Who Is Despised by HaShem?

0:10Loving Hashem is not a foundation. Loving Hashem is something you hope to get to after you have yirat Hashem. Now, in today's world, people don't like to teach this type of Torah. And the reason why is because it puts everybody in check. Everyone looks in the mirror and says, wait a minute, I got to do teshuva. Yeah, but I've been religious my whole life. Exactly. You got to do teshuva now.

1:39A critical tool for a person to use in order to get to teshuvah, in order to get to the truth, is through their rabbi. And the reason why is because a good rabbi is going to be your vessel of truth. He's going to be your source of truth. You are going to be the vessel, while he's going to be your source of truth. You're going to find out emet (truth) and absorb it from him. Why? He's the one that spent his life learning, his energy learning, identifying kosher and tameh, sifting through the falsehood and bringing you a ready-made dish. To such an extent that the Gemara in Masechet Yevamot page 109b says that whoever... decides to rely on his own knowledge. He learns on his own, learns from books. He has all these books and more books, and books and books. People like to buy books, and he has all these books even though he only learns on his phone. He says, "Listen, if I want to know something, I'll just open a book or ask Rabbi Google. What do I need a Rav for?" It's the person that relies on his own knowledge instead of consulting with a Rav and...

3:09Despised by God, no more, no less. Why? Because this is a person that has so much ego that he assumes that everything he says is going to be right. Assumes everything he's going to say is going to be right when he opens the book and reads the Gemara. He assumes that what he understood is right. When he opens the Shulchan Aruch, he opens the book and says to himself that the halacha is such and such. He thinks he understands everything like it's supposed to be said, assuming, "Okay, I could judge for myself. I know how to conduct business kashrut, I know how to conduct Shabbat kashrut, I know how to conduct marriage kashrut. If I could do everything myself, I don't need a rabbi." Hashem hates such a person. Why? Because, number one, it shows that he has bad middot. It shows that he has no humility, and humility is one of the stepping stones to becoming something special in this world. It's the ultimate stepping stone. Humility is the key to becoming a vessel to earn Torah. For Hashem to give you Torah, you have to be humble.

4:28Just like Har Sinai was the most humble mountain, Moshe Rabbeinu was the most humble man. Each of the gedolim in every generation you will see was always the most humble. Why? The more humble you are, the more Hashem wants to give you more Torah, the truth. But once you think you have it, you know it, then you could be your own Rashi, your own Tosafot, your own Rambam, your own Poseik, your own Rebbe, your own Mashgiach, your own Lecturer, your own Mechazek, everything. Already we know you failed miserably on rule number one. You have no Middot. The second thing is, is that a person like this has such a lack of Yirat Shamayim. He's so confident in his own judgment ability that he says, "Listen, I'm gonna go to the grave with this decision." Meaning that if he made a decision that's wrong and according to the Torah it's a death penalty, and he made a wrong decision, he could be making this decision for 70 years. Every week he's a mechalel Shabbat, but he thinks he's a tzaddik.

5:44Every week, he thinks he's a tzaddik, but in reality, he's a mechallel Shabbat, just like the guy that's driving. But he has such a big ego, he does not allow himself to learn. He does not allow himself to get out of his own way, and he can never be a person that's called a Baal Teshuva. He can never have the merit of being a Baal Teshuva. Why? He doesn't get out of his own way. Sometimes you see people go into shiurei Torah for 20 years, and nothing's changed. Still don't have Kisui Rosh. Still don't have Tzitzit on. Still walk around with a bathing suit. Still walk around as if Hashem is not real. Still. No, but I went to this shiur three times this week. You're better off not going. Why? It's not affecting you. It's the wrong shiur. You're the wrong person. Something's wrong. You went to shiur for 20 years. Nothing changed. Something's wrong. Chachamim said that part of that fault is the rabbi's fault. Why? How are you going to teach somebody for so many years, and he hasn't changed? How is it possible? One of the big rabbanim, one of the gedolim in Israel, was learning chavruta with one of the Anashim, one of the people who was a Chaver Knesset.

7:02in the Israeli government but was known to be a kofer, known to be a heretic. But not only a heretic, a heretic that hated religious people. Everything he did was anti-religious. He would always support the laws that made the life of the yeshiva boys miserable. He would always promote the laws that made the lives of religious people more difficult, taking away money and doing all types of things. Now, Most people thought he never learned a word of Torah. They just thought maybe he was just a self-hating Jew. Unfortunately, we have many of them, Erev Rav, the Smolanin (left-wing liberals). But then one day, Rav Ovadia, alav HaShalom, finds out he is actually learning chavruta with a big rabbi, who is the head of a yeshiva. Rav Ovadia calls the rabbi and asks him, "Aren't you learning with so-and-so?" He says, "Yeah, sure." He goes, "How long ago? Why don't you tell him that he's making the life of the yeshiva, the bachurim, the religious community miserable? Tell him to stop. No, tell him." He goes, "No, no, we don't talk politics. We don't talk politics, Kevod HaRav." He goes, "What do you mean you don't learn politics? This is Torah. He's making the life of Am Yisrael miserable. What politics? I don't know politics." He goes, "No, Kevod HaRav, when we come, we learn."

8:24So if I'd ask, "Wait, how long are you learning with him?" he thought maybe he's learning with him for like two weeks, or two months, or maybe even six months. So it's like, okay, so we're not we're not comfortable with each other yet to talk politics. Maybe he's trying to, you know, slowly but surely get him in. Some people want to go like a snail. They figure they're gonna live 190 years. So we're gonna go slowly but surely, every week we're gonna teach you one letter of the alphabet. Every week. By the time you finish the alphabet, you're 190 years old. Because you have the nikud, the bet, the vet, the bu. No, it's not just the... No, the vowels also. By the time you finish, you're 190 years old. Every week. What about Shabbat? No, no, we haven't gone to that yet. Yeah, but he's not... What do you think, he's Metushelach? What do you think, he's Metushelach? He's going to live a thousand years. What's the matter? That laugh, which was little by little, wasn't little by little. Why is he going to be a Jew? So, how about you didn't know? How long has he been studying with us? He asked him, "How long are you learning chavruta with this kofer?" So he said, "Probably learning almost 20 years together." Rav Vodka told him, "You are no longer allowed to study with him ever."

9:47What? I've learned for 20 years, my teacher, my student. I'm telling you, by law, according to the Torah, you're not allowed to learn. Your Torah is poison to him. What do you mean? He's a big Talmid Chacham. Your Torah is poison to him. Why? It's not affecting him. If you haven't affected him after a year—forget 20 years—after a year, nothing's changed. There's already a problem. Rashi says if you haven't advanced in five years of learning Torah, you should move on to something else. Just learn how to be a basic-level Jew. Don't be, don't bother. Why? What kind of Torah are you learning? If you're teaching people in shiurim, in classes and so on, for 20 years and they're still Mechalelei Shabbat, it's you that's the problem, the teacher. And that's what a lot of people don't like to hear. Because it talks about the person that's speaking, it's easy to talk about you guys. So now, a person needs to know that if he's gonna learn Torah, it has to move him; it has to shake him. He has to take a few notes. He knows this one, I don't even need to write it down. I'm gonna write it because I want to make sure I remember it, but I don't need to. This is already engraved in my mind. It shook me up an issue.

11:13Shook me up. I can't believe he said that. Every shiur should be like that. I can't believe he said that. I can't believe this is true. I can't believe it. I shouldn't come at why? Because it has to shock your system to such an extent. He says, "I can't believe I've been living a lie for 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years until now. I found out the truth." If the entire shiur, nothing happened like that. More often than not, it is the teacher. But sometimes it is the student as well.