place, David, right, the entrance to Rachel's tomb,
27:01and they had to build these concrete walls.
27:03Look, I know that the Israeli people would like nothing more than to take down these walls.
27:07I mean, they're not attractive, but it's a necessity, so.
27:10One day. We'll pray that one day, God willing.
27:13Yes.
27:14Miss Rachel is this tragic figure.
27:16She didn't die for us, but we believe that she is perpetually praying
27:19for the redemption of the Jewish people.
27:25Good morning.
27:26Good morning.
27:27How are you doing, guys?
27:29Let's go on it.
27:39Rachel is one of the most tragic figures in the Old Testament.
27:43You know, she meets Jacob, and they fall in love,
27:48and Jacob asks her father for permission to be married,
27:52and he says, well, you have to work seven years for my daughter.
27:56He works seven years.
27:56Seven years.
27:57Seven years of hard work.
27:59On the wedding night, Laban, a tricky guy, swaps Leah for Rachel.
28:05He finds out that he is married to Leah rather than his beloved Rachel.
28:09Laban explains, look, Leah's the oldest.
28:11The way we do things here, we marry off the oldest first.
28:14Rachel doesn't complain.
28:15He works another seven years for Rachel.
28:18Finally, they get married.
28:19So 14 years, she waits to marry Jacob.
28:22Then she has a very difficult time having a child.
28:24Her sister, Leah, is having child after child after child.
28:28She's not able to conceive.
28:30Finally, she conceives Joseph.
28:32But then she's pregnant with Benjamin, and she dies in childbirth,
28:38and she's buried on the side of the road between Bethlehem and what's now modern-day Ephrat.
28:47Then they journeyed from Bethlehem, and when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath,
28:53Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor.
28:58Now it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her,
29:03Do not fear.
29:04You will have this son also.
29:09And so it was, as her soul was departing, before she died,
29:15that she called his name Ben-Oni,
29:18but his father called him Benjamin.
29:22So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.
29:29And Jacob set a pillar on her grave,
29:32which is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day.
29:39Genesis 35, verses 16 through 20.
29:49Rachel is really considered the mother of the Jewish people,
29:53the mother who suffers for her children,
29:56the mother who is crying for her children.
29:59Israel doesn't have a Mother's Day,
30:00but the 11th day of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan,
30:03the day that Rachel passed away,
30:05if there is a Mother's Day in the Jewish world,
30:07the 11th day of Cheshvan is Mother's Day,
30:10because it's the day that we lost Mother Rachel.
30:14People come here when they're in need,
30:16when they're suffering,
30:17and especially women who have trouble conceiving a child
30:20come to this tomb and pray on Rachel's grave.
30:23The questions people always ask is,
30:26why is Rachel buried here?
30:27Right, I mean, we're going to go from here to Hebron,
30:31where Rachel's sister Leah is buried,
30:33where her husband Jacob is buried.
30:35Yeah, there's nothing special about this.
30:36This is the side of a road.
30:38This is the side of a road.
30:39Why is she buried here?
30:40And many of the rabbis offer the commentary.
30:44She's buried here precisely because
30:46her job is never to be at rest.
30:49The forefathers, the patriarchs and the matriarchs
30:52are at rest in Hebron.
30:54Here, Rachel is not at rest.
30:56Jeremiah refers to Rachel always crying for her children.
31:01And you'll see inscribed on the cloth over her tomb
31:07from the words of Jeremiah to Rachel.
31:11Thus says the Lord, a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping.
31:19Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children,
31:24because they are no more.
31:29Thus says the Lord, refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears.
31:35For your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord,
31:39and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
31:42There is hope in your future, says the Lord,
31:45that your children shall come back to their own border.
31:51Jeremiah 31, verses 15 through 17.
32:04How are you? Hi. How are you? Hi.
32:07Good to see you.
32:09Hi. Hi. Hi.
32:13Hi. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
32:20This is the men's section of this synagogue,
32:23which centers around Rachel's tomb.
32:26I'll tell you a personal story.
32:28About 12 and a half years ago,
32:30I was home,
32:32and a rabbi came to my house.
32:34I heard my son speaking with him,
32:35my oldest son, who had just gotten married.
32:37And he spoke to the rabbi.
32:38He asked the rabbi for a blessing.
32:39And the rabbi said,
32:40a blessing would you like?
32:41And he said,
32:41I'd like you to say a prayer
32:43that my wife and I should become pregnant.
32:47So I heard this out of the corner of my ear.
32:48I said to my wife,
32:50we got to help them.
32:51So we went a month or two later
32:54here to Rachel's tomb,
32:55and we prayed that my daughter-in-law,
32:58my first daughter-in-law,
32:59should conceive.
33:01We come back to New York
33:03a couple months later.
33:05We get the news that she's pregnant.
33:10So I asked her,
33:11well, what's the due date?
33:11Gives me the due date.
33:13I do a little reverse engineering,
33:15and I calculated,
33:17based upon at least the normal cycle,
33:20that the conception occurred
33:21while I was praying right here.
33:23You remember I told you earlier
33:24about Jewish Mother's Day,
33:26the 11th day of Cheshvan,
33:28the date that my first grandchild was born,
33:30my first granddaughter was born,
33:32was on the 11th day of Cheshvan,
33:34the day that Rachel passed away.
33:36So I can't come here
33:38without getting old.
33:39All the history,
33:40it's so special for you and your family.
33:42God was watching this.
33:44There is no doubt.
33:45And the power of prayer.
33:46And the power of prayer, absolutely.
33:47There's no doubt.
33:48That's why you see people here every day.
34:00This is the woman's section of Rachel's tomb.
34:03It's not normally open to men.
34:05The people here,
34:07the men and women,
34:07were nice enough to stop
34:09what they were doing for a few minutes.
34:11The Jewish world,
34:12the Jewish history,
34:12is an amalgam of tragedy and triumph.
34:15It's all here,
34:16and the feelings for me are deeply personal.
34:20Our cousin was engaged
34:22to a beautiful girl named Nava Applebaum.
34:25And I was here in Israel
34:28to attend the wedding
34:29along with my oldest son.
34:31And the night before the wedding,
34:34Nava went to a place called Cafe Hillel
34:36to have a few minutes alone with her father
34:39before she would get married
34:41and move out of the house.
34:43And so her father David and Nava
34:45were sitting in Cafe Hillel,
34:46and a suicide bomber came in
34:48and blew up the restaurant.
34:49And Nava and her father both perished.
34:53And this was her wedding dress.
34:57The family wanted to memorialize the event
35:00and to bring meaning of the event,
35:01so this wedding dress was recut
35:04and turned into this beautiful curtain,
35:07which covers part of the tomb.
35:11It has, in Hebrew, you can see
35:13the name of Nava Applebaum
35:14and her father David Applebaum
35:16that were murdered in 2003.
35:25People come here to Rachel's tomb
35:27and they pray
35:27and they get salvation and comfort.
35:29Many of them pray for a child
35:30and they give birth to beautiful children.
35:32And then, of course, there are tragedies.
35:34Some people never are able
35:35to live out the promise of their lives,
35:37and we think of that as well.
35:39The Applebaum family has its memorial here,
35:41and I wish it weren't here,
35:43but it's a fitting tribute
35:45to an incredible family.
35:47It's pretty remarkable to be here today,
35:49and I get to share this with you.
35:54Let's pray that Rachel's tomb
35:56and the prayers that emanate from here
35:58are heard by God
35:59and only for people to receive
36:01joy and comfort, salvation,
36:02and to build beautiful families.
36:04Amen.
36:05I pray that my daughter, Rachel,
36:06gets to build such a family
36:08that you've been blessed with.
36:10I share that prayer.
36:12I share that prayer.
36:41In every Christian church
36:44all across the world,
36:45they reenact the events
36:47of this place around Christmas.
36:50Kids dress up as shepherds.
36:52In many places,
36:53they actually bring in livestock.
36:59For there is born to you this day
37:01in the city of David a Savior
37:02who is Christ the Lord,
37:05and this will be the sign to you.
37:06You will find a babe
37:08wrapped in swaddling clothes,
37:10lying in a manger.
37:12And suddenly there was with the angel
37:15a multitude of the heavenly host
37:17praising God and saying,
37:19Glory to God in the highest,
37:21and on earth peace,
37:23goodwill toward men.
37:25Luke 2, verses 11 through 14.
37:37Think Joseph, right?
37:39Here's this woman
37:40who's going to give birth.
37:41It's not his child.
37:43He protects.
37:44He provides for.
37:45He works to honor
37:47and to provide dignity to Mary.
37:52Behold, the virgin shall be with child
37:54and bear a son
37:56and they shall call his name
37:58Emmanuel,
38:00which is translated
38:01God with us.
38:05Matthew 1, verse 23.
38:13Some of the greatest figures
38:14in Judaism and Christianity
38:16came from humble beginnings
38:18in the case of Jesus,
38:20born in a manger.
38:20true as well of David,
38:23true certainly of Solomon,
38:25true of some of the most significant
38:27Jewish leaders,
38:28true even of Abraham,
38:29whose father was an idol worshiper.
38:35King David was born here.
38:37He was the youngest of eight sons,
38:41born to Jesse.
38:45This is where Samuel found him
38:48and realized that even though
38:50he was relatively small of stature,
38:53especially compared to King Saul,
38:55he had the heart, the courage,
38:57and the faith
38:58to lead the Jewish nation.
39:02This is where Ruth worked in the fields
39:04and met Boaz.
39:05Ruth was a Moabite woman.
39:10You know, Ruth, of course,
39:12lost her husband.
39:14Her mother-in-law,
39:15Naomi, was naturally crushed,
39:17as was she.
39:19Naomi said to Ruth,
39:21you know,
39:21go find yourself another husband,
39:22live your life.
39:25But Ruth said,
39:26entreat me not to leave you
39:27or to turn back after following you.
39:31For wherever you go,
39:32I will go.
39:34And wherever you lodge,
39:35I will lodge.
39:37Your people shall be my people
39:39and your God my God.
39:42Where you die,
39:43I will die.
39:44And there will I be buried.
39:48The Lord do so to me
39:50and more also,
39:50if anything but death
39:52parts you and me.
39:55Ruth 1, verses 16 and 17.
40:01And they set out together
40:03and of course,
40:03Ruth was greatly rewarded.
40:05She married Boaz.
40:07Salmon begat Boaz by Rahab.
40:09Boaz begot Obed by Ruth.
40:12Obed begot Jesse.
40:14And Jesse begot David the king.
40:16Matthew 1, verses 5 and 6.
40:20The Davidic dynasty goes
40:21from Ruth through David
40:23and then it extends to Jesus.
40:26So all the generations
40:28from Abraham to David
40:29are 14 generations.
40:31From David until the captivity
40:33in Babylon
40:34are 14 generations.
40:36And from the captivity
40:38in Babylon
40:38until the Christ
40:39are 14 generations.
40:43Matthew 1, verse 17.
40:48There's one lesson I think
40:49that continues as a thread
40:52from Judaism
40:53and the Old Testament
40:54through the stories
40:56of Christianity.
40:56It's that anyone can overcome.
41:01We've all had these moments
41:03where we sought divine protection,
41:05divine protection for our children,
41:07for our families.
41:08I would pray for divine protection
41:09for persecuted peoples in Syria,
41:12for people who are being persecuted
41:13inside North Korea,
41:15for Christians being persecuted
41:16in Nigeria and in northern Iraq.
41:19We would do our earthly good
41:21to try and provide the tools,
41:23the resources they needed.
41:24But it was always important
41:26and I think probably even more powerful
41:29that we turn to God.
41:30It was a central part of the way
41:33that I thought about the world
41:35and the way I tried to treat
41:36the people on my team,
41:37those who were working
41:38to help me in my mission
41:39as a secretary of state,
41:41that God would look over them
41:42and favor them
41:43and give them the wisdom
41:44to make good decisions
41:45about how to deal with these
41:46incredibly difficult problems.
41:51I think the Bible tells us
41:53exactly that.
41:54The model is that
41:55the higher up you are in power,
41:57the more essential it is
41:58to recognize
41:59that there's still something above you.
42:08It creates humility
42:09where human beings probably
42:11would be less inclined
42:12to be humble
42:13in that type of a position.
42:20I think about this all the time.
42:22I'd travel to beautiful places,
42:24gorgeous palaces,
42:26right?
42:28Gold-laden buildings.
42:32But a lot of the places we'd go
42:34were places more like this,
42:36difficult places,
42:37dusty places,
42:39places where human beings
42:40had very difficult lives.
42:47To do the simple things,
42:49right,
42:49to stay healthy
42:50and to eat
42:52and to take care
42:53of their children
42:54were chores,
42:55were real tasks
42:56that occupied
42:56significant pieces
42:57of their day.
43:06those are people
43:07that God understood.
43:08These were people
43:09who toiled and worked.
43:30You know,
43:31back 3,500 years,
43:33the days of Ruth,
43:34the importance of loyalty,
43:38that value of loyalty
43:39served us so well
43:40when we were in office.
43:43You know,
43:44we were working
43:45with the Israelis
43:47and the Emiratis
43:48and the Bahrainis
43:50and the Moroccans
43:51and we were trying very hard
43:53to do something
43:54that had never been done before.
44:11One thing we knew
44:11was that if it ever got out,
44:13especially that first deal
44:14with the Emiratis,
44:15if anybody found out
44:16about it, you know,
44:17before it was fully baked,
44:19it would never get done
44:20because the pressure
44:21would mount on both sides.
44:47And so on August 13th of 2020,
44:51we stood in the Oval Office
44:53and the President announced
44:54the first of the Abraham Accord.
45:04And it just shocked
45:05the entire world.
45:06And again,
45:07the success was the trust
45:10that we created,
45:11the trust and the loyalty
45:12we created among
45:13a very small group of people,
45:14even fewer people,
45:16in Israel
45:16and the Emirates
45:17and so many things
45:20in government
45:21over so many years
45:23get bollocksed up
45:24because people can't wait
45:25to run to the press
45:27for all the wrong reasons.
45:37Here, the trust
45:38and the friendship
45:39and the loyalty
45:40really paid off.
45:41I think that really
45:42was the secret sauce
45:44that got us
45:44to the Abraham Accords.
45:56We couldn't be transactional.
45:58They had trust in us too
46:00that we weren't going
46:01to go out
46:01and use this
46:02for some different,
46:03some political end,
46:04some end that was extraneous
46:06to the actual mission set.
46:23I'm reading a book now
46:24about the Middle East
46:25under the Eisenhower administration.
46:30The story of the Middle East,
46:31including America,
46:33including the French,
46:33including the British,
46:34the British were just
46:35kind of exiting
46:36their role in the Middle East
46:37and the British Empire
46:38was beginning to wane.
46:45The French had many interests
46:46in the Middle East,
46:49as did America,
46:53as did the new Soviet Union.
46:59Gamal Nasser was beginning
47:01this wave of Arab nationalism.
47:11What struck me, though,
47:12was the duplicity
47:13among all the countries.
47:14They were lying
47:15to each other constantly.
47:16They were constantly
47:17promising and not delivering
47:19or promising
47:19and then promising
47:20somebody else.
47:23You know,
47:24the backstabbing
47:25was incredible.
47:26I make that point
47:27only because it was so different
47:28compared to what we were doing.
47:36We were making promises.
47:38We were standing
47:38by our promises.
47:39We were expecting
47:39our counterparties
47:41to do exactly the same thing.
47:44Everybody did
47:45what they were supposed to do.
47:49Everybody trusted each other.
47:54Now, I'd never been
47:55in government before.
47:56You had been in government before,
47:58so maybe you knew
47:58you had a better sense of it,
47:59but I always assume
48:01from, you know,
48:02you make a promise,
48:02you keep it.
48:03Apparently, that's not
48:04business as usual
48:06in Washington.
48:13And because we were,
48:14you know,
48:14maybe new to the game
48:15and we actually
48:15stood by our word,
48:17we actually thought
48:17that if we said something,
48:19we needed to stand by it
48:20or else we had no credibility.
48:31And I think that was
48:32the key to peace.
48:38And maybe that's
48:39what was lacking,
48:40you know,
48:40over the last 75 years.
48:58Some of the greatest figures
49:00in Judaism and Christianity
49:01came from humble beginnings.
49:04Isaac, a father
49:05of the Jewish nation,
49:06and Ishmael,
49:07a father of the Arab nations,
49:09and they hadn't gotten along
49:10for years.
49:12They carry their father,
49:14Abraham,
49:14to this burial place
49:16and they reconcile.
49:18And then it took
49:18more or less
49:193,500 years
49:21before we got that going again
49:23with the Abraham Accords.
49:24the message.
49:26The Abraham Accords.
49:27The Abraham Accords.
49:28The Abraham Accords.
49:31The Abraham Accords.
49:33You
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