King David Story: Doing TeShuva Before MaShiach Arrives | TORAH FOR KIDS AI

0:05Now, David HaMelech in Tehillim number 84, verse 11, states, "For one day in Your courtyards is better than a thousand elsewhere." This verse, a very famous one, is understood by most people, myself included, as David HaMelech singing to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that one day in a Beit Midrash is better than a thousand days elsewhere. Going and playing basketball. Going and playing video games. Going on Wall Street making a million dollars a day. One day, Beit Midrash, learning the emet is worth more than a thousand days. Making a million dollars a day. That's the pshat. That's the basic understanding that everybody had. It's David HaMelech talking to Hashem. Saying to Hashem, I love You so much. I love the emet so much that even one day of having it, it's the greatest thing in the world. But the Gemara in Masechet Makkot, page 10a, says the opposite. It says it's actually David being talked to by Hashem. David said to Hashem, Hashem, when am I going to die? When am I going to die, Hashem? Hashem says, I can't tell you. He says, what day of the week? It's going to be Shabbat. You're going to die on Shabbat, David.

1:09So David says to Hashem, David says to Hashem, okay, so let me die on Friday. Let me die on Friday, so at least I don't die on Shabbat, and they can bury me on Friday. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to David, I'm very upset with Am Yisrael. Very upset with Am Yisrael. Why am I upset? All of Am Yisrael, all of the people under David HaMelech, are looking forward to the passing of David. Why? Because they already know the prophecy is that, as soon as David HaMelech dies, HaKadosh Baruch Hu is going to give the kingdom to his son Shlomo, and Shlomo is going to build the Beit HaMikdash. The Beit HaMikdash is like having HaKadosh Baruch Hu on a level better than WhatsApp. It's like being friends with Hashem on Facebook. You could go to the Beit HaMikdash and talk to Hashem directly. A fire, a fire coming from heaven every single day in the shape of a lion to burn the korbanot. Imagine after the cloud, there is a fire, a blue fire coming down from heaven every day, a lion. Who's not going to believe in miracles? Who's not going to believe in hashgacha pratit? You're seeing stuff happen—it's not just stories anymore. So all of Am Yisrael is looking forward to this; they want to build the Beit HaMikdash. David HaMelech says to Hashem, "Let me die earlier so that way everybody wins. One, I don't die on Shabbat because you can't bury a person on Shabbat; I die on Friday until..."

2:19Am Yisrael is happy. I died a little earlier. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to David, one day of your learning Torah is worth to Me more than a thousand korbanot, a thousand sacrifices that your son and the rest of Am Yisrael will make in the Beit HaMikdash. Why is this a big deal to us, Rabotai? HaKadosh Baruch Hu told David, your learning Torah is worth to me more than the Beit HaMikdash itself, more than the Korbanot, more than everything. Why is this important? That means that you sitting here right now, listening to Torah, is worth to HaKadosh Baruch Hu more than all of the sacrifices of the Beit HaMikdash. You're opening a Gemara, learning, sweating a little bit, trying to figure out what it actually means. Who's against whom? Why are they arguing? Why can't they all be friends? Why is there machloket? Why should I care about this specific issue if it already happened 3,000 years ago? And so on and so forth. You toiling to get to the emet, to get to the bottom line of the truth, is worth to HaKadosh Baruch Hu more than anything. more than sacrifices at the Beit HaMikdash. That's how much it's worth. So, with that being said, this is how we know how valuable the emet is to Hashem. How valuable it is for Hashem for you to know it before it's too late. Because the Gemara in Masechet Avodah Zarah says, once Mashiach comes, there's no more nothing. There's no more conversions, there's no more teshuva, there's no more, oh, I'm sorry. Once Mashiach comes, we're finished. The reality is, it's finished really before that. Why?

3:47Why is it finished before then? Because Gog U'Magog is going to happen before the Mashiach comes. Gog U'Magog is not going to be a peaceful war. You know, one side shoots, the other one waits, gets hit. Okay, you know what? We'll wait two weeks, then we'll hit you back. Gog U'Magog is going to be a very, very scary war, making everything else that happened before it seem like child's play. seem like child's play. That means we're not going to have the opportunities we have today to study Torah whenever we feel like it. Go, wake up, look at your phone. Instead of seeing all the junk, you go on Be'ezrat Hashem.org, you go to our YouTube channel, you go to our app, you go to the podcast, you press play, and you sit there while you're drinking your coffee. A few times a week, you roll out of bed, you have a shiur 20 minutes away, 5 minutes away, for free. We're not going to have those happen. Meaning that to do teshuva during the war is not going to be a piece of cake. Go to minyan, go pray. You have 5, 6, 7, 10 choices in many Jewish communities. Pray whenever you feel like it sometimes. You need tefillin, all you got to do is make a phone call, send a text message, send a few dollars, and you have tefillin within a few days. You want a book, you go on the internet, do-do-do-do-do, it arrives within two days.

4:52Write a book. Whatever book you want. Whatever sefer you want. It's not going to be that easy. It's not going to be that easy. Meaning that to do teshuva once the war is out, it's pretty much the end of times. It's pretty much the end of doing teshuva. Because to do teshuva takes time. You need to know stuff. You need to know what you don't know today. You need to know the halachot of Shabbat. How do you keep Shabbat? Better yet, how do you not violate Shabbat? Most people think that keeping Shabbat is about sleeping, eating, going to shul if you feel like it, and hanging out with the guys. That's what most people think keeping Shabbat is. They assume that simply refraining from work is sufficient. But consider this: the cows out in the fields, right off of I-95, they "keep Shabbat" every day in that sense. They eat, they drink, but they don't engage in the deeper spiritual aspects that Shabbat requires. They don't go to Beit Knesset usually. And when they do come to Beit Knesset, it's as if they just come for the steak or the physical enjoyment. So, are they all going to go to Gan Eden just because they have all these comforts? Shabbat is not just about eating, drinking, going to Beit Knesset, and sleeping. It's more than that. You need to understand the true essence and sanctity of Shabbat, which involves deep spiritual connection, learning, and reflection. You need to know how to keep the holidays, not just the fast. Fasting on Yom Kippur is not really the ikar. Most people think, "Oh, yeah, I keep Yom Kippur because I fast." However, the vast majority of people do not keep Yom Kippur without even realizing it. Why? The Mishnah says, the Mishnah says...

5:55Someone who says, "I'm going to sin, then do teshuva, sin, do teshuva," HaKadosh Baruch Hu is not going to let him do teshuva, and even Yom Kippur is not going to help him. So Chazal said, what does this mean? Yom Kippur, Rabotai, the Gemara in Masechet Ta'anit, page 25a, says the whole point of Yom Kippur is for you to do teshuva, not for you to fast. If you fasted on Yom Kippur, but you didn't do teshuva, you didn't commit to stop sinning, all you did is diet. And Shamayim didn't even count that you kept Yom Kippur. It's meaningless. Shamayim doesn't care if you eat. Hashem cares if you eat. If He didn't want you to eat, He'd just put starvation. Salaam. Everybody's religious. So, the point is, Rabotai, these are the types of things you're going to need to know because that's the emet. That's the emet. If you didn't know it until now, welcome. This is Judaism. Does that mean it's really hard? Not necessarily. Judaism is not hard. It's only hard for people who don't want to do it. If you don't want to change your life, Judaism is extremely hard. But if you want to change your life, if you want to be a better person and be closer to Hashem, then Judaism is very easy.