Curing A Virus Worse Than COVID-19 - MUSSAR Iggeret HaRAMBAN (35)

0:17We are back. And our Tuesday night shiur, to do our Igeret HaRamban, we only have one, maybe two, I think one or two lectures left in the series. Maybe more, one, two, three, something like that. Maybe we'll even finish it before the chag. We'll see. And our Tuesday night shiur, to do our Igeret HaRamban, we only have one, maybe two, I think one or two lectures left in the series. Maybe more, one, two, three, something like that. Maybe we'll even finish it before the chag. We'll see. The shiur tonight will be for Refuah Shlema, for Levana bat Sarah, Rabbi Efraim ben Shulamit, Rabbanit Sarah bat Anat, David ben Nesried, Doris bat Jorah, Stefan ben Katerina, Katerina bat Aizel, Lior Tovia ben Chaya, Simcha bat Sarah,

1:18Esther bat Zipporah, Devorah bat Mercedes, Serach bat Batya, Batya bat Sarah. And all of Am Yisrael, b'ezrat Hashem, will have a Refuah Shlema, Refuat Hanefesh, Refuat Haguf. so we have our, uh, we have, uh, last week, the Ramban gave us some, uh, instructions of, uh, how to deal with this coronavirus. He already knew 800 years ago about corona because he gave us instructions, but this week he's doing it again. but a different aspect of the coronavirus. Now, the situation is not improving in the world. Last I checked, we broke over 400,000 people who tested positive for this virus, Hashem Yishmor Ve'yatzil. The number of dead people, I believe, was either 16 or 18,000 people worldwide. The number of sick people in the United States has gone up tremendously. The number of cases has gone up tremendously, and that's not the worst news.

2:43The worst news is that all of those numbers are a lie. All of those numbers are a lie. And the reason why is when you get to know people from all parts of the world, you get to talk to them, and they tell you things that the news doesn't tell you. So, for example, in California, There is a person I know in the medical business, a nurse, whose husband has coronavirus. He has all the symptoms of coronavirus, but he doesn't know for sure. Why doesn't he know for sure if his wife is a nurse? Because they refuse to test them. They don't want to test them. They're not testing everybody. In fact, they're not testing most people. The reality is that the numbers that you have in the United States are confirmed cases of people that were tested, but there are countless people that I know personally who are sick, are not doing well, and have all of the symptoms listed on the internet,

4:03of what it could be, they cannot even get tested, either because there's no testing, or because of a certain policy, procedure, or bureaucracy—there are all types of different reasons why HaKadosh Baruch Hu is simply putting these people in a situation where they're realizing that they have nothing to rely on other than HaKadosh Baruch Hu. why the doctors are not able to do everything that they would want to do sometimes, or sometimes they don't want to do it. It depends—most of them want to do it but can't do it. No supplies, no this, no that—all types of reasons. So there are many, many people that have this coronavirus that have not been able to get tested. Worse yet, the numbers around the world are also a lie. ...and part of the reason is because many of the countries simply are not testing at all. They're not testing at all. One of those countries is India. India, if you look at the internet, you'll see they have almost a billion and a half people—almost as many people in India as there are in China. And up till about a month ago, they barely had anybody sick.

5:25still now, there's barely anyone there according to the numbers that you see on the internet. In comparison to the size of the country, barely anybody's sick. Up till about a month ago, they were exporting N95 masks, the most popular mask in the world. They were exporting it, giving it to all the other countries. Fast forward about a month, they just announced the entire country is going on shutdown. No one is allowed to leave the house. How long? A month. Why? They realized that coronavirus is not what they thought it was. There are countless people infected, and their medicine didn't work. They had a medicine, they had a cure for it. They had a cure for it, and it didn't work. You know what it was? It was a bunch of crazy people that started clapping and taking their pots and pans in the street and making noise out of their windows or in the streets to scare away the virus. Because that's what their avodah zarah says to do. When a virus comes, make noise with your pots and pans. So you see hundreds and thousands of people...

6:38making noise out of the window, all that stuff. The virus didn't go away. Why are countless people sick right now? Countless. It didn't work. Why doesn't it work? It doesn't work. We learned two weeks ago Eliyahu HaNavi says to the Nevi'ei HaBaal, the false prophets at the time of Achav. He says, okay, you bring 450 prophets. I'm going to come by myself. Each one of you prophets bring a korban, bring a sacrifice. Don't add any fire, you do what you gotta do, and let's see where the fire's gonna come from. If there's a fire that consumes your sacrifice, then your god is the real god, whichever one you guys pick among your 450. If not, but my God sends a fire to consume my sacrifice, then obviously my God is the real God. This was after three years of famine that Eliyahu HaNavi brought onto the world because many of the Jews were idol worshipping, following the wicked king of the time, Achav. then obviously, my God is the real God. This was after three years of famine that Eliyahu HaNavi brought onto the world because many of the Jews were idol worshipping, following the wicked king of the time, Achav.

7:52So, they had the showdown, the famous showdown, 450 fake prophets, 450 Manus Friedmans, 450 Goldbergs, 450 resha'im, that everyone thought were tzaddikim. They had long beards, peyot, shtreimels, everything you want. YouTube channel, 40,000 followers, millions of dollars, everything. But now it's a showdown, why? HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, let's go. He sent his prophet. Okay. You show them what to do. 450. Bring their sacrifices. They bring their sheep, their cow, whatever they want. They put it there, and they start going. Doesn't work. Maybe you should say it louder. Maybe your god is busy. I'm not making this up. He says, maybe you should say it louder. Maybe your god is talking to somebody. He can't hear you. maybe he can't hear you. No, no, no, with the parts, with the pants, with the, no, no, it doesn't work. Maybe your god's sleeping. Wake him up. Maybe wait a little bit. Let's wait for him. Maybe he's a little, maybe he's tired. So he says to them, really, you're reading it in the Tanach. It's unbelievable. It's the funniest thing in the world. It's the funniest story in the entire Torah.

9:15start making noise, they start singing songs, they start thinking that the market's gonna go up, and it goes up for one day. And everybody starts celebrating, "Yeah, we're out of it! The market's up two thousand points! It all worked!" No, no, this is just a fake out. The show's not over. After they spent hours and hours lying to each other, the people were fed up. No fire came from shamayim. The false prophecy didn't work. The fake teachings did not help people during the crisis. The fake teachings did not help people who really needed help. It only helped people who were looking for lies. After the people got fed up with it, They asked Eliyahu Hanavi, "Eliyahu, can you do something?" Eliyahu Hanavi says, "You know what? Let's make it a little more difficult. Why? Because it has nothing to do with me. It has to do with the word of Hashem. If Hashem wants to send a fire, it doesn't matter what I do. So let's do this. Let's pick up the empty. Each one of you take a bucket of water, pour it on my korban, pour it on my sacrifices. Make it less flammable."

10:27pour water all over the place, and each one came with a bucket of water and poured it on the sacrifice. More and more and more. Eliyahu HaNavi says to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, "Hashem, Hashem, show them who is the one and only God, show them who is the one and only truth." And a fire came from Shamayim and consumed not only the sacrifice, but everything there. And everyone knew that there is only one and only God, the God of Israel, and there is only one and only truth. There is no this truth and that truth, like some people think. His version of Gehinnom and your version of Gehinnom. His version of Gan Eden and your version of Gan Eden. There is no such thing. There is one single truth. If you believe anything other than that, you are living a lie. And unfortunately, countless people, billions and billions of people, are feeding themselves a lie. Now, if it was only the goyim from India, honestly, I probably wouldn't mention it.

11:38What do I care about a billion and a half goyim, even though there are a few good people there, Baruch Hashem, very, very important people to us over there, that of course are not idol worshipers, tzaddikim, they live over there? But the rest of them, what do I care about them? But the reality is that it affects us. It affects each and every single one of us. Why? Because many of us go to those places, eat that food, befriend those people, see their ideology and adapt it into our lives, put those Buddha statues or all types of earrings and chains and necklaces and shoes and clothes that these people wear. Why? Because we want to be hip. We want to be like the goyim, but pretend like we're Jews. And the reality is, it does affect us, the religious and the non-religious Jews. And that's why there are many people today, they are sending non-stop text messages. Every five seconds there's a new text message of another segulah of what's going to make this go away.

12:42oh, you do this prayer 17 times forward, 18 times backward, you flip around your hands right and left, and you say everything's gonna go away. Okay, you did it, and guess what? Five thousand more people died. Okay, maybe you didn't do it right. Do it again seven times, eight times, right, left, do the hokey pokey, and let's go, another five thousand people died. It's not working. No, no. Send this mail. If you don't send this text message to at least 10 people, you are a rasha. Okay, you send it to not 10, you send it to 100 people. Why? Because it's easy. You just press a button. You have nothing else to do at home anyway. Why? You're not learning Torah. You're playing with the text message all day. Oh, everybody looks like a tzaddik right now. Why? If you send this segula to 10 people, you're going to save Am Yisrael. Rabotai. HaKadosh Baruch Hu cannot make it any clearer without making the situation worse. The only cure for coronavirus happens to be the same cure for all of the spiritual viruses we already had before corona.

13:53the cure is teshuvah. Stop wasting seed. Stop hanging out with the lesbians and the gays and going on parades. Stop, well, you know, stop wasting time on television, on video games, playing basketball thinking you're going to be the next NBA star. You're a Jew; it will never happen. Stop pretending to be a goy. You're not going to be a good one, even if you try. Why? Because when the Holocaust happened, the Nazis didn't care that you weren't religious. They didn't care if you weren't religious. Even though you acted like them, and many of the Jews over there, they liked being a German more than a Jew. Guess what? They killed them also. In fact, they killed them first. The only cure for corona is the same cure we've needed this whole time. It's called teshuva. Fix ourselves. If you don't know how to be a husband, you have to start learning how to be. How do you know if you're a good husband or a wife or not? It's determined based on the complaining from the other side. If the other side is not happy, that means that you're partly doing something wrong yourself. It's not necessarily always your fault, but it has to do with you also.

15:17If your wife is complaining all day that she's not happy, that means that you have to become a better husband. If your husband is constantly complaining that he's unhappy, that means you have to become a better wife. Yeah, but I'm doing everything. Apparently not. If it was everything, they would be happy. And if you're doing really everything, and they're still unhappy, then you should send them to an institution for depression. There's something wrong with them. That institution is called the Beit Midrash. Not an institution of the goyim. The Beit Midrash is the institution for depression. Why do you go to the Beit Midrash? You learn Torah, you become happy. The goyim, they send you to all these places where they're going to give you a bunch of drugs just to numb you. Why? Because they don't want to hear you talk, because you're not making any sense. The reality is that we have to stop pretending like we're going. That’s the cure. That’s the cure. and HaKadosh Baruch Hu is making it very obvious that right now they're estimating that whatever numbers you see on the internet as far as the amount of people that actually have been tested positive with the virus should be multiplied by at least 11, and that's how many people have the virus for sure according to them but haven't been tested, meaning about four and a half million

16:37Four and a half million. One of the top officials in New Jersey estimated that pretty much half the country is going to have this virus. Really cheered us up. The guy from California said that at least 25 million, more than half of the state of California, is going to have it. The point is that this could get much, much uglier very quickly. And we have to stop faking ourselves out, thinking that we're out of the woods because the market went up a little bit, because the news doesn't seem so bad. It only doesn't seem so bad because we've become numb to it after watching it for 24 hours a day for two weeks straight. You're numb to the dead people. The reality is the struggle continues. And we have to wake up and try to see what can I do other than buy toilet paper and preserve every toothpaste in my house and every doughnut and every cookie and look at everything as if I'm going to die in my house. Hashem doesn't want to destroy the world. But He also is not getting rid of this really quickly either. He's trying to tell us something here. We have to do a lot of teshuva. Now, many times

18:02People are focused on one aspect of teshuva. Most of the time, they consider doing chesed, giving tzedakah, as their teshuva. And that, in essence, because they donate a certain amount of money, they figure that it's okay that they don't learn Torah, it's okay that they don't keep the mitzvot exactly like Hashem says. Why? Because they donate a lot of money to yeshivot and to organizations and so on and so forth. So they figure if I give a lot, it's gonna make up for me not doing a lot. Now, obviously, we know that's not what Hashem said. says, "I want your heart, not your money. It's My money anyway. It's My money you're giving away. You're giving away My money. You think you get credit for it? No, I want to know why you're giving it. Do you believe in it, or are you just trying to pacify your conscience? The reality is that just giving is not enough. But then there's another problem. There's a bunch of so-called 'fake tzaddikim'..."

19:14What's a fake tzaddik? Someone that only cares about everybody else's neshama. That's a fake tzaddik. Why? You cannot only care about people's neshama. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, alav ha-shalom, the one who started or restarted the Musar movement a couple of hundred years ago, says, worry about your neshama and your friend or your brother's body. Worry about your neshama. Fix your anger. Fix your stinginess. Fix your arrogance. Your friend, your brother, worry about his body first. Meaning, make sure he's alive. Make sure he has food to eat. Make sure he has shoes that don't open their mouth like a leviathan. Make sure he doesn't have holes in his roof. Then teach him Musar. Why? Because if he doesn't have... No more shoes, no more place to live, food to eat. He's already suffering enough. It's not time to teach him Musar at this point. Teach him something else. The reality is, Rabotai HaYekarim, is that many times you have people where they want to help everybody else with their Musar, with their rebukes. But that's not enough.

20:35We have to care about each other completely. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. Care about each other spiritually, but also care about each other physically. You cannot just think that you're doing enough if you're doing one or the other. In order to arrive at such an amazing conclusion, you have to be... Now, you just got it handed to you on a silver platter, but in reality, to arrive at this conclusion requires an enormous amount of thought. Why? Because you would logically think if I give a lot to help other people do a lot of good things... Isn't there some Mishnah somewhere, Rabbi, that says that it's more praiseworthy and more meritorious for someone that enables another person to do than for a person that does himself? Yes, there is a Mishnah like that. But that Mishnah doesn't say that the person that gave doesn't do himself also. It just says that he gets more merit and more praiseworthiness and more reward for enabling others to do. It doesn't say that he doesn't do himself also. He doesn't learn himself also. He doesn't do mitzvot himself also. He doesn't build his entire olam just on this. He has to learn also. He has to keep Shabbat also. He has to work on himself also.

21:57So, to understand this, Rabotai, we have to go deep into the words of the Ramban and understand what kind of mind we need to have in order to arrive at such honest conclusions. And the Ramban says here, after he told us that we must cast away any external matters from our mind when we pray... We have to prepare our hearts for the presence of the Holy One. We have to purify our thoughts. We have to ponder the words before we say them. Think about what you're going to say before you say it. Don't claim you know someone when you don't, like a lot of people are doing right now. You know, creating all types of fake news. Oh, if you do this segula five times, you're going to see Mashiach next week. right before Pesach, yeah, this guy, this right Rabbi, I'm not going to tell you who he is because he's really busy, but my Rabbi told me Mashiach is definitely coming before Pesach, definitely. So get your suit ready. The level of stupidity that is hitting the media right now in the Jewish world is at new highs. Instead of getting smarter, we're actually getting stupider. And that's not because of coronavirus. It's not one of the symptoms; it's actually, we're doing it naturally.

23:25Why? Instead of learning Gemara, learning Shulchan Aruch, learning the Chumash, what do we do? We're learning the news. We're learning the WhatsApp. We're learning nothing. More Jews today know about Christianity than they know about Torah. It's awful. And it's time to stop with the fake news. Spreading these fake segulot, fake this, fake that, enough. Do teshuva; that's what it takes. Fix yourself, and things are going to be fixed. If you don't fix yourself, nothing's going to be fixed. Right now, people are losing their shirts, but I know a few people that are making a killing. How come? A bunch of people are losing money, but I know a few people that are making more money in the last month and a half than they've made in their entire life combined. How come?

24:25How come? HaKadosh Baruch Hu rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. That's not it only. The reality is that HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants to show us how He controls parnassah. He controls parnassah. If you're losing, it's not because of coronavirus. It's because HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't want to give it to you anymore. He's taking it back. He lent it to you. You didn't use it the right way, so He's taking it back. I have a lot of experience with that. He gave you a bunch of money, and you didn't do the right thing with it for whatever reason. Who decided? Not me. You didn't decide it. I didn't decide. He did. How do I know? He's taking it back. If you did the right thing, guess what? He wouldn't take it back. No, but I gave tzedakah, Rabbi. Apparently not enough. Apparently not enough. Yeah, I gave ma'aser, Rabbi. Apparently not to the right organization. Just because you give ma'aser doesn't mean you get protection. It depends who you give it to. If you give it to one of these missionaries that call themselves a Rabbi,

25:37one of these organizations that tell people that it's okay if they drive on Shabbat, no matter what, they're going to go to Olam HaBa anyway. You give it to one of those places, guess what? It's like giving it to a church. If you give it to a shul where half the kehillah is driving on Shabbat, it's no different than giving the money to a church. If you give it to an organization that tells everybody they are going to Olam HaBa no matter what, it's no different than giving it to a church. Actually, giving it to a church may be better. Why? Because at least in a church they tell you some people are not going to heaven. But don't do that anyway because you go to Gehinnom for doing that. for giving money to the church. The point being, Rabotai, it's not just about giving. It's about who you're giving it to and how much you're giving. Nakdimon ben Gurion, one of the richest people of the land, was considered one of the Gedolim, a giant tzaddik. Nakdimon ben Gurion, in the days of the Gemara, the days of the Beit HaMikdash. He was one of three rich people who gave money to everybody.

26:46They financed the entire people, the entire country. Three people. Lots of money. Lots of goods. Everybody had water. Everybody had food. For three years straight, he gave money. Years passed. The Beit HaMikdash was destroyed. Famine hit the city. Rabban Yochanan sees the daughter of Nakdimon ben Gurion looking for food inside the fecal matter of the donkeys of the Arabs. She's looking for seeds. He says, "What are you doing?" She replies, "I'm looking for seeds they didn't digest inside the waste of the donkeys." He asks, "Who are you?" She says, "I am Nakdimon ben Gurion's daughter." Look at it. How could it be? Your father was the richest man of the land. He said he used to be. He said, but how could it be? He should have protection. He gave a lot of tzedakah. Apparently, it wasn't enough. Apparently, it wasn't enough. Why?

28:03It's not just about giving. You have to give the right amount. You have to give to the right people. And the Chatam Sofer, the Chatam Sofer gives a chiddush worth a million dollars. The Chatam Sofer, a few hundred years ago, says even more so. He says, it's not just he didn't give enough. It's not just he didn't give to the right people. No, no, no, no. So there's a specific story in the Gemara of a miracle that happened with Nakdimon ben Gurion. where he had a deal with an Arab. He said to him, "Listen, I have a bunch of people coming to Yerushalayim. I'm responsible for giving them water. There's not enough water this year. Please give me your wells. I'll borrow your wells. We'll use the water and I'll return the wells to you with the exact amount of water that you gave to me. And if not, if there's not exactly the amount of water that you gave to me, I'll fill up the wells with gold." said, "Good deal." As you would have it, they drank the water, they drank the water, and rain didn't come. Meaning that the water started drying up. On the day that the deal was supposed to be done, the Arab comes there and goes, "Okay, Nakdimon, I know you're good for it. Fill up my wells with gold." Nakdimon says, "Wait until the end of the day. It's still early. It's morning. I still have till the end of the day." He goes, "What do you think? It's gonna rain?"

29:26going to fill up the wells in a few hours. "Because you know what you worry about, and I'll worry about what I worry about," he went inside the Beit HaMikdash and started praying to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. "Why do I have to pay your loan? I used the water for your kids. Why do I have to pay with the money you gave me for your kids?" Rain started coming down. Rain started coming down, but it was trickling. Long story short, it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough. The Arab comes to Nakdimon ben Gurion and says to him, "Okay, it's not enough." He goes, "No, no, hold on a second. I still have time." The Arab responds, "No, no, the sun's down." Nakdimon ben Gurion goes back inside the Beit HaMikdash and prays to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. HaKadosh Baruch Hu liked his prayer so much that He put the sun back in the sky. scan went down, he was right. The sun went down. Hashem took the sun— a little tiny malach that is really big to us, though— took it like a joy, put it back in the sky. Why? He reversed time and brought rain, filled up the wells. Fantastic miracle! The Arab says, "Wow, your God is obviously answering your prayers!" Big miracle. Nakdimon ben Gurion was one of three people in history who reversed the sun.

30:53Unbelievable, unbelievable things! Who says Nakdimon ben Gurion was dishonest? What’s dishonest? What’s dishonest? He reversed the sun! Yes, he reversed the sun, but the deal didn’t have this in writing. Where was the deal that said, "As soon as the sun goes down, you have to fill up the well with gold"? He didn’t fill up the well with gold. Who says, "Okay, I made a miracle for you so there’s no desecration of My name"? ...but you should have paid him with gold. Whatever wasn't full, you should have paid him with gold. Don't ask for a miracle. And because you saved the money, if you will, you saved the money in a non-kosher way by asking for a miracle from Hashem, in essence, Chatam Sofer says, HaKadosh Baruch Hu took all of his money and more. If Chatam Sofer didn't say it, I wouldn't dare to say such a thing. HaKadosh Baruch Hu is not reversing the sun for me. So obviously, Nakdimon ben Gurion was a big tzaddik. But apparently, he made a small mistake. What does that have to do with us? Dishonest business.

32:03HaKadosh Baruch Hu hates dishonest business. Anyone that watched my shiurim in New York in the week that followed knows how much and how many sources there are in the Torah about how much HaKadosh Baruch Hu hates dishonesty. honest business, people that are lending money with high interest, people that are selling goods as new when they're really refurbished or used, people that are overcharging people, taking advantage of people. So many of the people that are losing a fortune right now, they're not really losing a fortune. It was never theirs to begin with. They took it in an unethical way. In an illegal way, according to Hashem's standards, even if it's legal within the government rules, it's illegal in the eyes of Hashem. So, Hashem is just taking it in bunches, in millions. Don't make a mistake and think that the show is over.

33:03Because HaKadosh Baruch Hu rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked both in this world and the next. Right now He's just simply giving us a small warning shot. People are not jumping out of windows yet. Hopefully, it doesn't get to that. But if things continue without us doing teshuva, you're going to start seeing the millionaires and billionaires of the world killing themselves by the dozens, hoping they have corona. It'll be easier than dealing with the embarrassment of losing their fortunes. Now, The Ramban here says, after you purify your thoughts, purify your actions. he says conduct yourself in these ways in all of your endeavors for as long as you live. In this way, you will surely avoid transgression. Your words, actions, and thoughts will be flawless.

34:05So here we see that the Ramban emphasizes again that after you've purified your thoughts, after you thought twice before you spoke, he goes back again and warns us to not only be persistent and do this all the time, but he's already giving us a hint of one of the benefits of doing this, which is that you will end up avoiding all transgressions. As a result of having pure thoughts, as a result of having pure actions, we're not going to sin. We're simply not going to sin anymore. you will end up avoiding all transgressions. As a result of having pure thoughts, as a result of having pure actions, we're not going to sin. We're simply not going to sin anymore. What's the big deal of sinning? Why is he constantly reminding us, don't sin, don't sin? How come he doesn't say, do mitzvot? do a lot of mitzvot. Shouldn't he say, do a lot of mitzvot? No. If you look at all of the mussar and gemarot and teachings of the sages, from alef ad tav, from the beginning to the end, you will see a greater emphasis on avoiding the sins than you will see on doing mitzvot. There are a couple of reasons for it. Number one,

35:32When a person is focused on avoiding aveirot (sins), it's much easier for him to do mitzvot. If a person is protecting his brit, keeping Shabbat, doesn't light fire, doesn't work on Shabbat, he's honest in business, he's avoiding sins in business, he's avoiding sins on Shabbat, he's avoiding sins when he's by himself or even with his wife, he's avoiding those sins that are easy to make, that you don't even need anyone to know, except the Kadosh Baruch Hu will always know. He's avoiding all of those sins. If you ask that guy to come to pray, no problem, he's coming. You ask the guy to come to Yeshiva Torah, no problem, he's coming. You ask the guy to donate, if he has it, he's donating. No problem. Why? His neshama is clean, and he's working so hard to keep it that way. It's pure enough to just understand that whatever Hashem is sending him as an opportunity, as a mitzvah, it's for him to take. Take it where you can. When a person is full of sins,

36:43Even if he does mitzvot, everything is only if it fits. Only if it's convenient for him will he do this mitzvah. He's only going to come to shul if it's in his schedule to come, if he doesn't have an appointment, if he doesn't have a meeting, if he's going to wake up on time. He's only going to come to shul if he likes the speaker, not if the speaker is speaking emet. Only if he likes the speaker is he going to go. He's only going to go to shul for the amount of time that he wants to go, not the whole time. If he can only go for a half hour, he's only coming for a half hour. He's not going to come for the whole thing. Why? Because it's too long, he gets tired. He's only going to learn when he wants to learn, not when he needs to learn. He's only going to keep Shabbat the way he wants to keep Shabbat, not the way Hashem wants you to keep Shabbat. He's only going to be a husband the way he wants to be a husband, not the way HaKadosh Baruch Hu said to be a husband. She’s only going to be modest according to her standards, not the standards that Hashem and the Chachamim set for the world. No, no, "I think in my eyes this is modest, Rabbi." Who cares about your eyes?

37:49Anybody ever tell you that? Well, Hashem is saying that all day. As the Mishnah in Avot says, every single day there's a bat kol coming from Mount Horeb, from Mount Sinai. Woe to the creation that desecrates My Torah. Woe to My creation for having such people that think that their standards are anything in comparison to Mine. Woe to My creation. woe to My creation that thinks that they can make the rules according to whatever community they're in and not according to the sages of the generation and the previous generations. Woe to My creation that has such people that make fun of the sages and think that it's okay. Woe to such a creation that thinks that they are on the same level. In any aspect, as the sages of the previous generation, whether it be 30 years ago, or 300 years ago, or 1,500 years ago—woe to such a creation. Woe to such a people.

38:56The point is, rabotai, that when a person is full of sins, it's a person that's only going to do a mitzvah if it fits into their mind, into their logic, into their lifestyle, into their schedule. Why? Because they're full of what's called klipah. Klipah is what you create as a result of sins. It's like a thick shell around your neshama. That doesn't allow Kedusha to come in. The same way with someone that doesn't have it. So you're only going to allow certain parts of mitzvot into your life when you make a lot of sins. Hence the reason why the sages said... That when you want to do what Hashem says, first focus on refraining from sinning. Focus on not sinning. Then focus on the mitzvot. Why? Because if you focus on not sinning, it'll be easier for you to do the mitzvot. If you don't focus on not sinning, and you end up sinning as a result of it, naturally, then even your mitzvot are not going to be pure. There is another sage, I believe it's the Ba'al HaTanya, but don't quote me on the name, but this is definitely Emet. When I heard this, I wasn't sure if I should teach it. But I have it in my head right now, which means I have to teach it. There's a sage that says, and this is one of the Gedolei HaDor, this is not like Mickey Mouse.

40:11are not going to be pure. There is another sage, I believe it's the Ba'al HaTanya, but don't quote me on the name, but this is definitely emet. When I heard this, I wasn't sure if I should teach it. But I have it in my head right now, which means I have to teach it. There's a sage that says, and this is one of the Gedolei HaDor, this is not like Mickey Mouse. One of the Rishonim says, a person that doesn't do teshuva, a person that's not fixing himself, she's not fixing herself, she's not serious about Hashem, she's only going to do whatever she feels like. The sins they make count 100%. Sins. The mitzvot count for nothing. All the mitzvot they do count for nothing. They won't get a reward for it. They'll get a reward for it in this world. They won't get a reward for it over there. Why? This is because even the mitzvot are impure. Even the mitzvot are no good. When will those mitzvot count? When they start doing teshuva, they'll get like a wave, like a tsunami of kedusha that is going to hit them. Because of all the mitzvot they've gathered but didn't get a reward for.

41:31But if a person is going to try playing 50-50 with Hashem, Hashem says, I don't want any of your mitzvot. All of that person's mitzvot go to the Sitra Achra, go to the Satan. And this is not the only source that says it. It's also in the Zohar HaKadosh. The Zohar HaKadosh says a person that wastes seed... person that wastes seed, all of the mitzvot that he makes, even if he gives tzedakah, even if he does all types of good things, every single one of the mitzvot that he does goes to the Satan, gives power to the Satan, and doesn't count for him. So, it's not like there's one source; there are many sources. The point being is this: it's scary. Why? Most of what we have today is not religious at all. There are some really, really good ones, but there's a bunch of us that are in the middle. And none of us can be so sure of ourselves that we're actually on the good side or we're almost in the middle, meaning that unless we start picking up our game, even the good stuff that we're doing is not going to help us.

42:40why waste so much effort if we're not going to get paid? Just push yourself a little further, do everything right, and that's it. Let's stop pretending to have one foot in the Jewish world and one foot still left in the goyim's world. In essence, one of the things that the Ramban tries to teach here is that you have to make sure that you stay away from sins, especially the big ones and the obvious ones. People are literally committing sins but they think it's a mitzvah because of their ignorance. Right now there's so much corruption happening due to the situation, so much chillul Hashem that's happening, it's very hard to understand how somebody can even save themselves from such things. People are in certain businesses that are trying to benefit from the medical situation, whether it's with masks or buying and selling masks or all types of other equipment and so on. Now, it's no problem to benefit; it's no problem to make money. The problem is when you're dishonest. The problem is when you're dishonest. You buy the goods, you sign the deal, and then the guy says, "Okay, I transferred the goods to you. Pay me."

44:00bankruptcy. The guy declares bankruptcy. The entity that bought the stuff declares bankruptcy so he doesn't have to pay him for the money for the goods either. And this is happening. It's happening between friends. I got one student who says that there is a guy that he's prayed next to at Netz every day for years. They pray next to each other for years. They pray next to each other in the morning at six o'clock in the morning, five o'clock in the morning. They make a deal together. Without a contract. Why? Because they're friends. Even though Jewish law says you're supposed to have a contract. Nonetheless, no contract. Why? He's my boy. I've been praying next to this guy for 15 years. I have to have a contract with him? I got the thing. He did this. I did that. We got the money. We're going to split 50-50. The day of the deal happened. Got the money. Okay, can I have my money? No, no, you're not getting the money. What do you mean I'm not getting the money? No, no, it's too much. What do you mean it's too much? We had a deal. 50-50. Listen, I'll pay you 10%. If you want, take it. No, I'm not going to give you anything. What about the 15 years we've been praying next to each other? Ah, that 15-15. Do you want it or not? And this is happening. This is actually a good situation. You know how many people are not paying at all? Nothing, just stealing each other's money. Now, you would think these people are secular. No, it's not just secular people.

45:23I'm sorry, it's not. It's mamash filth happening. They're ripping each other apart. Right now, mamash, an hour, two hours ago, somebody tells me, listen, there is a, you know, some of the rabbis in the community say no more batei knesset. Don't pray in a beit knesset. There's a danger. Coronavirus, coronavirus. No problem. Rabbi doesn't want to open a beit knesset. No problem. Doesn't want to open it. Doesn't want to open it. but you can still do whatever you want. You want to pray in your house, you want to invite a few people to your house, go ahead, as long as it's not crazy, it's not putting people in danger. As long as you don't have any of the symptoms and it's less than 10 people, it's 10 people or less, and you're keeping your head screwed on right, no problem. So some of the people decided they're going to pray in front of somebody's house and keep a distance of six to ten feet from each other to keep them safe. These reshaim, reshaim, go and call the cops on them. Jews, religious Jews, are calling the cops on other Jews. They're putting the whole community in danger. They're praying together. Listen, you're not there. How are you in danger? Anyone that's in danger actually wants to be there.

46:35Someone doesn't want to be in so-called danger. It's not there. There are ten people there. Leave them alone. Why are you calling the cops for? A person that calls the cops on another Jew, if somebody is going to be telling the government, ratting on other Jews, and causing the Jews to get arrested, go to jail, and so on, they lose their olam haba. Just like that. With or without the shtreimel. With or without the wig. With or without the kisui rosh. Doesn't make a difference. You call the cops on other Jews, you just lost your olam haba. You know how much teshuva you have to do in order to get that back? They call the cops on each other. Or better yet, they take pictures to show the rabbi. "Look, rabbi, look, look, look at my phone. Look, rabbi, look. He was praying in a minyan outside of his house, rabbi." What have we come to? What's happening to us? This is what you have in your life? You're that bored out of your mind, you go to your next-door neighbor, you take a picture of him to show the rabbi?

47:54i mean, this is pathetic. It's truly pathetic that the minds that we have today are so empty that that's how we consume our time. Go learn. Go read some Tehillim. Go do something useful with your life. Stop looking at your neighbor. Who says you're even allowed to look at your neighbor's stuff anyway? If they want to pray with ten people, no problem, let them pray. But no, you're going to go tell on them. Call the cops. Call the rabbi. Call this. Call that. Call Ghostbusters. And then we're surprised that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is making the situation worse with coronavirus. There's so much going on in the world today. It's really a mess that we're still not getting the message. The corruption in the business world is really hitting new highs. And it's going to get worse if we don't wake up. Now, In order to solve this spiritual epidemic, the Ramban continues, and he says, in this way, you will surely avoid transgressions; your words, your actions, your thoughts will be flawless. Meaning, as a result of conducting yourself in such a way,

49:16even your thoughts, your words, and your actions are all going to be flawless. Meaning, what is he really telling you? He's not just telling you the outcome; he's telling you the things you need to do. Not only do the words that come out of your mouth need to be flawless, but you have to make sure to calculate whether you should even say any words. should you say the words that you want to say at such and such place? Why? Because, as we talked about many times, the Zohar HaKadosh in Parashat Terumah says a person that speaks divrei chol, meaning mundane subjects, inside of a Beit Knesset, a person that speaks mundane conversations inside a Beit Knesset, inside a Beit Midrash, you want to talk about the news, you want to talk about coronavirus, you want to talk about sports, you want to talk about your shopping list for the next holiday, if that's inside of a Beit Knesset, Hashem says, "I'm not your God anymore."

50:31page 131b, meaning yes, you can talk about mundane things, but not there—not in the Beit Knesset, not in the Beit Midrash. Go outside. "Yeah, but it's cold outside." Okay, so put on a jacket. You're allowed to talk about certain things, but remember that your words must be flawless. Meaning, even the words that come out of your mouth, even if they're the right words and they're permissible, it doesn't mean they're permissible everywhere. It doesn't mean that they're permissible at any time. There's a time and a place for everything. A person needs to know that every one of the words that comes out of his mouth Even more so, every one of the conversations that he's going to have or she's going to have must have a purpose. Do not continue wasting your life having purposeless conversations. Somebody asked me yesterday or two days ago, can I speak to a woman in order to develop my Hebrew?

51:53I said, what's the purpose of the conversation? Do you know this woman? No, no, she's a friend of a friend. Okay, and for what purpose will you speak to her? Like, are you going to marry her? No, I'm too young, I'm not getting married yet. So why are you talking to her? Develop my Hebrew. If you want to develop your Hebrew, read books. Why? You're not allowed to speak even to your own wife, even if she was already your wife. You're not allowed to talk about nothing. Even if she was your wife, you're not going to talk too much. You have to contain it. Have a purpose. Kids, marriage, things. It has to have a purpose. Don't talk about nothing for no reason. And that's even if it's your wife, needless to say, somebody else's wife. You're not even allowed to talk to her. Develop your Hebrew. Read books. What develops your Hebrew? The point, Rabotai, is that If you're going to actually think about things, it won't sound so strict. Why? When you pray to Hashem, how many of us, there's not many, there's four of you only, so no one can tell us we're causing trouble. Now, how many people, when they pray to Hashem, want Hashem to treat our prayers like spam mail? Nobody, right? Nobody wants Hashem to say, oh, it's Yaron again, spam, spam, spam, Sonny, spam, Yeshua, spam, spam, Moshe, spam, Ari, spam.

53:17pray to Hashem. You don't want Him to treat it like spam. No, you want to put it as a VIP with a star on it and a flag on it and a reminder every 15 minutes: "Answer my prayer! I sent you a prayer, I sent you a message, I sent you this—a WhatsApp, a Facebook, a FaceTime—at this time, all types of times. Where am I going to go if you don't answer me?" That's what we want, right? Now, if you want that, it means you have to use the tool... that is being used for prayer, right? Not just to pray, but all day. You cannot use the mouth that you ask HaKadosh Baruch Hu for miracles for things that are against Him also. Meaning, you can't say, "Hashem, give me parnasah," and then 30 seconds later, say the F-word 30 times. Just to make sure you fulfill every minyan of every kehillah. You cannot use the mouth you ask Him for parnasah with to lie or cheat. Why? Your mouth is a kli kodesh. It's the tool of holiness that you use to speak to Hashem. Surely, you cannot use this mouth

54:44do things that are against Him on a regular basis and expect your prayers to have the same value. If we use our mouth in a holy way to learn Torah, to read Torah, to say prayers, to talk the truth, to speak the truth, then this is holy tool. If we ask for something, who says "P'tach tif'tach"? You'll be like My mouth. Hashem doesn't have any mundane conversations with anybody. "Here's the weather in Montana," over there, let's ask. He doesn't have any mundane conversations. "How was your weekend?" He doesn't ask that. He doesn't ask how your weekend was. "Oh, what do you guys think of this such and such sports team?" We're going to give this a shiur. You're going to watch it? You have to have those conversations. Only holiness, only holiness comes from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. If we want our mouth to be like His mouth, we have to do the best we possibly can to contain the things that come out of our mouth, needless to say, to say only the truth, to say things that are connected to Hashem, to do the right thing, not to lie, not to curse.

56:03when this tool is holy, the things that it can achieve are immensely greater than when it's not really so holy. That's why when the sages would pray to Hashem and ask for Hashem to give somebody a refuah sheleimah, Hashem fulfills their prayer. When Somebody asks Hashem for parnassah, Hashem fulfills their prayer. Why? Because He sees that no bad comes out of their mouth. The Gemara says, one of the greatest tzaddikim that ever lived, Yehoshua ben Levi, he's the same Yehoshua ben Levi that told us a lot of what we know about Gehenom. Why? He was friends with Eliyahu HaNavi and the Malach HaMavet. Meaning, this was such a holy person who lived among men that he already had an understanding with things that are beyond this world. Eliyahu HaNavi came to him and said, "Yehoshua ben Levi, do you want to go see Gehenna?" "Yeah, let's go. Let's go." If Eliyahu HaNavi or somebody says, "Eliyahu HaNavi comes to you and says, do you want to see Gehenna?" Say no. Why? It's probably not Eliyahu HaNavi. It's probably a demon or something. You can stay there.

57:27he liked him. He said to him, "You want to see? You want to see? I'm going to show you what you're going to get. Gehenna? I'll go see it. I'll go see the next one. Let's go." He goes, "No, no, no. Listen, you're still the Malach HaMavet. I don't trust you. I think that as soon as I turn around, you're going to kill me." No, come on, sure, we're friends. Okay, we're friends, friends, but you still got a job, so let's do this. If we're such good friends, give me your knife. Because there's a special knife, special like sword type of thing, that the Malach HaMavet has, that on the tip of it, it has this drop that takes the life out of a person. It falls into the person's mouth, takes the life out of a person. Long story short, he says, give me this, I'll hold it. as soon as the trip is over I'll get back to you. So take it, huh? Have a good time. He gives it to him. He shows him, full of kedusha, and it's only the beginning. It's not the whole thing; it's not the whole Gan, but just the kedusha from the outside is out of this world. Beauty, good smells, good things—something out of this world. You show up, and let me jump inside with the knife.

58:55Malach HaMavet says to him, okay, you're coming out, right? He goes, I'm not coming out. Yeshua, you're still alive. You have your clothes on. He goes, I'm not coming out. I'm here. I don't want to feel the pain of death. I'm here. I'm not leaving, and I'm making a neder. I'm making a neder. I'm making a swear. I will never leave this place. Malach HaMavet has nothing to do. Why? He doesn't have the knife anymore. Look at this guy. Look at this guy. He took my knife. He took my knife. He doesn't want to leave Gan Eden. Hashem says, okay, listen. You're right. He took your knife. It's not so fair. But he did make a neder. He made a neder. He's not going to leave Gan Eden. That's a problem. Why? He's a tzaddik. He makes a neder. We have to evaluate. Why? Because we can't make him break a neder. At the same token, we have to evaluate if his neder actually counts. How do we evaluate? Let's look at every single thing he ever said in his entire life. If he ever lied one time, take him and the knife and everything out of Gan Eden. Don't worry about it; you can take him out.

1:00:16But if he never, ever lied in his life, never lied, nothing, zero, then we cannot do anything about it. His words are like me saying it. He never lied—imagine he didn't lie for a day. Forget your whole life. People are so used to lying, they've forgotten they're lying most of the time. Oh yeah, I'll be there in five minutes. He's 45 minutes away. I'll be there in five minutes. He knows he's 45 minutes away. I'll be there in five minutes. Tell him I'm not home. But you're home, Abba, you're home. Tell him I'm not home, or you'll be punished. Abba's not home. He said he's not home. No speak English. We're so accustomed to lying, we forget we're lying all day, every day. HaKadosh Baruch Hu told the Malach HaMavet, let's watch the movie of his entire life and see if he lied one time. They looked at his entire life. Yeshua ben Levi never lied a single time in his life. Everything that came out of his mouth was 100% emet. He never broke a neder, never lied. Something out of this world. Needless to say, that's the reason why Eliyahu HaNavi and Malach HaMavet felt like best friends with him. He's a Malach Hashem himself already. So HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to the Malach HaMavet,

1:01:42Unfortunately, you can't do anything about it. He's in Gan Eden. He's in Gan Eden. At least, if you want him to give you back your knife, go introduce him to Rabbi Shimon. Maybe, maybe he'll give you back the knife. He goes and introduces Yeshua ben Levi to Rabbi Shimon. Yeshua ben Levi is one of ten people that went into Gan Eden with his clothes on, never died. Why? He never lied once. Never lied once. I think we can get to Gan Eden if we don't lie for a week. A week straight, you're probably going to Gan Eden. Don't quote me on it though. Why? Because the reality is we're so used to lying, we forget we're lying. So, how do we get to a point of not lying? The Chazon Ish says you have to think about everything. including the words that come out of your mouth, whether it's worth it to say what you're going to say, whether what you're going to say is honest, whether it's the right place and the right time to say it, meaning that your speech, your words have to be elevated to the extent where you're aspiring to be flawless. We're all going to make mistakes.

1:03:02We're all going to lose it once in a while on our way to being perfect, on our way to trying to be perfect, on our way to at least try to be good. We're all going to make mistakes along the way. But the point being, rabotai, is that just because you make mistakes, it does not mean you should give up. The people that succeed in life fail the most too. The bigger the success, the more they failed on the way to it. But the problem is that most people know just the success stories. The guy, after he made a billion dollars, they don't realize how many times he failed on the way to a billion dollars. The guy, after he made the discovery, they don't realize how many of his experiments blew up in his face and almost killed somebody, including himself. So the point is that success has failure in it. Failure is part of success. Success without failure is not success. Success without failure is luck. a kadosh book who pretty much is doing it for you just to see what you're going to do about it, but don't think it's going to happen again. So we have to perfect our words, we have to perfect our actions and our thoughts, meaning that we have to act in certain ways with an understanding that those actions will influence our words. One of the things that a lot of people ask about is watching movies and playing video games.

1:04:28Now, aside from the fact that the Torah says this is considered like the actions we are not supposed to do, the Gemara says someone that watches TV has no share in the World to Come. And he was talking about TV of a hundred years ago, without the nudity and filth that they have today on regular channels. How can you grow spiritually if you spend half your day watching television? How? How are you going to grow if you're seeing all the filth and all the movies they have? There's so much filth on television today that even cartoons cannot be trusted. Cartoons cannot be trusted. There are countless cartoons, animation, that have homosexuality between the cartoons. It's the craziest thing in the world. The filth that's on television today and on the internet and on Netflix,

1:05:28for sure you have no share in the World to Come if you spend your time doing that. What about educating kids? Educate them with kosher stuff. You have to educate them with kosher stuff. Yeah, but the kosher stuff is not as interesting. Let it be the most boring thing in the world, but if that's the only thing that they are ever going to watch, guess what? They're going to find it interesting. But if you show them Transformers and then you show them some Jewish cartoon, of course they're not going to like it. Because you show them ganavim that look like Gan Eden. Sure they're not going to like the good stuff. They're going to like the bad stuff. So you have to understand that what we see leads to certain thoughts. And that's why the Gemara Masechet Avodah Zarah says, a person must watch his eyes during the day so it doesn't lead to evil at night. Evil, as Shlomo HaMelech says, is wasting seed. Even if it's not on purpose and it's during your sleep, many times it's because of things that you saw during the day, the day before, a week before, a month before, and so on and so forth. The cleaner your eyes are, the cleaner your mind is going to be.

1:06:44But if you don't watch your eyes and you look at everything that moves and doesn't move, you look at all the pictures, you look at all the movies, you look at all the different things out there, there is no way that you're going to have clean thoughts. And if you don't have clean thoughts with morality, eventually it's going to ruin a lot of other things, a domino effect. You're going to start comparing your wife or even wife-to-be to some woman you saw in some commercial. You're going to think about your husband, but with that guy's face on him that you saw in a commercial or in a show. Or you're going to compare your husband's attitude to the guy that you saw in some show. And the reality that you now have is not a real reality. You start imagining each other as what you want the person to be rather than what they are. And many times, people get married not because they like each other, but because they like each other's potential. "No, no, I'm going to change him. I'm going to change him." "Oh, no, no, I'm going to change her." Yeah, but maybe she doesn't want to change. "No, no, don't worry, I'll change her. I'll change her into what I want her to be."

1:07:57Well, if you don't want her and you don't want him as they are, that means you don't want each other. You want somebody else. So why don't you just save each other the divorce and the time to get there and just go find somebody else instead? And that's the problem. People want to change each other instead of changing themselves. So when you look at things that are inappropriate, no one in the world is going to seem good to you. Why? Because you're constantly comparing them to things that are unrealistic: unrealistic looks, unrealistic physiques, unrealistic materialism, unrealistic all types of things. This is part of the reason why people who are addicted to pornography and immorality tend to have horrendous sex lives. Why? They can never, ever get their desires to match what they allow themselves to see on some screen. Because that's not real life. People don't look like that, people don't perform like that, people don't do that. But they think that they're supposed to.

1:09:16And many divorces happen because, no, no, we're just not a good fit. What do you mean we're not a good fit? Talk to me like a real person. What do you mean not a good fit? Nah, you know when it's between me and her, it wasn't fun. Ah, you know why it wasn't fun? You're watching too much pornography. That's why it's not fun. You're thinking that your wife is supposed to be like this prostitute that you watch. That's the problem. You think that she's supposed to be like her. That's the problem. It's not the wife's problem. She's normal. You are the Rasha Merusha. And you think that your wife is, instead of a Bat Yisrael, you think she's supposed to be a filthy pig, like you watch on the show. That's the problem. That's your problem. You're thinking that a Bat Yisrael Kedosha is supposed to be a prostitute. That's what you think. That's the problem. It's not her. It's you. You are the Rasha. It has nothing to do with her. rabbi, why are you being so mean? Let me be clear, I'm just telling you what you're supposed to tell yourself. But since you didn't, I'm going to do you the favor of helping you out for free. Free is a good price. Go to a psychiatrist—$500 an hour. By the time he tells you what I tell you, it's five years at $500 an hour. I told you for free. No, you should pay me. When we have filthy minds, we're never going to succeed in anything.

1:10:33That's holy. Never. Now, the Chovot HaLevavot, in Shaar Yehuda Maaseh, says a person must be ultra careful of sin and the things that are enticing a person to sin because the Yetzer Hara is awake while you are asleep. He's toiling while you are lazy. Meaning, the problem with us is not that the Yetzer Hara is working too hard or that the Yetzer Hara is too big or too strong. It's that we underestimate the Yetzer Hara. We think the Yetzer Hara stops working. Why? Because he's not obvious. He's not walking around the world with eyes from head to toe and is some giant that you can't miss. Sometimes the Yetzer Hara, he's your best friend. For five minutes. He's your best friend for 20 years.

1:11:43Your best friend for 20 years, but for five minutes, your friend turns into the Yetzer Hara himself. Why? You want to go to the shiur? What shiur? Rabbi Reuven. Ah, he's too much, too much. That's Yetzer Hara. That's Yetzer Hara. Yeah, but he's my best friend for 20 years, he's religious. Okay, he's religious, with Yetzer Hara for five minutes. If that shiur is going to help your neshama get closer to Hashem, anyone that tells you not to go is the Yetzer Hara at that moment. Not all the time. Five seconds later, he's back to being Yetzer HaTov. But at that moment, he cools you off, Yetzer Hara, 100%. The problem is that we don't think it's the Yetzer Hara. Like, it's my best friend. Or better yet, it's my wife. How could my wife be the Yetzer Hara? Isn't she my soulmate? Yes, she is your soulmate. She is great. She is amazing. She's even better than you make her out to be. But those two minutes she told you not to learn Torah, Yetzer Hara, 100%. 100% Yetzer Hara. Now, if you say that to her, you're going to get a divorce.

1:12:51What do you guys do? You got to know it in your head. Okay, how do I convince her that my learning Torah will benefit her? How do I beat this Yetzer Hara? The Yetzer Hara will come to you in a lot of different ways. Your friend's going to call you and say, listen, you're coming to the Bar Mitzvah. You're coming to the wedding. no no it's—I can't, I can't, I can't—it's uh, I told the guy I'm not coming, but come on, no, they have to have good food there. Listen, food, listen, it's such and such, and it's food, and it has a cake and this and that. At that moment... The food became the yetzer hara. Food, an inanimate object, became yetzer hara. Why? You didn't want to go to a wedding. You were going to go to a shul. You were going to go be with your wife. You were going to go be with your kids. But now, you're being enticed by what? Food. Food has turned into yetzer hara. Yeah, but Rabbi, everybody's hungry. Okay, it's hunger. Does it mean you have to go to a wedding for it?

1:13:53hungry? Going home? No, my wife didn't cook. Okay, take one of those soups that are already pre-made. You put some hot water on it, two minutes, you're finished. You're full, you're full in two minutes. Take some bread, put some mustard on it, you're finished. Go. Why does it have to be a five-course dinner with three different cakes? A whole event, the whole night, just to eat? People make such a big deal out of eating. Ooh, eating, no, but the restaurant and that restaurant, three hours just to decide what they can eat for lunch. You go up to Shamayim and they say, listen, a third of your life you wasted on sleeping. Okay, that's normal. Listen, a lot of people sleep eight hours a day. You spend a third of your life sleeping. Okay, so now we have 16 hours a day for X amount of years, fine. Another eight hours a day, nine hours a day you spent working. Okay, so you had eight hours left, right? Eight, seven hours left. So we have to judge you, not on the working, not on the sleeping. We have to judge what you actually do with your time. Okay, so out of the eight hours left you have, you spent about an hour, hour and a half a day in the bathroom, shower, all that stuff. Okay, so you've got about six hours left. Six hours left. Out of the six hours, you spent three and a half of it deciding what you're going to eat. So we have three hours.

1:15:21that you actually did something productive in the world, and you spent it on Netflix. Three and a half hours deciding what to eat, 15 minutes to eat, and the rest of it is on Netflix. The rest of it is on Facebook. You expect to go to Gan Eden? The point, Rabotai, is that when we realize how much time we waste, have to also analyze: What are we wasting it on? Is it worth it to waste our time on choosing what to eat, where to go to dinner, things like that, that really don't mean that much? Five seconds after you finish eating, you forgot what you ate anyway. Once the taste is gone, it's gone. It's not like you taste the steak and it's simmering in your saliva glands 25 minutes later. Three seconds after you finish, you forget what you ate already. Nobody sits there and says, "Wow, amazing, great," and actually still tastes the food. It's gone. All you feel is that you're full. Whether you're full from bagel, or you're full from a donut, or you're full from salad, or you're full from a steak, it's the same full. It's the same exact feeling.

1:16:35you're full. Okay, no one says you have to eat not good food. Eat good food, delicious food, no problem. I also like good food. Look at me. I like good food. No problem. But don't spend three hours a day on it. It's such a waste of time. You have to evaluate your time. Now, when a person has the right mentality, a clean mentality, Their actions and their way in the world change to such an extent that they seem like an angel among men. Now, when we get something, whether you got some money or some other possession, and then you see that somebody else doesn't have it, your natural predisposition, your natural reaction to that is, if you're a grateful person, thank God I have. your natural predisposition, your natural reaction to that is, if you're a grateful person, to thank God that you have. Why? Because you're seeing that he's lacking, she's lacking, and you're not. So if you're a grateful person, and you recognize the Father in Heaven that we have, you say, thank God that I have. Why? Because I see what it looks like when we don't have. It's not a good thing. If you're not a grateful person,

1:17:58You don't really feel much, other than the fact that you're lucky and they're not. But if you're a tzaddik, you have a completely different feeling. What is that feeling? Years ago, the Baal Shem Tov had a talmid, his main talmid, the Magid Mi Mezrich. And the Maggid of Mezritch had several great talmidim. One of them was Rabbi Zusha. I've told you stories about Rabbi Zusha and his brother, Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, several times. These are some of the most famous Chassidim in history. And Rabbi Zusha and his brother, Rabbi Elimelech, lived in horrific poverty, but they were enormous, enormous, enormous miracle workers. Their blessings on people, and when they blessed somebody to become rich, came true. But for themselves, they were very poor. Now, this was by choice, but nonetheless, it wasn't necessarily easy.

1:19:08But to just show you what kind of sages we have in our nation, what kind of sages we're related to, you can call these people your grandfather. You can call these people your distant uncle. This is where we're from. This is where we're from. We're even from something even bigger. We're from Avraham Avinu, someone who spoke to Hashem. I mean, it doesn't get better than that. Rabbi Zusha comes to his Rebbe one day, he says, the Maggid of Mezeritch says, Kvoda Rav, I cannot afford to marry off my daughters. The Maggid of Mezeritch says to him, you have to marry all of them now? He goes, no, no, just one. Just one I have to marry off now. So how much is it going to cost you? He says, 300 rubles. So, the Maggid of Mezeritch, his rabbi, says, here, He takes out of the safe 300 rubles. He goes, yeah, I'm going to lend you this money now. Go collect. Go collect some money. If you don't have it one way or the other, you know you have it. You have it to go marry off your daughter. But go collect whatever else you need to collect to get the 300 rubles otherwise. Because it's not like he was rich himself, but he took care of his talmid.

1:20:27So Rabbi Zusha started to go. Now, he didn't give him money for traveling; he gave him money to marry off his daughter. So he couldn't use the money for trains and things of that nature. He started walking to different cities and different towns. Eventually, he gets to another city to go collecting, to try to get some tzedakah. When he gets there, he sees that in the city, in the market, there is a huge commotion. Huge commotion over there going on. He comes closer. What happened? He sees there's a woman on the floor, passed out. What happened to this woman? They say, you understand, her husband died, and her daughter is an orphan from her father. She didn't have anything, and she has worked her whole life just to get 300 rubles so she could marry off her daughter.

1:21:27And she found a chatan; they have an agreement that she's going to give 300 rubles to help them. And the agreement is that they're going to get married. Okay, so what happened? On the way to the wedding, she lost the money. Now the wedding's off. She passed out. As soon as she found out, she passed out. And every time we try to wake her up, she realizes again that she lost the money for her daughter. Her daughter can't get married. Not only is she an orphan, but she also can't get married. She passed out again. We don't know what to do. So Reb Zusha gets close to her. "Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me." She opens her eyes. She's about to pass out. "Oh, don't pass out. I found the money. I found the money." Why? In his mind, he said, "Wait a minute." She, I have 300 rubles. She lost 300 rubles. What does that mean? To us it means, thank God I have 300 rubles, right? To the Goy it means, oh, I'm lucky he's not. To the Tzadik, it means, I have 300 rubles and she needs it, so therefore it's an opportunity for me to give them. That's what Tzadikim think. I have what they need. Yeah, but what about your need? Ah, what I need, what I need.

1:22:45Who cares about what I need? He needs. It's my brother. It's my sister. They need. That's what Tzaddikim think. So he says to her, I have the money. She says, you have the money? She woke up. Really? Where is it? He goes, well, listen. We have a law. We have a Torah. So please tell me some signs. I found the money. I found 300 rubles. But give me some signs that I know it's your money. What kind of bills was it? how many bills, how many tens, how many twenties, how many thirties, and so on. She gives him an exact description. He says, "Okay, I'll go check and I'll get it to you." He goes, gets change at the bank to be exactly what she described, so she doesn't think he's giving her the money, but rather he really found her money. He comes back, and he gives her the money. Everybody's giving them blessings. Wow, wow, wow, wow. The lady says, "Hold on a second, there's a hundred missing. There's only 200 here. I lost 300 rubles." So Abizu says, "Yeah, that's my fee, my commission, finder's fee."

1:24:02Everybody says, "What? Finder's fee? You're going to take a finder's fee from an orphan? You're going to take a finder's fee from a poor lady? She just passed out, almost died because of this. You're going to take a finder's fee?" He says, "Listen, I got a finder's fee." They start cursing him and yelling at him. No one realizes it's his money. They start yelling and insulting him. They said, "Listen, we're going to take you to Beit Din." He says, "Take me to Beit Din." They go to Beit Din. Rabbi says, no, what's the problem? He says, Rabbi Zusha says, listen, she lost 300 rubles, I found it, and I gave her 200 back, I took 100 back for myself. What? It's a finder's fee. The Rabbi says, listen, there's no such thing as a finder's fee. Where's your love of another Jew? You're obligated to love another Jew like you love yourself. Rabbi Zusha says, "Oh, okay, there's no finder's fee? Okay, I'll give the money back." He gives the money back and they throw him out. They throw him out of there. He wanted to take a hundred rubles for himself from a poor orphan. Now, the rabbi that was at the Beit Din knew that Rabbi Zusha's rabbi was the Maggid of Mezritch, the Gadol HaDor.

1:25:21So he says, I have to tell the Maggid. I got to tell him that his student is a faker. Because I know that the Maggid of Mezritch likes his student. This Rabbi Zusha speaks very highly of him. But he's a rasha. You want to take a hundred rubles from some poor orphan. So he goes and speaks to the Maggid of Mezritch. He tells him everything that happens. Like, listen, Kvod HaRav, I know he's your student. I know you love him and everything. But I got to tell you, he's a faker. Because why is he a faker? He tells them the whole story: you want to take a hundred rubles from a poor lady, an orphan. So the Maggid of Mezritch smiles at the other rabbi and he says, "My Zusha, My Zusha, I know my Zusha. I know my Zusha. My Zusha did not take the 300 rubles. Those 300 rubles are my money. I gave it to him. So I know my Zusha didn't do what you're saying. I just don't know why he did what he did, though. That I have to ask him. So let's bring him in. So they bring in Rabbi Zusha. And the Maggid of Mezritch says...

1:26:31I know that you gave this poor woman the 300 rubles that I gave you to wed off your daughter. Instead of wedding off your daughter, you cared about another Jewish woman and gave her the money, leaving yourself with nothing. Because I know you're a tzaddik, I know that's what you did. He goes, "Yes, Rebbe, that's what I did. I just don't understand one thing in the story. If you're already giving out the money, why the whole story with the commission, with the finder's fee, so Rabbi Zusha's story worth a million dollars. Rabbi Zusha says to him this, he says, "You have to understand, when I saw this poor woman losing her mind, she was passed out, she was almost picked up." I understood at that moment, I have to give her the money. I have the money, she needs it, no problem. The second I decided this, the Yetzer Hara himself showed up and started singing my name. "Zusha, Zusha." He starts singing my name, "Zusha is the biggest tzaddik. Zusha is even bigger than his rabbi. Zusha is the spark of Mashiach ben David. Zusha is this, Zusha is that." And everywhere I'd go, he wouldn't leave me alone. I went to go get the change. The second I decided this, the Yetzer Hara himself showed up and started singing my name. "Zusha, Zusha." He starts singing my name, "Zusha is the biggest tzaddik. Zusha is even bigger than his rabbi. Zusha is the spark of Mashiach ben David. Zusha is this, Zusha is that." And everywhere I'd go, he wouldn't leave me alone. I went to go get the change.

1:27:57I thought he's gonna leave, but then he started singing even more. He brought some friends and started singing my name. I said to him, "You know what? After I finish with you today, you're never going to come back again." So I knew I had to do something. I had to do something to get this yetzer hara out of my head, making me think I'm a tzaddik, making me think I'm a gadol, making me think I'm anything. I had to get this yetzer hara out. So what did I do? I told him, listen, I want to find this tree. And after all the embarrassment and the insults that I got, the yetzer hara not only ran away, he hasn't been back since. That's how tzaddikim are made. We see another person who doesn't have, and we do. Maybe we feel bad. Surely we feel good about ourselves. Surely we feel blessed. Surely we feel lucky. But how many times did we realize that what we have and what they need are there for a reason? I have. He doesn't. Maybe I can think like a mini Reb Zusha and help him a little bit more than I'm helping myself.

1:29:16This is only a mindset that you can get to if you work on yourself day and night to the extent where you're trying to be pure. You're trying to purify your mind. You're trying to purify your eyes. You're trying to purify your heart. And to have such a heart that cares about others more than you care about yourself is not something attained at birth. It's not something attained naturally. It's not something attained with ease, even. You have to work on it. Even if it's easy for you to give, usually that has its limits too. It's easy for you to give $100. No problem. But let's see if it's easy for you to give $500. Oh, it's easy for you to give $500. But let's see if it's easy for you to give $1,000 or $2,000 or $5,000. I'm not talking about whether you have it or not. That's not in question. I'm talking about whether it's easy for you to give it when you do have it. And the reality is that you start seeing that, yeah, it's easy for me to give certain amounts because I don't even consider that amount a lot.

1:30:28But as soon as it gets to the point where that tzedakah hurts, that tzedakah is painful, that's when you realize that your own goodness has its limits. Does it make you bad? No, but it makes you realize there's more to work on. There's more to work on. We're never going to be Rabbi Zusha. And HaKadosh Baruch Hu is not asking us to be Rabbi Zusha. HaKadosh Baruch Hu is asking us to be us. The best version of us. The best version of Shlomo. The best version of Yehoshua. The best version of Yaron. The best version of Ari. The best version of Moshe. The best version. That's it. That's all HaKadosh Baruch Hu is asking. He's not asking for anything more. Not a penny more. But I bet all of us that we could all be better than whatever we are right now. And that's what HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants. This is what the Ramban is trying to tell us here in regards to perfecting ourselves, because if we think about things before they happen rather than after they happen, before we do them rather than after we do them, life changes tremendously.

1:31:41Life changes tremendously, our minds change tremendously. We don't get ourselves into such dilemmas that we don't want to be in them. Rav Pinchas, alav ha-shalom, used to say that the difference between a tzaddik and a rasha is like the difference between a bus and a taxi. How so? He says, the tzaddik He's like the bus. He pays upfront. He works hard upfront. And then he enjoys the ride. The rasha looks like he's getting a free ride. But then he pays heavily at the end, like you do in a taxi. You go on a bus, you pay two, three, four, five dollars. And then you can ride for hours if you want to. You enjoy the ride. The rasha, the taxi doesn't take the money upfront, only at the end. So it looks like he's driving for free. But in the end, he gets the real bill. If we analyze our actions like the tzadikim, we may not necessarily be tzadikim, we may not even be close to it yet. But if we start acting like them, doing certain things like they do, we can become them. If you start thinking about things ahead of time,

1:33:06Not after, but before. Before you say that word, before you write that check, before you go to that place, before you befriend that person, you think about things beforehand. Rather than after, the payment, the damage, is going to be much, much less. Even the sins become much less, and the reward becomes much greater. Our minds will be purer. This is one of the greatest things that a Jew can do for themselves, as a favor for themselves. And a non-Jew also. I mean, these are all lessons for humankind... and that, I think, is one of the greatest messages that the Ramban can leave us off with this week. There's a lot more to learn, but we'll continue it tomorrow, b'ezrat Hashem, in our Stump the Rabbi shiur. We'll have some questions, we'll have some answers, there are some stories that we can talk about, but I think that... We got to a good point. I think it's enough to think about, delve into, improve on, and continue tomorrow. Baruch Adonai le'olam. Amen v'amen.