The Power Of Real Emunah

0:06Now, I'm going to give you an example of a woman who is not only in Olam Haba, but she is in a very special place in Olam Haba. And she's not Jewish. Her name was Matonita. Now, the Jews didn't have the money. So the rabbis told Rabbi Akiva, "Listen, there's this wealthy Gentile woman, but she's a righteous woman. Her name is Matronita. She lives on the coastline, by the beach, and has a big, grand house. She's very rich. Go to her. Perhaps the bracha will come from her. She might be a righteous person and lend us the money."

1:36Rabbi Akiva goes to Matronita's house. They set it up. He says, "Listen, I need a hundred million dollars. I need a lot of money. Why? Because if I don't get this money, the government is going to shut us down. Everything is going to shut down. Everything collapses in a second." Rabbi Akiva needs millions of dollars. He says, I can borrow it from you. Borrow it from you. No, don't give it to me. I have an obligation to give it back to you. I'll borrow it from you. I'll give it back to you. So Matronita, being a righteous Gentile, says, okay, Rabbi Akiva, who's going to be the witness to our deal here that you're going to return the money at the agreed upon time? Rabbi Akiva says, whoever you want. She said, "Whoever I want, okay, I want the ocean to be one of the witnesses, and I want HaKadosh Baruch Hu to be another witness. That's who I want as a witness." Rabbi Akiva says, "Amen. That's what you want, that's the witness? That's the witness. I'll give you the money, in X amount of time, I don't know, 90 days, a year, whatever it was, I'll give you the money on that day." She gives him the money, he takes care of business, and now comes the time to pay back. Rabbi Akiva has the money.

2:58But HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants to teach us a little bit of mussar. You're going to learn from a righteous Gentile. What does He do? He makes Rabbi Akiva really sick, and Rabbi Akiva is bedridden. He can't leave the bed. But he has to pay the money. He can't pay the money because he can't leave. He's stuck. Matronita expects that the day is almost over. Rabbi Akiva is nowhere to be found. Matronita looks at Shamayim and says, "HaKadosh Baruch Hu, You are the witness that I only lent him the money. You are the witness because I only lent the money as you are the witness, and the ocean is the witness. That's the only reason I lent the money, because I believe in You." She begins speaking to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. In that moment, HaKadosh Baruch Hu made the Caesar's daughter, the Roman Caesar's daughter, go cuckoo, lose her mind. She decided to go to the treasure, take all the treasure, and just throw it all in the ocean, out the window, right into the ocean. Then HaKadosh Baruch Hu told the ocean, "Hey ocean, you're one of the witnesses, yallah, let's go, make the ocean do whatever it needs to do, get this treasure to Matronita."

4:12Ocean, two seconds later all of the treasure hits the door of the woman. There's a big knock on the door. What happened? She goes downstairs. She finds a huge treasure outside. Why did this happen? Why did this happen? You could cry to Hashem (God) 500 times, and no treasure would show up at your house. Why? Because maybe you don't believe as much as Matunita. Now a little time passed. Rabbi Akiva shows up with the money after he heals. He goes, here's your money. She says, no, no, Rabbi, your Father in Heaven already paid for you. Your Father in Heaven already paid for you. It made me so happy. She says, it made me so happy. Keep everything that you brought for yourself and take some more. Here, take whatever you want. Go take some more. That's why the Gemara says Rabbi Akiva became the richest man in the world in three different ways. This was one of them. Why did HaKadosh Baruch Hu make all of this happen, Rabotai? Because this righteous gentile woman had emunah that if HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the witness, then HaKadosh Baruch Hu is indeed the witness. If this is a bracha, then it is a bracha. She didn't believe in herself like most people do, saying, "Oh no, I have a lot of self-confidence." That's a problem. You should have confidence in Hashem, not in yourself. What are you? You have stomach aches. What confidence do you really have?

5:42Human beings are the most fragile creations there are. Rav Chaim says, just look at the human being, how lowly it is. A human being eats something two days old and gets sick for three days. A cat can eat something a month old and it's fine, it's like it's making a salad out of it. A human being, you go outside in the winter for a few days, you won't survive, b'ezrat Hashem. The cat and the dog, they can live winter after winter for 20 years, with no jacket, no nothing. What confidence in yourself? Confidence in HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Confidence in the bracha that you say. And you can even learn this from a righteous gentile, the Gemara says. Now, what do you guys think? Do you think Matronita is in Gan Eden or Gehinom? I don't know. My name is not mentioned in the Gemara, but Matronita's is. My name is not mentioned in the Gemara about giving big tzedakah and having emunah in Hashem, but Matronita's is. Aleinu to be there.

6:43Do you understand what the power of emunah is? The power of real emunah.