Shiur Torah #107 To Love Or Fear HaShem @ The LightHouse Project (Florida)

0:01Thank you. Thank you. Great to be here again, Lighthouse Project. Great to be here again, Lighthouse Project. Baruch Hashem, we've had a couple of classes here that have been very popular, discussing personal stories. About two weeks ago, we had a shiur here about Torah and science, showing people that there is scientific evidence of God and the Torah. There is a way to not only rationalize the Torah but also to prove it. Baruch Hashem, we've had a couple of classes here that have been very popular, discussing personal stories. About two weeks ago, we had a shiur here about Torah and science, showing people that there is scientific evidence of God and the Torah. There is a way to not only rationalize the Torah but also to prove it.

1:23Also, thank you to Torah Anytime, who has also been helping us publicize these shiurim. And one bit of news for some of you that haven't watched last night's shiur yet: Torah Anytime and this organization, Chazaq, have a couple of really big events each year. And the biggest event, or at least one of the biggest events they have, is during Tisha B'Av. during the night, which is coming up in a few weeks. And they have a marathon of about 15 different speakers, one after another, to get people into the right mode of getting close to Hashem, but also mourning for the Beit HaMikdash, the first one that we lost, the second that we lost, and also pretty much all major disasters that have happened to Am Yisrael that have happened on Tisha B'Av, especially the destructions of the Beit HaMikdash. But anyway, during this marathon, they also have one key speaker, and usually for the last 10 years, they've had Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi as the key speaker, but since Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi can't make it this year, They actually asked me to be the keynote speaker, so this is going to be a major shiur over there. They usually have between 500 to 1,000 people, and they also stream it live around the world, so anyone that can't make it to New York will be able to watch it live on Motzei Shabbat on Tisha B'Av. Tonight, I wanted to discuss a major topic that...

2:46with the exception of the couple of rabbis that I mentioned throughout most of my shiurim, like Rabbi Mizrachi or Rabbanit Alon Anava, this specific topic is very rare. We've talked about it many times in shiurim. We've taught it to people to get to a point where they understand that this is not a choice. This is actually a commandment. It's actually one of the 613 mitzvot. But for some reason today, We live in a generation that not only does not learn it, but thinks that you're not supposed to do it. And it's called Yirat Shamayim, fear of God. Most of what we learn today is how we're supposed to love Hashem. And the reason why is because most Jews, even if they're secular, or even if they're a different sect of Judaism, most Jews know the Shema Yisrael, the Kriyat Shema. And Kriyat Shema starts with, you have to love Hashem with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your money. This is what it says. So most people are saying, hey look, Kriyat Shema, Hashem made sure that we had to read this at least twice a day. It says, love Hashem. So I'm supposed to love Hashem?

4:14It doesn't say "fear Hashem." The problem is that most people don't actually understand what it means. Yes, it says, "love Hashem." But then, if you read those three words and you learn the key part of our Torah, which is the Gemara, you read what Rabbi Akiva said about it. He didn't exactly translate it the same way we did. It doesn't just mean, "Oh, I love Hashem," but it's in my heart. I don't keep Shabbat. I eat kosher only once in a while. My wife walks around with a mini skirt in public. You know, people say, "No, but I love God. I go to Beit Knesset at least three times a year—Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, and then whenever I don't have anything else to do." but I love God. They see a mezuzah, they kiss it 50 times. They see a Sefer Torah, it's like the Mashiach came. But keeping any mitzvot, it's not for me, it's not for this generation. They say it's not applicable for us. Moshe Rabbeinu didn't have a car, that's why he didn't drive on Shabbat. That's what they say. He didn't have. But that's the rationale that people use.

5:35And they actually use this specific prayer, this holy prayer of Shema Yisrael as their source. It says, love God. I love God, he says, in my heart. I love my wife in my heart. I love God in my heart. Here’s the problem. If you loved your wife, but every time you told her "I love you," you slapped her in the face, After one or two slaps, she'd tell you, please, don't love me, just don't touch me. Why? Because in order to love someone, you have to show it to them. And Hashem actually told us several times in the Torah what He means by love. He actually gave us the Torah, which we've proven scientifically is real, so now that we know it's real, We can listen to what it says. At the end of Parashat Va'etchanan, Hashem tells us exactly the instructions, not only of loving Hashem, but He also tells us what happens to those that love Him, and what happens to those that hate Him. This is not my words; this is God's words. And trust me when I tell you, He didn't ask for my permission.

6:58He didn't ask me if I approve it. He didn't ask me if I agree with it. He just commanded me to do it, just like He commanded all of you. It says, "You must know that Hashem, your God, He is the God, the faithful God, who safeguards the covenant and the kindness for those who love Him." Yeah, it says "love." and for those who observe His commandments for thousands of generations. So here we see, now in the English language or any language, anytime you have two words, a description, two adjectives, two words that are describing something right next to each other, it usually means, or really all the time means, that they mean the same thing. They're connected. So here, We see something very simple, a literal translation. We're not even using the Oral Torah here yet. We're just using the literal translation. Those who love Him are those who observe His commandments. Now, if we're still confused, if we're still unsure, Hashem knew that also, so He continued the sentence. And He repays His enemies,

8:20So now we know, okay, so obviously the first sentence says "those who love Him." The opposite of a lover is an enemy. Who is the enemy? If the lover is keeping the commandment, who is the enemy? The enemy is the one that's not keeping the commandments. He repays His enemies in their lifetime to make them perish. He shall not delay for His enemy. In his lifetime, He shall repay him. All those people that you see driving Ferraris and Lamborghinis and all these fancy cars and $5 million houses, but they keep zero mitzvot and, in fact, spend their time going against the Torah, this is who He's talking about. He says, the few mitzvot they did in their life, even if they were accidental, I made sure that I'm paying them in this world because they made a few mitzvot, I have to pay them. Why? To make them perish. Just like He says here. So now Hashem gave us a description of loving Hashem. But He also did it in Kriyat Shema itself. He didn't say love Hashem and that's it. That's not where it ends. He said love Hashem with all of your heart. What does it mean with all of your heart? Rabbi Akiva explained it to us. When the goyim, the wicked goyim actually went

9:32and tortured Am Yisrael. They decided to start with our leaders. Rabbi Akiva was one of the Ten Martyrs, and they took him and started peeling his skin off to make sure that everyone knows that they're in control. Throughout all of this time, his students are watching this horrendous event, and they're seeing the Rabbi praying. And then he says, Kriyat Shema. Students, before he starts Kriyat Shema, they say, "Kvod Harav, enough. You can say one word, you can say the real name of Hashem, you can destroy all of these people. Why would you let them kill you?" He says, "All of my life, I've said this Kriyat Shema every day. I said, I love God with all of my heart." And I did. I proved I love God with all my heart because I studied His Torah from the minute I found out about what it really is at the age of 40 until now. For 80 years, I've spent every waking moment studying His Torah. I became the biggest rabbi in history other than Moshe Rabbeinu, with 24,000 students, where the least of his students was able to revive the dead. So now...

10:54I know I loved Him because, based on His definition in the Torah of what loving Him is, this is what I did. As far as money is concerned, which is with all your heart, with your soul, and with your money. With money, I gave everything for Him to support the yeshiva, to support talmidei chachamim. That was never a problem. I even made sure that my wife... was a key partner to all of it because one of the conditions of our marriage was that she would lose everything. Her father said that if she married me, she would be disowned. And she would lose the inheritance of one of the richest people in Am Yisrael. So she showed how big this mitzvah is, of what it really means with all of your money. She wasn't asking the rabbi, "Listen, do you have a mezuzah? Yeah, yeah, a mezuzah. It's a good quality one. It's about $100, $120. Do you have one for $30?" She didn't ask that question. Why? Because money doesn't matter when it comes to Hashem. If somebody really believes that Hashem provides money, Hashem provides everything, what are you so worried about money for? It's not in your hands anyway. It's not your money anyway. He's just lending it to you. That's one of the tough things we have to deal with every day, convincing ourselves that this is the way to live. So, I did this mitzvah, Rabbi Akiva says, but the one thing I could never do is fulfill the mitzvah with my life. And I was worried my whole life if I will ever fulfill this mitzvah of loving Hashem with all of my life.

12:16deal with every day, convincing ourselves that this is the way to live. So, I did this mitzvah, Rabbi Akiva says, but the one thing I could never do is fulfill the mitzvah with my life. And I was worried my whole life if I will ever fulfill this mitzvah of loving Hashem with all of my life. And now that I can die al Kiddush Hashem and actually fulfill this mitzvah and give my life for Hashem, you're telling me to stop it? Do you understand? That's what Kriyat Shema means. It doesn't mean love God in your heart and keep three mitzvot a year. Hashem had several people in history that he told us that we have to learn everything from them. This is why he mentioned them in the Torah. He did not mention me in the Torah. He did not mention any of you in the Torah. He mentioned them. One of them was the patriarch Avraham Avinu. Avraham Avinu is so well respected that even the goyim that hate Israel still respect Avraham Avinu. Even the terrorists that blow themselves up just to kill a bunch of Jews

13:42You say Avraham Avinu, they start bowing, they start praying. It's like, shh, Avraham Avinu. Okay, so we got to learn from Avraham Avinu. Avraham Avinu, it's well known that he had ten major tests. Chazal debate exactly what those ten tests were. But nonetheless, we know that the biggest test of all was called Akedat Yitzchak. He had to sacrifice his son. Or at least that's what he understood that he had to do. Hashem told him, "Listen, I know that all your life I told you that your main goal would be to be a light to the nations, convert the nations, get them to stop idol worshipping, get them to stop sacrificing their children. That was what they would do in those days—they'd sacrifice their kids. But I want you to sacrifice your son." Sounds like a little bit of a problem. I mean, Hashem doesn't change His mind. We learn in this week's parasha, Parashat Balak. Hashem says, I don't change My mind. I'm not a man. I'm not a son of a man. Do you think I will say something and not do? It says in Parashat Balak. So what's going on?

14:59Avraham doesn't ask any questions. It's not like this generation says, "Wait, what verse is that? Can you show me a proof?" It's not like, you know, he didn't ask for proof. God told him, "Listen, sacrifice your son." It actually says that he woke up early in the morning to make sure that he does the mitzvah extra early. And of course, as we know, he arrived at the mountain. Hashem told him to stop. but He also gave him the highest level of compliment that He gave him while he was alive. In chapter 22, verse 12, it says, and He said,

15:59Do not stretch your hand against the lad, meaning Yitzchak, and do not do anything to him. For now I know that you are a God-fearing man, since you have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me. So here, Hashem tells him, don't slaughter your son because now I know you fear Me. Now I know you fear Me. Now you know. Well, you didn't know when He told me, He told me, leave my father, leave my mother, leave everything, go to this land. I'm not telling you where. Well, I didn't know I fear You when I had to jump into the fire instead of worshipping idols that Nimrod wanted to worship. You didn't get that then? You didn't know I fear You back then, Hashem? Jumped into the fire. All the tests we had, non-stop tests, You didn't know I fear You? This is officially telling him, now I know you got to the highest level of yirah. There are levels of fear of Yerushalayim. This fearing Hashem, the lowest level is fearing punishment. The lowest level. Respectable nonetheless. I wish all of Am Yisrael would actually fear just punishment.

17:19If we could just get to that level where we fear Hashem and His punishment as much as we fear the police that are standing on the highway, Mashiach would come instantly. I'm not a prophet, but I can tell you that if people even understood what it is to fear Hashem, just to compare it to the police on I-95, if they actually feared Hashem like they fear the police, the Geulah would come immediately. Why are we not scared? We don't believe. We don't believe Hashem cares. We don't even understand that we're supposed to fear. But Hashem told Avraham Avinu, "Your highest level of compliment, you were about to kill your son for Me, and finally you got to the highest level of Yirah." So Chazal, the sages, explained to us, what is the highest level of Yirah? What is the highest level of fearing Hashem?

18:20The lowest level we know is fearing punishment. The highest level is fearing hurting the relationship. Similar to a marriage. A healthy marriage. Not like today's marriages where there's an 80% divorce rate. A healthy marriage. A marriage where you actually have a couple that is doing their best to make each other better. The point of a relationship is to bring the best out of each other. Where instead of one plus one equals two, it has to be one plus one equals more than two. You are better because of him, and he is better because of you. If it's one plus one equals two, that means both of you have stayed the same. So, the point of a relationship is to make each other better. Same concept with Yirat Shamayim. When you get to a point of actually having a relationship with Hashem, you fear losing it. When you fear losing a relationship with Hashem, just thinking about that. If you actually have a connection to Hashem, just thinking about losing connection to Hashem should hurt you. Just like someone thinking, what would happen, Chas V'Shalom, if my spouse died? Someone that loves their spouse...

19:33Even if it didn't actually happen, immediately their heart hurts. Unless it's made out of ice or something like that, then it doesn't apply to you. But the reality of it is, if you think of something bad happening to your spouse, it should affect you. This is what the highest level of Yirat Shamayim is. And Chazal says that this highest level of Yirat Shamayim is the beginning of loving Hashem. Beginning. It's not the highest level of ahavat Hashem. You're just getting the idea of what loving Hashem actually means. So when we, our whole life, we've heard rabbis use different euphemisms and explanations to tell us, "Oh, love Hashem, love Hashem, love Hashem," to a bunch of secular people, that just before we came to the lecture, we ate pork. "Love Hashem, love Hashem, love Hashem." What love Hashem? I'm not even keeping anything. I'm considered an enemy. What love Hashem? So the Gemara in Masechet Megillah wrote something for them. Masechet Megillah, page 25a.

20:58One who gives euphemistic interpretations. This is specifically referring to prohibited, forbidden unions. We silence him. And in those days, they didn't mean they silence him by telling him, "shh." They silence him like they silence him from the world, just for mistreating the Torah. Just for saying, by the way, it's okay to be homosexual. Hashem will accept you anyway. It's okay to drive on Shabbat. Hashem understands. It's okay to eat non-kosher only outside of the house as long as you keep it at home. Just love Hashem, love Hashem. Give some tzedakah and love Hashem. I actually had a guy that called himself a rabbi telling me that the only thing this generation is obligated to do, according to him, is give tzedakah. Everyone is considered anussim. the whole generation... I actually have this debate. I haven't published it because of fear of Hashem, as far as if he actually does teshuva one day. And lashon hara is a very, very dangerous sin, even though he wrote it himself. But we had a debate...

22:14And this is actually what he wrote. And I kept asking him the same question over and over again. Wait, are you saying that they don't have to keep Shabbat? Yes, they don't have to keep Shabbat. Like, yeah, but Parashat Ki Tisa, it says you don't keep Shabbat. They have an early death. They have no share of the world to come. They're not considered Jewish. According to the Rambam, according to the Shulchan Aruch, according to the Gemara, the Zohar, pick a book. How could you say they don't have to keep Shabbat? No, no, no, they keep tzedakah, they're anusim. What anusim? They never saw a religious person in the world, they live in Siberia? They live in America, 6 million Jews. They live in Israel, another 6 or 7 million. They live in a Jewish community, they've seen somebody that wears a black hat, they've seen somebody with a beard and a kippah. They saw somebody say Shema Yisrael, they know what Judaism is. Whether they comply with it or not is irrelevant. They know what it is, they are not considered anusim.

23:15And as a matter of fact, there are certain sins in Judaism where there is no such thing as anusim. There is no such thing as, even if he doesn't know what Judaism is, he's allowed to do it. One of them we spoke about last night. It's called intermarriage. Intermarriage, there's no such thing as anusim. Every Jew, even if he doesn't know what the Torah is, knows what intermarriage is. Because even the goyim know what intermarriage is. So you're telling me, Rabbi, that all he has to do is give him tzedakah and he's allowed to marry a goya, drive on Shabbat, eat pork on Yom Kippur, and maybe a hot dog in a bun on Pesach? Just so he can give you five dollars on your Friday night dinner? And this is what he said, yes. So resha'im like this, unless they do teshuva, this is what the Gemara is talking about right here. We silence them. He's lucky we don't have a Sanhedrin. Gemara Masechet Sotah, page 27b. It was a big day where a lot of Torah was discussed. And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chanania taught this Gemara.

24:54He teaches this Gemara where there's a machloket, a difference of opinion, about whether Job, the one who actually had a book written about him in the Torah, one of the 24 books in the Tanach, served Hashem completely out of love or out of fear. And some say it had to be both. Now, how do we know that Job served Hashem out of fear and how Hashem obviously rewarded him for it? Because Job said that even if I knew that Hashem will kill me, I'd still serve Him. Now, if there was a bat kol from Shamayim right now saying to us, listen guys, by the way, you got an hour to live. you've got an hour to live.

25:57First thing we do is what? Hey, listen, I love you. Okay. I love you. You call everybody. The last thing on our mind is, Hashem, I love you. You're the best. Let me do whatever. Let me get some extra mitzvot so I arrive in the real world prepared. No, what do we call? We call the credit card company, make sure that we charge as much money on it before we die. We call the insurance company, make sure that the insurance policy is effective so the family gets a death benefit. We call Abba and Ima and tell them we love them, like it matters. We're not thinking about making more mitzvot. We're not thinking about Hashem. We're not thinking about what's going to happen in one hour and one minute, where real life starts. We're thinking about, no, the pleasure here. That was not Iyov. In one moment, Iyov got news that

26:57that all of his money was lost, one investment after another disappeared, his cattle were destroyed, his horses were killed, and ten sons died, all in a matter of moments. When one servant came to say, "Listen, half your wealth is gone," by the time he finished the sentence, another servant came in and said, "Oh yeah, the other half is also gone." By the time he finished that sentence, someone said, "Oh, all ten of your sons died." Shortly later, his body would be gone. Job's body was so sick that he had abscesses around his entire body where worms were coming out of his body. What does he do? He makes a korban for Hashem. He praises Hashem. He thanks Hashem. His wife says, "You fool. Why are you still praying to this God? Look what He did to you." He says, "You fool. God gave because it's all His. God took because, again, it was His to take. May His name be blessed. Everything we have is His anyway. What are you so scared about? What are you so upset about that you lost it? Why are we so upset?"

28:26All of it stems from the confusion of what Yirat Shamayim really is. Once we have a little bit of an understanding of what Yirat Shamayim is and how it actually applies to our life and how we need it more than we need air, then we can understand why Job celebrated Hashem's name the day he lost everything. King David, one of the greatest that ever lived, even the goyim, Read Tehillim. In Gemara Masechet Sotah, page 35, it says, why was King David punished by having his dear friend Uzzah killed? Uzzah was righteous. Uzzah was a tzaddik. Went to Beit Knesset, Tefillin, Shabbat. He wasn't a rasha. He was a tzaddik. But Uzzah made a mistake. And Hashem killed him. He touched the Aron HaKodesh.

29:29But either way, as we learned in the shiur last week, Hashem is perfect. Meaning that there's no such thing as punishment without sin. There's no suffering without sin. Meaning that if someone in the world is suffering, it's not only that they deserve to suffer, but everyone around them that's going to suffer as a result of seeing them suffer also deserves it. So, for example, In my personal story, I was sick for seven years. Everyone around me suffered also. It was very difficult to see me look like I was being electrocuted every few hours, in some cases, every 20 minutes. It's difficult to watch your son appear as if he's being electrocuted. It's difficult to see your son walking around, all of a sudden screaming or asking you to kill him. It's difficult. It's not fun. I became a little bit antisocial after a while because it was difficult for me to see them going through that difficulty. You want to be miserable. When you're miserable, you want to be alone. Nonetheless, they suffered. Other people that have suffering, whether it's loss of money, loss of anything, you see somebody that you care for suffering, you suffer. So if your circle is, let's say, 30 people, all 30 people are going to have a different level of suffering. It's not just you. But Hashem is teaching us in this Gemara,

30:57it's not just the person that's being punished that deserves the suffering; it's everyone around him who also deserves it. They did something, so they also deserve to suffer. And we learn this from here, from King David. Why? Because, obviously, Uzzah died. So if the question was why did Uzzah die, then we know, okay, Uzzah made a sin. He missed an opportunity to sanctify Hashem's name and actually was desecrating Hashem's name by touching the Aron HaKodesh, thinking that Hashem is not going to have it lifted by itself. On his level, that was a sin. On our level, hopefully, we can get to his shoes. But the point is, if the question was, why did Uzzah die? Then we know that Uzzah made a sin. That's it. End of question. But it doesn't say why Uzzah died. It says, why was David punished? by the death of Uzzah. Meaning that David suffered, and he only suffered because it was a punishment. Why? Because he called words of Torah songs, mizmorim. In the Psalms, it says, "Your statutes were songs to me in my dwelling of fear" (Psalm 119:54).

32:19The Holy One, blessed is He, said to David, words of Torah about which it is written, "Close your eyes to it and it is gone," which is Proverbs 23:5. And you call them songs? Behold, I will cause you to stumble regarding a thing that even school children know. You're going to fall for a mistake in halacha that even a little five-year-old kid who just went to yeshiva knows that halacha. You're going to forget it. At the worst time, it's going to cost somebody his life. That's exactly what happened. Because you disrespected my Torah. He called it songs. Without the Torah, nothing exists. But King David, most of the prayers we have in our siddur are by King David. And all King David talks about is Yirat Shamayim. In the prayer of Mincha, right before Amidah, it says, "Hashem is near to all who call Him."

33:45who will call Him with truth, meaning people who are actually praying with truth, genuine prayer. The will of those who fear Him, He fulfills. And their cries He will hear, and He will save them. It doesn't say the will of the lovers is what He's looking for. It says in the next verse that Hashem protects those who love Him. But those who love Him also means that they fulfill the commandments. It doesn't mean I love Him in my heart, and I kiss the mezuzah six times a day. But as far as anyone that wants a prayer to be answered, if you have a request for Hashem, He tells you exactly how to get it: Yirat Shamayim, fear Hashem.

34:50After we crossed the Sea of Reeds, Yam Suf, we saw a big miracle: Hashem split the ocean. Not only did He let Am Yisrael pass, but after Am Yisrael passed, He drowned all of the goyim, He drowned all of the Egyptians, and destroyed the biggest civilization in the world, the most powerful civilization in the world, the Egyptians. And after that, it says this verse, and this verse is said in our prayer every day, also in Shacharit. Israel saw the great hand that Hashem inflicted upon Egypt, and the people feared Hashem, and they had faith in Hashem and in Moshe, His servant.

36:10This prayer, we read it every single day. I even have a guy that I know who knows the entire Siddur by heart. Not only the Siddur, he knows the Machzor by heart, all the prayers for all the holidays. But as far as actually learning Torah, nonexistent. As far as actually fulfilling the Torah, barely. As far as Yirat Shamayim, what is that? He knows it by heart, though. What happens? We know things by heart. We're like robots. You say something enough times, you're going to remember it by heart. It's not a skill set. It's a natural thing that Hashem gave us. You repeat something over and over again, eventually you're going to know it by heart. Most people read this verse every single day when they pray. But most people don't understand what it means. Israel saw the great hand of Hashem. which led them to fear Him. And then they feared Him, and then they believed in Him. And because they believed in Him, they believed in Moshe. What does this even mean? Why don't we believe that Yirat Shamayim is the foundation of connection to Hashem? Why don't we live a life where Yirat Shamayim is not even a question in our mind? Why do I hear stories like the horrible one that I heard today, where a young boy calls me,

37:38And he tells me, I'm not really interested in being frum, I'm not interested in being religious. Whether God is real or not, I'm not really sure, it doesn't really affect me. But by the way, I went to yeshiva my whole life. I went to yeshiva. I was born in a religious family, had a tough childhood. But nonetheless, I went to yeshiva. And I realized that I hate the rabbis. And the goyim are much nicer people. How could this be? Learning Torah every day. You hate the rabbi, you hate the teacher. You learn Torah every day, you're not really sure if God exists. You learn Torah every day, and you say you don't really care? How could it be? The horrific part of the story is that these so-called rabbis, they just called themselves rabbis. Really, what they are, are people that are just waiting for Gehinnom to reserve a spot for them. Because what they did is they beat up this boy, and tortured him, and made him hate the Torah, made fun of him. They physically and mentally abused this kid for years. Because he wasn't from a certain family, or he wasn't from a certain culture, to the point where if I were him, not only would I hate Judaism, I'd burn the yeshiva.

39:05So how could somebody that calls himself a rabbi lead a kid that wanted to learn, that needed to learn, that was in there to learn, to hate Judaism? How could it be? Because they don't know what this verse means. They don't know what Vayar Yisrael et HaYad HaGedolah means. The problem with us is that we apply most of the things that happen in our life to nature. Nature. Nature. We get a contract from a client. We think that it's because of our skill set, our wisdom, our good looks, our speaking ability. That's why we got the contract. We find a wife or a husband. We think, ah, everyone finds a wife. Eventually, it was my turn. We have a kid. We don't think it's a miracle. We think it's natural. that a putrid drop turned into a human being that's now speaking to you. We don't think it's a big deal; we think it's natural. Everybody has a kid, what's the big deal? But if you spit on the floor, nothing's going to come out of it. If you take a little drop of blood and throw it in the air, it doesn't turn into anything. As a matter of fact,

40:21If you put blood into a balloon, which is the best replica of our skin, by the way, it's the most similar to our skin. Now, if you make a hole in the balloon, within a matter of seconds, all of the blood will come out of the balloon. But if you make a hole in your skin, same blood, within a matter of seconds, it clots and it shuts the hole. It's the same blood. Nothing changed. Same person. Why did it work inside your skin and it doesn't work in a balloon? Why doesn't it clot the balloon and shut the hole, save the balloon, save myself 20 cents? Not waste all this blood. I could donate it to some person that needs it. Why? Who told the blood to work inside our body? Who told the blood not to work? Why don't we think about that miracle? Every time you fall or you scratch yourself, blood comes out, but in a matter of seconds, it stops. Why do we say that? Why is it every time that it rains, no one says, "Wow, what a miracle?" Why doesn't anybody say it's a miracle? It rains. That's a miracle. How do we know it's a miracle? It's very simple. First of all, if it didn't rain, we wouldn't survive.

41:45That everyone knows. That's easy to understand. But it's like, okay, it's nature. But even the process of rain, which we went over in last week's shiur, or two weeks ago's shiur, but it's still worth enough, for anyone who didn't watch it, to understand what rain is and why it's a miracle every time it rains. That's why there's a blessing to say when it rains. No one is allowed to enjoy anything in this world without blessing Hashem. Chazal calls it theft. Masechet Berachot. When it rains, whether it starts from 10, 20, 30,000 feet, the drops start very, very high. They drop on your hand. You feel it's a light little drop. It doesn't hurt anyone. No one cries. Ah, I can't believe it. It doesn't burn. It's not too hot. Nice drops. Sometimes even pleasant, unless you're wearing a suit, and then it's just not fun. But if he thought about it, what if he took a penny, threw it from a plane, and it landed on somebody's head? It's not going to survive. If he took 50 million pennies, which today are worth pretty much nothing, it costs more to produce a penny than its value.

43:09political correctness of this world and this country makes people still want to make sure we have pennies for whatever reason, but nonetheless, if you throw 50 million pennies out of a plane, what you're going to see, aside from the end being a disaster, is that if you follow it with a very, very good camera, you'll see that all of those pennies are flying everywhere. But at some point or another, some of them are running into each other. Naturally, it's going to happen. There are 50 million pennies; they're going to run into each other. So it's possible that instead of one landing in a specific spot, two or three or four could land within the same area because they hit each other and stayed close together. What's the big deal? Now, if that same thing happened with rain, where if two drops of rain from 30,000 feet connected, if they touched each other, they immediately connect — water connects. So if two drops connect, it becomes a bigger drop. And if two connect, that means that three can connect. If three can connect, that means that four and five and 10 and 15, the next thing you know, by the time it gets to where we are here, it's a puddle. It's not rain. And if a puddle falls on the average person, they die. Did you ever see anybody die from rain? That's why it's a miracle. Because from the moment it leaves the cloud until the second that it reaches here, no two drops can ever touch. When there's wind, the wind takes all of the rain in the same direction. No two drops ever touch. But no one says it's a miracle. Because we're used to it. But that's exactly what Hashem is telling us in this verse. Vayar Yisrael et hayad hagedolah.

44:36Because from the moment it leaves the cloud until the second that it reaches here, no two drops can ever touch. When there's wind, the wind takes all of the rain in the same direction. No two drops ever touch. But no one says it's a miracle because we're used to it. But that's exactly what Hashem is telling us in this verse, "Vayar Yisrael et hayad hagedolah." If you're looking for Hashem, just look around. Pay attention. There are miracles everywhere. Your body is a miracle. The fact that you're even here is a miracle. The fact that you can see me is a miracle. The world around you is a miracle. Everything is a miracle. As soon as you acknowledge this miracle that you've gotten used to, and you call it nature, which by the way in Hebrew, nature is hateva. And HaTeva has the same numerical value as Elokim: 86. It's not a coincidence. God is telling you, as soon as you acknowledge that everything comes from Me, there is no such thing as nature. I am nature. Then you'll notice the Yad HaGedolah, the big hand. Now as soon as you realize...

46:00that I am in control, I am that big hand, and that you rely on me for everything, for your thoughts to be able to speak, for the protein cells in your body to fold in a precise way, or else you'll have disease immediately. And you have trillions and trillions of proteins inside your body, and all of them have to go through a process called protein folding. Just to calculate the chances of a protein folding in the precise way would take 10 to the 128th power years to calculate, not even to do it. And you have trillions of them and they're all precisely folding the right way. How do I know? Because you're not blind. Baruch Hashem, you're not deaf. You don't have any medical problems. Because if one folds in any incorrect way, you immediately stop breathing. Or stop seeing. Or stop hearing. One out of trillions. We call it nature. Some idiot wrote online recently, the body's very inefficient. Couldn't have been made by a God. It's so inefficient. Look, people get sick.

47:13people sweat. Well, if you actually studied science for half a second, you'd realize that the best thing your body can do is sweat. That's how you take out all the toxins. This is also the reason why pig is the worst thing in the world to eat, even if you're not Jewish, because a pig does not sweat, meaning that all the poison never leaves the pig's body to such an extent that if a snake with the worst possible venom bites a pig, nothing happens. The poison inside its skin is worse than the venom. You could also do an experiment. Take a pig steak, don't eat it obviously, pour some Coca-Cola on it. Or you could just watch it on YouTube and save yourself the money. pour Coca-Cola on it. Within a matter of moments, you'll see all the disgusting bugs come out of it. It can never be pure. You do the same thing with a steak, nothing happens. A cow, a kosher cow, nothing happens. But you do it with a pig, you'll see all the maggots and worms come out of it. When Hashem said not to eat it, it was for your good.

48:32But we don't think these are miracles; we think it's nature. So Hashem said, as soon as you realize it's not nature, as soon as you realize that I am the Yad HaGedolah, what happens next? Finally, the nation is scared. Finally, the nation knows, oh, Hashem is in control. The fact that we saw the ten plagues in Egypt, we weren't really sure. I don't know how, but they weren't sure. Finally, it says they got scared. Once they had fear of Hashem, once you acknowledge that Hashem is in control, of course you're going to fear Him. Then it says, after they feared Him, what does it say? First, you fear Him, then you can say you believe in Him. Because you can't believe in something if you don't know what it is. And if you don't know what it is, how could you believe in it? If you know what it is, then of course you're going to fear it. One cannot be without the other. And that's why the order is: first, they acknowledged, they finally acknowledged that Hashem is the yad hagedolah, and then they feared Him, and then they believed in Him. But then it says something extra. It says, and they believed in Moshe, His servant. Why Moshe His servant?

49:55Moshe, Moshe is the Torah, the teacher. Moshe was a real teacher, not like these crooks that we were talking about that ruined this kid's life. It's not the same. We could save him, show him a beautiful part of the Torah, not with a bunch of guys with beards who go to the casinos on weekends. A beard is representative of the Written and the Oral Torah. Highest level of fear is what we're talking about here. King David also said fear is important, and his son learned from him. His son, Shlomo HaMelech, was gifted the highest level of wisdom that any man could ever get, so he knows what he's talking about. His father was a tzaddik. His father wrote Tehillim that all of the nations read, pretty much.

50:57Anyone that actually understands what he's saying will probably get to a point of crying when they retell him. Unless you're a guy, because guys are not allowed to cry. The son, Shlomo HaMelech, built the Beit HaMikdash, so he knows what he's talking about. King David was not even allowed to build the Beit HaMikdash because his hands had blood on them. He went to war. Hashem says, no, I want your son to build the Beit HaMikdash. So he said, yes, but still, I can't build the Beit HaMikdash. Hashem goes, your son, your son's going to build the Beit HaMikdash, don't worry. Okay, so the son is obviously very righteous. And his son says the beginning of wisdom... beginning. We're not talking about wisdom. Beginning is fear of Hashem. Beginning of wisdom is fear of Hashem. Meaning that if you don't fear Hashem, you have zero wisdom. This is not offensive. This is fact. Why? Because if you don't fear Hashem, then obviously you don't think there's anyone in control. You think you're in control. If you actually think and believe that you're in control, you have a serious problem. You have to watch last week's shiur.

52:19And if you have to be motivated, then watch the shiur from two weeks ago. And then we get to this one. If we really think that everything is in our hands, we have a serious problem. But if we realize that everything is in Hashem's hands, then immediately we fear Him. And once we fear Him, Shlomo HaMelech tells us, okay, finally you got to the beginning of wisdom. In Psalms 112:1, King David celebrates Hashem. He says, "Hallelujah, praise Hashem. Happy is the man who fears the Eternal, whose commandments he greatly desires." He doesn't say happy is the man who loves Hashem. He says happy is the man who fears Hashem. In Psalms 128, verse 1, "Ashrei kol yerei Hashem" means happy is the one who fears Hashem, fears the Eternal.

53:36walks in His ways. How do we know he's happy? How do we know that he fears Hashem? Because he's walking in Hashem's ways, he's doing what Hashem commanded. They're saying that we fear Hashem and not following Him. That means that it's just, we're just saying words. King Solomon in Mishlei, Proverbs 28, verse 14. Ashrei adam mefached tamid, u'mekasheh libo yipol bera. Praiseworthy is the man who always fears. But he who is stubborn of heart will fall into misfortune. You think that fear is bad? You think fearing Hashem is bad? Shlomo HaMelech tells you both sides. He says, if you fear Hashem, you're praiseworthy. You're someone to look up to. Fear Hashem? You live a life with fear of Hashem? Meaning that before you sign the deal with the criminal that's going to give you three million dollars under the table, you're thinking, wait, wait. What does Hashem think?

54:36Before you go with the prostitute because your wife is not making you happy, you're thinking, what does Hashem think? Before you go to the casino with the black hat and the beard and do Chilul Hashem in the casino playing poker with secular people like I used to be, you think, what does Hashem think? Before you beat up the kid and ruin his life, making him want to get off the derech, call yourself a rabbi. you say, "What does Hashem think?" If you actually ask yourself, before every step you make, "What does Hashem think?" I always had Hashem on my mind. It's always like He's next to me, because He really is. Then you fear Hashem. Until then, you have a lot of work to do. You have a lot of work to do. If you have a hard time waking up in the morning to pray on time before the time for Kriyat Shema ends, according to the sages, and you wake up at 12 o'clock, you have to work on your Yirat Shamayim. If you're not really sure if you want to go to Beit Knesset on Shabbat instead of the casino, you have some work to do.

56:01If you look frum but in reality you don't believe anything you're doing, and you're just praying but at the same time thinking about the baseball game, you got used to prayer. You got used to saying words. You became a robot, like a lot of religious people have become today. We're not only talking to secular people; we're talking to everyone. Because if every one of us had even the lowest level of fear of Hashem and stopped with the nonsense of thinking that love of Hashem is what we need to reach... You can't put the carriage in front of the horse. It just won't work. First the horse, then the carriage. Fear, then love. But if you live under this illusion that you have to get to love of Hashem without even knowing what fear of Hashem is, we've already lost the battle.

57:02And that's one of the things that we don't talk about often. And that's why Shlomo HaMelech said, if you actually got to the point of actually having fear of Hashem, you're already praiseworthy, you already have everything. You actually have a connection with the Almighty. You can't have a connection with the Almighty if you don't fear Him. Because if you don't fear Him, then you believe in a different being. You believe in a man, an image... an illusion, a cartoon, Pokémon, I don't know, you believe in something else. You don't believe in God. If you don't fear Him, it's definitely not the God of the Torah. That's what Shlomo HaMelech is telling you. And if you actually believe in the God of the Torah, the God of Am Yisrael, you're praiseworthy. But if you don't want to, if you think that you're going to beat the system, you're going to reach love, you're going to reach Moshe Rabbeinu, in one shot, like a lotto ticket. says this only leads to misfortune. This only leads to illusions and a life of misfortune where one after another you constantly are letting everyone around you, as well as yourself, down. It's just misfortune. A never-ending chain of misfortune. In the book of Bereishit...

58:27We learn about the grandson of Avraham Avinu. Obviously, he had good teachers. So, Yaakov, in Bereishit, chapter 28, verse 16, it says, Yaakov awoke from his sleep and said, surely Hashem is present in this place. And I did not know. And he became frightened. and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God, and this is the gate of heaven." We learn that Yaakov Avinu knew about this verse before he got the Torah. As soon as he acknowledged that Hashem is present in this place that he was sleeping in, what does it say? He became frightened. He didn't say, oh, he fell in love all of a sudden. He felt, wow, a nice feeling in his heart. Like a bunch of Breslov kids started dancing around a van while they're smoking weed. He didn't do that. He got frightened. Why? Because he knows what the Almighty is.

59:44Which, by the way, not all Breslov people do that. The real Breslovs, like Rabbi Shalom Arush, Rabbi Lazer Brody, who spoke here, Tzaddikim Gemurim, these amazing people. Those little crazy people walking around, dancing to techno music with a van, that's not Kedusha, that's not Torah. It's nonsense. You can't get to that level of being always happy without having fear of Hashem. And you cannot tell me you have fear of Hashem when you're smoking weed every day. or you're dancing to techno music, goyish music. And you spend more time learning how to flip in the middle of the street than Gemara, Mussar, Mishnah, Shulchan Aruch. Yaakov Avinu knew. As soon as he knew, he got scared. Gemara Masechet Sotah, page 47. Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav, a person should always engage in the study of Torah and the performance of mitzvot, even if not for their own sake, meaning even for ulterior motives, because from learning Torah...

1:01:12and performing mitzvot not for their sake, he will eventually come to learn to do mitzvot for their own sake, meaning out of pure motives. The book Nefesh HaChaim, chapter three, says the road to Torah study and mitzvot performance with pure motives must come out of necessity. In order to climb this ladder of getting to the point where we want to learn Torah, we want to learn Gemara, we want to learn Parashat HaShavua, Shulchan Aruch, all of these things. Get to a point where we acknowledge God. Get to a point of acknowledging this big hand that's helping us. Get to a point where every time we're about to go to the bathroom, go to a shiur Torah, listen. Anything relating to Torah, relating to life, we think about God. He says it has to come.

1:02:12from a necessity. You have to feel like you need it. When does someone know for sure they need something? When they're scared. That's when you know you need something. Every other time you desire something, you want something. The only time you know you need something is because its need comes from fear. People work really hard because they're scared of being poor. People eat because they're scared of dying. They take medicine because they're scared of being sick, and so on and so forth. We do certain things more based out of fear than we do based out of desire. As far as you don't go to work because you love work. Some people love their job, but in general, not all the time. is because its need comes from fear. People work really hard because they're scared of being poor. People eat because they're scared of dying. They take medicine because they're scared of being sick, and so on and so forth. We do certain things more based out of fear than we do based out of desire. As far as you don't go to work because you love work. Some people love their job, but in general, not all the time. Even if you love your career, like I used to love my career, I didn't go to work because I loved it. After a while, you get used to it. By the same token, you don't want to be poor. You don't want to lose the respect you have. You don't want to lose the big house. You don't want to lose the friends and the families and the fame and all that good stuff. At least that's what you think is good. So you continue on this roller coaster because of fear.

1:03:36Hashem says this is exactly the way to get to a point of Yirat Shamayim. Understand that having no Yirat Shamayim makes you disconnected from Me. That means we have no connection. Without you getting to even the lowest level of Yirat Shamayim, you have no connection with G-d. zero, it's impossible to have a connection with God without knowing what He is. As soon as you know what He is, then obviously you're going to be afraid. Until you get to that point, there is no connection. Once you have that connection, then obviously you can build on it and eventually arrive at love. But here He's telling you to get to that point, the only way is to make something you believe consciously and subconsciously that you need. when you feel like you need it, you'll achieve it. But as long as you think it's just something nice to have, we've already lost the battle. We're almost done, unless you guys want to continue for another few hours like we did last night. Last night, we had three hours here. I talked a lot about a lot of different subjects.

1:04:57Over the last month, we've read several times that Hashem wanted to destroy the nation. Whether it was the idol worship of the golden calf, or it was when we complained, and complained again, or we sent the meraglim, the spies, or in this week's parasha, when a bunch of immodest women, non-Jews, came to the camp of Israel and convinced Am Yisrael to sin with them, and they fell for their immodesty, which led them to fall for their idol worship, which led them to fall for actually being intimate with them. It got to a point where Hashem wanted to destroy the entire nation and started destroying it. In a matter of minutes, 24,000 people died. Last verse of this week's parasha, Chapter 24, verse 9: "Those who died in the plague were 24,000." Why did it stop? Next week's parasha, we understand it clearly. But even this week's parasha says it's because Pinchas was zealous and took a spear and

1:06:22and killed the top sinner of the nation, Zimri, while he was actually being intimate with Kozbi. But before all this happened, it says, This nation already started sinning. They already fell to znut. They already fell to being intimate with the non-Jewish women, falling for the prostitution and the immodesty, which unfortunately becomes second nature in today's world. So, Hashem gives them instructions before the plague. He says, take all the leaders of the people and hang them before Hashem. Rabbeinu Tam, who lived about 800 years ago, translates and interprets this differently than Rashi. And he says, actually here, Hashem did the same thing that He's done over the last month or so, and every time He punished us, whether it was the spies, or Korach and his followers, or the idol worship that we had at Mount Sinai,

1:07:47Every single time before He punished the nation, He did the same thing He did in this parasha. He said, the leaders go first. Hang all of them. When we complained, it says that Hashem burned the corners of the camp. Why? Because that's where all the leaders were. Hashem killed all the leaders, all the rabbis. Korach came with 250 of the giants of the generation. The ground swallowed them just like Korach. And because they followed Korach in life, Hashem made sure that they followed him to Sheol, which is another word for Gehenom. So anyone that says Gehenom doesn't exist, it's written in the Torah. It's called Sheol. It's one of the many words that are a synonym for Gehenom. But nonetheless, because they followed Korach in this life, Hashem made sure they follow him to eternal suffering. He made sure that every time He punished us, He punished the leaders first. Why punish the leaders? In the Gemara Masechet Shabbat,

1:09:06Chazal asks, why did Hashem punish the sages, the tzaddikim, before He destroyed the Beit HaMikdash? You would think if you're a tzaddik, Hashem wouldn't punish you, right? Makes sense. And the Gemara responds, The Shekhinah says, because they had an opportunity to rebuke the nation and get them to know the truth, and they didn't. Therefore, they're not considered tzaddikim gemurim. Therefore, they're not considered completely righteous. So then there's the question, well, wasn't it such a wicked thing... generation that even if you would have rebuked them, they wouldn't have done teshuva anyway. And Hashem responds saying, I knew this. I knew they're not going to do teshuva. But they didn't. And as long as they don't know whether they're going to do teshuva or not, they're obligated with one of the 613 mitzvot. You must rebuke your nation. You must tell them when they do wrong. You see, you have to say something.

1:10:28See someone eating non-kosher, you have to say something. You have a connection to him, you have a relationship with him. If it's just some stranger that's probably going to stab you if you come close, then obviously stay away. But if it's someone you have a relationship with—your father, your mother, your cousin, your uncle, your brother, your worker, wherever it is, your colleague, your lawyer—you know that he's sinning, you have to say something. If you don't know how to speak, then send someone that can. It costs one dollar. It's called a CD. There are about 50 or 100 of them already for free. So even the dollar you're saving. And if he doesn't have a CD player, Hashem already was merciful. He provided the cure before the ailment. He made the internet. And He gave us a YouTube channel. And He gave us a TorahAnytime channel. And He gave us a website called BeEzratHashem.org. Can it get any better than that? Not your own Ruven.org like I was in the business. It has nothing to do with me. It's all Hashem. All I see is Hashem's words. People are so impressed. Wow, it's so amazing. You're getting so popular. People are asking you to be a speaker. I'm like, it has nothing to do with me. If you read it, you could do the same thing. It has nothing to do with me. I don't even know that much. Read the same books. You'll know the same thing. But no one wants to do it.

1:11:52Why? Because we have no idea what Yirat Shamayim is. We have no idea that it's actually a commandment. It's one of the 613 mitzvot that is relevant to all generations. And as long as we don't have an understanding that we need Yirat Shamayim, we're never going to get it. We're never going to get to a point of living a righteous life. And this is exactly what Hashem wrote in the Torah for the last month over and over and over again. You are in a position of power. You call yourself a rabbi. You're a boss. You have kids. You're in charge of anything in the world. Just remember, just like Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the one that put together the Mishnah, wrote. The one that knows that someone else is sinning and doesn't rebuke him is worse than the sinner himself. He takes on the sin. You know someone that's a Mechalel Shabbat? You don't say anything? You arrive at Shamayim, oh yeah, Baruch Hashem, I went to Rabbi Reuven's shiur, I listened, I started keeping Shabbat. No, no, no. The Beit Din of Shamayim says, no, you violated every single Shabbat for the last 80 years. No, I went to the shiur, I kept the Shabbat. He goes, no, no, you violated Shabbat. He goes, show me, because there's no lies up there. Show me. They're not going to show you. They're going to show your friend.

1:13:14Your brother. The guy that you didn't rebuke. The guy you didn't tell what Shabbat was. Because you didn't want to offend him. You didn't want to invade his privacy. Right? You wanted to be politically correct in this world. You wanted to cheer him on for playing Pokémon on Shabbat. You beat the next level. You got Pikachu. That's what people do. You're going to say, "Oh, when is the anniversary for you and your boyfriend? Can I come to the wedding?" We want to be politically correct. You didn't rebuke him. You didn't tell him. So when you arrive up there, they're going to tell you, "You're the sinner. You did it." If you do it and he doesn't listen, or she doesn't listen, you're off the hook. And as a matter of fact, you get a reward for it. What's the reward? The sages explain something very, very troubling. When someone makes certain sins, like, for example, Chilul Shabbat, intermarriage, Zerah Levatala (wasting seed), which we have a three-hour lecture about for anyone that wants to learn about it, they lose their share of the world to come. There's no Olam HaBa. But it says in the Mishnah, Masechet Kiddushin, every Jew has a share of the world to come. So they're born with a ticket.

1:14:42They're born with a ticket. So what? We just take it? Where does the ticket go? Okay, so he violated Shabbat, fine, but he still has the ticket. Where does the ticket go? He had a share, he had a room, he had a little penthouse in Olam HaBa, the good one. What happens? They just close the room, no one ever enters? No. Chazal explain, that ticket, that room, that penthouse he had in Olam HaBa, it goes to the person that rebuked him. If you try to help him do teshuva, and he doesn't do it, his ticket, his room, his penthouse, his reward that he was entitled to if he would be righteous, goes to you. Either way, you win. You either get a greater Olam HaBa for helping another Jew become religious, which there's no bigger chesed than making a Jew more religious, closer to Hashem.

1:15:43Or you get his share. It has to go somewhere. It might as well go to you. It's not about being selfish. It's not about being mean. You're trying to help the guy. You're trying to help him for him. Yeah, the fact that you benefit from it is an indirect benefit. But if you don't do it, it's just like our choice. People think that we have free choice. And this is what we're going to end with. We do not have free choice. That's news for most people. Most people think we have free choice. We do not have free choice. We have something called choice. Free choice means that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, and however you want, and there are no consequences. Meaning that if I wanted to go to work today, if I go to work, I'll make money. My skill set today is probably 50 times better than it was when I was actually working. My knowledge is much more extensive because, obviously, the more experience you have, the better you become. So if I went back to Wall Street, I could probably make as much or more money than I did before. Naturally, that would be rational to think that. I choose not to. So if I don't go to work, I'm not going to make that money, at least from that job. I may make the money somewhere else. Hashem will give it to me through something else. But the point is, from the job, we know for sure I'm not going to make it. the better you become. So if I went back to Wall Street, I could probably make as much or more money than I did before. Naturally, that would be rational to think that. I choose not to. So if I don't go to work, I'm not going to make that money, at least from that job. I may make the money somewhere else. Hashem will give it to me through something else. But the point is, from the job, we know for sure I'm not going to make it.

1:17:10Right? I'm not going to work. I'm not going to make money. That's free choice. That's not what we have. What we have is Torah and mitzvot that's based on choice. Meaning, if you do it, you get reward. If you don't do it, you get punishment. There's no neutral. There's no gray. If you rebuke someone and help them do teshuva, and they do teshuva, Great, you get reward. They don't do teshuva, you still get a reward. If you don't do it, you get punished. What's the punishment? The same punishment they're going to get for violating this mitzvah. That's the same thing if you compare it to the real world, that we think is the real world. If I go to work, I make money. If I don't go to work, Wall Street sends people to beat me up until I come back. That's what our choice is. When you realize that your choice is a cause and effect, your choice has consequences, and you realize that Yirat Shamayim is something you need, and without it, you're never going to make the right choice, then you can start thinking about why you would ever make the wrong choice. It's just not worth it. Any questions?

1:18:39Baruch Adonai le'olam. Amen ve'Amen.