The 3 Steps That Will SAVE Us (8 minutes)

0:02Chazal say that when there is a decree from Shamayim, a heavy decree, a terrible decree, three things can change and turn the tides, turning the suffering into something completely different: doing teshuva, praying, and giving tzedakah. By doing teshuva, we've talked about several times throughout the last few days. As I told you, Pirkei Avot in the Mishnah, which was written well before the Gemara, somewhere around 2,500 years ago, tells us that the reward we get in this world is for our effort, our genuine effort. Not necessarily for our execution. Because even though we have 613 biblical mitzvot, and another seven rabbinical mitzvot, no one person can fulfill all 620. It's not because it's okay to fail, but rather because it's not for any one person. Not everyone is a Kohen, not everyone is a woman, not everyone is an Israel. You have somewhere around a third of them that we are actually responsible for. But most people don't even know 50 by heart.

1:26If you ask most people, even if they're religious from birth, and you ask them to name a hundred mitzvot by heart out of the 613, a lot of people won't know it by heart. If you tell them, "Do you remember this one?" they'll probably say yes. But knowing it by heart is a different story. So, how do we do it? How do we fulfill it if we don't even know them? The key is to learn. But the second part is to make sure that we are considering the fact that Hashem is watching at all times. And we are being genuine with our teshuva. We are being 100% real with ourselves and not lying to ourselves and thinking that we're fooling Hashem in the process of whether our next action or our next step is a mitzvah or it's an aveirah. When you're stealing, you know you're stealing. When you're cheating, you know you're cheating. No woman who walks around with a mini skirt or a tight dress thinks she is modest, even if she says she is. You know you're not. Why? Because you know what modesty looks like. It's not defined by a dress that's the second layer of skin.

2:41Same thing with someone who's not honest. He knows he's not being honest. Even if he's lying to himself and convincing himself that he's a tzaddik, deep inside, he knows he's not honest. So, you have to be real with yourself. Why? Because when you get up to Shamayim, you can't lie to them. And you definitely can't lie to Hashem. This is why our effort, our genuine effort, is what counts. Hashem knows what you can and can't do, and what level you stand. He knows that at this point you just started doing teshuva. For Him to expect you to learn 12 hours a day is just not realistic. He created you; He knows you. But He knows you can learn an hour, maybe even an hour and a half. And if you spend that hour, hour and a half, watching a baseball game, you'll get punished for it. Why? Because you could have learned for an hour or an hour and a half and eventually got to 12 hours. Eventually got to 2 hours even. You missed out on a reward, you missed out on an opportunity, and you missed your purpose in life. For that hour and a half, you watched baseball or football or some other frivolous sport of people throwing a ball and getting paid 25 million dollars a year to do that, and everyone talking about how much money they make for some reason.

3:59So we know that teshuva, the first step, has to be serious. It's time to wake up. Tefillah, you know if you're praying or if you're just here to socialize. You come to Beit Knesset, if you're looking at a magazine during the tefillah, you're not praying. You're looking at a magazine. If you come to Beit Knesset and you know everybody's name by heart, and you know what everybody does for a living, and how much he makes, you didn't come here to pray, you came here to socialize. If you don't even notice who's sitting next to you for the last three months, there's a possibility that you are praying. Because the only thing that matters in a Beit Knesset is Hashem. That's it. The only thing that matters. If you came to pray to Hashem, Chazak U'Baruch, you fulfilled the second part. That's tefillah. If at some point the mom cries over her children, and asks Hashem for mercy to help her kids do teshuvah, now you're praying, mom. But if you're encouraging your kid to go on a vacation to Cancun because he needs a good time, because his girlfriend just broke up with him, you're not being a good mother. That's not praying. There are many parents that are doing that. They say, "No, no, she just broke his heart. Go, go, Habibi, go. Go to Cancun and..." and ask Hashem for mercy to help her kids do teshuva, now you're praying, mom. But if you're encouraging your kid to go on a vacation to Cancun because he needs a good time, because his girlfriend just broke up with him, you're not being a good mother. That's not praying. There are many parents that are doing that. They say, no, no, she just broke his heart. Go, go, Habibi, go. Go to Cancun and

5:26Find three girlfriends this weekend. Go. You need it for relaxation. The psychiatrist who paid $400 an hour told us so. The same one that tells people that they can have two wives and three wives at the same time. So we know the second part. Tefillah has to be serious. It's time for us to pray. Women, you have a much easier time to cry. Use that talent. Use it. It's a privilege. It's the only gate in Heaven that doesn't close. The tears of a mother. You have children that go into struggles. You have a husband that doesn't know why he's alive. You have relatives that have no clue what's the purpose. You love them? Start crying. Cry to Hashem. Because that's the only thing that's going to save us at the end of times. It’s what saved us in Egypt. It’s what’s going to save us before the Mashiach comes. Your tears. If you don’t use that talent, you’re wasting it. Give it to me, please. No, obviously we cry with a purpose. Don’t just cry, complaining to Hashem, "How come I don’t have a million dollars today?"

6:47Cry for the real reason. Cry for Am Yisrael. Cry for your children to become tzaddikim. Cry for your husband to become a Talmid Chacham. Cry for a purpose. Cry for people to do teshuvah. Cry for you to do teshuvah. Cry to connect to Hashem. I can't tell this to men because it's not cool to cry. So, okay, so we know what tefillah is. Let's start using it. Step two. These are obviously a brief description of each step. If we cover the details of each one, we'll be here till next week, and my flight's tomorrow morning. The next place is the one that I want to spend the rest of this shiur talking about. And that's tzedakah. Not because I'm looking for tzedakah. If anyone wants to give, they're more than welcome to. But that's not the reason I'm mentioning it. The reason I'm mentioning it is because that's what we started this shiur with. And that's the very same reason we've gone into trouble for the last 3,300 plus years. Money. Money is this generation's version of Avodah Zarah. Tzedakah is like a bad word in Hebrew. People think that if they give a dollar to the homeless guy, they're tzaddikim. The fact that they have a million-and-a-half-dollar house

8:09and a portfolio that's worth more money than they need. They don't consider that to be inappropriate. It's okay to have nice things, but it's not okay to have these nice things while the people around you that are actually trying to serve Hashem, the people around you that are struggling to have food to feed their kids, have no other place other than you. have no other place other than You.