PURIM Reminder For The Everyday Jew

0:17tomorrow, we're going to be in New York. For anyone that's watching, if you are in New York, definitely come to the events. We have one event in the Five Towns. And the other event is going to be in Queens. Baruch Hashem, both of them should be relatively large events, lots of people, good people to meet, good people to learn with, Baruch Hashem. So that's also the reason why tonight I'm not going to be able to stay after the lecture for any one-on-ones, unless it's completely urgent. And usually when it's urgent, you should call 911, but Other than that, if you really need to talk to me after, please tell me. But if it's just chit-chat, day-to-day stuff that can wait, please let's wait. I have a flight in, I don't know, six hours from now or something like that, or nine hours from now. So aside from that, today's shiur, b'ezrat Hashem, will be for Iluy Nishmat Reuven Yechezkel ben Esther.

1:37and also for refuah shlema for Rav Alon Yehuda ben Chana Miriam, and also for hatzlacha rabah for Shaul ben Farzaneh Rachel. Zot Hashem HaKadosh Baruch Hu will bring them the salvation that they need, whether it's a higher level in Gan Eden, a salvation in this world of having refuah shlema, refuat hanefesh, refuat haguf, Also, hatzlacha rabah in this world and all the things that they do. Also, refuah shlema for the usual tzaddikim that need more and more refuah. For Rabbi Ephraim ben Shulamit, Rabbi Sarah bat Anat, David ben Esri, Doris bat Jorah, Rabbi Levana bat Sarah, Esther bat Zipporah, Dvora bat Mercedes, And all of Am Yisrael, B'ezrat Hashem, will have Refuah Shlema, Refuat HaNefesh, Refuat HaGuf. Oh, and also for Serach Batya, may she also have Refuah Shlema, Refuat HaNefesh, Refuat HaGuf. Now, so I thought, I mean, there's a couple of really interesting subjects to talk about. I asked you guys what you wanted, whether you wanted to talk about a shiur I've been preparing for some time now.

2:55business, really more of the kosher business versus non-kosher business or pulling. You guys chose pulling, so that means I'll do both. But one of the amazing things that I like to see is when people take my business advice And the reason why is because my business advice does not actually have anything to do with real business or making money. My real business advice has to do with saving neshamot. You know, people ask me for business advice all the time. I try to run away from it for two reasons. Number one, I'm not really in the business world. But number two, because I don't really want the headaches if things work out or if things don't work out, and then people start calling me, telling me that it's my fault. Whether they succeed and they blame me, it's my fault, as if it's not Hashem and it's me. Or if they fail, it's my fault and it's not Hashem. So I try not to deal with it, but sometimes I have to because certain people use me for guidance. So I try to guide them the best that I can. But the most important business advice I tell people is the business of kiruv, of saving neshamot. Helping Am Yisrael get closer to HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the best business in the world because that's the one business that's guaranteed.

4:12guaranteed to bring you rewards in this world. Anyone that does it sees the rewards in this life, not necessarily right away. Sometimes they do; sometimes it takes a little time. But nonetheless, I've never seen anyone that consistently did kiruv and did not have more blessings in their life. The problem with a lot of people that do Kiruv randomly is that they usually never get to see the blessing. Because the Kadosh Baruch Hu doesn't want you to just be like a bank robber once a year. You do something and then you leave. He wants you to make Kiruv one of the important priorities in your life. And sometimes when a person does it and he's successful or she's successful, the Yetzer Hara doesn't like it. Why? Because you're stealing his employees. So what does he do? He starts giving you different tests. Now, if a person understands that the Yetzer Hara is testing you and trying to be the resistance, he continues, she continues to do Kiruv no matter what.

5:16But if the person falls under the pressure where they don't like that all of a sudden they're getting more flat tires, all of a sudden more people are sending them mail that they don't really like, all of a sudden there are different issues that they think they didn't have before, so they fold and they stop doing Kiruv and, in essence, lose the blessing, and it's a shame. It's sad to see it, but it happens, unfortunately. So when someone starts doing Kiruv and they do it effectively, I'm very excited because I know that that means that there's going to be more neshamot coming back to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And there's nothing in the world that makes Hashem happier than this. So today, God bless him, Ari, I've got to give him a big zechut over here. He sent me some videos of him doing Kiruv in the streets, giving these movie cards. You know, there was a business advice I gave you guys last week. a few people that watch us from Canada, from Los Angeles, from New York, also took the same advice. And Baruch Hashem, they got a bunch of cards, or they ordered a bunch of cards that we sent out to them. And some more are going to come out, Baruch Hashem, this week. But also, you know, Ari already got to work. So he sent me a video and some pictures of all different places that he's putting these, give it to people, movie cards. And each one of them is a potential neshama. Why? A person watches this show. He looks at this card. It looks kind of cool. It looks like a movie from Hollywood or something. He looks in the back. Ari even showed...

6:14also took the same advice. And Baruch Hashem, they got a bunch of cards, or they ordered a bunch of cards that we sent out to them. And some more are going to come out, Baruch Hashem, this week. But also, you know, Ari already got to work. So he sent me a video and some pictures of all different places that he's putting these "Give It to People" movie cards. And each one of them is a potential neshamah. Why? A person watches this show. He looks at this card. It looks kind of cool. It looks like a movie from Hollywood or something. He looks in the back. Ari even showed... be impacted. If you're not impacted, you should check your pulse. Why? Because the movie has to do with everything, and If you're sick, if you're healthy, if you're afraid of being sick, if you have money, you don't have money, you want money, you're in an intermarriage, you know somebody that's in an intermarriage, you keep Shabbat, you don't keep Shabbat, Baruch Hashem HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave us a very, very special and unique tikkun. He gave us the whole Luna Park. He put us everywhere. Why? For Am Yisrael, for Klal Yisrael to learn different things from this story. So when people watch this movie, they get impacted in different ways.

7:25They start watching the other shiurim, and whether they're religious or not, they realize that there's more to do if you're a Jew. There's more to do regardless of where you stand. So the movie has been a very big success in helping people do teshuvah. So anyone that's giving out these cards is helping people get closer to the truth. The cards, as I told a few people, they're only 10 cents and... So you can get a bunch of them for nothing. Just understand, if somebody told me that to get Gan Eden for yourself, you have to work an entire life doing mitzvot. An entire life of doing mitzvot, let's say 70, 80, 90 years, you have to do mitzvot, mitzvot, mitzvot, every day, more mitzvot, more mitzvot, a hundred berachot every day, you have to learn Torah every day, every day, every day, b'ezrat Hashem, you're going to get Olam Haba, right? You get one Jew. One. One Jew. I'm not talking about a thousand. One Jew to do teshuva, you get 310 more worlds. Meaning you get more for his teshuva than you get for yourself. So, a person that understands this will start taking, cashing out their retirement just to help people do teshuva. But unfortunately, people don't understand. They think that they're going to do better on their own.

8:39their retirement account is better invested in stocks instead of international, and in essence, they waste their time. It's a shame because HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants people to do teshuva, wants them to do teshuva. So for anybody that wants to do it, please let us know. It would be wonderful if you could pay for it. If you can't pay for it, we'll try to send it to you like we did for a few people anyway. But it's first come, first serve. B'ezrat Hashem, we will order more. And the CDs are still on the way. I got a notice from China that unfortunately it's still not on the way yet. B'ezrat Hashem, it will be soon. So so I'm sure there are no shemittot. Exactly, indeed, indeed, everyone is a neshama. Take it, you know, you give it to a few ladies. They're walking in the street, you ask them some questions. He showed them how to go to the movie, how to watch it. It's very exciting to see people excited about getting Am Yisrael closer to Hashem as we're excited about it. Because you see the world, you see what people are excited about. What are they excited about? I mean, one of the most bizarre things that I've noticed, you know, people send me all types of clips of

9:52other rabbis talking because apparently I've become the rabbi police, so people send me all types of clips of different rabbis. One of the most bizarre things that I've noticed has become a common trend is rabbis talking about the stock market. They make examples of the stock market, investing, and buying and selling stocks, and I think it's very bizarre. Because, I don't know, I mean, people came to learn Torah, not necessarily about stocks. But nonetheless, it's that the rabbi is doing it not necessarily because the rabbi is a bad person, chas v'shalom, but rather he knows that's what everybody's mind is on. Yeah, they came to the shiur Torah, but in reality, they're thinking, "I'm gonna come to the shiur Torah so my stock portfolio will go up tomorrow." Maybe the rabbi sometimes is giving the shiur to us, so his stock portfolio goes up tomorrow. Who knows? But the point is that that's what people's minds are on. People's minds are constantly thinking about their stock portfolio and their real estate portfolio and their business portfolio and all types of portfolios. Little do we know that it doesn't matter what kind of portfolio you have. In Shamayim, none of it is worth anything. The only portfolio that actually matters, that exists in Shamayim, is how many neshamot you helped actually get closer to Hashem. That's the only portfolio that exists. So if a person took this advice—not mine, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi's...

11:11Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi is the Baal HaMishnah. Our entire oral Torah would not exist if it wasn't for Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. Before the Gemara came, it was the Mishnah. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi wrote down the Mishnah, and when he saw with Ruach HaKodesh that his Talmid, his nephew, Rabbi Chiya, who died before him, was already in Shamayim, he realized that Rabbi Chiya was the only one allowed to go from one world to the other without any malachim taking him there. Like if you're a tzaddik, if you're a tzaddik, you can go visit Moshe Rabbeinu, you can go visit Aaron HaKohen, you can go visit some tzaddikim. You have friends with Rabbi Akiva, you can go visit him. No problem. But you have to have malachim. Malachim have to take you, sir. Hold on one second. We're gonna see if there's an availability for you. We'll see. Rabbi Chiya has no malachim. Why? He runs the place. He can go wherever he wants. No malachim. No one can tell him what to do. Why? He did kiruv. He helped people do teshuva. And it says in the Gemara how he did it, how he mamash sacrificed his life. He went and he planted some seeds so he could make the net from nothing. Then he took the net and he caught the deer, and he slaughtered the deer in a kosher way. Then he took the skin and wrote a Sefer Torah on it. Then he did it again, wrote the Mishnayot on it. The whole thing tells you the entire process of what he did. Just what? To give it to people who don't have Torah.

12:34Don't have nothing. He's not going to give it to the kolel and the yeshivot that already exist. No, no, he's going to give it to people, the amcha, regular people. Regular average joes. One group, he gave them the Chumash. One guy gave them Bereishit, the other one Shemot, and so on and so forth. Then the next group, he gave them the Mishnayot, each one got a Mishnah. Once one group finished, one guy finished Bereishit, he taught the other guy Shemot, and Shemot Bereishit, and so on and so forth. Once one group finished, they taught each other. The Mishnah taught the Chumash. And that's how he did kiruv, and he literally became a partner in the creation of more Jews in the world. Why? Because a Jew without Torah is not a Jew. A Jew without Torah is not a Jew. He's half a Jew. He's a Jew that's missing in action. Because HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave us the Torah in order for us to fulfill it, not for us to just say we got the Torah 3,000 years ago, my grandfather. So it's very, very important for a person to know that when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi saw in the Holy Spirit that Rabbi Chiya has all types of merits that no one else in the world has.

13:48He could do whatever he wants in the next life. He has pretty much run the show. Rabbi HaKadosh started crying hysterically. He says, "Look at what a person can do by saving a soul." Rabbi HaKadosh got so excited about it that he left everything, closed the book, and started running in the street looking for secular people to help somebody do teshuva. He says, "Even though I wrote the Mishnah, even though I help a lot of people learn Torah, even though I do a lot of things, I didn't really focus on helping people do teshuva, meaning someone that's not keeping Shabbat to start keeping Shabbat. Someone that doesn't have real emunah to now have real emunah. Someone that's in business, but it's not a kosher business, now he's gonna have a kosher business. I didn't have that." So Rabbi HaKadosh, his entire generation says if Mashiach came, it would be him. All generations said if the Messiah would have come in the generation of Rabbi HaKadosh, which is Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi almost 2,000 years ago, it would definitely be him. He was from the descendants of David HaMelech. He was very, very righteous and so on and so forth. He stopped everything, closed the book, and wrote, "Start doing kiruv," something that a person can do for almost free today.

15:13really free, but nonetheless, people don't appreciate it enough to really dedicate enough time to it. But the ones that do, they may not see the blessing in their life right away. They may even see sometimes the opposite, where they see that there's some resistance. They see some problems in their life, but nonetheless, if you are patient, you will see much, much blessing in your life because this is one of the things my Rav told me. This is one of those things that you get paid for in this world, so different people can do Kiruv in different ways. Some people can give out some flyers. Some people give out CDs, some people can give shiurim, some people can sponsor a shiur, donate money, donate their time, donate their skill—all types of ways to help kiruv. Because the reality is everyone wants to invest a lot of money to build themselves a portfolio in this world, to have a certain amount of houses, and a certain amount of cars, and a certain amount of stocks, and a certain amount of bonds. But very few people are wise enough to make sure they have a certain amount of neshamot.

16:19that are reserved for them in Shamayim. This could potentially be the major reason why they even get into Gan Eden in the first place. Because as the Mishnah in Pirkei Avot says, "Anyone that helps people do Teshuva, benefits the public, and sin doesn't come his way." So, the Chachamim say there are several commentaries on this. One commentary is that Hashem gives them special protection against big sins. Special strength against big sins. If he had a major desire to do certain big sins, Hashem will give him special protection for it. Of course, he has to overcome it in the beginning to even have the merit to do kiruv. But nonetheless, once he's already in, Hashem will give him special protection. But the second thing the Chachamim say is that there's also a very special benefit. What's the benefit? It is that Hashem is going to do everything possible to make sure that this person goes to heaven. Why? It's not right that all of his talmidim, all of the people that got the flyer and ended up doing teshuva, all the people that watched the lecture and ended up doing teshuva, they're all going to go to heaven, but their rabbi, the guy that gave them the flyer, he's going to be in Gehenom. They're all going to be sad. So Hashem says, I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure this guy stays out of trouble so he can go to heaven too, so the talmidim don't complain. Why? What kind of heaven are you going to have if your rabbi is in Gehenom? That's a horrible heaven.

17:42Don't worry if you guys ask him about Manis Friedman, don't worry. His talmidim are also going to be in Gehenom with him. He said it himself in the lecture. He says, "Why do we want to go to Gehenom? So we can see all our friends." So he's already preparing. He's already preparing. He's already preparing. He didn't even realize what he said himself. He didn't even realize what he said himself. Vayiftach Hashem et pi ha'aton. Hashem opened the mouth of the donkey. He didn't even know what he said. He says, well, he made a joke out of it. "Why do we want to go to Gehenom? Why do people go to Gehenom? To see their friends." He didn't realize. He was talking about himself. He didn't realize. Listen, you have to make fun of things that are making fun of the Torah. It's a mitzvah. It's a mitzvah to do it. It's in the Torah. People ask me, how come you always make fun of Christianity or different people? I said, if they're wicked, it's a mitzvah to make fun of them. mitzvah. Why? It's avodah zarah. These things are avodah zarah. Gemara Masechet Megillah says, "Eizehu Yehudi? Who is a Jew? Who is a Jew?" Says Batya. Batya Bat Paroh is a Jew. Mordechai is a Jew. Why does it make them a Jew? Because they make fun of avodah zarah. You make fun of avodah zarah, you're a Jew. That's a Jew.

18:50So now, with that being said, we're going to learn a little bit about Purim. What is the significance of Purim? I mean, we've talked about the Megillah in the past. I'm not necessarily going to go over the entire Megillah yet. Maybe we'll do that another time. But there are a few things that I learned with Rabbi Efraim that I think we can learn a lot from and apply already to our lives today. We don't have to wait for Purim. Now, many times you see that the Jewish people unite during problems. During problems, if there was a Holocaust, after the Holocaust, no one cared if you're Sephardi or Ashkenazi. No one asked you if you're Sephardi or Ashkenazi. No one asked you. Today, Baruch Hashem, people ask you 500 times. You go to the shul, if you're Sephardi, they're going to ask you why you're here, like they did to me. They treat me like I'm half a terrorist, maybe a full terrorist, not so sure. But I go sometimes to an Ashkenazi shul, and they ask me, why are you here? Why? Because to them, sometimes I look like Osama bin Laden. But what?

20:02Sometimes an Ashkenazi guy comes in, and we're asking him, "What's wrong? What happened? Why are you here? Why are you in the Sephardi shul? Did they shut down the Sephardi shul? Are you spying on the Ashkenazi shul? What's going on?" This is sinat chinam. This is baseless hatred. It's complete nonsense now, unfortunately. It doesn't end with just the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim. It's also with the Black Jews. It's also with the Spanish Jews. It's also with the Yemenite Jews, with the Ethiopian Jews, with the converts, with the ba'alei teshuvah. The sinat chinam is everywhere, everywhere. I was talking to a couple of guys over the weekend and before it, I spoke to a couple of Black Jews who are having some trouble because of racism. We'll discuss and elaborate on that point, and I had a really nice chiddush, that's emet, that we'll discuss about how to address it properly. Nonetheless, racism is alive and well. It's not going away.

21:03It's not going away anytime soon. The only solution is teshuva. But we'll go into the details of what that means. Now, after the Holocaust, though, there was no racism as far as the religious Jews. I'm not talking about the non-religious Jews. The Zionists still hated everybody that didn't look like them. They still tested, you know, all types of medicine on the Yemenite Jews because they didn't look like them and killed a bunch of them. They still did a bunch of things to the Sephardi Jews that we don't even want to get into because it will just depress us. You look at this book, for example, called 51 Documents. 51 Documents, I mean, it's a little heavy, a little heavy read. I wouldn't recommend reading it in one sitting because you'll probably go into a coma. But these are different letters that the Zionists, yimach shemam v'zichram, wrote during, before, and after the Holocaust. And it's a horrific, horrific testimony. They wrote it themselves. It's not like somebody's writing about them. These are their letters. You see these stories, you just want to cry that these people are actually Jewish. And this is what they did. One of the famous stories, for example, is a story that... Where is it here? It's... I mean, this is discussed in several different places. But there is a report of the Budapest Jewish Rescue Committee by Dr. Rezső Kasztner. That was a...

22:33Discussing different things that happened, there were opportunities they had to save Jews. In his paper here, he also includes different things, his own comments, but over here he says that at some point, the SS captain... Wisniewski, I don't think I'm pronouncing that name correctly, but there's no doubt Hashem is destroying his neshama right now because he's a Nazi. This captain Wisniewski declared that after the deportation of 55,000 Jews, he's willing to forego the deportation of the remaining 25,000 Jews. This was in Hungary. He's willing to do it for a payment of how much? 25,000 Jews. How much are you going to pay for 25,000 Jews? How much are you going to pay for 25,000 Jews right now? How much money have we spent on Holocaust centers? How much have we spent annually as a people on building memorials, on museums about the Holocaust? Hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars are donated annually for the sake of remembering the six million that died.

23:58How much could you have saved 25,000? 25,000. Forget not the whole 6 million. 25,000. I'm just telling you the beginning. I'm not telling you the whole thing. We're going to get to a million in a second. How much could you have saved from this captain, this Nazi? He was willing to sell you 25,000 Jews. How much are you going to pay? A million dollars? How much are you going to pay? More than a million? How much are you going to pay? Give me a price. Give me a price. What's the price? You're not going to pay anything? You're going to let them die? I want a price. How much is the price? How much are you going to pay? Give me a price, throw a number. No price? They're all going to die because of you. Okay, no. Next. Your bar mitzvah money. How much is that? Thousand dollars, so you're gonna pay for 55,000 Jews? For 25,000 Jews? No, if you had more money, all the money in the world, forget about money. You guys cannot imagine, you guys will never understand. Shame on your head. Okay, ladies in the back, how much are you gonna pay in the back? I could save 25,000 Jews. How much can you pay? Give me a price. How much do you think the Nazi wants? Whatever you want. Okay, the one guy is normal, no, and the rest of you guys, how about this?

25:07Fifty thousand dollars. Two dollars a body, a live one. Two dollars for a Jew. Two dollars. So he wanted two dollars to save a neshama. Guess what? He didn't get it. You know what he got? He got six thousand dollars and three thousand shoes. Now he continues and he says there was an opportunity for a mission led by an individual named Joel Brand. Joel Brand has a very famous story of how he negotiated the rescue campaign of one million Jews. Now, I met with a Holocaust survivor last week. He told me a little bit about the Holocaust.

26:08I can tell you, Rabotai, that when he was 10 years old, if somebody would have told him we could have saved your life, taken you out of the Holocaust for $2, he would have started crying even more than the actual disaster. Joel Brand. Joel Brand had an opportunity after negotiating with the Nazis. All they wanted, all they wanted is... trucks. They needed some trucks, some ammunition—10,000 trucks. 10,000 trucks they wanted in exchange for 1 million Jews. That's a hundred human lives for one truck. A truck was, of course, twenty or thirty thousand dollars—four hundred people. The deal was almost done. But when the Zionists found out, they said, "These types of Jews are not the kind of Jews we want." Why? First of all, we want them to look like us. Second of all, they're already damaged, they're injured.

27:27deformed, traumatized, and last but not least, if that's not enough, one of them writes in this letter—you're going to see a few letters like this, and if you actually get this book and cry—says, "We really need more people to die." Why? That's going to get more mercy from the rest of the world so we can get Eretz Yisrael. So when you're brand negotiated the deal, almost finalized the deal, they sabotaged him and threw him in jail. And one of the Arab countries, I think it was either Lebanon or Egypt, one of these Arab countries, threw him in jail. The deal was supposed to be finalized in one of these countries to give him the money, and they would do all the exchange. The Zionists sabotaged him and threw him in jail. After the Holocaust, he exposed everyone, but most of you guys never heard of the story. They don't teach this in Israel. They don't teach us in school in America, where they teach you to be a Zionist. The World Zionist Organization is having elections. No one knows what a Zionist really is. They think that means you're pro-Israel. No, when you're a Zionist, you're anti-Torah first and...

28:43Now, does that mean you have to hate Israel? Chas v'shalom, we love Israel, but it has nothing to do with Zionism. It has nothing to do with Zionism. If you understood who the Zionists are, you'd understand why you're obligated to hate them as a Jew. Obligated to hate them. They're not different than the Nazis. They had an opportunity to save one million neshamot. There's a letter, countless letters, 51 documents here, testifying to it. They could have saved millions of people if they wanted. But they didn't. Why? didn't serve their interest. They could have bought a Jew for two dollars. Why did I tell you this? Why are we starting off like this? A few reasons. Number one, after the Holocaust, after the Holocaust, everyone understood the magnitude of the disaster that happened to us. Religious Jews didn't care whether you're Ashkenazi or Sephardi. The nation as a whole didn't care. The Holocaust survivors themselves didn't care if you were Sephardi or Ashkenazi. They didn't care. Why? You survived. You're just like me. We're the same. And the Holocaust didn't ask you if you were Sephardi or Ashkenazi. Because our fight was a fight against Amalek. Our fight united us. Our survival united us.

30:09And that's actually one of the things that is supposed to be the mitzvot of Purim. On Purim, one of the mitzvot you're supposed to do is read Parashat Zachor. Parashat Zachor is not an actual parasha in the Torah, but rather it's the last section of Parashat Ki Teitzei. This section of the parasha is just a couple of sentences that you're supposed to say. It's an obligation for all Jews to say this at that time. which is a reminder of Amalek. Who is Amalek? Amalek is Haman, Amalek is Hitler, Amalek is anyone who fights against Hashem, against the Torah. Jew or non-Jew, it doesn't make a difference what his mother is. That's Amalek. And Parashat Zachor says, "Zachor et asher asa lecha Amalek, baderech betzeitcha miMitzrayim," So Hashem says to us twice to remember. He says, "Remember what Amalek did to you."

31:37On the way, meaning when you were leaving Egypt, that he happened upon you on the way, meaning he surprised you. And he struck those of you who were hindmost, meaning the weaklings that you had when you were faint and exhausted, and he did not fear Hashem. It shall be that when Hashem, your God, gives you rest from all your enemies all around in the land that Hashem, your God, gives you as an inheritance to possess it, you shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the heaven. You shall not forget. So twice He tells us, "Don't forget," at the beginning and the end. And He also tells us that some of Amalek is going to be outside, some of Amalek is going to be inside a house. Don't think that Amalek is just the Nazis. Sometimes you could be related to Amalek. How could you be related to Amalek if you're a Shomer Torah u'Mitzvot? You've got Jewish blood either by conversion or by being born into it. How could you be related to Amalek? Now, if you're a convert, you could say, "Yeah, like one of my students tells me that his father is a Nazi." More than one of my students tells me that their parents or their siblings are Nazis. They hate Jews.

33:01Okay, so that's an Amalek. That's an easy example. But how could a natural-born Jew be related to an Amalek? Go ahead. You're asking me a question with a question. That's a typical Jewish thing to do. Amalek, Rabotai, is not just the seed like he's saying. It's also something that a person can make themselves into. What is it? You look at the place over there where it says that you should remember what Amalek did to you and that he happened upon you. So, Rashi, Rashi on the place over there says, what does it mean? It says it comes from the word "keri." Keri means the wasting seed. Keri means something that has to do with immorality. He says Amalek were homosexuals. Amalek raped the Jews. Someone that's openly a homosexual, goes to these gay parades, is 100% Amalek, Rashi says.

34:26This so-called rabbi that did a wedding, to do an Orthodox wedding—open Orthodox, but Orthodox he calls it—did a wedding for two homosexual males last week. 100% wedding of Amalek. Last week. It was all over the news. Oh, the first Orthodox wedding. It's not Orthodox. It's open Orthodox, which is another name for Reform, but they like to pretend they're Orthodox. So it says, first Orthodox wedding for two gay males. Why? They love each other. One Rashi says, 100% Amalek. 100% Amalek. Why? These are people like the Women of the Wall, like these open homosexuals, like Shmuley Boteach who supports the homosexuals, like Manis Friedman who says that homosexuality is not a to'evah, even though the Torah says it 50 times. Anyone that minimizes what the Torah says, anyone that contradicts it, anyone that does it on purpose—I'm not talking about by accident, but on purpose—and lives openly against it, dafka! Very good chance they are Amalek. Very good chance they are Amalek. Now, this is, rabotai, one of the things that a Jew needs to know first.

35:54When it comes to pulling. Why? Because it was Amalek that tried to destroy us. Not anybody else. It wasn't the Black people. It wasn't the Spanish people. It wasn't the Russian people. It wasn't the American people. It wasn't the tall people, the short people, the men, or the women. It was Amalek. That's who tried to destroy us. And that is the fight that we've been fighting since day one. Since the time we left Egypt, we've been fighting Amalek. A person needs to know that even if you are related to an Amalek, when the Mashiach comes, they're not going to survive. And you may get the job to kill them, maybe. You have no permission to do that now, Chas V'Shalom, but the point is, Rabotai, why am I telling you that? You have an obligation right now to try to save them. Get them out of there. They don't know that they're doing things that Amalek did. Try to help them. Give them a movie card. Give them a CD. Tell them, listen, Habibi, I love you, but you're acting like Amalek. When Mashiach comes right now, he's going to kill you. Well, how's he going to kill me? He's going to look at you and you're going to die. Show me a verse. Prophet Yeshayahu. Chapter 11.

37:17verse number four: The Mashiach is gonna come, and from the breath that comes out of his mouth, he will destroy the wicked. So all of those people that say, "Oh, yeah, there's a bunch of rabbis that are talking to the Mashiach right now," and all that stuff—I don't know what's true and what's not true—but one testimony: If I met the Mashiach, the first thing I'd say is, "I want to kill me a rasha for a second. Let me see." I want to see. Don't tell me anything. A lot of people know Torah. I want to kill a rasha right now. I'll give you a list of them. I want to see you kill them. That's the test. I want to see you kill them with a word. Like, what does it say? It says you're going to be able to kill reshaim with your mouth. You say a word, they're going to die, right? Okay. Not trying to make fun of it. You know, people say every day, someone else is the Mashiach. Enough with this. If he's here, let's go. Stop delaying. If you're Mashiach, let's go. What are you waiting for? If you're not Mashiach, leave us alone already with all this shtuyot. One day it's Chabad is the Mashiach, the other day it's Breslov is the Mashiach. Another time it's a woman that's the Mashiach. Another time it's a male Mashiach. Sometimes people think I'm the Mashiach. Even if I tell them I'm not the Mashiach, they insist I'm the Mashiach. All types of nonsense that's in jukim. What are jukim? Bugs, bugs, cockroaches are in people's heads.

38:43Promise you, if I was Mashiach, I tell you right now, I would start killing people left and right just by words. I talk a lot. I talk a lot, and people would just simply die from me talking. They say the Midrash says that God gave out of the ten levels of speaking, nine of them He gave to women. Nine of them He gave to them. My wife says, "I think maybe you got a little of that." I think you got a little of that, honey. Oh, you're not a woman, but I think you got a little bit of that. I think you stole a little bit from some of the women who don't like to talk much; they give it to you. Baruch Hashem. But at least we talk about good things. The point is, Rabotai, if you have a relative that's acting like Amalek, don't just sit there quietly. Try to help them. Try to help them. Why? Because you still have a chance. You still have a chance to help them right now. If they're acting out their sins openly, they're going against the Torah openly, please do them a favor. Help them get out of this tumah. Because if the Mashiach does arrive tomorrow or the next day or a year from now or ten years from now, whenever it is, there's not going to be another chance. Why? Because we have verses in the Torah that say we have to destroy Amalek, even if Amalek is in our house. And that's why the verse says,

40:05Hashem is going to destroy Amalek, even if it's in the land that we got as an inheritance, even if it's in your house. Now, the interesting thing is that sometimes people can give power to Amalek. Rashi says, Rashi says in the same place, Remember what Amalek did to you. Remember the other character traits that Amalek had. One of the things that Amalek exhibited was dishonesty. He had no fear of Hashem. And Rashi says there's a reason why this parashat Zachor, which talks about destroying Amalek, these few verses seem to have absolutely nothing to do, or so we think. What's written before it? What's written before it? You would think we just went to war, we just left Egypt, a bunch of other stuff, right? No. If you look at what's written before it, the laws of business. The laws of business. Equal weights, honest weights. For example, if you're selling vegetables, you're selling gold, you're selling all types of things.

41:29You have to use weights. You have to use weights. So, for example, a guy wants to buy, you know, a hundred pounds or a hundred ounces, let's say, a hundred ounces of gold from you. You put it on one side, and to make sure that the scale is honest, you have to have a certain weight that says this is legitimate. So, Rashi says, look, it's not a happenstance, a coincidence that the laws of honest business... right before destroying Amalek. Why did Hashem put it there? He put it there because when we do dishonest business, we are giving power to Amalek. We're not being Amalek, but we're giving them power. So you're not in the Nazi army, but you're selling them weapons. Now, if you are the best friend, And your best friend, you guys were boys, you guys were girls, you guys had a good time for years. But then he told you, by the way, I never told you what I do for a living. Well, what do you do? I sell weapons. Okay, you sell it to the Americans, to our allies? No, no, not to the Americans. You sell it to Israel or our home country? No, no, no. Who do you sell it to? I sell it to Iran. You stay friends with this guy? Yeah, I just did a big deal with him. I want to give my sale to Rabbi Reuven. Why? I sold the atomic bomb to Iran.

42:54You're still going to stay friends with this guy? No, what are you going to do? You're going to kill the guy. Why? You just sold weapons to our enemies. If you have a friend or relative that you know for sure is doing dishonest business, like, for example, this cash advance business we've talked about a couple of times, or any other business, you know for sure they're doing dishonest business, show them this. Why? They should know they are giving power to Amalek. because one of the anti-Semites used it as an excuse for their hatred. They don't really have a legitimate reason to hate Jews. What do they use as the excuse? Business. Either because the Jews control a lot of money, have a lot of power, or worse yet, Jews are dishonest. Before Nazi Germany told you guys this in the past. One of the excuses the Nazis used is because the Jews lent a lot of money to the Germans and other Europeans with very high interest to the point where they destroyed the economy. Now, this unfortunately wasn't the first time; it also happened in England in the 1100s, almost nine hundred years ago, and

44:09the Jews were in control of a lot of money. They were lending money to the people, but they were able to conduct business because the king or the mayor, actually I should say, gave them the freedom to do whatever they wanted. But one time, the mayor went away, and it's a very famous story. When he went away, the non-Jewish people revolted and started killing Jews in the streets, and I think it was 1186, a very famous massacre of Jews. Why? They destroyed businesses because of the usury, the high-interest business, and unethical business practices. If you have a friend, whether a Jew or non-Jew, but especially if it's a Jew, that's taking advantage of people by either lending them money with unfair high interest or is unethical in anything that they're doing, you have to tell them, you are a partner to the crime. of Amalek. How so? Every time you do a dishonest deal, that gives power to Amalek. That gives power to Amalek, abutai. Now, some people are going to say, ah, your rabbi is a fanatic. I'm just doing business here.

45:19It's legal according to America. It's legal according to Israel. It's legal according to whatever country you're in. So if the country says it's legal, it must be okay. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's right. There are many things that are legal, but we all know are wrong. For example, If I give you guys a cute little baby—cute, like one of those really cute ones, not the ones that just look good, but a really, really cute one—and I told you, listen, how about this: I'm going to pay you $3,000. $4,000. You know what? I like you. $5,000. $5,000. Take this baby and just chop his head off. How many of you guys would take the job? How about this: I'll pay you $8,000. $8,000. Chop his head off, but right after you chop the legs off first. No, no, no, you don't take it yet. Okay. How about this? We'll make a big deal. I'll make you a partner. I'll give you the baby. You chop off the head, the arms, the legs, the stomach, and then we're gonna sell it to different types of stem cell companies for a hundred, hundred fifty thousand. How about that? You're in business with me or no? Well, guess what? That's what they do at Planned Parenthood, the abortion clinic.

46:38abortion clinic cuts up the babies whether it's a three-month pregnancy or an eight-month pregnancy. They take the baby, they chop it up into little pieces. Usually, they start off with the legs, meaning the baby's suffering the whole time he's alive and well. And then, if that's not enough, they go and sell the body. Now, how come you guys are disgusted? And yet, there are almost a million abortions in America every year. How come? How come the government funds this? The government funds this. Hundreds of millions of dollars are given by the U.S. government. But the same thing happens in Israel. Don't think it's just America. Government-funded. Government-funded abortions. How come it happens all over the world? In almost every country, it's legal for them to have abortions. How come it's not allowed? How come it sounds demented to you guys, which is rightly so, for you guys to cut up a baby and kill him, but it's not right? How come it's right for them to do it while the baby's still in the stomach? Why? Because you can't see it? So, I can't see your brain. Does that mean you don't have a brain?

47:53You can't see my brain. Does that mean I don't have a brain? You can't see my neshama. Does that mean I don't have a neshama? You can't see the radio waves. Does that mean you can't use a phone? The nonsense that people say, "Oh no, if it's legal, it's allowed." Nonsense. If it's in the Torah, it's allowed. If it's not in the Torah, it's not allowed. Meaning, only the Torah, the instructional manual from HaKadosh Baruch Hu, can tell you what's good and what's bad. The law of the land is not always going to be very good at that, especially if they're killing babies just because they came at an inconvenient time. You knew how to play mommy and daddy for one day, but you didn't want to do the rest for the rest of your life. It was inconvenient, so you wanted to perform murder. Just because something is legal in the land does not mean it's right. Don't fool yourself. Just because cash advance, this rotten, horrible business that's destroying the American economy and other economies, is legal doesn't mean that our brothers and sisters and even fellow non-Jews are allowed to do it. Same thing with other businesses that are unethical. Now, anyone's going to tell you, "Ah, listen, your rabbi's fanatic, he's just crazy." Okay.

49:15Why did we have a miracle of Purim? Everyone knows the whole basic story. One-minute synopsis of the whole story: We were doing okay. We decided to go to a festive meal that King Achashverosh was hosting, which mocked the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. It was foolish to go there to begin with. We didn't listen to the Gadol HaDor, Mordechai HaYehudi, who told us not to go. We went to the festive meal because we figured maybe we could do some business there with the king. He had a lot of money after all, and maybe he would buy some stuff from us. Why did we have a miracle of Purim? Everyone knows the whole basic story. One-minute synopsis of the whole story: We were doing okay. We decided to go to a festive meal that King Achashverosh was hosting, which mocked the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. It was foolish to go there to begin with. We didn't listen to the Gadol HaDor, Mordechai HaYehudi, who told us not to go. We went to the festive meal because we figured maybe we could do some business there with the king. He had a lot of money, after all, and maybe he would buy some stuff from us. So, we went to the festive meal. Hashem didn't like it so much, so He gave power to Haman the Amalekite to put forth a decree that, in one day, he was going to kill all the Jews in the world. One day, not like Hitler over a period of years; one day. Hashem miraculously accepted our teshuva after we fasted for three days and said "I'm sorry" a million times to Hashem for doing something that was against Him. Miraculously, He turned Amalek from being the perpetrator into the one that we destroyed, Baruch Hashem. The tree that was supposed to be used to hang Mordechai HaYehudi

50:36The biggest rabbi in the world was used to hang Haman himself and his kids. Miracle. Now, this whole miracle, where did it happen? Did it happen because of the Reform Jews? For sure it didn't. Why? If there were Reform Jews, they'd be on Haman's side. If those were Reform Jews, they would be with Haman. Tell him, listen, let's go pray at the Wall, all the girls. Let's do homosexual parties. Let's hang out and do all types of filthy things like Amalek does. So, Reform Jews definitely didn't do it. Was it secular Jews? Was it secular Jews that brought us the miracle? It was secular Jews that didn't exactly do so much that Hashem didn't like so much. That was part of the reason why the whole thing happened in the first place. Was it like the half-religious Jews, the religious, you know, he's religious on Shabbat. Like he goes to shul on Shabbat. But if you tell him Mussar, he says, no, no, Rabbi, Mussar is not for me. Rebuke is not for me. Was it for him? No, he's the one that got us into trouble in the first place. Why? He went to the business meeting at Achashverosh's house. Why did we get the miracle? We got the miracle because of some fanatic Jew called Mordechai.

51:52The fanatic Jew, Mordechai, is the reason why we got the miracle. The fanatic Jew, Esther, is why we got the miracle. The ones that were fighting for the emet from the beginning when everybody else was making fun of them. Ah, you're fanatic. Take it easy. It's a different generation now. The whole holiday of Purim only exists because of the fanatic, but better said, the passionate Jews that fought for Hashem when it wasn't popular. only exists because of the fanatic, but better said, the passionate Jews that fought for Hashem when it wasn't popular, when it wasn't well accepted by other fellow Jews who were too enamored by business and the chukot haGoyim—the acts and laws of the non-Jews—so much so that we forgot about Judaism. Now The truth is, Rabotai, that unfortunately, right now we have a situation where many of the Amaleks are being provoked in different ways by Jews. Part of it is because we're making that same mistake that we made a couple of thousand years ago at the time of Purim.

53:20where we think that because we are called the Chosen People by God Himself, therefore we can do whatever we want to anyone that's not part of the Chosen. We could take advantage of them, we could fool them, we could cheat them, lie to them. There is no mistake greater than this. Eliyahu HaNavi, zachur latov Says in Tanna Devei Eliyahu, Eliyahu Rabbah in the ninth parasha, and he says, with heaven and earth as my witnesses, I testify that whether it's a Jew or a goy, man or woman, male or female. Everything is judged based on their actions, and that's how the Ruach HaKodesh can be upon a person. Meaning that anyone, Jew or Gentile, can actually get Ruach HaKodesh if they act in holiness. But holiness based on the definition of God, the God of Israel, not holiness based on Yoshke or Buddha or some other Pikachu.

54:41We're talking about holiness based on HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself. He says whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, male or female, if you're a servant or you're a master, it doesn't make a difference. If you're a holy person, you could even acquire Ruach HaKodesh. Meaning, Rabotai HaYekarim, that when it comes to Hashem, He's not looking at you in an unfavorable way just because you weren't born a Jew. You were born a Jew, by default you're favorable. He's looking at you based on your actions. He's not looking at your color. He's not looking, "Oh, he's black, so I'm gonna give him some favoritism." No, "he's white, I'm gonna give him some favoritism." No, "he's tall, I'm gonna give him some favoritism." Nobody gets favoritism. I HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't care what color you are. HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't care what gender you are. HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't care how tall or short you are, how rich or poor you are. He doesn't care about those things—He cares about your actions. If your actions are holy, you become holy. If your actions are not, then the contrary.

55:59When a person understands that anyone can acquire Ruach HaKodesh, which is virtually the highest level of spirituality a person can get to in this world other than prophecy itself, automatically he starts treating the world around him differently. and he starts taking the halacha into consideration of how to do business with non-Jews. Because we're surrounded by them. There are almost 8 billion of them in comparison to 15-20 million Jews. So nonetheless, you're going to end up dealing with non-Jews, which is not a problem as long as you're not a problem. Now, the Yam Shel Shlomo, which is Rabbi Shlomo ben Yehiel Luria, about 500 years ago, He was one of the generation where there are some extraordinary stories about him. There was one time a man who married a woman and swore to her that since she is his first love, he's always going to be with her.

57:14But as Hashem would have it, one day this woman became very sick. His wife became very sick, and she made him promise to her, make a neder that he won't remarry, that he won't marry anyone else after she dies. And the husband foolishly said yes, but of course, he didn't understand what he was getting himself into now. She died, and he found himself as a single father with three kids, having a very, very big difficulty doing it himself. He came to the Gadol HaDor, Rabbi Shlomo Luria, and asked him if he could get a heter, a leniency from the Gadol HaDor, to nullify this neder.

58:14Rabbi Shlomo Luria said your neder is void. I don't even need to nullify it. It's void. It's not a valid neder. Why? You're not allowed to make such a neder because you are obligated to have a boy and a girl. You had three boys with your first wife, which means you did not fulfill the full mitzvah. You have to marry again. Plus, it says in the Torah that it's not good for a man to be by himself, meaning you have to marry another woman. You have to at least try. So the neder that you made, the swear that you made, the vow that you made to your wife that passed away is not a valid neder. You can go ahead and remarry. Now, this avrech found a woman, and after a short period of time, they decided they're gonna get married. On the day of their wedding, on the day of their wedding Suddenly, the avrech, the guy that's about to get married, passed out and died. The whole community is in an uproar. We see that's what happens because he made a neder to his wife, and I'm sure his wife was probably really upset about it in Heaven and caused him to die.

59:38So it's really Rabbi Shlomo Luria's fault. So this word came to the Rav. He said to them, please make sure that when you're going to bury the body, bring it back to my house first. Pass, you know, while you're carrying the body. In those days, the whole community would be involved. They would carry the body and walk it all the way to the cemetery. He says, pass by my house first. Stop by my house with the body. So now they pass by his house. Rav Luria comes outside, takes the tallit off of his face, looks at the face, mumbles a few prayers, and puts a note inside the tallit, right next to the body. He says, "Bury him like this, but don't put the sand on top of him. Leave the thing open, leave him out there like that. Put him in the hole, but don't cover it."

1:00:40Okay, the rabbi says, the rabbi, we do. They took him, went to the Chevra Kadisha, took him, put him in the hole, everybody cried, and everyone left, but they didn't cover the hole, which is the last step you're supposed to do. The next morning, the next morning, everyone sees the avrech walking in town. The guy that died the day before, they see him walking in town. What are you doing? He's dying. Resurrection of the dead. Resurrection of the dead. The guy says, no. No resurrection of the dead. It's just that I went up to Shamayim and they said, yeah, it's your time. I said, yeah, well, you're not allowed to come here though. What do you mean? But he said, it's my time. He goes, it was your time. But, Rav Luria wrote a letter to us. He put it on you and he said, listen, whether it's his time or it's not his time, what you're doing right now is going to cause a Chilul Hashem. Why? They're going to think it's something that has to do with this neder. Not allowed to take him. Rav Luria doesn't agree with the Beit Din of Shamayim. We have to go with Rav Luria. So you have to go back and live for a bunch more years. Now the poor guy,

1:01:54Everybody was scared of him now. The guy's just dead, now he's alive. Okay, it's a big miracle, but people are scared to marry him. The girl doesn't want to marry him now. This guy's, I don't know, he's a zombie or something. So the guy was having a major difficulty. So Rav Luria saw this, it's a real story, and I'll tell you how they found the story. So Rav Luria saw this, and that it was causing a big commotion, so he did a special Kabbalistic prayer or some type of act that made everyone forget. The whole town forgot what happened. So how do we know the story 500 years later? Chevra Kadisha. Chevra Kadisha, when they get a body, they write down who it is, his name, date of death, how he died, all the details, they write it down. So they have, when the guy finally died years later, it's like, wait a minute, this guy's already here. And at that time, they said, oh, the Rav was Rav Luria. They looked into the books of Rav Luria, his personal journal, which detailed the entire event and explained how he made everyone forget. That's how the story became known. Chevra Kadisha. Chevra Kadisha. So now, if Rav Luria says something, are you going to listen to him or not? This is what he says. This is what he says. Rav Luria, alav hashalom.

1:03:23Rav Luria, in his sefer, Yam Shel Shlomo, this whole story is written. Oh no, no, this is the sefer I'm talking about right now. So this is actually in his personal writings, that's when he wrote this. But in his sefer, Yam Shel Shlomo, in Perek Eser, the tenth perek, commentary on the Gemara Bava Kamma in Siman 18. He says the following: One could benefit from the mathematical error that leads to a financial benefit of a non-Jew, but only if you're not causing the error. So This is a clarification on the issue where there is a halacha that says if a Jew loses something or makes a mistake, you have to give him back his money. You cannot take advantage of another Jew. But some people think that if a non-Jew makes a mistake, I'm by default allowed to take the money. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

1:04:49Luria clarifies one part of it. He says if the non-Jew makes a mistake, let's say, for example, he gives you change. You did a deal with him, and he gives you a bunch of change. Instead of giving you, let's say, twenty $20 bills, he gives you twenty $100 bills. Instead of $20, he gave you $2,000. So Rav Luria says, first and foremost, no. If you're the one that caused him to make the mistake by confusing him, by telling him, "No, no, use this one," and you know he's making a mistake, it's forbidden 100%. It's 100% stealing. You're not allowed to cause the non-Jew to make the error, especially if he works for you and is under you; it's forbidden. Even if the guy is never gonna know about it, but in fact, even further, if you see him counting the change and he gave you $2,000 instead of $20—it doesn't have to necessarily be that much, we're just giving examples—and you know it's a mistake, and you didn't cause him to make that mistake, he did it on his own, you're still not allowed to take the money.

1:06:12until you tell him, "Listen, you should double-check," or "I'm just relying on what you did." Meaning, you're giving him the warning signs to double-check his work to make sure that this is okay. You have to give him warning signs. You have to make sure to be honest with the guy and not just say, "Oh no, he made a mistake, it's his problem." Why? Because if the non-Jew makes a mistake and the Jew takes advantage of it, it not only looks bad for business, it now also looks bad for Judaism, even if you're not a religious Jew. Because the non-Jews don't look at religious Jews or non-religious Jews differently. They look at everybody as Jews. Like today, the thing they had in Belgium, the anti-Semitic parade they had in Belgium today, with all types of caricatures making fun of Jews, they didn't really care if the Jew is a religious Jew or a non-religious Jew. Some of the costumes were costumes of religious Jews with big noses and big ears and big things, making fun of Jews. Some of them were just making fun of Jews without it. It didn't make a difference to them. They hate everybody alike, whether they're religious or not religious. They were dressing up as Nazis regardless. Now, now, with all types of caricatures making fun of Jews, they didn't really care if the Jew is a religious Jew or a non-religious Jew. Some of the costumes were costumes of religious Jews with big noses and big ears and big things, making fun of Jews. Some of them were just making fun of Jews without it. It didn't make a difference to them. They hate everybody alike, whether they're religious or not religious. They were dressing up as Nazis regardless. Now, now,

1:07:34The Rambam in Hilchot Gezeila, chapter 11, halacha number 4, says that a mistake, a mistake in accounts, meaning a monetary mistake that is made by a non-Jew is considered like a lost item. And it's permissible to benefit from it, but this only applies if he makes the mistake by himself. Meaning the same thing that Rav Luria said 500 years ago, he was just quoting the Rambam from 900 years ago. It wasn't really a chiddush by Rav Luria, but in essence, you see how the Chachamim continue working off of each other. They're not bringing new Torah to the world. Now, it's forbidden to cause a Gentile to make a mistake. Further, he elaborates, he says that a Gentile's error means that you have to tell him. I'm relying on your account, the Rambam says. And if he still doesn't correct himself, then you could take it. Because then, this guy's insisting on just losing money. But if you correct him, and he still insists, no, no, just take it, then this guy is either, you know, something's wrong with him. This guy just wants to give you a gift.

1:09:04if you tell him over and over again and he still insists, now you have a serious issue. So what does this have to do with cash advance? When I spoke to a few people that were in the cash advance business, I told them, "Listen, it's an unethical business. You're charging the average person that's in desperate need for money for his business." Enormous interest that's three, four, five, ten, a hundred, two hundred times the industry average, only because they can't get the loan from anyone else. If they're able to get their loan from a regular bank, from Chase Manhattan, or JPMorgan, or Wells Fargo, or some normal bank, and get a loan for six, seven percent, they would never go to these thieves at the cash advance business. They would never go to them. But they come into the cash advance business and they're signing all types of documents that tell them, "Listen, you're going to pay 80% interest, 90% interest, 100% interest, 400% interest in some places." Some guy says, "No, no, we only charge 40%—only, only 40%," as if it's allowed.

1:10:13said you're not allowed to do it. You are taking advantage of people who are desperate. He responds, "Yeah, but they're choosing to sign on their own, and they're not even Jewish. If they were Jews, then okay, we're not even allowed to charge Jews interest at all." But he says you're allowed to charge non-Jews interest. "You're allowed to charge them, so they're signing the contract." I said, "No, wrong. First of all, I..." you assuming you're allowed to charge interest to non-Jews is already a mistake by itself. There's actually criteria of who you're allowed to and who you're not allowed to, and who is allowed to charge and who's not, which we'll get to in a second. But further than that, you know you're taking advantage of them. And just because they're signing the agreement and making the mistake doesn't mean it's allowed. Why? Because you are the one that's leading them astray. You are the one that's telling them, "Listen, I'm going to get you $100,000 in 24 hours. I'm going to get you $200,000, save your house, save your business, save everything in three days. You're going to get it." You're enticing them to make this mistake. That's not allowed by any standard. Jew, non-Jew, even a cow, you're not allowed to lend to them. You know you're taking advantage of them. And just because they're signing the agreement and making the mistake doesn't mean it's allowed. Why? Because you are the one that's leading them astray. You are the one that's telling them, "Listen, I'm going to get you $100,000 in 24 hours. I'm going to get you $200,000, save your house, save your business, save everything in three days. You're going to get it." You're enticing them to make this mistake. That's not allowed by any standard. Jew, non-Jew, even a cow, you're not allowed to lend to them.

1:11:22You are the one that's causing their error. It's not like they're just doing it on their own. Now, the Rambam, in the commentary on the Mishnah in Masechet Keilim, chapter 12, section 7, Mishnah number 7... Sees says stealing from non-Jews is, number one, a transgression against Hashem's will. Hashem does not want you to steal from non-Jews, know that. Two, it reinforces undesirable character traits. Meaning, if you're stealing from people, eventually you're going to start stealing from Jews. If you're stealing from non-Jews, eventually you're going to steal from Jews too. If you're charging non-Jews interest, eventually you're going to charge Jews interest. Three, you're going to end up leading to Chilul Hashem, desecration of Hashem's name. Especially, Rabbi Feinstein says, especially if you look like a religious Jew. You're going to lead to Chilul Hashem.

1:12:26So we see here that there are many, many places. I mean, this is probably five hours that I could tell you about this, but I'm not going to go through the whole thing. But you see here already that the picture is a little bit different than what people tell. But one other thing that I wanted to mention is that there is an assumption that you are allowed to charge interest to non-Jews. by default. Rambam writes in Hilchot Genevah and also in the Yerushalmi, there's a lot of different places that talk about this issue. But there are a few highlights here that say that the Torah doesn't view charging interest to anyone as a favorable thing. The Gemara in Masechet Makkot page 24a quotes Tehillim 15 verse 5 where David HaMelech says that Mashiach is going to save a certain type of people. Anyone that is in your meaning, who is going to be saved? Who is going to be in your holy mountain? Someone that is innocent, one that does the right thing, someone that speaks the truth, and someone who does not lend his money with interest. Charging interest to people, Jews or non-Jews, is already viewed negatively.

1:13:53David HaMelech says, you're wiped out of the Mashiach list. Or, in fact, you're on the bad list. He's gonna be one of the people who says, gone. Gone. That's it. Now, if that's not enough, you're like David HaMelech, you want someone else? The Prophet Isaiah, chapter 33, verse 15, says the same exact thing. He says, one who walks with righteousness and speaks with fairness. He's talking about who's gonna be saved by Mashiach, speaks with fairness and who rejects with disgust, extortionate profit. And Rashi on the pasuk says, what is this extortionate profit? Interest. Charging interest. Not enough. The Prophet Micah, chapter 6, verse 8, says, He has told you, O man, what is good. What does Hashem require of you but to do justice? to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. So the Gemara says, what does it mean to do justice? This is the law governing human decency, which means laws that man would have deemed correct even without Torah. You don't need the Torah to tell you that you're not allowed to charge people 50, 60 percent interest, 40 percent interest, 100 percent interest, or better yet, make them sign

1:15:18a document that pretty much gives them your whole life called the confession of judgment, where they pretty much sign a document saying that if they're late to make a payment, automatically the lender takes all of their assets Possession of them without going to court automatically. The guy signs an application like he's signing a form to go into school. He puts a signature on it. He lists his house, lists his bank account, whatever. He's listing his business. The guy's late. We're not talking about defaults. He's late by one day. All of that property becomes the cash advance owner's property. He's not the new owner. You don't need the Torah to tell you that's not decency. Shlomo HaMelech in Mishlei, Proverbs 28:8, says one who increases his wealth by neshech or ribit is collecting it for the person who favors the poor.

1:16:30She says, "What does it mean that someone who charges interest is collecting it for the person who favors the poor?" It says that all the money you made from that cash advance business, from charging people interest, all of that money God is going to take from you and give it to somebody who likes to feed poor people and help others. He's going to get all the money you're making. All you're doing is making money, and Hashem is going to take all of it from you. You're going to be broke, and He's going to give it to somebody who helps people. Don't think for a second you're going to enjoy this money. Oh, but I'm enjoying it now. Okay. Don't worry. Hashem is patient. Hashem is patient. He built Haman all the way to the top before he collapsed to nothing. Same thing with everybody else that He goes against. Now, Who are we allowed to charge interest? Because according to Shlomo HaMelech, according to the prophet Micah, according to Isaiah, according to David HaMelech, according to pretty much the entire Torah here, interest already, we're seeing it's not exactly viewed as a positive thing, whether it's a Jew or non-Jew. So what does the Gemara actually say is allowed? Gemara, Bava Metzia, page 70b.

1:17:46teaches what is ill-gotten gains, what are gains that are viewed in Shamayim as non-kosher, non-kosher profit. The Gemara explains this is to teach that even interest taken from an idolater is destined to the same negative fate as Therefore, the court of King Shlomo instituted a rabbinical prohibition to charge Gentiles interest. Meaning, we're not talking about just non-Jews. We're talking about even reshaim among the non-Jews. Even if it's an idol worshiper, Shlomo HaMelech says you're not even allowed to charge them interest. Why? It's not a good way to make money. It's not a kosher way to make money. So wait a minute, but all of these people, all of these places, banks, and other types of lending companies, they're charging interest, and they have some rabbi telling them it's allowed. So where did this permission come from? This is where it came from, I'll show you. So why is it permitted? So Rabbi Chiya, the same Rabbi Chiya that was the nephew of Rabbi HaKadosh that I mentioned to you, Rabbi Chiya Bar Rav Huna says,

1:19:08It's only permitted out of necessity where the Jew takes only as much interest as necessary for his livelihood and only if he's a Talmid Chacham. What's necessity? He's a scholar. He learns Torah all day. He can't go doing business. can't go doing business all day, trading this, that, and the other. But he needs to make a living. So, you have some money—his father gave some money, his mother gave some money, his father-in-law, somebody gave some money—but he needs to make a living. Okay, you lend that money, charge a little bit of interest, just enough for you to survive, not to charge a lot more. Not just more, just enough. You need $2,000 a month? That's how much you're allowed to make in interest. Once you've reached the point where you're making your two, three, four, five thousand dollars a month, that's it. That's the ceiling. So anyone that's lending money with interest, what are they saying? They're saying not only are they a Talmid Chacham, but apparently they need $100,000, $200,000 a month to live. Because that's what they're charging people. But that, you're not going to find in the Torah. You're not going to find that. So, Rav Huna says in the same Gemara,

1:20:28that the lender has to be a Talmid Chacham, and Rashi says Talmidei Chachamim are permitted to charge interest from a Gentile whereas the rest of the people are forbidden to do so. And Rav Huna says that even those permitted must always lend money to a Jew for free before a Gentile for profit, a poor person before the rich, your family before your city, and your city before another city. So Rav Huna elaborates, saying, listen, even if you're a Talmid Chacham, you classify as that, and you have an opportunity to make money off of a Gentile, you're not to lend them money if you have a Jew that needs the money first, interest-free, for you not to make money. Meaning first you have to lend money to a Jew that needs it, if he's poor, if he's your family, and so on and so forth. First, you have to lend. If there's no Jew that needs the money... there's no family member that needs the money and there's no poor guy that needs the money, then you can lend the money to the non-Jew and charge them a little bit of interest, just enough for you to survive. Which means that if people actually knew the halacha of lending money, no Jew would be in this business. It doesn't make any sense. There's plenty of other things you could do to make more money if you're doing it in a kosher way, so

1:21:52Why is this forbidden for a regular person that's not a talmid chacham? So there are several different answers that the Gemara, Rashi, and also Rabbeinu Bechaye say. The Gemara says that if a person that doesn't know a lot of Torah lends money to non-Jews, then that means he's going to associate with them on a regular basis because all of his customers are going to be non-Jews. He's not going to have any Jewish customers. He's not making money off of them. And if he's constantly hanging out with non-Jews, little by little it's going to weaken his commitment to the Torah. This is not a problem with someone that's learning Torah all day. Rashi says, He starts lending money to non-Jews and charging interest. Eventually, he's going to get into the habit of charging interest, and eventually, he's going to charge interest to Jewish people also. So...

1:23:06Here we see that you have many, many details about this that are much more than what people think. And there's a lot more that we could discuss, but you get the point. Now, why am I telling you all of this? I'm telling you all of this because this is one of the Amaleks, one of the Amaleks of this generation. it's this obsession with money to the extent that we forget about God. Hence the reason why you see certain industries that are unethical run by people that look like religious Jews, one of them being this cash advance business, and I first learned about the cash advance business when I was still in the business days and on Wall Street. Someone told me about it. He told me that some guy opened an office up the street from us on Wall Street, and he's got a bunch of new guys who just joined the place. Within a few months, they're already making, you know, fifteen, twenty thousand dollars a month, which is a lot of money for a short period of time. He explained to me what the business is within 30 seconds. I told him it's all fraud. It's all unethical. It's all wrong. I don't steal money. I'm not in the business of stealing.

1:24:30Yeah, we can make a lot of money. I said I could also kill people; doesn't mean I'm gonna do it. But this was while I was still in the business days. Ethics is just—it's either you have it or you don't have it. But now that you know the laws of the Torah, we see that even if the person doesn't know very much about everything else, already, you have no permission to be in this business—not for Jews, not for non-Jews. So, I come to so many religious Jews or people who look religious in this business. Because as the Torah tells us, when it comes to money, the wise become blind, and the righteous are ignored. What do you mean, "righteous and ignored"? The wise people that are smart, generally speaking—they're smart. You tell them how to build the building, and they know how to build a building. You ask him to build a company, you know how to build a company. Within a few months, the guy already has a call center with 100 employees. He knows how to build a business. He knows how to do the accounting. He knows how to do the whole operation. Generally smart people. But when it comes to money, all of a sudden, when it comes to ethics and things like that, all of a sudden he becomes stupid. Blind, doesn't see. No, no. Yeah, I know it's not exactly the most ethical, but the rabbi says it's okay. Yeah, but you know inside you it's not okay.

1:25:53You know inside you it's not okay. You don't need the rabbi to tell you it's okay, not okay. You know inside you when your customer called you six, eight, nine, ten months after you lent them the money, crying to you because they're taking his house, crying to you because he can't pay the loan and he knows he's going to lose everything because of it, you already knew on that day that it's wrong to be in this business. When the client told you his wife just left him, or a husband just left her because of the loan they took with you, because it ruined their life, you knew at that moment it was wrong. Maybe you have the excuse that you didn't know in the beginning what the consequences were going to be, which by itself already shows you're a little foolish. But let's say, let's say you have the kav schut, let's say you made a mistake in the beginning. Six months, eight months into the business, you're going to see people default. That's how that business works. You see people default. People borrow a bunch of money that they can't pay back because they have a really, really optimistic perspective about their future. It doesn't always work out that way. The business collapses, or it doesn't meet their demands, or it just grows but not enough to meet this 40, 50, 60, 90% interest that they're paying, and everything collapses. So you saw people default. They called you.

1:27:10You saw people lose their life savings. They called you. They cried to you. Meaning at some point you saw it's not right. And you still continued. You are giving power to Amalek. You're acting just like them, with or without the peyos, with or without the beard. You know it's wrong. You don't need a rabbi to tell you. But now you have one. But now you have one because you know it's wrong, you know it's wrong. Everybody knows it's wrong. Same thing with this other guy who told me when I was on Wall Street. This one guy told me, "Listen, this guy opened a firm called John Thomas. Within a matter of a few months, this guy has the entire floor full of brokers. It's very unusual for a firm to grow that fast." I heard a little bit about the operation. I said, "Give him a little bit of time; they're gonna get shut down by the government." I Little time passed, and they actually stole 14 of my employees in one week. A bunch of guys bought the dream. I told them, "Don't buy it." They bought the dream, and they went there. Within a matter of, I think, a year and a half, two years, the guy had two or three floors full of people—hundreds of guys. Big money. Guys are printing money there.

1:28:30And everybody keeps asking, why don't you do the same thing as him? Why don't you do the same thing as him? Look, the guy's growing so fast. You already had the firm for 12, 13 years. You're not even 10% of his size. This guy's growing in a year and a half. He's much bigger than you. He's this, he's that, he's this. I said, listen, mark my words, this guy's going to jail. He goes, why? Why do you always assume everybody who's doing better than you is a criminal? I said, it has nothing to do with better than me or not better than me. I'm doing okay. It doesn't matter. What he's doing is wrong. Know what he's doing and it's wrong. He's taking advantage of people. He's getting people to invest in things that are fake. He's getting people to invest in things that he has a vested interest in, and so on and so forth. No one wanted to listen. A bunch of guys left my firm and went to work for him. After about three or four years of him doing it, maybe even less—three years, I think it was something like that. And... Secretary opens the door. FBI. Everybody, 300–400 guys, are shocked at that. Why FBI? SEC. The whole place is shut down. One second. Why? You knew it was wrong. You knew it was wrong. Don't play stupid.

1:29:50If it was a Ponzi scheme, you knew it was a Ponzi scheme. If it was fraud, you knew it was fraud. If it was unethical, you knew it was unethical. Stop playing the victim. Oh, I didn't know. You can't go to Shamayim and say, I didn't know. Why? HaKadosh Baruch Hu knows what's in your head. You could fool the judge like you didn't know. You could fool your wife and your husband that you didn't know. You could fool your kids and your boss and your cousin and the customer. You could fool everybody that you didn't know. In Shamayim, there's no I didn't know. Why? They're going to show you your thoughts. They're going to show you your thoughts. And there's no I didn't know in Shamayim. If you're doing something wrong, they're gonna show you in Shamayim that you knew. And it's gonna be so embarrassing because they're gonna bring all of your victims to watch, all of the people you fooled, to watch. The people that you lied to, that you didn't know, they're gonna show you them. They're gonna watch and say, "Ah, oh, you did know, huh? How come you lied?"

1:31:01And from the embarrassment, the Sages said, the embarrassment that the soul has at that moment, the soul starts begging HaKadosh Baruch Hu to send it to Gehenom. It says the embarrassment from all of those other neshamot, you're being exposed in front of all these people. The embarrassment, the soul says to Hashem, "Please send me into the fire. I'd rather burn in Gehenom than continue dealing with these people." you knew, don't pretend like you didn't know, but they're also going to show you what outcome happened, how you gave more power to Amalek, how the Nazis, the anti-Semites, used you as an excuse. Of course, some of these Nazis like to use my videos too. It's a guy saying, "See, he's proving that the Jews are taking advantage of the goyim." Yeah, but if you watch the whole video, you also see that I'm talking about God, I'm talking about a lot of other things. It's my job to rebuke the Jewish people and the non-Jewish people. Why? That's what the Torah says. There's no favoritism here. It doesn't give the non-Jews permission to hate Jews. They're going to Gehinnom with no end for hating Jews.

1:32:18But the point being, rabotai, is that when it comes to Torah, there's no favoritism. There's no favoritism. There's no permission for anyone to take advantage of anyone. Why do people do it? Ignorance of the law or carelessness. Those are the only two conditions, either ignorance or carelessness of the law. Now, this is a very, very big mistake that all of us suffer from. Hence the reason why I'm telling you and all the people that are watching this, because everybody here knows somebody, who knows somebody, that knows somebody connected to somebody that perhaps is doing something that falls into this. It may not be cash advance, but it's something else that you know is unethical or perhaps you did it in your past and... You're doing it now. The point is that you're here watching this because HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants you to watch it. Whether it's today, according to the Christian calendar, 2020, or 5780 according to Am Yisrael, or you're watching it five years after we did this, you're watching it right now because HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants you to watch it because it does affect you somehow. This means that we have a responsibility...

1:33:44Because we do not want to give power to Haman. That was the mistake that led to a near annihilation of Am Yisrael, where we became so obsessed with money. We showed up to a party at Achashverosh's house. We figured, listen, it's kosher food. Just because it has kosher food doesn't mean you're allowed to go there. Because that's kosher food doesn't mean it's a kosher place. Yeah, but maybe I can network with the king and some of his other generals or something. Who says you're allowed to network with him? Who says you're allowed to be there? The problem is when we're thinking about money, we're thinking about business all the time. It's very, very easy to forget about God and This leads us very far away from God, even to the point where we, the chosen people, the firstborn of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, become sometimes worse than the goyim that are wicked. That's the problem. When we are righteous, even the goyim look up to us like, "Wow, I...".

1:34:59Who's like your nation, Hashem? Who's like this Am Yisrael? But when we're bad, even the goyim say, "Why did You choose them? Why did You choose them? Look how unethical they are. Look how wrong they are. Look how this they are." If you have a guy like Eichmann say that if he wasn't a Nazi, Nazi guy, he says if he was a Jew, he would be a Zionist. That's what he wrote. If you have a guy like that, who murdered millions of people, say he wants to be a Zionist, why are you a Zionist? Who do you think knows more about Zionism, you or him? He dealt with them on a daily basis, with the founders. Now with the books that maybe you read. The point, Rebbotai, is that we cannot just be a herd of sheep and follow blindly just because it sounds right. We have to investigate things. Because when we just become sheep, we end up getting slaughtered as a people. That's what happened during the time of Purim, where we made a mistake because of our obsession with money. Now

1:36:26As we all know, HaKadosh Baruch Hu works midah k'neged midah—measure for measure. Because our obsession with money led us to that dinner, to that festive event at Achashverosh that Mordechai told us not to go to, when push came to shove, Haman got the job. He told us that he wants permission to do what he wants, and he's willing to pay for it. He paid the equivalent of four hundred and forty-four million dollars to get permission to annihilate the Jews—ten thousand kikar כסף. According to today's price of about eighteen and a half dollars an ounce, it is equivalent to four hundred and forty-four million dollars. This means Haman was filthy rich, not just rich. Chazal says he was richer than Achashverosh. He paid half a billion dollars. Why? To kill Jews.

1:37:35Why would Hashem make such a billionaire so obsessed with killing Jews? Go enjoy your money, you moron. What do you want to kill Jews for? Go take your half a billion dollars. Go buy some more houses. Go buy a castle. Go buy a planet. Who knows? Go do something with your money. What do you care about killing Jews? HaKadosh Baruch Hu uses different people for different things. He takes the person that hates Jews and uses him to do what He wants, when He wants. Instead of this guy enjoying his money, enjoying his life. No, no, he cares about the Jewish people. There are a few million people that are bothering him. It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense that someone who has that kind of money would even care about anybody. Go buy an island, live there by yourself, create a whole new civilization. No, no, no, I need to kill Jews. Why? Measure for measure. The Jews were obsessed with money, Hashem uses money to, chas v'shalom, hurt them. Now, the good news is that no matter what we do, HaKadosh Baruch Hu also promised us.

1:38:54He'll never annihilate us. He'll never destroy us, but He never promised He won't hurt us. He never promised that a Holocaust wouldn't happen. He never promised that a pogrom or an Inquisition wouldn't happen. Why? He needs those tools in order to wake us up, in order for us to know and recognize that we are the chosen people and we have to act accordingly. And... So regardless of what happens, even when the evil Haman comes, Hitler comes, there's always a tzaddik hidden that's doing something to save the situation. Now I found a chiddush this Shabbat, it's a million dollars. I'll give it to you guys for payments, monthly. In the Megillat Esther, in the beginning of the story, chapter 50, the first perek in pasuk number 16. After the whole story of what happened with Vashti on the shetiyah, they used to make Jewish girls work naked on Shabbat. And that's why she was punished midah k'neged midah, that she got tzara'at. She got a skin disease. She even grew a tail and a horn. She started looking, my kids call her, "the dinosaur woman."

1:40:14Now this Vashti, Achashverosh killed her. She was his wife, but he killed her. And the next day, he forgot what happened. He forgot that he killed her because he was drunk. So it says that he came to his Memuchan. Memuchan came to the king, saying that the queen acted against him, but not only against him, against the officials. Now, the Midrash that everybody knows is that this Memuchan comes from the word Muchan, which means "ready" to commit crimes, ready to do something. And they said that's another name for Haman. Haman was waiting for Vashti to do something so he could be at the king's side and get some control. That's the general Midrash. You're gonna find in ArtScroll, you're gonna find, that's the common thing. But if you notice, when you read the Megillah,

1:41:15The word Memuchan is written in two ways: one with a vav, and one without a vav. So how come the same word is written in two different ways? And how come it's written Memuchan, why doesn't it just say Haman? So if you look at the Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, towards the end of the book, it says that Memuchan was also Daniel. Daniel the prophet who lived at the same time. Daniel the prophet was here in this picture. You don't see his name in the Megillah. Why? He's Memuchan. So how can he be Memuchan and Haman be Memuchan? This is because Memuchan is not a person's name, but a tafkid, a job, like a general, an advisor. Haman was an advisor. Daniel the prophet was an advisor. Haman was the advisor trying to bring bad for the Jews. Daniel was trying to bring good for the Jews, and the salvation came from his advice. So even though Hashem was letting the world see what Haman was doing to try to destroy the Jews, we were so focused on this annihilation that's coming. Oh, oh, oh no, what's gonna happen? Hashem says, don't worry. I got Daniel on the side over here. He's got everything ready. Don't worry. You just don't see him. Why? I called him Memuchan.

1:42:43You don't even see my name, Ta'al Megillah. What's the difference? Missing Vav. One letter difference, same word. But you can't get it from one Midrash, you have to go to a different Midrash from 500 years ago. So we see that HaKadosh Baruch Hu, as He's giving the sickness, He already has the cure. This is why, Rabotai Yekarim, Am Yisrael is constantly, no matter what we've done, HaKadosh Baruch Hu is always going to use these different tools, even if that tool is anti-Semitism, even if that tool is Chas V'Shalom, a Holocaust. He's going to use those tools to remind us that we are the chosen people. Now, it's important for us to know, Hashem doesn't want to use these tools to hurt us, but nonetheless, we are forcing His hand. But the good news is that Am Yisrael is constantly compared to the Levana. Levana is the moon. Just as the moon goes blank, you don't see anything, the situation looks dark, it looks like a Holocaust. Hashem says, "Don't worry, tomorrow it's going to be a full moon. Tomorrow you're going to start seeing the moon. Tomorrow you're going to see a little sliver, within 15 days it's full."

1:44:09After the Holocaust, a lot of good things happened. We got the Medina, the State of Israel. A lot of people from all over the world came together. You started seeing Torah grow in the world. After the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, we saw the Gemara flourish all over the world. After all the bad things, good things happen. Why? Because Hashem is going to bring us to good one way or the other. But why not be part of the good in a good way? Why do we have to force Hashem's hand to give us bad first? The good only goes to the good people; it doesn't go to the bad people. Even the people that brought the bad don't get saved with the good. This is why on Tuesday it's Rosh Chodesh. Rav Pappa says, as we decrease happiness in the Rosh Chodesh of Av, we increase happiness on Rosh Chodesh Adar.

1:45:11So the question is, what does one thing have to do with the other? Okay, we know that Av, Tisha B'Av, destruction of Beit HaMikdash, we get it. But what's the connection that we have to decrease our happiness during Av? Okay, we get it, we have to decrease our happiness, we cry over the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash. But why is that connected to increased happiness during Adar, during the month when there's Purim? It's another symbolic way that HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants us to remember. No matter how dark it is, even if it's as dark as Av, remember there's gonna be Adar. Adar is coming also; good times are also coming. And that's why in Gemara Masechet Makkot, when Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Akiva were once walking and they saw the Beit HaMikdash was tarnished. And they saw a desecration of the Beit HaMikdash when they saw a fox come out of the Kodesh HaKodashim. Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua started crying. Rabbi Akiva started laughing. So Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua said, "Why are you laughing?" Rabbi Akiva said to them, "Why are you crying? That's the question. You're crying. I'm laughing. Why are you crying?" They replied, "Look at the Beit HaMikdash."

1:46:37It's become a place like a zoo. There are animals coming out of the Kodesh HaKodashim. The Shechina was there, and now there's an animal. Why wouldn't we cry? Why are you laughing? Rabbi Akiva says, we already know from the prophets that if we do bad, destruction of the Beit HaMikdash is going to come. But I laugh because if that prophecy If that prophecy of Uriah which tells us about destruction was fulfilled, then that means that the prophecy of Zechariah which talks about Mashiach, talks about salvation, will also be fulfilled. If the bad was fulfilled, if the darkness was fulfilled, so will the light. That's why I laugh. A Jew needs to know that despite all the things that are happening in the world there is only one way to fight the bad. It's not with your own personal idea. It's not with your own personal campaign. It's not with your own personal anything. It's already with the instruction that HaKadosh Baruch Hu already told us years ago, which is the only cure for the spiritual cancer that we've been living in. The only solution, the only cure, is Torah. Now,

1:48:06When it comes down, oh, I need a new battery. Give me the black bag, the whole black bag, and search in the left compartment over there to see if there are AAA batteries on the bottom. So, when a person sees that the Jewish people around him are not doing things that are in accordance with what they should... Naturally, he's gonna want to do something about it if his Jewish national mind is still alive. So, he does something about it. Now, it's important to know that if what you're about to do is not in accordance with the law, it's wrong by default. You're never gonna have an idea that's better than the Torah.

1:49:07Not doing things that are in accordance with what they should. Naturally, he's gonna want to do something about it if his Jewish national mind is still alive. So, he does something about it. Now, it's important to know that if what you're about to do is not in accordance with the law, it's wrong by default. You're never gonna have an idea that's better than the Torah. Where does this apply to us? If you know somebody that's in an unethical business, trying to convince them in any other way outside of the Torah to leave this business is not the right way to do it. Why? Because if you don't teach them that what they're doing is unethical, it's wrong. Even if they leave the business, they are going to replace it with a different fraud and... Meaning, if you tell them, "Listen, this business is not really that great. There's another business you can make more money in," or, "This business is not paying you enough," or you come up with some type of excuse for them to leave the business, but do not tell them that it's forbidden to be in such a business, then guess what? All they're going to do is go to another unethical business and continue performing their crimes in another way. The only way to save these people that are in unethical business

1:50:24Doing business unethically is by telling them you are going to get punished because you're doing things that are against Hashem. Right now, this is happening not just in his business. It's happening in other businesses. Someone told me that right now there's a whole big corruption happening in the business of masks because of all this coronavirus, and... So people are buying and selling different masks and cheating each other, not paying each other. A guy bought a million dollars worth of masks but didn't pay the supplier. Declared bankruptcy by the time it was time to pay. All types of corruption amongst each other. It's not enough that they're making a killing on something that wasn't even noticeable six months ago. That's not enough. They want the whole pie. Corruption, Abotai, The only way to solve it is by telling people you're gonna have to pay for it in the end. Not only are you going to Gehinnom, not only are you going against Hashem, but you should remember every single penny you're making, every single penny, you're gonna lose. Every single penny is gonna be used for medical expenses. Every single penny, you're gonna lose for lawsuits. Every single penny, you're never gonna enjoy. Every single penny. Yeah, but there's a lot of criminals that are enjoying their money. Give it time.

1:51:33Promise you, give it time, you'll see how they regret the day they were born. I met a lot of people like that on Wall Street. They tried to cheat a few people, and eventually, they paid. They paid with their life and And I still see people do that. Every day you see people cheating, you should tell them, the Torah says it's not allowed, and show them this lecture. Why? This is the only real solution. If you don't tell them the solution, they're going to replace this unethical business with another unethical business. So that other solution is not a solution. Furthermore, if you see, for example, other types of wrongdoings in your community, for example, the first example we mentioned, like racism. you tell people, "Listen, you should just ignore him. He's not your color, he's not your tradition, he's not this." Why do you have to be so racist? Just ignoring him is not a solution. That's not a solution. Why? He may ignore him today, but at the first opportunity, he will not. You have to explain to this person that it's wrong.

1:52:37It's wrong to view people based on color. It's wrong to view people based on their race. It's wrong to view people based on their tradition, whether they're Yemenites or they're Sephardic or they're Litvish or they're Hasidic or whatever they are. It doesn't matter. HaKadosh Baruch Hu does not care. He doesn't have a Beit Din and a Gan Eden and Gehinom for black people and white people all separate. Everyone goes to the same place. If you're righteous, you're going to Gan Eden. If you're wicked, there's a special place for you in Gehinom waiting. It's very important for people to know the judgment is the same regardless of what your background is. that also means that your solution to the problem that you see in your life or your community when it comes to racism cannot be from your own head because there are some people that want to be vocal about it. Oh, I want to make my voice heard. I want people to recognize us because we're such and such. We're black, we're blue, we're green, we're burgundy. I want people to know it.

1:53:51This is not Judaism. You're wrong for doing it. How do I know it's not Judaism? I'll prove it to you. I also got this chiddush on Shabbat. If you've ever spent a few hours reading a holy sefer, whether it's the Chumash and you're looking at commentary, or you look at any other sefer from Am Yisrael, A Mussar sefer, a Halacha sefer, any sefer—you're always gonna see that whoever the author is, he is quoting other Chachamim. He's gonna quote Rabbi Akiva. He's gonna quote Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. He's gonna quote the Rambam. He's gonna quote the Baal Shem Tov. He's gonna quote all types of big tzaddikim. He's gonna quote Moshe Rabbeinu. He's gonna quote Avraham Avinu. Now, did you ever notice that no matter how many sources he has for what he says and how many rabbis' names he uses...

1:55:08There's never a picture of any of these people in the book. You're never going to see a picture of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. The one that's on the internet is fake. Somebody just made it up. It doesn't look like him. It's not him. We don't have a picture of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Guess what? We don't have a picture of Rabbi Akiva either. We don't have a picture of Moshe Rabbeinu. We don't have a picture of Aharon HaKohen. We have no idea what they look like. And guess what? No one cares. You're never going to see a single sefer with a real picture of any of these chachamim. Why? We don't care what they look like. We care what they say. Am Yisrael doesn't care what you look like. It cares what you say. If the idea is holy, it's valid, it's from HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself, what do I care if you have a horn coming out of your left nostril and you're black and you're green and you're burgundy? What do I care? Your eyes are like this or your eyes are like that. What do I care? Your idea came from Har Sinai.

1:56:21That's a major difference between Am Yisrael and the Goyim. If you look at the Goyim or the Amalekites, you see that their idea was only valid because of who said it, not because of the idea itself. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King— their ideas were fantastic ideas, but only because they were black and A little white guy came out and said, "Oh, I'm just such." Guess what? That white guy gets thrown off the building. Why? What are you going to talk about? Black people? What are you talking about? Wait, who are you, little whitey? Get out of here, cracker. Get out of here. What are you talking about? You're going to lead us? Who are you? What are you talking about? That's the truth. But guess what? If some black guy came to the Zionists and... and told them, "Hey, we need a country, Israel." Who are you? What are you talking about? Go back to wherever you came from. We need some white guy to tell us. We need some white guy to tell us that Zionism is this and this. Same thing with all secular ideas. The idea is only valid because of who said it. But if you change the color, you change the shape, all of a sudden the idea is no longer valid.

1:57:44Why? Because it's a false, man-made idea. Holy ideas, ideas that come from Mount Sinai, don't depend on who says them. That's why we don't have pictures in the Siddur. That's why we don't have pictures in the Chumash. We don't have pictures. We don't have any of these pictures. If it was so important to know what Moshe Rabbeinu looked like, guess what? HaKadosh Baruch Hu would make sure one of these people would paint a picture of him. And we'd have it in the beginning of every Siddur, of every Chumash, of every everything. You'd have it tattooed on your forehead. Just so you don't forget. But Am Yisrael does not care about what you look like. So whether you are, you know, black or blue or green or white, The only solution to the hatred because of color and race and culture and so on is the same thing that has made Am Yisrael, Am Yisrael. And that's the idea that comes out of your mouth, not your color. Don't ask for credit or ask for attention because of it. You want to be something? You want to be treated special? Be one of those people that brings the solid idea to the nation that comes from Har Sinai. And if it's a legitimate idea, guess what? Eventually, no one's going to care what you look like. Why? Because the idea is valid. So long as people care what you look like, that means there's something wrong with the idea. Maybe it's a little bit too much of you and less of Hashem. The more Hashem is in that idea, the less people care about what you look like.

1:58:59Be one of those people that brings the solid idea to the nation that comes from Har Sinai. And if it's a legitimate idea, guess what? Eventually, no one's going to care what you look like. Why? Because the idea is valid. So long as people care what you look like, that means there's something wrong with the idea. Maybe it's a little bit too much of you and less of Hashem. The more Hashem is in that idea, the less people care about what you look like. Surely, there's always going to be people that hate just because they have nothing else to do. But if you know that your idea comes from Hashem Himself, and you have sources from the Torah, then you can be proud that your name is sitting side by side with the rest of the Oral Torah, with Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the Rambam, and the Ramban. Instead of trying to be the voice of power in your community of color or non-color, why don't you be the voice for the entire nation? One should be the voice for the whole people that's been struggling to survive for 3,300 years. Put your own personal agenda aside and fight for all of Am Yisrael. People that do that succeed, not only in their own communities, but generally. That's what we've seen throughout all of our history, and we're seeing it even today. But the ones that focus so much on their own culture and their own everything,

2:00:28they end up becoming nobodies, a forgotten idea, a memory. All of these people that I mentioned, whether it's the Zionists or it's the Malcolm Xs of the world, they're only important in their own communities. They're only important in their own backyard. No one cares about them anywhere else. But the Jewish sages, they're mentioned anywhere and everywhere. People quote the Rambam Even if they don't even know what Judaism is, people mention the ideas, the ideas we have in the Midrash, in rap songs, even though they don't even know what the Midrash is. The ideas of the Torah are eternal. The ideas of the Torah are everywhere, even when people don't know where they're coming from. Why? Because for anything to be good, it has to have a source from the Torah. If it's not in the Torah, it cannot be good. Your idea is good. That means you have to have a source in the Torah. That means your color doesn't matter. That means your gender doesn't matter. That means that nothing matters other than the idea itself. This is one of the things that Amalek will try to ruin.

2:01:44within ourselves to make us focus on things that don't matter. Quite frankly, the opposite: making us highlight how we should separate the Sephardim over here, the Ashkenazim over there, the Yemenites over here, and the blacks over there. But the blacks that are converts are over here, and the blacks that are natural-born are over there, and then there's hatred among them because, "Oh listen, I'm black, but I'm already... I'm this, I'm that..." Everybody has an excuse to hate each other. This is nonsense. This is not Judaism. This is what's destroying Judaism. It's time people read the parasha, read the Megillah, read what we actually are saying that we'll read, and see this is what the truth is. Not your own personal agenda and your own personal meanings and your own personal ideas. In Shamayim, they don't care what your personal idea is. They care less. They care less. I have no idea why people are racist. I don't see color, but surely they have their own excuse. Satan loves those excuses. He loves them. He's giving them a full-time job. Don't be one of those victims that ruins their life by filling their heart with a bunch of unnecessary hatred. You want to hate somebody? Hate Amalek.

2:03:06Hate Amalek. Hate Amalek. Even if Amalek is your brother. That's who you're obligated to hate. You have to hate Amalek. But to hate another fellow Jew because of a certain background and so on? For what? For what? Follow the tradition of Am Yisrael. This is by far the biggest miracle of Purim itself. The fact that we're still here. Despite our differences, despite our obstacles, despite sometimes our nonsensical hatred, that's really the biggest miracle of the entire story. The fact that we're still here and that Hashem is giving us another chance. Just like the Levana. Every month we get a new chance to look pretty. Every month we get another chance. Every month we get another chance. It looks really dark, but then Hashem gives us another chance. But Rabotai, You also have to remember that those chances eventually run out. When we do the prayer of the Levana every month, we also sing during that prayer about David Melech Yisrael, Chai V'Kayam. What does David Melech Yisrael Chai V'Kayam have to do with the renewal of the moon? David Melech Yisrael is symbolic of the eventual end.

2:04:35the eventual culmination of this world, when the Mashiach comes, Mashiach ben David, that's going to be the last day when all of us run out of time. No more mitzvot, no more teshuva, no more chances to stop your racism and your prejudice and your dishonest business and lack of ethics. No more chances. Now you have to remember, every month we're getting another chance. Okay, you messed up this month. You have next month to do better. You messed up this month. You have next month to do better. It looks bad that the moon is really dark. Okay, it's gonna get light a little sooner and eventually it's gonna be a full moon, but always remember, eventually we're gonna run out of time. So don't think that you could stay in this unethical business for a long time or even for another few months because we have no idea when the end is. That's what we sing about every month and... Time all of us do teshuva. If you're racist, take that racism and throw it in the garbage. That's not Judaism. It doesn't matter if the Sephardi guy hurts you or the Ashkenazi guy hurts you, or even if they hate you. You're not allowed to hate them back. Even if they say, "Listen, we're not going to accept your kids because you're Sephardi. We're not going to accept you into our Ashkenazi yeshivot," and...

2:05:58You're still not allowed to hate them. They don't like you? Good, okay. They have their din in Shamayim. You're not allowed to hate them back. They're wrong. They're sinning. But they're not all of the Ashkenazi people. They're just a few people. Don't judge the entire people because of a few. Don't be like the goyim that judged the entire nation of Am Yisrael just because they got taken advantage of by a few crooked Jews. This, Rabotai, is very, very important. This is the miracle. This is the whole story of Purim. We're still here despite our differences. We're still here despite our difficulties, despite the Holocaust. The only thing that's constantly trying to destroy us is either the Amalek outside or the Amalek that's inside. That's the reason. That's the reason that HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to remember Amalek twice. Remember the Amalek that's on the outside. That's the Hitlers, that's Haman, that's the Nazis, that's all these people that want to kill us for no reason. That's the Amalek outside.

2:07:16But don't forget there's also Amalek inside. Sometimes it's inside our government. Sometimes it's inside our household. Sometimes it's inside our company. Sometimes it's inside anything. Sometimes it's us. We have an Amalek inside. We're acting in an inappropriate way that our sages say, this is how Amalek behaves. You're unethical, that's Amalek. You're openly homosexual, that's Amalek. You have an Amalek inside you; remove it. Why? If you don't remove it, Hashem says, I'm going to remove it. It's very important for us to know that the story of Purim is very deep, to no end. These are some of the things we can learn from it. Hopefully, we can apply all of this or at least some of this to our lives today, tomorrow, and every day. And bring HaKadosh Baruch Hu nachat from His people so He doesn't have to bring us any type of suffering whatsoever, but rather bring us salvation and blessings for us and for all of Klal Yisrael. Baruch Adonai le'olam. Amen ve'amen.