The Power Of KIRUV (14 Minute Movie That Changes Lives)

0:30If you bring forth an honorable person from a glutton, meaning if you help somebody do teshuva, then you will be like my own mouth. What does it mean, then you will be like my own mouth? Rashi says, this means that the kiruv person, whoever is helping somebody do teshuva, like Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi, Rabbi Zamir Cohen, Rabbi Eliezer Ben-David, there are a few really, really good rabbis out there that are truly working and spending the last 20 or so years saving souls. Rashi says that "like my mouth you will be" means that this kiruv person would not only deliver the word of Hashem but could actually override Hashem's decrees. Hashem is saying, if you're actually helping My children, not only will I take care of your children, but if I decree something, for example, someone to die, or chas v'shalom, someone to lose money, someone to get sick, some type of trouble in the world, and that kiruv person truly prays for it and wants Hashem to change it, his prayer will count more than anyone else. In Masechet Avot,

1:56be Nathan it says that anyone that returns one Jewish soul is as if he created him, not as if it's just a common thing that we know. Anyone that returns a Jewish soul has bought himself the next world. You know, it's like if you chase a Jew to make him do teshuva, it's as if you were God himself and created that person. You know, your life was worth it. Your life, you bought yourself the next world. Here he's saying it's even higher. He's saying it's as if you were God Himself and created that person. And where does he get it? It's the same source, which is from this Jeremiah. The Midrash on Mizmor and Tehillim 116. So Hashem says to the tzaddikim, Again, this particular verse says, "I am the creator of the worlds and bring back the dead and you are the same." So much so that the Zohar says that if Jews actually knew the magnitude of making someone do teshuva,

3:18They would run around in the streets like crazy people just looking for something to help them do teshuva. They would leave everything and just look for someone to help them do teshuva. The wise will shine. like the radiance of the firmament, and those who teach righteousness to the multitude will shine like the stars forever and ever. So, in essence, the people that learn Torah, which Hashem is calling wise, they're going to shine like the sky. They're going to have radiance, they're going to have a good place to be after this world. But those that teach righteousness... the multitudes, meaning the general public, not the ones, not the wise, those that do kiruv, those that help people do teshuva, will shine like the stars. So, one of the midrashim called Sifri, in Parashat Ekev, Piska Mem Zayin, says, why is it comparing the sky to the stars? What's the comparison between the sky and the stars?

4:37Just like the stars are much higher than the sky, that's the people that are making people do teshuva in comparison to somebody that's just learning Torah. Further, it also says that the highest level of gemilut chasadim is to do kiruv. What's gemilut chasadim? If anyone wants to learn a little bit about the end of times, the messianic times, the sages say that there's only two things that are going to save us. Our money is not going to save us. Our brains are not going to save us. Our friends and family are not going to save us. Only two things are going to save us at the end of times: Torah and Gemilut Chassadim. Torah is obviously learning Torah and putting it into our life, not just being a scholar who knows a lot of things but does nothing. And Gemilut Chassadim means kindness. But kindness, that requires effort. You know, there's tzedakah and there's chesed. Tzedakah is just giving someone money. Someone needs money, you just give them money. Kindness means that you're not only giving them money, or sometimes don't give them money, but you give your time, which is more important. So instead of going out there and telling a guy, listen, by the way, you should listen to so-and-so rabbi,

5:50I think he's good, you actually give the guy the disc, or you give him the link. Make his life easier by doing part of the work for him. Or instead of, let's say, for example, telling the guy directions, actually take him there. That's kindness. So the highest level of kindness is kiruv. The highest level of kindness is actually helping somebody do teshuva. One time there was a Kiruv person that came to Rabbi Ovadia to visit him. Rabbi Ovadia was known to not only be a huge Talmid Chacham, a Dayan, pretty much the Gadol HaDor, or not pretty much, but the Gadol HaDor, and loved by all. Rabbi Ovadia loved Am Yisrael like no other.

6:50and he paid special attention to everyone. Any Jew, whether he knew him or didn't know him, whether he was across the world or right next to him, he would pay special attention to people. But he was also very, very precise with his time because he had to dedicate enough time to Torah. So, one time a Kiruv person came to him about a half hour before they were doing Mincha. He sat with him and started talking to him, and then his assistant came to him and said, "Listen, you know, it's a few minutes away, we have hundreds of people waiting at the Beit Knesset for you to pray." for you to pray. He just ignored him, which was unlike the rabbi. Ten more minutes. It's two o'clock, which is when they start praying. He's still not coming. 2:10, 2:15, 2:20. And each time somebody comes, he's completely ignoring them. At 2:20, he had to respond finally to his assistant, telling him, "Listen, according to the Torah, this person that's helping, he never said who the person is, so I don't know who it is. But whoever this person was that was in front of him doing kiruv, he says he's one of the stars. Which means he's worth more than the rest of the people that are waiting, so let them wait. Because he cares enough about the children of Israel, the children of Hashem Himself, who deserve special treatment.

8:17But the good that the sages are telling us that is promised to a righteous person is 310 worlds. In Judaism, each one of the letters that we have has a numerical value. So Aleph has one, Bet has two, and so on and so forth. It's called Gematria. The numerical value of Zikui HaRabim, which means benefiting the public or doing Kiruv, is 310. Same thing as the 310 worlds. It also says in Proverbs 8:21, when Hashem is promising us these 310 worlds, this is what it says: "I have what to bequeath to those who love Me, and I shall fill their storehouses."

9:44I have what to bequeath. Bequeath, in essence, in Hebrew, it's called yesh. And yesh, the numerical value of yesh is 310. So again, from all of this, we learn a little bit of an idea of the significance of Zikui HaRabim. So on one hand, why am I even telling you all of this? It's not necessarily for me to toot my own horn, because it's not exactly like I'm going to do a door or anything. But first of all, it is to understand that the mentality is still the same. It's still an investment mentality. It's just a bit of an investment. Why is it relevant to you or anyone that's watching? It's because everyone could be a mezakeh harabim, just in different ways. You don't have to be a darshan, you don't have to be someone that speaks to be a mezakeh harabim, to do kiruv.

10:45If you can't speak, if you have money, contribute money. Buy a few of these discs of people that are actually doing it, and give it to someone that's not keeping anything. Or even if someone is keeping, but perhaps not enough. If you don't have money, a lot of this stuff is available for free. Get a link on the internet of a good drasha, of a good lecture, and send it to a friend or a family member. Hey, by the way, look, this "Torah and Science" by Rabbi Mizrachi is life-changing. It's four hours; you can cut it into three parts, but it'll change your life. This "Life After Death" movie that he made is also amazing. This near-death experience video that Rabbi Alon Anava made is also amazing. You send people a link on YouTube, they watch it. If they do something about it after learning the truth, it changes their entire life. And all of what I said is if you just save one person. Which means that the 310 is just for one person. Each person that you save is an endless amount of benefit, both in this world and the next. On my end, I see the benefits every single day, mainly because I see myself physically, I see myself mentally, and obviously I'm living a life where somehow the bills are being paid. I haven't worked in over a year. I can't tell you that I have millions in the bank. I don't have anything in the bank, but somehow the bills are being paid.

12:08Happy? All the money in the world that I had is not even worth an hour of today. Not even an hour. The best thing that ever happened to me is that entire disaster that I thought was a disaster. Health-wise, listen, I'm near perfect. Especially if I compare myself to where I was. Yes, of course, here and there are a few things, but overall, the fact that I can speak in front of you today is a miracle of its own. So I know it works. i'm the example. Some people have different stories. Some people died and came back to life. Some people just woke up by seeing something. Different people have different stories. My story is more comprised of a combination of millions of dollars, a medical mystery, a disaster, and a bunch of miracles after it. Every single person will have their own story. And like I said, every single person can take advantage of the one main thing that will get us saved at the end of the days that we find ourselves in.