The Secret of PARNASA TOVA

0:14Amen, amen. We're really happy to have him here. And anybody who wants to serve themselves coffee or tea in the kitchen, we have some refreshments here. You are welcome to have it. And of course, you know, we are just before Purim. Purim is a joyous day. It's a lot of simcha, but part of it is chizukim. Amen. We're really happy to have him here. And anybody who wants to serve themselves coffee or tea in the kitchen, we have some refreshments here. You are welcome to have it. And of course, you know, we are just before Purim. Purim is a joyous day. It's a lot of simcha, but part of it is chizukim. it's a pleasure to be here again. We've been here a couple of times before, Baruch Hashem.

1:36Each time, Baruch Hashem, the shiurim had some good feedback. Good to see some new faces. As the Kvod HaRav said, Purim is coming up. And I've been working on an article for the last week or so. And between all the shiurim and everything else, it's not so easy to find time to write. But you try because when something is important, you have to try to do it. Now, anyone that wants to see any of our shiurim, or any of the articles we write, or for example, today, Baruch Hashem, Rav Efraim actually published the third part of his book. So we announced the third one was just published today. It's in Israel and will be shipped to the US for anyone that wants to study it. It's We have CDs that we're working on. We have probably about 10 different books we're working on. A lot of Torah is coming out to Am Yisrael. The question is, what's so different? Even though it's the question we ask for Pesach, we have to also ask the same question for Purim. We have to ask the same question for Shabbat. We have to ask the same question every day. What's the difference between today and yesterday? Am I the same guy that I was yesterday?

2:59Am I different? Someone asked me the other day. He said, "Listen, what do you do if your wife is not a big fan of you going to shiur? She wants you to stay home with her, hang out with the kids, take her to dinner, go to the mall, maybe, you know, all types of olam hazeh, all types of this-world-type stuff." Happens I want to go learn, he says, but she doesn't want me to go learn. What do you do? I say she's right. So all the men automatically are looking at me like I'm Amalek. So no, no, don't worry. I tell him I'm not Amalek, but she's right. Why is she right? Because you want the shiur Torah. Before you went to shiur Torah, you were Esav. You didn't know anything. You came back from shiur Torah, you're still Esav. Nothing changed. She's not seeing any totza'ot. She's not seeing any changes in you. All she's seeing is you're telling her what to do. Keep this, keep that, keep this with no explanation. You're still cheap. You're still arrogant. You're still angry every two seconds. Your middot, your character traits, have not changed. She's not seeing any results. Of course she's not going to want you to go away. But if you go to the shiur Torah, Esav, and you come back Yaakov,

4:16You work on your middot. You work on your character traits. All of a sudden, you ask her how she's doing because you care, not because it's just something to say. All of a sudden, you buy her a present even though it's not an anniversary for the 50th year. All of a sudden, you're less angry even though you have all the reasons to be. You're changing. You're becoming a better human being. Then she's saying, "Oh, Torah is working. Go to shiur Torah. Stay there. Come back next week." Why? There's totza'ot. There's results. so each and every single one of us has to ask ourselves, what's our totza'ot for ourselves? Our own test, not just in our marriage, not just in school, not just in the learning that we do or don't do. Every single person knows that if they run a business, they look at their results. If you want the business to survive, you have to look at results once in a while. If you want a business not to survive, don't look. Find out when the banks are calling to tell you you haven't paid the mortgage in a few months and they're shutting down the business; then you'll find out what the results are from them. But if you look at the results every few months, you do a quarterly review, you do an annual review, you find out what's going on. Where do I stand? You have a chance of survival. Why a chance of survival? Because now if there's something wrong, if there's a cancer, and it happens to be one of the employees or it happens to be one of the workers...

5:42happens to be one of the partners. If you didn't let it go on for too long, you can fix it. You can remove the bad cancer, but if you just let it go for a long time, it becomes part of the business. That's why many businesses that have bad customer service. It's not something that just started last week. It's something that's been ignored for years, and now to change it, you have to fire everyone. Sometimes When a person reviews himself and compares what he is versus what Hashem said he's supposed to be, he realizes that he has to fire everybody. He has to fire the Yetzer Hara, he has to fire the Yetzer Hatov, he has to fire the Rabbi, he has to fire the Chavruta, he has to fire everyone. Why? He's been learning for 20 years, he's still Esav, nothing changed. If you're not changing, something's wrong. So, when you ask people, "Do you know the 13 principles of faith?" When we bring people, for example, to convert, many tzaddikim, Baruch Hashem, are fulfilling the prophecy that Hashem said at the end of times in Sefer Amos. He told the prophet something extraordinary: that if you didn't read it, you're missing out. If you did read it, you probably missed it anyway.

7:12because it couldn't be more obvious. It says, "Behold, days are coming," meaning he's talking about the Yemei HaMashiach, where the word of Hashem will be, there will be a hunger for the word of Hashem. Not a hunger for bread or thirst for water, but a hunger to hear the words of Hashem. So the Mefarshim put different types of commentaries on this. What do you mean, what kind of hunger? People want to hear the Torah? What, they have nothing else to do? Don't they have a business to run? Don't they have a building to build? Don't they have a marriage to take care of? That's it? That's the whole prophecy? We waited all this time just for people to come to share the Torah? The Navi Amos is telling us something quite different. He's telling us that before the Mashiach comes, there's going to be an unusual division between the righteous and the wicked. As the Gemara says, our oral Torah says, the Mashiach cannot come. The descendant of David, the Mashiach, cannot come.

8:41Unless it's a generation of righteous or wicked, so Chachamim say for everyone to be righteous, it's not happening. Why? There's always going to be a Mechalel Shabbat here and there. There's always going to be a woman walking around in a miniskirt. There's always going to be somebody that says you should go to Christianity or some Buddha or something else. There's always going to be some Rasha somewhere. There's always going to be somebody and... Sometimes the Rasha has a kippah and a beard too. It doesn't mean just because he doesn't have a kippah he's a tzaddik or he's a Rasha. They come in all shapes and sizes. All shapes and sizes. So to have a whole generation of tzaddikim, Chachamim are saying it's not possible. But to have a generation where everyone's wicked is also not possible. Why? Hashem will destroy the world. If there are not at least 36 tzaddikim in the world, Hashem will destroy the world. So what is the Gemara really saying? What is this prophecy about the end of time saying? The Chachamim explained that before the Mashiach comes, every one of us is going to have to make a choice. But not a choice of whether you want to go to Beit Knesset or not to be a mashlim for the Minyan. It's good not

10:00to decide whether you're gonna go to the shiur Torah on time or half an hour late. It's good if you come on time. Not if you even go to the shiur Torah or not. Not even if you put on tefillin in the morning or in the afternoon. Or if you decide to overcharge the guy even though you know he's not gonna notice and he's a millionaire anyway. You know, a lot of people think it's okay to steal from rich people. We're Robin Hoods. They said it was a, you know, cartoon. They said, "Oh, if you're Robin Hood, you're stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. It's a mitzvah." For some reason, the rich people steal from other rich people, so even their own story they don't follow. But the reality is, it's not that choice. It's not that choice. Chachamim are saying, before the Mashiach comes, everyone is gonna have to make a choice and... are you gonna do 100% teshuva and try to become Moshe Rabbeinu? Rabbi Akiva? Tosafot Yom Tov? Rav Ovadia? The Rambam? You're gonna try to become your version of the biggest tzaddik you know, or you're gonna decide I'm gonna be Haman. Either this or this. Either you're gonna be Sarah Imeinu,

11:22is evil. You have to choose. No more 50%. No, ma. I'm gonna come sometimes. I'm gonna come to the Beit Midrash sometimes. I'm gonna keep Shabbat sometimes. I'm gonna be religious in America, but not when I go on vacation. A lot of people are religious at home, but on vacation, they're not religious. Or they wear a mitpachat. They wear the kosher mitpachat to cover their hair throughout the whole year, except if it's a wedding or if it's an event. If everyone's gonna see me, I'm gonna wear a wig that's six feet long and Modest at home. I have one guy who tells me, "Listen, I wear tzitzit all the time." I said, "When? I never see you with tzitzit. You come to shul every week, I never see you with tzitzit." He says, "No, when I'm at home, I wear tzitzit all the time." I said, "Yeah, it's very easy to be religious at home. The key is to be religious outside. To Hashem, it’s outside too." So Chazal says that all of us are gonna have to make a choice, a very difficult choice and... There's going to be an enormous hunger for the truth. Part of that hunger is going to come from converts—people that are going to realize that they've been full of shtuyot their whole life. They've been told all types of lies, whether it's some idiot that died 2,000 years ago and he's Mashiach or he's God or some other creation that they have.

12:41Some fat guy from China, for some reason, he's a god too. Or the cow in India that anytime she crosses the street, everybody bows to her. All types of things that people create. There are over 80,000 different types of sects and religions in the world. When you say "Baruch Shelo Asani Goy" every morning, bless Hashem He didn't make me a Goy. What is the Governor supposed to be? Rav Aharon Kotler, Zichrono Livracha. His whole life was Torah. Morning, afternoon, night, middle of the night, only Torah. One day he goes to one of the talmidim and says, "Who won the election? There was an election in this country, in America, right? Who won the election? Who won the election?" The talmidim, you know, they follow a little bit of news here and there. They said, "Oh, so-and-so won the election." "Oh, okay, good." And he went, did prayer, finished Shacharit. After Shacharit, the talmidim came to Rav Kotler for the first time. A student for 20 years had never heard of the Rav ever being interested in anything related to this world. All of a sudden, he cares about who is the president. What do you care about who is the president? So he goes to the corner of the beit midrash and teaches us, "Yeah, everything you do, you have to learn from chachamim, not just from the books they write but also from their actions." For the chacham, why? Before you even started praying, you asked who won the election. Since when does the Rav actually care about who wins the election?

14:10No, it was very important to me. Why? I was going to do Shacharit. I was going to do the tefillah of Birkot HaShachar. And I have to pray, Baruch Hashem, that He didn't make me a goy. I have to have kavanah. Who am I going to have kavanah on? The president of the United States. Thank God He didn't make me him. Meaning the best one of them. The best one. The president is the best one. Whoever the president is, he's the elite. Even though he has a lot of haters, even though he has people that want to assassinate him, even though all these different things, in reality, in the view of the normal people, they view the president as the most successful guy in the world. He says, I bless Hashem for not making me. That's the difference between someone who understands the value of being a Jew and someone who doesn't. Someone who doesn't, what does he think about when he says, Thank you, God, that You didn't make me a goy. Who does he think about? He thinks about some homeless guy that's on crack. know that's been collecting dollars for 30 years already and happens to be not Jewish. He's thinking, "Oh, thank God you didn't make me the crack guy. Thank God you didn't make me the prostitute. Thank God you didn't make me the guy that's in jail now." You don't have to thank God for that. That's not what the blessing is about. Do you think that Chazal would say thank you for not making me that? It has nothing to do with him being non-Jewish.

15:35Even the best of them is still not as good as the best of the least of us. But how can it be? Is the Torah so racist? Are we such a racist nation? I mean, we have suffered racism since the beginning of time. No, rabbi, it’s not racism. It's that when someone understands what it means to be a Jew, it means that he knows the responsibility that comes with it. And if he fulfills that responsibility... Like Rav Kotler did. He understands, okay, I have a responsibility. I'm fulfilling it. That means that in the eyes of Hashem, I'm a prince. In the eyes of Hashem, I'm considered His lover. If I'm not, then we learn in parashat Yitro, we learned a couple of weeks ago, what does He call the people who don't keep mitzvot? Sonai. What's Sonai? My haters. Hashem says if you keep mitzvot, you're Ahava, you love Me. If you don't keep mitzvot, you hate Me. So at the end of days, every single person is going to have to decide: Do I want to be His lover? Do I want to be His hater? Now, why do the chachamim say you have to make a choice? Why can't it be like most of us that are 50% there, half in Olam Hazeh, half in Olam Haba? We keep Shabbat, but during the rest of the week, sometimes yes, sometimes no.

17:00Why does it have to be extreme? Why are you so Haredi? Why are you so machmir? It's not machmir. Because the amount of tests that are going to happen before the Mashiach comes are going to become so extraordinary and so difficult that unless you're glued to Hashem, you're not going to make it. The Rambam says that before the Mashiach comes, the miracles that we saw Egypt are going to be repeated, but this time they're going to be magnified. In Egypt, we had three days of darkness, three days of darkness, Makkat Choshech, where Hashem killed all of the firstborns of the Egyptians and over 80% of Am Yisrael. Over 80% of Am Yisrael were killed during Makkat Choshech; it wasn't just Egyptians. Why did He kill Am Yisrael?

18:01didn't want to do teshuva. He says you don't want to do teshuva. You don't want to go to Mount Sinai. I don't need you. No problem. You don't want to fulfill the Torah. You have no purpose. The Rambam says that over those three days, He did it during darkness so as not to show the goyim that we're getting punished too. So they don't think that it's an even playing field. But nonetheless, the Rambam says that before Mashiach comes, there will be 15 days of darkness—15 days, not three days, but 15 days. And if you look at the prophecies by Zechariah and by Yechezkel, one of the things that are going to happen at the end of days is very scary. One of the things that the Gemara tells us at the end of Masechet Sotah, page 49... There's going to be unusual things, unusual tests. Inflation is going to be extraordinary, very similar to what's happening in Venezuela, where just a few years ago they were one of the richest countries in the world. Today, people are selling their hair in order to get food. They're selling their hair to get $10 so they can eat for the day. A few years ago, they were rich.

19:24People don't have food to eat. 30,000 people break through the borders to go to the neighboring countries just for survival, not because it's a better economy, just to survive. Inflation like this, according to Chazal, is going to happen everywhere. Pnei ha'dor ke'pnei ha'kelev. The face of the generation will be like the face of dogs. What does it mean? We're going to turn into dogs? No. It means we're going to have the same attitude like dogs. A dog doesn't care about where he does his thing. He doesn't care about it. He doesn't look around where he's going to the bathroom. He doesn't care where he mates. No busha. Unfortunately, at the end of days, before Mashiach comes, people are going to be like that too. A meivin yavin. feel comfortable doing whatever they want in the middle of the street. Today, the leaders will do things that are against their own nation. The people that we put in power, you elect them, you put them in power, and they're going to make decisions that are the opposite. Two very simple examples: You look at, for example, the government of Israel. God bless them, but they have 30% of the government members who are terrorists and

20:45verified terrorists. It's not a conspiracy; they support terrorism. Arab terrorists are part of the government. If somebody told you, "Listen, Osama bin Laden is going to run for mayor of Arkansas," would you vote for him and say, "Yeah, we're going to vote for him to get the death penalty again if he didn't die the first time"? Nobody would ever think to put a terrorist or someone who supports terrorism in government, but in Eretz HaKodesh, the secular government is doing it, and... Here in America, there's already been eight shootings, eight shootings in schools since the beginning of the secular year, meaning in less than two months. People think that the shooting happened a few days ago. Oh, wow. No, no, it's not the first one, guys. Something happened two weeks ago, too. And something happened three weeks ago, too. shootings, meaning we're at a pace right now to have more than one per week. This means that when someone sends their kids to school, there's a 50-50 chance they won't make it. Forget about whether they'll become talmidei chachamim or excel in algebra. You know, whether they'll get good grades. There's a 50-50 chance they may not make it. This is where we're at.

21:59Solve the problem: you have 450,000 unemployed veterans, people that know how to use guns. Put each one of them in a school—that makes four and a half soldiers per school. You don't want to give money to all of them? Put one per school. By just simply doing that, you removed 50,000—almost 50,000—homeless soldiers. So, you've removed homeless people from the streets, provided more taxes to the government, and also provided more living for people. But they're never gonna do it. Why? This all has nothing to do with people. All has nothing to do with governments, and anyone that tries to think, "No, if I vote for this guy, it's gonna change. If I pay this much taxes, it's gonna change. If we stop selling weapons, it's gonna change. If we do all these different things, it's gonna change." Nothing's gonna change. In fact, it's just gonna get worse. Why? This is all Yad Hashem. This all starts and ends with Yad Hashem, the hand of Hashem, the hand of God. Hashem is moving the pieces.

23:03We have to decide what role we're going to play. It doesn't matter who's in government. We already have three different proofs in our Torah. As soon as somebody goes into government, Hashem takes away their free choice. Whether it's Pharaoh or it's Nebuchadnezzar or it's Sihon, there are three different proofs of leaders who went into government, and Hashem said, "Okay, you don't have free choice anymore. Why? You're my little puppet. I'm going to decide whether to use you to help Am Yisrael build a better Mikdash or destroy it." How does this connect to Purim, and then how does this connect to parnasa tova? You guys came here for parnasa tova. How does it connect? article that I've been trying to write has been really about what's really the root cause of the whole disaster or near disaster that happened in Purim. Now, you can say anti-Semitism, but that was already created in Parashat over a thousand years before the story of Purim. So, dafka, it went crazy then.

24:17Anti-Semitism has always been around. Mordechai didn't like Haman, and Haman didn't like Mordechai. A lot of people don't like each other; it doesn't necessarily make it World War Three. What's the root cause of everything? And why is the root cause so critical, so important, that we are obligated to stop learning Torah, according to the Gemara in Masechet Megillah, and go read the Megillah? Now, someone who doesn't know what this means, let me just emphasize: Hashem Yitbarach told the prophet Yirmiyahu, meaning if not for someone learning Torah somewhere in the world 24 hours a day, someone has to be learning somewhere. The rules of the world will cease to exist. What rules of the world? Gravity, oxygen, hydrogen, atmosphere, everything. Not what happened to Noach. What happened to Noach still was technically within nature. Hashem says if there's not somebody out there in the world learning Torah, the world will just simply cease to exist. There's no purpose for the world.

25:43So, to say that someone is learning Torah, it's a big deal. To have a mitzvah to tell all of Am Yisrael to stop learning Torah, that means it's something important. Stop learning Torah? What do you mean? You're putting the whole world at risk right now. This is a mitzvah that puts the entire planet at risk. You're saying you have to learn Torah, but now you're saying stop learning Torah and go hear the Megillah. How could it be? The lessons that we are obligated to learn in the Megillah, it's not just about costumes. It's not just about giving some money to poor people. It's not just about eating a meal bigger than Shabbat. It's not just about getting drunk. It's not just about the story of a couple of guys who got into a fight and disagreed.

26:46It's not about the story, but rather it's about what is relevant to us. Haman died. He's not here anymore, Baruch Hashem. He's reborn every generation. Another version of him was Hitler seventy years ago. And there are many other versions of him that are coming. It's just a reality. They're all going to try, and it's only Yad Hashem that's going to decide whether it's going to go into full power or not. There's a Haman in every generation, just like there's a Mashiach in every generation. The question is, why do I have to hear the story a thousand times already? I heard it last year, the year before, the year before that, and the year before that. How many times do you have to learn Megillat Esther to teach it, to read it? How many times are you going to learn the same thing? The story doesn't change; it's the same story. Haman is a Rasha, Mordechai is a Tzaddik, Esther saves the day, but it's the same thing again and again. Now it's more cookies, costumes, and again.

27:52More customs, more cookies, we'll keep adding weight, and we still don't know anything. What's the purpose of the story? I keep going this way, but not this way. What's happening? Why? Why do I need to know the story again? How many times can you hear the same story? It's not changing. Haman's a Rasha, but he died. Him, Baruch Hashem, and his ten sons all died. Got hung up on a 50-foot tree. There's a Midrash in Me'am Loez that says that the actual tree, 50-foot tree, they didn't have in Shushan. Where'd they get it from? Tevat Noach. They found it in Mount Ararat. They took one of the trees over there. They made the tree for it to hang Haman and his sons. Nice Midrash, but still, does it change the story? No, it doesn't change the story. It's nice, Ta'am. It's a nice taste for the story. But it's still the same story next year. You're going to remember what I just said. You're going to say, oh, you know, what tree they used. Okay, great. Is it going to change anything? Rabotai, the... page 139b says that when Hashem says, "I will hide My face," the sages are using it as a source to explain how Hashem was hiding His face at the time of Esther, at the time of the Purim story.

29:17And Rashi comments there, he says, Yad Hashem, the hand of Hashem, was there the whole time. All these coincidences were there the whole time. It's not a coincidence. Yad Hashem, He's just hiding His face. It's not open miracles like we had in Egypt. Hashemite, you know, a pillar of fire, a pillar of smoke, open the sky, open the seventh heavens, showed I'm He, say there's nobody else here but Me. You don't have to worry about idols. You don't have to worry about any other gods. It's just Me here alone. Showed him the words in the sky, all types of amazing things. In Purim, nothing like that. It all seemed like coincidences. But just like there were coincidences, I actually were controlled by Hashem. And Rashi says that Hashem's message is only known at the end of the story. The message to us, rabotai yekarim, the message to us, the reason why we have to learn the story every year, the reason why we have to stop learning Torah, put the whole world at risk, to go learn this story

30:31Because the message is what's going to save us at the times of Mashiach. What's the message? In the Gemara, Masechet Shabbat, the Chachamim tell us a big secret of what happens when a Neshama leaves the body and goes to Shamayim. It says it goes to Shamayim, to the Beit Din of Shamayim, and they start asking him questions. What's the first question they ask? What do they ask? Did you conduct your business with emunah? What does it mean did you conduct your business with emunah? Did you believe that customers are going to come in? You can believe from here to next week if customers are not coming in, you're shutting down the store and you start a new business. What does it mean you conduct your business with emunah? Conducting business with emunah means did you conduct your money affairs with emunah in Hashem. When the customer came in and you had an opportunity to overcharge him, did you do it?

31:40Jew doesn't make a difference. People try to rationalize that it's okay to cheat the non-Jews, chas v'shalom. Don't cheat the Jews, cheat only the non-Jews, it's okay, and they'll start telling you halachot that they made up in their head of how they're allowed to cheat non-Jews. By the way, it's a big sin to cheat a non-Jew. Just in case you don't know, it's a bigger sin to cheat a non-Jew than a Jew. The reason why in Judaism, obviously, is stealing from a non-Jew is a chillul Hashem. Chillul Hashem is one of the three worst possible sins in the entire Torah. Who doesn’t know? Eventually, when you get to Shamayim, they’re going to ask you, "How come you cheated Steven, the Indian guy who changed his name from Mustafa?" "How come?" "Oh, I don't know." "Okay, let's bring Steven," and they're going to bring Steven, and Steven is going to ask, "How come you cheated me?" How come he cheated me? Sometimes it's over there we realize, sometimes it's over here we realize. People think that they can do what they want and get away with it. As long as they get away with it, it's a mitzvah. Or perhaps it's not an aveirah. But the reality is, the same sages tell us, no one can ever enter Gan Eden with blood on their hands. What does it mean, blood on their hands?

33:08Why? They kept Shabbat, they kept kosher, they put on tefillin. They came to shiur Torah. What's the problem? You're stealing in your business? That's blood on your hands. Cannot enter Gan Eden. It says do not enter. Now, what happens to such a person? Like Kvodo says, they have to come back in a gilgul and pay back the money. There's a story about the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov had Ruach HaKodesh. We talk about Ruach HaKodesh. He actually had it. And the Baal Shem Tov wanted to buy a horse one time. And he came to one of his students and he said, I want to buy a horse. Oh, I have 500 of them. Pick whichever one you want. And he points at one of the horses. He goes, oh, that one, that one, the black one over there. the guy starts crying, "No, no, no, any horse, just not that one. I'll get other horses if you don't like the other 499. Any horse, just not that horse. Please, I want to give you my Rabbi, I love you, I'm going to do everything I can, but please not that horse." Not like today, where the Rabbi says, "Can you do me a favor? Can you come to me on time?" And people respond, "Hey, stop mouthing off to me." No, no, over there, in those days, 400 years ago, if a Rabbi says, "I want a horse," they start crying because they can't give it to him.

34:27So the Baal Shem Tov says to him, "No, no, no, I want that horse. I want that horse." He says, "If that's what you want, that's what you want. What can I do? Are you sure you're going to sell it to me?" He says for you, Kvod HaRav, no problem. Take the horse. I just want to let you know, Kvod HaRav, this horse is the best horse I have. All the other horses, I have to give them a bunch of food and convince them and convince them to do work. This horse wakes me up in the morning. This horse wakes me up in the morning just to go do work. It's the best horse, but for you, Kvod HaRav, I'll give you the horse. No problem. He said, "S'licha, Kvod HaRav. No problem." He goes, "Let me ask you a question. The Baal Shem Tov asks his students, 'Let me ask you something. Did you have a friend or somebody that you know who died recently that maybe owed you some money?'" "Oh, yeah. Yeah, my neighbor. He lives 30 minutes away. Nice guy, nebach. He got hit by something. This guy, the guy died."

35:40He goes, he owed you some money. He goes, yeah, he just put out 150 bucks for the Rav. Nothing, nothing. He didn't owe me much. $150, not his fault. He died, he died, nebach. Wait, is it his fault he died? He didn't plan on dying. He goes, but are you upset that he owed you the money? He goes, no, for the Rav, nebach, the guy died. I went to his funeral and everything. I was not upset. He goes, no, no, but, in your heart, You forgive him that he died without paying you back the money? He goes, of course I forgive him. What kind of question? Am I a rasha? Of course, he's my friend, my friend for 20 years, we're friends, 150 bucks between us, nothing. He goes, so say it. Say, "I forgive him, I forgive him, I forgive him." He says, "Okay." He says it three times. The horse drops dead. The horse drops dead. Guy gets scared and says, "What just happened?" He says, "That was your friend. I knew that your friend's neshamah was inside that horse. He had to come back in a gilgul because he died without paying you back the hundred fifty dollars. He didn't take it on purpose like a thief; he died."

36:56But he still owed the money. In Shamayim, the omek hadin, the depth of the judgment is much more than you can imagine. He showed up to Gan Eden. They said, sorry, sir, do not enter. Why? You owe $150. You have to come back and pay back your friend. How am I going to pay him back if I come back as a baby? Until I grow up, he's already going to die. No, no, go work for him. How am I going to work for him? Go be a horse. He had to come back as a horse to work for you until he paid you back the hundred fifty dollars or you forgave him, whichever comes first. Someone who doesn't want to believe these stories, it's their problem. That's a different shiur. The reality is that in Shamayim, the first question is about money. The first question is about money. It's not about did you go to beit knesset... It's not about did you wear a tallit with the nusach of the Ashkenazim that have the black stripes or the Sephardim that's completely white. Did you say a certain accent this way, a certain accent that way? Did you go to Netz? Did you go to eight o'clock minyan? They don't ask you those questions right away. What do they ask you? They ask you did you conduct your business with emunah? Why did you conduct business with emunah?

38:16Because in the Beit Knesset it's very easy to look like a tzaddik. Especially in the morning, everyone has tallit and tefillin on. Baal Shem Tov, Ben Ish Chai, Moshe Rabbeinu, Rabbi Akiva—everybody's next to each other, everyone looks like a tzaddik. So no one knows this guy's a thief, this guy's a rapist, this guy is this one. No one knows anything. Everybody looks like tzaddikim. Looks like Mount Sinai. Everybody's tzaddikim, kedoshim. No one knows what the other guy is praying. What is he praying? He's praying for his partner to die so he can take all the money. But no one knows. So in Shamayim, they said, we're not going to ask you if you went to Beit Knesset. Why? It's all a show. It's all a show. But when is it not a show? When it comes to your money. Why? It's no show. What you do with your money... What you do with the rest of your neshama if you're honest with your money? You're honest with the rest of your neshama. If you're dishonest with money, you're dishonest with the rest of your neshama. If you're making excuses to cheat and lie and be cheap and stingy and exhibit all those other bad character traits with money, the rest will apply to everything else in your life. There's no show.

39:38All of those people that look like Baalei Chesed, like this guy that made a big Chilul Hashem ten years ago, this Bernie Madoff. Oh, why? He gave so much tzedakah. What tzedakah? He was stealing from this guy to give tzedakah to that guy. Better off don't give tzedakah. According to our Torah, it's not tzedakah. Why? He stole the money. You can't make a mitzvah in a way of sin. It's a Chilul Hashem. You cannot commit a sin in order to perform a mitzvah. You have to take off the costume; it's not Purim every day. When it comes to your business, Purim does not apply. You're as real as it gets. Now, most people, Baruch Hashem, especially in America, make a decent living.

40:40Average income in America is over fifty thousand dollars, meaning that somebody who's making the average income is still better off than some rich people from previous generations. Hashem, if you tell somebody, "Oh, you're making $50,000. It's good income," chas v'shalom (G-d forbid), $50,000? I'm going to survive? Just yeshiva is $25,000. I'm going to do $50,000? I have to make a lot more. It's like telling him making average is like a curse on him. Okay, so what will you make? You have to make $150,000? $250,000? $300,000? How much do you have to make? And the income in different neighborhoods has to keep going higher. And b'ezrat Hashem, some people make more. Some people make average. Some people make much more than average. Some people, Baruch Hashem, are the rich people. They make seven figures. But just so you know, statistically, if you make over $302,000, you are making more than 99.9% of the world. Meaning there are 8 billion people in the world, and you're making more than 99% of them just with $300,000. Which means that if you're making more, obviously, it's even more.

41:58billionaires and things of that nature. It doesn't necessarily mean that's the 1%. The 1% is anyone that has what's considered high income, which is $300,000 or more. But needless to say, most people will always tell you that they're not making enough and Most people will tell you you're not making enough. You ask the guy, how much do you make? Oh, I make, I don't know, only 10,000 a month, only 20,000 a month, only 120,000, only 250,000, only 300,000, only, only, only a million. Last year was a tough year, only 5 million. The year before that was much better, it was 7. The guy comes to Rabbi Nissim again, gives him a check in the morning. He says, "To support your kiruv organization, here you go. I believe in what you do. Please give me something, give me a blessing." So Rabbi Nissim again knew. This guy's worth 100 million dollars. He says, "Listen, ask me for one blessing, the most important thing that you want, anything you want, and I'll pray all year for it."

43:08One thing. The guy's worth a hundred million dollars, rabotai. So what are you gonna think? Yeah, refuah shlemah, for my kids to get married, for my wife to be nice to me, for me to become a talmid chacham, I don't know, to live to a million, I don't know, something. What? Kvod Harav, please, for Hashem to give me parnassah tovah this year. Kvod Harav, please, for Hashem to give me parnassah tovah, like he's homeless. For Hashem to give me parnassah tovah. That's it. That's all I want. Everything else I have, Baruch Hashem, everything I have is parnassah tovah I need. That's all I need. That's all I need. Parnassah tovah. A hundred million dollars he has in the bank. Parnassah tovah. Why? The Gemara, Rabotai Yekarim, is not just some book that a bunch of people wrote because they have some intellect. The Gemara is from Ruach HaKodesh. It comes from Hashem Yitbarach. It's from Mount Sinai. It's not just some things. The Gemara says there's no such person that will ever have enough. Why? You give him a hundred, he wants two hundred. You give him two hundred, he wants four hundred. You give him four hundred, he wants eight hundred. And the Gemara in Massechet Sukkah says no person ever died with even half of what he wanted. Because he always wanted more.

44:25This, we already saw so far, is a problem. How is it connected to Purim? That's how Purim started. Before the disaster, the Gemara tells us that Achashverosh was actually even more anti-Semitic than Haman. He hated Am Yisrael just as much, if not more. But he wasn't as passionate about it. He wanted to make sure that he kills us from the inside, not from the outside. Not like Haman. Haman wanted to kill everyone. Achashverosh was very similar to the Greeks, who wanted to kill off our religion. So what did he do? He had a party celebrating that they did not build the Beit Hamikdash.

45:26According to his calculation, the Beit Hamikdash was supposed to be built according to the prophecy from the book of Yeshayahu. The prophet Yeshayahu said it was going to be a seventy-year difference between the first Beit Hamikdash and the second Beit Hamikdash. And he calculated the seventy years had passed and it wasn't built. That means that Hashem gave up on Am Yisrael. So he said, let's celebrate. How are we going to celebrate? I'm going to invite all the Jews. I'm going to invite all the Jews to the White House, and I'm going to have them celebrate with me while I wear what I wear. I wear Jewish clothing. I wear the clothing of the Kohen Gadol. And I bring all the tools from the Beit Hamikdash. They are going to say, "No, don't worry about it. He's the king. He's allowed." They're going to start making halachot for me. What am I going to do? I'm going to make them feel good about themselves. Oh, kosher wine? We'll make you kosher wine. You want kosher Chinese food? I'll give you kosher Chinese food. Whatever you want, I'll give you. Just start changing the Torah. Make it like a goyish version of Torah. Make it like the New Testament type of Torah. You know, people say, "Oh, it's the same thing, no? Same thing." But unfortunately, the reality is that we went. We went to the party. We went to the party, we drank the wine,

46:51We didn't listen to the kiruv rabbi named Mordechai screaming at the gate, "Don't go, don't go. I know it's the White House, but we don't belong there. We're Jews. We don't belong in the White House. We don't belong writing stories for politics. We don't belong there. We just got to survive, learn our Torah, and wait for Olam HaBa, wait for Mashiach. That's all we are here for. We're not here to be politicians. We're not here to be journalists. We're not here to be anything. We're here to just..." Make our kids Jewish. Be Jewish. That's all we're here for. No one wanted to listen. Why? They wanted to cancel out the blessing we say in the morning. We want to be a goy. Why? The goy is in charge. He's in leadership. Let's be like him. Look, he's even celebrating our holidays now. Look, he has the Kohen Gadol's uniform. Looks nice on him, no? He has kosher wine. Wow! He cares about us. Gave us kosher wine. Look, he has kosher Chinese food. He has kosher this food, Bukharian food, Ashkenazi food, this food, gefilte fish, all types of food. Look, we're at the White House. What's the problem, Mordechai? Why are you such a machmir? Why are you such a machmir? We went. Hashem says you went. Strike one. But in Hashem's eyes, it's not baseball. There's no three strikes.

48:19it's one. One small act changes everything. One small act was the difference between Moshe Rabbeinu entering Eretz Yisrael or not. The Rambam says that if Moshe Rabbeinu would have entered Eretz Yisrael, He would have been the Mashiach, they would have built the Beit HaMikdash, and there would have been four thousand years of Yemei HaMashiach, no sins, no Yetzer Hara, no Churban Beit HaMikdash, nothing. Everything good, already Gan Eden in this world until we go to the next world. But he made a small, tiny mistake that to us is not even a mistake. What did he do? He hit the selah. He hit the stone, said, "Oh, listen, bring some water out." The first time Hashem asked him to do it, He told him, "Hit the selah." So he hit it. The second time, He didn't tell him to hit it. So Moshe figured, kal vachomer, I did it in the past, it worked last time, I'll do it again, it's going to work this time, big deal. What's the problem? Hashem says it's a big sin, it's a big act, it's a big deal. Why? Just a little bit of less kiddush Hashem. A little bit of less. Just one tiny small act. A tiny small act changed everything.

49:27what everything if you wouldn't have hit it you would have gone to Eretz Yisrael everything is good one small mistake we have to go to Gehinnom in this world for the last few thousand years a few people go have some kosher wine they go to the White House they go to Achashverosh they hang out with the guys big deal why did Achashverosh want to do it he wanted to show off his money But what do we say? Whoever has money and loves money never has enough money. So Hashem made the next hand play. What did the next hand play? Someone else had more money than him. Only one other person in the world had more money than him. His name was Haman. Haman had more money than Achashverosh. As a matter of fact, the Midrash tells us that aside from Korach, No one had as much money in the history of mankind as Haman. Haman comes to Achashverosh and says, "Hey, Achashverosh, listen, there's a bunch of people. They're strange. They're not like us. They act like us, but they're really not like us."

50:43Let me kill them, and just in case you don't even think about it, let me give you a little small down payment. How much? 10,000 kikarim kesef. What's 10,000 kikarim? It sounds like $10,000. The guy has a hundred million dollars in the bank. What does he care about 10,000 dollars? Rabotai, I did the heshbon. I did the math. How much did Haman give him as a down payment? In today's worth, if you figure out the cost of silver being today $16.60 an ounce... Exactly three hundred and thirty-four million dollars. Down payment, "Let me kill the Jews." Three hundred thirty-four million dollars, "Let me kill the Jews." Do we think he's going to say no? He hates the Jews already and he loves money. Why did this happen? Jews went for a couple of drinks. It could have always happened. It could have happened before. It could have happened after. It could have happened a million other times. It never happened. Until the Jews decided they want to be like the goyim. You want to be like the goyim? You don't want to sanctify yourself? If you don't want to sanctify yourself, I'll send the goyim as a weapon to separate you, to remind you that you're not like them.

52:05What will I use? I will use the same thing that you thought was good. So the story of Purim technically only happened because of the lust for money. Ahasuerus loved it, Haman had it, and we made enough mistakes to deserve it. Now, most people, when you tell them, "What do you want?" say, "Listen, I want to have parnassah tovah." But you already make enough money, so how come you want more? The reason why, which is the main purpose of what we said we're going to talk about, is because most people may make a lot of money. They may make 100 or 200 or 300 or whatever money that they make, but they don't have...

53:09blessing in the money. Whatever they make, it's irrelevant. For whatever reason or another, the money itself doesn't survive. They can make a hundred or they can make a million, the money doesn't survive. It's always going somewhere they don't want it to. They made 10,000 last month and All of it went to medical bills. They made 20,000, and it went to medical bills and taxes. They made 30,000, and it went to medical bills, taxes, and some other problems in the house. No matter how much money they make, it's always going somewhere. There's never anything left. They're always fighting to close out the month. They always have to borrow money for another few days. They always have to take an extra loan, an extra line of credit. They take a little bit of an advance from a customer, a little bit of an advance from a boss. They're always chasing their own wheels. They're always chasing their own tails, constantly. It's never enough. Well, you made more money, though. You look at the numbers. You look at the actual company. Last year, you made $100,000. This year, you made $500,000. Next year, you're going to make a million. What's the problem? How come you're struggling more now when you're making a million than when you did when you just started working delivering newspapers? What's the problem? Now, there are a few things that I know.

54:23I'm trying, but there's a few things for sure I know. How do I know? What are two things that I know? One, I know a little bit about suffering. Anyone that doesn't know, the CD, the black one, first track, tells my personal story. Once you hear that lecture, you'll understand what suffering really is. So, I have a little bit of experience with suffering. The other thing, I know a little bit about not having blessing in the money. I don't know what everybody makes, I don't know what everybody doesn't make, it doesn't really make a difference. But I know that 99% of people do not have a blessing in their money, the same thing like I did. It didn't matter whether I was making five thousand a month or five hundred thousand a month, or one month in May of 2006, 1.6 million for the month. I know a little bit about not having a blessing in the money. I don't know what everybody makes; I don't know what everybody doesn't make. It doesn't really make a difference. But I know that 99% of people do not have a blessing in their money, the same thing like I did. It didn't matter whether I was making five thousand a month or five hundred thousand a month, or one month in May of 2006, 1.6 million for the month. Somehow, it was all gone anyway. It didn't matter how much we were making—one hundred thousand a month, two hundred thousand a month, five hundred thousand a month, a million a month—it didn't make a difference. Somehow, it was always gone. Now at the time, I just thought, "Yeah, we're growing. We're busy. We're investing." There were all types of rational excuses.

55:47Yeah, the money—I don't have it in the bank anymore. But it's invested in the stock or in the bond or in this or in that, or all types of different explanations of why I don't have it. You made it, but it's gone. You made the money, but it's gone. You're always struggling to finish the money. You just made 200,000 last month. How come you don't have any money? How come you're constantly struggling? How come you have to make money this month to survive? Does some businesses you see them? There are some companies out there. They make literally hundreds of millions of dollars. They have problems for six months—bankruptcy. How? How do you make so much money, and in six months of difficulty, bankruptcy? What happened? Where did the money go? Yeah, Hashem takes control of everything. The hand of Hashem takes control of everything, and if He wants you to have... The money doesn't matter how much money you make. In the Gemara in Masechet Beitza, page 16a, and also in Masechet Rosh Hashanah, page 16b, it says that the parnassah of a person is decided on Rosh Hashanah until Rosh Hashanah. What does it mean that parnassah is decided on Rosh Hashanah until Rosh Hashanah? One time, there was a guy that was selling water and...

57:13passed by the Baal Shem Tov. And the Baal Shem Tov asked him, "How are you doing?" "Everything is good, Baruch Hashem. I have a job. I've been doing this for 20 years already. Baruch Hashem, everything's okay. Baruch Hashem." The next day, he sees the same guy. Nothing changed. It's still hot outside, like a desert. The water is still as heavy as it was yesterday. He did it yesterday for 20 years. Today it's 20 years and one day. Nothing really changed. Baal Shem Tov asked him, "How are you doing?" "Zeh hakvod harav kapara avonot with his job. 20 years I'm carrying this water, and it's so hot, and it's so heavy, and it's so difficult, and I'm not making enough money. What happened? Yesterday was good. Yesterday was Baruch Hashem. What happened today? Where's the Baruch Hashem today? What happened?" The Baal Shem Tov tells him, "Baruch Hashem, you helped me today. You helped me. You gave me a chidush." "Me? Give you a chidush? What chidush did I give you?"

58:13I'm carrying water, kvod harav, what chidush do I give you? He says, the Gemara says, the parnassah is decided already in Shamayim from Rosh Hashanah until Rosh Hashanah. It's decided on Rosh Hashanah how much money you're going to make. It doesn't matter if you work three days a week, seven days a week, 30 hours a day, three hours a day, if you're a stockbroker, if you sell wood, if you sell pencils, if you sell Q-tips to hotel chains, if you sell jewelry, if you sell whatever you sell. Hashem decides how much money He's gonna give you on Rosh Hashanah. Regardless of how much you work, regardless of how much you do, it doesn't make a difference. But the Mishnah, which came before the Gemara, says that the parnassah is also decided every day. So the Baal Shem Tov says, "I always ask myself, if it's already decided on Rosh Hashanah, why am I being judged again every day?" Already decided why is He going to change His mind? He doesn’t change His mind. Even Bilaam HaRasha knew, he told Balak, "Hashem doesn’t change His mind like a human being." So if it’s already decided on Rosh Hashanah that I’m going to make a hundred thousand or a hundred million, whatever is decided, what's being decided every day? Can you help me understand the chiddush? What’s the chiddush?

59:42Already decided how much you're gonna make, and also, so now regardless of whether you sell water or you sell diamonds. But every day, it's decided how you're gonna make it. If it's gonna be parnassah tovah or parnassah ra'ah, if it's gonna be easy, like someone's gonna give you, "By the way, sir, here's a bonus of 500 bucks for the day." I didn't even do anything. "No, no, I like you. Here's $500. It's a tip." Or it's gonna be a lawsuit, Hashem, or a car accident. Some people think that there's a mistake in the system. They say, "Oh wait, Hashem decided I'm gonna make money on Rosh Hashanah. Three days after Rosh Hashanah I got fired. I'm gonna make parnassah tovah. What, Hashem said I'm not gonna make any money?" No, He could have decided you're still gonna make a million dollars this year. But instead, it's gonna be from a car accident. Instead, it's gonna be from a lawsuit. Instead, it's gonna be from Hashem, some type of other chas v'shalom.

1:00:43Ask anybody with a brain: would you rather make a decent living off of a normal job or through a car accident? Any normal person will tell you, "No, no, no. Give me 10% of the money, just no accident. I don't want to lose an arm, lose a leg, lose an eye, lose anything." But sometimes people get so desperate with their infatuation with money... I've heard at least a couple of times in my life somebody say, "You know what, it's not so bad if I get hit by a bus, but I can make an extra few million dollars. What's the big deal? At least I have the money." Now, all of you normal people are thinking, "This guy's crazy." That person that said it was a Jew, but unfortunately, a Jew without Torah... The Gemara calls them an Am Ha'aretz. What's an Am Ha'aretz? Who's described as an Am Ha'aretz in the Torah? The goyim. The Torah says that a Jew without learning Torah is no different than a goy. To such an extent that according to the Gemara Masechet Pesachim, a Jew that does not learn Torah should not be allowed to eat meat. Why? The cow is better than him.

1:02:05This is what the Sages say. This is what Rabbi Akiva says. This is what Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai says. Why? Because at least the cow says, "The cow says, thank you, Hashem, for giving me some grass to eat. Thank you, Hashem, for giving me some air to breathe." The Jew, how is he going to say thank you to Hashem if he doesn't even know He exists? How? How? So most people want to know the secret to parnassah tovah. So first and foremost, we have to learn how to avoid parnassah ra'ah. How to avoid bad parnassah. And that's really the secret to parnassah tovah. Once we avoid all the obstacles of getting parnassah ra'ah, bad parnassah, it only leaves room for parnassah tovah. Now, when I did investments for almost 16 years, we ran a hedge fund, a brokerage firm, an investment firm, or an insurance company. All types of people would come to invest with us, and different people would come to work for us. At least a couple of times a week, there would be a young guy with a lot of courage and a lot of chutzpah who would tell me, "Listen

1:03:32Let me have the money that you're managing for your clients. Or at least give me a portion of it. Give me a hundred million dollars. Like it's nothing, like I just found it on the street. Give me a hundred million dollars. I'll manage it for you. You don't have to worry about anything. You can go to Vegas. You can go on vacation. I'll manage it for you. You don't have to worry about anything. The kid just came out of diapers. He's 18 years old. He just found out what it means to be a male. But he wants to manage a hundred million dollars. So I said, how could it be? What makes you so confident? Now that you're out of diapers, what makes you so confident that you can manage $100 million that people worked really hard for? What makes you so confident to manage $100 million? Do you know what $100 million is? What makes you so confident? He says, no, it's easy. I did it. I had a demo account. I had a demo account on Yahoo with fake money. And I started the account with $100 million fake dollars and I invested in different stocks. And right now, he tells me, I got a billion dollars.

1:04:35You're lucky. I'm willing to work for you. So if you give me the hundred million dollars, I'll do the same thing I did with the fake money. We're both rich. Just give me 50%. You don't have to work anymore; I'm your retirement plan, he tells me. You think you got the job? Only a fool will give such a person anything, and the reason why is... Because demo money is not real money. You're never going to be as good with real money as you are with demo money. Never. It's never the same. Why is it never the same? Because the most critical part of managing money is managing your emotions. When it's fake money, there's no emotion. Who cares if you lose? It's no different than a terrorist.

1:05:36can't beat the terrorists. Why? They want to die anyway. What do you do? "I'm going to kill you." "Okay, fine, I was going to do it for you, but okay, you want to kill me? Help me out, it's easier." You can't beat the terrorists; they want to die. The guy playing with the demo money has nothing to lose. He'll invest in anything. He'll invest in penny stocks, he'll invest in fake companies, he'll invest in the Ponzi scheme. He'll invest in anything that sounds good. Who cares? Big deal, Bitcoin. There's actually, by the way, just to show you the level of stupidity that's happening in the financial market. Not that I track it, but I have a few students that keep bothering me about this thing, and I looked at it for five minutes and I said, "Listen, just to prove to you that only fools are investing in this because of what it says on TV, only fools." There's actually a coin called Ponzi Coin. Ponzi, you know what Ponzi is? The Ponzi scheme. It's a scam. The guy started a joke. He started a website. start a website. He said, "I'm starting a coin in a few months and it's going to be a Ponzi scam. Meaning, everything you deposit into my coin, I'm going to steal from you." He writes it. "I'll write it. It's a joke, but he writes it on the website. I'm going to steal all the money from you." He launched the coin. Within eight hours, a quarter of a million dollars was deposited into his account.

1:06:51He shut down the coin. He said, "I never realized how stupid people are. I told you I'm going to steal the money from you. You still gave me the money. Obviously, it was a joke, but you guys are really stupid." Now, what's the stupider part of it? It's still trading to this day, a month later. People are still investing in it. Yes, and eventually it's all going to go to zero. The point is, if stupidity itself was a stock, I would invest in it. Why? The price would be to infinity. But this also has to do with us. We ask the same Yad Hashem, the same hand of Hashem, to give us parnasah when we don't even know how to say thank you sometimes. We don't know how to say thank you. We ask Hashem for parnasah tova. We ask Hashem for all types of segulot, all types of miracles for how to give us a good living. But we're not avoiding any of the potholes and bombs in the way that are ruining our parnasah. So Hashem says, the best segulah is to be an am segulah.

1:08:15You be the segulah. People always look for segulot. They look for magic tricks, little shortcuts of how to do certain things. There are different things you can do to get more money, to get married, to have refuah shlemah, to have different things. But there's one segulah that's above all. What is it? You. I'm segulah; you'll be the segulah. You do so well with your connection to Hashem Yitbarach just by existing. That's the best segulah in the world. That's the key to all the success you can possibly have now. When someone is trading with fake money, with demo money, and... very easy for them to succeed because they don't realize that it's all fake. They don't realize that they're stepping in places they're not supposed to. But if you give somebody real money, they're not going to trade the same, and the reason why is because as soon as they step on a pothole and they start seeing real pain, because the boss is throwing a stapler at their head because they just lost them a million dollars, or the customer is calling...

1:09:24He wants to sue the company because they lost 20 million dollars. It's not the same thing as demo money anymore. Why? There's actually something happening. People's lives are changing because the money keeps going up and down. If you keep investing in nonsense, people are going to get affected by it, and they're going to do something about it. It's not like fake money where no one cares, no one knows, and nothing happens. So I have a question for you. Do you want me to... give you advice that's not going to work, similar to demo accounts, but you want me to give you advice that's a little more difficult but actually going to work. Meaning I can give you all types of segulot. I can give you a book of segulot with different things you can do. It says if you do this, you're gonna make money, do this, you're gonna make money, do this, you can have kids, do this, you can have success—all these different things. All that is good; there are books of segulot. And then, I could tell you three things instead that are definitely gonna work. The first hundred are not gonna work, but you'll have them at least.

1:10:44It's like demo money. You'll have fake $100 million. The three are definitely going to work, but it's much more risky. It's much more significant. It's much more difficult. Most people are going to want the second choice. Even though some of you are looking confused right now, the second choice is the right one. So first and foremost, a person needs to understand But when the Gemara says that Hashem created the Shabbat in order for you to stop, in order for you to cease your creation, He didn't necessarily just mean stop lighting fire. Obviously, you have to stop lighting fire. Obviously, you have to stop driving cars. Obviously, you have to stop turning on the TV, if you even still have a TV. It's obvious. But unfortunately, there's much more that most people don't even know. Most people think that they're keeping Shabbat, but in reality, they're violating Shabbat. Even though they're not driving, even though they may not be exchanging money physically.

1:12:10Even though they're not on the internet, they're not on their phone, but they're still violating Shabbat. Why? They're still talking business. And today is no different than any other day. Most business is made with your lips. Most business is just simple conversation. So when many do Shulchan Aruch Shabbat, you have the kiddush, you say to Hashem, thank you very much for giving us the Shabbat, you do the kiddush on the wine, you do the kiddush on the bread, you eat enough food for a week, and all the great things, and you start talking. Now, if the conversation is about the kiddush you heard in the Torah, the Gemara, the Parashat HaShavua, all of those things, ashrecha. The reality is that most conversations in Shulchan Aruch Shabbat don't have much to do with it. They give the kids maybe five or ten minutes of attention, tell them, "Give us the chiddush that you heard," just to, you know, make them feel like they're part of the whole thing. They have the kids say divrei Torah, and then the kid goes to sleep or goes to play somewhere else, and everybody else continues back to their conversation. And what's the conversation about? "Oh, that piece of real estate. Yeah, that building, I think I'm gonna buy it. No, that one. No, I think I'm gonna sell it. That diamond, it's a great piece. I think I'm gonna invest in it. Do you want to go partners? Okay, we'll talk about it after Shabbat." You just made the deal now.

1:13:32We'll talk about it after Shabbat. No, no, we don't make the deal now. We'll talk about it after Shabbat. Was it flawless? No, no, it's a VVS. It's a VVS this, it's a VVS that. People talk a hundred percent business on Shulchan Shabbat. But you tell them you keep Shabbat. Of course I keep Shabbat. Of course I keep Shabbat. Didn't the Rambam say all those things? I said no, it even says worse. It even says worse. What does it say on a Mechalel Shabbat, Rabotai? What does it say? Many of us know somebody that's a Mechalel Shabbat. A recent statistic by Pew Research Center that I read made me sick to my stomach. First, it said that 90% of American Jews do not keep Shabbat. This is not a chidush. It's sad. It's horrible. but out of six million American Jews, only 600,000 keep Shabbat. 5.4 million do not keep Shabbat. This is a problem. It's not the chiddush I'm about to tell you though. Sad. Both me and you want to cry about it, but there's something even sadder. What's sadder? The same research said that although 90% of American Jews do not keep Shabbat,

1:14:57Ninety-four percent believe it's okay to work on Shabbat. Ninety percent don't keep Shabbat, but ninety-four percent believe it's okay to work on Shabbat, meaning that forty percent of the so-called religious Jews admittedly say it's okay to work on Shabbat if you need to. Well, you want to work, you need to work. Listen, I shouldn't give you mussar on this. "I work on Shabbat because Hashem hasn't given me enough money." It's His fault? meaning 40 percent of the so-called religious Jews admittedly say it's okay to work on Shabbat if you need to. This means the problem is not just with the secular people, the Reform, the Conservative, the atheists, the Messianics, and all the other groups in between. The problem is in the religious community as well, and the reason why is because most people simply do not know the magnitude of Chilul Shabbat. Now, I'm not gonna go into the details that I went into in my shiur about Gehenom—that's not for here. But I'm gonna tell you a couple of small things that will shock you because most people simply don't know this. According to the Rambam in Hilchot Shabbat, chapter 30...

1:16:13Judah violates Shabbat regularly, not that he does it by accident. If he turns on the light by accident or something, that's a different story. Yes, he would need to bring a korban chatat. to give staka, it's not on purpose. Someone that drives on Shabbat, someone that smokes cigarettes on Shabbat, someone that works on Shabbat, which includes people that think they keep Shabbat but are talking business on Shabbat. They're talking about diamonds and jewelry and business and the stock market and bitcoins and real estate, and pretty much a lot of people. Those people are someone that violates Shabbat on a regular basis, the Rambam says in Hilchot Shabbat, Chapter 30, in the eyes of Hashem, he's considered 100% an idol worshiper. Why an idol worshiper? Why? What's one thing have to do with the other? The idol worshiper is praying to Buddha; this guy just did Kiddush on wine.

1:17:19This guy just drove a car, big deal. Doesn't he believe? You ask most Jews, "Do you believe in God?" They'll tell you yes, most do. Do you know who God is? Not so much. Do you know that you have to do Shema Yisrael? Not so much. Do you know that there's reward and punishment? Not so much. But is there a God? Most Jews will tell you yes, most. You ask people that really have some decent heritage in the Bukharian communities, Israeli communities, and so on, most have some level of belief in Hashem. I Don't necessarily know much about the obligations, but they have to believe in God. There's a starting point. You ask him, "Do you talk business on Shabbat?" "Yeah, what's the big deal? I'm only talking. I'm not doing any transactions. I'm not giving any money. Just talking, just words. Business is just words. I built a hundred million dollar business with just words, not once did I ever take cash." Not one time, not one time in my entire career for 16 years did anybody ever give me money in my hands. Why? We didn't work with money. We worked with digits, computers. You send money on a computer. Even when somebody would send a check, I wouldn't see it. It would just go directly into a bank. It was all digital. Who deals with cash anymore? What am I, an ice cream truck?

1:18:37Who deals with cash? Nobody deals with cash. It's all talking. Mr. Jones, do you want to buy? It's a million and a half dollars for so-and-so. Yes? No. Yes? If you say yes, I make $60,000 today. If you say no, then I'll call somebody else and make $60,000. Beginning, end the conversation. Yes or no? It's all talk. But people think, no, no, I'm just talking. I'm not doing anything. It's Chilul Shabbat. And 94% of American Jews... It's okay to work on Shabbat, feel it's okay to work on Shabbat. The Rambam says those people are considered idol worshipers, and the reason why is just like the idol worshiper replaces HaShem Yitbarach, the source of all water, with holes in the middle of the desert and... Broken holes, broken cisterns, like the Prophet Jeremiah says, that can't even hold water. Just like he replaced the source of all water, of all good, with nothing, the Jew that talks business on Shabbat, the Jew that works on Shabbat, the Jew that's not keeping Shabbat—same thing. He replaced HaShem with nothing; he replaced HaShem with nothing. Now, how bad does it really get? In the second book of...

1:19:59One of the questions that's asked is, is Islam considered idolatry? Are the Yishmaelim considered idol worshippers? For the most part, they're evil. Some are decent human beings, but many of them want to kill us. You do statistics, Prager University and a few other major research houses did statistics. It's not a conspiracy. Most of them want to kill us. It has nothing to do with us not liking them. It has to do with them just wanting us to cease existence because that's their job in the world. Why did this happen, by the way? Does anybody know? The Midrash says something awful. Awful. Small actions, big reactions. All of us remember: you heard the wife of Avraham. "Listen to your wife"—what does it mean, listen to your wife? She's a bigger prophet than you. Sarah, a bigger prophet than Avraham. Sarah made a mistake one time; she mistreated her.

1:21:24Mistreated her, she didn't act so nicely. Tiny small thing, okay, she said something, she did some things, but she didn't kill her. She did a few things, small things. What's midah k'neged midah? What's the measure for measure? Hashem says, just like Sarah Imeinu mistreated Hagar, her descendants, Ishmael, are going to torture Am Yisrael until Mashiach comes. Midah k'neged midah, they give me the small action, big reaction. Shock of a lifetime, and when you understand what it means, this is all part of the cheshbonot of Shamayim. There's no solution other than teshuvah. Now, unlike the Christians, the halacha is, according to the Rambam, that Islam is not idolatry. It's not idolatry. But Christianity is idolatry. So Rabbi Ephraim writes the details of why it's not idolatry. But then he gives something that's mentioned in the Gemara Masechet Avodah Zarah that is very relevant to us. The Gemara says that if you have uncooked wine, if you have uncooked wine...

1:22:51An idol worshiper touches the wine; you have to throw it out. You're not allowed to enjoy it by drinking it, and you're not allowed to sell it either. You're not allowed to derive any benefit from it, whether by consuming it or in any other way. You have to destroy it once it's open. Yes. Gave him a couple of key dush cups. It's uncooked wine. The idol worshiper shook it, held it, or touched it. Even if it's the whole bottle, the bottle is open, or even if it's the whole barrel, the barrel is open. The idol worshiper shook it a little bit—garbage. You are not even allowed to give it to your dog. A little Christian who believes in JC Penny touched the thing; that's it, it's all garbage. Could be the whole barrel of wine, could be $500,000 if it's expensive wine. Oh Garbage, not allowed to give it to dogs or cats, can't sell it, can't do anything with it. All you can do with it is throw it out. Same thing you can do with the wigs that come from India. The only mitzvah you have with wigs from India is to burn them. It's the only thing you can do with them. Other than that, there's no other mitzvah to do with them. Now that's because Avodah Zarah is detestable to Hashem. It's disgusting to Hashem. You've replaced everything with nothing and...

1:24:13Part two. If someone that's a Muslim, Muslim, touches your wine, touches your wine, what can you do? It's open. Again, it's open. If it's closed, it's a different story. If it's open, what can you do with this wine? You're not allowed to drink it, but you are allowed to sell it. You're allowed to give it to your dog. You're allowed to give it to a non-Jew. You're allowed to sell it. You're allowed to enjoy it. Why? Because he's not an idol worshiper. But you're not allowed to drink it. Idol worshiper—garbage. Not idol worshiper—you can enjoy it in some regards, but you can't consume it. Shock of a lifetime? If a Mechalel Shabbat touches your wine... He has the same din as the idol worshiper. He has the same din as the idol worshiper, the guy that prays to Buddha. You must throw out the wine. Meaning, even if Muhammad himself comes and touches the wine, you're still allowed to sell it. But your fellow Jew, your brother, your sister, you can't touch the wine. If that doesn't make you sad about Am Yisrael, what's gonna make you sad?

1:25:35It's a sin. It's a sin from the Torah. As a matter of fact, to let him touch it is a sin. You ruined the wine. To give him the wine, to let him touch the wine is not allowed. Why? You ruined the wine. It is not allowed to ruin wine. It's bal tashchit. Your brother, your sister, your father, your mother, someone relevant to you, your best friend from childhood, if they just touch the wine, you're not allowed to drink it, you're not allowed to do anything with it. You have to judge it the same way as Avodah Zarah, Hashem Yerachem. But the Muslim terrorists, okay, we can still sell it. We can still make a few dollars off of it. That's Halacha, Rabotai. It doesn't make sense, but that's God. Why am I telling you these shocking facts? Because if we don't start understanding the significance of Shabbat, we're all gonna continue violating it. Even the ones that call ourselves Shomrei Shabbat. If you don't learn Hilchot Shabbat, You're guaranteed to be violating Shabbat. If you don't come to the Rav on a regular basis every week, for the Rav to teach you Hilchot Shabbat, for the Rav to recommend a book to learn Hilchot Shabbat, you're guaranteed to be violating Shabbat. One guy told me, "Yeah, yeah, I keep Shabbat already for 10 years." I said, "You're probably not keeping Shabbat." He said, "No, how do you know I don't keep Shabbat?" I said, "You don't learn. How could you keep Shabbat if you're not learning? There's no way that you're keeping Shabbat." He goes, "I'm keeping Shabbat for 10 years. What, are you a prophet?" I said, "There's no way you're keeping Shabbat."

1:27:03He said, "Okay, prove it." I said, "No problem. Do you eat peanuts? Do you eat cashews, anything?" He goes, "Yeah, sure. Not allowed?" I said, "It's allowed. It's allowed. You're allowed to eat pistachios. You like pistachios?" "Yeah, I love pistachios. You eat pistachios?" He goes, "Almost every Shabbat." I said, "How do you eat pistachios?" He says, "What do you mean, how do you eat pistachios? I open the peel, I put it in this, I eat pistachios." I said, "You're violating Shabbat." It's not like it's a lot of pistachios, but it's not allowed to do that. It's not allowed to separate the good from the bad, meaning that you have to have two piles: one with good and bad, and one with just good. Meaning even in the garbage pile, you have to have a few pistachios that are unopened, that are good, that are edible. Why? Because if you separate the bad, the peel from the pistachio itself, it's borer. This is a small tiny little thing. If you don't know it, you're violating Shabbat. It's small little tiny things. But like we saw with Sarah Imeinu, Sarah Imeinu, small tiny thing, we're still suffering for it to this day. Moshe Rabbeinu, small tiny little thing, we're still suffering to this day. Small little steps make big actions in Shamayim. It's not the same thing. So first and foremost,

1:28:23You want a school of upon us at Olam Haba. You have to keep Shabbat perfect. Perfect! You have to learn everything there is to know about it. You have to be the expert, and you’ve got to get other people to keep Shabbat. You're obligated to get other people to keep Shabbat. Why are you obligated to get other people to keep Shabbat? Because until now, you've been violating Shabbat probably. Until now, I've been violating Shabbat probably. At some point, we violated Shabbat. We made some mistakes. So you're gonna go up to Shamayim after 120 years and say, "Oh, yeah, good job. You went to the shiur, you kept Shabbat. Good job." But for 10 years before that, you didn't keep Shabbat. So there's a deficit in your account. Deficit in your account. Oh, sorry, sir. You have to go to Gehinnom. Oh, what do you mean? I've been keeping Shabbat. Yes, you kept Shabbat for all those years. You kept Shabbat, Gan Eden. But there were ten years you didn't keep Shabbat. You were pistachios and hot water, and you were talking business and all those things. So what are you gonna do? Well, how could I go back in the future? What am I gonna do? Ah, there's a solution. What's the solution, Rabotai? Hashem gives us the solution.

1:29:28what's the solution? He says to the prophet: return and bring others back from your transgressions so that they are not obstacle to your iniquity. Meaning you want to have a full account of Shabbat. Get other people to keep Shabbat. Why? Because there were a few years you didn't keep Shabbat. But if you get your friend, your brother, your cousin, someone to start keeping Shabbat, every Shabbat you keep and they keep, that's the best for you. So now you show up to Shamayim. I have two Shabbats now, and the next week another two Shabbats, and the next week another two Shabbats. If you get ten people, ten Shabbats; twenty people, twenty Shabbats; thirty people, turn on the button. the back. There's a little clip in the back to turn on the extra battery. There's a little button in the back, a little clip in the back that turns on the second battery. There's just one switch in the back. Yeah, there you go. We have a deficit right now. We all have a deficit. We all made a mistake somewhere, sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident.

1:30:47Sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident. I, Baruch Hashem, made plenty of sins in my life because I lived most of my life as a Chiloni. I have a lot of work to do. Some of you are the same, some of you are better. I don't know. It doesn't make a difference. The point is to do teshuva. The Prophet Yechezkel says we're all obligated to do the same thing. We're all obligated to do kiruv. Why? We all have a deficit. We're all messed up somewhere. So how do we do it? You get one person to do teshuva, maybe he's going to get his wife to do teshuva. Maybe the wife is going to make the husband do teshuva. Now the kids are going to be little tzaddikim. Everybody's going to do teshuva. Everybody's going to start keeping mitzvot. All of it goes to your account. Now all 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 years you've been violating, now every week you've got 40 Shabbatot. Every week you're making up for a whole year. That's teshuva. So first and foremost, you want parnasa tova, start keeping Shabbat and get other people to keep Shabbat. Second thing, much easier. Much easier to say, much more difficult to do. This may sound strange, but I touched on it a little bit before. We have to stop stealing. That's segula. Segula is you have to stop stealing. Shlomo HaMelech says if you want a guarantee to lose all of your money,

1:32:05either steal or go to prostitutes. Baruch Hashem, I don't think anybody here, chas v'shalom, ever goes to such things. But unfortunately, many of us don't even know that sometimes our business is so dishonest it's considered in Shamayim 100% stealing. You have to make sure that your money is kosher. Not just in your eyes, but in the eyes of Hashem. In the eyes of Hashem. You have to make sure that, luckily, your money is kosher. If your money is not coming in a kosher way, you have to find a new way to make money. There is no heter; there is no leniency. Oh no, it's not kosher, but I'm giving 20 percent. It's not kosher, but I'm giving 50 percent of the money to the beit knesset. Look, we’re expanding. Look, I’m paying for it. It's not kosher money, but I'm paying for a lot. No, there's no such thing. There's no such thing as making a mitzvah through sin. Money has to be kosher. It has to be kosher. It's much more difficult to do because sometimes it requires people to change careers. Sometimes it requires them to change customers. Sometimes it requires them to change partnerships. Sometimes you have a partner who's a thief, and he's not going to change.

1:33:16He likes to steal. He doesn't care about Halacha. He doesn't care about anything other than the Bentley that he wants to buy. He doesn't care about anything other than expanding his house. He's willing to kill, lie, and steal. He's willing to do anything for money. You have to change partners. It's difficult—easy to say, though. It's much less than the Shabbat Halacha, but it's much more difficult to do because it requires us to sometimes change our life and... Our life to such an extent that you may have to change a business. There are some businesses that, by default, are stealing. I'll give you an example that, unfortunately, many Jews fall into. I remember when I was a kid, about 20 years ago, it was very popular to sell electronics. Now, what are Jewish people doing in electronics when the Japanese and the Chinese are making it? What are we doing in that business? Apparently, a certain sect within Judaism... found a niche 20 years ago of how to cheat. What they do is they buy refurbished goods. They would buy a machine or a computer that's not new, that broke, that went bad, and somebody returned it to the company.

1:34:29The company fixed it because of the warranty and gave it back, but the guy doesn't want it anymore and returned it to the store. So, the store is not going to be able to sell it as new anymore, even though technically all the parts in it are brand new. Even though it's probably even better than a brand new machine, in reality, it does not have the same value, just like the car. That's, let's say, a $500,000 car. It's a Rolls-Royce or whatever car is worth $500,000. On the lot, it's $500,000. The second it drives off the lot, for one second, it drops by at least 30%. Why? Because there's not even a mile on it. It doesn't make a difference. It's no longer new. Once it leaves the lot, it's no longer new. Once somebody opens the box, it's no longer new. It no longer has the same value. Makes sense or not, that's reality. That's capitalism. So, some people will buy these refurbished machines and sell them. There's no problem with buying refurbished machines and selling them. There's no problem with that. What's the problem? What's the stealing? The stealing is selling the refurbished as new. Selling the refurbished, taking off the stickers that say refurbished, that say used, putting other stickers that say new, and putting stickers that somehow make the box look new and selling it as new. So now, instead of selling it for $300 because it's used, because it’s a refurbished machine, now it's worth $999. That's worth three times the amount. This is 100% stealing. Every machine you stole.

1:35:41putting other stickers that say new, and putting stickers that somehow make the box look new, and selling it as new. So now, instead of selling it for $300 because it's used, because it’s a refurbished machine, now it's worth $999. That's worth three times the amount. This is 100% stealing. Every machine you stole Every single machine, unfortunately, this is still happening to this day. It's still happening to this day in other businesses. There are people that go into the lending business. First and foremost, you should know that being in lending for a Jew is already a problem. Why? Because you have to make sure that all of your customers are not Jewish and... What are you gonna start asking every customer on the application? Are you Jewish? You're not allowed to do that according to the laws of America. You're not allowed to reject them because they're Jewish. So what are you gonna do? How are you gonna verify that every customer is not a Jew? Why? Because he's called a certain name. I know a guy that's called John Cohen. He's not Jewish. His name is Cohen, but he's not Jewish. So you can't tell by names. How are you gonna verify if he's Jewish? Why is it a problem if he's Jewish or not? Because if he's a Jew and you lent him money, you have just lost Olam HaBa.

1:37:08because you're not lending him the money for free, you're lending the money for interest, especially these small lenders. Small lenders, big interest. You're charging the guy interest, you're charging him 20-30 percent interest, whatever is legal, plus or minus an extra couple of percent. You're lending your money, he's paying an arm and a leg. Most of the time, they can't ever pay it back because the interest is so high. So they have to refinance it and refinance it and refinance it, and they're going to go bankrupt, and the government pays for it. And... But in reality, this is, you know, from the gate, from the door, it's already a forgivable loan, meaning no one's ever getting paid back. But the guy is going to pay interest the whole time. You lend them the money, you have a serious problem. You have a serious problem. Many Jews are in that business, and they care less about whether they're lending to Jews or not. Why? Because they think they're doing them a favor. Why? I'm doing them a favor. They wouldn't get the money any other way. That's Hashem's business, not your business. Let him find another way. Let Hashem run the world. Hashem does not have you here to run the world. He has you here to run your own world, not to run His world. There are problematic businesses. Many people go into other businesses like these carts in malls. Some of them are honest businesses, some of them are not.

1:38:27not going to start going through a list of all the problematic businesses. Also, the investment world is a very problematic business. There are many people that are stealing from customers. I remember it was very popular back then; it's very popular right now, which is to get people to do something called trade. So you get Mr. Jones or Mr. Stevenson or Mr. whatever to invest a bunch of money with you. you keep encouraging him to trade: "Oh yeah, today the stock went up. Oh, today the stock went down. Oh, Bitcoin's up. Bitcoin's down." You keep getting the guy into the hype, and it's very fun. It's like gambling. You get the guy into the hype, and every day he says, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes," and you as the broker are also saying, "Yes, yes, yes." What "yes, yes, yes"? He's saying "yes," and you're saying "yes" to your pocket because every time you do a transaction, money goes into your pocket for commission. That, by the way, is not only unethical also illegal. It's called churning. There's a term for it in the business, it's called churning, and people go to jail for it and lose their licenses. And last but not least, it's also against the Torah. It's stealing. If there's no real reason to trade and you're just purely doing it to generate commissions, it's one hundred percent stealing. If there's a real reason to trade, then you do it. But most of the people that are trading don't know what they're doing.

1:39:42I'm telling you from somebody who did it for almost 20 years. Most of the people that are calling you and telling you, "Trade this, trade this, trade this," they're only telling you because it makes them money, not because it makes you money. Historically speaking, the people that actually make money from the investments are not the ones that trade; it's the ones that invest and hold on for a long time. But the point is, Abotai Hakareem, that there are many, many problematic businesses. Sometimes you're going to actually steal the wisdom of another person, steal the knowledge of a person. You ask a real estate broker, "Listen, do me a favor, sell my house. You're gonna get a commission—2%, 5%, 10%, whatever they charge these days." And the guy a week later comes back to you. He says, "Yeah, no problem, gonna sell your house, but instead of half a million, it's only four hundred thousand." What do you mean? It's $100,000 less than what I asked for. Yeah, what do you say? Listen, it's a tough market. He starts selling you a story of why you should take $400,000. Because you got it really quickly, and then maybe the prices will get worse, maybe it's gonna get less, and he convinces you to do something that's really against your own interest. Why? Because he gets money today instead of money in six months from now, which actually requires work. This is unethical business.

1:40:58This is how most brokers work. If you watch, if anybody still has a TV, a shomer in your house, and you still watch any shows, there are shows on TV I remember watching years ago where these brokers literally would do this to their customers on live television. Tom lists the house for a million, and the guy comes back a week later. "Yeah, listen, I found you a buyer. Great news, great buyer, cash." "Okay, great, let's sell it." "Oh, it's only $750,000." "What do you mean, $250,000 less? Do you know how hard it is to make $250,000?" Listen, you got the money now. What, do you want to get the money now or maybe you're never gonna get the money? He starts making you feel kind of self-conscious. Maybe you're really holding garbage and it's not really worth the million dollars. You should take the money and run, and he starts making you self-conscious. Why? Because he wants his money. You don't care about your money for him. He's not losing a quarter million dollars. He's not losing a penny. He's making money now. This is unethical business practice. So the second thing is what, but I... much, much easier to say, much more difficult to do, meaning we have to change our business practices. We have to change our business practices because if we're not making kosher money, it's impossible for us to have bracha behind the money. Impossible for us to have bracha. You could be making a million dollars a day, but Hashem, all that money could be going to medicine.

1:42:26There's a guy that I know; he made $100 million in his life. He thought he had everything. And then his 23 or 24-year-old son, who is my cousin, died on Rosh Hashanah. He went on a scooter, which is not allowed, by the way, on Rosh Hashanah—a motor scooter—but they weren't keeping mitzvot, and unfortunately, they didn't even believe in God. And a 24-year-old kid, woke up one day and didn't wake up the next. He fell off the scooter and hurt his head. The doctors told him everything was okay. He went back to sleep and he never woke up. Now, how much do you think that $100 million is worth? Exactly zero. Exactly zero. $100 million is worth nothing if you don't have a life. Nothing if you don't have a life. I can tell you I made a ton of money in my life. Before I lost it, I made it. All of it became worthless in one day. Not because I lost it in one day, but because when you all have your health and you realize that you don't have beracha, it all becomes worthless. We have a lot to learn from him. That's why the Megillat Esther is reminded to us every single year. Why? What's the moral of the story? That we're obligated to learn. The moral of the story, rabotai, is what we learn towards the end of the Megillah.

1:43:54was the end of the Megillah when all comes through he tells his wife, "I have everything. I have the power from the king to run the world. I have money. I have kids. I have this, I have this, I have this, but I don't have one thing. I don't have this Jew bowing to me. And that makes everything worthless." But if you don't have one thing, I If you don't have bracha, everything is worthless. Everything is worthless. All the parnasah tova, you can make a lot of money. You can make 15 million a minute. But if there's no bracha because you have no Shabbat, or you have no kosher, or you have no shalom bayit, or Hashem, your kids are off the derech, or Torah is not even an obligation in your house. If there's no bracha in the money, you have nothing. The question is, how much are you going to pay for it? Are you going to wait like I did until you lose it all, and then Hashem obligates you to do it? Or are you smarter than I was, and you say, you know what?

1:45:01Before it gets dangerous, let me start doing teshuva. Do we have a shiur tomorrow morning? We have a shiur tomorrow morning. Why do we have a shiur tomorrow morning? Because we have to do teshuva. And the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and every day you have to do teshuva. Every day you have to learn. Why? Unless you learn Torah, it's impossible for you to be a kosher Jew. It's impossible for you to be saved when Mashiach comes. It's impossible. That's what the Chachamim were trying to tell us all along. You have to learn the Megillah, not just because of the story of Mordechai, who was the kiruv rabbi that told everybody not to go. Why? No one listened to him anyway. What do you have to learn from? Haman. Haman HaRasha. Why? The whole story is because he couldn't control his desire. Couldn't control desire. He was willing to pay three hundred and thirty-four million dollars cash to us just to kill a bunch of people. It didn't even affect them because one Jew didn't bow to him. But you have billions, you have trillions of everything in the world. It's all worthless. Why? He doesn't have beracha. You don't have beracha, it's all meaningless. That's the moral of the story of Purim. I don't care what you have. What I do want you to have is blessing in your money.

1:46:16That's what parnasa tova is. That's the moral of parnasa tova. It's not more money. It's whatever you have, to actually have a blessing in it. That way, at the end of every month, you're going to do exactly what this Mishnah in Avot says that we learned a few months ago in our series. Who's rich? Someone who's happy with his share. How can you be happy with your share if it's less than last year? How can you be happy with your share if it's less than last month? How can you be happy with your share before you even got it? You're happy with your share because it has a blessing. Once it has a blessing, you know where it comes from. Once you know where it comes from, how could it be any better? How could it be any better? And that way, when it comes to actually giving donations, when it comes to doing maasim tovim, when it comes to paying for yeshivot, when it comes to buying kosher mezuzot, when it comes to doing anything that's relevant to Hashem, you don't feel like it's an onus on you, it's a big thing. Why? All you're doing is you're fulfilling your obligation of the partnership. He gave you 100%, you give 10. Big deal.

1:47:25We don't want to be like Nakdimon ben Gurion. The Gemara says Nakdimon ben Gurion was so rich, he was the richest man of the land. So rich that he was one of three people that supplied food to all of Am Yisrael for three years. One day Rabbi Yochanan sees his daughter searching for food. Where? Inside the, excuse me, from kvodchem, the waste of the chamorim, of the donkeys, in the poop of the donkeys. So Rabbi Yochanan says, "Who are you? What are you doing here? Why are you looking through the poop of donkeys?" She responds, "I'm looking for chita, I'm looking for some wheat, for some grains that the donkeys weren't able to digest so we could eat them." That level of poverty. He says, "Who are you? What happened? How did you get to such a point?" She says, "I'm the daughter of Nakdimon ben Gurion." Rabbi Yochanan has almost a heart attack. How could it be? Your father is a tzaddik. Your father is an ashir gadol. Your father is a talmid chacham. Hashem stopped the sun for him in the sky. He's one of two people in history for whom Hashem stopped the sun in the sky. He's not a rasha. He's not just somebody with a lot of money who knows mitzvot. A tzaddik. How could it be? Your father gave a lot of tzedakah. He says tzedakah tatzil mimavet.

1:48:42Yes, tzedakah tatzil mimavet, but he didn't give enough. What do you mean he gave? All of Israel wasn't enough. It wasn't enough. A lot of people think they gave enough. I gave a million dollars, but it wasn't enough. Why? If it was enough, I'd still have it. If it was enough, you'd have a blessing in the money. If it was enough, you'd be sameach b'chelko. Happy with you if you're giving enough, you feel a spiritual connection to your life, to the money that you're making. Your money becomes like your limud Torah. Someone that actually does kosher things with their money. They make money and automatically they give their share to Hashem. Automatically, they give it towards Torah and mitzvot. Automatically, they do good things with it, not just sponsor Chanukah parties. Okay, because HaKadosh Baruch Hu appreciates the doughnuts, but we need more Jews than doughnuts. Somebody that's connected to Hashem on a regular basis. Not when they're sick. Not when someone else is sick. On a regular basis. Makes kosher money and operates like a kosher person. Why? His parnassah is so good. It's such parnassah tovah, Chazal says, it's like he learned Torah all day. It's like he learned Torah all day. Why?

1:50:00He made X amount of money. He knows by default, a part of that money must go to somebody learning Torah. It must go to somebody that's going to do teshuva. Why? If we continue the way we're doing, and all we worry about is making more, and building bigger houses, and getting more cars, and bigger watches, and more diamonds, and all the materialism, then all we're left with is materialism. But when the Mashiach comes, Hashem is with us. So, this is the moral of the story. You want it, it's not too difficult. It's not too difficult. The information is not too difficult. To do it takes a little time. This Purim will help us all do teshuva, and this teshuva will start with our pockets. Any questions? Yes. It's also a sin. Listen, someone who violates Shabbat should not be touching anything that he's not supposed to. So, in essence, it's only if it's uncooked wine. Most people that buy wine on Shabbat, by the way, usually buy cooked wine. They usually buy grape juice or they buy cheaper wine that's cooked wine. But if it's uncooked wine, if you're going to invite people to your house who don't keep Shabbat, then give them cooked wine. Give them grape juice or give them cooked wine so at least they're not making a sin and you're not making a sin. So that eliminates that obstacle.

1:51:10that he's not supposed to. So, in essence, it's only if it's uncooked wine. Most people that buy wine on Shabbat, by the way, usually buy cooked wine. They usually buy grape juice or they buy cheaper wine that's cooked wine. But if it's uncooked wine, if you're going to invite people to your house who don't keep Shabbat, then give them cooked wine. Give them grape juice or give them cooked wine so at least they're not making a sin and you're not making a sin. So that eliminates that obstacle. If I'm not mistaken, I believe the majority of the banks are owned by Jews, right? Well, the majority of banks are owned by shareholders, meaning it's not just Jews, it's shareholders. So it means that most big institutions, whether it's Bank of America or Citibank or any of these major companies, they're very, very big companies. And most banks, even small local banks, are still big institutions that are owned by shareholders.

1:52:11Once it's owned by shareholders, then the scheme looks at the majority. If the majority of the shareholders are goyim, then you're allowed to borrow from them. But if it's, let's say, owned by one lender, and you're not even borrowing from a bank, but from a person, and he's a Jew, the only way you're allowed to borrow from him is if he doesn't charge you interest. If he charges you interest, you're not allowed to borrow from him because the person that borrows the money and pays interest and the person that charges the interest, both of them make a sin. Right, so if you're borrowing from a big bank, for example, for a mortgage, you have nothing to worry about because there's enough leniency, as the Rav would tell you. Most of these banks are owned by shareholders, and if they're owned by shareholders, then you have the leniency that it's not owned by a Jew. The majority of shareholders in the world are non-Jews. Even though there are a lot of rich Jews in the world, if you look at the dynamics of how many rich Jews there are versus how many rich goyim, we can't compare. So most of the shareholders are non-Jews, and therefore you're allowed to borrow money for a mortgage and things of that nature. There are some tzaddikim who are talmidei chachamim that are more strict. For example, Rabbi Meirav refuses to borrow money for a mortgage or for anything. So to this day, he rents a house and will never buy a house until he can pay for it 100% in cash.

1:53:32Because it says, "I don't know," and he doesn't want to take the risk. But there is a leniency, you know, in that regard when it comes to mortgages from a big bank, because most of the shareholders are goyim. If you learn a lot about it, then you're most likely not going to violate it. Okay, so here's the thing. If I told you, okay, so let's say I have a cup of both of them. You guys gave me your Coke, and you gave me some Pepsi or whatever, Sprite or something, right? Okay, so let's say, for example, I had a hundred of these. I had a hundred of them, okay? And you didn't drink all day. You were very, very thirsty. You ran a marathon. You haven't had one drink of water, and I told you, listen, I have a hundred of these. Want one? What are you gonna say? Oh...

1:54:35Yes, right, so, but one thing before you drink it: one of them—I'm not gonna tell you which one—but one of them has poison in it. Are you still going to drink it? No, why? Because you don't want to take the chance. Same concept here. The fact that people talk about business is their problem. It doesn't mean it's your problem. They could talk about business until next year. As a matter of fact, if you actually learn... What the Arizal said about Shabbat and what the Chachamim actually said about Shabbat, they said that even a common conversation, not even business talk, even just a simple conversation about nothing with your wife is judged in Shamayim. Why? Not a lot of talk about nothing on Shabbat. Shabbat is a very, very special day, which means that if you have Divrei Torah to say, speak as much as you want. If you don't, don't speak. I know it's not easy. I know it's the opposite of the reality you live in. But if I can do it, trust me, you can. I was Mr. Business. Like you said, there was nothing else to talk about. I was the guy. If I can do it, you can do it. How do you do it? Learn Torah. Once you learn a lot of Torah, there's nothing to talk about other than Torah.

1:55:45You're gonna talk about what you do, what you do. People talk about what they do all day. If your whole life is about business, then all you're gonna have to talk about is business. If your whole life is about watching reality shows, then all you're gonna talk about is reality shows. "Oh, did you see what Snooki did and what this guy did and what that guy did?" That's all you know, so that's what you talk about. If you watch the market all day, all you're gonna talk about is, "Oh, did you see what Cisco and Ebert did, what Macy's did, and what Sears did? They're out of business, they're in business." That's all you know, but if you learn Torah, then you're gonna talk about Torah. So now, if your Torah learning is weak, Baruch Hashem, this is why you have Kavod HaRav over here waiting for you to come to Shiur Torah. If you want more Shiur Torah every Tuesday night in Aventura, you're exactly 20 minutes away. We have a Shiur Torah every Tuesday night at the Breslov Center at nine o'clock, and it goes on for three hours. So even if you're an hour late, like some of my students, you still have two hours to go. even if you're two hours late, you still have an hour to go. We're not stringent on people that are late. I have some people come two hours late; we're still okay. They still learn for an hour. You want to learn Torah Tuesday night? If you want more, Sunday night in Hollywood, you want more, Wednesdays in different places in Miami. The point is, there's plenty of Torah. Plenty of Torah you have to learn every day. You want Olam HaBa, or you want to go to Gehenom? Which one do you want?

1:57:04Allah is a good one. Gehenom is a bad one. Have a shiur about Gehenom if you want to know. But if you want to go to Olam HaBa, you have to learn Torah every day. You must learn Torah every day. Why? It's the only way you're going to be a kosher Jew. Without learning Torah, it's impossible to be a kosher Jew. It's only a matter of time before you become part of everybody else. It's a very, very, very important thing that people need to understand. It's not a joke. It's not like, all right, listen, I'm going to keep Shabbat. I'm going to keep kosher, and, you know, I'm going to pass by. I'm going to sneak into Gan Eden. It doesn't work that way. The judgment in Shamayim is much stricter than the judgment of Rabbanim. What I'm telling you may seem harsh. I'm being very nice. If you come to some of my other shiurim, you'll see it's a little harsher than what I'm saying, and even that's not harsh. It's not Oneg Shabbat. It's not what you're supposed to be doing on Shabbat. It's not what you're supposed to be doing on Shabbat. But when it comes down to learning, when it comes down to kids, it comes down to younger kids, there's a little bit more leniency for shtuyot than there is for adults. But that's assuming they've spent at least as much time learning Torah.

1:58:25So, if let's say, for example, the entire Shabbat they spend three hours playing basketball and three minutes learning Torah, obviously the parents are messing up somewhere. It's not the fault of the kid. It's the fault of the parent. It's not the fault of the kid. It's the fault of the parent. it's a hundred percent the kid. Obviously, the kid has his own brain, but the parent is at fault. It's not just the kid. Why? If the parent tells the kid, "Listen, this is not acceptable in my house. It's not acceptable in my house." That's as simple as it gets. Why? When they don't listen... If they don't listen, then you have to be a stronger parent. You have to be, you have to, it's more difficult, I understand. It's not, it's not, it's not what, two seconds, the kid's gonna listen. You have to entice them. You have to entice them. So how do you entice them? How do you entice them? Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai brings us Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. We're all gonna celebrate Lag BaOmer. You know Lag BaOmer? It's Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. A lot of people like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. But they don't understand, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai also said, if you have to convince your kids to learn Torah with money...

1:59:26Ashrecha. Convince him with money. Convince him with money. You have to give him a hundred bucks to go learn Torah for five hours with you? Give him a hundred dollars. Give him two hundred dollars. Whatever you can give him just to convince him to learn Torah. Why? Because if he becomes an Am Ha'aretz, it's the parent's fault. It's not just his fault. So you have to convince him with money. Convince him with money. So, meaning, in the beginning he's gonna have to be convinced with some money. In the beginning, he's going to have to be convinced with some arguments, with some this and that. Eventually, if you give him sweet Torah, he's going to like it. Eventually, he's going to come on Tuesday nights because he wants to learn Torah. In the beginning, it's hard. Of course, in today's age, all they see is naked girls and money signs, and big watches bigger than their hands. That's all they see today, miskenim (poor souls). I feel bad for them. Even the Chachamim in the Gemara Masechet Sanhedrin, the Chachamim, Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, the Rabbi of Rabbi Akiva says, I want the Mashiach to come, but I don't want to be there. Why? He says it's going to be very hard before Mashiach comes. That doesn't mean we have a free ride. Doesn't mean we have a free ride. It means, it does not mean we have a free ride. It just means it's hard. But that's why you have a reward. If it wasn't hard, there's no reward. That's the point. Yeah.

2:00:42Okay, Zohar HaKadosh, Zohar HaKadosh. This is Zohar. The Zohar HaKadosh says a husband that tells his wife not to cover her hair is considered cursed. He gets the worst curse in the entire Torah. Why? Because once a husband tells his wife not to cover her hair, he officially becomes one of the four people that the Rambam puts in Hilchot Teshuvah as someone that's a machti et harabim. Why? He caused somebody else to sin. Who did he cause? He caused his wife to sin. How? Every time his wife walks around with giluy rosh, whether that giluy rosh is because her wig looks like it's real hair, or she's really walking around with real hair, every single time a guy looks at her, he's not looking at her because he's thinking about how much of a tzaddeket she is.

2:01:47He's looking at her because he's imagining being with her. Every time a guy looks at her, whether he's related to her, not related to her, Jew, non-Jew, he's thinking about her intimately, he's committing a sin. Every time he sins, she sins. Every time she sins, her husband sins. That already puts this guy in serious trouble. His only teshuva is to get her to do kisuy rosh and get other people to do kisuy rosh. Now, the Mishnah also says, what does it mean? The Shekhinah had to come to Mount Sinai to give us the Torah. The Malachim came to Hashem and they told Hashem, "Hashem, You can't go to Mount Sinai. Why can't You go to Mount Sinai? Am Yisrael are ba'alei mum. Am Yisrael, they all have deformities. Some are missing arms, legs, eyes, ears. They were slaves. They were beat up for so many years. Miskenim. But the Shekhinah cannot come to a place of imperfection." Hashem says, "No big deal. Let Me make them perfect." So, the guy that was blind, all of a sudden could see. The guy that was missing a leg, now he grew a leg. The guy that was missing an arm became like the starfish; he grew an arm. Everybody became perfect, and the Shekhinah was able to come. So, the Mishnah says, "You want the Shekhinah...".

2:03:05To come to your house, you have to have a Yishuv Yishuv HaZahu. What is a Yishuv Yishuv HaZahu? Shalom Bayit. If you have Shalom Bayit in your house, everything else comes with it: parnassah tovah, refuah shleimah, all the good things in the world. If you don't have Shalom Bayit, all the bad things in the world. An example, a real-life example, because people like real-life examples. A Baal Teshuva Avrech came to Rabbi Ephraim. This is maybe a story that took place maybe a year and a half, two years ago. The guy was an avrech already for five years. So, about two years in, maybe seven years, something like that. He learns Torah all day. He comes to Rabbi Ephraim and says, "Rabbi, I have a problem. I had a son, and the son is not leaving the hospital. Nebach, the kid is sick. The doctors don't know what's wrong with him, and they're saying that any day might be his last day. Hashem yerachem." So Rabbi Ephraim asks him a question. He says, "What about your wife? How's your wife dealing with it?" And the avrech apparently didn't learn enough mussar. He says, "Ah, her, she's lucky I'm even married to her." So Rabbi Ephraim says, "Okay." And he keeps asking him other questions. And then at the end, he says, "Listen, do you want your son to stay in the hospital or do you want him to get out?"

2:04:23That's why I came to you before; I need a miracle. I need something to happen. No, it's not a miracle, just something very simple. It was what it says: if you do what the Torah says, you can get a miracle. He goes, "What do you mean? I'm good. I learn in kollel, I make 1500 shekels a month learning in kollel. What, I'm not doing enough?" He goes, "No. It says, 'if there is no Shalom Bayit in your house, the Shechina does not reside there.' You must have Shalom Bayit in order for the Shechina to come. Why do you need the Shechina? You need a miracle. The only thing that's going to save your kid is a miracle. Why? Because you can't do enough. Only Hashem can do it." Now, apparently, there's no Shalom Bayit in your house because of how you talk about your wife. If there's no Shalom Bayit in your house, there's no Shechina in your house. No Shechina in your house, there's no miracles in your house. So, starting today, you have to work, do everything you possibly can to honor your wife, like the Rambam says, more than yourself. Become generous, become nice, become this. Everything that you are, change it, make it better. Buy her jewelry for Rosh Chodesh, for Shabbat, all the different things. But also, not just nice with money, nice with words. If she talks, listen to her, and so on and so forth. The guy knew that I was not just telling him some weird segulah. He said, "Okay, fine." Thirty days later...

2:05:48The kids have been in the hospital for six months. The doctor said that he may not make it. Thirty days later, he runs to him and says, "We’ve had a miracle. The doctors just released the little boy from the hospital, and they asked me, 'Why is he even here? He's perfectly fine. There's no record of him ever being sick!' Isha is a who’s gonna be named." When you want miracles, you need Hashem. It's not rabbis, it's not strings. You need Hashem. Once you make Hashem happy, He changes nature for you. That's really what it comes down to. Once a person understands that Hashem runs the world, nothing is beyond Hashem. Yeah, you can't read non-Torah-related material on Shabbat. You can't read non-Torah-related material. In reality, you shouldn't read any of that stuff anytime. Even more so on Shabbat. Here's my question, actually. If I want to read a story to my child to help, and it's not really about Torah, is that prohibited on Shabbat? Why can't you read non-Torah material? Well, if I had a book and it wasn't Torah-related, why would you tell it to your son? To help him learn. So you could teach him from the Torah. That might be a little complex versus a children's book. No, the good news about the Torah is that Hashem gave it to all of us.

2:07:12The Torah is given and is good for all ages. The Five Books of Moses are something that you can explain to all people, whether they're two years old, 20 years old, or 90 years old. Obviously, there are different versions for different ages. The truth applies to all, but there are different details that you give to others. So, for example, in... Kids like the details of the stories of Avraham Avinu, fighting the idol worship, breaking the statues, the Midrashim, the stories, the background stories, or Adam HaRishon, how Hashem created him, and then he made a mistake, and he ate from the Tree of Knowledge. You don't necessarily need to tell them the details of the Midrashim, that the serpent raped Chava, and what the Zohar says that merely means, and there's Gehenom, all those things, you don't need to tell them, because he's young. But the basic level of the story, you could tell every single kid regardless of what age. And as a matter of fact, you're obligated to tell your son. And that's why it says in Kriyat Shema, Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad. After that, you read it twice a day. Why? Because after that, it says different Pesukim from the Torah. One of them is the Pasuk V'Shinantam L'Vanecha, that you're obligated to teach your kids. Not teach your kids stories about Harry Potter or about some Dick Tracy, but teach your kids about Torah.

2:08:29Regardless of what age they are, Hashem gave the same five books of Moses to every single age. Every single age, just different details to different ages. You don't necessarily want to tell the two-year-old details of Gehinnom, but at the same token to tell them the story about Avraham Avinu or Yitzchak or Yaakov or Moshe Rabbeinu or Am Yisrael, you know, making mistakes and so on—that applies to every age. You don't want your kid to spend their quality time with you learning anything but Torah because when they learn with you, it's very different than when they learn with somebody else. If they learn with somebody else, they're not always going to take it seriously. Why? Because it's not you; it's somebody else. No one is as great as Abba. No one is as great as Ima. But if I'm learning with Abba and Ima, then whatever they're teaching me, that means whatever they are teaching me, that's the best. That's what they learn. That's what they know. That's what they spend their time on. Which means that if you're going to teach them Dick Tracy, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and all these things, they're going to say, "Oh, so Wolverine is God. So Spider-Man is God. So Transformers is God. So the NFL is God." So whatever you tell them, that's God. Whatever you tell your kids, that's God. So you have to decide who God is.

2:09:42You decide who God is for them. Because until they have their own mind, which is later on in life, you are going to decide who's God to them. And you remember it from when you were a kid. I remember it from when I was a kid. Whatever my father told me, whatever my mom told me, that was God. Whatever my teachers told me, sometimes yes, sometimes no. So you don't want to use that special time you have with your kids telling them that somebody that's not God is God. And the Torah applies to all, and there are many books, Baruch Hashem, that the Chachamim have written, whether it's in Feldheim, or at ArtScroll, or at Moznaim, or different kosher Jewish publications, that have written kid versions of every single story in the Torah. You don't want to waste your time teaching them anything else other than that because the only thing that's going to actually affect their life is Torah. Everything else is not going to affect their life. As far as learning the language, they can learn the language from the Torah. As far as learning math, you can learn math, but that's not something you learn necessarily all day. You learn 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; you already know half of math.

2:10:46you know basic things and that's it. But as far as history, you don't want to teach them the history of the goyim because that history changes every year, and it's full of heresy. Science—you don't want to teach them the science of the goyim because that changes every month, and they believe we came from monkeys. So the point is that you have to make sure that you nurture your kids much more than we were nurtured when we were kids, because that way, you protect them from all the shtuyot of the world and... If you tell them that the shtuyot are allowed, that nonsense is allowed, then that's where they're going to go. If we get more people, if we get a lot of people, I'll come. I always tell you guys, if you get a lot of people, I'll come. It's not necessarily a problem of coming. I'm already doing this all the time. It's hard for me to come. It's a lot of time. It's a big investment. But if we can get people, I'll come. It's not a... It's not an issue of me coming. I would love to come. It's just really a matter of fitting with the schedule to get people to come and fill the place up. Today was more than last time, but it was still supposed to be more. So we have to keep trying to get a lot of people. If we get a lot of people to come, I'll come.

2:11:56But the key is that the kehillah has to invest in it. You're not both Hashem. I don't charge, not because I don't need money. I don't charge because I don't want money to get in the way of Torah. So what I expect, though, is for the kehillah to invest the money in advertising the shiur. I making sure that the community knows that the shiur exists, whatever money you would pay a speaker. So a speaker comes, you pay him, I don't know, $5,000, $10,000. Instead of paying me $5,000, take $5,000, put it in all the newspapers. So the next time I come, the whole place is packed and there's 500 people here, then it's worth it for me to come every week if there's 500 people. So I'm not taking the money, but at least the money is actually being used for kiruvim. Money will come some other way. So that's the idea. Anything else? Yes, this is for all of you guys, the presents from Be'ezrat Hashem. It's a sheyatsah, put it on your walls, the CD, the posters. I have a question. Yeah. If you have a jewelry store, and you buy jewelry back from the customer, you polish it, and you put it back in the window, and you don't tell the customer if it's new or if it's polished.

2:13:05Well, jewelry is different than a computer because jewelry, unless it's a brand name. So, for example, if you buy a Rolex, a Rolex is a brand name that comes in a box where whether it's new or not changes the price. Whether a Rolex is new or not changes the price because it's a Rolex and it comes in a box. But if it's just a piece of gold, whether the piece of gold was found last week from the mine, this week, or 5,000 years ago is not really relevant. The gold doesn't change. There's no brand relevant to it. So it all depends on whether it's just a piece of gold or it's a piece of gold with a brand attached to it, where the actual newness of it affects the price. A piece of gold with a piece of jewelry with some diamonds on it or something like that, whether it's new or not is irrelevant. But a piece of jewelry that has a brand name, the newness does affect it. It does affect it. We'll have a bigger shiur next time. Baruch Adonai. Amen v'Amen.