Who Goes To Gehinom?

0:10Someone asked me a serious question. Is it true that most people go to Gehinnom? Is it true? Now, the question is a flawed question. Why? If you answer it simply yes or no, it could destroy a person one way or the other. And the reason why, if you answer no, not everybody goes to Gehinnom, not or most people don't go to Gehinnom. It's technically not true. Technically not true. Why? Because we all know, we see, we have eyes. Well, not exactly what you know. It's a reality. It's not, you know, it has nothing to do with my definition of anything. You look at the Torah, you look at most people. It's the reality. The Gemara says Gan Eden is 60 times the size of Earth. 60 times the size of Earth. Again, it has no size. Why does it have a size? It is because it continues to grow as more and more people go in there. It continues growing and has no end and no signs. So from here, we see just the basics that most people are wicked. Now, does that mean that you should say yes, everybody goes to Gehenom? No, I...

1:38Doesn't mean she should say yes. Why? Because Gehinnom has different levels. And to say yes is wrong. It will just scare people into pretty much giving up. Say, if everybody's going to Gehinnom, even if I keep Shabbat or don't keep Shabbat, I'm going to go to Gehinnom, might as well just violate everything, enjoy this world, and be a rasha, and that's it. That's why it's important for anyone that really wants to know the details, should watch that shiur, even though it's really scary, should watch that shiur and understand that there are different levels, different punishments, there's also different time frames. Some people are going to go there for a very short period of time. It could be a minute, an hour, a week, or whatever it is. Some people could be there forever. It depends on what the sin is. Now, the most important question to answer that question with is What do you plan on doing with your life? Are you planning on serving Hashem or not? If you're not planning on serving Hashem, if you're not planning on serving Hashem, then in reality you're probably already living Gehinnom in this world anyway, because there's no way for you to be happy. So just expect to go from your unhappiness to much, much worse. It's just gonna get worse for you.

2:48If you are really serving Hashem, then focus on serving Hashem. Why? Because if you're truly serving Hashem, if you're truly serving Hashem, you're so busy and You're so busy serving Hashem that you're purifying your neshama non-stop. Every opportunity you have a mitzvah, every opportunity you have chesed, every opportunity you have another limud, every opportunity you're doing something, you're doing something, you're doing something constantly, constantly, constantly, that you are so busy you end up falling in love with Hashem. You're so connected to Hashem. You're in love with Him. You're glued to Him. You're all about Him. You only talk about Him. You talk about nothing else. You think about Him. Everything has to do with Him. You're so busy. Your whole life is Hashem. Your whole life is Hashem. Everything from morning to night. There are no breaks. Your whole life is about Hashem, your kids, Hashem, your husband, Hashem, your wife. Everything has to do with Hashem. You see Hashem everywhere in creation: at the doctors, through the problems, through the financial issues, the good news, the bad news, the fire, the water. Everything—you see Hashem everywhere.

3:54Now, you get, in fact, you're so busy with Hashem, that even after 120, you get up to Shamayim, and they say, listen, you did fantastic, but there's some sins you didn't have enough time, or you just didn't succeed in fixing. You didn't have enough time in fixing those sins. You know that one time when you were 18 years old and you looked at that girl; you forgot about that sin. You know that one time that you wasted seed and you forgot it. You fixed the other million times, but that one time you didn't fix. And that one time you stole from the customer, you overcharged them. He actually made an extra payment. You didn't tell him, and he was a Jew. You didn't return the money that one time. And the one thing... Let's say we put all these little sins, all these sins in a box. Okay, so for all these sins, you got a week sentence in Gehinom. You are so focused on Hashem, you're so busy, in love with Hashem, you're like, oh, another way to serve Hashem, I'm going. I'm excited. Why? Now I'm gonna be perfect. Even Gehinom becomes good.

5:01Even Gehinnom becomes good. Why? Because I'm so busy serving Hashem my whole life. It's going to be Gehinnom for a week. It's going to perfect everything. It's worth it. And that's what the Baal Shem Tov was trying to say to us for the last few hundred years. Even if they would tell me in Shamayim to go to Gehinnom, the Baal Shem Tov said I'm going. Why? Because I was busy my whole life serving Him and... If you're so busy serving Him, there's nothing to worry about. Why? Because even if He says, "Listen, the last cent, the last thing for you to do to serve Him is to become perfect." To become perfect is another week's worth of work. Hard work, fiery, painful, but it's a week for eternity. Worth it. Worth it. It's worth it. But if you're not going to serve Hashem, or you're going to serve Hashem from your rationale, which means you're not serving Hashem, you're serving yourself, then... you know we're not talking to you. Why you have eternity? Gehinnom here, eternity over there, Gehinnom. Oh, it's not a person. Just, just, just yours, not for them. You understand? So that's why a person needs to know it's not just a simple yes or no. It depends on your yes or no. The question depends on your question, meaning if you're gonna serve Hashem and

6:18Yes, the answer is yes, but there's a good in the yes, and that's really what the sages in essence implied when they said that Gehinnom is a washing machine. It's a washing machine for those that serve them and their whole life to perfect that last 1%, the last 2%. Let's say you charge the iPhone to 98%. This last 2% always takes an hour. The last 2%, that last bit, but now it's a hundred percent. It's worth it. Why? Because it makes you shalem. Shalem means complete. whole life to perfect that last 1%, the last 2%. Let's say you charge the iPhone to 98%. The last 2% always takes an hour. The last 2%, that last bit, now it's a hundred percent. It's worth it. Why? Because it makes you shalem. Makes you shalem means complete. Makes you complete. One of the names for Hashem is Shalom. Shalom is one of the names for Hashem. He's complete. You worked your whole life in this world, 98%. Great. You have two missed; you've got to such a high level, you have 2% missing. It's worth it for you. Why? I worked so hard up to 98%. It's not, I have to do, I have to do it. And that's why in the Reishit Chochmah...

7:28very, very scary story, but actually very relevant to what we're saying, which is one of the primary sources about the details. He says there was one of the tzaddikim that made a single sin in his life. And Shamayim, they said, "You are a tzadik, great, amazing, but there's a sin that you made and you didn't fix it. You didn't fix this one sin, and you were judged to have three days in Gehenom, or you can go and be a gilgul. You can reincarnate, go back to the world, and live a whole new life to fix this one sin." The tzadik said, "You know how hard I worked?" Seventy years I worked day and night to serve, and you want me to go back for another 70 years? What if I sin more than one sin now? What if I don't fix it then? I know I'm reaching too much. Let me go home for three days. Let me go home for three days. Yeah, but the Ramban, 900 years ago, said that even if a person lived the suffering of Iyov, the Book of Job, you learn it, you do teshuva, and...

8:41You learn the book of Job. You learn it with Midrash. You understand what it says there? You do teshuva. Why? Any normal human being would do teshuva after that book. It's insanity. How much suffering a single human being actually went through in a single year. Ten sons died all in one day. Ten children died in one day. Went from billionaire to homeless in one day. Lost everything. Fame, fortune, everything. He got so sick in one day. The worms, instead of going into his body, started coming out of his body. you want to do Teshuva, you learn the book of Iyov. It's actually one of the places in Torah you're allowed to learn on Tisha B'Av. That's how much suffering is in the book of Iyov. Now, the Ramban said that the amount of suffering that Iyov went through, even if a person suffered like this for 70 years, it's not even an hour in Gehenom. But this tzaddik that went up to Shamayim said, "Listen, you have one sin you didn't fix. We're gonna give you three days, not one hour in Gehenom, but three days in Gehenom." He says, "I'll take the three days in Gehenom. Why? Because I don't trust myself. If I go back to the world, I might make more sins. I may end up getting more than three days in Gehenom. I'd rather go for three days in Gehenom." He said, "Okay, no problem." A few Malachei Chabala came...

10:05Angels of death came and took them, huge giants from here to the sky, each one as black as the night. Scary as can be, they take them. "Let's go for the love," they say. They start walking. He's like, "Oh, it's over here." "No, it's a few miles down the road. It's hot." "It's off. We have a while." "We're not here." "No, we have a while. It's a few miles down the road." And... As they get closer and closer, the Reishit Chochmah, I saw this, the Reishit Chochmah says, they get closer and closer, he goes, it's really hot, I can't take it, I can't breathe. He goes, we're not even close to it. We're not even close to it. Apparently, you can feel the heat from outside of it. It's not even inside. And they say, no, no, no, we're not even here yet. No, no. He goes, it's hot though. We're not even there yet. Come, come. Come. Come. Keep going, keep going. No, I can't take it. I can't take it. I can't. Please stop. What? Stop? You signed a deal. You signed a deal with the Beit Din. There's no changing it. Please. I said. He said. She starts screaming to Hashem. Hashem says, "Because he's a tzaddik. Because he's a tzaddik, I'll give you a second. I'll give you an option. Do you want to go to where you asked or do you want to go back to the world?" He says, "Hashem, I can't take it. If this is what it is, I'm not even halfway there. It's too hard. I'd rather go back to the world for another 70 years."

11:35Now, what do you think, Reishit Chochmah wrote this just to amuse you? Or is it a scary story in Hollywood? The Chachamim used the Reishit Chochmah as the foundation of their Mussar. If you look at that book that I recommended recently about anger, literally no less than 85 to 90 percent of all of the Chachamim throughout all the generations in the last four or five hundred years, four hundred years since it was written, said this is the primary book for Mussar. Sadly, it hasn't been translated to English because in the English language, they're allergic to Mussar. They're allergic; once you do Mussar, they're scared. Maybe they're gonna do Teshuvah, Chas v'shalom. literally no less than 85 to 90 percent of all of the chachamim throughout all the generations in the last four or five hundred years, four hundred years since it was written, said this is the primary book for mussar. Sadly, it hasn't been translated to English because in the English language, they're allergic to mussar. They're allergic; once you do mussar, they're scared. Maybe they're gonna do teshuva, chas v'shalom. So the point is, rabotai, the Reshit Chokhmah writes this story not for amusement, but it's real. He saw this in a dream. He saw what happened, which means that anyone who even thinks that they're okay, that they don't have to do any more teshuva, that they're okay, "I'm doing everything right, I'm doing everything right"—you should think about this story. Why? He had one sin he hadn't finished, and...

13:03One sin, everything else he completed. He had one sin he has to finish. So for all of those people that think they're okay, just know, you definitely don't have only one sin to finish. You have a lot of work to do. You have a lot of work to do. So that's the point, Abotai. The point is not necessarily just to scare us, but also to give us mussar, the scariest. We have to get busy with Avodat Hashem. Busy with Avodat Hashem. We're too busy with Avodat mammon. We're too busy working for money. We're too busy working to please our desires. We're too busy with desires. We're too busy chasing the dollar. We're too busy chasing fame, fortune, all types of nonsense, and we think, "No, no, I'm okay. Why? I donated a few hundred bucks this month. That's okay, right?" Like we can buy off God. Like we can bribe Him, like it's not His money anyway. And the reality is, how many people, mamash, are willing to die, willing to die, mamash, put their life on the line to say for sure, 100%, they're giving the right amount of tzedakah.