The 10 Miracles Created Before Shabbat PART 5 - MUSSAR Pirkei Avot (96)

0:15Live. We'll wait for a couple of people to... I am not G-d, and I don't have a crystal ball, but I can tell you what's allowed and what's not allowed. A lot of things are in that area. I don't like to talk about things that... Right. I don't like to talk about things that I don't know about. Because then I'm just like a joker. You understand? Then it's just my opinion. What do I... No, it's not about... I don't care about the hate. I don't know. It doesn't make a difference to me, the hate. The thing is, though, who cares about my opinion? Who cares about my opinion? If it's right, good. If it's wrong, then who cares about my opinion? It's my opinion. I'm here enough to say. You want to state your opinion? Enjoy. I don't care about your opinion either, though. I care about God's opinion. Your opinion may be nice. It may be smart. It may be genius. But if it's wrong, then I'm not going to... do you understand what I'm saying? I'm not going to change my life for your opinion. You're not going to change your life for my opinion. You should only change your life for God's opinion. That's really what we're trying to say. A lot of people talk about their opinions, but that's the problem. That's the problem with opinions.

1:38We'll start. We are now in Pirkei Avot number 96, I believe, Baruch Hashem. And we are still on the same Mishnah. We're still on the Mishnah in Avot 5:8. Chapter 5 of Pirkei Avot and the 8th Mishnah in there. We also have Parashat Tetzaveh. This week, it's a parashah that deals extensively with the Kohanim. Anyone who didn't learn the parashah might ask, "Why do I need to know about the Kohanim if I'm not a Kohen? Maybe I could skip this parashah." As a matter of fact, there's an enormous amount of information to learn for each and every one of us from Parashat Tetzaveh or from every parashah. There's also a couple of questions that I'm sure you have. There are a couple of questions that other people have asked me, and I told them that I'll answer. B'ezrat Hashem, we'll try to do all of it. Also, we'll do it for a refuah shlema for Livana bat Sarah, Sarah bat Livana, Doris bat Zohrah, David ben Yisraela, and Elisheva Chaya bat Sarah, Laura bat Mercedes.

3:04Hanabat Miriam and all of Am Yisrael, B'ezrat Hashem, will have refuah shlema, refuat hanefesh, refuat haguf. We had already a couple of shiurim this week, and last night we talked about some more details about money, how to have bracha in the money. People love to talk about money. talk about it. They talk about it at work. They talk about it at the Shulchan Shabbat. They talk about it at dinner. They talk about it in their dreams. They talk about it when they wake up out of their dreams. There was a guy that came to Rav Chaim Kanievsky. I wouldn't be surprised if he's one of the 36 tzadikim in the world. I'm not joking. He's my wife. I don't think he's human, some of us don't believe we'll be human beings. Ish kadosh, you see, ish kadosh, ish kadosh. So this type of person, I tell you, ish kadosh, you think you know why? He learns a lot of Gemara. Oh wow, he knows a lot of Torah. That doesn't make you kadosh. You know, a lot of Torah. Achav, Achav knew a lot of Torah also. You know what? Achav knew 127 divrei Torah on every subject in the Torah, meaning he could give you 127 different lectures on any subject you want.

4:31Pick a subject. Peah, 127 lectures. Pick a subject. Shabbat, 127 lectures. Pick a subject. Parah Adumah, nobody understands Parah Adumah, 127 lectures. Achav, Gemara says, has no share of the world to come. Why? Greed. His greed, he lost his olam haba. He lost his olam haba. So just because you know a lot doesn't mean a lot. It's important, but if you don't know how to use it, it's useless. During the holidays, Chaim always hosts a knesset orchim. Oh, him? It's a big baal chesed. He does so much with nothing. They make an enormous amount of chesed in the world, and he doesn't bring guests like the neighbors who really have food in their own house. You know, people like to have a knesset orchim and... Not because the guy doesn't have anywhere else to go. No, they want to do, oh, come, come to my house for Shabbat. Why? I just remodeled my kitchen. I want to show it to you. Or my wife is a really good cook. You should have her food. Why are you inviting him? To show off? You're not inviting him because you're really welcoming a guest. You're inviting him because you want to show off. You want to show off the cooking. You want to show off the new house. You want to show off the old house. You want to show off the new this, the new that. Showing off, which, by the way, is not a mitzvah.

5:55It's nice. You can have guests all the time, but it's not a mitzvah. It's just nice. Nice to do. Good for you. If you're doing it for showing off, it may be even an aveira, by the way. But that's a different story. Hachnasat Orchim, rabotai yikarim, bringing guests to your house means that they don't have anywhere else to go. They don't have anywhere else to go. Now, maybe they're a visitor in town. Maybe they don't know how to do Shabbat. They're chiloni, they're secular. Maybe they got divorced recently or are a widow or something like that. But the Gemara talks about it and says, on top of the list of who is the typical guest are homeless people. People who don't have anywhere to be, not just because they're new in town. No, they have nowhere to be, period.

6:56There's nowhere to be on Shabbat or any other day other than Shabbat. Today, there's a leniency not to necessarily be obligated to bring homeless people to your house because of the mental conditions of people today. You don't know who's a murderer, and you don't know who's a tzaddik. They sometimes look the same. But the point is, rabotai, is that hachnasat orchim is to bring somebody that's, you know, not exactly somebody you're trying to show off for. So he brings guests, b'ezrat Hashem, from all walks of life—strange people, all types of people. One time he brings this guy, Rav Chaim, and brings this guy. The guy, not that he wasn’t even a holiday, the guy was in the neighborhood, and he was looking for something. He says, "You need something? Can I help you with something?" "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, can you, uh, can you give me $10?" Doesn't know him. Rav Chaim is an avrech, makes 1,500 shekels a month. It's not like he has a... Okay, it doesn't look, the guy didn't look like he was doing so well. You need $10? Give it to him. Come, come. Come to my house. He brings him to the house. That's chesed, by the way. Give him $10 out of your pocket. Okay, it's nice, mitzvah. Chesed is making him feel good about it. Come, come to my house. The house is right over here. He brings him to the house. Gives him the $10. In Israel, they have a little bit of different manners over there. A little bit different.

8:21He says after you give him ten dollars, he goes, "Can I have some food too?" "Some food? Oh, okay, sure, sure. Have a seat." "Do you have something fresh you can make me? You can make me a nice sandwich or something." He gives him an order; he thinks he's in a restaurant. He gives him a nice order. He goes, "You have a sandwich?" "No problem." He takes out a brand new challah, brand new challah, cuts it open, makes him a sandwich and a half. The guy is about to jump on this thing, eat it like a lion that just caught a zebra. He's about to eat this thing like he never ate before in his life. So Rav Chaim stops him. "Whoa! You gotta bless. You gotta bless. What do you say? Baruch Ata Hashem Elokeinu Melech HaOlam HaMotzi Lechem Min Ha'aretz." And the guy says, "HaKesef." HaMotzi lechem min ha-money, he thinks. Rav Chaim takes the sandwich bag and says, "No, say it right." And he wouldn't let him eat it until he said it right. He goes, "Why? It doesn't come from money. You paid for it, right?" He goes, "It doesn't come from money. It comes from Hashem." He gave mussar and didn't let him eat it until he actually did the bracha. But unfortunately, Rabotai, he's not the only one. He's not the only one that thinks HaMotzi lechem min ha-kesef.

9:45A lot of people think that money is the reason why they have what they have. They have the house they have, they have the car they have, they have the kids they have, the wife they have, the husband they have, and all the things they have. They think it's the money. So we talked about it a little bit last night. We talked about it. And I could tell you that some people didn't like what they heard. Why? Talking about different segulot, different ways of how to make money, Plenty. I can read you a book with plenty of ways, plenty of things that I could tell you of how you can make more money. The problem is that it won't work. I can give you a five-hour lecture if you want on different segulot of how you can make money, but it won't work. You can do exactly what I tell you, but it won't work. Why? Why wouldn't it work? It says do this, do this, do this, do this. Do tefillah every day. Read Parashat HaMan. Read Parashat HaMan. A lot of people read Parashat HaMan. Parashat HaMan, where Hashem talks about how He brought Am Yisrael the mann from Shamayim. Many people read Parashat HaMan. And while they're reading it, their brokerage account goes from wherever it was to zero. While they're reading the Parashat HaMan, it goes down 90% or 100%. While they're reading it though.

11:13Why doesn't it work? Or they read Parashat HaMan and the business just declared bankruptcy, or the IRS just knocked in: "Hello, sir. Yes, you have some taxes you haven't paid for in five years. We're taking away all the assets." Why? You read Parashat HaMan. How come it didn't work? Because, Rabotai HaYekarim, for a segula to work, what the fake rabbis are never going to tell you is that first and foremost, you have to be a segula. You have to be a segulah. Am Segulah. We are Am Segulah. We are a nation of miracles. You want miracles to happen? You have to be a miracle. What's a miracle? Be the Yaakov in a world full of Esavs. You want the segulah to work? You have to be Yaakov. You want to continue being Esav? No segulah in the world is going to work. And anytime you think it's working, it's only the Satan fooling you. Which, by the way, people ask me all the time: "This person is doing this, this, and this and he still has a lot of money. How come?" This woman, somebody told her to take off the scarf off of her head and put on a wig, and she got a miracle for it. Oh, this person did something wrong and he succeeded. How come? How come? What a shame. Doesn't Hashem see? Hashem sees, but the Satan also sees.

12:34like He made Himself the Throne of Glory, He also made a throne of glory for the Satan himself. And the Satan pays well, also. The Satan pays well. You make sins, he pays you cash. He'll pay you a ton of money. Just don't come to I'll make you think that by you going to the shiur Torah, you're gonna lose money. I'll make you think that by you becoming more religious, you're gonna lose money. But just recently, we found out from Pew Research that people who keep mitzvot, people who are religious, unlike what most people will tell you, there's actually research about this: people who keep mitzvot work less than people who don't keep mitzvot. Why? First and foremost, they don't work on Shabbat. Already, once a week, you have a vacation. Second of all, you have holidays during the year. You have almost two months' worth of holidays. So that means that you are really working ten months out of the year, minus Shabbat. You're working much less than a non-religious Jew.

13:41But yet, statistically speaking, when I talk about religious-wise, statistically speaking, Pew Research confirmed that anyone that's religious is just as likely to make over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year as someone that's not religious. Which technically means, if you're religious, you make more money because you work less. But the Satan is gonna make you think that if you don't work on Shabbat, you're gonna make less money. He's gonna tell you that if you don't watch the new CNBC show to know what the current news is, you're gonna lose money in the stock market tomorrow. So if you're gonna instead of going to shiur or watching Torah, you're not gonna watch the Wall Street Journal, you're gonna lose money. So the Satan is gonna tell you all those things. Why? He pays cash. He needs employees to work for him. What do you think he's gonna do? Every time you make a sin, you're gonna lose money? Anybody's gonna stay a sinner and ever become Moshe Rabbeinu? For all of those that have that question of how come sinners sometimes get gifts or even often get gifts, it's only because the Satan is paying them cash too. So now in our Avodah series, we have quite a bit to learn. פוסיטיבה סרביי, we have quite a bit to learn and...

15:04This is the type of information that, if someone really understands it and takes all of this into account, can make a sovereignty. Yaakov, this is the type of information that could get a person to leave Gehinom and go into Gan Eden. But you have to understand it and take it into account. So first and foremost, we talked about last night how before the Mashiach comes and... The Rambam says that there will be 15 days of darkness, which agrees with what the Nevi'im say. The prophets say the same thing, and the Gemara in Masechet Sanhedrin says that the Mashiach, the same Mashiach that's talked about since the beginning of the Torah, since the book of Bereishit when Yaakov Avinu... his sons come. Let me tell you what's going to happen at the end of the days. So, we already know about Mashiach from 5,000 years ago. The same Mashiach is going to have a lot of work to do, and everybody's excited. But in reality, everybody should be focused more on teshuva, and the reason why is

16:29Because the Gemara says that Mashiach is only gonna come for a generation of righteous or a generation of wicked. So the Chachamim ask, how could it be if it's never gonna be everyone righteous and everyone wicked? It's always gonna be a mix. The Gemara says exactly. Before the Mashiach comes, everyone is gonna have to make a choice. Either you're completely righteous or... You're completely wicked no more halfway. No more dati leumi, half-secular and half-religious. No more religious on the outside and tameh on the inside. No more. You have to make a decision. That decision is going to be the hardest decision of your life. Why? You're going to have to turn yourself into Ben Ish Chai, your own version of Ben Ish Chai, your own version of Baal Shem Tov, your own version of Moshe Rabbeinu, and... Your own version of Sarah Imeinu, your own version of Rachel Imeinu, your own version of Chana. Your own version. You have to get to your 100% decision, whoever is with Hashem is with me. Meaning, Hashem comes first. Before anything else, before your parents, before your brothers, before your sisters, before everybody. It's a very hard decision.

17:44It's a very hard decision. Why? First and foremost, you have to give up on the old elohim, the god of money. The god of gold is no longer your god at all. You may have money, you may not have money, but as soon as you realize you have to connect to Hashem 100%, you realize the connection and desire for the material is disconnecting you from where you're supposed to be. Doesn't mean that you have to be homeless in the middle of the street, but to aspire and make that your number one goal in life is ruining your connection with Hashem. It's the first thing you have to realize. After that, obviously, there are many other things. So, this parasha gives us a little hint of what I just said, but since the Torah was written by God, He doesn't need many words and... It says in the beginning of the parasha, Hashem talks to Moshe. He says v'ata, which is talking to Moshe for the first time that Moshe's name is not being mentioned and why. The reason why is because this parasha is read at the time of Moshe Rabbeinu's birthday. This is because Moshe Rabbeinu said to Hashem, "Instead of killing Am Yisrael after they made the chet ha'egel..."

19:07Erase me out of Your book. Instead of erasing them, erase me. Or if You're gonna erase them, erase me. Hashem says, "I'm not gonna erase you; I'm not gonna erase them. But a tiny bit of what you said, I will fulfill. How? On your birthday, I'll erase your name from the Torah. On your birthday, in this parasha, you're not gonna have your name in the Torah." But there's also one of the... Signs of humility that Moshe Rabbeinu had, and the reason why, is because you never see Moshe complaining about it either. "I wrote the Torah, though. No, it's five books of Moses. Shouldn't I have my name in the Torah?" No, not a question, not a doubt, not a nothing, not a complaint. So it says, "You shall command the children of Israel that they shall take for you clear olive oil." What's clear olive oil? The Chachamim say that oil is a sign for Am Yisrael. A sign for Am Yisrael more than anything else. It's always a symbolic sign for Am Yisrael. First and foremost, we see that oil, if you mix it with any other liquid, it always floats to the top.

20:30It's always lighter and always floats to the top. Just like Am Yisrael, it doesn't matter how much they beat us up and kill us, with pogroms and the Holocaust, and all the different things that have happened to us, we always come back. Why? Hashem promised. Hashem promised Am Yisrael, Am Segula. Am Segula means we're not subject to the rest of the world's nature. Hashem promised to keep us alive forever. So oil always floats to the top. second thing is, is that we remain separated. If you mix oil with water, the oil will always separate itself from the water, just like a Jew is supposed to. A Jew is not supposed to act like the goyim, not because he's racist, not because he doesn't like the goyim. It has nothing to do with that, because the goy has a certain role in the world and the Jew has a certain role in the world, and

21:30Simple as it gets, it has nothing to do with racism. Racism is based on mankind. Racism is based on your opinion. My opinion, which is flawed. Why? Because our opinions change every week. Last week you liked blue; this week you like black; next week you're gonna like red. And every week, you're gonna change your opinion. I Last week you liked steak, next week you're a vegetarian, the week after that you only eat treif, and people's opinions change all the time. Racism is based on opinion. What's your opinion of a certain race? Last week he liked the Indian people, and this week he doesn't like the Egyptian ones, and this week he doesn't like the Yemenite, or the Ashkenazi, or the Sephardi, or this one and that one. It's all shtuyot. It's mankind's opinion. The Torah doesn't have racism. The Torah has God's opinion. What's God's opinion? He says the Jew has a role in the world. The role of the Jew is to be a light to the nations, meaning you have to lead by example. You have to fulfill the entire Torah and show the world that by fulfilling the entire Torah, you're sanctifying Hashem's name. You're encouraging other people to also want to sanctify Hashem's name, either as a non-Jew,

22:47as a Jew. If they're already Jewish, then you're encouraging them just by your behavior. You're encouraging them to stay connected to Hashem. If they're not Jewish, perhaps you're encouraging them to want to become Jewish and convert. But if you act like a goy, you have a problem. Why do you have a problem? Hashem says you not only are not serving your purpose and... You're serving the opposite of the purpose. Your purpose would be to be a light to the nations. If you're not serving your purpose, then you would just do nothing. You'd just be like a little golem, in the middle of nothing, doing nothing. You just care about yourself. You're in a room. You don't affect anyone. You don't talk to anyone. No one knows you exist. That's a golem. But when you go against Hashem, you violate Shabbat, you violate all the rules of the Torah, and nonetheless you start befriending all of the goyim. You want to go to the political parties, you want to spend a lot of time talking about politics, who's the president, who's the vice president, who's the treasury, who's not the treasury, who's the... You want to talk about all those things instead of Divrei Torah? Hashem says you're not only not serving your purpose and being a light to the nations, you're doing the opposite.

24:07You're mixing with the goyim, and that creates such a problem. What kind of problem? If I told you that such a problem can create a Holocaust, would you believe me? Well, it almost did when Haman took power. The story before the story was exactly that. Cyrus was a king, and he decided, you know what? Let me be the leader that the Prophet Isaiah talked about 200 years before and build a Beit HaMikdash, even though he was a goy. Let me be the tool. It actually said his name in the Navi 200 years before. He decided, let's launch, let's start and build a Beit HaMikdash and... So Ami said, I'm gonna build a Beit HaMikdash. What do you think if somebody said right now, listen guys, Mashiach is here. The first Beit HaMikdash was destroyed. There's a nevuah, a prophecy, there's gonna be a second Beit HaMikdash. Okay, we're gonna build it. We're starting now, which means to us, Mashiach arrived.

25:27Let's go. What do you think? All of Am Yisrael should be getting onto the planes. El Al, JetBlue, this blue, that blue. Every flight goes to Eretz Yisrael. Why? Mashiach is here. We've been waiting for 2,000 years. The reality was people didn't want to go. What do you mean they didn't want to go? Out of millions of Jews around the world that heard the news that they're building the Beit HaMikdash, only 42,000 went to Eretz Yisrael. Why? The rest of them liked being among the non-Jews. They liked their life. They liked eating pizza in Italy. They liked eating Chinese food in China. And... They like talking politics at the White House. They liked it. They don't want to change. They want to stay in Egypt. What's the problem? Mashiach is here, though. That's his problem. I think that, in my opinion, if Mashiach arrived today, we wouldn't be too different. This is one of the reasons why we're obligated to learn Megillat Esther every year. It's not because the story changed. It's because we haven't learned it enough. If we did, Mashiach would actually already be here—in a good way.

26:49So now 42,000 people show up. To prove the point further, Achashverosh takes leadership, stops the building of the Beit HaMikdash. Instead, he decides to have a celebration that the Beit HaMikdash is not being built. Why? Because it was a prophecy. They knew Torah; the goyim knew Torah. They weren't like today's goyim who don't know anything. They, or the Jews sometimes also, knew Torah. They said, "Listen, their prophet Yeshayahu (Isaiah) said there's going to be a new Beit HaMikdash after seventy years. According to his calculations, seventy years have passed, even though technically it was only 62. He calculated seventy years. Okay, the Beit HaMikdash was not built. Why? I stopped it. He said, 'I stopped the Beit HaMikdash from being built, so we should celebrate. That means that Hashem has left Am Yisrael. If He left Am Yisrael, I have nothing to worry about.'" Let's celebrate. And in fact, let me invite a bunch of Jews to the party. Do you think that a bunch of Jews are going to show up to a party held by Hitler? No, right? But they did over here. How many of them? A bunch of them. Who? The Rabbis.

28:03Mordechai is screaming at the door. No, no, it's Hitler. It's Hitler and his brother and his sister. He hates you. He's celebrating that the Beit HaMikdash was not built. Okay, listen, each to their own. We have to be nice. You know, we live in their country. We have to respect the law. We live in America. What? What? If he's the president, he's the president. So what? If it's the rule, what do you mean, "so what"? It's against the Torah, you imbecile. It's against Hashem. Listen, Hashem understands. If He didn't understand, He wouldn't make it happen. They start rationalizing, rationalizing their sins like people rationalize the behavior of the goyim since then. people knew as much about the Torah as they know about the economy, or they know about the White House and who's the President and who's not, or they know about sports and who gets what salary and who doesn't get a salary, Mashiach would be here, and everybody would be tzaddikim. The problem is we're spending too much time being like the goyim, like we did on Purim 2,500 years ago. Many of them showed up, and because they showed up...

29:17They said, listen, we have to be nice. We're living here. And look how nice they are to us. They even served us kosher wine. Look, the White House is serving kosher food now. Obviously, they're welcoming us. They like us. The White House is serving kosher food. What's the problem? They welcome us, no? The White House back then also served kosher food and then came out. Came out with what? With the clothing that we learn about in this parashat of the Kohen Gadol. Celebrating, "Look, the Beit HaMikdash is not being built. Why? I stopped it. I'm wearing the clothes of the Kohen Gadol to show you it's finished." Just become goyim. Give it up. Give it up. And what do we do as fools, and I say we because it was us. It wasn't some stranger that lived 2,000 years ago. It's us. That's why we're still here. What do we do? Say, okay, l'chaim. L'chaim. Achashverosh. L'chaim. Haman. L'chaim. Hashem says, okay, you want to say l'chaim for not building the Beit HaMikdash? I'll give you l'chaim.

30:41When we act like goyim and we play baseball, football, basketball, and sports, and get involved with the White House, the news, the stock market, and all the stuff that we're not supposed to be doing, you bring a Holocaust. That's what this whole holiday is about. Now, it also connects to this parsha. Why? Hashem says you want to be saved from this Holocaust. You want to be saved in the days of Mashiach that are going to be full of confusion. You're not going to know who's religious and who's not, and... Be a Shemen Zayit Zach. Not just a Shemen Zayit. Don't just be a Jew because your mom's a Jew. Don't just be a Jew because your grandfather's a rabbi. Be a Jew because you're clear—clear of what? Clear of all of the aveirot, clear of all the Amalek that's in our mind that taints us to go and be a goy. Be clear of all those things. Be a clean, kosher oil. Not a touch of avodah zarah. Not on your wig and not in your behavior. Not on your money and not in your business. Shemen Zayit Zach. Don't just be a Shemen. There's plenty of Shemen in the world. There's 8,000 of them. 8 billion of them. Don't be Shemen Zayit. There's 20 million of them. Be Shemen Zayit Zach. Shemen Zayit Zach.

32:08Hashem, you'll have blessing, so that's already the first one. After this, we learn how Hashem is very, very particular about the clothing of the Kohen Gadol and the Kohanim in general, to such a point where He actually mentions several times that If there's a mistake being made, the Kohen gets a death penalty. Now, this seems a little bit extreme if you don't understand it. It seems a little extreme. Why does it seem a little extreme? Okay, so the guy has eight pieces of clothing. He forgot one of them. Forgot one. He wore seven. Why? It makes him a Rasha because he wore seven pieces of clothing? He wore seven instead of eight. Oh, not that. He wore all eight. But one of the bells that he had fell off. He didn't notice. But a death penalty because he's missing a bell?

33:32The bells fly a little bit. He has all eight pieces of clothing. One bell fell off. Why? Why so strict? Because each one of these pieces of clothing means eternity. First and foremost, we understand right from the beginning, to answer one person's question, that in chapter 28, verse 5... Hashem says they shall take gold and turquoise and purple and scarlet wool and linen. These are the different things that make up the clothing of the Kohen Gadol. So here we see something peculiar. There is shatnez, wool and linen. There's a rule in the Torah that if you wear wool and linen together, it's like you have fire on. Where if you know one of your friends has chas v'shalom, wool and linen at the same time. He has a jacket and he has a little wool and linen in it. And you know for sure it's in there. It's not like it's a fake. For sure you know he has shatnez on. You, not only should, you're obligated to do what? Take the jacket off of his back. Why? It's like fire. Every single second that he wears wool and linen is a sin from the Torah.

34:52Not in a rabbinical sense, a sin from the Torah, a sin from Hashem. Wait, hold on a second. Kohen Gadol, the biggest tzaddik in town, he's wearing shatnez. How could it be? Already here we see he's special. He's different. It's like an island. The Beit HaMikdash was an island. It wasn't an island really. Meaning different rules apply in the Beit HaMikdash. You were able to light fire on Shabbat in the Beit HaMikdash. Why? Korbanot! It's like a different island. It's a different place. It's unique. It's not really of this world. When someone's a Kohen Gadol, he's partly in this world, he's partly in the Olam HaBa. Different rules apply. Different rules apply. So already we see, whereas an average guy like us is committing a sin by wearing shatnez, he's performing a mitzvah. This is one corner of the other one of the court. Why? Different world, different rules. Why is it going to go? So already we see something extraordinary. Next, we see that it says in verse 11, a jeweler's craft, when it's talking about the ephod, the ephod, the thing that he had over here. It talks about how it had the stones on the shoulders and...

36:19...also later on it talks about the breastplate. It says something we talked about last week in the Mishnah in Avot, which says a jeweler's craft, like an engraving of a signet ring. You shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. So the two stones that the Kohen had on his shoulders had the names of the twelve tribes. But it says it's going to be like an engraving. What do you mean "like"? Is it an engraving or is it not? I... If I tell you, listen, write me a letter with what? Something like a pen. Okay, is it a pen or is it a pencil? It's like a pencil. So it's a pencil then. No, no, no, it's not a pencil. It's like a pencil. It's like a pen, but it's like a pencil. No, no, no, you have to decide. You're driving me crazy now. Pick one, pencil or pen. Okay, it's a marker. No, no, no, no. It's like a marker. You have to pick one. Are you crazy? Are you in this world or in the other world? Which way do you have your hand? No, it's like. What's like? If you read the Hebrew and you understand it, you see the translation is the best they can do. Why? It doesn't say like. What does it say? The two rocks will be opened. What does it mean, opened? Like I spoke to you guys last week, the Shamir worm...

37:44Shamir worm made a mark that made the names of the twelve Shevatim, the twelve tribes. It looked like it was an engraving, but it wasn't an engraving. Why? Because an engraving takes away a piece of the material, a piece of the rock. When you engrave the wall, a small part of the wall will be lost and... Shamir worm, it didn't engrave it. It looked like it engraved it, but in reality, it just opened it. If that means it opened it, it's like a laser. Like a laser. So here, you see what we learned in last week's Mishnah. It's like Hashem had it all planned out. So then you continue... It says Aaron the Kohen Gadol shall carry their names on these two stones that are on his shoulders. He should carry their names, meaning the 12 tribes, before Hashem on his shoulders as a remembrance. Wait a minute, Hashem forgot the 12 tribes?

38:59It says you should have the names of the twelve tribes. So when he comes in front of Hashem in the Kodesh HaKodashim, Hashem can see it and He remembers. What do you mean, remembers? He forgot them? So Chazal says that when God sees the names, He recalls their righteousness. He recalls the twelve Shevatim, the twelve tribes, and He remembers all their righteous acts, all the good things that they did. All the amazing things they did in their entire lives. But then you can say, wait a minute, does Hashem really need to see the names in order to remember? Hashem remembers. He doesn't need to see anything to remember. See here, the Mussar that we're learning is really not for Hashem. It's for us. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter one time brought a big fish to his Beit Midrash. Everyone is learning, but a lot of their learning they did from watching Rabbi Yisrael.

40:13They saw today Kvodo HaRav with Ruach HaKodesh has a giant fish with him too. Maybe he's going to bring the fish back to life. I don't know. So everyone's waiting to see what he's going to do with the fish. He puts the fish on the stand over there on top of the table. Takes a ninja knife. Tach! Chops its head off. Everyone's looking. Okay, maybe he's going to put them back together now. Tach! Another piece off. Okay, he's making it even more difficult to put them together. He cuts them into little pieces. Okay, now everybody's very curious. Can he really put it back together? Quiet, he's not saying anything. So all the students, hearing and seeing this noise, they gather around the Kavod HaRav. They said, you know, what are we going to learn here? Is there magic? What's happening? And then Rabotai HaKedoshim, he looks at all of his students and he says, you see this fish? You see what it used to be, yeah. That's what's going to happen to you if you don't learn Torah every day. Kavod HaRav, well, we didn't know. It's what we hear already. We're learning Torah. No, no, no.

41:28seeing is believing. Yet, this I told you a lot of things. I told you, but sometimes you need to see it. Sometimes you need to see. Sometimes somebody needs to die in order to believe in Gehinnom. They have near-death experiences and all types of hallucinations and so on. Sometimes Hashem has to kill you in order to make you do teshuva. Sometimes He has to make you sick in order for you to do teshuva. Sometimes He has to take all your money in order for you to realize that all the money came from Him in the first place. Sometimes He has to get you to go through all types of problems in order for you to realize He is the only solution. Seeing is believing. Seeing is believing. He says the names are gonna be on his shoulders in front of Hashem as a memory for their acts. Why? Every one of us is obligated to say, "When are my acts gonna be like their acts?" Why were their acts so good? Hashem engraved their names on the shoulders of the Kohen Gadol, and the entire nation was saved because of the things they used to do.

42:44Did you ever do anything that was worth it? Did you ever do anything that anyone's gonna be saved by? If you didn't, it's time to do it. It's time we guys get started. How long are you thinking you’ll live, 500 years? It's time to get started. What are you, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70? It's time to get started now. So... We see already, we're not even halfway through the parasha, we're learning Mussar in every verse.

43:45Don't you feel like a fish in a bowl? Everybody looking at you like, what are they doing in there? God bless. So the Mishnah in Avot, the Mishnah in Avot, we did most of it, but we still have a little bit left. So we'll read the Mishnah again, and then go over the parts that we didn't go over. Don't you feel like a fish in a bowl? Everybody looking at you like, what are they doing in there? God bless. So the Mishnah in Avot, the Mishnah in Avot, we did most of it, but we still have a little bit left. So we'll read the Mishnah again, and then go over the parts that we didn't go over. Ten things were created on Shabbat Eve at twilight, meaning Friday night, and they are: the mouth of the earth, the mouth of the earth being the mouth of the earth that opened up and swallowed Korach and the 250 rabbis that followed him, which is one of the three openings of Gehinnom in this world according to Rashi and the Maharal. Ten things were created on Shabbat Eve at twilight, meaning Friday night, and they are: the mouth of the earth, the mouth of the earth being the mouth of the earth that opened up and swallowed Korach and the 250 rabbis that followed him, which is one of the three openings of Gehinnom in this world according to Rashi and the Maharal.

45:04Second, the mouth of the well, this is the well of Miriam that followed Am Yisrael and provided them water based on her merit for 40 years. The mouth of Balaam's donkey, Balaam's donkey rebuked Balaam, telling him that obviously he's going in the wrong direction and... One of the major lessons that we learn from here is that Hashem controls nature, meaning that nothing is above and beyond Hashem. He can make, just like He made us speak, He can make a donkey speak. There's no difference. He can make a rock speak. Nature and Hashem are one and the same. The second thing we learn is a Mussar that I understand from it, it's very simple, is that if someone is telling you the truth, it doesn't matter who they are. Meaning, even if a donkey came over here and told you, "Listen, Hashem said to keep Shabbat," it doesn't make a difference that he's a donkey. It's the truth. You have a source. It's written in the Torah. The fact that you're a donkey is your problem; the fact that it's the truth is my problem. Next, the rainbow. The rainbow is something that Hashem brought to the world after the Mabul (Flood) from Noah as a sign that...

46:27Doesn't want to destroy the world again like He did, and He's not going to destroy the world the way He did at the time of Noach. But nonetheless, we read about this every single Friday and Saturday, where it says "VaHashem lamabul yashav." Hashem sat there while the mabul happened, meaning... Hashem destroyed the world once before; it doesn't necessarily mean that He won't do it again if we don't do teshuva. If we do teshuva, Hashem will be fine, but if we don't, we won't be fine. So don't think just because a lot of people are violating Hashem's Torah, He's gonna change the Torah for you. Just like He destroyed the world in the past, it can happen again. We don't want it to; we want it to be a good thing. But the point is that we read this every Shabbat and... next, the manna bread which we got from Hashem in the desert for 40 years, parnasa literally came from Shamayim. This is written in our Mishnah to remind us that until this day, three thousand three hundred years later, parnasa is still coming from Shamayim, just in a different form.

47:42just in different form. Anyone that thinks that they are making their own parnasa, they're making their own money, they're the reason they made more money in the market, they're the reason they may have more money in real estate, they're the reason they have an invention or this or that, obviously have not learned this Mishnah thoroughly enough because they think they're actually contributing anything to their parnasa. The more you understand... What this Mishnah says, the more you realize that you literally contribute nothing. It's all Hashem. It's not 99% Hashem and 1% us. It's 100% Hashem. He's just making you do something to make it look realistic. But in reality, it's all Hashem. Everything is Hashem. The more you give Hashem the honor that He's the one making it all, the more He wants to give you. The more you think you're doing it, He says, okay, you're on your own now. Let's see what you can do now. Good luck. Steve Jobs had billions of dollars, billions and billions of dollars. And he was also an atheist. So right before he died, Hashem brought him to the top. Meaning he had the most. He succeeded in olam hazeh to the highest level he ever did before. All of the naysayers and the enemies that he ever had said, "Oh, he's a genius." The haters said he's a genius.

49:09The banks that didn't want to lend the money at the earlier part of his career wanted to throw money at him. "Don't even give it back to us. Just take it from us and tell people you took it." All the investors that wanted to sue him couldn't wait just to see a picture of him in the news. Why? Why is that commercial for them? And with all the billions and billions of dollars, I should say, wait, wait, wait. Aren't you an atheist, Steve? Oh, okay, you're on your own now. You're on your own. All the billions couldn't buy one liver. All the billions couldn't buy one liver. Not two, not three, not four—one liver. So as soon as that liver had cancer, bye-bye, Steve. Bye-bye. Thank you for the iPhone. Bye-bye, Steve. What do you think? Every time you have an iPhone, it's like a Kaddish? You do Kaddish for Steve? What? You want to be an atheist? Good luck to you. That's the reality, rabotai. It's not being mean. It's a reality. You want to be an atheist? Hashem says, okay, I'll bring you all the way to the top before I bring you down. Why? When you need me, I'll tell you, hey, you didn't believe in Me until now. You didn't believe in Me until now. Okay, so you're on your own. What do you need?

50:24Deliver. I go buy one. Well, you have ten, twenty billion dollars. Go buy one. No, go. Go buy one. Go buy two. Go buy three. Go buy four. Go buy five. You can't buy it. What, money's not good? They'll take cash. They don't take billions. What happened? This, rabotai, is a reality. It's no different than us if we don't do what Hashem says. It's no different than us if we change and turn Hashem into Elohei HaKesef. We think that our relationship with God is based on money. The reality, rabotai, is if your relationship with Hashem is based on money, you're no different than Steve. Next, the staff. What staff? The staff of Moshe Rabbeinu. The prophet of all prophets, Hashem already had him in mind and Mashiach in mind at the time of creation. The staff had the ten plagues on it, the Roshei Teivot of the ten plagues.

51:44It also had Hashem's Shem HaMeforash, His ineffable name, where every single time a plague was implemented, all Moshe needed to do was look at the Shem HaMeforash, look at the plague, and you have yourself a miracle, something supernatural. Now, this staff itself also defied nature. Why? You couldn't just pick it up because you were strong. You couldn't just pick it up because you were muscular. You couldn't just pick it up because you found it. You couldn't pick it up because you had money. You had to have merit in order to pick up this stick. Not just because it was 672 pounds according to the Midrash. because if Hashem did not want you to pick it up, you were not able to move it. That's why the staff was buried in the sadeh (field) of Yitro for many, many years, because all of the giborim (heroes) from that generation tried taking it out, and no one could take it out.

53:01By the way, that's where the goyim got their story of Arthur taking the sword out of the stone—all those stories that they created. That's from our Torah. Anything that's any good in this world must have a source in the Torah. If you remember, I told you guys there's a source in the Torah even for the song that my daughter likes, "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands." It's also in the Torah, by the way, and the prophet Yechezkel. The only difference is that the goyim used to sing it when the Jews would die. It was actually said if something happened when someone died, saying "alav hashalom," meaning "peace be upon him." But it's also by the prophet Yechezkel. The point being, if it's any good, it must have a source in the Torah. If it doesn't have a source, then it's not good. Next, the Shamir worm. We just talked about this special worm; it was literally an example of how the entire world was created only for me, as said.

54:10There's no other purpose for this worm other than to build the Beit HaMikdash, to make the utensils for the Kohen Gadol, to make all the tools for the Beit HaMikdash, and for the Torah itself. That's the only use that this worm ever had. Once there was no use for it, once we had the Beit HaMikdash, the worm disappeared. Next, the script meaning... the Hebrew alphabet, the Sfata Kodesh, the code for this entire world of how Hashem created the world itself with the Aleph Bet, how He created the world by first creating the Torah, writing the Torah with black fire on white fire, and then He saw what was written in the Torah and used that as a blueprint to create the world, not the opposite—not creating the world and then the Torah, but the Torah and then the world. Meaning, He wrote the Torah and He says, "Oh, the Torah has a rule of kosher? Okay, so I'll make kosher fish and non-kosher fish."

55:21kosher animals and non-kosher animals, kosher birds and non-kosher birds. Oh, the Torah has taharat hamishpacha? Okay, so I'll make one gender that's male and one gender that's female, and the female will have a time of the month and where she is impure to her husband. She's pure to the rest of the world, meaning she could shake hands with her sisters, she could kiss her mother, she could kiss her kids, she could hug them, no problem. But her husband, don't even touch the finger. Don't even touch the finger. The Gemara says there was one guy that was a talmid chacham, and he died really young. And his wife couldn't deal with it. She said, ah, doesn't the Torah say that if you learn Torah, it protects you. And she went to the Talmidei Chachamim, she said, no, doesn't the Torah say that the Torah protects them? Look, my husband died, he's 30 years old. How did he die? No, explain it to me, explain it to me. And she's talking with full emotion. Real story. Says, no, explain it to me. It says in the Torah, you learn Torah, it protects you. My husband died. No, how do you explain it? How do you explain it?

56:33Measures for measure in Hashem. What's measure for measure? Tzaddik. We don't know how Hashem does what He does. We don't know what He did, what He didn't do. But we know for sure Hashem has His reasons. She wouldn't take the answer. She kept going from yeshiva to yeshiva. You know, people hear these things, they feel bad. It's not only feeling bad for the woman, but it also serves as an Amalek. Why? Creates doubts in people. Maybe Hashem made a mistake. Doesn't exist, but Amalek makes you think it does. Oh, look, why do bad things happen to good people? Maybe Hashem is not paying attention. If Hashem is such an amazing God and created the world, how come the Holocaust happened? That's the most common question in the world. The ridiculous part is that it's written in the Torah exactly why it happened. You make sins, Hashem says, I'll bring you a Holocaust. And he even writes that the Holocaust will have a symbol. What symbol? Eagle. The Romans had an eagle. The Nazis had an eagle. Haman had an eagle. It's not a secret. You want more? Gemara, Masechet Megillah, page 6b. Starts at the end of 6a and then it's the first few lines of 6b.

58:00The Gemara gives us a nevuah for all of those people who think that just a bunch of rabbis who don't know anything wrote the Gemara, that they didn't have Ruach HaKodesh, that they didn't know the future. Well, the Gemara was written almost 2,000 years ago, and this specific Gemara was written 2,500 years ago. What does it say? Germania is Edom, and if you would give it the power, meaning if Hashem would allow them, they would destroy the entire world. Who's Germania? Germania is Germany. What's the problem? Well, okay, great. So you have Germany in the Torah. What's the big deal? The problem is that Germany didn't exist when the Gemara was written. You look at the US archives or you look at Wikipedia or you look at Google or you look at wherever you want to look at. You look at history. Germany wasn’t created. Germany as a country, forget Nazi Germany, Germany as a country was only created or founded by 300 barbarian nations almost a thousand years after this Gemara was written and Nazi Germany almost 2,000 years after this Gemara was written.

59:10What does the Torah say? Germania of Edom will destroy the world if Hashem would only allow them. And how will this Germania of Edom be founded? Three hundred different princes will come together. How did the U.S. archives describe the founding of Germany? Three hundred different barbarians came together. The Torah, Rabotai, where was God during the Holocaust? He made it. He wrote it. It's going to happen if you do such and such. There are no questions. The Torah was a blueprint. The Torah was a blueprint for Hashem saw there's a law and then He implemented it into the world. He created something based on this law. Next, a mikhtav, the inscription. There was a special tool that He used to write. Tablets of the Ten Commandments. And the Gemara in Masechet Megillah, page 2b, says that where do we see that this was a special tool? When the Ten Commandments were on the tablets, we saw that this was something supernatural and

1:00:30Reason why is because the engravement was so unique that you were able to see the Ten Commandments as if it was just in front of you regardless of which position you looked at it from. It was in front; it was in front side; it was in front. It didn't matter which way you would always look at it as if it was right in front of you. Second thing is the letters themselves were completely engraved through the actual stone or the sapphire, but also that means that the letters... Mem and Samech were literally floating in the air since no stone was holding them in place. They were literally floating in the air. Next, the tablets themselves—the Luchot—the first set were created before Shabbat, during the first six days. The second set was after Moshe Rabbeinu broke the first set because Am Yisrael sinned and... The second set, Moshe Rabbeinu engraved, but he put the first set in the Aron HaKodesh, meaning that in the first Beit HaMikdash, the Aron HaKodesh had the first set and the second set of Luchot HaBrit, meaning we actually literally had something that Hashem Himself wrote in the Aron HaKodesh. But before this, the first Beit HaMikdash was destroyed.

1:01:59The Chachamim say the ground swallowed it and hid the Aron HaKodesh, which also had the manna bread. It also had the staff of Aharon HaKohen that grew almonds. Next is Mazikin. Mazikin, which we talked about last week, was a very interesting shiur about the destructive spirits and the demons. Small thing to add about that: a lot of people tell me the same thing all the time, and no matter how much I try to explain to people, they just seem to not understand. So I'll be as clear as I can possibly be: there is a growing epidemic today of foolishness. Just like cancer grows, so does foolishness, and... there's no such thing as suffering without sin. It's no such thing. If you're suffering, that means you committed a sin, and

1:03:07If a leaf wants to fall off of a tree, it has to ask Hashem for permission. It has to ask God for permission. Meaning nothing happens without God signing off on it. Nothing. Nothing. Zero. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. But even this? Yes, even that. But even that? Even that. Nothing. Nothing happens without Hashem signing off that it's allowed to happen. Not a single oxygen cell can enter your lungs without Hashem saying it's allowed. Not a single atom is allowed to spin without Hashem spinning it, nor will a single dollar enter your pocket digitally or actually without Hashem signing it. Not a single flat tire will ever happen to you unless Hashem says it is allowed. There's no suffering without sin. Now, many people, both Jews and non-Jews, and...

1:04:08an issue where they go to sleep and then they wake up, but they can't move. They wake up out of sleep, but they can't move and they feel like they're partially dreaming, partially awake. It's called sleep paralysis and This is not one or two people. This is millions and millions of people, Jews and non-Jews. Now, if you just awake, no big deal. If you're awake and you can't move, it's kind of scary. You feel like you're crippled, you feel like something is, you know, something's wrong. You just lost your ability to walk, you lost your ability to move your hands, you lost your ability to talk. Know this from experience. It's terrifying. But if that wasn't enough to trouble you, sometimes you've made enough sins that Hashem sends somebody to the room, and you can see them or feel them, and you feel like you have company. Sometimes you can see it. Sometimes you simply can feel it.

1:05:29You feel like somebody else is in the room and it's not your wife. It's not your husband. It's not the kids. It's somebody else. That's somebody else not from this world. If you have the merit, or if you call it a merit, to see it, whoa, you're gonna have one hell of a night. Sometimes that creature is not a big fan of yours. Sometimes, I'm actually understanding it, it's all the time. He doesn't like you too much. Why? Because many times, it's very common for that... whatever you want to call it. It's my thinking, such choking you and tries to kill you. Now, this is not something I'm making up. This is scientifically proven. Millions of people are dealing with this right now as we speak. It's an actual condition. You haven't had it. You're very, very lucky. If you had, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You're scared as we speak for it to happen again. This is a very real condition. It's not because of any other reason other than the fact that you have made some pretty big sins, and Hashem is telling you it's time for you to do teshuvah, Jew or non-Jew.

1:06:53Sins are coming to kill you, your sins, your creations. They're sick of you. What kind of sins? Sex crimes. Wasting seed being the number one, being promiscuous being number two. All of those things, they're coming to visit you. Abba, I'm here. I mean, how can you give me a body? How can you give me a body, Abba? Where's my body? Where's my body, Abba? Look, no body. Where's my body, Abba? Oh, you want to give me a body? Okay. Start choking you. Sounds like fun. It's a real thing. Goyim and Jews are dealing with this. People tell me, no, you're machmir, you're stringent. It's a real thing. Ask people. Go online. Type in sleep paralysis. What do they see? What do they experience? This is what they experience. Why? Wasting seed. Being promiscuous. You want to act like Sodom and Gemorrah? You'll see what happens. You don't have to wait for Gehinnom anymore. You don't have to wait. How do I know this? I dealt with it. I saw it. This is not a story. I didn't read this in books. Do you understand?

1:08:03Reason why I do shiurim is not because I just like Torah. I love Torah. But it's not just because of that. If I just like Torah, I just go into my little cave, close it, do not enter, make sure that I get coffee once a day, and I'm finished. Rabotai, the reason why I give shiurei Torah is very, very simple. I know how bad it looks on the other side. And if you don't do teshuva, you will too. Differences whether you can have a chance like I did. I don't play that kind of game. I got one chance. That's more than enough. Thank you very much. Hashem, who says you're gonna get another chance? Teshuva is for everyone: Jews, non-Jews, religious, not religious, everyone. Are you going to be like Steve Jobs? Everyone, you want teshuva to come first. I'm saying it in the way that I am because the answer is very simple. If you don't do teshuva, these things happen. It's a disaster. It's not in dreams. It's not in books. Hashem is bringing the other world into this world to make you decide. You with me or not? It's not going to remain mystical and far away from you forever. There are more near-death experiences today than at any other time in history.

1:09:28There are more people that remember their previous incarnation than at any other time in history. We're talking about millions of people who remember who they were in their previous life, documented by scientists, not by religious people—scientists. Remember, little children remember who they were in their previous life. Some are Jews. Most of them are not, and More people died and came back and told you exactly the same story. They saw light. They saw this. They saw that. They saw some torture too. Not all of them talk about that part. More people are seeing things that are unusual in the world—moving things, different strange things that are not natural. Hashem is making you decide. It's not for show. It's not for the movies. Reality is much scarier than the movies. The question is, how many signs you're going to need? How many signs? Next question, next issue is Moshe Rabbeinu's grave.

1:10:49Moshe Rabbeinu perfected himself to the highest level of any other human being. The Rambam in Shemona Perakim says that what's the difference between Moshe Rabbeinu and all the other prophets? They all wanted Am Yisrael to do teshuva. They were all tzaddikim. They all learned Torah. What's the difference? How come by Moshe Rabbeinu it says that Moshe Rabbeinu spoke to Hashem face to face? Avraham Avinu wasn't good, Yaakov Avinu wasn't good? What's the problem? Is it lit in the back? The blue? You see blue, yes? Blue, yes, is already right. Yes, no? You don't see it? Give eyes. The eyes see a color. Think so? Oh, seeing things, that's for later. Everything you see is real. So, Moshe Rabbeinu's grave, Hashem hid it. Why? Moshe Rabbeinu was an Ish Kadosh, and he did not want a...

1:12:10Moshe's grave, Moshe's name, Moshe's story, Moshe's history to be desecrated. He wanted to make sure that Moshe Rabbeinu, who perfected himself as a human being, remains so, and no one taints the name like they do and continue to do on a daily basis with different Rebbes. Whether it be the Lubavitcher Rebbe, whom many people have turned into an idol, or Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, whom many people have turned into an idol, or other tzaddikim that people love to such a high extent that they've turned them into idols. remains so, and no one taints the name like they do and continue to do on a daily basis with different Rebbes. Whether it be the Lubavitcher Rebbe, whom many people have turned into an idol, or Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, whom many people have turned into an idol, or other tzaddikim that people love to such a high extent that they've turned them into idols. The Issue of idol worship, while we think it's not such a big deal in our generation, the reality is that it's a much bigger deal than you can imagine. The reason why the Mishnah says that the Masechet Avodah Zarah, the tractate of Avodah Zarah, that Avraham Avinu had was a thousand times more extensive than ours.

1:13:24thousand times more extensive than ours, and the reality is most of us do not know what idol worship is. Most of us, when I tell you "idol worship," you're thinking of some statue, praying to a statue, praying to a cow, praying to JC Penny. That's what you think idol worship is. You're right, but only partially, only partially. Yaakov Avinu cried hysterically for over 20 years because of his son Yosef. They told him he died, but unlike the promise that Hashem put into nature, which is that you will little by little feel less pain for someone that died after a year, Yaakov Avinu did not stop feeling the pain.

1:14:24felt the pain after 20 years the same as he felt it when he first found out a day later, and he couldn't get over it. He loved his son Yosef more than anything you could possibly imagine. When his brothers, the other sons, the other shevatim, came to Yaakov and I told them, Od Yosef Chai, our brother Yosef is alive, and he is the viceroy of Egypt. Yaakov said, I'm ready to die with him. Meaning, all I need to do is just see him, and I'll die. It's fine, I'm finished. Finished. Finished. I've achieved everything I've ever wanted. It's such a great gift. I love just let me see him once that he's the same Yosef that left my house 20 years ago. Still a tzaddik. And I'm okay to die. I'm ready to die. After Yehuda builds a yeshiva in Goshen, Yaakov Avinu goes down to Egypt with 70 souls.

1:15:46Big meeting with his son Yosef takes place. And the Torah says Yosef hugged Yaakov, but it doesn't say Yaakov hugged Yosef. Why? Didn't you say moments ago, a paragraph ago, all you need to do is see him and you're willing to die? Loved him so much, just to see him said, "Enough for me. It's all I'm about. Finished. I'm finished. I don't need anything else in the world, Hashem. You're the best. You're the best. All the suffering was worth it just to see my son one time." But he finished, finished. You see your son, he doesn't even give him a hug. Lama, lama rabotai, lama? I heard this originally from Avni Simi again, and if you understand it, ashrecha. At the moment Yaakov saw Yosef, he felt such an overwhelming passion, such an overwhelming happiness, such an extraordinary feeling of gratitude.

1:17:06Such an extraordinary passion to love his son. He was looking to squeeze him until all the love came out as little teddy bears. And he stopped. He said, "Shema Yisrael, Hashem Eloheinu, Hashem Echad." Now you don't say Shema Yisrael... Well, you couldn't do it after, you couldn't do it before. All the Abba could do in the morning and night. What are you doing now? Shema Yisrael now? Why are you doing Shema Yisrael now? Go hug your son, you haven't seen him in 20 years. Why are you doing Shema Yisrael now? Your son's hugging you, you're doing Shema Yisrael? What's Shema Yisrael? What are you doing? Yaakov Avinu understood what Avodah Zarah is, Rabotai. Yaakov Avinu said, oh, this feeling that I have to see my son, Too much. It's love that does not belong anywhere else other than between me and Hashem. It only belongs between me and Hashem. You're not allowed to love anything like that other than Hashem.

1:18:16If we understood what Avodah Zarah is, we'd realize it's still alive and well. Why? Because every day we love something more than Hashem. We love money more than Hashem. We love our spouses more than Hashem. We love our kids more than Hashem. We love baseball more than Hashem. We love basketball more than Hashem. We love the news more than Hashem. The newscaster more than Hashem. What don't we love more than Hashem? Hashem yirachem. When do we even have time to love Hashem? Everybody says, no, love Hashem, love Hashem. When do you have time to love Hashem? You love everybody else. Yaakov Avinu understood, love does not belong anywhere else other than for Hashem. So if you're going to start learning Torah and say, oh no, no, I want to learn about loving Hashem. Okay, start with this: Can you do it? First you have to fear Hashem. Then we can start talking about loving Hashem because we have no concept in this generation what it means to love Hashem. Loving Hashem means you have no other feelings for anything else that are even close to the relationship you have with Hashem. Not even for your own kids that came out of your own body. You tell every mom, "Do you love your kids?" "What do you mean you love your kids? It's like my arm, it's my leg." You ask yourself if you love your arm.

1:19:35ask yourself if you love your leg. No, it's part of your body. Okay, you love your kids. Yeah, yeah, well, but you're making a mistake. Hashem comes first. Somebody didn't like my video where I made a clip where I told the woman that she's sinning by living with her parents because she's living with her mom, her real mom, and someone that's not her dad, and that someone that's not her dad is not Jewish. I told her, "You're not allowed to live in that house." And some of you were not sure, and one guy said, "Oh, listen, I don't think you're right. It says in the Ten Commandments you have to honor your parents, and..." Rabotai yekarim, you're not allowed to honor your parents if honoring your parents is going to desecrate Hashem. If honoring your parents is going to go against Hashem, you're not allowed to. Forget "it's not you shouldn't"—you're not allowed. Hashem comes first. Hashem comes before your parents, Hashem comes before your wife, before your husband, before your children, before anything, before you.

1:20:51That's loving Hashem. And that's why we say every single day, "Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad. V'ahavta et Hashem Elokecha b'chol levavecha, u'vechol nafshecha, u'vechol me'odecha." What does it mean? The Mishnah in Avot tells us, Rabotai Yekarim, we learned it a few months ago. Be careful when you read Shema Yisrael. Why be careful? Why don't you read Shema Yisrael carelessly? Be careful with everything else. No. No, with Shema Yisrael, be careful. Why? You have to understand what it means. And you love Hashem. You have to be careful to know what it means. Why? If you understand what it means, you'll understand the entire Torah. If you understand what it means, and you love Hashem, you understand the entire Torah. Why? Nothing else comes other than Hashem. That's it. Hashem is first. Hashem is first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh. There's nothing else other than Hashem in your life. You understand the entire Torah. How many of us are there? I'm telling this to myself. How many of us are there? We love everything more than Hashem, unfortunately.

1:22:02We love everything so much that we don't have time for Hashem sometimes. Moshe understood this very well, and he made Hashem everything. That's why Hashem called Moshe "Avdi," Moshe, my servant. Why? He had no more personal choice. He had no more personal desire. He had no more personal preference. No more love for anything else other than Hashem. What do you want to do today? What does Hashem want? What do you want to do tomorrow? What does Hashem want? What do you think? What does Hashem think? The answer by default was what does Hashem want? What does Hashem think? That's how you become the perfect human being. It's hard. It's hard to become a perfect human being. But we're obligated to try. We're obligated to try. We're not obligated to be. We're obligated to try. You get paid for the effort.

1:23:21Hashem did not want to ruin this. He didn't want people to ruin it, to go to Moshe Rabbeinu's grave and start praying to Moshe as if Moshe was God, when in reality, Moshe sacrificed his life more than anyone else in history, to such an extent that he sacrificed his own opinion. You know what it means to sacrifice your own opinion? We want to sacrifice money. We want to sacrifice marriage. We want to sacrifice kids. We want to sacrifice jobs. We want to sacrifice anything. But your opinion? What do you mean? That's pretty much like sacrificing yourself. Yes, exactly. Exactly. Can you do it? Moshe did. That's what Moshe is. Moshe... And Hashem did not want people that are fools and don't know the difference between praying to Hashem and using the merits of the tzaddikim and praying to an idol. Like many people are doing today, they go to graves, they pray to the grave. They go to Rabbi Shimon, they pray to Rabbi Shimon. They go to the Ohel and they pray to the Rebbe, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

1:24:34They go to different places, to Uman, they pray to Rabbi Nachman. What is this shtuyot? What is idol worship? It's a hundred percent idol worship, rabotai, a hundred percent idol worship. But idol worship is not just with rabbis. It's not just with idols. Idol-worship is also with money. When all you can think and talk about is money, you are worshipping money. That's why after the Ten Commandments in Parashat Yitro, Hashem gave us the commandments. I'm the only God that took you out of Egypt. Don't use my name in vain. Don't have any other gods. Observe Shabbat. Respect your parents. He gave us the Ten Commandments. After He gave us all the Ten Commandments, you see at the end of Parashat Yitro, what does it say? Oh, and don't worship Elohei kesef v’zahav (the gods of money and gold). What do you mean? Didn't you just tell me that in the Ten Commandments? Why are you repeating it?

1:25:39Why did you repeat Shabbat again? Why don't you repeat "don't steal" again? Why don't you repeat "don't murder" again? Why are you repeating "don't worship the god of money and gold"? Why? Because it's relevant to us. Because many people worship money much more than they serve God. Much more than they serve God. They love money much more than they love God, and they sell God for $10. They make promises, they all want to make a donation. "As soon as God gives me more money, I'll make a donation." Oh, so you're negotiating with God. He has to give you, so you give Him, as if you're doing Him a favor. "Once He gives me, I'll give Him." Like it's not written in the Torah to the prophet Hoshea that everything is His. You skipped that verse in the Torah. He didn't say everything is mine. You're thinking that He has to give you, and then you give. Or sometimes they promise and they don't follow through. I had people like this, miskinim (poor people). They have a ton of money. It's the only thing they have. They say, no, no, I'm going to donate. I had a guy tell me, no, no, listen. Just call me. Talk to me. Tell me some things. I need to donate right now. I need to donate, donate, donate. No, I fell for it once or twice. I usually don't make these appointments, but this was a phone call. I said, how bad could it be? 10 minutes.

1:27:05So I called him. Forty minutes we're talking. Anyone that knows me knows I don't usually have forty minutes for anything. If I didn't have Shabbat, I wouldn't have forty minutes for my kids or my wife. Baruch Hashem for Shabbat. Forty minutes is a lot of time. The guy talks my ear off. Yeah, it's great. All the answers he wants, he gets. He is a happy camper. Says, yeah, great. Listen, I'm going to write a check. I'm going to send something. He doesn't say how much. But he said he's gonna send, so I said, okay, Baruch Hashem, zakkai b'mitzvot. If anybody doesn't mind, give me that blue cover for the thing, because the battery is dying for some reason. Don't all run, just one guy can do it. So anyway, after we have the conversation, how much did he send a check? Zero. He never sent it.

1:28:07But he got the meeting. Thank you. He got the meeting. He got the answers. He also got the promise that he made, but he didn't send it. You know how many people like him are like this in the world? Forget about me. Who cares about me? Hashem sends parnasah anyway. Hashem sends so much parnasah, everybody's convinced I'm a millionaire still. Even though I don't know how I'm going to make the rent, Hashem probably pays for it somehow. Champagne so well people think I still have at least 10-20 million dollars hidden somewhere. They are convinced we live life better than them. I show them the bank account. They think, no, it's for somebody else. No, there's no way; it doesn't make sense. We're not worried, but people make a lot of promises—a lot of empty promises—and all they do is build for themselves their own graves. And You don't want to give? Don't promise. Don't say anything. Be quiet. Do you think you're impressing me with your money? You can write a check right now for ten million dollars. The only thing I will say is thank you. It's not about the amount; it's never going to be more than that. Whether it's ten million or ten dollars, everybody gets the same thank you. Everybody gets the same thank you. Nothing changes. You could ask the big ones, and I know it's the same thing. Why? All you decide to do is to be a tool. That's it. How's that? What do you want me to do? It's not your money anyway.

1:29:27But when you make a promise, you say, no, yeah, I'm going to donate. And you don't? Not to me. Forget about anybody else. You're building yourself your own grave. It's a very foolish thing to do. It's a very foolish thing to do. It doesn't make any sense. One second, technical difficulties. No, so it works or doesn't work? There's a new battery we're trying out. Doesn't seem like it's working. So the important part, Rabotai, is to understand that when Hashem gives you something, there's a reason for it. If that something is good, ashrecha. If that something is bad, also ashrecha. Why? Hashem is trying to tell you it's time to do teshuva. If you got something bad in your life, that means Hashem is talking to you.

1:30:28If Hashem only wanted to punish you, He wouldn't talk to you. He'd bring you over there and say, oh, you got some questions? Come, come, I'll answer for you. You got some doubts? Come. We'll have a one-on-one meeting. Some people have questions. Hashem says, no, you have questions? Come, I'll give you answers. There was a guy who had a lot of questions. So, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan said, answer the questions. Says then, "I, you know, you're just brainwashing everybody with all the stuff you're saying." And Rav Yagen, a"h, says, "I knew just from the way he reacted it bothered him. He got the answers. He didn't like it. He knew it's true. I said, 'You know, you are going to be the first one to do teshuva.' 'Me? I'm going to do teshuva when hair grows out of my hand over here and hair grows out of my head. That's when I'll do teshuva.'" He says amen. Rav Nishimi again says amen. That's it. That's all he said, amen. The night finished. Everybody went their way. Six months passed. A young man comes to Rav Yagen's office. People would come to the office regularly to his beit midrash. He sees a young guy with his head down, little beard. Seems like he's a new ba'al teshuva.

1:31:57The young man in the white shirt at the top seemed fine, but he looked shy, like he was scared of his own shadow a little bit. His turn came up. "Yeah, yeah, okay. How are you? Would you love to remember me?" He looks at him. "Oh, who are you?" He goes, "It's me." Ma, ma, you, what? Who, you? Me, me. Why, you? You remember six months ago you had a lecture over there, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, you're the one that said that hair is going to grow out of your hand. He goes, "Yes." He goes, "Oh, how are you doing?" "Good." He goes, "Yes." He goes, "How did it happen?" He goes, "It grew." He goes, "What do you mean it grew?" He goes, he shows him his hand, his hair on his hand. He goes, "How did you do this?" It was later that night. I was on my motorcycle, and I fell off the motorcycle. The skin from my hand was peeled to such an extent that the only thing showing was my bone. At the hospital, they had to save something. They said, "Okay, let's take some skin from your buttocks and put it over there so people don't see the bone. You look like RoboCop."

1:33:18The problem is this hair didn't grow on my hand, but it grows over there and now it's on my hand. So every day, every couple of days, he shaves over here and he shaves over here too. You want answers? Hashem says, okay, no problem, I’ll give you answers. It's funny, but it's not funny. It's a funny story, but it's not funny. Why? It's us too. It's us too, it's us too. It's us too. We have so many questions for Hashem. Hashem says, oh, you have questions? Come, come. Come, Tatale. Come, I have answers for you. Come. How long are you going to wait? How long are you going to wait? Now we finish the introduction. We finish the Mishnah. Ve'ayil shel Avraham Avinu. The ram of Avraham Avinu. The ram of Avraham Avinu is not just a typical ram. The story of Akeidat Yitzchak is a story like no other, to such an extent that the magnitude of it is saving Am Yisrael until this day. Most of us have read the pasuk in our tefillah and otherwise in the Torah where it says, "And Yitzchak was scared." What was Yitzchak scared of?

1:34:46Most people are going to answer, he's probably scared that his father was going to slaughter him. Why? He put him on the mountain. He says, listen, Yitzchak, you're the korban. You asked, what about the korban? You're the korban. You're the sacrifice. I'm going to slaughter you. That's what most people would answer, myself included. You'd say, what was the one time that Yitzchak Avinu was scared to be the korban? Wrong. Wrong. The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat says that when Yitzchak Avinu found out he's the korban, he told his father Avraham, "Abba, tie me really tight with my hands behind my back and tie my legs to my hands so I don't move. So I'm a kosher korban." And I don't create any tza'ar. I don't create any sorrow for you. And I don't get in your way. And I don't have a reflex to, chas v'shalom, hate you and make a sin, hating my father. Yeah, but you're the korban. You realize that, right? He realized it. He says, Abba, tie my hands to my legs to make sure I don't move, so I'm a kosher korban. And make sure that my neck is sticking out so it's a nice shechitah.

1:36:03What does it show you, rabotai? Scared? Zero scared. So when? When was it pachad Yitzchak? When was it that Yitzchak Avinu was scared? When was he scared? He was scared, rabotai, during the time when Yaakov and Esav came to get a blessing. And he realized that he gave the blessing to Yaakov. When Esav came, he realized that the first blessing wasn't to Esav, it was to Yaakov. It says he was upset. Why was he upset? Why was he upset? Because Yaakov fooled him. If he was upset that Yaakov fooled him, then later on he wouldn't give Yaakov even more blessings. Then why was he upset? He was upset, the Torah says, because he saw Gehenom below him. After Yaakov got the blessing and walked away, Esav came back, and he realized Esav came for a blessing. Yitzchak Avinu saw Gehenom below him. What does it mean Gehenom below him? He realized he'd made a mistake his entire life. He was wrong about Esav. And he was scared to death.

1:37:28that he displeased Hashem. Not that he made a sin, didn't make a sin. There were no sins. What sins? For a second, I was wrong about my own son. I thought he was worthy of a blessing. Apparently, he was not even worthy of a blessing. A person can live their entire life thinking that they're right. Then see the opening of Gehinnom and realize, "Oh, I was wrong." There's no fear like that fear. There's no fear like the fear where you first realize, "I'm wrong. I'm wrong about this. I'm wrong about this," when you thought you built everything you have on this one idea and was a relationship, or was an investment idea, or was a business, or was whatever it was—a lifestyle—and you just got the shock of your life. You're wrong. If you're not scared, you're not normal. If you're not scared, you're not normal. Why? Because the first thing you realize is my whole life was a mistake, my whole plan was a mistake, and

1:38:48There's a cost to every mistake. There's no mistake that's free. Every single person that has a little bit of sechel, a little bit of mind, knows that every mistake costs something. Every mistake has a price. As soon as you realize you lived a whole life full of mistakes, if you're not scared, you're not normal. A smart person realizes it before it's too late. Yaakov Avinu got the blessing and Yitzchak Avinu got scared. Why? I made a mistake about Esav, so he wasn't scared from the Akeidah. At the Akeidah, he told his father, "No problem, do what's necessary to please Hashem." After Hashem says to Avraham

1:39:50Don't touch the boy. Now I know you fear me. Yaakov, I mean Avraham, says, "Yeah, but I'm already here, and my son is already ready. Maybe we should make a little slit so it's not a bracha levatala. We didn't just waste our, you know, we're doing something for Hashem." And that's why Hashem said it twice: "Don't touch him." Avraham, Avraham, he said his name twice. Twice he said it. Why? "Don't touch him. Don't touch him because you wanted to do it. So I'm already here." No, it's not what Hashem wants. Do you think that as soon as he got off the mizbeach over here when Hashem said, "Don't touch him," Yitzchak Avinu was excited? "Oh, let's go. Let's go." No, Yitzchak Avinu was still, "No, no Abba, do it. Do it, Abba, do it. Do it for Hashem, Abba, do it."

1:41:00The whole time that this is happening, the Satan can't wait for Avraham to kill Yitzchak. Why? As soon as he kills Yitzchak, he kills Am Yisrael. As soon as he kills Am Yisrael, there's no Mashiach. So he's doing everything possible to get this to happen. One of the things that he did is that there was a ram. A ram that was created during twilight, before Shabbat. Hashem created a special ram. What's this ram? This is the ram that was supposed to go for the Akeidah. And the ram ran to the Akeidah. What happened? The Satan caught him. The Satan caught him and he tried running away from the Satan the whole time.

1:42:01until he got caught in a fence, in a bunch of pieces of wood over there, and he couldn't free himself. He couldn't free himself, so that allowed Avraham to get close to the point where he almost killed his own son. But then, after Hashem told him, "Don't touch him," all of a sudden, Avraham noticed that just a few feet away... The ram that Hashem had prepared some 2,000 years earlier was waiting for him. Now, after He replaced Yitzchak with the ram, the Torah tells us that every single piece of that ram was used; not a single piece was wasted. Every single piece was used and... The first one, the horn, the first side of the horn was used as a shofar. The ashes became a base to the altar in the Beit HaMikdash. The sinews became the strings for King David's special 10-string lyre. He had a special tool, a musical instrument that doesn't exist anymore.

1:43:26David HaMelech had an extra note, by the way. David HaMelech had an extra note we don't have anymore. With his music, he reached Shamayim. We'll talk about the details of that later on, but he had another note in music we don't have anymore. One of the strings came from the same ram. The skin... The skin of this ram became the cloak for Eliyahu HaNavi. The smaller of the two horns became the shofar that we had, that we used at Har Sinai when the Torah was given. When the Torah was given, they blew the shofar. Where did the shofar come from? This ram. But there's one other, there's one other horn. It's another shofar. Who's going to use it? Mashiach Tzidkeinu. Mashiach Tzidkeinu is going to use that shofar. So, here we see that the Torah doesn't waste a single word, doesn't waste anything.

1:44:49How do we connect this to the parasha? Because of your suit, you have many screw your data. He does my much right. Today, fresh life. A lot of people ask me about these rabbinical mitzvot. Should we do them? Should we not do them? What's the big deal? What's this? What's that? So I want to connect this Mishnah to the parasha to the question. How's that like HaShem planned it all along? provided the cure before the ailment. Now, in the parasha of this week, chapter 29, verse 18, it says says, "And you shall cause the entire ram to go up in smoke upon the altar; the ram becomes a korban. It's an elevation offering to Hashem. It's a satisfying aroma, a fire offering to Hashem."

1:46:12and it continues in verse 19, "And you shall take the second ram, and Aharon and his sons shall lean their hands on the head of the ram. And you shall slaughter the ram." Got me so far? So the ayil that we talked about in the Mishnah is also the ayil in the parasha. Why are the two connected? It says there's a mitzvah connected with the two, the korban. But to do a korban, one of the things that you had to do is you had to samach, you had to press on top of the animal's head. To press on its head is part of the korban. And that's exactly what it says here. You have to lean your hands on the head of the ram. Gemara in Masechet Chagigah and also Masechet Shabbat discusses this issue. The question is, Rabotai ha'ikarim, in Gemara Masechet Chagigah page 16b: Are you allowed, are you allowed to lean your hands on top of the ram's head on Shabbat and on Yom Tov? Why?

1:47:38Because when you lean your hands, it's like riding him. And that's not allowed on Shabbat. So it's clear the halacha is that it is not allowed on Shabbat. Why? Because you're leaning on him and that's like riding him. It is not allowed to ride him on Shabbat. Okay, what about Yom Tov? There's a little more leniency. Yom Tov, it says Yom Tov is like Shabbat. Yeah, but how are we going to bring the korbanot? How are we going to bring the korbanot? We have to lean on it, it's part of the korban. If you don't lean on him, It's not a full korban. So the Gemara in both Masechet Shabbat and Masechet Chagigah debate it. Why? It's a rabbinical mitzvah. It's not a biblical mitzvah. It's a rabbinical mitzvah, meaning whether you're allowed to do it or not, the Torah says you're allowed, but the Rabbis said no, it's gonna look like maybe you're leaning on it and maybe you're riding it. You shouldn't be allowed.

1:48:39and the other one says, no, no, but it's allowed. No, no, it's not allowed. No, it's not allowed. It's a rabbinical mitzvah. And they debated it. How long did they debate it? Over 200 years. Over a 200-year debate. Five generations. A five-generation debate that started with the Zugot, beginning with Yossi ben Yo'ezer and Yossi ben Yochanan and completing with Hillel and Shammai over 200 years later until they concluded it was not allowed. Why am I mentioning this to you? The Gemara says the following

1:49:41Never let a Rabbinic prohibition concerning Shabbat or Yom Tov seem minor to you. For the meaning, the leaning on top of the ram or the cow or whatever it is involves nothing more than a rabbinic prohibition. I'll explain what all this means in a moment. And yet, the greats of the generations disputed each other for about five successive generations. Pshita, it's obvious. What's obvious? That the semicha involves only a rabbinically forbidden activity. So why does Rabbi Yochanan emphasize this, that it's such a big deal? He says, he needs to tell you, what is he trying to teach you? He's trying to tell us here that the rabbinic prohibitions regarding Shabbat that forbid activities are otherwise mitzvot somewhere else, meaning

1:50:57The semicha, the leaning on top of the ram, is actually a part of the mitzvah of the korban, but they said it's not allowed on Shabbat. Why is it not allowed? To remind us that even though it's a mitzvah elsewhere, Shabbat is a mitzvah of its own. It's a different world, it's a different island. Even though it's a mitzvah somewhere else, here, not allowed. Even though tzedakah is a mitzvah everywhere else during the week, on Shabbat, it is not allowed to give tzedakah. You're allowed to say that you're going to give tzedakah down the road. You're allowed to plan a good deed. You're allowed to plan the tzedakah, but to write a check on Shabbat, not allowed. To give cash on Shabbat, not allowed. But it's a mitzvah elsewhere, not allowed. Why? Shabbat is an island of its own. Just like the Beit HaMikdash, just like the Kohen Gadol. Now, The most important part of this specific issue is the following: For all of those people that always ask questions, myself included, about the rabbinical mitzvot. Should we keep them? Should we not keep them? Is it stringent? Is it not stringent? Like you asked me before. K'vod HaRav.

1:52:17Laws are not like the U.S. Constitution where a bunch of people get together, and they decide this shall be the law. And if we don't like it a few years later, we'll change it. If it's not applicable to the generation, we'll change it. The Torah is no such thing. The Torah is a single truth, and to arrive at a single truth requires an enormous amount of digging and digging. The Torah is a single truth, and to arrive at a single truth requires an enormous amount of digging and fighting for the truth. The rabbis did not just decide, oh, this yes, this no, this yes, this no, just because they liked it or just because they felt it was applicable, just because it was easy for them or hard for them. The rabbis fought for the truth tooth and nail day and night until they arrived at it. The rabbinical mitzvot that most people have a problem with, you only have a problem with them because you don't understand what it means. The rabbis did not just decide, oh, this yes, this no, this yes, this no, just because they liked it or just because they felt it was applicable, just because it was easy for them or hard for them. The rabbis fought for the truth tooth and nail, day and night, until they arrived at it. The rabbinical mitzvot that most people have a problem with, you only have a problem with them because you don't understand what it means. For it to be a rabbinical mitzvah. This single mitzvah to everybody in the room, myself included, seems like it's not such a big deal. Put your hands on the ram. Don't put your hands on the ram. Who cares? Does God really care if you put your hands on the ram? He's already being slaughtered anyway. What's the difference? You put your hands on him. You don't put your hands on him. What's the difference? Just for that, they argued and debated for over 200 years.

1:53:49So, what do you think? Was it any less difficult to debate any of the other laws that the rabbis gave you 2,000 years ago? When it's a rabbinical mitzvah, it's not just because some rabbi from a local Chabad house or Orthodox or Modern Orthodox or some kehillah from today's world decided, "Oh, this is good for us. We'll take that one. You know what? We'll take two if it's free." The holy Rabbanim of the Tana'im HaKedoshim Did not just decide this is good, this is bad. They arrived at the truth even if it took them over two centuries to arrive at this truth. Rabbinical mitzvot were much more difficult than the biblical ones because it required us to fight our own yetzer hara to arrive at the truth. ...required each one of the time to destroy their own yetzer hara and eliminate any ego. It was no longer about who's right or who's wrong; the question was, what's the truth? Why is it such a big deal? Why is it such a big deal? Because if you tell them this is allowed when in reality, it’s not, it’s the difference between life and death...

1:55:10It's not, "Oh, he's wrong, big deal." Okay, so the trader that worked for the big Russian firm in 1996, Long-Term Capital, he over-leveraged a little bit, big deal, some people lost money. Okay, the market almost crashed, the economy almost crashed, but at the end of it all, it was still just money. Long-Term Capital, they called it. Almost ruined the whole world, but big deal, just some money. No, rabotai, even to that extent, it's just this world. The Tannaim were not fighting for this world, they were fighting for eternity. If they get it wrong, all of us could be expecting first-class tickets to Gehinnom, but in reality we're going first class to Gan Eden. Not just the responsibility of one person. It's a responsibility of an entire nation. We can't afford to get it wrong. So the rabbinical mitzvot were much, much more difficult, much more difficult. And that's why when you see a rabbinical mitzvah, Hashem says the punishment for violating the rabbinical mitzvah is worse than the punishment for a biblical mitzvah. Why? A biblical mitzvah of stealing is...

1:56:33If you steal, you get caught, you have to pay double. Why? It's a biblical mitzvah. But still, that's the punishment. A rabbinical mitzvah, rabbinical mitzvah. You decide that you're just going to go against the Chachamim. No, you're not making websites against them. You're just not going to listen to them anymore. You're going to become your own rabbi. That, Rabotai Yekarim, Person cannot be included in a minyan anymore. That's a person that has no share in the World to Come. Why? You went against the rabbis, the rabbinical mitzvot. Yes, exactly, exactly. decided you're not gonna do blessings before you eat anymore. Nah, Hashem knows what I mean. Hashem knows that I'm grateful. He knows that I'm grateful, even though I ate as big as my head and I forgot to thank Him every time in my life. He knows, He knows I'm grateful. He knows I'm not gonna—I don't need to pray. Rabbi just made that up. You decide you're gonna go against the chachamim.

1:57:41Much worse punishment. That's why every time in a Torah when there's a rabbinical mitzvah, the punishment is always the same. What is it? Death penalty. Every one of them—death penalty. There's no lesser stealing. Biblical mitzvah—pay some money back. Rabbinical mitzvah—death penalty. Why? They fought for the truth for centuries. These are Hashem's top picks. These are His best soldiers. These are His best children. You're going against them. It's only a matter of time before you go against Him. And this leads us to the last part of the Mishnah. I thought that's what asuya means. Some say tongs were created bein hashmashot. Because they're made of tongs. Tongs, the special tool to hold hot metal for a smith. But in order to make tongs, you need tongs, because it's metal itself. So they figure that, you know, one of the gemarot says, oh, so the first one needed one.

1:59:08No, no, Hashem did not make a tong, did not make this plier-looking type of thing. You can make it without it. How? Make a mold. Make a mold, pour the metal in there, and that makes the first tong. You don't need a tong to make a tong. Tiferet Yisrael says that. He actually does believe that the original pair was created by Hashem prior to the first Shabbat because that specific one was going to be used to build the Beit HaMikdash. And you really think it's just about a bunch of pliers? This is more of a philosophical question.

2:00:13People ask, even before they make a vow, what came first: the chicken or the egg? If it's the chicken, how did the chicken come, because it comes from an egg first? So, in order for an egg to hatch, a chicken has to sit on it. And if something else sat on the egg, the egg would break and... It must have been the chicken first, but then how did the chicken come? You go back and forth in an atheistic world. You go back and forth with the same type of philosophical argument as this. If tongues are here and you need tongues to make tongues, then Hashem must have made the first tongues.

2:01:22So, Rabbi Yehuda says the following: When people are going to use these philosophical arguments of, oh, did the chicken come first or the egg, tell them this is not about a chicken or about an egg. You're asking a question about what started. What's the first cause? It's Hashem. It's Hashem. So, some heretic asked me the other day, "Yes, but who created Hashem?" I said it's not a starter question. It's a non-starter question. Why? If it's God, if God is God, He can't have a God. Because then that would be God. Yes, but who created God? No one. That's the point. That's why He's God. If God is God, He's the only God. There's nothing else. And that's why at Mount Sinai, Hashem opened the seven heavens and said, "Look, there's nothing else besides Me. Nothing."

2:02:38If you're praying to a Buddha or to JC Penney or to Muhammad or to all the other shtuyot that people create, all you're doing is praying to nothing. If you're praying even to your Rebbe, you're making a mistake. There's nothing else besides Me. Nothing else aside from Hashem. But who created Hashem? Nothing. No one. He is the Creator. He's the initial cause. There was nothing before Him. There's nothing now aside from Him. There will not be anything other than Him. To understand that, you have to be God Himself. Everything I just told you, whatever you understand is the most you'll ever be able to understand. Really, truly understand what all of that means. How could there be nothing before, present, or past, and so on? You cannot understand why it's not possible for a human being. It's not even possible for the angels. Why? Because that type of wisdom is divine. No, the angels are a creation of the Divine. Now, I...

2:03:54To understand how much we don't understand is the following. Can you understand things that happened in the past? Yes. Why? Because you saw the whole picture. It happened. You picked up an egg. You dropped the egg. The egg dropped. It fell. It broke. Can you understand things in the present? Yes. Right now, you're holding an egg, let's say. And you want to throw it at me. Fine. No problem. But you didn't throw it yet. Baruch Hashem. Point is, you understand that the egg is in your hand and you could potentially do things with it. You could drop it. You could throw it. You could eat it. Whatever you want to do. You understand things in the present. Can you understand the future? To a certain extent, you understand that logically. Certain things have a nature; they're part of nature. Meaning, if you take the egg and you throw it, the egg will leave your hand and go to a certain destination that you think it's going to get to. It may not get there, but according to logic, it should. Now, that's human logic. To understand how much we don't understand, you have to combine all three of them into a single thought.

2:05:09Past, present, and future are all the same. There's no difference for Him, though for us there is. For us, there is a past because the past is something we experienced. For us, there is a present because we are living it. We're seeing it, you're seeing it, and you're thinking it. The future is a thought that may or may not happen. For Hashem, everything is the same. What I just explained to you is the most you can possibly understand. Past, present, and future are all the same. There's no difference for Him, though for us, there is. For us, there is a past because the past is something we experienced. For us, there is a present because we are living it. We're seeing it, you're seeing it, and you're thinking it. The future is a thought that may or may not happen. For Hashem, everything is the same. What I just explained to you is the most you can possibly understand. So yes, your question now. Thank you. Can now the Mishnah I never which we learned two or three weeks ago says that Hashem waited, waited from

2:06:15The generation of Adam until Noach, and He waited for the generation of Noach until Avraham Avinu in order to show His patience. What does it mean, patience? Meaning that He allowed the generation from Adam HaRishon all the way until Noach to sin as much as they were going to sin, in order to allow them to do teshuva. When He saw that there was no possibility for them to do teshuva... That's it, time was over. The same concept happened again from the generation of Noach all the way to the generation of Avraham Avinu. The world sinned again. They built the Tower of Bavel, and they were actually, in some regards, worse than the generation of Noach. But yet Hashem waited again, not because He wanted them to do teshuva or was even expecting them to do teshuva, but because He created the whole world for Avraham Avinu. He says it's worth it to let all of them sin because Avraham Avinu is going to come from Noach. The first ten generations had their own reason; the second generation had a different reason. It's not necessary that Hashem was just waiting there, doing nothing with Himself. It's only a metaphor when it says that Hashem took Bnei Yisrael out of Egypt with a strong right hand. It's not because He actually has a strong hand or even has a hand. It's called anthropomorphism, meaning it's giving you some type of understanding.

2:07:39Our language, our mental language, to understand what Hashem did, figuratively speaking, not literally speaking. Nonetheless, the Mishnah here is telling you that this whole issue of what came first, the chicken or the egg, the answer is very clear. It's the chicken, and the reason why it's the chicken is because Hashem does not need for the egg to hatch. He can create something completely full. He doesn't need a human being to go through nine months of labor. He created Adam complete. He doesn't need anything supernatural to happen to bring Chava, to bring Eve. He just took a bone out of Adam and said, okay, she'll be slightly lesser than you. Why lesser than you? Because if I also create Chava out of nothing, then she'll think that created the world for her, and you'll think you created the world for you, and you're both gonna fight for it. You're never gonna get together. So by her being created out of you, both of you realize that the world was created for both of you. So the point is that for all of those that say, "If I understand this, then I'll do teshuva. If I understand this, I'll do the teshuva," the sages are replying to him, "What's the mold? What do they mean by the mold?"

2:09:05What do they mean that you don't need a tongue to make a tongue? You could just make a mold. The sages are explaining that the mold is that there are already answers for all the questions that you actually need to know the answers for. All the questions that you keep asking, saying, "I'll only do teshuva when I have an answer for that"—those are just simple excuses. Because the mold of all the questions, all the things you need to know that are applicable to your life, the answers are available to you. All the things that are not applicable to your life, if there isn't an answer, it doesn't make a difference anyway. If it doesn't have an answer, it doesn't make a difference anyway. For example, the question of what's the point of the red heifer? Why does one person become pure and another person become impure? Even Shlomo HaMelech, the wisest of all men, said, this is beyond me. But he didn't become a kofer because of it. Why? It doesn't make a difference. It doesn't make a difference. The things we need to know, we already have the mold. We already have a Torah. We already have a Torah that's going to give us everything we need to know. If it's a question about something we don't, it doesn't make a difference to us. Torah doesn't talk about it. So, for example, the question of UFOs. How come the Torah doesn't talk about UFOs? Because UFOs do not affect us. There's never going to be an Independence Day 4th of July movie where a bunch of them come to Earth and take over the world. That's never going to happen. That's just in the movies.

2:10:36Are there aliens? Are there not? The Torah doesn't say there aren't. The Torah doesn't say there are. It does say that there are many other creatures that look like aliens on earth itself. which is actually described in the Gemara in Avodah Zarah and other places. There are other creatures that look like aliens to us—people with multiple heads, people that look like different things, different beings, and so on. There are such things which, to us, if we saw them right now, they would look like aliens to us. But are there people on different planets? It's irrelevant. Why? It's never going to affect us. Never going to affect us. So this is the answer to that, and that finishes that Mishnah. But there is one other question. There is one other question that someone asked me, and I promised them that I'd answer it. When somebody makes a change in their life, a drastic change, what kind of change? They convert. They convert to Judaism. Now, as you all know...

2:11:42I love converts not only because I'm married to one, but also because I am obligated to love converts just like all Jews are. Anyone that hurts converts is committing a sin from the Torah—not one, but 36 of them. According to the Rambam, a person must love righteous Jewish converts as much as he loves God and... Now, someone asked me a fantastic question: If someone converts but he has kids from before he converted, can he give them the blessing? Like we say, it gives the blessing Yaakov gave to the sons of Yosef, Ephraim and Menasheh. Since that day, it has become customary among Am Yisrael to bless our children on Shabbat. If it is a boy, the blessing is to be like Ephraim and Menasheh. So, if a person converted but his children did not convert, can he give them that blessing? Can he give them that blessing? So first, let's understand the halacha, and then we'll understand what it actually means to bless your kids like Ephraim and Menasheh.

2:12:56The Rambam in Hilkhot Issurei Bi'ah, chapter 14, Halakha 11. It says when a gentile converts, or a servant is freed, he is like a newborn baby. Meaning, when someone goes to the Beit Din, They dip into the mikveh after the Beit Din asks questions. Do you accept the mitzvot upon yourself? Do you know what Shabbat is? Do you know this? Do you know that? They pass the test. Do you accept the mitzvot upon yourself? Yes, say it: I accept the mitzvot upon myself, the Written Torah, and the Oral Torah. You do all of it. Good. Okay, go to the mikveh. Assuming the man already had a brit milah, they go into the mikveh. They go into the mikveh as Chris. They come out as Yaakov. The Rambam says it's not just figuratively speaking. It's mamash, meaning at that moment Chris went into the mikveh and came out Yaakov. Shamayim inserted a new neshama in his body. Every single convert I've dealt with so far, Baruch Hashem, has told me they felt it.

2:14:12Actually had a physical feeling sometimes right away in the mikveh. Sometimes, like a day or two later, it was like an aftershock. It was weird. It was strange. They didn't know what to do with themselves during that time, but like a day or two later, they felt something different. And every single one of them has told me, "I wish I could do it again. That's how good it was." Now, Neshama enters the body. It's not, oh, it's a nice custom like the Hindus have customs to drink urine of cows, l'havdil. This is Ma'aseh Hashem. Rambam says he's a brand-new baby. What does it mean, brand-new baby? The neshama at that point is zero years old. That's officially your birthday. Your previous birthday that you've had for your whole life, for 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, 70 years, is no longer relevant to you. You're no longer the same person.

2:15:13You have a new birthday. You're not allowed to celebrate your previous birthday. It's not connected to you at all. First of all, the Christian calendar is wrong anyway. The Gregorian calendar changes anyway. It's not your real birthday anyway because their calendar is wrong. And second of all, you have to use the Hebrew calendar. That's your birthday, the birthday you have in Hashem. Now, the halacha continues: any relatives whom he had as a Gentile no longer considered as relatives if both he and they convert. He's not liable for relations with any of them. According to this, the next halacha—and I'll explain what it all means—according to scriptural law, a convert may actually marry his own mother or his maternal sister if they convert. Nevertheless, the sages forbid this so that the converts will not say... We came from a more severe level of holiness to this less severe one. Yesterday, this relationship was forbidden; as a goy, you weren't allowed to marry your sister or your mom, and today, I am. How could this be? Similarly, when a convert engages in relations with his mother or his sister when they have not converted, it's considered as if he had relations with a woman whom he has no relation to whatsoever. Explanation of what all of this means...

2:16:41When the neshama enters the convert's body, they are officially somebody different. It's not the same person now. Their mom is still the biological mom, but she's not considered their mom or sister or whatever it was spiritually, to such an extent that according to our Torah, technically, they're allowed to marry them. However, the rabbis forbid this. Why? It looks bad. Looks bad. It looks bad for the people who are converting and don't understand the full law yet and the magnitude of what it really means to have a new neshama. It also looks bad in the eyes of people out there who say, "Look, the Jews are marrying their mothers and sisters. How could this be?" Yes, but the point is that if the mom also converts, as halacha states, if the mom also converts and he converts, they are both considered two different people. They're not considered mother and son anymore.

2:17:42The rabbi said they are still not allowed to get married according to the rabbis. The rabbinical mitzvah forbids it. Why does it look bad? The point is about the hardest thing you tell people, the hardest thing you tell converts that most people try not to say. But this is a reality; it affects you, it affects people, it affects reality. This is what halacha is. If a mother converted or father converted and the children did not convert according to Hashem, they're no longer their kids. Now, does that mean just throw them onto the sidewalk? Does that mean that you disrespect them? Does that mean you're not obligated to provide for them anymore? No, you're still obligated to. You're still obligated to. Why? Because if you don't, it would look bad. It will become a chilul Hashem. You're not responsible for them because you're really responsible for them as your kids. You're responsible for them because it would look bad in front of the goyim. Same concept for honoring your parents, as long as your parents are not telling you — your biological parents who did not convert and you converted, or if they converted also, but technically you're not related anymore spiritually.

2:18:59Still have to honor them, not because of the mitzvah of honoring your parents, because according to the Rambam and all of our Torah, they're not considered your parents anymore. So why do you honor them anyway? You honor them because of hakarat hatov; you honor them because you owe them a gratitude for bringing you into the world, and because it would look bad in front of the goyim. It would look bad in front of people if you don't honor your own parents. When do you not honor them? you don't honor them in the same condition as you don't honor them even if they were Jewish and you were Jewish. Naturally, when what they're saying is against the Torah, when they're telling you to come to church with them, you're not only not honoring them, you're forbidden from honoring them. You're forbidden from honoring them. But under normal conditions, if they're not anti-Torah, if they're not idol worshipers that are trying to tell you to idol worship also, and You are obligated to honor them just as a gratitude, so as far as when it comes down to your children, again, they're not your kids anymore. So, to bless them as to be the sons of Ephraim and Menashe is not so relevant anymore. But the reason why I mentioned this even further is...

2:20:17We don't understand what it means, the blessing of Ephraim and Menashe. I'll answer your question momentarily. Let me finish the point. When you bless your kids and tell them, "May you be like Ephraim and Menashe," what are you saying? You want them to be like them, right? Why don't you say, "May you be like Yehuda and Reuven and Shimon and Levi?" Why? There are 12 tribes. Why didn't Yaakov...? Tell Yosef, "May your sons be like Yehuda, a tzaddik. Be like you, Yosef. Be like Reuven, who did teshuvah. Be like Shimon, be like Levi, be like all the other tzaddikim." Why be like them? Why? Why? Why, why, why is Ephraim and Menashe such a big deal? Why till this day do we have this minhag? I only found this out recently. So I highly doubt most people know it, not because I know everything, just simply because it's a very big chiddush. I learned this also from a Mishnah Yomi shiur. Rav Asher Weiss, shlita, says the following: The reason why Yaakov said, "May your children be like Ephraim and Menashe..."

2:21:37It's not because Reuven and Shimon and Yehuda and Levi weren't great. They were amazing. They were the 12 tribes. I mean, does it get any better? Hashem wrote their names on the Choshen, on the Kohen Gadol, this week's parasha. He wrote their names. He didn't write my name on there. Not your name. He wrote their names on there. Actually, Reuven, maybe. But the point is, Rabotai, he wrote their names on there. He wrote their names on there. So, they were amazing. What's the problem? So how come it's a blessing? Why is it not a blessing like Reuven? Why is it a blessing like Ephraim? Why? Chiddush of a lifetime. Reuven, Shimon, Levi, all of the twelve tribes were from birth. Their father is Gadol HaDor. It's Yaakov. Their grandfather is Yitzchak. Their great-grandfather is Avraham. Well, can you get any more religious than that? Their whole life they are full of Judaism. Their whole life there's no Yetzer Hara. What Yetzer Hara do you have? What do you have? Yitzchak is giving you a chiddush today. Tomorrow Avraham is giving you a chiddush. The next day your father Yaakov is giving you. What do you have? What's the problem?

2:22:54What do they have? They have idol worshippers next to them. If they could be tzaddikim in Egypt, may your sons be like them. If they could be tzaddikim in America, may your sons be like them. Why? That's a real tzaddik. A Baal Teshuva, much higher than any frum from birth. Why? Because he could be a tzaddik even when he knows what the Yetzer Hara looks like firsthand. He still chose God. That's why it also says that you must love a convert more than you love a natural-born Jew and as much as you love God. Why? He chose God even though he didn't have to. So if I'm in a shiur, if you could be a tzaddik in Egypt, you could be a tzaddik in France. You could be a tzaddik in America. You could be a tzaddik baal teshuva. May your sons be like that. Why? That's a real tzaddik. Okay, whatever. If you grew up in a really religious family, it's not a problem. You still move in. They still wrote your name on the chalah and everything is good. It's not less for you. It's just that, hey, he survived in Egypt. Wow. Wow. That's a wow. That's why Yaakov said it. Chiddush or no chiddush? Chiddush.