BITACHON RULE NUMBER ONE (bitachon #5)

1:24Don't start that way. None of the books start that way. What do they start off with? This is the stuff to avoid. Why? Because even if you do all of the little tricks, all the little school load, all of the little readings of Tehillim, and the groups, and all the wonderful things. Like for example, there's a tzaddik I love, Rabbi Pinto. She came and he implemented a few years ago a certain minhag that some Hasidim had in previous generations, which became very popular in the last few years. This is to read the entire Sefer Devarim, the Book of Deuteronomy, every Shabbat. Try to read it every Shabbat, the whole thing. Once a week, but to constantly read it over and over and over again. Many of his Chassidim took it on because Sefer Devarim has an extraordinary amount of Mussar. It's the one book that's actually written by Moshe Rabbeinu, versus the other four books that are written by Hashem Himself. However, Hashem wanted Moshe Rabbeinu to include this fifth book.

2:34That's why in the first four books, it says that Hashem spoke to Moshe. Whereas in the fifth book, in the book of Devarim, it doesn't say that. It says Moshe talks in the first person: "Hashem said to me." "Hashem said to me," not "Hashem told me." "Hashem said to me." This is what I heard, and so on and so forth. So there's a lot of mussar to learn from there. Anyone that actually reads the Book of Deuteronomy, or Sefer Devarim, with several commentaries, like Rashi or Rambam, and actually understands it, could do an extraordinary teshuva. The problem is that many people don't understand the actual minhag itself. They don't understand what Rav Pinto is actually saying, where they think all they need to do is just read it and... Like you read a journal, like you read a newspaper. Just read the words. With or without understanding them. Just read it, read it, read it a million times. And it doesn't do the trick. Why? Because Torah is not one of those things where we just press a button and eventually something's going to work. There's a certain set of instructions. A certain set of instructions on how to do certain things.

3:44So many people use this segulah, but not much happens. None of the promises actually happen in their lives, and they think that there's something wrong with this segulah. No, no, there's nothing wrong with this segulah. There's something wrong with them. They're just not doing it the right way. It's like, for example, somebody gave you a Formula One car. A Formula One car could drive at 250 miles an hour and won the last race, whatever they're called, and... The last race car could drive 250-300 miles an hour. This thing is a beast, and you go in there thinking, "Oh, I'm doing it, I'm doing it," and you start pressing the gas. Nothing happens. Press the gas. Nothing happens. "This is junk! Nothing!" You start hitting the car, kicking the car, thinking they cheated you. You start screaming and yelling, causing a scene, "What a piece of junk! It's a lemon!" And the guy says, "Hey, buddy..." Turn on the ignition. All the gas pedals and the shifts and it doesn't work unless you do it right. First, turn on the ignition. Then you can press the buttons and push this and push that. If you do certain things right, it'll work. If you don't, it's a waste of time. So the Chachamim constantly told us what to avoid first.

5:07Why? Because even if you do all the good things, all the right things, you press the gas pedal, turn the wheel, press this, and press that, if you didn't turn on the ignition, it's all worthless. If you didn't avoid all the things that pretty much cut you off—cut you off from the nation and your connection with Hashem, Yitbarach—then all of it is in vain. None of this is going to work if a person does not keep Shabbat, if a person does not keep the basics—the basics of connection between them and HaKadosh Baruch Hu. This stuff won't work. Why? Because when a person violates major sins, Hashem doesn't put them on a list of, "Oh, I owe him some good things," and... Some sins that a person commits, Hashem can say, I consider him my enemy. Even though he's my son and I love him, right now he's in the status of being my enemy. We see this at the end of Parashat Va'etchanan.

6:12meshalem el sonav el panav l'ha'avidy. He pays his enemies directly, to destroy them. Meaning, sometimes he'll even give them things that will make them think they’re doing okay, that they actually have a good relationship with Hashem. They have a brand new car, brand new house, brand new wife, brand new this, brand new that; everything looks good. But in reality, behind the scenes, if they only knew that they're actually being punished and... Sometimes Hashem gives a person a huge windfall of money as a punishment. Why? Because He knows that money will destroy him. Before he had the money, he was just living a regular life. He was okay—wife, kids, job. Every day, he woke up, put on his pants like everybody else, one leg at a time. Everything was going fine. He was happy-go-lucky. People ask him, "So how are you doing?" He says, "Thank God. Do you keep Shabbat?" "No, but I thank God anyway." Why? "Because what's wrong with thanking God? I love God. I just love God my own way." So everything was going fine. People say, "Oh, you look happy." He goes, "I am happy. I am happy." "Really? You're really happy?" "Yeah, I'm really happy." He's happy in his own way too. And everything is going fine. Everything is going fine. All of a sudden, one day he gets a deal that changes his life.

7:32equivalent of winning a lot, he signs a deal with Boeing. He signs a deal with one of these Fortune 500 companies that immediately puts an extra 15 to 20 million dollars in his bank account. Money like he's never seen. He thinks, "Honey, we did it. We did it, honey. We finally made it." 18 months later, he's divorced, his kids hate him, and the client left him too. Happened, we did it 18 months ago. Yes, but during those 18 months, that windfall of money changed him. He started wanting things that he didn't desire before he got the money. All of a sudden, he wanted two wives or three, and an occasional girlfriend or two on the side. All of a sudden, he wanted to go to certain places for vacation. All of a sudden, he wanted to do certain things that he hadn't even thought about wanting before he had the money. In essence, Hashem gave him a gift, a windfall of money to destroy him. That's why in Yaakov Yosef, it actually says over there, when somebody loses money, they should thank Hashem. But when they make a lot of money, there's a machloket, a debate. Does he thank Hashem, saying a special blessing because he's got a windfall of money, or not?

8:52I mean, don't just do anything you want because of a lot of money. You got a lot of money in a short period of time. Stay quiet. Don't even say anything extra. Why? Maybe it's a punishment. Maybe it's a punishment. Obviously, if you're a righteous person, then most likely it's not. But how many of us can look in the mirror and say for sure, "I'm righteous"? Well, Hashem has been with me. We're twins. We're twins. We have the same villa. Klal Yisrael must appreciate the importance of the yeshiva gedolah. According to the Gemara, it is a pillar of our community. In masechet Shabbat, we learn about the value of Torah study. Rav Chaim Volozhin, the founder of the Volozhin yeshiva, emphasized the centrality of Torah learning. Today, our gedolim, such as Rav Chaim Kanievsky and Rav Gershon Edelstein, continue to guide us in our avodat Hashem. We must strive to learn from their example and deepen our commitment to Torah and mitzvot.

10:06Sure, please provide the text you need corrected.