Daily Chidush: If It's So Important Why Didn't My Rabbi Say It Too?

0:12How are you? It's been a long time since we've had our daily chiddush. Baruch Hashem, we've been trying to get a lot of work out there, a lot of different movies and different projects that we've been working on. So it's been a little difficult to come out with a daily chiddush. But nonetheless, the questions keep coming in and we try our best to include all of the questions that people have. answered in our shiurim. So for anyone who wants really most of the answers that you would possibly ask, we have our Mussar series, Mussar Pirkei Avot series that's been very, very popular, answering many people's questions. Now, many people ask me, how is it that you're saying something but my rabbi didn't say it? So if it was really important, then why wouldn't my rabbi say it? Or why wouldn't the so-and-so rabbi say it? So if it's true that, for example, a Mechalel Shabbat is considered an idol worshiper, why isn't every single rabbi in the world screaming it out?

1:15If it's true that when you eat non-kosher food, it's destroying your neshama, why isn't every rabbi screaming it out? If it's true that immodesty destroys a woman's connection to Hashem because she's, in essence, making His children sin on a regular basis, why isn't my rabbi saying it? uh, better yet, why is the rabbinate not modest? So first and foremost, we have to understand that you cannot compare all rabbis to each other because not all rabbis have the same role. You know, just like there are different types of doctors, different types of lawyers, and different types of all types of professionals, there are different types of rabbis. So your A community rabbi is a community rabbi. That doesn't necessarily mean that his focus is to help people do teshuva. Your, you know, major posek rabbi, whether it's Rav Ovadia or Rav Elyashiv, zecher tzadik livracha, zecher tzadik livracha for both of them, or it's any of the major poskim throughout the generations, or even perhaps some that are still around today,

2:28If that's a posek, that's someone who is explaining the law, dictating a certain law that's out there, a halacha that's out there, he's not going to make lectures to tell people to be modest. He's not going to explain to you the halachot of Shabbat, because that's not his role. Every rabbi has a different role. A kiruv rabbi, on the other hand, is a rabbi whose entire focus is to get people to wake up and do teshuva. Now, whether those people are completely secular, completely atheist, or even if they're already frum, but they've gotten the disease of getting used to things. is a rabbi whose entire focus is to get people to wake up and do teshuva. Now, whether those people are completely secular, completely atheist, or even if they're already frum but have gotten the disease of getting used to things. like many of us have, where they got to a point where they've been religious for so long that prayer has become mundane and very boring, and the learning is not really as exciting anymore. So they need a wake-up call. They need a shock. Rav Nisimi again, Zecher Tzadik Livracha, used to say that when someone, you know, passes out, the first thing they do is pour water on his face to try to wake him up. But if that doesn't work, they hit him. You know, they slap him in the face a few times. And if that doesn't work, they use electric shock.

3:50to try to get him to wake up. But unfortunately, if that doesn't work, then you call Chevra Kadisha, and you say Kaddish on the person. In essence, it's the same thing with a Jewish soul. It's the same thing with any person out there. Hashem is going to try to give you the messages in different ways. You can get it in a soft way through your community, rabbi, or otherwise, a friend. And He's going to throw water in your face and remind you, hey, by the way, you really should come to shul more often. Hey, by the way, you really should... Keep Shabbat. And you say, no, it's not really a big deal. So the next thing Hashem is going to do is throw you a little bit of a stronger message. He's going to throw you a slap. You're going to get a flat tire on your way to a very, very important appointment. You're going to lose a little bit of money. You're going to have a pain on the right side that's unexplainable. And if that doesn't work, then Hashem has to send you a different shock. has to send you a shock of your life, and that shock of your life can come through either a major disaster, chas v'shalom, where someone can get sick and deal with a seven-year lifelong battle like I did, or they can take it from someone like myself or like someone like Rav Mizrahi who is going to tell you the truth, which is that a Mechalel Shabbat is considered 100% an idol worshipper according to Jewish law and

5:09and is not allowed to say Kaddish, is not allowed to be a chazzan, and all types of things that are horrible to hear, horrible to see, but nonetheless are true. And so it's hard to hear these things, but that's also the reason why most rabbis don't want this job. So now you're going to ask, "Well, there are many speakers out there. How do I know who's a Kiruv rabbi and who's not?" Well, it's very easy, very simple to find out. One, you could ask them. Well, there are many speakers out there. How do I know who's a Kiruv rabbi and who's not? Well, it's very easy, very simple to find out. One, you could ask them. Is your main focus Kiruv? Is your main focus to help people do teshuva? Or two, you could just listen to them, and you could see their approach. And generally, most public speakers, even though they would love to help people do teshuva, they're not against it, chas v'shalom, but that's not their primary focus. Their primary focus is education. So they're going to tell you different shiurim, even if he's a community rabbi or he's a public speaker on Torah Anytime or anywhere else. is your main focus, kiruv, to help people do teshuva, or two, you could just listen to them, and you could see their approach. And generally, most public speakers, even though they would love to help people do teshuva, they're not against it, chas v'shalom, but that's not their primary focus. Their primary focus is education. So they're going to tell you, you know, different shiurim, even if he's a community rabbi or he's a public speaker on Torah Anytime or anywhere else.

6:09He's going to tell you different things that are good to hear, whether it's different things about Shalom Bayit, or different strategies of how you should contain your anger and try to focus on not being angry, or he's going to tell you stories about Parashat HaShavua, and different things that are nice to hear, not too overwhelming, not too difficult to understand, and most importantly, not too challenging for you to do. It's going to be nice. It's going to make the sweetness of Torah very easy to understand. That's the overwhelming majority of speakers. You don't have to take my word for it. You can check it out for yourself. Go on any of these websites. Go on TorahAnytime.com. Go on YouTube. Go on Torah Café or Shabbat.com or any of these other sites. You'll see many rabbis speak Divrei Torah. They're not talking about Christianity or something like that. They're talking Torah. There's nothing wrong with what they say, but their focus is not necessarily kiruv per se, where they're going to be the one that gives you the shock of your life. They're trying to educate you, they're trying to show you the sweetness of Torah, and hopefully, will draw you in if you like the sweetness of it, similar to a self-help book.

7:25A self-help book is not telling you, "Hey, listen, you need to do this, you need to do that." No, a self-help book, for the most part, is going to tell you things that you already know. They're really mostly common sense, but you need a reminder. You need a reminder. It's not telling you, "Listen, you're terrible, you need to do this. If you don't do this, you get punished." No, it doesn't say that. Most rabbis, especially in the English-speaking world today, are similar to a self-help book. They're similar to just your teacher. But, once in a while, you're going to find somebody who's going to go out on a limb for you. And he's going to go out on a limb for everyone. And he's going to tell you the things that no one wants to talk about. Because it's the things that everyone who learns Torah knows, they just don't want to talk about it because it's hard to deal with the repercussions. So, for example, if you guys all remember, anyone that went to shul or read the parashat ha'shavua, last week's parasha, was Bechukotai. Parashat Bechukotai is one of those parashot that talks about Hashem rebuking the nation in such a harsh way that it's... Anyone that went to shul or read the parashat hashavua, last week's parasha, was Bechukotai. Parashat Bechukotai is one of those parashot that talks about Hashem rebuking the nation in such a harsh way that it's mind-blowing if you actually understand the words and you see the punishment that He promises to give us—not just says "maybe I'll do this," He promises to give us this punishment if we don't follow His laws, if we don't do what He says.

8:38mind-blowing if you actually understand the words and you see the punishment that He promises to give us. He doesn't just say "maybe I'll do this"; He promises to give us this punishment if we don't follow His laws, if we don't do what He says. The five levels of punishment, if you actually understand the words, a normal person will just start either shivering, crying, or both. It's very, very scary. And anyone that has looked at history, whether it's the Beit HaMikdash, the first one, the second one, the pogroms, the inquisitions, or even Nazi Germany, yimach shemam v'zichram, You see that everything that Hashem wrote in that parasha, or the parashat Ki Tavo, actually happened. Even the worst of it. Even the worst of it that chalilah, chalilah, when it never ever happened, got to a point of starvation where we ate children. Our own children. And again, this happened. This is not some fairy tale. This happened. This happened.

9:39But if you look at just a few generations ago, they would read this parasha at the top of their voice. They would scream this parasha and the entire kehilla during those days would shake, even though for the most part, most people were Shabbat-keeping. You know, they were keeping religion for the most part, even though Reform already started a couple hundred years ago. Still, 100 years ago, most people were still relatively religious to some extent. We didn't have as much of a problem as we have today. But yet, they would scream this parasha and rebuke everyone to remind everyone. There's a danger if we don't listen to Hashem. There's a present danger whether we see it or not. There's a present danger by not listening to Hashem, and they would scream it. Why do I mention this? Because today, the world has changed to such an extent, we've gotten so weak as people and as leaders, that in most shuls today, those parshiyot, parashat Bechukotai or Ki Tavo, that talk about rebuke, that talk about the harsh punishment that Hashem promised us,

10:46we don't follow His law, they're virtually whispered. Not only are they not said and read in the Beit Knesset in a normal voice, they're actually whispered almost as if we don't want to hear it, which is the worst thing we can do for ourselves. It's the worst possible change we can make, which explains why most people don't even know that these parashot don't even exist anymore. So again, if you look at the rabbis that are screaming and telling you what I just said, there's actually a couple of parashot that talk about us eating children, chas v'shalom. There's actually a couple of parashot that talk about major diseases, beyond anything the world has ever known. There's only a couple out there, especially in the English-speaking language, that actually say those things and say it out loud and say the punishment and say what Hashem thinks about an immodest woman. Say what Hashem thinks about a person that's gambling. Say what Hashem thinks about, you know, mixed dancing and weddings and things like that. Say what Hashem thinks about all these things, what He actually said about wasting seed, about Chilul Shabbat, about all these major sins that most of us, for the most part, don't think are major anymore.

12:02We've become comfortably numb. So when you have a few rabbis that are saying it, they're not stating their opinion. It has nothing to do with their opinion. It has nothing to do with my opinion. It has nothing to do with Rav Mizrachi's opinion or anybody else that says the truth, the few that remain. It has to do with God's opinion. And the fact that you're not hearing it from your rabbi, for the most part, is because that's not his job. It's not his job to be a kiruv rabbi. He's an educator. He teaches Gemara, he teaches Daf Yomi, he teaches basic halacha. Now, if he gets to that halacha of Shabbat and he skips it, he skips the part that says if you don't keep Shabbat, you're an idol worshiper, then he's a rasha. If he gets to the part of the halacha or the Daf Yomi or the different part that talks about modesty and he skips a part of what Hashem thinks about immodesty, or he changes it, or he uses euphemisms to minimize it, then he's a rasha. Then he's not a rabbi. Then he's a wicked person. If he gets to that halacha of Shabbat and he skips it, he skips the part that says if you don't keep Shabbat, you're an idol worshiper, then he's a rasha. If he gets to the part of the halacha or the Daf Yomi or the different part that talks about modesty and he skips a part of what Hashem thinks about immodesty, or he changes it, or he uses euphemisms to minimize it, then he's a rasha. Then he's not a rabbi. Then he's a wicked person. But if he just doesn't cover it, he covers other subjects, he's not on the shayach. It's just not his job. You can't compare a major leader to a kiruv rabbi. You can't compare a community rabbi to a kiruv rabbi. You can't compare every rabbi to each other just because they all have the title of rabbi; it means nothing. It's like a doctor. It's like a lawyer. There are different types. So...

13:22It's time that we start understanding who we're dealing with. Each one has a different role. We learn in the Gemara in Bava Metzia, where there's a debate between the tzaddikim, Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, and Rabbi Yossi. And they say, who's your rabbi? So the first one says, it's the one that taught me, the one that taught me Gemara, that's my rabbi. And the other one says, no, no, that's not your rabbi. says the one that taught you most of what you know. You know there's a lot of what you know; there's 100% of knowledge that you have, But there's one particular rabbi that taught you most of it. You may have five rabbis, and over a lifetime, some people may have even more. Some rabbis taught them Taharat HaMishpacha. Some rabbis taught them about Shalom Bayit. Some rabbis taught them Daf Yomi, Gemara. Some rabbis taught them Mussar. There are different rabbis you're going to have. Some rabbis were just there for them as a consultant, mentor type of person.

14:24But nonetheless, you have different rabbis. So he says, the one that taught you most of what you know, that's your rabbi. So let's say you have 100% of your knowledge. And five of them, let's say, taught you that 100%. But one particular rabbi taught you 40% of it, while the other four taught you the other 60%. So obviously, that one who taught you 40% is your rabbi. But then Rabbi Yossi comes with a chiddush. And he says, we learn from David HaMelech: anyone that has taught you even a Mishnah, even a single thing, a single thing, is already considered a rabbi. It's already considered someone you should consider your rabbi. Which is, by the way, the explanation for all of those who ask about who has a smicha, who doesn't have a smicha. According to the Gemara, there's no more smichas like we had in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu. There are smichas today that people take tests for, but many public speakers, myself included, don't have a test that we took at the rabbinical school, but they're still considered rabbis because according to the Gemara, anyone that teaches Torah is considered a rabbi. There's no more semichas like we had in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu. There are semichas today where people take tests, but many public speakers, myself included, don't have a test that we took at the rabbinical school, but they're still considered rabbis because according to the Gemara, anyone that teaches Torah is considered a rabbi.

15:30This is where the chiddush that we have from the Gemara. You don't have a better source than that. No one has a better source. That's the Torah. But nonetheless, the point here, we have a chiddush. We have a chiddush that not only who's called a rabbi, but nonetheless that all of us are expected to have multiple types of rabbis. You're going to have your major chassid leader or your major posek leader or your major community leader. You're going to have the one that invigorates you and livens you up. You have the different types of rabbis. Point being is that it's your job to find the one that's going to wake up that neshamah. It's your job to stick to the one that's not going to skip laws and is going to tell you everything. Of course, it's the rabbi's job to get everyone in front of these rabbis or at least try to help people that are looking. But even if he doesn't, you're still obligated to do it. So for all of those that are trying to, you know, pinpoint different rabbis against each other, again, if you're going to compare rabbis, you have to compare the right one. You can't compare a major Kiruv rabbi that has helped tens of thousands of people do teshuva to a major posek and say, oh, just because Rabbi so-and-so that was Gadol HaDor didn't say it, it must not be true. No, it's just not his job.

16:52It's like saying that just because the cancer doctor didn't talk about obesity, then it's not really a problem. No. His profession has to do with something else. Maybe his focus is on smoking. So, again, you have to compare apples with apples. You have to compare professions with professions, expertise with expertise. And I think that once we compare all of these things the right way, you'll have a much easier time not only... Focusing yourself, focusing your teaching, but also understanding why you'll hear something from me, you'll hear something from a Mizrachi, you'll hear something from certain different types of rabbis that perhaps you didn't hear from your local rabbi. Perhaps you didn't hear from anyone else. But just because you heard it, doesn't mean it's not true. It just means that you're listening to different people and now you're listening to us, or vice versa. You can always check everything that we say from the books and... You can always verify it. Nothing is made up. The key is that the onus is on you to do the research, do the learning, and not run away from it. This answers a lot of your questions. May Hashem continue to bless us and get us closer and closer to Him, to fulfill His will as He dictates it.