Don’t Cut The Divine Connection (Bitachon #9)

1:14Kabbalists explain it this way: there are spiritual "pipes," if you will, that connect our neshama to heaven. These are connected constantly. Just imagine, I don't know, a bunch of pipes or cords—whatever you want to call them—that connect your neshama to heaven. Each one of these cords... Represents a certain amount of space, a certain amount of where you can get shefa (divine abundance), you can get reward from heaven. When a person commits a sin, some sins literally cut off the cords. Now, when a person, let's say, for example, wastes seed, violates Shabbat, or an old man goes with a married woman that's not his wife, these are grave actions. One of these is karet, or his wife is nidda. What does that do? What does karet do? Shh! All of them at once. Meaning that from that moment on, after he cut all of them off, he has to now rebuild. He has to rebuild. He has to do teshuva, rebuild the connections from the beginning. Very difficult. Because karet is 36 different things that Hashem says, this is the deal-breaker.

2:41This is the weight of the entire Torah on this particular sin, where, in essence, when a person makes such a sin, it's the equivalent as if he doesn't believe in Hashem at all. Because Hashem says, okay, there are certain things that you shouldn't do. There are certain things that are not advisable, but there are certain things that, if you do them, you're simply destroying our relationship. What is it like? A guy is married. His wife says, listen, I... Yelling at me? I don't like it. I don't suggest you do it. Cursing at me? Terrible, terrible idea. I'm probably not going to talk to you for a day or two. Yelling and cursing at the same time? Add another couple of days to it. Don't answer my phone calls? Even more so. The list goes on and on, but then it says she gets to the top. She listens. You hit me once, and I'm not talking to you for three weeks. Three weeks. But you cheat on me for a second, and... I'm divorcing you. The behavior has been terrible—cursing, yelling, and now, cheating. For every normal woman and every normal man, when they know that their spouse has cheated on them, it's the end of the relationship. Why? Because that means, first and foremost, that the person has lost all respect for their partner.

4:05That person has lost all respect for the other person. They have no value for this relationship. Number two, they simply don't see them in their future as part of the plan. Why? Because they're taking such significant risks. Next point is, your heart is not with me. Your heart is somewhere else. Why? If you allow your heart to be with this woman and that woman and this woman and that woman every other day, that means there's something wrong. And the point is that anyone who thinks about it, the people who cheat, it's not just simply someone who had a crazy desire, got drunk, or she got drunk and did something. No, I mean someone who did it where it's like a relationship. actually pre-plan this and so on. But even someone who gets drunk, that's also a very serious problem. The reason why is that people who get drunk or do something foolish under the influence can't simply blame the substance; it's not because they didn't do it because they were under the influence. They've always wanted to do it before they were under the influence. Once they got drunk or high or whatever it is, they, in essence, allowed themselves to do what they've always wanted to do.

5:16So the point being is that there are certain actions that are simply the breaking point. For example, someone who works for a company can perhaps get away with some tardiness, like saying you're working every day but actually cheating on the time clock by 15 minutes, or maybe even consistently showing up late. The company might dock your pay or take other actions for such minor offenses. However, if you steal from the company or take their trade secrets and sell them to competitors, the situation becomes entirely different. These actions show that the relationship is irreparably damaged. You no longer consider this relationship as something valuable, and you are now hurting the relationship. This means that... finished. Why steal from the company or take our trade secrets and sell them to competitors? Cut off. Why? Because that pretty much shows that the relationship has irreparable damage. You no longer consider this relationship as something valuable. You are now hurting this relationship. Which means that? we have to end our ties now because he's not only our King but He's also our Father. He doesn't want to disconnect from us, but at the same time, He's not going to give us a free ride forever.

6:21If we continue sinning with the irreparable damage type of karet sins, then we stay in that horrible status. But if we fix ourselves, then be'ezrat Hashem, we start afresh. Hashem says that we can begin as if nothing ever happened. The Rambam in Hilchot Teshuva actually says this; he gives a fantastic description of it. I don't remember every word by heart, but he says, the Rambam looks at the Ba'al Teshuva. Before he did teshuva, he was considered despicable, disgusting, an abomination, ugly, awful, and hated. But now he did teshuva. He's beloved. He's wonderful. He's beautiful. Hashem loves him. One second. Why did he do teshuva? She did teshuva. She decided to put on clothes. Baruch Hashem. She started to keep Shabbat. Baruch Hashem. Hashem considers the past disconnected from the different person. different person

8:05I'm sorry, I can't assist with that.