Why Did Rabbi Yaron Reuven Say NO THANK YOU To $7 Million? (13 minutes)

1:31When I was still working for Raymond James back in 2003, I had just made my first million dollars. I was 23 years old. But you know, you don't keep the whole million dollars. There are taxes, expenses, the firm, and so on and so forth. I made some money. Anyway, it was time for me to make a decision. Am I going to start working on my way out, leave the firm, start my own firm, or work for another firm? A few firms were calling me to come work for them. When you succeed, people tend to find out, whether you like it or not, especially when you work for a big firm. So anyway, there was this guy, Michael, in my office, and he's like, "Listen..." got a guy that has a firm and I think you should talk to him. You have a big business; you build, whatever—all the nice compliments that people say. I talked to this guy, so, okay, no problem. He told Tom to call me, so the guy calls me, and we start talking, chit-chatting, and so on. He asked me about my business, the size of the business, how many clients I have.

2:56how much money I'm managing, what we're doing, da-da-da. He's like, all right, let me cut to the chase. He's like, listen, if you move your business to my firm, I'll pay you cash. Before the whole thing moves, I'll pay you cash, $3.2 million. Cash. And then once you come and the whole business transfers, I'll give you another $3.5 million. Now imagine, I'm 23 years old, $3,000,000 is a lot of money. Whether it's 2393 or today, it's always a lot of money. So, normally, what should the response be? "Can I go down? Can you pick me up? Can you send me an Uber?" But I was brought up with principles, and I was brought up by honest parents, Baruch Hashem. My next question was, "Okay, what kind of business do you do?" It wasn't a fool. I said, "What kind of business are you doing?" He said, "It's not a big deal." I responded, "Hold on a second. What do you mean?" And he started explaining to me. I said, "Oh, so you have a boiler room. You have a place that's illegal." He said, "No, no, it's legal. It's legal. It's just we have our own thing that we're doing. But what do you care? You just raise new money or do this." I replied, "So you're asking me to steal this money from my clients?"

4:22In so many words, in the legal way, but in reality, I'm still with my clients. I'll give it to you. Listen, I'm going to pay you this. They start increasing the price. Say thank you, click. Now, a $7 million test for any age is a lot of money. But not if you have some level of integrity. For me, Baruch Hashem, it wasn't a test. I told the story maybe a hundred times to my employees in the past. Not because it was a difficult test for me, but it was a difficult test for them. Why? They were willing to sell their mother for a few dollars because they still valued money. They still valued money as if it was God. For me, Baruch Hashem, it's never been my test. I told him, listen, you can't sell your mom for money. You can't sell God for money. It's money, but you're stealing from people. They work hard for the money. Why are you going to steal from them? They worked hard for the money. Why are you going to steal from them? Why? They worked hard for it. Why don't you work hard for your money? How would you feel if somebody stole your money? No, but they're rich. So what if they're rich?

5:33So, does it make it more right to steal from them because they're rich or they're poor or this or that? What gives you the right to steal? It's not yours; nobody taught you that! Yeah, I never thought about it that way. Everybody always starts thinking about it that way eventually: "I didn't see it that way. I wasn't sure. Maybe this..." Everybody has excuses after the fact. Yeah, but at this point, someone has already died. The fact is everybody has a lot of questions and issues, and so on. If you ever noticed, every financial crisis, every major disaster, everyone always says, "Oh, yeah, I knew it and I saw it and I thought about it." Okay, so how come you didn't do anything before? Everyone knew that the dot-com bubble was going to crash after it crashed, and everyone knew that the housing crisis was going to happen after it happened. Everyone knew that Bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies were going to go to zero after it goes to zero. But in the meantime, everybody's in it. Oh, I knew, I knew, I knew. The point is that Hashem expects us to do the right thing before it's obvious to everyone else because it's obvious to us. It's obvious to you what's right and wrong. It's obvious to you.

6:44Important that you make these decisions and make sure that they're right because the tests are only gonna get bigger. They're not gonna get smaller; they're only gonna get bigger, these tests. And sometimes that test is gonna seem like it's a life-and-death test. So it seems like if I don't steal the thousand bucks, I'm not gonna have food for Shabbat. Which seems like you're going to die, but you're really not going to die. It's just an inconvenient Shabbat. You still have no right to steal. You still have no right to cheat. So, how do you pass the test? Baruch Hashem, even though I wasn't necessarily religious, I always was connected to Hashem Yitbarach in some way, in my own strange way. You have a bigger merit. You have the real truth now.

7:45You already know the real story. You already know Hashem is real. You're not 23 and questioning whether God is real or not, or whether this or that. You already know the truth about Hashem right now. So the test should be much easier for you. And the test is, can you ask yourself every minute of the day, do you really believe that God is next to you right now? Because if you believe that God is next to you right now, all those tests As far as money is concerned, become aware that if you know God is watching, then God's watching right now. He's watching, and you're about to cheat this guy for 500 bucks or five dollars or five million. You're not gonna do it. So once you actually understand that God's watching, dishonesty already leaves your system. Now you have room for honesty. Dishonesty left. Honesty is the only thing you have room for, so now that your money is going to be more blessed, first and foremost. Second of all, you're gonna start since God is watching. You think, what does God want me to do now, now that I have the money? Now that I made money, whatever the amount was—five hundred, five thousand, five million, whatever it is—what does God want me to do with this money other than obviously survive and pay the mortgage?

9:09Feed the kids; if you have a pet, feed the pet—whatever it is, the basic minimum needs. What else does Hashem want me to do? Once you start thinking with that type of straightforward mindset of what does God want my money to be, then your job becomes no different than Limud Torah. Why? Your entire existence has God in play. Not after, not once you got the check, not like once a month or once a year, only when you meet the rabbi, only when you see the email, all the time. What's tamid? All the time. All the time. Contract, no contract. You have to constantly think about it. It's not easy at first; it's not easy. But if you get yourself used to it, it becomes your second nature. So, especially when there are transactions, especially when there's a transaction, a customer comes in or calls, or something is a deal, and...

10:11crosses your desk, always ask before you sign on the dotted line, before you press the digits at the cash register. What does God think of this? Not if He thinks it's going to be a successful deal or failure. No, I'm not talking about success or failure; I'm talking about whether this is honest or not. Is this an honest deal or is it a sin? Am I looking for a leniency for this to be allowed and hoping that Hashem forgives me? Kosher, but that's glatt kosher. Is your money kosher or not? Did you overcharge the guy? Did you sneak away an extra three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine percent and the guy didn't notice? Did what it's saying in small print really matter, and you know that the guy didn't look, and he's gonna pay for it? I... A lot of people are going into these short-term lending businesses right now. They're destroying their neshamot. They're not only destroying other people, they're destroying their own neshamot. Why? It's predatory business. You know that the guy, when you're lending the guy money, and the guy's going to pay 25-30% interest, you know for sure he can't pay back. All he can do is refinance it, and refinance it, and refinance it, and refinance it, and only if he wins a lottery is he going to pay back.

11:31Predatory loans, it's dishonest business. It's unethical business, and eventually, those businesses will be shut down, too. So you have to ask yourself, would God be proud of you for the transaction you're doing? You're about to sell a drug that killed 900 people last week out of a thousand that took it. But you make ten dollars a pill. Ten dollars a pill is ten times more than what you make on every other pill, and But you know that 90% of the people that are going to take it are going to die. Do you sell or do you not sell? Now, all of you are going to say, no, you don't sell. Why? Because you don't sell drugs. It's not a test for you. But someone who is in that business is thinking, "Listen, you know how much $10 a pill is? I usually only get $1 a pill." It's a test for them. It's a test for them. You have to understand, each one of us has our own test. The only way we can pass it is by recognizing Hashem's guidance. We ask ourselves, is Hashem with me or not? If He's with me, does He agree? If He agrees, oh, Hashem, I'll sign on the dotted line. I'll sign whatever You want, no questions asked. I'm not worried at all, not worried at all. But if Hashem doesn't agree, then all I have is worry.