שיחת חיזוק בטלפון (16) (פרשת דברים אל תהייה צדיק הרבה) הרב ירון ראובן ToraMates

0:00Baruch Hashem, Baruch Hashem, Erev Tov, what's up? No, tomorrow morning, b'ezrat Hashem. Tomorrow morning, I'm flying at... I think it's 6 or 7 in the morning. And I'll be there... No, I tried my best to have a lesson. I have 10 lectures on Friday, Shabbat, and Rishon. A lot of lectures in a short time. But I said, let's try to do at least a short lesson. That will show a few things about the parashah that will not last two weeks in addition. So, Baruch Hashem, we'll go tomorrow, and there will be a lot of lectures. I hope that we'll see you at one of them, with the help of Hashem. Alright, so let's start our interesting discussion, even though it repeats itself in the book.

1:01Really, the book of Devarim, it repeats itself, like it repeats many things that we learned in the whole Torah itself, in the first four books. And the book of Devarim, really, it was the personal book of Moshe Rabbeinu. Because of that, when... In the previous books, it was always said that God spoke to Moshe. But in the book of Devarim, it always says that Moshe says what God said. Like, he says it in the third person. It's not in front of people at the same time. And it was also like a journal; it was his personal diary. This was his personal Yoman, which was translated into the fifth book of the Torah, which G-d asked him to add to the first four books. And the reason is that there are many more details. There are another 200 mitzvot in this book, which most of us did not hear about in the first books.

2:08And it also shows the special connection that was between Moshe and Hashem and also between Moshe and the people of Israel themselves. So he starts the book, this book is the last five weeks of Moshe's life. Moshe Rabbeinu begins the parasha with simple words. He says, these are the words that Moshe spoke to all of Israel across the Jordan, in the desert, in the Aravah, opposite Suf, between Paran and Tophel, and Lavan, and Chatzerot, and Di Zahav. And Chazal say to us, what are these words? What do you mean, these are the words that Moshe spoke to all of Israel? Chazal say to us, he spoke to them moral words. The words of Moshe remind them that, listen, now we won the war, and if you remember, last week, HaKadosh Baruch Hu told us that after Moshe goes to this war, he will die. That's it. That's his last job.

3:15So really, this also shows us how much, what a degree of soul fulfillment Moshe Rabbeinu did for HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and the love that he had for Hashem, is not like that. Because if we say now, HaKadosh Baruch Hu tells you, listen, you have a job to do, you did everything you had to do, you were a leader for 40 years, soul fulfillment, you worked, you did, and so on, and so on, and so on. Okay, you have another job, and after this job you're dead. That's it, your life is over. But He doesn't tell you that you have to do it right now. He doesn't tell you to rush, to do it tomorrow morning, to do it for another two weeks, He doesn't tell you. He just tells you, this is your last job. So really, a normal person, a person who doesn't have a relationship like Moshe Rabbeinu had with HaKadosh Baruch Hu, he says, okay, I'll ask you, you know what, this is my last job, anyway. So you go to some vacation, enjoy a little bit of life, go on a vacation, I don't know, something, why do I hesitate to die? And this is also really part of the reason that he had to convince the people of Israel to go to this war.

4:29Because they knew that he would really die after this war. And even though they made him suffer for 40 years, said all sorts of bad things about him, and caused him problems, and so on and so forth, all the things that happened, even after that, they loved him. They loved the morals of Moshe Rabbeinu. They loved the truth of Moshe Rabbeinu. Even though he rebuked them, they loved him and didn't want him to die. So it really says that the people of Israel had to sacrifice their souls to go to this war, not because they were afraid of the enemies. They knew they would win, but because they didn't want to lose the world leader they had, who was not like him and would never be like him. So now, Moshe Rabbeinu says to the people of Israel very special things. He tells them, listen up. 40 years we've been in the desert. And you know, in those 40 years it wasn't easy. It wasn't that simple. We were in trouble. You caused me trouble. You went against Hashem a few times.

5:41over the Jordan, in the desert, in the Arava, against the border between Paran, what are these places? There are some places that are not written in the Torah, in the first four books. So Chazal say that every place that Moshe Rabbeinu mentions is a place where the people of Israel called out to Hashem. He made some change. If it was a change with Har Sinai, with the avodah zarah, if it was the case with Korach. If it was the case with Ammon. If it was the case with Haman. All the things that happened in the desert, Moshe Rabbeinu, with his wisdom and his amazing measures, he doesn't want to say, listen, You, the people of Korach, you made a problem there, and God almost killed all of us. And you, Erev Rav, you made a problem at Mount Sinai, and God almost killed all of us. And you all made a problem with the Meraglim. So if he would mention the names of all of the six great kings, it would be a problem for him.

6:47David HaMelech tells us that a person who insults his friend in many ways has no part in the next world. So even when a person is obligated in a mitzvah to prove your truth, the rest of the verse says, and do not commit a sin. What does it mean, do not commit a sin? Do not get to the point where you yourself commit a sin, commit a sin, commit a crime, because you are trying to prove someone. Why do you have to prove it to someone? You have to prove it in a good way because there are all kinds of methods. There is no one method. If there is a person, if you tell him things quietly, you don't touch him. Listen, you know, my dear, you know what you are eating now? It's a chazir. It's written on it, chazir. It's 100% a chazir. And it's written in the Torah. Stop it. You grab him, you do it in the most beautiful way possible, and what does he do? He pushes you; he says, who are you to say that to me like that? It makes a mess. So, a person like that, you can't talk to him like that. Impossible. There is a person that, if you say something to him and to his friend, they both make a mess, they both eat a chazir, but he takes it personally, he says, no, why didn't you say that to me alone?

8:09Why are you embarrassing me next to my friend? But yes, I say to you and also not. How is it embarrassing you? He is also in the same situation. You are on the path to Gehenom and he is also with you. He holds your hand. Both of you do it on Shabbat. So I say to both of you, no, no, it embarrasses me. So you understand, when a person is being reproved, he needs to know who is this person that he is reproving. And to do it in a way that he does not reach any sin. And Moshe Rabbeinu knew the people of Israel, and he did not want to offend them. But in the same situation, he wanted to remind them that the reason we are in this bad situation is because of you. And because your father and your grandfather, who were killed, and when they did what, what was the biggest sin that caused the most time, really, that he goes over it, almost half of the parasha, he goes over the sin of the meraglim. Why the sin of the meraglim? Because the sin of the meraglim, this bad sin caused the people of Israel to stay in the desert for 40 years. Even after the Chet Ha'Egel,

9:18The Holy One, even though Baruch Hu wanted to destroy the people of Israel, He didn't say to them, okay, fine, I won't destroy them, but they will remain in the desert for 40 years. He didn't say that. He said, okay, fine, well, you made a mistake, because Moshe Rabbeinu has a special prayer, I will forgive you, continue. In a few days, you will reach the land of Israel. Continue. But what happened? Because they made the mistake with the meraglim. So now, in the chapter... So, the first chapter, in the first verse, Moshe Rabbeinu returns to this matter. He says to them, "What happened in all of this?" He says, So here he says to them, you already sent them, you didn't want to listen to Hashem. He said to you, this is a land of milk and honey, you didn't want to listen to it.

10:43you wanted to send footmen. Okay, you sent footmen. Unfortunately, ten of the twelve returned with very bad news. But they couldn't say it in a nice way to the leader, to Moshe Rabbeinu, to Aharon. What did they do? They did like the sale of a pump. They went and... They published everything to all the people of Israel, and not only did they publish what they saw, but they published what they thought. They used their own opinion. They said, there are giants here, and these giants are even stronger than Hashem. and you started to talk about the whole Torah, and Hashem blessed you. You said a bad word about this holy land, which is really bad for Hashem. You said a bad word about the leader that Hashem Himself chose, Moshe Rabbeinu, the prophet of all prophets. And the worst thing, you said a bad word about Hashem Himself, you said He just took us out of the land of Egypt because He hates us.

11:55What a crazy thought this is, when a person thinks about this. What a crazy thought this is, when a person gets into trouble, like the Ramban says, the Ramban says that all the Gehenom rules him. Why? Because how can you think of such a thing? HaKadosh Baruch Hu took you out of Egypt, not just, not like there was nothing there. There was the biggest country in the world, the richest, the strongest. They had a ton of money and all kinds of weapons and all sorts of things. There were millions of people. Millions of people. HaKadosh Baruch Hu destroyed everyone and turned them into nothing. For whom? For their slaves. Their slaves were the bosses. He did it for you, in miracles upon miracles. And after that, He gave you the sea. He did something that is above nature. He showed you that He is, not only that He will show it to the people of Israel, but that He is above nature, that He is nature Himself. But in any case, if ten plagues weren't enough, here's another one.

13:12The minister brought you the sea, and then later he brings you food from heaven every day. And if it wasn't enough, he gives you more food. And if it wasn't enough, he turns bitter water into fresh water. And he stops the whole world to give you the holy Torah. The whole world understands and sees in heaven what happens to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. like a plasma television in the sky. Everyone sees, everyone understands that the people of Israel are the chosen people and accept the purpose of life, the purpose of this whole world, the Torah. You accept it, and you say that He hates you? He just took you out of the land of Egypt because He hates you? So you said the worst language there is, against Hashem. How can you think, how can you get to such a thing? Okay, but it's okay. Let's say we got there because of the nerves, because of the pressure, and so on. It's okay. But now you've made a mistake. And the whole nation of Israel cried all night, and the Holy One was angry, until He told us, "You cried over nothing, now I'll give you a reason to cry on this day forever." Until the Messiah will come and we'll cry on this day, and we'll turn into a woman of love.

14:35This is turning a woman into a father. Why did we cry for nothing? We were proud of nothing. The Shechinah gives us a blessing, and with grace we are blessed. Why? Exactly. Now, the Shechinah gives us a blessing, and we are blessed. Why are we blessed? Because our neighbor has a better car. or a slightly larger society, or all sorts of nonsense. He gives us what we need, and we cry because it's not enough. Do you understand? This is what happens in our world. The Holy One, Blessed be He, is very angry. He said, "Okay, fine. I have now broken the law. I have broken what will happen. There is now a fall from heaven. All those who have sinned, Don't enter the Land of Israel. You said all kinds of bad things about this land that I brought for you. I brought it for you, but you say bad things. Okay. I agree with you. Don't enter. You can't say bad things and then enter. You can't say bad words about someone and then ask him to be your partner, or say bad words about one woman and then you want to marry her.

15:53It's not like that. It's against that. What do you mean? You can't do that. You're blaming yourself. Do you understand? So, you said that you don't think that you can win. It's not good. It's too big. It's too much. All kinds of things that you said. Fine. I agree with you. You won't enter. You'll die in the desert. So, every man who was from the age of 20 and above, the Holy One, blessed be He, decided that they won't enter the Land of Israel, except for Caleb and Yehoshua Bin-Nun. Now, I had an update, Baruch Hashem, this week, about something that is not so much related to the story. We will finish it in a second, but we heard, maybe two months ago, about the story of Betzalel. I remember that the story of Betzalel is that Hashem gave him the Holy Spirit to build the Mishkan, the Holy Ark, and all these things, right? Now,

16:54Now, HaKadosh Baruch Hu has already decided that every man at the age of 20 and above will not enter the Land of Israel, but He only said that Yehoshua Bin-Nun and Kalev will enter. Now I have a question. What happened to Betzalel? Bezalel, who built the Holy Aron, which the sages say, it took the same wisdom, the same wisdom, for the creation of the world. The Holy One gave him wisdom, as if he would use it to create the world. What does that mean? He gave him the wisdom of the letters. Now, really, the whole world was created from letters, from the Aleph-Bet, from the... the holy letters of the Hebrew language, the Holy Language. So He gave him this wisdom in order to build the Holy Temple, the Mishkan, the Menorah, all these beautiful things. So now, this person who built one of the... maybe this is the first Temple. The Mishkan that we had in the desert, more holy than the First Temple and the Second. It was never destroyed.

18:08G-d, G-d, G-d. So how can it be that the one who built it for You will not ascend to the Land of Israel? How can it be? So the answer is, yes, he entered the Land of Israel. Why? How do we know that he entered the Land of Israel? We know because in the Gemara of Sanhedrin, page 69, it says that Kalev was the grandfather of Bezalel. And Bezalel was only 13 years old when he got the job from HaKadosh Baruch Hu to build the Mishkan and the Temple. And the great passing of the Israelites, of the generation, was a year after that. So what does that mean? So Bezalel was only 14 years old. And HaKadosh Baruch Hu punished only those who were in their 20s and above. So Bezalel went from that age and entered the Land of Israel.

19:14And you see, he wasn't at the age that he was punished, like the rest of the people of Israel who were at the age of 20 and above. So here, Baruch Hashem, it's like a question, like you say, how can this be? It's also the same thing, they say in the Gemara, that a person who returns people in repentance, sometimes Satan comes to him. Satan really attacks him in a way that is above the normal. Every person has a Satan, he has a yetzer hara. And one day there will be this, there will be that. But... But... Those who do zikui harabim, and I'm telling you this from experience, their Satan is different. He's different, he's not normal. He comes with all the weapons. I see from the students, I see from the people who deal with them, thank G-d there are a lot of people, I'm telling you stories that a community of people, a thousand people, They pass in a month. Sometimes, I tell you, I pass it in a week. Things like, really, very hard, very hard. You have to overcome. If you're not attached to the Torah itself, you can't overcome, you can't live. You fall. And because of that, I'm trying to explain to people, you can't. When?

20:49I don't know what they did to him, but I know that every 2nd and 5th, every 2nd and 5th there is something against Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi, this tzaddik. He has been doing zikui harabim for 22 years. This man is holy, holy. I love him so much. And people, reshaim, reshaim. We turn to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... to... Chazak u'Baruch. Chazak u'Baruch. Yes. Yes, he sends his workers to everyone, but for us, he comes and does it himself. Yes, Chazak u'Baruch. It can be. But now, because of that, I say to people, you can't judge someone who has missed the rabbis and has missed the rabbis for 30 years, like Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak. You can't judge him. Even if you agree, disagree, disagree or not disagree.

22:00Yes, yes, yes. So that's the point. I'm saying, so because of that, when we had a conversation, maybe a month or two ago, we talked on the internet, and you said, no, there's nothing to say, there's nothing to judge them, you can't even get into their shoes at all. That's, I'm telling you, that's not only about the good deeds they did, b'ezrat Hashem, b'ezrat Hashem. So I'm telling you, I'm telling you, that's... All right, everyone is connected to another rabbi. Of course. Yes, of course. Exactly. So that's what I'm saying. You can't judge. You can't judge anyone who is a rabbi. You have to be very, very careful about it because not only are they in a different situation, they have a different daled amot, the world is different, but their creation is completely different. So now, all the people of Israel here, we are in a critical situation. All the people of Israel are in a situation where the Satan came and caused everyone to make a very big mistake. They spoke lashon hara (evil speech) against Hashem Himself. It's like, it's a national catastrophe. How can you say such things? But you tell yourself, okay, okay, the Holy One said...

23:24you made a mistake, okay, I will not destroy you, but you will not enter the Land of Israel. So what happens here? What really happens here? They cry all night, and then in the morning they wake up, and as it is written in the verse, and they say to me, we sinned to Hashem. We have sinned against G-d. But now, we return to teshuvah. We will rise and fight, for we have chosen G-d. They say, now we have sinned. We will rise and fight in the name of G-d, and we will succeed, as He has chosen us. And then it is written, And today G-d says to me, Tell them not to rise and not to fight. Like, no, no, no, G-d says to me, tell them that I didn't ask them to fight, and that they shouldn't go to fight. Why? Because I am not in your circle. I am not with you. I don't agree with that. I am not with you. You will lose. So how can it be that all this is happening? So now, we know that the opening of teshuvah is always open. But here G-d says to us, no.

24:44Not open for you. I don't accept your answer. Don't go to the mountain. I've already cut a branch. Now... Now this story is closed. Yes? Let's explain why. Let's explain why. There are some things that are closed. We know that the rest of the teshuvah is always open. Except for a person who is a rasha, who doesn't even say... Yes, but here now the people of Israel are trying to return to teshuvah, whatever it looks like. They say, we have sinned. They say, thank God they have sinned. Now they are going to fight. And HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, no, no, no, I don't accept your teshuvah. Don't go to war. You will be killed. And they, in any case, in any case, what did they do? They went to the mountain and made a camp.

25:46Now, it says, and you have not heard, and you will say the word of Hashem, and you will go up the mountain, as if you went up the mountain. Now, why? Why did Hashem do all that He did? There is no chance in the world that Hashem made a mistake. So how could it be? He says, on the one hand, the answers are open to everyone. On the other hand, it's closed. How could it be? He covers Himself. Now, we need to look at the words. It says in the Torah, why did we sin? This is the main word in the whole verse. Why did we sin? In Hebrew, it is much more complicated than in English. In Hebrew, there are three words. For a person who does some sin or transgression, there is Chatanu, Avinu, Pashanu. When you do the vidui, you say Chatanu, Avinu, Pashanu. But in English, it sounds the same: I sinned, I sinned, I sinned. So how can that be? So why do I say only Chatanu and that's it? Or if not only Chatanu, let's say Chatanu, Chatanu, Chatanu. Why do I say Chatanu, Avinu, Pashanu? Because sin is...

27:06When a person does something against G-d, without intention. Without intention. I didn't know, I forgot it was Shabbat, I didn't know it was without intention. I forgot to do Birkat HaMazon. I forgot to do a prayer that came out. I forgot, like, without intention. I didn't know, all kinds of things. Shogeg. Shgaga. We understood, I knew it, and I did it anyway. I knew it was Shabbat, but I didn't want to do it on Shabbat. i knew it wasn't a good thing, but I ate anyway. I knew I wasn't allowed to rape my wife, who was pregnant, but I touched her anyway. I came to do it. And poshanu, poshanu is a criminal, a person who rebels against G-d, who does it intentionally. Like this Menashe Levi, this corrupt criminal. that he denies Hashem and says to everyone that he's an atheist. Okay, if you're an atheist, if you're an atheist, such a big atheist, then why do you do so many programs against Hashem? You don't believe that there's anything. What do you care what people believe or don't believe? What do you care? Stay quiet. Go to your Gehenom and see. If you think you're going to nothing, go to nothing. Go, do something else. What are you...

28:24Yes, I know that he saw Rabbi Yosef, but Rabbi Yosef is much smarter than us, and he recorded everything he said. And it was completely different from what this exalted leader, Amnon Levi, tried to show to the world. He just took a small part of the whole lesson, of the whole lecture, and just showed it as if, you see, this person is disappointing me. you're in the middle of a conversation and you say, "Ah, he's already gone. Gone. You see, this person is a thief, a thief. This person is a thief. This person is a thief. This person is a person who goes against Hashem, whether he believes or not. This person needs to understand that going against something like that, it's just a person..." I don't watch TV, but every time I hear his name, why do I hear his name? Oh, he's going against religion, he's going against this rabbi, he's going against... He makes shows on TV, and he shows things in religion that are usually not good. Even if there are cases where he is right.

29:44Even if there are cases where he is right, that there are people who are hypocrites, and so on, but to show the trash of our people to everyone, and to show only the bad side, it's not fair, it's not objective. Yes. No, listen, this, this, this... Yes, but you're preventing problems. You're preventing problems. Yes.

30:45Yes, yes, okay. Anyway, the thing is that such a person does things intentionally; he only shows the ugly things. So let's continue, let's continue on, let's continue on. The point is that you have... Now, let's continue on, you have us, you have us, you have us. So when a person makes a mistake... And he did it as if he went on Shabbat. He knew that he shouldn't travel on Shabbat, but he went on Shabbat. Why? He went on Shabbat, not to praise Hashem, and not because he didn't know. He went on Shabbat because he wanted to. So this is a different level from a person who doesn't know. A person who doesn't know what it is to be kosher, you can't blame him for eating something that's not kosher. He was born in a jungle. He doesn't know what it is to be kosher or not kosher. A person who goes to the Knesset on Shabbat, but with a car, you can't say that this person doesn't know what Shabbat is. Why are you going to the Knesset then? Do you understand? So now, when the people of Israel said, we have sinned to Hashem, it already shows us why G-d closed the gates of repentance. He says, listen, if you are already doing repentance, be truthful. Be regretful for what you did.

31:55It wasn't unintentional that you said bad things about the Holy Land. It wasn't unintentional that you said bad things against my son, Moshe Rabbeinu. It wasn't unintentional that you said things against me, that I hate you. It wasn't unintentional. You knew that. And do it anyway. That you say, "We made a mistake," it already shows me that you are not serious. Your answer is not serious. You just say, "No, no, it's without intention, it's without intention. Accident, okay, okay, let's continue like this." Do you understand? That already shows Hashem that the answer is not real. And now... How they continued the path shows how much Hashem already knew. Not only from logic and wisdom and all the things that... Hashem is not limited. But you see it in the verses. What they did, they like, not only decided that it was just a sin, unintentionally, but they decided how to make teshuvah. Like, they decided what it was, to break the law. Okay, we got married, so that means that in order to forgive our sin, we need to go to war.

33:03In the name of Hashem. Who told you to go to war at all? Who asked you to go to war? Who told you to go? And not only that Hashem does this, but then Moshe said to them, listen, Hashem speaks to me. He told them, don't go. He said, no, no, no, we'll go anyway. We'll see, we'll see. We'll see that we're right. What, are you right more than Hashem? HaKadosh Baruch Hu himself told you not to go. They go in any case, they get defeated. So now, here, Moshe tells them, now you have sinned against Hashem. Now, this is another bad thing. Not only did you not make a true repentance, it wasn't authentic, it wasn't something real. Just like that. But you found halachot, and this is called a failure of the Torah. You have people who start doing teshuva, they hear some lecture, they hear some words of Torah here and there, and then suddenly... Oops, it's lagging. Is it lagging with me? Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. There are people who start returning to teshuva, and then, they leave the Rav who returned them to teshuva, and start inventing their own actions. There was a person who came to the lectures of Rav Lassri,

34:19...and he came to a seminar that he did, and Rabbi Lassri talked about the promotion of the zikui of the rabbim, how important it is, how much it is needed to do it. At the end of the seminar, one of the people started to enter into some sort of crisis and said, "Okay, I'm now going to all the streets to bring people back to teshuva." And this person came on Shabbat, a week ago... When suddenly everyone is back in teshuva, it's okay. So he starts pushing people, you bring me something, you bring me to do things, talk to people, like, without... So Rabbi Lassri sees him and says, "Calm down, calm down, my friend. Slowly, slowly." He says, "You're a blasphemer." He calls Rabbi Lassri a blasphemer. "You're a reformer," he calls him. Like, what are you saying to me? Calm down, you're a reformer. You understand? So, like, because of that, in the previous chapter, the Mishnah says, "Aseh lecha Rav" (make for yourself a Rav). So what do you do to the Rav?

35:20and buy for yourself a friend. Now, the "Aseh Lecha Rav" is a principle that a person needs to understand if he wants to go in a good way. He needs to have a Rav. This Rav needs to know all his personal matters, he needs to understand him, to connect to him, and to be free with him. But the "Aseh Lecha Rav," why does the "Aseh Lecha Rav" buy you a friend? Because if you buy the Rav, then he won't be objective with you. He won't be truthful to you. Why? He won't prove it to you. If a person is providing for this rabbi, and the rabbi is not like Moshe Rabbeinu, who had a connection to Heaven, he says, okay, this person... That's why it's written in the Torah. It's hard, but we have to do it. We didn't come to waste. Yes, everything is difficult in the Torah. But if it is written in the Torah, then it means that it is true, it means that it is important, it means that it is a major thing. If it is not written in the Torah, then it is obvious that it will fail. So the point here is that it is written in the Torah, the Lord will do for you. You can contribute to the Lord, you can help the Lord, and so on. But every other...

36:28that both of you know that there are two different things. The Rav is your Rav. What you help him with is something different. If the Rav comes to a situation where he knows that he is afraid to prove himself to you because he is afraid that you won't give him $10,000 or $100,000 or even $5,000, I don't know what that is. He is afraid that you won't support him because he will prove himself to you. He has to get himself out of the job. He has to get himself out. It's the same as a person. The person must understand that he gives the Rav the money not because he expects the Rav to be nice, but because he expects the Rav to prove it. Ad-rabba, he must tell the Rav, I will now give you this, and I want you to know that I expect you to prove it. If you see that I am making mistakes, you see that I am doing wrong things, I want ad-rabba, I want this payment, this is in order for you to prove it. The Gaon of Vilna was paying someone to prove it. The Gaon of Vilna. Why? Because everyone is afraid to prove the Gaon of Vilna. Who will prove the Gaon of Vilna? Are you serious? Everyone is afraid. So he would pay one of the tzaddikim, I think it was one of his main students, he would pay him to prove it. If he sees that he is making a mistake, he would pay him. He would say to him, now it's not good, I will pay you, you don't have to do it. Or that it is considered a scam.

37:53Or that it's considered a mistake. Do you understand? So a person needs to understand that now, when he has a real Rav, and he has a real connection with the Rav, it doesn't depend on money, it doesn't depend on anything, it depends on the truth. It depends on the truth. And when a person has a rabbi, he knows how to live his life; he knows when he has a problem with shalom bayit, he has a problem with money, he has a problem with health, he has a problem with everything. He goes to his rabbi. This is more important than all the others in the world. But when a person doesn't have a rabbi, he imposes laws on himself. And there are sages in our generation who still say that if a person doesn't have a rabbi, it's better for him not to answer. That's it. Let's go back to the answer. Why? He says this man was a robber before, he was a robber and so on. But now, he will become a slave to the Torah. He will twist some verses, and he will turn himself into a Rashi. He doesn't listen to any rabbi.

38:56He turns himself into a Rashi. He discusses things, inventing things, like what happened here in the story, in the parashah of things. With all the regulars, what happened? They didn't want to go back to teshuvah in HaMid's way. They said that it was only our fault, we didn't understand, and we didn't sin, it was our fault, it wasn't our fault. Then, they invented a law for themselves: we are now, in order to go back to teshuvah, we will go to war. Who would go to war with you? Who asked you? And not only that, when did Hashem purify Himself? He says, don't go to war, I'm not with you. No, no, no, we'll show you, we'll show you, we'll prove that we're okay. But I told you, no. So the person, he already had problems, but instead of solving the problem and relaxing, What does he do when he doesn't have a Rav, and he doesn't listen to his Rav? When he has a Rav and doesn't listen to him, he now begins to dig a hole for himself, bigger than the hole that Korach and all the people who went with him fell into. Do you understand what's going on here? So it's very, very important to remind every person to connect to a true Rav. You can't go to a Rav who always tells you that you're a tzaddik, and everything is good, and everything is beautiful, and you don't have anything to return in teshuvah. You already have a private card for Gan Eden. There's nothing like that.

40:16There is no such thing. A person must understand that every individual must, must return in teshuvah every day. Even if a person studies Torah twenty hours a day, he has something to return in teshuvah. If you didn't have a reason to return in teshuvah, you wouldn't be in this world. The point is that when a person has already finished his job, he doesn't live anymore. So as long as you are here, you have something to return in teshuvah. You need to fix it. This is the point. So every person has a different treatment. And he needs a rabbi to tell him, what is this correction? And I think that this is something really good to think about and to contemplate on during Tisha B'Av. Tisha B'Av is a very important time because every person needs to understand that if We are still crying over the Temple. It means that even if the Holy One, blessed be He, would not have destroyed the Second Temple, but they left it, and it was still here, He would have destroyed it now. Why? Every generation in the Gemara, in Yerushalayim, that does not build a Temple, it is as if they destroyed it themselves. So, as if now, if the Holy One, blessed be He, had a Temple now, He would have destroyed it. So what does it mean? That we all need to return to Teshuva. You see? That was with the help of G-d.

41:39With the help of G-d, I have to think about what I lack, what I don't have, what I have to do, how can I be a guide for the people of Israel, how can I be better. The last story, I know you like stories and articles from Chazal, Rabbi Yonatan Eybeschutz, who lived about 200 years ago, he said something critical, he said that, listen, everyone, You hear the famous story about Bar Kamtza. And Bar Kamtza, with all this story, that he invited the wrong person, the enemy, to the party. He really invited his friend, but the enemy came by mistake, and then humiliated him, and there was all this nonsense. The simple thing is that there was sinat chinam. That's the simple thing. But Rabbi Yonatan Eybeschutz says no. The greatest sin of all, the greatest sin that exists until today, that we suffer from for 2000 years, or even more than 2000 years, that is the worst in the world, is when a person, if a Jew sees his friend, makes a mistake and doesn't correct it.

43:05This is the biggest sin in the first place. Why? It's like now, if you don't do the transgression, it's because you know why. You know that there is Hashem who blessed you. He said, don't eat pork. He said, don't fly on Shabbat. He said, don't go with a man's wife. He said, be honest in business. All kinds of things, you know. I won't steal because the Holy One said not to steal. It's not good. Even the goyim are obliged not to steal. It's also logical, but G-d also said it. So you also know, if you learn a bit of Torah, you know what will happen to a person who is violating Shabbat. So how can it be that you see that your friend, your brother, your cousin, someone you know, does the aveira and really preserves for himself his private Gehenom? And another one falls, and you don't tell him? How can that be? Who is more wicked than you? Do you understand what is happening here? Because of this, in the Gemara, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says, a person who doesn't rebuke his friend takes the sin upon himself.

44:17This is what Rabbi Yonatan Eybeschutz says to you. This is baseless hatred. Not that the Ashkenazi doesn't like the Sephardi, and the Sephardi doesn't like the Temani, and the Temani doesn't like the Lithuanian, and all this nonsense. We also have this problem. But this is not the main problem. The main problem is that no one even thinks about it. This is what we don't rebuke. And this is also written in Gemara, the Shabbat Masechet. that the reason that G-d destroyed the tzaddikim before He destroyed the resha'im is because they didn't rebuke them. They didn't rebuke the people of Israel. This is one of the things that we need to understand. The people of Israel There were always tzaddikim, and there were also ordinary people. And also sometimes resha'im. Now, in the generation of the Beit Hamikdash, the tzaddikim always see who is a tzaddik and who is not a tzaddik. And the Gemara says that when the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash came, the first Beit Hamikdash we are talking about, Nebuchadnezzar sent his leader,

45:34the main one, and he cursed all the tzaddikim, millions of people. So the Gemara asks, no, no, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar first, and Titus after. Nebuchadnezzar is the first Beit Hamikdash. Second, yes, second. A little more, yes, a little more. The first Beit Hamikdash existed for 410 years. After that, there was a break of 70 years. And then the second Beit Hamikdash lasted for 420 years. So the total period from the end of the first Beit Hamikdash until the end of the second Beit Hamikdash was 490 years. So anyway... It is written here that G-d gave the first tzaddikim, so the Gemara asks, why did G-d give the first tzaddikim? If it was the resha'im first of all, then we can understand that. If it was the two of them together, then we can also understand that. All together. But why the first tzaddikim?

46:50it's written in the Gemara that because they didn't rebuke the people of Israel and then the Gemara says yes, but this generation had so many sins that even if the tzaddikim would have rebuked them they wouldn't have returned to teshuvah anyway they wouldn't have returned to teshuvah so the testimony the testimony of Hashem says Hashem knew this but they didn't know And as long as they don't know what people will do, if they will repent or not, they will be obligated. And a person who doesn't rebuke is not considered a complete tzaddik. Not considered a complete tzaddik. This means that they won't be considered righteous in the way that they should have been, because they didn't rebuke. So a person needs to understand that if he is a tzaddik, or a simple person, or it does not matter what he is, there is a mitzvah from one of the 613 mitzvot of Deoraita. A mitzvah that we are all committed to. This proves your truth. And this mitzvah is the main reason that not only do we not have the Temple, but we also lost both Temples because of this.

48:06and if a person starts to understand this, and starts to help his family, starts to help his friends, and you tell them the truth, and if he doesn't know how to tell the truth, at least he will bring the truth to them. He will give them a link to a lesson, he will give them a few discs, he will support with discs, he will organize lectures, he will bring someone who will prove. You can't just sit, leg by leg, and say, no, no, someone else will do it. Why? You know that the Mashiach will come, with the help of G-d, He will ask you, what did you do for G-d? What did you do? The duty of a person in this world, the purpose of a person's life, is to sanctify G-d's name. So He says to you, He asks you, or if a person goes up, a person from above, after the day of his death, he goes up. Okay, you did your business through the organization, you did your business through the organization, yes. You learned the Torah, yes. You did the mitzvot, yes. Okay, how did you sanctify G-d's name? How did you do it? How did you do something, neto, only for Hashem? He says, no, no, no, wait a minute, you prayed for yourself, you didn't pray for Hashem. What is our prayer? We ask, without end, we ask for things from Hashem. Yes, but this, in any case, this is for you. You have to pray. You have to

49:31to do mitzvot, is obligated to study, etc. This is the left side. But he is really free. He is free from this. He is not obligated. He can't go to the Torah either. But anyway. No, no, no. To hold the book with one hand or something like that, yes, it can't. It can't. Ba'al Mum. No. No, like, if it's a blessing, yes, but like, to do something that is like a blessing, you can't close the book. It's a bit of a problem, there's... Yes, yes, yes. Anyway, there are people who think it's already a spiritual problem. Anyway, let's finish at this point. When a person will come on the Day of Judgment, whether it's the Messiah or it's the Day of Death, it doesn't matter.

50:32The Messiah will ask him, or Hashem will ask him, "What did you do to sanctify My Name?" Now, a person will tell Him, "The Torah, the mitzvot, the ma'aritz, everything is for You." What did you do for Me? A person will say, "I don't know." He will say, "Okay. So let's say, what did you teach?" He will say, "Okay. Now you..." You did what you had to do. You did the mitzvot, you learned the Torah, you went to the shiurim. You did it. You ate kosher. Everything is fine. But all the people you have, you have a family, you have friends, you have people who work for you, or your boss, or your clients, or all the people. You have a thousand people around you, who all go to Gehenom, to the world's leaders, because they didn't do it. So you're telling me that you didn't eat once to give them a disc of a dollar? But that's the point. When a person... Of course, of course, everyone needs to go back to teshuvah. That's what we said before. Both religious people need to go back to teshuvah. Even the devout need to go back to teshuvah. In any case, each one of us is obliged to fulfill this mitzvah, to prove, to prove. It's a must. It's a must. If he can't speak, he will do something for Hashem. This is something for Hashem. Why? It's like a person...

51:58He has two sons. One of them is wealthy, and the other one is poor. And the father now wins the lottery. He wins the lottery. He tells them, "Listen, I sent you two letters. Come visit me. But I really want you to get married. And come visit me. I want to marry you." So he sends another letter to the wealthy son. He says, "Whatever you take from me, like you take from my name, I will pay you back, and don't forget to take care of your brother." That's it. So this son, he has a little money, so what does he do? He says to his wife, "Hey, this money you wanted for $150,000, buy it now, my father will pay anyway. He pays, it's for him, for his sake." Yes, yes, but Dad, I'm leaving. Okay, fine, I'm leaving. What do you want from me? Do you need help? What do you want? No, you promised to bring me something. What did I promise you? You promised to pay for everything I do for you. No, no, no, no. I promised you that everything you do for me, everything you do for me, I will pay you for them.

53:24Yes, yes, but Dad, I'm leaving. Okay, fine, I'm leaving. What do you want from me? Do you need help? What do you want? No, you promised to bring me something. What did I promise you? You promised to pay for everything I do for you. No, no, no, no. I promised you that everything you do for me, everything you do for me, I will pay you for it. He said, "Yes." So, what did you do? The limousine? For you. The plane? For you. Your wife's equipment? For you. All these things are for you. If you wanted to do something for me, why didn't you buy at least a small replacement of $200 for your brother, so he wouldn't look homeless? Why didn't you treat your brother a little bit? Don't tell him to buy him a plane. Something small. Talk to him. Tell him, "I love you. You're my brother, you're my father's son." When I got out of the limousine, everyone talked about him and said he's dangerous, he's homeless. My heart broke. It broke. I wanted to die. Instead of crying, I wanted to die because of you. So, do you understand what's going on here?

54:37Exactly, so when a person comes to Heaven and tells you that you did all the mitzvot and Gan Eden is coming to you, but how can you, how can you force yourself to let your brothers die like that? How can you force yourself? If you really love me, how can you let your brothers die like that? How? Do you understand? So this person needs to understand that today, our generation, the generation of the Mashiach, The main mitzvah that every person must fulfill, whether secular, religious, chassidic, it doesn't matter who you are. A mitzvah that we are all committed to, it proves that you always have to. You have to. You have to deal with the destruction of Amalek, you have to deal with the destruction of Araivim, you have to do everything possible to fulfill this mitzvah. Why? This is the last chance. This is the last chance. Okay, brother? Be strong and clear; with the help of G-d, we'll see you at Shabbat. Okay, so if your speech doesn't work, then bring them something else. Okay, so here's what I'm telling you: If you can do it with your speech, do it yourself. If you can't, bring them someone who can. Bring them a lecture, bring them discs.

56:08Yes, but it's not just one person. You have 15 million Jews. You have 15 million Jews, only maybe 3 million who keep Shabbat. So you have 12 million people who don't keep Shabbat. They don't have the basis of the relationship between them and Hashem. They don't have anything. They don't have a connection. They think they have a connection, but they don't. This is the basic law of Judaism. There are 12 million people who don't have a connection. So we have to work on them. Okay, those who are frustrated and turned into behemot and chayot and people who... It's okay. Okay, there are people like that, unfortunately. There are. But we don't have to spill the whole cup on them. We can separate it a little bit. You can put it here, here, here. You invest in all sorts of places, like you invest in business. You don't invest all your money only in one client, only in one building, only in one manager. You divide it a bit. Same thing with mitzvot. Okay, you have an investment of 10% with the minim and the malshinim and the kofrim. Okay, 10% there. You have another 30% on the religious. You have another 60% on the secular and so on and so on.

57:19We need to separate ourselves and put ourselves in all kinds of places where we can return the people of Israel in teshuva. Why? It's the last chance to sanctify the name of Hashem in the highest degree possible. To return one of His sons or daughters to His home. Shalom. Chazak u'Baruch. So in the name of G-d, we have lectures in the synagogue of Beit Gabriel on Friday night after Mincha. And then on Shabbat there are three minyanim in the morning. So each one of us will do a short lesson, and then there is a lesson in the third seudah. I think it's 6:30, 6:40, something like that. And then the big lesson will be at the beginning of Shabbat. At the beginning of the 9th of April, at 10:15, you can see it live on the internet. It will be broadcast all over the world at anytime.com. At 10:15 there will be a big lecture, maybe 500 or 1000 people, something like that, something big. And then we will have three lectures on the first day, 10 of them, one of them at 12:00 will be in Queens.

58:35and three and a half will be in Brooklyn, and six will also be in Brooklyn. So, with God's help, I hope that at least one of the lessons will come. I'll send you a text, if you don't have it, I'll send you a text with all the places and the hours that will come, with God's help. Twelve. Twelve in Queens. I'll tell you. Beit Eliyahu, Bukharian Synagogue, in Fresh Meadows, 71-52 172nd Street. I'll send you the flyer, I'll send you the flyer, I'll send you all the flyers. If you have all the hours, that's the name, and you'll fix me, alright?

1:00:10Yes, yes. All right. Yes, Rabbi Zamir was there. Rabbi Mizrachi does a lot of lectures there. They do a lot of lectures. This is the basis of the people who built TorahAnytime. They are there, and it seems to me strong. They are both there. Yes, yes. Okay, okay. Baruch Hashem. Chazak u'Baruch. Amen, amen. Amen. Shabbat Shalom. Shabbat Shalom. All the best. Bye.