 The question in front of us is called, so they still are concerned. I can do it very quickly, save us a lot of time. Yes. End of statement, because you have to understand something. You're all here tonight. And I expect that when you got up this morning, you spent the day talking with people, listening to things on the radio or the television, maybe reading newspaper. Maybe you kind of shared an interest with someone, whether it be politics or maybe you had an idea for a new business. Or maybe you tried to figure out how you're going to take care of your health. Or get prosperous. Or maybe find something special to do with your life. Maybe you wanted to really get into your spirituality. You were set up to find meaning in every one of those cases that makes you a perfect target. You're all set to join a cult. Because you have to understand something. Joining a cult isn't what actually occurs. You're recruited. And the way you're recruited, very simple. You have a relationship with someone. And you have a desire to do something with your life. That's all it takes for you to be recruited. So anyone you know who says, oh, I'm never going to be recruited into a cult, not me, I know too much. I already got it all figured out. They're actually the best recruits. And they're the ones who fall for it first. Now, I want to get quite specific here. Because whenever people read about cults or hear about cults, it's always a scare word. A lot of people like to say, that group over there is a cult. Not my group. I'm not involved with that. I could never become involved with that. Sorry it doesn't work that way. When Jews for Judaism goes out and talks about cults, we're talking about something very specific. Because really, if you look at the definitions of cults, you're talking about something that has been abused. The press constantly likes to refer to any group that's a little different as a cult. When people are trying to set their enemies up, they always say, oh, that's a cultic group. That's why we're very careful when we talk about groups. There is a very specific understanding. I mean, if you were to open up Webster's dictionary, look up the word cult, you're going to have five or six definitions. And you know what? Most of them involve very basic things. You would be able to say that the boy scouts or the girl scouts are a cult. You have that in Canada, right? Something like that. The scouts are a cult. Sorry. You could say that the Marines or your army is a cult. Because they would fit certain definitions. In Webster's, it says a religion that is considered or regarded as unorthodox or spurious. Okay. Or a system for the cure of a disease based on dogmas or tenants or principles set forth by someone who is ready to put it forth to the exclusion of any scientific evidence. That's a cult. Or showing a greater obsessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea or thing. Well, how many people do we know that don't get enamored of some idea or person or thing? Ah, that's a cult. We go a little step further. And the reason I do this, is to understand what we're talking about. When we use the word cult, we're talking about something that's destructive. And I want you to also know that when you talk about a cult, you aren't just talking about that one individual who gets involved. You're talking about the family, the friends, and the general community as well. Because a cult doesn't just pick off one person when it does recruitment. So when we talk about cults, we talk about the totalist type. Very specific words. Actually, the definition that we use is taken from the American Psychiatric Association. They did a task force, because you're talking about deceptive and indirect techniques of persuasion and control. That's the key here. Any group that isn't forthcoming with you, anytime you ask a question, there's a problem. Red flags should shoot up immediately. If you ask a question, they say, oh, don't worry, that's not important right now. We'll get to that later. And they don't get to it when you think later is, and you can't convince them that you really want to do it. You've got a red flag. You really have to pay attention. But if that group or movement exhibits a great devotion or excessive obsession to that person, idea or thing, and this is the key, it employs unethically manipulative, and that means the deceptive and indirect. That's the key. Techniques of persuasion and control, then we have a problem here. But you know what, people don't realize this until they see it in the news. Cults aren't a problem. Unless, of course, they just killed 900 people down in South America, then it's a problem. Or people take their lives, Heaven's Gate, or someone blows up something, or releases nerve gas on a subway, then it cults a problem. It's not the way it works anymore. The experts in the field talk about the fact that in North America alone, there are probably about 5,000 economic, political, and religious cults operating. And they have approximately two and a half million people as members, but it's affecting about 20 million people. This is just North America. The cult problem is so prevalent that the chances of a family member joining a cult are greater than that of a family member catching chickenpox. I'd like to put it in that term because you know, statistics are pain in the neck. You all have family and friends you know about catching chickenpox. It's more likely you're going to lose someone to a cult than you are them catching chickenpox. And that was Dr. Paul Martin said this a short while ago. He runs a rehabilitation center for ex-cult members. He knows what he's talking about. The problem is that all of these dangers are growing. The fact that we don't see it is because when we all got worried about it back in the 70s, it was a big thing because we saw it on the streets. We saw it on the college campuses. We were concerned that our youth were getting caught up in it, but it changed. The cults have changed. They've gone corporate. Anybody out here a single practitioner, whether it be a doctor, a dentist, a lawyer, you probably get solicited for management companies. I can help your business. We can help your business. Come to this seminar. Come to that seminar. A lot of those are front groups. Or you decided, you know what, I want to really get into my own business. I want to set something up for me. I don't think multi-level marketing might be my tap-tee. I'm going to get into some sales. A lot of those groups are cult fronts. Or maybe, you know what, I'm having some problems in my relationships. I think I'm going to join some sort of a psychotherapy group, a group awareness therapy. I'm going to go out and I'm going to really get into things and try to understand my feelings and what it means to be me and how I should relate to other people. Some of those groups are very helpful. Others are going to suck you right in. Or maybe you've decided, you know what, spirituality I'm dealing with now, shows kind of nice, but I'm not really getting much out of it. I think I want to go into some mysticism. I think I want to really get into some ancient texts and really deal with what it means. I want some prosperity brought into my life. I want to get healthy and I have this promise. I understand from all this wonderful stuff I'm reading that all I have to do is get into ancient texts and I'm going to be okay. Or maybe you've decided, you know what, that moon out there, it comes and goes and there's some sort of a cycle working here. And there's a group that kind of meets out in the woods and looks at the moon. Maybe I'm going to go sit out there and meditate a bit. Some of these groups are very legitimate. Many of them are not. But the thing is, people are getting caught up in this every single day. And as I said in the first place, why do we call it a cult and what's the effect it's having on us in this community and what can we do about it? Very simple. We call it a cult because they are not direct when you ask the question. Many of these groups require you to sign up for their seminars before you can get any information about what's going to go on at the seminar. When you show up, you'll know what's going on. But you have to pre-register and give them a lot of information first, along with, of course, your major cash contribution. Others say, you know, come take this series of courses at X number of dollars and by the end of it, you will find prosperity. But they don't tell you what the steps are going to be, what the program is going to be, what the qualifications of the people are. What we're saying is, be a good spiritual consumer. Get out there and know what you're buying. Because when you don't, you run into troubles. And we're talking all across the board. In the last four or five months alone, a number of cult cases that come through my office are tremendous. My family's even worse. A family had a child who was having difficulties. Got them to a proper psychiatrist. Trying to deal with a drug problem and some psychological problems went along with it. The psychiatrist felt they needed a resident treatment program. And you know what? Opened up the file, looked through a couple of things that had been sent to her and said, this is the one. It's a good program. These wonderful awards given to it, et cetera, et cetera. We think that that's where your son should go. They pulled a few strings. They got him in. No problem. After the fact, we get a call. This is within the first couple of days that the boy's there. Why? Because this happened to have been an observant child and they wouldn't give him kosher or vegetarian food, at least, at the place. He was getting a hassle. So he called home. He found a way to get to a phone, which was interesting, but I'm not going to go into that. And he made a call and said, something's wrong here. So the psychiatrist had enough sense to call us. We recognized, unfortunately, the group immediately, the place that had been sent. And it was a front for a cult, a very large cult. And I'll leave it at that. But the point is that the psychiatrist didn't know. She had been solicited. Just as the psychiatrist all across the country, all across North America are solicited because this is one of the larger residential treatment programs. They have some success, but the bigger success that they have is moving the people right into the cult. The statistics are very, very somber. And the way that people get involved are very straightforward. They're searching for meaning. They're looking for something special to do with their life. Or they're looking to get rich quick. Or they're looking to improve the business they have. Or the practice they have. In each of those cases, people get sucked in because they shut down their critical thinking skills. One of the most important things that we have is a brain. And the minute we say, you know what? This looks good. I'm just going to buy it. How many of you watch Infomercials just for the fun of it? How many of you bought something from an infomercial? Hmm, okay. You don't want to admit it. This is all marketing. We've talked about intermarriage. We've talked about missionaries. They also, and the missionaries capitalize on many of the techniques. The missionary groups, though, tend to be cultic. They are not cults, per se. Some of them do develop into cults, individual groupings. But there is a difference between the missionaries and the cults that we deal with. And Jews for Judaism has been dealing with it. We are on the front lines in the Jewish community and also non-Jewish community. We work interfaith on the cult problem because it's a societal problem. And it's a big one. We've developed certain programs in Canada. You have cultivating, cultivating. It's a worldwide program. Rabbi Spobak runs that specifically for training seminars because education is one of our key things. And as I said before, critical thinking, which, as Jews, we know, we've never been asked to check our brains at the door. Asking questions is part and parcel of what we are. We are so clitsped if we argue with God. So we shouldn't ask a few questions of the group that we're joining. Come on. The key here is getting the education and realizing when you're in the situation. And if you feel that your questions aren't being answered in the situation, doing something about it. We go around to colleges and do a program called Cults 101 where we go through not only the definition but the history and then we go through the techniques and what are the actual characteristics, such as that charismatic leadership and mind control techniques and those things that occur within a group, the us versus them, right? We're okay. They're the ones who aren't. That occur within these closed groups. It's something that's very important because people have stopped thinking. Charlie Chan used to say, a parachute is like a mine, right? It only works when it's open. But a philosopher in the last century said, an open mind is wonderful, but you can't afford to allow your brains to fall out. Both the cults and the missionaries capitalize on this. The fact that we don't necessarily ask questions, the fact that we have certain responses that we do automatically, especially to someone in authority, an authority just is the authority that we grant them, whether it be someone who comes to speak and you have that question and you heard the lecture and they went into a Q&A and you just never asked a question of them. That happens in many situations. You just said that people don't like to admit it when they've made a mistake. But once we're honest with ourselves, then we can feel comfortable in asking the questions of somebody else. Juice for Judaism is part of both its CPR program and JTTV. And as part of its curricular programs that go forth for teachers, educating the educators is very important. Because as you see, there are just a few of us. But once we can educate the educators, they can educate the communities. And that's very important. So that's how we spend our time in proactive education. And then of course the counseling. The counseling to individuals and the support for families and communities in many cases. Because these groups don't just come in and take up residence and go after just that one family down the block. Once they get that one family, that one family is set to start up with everyone else in the neighborhood. So, as Mark said earlier, you're the eyes and ears out there. If you see a group that's starting to act in a specific way or members of your community are starting to go into a certain path that you know what, there are some questions on. And they don't quite have the answers. So they don't quite understand what the group's about. Or, you know, the group has some questionable practices. Get out there and ask the questions. Call us up. We'll be happy to help you ask the questions. But the thing is to ask them and to get answers. Because that's how you respond to a cult that's in your midst. Through information and exposure. Through dealing with it in a straightforward fashion. Not by saying, you know what, it's a free country. If that's what they want to hold by, let them hold by it. Because if they're straightforward about it, absolutely. Everyone's entitled to their opinion. Everyone's entitled to their way of life. But when it's done through deception, it's not fair to anybody. It's not fair to the individual, the family, or the community. And that's where we're here to help and we welcome your help in dealing with it. Thank you.