Can The Average Jew Destroy Judaism? (10 Minutes)

0:10It's not an exaggeration, it's not a chumra. Someone who says the Torah is just a history book to tell us the history of Am Yisrael loses their right to live. It's a book of laws that has history in it. Two completely different things. It's a book of instructions that tells you how to live, how to succeed, how to fulfill your purpose in life, but it has stories in it that you can learn from. because it's much easier to learn from someone else's actions that you can relate to than just a rule book, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. And also, it's much easier to connect to something that's been done for so many years already. It becomes part of your lineage, part of your purpose, part of your identity. When you realize that you are related to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, means something. To a real Jew, that means something. Because the reality is, I said this in a shiur on Tisha B'Av two years ago, that a person needs to understand that by them not going b'derech Hashem, them not going in the way of Hashem and sinning without a care in the world without an intent to do teshuva either because they want to intermarry or they just don't want to keep Shabbat, they don't want to keep mitzvot, they don't want to learn Torah every day, they just want to live like the goyim. Now they have to understand what this actually means in reality, not just in their vision, but in reality.

1:36them not going in the way of Hashem and sinning without a care in the world, without an intent to do teshuva either because they want to intermarry, or they just don't want to keep Shabbat, they don't want to keep mitzvot, they don't want to learn Torah every day, they just want to live like the goyim. Now, they have to understand what this actually means in reality, not just in their vision, but in reality. Because, like I told you, the only way you can see the truth is with learning Torah. So before you learn Torah, it's virtually impossible to see the truth. Everything is blurry. So I remember as a secular person, I never thought of such a thing. Never thought of such a thing. And I don't believe any other secular person thinks of such a thing. Simply because it's not something you would think of. Because if you thought about it, immediately you're not secular anymore. And I'll tell you why. leaves Derech Hashem. He decides, "I'm not gonna keep Shabbat." He decides, "I'm gonna intermarry." He decides, "I'm not gonna learn Torah. I don't know what to do on the right or on the left. I'll just do whatever I hear or I heard, whatever the customs are, whatever is easy for me, whatever fits my life." This is clearly a person that

2:57has turned Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, David, Shlomo, all of the sages, all of the giants, all of the holy people in Am Yisrael's history into, you know, some figures that somebody, you know, it's a history book. They're not connected to him anymore. Why? Because once you learn who these people are, understand the amount of mesirut nefesh they had to get to, the amount of sacrifice they had to endure for you to fulfill the Torah, for you to actually have it in your hands, everything changes. Why? Three thousand three hundred years they're sacrificing their lives and... Understand the amount of mesirat nefesh they had to endure, the amount of sacrifice they had to make for you to fulfill the Torah, for you to actually have it in your hands. Everything changes. For three thousand three hundred years, they're sacrificing their lives and... Moshe Rabbeinu sacrificed his life for all of Am Yisrael. Hashem says, I'll kill them and I'll start something new from you. Moshe said, kill me, not them. Kill me first. Avraham Avinu, he told him, listen Avraham, listen, just bow to this idol, we'll give you whatever you want. He jumped into the fire.

3:59It's hot as Sheol over here. Just over here. Make it quick. No problem, Abba, tie my hands behind my back and tie them to my legs too, so I can't move because maybe at the last minute, I'll get scared. Tie me really well, Abba. He tells Avraham, he tells his father, "Abba, make sure you tie me really good because I'm stronger than you." So when you slaughter me, make sure you tie me really well. Ma’amar Masechet Shabbat says, what's an akedah? How do we know what an akedah is? We know it by Yitzchak. How? He tied the arms and the legs behind the back to each other, meaning it's impossible to move. For what? So we have Torah. Yaakov sacrificed his life day and night. For what? So we have Torah. Moshe Rabbeinu, Aharon, David, Shlomo, all of these giants sacrificed their lives for what? For you to be a Jew. Am Yisrael that you never heard of even. The generations of the pogroms, the Inquisitions, they told them: "Come, become a Christian. Come, become a Muslim. Come, become a different type of idol worshiper, and you'll get everything you want."

5:07No, kill us instead. What will kill you? Why would you want to die? Why would any normal human being want to die? Just be a Greek, be a Roman, and that's it. What's the big deal? You can hide your Judaism at home. Be a Jew at home. Whatever. You don't have to really believe it. You don't have to really believe it. Just tell us you believe it. Do it in public. Make sure you don't embarrass the idol-worshipping king. Just say you believe in Yoshke. Just say you believe in Muhammad. Say you believe in Buddha. Say you believe in whatever. Just say you believe. Go home, be a religious Jew. Whatever you want. No, kill us. Why would you want to die? I'm a Jew. For 3,300 years, we've been doing this. For what? So you can be a Jew today. Now that means, you say, yeah, but I'm a Jew. No, it's not so easy. Why? If you decide to leave the derech, if you're not even on the derech, you don't keep Shabbat. You don't keep taharat mishpacha. You don't keep kosher. You're intermarried. You're about to intermarry. You're about to go to public school. You are in public school. You're going to send your kids to public school. You're going to go to a mixed beach. You're going to go to a mixed wedding party with mixed dancing. You're going to do all these things that Hashem says are not allowed. You are now ending Judaism with you. Judaism ends with you.

6:34Why? Once you become a mechallel Shabbat and you stay that way without doing teshuva, that's it. No more Judaism. You're now considered a goy. Now your son's gonna see it. He says, listen, since Abba is acting like a goy, he doesn't keep Shabbat like the other religious Jews, and Ima dresses like the goyim, and she's not covering her hair. She's not modest. I'll marry one too. What's the difference between us? If we're acting like them, then it must be that we should be just like them. So, let me go marry them. Let me have kids with them, and all of a sudden, your innocent decision not to be religious just ends Judaism one or two generations after. Your son or daughter decided, "Okay, I'm not gonna, I'm gonna intermarry," and... Their kids are not Jewish anymore. That's it, Judaism ended. You go up to Shamayim, and you're gonna meet Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, David, Shlomo, Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, all the Tzaddikim, and they come to you like, "Why'd you do it? Why'd you do it? You know how hard we worked to make you Jewish? Three thousand years of generations of people sacrificing their lives."

8:01Literally, not figuratively speaking, literally sacrificing their life, jumping into fires, willing to die for it. So you can be a Jew with peace. What do you do? "I don't feel like it." Three thousand years you are ending. That's what it means to be secular. Do you really want that responsibility? No, no, Judaism is, it's in your heart. Who said? No, my mom is Jewish. Okay, so your mom is Jewish, but your kid's not Jewish because you married a non-Jew. Yeah, but it goes by the father. Who said? No, I believe it does. Why do you believe there's Judaism? Because it says in the Torah. Okay, the Torah doesn't agree that Judaism goes through the father then. You can't pick and choose when you believe the Torah and when you don't. You can't pick and choose. And that's the thing—who wants this responsibility to be the one that ends Judaism? Do you understand the magnitude? A secular person doesn't think like this. Why? He thinks he's perfectly fine. He's as Jewish as you are, just in his own way.

9:27When the Chassidim used to come to my office, I didn't see them as more Jewish than me. They're doing tefillin every day; I did it once in a while. They kept Shabbat; I did it. They wanted tzedakah; I gave it to them. What's the problem? We completed each other, no? No, according to the Torah and the book of laws that says what is Judaism, that's not being Jewish; that's just being another person. So the Ramchal HaKadosh says, the Torah is not a history book, chas v'shalom, and the calendar is not a series of anniversaries commemorating these historical events. Quite the contrary.