The Comfortable Rabbi

1:35They say something, he fulfills it. And this is one of the most valuable things that a person needs to know when they're asking a Talmid Chacham, someone that has Yirat Shamayim, or perhaps a Gadol. They're asking a question, and the response that they get doesn't sit well with them. Take that opinion of yours that tells you this response doesn't sit well with you, take it, crumble it inside a little piece of paper, put some oil on it, cooking oil or the oil from the car, whichever one you prefer, whatever is faster to access, then take a match or perhaps a lighter, depending on your preference, put them in a bucket so it doesn't cause a big fire, and burn that opinion of yours. Burn it as soon as possible. Why? Your opinion doesn't matter. If you asked a chacham (sage) a question and he gave you an answer according to the Torah, you do it just as if God said to do it. Why? Because now that you've asked a question and he gave you an answer, HaKadosh Baruch Hu paskens like him.

2:51I'll give you an example. Somebody came to Rav Chaim Kanievsky. He said, "Kevod HaRav, I'm about to retire in some months and I was wondering whether I should take all my pension money and buy a house in such and such community." Rav Kanievsky says to him, "Come back to me when you have the money." Now, Rav Kanievsky is not a man of many words. He doesn't engage in lengthy conversations with people. He says a few things, finishes, and moves on to the next person. The man stands up, feeling more confused than he was before. He thinks to himself, why is Rav Kanievsky telling me to come back when I have the money? Is that really what he's saying? That I'm not going to get the money. After 30, 40 years of working for this company, they're really not going to give me my pension. The whole thing is a fraud. I'm going to lose everything. What's going to happen? I don't know. Why did he say it? For the next several months, he doesn't know where to go. He doesn't know what to do. He can't wait to get this money, but he doesn't have access to it yet. After several months, he finally retires, and he gets the money. He comes back to Rav Kanievsky, and he says, "I got the money."

4:01Rav Kanievsky says, "Good, you should buy the house." He said, "But why couldn't the Kavod HaRav tell me six months ago?" So Rav Kanievsky says to him, "Six months ago, it was a hypothetical question because you didn't have the money in your hand. So I didn't have the siyata diShmaya, the special assistance from heaven, to tell you the right answer. I only had my opinion. But now that it's a question that's actual because you have the money in hand, you ask me a question, I'm giving you an answer, and I'm relying on the fact that Hashem is the one putting the words in my mouth for your sake." Because now it's an actual question. It's a realistic question. It's a question of right now. It's not a hypothetical question anymore. So now I have the answer for you. Six months ago, I didn't have an answer for you. Now I have an answer for you. You ask a Rav something, it's a real question, he gives you an answer, you don't like the answer, that's too bad. Why? If you are not going to listen to the answers, don't ask questions. Don't ask questions.

5:09And this is one of the things that hurts a lot of people, because they look for "Rabbi Noach." You know what "Rabbi Noach" is, right? Have you ever heard of Rabbi Noach? Noach is not only Noach from the Torah. Noach also means comfort. So they're looking for the rabbi that is going to give them the most comfort. Meaning, whatever is comfortable for you. So what did he say? Do it? No, it's not comfortable for me. What did he say? Maybe? No, it's not so comfortable for me. What did he say? No, do whatever you want. Oh, I like this guy. This guy is Gadol HaDor. He told me I can do whatever I want. This guy is Tzaddik Kadosh. Give me a hand. Let me kiss it. Let me kiss it. He told me I can do whatever I want. This guy is like Noach, Rabbi Noach. Rabbi Noach. So that's the thing. You have to understand. Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves the Chachamim. Loves the Chachamim. Because they invest their whole life, invest their whole life for the sake of the Torah all day. And when a person understands that, he asks a question, he receives an answer, and he goes with it. Same thing with girls, obviously the same thing applies.

6:10We're very excited to offer you the new Be'ezrat Hashem app 3.0. It's a newer, faster app, full of Torah, lots of kedushah through the shiurim that we present, myself, Rabbi Refael, Rabbi Chaim, where you'll also have newer features allowing you to use the app. While you're using other applications on your phone, you'll be able to share the shiurim directly from the app. You'll be able to donate online and support our chesed and our Torah work that we're doing. And the most exciting feature is that you'll be able to actually ask questions directly on the app and get answers from the rabbis directly from the app. This is something unprecedented, and Baruch Hashem, we will be able to offer it. Thank you again for all of your support. Check it out. Make sure you have a kosher Torah learning experience that will re-energize your neshama each and every single day. Call to b’hatzlacha.