Yuval Noah Harari

It is okay to think and behave differently, let's say than the majority.

You have, say, a country, I don't know, like France or Germany, they celebrate Easter and Christmas, they believe in Jesus and so forth.

And you have this tiny minority of Jews who say, we can think differently.

It's okay.

We can behave differently.

And this was the essence of being Jewish.

And a lot of the thinking and also the practice about what does it mean to have freedom of thought, what does it mean to be a powerless minority, was done by Jewish thinkers.

And for 2,000 years, Jews all over the world, they see studying and learning as the highest spiritual activity.

And after 2,000 years, you ask them, what have you learned?

You've studied for 2,000 years.

What have you learned?

And then people like Netanyahu tell you, oh, we've learned that you need to be a Roman, that you need to be strong, that you need to build legions, that you need to destroy cities.

This is the only thing that matters in life.

And, you know, it's a legitimate value system.

Rome has its usefulness.

But if after 2,000 years the Jews simply become the Romans, what was the point?

Why did you waste 2,000 years then?

You could have just become Roman back then.

It just nullifies the whole of Jewish history.

Yes.