WHAT DRIVES THE HERETICS? - STUMP THE RABBI (68)

0:17Good to see some old faces back. Good to see the old faces that continue to come, Baruch Hashem. Tonight's shiur, b'ezrat Hashem, we're doing the Stamter Rabbi. You guys ask questions, b'ezrat Hashem we'll have some answers. The shiur tonight will be for a refuah shlema for Levana Bat Sara, Rabbanit Sara Bat Anat, Doris Bat Jorah, David Ben Nesria, Esther Bat Zipporah, Orit Bat Ilana, Batya Bat Sara, Serach Bat Batya, Michal Bat Yael, Talia Bat Sara, Yitro Ben Avraham, Stefan Ben Katarina, Jonas Ben Sherry Haley, and also for Marsha Bat Julie, and her dear daughter, Ayla Bat Marsha, and also for Shaul Ben Farzaneh.

1:42Yitro ben Avraham, Oshri ben Doris, Gabi ben Doris, Elad ben Doris, and David ben Nasria. And all of Am Yisrael, especially the ones that continue to help us on a day-to-day basis to have hatzlacha in all the things that we're doing. And also, Aziza bat Leah, refuah shlema. Please try to give me the names before, not after. Sorry to interrupt. So, B'ezrat Hashem, we continue to do what we do. Lots of new people watching the shiurim, a few people making some very nice comments. ...about how the shiurim are changing their lives, whether it's the movie or it's other things. Our movie is now, Baruch Hashem, between the different channels, between YouTube, Facebook, and all the other different channels, Baruch Hashem, has now crossed the two million views mark, which is truly unbelievable. But I think that, Baruch Hashem, this year we'll add a few numbers to that, Baruch Hashem, at least another zero.

2:43And you see that people who actually sit there and watch the movie get inspired. Some of them get inspired to change their lives altogether. Some of them get inspired to change their lives a little bit. Some people get inspired to learn a little bit more. Some people get inspired to work on their Shalom Bayit, and so on and so forth. But Baruch Hashem, people get inspired. And for that alone, it was worth it. It was worth it to go through all of the difficulties. of course, you know the other shiurim that a person needs to watch are even more critical than the movie because, although the movie is inspiring, it's not enough to get a person to understand their obligation in the world. You need to know what you don't know, so you need to learn Torah and... As I always told you guys, I started when I first began learning Torah, by making a commitment to learn 15 minutes a day. It wasn't necessarily the goal to learn 15 minutes a day, but rather the minimum requirement. There wasn't going to be a day that I didn't learn at least 15 minutes, and I was able to achieve that. At times, I learned more than 15 minutes, and at times a lot more than 15 minutes. This made Torah a very permanent part of my life, and you start learning more and more every day.

3:49that I didn't learn at least 15 minutes, and I was able to achieve that. At times, I learned more than 15 minutes, and at times a lot more than 15 minutes. This made Torah a very permanent part of my life, and you start learning more and more every day. Each study session that you have, whether it's from a book or from a shiur that you watch online, or you study with a chavruta, if the person that you're studying with is a talmid chacham and not just your friend, because if you're just studying with your friend and you're both ignorant, it's not exactly the best idea. Unless you're both going to be learning all of the commentaries like Rashi and the Rambam and so on, because then that simply means that Rambam is sitting next to you or Rashi is sitting next to you, and that's perfectly fine. But if you and your friend or whoever else are sitting there studying and both are giving each other commentaries about what you think, it's better off you didn't study at all because you're going to arrive at wrong conclusions. You're not going to know what's wrong. So, you know, again, it's important for a person to

5:00really understand their own position when they first start learning Torah, which I think is one of the most difficult things for people to do today. It seems like people, whether they consider themselves religious or not religious, many times the most difficult part for a person to do is to humble themselves in front of the sages. And right now we are working on a project and I was reviewing a bunch of letters that big Chachamim, from Rav Ovadia Yosef, alav ha-shalom, whose Hilula is today, or Rav Shalom Cohen, or many other Gedolim, Rav Gidon Ben Moshe, and other Gedolim that wrote about Rav Ephraim, my own dear Rav Ephraim, the main thing they constantly mention is that, yeah, they call him, you know, all types of compliments: he's a genius, he's this, he's that, but before all of that, all of them say the same thing. We know him, and we know that his humility comes before his wisdom. His fear of Hashem comes before his wisdom. You know, his humility, his fear of Hashem, his humility, his fear of Hashem, constantly. And in today's world,

6:24unfortunately, humility is frowned upon instead of being viewed as admirable. Humility is frowned upon because you see who people cheer for. People cheer for the most obnoxious people on planet Earth, you know, either as athletes or as, uh, you know, leaders of some kind. People think that arrogance makes you good or makes you better, and the reality is that we know the opposite. But then, at the same token, people misunderstand how to determine whether somebody is humble or not because they assume that if somebody is a low-toned type of person, they speak. this, the convoys, and that makes them humble. There are plenty of sociopaths and killers that speak just like that or even lower, and it doesn't make them humble. Humility is reflected in how a person behaves, what a person does with their life, not necessarily just how they communicate, but what they're communicating, what they're saying. And I can tell you that when,

7:41great sages say that somebody is humble, they're not saying it to compliment them because there's really no reason to put yourself at risk with the Beit Din of Heaven for lying for the benefit of somebody else. Because that's really what happens if you lie for somebody else. Let's say, for example, somebody says, "Listen, write me a recommendation letter on my business" or "Write me a recommendation letter on my book." You know, and you say, yeah, you know what, this is my boy. This is my girl. I'm going to write something for them. I like her. She has a business. Sure. Yeah, but do you ever use her business? No, but I know her. She's like a nice girl. Now, you don't know the business or you don't know what's in that book, and you recommended it. Every single person that suffers from that business is on you. Why? Because if they bought because of you... They bought because of your recommendation of this book. They bought because of your recommendation of this business. Because they say, "Oh look, Steve will be here. He's our best friend. She's our best friend," and so on. He recommended her. Who's going to know better than him? They buy because of you, and that ends up being a disaster because your friend really is a criminal. You have a very serious problem on your hands.

8:52So the sages would never really give compliments to people they didn't know and didn't have some personal references or experience with, especially compliments like that. But in today's world, people really don't know what humility is, even if it hits them in the face. because instead of being humble in front of the sages, they constantly mock the sages or challenge them. You know, as somebody came to me yesterday, and this is not the first time, and I'm sure it's not going to be the last time, saying to me, "My friend," and by the way, anytime somebody says "my friend," it's them. Just in case you guys ever become like rabbis or something, or you deal with the public, somebody says "my friend," it's not my friend, it's them. "My friend," says that he did some research on the Zohar and determined that it's not authored by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Is that considered heresy? Now, I hate these questions. Why do I hate these questions? Because either there's no nafka mina—there's no point to the question.

10:09Meaning, okay, you agree, you disagree, what changes in your life? Are you going to violate Shabbat because of it? No, no, no, I keep Shabbat. Okay, so what's going to change? What's going to change? If you don't agree or disagree, what's going to change? What, you're looking to sin now? You're looking, what, because you think now you're allowed to, what, waste seed or something? You're allowed to do this? What are you going with it? What are you going with it? So usually there's no nafka mina, or the nafka mina is bad. So the point is, the question is, both are forbidden. Where are you going with this? But people want to pretend like they're smart. So they want a challenge. I'm challenging this. So, you know, anytime a question comes to me, if it already came to me and I already read it, I figure it's a message from Shamayim that I have to deal with it for one reason or another. And I try my best. So in this particular case, as I've done with it many other times and I've learned from my Rav, Rav Ephraim, As I said, most of the time there's completely no nafka mina, no purpose for this question, or a bad purpose. But what would your answer be if somebody says, "My friend doesn't agree that he reviewed some information and he determined that the Zohar is not authored by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai"? What would you answer? What would you say? Follow your friend? Go with him? Okay.

11:39He knows better. Okay. Why is he coming to me then, is the question. Okay. So I would ask him the question, why are you coming to me? Before I tell him to follow his friend. Go fly a kite. I mean, I'll tell him, first, before you fly a kite, why did you come to me then? What's the point? Okay. No? Close? Nothing is wrong, by the way. All of your responses are fine. This is just really seeing where your head is. No? You think your friend is a rabbi? No. then why are you asking me? Okay, what's your source? What makes you think that? Why are you asking? Okay, all right, so we're all on the same page. Okay, so I asked him a little bit similar but different to yours. I say, is your friend a talmid? Is your friend a talmid chacham? And how many times has he completed how many times did he read the Zohar and how many times did he read the entire Shas Bavli? He says, well, no, he never actually read the entire Zohar, and he never read the entire Shas Bavli. He's working on it. So I said, okay, so your friend arrived at a conclusion regardless of what that conclusion is, and arrived at that conclusion without review.

13:03How many times did he read the Zohar, and how many times did he read the entire Shas Bavli? He says, "Well, no, he never actually read the entire Zohar, and he never read the entire Shas Bavli. He's working on it." So I said, "Okay, so your friend arrived at a conclusion, regardless of what that conclusion is, and arrived at that conclusion without review." Which means he's either a prophet. At some point, he's reviewing, he's reading the first three pages of the Zohar, he doesn't know what it says, but prophecy comes, the whole thing enters his mind. He's either a prophet, which means it doesn't matter what my opinion is of him. He's talking to Hashem. What does he care about what I think? Or he's an idiot. Either way, I can't help him. You can't help him. Why? He's a prophet. He doesn't need my help. He's an idiot. I can't help him. Because if he's an idiot, nothing that I say is going to help him. Now, no, but why do you have to read the entire Zohar in order to determine that he says that he reviewed some material and he really was trying to be unbiased and...

14:25Why do you have to review everything in order to determine if it's valid or not? Why did I ask him if he reviewed the entire Zohar, if he reviewed the entire Shas Bavli, but not just once, multiple times? Because of course you know that by once you don't know anything still. You have to go over it several times. And still, you don't know much, but nonetheless, you know more than you did before. Why did I ask him how many times did he do it before he came to the conclusion? Why did I ask him if he should be called a Chacham? Why does it matter? Why did I ask him if he's a doctor? Why did I ask him if he's a lawyer? Why did I ask him if he's a fast reader? Why did I ask him if his IQ is above 150? Why did I ask him if he reviewed the material? No one wants to give me an answer. Well, the thing is, though, that if you didn't review the material, then that means that you don't know what you don't know, which in itself is a problem. When you don't know what you don't know, it means that the amount of knowledge that you could be missing is so extraordinary, your opinion is null and void by default.

15:49because you don't even know what piece of the pie you have, because you don't know how big the pie is. You can say, oh no, I just took a little piece. Well, out of what? Is the pie the size of a table? Is the pie the size of a notebook? Is the pie the size of planet Earth? How big is the pie? Oh, I don't know. So how do you know that the piece you took is significant in comparison to the whole? So you don't even know what you don't know. Now, that in itself just makes a person ignorant, but it doesn't make them dangerous. Just ignorant. That's most people. What makes a person dangerous to himself and most likely to society itself is when not only do you not know what you don't know, but worse yet, you think you know. When you don't know what you don't know, but you think you know, then you are a danger to yourself, needless to say to society or whoever you have an influence on.

16:53Because that means that you not only don't realize where you stand, but you actually think you stand in the wrong place. Now, there is another type of person that is like that. And those people are placed in mental institutions. Why? Because somebody who is a mental patient, okay, that person is not stupid. He's not stupid. What is a mental person, mental cases, what are they? They simply are imagining that they are somebody that they're not. So one time, to make matters a little light, a guy comes in to visit the mental institution, maybe do some chesed. And here's the guy, new guy come in, new patient. "Hey everyone." Just want to let you know, I'm Mashiach. It's like, oh, Mashiach, Mashiach, Mashiach. All of a sudden, he sees a bottle, pah, on his face. Oh, oh, what are you doing, what are you doing? Hey, over here, I'm Mashiach. Over here, I'm Mashiach. Oh, I didn't know, I didn't know, I didn't know, I didn't know. The mental patient thinks that he's somebody that he's not. The psychologist

18:24The psychologist teaches him which part of the building to put himself in. You know, he thinks he owns the building, the mental patient. So the psychologist tells him where he lives in the building, and the psychiatrist that gives him medicine charges him rent. ...is mental patients. Now, this is not to make fun of mental people. This is simply to shed light on the matter of what situation we're in today. Although those mental patients are sick and most likely are much more righteous than the rest of us, because the people that come with such a neshamah either are extremely righteous or, the Arizal says, may have a dybbuk in them. Needless to say, many of them are very righteous. But the reason why we're making light of the matter, or perhaps even mocking it to a certain extent, is not for the mental people, because they have an excuse for why they are what they are. The problem is that the guy who is not mental but acts like one—he doesn't have an excuse. So, when he goes up to Shamayim, they're going to ask him, "Why did you act like a mental patient?"

19:33think that you can determine whether something is this or that without being qualified. It's just like somebody walking into a surgery center and starting to tell the surgeon, "No, no, no, not over here, not over here. I don't think he has... I think he has lupus." "What? How do you know? Did you read the file?" "No, no, I just... I know it's lupus. It's lupus. I know it's always lupus." "Why do you think it's lupus?" "I'm telling you, it's lupus." "Okay, doc, where did you come from? Which division of the hospital did you come from?" "No, no, I didn't come from any division." Well... Where did you reside? Where did you do your residency? No, no, I didn't do any residency. What is that, residency? Where I live? No, no, your medical. Where's your medical license from? Where did you go to school? No, I didn't go to school. Where did you go to college? Did you go to college, Elish? No, no, I didn't go to college. So, what makes you think that you can tell us how to perform a surgery or, perhaps even better, diagnose a patient without even knowing what the file says? Well, I watched some drama shows on TV, and there's this episode of some doctor named House, and he always says it's lupus. I figured nine out of ten times it's lupus in the show; it must be in real life too.

20:44See, how about this: This is what happens to people in the Torah world on a day-to-day basis. They don't know aleph-bet. They don't know how to spell in Hebrew, needless to say read. They don't know what the pshat says if it hit them in the face. They have never read any serious book and actually delved into it to the extent where they know the whole thing by heart and... They may be able to quote a few things they perhaps watched on the internet or read 500 times because it's one page. What's the big deal? But in reality, they don't know what they don't know. Yet they act like they could challenge the sages and say, this is wrong and this is wrong. Listen, are you greater than Rav Ovadia? Are you greater than the Steipler Gaon? Are you greater than Rav Elyashiv? Are you greater than the Leshem? Are you greater than the Gaon of Vilna? I don't even know who these people are. No. Well, all of them said the Zohar is 100% good. And they are experts. And they know what they don't know. Yet you decided you know more? Because you read some things on the internet. This, unfortunately, happens on a day-to-day basis. The question is why? Why are people acting like mental patients? Why is it that every time we mention...

22:03The word Gehinnom and punishment, or perhaps that a Mechalel Shabbat is considered an idol worshiper. or any of the things that are hard to hear, but needless to say, true. Why is it that there's always a group of people that immediately get offended by it, immediately say it's wrong, "No, it's not this way, you should teach Torah a different way. You know, your Torah is not real Torah, it's too harsh. The Torah that we know, it's light, it's soft, it's pretty, it's full of stories." How come there's always a few people like that, that always reject anything to do with punishment, anything to do with judgment? But yet, at the same time, if you look at the Jewish sages, even of recent memory, we don't have to go as far as the Gemara, you look at Rav Ovadia.

23:03You look at the Chafetz Chaim, you look at Rav Wasserman, you look at Rabbeinu Eliyahu Lopian, you look at just the recent sages. What are they more similar to? The Conservative Reform but calls himself Modern Orthodox, Rationalist, or me? Which we try to be Orthodox. What are they more similar to? To the one that's just like smooth sailing, no big deal in the world, everything's okay, you can, you know, go and say whatever you want about the sages, they're just the later sages, they're just the early sages, what's the big deal? You can determine Halacha yourself, by yourself. There's no such thing as judgment or Gehinom, no, that's all nonsense. It's just a laundry machine.

24:05Or is it otherwise now? The truth is, you don't need to go very far to know the answer. In fact, you go to Parashat Noach. In the beginning of the world, HaKadosh Baruch Hu created Adam and Chava. They made a mistake, but after almost 130 years, they did teshuva and restarted their life, and... And the world followed suit, their original action, rather than a later action, and started sinning against Hashem. Sinning against Hashem to the extent where the world became disgusting in the eyes of Hashem. Where at the end of Parashat Bereishit, HaKadosh Baruch Hu writes in the Torah, that Hashem saw the wickedness of man was great upon the earth and that every product of the thought of his heart was but evil always, meaning that mankind got to the point

25:22Every thought, and Hashem is not exaggerating. You know, sometimes you say, "Oh, this guy’s always in trouble," but not really always; you’re just exaggerating because he happens to be in trouble all the time. But not always. I mean, sometimes he’s in the bathroom, sometimes he’s eating, sometimes he sleeps, sometimes he actually does something good. But you know, he happens to be always in trouble. When Hashem says "always," He literally means it. Every thought that mankind had was evil. We see here, parashat Noach, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu says that the earth has become corrupt before G-d, and the earth has become filled with robbery. Now, Chazal, our sages, say that Hamas

26:22was the last straw. Not necessarily the only sin, like some people think, that once you started stealing, that was it. No. Chamas, once Hashem saw that they were stealing from each other too, He said, there's no hope for this world. Why? Because initially their crimes were against Me. But I still kept them around because they were still okay with each other. But once they started stealing from each other, where one person would have opened a store, selling some type of seeds, and everybody would say, "Oh, listen, let me taste one." "Oh, okay, it's pretty good. No, I don't want any." Another guy would come, "Let me taste one." They would take just enough, so they don't have to pay for it. And the whole world would come to him, taking one, one, one. By the end of the hour, he has nothing left. He's bankrupt. And nobody bought a single seed. That's how everybody would steal from each other. Meaning, they wouldn't violate the law by just taking the whole thing, but they would do a halachically correct thing. Halachically correct is rational. Rational things make sense. "I just took one seed." Yeah, but you're not allowed to take one seed if you know you're not going to buy. You know that, right? "No, no, no. It says one seed. I'm allowed to take." He says it's allowed, one seed. Yeah, it's allowed because he thinks that if you're going to take one seed, it's because you have the intention to buy or at least a chance to buy.

27:44If you already know that before you go into the perfume store, before you go into the clothing store, before you go into the vegetable store, that you're not going to buy anything, you're not allowed to walk in. If you have no intention of buying, you can't use their products for free. Why? But they're giving it for free to everybody else. Yeah, under the understanding that the other people are customers or potential customers. You're not a potential customer. What you're doing is stealing. Now, this was the last straw. What was before this? Chachamim say, the sins before this were even more unacceptable—well, much worse than stealing. But Hashem was willing to tolerate them so long as He thought that there was going to be some hope for humanity because at least they were nice enough to each other. What were the other sins? The other sins, Rabotai HaKedoshim, were that they were committing every type of immoral crime you can possibly imagine when it comes to sexuality.

28:50incest, adultery, you know, men with animals, men with men, which is in essence the same thing, all types of filthy, disgusting things. Needless to say, wasting seed. The Zohar HaKadosh says that wasting seed was the one thing that Hashem couldn't tolerate more than most. Guys wasting seed by themselves, no woman, nothing. Hashem made it; it was completely disgusting to Hashem. He says this is enough of a reason to destroy the world. But He allowed the world to continue so long as there was hope that man could recover. But one of the last things that made the world such a world that Hashem had to destroy it was, the Zohar HaKadosh says, and the Yalkut also says, and many other sages discuss it, is that there was, there was homosexuality, but not just regular homosexuality, regular marriage of homosexuals. When the government of that time, of that generation of Noach, made it legal

30:04official that one man can marry another man and one woman can marry another woman. That's when Hashem says, "I've had it with this world." Why? The Chachamim explained in the sefer by the Rishon, Rabbeinu Yitzchak Arama, who was the Baal Ha'Sefer called Akeidat Yitzchak. He writes that making the smallest sin permissible, meaning as if it's not a sin, is worse than committing the biggest sin itself that a person does on his own by a measure of a thousand times. And whoever doesn't comprehend this issue doesn't have even the beginning of the understanding of the Torah. End quote. Rabbeinu Yitzchak Arama says something extraordinary.

31:18says people are going to sin. Hashem knows this; He created us in a certain way. We have desires. We have both, two completely different entities by the way. Your desire and your yetzer hara are not necessarily always connected to each other. Sometimes a person is so addicted to their desire that yetzer hara doesn't even affect them. That's why yetzer hara says, "I'm on vacation. You're doing the sins by yourself. I didn't even cause it; you came and blamed me." Sometimes a person gets so addicted to their desires, the yetzer hara says, "It has nothing to do with me. You're the one that put yourself in this situation. I didn't tell you to go do it." Sometimes the yetzer hara influences a person to do certain things, and a person falls. But the point is, Hashem knows we have desires, we have a yetzer hara, and so on. And we're going to sin from time to time, hopefully not big sins, but nonetheless, people are going to sin. This is the sin Hashem knows about, and He's willing to tolerate it to a certain extent. obviously, so long as he has the knowledge that you have the ability to do teshuvah. What he cannot tolerate is when the leaders, whether they are government officials or fake Erev Rav rabbis, or somewhere in between.

32:38when those people say that now this small little sin is not a sin anymore, it is a lie. Chazal say that in the eyes of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, it is a thousand times worse than the biggest sin in the Torah, whatever you want to consider the biggest sin in the Torah. Okay, let's call it wasting seed, right? Whatever sin you want to say is the biggest, the biggest sin in the Torah, right? And then there is, let's say, I don't know, something that is considered not a big sin in the eyes of men. We don't really know how big or how small it is. Something that is not really a big sin, like taking, I don't know, a couple of bites out of a pork sandwich. don't think it's not as big of a sin as, right? Say the rabbi said, "Listen, as long as you don't eat the whole sandwich, you're only going to take two bites of a pork sandwich. Allowing that 'little sin' is a thousand times worse than violating Shabbat by yourself. Why? Because changing the Torah to such an extent destroys the entire Torah."

34:04What happened at the time of Noach wasn't that homosexuality began. Homosexuality was already there. But now they made it official. They made it allowed. They made it legal. And HaKadosh Baruch Hu could not tolerate it. He said, this world is full of chamas. It must be destroyed. Unfortunately, the same thing is happening now. again, not that this is the only other time; the same thing was happening at the time of Greece and at the time of Rome. One of the things those filthy people used to do in their coliseums was fight naked and do all types of filthy things with children and other people. Even the famous kings that we read about in the Tanach—one of the most powerful kings... that ever lived until Mashiach will come. Hashem told him that he's going to be the most powerful king. Nebuchadnezzar conquered the entire world but could not conquer his own desires. He was an avid homosexual to the extent where he would command all of the other kings to come to his castle because, in essence, he was the big king and they were the little kings. He would command them to come to his castle, and the Gemara says he would rape them.

35:25raped them. Now, he wasn't the only one; there were others too. So, homosexuality is not new. It's not a new trend in the world today. This filth has always existed. But what changed and made Hashem disgusted with the world was that they made it officially legal. That's actually what's happening now. It's been happening already for a few years, where the government took the first initiative and made it legal for men and men and women and women to marry each other, even though it defies all logic and it's completely abnormal. How do you know it's abnormal? Because if all of your parents were homosexuals, guess what? You wouldn't be here. If the parents of the people that voted for homosexuality to become praised and permissible to the extent of legality, if their parents were homosexuals, guess what? They would never be able to make it legal. Why? Because they wouldn't be here. If you had two fathers or two mothers, they wouldn't be you. But for some reason, people miss that point and still think, no, no, but he was born this way. He was born this way.

36:43One of the dumbest things in the world. I don't believe anybody's born that way. I believe people are born with certain inclinations that they don't know how to control. But no one is born homosexual. All it means is that if you're a male and you think you're attracted to other males, it's not because you're attracted to other males, but rather you are attracted to something more masculine than you. you think that masculinity by default means another man? No, it just means you need to find a masculine woman, that's it. And if you're one that's feminine, you're gonna want more masculine; if you're more masculine, you want more feminine. That's it, that's all it is. But people think, "No, no, if I'm attracted to something that's the opposite of me, that means that it's the same." Complete nonsense. Unfortunately, people don't think deeply into this stuff because society has made it not only normal but actually praiseworthy to be a homosexual, to such an extent that it's legal now. If that wasn't bad enough, different rabbis—Reform and Conservative—also not only allowed it but actually praised it, to the extent that the head rabbi of the Conservative movement in Jerusalem is openly homosexual.

37:58That wasn't bad enough. You have many people in the Orthodox world who continue to consider themselves religious, yet homosexual at the same time. Hashem says you're an abomination; you have no share of the world to come, but you still think you're religious because you wear a kippah. No, no, it's just that the act... Buddy, if you practice homosexuality, you have no share of the world to come, doesn't matter how many Shabbatot you keep. Doesn't matter how much kosher you eat. have no share of the world to come. Every single time you're with another man, it's an abomination. If you don't understand that, then you don't understand Judaism. "No, my rabbi said it's okay." No, he's going to be in Gehinnom right next to you. Right next to you! You guys are going to be best friends forever over there too. He's going to be a "rabbi" in Gehinnom. But people don't understand that and they try to make the pig kosher. And then you have... People that call themselves Orthodox rabbis, like this rasha, Benny Lau, about a week ago or so in Israel, came out with a document saying that homosexuality should be tolerated, we should love them, we should accept them into our kehilot, even though the Torah says we're not allowed to, because they influence the public with their behavior. It's not like they're in the closet like in past generations. People are proud of their homosexuality. They want everybody to be homosexuals.

39:22They don't want to stay homosexuals by themselves. They think everyone else is really homosexual in denial. That's the attitude of homosexual people. I know quite a few of them, and I'm telling you, the overwhelming majority of them believe that everybody else is also homosexual. You're just denying it because you're afraid. That's their attitude. They're the most disgusting human beings in the world when it comes to how they express their sexuality. They feel like it's public property to express their sexuality. They feel like you need to know what they do in their privacy because it's not private to them. That's why they feel perfectly fine with their gay parades and their gay pride flags and so on and so forth. You're never gonna see a normal human being that has a wife and kids walking around with a flag saying, "I am a person that's perfectly normal." You're never gonna see that. You're never gonna see a parade for normal people. You're never gonna see that.

40:26They feel like your world needs to know that they want to act like animals, and unfortunately, they have rabbis that are Erev Rav supporting them. Just a week ago, one person came out, but he only got the strength because of Mirvis, Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, who wrote a whole book about tolerating homosexuals under the law, according to him, of "You must love your brother as yourself." ...took the entire thought and threw it in the garbage, putting the name of this sin as if it were a mitzvah, and made a name for himself. And gay—no, there's no way to recover from such a thing. Now, unfortunately, this continues, and l'havdil, but really there's not much left because these people have no olam haba. And the following person I'm going to mention also has no olam haba—the Pope... The Pope came out and said that he's been wrong about his view of homosexuality. It's perfectly tolerable, and people should be allowed to have children even though it's two husbands or two wives, and they are perfectly accepted into the community. It's perfectly normal. His view of homosexuality is incorrect. People are just born that way. In so many words, continuing his filthy mind with other filthy things.

41:46Now, why do I mention the Pope? Because you see that this filth is attacking all people, not just the Jewish people. But needless to say, the world is getting to the point of where it was at the time of this parasha over 4,000 years ago. In fact, it's there. They have made the intolerable abomination into something that's praiseworthy, permissible, and legal. And this is one of the most disgusting things that has happened in our personal lives because you're seeing that it's not really a matter of right and wrong anymore. It's a matter of what do you feel like doing and how do we kosherize it? What do you want to do? Okay, let's find a way to make it kosher. It's no longer "this is allowed, this is not allowed." If your behavior is not allowed, that means it's not allowed. There's no way to kosherize it if it's not allowed. And if your behavior is in an allowed section, then it's perfectly fine. Enjoy. No, now it's "what do you feel like doing and how do we kosherize it?"

43:03And many of those people behind the kosherizing of all of the abominations of the world are people that call themselves, consider themselves intellectuals, rationalists, people of intellect, people of status. And the truth be told is that not only do these people have arrogance that's Five buildings like this wouldn't be able to fit. But they're dangerous because they don't even know what they don't know. But they think that they do know more than everybody else. Some of them have YouTube channels. Some of them have big positions, like I mentioned, the head rabbi of London or England. Some of them are nobodies but make themselves somebody because they have some blog of some kind. Now, the question is, how come we're here? Why are we here? Why is it that they have that mindset full of filth with no worry or concern in the world? The Torah says homosexuality is an abomination.

44:22But these so-called religious people, I'm not talking about non-religious people. We're talking about people that call themselves religious. They call themselves religious Orthodox people, yet they practice homosexuality and other abominations. Why don't they worry? Yet, the Chafetz Chaim worried. Yet, Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian worried. Yet, Rav Wasserman worried. Yet, all of the greatest sages we ever had worried. But these people, not only do they not worry, they mock anyone that does. The history doesn't have to go back to the time of Noach. know what our sages think. One of the most critical lessons that we're able to learn in our lives is what happened just a little over seventy years ago at the time of the Holocaust. Not just what Hashem's wrath looks like, but also

45:35what love of Torah looks like before and after the Holocaust. The Chafetz Chaim, alav ha-shalom, was an ish kodesh, a quiet man who didn't speak much because he knew the value of speech and how dangerous it can be. One time, when he was already over 100 years old, he showed a person and said, "Look at my teeth." He said, "Count how many teeth I have." He said, "You see, I have every single tooth. Not a single cavity, not a single filling, not a single missing tooth." He said, "You know why? Because this mouth never said anything forbidden. I wish we could all say the same." But this very same Chafetz Chaim, in the sefer...

46:36In the book called "Siberia," the personal testimony of Rabbeinu Gershom Klivansky, he says that he once heard the Chafetz Chaim make a public announcement: Anyone who sends their children to public schools with the goyim in Russia, needless to say in America or anywhere else, Anyone who sends their children to public schools with goyim is likened to someone who brings their children as a sacrifice to Molech. Molech is one of the famous idols from biblical times. There was an idol that fools would bring their children as sacrifices to, killing their own children as a sacrifice. They never said a single word that was not allowed. He says, anyone that takes their kids, sends their kids to public school is likened to someone that's bringing a sacrifice to Molech. Not just any sacrifice. Your child is a sacrifice to Molech. Just so you know, the Midrash Me'am Loez, written by Rav Yaakov Culi 300 years ago, says exactly the same thing.

48:04In Parashat Yitro, he talks about the Ten Commandments and the commandment that discusses idolatry. He says, anyone that sends their Jewish children to public schools, to the schools of the non-Jews, is committing 100% idol worship. They go up to Shamayim, and they say, you go to the idol worship section. What section is that? That section is the "no share in the World to Come" section. That's the section. but I gave a lot of tzedakah. Yeah, we gave you reward for that in the regular world. Now you're in a world that there is no world. What does that "no world" mean? Gehinom permanently, that's what it means. "But I only sent my kid to public school for only 10 years." Okay, 10 years—you ruined his whole life. Unless your kid saved you by doing teshuva and so on, which you should pray for every single day, for your kids to do teshuva if you send them to public school. But the point being is, Chafetz Chaim said the same exact thing. When Rav Klevansky heard this, he vowed to teach his kids Torah at all costs. But teaching Torah in those days was not like today. Today, if you want to teach your kids Torah, teach them Torah.

49:26Yeah, but I can't afford yeshiva. It's five hundred, a thousand dollars a kid every month. I don't have that kind of money. Okay, teach him at home. A few dollars come to your house. "Teach him." "No, I can't even afford that." "Okay, teach him at home by yourself." "Yeah, but I don't know anything." "Okay, get a few books. You can afford a few books, right? 20, 30 bucks. Get a few books. Tell the kid, 'Here, wake up in the morning, read this book. When I come home, finish the book.' That's it. Every day, read the books. Watch Torah.org. Press play in the morning, stop at night when you go to sleep. Finish. The kid's going to become a talmid chacham." That's not so hard. No one's going to get in your way. No one's going to get in your way. But in Russia, if you were teaching your kids Aleph Bet, you were considered an enemy of the state and could be given the death penalty. But despite all of this, Rav Klevansky testifies himself: After he heard the Chafetz Chaim say what he said, he made a vow that at all costs he would teach his kids Torah.

50:32I never sent him to the schools with the green, even though that meant I would become an enemy of the state of a communist government and put myself and my entire family at risk—life risk. Why? Because it is better to put yourself at life risk with flesh-and-blood people than at eternal risk with HaKadosh Baruch Hu, because you went against what the Chafetz Chaim said. Rav Elazar Shach, zt"l, after the Holocaust, what the Chafetz Chaim said was before the Holocaust. People didn't listen. What happened? The Holocaust happened. So what happened after the Holocaust? Rav Elazar Shach, who saw what the Holocaust did firsthand. says anytime I see buses that take Jewish children to secular schools, I know it's exactly like the trains that took the children of Israel to Auschwitz and thereby to the gas chambers to kill them. That's what Rav Shach said: sending your kids to public school.

52:00Same thing, like you're sending him to a gas chamber. Now, of course, many people that are liberal-minded, high society, and think of themselves as intellectuals, rejected what Rav Shach said. They went against him. It didn't make a difference. It didn't change the halacha. Why? That's what it is. Question is, how could it be that Rav Shach, Chafetz Chaim, Rav Kanievsky, Others that will mention momentarily, how can they be so strict about simple Jewish education, needless to say about the laws of the Torah like homosexuality being forbidden, and so on? How can they be so strict to the extent of saying, "Listen, you send your kid to public school, it's 100% idol worship. It's worse than sending him to Auschwitz"?

53:01How? Why are they so strict? And yet, Mr. Rational today, Rationalist, Mr. Liberal-minded, Mr. Modern Orthodox, Mr. Conservative and Reformist friend, walks around with no fear of the world, no fear of nothing, doing whatever they want. What do you want to do? Okay, let's find a way to kosherize it. Why is there such a gap between the two worlds? Now, you don't have to be a genius to know. Who knows more Torah? Chofetz Chaim, Rav Shach, or Mr. Modern today? Who knows more Torah? No one is going to, even the guy, the modern guy today is not going to say, "I know more Torah than Chofetz Chaim." What he will probably say is, "No, you're misunderstanding what Chofetz Chaim said." That's what he'll probably say. You're changing what he said. You're translating it your way. He said it nicer. He said it's a sacrifice to the Molech in a nicer way than you. He didn't say it like you, but he still said that, though.

54:07But it doesn't sound like you said it. You're making it sound scary. I don't know, you're sacrificing a kid. A nice tune, like a children's song? You're sacrificing him to Molech and he's going to die. Woo! It's the same thing! But this is the rational-minded. They want to do things with a jingle to it. Maybe a dance too. Put it on YouTube. With that being said, and as funny as it is, this is the truth. This is what's happening in the world today. How come? Why are the worlds so separate? Why is there such a gap between the two? Rabbi Ovadia, alav ha-shalom, today is his yahrzeit, when he found out that the head of the educational department in the Israeli government, Yossi Sarid,

55:09...was getting in the way of how the Jewish children were going to learn Torah. It was at the time of Purim. Rav Ovadia said to the public, when you say "Arur Haman," that Haman is cursed, it's also "Arur Yossi Sarid." "Arur Haman" and "Arur Yossi Sarid." Cursed is Haman and cursed is Yossi Sarid. You say, oh, Rav Ovadia, Rav Ovadia... What are you doing? How could you talk like that? It's another Jew. He's getting in the way of Jewish education. He's cursed from Shamayim. Yeah, but he's already cursed by the Torah. Yeah, but I need to curse him also. Why? You're getting in the way of Jewish education. We're scared of what's going to happen as a result. People today walk around with no care in the world. They make sins. They find a way to make it kosher in their own eyes, in their own perspective. Yet our biggest sages that we've ever had, even in recent memory, for something as, we can say, minor as education, they make a big stink out of it.

56:25Curse all the curses of the Torah. Say it's the equivalent of the Holocaust. Say it's the equivalent of idolatry. Say that the person is cursed forever. The worst curse in the Torah is Arur. How could it be? In a book by Rabbeinu Elyah Lopian, Rabbeinu Elyah Lopian, called Lev Eliyahu, in the preface of the book, He writes about himself. Rabbeinu Elyah Lopian testified that he remembers everything that happened in his life from the time he was 12 years old. And he says, like, literally everything. So much so, that when he was older, he had a surgery on his eye with Dr. Ticho. and Dr. Ticho was performing surgery, and suddenly, although he was already older, his blood pressure skyrocketed so much that it couldn't be controlled. His eye condition became critical.

57:45All of the talmidim in the yeshiva started praying to save the Rabbi's life. Baruch Hashem, everything calmed down and came back to normal. Everything was okay. Dr. Ticho said, "I don't know what happened. I've been doing eye surgeries for many years. I've never had such a thing happen to me. I still don't know why his blood pressure skyrocketed. I don't know why it happened." A few years later, Rabbeinu Lepion had to have another surgery for a different body part, and all the talmidim in the yeshiva were very worried. They were all praying. But after the surgery, everything was fine. They came to visit him in the hospital and saw him happy and smiling. They said, "Rabbi, we're worried about you." He replied, "No, no, everything went okay. Everything is okay. It's not like the first surgery." They expressed concern about his blood pressure. He responded, "No, no, I don't have a blood pressure problem." So what happened? Because you want me to tell you what happened? You see, the first surgery, with the eye surgery, I realized that now, I'm going to go into surgery, and the Gemara says that anytime you put yourself in danger, the beit din of heaven looks at your file. So I knew that they were reviewing every single thing I ever did.

59:07my life, so I remember everything I did from the time I was 12 years old. I started analyzing and doing self-accounting. Oh, let's see, 12, okay, what? So, at 12, I woke up, and I realized I woke up five minutes late. Oh no, what am I going to do? Five minutes I wasted! And then later on, I said, what about that prayer when I was 12 years and 37 days old? That prayer in the afternoon wasn't with full kavana. How are they going to accept it in Shamayim? And I started analyzing my actions. He says, I was so nervous. I didn't know what to do with myself. I was lucky that only my eye blew up. You know how nervous I was? What they're going to do to me in Shamayim for those few moments that I wasted? He says, this time I knew to do Cheshbon Nefesh, I'm just simply going to die. So I just do Cheshbon Nefesh before I did Teshuva. Everything was okay before the surgery. That was Rabbeinu Lopian. This very same Rabbeinu Lopian,

1:00:10saw Eliyahu HaNavi a few times in his life. How do you get to such a thing? He said that when he was a child, he sacrificed his life for the sake of Torah. How does a 10-year-old boy sacrifice his life for the sake of Torah? Now, today, if a 10-year-old boy says, "Listen, Rabbi, I watch every shiur that you make." He said, really, all nine hours of shiurim every week? No, no, all the clips, the five-minute clips, I watch those every week. Okay, that's a big sacrifice, Rabbi. Instead of video games, I'm watching the shiurim. I said, you're right. For a 10-year-old, you're watching all the clips. It is a sacrifice in this generation. What happened to the generation of Rav Eliezer Papo? At 10 years old, his family decided to flee Poland because of all the persecution that was happening there. Where were they going to go? America, the United States. That's it, they were prepared; they were going to the US. Word came that the Jewish community in the United States was going down the tubes. People were going off the derech; people were violating Shabbat specifically because the goyim were not accepting or tolerating a Jew keeping Shabbat. So every week, you'd get fired unless you violated Shabbat.

1:01:32a very, very big test, and many were simply failing it and violating Shabbat. Before you know it, they became accustomed to violating Shabbat every week without a worry. When the little 10-year-old Eliyahu heard this, he made a stand and told his parents, "Under no condition am I leaving my yeshiva here in the persecuted land of Poland and going to the United States. I'm not going." His parents said, "But we're going." He said, "I'm not going." They said, "But you realize you're only 10 years old." "10 years old or not 10 years old, I'm going to learn Torah." "We're putting your life at risk." "I'm staying here." "There's no money to give you. We don't have any money to give you to support yourself." "I'm staying here." "What are you going to eat?" "I'll find a way." "What are you going to drink?" "I'll find a way." "Where are you going to sleep?" "I'll find a way." At 10 years old, little Eliyahu... His family left and went to the United States, and he stayed in his yeshiva by himself, every day finding another hole to sleep in, every day finding another person to feed him. Sometimes he couldn't find a person for a day, two, or three, so he simply just didn't eat. Rav Klivansky, who comes from...

1:02:58One of the great sages of his time, his own father, Rabbi Tzach Grudinsky—I'm sorry, his own Rabbi, Rabbi Avraham Grudinsky—and his father, Rabbi Tzach Grudinsky. He writes, Rabbi Klivansky writes, that what were the yeshivot like in their days? He says, we'd eat days. What does it mean to eat days? every day you'd hope that some family would sponsor you to eat. If not, you'd just find another way to pass the time and learn Torah under the conditions of not eating—like Yom Kippur throughout the whole year. Now, says the 14-year-old boys... would wait for somebody to host them for one meal of the day; the rest of the meals they were on their own. In the yeshiva gedola, the situation improved a little bit because there was actually a lunchroom in the yeshiva. The only problem was that the kids were still hungry. Why? Because there was no money for the food. They had a place to eat, but you had to find a way to pay for it. If you didn't pay for it, you simply didn't eat. So what do you do when you don't eat?

1:04:24today, you don't do it, you don't eat. What do people do? They go to sleep. "I'm hungry, I'm going to sleep," they say. If you didn't eat, what's the best solution? "Yeah, but I'm hungry." "Oh, you're really hungry? Eat some Rashi and Tosafot." but I'm still really, really hungry. Listen, if you're hungry after the Gemara with Rashi and Tosafot, the best thing to do is to add a little Hiddur in one of the sugyot. One of the main complications of Rabbi Akiva Eiger—after that, you're going to forget about food altogether. A day, two days—go for it. That was the condition, and Rav Klivansky says under these conditions... The giant they call Rabbi Avraham Grodzinski was born. This is how he became the Mashgiach in Yeshivat Knesset Yisrael in Slabodka, under the Alter of Slabodka, who was one of the Gedolei HaDor. Now, Rabbi Grodzinski

1:05:38wrote a sefer called Toras Avraham. And he writes in there, which Rav Klivansky quotes, as soon as the Russians came into Lithuania and took over, the conditions in the yeshiva became much worse. We just described what the yeshiva was like before this. There was pretty much no food. It got worse. Why? They turned the yeshiva, dafka, into a theater. And after they turned it into a theater, he writes the following. He says, "My father, Rabbi Yitzchak Grudzinski"—who was not the Chafetz Chaim—"saved Judaism in Warsaw. That's how big he was." So one of the Gedolim of the generation says, after he saw what the Russians were doing to the yeshiva, turning it into a theater, you would think, he says, no worry, it's not a shame, it's gonna be okay. What did he say? He writes this. As soon as this happened, my father said, this is measure for measure punishment from heaven. Because we at this yeshiva were acting like we were on vacation.

1:07:05vacation he didn't eat for a few days. Maybe you had a lunchroom, it's already vacation, you're already splurging. You have a lunchroom and Rav Gustman says, we always thought that because we didn't eat that often, we didn't have all these fancy meals, we thought that we were fulfilling the Torah out of poverty, only to learn from my father that in reality, we were desecrating it with lavishness. And that's why the Russians came and took it down. So, how could it be? How could it be that there are the Gedolim, the Gedolim that went through the Holocaust, before the Holocaust, after the Holocaust, communism—they think like this, and the people today are as far from it as Mars. How could it be?

1:08:19something that he witnessed himself. He spoke to the people after finding out the story itself to make sure that every single detail was true. He says he heard the story from originally from Rabbi Eliezer Moshe, Mipinsk. But he went and he spoke to the people afterward and verified that every detail was right, meaning a firsthand story. He says that there was a person by the name of Rabbi Neta, who was well-to-do, had a few dollars, also kept Torah and mitzvot. He had one daughter, whom he married off to an avrech under the condition that the avrech would learn Torah full time, and Rabbi Neta would pay for it for ten years while his daughter, Rabbi Neta's daughter, would manage the store. She'd work in a store to make... also kept Torah and mitzvot. He had one daughter, whom he married off to an avrech under the condition that the avrech would learn Torah full-time, and Rabbi Neta would pay for it for ten years, while his daughter, Rabbi Neta's daughter, would manage the store. She'd work in the store to make

1:09:47ends meet. Whatever was missing, he would give them money for 10 years so the guy could learn for 10 years straight. After 10 years, he stopped giving the money; that was the deal. The wife says to the husband, "What are we going to do now?" The husband says, listen, I can't leave this. It's learning Torah. I've got to learn. It's what I do. She says, okay, listen. Since you need to learn, 100%, I agree with you. Why don't you just help me out in the store for two hours? The rest of the day, learn. 22 hours a day you have. Do whatever you need to do. Two hours, help me in the store. That's it. He said, fine. He listened to his wife, went to the store for two hours. Before you know it, the store got busy. two hours became three hours, four hours, five hours. Within a matter of a few months, it became completely full-time to the point where he wouldn't even study one daf of Gemara, nothing. He stopped studying altogether. One day, the wife gets some water from the well, takes a drink, and goes into a shock.

1:11:14goes into shock. People see something happened; they're not sure what it is. She's not communicating, and there's a strange voice. People are saying maybe it's a dybbuk, which is, in essence, a spirit of someone that's being punished for their sins that's still running around the world. entered her because when they enter the person, their punishment is lessened because they have their haven in the person's body, but they also torture the person by taking over. People start saying there's a voice. In situations like this, you have to go to an expert. You can't just say everybody that's losing their mind has a dybbuk. Ben Lupion continues, and he says they went to Rabbi Mendel in a city called Stettin, who is an expert in this. They bring the woman there, and Rabbi Mendel says, "Listen, let's see." He looks at the woman, starts communicating, and a voice comes out. One of the signs that it's a dybbuk is that a voice comes out, but the lips don't move.

1:12:37He says, "Okay, this is a sign, but it's not 100%. I'm not convinced yet." He says to the voice, "Who are you?" And the voice says, "I am such and such." He says, "Why are you here? What are you doing?" He goes, "I'm hiding." "Who are you hiding from?" "I'm hiding from the Malachei Chabala, the angels of destruction that are following me and torturing me." So Avimendel knows exactly who these Malachei Chabala are, what their names are. He says, how many do you have? He says, five. What are their names? And he gives him the names of all five. Avimendel says, this is the book. He says, who are you? Why are you here? What happened to you? He says, I used to be an avrech. And then I decided to follow my desires, leave town, and before you know it, I made every single sin under the sun. And what happened to me was I died in an accident. I fell off a carriage. I died in an accident. And I've been tortured by these Malachei Chabala for many, many years now.

1:13:58says to him, "Why did you do it? You obviously knew some Torah; you were frum in your past." He says to him, "From the fear of death that was happening from the accident, I forgot all about it. I forgot about doing last-minute teshuva. You know, a lot of people say, 'No, listen, you could do last-minute teshuva.' What last minute? You think the Satan is going to remind you, 'Oh, by the way'? He worked on you his whole life to make sure you go to his section of Gehinom, and now he's going to tell you to do last-minute teshuva?" So Rabbi Mendel says to him, "Okay, so you didn't do teshuva and now you're being tortured. But what do you have with this woman? Why are you in her?" And then Rabbeinu Elyah Lopian says, a very loud laugh came out of the woman. Really, really long, big laugh that everybody heard. He says, "This woman's mother,

1:14:59passed away, and our husband's mother, who passed away, both of them were crying in Shamayim to Hashem to send me into her because she took her husband out of the kollel from learning Torah. They both knew that she's going to go to Gehinnom permanently for it, and there's no other way to wake her up other than this. What she did by taking her husband out of learning Torah means she's getting prosecuted for the whole thing now that he doesn't learn Torah. Everything else is off the deck; everything always falls on his wife because she started with the idea of two hours a day. Her mother came up to Shamayim and started crying, and at the same time, his mother came up to Shamayim crying. Why? Because look what happened to my son. They were both crying, and Hashem says, "Okay, you have permission to go in." Because that's the only way that's going to wake her up. When Rabbi Mendel heard this, and Rabbi Neta heard this, and the husband heard this, everybody understood there's only one thing to do. What to do? Do teshuva. They're all committed to learning Torah, doing this, doing that.

1:16:20He said that it's time for you to leave, said certain types of names, and then Rabbeinu Lapian says there was suddenly an enormous supernatural voice coming out of the woman that was heard throughout the entire city. Meaning it's not a normal voice that comes from a throat that, you know, could reach a certain distance. A supernatural voice came out of this woman saying, and suddenly, her nail on her pinky broke off, and the glass broke on the windows. That's usually what happens with these Dibukim. You see that usually they have to exit a certain part of the body, which causes some type of break or damage to the body, but they ask the dibuk usually to leave through the pinky or the toe or somewhere small because if they leave anywhere else, they would kill the person. But nonetheless, Rabbeinu Lapian, one of the Gedolei HaDor, says this is a story. I heard that when I spoke to the woman.

1:17:30And I spoke to her husband, and that's exactly what it was. So now, we actually have our answer. What's the answer, Rabotai? The answer is the difference between the people that call themselves rationalists and do whatever they want, the people that follow their desires, and the difference between the Chachamim is a relatively small difference. knew what the end looks like even while they were alive, whereas the rationalists and the people that follow their desires either don't know what the end is going to look like or simply deny its existence altogether. by simply forcing themselves to believe everything is going to be okay, even though that defies logic. Why? Because you live in a world where nothing's okay. Nothing's okay.

1:18:34Forget about Corona, just look at the world history of Am Yisrael. No other nation has suffered as much as Am Yisrael throughout all of history. We happen to have a miraculous situation unique to our nation, which is that we are the only nation Hashem does not allow to sin in perpetuity, meaning permanently. Other nations, Hashem lets them do whatever they want. The Romans, the Greeks, the Spaniards, the Turks, the Americans, the Germans, they do whatever they want. Homosexuality, bestiality, idolatry, Hashem lets it go, go, go, go. Us, on the other hand, a few years we're off the derech, boom, Holocaust. Why? Because this is actually... This is actually Chasdei Hashem, the kindness of Hashem. Why? Hashem promised Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov that He will keep us. So what does He do? He doesn't let us sin for too long to the point where He has to destroy us. The other nations, He let them sin, sin, sin. When the cup gets full, Romans are gone. There's no more Romans in the world today. Greeks are gone. They're not related to the Greeks of today.

1:19:54The Babylonians, you guys ever meet a Babylonian? Assyrians, the biggest, most powerful civilization of its time. You guys ever meet an Assyrian? An Egyptian at the time of Moshe Rabbeinu has no connection whatsoever to the Egyptians of today. Those were idolaters; today's are heretics. Two completely different nations. The Nazis of 70 years ago are now called different things. It's not the same country. are Americans? Some are different types of Europeans, but nonetheless, it's no longer the same nation. Even that was a combination of 300 barbarian nations. The point being is that Hashem allows them to sin, sin, sin until He destroys them and annihilates them from the world. The Jews, on the other hand, we sin, and then Hashem brings the Holocaust. Why? This is our preservation. The question is why do we keep wanting or asking Hashem to preserve us this way? Shouldn't there be a nicer way, like doing teshuva so He won't have to bring a Holocaust? Yes, there is that way, but we just don't do it. Why? Because we have a lot of excuses, because we want to make what's forbidden allowed. Now, I know I took a lot of time, but we'll finish with this point.

1:21:19And Seder Eliyahu Zuta is a book by Eliyahu HaNavi. Section 14, part one. Eliyahu HaNavi tells the story. One time I went from place to place, and I found a person who didn't have any knowledge of the written Torah or the Oral Torah. And he used to make fun of things, and he came to me. He said, "My son, are you going to answer your Father in Heaven when your time comes to go to Shamayim on Judgment Day?" Are you going to answer your Father in Heaven when your time comes to go to Shamayim on Judgment Day?

1:22:25says, "I have a response that I can give him, that I wasn't given knowledge and wisdom from Heaven, that I'm able to read the Torah, or the Written or the Oral Torah. Meaning, it's not my fault that I don't know Torah, because I wasn't gifted. This is my son." He says to the guy, "What's your job? What do you do for a living?" He says, "I'm a hunter. I hunt. Fish, hunt." I said to him, "Son, who taught you?" He says, "Who taught you how to fish and how to hunt and everything? Who taught you to do this?" He said to me, Who taught you how to put together the nets and how to trap the fish and bring them out of the ocean, and so on?

1:23:34Who taught you how to do all this? He says, this I was given wisdom from Heaven to do. Meaning the guy believed in God. He wasn't a heretic like he denies God or denies the Torah. He says, but this, knowing how to fish, was given to me by Shamayim. It wasn't given to me to learn Torah and all, but to be a fisherman, to be a hunter, that was given to me by Shamayim. wasn't like an atheist gay parade. That person was simply an ignorant person who didn't know anything. He says, and I said to him And Hashem gives them the response of all responses.

1:24:38says you're saying that to give you the knowledge and the wisdom to make the traps to hunt the fish and do all of these different things they gave you from Shamayim, but for the sake of Torah where it's written in the Torah itself in the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy) chapter 30, verse 14: "It is close to you; it's in your mouth; it's in your heart to fulfill it." They didn't give you from Shamayim. Meaning, there is a verse in the Torah that says the exact opposite. That, in fact, the Torah is what you were created to do. So much so that you are perfectly suited to be a talmid chacham. You are perfectly suited to learn Torah. You are perfectly suited fulfill the entire Torah. That's what you were created for. Just like a screw, its whole role in the world is to fit into a hole exactly, precisely for that screw. You, even more so, were created in such a way that you are a perfect fit for the Torah. The Torah testifies that "it's in your mouth and in your heart to do it." You are created just for this. So, you're saying that it was gifted to you from Shamayim to know how to fish?

1:25:54But the one thing that Hashem said He created you for, He didn't give it to you. He says, immediately the person started crying out loud. He says, To him, my dear son, you shouldn't feel so bad. All of the men in the world say the same exact answer you just did on exactly the same question, but yet their actions prove otherwise. actions prove otherwise. They say, "No, no, I wasn't gifted any wisdom. That's why I can't learn Torah. I don't have the patience. I can't sit down. I'm too busy. I don't have money." But yet, to go work for free to build this next dot com company, somehow he found a way.

1:27:03to go sit down in front of a computer for eight hours straight to make money, somehow he finds a way. To read 87 self-help books to start a business or learn how to be better at anything else, somehow he finds a way. But to learn Torah, he can't do it. These are your own actions; your own actions are the witnesses that you're full of it, full of it completely. He says there's a verse about these people who make up all of these, in essence, excuses. The book of Isaiah, chapter 19, verse 9, says what’s going to happen to those people? Embarrassment. What’s going to embarrass them? Their own actions are going to embarrass them. Look, you're saying you didn't have this; I give it to you. You say you didn't have this; I put it over here. You say you have this; here it is. You're saying you didn't do this, but you did it over here. Everything that I gave you to do for Me, for the Torah, for yourself, and so on, you did for other reasons. Now, in the book of Isaiah, chapter 6, we have Isaiah saying...

1:28:24that I am a man of impure lips, and I dwell among people with impure lips. Targum Yonatan says, what are these impure lips that Isaiah is referring to? Targum Yonatan says that Am Yisrael got to the point where HaKadosh Baruch Hu was disgusted by their actions. That caused their actions to simply become tamei, to become impure. What kind of actions cause Hashem to become disgusted to the point where everything they do is impure? The very next verse in chapter 6, verse 9, Isaiah says that Hashem has told him, He said, Go and say to these people, Surely you hear, but you do not comprehend. And surely you see, but you fail to know.

1:29:25This people is fattening its heart, hardening its ears, and sealing its eyes, lest it see with its eyes, hear with its ears, and understand with its heart, so that it will repent and be healed. What causes Hashem to become disgusted by us? He says to us, "Go, Isaiah, tell the people. Look at you. You're forcing yourself Not to see, even though it's right in front of you. The shiur is playing. Say, no, no, I'm busy. I got to go. I got to watch the news. I got to go somewhere else. I got to take a shower. I got to go to the gym. Yeah, but there's a shiur at 9 o'clock three times a week. You can come. Yeah, but I'm busy. I'll watch it later. Okay, so later never comes. Why? Because you're watching Ben Shapiro. Or you're watching Manis Friedman. Or you're watching football. You're watching baseball. You're watching everything except the shiur. It says you have eyes, but you refuse to see. You refuse to see. It says you're fattening your heart yourself while you have desires. All the time you have is just for desires. You always have time to play football, or play baseball, or go out for pizza, or go to the movies. There you always have time for your desires. But you'll never have time. You're hardening your ears. The rabbi said no. The sages said no. No, no, no, I don't think you understood it. I don't think you understood it.

1:30:48I don't think he understood it. Why? Why do people, Yeshayahu says here, in the name of Hashem, why do people harden their hearts, fatten it, cause themselves not to see, cause themselves not to listen? Why? He says because they're scared, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, so that they will do teshuva and be healed. why don't you want to hear the lecture of the rabbi that speaks strongly? Why don't you want to watch it live even though you live 20 minutes away? Why don't you want to watch? Why don't you want to read the book? Why don't you want to read what the sages said 80 years ago, 100 years ago, 500 years ago? Why? Why do you choose to listen to somebody that calls themselves a rationalist or something else? Why? Because you know, you know, you know, if you hear what Chafetz Chaim said, if you hear what Rav Wasserman said, if you hear what Rabbi Akiva said, if you hear what Moshe Rabbeinu said, if you actually hear what they said, not what some Joe Schmo said, you'll do teshuva.

1:31:59And you're scared of that. Why? Because if you do teshuva, you can't continue having a fat heart. You can't continue being a homosexual. You can't continue eating pig. You can't continue being intermarried and feel okay about it. You know, you have to stop. And you don't want to. For that, there's a punishment for it. You see, Rabotai HaKedoshim, no one is going to go up to Shamayim with no clue what's happening. Everyone in Shamayim is going to be shown exactly what we did. And no one's going to be surprised. The only thing we're going to have is either regret or joy. Regret, that we chose to follow our desires, or joy because we didn't. We chose to follow Hashem. Those that tell you to follow your desires and do whatever you want, and mock the sages, ask them, "Are you greater than the previous sages?" Because the Chafetz Chaim was scared. Rabbenu Yonah was scared. Rav Wasserman was scared. Rav Ovadia was scared. All of the sages that we've had in Am Yisrael's history, from the beginning until now, were scared to death. The most admirable character trait that a Jew can have is Yirat Shamayim, fear of Hashem.

1:33:21you're not scared of anything? You think everything's going to be okay? How come? Either you're a prophet and you know something nobody else knows, or you're an idiot. Either way, we can't help you. Any questions? You know, I took the whole time. You guys should have some questions by now. How can someone test the Mishnah, which says everything is important? Meaning what? Not necessarily. The Mishnah says that delve into it and delve into it because everything is in it. How can you test that everything is in it? First, you have to learn what you're looking for. then you have to learn Torah, and you'll see that this information you're looking for is in the Torah many times. If you focus on learning Torah and not necessarily looking for a treasure in it, you'll end up finding the treasures. For example, I remember when I first started learning, everything was brand new to me. Still, everything is brand new to me tonight, but nonetheless, it was even more brand new back then than it is now.

1:34:49And Hashem gifted me with different insights that I would see in different places, of things that I was already familiar with from my secular life. For example, I remember when I was reading a Midrash Me'am Loez, And I got to the section that talks about the 12 tribes, the sons of Yaakov Avinu, and how they went into wars against different people. They had superhuman powers, according to our standards. We call it superhuman powers, and I was familiar with them. Not because I had superhuman powers, but rather because I saw them on a screen. were called the X-Men and they were called all types of other men, all types of superheroes—Superman, Hulk, and Flash—all of these characters. Guess what? They're actually in the Torah. actually in the Torah. Most of them, some of the new innovations perhaps, I haven't found them, but I know many of the most popular ones are in the Torah. I can't even say it's not in there because I didn't necessarily go over the entire Torah. It's probably in there somewhere. Even people that turn into a wolf—Binyamin used to turn into a wolf.

1:35:59so on and so forth. So, I wasn't looking for X-Men in the Torah. I wasn't looking for Spider-Man. I wasn't looking for the Incredible Hulk. I was just looking to learn Torah. But Hashem knew that this is going to be good for me to learn for one reason or another, whether it's for me to teach you this today or in the other times that I've mentioned it, or whatever the case was, it was good for me to learn at that time in my life, and He let me see it. So the point is that rather than looking for specific treasures from the secular world, I recommend a person simply read as much Torah as they possibly can. the more Midrashim, more Gemara, more Poskim, more everything, as much as possible, and you'll see that the more Torah that you learn, the more diamonds you're going to find. Some of those diamonds are going to be diamonds that look familiar to you, and some of those diamonds are going to be prettier than anything you could ever imagine on your own. point being is that’s a, uh, that’s how you, uh, would find it, but it means that you have to learn a lot of Torah. And as we said in the beginning of the shiur, a person needs to know that in the beginning of their learning, they don't know what they don't know. So you have to get yourself to a point where you're learning enough, where little by little, the more you learn, the more you understand how much you don't know.

1:37:15If you still think you know, that means you don't know even more than the first guy. You're just a little more dangerous. The more you understand Torah is endless, the more you understand where you're positioned in the Torah. But the point being is that the solution, in both cases, is to learn more and more and more. Torah is literally endless. Endless. You could read 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a thousand years, and you still wouldn't even scratch the surface. And so, again, a person has millions of books, millions of sefarim, that they can read about Torah and still not even scratch the surface. But I promise you that each time you read a sefer and you study it and you... delve into it and you analyze it and you go through more material and more material and more material, you'll continue uncovering another layer of the onion, another layer of the onion, and more and more will become clear to you about not only your own existing world and your own past world, but also how you want your future world to look. And the more you do that, the more successful you'll become in discovering a whole new truth that's very different from your current life. Next question.

1:38:31So, relying on a miracle, when does it become wrong? When should you do it? Let's say you have a disease or something, how should you go about that? When does it become wrong? Relying on a miracle, it all depends on a person's emunah level, meaning, if a person has complete faith in Hashem to the extent... that they're never worried about money. They're never worried about a place to sleep. They're never worried about food to eat. They're never worried about finding a husband or a wife. They're never worried about anything. They simply are walking with Hashem, like Chanoch. Or in English, I think it's called Enoch. You know, they're walking with Hashem. They're like an angel among people. A person like that can trust in Hashem and rely on Him like Rabbi Chanina who saw miracles on a day-to-day basis. Truth be told, if there's anybody at all in the world like this, there are very, very few because everybody's got their line. Everybody, you may have some emunah, but everybody's got their threshold of how much they can handle. So a person needs to know where they stand and be realistic with themselves.

1:39:48be realistic with themselves. The second thing is a person should exert some type of effort because there is permission from the Torah and actually even an obligation from the Torah to take care of yourself. You have to take care of your body. So if you have the ability to go to a doctor because you're sick, you should go. You should go. So how do you know if you should go to a doctor or not? If you were sick and money wasn't a problem, and a doctor was available to you. If that means you would go, then you should go, even if it is a problem and money is a problem. You just have to find a way to make it happen. But if you wouldn't go, even if you had all the money in the world, and the doctor was next door to you, you still wouldn't go because you believe in Hashem 100%, then again, you're at that level of relying on miracles. I don't know if anybody like that exists. The point being is, a person should do everything they possibly can to take care of themselves in a normal way, to the best of their ability. Go to the doctor when you need to go to the doctor.

1:40:50go to the, uh, you know, the store when you need to eat; go to the house when you need to sleep. Be normal. Don't try to become Moshe Rabbeinu in six months, you know. Don't try to become Rabbi Akiva in six months or even six years. Be normal to the best of your ability and instead of putting yourself in a situation where you're depending on miracles. pray to Hashem and a miracle may happen anyway, but still act normal. Still do normal things. Don't put yourself in a situation where you're pushing too much. I'll give you an example. I think I told you guys this story at least twice, but it's a good example, a good analogy. Somebody came to Rabbi Yisrael Salanter and said, "Listen, Rabbi, after the shiur that you gave, about having bitachon in Hashem, are you telling me that if I have confidence in Hashem, if I have bitachon in Hashem, that I'm going to win the lotto?" Rabbi Yisrael Salanter said, "If you really have confidence in Hashem, then yes." The guy said, "Okay, I'm taking your word for it." So, the guy went, bought a lotto ticket, and quit his job.

1:42:08And he told his wife, "That's it, I'm going to wait for the lotto. I believe in Hashem." She said, "What about work?" "No work, I believe in Hashem. In a few weeks, we're going to have the lotto. We're going to win, I'm not worried about anything." She goes, "What about food?" He goes, "Just use whatever we have saved up." "Okay, what about after we run out of savings?" "Don't worry, I'm going to win the lotto. I believe in Hashem." "What are you going to do all day?" "I'm going to hang out over here." "And what are you going to do?" "I'm going to believe in Hashem all day." Okay, a little time passed. The wife wasn't exactly excited about her husband being at the house all day. But what are you going to do? As you would have it, a week passed, two weeks passed. What? They're out of money. You know what you're going to do now? Don't worry. The Rabbi said I'm going to win the lotto. Did he really say that? He said, if I believe in Hashem, then I'm going to win the lotto. Well, the lotto is in a few days. And we don't have any food. How are we going to survive until then? I believe in Hashem. But let me go check with the Rabbi first. So he goes to Rabbi Yisrael and he says, "Rabbi, listen, in a few days from now, there's the lotto, and I believe Hashem's going to give me the lotto. Only thing is, I don't have any money right now to eat. So what should I tell my wife?" Rabbi Yisrael said to him, "You believe in Hashem? 100%?" "100%." "He says, you know what, let's do this. What's the lotto for? How much is it for?" "A million dollars." "How about this? I'll buy the ticket from you for half a million dollars. Now, I'll give you half a million dollars now."

1:43:34That way you have money in your pocket now. You're not taking any risk. Wait another few days. You have money to eat now and everything. He says, "Rabbi, you would do that for me? 100%. You would do it?" "Yeah, yeah, sure. Deal, deal." He goes, "Okay, before we shake on it, go back to work. Go back to work and throw the ticket in the garbage." "Why, Rabbi? I believe in Hashem." He goes, "No, no. If you really believed in Hashem, you wouldn't be willing to sell a million-dollar ticket for half a million dollars." Sometimes people like to fool themselves, to make themselves think, make themselves even think, that they believe in Hashem much more than they actually do. It takes a long time. of working and perfecting the character traits of a person to reach such a high level of emunah. This means, for all intents and purposes, a person should do everything possible to follow what needs to be done. Of course, if you don't know what needs to be done, ask your Rav. Your Rav will ...will guide you the best that he possibly can, what you should do, where you should go, where you should rely on having emunah in Hashem and faith in Hashem, even if that means relying on a miracle. Or what he's going to tell you, okay, exert a certain amount of effort to make this miracle more likely. But you should know, in general, Hashem does not like to make miracles.

1:44:52he doesn't like to make miracles, and He uses them only as a last resort and if it's absolutely necessary. The reason why? Because He wants the world to work in a natural order. And that's also why even the miracles that Hashem makes, He makes them hidden. There are not many miracles that are open. Many times when He makes miracles, they're hidden. So you don't want to put yourself in a situation where you're relying on an open miracle. Sometimes you'll get it anyway because Hashem wants you to have that kind of miracle for a different reason. But generally speaking, you should do whatever you need to do. Basically, whether it's to work to make a living, study to learn Torah, get advice, you know, do whatever you can to find a shadchan or shadchanit that's going to help you find a wife and do all the things that normal people do. And But also use the guidance of a Talmid Chacham that follows the Torah and follows the sages. He's going to tell you where to do this, where to do that. You know, don't look for parnasah from the shadchan. Shidduch from the shadchan. Don't look for food at the doctor's store. A doctor's store is for medical needs. Obviously, sometimes you need to tell people things a little more precisely. But the point being is that you need to have guidance on when to rely on a miracle and when not. Now,

1:46:13Sometimes, to finalize this point, sometimes you have nothing else to rely on. Meaning, the normal effort is no longer possible or no longer valid. Where, let's say someone, a doctor tells him, you're not going to have any kids. You're not going to have any kids. Why are you saying we're not going to have any kids? Because I looked at your sperm cells, and guess what? They don't exist. And I looked at your wife's situation. Guess what? It doesn't exist there either. So scientifically, it's impossible for you two to have kids. No, no, I think we can have kids. We trust in Hashem. The doctor says, listen, it's more likely that I'm going to give birth right now during our meeting than you two having kids. you guys are laughing, but this actually happened one time. Rav Pinto tried having kids for many years with no success. He went to a doctor. The doctor said, "Listen, Rabbi, I'm sorry. You and your wife cannot have children. You've tried; you did whatever you did. You're not going to have kids. Just give up on it. You're not going to have any kids."

1:47:34When he said that, Rav Pinto said to him and those people there, "Listen, not only are we going to have kids, we're going to have a kid this year. I'm going to invite you to the Brit Milah." The doctor was a Jew, but secular. He says, "Rabbi, I respect you. You're a good man. But if you have a kid, if you have a kid in your life, I'm going to do complete teshuva, put a kippah on, come to your Brit Milah, everything." He says, "I'm in." Nine months later, You have an invitation to Brit Milah. Not just an invitation, but he told him, "It's Brit Milah, my son, first kid." A year later, another kid. The doctor became completely observant. Why? Now you gave Hashem a reason to perform a miracle. Why? It's going to make one Jew do teshuva, perhaps his family, his wife, his kids, and so on and so forth. The point being is that sometimes you have no hope because scientifically, logically, rationally, there is no place to go. In those cases where there is nothing to do,

1:48:34You're still forbidden from losing hope. Now, even though you can't exert any effort, there's nothing for you to do. There's no money for you to spend because you don't have any money. There's no one to call because you don't even have a phone. There's nothing for you to do. You're forbidden from losing hope. And at that moment, you rely on the miracle. Why? Because that's the position that Hashem puts you in. Once you have nothing to do anymore, at that moment, it is perfectly normal and perfectly good, and even obligatory, for you to rely on a miracle and not lose hope. Why? Because in that case, if Hashem puts you in that situation, surely He does so because there is a way out. The question is whether you deserve it and whether you believe in it. The more you believe in it, the more likely Hashem is going to perform it for you. Someone that has confidence in Hashem — kindness will surround them, the Pasuk says. What's a person that has confidence in Hashem? Not a person that has 500 million dollars in the bank and has confidence that tomorrow he's going to eat. Yeah, of course he has confidence he's going to eat; he has money in the bank. What's confidence? Confidence is when you have nothing else to be confident about. You have no hope. At that point, you're still confident in Hashem? Hashem will help you.

1:49:52Again, if you have an ability to do something about it, do the best you can while believing that Hashem will help you. This means both are done simultaneously, not one or the other. You have no hope whatsoever, meaning the way for you to help yourself is non-existent, yet you still have confidence in Hashem. This means the confidence in Hashem that He's going to help you is there regardless. but if you have an ability to help yourself, help yourself. You can do something about it, so at least you're giving Hashem a natural way to help you. A natural example of this is when Batya wanted to rescue Moshe when he was a little baby. The only problem is he was really far away. He was really far away, so what did she do? She stretched out her arm, but she knew he was 40 feet away. Our arm is what? Two feet. How long is our arm? It can't reach. But she still went like this. So what did Hashem do? Oh, you went like this. He stretched her arm all the way to get to the Teivah. Like it stretched 40 feet. Why? She showed a little effort. I'm going to do the rest.

1:51:06So you have to do a little bit of stretching. Let Hashem do the rest. But you have to do something. Do something. You have an obligation to do something. Don't just sit there. No, no, no. Hashem is going to save me. What are you doing? The boat came. You didn't come. The helicopter came. You didn't go. Nothing. No. You have to do something. Something. Stretch your arm a little bit. And that's it. But that's in essence the when, how. Hopefully, that answers the question. Next question. Okay. One, one. We're late. One thing. They're related. Huh? Cousins? Yeah, kind of. So, in that case, you should be the best healer in the world. Okay, most doctors... Question, question. Ask the question. Ask the question. Let's get to the question. We're late. Okay, no, go ahead. Do the whole talk. So why don't we combine spirituality with the secular science?

1:52:07the secular science. Meaning, you go to the doctor, but then you have a rabbi also to help you in a spiritual sense. Why am I asking you this? Because on your USB, I heard that you said there are 613 parts of the body, and each one is related to a different kind of sin. You've seen that one That part usually gets it. So actually, shouldn't it be so hard to heal in that case? Maybe it's a new idea. What is the question? Where is the question? People who are sick don't know how to heal spiritually. They don't really know what sin they're committing to heal. So is there some kind of guide? Let's say you have lung cancer. Is there some kind of guide to say, okay, you're probably doing this thing, am I right? You know, kind of break it down. Okay. Okay, so yes, there are teachings that connect each sin to different body parts. The Gaon MiVilna

1:53:35knew this like the back of his hand. One time, his students came to him and told him that the Rabbi said that the body of a person has this amount of tendons and limbs, but this guy just died, and for the sake of Torah, we investigated the body, and it was one less than what the Rabbi said. And the rabbi said, "Which part was missing?" And they told him which part was missing. So the rabbi, not knowing who the person that died was, said, "Was this person committing such and such sin?" They replied, "Yes." Was the rabbi endowed with Ruach HaKodesh? He says, no, I don't have Ruach HaKodesh; it's just that when you commit this particular sin over and over again, it destroys that body part to the point of it disappearing altogether. So he did have it; it's just that it disappeared. Now, so yes, there is such a teaching. It does exist in the Torah. There are some people in the world who do know some of it, or all of it, or parts of it, and so on.

1:54:53But the reality, and there is even one that I know that teaches it sometimes in his classes and so on, but the reality is, is that I've even asked Rabbi Ephraim a similar question to what you're asking, and the answer is, the reality is, is that for all intents and purposes, that teaching is not relevant to the overwhelming majority of the population in the world. Simply because they're committing much greater sins than the one sin that's affecting them. Meaning, the guy who has lung cancer is not just committing the sin that causes problems with the lungs. Most likely, he's also committing many other sins. whether it's not taking care of their health by smoking cigarettes and drugs and things of that nature, or he's cursing a lot, or he's eating non-kosher food, or he's violating Shabbat, or he's wasting seed, or he's doing all types of other karet sins. Meaning if you have any karet sin, any of them, which is 36 according to the Zohar, is 48.

1:56:05you're making any one of them, or you have made any one of them in your whole life, it's much, much worse than lung cancer or that which causes it. You understand? So you tell them, listen, you have a problem with your lungs, you should do teshuvah for this one particular thing. Yeah, that's going to help to a certain extent, but it's most likely not going to cure anything simply because they have a much greater bill. that they owe more than this one particular situation. So, the people that are that holy, where they literally can count the sins, and you can tell them, you can pinpoint, oh, you have a problem with your left toe? Okay, do this prayer and you're finished. That type of person, most likely, he doesn't need your help. He doesn't need your help. He can do teshuvah on his own. He can probably figure out on his own. And if he doesn't, he has access to those that can help him. But if a person thinks that they're much more righteous than what they are, then they're going to say, "Listen, can I talk to a rabbi that's going to tell me exactly why I have this specific issue?" Because they think that that's their only issue. In reality, they have much greater issues.

1:57:18unless a person is thinking about Hashem at all times, is extremely generous with their time for Torah, is extremely generous with their money for the sake of Torah, and is extremely generous with their mind for Torah—if their whole life is Torah—we have nothing to complain about because anything that happens to us is really for our own benefit. And I could tell you that I just had this conversation actually with my Rabbanit. Today, we view our suffering as, for lack of a better word, it sucks. That's how you view your suffering. That's how normal people view their suffering. It sucks. You wake up in the morning, you're in pain. It sucks to be in pain. You look at the bank account, the application's like closed, 404 error. Oh, what, the application's not working? No, you don't have any money. You don't have any money, but we felt bad for you. We wanted to put numbers on the screen, so we put 404 error. Problems like that are not fun, right? So people have problems. No money, no this. The guy is alone for a thousand years, alone. He's looking at the mirror just to talk to somebody. Loneliness sucks, right? That's how we view problems. We view problems as terrible. We don't like it. He's in pain. He's this. It's going to come a day...

1:58:44that it's all going to be finished. Some of us are optimistically believing that that's going to be after 120 years. It may. It may not. It may come earlier than that. But at some point, it's going to be over. And each one of us is going to eventually go up to Shamayim, Beit Din, and they will tell us, okay, you're finished. You finished your job. You're done. Now, that whole life that you had, however much it was, 20, 30, 50, 70, 100 years of suffering, of "it sucks" type of suffering, all of a sudden it's going to be insignificant. All of a sudden it's going to be as if it never happened. Well, it's over, first of all, and second of all, you are now at a place that's permanent. What is permanent? Forever. So if you calculate, let's say for example, if you are 40 years old, and you had one tough year in your life,

1:59:46One year out of 40 years. It's not fun, but it's not the worst thing in the world. It's like, okay, one year is like, you know, okay. Four years out of 40 years, 10% of your life, still relatively minuscule. Four years bad, you know, 36 pretty good. It's not so bad. I mean, it's after all, it's not bad. Now, what if you take not four years out of 40, but rather four years out of 100? Only four bad years out of a hundred. All of a sudden, it's even less significant because now it's no longer 10%, it's 4%. But what about four years out of a million? All of a sudden, the four years, as if they never existed. And guess what? A million is not even a down payment. Not even a down payment of heaven. Not even a down payment of Gehinnom. The good or the bad. Four years is nothing. A million is nothing. Why? Because it's a place of permanence, forever, eternity. Infinity plus one.

2:00:58Understand, so when a person really starts thinking about that, it's like, oh wow. Now, why should we? That doesn't necessarily help the fact that it still sucks while it's going on, right? Like we're thinking, okay, eventually it's going to be fine, I'm going to forget about it, thank you very much. Yeah, but it still sucks right now. So how does the Torah help us with that mindset? One day we're going to be at the Beit Din shel Ma'alah and say, are you finished? you do? Let's see, we'll show you what you did. Oh, you woke up early, you prayed. Oh, high five. Okay, all right, what else you got? You put tefillin on? Oh, high five. What did you do? You learned some Torah? High five, high five. I keep giving you high fives. High five. You learned Torah, you did mitzvot. Before you ate, you made a bracha. After you ate, you made a bracha. You said hello to people. You're like, uh, all the tzaddikim worked, uh, worked, worked on yourself. Worked on it for two years. Two years you worked on saying hello to people. With a smile. Two years he worked on himself to teach himself how to say hello to people with a smile. So much so that even when he was in the ghetto during the Holocaust, he was still greeting people with a smile. In the ghetto. During the Holocaust. You became a tzaddik. You learned all day. High five. High five. High five. High five. High five. Hold on a second. Oh, hold on a second. Over there you forgot to pray. Hold on a second. Over there you...

2:02:29no, no, come on, over there you did this, over there, oh, here and there you fumbled a little bit, right? But guess what? Because Hashem says, "I love you so much, you know what I did for you? See that curse word? That's 10 years in Gehinnom. You see that thing you were thinking about? That's 50 years. You see that thing you were doing over there? That's a hundred years. See all that stuff? You were supposed to get a big bill." Okay, the bill was a big number to the power of a big number, but because I love you and you did so many good things, you learned Torah, you didn't before, you raised good kids, they went to yeshiva, they built a yeshiva, and all these wonderful things. Because of that, guess what? Your bill is zero. Why? Because you paid for it with your suffering in the world. Remember, you woke up, you did tefillin, but you only did tefillin even though you were in pain. Remember, you were honest with people in business, you were honest with people in business even though you barely had any money and you had all the reasons in the world and all the excuses in the world to cheat. And so on and so forth. I gave you the suffering in the world that you were complaining about, but that was only to pay for the sins that you were making unintentionally, sometimes unintentionally.

2:03:51And you paid for it. So now when you see that all of this, this "sucks" type of suffering is, thank you, Hashem, for making me suffer. Look what I'm paying for. Look what I'm paying for. All of a sudden, it doesn't "suck." All of a sudden, you understand that yes, once in a while you're going to mess up. Once in a while, you're going to screw up. Even though you're trying to do good, you're going to mess up, you're going to screw up. So you have to make a choice. to make a choice: where do you want to pay the bill? In so many words, you have to choose your medicine. You have to choose your medicine. It's either going to be in this world or it's going to be in Olam HaBa. Also, you have to choose your medicine for the suffering too. Even the suffering itself comes with your own choice. You can choose your suffering with headaches, stomach aches, financial aches, loneliness aches, too many people aches, all types of problems aches, or Torah aches.

2:04:57mitzvot, your suffering is also your choice, meaning either way you have to pay a bill. But even which card you use is up to you. You could use the credit card that says "Torah.com," or you could use the credit card that says money, this, that, the other thing. Either way, there has to be a price because there are sins that you have to pay for. so Hashem that sees a person doing teshuvah, doing everything they possibly can, will at some point or another bring that person suffering in order to make this limited life worthwhile. So you go to eternal life and you don't have any problems over there because the problems over there are much, much more significant than anything over here because that's a permanent world. But at the same time, even the suffering that one gets here is up to him. As the Mishnah in Avot says, someone who takes upon themselves the burden of Torah, Hashem will take away from him the burden of malchut, of the world.

2:05:58more Torah you learn, the more difficult it is. Why? Because now, instead of learning 15 minutes a day, it's two hours. Instead of two hours, it's four hours. Instead of four hours, it's eight hours. Instead of eight hours, it's 15 hours. You're learning non-stop. At the same token, it's difficult to learn, not only because you're sitting on the chair or listening, and it's not just that money is an issue. All types of issues come along with just learning Torah. It's not just smooth sailing. The more you dedicate to the Torah, the more difficult it is. But guess what? That difficulty is instead of a different difficulty. Either way, there's going to be difficulty because that's the price you're paying to do it here rather than in a place that's permanent. Because if you do it here, it's suffering for a few minutes or even a few years. Over there, it can be a lot longer. So that's again, Hashem sometimes will bring suffering to a person because He loves them. Because He loves them. But sometimes He'll bring suffering to a person during their life in order to rebuke them. And sometimes He'll bring suffering to a person's life in order to punish them. But even the punishment that a person gets here is inconsequential in comparison to the punishment that's outside of this world. Either way, a person has a real explanation and a way of how to use their suffering for the good, but only if they allow themselves to learn Torah and taste some sweetness of Torah. Without the sweetness of Torah, a person who is suffering is simply a miserable, hopeless person that puts themselves in a situation where they think they are a victim.

2:07:11punishment that's outside of this world. Either way, a person has a real explanation and a way of how to use their suffering for the good, but only if they allow themselves to learn Torah and taste some sweetness of Torah. Without the sweetness of Torah, a person who is suffering is simply a miserable, hopeless person that puts themselves in a situation where they think they are a victim. That's why people get to the point of suicide and depression and so on. It's because they don't really have any value for their suffering. They don't have any, you know, they say, "Listen, I believe in God, but I don't know why I'm suffering. So I'm depressed." A person can say they believe in God, but if they don't believe in all of the other details that come along with it, they don't even know why they're suffering. So they start turning themselves into a victim and God into a bully. This is the reason why many people don't understand the Holocaust, the question of the Holocaust. Why would God bring a Holocaust? If you understand everything I just said, you'll understand that the Holocaust was for the sake of saving Am Yisrael, not destroying it. If you don't understand everything that I just said, then you could easily become a heretic as a result of the Holocaust, or anything else bad that happened to you in your life.

2:08:34So that's why it's important to know that there is a Judge, there is a reward, there is a punishment, and there is a reason behind both the good and the suffering that a person endures in their life. Next question, we're almost done. Maybe one more question. Anyway, I didn't ask a question. Go ahead, Yannick. Totally off subject, but was the Satan No, well, the Christians like to say that Satan went to war with Hashem and did not want to listen to Him, and thereby went to entice Adam and Chava. That's a Christian thought because they believe that Satan is independent from Hashem. Meaning he has a power of his own that is against Hashem and, in essence, he's fighting Hashem. This is complete nonsense. No one is fighting Hashem. None of the angels are fighting Hashem. Why? Because they are His servants.

2:09:47If any angel does anything against Hashem, they get instantly destroyed. It's not like us, where we do things against Hashem, but Hashem gives us more time. So, there is no angel that's fighting against Hashem. Does this angel... things that Hashem doesn't necessarily want to happen, meaning that it's not the desire of Hashem for it to happen, sure, but that's his job—that's the job that Hashem gave him, meaning Hashem doesn't want you to sin and the Satan entices you to sin, so he doesn't really want you to sin, but yet He allows the Satan to entice you to sin because He "pays" the Satan, if you will, to entice you to sin. He is the resistance because if it wasn't for the Satan, you wouldn't have any desire to sin. If you don't have any desire to sin, there's no point to the whole world because everybody would be righteous. So, that's not the holy. So, Hashem created the Satan. in order to entice us, in order to entice Adam and Eve, in order to entice us as a way to either reward or punish us, in order to give this whole world a point. If Adam and Eve wouldn't have sinned, then there wouldn't be death in the world; the world would be perfect permanently and, in essence, a purposeless world.

2:11:09be a purposeless world. The fact that they did sin made the purpose begin at that point. Now, does that mean that if Adam wouldn't have sinned, then the world would stay perfect forever? No, because somebody else could have sinned. Satan would have enticed them, and the purpose would have just simply started later on. So, it's not necessary; we can't just blame them for everything. Okay, it started with them, but that's not necessarily the only thing. Like if it wouldn't have started with them, it could have started with Seth. It could have started with Cain. It could have started with Steve. It could have started with someone else. Okay, so the point being is that Hashem sent the Satan, gave the Satan a job in the world. in order to be the resistance, like the weights. You go to a gym, you lift weights. Why do you lift weights? Because you want to break your muscles down in order for them to grow. The more weight you lift, the more you're breaking the muscles. And if it's under control, you can develop bigger muscles and bigger muscles. The more resistance, the more exercises, and so on and so forth, the more you develop. The Satan works the same way. On a lower level person, a person that's simply a young person, he gives them a Satan level one or two.

2:12:21A person that is spiritually higher, meaning he's more righteous, doesn't have a smaller Satan. Rather, he has a bigger Satan. Meaning, Rabbi Ovadia's yetzer hara, his evil inclination, was much greater than all of ours put together. We think the opposite; we think that the more righteous a person is, the less evil inclination they have. No, it's the opposite. why? Because he can lift more, therefore, the resistance is more. Just like if a guy is a bodybuilder, he's not going to exercise with one-pound weights. Why? Because it won't affect him. For him to really develop his muscles, he has to lift a lot more. Same concept with someone that's more righteous. But needless to say, whether it's for the really ultra-righteous people or the average Joe like us... Satan exists as a resistance, as something that's going to put pressure on you in order to justify either a reward or a punishment. If you overcome the resistance and you do the right thing, then you deserve a reward for it because you overcame something. If you fail, then you deserve a punishment. Hence, the reason why you're in this world, hence why there is a choice that you have to make. But the Satan itself is not given a free ride to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, without a price for himself. Now the Baal Shem Tov says...

2:13:25then you deserve a reward for it because you overcame something. If you fail, then you deserve a punishment. Hence, the reason why you're in this world, hence why there is a choice that you have to make. But the Satan himself is not given a free ride to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, without a price for himself. Now, the Baal Shem Tov says, there is a Gemara that says that the Satan, after Mashiach comes, will be slaughtered by Hashem, meaning in essence the Satan will be removed from his role, and his ability to do evil and so on will be destroyed, and he'll be punished, if you will. So the question is, why would he be punished if he's doing his job? he's doing his job, so why is he punished? Right, we just said for the last five minutes, he's doing his job, so why is there a teaching that says he's going to be punished, he's going to be slaughtered when Mashiach comes? The answer, the Baal Shem Tov says, is that the Gemara says that just like on Shabbat and Pesach, it's considered Yom Tov and you're not allowed to paint and you're not allowed to slaughter.

2:14:40So, why are you not allowed to slaughter? Why are you not allowed to slaughter? Say, you're not allowed to kill. Yeah, but why else? It says because you're painting. When you slaughter an animal, there's blood everywhere. It's like painting. The Baal Shem Tov says, from there we learn this answer about the Satan. That's how the Tzaddikim learn things from things that we don't even think are related. He said, look, Satan, what does he do? He entices you to sin. Right? He entices you to sin. How does he entice you to sin? painting the sin like a mitzvah. He doesn't just say, "Listen, eat pig." No, you're not going to eat it if you have, you know, half of a fear of Hashem. You're not going to eat pig. You're not going to eat, let's say, what are you going to say? And say something like, "Look, you're allowed to go to this nightclub." Oh, no, Rabbi said, no, no. No, fine shidduch. Oh, okay. Fine shidduch. Fine shidduch. Fine shidduch. Fine shidduch. Mitzvah. That's what Satan does. Satan paints the sin. He paints the sin like a mitzvah. And for that, I'll get punished.

2:15:52Painting it like a mitzvah. That's what the Baal Shem Tov says. So, the point being is that, again, this part, this part, is something that he does, let's say, above and beyond his role in the world. Just like Pharaoh punished Am Yisrael above and beyond his role. But that's, again, not independent of Hashem to the extent where it's like he is at war with Hashem. It's not like a war with Hashem, as in Christian thought. It's a manifestation of certain things that he does, but it's not independent of Hashem. It's not a separate power from Hashem. It's not like he can do something that is against Hashem. None of that stuff exists. He is there to do his job, but he's not a complete robot. not a complete robot to the point where he just does when you press go, he goes; when you press off, it's off. He has some independence within that role. It's like, what I would compare it to is a weak analogy perhaps, but nonetheless an analogy: artificial intelligence (AI). That's what it's really like.

2:16:59It's like, it is a technology that's technically run by men, but it develops over time to have some level of independence. This is something like it. Something like it. At least that's the way I can think of now. Next question. Anybody else? Ken. You have a question? I was just curious, then who the heck is Satan's wife? Ah, okay. That's Satan's wife. So Satan's wife is much more dangerous. much more dangerous. One of the Chachamim, I forget the name now, I just heard it the other day for the third time, I still don't remember. One of the Chachamim said that in one of his, how do I explain this? One of his wars in the mystical world, Don't ask me to explain that part. One of his wars in the mystical world, when he faced the Satan, he was able to defeat him instantly. He had no problem defeating him, but when it came to his wife, he almost couldn't handle it. This illustrates to us, mere mortals, that she is stronger than him to the extent that the Satan himself is submissive to her.

2:18:26he is submissive to her. In fact, Hashem instilled power in the woman that really the whole world is submissive to them. Women have a certain power within them that they can get certain things done in the world that men cannot. In fact, they could subdue almost any man. It's not a coincidence. It's rather a power that Hashem instilled into the world. And the same even in the spiritual. Whatever happens here happens over there. So even the Satan, according to some of the sages' teachings and more of the mystical aspects of the Torah, Satan is submissive to her. Who is she originally? One of the teachings says that she was the original Chava. She was the original wife of Adam HaRishon. She was the first wife that he had. She did not want to be with him. She left him to go with the Satan. And Hashem gave Adam HaRishon Chava, whom we know, who is not his first wife. Not his first wife.

2:19:42Again, this goes into higher education type of teachings, but the point being is that she's submissive to him. He is submissive to her. One of the reasons is because she breeds. She breeds the soldiers from the sins. Every time a man sins, that sin, that seed goes into her. goes into her and that breeds all types of soldiers. There are different names for them too, that come into the world and, in essence, serve her, him, and so on. So she is the queen bee, if you will, that 500 bees serve. Only in this case, it's much larger numbers. And everyone's scared of her because, again, everyone's willing to die for her, everyone's willing to fight for her, and so on and so forth, including the king himself, which is the Satan.

2:20:48So she's much more powerful. But that's also why she is so powerful that the only name that I know that she has, you're not allowed to say. Whereas he has a name that you're not allowed to say. that starts with the 'S', but he has other names that are descriptions of him or aspects of him that you're allowed to say, like Satan, or Yetzer Hara, or Malach HaMavet. Those are his names, but they're not really the name that you're allowed to say. There is a name that he has that you shouldn't say, but with her, it's not that you shouldn't say. You're not allowed to say. Why? It's dangerous. It's dangerous. Point being is that this is... Hi. Hi, stuff. I don't really know what I'm talking about here. Don't think that I know. This is what I know, everything I just taught you. But again, I think that a lot of the mystical teachings are very, very interesting, and they actually fill in the gaps.

2:22:01a lot of other teachings, but a person needs to also not focus on them too much simply because, number one, it takes your time, and number two, it could take you to Never Never Land and get you to a point where you're living in that Never Never Land and forgetting the basics. I have a few people that I know who are addicted to this stuff, and they don't even know how to keep Shabbat. So that's the thing. So yeah, it's extremely interesting. Your question is fantastic. Continue asking those types of questions. But again, beyond this stuff, don't go onto YouTube and start looking up this stuff and thinking, "Oh, I want to hear a whole shiur about Satan's wife." Or like some people who want to hear about specific unique creatures within the Tanach and the whole shiur just about it. reason why I say this is, number one, it won't help you in your life; number two, most of the teachings available about it on the internet are coming from non-valid sources, Christians, idol worshipers, and the like; and three, come on now, focus on what you have to do, focus on how you have to do it, focus on the things you need to do, and you know, and you know, it's

2:23:18It's interesting, but keep it under control. That's my recommendation. You don't want to listen? You want to go learn about reptilian people and an animal that was half-man, half-human, and that was connected to the ground? You want to go learn about that stuff, go enjoy. But it's not going to help you in your life. I know about it because it came through the studies in Midrashim and so on. But I promise you, I never watched an entire shiur about reptilian people or mystical creatures. You know, five minutes, ten minutes, here and there. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal. But when you start having an obsession with it, and I see some people have an obsession with the Nephilim. The giants of the Torah. And they get to a point where they're willing to watch anything that anyone ever said about it, even if the source is not valid. So what ends up happening is that their whole brain is full of junk. Some of it is true, so it sounds like they know what they're talking about. Some of it is completely idolatrous or heretical. Some of it is just a complete fabrication that somebody made. So...

2:24:26The whole world is just stupid. It's just stupid. So, you know, again, you have to contain. Containing a little bit of different things is not a problem, but, you know, a lot of stuff that's not useful in your day-to-day life is not healthy. Not healthy for your neshamah. Last question. We're finished for the night. Any other questions? I wanted to add something. I was recently reading the Torah and I realized that Cain and Abel did not look like... Okay. Okay. After Satan's wife left him, yeah.

2:25:26Why did the new wives still have to carry babies? No, the sin was made with the new wife, just like the eating from the Tree of Knowledge was made by the new wife. Satan's wife committed a different sin; she committed adultery, a completely different sin. She left Adam and went to Satan. Chava, the Chava that we know, made the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, just as it's written in the Torah. Additionally, the body of Adam HaRishon changed exponentially. From the time that he sinned until after he sent himself, initially Adam HaRishon, the Midrash Rabbah says he was, according to our standards, an enormous giant. Physically, not just a giant in wisdom, and really the only human being that was created by the hands of Hashem directly, not indirectly like it is now with no partners. You know, here, you know, Adam HaRishon...

2:26:28was enormous, had vision of the organs, which means he was able to see the hidden light that allowed him to see from one end of the world to the other end of the world, essence of every creation. His skin was shiny like diamonds. He was the most beautiful creation; so much so that the angels thought he was God in human form and they wanted to worship him. They started saying "Holy, holy, holy," and they were going to bow to him because they thought he was God. But that's when Hashem put him to sleep, and then they realized, oh, it's not God. That's how beautiful he was, and magnificent he was, and so on. The Gemara says that one of the Chachamim went into the Cave of Machpelah, which is where Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and also Adam HaRishon, are buried, and some of the matriarchs are buried. And Adam HaRishon is still there, but not like we think. like we think is like a hole somewhere and you could, you know, see something, and there's another hole somewhere, and there's the body of Avraham. That's what we think; it's not how it is. What you see when you go to Me'arat HaMachpelah, if you're allowed to go there and the Arabs don't kill you, you know, it's like you see some gravesite and walls and pretty much it. But there is a part you don't see; there's a part you can't go in; no one can go in.

2:27:51That part is where the sages have gone into in the past, and one of them says that he saw Adam and he saw his feet, meaning Adam was not buried on the ground like we would think. He said that the back of his foot, his heel, was shinier than the sun, shinier than the sun, and he gave different descriptions of how he looks. Things that are beyond comprehension. The point being is that even in his afterlife, Same thing with Avraham Avinu and others. Even in their afterlife, they look very different than us. But Adam HaRishon, even what he looked like at the end, was minuscule in comparison to what he started as. What he started as is, let's say, if you would have to compare it, let's say, from 1 out of 10, he was a 10—perfect. What he finished at was, let's say, a 3.

2:28:55Okay? Needless to say, we're less than zero. But that's really what it was. He was really, really high. He was extraordinary. He was big, and so on. He still ended up becoming, in comparison to us, still a giant, still beautiful, still amazing, but in comparison, nothing to what he used to be. To give you another analogy is a... Chava was beautiful, as it's mentioned in the Torah, and Sarah Imeinu (Sarah, our matriarch) was known as a very beautiful woman. To such an extent that they say that the most beautiful woman in any generation after, the most beautiful woman—just whatever you want to imagine as the most beautiful—the women, guys don't imagine anything, it's not for you. Women, imagine the most beautiful woman you can possibly imagine in your head. Okay, whatever beautiful is in your head, multiply that by a hundred. ... and that woman looks like a monkey with hair on his face next to Sarah. Like, imagine a monkey; technically, it looks a little bit like a human being. That's what a monkey looks like; it looks like a human being. And by the way, as a side note, that's because it used to be a human being, which we'll explain in a second. I'll tell you how. You know, the scientists have it opposite. They think that the monkeys became human beings. No, it's the opposite. The human being became a monkey. But that was in the Tower of Babel at the end of this week's parashah.

2:30:17... but anyway, I'll explain in a second. No, I won't leave you guys hanging. But anyway, the monkey kind of looks like a human being. It looks like it, but it's an ugly version. It has hair on its face, lips like this, eyes like this, acts weird, always runs around naked. It's weird, but still, nonetheless, it could be cute with a banana or whatever. That, that looks like the most beautiful woman in the world, in history, in comparison to Sarah Imeinu. That's how beautiful she was. And I'm not talking about how beautiful she was when she was 20 years old, but when she was 100. 100 years old. That's how beautiful she was. So, the people have changed their looks and features and so on. For example, the Gemara, I think, says that Moshe Rabbeinu was 20 amot tall. He was, uh, not seven feet, seven meters, 21 feet tall.

2:31:2421 feet tall. Some say it's around 15. Needless to say, it's very, very tall in comparison to us. To us, it's like a giant. But in his day, he wasn't a giant. Why? Because all of the Levi tribe were that tall, and they had to be that tall in order to carry the Aron HaKodesh. if they weren't that tall, they wouldn't be able to carry the Aron HaKodesh without it touching the floor. They had to be that tall. So again, to us, we're thinking, "What, 20 feet? That's too big! That's a giant!" It's not a giant; it's a giant to you because you're short, and I'm short. But that doesn't mean that it's always been this way. You say, "Oh, how come you can't find bones?" First of all, who says we can't find them? And second of all, there are a lot of things we can't find. Somebody died a week ago, and some serial killer killed them. They're not going to find them for 100 years. Does that mean it didn't happen? a lot of things you can't find. Just because you can't find something doesn't mean it didn't exist. But the point is, there are certain parts of creation that have changed drastically. Certain animals that used to exist even a few years ago don't exist today. Certainly, there are certain animals that existed in the past, like the tachash.

2:32:31the shamir worm or, uh, some animal, like I said before, that's connected to the ground with its umbilical cord—that was a very dangerous animal. All types of unique creatures that, uh, even the phoenix bird—the bird that, uh, gets destroyed and then re—that's also real. It gets reborn every thousand years. It's a blessing that it got from Noach. There are a lot of mystical creatures that exist that you perhaps read about in some comic book or some movie, but actually, some of them are real. Some of them are real. A lot of wonderful things. All of this is in the Torah. By the way, many of the people who come up with these comic books are former talmidei yeshiva who went off the derech. They pretend like they have a good imagination, but they don't tell you they found these ideas in the Gemara somewhere or in some Midrash. But anyway, these things exist. Now, to go back to what I was saying before regarding, what was it? Monkeys. Okay. So at the end of this week's parasha, Parashat Noach... The flood wasn't enough to teach us a lesson. So about 350 years after the flood, after Hashem destroyed the entire world, the world repopulated from the sons of Noach, the grandsons, and so on and so forth. And the world got rebuilt. And eventually, at the end of that week's parasha, it gets to a certain generation where they wanted to declare, or they did declare, a war against God.

2:33:57And they thought that God only brings a flood every 1,600 years. because they did the calculation, rationalized, they rationalized, Slifkin rationalized, Asher Meza rationalized, Dennis Prager rationalized, all the rationalists, the rationalists were already around 4,000 years ago. The rationalists all came together and said, listen, since God brought a flood, you know, a few hundred years ago, surely, and the world was existing 1,600 years or so, surely He probably brings a flood every 1,600 years. So what we're gonna do, we're gonna bring a tower get us all the way up there so next time, a bunch of years from now, He brings a flood, already fam They rationalized. Hashem says, "Oh, rationalists, let me do something with you." So what did He do with them after they built a tower and everything else? A few things. He punished them in several different ways. One way is He punished them to destroy their unity by causing them to all speak suddenly different languages. That's when the 70 languages were created. Until that time, meaning for the first almost 2,000 years of the world, everyone spoke Lashon HaKodesh. There was only one language in the world.

2:35:07Only at the time of the Tower of Bavel were the other languages created. But that was actually a form of punishment. That's when all the languages were created. So, in essence, if you speak English or you speak Spanish, it's a punishment. It's not good. But anyway, it's actually a result of it. It's good and it's bad. So the key is that it happened at the Tower of Babel. That was the first part of the punishment. The other part of the punishment is that He killed some of them, but also the most interesting one to you and to me is that He turned some of them into monkeys and elephants. Monkeys and elephants. Now, so you don't think that this is some uncommon mystical midrash that only some people believe. This belief that I'm telling you, that they turned into monkeys and elephants, is part of the foundation of Judaism for all Jews. The Ashkenazim, the Sephardim, the Litvaks, everybody. Why? We have a special bracha. We have a special blessing that we say when we see elephants and monkeys. But only elephants and monkeys. Not eagles, not lions, not anything else. What is that? Blessed is Hashem who changes the creation. Why changes the creation? They used to be humans. Used to be humans. That's the blessing for monkeys and elephants.

2:36:28Okay, so again, the rationalist surely said, "No, hey, go rationalize yourself. You're in a Tower of Babel. You're the monkey. What are we even dealing with?" That's why you're upset, because you're the monkey. We're talking about your grandfather. But the reality is that anyone that says, "I believe we came from monkeys," could be right. He could still be a monkey now. He just doesn't look like one, but he could be a monkey still now. But needless to say, you shouldn't stay a monkey. Become a human. Elevate yourself to become a human, hopefully righteous. amen, we've completed another year. B'ezrat Hashem, Rabbi Ephraim and I are very proud to announce some major milestones that we've achieved, B'ezrat Hashem, and with your help, our dear partners. Over 60 million minutes of our Torah has been watched over the last year—that's a million hours of Torah to help people do teshuva and get closer to Hashem. Over 300,000 CDs have been distributed around the world for free. We've also made over a thousand lectures between the two of us, as well as with Rav Chaim being added to the roster.

2:37:35Over 60,000 regular viewers are watching our Torah right now across the board. Over 200,000 answers regarding halacha, family, shalom bayit, and different topics are being given to people on a regular basis. Over 10,000 people have been helped, whether it's through food or different financial issues. 1,000 families of Torah scholars are being helped by Igud Be'ezrat Hashem. We've published and distributed over 5,000 halachic books, kuntresim, newsletters, mussar books around the world. We are also currently helping over 130 families complete their conversion to Orthodox Judaism. Our TV channel continues to grow, our YouTube channel, our Facebook pages, our WhatsApp pages, everything continues to grow, Baruch Hashem. Thanks to Hashem, and thanks to our dear partners. Be'ezrat Hashem, much more next year.

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