Wasting Seed Part 1: The Destruction And Creation Of Bad Luck ( MATURE CONTENT)

0:00Welcome, everybody. Welcome to all our Torah Anytime viewers. Tonight's topic is... Oh, it's a topic. It is a topic... Bless you. It's a topic of extreme, extreme importance. First of all, it's a very, very mature topic. So, with that in mind, we are going to be using mature yet clean words to try to express ourselves. And, you know, when speaking about this topic... There are many people that will hear this and they'll most likely say, "Oh, what a fanatic! Is that crazy? How bad is it?" Right, by the way, I'm sure everybody here knows we're talking about the topic of wasting seed. So they're like, "Oh, are you crazy? What's the problem? You look at the medical, you know, now it's healthy, it's supposed to be that." Generally speaking, and I'm not generalizing, but I'm generally speaking on the generalization, those are the people that have issues with this sin. That's why they make such a big deal. It's not somebody who doesn't care about it. I'll give you an example. Somebody who smokes a lot of weed. You ask him, is weed bad for you? Absolutely not. It's the best thing. It relaxes you. You ask somebody else who never touches a cigarette or that, is weed bad for you? He's like, oh my God, it's poison.

1:04So it depends. The more someone's involved in it, they'll go all crazy. They'll be like, no, there's nothing wrong with it. So people are going to start saying, oh, this is not true. This is crazy. This guy's a fanatic. Might be true also. But in this aspect of it, I'm going to source everything. So not only will I tell you these things, you can source it, you can look it up, you can also ask me afterwards if you want a particular thing. And what I'm saying, I'm not making anything up. I'm not trying to make something more severe than it is. I'm saying it as is according to the Torah. Rav Aharon Kotler said, you know, that many people, they don't speak about this topic. Why? Because of modesty. How do you speak about these things? It's supposed to be modest. This is what he says that people think. However, in a generation, he goes on, like ours, the severity of the impurity that goes on, that everything is exposed. Everybody speaks about everything in this generation. But the Torah people, no, we can't speak about things that are related to kedushah, related to holiness. So, rather, Rav Aharon Kotler says that it's an absolute obligation to speak about these matters in public. The Kabbalist Rabbi Yaakov HaBuchatzerah, his grandfather learned with Rabbi Chaim Vital, who was a student of the Arizal. His grandson was the Baba Sali. So, you're talking about a big, strong line of Kabbalists, and he says that all the terrible things that fall upon the Jewish people in Parashat Bechukotai, which lists many curses, all stem from sexual transgressions.

2:21And in fact, our sages said that the majority, the majority of man's suffering, either you can say disease, pestilence, war, poverty, famine, are all related to transgression of the brit. That when we say the brit, we're talking about the circumcision area. So, the halakha is in Shulchan Aruch. That it is 100% forbidden to discharge semen in vain. And this is a graver sin than any of the other sins mentioned in the Torah. And you know, there are many times that I've spoken in places where people are coming closer to Judaism, and just as a whim, I'll say, it just popped into my head every so often, and be like, oh, the severity of wasting seed. And they're like, wait, what's wasting seed? And I'll explain what it is, and they'll be like, wait, that's a problem? Nobody tells these things to people in Judaism because nobody speaks about it. How are people supposed to know about it? Rather, you're supposed to speak about it. You're supposed to prevent people from falling into these issues. It's very interesting because people don't speak about two things. For men, they don't speak about this. For women, they don't speak about modesty. The two things that they need to hear, that's why people don't speak about it. Why do people like to be liked?

3:29No one likes to be, "Oh, this guy's a fanatic, this guy's crazy." So it is important to speak about these things. I also pray to God that I will be able to present this information correctly, appropriately, and hopefully help people prevent this sin, not only for themselves, but also for others. The Pele Yoetz, it says like this. He says that, you know, in his time, that it's quite common for young people to do this type of sin. And where does it come from? Where does it come from? From ignorance. People just don't know. Especially if you live in an environment where it's not frowned upon, especially by the secular world, as it should be. So there's no problem. So nobody knows about it. And he says there's an obligation that people have to warn others about it. The severity, you have to, you want to hear his words and I'll quote it. The severity of this matter, you have to warn them until they tremble from fear. So get ready tonight to be trembling from fear. All right. There are a few speakers that actually speak about it. You have, for example, I have a close friend, Rabbi Yaron Reuven, who speaks about it. Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi speaks about it. There's not too many speakers I've found in English that speak about it. In Hebrew, you actually do find a lot. For Israelis, for people who speak Hebrew, you find a lot. But for some reason, in the English-speaking world, it's spoken about, you know, in random places, but it's not, you know,

4:39not as often as I think it should. I will let you know that last time I spoke, I gave this class, it took me six hours. So I'm giving you, it was two Friday nights, three hours, one after another. So we're going to have to give a lot of information over all that span of time. But Rav Moshe Feinstein says like this: He says that wasting seed is a sin from the Torah. Don't think of it like a rabbinical prohibition. It's not like, "Oh, you know, those people will be like, you know, can't do this. Well, the rabbi said I can't do it or the Torah says I can't do it," as if it's going to make a difference. But this one, in particular, is 100% from the Torah. It's not. And the Gemara says, according to Rav Moshe Feinstein, that if someone sins in this, they deserve death from heaven for this thing. And the Halacha states that this is more severe than any of the other sins in the Torah. Hey guys, welcome. So, everybody in this sin, in this test, has different levels. There are some people who are addicts to this. They can't stop; they're addicted to it, and it's a very big problem. Other people have the problem, but it's not as severe. Everyone, according to their level, needs to go and fight and accomplish as much as they can in this. The Chazon Ish says...

5:59that the main purpose of a person coming down to this world is to perfect matters of Kedushah. And the Shevet HaLevi says also that you can tell, you know, the spiritual level of a person depends very strongly on the purity of his soul. And I know I've spoken to many people that, when do they grow? When do these people decide that they're going to have the ability to grow spiritually? When they break up with their girlfriends, when they break up with their, or if it's girls, when they break up with their boyfriends, that's when they have the ability to grow. And I've spoken to people here, especially people that go to Eretz Yisrael, for example. They go to Eretz Yisrael, they want to learn, but they have, you know, they're there, they're free, they go and they hang out with girls and do that. How can you learn? How can you grow? How can you, especially if you're younger, you can't, you know, it overtakes your entire life. 24/7, you're texting. You don't stop. And about what? I don't know, just emojis. Just like all day, emojis. Thumbs up, thumbs down. You know, peace, heart. Hopefully, that's as far as it goes. It's just a complete waste of time, but it also holds you back from growing. And our generation has a stronger test than it was in previous generations, because now you have the ability to look at all these pictures, all these things, without any, you know, on your phone, in privacy, you don't have to go on a, you know, like, even if you wanted to 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and everybody had to go on a computer if you actually wanted to, or you had to go out of the house.

7:16Here you go, under your covers, you have no problem. As opposed to 30 years ago, when you even had to leave your house, you had to buy certain things, you had to go to certain places. So the Satan is making it very, very easy to sin. So it's becoming more and more difficult in our generation. However, says the Gemara in Yoma, page 39a, that if a person tries a little bit by himself, he gets help from Heaven. So all you have to do is start. You have to start, you'll see you get elevated. The Midrash, the Midrash says as follows, In chapter 15, verse 12, it says that God doesn't elevate a person. You know, everybody wants promotion in life. Anybody not want promotion in life? Everybody wants promotion in life. You want to get, you want God to be like, "Hey God, throw me a bone, give me a promotion." God, it says in the Midrash, doesn't give a promotion, doesn't elevate a person until first a person is tested. And the Midrash gives proofs. First by Avraham. Avraham was tested with 10 tests and then he got the blessing. What it says, it says in Bereishit, in Genesis, chapter 24, verse 1, that God blessed Avraham with everything. Where is this? After all the 10 tests. Yitzchak. Yitzchak was harassed by Avimelech. After that, God blessed Yitzchak after this thing. Yaakov also, he was tested with Esav, with Lavan, with Dina, with Yosef. And then after that, it says in Genesis, chapter 35, verse 9, it says,

8:33And God blessed him after all these things. Yosef also. We see Yosef with Potiphar. He didn't get promoted to this viceroy until after he was tested with the wife of Potiphar. And we see this also in Genesis, chapter 45, verse 4. It says, when Yosef saw his brothers, he told them, he says, come closer to me. And says Rashi, what does he say, come closer? He showed them his circumcision. What does that mean that he showed them the circumcision? This means that the brothers realized that now Yosef, who was the most powerful, most successful, most wealthy person on the entire planet, was sitting over there, and they were like, How did you get to there? Like, what's your secret of your success? What merit did you have to get you to that? So he showed them his brit, saying that I guarded my brit. I did not go and I did not do any defect on my brit, which means I guarded the whole sexual purity, and therefore I merited to go and become the viceroy, the second, the most wealthiest man in that time. The Satan... tries very, very hard to make someone sin in this matter. And if he can't get you to sin intentionally, he'll try to get you to sin unintentionally. Because what happens is,

9:40The Midrash Tanchuma in Parshat Vayikra says that when someone sins unintentionally, you sort of open an opening that now the Satan can use to get you even intentionally. So sometimes people sin accidentally, intentionally, thinking, "Oh, you know, whatever, it wasn't so bad." But if you don't do teshuva on that, you just open the door for the Satan. So the Satan, you know, imagine like you walk in the door and, you know, a Mossad agent is behind you. It's like, you know, you open the door and then the Mossad agent just slips in, and then you turn around, but there's nothing there, and the door is closed, but the Mossad agent is still inside. Like, you know, control now. You're under his control now, better yet. So the same idea. You do a sin unintentionally, you open the door, the Satan comes in, and if you don't fix it, the Satan is able to get you intentionally as well. Now, let me share with you something from the Arizal. The Arizal says something very scary. He says that each drop of semen is a soul that is brought into the world. And ...what happens is, if this is brought in a forbidden union, it could be either through a forbidden union with the opposite gender, or it could be through wasting seed by oneself. This causes all these life forces that are in there to be captured by the evil side.

10:52And what happens is, now, these souls that are captured, these kidnapped souls, they want to haunt the man that brought them into this despicable state of impurity. So what they do is that they keep on trying to cause him trouble, the person that wasted his seed. And this could lead to depression, poverty, marital strife, problems with your children, and a long, long list of other tragedies. Now, think of it. through every, you know, ejaculation, according to science, it's between 200 to 300 million sperms. Which, just if you think about that, the fact that you're here today means that you're one in like 300 million. You were able to make it here, which means that you have the ability to overcome everything, especially this sin. If you think this sin is difficult, think about what you had to overcome and what you had to accomplish in order to be here where you are today. So, Think of it, you have, in every time the yetzer hara, you have millions upon millions of these forces that just want to attack you, damage you, and hurt you in any which way or form. This is why, in Israel, the general custom is, especially in Yerushalayim, that if a father gets buried over there, they don't allow the children in the cemetery. One of the reasons is because these children made it into the world, but there's a bunch of other children that didn't make it into the world.

12:09So, the other children see the living children and become very, very, you know, much... I don't know what the right word is, but they get... Jealous, yeah, jealous would be a good word, and they want to attack those ones. So, for the safety of those, they actually keep them out. And that's a custom. The children, the sons, don't even come into the cemetery where the father is buried. So, besides that, all these demonic beings also cause one to have nocturnal emissions, wet dreams as well. Kaf HaChaim says also that from all the sins in the Torah, none of them create demons like the sin of wasting seed. This is at the top of the line. And not like, you know, there are some people, when I gave the demons class, who were like, "Oh yeah, well that's cool. Where are the demons? I want to talk to them." They're not like your buddies that you could do stuff with and be like, "Hey, listen, get me a Coke." You know, it's not like that. They're there to hurt you, to harm you, to damage you. They're called mazikim. They're damagers. That is their name. Their name is damagers. So it's not something that you would want. And this is one of the things that causes the most, in the Kabbalistic sense, to bring bad influence to you. The Zohar says this also.

13:17It says something, you know, crazy. That, you know, after this despicable act, it says on each and every hair on the person's face, there are tens and tens of thousands of demons. He actually gives a number of 80,000 demons that are sitting over there screaming "impure, impure, impure," and want to cause a lot of problems. And these demons, the only way that they can be killed is only through teshuvah. So the Kav HaYashar says like this, he says in chapter 61, somebody who goes after the desires and pleasures of his heart is going to for sure stumble in the sin of wasting seed. Someone who's always after his desires can't hold himself back. You know those people who are dating a certain girl, and they're like, you know, what is it called, whipped? You know, I can't, I'm just helpless, I can't do anything. So the same idea, like if you're going after every single desire, you're like, yeah, let me do this, let me do this. You cannot say no to yourself. That means that you're going to for sure end up sinning in this sin as well. Okay, it says the Kav HaYashar. The Rambam, in Hilchot Deot.

14:18says that a person is very much pulled by the nature of his friends. So how your friends are, and this I hold very, very important, how your friends are is how you turn out to be. And the idea is that if, let's say, you have a bunch of friends who speak about this sin as if it's a common thing, like, "Oh no, it's healthy," you know? And they say it like, "Oh yeah, I'm going to do this," and they speak about it in such normal terms, then your mind, it's like becoming, okay, it's not such a big deal. And I'll give you an example. You know, like this. I'll give you an example. This is from people that spoke to me. So there's a certain person that is in a very, very bad work environment. I'm talking not bad work environment like illegal stuff, you know, like stealing, things like that, but illegal in a different manner, in sort of immoral ways. you know, relationships, let's just call it like that. And so when they first hear about it, they're like, what? That's what they do? That's disgusting. That's crazy. But then they hear this person does it, and then they hear that person does it. So it's still taboo, it's still bad, but it's like, you know, it's not so bad. It's not so bad. It's not. It's like, you know, I'll give you an example. When somebody goes,

15:23and somebody is doing some sort of sin. Let's say, for example, somebody is going and somebody has premarital relations with a woman that he should not be having. And so... Right at the beginning, he hears about, you know, someone hears that he's doing that, and he's like, oh my God, that's terrible, that's a terrible sin. But then he hears, well, you know, I have a friend that also does that. So then it's like, you know, it's not so bad. And then the more that you hear people doing that, it becomes less bad and less bad and less bad. This is the idea when you hang around drug addicts. It's like, at first you come in, you're like, I'm not touching that with a 10-foot pole. But then you're like, well, this guy's doing this and this guy's doing that. So you think, okay, I'm not going to touch it, but, you know, it's bad. And then... Oh, sorry. And then eventually what happens is, they're like, you know, there's a little bit of extra coke left in the line, you know, and then you're like, all right, whatever, you know, whatever. And then you just, you know, I'm just tasting. I'm not doing. It's like the line always pushes depending on who you're hanging around with. So it becomes a normal thing. So, like, just very, like, technical, but also, I'm sure, like, a very source-based question. So, is there a difference between, you know, I guess, like, the way a person wastes seed, like, whether it's, you know, kind of,

16:36with a woman and with an individual. Because I know you can even waste seed with a wife, technically. Yes, yes. So we'll speak about that. We'll speak about, you know, we will speak about the whole idea of wasting seed. We'll also, B'ezrat Hashem, hopefully speak about with your wife, not at the right time, dating a non-Jew, having relations with, you know, someone who is considered a zonah or a servant, you know, it's like prostitution. So we'll, B'ezrat Hashem, speak about, you know, all that, you know, God willing, hopefully. We'll get to that today. So, you know, there are many people, and by the way, that category, like let's say somebody who sinned with his wife or with a non-Jew or with anybody else, that's all under the category of wasting seed, but a little bit, you know, a little bonus, bad, extra. So, you know, the same... In a bad way. It's not in a good way. It makes it all that much worse. And not only that, so everything I'm saying right now, it's just a little bit more, you know, that. So, you know, the Kabbalists tell us also that somebody who falls in this sin, he is constantly, you know, getting insults and humiliation because of their immorality. Had they gone and guarded their covenant, then this person is going to be treated with honor.

17:49So somebody likes to be treated with honor, you want to have respect, you should know that one way to get respect from people is by guarding your brit, by staying holy. And, you know, the Chida says also, you should know, there are some people that say, "Okay, listen, you know, I'll hang around with girls, I'll hang around with whatever, you know, the opposite gender, and I'll do this thing, and it's not going to happen. I'm going to look at whatever I want to look at, it's not going to happen. You know, I could control myself." Says the Chida, he says that you should never say that because even that can manifest through the urine. And that also is a big problem and also counts as wasting seed. So people go and they bring themselves to temptation, and then they think because they don't waste seed, I mean, granted, it's not on the same level, but because they think they're completely okay, and it's not. The Rashi says on Er and Onan in chapter 38. Verse 7 says that Er and Onan, they both died. Why did they both die? Because they wasted seed. Er was the oldest one. He was married to a woman by the name of Tamar. Tamar was very beautiful. He didn't want to impregnate her, so he would waste seed so he wouldn't get her pregnant. Because of that, God killed him. God took him out. That was his punishment. His brother went and married his sister-in-law.

19:04Which is what, you know, according to the Yibum. And from that, he also wasted the seed. And because of that, he also died. So we see here the severity of the sin. Also, it is, you know, it's also forbidden for somebody to willfully cause himself to have an erection as well. And if somebody has bad thoughts come to his mind, he has to immediately go and learn Torah. Because where do thoughts come into the mind? A mind that's empty of Torah, of wisdom, is filled up with other things. The mind's got to be filled up with something. If you're not filled up with anything of Torah, then it's going to fill up with whatever's in the environment. And that's something you definitely don't want. says something here very, very scary. Says the Gemara in Niddah, page 13a. And it's also in the Midrash HaGadol, Parashat Vayeshev. Rabbi Yochanan says like this: somebody who wastes seed deserves death at the hands of Heaven. That's not something like, you know, like, alright, whatever, I'll do Teshuvah, I'll do it. This is something that you better do Teshuvah for soon. Death at the hands of Heaven is not, you know, a light matter. Rabbi Yitzhak says, same Gemara,

20:09That it's considered as if he spilled blood. The Zohar says that this is even worse than murder. Why is this worse than murder? Usually, when you're murdering, well, usually you're not murdering. But if someone murders, they're usually murdering somebody else's children. Here, you're murdering your own children. These are your own children, your own souls that should be coming into this world, and you're destroying them. Rav Ashi says also that it's considered as if somebody worshipped Avodah Zarah, idolatry. The... Where do we know that you're not allowed to have immoral thoughts? There's a pasuk in Devarim, in Deuteronomy 23:10. When it says over there, "When a camp goes out against your enemies, you shall beware of everything evil." Says the Gemara, Ketuvot, page 46a, that, what does it say? You should guard yourself from all evil. Pinchas ben Yair says that one should not think immoral thoughts during the day because that’s what comes out at night. Guess what's going to happen at night? That’s what’s going to lead to, which means that, you know, there are many people unfortunately, that they have wet dreams, nocturnal emissions. Now, sometimes it could be because of a position and that, but many times it could be because of the thoughts that you're thinking during the day. What are you watching during the day? What are you looking at during the day? What are the thoughts that you're thinking during the day? And this could lead to that sin as well. And you know the...

21:28You know how there are radio waves everywhere? There's spiritual energy everywhere. And if somebody goes and sins in this particular sin, he cannot perceive the spiritual energy. The more one keeps himself purified from this sin, the more he can perceive the spiritual energy in it. We know that there is a spiritual flow of blessing that comes to you. Now, every time you sin, you get a sort of klipah, a sort of a shell that's preventing the blessing from coming to you. But, says the Baal HaTanya, none of it is as strong as the sin of wasting seed. The transgression of wasting seed blocks the most, does the most damage in this aspect. And the Zohar says something very scary. It says that there's no sin in the world which provokes the anger of God as much as this sin. Which means there's a top of the sin. You don't want to be there. This is one of the worst sins that you can do. The Zohar says further that besides being the most severe, it is very, very, very difficult to do repentance on this. So don't be like, okay, I'll do this and then I'll do the repentance on it. We're going to speak about repentance next week and how to fix it, but it's something that is extremely, extremely severe, and I cannot emphasize this enough.

22:44We know that the generation of the Flood, they got punished with what? With warm water, with hot boiling water. Why? Because one of the sins that they did, and what the Zohar says that their sin was sealed for, was the sin of wasting seed. They put their seed on the ground; because the warm seed that came out of them went on the ground, the world was punished with warm fluid, measure for measure, in the same manner. And the Zohar says also, if somebody dies without doing teshuva on this sin, he gets thrown to Gehenom. He gets thrown to hell forever. That's a guy who's not coming out. This is not a sin where it's like, oops, okay, I'm sorry. There is teshuva. We'll speak about it. But this is something that the Zohar speaks very, very strongly against. And the Halacha speaks very, very strongly against. Could you ever do teshuva? You did it like a million times. Yeah, we're going to speak about that. That's going to be next week. We're going to go through all the details on how to do repentance and tikkunim for this and how to get all that spiritual blessing back. The Kav HaYashar in the 70th chapter says that demons, how do they derive sustenance? From this.

23:46So every time that somebody wastes seed, think about it this way: there are demons that are just milking up all that spiritual energy. And then you're just bringing it to them, like, "Here, my children, feed, feast." And then you're growing this army that is not like, "Long live the king," whatever your name is, right? Long live. They're not doing that. They're like, "Let's destroy this guy. Let's take him apart and destroy every single blessing that he could possibly have in his life." That's what you're feeding them. Furthermore, it delays the redemption of the Geulah, because we know that the Mashiach is going to come only when all the souls leave the Guf, the place where the spiritual body is. And if your souls are, you know, if your souls are getting wasted over there, then it makes it very, very difficult to have the Mashiach come, because all these souls are now in the world. Arrogance. Thank you very much, guys. Arrogance goes and brings a person to the sin of wasting seed as well. I want to share with you a few things that the Shelah HaKadosh, Rabbi Yeshayahu Horowitz, says on this matter. So,

24:54Number one, some of these things are going to be reviews that we spoke about, but it's good to hear it again. Number one, somebody, first of all, the exile is going to be prolonged. Number two, this person who commits the sin doesn't merit to see the Shechinah, doesn't merit to see God. Number three, if he doesn't do Teshuvah, he will not rise in the resurrection of the dead. Number four, he brings death and plague to the world. Not only to him, but to the world. Number five, he prevents, you know, if someone is in this sin, you should know that it's very difficult to understand the Torah. It gets blocked. You're not going to be able to understand the secrets of the Torah. And Rabbi Yaakov Abuchatzeira says that the Torah is called brit, meaning that it attaches oneself to somebody who guards his brit. Somebody also... who doesn't, for example, look at women, which is something that leads to sin, will merit that his children will be able to bring out explanations in the Torah. And the more one breaks his temptation, the more Torah he's going to be revealed to them. So you want to have an opening to Torah? This is what you need to fix. This is going to open it. Number six, and this is something we spoke about, and this is something that many men care about, unfortunately, more than anything else: it brings a person to poverty. You want to be wealthy? Don't do this. This is just, you know, you're going to be bleeding money from this. Number seven,

26:04His son will be evildoers. And it says something really crazy over here. From people like him come the heretics, reformers, and the atheists. No one wants children like that. The Gemara in Niddah, which we said, we're going to do it quickly. When you do this sin, it's as if you're bringing a flood into this world. You're also considered as if you spill blood, which we spoke about. And you serve idols. And you're also liable to the death penalty at the hands of Heaven. You're also considered like you're excommunicated. It says in the Gemara also that you will—I'm sorry, the Zohar says that you have no portion in the God of Israel. You understand the seriousness, right? Is it making, you know, a little bit of sense? Okay, so let's get a little bit more. Technically, you're eliminating a lot of people that way. From all these things. Well, they have to do teshuvah. You're not going to do this, you're not going to do that. It's 80%, 90% of Jewish men. That way, see? Well, this is what this shiur is for. To help them stop it. Just because they do it doesn't mean they can't stop it. Anything that you want, you can do. It depends on how much you want it. It really depends on how much you want it. It really does.

27:10somebody who really, really wants to be wealthy and he tries and he's really, really aggressive, he will one day, you know, make it. Somebody who is constantly going and he's constantly, you know, going after women, he'll end up going with women. If you really want it, you can prevent it from happening. I know many people who do not fall into this sin. And I know many people who do fall into this sin in the same aspect. Yeah, so in religious families, there's like no such thing as sex, like the result making teller? No, there is. We'll speak about that. There is. Yeah, yeah. So, but it has to be in a kosher way. But we'll speak about it soon. So the Zohar says like this. He says like this. All the troubles, all the problems that befall a person are caused by this sin. You want to know why you're having problems? There's a good reason why, if you're still doing this. The Zohar says further, I'm going to list about five things now, all from the Zohar. His soul goes to waste. He can never leave hell, which we spoke about before. He is given over to the hands of the other side, the evil inclination, the Sitra Achra.

28:14And the teshuva is one of the hardest of all the sins of the Torah. He will not live in the seventh millennium, and the keriat Shema that he says will not be heard above. Furthermore, mazal. You know what mazal stands for? Mazal means luck. Everybody wants to have good luck. Especially a lot of the Russians, what do they do? Everything for luck. You know, put this and put that, put this. You know, the keys, the salt, the bottles, the empty, this. Everything is for good luck. You want to know what is one of the worst things that you can do for good luck? It's wasting seed. What? Mazal stands for motzi zera l'vatala. The acronym is for wasting seed. Mazal, motzi zera l'vatala. That's what it stands for: wasting seed. You want to destroy your mazal, your luck? You want to do that? Then that's what's going to cause it. The, you know, the flip side also, somebody who guards his brit, somebody who doesn't fall into sin, brings parnassah to the person. It brings sustenance to the person. That's why it says, it says, it's difficult—the Gemara says in Pesachim, page 117—that it's very difficult for somebody to have, to make parnassah, to make a living, just like it was for crossing the sea. Now what's the correlation for it?

29:17Because we know that, what was the sea, the ocean, when the Jews left Egypt, why did it split? It says, "The sea saw and it split." What did it see? It saw the coffin of Yosef. What was Yosef known for? He was known for guarding his brit, you know, with the whole thing with Potiphar, with Eshet Potiphar. So he was able to overcome it. This is why, if you want to have parnassah, the same way that the sea split in the merit of Yosef, who guarded his brit, the same way you will have parnassah in the merit of guarding your brit. Furthermore, the Sefer HaBrit says that not only is it going to be a problem for his parnassah, but he will not be successful in all his endeavors. Everything is going to fail. Everything is going to cause problems. You know, there are some people for whom everything they try fails, fails, fails. No one knows why. They say, "I don't understand. I went to college. I did all these things. I'm going the right way. I'm doing this, and I'm still not successful." So this could be a very big reason why. Rav Nachman, may his memory be blessed, also says like this: He says that besides having success... a very hard time earning a living. This, by the way, speaks to everybody. I think the strongest motivator is money. Everybody understands, money talks. So when this is known, if you think about it, every time you waste it, imagine you lose like 20 grand out of your bank. It's just like, cha-ching, it goes out, right?

30:27It's gonna make you stop. Okay, so let's say you're a multi-billionaire, so just add another zero every time, very comparable percentage-wise. So people will say, no, I can't do it, I can't stop, it's very difficult for me. Imagine every time you do that, 20 grand just goes out, and you could go in the negative. So everything that you work, and you know people do that, people work, they should have enough that they should be able to save, but for some reason, the saving is not there. Like, where is the saving going? Because it could be in the negative. Every time that they're nekayim extra, they're still paying up from the deficit, from the withdrawals that they placed earlier. And even if one does earn money, it's going to be very difficult. It's going to be through bitterness, through poverty. It's going to be not something that's easy. The Chofetz Chaim says, and this is something that I speak to people, that people postpone marriage. Why do they postpone marriage? They met a girl, a good girl, a nice kosher girl, and they don't want to get married. Why? Because of parnassah, no money. So he says, you know, their benefits, their, you know, preserving, you know, like their money is going to be offset because we know that evidently what's going to happen is you're going to end up falling into sin. And what's that going to lead to? That's going to lead to more problems and more losing money. So you think that you're saving money by not getting married yet, but in essence, you're really losing the money. And so your gains are going to be offset by your loss. Rav Chaim Palagi says like this. He says that the Torah, the...

31:48that if somebody goes and he guards his Brit and guards his Torah, then even if his mazal (his luck) says he's not supposed to have money, he's not going to have anything good, these two merits can override the mazal. Which means that you have an ability to override your luck and what you're supposed to be. A while ago in Israel, there was a very dry winter. And all of a sudden in the spring, when it never rains, it started raining. So Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman said that most probably you know why this blessing came in? It's because there was somebody who got tested in this matter and he overcame it. Because it can bring blessing not only for you but for everybody else as well. This also prevents one's children from going astray. You know there are a few stories in Gemara and Kiddushin that a woman asked Rav Chanina bar Pappa It's in Kiddushin, page 81a, that she says she wanted to make him sin with her. And he said something, and all of a sudden he was instantly covered with boils. So she did something through witchcraft, and he was cured. So he ran and hid in a certain bathhouse. This bathhouse was known to have very, very strong demons. And there were two demons over there. And he went in...

32:59untouched, and he left untouched. So the Chachamim, they said to him, they said, how did you go into there? We know everybody who goes in there, even two people go in there, they get harmed. How did you go in there and not get harmed? He said, Maybe they told him, maybe you were tempted to do a sexual sin and you overcame it. And the Gemara says that if somebody is tempted to sin and overcomes it, a miracle is done for him. A miracle is done for him. There's another story the Gemara brings down of the woman who tempted Rav Tzadok to sin. And he says, I'm sorry, I'm too hungry, I can't, I'm too weak, I can't eat. So she says, listen, I only have an impure animal that I can give you to eat. She says, this is what I deserve. says Rav Tzadok. So she went and turned on the oven to put the food inside. When she turned on the oven, Rav Tzadok jumped in. She was shocked and said, "What's the meaning of this? Why are you jumping in the oven?" He responded, "This is just going to be a taste of what I'll be getting after I do this sin. Might as well get a taste now." Seeing how serious he was, she left him alone. Rav Kahana was once selling women's baskets. A woman tried to get him to sin. He said, "I'm sorry, I can't sin now. I have to get into something more comfortable." He went up to the roof and jumped off. Eliyahu had to run and fly for who knows how long to save him. Eliyahu said to him, "You made me travel a long distance just to save you." Rav Kahana replied, "What am I supposed to do? My poverty brought me to this profession." So Eliyahu gave him enough money so he could quit his job and no longer have to be in that profession.

34:19The Steipler says that somebody who is overcome by this type of sin, just as the sin is great, so too the overcoming of it is also great. And it's very difficult to understand a certain concept, which I would like to clarify. It says that in Kabbalah, if somebody is wasting seed and doing all the sins, then his Torah and his mitzvot and everything that he does gets snatched away by the evil inclination. So the Steipler clarifies it like this. And he says that what happens is that if somebody goes and if somebody... does a certain sin, there's a certain flow of energy that comes in. And that flow of energy inspires you to do more and be better. This is not a flow of energy only for mitzvot. It could also help in your worldly pursuits. So when you do a mitzvah, it gives you more energy, more ability to do more mitzvot, and also to be more successful in life in general. However, When somebody is involved in this sin, this energy is snatched away. This energy is taken away. So all the good that he does, the energy that he should be getting, he doesn't get anymore. It goes to the other side. However, the good deeds, the mitzvah, the ta'am, are still a credit to him, says the Steipler. And however, when a person does teshuvah, he gets that spiritual energy back. And the Steipler continues and he says...

35:39for somebody who gets tested in this, and he overcomes his passion, then all those sparks, the tumah that he created, he rectifies it through that way as well, by preventing from sinning in it again. We know also, there is... There's a lot of people nowadays who are very depressed and sad. One of the things that causes it is this sin. And besides that, it sort of works for itself. Because when you're sad and sin, it also causes you to do more sins of, you know, these types of sexual, you know, wasting seed sins, also causes it. So, sadness... causes you to do that, and it also brings us in. So it's like a continuous cycle. You know, there's a play on words that, in Bereishit (Genesis) chapter 1 verse 11, you know, what you could really say is that sadness brings out the seed. Sadness makes a person sin of that. So one of the things that a person, and again, there are certain people who are clinically depressed and clinically sad, and they need to be helped in a clinical manner as well, but for many people, if they fix this, their happiness in life goes, you know,

36:47goes up. And if you think about it, for the little pleasure, for the momentary pleasure that you're doing here, you're losing this world and the next. This is not something that I say lightly, but I mean it. So if you can understand what I'm saying, if you're sinning, sin smart. Don't sin something stupid. Don't be like, okay, if a guy says, okay, you could steal this candy bar, but then you're going to have to pay a billion dollars in fines. Be like, that's a stupid thing to do, no matter how much you want that candy bar. If he says, this candy bar you steal, you're going to have to pay a dollar. So I'm like, okay, you steal that, you get a dollar. I'm not saying that you should sin smart and you should sin that, but don't sin dumb. Don't do things that are going to cause you so many problems in life for the momentary pleasure that you gain. And everybody, you know, I've spoken to so many people about this. What do they tell me? Feh. After they do this sin, they're now like, "Awesome, high five." They feel like two cents. They feel like a piece of dirt. They feel disgusting from it. So you're losing this world and you're losing the next world as well. Also, somebody who guards his brit also protects himself while he's traveling. It also takes away the laziness and the sadness that he has.

38:03Generally, when someone does a sin, it's very difficult to rectify the sins. There are many nuances to the mitzvot and the sins. So it's very difficult to get everything. But when somebody goes and prevents himself from sinning in this particular sin of wasting seed, he rectifies all the other sins as well. So it becomes, you know, in that manner, very strong as well. Okay, so now, there are three things that I want to speak about. There are three things that drive God's spirit away from the world. So, and it's called something, you know, nishgaz, which means if somebody has relations, and this is the question that you were asking earlier, So if somebody has relations with a woman, a niddah. A niddah is a woman on her menstrual cycle. If somebody has relations with her without her going to the mikveh, even if she's after her menstrual cycle but she still didn't go to the mikveh, he's considered sinning with a niddah. And we're going to soon see, there are going to be four categories, and we're going to see about them. Number two is a shifchah, a woman's servant in the house.

39:13Then there is a Goya, which is a Gentile woman, somebody who has relations with a Gentile woman. And then a Zonah, somebody who has relations with a prostitute. Okay, so there are three types of people, of men, that drive the Shechinah away from the world. Number one is somebody who has relations with a woman while she's in a state of impurity. And this is the Zohar, by the way. The Zohar says that there is no sin, there's no impurity as great as the woman's impurity when she's in niddah. Which means... You know, I think I've said this story before, that one time I was sitting with my wife, and we were eating in a restaurant, and I overheard someone two tables down speaking, it was two women, they were speaking. I said this story already before, you guys heard this? I said this, you know, so there's two, and one woman was getting married, it's not... I don't like to eavesdrop. I don't care. I really don't want to. But you know, you sit in certain places in Brooklyn. You know how Brooklyn women, you know, they speak, the whole restaurant hears what they're saying. Everybody knows exactly that. So one was saying to the other one, you know, she was getting married. She's like, I'll do stuff, but mikveh, you know, I'm not doing that stuff. That's ridiculous. Why do I have to dip in water? Like, why do I have to dip in water? And my wife saw me. She's like,

40:26no, no, no, don't say anything. And then they keep on going, and I'm like, she already saw, I was literally going to say something. And she was like, this is not your place; you can't just go to a random person and start telling them. i'm like, why not? Maybe I should. Maybe I should say that. Because why are they saying that? They're saying that because they don't know the seriousness of it. If they know the seriousness of it, you think they wouldn't do it? You think they wouldn't go? What's so hard to go to the mikveh? It's all of a sudden you're taking something that is the biggest sin to the biggest mitzvah you're doing. You're transforming something for what? For going into a nice five-star resort where they have the mikvaos over here for women. It's beautiful over here. Marble floors, everything clean, spick and span. You're going over there. It's no problem. And you're going and sitting over there. that's category number one. So, besides that, there's also the children that result from this; they come out very, very impure. They are defiled. So, number two is somebody who has—this is the second category. The second category is somebody who removes God's presence from the world; it is somebody who has relations with a non-Jewish woman. What's the problem with this? So,

41:35First of all, he has no share in the God of Israel unless he constantly repents. This is a severe, severe sin. People don't even understand. Why don't people understand? Because people don't even think about the severity of it. He has, first of all, no share in the God of Israel unless he repents. We know how bad it was. When the daughters of Moav went and they sinned with the tribe of Shimon and part of the tribe of Moav, what happened? 24,000. 24,000 of the Jewish people of Israel died from this sin. They died from this sin because they had relations with the other side, with the non-Jewish women. non-Jewish woman. This is something that brings so many problems. Furthermore, I'm going to read you some things from Chok L'Yisrael. It says that when a person commits this type of sin, it causes many other sins. First of all, there are some people who, when they commit this sin, want to be uncircumcised so that they can find favor in the woman's eyes. They say, "I'm just like you." So,

42:36So, that aspect is already like idolatry in your heart. And then he is engaging in forbidden relations with this woman. Besides that, all the bloodshed he is causing and the destruction of his soul. Because, you know, if a man marries or has relations with a non-Jewish woman, those children are not Jewish. That's it. He cuts himself off. The end of the line. He's done. There's nothing that you can say to convey the severity of this sin. Besides the fact that he causes the lengthening of the exile. These types of people cause tremendous problems in the Jewish nation. Tremendous problems. They cause so many bad things to happen. And why do people do it? "Oh, I fell in love." i fell in love. I can't do it. I love her. She makes me breakfast, Rabbi. You don't understand. She makes me breakfast. I'm like, you idiot. You fool. You know that you have a Jewish woman, a soulmate, that's sitting there and waiting for you. And you're here thinking that you're getting breakfast. You think that this type of thing is going to last? These types of relationships do not last and do not become a blessing. Nowadays, what's the divorce rate? 60%, 70%, 80%, some people 150% because they've married more than once. You have people with divorce rates. You need every single siyata dishmaya, every single amount of luck that you have for a relationship to succeed. Do you think you're going to get luck over here? Not only that, even if you don't end up marrying her. Some people tell me the dumbest things, "I need to practice." Practice for what? What do you need to practice for? That's the most idiotic thing. You want a woman that practices also? Is that what you want? So, the...

44:04They go, and they say the dumbest things, and it's going to bring them so many problems later on in life. So many problems. I could promise you this, and I don't use those words easily. Nothing good will come out of it. Nothing. Nothing good will come out of it. Only problems, only troubles, no parnasa, no happiness, no luck with the kids. So, like, why is it worth it? You think the problem is that people fall in love. There's a guy that I know. It's very interesting; he's not Jewish, and he's dating a Jewish girl. I keep on telling him, "It's very odd because he comes to my classes, and he's more interested in Judaism than she is." Break it off. You're not allowed to be with her. You guys know me already. I'm not going to be like, "Thank you for coming to my class, and I really appreciate it." I'm like, no. And I tell them, "Listen, I'm going to tell you straight out because I care. Not because I don't care about you liking me. I care about you, and I care about her. And you're doing something very bad." What does he tell me? "No, but I love her."

45:08You'll love somebody else. "I love her," as if we know what love is. You don't know you'll love somebody until you're married to them for like 45 years. And then you can know what actual love is. And I tell this person, it's a very big sin. You don't understand. Is it really worth it? This world, you're not going to have success. The next world, you're also not going to have success. And even if you say, okay, I know people that are married to non-Jews and they're very happy. Really? Go see. See what his prescriptions are. See how much he's actually really happy in life. See how much success he has in life with his children. I speak to people. I know these things. I know what's going on over here. I haven't found one person who says, you know, and I know... and it's a very big problem in certain communities, and especially in these communities, there are people that fall into this. To the extent, I'll tell you how bad it is, that the parents don't even care. They're like, "Okay, whatever, they gave up already." You know why usually this happens? Usually, this happens because there's a sibling that marries into that, or there's another family member. Remember we spoke about the more that you hear about something, the more okay it becomes? So the more that you hear about this thing, it also becomes okay. And it becomes okay. And this is a big problem.

46:14Not only for people who have relationships with non-Jewish women, but people who go on vacation and think it's okay to do whatever they want, you know, "God is not in this zip code." You know, it's okay. God doesn't come to these places. And it's a very, very severe sin, and it causes only problems in life. Only problems in life. And why would you do that? Why would you do that? You think for a second that if, let's say, God forbid, somebody is in one of these types of relationships and he's going to go and he says, "Listen, I know God doesn't want me to be in this relationship. I'll leave this relationship." You think God's going to be like, "Well, now I'm going to cause a lot of problems in your life because you listen to me?" No, you're listening to God. You're doing what you're supposed to be doing. You think that God's not going to send you somebody much better in all aspects? For you? Of course, He will. Because you have that. This is something that you have. This is something that's at your fingertips. And people don't understand this. This is also... When people go and they date before they're married, I'm talking about dating when they're really young—you're 18, 19, 20. You're not ready to get married. What are you dating for? What are you doing that for? It only leads to sins. It only results in problems, tribulations, and issues. You're not successful in whatever you do.

47:18People, you can tell people that have, you know, you see people in class, you know, you can tell. I speak to men and I speak to women. I know when the opposite gender is like, you know, no one's texting, no one's giggling like a girl. I'm like, dude, how old are you? Like six foot five, 300 pounds. You know, what are you giggling about? You know, they become enveloped in this thing, and the mind stops working. You don't think with this. And this is something very important with this particular sin, with wasting seed in all aspects of it, you don't think with your mind. You don't. The mind goes on vacation, and you think with other things, and it causes so many problems in this world. Now, by the way, you should think of it, you should understand this, it's not only problems for you, it's problems for also your friends, your neighbors, and everything else like that. And this is very, very important. If anybody knows anybody who's in these situations, there are people that are addicted to wasting seed. You have to go and you have to help them out. You have to, you know, I don't know, let them read books about it, send them classes on it, send them links on it. There are people that have serious problems with these things. I... I can't even say that people that have problems not once, not multiple times a day, that they literally, the Yetzer Hara is, and that's it, they're sucked into it. They're not themselves anymore. They can't live life. And it's a very, very serious problem. And it's a very serious problem, and I can't, I can't emphasize it, I can't emphasize it enough. The,

48:36I'll tell you the importance of it, that when somebody goes and watches himself from wasting seed, it's considered as if he kept the entire Torah. You understand what it is? You know how there are shortcuts? You could do something and be like, okay, listen, the professor, you come in there, you're taking, I don't know, physics, nuclear physics, something like that. It's ridiculously hard. Be like, okay, you write your name, I'll give you 20 points. So it's an easy thing, you can write your name. I'm not saying this is an easy thing to overcome, but look at all the bonus points that come with it. First and foremost, if somebody guards his brit, if somebody prevents himself from committing this sin, the sin of wasting seed in all aspects, the Shechinah is always with him. You always have God with you. Does anybody not want that? Be like, you know, God is just always with you. After death, the body does not decay for somebody who guards himself from wasting seed. And furthermore, that God Himself heals this person spiritually and physically for somebody who guards his brit. And he'll have holy children who are also careful in this manner. Can I bother you for some water, please? Thank you.

49:43There's an angel, the Zohar says like this: There's a certain angel at the entrance to hell, and he's standing there with thousands and thousands of afflicting angels. Thank you, guys. Thousands and thousands of afflicting angels. But somebody who guards his brit, he has like a shield. He has an invisible shield; no one can touch him. He has protection. And furthermore, Avraham Avinu saves people from hell who protect themselves with these things. By the way, incidentally, if somebody goes and sins with a non-Jewish woman, I'm not talking about a relationship, just even one time, and doesn't do teshuva, Avraham Avinu doesn't see that as somebody who has a brit milah. It counts as if he doesn't have one; he doesn't save him from hell. So, before... Before the coming of Mashiach, we gave a lot of classes on Mashiach. It says that there's going to be tremendous destruction that comes into the world. One, you want to know how to be saved? Here's how to be saved. One, guard yourself from wasting seed. It also protects you from harm and from enemies. The evil eye also does not have any control over somebody who guards his eyes. The...

50:44Also, somebody who guards his belief is always in a state of happiness. He is always in a state of happiness, which is something that people pay so much money for nowadays just to get a little bit of happiness. In pill form, drug form, or whatever it is, vacations, they do just to get happiness. Here is a simple way to do it. Let's speak about some practical reasons, some physical reasons. I'm going to have to hurry this up because we're getting a little bit late. I'll give you some practical reasons for what could prevent you from wasting seed. If someone wastes seed, it affects them physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. How does it do that? It makes you sad, depressed, angry, easily agitated, nervous, and unable to concentrate. However, on the flip side, somebody who guards it is emotionally stable, confident, happy, feels alive, is able to concentrate, and is free from fears. Some people are scared of everything. If someone sneezes, they're like, oh no, I just got, you know, who knows what. And also, the spiritual connection becomes much stronger. People who don't, on the flip side, who don't guard it, get tired very easily. They're always tired, always very, very exhausted, always sleeping. They have bad breath. Their hair and teeth fall out easily.

51:53...and the hair on one's legs and armpits becomes thick. Now, I'm not saying you should look at somebody who has hairy legs and armpits and think, well, this guy's a pervert. You know, you can't, or if he has bad breath. I'm saying this is something it could lead to. It doesn't mean that everybody who has it is in this situation. Also, Rav Nachman of Breslov says that when someone indulges in this sin, his mind becomes damaged. He decreases in knowledge, he has confusion, his level of functioning is lowered, and he's even like a little bit of insanity depending on the level that he does it. It also furthermore causes a loss of memory. So it causes, one of the reasons that it affects the brain a lot is because it originates in the brain. The sperm originates in the, at least the seed originates in the brain and goes down the 18th vertebrae and then... it goes out that way. Also, somebody who does not guard his brit has a very, very hard time finding a wife. And even if they do find a wife, the relationship is going to be very shaky. This is even more so if somebody has marital relationships premaritally. So if they have relationships before they're married, this also makes it very, very difficult to have relationships when you do find a wife. The

53:08You know, and there are many people that think, you know, like, okay, when I get married, it's not going to be a problem. I speak to many married people who still have this problem. If you don't fix it when you're single, what makes you think that you're going to fix it when you're married? And who wants to, you know, the disgust of it. You have a wife sitting in the next room, and you're doing this disgusting act. You know, these people, not because they want to do it. They're not controlled by their desires anymore. It's overwhelming for them. You have to stop it now. It's not something that you can say, oh, you know, I'll stop it then. I'll be able to do it. If you don't stop it now, you're going to be one of those sickos that always do it, the perverts that cannot hold themselves back and cannot say no. The... You know, the... It sounds like it's very difficult, and it is very difficult to do it, but you know, the more that you hold yourself back from doing it, the easier it becomes. And granted, the more you guard your eyes, and this is really what we're going to speak about next week, the more you guard your eyes, the more you'll be able to prevent these sins from happening. Furthermore, it says something very interesting, that when you hold yourself back from doing it,

54:16It also makes it easier on everybody else as well. Just that little tiny bit. So you had a lot of big rabbis and righteous people, even not rabbis, that held themselves back from the sin, which means it makes it easier for you to overcome it, especially in this day and age. So even though we're living in a day and age which is very, very hard to overcome this sin, it has a lot of temptation. It has a lot of challenges. But you have the ability to overcome it because of your balancing on all the... on all the things that they did in the previous generation. There's another thing that we mentioned. We said three things are going to prevent the Shekhinah, God's presence, from coming into this world. So one of them we said was niddah, having relations with a woman in her state of impurity when she didn't go to the mikveh. Number two, we said having relations with a non-Jewish woman. Number three is somebody who purposely prevents the seed from coming into fruition. So generally, this means like an abortion, you know, killing an unborn child. So these are three serious, serious sins. Yes. What about, like, let's say, you know, people are married, right? But, like, not every single time you engage in marital relations is going to be for a child, right? So that's okay. That's okay. As long as you do it in purity, that is okay. And someone spoke about the idea of birth control, right? Because is there a way to...

55:34First of all, if you're doing it in a kosher manner, it's completely okay. It's a mitzvah. It's a mitzvah to do it. But it has to be in a kosher manner, which means with your wife, while she's in a state of purity, and after she went to the mikveh. However, what about, let's say, somebody who wants... But that story they told us about the guy who was married... I forgot their names, but essentially the seed went on the floor, but they were married, right? So, isn't it the same thing? No, so that was a wasting of the seed. It has to be, when it's not wasted, which means that it doesn't go on the floor, it doesn't go anywhere else except where it's supposed to go. So that is a problem, if I think what you're thinking about. So birth control, you have to speak to your local Orthodox rabbis. but condoms are not allowed. There are different versions of it, but you have to speak to your rabbi, and the rabbi could guide you about what's the appropriate thing that you should do, when you can do it, and when you can't do it. Then it's completely okay. Even though you're not bringing a child, being that it was in holiness, it's considered in holiness. Those souls do not turn into mazikim, they do not turn into harmful spirits; they have their tikkun the way that they're supposed to have it. This is extremely, extremely important. There's something I did forget to mention.

56:59is that somebody who has relations with a non-Jew, you know what they come back as in reincarnation? They come back in reincarnation as a dog. And not like, "Oh, cute little Fluffy is here," or, you know, like, "Mikey is here," you know. You come back as a dog seven to nine times if you don't do teshuvah. And it's not, it's a very, very, very difficult thing for a soul to come back as anything else but a human. It's very, very painful. So, It is something that is imperative for somebody, anybody who dealt in any of these sins, even if it's just, well, it's not just, but even just the wasting seed, it's still something that you have to do teshuvah on. You cannot say, okay, like, you know, stop. And b'ezrat Hashem, we will speak about it, you know, also, you know, in more depth, b'ezrat Hashem, next week. Any questions? No questions? Everything was clear? Yeah. Why don't you do two things at the same time? One of the two bad things to mention. Two times is the worst. So yeah, if let's say somebody is wasting seed with a non-Jew, it's just all that much worse of the sins. But I can't emphasize this enough. This is one of the worst sins that you could do in the Torah. This is literally the worst thing that you could possibly do.

58:10The teshuva, it just brings bad things upon you. Like you should do whatever it takes to prevent yourself from doing these sins. It's something that's only going to cause you problems. Who wants to be on a title that's going to be in Gehinom and never going to leave it? You're not going to even have success in this world. So you lose this world and the next world. This is something that's so important that people don't understand the severity of it. If you would understand the severity of it, you would not do it. You would not do it. It's just not worth it. It doesn't pay out well. Furthermore, as we spoke about this idea before, you have a certain amount of pleasure that you're going to get in every aspect of your life. There are meters of pleasure. You have a meter of how much, let's say, sexual pleasure that you'll get. If you use this pleasure illegally, you're just stealing from yourself in the future. So this is, imagine what it is, if somebody goes and has relations before they get married, especially if they have relations with a non-Jew, or even if it's with a Jew, it doesn't matter, it's before you're married, what you're doing is you're really stealing everything from your future self and from your future spouse. So you're building yourself up to have a bad marriage ready to begin with. This is something that a person has to do teshuva right away.

59:15And I can't say this enough. If somebody is in a relationship, whether with a Jew or a non-Jew, it doesn't matter what it is, and they're not Shomer Negiah, they're touching, and it leads to sin, break it up. Either break it up or get married. Those are your choices right now. There's no point in it. It's only going to bring bad things into your life. It is something that you have to be so careful about. This thing is... The worst. The worst of the worst. What the Zohar says about these things is crazy. And you don't want to put yourself into that. You want to be happy. You don't want to be depressed. You want to be wealthy. You don't want to be poor. There are so many things that you want to have going for you. This is a major, major obstacle in everything in your life. Everything in your life could just fall into place because of this. Is that clear? Am I clear on how important it is? Does it make 100% sense that this is one of the worst things that you can possibly do? It's good? So, b'ezrat Hashem, not only, this is not only important, by the way, for everyone here to listen to it, but this is important. There are many people that, you know, I don't ordinarily say, you know, like, you know, send my classes out everywhere, and it doesn't have to be my classes, but this particular topic

1:00:26It's not spoken about enough, and whether it's, you know, just send it out to as many people as you think that can possibly benefit from it, you know, it could be beneficial. And by the way, this is not only for men. I was originally thinking about naming the class "Men Only." Why? Because then you know women are going to listen to it. Because it's "Men Only, Women Only." You know, if you say "Women Only"... Men, I'd be like, all right, fine, whatever. But if you say "Men Only," I'd be like, what is he talking about? But why is it important also for women? Because women can lead to these sins, especially if you're in a relationship. They lead to that. If they dress immodestly, what happens? They walk in the street immodestly, and men start having thoughts, and then one thing leads to another. So this is important both for men and for women. I know it's a mature class, and I hope that this was presented in the right way, that you could understand it, and you could take the seriousness and severity of it, and please, please, I cannot emphasize this enough, try your hardest, try your hardest. Some tips that maybe I'll give you now before next week are, it's very, I understand you can say, never do it again, and somebody who's been doing it for, who knows what age, it's very difficult to overcome. So a very easy trick to do it is you say, listen, today is Tuesday,

1:01:33One week. One week you could do. One week is very doable. So you say one week. When the one week comes by, you'll be like, you know what? Five more days. You're able to always push it off. When you push off a sin, it becomes a little bit easier, more bearable to do it. The more that you overcome it, the easier it’s going to become. And if, God forbid, someone falls, get up right away and stop right then and there. Any questions? Any things that we have to emphasize more about? Yeah. Sorry. You brought it up. I was always kind of curious about Shomer Negiah, right? Yeah. And also in relation to Niddah. So I know you're not supposed to touch the opposite sex at all, like not even holding hands. Is it because it might lead to sin? Or if it does not lead to sin, it doesn't matter. Even if it's not going to lead to sin, you're still not allowed to do it. But the idea was as a precaution. Both Niddah and if you're just dating? Yeah. Yeah, there's nothing that, you know, it's never, you ever realize it, it's never going to be like, a guy never goes and looks at a girl and be like, you know what I want to do? I want to hold her hand, you know? No guy ever be like, that's all I want to do. It's just, I just want to just hold her hand because it never. I'm saying like when you're married and you know, whatever. Even though, yeah.

1:02:43Right. Still 100% not allowed. And it's very, very severe when you're married and she doesn't need that. Very, very severe. You have to stay far. A hug? Even a hug, yeah. Even a hug. Even a high-five. What? You always what? Well, you gotta stop that. First of all, It's a non-Jewish thing because, you know, it's very weird. How would you want your wife to do that to all your friends? It's weird. You don't want that. I mean, nowadays, it's normal because you see it on TV and in movies, and it's normal. But it's a very odd thing. You don't go to your friend—well, some Gorskim actually do kiss their friends—but you don't usually go and meet somebody and be like, "Hey, buddy, come here." You know, like, and be like, oh, I haven't seen you in like a week. You know, it's an odd thing. We don't do that. If you have a beautiful wife, all of a sudden, when you find your beautiful wife and you're getting there, and all of a sudden, you come in and it's her and like 20 of your friends. What, is she going to go around and be like, hey, Charlie, one second, my dear husband, I have to go first? And then you go all those things. And okay, so I'm saying it like that, but the same idea is...

1:04:05you're hugging a girl over here. You're hugging someone else's wife, future wife maybe. It's something that doesn't belong to you. Not that a woman is an object that belongs to somebody, but you're delving into something that doesn't touch you. And furthermore, men... we're all men here. Thinking, it's not going to be like you hug a woman. It's not going to be like, oh, you don't have any bad thoughts ever because of it. It's always a problem. It always leads to something else. If nothing but a thought is already a problem in itself. But it's a problem in itself anyways. You should definitely stop that. Always tell them, if they come in for the hug, be like, oh, I'm sorry. I just got a cold or something. And they go, I spit in her face. You know? Or have really bad breath, you know, that everyone wants to stay away from. Any other questions? Any other aspects that I went very fast? I know we went, I wanted to cover a lot of ground today. I know we didn't have enough time. Reincarnation: if somebody has relations with a non-Jew, they come back as a dog. As a dog. Yeah, come back as a dog. If they don't do Teshuvah.

1:05:16And they don't do Teshuvah. So you're going to talk about Teshuvah next time? So next week, b'ezrat Hashem, we're going to speak about how to overcome it. Is it possible to? What are you supposed to do? That is going to be the topic, b'ezrat Hashem, of next shiur. In relationships with non-Jews, what the Zohar speaks about, it's so crazy, the hell that a person has to go through. It's unbelievable. I don't even want to say some of the things that he says, that it brings it down, how serious and how crazy those things are. But it's a very big problem nowadays. It's unfortunate. You have people that, you know, they don't think it's a problem. What's the big deal? I'm going to convert her maybe one day, possibly after I become Christian. You know, because the woman has much more say in what's going to be than a guy could be like, listen. I'm going to convert her, she's going to become a Jew, she's going to be like that. And before you know it, he's in church. He's like, listen, the guy was Jewish also over here. I'm technically a Jewish religion. I'm telling you, people convince themselves. Listen, what am I supposed to do? It's my wife. I can't not, you know, I have to make her happy. So they're doing, they do all the worst sins in the world. Lose this world, lose the next world. It's a lose-lose situation.

1:06:29There's not one gain in anything of that. Not even if you can say, okay, I'm having fun. Because all you're doing is you're taking away the fun that you're going to have with your wife. And even if this is somebody by themselves on the way, you're just taking away all the pleasure that you're going to have with B'ezrat Hashem when you get married. And when you have, or even if you're married already, you're just making it a lot more difficult and worse for your spouse. Good? Good? Everybody good? Hazak u'Baruch, B'ezrat Hashem, and we have the power to overcome this and help others as well. Hazak u'Baruch. Thank you.