MUSSAR from Holocaust Survivor (17 minutes)

1:26You know, Hashem says, it's here. You know what, I'll tell you this. Baruch Hashem, what happened today in this shiur, you guys don't even understand what just happened. This shiur wasn't supposed to happen. It's Monday. We don't have shiurim on Monday. To get to a shiur on Tuesday or Wednesday, the whole world has to collapse for me to make it to the shiur. So to have it on a new day, it's really like the Satan gets up off his chair and beats me up all day just to survive to get to the shiur. If I told you just what happens to me on a daily basis to get to a shiur, you guys would say, "Why do you even do it?" But that's not the point. You guys would say, why do you even do it? But that's not the point. I understand now why this shiur happened. It has everything to do with what you're saying. You're saying, how much worse can it get, right? So, let me answer the question. Let me answer the question. You see, Hashem is very kind with us. He provides us with support and gives us a push here and there when you're doing good. He likes to give you a push. When you're doing bad, nothing happens. Well, sometimes you get punished. So, both Hashem and these last several months, we've had an extraordinary amount of siyata dishmaya. Torah and chiddushim are growing in the organization b'ezrat Hashem, growing leaps and bounds.

2:51likes to give us support, likes to give us a push here and there. When you're doing good, it likes to give you a push. When you're doing bad, nothing happens—well, sometimes you get punished. So, baruch Hashem, these last several months we've had an extraordinary amount of siyata dishmaya. Torah umadah, a lot of chiddush in the organization. B'ezrat Hashem, growing by leaps and bounds, and... Other organizations invested millions and millions of dollars. We're either getting it for nothing or we're getting it for such a price that we can actually afford, which is pennies. Because we're not so big as far as financials, but whatever we're doing, we have movies that big organizations are asking us, asking me how many people I have on my staff to make these movies. There's a new movie coming out tomorrow night, part 3 of "Torah and Science in Ancient Wisdom."

3:52It's the best part out of the three, by the way. The first two are amazing, but part three is even better than both. It's amazingly phenomenal production. After months in the making, we have another movie that's probably about two weeks away, maybe one week, from being finished, along with a few others. We also have a TV station that's going to go live very soon, and we have a lot of amazing things in the works, including a few books and so on. But... Tachlis, how do you know it's working? How do you know it's working? So, once in a while Hashem sends you a gift, and he says, "Listen, letters come in. I started watching your shiurim, and I keep Shabbat. I started watching your shiurim, and I kept Yom Kippur. I started watching shiurim, and I took off the wig." One woman, Baruch Hashem, just two weeks before Rosh Hashanah, says, "I bought a wig and..." Day later, after I bought a wig for thousands of dollars, I saw your shiur about wigs. The wig is in the garbage right now. Now, this is a person who wore wigs her whole life. It's not like it's the first wig; all her life she was wearing wigs. She told me, "I know it's true. I know it's true. It's hard for me; it's hard for my husband. I know it's true; the wig goes in the garbage." So he sings, he had this mazal, you see my master's results every day, Baruch Hashem, and...

5:19But you ask the question, how much worse can it be? Sinners we have. Plenty of sinners, unfortunately. The chidush we got today from Rabbi Ephraim and the Zohar HaKadosh was that at the end of times, I don't know if you were here yet, but at the end of times we're going to run, we're going to make so many sins that we're going to lose all of our merits that our forefathers have accrued, which we're still surviving on. These merits will run out. Merits that our forefathers have, that we're still surviving on, will run out. Meaning we won't go from trouble to disaster. So you asked, how much worse can it get now? I have people that watch the shiur in all parts of the world: Tahiti, Australia, Israel, all over the US, and the UK. Chassidic people, Ashkenazi, Sephardic, religious, and atheists actually even have a couple of people from Arab countries—from Abu Dhabi, from Saudi Arabia. I think I have one guy, one guy in Afghanistan, who watches the shiurim.

6:35No, no, I actually have people that are much more supportive. They said they even actually donated a few dollars to it. It's unbelievable. Thank you. So I'm gonna watch this shiur. Okay, maybe somebody's just looking to assassinate me, but actually donating money means they actually like this shiur. So nice people from all kinds. But for the first time today, you got your answer in life. You asked, "How much worse can it get?" Right? So Hashem sent you a Holocaust survivor. The tzaddik that just left the shiur, he's 94 years old. Apparently, he's a big fan. I met his wife right before Rosh Hashanah, and she said, right when I moved to the community, she says, I can't believe I'm meeting you. We've been watching your shiurim. And then she says, my husband's very upset that I met you before him because he's even a bigger fan.

7:38So you asked, "How much worse can it be?" Hashem sent you an answer. He sent you a Holocaust survivor. The state of the world before the Holocaust is exactly like today: Jews were in power, Jews were wealthy, Jews were in control, and many were anti-Torah. Intermarriage became normal and socially acceptable. Everything that's happening right now. You ask, how much worse can it be? You should have asked him. Right now, it's going to, didn't. That's why I do what I do. Somebody asked me on a holiday and says, "The funny thing was, you ain't that at all the compliments that they give." I get to the point, and he goes, "Listen, you can go back to Wall Street, go make money, and..."

8:39Go make fifty million dollars, go make a hundred million dollars, then come back. You can maybe pay other people to do it. So I thought about this mishnah. I said let's say we listen to this guy. I go back to Wall Street, and I go make money. But then this mishnah came up. The Mishnah says that if you fulfill the Torah despite not having any money, despite being poor, despite not having a penny, and despite not knowing how you're going to survive next month, next week, or even the next day, eventually you will have wealth. What kind of wealth? It could be material, it could be spiritual, or it could be both. However, if you neglect the Torah because you're chasing wealth and eventually you'll have poverty. So yes, I go back to Wall Street and be like these guys. There's no doubt in my mind. I could be on a Forbes 500 list within a certain amount of time. No doubt. The skill set I'm better with today than I was ever before. You have a clearer mind and I'm healthier, baruch Hashem, no questions asked. But then, what's on the other side going to do? Eventually, you'll have poverty. So yes, I could go back to Wall Street and be like these guys. There's no doubt in my mind that I could be on the Forbes 500 within a certain amount of time, no doubt. My skill set is better today than it ever was before. I have a clearer mind, and I'm healthier, Baruch Hashem, no questions asked. But then, what's Am Yisrael going to do?

10:00There's one less guy that's actually helping people do teshuva. There's not that many to begin with. I'm not the only guy. There are obviously others. There's Rabbi Mizrahi, there are a few others, Rabbi Alon Anava, Rabbi Zitron, to name a few. But we still have 80% of Am Yisrael that doesn't even keep Shabbat, which means that whatever we have is definitely not enough. So to lower it by one more... How much worse can it be? That's that's why we don't go back to Wall Street. That's why I don't care about money. That's why it's not some big dugma. I'm not some big tzadik or big nothing. It's just the reality that we live. I dream about what's possible, what's likely, and whoever's going to survive, it's the ones who actually listen to this mishnah. Everybody else is...

11:03disaster so everyone has an opportunity to invest. You can invest in your building, you can invest in your next house, you can invest in the next kitchen, you can invest in the next car, you get a second car and a third car, maybe get your 16-year-old kid a car and get a big iPhone and a bigger iPad and a bigger this and a bigger that and maybe some more magazine subscriptions so you can look at other people's money just in case they have more than you. But you can't take anything with you when you die. All that stuff dies with you. Somebody else takes it. By the time you actually get to have all the stuff, you leave it to someone else, and they don't want it. Alternatively, you can start investing in something more meaningful. and a bigger iPad and a bigger this and a bigger that and maybe some more magazine subscriptions so you can look at other people's money just in case they have more than you. But you can't take anything. Can't take anything with you. Nothing happens when you die; all that stuff dies with you. Somebody else takes it. By the time you actually get to have all the stuff, you leave it to somebody else, and they don't want it. Or you can start investing, Your life is to fulfill Torah. Time, use it for Torah. Money, use it for Torah. Why? It's the only thing that's going to protect you from not experiencing what he experienced. He saw firsthand. He was in the Holocaust. Somehow, this truth that he's hearing here, he says, this is what we need to hear. And what he said to me right now in quiet because it was the scariest part. And he whispered to me in my ear and he says, why so few people? Why so few people? You know why he said why so few people? Because if there were more people listening to Rabbi Hillel...

12:25what he said to me right now in quiet because it was the scariest part. And he whispered to me in my ear, and he says, why so few people? Why so few people? You know why he said, why so few people? Because if there were more people listening to Rabbi Hillel Michael Meyer of Wasserman and all of the rebukers before the Holocaust - there wouldn't have been a Holocaust. He went through the Holocaust; he saw it. You know why? He knows why it happened. He didn't say one time when I mentioned the Holocaust that God did it, and he didn't say no, no, no. He knows why it happened. He knows very well why it happened. And that's why he's asking, why so few people? Because if there were more people before the Holocaust listening to the truth of Torah, there wouldn't have been a Holocaust. There wouldn't have been one. There are two options in the days of Mashiach: the good way and the bad way. The good way is that everybody does teshuva.

13:55Badway Gog and Magog's disaster makes the Sages and previous generations deeply analyze and debate different things. They start talking about the end of times. They started saying what's gonna happen. They said, "Whoa! World War I just happened, was right after all." One said, "World War I was just the beginning; the next war is gonna make World War I seem small in comparison." Seemed like a kindergarten game. Seemed like child's play. That's what happened. World War II made World War I seem like nothing. And it is said that Gog and Magog is going to make World War II seem like child's play. So I asked the same question: Why so few people? Why so few people? Why are people still wondering, "Should I give $10, or should I save it for my IRA account? Should I donate the thousand to the Beit Knesset so they can say, 'Look, this guy bought an aliyah for a thousand, for five thousand, fifty thousand,' or should I donate $20 to help somebody do teshuvah at the Beit Knesset? Everybody has money."

15:23Everybody has money to buy an aliyah during the holidays. Everybody has money. Even if you don't have money, you're going to buy an aliyah. Why? Because you want to show everybody else you have money. Contest: five hundred, five thousand, five days, five days. Everybody wants to show they have money. To save souls from going to the Holocaust: twenty dollars. Sorry, it's so little; I'll have more next time. Why so few people? That's what he said. Why so few people? What happened? What happened? Where are they? They're donating in the Beit Knesset, kissing the Sefer Torah, and Hashem says, "Don't kiss me, just listen to me." So, next week, I don't know if we're going to do a shiur on Sunday or Monday because it's Chag on Tuesday and Wednesday. But I'll try my best to do a shiur, most likely on Monday. If we do a shiur on Monday, it's going to be a big, big mesirat nefesh to get it done. We are doing a shiur on Monday. I want each one of you to do everything you possibly can. If you have to beg, bring at least one, two, three, four, or five people with you. Why? I don't want to hear what he said again. I don't want to hear why so few people are coming because he knows; he saw it. I just dream it, and it's then I...

16:51When the guy who saw Gehinnom tells you what it looks like, you start listening. You understand? Any questions? Baruch Adonai le'olam. Amen ve'amen.