Parashat Ki Tisa: Why Shabbat is the Key to True TeShuva

0:03There are only a couple of mitzvot that are bound to time that women are obligated to observe; one of them is Shabbat. Why? Shabbat is for all of Judaism. Someone who does not keep Shabbat by driving on Shabbat, by smoking cigarettes or hookahs or whatever they smoke these days on Shabbat, or by watching television on Shabbat is violating Shabbat. Cooks on Shabbat or works on Shabbat? Unless any of those things are tied to pikuach nefesh, meaning they're tied to saving somebody else's life, that person is violating Shabbat. So if somebody is dying and you have to cook them a meal to save their life, don't listen to an unusual pikuach nefesh; you have to cook them a nice juicy steak on the barbecue and...

1:03On Shabbat, if you don't, they're going to die. Strange, but let's say it's a hypothetical story. It's a mitzvah for you to cook for them, meaning you should not even do it in an unusual way. You should do it as you would do it any other day. Why? You're saving a life. If someone has to go to the hospital and... It's a mitzvah to turn on the car and drive the car to the hospital to take him to the hospital. Mitzvah, it's not that at all. You shouldn't be careful, thinking maybe you should make sure that no one's watching. No, no, no, it's a mitzvah, a mitzvah to go take him to the hospital. Why? Because you're saving their life—mitzvah. But if you're doing those things just for your own talent or your own desire, you're cooking a steak because you want a steak, you're working because you want to just make money, and... Because you're a doctor, you're saving somebody's life. You're a doctor, but you don't really have to work on Shabbat. You want to work on Shabbat because you want to buy an extra boat, an extra car, or another diamond. You're working to make more money, not to save a life. Like there's one guy who stopped coming to my shiur because he says, "I already did teshuva." I said, "I'm not so sure. Why keep Shabbat?"

2:20Keep Shabbat, did you? I'm like, it's a lot more than you know, than just keeping Shabbat, and probably you don't know about what Shabbat is. He goes, "No, no, I'm okay." We're having this conversation on Shabbat. In the middle of the conversation, he tells me, "Oh, yeah, you know what? I have to go check my phone." Once Shabbat, I'm like, "You have to go check your phone?" Walking in the neighborhood and he's like, "All right, hold on, I gotta go check my phone." We have to check your phone on Shabbat because? No, I'm a doctor. I'm like, you're a dentist for little children. You're a dentist for four-year-olds that have parents who are probably not so smart for sending their kids to dentists because the kids' teeth are going to fall out anyway. It's all teeth that are not going to stay anywhere. They're four-year-olds, but they want their teeth to look like movie stars. They send them to a family dentist for kids, even though none of their teeth are going to stay. They're all going to fall out. But whatever, that's your job. Good for you. But you can't say it's Pikuach Nefesh. No, I'm a dentist. It's not Pikuach Nefesh. But I did Teshuva. I did Teshuva. I did Teshuva. Everybody thinks they did Teshuva. Everybody needs to do Teshuva. The Charedim need to do Teshuva. The Baalei Teshuva need to do Teshuva. The Rabbis need to do Teshuva. The Chilonim need to do Teshuva. The Goyim have to do Teshuva. Everybody has to do Teshuva.

3:37Everybody has to choose or something. So someone that drives on Shabbat to go save a life is not a "Shakran" but rather performing a mitzvah. However, if you're driving on Shabbat because you feel like driving or think you're saving a life, but in reality, you're not and you're just going to make more money, then that is not permissible. Violating Shabbat now, if you think that you're going to save a life, meaning there's a woman that's about to give birth, is considered pikuach nefesh. You take her to the doctor, you drive on Shabbat to take her to the doctor. They get her to the doctor and, as it happens so often, they say, "Oh, no, it's just a thing where you're not going to have the baby right now. Come back in a couple of days. No, you're not due yet." It happens. Sometimes the woman has contractions and thinks she is in labor. And it doesn't happen to me that she's not giving birth. Did you violate Shabbat now? In the beginning it was a mitzvah. But now you didn't save any life because the doctor says no baby. Is it now a sin? No. It's still a mitzvah. Why? At the time it was pikuach nefesh. At the time it was pikuach nefesh. It's still a mitzvah. But you don't have to go back home, though. You have to wait until the end of Shabbat. So now if somebody violates Shabbat, this week's parasha, Parashat Ki Tisa,

4:58It's like Hashem coordinates for the Jewish people. Hashem said to Moses, saying: "Now you speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'However, you must observe My Shabbat, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations to know that I am Hashem Who makes you holy.' And the next verse says: 'And you shall keep the Shabbat, for it is holy to you; its desecrators shall surely be put to death, for whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among its people.'" You shall observe the Shabbat, for it is holy to you. Its desecrators shall be put to death, for whoever does work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among its people. So here is one of the sources of what it means to violate Shabbat. Hashem Yitbarach tells Am Yisrael.

6:14this Shabbat. That's the deal. That's the covenant. Meaning no Shabbat, no deal. You could keep every mitzvah in the book, you could create mitzvot... You don't keep Shabbat? No deal. No Olam HaBa. How do we know? From the literal translation of the verse itself. We're not even looking at commentary. Simple translation. First and foremost, it says, death upon death. The desecrators have death upon death, which means two deaths. So first, death means that in the times of the Sanhedrin, the times of the Beit HaMikdash, they would actually kill them on the spot. If there is evidence that this person violated Shabbat, and there are witnesses, he violated Shabbat, they kill him. How? The most vicious, hardest death penalty of all. There are four different types of death penalties. This one is the worst one.

7:19This is the worst sin in Judaism. Now the Gemara says, okay, now there's no more Sanhedrin, there's no more death penalty from the Sanhedrin. It says even though there's no more death penalty because there's no Sanhedrin, there's no Beit HaMikdash, the death penalty still applies, only now it's from Heaven. And they give an example; he says someone that violates Shabbat, by let's say, for example, working his cow or riding his horse — the equivalent of driving a car — will have a bull run over him. Sounds familiar? It's called a car accident. It's called an airplane crash, a September 11th, a terrorist attack, same thing. Violate Shabbat by, let's say, for example, working his cow or riding his horse—the equivalent of driving a car—will have a bull run over him. Sounds familiar? It's called a car accident. It's called an airplane crash, a September 11th, a terrorist attack. Same thing. There are an enormous number of Jews, tens of thousands, who die every single year because of car accidents. It's not an accident; it's from Shamayim. It's from Shamayim. And there's an unusual number of them dying while driving on Shabbat. Yes, in Israel specifically. That's why they did the study. Huh? Huh? There you go.

8:3833 percent according to Amos's research, 33 percent of all accidents in Israel happen on Shabbat. This means that Shabbat is only one day of the week, which is approximately 14 percent of the week. However, 14 percent of the week has 33 percent of the deaths. Shema Yisrael. So that's the first mot. That's the first death. Second, yamut. What is yamut? Yamut means second death. How could such a person die twice? They don't die twice. It means that the second death is Olam Habah. Their Olam Habah dies. No more Olam Habah. But then if that wasn't enough, it says, That soul shall be cut off among his people. If "karet hanefesh" would have meant death, then we wouldn't have had the first two words. It's all in the same sentence. He already died once, he already died twice—in this world and the next world. What's "karet hanefesh"? What does it mean? The soul is cut off from its people. According to the Rambam, that literally means that person's Judaism is on suspension; they are now, in the eyes of Hashem, considered 100% an idol worshiper.

10:02However sad as it is, it's a reality. According to the Pew Research Center, 90% of the Jews in America do not observe Shabbat. So if there's approximately 6 million Jews in America, 5.4 million are considered 100% idol worshippers in the eyes of Hashem. That doesn't make you sad? You should double-check if you're actually Jewish because one of the middot of a Jew is like midat harachamim (attribute of mercy). If you don't have mercy for your brother and sister, you are being considered an idol worshiper in the eyes of Hashem — the only eyes that matter. There's a problem with you more than them. They're probably violating Shabbat because they don't know, but you know, and you don't care. It's a problem. So anyone that is looking for ways to better his situation, protect himself, protect his family from the horrific situation that's around us, the terrorism and everything else, he must understand that the only way is to increase Torah. More Torah, more life.