Shiur Torah #46 Inspirational Stories, How To FEEL Closer To God

0:00Hashem Hashem Na'aseh Ve'natzliach, Hashem Yidbarach, Monday night at Mozart. Oh Hashem, last minute we got some people to join us. So, build the crowd. You know, the more come, it attracts other people. The month of Elul is already very far on the way. We have Rosh Hashanah coming up just in the next week. It's a very big day. it's a judgment day. It's a day where we are supposed to feel something special because what happens is when you go to shul, if you go to shul throughout the whole year, then you know that this day is different. You know that this day is different because not only do you see a lot more people that you haven't seen all year

1:02But even more so, the feeling is different. And remember this, that during Rosh Hashanah, there's going to be a time where you're going to feel something different. You specifically, each one of you specifically. You may have goosebumps, or you're going to have something, a deeper feeling, a deeper connection to the prayer at some point during the day. That's the time when your book, your own personal file, is being opened. That's the time when you have to pray really hard and ask not only for forgiveness from Hashem for the sins we've done, but also for all the requests, all the things that you want. But make sure that you're already prepared. Make sure that you have already thought about what you want. Don't ask for nonsense like "I want a motorcycle," "I want a new car," or "I want a...". Make sure that you're already prepared because this is the time when your prayers are going to be answered. A lot of people say in regards to prayer that, oh, you know, I prayed and I didn't get what I wanted. If they wanted a new job, if they wanted a car, if they wanted something, I prayed and I didn't get it. How can they say, how can the sages say that if you pray,

2:26The gates are always open. Hashem answers prayers. So the sages also said when someone prays and they didn't get their request, it's either because they didn't pray enough or the answer is no. People don't like to hear that. People don't like that the answer is no. But that's the reality. Because sometimes what you want... is against your own interest. Sometimes you want something, but it's not really good for you. You don't know that it's not good for you sometimes. Sometimes it looks like it's good for you. So, for example, money. A lot of people want a lot of money and they pray for a lot of money. But some people's personalities cannot handle a lot of money. If someone loves money, they shouldn't pray for a lot of money. because that means that they're already failing the test of money before they even had money. The fact that they love money already means you failed the test. If you want money because there are certain things you want to do that are useful to the world and to other people's lives, not just your own, not just because you want toys.

3:43then that's a different story. But for the most part, people love money. A lot of people love money. And they're in a constant race. Those types of people generally should not pray for money because, trust me when I tell you, that money is one of the most difficult tests... There is. The sages themselves have said it, that money, mamon, is one of the most difficult tests that somebody can endure throughout their whole life. Lack of money or... Both. A lot of money is a bigger test than no money. Having a lot of money is a more difficult test to pass than having no money. And the reason why is because... If someone's poor, what do they do? They pray to Hashem, "Please help me." They're not going to stop because they have no other choice. So generally, when you see the most religious people in the world, not just Jews but all religions, you will see that the poorest places, the poorest communities in the world, have the most religious people. Why? Because everyone has always looked to the only choice they have, which is Hashem.

4:59Sometimes they prayed the wrong way, following wrong religions, but nonetheless, as far as connection to God, connection to a Creator, you will find a lot more of it amongst the poor people. If you look, for example, into the communities in Yemen, the Jews that are still living in Yemen today are still keeping Shabbat. No one violates Shabbat. Why? Because they haven't advanced. They haven't advanced with technology. They don't have cell phones. They don't have computers. You see videos online. They still sit on the floor through, you know, the same tradition they had for many, many years. They learn Torah. They pray. They do some work with the sheep or whatever it is that they do over there. They chew their qat, I think it's qat or some form of qat. And that's it. Very, very simple life. There are people who live in Yemen still. Still now. Yeah? Yeah. And that's why, as far as our traditions, as much as some people like to dispute it, the reality of it is that the closest to our core, the closest to the right way of how it was at Mount Sinai, is actually through the Yemenites.

6:14The way they speak their language is more correct than the rest of the Hebrew population, the rest of the Jews. Even though a lot of Israelis, for example, sometimes joke around. Because the accent that the Yemenites have is much deeper. You know, instead of saying kuf, they say koof. You know, it’s a complete, it sounds like a different dialect almost. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Their letters, it's the same language, but their accent is very, very good. Their pronunciation is much closer to the Torah. Listen, they are much closer to the tradition. The letter Vav, they say Vav. Most of the letters are different. And when you hear a Yemenite person speak, when you speak traditional Hebrew, you think he's making mistakes. But in reality, we're the ones that are farther from the core than they are. And the reason why is because, again, the rest of the world advanced, while they stayed exactly the same as far as where they were. And again, sometimes it is the correct way, but if it is not part of your culture to speak that way, speak the normal way that you speak. Don't change to the other way because dead people are gonna think that either you're losing your mind or you're trying to show off.

7:36while they stayed exactly the same as far as where they were. And again, sometimes it is the correct way, but if it is not part of your culture to speak that way, speak the normal way that you speak. Don't change to the other way because people are going to think that either you're losing your mind or you're trying to show off. so if you spoke a certain way your whole life, continue speaking in your own accent. Don't start using the dialect of the Yemenites because it would look strange and people will think that you're trying to show off. But also, the way that they worship Hashem, the way that they connect to Hashem, is at a deep level, the ones that are really religious, not just any Yemenite, obviously. It's a very deep level. One of the main reasons is because of poverty. You go to different places around the world, even outside of Judaism, you'll find that places that are poor have a much closer connection to Hashem.

8:52Why? Because people feel like they have no choice, and they want to connect to Him. What about the rich guy? You would think that the rich guy, the people that have a lot of money, should have an even better connection to Hashem. Because He gave them so much. He gave them money, He gave them this, He gave them a job, He gave them fame, He gave them power. Unfortunately, money is the most popular tool that the Yetzer Hara, that Satan, uses, in order to have people become his soldiers. The Yetzer Hara will even give you money, will even give you business, just to make sure that you don't do a mitzvah. whether it's a job that he's going to give you so you can't keep Shabbat, or he's going to give you a new customer just so you miss the shiur and don't go to a lecture, or he's going to make you really busy at work so you can't learn Torah, or all types of things that he's going to give you relating to money because he knows that it works. It works pretty much almost every time. Unless someone acknowledges that money is a very, very common tool

9:59the most used tool, especially in our generation, of the Yetzer Hara, they already lost the battle. So, the problem is that on one end, we are all looking to have parnassah. We want to have a good living. We want to be successful. We want to have a fruitful life. On the other hand, none of us want to have a big test, right? We don't want to fail the test. We want to come to this world and pass the test. We want to come to this world and get closer to Hashem. So, the first step is learning enough Torah to get to a point where, on a daily basis, you know that the Yetzer Hara is going to send you money. He's going to send you money specifically when it has something to do with Torah, to try to influence you not to learn Torah. If you have that in your mind, you're already ahead.

11:18If you think that once you have money, you'll find a way to beat the Yetzer Hara, you already lost the battle. You're already playing his game. So, the way that we have to look at money is that it's a tool. It's just like a hammer. Someone needs to build a house. Someone needs to fix something. Someone needs to do anything. They use tools. A hammer is a tool. A screwdriver is a tool. A car is a tool. Everything is a tool. If we look at money like it's a tool to get us from point A to point B, then already you're treating money like what it is. But if you look at money as something that's going to make you better than what you are today, or has any importance whatsoever beyond its usefulness as a tool, then you could fall into trouble. If you think money gives you power, right, like the dollar gives you power, you're in trouble.

12:33So now we have a dilemma because our goal is to get closer to HaShem. Especially now that Judgment Day is coming up. And you're going to go to synagogue. And you're going to see it, especially in the Sephardic tradition, is that they sell off the blessings. Remember, they sell off the blessings. They sell off the aliyot, the Torah. During the holiday. The aliyot. Aliyot, right. So they do a big sale. And usually that's when they get... to raise the most amount of money during the year is during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. You have to ask yourself something. If you're planning on donating money, you have to ask yourself something. Am I donating the money because I want to help the shul, or am I donating the money because I want to help myself become more popular? Or save yourself for tzedakah, tefillah, and teshuvah.

14:00There are three things you do on Elul or Rosh Hashanah. There are three things that can save you: tzedakah, tefillah, and what's the third thing? Teshuvah. Teshuvah. Teshuvah. When people give money on Rosh Hashanah, they're doing that one component. Right, but that's not the question. The question is, you plan on giving money. You want to do all three things. You want to save yourself. You want to save yourself. Say that. We've decided we need to give money. Yeah. Next question is, obviously, we know we need to give money. It's good to give money. It's important for us to save ourselves, right? Am I giving money to really save myself because I think it's going to save me, it's going to help me with Hashem? Or am I giving money because I want people to think that I'm better, that I'm generous, that I'm a nice guy? Do I want people to like me more?

15:02Am I doing it for Him or am I doing it for them? Am I doing it for the right reason or the wrong reason? Because in the Sephardic tradition, we have every Beit Knesset raising the majority of their money during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The big Rabbis, the Gedolei HaDor, said that if they didn't raise money... During the holidays, there wouldn't be any Beit Knesset. Why? Because most of the people that come on the holidays, you're going to see the crowd is 5, 6, 7, 10 times more on the holidays than there is the rest of the year. Why? Shabbat's not important? Why are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday not important? They're also important. But people don't think like that. People don't learn Torah. People don't learn Torah. People don't think of how important it is, so...

16:06What ends up happening is that they only come on the special holidays. And during the special holidays, they want to, you know, it's almost like a show and tell. Everybody shows up with their fancy clothes, and a fancy car, and the jewelry, and they tell everybody how great their life is. It's like Facebook, for example. On Facebook, it's an illusion. Everybody puts up pictures of all the good things. They don't put up pictures of their problems. You never see a picture of somebody saying, "Oh, my boss yelled at me today. Look at him." No one took a picture of that. They're going to say, "Oh, I got a promotion," or "I got, how are you?" No one puts a picture of their problems. People put a picture of good things. So when you look at Facebook, you have an illusion of what life really is. You think everybody else's life is better than yours. And it also feeds the Yetzer Hara. Of course. Because you get jealous. You see this person's having a great time. I'm struggling over here. I'm doing, I'm fighting, I'm this. Yeah, exactly. That's also part of the reason why, a big part of the reason why many of the big sages, all the big sages, all of the big Rabbanim,

17:22um, you know, are very, very careful with the use of the internet. Very, very careful. Some of them use it because they have to publicize Torah. I mean themselves, I don't know if they use it, but I know they have people that use the internet to publicize Torah because that's the only way you're going to reach people that are not, uh, you know, observant and are not going to shiur Torah on Monday nights. But, uh, at the same token, there's a lot of Yetzer Hara on the internet. A lot of marriages have been broken because of Facebook. A lot of relationships have had problems because of it. So people need to understand that when you're using the Internet, there has to be some control. So now, when it comes back to this money issue, you're going to go to the Beit Knesset, they're going to have the auction, and one guy's going to say $500, another guy's going to say $1,000, then $2,000, then $5,000, and so on and so forth. Beit Knesset is going to do because they're never going to have, unfortunately, all of these people show up during the week. So their only chance of raising enough money to survive the whole year is during this holiday. That's why they sell the Aliyot during the holiday. At the same token, we're not at that point. We have already established that we're going to Beit Knesset more often than once a year.

18:49But we still want to give. So what do we do? What's the best way to give? What's the best way to give? Nisan knows. What's the best way to give? Yeah, if you want to give, what's the best way? Anonymously. The highest level of mitzvah is when you do it anonymously, when no one knows you did it. You want to give $1,000? Do b'sheket. You put it in an envelope, drop it off at the office. That's it. I give tzedakah. I'm going to have olam haba. That's the best way to do it. Why? Because that means you did it purely for Hashem. Not for popularity. Not because people are going to like you. Not because people are going to do business with you because now you gave $10,000. They think, oh, he's so successful. Let me do business with him. If you do it purely for Shem Shamayim, you get 100% of the mitzvah, you get 100% of the zechut in Shamayim, and you get a huge reward. If you give tzedakah, but in reality, there's a big reason why you're doing it because you're publicizing it.

20:02happens, you get 99% of the reward right there and then, at that moment. Why? Because as soon as you say, "Okay, ten thousand," they said, "Okay," meaning he won the aliyah. Everybody's like, "Wow, he gave ten thousand dollars! Oh, he must be this." Everybody all of a sudden gives this guy kavod. So Hashem says, "Okay, you got so much kavod. That's what you wanted; that's what you got." you're still going to get a little bit in Shamayim because the guy is still worth something, but you got most of the reward here. If you compare the reward here versus the reward in Shamayim, there's not enough tears that you're going to have of how sorry you're going to be when you get to Shamayim and realize, "I only got one percent of this." That's it. 99% I already wasted. That 1%, that 1% that you still get is more good than anything in the world that we have today. So my suggestion, the Torah's suggestion, is to plan on giving because giving is good. Giving can be the one main thing that's going to push over the judgment in your favor.

21:16But if you wanted to really push it in a big shove, do it anonymously. Do it quietly. You can do it before the holiday. You can do it right after. You can do it when there's a break in tefillah. Come to the rabbi. Rabbi, mark me down. I'm going to give X amount of money. Or if you really, really want to get to a high level, go to the Beit Knesset. envelope. Don't even put your name on it with the money, whatever it is. Don't worry, He knows where it came from. Purely anonymous, no one even knows that it's you at all. That's the highest level. But again, the key is to do it as discreetly as possible. There's no point. It's not worth it to publicize it. You have a nice big tzedakah box for the shiur. Also, the food. The suggestion. You bring your time. You suggested. You implemented. You'll be in control.

22:30What else do we have to think about during this time when we have only a week left before Judgment Day? There was one time a guy was really angry. Hothead. Always angry. You know that Israeli mentality, that anger at the world. You wake up angry. I used to have that. When I would wake up, the first word out of my mouth was not a good word. I always thought I was late. I don't know what I was late to, but I was always under pressure. So imagine a guy that's always under pressure. Imagine a guy that's always angry. And one day he decides he wants to buy—it's hot like here in Florida—and he wants to buy a fan. He buys a fan, puts it in his room. And he tells all his wife and his kids, no one touches the fan. Don't touch this fan. Anybody touches this fan, mot yumat. No good. So obviously this guy's family, everybody's shaking. So one day,

23:43He's using his fan, he's using his fan, and he decides, you know what, I'm going to step out to get myself something. Before he leaves, he tells his wife, "Don't touch the fan. S'dar, s'dar, I'm not so bad." He leaves, and as soon as he leaves, his wife, she's very interested, what's so special about this fan that he doesn't want me to touch it? But she goes, you know, she's very innocent, and she looks... One button on the fan on top, there are three on the bottom. What if I press this one button, what can happen? She presses the button, and all of a sudden she starts seeing the fan move from side to side. She got so scared she hid in the closet. Oh, he's going to kill me. So the guy comes back from the store, now he sees his fan moving, he starts yelling and screaming, "Who touched the fan? How long can she hide for?" She comes out of the closet, She goes, "Who touched the fan?" She goes, "No, no one touched the fan. But the fan missed you so much that as soon as you left, it started looking for you." The lesson we learn from this joke is exactly our situation right now with Hashem. During the month of Elul, with only a week left before Judgment Day, with only a week left before Rosh Hashanah...

24:59Hashem is looking for us. He's looking for us. What are you doing? What kind of mitzvot are you doing? How are you preparing for Judgment Day? If you had a real case with a judge that's flesh and blood or a king that's flesh and blood, You have a case. He says, listen, on this day I'm going to decide whether you're going to be rich or poor. On this day I'm going to decide whether you're going to have kids or not. On this day I'm going to decide whether you're going to live or not. On this day I'm going to decide everything. What are you going to do? You're going to try to defend yourself. You're going to say, listen, I know all of the king's rules. I respect the king. I even dress nicely to see the king. I compliment the king. I do this. I do that. You're going to prepare. So what's going to happen? Before our judgment day, you're going to study everything that the king has. All the history. The king was born in 75 years ago, and the king does this, and the king likes flowers, and the king has three wives, and the king has this. You're going to learn everything you can about this king. Why? Because when you show up, you want to make it seem like he's your buddy. Oh, no, I know the king. Even though the king doesn't know me, I know the king. I know the king likes this, and I know the king likes that.

26:19So the king hears you say this. Oh, wow. I don't know this guy. But he knows so much about me. Obviously, he loves me. He cares about me. I don't know enough about him. So maybe, maybe, I should get to know him a little more. Maybe I should treat him better. Maybe I should move him to a better place. Maybe I should give him a better job. This is a king of flesh and blood. A million havdalot. big difference between the King of all Kings, Hashem. Hashem is looking for us. And He's looking to see how we prepare for Judgment Day. Are we doing any extra mitzvot? Are we doing anything beyond our normal? If we're used to giving one dollar every day to the local tzedakah box or the homeless guy, are we giving a little bit more right now?

27:20If we learn five minutes a day or a half-hour a day or an hour a day, are we pushing ourselves to learn another five minutes? Another half hour? If we are trying to get close to Hashem on a weekly basis by praying, is our prayer right now a little bit with more kavannah? Or is it the same thing, chas v'shalom? What are we doing to prepare for this King? What do we know about this King? Have we learned His Torah? Have we learned His rules? Are we following the rules? Do we praise Him? Do we thank Him every day? Actually, I started doing something. It's a good idea. The kollel that they had at the Rosh Yeshiva's... I studied with this guy a couple of times, and he had a good suggestion. Even though you're supposed to thank Hashem all day, every day, sometimes you forget. Sometimes you forget. You get so busy with work, you get so busy with the wife, you get so busy with the world, the life. Even if you pray every day, sometimes you don't have the kavannah you're supposed to have.

28:43Let's admit, we're not all Moshe Rabbeinu with 515 prayers that shook up the heavens. When Moshe Rabbeinu was asking Hashem to let him go into Eretz Yisrael, he prayed 515 times, Va'etchanan. He begged, begged Hashem 515 times, all the way to the point where the angels begged Hashem to make him stop. Either let him go into Eretz Yisrael or tell him to stop because his prayer was so strong, with so much kavanah, he was destroying worlds, shaking up all the worlds. Our prayers are not shaking up any worlds. Maybe we're shaking up a little behind, but we're not shaking up any worlds yet. Not every one of our prayers, not 515 prayers like Moshe Rabbeinu. So, sometimes we have kavanah, sometimes not so much. Sometimes we're praying to the best of our abilities, sometimes not so much. Sometimes, of course, all of us. Sometimes we have real kavanah. Sometimes we even cry during our prayers. It's not every day.

29:50Right now, when Hashem is looking for us, He's trying to find out. What about now? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. What about now? Judgment is next week. If you're not going to wake up now, when are you going to wake up? Look for another year. How do we know we have another year? How do we know? That's the problem that people don't understand. No one ever wants to think about Yom HaDin. No one ever wants to think about that at some point or another we've completed our mission in this world. No one wants to think about that. But it's actually important to think about it. Not because you want to be morbid and get into a depression, but because in order for us to develop Yirat Shamayim, fear of Hashem, we have to think about that one day we're going to meet Him. One day we're going to meet Him. Meet Him not like in theoretical. Meet Him, meet Him. How are you going to show up when you meet Him? You know, you don't have your clothes when you go up there. You don't have your car. You don't have your nice $30,000 watch. You don't have $5 million in the bank. You don't have all your friends. You don't have women. You don't have men. No socks. Nothing. Reminds me of a story. There was one time a guy...

31:11Very, very wealthy guy. And he asked, you know, in his will, he asked his kids, "Make sure you bury me with my socks on." Okay, so the guy died. The kids go to Chevra Kadisha. Tell them, "Listen, I want to... We want to bury our father in a Jewish cemetery, but he asked specifically to be buried with his socks. I said, "No, no, I'm sorry, we can't do that." "What do you mean you can't do that?" "No, no, no, I want to bury him; he asked specifically. My father donated a lot of money, millions of dollars. He has a business empire and donates $10 million a year. How dare you go against my father's last wish?" No socks. It's against Judaism. No socks. Bury him with no socks. Love child. Love child. There's nothing they can do. They go to the big chachamim. They go to the dayanim. They go to the gedolim. They ask this one. They ask that one. No one gives. Can't bury him with the socks. Finally, they bury him. They have the...

32:31And everybody goes to the lawyer, of course. The lawyer says, "Oh, your father left another letter to be read after he's buried." Okay, so everybody's excited. Maybe this is the one where he's going to divide up the money. He has a special message. Everyone thinks that they're going to get everything. All of a sudden, the lawyer opens this letter. He says, "I know you did not succeed in burying me with only my socks on." And I did it to remind you that all the money that I made, all the cars that I had, all the buildings that I had, all the stocks that I had, all the companies I had, everything I had, in the next world, I can't even take my socks. Worthless. All of that's worthless. All the real estate, all the women, all the parties, all of that stuff is worth nothing. the world of the truth, all you can take is your mitzvot and your aveirot. Your mitzvot and your sins. Those come with you wherever you go. So one day we're going to go meet Melech Malchei HaMelachim HaKadosh Baruch Hu, the King of all kings, blessed be He. How are we going to show up?

33:58Now, in the next world, we don't have clothes. We have a neshama. This skin and bones that we have is clothing. I don't mean clothes like my suit. I mean clothing like our skin, our flesh, our blood, our bones. We don't have that in the next world. We're purely neshama. But, in the next world, it's not like this world where you look at somebody and he has a beard, he looks like a tzaddik. Someone doesn't have a beard, he looks like a rasha. You know, you think, oh, this guy, he doesn't have a beard. He's not dressed in black and white. He doesn't look really Jewish. He has a small little kippah. He doesn't look really Jewish. The other guy, oh, this guy is dressed in black and white. Wow, look, he has this, he has that. Wow, this guy is probably one of the lamed vav tzaddikim. In reality, it could be the exact opposite. In reality, the guy that's not wearing anything special, Jewish, but he's not the traditional that we have today, could be a giant tzaddik. The guy that's black and white could be a giant rasha. In the next world? In the next world, no clothes. In the next world, all of the sins and the mitzvot are little stains on your neshama.

35:22Someone has sins, comes to Hashem with a dirty neshama. There are stains everywhere, missing pieces. So he can't lie and say, "No, no, Hashem, I didn't do it." Because for every one of the sins that he made, he created a demon. Demons come with him. A demon says to Hashem, "Oh Hashem, this rasha over here ate pork on this day." Another demon says, "No, no, he not only ate pork, he ate it on a Shabbat." Another one says, "Yeah, he didn't even duplicate the meal." Another one says, "Oh, he ate some milk with it too." All of these accusations. If he makes teshuvah, does he remind him? If he did teshuvah, teshuvah turns, it depends, there's two types of teshuvah. If teshuvah b'ahavah, teshuvah m'yirah. Teshuvah out of love, teshuvah out of fear. In reality, well first let's explain the two differences.

36:22Teshuvah b'ahavah, teshuvah out of love, means that you found out about Hashem. You're amazed at how amazing He is. You saw His Torah, you're learning His Torah, you're doing it, and you start realizing that your life and the direction you've taken your whole life is wrong. And you're going to do the mitzvot purely based out of love. Purely based out of the love of Torah and Hashem. That turns all of the sins you've made in your life into mitzvot. Imagine, so you're already starting day one with zillions because all of us make zillions. That's a very, very high level. Very few people in the world are doing it purely out of love in this generation. Very few people. The other way is teshuvah out of fear. You're scared of being punished. You're scared of Yom HaDin. You're scared that one day you're going to meet HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And you're going to show up naked with a lot of stains. And a lot of stains lead to a lot of suffering. You're scared of suffering. You don't want to suffer. You don't want to lose your money in this world. You don't want to lose your neshama in the next world. You're scared. So you say, okay, I don't really like it, but I'm going to do it. I'm going to do what I have to do. Sometimes you like it, sometimes not, but overall you're going to do it just because you're scared. A lot of people do teshuvah

37:50because of fear, but if it's purely based out of fear, very few stay strong. A lot of times they break. A lot of times they say, they get to a point where they're so scared, they're always scared, they're always scared, they always hear these bad things, they don't know about the good parts. They don't know about the Ahava, they don't know about the love of Hashem. So what happens is they break, they say, you know what, I'm in such a bad situation already, let me at least enjoy this world. They let go of everything. They break, they become kofrim. Unfortunately, it happens. So what does that mean? Most of the people that do teshuva do a combination of both. You have to have fear, and you have to have love. When the nation of Israel crossed the Sea of Reeds, when we left Egypt, Hashem gave Moshe the power to split the sea. When Hashem gave Moshe the power to split the sea, to split the ocean, after they split the sea, the verse states, and the nation of Israel feared Hashem,

39:14And they believed in Him and in His servant Moshe. How come it doesn't say the nation of Israel believed in Hashem and Moshe? How come first, before belief, it says they feared Hashem? Maybe it should be the opposite. They believed in Him and then they feared Him. Why does fear have to come first? Because as soon as you get to know Hashem, as soon as you get to know a little bit about Him, as soon as you get to know about how He's in control of everything, as soon as you get to know how He's responsible for everything in this world, the next world, and everything in between, how could you not be scared? You're scared of the cop that's going to pull you over at 2 o'clock in the morning because you're speeding. You're scared of your boss who may notice that you showed up at 8:05 instead of 8 o'clock. He's going to dock you a day's pay. You're scared of the customer who doesn't like what you look like, what you smell like, what traditions you keep. What you don't, maybe you're going to lose business.

40:24You're scared of the customer. You're scared of the cop. You're scared of the boss. You're scared of the people. What are they going to think? Maybe they're going to think I'm too religious because I'm too modest. All of a sudden I started wearing Kisui Rosh. Maybe they're going to make fun of me. You're scared. You're scared of what they're going to think about you. What if I wear a Kisui Rosh? Maybe people are going to make fun of me. Oh, what if I wear a kippah? Maybe they're going to make fun of me. Oh, what if I go to synagogue? Instead of going to the movies, they're going to make fun of me. Everybody's scared of everybody else. What about Hashem? When do we get to be scared of Hashem? when do we get to be scared of Hashem? We already have a verse in the Torah. We crossed the sea, we saw the miracles in Egypt, we saw the miracles after Egypt, we saw the plagues, we saw everything. We saw the voice of Hashem. We saw the voice, not heard the voice of Hashem. We saw the voice of Hashem.

41:35Letters and sounds were imprinted into the sky. Even the neshamot were coming out, right? When they were so scared. Angels were coming down. The neshamot were coming out. Exactly. When we heard the voice of Hashem, the neshamot of Am Yisrael came out during the first two commandments. The first two commandments. Hashem said it, and all of the nation of Israel heard and saw it. They saw the words and heard His voice. It was so significant, so beyond their level of neshamah, that they all died. Everyone died. You with me, Iga? You with me? Look at me. Everyone died. Everyone heard the Name of God. Everyone heard the words of God. Please, let's... The food is fine, but let's try to pay attention. And everyone died. Everyone died. So now we cross the sea. And it says, "And the nation of Israel feared Hashem, and they believed in Him."

42:50feared Hashem, and they believed in Him. And he served with Moshe. What does it mean? That in order to truly believe in Hashem, you must fear Him first. Because if you don't fear Him, there is no way you're going to believe in Him. If you don't fear Hashem, that means you don't know what He is. You know nothing about Him. Because if you know even a little bit about Hashem, of course you're going to fear Him. He's everything. You're scared of the cop. You're scared of your boss. You're scared of the customer. How could you not be scared of God? and he served with Moshe. What does it mean? That in order to truly believe in Hashem, you must fear Him first. Because if you don't fear Him, there is no way you're going to believe in Him. If you don't fear Hashem, that means you don't know what He is. You know nothing about Him. Because if you know even a little bit about Hashem, of course you're going to fear Him. He's everything. You're scared of the cop. You're scared of your boss. You're scared of the customer. How could you not be scared of G-d? So, fear of Hashem is important in life. It's the most important thing. That's why Shlomo HaMelech tells us the first symbol of wisdom is fear. Fear of Hashem. Yirat Shamayim. Someone who doesn't have Yirat Shamayim is considered to have no wisdom. A fool. A fool has no Yirat Shamayim. Because if you know the truth, how could you not be scared of it? So that's important. Ahava is important to keep you strong.

43:54Because sometimes you need to connect with it, not just from fear. Why? Because if you're just scared, maybe you're going to pray, but you're not going to have full kavana. You're not going to really be thanking Hashem. So this guy that I was learning with had a very, very good suggestion. He says, "Yeah, of course we're all supposed to have, we're learning some Rambam together. He says, of course we're all supposed to have fear of Hashem, and love of Hashem, and kavana during tefillah, but sometimes it doesn't work that way. Sometimes the yetzer hara beats us. Sometimes the yetzer hara during prayer makes us think about something we shouldn't be thinking about at all." Sometimes the yetzer hara, especially during prayer, makes us think about the customer, about money, about this one, about that one, about pizza, about potatoes, about everything else except Hashem. So he says, let's do this. Every day, give yourself an alarm. Every day, pick a time, 12 o'clock in the afternoon, 1 o'clock in the afternoon, anytime. Set an alarm on your phone every day, except Shabbat because you can't answer it, can't look at it.

45:14Alarm, reminder, thank G-d. Don't ask for anything. Just thank G-d. Just thank G-d. That's it. Alarm every day. In the morning when you get up. Like I said, sometimes you're in a hurry with prayer and you're not really thinking of G-d. You're thinking about how quickly you can finish this prayer. Oh, you say in addition? Separate time. Anytime during the day. You have an alarm on your phone or on your watch. It buzzes. You take a five-minute break from the world. Say, hold on a second. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Mr. Customer, Mr. Boss, Mr. Cop, Mr. Everything. Hold on one second. Take one minute, five minutes, whatever you need. Just think about how much you have to be grateful for. And it's not too hard. Why is it not too hard? Because if you pay attention to the details, He gives you non-stop. Your family, your eyes, your body, your health, your wealth, your experiences, your mind, everything. So it shouldn't be too difficult to thank Him for everything you have. And purely thanking Him, not asking for it. Don't ask Him, Hashem, help me with this deal. Don't ask Him, Hashem, help me with this customer. You do that all day anyway.

46:42Just take the time just to thank Him. That's it. Pure thanks. And I bet you, after you do it for a month, it changes your relationship with Hashem. It changes the way you view your relationship with Hashem. Why? Because right now, Unfortunately, we treat Hashem sometimes like a genie. Like we take the little thing, we rub it three times, and we get three wishes. People always ask Hashem for stuff. Okay, you're supposed to ask Hashem for everything, I understand. But what about thanking Him? We forget to thank Him. We start getting to a point where we're asking for so much stuff that we forget to thank Him. It even gets worse. We start asking for so much that we start expecting Him to give it to us. So when He doesn't give it to us, we get mad at Hashem. Maybe some people say, "Oh, maybe Hashem is not there. Maybe there is no Hashem. I didn't get this job that I wanted. Hashem wasn't there for me when I needed Him. Where was Hashem when I needed Him? Where was Hashem when I needed this job? Where was Hashem when I needed money? Where was Hashem when I needed this or I needed that? Where was He? Where was He?"

47:56We never get to a point of thinking, maybe, just maybe, not only was Hashem there, but He was telling you, "No, this is not good for you. I will not give it to you. I will not give you money. I will not give you real estate. I will not give you this woman." I will not give you whatever you're asking for because I already know the full picture. I already know the end. You think this woman is perfect for you. I know that this woman really is a liar, a cheater, a this, a that, or this man. Or you're praying to have a lot of money. I know that right now you're praying to me every day. You're getting closer. You're doing tefillin. You're starting to keep Shabbat. I know if I give you what you're asking for, if I give you a million dollars, you're going to forget about me after a week. No relationship. Nothing. I'm not going to give you. Why? I love you. Hashem is telling you, "I love you. That's why I don't give it to you. That's why I don't give it to you." We don't think about it that way. Why? Because we're so used to asking Him for stuff. If we start thanking Him, purely thanking Him, what does that do? Number one, we start viewing Hashem in a different way.

49:14We already have a different relationship. We ask and we thank. Now we already have two parts of Hashem. And obviously, we fear. But we ask and we thank. Two different things. The second thing, imagine this. Imagine you have a little boy, your son or your daughter. And she says, Abba, Ima, can I have five dollars to buy ice cream? When I was a kid it was only one dollar. I think today it's five dollars. Can I have $5 to buy ice cream? And you say, yes. You give it to her. And she takes the $5. She runs, buys ice cream. No thank you, no nothing. The next day, Abba, can I have $5? Yes. You give her $5. No thank you, no nothing. By the third day, it's "Abba." Okay. You give her the $5. You're used to it already. She trained you. Two weeks. No "Abba." Just a hand.

50:17Five years down the road, there's no more Abba. And there's no more hand. It's like, Moshe. No. He's calling you by your first name. No, Moshe. No. I need to pay my bills. Like you owe us something. Hashem, that's what's happened in this generation. That's what's happened in this generation. How can we change our kids? How can we change our kids? By changing ourselves first. By changing our relationship with Hashem. And stop asking so much. Start thinking. Thank you, Hashem, for giving me food. Thank you, Hashem, for making the food taste so good. I could be like the nachash where everything tastes the same. Aru. The nachash is arur. What's arur? Everything he's cursed. Everything he has anything to do with, he's cursed. Which means Hashem said to him, I don't even want to hear your prayers. I don't even want to hear your prayers. I'm going to give you all the parnassah in the world. Everything you eat, you can eat everything.

51:28But everything is going to taste the same. But you, I'm going to give you all this food. You can eat everything. You eat a rat, whether alive or dead, it tastes the same. You eat a piece of rubber, it tastes the same. You eat a can, it tastes the same. You eat a book, it tastes the same. You eat a rabbit, it tastes the same. A chicken with ketchup on it, it tastes the same. Pizza tastes, everything tastes the same. What does it mean? It means Hashem says, "I'm going to give you everything. Everything can be your parnassah. Why? It seems like it's a blessing. No. He's saying, 'I want you to have so much parnassah that I don't even want you to pray to Me and ask for more.' That's what Ahurim means. That's what we learned in last week's parasha. Ahurim is the worst curse in the Torah." One of the things that was part of that curse is that everything tastes the same. So when we are not under the curse of Achurim, things taste different. This pizza tastes different—nice kosher pizza. It's delicious. It could taste bland, but Hashem made it special where it tastes beautiful. The tea tastes different. The steak tastes different—not in this restaurant because there are no steaks, but elsewhere. The can of Sprite tastes different than the Coke.

52:51Hashem beautified this world for our own interest. Technically, He could have given us all the same thing. How would we know? How would we know that everything tastes the same? If we're always used to everything tasting the same, we wouldn't complain about it. We wouldn't even know what to complain about. In order for us to complain about something, we need to know about the other side. That's why a poor man only knows he's poor after he sees the rich guy. Because if you had a poor guy... On an island, there's a poor guy who somehow got a car. This car is a 1976 Toyota or something completely broken down, but according to everybody else on the island, this guy is the richest guy in the world. Wow, he has a car. Look at this car. Toyota. 1976. It's only 40 years old, 50 years old. Wow. He feels like he's the king of the world. What happens when another guy comes to this island, and he comes with a 2015 Toyota? All of a sudden, he becomes a misken. He's like, "What a poor man I am. What a poor man I am. Look at my junk. Look at what kind of junk Hashem gave me. Look how He's punishing me."

54:17Look how He's punishing me. Look how Hashem loves this guy. He gives him a 2015 Mercedes. He's punishing me. It's all about perspective. Now, Hashem wants us to pay attention to the details. He wants us to fear Him. He wants us to love Him. We have to have a combination of both. But the key, right now, is to add something different. Hashem, few of you that were in last week's shiur took something upon yourselves. There's a very special gift that you'll get in the coming weeks from a Rabbi in Jerusalem, a big mekubal. Everybody took on mitzvot to become stronger and... But this is something that I think is a very good suggestion to add to your day. Not just for this holiday. Permanently. Add thanking Hashem once a day. At the end of this Yom Tov, put an alarm on your phone or whatever. Whatever is an alarm for you at some point during the day. Five minutes. Two minutes. One minute. Think about Hashem and thank Him. Don't ask for anything. It will change your relationship with Him.

55:41And when Hashem is looking for you, like the wife was telling the guy with the fan, then you can say to Him, "Hashem, I know I wasn't 100% righteous. I know I made some sins. I know. Just like we say in Tachanun every day. We're not going to say we're tzaddikim. Right before that, you say, we're not going to say we're tzaddikim because we're not tzaddikim. We make sins." To show up to Hashem honest. Say, Hashem, yes, I sinned. I'm sorry. But, to show You that I'm sorry, look, I have a few things that I added to my life. I did this, I did that. You have something to show up. You prepared for the trial. Just like we prepare for a court today. You prepare, you read the case, you find out what's going on, who is this king. You show up to Hashem and say, listen, Hashem, I didn't wait for today to find out who You are. Judgment day. I already prepared a week ago. I started thinking about You. I started learning a little bit of Torah. I started doing tefillin. I started keeping Shabbat. I started thanking You every day. We have a dialogue. Maybe I'm not at my full potential, but You see I'm improving. Then You change Your relationship with them altogether. And this goes back to the example I was telling you about the little daughter...

57:09When she's just going like this, "Abba, Abba," with no thank you, eventually what happens? The Abba doesn't want to give her anything. When the little girl says, "Abba, give me," with no thank you, and after a little while, it progresses, and eventually, she starts calling him by his first name. Eventually, the Abba is like, "Oy, there's like a stranger to this daughter. It's not even my daughter." What would the Abba do if every time... She says, "Abba, can I have $5?" And he gives her the $5. She says, "Abba, thank you so much. I love you so much." She gives the Abba a nice hug and kiss, like it's all the money in the world, like it's more than the money. "Thank you, Abba. I love you, Abba. I know it's hard for you to make money, so I appreciate it so much that you work part of your day just to make sure I have the money." So I could buy my ice cream and I could be happy for five minutes. Imagine the next day. Imagine the next day. She says, "Abba, can I have $5?" He takes out a briefcase of money. "Here's my retirement account." Why? Because it's so pleasing to hear this thank you. Of course, he's going to want to give her more.

58:27Of course, he's going to want to give her more because she said thank you. Simple thank you. Appreciation. So what do you think of Abba Bashamayim, our Father in Heaven? When you say thank you every day for one minute, for two minutes, just maybe that's the one thing you're missing from having your prayers answered. Again, sometimes it's because we didn't pray enough. So saying thank you could be the thing that pushes it over. But sometimes, just like Moshe Rabbeinu after 515 prayers, the answer is no. It's not no because Hashem wants to punish you. It's no because He wants to help you. Because it's for your best interest. You want somebody? You shouldn't have. You want something? You shouldn't have. He already knows the end of the picture. You don't. So you think it's a punishment that you're not getting it. But in reality, by the time you advance in the picture, you start realizing that this is indeed for your best interest. There was one time, I told this story a little while ago, a few months ago. Some of you guys heard it, some not. There was one time... Indeed, for your best interest. There was one time, I told this story a little while ago, a few months ago. Some of you guys heard it, some not. There was one time a righteous guy, and he had a daughter, and his wife, who passed away. And he was always busy with work. He was a very big businessman. Never had enough time to develop a relationship with his daughter like he wanted to. But he was also a righteous person. Keeps Torah and mitzvot.

59:41Righteous guy, and he had a daughter, and his wife, who passed away. And he was always busy with work. He was a very big businessman. Never had enough time to develop a relationship with his daughter like he wanted to. But he was also a righteous person who kept Torah and mitzvot. So after the mom died, times were a little tough. There wasn't a solid relationship between me and my daughter. One day the daughter comes and she says, "Abba, can I have $10,000?" "$10,000 for what? That's a big request. Okay, we have a lot of money. It doesn't mean that I'm just going to hand out $10,000 every day." "Because I'm going to India. I'm going to India with my friends." I need $10,000. Are you going to help me? And he says to her, "What is a nice Jewish religious girl like you going to do in India?" And she says, "Abba, I have breaking news for you. I haven't been a nice Jewish religious girl in a long time. I just look like it to you, but as soon as I leave the house..."

1:01:06I changed my clothes, and I have nothing to do with the religion. But that's why I'm going to India, I want to find myself. The Abba obviously had a big shock. The true story of this? True story. Why? Abba had a big shock. Religious, observant? Very observant, very religious. Whoa. This maybe happened maybe 15-20 years ago. So now, Abba is in shock. He's trying to figure out what he could do. His wife was the one that usually dealt with her. Now he's new. He says, "Abba, listen, I need your $10,000. I'm going on the trip one way or another. Are you going to help me or not?" He says, "No, please, no." He doesn't know what to do. He gets such a panic. He says, "Listen, I'm going to give you the $10,000. Here's a check." But if you take this check, don't come back home. Don't come back. This is the life you can live. No religion, no Hashem in your life. Go and don't come back. She started crying, took the check, and left. She went to India.

1:02:32Found an Israeli boyfriend over there somehow, baruch Hashem. Started selling different tchotchkes. Obviously, the $10,000 was finished after a little while, but she couldn't call home because she thought that her father didn't want to talk to her. And she said, okay, I've got to make it out here in India. So she started selling different tchotchkes. jewels and things like jewelry and stuff like that. She would start surviving. One day, she's at her little, you know, shop and she sees a friend from America. It's different, so she sees a friend from America. So, how are you? So, our friend says to her, I'm really sorry about your father. I know he was a nice guy. She goes, wait, what? Sorry about my father? What father? What are you talking about? What do you mean? I'm sorry. He died. What? What do you mean he died? Yeah, he died four months ago. She started hysterically crying. I said, oh, oh.

1:03:58She hadn't spoken to her father in a year, and she just found out from a friend that he died four months ago. She didn't know what to do with herself. She ran over to her boyfriend. She said, take me to a holy place. Take me to a holy place. He says, I don't know any holy places. He's in the same boat as I am. He says, I don't know a holy place. You were the one who used to be religious. He says, I don't know. I need you to take me to a holy place right now. My father died. I need to go be around holy people. He says, the only holy place I know is the Kotel, the Western Wall. And Yerushalayim, she goes, take me there right now. They went, got their savings, they bought the tickets, went to Yerushalayim. The girl can't stop crying. She thought maybe at one point they're going to make up. She didn't plan on not talking to her father forever. She goes to the Kotel and she is crying like you wouldn't believe. Now if you went to the Kotel, you know, remember there's a Mechitzah, there's a separation.

1:05:14between the men and the women like it's supposed to be. Men pray on one side, women pray on the other side. Especially because, you know, when you pray sometimes, especially the women, you become very emotional. It's not exactly something you want to show just any stranger. This woman is crying, pouring her heart out. She's trying, you know, she wrote a little note. She's trying to put it in the Wall. But if you remember, you know, you went to the Wailing Wall, and there are notes everywhere. You can't fit it in. So this one woman sees her crying. She feels bad. She says, "Listen, if you want, right above the mechitza, right above the separation over there, usually nobody puts the notes over there. Usually there's some space. Why don't you take a chair, climb on the chair, you know, and right above the mechitza you can put the note." She said, "Okay, thank you." She goes to the mechitza, she takes a little chair, a little boost. She puts it there, but as she puts it there, the note that was in there falls out. She feels bad. She goes down, she picks up the note, and she wants to put it back. It's not fair. But...

1:06:34What does every person do when they pick up a note? They read it. She reads it; she opens the note. She's very curious. What is someone else who comes to the same place as me crying for? I'm crying for my father who died four months ago, whom I haven't talked to in a year. What does somebody else cry for? She says, she reads the note, she tells the story. Dear God, I made a very big mistake and disowned my daughter one year ago. I gave her money so she would be okay in India, but I was really hoping that she would call me after she ran out of the money and we could make up. Because I didn't have her phone number, I had no way to reach her. Hashem, You know what I meant. You know how much I love my daughter. You know that she's the only thing that I have. As I'm getting sicker and sicker now, I know that I'm coming to see You soon. Please, Hashem, make sure that she knows that I love her. And make sure that she knows that all the money that I ever had, I left it for her because none of it ever meant anything to me. I always wanted it for her. Signed, her father's name.

1:07:59And this is a true story. The first time I heard it, I started crying. True story. She tells the story herself. Her father signs the letter. Obviously, she goes to America. She goes to the lawyer. The lawyer has been waiting for her and says, "Yeah, your father prepared a whole world for you." She does a complete teshuvah with that boyfriend. They get married the kosher way. They build a Jewish home because she thinks to herself, "I went looking for myself like a lot of fools do in India, when myself, the truth, was at home." And it took a trip to India to remind me that I need to go to Yerushalayim and talk to Hashem, because if you look at the wall, there are millions of notes.

1:08:59chances of her father's notes falling out, her picking it up—zero, zero, negative, not even zero, zero percent. So sometimes we ask for things, and since Hashem knows the bigger picture, He says, "I don't want to give it to you." She asked her father for money so she could go to India. My father said, "No, I don't want to give it to you because India is not a good place for Jewish people who want to be kosher. Staying home, being religious at home, going to synagogue, getting married, doing mitzvot. Why do you want to go to India? What are you doing over there? Oh, tumah, that's in India. There's an article that came out. Idol worship, you know, non-stop idol worship and..." It's so bad, there was an article that came out recently; Rabbi Mizrahi published it on his Facebook. There's a company, you know, they worship the cow in India. So there's a company that developed a soft drink from the urine of the cow. So this shows you, okay, we have Torah, Holy Torah. You have to even think...

1:10:17about making a blessing before you eat something, even after it's purified, even after it's cleaned, even after it's... Everything is perfect. Even the slaughtering of the animal had to go through a process where it wouldn't suffer. Even after that, you have to double-check everything. Whereas they, the goyim, no prayer, no nonsense, they're eating the... the urine of the cow. This is the difference between Judaism and the rest of the world. So, to sum it up, we have to understand that right now, during Rosh Hashanah, is a time for us to connect to Hashem. Right now is a time when we can ask for things. First, remember, thank Him first. It's a much better way to start the conversation, especially if you started thanking Him a week before. The second thing is, continue whatever you're doing now after Rosh Hashanah. Don't be a faker. Don't be the guy that has a nice resume, gets hired, and as soon as he's hired, he becomes a loser. Shows up late, doesn't do his job, doesn't match the resume. I used to have one of these employees. The guy had a better resume than me. I hired the guy, and the first day I wanted to fire him. Worst. Actually, I fired him after 29 days.

1:11:46And he ended up collecting unemployment for two years. This is the demented system that we have called government. But either way, don't be that guy. Don't be a loser. Be a winner. Whatever you're doing now, continue doing it. Get stronger. Jews either get stronger or they get weaker. Jews either get closer to Hashem or further from Hashem. You're either getting more religious or less religious. There's nothing the same. There's no flatline. So you're thanking Hashem every day for two minutes, for one minute, for a half hour, whatever it is, continue. You're taking on the mitzvot, continue. Why? Because Hashem knows what you're going to continue doing. So if your intention is to continue, it gives Him more of a reason to give you. Even before you ask. Even before you ask. And that's the thing. So maybe, just maybe, like Nissim says, you're getting to such a point where you don't even have to ask. Hashem already knows what you want. Believe me, He knows what you want. Believe me, He knows what you want. So, the key is to take advantage of this time. We don't have much time before Rosh Hashanah. Take advantage of it. Learn about Hashem. Develop a fear of Hashem. Develop a love of Hashem. And don't ever forget

1:13:08Thank you, Sheikh. Any questions?