Secret Code To Becoming A Miracle Worker - MUSSAR Iggeret HaRAMBAN (37)

0:23We're back in Aventura doing our Tuesday night shiur. We're only a couple of shiurim away from completing this series. We have this, one more, and then we're done. So the shiurim will... Think about some other things to do, but I'm very excited to finish the series because I think this series, Baruch Hashem, has covered a lot of ground. Tonight's shiur will be for Ilui Nishmat Yitzchak ben Matityahu. Tzadik that just left the world today lived 101 years in this world, but years that, Baruch Hashem, were complete. We'll talk a little bit more about him later today and actually see how he's connected to our shiur, b'siyata d'shmaya.

1:27So, Baruch Hashem, the videos continue to reach new grounds, new places, which it's more needed now than ever before because we're seeing that although this virus has scared the life out of a lot of people, the world is little by little getting back to normal. Which, again, one aspect of it is good, and one aspect of it is bad. The good part is that people need to go back to their normal lives. The bad part is that I don't think that we've done anywhere near as much teshuva as we need to.

2:35Which means that hopefully people take whatever message they learned throughout this time that they're in quarantine and out of work and so on, and hopefully they retain that memory before going back to what life used to be. Still not over. There's still a lot more to go. There's still the economic crisis that's pending. There's still a lot of jobs lost, a lot of things happening. But you're seeing, you're seeing, for anyone that's paying attention, you're seeing that there's definitely certain things that are changing. The governor over here in Florida, Betei Pshuto, in his foolishness, opened up the beaches so people could not go to shul, but they could go to the beach. So that's the interesting thing here in Florida. In Eretz Yisrael, Baruch Hashem, they are starting to allow people to get together, up to 19 people. Certain things are starting to get back to normal. Again, we're very, very far away from normal.

3:41You're seeing things in France, in Germany. A few countries that feel that they have passed the worst of it are starting to open up little by little. While other countries, for example, like India, with nearly a billion and a half people, are at their worst part right now. They've completely shut down the country and are planning on keeping it shut for at least another month, month and a half, if not more. So, different parts of the world are at different stages of this thing. But better than anything else, I think that this whole chaos that's happened over these last couple of months has caused many people to start thinking about life. Start thinking about, you know, what's the point of life? Why am I here? You know, and it's really a question that a person should ask themselves every day. But many people unfortunately become slaves to the Yetzer Hara to the extent where the Yetzer Hara keeps them busy.

4:53Sometimes he keeps them busy making sins; sometimes he keeps them busy working and doing other things that are just normal day-to-day stuff. But they're generally not busy focusing on what's the point of life, why am I here, what am I supposed to be doing, what's going to happen after, and so on. You know, randomly they'll have what they call philosophical conversations with their friends and family, asking, "What do you think is gonna happen? Haha, I know, a few laughs. Oh, you think we're gonna turn into trees? Oh, you think we're gonna go and become spirits? I'll be Superman, you'll be Batman." You know, a few drinks, and before you know it, they had a conversation that went from one ear out the other, and it's forgotten moments later. And the reality is that when it comes to the talk... ...of what's the purpose of life, there is no deeper subject. But it's only if you actually address it so. If you address it just as a conversation, in essence, you're just wasting time. It's a conversation that can last for five hours but have no impact whatsoever on your life. On the other hand, if you actually treat the conversation like a conversation that's going to impact you, and you're going to do something with the conclusion you arrive at, then the conversation has much different weight, much more weight. Now, the Ramban, alav hashalom...

5:57On the other hand, if you actually treat the conversation like a conversation that's going to impact you, and you're going to do something with the conclusion you arrive at, then the conversation has much different weight, much more weight. Now, the Ramban, alav hashalom, He wrote a letter to his son over 800 years ago that we've been reviewing over the last several months that not only discusses what the purpose of life is, but also what necessarily is going to happen after life. And in essence, the whole purpose of the letter is for the two to coincide, where your purpose in life is going to impact your afterlife in a favorable way. But not only that, it will also impact your current life in a favorable way. You see, many times I've told you guys that it's a really bad idea, and that's what I learned from my Rav, it's a really bad idea to be overly focused on Mashiach. And quite frankly, I mean, the Chachamim say you shouldn't be focused on any one particular issue.

7:15meaning, if you're learning, let's say, or teaching every day about Shabbat, it's good for a little while, but then it becomes bad. If you're learning about modesty every day, and that's all you're learning, it's good in the beginning, but then it turns into bad. if you learn about Mashiach every day, in the beginning it's good; after a while, it's bad. Why? Because once a person focuses on one particular issue, he creates different problems. The first problem is the fact that he's leaving himself, or herself, no time to learn anything else about life, anything else about Judaism, anything else about the purpose of life. Second of all, after a while, when you become obsessive about one particular subject, you already start having a predisposition, already a set mind of what will be and what should be, which means that you now close yourself unintentionally to new information that challenges your existing information.

8:15because you have focused so much—one year, two years, three, four, five years—just focusing on, let's say, Mashiach, then what happens is that as soon as someone tells you, "Listen, but you do realize that the Rambam said such and such," or that one of the sages said such and such that challenges what you're saying, your whole five years is actually in question. because there is a sage, not just an ordinary sage, a very big one, that actually says contrary to what you're saying. Now, if a person is in his early stages of learning, he's open to new information. But if he has focused only on this one particular subject for so long, that person is closed-minded to anything new. And that's a problem. Because that is one of the ingredients that the Satan uses in his kefirah soup. He has a soup of kefirah that he has. There's a little Friedman here, a little Dweck here, a little Goldberg here, a little Saks here, a little drochah suta here, it's a little seasoning. You have all that kefirah. Now, you only listen to this one particular subject, you've got yourself a soup. Why? Because you're not open to anything new anyway.

9:30You're not open to anything new anyway. And that's a problem. And that's why you're never gonna see any one of the major sages focus his entire life on one particular subject. Now you could say, yeah, but wait a minute, what about the Chafetz Chaim? He invested so much of his life into Lashon Hara. Yeah, but look at the Chafetz Chaim's book or books that discuss Lashon Hara. That Lashon Hara, that series of books, in essence, covers the entire Torah. It's not just Lashon Hara. Yeah, the foundational ground that it's standing on is Lashon Hara, but from there, if you actually learn it, you see that you could literally arrive. on one particular subject. Now you could say, yeah, but wait a minute, what about the Chafetz Chaim? He invested so much of his life into Lashon Hara. Yeah, but look at the Chafetz Chaim's book or books that discuss Lashon Hara. That Lashon Hara series of books, in essence, covers the entire Torah. It's not just Lashon Hara. Yeah, the foundational ground that it's standing on is Lashon Hara, but from there, if you actually learn it, you see that you could literally arrive at one of the branches of the entire Torah from there. That's why it was so well accepted by the Chachamim and so on, because it wouldn't cover just one subject. One subject, you finish it in a notebook. But the Chachamim don't discuss things this way. Now, when it comes to the purpose of life, it's very critical that a person understands that the purpose of life is not just Mashiach, and the reason why is because

10:37What do you do when it comes to people dying? Before Mashiach came, did they live a purposeless life? Are you telling me that Rabbi Akiva lived a purposeless life? Are you telling me that the Rambam lived a purposeless life because, you know, Mashiach didn't come at his time? Are you telling me that all of the righteous people that have lived and passed from this world lived a purposeless life because they didn't live at the time of Mashiach? No, obviously not. The second thing is, if a person is saying, "Oh no, there's going to be resurrection," and so on, okay, but still, if your whole life is just focusing on this one particular subject of Mashiach, the problem is that you already start having set time frames in your mind. where you already start to subconsciously say, "No, no, Mashiach is going to come this year, or in the next couple of years, or this month, or this Pesach." Every other day, somebody comes up with a new deadline: "Now, this Pesach is coming, guys, get ready. There's the WhatsApp spam: 'Guys, get ready, second day of Pesach, Mashiach is coming!'"

11:44All the rabbis said it. You know, they always say, all the rabbis in the world said it. All the big rabbis, all of them, all of them. I don't know about them, but all of them said it. On WhatsApp, it's all of them. All of them. All of the big rabbis said it. Second day of Pesach, get ready. Oh, it's not Pesach? No, no, he's delaying because he wants more people to do teshuvah. It's now, it's going to be Lag BaOmer. Well, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is going to come out of the fire. He's going to meet Mashiach. Which fire is he going to pick? Oh, the biggest one. Oh, okay, so it's going to be, you know... No, it's not like, oh, it's going to be Shavuot. It's going to be this, it's going to be that. What is all this? This turns the Torah into, chas v'shalom, a joke. It turns the Torah into a joke because people start seeing all these yo-yos keep talking about Mashiach, Mashiach, they keep giving deadlines. Ah, 2,000 years, it hasn't come, it's not going to come. And it actually weakens people. It weakens people. The other aspect of it is that when people think that there's such a timeline and a date, in essence, it actually starts affecting their free choice and their willpower to do something about it. Because how much can you possibly do in a week?

13:03much can you possibly do in two months? How much can you possibly do? You know, if I tell you, "Okay, listen, you gotta do teshuva, Mashiach is coming in a week," what are you gonna do? Oh, you're gonna keep Shabbat? Okay, what are you gonna do in a week? What can you possibly do? Okay, it's good, you could do some stuff in a week, but do you really think that your whole 20, 30, 40, 50 years of sins are all going to be fixed in a week? Like, you need a little more time than that. So when you tell people, no, Mashiach is coming in a week or in a month, in such time frames, there's a reason why it's halachically forbidden to give a specific timeline, to give a specific date more so. Because it actually impacts people's free choice. Where now they say, "Listen, okay, so I'll just keep this one mitzvah. I'll just do this one thing." And they make the entire Torah stand on one mitzvah. So, "Okay, so I'll keep Shabbat from now on. Or I'll keep this from now on. Fine. But what about the rest of the stuff?" "No, no, no. Listen, Mashiach is coming. I don't have time for that other stuff."

14:12Yeah, but what about your anger problem? You're an angry person, right? Yeah, yeah, but Mashiach is coming in a month. I don't have time to work on my anger. I'll just keep Shabbat. I'll be okay. And that's the problem. So what the Chachamim teach us is that a person has to, in essence, pray, believe in the 13 principles of faith, and expect that the Mashiach is going to come. No problem. But more importantly than everything else, More importantly than everything else, live every day as the day. Do whatever you have to do today to be the best you can today, with or without Mashiach coming in a week or in a month or in a year or whenever. You have to live every day, day by day. Today, I have to be more generous. Okay, I'm gonna look at my pocket, count a few dollars, cut it in half, then I'm gonna go, okay, fine, I did something. Every day, you gotta do something.

15:14As if, whether he comes or not, I'm still doing something every day. And the key, Rabotai, is to understand that this is a very, very important principle that we must apply to our lives. Because whether the Mashiach comes on Lag BaOmer, or on Shavuot, or whenever he comes, we are going to be ready. Not because we're ready for that one day, but because we've been getting ready every day. And even if he doesn't come in the next year or two or three, the reality is, Rabotai, that if you're working on yourself every single day, you're already starting to see the reward of living as a Jew. without the benefits of Olam HaBa and so on. Why? Because when you work on your character traits and you have turned yourself around from being an angry gremlin to a person that's a little more calm, a stingy Scrooge to a person that's a little more generous,

16:17a person that was arrogant into a person that's more humble, and so on and so forth with all of your character traits. When you start keeping Shabbat, and already for an extended period of time—whether it's a month, two months, three months, six months, a year, two years, or three years—you've already been keeping Shabbat, it becomes a significant part of your life. You have a vacation once a week, and you look forward to it. When you start keeping the mitzvot because you're supposed to do the mitzvot today—not because Mashiach is coming, but because you're supposed to do it today—you already start yielding a benefit from it. Today, and enjoying the life of a Jew, and not being one of these robots that keep Shabbat. There are many robots that keep Shabbat. There are many monkeys that keep Shabbat. Many of them. You're never going to see a monkey drive on Shabbat. Never. Never. But the reality is, HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't want you to just keep Shabbat because there's a specific deadline. He wants you to keep the entire Torah, which means that we have to apply all of these things that we learn on a day-to-day basis every single day. But the Ramban tells us even that is not enough. What I just said is not enough. Why? Because you’ve got to enjoy it. And there's a lot of people doing mitzvot

17:37they don't really enjoy it very much. They don't keep Shabbat. Why? Because they grew up in a religious house, their parents say to keep Shabbat, their wife says to keep Shabbat, the husband says to keep Shabbat, in the neighborhood they keep Shabbat, so they keep Shabbat. Or they eat kosher because it's easy to get kosher. Why am I going to go to McDonald's? No, I could just get mehadrin kosher, you know, I get something else, you know, it's convenient to keep mehadrin. But in reality, they only like it... Why? Because they really want to go a little here, a little there, but they feel like they shouldn't, and really they couldn't, and really they can't, so they live two lives. So the Ramban says there's an answer to all of that. But that answer, although it's easy to say, is very difficult to do. He tells us, after He's told us to stay away from anger, after He's told us to be very humble, after He's told us to look at every single person that you see out there and find something favorable in him, find something favorable in them, after He's told us so many different lessons and different tools that we've utilized over these last several months,

18:45Now he says to us, "Read this letter once a week. And neglect none of it." Meaning, don't just read it, but read the whole thing. Don't just, like, oh no, I'm going to read a paragraph today, a paragraph tomorrow. No, the whole thing. Fulfill it, and in doing so, walk with it forever in the ways of Hashem, may He be blessed. So now, the Ramban not only makes a very interesting statement, but he... puts an obligation on us that, in essence, he's making a very big promise. He's saying to us that we have to read this letter, we have to treat this letter like it's Tehillim. We have to treat this letter like it's Daf Yomi. We have to treat this letter like it's Parashat Shavua. When did the Chachamim ever say that, oh, Iggeret HaRamban, oh, that's Parashat Shavua, you have to read it every week.

20:09You have to read it. Where did he get the Ramban? 800 plus years ago. Get the courage to say, this letter that I wrote to my son, read it every day. Read it every week. ...but don't even shortchange it. Don't be like one of those people who, you know, sometimes say, "No, no, I read ten Tehillim every day," but you know, after whatever they do, what do they do? Why? Because they're looking forward to the end. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know what they're saying, but you know, "I read ten Tehillim, I read twenty Tehillim every single day. I read, I reread." Why? Because they can't wait for the end... The Ramban specifically says, no, no, no, don't read it like that. Don't speed me. Don't just read it for the sake of reading it. Fulfill it. What do you mean fulfill it? That means you have to contemplate this letter on a regular basis in order for you to walk with Hashem. So,

21:22next week we'll talk about why he's saying this. He's making a promise in the details of the promise. The promise, he says, is why should you read this every week and walk with it? If you do this, you will succeed in your ways, meaning everything in your business, in your marriage, in your parenting, and everything you're going to do, you're going to succeed. No more nor less, you will merit to go to Olam Haba, which lies hidden for the tzaddikim. That's it, that's all I need to do in life. I just need to read this letter once a week. I go to Olam Haba, I don't have to keep Shabbat, I don't have to keep nothing. No, no, no, no. Details. He says, you read this letter, you fulfill this letter. You're going to Olam Haba with tzaddikim. You're going to Olam Haba with Moshe Rabbeinu. You're going to Olam Haba with the Ramban. You're going to Olam Haba with the Ramban himself. You're gonna say, "Hey, Ramban, I read your letter." Oh, that's what you hear. He's telling you, you read this letter every week, you're going to Olam Haba. How could the Ramban, one of the greatest sages that has ever lived, not just in his time, but ever in history, say such a bold statement?

22:41promising us, if he said, "Listen, you do this, you're gonna get some money." Okay, so there's a lot of things that you could do to get some money—open a business and succeed, you get some money too. If he says, "You do this, you get some health," okay, you read this also, you get some health. It's a little shorter. If he said, "It's one small thing, maybe health, maybe money," then it's okay. You know, it's another segulah. This is no segulah. this is a promise from one of the greatest sages that ever lived in history. Telling you, "Do this, you're going to Olam HaBa." Now, let's understand his words just like we've done. We have to always make sure to understand what he is actually saying here. First, a person needs to know that The Ramban here, this letter, there are a few Chachamim that have slightly different versions of the letter, where they have a few added words. So for example, when it says in the beginning,

23:55to read this letter once a week and neglect. There are some that say, "Read this letter once a week with your friend, with your fellow." And the rest of it is the same. They add just a couple of words, meaning, don't just learn this letter. But do kiruv. Help others read this letter too. Help others do teshuvah with you. As the Gemara in Masechet Ta'anit, page 7a, says: The words of Torah are acquired and inherited when they are done as a community, when they are done together with others. So the Ramban says, if you learn this letter with somebody else, you're not only doing the mitzvah of learning, but your Torah is going to have more merit because it is also benefiting others. And Rabbi Yisrael Salanter

25:05Also added, saying, divrei mussar are bought in groups. When you learn mussar, you should do it in groups, not just by yourself. And that's the way his Beit Mussar was. In Novardok, he had a Beit Mussar, which was like a yeshiva in their place, but their main focus was learning mussar. But it wasn't mussar, like sometimes, you know, we have shiurim, we learn a little bit of mussar, we try to do a few things, right? No, over there it was very, very different. First of all, everyone was extremely loud. And they would repeat certain things that they learned over and over again, really, really loud. So they would learn, let's say, a certain Mishnah. that if you don't learn Torah, you have no olam haba. Or if I this, or if I that, whatever. Someone who's angry, Hashem is disgusted by him. Whatever it is, and they'll repeat it really loud for an hour, two, three hours straight. Just that one line. To how much? Get it engraved into their DNA. Now you talk about a room full of people, and then they will do it after. They will do it with each other. Back and forth.

26:12And they would debate about how to make certain character traits even more perfect. Now, this was extremely passionate teaching. You guys think that sometimes I'm passionate; I'm a little tiny puppy next to the people that were learning in the Beit Hamussar of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. So much so, that Rav Galinsky, alav ha-shalom, He says that when the Russians sent him to Siberia, he and a bunch of Avreichim went to Siberia. When you go to Siberia, it's pretty much a death sentence. Not only do they enslave you, but they enslave you with barely any clothing in the coldest place on earth. Every day, they had a short break. short, tiny break, and during that break, he and his Avreichim, what would they do? Each person had to give for two minutes. What can you teach us for two minutes? Each person had two minutes.

27:22Two minutes, two minutes, two minutes. The fire from the Mussar gave them life for a whole day. More than the food. More than anything else. The fire from the Mussar that they were learning. Going back and forth. How to perfect the servitude of Hashem. How to perfect your generosity. How to perfect your humility. How to perfect any character trait. created so much fire from the debates, from the passion, that it gave these tzaddikim life, and they were the only ones who survived. So the Beit HaMussar in Novardok was in such a way that, just like the Ramban says, when you learn it, you learn it with a chavruta, you learn it with other people. One, two, three, 10, 20, whatever it is, learn with people. Back and forth. He has his idea, he has his idea, he has his idea, we exchange ideas. As long as everybody's valid and everybody's on the same page, you get a lot of fire. There is learning together and then there's shiur; there are different types of learning. But the point is that the Ramban says this specific letter, when you're learning it on a regular basis, learn it with somebody.

28:39That way, each week, each time you read it together, you'll see that each one of you is coming up with a new understanding of different things and how you can perfect them. Then, the Sefer Chareidim has a slightly other change, where it says, when it says to the point, do not neglect any of it, ולא תפחות. He says, he changes one letter instead of a taf to a dalet. Why? Because that changes the word from "do not neglect any of it" to "do not be scared." What should I be scared of? Do not be scared to be a tzaddik. Don't be scared to be a tzaddik. Can you believe that there are literally an endless number of people who are afraid to be a tzaddik? They're afraid. Why? What are people going to think? What are they going to say? They're afraid of the public. Many times people are in their own hurdle. They're their own trap.

29:55Because they're too focused on what other people say and what other people think. And therefore, they don't allow themselves to serve Hashem like they're supposed to. She doesn't allow herself to put a kisui rosh because what is my neighbor going to say? What is my sister going to say? What is my husband going to say? Yeah, but what does Hashem say? You didn't think about that part? Yeah, but maybe Hashem is more understanding. He's afraid to keep Shabbat. He's afraid to keep kosher. He's afraid to go to shiur because what are our friends going to say? What are his parents going to say? What is this one going to say? Yeah, what about what Hashem says? No, you know, I didn't think about that. What does He say? Well, He says to go to the shiur. Oh, does He understand my parents? Yeah, He understands your parents too. Now, there are many people that are afraid. Why? Because to be a tzaddik is not just keeping Shabbat. It's not just learning Torah maybe a few times a week. To be a tzaddik is full-time, 24/7. No breaks. To be righteous is something that you have to simply make your priority in life. It doesn't mean you have to learn full-time, 24 hours a day. It doesn't mean that you have to become Moshe Rabbeinu.

31:09But what it means is that you have to have Hashem on your mind at all times and connect everything you do to Him. Now, that's where the Ramban moves to now, where he says, make sure to read this Iggeret, this letter, each week, neglect none of it. Because if you do this, you're going to end up walking with Hashem forever. Now, the Torah, in the book of Deuteronomy, Sefer Devarim, chapter 28, verse 9, has a mitzvah, an obligation on all of us, where it says, you shall walk, you shall follow His ways. Who's His? Hashem. There's a mitzvah obligation, just like there's a mitzvah to eat kosher, there's a mitzvah to keep Shabbat, there's a mitzvah to taharat mishpacha, and so on. It's a mitzvah to walk in the ways of Hashem. What are these? What does this mean? The Rambam explains it in Hilchot De'ot, chapter 1, halacha number 5, that this means that a person needs to emulate the character traits of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Just as God is compassionate,

32:39you need to become compassionate. Just as God is merciful, you need to become merciful. Just as God is holy, you need to do whatever you can in order to become holy. A Jew has to strive to become compassionate, merciful, and holy just like his Creator. Now, the Chachamim tell us that if you want to know whether you are a descendant of Avraham Avinu, you need to have three character traits. You have to be a generous person, gomel chassadim. You have to be a baishan. Baishan meaning you have to be shy, not be one of these arrogant, flamboyant people that just want to constantly tell everybody he's the best. And you have to be Rachman. You have to be merciful. You see someone suffering, you see someone that, you know, needs money, someone is struggling, if you can help, help. Now, if you notice, Gomel Chassadim, Baishan, and Rachman, what do they spell? Gimel, Bet, Resh, Geber.

33:57Now, Geber in the secular world means hero, like strong, you know, really like, he's the guy, he's the macho guy. Torah tells us, no, a Geber, a Geber is a tzaddik. A Geber is a person that has these attributes: he is generous, and he goes and helps whoever he can. He's a humble person. He's not one of these people who are constantly looking for attention. And he's also merciful. That's a Geber. You want to be a Geber? You do that. Why? Because Hashem does it. Every single thing we have, Hashem gives us. He's constantly giving us chesed, even when we don't deserve it. In fact, we don't deserve it. We constantly ask Hashem for matnat chesed, for kindness, for presents of kindness. Why? Because in reality, what we're asking for, we don't deserve. We may deserve something, but we're asking for a little bit more. And because He's our Father, and also our King, we feel comfortable. And because He's our Father, in addition to being our King, He gives it to us.

35:14HaKadosh Baruch Hu, there's nothing more humble than Him. Look at how many people insult Him on a daily basis, go against Him on a daily basis, curse Him on a daily basis. But He stays quiet and gives them more years, more money, and more time in life. He doesn't punish them right away. He lets people walk on Him all day and all night. Why? Maybe in a year, maybe in two years, maybe in five years they'll do teshuva. Eventually... Time's up. But HaKadosh Baruch Hu does not act like we would if we were Him. If anybody would have crossed you the way that people cross Hashem on a regular basis, we'd simply become massive murderers. Every day there would be a shooting. Huh? You call me this? You call me that? Oh, you thought about calling me. If you just knew what your friends think about you sometimes, you would become one of these people on the news. Live from Boca Raton: Sajan Sajan just killed 18 people. We don't know why, but he said he knows what they thought.

36:30If you just knew what people think about you, you would start killing people. HaKadosh Baruch Hu knows what we're thinking. And not only does He not kill us, He gives us life. There's nothing more humble than that. And that's also because He's a Rachaman. He's merciful. He knows His creation is weak. His creation... He's foolish at times. His creation doesn't know what's even good for it. So He gives us more time. Now, needless to say, this doesn't mean that we can stay that way. It just means that that's why Hashem gives us time. Now, the Rambam writes in Guide for the Perplexed, in the third part, third section of it, in paragraph 51, where he says that a person that walks with God rivets his attention to the Almighty and allows nothing to distract him. Meaning that if you want to be one of these people that's focused on God, you have to eliminate distraction.

37:57whether it's the phone or your friends or anything that's in essence negating your target, you have to eliminate it, move it out of the way. It's this walking in the way of Hashem which is the highest level of human existence. If a person wants to be, literally, someone that is superior to the people around them, to the world around them, this is the way. Walking with Hashem. And that's why the Chazon Ish writes in his Emunah U'Bitachon sefer... That there are people who have tasted the sweetness of Torah. And although they look like people, they are not. They are angels among men. Someone who has tasted the sweetness of Torah is constantly yearning for Torah. You ask him, what do you want to do? Learn Torah. What are you going to do? Learn Torah. What’s he going to do? That’s all he wants. He wants to learn Torah. That’s it. Why? That’s his desire.

39:07Some people have a desire for girls, some people have a desire for food, some people have a desire for power, money, this, that. What are you asking? What's your dream? Torah. No, no, I just want Torah. Just give me Torah, that's all I want. Someone that tasted the sweetness of Torah and has turned the Torah into his desire, the Chazon Ish says, this is not a person. This is an angel among men. Now, how do you get there? The Rambam tells us, you have to do this tamid. This walking with God, you have to do tamid, all the time. And the Rambam writes, if you do this, you will achieve the highest level of human existence. You'll become an angel among men. Now, the Gemara in Masechet Berachot, page 32b, says that there are four things that need constant chizuk: Torah, good deeds, tefillah, and derech eretz. Torah, obviously, we have to constantly learn more Torah. If you're not going to learn Torah every day, your neshama will get weaker and weaker. And little by little, you'll lose whatever desire you have to learn. Those three, four, five times a week you learn Torah will shortly become one. Maybe sometimes you'll skip a week. And eventually, nothing.

40:29why? Because Torah is fuel for the neshama. Just like your body needs food every day, your neshama needs food every day. If you feed your neshama every day, it's constantly satiated. You're constantly going to want even more Torah, but you're going to be okay. You're going to be okay even maintaining that status quo. Let's say you learn two hours a day every day. You'll be okay. You may want more, but even if you maintain that two hours a day, you'll be okay. But if you start doing, no, I'll do two hours on Monday, you know, an hour on Tuesday. Wednesday, I'll take a day off. I'll take a day off from God. You know, on vacation. From God. Thursday, I'll go back with an hour. Friday, you know, I'm with the family, so it's another day off. And Shabbat, you know, Shabbat, I have five hours. Make up for lost time. Doesn't work. Doesn't work. The Gemara says, Torah needs constant chizuk. What's constant? Every day. It's better to learn. I asked my rabbi, this is one of the original questions I asked him. We used to learn so much every Thursday, seven-hour sessions. And he told me, you have to start learning every day. I said, okay, but you know, I can't learn seven hours a week. He goes, no, no, you learn 15 minutes a day.

41:38Why don't we just add it to the seven hours? He goes, no, no, you don't understand. It's better you do the 15 minutes a day, every single day, than once a week, seven hours straight. I said, wait a minute, but Rabbi, you know the math is a little off. If I do 15 minutes a day, I'm thinking he doesn't know math. I'm still struggling at this stage. I'm thinking, Rabbi, you know, seven times 15, it's not exactly seven hours, it's less. says 15 minutes, he repeats the same thing. Why? Because, you know, but he's treating me like I'm human. Why? Because the reality is that you have to feed your neshama every day. If you ate 87 steaks in one day, the rest of the week you starve yourself, it won't work. You breathe one day a week, the rest of the week you don't breathe, it won't work. You learn Torah once a week, twice a week, the rest of the week you don't learn, it's not going to work. Your neshama will stay weak. And the Torah will look like it's a burden. So the Gemara says the Torah needs constant chizuk. But also, good deeds need constant chizuk. What does it mean, good deeds? Constantly do good things. Help people out. Do mitzvot. Do different chasadim. Constantly, constantly, constantly look for stuff to do. What can I do to help somebody out? What can I do to help myself out? What can I do that's good?

43:03Chase chesed, chase mitzvot, chase good things. Okay, you have five minutes to burn. Don't burn them. Why are you burning them? Read some Tehillim. Watch a video of Torah. Do something good. Why? You need constant chizuk. Take the Torah that you've learned and apply it to actual life. A young man asked me a question. He said, I was laying down... my stomach the other day and you know something happened. Is that considered a sin that's on purpose or accidental? I didn't mean to. So he thought I was gonna ask him, you know, why did you lay down on your stomach? You know you're not allowed. But I know he knows that. I know he knows it's not allowed. The guy is not allowed to lay on his stomach. He's not allowed to lay on his back. Shulchan Aruch says, even if you see your own father laying on his back, wake him up. Why? A guy has to lay. If he's going to lay down, lay down on your side. Right or left? Pick one. Start the night on the left and then move to the right.

44:27Of course, you lose control at some point and you're sleeping and so on. No worry, you don't have to hire a bodyguard or anything to wake you up. But the point is that you have to do your best to stay on your side. By the way, what do you think, Shlomo HaMelech, it says, Shlomo HaMelech has 60 Shomrim around him. What do you think, they're just Shomrim for no reason? Different roles, each one has a different role. Also to deal with demons, but that's a different story. Anyway, Rabotai Yekarim, he thought, I'm going to ask him, why are you laying on it? You know you're not allowed. What was the question? I asked him, why are you laying down? That was the question. Not why are you laying down on your stomach. Why are you laying down? So I was just resting. Resting from what? You know, in between, sit down then. Learn a sefer. What are you doing lying down? If you're lying down, go to sleep. It's at night. Rest at night. Adam la'amal yulad. A person came to the world to work. Stop lying down in the middle of the afternoon like you're some retiree.

45:37Now I'm just resting. Resting from what? You're 25 years old. What are you resting from? Game Boy or PlayStation? What are you resting from? No, I just learned for two hours. Okay, so learn another five minutes. Learn for another two hours. What are you lying down for? You want to rest? Sit down. Read a book while you're resting. Rest while you read. That's the question. People think that they came to this world to relax. Afternoon naps. If you slept three hours a night, you could take an afternoon nap. No problem. But to just lie down and just look at the ceiling like you're some retiree—it's not for Judaism. It doesn't work. Why? Bad things are going to happen. Person needs to know that if you are constantly busy doing good deeds, you yourself will start looking at it the same way that I'm speaking. Who has time to lie down? Instead of lying down, I could go do a good deed. I could go help somebody. I could go read something. I could make a bracha on something. I could do something good. Who has time to relax? I've got stuff to do.

46:52I gotta build Olam Haba, I got a whole world I gotta build. Who has time to lay down for an afternoon nap? Like he's 97 years old. Everybody's taking naps. What are you, a baby? I'll bring you to my house, you'll lie down next to my kids. Yosef, Yosef likes to take a nap. Every few hours he takes a nice nap for 15 minutes. You take a nap next to him. I'll give you a bottle, give him a bottle. Next to you. Binky, binky. Why is he lying down? He's 15 years old. What are you lying down for? Either sit down or go to sleep. If you're busy doing good deeds, Rabotai, you start looking at this as ludicrous as I do. Laziness is a choice. A person who's chasing good deeds is going to do much more in his life. He'll be much more successful in his life. Next, the Gemara says something that needs chizuk is tefillah. Rabbi, how come Hashem doesn't give me this? Pray for it. Yeah, but I prayed. Pray more. How much more? As much as you need. How do I know how much I need? When you get it, you'll know how much you needed it.

48:18Someone knows how to cook. Say you get to something they made, and you say, "Oh, you know, it's still not salty enough." Okay, put more salt. How much salt should I put? As much as you need. How do I know how much I need? Put more and taste it again. If it's good, then that's enough. If it's not good, put some more salt. That's how much tefillah requires—as much as you need. How much do you need? Until you get the prayers answered. You constantly gotta pray, but not just for yourself; pray for other people. I mean, if you pray for other people, you get your prayers answered first. If you pray for yourself, you'll get your answers, but maybe not first. You have to constantly pray. Not just the regular set of the three that you're required as a man and the one that you're required as a woman, but constantly take a sefer Tehillim, open it wherever you open it, and start reading. For the sake of Am Yisrael, for the sake of your parents, for the sake of your children, for the sake of your spouse, for the sake of something. Take a sefer Tehillim and start praying.

49:24Got two minutes? Okay, that's enough to at least read a few Tehillim. Especially women. You gotta read. You gotta read it every day. A few. One, two, three, four, five. Gotta do something. Why? Then it says, one of the common ways that it is interpreted is that we constantly gotta work on fixing ourselves. our character traits. Constantly got to perfect yourself. You see that you did something, you got upset at something, investigate yourself. Why did I get upset? Am I right for being upset? The answer by default is no. Which means if we got upset, we made a mistake. Why? Because even if the other person made us upset, who's the one that sent this person? Hashem. Constantly investigate your own character traits. Constantly investigate your own... Situation: Why is this happening? Why is that happening? Why, why, why? And if you really investigate, Hashem will give you the idea. He’ll give you ideas of different things that you need to work on. I can tell you for sure, the little alligator that walked into my house today that I told you guys about before the shiur, this really wasn't an alligator. It was a, what is it called? Iguana. This giant iguana. I went outside to go take some boxes and...

50:54And I have no idea how this giant thing just walked into the house and I didn't even see him. First of all, the fact that you guys have so many alligators in the street is ridiculous. Somebody should do something about it. But anyway, you see them in the streets. Look at the zoo. I show my kids, "Oh look, an iguana." Hey, iguana. He's great. Yeah, okay, great. But when it comes to the house, it's not much fun. Alligator comes, it's not much, it's not, no, no, no. Why? Because I'm taking the boxes, and then I hear my little daughter scream, and I'm thinking, now my daughter, you know, she's overreacting, it's probably a little lizard or something. You know, I'm thinking it's a lizard or something. So, you know, I put the box down. I walk inside. And I'm telling you, I saw this thing. I see my wife sitting in my office. There's the door. And this giant monster dinosaur over there, it seems like. It's like a T-Rex sitting at the door looking at my wife. I'm there. He turns around. He growls at me. I said, Hashem, You should help me.

51:56i i could have sworn he was, i'm telling you, it must have been Jurassic Park, you know. Well, I never knew they made so much sound. This thing was i i could... Now, this whole thing, you guys are laughing, it's funny, but I told my wife. My wife almost uh... There's a door to my office that goes outside. She runs outside, comes in from the other side, and then I try to shoo this thing into my office. He goes into my office. I close the office. My kids are hanging off the walls. Everybody's scared. My daughter's on the ceiling. Everybody's not... After this thing is locked, we call pest control. First guy, yeah, $280. Okay, come, come, come. Another one, call another one at the same time. No, $60. $60 versus $280. That's a good deal. Wow. So anyway, we get Crocodile Dundee to come to my house. Now, it wasn't in two minutes. So the whole time, I'm looking. And after I analyzed the whole situation, I said, "Hashem, why do I have..."

53:09a T-Rex in my office right now. And I realize, I have to do teshuva. I have to do teshuva. And that's what I have to do. I have to do teshuva. I have to do teshuva. I have to learn more Torah. Why? Because if you learn enough Torah, no anaconda, no T-Rex is going to come to your office. I have to do teshuva. And that's the reality. As funny as it is, I wanted to cry. It's funny, but I want to cry. Why? Because the reality is I have a T-Rex in my office today. Why? I don't learn enough Torah. And that's the way, that's the thought that Hashem put in my head. Whether it's right or it's wrong, you know, my wife, she tried to make me feel better about it. My rabbi told me, no, no, you're doing good. I said, I have to learn more Torah. That's the idea that Hashem implanted in my head that I have to do teshuva because I had a T-Rex show up in my office today. if you evaluate everything that happens in your life, Hashem will give you an idea of what you need to work on that needs chizuk, whether it's a character trait or a certain action. And that's what the Gemara says: it has to be every day. Now, Rashi...

54:25It says, what does it mean, chizuk? What does chizuk mean? Chizuk means to always do something with full force. When we are passionate about something, let's say we're passionate about making money. Now, as I was on Wall Street, It was clockwork. You wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning, get dressed really fast, shower, do whatever you gotta do. You're on the bus already at 5:45, 6:00 at the latest. Why? Because you gotta get to the office by 7:15. It takes an hour and 15 minutes in the morning in New York. By 7:15, I already read half the journal. By the time I'm in the office, I read the rest of it and do whatever else is necessary. Why? By 8 o'clock in the morning, you're already on the phone. Until when? Midnight. You take a break at 8 o'clock at night. 8 to 8. Straight. 8 to 8 straight. Once in a while, you go to the bathroom. Once in a while, you smoke a cigarette if you're a smoker. If you eat, 5 minutes. And you're back on the phone. Sometimes you're eating and you're calling constantly. 8 to 8. Then at 8 o'clock, you take maybe a little longer break. 45 minutes, you're back on the phone. Till when? Midnight.

55:45Why? Because then you can't call anymore. Not because you don't want to call. You can't call anymore because it's too late already for people. At midnight, you call people from California; it's nine o'clock at night. But the point is, oh, you call overseas. Why? Why this crazy schedule? At 12 o'clock at night, you're finished. You're getting the last bus. By the time I got home, it was almost two o'clock in the morning. I'm walking with my briefcase, and there's a bunch of guys drinking on the street. You know, young guys having a drink in front of their house, chit-chatting, wasting their life away. And they see me with my little briefcase. Where are you coming from? Work. Where do you work? Egypt, why are you working this late? No, you gotta work, gotta work. And I keep walking every day, every day, every day for years like this. Why? Why work this crazy schedule? Passionate about something. If you're passionate about something, there are no boundaries. There are no boundaries, there is no time slot, there is no schedule. You simply do everything. You leave everything on the field. You do it until you can't do it no more. Now, when it comes to money, everyone here understands what I just said. If someone is passionate about a relationship, they will do everything possible to get that relationship. If you're passionate about a woman, you'll do everything to get her. If you're passionate about a man, you'll do everything to get him. People easily understand those words that I just said.

57:10People are willing to kill just to get someone that they love. People are willing to die just to get someone that they love. Being passionate about that is normal. There are movies made about it. It's an entire industry explaining the craziness that goes into people's heads for some type of lust they call love. But in people's minds, it makes sense. It makes all the sense in the world to move across the country just to go meet someone that you saw on the internet. People do this all the time. It's normal in their minds. No, I'm passionate. I want. No, she's the one for me. You don't even know her name. She gave me a fake name. You're meeting her in a parking lot. I mean, don't you find that strange? How do you know it's her? In the picture, it's really her in real life. You know, in the picture she looked like this, and in real life she's, you know, a little bigger. What happened? In the picture she had full teeth. In real life, she had Rabbi Yaron Reuven's teeth. What happened? What happened? It was an internet thing; things changed. No, no, no, she's, no, I love her. It's normal for him. I'm just spending my life savings to go to her.

58:29normal in people's minds. It's normal to do whatever you have to do to go find that girl, get a job, make money, or change careers. Normal says this is a mistake. Why? Your passion must go to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. After over 20 years of crying over his son, Yaakov Avinu finally got the day to see his son Yosef. But the Torah tells us that at the moment that they met, Yosef hugged Yaakov. It doesn't say that Yaakov was hugging Yosef. Why? Chachamim explained to us in the Midrash, it's because at the moment that Yaakov saw his son, and the culmination of over 20 years of crying hysterically over his son, his favorite son, created so much passion, so much love, and so much excitement,

59:41that at the last moment before he hugged him, before he really wanted to really give his son the love that had been waiting and accumulating for over two decades, he realized, God forbid, that he would give all of this built-up love, this built-up passion to anything other than HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And at that moment that his son embraced him, Yaakov Avinu was not hugging him because his hand was on his face, saying "Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad." Hear, O Yisrael; I am Yisrael. Yaakov says, "I am Yisrael" — that's his other name. "I am Yisrael, hear me, Hashem. You are the only one." What do you mean, "You are the only one"? Hashem doesn't know He is the only one? Because, no, Hashem, you know You are the only one, but I want You to know You are the only one in my heart. My love only goes to You. If we serve HaKadosh Baruch Hu with that much passion, it's easy to understand why the Ramban says you're going to have Olam HaBa. If you're going to chase mitzvot like you chase money, it's easy to understand why the Ramban says you do this, you fulfill it, you're going to have Olam HaBa.

1:01:08If you're going to work till 12 o'clock at night from 8 to 8 and 12 and all this crazy schedule till 2 o'clock in the morning, don't sleep, don't breathe, don't eat, don't this, don't nothing. Just work for Hashem as much as you possibly can until you collapse. It's easy to understand what the Ramban says. I promise you, in the name of the Torah, you have Olam HaBa. Why? There's nobody better than you. That's what Rashi is trying to say. Chizuk means tamid, but with full force. Not tamid just like every day, regular schedule, you wake up at this time, you eat your little breakfast, you study for a couple hours, you go back to work, you know, you do what you gotta do, you come home. No, no, no. Tamid means at all times, full force, which means... That even the mundane things that you have to do, whether it's eating, drinking, working, being with your wife, being with your husband, taking care of your kids, going to whatever it is, even those mundane things connect to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Everything connects to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Every single thing. Find a way to connect every little dot in your life to Hashem.

1:02:23everything. Eat. Why am I eating? I'm eating because Hashem gave me food. He cared enough about me to give me food. I'm also eating to have energy so I can serve Hashem, and so on and so forth. And I can't wait to do a bracha on this food. Why? To thank Him. And I can't wait to say one. One of the chachamim used to learn Torah day and night. So much so that people had to take care of him because they knew that if no one was going to bring him food, he would forget to eat. He would forget to eat, just forget to eat, like just go a few days without eating. We sometimes forget to do blessings. We forget to do a lot of things. To eat, we don't forget. Now, every day at the same time, there was a guy being paid to go bring him his food at the same exact time. He would bring him his food, the rabbi eats, and goes back to learning. One day, this helper decides that the rabbi is not even paying attention. He's like in a different world, so engrossed in his learning. So, the helper thinks, "Even if I don't bring the food, he's not going to remember whether I brought him the food or not. He's in a different world. He eats so fast." So, the helper decides not to bring the food and eats it himself.

1:03:49And time passed, so on and so forth, and hours and hours passed, and then he came to the rabbi a few hours after he was supposed to give him the food, and the rabbi says, "Well, what happened to my food?" And he thought he could play a joke on the old man, the tzaddik. "Now, come on, you know, kevod HaRav is in such high levels in heaven, you forgot you ate. You forgot you ate." The rabbi ate, of course, usual, same schedule, 12 o'clock, every time I give you food. The rabbi says, you know, you're right. I don't remember if I ate or I didn't eat. I don't remember. But I do remember that I didn't do a beracha. So where's my food? Food, I don't remember. Eat, don't eat, I don't remember. But whether I made a beracha or not, that I remember. I didn't make a beracha. Where's my food? Do you understand? How many times do we forget when we connect to every single dot in our lives?

1:04:57You start having your whole world connect to Hashem. Mundane. I go to work. Why? Because I want to make money so I can do mitzvot with that money. I can buy tefillin that are better than what I have. I can buy a nicer tallit just for Shabbat. I can buy a nicer suit just to wear on the Chagim and Shabbat. And I can do different things with the money, not just to, you know, become a blender—just eat food, digest. Do other things. Why? To connect to Hashem. You go, you work to make money. Why do you want to make money? So you can do mitzvot. Even to buy a house. Why are you going to buy a house? So you can have guests. So you can make your wife happier, or your husband happier, and there's going to be more shalom bayit, or have more kids, and so on and so forth. You connect the mundane to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. When a person does that, tamid, there is a beautiful outcome. And that outcome, Rabotai, is that... all of the actions that he does, all of the actions that she does, because they're constantly connected to Hashem. Every meal is connected to Hashem, every customer is now connected to Hashem, every boss is connected to Hashem, every child is connected to Hashem. Everything that you do, every time you fold a shirt,

1:06:18after you did laundry for your family, it's connected to Hashem. Why? I'm going to make this shirt nice. Why? So my husband could look good, for sure, it could look good, for sure, he could look like a respectable person. I'll make my kids look good. Why? So the kids look like, you know, good kids, and they're in a clean house. They don't look like they came out of a garbage pail. I'm going to clean my house, and you're sweeping, and you're sleeping, and you - why? So the house looks like a nice, beautiful home, and it's respectable, and it doesn't look like a garbage pail. The coffee I make my husband. Why? So he can stay alert. And he can serve Hashem better. And he can learn better. And every little thing that you think, "Oh, I'm baking a cake. What does Hashem want with the cake? Does Hashem eat cake?" Yes, Hashem wants to be connected to the cake. How? I will make the cake extra beautiful for Shabbat, in honor of Shabbat, not in honor of the stomach. In honor of Shabbat, I'll make an extra cake, or extra bread, or extra this, just for the sake of honoring HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Now, there's a very big mitzvah that the Torah says, if you make a mistake on it, your life's in danger. What's the mistake? What's the mitzvah? Every Friday we read this. It's a Gemara or Mishnah that says there are three sins that put a woman in danger when she's at childbirth.

1:07:42If she doesn't light the candles, Shabbat, the Taharat HaMishpacha, but also Challah, making Challah. Now, if you don't light the candles in time, I can understand why that's a life risk. Why? Because if you lit it one minute into Shabbat, it's Chilul Shabbat. It's life risk. Violating Shabbat is a life risk. it's life risk, okay, no problem. Touch your husband—life risk. Hashem decides to take you any second. Every single time a woman is with her husband, or even someone who is not her husband, and she is niddah, every second she is alive is borrowed time. It's like she's pretty much wearing an atomic bomb, and the bomb already went off; it's just that it hasn't boomed yet. You know, there's a quiet before the big boom. Why is chalah a life risk? And we read this every Friday. Chachamim explained that if you notice, it says in Sefer Bereishit that after the sin of Adam HaRishon,

1:09:07the sin of Adam HaRishon who punished Adam and the snake, the anaconda—maybe he came to my house today, the serpent—He said, "I don't want to see you. I don't want to talk to you. Whatever parnasa I'm going to give you, you can eat as much as you want. Everything's going to taste the same. You're going to have a difficult time." Burying the kids, raising the kids—no easy time with kids. Women complain about the kids. Yeah, this is the curse of Chava. This is part of your life—the difficulty. And you see this, mamash life as a parent. You see this life. One of the most aggravating things in the world, that I know for me it's aggravating, not because I feel bad, but exactly why I see one of my kids crying for an hour straight. And I'm doing whatever I'm doing—God bless my wife, she's not bothering me. She doesn't do anything. She knows that's her role, that's my role. But I hear the kids crying for an hour straight. I get up after an hour, you know, I feel bad. Okay, something maybe, you know, let me try to help. I come, literally one second, he stops crying. You know how annoying that is? Like if I was her, I'd get upset. Because she's doing everything possible to get this kid to stop crying. You give him a toy, you give him this, you give him whatever you want. He doesn't want to stop crying. Sometimes kids do that. They go into this craziness, just start crying for no reason whatsoever. I come over there and say, oh, hi. He stops crying.

1:10:32You know how annoying that is? But my wife and I say, no, this is the tikkun. Why? It's your tikkun that he's going to cry. It's not my tikkun he's going to cry. So that's why it stopped. So when a woman is struggling with kids, that's tikkun. But what about challah? Adam HaRishon, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, your punishment is you are going to make bread by the sweat of your brow. Everything you're going to make is going to be hard work. It'll be hard for you to learn Torah. It'll be hard for you to make money. It'll be hard for you to stay afloat. It'll be hard. You're going to constantly struggle. To make bread is going to be difficult for you. Initially, the malachim would bring food and make barbecue for Adam HaRishon. Now you have to go and put the grains in the field and this and that. You make bread. By the time you finish making bread, it's like Maaseh Bereishit.

1:11:32Hard to make money, hard to make bread. So the question is, Rabotai, where did this all start from? Chava made a mistake. She listened to the snake, she listened to the Satan. So she got her husband, and the Zohar HaKadosh says, everybody else too, all the animals too, ate from the Tree of Knowledge. So the hardship of bread is due to the mistake that Chava started. Hence the reason why part of the tikkun of a woman is to make challah. You made the mistake 5780 years ago in order to bring tikkun olam, to fix the world, to fix the original sin. You gotta make challah, but don't make the mistake of just making challah, just whatever you feel like, whatever amount. No, make the right quantity so you can make the blessing. Put the right amount of effort into it so it's delicious. Don't make challah that you can't wait to finish.

1:12:51or you take a piece of it and you can't wait to throw out the rest and it goes green. Make challah with everything in it. Why? It's part of tikkun olam. It looks simple, but it's big. A woman making challah, taking five pounds—five pounds of flour and everything—and now she makes challah. That's a lot more than any family can eat in one Shabbat, so that means you're going to make a whole lot more than what you need. That's what God wants. Why? Because if you make less, you can't make the blessing. You can't make the blessing, your challahs, your Dunkin' Donuts. You mean nothing. There's no blessing. There's no tikkun. There's no nothing. 5,780 years. HaKadosh Baruch Hu is waiting for a tikkun. Nothing happened. Why? You made two loaves. You made two loaves. Go back to McDonald's. Maybe they'll buy it from you. HaKadosh Baruch Hu made the mitzvah of challah for the woman. Not because He wants your bread. He wants tikkun olam. There's nothing simple about Judaism. Everything has a purpose. Everything has significance. You want to learn about it? You want to do a mitzvah? Go learn about that mitzvah. What is this whole thing? You learn about it, you start seeing, wow, it's connected to this, to this, to this. Before you know it, you cover the entire Torah, just one mitzvah. That's how the Torah works. Everything is connected. You could learn, take any mitzvah from the Torah, any one of the 613 mitzvot,

1:14:18And if you learn enough about it, you'll see that that mitzvah is connected one way or the other, directly or indirectly, without skipping to everything else. It's all like one big vein system, or like your body. Even though your brain over here is still connected to your foot. Your foot's over there, it's connected to your arm. Your arm's over here. You have one pain in your back; your foot hurts. Your whole body's connected. The mitzvot are even more so. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us to put everything into it. Why? So when I make the challah, it's not just because I want to make it delicious and sweet if you're Ashkenazi, salty if you're Sephardi, big, small. No, no, no. It's not that. It's not just for my husband because he likes it. It's not because of my kids. It's not because we're having guests. No, it's because it's Tikkun Olam. This challah, this little challah in the middle of nowhere... It's part of HaKadosh Baruch Hu's Tikkun Olam. Me doing Tikkun Olam? Yes, you. You're doing Tikkun Olam. Yeah, you with your little challah. No one's ever going to hear about it except your husband. That's Tikkun Olam. As long as it's the right amount, as long as it's the right blessing, as long as you're doing everything right, yes. But if you don't, you make a mistake, HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, you're putting your life at risk. Why? There's no purpose. There's no purpose for what you're doing. You're just making bread.

1:15:47There's no purpose. You're putting your life at risk. Why? Because if you're alive, you have to have a purpose. That's why some Chachamim discussed the special segulot with challah, where if you put a key in it, make sure to take it out and not eat it. By the way, the key is not food, but if you make a key, it's good for pregnancy. There are many, many special segulot, but the point is that it's not just about it being delicious; it's about putting everything into it. While you're making the challah, make sure not to commit sins. like sometimes people have these gatherings where the Rebbetzin is going to come and it's going to be 20, 30 women, you know, making challah. The problem is, it's 20, 30 women speaking Lashon Hara while making the challah. Do you think that this challah is blessed? Who's going to eat this challah? Anyone who eats this challah is cursed. You got 20, 30, 40, 50 women saying Lashon Hara for two hours, making challah. Yeah, yeah, Baruch HaShem. Don't make the challah. Don't make a sin with the challah. Your words, waiting, the words go to nothing, your words go into the food. When you make challah, listen to holy music, maybe some Tehillim, Shiur Torah.

1:17:08have them make it a special event. It's a big deal. Why? It's tikkun olam. Or you could just go to a bakery, right? You know, four or five bucks. That's true too, that's fine too. But if you're able, do it. If you're not able, don't do it. But the point is, if you're gonna do it, do it right. That's what the Ramban is trying to tell us here. If you're already going to be alive, and you're already going to serve Hashem, do it right. Tamid, all the time, constant. Not just sometimes. Because what ends up with the sometimes is that you end up being miserable. Because when you're sometimes serving Hashem, that means that you're sometimes, or a lot of times, not serving Hashem. It leaves you a lot of free time to commit sins or to think about sins. So, even if you haven't gotten to the point of committing sins, you're still miserable. Why? Because you're thinking about the sins you want to commit. And that makes a person very, very miserable.

1:18:26So if you're constantly looking to do mitzvot, do good deeds, constantly fulfill your purpose, you end up turning every one of your actions into an action that is l'shem shamayim. Meaning, you're turning every single thing that you do—your work, your raising kids, your husband, your wife, everything that you do—into, "This is for Hashem." This is for Hashem. The cake is for Hashem. The challah is for Hashem. The kids are for Hashem. The shirt is for Hashem. The laundry is for Hashem. Everything is for Hashem. That's a life worth living. Why is it a life worth living? Because aside from the fact that your life becomes, and your servitude of Hashem becomes, much more enjoyable, and that you end up getting Olam HaBa, your life also becomes different. Different how? The Shulchan Aruch says that you're actually obligated to do all of the actions you do for Shem Shamayim. Now surely this is not easy. To do everything for Shem Shamayim is not easy. But the Shulchan Aruch says this is nonetheless, whether it's easy or not, still technically the goal; you're supposed to do it. Everything you're supposed to do is supposed to be for the sake of Hashem. Everything.

1:19:44You're learning Torah; you're supposed to be Mivakshei Hashem. Mishnah in Avot, first chapter, third Mishnah. Antigonus, his student, received from Shimon HaTzadik. He would say, "Do not be like the servants who serve the master in order to receive a reward, but be like the servants who serve the master not in order to receive a reward. And the fear of Heaven should be upon you." Antigonus, the leader of Socho, the Gadol HaDor in a town called Socho, a couple thousand years ago, received the oral tradition from Shimon HaTzadik, who was in the direct lineage of David HaMelech. Antigonus said, don't be like servants who serve their master for the sake of receiving a reward. Rather, be like servants who serve their master without the intent of receiving a reward. And let the fear of Heaven be upon you. Don't do everything you do for the sake of getting money, getting a zivug, getting this, even getting Olam Haba. You can, but Antigonus, one of the greatest sages that ever lived, said you shouldn't.

1:21:09Technically, you're allowed to say, "Listen, I'm doing all my mitzvot because I want money. I'm doing all my mitzvot because I want Olam Haba. I'm doing all my mitzvot because I want to, you know, have all types of goodies." You can technically do it. But one of the greatest sages that ever lived, 2,500 years ago, says it's a mistake. If I were you, I'd listen. Why? He has a few things to say. And he says to us, out of all the things that he can say, this is what's listed in the Mishnah about him. It's not like there's entire books by Antigonus Ish Socho. They could have picked anything he said. This is what they picked. Third Mishnah in Avot. It says don't serve the master for the sake of receiving a reward. Serve Him without this expectation. And make sure you have Yirat Shamayim too. What's the connection? If you serve Hashem because it's the right thing to do... Because Hashem is the King, because you have to, because He's the best, guess what? He'll give you even more than what you want anyway. The reward for a mitzvah

1:22:29that's done for is worlds apart from a mitzvah that's done simply because you want something. What is it like? Imagine a father. A father has sons and daughters. And when he gets home every day, he asks one of the kids to make him a coffee or a tea. ...make, and you know the kid, you know, makes a face because he wants to play and he wants to do this and he wants to do that. "Okay, yeah, okay, I'll make it. Okay, today's my turn. Okay, today's my turn. Okay, today's your turn." And you know they make a face like they're, uh, they don't realize they're living in the house their father pays for. He gave them a house; he just wants coffee in return. Is that a big deal? So, when he brings him the coffee and the tea, whatever, you know, it's like he gives it to him. He's not really happy about it, but he does it. You know, he's not a bad kid. He's just not, you know, great. He's not Esav, but he's not exactly Yaakov either. So, you give him the tea. "Okay, Abba said, okay, here you go, Abba, here you go." Now, the Abba is content with this kid that is listening to him. Content, right? But do you think...

1:23:44He would feel different if he didn't have to ask at all. Where, in fact, as soon as he comes home, all the kids, "Abba, Abba, Abba, I want you," hugs, kisses, "Abba, Abba, the food's already ready for you. Come on, come on, come sit, Abba, let me take off your jacket, your shoes," one with the shoe, one with the jacket. "Here's the tea, here," oh, everybody. That Abba can't wait to see his kids. can't wait to take the money that he worked for all day and give it to them, buy them whatever they want. Why? Who's the pet? All you cared for is for me to come, and you already made me what I'm even asking. No one needs a high IQ to understand what I just said. That's why it's easy for us to understand, a mitzvah that you make for HaKadosh Baruch Hu is much more valuable than a mitzvah that you make for yourself.

1:24:45How do we get to that? Going back to what the Ramban says, tamid. Constantly look for ways to do good deeds. Constantly look for ways to learn more Torah. Constantly look for ways to improve yourself. Constant, constant, constant. 24 hours a day. Don't look for breaks. Don't look to relax. Trust me, when you die, there's much relaxing there. At least in your imagination. Forget about relaxing. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says in the Prophet Job. The Prophet Job says, a person came to the world to toil. Not to relax. Not to lie on his stomach. Not to lie on his back. Not to go on vacation. You're alive. You're awake. Do something productive. Can't learn? Go work. Can't work? Go learn. Do something. Do something good and productive. And make sure that whatever you're doing, connect it to Hashem. Connect it to Hashem. Because, aside from all of this, which we'll talk about next week, and the basics of what I'm telling you, there's an added benefit. And that is what I named this shiur, at least for now, about. Which is, there's this little code in the Torah,

1:26:12that you can break by doing such things. By connecting every one of your mitzvot to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and constantly chasing Hashem in every way, all your mitzvot turn into something that's for Shem Shamayim. Now, what happens when everything that you do is for Shem Shamayim? Simply put, you can become a miracle worker. About a hundred years ago, or a little more, one of the Gedolei HaDor was Rabbi Shmuel Salant. Rabbi Shmuel Salant was in Eretz Yisrael in Yerushalayim, many, many years before the Zionists took over. And Rabbi Shmuel Salant was the head rabbi of the city. But he called a different gadol. And he called him and he told him, I need you to do me a big favor, a big sacrifice. I want you to come move to Yerushalayim.

1:27:38Me, he says, no, you're the gadol over there, I would never step my ground over there, you know. He said, no, no, no, I need you to come here. For what? He said, listen, I'm the rabbi of the city, which means I have to be the rabbi for everybody. The good ones, the bad ones, I have to, in essence, get along with everybody. find a way to get it, but in order for it all to work, for us to serve HaKadosh Baruch Hu, we need someone like you that's zealous, that's a kanai, and rebukes people constantly who are not serving like they're supposed to. So I need you to come. In order for us to serve Hashem, I need you to come rebuke the people. The only condition... wait one year, come to Yerushalayim, see how the ground is, check everything out for the first year. After the first year, I say, do what your wisdom tells you to do. So Rabbi Meir was a very zealous Jew, a big tzaddik, and saw this was for Shamayim. Everything that he did was for Shamayim.

1:28:58He realized this was a sacrifice that needed to be made, and he made the move. It's not like today, where you get out of the truck, and you move. He made the sacrifice and moved to Yerushalayim. Now, unlike many others, Rabbi Auerbach was also very wealthy. So when he came to Yerushalayim, he brought with him 100,000 rubles. And he was very wealthy. And he would use his money to help Talmidei Chachamim. He built a Beit Din and so on. Now, after that time passed, he started the Beit Din. And right after he opened the Beit Din, someone came to him and said, "Kvod Harav, we have a very serious problem. There's this Rasha." That just like you know tzaddikim, they read, they get at the Ramban to become tzaddikim. There's certain people that read newspapers to become resha'im. As one of these resha'im, what does he do? He has a business. What's his business? Sell neveilot u'treifot l'am Yisrael. Sell them non-kosher food. Rabbi Meir Auerbach heard about this, let's go. Went with his people to the guy's shop.

1:30:12Immediately, he sees him and starts rebuking him publicly, yelling at him like the guy is a little boy. Now, this rasha looked at this old man, even though he was tall and strong; still, he's looking at this old rabbi. "Who is this rabbi to tell me what to do?" So he starts yelling back at him. Without getting confused or hesitating, Rabbi Auerbach takes his hand and slaps this guy in the face a couple of times. In front of everybody, the guy, without hesitating, turns around, goes behind the register, takes a gun out, and points it at the rabbi walking towards him. In front of everybody, countless people there, Rav Auerbach, without a mistake, without hesitation, opens his shirt and says, "Shoot me right here if you dare. Right here."

1:31:12The guy saw, mamash, the Shechinah, got scared to death and ran away. After he ran away, Rav Auerbach says, the bullet to shoot me here hasn't been created yet. Because everything that I do is only for Shem Shamayim. Don't do it for my kavod. Don't do it for money. Don't do it for reputation. Everything I do, it's only for HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And to have a bullet to shoot here has not been created. During that same year, there was a drought in Yerushalayim. People came crying to Rav Auerbach.

1:32:14Seeing that people are getting sick because the water that's left is not good, he goes, takes some people with him, and they go to the place where Rabbi Yehuda HaChassid is buried. There's a Beit Midrash also there. They get there. and he starts doing all types of prayers, crying and yelling at Shamayim. Yelling, begging Hashem, doing Selichot. With all of the prayers and the screaming and the crying, In front of everybody there, this is all documented. This is not like stories from 500 years ago, 1,000 years ago, 2,000 years ago—who, what, when. This is documented. This is in countless books. It's in newspapers and so on. It's 100 years ago. People are there. Rabbi Meir Abuchatzeira looks at Shamayim and he says,

1:33:26All of your children here in Yerushalayim have done teshuva. And we are not leaving until you make it rain. Now, if this was the Gemara 2,000 years ago, that made a circle after there was a drought, and said to Hashem, make it rain, and it happened, he was able to revive the dead. But we're not talking about 2,000 years ago, we're talking about 100 years ago. Less than five minutes later, HaKadosh Baruch Hu brought rain that washed all of Yerushalayim, filling up the lakes. People were so amazed. They read the Hallel, the full Hallel, thanking HaKadosh Baruch Hu, glorifying HaKadosh Baruch Hu. They said, "Wow, Kvod HaRav." He said, "Everything, it's because we do everything for Shem Shamayim."

1:34:29all the reason I do everything is for Hashem. That's it. I don't want reward, I don't want this, I don't want anything. I just want to serve Hashem. I pray for a meaningful life, for me, for Hashem. Everything is for Hashem. When you do everything for Hashem, guess what? The reward you end up getting is much, much greater than the one that you can think about for yourself. Because why? We pray to Hashem, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me. We're like beggars all day, give me, give me, give me, give me. All day we beg for stuff. We are so focused on asking Hashem for stuff, we forget about why we're even doing anything. We treat Hashem like an ATM machine. Now again, you're allowed to do that. But Antigonos Ish Socho says it's not a good idea. Why? Because if you would have served Hashem, like Antigonos Ish Socho says, like the Ramban says, like the Rambam says, Guess what? What HaKadosh Baruch Hu would give you automatically is much greater than what you are asking for in the first place. But that means that you have to turn your entire life into simply serving Hashem and connecting everything to Him. Now, that doesn't mean that you have to be a man learning Torah all day.

1:35:52It also doesn't mean that you have to be a woman who was born religious into Rav Chaim Kanievsky's household. You could be a brand new Ba'al Teshuva. You could be religious from birth. You could be old. You could be young. You could be new. You could be whatever. You could start today. How? Everything you do, connect it to Hashem. This takes practice. This takes effort. This takes constant thinking. But when you start realizing that the potential is so extraordinary, you start realizing that it's worth it. Now, I'll finish it off with this. How do you know if someone did it? What's the sign? I'll give you a small, small indication of something that could be. I don't know for sure. I'm not God, but if somebody says something, it indicates what they think and what they feel. Now, Yitzchak ben Matis, alav hashalom, just left this world at the age of 101 today. He was originally from Czechoslovakia, a Holocaust survivor who lost his entire family.

1:37:21But he himself, throughout his entire life, told his kids and grandkids a story of how they put him inside one of the gas chambers. He was supposed to die. But a Malach took him out. Because someone took him out of the gas chamber, and to this day, to his last day, he didn't know who it was. It has to be a Malach. Why? It was either the people that died, or it was the Nazis that were killing. There was nobody else there. So how I actually got out, I was out and alive, 100 years, a Malach took me out. He's not a person. Now he lived his life, he had six kids, he was a chazan, constantly gave blessings to everyone. But even more than that, he read Sefer Tehillim, the entire Sefer, every single day. Sometimes we have groups that read Tehillim for people, for the benefit of the sick, and you track, oh, you do from 10 to 20, you do from 5 to 10, and sometimes you're onto it, and you finish a Sefer Tehillim between a group of 5, 10, 20 people in a day, a few hours, a week. He, by himself, read Sefer Tehillim the entire day, every day. Now, how can you say these things about people?

1:38:46You could say these things, but they may or may not be true. How do you know they're true? How do you know they're true without knowing him? Now, I had the merit, Baruch Hashem, to meet him once and get a blessing from him. And Baruch Hashem, you're going to see this in a movie that comes out soon. Now, how do I know for sure this is true? Because in his last days, or last months, as he became more and more frail, He started telling his kids and grandkids, especially his grandson, that he wants to die. Why does he want to die? He says, I can't do mitzvot anymore. I can't see, can't move, can't do mitzvot. If I can't do mitzvot, what's the point of life? Now, if somebody's 20 years old and you tell him, "Yeah, you should do a mitzvah. Yeah, it's a good thing to do," he might think, "Maybe I'll do it, maybe not. Maybe there's something more fun." But someone who lived 101 years in this world and is telling you, "The only thing I want to live for is mitzvot. I don't want girls, I don't want boys, I don't want food, I don't want money, I don't want kavod, I don't want someone to say 'chazak u'baruch,' nothing. What I want to do is mitzvot. If I can't do mitzvot, I don't want to live."

1:40:09That's a person, Rabotai. He didn't become that way in the last days. He was that. And he built that his entire life. Someone that says, if I can't do mitzvot, there's no point to my life, that's a person that, at the very least, fulfilled much of what we've been talking about for the last couple of hours. Ashrecha v'ashrei chelkecha. The loss is to us, not to him. He's, Baruch Hashem, in a much better place. A person that says, if I don't have an opportunity to do mitzvot, if I can't do mitzvot, what's the point of life? You don't have to be a genius to understand where you go from here. Because you don't desire mitzvot if you didn't do mitzvot constantly. You don't desire mitzvot and have an actual desire for mitzvot to the extent where that's all you want to do and that's all you want to live for if that's not all you've lived for for a very, very long time. What we can learn today is that it's possible.

1:41:20Because someone did it, and it's not even a hundred years ago. It was yesterday. That means it's possible for this generation, for this room, for this audience that's watching today, tomorrow, a year from now. It's possible. You can connect every single thing and it also explains why a malach would take such a person out of the gas chamber. When you do everything for Hashem, for HaKadosh Baruch Hu, you're a miracle worker; miracles become part of your life. And you live 101 years. And you have wonderful grandkids. And you have, Baruch Hashem, a fantastic place to go after this world, b'ezrat Hashem.

1:42:25We learn enough from His story, we learn enough from the sages, we learn enough from HaKadosh Baruch Hu and His Middot to repeat them, to live with them, and to fulfill the mitzvah that we go in His way, in His footsteps. He's humble, He's generous, He's loving, He's compassionate, He's everything that's good. Whatever He's doing, I want to do. Why? Because it's definitely the best way to go. Baruch Adonai le'olam. Amen v'amen.