Conversion To Orthodox Judaism Questions & Answers Series (1)

0:00so this is, uh, this is great, all of you, a group of lovers of Hashem. I get the text messages, I get the, uh, I feel the love. I feel the love of Hashem from all of you. So, it's truly amazing. It's actually also another local convert that's going to, uh, convert also in the coming, uh soon, in the coming weeks, maybe months. So I know that everyone has a lot of questions, and I thought that it's a good idea to answer as many questions as possible. There's no time restriction. Take as much time as you want. Don't feel bad. Don't feel like anything is inappropriate. Don't worry about being politically correct, because I am not, and I don't think Hashem is either. Hashem is not politically correct. If you read His Torah, as I'm sure all of you have already, You see that Hashem is not really worried about being politically correct. He's only concerned about being correct and telling us the truth. So there's no question that's silly. There's no question that's too much. Ask away as much as you want and b'ezrat Hashem we will try to publicize our questions and answers and try to also help other people that are in a similar situation. Because one of the things that...

1:22I wanted to share with you guys that the Oral Torah is truly the critical part of Judaism. You know, that's one of the main things that other religions and even secular Jews have a problem with. Their problem with Judaism is not the Written Torah, not the story of the Exodus or the story of Abraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, and all the 12 tribes. People love the stories. They've made movies about them, even though the movies are not exactly precise, and in many cases not even close to the story. But people generally love the story of Am Yisrael, and they don't usually have a problem with it. The main problem that they have is with the Oral Torah. The part that was not written initially, that's why it's called oral, because it was transferred from father to son for generations and generations until Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, they call him Rebbe.

2:30actually put it in writing, and he put it into the Mishnah. It's called the Mishnah. But even before him, the first writing that was done of the Oral Torah was by Yonatan ben Uziel. Yonatan, the son of Uziel. And this is in tractate Megillah, I believe, when Yonatan ben Uziel wrote the first interpretation and commentary, in essence, of the written Torah. There was a huge earthquake, and then a bat kol, a heavenly voice, came out and said, "Who dared disclose my holy work to the children of mankind?" And Yonatan ben Uziel answered Hashem and said, "It was me. Of course, obviously Hashem knew. But what did he say? He said, 'It was me. And you know that I didn't do it for my own honor or for my father's honor. I did it for Your honor because I know that as the generations are deteriorating, what's going to end up happening is that if we don't write this oral Torah, it's going to end up being lost.' And he wanted to actually give even more."

3:45And he said, "I want to write the rest of the interpretation, the rest of the secrets of the written Torah, the stuff that's behind the scenes." And Hashem said, "No, you've done enough." Meaning that everything that we have already is not even a big percentage of the truth. It's just that we have a lot of it. But the key is that after him, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi wrote the Mishnah. After that, they wrote the Gemara and so on. And this pretty much gives us the Oral Torah. Now, what's the Oral Torah? The Oral Torah is what actually is the essence of Judaism. Because if you notice, the Written Torah, you know, Hashem tells us to do all of these mitzvot. There's 613 commandments, 613 mitzvot. which those 613 are all connected to the original 10. We have 10 Commandments that we received on Mount Sinai, and the 613 are not in addition to the 10. The 10 are not part of the 613. What it is, is that the 10 break down into 613. So now we have 613 commandments, and we see that the

5:07Complying with these commandments, Hashem tells us that if we comply with these commandments, we get a big reward, an eternal reward, both in this world and the next world. But if we don't comply, we have a lot of problems. Hashem says there is also a big punishment. So now you would think that, obviously, Hashem knows that, let's say, for example, Shabbat and the holy day of Shabbat is a very critical mitzvah where Hashem says that a Jew who violates the Shabbat is no longer considered Jewish unless they repent and start keeping Shabbat again. So now, obviously, not keeping Shabbat is a big sin. But if you look at the entire written Torah, whether you're looking at the Five Books of Moses, or the Prophets, or any of the other books, the written Torah, you will not find one place that tells you all of the details of how to keep Shabbat. Why? Because that's in the Oral Torah. That's in the Oral Torah, the details of how to keep all of the mitzvot.

6:18whether it's circumcision, or it's Shabbat, or it's tefillin, or it's kosher, all of the mitzvot, all 613 mitzvot, the details of how to actually execute them and how to do it, are all in the Oral Torah. So now, the non-Jews, or the secular Jews, the ones that don't want to keep mitzvot, or perhaps the Christians and the Arabs and so on, they don't have a problem with the story of Moshe and Aharon and Avraham and Yaakov. They don't have a problem with the stories. What they have a problem with is the Oral Torah. And the reason why is because the Oral Torah tells you the details of how to keep these mitzvot. And once you realize that keeping the connection between us and Hashem pure requires work, people immediately say, no, no, no. It can't be true. can't be true. Why do they say it can't be true? Because they don't want to do it. People want to go to the beach on Shabbat. They don't want to go to the Beit Knesset. They don't want to go to the synagogue. People want to eat whatever they want. They don't want to keep the kosher laws. So they say, listen, since all of the rules, the details are in this Oral Torah, so if we reject the Oral Torah, that's it. That means that we don't have to do anything. We could say that we believe in the Written Torah, but we don't believe in the Oral Torah. But in reality...

7:43one without the other is meaningless. It cannot be. The Oral Torah and the Written Torah were both given to us on Mount Sinai, and we're obligated to learn and comply with both. That's why in the entire Torah, you'll see very often, when Hashem says that He gave us the Torah, He says He gave us the Torahs, plural. It's not one Torah, it's Torahs. And the reason for that is because there's more than one Torah, meaning that the Written Torah is one part, and the Oral Torah is the other part. So that's a basic summary of the Oral Torah. And the reason why I mention this in the introduction is because in one part of the Oral Torah, which is called the Gemara, there are prophecies. And in the tractate called Avodah Zarah, which teaches us, A lot of the different types and details about idol worship and about what's going to happen in the future regarding idol worship, how we can deal with it, how to avoid it, and what kinds there are. Back in those days, 2,000 years ago, there were many, many more types than we have today.

8:59But in addition to the idol worship that it teaches us and how to deal with it, it also gives us a lot of interesting stories and a lot of interesting prophecies. One of the prophecies you will find in Tractate Avodah Zarah is on page 3b. You know, each page in the Gemara has two sides. There's side A and there's side B. And on page 3b, it says this: Rabbi Yitzchak says, in the name of, Rabbi Yossi says, Rabbi Yitzchak said, and I gave this teaching, in the name of Rabbi Yossi, in the future to come, which he's referring to the end of times, or the times of Mashiach, the idolaters will come and convert. After this it says, but will we accept converts among the nations at that time?

10:00why it has been taught in a Beraita, in another teaching, that we will not accept converts in the Messianic era. For Israel will then be ascendant, and would-be converts will be assumed to be acting out of ulterior motive. Similarly, they did not accept converts during the time of King David, nor did they accept converts at the time of King Solomon. During those periods, Israel was ascendant, meaning Israel was the leader of the world. So, to explain what I just read, first of all, he's giving us a prophecy. He's telling us that at the end of time, there's going to be an extraordinary amount of people that will leave idol worship, will leave false religions, will leave all the nonsense that's in this world. And when it comes to the only truth that's available to us, which is Judaism, which is Torah, they're going to leave everything. Now, why is it going to happen now? Who are these people? The sages tell us that at the time of Mount Sinai, before Hashem decided to give the Torah to the Jewish people, He went to every single nation.

11:17And he asked their leader, who was not only a physical king but also an angel, if they wanted the Torah. So they said, well, what's in it? And he would tell them the rules. He said, you're not allowed to steal. So the nation of Edom, the people of Edom, from Esav, said, no, stealing is part of our nature. We want to be able to steal whenever we want. So we can't accept this Torah of yours. So then he went to the nation of Yishmael which is where the Arabs come from. And he said, you know, he said, okay, what's in it? And Hashem said, you're not allowed to murder. He said, no, no, murdering for us is part of our nature. We want to be able to hang somebody just because they, you know, they watch, you know, pornography. We want to murder them for that. We want to kill them. That's our capital punishment. And if somebody says something wrong about the president, we want to kill him also. Which is, again, taking the law to an extreme. It's violating the Torah. So he said, since your law in the Torah is not agreeable to us, we don't want to accept your Torah. The only people that accepted the Torah for what it was were the Jewish people. But within those nations of Edom and Yishmael,

12:38There were some people that wanted to accept the Torah, but they couldn't because their governments, their kings didn't accept it as a nation. So, you can't just leave the nation; they'll kill you. So, Hashem made a promise to those souls. He made a promise to all of those souls, and He said there will come a day where I will bring you back in a reincarnation and give you an opportunity to convert. I will give you an opportunity to convert. And how could I give you this opportunity? By bringing you into an unusual situation, where you're going to be born a non-Jew. But you're going to have an unusual attraction to the Jewish people and its Torah, an unusual love for it, sometimes even greater than the Jewish people themselves. Because sometimes the Jewish people themselves don't know what they have in their hands. You know, it's like sometimes there was this one time there was this guy that was praying to Hashem. You know, Hashem, please give me parnassah. Give me sustenance. Give me money. I want to be able to buy a house for my family. I want to send my kids to a good school. I want to do this. I want to do that.

13:49And he would pray to Hashem every day. And, you know, when he would pray outside and saw this good-looking rock, he said, "Oh, let me pick up this rock as a memento for my prayer." He would have this rock on his table every day that he would pray. He would look at this rock as a reminder of the original prayer. And he's praying to Hashem, "Please, please, please Hashem, help me, please Hashem, help me, give me sustenance." Little does he know that if he just washed, just washed a little water on that rock, he would realize that the rock was actually a diamond. A very big diamond. Meaning that Hashem did answer his prayer. He did give him what he wanted. He just didn't pay attention. And sometimes, unfortunately, Jewish people don't know what we have, whereas the people that want to convert... Do see what we have. So, it's a very unusual love that you have for the Torah and for Hashem, and it's extraordinary. For me, it's very, very, it's amazing to see it, truly. It's very motivating, and it's amazing to see it. And B'ezrat Hashem, this will influence even more people to convert to the truth, more Jews to get back to Hashem. And as you can see, this is the prophecy that Hashem promised. He promised your souls many, many years ago, 3,300 years ago, approximately.

15:07But the second part of this Gemara says something that's very critical for everyone to know. Anyone who's going to watch a video and see this, anyone who's watching it right now or listening to it, should understand that he's saying, are we going to accept these converts all the time? And he specifically says, no. The time after the Mashiach, once the Mashiach arrives, No more conversion. Just like there was no more conversion at the time of David and no more conversion at the time of Shlomo. Why? Because once Am Yisrael was number one in the world, where King David pretty much was the strongest king in the world at his time, Shlomo also. Shlomo had a wife from every one of the countries. So, in essence, he had world peace. He had power, he had peace, he had wisdom. Same thing with King David. Anyone that he went to war with, he beat them. so we have total control. So to go join the winning team, it's not really such a big deal. You're not really sacrificing yourself to join the winning team. But to join the losing team,

16:18which unfortunately right now we are. It's not that, you know, we don't see it technically now because it looks like Israel is a modern country, and it's beautiful and has a government and has a lot of money and so on. But in reality, we're not dominating ourselves. We're not ruling the world. We're ruled by the world. Before we shoot any missiles, we have to ask permission. And that's not what Hashem... said that the Jewish people are supposed to do. He said the Jewish people are supposed to lead the world, not be commanded by the world and told what to do by the world. So as of now, we have an opportunity because the king is not here. The Mashiach is going to be a king. He's not here yet. We have to, whoever wants to convert has an opportunity to do it now. Once the Mashiach comes, the door is closed because at that point, It's very difficult to know whether you're doing it because you want to join the winning team, or you're doing it because you love Hashem. Because if you love Hashem, it doesn't matter if the team is winning or not. It doesn't matter if the nation is a nation of leaders or not, because you're chasing the truth. But if it's the number one country in the world, and everyone is its servants, slaves, and helpers,

17:37Obviously, you know, you want to be part of them. So now, everyone needs to know that Hashem has created everyone. And everyone has a purpose. Whether you're Jewish or not Jewish, you have a purpose. If you're Jewish, you have, in essence, a higher mission. You have a lot more commandments. You have 613 mitzvot. Not all of which we can comply with, because some of them are just for men, some of them are just for women, some of them are just for the Beit HaMikdash, the Holy Temple, we used to have 2000 years ago, but will be built when the Mashiach comes, the third one will be built, b’ezrat Hashem soon. So some of the mitzvot we can only do at the Beit HaMikdash, some of the mitzvot are only for Kohanim, so in reality, No one person can do all 613, so no one needs to be scared. But each person is responsible for a good, I would say, I'm estimating this, probably around 25 to 30% of them. So I'll figure 150 to 200 of them is probably relevant to each one of us. But what you end up seeing is that many of the mitzvot are relevant to each other. So, for example, there are rules of Shabbat.

18:53And there are 39 restrictions, 39 things you're not allowed to do on Shabbat. There are many, many more things you are allowed to do. But if you're keeping Shabbat, that already means you're complying with 39, just on one day. So it's not like every day you have to do one, and the next day you have to do two, three, and by the end of the year you only did half the mitzvot. In reality, you could do hundreds of them in one week. But the key is that the Jewish people are obligated to keep these mitzvot to the best of their effort. But not effort like, "Oh, listen, it's too hard for me not to drive on Shabbat, so I drive." No, that's not an effort. Effort means that you're truly trying to do your best, and in a genuine way. And realistically, one of the 13 principles of faith, one of the 13 things that a person needs to believe, is in order to become Jewish, in order to be Jewish, is that Hashem knows what's inside us. He knows our thoughts. So Hashem knows if we're genuine or not. So if we're lying, we're only lying to ourselves because He knows the truth. So now we have...

20:10These mitzvot that we have to comply with and as we learn them, because no one person immediately, you know, overnight knows all of these mitzvot. But there are mitzvot that we learn along the way. As soon as we learn them, we have to do our best to keep them and do better and better over time. That's genuine effort. But there are certain mitzvot that you have to know and you have to do from day one. For example... Kosher. Kosher food. You have to eat kosher food all the time. Not just in the house and not just when you go to a restaurant. All the time. You're only allowed to eat kosher food. Shabbat. You have to keep Shabbat. You're never allowed to use your phone on Shabbat or drive on Shabbat or light a cigarette on Shabbat or do any of the 39 melachot unless it's to save a life. unless it's to save a life. So, if let's say, for example, someone, you know, God forbid, someone gets sick, a baby gets a high temperature,

21:14You're not only allowed, you're obligated. Not only allowed, because the Torah is to help us live, not to die. So you're obligated to take that baby to the hospital. And it's not considered a Shabbat violation. What happens? It's called Pikuach Nefesh. Pikuach Nefesh means that there's a life at risk. At that point, Shabbat is put on hold. It doesn't stop. You're not allowed to all of a sudden go play PlayStation or talk on the phone to your friends about the baseball game. That's still not allowed. You're allowed to take the baby or the person from where you are to the hospital. As soon as you get to the hospital and the baby is out of danger, Shabbat resumes for you, meaning that you can't drive back home. You have to stay at the hospital. So Shabbat is only put on hold. Why is it allowed for us to put Shabbat on hold? Because the sages explained to us that Shabbat is actually even more important than life. Life is not more important than Shabbat. Shabbat is more important than life. So why can we stop, put Shabbat on hold to save a life?

22:24Because the sages explained to us that if you put Shabbat on hold to save a life, he will live or she will live to keep many more Shabbatot. So Shabbat is an obligation of every Jew. There is no shortcut. There's no discounts. There's no 50-50. Another rule that's an obligation, that's very, very important, especially for women. It's critical for men also, but critical, critical for women. Women must be modest. There are laws of modesty, not only for the way that they behave, but also the way that they dress. They have to dress in a way that is not overly attractive to the public. You could look good, but you can't attract attention. You're allowed to, at home, with your husband, by yourself, wear whatever you want, do whatever you want. But to the public, as soon as you leave your house, or as soon as anyone else other than your husband sees you, you cannot dress as is common today.

23:36It's very, very important for a woman to learn modesty laws and for her husband to learn modesty laws. And the reason why is because what our eyes see ends up being what our brain thinks. So a woman, when she looks at a man, she thinks about his personality. She thinks, oh, maybe he's a nice guy, or maybe he has a mean face, or maybe he looks funny. She thinks about the guy's personality. But if we call it how it really is, when a man looks at a woman, he doesn't care about her personality. The last thing on his mind is her personality. He's thinking about intimate things. He's thinking about how she looks without clothes. So now, if a woman walks around where she's not modest, She causes other people to think like that about her. Why is this a problem? Why is it her responsibility to care about what some guy that she doesn't even know thinks? Because that guy is also one of Hashem's creations. And Hashem is worried about every one of His creations. And if that guy, at the time that he's praying to Hashem, is thinking about a half-naked woman

24:59or he's thinking about a woman he saw at the beach. Or he's thinking about a woman who wore tight clothes where he can visualize what she looks like naked. Or he's thinking about a woman who is not covering her body as she's supposed to. Then he's thinking about the woman. He's not thinking about Hashem. And that turns his prayer from something that Hashem wants to something called to'eva. To'eva means disgusting. Hashem gets disgusted by his prayer because he's not praying really. He's just a robot saying words, but he's really thinking about having an intimate relationship with some woman. That's not a good place to be in. The second reason why the woman has to be modest is because when she marries a husband, she is deciding at that moment that not only is her body but her beauty only belongs to her husband. Which means that sharing her beauty with the rest of the world is violating the deals she made with her husband. The deals we make in life are very, very important in Judaism. Whether that deal is a covenant with Hashem, like the circumcision, or the Tefillin, or Shabbat, that He calls those three things covenants, or Brit in Hebrew,

26:26or the deal that we make amongst each other. One person makes a deal with another person: "I'm going to lend you money, and you're going to return the money at a certain date." That person needs to return the money at a certain date or, at that time, come up and ask for an extension if he doesn't have the money. We can't just run away and say, "No, no, he has a lot of money; he doesn't need my money back." Contracts and deals that we make in Judaism are very, very important. They're judged in heaven. A person that steals... cannot enter the gates of Heaven. Even if he complied with every mitzvah. If he stole, he cannot enter Heaven. So, what does he have to do? He has to repent. If he has the ability to return what he stole, that's preferred. If he has no ability to return it, for example, the person he stole from died, he can give the money back to his family. If that person that died doesn't have family, then he can give the money that he stole to tzedakah (charity).

27:26So there's always a way to repent for each one of our sins, and it's very, very important to repent for something we stole. Because even if we're completely righteous, we don't want to show up and say, "Hey Hashem, I did everything." It's like, "Yeah, you did everything except one thing, you stole 20 bucks from this guy. When you were 17 years old, you stole 20 bucks, you can't enter Heaven. You have to come back to the world, fix that sin." You know, come back as a reincarnation, fix the $20 sin, and then come back here. Who wants to come back to this world to fix a $20 sin? You know, so again, in Judaism, in the Torah, honesty is everything. Honesty is everything. So we have to comply with our deals. So when a woman makes a chuppah and kiddushin with a husband, she's making a deal that her beauty only belongs to her husband. The deal she has with Hashem is that she's not going to lead other people to sin. And it is her business. Every Jew is responsible for every other Jew and even the Goyim. We're not allowed to put Goyim, non-Jews, in a situation where they're sinning. So you can't say, listen, if I was in a city that only had non-Jews, can I walk around half naked? No.

28:49You have to be modest even if you are on an island by yourself. There's nobody else on the island. You still have to be modest. So it's very, very important for a woman to learn modesty laws. Modesty laws mean the clothing. It means once they're married, they have to cover their hair. Covering their hair with either a hat or some type of scarf, not a wig. The wig that's accepted by some people among Judaism. an unfortunate misinterpretation of parts of what the sages say. To go over it briefly, if anyone has a question about it, is that in the old days, they actually said that some people wore wigs, but the wigs of those days were made out of straw and Because they didn't have money or the ability to cover their hair any other way, they used straw. So anyone who saw this woman with straw on her head knew that it was a wig. Unfortunately, today's wigs look better than natural hair, and if anything, they make the woman even more appealing than if she did without the wig. So that's not the point of the wig.

30:11The covering of her hair is what she does outside of the house. Once she's inside the house with her husband, she can walk around with no hair covering. Her husband can see her hair as much as he wants, play with it, do whatever he wants with it. Why? Because her beauty is for her husband, not for Joey and Steve from the supermarket. They're not allowed to see. So again, this is a little bit, a small taste of modesty in regards to women. Men have to pray every day—the morning prayer, the afternoon prayer, and the evening prayer. They have to lay tefillin every day. That's the black boxes that go on the arm and on the head. Every day. They have to learn Torah every day. They must learn Torah every day. Each person at his own level. Some people have a lot of free time; they can learn for hours a day. Some people commit their entire life just to learning Torah. You don't need to learn Torah 100% of the day, but you must learn Torah every day.

31:25If you could do an hour a day in the morning, an hour at night, it's great. If you could do more, great. But you must learn Torah, especially in the beginning when you're learning a lot of these things. You cannot be righteous without learning Torah. There's no such thing as a righteous person without Torah. Why? Because righteousness can only be dictated and determined by the Creator. The Creator is the only one that knows what's righteous and what's not. He's the one that makes the laws. So if we say, "No, I'm righteous," what makes you think you're righteous? "Well, I'm a nice guy." What makes you think you're nice? "Well, I don't steal." Okay, so the zebra doesn't steal either. Does that mean she should go to Gan Eden also? "Oh, but I don't kill." Okay, the dove doesn't kill either. Does that mean that she should go to Gan Eden also? Oh, I say hello to people. Okay, the monkey also says hello in the zoo. The monkey says hello to everyone, just give him a banana. Does that mean he should go to Gan Eden also? So, we have to understand that our logic, our human logic, is flawed. Everyone thinks they're nice. Everyone thinks they're perfect. Everyone thinks they're right. No one wakes up in the morning

32:47and thinks, you know what, I can't wait to be wrong today. I can't wait to do bad things. No one thinks that. Even crazy people like Hitler, who killed millions and millions of people, didn't kill them because he thought he wanted to be the most evil person in the world. If you look at his book, he thinks that he's bringing a solution. He's helping the world by killing millions of people. So in essence, in his distorted mind, he thought not only is he not bad, he's actually doing the world a favor. Which shows us that if we leave everything to our logic, it becomes Gehinom in this world, becomes Sodom and Gomorrah, because our human logic is flawed. The only logic that applies, the only logic that's true, the only logic that we know for sure is valid, is the manufacturer, the Creator, God Himself. So men need to study these laws because they have to teach the rest of the family. Women also need to study a little bit, but they don't have the same obligation as men. But they need to know basic laws. It becomes Gehinom in this world, becomes Sodom and Gomorrah, because our human logic is flawed. The only logic that applies, the only logic that's true, the only logic that we know for sure is valid, is the manufacturer, the Creator, God Himself. So men need to study these laws because they have to teach the rest of the family. Women also need to study a little bit, but they don't have the same obligation as men. But they need to know basic laws.

33:55They need to know Shabbat, they need to know family purity, which is another thing that the women will need to study—family purity, which is the times of the month that she's not allowed to be with her husband. There's part of the month that you're allowed to be with your husband as much as you want, and there's part of the month that you're not even allowed to touch him, you're not even allowed to hold his hand. Why? Because that's a time that you're called niddah. Niddah, it literally means impure, but it doesn't mean impure like you're bad, God forbid. It does not mean that you're bad. It just means that there has to be a separation between the man and the woman, because they cannot be intimate during that time. That's when a woman has a period. Once the bleeding stops, which is usually after around four days, sometimes more, sometimes less, but usually it's around four days, she has to count seven clean days, so now we have a total of, let's say, 11 days for bleeding, plus seven clean days where every day she checks to ensure she's not bleeding. If she's clean for seven days, then she goes to the mikveh, which is a special pool comprised mostly of rainwater—forty percent of it is rainwater.

35:16that's in a secluded place. No one else is there other than the woman who would help you. No one touches you, no one checks you. It's a very, very private and holy event. It takes a few minutes; you go there. She oversees to make sure that you're dipping into the water, which is exactly what all of you will do b'ezrat Hashem when you go through the conversion. You'll have to go in a mikveh. It's this pool of water; you'll have to go under the water. Dip into the water. Once the woman comes out of the mikveh... It's five days? Oh, five. Okay. Once she dips into the mikveh, she comes out. She is allowed to be with her husband as much as you want. Have fun. Bring babies into the world. Enjoy. If there's time. But actually, by the way, it's good that you mentioned that. Remember I mentioned the ketubah, the marriage contract, right? So a woman has to be modest, has to help her husband, has to take care of the kids, but the man is obligated to support the wife. But there are several different types of support. There's monetary support.

36:39He has to clothe her, he has to put food on the table, a house. But also, he has to be intimate with her whenever she wants. He's never allowed to say no. Ever. Now, obviously, in our mind, we're thinking, why would a man ever say no? But in the Torah, we're already worried about it. Because sometimes somebody gets so deep into Torah, they learn Torah, they don't want to leave it. They fall in love with the Torah. It says, your wife wants you to be with her, you close the book, you go be with your wife. Torah takes precedence, the wife takes precedence. So, and again, obviously, if she doesn't want to, he's not allowed to touch her. So, that intimate part of life, the wife controls, which she does anyway, but the Torah says so anyway. Nothing really changes over there. It's just that the guys have another law to comply with. So you have to be nice enough for them to want you. That's pretty much the situation here. So as far as the laws for men, you have to pray, you have to learn. There's obviously a few other things. And the kids...

38:00...must go to a Jewish school, they must go to yeshiva; you cannot send your kids to public school. I know this is a difficulty for many because of money, but don't worry, there is financial help from different places that can help you. And also remember at all times that Hashem is the one who gives you sustenance, not men. If you do what Hashem wants, He'll do what you want. you want to send your kids to a Jewish school because that's what Hashem said, He'll get you a way to do it. You also have to live in a Jewish community. You can't be Jews by yourself in the middle of nowhere, which means that unless you live in a Jewish community now, which, that's not what I know, everyone will have to move. Now, I actually just spoke before your call, I spoke to a very, very amazing rabbi, who's a convert himself, Rabbi Rod Reuven Bryant. He actually used to be a minister for, I think, 30 years or so. He converted and became a very good rabbi. He has an organization called Netiv, N-E-T-I-V. N-E-T-I-V dot net, I think, is the website. He specifically helps...

39:27people that either want to become Noahides, leave Christianity, leave all types of false religions, or even helps people that are Jewish but have no connection to Hashem, no connection to the Torah, and he helps them get back to Hashem. And he's actually located, he has a great organization. They do lectures, and there's constant teaching. It's truly an amazing organization; it's a light to the nations. And he's actually located in Houston, Texas. Is that the community where Rabbi Mizrachi goes? I believe that's actually the community where Rabbi Mizrachi may have visited. It's possible, yes. There are a couple of, obviously, you know, Houston is huge, so I'm sure there's more than one Jewish community there. But one option would be to go where Rabbi Reuven is, Rabbi Yaakov Reuven. Another one would be a few other ones that I could find for you in Houston. But already have it in your mind that part of your conversion would have to be to live in a Jewish community.

40:42Now, there are many other things we can go over, but actually, for now, I want to take some of your questions to see if there's something on your mind so we can go over some things that you have, perhaps. Hold on one second. Let me fix the camera on my end. One second. Okay. Okay, I'm back. All right, so give me some questions, as many as you have. How are you doing? I'm Hossam. How are you doing? Nice to meet you. How are you, Hossam? Hello, hello. More than anything, the first question that I had was regarding, you know how you talk about in your lecture that we really appreciate and we learn so much about? It's the fact how we speak, or you speak especially, of Hashem having control over everything.

42:03Yes. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. All right. Um, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's, for us, especially that we're learning, it's kind of hard to grasp the concept of how we think or you think sometimes, even in the Torah, where it talks about different verses or different situations. When they make choices, when you make a choice, do we have any free will whatsoever? Yes. Absolutely, yes, so free will is a very, very important topic, very important to understand what we are. We're not robots. Hashem is not just pressing buttons, and we're doing whatever He wants because then there would be no purpose for the creation. So, in the Torah, it says in the Gemara, it says "Hakol bidei Shamayim chutz miyirat Shamayim," meaning that the outcome of...

43:16Free will is a very, very important topic, very important to understand what we are. We're not robots. Hashem is not just pressing buttons, and we're doing whatever He wants because then there would be no purpose for the creation. So, in the Torah, it says in the Gemara, it says "Hakol bidei Shamayim chutz miyirat Shamayim," meaning that the outcome of... For events that happen in our life, the outcome is decided by Hashem. But whether we comply with what Hashem wants, meaning our actions, is up to us. So, for example, whether we're born or not is not up to us. No one asks us. Whether we're male or female, no one asks us. And sex change doesn't count, even though it's acceptable in today's demented society. It's not whether we're born male or female; it's not up to us. Whether we're rich or poor is also not up to us. Whether we find someone to get married to or not is also not up to us. What's up to us? What's up to us is how we choose to live our life. Meaning, we can choose to be righteous and do what the Torah says.

44:46Or we can choose to be wicked and go against the Torah. We can choose to learn what the Torah says and comply with it, or we could just say it's a history book. So our choice is, in essence, limited to our actions, but not the outcome. The outcome is decided by Hashem. So, for example, a common good example would be money. People always want to know, is it up to me whether I'm going to make a lot of money or not, or is it not? Because people believe deep in their hearts that if they work really hard, they'll make a lot of money. Now, even though naturally it's supposed to work that way, in a rational way, in reality, it's not. Why? Because you have plenty of people that work really, really hard and are as poor as can be. And you have plenty of people who spend four or five days a week playing golf, but they make millions of dollars every month. So, obviously, it's not based on hard work. Whether we're rich or poor, whether we, you know, make money or not, is all decided by Hashem. So now,

46:14You have to work, obviously, in order to survive. So what is up to us is, number one, how much effort we're going to contribute to work. Because we're not Moshe Rabbeinu, we can't live on waiting for miracles. You know, we have to have some type of effort to make sustenance, to make money. But how much is up to us? Meaning that if somebody says, "Listen, I'm going to work 16 hours a day, 20 hours a day," which leaves them no time whatsoever for learning Torah, no time whatsoever to spend with their family, then that person... First of all, it doesn't mean that he's going to get rich. He could be one of those people that works a lot and makes nothing. But second of all, which is even worse, is that that person is pretty much saying that Hashem is not really the one that's giving him the money. He has to do it. So Hashem wants us to exert effort, have some type of effort to make money, but not 100% of our time. So we have a regular, normal job. We work, I don't know, 8, 10 hours a day, whatever it is.

47:24But the rest of the time out of the 24 hours has to be spent with family, learning Torah, and doing the rest of the mitzvot. So, to show Hashem that we know that it's really coming from Him, the part that we're doing is just to make things look natural. So our action is dictated by us. We decide what our action is. What the outcome is going to be, Hashem decides. Whether that job that you work on for one hour will end up resulting in a million-dollar contract or not, Hashem decides. Whether you'll make the phone call or not, that you decide. The other thing is also in regards to all of our free will, we need to understand that free will is not exactly what we think it to be, meaning that

48:28It's not free will like if we do what Hashem wants, everything is good. If we don't do it, then it's no big deal. People think free will is that if you do it, you get a bonus; if you don't do it, you get nothing. That's not free will. That's not the free will we have. We have choice, meaning that if we do what Hashem wants, we get rewarded. If we don't do what Hashem wants, we receive punishment. But does that mean just for being in Judaism and being Jewish? Or is that overall, for all humankind? Everyone has reward and punishment. Is it punishment and punishment? Or is it just Judaism where, you know, if you follow Hashem, you get rewarded, and if you don't, you get punished? Or is that overall... everyone has, there's a reward and punishment for all of creation, but the Jewish people have more restrictions. However, non-Jews can have worse punishment in some cases. To explain, and then I'll answer your question: for example, a Jew has many more things that they're not allowed to do,

49:52than a non-Jew. So, a non-Jew is allowed to eat whatever meat he wants, as long as it's a dead animal. He's not allowed to eat an animal while it's still alive, but he's allowed to eat pig; he's allowed to eat whatever meat he wants. A Jewish person is only allowed to eat kosher food, and there are laws of kashrut. Now, on the other hand, if a Jew violates the laws of kashrut, There's a heavenly punishment on them unless they repent. On the other hand, if a non-Jew violates one of the seven Noahide laws, even if it's stealing. For example, if a Jew stole $100, they have to return $200. That's the punishment. But a non-Jew that stole $100, the punishment is the death penalty. So the punishment on a non-Jew is worse in some cases. Even though they have fewer laws, the punishment for them is worse. So people shouldn't necessarily run to being a Noahide just because it has fewer laws, because the punishment is worse in some cases. a non-Jew that stole $100, the punishment is the death penalty. So the punishment for a non-Jew is worse in some cases. Even though they have fewer laws, the punishment for them is worse. So people shouldn't necessarily run to being a Noahide just because it has fewer laws, because the punishment is worse in some cases.

51:15The reward, on the other hand, for a Jew is greater than the reward for a non-Jew. Even though both of them can go to heaven, both a righteous Jew and a righteous Noachide can both go to heaven, the level of heaven that a Jew can get to that's righteous is higher than a non-Jew. So there's a bigger responsibility for a Jew, but there's also a bigger reward. There is less responsibility for a non-Jew, but there's also less reward. So it's measure for measure. Yes. Right, right.

52:19It's here. You're considered a Kohen Gadol. You're considered on the same level as a Kohen Gadol, meaning because you're not obligated to learn Torah like a Jew is, but when you're learning Torah to such a high level, you're considered ultra-righteous. So yes, but even in heaven, there are levels. There's not just one heaven. There are levels of heaven. There are degrees. So a standard, normal Jew will go to one level. An ultra-righteous Jew will go to a higher level. So there are different levels of heaven. But there have been very, very righteous non-Jews in history. For example, one of them is Iyov. Iyov was not only a non-Jew, he was also a prophet. But he obviously has received a big reward both in this life and in the next world. He's very, very righteous. But there have also been wicked non-Jews and wicked Jews in the Torah, outside of it, and so on. So each person is judged based on what the Torah dictates. And everyone is judged measure for measure. There are some punishments that come in this world, but most of the punishment and reward come in the next world.

53:43This world is really meant for us to do work. This world is meant for us to collect mitzvot, to do good deeds, as the Torah says, and to prepare ourselves for the real world, which is the one after this. So when people spend all of their time looking for pleasure in this world, it's impossible for them to have a good world in the next world because they're not spending any time preparing for the next world. You had a question? Yes. Right now, you were mentioning that there are some who will work a thousand hours and will still be in need. Yes. Is there a way that we'll know if we're one of those people? Yeah, if you're meant to be reaching for it, is there any...

54:44Sure. Yes. There are certain things that you can do, certain prayers, certain different things that you can do in order to help sustenance, in order to help with making a living. And there are more possibilities of being able to do it as a Jew than there are as a non-Jew. And yes, there are definitely things that you can do in order to help that. As a matter of fact, there's one thing that Hashem told us that we're allowed to test Him. We're not allowed to test Hashem in anything. For example, we're not allowed to say, "Hashem, if You really exist, give me a sign right now. Make, I don't know, lightning or something like that." We're not allowed to do that. Or look for signs from Hashem. We're not allowed to say, "Hashem, if You really exist, do something." We're not allowed to do things like that. We're not allowed to test Hashem. There's only one thing that Hashem said we are allowed to test Him, and He's actually inviting us to test Him. And it says, "Aser t'aser." Maaser is tithe, 10%.

56:00Hashem said that if you give 10% of the net income, not gross. So for example, if somebody makes, I don't know, let’s say if they make $3,000 a month, and their bills are $2,000, and they have $1,000 left. So that $1,000 is what I’m talking about, not the $3,000. So the tithe, the ma'aser, He says if you give 10% of that, what's remaining... to tzedakah, but not just any tzedakah. Not to somebody who is a gambler that just needs more money to go play blackjack. You give it to somebody who is learning Torah. You give it to somebody who is helping Jews. You give it to a real good Torah cause. If you do that, Hashem says, I guarantee that you will be rich. Not just have money, you will be rich in your lifetime. He doesn't say timing though. So let's not, I don't want anyone to misunderstand. He doesn't say, listen, you do it for a year, I guarantee the next year you'll be rich. He doesn't say that. I know personally, one guy that did it for maybe a year and became very, very wealthy. I know another guy that did it for maybe 10 or 15 years before he became wealthy. So there's no measure. Hashem decides when. Each person has their own test. I know that the younger guy, the guy that got rich quickly, he was much younger. Which I'm not God or anything, but I know that he would not have held up to that test for 15 years. He would not have given 10% for 15 years waiting to become rich. Why? Because the guy that's 25 years old doesn't have the patience of a guy that's 45 or 50.

57:14before he became wealthy. So there's no measure. Hashem decides when. Each person has their own test. I know that the younger guy, the guy that got rich quickly, he was much younger. Which I'm not God or anything, but I know that he would not have held up to that test for 15 years. He would not have given 10% for 15 years waiting to become rich. Why? Because the guy that's 25 years old doesn't have the patience of a guy that's 45 or 50. So, Hashem also told us He's not going to give us tests that we can't pass. So, that's one thing in regard to sustenance that can help us. Hashem Himself, it's in the Torah. Hashem Himself said it, not me or anything like that. Another thing is, there's a blessing called Birkat Hamazon, which is the blessing you do after you eat bread. Anytime you eat bread as part of a meal, or even just bread by itself, There's something called Birkat Hamazon, which you're obligated to say anyway. Now, that blessing, if you have a lot of kavanah, a lot of meaning in that blessing, the sages say it's a segulah; it can give you extra sustenance.

58:31extra money. And there are a few other things. There are a few other things we can go over another time, but there are several things that Hashem gave us through His sages and even through Himself that can help us have an easier time making a living. The most important thing out of everything is having emunah, having faith in Hashem that He’s in control of everything. As long as we have faith in Him, We'll never have anything to worry about, which means that anytime we're worried, it indicates a lack of faith. And we have to work on it. I recall in one of your lectures that you mentioned that that's the first thing we start losing when we stop spending more time reading the Torah and learning, either it's health or it's money. And it's exactly what you were saying in that lecture about what we were going through. spend more time. It's exactly what you said. I mean, that's what we're going through. This is the test. This is the test. Listen, right now, you're all doing something amazing. You're doing something that's unusual. You're doing something that's truly unbelievable.

59:50We spend more time. It's exactly what you said. I mean, that's what we're going through. This is the test. This is the test. Listen, right now, you're all doing something amazing. You're doing something that's unusual. You're doing something that's truly unbelievable. you're going to join the chosen people. You're going to join a nation that's very, very few in number. And technically, if you compare the Jewish people in comparison to the rest of the world, we're not even a statistical error. There's 7.5 billion people, and there's only 14 or 15 million Jews, of which out of those 14 or 15 million, there's only about 3 or 4 million that actually keep the Torah. So, three or four million out of seven and a half billion people are not even a rounding error. And you're about to join them. So, that's something special. It cannot be, such a huge milestone cannot be achieved in an easy way. Hashem can't say, oh listen, you want it, so I'll let anybody in. Just like, for example, if somebody wants to be a doctor,

1:01:03And they said, listen, you want to be a doctor? Okay, what's your name? Steve. Okay, you're a doctor. If that was the test, somebody would say, why'd you make me go to medical school for 10 years if you're just asking my name? So the more difficult, the more significant the reward, or the more significant the goal is, the more difficult the test is going to be. But I can promise you from experience and knowledge that it's worth it. It's worth it because it's an eternal reward. By the way, there's a chance that the battery is going to die on his phone. I have to find a solution to that because it keeps giving me a message that it's running out of battery. So hold on a second for me.