The Jokers Cancel Out Teshuva Thoughts

0:06start joking around at inappropriate times, and this could lead to a lot of problems. So the Gemara talks about it in a few different ways about leitzanim, about people that make jokes. Now, it does say that anyone that's going to teach Torah, it's a good idea. It's not a must or anything, it's not halacha, but it's a good idea to sometimes start a serious shiur Torah with a joke. It makes the crowd more comfortable and opens them up.

1:33that the Gemara talks about this. So Rabbi Elazar says, whoever scorns, whoever jokes around at inappropriate times, not someone who makes a joke at an appropriate time just to lighten up the mood. That's jokes around, let's say, in the middle of a shiur. Why are you talking to them about serious things? And he just makes fun of the speaker, saying, "Ah, you look like this," or "You do this," or makes some type of jokes to get attention. He wants the attention of the room. It is said that whoever scoffs brings upon himself afflictions, as it is taught from the verse, "So now do not scoff, lest your afflictions grow severe." version Isaiah 28:22: "So now, do not scoff lest your afflictions grow severe." This is one small thing. Another one will be kidding. Rav Ketina says, "Kol hamitlotzetz mivayim mezunav." Rav Marvin says, "Whoever is a scoffer, whoever is a guy that jokes around a little too much, his income diminishes, and he loses money. Last month, he was making a hundred thousand, and all of a sudden, it dropped to eighty-five thousand. It's not because of bad luck."

2:54Because of that inappropriate joke you made in the middle of the shiur Torah. The verse says in the prophet Hoshea (Hosea), chapter 7, verse 5, that God withdraws His hand from the scoffers. People who like to make jokes will find that He takes away their parnassah, trying to give them a wake-up call. Reish Lakish says that the person who makes these jokes goes to Gehinnom. So the question is, why all these harsh things? Seriously, we learned that Rabbi Elozor is already serious. These people are even more serious. Okay, I just made a joke. Why am I going to Gehenom? Getting issues, getting sick, losing money? It goes even worse. Rabbi Elazar Ben Hurkanos says, "Kol mitlotzetz, sofo chulel hayo olam." Whoever scoffs causes the world to be ruined. It gets worse and worse in his Gemara. Rabbi Elazar ben Hyrcanus says, Rabbi Elazar ben Hyrcanus says, it's very difficult for someone that's a joker. Why? Since the beginning of his punishment is affliction, he's getting difficulties in his life, but the culmination is ruin, meaning eternal Gehinnom. This is a harsh punishment for what? A joke?

4:24Many of you are a little ultra-Orthodox here. What's going on? So what's going on? You have to know when to joke. If you're hanging out with a few guys, having dinner, having a fun time, and you and your wife are just talking and you want to throw in a joke, no problem. Enjoy the joke, laugh. It's good to laugh. It's healthy to laugh. It's actually even scientifically proven that if you force yourself to smile for 20 minutes in a row, it improves your mood. It improves your mood. It's not going to take you out of depression by any stretch of the imagination, only because depression is a spiritual state of mind, not a physical state of mind. But it can help you. Forcing yourself to smile for 20 minutes straight will help you. However, there's a time and a place for that. You're joking with your wife and your husband, and you had a couple of friends at an appropriate time. No problem. Enjoy. But if it's during a meeting with the board of directors that's considering whether they're going to declare bankruptcy tomorrow or today, and you throw a joke, you're not a good person to have on the job.

5:48Your wife just told you we don't have any food to feed the kids, and you threw a joke. You're not saying it at the right time. If someone, mourning, just said I'm sick, I have a situation in my home, they have cancer, and you threw a joke, it's not the right time to throw a joke. If someone's trying to tell you the entrance is... the directions to the entrance to Gan Eden and the directions to the entrance to Gehenom. He's trying to teach you which way to go, which way not to go. You follow Torah and mitzvot, Gan Eden. You don't follow—Shem and chas v'shalom. There are only two options; there's no middle. And in the middle of him telling you, you do this, you go to Gan Eden. You do that, no good. You throw a joke, it's not the right time. Why is it not the right time? Because if we have a serious shiur Torah, people are into it. People get tense. People are thinking if someone's a good speaker, a good rabbi, people are already thinking to themselves while he's speaking, "What can I do to fix myself?"

7:11That I could do, no, that I can't, that's too much for me; that I could do. Yeah, I'm gonna do that. Let me try to tell you that I'm gonna do that one tomorrow. He's already thinking to himself, "Tomorrow, I must not do that. Tomorrow, I'm gonna do the tefillin. Tomorrow, I'm gonna wake up early." He's already planning in his head for tomorrow. He's already getting ready to fix himself because he's connecting to what the speaker said from what he read in the Torah. "I'm gonna do this tomorrow. I'm getting into it." He's getting enthusiastic, he's excited. You throw a joke... It's like you threw cold water on fire. All of a sudden, he forgot about all the promises he made. All of a sudden, he's too busy laughing at the joke. All of a sudden, his teshuvah goes into the garbage, and tomorrow he goes back to waking up at 12 o'clock in the afternoon. You just caused the person to not do teshuvah. And by getting in the way of somebody doing teshuvah, you ruin the world. Because the world was created for him. For him to do teshuva. The whole world. The heavens. The stars. The land. The moon. Everything was created for him. Now he's not perfect yet. He has to perfect himself. He has to do teshuva. So the whole world was created and will culminate when he does teshuva. You just ruined it with your foolish joke. You just ruined the world.

8:39And you expect not to get punished?