APOLOGIES TO RESHAIM - STUMP THE RABBI (58)

0:38We're back in Aventura, Florida, doing our weekly shiur, Stump the Rabbi. We have a very interesting topic to talk about, but also hopefully you guys have some questions. We can start with the questions, or we can start with the topic, whichever one you want. B'ezrat Hashem, today's shiur will be for a refuah shlema for Rabbanit Levana Bat Sarah, Sarah Bat Anat, Rabbi Efraim Ben Shulamit, David Ben Esriah, Doris Bat Jorah, Dvora Bat Mercedes, Elisheva Chaya Bat Sarah, Esther Bat Tzipora, Orit Bat Ilana, Serach Bat Batya, Batya Bat Sarah, Michal Bat Yael. B'ezrat Hashem, today's shiur will be for a refuah shlema for Rabbanit Levana Bat Sarah, Sarah Bat Anat, Rabbi Efraim Ben Shulamit, David Ben Esriah, Doris Bat Jorah, Dvora Bat Mercedes, Elisheva Chaya Bat Sarah, Esther Bat Tzipora, Orit Bat Ilana, Serach Bat Batya, Batya Bat Sarah, Michal Bat Yael, And all of Am Yisrael will have refuah shlema, refuah hanefesh, refuah haguf. Also, hatzlacha rabah to Shaul Ben Farzaneh, Oshri Ben Doris, Gabi Ben Doris, Elad Ben Doris, Yitro Ben Avraham. Also for refuah shlema leavdil, refuah shlema to Talya Bat Sarah, and Yitro Ben Avraham. And also hatzlacha rabah to Baruch HaLevi Be'ezrat Hashem.

1:51And hatzlacha rabah to all of the tomchim, all of the wonderful donors of their time and their money and all of their efforts to help Irgun Be'ezrat Hashem continue growing, continue doing good things. As a, Baruch Hashem, there's no shortage of good things to do. There's no shortage of difficulties in the way also. But nonetheless, Be'ezrat Hashem, we're doing it. And we're trying to do it as best as we possibly can. Today we started a new project. There was really no time to ask for anybody to join us right away simply because we got some phone calls that shook us up. The main objective of Irgun Be'ezrat HaShem has always been and Be'ezrat HaShem will always be to publicize Torah, to help people do teshuva, to help people get chizuk, to help people understand the difference between right and wrong. That's the number one goal. To help people do teshuva, whether they were born frum or they were brought up in a secular family or even if they were born goyim and they want to convert or become righteous Noahides.

3:07There are wonderful goyim that we help every single day, answer their questions on a daily basis, sometimes more than Jews, sometimes less, but nonetheless, there are many, many Jewish people out there that we help, and there are many wonderful goyim that we help. We don't marginalize anybody. We, Baruch Hashem, have just as many Ashkenazim as we have Sephardim, listening to shiurim and benefiting from them. We love them just as much. Personally, I despise the topic when people talk about, oh, Ashkenazim do this and Sephardim do this. I personally hate it. I also hate the whole topic of racism, where people say, yeah, but Black people do this, or Chinese people do this. All of that stuff is ma'us. Ma'us is like disgusting in my eyes. Because in my eyes, listen, every single person was created in the image of Hashem, meaning that he has the ability to to decide how to live his life based on right and wrong. And HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave him that, or gave her that. And we simply try to direct them in that direction. We try to help everybody that we possibly can with the Torah.

4:22But of course, there are times that Hashem sends you a mitzvah, a mitzvah opportunity that's not necessarily part of your plans, but nonetheless, He's sending it to you to see how much you actually like mitzvot. So, over the last several years, we would continuously send money to different tzaddikim, avreichim, religious families, religious people, good people, sometimes non-religious that needed help, sometimes even people that would later on go against us, but still, we would send them money to help them deal with difficulty. religious families, religious people, good people, sometimes non-religious people who needed help, sometimes even people who would later on go against us, but still, we would send them money to help them deal with difficulty. uh, because we saw this as an opportunity to help somebody. If we have the ability to do it, why not? So, the amounts of money that we've been sending every month have continued to grow and will continue to grow. This year, we did two major campaigns for Pesach, and they were very successful. Especially with everything that's going on right now with coronavirus... It's not really the sickness that's killing people, but rather the starvation. Meaning that people are literally starving at this point in some cases. Some in America, some in Israel, some in other places because of what's happening.

5:38...economically, financially to the world, where many people that were, let's say, in a retail business or a business that depended on the public, sometimes their business died or perhaps they lost their job. And in many cases, these people were already struggling to make ends meet before coronavirus... And after coronavirus, pretty much whatever little bit of money they had saved up disappeared. Whatever government help they were getting isn't sufficient in some cases, especially in Israel. And so when we help them, even if it's with a few hundred dollars or a few thousand, whatever it is, it's a lifeline. Now, generally speaking, we try to do something every month, but the bigger amounts are usually for the holidays. But over the last 48 hours, The stories that we keep getting have just gotten worse. There are at least 30 families right now that are literally starving. They don't have food and they have kids. The average family has 10 members.

6:56In two cases, there are 19 members in a family, Baruch Hashem. So you have 19 people to feed. Even if the economy is doing great, it's difficult and expensive. You have 10 people; it's expensive. Sometimes people tell me, "Listen, Rabbi, I'm having a tough time making it." I'm like, "Oh, what's wrong? You're not making any money?" He goes, "No, no, I'm still making my $4,000 a month." I'm like, "How many kids do you have?" "No, no, I'm single." Wait, so you're single, you're making $4,000 a month, and you still don't have any money? What's wrong with you? There are people who would live like kings with that kind of money. But that's the thing, everybody has their own relativity as far as their understanding of what's important and what's not. Some people want a 16-ounce steak for dinner every day, and some people would simply be happy with oatmeal. And these are the types of people that we're talking about, the ones that would simply be happy with oatmeal because they just want food. And the stories that we got over the last couple of days have just been horrible. It just breaks your heart. So it takes time to build campaigns between the technology and the people and the marketing and so on. So we simply just didn't wait. We sent 33,000 shekalim this morning to help at least get some people

8:07going. And whenever I get a chance to have the campaign going for anyone that wants to donate to it and become a partner, because I don't think there's an end to the amount of money that people need right now, since they literally just don't have the ability to make an income. It's not a matter of them not wanting to work. It's not a matter of them not having a skill. It's a matter of them just not being able to do it because of what's going on with this coronavirus and how the government is treating it as if it's something that would kill you on sight, which is ludicrous to say the least. And in many cases, certain businesses, have struggled to the point of bankruptcy. I mean, even here in Florida, even though you're seeing a very strange housing market where prices are actually going up because people are moving from New York and other places because they're tired of the liberalism in New York and other places. So a lot of people are buying houses in Florida. So the housing market here in Florida hasn't really been affected in a negative way. In fact, some people tell me it's gone up. I don't know, not exactly in the market to buy houses, but the point is people tell me that prices have gone up.

9:17which is very strange in an economy that's gone down the tubes in the last few months. Rents have gone up, prices have gone up to buy, everything's gone up, which is the exact opposite of what 20 years of being in the financial markets teaches me. But anyway, That's not exactly a good indication of what's going on financially for a lot of people that actually live here and had retail stores and had businesses because many of them simply declared bankruptcy. All you have to do is take a drive near many of these shopping centers and you see that 60, 70, 80, in some cases 90% of the shopping center is shut down. There's nothing there. And it's not like we'll be back. They have signs on the doors, closed for good. They have signs on the doors, closed for good. And if that's what's happening here in America, needless to say that the effect in Israel is much worse. So, what's happening right now in Israel is a disaster because they're not getting the same financial assistance from the government that Americans are getting. If you got fired or your business lost money, the U.S. government is being relatively generous with some people and helping them get some money. Some people are actually making more money from unemployment than they were making working.

10:34Baruch Hashem, great, very, very nice, but that's not exactly the case everywhere else. In Israel, they're not getting very much, if anything at all. And many of the religious families that we know, that were already struggling to begin with, the father's an avrech, the mother has a job or two jobs just to make ends meet. Baruch Hashem, the family continues to grow, and they don't have any money. Now that you have already several months, almost half a year already, without any income, some families literally are at a point where they don't have food. They live in a house, they have a refrigerator, but the refrigerator is empty. So when you hear stuff like this, and then you hear, I see someone sent me a recording of a seven-year-old kid, a seven-year-old kid, you know, he's outside the store asking people for tzedakah. Because he wants to get a snack, because he wants to get some food. Honestly, I don't even want to tell you guys the whole story, you'll just start crying. So, there's just no time. There's no time to wait, "Oh guys, let's do a campaign," or "let's invest three days to build this campaign, and wait for people to hopefully donate." So, yeah, you've been starving for a week, okay, you'll starve for another week until we come up with money. It just doesn't work like that. If we have the ability to help, we help.

11:54So that's in essence what we're doing, Baruch Hashem. We started a new thing. At some point, whenever I have time, we'll have a special campaign for it. Anyone who wants to donate to that campaign will donate. Anyone who wants to donate now can donate now just on the regular website, Be'ezrat Hashem dot org. Anyone that doesn't want to donate and just wants to hear the story and cry, whatever you want to do. The point is that there's a lot to do. There's a lot of work to do. Even though we have our own needs to address, we have our own expenses, our own yeshiva to build, our own kollel, and a beit knesset, and next week we're going to start looking at space to open our own center, and there are a million and a half different things that we need money for. The reality is, the most important mitzvah, the most important mitzvah in the entire Torah, is the mitzvah that's in front of you. The mitzvah that's in front of you. Whatever mitzvah is in front of you, that's the most important mitzvah in the Torah. So, with that being said, you know, Baruch Hashem, there are lots of mitzvot being presented on a regular basis for each and every one of us. Anyone that has the ability to help will help. Anyone that doesn't can find other people to help.

12:57But the point is that today, Baruch Hashem, there is a constant test for each and every single one of us in determining what's right and wrong. Even though sometimes that right and wrong goes against our vested interest, goes against our logic perhaps, we still have to admit what it is. Now, there is a situation that's happened over the last week with this video that we came out about these 14 resha'im, these 14 Erev Rav. They called it the blacklist of Erev Rav or 14 heretics, whatever you want to call it. And the video, Baruch Hashem, you know, was on fire. And now you can't find it online. Quite a few people have been asking questions. We stayed relatively quiet throughout the last few days. We'll answer a little bit more. The reason why we're answering is simply to educate the audience, whether they hate us or they like us. It's irrelevant. Needless to say, it's the audience.

14:06to at least educate people about the method behind the madness, if you will, and understand that really the only intention that we have when we're giving shiurim, whether we're calling people tzaddikim or we're calling them reshaim, Whether we're saying Chazak U'Baruch for a good job that you did in such and such place or such and such thing, or you're a Rasha Merusha and if the Sanhedrin was here now, they'd give you a death penalty. Whatever the case is, all of them are simply to publicize the Torah that all of us really were supposed to already know. It's not our own machshavot, our own thoughts, our own opinions. I generally try to refrain from that. Once in a blue moon, I'll say something, but generally, I think it's relatively obvious for anyone with a little bit of IQ to know what's my opinion and what's not. Once in a while, I'll make an error, I'm still human, but nonetheless, we have to call things as they are, even though sometimes it creates a lot of headaches.

15:10So one of the things that I wanted to address today is, in essence, number one, why is that video not up anymore? And also, respond to two resha'im, one of whom was actually on the list that wrote articles about us, and also apologize. But don't worry, it's not the apology that you're expecting, and it's neither one of the apologies they're expecting either. It's an apology that needs to happen, but nonetheless, it'll also teach us a little bit of Torah. that I believe is not a fun type of Torah that you say, "Wow, Sipur Tzaddikim, Rabbi Zusha, what emunah, is this chizuk?" It's not that kind of Torah. This Torah is a tough type of Torah because it also means that all of us watching, here, sitting, speaking, could actually be guilty.

16:16at some point or another in our life, hopefully not in the future, hopefully not today even, but the point being, this is something we need to learn. This is Torah and I need to learn it. And so what is this Torah? This Torah is the halachot of nidui, of putting somebody in nidui, excommunication. because when you're calling out certain people, and you're saying, this guy's Erev Rav, this guy's a Machti HaRabim, and so on and so forth, in essence, what you're saying is that if the Beit Din of yesteryear, or perhaps the Beit Din of today, would actually look at what's going on, and all of the information that we're bringing forth, and all of the information that's available out there, you're saying, in essence, they should be in Nidui. You're not saying they're in Nidui yourself, because it's not for you to say, but the point is, that's what you're saying. So, do we have a case here, or are we just some maniacs who decided to make up stuff because of some financial interest, like some people think, or for popularity, like others think, or for whatever other interest people might think? But at the same time, we also have to check ourselves: Are we right?

17:36Now, Baruch Hashem, all of the checking of whether we're right or wrong was already done during the extended period of time that we did research before we went public. But also, sometimes when you speak publicly, you speak from the heart, and also you speak by heart, not reading from some speech. Sometimes you'll add a word or two that may make what you're saying wrong or perhaps may sound wrong. So if that's the case, you have to correct it. And I've told you guys many times that if I ever make a mistake, I'll admit it. I have no problem admitting it. This is not for my interest. So, with that being said, I'm assuming you guys don't have any questions right now and you're interested in what I'm about to tell you. Okay. So, there is a section in the Torah that is, like I said, a not-so-fun section. And this section is Hilchot Nidui, the halachot of putting somebody in excommunication. Uh,

18:47Now, although we go by the Psak of the Shulchan Aruch, Rabbi Yosef Karo from about 500 years ago As I've told you guys in the past, the Shulchan Aruch, in essence, most of what he said and wrote in the Shulchan Aruch is based on the Rambam. It's also based on the Tur; it's not just his own independent thought. So what you'll see actually is that the Hilchot Nidui in the Shulchan Aruch are relatively the same, practically identical language as what the Rambam wrote. almost 400 years before him, and also what the Tur, what he wrote as well, meaning that these are universal rules. This is not like, "Oh, this guy says this, but the other guy says that." No, no, no, absolutely not. This is generally what's accepted among Am Yisrael. And for those who think that nidui is no longer valid, it's not the case. But it is different. It is different today. And the reason why is because we still live in the exile. Even if you live in Israel,

19:59in Eretz HaKodesh, it's still considered the exile, and the reason why is because the government that's running Israel is a secular government. Many of them are actually anti-Torah. Many of them are doing everything they possibly can to destroy the Torah, and therefore, there are many cases where they go against the Torah, even though it really doesn't serve them any purpose. One example that Rav Ovadia Alev HaShalom mentions in his sefarim is that there was a case years ago where a Christian woman died, and her family lied about her and said she was Jewish. So they buried her in a Jewish cemetery. But when the Chevra Kadisha found out that this woman was Christian, they asked, you know, they are not allowed to bury a Christian with a Jew. You know, so they asked the Chevra Kadisha to remove her from the cemetery and put her where the Christians are. You have to have kavod for the metim also, not just the living. Even more so for the metim.

21:17court of Israel paskened in their own demented Ottomanian ideology and ruled that it is not allowed to remove her from the cemetery even though it won't hurt her, even though it won't make a difference to the family, even though it won't make a difference to anyone except Am Yisrael. They are not allowed to take her out of the grave even though it's done. Sometimes, all the time, no big deal, especially for Christians. But now, now I figured out. So, Rabbi Ovadia writes, this is because of our big sins. Because of our big sins, we are still living in the exile, even though that exile is also called Eretz Yisrael, and we have to live with this. There's nothing we can do. You know, we did our hishtadlut, we tried. You gotta take her out, but the rule of the land, that's in essence running the country, says, can't. The same goes with nidui. The judicial court in Eretz Yisrael says that you're not allowed to put somebody in public excommunication. Not allowed. Why? Because maybe it could cause him financial harm, maybe it's bad-mouthing him, which in Israel there's a law against lashon hara. If you say something bad about somebody, he could sue you and get money from you, which is against the Torah nonetheless. But of course, they care less about the Torah.

22:45They want to pretend like they're tzaddikim. They say, no, no lashon hara. If you say lashon hara, they'll fine you a million dollars. But they can say lashon hara about each other. They can say lashon hara about their enemies, but you as the regular citizen, you can't say it. You can't say anything, pretty much. And if you do, they'll fine you millions of dollars. And just so you know, you'll learn today that anyone who collects that kind of money, sues another Jew in secular court, and collects that money, is considered himself in nidui. He himself is considered a thief. Because you're not even allowed to go to secular court. It's considered a chilul Hashem. But the point being is that the government says this, how do you practice a halacha that would actually put you at risk? To get fined, to get sued, to go to jail maybe. How do you do it? So today the way nidui in essence is done, first and foremost, it's not common. It's not common to do it. But even when they do it, in essence what they do is they say, such and such person violated Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, halacha, such and such, this section, and this is the din.

23:55In essence, anyone that understands Torah knows this means he's on nidui, he's excommunicated. The government, they're secular, they don't even know who Moshe Rabbeinu is. So, they don't know what it means, so they don't say anything. But if they see the word nidui, then you have an issue. So that's, in essence, how it's done today. Now what does it mean to be on nidui? If somebody's on nidui—he's excommunicated—that means you're not allowed to do business with him. You're not allowed to talk to him. You're not allowed to count him in a minyan. In fact, if you walk, if you're within a few feet of him, you have to spit on him. This person is not in a good situation. Not in a good situation. And you cannot just be oblivious to it. No, no, but he's my friend. There's no such thing. There's no such thing. Why this psak din? How long is the nidui? Until he does teshuva. So the question is, who goes on nidui? How do you get excommunicated? How do you get to such a horrible, horrific level? And what do we need to do to avoid it? Ourselves.

25:01because, again, we're saying that technically these 14 people should be doing only one thing. They are saying they should be. I actually believed that one of the people on the list is only doing it, but he says he's not. He says he's not, so that we will address. also in a shiur. So the question is, how do we deal with this? Now, the Rambam writes that in Hilchot Talmud Torah, In chapter 6, halacha number 13, in the Shulchan Aruch, in Hilchot Nidui, as I mentioned, in Yoreh De'ah 334:43. And in essence, again, as I mentioned, it's the same language. But the Hakdama, the

26:22preceding language that the Rambam uses is the following: If a teacher placed a person under a ban of ostracism because of his honor, all of his students are obligated to treat the person in the required fashion. However, if a student issued a ban of ostracism because of his own honor, his teacher is not obligated to abide by the terms of the ban. Nevertheless, all the people are obligated to do so. So we see that the Rambam writes that you have... certain ways you have to treat people that are under ostracism, if you're a student of this person, if you're a teacher of this person, and so on and so forth. And then he continues, he says, "Similarly, when a person is placed under a ban of ostracism because of an affront to the honor of the Nasi, meaning the Gadol HaDor, all Jews are obligated to abide by the terms of the ban." Meaning, if the Gadol HaDor puts somebody under ostracism, a ban, a cherem, or a nidui, then everyone has to comply with it. You can't say, no, no, no, but he's not my rabbi; he's the Gadol HaDor.

27:34Now, some can say, no, no, it's specific to just a Nasi, Nasi Yisrael, which we don't have anymore. Some can say otherwise, but nonetheless, we get the point. We get the gist here. That it depends who's putting who on cherem and why. Now, however, if the person is placed under a ban of ostracism because any Jew, meaning just a regular Jew, says, listen, you are... because you violated the Shulchan Aruch, you violated the Rambam, you did such and such. The Nasi is not obligated to abide by it. When a person is placed under a ban of ostracism because of his city, other cities must also abide by this ban. However, if he is placed under a ban by other cities, his own city need not abide by the ban. Okay, so then in the next halakha, Halakha number 14, the Rambam continues, and now he goes into the details. When does the above apply?

28:37When the ban was imposed because the person acted disrespectfully to a Torah scholar, meaning ostracism, this nidui, one of the primary reasons that people were put in cherem, is if someone was against a Torah scholar. You made fun of Rav Ovadia, you made fun of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, you made fun of some other gadol, whether he's alive or he died, you disrespect him. That's a problem. Unfortunately, today people have entire Facebook pages and websites where they make fun of chachamim, and they still call themselves religious. However, A person who was placed under a ban of ostracism for another reason, for which such a ban may be declared, even if the ban was declared by a person of the lowest stature in Israel, the Nasi and all Jews are obligated to abide by the terms of the ban until he does teshuva, he repents, for the matter for which the ban was imposed.

29:49And the ban is lifted. Meaning, until now, everybody had a choice of whether to comply with this ban or not, because you lived in a different city, or it was a different rabbi, or it was a talmid, and so on. But, when it comes to the violation of what's about to be read, these 24 different rules, everyone has to comply with it, even if the ban was made by the lowest of people. A regular person, a talmid chacham, that you barely even know. The ban of ostracism is imposed upon a person, either man or woman, for the following 24 reasons. And the Shulchan Aruch has the same exact 24 reasons. Reason number one, a person who disgraces a scholar even after his passing. Someone that's a mevazeh talmid chacham afilu le'achar moto. anyone that makes fun of Chachamim, it doesn't have to be, it doesn't say Chacham that's a Gadol HaDor, biggest rabbi in the world, famous, he has millions of followers, no, no, Chacham, he's an avrech in a kollel, no one ever heard of him, but he's known as Chacham, talmid chacham, he may or may not have semicha, may or may not have a following, but nonetheless, he's a Chacham, but Chacham is a kosher Chacham, not a Chacham in his own mind, a Chacham.

31:17You decide to make fun of this person. You decide to disgrace him. You write all types of things on the internet against him. You decide to write and make videos against him. That, Rabotai, puts the person under a ban, according to the Torah. When we think about such a thing, okay, I can think of maybe a couple of examples, but where else is that happening? Right now, Hashem Yishmor, there is a show in Eretz Yisrael, there are several shows, but there's a new show, made by comedians. What's the show? Making fun of Judaism. The entire show. So now they have Moshe Rabbeinu hitting women. They have a portrayal of Moshe Rabbeinu taking the Ten Commandments and smashing them on some woman's head. And people find it funny. Then they have, you know, Mordechai HaYehudi. Mordechai HaYehudi, Kodesh Kodeshim. Kodesh Kodeshim, saved Am Yisrael. They have him portraying that he's telling Esther, Esther, become a prostitute.

32:37Go become a prostitute. It's a show. Funny, funny, right? Funny, funny. Now, you ask some of these people, what are you, anti-Torah? Are you crazy? Are you going against the Torah? Are you making fun of our sages? Are you making fun of the Nevi'im? Are you making fun of the people that saved your life? The only reason why you're here, you piece of nothing, is because of these tzaddikim. And you're making fun of them. Oh, no, no. I'm not against the Torah. I go to the Beit Knesset on the weekends. I go to the Beit Knesset on the Chagim. No, I'm not against the Torah. So why are you doing it? Well, that's a script. I'm making a living. That's what I do for a living. There is no such heter. There's no such leniency to make fun of Chachamim, make fun of Nevi'im, make fun of the Torah, because it's the way you make a living. No way in the world. This also is very critical for any Jewish comedian in Hebrew, English, or otherwise, that likes to make Jewish jokes. You have to be very, very careful with the things you say. Why? According to the Torah, you have a very serious problem. Now, of course, we're all allowed to laugh, we're all allowed to do things, but as I told you guys, it's a very difficult thing. Now, yes, the Gemara says that there were some people that were tzaddikim and also funny.

33:59Also funny, they were hired by the Gedolei HaDor to make everyone laugh during Chagim, no problem. There's a way to laugh. There are plenty of things to laugh about, especially if you're a talented comedian. One of the greatest Kiruv rabbis in Eretz Yisrael for the last almost 30 years is Rav Lassri. Rav Lassri is probably better than any comedian out there. But he says Divrei Torah during the comedy. What does he laugh about? He laughs about different things but in a kosher way. To start making fun of Moshe Rabbeinu, to start making fun of Da'at Torah, things like that, now you're playing with fire. So, a person that disgraces scholars, even after they died, is automatically, according to the Torah, on a ban. Now, even if a person is not on a ban here, don't think that in Shamayim they're not paying attention. Because it could be that there's no Beit Din. that's watching you, that knows what you're doing. It could be that the Beit Din perhaps is scared because you're famous or you're powerful. It could be a lot of different reasons. But in Shamayim, they pay attention to everything. When someone's on a ban, just so you know, their prayers do not get answered. They could pray until they're blue in the face. They don't get answered in Shamayim. They say, no, no, this person's not part of us. No, no, Hashem, it's your son.

35:22Currently, he's on suspension. Why? He's on a ban. According to the rules of the Torah. Why? He makes fun of the tzaddikim. He makes fun of the chachamim. That's reason number one. Reason number two: Someone who embarrasses the messenger of the Beit Din. Beit Din says, okay, let's send somebody today. It's done differently. Usually today the invitations to the Beit Din are either a letter or an email. But in the older days, the way they would do it is they would actually send a messenger from the Beit Din to come to the person and say, listen, you're invited to the Beit Din. Such and such is suing you at the Beit Din, not at some judicial court by some government with Zionistic democratic rules. No, he's suing you under the Torah. And instead of saying, okay, tell me when, I'm gonna come. The guy says, who do you think you're talking to? Get out of here. Get out of here. You make fun of him, you kick him out. Ben. Ben. No, no, but I didn't mean to. You do teshuva, go to Beit Din. They'll take you off the ban. But until then, you're in a ban. Until then, you're in a ban.

36:33Three, a person who calls his colleague a slave. Someone who calls his colleague a slave. Why? Based on the teachings that we are all slaves of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. We strive to be good slaves. You cannot call another person a slave. If you call another person a slave, you are in the wrong. This is not as common today as it was in the past. But nonetheless, this is the case. Four. A person who was ordered to appear before the Beit Din at a specific time and didn't come. You got an invitation to the Beit Din. Such and such is suing you at the Beit Din. The Beit Din is prepared to meet with you on such and such date at such and such time. Appointment is made. You don't show up. For whatever reason, you don't show up. What does that mean? You're in nidui. You're in nidui. Come to the Knesset, can't count you in a minyan. Business, no one's allowed to do business with you. Someone sees you, they have to spit on you. Your tefillot, maybe they'll be answered by the Christians, not by Hashem. Why? You're in nidui. You're disrespecting the Torah. No, no, it's just that the Beit Din I didn't want to listen to. Beit Din is the Torah.

38:01The Torah, that's the Torah. We have a written and an oral Torah. In Parashat Mishpatim, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu, HaKadosh Baruch Hu in Parashat Mishpatim in chapter 24, verse number 12, says to Moshe: "Ascend to Me to the mountain and remain there, and I shall give you the stone tablets and the teachings and the commandments that I have written to teach them." So here we see that HaKadosh Baruch Hu tells Moshe Rabbeinu He is going to give him three different things. I'm gonna give you the stone tablets, the Ten Commandments. I'm gonna give you the Torah. What's the Torah? The written Torah. That's what he got. He's not gonna give him the entire written Torah because that would tell him the future. So He gave him everything up to that day. And a mitzvah. What's a mitzvah? What is the mitzvah? What are these commandments? That's the Oral Torah.

39:12People always ask, "Oh, where do you see Oral Torah in the Torah?" Many times. This is one of the places. What's the Oral Torah? Oral Torah, Rabotai Yekarim, is how to fulfill the Written Torah. When it says mitzvah of tefillin, you're never going to find a single time in the Torah the word tefillin. What are you going to find? The word Totafot. So how do we know Totafot is Tefillin, and how do we know how they look, and how do we know what color they're supposed to be, and how do we know what's in them? All of that stuff, that's in the Oral Torah. It also says you have to do Brit Milah and cut the Orlah from your body. How do we know what the Orlah is? How do you know what the Orlah is? Maybe it's the ear, maybe it's a fingernail, maybe it's an eyelash. I much more prefer if it's an eyelash. But the Oral Torah says, no, the Orlah is the foreskin on a male member. That's what the Orlah is. And the entire Oral Torah tells us the details of what the Written Torah is actually saying here.

40:14So, who is the Oral Torah? That is the sages, that is the rabbis, from the time of Moshe Rabbeinu all the way to today. If somebody writes a serious sefer today, not just some stories, but an actual sefer of she'elot u'teshuvot, halachot, real mussar, all types of things that give people real da'at Torah, guess what? That sefer is now a part of the Oral Torah. What do you mean? But Torah was given to us 3,332 years ago. Yes, the written Torah was given then, but the Oral Torah never stops. The Oral Torah never ends. Every single one of you, the Zohar HaKadosh says, has a few chidushim that only you can bring to the world. And the Chachamim say that someone who does not get those chidushim and bring them to the world, in Shamayim they sue him. The Torah has fewer chidushim because of you. What do you mean? I didn't do anything. Exactly, that's the point. You didn't do anything. You didn't study. You didn't do what you were supposed to. And now the Torah was supposed to get another 10, 20, 50, 100, 5,000 chidushim from you, Mr. Reuven, from you, Mr. Stevens, from you, Mr. Whatever-Your-Name-Is. It didn't come. Why? You didn't bring them to the world. Yeah, why didn't you just give them to somebody else? No, no, only you can bring them. Only you can bring these chidushim. The Oral Torah never ends.

41:41So that means when the Gedolim, especially the Rosh Yeshivot, the giants of the generation, the heads of the yeshivot, the Talmidei Chachamim, when they're saying something, they're in essence the representatives of HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself, telling you, "This is what Hashem is saying here. This is it." So when you make fun, or you ignore, or you simply dismiss... what Daas Torah is from a Talmid Chacham. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, I take personal offense to it. Why do I take personal offense to it? I'm not disrespecting You, Hashem, I'm disrespecting this guy. No, no, no, my friend. When the king sends a messenger and you spit in a messenger's face, what is the king gonna think? You're spitting in his face. Why? Because that messenger was given the power to represent me, which means for all intents and purposes, it might as well be me that you spit in his face. When we disregard the Gedolei HaDor, we are in essence saying what? Hashem, we care less about what you say. No, no, but I didn't mean that. Well, that's what you did. Whether you mean it or you don't mean it, that's what you did. So now, Rabotai HaYekarim, when someone is called

43:01To come to Beit Din, and he does not come, Ben. He's put on Nidui. Number five. A person who treats even one point of a rabbinic law with disrespect. Needless to say, this applies regarding the matter of scriptural law. Someone tells you, listen, wasting seed? Nah, that's not for this generation. Nah. What? Gehinnom? Nah, nah, nah. It's just a washing machine. It's nothing. Don't worry. Everybody goes to heaven. What? Shabbat? Nah, just try it. Don't worry. Hashem understands. It's just that Moshe Rabbeinu didn't have a car. That's why it's okay. It's okay. Ben. A very serious Ben. And on top of that, arur too. Why? You change the Torah. The second anyone tells you that a single law in the Torah is no longer relevant... In the Torah, if there was a din, there were witnesses to it, the Beit Din knows this is what's going on, that person goes on nidui, you're not allowed to talk to him, you're not allowed to count him in the minyan, you have to spit on him, his prayers don't get answered, and so on and so forth. You see all of these superheroes that call themselves rabbis and speakers and coaches and whatever they are.

44:22And they're telling us, no, no, it's not. Don't rebuke anybody anymore. Everything with love. Everything with this. Everything with that. These people are just scaring people. We shouldn't talk about Gehinom. What do you mean? It's in the Torah. It's in the Torah so many times. There are seven names for Gehinom. It's in the Torah so much. Half the Torah is about punishments. What do you mean, don't teach people? Don't teach people half the Torah? Why don't you tell them don't teach both halves? And that's it. We'll go learn, I don't know, from Tony Robbins or something. What do you mean, don't teach? What do you want us to teach, then? As soon as a person says that something in the Torah is not what it is, or better yet, they simply decide to go and say, "Listen, some rabbi from this generation, that no one really knows so much, and is not considered a gadol by anybody's stretch of the imagination, he said that this very, very serious sin, it's not such a big deal. He's lenient on it. So I'm going to depend on him."

45:24Wait, wait, but hold on. Is that what the Shulchan Aruch said? No. Is that what the Rambam said? No. Is that what the Tur said? No. Is that what the Gemara said? No. So who's this guy to go against all of these Gedolim? Why? Can't rely on somebody's leniency? He's a Talmid Chacham. Not if he's going against them. You have to know, you have to have something to rely on. You can't just pretend to have big shoulders and decide to make new halachot and decide that you're going to be lenient for an entire generation and just tell people, yeah, you can waste seed, no big deal. You can violate Shabbat. You can do this. You can do that. You can't do stuff like that. Suddenly, you have an entire section of Judaism where modesty is no longer enforced. It's no longer applicable. It's no longer even recommended in some cases. Some people call themselves modern Orthodox. So people ask, what's the difference between Orthodox and modern Orthodox?

46:25I mean, they both say Orthodox, so it's not the same? No, it's not the same. Modern Orthodox means you're removing certain mitzvot and just calling yourself modern. That's what it is. You just simply take the mitzvot; this one, I don't like it, I'm going to throw it out. This one, I don't like it. Yeah, but you're Orthodox. Yeah, yeah, I'm Orthodox. Just modern. Modern. Modern. So what do you see? Many times, some of the most immodest people who call themselves Orthodox come from there. But they don't realize that they're violating the Torah in a huge way, that they're going against the Chachamim, that they're going against Hashem, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself says that anytime there is immodesty, I have to run away. I have to run away. No, but the rabbi showed up to the wedding. Yeah, Hashem didn't. Maybe that rabbi is modern, but Hashem is not modern. Hashem is not modern at all. And you see many times, people that keep Shabbat, keep kashrut, put on tefillin, they give tzedakah, ba'alei chesed, generally speaking, very nice people. But they walk around half naked, but they think they're religious. Why? Because their rabbi. The rabbi said, no, no, we're modern. We're modern.

47:44and sometimes they learn the halachot from watching the rabbi's wife that's walking around with a miniskirt. Why? Because they're modern. There's no such thing as modern. There's allowed, there's not allowed. The second you say, no, this is no longer relevant, because the generation is such, you no longer have to cover your head; because the generation is such, you no longer have to be modest; because the generation is such, you, my friend, are in cherem, according to the Torah. You're putting yourself in cherem. Now again, we're not saying, "Hey, you're in cherem." What we're saying is what the Torah says. The Torah says, according to the Torah, you fit the description of somebody that would be put in cherem, according to the Sifrei. According to HaKadosh Baruch Hu himself. Why? You simply change the Torah. And now, a person that simply makes fun of the Torah and just simply does not care for what the Torah says, he has a very serious problem. Now you would think, oh yeah, this must be a new thing in this generation. No, it's even mentioned in the Gemara, and it's even mentioned by Gedolim.

49:02Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Elazar, I'm sorry, Rabbi Elazar, one of the Gedolim, he's mentioned in the Gemara, that means he was holy enough to revive the dead. He, one time, disrespected the mitzvah of Netilat Yadayim. Disrespected a little bit. Not that he didn't do it, just disrespected it a little bit. According to the Chachamim, they put him on ban. Gadol HaDor! Gadol. Disrespected. Until you do teshuva. Meaning that this is not just something for the people that are outright kofrim, bad people. No. This is something that even someone that's a relatively decent person, even trying to be religious, can fall under. Why? You simply disrespected the Torah. Your desires, your ego, your opinion matter to you much more. A person that is even trying to be religious, trying to follow the Torah, learns a little bit, does mitzvot, keeps Shabbat, overall everything is good. But one day she hears a shiur,

50:20You have a problem. What's the problem? You have a wig that, according to current research, if it's coming from real hair, it's virtually impossible for it to come from a kosher place because the only market that's providing this amount of real hair to the world is India, which is idolatry. Why is it idolatry? Because that's their custom to bring a sacrifice to their false gods as their hair, because some god got hurt in his head and had a bald spot, and people donated hair and all types of foolish things. So now they have literally millions and millions of people, tens of millions of people, donating their hair, tonsuring their hair, and then these temples of idolatry sell the hair to the markets. So now, the hair that is on wigs today is coming from this place, and according to the Torah, you now have to benefit from idolatry. It's not only that you now have to practice idolatry, but you also have to benefit from it.

51:29as soon as she hears it, "No, no, no, no, my wig is kosher." Why is it kosher? "Oh, it says kosher on it." Yeah, but there's enough reasons to show that that kosher stamp is null and void. Why is it null and void? Simply because it's not possible to track the hair from the minute it's being tonsured to the minute it goes on your head. Why? Because wherever you're getting it, this hair is being combined with a lot of hair, and the only place that can provide the massive amount of hair that's in the market today is the place of idolatry. So even if part of the hair came from some place that's kosher. By the time it became a wig, it's not kosher. And even as an issue with the wigs that are not from real hair, the synthetic wigs. Why? Because some scientific research that was done showed that there's just such a surplus of this idolatrous hair from India, because it's their religion, that they fill in the synthetic wigs with real hair to make it more full and so on, and more realistic. And there's an average of 1-3% of the hair coming from real hair. That's real hair.

52:33Now, you don't need half the wig, or 75% of the wig, to be, from avodah zarah, for it to be something that's forbidden, even if there's one hair. Even if there's one hair over there, that's it. So now, a person that wants emet, lives emet, okay, I take off the wig, put on a mitzvah, but sometimes you have people saying, "No, no, but I like my wig, my husband likes my wig, my girlfriends like the wig, the guy at the store likes my wig, everybody likes my wig," and all of a sudden, the bias comes in. The bias, the personal bias, comes in, and then they start doing the research. "No, no, I'm going to look for a rabbi that's going to tell me that the wig is allowed." No, I'm not telling you it's not allowed; I'm telling you that this wig is not allowed. "Okay, where can I find someone who says it's allowed?" And then one woman told me, "Listen, I really want to wear a wig, so I thought, maybe I'll convince my sisters to shave their heads and give their hair to me." And I said to her, "I mean, listen, if you get your sisters to shave their heads, because you need three heads for every wig, according to people who know about wigs..."

53:40So you have to think about it. You convince your sisters, but do you realize how sick you are? That your desire is so great that you're willing to let your three sisters suffer walking around with a bald head for the next few years just so you can wear a wig? Do you realize how sick you are? She goes, wow, I never thought about that. Never thought about that. I said, "Oh, thank God I told you. I don't know what to tell you." She goes, "Oh, I guess I'm not going to wear a wig because I agree." She says, "I agree. There's no way to verify that the wig is kosher." I agree. "And then anyone that tracked the wigs, where's the market, where is this? No, no, I get it from Brazil." Okay, go to the supplier in Brazil. "I want you to meet him and tape it." Guess what? He'll shoot you in the face. Why? It's a mob. It's a mafia. It's a mafia in Brazil that runs and doesn't allow anyone to see where they actually get the hair from. It has videos and testimonies of one of the original guys that started it there.

54:45saying this is what it is. Point being, anyone that is looking for the truth has to make a change, even though it's difficult for some women. But people that are not looking for it, like, "No, no, listen, that's just you, that's just, that's just, that's just, that's just, this, this is that." Meaning, what are you doing, really? In all intents and purposes, what's happening? You're not doing it intentionally, maybe, but in reality, what are you doing? You're dismissing that. you're dismissing the Oral Torah, you're dismissing the Written Torah, you're dismissing the Torah. And that's why certain Gedolim, like the Chatam Sofer, when he saw that one woman wore a wig, which in those days looked like a broomstick, He sent her a warning. He sent her a warning. Take off the wig, you're not allowed to wear wigs. Not allowed to wear a wig. She didn't want to listen. She wanted to continue walking around with the mop on her head. Peer pressure, I don't know. Whatever happened. She had a difficulty. She wanted to put it on her head. Told her no. She didn't listen. When she died, he told everybody, "Bring the body next to my house."

56:02Bring the body next to my house before you bury her. They brought the body, he opened the veil to show her face, spat in her face, and covered her back. He said, that's what you do to somebody that's on cherem. Somebody that's on nidui, that's what you do. Why? She went against the chachamim. Now again, I'm not telling you, any one of you, to go spit on anybody. But that's what the Torah says if someone is officially on nidui. The point we're trying to bring home here is to understand how horrible is the status of being on nidui. Chas v'shalom we ever get there. And chas v'shalom we ever say someone is there and they're not. Because you'll see, number 24, is if you say somebody's on nidui and they're really not, you go on nidui. So you can't just say, no, you're on cherem, you're on Erev Rav, you're on... No, you can't just do stuff like that. You have to be really, really careful before you say anything. So now, someone that dismisses the Torah, Rabotai HaKedoshim, even if it's a rabbinical, rabbinical mitzvah. No, it's not for me. Ben, how many times, how many times do we at least think that?

57:23Sometimes we even said it. Nah, come on, Rabbi, it's too much for me. I'll tell you, I'll admit myself. One day, Rabbi Ephraim, early in my teshuvah, started keeping Shabbat, started learning this, that, the other thing, but I didn't know much. I knew certain things from logic, I knew certain things I learned from him, but not much. If I was figuring out a way of how to get me to understand the horrible status that I'm in. I'm intermarried, married to a non-Jew. What do you do? How do you tell this guy, Wall Street guy, big money, big ego, big headaches, big problems, that, hey... you're not only a victim, you're also the perpetrator too. You're killing yourself. How do you tell him that? So he calls me, he tells me the thing that's always music to my ears. What? I have a chidush. Oh, I love that. It's like music to me. He says, I have a chidush. Oh, what a wonderful thing. For me, everything's a chidush at this point. I don't know anything. Even today, I don't know much. But he tells me years ago, I have a chidush. What music to my ears. He says, I have a chidush from the Zohar.

58:32I don't even know how to read the Zohar. What wonderful news. He says, listen to me. I have a chidush from the Zohar and this is what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says. Rabbi Shimon. I heard this name before. It's a big name. He says, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says, someone that marries a non-Jew is going to lose all their money and get sick. I don't like this chidush anymore. I start going crazy like some Esav. I start acting like some animal. Why is he talking about this Rabbi Shimon? He doesn't know me. He doesn't know my wife. She's so great. She's wonderful. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Doesn't know anything, but I think I know something. Why? Because it pertains to me. Pertains to me. Until then, I love the chiddush. Every chiddush. The miracles, the Shabbat, it's all wonderful. I like it. All of a sudden you're telling me that I'm the reason for my problems. I'm not a victim. I'm the one that caused them. Because of my decisions.

59:54No way. This Chacham doesn't know what he's talking about. No way. He's this, he's that. But during the whole conversation, in reality, at the end of the day, whether I know or I don't know, I'm an honest person. So while I'm screaming and yelling and I'm in my own consciousness saying, you don't know what you're talking about, you don't know what you're talking about, whatever he says, it's true. Even if you don't like it. And then I realize how much trouble I'm in. So all of us get to that point at some time, whether it's early in our way, in the middle, or later on. You can be religious for 20 years and not know what Issur Karet is. You can be religious your whole life, 50 years, and never know about Gehinnom. You can be religious for a very long time and never know your obligation to rebuke or do Kiruv. And the minute you hear about it and you realize that your problems are because of you, not because of somebody else. You lost because of you, not because of somebody else. And that punishment that you're getting is a chesed from Hashem. It's a favor from Hashem. It's a kindness from Hashem to try to save you from yourself. If you dismiss it, that's what you're doing. You're dismissing the Written Torah. You're dismissing the Oral Torah. So we've all done it. The point is, don't do it. If it says it in the Torah, it's true.

1:01:21Understand it. Don't understand it. Like it. Don't like it. Doesn't make a difference. Why? Because. That's why. Oh, how come Hashem did this? Because He's God. That's the reason. He's the king. He created. He can do whatever He wants. He doesn't have to comply with your logic and your rules. Oh, how come Hashem did this? Because. That's the bottom line reason. Because. Because He wants to do it. He's the king. He's going to give you rules. He's allowed to make rules. Why? He's the king. He calls the shots. That's the reason. Now, yes, you could rationalize it, and you could put some sugar coats on it, and maybe a little ice cream, but the bottom line is, the deepest thing is, that's why. Because He's the king. And He said so. The fact that you have a benefit out of it, and you have this, and yep, it's good. But that's not the real reason. The real reason is because He's the king. And the second we...

1:02:21accept it, teshuva automatically becomes easier. Not easy, but easier. Because you simply accepted the law. Regardless of whether it contradicts your opinion and your desires. But so long as you reject it, and you look for heterim, and leniencies, and ways out, and this and that, you're simply suffering. Why? Because you're constantly fighting against your own neshama. So now we move on to the next one. A person who refuses to comply with the decisions rendered by the court, by the beit din, is placed under ban until he complies. You went to a beit din. The beit din says, guilty, innocent, pay him a thousand, pay him five thousand, remove the books from the stores, retract, whatever, there's a psak din, a gadol hador, right, says, hey, this is this, you are not allowed to do this, you are allowed to do this. And you say, I don't want to do it.

1:03:25I don't want to listen. Until you listen, you're in cherem. You're in cherem. This has a lot to do with ego. No one wants to be wrong, even if the facts are shown to them. Next, a person who possesses an entity that can cause damage, such as a dangerous dog or a faulty ladder. It's placed under ban until he removes that entity. People love dogs. I had a dog for 16 years. Really, really cute pit bull. Would be scared of his own shadow. But some people, they train their dogs to be monsters. As soon as somebody walks next to their yard, whether it be a mailman or it could be their cousin, the dog barks and scares people. According to halakha, you're forbidden from having such a dog. Why? Such a dog can bark and scare a pregnant woman, and she could have a hapalah, a miscarriage, because of it. Not allowed to have scary animals. No, but I love him. Love him, love him. Okay, say goodbye to him. Why? Humans are more important than dogs. More important than cats, more important than whatever. You're not allowed to have a dangerous thing. Now that's a physical entity. Kal v'chomer, needless to say,

1:04:51A spiritual danger. You're not allowed to own something or do something or be part of something that's spiritually dangerous for society, such as owning a nightclub or giving all types of lectures or seminars that are against the Torah. such as doing all types of things that are putting people in spiritual danger. You're not allowed to have a brothel. You're not allowed to have some type of bar where there's all types of pritzut there. You're not allowed to be involved in such things. Why? You're putting people in spiritual danger, which is much, much more dangerous than physical danger. Because, in the worst-case scenario, that dog is going to bite somebody. But the spiritual danger, that bite is a permanent damage. And that's why the Steipler says, the person that causes another to sin is just like he murdered him. Just like he murdered him. That's what it is. Why? You have a nightclub or lectures or anything that's causing people to sin, until you stop, you are on ban.

1:06:07You have a blog, you have a newsletter, you have a newspaper, you have a comedy show that's causing people to sin and think the opposite of what Da'as Torah is. You are in cherem until you stop. This is what Torah is. Why? Spiritual danger is even worse than physical danger. Next. Says a person who sells land to a gentile, I believe this is referring to Eretz Yisrael, and is placed under cherem until he accepts the responsibility for any damage which the gentile may cause the Jewish neighbor. Someone is in a Jewish community, and everyone over there is Jewish, and he decides, listen, this non-Jew, he's gonna pay me more rent.

1:07:08The Jew is going to pay me a thousand; the non-Jew is going to pay me two thousand. So I'm going to rent it to him. Now, you're entitled to rent it, but you also have to take a certain responsibility, because if that non-Jew is a missionary, if that non-Jew is going to cause some damage to the Jewish community, you have to absorb the damage. No, no, I don't want to. Until you want to and until you agree, you're unbanned. Why? You're not allowed to put other people at risk for your financial interest. Not allowed. Next, a person testifies against a Jewish colleague in a secular court and causes money, which the Torah law would not require him to pay, to be expropriated from him, he's placed under a ban until he repays that amount. You decide, listen, I'm going to sue Steve. I'm going to sue Reuven. Why? He said something bad about me, and this government allows me to. If he says something bad about me, I can sue him for a million dollars. Defamation of character.

1:08:19such a rule, you go to the secular court. The court says, "You're right, Mr. Smith. You owe Reuven over here five million dollars. Why? Because you said something bad about him on YouTube. You said something bad about him in some book. You said something bad about him in some newspaper. Five million dollar fine for defamation of character." The second you... Walked into that court, you already made chillul Hashem. But now, the second you accept the money, since that's against the Torah, you know, the Torah doesn't say if somebody says something bad about you, you're allowed to take money from them. It has nothing to do with each other. There's a punishment for lashon hara and so on and so forth, but it's not monetary damage. The second you make money from it, you are officially on ban until you return the money. So people have to be very, very careful before they even think about taking anybody to secular court. Think a million and a half times. Somebody just yesterday asked me, "Listen, I have a tenant and she owes me, she's not on time, she's late every month with the rent, a few days, two, three, four, five days, and she happens to be a convert, and she says she owes money to the Beit Din, and she can't pay me rent this month, so I want to just simply kick her out. I don't feel like waiting three, four, five days. For the rent, I'm just going to kick her out." If that person does that, he has a very serious problem. Why? If you have an issue with a Jew, you have to go to a Beit Din.

1:09:28on time, she's late every month with the rent, a few days, two, three, four, five days, and she happens to be a convert, and she says she owes money to the Beit Din, and she can't pay me rent this month, so I want to just simply kick her out. I don't feel like waiting three, four, five days for the rent, I'm just going to kick her out. If that person does that, he has a very serious problem. Why? If you have an issue with a Jew, you have to go to a Beit Din. Now, you could technically go up to the secular court and say, listen, this tenant is not for me. She is not complying with the lease agreement. She's late 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 days every month. She hasn't paid me for a month. And the secular court would say, yeah, she hasn't paid you. That's it. Kicked out. Sheriff shows up to the house, and the whole family is on the streets. You, on the other hand, are in cherem for doing such a thing. You got a new tenant that's maybe a better payer, but you're a ben Torah. And on top of it, HaKadosh Baruch Hu writes in the Torah, "I'm going to take My sword and kill you." Why? You went against the convert. People have no idea what they're doing. No idea what they're doing, but that's what happens. They make foolish mistakes, they go against the Torah, and what ends up happening,

1:10:50HaKadosh Baruch Hu punishes them, rebukes them, gives them problems, and they say, "Oh, why is Hashem doing that?" That's why Shlomo HaMelech says, "The foolishness, the stupidity of man causes him to sin, and then he gets mad at Hashem for punishing him." So, it's good this person sent me an email and asked, "Can I do it?" At least he's smart enough to ask. Can I do it? Most people are not smart enough to do that—they just simply do it. Why? It's financially beneficial for me to replace the tenant. It's financially beneficial for me to go take money from this company. It's financially beneficial for me to do whatever the law of the land allows me to do. Yes, but if the law of the land is against the Torah, you, my friend, are not allowed to benefit from it. If your fellow Jew owes you money, you have to go to the Beit Din. Yeah, but I could just go to the secular court and make a lot of money faster. Not allowed. And if you do, you're banned. Now, this also applies if a person is simply a witness. He's just a party to it. He didn't sue the guy.

1:12:09But if friends sue them, or somebody else sues them, they say, "Listen, you saw what happened. You'll be a witness in the secular court. You help me win." You help him, you, my friend, have a very serious problem with Hashem. You have a very serious problem with Hashem. And a lot of people don't go to a Talmid Chacham, don't go to their Rav. Or sometimes they go to an Erev Rav that tells them they can do whatever they want. And they create a lot of problems for themselves. Next, a butcher who is a Kohen and does not separate the priestly gifts and give them to another Kohen is placed under a ban until he gives them. This is not something we can practice today because we do not have the Beit HaMikdash, but if the second Beit HaMikdash is built, this halakha is effective immediately.

1:13:13Next, a person who violates the sanctity of the second day of Yom Tov in the diaspora, even though their observance is only a custom, you say, "Listen, I know I live in America, and I know the Chachamim said that if you live in America, or you live anywhere in the exile—in the diaspora, is a better word..." I know that they said I have to keep two Yom Tovim. Two Yom Tovim for Sukkot, two Yom Tovim for Shavuot, two Yom Tovim all the time. In Israel though, the Israelis, Jewish people over there, keep one Yom Tov, except Rosh Hashanah. But here, you live with two Yom Tovim. Why did they do it? Because, if you look, the Gemara Masechet Rosh Hashanah says that in those days, the way that they figured out the time of the month, the new moon, there would be people on mountains. They would see who would be the first one to see the new moon, and they would have to come back to be witnesses and tell the Beit Din. They would ask them questions to verify that they actually saw a new moon and declare a new month. So, sometimes it would take a certain amount of time, and in order...

1:14:26to spread the message to different places would take a certain amount of time. So, to protect everyone, they said, listen, if you live far from Eretz Yisrael, meaning past the border, by the time you get the news, then it could already be a new month or not enough. The point is that if you live in the diaspora, you're not getting news live. Your time is not the same as it is in Israel. Therefore, you need to keep Yom Tov for two days. But today a person could say, yeah, but today we have atomic clocks. You can buy it for like $50 on Amazon if you want. I have my computer. It's in there. I have the internet. I know exactly what time it is. I don't need any fire and any mountains and any witnesses and any nothing. I know exactly what time it is. I know when the Yom Tov is and when it's not. What do I need to have two Yom Tovs? You need to have two Yom Tovs because Chazal said so. Even though it's not for the same reason as it was back then, You still have to do it because Chazal said so. And we're not allowed to cancel anything. And if you do, because you think you're smarter, the Torah says, you're banned. You're banned.

1:15:42Now, when does this happen? This happens many times with people either because they don't learn Torah and they live in America, or they live elsewhere and they don't really want to keep mitzvot, but they want to stay connected. So they decide, "Listen, I'm an Israeli" or "I'm an American Jew and I know what time it is. I'm just going to keep one day, just like my friend or my cousin or whoever I know in Israel. If they keep one day, I'm keeping one day." That happens with those types of people, stubborn people, or better yet, people that go to Israel. ...for the holiday. They go to Israel for the holiday. They say, listen, I'm in Israel now, and everybody's keeping one day. I'm going to keep one day. Not allowed. Why? You don't live in Israel. You just went to visit. And unless you plan on staying there and living there, you have to keep two Yom Tovim. Even though you're only a visitor, and even if you're going to be visiting there for two months... ...not allowed to keep one Yom Tov. Two Yom Tovim. Yeah, but everybody else is back. I'm still eating matzah, and everybody else is already eating pizza. Everybody's driving, and I'm still praying. What's going on? Yeah, that's what it is. You live in the exile. That's what it is. You don't want to do it? That's a problem. But you could pretty much toughen up and do it. You're not going to do it? Oh, that's a bad decision. Why, Ben?

1:17:10Ben. Next. A person who violates the, no, I read that already. A person who performs work on Pesach, on Pesach Eve afternoon... Pesach, even though the Leil Seder is in the evening, you're already not allowed to do any melachot from the afternoon. Now some people are going to say, "Listen, I still got to get some stuff done. I got to take a drive to the store, I got to take this, I got to work, my job won't allow it." Doesn't make a difference. Pesach, that day, Pesach Eve, don't work. Why? By the afternoon, that's it, you're disconnected from the world. No, no, but I don't feel like it, but really, ah, ah, ban. This is a very simple halakha to just simply ignore. Why? Because most people don't even know it. They just think, listen, maybe it's customary to stop in the afternoon. No, no, it doesn't make a difference, customary, not customary. This is what the sages paskened, this is what it is.

1:18:28And it's such a big deal in the eyes of the sages that they say that if you violate this rule, even though it's a small one, it's a very big deal to the extent of being put in cherem. Being put in cherem. Now, I know all of you are asking, wait a minute, what if I didn't know? We'll answer that question shortly. A person who causes many people to desecrate Hashem's name. This, rabotai, is unfortunately one of the worst, but also one of the easiest things to violate. Bringing people to Chilul Hashem. So the Gemara in Masechet Yoma, page 86a, says, how do you make people do Chilul Hashem? So one of the sages says, if I'm a rabbi, and I have an arrangement with the butcher that I pay him, let's say, I pay him once a month. He keeps a tab for me, and I pay him. So I can just go into the store, take whatever I want, and he puts a tab on it.

1:19:47He says, if I do that and there are people there, that's Chilul Hashem. Why? Because the people that are shopping there don't know that I have a tab with him. They think that just because I'm a rabbi, I'm taking advantage of this poor butcher and taking his stuff because if he doesn't give it to me, I'll take away his kashrut. So just going in and taking whatever I want and assuming people will understand is not allowed. You have to go to the cash register, just like everybody else, and pay. Yeah, but I have a tab. Not today. You can have something, but it cannot be with other people there. Why? You have to have the understanding that other people are watching, and they don't know what's in your head. And you have to live based on that. You have to understand there's something called marit ayin. which is that certain things are determined based on how they look and not necessarily how they really are. And as someone who wants to live a kosher Torah life, you have to take that into consideration. Now sometimes, this happens in much more horrific ways. One time, years ago, maybe about five years ago,

1:21:06A new student of mine, I was still relatively new in the giving drashot world, and he came to me and he said, "Listen, you mentioned things about Torah, this, that. I don't know, you're very different than the rabbi I had for the last couple of years." I said, "Well, what's so different?" So the other rabbi would keep asking us to do stuff. I said, what, keep Shabbat? He goes, no, no, not keep Shabbat. I said, what, Taharat Mishpacha? No, no, not Taharat Mishpacha. Kosher? He goes, no, no, it's not mitzvot, no, no. I said, what? I don't know, every week he would tell us we have to, like, do stuff for him. And, like, you know, one day he tells us, listen, rabbi, I'm not coming back until you build a new kitchen. and he left. And we were an entire kehillah here in Florida, just sitting there, no rabbi. Why? The rabbi just commanded we have to go build his wife a new kitchen. So what happened? Everyone looked at me, he says. I'm the construction guy. So I figured, I don't know what's going on, but I don't know. I went to the guy, I said, okay, what do you want? And he said, I said, okay, no problem. So I started ordering the parts.

1:22:16And we worked. My team and I worked. I don't know, I guess it was really important for him. He came back to teaching us. Everybody was happy, saying, "Oh, good job." Okay, so we started building. After a week or whatever it was, I came to the rabbi and said, "Okay, Rabbi, here you go." I gave him the bill and I gave him a discount. I didn't make any money; I just covered the cost of the parts. I didn't even charge for labor. The rabbi looked at me and said, "What? What do you want?" I replied, "The cost, Rabbi, the cost is $26,000. $26,000." Why are you giving it to me? Give it to the kehillah. They can pay for it. They are going to pay for it. You can pay the kehillah. I said, are you serious? He said, what, you think this is the worst thing? And he started telling me a list of things. This horrible person that called himself a rabbi is pretty much putting the kehillah in a situation where they don't know any different. Most of them are either newly religious or just simply naive. And the rabbi says, "Listen, you have to do this for me, that for me, build this for me, build that for me, this, that." And we just thought, yeah, I guess this is part of being religious. But I got disgusted after this. I didn't mind doing some tzedakah (donating) here and there, but once the guy didn't pay me almost $30,000, I said, what's going on here? There's no way this is religion. If this is Judaism, I don't want to be part of it. And he says, "And you, you don't ask for anything."

1:23:43Why is there such a difference? Because, you know, it's not allowed. It's what he did. He goes, what's that? I start explaining to him. People don't know. People don't know. If you don't tell people right and wrong, they're not going to figure it out on their own. I have a woman, Baruch Hashem, today for technology. I mean, it's hard for me to even explain this. I have a woman, Baruch Hashem, today for technology. Why? Because if it wasn't for technology, many of these crimes wouldn't have any witnesses. She sent me a recording just a few days ago. She says, I'm visiting the city, and I want to go to the mikveh. Why? It's the time of the month, I'm going to go to the mikveh, to be with my husband. So I called the local place and said, okay, I want to make an appointment to go to the mikveh. Okay, the rabbi is going to call you back. Why? Why is the rabbi going to call me back? Oh, the rabbi is going to call you back. Okay, the rabbi is going to call me back. Fine, no problem. So the rabbi calls her back. She thought it was a little strange. The rabbi wants to call her back. Usually, she just called the mikveh. I want to make an appointment. That's it, finished. It's a very, very personal thing. What do you want to do? Publicize, maybe put it on the billboard. Sarah is going to the mikveh on such and such date at this time. For any viewers, you can wait outside. What do you want?

1:25:00It's a very personal thing. What do you want? Why call back? It's already strange. So she was smart enough to have her husband listen to the call and record it. The wisdom of the Jews. So this rabbi says, "Listen, you want to come? Okay. When can I meet with you?" "Excuse me? When can I meet with you?" "Never. Never." No, can you come to my office today? No, I'm busy. What about tomorrow? No, no, I'm not coming. Why? Can I meet with you though? I need to meet with you if you want to use the mikveh. No, I can't. I'm a busy person. I just want to use the mikveh, that's it. I've used the mikveh all over the world in different places. Why do I need to meet with you? We have a custom to meet people before they use our mikveh. She says, why? Why do you want to meet with me? Why? I'm not moving here. I'm not part of the kehillah. No, it's for precautions. So the husband picks up the phone. He says, what precautions? I'm the husband. What precautions do you want? What do you want? This is against halacha. What do you want to see my wife for? What do you want to meet my wife for? For what? He hung up the phone on him.

1:26:15The second he asked him, why do you want to meet my wife? The husband asked, why do you want to meet my wife? The rabbi, the fake rabbi, hung up the phone on his face. I have the recording on my phone. Why? He got caught red-handed. You want to meet some woman that wants to go to a mikveh? This, rabotai, unfortunately, is the dirt we have to talk about. You know why we have to talk about it? Because it's happening. It's happening all over the place. A group of women, a group of women in Eretz Yisrael found that there are cameras in different mikvaot. Cameras in the women's mikveh, recording people, Hashem Yishmor, if the people that are running the place are not 100% yirei shamayim Jews, you have to run away. Why? There are sick people in the world, with or without a beard. With or without a beard, you have to be skeptical. Why? This is what's going on in the world. This is what's going on in the world. I'm sorry to tell you this filthy stuff, but I have to warn you. Why do I have to warn you? Number one, to let you know what's going on. Number two, to let you know that

1:27:33What's right and wrong. Like if the rabbi tells you, "Listen, I want to meet with your wife before she goes to the mikveh," run, run, run. There's no reason for a rabbi to meet your wife before she goes to the mikveh. There's no reason. In fact, there's no reason for him to meet her, period. She wants to meet the rabbanit? No problem. Rabbi wants to meet for what? For what purpose? this would not be from 500 years ago that some hold by, but trust me, it's not the reason, especially after you hear the recording. And if it was the reason, why'd you hang up? Why'd you hang up? I had one woman tell me that she was scared of the... Conversion. I said, why are you scared? She said, I don't know, because the other teacher that I had in the previous community told me that they have to check me before I go to the mikveh. I said, who? What? What do you mean, check you? She said, I don't know, they have to check me or something. I said, no, no, no. First of all, stop talking to those people. Second of all, no one's going to check you, no one's going to touch you, no one, nothing. No one's even going to see you. She said, what do you mean? They kept emphasizing, checking, checking. No one's checking.

1:28:52She was so uncomfortable, she didn't know. She started crying, poor woman. She was talking to my wife, telling her to check it. My wife said, "You know anything about checking?" She said, "Checking who? Checking what? Checking if she passed the test?" She goes, "No, no." Strange things are happening in communities. Why? Because no one brings this up. No one wants to talk about this dirt. Trust me when I tell you. I'd rather talk about sweet, beautiful Divrei Torah. but unfortunately, this is what we have to learn. This is the low generation that we're in. We have to talk about this. Why? People don't know. So when people don't know, they go and they become victims, and they only realize years later. What do you think? All of those kids that are victims of pedophilia knew that there was something wrong with it? No, they thought that this is what you're supposed to do. Yeah, the Rabbi likes me. He wants me to come to his house all the time. And he likes to pet me. And he likes to this and likes to that. By the time the kid grows up and he's 15, 18 years old, and he realizes that he's been sexually molested for the last five years,

1:29:55It's already too late. He's traumatized forever. Why? Because no one talks about it. Even here, it is managed freedom and people make fun of anybody that was sexually molested. So a big rabbi with 40,000 viewers says that it's a joke, that you're a victim, while you're so holy, no one's allowed to touch you. So not only... is there no permission to talk about it, but on top of it, if you do, they make fun of you? So that's what you have to understand. When a person causes the public to desecrate Hashem's name by such examples I just mentioned, and unfortunately many, many others, that person is in nidui. Now, The halacha continues to detail other issues. But remember, this chilul Hashem situation applies in many, many ways. Because if you simply cause people to sin on a massive scale, you can be in very serious trouble. Now,

1:31:17A person who causes many to eat sacrificial food outside its proper place. This also is relevant to the time of the Beit HaMikdash. The second, the third Beit HaMikdash, be'ezrat Hashem, is built, this halacha becomes effective immediately. Not allowed to bring anyone to eat anything outside of it. The source for it is in Gemara Masechet Berachot, page 19a. And all of these halachot, by the way, are from across the Gemara. They're not something that the Rambam, Chas V'Shalom, or the Tur, or the Shulchan Aruch just came up with on their own logic. This is all, all the way from the Gemara, all the way from Moshe Rabbeinu. Next, a person who calculates the years and declares a leap year, or fixes the day of the new month in the diaspora. This is not something that is a practice anymore because no one has an interest in doing such a thing anymore, as the way that we decide new months is no longer the same as we discussed before. In the old times, you would have to have witnesses, hang out in mountains, declare when the new month is, come to the Sanhedrin, tell the Beit Din, tell them that we saw the new moon, and after they testify and verify that this is the case, then a new month is declared. New months are not declared like that anymore.

1:32:36Hillel was a genius, a genius and a tzaddik. He, in essence, put together a calendar until Mashiach comes. What we know already now, and until the day Mashiach comes, when the new month is going to be every month, ahead of time. The genius that we've had among the Torah world is something that's beyond our understanding. So Hillel already, almost 1,500 years ago, came up with an exact, precise calculation of how we're going to know exactly when the new month is almost 2,000 years in advance. Without waiting for any new moons, without waiting for anybody to wait on mountains, nothing. We can barely figure out what the performance of our small business that sells hammers will be for the next six months. He figured out when the new month is going to be for 2,000 years in advance.

1:33:36So just to understand how many brilliant people we have among Am Yisrael. Next, a person who causes the blind or the morally unaware to stumble. This is a big one. Now, the Gaavad says, what does it mean, someone that causes the blind to sin? And the Gaavad, in his commentary on the Rambam, says, if a father hits his adult son, that's an example of somebody that's putting a stumbling block in front of a blind person. Why? Because we learn from the Sifra of Rabbi HaKadosh that she saw a person hitting his older son and she says, you are going to be over. Why? Because your son is not a 10-year-old, 8-year-old, or 6-year-old kid.

1:34:42He's an older person. He's an adult already. You're hitting him, and now he's not going to take it. You're putting him in a situation where he's going to want to hit you back, so you're putting a stumbling block before him. If he's six years old and he's still scared of you and so on, it's different. But he's a grown man already. You start hitting him like he's a little kid; you're putting him in a situation where he's going to want to hit you back. And even if he doesn't hit you back, you're still a sinner. Why? Because he's an adult already. So the Chafetz Chaim says that's an example of somebody that puts a michshol, a stumbling block, in front of a person. Now, the issue is not just with the physical. I mean, first of all, you should know, as far as an adult, some of the Chachamim pasken that somebody that's 22 years old, if you hit a 22-year-old person, then it's already, you're putting a situation where you're making a sin, because your son already at that point, you know, already feels like he's his own man; you can't hit him anymore.

1:35:47Some say even younger, but the point being is that a father needs to be very, very careful before he becomes violent with his kids, even if he can justify it according to his mind. If they're already older, you can't use those same tools. And even if you use them correctly when the kids are younger, it should never be hitting to hurt the kid. Like if you have to spank your kid, your five-year-old kid that did something wrong, never hit the kid out of anger. If you're angry, don't touch them. Don't touch them. If your fists are closed, go punch a wall or something. Go punch yourself in the face. Don't hit the kid with a closed fist. If you're hitting a person to hurt them, that's a sin. That's not chinuch. That's not discipline. If you are trying to inflict damage, that's not discipline. That's not discipline. Yes, you can flick the kid a little bit, get him to, you know, get his head straight, but the second you are angry, and you're in essence trying to hit them like they're an enemy, like you're trying to hurt them, that's not discipline. That's a sin. Torah says you're a rasha. You're not a tzaddik. At all. Especially as the kids grow older. But that's one example.

1:37:09Another example, Rabotai, is the Rambam writes here, that it causes the blind to stumble. This also is referring to someone who is unaware, meaning unaware of what is right and wrong. And if you are a teacher, and you tell people things based on your own logic, like one of the people on the list, he decides that, listen, even though the Gedolei HaDor say that you have to rely on the kashrut organizations, they are toiling and working to make sure that certain things are followed and procedures are followed and ingredients are used in order to have ...and they have symbols on all different types of food to let you know if this food is kosher or if it's not. You know, if it's, let's say, something like a medicine or a vitamin, you know, sometimes it doesn't need kashrut. It doesn't need kashrut. Even though I personally only buy from koshervitamins.com because they happen to have kosher stuff. But it's not necessary in all cases. Meaning that sometimes you're going to have a vitamin or a medicine of some kind that has things that are not kosher in it, but you're still allowed to consume it because it doesn't have taste.

1:38:29It has gelatin in it, which is not kosher, but it doesn't have taste or perhaps has a bad taste, which means that the gelatin itself was destroyed to the extent where even a dog wouldn't eat it. So, it's no longer food, therefore the kashrut is no longer applicable. But sometimes people want to start applying their own logic to kashrut, like one of the reshaim in the list, and he says, "Listen, these kashrut organizations, it's all a scam, it's all about money. We already learned, I learned from my rabbi, I learned from this, I learned from that, that you could just pretty much tell me what the ingredients are on the box, and I'll tell you if it's kosher or not." That, rabotai, is a person that causes the public to sin. Because anyone that knows — and I've spoken to people that are experts in the kashrut world and have been in it for 20 plus years — says anyone that knows the kashrut world, and knows what's in food today and what's not, would never ever say such a thing. Why? If it's not kosher, there's a valid reason why it's not kosher. There's something in it that you have to run away from.

1:39:40People think, no, it's just about money. It's not just about money. Yes, there's money in it, but it's not just about money. I always give this example: Sunny Delight, the orange juice that a lot of kids like, wasn't kosher for many years. Suddenly, it became kosher. People said, ah, yeah, finally they paid the bill. No, it had nothing to do with the bill. Had nothing to do with the bill. You know what happened? They finally changed their ingredients. For all the years that Sunny Delight orange juice was not kosher, it was because they were using an ingredient that would make their orange juice more yellow and therefore more attractive. Now, this is fine for the market, for the non-Jews, no problem. But for the Jews, it was a problem. Why? Because that ingredient was crushed beetles. And we're not allowed to eat crushed beetles. Goyim are allowed to eat crushed beetles. They're allowed to eat pretty much everything, as long as it's dead. But we Jews, we're not allowed to eat bugs, not intentionally at least. So the point is that they became kosher when they stopped using this ingredient and used something else instead. We have a list on our website, on bezrat Hashem.org, in the e-book section, of different ingredients that are used.

1:40:57In food that is not kosher, and you'll see the food that's not kosher, whether it's Doritos or different types of chips, you may wonder, "Why is this not kosher? It's just Doritos. It's just potato chips. It's just bread. It's just this. It's just that." No, my friend, it's not just that. They're using certain ingredients in it that, the second you know what they are, even if you're not Jewish, you don't want to eat them. Look, if you see this list, it's completely hideous. hideous what they use in food today for the sake of taste. Now for us Jews, it's not about taste. It's about allowed, not allowed. So when someone tells his kehillah, his community, needless to say, the world at large on a video, that you no longer need to comply with the rule of the Chachamim that says you have to have a kosher symbol. Unless there's specific instructions from Chachamim that this does not need a kosher symbol, like certain liquors don't need it and so on. Unless there's specific instructions that you don't need it, you have to have it. No, no, no, no. I'm here in San Diego. I declare a new rule: you don't have to. Just call me, send me a picture on WhatsApp, and I'll tell you if it's kosher or not. That is 100% causing people to sin. That is putting...

1:42:21an entire community and anyone else that's watching, a stumbling block in front of them. A stumbling block in front of them. This also pertains to people that don't speak the truth, or better yet, they don't necessarily go against the truth, but they don't give you the full information. Like one example I told you guys, where some... relatively well-known speaker, was asked by one of the people that was watching the lecture, "You said that Gehinnom is not forever." But what about sources and so on? He says, no, no, no. It's not forever. It's not forever. So I saw this with my own eyes. Somebody showed it to me. And I was disappointed because until this point, he wasn't known as a kofer. So I asked him. I called the guy. I asked him, listen, you said here that Gehinnom is not forever.

1:43:28But 900 years ago, it says it’s forever for certain people, not for everybody, for certain people. Many say it and so on and so forth because, well, it's not really forever. and I said, wait, okay, he's changing the language. So I, hold on a second. Are you referring, like, he wasn't speaking clearly to me either. So I had to, like, dissect what he said. Wait, hold on a second. Are you saying, are you implying the Kabbalistic teaching that technically, since there's a piece of Hashem, if you will, in every Jew, that technically that piece will never be destroyed; it goes back to the source. So technically, it's not going to go to Gehinom forever. It's just that the other piece gets destroyed after a zillion years of being in Gehinom. Is that what you mean? Because, yeah, see, it's not forever. That's putting a stumbling block in front of people. Why? Because when you tell people,

1:44:44Somebody says, is it forever? And you simply give a vague answer of no, when you know that the answer should actually be more elaborate, and say, no, it's not forever, but it's a really long time. Like it could be a million years or something. Or it could be pretty much until the soul is destroyed. For all intents and purposes, to the average person, that might as well be forever. But you say no, that means, okay, so it's just nothing then. it's like a week. It's like a day. It's not a big deal. You've minimized the Torah. That's putting a stumbling block in front of people. And it's a problem. And it's happening constantly. It's happening constantly when people try to minimize the Torah, the magnitude of punishment, the magnitude of sin. The magnitude of the obligation on Am Yisrael, when people ask, oh, why are bad things happening? The economy's down, COVID-19, this, that, why are bad things happening? And someone wants to say, listen, Am Yisrael is sinning. Look at all of these gay parades and Chilul Hashem, and this and that. And they want to, like, murder the guy. What do you mean you can't call Am Yisrael sinners? What do you mean? That's what the Torah says.

1:46:00If he would do otherwise, he would be putting a stumbling block in front of people. Why? That's your job as a chacham, to let people know what's happening and why it could be happening according to the Torah. Next, we're almost done. A person who prevents many people from performing a mitzvah. Many times, people simply... don't like a certain type of speaker, certain type of emet, certain type of shitta of how to teach Torah, so they discourage other people from going there. So they tell people, no, listen, they speak too much mussar, too much Gehinnom, too much punishment, too much this, don't go there. They write articles against it, and so on and so forth. According to the Torah, you cause other people to not make a mitzvah, not watch Torah; aside from being arur, you're also anav. Next, to speed up the process and get to the main point that I'm sure all of you are waiting for, a butcher who sold non-kosher meat. People are not selling non-kosher meat. Jews are not allowed to sell non-kosher meat. Now, needless to say, if you did it,

1:47:19under the pretense that people think that you're kosher. Just today, somebody from Virginia sent me a message, which shocked me actually, because I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but even though sometimes it looks otherwise, and he asked me actually last night, what happens if I ate treif unintentionally? I mentioned what happens, how could such a thing happen? So I went to a restaurant in Virginia called Mr. Shawarma, which shocked me actually, because I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but even though sometimes it looks otherwise, and he asked me actually last night, what happens if I ate treif unintentionally? I mentioned what happens, how could such a thing happen? So I went to a restaurant in Virginia called Mr. Shawarma, And I went there last night. A few people came up to me and said, "What are you doing here? Why are you eating here?" I said, "What do you mean? I'm eating with my family." They said, "It's not kosher. Mr. Shawarma in Virginia, it's not kosher." I said, "What do you mean it's not kosher? There's a mezuzah on the door. I ate here last year; it was kosher." He said, "It's not kosher." The guy goes to the cash register and says, "Excuse me."

1:48:24Is this kosher? No? It's not kosher. Everything's treif. What do you mean? Oh, we stopped being kosher. We stopped being kosher. Why did you stop being kosher? Who knows? Stopped being kosher. But according to, why did he think it's kosher? Because last year when he went there, it was kosher. But they decided to continue with the same name, continue with the same food, continue with the same prices, continue with the same menu, just sell them, you know, and people don't know. He says, last year I was here, there were a bunch of black hats. Bunch of black and white, bunch of Chassidim here. Today, this time it wasn't, I figured it's not busy. But I find out it's not kosher and people don't know. And these people care less. The Israeli owner cares less to tell you and warn you, "Hey, listen, you have a kippah on. Don't eat here; it's not kosher." You know why? He likes your money more than your neshama. I have some other rasha that I know from New York.

1:49:34Had a kosher shawarma place, falafel place for years. Decides it's not profitable enough. What do you do? We're not going to sell kosher anymore. Same menu, same everything. Not kosher anymore. So what do you do? You don't have to sell non-kosher. Listen, business is business. Okay, gehinnom is gehinnom too. Problem is, you're selling a menu, you're selling a certain name, you're selling a certain thing, you have a certain presentation about you. Because you're Israeli, you're a Jew, people assume you're kosher because you've sold kosher for X amount of years. What are you doing? On top of the fact you're putting a stumbling block in front of people, you're also banned for many other reasons. The Torah specifically says three times, you're not allowed to deal with milk and meat. Why three times? You're not allowed to. Eat it, not allowed to make it, and not allowed to benefit from it. Selling non-kosher, Hashem Yishmor. Shame on you. Shame on you. What, there's not enough non-kosher places? You have to make another one. It's also a chilul Hashem. Next. A butcher who does not inspect his knife in the presence of a scholar.

1:50:50This is not practiced as widely anymore, but nonetheless, if a scholar asks a butcher to check his knife to make sure that it doesn't have any nicks in the knife, he has to show him. If he doesn't want to, he's put on ban. Next one. This will surprise many people, especially the guys. A person who intentionally causes himself to have an erection. Ban. Needless to say, a person who watches pornography causes himself an erection. Watches immodest movies, causes himself an erection. You cannot say, "No, I didn't mean to. I just watched a movie. I didn't mean to have that happen." No, no. What do you think is going to happen? What do you think? Butterflies are going to come out of your stomach if you watch these movies? What do you think is going to happen if you're going to see immodest things on the internet? What do you think is going to happen if you go watch immodest things? Profane things, filthy, disgusting things on television, on your phone. What do you think is going to happen? I'll tell you what's going to happen. Boosha, that's what's going to happen. No, but the rabbi didn't see. It's much worse. Much, much worse. Much, much worse.

1:52:10That five seconds of pleasure, it's not worth it. Why? Next time you cry to Hashem in pain, and you want Him to help you, He says, "No, I can't." Why? You're in cherem. Why? You watch pornography, causing yourself to have an erection for no reason. Next, a person... who divorced his wife, and then entered into a partnership or business dealings with her, which requires them to come into contact. When they come to court, they're both placed under a cherem. Once you have a get, that's it. Move on. Move on with your life. Don't stay connected constantly. If you have kids together, no problem. See the kids, she sees the kids, all that stuff, but that's it. Don't play like a family feud together in Monopoly. Why? That could lead you to sin. You want to be together? Marry together. You don't want to be together? Divorce. It's a mitzvah for divorce also. Not that we're recommending it for everyone, or even advising it, but nonetheless, once you've decided, I don't want to be with this woman, I don't want to be with this man, move on.

1:53:27Don't call, "What are you doing this weekend?" Not just doing this weekend. No, no, we're just friends now. No friends now. Why? Because it is not allowed. Move on. Unless you want to be together. Then you get married, if it's still allowed. But the point is, the Torah says, you start treating the get like it's a piece of paper, like the goyim—divorced, married, divorced, married—like it's Uno cards. That's not an Am Yisrael. That's not an Am Yisrael, Rabbi. Next, a person who takes G-d's name in vain, or takes an oath casually. Now, there was, and still is unfortunately, a bad minhag among certain Sephardi Jews, that they swear in G-d's name, saying "Chai Hashem" but they use the name Adonai, and this is forbidden. One time, there was a certain gibor that helped the Jews of Libya. that they swear in G-d's name, saying "Chai Hashem" but they use the name Adonai, and this is forbidden. One time, there was a certain gibor that helped the Jews of Libya.

1:54:46deal with the Arabs and different people that would terrorize the community because he was a strong person and people were scared of him. And he swore in Hashem's name. Something happened, and it became like a habit. Like people say, "Oh my gosh," but use Hashem's name, the G-O-D name. And he said the same thing, but in Arabic. The Chacham over there was Rabbi Yosef Zaruk, who was blind but knew the entire Torah, written and oral, as if it was right in front of him. The Gemara says Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes was the only one that was allowed to write a Torah scroll without looking at one. He says, how come? He says, because he sees the Torah all the time. So the Gadol in Libya was Rabbi Zaruk.

1:55:48And he was passing by at that time, and he heard somebody use Hashem's name. The living Hashem! You know, something happened. He says, who's that? He gets shocked. Who's that? Oh, that's Moni the Gabai. He says, bring him here. Catch him. Bring him here. He says, bring this giant to the rabbi. Little rabbi. Big giant. He says, Jela, you're coming with me to the group of rebukers. Why? Give him a kut. Give him a kut. Whip. They're going to whip you 39 times. I guess the Rav figured it's better to whip him than to put him on ban, because people won't understand the ban. What do you mean the ban? What's going to happen to the ban? Oh, whipping, everybody understands. My Saba, a"h, Saba Ghibli, Saba Ghibli ben Kamuna, a"h,

1:56:48He says in Tripoli over there, in Libya, whether you had Yirat Shamayim or not, by Sunday night, everyone had Yirat Shamayim. Why? Anyone in the community that rode a bicycle on Shabbat, on Sunday, they'd get the whip. So by Sunday night, everyone's a Ba'al Teshuva. Bicycle, not a car, chas v'shalom. Bicycle. You rode a bicycle on Shabbat, On Sunday, you'd get the whip. Now today, they don't do that. You do that, you get arrested. But that's what it was for many centuries. That's what it was. Someone uses Hashem's name in vain, it's forbidden. Now there is a דעת in the Poskim that that's not just in the name Adonai, but in any name, in any language. Meaning, if you say the common saying that all of us are guilty of, or at least I am, Saying, "oh my gosh," but actually using Hashem's name, that, Rabotai, is using Hashem's name in vain. Why? Because that name is the way English speakers say God's name. That's the name. Now, if you're saying it as part of teaching, no problem. If you're saying it as part of prayer, no problem.

1:58:12But if you're just saying it, no, come on. And you use Hashem's name like it's Steve and Joe, Ben. This is very easy to fail. Why? Because we got used to this stuff. We got used to this stuff. We got used to talking this way. What's the big deal? According to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, it's a big deal. It's a very big deal. Why? His name is not your name. Don't use it like it's nothing. The same thing it says when it comes to vows and making promises. No, no, I swear I'll be there at 3 o'clock—unless you know for sure that you're going to be there at 3 o'clock. You must be suicidal for saying such a thing. You should never swear. You should never make a vow. Even if you mean it. Even if you want to. Don't. Why? Why? Kadosh Baruch Hu says, don't do such things. You're putting your life at risk. The Gemara says, people who make vows and don't fulfill them, Hashem can take their kids. It's not a joke. Lastly,

1:59:36A scholar whose reputation is unsavory. This guy, his books, no good. He says things that are against the Torah. He says things that many are against. He's not exactly a gadol like everybody says. People have bad stuff to say about him. Lots of bad stuff. This is no good. This is not a good thing. Not a good thing. That kosher people are saying bad stuff about you. Bad people are saying bad stuff about you? Who cares? We don't consider them. But if good people are saying bad things about you, it's not a good thing. Last but not least, a person who places another person under a ban when the latter does not deserve such a punishment. So that's the 24th one. So now we see that there are 24 different situations here where a person can fail, even if he's trying to do good.

2:00:51he's trying to do good. He's trying to keep Torah and mitzvot, meaning that this is a learning for all of us. So what does this have to do with the list? What does it have to do with the list? You see, Rabotai, Some people that just watch the video clips that we make or just the short films that we make, it makes it seem like we just shoot from the cuff. Like we just came out of it today and we decided let's just say something today to spark some, you know, some voices to get some people to, you know, go crazy a little bit, you know, like a shock jock. People do not understand that in order for us to say anything, first and foremost, we have to investigate. And sometimes the investigations take literally years to confirm that what we have is valid and true and necessary. Second, we have to validate it. We give it to my Rav, aside from him, verify it, and so on. And until everyone agrees, this is not only...

2:01:59The problem and what you're saying not only is true, but at this point, it's an obligation for you to go and tell people about it. Why? If you don't tell them, you take on the sins because you now know, and everybody else doesn't. You know that this person is a massive murderer, even though he has a costume of a clown, and you don't tell people. Guess what? He's gonna continue murdering people. So yes, he's guilty, but so are you by being quiet. So sometimes that takes a long time. Many times it does. And by the time we say it, it's not an opinion. It's not even something that we're second-guessing. So when we're mentioning any of these people, that means that there's enough evidence to show this is the case. And again, not evidence just determined by me and my little opinion. But rather by people that are much greater than I can ever be. Now, at times, like I said, the things are more obvious. For example, when this apikores from New York decided to follow what Ephraim Goldberg did a few years ago and bring a reverend to his synagogue, you don't have to be a genius in halacha to know that that's forbidden.

2:03:25When Ephraim Goldberg himself brought, or tried to bring, the Christian missionary or Catholic missionary to the shul, you didn't have to be a big halachic genius to know that's forbidden. When Chabad in Atlanta did the same thing recently, bringing a reverend or a Christian reverend to their shul, you don't have to be a genius to know that's forbidden. Why? Halacha says it's forbidden. It's forbidden to be within four amot of those people—six feet of those people. This is completely forbidden. On top of that, it's a chilul Hashem. On top of that, it's a desecration of the Torah, and so on and so forth. It's putting a michshol in front of people. So, when it came to people like Ephraim Goldberg, there's nothing really to second guess. Why? He's continuing to deny any type of guilt because he's continuing to invite heretical people or idol worshippers to his community. Right now, the only reason he's not inviting them is because the shul is closed.

2:04:35but for all intents and purposes, the second it opens up, you're gonna have different apikorsim and heretics come to the shul on a regular basis. Now, when he was asked, when he was asked how come you bring such people by several different people, he says, "This is what my crowd, you know, wants." If this is what your crowd wants, it's your job to make them not want it. Not to feed the monster what it feels like eating. So if the monster wants to eat people, you're going to feed him your kids? No, you have to tame them and teach them the Torah that you learn in yeshiva and tell them no, Christianity, heresy, or immorality is not for the synagogue. It's not for Am Yisrael. If that's what you want, it's not going to be here. It's not going to be here. when you're appeasing the crowd, all you're doing is fulfilling the prophecy: "The face of the generation is the face of a dog." That's not an excuse to continue bringing heretics to your shul, idol worshippers to your shul, and sacrifice a thousand families for the sake of unity. What unity? Everyone's gonna have Gehinnom together? What unity is this exactly?

2:05:55What unity is this? No, but they like it. Yeah, because you're not telling them there's anything wrong with it. I lived in a community for three years. I saw the kehillah and how it was deteriorating on a week-to-week basis. Two, three hundred cars driving on Shabbat, parking right next to the shul. No, but everybody pretends it's not happening. Why? There's a five-dollar fence separating the shul from the parking lot. But they don't tell everybody in the world at YU and at the OU and all these major organizations that they're involved in and everybody else that there's a security guard making sure no one steals the cars that they pay for in the parking lot. They don't tell you that. It's a complete desecration of HaKadosh Baruch Hu's name to have such a person as a rabbi. Why? You have a role. Your role is to bring your kehillah up.

2:06:55Not to go down with the Torah. Aharon HaKohen, Aharon HaKohen, Rodef Shalom, it says in the Mishnah. Chased peace. But how did he chase peace? Everybody said, oh, Aharon HaKohen loved everybody. He was a Hasid. Yeah, you know how he did it? He brought people to the Torah, and not brought the Torah to them. Why? Torah doesn't go down. You bring people up. Your people want Christians? Teach them Christians are forbidden. Your people want heretics? Tista, not under my leadership. You don't like it? Fire me. If you can't do it, you shouldn't be a rabbi. I'm sorry. That's the role of a rabbi. But what does he do? Continues, pretends like he's a tzaddik, pretends everything's okay, and pushes the buttons and pulls the strings of all the strong people, politically connected people, to torture anyone that calls him out, mainly me. He won't make a lecture about it. Why? No, that would make him stoop to my level. I wish you stooped to my level. Trust me when I tell you, your own kehillah would wish that you stooped to my level.

2:08:10Not that I'm some big tzaddik, but at least I'm honest. Not that I'm some big chacham, but I'll tell you what it is. So when a person like that says, "I'm just a victim here, why are they going against me?" There's nothing that we're second-guessing. Nothing. A person like Wolpe, also on the list. on a radio show, says that he doesn't believe that the Torah came from Hashem. Do I have to defend this? Rasha Merusha, it's on the list. He doesn't believe the Torah is from Hashem. Debating some of the most important questions with Rabbi David Wolpe, who leads one of America's largest Jewish congregations. In 2001, Rabbi Wolpe created a national furor when his Passover sermon challenged the historical reality of the Exodus. Rabbi Wolpe, what did you say? I said that the Exodus certainly didn't happen the way the Bible depicted it, assuming that it was a historical event in any description.

2:09:13i think that if you look at it scientifically, it's virtually indefensible to make the Bible's case. but you also have to understand that your faith isn't based on splitting seas or archaeological digs. it's based on something much deeper. but if these are not facts, if this is a fairy story, if this is fabricated somehow, Doesn't that undermine the religious meaning? In other words, doesn't that change things? The extent to which it has a historical core is very hard to say, but my deeper conviction about it is that it's a story that, whether it was true, it is true, and those are two different things. That seems to be invalidating... Well, in other words, things that aren't facts can be truths. What part of the Torah would you grant to be based upon historical reality? I can't tell you. I don't know. I don't know, and although it may irk people, I don't care. I think that doesn't mean that you have to believe that the Torah gives a historical account of it. I don't think the Torah is a book of facts; it's a book of meaning.

2:10:30People say, "Oh, how come they're on the list? What do you mean? Did you check? Ephraim Goldberg's buddy from Canada, Kvorkin, brings Arabs to his shul. Sheikh to his shul. Brought Muslims to his shul. Do I have to defend this?" Does anyone have a brain still in this generation? Do you understand what that means? If you bring anyone to a shul, as a rabbi, as a leader, as a CEO, as a manager, what does that really mean? You are directly, not indirectly; you are directly vouching for everything that person says. No, no, but I didn't mean to vouch. I just thought he's entertaining. No, no, my friend. The audience views it as that. Trust me, I studied psychology. That's what the audience says. You brought him, that means you're vouching for everything he says. And since I like you and I believe you, I like him and I believe him, but I don't even know what he's going to say.

2:11:42So if Mustafa from the local Imam over there comes over here and you brought him, Mr. Rabbi, guess what? Maybe next week I'll go to his mosque. Maybe I'll go to his mosque. Mirvis, Mirvis HaRasha from London, writes a whole book about promoting homosexuality. It's a nice thing. If that's not bad enough, he's in organizations with Reform people, Reform Jews that are anti-Torah, and Christian missionaries. And if that's not enough, recently he wanted to top it all. What did he say? Yaakov Avinu, David HaMelech, Eliyahu HaNavi, and many other tzaddikim we have in our Tanach were mentally ill. And you know, in a biblical context, many people aren't aware that there are many significant biblical characters who suffered from mental illness of one sort or another, such as Yaakov Avinu, Shaul HaMelech, David HaMelech, Iyov, Eliyahu HaNavi, Yonah HaNavi, and others. And therefore, we see that these issues go back in time, all the way back to the beginning of time. I have to defend this? I have to defend this? I have to tell people why he's on the list?

2:12:56Did you check why he's on the list? Did you check why we spoke against him? Did you check this stuff? Or did you just assume that I'm some cowboy who decided to, I don't know, get fame? Like I need fame. I was a lot more famous before I became a rabbi. For anyone who doesn't know, people are surprised. Oh, look, I found a picture of him on the internet. Look, look, next to his wife. Yeah, I was a big guy on Wall Street. If you look long enough, you'll find even more. You'll find articles, you'll find TV. In fact, I saved you the time; I made a movie about it. Skip to the end, and you'll see a bunch of pictures, including with my dog, if you're interested in what he looked like. I don't deny my past. What? Because I went to a business conference to make a few million dollars, that makes me a bad guy? Oh no, no. He got banned from FINRA. I got banned from FINRA? Do you know what that even means? Did you investigate? You just saw some news article that some lawyer decided to write because he's trying to get people to pay him money.

2:14:04Do you know what you're talking about? Do you know what FINRA is? Do you know what the law is? Did you do a billion dollars in business? I did. I did a billion dollars in business. More. Not that I made a billion dollars, but a billion dollars in business transactions, more than that. Did you do a billion dollars in business? Or do you have maybe a $5,000 a year salary? Do you know what it means to do business? People just assume, assume, assume, they attack. Why? Because you attacked their truth. That really, and you told them it's sheker. But the reality is, look at the people that we're talking about. One guy, Manis Friedman, tells people that God needs you. We are familiar with God because God needs us more than we need Him. And that's why commandments, Ten Commandments, that translation has ruined everything. As soon as you say God has commandments, He's no longer friendly. He's not the one who's needy. Now you’ve got to watch your step because you violated a commandment. That's not Jewish thinking. Jewish thinking is

2:15:19When God spoke to us at Mount Sinai, He wasn't telling us what we must do; He was telling us what He must have. The kind of world He needs and the kind of world He envisioned when He created it. So, God revealed Himself. That's why it's called Revelation at Mount Sinai. If we could get this into our thinking, into our educational system, We need God? If He created us, then who needs whom? How did we become the needy ones when He created us? So, well, don't we need to eat and sleep and drink? That's how He created us. He just wrote a kid's book. Now he's torturing the kids. He's destroying kids. He wrote a kid's book and he said, "God needs you" in the book.

2:16:21God needs you in the book. Little kids are already being tortured. Little children. A woman came to him and told him that she got molested. He made fun of her. The kid tells you he's been molested. Right away you're thinking, oh, emotional damage. What do you know about emotional damage? If a kid comes to you and says, I was molested, you open up the Shulchan Aruch. Let's see, what? What's the aveira? What does it say in Torah if you are inappropriately touched? You know what it says? It says, don't do that. Go home now. If a kid would come and say, this uncle or this counselor is touching me. Really? Don't go in. That's nice. That's all. There would be no damage. There would be no trauma. There would be no drop-out. The problem is,

2:17:21We tell children how bad certain things are, and then we don't tell them how to handle bad. The Alter Rebbe had to write a whole Tanya to convince people, if you have a machshavah zarah, don't freak out, you're not a tzaddik. It's okay. You're going to have a machshavah zarah. You have a nefesh Elokis, you have ten kochos Elokis, and you're freaking out over a machshavah zarah. What is it? You're giving the yetzer hara too much credit. I could open an office and be busy full-time just telling people who have been molested, so? Nobody's allowed to touch you? What, are you holy? So you're untouched. That's it. So I said to this girl who was really, her family comes from Russia. I said, what do you think, you're the only one that's molested? Do you think your mother and grandmother back in Russia made it through their teenage years without being molested by a shaygetz? So what, they stopped life? They wouldn't get married? They wouldn't raise a family? Why are you so fragile? What's happened to you?

2:18:42He tells people there's no punishment, everyone goes to Olam HaBa. So what is it like to be in hell? There is really a serious, proper definition or description of hell. When you come home, home, to your home, and you don't feel comfortable. that's hell. When you come to the place where you belong and you don't feel like you belong, that is horrible. The burning in hell is not a fire with little demons with pitchforks. The burning in hell is the embarrassment that a soul feels when it doesn't know how to be a soul anymore.

2:19:45Some souls go back to the world of souls as if they never left, completely comfortable being a soul. That's heaven. But when you're uncomfortable being a soul because your soul is so used to being in a body, not being comfortable as a soul among souls, that's hell. How long does it take to readjust? Maximum 12 months. After 12 months, you're in heaven. Hashem owes us an apology? God owes us an apology because we're in exile? God forbid. God forbid that God should be punishing us for our sins. Because you know when you don't talk to your children for 3,000 years, They forget some of the things you tell them. God owes us an apology? If you think God owes us an apology, get out of the room. You need to go to a psych ward. God owes us an apology? The King of Kings owes us an apology? You really think people think this? People actually believe this nonsense? I have to defend this? I have to defend why a sociopath like this is on the list?

2:21:10Did you check? No, you misunderstood him. What do you mean I misunderstood? I speak English. And a couple of other languages. I've written enough papers to write several books. I speak English. He said, God needs us. He said, all of these things that I said, he said, because now what? According to my words, you're not going to believe. So I put the videos there. So you can hear them yourself. No, but it's Kabbalistic. What Kabbalistic? What are you talking about? It's English. The guy said it, this is what it is. He says you have to change the Shulchan Aruch. We just read the whole list. The guy just said you have to change the Torah. That’s a chutzpah, he says go smoke marijuana because he decrees that it's good for you. Even though Rav Moshe Feinstein says anyone who smokes marijuana recreationally is a rosho, if the beis din's on, they kill him. Smoke marijuana, not even crack and cocaine. Smoke marijuana. Dr. Kasuta says, no, no, it's good for you. Go ahead. You can change the Shulchan Aruch. I'm holding grass, weed, marijuana as medicine, as a drug that is real medicine. And you need to know how to use it and when to use it. And if your senses are strong and pure and powerful, you can know it about yourself. You can have

2:22:36a self-awareness to know if it's building you or destroying you, if you're using it for a good cause, or if your evil inclination is using it to kick you down to sadness and to many lacks that it can bring. A person now, in a certain stage of his life, is using a certain drug in a good way that is building him, that is supplying something good for him in his life still, That's my thought. I think that it is only waking him up. If your wife wants to go to the beach, go to the beach, even if it's on Shabbat. Christianity is not so bad. They just don't understand, but you don't understand, and it's not this, and it's not idolatry. What? Rambam says it's idolatry. So are you bigger than the Rambam? But I have to defend this. Why? People don't know. They don't know what the truth is, so when they hear the sheker, they don't know that it's sheker. So when I say it's sheker, they're like, no, that's just your opinion. So you have to deal with an entire generation of ignorant people, just like I was. But the difference is, I was willing to at least learn and investigate. Most people just assume. Why? Because they have plenty of resha'im.

2:23:58that pacify them. And tell them, no, no, he's misunderstanding, he's distorting, he's this, he's that. So now, you have people like Avi Weiss, who started something called Open Orthodoxy, giving semichot to women, doing all types of things that are against the Torah. But if that's not bad enough, we also mentioned the two that are, I'm gonna spend the rest of the night talking about just in a few minutes is Nathan Slifkin and what is the other guy's name? Sacks, Jonathan Sacks. Now, when it came to Jonathan Sacks, I provided a quote for you guys of him saying himself that he believes that it is not a real story. The world did not start 6,000 years ago because surely we have art, according to him, that's 25,000 years old. Surely that's just a parable.

2:25:22And Chava was a wench, which is the British word for prostitute. That's what he says. So, in essence, he's saying that the Torah didn't start with Bereishit. But what about Adam and Eve? I mean, what do you think about that? Is that symbolic or legitimate? Well, Adam and Eve are clearly a parable because there was no first human, and there may have been a mitochondrial Eve, but I mean, that was somewhere else in another country, and besides, the wench is dead, exactly so. so, no, I mean, Adam and Eve are really—I mean, if you trace it back six thousand years ago, obviously the Bible is telling us the story about the first dawn of civilization. I mean, there was an art of 25,000 years. Adam and Eve is symbolic, yeah, but the passing of the Red Sea—I mean, how do you decide which bits are symbolic? Very simple. The rabbis in the 10th century laid down the following principle: if a biblical narrative

2:26:23is incompatible with established scientific fact, it is not to be read literally. That's already enough to put him on a public herem. Doesn't matter what else he said after that. He can say everything else is good, everything else is emet. The second you said that, finished. But he didn't stop there. He didn't stop there. He also wrote in his book that Jews are not the only ones that have the emet. The other religions have emet. And I brought you Rav Elyashiv's psak with other chachamim that put his books on herem. They said these books are against the Torah. These books are against the Torah. Now, the one thing that I could have been mistaken about, I'm still not sure, but it's very possible I was mistaken on, is that I understood from that same debate he had with the heretic, with the other heretic, the famous atheist, that he also meant that the splitting of the sea was also a parable.

2:27:34was also a parable. But further research shows that maybe he didn't say that, and perhaps I'm wrong. And I'm more than happy to admit I was wrong if that's what he actually meant, that it wasn't a parable, that it actually did happen. And I did say that he actually said that it's a parable. I did say that. That's a parable because that's what I understood. If I misunderstood that, I'm 100% wrong. No problem, I admit it. Now, me being wrong about the second part where he says it really happened doesn't make the first part right, though. Meaning, he still said, and no one is disagreeing, that Adam and Eve never happened. That alone is a reason why this is a person you're not allowed to listen to. Why? He went against the Torah. It fits the description here. Listening to his lectures, reading his books, now you have a situation where the G'dolei HaDor, Rav Elyashiv, went against him and told him you have to remove the books from the shelves.

2:28:38There was a psak din. What did he do? Nothing. He didn't remove the books from the shelves. He said, no, I'll revise it in the future, and I'll reword it, and all this, and all that, but he didn't remove it. Meaning there was a din. There was a din, he didn't want to follow it. Why? Hurt his pocket a little bit. Hurt his pocket a little bit. So that's already another one of the 24. Now, So again, if I made a mistake on the second accusation, as far as the Yetziat Mitzrayim, the Kriyat Yam Suf, that I believe that it was, he said it's a parable, and it's not a parable, he said it actually happened, but the first one, no problem, I admit, wrong, no problem. Sorry I'm wrong, sorry, but you're still a Rasha, but I'm sorry. Why? According to the Torah, you're a Rasha. You may be a very nice person, You may be very generous. You may have a very big house. You have a very nice beard. You're a great speaker. I wish you would do teshuva and actually tell people you made a mistake. And I'll do a whole shiur saying, chazak u'baruch. Look at this. Look at Rabbi Jonathan. There's a sax over here. He did teshuva publicly. What a kiddush Hashem. I'll be your number one promoter. I don't want these people to say Hashem. They're Jews. But as long as you continue, I have an obligation. A lot of people know this is what the case is.

2:29:57Which brings us to the next case. A person I personally don't think wants to do teshuva. Why? He is on a rampage. Slifkin. Nosson Slifkin. Now this guy, you probably never even heard of him. In fact, he shouldn't even have been on this list because no one knew him for a while because he caused enough damage that everybody wanted to pretty much make him a bad memory that we all forget. But we brought him back to light, and he's trying to capitalize on the new attention he got in the last week. He's in a movie with some actual, real, famous rabbis. So he wrote two articles about me. And his buddy Kahn, another Reform type of modern guy, he also wrote an article about me. And they say all types of wonderful things about me. Let me read you some things so you can see what kind of beautiful descriptions they have. These wonderful people here. What do we have here? Let's see. Hold on a second. You've got to see this. If it wasn't true, I wouldn't tell you. But this is just wonderful descriptions. You wake up in the morning, you see these beautiful details about yourself you never even knew. Okay, so... And you have here... Let me see here. Like the champions of the new orthodoxy in the United States. We're creating a new religion. Yaron Reuven and Yosef Mizrachi.

2:31:21attract the shallow and simple-minded by delineating an in-group, an elect, and a heretical community, which must be silenced. So according to them, you're all mindless, stupid people. Just so you know, guys. Anyone that's watching my shiurim, Slifkin and his friends think you're idiots. Mindless, I'm sorry, not idiots, mindless. And simple-minded, simple, simple-minded. Rather than engaging with those with whom they disagree and demonstrating why the rabbis are mistaken, Reuven Mizrachi and others of their ilk simply attempt to destroy. If someone asserts something which they deem incorrect, there is no attempt to understand or refute, only to silence. i mean, it's okay. And in the most recent video, Reuven even implies that they should be silenced permanently. What is he trying to say? I am inciting for people to kill them. They're a meisit for heresy, but I'm a meisit to kill people. I'm like a little mafia boss. Mafia boss.

2:32:34The fact that Reuven's dubious crusade is predicated upon misquotes and faulty logic makes his heresy hunting as mindless and as ignorant as it is sinister. So now you have him calling me a liar and a fool, all types of nice things. Sorry, I didn't study this garbage by heart. Oh, so he quotes me that according to him, 100%, that he says everything he says is 100% true. If I ever said something that's not true, show me what I said and I'll fix it. Everything I say is backed up. Unfortunately, but hardly surprising, this is not at all the case. Okay, so first he quotes the thing I said about Rabbi Sacks, which, Baruch Hashem, we just corrected. Um... I wonder what he's going to write about tomorrow, because that kind of ruins the first part of his article. Then he starts simply making fun of me, calling me a fool, all types of stupid things. But I'm trying to look for something really more interesting.

2:33:47Okay, so anyway, there are two articles. I just don't have the patience to go through the whole thing. But anyway, this chutzpan wrote three articles about me. He wrote an article about me three years ago, making fun of my lectures that were based on Da'as Torah about wasting seed. And he decided to listen to, I don't know, somebody that nobody else knows who says that wasting seed is not such a big deal, you can do what you want, and I'm just some paranoid person who's telling you that wasting seed is killing millions of people, according to science, because that's how many seeds you have. And he says that's all fanaticism and craziness. So he wrote an article about me several years ago. I just don't pay attention to this stuff because, you know, dogs bark. You don't say, oh, what are you going to say? nothing. So I don't care about me personally. Make fun of me personally, have a good time. I don't really care. But this chutzpan wrote another two articles, making fun of me, saying all types of things about me. But if that wasn't enough, he has the audacity to send me an email.

2:34:57And he says, in your video, you claim that Rav Elyashiv and others put me on cherem, and that accordingly it is forbidden to count me in a minyan, to do business with me, and even to stand within four amot of me. This is absolutely false. The ban was only on my three books. ...like, I mean, I couldn't make this up. I'll show you the email. It's the most absurd thing, you know. There's a ban, but it's only on my three books. As if it's okay that there are three books you wrote that the G'dolei HaDor say you're not allowed to buy and should be removed from the shelves. Like, that's not a big deal. The biggest rabbi in the world says you're not allowed to buy this guy's books. Like, that's not a big deal. No, but it's not me, it's not me, he says... The ban was only on three of my books. Rav Elyashiv was explicit that he was not making any ruling on me personally. I could forward you a letter on this from Rav Aharon Feldman, who is one of the G'dolei HaDor in America, who met with Rav Elyashiv about this. And I must insist that you immediately retract and publicly apologize for this slander. So, we ask him...

2:36:13to give me proof of this letter that he says came from Rabbi Aharon Feldman, which states that Rabbi Elyashiv did not put a cherem on him. What is provided in the body of an email is just some text that supposedly came from Rabbi Aharon Feldman, which says, no, he wasn't referring to Natan Slifkin himself, it's the books only, because there are some opinions that, you know, I said, okay, but I need the original. I need a picture of the original letter. You could just type this up, copy and paste it from some web, you know, how do I know it's true? I need a real letter. Show me. That's when gadolim write something. They don't write emails, you know, let me text you on Tuesday at 8 p.m. or WhatsApp, you want to FaceTime. So that's not how it works. If there's something that's halachically significant, there is a letter, there's a psak, there's something. So he sent me something in the body of an email. Now again, it doesn't necessarily mean it's not true. It could very well be that Rabbi Aharon Feldman, who spoke to another chacham, spoke about him and said that Rav Elyashiv wasn't referring to Slifkin himself; it was just his book. Just his book, it's not a big deal. Just his books.

2:37:20Just his books. You're just not allowed to buy his books. But he's okay. You can still accept him in minyan. Let's say it's true. Let's say it's true. I don't believe it's true, but let's say it's true. First of all, he says that Rav Elyashiv was explicit. Well, Rav Elyashiv wasn't explicit, because if Rav Elyashiv was explicit, he would say it himself. But he didn't. But let's say it's true. Let's believe. Let's give the Rasha kaf zechut. But look at the absurdity of the situation. Like, to get to such a warped mindset, to think that having three books put on ban is not such a bad thing, that already makes your mind blow up. But what makes it worse is that if you remember the 24, which we'll go over briefly now, you'll see that he actually violated A lot of them. Why? Because Rabbi Elyashiv said, remove the books from the stores. Don't sell them anymore. And he didn't do that. He continued selling the books. No, I don't care. So when you look at the list, it's a very big deal. So yeah, maybe Rabbi Elyashiv didn't put you on cherem,

2:38:41At that point, under the understanding, perhaps, that you remove the books, and you're actually listening to Daas Torah, and remove the books. But instead, you didn't. You actually don't even think it's a big deal. In fact, you continue writing the same kefirah you wrote back then, and continue defending it, and write more heretical things. So let's see what Nosson Slifkin, what else he did on this list. First, disgracing a scholar even after his passing. On a regular basis, he makes fun of me, he makes fun of Rav Mizrachi, he makes fun of other people. Why? He calls himself a rationalist. Rationalist. Two, a person who treats one point of rabbinic law with disrespect, needless to say, a matter of scriptural law. Writing that article, that says that the wasting seed, making fun of that, Chabibi, that puts you on ban. You're already on ban for two reasons. Now again, for the same, we're not officially putting you on ban, but you qualify to be on ban, because of course these people, they pick and choose your words, and they dissect and so on. Three, a person who refuses to comply with the decisions,

2:40:03Rendered, placed, he refused to comply with the decision of Gedolim, rendered by a Beit Din. Rabbi Elyashiv says, remove the books, you didn't listen. Four, a person who possesses an entity that causes damage, is placed under ban, whether it be physical damage or spiritual damage, needless to say. You're already on ban for four out of the twenty-four. Five, a person who causes many to desecrate God's name. You just wrote in the last 48 hours two articles where, when you see the comments on the articles that you wrote, what people are saying about Torah, about Chachamim, about Sephardim, about anyone that listens to Torah, you simply want to vomit. You have one woman saying, "Please private message me. A friend of mine became brainwashed by this cult."

2:41:18And I've done my extensive research. She wants to help you destroy this "cult." Another guy says, "I volunteer my time as an editor. And if people can send me links with time codes of incitements, I'll put together a very inflammatory video against them. Why can't a police report be filed against them?" I mean, it just gets better and better. And you have people making fun of the Torah, and just me making fun of me a lot, baruch Hashem. It's good for my neshama. Oh, they call us Taliban. Taliban, they call us Taliban. These people are very dangerous. Yaron, even more than Mizrahi. Baruch Hashem, I graduated. Rabbi Mizrachi, taking over. This is by Rabbi, Rabbi David Copeland, rasha merusha. We don’t speak about him because nobody knows him, but he’s a professional rasha. Then, you know, all types of Chillul Hashem, taxpayers’ money, religious people. Reuven reminds me of Khomeini. Point being is that an enormous amount of Chillul Hashem on this thread, just...

2:42:43instead of bringing legitimate sources like we have in the past, they simply just decided to go and just damage. The same thing that they're blaming us for, they're doing themselves. But his friend, the guy Kahn, he is even better. He goes straight for the jugular. He's all funny, you know, with all the names. After he gives you some political reports with his opinion on some politics, he decides to call us fools and idiots and says that we are telling people to kill people. And this is a person that I provided, you know, he asked me questions, and I provided him answers like a civilized human being. But no, no, he's just picking and choosing certain things that I said, and he's using them for his blog, his blog that probably, you know, just he and his family read.

2:43:50So the point being here, Rabotai, is that I won't waste any more of your time listening to these things. So I have to correct two things. Assuming, assuming I'm wrong, and it's very, very possible I'm still a human being, assuming I'm wrong on what was said by Jonathan Sacks... that he did not say is a parable, and I said it is, I'm wrong. And I'm sorry for that, for anyone that misunderstood. But he did say that Adam and Eve was a parable, and that Judaism is not a monopoly on the truth. That he did say. That's a problem. When Rav Elyashiv told him to take away the books from the shelves, he didn't listen. He didn't listen to the Gadol HaDor. He didn't listen. And so this is still valid. But I made a mistake. I'm sorry about that one. Slifkin, on the other hand, says that he's not on cherem from Rav Elyashiv. Just his books are on cherem. Just his books.

2:44:52Slifkin's books are on cherem. So if indeed, if he's right and he is not on cherem, then again, I'm sorry for saying you're on cherem. I'm sorry for saying you're on cherem. It's just your three books. It's just your three books, but also at least another five reasons. that we mentioned today. So, now, you don't need the Gedolei HaDor to read the Rambam, the Shulchan Aruch, or the Tur. You don't need them. You can just read it yourself. And what we learned today is that you have at least a handful of reasons, aside from what we've already mentioned in the past, of why Natan Slifkin's books should be in cherem right now. Now, the point of all this is to, number one, know what the truth is and what is not. It's not personal wars; it's not personal battles. If any of these people do teshuva, I would be the first. I would be the first to say chazak u'baruch. But the truth is, Rabotai, it's very difficult. Very difficult to do teshuva after you've been wrong for so long. You got addicted to the sin. You got addicted to all of the rewards of the sin.

2:45:58But those people that are supporting the sinners should know that supporting them is not a victimless crime. Because the Sha'arei Teshuvah says that supporting these people makes you a partner to the crime. Where the Sha'arei Teshuvah in the third gate, section 187 says... he will bear the punishment for the harm he caused to the person whom the sinner wronged, by justifying the one who sinned against him. And aside from that, he'll be punished for his false words. Meaning, every time these people say something bad and you supported them, you get punished for it because you supported them. And those who forsake the Torah... This is in section 189, the third gate. Those who forsake the Torah praise the wicked. For had he not forsaken the Torah, he would not have praised one who violates its words and abrogates its mitzvot. Even if he only praises the evildoer for the good that he possesses, speaking well of him to others regarding his upright qualities, this too is a sickly evil. This is by Rabbeinu Yonah 800 years ago.

2:47:13Meaning, even if you say, listen, Jonathan Sacks, Nathan Slifkin, Ephraim, or anybody else on this list, that is clear evidence they are going against the Torah and they're causing other people to go against the Torah on a public scale. You're saying, yes, they are, but they also do good. By saying that, you are supporting the evil, and according to Rabbeinu Yonah, that is sick and that is evil. And you'll get punished for it. You want to continue doing it? No problem. I hope this is the last time I'm going to speak about it. I think I've been clear enough about the issue. I don't think I need to necessarily repeat it unless there are new crimes, which something tells me there will be. But hopefully, I'm wrong. I like to be wrong sometimes. But the point is, I hope that there's not going to be any more of this. There will be clips. I just personally won't make any new stuff unless there are new crimes. Why? There's just no point. If you don't get it after all of these videos, then you're sick.

2:48:14I'm personally sick of talking about it. I'm sick of learning about it. I'm sick of proving it. It's just annoying already. There's just a lot more Torah to learn. But for the sake of the audience, whether they're haters or lovers, if we mention something, if we made a mistake, I mention what the mistakes are. You want to bring other mistakes that I made, I'll correct those mistakes also. But you still, by showing me that I made mistakes, doesn't prove you right. By saying that you didn't say this, okay, you may not have said this, but you said the 15 other things. And you did the other 15 things. So yeah, maybe you didn't kill 6 million people, but if you killed 5 million, that's still bad. If you killed one, that's still bad. You understand? So you can't make your argument stronger by saying you're not as bad of a criminal as we thought you were. Because in fact, today, we found out you're actually worse than what we thought originally. We thought you were only guilty of one crime. We found out today that you're guilty of at least a handful. A handful of reasons to be unbanned. Honestly, I think that if we look at it deeply, we'd probably find at least eight, meaning 30% of the reasons. 30% of the reasons why Slifkin should be unbanned. Should be unbanned. And the same thing goes for the others.

2:49:35So this, Rabotai, is hopefully the last time we'll discuss it. If you have questions, you can ask, but I think we've taken a much, much longer time to discuss this issue, but this is Torah, and we need to learn it. Unless you have some pressing questions, we'll call it a week. Anything? Yes? Where's an example of Adam's curse in Torah? Because God cursed Adam in many words that he's going to have to work hard. But where does it show that Adam actually worked hard? Because like, I feel like I'm working hard, but I didn't see in the Torah that he was working hard. Okay, so Adam HaRishon had the ultimate neshama. All of our neshamot come from Adam HaRishon. And Adam HaRishon, really the Sefarim HaKedoshim, the Zohar particularly, discusses how Adam HaRishon wanted to serve Hashem forever, and that's why he sinned. He wanted to find out where the tree of life was, in order to eat it, in order to live forever, so that's why he ate from the Tree of Knowledge, in order to find out where the Tree of Life is. So now, Adam HaRishon, some people think, oh, he's just a fool, he made a sin, he went against Hashem. No. It's a mistake. Adam HaRishon was Kodesh Kodashim. The Gemara says one of the Chachamim was measuring me'arot, was measuring caves, and he went to the Me'arat HaMachpelah, and he saw the heel of Adam HaRishon. He says that the heel of Adam HaRishon is like the sun.

2:51:00He says, two heels like two suns, that's how holy he was, thousands of years after he passed from this world. So Adam HaRishon was Kodesh Kodashim, and to prove the case that his role in the world was much more difficult than anyone else in the world, is that, look at him. How many sins did he make? One. That's it. He made one mistake. For the sake of what? For the sake of serving Hashem. I wish we only made one sin a day. That would make us tzaddikim. We usually make one sin just to wake up in the morning. We make sins just to go there and don't even know how to go to the bathroom sometimes. We make sins the way we eat. We make sins the way we sleep. We make a million and a half sins, but we're not judged the same way as Adam HaRishon. Why? We're not on his level. We're a small token of his neshama. He had all the neshama; we have a little piece. So Hashem doesn't judge us the same way as Adam HaRishon. But needless to say, the fact that he had such a significant neshama, his response to it was much greater, and his judgment was much greater because he got judged on one kavanah. He got judged on a kavanah. So to uphold that, he wasn't able to. But we can't judge him. Why? Because we can't even do what he did for a few hours. We can't even do it for a few hours. So his role was much more difficult. Secondly, it says that Adam HaRishon, after he made this mistake, he separated from his wife for over 120 years.

2:52:23Separated from his wife. He was wifeless for over 120 years, crying every day, praying for kavanah to do teshuvah. Now, unfortunately, he made additional mistakes, the Zohar says. It says that during that time, because he wasn't with his wife, he ended up wasting seed, and that created demons and so on. Not that Adam HaRishon was a rasha, but the point is that's what the Torah says. That's what the Zohar says. But he made a mistake of eating from the Etz HaDa'at, and he also made a mistake in the way he wanted to do teshuvah; he wanted to go into seclusion. He didn't realize that the Torah says that a person not only shouldn't be alone before the crime, but he shouldn't be alone after the crime. Many times people make a mistake and they want to be alone, they want to go into some cave, they want everyone to leave them alone. That's not a good idea. You need to have a support system, you need to have your spouse, you need to have your Rav, you need to have the Torah. You can't just go into some hole in the wall and think that you're going to solve the problem by yourself. because many times, your decisions are not necessarily going to come from the right place. So Adam had not necessarily the same work as you do as far as the obligation that you do to put on tefillin and to say Shema Yisrael and so on. He didn't have all the mitzvot like we do. But his responsibility was much greater. Because again, he was judged much harsher. He was judged much harsher. He was judged on a single event.

2:53:46we wouldn't be able to survive that way, and neither was he. He actually had the capability to survive that way, but he didn't. We don't even have the capability of doing it, and that's the reason why Hashem doesn't even give us that test. But as far as our responsibility in the world, it's all based on whether a person wants to do what Hashem wants or wants to fulfill his own desires. Our sins are generally, you know, because we want to fulfill our own desires. That's why we sin. We eat things that are forbidden because we're hungry or we're desiring a certain food, and so on. We commit moral transgressions because we want to fulfill some type of physical need. We take things that don't belong to us because of our desire for things that don't belong to us, and so on and so forth. So that's our flaw. The flaw of Adam was very different. His sin wasn't for his own desire. His sin was for his desire to do the will of Hashem. Meaning, he didn't sin because he wanted to live forever so he could party. physical need. We take things that don't belong to us because of our desire for things that don't belong to us, and so on and so forth. So that's our flaw. The flaw of Adam was very different. His sin wasn't for his own desire. His sin was for his desire to do the will of Hashem. Meaning, he didn't sin because he wanted to live forever so he could party.

2:54:52If we were alive at that time, we'd probably eat from the same tree, but because we wanted to party forever. But he wanted to live forever because he wanted to serve Hashem forever. So it's a very, very different type of responsibility, a very different type of sin. The point being is that we have a responsibility in the world that Hashem knows for sure that we can fulfill. As Moshe Rabbeinu says in Sefer Devarim, "It’s in your mouth, it’s in your heart to do it," meaning that your ability to do mitzvot is actually something that should come naturally to you. Why? Because that's what you created. Now, the reason why we sometimes have a hard time fulfilling the mitzvot is not because the mitzvot are hard, but rather because it's hard for us to overcome our desires that are against Hashem. So, as long as we want to fulfill our desires, the Torah will be like a tank on our head—very heavy and very difficult. But the second we say, "Listen, I'm just going to do what Hashem says,"

2:56:02If it's allowed, I'm going to do it. If it's not allowed, I'm not going to do it. All of a sudden, the Torah becomes like a feather. Why? That's it. I know it's not allowed. It's not allowed. I'm not going to do it. Now, sometimes, of course, you have a certain test, and for that moment, it's hard. But generally speaking, it's much, much lighter. Why? Because you simply know, I'm going to do things based on the rules of allowed or not allowed. Not based on I want or I don't want. Because as long as I live my life based on "I want" and "I don't want," my life was miserable. Because I always want what I'm not allowed. But as soon as I do what I'm allowed and don't do what I'm not allowed, and I live my life according to that, suddenly my life is not as difficult because I start realizing that I should customize my "I wants" to be what I also am allowed to do. So I start desiring the things that I am allowed to do.

2:57:02And I start getting myself away from things that I desire but I'm not allowed to do. So that's, in essence, the way you're supposed to live your life. Of course, it's hard, of course, it's difficult in the beginning, but the point is the decision itself takes a second. Bringing yourself up to that decision, that may take months or years. It all depends on how much you want it. Success is not something that you get in one second. Success is something you build up to. But the actual event that brings a person from level A to level B usually is a very short period of time. But to get to that position, to be in that position where success is available to you, that may take a while. You have to be at the right place at the right time, but not because of luck, but rather because of preparation. And that's the mistake of the secular logic, to think that the person was at the right time at the right place, and he was lucky. There's no such thing as luck. No such thing. You put yourself at the right time at the right place, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu decided this is what's going to be. That may take a while. You have to be at the right place at the right time, but not because of luck, but rather because of preparation. And that's the mistake of secular logic, to think that the person was at the right time at the right place, and he was lucky. There's no such thing as luck. No such thing. You put yourself at the right time at the right place, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu decided this is what's going to be.

2:58:16Because you prepared, you did certain things, you did your hishtadlut, but needless to say, Hashem decided that this is what's going to be for you. Even if you didn't do the hishtadlut. Point being, Hashem decided. So, again, it's not necessarily that he had an easier role. In fact, he had a role that's as difficult for him as our role is difficult for us. So, for us, his role is impossible. His role is impossible. Whereas our role for him is very easy. Because he's on a much higher level than us. But, relatively speaking, his role was as difficult for him to fulfill as our role is difficult for us to fulfill. Because Hashem doesn't give anyone a test that he can't pass. So that's also another thing. So it may look like his picture, his grass looks greener from our perspective, but in reality, it's not. Everybody's got their own laundry basket that they have to clean. Anything else? Hopefully you got some new insights. Hopefully we got some more clarity. We'll meet again next week on Sunday. I believe next week is Tisha B'Av, right?

2:59:30Yes, so Tisha B'Av, just as I'm going to mention to you again anyway on Sunday, but Tisha B'Av is Wednesday. So usually we have shiurim on Wednesday, but they're going to have kinot here and special prayers. So anyone that lives around should come here to daven. not to be here. They're going to pray, probably until, you know, and then it's going to continue until about 10:30, from like 7:30—no, from 7:30 until about 10:30, something like that. And then at 10:30, if there's enough people, we'll do a shiur for at least an hour. During the fast. And then that's Wednesday night. So figure from 10:30 till midnight or however long we can go. And then on Thursday during the fast, we'll probably do two shiurim. One during the afternoon and one right before Mincha/Maariv. So I'll let you guys know about the time. That's Thursday. Okay. Be'ezrat Hashem, you have Chodesh Tov, Chodesh Mevorach, Bracha, Hatzlacha, Chayim Arukim, Shlemim, Limud Torah, Mitzvot, Gemilut Chassadim. And Be'ezrat Hashem, all of us will do Teshuva. Baruch Atah Le'olam. Amen ve'Amen.