Dangerous Rabbis, Adam & Chava Secrets, LaShon HaRa Truth, KIRUV - STUMP THE RABBI (13)

0:14Okay. We're back to our questions and answers, our "Stump the Rabbi" series here in Sharet Zion in Sunny Isles, Florida. For some reason, people continue to tell me that even though they're watching the shiurim, they never understand where we are. So I have to keep mentioning it every shiur. And they live here. There's, Baruch Hashem, a good amount of people that watch the shiurim from Florida, but they don't realize we're in Florida. Every time, you know, they send a text message, and they say, "Oh, wow, you were in Florida this week?" Baruch Hashem. We have to keep mentioning it. We're in Sharet Zion in Sunny Isles, Baruch Hashem. I stumped the Rabbi. Hopefully, Baruch Hashem, you have some good questions. I have some questions. Hopefully, you guys have some answers. I have actually a couple of really amazing stories. It was worth being born just for these stories. Also, as a side note, I also brought another couple of hundred books of Hilchot Shabbat. Anyone who stays till the end will get a book for free. As I told you, the Chachamim say, if you don't learn Hilchot Shabbat, you are not keeping Shabbat. Why? Because there are just so many intricate details that if you don't know them, you're for sure going to violate them because it's so simple.

1:33But you need to know them. You need to know them. You go over this book, you're going to become a professor in Shabbat, which is a very good thing to be in Shamayim. Anyway, the issue will also be for Refuah Shleimah for Levin ben David, Chaim HaKohen, and also Hatzlacha Rabbah, and also Refuah Shleimah and Hatzlacha Rabbah to Amos ben Yamin ben Esther, My dear mother Doris Bat Jora, my dear mother Doris Bat Jora, my dear mother Doris Bat Jora, my dear mother Doris Bat Jora. For anyone that watches the shiurim, either here live or online, if you want to sponsor one of the shiurim, we have a campaign online for this program, the Torah Challenge program. As everybody knows, Baruch Hashem, our shiurim go all over the world, so it's not just, Baruch Hashem, a lot of people that come to the shiurim live, but quite a few more

2:45online. And right now, Baruch Hashem, we're getting to about two million minutes per month. Two million minutes per month of our shiurei Torah being learned online throughout the entire world. that's just the, uh, the YouTube channels. We're not including all of the other things, uh, like the CDs and, uh, you know, all the other things that we do—WhatsApp and things of that nature. So anyone that sponsors a shiur has a zechut, has a merit, to, uh, to be part of all of it, to be part of all of it. Uh, and it's definitely a very big thing. And, uh, quite a few people that have, uh been regulars in regards to being partners in the kiruv that we're trying to do, have had many miracles happen in their life, whether it's a zivug, kids, refuah shlema, many, many things. I could tell you stories till the end of the world of how many amazing things we hear about people that donate to kiruv and use their money for good things. You could also buy another watch.

3:46You could also buy another house that you don't really need or a fancier car that you don't need. You could buy all that stuff. You could, you know, you could do whatever you want with your money. But anyone that wants to invest for Olam HaBa will always think of Torah, and the best and most important thing as far as publicizing Torah in our generation is Kiruv Rechokim. It's to do Zikui HaRabim, to benefit the public, to help Am Yisrael get back to becoming Jews. We have buildings, we have yeshivot, We have Sifrei Torah, we have Sefarim. Am Yisrael, Baruch Hashem, is the richest it's ever been monetarily since the time of Shlomo HaMelech. We have all of that stuff. We have land, we have a lot of things. Jews, not so many. Jews, not so many. And the reason why is because in order to be a Jew, it's not just that you were born to a Jewish mother. You also have to behave like a Jew. You have to keep Shabbat, you have to keep mitzvot, you have to learn Torah. And this is a problem throughout the entire world, not just in America, where you have an assimilation rate of over 80%, but also throughout the rest of the world. And part of the reason that we have so much confusion today

5:01Because of ignorance, we live in a very, very ignorant generation where people do not know the very basics of Judaism. Now, by very basics, I don't just mean the halachot of Shabbat or the halachot of kashrut. I mean basics like why did we even come to the world? Why do you exist? For what? Well, what benefit does HaKadosh Baruch Hu get out of this? And you're saying that He's perfect, so what does He need you for? Now, if you're going to go online and you're going to type in "Why are you in this world?" or something like that, you may land on some very confusing opinions. Why? Because some of these opinions, if you view the video, it looks like it's being given by somebody from the Gemara, you know, nice long beard, but the stuff that comes out of the mouth is not exactly Daas Torah. Last night, somebody sent me a video asking me about a certain rabbi that I've mentioned in lectures before, just without his name. Somebody asked him, "Why do we come to the world?" If I attended the lecture before learning Torah, for sure, I'm leaving the lecture a kofer. The answer that he gave confused people more than they were confused without the answer because it was the wrong answer.

6:26So we live in an ignorant generation, so much so that you can't rely on anyone unless they're going to use a source from the Torah. and show you that this is Da'at Torah. What does Da'at Torah mean? Da'at Torah means this is the opinion of the Torah. How do you know that this is the opinion of Torah and what he said is not the opinion of Torah? It's because when it's the opinion of the Torah, it has to be connected to some type of source, whether it's the Chumash, or it's the Tanach itself, or it's a Gemara, or it's a Mishnah, or it's Sifrei Tzaddikim. It has to be connected to something. And the Mishnah in Avot says that if a person is going to mention some Divrei Torah, he must say it in the name of whoever said it. Because when he says it in the name of whoever said it, he's bringing Nachat to HaKadosh Baruch Hu and bringing the Mashiach closer. This means that when he does not mention things with a source, he does the opposite. He makes the Mashiach take even longer, and he makes Hashem upset.

7:34Why? Because when you're saying something in the name of someone else, you're bringing Nachat to HaKadosh Baruch Hu and bringing the Mashiach closer. This means that when you do not mention things with a source, you do the opposite. You make the Mashiach take even longer, and you make Hashem upset. You're not mentioning a source. And people say, well, he's a rabbi, so whatever he just said must be from the Torah. And the reality is, Rabotai Yekarim, that a lot of things you're going to find on the internet do not have a source in the Torah. They're just complete confusion. Such as the example that I mentioned to you guys yesterday by the Rasha Shmuley Boteach, who mentioned that it's not a big deal to be homosexual, even though the Torah says it's To'eivat Hashem, it's disgusting to Hashem, it's a Din Karet. You're not mentioning a source. And people say, well, he's a rabbi, so whatever he just said must be from the Torah. And the reality is, Rabotai Yekarim, that a lot of things you're going to find on the internet do not have a source in the Torah. They're just complete confusion. Such as the example that I mentioned to you guys yesterday by the rasha Shmuley Boteach, who mentioned that it's not a big deal to be homosexual, even though the Torah says it's To'evat Hashem, it's disgusting to Hashem, it's a din karet. It's one of the 36 things that HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, if you make this sin without doing teshuva, you and Me have nothing to do with each other. Now, of course, it's a very difficult tikkun for some people; they have a desire, they have an addiction,

8:23Don't let anybody fool you. You have to overcome it, and you can overcome it. Right now, as we speak, I'm dealing with at least a half a dozen cases. A half a dozen cases of kids that, Baruch Hashem, are overcoming this obstacle. It's not easy. It's for sure not easy and it doesn't happen overnight. But don't let anybody fool you into thinking that you can change the Torah and it's okay to sin. It's okay to go with a Goyah just because you're not married yet. It's okay to steal money just because you're stealing from Goyim. It's okay to engage in homosexual behavior just because you're keeping Shabbat or some other mitzvah that you're doing. It's okay to do anything against HaKadosh Baruch Hu. It's never okay to do anything against HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Never. Now, all of us sin. I sin, you sin, everybody sins. The difference between a Rasha and someone that's trying to be a Tzaddik is that the Rasha just simply says, okay, listen, I just can't do this. I can't overcome this obstacle, so I'm just going to continue doing it, but I'll do everything else good. A tzaddik says, okay, this is difficult. I'm failing miserably. I keep failing, but b'ezrat Hashem, I'm going to overcome it one day. Why is that such a big difference? It's a big difference because the rasha is called a rasha not just because he sins, but because he simply accepts it as a reality. I'm sinning. This is it.

9:45i'm going to continue and Hashem is going to accept me as is. Which means that you have just turned HaKadosh Baruch Hu into the most evil being that ever lived. Why? What kind of father is going to tell his little son to go lift an 18-wheeler truck on top of his head? No father will do it. What kind of father will tell his son or daughter, go fly to the moon without a rocket? No father. Why? Because he knows you can't do it. Which means that if our Father in Heaven, if HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave you a test, He gave you a desire for food, and you eat too much. He gave you a desire for women, and every day you want a different one. He gave you a desire for the same sex, and every day you want something. He gave you a desire for something that is not what He wants. Not what He wants, but He gave you a desire for it. What does that mean? By default, it means that He knows that you can overcome it. So, to say that I'm committing this sin and Hashem will just simply have to accept me because I can just do other mitzvot, that means that you think of Hashem as some sadistic being that just sets you up for failure. If there is a test that you are given, for sure you can pass it. No one says it's easy.

11:06No one ever said it's easy. It's not supposed to be easy. No part of the Torah says that the mitzvot are supposed to be easy, that life is supposed to be easy. But you were created for it. It's in your mouth, it's in your heart to fulfill it. The Torah is for you to fulfill it. So sometimes when you see people that call themselves a rabbi, like Shmuley Boteach or some of these other clowns, they can create a lot of confusion. They create a lot of confusion. So that's why I always remind you guys over and over again. For years I'm doing this. Please, please be careful from whom you learn. And always make sure that whatever you hear has a source, especially if it sounds weird to you, or if it's the opposite of what you learned here. Because, Baruch Hashem, we try very hard to bring you sources so you can go home and check them. Not just so I can show you how smart I am or show you that I remember a few things by heart. I don't go to Olam HaBa for knowing anything by heart, by the way.

12:08I go to Olam HaBa if I can get you guys to become Avdei Hashem, servants of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. That's what I go to Olam HaBa for. Even if I don't remember Aleph Bet by heart. It doesn't make a difference what I know by heart. What's important is if I can get you to see that this is the truth. Now if I bring you a source, that automatically brings legitimacy to anything that I say. But sometimes people make a mistake. And I'm going to tell you a story that I heard from my Rav. That hopefully hits a few notes for some of you. Because you'll see that learning Torah by itself is not enough. Learning Torah by itself is not enough. There are a lot of people that learn Torah. These rabbis that are clowns that I mention all the time, they also learn Torah. Or they learned Torah in the past at some point. So what's the difference between one that learns and one that actually does? The Gemara in Masechet Moed Katan says, if your Rav sounds like an angel, like Malach Hashem, learn Torah from him. If not, don't learn Torah from him. You're not allowed. Chachamim said, what does it mean if he is like Malach Hashem?

13:18What does it mean? What is it, an angel? Yes, like an angel. What does it mean, angel? An angel's job in the world is simply to fulfill the will of Hashem. No questions asked. All he wants to do is to fulfill the will of Hashem. It's hard. It's this, it's that. The Zohar HaKadosh says that there are actual angels that HaKadosh Baruch Hu creates for a moment, for a moment. They say, Baruch Hashem HaMevorach, and then Hashem burns them. That's it. And then they create different ones. They say, and they get destroyed. That's their only purpose in the world. There are all types. There are trillions and trillions and trillions of types of angels. The point being is, all angels want to do is fulfill the will of Hashem. They don't have a yetzer hara. They don't have any evil inclination. They simply want to do what Hashem said. If your Rav, if who you're learning Torah from, sounds like that, go learn Torah from him. But if he gives you his opinion every other day, and if he says, you know what, maybe Hashem made a mistake here, you know what, this is this, this is that, you see that his own character traits are flawed, all he talks about is money, all he talks about is this, all he talks about are things that, I don't know, it's not Torah. You know, it's an hour shiur; like one of my students told me, she watched a shiur Torah one time, she said it was an hour shiur. Out of the hour shiur, there was maybe five minutes of Torah. The rest of it was just chit-chat.

14:42If that's the type of shiur, you're wasting your time. Why? Because it's supposed to be a shiur Torah. If the Rav is trying to fulfill the will of Hashem, of course, everyone fails, but he's trying his best to fulfill the will of Hashem, you learn Torah from him. But if he's trying to become popular, if he's trying to get views on YouTube, if he's trying to say things so it's pleasing to you, so you like him and you press like on his Facebook, if that's what he's trying to do, don't learn to talk. You're not allowed. Why? Now, what happens with Baalei Teshuva, and in this generation, it's virtually the entire nation. Don't think if you weren't born into a religious family, then you're different. Today, in our generation, almost every single person has to do teshuva. In reality, everybody has to do teshuva for different reasons. But I'm talking about from Aleph to Tav. Whether you grew up in a frum family, or you grew up in a secular family, or you grew up in a Zionist family, or you grew up in an atheist family, or you grew up in any family, everybody has to do teshuva. And the reason why is because we live in an ignorant generation where many, many people, the vast majority of people, whether they grew up in the yeshiva system or not,

15:54they still leave the system ignorant of the basics. The basic foundations they don't know, or they're confused about, because of the reasons that I've mentioned. Now, when people start doing Teshuva, they watch the Shiurim, Baruch Hashem, they're in different places, whether it's in Europe, or it's in America, or it's in Australia, or all over the world, Baruch Hashem, people watch Shiurim. They start doing Teshuva, they start keeping Shabbat, they start doing different things. But then you stop hearing from them sometimes. And this is one of the most tragic things that anyone who tries to help people can hear. And the reason why is because you know it's only a matter of time before they fall off, without even knowing that they fell off. And the reason why is because sometimes people watch shiurim for a year, two years, they like it, they ask some questions, they start keeping mitzvot, but then they think, listen, I know now I have to learn Torah, so I'll learn from the books. I'll take a book, I'll learn the book, and that's it. I'll be like the rabbi. They forget that the Mishnah says, you have to have a rabbi. So much so that the Gemara in Masechet Yoma says, if you don't have a rabbi, Hashem hates you.

17:11Why? Because if you don't have a rabbi, you don't have anyone to double-check things with. How do you know that when you read the book, you're gonna understand things the right way? So the Admor Mitzantz, the Admor Mitzantz tells a story of what happened one time, in his time. He says there was a guy, Talmid Chacham, young guy, learned Torah day and night, mamash, dedicated, right family, right environment, everything was going for him. One day he wants to get married. Since he was known to be a Talmid Chacham, the rich guy in the neighborhood who was frum wanted him for his daughter. He said, "Listen, you don't have to worry about anything. All you have to worry about is learning Torah. I'm going to set you up a room. You need something, just cough. The servant's going to come, give you food, give you this, give you that, anything you want. Just cough, they're there for you. You want food? We'll give you food. You want sefarim? Any sefarim you want. In those days, it was hard to get sefarim. Not like today, you press a button, 500 sefarim are at the house." You, you don't have to worry about anything. You don't have to worry about anything. All you have to worry about is learning Torah. I'm going to set you up a room. You need something, just cough. The servant's going to come, give you food, give you this, give you that, anything you want. Just cough, they're there for you. You want food? We'll give you food. You want sefarim? Any sefarim you want. In those days, it was hard to get sefarim. Not like today, you press a button, 500 sefarim are at the house.

18:14Which, by the way, for everybody here, B'ezrat Hashem, we just made an order of a couple of hundred books of the Torah and Science book that we have in our Kiruv packages. So B'ezrat Hashem, we'll have them, we'll bring them to the shiurim. For everybody that comes to the shiurim, you'll get a gift, another gift from Irgun B'ezrat Hashem. It's a very interesting book by Rabbi Zamir Cohen. So anyway, he says to this avrech, all you have to do is learn Torah. That's it. This guy goes into a room. He's got the four walls. He's got the books. Every time he coughs, food arrives. He's learning, learning, learning, learning, learning. After a few years of learning, he says to himself, you know what? In reality, between us, don't tell anybody. Between us, nobody's like me. He says this to himself. He doesn't say it to anybody. Nobody's like me. Who learned the entire Shas like me? The entire Gemara like me? Who learned the entire Shulchan Aruch like me? Who learned this, that? Who learned it like me? Nobody learned it like me. I guess they say there's a Moshe Rabbeinu in every generation. I guess they say. I guess it's me. Baruch Hashem. Says to himself, you know what? In reality, between us, don't tell anybody. Between us, nobody's like me. He says this to himself. He doesn't say it to anybody. Nobody's like me. Who learned the entire Shas like me? The entire Gemara like me? Who learned the entire Shulchan Aruch like me? Who learned this, that? Who learned it like me? Nobody learned it like me. I guess they say there's a Moshe Rabbeinu in every generation. I guess they say. I guess it's me. Baruch Hashem.

19:24He says to himself, his learning went up, but his ga'ava also went up. His ego also went up. So he said, I need to get to the next level. I want to talk to Eliyahu HaNavi. So he starts looking into the books. He starts looking into the books. True story. He starts looking into the books. How can you talk to Eliyahu HaNavi? And he finds, through the holy books, that you can actually set up a meeting with Eliyahu HaNavi if you want. have to go through a process, a very, very difficult process nonetheless, of 40 days of intensive learning under fasting and all types of physical limitations, if you will, for 40 days and 40 nights. If you achieve it, and as many stories by the Chachamim that this has happened, some of the students of the Baal Shem Tov I've done it. So he says, it's time for me to meet Eliyahu HaNavi. He takes it on. He starts learning and fasting, learning and fasting. After a couple of weeks, the servant says, "Okay, I guess I got time off. I got to go on vacation." Why? "He's not even coughing. He's not asking for water, no nothing. Okay, so I'm going." Takes him on vacation. This guy is fasting and learning and doing 40 days. On the 40th day, suddenly...

20:56It's Eliyahu. Eliyahu came to me. He opens the door and he sees a goy. Now he knows from the sefarim that Eliyahu HaNavi doesn't always come as Eliyahu HaNavi. He comes as something else. Sometimes he comes as a goy. Sometimes he comes as something else. He comes as different things. So he says, "Wow, Eliyahu HaNavi. Baruch haba, baruch haba, have a seat." The guy looks at him and goes, doesn't say anything. He sits down. Here, Eliyahu takes one of the cups, has a special wine he prepared. Special wine. Here, a nice big glass of wine. And he sees that Eliyahu drinks the wine without a blessing. He says to himself, "Eliyahu Hanavi, you messed up over here." But he says, "Wait a minute, the Gemara says that there is an opinion," in his head he says, "there is an opinion that some say that since Eliyahu Hanavi became a malach, maybe he doesn't keep the mitzvot like we do. Okay, so he doesn't say anything." He says, "Eliyahu Hanavi, thank you for coming," starts talking a little bit, doesn't say anything.

22:09After a few minutes, he gets up, smiles at him, and leaves. Now, he was so excited that he saw Eliyahu Hanavi that the little bit of wine that was left, he took it and drank it. "I just had a little bit of the wine of Eliyahu Hanavi!" Now, his ego didn't let him keep this to himself. To tell somebody? Who am I gonna tell? I'm gonna tell my father-in-law, make him proud. Why? He's paying for all of this, I'm studying there. Please come, I gotta talk to you about everything. Okay. Yeah, I gotta talk to you. So I gotta tell you something big, big. Eliyahu Hanavi came to see me. Huh? Eliyahu Hanavi, he starts describing him, and he sees his father-in-law's face turn pale white. He says, you okay, what, you're proud of me that I'm your son-in-law? You're proud of me, it's okay, don't worry, I was in shock too. He says, what did you do? What did you do? You know, you saw, you saw the guy that cleans the streets, he came over here to collect the monthly check. He's a Christian, he's not even a Jew. You drank his wine, you drank. You drank the wine of Avodah Zarah once he touched his wine, you're not allowed to drink it.

23:33You just drank the wine of Avodah Zarah. And he says to himself, oh, what did I do? Now the Admor MiSan says, how could this be? This guy learned day and night, day and night, day and night, then went on to 40 days, 40 nights. Everything he did right, but he falls for what? For drinking Yayin Nesech. What's Yayin Nesech? Yayin Nesech is wine that was part of Avodah Zarah. And the Gemara says, that drinking such wine is the same thing as Avodah Zarah. You just practiced Avodah Zarah. You just practiced idolatry. So the Admor MiSan says, how did he fall? How did such a thing happen? He learned, no, he did good. He says for two reasons. Number one, he didn't have a Rav. He didn't have a Rav. He wasn't connected to the tzaddikim of the generation. he wasn't connected. He just thought that he could read the books by himself and he's going to know everything he needs to know. Because of that, he had a big ego to even think that he had the merit to ask Eliyahu HaNavi to come visit him. Because of the ego being so high, the Gemara says that when you have a big ego, it's the equivalent of idolatry—you've made yourself into an idol, and

24:55Hashem says, "You want Me to show you what I think of your learning and what you're doing? It's avodah zarah, and you fail for avodah zarah." Meaning, Rabotai HaYekarim, it's not so simple. You just learn a book, you're gonna become a rabbi. You're gonna become the biggest tzaddik in the neighborhood. It's very important that first and foremost... Use the Torah, double-check what you're learning with your rabbi, make sure that the rabbi is kosher, but most importantly, apply what it says in the Torah to yourself, to your character traits, to fix yourself, to make yourself run away from all of these terrible character traits that all of us have. Some of us have a big ego, some of us are stingy, some of us have different flaws. The point of the Torah is to perfect our character traits. Now, one of the main things that we need to do is to make sure that we believe in the Torah and everything it says. And that's the point of this specific shiur, which is questions and answers that you guys have,

25:57that, b'ezrat Hashem, will answer any issues that you have, any things that you never knew about, anything that you have a doubt about, because the more information you have, the easier it is to follow what it says in the Torah. So, with that being said, b'chavod, who wants to go with the first question? Yes, okay, transfer the mic to him. You have the mic? Okay, b'chavod. So, in Israel, there's always one parashah ahead. Why is it that specifically Israel is always one parashah ahead of the rest of the world? Well, they're not necessarily always one parashah ahead. It just so happens that there are different times during the year when we have an extended Yom Tov. So, when we have an extended Yom Tov, we have two days for Yom Tov. That means that during that weekend, we're going to read the parasha of that particular Yom Tov, whereas they're already going to go back into the seder, the regular seder that we have to read all 54 parashot.

27:04so while we don't read a parasha of the week, we read something that's relevant to the Yom Tov or to the Rosh Chodesh or whatever it is. No, Yom Tov, not Rosh Chodesh. We're reading that. They're already moving on to the next thing. So it's just simply because of the difference between the exile and Eretz Yisrael, that two-day difference. But at the end, what happens is, is that towards the end of the year, everything lines up, and everybody ends up finishing the Torah at once. To add to your question, with a little bit of information, is that the seder that we have today, which is that we read one parasha per week, approximately, in order to finish the entire Chumash once a year, wasn't always so. Years ago, and for many generations, it used to be that we would actually complete the Sefer Torah only once every three years. Once every three years. But then the Chachamim saw that the generations have deteriorated so much that if they're not going to read Parashat Bereishit, Parashat Noach, Parashat Vayelech, and so on and so forth, Lech Lecha, and so on, if they're not going to read these Parashot for three years, they're eventually going to forget what they learned.

28:25So what ended up happening is that they changed the seder, the structure, so instead of reading the entire Chumash once every three years, we complete it every year. To obligate the nation to read the parasha every week, that's one of the obligations that the Shulchan Aruch says that every Jew has. You have to learn the weekly parasha twice, Twice, regularly, and once with commentary by Rashi. That's what you have to learn. Onkelos, obviously, is also fantastic, but most people don't understand what Onkelos is saying, unless they are Talmidei Chachamim, so Rashi suffices. The point is that you're obligated to read the weekly parasha as a Jew, just like you're obligated to eat kosher, keep Shabbat, and so on and so forth. And so, in the old days, we did that only once every three years. We would actually complete the entire Chumash, whereas today, we complete it once a year. And that's because of the deterioration of the generations. Next question. You guys on strike today? Questions? Yesterday, there were a few questions after I shut the camera. We stayed there for another hour with questions. Okay, so I'm going to ask a question. I'm going to ask a question. Maybe you guys have an answer for me. Before the shul...

29:48Jacob over here asked, is it true that Adam and Chava were, when they were created, they were created together? Meaning back to back, they were attached as one. And the answer is, that's one of the opinions. The Gemara Masechet Berachot says, it's one opinion that Adam was created first, then Hashem took his rib and made her. But then there's another opinion. that, uh, really, where it initially says that there is a man and a woman, and then it says Adam later on, like it says a couple of times, no, there is an opinion that they were originally created together, attached back to back—two people, but back to back. And then Hashem put them to sleep and separated them. There are a couple of opinions about that. The bigger question that I asked Jacob, and I want you guys maybe to help us give some answers to, is why didn't Hashem, regardless of which opinion is it, regardless of whether they were created out of the rib, or they were created together and then split? Regardless, why didn't Hashem create Chava, in English Eve—I have no idea how they got the name, but Eve—why didn't He just create her out of nothing, just like He did with Adam? Obviously, we know that Hashem is the only one who could create everything from nothing. He created Adam from nothing, created the world from nothing. is why didn't Hashem, regardless of which opinion it is, regardless of whether they were created out of the rib, or they were created together and then split, regardless, why didn't Hashem create Chava, in English Eve—I have no idea how they got the name, but Eve—why didn't He just create her out of nothing, just like He did with Adam? Obviously, we know that Hashem is the only one who could create everything from nothing. He created Adam from nothing, created the world from nothing.

31:16That's His gedulah. He's the only one that can create anything out of nothing. We can manipulate creation. We can innovate creation. We cannot create something from nothing. He's the only one that creates something from nothing. So, He created Adam HaRishon from nothing. Why didn't He create Chava also from nothing? Why did He have to take a rib? Why? No? Who can give me an answer? Same price. If you have an answer, you get 50 bucks. I'll raise the ante. Ante goes up, huh? Now we have, now we have, okay. Now, repeat the question. The common opinion is that Adam was created first. You with me? Adam was created first. Then Hashem, the parasha says, Bereishit, Hashem put him to sleep. He took a rib and He made Chava out of it. The question is: why did Hashem not just create Chava out of nothing? I mean, obviously He created Adam out of nothing. Why did He have to take a rib from Adam to create Chava? It cannot be because of limitations of HaKadosh Baruch Hu—that would be heresy. He's capable of doing anything, so it cannot be a limitation.

32:38Why didn't He just decide? Okay, Adam, you're here. Okay, Chava, you're here. Why do we have to take something from something that already exists? Needless to say, from Adam. Why don't you take it from the bear? I don't know, maybe the bear has some extra bones. Take it from the lion. Maybe she could be nice. Lioness. Why? No? Chava, give me. To show that he needed Chava to survive. He needed Chava. No, elaborate. Give me more. That rib is a very essential key. You have extras. If you break a rib, you can still live. Yeah, when I played football, I hurt my ribs a lot, and I still live. So if He took a leg instead, would it make a difference? So we're in the right direction. We're getting there. We're getting there. You said a few good words. We're going to get something. No, no, no. Noach has to have two opinions. No? Give me. Yeah. Yeah.

34:02from a male to a female, in a sense. He made something from a male to a female, and it just shows that there's a bond there to create reproduction. The other side could be that, going along the lines that he said, is that the rib is where the neshama is, is that correct? So I feel like the fact that it's such an essential part in the body, it has some sort of kedusha to it. Actually, the neshama is in the brain, but it's still a... That's where your heart is. But you're going. I got your point. I need more. I want more. I like it. I like it. You guys, we complete the answers. We need another piece to the puzzle. We need another one. We need another one. In the back. In the back, the ladies. Yes. If you could transfer the mic. One second. One second. It's not good. I like it today. I like it. I like it. You guys are... Got something. I have, like, two different ideas. One, maybe it's that, like, just like it was Shabbat, like, Hashem minimized Himself to have, like, one day for it, like, to rest. Like, even though He didn't need it, He kind of just took it to show us that, like, we can do the same in return. Right. So maybe, like, minimized Himself and, like, yeah, I can make, like, something from nothing, but, like, just to show that, like, you guys can do it, too, and kind of, like, for us to give us, like, space to emulate Him and, like, do the same, maybe, too.

35:25Okay, next one, next opinion. Yeah. I just combined both of them. Combined both of them. Okay, all right. That's another piece. We didn't need more. The one in front of you has it. Or next to you has it. All right, go ahead. No? So, maybe because what he did is he took the part of the guy to, like, make into a girl so that every guy has to find their other piece that they're missing. Chazak? Like... Almost perfect answer. No, give me more. So... Why do I need a girl? Why don't you just meet me with Steven? What do you mean? Why is it a guy and a girl? Why is it from her? Why didn't I just get it from something else? You're on the right track. Elaborate more on what you're saying. I mean... Okay, I'll combine all of your answers and I'll give you an answer. You all get $50. No. Uh, yes, you get it. By the way, the food today is unbelievable. I didn't touch it, but just the way it looks, I would come to the shiur. So here we go. It says that when a person has ego, Hashem has to distance Himself from that person. Why? If you have an ego, if you're an arrogant person, and...

36:54That's considered disgusting in the eyes of Hashem. So one of the things that He had to show us immediately, immediately, is that, like you said, we need each other. The man needs the woman, and the woman needs the man. Now, why couldn't that be taught to us if He simply created the woman out of nothing? If He just created a man and then took a bunch of clay and put the woman together, why wouldn't the same thing be taught that way? The reason why is not because of the bone that He used. The bone that He used, I'll give you a different answer for. But rather because if He created man by himself from nothing, and then woman by herself from nothing, then the woman could say to the man, "I don't need you." i was, Hashem Himself created me. Hashem Himself created me. I don't need you. I don't need you. You don't, there's no connection between us. And the man will say, no connection between us. Why? What's, what puts us in, what gives us something in common?

38:06I'm the king of the world and you think you're the king. And the other one says, you're the king of the world and I'm the king, and so on and so forth. Both of them would see themselves as the kings. Both of them would see themselves as if the world was created for them by themselves because both of them were independent creations. By creating Adam HaRishon and then taking a piece out of him and making Chava, they both are connected to each other whether they like it or not. Meaning that no one can say, wait a minute, I could exist without you, or she could say, I could exist without you. Why? I wouldn't have come into being if it wasn't for you being created first. I wouldn't have come into being if it wasn't for you being created first. And then Adam HaRishon could also say, wait a minute, Hashem obviously saw, lo tov le'adam lihiyot levado, a person is not good by himself, therefore He put me to sleep, and He created you, because I'm not good enough by myself. Therefore, like you guys said, He created both of us. But why did He choose the rib and not the leg or the arm or anything else? To teach us one of the other critical lessons.

39:14that a Jew and a Gentile both must know HaKadosh Baruch Hu has certain things that He loves and certain things that He hates. In this week's parasha, Bilaam, after he fails at his mission of cursing Am Yisrael, says to Balak, If you want to beat them, you want to beat Am Yisrael, you have to have them beat themselves. How? By making them do, convincing them to do something that HaKadosh Baruch Hu hates. What does HaKadosh Baruch Hu hate? Elohim Soneh Zimah. Their God hates promiscuity, immodesty. He hates it. He despises it. So if you could convince them to become promiscuous, you convince them to start walking around half-naked, you convince them to do all the things like that, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu hates, They will defeat themselves. Hashem will punish them by themselves without us needing to curse them. So what did Balak do? Balak gathered all the young girls, all the 17, 18, 19-year-old girls, including his own daughter, and he sent them all to the camp of Am Yisrael. Even though they will go out, Am Yisrael thought, "Wait, maybe I can convert her."

40:30Maybe she comes from a good family. Maybe this, maybe that. And they started looking at them, hanging out with them. And then these women pretended like they wanted to be with them because that was their mission. And as soon as they got them alone, they said, listen, if you want to be with me, pray to my idol. So not only did they end up failing in the realms of modesty and intermarriage by being with Goyot, but even more so, they ended up failing by actually worshipping an idol. And that's why HaKadosh Baruch Hu almost killed the entire nation. He killed 24,000 people until Pinchas, the son of Elazar, the grandson of Aharon HaKohen, He ended up stopping the plague by killing the leader who made it seem as if it was kosher to do. Now, HaKadosh Baruch Hu wanted to teach us from the first parasha that He hates immodesty. He hates promiscuity. How? By taking the most

41:33modest bone we have in our entire body. Why? If you look at any other bone in your body, it's not covered by anything other than the skin that covers it. Your legs, if it wasn't skin, you'd see the leg. If you walk, you see the leg. But the rib, the rib bone is not only covered by the skin, but you also have your arms covering it. So HaKadosh Baruch Hu wanted to hint to us, I like when girls are covered. I like when boys are covered. I like modesty. I like it. Why? If you're modest, you're not modest because of a style. You're modest because you know there's a HaKadosh Baruch Hu that's watching and loves it. So it's not just that we need each other, men and women need each other in order to reproduce, but there's also something to learn from it, that there's even a way to reproduce. There's a way to be a man and woman. There's a proper way to do it, and there's an improper way to do it. If you do it the proper way, your marriage will be blessed, your life will be blessed, and so on and so forth.

42:33if not Hashem, you see the statistics today, as I always repeat to you guys, they get worse and worse throughout the days. So we can do everything we want to do in a kosher way. You want to eat? You can eat, just eat kosher food. You want to be with somebody? You could be, just be married. Anything you want to do—business, want to make money? You can make money, just make money from a kosher business. make money from a kosher business in a kosher way. Anything you want to do, any desire that you have, there's a kosher way to fulfill it. And that's actually one of the main things that the Torah tells us, is that there's no lacking as a result of you fulfilling the Torah. It's the opposite. It's actually using the Torah to learn how to take material sanctify it, how to make it holy, how to make your eating holy, how to make your drinking holy, how to make your relationship with your wife or husband holy, how to make your job and making money holy. That's the point of the Torah: to show you how to use all of the things that you have in the world and use them in a holy way.

43:46It's not to abstain from everything and go into some cave in the middle of nowhere by yourself with a Gemara. That's not it. That's not what HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants. Hashem doesn't want you to go in the middle of nowhere in some desert with a Gemara and you're by yourself. No, Hashem wants you to use the Torah in order to learn how to use the beautiful creation that He has in a kosher way. If you can do that, you're not only going to make yourself a fantastic life in the next world, but you will also make yourself a fantastic life in this world. Because now, everything you do has meaning. You're not just doing the mundane like everybody else. You wake up, you go to sleep. You wake up, you go to sleep. And in between, you eat, you go to the bathroom, you work, you make a few dollars, you lose a few dollars, and every day it's the same thing, same thing, same thing, until either you die or commit suicide, whichever one comes first. That's unfortunately the secular world, because no matter what you do in a secular world, it loses its value, it loses its meaning after a while. That's why you see sometimes these celebrities, they marry each other, usually they're all good-looking, but somehow at some point they get divorced. Well, how could you divorce this beautiful woman? How could you divorce this handsome guy? How could you divorce this rich guy, this rich woman? How could you divorce them? Everybody else wants to be with them. You're divorcing them?

45:05How could it be? Because eventually, if there's no control, if there's no meaning, it becomes disgusting. And that's what Shlomo HaMelech says, before we open up to the next question. Shlomo HaMelech says, You found blini, it's delicious, right? But even though it's delicious, eat a little bit. Don't eat too much. Why? If you eat a lot of it, even though it's delicious in the beginning, you eat a lot of it, eventually it will become disgusting. Even though your favorite food may be steak, your favorite food may be chocolate, your favorite food may be strawberries, whatever it is. Imagine you ate it, and only ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. In the beginning, it sounds great. Wow, I can't wait to have steak every day, chocolate every day. This after a day it's cool, two days a little less cool, a week I don't really want anymore. Can I have something else? No, we have a deal, only steak every day. Two weeks, you just start hearing the word steak, and you want to vomit. Three weeks, you're in the hospital. Just give me an IV. I can't. I can't do it, I can't talk about steak anymore. Why? You ate too much of it; it became disgusting to you. That applies with everything.

46:17with everything. This is the reason why Rabbi Nachman of Breslov says that people who do not control their desires and fulfill every one of their desires, especially at a young age, where they think that every time they have a physical desire, they have to fulfill it, end up putting themselves in a very bad situation in life because they have created such a threshold that they can no longer meet. For example, if a man tries to meet every one of his physical desires, initially he meets his physical desires by himself. Eventually, it's not enough, he wants to have a partner. Eventually, that partner is not enough, he becomes promiscuous, and he wants more than one partner. The same applies for women, by the way. He wants more than one partner. Eventually, more than one partner is not enough, he wants them more frequently. Eventually, that's not enough, he wants the same gender. We want something taboo. Eventually, it's not enough; he wants something out of the same species. And that's why in America today—you can look this up on the internet if you'd like to be disgusted—there are over 3 million people, which is almost 1% of the population, that admit to having relations with animals. That's how far it is. Now, you think, "Well, it's crazy, right?" It's not new.

47:36It's not new. Gemara Masechet Shabbat says that if you look, if you notice, all of the goyim kings—Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar—many of these goyim kings, it constantly mentions that animals were next to them. Why do I care that Bil'am had a donkey? It never says that Avraham Avinu had a donkey. It never says that Yaakov Avinu had a donkey. Why do I care that Bil'am had a donkey? The prophet of the goyim had a donkey. That Nebuchadnezzar had an animal next to him. That Belshazzar had his dog sit next to him. Why do I care? Because these kings, these powerful people, met every one of their physical desires. Eventually, it wasn't enough—wasting seed wasn't enough the regular way. They wanted to do it in an unusual way. Promiscuity led to a point where even that wasn't enough. Nebuchadnezzar would invite different people, different men, different kings from other countries to come, and he raped them and... because it wasn't enough. After that, it wasn't enough, it became bestiality. These kings, the Gemara says—this is not Yaron Reuven—the Gemara says, these kings, you see the animals next to them. Bilam, there's an animal next to him. Why? That was his wife. The donkey was his wife. Meaning that it's not just not kosher to be not kosher, if you will, as far as being with a non-Jewish person, being promiscuous. Not just that, it's also unhealthy mentally.

48:57It's also unhealthy mentally because eventually, every time you break that line, your threshold becomes bigger and bigger, and you need more to satisfy yourself. You need more to satisfy yourself. Eventually, one sandwich is not enough; you need two sandwiches. Two sandwiches are not enough; you need three sandwiches, and so on and so forth. That's why HaKadosh Baruch Hu says from the beginning, from Parashat Bereishit... Everything that you want, you're allowed. Just have Me in mind and do it in a modest way. That's why I took the rib, the one and only bone that's covered, to create Chava. Because women represent modesty. If you're a modest woman, you're a Bat Yisrael. And I'll treat you as a Bat Yisrael. But if you're not a modest woman, then it's like a queen that walks around, you know, naked in the streets because she wants to fit in with the public. Yes, I understand you want to fit in with the public, but you're a queen. You cannot do such things. You cannot do such things. You're a queen. You can't walk around like everybody else. Yeah, but maybe they'll like me. It doesn't matter if they like you. They're not like you.

50:08So it doesn't matter if they like you. They're not like you. You're a queen. They're not. A Bat Yisrael is a queen. She has to act and look accordingly. Same thing with a Bat Yisrael. You have to act and look accordingly. Next question. Yes, in the back. Transfer the mic to whoever has it. In... In Rechot, we say, don't bring me to challenges. So how does that make sense if the way you get is from challenges? Fantastic question. In essence, what we're trying to do is plead with Hashem to take it easy on us, if you will. Partly because we don't have that much belief in ourselves. Partly because we have a natural desire to want an easier life. Nobody really thinks like you do, which is, wait a minute. Why shouldn't I want more nisyonot? Why shouldn't I want more tests? Isn't that how I'm going to get higher and higher? That's the right way to think. But most people don't think that way.

51:21They don't think that way. Why? They want an easy life. They want to sit on a beach, get a tan, somebody to feed them. They don't want to pick up the food themselves. They want somebody to feed them, somebody to clean for them, somebody to pay the bills for them. Everybody wants to be on vacation. But if you learn the Torah, you go to Sefer Iyov—Iyov, Job in English—it says, a person was created to work. What does it mean to work? You have to toil. You have to work hard. So the Gemara says, what do you have to work hard for? It says, the three most important things. The three most important things you have to work endlessly your whole life. One, you want to live in Eretz Yisrael. You want to live in Eretz Yisrael? You have to work hard for it. Why? Because this is a special land that if... If you don't act appropriately according to what Hashem has for you, the land will vomit you. The reason why all of us are here in America is not because we're all tzaddikim. It's not because of that. It's because at some point, either we ourselves, or the previous generation—our parents, grandparents—somebody made a mistake to such an extent that the land vomited them.

52:33could be our parents, grandparents, or a thousand years ago, whatever it was. The reason why Am Yisrael is in exile for the last couple of thousand years is because the land vomited us. But there's also a good part of it. Part of the mission of the last generation before Mashiach is to actually get the whole world to do teshuva, especially the people that want to convert to Judaism. So HaKadosh Baruch Hu put Am Yisrael in all four corners of the world, the Zohar says. Why? Because there are going to be goyim that want to convert to Judaism in all four corners of the world. And it's our job to be a light to the nations and help them convert. But the point is that a person needs to make sure that they realize that Eretz Yisrael, to live in Eretz Yisrael, there's no free lunch. It's hard to live in Eretz Yisrael. But if you want to achieve it, already expect it to be hard. The second thing that's hard, the Gemara says, If you want to learn Torah, don't think that you're learning math. That if you just remember a few formulas in your head, length times width times height, the diameter squared, pi times this, you remember a few formulas in your head, oh, you're a Talmid Chacham. No, my friend, it doesn't work that way.

53:44Torah, Torah, you have to learn day and night, every day, all the time, if you want to have a chance of being a Talmid Chacham. You want to just be an average Joe, you want to just know Torah just enough to get by, you still have to learn every day. You’ve got to do it day and night. You learn a little bit in the morning, a little bit at night, you learn the halachot, you learn the gemarot, you learn what you need to learn, you'll be okay. But if you think that you're gonna learn whenever you have time, once a week, once a month, once whenever you feel like it, you think that's gonna get you by? says not possible, not possible. Why? It's not enough. Who created you in the world in order for you to learn Torah every day? Some more, some less, depends how high you want to get to as far as your servitude of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. But nonetheless, every single human being must learn Torah every day. I started with 15 minutes a day. Now, 15 minutes may not seem like much, and it's not. But when you make that commitment every day, that no matter what, just like I eat and breathe every day, I'm gonna learn 15 minutes a day. Now, everybody in the world has excuses, I had more. I had a business, I had a health crisis, I had all the excuses in the world not to learn 15 minutes a day. I was a very busy person.

54:58Nothing's changed, but somehow I found a way to learn 15 minutes a day. Eventually I said, you know what, maybe 30 minutes. Maybe I could do 30 minutes, but every day. Not 15 minutes today, seven minutes tomorrow, next week I'll do an hour to make up for it. No, no, 15 minutes minimum. If I could do more, more, but never less. Just like I never breathe less. I'm never gonna learn less. The 15 minutes is the threshold. I could do more if I can, but 15 minutes is the threshold. Eventually, I increased it to 30 minutes, and then eventually more, and so on and so forth. The point is, every human being, Jew or otherwise, needs to do the same thing if they want to have a chance of learning Torah. Third thing, Gemara says, Olam HaBa. Now, Olam HaBa has two places. I always like to mention both to you: Gan Eden and Gehenom. Gan Eden, you want to get there? Hard work. Gehenom, easy business. Easy. Don't do anything. Don't listen to Hashem. Drive on Shabbat. Go with Goyot. Dress immodestly. Eat whatever's in front of you. Do whatever's... Gehenom, guaranteed. All your money back. Gan Eden. Gan Eden, you want to go to Gan Eden? Hard work. Why? Because the reward of Gan Eden is eternity.

56:17That means you work your whole life, 70, 80, 90 years you work hard, but then your reward, your prize, is forever. You never have to work again. So for such a prize, it takes a little work. How much is 70, 80 years out of eternity? Nothing. Nothing. So that's the point. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, you want to go to heaven? You want to go to Olam HaBa, the good part? It's hard work. but it's only hard for 70, 80 years. After that, it's easy. After that, it's easy. So if you look at the toil in the right way, like you are, we say, you know what? When HaKadosh Baruch Hu is giving me a test, in essence, what is He trying to do? He's trying to elevate me. He's trying to make me a better version of myself. He's trying to give me more reward. That's the right way to look at it. But since naturally we want an easier life, we say, "Hashem, okay, you know what? Give me a test, but not too much. Go easy on me," as if Hashem doesn't know. As if Hashem doesn't know. So that's part of the reason, but I'm sure there are other things we can say. How about the next question? Bring it back to the front. By the way, I'm not charging you for questions today, so everybody can ask questions.

57:39Yeah, last week I was charging. I sent you guys the bill. But this week, it's free. So, there are a lot of righteous Goyim out there, ken? And I'm pretty sure they have ways that they want to also do teshuvah. What are the main ways that they could repent for sins? Well, first of all, the Goyim have a couple of missions in the world. We discussed it last week, so I'll just cover it very, very briefly. I don't like to go over the same information. But briefly, the two major missions of the Goyim: Number one is to follow the Torah and fulfill their obligations from the Torah, meaning the seven Noahide laws and all of the ethical rules. Ethical rules meaning that even though it's not part of the seven Noahide laws, you still have to honor your parents. It's not one of the seven Noahide laws, but you still have to honor your parents. And there are approximately 55 to 60 ethical rules that you have to follow as a Noahide. So that's the first thing. The second thing is that you have to do and fulfill all of that because HaKadosh Baruch Hu said it, not because it makes sense to you. So the Rambam writes, if a goy follows the Torah...

58:56He doesn't eat an animal while it's still alive. He doesn't commit adultery. He doesn't bow to some idol. But not because it says so in the Torah, not because Hashem said don't do it, but because it makes sense to him not to kill people. It makes sense to him not to eat animals while they're still alive. It makes sense to him to fulfill all of these mitzvot. The Rambam says this person, not only is he considered a fool, but he also does not get rewarded for what he did. He doesn't get rewarded for what he did. Why? He didn't do it because Hashem said so. You only get rewarded if you did it because Hashem said so, not because it makes sense to you. So he's considered, this goy is considered one of the fools among the nations instead of one of the righteous among the nations. So first and foremost, a Noahide, a goy in general, it's all goyim are considered Noahides. And they have to fulfill the Torah because Hashem said so. Their main body of learning should be Mussar, which is ethics, which is what we learn most of the time. The second thing is to help the Jewish people become more Jewish. In fact, that is one of their top obligations. There are two top obligations. That's one of them. They have to help Am Yisrael do teshuva.

1:00:14Why? Because the Messiah, when he comes, the prophet says that the righteous among the nations are going to recognize that their fathers lied to them. And they're going to want to learn Torah. So they're going to have 10 people out of every one of the nations, meaning 700 people, the 70 nations, 10 out of every one of them, 700 are going to hold on to every corner of the tzitzit of a Jew. So you have four corners, four tzitziyot, four corners to tzitzit. Each Jew that wears a tzitzit is going to have 700 times four, 2,800 goyim as his students, not servants so they could clean up for him only, students. He's going to be their rabbi. He's going to be their rabbi. So how is he going to be a rabbi if he didn't even do teshuva yet? It means the goyim have to help Am Yisrael do teshuva. Why? They need them as a rabbi.

1:01:15If a guy wants to become a Jew, that's a completely different story. Then obviously, that is something that's extraordinary, and there are many, many goyim, b'ezrat Hashem, that are converting as we speak. Actually, just today, one of my students in Eretz Yisrael had his brit milah, b'ezrat Hashem, and he's going to find... this is the one. Last step before conversion happened today. I had a couple of students do their brit milah here in Florida a couple of weeks ago. So, there's many, many goyim that are converting, righteous goyim. But nonetheless, the point is that if they don't want to convert, they want to be righteous, it's not a problem. They still have Heaven, but that still means they have to fulfill the obligations of learning their part of the Torah and helping the Jews. Yes, question over here. Transfer the mic. No, the camera. I can hear you. My question is like this: The reason we're in this world is to learn Torah. That's our purpose. And the purpose of learning Torah is to get close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu and to be ruchani in the gashmiut. Right. So my question is, if all we're learning is to be ruchani in the gashmiut, why do we need to learn Torah when we're in Gan Eden? Fantastic question.

1:02:31because that's the question. So the Gemara says, I believe it's 108a, that when Moshe came to Mount Sinai, his body stayed here, and his neshama went up there. The malachim said, "What is the son of a woman doing among us spiritual beings?" Moshe Rabbeinu says, "I'm here to collect the Torah. I'm here to get the Torah." The malachim say, "You're going to get the Torah? You're going to get the Torah? You don't know how. You're going to sin." Moshe Rabbeinu got scared of these angels. He didn't say anything. Hashem said, "Answer them. Answer them." Moshe Rabbeinu says, "They're going to burn me, these angels. They're huge." He says, "Hold on to my kisei hakavod. Don't worry. I got you. Answer them." So Moshe Rabbeinu has a famous debate with the malachim. A famous debate with the malachim, and he says to them, "It says in the Torah that you have to honor your father and your mother. Do you angels have a father and mother? No. It says in the Torah that you have to eat kosher. Do you angels eat? No. It says in the Torah, don't steal. Do you angels have the ability to steal? No." Meaning it says a lot of things in the Torah that you angels cannot fulfill anyway, which means obviously it was written for us humans.

1:03:56HaKadosh Baruch Hu created the gashmiyut in order for us to sanctify it, like you said. Like you said. So then HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, chazak u'baruch, here's the Torah. Then the Malach HaMavet, the Gemara says, goes over there and says, wait, where's the Torah? Where's the Torah? Hashem says, I give it to Moshe Rabbeinu. Malach HaMavet comes to Moshe Rabbeinu and asks, "You have the Torah?" Moshe Rabbeinu replies, "No, no, I don't have the Torah. I don't have the Torah." So Hashem says to Moshe, "Wait a minute. You're lying, Moshe. What are you talking about? I just gave you the Torah." Moshe Rabbeinu responds, "Hashem, who am I to really receive the Torah? I have the essence of the Torah, not the whole Torah. The whole Torah is still over there, still in Shemayim. Why? Because the whole Torah cannot be fulfilled by human beings. We have the essence of the Torah." The essence of the Torah, that's what we have. You have the Halachot, you have the Chumash, the Tanach, and so on and so forth. This is the essence of the Torah. This is the Torah that's applicable for this world. The real Torah, the whole Torah, that's something that's in the spiritual world. And that's what we learn in Shamayim. Yes, the real Torah is not here. We have the essence of the Torah. But the essence of the Torah is endless. How big is it?

1:05:08They asked Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrkanos, the rabbi of Rabbi Akiva, "How much Torah do you know, Rabbi?" And he says to them, "If you take all of the water from the ocean—72% of the world is water—take all of that water and let's say it all becomes ink. And all of the trees that are on the land and turn them into pens to use that ink. And all of the land, the other 28%, turns into paper." That amount of ink, those amount of pens, and that amount of paper is not enough to write the Torah that I know, Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus says. That's how much Torah I know. And he says, the Torah that I know is not even a lick— not even a lick that a dog licks in a river. Meaning, when a dog wants to go drink, he goes to a river, he takes a lick. Now, after he takes a lick, does the river change? Nothing changes. Because the Torah that I know is nothing in comparison to the Torah that my rabbi knows.

1:06:10His rabbi was Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai. That was his rabbi. He goes, "The Torah that I know, that I just gave you that example, that analogy, is nothing. It's not even a lick in a river in comparison to what Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai knows." Meaning that even the essence of the Torah, the essence of the Torah is enormous to such an extent. When a reporter wrote an article about Rav Ovadia, Rav Ovadia, alav hashalom, he wrote an article about him. But at that time he was already in his 80s, and this reporter had never met Rav Ovadia. He wrote a nasty article about him, saying, "Oh, why does anybody listen to this old man? He's just old, probably forgetful. Why does everybody even listen to him?" So even though Rav Ovadia never usually paid attention to these reporters—many of them were resha'im—he saw this article and said, "Invite him to my house." They invited this reporter to the house. He says to him, "You know me?" He goes, "No." He goes, "But you wrote an article saying that I have a bad memory. Did I ever forget something about you or anybody that you know?" He goes, "No." He goes, "So what made you assume that I'm forgetful?" He goes, "Listen, but you're 84 years old. At 84 years old, we just look at the way the world works."

1:07:27Most people at 60 already start losing their minds, and at 70 they regret they're even born sometimes. So at 84 years old, chazak u'baruch that you're alive and well, but your memory's probably not what it was when you were 25. And he says, let's test it. Let's test it. He goes, how can we do it? He goes, you see these books? He says, yeah, this is a library. He goes, there are 60,000 books here. 60,000 books. 60,000 books is bigger than libraries. He says, pick any book you want. Open it. Tell me the title of the book. Open the book anywhere you want. Anywhere you want. Read the first word. That's it. And tell me the author's name. Author's name, name of the book. Open the book, first word. That's it. The guy thought it was a trick. He's like, what do you mean? 60,000 books. Even if you have a great memory, if you know two books by heart, that's already chazak u'baruch. How many books does anybody here know by heart?

1:08:28One book. No, one book you know by heart. One page you know by heart. I wrote the page and I don't remember it by heart. I wrote the article, and I don't remember it by heart. You tell me you remember 60,000 books. So this guy, this reporter, took on a task. He said, you know what, it's a good report. I can confirm my beliefs. He goes, climbs a ladder, goes to the back, reaches for one of the books that has dust on it, which means that it hasn't been read in a really long time, that even if he remembered it from years ago, still he hasn't gone over it in years. Gets a nice dusty one, says the name, says the author, opens the book somewhere that he wants, reads the first word, and Rabbi Ovadia repeats the rest of the book by heart. Now the guy got the shock of his life. He says, no, no, something's wrong. He went and got another book. Same thing happened. Got another book, same thing happened. Another book, same thing happened. After that, he wrote another article saying not only was I wrong about the memory of Rav Ovadia, but the memory that he has, not human, he's not a human being, he's not one of us. You cannot count him as one of the human beings. He cannot be the same species. Somebody to know that much by heart, somebody to know that much, so much anything, it's not a human being. Which means that when you see what kind of Chachamim Israel has, when you actually learn about the Chachamim, you're so enamored by them.

1:09:52that forget about the miracle stories that people say, or even the story that I just told you now. You think about it, these people were truly geniuses, that regardless of what they would have gone into, they would have been the best at it. Yet they decided, every day, to wake up in the morning, put on tefillin, go to the Beit Midrash, open a book, and sit there all day, all night, reading the book. Out of all the things in the world they could have done, that's what they chose to do for 80, 90, 100 years. What, they're all crazy? They're all bored? They all have nothing else to do? Meaning that if you start looking at the whole, just logically, the fact that there are 100,000 avreichim in Eretz Yisrael right now learning Torah, it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense if it's not spiritual. You wake up every day, people wake up every day, the first thing they worry about is: how am I gonna make money today?

1:10:55Then it's like, okay, I'm gonna eat first. I'm gonna get a cup of coffee. Coffee, eat, then I'm gonna make money. Then you turn on CNBC. Then you turn off CNBC because the stock market's down. Then you go to work. And then you curse your work that you can't believe you have this job. And you have regular worries. These guys, they go, they wake up, and they learn Gemara all day, all night. They learn Shulchan Aruch all day, all night. Why? Obviously, you see that these people are not unique. They're just like you and me. The only difference is they made a different choice. They want to work on their neshama, and they get much, much greater physical and spiritual pleasure from reading that book day and night than we could ever get from mundane things. It's just that it's not something that's normal, meaning that if you read regular books, regular scholars... They're also smart. Some of them also know things by heart. They open a book, they can read a book all day and night, but still remain the same animal they began. It doesn't change their character. Aristotle, there's a famous story where he would hide every time he would eat. He'd hide. One time, his students saw him eat, and they were shocked to see that Aristotle, this is one of the smartest people that ever lived...

1:12:12They saw that when he eats, he eats like a dog. No forks, no knives. He eats like a dog, with his face in the bowl. He comes out, and all the food is all over his hair, his beard, everywhere. The students were disgusted by their teacher, their master. It's like, "My master? What is that?" Because I'm eating. What do you want? He didn't feel anything wrong with it. He goes, "What? What do you want?" They asked, "Why do you eat like that?" Why don't you eat like other people? He goes, when I eat, I'm not a Rosh Yeshiva. Meaning that all of the ethical rules that he taught and thought about and the ideas that he had didn't change his nature. He was an animal; he stayed an animal. With Torah, on the other hand, if you apply what it says in the Torah, it'll change your nature. It'll give you a physical and a spiritual pleasure like no other. Only thing is, is that you have to do it in order to really understand it. Most people have heard stories about it, but very few people actually follow through. If you follow through, you put yourself, you put your head down, you start learning Torah seriously, you'll feel a pleasure that's like no other. Your life will change in general. So it's not just necessarily from that ultimate Torah that we'll see in Gan Eden; it's from the Torah that we have now, the essence of Torah that we have now. You can get that from it also. Next question.

1:13:36You had some questions, Yosef, that came to visit me for the first time in a long time. No questions? You already answered all the questions? You have questions? Same price. No? The rabbi has some questions. The rabbi always has stumpers. If I had to pay the rabbi for his questions, I would have to pay him. Somebody give me some water. You had some questions, Yosef, that came to visit me for the first time in a long time. No questions? You already answered all the questions? You have questions? Same price. No? The rabbi has some questions. The rabbi always has stumpers. If I had to pay the rabbi for his questions, I would have to pay him. Somebody give me some water. A rabbi like this, sitting with me, waiting, without money, without having to pay, with nothing. I used to pay, you know, $75 an hour to learn. Seven years.

1:14:43a rabbi like this, sitting with me, waiting, without money, without having to pay, with nothing. I used to pay, you know, $75 an hour to learn. Seven years. That's the key of the Torah. You know, he was a guy. He didn't wake up; he didn't wake up his father. He was looking to buy the Parah Adumah. And his father, he was sleeping. And he said, I don't wake my father. They said, we give you a million dollars. He said, give me ten million dollars, I don't wake my father. I let him sleep in.

1:15:54day, they talk about him. And even Esav, he was bad, bad, bad, bad, but he was in some places even better than Yaakov again. Why? Because he used to come in his suit, he represented his father's best class, he gave him tea, coffee, anything. What he did outside, that's something else. So if you want to learn Torah, you need to have Derech Eretz. Derech Eretz Kadma LaTorah. When you're young, you're so beautiful, you don't know how much Amen. Amen. Amen.

1:16:5615, 16, 17. In this age, we go to the army for three years. For free. And even in the army, they don't teach you to learn Torah, Torah, Torah. They teach you only how to carry the gun and the gun and the gun and the gun. What do you have in your head? Nothing. Why do I need to go kill people? Because they want to kill me. Thank God we don't have to go to the army. They don't go. You have three years. You learn Torah for three years. You know how small you're going to be? You can be anything you want. So, with the help of Hashem, I can only give you blessings from the Kohen, because they are the Kohanim. Baruch Hashem. We bless you with your rabbi together. And listen to him, listen to the rabbi. All the questions are going to come. Everything is in the Gemara, everything is in the Chumash, everything is in the Tehillim, everything is in the Zohar. All the questions you want to ask, try to remember. Say, "God, please help me to remember." You can be smart, but if you don't remember, you lose everything.

1:18:15To elaborate on the point, it says that, as we talked about before, derech eretz, ethics, applying the Torah to change yourself as a human being. The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat, page 31a, says somebody came, a goy, came to Shammai. I know that every time you have stories, it says Beit Shammai, Beit Hillel. So he came to Shammai. He says, "I want to learn the entire Torah. I want to convert to Judaism on one leg," meaning one, two, three. Shammai is a very serious person. Derech eretz, ethics, applying the Torah to change yourself as a human being. The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat, page 31a, says somebody came, a goy, came to Shammai. I know that every time you have stories, it says, Beit Shammai, Beit Hillel. So he came to Shammai. He says, I want to learn the entire Torah. I want to convert to Judaism on one leg, meaning one, two, three. Shammai is a very serious person. Didn't want to waste time with this jokester. Kicked him out. He went to Hillel. He says, Hillel, I want to learn the entire Torah on one leg. Hillel was a chacham, but also much more patient than Shammai. And he says, no problem. I can teach you the entire Torah on one leg. One pasuk, one thing to learn. Don't do what you hate to your fellow.

1:19:34rest of it is commentary. He says you love your fellow like you love yourself. I'm sorry, don't do what your fellow hates. Don't do what you hate your fellow. Don't do what you hate your fellow. So, he says, the rest is commentary. You hate something, don't do it to somebody else. Chachamim say, wait a minute. Okay, this is nice. Hillel got him in, he started learning Torah. After that, he converted, became a tzaddik, all that good stuff. But how is that the whole Torah? I mean, we all know "midvar sheker tirchak." We all know that you have to stay away from things of lies. Which means that Hillel really said that the entire Torah is in the statement that says, "Whatever you hate, don't do to your fellow." How could the entire Torah be like this? So Chachamim say, if you look at Sefer Mishlei, chapter 27, verse 10, it says, "Don't forsake your fellow or the fellow of your father." So Chachamim say, who is this fellow? Don't forsake your fellow or the fellow of your father. It says the fellow that it's talking about is Hashem.

1:20:49Re'acha is not your fellow like a regular person. Re'acha is actually referring to Hashem. Which means that when Hillel says, whatever you hate, don't do to your fellow, he's not referring to another person like a lot of people think. No, if you don't like when people steal your money, don't steal from them. If you don't like when people give you an attitude, don't give an attitude to somebody else. No. It says, if you don't like something, don't do that to Hashem. you don't like when people lie to you, don't lie to Hashem. Don't say, "I'm going to keep Shabbat," but then you don't keep Shabbat. You don't like when people steal, don't steal from Hashem. Don't eat without doing a blessing. You don't like when people cheat on you, don't cheat on Hashem by doing things that are against His will and so on and so forth. That's how the whole Torah is in that statement. If you simply understand that anything that you don't like, Surely you shouldn't do it to Hashem. You can become a much better human being in general, not just a better Jew, but a better human being. Because if you look at things where you say, "Listen, whatever I'm doing right now, if somebody did it to me, would I be happy with it or not?" If you just simply ask yourself that question, a simple question: what I'm about to do right now, would I be happy if somebody did it to me? This applies usually best in business. People understand business; people understand money because usually people break all the rules when it comes to money and

1:22:17So a lot of people think that the only way to get ahead is if you cheat a little bit. You manipulate a little bit. You overcharge a little bit. You say that you didn't get the goods even though you got them because they have insurance, and so on and so forth. Somebody orders a truck full of goods and... guy forgets to give him something to sign off on. He pretends like he didn't get it. The guy says, "Oh, you didn't get it? Okay, fine, we'll send you another delivery." And the guy ends up filing an insurance claim, and he gets paid that way. There was a guy that I know who had a big dress business. He said that at one of the meetings we used to have—we used to be part of the same board of directors for a company— He told me at one of the meetings, he says, "I can't believe it, one of my shipments from some country, they lost a container worth millions of dollars. Container full of dresses and things like that. It was worth millions of dollars." I said, "Wow, you must be really upset." He goes, "No, not at all." I said, "Why?" He goes, "I'll make more money from the insurance. The insurance claim that I filed on this thing, I'm going to make more money than the dresses."

1:23:31Now, this may sound like a savvy businessman, but according to Torah, it's 100% a thief. 100% a thief. If you thought about it this way, if you were the insurance company, would you be happy that somebody filed a claim for something that's worth more than what you actually insured? Obviously not. Which means that if you think about things that way, automatically your business changes. Same thing goes when people advertise. I remember when we were in the insurance business for a short period of time, there was this company that also sold insurance, and they did everything they possibly could to get us out of the business. So they had a whole team of people clicking on our ads on the internet just to spend our money, because every time you click, you have to pay a dollar or two dollars, whatever it was. So they literally had a team of people just clicking on the ad, click and click and click, just to spend our money, to pretty much bankrupt us. Until we caught it and shut off that particular market and went somewhere else.

1:24:31Now you think about it this way. Okay, so yeah, you don't want me to steal your business. You want to... What if I did it to you? What if I went on your ads and clicked a million times? Would you be happy? Obviously, you wouldn't. So you don't do it to somebody else. The point is, Rabotai, what Hillel is trying to teach us is that if you take everything that you're about to do, before you do it, not after you do it, it's already usually too late. before you do it and analyze it, wait a minute, what if I was him? What if I was her? Would I be happy if somebody did what I'm doing to them? You want to yell at somebody? You want to curse them out because they messed up? You know people like to yell at clerks in the airport or the coffee shop or the restaurant. Ah, the food's not warm. Take this! They throw the plate. They feel like they're strong. What kind of food did you give me, like as if she did it on purpose, the poor waitress... She gave you food that's cold on purpose? She didn't cook the food. She's just a person delivering the food. But you want to make yourself seem like you're a big guy, and you yell at people. "Oh, I can't believe it. I need a discount. I need this. I need that." If you were them, would you be happy that somebody is yelling at you, embarrassing you in public? No. Which means that if we simply just listen to this one verse, one line, a few words,

1:25:54automatically, our behavior changes. All you have to do is make it a habit that before you do anything—before you pick up the phone, before a word comes out of your mouth, before any thought turns into action—ask yourself, "Wait a minute, if I was him, if I was her, the person that's receiving whatever it is I'm about to deliver to the world, would I be happy?" If they're not happy, what makes you think that Hashem is going to be happy? What makes you think that Hashem is going to be happy that you're hurting somebody else? Does Hashem have a rule in the Torah, "Oh, these people, hurt them"? Generally, no. There are exceptions to the case, though. There are exceptions to the case. The Prophet says, Resha'im, wicked people, people that are evil—whether it's Christian missionaries, Amalek, people who desecrate the Torah—those people you're allowed to embarrass. It's actually even a mitzvah to embarrass Avodah Zarah and things of that nature. But again, you have to be careful with how and who and what you do it, and not under your own definition of what it is, including Jews. So much so, the Chafetz Chaim says...

1:27:12The rules of Lashon Hara. People love to learn about Lashon Hara. They like to say Lashon Hara also, but they like to learn about Lashon Hara. So the Chafetz Chaim says, you know how to say Lashon Hara. So much so that when you say Lashon Hara, you create an angel. Create an angel. That angel is such a vicious, massive angel, it could destroy an entire city. That's how big this angel is from one Lashon Hara. But he says in... His work, his body of Lashon Hara, I believe it's chapter 8, maybe 11, chapter 8, 11, something like that. I'll double-check, 8:5, 8:5 or 8:11. He says these issues of Lashon Hara, saying Lashon Hara, are only... Rei’acha. It's only applicable to people that are considered Rei’acha. Who is Rei’acha? He says people that are like you. What does it mean like you? Shomrei Torah and Mitzvot like you. Which means, if the person keeps Torah and Mitzvot, and you say Lashon Hara about him, you have a very, very serious problem. To such an extent that if you don't do Teshuva for it, Rambam says you have no Olam Haba. That's how bad it is. That's how Doeg HaEdomi lost his Olam Haba. You have to do Teshuva for Lashon Hara. It's very difficult to do Teshuva for Lashon Hara because you don't know how much damage it caused. If you do it on a regular basis, you have a very, very serious problem. Now, on the other hand,

1:28:39What if the person is a Mechalel Shabbat? What if the person is an idol worshiper? What if the person is someone who doesn't keep Torah and Mitzvot? Chafetz Chaim says the rules don't apply to him. Say whatever you want. Why? He's not Re'acha. He's not Re'acha. He's not part of your nation. Why? If he's a Mechalel Shabbat according to the Torah, he's judged as if he's an idol worshiper. Now, does that mean that you could just say whatever you want about anybody that's a Mechalel Shabbat? No. It doesn't say that. It says if you do, it's not a sin. It's not a sin. Why? He's not Re'acha. He doesn't keep Shabbat. He doesn't keep the basics of Torah. So you don't get punished for it. But you still shouldn't do it. Why? Never get yourself used to doing things that are forbidden in another place, especially if it's possible that this person will do teshuva. If a person passes away on Shabbat? No, even if he's alive. Right, but if a person is a Mechalel Shabbat right now, if he's a missionary right now, right now you're allowed. You won't get punished for it. Like, for example, there's a group called One for Israel. They have nothing to do with Israel. They're actually against Israel. It's a group of Israeli missionaries that are trying to convince Jews to go and believe in Yeshu.

1:29:59Christianity—now, for these people, it's a mitzvah. It's a mitzvah to do everything possible to destroy them. So much so that when you pray the Amidah, there's a section in the Amidah that says "Ve'la'malshinim al tehi tikvah." There's a section where you're praying for wicked people to die. These are the types of people you're supposed to pray for them to die, to that extent. And they're Jews. We have to pray for them to die. Why? Because these people are minim; they cause other people to leave HaKadosh Baruch Hu. So much so that the Rambam says in Hilchot Teshuva, there are 24 people that if they commit certain types of sins, even if they want to do teshuva, you're not allowed to help them. They want to do teshuva, they can do teshuva. But if they come to you to help, don't help them. Why? You can't trust them. One of those people is somebody that's a machti ha-rabim, who causes other people to leave Hashem. He causes people to go and become Christians. He causes people to, you know, start becoming atheists and so on. Even if he says, no, no, I'm sorry, I want to do teshuva, Rambam says you're not allowed to help him. Let him do teshuva. He's not forbidden from doing teshuva. He can do it. But you are not allowed to help him. Why? Because he's untrustworthy.

1:31:06he could do certain things that maybe he's fooling you, maybe he's lying, maybe he's pretending to be sorry, but in reality, he's just trying to get closer to you in order to get you to fall off also. So, he's untrustworthy, or she's untrustworthy. So, the point is that you have to treat certain people according to the rules to protect yourself. Yeah, you have a question? Pass the mic to them if you have it, please. In the beginning, you were mentioning about, I think his name was Rabbi Shmuel. You were talking about what he did wrong and stuff. So to an extent, that's Lashon Hara. But then you said that he can do Teshuvah, and you shouldn't say that. So wouldn't that be not allowed? I missed the name and who? In the beginning, you were talking about, I think his name was Rabbi Shmuel. Shmuel Boteach? Yeah. Oh, OK. So Shmuel Boteach is a Machti Harabim. Shmuley Boteach is a notorious machti harabim. This person is considered a min, an apikores, and it's a mitzvah to insult him publicly.

1:32:07Anyone that I mentioned by name, trust me when I tell you I've already verified with Talmidei Chachamim, with Rabbis, with Dayanim, this is a person that it's a mitzvah to publicize things against them. Mitzvah. Mitzvah like you eat kosher, mitzvah, put on tefillin, mitzvah, to insult these people in public, and to make sure people stay away from them, and to warn people, it's a mitzvah from the Torah to do it. Why? If somebody goes and listens to somebody, says Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Okay, he thinks, why is he a rabbi? I should listen to what he says. And then Shmuley Boteach says, "Yeah, homosexuality is not a big deal. That's what he said two days ago. Homosexuality is not a big deal. It's just one sin. You have 613 mitzvot, so you'll do some other good things. It's not a big deal." completely ignoring the fact that it says it's karet, completely ignoring the fact that what he said is chillul Hashem, the biggest sin in the Torah, completely ignoring the fact that HaKadosh Baruch Hu said 12 times in the Torah that it's considered to'evat Hashem. Pretty much, you just said, oh, you want to make a sin that Hashem says is disgusting? Eh, no big deal. Hashem will be okay with some other mitzvot, as if Hashem needs you.

1:33:09Same thing goes with other people that I mentioned by name. Whether it's Mirvis from London or Dror Kasuto, all of these people, these people are machti'ei harabim. They confuse people purposefully for monetary gain. Now, you have to understand, For me to risk my olam haba to mention somebody, I don't get any benefit out of it. Nobody donates money to me because I'm mentioning his name or somebody else's name. It's simply to warn people from people that are wicked, that are wicked, knowingly wicked, not wicked by accident. Like if somebody drives on Shabbat, it doesn't make them an evil person, ignorant, mistaken, according to the Torah is a rasha for that but doesn't make him evil. But somebody that actually manipulates the Torah according to their likings and does things that are outright against the Torah, even though they know otherwise because they feel like the Torah is adjustable, the Torah is customizable, those people are people that you have to publicize. It's a mitzvah. Why? Because you have to warn the public so much so that

1:34:18When you publicize these people, you're fulfilling a mitzvah from the Torah. Why? Because if you're not going to publicize it, then people will fall for them, and then you fall for a sin. You're a sinner now. Now, because you knew somebody's a murderer but you didn't warn the public that he's a murderer, what happened? People invited him into their house and they got murdered. You knew somebody's a pedophile, but you didn't say anything. Why? You didn't want to insult him. What do you mean you didn't want to insult him? The guy's a pedophile. Now people are going to invite him into their house. Next thing you know, he rapes another kid. Yeah, but I didn't want to insult him. Yeah, but now a kid's life is ruined. Why? Because you wanted to pretend that you're a tzaddik? Don't be overly righteous, meaning don't be more righteous than the Torah. The Torah says there's a time to say and there's a time not to say. If the person has a chazakah, meaning for all intents and purposes, he is known as a kosher person, he has chizkat kashrut, you don't have to say a single word about him, even if you see him do something wrong.

1:35:25You see him drive on Shabbat. You have to use your mind and imagination to say, wait a minute, he's driving on Shabbat. He's a rabbi. He teaches halachot Shabbat. How could it be? Ah, he's saving somebody's life. There's probably somebody that I can't see who's laying down in the back, and he's driving to the hospital right now. Or you see him walking to a McDonald's eating a nice cheeseburger. And you see it. It's McDonald's. It's a cheeseburger. The cheese is flowing down. But he has chazkat kashrut. You know this guy is a kosher person until now. He's kosher. You have to use your imagination. Wait a minute. How could the rabbi be eating a cheeseburger with bacon on it in front of everybody? Hashem gave me imagination to make Mickey Mouse. Hashem also gave me imagination to come up with something for this. What? There's probably somebody hiding behind the door that I can't see, with an Uzi pointing at him right there, saying, "Eat the cheeseburger, or I'm going to kill you." You have to use your imagination for that. Why? Because he's a kosher person. But if a person has chazaka where he's a rasha, we know already many, many times he's done things publicly. This person doesn't care. He simply is a rasha. Even if you see him do something good, you're not allowed to give him the zechut. Meaning, you see Hitler come back to life, reincarnated, and start giving sandwiches in a Jewish neighborhood.

1:36:49You cannot say, oh, Hitler did teshuva, he's a tzaddik, wow, he's feeding the homeless Jews. No, my friend. You have to say, watch out, everybody. There's poison in the food. Why? He's a rasha. When Shmuley Boteach wrote a book called Kosher Jesus, the Jewish community, including Chabad, which are generally peace lovers, said, this guy, there's something wrong with him. You wrote a book called Kosher Jesus? What's the matter with you? The Gemara says the opposite. The Torah says the opposite. You wrote a book called Kosher Jesus? But then they quieted down. They continued pretending it didn't happen. He continued writing other books that are against the Torah. Most recently, he wrote a book with one of the worst human beings that's lived in the last century, a woman by the name of Pamela Anderson. This woman has caused more men to sin than probably anybody else in the last century, if not ever. because of our immodesty and our znut. This guy wrote a book about sex with this To'evat Hashem. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach writes a book with Pamela Anderson, Hashem Ya'achem, what a Chilul Hashem this is. And he does all types of things according to his likings. Why? Because he's a Rasha.

1:38:02So a person like this, you have to publicize them. And there are many, many other people, unfortunately, in our generation that are just like him, not as famous though. Even if he wants to do teshuva, you're not allowed to help such a person because of how many people fall for his creepiness and all of the things that he does. Yes, transfer the, actually next to you and then go to him. Actually, I have two questions. Oh, so transfer it to him then. Your questions are too hard. Let me ask, the first one is short. It's a small question. Do I have to do what I just said? Yeah. Go ahead. Okay. So I heard that it's a form of lashon hara if you tell something good about someone to someone else. Is that true? Yes, it can be. There's a din of lashon hara that you could tell somebody, for example, oh yeah, you know Steve, he's rich. That's lashon hara. Why? What if Steve doesn't want you to know that he's rich? So now all of the people from the neighborhood come to his house, Steve, tzedakah, tzedakah, tzedakah, but Steve wants to be an anonymous person. He wants to give tzedakah, but anonymously. He doesn't want people knocking on his door. So what you did is you said lashon hara. Yes.

1:39:08You have to make sure that if Steve, if you say anything about somebody, he wants it to be known, not that it's his own private information. And again, generally speaking, it's better to never speak about people. never unless there's some useful thing coming out of it. For example, what we just did now, which is warning the public. That’s useful information. Anybody that’s watching or following or reading this person’s work, automatically after he listens, he double-checks what I just said. He sees everything I said is true. He takes the books from the library right into the garbage. That's useful, but saying that Steve is rich or Joe is, I don't know, he donated, he did this, he did that, there's nothing useful that's gonna come out of it. And most of the time it could create ayin hara, create ayin hara, create a lot of things. Nothing good will come out of it. So generally speaking, it's better to never speak about people unless it's for a useful purpose. And also, how would someone actually do teshuva for Lashon Hara?

1:40:11How would somebody do teshuva for Lashon Hara? A few things. First and foremost, like everything else, he has to stop. He has to stop saying Lashon Hara. Second, he has to commit to not talking about other people, not saying Lashon Hara in general in the future. This means not just stopping today, but already making some type of plan. How can I stop myself from doing it in the future? What triggered me? Oh, every time I meet Steve, he likes to talk about people. So you know what? From now on, I'm not hanging out with Steve. Every time I go to this class, I talk about people. Okay, from now on, I'm not going to the class. He does things too, and he sets himself up with some type of fence to preserve himself, if you will. The third thing is he contemplates what he did, what kind of damage he caused, and he regrets it. He regrets it. He starts feeling bad for it. Another thing is he tries to fix it and How? Now he has to go and try to say, listen, he tells the person, listen, you know that rumor that came out about you or the information that came out about you, it came from me. And I want to let you know, I'm sorry. And I'm doing teshuva, I'm really sorry. Now that by itself is not enough. Why? Somebody came to the Chafetz Chaim and said, I want to do teshuva for Lashon Hara. He goes, okay, fine, no problem. Go to your house, bring me a pillow. A pillow? Say, bring me a pillow. Okay. Guys, Rav says bring a pillow, bring a pillow.

1:41:33So the guy goes to his house. He says, "Honey, I need a pillow." She responds, "Bring it back." He says, "I need a pillow. I don't know if I need to bring it back. The rabbi never said I'm going to take it back." So he takes the pillow, a nice, fancy, fluffy pillow full of feathers. He goes to the rabbi. The rabbi says, "Okay, come with me." They go to the roof. The rabbi says, "Here, take this knife. Rip the pillow apart." He rips the pillow apart and feels bad. This pillow costs 50 bucks. He asks, "What now? Is that teshuva?" The rabbi says, "No, no. Now, take all the feathers and throw them in the air." That's two bumps. We have to throw the feathers in the air. All the things flew in the air, flew in the air, flew in the air, and the guy's like, "Wow, teshuva is really easy. It just cost me 50 bucks." The rabbi said, "No, no, it's not the end. This is the beginning because now, go collect all the feathers. Go collect all the feathers." "Yes, it's impossible." Impossible. If one feather is over there, one feather is over there, and one feather—I don't even know where it went. He goes, "Ah, that's true. It's impossible to know the magnitude of your damage. Impossible. Why? You said one thing. Who knows how far it traveled?"

1:42:40You wrote, hold on, you wrote a comment on the internet. "Don't listen to Rabbi such-and-such. He is too hard on people. He talks about Gehinnom in every shiur," and guess what? You don't know how many people read that comment and, because of that, didn't listen to the shiur and didn't do teshuvah. Now you have a serious problem. You have a serious problem. You have feathers that are lost. You don't know the magnitude of your sin. So what do you do aside from putting a fence for yourself to not do it again? Aside from being sorry for the magnitude of damage that you've done, that you don't even know how big it is? You have to do the opposite. What? Publicize Torah. That teaches people not to sin. That teaches people to do teshuva. You have to become a partner in kiruv. You have to help people do teshuva. Why? Because other people doing teshuva, fulfilling that mitzvah, is as if undoing the damage that you've done in the past. So, kiruv becomes a very, very serious part of all of our teshuva, and that's why in Sefer Yechezkel, the prophet Yechezkel says, "Don't let your sins from the past be a stumbling block in the future," meaning that, yes, you've done sins, yes, you want to do teshuva, but in reality, the only way for every person to do teshuva is to become a partner in other people doing teshuva. Because there are certain sins, many of them, that you cannot even understand the magnitude of the damage.

1:44:02Because it's beyond you. It's feathers. It went in the air. It went to different places. You don't know how far it went. You don't know how far this word went. So how are you going to fix that? You can't. You can only fix it by getting somebody else to stop. By getting somebody else to do it. Same thing with wasting seed. Same thing with chilul Shabbat. And all of the other sins. You have to get other people to do teshuva. When you do that, that's the only way to really undo the damage that we've done in the past. Yes, you have a question. so you said that, um, like the rasha people, when they want to repent or, like, do teshuva, you can't help them. Let's say, like, the person is, like, a family member, like your father or something. Are you obligated to help them because you have to honor your parents or something? So now, again, there's different levels. If somebody's a rasha because they're ignorant, somebody drives on Shabbat because the rabbis never told them you're not to drive on Shabbat. Yes, he's a rasha for that mitzvah, but you're obligated to help him. You're obligated because he's simply ignorant.

1:45:03But if he's somebody that causes other people to sin intentionally, he knows you're not allowed to drive on Shabbat. He knows the Torah says you're not allowed to be an atheist, but he likes to go to people and convince them to become atheists. He likes to go to people and convince them to go to the movies. He likes to do that. That's a person that his din is a min. Min meaning there's somebody that influences other people. He's also a machti. He causes people to sin. A person like that, he wants to do teshuva, you cannot help him. You don't have to get in his way, but you can't help him, even if he's your father. Even if he's your father. Now, it doesn't mean that you tell him, don't do it. It doesn't mean don't do it. But in essence, you don't go out of your way to help him, simply because it's dangerous. This is a person who has made himself into a dangerous status, that he was a Christian missionary, a Jewish Christian missionary. Unfortunately, the most successful Christian missionaries in the world are Jewish. As strange as that sounds, the most successful ones are Jewish. Michael Brown, those guys from Israel, from One for Israel, all of these people that are successful Christian missionaries are actually Jewish by birth. And some of them were even born into religious families, unfortunately. The point being is that these people come to the Beit Knesset, and they want to say, "Oh, this is Rabbi Cohen, I want to do teshuva." Rabbi Cohen has to say, "Hold on one second, wait outside for me." He has to close the door and never open it. Why?

1:46:25They are dangerous to the public. They are dangerous to society. They have made a name for themselves. We're not allowed to trust them. On the other hand, if, let's say, for example, they come to the store, they want to buy a book, you sell them the book. They ask you a question, "Listen, am I allowed to drive on Shabbat?" You're allowed to answer. You're not allowed to drive a neshamah. That's not a problem. But if they say, "Can you work with me? Can you teach me? Can you help me?" That you're not allowed to do. Why? Because you're not allowed to put your own soul in danger with such a person that has made themselves into this. Not to endanger yourself. There's no reason for you to sacrifice your own neshamah. Now, if they've done teshuva and there's already cheskat kashrut, meaning they've already done teshuva, they've changed themselves, and they've proven that they've actually undone a lot of the damage they've done, then it's different. Then they become a regular Jew, HaKadosh Baruch Hu loves them, fantastic. It's rare, but it happens once in a while. Actually, I have a good friend that helped us in the past, Rabbi Daniel Asor. Rabbi Daniel Asor used to be a Christian missionary. successful Christian missionary, Baruch Hashem, he did teshuva and now he actually helps people do teshuva and he helps many Christians leave Christianity. He actually even helped some really, really important figures behind the scenes leave Christianity. Some say he even helped some people from the Vatican leave Christianity. The point being is that

1:47:45Had a very, very troubled past in the beginning. It was not allowed to help him. But after he did teshuva, he became a Talmid Chacham. He's in the kollel every day in Har Nof, learns Torah, does mitzvot, does chesed, and proves himself. He becomes yeshar kashrut. So it changes over time. It's not a din forever. But as far as for you to sacrifice your own neshama... No need for that, no reason for that. It's just, it's too dangerous, too dangerous, simply too dangerous. It's like jumping in the air in hopes that you're gonna catch the person and save him. There's no reason for that. Yeah? What does the Torah say about tattoos? Does it say it's idolatry, or does it say that, like, why exactly can't a Jew have a tattoo? So HaKadosh Baruch Hu says a couple of things about tattoos. Number one, He says that it's not your body. The body does not belong to you; it belongs to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. So you're not allowed to damage your own body, just like you're not allowed to take drugs. That's part of the reason. You're not allowed to do things that are unhealthy for your body. You're also not allowed to damage your body because it's not your body; it's HaKadosh Baruch Hu's body. So when you engrave into your body, whether it's a tattoo with paint or simply with fire—some people, I remember my football team in high school, they liked to burn themselves in shapes—that's not allowed also.

1:48:59That's not allowed either. Why? It's not their body. HaKadosh Baruch Hu created man in His image. Meaning, it's not that HaKadosh Baruch Hu has an image, but rather you have to respect it because this is a creation of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. You can't just burn it and manipulate it and do whatever you want with it. So that's one reason. The second reason is, it's a minhag goyim. It's a ma'aseh that the goyim used to do as part of their idolatry. Now, even though today, for the most part, people don't do it for idolatrous reasons, even though the cross tattoo is very famous and the JC Penny tattoo is very famous and so on, It's still not generally done for that purpose, but it's still a minhag goyim. It's still a minhag goyim. Now, getting a tattoo is a sin. Having a tattoo, on the other hand, is a different story. As far as if somebody has a tattoo, they don't have to get it removed unless it fits certain criteria. For example, if it's a symbol of idolatry, you have to get it removed no matter where it is. If it's something immodest, like a naked woman or something like that, you have to get it removed. But if it's, I don't know, you have a star or something, or you have a book, or one foolish guy that I know wrote "Shema Yisrael" on himself.

1:50:10He's not allowed to actually erase it. Even if he wants to, he's not allowed to. Why? He actually wrote Hashem's name on his skin. He's not allowed to actually take it out. Even if he wants to take it out, he's not allowed to. How is it not a sin to have one? It's a sin. The sin is to get it. To have it, to have it is only a sin if it causes Chilul Hashem. If it causes the desecration of Hashem. So it does not cause the desecration of Hashem if nobody sees it. If it's on your chest, people don't usually see your chest. If it's on your leg, people don't see your leg. But if you have a tattoo here on your neck, like some of the old athlete clients that he had, they like to put tattoos on their neck, or one guy put a tattoo on his face. That guy's a moron aside from that, but that guy may have to change it. Aside from being stupid, he also may have to change it. Why? Because people see it. So it depends on what it is. He's still not obligated. Now the scare is that people say, wait a minute, so what, if he has a tattoo, he's not going to be buried in a Jewish cemetery? That's actually not true. That's not true. He would be buried in a Jewish cemetery. But if he's a Mechalel Shabbat, then he won't be buried in a Jewish cemetery. Why? Because a Mechalel Shabbat is considered an idol worshiper. He has to be buried in a separate section next to the goyim.

1:51:20Why? Because burying a Mechalel Shabbat next to Shomrei Mitzvot is actually a desecration and an insult to all the tzaddikim that are buried there. All the tzaddikim that are buried there, they get insulted by that, they get tortured by it. The Ahavat Chaim writes that one time this group of guys, they found a dead body. They found a dead body, they were on the road, they found a dead body. So they took the dead body, you know, and they buried him. They all went to sleep. All of them had the same dream of the people from the grave yelling at them and telling them, "If you don't take him out, we're going to kill you." All of them woke up in the middle of the night, petrified. One said, "You had a dream too?" Another replied, "You had a dream too?" And another, "You had a dream too?" He goes, "Yeah. What, you had a dream?" "Same exact thing," they all said. "Strange. Maybe it's nothing. I don't know." They went to the rabbi. The rabbi asked, "What did you do?" They replied, "Well, we found some guy. He's buried." The rabbi responded, "That's what you did." You have to go take him out. He goes, Rabbi, are you crazy? Take a dead body out of the cemetery? It's the middle of the night right now. He goes, you have to take him out right now, or they really will kill you. Those neshamot will kill you. They went in the middle of the night, took him out, and buried him somewhere else, farther from the fence. Why? Because these tzaddikim, these righteous people that kept Shabbat, were buried there, and the guy that they found dead was a mechallel Shabbat.

1:52:43And that's hurting them. His neshama is hurting them. His neshama is hurting them. He's bringing all the garbage that he did throughout his whole life. When a person has a tattoo, it's not necessarily the same thing, so long as they did teshuva for it and, obviously, they became shomer Shabbat, shomer mitzvot. But if a person does one of the big sins, then they have a very serious problem. They have a very serious problem. Yeah, transfer the mic to him. Does the same rule apply for temporary tattoos? Temporary tattoo, what do you mean? Like the stickers? No, there's like tattoos that you can get. Oh, like the Indian people get in the Middle East, like the henna? No, no, no. There's like actual, like the same way you get real tattoos, like you get needles implanted in you, you can get it temporary, where the ink fades after time. Oh, yeah, that's also not allowed. It's also just not allowed. Oh, it's not allowed, yeah. It's like if the needle touches you, it's... Yeah, well, first of all, it's not good. Second of all, it's an issur d'oraita.

1:53:43Third of all, it's definitely not healthy for your body. It's not healthy for your body. So, no, it's definitely not a good thing to do. The minhag in certain customs in Morocco and Yemen to have this henna thing that they put on the hand for weddings and so on. But that really is temporary. It goes away the next day. And that's a different story. But these other tattoos that last six months or a year and it's chemicals and needles and things like that. Not tov. Not tov. Here. When you say the humanity slave, a lot of people Dowdy the fence, the fence. In a Jewish cemetery, now, in a Jewish cemetery, don't put him next to me. Shabbat

1:54:53Because most people are Mechalel Shabbat. But you're never going to see a rabbi. No, they don't think I don't believe the way they think you think. No, it's not about what you think, it's halacha. Yeah, but they don't do it. Halacha is, you're not allowed to bury the Mechalel Shabbat next to the Shomrei Shabbat. In Yerushalayim, which is the most religious among all the places in the world, and also in Yerushalayim, even the kids, the kids of a father that dies are not allowed to enter the Beit Kvarot. Why? Because there's a possibility that the father wasted seed in his life, and those things that he created could actually harm the kids. So the kids are not allowed to actually carry the grave to get buried. To this day, they follow that. As far as certain things that they do in certain places, I don't know every place, but as far as what halacha is, it's a different story. Unfortunately, Eretz Yisrael is Eretz Yisrael by name, not necessarily by definition. It's not a religious country. There are religious communities in Eretz Yisrael, and there are atheist communities in Eretz Yisrael. But as far as the religious places, the religious grave sites, the religious communities, that's what they do. That's what they do. If you give them the $10,000...

1:56:03Somebody came to a rabbi. He said, "For the love, listen, I like you. I love you. I need you to do me a favor." The rabbi asks, "What?" "My dog just died. I want you to bury him and do a nice Kaddish ceremony." The rabbi says, "Are you out of your mind? You want to bury your dog and say Kaddish for your dog? There's something wrong with you!" He goes, "It's my dog, I love him. He slept in the same bed as me." The rabbi responds, "That sleeping in the same bed as you is already a problem. Now I understand why you think this way because you slept with a dog in the same bed. But I cannot bury it under any condition." He goes, "Rabbi, I've got a check, $100,000." The rabbi responds, "Why didn't you tell me your dog is Jewish? Why didn't you tell me your dog is Jewish?" So unfortunately, people will do anything for money. People will do everything for money. But that's not what we're talking about. We're not talking about what people will do for money. People will kill for money. People will sell their parents for money. People will do anything for money. I'll tell you a story that I heard years ago from my mom, God bless her, my mother. She has some of the greatest stories. And it's a true story. It's a story that's actually well known.

1:57:30If you understand the story, it makes you cry, you're probably going to want to call your mom now. But the story is just to understand how stupid we are sometimes, not appreciating what HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives us. There was a woman named Rachel. And Rachel had a son, but no husband. She never told her son why, where his father went. So the kid grew up close to his mom. And when he went to kindergarten, she would come to his kindergarten to pick him up. And all the kids looked at his mom and said, "That's your mom?" He goes, "Yeah." They said, "Why does she have one eye? Where's the other eye?" And the kid said, "I don't know. It's my mom." "Your mom has one eye." And they started making fun of him. The poor kid started crying and went home. "What happened, honey?" The kid grew up and went to first grade. She went to pick him up. She loved her son; he's all she has in the world. And a kid came and they went to the schoolyard. He's like, "Who's that? She's your mom?" He goes, "Yeah." He goes, "Oh, she has one eye." And they made fun of him, and the kid started crying. Ooh, it embarrassed him.

1:58:51He grew up and went to high school. She came to pick him up. He goes, "Ima, please don't pick me up." She responded, "No, no, I want to see you, honey. I love you. I want to see you." Again, they made fun of him. He got to the army. "Ima, do me a favor. A couple of guys are coming over tonight. We're going to have a get-together. But do me a favor. Don't come out. Don't come out, Ima. Please, do me a favor. I got my friends over." She asked, "Why, honey? I want to see your friends. I want to see who you spend all this time with in the army and this and that." He goes, "Ima, please, please, you're embarrassing me. Please, Ima, I'm already big now. I'm not a little kid." Ms. Skena, the Ima, is like, "Okay, what's she going to do? Her whole life she sacrificed for this stupid kid, and he says, 'I'm embarrassing you.' Okay, but say it, I know." So she hears talking to, to, to, but then she hears a girl say her son's name, "Oh, I love you." And she goes, "Oh, wow, maybe my son's getting married. I want to meet her." So she comes out. "Who said I love you to my son?" She's excited. Somebody says, "I love you to my son." Everybody's shocked. "Who's this woman?" And the girl says, "Who's that? Is that your mom?"

1:59:59The guy says, "Yeah." The girl whispers to him, "She goes, wow, she's scary. Scary looking." He says to her, "Don't worry. You're not going to see her anymore." After the party, he comes to his mom and he says, "You embarrassed me. I never want to see you again. I never want to see you again." Miskena Deima toiled her whole life to raise this rotten kid, and he says, "I never want to see you again." And that's what he did. He left the house, he went back to his friends, found a girl, got married, had a few kids, never went to see his mom. Years passed, as HaKadosh Baruch Hu, his ways. Eventually, his kids grow up, and they ask some questions about Hashem. So it forces the father to learn a few things about Hashem, and one day he learns about Kibbud Av Va'em, that you have to respect and honor your parents, and

2:01:03And he says, I can't believe it. I'm going to teach my kids, but I didn't do it myself. I have to go find my mom. So he starts making some calls, running around like crazy. Where is she? Where is she? Oh, she's in a nursing home. Oh! Okay, I'm going to go to the nursing home. He goes to the nursing home. He's excited. Finally, I'm going to say I'm sorry. He gets to the nursing home. He says, yeah, the name, yeah, that sounds familiar. You should go to the third floor, room 302. They'll tell you. He goes. He runs. He gets to the door. Ima! Ima! Ima, I'm here! I'm here! Some old lady comes out and goes, who are you? He says, I'm looking for my Ima. She goes, who are you? He says who he is. She says, oh, your Ima died a year ago. Didn't you know? And he says, no, I didn't know. She says, but she left you something. And this old woman goes into a little drawer, opens the drawer, and there's a little wallet in there.

2:02:14She gives him the wallet. It's like a little piece of paper in the wallet. She goes, "This is what she left you." And he sees there's a letter. It says, "My dear son, I knew that one day you're going to remember that you had an Ima. And I want to tell you something that I never told you before. You see, son," When you were little, too long ago for you to remember, you were only a couple of years old. Your father and I were in a car accident. We fell off a mountain. Your father died right away, and you had a piece of metal stuck right in your eye. We went to the hospital.

2:03:15The doctor said, "We're sorry, his eye is gone. What do you want to do?" And I told him, "Give him my eye. I don't want my kid to see from one eye. Give him my eye. I want to make sure that he sees the world with both eyes." And the thing that you were embarrassed of your whole life, You're embarrassed of the eye that I gave you. Now tell me, when are you going to call your mom? It was too late for him. See, Rabotai, Torah is something you have to apply during your life. Kibbud av va'em, you have to apply during your life. Kibbud av va'em doesn't only mean kibbud of your father and your mother here. It also means your Father up there. If you honor your Father up there, you're going to honor your father and mother over here. But if you desecrate Hashem's name, what do you think, you're going to be able to respect your parents here? Impossible. You're going to look at them like friends. You know how many people I know that call their parents by their first name? Hey, David, ma nishma? David, what is that, your friend?

2:04:38No, it's my dad. Why do you call him by his first name? Honoring HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't just mean, oh pray all day, put tefillin on, and you're a tzaddik. it means applying the Torah to every single corner of your life. Know when to apply it this way, know when to apply it that way, know when to do this, know when you're not allowed to do this. There are certain people you're not allowed under any condition to befriend them, to talk to them, to even sit next to them. A person that's a Christian missionary, halacha says, you're not allowed to be even four amot next to him, six feet. Not to stand next to him. If he writes a sefer Torah, the Rambam writes it's a mitzvah to burn it. Mitzvah. Even though it has Hashem's name on it. Why? He's dangerous to society. If you see your brother, your sister, they're ignorant of Hashem. They don't know about Shabbat. They don't know about wasting seed. They don't know about tefillin. They don't know about halacha. They don't know anything. It's a mitzvah for you to save them. Don't say, "Oh no, he's a tinok shenishba, he doesn't know." Okay, he doesn't know. Why are you going to leave him that way? Why are you going to leave him that way? We learn Torah like the chachamim learn Torah.

2:06:02We see what it says, we say what it says. Whether you do it or not, that's your business. That's your business. But remember, it's in your mouth, it's in your heart to fulfill it. You were created to fulfill it, even though it's hard. A tzaddik is not someone who has an easy life. A tzaddik is someone who overcomes difficulty. A tzaddeket is someone who overcomes difficulty. She chooses to be modest when all of her friends, all of her neighbors, even sometimes her own mother walks around half-naked. That's a tzaddeket. She decides to be modest even though everybody else is half-naked. That's a tzaddeket. Everybody, if she grew up in a religious family and everybody wears clothes from head to toe, barely even seeing the face, well, okay, she wears the clothes, but that's not a big zechut (merit) in Shamayim (Heaven) that she wears the same clothes as everybody else. She grew up that way. But somebody decides to overcome the desire. They see that everybody around doesn't wear clothes; they leave the house, but the clothes stay home. And she decides, "I'm going to be modest under these conditions." That's a tzaddeket.

2:07:10A person that sees that he has an opportunity to steal money—he has seven million dollars on the table illegally and he could take it. No one's ever gonna know except Hashem, but he decides to say no. He sees all of his friends are cheating and lying and have unethical businesses. All of his friends have different ways to manipulate the government, cheat the government, cheat people, cheat this, and he has an opportunity to make money, but he says no. That's a tzaddik. It's hard to say no, but that's what makes you a tzaddik. Only a person that can overcome these things is someone who overcomes the easy tests too and never says, "This is too hard" or "This is not hard." Everything is the same; if HaKadosh Baruch Hu said to do it, you do it. If it's hard and you fail, do it again. If it's hard and you fail, try again. Try again, try again, and again until you succeed. That's the point of life. Again and again until you succeed. That's the Torah. But if you just raise your hands and say, you know what? So what? You made a sin. So you have other mitzvot to do as if you're giving up on this one. HaKadosh Baruch Hu never gave up on any mitzvah. He didn't say, okay, you can't do it. Okay, don't do it. Just pick something else to do.

2:08:24In essence, what you are saying when you give up on a mitzvah is that you're saying that Hashem is a rasha, chas v'shalom. You're saying that Hashem pretty much gave you a test that you can't overcome. It's like your father gave you a truck to lift on top of your head. No father would do that. If he gave you a test, that means that you could overcome it. Yeah, maybe you're in the business and you know deep inside, it's not a right business. Yeah, maybe you're in this relationship and you know deep down inside, this is not a kosher relationship. And yeah, maybe you already ate the first sandwich of the cheeseburger and you know deep inside, I'm not allowed to eat cheeseburgers. It's never too late. You're alive, do teshuva. You know when it's too late? Once you're dead. you died. And that's why, Rabotai, I will finish with this: Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, one of the greatest sages that lived in the last few hundred years, one time saw that in those days there wasn't electricity like we have today. The way you had electricity was with candles, and he saw that the whole town was sleeping except there was a little light.

2:09:338, 9 o'clock at night, everybody's going to sleep, unless you have a little candle. And he saw that one of the stores had light. He said, "Who's working at this time?" He went into the store and he saw, wait a minute, this is the watchmaker. He's working at 9 o'clock at night. He knocks on the door, goes inside, and he sees him working on the little pieces of the watch. He says, "What are you doing? Go home. Go home." The watchmaker says to him, "So long as the candle is on, there's still much work to be done. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter started crying. The watchmaker says, Rabbi, why are you crying? He says, you just taught me a lot of mussar. You taught me a life lesson. So long as the candle is lit, so long as your neshama is alive, you're still here, there's much work to be done. There's much work to be done. You're alive, you can do teshuva. Don't ever cancel any mitzvot. Don't ever say this mitzvah is too big for me. Overcome it. You can do it. Anything it is. You want to be a Talmid Chacham? You can be a Talmid Chacham. You want to learn Hebrew? You can learn Hebrew. You want to learn the entire Chumash by heart? You can do it. Anything you want to do, you can do it. Don't ever say you can't do it. But that applies to everything.

2:10:52but if you start picking and choosing and only listening to a part of the lecture that you like, and then turning it off as soon as the topic of Gehinom comes up, you're turning it off as soon as the topic that you don't like comes on, you turn it off as soon as something that's relevant to you comes on, then you're not going to be any different than these reshaim that cause problems because that's what they did as soon as somebody said something they don't like. They turn it off. Shmuley Boteach, apparently somebody told me that he has a family member who is homosexual. So he's been pro-homosexuality for years. Apparently, that attitude has developed and developed. Today, he says it's not even something you have to follow; other people are just like that. Why? They pick and choose. Don't pick and choose. The whole Torah is as is. Take it as is. It's beautiful as is, even if you can't overcome all of it right away. But take one piece at a time. We all do teshuva. We all get close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Next week, we have some more shiurim on Sunday night. We have our shiur back over here.

2:11:59are on, uh, then Tuesday we're in Aventura, and then on Wednesday we're back over here with the questions and answers. Maybe you guys can write some questions before you come so more people can benefit from your questions, not only here but also online.