B’not Yisrael Will Bring MaShiach When Bnai Yisrael Do Teshuva (HDC Los Angeles)

0:13Thank you for having me. It's good to be here at the Hebrew Discovery Center here in Los Angeles. It's my first time here. May Hashem continue to bless you, give you a long life full of health, and all the good things in this world in preparation for the next world. Now, if you guys have specific questions, topics, things like that, please feel free to ask. Usually, people are shy. They don't like to ask until the camera's off. So, in about two or three hours from now, they'll start asking questions. If you have something, ask now, in the middle, after, whatever. The point is for you guys to get some chizuk out of it. When you do teshuva, I do teshuva. That's the key. That's one of the things that Am Yisrael, Does not seem to understand yet is that in order for us to do teshuva, we're obligated to help other people do teshuva. And we see it from the prophet Yechezkel. Yechezkel saw things that we can't even imagine. He saw ma'aseh merkavah. He saw what happens in shamayim. So what happens in shamayim? He saw things that happen in shamayim, all types of things, and he gives a very

1:36intricate description of what he saw. It's very hard to understand, but there are certain things that are very simple. He spoke to God on a regular basis. We see it in the book of Yechezkel (Ezekiel). Hashem told every one of the prophets their own private messages, but ultimately the same message, all the way from Noach and Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, all the way to the end of all the prophets, every single one of them got the same exact message. What is it? Do teshuva. Do teshuva. That's it. That's the message for every one of the prophets. Sometimes do teshuva in Mitzrayim, sometimes do teshuva in Bavel. Sometimes do teshuva for avodah zarah, sometimes do teshuva for stealing, for lashon hara, for wasting seed, for all different things. Same thing. Do teshuva. Now most people think, oh, teshuva is nice. Some people do it. Ashrecha, if you did it. The first time you start wearing a kippah, all your friends ask you if someone died. They start listening to shiurim like that. But the reality is that most people don't realize that teshuva is actually one of the 613 commandments. It's one of the 613 mitzvot you're obligated to do. Now the prophet Yechezkel said,

3:00says something that most people, including religious people, don't know. What does he say? In chapter 18, verse 30, it says, "He says, 'and bring others back from all of your transgressions.'" That they not be for you an obstacle of iniquity. He says not only do you have to do teshuva, you have to get other people to do teshuva. Why? Because if you don't get other people to do teshuva, your old sins that you did before you did teshuva, they're going to be a hurdle for you. Why? Because sometimes there's a sin you can't fix on your own. Sometimes there's a sin... That you can't fix. If, let's say, for example, you stole a cup, you can return the cup. Fixed. If, let's say, you stole some money, you give back the money. But if you violated Shabbat, or you wasted seed, or you went with a married woman that's not your wife, or you did one of these horrible things, what are you gonna do?

4:25Even if you start keeping Shabbat, it's good. Chazak U'Baruch, you keep Shabbat. 70, 80, 90 years you're keeping Shabbat, great. But what about the first 20, 30 years you didn't keep Shabbat? Even if you stop wasting seed, Baruch Hashem, you're doing teshuva, you're a tzaddik, you're called a tzaddik because you didn't waste seed. But, okay, what happened the first 10, 20 years you did it? What happened about all that time? The prophet Yechezkel says those sins, they don't just go away. Like some people will tell you, "Oh, listen, you start keeping Shabbat, everything's going to be okay." No, it's not enough. Not so much. It's not exactly the truth. Everything's going to be okay, but it's not just because of Shabbat. There's other things to do. There are other parts to teshuva. And a very big part of teshuva is to get other people to do teshuva. And the reason why is because when we arrive in Shamayim after 120 years, They're going to ask us all types of questions, even though they already know the answers. They're going to ask the questions. I said, okay, so it looks like you kept Shabbat for 70 years. Yeah, my whole life. He goes, no, no, take it easy. It wasn't your whole life. You lived 90 years. You kept Shabbat for 70. It was my whole life. He goes, no, it's 70 out of 90. There's still a missing. I goes, yeah, but I was a baby. Okay, we're not counting when you were a baby. 13 Bar Mitzvah. Bar Mitzvah means you took on mitzvot.

5:4713 years old to 20, we have seven years of missing Shabbat. If you start keeping Shabbat at 20, you kept from 20 to 90. Okay, but it's still seven years missing. If you're a woman, bat mitzvah is at 12 years. So, from 12 to 20, you have eight years missing. Or if you started later, like me, 30, 35, 45, whatever it is, there's a missing, there's a deficit. We can't just make it go away. So what do we do? There are two options. One, we pay up there. I don't recommend it. Paying over there is very, very expensive and very painful. There's an easier way. The easier way is to pay over here. And that is by getting other people to keep Shabbat, if that's your sin. Getting other people to do teshuva for the same sin that you did. If it's because you violated Shabbat, get them to keep Shabbat.

6:47If it's for wasting seed, get people to stop wasting seed. If it's for people cheating on their wives, help people to stop cheating. Help people learn Mussar. Help people fix themselves. Help people keep Shabbat. Because when they start keeping Shabbat, it's like you kept two Shabbatot now. You keep Shabbat. They kept Shabbat. So what happens? Now you kept two Shabbatot. After 70 years, you go up to Shamayim and say, "Oh, Tzaddik, why? You kept more Shabbatot than your years. Even though the first 20 years you didn't keep Shabbat, now your friend has kept Shabbat for 70 years. On top of it, he got his wife to keep Shabbat also, so now that's 140 more. And now the kids, he has six kids, and the kids have grandkids, and so on and so forth. Now you have, instead of 70 Shabbatot like you, 70 years' worth of Shabbatot, you have 5,000 Shabbatot." Is the penthouse for you right next to? I'll be me about on this. Why? He also has five thousand Shabbatot just like you. But the prophet Yechezkel, this all sounds nice. It's good to have a surplus, like having a big bank account. You don't really need all of it. It's nice to know you have an extra few million. It's nice to know, gives you bitachon or something. The prophet Yechezkel says, "No, no, no. You're not understanding. This is not something nice to get."

8:03It's not like a jet, your own private jet is better than going on JetBlue or something. No, this is something you have to get. To get another person to do teshuva, you have to do it. It has to be part of your teshuva. Why? Because you've messed up somewhere. Everyone messed up. I'm not the only sinner in the world. Everyone messed up for something. Some people for modesty, some people for Shabbat, some people for this, some people for that. So for us, not to have to pay up there, Hashem says, "Yechezkel, tell them, get other people to do teshuva." Why? Because those people are going to make up for all those things that they did bad, and after they did teshuva, it's going to make up for that deficit. So now, Rabotai Yekarim, we understand just from the beginning that helping Am Yisrael do teshuva is not just a nice thing to do, but it's literally a must if you're planning on doing teshuva altogether. Now, the Rambam in Hilchot Teshuva, chapter one,

9:14It's the fourth halacha. He talks about teshuva. He says there's certain things that are very big sins. They're called, there are sins that anyone that violates them, it's din karet. There are 36 big sins, 36 things that are just horrible. Hashem says you do it, you have a serious, serious problem. One of them is Shabbat, wasting seed, going with a married woman, lending money to another Jew and charging interest. making a ketoret, an incense offering, outside of the Beit HaMikdash, and so on and so forth. There are certain things that it says do not enter. But unfortunately, all of us have entered at some point or another by accident, on purpose, whatever it was. He says the following: If a person violates sins that are punishable by karet or execution by the court, since we don't have Beit HaMikdash, there's no more killing people. It all has to be dealt with in Shamayim. If a person violates such sins but he does teshuva, teshuva and Yom Kippur also help him. His teshuva and Yom Kippur have a tentative effect on

10:37The suffering which comes upon him completes the atonement. The Rambam says that doing teshuva is good, praying on Yom Kippur and crying with a sincere heart is good, but there also has to be some suffering that accompanies it. The suffering is what completes it. He will never achieve complete teshuva until he endures some suffering. for these specific sins, as it says in Tehillim 89:33, "I will punish their transgressions with a rod." So here, the Rambam says that part of your teshuva is, obviously, to stop sinning. Part of your teshuva is to say "I'm sorry" on Yom Kippur and every day. But also, part of the teshuva is that there has to be some level of suffering. There has to be some level of suffering.

11:40Now, why is there suffering? Why does there have to be suffering in life? Why is there the Holocaust? Tomorrow is Yom HaShoah. Why is there the Holocaust in the world? Why is there cancer in the world? Why is there, you know, people who don't have any money? They lose everything. There's all the problems that we have. Why? Why do we have all this? Rabbeinu Yonah in Sha'arei Teshuva says that the reason why there has to be suffering as part of Teshuva... Because we enjoyed the sin. Because we enjoyed it, we actually had pleasure from making sins. We had pleasure. We went to the beach on Shabbat. You can't tell me all of a sudden you didn't enjoy it. You enjoyed it. You went with the girl that's not your girl. You enjoyed it. Don't tell me all of a sudden you feel, okay, you feel bad, but you really enjoyed it. When you were there, you did it. You enjoyed it. You stole some money. Don't say, oh, I really feel bad. Okay, you feel bad, but you enjoyed the stolen money for a little while. You enjoyed it. The fact that you enjoyed it, Hashem has to undo it. Measure for measure. You enjoyed it, I have to give you the same measure of suffering in return. So how do we avoid this? This sounds so far doom and gloom. Everybody's depressed so far probably. One guy walked out. That's the good news. If you would have waited, you would have had good news. That's good news. What's the good news?

13:08How do we, how does Rabbeinu Yonah say, how do we avoid this? I don't want to suffer. Who wants to suffer? I don't want to suffer. I want to have a good life until I get to wherever I get to without suffering. I want to have a good life. I don't want to suffer. He says, if a person who made these sins involves himself in charity, chesed, Torah study, and other mitzvot, that will protect him from suffering. Torah, mitzvot, and Gemilut Chassadim. Incidentally, in Gemara, Masechet Sanhedrin, they asked the rabbi of Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus. Rabbi Eliezer, you're telling us what's gonna happen when the Mashiach comes. It's very scary. Gog u'Magog, there's wars in Syria. There's Russia. There's America. There's all this craziness. I mean, it's scary. If you look at chapter 14 of the Prophet Zechariah, he describes atomic warfare 3,000 years ago. How he describes what's gonna happen scares to death. So tell me, Rabbi Eliezer, please, what do we do?

14:23It says how we're gonna save ourselves. He says you want to save yourselves at the time of Mashiach, the birth pangs of Mashiach. Involve yourselves in Torah, mitzvot, and gemilut chassadim. Obviously, Torah, because you have to know what to do. Torah is obvious; to give and you're a Jew, you have to follow Torah. You have to read what the Torah says, you have to study it and do what it says, and... Mitzvot mean you're taking what's in the Torah and applying it to your life. What's gemilut chasadim? What is this kindness? What is this? How? What if I don't have any money? Does that mean that I'm a nebach? I can't do it? I have to suffer? No. The good news, good news, rabotai, is that you can do chesed without money today. Because the biggest chesed in the world, the biggest kindness that you can show another person is Show him the purpose of life. If you give somebody a meal, you give him a piece of steak. He hasn't eaten in a week. He's skinny. He's almost going to die. You give him a steak. You saved his life. Okay, so you saved his body. But if the next day, after you saved him, somebody says, "Oh, welcome Hitler. Here, you have the new job." And the guy ends up— you just saved Hitler, and he kills six million Jews. Do you still feel happy that you saved his life?

15:50Which, by the way, is a real story. Somebody actually saved Hitler's life when he was a baby. They say it was a Jewish doctor. A Jewish doctor, Hitler. When he was a baby, he was cute like every other baby. And he almost died. And his mom cried. She wanted a doctor. A Jewish doctor came and saved his life. He grew up to be Hitler. I'm sure that doctor is not so happy that he saved his life, but such is life, and that's what Hashem wanted. The point is that if you save the body, you save the body. But the guy may end up being the worst person in the world anyway. Even if he's a really nice guy, you just saved him here. It's temporary. But if you tell the guy, listen, you didn't come to the world to be a millionaire. You didn't come to the world to be a TV host. You didn't come to the world to be a gas station attendant. You came to the world to serve Hashem. He says, "Who's Hashem?" Hashem is the Creator. What did He do? And you show him what He did. And the guy gets into it. He says, "Wow, this is what He did. Oh, wow, everything works because of this." The guy starts realizing, "I came to the world to fulfill the will of Hashem. I came to the world to be a Jew. I came to the world to do something big." Even if I'm not a Jew,

17:05Still have an obligation. What is it? To do the will of Hashem. One of the major things that a non-Jew has to do is to help Jews, to help other Jews discover the Torah. So it's not just an obligation of Jews to help Jews; also non-Jews have to help Jews. The point being is that if you tell the guy the truth and he actually starts doing teshuvah, starts fixing his life, you didn't just save him for a week or a month or 70 years. You saved him for eternity. He now has a purpose. And that, Rabotai, our sages explained to us, is the biggest kindness you could ever do in this world. Because you just helped this guy get eternity. If he actually succeeds in eating the steak, best case scenario, he has to eat another one tomorrow. But if he actually discovers God and he does what God says, best case scenario, he has eternity. He has Olam HaBa. That's the biggest kindness you could do. So Rabbi Eliezer ben Horkanos says, you want to avoid suffering during the times of Mashiach? Do chesed. What's the biggest chesed? Get people to understand what the truth is. Get people to do teshuva. Now, Or HaChaim says that when we were in Egypt, we were in the 49th level of Tumah. And it's a well-known thing.

18:36not Israel, their merit. The women of Israel, the daughters of Israel, their merit was what gave us the merit to be saved by Hashem Yitbarach and leave Egypt. Why didn't they fall and make the same sins as the men? They didn't worship the idols. They were still modest. They still did a lot of good things and Bnei Yisrael, the men, on the other hand, unfortunately, many of them were idol worshippers and caused a lot of problems. But the women of Bnei Yisrael, their merit was the reason why we were taken out of Egypt. Despite their merit, we still reached the 49th level of Tumah, the 49th level of impurity. By the time we actually fast forward to Matan Torah, we reached the highest level of Kedushah. Right now, we're counting the Omer. And the question is, why do we have to count the Omer? Why do we count the Omer every day? One, two, three. Okay, we know it was two yesterday. Three is today. Every five-year-old knows what's tomorrow, four, five, six. Okay, fine. What's the point? Why can't I just go directly to fifteen? That's it. The reason why, Rabotai, is we're counting the days because...

20:05The Omer is supposed to be the day that we receive the Torah, and in order to receive the Torah, you have to prepare. The Torah was the climax of the world; the purpose of the world was the Torah. So, in order to get this Torah, we have to prepare ourselves. You can't just one day you're a rasha, and the next day you get the sefer Torah. It can't work that way. So, we have to prepare. Am Yisrael had to be prepared even though they went to Egypt and so on and so forth, even after they got... Out of Egypt, still, they had to prepare seven weeks before they got Matan Torah. Now, the Or HaChaim says that before Mashiach comes, we are going to be worse than what we were in Egypt. We were in the 49th level of Tumah (impurity) in Egypt. Before Mashiach comes, we're gonna reach the 50th level. Chachamim asked, how could it be? It says that if we reached the 50th level in Egypt, Hashem wouldn't have saved us. He would have just destroyed the world. So that's why He took us out precisely at that time, because the very next sin that anybody would have done, Hashem would have destroyed the world. So He took us out exactly at that moment, right before there was one more sin, right at the nick of time.

21:23I'm saying, no, no, here. We're going to get worse before Mashiach comes. We're going to get much, much worse. We're going to be at 50 levels every day. I debate with my rabbi. I think today we reached 50, and the next day something worse happens in the world. So, no, today we reach 50 every day. It's 50 every day. So, how much worse can the world get? One day, the guy wants to be a guy. The next day, he wants to be a girl. The next day, he wants to be a dog. You know, every day, someone wants to be something else. People want to be something else. No one wants to be themselves. No one wants to be themselves. It's insane. The guy they had was some former Olympian; now he's a woman. used to be a man, now he's a woman, and they highlight this; it's like they celebrate these people. In the old days, they used to kill gay people because they violated the word of Hashem. Today, they celebrate them; they have marches in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, all over the United States. To such an extent that, unless I don't know if you guys know this, but you guys have a city, San Francisco.

22:25Apparently, there was a study. I never read the whole study, but I know this is true. They actually did a study. They said that the most amount of homosexual animals that exist in the world live in San Francisco. Why? The actions of man have literally affected the animals. Animals are changing their nature. Only one time in history has this happened: the generation of Noach. The amount of sins that the people made affected even the ground. Hashem had to destroy the ground. The animals—the giraffe wanted to be with the zebra, the zebra wanted to be with the lion—everything changed. Nature changed. Hashem did not want to destroy everybody and... It's actually happening right now. So man, I got to 50, and every day, something else, something else, something else. The situation is not improving. Yeah, but Hashem sees a few people doing teshuva here and there. But the world at large is confused. Nobody wants to do what they're supposed to be doing. So the Chafetz Chaim says we're gonna get to this 50th level. We get to this 50th level and...

23:4150th level of confusion, 50th level of sins, 50th level of not knowing what's right and what's left. How do we get out of this mess? That's the truth; it's really a big question. How do we get out of this mess? You could tell people, "Okay, do teshuva"; most people don't even know what teshuva means. How do you get out of this mess? Now, there's a very critical part of the Torah and... That's part of its teaching that could be applied to anything in life, and it's called Mussar. Mussar is like some of the things we're teaching right now. It's ethics. It's developing our character traits. This is something that you can actually use regardless of whether you're religious or not, regardless of whether you're Jewish or not. Regardless of anything, you could use this information to improve your life now. The only thing that's different between Mussar and, let's say, self-help, like motivational speakers such as Tony Robbins and Zig Ziglar and all of these other people, is that when Tony Robbins and people like him tell you, "Listen, you should be motivated, you should wake up early, go to sleep early, and be the first to work, last to leave work," all these different things that you should do to be a productive person,

25:07He doesn't obligate you. The only obligation you have is to pay the fee. Buy his CDs, pay $5,000 to go to the lecture. That's it. If you don't do what he says, it's not his problem. He did his job. With Mussar, on the other hand, the Torah teaches us that if you do it, good, your life will improve. Your life, your marriage, your business, everything will improve if you apply it. If you don't, on the other hand, there's a consequence. The consequence is not only having a terrible life full of yelling, screaming, confusions, and arguments, divorces. And this is pretty much the same thing that is happening in modern society anyway, but on top of it, at the end of the tunnel, there's nothing good for you to expect. Why? Because the only reason why you were brought to this world is to fix those character traits and... And all 613 mitzvot that were given to Am Yisrael were only given to them in order for them to use, to apply, and fix themselves as human beings. The reason why we say, every morning when we wake up, "Thank you, Hashem, for bringing back my neshama and having emunah in me," is because the first lesson you should know every day is to say thank you.

26:29If you don't know how to say thank you to God, you're definitely not going to know how to say thank you to your wife or your husband. You're definitely not going to know how to say thank you to your employees. You're definitely not going to know how to say thank you to the clerk. You're not going to know how to say thank you to the very basic need of a human being. If you don't know how to say thank you, even the animal is better than you. Why? You give a dog a treat. What does he do? He gives you a little kiss. Why? Thank you for the treat. The dog knows how to say thank you. If you don't know how to say thank you, you may come back in reincarnation as a dog to learn how to say thank you. So the first thing we have to learn is thank you. And then there are other mitzvot. It teaches patience. It teaches that there is a consequence for our actions and so on and so forth. So this Mussar... It's something that's so critical that the Ba'al Shulchan Aruch, Rabbi Yosef Karo, he writes in his journal called Maggid Meisharim, and he says that his chavruta was an angel. He studied with an angel every day. And one day his angel chavruta, his study partner, yelled at him. Why did he yell at him? He says, you didn't study enough Mussar today.

27:52That has an angel as a best friend was rebuked because he didn't study enough Mussar. So if he didn't study enough Mussar one day in his life, he only studied two hours. We should be studying 200 hours a day. The reality is that this is something that today, unfortunately, is not very common. People don't study it, people don't teach it, and the reason why is because it obligates us and If I can teach you all the halachot, I tell you, listen, Shabbat, you have to do this, you have to do this, you have to do this, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. On Sukkot, you have to build a sukkah, you have to get an etrog, lulav, you know, all these different things. I tell you just a to-do list. Now, the reality is that if you like Judaism, you'll do it. If you don't, you won't. Why? Because there's no consequence. If you like it, if it fits into your lifestyle, you'll do it. There's a kosher restaurant next to your house. You'll go. If there's a kosher bakery, you'll eat there. If there isn't, you'll eat somewhere else. Why? Because it's not convenient to your life. But if, when you teach Mussar, you're teaching the other side, you're teaching that, listen, this is not only something that you should do. This is something you have to do because if you don't, there's a consequence, and...

29:12Now, many people come to me, and they tell me, "Listen, I started to do teshuva, but I'm having problems in my marriage." Oh Hashem, after we finished the lecture last night, we spoke for almost three hours. At the end of the night, there were maybe four or five couples; all came and said, "Listen, we're having problems with our marriage." Every one of them had the same exact problem, and... One is doing teshuva, the other one isn't. One likes it, the other one doesn't really like it so much. And this is a very, very common problem. And the reason why is because sometimes people think that teshuva is just your thing. You're supposed to do it. If your spouse does it, good. If she doesn't, big deal. It's our problem. They don't realize that the prophet Yechezkel says that for you to do teshuva, you also have to do kiruv. Kiruv starts at home. Now if the guy starts learning, he starts going to a shiur Torah, he starts seeing the truth. He starts applying it to his life. He's watching a shiur Torah every day. He goes to a shiur every day. He does tefillin, he goes to pray, he's doing all the things, but his wife still doesn't want to put any clothes on and...

30:36His wife still is not really interested in keeping Shabbat. She still wants to have some shrimp. She still wants to do all the things they did before he did teshuvah. That simply means that he's the only one doing teshuvah. Now, is it her fault? No. Whose fault is it? It's his fault. It's not her fault. Why? Because he thought that only he has to do teshuvah and she'll just catch up. She'll catch up eventually. She'll see that he goes to synagogue three times a day and he prays every day. And now he has these little strings coming out of his pants. He has this little, cute little hat. And he says "Baruch Hashem" every few minutes. Of course, she's gonna want to do it. Why not? Wrong. You changed. She did it. The reason she did it is because she doesn't have a reason to. Your Judaism is separate, and according to her, it's ruining the marriage. Why now, all of a sudden, since you've actually started doing teshuvah, she sees you less? You're at the synagogue. You're at the kollel. You're at the shiur. You're somewhere else. All she knows is she doesn't see you anymore. You're either at work, at the beit knesset, or you're sleeping.

31:58She never sees you anymore, so why would she like it? She says, listen, before this, both of us were eating shrimp together three times a week. Now, you don't even eat. I don't see you. Why would I like it? Now this, rabotai, is a very, very common mistake. I first learned about it maybe four or five years ago. And that was in Israel. And the guy that gave us a ride to the airport, He praised my wife and me. He said, "Wow, you guys are really lucky." I responded, "Well, Baruch Hashem, yes we are." He continued, "No, you don't understand. You're really lucky that you're both doing teshuvah together." To me, it was an odd thing. "What do you mean we're doing teshuvah together? What else are we supposed to do? Why wouldn't we do teshuvah together?" He replied, "No, I actually didn't do teshuvah with my wife. I just worked on my own. I did it myself, and I thought that eventually, she was going to catch up." I said, "Okay, so what happened?" He says, "It's been 20 years. She hasn't caught up, and she hates it more than ever. I feel like an outsider every Shabbat, and she dafka smokes next to me on Shabbat. She dafka tries to ruin my Shabbat. She hates it so much that she tries to disturb me. Sometimes I have to leave the house in order to keep Shabbat somewhere else, not to be upset, and so on."

33:21Thought to myself, how could such a thing be? What does she hate about him? Why would she stay married to him if she hates him that much? What bothers her so much that he keeps Shabbat? What bothers her so much that he eats kosher? In Israel, it's so easy to eat kosher anyway, so what's so bad about it that's driving her to be so annoying and try to ruin his mitzvah? And I realized... That, according to her vision, according to her perspective, Judaism ruined her marriage. Before he became religious, they were together. Now that he is religious, she barely sees him. He's either working, praying, or learning. She never sees him anymore. Unfortunately, what he didn't realize, and what I didn't realize either until later on, is that it's actually not even her fault. It's his fault. It's his fault for not including her in the teshuva. It's his fault for thinking that she is just going to catch up on her own, just like he caught up on his own. The reality is, in most cases, after dealing with people...

34:43Many aspects in the business world, Torah world, personal, and so on—both of them have had thousands and thousands of people that they have interacted with over the years. Ninety-nine percent of the time, unless you tell somebody to do something, they simply will not even think about doing it. We love to think that everyone should know what we're thinking—they don't. They're not prophets. They're not mind readers. Unless you tell somebody to do something—unless you say, "Listen, make a right over here"—he's not going to make a right. He's not inside your brain. She's not inside your brain. Unless you tell somebody, "Go here, go there, pick up this, buy this, eat this, do this," they're not going to do it. The person that thinks that everyone should read their mind—they should know already by now what I'm thinking—what does he do? He spends his whole life eating himself up: "Oh, she's doing this on purpose. She's not eating. She's not this. She's not doing what I said." You never said anything. You're just thinking about it, but you're having a whole dialogue in your mind, thinking that she should know what you're thinking, when in reality, you don't even know what you're thinking. So now the guy thought that his wife should know what he's thinking, and she should do teshuva.

35:59She's thinking he's crazy. That's all. She's thinking he's wearing strange strings and hats and so on. I don't know what he's doing. Just keep me out of it. So, the first thing that I said to people yesterday is that if you're gonna do teshuva, you have to do kiruv, and kiruv starts at home. If you're married or you're planning on being married, part of your learning has to be with your spouse and... if you still have a TV in your house and you guys have dinner, instead of watching TV or watching YouTube of some ducks crossing the road, put on a 15-minute shiur while you eat. Take a few minutes to prepare something, some shiur Torah or something that you liked or something that you didn't even see yet and... Some speaker that you're motivated by and while you're eating dinner at all. Hey, honey. Why don't we watch this? What's the worst she can say? No? Most of the time, she's not gonna care. But now you're eating instead of watching, I don't know, TV or some of the nonsense. You're actually learning Torah. After a few times

37:16she starts connecting to it because she's hearing it. Maybe in the beginning, she's not paying attention or she doesn't care. But after a few times, she starts liking it; after a few times, he starts liking it; after a few times, it becomes our thing. She's waiting for dinner not because of the food, but because of the speech, because we're going to learn together, because for the first time ever, we're going to connect on a spiritual level and... Everyone knows that the physical aspect of a relationship changes over time. Now, most of you guys are young, but not everyone. Over time, everything changes. You're not going to be 18 or 19 years old for the rest of your life. You and your wife are not going to look like you're 18 and 19 years old for the rest of your life. The physical aspect of the relationship will change; it will... You get older, the desires decrease in general. As you get older, you have different desires. But one thing that can change based on you is the spiritual aspect. Because even if your wife is now 60 years older than she was when you first met her, if you spent some time connecting with her spiritually, you'll feel a higher level of love for her and a higher level of connection to her than you even did at 19. Because the lust, the actual part that was physical, went away already. When you're 80 or 90 years old, what are you going to do, find a 20-year-old? She's not going to look at you. So you have to do something.

38:38Connecting with her spiritually, you'll feel a higher level of love for her and a higher level of connection to her than you even did at 19. Because the lust, the actual part that was physical, went away already. When you're 80 or 90 years old, what are you going to do, find a 20-year-old? She's not going to look at you. So you have to do something. So how do these people that are tzaddikim stay married to the same woman for seventy years and still love her more than they did at twenty? Because they've been connecting on a higher level spiritually for the last fifty or sixty or seventy years. How? We learn together. Sometimes it starts with fifteen minutes a day. Sometimes it starts with more. The point is when you learn Torah, both of your neshamos are learning the same thing at the same time. Both are making something similar to a chemical bond. You're both getting your perspective; she's getting her perspective of what the speaker is saying or what the book is saying, and you're getting your perspective. After the 15 minutes, most normal people are going to discuss it: "Oh, what do you think? What do you think? What did you get out of it? What did you get out of it?" All of a sudden, there's a conversation. After once, twice, three times, four times, five times, next thing you know, this is what's on your mind the whole day. The whole day, you're waiting for the 15 minutes, and...

40:02Marriage has now just changed. Why? It went from being purely physical to now actually having a real connection that's spiritual. And that's spiritual. It's something that can go drastically. This is the only way that you guys can get on the same page and... Because even if you do teshuva and she does teshuva on her own, generally you're never going to be on the same page. Why? Because you have your rabbi and she has her rabbi. You're motivated by this speaker. She's motivated by that speaker. You're holding by this halacha. She's holding by this minhag. And you guys are constantly having tension. Your rabbi says you're not allowed to wear wigs. Her rabbi says you should wear a long wig. Your rabbi is kadosh. Her rabbi is Amalek. Who knows? The point is, you have a problem here. You have a kitzur. Why? Because you're studying separately. There's no connection. You're not using the Torah to unite.

41:04In fact, the Torah is actually causing you to separate. You have different ideologies. The only thing you have in common is what all of Am Yisrael have in common. Same holidays: you have Chanukah, you have Purim, you have Pesach. You have all these holidays, okay. But in reality, you want to have certain minhagim, she wants to have something else. Why? Because you guys are on different pages. If you spend those first, in the beginning, 15 minutes or 20 minutes a day, not a year or a week, 15 minutes a day. Actually, talking about something, reading a book out loud, pick a book. Mesilat Yesharim, Chovot HaLevavot, there's countless books that you can read. But make sure that you're both interested in. Don't just pick stuff you're interested in. If you're interested in Torah and science and she's completely unaffiliated and uninterested in science, you're not allowed to read at that time. Because in the beginning of teshuva, you must read things you're interested in. Because if you don't, the Yetzer Hara will overcome it and tell you the rest of the Torah is also boring, and that will kill the whole teshuva from day one. So you have to pick a book that you're both interested in. So how do you know if you're most interested in it? Try opening a book and start reading. If you see her dozing off, okay, change the book. It's a good sign if people are sleeping; it usually means they're not interested.

42:27They're not always tired. If she's sleeping, you know, maybe it's because it's not Shabbat. Pick one of the clips—a short clip, 5, 10, 20-minute clips—or just press play on one of the shiurim. Watch for 15 minutes. If she's still interested, watch for longer. But you have to do it every day. Just like your body is used to eating every day, your neshama has to eat every day. And if your neshama has to eat every day, our neshamot have to eat every day. If both of your neshamot are eating together, then you have a marriage. Then you have a marriage. Now, many people that do teshuva can usually get their spouse to start keeping some basic level mitzvot, and necessarily because the wife or the husband cares about the Torah, but simply because they love the person—they love their husband, they love their wife. They don't want to offend them. They don't want to be like this cab driver that I was telling you about, where his wife is lighting a cigarette in front of his face just to torture him. Most people are normal, and they like each other and even love each other, so they're just going to keep Shabbat or keep kosher because they love each other.

43:42They're gonna do certain things not because they care but just because it's good for shalom bayit. It's, "I know that if I go to the movies on Shabbat and he's home on Shabbat, he's not gonna be happy about it. I know that if I'm eating shrimp while he's eating kosher steak, it's not gonna look good. So much for the kids, it's gonna cause problems." So most normal people who want to stay married are gonna keep some basic level of mitzvot, but this is not enough. is not enough, and the reason why is because, in the back of your mind, your neshama is always going to be suffering. Why isn't she doing more? Because if you're going to continue learning yourself, you're going to realize that for a man, the number one mitzvah is learning Torah. The number one mitzvah is learning Torah simply because if you don't learn Torah, you have no idea what to do. You could be the most generous person on earth. You can give a million dollars a minute if you have the budget, and there's still no gan eden. Even if you give a million dollars a minute, there's still no gan eden. Why? Because you're not gonna know how to keep Shabbat. You can't sleep all Shabbat every Shabbat for the rest of your life. So that means you're gonna be active. If you're gonna be active, you're gonna do stuff. If you're gonna do stuff, some of those things are not gonna be allowed on Shabbat. You're not gonna know, and...

44:58Same thing with the holidays, same thing with your marriage, same thing with your business; if you're not gonna learn, you're not gonna know what to do. It's the same thing in business. I used to have this guy who would call me, asking me for a job every so often. I knew him personally, and I never took him seriously, and the reason why is because he thought the whole thing was a game. He said, "Listen, I have a great track record and..." trading online. Why? Just give me a hundred million dollars of your client's money, and I'll do what I'm doing for myself. I would never even respond to him. I would never even look to respond to him. It wasn't even a conversation. I just found it funny and amusing but ridiculous at the same time. The reason why is because when he said, "I'm doing the same thing for myself," what he didn't take into account is that the hundred million dollars that we had is Actually, the real money was really people's money. For him, it was fake money; it was a demo account. It was a fake account. He was just playing on the internet with fake money. It wasn't real money. And I didn't even bother to explain to him that you can't compare the two. One is real, one is fake. If your life is constantly on demo and...

46:14you're gonna have a serious problem if you're only gonna keep things superficially. You're not gonna know what to do when the real time comes, when there's a real test. So the most important mitzvah that a man has to realize, the husband has to realize, is that he must learn Torah daily. For a woman, on the other hand, The biggest mitzvah that she has to do, other than obviously learning the basics of Torah, keeping Shabbat, keeping Taharat HaMishpacha, and so on, but the most critical mitzvah for a woman, to such an extent that the Chachamim say that without it there is absolutely no way for her to get to Gan Eden, is modesty. Why is modesty such a critical thing for a woman? It's because a woman that's modest able to do a lot of big things, can build on some foundation. A woman that's immodest is doing the exact opposite of what Hashem wants. How so? If you remember in the beginning, we talked about how the Prophet Yechezkel said that part of doing teshuvah is getting other people to do teshuvah. Not just you doing teshuvah, you have to get other people to do teshuvah. Now, a woman that's immodest is doing the opposite. Meaning that every time she walks around immodestly,

47:36she gets everyone to look at her. Every single time a person looks at her, he's making a sin—a sin so big that it creates a demon, and in some cases, many. He could think about this woman later on that day, and that could lead him to do other things and take action. To such an extent, the Chachamim say that if he actually takes action, she's a part of the sin. She becomes a Machtiat HaRabim. She becomes a person that gets other people. Instead of doing Teshuva, she gets people to do Aveirot. She becomes the opposite of her purpose. So now the Gemara, in Masechet Niddah, page 16b, says that There's an angel in Shamayim with the name Laila. It's named Laila, and this Laila is responsible for bringing every seed that comes out of a human body to Hashem. "Hashem, what will be with this seed? This came out of David, what's it going to be?" And Hashem decides if He's going to let this seed turn into a human being or not.

48:54Meaning that the seed has something in it already. There is a neshama that's connected to it. The question is whether Hashem is going to allow this neshama to enter a body. So imagine that literally every single seed that comes out of a human body has a name, has a mission, and has an angel assigned to it, and he gives it to Hashem, "Hashem, what do I do with this? What do I do with this? What do I do with this?" But that also means that if the seed is wasted, something is still created, and that something still exists; you just can't see it. And that's why, to this day in Yerushalayim, anytime that a man dies, they don't allow the children to bury the father because they say that if, in case the father wasted seed in his life and Those seeds exist, and they actually have a legitimate case to take revenge against the sons. They have more power in the cemetery and therefore we don't allow the children to enter the cemetery. Why? They may kill them. This is actually a real halacha; it is a real thing that happens to this day. It's not some fancy story from a thousand years ago. It really happens to this day. Every one of those seeds exists.

50:23Now the Rambam in Hilchot De'ot, chapter 3, halacha 3, he writes, he said a man should act with a subconscious feeling and an intent in his heart. he should have a son, meaning every man who gets married should ask, "Why should I have a son? Why should I have a son?" Perhaps this son is going to be a chacham and a great person in Israel. Everyone knows that every man likes sons, and women, everybody likes cute little babies. But he said, no, it's not just the cute baby. The cute baby should become a big tzadik, a big chacham. Okay, fine. Why? continues, saying, whoever walks with such a mindset that he's constantly thinking, "I hope that my son is going to be a big chacham." If he walks with this type of mindset his whole life and all of his days, he will be serving Hashem constantly. Because he's constantly thinking about Hashem, just like Hashem is thinking about him. He's thinking about Hashem.

51:37In that case, if he's thinking about, "Oh, maybe my son's going to become a big chacham," he's thinking about Hashem. That's also going to lead him to think about Hashem constantly. So that means he's going to think about Him during his business, he's going to think about Him during intimacy, and he's going to think about Him during every single mundane matter. Meaning that every single minute that he moves right or left, everywhere that he goes, he's constantly thinking about Hashem and... He says that way he's gonna fulfill his needs so that his body is whole to serve Hashem, and in Shemona Perakim The Rambam continues to say that this actual thought process of thinking about Hashem constantly and how you're going to serve Hashem by having a son who is going to be a tzaddik, who is going to learn Torah, and you're going to learn Torah, and your wife—all these things, constantly thinking about Hashem throughout every single thing, to such an extent that you're even supposed to think about Him when you're intimate with your wife. He says this is the real fulfillment of Shema Yisrael.

52:44When you say Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad, most Jews know it. Unfortunately, there are about a million Jews who don't know Shema Yisrael. But most Jews know it. When you say Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad, and you say Ve'ahavta et Hashem Elokecha, you say Ve'ahavta, Rambam says that's Ve'ahavta. Everybody thinks, oh, you love God because you gave tzedakah. Oh, it's nice. You gave tzedakah. It's chesed. Good job. But it doesn't mean you love God. Maybe you love yourself. Maybe you gave the building because you want your name on it. Oh, but he says, ve'ahavta, you learned Torah. Okay, you learned Torah. It doesn't necessarily mean you love God. Maybe you just like the intellectual stimulation. What's ve'ahavta et Hashem Elokecha? And you love God? Think about Him all the time. To such an extent that it's even during intimacy. Now, why does this part of the Torah connect to our day-to-day marriage, connect to our day-to-day life? Because if we're thinking about Hashem on a regular basis, that means that we're going to constantly try to deliver the message to other people and share the message with others.

54:03first starting at home, first starting with our husband, first starting with our wife, first starting with our kids, first starting with our immediate environment, and if we're able to do that, then we can fulfill the prophecy that says that at the end of days, just like B'not Yisrael had the merit to get us saved from Egypt, they're also going to get us saved at the time of Mashiach. And the reason why is because if B'not Yisrael do teshuva, that means that Mashiach will come. If B'not Yisrael don't do teshuva, the men don't have enough merit to do it by themselves. Yeah? Ve'ahavta means it's an active. Ve'ahavta, you're constantly loving Hashem. It's not just a one-time thing. You have to love them constantly; you have loved them in the past, you love them in the present, and you will love them in the future. It's not just a one-time thing. It's an active thing that you do, have done, and will continue doing. It's a constant mitzvah. Yeah. Okay.

55:28So that's a mitzvah that people misunderstand, and they think that they're not able to think about God in the bathroom. Someone who is righteous, it's not possible for them not to think about God. Even if they want to, it's not possible. So what it says about not being allowed to think about God or Torah in the bathroom means that thinking about God, thinking about the creation, thinking about the fact that your body is actually working—every normal person thinks that it has to come from somewhere. If you're religious, if you have Yirat Shamayim, you're thinking that it's coming from Hashem. You're thanking Hashem that your body works, and... On the other hand, when it says that you're not allowed to think Torah, it means that you're not allowed to start figuring out different halachot and different chidushim about the Torah itself. Thinking about the Creator per se, of course, you have to. Every person will do. But as far as thinking about what did Moshe Rabbeinu do here, what is this halacha here on Pesach, all of those intricate details that require you to think actively about what to do and how to do it, those things you're not supposed to do.

56:32But thinking that there's a Creator and the Creator is the one that's allowing you to go to the bathroom without screaming your lungs out, that you have to do if you're a normal person. So that's the thing that most people misunderstand. They think you can't think about God in the bathroom. It's not possible. Now you're analyzing, you know, Right, no, but these things become second nature. These things become second nature to you as far as how to go and what to do, and all of those different things become second nature. It's not something that you're constantly figuring out who, what, when, and how. And generally, most people, they go to the bathroom, they take care of their business, and they leave. you know they're not thinking about, "On Pesach, I'm gonna do this, and the table is gonna look this way. And on Sukkot, my sukkah has to be this way and that big." All of those things are not part of their thinking. They're just thinking they have to do their business, and then they leave. So, that's also one of the reasons why a person shouldn't actively stay extra time in the bathroom just doing nothing, because eventually, they're gonna start thinking, you know, something not allowed to think.

57:45But now, anybody else? Any other questions? No? You look like you have a question. You're debating, no? Sure? All right. So now, when it comes to... Yeah? We're good? So now, when it comes to doing teshuva... If you get your wife to keep Shabbat, you get your wife to keep Taharat HaMishpacha, you get your wife to keep kosher, you're already doing half the job. The question is, how do you get them to start keeping modesty? How do you get your wife to start becoming modest? Now, if this whole time you've been learning Torah on your own, most likely she will never become modest. And the reason why is because she doesn't think she has to. She still wants to dress like she's always dressed. But if you've learned Torah with her, that means you're also going to learn modesty together. Now, in this week's parasha, there's something very interesting. I'll give you guys an interesting chiddush; it's worth at least a million bucks. I'll give it to you guys for free or, if you want, on down payment. But in this week's parasha, Parashat Shemini, Parashat Shemini...

59:09It says something very interesting in chapter 11, verse 33. Before this, the parasha talks about how the holy things that Aharon and his sons were doing, they became officially the Kohanim. They started doing their services. They started going into the Kodesh HaKodashim. It was the Beit HaMikdash of the desert. But then Nadav and Avihu, two of Aharon HaKohen's sons, made a mistake, and Hashem killed them both. Here we see that despite the fact that even Moshe Rabbeinu said that Nadav and Avihu were greater than him and Aharon... Hashem is not joking. When He says to do something, do it. If we don't do it, we get punished, even if you're a giant, even if you're a tzaddik. There's reward and there's punishment for everyone, and the more righteous you are, the more precise the judgment is, but also the bigger the reward. If you fast forward, He starts talking about things that are allowed and things that are not allowed.

1:00:35not allowed to become intoxicated for no reason. You're not allowed to eat certain types of food. The laws of kashrut are interesting. There are interesting proofs here for anyone that has doubts about whether the Torah is divine or not. This is actually one of the parashiyot that has many proofs in it. For example, it says that we're only allowed to eat fish that have fins and scales. Only allowed to eat fish that have fins and scales. Now, the Chachamim say that there are fish that have fins and scales, and there are fish that have only fins but no scales. But there's no fish in the world that you will ever find that only has scales and no fins. Now atheists and the anti-Torah and the lefties and the liberals and the Greeks and the Romans and people throughout the last 3,300 years have been trying to prove this fact wrong. Why? Because if they find one fish in the world—right now we know of approximately 40,000 different types of fish in the world—and

1:01:59So if we find one of those fish that only has scales but no fins, that means there's a mistake in the Torah. If there's a mistake in the Torah, that means it's not from God. It's not divine. Because Hashem doesn't make mistakes. If it's not from God, I don't have to listen to it. human opinion, it's like the New Testament, it's like the Quran, it's like Buddha, it's like Bitcoin, it's like everything else in the world — it's human opinion. Why do I want to listen to somebody's opinion? On the other hand, if there is no fish, if I can't find a fish in the world throughout all of history, including mutations and everything else, that only has scales, then that's a problem. Why? Because that means the book is from God. If it's from God, Would be crazy not to listen to it. Yes, because that's the intricate thing: fins and scales. We have fins, no scales; we have just scales, no. If it was just scales...

1:03:12You would say, "Okay, so you just have scales, but what about fins?" Meaning you still have this, there are two proofs, yes, that fins and scales—if it's just the scales, it changes the makeup of the entire argument. So now, out of 40,000 fish, no one in history has ever found a fish with just scales. Now, some people say, "Wait, what about the snake?" No, a snake is not a fish. Not a fish. Some of them swim, but they're not fish. But anyway, Rabotai, these are just some of the things that you will find in this parasha. But the chiddush that I told you is worth a million bucks is not that. The chiddush is this. Later on, it talks about different objects and how they become impure. let's say, for example, there is an akhbar, which is like a rat, or tsav, or some type of... there are a few different animals that are impure, and if they touch something else, they make it impure. If a dead body touches them, it makes them impure. He says there is one thing: if it's an earthenware utensil, something similar to clay—not quite, but similar to clay...

1:04:35that if something that's impure touches the outside, it doesn't change it. It stays pure. But if it touches the inside of it, then the earthenware utensil becomes impure and you cannot purify it. Everything else that becomes impure, you can purify it. If it's metal, if it's anything else, you can purify it. But the earthenware utensil, you cannot purify it. What do you have to do with it? You have to break it. That's what the Torah says. But the only way that it becomes impure is if something touches the inside. If it's on the outside, if it's on a surface, nothing happens. Now where is another place in the Torah that it actually mentions the same earthenware utensil? If you fast forward to Parashat Naso. Parashat Naso has a section in it that's called Parashat Sotah. has a section in it that's called Parashat Sotah. Parashat Sotah, it's in the book of Numbers, Bamidbar, chapter 5, and it says a whole story about a wayward woman, a woman that's suspected of cheating on her husband. From here, we learn many halachot, one of them is that a woman that's married must cover her hair with a hat or a mitpachat, a scarf.

1:06:04She's married. If she's not married, she doesn't have to. Some, like the Rambam, say she has to anyway after the age of six, but most say that she doesn't have to unless she's married. So, there are two conditions in which a woman does not have to cover her hair: if she's not married or if she doesn't have a head. If she doesn't have a head, she does not have to cover her head. This was a joke; you guys were supposed to laugh. So, the interesting part of this parasha is that it says that if the woman is suspected of cheating on the husband—suspected, how are you going to know? There were no private investigators in those days, so... husband would tell the woman, "Don't go and be with this such-and-such guy. If you are suspected, you're cheating." If he warns her and she still goes and she's found and she's caught in a closed room with a strange man that's not her husband, they don't have to do anything; even if they're just literally sitting there after she was warned, she's still there. Then he brings his wife to the Beit HaMikdash, he brings her to the Kohen Gadol, and the Kohen Gadol gives her this special holy water, and...

1:07:16He makes her drink it. If she cheated, she blows up and dies. If she didn't, she actually gets a blessing. If her sons were ugly, they become good-looking. If her sons were stupid, they become smart. If she never had sons, she now will have sons, and so on and so forth. But it's a whole process of what happens. It's not like just one, you know, "Here, drink, and let's see what happens—50-50 chance." It's a whole process of what happens. Part of the process is trying to intimidate her to tell him the truth, to admit that she really did cheat. Why would you be with this strange man alone if you didn't cheat? What are you doing? Either way, you did something wrong. Your husband told you not to do it, and you're doing it anyway—that already by default is wrong. But it's not that you committed the sin all the way; it's not a death penalty. So now, one of the things that they do is make her walk around and get her tired, walk around the entire Beit HaMikdash. After she gets tired, you... Maybe that's going to cause her to tell the truth because if she admits it and says, "Yes, I made the sin," then they don't have to kill her. They just break up the marriage. They have to get a divorce. But there's no death penalty because, in reality, the rabbis don't want to kill the woman even if she made a sin. They don't want to kill her anyway. But if she continues to deny it, then she's, in essence, killing herself. Now, here, the holy water is one thing that was given...

1:08:45Second tool is that they take the name of Hashem and they write it on a scroll, like a sefer Torah. Hashem says you're not allowed to erase My name. If you erase the name of Hashem, it's a biblical sin. But there is one condition that you are allowed to erase My name for—what? For this mitzvah. Take this scroll that you wrote My name on and dip it into the water until all of the ink... Erased, and it's actually inside the water. Mix it, and that's the holy water that you make this wife drink. If she sinned, like I said, she gets punished; if she didn't, then she gets blessed. Now, what is this? What's the canister that they're actually putting it into? It is this earthenware vessel, the same earthenware vessel that we just told you does not become impure unless you touch the inside. And... So from here, we also learn something. A marriage is always something you can fix if the damage is on the exterior. If the damage is on the exterior, you can fix it. You say a bad word, she says a bad word, you curse or something, you yell—all of those things, exterior stuff, you can fix. But once you break a heart,

1:10:09once you give your heart to someone else, once it's inside, it's not fixable anymore. What do you have to do? Just like you break the utensil, you have to break the marriage. Once a woman cheats on her husband, he's not allowed to continue being with her anymore. Even if he wants to, even if she's the nicest person in the world, he's not allowed to stay with her anymore. Now the question is, In the world would make a woman want to do such a thing. Obviously, this is not just something that a woman does on her own. This is something that builds up—mistreatment, lack of attention, and so on. Women don't just all of a sudden decide that they want a new husband and Women are very different than men. Men, in general, think physically; women think emotionally. When a man looks at a woman, he thinks about her physically. When a woman looks at a man, she thinks about him emotionally. He looks at her, and he's thinking about different physical things. She looks at him, and she thinks, "Oh, he looks funny."

1:11:24He looks like a nice guy. He looks generous. She looks like she's thinking about his personality. That's how women think, even though she's also looking at his car and his house sometimes. But the reality is that if she's a normal woman, she's thinking, "Oh, he looks like he has a nice personality." A man, on the other hand, doesn't care: car, no car; house, no house. He's thinking straight, one-way minded. That's the way a man is; that's the way he was created. But this is only initially. Over time, once she becomes your wife, your perspective changes and... Yes.

1:12:28Wait, so a person that's married is having intimacy with a woman that's not his wife? I'm not following. Oh, a guy went to a prostitute. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Oh, a guy went to a prostitute. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

1:13:30Okay, okay, so have you ever heard of the holiday Purim? Right, Purim. You've heard of the holiday Purim, right? Unlike Halloween, which has a source in avodah zarah, Purim comes from the story of Megillat Esther. A few thousand years ago, Haman HaRasha wanted to destroy all of Am Yisrael and... And the minhag of celebrating Purim, dressing up, costumes, and so on is part of the minhag. So some people celebrate Purim once a year. Some people celebrate Purim every day. They wear a costume every day. Sometimes the costume is a beard and a hat. Sometimes the costume is something else. Just because somebody calls themselves a Chassid doesn't mean they're a Chassid. The reality is that most people do not know what Chassid actually means. Chassid means that you're doing above the law. There's the law, there is the halacha.

1:14:35Hashem says keep Shabbat. Hashem says keep Taharat Mishpacha. Hashem says all of these different laws that we have to do. A Chassid does above the law, meaning everyone else keeps Shabbat—let's say it starts at 7, he starts at 5:30, he starts at 6, meaning he's keeping Shabbat an extra hour, extra two hours. Sometimes a regular person prays Shacharit for, let's say, it takes them 45 minutes; the Chassid prays for three hours, four hours. Why? It's Chassid. Most people that call themselves Chassidim today don't even know the meaning of Chassid. It just became a look. Anyone that wears black and white is a Chassid. It's all complete nonsense. And that's why when a person doesn't learn Chassidut, real Chassidut, they could act like an animal, like the one that you're describing, in the name of Hashem. Now, the Gemara in Masechet Pesachim... Says that there's an angel called Naval, like the word Menuval—despicable. Now, this angel is responsible for poverty. He's responsible for poverty. This angel, Naval, is responsible for giving poverty to anyone who does things that are considered disgusting, anything that's considered despicable.

1:16:01Something that's despicable that they explained in the Gemara is, for example, somebody urinating in the middle of the street, or somebody eating in a very, very disgusting way. To such an extent, there used to be a certain type of — it's not really a bug, but in our eyes, it looks like a bug similar to a grasshopper — it's called a shor ha'bor. Now, shor ha'bor is actually kosher and Now, most of the population today doesn't know what it is. It looks like a grasshopper to us, so we're not allowed to eat it. But the Yemenites have a minhag, and even some Moroccans have a minhag, that they actually know which one it is, and they're allowed to eat it, because it's kosher. Now one of the chachamim, Rava, in the Gemara Masechet Shabbat, said, "Oh, here, I found one," and he started eating it. Now why would you want to eat this thing that looks like a bug technically? He says because this thing had a special segula where if you eat it from the right side, it would open up your mind in such a way that you could literally acquire an infinite amount of wisdom in a very short period of time. In order to stop, you have to eat the other side.

1:17:15Now one of the other chachamim saw him eat it. He said, "Stop. It's not allowed to eat it." He goes, "Why? It's kosher." He goes, "Yes, but it's disgusting to me. If it's disgusting, it's not kosher, even if the food's kosher. Meaning, even if you have a nice kosher steak, juicy, $150 steak, if you're a disgusting eater, you're not allowed to eat it next to people. Eat somewhere else. So we're not allowed to be disgusting." So behavior, like what you're describing, is disgusting. And b'ezrat Hashem, this angel will visit him, or probably already did. Now, another thing that's considered disgusting in the eyes of Hashem that this angel is responsible for, is when people mistreat mitzvot, Like, for example, when somebody takes netilat yadayim, something that's a very, very simple mitzvah, he takes it like it's, yeah, it's just to get it done, just to get it out of the way. Yesterday I said in a shiur, someone that wants to have a lot of good parnassah, there's a segulah, where actually if you wash your hands with a lot of water, it gives you a lot of parnassah. It's supposed to. Assuming that all of your other things are doing good. You keep Shabbat and everything else.

1:18:25On the other hand, if you just do it normally, it's good too. But if you just do it like a lot of people do it quickly just to get it over with, this navaal comes and visits you. Why? He says, you're mezalzel b'mitzvot. It's disgusting to me. I'm going to come visit you. I'm going to take your money. You got a million this year, you're supposed to get a hundred million. You're only going to get a million. You got five thousand, you were supposed to get five hundred thousand. But because you're mezalzel b'mitzvot. The other thing, and then I'll answer your question, is that Something that's unfortunately very common is when a woman acts in a manner that is disgusting in the eyes of Hashem. There are a couple of things that are particularly detestable to Hashem that women do if they are far from Him. One is cursing. When a woman curses, especially if she curses her husband, this is considered disgusting in the eyes of Hashem and... Second thing is, if a woman carries herself, either by clothing or by behavior, in an immodest way. In today's world, we are so far away from reality that many women think it's a good thing to have boyfriends. Even if she's not intimate with anybody, she has friends that are boys. For the guys, this is not allowed.

1:19:41There's no such thing as platonic relationships in the Torah, like you're just friends with someone of a different gender. People coming into each other's houses, kissing each other's wives, and dancing with each other's wives—these things are a hundred percent forbidden in the Torah. To such an extent, it's literally considered disgusting in the eyes of Hashem. To such an extent that if you kiss somebody else's wife, even just to say hello, it's considered like you were with her. It's like eshet ish. And eshet ish is one of those things where it's better that you die and don't do it. There are three cardinal sins where it's better that you die than commit the sin. One is worshiping an idol. obviously with its Buddha or JC Penny or whoever it is. That's one of them. The second thing is murder another person.

1:20:42You're not allowed to murder another person; your blood is not more valuable than his or hers. The third thing is, you're not allowed to commit any sex crimes. Sex crimes don't mean what the government categorizes as sex crimes, like rape. Sex crimes mean you're actually touching anyone that's not your wife, which is not allowed, with the exception of your mom. Obviously, you're allowed to hug your mom; she's your mom. You're still a little baby to her. With the exception of that, the Rambam says even touching your own sister Stupid thing to do. Even touching your own sister is a stupid thing to do. It's a hundred percent not allowed the same way as touching a woman that's completely not related to you. Unless your sister's married, once she's married, if you touch her, it's like you chose to touch any strange woman. For that, in the eyes of Hashem, it's better you would have died. They're not made that sin. It's three cardinal sins. It's so it's these are sick things that unless you learn Torah, you're simply never gonna know this stuff, and you'll do it your whole life thinking, "Why, I'm a tzaddik. How come Hashem gives me so many problems? Diseases, problems. Why? Yeah, you're a murderer every day, and you don't even know it. You think you're a nice guy. So this guy that calls himself a chassid that you said he's one of the biggest murderers in his neighborhood. Maybe it's not Hashem. You'll also find out soon. Yeah.

1:22:03It's better they do the mitzvah. But if, if, yeah, if it's an option of don't do it or be a 'mechalel Shabbat,' I mean, it's like one is 'neveilah' and one is 'treifah.' You know, one is a pig or one is an animal that died without shechitah. So neither one is good. Ideally, we're supposed to teach people to do it. Yeah, but he's also gonna get a punishment for not doing it. So, it's a different level of punishment if somebody doesn't keep Shabbat. He's gonna get a punishment for it. If somebody keeps Shabbat but has the TV on, even if he's not changing the channels. It's not changing the channels, but the TV's on in the background. He has the basketball game on, so technically it's not forbidden like driving a car is, but it's not oneg Shabbat. So he's mezalzel beShabbat. That's a problem. So yeah, it's not like driving on Shabbat, but in Shamayim you're gonna have to pay for it. Anyway, it's just a different bill. There's department seven for the one that drove on Shabbat. There's department five and six for the guy that watched TV. Different department. Yeah.

1:23:21I know, me too. If you don't kiss, it looks strange. You're a human being; you have desires. They're human beings; they have desires. Every single day, you're supposed to read Keriat Shema every day and... After you say, so the first thing it says is that you're supposed to love Hashem with all of your heart, with all of your money, with all your being. So first and foremost, we already know that Hashem has a different cheshbon with us, a different accounting with us than everyone else. Meaning Hashem is more important than your own parents. Even though one of the Ten Commandments is to honor your parents, it's the fifth commandment.

1:24:23The first three are Hashem. Hashem is the only God, He took us out of Egypt, don't use His name in vain, and so on and so forth. Meaning that if honoring your parents gets in the way of honoring Hashem, you're not allowed to honor your parents. Not that you shouldn't, you're not allowed. For example, if your parents tell you, "Listen, drive on Shabbat to go get me a pack of cigarettes," You're not allowed to listen to your parents. There's no such thing as, "Oh, no, but I'm honoring my parents." There's no parents at that point. Why? Because at that point, they've removed themselves from being your parents. Right. So now, if your parents or whoever is telling you to do something that's against God, even if you... I'm giving you an extreme example that it's your parents. It's needless to say if it's somebody lesser. If somebody tells you to do something against God, there's never an argument to do something against God. So that's one thing. The second thing is after that, you say the tzitzit. You’re supposed to wear tzitzit. By the way, guys, I brought you a bunch of tzitzit. Whoever wants to take on the mitzvah of tzitzit, I'll explain to you why you should.

1:25:28Momentarily, but ultimately the tzitzit says you're supposed to wear it so that you do not follow the desires of your heart and the desires of your eyes. your heart and your eyes. Why? Because you're a human being. So even if your aunt is 70 years old, and she's married to your uncle who's 90 years old, and they're both 150 pounds overweight, and all of those things, your yetzer hara could still develop some type of strange desire from a simple kiss. Your heart will have something, and that can lead you to something else—a different picture, a different this, a different that—and that can ultimately lead you to make the cardinal sin of wasting seed. So, even making a simple kiss of our aunt, who is, I don't know, 60 years older than you, is not allowed for that reason. The second reason is she's married to another person. She's considered an eshet ish. Even though she's your aunt, it doesn't really mean anything. She's your aunt, but that means nothing in Hashem's eyes. It means she belongs to another person, and you're not allowed to touch her.

1:26:36Now, even though the traditions, especially Sephardic traditions from Morocco, from Tripoli, from, you know, Iran, from everywhere, everyone has this lovey-dovey minhagim. We like to hug, we like to kiss, we're very, very warm people. That's allowed, that's not allowed, and Chachamim say it's better that you're viewed as a drunk and... Everyone in the world, your entire life for 70 years, then as a Rasha in the eyes of Hashem for one minute. Why? Because then thinking you're a drunk for seven years. "Oh, look at this guy. He doesn't even give his aunt a good, nice kiss. Hello. What kind of nephew is he? What kind of this? What kind of that? Wasn't like you all of a sudden?" It's better they all hate you, not only not like you, hate you your whole life. Then Hashem says, "Oh, here's my son, the Rasha." Why? Because when he says "Rasha," it actually means something. So again, the reality is that in the beginning, it's very uncomfortable. I can tell you the truth; it's very uncomfortable. Why? Because we want people. And we want to kiss. We want to hug. And it doesn't mean anything to us, intimately and so on. But Hashem says it does. He says you're not allowed to follow the desires of your heart or the desires even of your eyes.

1:27:52Therefore, we're not allowed. We just have to do the will of Hashem. So, in the beginning, it's uncomfortable. After a while, it actually becomes less uncomfortable, and eventually, people respect you for it. Why? Because, "Oh, that's my nephew, that's a tzaddik. That's my nephew, that's a tzaddik." Why? You're special. Everyone else is the same. He's the tzaddik. He doesn't touch anybody except his wife. So, realistically, people will respect you over time for doing it after the initial stage of difficulty. Yeah, I What touching a woman who is not your wife? Okay, but she's not your wife. You want to stay married? Well, touching a woman who is not your wife—then you're touching, you know, you're touching a woman who is not your wife. That's a different problem. You're also not allowed to do that. It's not to the same level as an eshet ish, but it's also not allowed. You're not allowed to touch any woman that's not your wife. To such an extent, actually, that you're not even allowed to touch your wife in public. Your own wife, you're not allowed to touch her in public. You know, a lot of people like to take pictures with their wives and they put it on the internet like they're kissing each other. It's not allowed, according to the Torah.

1:29:10not to show affection to your wife in front of other people. Why? Because your affection to your wife can cause this guy to sin. He's now gonna think about your wife when he's with his wife. And by the way, the Yetzer Hara is very, very clever. He's only gonna put those crazy thoughts in your mind at the most inappropriate time. There are two specific times you're gonna think about a strange woman that's not your wife. One is when you're praying to God and As soon as you pray, before you pray, you were learning, you were with the guys, you were this, you were thinking about your bank account, your stock account, your business, your customers, you thought about everything but this woman you saw three weeks ago. The minute you open the Siddur and there's Amidah, all of a sudden she's in your mind like she's tattooed to your brain. That's the first time you're thinking about it. Immediately you're supposed to go talk to Hashem, she's there. Why? Yetzer Hara works in a very clever way. The second time, the Gemara says, it appears, when you're with your wife, intimately. To such an extent that they say that if you are actually intimate with your wife while you're thinking about another woman, some, it's not Halacha, but some of the Tana'im say, your son is considered a mamzer.

1:30:22It's not really, it's not Halacha, but nonetheless, the point is that the fact that it's even a thought, that your son is a wayward son because you're thinking about another woman, is a problem. The point is that it's considered disgusting in the eyes of Hashem. Why would we want to be disgusting in the eyes of Hashem? Yeah? Well, he was behind you. You're after. Call him. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. They exist in the world. Yeah, they exist in the world. And sometimes I bring, you know, maybe like Torah and science or, you know, different things that are very, very interesting. They listen, people will consider it, and then they're, you know. Yeah, it's such a good thing. Okay. In this world of, you know, Steve Jobs and many other entrepreneurs, they have this erroneous notion that some people just will never get it. You know, some people will never be that.

1:31:25Yeah. So, I mean, the thing is though, is that there's general kiruv and then there's personalized kiruv. General kiruv is when you're talking to the public, and if there are some 50 people in front of me, you know, maybe five are actually going to like everything that I say. One is going to do something about it. And that one is the one that I'm coming for. The Rambam, alav hashalom, says that if I'm giving a lecture to 10,000 people and I know for sure that 9,999 of them Not only are they not going to listen to it, they're actually going to go against me. They're going to have websites against me, make a movie against me, put me on feeds—all the different things people do against me. People actually do it against me. They make a movie about me. They have websites against me—all types of wonderful, nice acts that are preparing their Gehinnom. But anyway, he says, I know for sure they're all going to make websites about me. I know. But one guy out of 10,000, he's going to do teshuva.

1:32:50Rambam says, "I care less about the nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine because I only came for the one guy. Because he's looking for the truth; the rest of them are just looking for excuses to justify their life." So now, when you're doing general kiruv, you're not going to make everyone like you. I'm sure some people liked some of the things that I said today, and some people outright hated it. Some people thought it's okay, and some people loved it, and they're going to change their lives. That's just the reality. I'm here to deliver the news. You do what you want with it. I'm only going to tell you what God said. You do what you want. You're an adult. You're adults. You're going to do what you want with it. You want to do it? You don't want to do it. At least I did my job. I'm not thinking about, oh, I hope. I did my job. I came. I delivered the message. I pray that you all do teshuva. I pray that I do teshuva. It works for every single one of you. And you end up affecting thousands and thousands of other people. And all realize how special you really are in the eyes of Hashem. And the reality is all of Am Yisrael does teshuva. Mashiach arrives next week.

1:33:57I'll buy, but realistically speaking, I know that most people are just not going to listen. Why? They're already glued to the sin. They're already used to the avodah zarah that they call their life. They're used to the money. They're used to girls. They're used to guys. They're used to the clubs. They're used to a lot of different things. Am Yisrael had a hard time leaving Egypt and The Chachamim say, why did they have such a hard time leaving Egypt? Because they were actually worshiping idols. What do you mean? You saw the miracles, you saw Hashem change the world, you saw Hashem change nature. How could you still be an idol worshiper? It's not a matter of wanting it; they just got used to it. They got used to smoking cigarettes, they got used to being with a different girl every day, they got used to doing all these different things... The change is hard. It's hard to change. And that's why sometimes a person gets a text message from Hashem, another person gets into a car accident, one person gets an email, another person gets, chas v'shalom, cancer. You decide what you want. Hashem is going to send you the text message. He's going to send you the email. He's going to call you once in a while. He's going to send the messenger. Eventually, the message is going to get louder.

1:35:14Text, WhatsApp, Facebook, a tweet, maybe an email, somebody sends you a letter, a phone call, but eventually, hello? Yeah, yeah, we're here to come on. Let's go. Coming with us. Why? I've been calling you for three years, four years, five years. What do you think? If you just treat Him like He's one of your buddies, and it's actually a verse in the Torah that says it. He says to the prophet Yeshayahu, "What do you think I was like you?" Just because I didn't punish you, I just forgot the sin? You said I was like you, I just forget, I change my mind? For that, we get extra punishment. So again, some people are gonna listen now, some people are gonna listen later. That's general. When it comes to personalized, you have to custom make it. When it's one-on-one or with people that you know, you have to use your wisdom. Hashem gave you wisdom, baruch Hashem. He gave you an imagination. You're supposed to use it for other things than just developing apps and websites and so on. There are other things to use it for. Use it to do kiruv. How? Hey, listen, this guy, he likes science.

1:36:18He likes science. Okay, so I'm going to show him Hashem through science. You give him the Rabbi Zamir Cohen book. You show him, look at this. Hashem this. You give him, show him a book full of different things. The movies. Why? Because he likes science. And you're showing him Torah has more science than the scientists. If he likes science. Now if he doesn't like science, but he likes wisdom. He likes philosophy. Bring him the Rambam. Bring him just one page. One page out of the book Moreh Nevuchim. Anyone that likes philosophy, even if he is able to understand a single page, one page, as the Rambam is a genius, really understand, not understand according to his definition, really understand. Why? Because the Rambam's wisdom supersedes anything we could possibly imagine to such an extent. There was actually an Israeli Nobel Prize winner, and... An Israeli Nobel Prize winner, who at the time was not religious, once said, "What are you guys making such a big deal about this Rambam, Rambam? Who is this big deal Rambam who says I'm not smarter than him?" And he was told, "Listen sir, you know, kol hakavod that you have a Nobel Prize, but you're out of your league here. So what's the big deal? Listen, Rambam wrote his books..."

1:37:39Love deal, but he wrote his book similar to how God wrote the Torah. Meaning, he didn't just give you wisdom; he minimized the words and specifically used certain letters in certain words to such an extent that people that actually learn Rambam don't only learn what he said, but they learn how he said it and Why did he use the Aleph here, but not on the other page? That means something. We actually study it like we study the Sefer Torah. Why did he only use three words here and not four? Why do we not use... That's how they study it. So the guy didn't believe it. It's like, alright, listen, you know what, go learn any sugya, go learn any other halacha you want from the Gemara and... Whatever you want and summarize it in the least amount of words, and then we'll compare it to how the Rambam did it. So the guy, for several months, he took the Gemara, picked some other halacha— I don't remember which halacha it was— and he learned it and he wrote it in a paragraph, a nice long paragraph. They said, "Uh, sorry sir, but you got to minimize it." There's one minimizes. "I wrote a lot of those 20 pages. I minimized it to one paragraph." They said, "Good for you, but it's not enough."

1:38:51Minimize the work for another couple of months. Minimize it in half. They said, "Thank you, but you're not even close. Minimize, minimize, minimize." Eventually, he got it down to somewhere around 23 words. To him, it was like, "Wow, I should get another Nobel Prize just for this!" They said, "Let's see the Rambam. Let's see the Rambam." They brought the Rambam—seven words. The seven words that he described are actually more detailed than this guy's 23 words, meaning it was so far apart that when you actually understand the wisdom of the Rambam in philosophy, in science, in medicine, and in Torah, you realize that in all of the fields that he excelled in, it's no wonder that even the goyim have a statue of him in Washington as one of the 18 greatest men that ever lived in history. his wisdom, if you compare it to the smartest man in the world today, whoever it is—pick one. I don't know who it is—you pick whoever it is. Now you have three possibilities: You have the Rambam, you have the smartest man in the world, and then you have a monkey. And

1:40:01Okay? Because people think we're close to apes. Some people think we came from apes. Maybe they did, but we didn't. Now, you have the ape, you have the Rambam, and you have the smartest man in the world. The smartest man in the world is closer to the wisdom of the ape than he is to the Rambam. That's how far we are. That's how far we are. But the problem is that we don't understand this until we read some of the work, and we realize it was so far away. Now, the Rambam, who lived 900 years ago, with all of his wisdom and kedusha and everything else, was not even at the level to be a student of Rabbi Akiva. Because in order to be a student of Rabbi Akiva, you have to have such a high level of holiness, wisdom, and so on, that you have to be able to look at a person and revive him. Revive the dead. Not just like, "Oh, he's dead? Okay, bring him back. I don't want him to die. Come." Now people say, "Ah, that's too much. It doesn't really happen." Well, here, Rabotai, it happened many times. It's actually been written in the Torah. The prophet Elisha, in the book of Kings,

1:41:11in the book of Kings, the prophet Elisha died. Elisha was the talmid of Eliyahu HaNavi. Eliyahu HaNavi, who is going to come three days before Mashiach—his talmid was Elisha, Elisha HaNavi. Now, Elisha made many, many miracles, Baruch Hashem, but eventually died, unlike Eliyahu HaNavi, who never died. Elisha died, so it says here... Chapter 13, verse 20: "And then Elisha died, and they buried him." So we know it's not like this is a literal verse in the Torah that says Elisha died. The very next verse, it says that it happened that troops from Moav came to the land at the start of the year. Some of the people were burying a man because they came, and they started fighting. Some of the people died, and they wanted to bury this man, one of their people. Just as they saw the troops coming, they threw the man into Elisha's grave. So they were burying him, but they didn't realize what was happening there. The opposing army came and said, "Oh, listen, we don't have time to do the whole ceremony, everything. Just throw him into the grave." And Elisha actually happened to be this body that just died recently and was in the grave. They just threw him on top of Elisha, and

1:42:36The man's body rolled over, touched the bones of Elisha, and then the man came back to life and rose up on his feet. Now, Elisha didn't pray for him; Elisha was dead. But his Kedushah was at such a high level that just another dead person touching his body came back to life, walked around, and went back to fighting. We think that this is like some fairy tale. If you believe in the Torah, you have to believe this. This is a literal verse in the Torah. It's not once, not twice, not three times, not five times, not ten times. It's all over the Torah. So as great as the Rambam was, he wasn't at the level of Elisha. So when people say, "I don't know, I disagree with this, I disagree with that," it's such cluelessness. We're so far away from home that we really don't know right or left. So now, when you're doing kiruv, you have to talk to people at their level. So... People, you're going to have to go to them and give them something they like. If they like science, give them science. If they like philosophy, give them philosophy. You have the Rambam, and you have many others as well. But at the end of all of it, sometimes you're going to find one of these tough nuts. These people are just tough. They just don't want to listen. It doesn't matter what you say to them; they're always going to have an argument, and they think they're smarter than they really are. For them, there's only one argument.

1:44:00Disciple ago on a lava shalom lived almost more than less than a hundred years ago one of the greatest minds that ever lived in at least the last hundred years. His son is Rav Kanievsky, the dor dor right now. This type of Gaon was at such a high level yet ruach hakodesh that if somebody walked into his beit midrash, if the guy was a mechalei Shabbat, he would feel it and he didn't have to know who the guy was or what he didn't have to look at him immediately he would feel that somebody that violates Shabbat entered his building and he would start screaming like a mad person. So now, the Steipler said for all of those people who think that Torah is nonsense or it's not, it's only for fools or it's only for people that just need something. You know, you need hope, so therefore you learn Torah. You need this, you need that. For all those people that make these smart remarks that are really stupid, just look at who actually follows the Torah and

1:45:09You have people like the Steipler. There was a genius that you can't describe. You have someone like Rav Ovadia, that everyone around him in the world says that if he was in any other field, he would have been the best and discovered anything. If he was in medicine, he would have discovered the cure for cancer. If he was an astronomer, he would have discovered a new planet. mind was something out of this world. A journalist once wrote an article saying that Rav Ovadia Yosef’s memory was too old. He’s 80-something years old; you shouldn’t listen to him. He probably lost his memory like every typical 80-year-old. So Rav Ovadia read this and invited the guy to his house. He said, “Why did you say that I lost my memory? Did I do anything or say something that made you think it?” “No, I just figured you’re 80-something years old. Naturally, you’re gonna forget.” Well, naturally, okay. Well, maybe I didn't. He goes, "Why don't we test it?" He's like, "For the love, you know, there's no need. One moment, write another article about you, embarrassing you even more. Because what do you care? What do you have to lose? You already wrote the article. Let's try it." They look at him. "I'll pick any book here," and he shows him his library, which was pretty much his entire house. There were no walls; it was just books. Some estimate it's between 40 to 60 thousand books.

1:46:2740,000 to 60,000 books, okay? We're not talking about this; it's not even a thousand books. You need a few hundred. This whole thing is a few hundred books, maybe 40,000 to 60,000 books. He tells them, "Pick anything you want. Just tell me the name of the book, the author, and the first word on any page." That's it. The guy said, listen, you know, he said just go do it. No, the guy climbs a ladder. He thinks maybe this is like a joke or a scam or something. He climbs the ladder. He goes all the way to the back to look at something that's really dusty. So because if it's dusty, it means he hasn't gone over it in years. He picks something really dusty. He opens one of these giant books. He tells him the name. He tells him the author. He tells him the first word and Rav Ovadia continues to say every single word after that and My heart. He said, no, something's wrong. He picks another book. He does it again. Another book. He does it again. Another book. Every book. Eventually, the guy says, not only does he write a new article, but not only is he not forgetful, I don't think there's another human on earth that has a memory like him.

1:47:40So you have somebody like that who made Torah his life, and you think it's stupid? You think it's nonsense? You think it's not smart? You have somebody like the Rambam that the entire world at his time practically worshipped. He was the head doctor for the king of Egypt. He was the number one philosopher. He was a Renaissance man. He was someone who was accomplished in every single field. He made Torah number one in his life. What? He needed it? He was bored? So when you look at some of the greatest minds, you realize that these people were not bored. These people were geniuses, bigger than anything else. There was also a Chabadnik called the Rogatchover Rebbe, who lived right around the time of World War II. Einstein met him. Einstein was also a Jew and... Einstein met him. They said, "Listen, this is the chacham of the Torah. This is the chacham of everything else." Einstein went into a room with him. After a few minutes, Einstein came out, ripping his hair out. This is a famous meeting; you can look it up on the internet. It's a very famous story; I'm not making it up. Einstein came out of the room, ripping his famous hair out, saying, "With his brain, you could make two Einsteins."

1:48:59So they told this to the Rogatchover Rebbe. He said, "Really, he's very impressed with your knowledge." He goes, "What? Why is he impressed? I was just talking about his shtuyot, his nonsense, his atomic bomb stuff and atoms and so on. If he really wants to see wisdom, come learn Torah with me. I'll show you. I was talking to him about his nonsense. He told me one thing. I told him the entire theory of relativity." He thought he discovered it. The Rambam already wrote it 900 years ago. It's no chiddush. So that's the thing. You see that the people who dealt with Torah, they weren't normal people like you find in the street who barely know right from left. These people were not just holy; these people were amazing. So now, when you see that Hashem is expecting each and every single one of you to aspire to be just like them, maybe you will be like them, maybe you won't. The goal is to aspire to be just like we aspire to be millionaires. Just like we aspire to be good fathers and mothers, and we aspire to be the best at everything else we do, we're supposed to aspire to be the best Jew. We're supposed to aspire to be the best human being. Now, it's not that difficult to aspire to be the best and...

1:50:18But if you're setting traps for yourself along the way by committing these big sins, you're killing yourself before you even start. You're shooting yourself in the foot. If you're walking around with a mini skirt and a tank top, you're already shooting yourself in the foot. It's impossible for you to be righteous. It's impossible for you to be a vessel of Kedusha. If you're wasting seed on a regular basis, it's impossible for Hashem to give you the truth. Why? Because you're creating too many shields between you and Him, too many walls. And that's the thing that people simply don't understand. So Hashem says to the prophets that every single person in Am Yisrael has to do teshuva. And the Rambam explains that before the Mashiach comes, every person is going to be given an opportunity. Some will be given an opportunity through a friend, a family member, a lecture, a CD, a YouTube video, simple stuff. They see it, they're motivated, they change. people, cancer, HIV, car accidents, market crashes, marriage crises, all types of life crises. You choose which couple you want. There's a cheap one, there's an expensive one, but everyone's going to be given a fair chance. Why? Because this is the last ride.

1:51:42can't rely on being reincarnated again. You can't rely on coming back again and saying, "I'll fix it next time." Yes, this only applies to Jews because the mitzvah of washing your hands and making a blessing is part of being a Jew. It's not an obligation of the seven Noahide laws. I mean, you should definitely maintain hygiene and wash your hands regardless, but nonetheless, there's no special merit for doing it. This is the reason why the Rambam says that the goyim that keep the seven Noahide laws... part of being a Jew. It's not an obligation of the seven Noahide laws. I mean, you should definitely maintain hygiene and wash your hands regardless, but nonetheless, there's no special merit for doing it. This is the reason why the Rambam says that the goyim that keep the seven Noahide laws if they're keeping the seven Noahide laws and all the common sense laws, which means ethical laws like, you know, honoring your parents and not being rude to people and so on and so forth, if they're keeping it because God said so Then they're considered part of Chasidei Umot HaOlam. They're considered among the righteous, among the nations, and also among the wise, among the nations. That's what the Rambam writes. But if they're keeping it simply because it makes sense to them, not because God said so, they're not murdering people because they don't think it's right to murder people. They're not eating an animal while still alive because, you know, they don't think it's right to eat a horse while it's still alive.

1:53:11You know, they're using their rationale. They're using their logic not to do certain things. The Rambam says not only are they not considered the righteous among the nations, but they're actually considered the stupid among the nations. In his language, they're considered the fools among the nations, and they also don't get olam haba. Why? They didn't do what Hashem said; they did what their mind said. So there are certain things that a person... to do. There are certain things that people should do, but a person that has to do it gets a reward because he does what he has to do. A person that should do it is not getting a reward for it; he simply should do it because it is for his own protection. Yeah, okay. Oh, can you see it physically, you mean?

1:54:37The DNA test, just so you know, Judaism and the Torah do not accept DNA tests in order to prove your Judaism. The reason why is because you could actually change DNA tests. There's actually a company in Israel that proved that they have the science and the technology to change and alter your DNA. alter your DNA. They could alter your DNA. So all of these DNA tests that people are spending fortunes on to trace their lineage and who they were and what percentage Ashkenazi they are and Sephardi and all that stuff, if they're enjoying it, good for them, but it doesn't do anything for them Torah-wise. It doesn't do anything for them religiously. Either way, if somebody cannot prove that they come from a Jewish mother, they have to convert. Now, that's one. Second thing is in regards to converts: the Gemara says, and also the Rambam says in halacha, that when a non-Jew converts to Judaism, he is considered 100% like a brand new baby that was born that day. His official or her official birthday becomes that day, and the reason why is because they get a brand new neshama, and

1:55:55brand new neshama that's completely unrelated to the neshama they had before. That neshama was actually at Mount Sinai with the rest of us. They were born Jewish, and that neshama is a very special neshama and That the Chachamim say that these neshamot were held hostage by the Sitra Achra, by the Yetzer Hara himself. They were held hostage. Some of these converts are the most precious neshamot that exist because they have the most potential. For example, we see that some of the most important people in history came from converts. Yitro, Ruth, Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes, Shmaya ve'Avtalyon, all of these people came from converts or were converts themselves, and these were very, very special neshamot that had the potential to do really, really good or really, really bad. Hashem gives them a lot. Okay, you have them hostage. If they get out of it, they can become a big tzaddik. If not, they can become like Hitler. So, a person that converts has a brand new neshamah, and that day they converted is their official birthday. Their old birthday is completely unrelated, to such an extent that, according to the Torah, their parents are no longer their parents, their biological parents.

1:57:23According to the Torah, they're actually allowed to marry them if they want to, but according to the Chachamim, the rabbis said you're not allowed because it looks bad in front of the goyim. The goyim say, "Wait a minute, when you were a goy, you didn't marry, you didn't commit incest. Now that you became a Jew, you're committing incest?" Because in their eyes, they don't understand neshama, no neshama, so they're thinking you're committing the sin of incest. So, Hashem says you're allowed because you're really unrelated to your own mother, your own father, your biological parents. Why? Because you're a brand new neshama. I mean, since it looks bad in the eyes of the goyim, we'll put a fence around the fence. They're not allowed to marry their sister and so on and so forth. So, it's a brand new neshama. As far as proving it physically in a DNA test, I don't know. I don't know if you can or you can't, but I do know that you can't prove it physically. A convert will tell you, if you ever meet converts, ask them about the time they converted to... And anyone that's a righteous convert, there's a lot of pretenders. A lot of people that pretend to convert for the convenience of marriage and things like that. But people that really convert,

1:58:26When they convert, sometimes it's an immediate reaction after they dip in a mikveh, sometimes it's delayed by a day, a half a day, or even two days. But they actually have a physical reaction, something that's unexplainable. Every single one of them that I took to the Beit Din and have seen convert says, "I wish I could do this every day." It's, it's, I don't know how to explain it to you, and they probably won't know how to explain it to you anyway. But, I don't know, I've never been high, I've never done drugs, but if there is such a thing, they say they feel something that's greater than anything else. It's literally a physical feeling that takes them; it's like an out-of-body experience, in so many words. Some have it more, some have it less, but all of them have it. And it's something that's unusual and extraordinary. You could also get a very similar feeling from learning Torah. Like most people think when they see Rav Chaim Kanievsky that learns, you know, from the sefer every day, 20 hours a day, they're like, why does he do it?

1:59:30How many times can you read the same book? How many books can you possibly read? Doesn't he get bored? Doesn't he get tired? How do you read books for 20 hours, 22 hours a day, barely eat, barely this, barely that? What do you get out of it? They don't realize that his neshama feels things that you can't even dream about, meaning he's not only getting a stimulation intellectually. He's getting someone that really, really delves into it, gets a physical feeling from it that is, I don't know how to explain it. It's literally an out-of-body experience. It's something where, I don't know, your body starts to buzz, and you feel something that's completely unusual that you really start praying that you can get it again. Now, obviously, high-level people can probably get it regularly, while low-level people may never get it in their entire life. But the point is, is that the Torah is not a book like people think. It's not like some novel, chas v'shalom, that you just read, you finish the book, you get another book, and another book, and another book, and nothing changes. If you apply your learning, and you really take it seriously, both physical and spiritual worlds change here.

2:00:45To such an extent that you start feeling Olam HaBa in this world. But most people are never going to see it because they don't believe what I'm saying, or they simply just don't feel it quickly enough, and they're used to quick returns. Yeah? So the Gemara in Masechet Berachot, page 32b, says that the Chachamim used to meditate for one hour before they prayed. And then they would pray Mincha, Arvit, Shacharit, whatever it is, whatever prayer it was up to, let's say in the morning, Shacharit, they would pray for another hour, and then after they finished praying, they would meditate for another hour. So the Chachamim ask, what's this meditation about? When do you have time to study? You're meditating all day, you have nine hours, it's three prayers a day, it's nine hours worth of praying. When do you have time to learn Torah? When do you have time to work? When do you have time to be married? When do you have time to live? Who can do nine hours in a Beit Knesset?

2:02:09They said someone that has their level doesn't need to do the rest of it. Why? Hashem customizes the world according to them. So they ask, what do they actually do? So first and foremost, what's the first meditation about? The first meditation is literally that they got both their body and their neshama prepared to go talk to Hashem. Think that we're just gonna walk into the Knesset. I have three steps. Okay, you're already in the middle. You finish it already. Aleinu l'Shabe'ach. You're already in your car. You do Aleinu l'Shabe'ach on the way home. You're already in a hurry. We're finished. We're in a hurry. I got a game. I got this, I got that. They were really ready to go meet Hashem. They got themselves physically and spiritually ready to go meet Him, and they would get their neshama to literally high levels in shamayim and... It was an out-of-body experience. Then their prayer itself would literally be there. But then they were so high that, in order for them to go back to this world, they had to lower themselves and meditate again to get back to the norm. Which means that each and every single one of our blessings was written by these people. It wasn't written by some local author from Barnes and Noble. Okay, these Tannaim, these Chachamim, these giants, they wrote your Siddur.

2:03:33The reason why it's critical for a person to learn how to pronounce the words in the Siddur in Hebrew over time—not right away, but over time—you should work on it; she should work on it to say these things in Hebrew and even say Tehillim in Hebrew if they can, is because even though you still fulfill the obligation by saying it in English or whatever other language you speak, by saying it in Hebrew... You're actually making certain sounds that the Chachamim knew were pleasing to Hashem. Those sounds take your neshama to a different level in shamayim. And if you're looking, for example, at a simple prayer like, excuse me, Asher Yatzar. If you pray like 99% of people, myself included, you have two seconds, you finish the bathroom, thank you very much, I got to go back to life. Then, no, it doesn't really mean much. You just fulfill the obligation, if that. And that's it. But if you look at it and you have the poster there and you're looking at the words and you're thinking about the meaning of the words, what does it mean? Thank you, Hashem, for making all of the holes that are open, open at the right time, and all the closings close at the right time. If I didn't have it for a second, if one of them was the opposite versus the other, I wouldn't be able to survive. Thinking about that, immediately you start loving Hashem. Why? You start realizing how much you depend on Him. I

2:04:59Literally, one single hole in your body not functioning changes everything. Just think about this: I had an ear infection for almost a month. This is one of the holes in your body. I had an ear infection for a month, and I literally felt like there was something in my ear for a month. It was the most annoying thing in the world. But you don't realize how critical this tiny little hole is until you can't use it for a month. On the other hand, imagine a place that doesn't have a hole, like a tooth. You have teeth, Baruch Hashem. If one of those teeth has a hole in it all of a sudden, ooh, wow, what a pain you have. You could be the richest guy in the world, the smartest guy in the world, with a toothache, you're absolutely nothing. Every single person with a toothache becomes a little nothing. Why? They all become religious. Everybody becomes religious when they have a toothache. Why? Because a hole in your tooth, shem yirachem. So when you actually think about each day, Hashem makes these holes open, makes these closings close, and so on and so forth, you start thinking about the words, it starts meaning something to you. It starts meaning something to you actively, it elevates your soul. And you could literally take your soul to another level through each one of your blessings. This is why some of the real Chassidim, not the satmers that you were talking about before, but the real Chassidim, that actually do Chassidut, they go into hitbodedut.

2:06:26They do this thing called hitbodedut, where they actually talk to Hashem in their own language. They study a certain way or certain Torah in the desert, in the woods, or on a roof, or somewhere where they're alone, to really meditate while learning and take their neshama to a higher level. A lot of people think they do it, but they really don't. Nonetheless, the point is that you can take your neshama to a very high level through different things. None of what I'm saying is possible without the basics. Most people want to skip the Shulchan Aruch, the Five Books of Moses, the Gemara, the basic day-to-day. They want to go straight to Kabbalah. They want to fast-forward to the Zohar. They want to fast-forward to be a Malach. They want to fast-forward, start naming angels and talking to them. "Angel, come over to my house, do Kiddush with me." And they don't realize that if you say certain names of angels, not all of them, but certain names of angels, you're not allowed to say. And the reason why is because if you say their name, you're actually commanding them to come here. The Shulchan Aruch, Five Books of Moses, the Gemara, the basic day-to-day. They want to go straight to Kabbalah. They want to fast-forward to the Zohar. They want to fast-forward to be a malach. They want to fast-forward, start naming angels and talking to them. "Angel, come over to my house, do Kiddush with me." And they don't realize that if you say certain names of angels, not all of them, but certain names of angels, you're not allowed to say. And the reason why is because if you say their name, you're actually commanding them to come here.

2:07:33you command them to come here. They come here, and if you're not a holy person, they'll hurt you. They'll ask, "Why did you call me? Who are you to call me?" and they could hurt you physically. There's actually a whole hospital in Har Nof in Yerushalayim full of people who got hurt and... they lose their mind, they become crazy, they try to commit suicide sometimes, or they try killing other people, or they do kill people. People go crazy. So you can't fast-forward everything. We have to focus on basics: basic, basic, basic. Basic Shabbat, basic kosher, basic taharat hamishpacha. Basic, basic level Jew. Let's be basic. Once we all become basic, then we could talk about the nice stories of the Zohar. All the talk will be stories, but let's just be basic, guys. The other stuff is good for conversation. It's good for stories. It's, you know, it's interesting in reality. Let's focus on the basics because the basics are so encompassing. It's so big. They're so extraordinary. That's already big enough for us. Once you start doing all this other stuff, it can get you mixed up and confused, and you can lose hope very, very quickly. Any other questions? This side is quiet. You guys are on strike?

2:09:00You guys finished? We finished all Torah? So we have another shiur tomorrow night. It's in Hebrew, somewhere in Los Angeles. I forget the address, but watch the Facebook page, and there's going to be the invitation there. There's also going to be another shiur on Sunday. On Sunday at 8 or 8:30? 8 o'clock at Young Israel. Israel is not the sham. This will be the first at Young Israel anywhere. So the other shiur will be on Sunday and Monday. There is a nine o'clock in the morning shiur at some kollel that I forget the name of. It's all going to be on our page, on our website, and so on. Thank you for learning with me. Baruch Adonai l'Olam, amen v'amen.