Daily Chidush: Teshuva For Frum People

0:12Say a couple of words. It won't take too much of your time. First of all, the amount of Torah that's been learned l'ilui nishmat Shlomo ben Rivka has been enormous. We started a shiur at Esav's house three months ago, which, Baruch Hashem, has reached many, many people. We put it on the internet, put it on our website, bezrat Hashem.org, and a lot of people, Baruch Hashem, have actually started doing teshuvah. A few people started converting. A few people... L'zchut Shlomo ben Rivka has been enormous. We started a shiur at Esav's house three months ago, which, Baruch Hashem, has reached many, many people. We put it on the internet, put it on our website, b'ezrat Hashem.org, and a lot of people, Baruch Hashem, have actually started doing teshuvah. A few people started converting. A few people... ...fix their lives. So, a lot of Torah has been learned in this school just in the last few months and, of course, obviously in the last year. Now, the last couple of times I spoke here, we spoke for a couple of other occasions. I mentioned a couple of ideas which I think are interesting and which connect with something that I learned today. I think you may find it interesting. There is a...

1:31Mishnah, in Masechet Negaim, Perek Bet, Mishnah Aleph, where it talks about how if someone has a nega, some type of discoloration in his skin, or something, in essence it's tzaraat, he has to go to the Kohen. He has to go to the Kohen to check it. Now the question is, what if the Kohen himself has a nega? Where does he go? Can he just check it himself? If you have a house, you're a builder, and you build houses, and something broke in your house, can you fix your own house? Then he says, yes. But the Kohen cannot fix himself. Why? We'll answer with the two other things I said here in the last month. If you remember, in Parashat Beshalach, we learned something good and something bad right in the beginning. First, we learned that Am Yisrael left Egypt. Baruch Hashem. After being there for 210 years, 116 of them in slavery, people were leaving there with missing body parts, blind, and legs broken. Hashem took us out of Egypt with a strong arm.

3:01But the parasha starts with the word Vay'hi. And the sages, Chazal, teach that any time a parasha starts with such a word, it means oy vey. It means lo aleinu ve'lo aleichem, bad news. Bad news. What could be so bad? You just left slavery! You've been waiting for so long to leave slavery. Good news. No, everyone was crying. Why was everybody crying? Because it says, no, it's before Amalek. We just left Egypt. But this is before. We can't cry about something that didn't happen yet. They're crying about something that happened already. What are they crying about? It says that only Chamushim, Chamushim meaning one-fifth, and some of the sages say much less than that, actually left Egypt. 20%.

4:01Where did the other 80% go? The other 80% did not want to do teshuva. They didn't want to do teshuva. Hashem says, you don't want My Torah. You don't want to do teshuva. I don't need you. I'm God. I'm already perfect. The whole Torah is for you to become better than what you are right now. You don't want it. Okay. No deal. Now, there are some sages, like Rabbi Nehorai, that say, "Halvai it was one out of five, Halvai it was one out of five hundred, Halvai it was one out of five thousand," but we all know it was much less. The Midrash Me'am Loez goes to the extent of saying, maybe it was one out of five hundred thousand that left Egypt. Two out of a million. So you and I being here, when they say, you know, "one out of a million"? Yep, one out of a million. Why? They don't want to do teshuva. In Parashat Yitro, we said, the parasha starts, "Yitro heard." He heard about what happened in Mitzrayim. Like Chazal said, he heard about Amalek. He decided, we have to do teshuva, I have to go convert.

5:22Because of the mesirut nefesh that he did, Hashem Yitbarach gave him the zechut that he, in essence, came up with the chidush of the court system. And he tells Moshe Rabbeinu, you should pick specific people to run the court system. They have to be Anshei Emet, Yirat Shamayim, they have to have a... They have to hate money, meaning disconnect themselves from materialism. They have to have certain qualities. And most importantly, they have to be successful. Why successful? No one's going to listen to someone who's begging for change in the corner. That's the reality of life. This is why one of the mitzvot at the time when we had Kohanim was to make the Kohanim very rich. Why? No one's going to listen to a poor Kohen. Middot of Am Yisrael and the whole world have not necessarily changed throughout history. So now, he gave him this advice, but Moshe did not find people with Yirat Shamayim, he did not find people that were Anshei Emet, he did not find people that hated money, he only found Anshei Chayil, people that were successful. So now the three things...

6:44...will connect. Why didn't Am Yisrael, after seeing all of the miracles we saw in Egypt, you saw the water turn into blood. When the Egyptian wanted it, you had the water, now he had blood. You used two straws; yours was water, his was blood. It wasn't like it was a hidden miracle. Then you saw a giant dinosaur come, a big frog. They wanted to kill it. More frogs came out. So much so, they were inside their bodies, the Egyptians. You saw hail, like they had in New York today. Hail, but different. What? Our hail in Egypt, first of all, didn't touch Am Yisrael. Second of all, it was even worse. What? It had lava inside it, meaning it was against nature. All types of amazing miracles. Why did you want the teshuvah? Then you saw a giant dinosaur come, a big frog. They wanted to kill it. More frogs came out. So much so, it's inside their bodies, the Egyptians. You saw hail. Hail, like they had in New York today. Hail, but different. What? Our hail in Egypt, first of all, didn't touch Am Yisrael. Second of all, even worse. What? It had lava inside it, meaning it's against nature. All types of amazing miracles. Why didn't you want to do teshuva? What's the matter with you? What, you don't believe in G-d? Why do you think the Egyptians just lost their minds and said, you know what, go, go away. I'm firing all my employees. Here's a compensation package. Here's a golden parachute. It's okay. Why don't you do teshuva? Second question is, why can't we find anybody with yirat shamayim to be in the court system? Why can't we find somebody that's ish emet?

8:07Why is the only thing we have money? And Sheikhaim, people that have a little bit of money, why? Why is that the only thing we have? The entire millions of people, that's all we have? That's all we're good for, money? You ask the Goyim, how many Jews are in the world? They say, maybe 2, 3, 4 billion. No, you know, there isn't. Maybe 15 to 20 million. No, come on, that's a joke. It's 2 billion, 3 billion. How many Muslims? Maybe 20 million. It's the opposite. Why? They ask them, who runs the world? The Jews. Why? They run this one, they run Hollywood, they run the hedge funds, they run Wall Street, they run all these different things, they run the government. How could it be? All we're good for is money, that's it. Anybody wants a lawyer, why does he say, I want a Jewish lawyer? Anyone wants a doctor, I want a Jewish doctor. That's it. That's all we found after Egypt, the whole thing, everything we want, it's all we're good for, money? How could it be? How could it be that's the only thing we're good for? And last but not least, the same question we started with: Why can't the Kohen check himself? Anyone that comes to him and says, "Is this tzara'at?" Yes. Go. Yes. No. So, obviously, he's experienced. He's an expert. He's an expert. He knows. Why can't he check himself? Well, he doesn't know. The Mishnah, Rabotai, says, אין אדם רואה נגע על עצמו.

9:35A person does not see anything wrong with himself naturally. And the Gemara in Masechet Shabbat, page 119, says the same exact thing in slightly different words. Meaning a person could look straight in the mirror and all he sees is what's wrong with everybody behind him. Himself is a model. He looks good, he's this, he's that, everything is good. He doesn't see anything wrong in himself. In the battle of Kriyat Yam Suf, Am Yisrael did not do teshuva in Mitzrayim because they figured, listen, if God already saved us till now, He must like us. Look at all the mesirut nefesh we had. Look at all the sacrifice we made. We're in Egypt. We don't need to go to the desert. The desert is dangerous. We already dealt with danger for hundreds of years. Leave us here. Hashem, give us the Torah here. We don't want to go to the desert. Here, give us the Torah. Hashem says, no, no. Torah has one condition. What's the condition? My condition. I'm God. That's the first commandment. Meaning, I call the shots. That's the first and most important mitzvah that you need to know out of everything in the world. Why? Because if somebody does a mitzvah when he's not obligated, versus somebody that does a mitzvah when he is obligated, the s'char, logically, to our rational sense, should mean that the guy that's not obligated should get a bigger s'char. But it's wrong. The guy that's obligated, he gets the bigger s'char. Why? Because he did what God commanded. You might learn Torah because you like it, but that's not the reason you should be learning Torah. You should be learning Torah because you have to. You might like Shabbat because it's a one-day-a-week vacation.

11:00when he's not obligated, versus somebody that does a mitzvah when he is obligated, the sechar, logically, to our rational sense, should mean that the guy that's not obligated should get a bigger sechar. But it's wrong. The guy that's obligated gets the bigger sechar. Why? Because he did what God commanded. You might learn Torah because you like it, but that's not the reason you should be learning Torah. You should be learning Torah because you have to. You might like Shabbat because it's a one-day-a-week vacation. for free. But the reality of why you keep Shabbat is because you have to. The reason why we need to know that we have to do the mitzvot is because during difficult times when we don't feel like doing it anymore, we don't like Shabbat anymore, we don't like kosher food anymore, we don't whatever, the Yetzer Hara comes in. If a whole religion, a whole connection to Hashem, is based on liking it or not liking it, one day we're not going to like it. And that's how people fall. Am Yisrael used their brains and said, "Listen, we had mesirut nefesh, we suffered, we this, we that. Enough! We don't need to go to the desert." Hashem says, "Rule number one, you don't make the rules. I do. You don't want to do teshuva? I don't need you. Hashem is with you." Am Yisrael, you want to be in the court system? You have to have all these qualities.

12:30They still, again, this is the best of them. The best of them. The ones that actually survived. The one out of 500 or 500,000 or whatever it was. The best of them still did not get the point yet. Still did not get the point yet. And still did not work on their Yirat Shamayim. Still did not work on why they really have to do the mitzvot. Why, Rabotai? Why didn't they do it? Because every time they looked in the mirror, they saw nothing wrong. They saw nothing wrong. Now, at the end of parashat Yitro, we got the commandments. It's the highlight, like Kavod HaRav said, it's the highlight of the entire Torah. I mean, you can read this parasha a million and a half times and still get chiddushim. Highlight of the Torah, the Ten Commandments. Wow, amazing. They saw the kolot, they saw Hashem's voice. They literally saw the voice. They saw the voice, not just heard it like us. They saw the voice, they saw the sounds. Wow! He says, I'm the only God, don't have any other gods, don't use my name in vain, keep Shabbat. We have the whole commandments, great. But then after the whole amazing part, what do we hear? Don't replace me with Elohei HaKesef, Elohei HaZahav. Well, we heard it already though. We said, you said, no other gods. That should mean the same thing, no?

13:57He says, "No, it doesn't mean the same thing. Why? The 10th Commandment, which was an event that happened. Don't replace Me with Elohei HaKesef, Elohei HaZahav. It's to us, Rabotai. Everything is to us. But Elohei HaKesef, Elohei HaZahav is the key ingredient that has killed us from day one. Connecting to materialism to such an extent." We forgot about God. After Yam Suf, the amazing miracles that we saw, all the amazing things that we saw, we crossed the ocean, we saw the Egyptians getting killed, everything was great. Moshe Rabbeinu is singing, everyone's singing, and then what happens? Everybody leaves. Where are they looking for? They're going to the beach. Why? There's gold there. They left God to go to the beach to collect gold. Don't you realize that He's the one that gave it to you, the one that you're leaving? No, one second, God, one second. We got to get a few million dollars each. We got to get a few million dollars. They saw nothing wrong with this. And this is why this week's parashah starts with Eilu HaMishpatim. These are the ordinances, these are the laws you put in front of them. Rashi HaKadosh says, tell them the truth to their face.

15:12Tell them everything. Don't sugarcoat it. Don't use euphemisms. Rabbi Yisroel Salanter says, when someone comes to you and says, listen, I'm ready to do teshuva. What should I tell him? Should I just tell him, you know, maybe you should keep kosher and then six months from now I'll tell him Shabbat and then six months from now I'll tell him Taharat HaMishpacha and then six months from then I'll tell him about something else? Rabbi Yisroel Salanter says, tell him everything. Why? He's obligated to do everything. Whether he does it or not, it's his choice. It's this issue. But you can't choose for him what he can handle, what he can't handle. Why? Because you're looking at it from your own perspective. And if we only use your own perspective, you don't see anything wrong with yourself anyway. So what are you going to tell him? You're going to tell him the things you like. Oh, you should keep Shabbat. Why? Because you like Shabbat. Oh, you know, you should keep Taharat HaMishpacha because you like Taharat HaMishpacha. Oh, you should keep kosher because you like kosher food. Oh, you know, you should study Torah because you like studying Torah. You cannot be a Navi. You cannot be a prophet. What you have to do is first and foremost understand that he's obligated to do everything. You tell him what he has to do. He picks and chooses. He's an adult. He can pick and choose. This I can do. This I can do. This not yet. This I can do. This I can do. So on and so forth. He's an adult. Same thing we do with a convert. They even know. They tell him a few basic mitzvot in the beginning. They don't change it. They don't say, listen, you know, for now you can drive on Shabbat.

16:40It's no such thing. They say, what if somebody is a convert? And in reality, after he converted, he still lived with the goyim. So when he came to you, he was still a Mechalel Shabbat. What do you do? He says he never converted. Why? If he doesn't know Shabbat, then obviously he doesn't know anything. He doesn't need to know all the mitzvot. We don't have to give him the biggest mitzvot and all the laws on day one. But you have to give him some foundation. Now, All of the basics are for the rest of Am Yisrael. What about us that are already in the system? The most important thing that a person needs to understand when he does teshuva, whether it’s now, yesterday, tomorrow, 20 years ago, whenever it was, is that the mitzvot are supposed to improve our character traits. If the Torah that you're learning is just improving your ability to remember nice stories, you know a few chidushim, but you still have horrible middot, you should know. All you've become is a talmid chacham with middot raot. And what does the Gemara say about somebody who is a talmid chacham with middot raot? A dead animal in the middle of the street is better than him. Why? is just improving your ability to remember nice stories, you know a few chidushim, but you still have horrible middot, you should know. All you've become is a talmid chacham with middot ra'ot. And what does the Gemara say about somebody who is a talmid chacham with middot ra'ot? A dead animal in the middle of the street is better than him. Why?

17:59Before, he actually didn't have Torah. There are a lot of excuses. So the reality is when someone does not work on his Middot, when he does not work on his Middot because he doesn't have Torah, we don't blame him. We don't blame him. Why? He has no instructions. Tony Robbins? Where is he going to get good Middot from? Where are you going to get good middot? From the goyim that celebrate the Super Bowl and they're kissing a statue? Where are you going to learn good middot? But if you already learned Torah, but you still have horrible middot, you're still stingy, you're still angry, you're still everything else, what did you learn? A history book? This, Rabotai, is one of the most important things that everybody has to include in their Torah. Learning mussar is not a nice thing to do. It's an obligation. And that's why the Vilna Gaon, ztz"l, said to fix your middot, that's the entire purpose of your life. It's the entire purpose of your life. So one of his talmidim asked him, if to fix your middot is the entire purpose of your life, then why is it one of the 613 mitzvot? The answer, all of the mitzvot, if you do them right,

19:18they're supposed to fix your middot. Which means if they're not fixing our middot, we're doing something wrong. This will all help us wake up a little bit, add a little bit of mussar to our learning every single day. Get all of us to do teshuva.