PREPARATION BEFORE MASHIACH ARRIVES

1:08The Mashiach can come any day—tomorrow, the next day, three days from now, a week from now, and so on and so forth. We are obligated to think that Mashiach can come any day. This is not just because we want him to come or don't want him to come, but because it means we're obligated to do teshuvah today. Once Mashiach comes, there's no more teshuvah. There's no more teshuva. So if a person thinks, nah, you know what? Moshiach is probably not going to come for another few years. Guess what? If you think that Moshiach is not going to come for a few years, your motivation to do teshuva will decrease by 95%. This is also part of the reason why Hashem lowered the lifetime of people to 120 years on average. At the time of Adam HaRishon and Noach and that generation, the average person lived hundreds and hundreds of years, some even over a thousand years. But then Hashem lowered it. It says in the Torah, He lowered their lifespan. He set a maximum at 120 years, with certain exceptions here and there. 120 is the max. Why? Because people thought, "Listen, I'm only 300 years old. My father lived until 900, so I have time before I have to do teshuvah. I can still cause a bunch of chaos and go against Hashem for at least another 500 years. The last 100 years, I'll be perfect."

2:25People know that everyone else lived a very long life. So Shem added certain elements to the world. Number one, he shortened the longest lifespan. Number two, he introduced disease into the world, which, I believe, was requested by Yaakov Avinu so that at least there would be some preparation before one dies, in most cases. Essentially, he gave everyone the understanding that you could literally die on any given day. You're not promised tomorrow. That's why the Talmidim asked the Rabbi, "Rabbi, you said to do teshuva before you die. How would somebody know when they're going to die?" He says, "Exactly. Because you don't know when you're going to die, you're obligated to do teshuva every single day." And that's also part of the reason why in our prayer, whether you're Sephardi or Ashkenazi, every day we read. Every day we have verses in Tehillim, in the Torah, that we read throughout our tefillah, that constantly remind us that Moshiach is coming, and when he comes, time's up. Time's up. The end of 3B, beginning of 4A, says there's also not going to be any converts.

3:38No more converts once Mashiach comes. Meaning, why? Why no more converts? I want to convert now that I know Mashiach is here and it's the Jewish one, not the Christian one. I want to be Jewish. He goes, yeah, now there's no free choice. Once you know that we're the winning team, of course, you want to join us. Of course, you want to join the winning team. The key is to be a winner before you know who's the winning team. That's the key. Before you know that, there's a lot of bad things happening. So that's the thing. A Jew has to do teshuva as soon as possible because anyone who's done teshuva or is at least trying knows that it takes a lot of time and effort to do teshuva, even the basics. It's not like you just start keeping Shabbat, eat kosher, pray every day, and maybe learn a little bit; that's how you do teshuva. That's not teshuva, my friend. That's the beginning of teshuva. Teshuva means you have to work on your character traits, perfect your character, and get rid of bad middot. There's a lot involved in teshuva. It's not just about doing mitzvot; there's much more to it than that. Even when it comes to mitzvot, a person doing teshuva might not be aware of what they don't know. For example, even if they start keeping Shabbat, they might not realize they're still being mechalei Shabbat because they don't know all the halachot of Shabbat. You don't learn all the halachot on day one. So it's possible to be mechalei Shabbat accidentally because you don't know the halachot.

4:54If you violate Shabbat because you simply don't know, you haven't gotten to it, then it's considered shogeg, accidental sins. But if you are not learning, and that's the reason why you don't know, then the Mishnah in Avot says that if your accidental sins are as a result of you not learning Torah, then it's considered in Shamayim as if you did it on purpose. Why on purpose? Because you didn't know, because you purposefully didn't study. Therefore, your accidental sins are considered purposeful sins. However, if you simply didn't get to it, you learned every day, but just didn't get to the specific halacha, then it's still considered shogeg. It's a sin, but it's an accidental sin, which carries much less severity. Because you didn't know, because you purposefully didn't study, therefore your accidental sins are considered purposeful sins. But if you just simply didn't get to it, you learned every day, and you just didn't get to the specific halacha, then it's still considered shogeg. It's a sin, but it's an accidental sin, which is much, much less severe in its consequence.

6:27Thank you for joining this shiur today. We'll continue our discussion where we left off last week, focusing on “Hilchot Shabbat” and the teachings of the “Chafetz Chaim” as well as insights from the “Rambam” on these laws. Please make sure you have your copies of “Mishneh Torah” and “Mishnah Berurah” handy, as we'll be referencing several halachot. Our exploration today will also include insights from “HaRav Chaim Kanievsky” zt”l, whose depth in understanding these topics is renowned. Let's begin with our examination of the works mentioned. Thank you.