Bridging Divides: Faith, Politics, and Community Insights with Rabbi Glasser

[00:00:00] Good morning! Good morning, David! How's my family doing? Good to see you guys. Oh, this is something special. And, yeah, I'd rather be more grateful for you guys coming out and spending time with some people that I just deeply admire, love, and respect.

[00:00:25] The Mikes on Mic podcast has become something that is just continuing to grow and grow as people realize that having that context in the information we're all being bombarded with is now more important than ever.

[00:00:41] And I have really unique, I'm humbled that I have these really special friendships with each of the three Mikes.

[00:00:52] And they started a little bit at different points, but a lot of it started when we worked together with other people in our congregation like Ron Elenoff and many others around JDA.

[00:01:06] And people who are from different sides of the aisle getting together to really stand up for our, call them Jacksonville shared values.

[00:01:18] A sense of our strength, our righteousness, our courage, our ability to work together and collaborate for a better place in the community that we know exists in our hearts and make it a reality.

[00:01:33] These guys have each done their own place. Collectively, I think, I don't know the number of years, but I know, Mike, you go back to Jake Godfrey over 50 years.

[00:01:43] I think that's a long perspective. Mike has been...

[00:01:46] The Hans Tanzler.

[00:01:48] Hans Tanzler. Wow.

[00:01:51] Not to, yeah, everyone remembers Hans. Well, in this room, maybe some people do.

[00:01:57] But...

[00:01:57] He actually goes back to Moses, but we don't know.

[00:02:01] See, this is what we get.

[00:02:03] You think you're getting one thing, but it always exceeds expectations.

[00:02:07] Mike Hightower has been in politics forever.

[00:02:10] Mike Miller on the radio at JDA being a constant watchdog in the community.

[00:02:17] Mike Hightower.

[00:02:18] I've been recently engaged with the class that's been named for him, the Hightower Fellows,

[00:02:26] which is called an organization to identify emerging leaders, but has truly become a juggernaut of the leaders that we are experiencing and are making change in Jacksonville.

[00:02:39] And it's wonderful to see how that has continued to evolve.

[00:02:44] Mike Tolbert continues to write books and continue to share his wisdom.

[00:02:48] And Mike Miller is one of our own here at Temple.

[00:02:52] The other thing I wanted to just say quickly about our rabbi.

[00:02:57] She is, as we all know, an incredibly special person here to us.

[00:03:03] We come to respect and know her wisdom, her light that she brings to us.

[00:03:10] But outside of Temple, what many of you don't know, is she has really become a voice for the Jewish community.

[00:03:16] And a voice that helps elevate the broader community, whether it's at One Jack's or as being called to speak at all kinds of different events.

[00:03:28] I believe the Martin Luther King Day breakfast, which thousands of people were at routinely.

[00:03:36] The broader community sees exactly what we see.

[00:03:39] There's someone special.

[00:03:41] And so I'm really grateful.

[00:03:42] This is a really wonderful treat to be able to hear from our rabbi and sages of knowledge from Jacksonville.

[00:03:52] And guys, please take it away.

[00:03:53] Thank you.

[00:03:57] Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.

[00:03:59] Mike's on Mike, a conversation about politics, government and Jacksonville with 50 year opinion leaders, Mike Hightower, Mike Tolbert, and award winning broadcaster and longtime political observer, Mike Miller.

[00:04:13] Welcome to another episode of Mike's on Mike.

[00:04:16] I'm Mike Miller to my right and perhaps your left is Mike Tolbert.

[00:04:19] And to my far left, which is rather unique to say, is Mike Hightower.

[00:04:24] On the right.

[00:04:25] You will never hear anyone ever say on the left is Mike Hightower.

[00:04:31] So savor this for as long as you can, because you'll never hear it again.

[00:04:35] Today's podcast is a little bit different from the regular Mike's on Mike.

[00:04:39] We're out of the studio.

[00:04:40] We're on location at Temple Ahabith Hesed, where I happen to belong, as was mentioned before.

[00:04:45] And by the way, the term Ahabith Hesed translates to the love of kindness.

[00:04:50] Now, we're here at the invitation of Rabbi Maya Glasser, who we hear is a fan of Mike's on Mike, which I'm very happy to know.

[00:04:57] But she is more of a fan of the New York Mets than of us.

[00:05:01] And for the first time, we have an audience at the weekly meeting of the Wisdom Group here at Temple.

[00:05:06] And they invited us to use this venue as, if you will, our launching for the Mike's on Mike program.

[00:05:12] Rabbi Glasser has been an active in the National Reform Jewish Movement, a contributing author for Prophetic Voices,

[00:05:19] and part of the Amplify Israel Rabbinic Fellowship.

[00:05:22] Before coming to Jacksonville, Rabbi Glasser was the assistant rabbi at Ansh Emeth Memorial Temple in Brunswick, New Jersey,

[00:05:30] as an engage, or New-joisy, as she likes to put it at times.

[00:05:33] She's also a member of One Jackson's Board and the executive committee, and she advises the Jacksonville Symphony.

[00:05:39] So, Mr. Tolbert, get us started, please.

[00:05:41] Rabbi, I knew immediately when I heard you speak a while ago that you were not from Alabama.

[00:05:47] Thank you.

[00:05:48] You were.

[00:05:49] Being someone who is.

[00:05:51] You were going to take that thank you back because he is from Alabama.

[00:05:54] It's really nice to meet you, and we appreciate so much you inviting us to be here with you and with these wonderful people.

[00:06:01] We're not going to talk politics today because we were forbidden to do that.

[00:06:07] But given the recent U.S. elections, this is a two-part question.

[00:06:10] How do you see the U.S. going forward with Israel?

[00:06:14] And since the Temple's theme this year is Israel and Jewish peoplehood, what are your perspectives on Israel?

[00:06:21] Thank you, Mike.

[00:06:22] And thank you all for being here.

[00:06:23] It's so exciting to have on this prestigious podcast in our temple walls today.

[00:06:28] So, we're so grateful that you're here and thank you for what you do to enrich productive conversation.

[00:06:33] I'm really grateful for that.

[00:06:35] So, on that small and easy topic of Israel, there's a lot to say.

[00:06:39] And I have a few pieces of information that I would like to share with our listeners and with our city regarding Israel.

[00:06:46] So, first, as you acknowledged, as a temple, as a Jewish congregation, we don't talk politics.

[00:06:51] In fact, I could get our 501c3 status revoked were I to take public political opinions.

[00:06:56] Thank you for understanding that.

[00:06:58] We want the temple to still be here.

[00:07:00] But in terms of Israel, here's what I know.

[00:07:03] What I know is that the American and Israel relationship is really important.

[00:07:08] And that I hope that we continue to strengthen that relationship and to support it.

[00:07:13] Here's also what I know about the American-Israel relationship.

[00:07:17] There are a lot of narratives going around.

[00:07:19] There are a lot of buzzwords.

[00:07:21] There are a lot of concepts.

[00:07:22] And often, as we do with many important issues, there's a lack of nuance in the conversation.

[00:07:28] And people take one side or the other, and that's it.

[00:07:31] And for those who are really interested in some of the nuance, I would encourage you to do some of your own research.

[00:07:39] To learn, actually, about what some of these words and concepts mean.

[00:07:43] And so that when you use them, you're familiar.

[00:07:46] Israel is a very new country.

[00:07:49] But for the Jewish people, Israel is not just a country.

[00:07:53] It's not just a place.

[00:07:55] It's a concept.

[00:07:56] It's an idea.

[00:07:57] It's a foundational character in our story.

[00:08:00] And when people ask what's so important about Israel to the Jewish people, Israel is our be-all and end-all.

[00:08:06] Israel is a promise that God made to us that symbolized a better future and a place where Jewish people could thrive in their own country.

[00:08:14] And Israel is something that unifies all Jewish people.

[00:08:18] And so our temple's theme this year, in Hebrew, it's called Klali Yisrael, which means Jewish peoplehood.

[00:08:24] But more than peoplehood, it's a connection and an obligation to find what unifies us and find what brings us together as Jews and to work towards common values.

[00:08:34] And so there's a lot to be said about Israel.

[00:08:36] But the Jewish people's connection with Israel goes way beyond a 70-something-year-old nation state.

[00:08:42] It goes into our history, into our Torah, to our characters, and to where we have ended up today.

[00:08:48] And it's a place that lives on Jewish time, unlike any other place in our world.

[00:08:53] And so it's very special.

[00:08:54] First, Rabbi, thank you for having us.

[00:08:57] It's really an honor.

[00:08:58] And hopefully my two colleagues will not embarrass you or David Miller by the end of the day.

[00:09:03] Seriously, we need a prayer for that one.

[00:09:06] Seriously, going back on some of the important things that you brought up.

[00:09:09] When COVID hit, so much changed our lives, individually and collectively.

[00:09:16] We faced all kinds of disruptions and lockdowns.

[00:09:19] People were confined to their homes for weeks, months, and we had to live in social isolation, which was different than before that.

[00:09:28] Despite the impact of the loneliness that came with that for a lot of different reasons,

[00:09:33] it seems today that many people have not returned to their old habits, such as coming to temple,

[00:09:39] going to church, meeting with folks, socializing with each other, which is part of the human dynamic.

[00:09:46] In this post-COVID era, talk to us about the importance of the relationship with others,

[00:09:54] as you brought up, the joy of connectivity, and the blessing of kindness.

[00:09:59] Was that before COVID?

[00:10:02] Thanks for that question.

[00:10:04] So Judaism says that it is not good for people to be alone,

[00:10:08] that loneliness is a threat to the human condition.

[00:10:11] And I totally agree.

[00:10:13] Even in Judaism, we're not supposed to study alone.

[00:10:16] We're not supposed to pray alone.

[00:10:17] We're not supposed to experience significant moments alone.

[00:10:20] And this period of isolation, as you said, has been very thorough spiritually and socially and emotionally.

[00:10:27] So here's a little bit of a story about the evolution of human relationships.

[00:10:32] One of the big impacts on houses of worship during COVID was that we couldn't have a lot of things in person,

[00:10:38] and so we learned how to be virtual congregations.

[00:10:40] And so this is both a great privilege and a little bit of a curse,

[00:10:45] because now people can be part of our temple community without even setting foot in the temple.

[00:10:50] And it's beautiful, like the virtual impact that we can have on people's lives.

[00:10:54] But just an example, when we were celebrating our Jewish high holidays, the holy season, last month,

[00:11:00] there were multiple people who came up to me and were happy to be here and so thrilled about the impact that temple has had on their lives

[00:11:08] and felt very close to me and to temple, which is great.

[00:11:11] But I realized afterwards that I don't even know who some of these people were.

[00:11:15] I didn't know their names.

[00:11:16] I didn't know their faces.

[00:11:17] And that's because they had been interacting with temple via streaming and virtually.

[00:11:23] And so there are people who tune into us every single week who feel that they are a part of our community,

[00:11:28] and that is amazing because that is a cure to our isolation.

[00:11:31] But at the same time, the human-to-human relationship is still the best form of interaction

[00:11:37] because then it's a real mutual, strong, interactive relationship.

[00:11:41] The screen gives us some privileges and some good things.

[00:11:44] And at the end of the day, just sitting down with someone and talking to them, there's no replacement for that.

[00:11:49] It's not just the lingering impact of COVID, but we've seen an increase, as we all know, in polarization

[00:11:55] and the disconnect in society, all caused in part by technology and the impacts that's had on our mental health collectively.

[00:12:03] On top of that, it seems that we're quick to take sides on things that are big and small.

[00:12:07] Winning by any means seems to rule the debate these days, and facts don't seem to matter.

[00:12:12] As we approach the holidays, many people worry about what's going to happen around that dinner table

[00:12:17] while we're all enjoying our turkey.

[00:12:19] They wonder if political feuds are going to get out of control,

[00:12:23] if the discourse will interrupt or even destroy the celebrations that we're about to have.

[00:12:28] And in the Jewish traditions, we practice something called constructive disagreements,

[00:12:32] arguments for the sake of heaven.

[00:12:35] And would you explain what that means and how we should apply that, if possible,

[00:12:40] to what we're going to be experiencing here over the next couple of months?

[00:12:43] I want you to remember what she's going to say.

[00:12:46] So when we're together, you will remember that.

[00:12:48] He's talking with me.

[00:12:49] Okay, I want you to listen to everything.

[00:12:51] Just tell him.

[00:12:52] Don't tell me.

[00:12:53] We'll have it on tape.

[00:12:55] We won't play it on tape.

[00:12:56] And try to play it at your turkey dinner.

[00:12:59] Yes, it is all being recorded.

[00:13:01] I will say I am Mike Miller's rabbi, so these words especially apply right to his soul.

[00:13:06] Just for the record here.

[00:13:08] I think I have a call.

[00:13:09] Yeah.

[00:13:10] As I mentioned at the beginning of our conversation,

[00:13:13] talking politics at temple is something that we avoid doing for a number of reasons.

[00:13:17] Because there is no politics in Judaism.

[00:13:19] Totally.

[00:13:20] Yeah, we're very neutral.

[00:13:22] Oh, like thinking.

[00:13:23] Totally.

[00:13:24] No different opinions.

[00:13:24] So it's a fun thought exercise for me as a Jewish leader to take a step back from our

[00:13:31] contentious rhetoric and all the sides that we're hearing.

[00:13:34] And really just look at our world through a Jewish lens, through the lens of tradition.

[00:13:38] And see what we can learn.

[00:13:40] Because as a rabbi, I believe that's really why we have religion is to help provide comfort

[00:13:45] to us and to learn.

[00:13:46] There's a saying that we afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted in religion.

[00:13:51] Which is really beautiful.

[00:13:52] But I think we're all afflicted these days with the world that's swirling around us.

[00:13:57] And this concept of debate for the sake of heaven is, I think, one that can teach us a

[00:14:02] lot about how to interact with each other.

[00:14:04] The concept in Hebrew is called mach loket b'shem shemaim.

[00:14:09] Which shemaim is heaven and it sounds even more intense in Hebrew because it's a word

[00:14:12] that we use in our prayers.

[00:14:14] We pray to God in heaven.

[00:14:15] And it means that the debates and the conversations that we have here on earth should reflect a higher

[00:14:20] purpose.

[00:14:21] What is that higher purpose?

[00:14:22] To learn and grow through various viewpoints.

[00:14:26] And so this concept first started in Judaism in one of our texts called the Perkei Avot,

[00:14:32] which is from around the year 200.

[00:14:34] So humans, we've been disagreeing and arguing for many years all the way back.

[00:14:39] And it says that arguments for the sake of heaven are destined to endure.

[00:14:44] Whereas arguments that are not for the sake of heaven are not destined to endure.

[00:14:49] So an example that they provide that I think can help us wrap our heads around what this

[00:14:53] means is that a good argument, an argument for the sake of heaven, is like there are two schools of

[00:15:00] Hillel and Shammai.

[00:15:01] For those who are familiar with Jewish tradition, the house of Hillel and the house of Shammai were two kind of intellectual arenas following two different rabbis with different opinions.

[00:15:11] Because now all rabbis obviously think the same, but back then they had different opinions.

[00:15:16] And so they had to figure out what to do.

[00:15:18] So Hillel and Shammai were two groups of people who were interested in preserving Jewish tradition,

[00:15:23] but they wanted to do so through different lenses.

[00:15:26] And so they would dive into the text and have lengthy arguments and discussions about the way that we should uphold tradition.

[00:15:34] So Hillel would say, we light the Hanukkah candles from left to right.

[00:15:38] And Shammai would say, we light the Hanukkah candles from right to left.

[00:15:41] See that?

[00:15:42] Left to right.

[00:15:42] Yeah, exactly.

[00:15:43] But at the end of the day, they had the common goal of providing a law or an instruction for their followers

[00:15:50] and for those people who would come after them.

[00:15:53] Their arguments, their discussions were for a greater purpose.

[00:15:56] They were for their students and for the future.

[00:15:59] And so even when they disagreed, they both had that higher purpose in mind.

[00:16:03] An argument that the text tells us is not for the sake of heaven is the story in the Torah of a rebellion by someone named Korach.

[00:16:12] And Korach pushed back against the establishment, which is not inherently a bad thing, but he did so for bad reasons.

[00:16:18] He did so because he wanted to be the leader.

[00:16:21] He wanted power.

[00:16:22] And he thought he was the most qualified to do.

[00:16:25] So Korach's argument, Korach's disagreement, was an argument for power and for kind of the public eye and for the ability to be perceived as being in charge.

[00:16:35] And that's not a good argument because that's for one person.

[00:16:38] That's for someone's ego.

[00:16:39] And that's an argument where he just came into it.

[00:16:42] Sure, he was right.

[00:16:43] And there were no other valid viewpoints.

[00:16:45] And so I think it really provides us with an important paradigm here.

[00:16:49] We should disagree.

[00:16:50] We're not all supposed to have the same viewpoints and opinions.

[00:16:53] That's what makes a society and a culture rich.

[00:16:56] And that's what pushes us into the future is a back and forth.

[00:16:59] It's a disagreement.

[00:17:00] But I think in today's world, we're so focused on being right that we lose the nuance of what disagreement is for, which is to learn something and to grow and to make the world better for those around us and for those who will come after us.

[00:17:14] It's not about power.

[00:17:15] It's not about ego.

[00:17:16] It should be about learning and finding out what we're too comfortable with to afflict ourselves and to learn and to grow and not to just try to say, I'm right and you're wrong.

[00:17:27] And so we've definitely, I think, lost that for the sake of heaven peace right now when everything is so heated.

[00:17:33] But I invite all of us when we are in a conversation with someone, especially someone with whom we disagree, to think about maybe how could this disagreement teach me something?

[00:17:43] How could I learn from what someone else is saying?

[00:17:46] How could our conversation influence our future interactions or influence a cultural or societal issue?

[00:17:53] And so that's what I think I wish for our society is for us to think bigger, to think about what are arguments for.

[00:18:01] Let's get personal for a moment.

[00:18:03] Change the subject a little bit.

[00:18:05] Move away to the personal.

[00:18:07] Everybody here in this room and in our podcast, I'm sure, has experienced some kind of personal loss.

[00:18:14] It may be children, parents, even friends or pets.

[00:18:18] It can be very traumatic.

[00:18:21] Rabbi, you have your own story of personal loss.

[00:18:24] Would you share it with us and tell us how you navigated your own personal tragedy?

[00:18:30] Sure.

[00:18:31] I had the good fortune of moving to Jacksonville in the summer of 2021.

[00:18:36] And it was right in the middle of a pandemic.

[00:18:38] It was not a planned move, but it was a move that I am very glad for.

[00:18:42] Thank you.

[00:18:43] And I never even heard of Jacksonville before I applied to the job here.

[00:18:47] So just there's no professional baseball teams in Jacksonville, Mike.

[00:18:49] So no, I hadn't heard of it.

[00:18:51] We're working on it.

[00:18:51] We're working on it.

[00:18:53] Go Jumbo Shrimp.

[00:18:54] Yes.

[00:18:54] We love the Jumbo Shrimp for sure here.

[00:18:56] We'll see.

[00:18:57] I don't know.

[00:18:57] But life, life cannot be planned even when we prepare as best we can for what we think

[00:19:03] is next.

[00:19:03] And so I had moved here with my husband of a few months at the time.

[00:19:08] We had gotten married in the spring of 2021.

[00:19:10] And about three months after we moved, he passed away suddenly.

[00:19:15] He had some chronic illness and it just all happened very quickly in the same day.

[00:19:21] And it was very, all the things that you might expect from that to happen.

[00:19:25] Very shocking, very tragic.

[00:19:27] And I was here with a brand new community who I barely knew and they barely knew me.

[00:19:33] And I will say one of the most amazing parts of that tragedy of what happened is I think

[00:19:39] how this temple, how this congregation and I were able to meet each other in that moment

[00:19:45] and to be there for each other.

[00:19:46] That was a really beautiful thing.

[00:19:48] And that I think brought us together much more quickly than it might have.

[00:19:52] But I will remain forever grateful for this temple and for our community for supporting

[00:19:57] me during that time.

[00:19:58] Do not take it for granted.

[00:20:00] I think you learn a lot about yourself when you're faced with adversity.

[00:20:04] You learn that painful moments.

[00:20:08] I actually said this in a sermon last Friday.

[00:20:10] So thank you for bringing that up.

[00:20:12] But our most painful moments are the ones that define us the most.

[00:20:17] They color our stories and they also shape our actions moving forward.

[00:20:23] They become a part of who we are.

[00:20:25] And so I think when you're in a difficult moment, you're never trying to get through it.

[00:20:30] It's just one step at a time.

[00:20:32] It's what can I do next to get myself through this day?

[00:20:35] Let me go get the groceries and then that'll be productive, right?

[00:20:38] Or I'll respond to one email and that'll be productive, right?

[00:20:42] And you just, you're yourself and you try to just go through every moment and every day

[00:20:47] as they come.

[00:20:48] And then all of a sudden time goes by and you've been a changed person.

[00:20:52] A lot of it from the immediate aftermath of what happened is definitely a blur for me.

[00:20:57] I remember pieces.

[00:20:58] But I do feel, I feel strengthened by community.

[00:21:02] And I do feel that it was a relation, an incident that taught me about myself and how I

[00:21:07] act and what gets me through.

[00:21:09] And just reaffirms what's important to me as a person, which is, again, community, my

[00:21:14] faith, sometimes the Mets, although they didn't do too well that year.

[00:21:17] You learn about what's the people and the things that are important to you and that strengthens

[00:21:22] you as you move forward.

[00:21:23] Thank you for sharing that.

[00:21:25] Of course.

[00:21:26] Thanks for asking.

[00:21:27] Can I follow up on that for a moment?

[00:21:29] Please.

[00:21:29] Ask a theological question if I can.

[00:21:31] And you mentioned it before, the word heaven.

[00:21:34] Would you explain to us, I mean, obviously, I'm assuming, which I probably shouldn't do,

[00:21:41] but I'm assuming a majority of the people who are watching or listening to our podcast

[00:21:45] are probably of the Christian faith, one denomination or another.

[00:21:49] The Christians seem to have a very unified philosophy about what happens after we leave

[00:21:56] our physical bodies.

[00:21:57] But I've always found that being a Jew for the last 70 plus years, that I've never really

[00:22:04] heard a consistent answer when asking that question, what is the afterlife?

[00:22:11] Can you give us what your thoughts are and what the Reformed Judaism line of thinking

[00:22:16] is on that?

[00:22:17] Sure.

[00:22:18] Thank you.

[00:22:18] Yeah.

[00:22:19] Thanks, Mike.

[00:22:19] And important questions, but also, again, knowing we say in Judaism, you ask 10 rabbis a question,

[00:22:25] you get about 11 opinions.

[00:22:27] So that is why you have not gotten an answer.

[00:22:29] I can say that with certainty.

[00:22:31] So one of the things I love about Reformed Judaism specifically, which in Judaism, we

[00:22:37] have different branches and denominations, just like in Christianity.

[00:22:41] But Reformed Judaism says that we get one life and one world, and that the choices that

[00:22:47] we make while we're living our life are more important than anything else.

[00:22:50] So that partially feeds into why tikkun olam and repairing the world are so special to

[00:22:57] Reformed Judaism, because they're actions we can take to make our world better.

[00:23:01] But it is also a beautiful message, I think, about living while you can, that we're living

[00:23:06] for what's right in front of us, as opposed to some beyond that we can't even conceptualize

[00:23:11] or know if it exists.

[00:23:12] And so that's really how I like to think about it.

[00:23:15] None of us really knows what happens when we die.

[00:23:17] But my tradition and my religion gives me this mandate to make each moment holy and

[00:23:23] good and contribute to the world.

[00:23:25] And so that's really what I focus on.

[00:23:26] So I'm not going to answer your question.

[00:23:27] No, you're not.

[00:23:28] But that's very rabbinic, so it's okay.

[00:23:30] Okay.

[00:23:31] Do we believe there is a heaven?

[00:23:33] Now, you mentioned it before.

[00:23:34] I'll say no.

[00:23:35] No.

[00:23:35] Let's say no.

[00:23:36] Okay.

[00:23:36] Let's go with that.

[00:23:37] All right.

[00:23:38] That takes care of that rabbinic.

[00:23:39] That takes care of that.

[00:23:41] Yeah, just be a good person now.

[00:23:42] Be nice to the people you can see.

[00:23:45] Take care of the earth.

[00:23:46] And that will give us some agency over our lives too, right?

[00:23:49] Yep.

[00:23:49] You got that right.

[00:23:50] We're not guaranteed tomorrow.

[00:23:52] For sure or not.

[00:23:53] Make everything.

[00:23:54] Nothing is so important that you should burn a bridge or lose a friendship or lose the love

[00:24:00] of someone that matters.

[00:24:01] Yes.

[00:24:02] Everything is just stuff.

[00:24:04] Absolutely.

[00:24:04] Love is interesting and most important.

[00:24:07] Yep.

[00:24:07] Bar none.

[00:24:08] Yeah.

[00:24:08] Now, before we bring the curtain down on this podcast of ours this morning, I acknowledge

[00:24:16] this beforehand.

[00:24:16] I'll do it again that we, as an unusual position, have a studio audience with us.

[00:24:24] We've never had this before.

[00:24:26] Probably never again.

[00:24:29] That's going to depend actually on the next couple of minutes because we set aside some

[00:24:34] time just to find out if any of you might have a question that you would like to ask any

[00:24:41] or all of us.

[00:24:42] And we have a portable microphone to go out to it.

[00:24:45] And we'd like to know.

[00:24:51] Okay.

[00:24:51] Oh, you were the right group up here.

[00:24:53] One of them is smarter than the other one.

[00:24:55] Oh.

[00:24:55] One of them is smarter than the other one.

[00:24:57] First of all, we immediately dismiss anything that this mic says.

[00:25:02] So I know that if I didn't say it, it was probably Hightower.

[00:25:08] Mr. Talbert is the older promulgings of the group.

[00:25:11] And I don't know how to group dicks.

[00:25:15] Even though these two are our IT specialists.

[00:25:19] That in itself is a podcast to watch these two people try to come online to join the podcast

[00:25:25] when they can't be in studio with us.

[00:25:27] I was very blessed to always have an incredible assistant or secretary who always just said,

[00:25:32] just let me do it.

[00:25:34] Just let me do this.

[00:25:35] Just let me do it.

[00:25:36] And when I retired, I couldn't do anything.

[00:25:40] And so now I call at least three of them and they'll go.

[00:25:43] I said, it's your fault.

[00:25:44] I'm calling you because you never taught me how to do that.

[00:25:47] That's my story.

[00:25:48] I'm sickening to it.

[00:25:49] And then the other part of that is that's why we have Scott Westerman,

[00:25:52] who's the producer of our program.

[00:25:54] Let me also say, too, that just, and this is just doing some cleanup.

[00:25:58] Even though we are taping today's broadcast,

[00:26:01] we will be uploading it to our platforms on Monday of next week.

[00:26:06] You'll be able to find us on Facebook.

[00:26:08] We have a Mike's on Mike Facebook page.

[00:26:10] We have a website called Mike'sOnMike.com.

[00:26:13] We're on Spotify.

[00:26:15] We are on YouTube.

[00:26:18] You can watch the video, of course.

[00:26:20] And we're also on iPodcasts, which is Apple's podcast.

[00:26:23] So you can generally find us in a pretty good array of, and we pay for that.

[00:26:28] So it does cost.

[00:26:29] Yeah.

[00:26:29] What was the genesis of the podcast?

[00:26:31] How did you get together in the first place?

[00:26:33] And how was the reaction been in terms of numbers of people that you think are actually following?

[00:26:38] It was part of my parole officer said I had to be.

[00:26:43] Dan, the real truth, it was Mike Miller's idea.

[00:26:47] Having the background he has in radio and politics, being retired, Hightower being retired and having the same name.

[00:26:56] He said, who else can we get involved with us that has the same name as we do?

[00:27:01] And that happened to be me.

[00:27:03] And the idea was, when we first got together, one of us said, what are our goals?

[00:27:11] And I said, mine are just to have fun.

[00:27:14] And I think we all agreed with that, and we have much fun.

[00:27:17] We've known each other for years, Dan, in one way or another.

[00:27:21] Sometimes we've been on the same side of the fence.

[00:27:24] Sometimes we've been on the other side of each other's fence.

[00:27:27] But we've always been friends and enjoyed each other.

[00:27:31] But don't forget, with Hightower, he's always straddling the fence.

[00:27:34] He is a lobbyist.

[00:27:35] He's not a fence friend.

[00:27:36] On the other hand, it's his other favorite word.

[00:27:38] No, we don't deal with fence straddles.

[00:27:40] Dan, also, to make that point, what we found as we were going through this,

[00:27:45] and of course, Mike Tolbert and I have known each other.

[00:27:47] He's been at this about 55 years.

[00:27:49] I've been at 54.

[00:27:50] But what we found is we were talking about things would come up where we'd have an incredible speaker.

[00:27:56] And we had found that we had similar or some of the same people that we had,

[00:28:02] that our paths had crossed and we didn't realize.

[00:28:04] We've been friends for all these years.

[00:28:06] And I think one of the things, I'm easy to say this, even though they dump on me every week,

[00:28:10] is what we have found is that this friendship that we thought we had was really very deep and very real.

[00:28:18] And candidly, I'm going to speak for myself,

[00:28:21] you reach a point in life where you've been very blessed and you've done a lot of things,

[00:28:25] but you reach a point and you think, am I still relevant?

[00:28:27] Is it still important?

[00:28:29] And what I think, personally, I've found is the friendship of these two guys.

[00:28:35] I look forward to Tuesdays when we're together.

[00:28:39] Don't always look forward to what they do and say about me.

[00:28:41] It's another issue.

[00:28:42] But we look forward to, because we've got, one, we have a lot in common,

[00:28:46] but one of the things is David Miller, who has been just an extraordinary role model and helped us,

[00:28:51] is that what we've found is that we have this real, true appreciation and love for our community.

[00:28:58] And that is we've found that in this town, this is a real blessing to live in this town.

[00:29:03] We've had a lot of problems.

[00:29:06] And every week or ever so often, we'll have someone on the show,

[00:29:11] and if you've watched it especially, we'll go, I didn't know that.

[00:29:15] Or, wow, I didn't know that.

[00:29:17] And there are so many good things that we've got going here.

[00:29:20] And every once in a while, we'll hear something and we'll go, I didn't know that.

[00:29:24] And so it's that joy of being together.

[00:29:26] And I just want to say, personally, I'll let everybody else do their time.

[00:29:30] Thank you for having us.

[00:29:31] I want to say something.

[00:29:32] Yeah, I want to say thank you.

[00:29:33] It's exactly what he just said.

[00:29:34] Huh?

[00:29:36] If I can, since you asked the genesis of this whole thing, Dan,

[00:29:40] and actually you said something before the broadcast, which really was part of my inspiration for it.

[00:29:46] There was a television program on Showtime called The Circus,

[00:29:50] Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth.

[00:29:53] Loved that show.

[00:29:54] And what it was, three guys sitting around in a bar or a restaurant,

[00:29:58] drinking wine, beer, eating nachos, and talking politics.

[00:30:03] And when they canceled that program, I was really disappointed.

[00:30:08] And so I was thinking about that.

[00:30:10] And then, of course, thinking about this would be a local program.

[00:30:13] So then I thought of the poll cats and said, why aren't we doing this?

[00:30:19] Why isn't somebody doing this?

[00:30:22] Because many of you are too young to remember, but my radio talk show,

[00:30:26] which went off the air now, what, 24 years ago, believe it or not,

[00:30:30] was what was called an issue-oriented talk show,

[00:30:33] which means we talked politics, we talked what was going on in Jacksonville.

[00:30:38] It was my opinion and everybody else's on the other side.

[00:30:42] But it was an opinionated, issue-oriented talk show.

[00:30:46] Nobody's doing that except in sports.

[00:30:48] No one's doing it.

[00:30:50] AM 600, the ball was doing it for a while.

[00:30:52] Before they went to sports, they did some of that.

[00:30:54] There was a radio station called WBOB, which is out of St. Augustine, I believe,

[00:30:59] which was doing it.

[00:31:00] But they didn't have wide listenership,

[00:31:03] and they weren't targeting the kind of people

[00:31:05] that we thought would really appreciate a program of this sort.

[00:31:11] One of the things that we tell people is we don't have a wide audience.

[00:31:15] I just sent out an email to the two of the guys

[00:31:19] because I saw that we had 194 downloads of our program from last week.

[00:31:25] On one of the services.

[00:31:26] On one of the services, yeah.

[00:31:28] We have more than that, but this is the one that we,

[00:31:30] it's called BuzzFeed, and we follow that pretty closely.

[00:31:33] But anyhow, I wanted to take the circus and the polecats

[00:31:37] and find a way of doing it with two guys who had great senses of humor,

[00:31:42] great depth in politics, and knew a hell of a lot more than I did.

[00:31:47] And that's why I asked if they would do it.

[00:31:49] They were happy to do it.

[00:31:50] And we've now been on the air for more than 16 months, by the way, which I'm happy.

[00:31:56] And Dan, to answer your question about the numbers,

[00:32:00] remember Inside Source?

[00:32:02] We didn't have a lot of numbers,

[00:32:04] but the people who read it were people who made a difference.

[00:32:06] The influencers, the people who made decisions.

[00:32:09] That's what I'm now.

[00:32:11] It's a lot of the people involved that are decision makers

[00:32:14] are people who want to know what we got to say and who we got on.

[00:32:18] So that's where our powers, our strength lies.

[00:32:21] One other thing I'll add to it, too, which I think is important.

[00:32:25] You will find that as you listen to our programs,

[00:32:29] and I hope you will go back and listen to some of our previous programs,

[00:32:31] there's some really good ones in there,

[00:32:33] but we don't give our opinions,

[00:32:35] which we're...

[00:32:38] It is...

[00:32:39] He's not going to fly in the temple.

[00:32:42] Waiting for the lightning strike.

[00:32:44] That's in the Ten Commandments.

[00:32:46] That is the Ten Commandments.

[00:32:47] Thou shalt not do a podcast with opinions.

[00:32:50] Totally.

[00:32:51] Totally.

[00:32:52] Yeah.

[00:32:52] But what we do is our insights and our perceptions and our observations,

[00:32:56] and that's a circuitous way of saying that's how we give our opinions,

[00:33:00] but we cloak it in those much more acceptable terms than we do here.

[00:33:05] And if we go off the reservation, then we ask forgiveness, but we really don't.

[00:33:10] No, we do not.

[00:33:12] Anything else anybody wants to ask?

[00:33:13] Yes, sir.

[00:33:14] Bob?

[00:33:14] How did you slide on topics?

[00:33:16] It's a collaborative thing.

[00:33:19] We are...

[00:33:19] I have to tell you,

[00:33:21] for a show that generally goes 30 minutes once a week,

[00:33:24] we are in touch with each other just about every single day at least once.

[00:33:29] We're constantly calling.

[00:33:30] We're always texting.

[00:33:31] We're always emailing each other.

[00:33:33] We put a lot of effort into this program for the 30 minutes that we do,

[00:33:37] and the end product probably is not anywhere near as good as what we talk about before the show,

[00:33:43] but nevertheless, we do put a lot in there,

[00:33:45] and that's when we decide what do we want to do next week.

[00:33:47] And we've been very blessed and very fortunate to have some incredible folks to come on.

[00:33:53] Including David Miller.

[00:33:54] Like David Miller.

[00:33:55] And you can imagine, we bring in folks and we tee them up and like that,

[00:34:00] and the wisdom that you shared with us was extraordinary.

[00:34:02] I just want my two colleagues to listen to you.

[00:34:05] But that's one of the neat things is getting people's perspective.

[00:34:08] And this town has got some incredible people who have some great insights.

[00:34:13] Did you want to say something?

[00:34:14] Yeah.

[00:34:14] I know Rabbi wants to do a closing prayer, which I wanted to do.

[00:34:17] But I think someone had their hand.

[00:34:19] But did somebody else have a hand?

[00:34:20] Yes, Rabbi?

[00:34:37] Hedonist and Satanist.

[00:34:40] So it influences them a lot.

[00:34:44] I was baptized German Lutheran, and then when I was in kindergarten,

[00:34:49] I ended up going to a Catholic kindergarten.

[00:34:52] And when they found out I was German Lutheran, it didn't go well.

[00:34:56] And so when I moved here, I became a Methodist.

[00:34:59] And it's fun.

[00:35:00] And I grew up a Southern Baptist in Alabama and became a Satanist.

[00:35:07] And we're working to get him right.

[00:35:09] We're working to get him right.

[00:35:11] All right.

[00:35:12] Guys, thank you all very much for coming out for us today.

[00:35:16] We appreciate it.

[00:35:20] And we want to ask the Rabbi to wrap things up with a benediction.

[00:35:23] I would love to.

[00:35:24] I think a lot of us are hurting right now

[00:35:26] and feeling confused and vulnerable

[00:35:30] about the way that we're all having conversations.

[00:35:32] And I think no matter who you voted for,

[00:35:35] it's clear that we're in a very divided and hurting country.

[00:35:39] And so I think the work that we have ahead of us

[00:35:42] is to listen to each other,

[00:35:44] to continue our debates for the sake of heaven,

[00:35:47] and to really be open to the stories and the opinions of others.

[00:35:51] And I think if we can do those things,

[00:35:52] we'll be on the right track to creating wholeness

[00:35:55] and bringing some healing to all this pain.

[00:35:58] So I wanted to close with the prayer called the Shehecheyanu,

[00:36:01] which in Judaism opens us to possibility.

[00:36:05] It marks the moment.

[00:36:06] It says, we are so grateful to have gotten here

[00:36:09] and how will we continue to bring blessing into the world

[00:36:13] and to renew ourselves even when we are tired and in pain.

[00:36:17] And the prayer goes like this,

[00:36:19] Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha'olam,

[00:36:24] Shehecheyanu ve'kiamanu ve'hekeyanu lazman hazeh.

[00:36:29] And it means, praised are you, Eternal One,

[00:36:32] who has given us life, sustained us,

[00:36:35] and brought us to this beautiful moment.

[00:36:37] And together we'll say, Amen.

[00:36:40] Our thanks to Dr. Alan Bliss and the Jacksonville History Center

[00:36:44] for their financial support of Mike's on Mike,

[00:36:46] and to the many donors who helped make these shows possible.

[00:36:50] Visit them online at jackshistory.org.

[00:36:53] Next week, by the way, we're going to again have Michael Cruz on with us.

[00:36:57] Michael Cruz is a writer for Politico magazine.

[00:37:00] We had him on before.

[00:37:02] He did a tremendous profile on Susie Wiles back a few months ago,

[00:37:06] and we had him on the show at that time.

[00:37:09] We've asked him to come back on next week

[00:37:11] so that we can talk about his previous profile

[00:37:14] and what has happened since then.

[00:37:16] It's going to be a little political.

[00:37:19] Thank you all for joining us.

[00:37:21] We'll see you again next week.

[00:37:21] Thank you.

[00:37:23] Mike's on Mike.

[00:37:24] With Mike Tolbert, Mike Hightower, and Mike Miller

[00:37:27] can be found on your favorite podcasting platform,

[00:37:30] Facebook, and YouTube.

[00:37:32] Visit the website at mikesonmike.com.

[00:37:35] Join us next time for more conversation with Mike's on Mike.

[00:37:39] Thank you.