How To Avoid Losing HaShem’s Blessings (Queens New York)

0:39Thank you for having me. It's very good to be back in New York. I see some old faces, some new faces. It's the first time we're here at the Jewish congregation. It's amazing that sometimes you learn Torah with people for a few years, but you don't know what they look like until you come to visit them. So good to see some people. Today's shiur, b'ezrat Hashem, will be for a refuah shlema for David ben Esriah, Doris bat Jorah, Rabbanit Levana bat Sara, Rabbanit Sara bat Anat, Rav Efraim ben Shulamit, Dvora bat Mercedes, Esther bat Zipora, and for the ilui nishmat Nitzah bat Miriam. Nisal ben Meir, David ben Batya, and Labdi refuah shlema, Bronia bat...

1:53Also for our dear little student, she's only a few weeks old. So, can you guys hear me with this, or is it better without the mic? With the mic, it's fine. The mic's good. Do you guys want the mic? So we're going to talk about a few things. If you guys have any specific questions in the middle, or certain specific issues at the end, we can ask as many questions as you want. There's no time limit. Baruch Hashem, anyone that's watched my shiurim in the past knows that usually I go for a couple of hours, but if you guys want, we can go until the morning. It's up to you. I'm here for a reason. But we have once a year where we learn for Hoshana Rabbah; we have a nine-hour shiur, nine hours straight. So we don't have to make a nine-hour shiur; it could be a couple of hours to learn, but the whole key of the shiurim is for everybody here to get something to take home. Meaning for everybody to have something that's going to affect their connection with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And one of the reasons why I want to make sure that everybody takes home something

3:05is because if you're going to go to a shiur Torah, and nothing changed, not only did you waste your time, but the speaker failed you. Because that was his job. The speaker was supposed to give you some type of bridge, some type of connection, some type of motivation to connect to HaKadosh Baruch Hu even more than what you are. If you stayed exactly the same, if you came in, you're fine, and you left, you're fine, Shalom al Yisrael, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says it's no good. Not good for the listener, not good for the speaker. So the key is that if I'm addressing something that perhaps is something that you want to talk more about after the shiur, I'm more than happy to do it. But more importantly, if somebody has a certain question, certain issues in their life that I didn't mention in the shiur, you could stay behind and we could talk about it. One of the main reasons that I see today that motivates me to give speeches is because I see that the vast majority of people, Jews or non-Jews, are confused about why they're in this world. You ask people, who are you? The first thing they tell you is, "Well, I'm a construction worker," or "I'm a lawyer," or "I'm a doctor." I didn't ask you what you do. I asked, who are you? "Oh, I'm Steve." I didn't ask you what your name is. I asked, who are you?

4:27Now they don't know what you're asking them. Okay, not my name, not my job. Am I married? I didn't ask you if you're married. Do I have kids? I don't care if you have kids. I'm asking, who are you? Most people cannot answer that question because they themselves do not know who they are. They don't know why they're here. Ask a guy, why are you in this world? Oh, to serve Hashem. How are you doing it? I don't know. My rabbi told me, serve Hashem. So I said, serve Hashem. So you're plagiarizing the rabbi's answer? Give me a reason why you're here. Now, why is this question so important? If you don't know why you're here, that means that being here is suffering. Being here is a nightmare. Now, sometimes I talk to people that tell me the common answer, these frequently asked questions and their frequent answers. And the frequent answers when I tell people, keep Shabbat, or keep Taharat Mishpacha, or wear a mitpachat, all types of mitzvot, the Torah says, the answer is, it's hard for me. It's hard for me. You know, Rabbi, it's this generation, you know, we have hats, so it's hard for us to cover our heads. Okay, why? The last generation didn't have heads? They had heads then also.

5:45You know, this generation, we have cars, that's why it's hard to keep Shabbat. Why? The last generation didn't have fire? That's a different type of fire. Tell the truth, it's not hard for you. You don't want to do it. It's not hard for you. The mitzvot are not hard. You just don't want to do it. It's only hard because you don't want to do it. Why? It says it in the Torah. Moshe Rabbeinu, in the Book of Devarim, says to the people of Israel, "It's in your mouth, it's in your heart to do it." Meaning, we all were created to fulfill the entire Torah, just like Moshe Rabbeinu, nothing less. You know, sometimes people say, "Yeah, but once I get to that level." There is no level in Judaism. It's either you keep it or you don't keep it. It's either you're frum or you're not frum. That's the emet. That's the emet. Wait, but it's hard for me. It's hard for you because you don't want to do it. Now, the question is, how can we motivate you to want it? How can we motivate you to want it? That's the job of the Rabbi. That's the job of the speaker.

6:52That's the job of the Yetzer HaTov: to motivate you to want to do it. Because naturally, your Yetzer Hara is going to say, "I don't want to do it," but you can't say, "I don't want to do it." It's not polite. You know, "Hashem, Hashem, I don't want to do what you want." That's not nice. So you say, "It's hard for me. It's hard for me to be tzanua. It's hard for me to be tzanua. It's hard for me to be generous. It's hard for me not to get angry. You know, people make me angry." Well, if you're angry without people making you angry, then we take you to a mental institution. But anyway, the point is that you don't want to say you don't want to do it. So you say it's hard for you. But the truth is, it's because we don't want to do it. So the job that we have is to motivate you to want it. Now, there are two types of motivations. One, motivate someone to do something because they love it. Motivate them to love it. The problem with love, to fall in love with Hashem takes time.

7:53cannot say like the green love at first sight. there's no such thing as love at first sight; there's lust at first sight that we have in the world. love at first sight is not possible. why? you need to know somebody in order to love them. you cannot say, "i love her," if you don't know anything about her. maybe you want to do something; you have all types of filth in your head because she's not your wife yet, and you want. that's lust, that's not love. Love requires knowledge. So, we cannot love Hashem without knowing Hashem first. That's why every day in our tefillah, in Shacharit, we go over the pasuk that says that Am Yisrael, after we crossed the Yam Suf, they saw the hand of Hashem. And they feared Him, and they loved Him, and they feared Him, and they believed in Him and in Moshe His servant. Meaning that first we have to understand that God exists, knowledge of God, then we fear Him, then there's emunah (faith) and love and so on and so forth. Why? First you have to recognize that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the one that's running the world. So to say that we should teach people to love Hashem, and that's how we're going to convince them to do the mitzvot,

9:06I'm sorry to tell you, it's not possible. It's not that it's a different shita. It's not that it's a different strategy. It's simply not possible. Why? Because if I want to teach you about loving Hashem, that means I have to teach you about Hashem first. So you get to know Hashem. Once you get to know what Hashem really is, immediately you'll get scared. Immediately. If you're smart, immediately you get scared. Why? If you realize that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the one that's running the world, meaning He's in control of your parnassah, whether you're rich or poor, Gemara Masechet Beitzah and Gemara Masechet Rosh Hashanah, pages 16a and 16b, both say HaKadosh Baruch Hu decides your parnassah on Rosh Hashanah. Meaning it doesn't matter what you do for a living. You can be a gambler, you can be a truck driver, you can be a stockbroker, you can sell newspapers. You could sell Q-tips to hotel chains. HaKadosh Baruch Hu decided your parnassah on Rosh Hashanah. You could work six days a week, or you could work five days a week. You could work an hour a week. HaKadosh Baruch Hu decided your parnassah. It has nothing to do with you. No, but I had a good idea. Who gave you the idea? Yeah, but I had a good customer. Who gave you the customer? But I have a good product. Who told you about this product? But I know how to speak. Who told you how to speak? And who is allowing you to speak? There are many people who can't speak.

10:33But I work for a certain company. Who says you're going to keep the job? Hashem is the one that decides how much parnassah you're going to get. So a person that understands that it doesn't matter how many hours he works and what profession he works in, automatically he knows that every time he gets a dollar or loses a dollar, he has to look up at Shamayim and say, Baruch Hashem. Why? It's where it's coming from. The loss and the profit come from the same place. Immediately, any normal human being becomes scared at that moment. Why? That means that it doesn't matter what I do, what kind of marketing idea I have, it doesn't matter how many watches I sell, it doesn't matter how many customers I get, it has nothing to do with me. The parnassah is from Shamayim 100%. What we can do is we can entice Hashem to either close the gate of parnassah or open the gate of parnassah. Meaning, we know that the parnassah was decided on Rosh Hashanah. What can we change? How we're going to get the money and how we're going to spend the money. He decided you're going to get a million dollars. Some of you are saying, but okay, let's say all of you are saying, for example. Now, He decided you're going to get a million dollars. Now, some people get a million dollars; they get to keep 900,000.

11:54some people get a million dollars. At the end of the year, they're negative a million. They got a million, but they lost a million. How did they lose it? Their expenses, lawsuits, medical insurance, government—all types of expenses. Sometimes a person does nothing; he has one deal the whole year, but he makes all of his money. Other people work like slaves every day, waking up at five o'clock in the morning just to make ends meet. Meaning, HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the one who decides upon parnasah. Your actions will dictate how you're going to get it and how much you're going to end up keeping. We'll talk about what influences those things in a moment. Now, when a person understands that this parnasah is from Shamayim, any normal human being that works automatically becomes scared of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Why? I don't want to mess with Him. I don't want to do anything wrong for Him to shut down my gate of parnasah. I work so hard, at least I want to get some money. I work so hard, at least I want to be able to pay for the mortgage. I want to pay for my kids to go to school. I want to have some food. Imagine a person works all day, all night, but he has no food to feed his kids. Hashem yerachem. Worst thing in the world.

13:06Somebody has all types of things, he has all types of wonderful things, but he can't afford to buy the medicine that he needs. It's the worst thing in the world. So, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, already we're scared because we realize this parnasah that we spent a lot of time chasing, He's the one responsible for it. The second thing is also, it says, everything is from Shamayim except the fear of Shamayim. Whether we keep the mitzvot or we don't keep the mitzvot, that's in our hands. Everything else is in Hashem's hands. That means that whether a person is alive or not, is not in his hands. It's in Hashem's hands. Even if a person says, no, no, I'm going to jump off a bridge. I'm going to end it. Who says you're going to die? One guy jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. many other people jumped off that bridge, but he's the only one who survived. There's a video where he tells the story: the second he jumped off the bridge, he says he regretted it. Beforehand, he was excited to jump off the bridge to end his misery. The second he jumped, he says he regretted it. There's a video to prove it. He's the only one who survived. Why did he survive? Because it was not his time to die.

14:24Meaning, even tonight you don't have the choice. Hashem decides who lives. Hashem decides. A person understands that his life, the end of it, is in Hashem's hands. Any normal person will say, "I'm scared. What do you mean? It's not my choice?" So our life is in His hands. Our money is in His hands. Whether a person gets married or not is in His hands. "Yeah, but I went on a lot of shiduchim." So a lot of people went on a lot of shiduchim. Who says you're going to find one? The point is, now you know, oh, my shidduch is in the hands of Hashem. What kind of shidduch am I going to get? You can find a shidduch, but it can be Amalek. Who wants a shidduch like this? Oh, Ima, Abba, here's Haman. Meet my shidduch, Haman. Your mom starts crying, your Abba starts crying. What? It's better than Hitler, no? Adolf wasn't, you didn't like Adolf. Haman you don't want either? You guys are picky, Ima and Abba. It's You get a shidduch, but who wants the shidduch? HaKadosh Baruch Hu decides what kind of shidduch you get. Any person that understands that the shidduch is in the hands of HaKadosh Baruch Hu gets scared. Many people think they can beat the system. How? They have savings accounts, 401(k)s, IRAs. That was my business for almost 20 years—Wall Street. I took people's millions and tried to make them more millions. That was my job, so I know a little bit about money. Now,

15:50Everyone had a big plan of what they were going to do with their millions. Never for a second did they think that maybe the millions are going to stay, but they're not. The millions stayed, but they were spent by their kids or somebody else, sometimes even their enemies. HaKadosh Baruch Hu decided that. Sometimes they had a plan of what they were going to do with the millions, but then they decided at the last minute to do a deal they shouldn't have done. And all the millions went bye-bye. And they have to go back to work at 60, 70 years old, where their skill set for the last 40, 50 years is useless in the modern world. So they have to go work at Walmart. What happened to my millions? Hashem took it. A person that understands this immediately becomes scared. So that's why, Rabotai, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, the prophets say, The Gemarot say, everywhere in the Torah you're going to see the constant reminder that "the beginning of wisdom is the fear of Hashem." Because once we acknowledge that Hashem is the one that runs the world, immediately we become scared. Not scared like, oh, we're only scared of punishment, but scared of the fact that He's in control. Whether I like it or not, I have to serve Him.

17:15If I don't serve Him, He's going to act accordingly. If I serve Him, He's going to act accordingly. Whether I like it or not, He's still running the show. Whether I say I believe in Him or I don't believe in Him, He's still running the show. Whether you believe in the police force of New York or not, if you speed on the highway, they're going to arrest you. What are you going to do when the police officer says, "Okay, your license and registration, sir?" "No, no, I don't believe in cops." don't believe in the police officers, I don't believe—oh no, okay, get out of the car please. Okay, I'll show you belief, I'll show you. Put your hands behind your back, I'll show you belief, I'll show you. You'll have emunah by the end of the night. Whether we acknowledge that Hashem is God or not doesn't make a difference; He's still the One that's running the show. So that's why we cannot skip knowledge of God, which then goes to fear of God, which eventually gets to the love of God. Now, there are certain things that HaKadosh Baruch Hu tells us clearly that He outright dislikes, to such an extent that these things affect our life in a very negative way. Now,

18:33In the holiday of Purim, we have a famous story that begins with a mistake by the leaders of our people. The leaders of our people heard there's a big party at Achashverosh's house, in his castle, six months straight. Everybody's having a good time. And they got an invite also. Now, the Gadol HaDor, Mordechai says, hey... It's not a place for Jewish people. It's not a place for Jewish people. Achashverosh is making fun of the fact that he took all the stuff from the Beit HaMikdash. Achashverosh is making fun of the fact that the prophecy of rebuilding the Beit HaMikdash didn't come true. Because his calculation was that the Beit HaMikdash was supposed to be built. And it's not. That's what the whole party is about. Meaning, this is the last place you should find a Jew. One little rabbi says, yeah, but there's kosher food. They listened to the high or the little rabbi. The little rabbi. Everybody went for the kosher food. Why? Their stomach decided what their future will be. Hashem doesn't like us making fun of Him. Hashem doesn't like us acting like the goyim. He doesn't like it. This is one of the things that was the pretext for a near annihilation of the people.

19:57pretext for a near annihilation of the people. He almost gave permission to Haman to destroy everyone in a single day because we went to get some kosher food at some goy's house. So, here we see that there are certain things that Hashem is more strict about, and there are certain things that it seems like He's maybe a little more lenient. Another thing that you'll see from that story if you look at the Midrashim is why did they really want to go? Is it really just about kosher food? I mean, they had kosher food at home too. You'll start seeing that they figured maybe we're going to go meet some of the kings, some of Achashverosh's generals, and different bankers and so on, and maybe we're going to do some business. Maybe it's going to be good for parnassah. So, we start seeing that the motivation wasn't necessarily the food, but rather what could come out of this whole dinner. Meaning we put Hashem aside. Hold on, Hashem, I got to go make some money. I got to go make some parnassah. I got to go to the White House to have some meetings and maybe try to make things better. Wait, isn't it Hashem who makes things better or worse? Oh, you forgot, you're going to do it. Okay, you go do it. Let's see what happens.

21:24And HaKadosh Baruch Hu let us do it. And we made a big mistake. Now, this may seem like a 3,000-year-old story. The truth be told, this is today's story. We are constantly putting Hashem aside because we think we can do a better job. Now, some of the things that I say in my shiurim are not necessarily the most pleasing things to the ear because it's a rebuke. It's reminding us of certain things that we did wrong. But if your mother told you, "Honey, please don't play with the electricity. If you keep putting your finger in it, eventually you're going to get electrocuted." Does that mean she loves you or does that mean she hates you? She wants you to live, that usually means she loves you. Now, rebuke is not a negative thing. It's actually a necessary tool that HaKadosh Baruch Hu says we're obligated to use. You must rebuke your brother.

22:32But don't do it in a way where you're going to become a sinner yourself. Meaning, don't rebuke the people as if you're better than them. Don't tell everybody, "I told you so. That's why you made a mistake." No. Tell them, "You're making a mistake. You're going in the wrong direction. Reroute. Reroute. That's it." Like Google says on Google Maps and the other systems. Everybody says reroute. They don't start yelling at you, "Hey, you idiot. You didn't know." They just tell you, "Reroute. Go somewhere else. You're going in the wrong direction." You're married to a Goyah. You have to marry a Jew. violating Shabbat, you have to stop violating Shabbat. If you're eating non-kosher, you have to stop eating non-kosher. This may not be so soothing and may require us to become a little more uncomfortable because we don't really like change. But at the end of the day, it's for our own benefit. Now, today in the world... One of the primary reasons that Am Yisrael is going in a different direction than what HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants us to go is because of money. We have become addicted to money to the extent that we're obsessed with it. That's all we can think about. We make our decisions based on it—where we're going to live, what we're going to build, who we're going to work with, who we're going to be friends with. Some people go to specific synagogues just because they want to sit next to some millionaire.

23:51Some people want to be friends with certain types of people just because they figure they have a certain amount of money, maybe I'll get some. People make all types of irrational decisions because of their obsession with money. Now, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to us, "Mine is the money, Mine is the gold. I'm the one who decides if you're going to get any of it." What? You think if you're going to marry him, therefore you're going to have money? You think if you're going to marry her, therefore you're going to get money? You think if you're going to live in this neighborhood, therefore you're going to have money? You think if you're going to have this job, therefore you're going to have money? I decide. Now, why is this a problem when we decide? Because if we decide, we start going away from Hashem. To such an extent, we start violating the Torah outright but calling it kosher. Now, anyone that watches my shiurim on a regular basis knows that I've spoken against the horrible epidemic we have in the business world today, specifically the Jewish business world. An industry called merchant cash advance. This, Rabotai Yekarim, is the epidemic of the generation that will bring the next Holocaust. No exaggeration.

25:09Now, you may disagree with me at first because you may be in it or you may be benefiting from it or you may know somebody that's in it. You don't think it's so bad. Wait till you hear. In the 1100s, the Jewish people were doing really well in England. Their primary business was lending money. They lent money to the goyim, the English mayors, and officials. necessary for the economy. Jewish people were prospering, started increasing interest rates, little by little took a certain amount of control over the economy. One day, the mayor decided to take a vacation. As you would have it, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, perfect opportunity. For what? A revolt. The goyim started killing Jews in the streets. Reason: You guys destroyed our economy with your high interest rates. Fast forward, Spanish Inquisition, same thing happened. Fast forward, Holocaust, less than 100 years ago, less than 80 years ago. The number one thing that Hitler said that gave him a pretext for why it was the right thing to do to hate Jewish people was because of their usury, their high interest.

26:34It's so high, it got to the point where it destroyed the German economy. Why? If you charge somebody an average interest rate, let's say five, 10%, they're able, with normal growth of the business, to make payments. But if you charge somebody 35, 45, 50% interest rates, that means that that business has to double every year just to meet the demand of the interest payments. How many businesses do you know that double every year? It almost never happens. It almost never happens. And if they do, they do it only for a temporary amount of time. The merchant cash advance business charges as much as 400%. And if that's not bad enough, they make people sign certain documents that give them outright permission to take over all of their assets in 24 hours, even if they're late by a payment. Not in default, just late. It's called confession of judgment. Now, some people who are not familiar with this business, but know somebody that works in it, may think, "Okay, you know, how is this gonna bring a Holocaust? I mean, this rabbi is a little fanatic." Mordechai HaYehudi was also fanatic, by the way. We have something in common. It's a good thing to have in common. Why? He was right. I am hoping I'm not right.

27:59You look at what's happening in the economy in America. Many small businesses are failing. Big businesses are succeeding, small businesses are failing, declaring bankruptcy left and right, almost to the extent of what happened in the 2007-2008 collapse. Why are they failing? The economy is doing fantastic. Why are you failing? Why is this guy shutting down a shop and starting a new company the next day? He's declaring bankruptcy because he cannot meet the interest payments. He can't meet the interest payments, he shuts down the business and starts something new. All over the country and in other places around the world, businesses are being shut down because of this. This is exactly what happened before the Holocaust. This gives power to Amalek. Now, just so you don't think this is my idea, this is also in the Torah. If you look at the Midrash Me'am Loez, Parashat Yitro, when he gives you the commentary on each one of the Ten Commandments, he says when there is usury, when there is dishonest business, when there is stealing, on the commandment of "Do not steal," he says if the Jewish people steal in large quantity, HaKadosh Baruch Hu brings famine to the world.

29:23Starvation. All of a sudden, Great Depression. Market goes to nothing. And if that's not enough, he also says, don't be immoral. These gay parades and all of these things that people are doing as if it's allowed. And there are certain rabbis or people that call themselves rabbis that are supporting it. Like this one clown from last week that calls himself an Orthodox rabbi but made a wedding between two guys. Two guys got married last week under the Orthodox, Orthodox, ke'ilu. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, when there is open immorality, when you're making the sin as if it's allowed, HaKadosh Baruch Hu brings a plague. Now for anyone that's not sleeping under a rock, right now we have a plague in the world. It's called coronavirus. Now, coronavirus wasn't just discovered a couple of months ago. A team of scientists from Wuhan discovered the virus almost a year before the virus was in the news. They publicized the paper. They made it publicly available. They actually even said it's going to come from China. They said it's coming from bats. Everything that we know today was already published in a research paper a year and a half ago.

30:51HaKadosh Baruch Hu made the smart people blind and ignored it. Fast forward, we have an epidemic in the world with no cure. No cure. According to logic, the end of the world could be in 10 months from now. According to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, this is nothing. Why? He decides. So why does He bring an epidemic? Why does He bring a potential famine? Why does He bring all of these things? Because He loves us, even if we don't love Him. Sometimes we forget that He's Abba. So, Abba says: "My son, my daughter, I'm Abba. I'm the one running the show, not you." Oh, you don't understand? Okay, I'll show you. I'll show you. Rabotai yikarim. Certain types of people are in these rotten businesses that cheat goyim under the understanding that they're allowed to do it. So I'll read you a few halachot so you understand that this is not an opinion. If you look...

32:08at David HaMelech. David HaMelech says that there are certain types of people that are not going to see Mashiach. In Tehillim 15, verse 5, he says anyone that lends people money with interest is not going to see Mashiach. Yeah, but he keeps Shabbat. Good for him. What about Mashiach? David HaMelech says no. David HaMelech is related to the Mashiach, by the way. David HaMelech says you're not going to see him. I promise you, you're not going to see him. The prophet Yeshayahu, chapter 33, verse 15, says the same thing. He says people that make extortionate profit, Hashem is disgusted by it. The Gemara says, what does it mean by extortionate profit? Gemara Masechet Makkot, page 24a, says charging people interest. Extortionate interest, not market interest. If you're a regular bank, you charge 5, 6, 7%, that's the normal market rate, no problem. But you start charging people 40, 50, 60, 70% types of interest, where you are killing people's businesses just because they're desperate?

33:32The prophet Isaiah says, the words of God, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, is disgusted by such behavior. The prophet Micah, chapter 6, verse number 8, says such things, charging people with interest, is not even something you need to know from the Torah itself. This is simply logic. Even if we didn't have the Torah, we would all know it's wrong to do it. And that's why Shlomo HaMelech made a halacha in his time 3,000 years ago, at the time of the Beit HaMikdash. And he says it in Proverbs 28, verse 8, that anyone who charges interest is simply going to make a bunch of money that Hashem is going to take away from him and give it to somebody who cares about people. Midah keneged midah, you hurt people, He's going to give it to somebody who cares about people. that's why Shlomo says. Who's he talking about? He's talking about lending to a Jew to another Jew? No, you don't need Shlomo for that. Shlomo says you're not even allowed to charge a non-Jew interest, even if he's an idol worshiper, meaning even if he's not good, not a good guy, Hashem hates him, still not allowed to charge him interest.

34:53So how come people are doing it? Because there's a little confused point. Where the Chachamim say you are allowed to charge interest if you are a Talmid Chacham and you're learning Torah all day and you need to make a living, but you can't work a regular job, so you have a little bit of money you could lend to somebody to make some money out of it, but just enough for you to live. Not to become rich. That's allowed. But how many of these bankers do you see are actually Talmidei Chachamim? How many of them are making just enough to live? Almost zero. Now, the Yalkut Yosef, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, in Yoreh De'ah, Siman 159, Hilchot Ribit, Se'if 8, says the Torah permits us to lend to a goy, but only to make a living was the heter made. Meaning, the leniency that Shlomo HaMelech, Shlomo HaMelech says is not allowed, but it's a rabbinical mitzvah. But where is there a leniency on what Shlomo HaMelech, the grandfather of Mashiach, says? You're allowed to lend to a goy if you meet these qualifications.

36:20Which is just to make enough to live. You need two, three, four, five thousand dollars a month to survive. That's it. No big conglomerate businesses, starting to go public, selling stocks to the public. None of that stuff. Just enough to survive. Which means that most Jews wouldn't even be in that business. If I'm only allowed to just survive off this business, I can find something else I can make a living on. And not to become wealthy, he says. Unless it's a talmid chacham who's even permitted to become wealthy from it. Meaning, if it's, let's say, a huge talmid chacham, someone that's a major scholar, and he's only lending money. Here, he has one customer, this guy comes to him every few months, saying, "Listen, I need to borrow 50,000, 100,000." If he ends up becoming wealthy from it, that's bracha. Why? HaKadosh Baruch Hu is deciding it. But that's not because he's going to chase people looking for customers. Already, we see there's a lot more clarity on an entire industry that, unfortunately, today in the religious world is very popular. So popular that I'm hearing that there are certain bachurim from yeshivot leaving the yeshiva and joining this business. Now the

37:46Rabbi Yosef Shaul Nathanson, in Sefer Divrei Shaul, Hilchot Edut, Perek 2, Halacha number 5. He actually says, this is a couple of hundred years ago, that you shouldn't even lend money to a goy in order to charge interest, because if a person wants to do teshuva for lending money that he charged interest on, to someone that, let's say for example, he lent money to a Jew, and he charged him interest, and you want to do teshuva for it, in order to do teshuva for it, you have to stop lending money even to non-Jews. Why? To completely destroy the desire you have for lending money. Why? Because it's easy money. Hashem doesn't like easy money. Why? It's in parashat Bereishit. that you are going to make a living with the sweat of your brow. Meaning you're supposed to toil. It's not supposed to come easy. Nothing good comes easy. So there are many, many other places, many other Chachamim, the Rama talks about it, the Gra, the Vilna Gaon talks about it. Some even call it gezel.

39:12The sages talk very harshly against Jewish people making money with interest, whether to Jews or to non-Jews. Now, why do I tell you all of this? Most likely, maybe none of you guys are in the business, and if you are, B'ezrat Hashem, you'll leave it. I tell you because I love you. I tell you because no one else is going to tell you. And the reason I know no one is going to tell you is because this business has been growing for years, quietly. And not a single Rabbi has spoken against it. Why? Look, they're using the money for tzedakah. Look, they're using the money to build another yeshiva. Yeah, we're building another yeshiva, but intermarriage is over 80% in America. What kind of yeshivot are we getting today? If the yeshivot are being built, great, that's good. We need yeshivot. I want to build a yeshiva also in Florida because over there we need a lot of help. Hashem, yeshivot, we have. A woman called me just a week ago. She told me, "I have a problem." I said, "What's the problem?" She said, "What you said in the shiur two months ago came true." I said, "I said a lot of things. Tell me, be a little bit more direct." She says, "You said that there are missionaries, Christian missionaries, teaching inside yeshivot."

40:28I said, "Yeah, and?" She goes, "That's happening." I said, "Please elaborate; I want to say this in a shiur." She says, "My seven or eight-year-old boy came home and said, 'Ima, I learned a chiddush today from my history teacher.'" She goes, "What'd you learn?" He said, "I learned about Yoshke, yimach shemo vezichro." She says, "I borrow money every month just to make sure my kid goes to yeshiva. He comes back to me with a different religion." This is not a new story and it's not an individual story. When our primary concern is building buildings and money, we start making all types of leniencies. Like, for example, hiring history teachers and gymnastic teachers and English teachers that are not even Jewish. Why? Maybe they're a little cheaper. So now you are letting Haman and his friends inside sometimes the yeshivot. And almost every yeshiva that I'm familiar with has this situation. And they don't think it's a problem. I had a group of kids from here, calling me for six months straight, asking me all types of questions, but questions that big people ask.

41:49Not questions that 13, 14-year-olds ask. Big questions. Questions that philosophers ask. Questions that people who are very, very learned ask. Adults ask. Heresy questions. Baruch Hashem, we had the answers for six months straight. After six months, I asked them, "Don't you guys go to yeshiva though? Where do you get these questions from?" He says, "There are a lot of questions." I said, whose questions are these for six months straight? Oh, it's our teacher's questions. I said, what kind of rabbi do you have? He's asking each question. He goes, no, it's not the rabbi, it's the science teacher. I said, he's a Jew? He goes, no, he's an atheist. I said, do you have an atheist teaching in the yeshiva? He goes, yeah, but he's not teaching us religion. I said, he's the best religious teacher in the world. Look, he's teaching you atheism. He's teaching you atheism inside the yeshiva. I called the Rosh Yeshiva. I said, "You're not embarrassed of yourself? You have 14, 15 kids that are calling me left and right, and I'm trying to save these kids from becoming atheists because of you." He goes, "What did I do?" I said, "You hired an atheist." He goes, "Oh, he told me he's not going to do it." I said, "Apparently he's doing it." He still gave him two weeks before he fired him. This is happening. Why? We're obsessed with money.

43:05Our obsession with money doesn't just start and end at being dishonest in business. Our obsession with money has many, many different tentacles that lead us astray, lead us away from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And this is one of the things that HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't like. He doesn't like it at all. He doesn't like it to such an extent that He gives very big warning shots, like we see in the world today. Some of this stuff may have nothing to do with you. But it may do with your brother, your sister, or your friend. Either way, a person needs to know that if he wants to have bracha in his parnasa, first and foremost, he must understand where it's coming from. If you understand where your money is coming from, you'll act accordingly. If you know that Hashem is the one who's giving you the money, then there's no reason for you to cheat. There's no reason for you to try to maneuver something that's perhaps illegal or safek, allowed, safek, not allowed. There's no reason for you to cheat the system. There's no reason for you to try to beat the system. Whatever Hashem wants you to have, you're going to have anyway. This is one of the things that a person needs to know. And the reason why...

44:25because if you simply ignore everything I just said, which is everybody's choice—everybody can choose to do that—if we ignore it, then the problem is that HaKadosh Baruch Hu says that if we don't pay attention to His signs... You treat me with casualness, meaning as if what I'm saying is not so important, as if my permission to do something or prohibition to do something doesn't really matter. Thank you. You treat me with casualness, I'll treat you with double casualness, meaning the signs... The warning signs, the difficulties, become much worse. Now, another thing that Klal Yisrael needs to know is that the Shulchan Aruch says there are all types of mitzvot to do and there are all types of aveirot to do. Good things and bad things. If a person does good, he creates a malach.

45:43You do a mitzvah, you keep the shiur Torah. Every single second you're sitting in the shiur Torah, you're learning, you're paying attention. Every single second you're creating another malach that's going to help you in life. You go home, you read a sefer, a sefer that's related to Torah, and every single word that you read, you're creating another malach that's going to help you in life. It gives you more chizuk, more power to do more good. On the contrary, the Mishnah in Avot says that every time we make a sin, we create a bad angel that's going to try to influence us to do bad things. The Shulchan Aruch says there are many things you can do good; there are many things you can, chas v'shalom, do bad. But there are certain things that the Shulchan Aruch calls the worst. You know, like when you have one of those friends, and you ask him, "Do you want to do this? Do you want to do that?" What happens? You know, you ask him, and they're a little excited about something, a little bit exaggerated. It's like, "Listen, that's the worst thing in the world." Well, guess what? The Shulchan Aruch doesn't exaggerate. If it says this is the worst thing in the world, it's the worst thing in the world. And the Shulchan Aruch says...

46:55When men and women act immorally, when they're promiscuous, either with themselves or with other people, it's the worst thing in the world. When a man wastes seed, Shulchan Aruch says this is the worst sin in the entire Torah. When a woman walks around immodestly, she wants to walk around like the Goyot. She wants to walk around like, what is this, Osama Bin Laden's wife. What's his name? Barack's wife. What was her name? That is, his wife, Michelle. She started walking around. She made it stylish to not have sleeves. So every girl now thinks that it's proper to walk around with no sleeves. That's the new business attire. That's the new business attire. Nobody wears sleeves anymore. Why? Because that's how Michelle did it, right? We should look up to the Goyot. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says every single time you walk around with no sleeves, every single time you walk around with your exposed body, you are causing people to sin. Shulchan Aruch says this is the worst thing in the world. How worse? Just like if we, for example, chas v'shalom, we eat something not kosher.

48:08one sin, you eat pig. You eat pig one time, you ask most Jews, Jews who are religious or not, "Do you eat pig?" "No, what do you think? I'm going to eat pig? Rabbi, relax. Maybe I don't keep Shabbat, maybe this, maybe that, but I don't eat pig." You ask a goy, you ask a regular Jew, "Do you eat pig?" "No, no, I don't eat pig." But you ask him, "Is your wife modest? Is your mother modest?" He's probably waiting, "I'm fanatic." The problem is... If you eat pig, it's one sin. If you waste seed, it doesn't matter what age you are—whether you're 13 years old, 50 years old, or 70 years old. If you waste seed one time, it's hundreds of millions of sins. Why? Because every zivra, every seed that comes out of the male member, is an individual sin itself. Each one creates another angel that was supposed to come to life. It's a half a neshama. And the Gemara in Masechet Niddah, page 16, says that every seed was supposed to come to this world and do something. Because they didn't come to this world and ended up being wasted, they go up to Shamayim, to a place of no man. And they wait, and they wait, and they wait, and nothing happens. So then they go back down, and they start wanting to take revenge against the person that created them incomplete.

49:34And then the Gemara says what happens after he leaves this world also. It says he gets to meet all those neshamot. And all of those neshamot go to Hashem and they say, "Hashem, look what he did to us. We've been living for 67 years incomplete." And Hashem says, "You're right. You get first take on him." He gets punished by himself. And that's just for one sin. It's for one time. Shulchan Aruch says this is the worst thing in the world. I agree. I agree it's the worst thing in the world. A woman walks around immodestly. She wants to go to the supermarket to buy a little milk. She wants to go to the office to maybe make a few extra dollars to help the household. She's a big, famous lawyer. She makes a million dollars a year. Whatever she does, but she walks around immodestly. The cashier looks at her. The cop looks at her. The fireman looks at her. The secretary looks at her. Everybody looks at her. Every one of those people is looking at her. They're not thinking about her personality, I promise you. They're not thinking about, oh, where do you think she's from? Oh, who's her father? No one thinks about that. Doesn't matter what age. Doesn't matter if it's a 13-year-old or an 80-year-old. Everyone has, he will have it up.

50:54And as long as those thoughts are in their head, it's going to eventually lead to aveirah itself. As the Gemara Masechet Avodah Zarah says, watch your eyes in the morning so it doesn't lead you to evil at night. She now becomes a partner in his sin. Yeah, but I wasn't there. I didn't tell him to do it. You didn't tell him to do it. You caused him to do it. You didn't tell him to shoot the gun. You just gave him the gun. You gave him the gun. Yeah, right? Tell him to use it. If you didn't give him the gun, he wouldn't have anything to shoot. You gave him the gun. You're a partner in the crime. Shulchan Aruch says this is the worst thing in the world. Worst thing in the world. This is an easy solution. Easy solution for such a thing. What solution? Put some clothes on. Watch your eyes. Try to learn about the brit. Understand that it's simply not worth it. Now, when a person understands what to stay away from and starts implementing it in his life, all of a sudden he sees that Hashem starts changing things. And the reason why is because one of the things that causes a person to lose parnassah, to lose blessing, to lose shidduch, is the two things that I mentioned to you.

52:21The two things that I mentioned to you, either being dishonest in business or being promiscuous and immoral, those are the two primary things where HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, "Oh, you're dishonest in business? Okay, I'm going to just take the business away from you. Oh, you're wasting seed? Okay, I'm just going to give all of the shefa, all of the shefa that comes from heaven for every human soul. Hashem says, I have to give this shefa to somebody. I'm going to give it to the souls you created." So, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov says, a person is destroying his own bank account, his own parnassah, his own life, his own shidduch with his own actions. No one else is doing it for him. She lost her own shidduch because of the way she looks. Why? It's measure for measure. You walk around immodest; married men look at you. Those married men go home to their wives. Their wives already had two, three kids. They don't look like a 19-year-old anymore. So now they look at their wife after a second, third, or fourth pregnancy. Maybe she added a few extra pounds. Maybe she doesn't have her makeup on. Maybe she looks a little bit Tisha B'Av. But now her husband says, I think I made a mistake. Why? Because he remembers the immodest girl that he saw in the streets. He remembers that girl. So what did you do, young girl? You just destroyed a house. You destroyed Shalom Bayit. Why? He doesn't want to be with his wife anymore.

53:47He hates his wife. He's disgusted by his wife now because he remembers you. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, you cause Shalom Bayit problems, you're not going to have a bayit. That's what you're seeing. Girls, 30, 35, 40 years old, beautiful girls. Nothing's wrong. Ein mum ba. But no husband either. Why? You cause Shalom Bayit problems, measure for measure. There's no shidduch crisis, rabotai. There's no such thing as a shidduch crisis. It's a middot crisis. Character trait crisis. A person that's not finding blessing in his life, that's because the blessing is going somewhere else. The Kabbalah tells us, Zohar HaKadosh tells us, there's a spiritual tube coming from Shamayim, connecting to our neshamot. When we make sins, we cut pieces of the tube. But there are certain sins, like the ones I mentioned to you, that cut the whole tube. Now, what happens, anyone? My dear friend who arranged this whole beautiful event, you're in construction. Now, what happens if you have a tube? I'm not talking about a tube that's made out of cement. I'm talking about a tube that's made out of rubber, and there's a lot of fluid coming out of it, but you cut it all of a sudden. What happens to the tube? It starts going all over the place. Am I right or am I wrong? It starts going all over the place, rabotai.

55:07That means that the shefa that we're supposed to get, the good that we're supposed to get from HaKadosh Baruch Hu, it's coming down, but it's just going all over the place. It goes to your friends, it goes to your enemies, it goes to people you know, it goes to people you don't know, it goes to the shedim, it goes to Amalek, it goes to all types of things. That's why one of the things, Rabotai HaYekarim, that you'll see, the mitzvah of Purim, is to remember Amalek. Remember Amalek. Not only the Amalek, the Hitlers that are trying to kill us in every generation, but also sometimes the Amalek that's inside us, that's causing us to go against Hashem. The Amalek that's inside us, the Yetzer Hara that's inside us, trying to get us to go against Hashem. Remember that one. Do teshuva on that one. Remember that one. Do teshuva on that one because that's the one that's going to allow Hashem to give you the good He wants to give you already. But if you don't remember it and you continue away, then the whole issue that's happened to us generation after generation, this warning sign, this scary warning sign, this very, very painful warning sign continues to return in every generation.

56:16it's important for us to know these things because even though some of them are very scary, or perhaps even all of them are scary, this is the diagnosis. I was sick for many, many years and Baruch Hashem, HaKadosh Baruch Hu made me so sick that the doctors gave up. I went to over 50 different doctors, and the doctors looked at me and said you should donate your body to science. Why? They should do experiments on it to see everything that could possibly go wrong in a human being. My rabbi told me one time, he says, the Gemara says that if somebody is poor, lost all of his money, if somebody doesn't have any kids, and if somebody has tzara'at, certain types of disease that have no cure, he's considered like a dead person. I told him, "I have all three. I have all of them. I lost everything, didn't have any kids, and had an incurable disease." Now, instead of crying with me, he told me, "Here's the diagnosis. The diagnosis is, you're right, you have all these things. But now that we have the diagnosis, there's a cure too."

57:46When you have a diagnosis, that already solves more than half the problem. When we already know what we're doing wrong, that already solves more than half the problem, because now we know how to fix it. Now we know it's in our hands to fix it. And the solution is to do teshuva. He told me that I have to start changing. I have to start keeping Shabbat. I have to start keeping the laws of modesty, even as a male. I have to start making sure that everything that I do is in accordance with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Baruch Hashem, I was never a cheater in business. I never lied. I never stole. But nonetheless, I did a lot of other things that made Hashem very upset. And little by little, I started fixing it. And little by little, HaKadosh Baruch Hu started fixing me. And every single day that I'm alive, I say Baruch Hashem that He gave me another day, not because I'm doing it as a bracha like every Jew, but because it's real. It wasn't supposed to be this way, according to science, according to medicine, according to logic, according to rationale. It wasn't supposed to be this way. But HaKadosh Baruch Hu made it this way. Why? There's a diagnosis, there's a cure.

58:55Am Yisrael has a diagnosis right now. Right now, we're not doing so great. That's the diagnosis. Our businesses sometimes are not exactly according to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Sometimes they're open on Shabbat when they're not supposed to be. Sometimes they're being dishonest or unethical. Sometimes we're doing things that we know inside ourselves are not allowed, not good. We have to start fixing it. Why? The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat... Says the first question a person gets asked when he gets up to Shamayim: Did you conduct your business with emunah in Hashem? Meaning, did you know that Hashem was watching you when you were doing business? Each time you made another contract, did you know Hashem was watching you while you were signing the contract? Each time you got a customer. Did you know Hashem was the one that was watching you get that customer and what you were telling them in order to get the customer? All those promises you were making? All those guarantees you were making? You know Hashem was sitting right there in the next chair? Oh, I guarantee you're going to make money on this, sir. Oh, you guarantee? Where's the guarantee? No, I just hope it works out. No, but you said guarantee. Guarantee and hope are two different things. They're miles apart. Guarantee it's going to work out means that you're like God.

1:00:16Hope, you're a human being. You said to him, you guarantee. That's a lie. From a thing of lies, we have to stay away. Who's watching you lie? People do this, we do this on a regular basis, we lie. We think it's the only way to get ahead. That's the mistake. Now, how can we fix it? We have a diagnosis. We have to start reviewing ourselves. No one needs to come to me, no one needs to come to anybody else. Look in the mirror. You know you. You know what you do. You know what you do is right, and you know what you're doing is wrong. Start fixing it one at a time. Don't worry about how it's going to affect your bottom line. Worry about how it's going to affect your olam haba. because each time each one of us does teshuva, we are creating more good things in the world, more power in the kedusha world that's going to help Klal Yisrael do teshuva. We're going to help other people by our own good actions. Each time we do bad things, we're creating more bad things that are from the side of tumah that are hurting Klal Yisrael. Now,

1:01:27When a person reviews himself in business, and if he's already doing good there, that means that he's already passed half the test of the generation. The next half is morality. How is he acting with his wife? How is he acting with himself? How is he acting, period, when it comes to his own intimate issues? A person needs to know, Hashem takes this stuff very seriously. He says, "You be holy, because I am holy." So the sages ask, what does it mean to be holy? The foundation of holiness of Am Yisrael starts with the way they treat intimacy. If we're intimate like animals, then we're not being Jews. Then we're not being holy. Today, people go to strange people's houses after meeting them for an hour and act like husband and wives. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says this is not holy. This is not how a Jew is supposed to be.

1:02:28This is not holy. A Bat Yisrael needs to know, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says you're His daughter. That means that you are a princess. A princess cannot go to some strange guy's house, even if he calls himself her boyfriend. "Oh no, I'm her boyfriend for three years." You're a strange guy. Why? Until you're a husband, you're a strange guy. You're some strange guy. Anyone that's not your husband is some strange guy. She cannot act like a wife to some strange guy just because he bought her a bracelet or a flower. Why? You are a princess. A princess does not sell herself for nothing. A princess is only going to be with her husband. A princess is only going to allow her husband to see her in certain ways. Don't walk around like Michelle Obama. Why? You're not Michelle Obama. She wants to act like a cow? Let her act like a cow. You're a princess. Act like a princess. This, Rabotai, has to be as clear to us, Am Yisrael, as day. Why? That's the only way we can become holy. Now,

1:03:51When a person understands these things, now he says, okay, you know what, I like it, I understand it, how do I do it? How do I remember everything you just said for the rest of my life? That's where Mussar and learning Torah come in. If a person starts learning every single day, at least 15 minutes or more, every single day of Mussar, every single day, This message that you heard today will keep repeating in your mind with additional new messages every day because you're going to hear it, you're going to listen to it, you're going to start being impacted by it. If you don't learn it, if you don't start learning every single day, whether you're male or female, you may have gotten impacted by it in a certain way, you like it, you don't like it, but within a couple of days, you forget about it. But if you start listening every day, you start listening to our shiurim online, you go to our app, there are all the shiurim, so you don't have to go to YouTube, you can simply download the app; everything is kosher over there. There are shiurim in Hebrew, there are shiurim in English. You go to our website, bezratashem.org, you can download shiurim over there. There are many different ways that you can watch our shiurim. You want to go on YouTube or on Facebook, we're there too, Baruch Hashem.

1:05:03Point is, you start watching shiurim every single day. You start watching them on a regular basis. You start with 15 minutes, you increase it over time. Little by little, this message starts being repeated in your mind on a regular basis. Little by little, you are doing construction work to your neshamah. Little by little, you start wanting to do the mitzvot. Wanting to be modest. Wanting to be a person that's shomer brit. Wanting to keep Shabbat. Wanting to do everything. Why? Because now that you know Hashem, you fear Hashem, you start falling in love with Hashem. Because you realize there's a benefit, not only from the reward that you get, but also from the lack of punishments. All of a sudden your life is blessed. You go to work, you make a living. Your payment comes on time. You get a customer, the customer actually pays. He's not one of these customers that looks like a big shot but ends up being a lawsuit. All of a sudden, you see that there's blessing in your parnassah. All of a sudden, you see there's blessing in your marriage. You come home, your wife says hello—not, "Oh honey, I'll be with you in a second, let me finish the phone call." All of a sudden, your kids are happy to see you. Your life is blessed. All you need is there—not more, not less. You have everything you need: food, shelter, whatever you need, you have, without breaking your head over it.

1:06:28That's a blessed life. That's a life with bracha. I know many people that make a lot of money, but very, very few that have bracha. I know some guys that make literally millions of dollars, but zero bracha. One guy, he's a distant uncle of mine. A couple of years ago, His 23-year-old son died. The father, the guy, was vacationing on Rosh Hashanah. Instead of going to Beit Knesset, he was on a beach. And his son was doing the same thing, but just in America. He was in Israel, his son was in America. And on Rosh Hashanah, he fell off a skateboard or something and got a concussion. Didn't wake up. Hashem Yirachem. We tried contacting him, we tried talking to him, we tried helping him. But having a hundred million dollars makes it very difficult for a person to change his life. He was sure this was a mistake. So last week, Hashem took another son. Excuse me, I found that there are two cars blocking the entire parking lot. One is black and the other is red.

1:07:57so Hashem's first sign was very, very strong, but we didn't get the message, so Hashem sent a second sign. These things happen on a regular basis, and one of the downsides of dealing with the public is that you constantly get bad news from people. You have to constantly say Baruch Dayan Ha'Emet. When a person understands the real world, sees the real world, he's not living in a fantasy, he realizes that Rabbi Yisrael Salanter says, forget about going to Gan Eden. Forget about that stuff. If anyone understands what a punishment is, he would simply say to Hashem, I'll complete the entire Torah, just don't punish me. Forget about reward. Forget about giving me Gan Eden, go and have a great time. Forget about that stuff.

1:08:58Anyone that truly understands what punishment is, Rabbi Yisrael Salanter says, forget about reward, just don't punish me. Rabotai, I see people in this world, they have everything and nothing at the same time. A father losing two sons in his own lifetime, it seems like Gehinnom may actually be better than such a thing. I met another guy last week, a Holocaust survivor. You would think, okay, you survived the Holocaust, Baruch Hashem. You should be blessed. You should thank God every day. Instead of thanking God every day, he goes against God every day. In the last year, he lost his wife and his daughter. He's 86, 87 years old. He's asking me, Rabbi, can you give me a reason why I should live? I said, if you're going to change your life, yeah, I can give you a reason. If not, you shouldn't live. He says, "Rabbi, I'll try." I said, "I'll try too. Go visit, go try, teach, whatever you can do."

1:10:06Because the system of secularism, the system of being 50-50 religious, the system of being half a Goy, half a Jew, whenever you feel like it, that system doesn't work. HaKadosh Baruch Hu did not give us permission to be like the Goyim. He told us we have to be different all the time, not just sometimes. Now, when a person truly understands this, and he lives a Jewish life at all times, in his business, in his private life, in his marriage, in his education, in his everything. he lives a Jewish life, then guess what? That Jewish blessing comes to his life. And even when there are difficulties in his or her life, they have an answer for that too. They have an answer for that too. That's also from HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Hashem tests those that He loves. Meaning Hashem is testing you now. He gave you a little bit of a difficult time just to see where you are. What is this like? This is like when they're building something. You build a car, for example. You build a car, you're not just going to put all the pieces there and finish. What are you going to do? You're going to put, let's say, the shell of the car. Then you're going to put the doors on. Now, you're not just going to put the doors and then move on to the next step. What are you going to do first? You start smashing the doors a few times just to see what kind of pressure they can handle.

1:11:22Close them, open them, close them, open them, close them, open them, 100 times. How much pressure can they handle? When are they going to break? Okay, you've gotten to a point where you realize they can handle enough pressure. Next point, let's put some tires on. Put the tires on, start hitting the tires. Start doing all types of things to the tires to put pressure on the tires to see when they're going to pop. Okay, they pass the test. You go to the windshield. You put the windshield on, then you start throwing stuff at the windshield just to see how much pressure it can handle before it breaks. HaKadosh Baruch Hu puts that pressure on us. When you live a 100% life with HaKadosh Baruch Hu, you understand that even the difficult times are from Hashem. When your life is 50-50, 50% with Hashem, you're with Hashem on the weekend. You're with Hashem on Shabbat when you go to the Beit Knesset. You're with Hashem when there's a funeral. You're with Hashem when there's a Bar Mitzvah. You're with Hashem when you got married, but not so much after. You're with Hashem when you need something, but not necessarily when you don't need something. Or at least you don't think you need something. That 50-50 life, that 50-50 life is 100% suffering.

1:12:31And the reason why is because when difficulty comes to the life of a person that's 50-50 with Hashem, he cannot get around the fact that anything is beyond his control. He cannot get his head around the fact that Hashem is testing him. So he thinks something went wrong in the system. So when you ask him, "Where was God during the Holocaust?" he doesn't have an answer, even though the Torah says God did it. When people tell you, "Oh, you know, there's a big question in Judaism: Where was God during the Holocaust?" It's not a big question. The Torah clearly says God did it. And why? Now, this may not be the most pleasing news in the world, but it's the truth. If a person lives 100% with Hashem, this is music to his ears. Why? He knows Hashem is Emet. When the Rebbe MiTzanz, the Klausenberger Rebbe, he himself was in the Holocaust. But not only in the Holocaust, 11 of his kids and his wife were murdered by the evil Nazis. When these Nazis wanted to torture him a little more,

1:13:57They made him run up and down a thin staircase with another Jew. They ran up the stairs, up and down the stairs, with a boulder about 30 kilos. Just to see who was going to fall first. Whoever fell was not going to make it. Now, the non-religious Jew He had some strength, but when you don't eat for a while, that strength goes away. The Rebbe Mitzanz wasn't strong before or after. But for whatever reason, this wasn't difficult for him at all. So they asked this non-religious Jew, how do you explain it? He says, all I know is the whole time he was singing. The whole time the Rebbe Mitzanz was singing. He says, what was he singing? He says he was singing because we did not serve Hashem with happiness. Because we did not serve Hashem with happiness. So I asked him, what is this? After the whole thing, Rebbe, you're singing right now, we're almost going to die, and you're singing in the middle of the Holocaust, you're singing? And he continued singing, singing, singing, he's happy as can be, he's not crying. Everybody else is crying, he's happy as can be. Rebbe, why are you singing?

1:15:21He says, "Because what's happening right now, this is in the Torah. What's happening to us right now? We're doing this. We're serving the goy. The goy is our master. That's in the Torah. That's why I'm happy. What I'm singing is a verse in the Torah. That's what I'm singing. I'm singing a verse. I'm going over a verse in the Torah. Why? Because this verse is what we're living right now." But if this verse is in the Torah, that means that the good stuff is also, that the good stuff in the Torah is also going to come to fruition. That's also why I'm singing. When a person understands that yes, there's a good part, there's a bad part, what does he do? He starts doing whatever he can to get to the good part. Now, how do we get our brothers and sisters to the good part?

1:16:24famous story of Rabbi Yisrael Klein, who was in the Holocaust as well. Rabbi Yisrael Klein saw that from the starvation that the evil Nazis imposed on us, some people were dying from diseases, and some people were simply dying from starvation itself. He saw a Jew who Starving to death. No power to speak. No power to move. Literally just moments away from leaving this world. Rabbi Yisrael Klein looked at him and sat next to him. He didn't know him. He said to him, "I don't have any food to give you. I don't have any drink to give you either. I don't have much to give you."

1:17:25that is going to help you physically. But I have one thing that can help you. I have one thing, I have an abundance that I can give you. And with his last breath, literally no power to speak, this man says to him, "Yes, what is it?" He said, "I can give you an abundance of love because you're a Jew and I love you." and you're important to Hashem. And Hashem knows that you're here and you're suffering. And He cares about you even now. And what you're dealing with right now, it's written in the Torah. And there's a value to it. There's a very critical value to it. There's a reason why we're here. And there's also a reason why we can get out of here. And he starts telling them the value of being a Jew and the value of following the Torah and the value of doing what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us to do. Not only in order to get the benefit but also to avoid the punishment. Not only to avoid the punishment but also to get the benefit. And all of a sudden, this Jew that was literally on his last breath started feeling real love for the first time in his life. And that gave him enough strength

1:18:40to survive another day and another day, and eventually the food came. Another day passed, and they ended up becoming lifelong friends, both of whom survived the Holocaust. Why? He showed him real love. Now, when we see all types of campaigns, all types of news of someone being sick physically, someone not having any money to pay their bills, someone struggling financially. Baruch Hashem, Am Yisrael is very generous; we run to help. We see people suffering physically, we run to help. There was a young girl in Florida who had an unusual disease and they started a campaign. to raise $2 million in order to buy this medicine. In 24 hours, almost 26,000 people donated $2.2 million. Unbelievable, unbelievable achievement from strangers, complete strangers that all they did is just simply belong to the same nation, that's it.

1:20:01Little girl was sick, we got the money. Young man is sick, we get the money. Somebody doesn't have money for a wedding, we get the money. Somebody doesn't have money to buy a house or to pay for a house, we get the money. Physically, we see somebody struggling. If you're a real Jew, you don't have much of a problem helping them, giving them a little bit of money. So what's the problem? Why isn't this making us such a holier nation then? Why isn't it improving our situation? Why are more people betraying their Judaism? That's because right now we have a spiritual Holocaust and no one cares. We have people who tell their parents, tell their wives, tell their husbands, tell their friends, "No, I'm not going to keep Shabbat anymore. No, I'm not going to learn Torah anymore. No, I'm going to drop out of Yeshiva. No, I'm not going to keep mitzvot anymore. It's not for me. No, Rosh Hashanah. No, next year I'll do it. Next year." And what's the response? "Okay. You do what you have to. You know yourself. You know what you can handle. You can't handle Shabbat? Okay, God understands you."

1:21:21A complete nonchalant, indifferent attitude towards people abandoning Judaism, people abandoning HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Hence the reason why we have almost 80% of American Jews marrying non-Jews. People outright abandoning their heritage, ending Judaism in a second. And when you ask people to help get Jews to become more Jewish, you're not going to get the enthusiasm you get for a little girl that's sick. In one case, with the two million dollars, you could help probably two million people do teshuva, keep Shabbat. But people pick to help one little girl instead. Now, I'm not telling you not to help the little girl. But why does one contradict the other? This is because we ourselves are looking at our tzedakah in an incorrect way. This week's parasha, parashat Terumah, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, "Take for Me a portion."

1:22:46Now, Chazal says, wait a minute, shouldn't it say give a portion, not take? They say, if you look at tzedakah, at ma'aser, the right way, then you realize that when you're giving, you're taking. When you give the ma'aser, when you give the tzedakah for the right cause, in reality, you're taking the blessing also. HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives you a blessing in return. And the blessing is much, much more than what you're giving. Because what you're giving, HaKadosh Baruch Hu is going to give that person that money anyway. The parnasah is not coming from you. You're just choosing to be the vessel that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is going to use. That's it. But if it's not you, it's someone else who's going to give this person. which means that when we give, in essence, we're really taking. When we look at tzedakah in an incorrect way, where we look at it as a business transaction, then that means that we want to do something tangible with it. We want to do something material with it. So we're much more comfortable helping something material. So build a building, or put our name on the door, or help somebody pay rent, or help something material. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, yes, that's good. But there's also the neshamah of Am Yisrael.

1:24:10There's the spiritual part of Am Yisrael that's being neglected. The spiritual part of Am Yisrael that's simply ignorant of what we even need to do, even in a religious world. Needless to say, in a non-religious world. There are almost 15, maybe even 20 million Jews, out of which almost 80% do not even keep Shabbat, the basic foundation of Judaism. If we don't do something about it, HaKadosh Baruch Hu will. When we talk about loving Am Yisrael, we can't just say we love Am Yisrael physically. We love them physically, so therefore we're inviting them to our house for Kiddush. We love them physically, so therefore we're going to invite them to the wedding. We love them physically, so therefore we're going to give them some money when they need to pay rent. When we say we love Am Yisrael, we're all responsible for each other. We're also supposed to be saying we care about each other's spirituality. If I see you sinning, I care. Why? It hurts me too. It hurts me too when you sin. If he sins, he sins. She, everybody sins; it's supposed to affect you also. We can't just care about each other's physicality and materialism. We have to also care about each other's spirituality.

1:25:30Because if we don't, then we're simply repeating the same issues that caused us to get into a bad situation. So that means that all of the things that we covered today, whether it's inappropriate businesses, inappropriate treatment of our own intimate issues, or inappropriate mentality, all of those things are not just for us to learn, but also for us to share. Now, many people... that are not familiar with our shiurim usually get motivated to watch them by starting with my personal story. And the reason why is because Baruch Hashem, HaKadosh Baruch Hu took me on a nice roller coaster. He gave me all of the kaparot avonot that you could possibly have in a short period of time. Whether it was sickness, loss of money, intermarriage, loss of business, friends becoming enemies, every eisan, almost all of it happened. Now, it's so good, we turned it into a movie. And it's so good, that even though we published this movie just a couple of months ago, almost a quarter million people have watched it.

1:26:44And each and every single one of them has been motivated to change their life somewhat. Some a lot, some a little. But everybody that watches the whole thing, they have to do something. It's just that good. Not because it's me, but because it's Emes. It doesn't matter where you stand, you can see yourself in the story. Now we've made it easy. The movie is available for free online, but it's not just for you to watch. It's for you to share. So over there is a bunch of cards, little movie posters. On the back of the movie poster, you'll see a QR code. If you put your phone camera on top of it to scan it, it'll open a new screen that goes to the movie. Person presses on that button, watches the movie, and by tomorrow he's a different person. Why? The neshamah is going to wake up a little bit. Once the neshamah wakes up a little bit, some of the messages that you heard today may affect him a little more. This is how we all have to do it. You can do it for free. If you want me to send you more, you can sponsor some, you can buy some, or if you don't have any money, I'll send you for free. The key is we have to do something.

1:27:51We have to do something. We have to share what we've learned, not just today, but everything from the Torah that we know, with Klal Yisrael to get Am Yisrael to wake up. If HaKadosh Baruch Hu says this is a big deal, then it's a big deal. Right now, Rabotai, we're living in an illusion. We're living in an illusion. We're living in an illusion that is... we're thinking that we're still in last year, but we're in this year. Last year, at this time, the economy was doing good. The war was relatively at peace, considering. Financially, everyone was doing as best as possible. Overall, for the nation, it's the best time the nation of Israel has done since the time of Shlomo HaMelech. Even though poverty still exists, there are people who are so rich that it makes a pretty big difference from what we used to be. The point being is that overall things were okay. Today, where do we stand?

1:28:52As I said earlier, we have an epidemic. We have a virus without a cure. This coronavirus simply means all of us are in a situation where we're depending on a miracle. If no miracle happens, nothing will be left within 10 months. I have no doubt in my mind a miracle will happen. No doubt in my mind. Not because we deserve it today. Not because if we deserved it today, guess what? It would happen today. Not because we deserve it today, but because we're going to deserve it after we start changing. The sooner we change, the sooner we'll deserve it. How much more disaster do we need to see in order to change our actions, in order to do something to deserve it? I don't know. That's up to us. Each one of us has to do what we can for it. I'm going to try to learn a little bit. I'm going to try to teach a little bit. I'm going to try to do whatever I can. Everybody here also has to do something. Everybody that's watching also has to do something. Why? Because, as of now, we don't deserve a miracle.

1:29:52If we did, it would have happened. So that means every single person has to take something on, read more Tehillim, learn more Torah, do more mitzvot, keep a better Shabbat, donate more money. Instead of ma'aser, give 20% if you can. If you can't give 10%, give 5%, give something, do something. The point is, every single person has to do something. Why? We need to get a miracle. It's the only way. And guess what? The miracle is not coming for the goyim, it's coming for us. The goyim are the ones that are helping this disaster continue expanding in different places. So we have to do something. How much we have to do, I have no idea. But we have to do something for sure. So that's already problem number one we have. Now, anyone that understands the financial markets, I haven't followed it in years, but right now I have to, to a certain extent. People tell me every day that things are happening in the world. So right now we're in a situation where the whole world can literally collapse in a second. Financially. Why? It's a bubble that's been growing for 11 years straight. I was in the market for almost 20 years. This is something no Rabbi could disagree with. I know a little bit about the market. Statistically, this is an anomaly. It's not normal for the market to go up 11 years straight.

1:31:05It's not normal at all. Meaning, forget the coronavirus, forget the economy, forget everything else. It's not normal for the market to go up this far, this much, this quickly. It's just not normal. Every 10 years, there's supposed to be at least one crash. That's just the way it works. Usually it's every 7 years, but in the last 30-40 years, the numbers have varied a little bit. Needless to say, every 10 years there's some type of financial meltdown. It just happens that way. There's a bubble that grows and it collapses, and it grows and it collapses, and so on and so forth. Now we've surpassed that time. Meaning every single day the market doesn't collapse, we are on borrowed time. But people are investing money and they're putting more money and more money as if they've all become stock gurus. Why? Because they made money, so they think their IQ went up with every dollar. Everybody's portfolio is skyrocketing, so everybody thinks they should be the next guy on CNBC. The reality is, the valuations don't justify the prices. But that was already six, seven years ago when I left the business.

1:32:13The valuations didn't justify the prices seven years ago. Needless to say, they don't today. Which means that when this crisis happens, it's not going to be like 2008. It'll be much, much worse. Now, it's not just going to be in stocks. Real estate prices don't make sense either. Precious metals don't make sense either. Nothing makes sense. Nothing justifies it. Now people say, no, no, if the market goes down, then we're gonna go back to the gold standard. I wrote two articles about it almost 10 years ago. It's not possible to go to the gold standard. There's not enough gold in the world. Forget about that dream. The guy that's investing that says it usually has a lot of gold and he wants gold to go higher. That's why he says it. He doesn't know anything about gold, though. There's not enough gold in the world for there to be a gold standard. Impossible. Impossible for it to ever happen. The monetary system is too strong. Oh no, we're going to go to Bitcoin. Yeah, okay. We're going to go to a fifth world war before Bitcoin becomes anything meaningful. Why? The U.S. dollar is too valuable for them to allow Bitcoin to exist.

1:33:16Okay, so we're going to invest everything in dollars. Yeah, but when currency collapses, everybody goes down with it. Meaning, Rabotai and Chaverim, we're in a situation where nothing really makes sense. Not T-bills, not stocks, not real estate, nothing. Now, does this mean that all of it's going to collapse at once? No, I'm not saying that. I have no idea. All I know is that right now we're living an illusion. We're living an illusion as if we're all comfortable because everybody's got their house and got their second house and got their cars and got their retirement. Everybody feels comfortable. Meanwhile, there is a third world war being cooked. Not just financially, not just the epidemic, but also anyone that watches a little bit of news knows that Russia can't wait to bomb America. They just need an excuse. America can't wait to bomb somebody. They just need an excuse. China just wants to get in the middle, but they're dealing with a little bit of problems right now. They ate too many bats. Iran, they're just waiting to get the bomb. As soon as they get the bomb, they don't care who, they're just pressing the button. They're just pressing the button, just go, go. Like when we go to the traffic light, you press, you walk, walk, even though the thing doesn't work, it's not connected to anything, they want to press the go button on an atomic bomb. And Israel's in the middle. The Jews are in the middle. We're living in an illusion, Rabbi.

1:34:36We're living in an illusion. Economically, we're not in a stable time. We're probably in the most unstable time in the world, but that's an illusion because everyone thinks they're stable. Someone who's sick but doesn't acknowledge their sickness is in a much, much worse case than someone who's sick and acknowledges their case. We're not in a situation where we're acknowledging our problems. We have a medical crisis, we have a financial crisis, and we also have a governmental crisis. I wouldn't be surprised if there's an assassination. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some type of revolt in this country. There's so much hatred between the politicians that it's gotten to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if Hillary Clinton just kills another person. She already collected about 60 bodies. What's another one? It's true. All of her best friends are dead. I mean, is that just a coincidence? The point is that there's a lot going on, much more than at any other time in history. You ask any old-timer, was this the same in your time 50, 60, 70 years ago? They'll start looking at you funny. In my time? No, nothing like my time. If one of those things that I just mentioned was happening in that time, it was already a big deal. That was all you talked about. We're having everything happen at once. Why? Why?

1:35:56Chachamim say that before Mashiach comes, Hashem is going to speed up time. Not speed up time as if we're going to have less than 24 hours a day, but rather a lot of things are going to happen in a short period of time. In order to expedite the Mashiach, but also to expedite teshuvah. Now with all of what I just said, this means that all of our focus, all of our focus right now, needs to be on two things. Now, people may agree with me, people may not agree with me, but the two things are, for our own teshuvah, and the second thing is, for Am Yisrael's teshuvah. Everything else is not going to matter. I don't know how much time we have left, I don't know if it's a year, or it's 10 years, or 20 years, I have no idea. I'm not Mashiach, and I'm not a prophet, or a son of a prophet. But I can tell you what I see. Right now, we're in a peculiar time where everything could collapse in a moment with no notice. Which means that everyone's retirement accounts, built-up real estate portfolio, business portfolio, and all these portfolios,

1:37:09Literally, they're not going to matter. They're not going to matter at some point. Why? Because either the market's going to change, and that value's going to change, or Hashem is going to, in essence, change the world in a certain way that it's not really going to matter anymore. Why? Because HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't bring your real estate portfolio to Shamayim. When you go up to Shamayim, there's no such thing as a real estate portfolio. There's a portfolio of people you help do teshuva. There's a portfolio of the Talmud that you learn. There's a portfolio of mitzvot that you've done. There's a spiritual portfolio. But in Shamayim, there's no material portfolio. Which means that if we're going to invest all of our time to renovate our kitchens and have a really beautiful kitchen and a really beautiful bathroom, we're going to end up being homeless in heaven. So it's time that we start investing in our own house in heaven, but also show some love to our brothers and sisters and help them get a house there too. They can't continue violating Shabbat and think they're going to have a house in heaven. They can't continue walking around immodestly and think they're going to have a house in heaven. They can't continue going against Hashem in business and in other places and think they're going to have a house in heaven. So right now, instead of investing in houses here that are not going to last, whether because of the market or because HaKadosh Baruch Hu is simply going to make them disappear.

1:38:31Whichever one comes first, instead of investing everything we have into houses here, it's time we start investing into houses there. Because that's the one we're gonna live in forever. Some people have a quarter-million dollar bathroom here, but a filthy house over there. It's time we invest a little bit there. Every one of us can do something. Every one of us can help something. And it starts with the person you see in the mirror. Please take some of these words into consideration because it's not coming from a place of hatred. It's not coming from a place where I think I'm better. I need to do teshuva more than anybody else. I'm telling you this because I know most likely no one else is. If somebody else was, if there was somebody else who were, if there were a lot of people doing this, I'd go back to Wall Street. Trust me, it's a much better living. I was making $3,000 an hour. Now I live on tzedakah. It's a world apart. But because this is a reality and very few are talking the truth, we have to do it. Why? That's Ahavat Yisrael. Telling them the things that are uncomfortable. Telling them the things we have to fix. If I told you, old tzaddikim, what's the point of the lecture? If everybody's perfect, why are you even coming to a lecture? Go home and be perfect.

1:39:53But the whole point of the Torah is to use all of the stories, all of the rules, all of the laws, and all of the things we know in order to improve ourselves. The first part is to identify the diagnosis. Where are we going wrong? Why are we not having as much blessing in our lives? How come it's so hard to make money? How come it's so hard to have shalom bayit? How come it's so hard to raise good kids? How come it's so hard to get into a school? How come everything is so hard? It's hard because we're not doing it right. Either because we don't want to do it, or because we're doing things to ruin it. We're ruining our blessing for the different reasons that I mentioned. It could be morality. It could be business. It could be the issues of shalom bayit. It could be different things. So instead of pointing fingers at who's doing what, the first person you point to is yourself. What can I do to fix me? Once a person starts doing that, everything changes. And he starts looking at the Torah as simply a priceless love letter from HaKadosh Baruch Hu that is like no other. Even though this love letter has some things that are relatively harsh, it's simply to warn us. It's simply to tell us what's available if we don't do it, not that He wants to do it. Take Him seriously. Please.

1:41:21We don't want the situation to return to what it was 80 years ago. We want HaKadosh Baruch Hu to bring us salvation. We want HaKadosh Baruch Hu to bring us a Mashiach in a good way. We want HaKadosh Baruch Hu to bring us Shalom Bayit. We want HaKadosh Baruch Hu to give us healthy children. We want HaKadosh Baruch Hu to help us build yeshivot that are full of Kedushah. We want HaKadosh Baruch Hu to help our communities get off all of these drugs, get off all of these addictions, get off all of these divorces, get off all of these horrible things that are happening in every single community. That's what we want HaKadosh Baruch Hu. So please, take some of the things that I said seriously, because it's only HaKadosh Baruch Hu. HaKadosh Baruch Hu is saying it. Take it seriously, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu will give you everything to such an extent that you say, until we say, "Hashem, enough. You gave us too much." Baruch Adonai le'olam. Amen ve'amen.

1:42:42Elaborate businesses start going public, selling stocks to the public, none of that stuff. Just enough to survive, which means that most Jews wouldn't even be in that business. If I'm only allowed to just survive off this business, I can find something else I can make a living on. And not to become wealthy, he says.