Stop Making Eternal Decisions For People (5 minutes)

0:00of these things. In some cases, people just don't want to hear it. They're accustomed to their lifestyle and continue doing whatever they're doing. But for most people, it's almost like they've never heard any of this before. They've gone to shul, they've gone to the Beit Knesset, they've prayed here and there, they had a bar mitzvah, but when you tell them, "Listen, you're not allowed to drive on Shabbat," they respond with, "No, but what if I'm driving to shul?" You then have to explain that driving to shul is not permitted on Shabbat; you can't violate Shabbat to do a mitzvah. This conversation often highlights a lack of awareness or understanding, which is unfortunately prevalent today. That's why it's so important to teach and emphasize what is correct according to Halacha (Jewish law), rather than just being concerned about being politically correct. And he told me, "No one ever told me I'm not allowed to drive. No one ever told me." And that's unfortunately the mentality today with rabbis and with other people. We're so concerned, especially in the United States, about being politically correct that we forget about being correct. We're so concerned about not turning people off, and being scared that, oh, if I tell him the truth, maybe he's not going to come back, maybe he's not going to donate, maybe he's not going to like it, maybe he's going to be offended, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe. And people start doing the cheshbon of shamayim, they start doing the accounting of shamayim, they start deciding, you know, what is going to happen, as if they know the future. You don't know anything, you're just a human being. You start from a, you know,

1:27and being scared that, oh, if I tell him the truth, maybe he's not going to come back, maybe he's not going to donate, maybe he's going to not like it, maybe he's going to be offended. Maybe, maybe, maybe. People start doing the cheshbon of shamayim; they start doing the accounting of shamayim. They start deciding what is going to happen, as if they know the future. You don't know anything; you're just a human being. You start from a, you know, putrid seed, and you live your life as a body, and then you go back into the ground like every other human being. The worms and maggots eat us, and we decompose, and Hashem leaves. That's it. We don't know anything about the future. We are not prophets. So when we decide for people what they can handle, what they can't handle, we're trying to be mini-prophets. It's not our job to be prophets. This is what Hashem wrote, and that's all we say. It's not our business to decide. The text is quite meaningful and addresses the challenges faced by Torah observant Jews in a contemporary setting. Here is the corrected text: I'm sure that when Hashem wrote the Torah, He took into account our generation and my own mind, and said, "Okay, there's going to be a generation that's so far removed from Torah that people will be scared to keep Shabbat. They'll be scared or embarrassed to wear a kippah in public because they don't want their non-Jewish friends to mock them."

2:44It's going to be a generation. I'm sure He took us into mind when He created the heavens and the earth. It's not our job to decide for people what they can handle or can't handle. We must focus on the basics. Now, of course, there are some things that are beyond the basics, and you need to know how to guide people. If someone doesn't know anything, you can't expect them to suddenly observe all 613 mitzvot by tomorrow, even those not relevant to us today. That would overwhelm them. But you can't tell them, listen, it's okay for you to violate Shabbat openly because you're not ready for it. There's no such thing. You have to tell people, listen, you have to keep Shabbat. If you're not ready for it, that's your business. But at least you need to know that you need to do it. So this is just like at work. If your boss is coming to you, he says, listen, I need you to bring in $100,000 every month worth of sales. Right now, you just started. You only bring in $5,000 a month. So he's not going to fire you tomorrow. Because you didn't get to $100,000, he can't expect you to make $100,000 by your second day, or by your second week, or even by your second month. But he needs to give you some type of goal that you have to aim towards. You need to get to this point. You must know what the goal is in order to reach it. Because if you don't know what the goal is, how are you ever going to reach it? You're just like a blind person, a blind, you know, it's like a chicken without a head. You have no idea where you're going. So if you tell somebody, listen, it's okay for you to drive to shul, or drive on Shabbat, and not keep Shabbat for now, and eventually, you can keep Shabbat. The reason why that's a flawed strategy, despite the fact that it's very popular today, where people tell others that they can drive on Shabbat as long as they go into Beit Knesset, or maybe one day observe Shabbat, is because it's a completely flawed mentality. In the human mindset, we're always inclined to listen to the yetzer hara's opinion.

4:09it's okay for you to drive to shul or drive on Shabbat, and not keep Shabbat for now, and eventually you can keep Shabbat. The reason why that's a flawed strategy, despite the fact that it's very, very popular today, where people tell others that they can drive on Shabbat as long as they go into Beit Knesset, or maybe one day do Teshuvah, it's a completely flawed mentality because in a human mindset, we're always going to listen to the Yetzer Hara's opinion. The Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination, is always going to give us his opinion. And he's going to tell us eventually, even if we're starting to keep mitzvot, in two months, in three months, in four months, in five months. Then eventually, the rabbi comes to him and says, "Okay, listen, it's time for you to keep Shabbat." He responds, "Why? It's six months into it. Yeah, but if it was good for six months not to keep Shabbat, let's see what happens over the next six months without keeping Shabbat." So, a year passes, and the rabbi comes back and says, "Okay, it's time for you to keep Shabbat." The person responds, "Yeah, but if it was good for me not to keep Shabbat, you said it was okay for me not to keep Shabbat for six months. You said it was okay. I'm new. I still feel like I'm new. I know I'm doing it for you. I still feel like I'm new." So another year passes, then another year, and before you know it, the rabbi doesn't ask anymore. Twenty years go by, and he's still not keeping Shabbat, but he feels like he's a tzaddik, because he goes to shul. The lesson here is not to let complacency and misunderstandings prevent progress in spiritual growth.

5:27So that's why it's not our responsibility to decide for people what they can do, or what they can't do. You tell them what Hashem said, you tell them what our responsibility is, and you don't judge them if they can't do it at this moment. However, you should tell them, listen, this is the goal you should aspire to achieve. With effort and dedication, you'll get there soon.