Why You Must Provide Sources When You Teach Torah?

0:14That's why I always tell you, always make sure that regardless of what anyone ever says to you, if it contradicts anything you've heard in our shiurim, or even if it doesn’t, ask the person, whether he's a rabbi or not, "Where is the source for what you just said? Where can I see what you said in a book?"

1:39For the things you said in this lecture, you know, 30 seconds over here, you said such and such, you know, all those things you said, can you give me one source, one page number? Manis responds, no, I don't disclose my secrets. I don't disclose my secrets. Now, it's funny, but it's sad. Why? Because this young boy, this young man, didn't know what halacha is, that he has to disclose it. Why? There's a Mishnah, chapter 6, Mishnah number 6. It says that you have to mention the things that you say in the name of who said it, as we learn from Esther HaMalka in Megillat Esther, that she said something to Achashverosh in the name of Mordechai. Why? Because had Esther said to Achashverosh, "Listen, these two guys are trying to kill you," the outcome would have been different. Achashverosh would have said, okay, thanks a lot, my dear wife, and that's it. Salvation wouldn't have come. But because she said it in the name of Mordechai, Achashverosh, what did he do? Oh, this Mordechai. Let me write this in the book, so I remember this guy. I remember this guy in the book. Later on, as HaKadosh Baruch Hu would have it, he remembered he owed Mordechai a favor.

2:55He looked in his book. I didn't pay this guy the favor; he saved my life. And that's how the salvation came. And from there, the Chachamim learned that when you mention something from the source, from the place that you heard it, you bring the Mashiach. And when you don't, you delay the Mashiach, you delay the salvation. Such is the magnitude of mentioning something with a source. That's why you see all Talmidei Chachamim, when they mention things in a Shiurei Torah, they're constantly citing sources. It's not because they're trying to show off their wisdom; they're trying to fulfill a mitzvah from the Torah. So you know that you can find what I just said in a book, and you can track that book's source all the way to our Oral Torah, all the way to our Written Torah, all the way to Mount Sinai, Moshe Rabbeinu, HaKadosh Baruch Hu, Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov, and so on and so forth, all the way to the beginning of time. Why? Because this rule has been in place since the beginning of time. It was implemented at the time of Mount Sinai. But the Torah, the Kedoshah itself, was already written 974 generations before the world was created, as it says in Gemara Masechet Chagigah. So from there we know that Rabotai, to mention a source is not a ma'alah, it's not like it makes you special or significant. It makes you kosher.

4:14Like, if you went to a restaurant to eat some kosher food, and the guy says to you, "Oh yeah, we're kosher." That's not a ma'ala. That's why I'm coming here. I want to eat kosher food. You have a stamp on your door. It says kosher. You have a te'udah. You have some certificate on the wall. Hopefully, it's still valid that it's kosher. I'm not coming here because I like your food. I'm coming here because it's kosher. I happen to like your kosher food. But the main reason I'm here is because it's kosher. Doesn't make you special. It makes you kosher. If it's good too, that may be special. But the reality is to mention a source doesn't make you special. It makes you a kosher person. When someone doesn't mention sources, it's a problem. It's a very big problem. Why? Because the audience is not able to decipher what is right, what is wrong, and how they could double-check it. And you will notice that all the people we've mentioned over the last several years and have gone against publicly, not a single one of them mentioned sources. Why? Because if they mentioned sources, it would ruin the party.

5:25What are they going to mention? Yeah, my source was a... Smurfs and Gargamel. You probably don't know who Gargamel is. Smurfs, a cartoon from 40 years ago. Power Rangers? Source number two, Power Rangers, episode six. X-Men, they never die. Wolverine wins. Those are the sources. Why? Because they don't have any real sources. So, in Hollywood, there's a new film about marijuana, where the so-called "Drog Kesuta" quotes that you're allowed to smoke marijuana. Where's he going to quote from? No Posek ever said you're allowed to smoke marijuana, but "Drog Kesuta" decided it on his own. It's very important to stand against people like this, but more importantly, you need to have the right information for yourself because those individuals are not always public figures. In fact, most of them are not public people. Most of them are in your kehilla, in your local shul, in your local community, and they may even be a family member, and they're going to question you. Now, you don't necessarily need to remember all the sources by heart, although you should, but you need to know enough about the truth that no one can shake you up. If they tell you something that sounds true,

6:53Negates your truth. Don't let anybody shake you up. Many times people have tried doing that to me. In the beginning, I was a lot more vulnerable than I am today, Baruch Hashem. They would throw some curveball at me, and I'd run to Rabbi Feinstein. Rabbi Feinstein, what's going on? The whole world is destroyed. What? What happened? This guy just said da-da-da-da-da. He's wrong. Okay, but he just quoted this and this and this and 15 different books. He goes, I misquoted. What do you mean? But he quoted him. Let me show you what he quoted. And we go one after another. He is a liar. Liar. Liar. Never happened. Never mentioned. Liar. Liar. Just made it up. You saw one after another. All the things the guy quoted were a complete fabrication of the truth. But in the beginning, you don't know what you don't know. So someone mentions some verse, or someone mentions some rabbi, or someone mentions some page, and you get all shaken up. What does that mean? You're not confident in your own knowledge. And that's one of the things that you have to do for yourself. Because the Yetzer Ha'ra will send them to you. It may be your girlfriend, it may be your best buddy, it may be your parents, it may be your rabbi even. You have to know enough about the truth in order to defend it. And that's one of the things that you have to do for yourself. Because the Yetzer HaRa will send them to you. It may be your girlfriend, it may be your best buddy, it may be your parents, it may be your rabbi even. You have to know enough about the truth in order to defend it. And again, it's not necessarily about remembering all of the pages and even the way the page looks by heart. It's just knowing enough about the truth to decipher, no, this doesn't sound right.

8:18This doesn't sound right, but you know what? I'm not going to argue with you. Can you just give me a source so I can check it? Can I see what you said in a book? I'll show it to you. No, no, no. Don't show it to me. Just give me the book. I want to look at it on my own. You give me the source, the page number, and then you send me a text message. What does it say over here? unless it's clear for you because sometimes they'll send you something that's so difficult to understand. Maybe it's from Chassidut, it's the words of the Baal Shem Tov. They'll mention something like, "Oh, see the Baal Shem Tov says that no Jew is ever going to be lost." Yeah, but in what context? When did he say it? What was before? What was after that sentence? Because the Baal Shem Tov also talks about, you know, all you mentioned, that too. You mentioned about, you know, all of that. So that's what it all depends on, when you say what he said, what he said. Because if he says, no Jew will ever be lost, maybe he's just talking about the time of Yetziat Mitzrayim. Maybe he's talking about someone that really tries to do teshuva but is still having a hard time, but Hashem is not going to give up on him. I don't know, but he's talking about different contexts. You can't just take this one sentence and say, ah, this is the Baal Shem Tov, that's it, finished. It doesn't work that way. What's the context? What's before, what's after? What did he say, and what did he mean? This understanding is crucial, because misinterpretation can lead to confusion or incorrect conclusions about Jewish teachings.

9:41And if you don't know, you're going to get confused. So that's why it's important for you to get strong in your own understanding of what's right and wrong in Judaism. Thank you.