Pitfalls Of Chasing Fame And Fortune

0:03Nothing good comes out of it, but people still chase it. People, for some reason, are convinced they will do better if they are given the opportunity to have a lot of money, fame, and fortune. To have the popularity, to have whatever power, they think they will do better than all those who failed before them. Despite the fact that every single day there's another horror story of someone that won the lottery and ruined their life, or someone that got a hundred million dollar contract and went broke because of it, and somehow ruined his life alongside it. And someone that made it and lost it. And you constantly have these stories. It's almost like old news when you hear, ah, another one. It's like, eh. Another one. Big deal. Another basketball player declares bankruptcy. Big deal. Who cares? Another NFL star spent $100 million on cars he's leasing. He doesn't even own them. Another fool spends $200 million helping his friends out on scams. Another fool goes to jail for fighting dogs even though he gets $100 million just to throw a piece of leather.

1:21You have these people ruining their lives every day with the money that Hashem gives them, and somehow we are all convinced that we will do differently if we get this money. I will do differently. I'll be a big tzaddik. I'll build yeshivot. I'll build a business. I'll be a Baal Chesed. No one will be homeless. No one will be homeless ever again. Everyone thinks they'll do better. I'm telling you from experience, if you never listened to anything I ever said before, you should listen to this. You should listen to the other things too. I think there's a little chochmah in some of them. I think, without a doubt, that if you're not living a life today that's mamash, at least trying, at least trying to be like Avraham Avinu. You can't be Avraham Avinu, he's one of a kind. But I'm talking about not being Avraham Avinu like you're going to put your kid as a korban for Hashem or anything like that. I'm talking about Lech Lecha. I'm talking about when Hashem says to go. Why? It doesn't make a difference.

2:38Doesn't make a difference why Hashem said to keep Shabbat. It doesn't make a difference why Hashem said you have to be modest. It doesn't make a difference why you have to eat kosher even though it's 50% more expensive. It doesn't make a difference that the rabbis charge so much money for yeshivot and you still have to send your kids there. Doesn't make a difference whether you understand it or not, it doesn't make a difference if you agree with it or not. I believe without a doubt that if you're not living a life of Torah, mamash Torah like 100%, you are mamash putting your life and anyone involved in your life in danger. Right now, you're in danger, you are a walking time bomb. You're not saying God said it. I'm doing it if I don't know He said it. How can I do it? Hopefully, I do it by accident. But in reality, if you're still debating whether you're going to go with Hashem or still stay somewhat secular and wear tight pants and still go chase money instead of chasing Torah, or...

3:59Still going to try to be the celebrity with the big watch that, you know, is enough for three people to have on one arm? You know, these guys wear these giant watches; it's a clock. Just put the clock on your hand and that's it. Why do you have such a big watch? Are you blind? If you're blind, no one's going to ask you the time anyway. Just have a stick, at least give him a shot. Give him a little hand, tell him you're blind. Why such a big watch? Awful, awful clothing that people have today, mamash, no sense of decency left in the world. No sense of decency left in the world, not for men, not for women, nothing. Not for religious, not for non-religious. If you're not a hundred percent on board with Hashem, you are mamash a walking time bomb. This, I'm not telling you this as a Rabbi. I'm not telling you this as some type of ultra tzaddik. I know it. I'm telling you as someone like you, I'm telling you that mamash, the greatest thing, the greatest chesed that Hashem has ever done for me was to force me to do teshuvah.

5:20The greatest thing was that I was put through hell so I could finally be forced to wake up and see, ah, it's You. Okay, okay, I got You. I got You. Okay, it took me a while. I know You beat me up. I know You pretty much destroyed my life or what I thought was a life, but thank You. Thank you for making me really, really sick, like I pretty much was dying. Forgive me for the pain that's pretty much permanent. I still have some of it to this day, even though I'm 99% better. That 1% is probably more pain than everybody in the room put together, and I still have to deal with it every day. But baruch Hashem, this is great. I can still speak in front of you. You don't even know it happens. All of that, millions of dollars that I thought I had—all that stuff—all garbage. Garbage! Mamash, toilet paper is worth more. And people are still chasing it. People still ask, "No, don't you miss it? Don't you want to go back to it? Why don't you go make $50 million and then do kiruv again?" The reality of it is that if you have your mind anywhere other than being davuk b'Hashem, mamash, glued to Hashem, you're walking a dangerous path.

6:34You're a walking time bomb. You're putting your life at risk. Because everywhere you look is Sodom and Gomorrah. We are meant to be a light unto the nations, not to follow their misguided practices. Remember, every Jew has to remember that he is a Jew and she is a Jew. We don't celebrate non-Jewish holidays, even if they seem harmless. It's a zilzul, disrespect. Desecration of God's name. Stick to our holy Torah and our own holidays. That's the path of a true Jew.