What’s Does God Expect if I GREW UP SECULAR?

1:12You are obligated to fulfill a mitzvah. You're obligated to get married. You're obligated to try to have a child. Whether that child is going to be a sinner or not, that's his free choice. You cannot stop someone from existing. Because you think he won't turn out so good. I'm not going to get married because I can't find the perfect wife. I'm not going to get married because of all types of odd reasons. The Torah says no. You have a mitzvah to get married. You have to try your best. If you don't find someone, you don't find someone. But if it's your own actions that are preventing you from finding someone, that's a problem. So Chizkiyahu (Hezekiah) only focused on the part of the prophecy that he was permitted to see, which was that his son was going to become an idol worshiper. and he understood his mistake. He understood that he wasn't allowed to use his prophecy to prevent certain things from happening in the world. So he told the prophet, "Please tell us I'm going to get married, and I'm so serious. If you give me your daughter, I'll marry her." He got married and had kids. His kid was Menashe.

2:30Menashe became the next king. He was a wicked, wicked person. Every single sin you could possibly imagine, he committed. Everything that Hezekiah saw, it was even worse. What didn't Hezekiah see? What would it turn out to be? Menashe committed every type of sin: rape, murder, incest, everything you could possibly imagine. The worst person on earth. But then HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, I'm going to show you who's boss. All the power that he had, all the money he had, all the things that he had, okay, Hashem is patient. He's patient, He's patient, He's patient, but eventually, you're going to get to know Hashem firsthand. So one day, his enemies caught him, and the enemies that he had were cannibals. So they put him in a nice big pot, and they started cooking him alive. He started praying to his idols. One idol didn't work, another idol didn't work, another idol didn't work, another idol didn't work. Then he says, God, Hashem, if You are real, You're going to save me from this right now. But if not, You're just like everybody else and just like all the other idols.

3:54The angels of God shut off the sky. Hashem, don't answer his prayer. This chutzpan, this terrible person, not only is he a sinner, but on top of it, he's telling you, you're just like everybody else unless you save me. What right does this guy have? Don't answer his prayers. Hashem says, I'm going to answer his prayers. I'm going to answer his prayers. Why? He's my son. Rasha, but he's my son. Hashem answered his prayers. He took that pot in which he was being cooked and made it into the first UFO in history. It started flying in the air all the way to Yerushalayim, as described in the Tanakh. He ended up doing teshuva and became a big tzaddik. The Book of Chronicles, the last book in the Tanakh, talks about Menashe's teshuva and how he became a big tzaddik, making a big kiddush Hashem.

4:55So, his Yetzer HaRa didn’t see the outcome; he saw only the first part that showed the negative aspects. Every single person can do teshuva. There is not a single person on earth who has ever lived that did not have a chance to do teshuva. Hashem is not going to send someone into the world where their ultimate purpose is to serve Him, but they don't have the capability of doing it. Now, there are some people that had more difficulty than others, but Hashem showed Himself to everyone at some point in their lives, many times. You're going to see that there are certain people that say, wait a minute, but I grew up secular. Went to a public school like me. I ate pork for lunch, you know, had all types of non-Jewish girlfriends. I did this, I did that, and I only discovered, you know, all this stuff you're saying at 40 or 50 years old. So that's not fair. Why do you mean it's not fair? You discovered it, you're still alive. What difference does it make what you did for the first 50 years? You can't use that as an excuse.

6:12Why can't you leverage each other for the next fundraising drive? There was one time, a Gabbai, a guy who works at a Beit Knesset, simple guy, and he would clean up the Beit Knesset every day. And one day, as the Beit Knesset got bigger and bigger, They decided to have a board, a board of directors, comprised of all these business people who weren't necessarily the most righteous individuals on earth, but nonetheless, they had the financial means to build and develop this Beit Knesset into a whole community center. So now they said, "Listen, all the donations that everybody is giving to the Beit Knesset, aside from us, the board, where's the money?" It's like, "Oh, it's in a bank." "No, but how do we know where it's coming from? Where are the books?" So the rabbi gives them a notebook, a little notebook with little post-it notes on it. It's a mess. Like, what is this? You guys don't have a computer? He goes, no, no, we don't have a computer. You want us to build a multi-million dollar community, and you don't even have a computer? What's the matter with you? He goes, no, I don't know. The rabbi doesn't know how to use a computer. Ah, bring him in.

7:25you first have to learn how to read. Like, oh we're sorry, Mr. Gabay, we know you've been with the Bet Knesset for 30 years, but we have to let you go. Why? We need to develop and go to the next level. We need someone who knows how to read, someone who knows how to use a computer. So thank you, but goodbye. So this poor Gabay doesn't know how to do anything else and he doesn't have much money, so he goes to the market. Gabay, listen, you have to start learning how to use a computer and start putting all the donations and everything that's going on in the community, all the money we're putting into it, on the computer. So the poor Gabay says, listen, I'm sorry, but I'm illiterate. I don't know how to read and I don't know how to write. I don't know how to do it. So forget about using a computer. I don't know what those buttons say. First, he has to learn how to read. Oh, we're sorry, Mr. Gabbai. You know, we know you've been with the Beit Knesset for 30 years, but we have to fire you. Why? Because we need to develop to go to the next level. We need someone who knows how to read, someone who knows how to use a computer. So, thank you, but goodbye. So, this poor Gabbai doesn't know how to do anything else and doesn't have that much money, so he goes to the market. What could I do? What could I do? What could I buy? You see some guy selling some tools. He says to him, "How many tools can I buy with $100?"

8:26He says you could buy these tools. Okay, I'll buy them. He buys the tools. He finds a customer and sells them for $200. He comes back to the same guy and says, listen, I have $200. How many tools can I buy with $200? He tells him this much. He goes and sells them to somebody else, making a $200 profit. And he keeps rolling and rolling and rolling. Before you know it, HaKadosh Baruch Hu brought this guy shefa (abundance). And within a couple of years, he has a shipment from China worth $10 million in goods. Now, $10 million is a lot of money, Rabotai. I know you guys are rich, but $10 million is a lot of money for some people. $10 million shows up. Now, they can't just give it to somebody. So the representative from China shows up with the container. And he says, "Sir, please sign over here to accept the container with all the tools you brought." The Gabai, former Gabai, ex-Gabai, takes an ink, puts his thumb in there, presses on the ink, and then presses on the paper, his fingerprint. The Chinese guy's like, "What is that?" He goes, "It's my signature." "Signature, that's a thumbprint, we're not the police. We need a signature, your name, write your name." He goes, "No, I'm sorry, I can't, this is my signature." He goes, "No, no, no, no, we're a respectable company from China, we need your name. Don't, someone's gonna say it's not the fingerprints, no, no, no, we need your name." "I cannot sign my name here." He goes, "Why not?" puts his thumb in there, presses on the ink, and then presses on the paper, his fingerprint. The Chinese guy's like, "What is that?" He goes, "It's my signature." "Signature? That's a thumbprint. We're not the police. We need a signature, your name, write your name." He goes, "No, I'm sorry, I can't, this is my signature." He goes, "No, no, no, no, we're a respectable company from China, we need your name. Don't, someone's gonna say it's not the fingerprints. No, no, no, we need your name." "I cannot sign my name here." He goes, "Why not?"

9:52You can't accept $10 million worth of goods, you can't sign your name. He goes, I don't know how to sign my name. I don't know how to write. So the Chinese guy says, look at that, look at that. You just got $10 million worth of product, and you don't even know how to read. Imagine how much money you would have if you knew how to read. The Gabbai says to him, no, you fool. If I knew how to read, I'd still be making $200 a week as a Gabbai in the Beit Knesset. Now, if you work your whole life as a gabbai or as an average person making two or three hundred dollars a week for 30 years, but then discover you have a way to make 10 million dollars, albeit difficult, do you say, "No, no, I'm used to $200. I'm just going to settle for $200."? Absolutely not. You're going to go for the 10 million. I'm going to go for 10 million. Yeah, but it's hard. I'm going to go for it. Yeah, but it's difficult. I'm going to go for it. Yeah, but it's this, but it's that. I know it doesn't make a difference. You give me an opportunity to make 10 million, I'm going right now, he says. So how come it's different when it comes to saving your neshama? Oh, I was going different for 30 years. I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know for 30 years. Okay, but now you know. So do what you got to do.

11:13There's no excuse. Oh, I was born this way, or I was brought up this way. There's no excuse. HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave you a chance. He showed you the truth in black and white. You know that He exists. You know that He gave the Torah. That's it. Finished. You have to fulfill the entire Torah. Anyone that tells you otherwise is a liar. I can give you proofs from the Torah if you want. But the reality is, Rabotai, no one has an excuse. No one. Once you are shown that Hashem is real, that's it. Everyone is shown at some point in their life that Hashem is a million percent real—not one percent, not a hundred percent, but a million percent. All you have to do is pay attention. That's why the Rambam writes in "Guide for the Perplexed," in the first book, chapter 36. And he says that a person who's an atheist, a heretic, who decides to go against the sages, meaning he claims he believes in God, but in his own way, that guy is much, much worse than an idol worshiper. The Rambam writes it.

12:33Why? Why is the guy that is worshiping an idol not worse than the guy that says, "I don't believe in anything. I believe we came from monkeys." Or, "I just believe in my own version of God." How come? He says, the Rambam says... The idol worshiper that was brought up as an idol worshiper has a rational reason to believe in an idol. Why does he believe that this idol connects him to God? He doesn't actually believe that the idol is God. No person actually thinks that a 15-dollar statue they bought from Chinatown is God, but they believe that this statue connects them to God. That's idol worship. He believes that, you know, so now... He has a rational reason to believe in it. Why? He was brought up this way. He thought about it; he was taught that this is what you need. You need this tool, if you will, to connect to the Almighty. That's rational. Even though it's wrong, it's rational. An atheist is not a rational thought. Why? There is no way that you've actually put thought into the creation and arrived at a conclusion that it came from nothing. No way. It's not a rational thought. What the Rambam says, you reviewed the world, arrived at whatever conclusion you have. There is some type of creator, but I don't want to give him a name, but I don't feel like serving him either. But I can't justify that. So I have to say, I don't believe in him.

13:56into the creation and arrived at a conclusion that it came from nothing? No way. It's not a rational thought. What the Rambam says is, you reviewed the world, arrived at whatever conclusion you have. There is some type of Creator, but I don't want to give Him a name, and I don't feel like serving Him either. But I can't justify that. So I have to say, I don't believe in Him. don't believe in him. So, the Rambam says that you had an opportunity to serve God, but you decided to deny His existence. You decided to deny the Torah. You're much worse than an idol worshiper because you... I have no excuse for what you did. He at least has an excuse. Don't get me wrong, they both go to Gehinnom and they stay there. But nonetheless, the punishments, the tests, and the things like that, that they get in this world and the next are slightly different because one is rational, and one is irrational. So the problem is that many times people do not spend much time delving into this. They try it once in their life for a certain amount of time and then they just simply give up.

15:09go through a phase where they try to search for God. They get confused or encounter something they don't like, and they decide, "You know what, I'm just going to enjoy my life." That's why the Rambam says the heretic is bad because he didn't search for the truth enough to really arrive at the conclusion or even give God a chance. even give God a chance. He had the chance; Hashem showed Himself to him many times. He showed him different miracles; He showed him various events in his life, but he continued ignoring the truth. He continued ignoring the truth. Whereas the other guy, the idol worshiper, actually thought he had the truth. He thought he had a Jewish thought that you have to connect with Hashem through an idol. That's a rational thought. It's wrong, but it's rational. The other guy does not have a rational thought. Which means that he was a heretic on purpose. That's really, in essence, the point. The atheist is committing a purposeful sin. Meaning he purposefully denied God and purposefully denied the Torah because it did not meet his desires.

16:16because he knew that if he follows this God and follows this book, he has to change his life. He didn't want to do it, so he chose to deny it. Hence, the reason why it's considered worse. Thank you for your interest in my classes. Feel free to call me anytime! We’ll soon begin learning the Ohr HaChaim. (not Oh HaChroot or Or Chayoot) I'm taking 20 random students, and yes, the two principals in the room are guaranteed spots.