DANGER AHEAD 🚧You Must Know This ‼Before Entering The Synagogue On Yom Kippur (14 minutes)

0:11Right now, we have a situation where the Beit Knesset is a place where most people don't realize that it's a mini Beit HaMikdash. It doesn't matter if it's a fancy Beit Knesset, if it's a big one, a small one, if it has one minyan or 500 minyanim, it doesn't make a difference. Each Beit Knesset is a mini Beit HaMikdash. So when you come to the Beit Knesset, and you're talking about things that are mundane, that are not Divrei Torah, that's not tefillah, you are doing not only something wrong, but you're doing something wrong in the face of your Creator. So, on Yom Kippur, many people that don't come to Beit Knesset the whole year come. Sometimes they don't realize that the point of tefillah is to come to Hashem and plead with Him on Yom Kippur. Specifically, the key is to say, "I'm sorry," but not "I'm sorry, and then give me a million dollars." It's "I'm sorry," which is like begging Hashem to give us another day to live, another week to live, another month to live, another year to live. Begging Hashem. I...

1:37So, what are some of the things that are going to destroy a prayer? There are a few things that could destroy a prayer. A person comes to the Beit Knesset completely unprepared, and he doesn't know that he's not allowed to wear leather shoes and such. So, he says, I bought these shoes especially for the Chag. He says, you didn't buy it for the Chag, you bought it to show off. Because obviously, if you knew anything about the Chag, you knew that you're not allowed to wear these leather shoes. Sometimes you see these women wear this fancy dress, but it only covers half the body, doesn't cover the whole body, sometimes even less. So I bought this dress especially for the chag. It says if you care about the chag, you'd stay home. With such a dress, I'm not even sure if you're allowed to wear it to go to sleep, forget about going to the house of God. Sometimes you see people come to the big minyan, but the whole time all they're doing is talking to people. They're talking to each other. "Oh, so you bought that real estate? You bought that house? What do you think of that investment? What do you think of the stock market? Hey, how's the business doing?" The whole time during this tefillah, anyone that knows anything about Yom Kippur is crying his eyes out, but this guy's talking about business. Or what about, "You know what, why don't we buy the aliyah together? We'll be partners."

3:05No, it usually goes for 15,000. So instead of one of us shelling out 15,000, 20,000 by ourselves, let's be partners. Next thing you know, it's five people partnering up on an aliyah. It's like a business deal. But they forgot what the aliyah is about. They forgot what the aliyah is about. No, it's parnassah. Yeah, but do you know what David HaMelech says in that aliyah? If you knew what David HaMelech is saying in that prayer of parnassah, if you understood who David HaMelech was, you'd realize that just in the beginning of Tehillim, the beginning of Tehillim, he starts off by saying, Asher Adam, the most praiseworthy person, is a person who didn't associate with those who went against God. So you, who are talking during prayer, he's talking about you. You, who are Mechalel Shabbat, he's talking about you.

4:09So you're buying the Aliyah of David HaMelech. He's telling about you the whole time in Tehillim, 150 Tehillim. Every single time he says punish the Reshaim, punish the ones that are going against You. Why? Because David HaMelech says the same thing as Moshe Rabbeinu. He says God gave you everything. How can you go against Him, you idiot? How can you go against Him? I'm not saying everybody needs to be David HaMelech or everybody needs to be Moshe Rabbeinu. But if you're gonna go to a place... You know that there are rules in every place. You go to a court, if you decide, regular court, civil court, if you start talking with your friends, the judge can arrest you. You can't talk, you can't even wear a hat. In America, you can't wear a hat in court. If you start talking and the judge hears you, he can arrest you. Or at the very least, they'll throw you out.

5:11There's no concern in the world about whether or not it embarrasses you. The place of court is not for you to socialize. What makes you think that this court of flesh and blood, of people, of laws that are based on kefirah, deserves more honor and respect than the house of God? Why? Because God's not going to arrest you? But God can kill you, though. You know that. So in this week's parashah, Parashat Ha'azinu, God tells you this. He says, in chapter 32, verse 39, He says, I am He. See now, I am He. What does it mean, I am He? To see now that I, I am He, I'm the One. What does it mean I'm the One? There is no god with Me. I don't have any partners. There's no god with Me. I put to death and I bring to life. It's reminding you what you didn't know. You read the whole Sefer Torah. You read the Five Books of Moses.

6:37You still don't know that God is the one who kills or brings life. He says maybe you didn't get it, so I have to remind you again. Before you talk in Beit Knesset on Yom Kippur or any day of the year, realize that Melech HaKavod, Hashem, is there. If He's not there, you shouldn't be there. If Hashem is not inside your Beit Knesset, you shouldn't be there either. You should go to a place where Hashem is present. So that means you're talking in Beit Knesset in front of Melech HaKavod. He's judging you and you're talking in front of Him. What do you think of the business deal? Or what do you think of that girl? Or what do you think of this guy? Or that guy is a real loser. Or that... You're committing a crime in front of Melech HaKavod. The Chafetz Chaim says, logically, logically, Listening to and believing lashon hara is foolish. Forget about the laws for a moment; it's a major sin. Logically, it doesn't make sense to believe someone who tells you lashon hara about someone else. For example, if someone came to me and said, "Hey, so-and-so said that this friend of yours said you are such-and-such," it would be irrational to just accept it as truth.

8:06Believing a person like this, the Chofetz Chaim says, is irrational. It doesn't make any sense at all. Why? He says, the person that's telling you Lashon Hara about somebody else is committing a crime in front of your face by saying Lashon Hara. He's committing a crime against Hashem in front of your face to you. He's saying Lashon Hara about somebody else, and you're witnessing this because he's saying it to you. You're gonna take his testimony over the guy that's innocent, who didn't do anything. You don't know if he said it, you don't know if he didn't say it. But until you hear him, until you see him say what he said, he's innocent. So you're taking the word of a criminal over someone that's innocent. He says, you don't need to be a big religious person to know not to listen to Lashon Hara. It doesn't make any sense. Why would you take the testimony of a criminal? But we add to this, if we're gonna talk in Beit Knesset on Yom Kippur, why should Hashem listen to criminals? You're committing a crime in front of Him, talking Lashon Hara about this one, talking Lashon Hara about that one, talking about business during the holiday, you know, let's talk about business.

9:31Committing a crime in front of Him and you think, "I'm sorry." That kind of sorry—you should stay home. Stay home; don't go, because still, it's better. Why? Maybe somebody else can actually pray without you. So, the Shechinah says, "I am He. I'm the one. I'm the one that puts to death. In case you didn't get it by now, I'm the one that puts to death. Whoever died, I'm the one that decided. No one dies in this world without Me saying." It's time. It's time. It has to have my approval. I'm also the one that brings to life. No one ever gives birth in this world without me saying. That's it. It's time. Bring this neshamah to the world. I am the only one. No partners. He says, I have no partners. I struck down and I will heal.

10:34I'm the one when there's a gezera, Hashem yerachem, hurricanes, wars, plagues, etc. Hashem says, let's not fool ourselves. There's no one else other than Me. Where was God in the Holocaust? He says, right here. I struck down. That's Me. I did it. Where was God during the hurricane? Me. I wrote it. I did it. He, right here. I struck down. Me. I did it. What about the miracle that happened with a hurricane that, at the last second, removed itself from certain people's houses, removed itself from certain Jewish communities? Certain people were saved. Hashem says, "Oh, that's Me, too. I will do miracles. There's no such thing as nature. I am nature." Let's not fool ourselves and think, "Oh, he's lucky. Oh, he has luck, he has mazal." There's no mazal.

11:36Shem says, "I am the one; I am He; I am the one that heals, and there is no rescuer from My hand." So he says in the pasuk, "There is no rescuer from My hand." Hashem Elohim, once He decides, there's nothing you can do about it. We have Yom Kippur in front of us. We didn't do that well on Rosh Hashanah. No one can be certain that on Rosh Hashanah, they were great. No one. Why? We did sin sometimes like a cow; we sacrificed the chicken. We committed sins that we have to pray for from here until the end of the world, yet we prayed for only a few hours. And even during those few hours, we weren't really thinking about the prayer all the time. Sometimes, we were thinking about other things, like whether I left the car lights on outside. that's your middle prayer. Tell me, has anyone never thought about the car in the middle of prayer? Or their job, or their daughter, or their son, or their friend, or what this guy said, or what this guy looks like? Oh, what did she say? Oh, how come she's wearing this? Well, how come she's wearing that? And why did he say this, and why is he looking at me? You tell me, all of you, has no one else ever had these thoughts in their head once in a while? So,

13:01We had a day full of prayers, but the prayers weren't always the greatest. Hashem said, "I know. I am He. I know that too. So you have Yom Kippur. So with Yom Kippur, Rabotai, Yom Kippur, please be quiet and focus on prayer. Focus on talking to Hashem. It's your last chance."