Questions from Teens of Montreal

0:32Okay, so was everybody at the previous shiur? Is it a completely new crew, new people? Okay, let's start with this: does anybody have specific questions about the Torah, the parasha, life, science, business, or whatever you have? Ask away, go ahead.

1:56Sepulveda of a person named Tzelophchad saw that Am Yisrael wasn't taking the Torah seriously because we just received it a week before, and he thought that maybe we need to show Am Yisrael that Hashem is very serious about this Torah, so he decided to sacrifice himself for the sake of Torah. And he said, "Look, if I violate Shabbat, even though I was a tzaddik my whole life, 50, 60, 70 years, if I violate Shabbat one time, Hashem is going to kill me." He went and gathered a bunch of trees, which is not allowed on Shabbat. There were witnesses who told him not to do it, but he continued. They brought him to Moshe Rabbeinu, who asked Hashem what to do with him. Hashem said to kill him in front of everyone. This action was to demonstrate the seriousness of keeping the mitzvot, particularly Shabbat, to Am Yisrael. Tzelophchad's story emphasizes the importance of adhering to the commandments and the consequences of not doing so. And he said, "Look, if I violate Shabbat, even though I was a tzaddik my whole life—50, 60, 70 years—if I violate Shabbat one time, Hashem is going to kill me." And he went and gathered a bunch of trees. You're not allowed to gather on Shabbat. There were witnesses who told him, "Don't do it." He continued doing it. They brought him to Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu asked Hashem, "What do I do with him?" Hashem said, "Kill him in front of everyone." No mercy, no second chances, no third chances, nothing. Why? Why is Hashem so harsh on someone who was not only giving tzedakah, he was a tzaddik, learned Torah, everything. He was a big tzaddik, mekubal. Why? Because it is written in the parasha, in Parashat Ki Tisa, something that you read part of on Shabbat.

3:13Someone that violates Shabbat must be aware that Shabbat is holy to you. The violators will face Mot Yumat, death upon death, because anyone who performs any type of Melacha, any type of creative work on Shabbat, such as lighting a fire, using electricity, driving a car, or smoking cigarettes, will be subject to this punishment. His soul is cut off from the nation. So the Chachamim ask a very serious question. They said, "We don't understand this pasuk. On one end, you told us if you violate Shabbat, you get two deaths: death upon death. But then you say we are cut off. So what does this 'cut off' mean? What does being cut off mean? If I already died, how am I being cut off also?" So Rashi says, first off, why does it say "death" twice? First, it refers to physical death during Moshe Rabbeinu's time, when they would actually execute the person. But the second "death" refers to the loss of Olam HaBa; they do not have Gan Eden if they violate Shabbat. It says, okay, but what about "Nehecretah Nefesh" (the soul is cut off)? Why is he cut off if he already died twice — once in this world and once in the next world? What is the cut-off referring to?

4:29So Rashi says this means that as long as he's alive and he's not keeping Shabbat, he's cut off from the nation, meaning according to halakha, he's not considered a Jew. He's considered an idol worshiper. Why? Because he's taking the biggest mitzvah, the biggest present that Hashem gave us, and he's deciding he doesn't want it; he wants to be like a Goy. Hashem says he wants to be like a Goy. You have to treat him like a Goy. So if, for example, He's still a Jew. You still have to help him. You still have to love him. You still have to try to get him to do teshuva. But if, let's say, for example, this Jew may be the nicest person in the world, but he says, "You know what? I want to be your Rabbi to do the wedding for you." Or maybe, "I'm not going to be the Rabbi; I'm going to be a witness." You have to have two witnesses to conduct any type of Jewish ceremony. For any type of Jewish ceremony, you must have two witnesses. However, if one of the witnesses does not keep Shabbat, such as if Eliyahu HaNavi is one of the witnesses for the wedding, the wedding is not valid. This means the marriage is not considered valid because he is not considered a hundred percent observant Jew, as Judaism is reliant on the adherence of its foundational mitzvot.

5:33So even though the mitzvah of tzedakah is very big, it says "tzedakah tatzil mimavet." Tzedakah is going to save from death. What does it mean? That tzedakah will buy a person more time in this world to do teshuvah. So sometimes you're going to see a person violate Shabbat on purpose, but he gives a lot of tzedakah, and Hashem is not ending his life. The reason is that the tzedakah is giving him merit to buy more time to do teshuva. Hashem doesn't want to harm him; He wants to give him a chance for reward. However, Hashem can't reward him as long as he's a mechallel Shabbat. Because of the tzedakah that he gave, he's granted more time to do teshuva. The issue is we don't know how much time we have. For example, I have a cousin. He was 23 years old. His father had at least a hundred or two hundred million dollars in the bank, meaning he had everything he wanted except Torah. He didn't have any Torah, any mitzvot, to such an extent that on Rosh Hashanah, instead of going to Beit Knesset, they drove and did everything. So on Rosh Hashanah, his parents went on vacation to Israel. They went to the beach, and he stayed home in their mansion.

6:47On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, which is the same level of sanctity as Shabbat, you're not allowed to drive. Despite this, he decided to go on his scooter to have some fun. In front of his house, he fell off the scooter and hit his head. A neighbor saw him and called 911. The emergency services arrived, picked him up, and conducted a check. They said he was okay and allowed him to go home. He called his parents, "Ima, Abba, I fell, but I'm okay." He went back home, went to sleep, and he never woke up. Why am I telling you this scary story? Because no one who is 23 years old thinks they're going to die. No one who is 23 years old thinks that their time is up. Everybody thinks they're going to live to at least 120. The reality is no one knows how much time we have. And as a young person today, each one of you needs to take advantage of every single second you have to get closer to Hashem. Why? Because you're going to need it as you get older. You're going to need it more and more as you get older. You need it for parnassah. You need it for zivug.

7:54...were alive at that time didn't keep mitzvot, married goyot, married goyim; some of them even converted to Catholicism and Christianity, meaning they were already completely disconnected from Judaism. So... were alive at that time and didn't keep mitzvot, married goyot, or married goyim. Some of them even converted to Catholicism and Christianity, meaning they were already completely disconnected from Judaism, so then they ended up dying in the Holocaust. Now, it depends if they did teshuva to some extent during the Holocaust, that would help them a lot. Even if they didn't do teshuva completely, still, the suffering they had during the Holocaust definitely will help them to a certain extent. Do they go immediately to Gan Eden just because they died in the Holocaust? Absolutely not. Just because somebody died a vicious death does not give them a ticket to go to Gan Eden. The only way you get to Gan Eden is if you did mitzvot.

9:08But not just small ones that you like to do. Things that are big, things that Hashem said to do. So, a lot of people like to think that all of the Holocaust survivors were holy and perfect. However, the reality is that all of the tzaddikim (righteous ones) who were alive at that time attest in their books, stating, "Listen, the reality in certain places like Germany was that over 80% of them were married to goyim," meaning they were completely disconnected. Forget about just not keeping Shabbat; they became a different religion. So a person like that, you can't say he has Gan Eden, even if he died in the Holocaust. He didn't want Hashem, didn't want Judaism, didn't want anything. In fact, there are certain Jews, unfortunately, that you don't hear about very often, but there were certain Jews that were pretending to be Germans because they wanted to fight in the German army, in the Nazi army. And some of them actually fought in the Nazi army, meaning they went and killed other Jews. Even though they were Jews themselves, they were pretending not to be and went and killed other Jews. So, just because somebody died in the Holocaust does not give them a free ticket. There's no "get out of jail free" card; it's not Monopoly. You want to go to Gan Eden? It takes work. Like anything else in life, if you want to be successful, you need to work. If you want to be smart, you need to work and study, and so on and so forth. It depends on what kind of sin it is.

10:37If it's a type of sin that, as it says, has no share in the world to come, no Olam Haba, then yes, it means that they will never go to Gan Eden. But if it's a sin that is not permanent, not one of those where a person loses Olam Haba permanently, there are certain sins. The Gemara in Masechet Sanhedrin, daf 90 to 101, gives a list of people who lost their share of the world to come. It's okay, you can have the pizza, just make a little less noise. So, the Gemara, the Oral Torah, tells us that there are certain people that have no share in the World to Come, meaning there is a sin. For example, if somebody stole money, if somebody stole $100, let's say, what happens? If they're still alive and they admit they stole, all they have to do is return the $100. They stole 100, they have to return the 100. However, if they don't admit it and someone catches them with evidence, they are the thief, and I can prove it. You're the thief, you stole $100; the punishment is that they must return the $100 they stole and pay an additional $100 as a fine, as a penalty. You committed an offense, that's the penalty.

11:47But if they don't admit it, but somebody catches them, and they say, "You are the thief. I can prove it, you are the thief, you stole $100," then the punishment is that they have to give back $200. They must return the $100 that they stole, and the same amount again as a fine, as a penalty. You have created a punishment; that's the penalty. But what if somebody stole and they never returned it, and no one ever caught them, and then they go up to Shamayim. In Shamayim, they say, even though you kept Shabbat, even though you kept Taharat HaMishpacha, even though you kept kosher, you kept the laws, you kept everything else, but still, you have blood on your hands. What does it mean to have blood on your hands? Money is another name for blood because people spend their lives to make money. So, you have blood on your hands, which means you have to make up for it. How do you make up for it? You have to come back to this world in another reincarnation to return the money to that neshama. You have to come back to the world as another person and return the money to that neshamah. There's a story of one time when there was a person, a talmid of the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov came to him and said, "I'm looking to buy a horse." The talmid replied, "Oh, Baruch Hashem, I have many horses. Go ahead, choose any horse you want." So, the Baal Shem Tov looked at the horses, and he saw one horse and said, "I want that horse."

13:06And the man is shocked. He's in a panic. And he starts crying. He says, please, I'll do anything for you. You're the Baal Shem Tov. You're my Rebbe. But please, I have 500 horses. Pick any other horse, not this one. He says, no, no, I want that one. He says, please, I'll give it to you. But would you mind? The other horses are faster. The other horses are stronger. The other horses are better. No, no, I want that horse. He says, but please, this horse is the best horse I have. I don't have to tell him to work. He works by himself. He says, I want this horse. Listen, you're my Rebbe. Sold because you promised. Sold. The minute he said "sold," the horse died on the spot. So the guy was in shock. He didn't know what happened. The Rebbe said, "This horse, I saw through ruach hakodesh, this horse."

14:14Was there somebody that you knew? Do you have a friend that died a few months ago? He goes, yeah, my friend from down the street. He goes, yeah, did your friend owe you some money? He goes, yeah, nothing much. He owed me $200, not much. He goes, yes, when he came up to Shamayim, he was told that he cannot enter Gan Eden because he owes somebody $200 and didn’t return it. He has to go work for him. until you pay back and then come back so he can't come back as a human being, live another seven years, so he returned them as a horse. So when you sold them to me, that was his completion of his tikkun, which means that no person can enter Gan Eden with money on their hands. Now, this is a sin, it's a big sin, but it's not the end. Meaning after he fixed it, he goes to Gan Eden. On the other hand, there are certain sins, for example, like Chilul Shabbat, or Eshet Ish, being with a woman that's not your wife, or embarrassing your friend in public, making fun of him in public, making everybody else laugh at him. These are the types of sins that, if you don't do Teshuva for them, there's no Gan Eden.

15:14Just doesn't happen, and it gives the details, so it's very, very important to know that before we do anything, since we're all Jews, we have to think about it. We can't be like the goyim and just do, then think later. Before we say something, think about what you're going to say, and then say it. Before you do anything, take a moment to think about it. Is it worth it? Does Hashem approve of this? Is this a mitzvah or an aveirah? If you reflect on it for even one minute before you act, already 95% of your sins are just not going to happen because you realize that most sins are simply not worth it. It's worth it to strive for Olam Haba. It's worth it to reach Gan Eden. Do you have another question? Any follow-up? You look like you had a question. So, I know. Yes, there are two Gan Edens. The Gemara tells us, and the Zohar HaKadosh, in more detail, says that there are two Gan Edens. There's a physical Gan Eden, and then there's a spiritual Gan Eden. The physical Gan Eden is where Adam HaRishon was.

16:28where, uh, there are, uh, specific things that were there that are still there in the world. No one knows exactly where it is, but there are certain people who had the merit to get to the entrance, but they weren't allowed to enter. They weren't allowed to enter Gan Eden. But it does exist in the world, and then there's a spiritual Gan Eden that's outside of this world that's... So that's the ultimate Gan Eden. That's where we all want to be. Sometimes a person can be in the physical Gan Eden for a certain amount of time before they go to the ultimate one. Sometimes they go straight to the ultimate one. But there are two Gan Edens, similar to how there are also two Gehinoms: one in this world and one that's a spiritual one. Depends on how much that dollar or two dollars is worth. Today, a dollar is insignificant; meaning, if you lose a dollar, it's not going to change your life. It's considered a perutah; it's considered insignificant money.

17:30But 50 years ago, a dollar was worth something. A dollar was very valuable. Or to some people, a dollar is all they have. So it all depends on the value of it. In general, a person should always remember what he owes to everybody, but always think that when he's giving tzedakah, he should also have in mind, "Please, Hashem, I forgot who I owe money to, who I don't owe money to. Please let this tzedakah be in the merit of fixing all the money that I owe and have forgotten." This way, at least the tzedakah has another mashma'ut, another significance, that it's fixing because you can't return it to the person since you don't know who he is. But you're giving the tzedakah to Torah, to mitzvot, to something meaningful because you don't know, but you know that something is there. Just make sure you give tzedakah for that. When he's giving tzedakah, he should always think also, "Please Hashem, I forgot who I owe money to, and who I don't owe money to. Please have this tzedakah be for the merit of fixing all the money that I owe and forgot about." So, at least the tzedakah has another mashma'ut (meaning), another significance, as it's repairing a situation because you can't return it to the person since you don't know who they are. But you're giving the tzedakah towards Torah, mitzvot, or something meaningful because you know there's an obligation there, even if you can't identify the individual. Just to ensure that you fulfill your responsibility, give tzedakah with this intention. Because there are certain things that we forget. Like, you're right. There are certain things you forget. You forgot who you owe money to, or maybe they moved away, and there's no way for you to return the money. So you can use tzedakah for this reason. Here's another thing. Let's say you're at a store, and someone says, "I'll buy it for you completely." Okay, you forget to compensate them, or you know, it wasn't really expected, you can say it like that. Does that also work? Okay, it's the same thing as if you borrowed money from them.

18:49And you have to return the money. Now, if you forgot to return the money and remember one day, you must return it regardless of when it is, even if it's 10 years later. You have to go and return the money. You must try to find this person to return the money to them. But if you forgot who the person is or you tried looking for them and you can't find them, like you made real effort to find them, but they moved to a different country and they changed their name and there's no way for you to reach them, then you have to give money in tzedakah to say that this is the best that you can do. You're considered at that point an anous. Anous meaning that you can't fix it even if you wanted to because the person is simply not alive or not around anymore. So you use your tzedakah money in order to rectify this past sin. Next? Does anybody here have any questions? Yes? Pray with Chanoch? I'd rather talk to these kids than pray with Chanoch if they have questions.

19:50Oh, they pray here. Okay. Okay. I mean, anybody have any questions? We can do it after Minchah if you'd like. If there's anything you'd like to ask before they start, do you have any other questions? Anybody? Anybody? All good? Thank you for having me at the school. I'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.