How Can We Stop A Holocaust Tisha b'Av Repeat Disaster (Beit Juhuro New York)

0:01Thank you, thank you. It's nice to be back here where we actually have one of our most popular shiurim we did here a few months ago, the personal story which we called "Hashem Took Back His Millions and Gave Me Emunah Instead." It became one of the most popular shiurim that I have, Baruch Hashem. It's nice to be back here where we actually have one of our most popular shiurim that we did here a few months ago, the personal story which we called "Hashem Took Back His Millions and Gave Me Emunah Instead." It became one of the most popular shiurim that I have, Baruch Hashem.

1:19And since everyone knows my personal story, you'll understand when I say that in the book of Eicha, that we read last night, in chapter 3, verse 1, Yirmiyahu starts the book with, "I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath." I'm the one who knows what suffering looks like. The reason why Yirmiyahu told this to Am Yisrael and all of the members of Am Yisrael that will ever live who are going to read this book is to make sure that they know that when he's telling them that Hashem has reward and punishment, they take him seriously because he knows what punishment looks like. He's seen it firsthand. He's seen what the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash looks like. He's seen what punishment in the hands of the goyim that Hashem signs off to allow them to do it, looks like. And if we take it from somebody who knows what it looks like, we take it more seriously. But if it's just someone that heard the story somewhere else, we're not always going to take it very seriously. But maybe he's wrong.

2:48Maybe it's like the game of telephone we played when we were little kids. You know, we tell one guy one thing, and by the time it gets to the fifth person, it's a completely different story. But if he was a witness, if he actually saw it firsthand, he knows that Hashem is serious. He knows that when Hashem says, "I'm going to punish you if you don't follow My Torah," then you know, wait, he saw it, he's not going to make it up. Most people today don't believe that Gehinnom exists. And they think that it's just something that's imaginary. It's like a chumrah. It's like, ah, if you want to believe that kind of stuff. I think, you know, a lot of people want to think that Hashem is all good, which He is. But He's so good that He only gives things that we think are good, meaning that He doesn't punish at all. Now, anyone that can

3:50spent the next five minutes thinking about it could easily show and rationalize to themselves that that's not possible. Just like any parent that wants the best for their kid also knows that sometimes the best thing for their kid is to say no. And sometimes the best thing for the kid is to slap them on the butt and tell them not to do it again. If the kid wants to eat candy all day, okay, the first one is fine. You want the kid to live. You want him to be a kid. But if he wants to make that his diet, obviously you're not going to let him if you're a good parent. If you're one of those parents who just lets him eat all the candy that he wants, doesn't have to eat meat, doesn't have to have pasta, doesn't have to have regular food, just live off of candy, then it's not going to be too long before you find out how bad of a parent you are. Because you're going to have to take the kid to the doctor every other day. So obviously part of being a parent, part of being good, is to say no. And also part of being good is to deliver punishment. Because human beings do not know how to tell the difference between good and bad without consequence. If I tell you, listen, violating Shabbat, not good. Not good. Hashem doesn't like it.

4:51So obviously part of being a parent, part of being good, is to say no. And also part of being good is to deliver punishment. Because human beings do not know how to tell the difference between good and bad without consequence. If I tell you, listen, violating Shabbat is not good. Not good. Hashem doesn't like it. If there's anybody in the crowd that's still not keeping Shabbat, by the end of the lecture, they'll probably violate Shabbat even more. Nothing's going to change. No one is going to start keeping Shabbat if I just tell you it's not good. Why? Okay, it's not good in your opinion. Who are you to tell me what's good and what's not? Your opinion is not good. I think it's good. Your opinion is that you're supposed to go to Beit Knesset on Shabbat. My opinion, I need to go to the casino. you're resting in your way, I'm resting in my way. That's the logic of human beings. That's the logic I used to have, as we talked about the last time I was here. But then if I tell you that according to the halacha, which means that we got it from Mount Sinai, which means it's the opinion of Hashem Yitbarach Himself, someone that violates Shabbat is considered 100% idol worshipper.

6:17Meaning, the person that's violating Shabbat, that's driving on Shabbat, and the guy that bought a statue from Chinatown, bowing to it every day or drinking the urine of the cows in India—same thing in Hashem's eyes. It's a little bit of a stronger opinion. It's no longer my opinion. If I further that opinion and I tell you that aside from Hashem not really being too happy with that person and considering him an idol-worshipper, the ultimate suffering that the person will get is eternal. It doesn't end. Like the story of the disaster that happened in my personal life that ended up being the biggest blessing in my life and led me to where I am today, it is not even a moment. And the place I'm talking about that happens to someone who violates Shabbat, even once on purpose, then it becomes a little more serious. So, when Yirmiyahu told us that Hashem made all of these things happen, he saw them firsthand. He wanted to make sure that we realize that we have to take this seriously. Why? Because this is not the first time we're hearing about it.

7:40If anyone saw last night's shiur or this morning's shiur, some things will be repeated. But with the help of Hashem, Hashem will give me the words to give you some new things as well. If anyone saw the shiur last night and you're still here, you weren't scared to death yet. But it's good for us to be scared because that's the strategy that Hashem uses. In Parashat Yitro, Parashat Yitro, Am Yisrael gets very scared of Hashem. So scared they all die, and Hashem brings them back to life. And Moshe tells them, "He's only scaring you so you don't sin. That's why He's scaring you." Meaning that Hashem also used the same strategy. He has to scare us. Because without us as human beings knowing the consequences, it's virtually impossible for us to not sin. Even when we are scared, we still sin. So if we weren't scared of anything, if we just thought we could do whatever we want, why should we do anything good? So everything that happened during Churban HaBayit HaMikdash, Hashem actually promised

9:07That's where it's going to happen. There are two parashiot in the Torah where Hashem tells us specifically what will happen if we violate Shabbat, if we waste seed, if we don't eat kosher. If we're not modest and we wear skirts that are mini skirts instead of long skirts. If we start creating our own religion and our own rules. If we become reformed. He told us exactly what's going to happen to us. Maybe not right away, but eventually. Where did He say it? He said it in two parashiot. One is parashat Bechukotai. And the other one is parashat Ki Tavo. In parashat Bechukotai, there's the first ten verses. are blessings of good things that will happen if we do mitzvot. But they're all vague, meaning that they're open to interpretation. One blessing could mean 500 different rewards, and you have many, many blessings. But in the next 40 verses, we have only curses, punishments, and each punishment is worse than the other.

10:35and He gives us five levels of punishments, and every time He starts a new level, He always says, "And if you went with Me with casualness," meaning if you treated My mitzvot, My Torah My rules, My instructions. You treat them like they're casual. I could keep them, not keep them. Hashem knows. Hashem understands me. He understands I need to watch TV on Shabbat. He understands I have to marry a non-Jew. He understands this is who I love. He understands me. When I get up there, He knows already. Start treating things like this. He says, then for that, you'll get two punishments. One for the sin itself, and one for treating Me like one of your friends from the bar. Casually. Hi, hi, bye, bye. Like I'm one of your buddies. Now, all of what I'm going to read to you, it's actually in the Torah. You've probably heard it before. But most of Am Yisrael doesn't know it exists.

11:50Why? Because most of us hear it in the Beit Knesset but we don't really understand what it means. Most of us don't speak the holy language. Even if we speak Hebrew, modern Hebrew is not necessarily the holy language. It's a little different. You can only understand it if you learn Torah. If you understand the grammar and the nikud and in general how to read the Hebrew language in its purest form. So that's why I always recommend, and it's actually halacha for anyone that wants to be righteous with Hashem, to read the parashah three times each week—twice in the original Hebrew and once with commentary. But when you read it in Hebrew, you also have to understand what you are reading. You know, you don't just read the words and make sounds. Monkeys also make sounds, and parrots also make sounds. Hashem didn't want to create a world full of monkeys and parrots. He created human beings because human beings can choose between good and bad. So He wanted you to read it in a language you understand. If it's Russian, read it in Russian. If it's Hebrew, then read it in modern Hebrew. If it's in English, then read it in English. Whatever language you understand exactly what it means. Because once you understand the Torah and exactly what it means,

13:13Every parasha becomes different, and your world changes completely. Because as soon as you actually read what this one parasha I'm about to read to you says, your opinion about Hashem will change a little bit. For sure, you're not going to think that He's the guy that jokes around. On the fifth level of punishment, Hashem tells us, ואם בזאת לא תשמעו לי והלכתם עמי בקרי. Now, if despite this, you will not heed Me, meaning you still don't do teshuva and you behave towards Me with casualness. I will behave towards you with a fury of casualness. Meaning, just like you treat Me like I'm not really that important and not really a big deal, I'm going to treat you and your prayers that are screaming to Me in pain, as if I don't hear them. I'm busy. Like, you know, when somebody says, "I'm busy, God, I can't keep Shabbat. I'm busy, God, I can't go learn Torah. I'm busy with work. Hashem, come on, no? Get somebody else to learn Torah for me." Okay, so Hashem is going to say, also, when you pray to Me,

14:43Because the doctor just caught you, and the anesthesia is not working. And you're in pain. And you want salvation. You want Me to help you. I'm going to make it like I can't hear you. What? What did you say? You want Me to help you? What about that day you were supposed to go to shiur and instead you went to watch the game? You didn't hear Me? That's what He's saying. And it gets worse. I will chastise you. even I. So just make sure. This is Hashem talking. He says, even I. Seven ways for your sins. And then it gets really good. Since this is the fifth level of punishment, He's already said some of these things before. He magnified it a little bit. But then He tells us something that connects us to the Beit HaMikdash. and eventually connects us to the Holocaust. You will eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters will you eat. I will destroy your lofty buildings and decimate your sun idols. I will cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and My spirit will reject you.

16:08He's telling us here that we're going to get to such poverty and such famine and starvation that we're going to have to eat our children, chas v'shalom. Any mother that thinks about that for a second should probably start crying. It's not— a mother can't handle it. Fathers are a little bit less emotional. But then you start thinking about it and you look at your kid. At this moment, we should ask ourselves, did this ever happen? And the answer is yes. When? Today. 1948 years ago, a little over 2,400 years ago, and also 70 years ago. In chapter three and chapter four of the Book of Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah),

17:09Jeremiah describes the horrendous horror that he's watching firsthand, live. And he says that because of the starvation that Am Yisrael is in right now, the mothers have no breast milk to feed their children. The children, the babies, are dying. while the mom is trying to breastfeed them and nothing comes out. Then he says further, it’s so bad that some mothers, in their mercy for their children, don't want them to starve to death. So instead, they kill them, boil them, and eat them themselves. Because they, obviously the mom doesn't want to die herself. She doesn't want the child to die from starvation. It's a very, very vicious death. So since she's already dead anyway, or she's already dead anyway, they use the meat to eat. Rabbi Meir Mazuz

18:36said that since most people have a hard time connecting to Beit HaMikdash, it happened so long ago that Tisha B'Av is a good time to mourn for all of the disasters that have happened to Am Yisrael. Not just the Churban Beit HaMikdash, but for most of us, it's hard for us to cry. It happened so long ago, I don't know anybody that was there. It's hard for me to visualize what the Beit HaMikdash looked like. It's hard for me to visualize a river of blood from city to city that's so deep that it reaches from the floor to the bottom of the stomach of a horse. From city to city. Not a little puddle of blood. So many Jews were murdered in cold blood that it made a river of blood. It's hard for me to visualize that. Even a horror movie can't put that together.

19:37But what we can visualize is the things that many of our grandparents went through. The Holocaust. So Rabbeinu Yechezkel in his book Kaf HaKela, he was in the Holocaust and he wrote in his book, he said the most difficult part of the Holocaust was not the torture, not the hard labor, not the... mental abuse. The worst part was the starvation, the fact that we couldn't eat, and eventually, it got to the point where the verse in Parashat Bechukotai came true, where the parents will eat their children. He tells a story Shocking, he says, that one day these evil makhshiman Nazis woke up the Jews extra early to make them slave even worse than they did for the last several years, without drinking, without eating—not that they were drinking and eating a lot anyway—but this time was even worse.

21:06To such an extent, people started dying on the job. After they finished 18 hours or 24 hours' worth of straight work without stopping, eventually, they came back to camp and they saw there was a Nazi soldier stirring a big pot. And they said, oh, oh Hashem, maybe it's finally a reward from these heartless Nazis. For all the hard work we did, at least they're going to feed us. So they all ran to the pot and started grabbing whatever meat they could get. They hadn't seen or heard of meat in years. They were all excited to eat the meat until a Jew ran out of one of the rooms screaming, "No! They're your kids!" They're your brothers and sisters. It's the flesh of Am Yisrael that you're eating. Shem yerachem. Obviously, they're all considered anusim; it's not their fault. But nonetheless, a disaster like that puts us in a little bit of perspective, where if we reflect on it, we realize that the Churban Beit HaMikdash

22:35It's not as far as we think. It's not as distant as we think. Seven years ago. It's not 2,000 or 2,500 years ago. Seven years ago, the same thing happened. In the book of Deuteronomy, which we just started last week, chapter 28, verses 47 and 48, Hashem makes a promise to us. That if we don't serve Him, if we don't serve Him like we're supposed to serve Him, then instead we're going to serve our own enemy. You have a choice. serve Hashem or serve your own enemy. Yes, this very same enemy that's going to cook your kids, the very same enemy that's going to kill brothers and sisters, the very same enemy that goes on television and says he wants to destroy the nation of Israel. That enemy, that's what he's talking about. But a lot of people don't really think Hashem is serious about it. Come on, Hashem, how are you going to do that? So, there's a book...

24:01Written by a Jew named Miklós Nyiszli. Called, "I Was Mengele's Assistant." Mengele was one of the key figures during the Holocaust, that many called Malach HaMavet, the Angel of Death. where he would do different medical experiments on human beings, on Jewish human beings. And this Miklós wrote a book about it because he was an assistant. A Jew became the assistant of the same one that's torturing us. And over time, maybe he started not wanting it, but eventually he writes in his book that he became loyal to his boss. He helped him, and the language he uses seems like he's excited; he helped him build his collection of gallbladders.

25:24because Mengele liked to have gallbladders as a collection. Like, you know, some kids collect baseball cards. He liked to collect body parts, specifically gallbladders. So, our fellow Jew, the very same one that's supposed to be part of the chosen people, fulfilled the verse that if we don't serve Hashem, we end up serving the enemy. And Hashem would take body parts and specifically look for the gallbladder so he could give it to his boss. There are many Midrashim

26:26On Eicha, chapter 1, verse 3, about how to interpret the fact that Judah, that Am Yisrael went into exile. And one of the Midrashim says that Jews are always in exile. And the reason why is because they always have to be different than the goyim, at least with their food. You have to look different, you have to act different. But looking and acting different was not always as different as it is today. In the old days, everyone looked the same. Everyone had a beard. Everyone wore similar clothes, at least in the Middle East. But the one way that you could identify a Jew and a Gentile was the food. A Jew will only eat a certain type of animal. a Jew will say blessings before he eats and after he eats. A Jew washes hands before and after. So you see that kosher made the Jew noticeably different. There are countless stories of how

27:41Because we didn't keep this mitzvah very well during the Churban Beit HaMikdash, one of the punishments was starving. And the same thing happened again in the Holocaust. But when Hashem gives a decree, the righteous and the wicked get punished the same. And this is why there are many very motivating stories from righteous people who love Hashem but were still being punished just the same. When they heard that Pesach was coming, they wanted to prepare matzah because they knew you're not allowed to eat chametz on Pesach, even though technically they were allowed because they were considered anusim. They still did everything they could in order to make sure that they made matzah. How? By selling their food every day for 30 days. For 30 days, they sold their food, leaving themselves just a grain so they could survive, in order to buy enough ingredients to make matzah.

29:0530 days of starvation so they keep a mitzvah that they don't even have to. And us today, when we hear the thought of eating matzah for a week, we're like, you don't have anything better this year? We complain. One of the main reasons why many people have the confidence to go against Hashem openly is because they believe that all of this stuff is not relevant to us. And unfortunately, the world around us very easily tries to influence us to stay with that mindset. whether it's the media telling us that we're supposed to chase money and watch shows like MTV Cribs so we can look at people's houses and that's what we should shoot for. We should have a house like Mike Tyson and 50 Cent. Anyone raise their hand that has never seen that show? Two people. The point is delivered.

30:32Everyone looks at fancy, schmancy celebrities, and they're taught every day that that's the way they're supposed to be. No, no, don't get married at 20 years old. Go make a million dollars first, then get married. Such advice was considered heresy in previous generations. Considered kefirah. Don't get married because you need to make money? Who gives you money? You think your work gives you money? Your work is only for you to make it, for Hashem to make it look realistic. In reality, He does 100%, you do nothing. That's reality. What we think, we do 99%, Hashem does 1%. Sometimes even nothing. So we watch TV and the internet and celebrities, and we're fooled into thinking that this is what life is supposed to be. Aside from that, we feel that our nation is stronger than it's ever been. We have our own country. That country has a lot of good technology. People say it's only challenged by Silicon Valley in California, the high-tech capital of the world.

31:58Israel is constantly on the map and constantly in the news with new developments and discoveries. Per capita, we have more Nobel Prize winners than anyone else in the world. Jewish people control many of the Fortune 500 companies. They founded many of them. We have a great army in Israel. Looks like it's a strong country—financially, weapons-wise. "Who needs God?" is what people think. What people don't realize is, if they look at the history books relevant to the times, we're like homeless people today compared to what we used to be. We were much, much better off at the time of King Solomon. He controlled the whole world. Now we're just slaves to the whole world. Now if we want to kill a terrorist, we have to ask America for permission. If we defend ourselves and shoot down a place that's launching terrorism at us, all types of missiles at us, the media spends the next week highlighting how Am Yisrael is full of terrorists. We need to ask for permission to defend ourselves.

33:27So in reality, we have zero control and zero power. In the days of Beit HaMikdash, we had a lot of control and a lot of power and a lot of money. So much money that when the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed and the Goyim went into the Beit HaMikdash and started taking the gold, so much new gold went into the market that Chazal say that the gold market value dropped by 50%. because there was so much new supply added to the market. That's how much gold Am Yisrael had. There are three things that are supposed to protect the city from being overtaken: construction of impregnable fortresses, meaning having a good position for where the capital is, whether it's on top of a mountain, having chomot, having the fortresses, soldiers, and so on, sustaining a large population, because just by numbers, if you have a lot of people, you're going to scare the enemy and say, "Listen, if it's six people, let's go beat them up." But if it's 60 million, you're going to think twice about it. And the third is developing the intelligence and sophistication of the city's inhabitants.

34:53Meaning developing intelligence, being smarter than everyone else, having more advanced weapons, more advanced leadership, and ensuring everyone is literate. We had all of those. We had all of those during the Beit HaMikdash HaRishon and Beit HaMikdash HaSheni. We were full of people, many more than we have today. had a ton of money. Jerusalem was on top of a mountain, so that's the ideal description of the best place to be if anyone wants to attack you because you're on top of the hill and they're on the bottom of the hill. Usually, smart armies don't attack anyone that's on top of a hill; it's a guarantee to loss, no matter how big they are. Because the one that's on top of the hill can dodge your missiles and your spears and anything else, whereas you on the bottom, you can't dodge anything. And as far as sophistication, if you just hear some of the Midrashim that talk about the technology of just the seat of Shlomo HaMelech, you would be amazed. The seat of Shlomo HaMelech was commanded by voice.

36:14If you wanted to go up, it was a giant seat. If you wanted to go up to sit, you wanted to go up to the seat, he would go up, take one step, and then he would have to say a certain verse in the Torah. And then this lion and eagle, I believe, were on either side, and the lion would take its paw and put it under Shlomo HaMelech's legs and would lift him all the way to his seat. Voice command. Siri was not a new invention. But if you said the wrong verse, like Pharaoh did, there was a Pharaoh in those days who came and tried taking the seat. And when he tried climbing the seat and he said just anything, the other animal, I think it was the eagle, took its wing and hit him in the back and broke his legs. Voice command didn't work too well. That's the level of technology we had over 2,000 years ago. People think iPhones are a new invention. It was a big deal. So we had technology, we had weapons, we had money, we had world domination. The only thing we didn't have was Hashem's signature.

37:37Hashem didn't sign off on us continuing to win because we became sinners. So when the evil armies came, Hashem used them as a tool to destroy the Beit HaMikdash. Before Germany decided that it was a good thing to kill Jews, The Jewish people were actually the leaders in Germany. Germany was the America of its day. Just like there are six million Jews in America today who control many of the companies, businesses, and even have political influence. It wasn't very different in Germany. We had politicians who were Jews. We had business owners and entrepreneurs who were Jews. A lot of the people that didn't like Jews in general used that as the excuse of why they don't like them. One of the famous haters of Jews said that if we don't kill the Jews and eliminate them now, they're going to do to us what they did to the other nations with their communism.

39:02This is also the reason why Hitler, yimach shemo v'zichro, also wrote in his book Mein Kampf that the reason why he believes he needs to eliminate the Jews is because they're going against God. A lot of people thought he was an atheist, but apparently, he wasn't. Just a psychopath. Now, most people think that we only have one problem in our generation. They say that any generation the Beit HaMikdash is not built is like the generation that destroyed it. When the Beit HaMikdash HaRishon was destroyed, it was for three sins: avodah zarah, shfichut damim, and gilui arayot—idol worship, murder or spilling blood, and sexual immorality.

40:07The second one was sinat chinam, baseless hatred. Now most people, myself included, for most of our lives believe that we only have one of those problems. Because it says that the First Beit HaMikdash was destroyed, but 70 years later, the second one was built. Why was it built? Because we fixed the sin. We fixed it. We stopped stealing blood. We stopped murdering. We stopped idol worshipping. So Hashem gave us the merit, and we built the Second Beit HaMikdash that was around for another 420 years. The first one was 410 years, a break of 70 years, and the Second Beit HaMikdash for 420 years. So a total of 900 years. And the second one got destroyed because of baseless hatred. So we figured that since we already fixed the sins of the first one, the only reason the third one is not built is because of Sinat Chinam, because of the ones that we lost the last one for. But if you look at the world today, you discover that it's not really true. As a matter of fact, as Chazal tells us, every day that the Beit HaMikdash is not rebuilt,

41:32is a worse day than the day before. More trouble comes to the nation. One of the most difficult parts of Kiruv, in helping Klal Yisrael, is hearing the trouble that Am Yisrael has. Marriage problems, sickness, poverty, emunah issues. Hashem, there's no end to problems. Death, there's no end. And Baruch Hashem, you use the Torah to try to help as many people as you can. But you get to see firsthand how much disaster people are really going through every day. Because everyone in the street, you see your friends, everyone looks normal. They're not going to share their life with everyone. You say hi, they say hi. How are you doing? Everyone says Baruch Hashem. No one's going to say, "Hey, how are you?" It's like, "Oh, you wouldn't believe. My wife this and my husband this." They're not going to share it with everyone, at least not if they're smart. They don't want to air out their dirty laundry to everyone. Some people might, but in general, it's not advisable to share with anyone. So, as a rabbi, you get to hear these stories that no one else gets to hear. And you see that many families that look really, really good are really only an optical illusion. They look great, but in reality, it's a time bomb.

43:02One famous case is Robin Williams, a famous comedian at the height of his career. He made an endless amount of money with a stream of even more money supposed to come to him. He had a show, he had a family, he had kids. He had everything that anyone would want in a material world. But then one day, he decides that he doesn't have anything, and he kills himself. shows you what an optical illusion his life really was. Because his job was being a comedian, you would think a comedian is happier than everyone else. Well, you actually find out if you do some research that most comedians are actually more depressed than everyone else. And comedy is a defense mechanism. It's a psychological defense mechanism. But now we have these four sins...

44:06that we think that we really only have one. And the only way that we can get Beit HaMikdash HaShlishi, the Third Beit HaMikdash, is if we start working on fixing all four of them. But we can't start fixing all four of them until we acknowledge that we actually have this disease of all four of them. So let's go through the list and see what we have. Let me know if you agree or disagree. Avodah Zarah. Most people would agree we do not have avodah zarah anymore. Most people would agree we do not worship idols anymore. Some, unfortunately, go to India after the army in Israel. They think that they're going to find spirituality. They find a few idols. But that's not the majority of people. That's the good news. The bad news is we're still suffering from avodah zarah. The only difference is it's called something else. It's not an idol; it's called money. People have turned money into avodah zarah. This is the reason why they spend 16, 17, 18 hours a day working. And at the end of the week, you ask them, "Did you learn any Torah this week?" "Yeah, I had like five minutes on Friday before Shabbat." What about the other 24 hours every single day of the week? Where was the Torah during those days? "No, no, I was really busy with work. Busy with work."

45:32Who are you working for? Which idol? It's called a dollar. The dollar bill says, "In God We Trust." A lot of people translate that and interpret it literally. They think that the dollar is saying, "In God we trust," talking about itself, God being the dollar. That's why they work for it so hard. They forgot who’s the one that gives them the dollar. Because if they knew even for a moment that the One that gives them the dollar... It's not a human being. It's not a customer. It's not a boss. It's not competition. It's not a new product. It's not a new invention. It's the very same Hashem that gave us the Torah and the One that created the heaven and the earth and everything in between. He's the One that gives you the dollar. You have to work for Him at some point. So Avodah Zarah... Unfortunately, I think each and every one of us is either suffering from it or knows somebody that's suffering from it heavily. Because if you're not learning Torah at least as much as you're working, according to the Rambam, you have yourself a problem. In his day, he says, a batlan, someone that works full-time, works nine hours a day, so he needs to learn nine hours a day.

47:01If I ask in a room full of 500 people, 1,000 people, we had maybe 500-600 people yesterday, Baruch Hashem, in a shiur. I didn't want to ask this question. Number one, because Hashem didn't give me this thought. And number two, I don't think it would be a good question because it would be very embarrassing. Ask people, raise your hand if you're studying nine hours a day. With the exception of the rabbis, maybe. I don't think anybody would raise their hand. Because even avreichim, even people that go to kollel, have a tough time studying nine hours a day. It's not easy. The good news is that Hashem pays you for effort, not execution. If you truly are studying as much as you truly can, you get rewarded. Why? Number one, because you really are exerting all of the effort you truly have, and you're not wasting time watching television, playing on Facebook, hanging out with the guys at the local bar, or smoking cigarettes outside like you have a political conversation you need to get off your mind, as if your opinion counts. Who's going to win the next election? Maybe Donald Trump is Gog. Maybe Hillary will marry him somehow.

48:28Everyone wants to deliver their opinion like it matters. No, I think that he should do this, and Obama should do that. Who cares what you think? People spend so much time wasting their lives talking about politics. For what? You think anything is going to change because of your important opinion? You didn't read Sefer Shemot. When Hashem says that He takes away the free choice of the leaders, you didn't read this week's parashah we just passed, Parashat Devarim, when Hashem says He took the choice of Sichon. The free choice of leaders is gone. They don't have free choice. Don't worry about what Obama thinks, and what Trump thinks, and Hillary thinks, and whatever other enemy or foe or anything, or even friend. Even Netanyahu. They don't have free choice. They're puppets. Hashem delivers His will through them. And just like He promised us in the end of the Gemara, Masechet Sotah, daf 49, at the end of days, which is where we are, by the way, the leaders will do things that are against their own people. Meaning if the people need food,

49:57They'll starve them. The people need money. They'll raise prices. Whatever is the opposite of what people need, that's what they'll do. You don't need to look too far to see that that's exactly what's happening everywhere. You can look at Israel and how the anti-Torah Knesset they have over there to such an extent they actually have real terrorists in the government. like if Osama Bin Laden ran for office in America, I don't think we would vote for him. But in Israel, they have somebody just like that in office. And he's allowed to express his opinion and call the Israeli army terrorists for killing terrorists. In America, it's not too different. You see many, many things that are against people.

50:57So you see that your opinion, with all those late-night conversations, you were talking with your friends till 2 o'clock in the morning thinking, "What is Obama going to do next?" It didn't help. Use that time to learn Torah. If we really exert all of our effort to learn Torah, we'll find out we have actually a lot more time than we thought. Maybe we can study 9 hours a day. But no one has an excuse and can go to Shamayim and say, "Hashem, I really only had 15 minutes. A week. Can I go into Gan Eden where Moshe Rabbeinu is?" Yeah, right there. There's a place over there. He's going to tell you, "No, there's nothing you can do there. All they do over there is learn Torah. You don't even know what Torah is, so you have to go to another place. They also don't know Torah over there." If you exert all of your effort, you'll find out that The answers are right in front of you, and you have a lot more time. Aside from that, the work that you do, are you doing it for you or are you doing it for Hashem? If you're doing it for you, and all you're doing is working so you can build the biggest house on the street and have the nicest car every year,

52:18And make sure that, of course, you have to wear a $30,000 watch, because what kind of guy wears anything less than that? Can't consider yourself a real Jew without an expensive watch, right? So, if you do that, then you're not really working for Hashem. That's the secret. How do you know you're working for Hashem? When the money that you have is not only made in a kosher way but is also spent in a kosher way. You can't think that you're going to make all this money, build a house, go on a vacation, another vacation, another watch, another suit, another this, another that. And Am Yisrael is struggling to get some CDs to get people to do teshuva. Am Yisrael is struggling to keep a minyan going because there's no money for a beit knesset. Am Yisrael is struggling because there are people that don't have money for Shabbat. But you have a big house. So Hashem already implemented in the Torah protection measure. He says, listen.

53:30I give you 100% of your money anyway. Whether you realize it or don't realize it, it doesn't really make a difference. I give you 100%. In return for the 100% I give you, give me 10%. But since you can't give it to me directly, give it to my children, the ones in need. You see a bunch of Jews acting like goyim because they don't know what Shabbat is? Spend that money trying to get them to a shiur just like this so we can get them to become Jews again. I give you 100%. Spend that 10% helping all types of organizations that are going to create more Jews. Not the ones that are just making Hanukkah parties for all the half-naked women to come and show up once a year. I never understood that, by the way. Why do secular people love Hanukkah so much?

54:31Do you know what the story of Hanukkah is? It's actually the exact opposite. It's when the religious people beat the secular. It's when the religious people actually won and beat the ones that were against God. But for some reason, anyone that's secular loves Hanukkah and loves Purim. And the reason why, by the way, is because there's nothing you really have to do. Yom Kippur, come on, you have to fast. It's a tough holiday. Tisha B'Av, no, that's for the really religious people. That's a different level. Pesach, eh, at home. So Hashem is telling you, you have to be a Jew at home and outside. Your money has to be holy coming in, and your money has to be holy going out. ...but sometimes we have concerns. The Vilna Gaon would raise money once a year for his yeshiva, and one time he sent one of the messengers to go raise money. He went to one of the regulars, one of the people who was rich and would give a lot of money every year. The messenger came with a...

55:59carriage and horses, came to the gvir (wealthy man), the rich guy, and asked him for a donation. And the guy, unlike every year where he gives him a lot of money, he gave him like $10. Nothing. The messenger didn't know what to say. "Okay, thank you very much." And he leaves. When he comes back, he meets with the Vilna Gaon's main student, Rabbi Chaim Volozhin. And Rabbi Chaim says, this guy that gave only $10, is he okay? Is he sick? He goes, no, no, no, he's fine. Did he have financial difficulty? Is he struggling? He goes, no, his house is bigger than last year's. Did he tell you why he's only giving you $10 instead of the usual? He goes, no. So the Vilna Gaon obviously taught Rabbi Chaim all of his Torah. So Rabbi Chaim knew what to do. He went to the guy himself and he said, "Listen, I just wanted to ask because I don't want to think anything negative. At the same time, if you need help, I want to help you."

57:20So I wanted to ask, what happened this year? You only gave a small amount in comparison to all the other years. And the guy says, listen, every year, one of your messengers comes in, and they always look like they're struggling. The suit is not always brand new. They always look like they struggled coming here in the heat and so on. This year, the guy comes in with a carriage and horses. So I figured, ah, they're probably doing well. I don't want to pay for the carriage. I don't want to pay for the horses. I want to pay for Torah. So I figured that since he's coming with a horse and carriage, the equivalent of today like a Mercedes, he probably doesn't need it. So Rabbi Chaim Volozhin says, you know, you remember in Sefer Shemot, Book of Exodus, chapter 35, verse 30, It says that Hashem gave Bezalel Ruach HaKodesh, Ruach Elohim, in order for him to know how to build the Mishkan, the Aron HaKodesh, all of these extraordinary tools that we had in the original Beit HaMikdash of the desert, which, by the way, was holier than the first and the second Beit HaMikdash.

58:49because He gave him Ruach HaKodesh to build these things. Do you ever ask yourself, why does he need Ruach HaKodesh to be an architect? Okay, so you need to build a closet. Fine, build a closet. Get a couple of smart guys. No. Engineers. Make measurements. Ten by ten by ten. That's it. You're finished. What do you need Ruach HaKodesh for? Do you ever hear, "Listen, new skyscraper, World Trade Center. Builder has Ruach HaKodesh?" No. So what does Bezalel need Ruach HaKodesh for? The rich guy says, you know, it's a good question. I never thought about it. Why? Because, oh, that's the chiddush. Because Bezalel was a tzaddik. It's a pure 13-year-old soul. It was actually also, the Gemara says, he was also the son of Kalev. One of the two people that was allowed to go into Eretz Yisrael despite being around during the sin of the spies.

59:53And Bezalel would need to buy different things. So before all the money would come, and he would spend the money, he would say, bring me all the coins. And he would look at every coin, and through Ruach HaKodesh, he would see the face of the person that gave that coin. And if the person was smiling and happy when he gave the money, he would say, "Oh, for this, we're going to use it for the Aron HaKodesh. This we're going to use for something important." But if the person had a Tisha B'Av face, the guy, you know, had to give something just because he didn't want to be... Different than everyone else. When I said everybody is a tomech for Sefer Torah, everyone's a tomech for, everyone's giving money for CDs, everyone's giving for shiur, everyone's giving money for anything relating to Torah, the whole room raised their hands. So I figured it was a little weird, and I raised my hand and said, okay, okay, 101, 101, fine, fine, 101. Everyone makes their weird numbers like it's a lotto ticket. 101, 118, 120, what are these numbers? Give what your heart says, stop with the lotto ticket number nonsense.

1:01:035-5-5. What do you think, a 5-5-5 is going to help you? Enough. People are looking for too much shtuyot. Give and that's it. Or, aside from that, they want, okay, I'm going to give money for the Beit Knesset, but make sure there's a sign bigger than the Beit Knesset saying that I gave. Okay, you gave. Hashem knows. You don't have to have such a big sign that you gave. Okay, you want a little sign. If you want to give your parents or grandparents or somebody important a zechut, fine. You want to do it, do it. But make sure that there's $10 being spent on a sign and $9.90 on the tzedakah. Not $9.90 on the sign and $10 on tzedakah. Because sometimes people spend more money advertising their tzedakah than the actual tzedakah itself. Guy donates $100,000 for tzedakah, but spends $300,000 in newspapers to make sure everyone knows he gave the $100,000. So, Betzalel knew who's giving tzedakah. He looks at the face. Tisha B'Av? No, no. Tisha B'Av goes for wood. For the wood we need. We need the wood. It's not a bad thing. It's just like toilet paper for us. Beit Knesset.

1:02:19...or the cookies you have for Seudat Shlishit, that's, you know, not Seudat Shlishit, but just a regular thing for people not to starve during the middle of the week. You know, learning Torah, you want to cook? Okay, so I'll get you, you know, six dollars that we have in the fund. That's the kind that we raised the whole week—six dollars. We got cookies, okay, that's where we're gonna go. But if the guy has a smile, no, that we're gonna use for a letter in the Sefer Torah, that we're gonna use for a Gemara book, that we're gonna use for something special. Bezalel needed the Ruach HaKodesh to do just that... So Rabbi Chaim Volozhin says, today we don't have Bezalel, unfortunately. But we still have Ruach Elokim. Because Hashem is still with us. And if you're giving your tzedakah with a smile on, and you realize, thank you Hashem for leaving me with the 90%. Because in reality, it should be the opposite. It should be, I should give you 90%, and I should take 10%. But thank you for giving me the 90%,

1:03:22...and only give me the responsibility to give ten, and doing it with a smile, then you know for sure that your money is going to go to Torah. Then you know for sure that your money is going to go to the right place. And now the guy understood. He's like, yeah, you know what? It makes sense. So Rabbi Chaim says to him, since you really want to support Torah, you have nothing to worry about. Your money will go to Torah. Nothing will get in the way of your money. Why? Because Hashem is going to make sure that's where it’s going to go. Your tzedakah has two parts of the merit. One is the giving and two is the outcome. Giving, anyone can give. Even if you go to a monkey, and he's asking for a banana, sometimes he'll give it to you. It doesn't mean that the monkey is overly generous and a very nice monkey. It just means he decided to give you the banana.

1:04:22Sometimes you see people in the world donating a hundred million dollars to a hospital or university, and it seems like they're the most generous people in the world. But then you start finding out, first of all, their name is everywhere, and they're getting more pride than you could ever imagine. Second of all, they're earning business as a result of their generosity. Now they're earning new business. Now everyone says, "Wow, he's so generous. Who doesn't want to do business with a generous person?" So now, because they donated $100 million, they're getting a billion dollars' worth of business. And last but not least, most governments have a rule, as far as taxes, that you lower it from your income, meaning you have to pay less taxes because of your donation. So there's a financial incentive to do it. So either way, if you didn't give it, you'd have to pay that same money as taxes. Either way, you're not going to have that money. So might as well have it, have your name on it, because the IRS doesn't make signs for us when we give the money.

1:05:28So, not all donations are exactly 100% pure. But nonetheless, if you have a smile and you're giving it for the right cause, Hashem will make sure that the outcome of the money will have a right cause. So you give it, that's one part of the mitzvah. That's the hishtadlut. How you give it and what you give it for, that's the real merit. If you have... real will to help Am Yisrael, real will to do something good, then Hashem is going to make sure that the money goes to something good. But if you're just looking to give something and just relieve yourself of the responsibility, then it's going to go to places like the Red Cross, where 99.5 cents out of every dollar go to the company and not to the actual cause. The executives make millions of dollars and all types of things like that. Not just the Red Cross; it's plenty of other really big institutions. It's no wonder that when I was in the business world, looking for investors, I would always look at big institutions to see who has the most amount of money invested in hedge funds, invested in the market. They always appeared. Why don't you use the money? Didn't you say you wanted to heal people?

1:06:49cure some disease, get some medicine, feed the hungry. Last I checked, there are still hungry people. Why do you have $15 billion in the hedge fund, in the stock market? People give you the money; go use it. If they use it, then there's not going to be enough money left for the CEO to travel from state to state on a private jet. So we see that things are not usually what they seem. but this is one of the biggest mistakes we have when we start looking into the goyish world and we try to compete with them with our money. Even though Chizkiyahu was one of the most righteous people that ever lived, after he survived the sickness, he made a very, very critical error. When one of the goyim came to visit him, the kings,

1:07:50Merodach Baladan, the king of Babylon, he decided that he wants to show him all the treasures of the Beit HaMikdash and Am Yisrael. And the prophet Yeshayahu came to him and rebuked him, fulfilling the mitzvah of Hochach Tochiach, saying, we are the nation of the book, the chosen people. the ones that are closest to Hashem, the ones that are supposed to be the light to the nations, and all you show them is gold and jewels, no Torah, you'll live to see the day that we'll have nothing. When we think that our real treasure is money, we're even worse than the generation of Beit HaMikdash HaRishon. Shefichut Damim, And Giluy Arayot, Baruch Hashem, we don't have many Jewish murderers today of people. But we do have many souls being killed every single day. Much worse than murder. It's called wasting seed. Baruch Hashem, Rav Zitron and Shmueli arranged for me to come here.

1:09:12a couple of months ago, and we did a very interesting shiur about wasting seed for three hours. Baruch Hashem, it's one of the most popular shiurim that I have on the internet, but more importantly than that, it's made hundreds and hundreds of people do teshuvah. It's the most comprehensive shiur about wasting seed available on the internet in the English language. On one end, it makes me very happy, and gives them a lot of credit for arranging it. On the other hand, it makes me very sad that someone who just did teshuvah a few years ago is the only one that actually has a shiur about the topic. When you have thousands and thousands of rabbis that have learned Torah for 20, 30, 40 years more than I have, but everyone ignores this topic like it's a disease of some kind. It's not politically correct. This is why a lot of the same people that I'm telling you that did teshuvah because of this shiur are yeshiva kids. The ones that are supposed to know. The ones that are learning Torah every day. They knew it wasn't good, they just didn't realize it was that bad. Now they know, Baruch Hashem. The problem with Shefichat Damim is that it doesn't have to be

1:10:32murdering someone in person. Every time a male ejaculates, he's murdering 300 million souls unless it's in order to make kids with his wife. So if it's not for that, if he's doing it privately because he's not married, if he's doing it with a woman he's not allowed to be with. Hashem. If he's doing it not for the purpose of actually having kids... He has himself a serious problem. To put it into perspective, doctors and scientists have said that each time there's an ejaculation, there are 300 million seeds, as we said. So if you do the math, a teenager comes home from yeshiva, comes home from public school, comes home from wherever he is, and he wants to relax like the psychiatrist recommended. The psychiatrist, for $300 an hour, recommended that you relieve yourself. You seem like you're stressed out. That's what these morons recommend today. So the kid comes home and he tries to relax. Little does he know that he just murdered 300 million people—almost the amount of people that exist in America; it's 370 million people. So by the end of the week, he murdered 2.1 billion. So it's America and China together.

1:11:55By the end of the month, he murdered 8 billion people, which is more than the number of people that live in the world today. And if this boy doesn't wake up, he's not going to have fun in the Gehenom that he's going to be in. And the rabbi that didn't tell him is also not going to have fun there too. It's time for us to let people know: You're not allowed to do whatever you want with your body. It's not your body. Every time someone wastes seed, just think of yourself at the end. You always get depressed, by the way. It's always depressing. It's only a good feeling for 30 seconds, if that much, and then you get depressed. Now, part of the depression, you should think, if the Beit HaMikdash was around today, you would destroy it with that act. That act alone, Hashem would destroy the Beit HaMikdash right there and then. For you. Because of what you did. That's shfichut damim. Now, since it's a sex organ, it's also relevant to gilui arayot. Not only because it's a sex crime in itself, but aside from that, because a lot of people waste seed with women they're not supposed to be with. Whether they're not Jewish, or they're not married, or chas v'shalom they're married, but to somebody else, for some reason, it's become very popular for people to be with each other's wives.

1:13:25This is the Sodom and Gomorrah we live in. It's all real. It's not politically correct, but it's reality. There's an actual trend in the world of people switching wives. They think it's going to help them. They don't need to look too far to see that it doesn't help because statistics are in America that 84% of couples in America divorce. Some places say it's less, and some places say it's more. Either way, even if it's 50-50, it starts becoming not worth it to get married. Part of the reason is the foolish advice to go be with somebody else's wife. Or better yet, try out every single woman you possibly can before you get married, and then finally settle down. The problem with that theory is that when you finally settle down, it's impossible for this woman or this man to ever satisfy your needs. Because now you're comparing her to 50 women. Now you're comparing him to 60 guys. How could he compete?

1:14:33which means that you already started a losing battle. You're practically guaranteed to get divorced within a few years. Because he's never going to be able to compete with an 18-year-old Steve. He's never going to be able to compete with Pablo from the supermarket. He's never going to be able to compete. Why? Because now he's 35 years old, he's responsible for three kids, He's got a job. He's working non-stop. He's trying to overcome the desire of avodah zarah for the money. He can't be the 18-year-old and the 16-year-old and the 22-year-old and the 25-year-old and the camp that you build up over your career. He can't. So now we see that avodah zarah is still relevant. Sinat Chinam. Most people think Sinat Chinam is the Ashkenazim hating the Sephardim, the Sephardim hating the Ashkenazim. The Bukharians dislike half and like the other half. The Yemenites don't like anyone. Everyone thinks they have the best Siddur. Some people call each other Kofrim. The other ones call each other some other thing. Everyone thinks they’re the best. Yes, that is Sinat Chinam.

1:16:02But it's not the Sinat Chinam that Hashem destroyed the Beit HaMikdash for. How do we know? It's a very famous story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza. Now, there's one version of the story you heard, and we'll try to give you the second version. The one version you heard is that there was a guy who arranged a party, and he wanted to invite all of his friends. He invited, he went, sent his servant to go invite Kamtza, his friend, his buddy. But his servant made a mistake and invited another guy named Bar Kamtza. Similar name, easy to make a mistake. So Bar Kamtza comes in, he has fun. Next thing you know, he sees this owner that actually happens to be his enemy. He says, "What are you doing? I didn't invite you." He goes, "No, no, no, you invited me." "I would never invite you, get out." He says, no, no, don't embarrass me. Just let me stay. He goes, no, no, get out right now. He goes, listen, I'll pay for my own meal. He goes, get out, I don't need you to pay for anything. He goes, okay, fine, fine, I'll pay for half the event. Cost you $500,000 for this event, I'll pay $250,000. Just don't embarrass me. Imagine, the embarrassment of somebody is worth that much money to them. He says, no, get out.

1:17:27Imagine the other end, embarrassing somebody is worth that much money to him. He says, fine, fine, I'll pay for the whole event. $500,000, I'll pay $500,000. Whatever it is, I'll pay for the whole thing. He says, get out. So, obviously, he gets embarrassed and he leaves. And he turns around and he sees that all the rabbis that were there say nothing. And that makes him even more angry. and he goes to the goyim and tells them, "Listen, the nation of Israel is going against you, and I can prove it to you. They won't even accept your korbanot; they won't even accept your sacrifices. If you send a sacrifice, they'll reject it," which is actually not true. So the Romans send the sacrifice, knowing that the Jews would actually be able to accept the sacrifice. but there's only one way that they would be able to reject it: if it has some type of deficiency. So he takes a knife and he rips the lip of the sheep and he brings it to the Jews. "Okay, here it is." So it's deformed; it has a deficiency. We can't have it. Even though it's coming from a goy, we're allowed to accept the korban of a goy, but we're not allowed to accept a korban that has a deficiency.

1:18:53So they reject it, which is a mistake of its own. They could have just gone back to the Roman emperor and said, "Listen, by the way, no disrespect, we'll give you another korban. If you don't have another one, you don't have the money, not to show you, we're not looking for money here, we'll give you another one. But we can't accept this one, it's not good. Just go to him and ask him." But instead, they just reject him. So obviously, he gets very mad and uses this as an excuse. to destroy the Beit HaMikdash. That's the first version of the story. But inside this story that most people ignore is the real Sinat Chinam. Sinat Chinam that we were taught most of our life is the Sinat Chinam between one guy and the other. And listen, it's not nice that you just hated the guy because you had some argument and then you embarrassed him in public. It's not nice. It's not nice that Rabbi Akiva's students died because they didn't respect each other. That's what we're taught. They didn't respect each other, even though they were all righteous and holy enough to revive the dead. Somehow we're led to believe that it was just respect. Like he saw him and said, "Eh, he's nothing. I know more Torah than him." That's what we're led to believe. I'm here to tell you that's all nonsense. That's not what they mean. What they mean...

1:20:23In both cases, it's exactly what Rabbi Yonatan Eybeschutz says. He says the biggest sinat chinam that we're still suffering from for almost 2,000 years—he lived about 200 years ago—is when one Jew sees another sinning and he doesn't say anything. That's sinat chinam. When you see that your friend is standing on the train tracks and the train is coming, and you don't say anything, knowing that the train is about to hit him momentarily—that's sinat chinam. And we know it's sinat chinam because even if it was a cat standing on the train tracks, you'd move the cat. But your friend, you wouldn't move. Why? Because with the cat, you figure, I want to move it. But with your friend, you're worried about whether he's going to be offended that you're the one who pushed him out of the way. Whether you're minding his business instead of your business. Same thing with sins. You see a friend, your colleague, your brother, your sister, your parent, your neighbor, a fellow Jew, driving on Shabbat, dating before marriage, talking about things that are against the Torah, doing all types of things that Hashem specifically told us. This is the reason why I destroyed the Beit HaMikdash.

1:21:51This is the reason why we suffered in the Holocaust. This is why I fulfilled the promise that you'll get to such horrible times that you'll have to eat your children. And you say nothing. Who's more evil than you? Because you're going to lead to that happening again by your political correctness garbage. By being politically correct, thinking that you're helping people, in reality, you're destroying them. Because now they don't know that they're sinning. They don't know that wasting seed is not allowed or that it's that bad. They think God will understand if they keep kosher but don't keep Shabbat. They think Hashem will understand if they walk around as a woman who's not modest because today women are not modest, so we need to look like everyone else. We shouldn't be different. But they don't have kisui rosh because it's not very fancy like it used to be. It's not as fancy as the wig. It's not as fancy as just showing your hair. It's not very popular. My friends make fun of me. So you think it's okay? Because no one tells them differently. Well, you as a husband, as a son, as a brother, as a Jew, you have 613 commandments that are given to you by Hashem Himself. One of them is, you must rebuke your nation.

1:23:18Meaning that it's not an elective mitzvah; it's an obligation. Now, in order for you to be a mokhiach, you can't just do it in a way that's going to embarrass people in public. You can't just point at somebody and say, "Hey, rasha, you're going against Hashem." You can't do that. But by the same token, you can't ignore it and wait for the perfect opportunity when one day you have a private dinner one-on-one, you know, with three hours to burn. You have to find time. You have to make it happen. Now, if you don't think that you are actually at the level to be a mokhiach, which really some of the sages say there is no such person. That doesn't exclude you from the mitzvah. Meaning, if you're still having trouble keeping Shabbat, but you know it's the right thing to do. If you're having trouble keeping kosher or learning Torah every day, but you know it's the right thing, you just haven't gotten there, then Hashem made it easy for you. He says, you don't have to do it with your mouth. You just have to do it with your checkbook. You get a CD, you write a dollar, get a dollar,

1:24:35You give it to the rabbi, here, one dollar CD for a topic of XYZ, wasting seed, intermarriage, Shabbat, whatever you want. There are plenty of CDs. Rav Mizrachi made, Rav Zitron obviously is making now a lot of different shiurim online. I have some of my own, Baruch Hashem. Doing kiruv has become easier than ever. If you don't have any money, Do it for free. Go to TorahAnytime.com or go to my website, BeEzratHashem.org. Copy, paste, send. Free. That's it. Now you have no excuse. Now you can't say, "Oh, I couldn't do it. It was too much for me." You have an opportunity to build the third Beit HaMikdash. But whether you're going to enter it or not is going to depend on what you did for Hashem. Now, the fact that we're in the days of Mashiach right now is not really a question in anybody's mind. Everyone knows that Mashiach is coming in our lifetime. Whether it's because you want to look at the math of it, a recent book that was written by Rabbi Alon Anava,

1:26:00Or you want to look at different prophecies. Or you just want to do the math. The Gemara says Mashiach will come before Shabbat. So, obviously, the sages are not telling us that Shabbat is referencing a specific day, because then that prophecy is virtually useless. It's just eliminating one day out of the week. And He gives us six out of seven as a possible chance. So, obviously, the sages are not looking to waste our time. What they mean is that it's in divine years, Hashem's years, which we learn from the book of Tehillim. King David tells us that every thousand years of man is one day of Hashem. Every thousand years of man is one day of Hashem. In reality, Hashem does not have time. He's beyond time. He's before, He's during, He's present, He's after, and so on—past, present, and future. But nonetheless, Hashem gave us something to gauge His character traits by. He says that every thousand years of man is one day for Hashem.

1:27:25So if the sages are telling us that the Mashiach will come before Shabbat, we have a pretty easy calculation. Right now we're in the year 5776. So 5000 is the completion of five days, right? Completion of Thursday. Sunday, Yom Rishon is 1,000. Yom Sheni, 2,000. Yom Shlishi, 3,000. Revii, 4,000. Chamishi, it's the 5,000. That's Thursday. So we still have 776 left. 750 out of 1,000 is three quarters, right? Three quarters of 24 hours is 18, right? if you divide 24 into 4, 4 quarters, it's 6. 6 times 3 is 18. So 18 in time is 6 p.m. Then we have 26, because we already spent the 750, we have 776. So 776 minus 750 is 26. So if that 26, what's the 26 valued at? Every 41 years is approximately 1 hour.

1:28:47Twenty-six is also gazneim. Chazak u'baruch. That was a chidush. So, we have a situation where right now we're somewhere in the neighborhood between 6:30 and 7. When does Shabbat come in? Go by the average. The average in Eretz Yisrael. We can't go to places like France or Alaska; it's not normal. In Eretz Yisrael, sometimes during the year, it comes in at 4, and sometimes during the year, it comes in at 8. But the average is somewhere around 6. Let's say Hashem is giving us extra mercy, which He is. The fact that the world even exists is mercy with the Sodom and Gomorrah that's outside. But nonetheless, let's say you say, okay, you know what? Shabbat comes in at 7:30, or 8 even. To me, it was the latest hour. He didn't say the Mashiach is gonna come on Shabbat. He said before Shabbat. Meaning that either way, we don't have that much time. Either way, it's in our lifetime. Because it's already 6:30, 6:40 p.m. And the Mashiach is supposed to come before Shabbat comes in. So whether Shabbat is at 7 o'clock or at 7:30 is irrelevant. Even more so why it's irrelevant is because anyone who wants to have a shot at being saved during the time of Mashiach has to be ready before the Mashiach comes.

1:30:16Gemara Masechet Avodah Zarah, page 3b, says there's going to be a lot of gerim, a lot of converts, at the end of time before the Mashiach comes. So the Gemara asks, are there going to be converts after the Mashiach comes? It says, no. No more gerim, no more teshuva. Why? Because once the Mashiach comes, we have world domination. Once you're the leading nation, There's no free choice. Of course, you're going to want to be part of Am Yisrael, just like everyone wanted to be part of Am Yisrael during the generation of King Solomon or King David. We dominated the world. Of course, you want to be part of the dominant nation. Just like we didn't allow more converts after King Solomon married 1,000 women, we're not allowed to convert anyone after the Mashiach comes, and also there's no more teshuva. So now you have a situation here. If there's no more teshuva, you have to find out how long does it take to do teshuva? How long does it take to do teshuva? It doesn't take one minute like people think.

1:31:35there's a story in the Gemara that says someone was a big sinner, and there was not a woman that he didn't sleep with who was a prostitute. After he found out that he was such a big sinner from one of the prostitutes, he started praying to different things. He prayed to the sun and to the moon for help, and the sun and the moon said, "No, we can't help you." He prayed to the mountains... So, we can't help you. When he realized that after praying to everything except Hashem, there was no hope other than praying for himself, he cried himself to death. And there was a bat kol, a heavenly voice, that came out and said that he is welcome to Olam HaBa. So, there's a statement in the Gemara that says someone can buy their Olam HaBa.

1:32:36In a moment. What's the problem? The problem is that I don't know if there's anyone in this generation that can cry themselves to death. If you can cry yourself to death, then yes, you can do teshuva in one minute. I doubt you can. I doubt anybody can. Why? Because you can't just cry for the sake of crying. You have to cry out of sorrow, out of disappointment that you were to Hashem. It's not easy to cry, let alone cry to death. So now we realize that doing teshuva takes a long time. Because you need to know what to do. Even if you say right now, okay, you know what? I'm motivated, I'm inspired, I'm going to start keeping Shabbat, I'm going to start becoming honest, I'm going to start learning Torah, I'm going to start doing everything I need to do. I'm going to take on all of the mitzvot. Great. Do you know what they are? No. That means you need to learn them. Learning them takes time. You have to do everything that you know, but there's still a lot that you don't know. I can tell you from my own personal experience, when I first started keeping Shabbat, I thought I was the biggest tzaddik in the world. Little did I know, six months into it, that I was violating Shabbat every week. How? I was making this tomato sauce for a food that I like.

1:33:56And I wanted to make tomato sauce. I was grinding the tomato on Shabbat. I wanted it to be fresh for Shabbat. Fresh for Shabbat. Little did I realize that I was violating Shabbat with the grinding. Not allowed to grind. So until I knew it, I was violating Shabbat. Of course, it was accidental and not on purpose. But the point is, it's still not 100% upstairs. Still show up upstairs with a missing link. Who wants to show up with a missing link? So, everyone has to start doing teshuvah seriously. Now, because whether Mashiach comes next week, next month, next year, or in 15 years, it doesn't make a difference. It's going to take you that long to do teshuvah. That's number one. Number two, we all have our personal Mashiach. It's called Judgment Day. No one knows how long they're going to live. As much as we would all like to wish each other "until 120," I'm sure each one of us knows somebody who died before 120. I know a bunch of people from my high school who already died years ago, whether it was from accidents, cancer, or all types of things. The older you get, the more deceased people you know. That's just reality.

1:35:16So we know that people are not going to live till 120. What we also know is that when they do pass, they get up to the same place we're eventually going to get to. And they're going to ask you, what did you do for Hashem? If you say, "I learned Torah," it's good, that was for you—to get in here in the first place and not the other room, the hot one. Okay, I did the late tefillin. Congratulations, that was putting that Torah that you learned that got you in here into effect. What about the other mitzvot? Same thing. Learning Torah goes with fulfilling the Torah. So we know that they're going to ask us this question. What did we do for Hashem? How did we sanctify His name? So Chazal gave us a secret. So there's only two things that are going to save us from the days of Mashiach, the pains of Mashiach. Torah and Gemilut Chasadim. So Torah, we already know what that means. It means learning Torah, coming to the shiurim, fulfilling the Torah, fulfilling the mitzvot, being modest, whether you're a man or a woman. A woman, start covering your hair as soon as you're married. Stop with the nonsense of the wig.

1:36:43You have to realize that showing your hair, like Rav Nissim Yagen, Zecher Tzadik Livracha, used to say, makes you look like the Sotah, the wayward woman that's talked about in the Torah. Why? Because when a woman was accused of cheating on her husband, before they would give her the bitter waters that would either kill her or sanctify her, pretty much They would try to pressure her to admit that she cheated on her husband. And part of the pressure would be embarrassing her. And how would they embarrass her? They would take off the kisui rosh, the scarf she had on her head, and show her hair to the public, thinking that even someone who cheated on her husband wouldn't want to show her hair to the public. So the question we have for this generation is why would anybody want to look like that woman? It's not exactly a compliment to be a sotah. It's a good question. Whether some Ashkenazi rabbi permits it or not, it's still a good question. You don't hear about anyone in the Beit HaMikdash showing off their wig. "What do you think of this one? It cost me $5,000."

1:38:10You have to ask yourself the question. You want to be righteous with Hashem? You have to ask yourself these questions. Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Bukharian. It doesn't make a difference what you are. Ask yourself these questions. When judgment day comes, am I ready? Am I ready? I'm not ready. I need more time. I need to do teshuva. I need to help other people do teshuva. Which leads me to my next point. We know what Torah is. But most people don't know what Gemilut Chasadim is. They think that if they give challah bread to the local center to make sure that people have challah for Shabbat, that's the Gemilut Chasadim that's going to save them at times of Mashiach. Or if they give someone a ride to the hospital, that's Gemilut Chasadim. Okay, it's chesed. No question asked. It's a mitzvah. May you be rewarded for that mitzvah, for that chesed, in this world and the next.

1:39:12if you honestly think that giving challah bread and a ride is going to save you when Mashiach comes, we probably need a private shiur because you need some help. Why? Because you have to understand that in order to arrive at something significant, it requires something significant. Chazal tell us that there are three things that require Mesirut Nefesh, self-sacrifice, in order for you to achieve them. Becoming a Talmid Chacham, learning Torah, you want to be a Talmid Chacham, you have to sacrifice yourself. You have to be awake when everyone is sleeping, you have to study when everyone is hanging out, you have to do things that no one else wants to do, you have to be glued to the book. Eliminate your own self, eliminate your own desires. Mesirut Nefesh, 100%. The more Mesirut Nefesh, the more successful you'll be with Torah. Two, Eretz Yisrael. You want to live comfortably in Eretz Yisrael? As a righteous Jew that has no worries for Mashiach? Why does it require Mesirut Nefesh? It's not easy. Even people who do Aliyah, many of them come back. Apparently, the land vomits them back.

1:40:39That's what it says in the Torah. Anyone who doesn't live in Israel, it's because the land vomited you. Either you or your ancestors, and you don't have the merit to live there. Apparently, I don't either. It requires Mesirut Nefesh to live in the Land of Israel. And last but not least, Olam HaBa. You want to get to Olam HaBa? You want to have a chance at the Gan Eden we all heard about? You want to see Moshe Rabbeinu? You want to see Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov? You want to have eternal good? You want to be part of the verse at the end of Parashat Va'etchanan that we're going to read later this week, which says that "I pay my lovers and the ones that keep My mitzvot, My commandments, for thousands of generations"? It requires Mesirut Nefesh. So, obviously, if those three giant things require Mesirut Nefesh, seeing the Mashiach also requires Mesirut Nefesh. Which means that the chesed that we're giving, of giving a challah or a little bit of tzedakah, is not enough. What's enough? Chazal tells us the highest level, the highest level of chesed that one can do is bringing back someone to Hashem.

1:42:02Why? Why is introducing him back to Hashem? Why is helping him do teshuva considered the highest level of chesed? It's very simple. It's the only one that's going to last. Because if you buy the guy a challah every week for 50 years, but he's still driving on Shabbat, if you donate to his cause every week, but he's still feeding everyone treif, He's only going to benefit in this world. But if you help him come back to Hashem, he has olam haba. He has eternity to thank you. And according to the Torah, according to the Gemara, someone that helps somebody else do teshuva is considered as if he created him. That's how much. So if anyone wants to fulfill these two things and have a chance when the Mashiach comes, it's not very difficult. Torah, Baruch Hashem, it's very easy to learn Torah today. Very, very easy. Books are plentiful. Can't read books? You're not a book person? Fine. Listen to shiurim. You go to my website, BeEzratHashem.org. Three, four hundred hours' worth of Shiur Torah.

1:43:29You go to TorahAnytime.com. I think there's a few million hours' worth of Shiur Torah. Different rabbis. You don't like me? Find someone else. You have plenty of good rabbis there. Look for people that are telling the truth. Look for people that, when you leave the shiur, it hurts a little bit. Look for the ones that say, you know what? I got to do teshuva. If you leave this shiur thinking that you're okay, I failed my job miserably. I'm giving this shiur and I'm telling you I'm not okay. So you have to understand. You have to listen and learn Torah. It's going to touch your heart. Especially if you're Baal Teshuva, you have to learn something you're interested in. For example, me, when I first started doing Teshuva, I was practically allergic to halachot. I wanted to know very basic, the minimum I needed to know, but the rest of the stuff I wanted to learn different things. I wanted to learn about Mashiach, I wanted to learn about Sifrei Tzadikim, I wanted to learn the Chumash. I didn't really want to, I didn't care about halachot. Tell me the minimum, tell me the minimum, that's what I would ask.

1:44:42Okay, in the beginning, that was appropriate. You had to teach me that. Why? Because if you would have just taught me halachot all day, I'd become very bored and just leave the whole thing. Go back to being a goy. So in the beginning of Teshuva, you must learn what you are interested in. Be'ezrat Hashem, over time, that Torah that's bitter becomes sweet, and you end up asking the Rabbi, "Rabbi, we haven't done a Shiur B'Halacha in a long time, can you give me a few? You have 15 minutes for the Rav?" It's going to be like music to his ears. Music. But you have to get there. It's not his fault that you don't like it. It's your fault. But at the same token, He's going to lead you in the right direction. He's going to teach you what you need to learn. The very basic minimum, along with what you like. So as far as Torah, it's very easy. You have shiurim on YouTube. You have shiurim on my website, on beezratHashem.org. You have on TorahAnytime.com. As a matter of fact, you should try to avoid YouTube and go to 613Tube. 613, and then the word tube.

1:45:54And it's a kosher YouTube. So you go there, and you type my name, and you get all my shiurim that way without all the garbage that's next to YouTube all the time. The zevel that's there, you can avoid it. It helps you protect your eyes. Or you can get Guard Your Eyes. It's a good website service. So on one end, you're not watching a shiur Torah, and on the other end, there's a naked lady on the right. It doesn't usually go well. So go to 613Tube or go to TorahAnytime.com, it's 100% kosher. Try to remove yourself from sin. If we first stop sinning, it becomes much easier to do mitzvot. Once we've made a permanent daily schedule of learning Torah every single day, every day, no day is an exception. It's seven days a week; you learn seven days a week. Every day, you must learn something. You have no excuse. If it's 15 minutes, it's 15 minutes. If it's two hours, it's two hours. If it's nine hours, like the Rambam tells you you need to do, then it's nine hours. Either way, you must learn every day. Once you do that, the second mitzvah becomes much easier. The gemilut chasadim of helping people do teshuva becomes much easier.

1:47:14And the reason why is because then you will have the merit to actually do it. Not everyone has the merit to do zikui harabim. There are plenty of people that donate millions and millions of dollars and have never donated one dollar for a CD to help somebody do teshuva. They never donated one dollar for a lecture to help somebody do teshuva. How could it be? I donated a hundred million dollars, and not one guy ever did teshuva? I had a Hanukkah party for the last 60 years, and not one guy did teshuva? Yes, not one guy did teshuva. Why? You do not have the merit. Why don't you have the merit? Because you're not learning Torah. You don't deserve it. The tzedakah that you give is for fame and fortune, and it's not for real mesirut nefesh. Why does Hashem care? Because He says, as I said in the last lecture I was here, in the book of Yirmiyahu, He tells us, if you do teshuva, I'll always accept you, and you'll stand next to Me. Meaning, once you do teshuva, I accept you, you're not a second-rate citizen, you'll stand right next to Hashem.

1:48:24As if you were a tzaddik your whole life. If it's a genuine teshuva, not like a half teshuva. Like you're keeping Shabbat, you're keeping all the mitzvot, but you're stealing in your business. That's not teshuva. Teshuva is complete. It's genuine. It's 100%. You do teshuva like a real Jew, Hashem says you'll stand next to Me, you'll be treated as if you're the greatest Jew that ever lived. You'll stand right next to Me. But if you bring... If you bring someone precious, meaning you bring someone that's a tzaddik, when he used to be someone that was a rasha, someone that was violating all the mitzvot, someone that was going against Hashem, meaning if you bring somebody and help him do teshuva, you will be like My mouth. What does it mean like you'll be like My mouth? Chazal say, Hashem told us He created the heaven and the earth, and He can revive the dead. You'll be able to do the same. Meaning, Hashem will answer your prayers to such an extent that He would be willing to change nature for you. You don't deserve something, you do kiruv, you start deserving it.

1:49:48you learn ten hours' worth of Torah, He gives you three weeks' worth of Torah. And so on. Someone is sick in the family, you pray for them, and all of a sudden, miraculously, the doctors are calling you, asking you, "What did you do? The boy is 100% healthy." If you're listening to my daily chiddush, the short clips... that I make on WhatsApp. I also put them on other pages. There are plenty of miracles that we reported, Baruch Hashem, in the last few months that are happening to students, family, or myself. If someone is looking for miracles, you can call me every day, and I'll give you another one. Either for myself, students, or someone that I know always has some type of miracle. It's unbelievable. You want miracles? Do kiruv. I had a family member who was very sick and was supposed to have surgery. Baruch Hashem, we prayed, we studied, we did, he goes to the doctor, CAT scan, the doctor asks if it's a different head because it doesn't belong to the boy that he checked recently. Details are in those recordings. The point being, when Hashem says, "I'll change nature for you," He's not kidding.

1:51:06So, you want to be part of that? It's very easy to do Kiruv. Arrange lectures like the Tzaddikim did, arrange today's lecture, and continue to do it practically every week. Arranging lectures, giving lectures, it's one way. Two, support people that do it. You have me, you have Rav Mizrachi, you have Rav Zitron, you have different people that are helping Am Yisrael do teshuva. Three. CDs. You see right there? 100 CDs are in his hands. And they're free. We give them out at every lecture. They're all free. But they cost money. They don't come like the manna. We haven't gotten to that level, Baruch Hashem, yet. Soon. These CDs, it's only $1 each. It's 30 hours of Torah on each CD. Someone listens to the CD. They do teshuva. That $1 saved their soul forever. Someone donated a thousand CDs. Even if one, one out of a thousand worked, you bought yourself the next world. Get ten that worked. 100, 200. It never ends. Support CDs. Last but not least, if you have no money, you have no ability to do it, it's fine. Hashem made it easy for you. He wants you to see Mashiach, so He created the internet.

1:52:32but the good version, you go to the website, press copy on one of the good shiurim that shakes Am Yisrael. Then, you take it and put it on your Facebook profile because if you're on the internet, you're probably on Facebook. So, if you're on Facebook, at least do something useful. You press paste on your profile page and then you press post, and whoever watches it and does teshuva... Same thing like giving them a CD. It's free. When you arrive in Shamayim, you're not going to have an excuse. They're going to ask you, how come you didn't do kiruv? You're not going to have any excuse. Why? Because it was free. You want to support it? By all means, it's great. If you don't want to support it monetarily, then do it with time. Either way, do something. Because as you've heard from what I've read already here for the last few hours, and there's much, much more that you didn't hear from the lecture of earlier this morning, and even more from the lecture of last night. The one from last night is already on Torah Anytime, the one from this morning, B'ezrat Hashem, will be posted later. There's much, much more I didn't cover. Each lecture, Baruch Hashem, Hashem has given me different words to say to you. There's a lot of content. There's a lot of asonot, a lot of disasters that we've experienced.

1:53:51If you want to remove yourself from disaster and instead bring yourself miracles, and save Klal Yisrael, start working. Any questions? May Hashem bless all of you for arranging this shiur, for being at this shiur, and for next year, this time, may we celebrate today, instead of warning about all the disasters that have happened to us. Baruch Adonai l'olam. Amen ve'amen.