What Happens When Your Not Happy With What HaShem Gives You?

1:32You're not happy for him. Why? Because you haven't found a shidduch yet. Or better yet, you're already married for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 years. Your wife gave birth to a couple of kids. She's not the 19-year-old you met. But your friend, your cousin, or somebody you know, he met some 20-year-old without kids. So she still looks like a 20-year-old. You're not happy for him. Why? You want her. You, my friend, are violating the Ten Commandments. A very serious problem. And the violation is not if you actually go and do something, chas v'shalom. That's already, no chelek l'olam haba. The violation is even having the desire in your head. We're going to read some chidush that I have, B'ezrat Hashem, Gemara Masechet Yoma, that the thought of a sin is worse than the sin itself. When it comes to arayot, when it comes to immorality. When it comes to sex crimes, the thought is worse than the actual action. Watching pornography is even worse than being promiscuous. Why? Here's a small explanation: If somebody is promiscuous, they still can't fulfill their desire all the time. They have to find somebody that agrees with them. But if somebody gets addicted to pornography, they can fulfill their desire 24-7, with no end. This is just one small reason why. Now, the Gemara in Masechet Sotah says something very interesting. It says, look at the Sotah.

2:59Somebody gets addicted to looking at things that are immodest, they can fulfill their desire 24/7. There is no end. That's just one small reason why. Now, the Gemara in Masechet Sotah says something very interesting. It says, look at the Sotah. sotah is a wayward woman, a woman who cheated on her husband with another man. Once she's caught in a room with another man after being told not to do it, and she still does it, and there are two witnesses that see this, they bring her to the Beit HaMikdash because they don't know if she actually cheated or not because they weren't in the middle of the action. And even if she says, "I did it," you don't believe her. If a woman comes to her husband and says, "Honey, I cheated on you," the Gemara says that you don't believe her. Why? Maybe she wants to divorce you. But if you saw her, it's a different story. However, in the days of the Beit HaMikdash, if you saw her with a man in a room after you told her not to do it, then she's already considered a wayward woman. You bring her to the Beit HaMikdash, and you let Hashem determine whether she cheated, unless she admits it.

4:28If she denies it and she really did it, she drinks the water and she blows up and dies on the spot. But if at the Beit HaMikdash, after she goes through the whole process, she finally admits it before she drinks the water, and admits she was with another man, they let her go; they don't kill her. But the Gemara says this: Tanu Rabbanan, the rabbis are discussing a Beraita. The Sotah set her eyes upon one who's not fit for her, and what she sought was not given to her, and what was in her hand they took from her. For anyone who sets his eyes upon something that's not his, what he seeks they do not give him, and what is in his hand they take away from him. The Gemara teaches us something very, very interesting. Look what we learned from the Sotah. We don't have a Sotah today; Beit HaMikdash, all that stuff. We have, unfortunately, many women that cheat. In Eretz Yisrael, they recently conducted a statistical study. They found that women now, in this generation, cheat just as much as men. Women, again, women cheat on their husbands just as much as men. Hashem Yiracheim. Now, if a husband cheats on his wife...

5:56If she agrees to take him back and he agrees to do teshuvah, then she is allowed to take him back, and they are allowed to be together. However, if the wife cheats on the husband, she is forbidden from him forever and they are not allowed to be together. So here the Gemara says, look at the sotah, she admitted she was with another man, but what happens? She wasn't happy with what she got. She wanted something else. Not only did she not end up getting what she wanted because she's not allowed to be with the guy she cheated on her husband with, but on top of it, she loses her husband too. From here, the Gemara teaches us that someone who desires more than what HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives him, not only does Hashem not give him what he desires, but He takes what he already has as well. Then you say, wait a minute, so what, you're not allowed to be ambitious? I want to be ambitious. I want more. I want more Torah. I want more mitzvot. I want more money to give more tzedakah. That's not good? It's good, no? Yes, that's a mitzvah. But there's a very, very thin line between ambition and pure desire because you're obsessed with money, obsessed with materialism, obsessed with all of the other things. It's not really that you want more money because of more mitzvot. You want more money because you want a bigger house.

7:20So you could show off to the neighborhood for having a four-story house while the rest of them are homeless. It's not that you want more money because you're going to give everybody a ride in a carpool; you want a fancy schmancy car. It's not that you want more money because you want to give tzedakah; you want your name on a building. Even if the building is a yeshiva, you want your name there too. Meaning it's not really the mitzvah that you want; it's the kavod that comes with it. Someone like that, Rabotai, puts himself in danger. Why? You want what doesn't belong to you for the wrong reasons. You are risking losing what Hashem already gave you. What is it like, as the Gemara says? Look, we have several examples. The serpent set his eyes on something that was not fit for him. What did the serpent want? The serpent wanted Chava. The serpent didn't desire another serpent. He didn't want another snake. What did he want? He wanted Chava. That's why he approached Chava, the Gemara says, to convince her to eat from the forbidden fruit. Why? He figured she would give it to her husband, Adam HaRishon. He's going to die because Hashem said he's going to die. He never said Chava is going to die.

8:40Hashem spoke to Adam HaRishon. Adam HaRishon, as we know, was married, but he never considered letting Chava go. Why? Because now Adam HaRishon is going to eat the fruit. So the serpent thought, "I can be with her now." At that time, the serpent was not like the snake we know today. He had arms and legs, and he was the most beautiful animal. He actually resembled a human being but was even more beautiful. He desired to be with the woman. Shem says you wanted what wasn't fit for you. Not only will you not get it, but you'll lose the ability to even have it ever. You'll crawl on your stomach, and you'll eat only what tastes like sand to you. Human beings will naturally hate you, especially women. He is more cursed than all of the other beasts and animals in the world. Another example, the Gemara says, we have all of the reshaim in the Torah.

9:52Same exact mistake. From the beginning of Bereishit all the way to the end of the Tanakh, every single Rasha made the same mistake. What? An addiction to more. Haman, what is Haman saying? Purim is coming up in a little while. What's going to be? What did he say, Haman? I have everything. He was even richer than the king. But it's not enough. Why? Because this Jew, Mordechai, won't bow to me. This Jumu'ah is not going to bow to me. Everything I have is worthless. So then what happened? He became nothing, dust and ashes. Cain saw that his brother Hevel was born with two twin wives, while he only had one twin wife. He wanted his brother's wives, so he killed him. Hashem punished him, and he ended up with nothing. There is no more lineage of Cain in the world.

10:54Seventh generation, you read it in this week's parashah or last week's parashah, the seventh generation. Everyone was destroyed. There's no more generation of Kayin in the world. No one is a descendant of Kayin. Why? Because he wanted more. Korach wanted to be the president. Wasn't it enough for him? He was already the richest man in the world. Even today, there's a saying among the Jewish people: "Ashir ke-Korach," meaning "rich like Korach." That's how wealthy he was. Korach had 70 camels just to carry the keys to the safes filled with gold. Imagine that—70 camels merely to transport keys! He possessed more money than the rest of Am Yisrael combined. That was enough. Why? He wants to be president. He wants to take Moshe Rabbeinu's job. What did he get? Gehenom. The ground opened up and swallowed him and all of his followers. And to this day, there's a place in the desert where you can hear the screams of Korach and all of his followers. Hashem is emet, Torah to emet, and Moshe Rabbeinu is emet. If you find it, let me know. Come. To this day, he's there.

12:07No breaks, no discounts, no end of sentence, forever. Only Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says a chidush, saying there's a chance that Korach will come out eventually when Mashiach comes. Why? After the Pasuk, Tzaddik Katamar Yifrach, Rashi Tevot Korach. that because so many people did teshuva after learning the story of Korach, that maybe that's going to give him enough merit to get him out of Gehinom when Mashiach comes. But not for sure, this is a machloket. Many chachamim say, no, Rabbi Shimon, thank you very much, but we don't agree. We're not on the level of agreeing or disagreeing. All I know is Korach is dead now. Whoever wants to follow, follow your addiction of more. Bilaam we just talked about, Doeg, Achitofel, and so on. The point is, rabotai, we see that the addiction for more is not something that began today.