Daily Chidush: Why should I do Teshuva when so many so called religious people are sinning?

0:00Hello, how are you? Hope you're having a great day. Hope you're having a great week. I wanted to share a daily chidush about a very common question, a very common difficulty that not only Ba'alei Teshuva face, but also people who were formerly religious and left the religion because of it. I myself have some experience with this because it happened to me about 20 years ago. The first time I did teshuva was when I was about 17 years old. Question is, why should I do teshuva? Why should anyone do teshuva? Why should anyone remain religious when so many so-called religious Jews are such big sinners?

1:06So this is a major difficulty in today's world, and it was also part of the reason, on a side note, why those very same people that go to those places and act the way they do have a special place in Gehenom, which we'll talk about another time, because they are committing the worst possible sin you can make, which is Chilul Hashem—desecrating Hashem's Name. Nothing is worse than that. Now, I remember when I was 17 years old. And I first tried doing teshuva, started listening to a few tapes by Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak, and started getting religious, started keeping Shabbat, and it was very difficult being religious at 17 years old when you have really no support whatsoever. But I tried keeping Shabbat, tried to keep kosher, tried to, I put on tzitzit, started learning a little bit, but little by little I started noticing that the so-called Jewish people around me were not so Jewish after all.

2:07Instead of observing the Shabbat like I learned they're supposed to, they would talk about business. Okay, so they're not driving a car, you know, they're not driving a car, but they're talking about business. You're not allowed to talk about business. Instead of making sure you don't touch electricity, as soon as Shabbat comes in, I see them say, "Oh, it's a little hot in the Beit Knesset, so let's turn on the air conditioner." So certain things like that, you just pass and, you know, One thing leads to another, and you start becoming more and more bitter, and you get to a point where you say, "You know what? This is not for me. If this is what Judaism is about, I don't want to be a Jew." And this is the mistake that took me many, many years to realize that it was a mistake. It was not a correct assessment; it was a mistake. Why is it a mistake? I heard this chiddush from a great speaker, a great rabbi, by the name of Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro, where he mentions this, and I've mentioned this in several of my own lectures as well: What makes a Jew a Jew?

3:21Before we got to Mount Sinai, as this week's parashat Behar says, Hashem spoke to Moshe on Har Sinai, saying, why is it specifying that He spoke to him on Har Sinai? He didn't mention it anywhere else in the Torah. When he talked about Shabbat, he didn't mention it. He spoke to him in Mount Sinai. He didn’t mention it when he spoke about brit milah, he didn’t mention it when he spoke about all the other mitzvot, but he's specifically mentioning over here that He spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai. Without elaborating too much into the details of what Rashi explains to us and what our sages explain to us in the Oral Torah about why Mount Sinai is mentioned here and not in other places. One of the main things that we learn from this is that, number one... Hashem spoke to Moses where? On Mount Sinai. Number two, this is the very same place where we received all of our Torah, all of our mitzvot, all of the details. Because if anyone reads the written Torah, the Chumash, the Tanach, they'll see that there are 613 mitzvot in the Torah. But, with the exception of Shemitah, which is in this week's parasha, there are no details of any other mitzvah on how to do it. He says to observe the Shabbat. What does it mean to observe the Shabbat? How do you observe the Shabbat?

4:39He says, take the baby and cut the orlah. What's an orlah? How do you know which part? Whether it's the ear, or it's the lip, or it's the fingernail. And every single mitzvah is this way. This is where our Oral Torah comes in. Nonetheless, we realize that in the Oral Torah... where we have all of the details, and it is there where Judaism is; it is there where the details, the secrets, the beauty of the Torah reside—in the Oral Torah. A person who thinks there is even one letter wrong with the Written Torah or with the Oral Torah is performing heresy against the entire Torah. So now... To Mount Sinai now that we know that we received this divine document, the only divine document that ever existed and ever will exist, we received it at Mount Sinai. But why specify Mount Sinai? Because this is where Hashem is telling us: at Mount Sinai you became Jews; before this, you were not Jews, you were known as Bnei Yisrael, the children of Israel.

5:47Abraham was around; Abraham was the forefather of the Jewish nation. But he himself was not, in essence, considered a full Jew because we didn't yet receive the Torah. He was called a Hebrew. The same thing with Isaac, and then Jacob was also called an Israelite. He was called Israel, and... So throughout 210 years of slavery, hardship, and suffering in Egypt, we were all Israelites. We were still not Jews. The Torah refers to us as Jews only after Mount Sinai. The only thing that changed after Mount Sinai is that we received the Torah. One thing that every single Jew needs to realize is to get this into their brain and deep into their neshama. The only thing that makes you Jewish is the Torah. Not your mother, not your father, not your friends, not the food you eat, not the culture you came from. Nothing. The only thing that makes you Jewish is the Torah. Not just knowing what a Torah is, but obviously learning it, observing it, and living it. That's what makes you Jewish. Because once we told Hashem, "na'aseh v'nishma" (we will do, and we will hear), that commitment became the core of our Jewish identity.

7:09Became Jews. See, this is to teach all of the ones that were as confused as I was nearly 20 years ago, looking around at the people that were not exactly the model Jews that I was supposed to look up to and saying, "Oh, if this is Judaism, I don't want to be a Jew." The reality of it is that all I was looking at were people that were pretending to be Jews, not people that truly lived as Jews. This is not to say that they were all bad people. But in reality, if someone is not complying with the Torah, they're not being a Jew. And this is one of the main things that the Mishnah in Pirkei Avot, chapter 2, 6, tells us: the secret of how to do teshuva, but also how to be zealous and how to succeed as a Jew. Pirkei Avot, chapter 2, mishnah 6, mentions that one of our sages is telling us here that a fool

8:32cannot be fearful of sin. Someone is completely ignorant. Someone's a complete person that just knows absolutely nothing. He's never going to be fearful of sin. He cannot be fearful of sin. Why? Because he knows nothing. He has no concept of what Hashem is. He has no concept of what reward and punishment is. He has no concept of anything. So, of course, he's not going to be scared. Of course, he's going to drive even to the Beit Knesset on Shabbat. Of course, he's going to eat chazir even on Yom Kippur. Because he has no concept. Why doesn't he have a concept? Because he has no Torah. And it says, an ignorant person cannot be a scrupulous one. What does it mean to be scrupulously pious? There's no such thing as someone who's ignorant, yet righteous. This answers the question for all those people who say, "Listen, I'm religious in my heart. I'm spiritual. I'm a spiritual person. I think I'm very good to people. I think I'm very nice, and I treat everybody fairly." The reality is that you have no idea or concept of what "good" or "fair" truly means. Why? Because you are just the creation.

9:43And the only one that knows what good or fair is, is the Creator. And the Creator gave those instructions in the Torah. So long as you do not know Torah, you do not know what's fair or what's good. If you just so happen to be a nice person that says hello to people, that's fantastic. But what if you're saying hello to someone that is about to blow up the next World Trade Center, chas v'shalom. What if you're the miskin doctor, the poor doctor, the poor Jewish doctor, who one day came to a screaming mother trying to save her son, despite the fact that they were not Jewish, and despite the fact that they were not very big fans of Jews? And he said, "You know what? I want to be nice," and you heal this baby, and the baby grows up to be Hitler and kills over six million of your brothers and sisters. Are you still nice? Are you still fair? The reality is that we have no concept of what fair or nice is without having some knowledge of the Torah. So, without Torah, we cannot be pious.

10:54And then it says, a person that's shy can never learn. Why can't a person who's shy ever learn? Because if he's so shy that he's just hiding in the corner, he's never going to ask the rabbi, "Hey Rabbi, can you provide me a source for what you just said? Can you provide me some sense of reality here from the words of Hashem and not necessarily from the words of mankind's opinion? Can you provide me a source? Can you show me what Hashem thinks?" you're so scared to ask questions; you're never going to become a big tzaddik that knows something. If you're not, you're not going to be somebody that knows anything. An impatient person cannot teach. If you ever want to teach people, the one major thing that you have to have in common with all great teachers of all time is that you have to have patience. Because your students will be annoying at times. They'll ask the same question 15 times. They'll go over the same issue. They'll ask things at the end of the shiur that you had a whole shiur about, and they'll ask a question that you already answered throughout the entire shiur. It's as if they weren't there, yet they looked at you the whole time.

12:11They'll play with their phones while you're giving a lecture. They'll talk. They'll eat. They'll chew. But you have to be patient with them. Why? Because you are their example. And without patience, you'll never be able to teach them. And anyone who excessively occupies himself with business can never be a scholar. Yes, being in business is fine. You can work. We live in a natural world. We have to make a living. But if you want to be a scholar, if you want to be extremely close to Hashem, not just close, but extremely close to Him, to the point where you can feel Him, you cannot spend 25 hours a day working. you have to be a leader.

13:22The one statement that answers this entire shiur: In a place where there are no leaders, strive to be a leader. in a place where there's a bunch of fakers, where there's a bunch of people pretending to be lovers of Hashem because they wear the costume, they wear the outfit, they have a beard that could sweep the floor like Rabbi Mizrachi says. They have a sombrero, they have the hat, they have all of these things that make them look Jewish. and they sway and they do this and they do that, and they make a big deal about certain things, but at the same time, you see them going to the casino. You see them going to the beach, you see them doing things that are not Jewish. You see them wearing these disgusting skinny jeans and saying, "No, no, this is the style." The reality of it is that the uniform means nothing. What matters is what's inside you. And the only way to know what's inside you is through your actions. If your actions are not representing Judaism, then you must introspect as a Jew. You cannot focus on what everyone else is doing. You cannot concern yourself with whether he is keeping mitzvot or she is modest. It doesn't matter because the reality is that even if you were left on an island by yourself, it is your responsibility to uphold the Torah and mitzvot.

14:47still have to be Jewish. Why? Because the only thing that makes you, my friends, Jewish is the Torah. That's the only thing. The Torah does not depend on the Jews; it existed before the Jews and will exist after. The reality of it is that a Jew has an opportunity to become partners with the Torah and If you want to be Jewish, you have to accept the Torah 100%, not 10%, not 12%, not 50%, and not even 90%. You have to do your best to fulfill the entire Torah. Of course, we all make mistakes from time to time, but the reality is that our effort is what we get paid for. Our effort is what Hashem rewards us for. And if you're surrounded by wicked people, then you must be the leader. You must rebuke your brothers. If you see someone that you're close to that's sinning against Hashem, say something to them. Whisper to them. Don't embarrass them in the middle of the street, but whisper something to them. Find an opportunity to tell them, "Listen, by the way, I saw you driving to Beit Knesset on Shabbat, and I didn't know if maybe you don't know, but Hashem specifically said you're not allowed to light fire on Shabbat."

16:05I have engineering reports that show that each time you press the gas pedal, the minimum number of fires that are lit is over 3,000 times. This is just for one gas pedal. Hashem, how many times has someone lit fire driving five miles, or in just five minutes to the synagogue? This could be millions of sins of the worst possible sin. So, My brothers and my sisters, your teshuva is all based on Torah. It's not based on people. If you end up finding people that are like-minded, that love Hashem like you do, God bless you. God did bless you. But if not, then all Hashem did is test you, just like He did with Avraham Avinu. He told him that the first mitzvah, before anything else, before Shabbat, was to leave. Leave these wicked people. Why? Because those people were so wicked you cannot change them. If you're surrounded by those types of people, then you must leave. You're not allowed to go out and hang out with them, you're not allowed to rebuke them, not even to talk to them.

17:19But if you can change them, if they still have a Jewish neshamah in them, then you must be the leader. You must listen to Hashem. You must listen to the sages. Thank you for learning with me, and may Hashem continue to bless you. Kol tuv.