Your TeShuva Is A Shield, Don't Go Backwards

1:01Sometimes it's a bug. Sometimes it's deflation. Sometimes it's inflation. Sometimes it's a boss. Sometimes it's a rock. Sometimes it's a car, plane, weather, whatever. There are different creations that Hashem has that He uses for different things. And sometimes their only usefulness is to punish someone. And as we talked about last night, Chazal says that there are plenty of things that Hashem created in the world that are waiting to be used. For what? To punish people. That's their only purpose in life. It's the only purpose for which Hashem created them. There's a certain mosquito that was created in the world just to punish somebody who did something wrong. And the next day, he's going to scratch himself for three hours because of this mosquito due to whatever sin he committed. So anytime somebody commits a sin, he creates this angel. Eventually, Hashem has to pass judgment. He has to judge the person and punish him for certain things. Now that means He sent a messenger. Now, the Ba'alei Mussar (masters of ethical teachings) would say that if you do Teshuva and good deeds, they'll act like a shield against the retribution. Why doesn't it say if you do Teshuva, you have nothing to worry about? It should cancel out your sins. It should nullify the harmful angels. No, it doesn't, because even though your Teshuva...

2:30He's good. He did teshuva. Baruch Hashem. The problem is Hashem already created that vehicle to punish you. He created that mosquito. He created that car. He created that plane. He created those things. So it's already created. It's already in the system. But if you do teshuva and good deeds, that teshuva and good deeds will actually act as a shield, meaning that even though they're gonna come, that mosquito is gonna come, Soon as he sees the new version of you, he's gonna walk. He's gonna fly, right? He's not just gonna disappear out of existence. It's gonna be reused or rerouted, like when I make 80 mistakes on the way here or somewhere else, my GPS says "rerouting." Same thing, same thing — rerouted the car, the plane, the wind. Yuma, Yuma came, they wanted to punish a bunch of people, but when it reached a few people's houses, it made a right turn, didn't touch it. Everybody else around was destroyed. That's nothing, Baruch Hashem. Why? They deserve the punishment. Simple as it gets. They deserve it. That shows, if you actually look at the details of what happened during Hurricane Irma, who got hurt, who didn't get hurt, you go into the details of some of the miracles that happened during that storm, it's mamash, you see the intelligent design behind everything. You see the hand of Hashem behind everything. It's unbelievable.

3:59Here, the Chofetz Chaim says thousands are going to fall and ten thousand are going to fall by your sides. Who are these thousands and tens of thousands? Those are the demons you created, the bad angels you created. He says they're going to fall, meaning they will fall, but they're not going to touch you. You've created them already. You can't just make them uncreated—they're there, but they're not going to touch you. Why? Because of your teshuva (repentance). Your teshuva protects you. The problem is that sometimes we do too much in the beginning and then we go back. We start keeping Shabbat, but then one of our childhood friends shows up unannounced on Friday night, and he tries to convince us to go out.

5:00start keeping Shabbat and all of a sudden our parents, who don't keep anything, want to come over for Shabbat. And they want us to watch a movie with them. We start keeping kosher, but all of a sudden our boss invites us to our annual dinner at a non-kosher place. We start keeping mitzvot and all of a sudden our friends test our resolve by inviting us to events that challenge our commitments. It's crucial to stay strong and demonstrate our dedication to Hashem. New company that wants to hire us wants to invite us to an event in Las Vegas, a.k.a. Sodom and Gomorrah. But we want this job, so we're being tested. And unfortunately, many times people fail. They just start doing, to bother, start keeping Shabbat. They start keeping tefillin, they start keeping mitzvot. Hashem says, "Okay, let me see if you're really serious." To be religious at home is very easy. Easy. Everybody's religious at home. People tell me, "You know, I wear tzitzit all day." I say, "Yeah, what about when you leave the house?" They respond, "No, come on. I don't wear tzitzit when I leave the house, but at home, I wear tzitzit all the time. I even go to sleep with tzitzit." Again, the problem is tzitzit, the mitzvah, is for during the day, not at night. You go to sleep with it? Enjoy, but the mitzvah is for during the day when you're outside. They say, "Yeah, but I wear a kippah." I ask, "Where do you wear the kippah? Outside?" "No, no, I don't wear the kippah outside. I wear the kippah when I'm at home."

6:24Their religion, their Judaism, their God, is only in their house. It's not in the mall. It's not at work. It's not everywhere else. It's only in the house or in the synagogue. It's very easy to be religious when no one sees you. That's why Hashem sends tests to those people. I want to know what you're gonna do when everyone sees you. I want to know what you're gonna do when you're getting tested, when I send that beautiful girl in front of you. Are you going to look at her? Hashem created beauty, but is it for you? Is it for you to look at? That's the thing that people fail at. Why? Because they hide. They hide their Judaism. Hashem gives them a convenient way to be religious, a convenient way to do teshuva and... Few new friends' synagogue is right next to the house. They can work out of the house, or the job is really close. Nobody gets in their way. There aren't really many tests to do; keeping the vibe becomes easy. Eat kosher. Okay, so instead of shopping at this supermarket, shop at that supermarket. Big deal. Keep Shabbat. It's a vacation once a week. No one should really take that much credit for keeping Shabbat. It's not really that much of a big deal.

7:49That much of a big deal if you really think about it. It's very easy to keep Shabbat today. It's very different to keep Shabbat today than it was a hundred years ago. You can do so many things on Shabbat today permissibly. Then you realize there are more things that are allowed than not allowed. It's no problem keeping Shabbat, but people... themselves extra credit for keeping a few mitzvot, but then, as soon as Hashem gives them a test, they're keeping Shabbat for three months, four months, five months by themselves or with their spouse or with their friends, but all of a sudden, Their usual environment changes, and someone comes in to stir the pot a little bit—the parents who don't keep anything, the friends who don't keep anything, the boss. Someone comes in to stir the pot, and all of a sudden, they begin feeling this tension. This actually happens very often with Israelis who go to live in America and go to visit Israel and...

8:50They do teshuva in America. They start keeping mitzvot, but then they go on vacation to Israel. As soon as they go on vacation in Israel, they become chiloni, they become secular. They go to the beach, they do a lot of things, they become secular. Why? Because they feel at home, and it's like everyone at home knows them as their past self. They're not comfortable with themselves yet. It was very easy to be religious in America. So this happens very often. Now, here's the problem. The problem is that Hashem doesn't view this very favorably. To such an extent that Shlomo HaMelech in Mishlei (Proverbs) 26:11 says, "Just like a dog returns to its vomit, a fool repeats his foolishness."

9:51When I first read this, I immediately understood it because I used to have a dog. Now, for someone who doesn't have a dog, this doesn't make any sense to them. What do you mean a dog eats their own vomit? That's actually what they do. Even though a dog can eat garbage, they can eat complete garbage. Sometimes they'll throw up, and the garbage was worse than garbage. But seconds later, they eat their own throw up, and it's brand new to them. It's like brand new meals, brand new steak. That's a dog. Shlomo HaMelech, the wisest of all men, says someone who does teshuvah and then goes back is no different than that dog. Why? Because the vomit is disgusting. Seconds later, they eat their own throw-up, and it's brand new to them, like a brand-new meal or brand-new steak. That's how dogs are. Shlomo HaMelech, the wisest of all men, says that someone who does teshuva (repentance) and then goes back to their old ways is no different than that dog. Why? Because the vomit is disgusting and... The only one who doesn't know it's disgusting is the dog. Everyone else watching it is disgusted. When I saw my dog, my old dog, God bless him, he passed away already. But when I saw that dog eat, it was disgusting. I was like, what's wrong with this dog? I thought it was just unique to my dog—really strange, eating its own vomit. It's disgusting. I would yell at him, like, "Stop eating your own vomit, it is disgusting!" But then you find out that every other dog does it.

11:11Dogs do it. That's part of their nature. Everyone knows it's disgusting except the dog. The problem is with our sins. Not only does everyone know it's disgusting, even we know it's disgusting. That's why we did teshuva in the first place. We left the sins, the dirt, the tum'ah because we know it's bad. We know that being with someone who is not your wife or husband is not good. We know that cheating in business is not good. We know that cheating God is not good. We know that doing things against our Creator is not good. It's not good. Once you realize it, you know it's disgusting. Once you realize what a sin really is, it's obvious that it's disgusting. There's no debate. No one in the world thinks that a sin is good. That's the problem; when you return to the sin, you're worse than the dog. Shlomo HaMelech says, "Because at least the dog doesn't know the vomit is disgusting." However, by returning to the sin, you knew it was disgusting; you just conveniently forgot.