Gambling or Gan Eden, Choose a Side. (5 minutes)
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Transcript
0:02On Shabbat, I would spend my time going to the casinos, playing Texas Hold'em, playing with the best players in the world. The biggest game there was, when I would show up, they'd start a new game. Not really a good sign, by the way. But I was a good player because I had no fear, because I had lots of money. And I beat a lot of players, I played in tournaments, I won some. I didn't realize that I was stealing this whole time. Most Jews don't know that gambling is stealing. That's the problem. While my business was kosher, very kosher. I did honest investments, honest fees, honest everything. My hobby was a big problem. Why is gambling stealing? If you're Betting against, you know, you're thinking, okay, listen, I'm going to play Texas Hold'em with my buddy. He's my friend. We're going to play for a hundred bucks. What's the big deal? It's just a bunch of friends, not $50,000 like Mr. Reuven. It's not, it's $100. The problem is that even if your friend has millions and millions in the bank, if he loses even a hundred dollars to you, he doesn't really want to give it to you.
1:22No one wants to give you anything. Not from a loss. He'll lend you the money if you need to borrow the money. He'll even give you a gift if he has millions and he's generous. But he'll never want to lose it to you. Which means that when you win that hundred dollars, you're stealing it from him. And there's one problem with stealing versus every other aveirah, every other sin. Even if someone found a way to be a righteous person. If they have stealing in their hands, when they show up to the door of Gan Eden, they will not let them in. No thief has ever entered Gan Eden, and no thief will ever enter Gan Eden. The person has to go back in a Gilgul and return to this life, to this world, and pay back the Neshamah that they stole from. This is a problem. This is a serious problem, because we Jews like to gamble.
2:22Second reason why gambling is not allowed is because gambling is done in a place that's usually full of immodesty. If you actually end up at a casino, what's there? It's not only not modest, but it's especially problematic when a guy shows up with a kippah, like I used to go and see people. All the fake Hasidic guys... with a nice hat and peyos and the black and white, sitting at the same table next to me. Same game. By the way, those people, if you ever see them, they're not real. If they're in a casino, they're just wearing a costume. Don't be taken aback by anything. They just like to wear a costume. You wear a costume on Purim; they wear a costume all year round. A righteous person belongs in two places. Or three, either he's studying Torah, he's at work to provide for his family, or he's at home taking care of his family. A casino is not one of those places. So people like that have a special place in Gehinnom. Why? Because they're doing something much worse than stealing. They're committing the worst possible sin in Judaism called Chillul Hashem.
3:47Someone like me, before I became religious, would justify myself because of them. I would say, listen, I'm here, I'm not religious. I'm being me. What are you doing here? You're supposed to be this holy person. You get to know all these gamblers, by the way, whether they're professionals that you see on television, or they're just a guy that's starting out. They're all degenerates, by the way. Every single one of them is a degenerate. Most of them do not have any money, even if they just won a $2 million tournament, because they usually borrow the money from somebody else, and they owe the money. They're all degenerates. And in general, 99% of them do not have any money. But nonetheless, we Jews are not allowed in those places. The last part of why gambling is not allowed is because Chazal say that if gambling were allowed, the world would become like Sodom and Gomorrah. So aside from the immodesty, which obviously goes against protecting your eyes and creates many sins, which we'll discuss tomorrow, and aside from the Chilul Hashem, and aside from the stealing, you're putting yourself in a very, very serious dilemma with Hashem.
5:00So you have to stay away from those places. You've just experienced another Torah shiur.
